iU i I''' forth^rfyii/taSngifaCsMe^ bttMrColoiiyt' 'YALE»¥MH¥IEI^SIIir¥o - iLUMR&iRir ¦ 1911 A BODY OF DIVINITY: WHEREIN THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ARE EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED. BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF SEVERAL LECTURES ON THE ASSEMBLY'S LARGER CATECHISM. BY THOMAS RIDGELEY, D.D. \\ V A NEW EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN M. WILSON. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1855. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. Page QUESTIONS LXI, LXII, LXIII, LXIV. The Church, Visible and Invisible, 1 The meaning of the word Church, . 1 The meaning of the phrases, 'the Vis ible' and 'the Invisible Church,' . 4 The invisible church, ... 5 The visible church, . ... 7 The church under the Mosaic dispensa tion 10 The church under the ministry of the Apostles, 13 The nature and government of the Chris tian church, 15 Notes. — Various significations of the word 'Church,' 36 The invisible church, ... 38 The holy catholic church, . . 38 The visible church, ... 40 Qualifications for church-fellowship, 42 The office of a ruling elder, . . 43 QUESTIONS LXV, LXVI. The Benefits enjoyed by the Invis ible Church, .... What the benefits are which the Invis ible Church enjoys What union to Christ is, . QUESTIONS LXVII, LXVIII. Effectual Calling, .... The general nature of the Gospel call, The external call of the Gospel, The previous character of persons who are effectually called, The change wrought in effectual calling, Effectual Calling a Divine work, Notes. — Common grace, Regeneration, .... QUESTION LXIX. Communion in Grace with Christ, QUESTIONS LXX, LXXI. Justification, . . • • . • The importance of the doctrine of justi fication, . . . .¦ . •, The meaning of the word ' justify,' The privileges contained in justification. The foundation of justification, 4848 4855 57 61 7577 80 818182 8386 P»ff* Man's inability to work out a justifying righteousness 86 Christ's righteousness as the ground of justification, • ... 88 Justification an act of God's free grace, 93 QUESTIONS LXXII, LXXIII. The Connection of Faith with Justi fication, .... 95 Other graces than faith do not justify, 95 How faith justifies, ... 98 Inferences from the doctrine of justifi cation, 103 The nature, kinds, objects, degrees, and uses of faith, 106 The general nature of faith, . . 107 The various kinds of faith, . . 108 The objects and acts of saving faith, 110 How faith is produced, ' . . . 114 The degrees of faith, . . .116 The use of faith in a believer's life, 117 How faith is attained or increased, 120 Notes — The connection of faith with jus tification, .... 121 What is faith? .... 124 Are there several kinds of faith ? 126 Acts of faith, direct and reflex, . 130 QUESTION LXXIV. Adoption 131 The various senses of the name ' Sons ofGod,' The difference between divine and hu man adoption, .... The reference of the sonship of believ ers to the sonship of Christ, The privileges of adoption, The connection between adoption and justification, .... 131132 133134 136 QUESTION LXXV. Sanctification, .... The meaning of the word " sanctify,' What sanctification includes, Practical inferences from the doctrine of sanctification QUESTION LXXVI. Repentance, .... The subjects of repentance, 137137138143 146 146 IV CONTENTS. Page Mali's natural aversion to repentance, 146 Repentance wrought by the Divine Spirit, 147 The means of repentance, . . 147 The differences between legal and evan gelical repentance, .... 149 The various acts of evangelical repent- ance, • 1JU Practical inferences from the doctrine of repentance, ¦ |<>1 Note Legal convictions of sin, . 152 QUESTION LXXVII. The Connection and the Difference between Justification and Sanctification, , • , • , • ^3 The connection between justification and sanctification, . . . .152 The difference between justification and sanctification, .... 153 QUESTION LXXVIlt. The Imperfection of Sanctification, 154 The imperfection of believers, . . 154 Why believers are allowed to be imper fect, . . . . . . 156 How the imperfection of sanctification is displayed, . . . - • 157 The consequences of the prevailing power of indwelling sin, . . . 161 Practical inferences from the imperfect state of believers, .... 161 Question lxxix. Perseverance in Grace, . . 164 General view of the doctrine of perse verance, . . ¦ . .164 Explanation of the doctrine of persever ance 165 Perseverance the result of the Divine power and will, . • ¦ .167 Proofs of the doctrine of perseverance, 168 Examination of objections against the doctrine of perseverance, . . 179 Practical inferences from the doctrine of perseverance, . . . . .193 Note The characters described in 2 Pet. ii. 21, 22, .... 194 QUESTION LXXX. Assurance of Salvation, . . .194 The nature and degrees of assurance, 195 The attainahleness of assurance, . 196 The character of the persons who enjoy assurance, ..... 201 The means of attaining assurance, . 201 QUESTION LXXXI. Destitution of Assurance, . . 210 Assurance not of the essence of faith, 210 . may not be soon obtained, 213 may be weakened and inter- *. mitted, ... . 213 The state of believers who want assur ance, 215 QUESTION LXXXIII. Page QUESTION LXXXII. Communion with Christ in Glory, 217 Earnests of Glory, and Apprehen sions of Wrath, . . . 217 Earnests of glory 218 Apprehensions of wrath, . . . 223 Practical inferences from the different prospects of the righteous and the wicked 224 QUESTIONS LXXXIV, LXXXV. Death, 225 The certainty of death, ... 225 The sting and curse of death, . . 228 Death an advantage to believers, . 228 QUESTION LXXXVI. T*he Future State, i 230 The immortality of the soul, . . 230 The immediate happiness of the righteous after death 236 The misery of the wicked at death, t 245 Notes Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison, .... 245 Arguments against purgatory, . 246 QUESTION LXXXVIL The Resurrection, . . . 248 The meaning of the resurrection, . . 249 The resurrection not contrary to reason, 249 . — ¦¦¦¦• - a (kictrine purely of re velation, 250 Proofs of the doctrine of the- resurrection, 252 Examination of objections against the re surrection, < t 262 The resurrection universal, . . 265 The condition in which the body shall be raised 267 Note The identity of the human body, 269 QUESTION LXXXVIIL The Final Judgment, . . . 270 Proofs of the final judgment, . .271 The person and appearance of the Judge, 272 The persons judged, . . . 274 The maimer of the judgment, . . 276 The place and time of the judgment, 279 Practical inferences from the doctrine of the final judgment, . . . 280 QUESTION LXXXIX. Final Punishment 281 The nature of the punishment, . 282 The degree of the punishment, . . 283 The duration of the punishment, . 283 How the doctrine of final punishment is to be preached, .... 285 QUESTION XC. Final Blessedness, . . . 286 The saints acknowledged and acquitted, 286 joining Christ in judging, . 287 .. blessed in heaven, . . 289 Practical inlerences Irom the doctrine of final blessedness 296 QUESTIONS XOL, XCIL CONTENTS Page V Page Moral Obligation, .... 298 Man hound to obey God, . . . 298 Connection of revelation with moral obli gation, 299 The law of God as the rule of obligation, 299 QUESTIONS XCIII, XCIV, XCV, XCVI, XCVII. The Nature and Uses of the Moral 307 307308 311 312 314 316 Law, ...... 300 The nature of the moral law, . . 300 The uses of the moral law, . . 302 Strictures on Antinomianism, . . 305 QUESTION XCVIII. Thb Judicial and the Ceremonial Law The judicial law The ceremonial law The legislation from Horeb, QUESTION XCIX. Rules for understanding the Ten Commandments, .... QUESTIONS C, CI, CH. The Preface and Sum of the Ten Commandments, QUESTIONS CHI, CIV. The Duties Required in the First Commandment QUESTIONS CV, CVI. The Sins Forbidden in the First Com mandment 318 Atheism, 318 Idolatry, . ... . .321 Note. — Doctrines of Devils, . . 327 QUESTIONS CVII, CVIII, CIX, CX. The Second Commandment, . . 328 Difference between the first and the second commandment, . . 328 The duties enjoined in the second com mandment 329 The sins forbidden in the second com mandment, ..... 330 The reasons annexed to the second com mandment, ..... 334 QUESTIONS CXI, CXII, CXIII, CXIV. The Third Commandment, . . 335 General view of the third commandment, 335 The duties enjoined in the tlfird com mandment, ..... 336 The sins forbidden in the third command ment, ...... 337 The reasons annexed to the third com mandment 341 QUESTIONS CXV, CXVI. The Sabbatic Institution, 341 General import of the fourth command ment 341 The nature of the sabbatic institution, 342 The date of the sabbatic Institution, . 344 The change of the sabbath, . . 346 The relative time of the sabbath) . 352 QUESTIONS CXVII, CXVIII. The Duties Enjoined in the Fourth Commandment, . ... • 353 Preparatory duties to sabbath-sanctifica- tion, 353 The sabbatic rest, .... 355 Works of necessity and mercy, . . 356 The sanctifying of the sabbath, . 358 QUESTIONS CXIX, CXX, CXXL The Prohibitions and Motives of the Fourth Commandment, . . 360 The sins forbidden in the fourth com mandment, 360 The reasons annexed to the fourth com mandment 361 Import of the word ' remember ' in the fourth commandment, . . . 362 Inferences from the fourth commandment, 363 QUESTION CXXlt. The Sum of the Second Table op the Law, 363 Love to our neighbour, . . . 364 Doing as we would be done by, . . 364 QUESTIONS CXXIII, CXXIV, CXXV, CXXVI. The Relations of Life, . . . 366 The meaning of 'father' and 'mother' in the fifth commandment, . . 366 Why superiors are styled father and mother, . . . . 366 The bases arid nature Of the social rela tions, 367 QUESTIONS CXXVII, CXXVIII, CXXIX, CXXX, CXXXI, CXXXII. Relative Duties, . . . . 368 The duties of inferiors to superiors, . 368 The sins of inferiors against superiors, 374 The duties of superiors to inferiors, . 374 The sins of superiors against inferiors, 376 The duties of equals, . . 377 The sins of equals 377 QUESTION CXXXIII. The Reasons Annexed to the Fifth Commandment, .... 378 QUESTIONS CXXXIV, CXXXV, CXXXVI. The Sixth Commandment, . . 380' The duties enjoined in the sixth com mandment, 380 The sins forbidden in the sixth command ment, 381 Note The Judicial Law. — The Civil Punishment of Death. . . . 386 VI CONTENTS. Page QUESTIONS CXXXVII, CXXXVIII, CXXXIX. The Seventh Commandment, . . 392 The duties required in the seventh com mandment, 39" The sins forbidden in the seventh com mandment 392 The aggravations of sins against the se venth commandment, . . • 394 The occasions of the sins against the seventh commandment, . . . 395 QUESTIONS CXL, CXLI. The Duties Enjoined in the Eighth Commandment, . . . . 396 The promotion of our own well-being, 396 The promotion of our neighbour's well- being, 397 QUESTION CXLII. The Sins Forbddden in the Eighth Commandment, .... 399 Self-robbery, 399 Theft, 399 Breach of trust, .... 400 Non-payment of debt, . . . 400 Oppression, 401 Litigiousness, 402 Usury 402 Restitution, 402 QUESTIONS CXLIII, CXLIV, CXLV. The Ninth Commandment, . . 403 The duties required in the ninth com mandment 403 The sins forbidden in the ninth com mandment 405 QUESTIONS CXLVI, CXLVII, CXLVIII. The Tenth Commandment, . . 416 The duties required in the tenth com mandment, 416 The sins forbidden in the tenth com mandment, ..... 419 QUESTION CXLIX. Man's Inability to keep the Com mandments, .... 423 The nature and limits of man's inability, 423 The uniform and constant display of man's inability, .... 424 QUESTION CL. The Degrees of Sin, QUESTION CLI. 426 The Aggravations of Sin, . . 426 Aggravations from the person offending, 426 parties offended, 427 nature and quality of the offence, .... 428 circumstances of time and place, .... 429 Page QUESTIONS CLII, CLIII. The Desert of Sin, and the Way of Escape from it, . . . . 430 The desert of sin 430 The way of escape from the desert of sin, 431 QUESTION CLIV. The Ordinances, • . . . 433 The import of the ordinances, . . 433 Classification of the ordinances, . . 434 The ordinance of praise, . . . 434 QUESTION CLV. The Ordinance of the Word, . 443 The Word is to he read and explained, 444 The Word made effectual to salvation, 444 QUESTIONS CLVI, CLVII. By Whom and How the Word is to be read, 448 The Word to be read by and to all men, 448 Directions for reading the Word of God, 452 Note Scriptures ' hard to be understood,' 472 QUESTIONS CLVIII, CLIX, CLX. The Preaching and Hearing of the Word 473 By whom the Word is to be preached, 473 How the Word is to be preached, . 476 The hearing of the Word, ... 480 Note.— Are unconverted persons to be ex horted to pray ? .... 481 QUESTIONS CLXI, CLXII, CLXIII, CLXIV. The Sacraments, .... 483 The nature and parts of a sacrament, 483 How the sacraments become effectual means of sal vation, . . . 487 What the sacraments of the gospel dis pensation are, .... 488 Notes — The design of observing the Lord's Supper, 490 Extreme unction 490 QUESTION CLXV. Baptism 492 The nature and authority of baptism, 492 The form of baptism, .... 493 What baptism signifies arid entails, . 494 QUESTION CLXVI. The Subjects and Mode of Baptism, 496 Who are excluded from baptism, . 496 The profession of faith made in baptism, 497 Infant baptism, .... 497 The mode of baptism, .... 506 Abuse of the ordinance of baptism, . 51 1 Note — The connection of discipleship and baptism, 512 QUESTION CLXVII. The Improvement of Baptism, . . 513 Our obligation to improve baptism, . 513 How baptism is to be improved, . . 514 Page QUESTIONS CLXVIII, CLXIX, CLXX. The Lord's Supper, . . . 517 The Lord's Supper an ordinance of the New Testament, .... 518 By whom the Lord's Supper is to be ad ministered 518 The elements used in the Lord's Supper, 519 The setting apart of the elements in the Lord's Supper, .... 519 The actions performed in observing the Lord's Supper, .... 520 What is signified in the Lord's Supper, 522 The qualifications of communicants, . 524 Notes Half-communion, . . . 524 Transubstantiation 525 QUESTION CLXXI. Preparation for the Lord's Supper, 527 Self-examination, .... 527 Various duties of preparation for the Lord's Supper, .... 534 QUESTIONS CLXXII, CLXXIII. The Partakers of the Lord's Supper, 535 The case of doubting professors, . . 535 ignorant and immoral pro fessors, 537 The use of the Lord's Supper as a civil test, 540 QUESTIONS CLXXIV, CLXXV. Duties connected with the Obser vance of the Lord's Sopper, . 541 Duties while observing the Lord's Supper, 541 Duties after observing the Lord's Supper, 546 Note Covenanting and Vowing, . . 549 QUESTIONS CLXXVI, CLXXVII. The Correspondence and the Differ ence between Baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 550 Correspondence between baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 550 Difference between baptism and the Lord's Supper, .... 551 QUESTION CLXXVIII. The Kinds and Parts of Prayer, . 552 What prayer supposes, . . . 553 The various kinds of prayer, . . 553 The various parts of prayer, . . 554 QUESTIONS CLXXIX, CLXXX, CLXXXI. To Whom and in Whose Name Prayer is made, 561 Prayer is to be made to God only, . 561 in thenameof Christ, 562 Why prayer is to be made in the name of Christ 563 CONTENTS. VU Page Prayer cannot be made without the Spi rit's help, 563 In what the Spirit's help in prayer con sists, 565 Raised affections in prayer, . . 566 Practical inferences from the Spirit's help in prayer, 567 QUESTIONS CLXXXIII, CLXXXIV. For Whom and for What Prayer is TO BE MADE . For whom prayer is to be made, For whom prayer is not to be made, For what prayer is to be made, Note. — Is any sin unpardonable? QUESTION CLXXXV. 568568 571575 576 580 How Prayer is to be made, The frame of mind in which prayer is to be made 580 The graces which are to be exercised in ¦ prayer, 583 Requisites to the graces which are to be exercised in prayer, . . . 587 Perseverance in prayer, . . . 588 QUESTIONS CLXXXVI, CLXXXVII. The Rule of Direction for Prayer, 590 The necessity of a rule of direction for prayer 590 The word of God the rule of direction for prayer, ..... 590 Practical inferences from the word of God being a rule of direction for prayer, . 600 The Lord's Prayer a special rule of direc tion for prayer, .... 600 QUESTIONS CLXXXVIII, CLXXXIX. The Preface of the Lord's Prayer, 602 QUESTION CXC. The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 608 QUESTION CLXXXIL The Holy Spirit's Help in Prayer, 563 QUESTION CXCI. The Second Petition of the Lord's Prayer 617 What is supposed in the Second Petition, 618 What is prayed for in the Second Petition, 619 QUESTION CXCII. The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer 625 The meaning of doing the will of God, 625 What is prayed for in the Third Petition, 626 How the will of God is to be done, . 627 QUESTION CXCIII. The Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer . 62f* The meaning of the word 'Bread' in the Fourth Petition, . . . • . 628 CONTENTS. Page What is supposed in the Fourth Petition, 629 What is prayed for in the Fourth Petition, 629 QUESTION CXCIV. The Fifth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, • 633 Man's uneasiness under a sense of guilt, 634 How a sinner is to ask forgiveness, 63 > The connexion between forgiving others and enjoying forgiveness from God, 638 Note. Prayer for Pardon, . . 643 QUESTION CXCV. Page The Sixth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, 644 The meaning of the word ' temptation,' 644 What is supposed in the Sixth Petition, 644 Temptations, and prayer for deliverance from them, 646 QUESTION CXCVI. The Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, 663 THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. Question LXI. Are all they saved who hear the gospel, and live in the church f Answer. All that hear the gospel, and live in the visible church, are not saved, but they only who are true members of the church invisible. Question LXII. What is the visible church ? Answer. The visible church is a society made up of all such as, in all ages, and places of the world, do profess the true religion, and of their children. Question LXIII. What are the special privileges of the visible church? Answer. The visible church hath the privilege of being under God's special care and government, of being protected and preserved in all ages, notwithstanding the opposition of all enemies, and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation, offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved, and excluding none that will come unto him. Question LXIV. What is the invisible church f Answer. The invisible church is the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head. They who are made partakers of Christ's redemption, and are brought into a state of salvation, have been already described as members of Christ's body the church. We are now led to consider them as brought into this relation to him. Accord ingly we are to inquire in what sense they are members of Christ's church ; and to speak of this church as to its nature, constitution, subjects, and privileges. • The Meaning of the Word ' Church.' We shall first inquire what we are to understand by the word ' church,' as we find it applied in scripture. 1. It is sometimes used to signify any assembly that is met together, whatever be the design of their meeting. Though it is very seldom taken in this sense in scripture ;.yet there are two or three places in which it is so understood. Thus the multitude who met together at Ephesus, who made a riot, crying out, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians,' are called ' a church ;' for the word is the same which we generally so render.a Our translators, indeed, render it, ' the assembly was confused ;' and it is said, ' This matter ought to be determined in a lawful assem bly,'1" that being an unlawful one ; and, ' the town-clerk dismissed the assembly.'0 In all these places, the word, in the Greek,4 is the same which we, in other places, render ' church ;' and the reason why our translators have rendered it 'assembly,' is that the word ' church' is used in a very uncommon sense in these places, — a sense in which we do not find it used in any other part of scripture. » Acts xix. 32. b Verse 39. c Verse 41. d mxXvna. II. ^ I THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 2. The word 'church' is frequently used by the Fathers metonymically, for the place in which the church met together for religious worship. So also it is often understood among us, and some other reformed churches, as well as among the Papists. But it does not sufficiently appear that it is ever so understood in scrip ture. Some, it is true, suppose that it is taken in this sense in 1 Cor. xi. 18, where it is said, ' When ye come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you;' and, they think, it is farther explained, and proved to be taken in this sense, from what the apostle adds, 'When ye come together into one place ;'e ' Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the church of God?'f They hence conclude that the apostle means nothing else but the place where they were convf necbtogether ; more especially, as 'the church' is here opposed to their own 'houses.' But it may be replied that, in the first of the verses now mentioned, 'When ye come together in the church,' the word may be very easily understood of particular persons met together with the rest of the church. As to its being said 'when ye come together into one place,' the phrase refers, not to the place in which they were assembled,? but to their meeting together with one design or accord. And when it is said, ' Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the church of God?' the opposition is not between their own houses and the place where they were met together ; but the meaning is, ' By your not eating and drink ing in your own houses, but doing it in the presence of the church or the assembly of God's people.that are met together, you are not only chargeable with indecency, and with interrupting them in the work which they are come about, but you make a kind of schism among them, as doing that which they cannot in conscience ap prove of, or join with you in ; and their disapproval you are ready to call caprice or humour, and hereby you despise them.' Indeed, the place of worship cannot, properly speaking, be said to be the object of contempt. We conclude, therefore, that the apostle does not use the word,, in this metonymical sense, for the place of worship, but for the worshipping assembly. It is objected that the word 'synagogue' is often taken metonymically, in scrip ture, for the place yhere persons were assembled to worship. Thus our Saviour is said sometimes to 'teach in the synagogues of the Jews.'h Elsewhere we read of one, concerning whom the Jews say, ' He loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue.'1 The psalmist also, speaking concerning the churches enemies, says, * They have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land.'k The apostle James, likewise, adapting his mode of speaking to that which was used among the Jews, calls the church of God ' a synagogue. ' ' If, ' says he, ' there come unto your assembly, ' or synagogue, as it is in the margin, 'a man with a gold ring,'1 &c; where the word is taken for the place where they were assembled. The objectors hence infer that we have as much reason to understand the word ' church ' for the place where the church meets together. Now, though the word ' synagogue, ' in most of these scriptures, certainly denotes the place where persons meet together on a religious account ; it is very much to be doubted whether it is to be so understood in the last of the scriptures referred to. Accordingly, our translators render it ' assembly;' a^d.so.the meaning is, ' When you are met together, if a poor man come into your assembly, you despise him.' But suppose the word 'synagogue' were to be taken in this, as it is in the other scriptures, for the place of worship ; suppose, also, that by a parity, of reason, the word ' church' maybe taken in the same sense ; all that can be inferred is, that they who call places of worship ' churches' speak agreeably to the sense, though it may be not agreeably to the express words of scripture. This, however,, is so trifling a controversy, that it is not worth our while to say any thing more respecting it. The learhed Medem insists largely on it, in a discourse founded on the words of the apostle already mentioned, ' Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or de- e 1 Cor. xi. 20. f Verse 22. g The words i 7. c n.ml,x Proseucha. Iw»{«, re««»»r.,{„, Oratoria. d Gen. xxi. 33. e See Mede's Works, vol. ,. book i. disc. 8 t See vol i. p. 608. g l Sam. ix. 19. h Chap. x. 5. i 1 Kings xi. 7. xu. 31. k 2 Kings xu, 3; xiv. 4; xv. 4. 1 Acts xvi. 13. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 13 have been one of those places to which the Jews resorted for prayer and other pub lic worship. Others suppose also that the place mentioned in the gospel, to which our Saviour resorted, was one of these ; and that the words, ' he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God,'™ ought to be rendered, ' in that particular place where prayer was wont to be made to God.'n But the Greek words may as well be rendered as they are in our translation ; and then they have reference to no particular place of prayer, but import his retirement to perform this duty. We have thus endeavoured to prove, that the church of the Jews had other places in which worsfiip was performed, besides the temple, — a circumstance which was of very great advantage for propagating religion among them. We might have farther proceeded to consider their church- censures, ordained by God for crimes committed, whereby, when the crimes they were guilty of did not deserve death, persons were cut off from among their people by excommunication. But I shall not enlarge any farther upon this Head, but proceed to speak concerning the gos pel-church. The Church under the Ministry of the Apostles. Here we shall consider the methods taken, in order to the first planting and in crease of the church, by the apostles. When our Saviour had finished the work of redemption, he, after his resurrection, altered the form of the church, and ap pointed his apostles not only to signify to the world that he had done so, but to be instruments in erecting the new church. We have already considered the apostles as qualified to be witnesses of Christ's resurrection, and also as having received a commission from him to preach the gospel to all nations, and an order to tarry at Jerusalem till they received those extraordinary gifts from the Holy Ghost which were necessary for their performing the work they were to engage in. Agreeably to the instructions given them, they all now resided at Jerusalem ; and, a few days after Christ's ascension into heaven, the Holy Ghost was poured upon them on the day of Pentecost.0 They then immediately began to exercise their public ministry in that city ; and they had there the advantage of publishing the gospel to a numer ous concourse of people, who had resorted thither from the various parts of the world in which the Jews were dispersed, to celebrate the festival. Some suppose that there was a greater number gathered together than was usual, it being one of those three feasts to which the Jews resorted from all the parts of the land. A learned writer? supposes, indeed, that the Jews were not obliged to go to this feast from other nations ; and that those who did go were not said, as these are, to dwell at Jerusalem. He thinks, therefore, that what brought them thither from the several parts of the world, was the expectation which the Jews generally had that the Messiah would appear, and erect a temporal kingdom, and that Jerusalem was the place where he would fix his throne ; so that they would be there to wait on him, and share the honours they expected from him. But, whatever occasion brought them thither, it was a seasonable opportunity for the gospel first to be preached. Accordingly, Peter preached his first sermon to a multitude who were gathered together ; and therein he exercised the gift of tongues, by which means, not only was his discourse understood by men of different languages, but they had a plain proof that he was under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He takes oc casion also to improve this amazing dispensation of providence, by telling them that it was an accomplishment of what had been predicted by the prophet Joel ; and then he preached Christ to them, declaring that he and the rest of the apostles, were all witnesses that God raised him from the dead, and exalted him by his right hand, and that, in consequence of this, the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon them. The success of his first sermon was very remarkable ; for there were added to the church, as the first-fruits of his ministry, ' three thou sand souls. 'i We read also that ' the Lord added to the church daily such as should m Luke vi. 12. n E» tij ¦r^rtoxi T°" s"v- '" Proseucha Dei. o Acts ii. i, 2. p See Lightfoot on Acts ii. 5. vol. i. p»j;es 751, 752. q Acts ii. 41, 47. 14 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. be saved.' Soon after it is said that ' the number of the men,' of whom the church consisted, 'was about five thousand. 'r This was a very large and numerous church ; and, as is more than probable, it met in the same city. For we must conclude that they fixed their abode there, rather than that they returned to the respective places whence they came, that they might have an opportunity to sit un der the sound of the gospel, which was at that time preached nowhere else. What makes this more probable is the method they adopted for their subsistence in the world. There would have been no occasion for those who had possessions to sell them, and dispose of the price to supply the exigencies of their fellow-members. had they not removed from their habitations, and forsaken all ior the sake of the gospel. This church had wonderful instances of the presence of God among them, which did more than compensate for the loss they must be supposed to have sustained as to their secular affairs. We read, for some time, of little else but success attend ing the gospel, and of persecutions raised by the Jews against it which rather tend ed to their own shame and confusion than to the extirpating of it. When the Jews, at length, so far prevailed that, after the death of Stephen, the first martyr, a new persecution was begun by the instigation of Saul, as yet not converted to the faith, the immediate consequence was the scattering of the church ' throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,8' but the eventual result was the furtherance of the gospel ; for, wherever the brethren went, they preached, and many believed. The apostles, at the same time, obeying the order which was previously given them, continued at Jerusalem ; ' and there still remained a church in that city sitting un der their ministry. This was wisely ordered by the providence of God, not only as an accomplishment of those predictions which respected the gospel being first sounded thence, but that, in this church, a sufficient number might be trained up for the exercise of the ministry in other places, when there should be occasion for their services ; and, in order to this, they had some advantages which no schools of learning could afford them, for they had the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost. Here it was that the prophets and evangelists were first raised up, being imme diately taught by God. This was the first scene of the gospel-church. Here it con tinued till the apostles were ordered, by the Holy Ghost, to travel into those parts of the world in which, by his direction, their ministry was to be exercised. The greatest part of them were ordered to those places in which • some of the Jews resided. But Paul was ordained to exercise his ministry among the Gentiles. Accordingly, we read that ' the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'u This divine command they imme diately obeyed ; and then we read of churches erected in various parts of the world by his ministry who is styled ' the apostle of the Gentiles.' There are several things observable in the exercise of Paul's ministry. Wher ever he went, he preached the gospel, and confirmed it by miracles, as occasion served. This was attended with such wonderful success and expedition, that the multitudes which were converted by his ministry exceeded not only what might be gathered by one man in the compass of his life, but by several ages of men, unless their ministry should be accompanied by a remarkable hand of providence. At one time, we read of him exercising his ministry ' from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum;'1 at other times, in several parts of Asia Minor; then in Spain, and at Rome, and in some parts of Greece ; * and wherever he went, his ministry was attended with such wonderful success as might be described in the words of the Roman emperor, 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' When the apostle had, by the success of his ministry, prepared in any place fit materials for a church, as it would have taken up too much of his time to reside among them till they were provided with a pastor and other officers, who were necessary to carry on the work which was begun, he sent for one of the evangelists, who, as was formerly observed, were fitted for this service by those extraordinary gifts which they had received, while they continued in the church at Jerusalem. The office of these evangelists seems r Acts iv. 4. s Chap. viii. 1. t Chap. i. 4. u Chap. xiii. 2. x Rom. iv, 19. y Ver.28. THE CHURCH,. VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 15 to have been principally this ; they were to ' set in order the things that were want ing,' or left by the apostles to be done, and to ' ordain elders in every city ;' as the apostle Paul intimates in his charge to Tittfs, z who appears to have been an evangelist particularly ordained to minister to him, and to build upon the founda tion he had laid. The evangelists appear to have had all. the qualifications for the ministry which the apostles had, excepting what respected the latter having seen Jesus, and having been theireby qualified to be witnesses of his resurrection ; and they continued till they had performed their work, in settling pastors and other officers in churches ; and then they were ready to obey another call, to succeed the apostles in some other places, and so perform the same work there. While the apostles were thus concerned for the gathering and building up of churches, and were assisted in this work by the evangelists, there was a continual intercourse between them and those churches whose rise was owing to the success of their ministry. Accordingly, they conversed with them by epistles ; some of which they received by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as designed to be a rule of the church's faith in all succeeding ages. Some of these epistles were written by other apostles, but most of them by Paul.a He sometimes desires to ' know the state' of the churches to whom he wrote ; at other times, he informs them of his own, the opposition he met with, the success of his ministry, the persecutions he was exposed to for it,b and the necessity of the churches which required contribu tion for their support ; and in doing this, he often enlarges on those important truths, which, had he been among those to whom he wrote, would have been the subject of his ministry. This was necessary to strengthen their hands, and encourage them to persevere in that faith which they made profession of. We may add, that there were, upon several occasions, messengers sent from the churches to the apostle, to in form him of their state, to transmit to him those contributions which were necessary for the relief of other churches, and to give him the countenance, encouragement, andassistance, which his necessities required. Some of these were very excellent persons, the best that could be chosen out of the church for the service. The apos tle calls some of them, ' the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ,'" wiiich is an extraordinary character. Some think, that he means, by the expres sion, that they were the messengers of churches which were the glory of Christ, that is, the seat in which he displays his glory. Others suppose, that he calls the messengers, 'the glory of Christ,' as they, by their wise and faithful conduct, pro moted his glory ; which was notvdependent on, but illustrated thereby. Sometimes they were ministers of churches, sent occasionally on these errands. Thus Epa- phroditus was a messenger and minister of the church at Philippi ;d and One- siphorus was sent to strengthen and encourage the hands of the apostle, when he was a prisoner at Rome, whom Paul speaks of with great affection, when he says, ' He sought me out very diligently, and found me, and was not ashamed of my chain.'6 These were very useful persons to promote the interest of Christ, which was carried on by the apostles ; though it does not appear that theirs was a stand ing office in the church, their service being only occasional. The Nature and Government of the Christian Church. Having thus considered the apostle as engaged in gathering and building up churches, in the way which was peculiar to them in the first age of the gospel, we shall now proceed to speak concerning that state and government of the church, which was designed to continue longer than the apostolic age, and is a rule to the churches of Christ in our day. We have already considered the evangelists as succeeding the apostles, in appointing officers over churches, directing them to fit persons who might be called to the ministry, and instructing these how they should behave themselves in that relation. This was necessary, in consequence of these officers not having ground to expect such extraordinary assistances from the Spirit of God as the apostles and the evangelists had received, any more than pastors and z Tit i 5. a Phil. ii. 19. b Col. iv. 7 ; 2 Cor. i. 8; 1 Cor. xvi. 9. c 2 Cor. viii. 23. d Phil. ii. 25. e 2 Tim. i. 16, 17. 16 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. other church-officers are to expect them in our day. This leads us to consider the nature, constitution, and government of the churches of Christ in all ages. I. We shall first consider what ^e are to understand by a particular church, and what is the foundation of it. A church is a number of visible professors, called to be saints, or, at least, denominated, and, by a judgment of charity, esteemed saints ; united together by consent, in order to their having communion with one another ; and testifying their subjection to Christ, and hope of his presence in all his ordinances ; designing hereby to glorify his name, propagate his gospel and in terest in the world, and promote their mutual edification in that holy faith which is founded on scripture revelation. For these purposes they are obliged to call and set over them such pastors and other officers as God has qualified for the service, to be helpers of their faith, and to endeavour to promote their order, whereby the great and valuable ends of church communion may be answered, and God therein be glorified. This description of a particular church is agreeable to scripture, and founded on it, as may be easily made appear by referring to several scriptures in the New Testament relating to this matter. We read that the members of Christ are char acterized as saints by calling, or ' called to be saints. 'f The churches in Macedonia are said to ' give their own selves to the Lord, and to the apostles by the will of God,'s — to sit under their ministry, and follow their directions, so far as they im parted to them the mind of Christ, and were helpers of their faith and order, to his glory ; and we read of their ' professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ. 'h The church at Ephesus also is described as ' built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,' namely, the doctrines laid down by them, as the only rule of faith and obedience, 'Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.' As to their duty towards one another, they are farther said ' to build up themselves in their most holy faith, and to keep themselves in the love of God ;' that is, to do every thing, by the divine assistance, which is necessary for these ends, ' looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life ;' ' or, as it is said elsewhere, to ' consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, 'k inasmuch as this is an instituted means for answering that great end. Many other scriptures might have been brought to the same purpose, tending to prove and illustrate the description we have given of a gospel-church. But this may be evinced, also, in a reasoning from the laws of society, as founded on the law of nature, and applied to a religious society, which takes its rise from divine revelation and is founded on it. In order to our doing this, we shall lay down the following propositions. First, it is agreeable to the law of nature, and the whole tenor of scripture, that God should be glorified by social worship, and that all the members of worshipping societies should endeavour to promote the spirit ual interest of one another. Man is, by the excellency of his nature, fitted for conversation ; and he is obliged to it, by his relation to others who have the same capacities and qualifications. As, moreover, the glory of God is the end of his be ing, it ought to be the end of all those intercourses which we have with one an other ; and, as divine worship is the highest instance of our glorifying God, we are, as intelligent creatures, obliged to worship him in a social way. — Again, it is the great design of Christianity to direct us how this social worship should be performed by us as Christians, paying a due regard to the gospel, and the glory of the divine perfections as displayed in it. These are the subject of divine revelation, especially of that part of it whence the laws of Christian society are taken. — Further, they who have been made partakers of the grace of God, are obliged, out of gratitude to him, as the author of it, to proclaim his glory to the world. And as the experi ence of that grace, and the obligations which it lays persons under, are extended to others as well as ourselves, so all who are under like engagements, ought to be helpers of the faith and joy of one another, and to promote their mutual edification and salvation. Now, that this may be done, it is necessary that they consent or agree to have communion with one another in those duties in which they express f Rom. i. 7. g 2 Cor. viii. 5. h Chap. ix. 13. i Jude, ver. 20, 21. k Heh. a. 24, 25. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 17 their subjection to Christ, and desire to wait on him together in all his holy insti tutions. And the rule for their direction in this is contained in scripture ; which sets forth the Mediator's glory, as King of saints, gives a perfect directory for gospel- worship, and encouragement to hope for ' his presence in it whereby it may be at tended with its desired success. Finally, as Christ, in scripture, has described some persons as qualified to assist and direct us in this matter, as well as called them to this service, it is necessary that these religious societies should choose and appoint persons to preside over them, who are styled pastors after his own heart, who may feed them with knowledge and understanding, so that his ordinances may be rightly administered, and the ends of church communion answered, to his glory, and their mutual advantage. In this method of reasoning, the constitution of churches appears to be agreeable to the law of nature. We are not to suppose, however, with the Erastians and others, that the church is wholly founded on the laws of civil society, as if Christ had left no certain rules by which it is to be governed, besides those which are common to all societies, as an expedient to maintain peace and order. For there are other ends to be answered by church communion, which are more immediately conducive to the glory of Christ, and the promoting of revealed religion, which the law of nature, and the laws of society founded on it, can give us no direction in. It is a great dishonour to Christ, the King and Head of his church, to suppose tttat he has left them without a rule to direct them in what respects the communion of saints ; as much as it would be to assert that he has left them without a rule of faith. If God was so particular in giving directions concerning every part of that worship which was to be performed in the church before Christ's coming, so that they were not, on pain of his highest displeasure, to deviate from it ; certainly we must not think that our Saviour has neglected to give laws, by which the gospel- church is to be governed, distinct from such as are contained in the law of nature. It may hence be inferred, that no church, or religious society of Christians, has power to make laws for its own government, in those things that pertain to religious worship, or are to be deemed a part of it. I do not say that a church has no power to appoint some discretionary rules to be observed by those who are of the same communion, provided they are kept within due bounds, and Christ's kingly office be not invaded. There is a very great controversy in the world, about the church's power to decree some things which are styled indifferent ; but persons are not generally agreed in determining what they mean by indifferent things. Some understand by them those rites and ceremonies which are used in religious matters. These they call indifferent, because they are of less importance ; but by being made terms of communion, they cease to be indifferent. Besides, whether they are of greater or less importance, if they respect a necessary mode of worship, con ducive to the glory of God, such as occasions him to be more honoured than he would be by the neglect of it, to call them indifferent is to carry the idea of indifference too far, and to extend the power of the church beyond its due bounds. For as the terms of communion are to be fixed only by Christ, and as the means by which he is to be glorified, which have the nature of ordinances in which we hope for his pre sence and blessing, must be sought for from him ; so the church has not power to ordain or sanction them without his warrant. Hence, when we speak of those in different matters which the church has power to appoint, we mean those things (rhich are no part of religious worship, but merely discretionary, which may be ob served or not, without any guilt contracted, or censure ensuing. II. We are now led to consider the matter of a church, or the character of those persons who are qualified for church communion. We have already considered the church as a religious society. It is, therefore, necessary that all the members of it embrace the true religion ; and, in particular, that they deny none of those funda mental articles of faith which are necessary to salvation. It is not to be supposed that the members of any society have a perfect unanimity in their sentiments about all religious matters ; for that is hardly to be expected in this world. They are all obliged, however, as the apostle says, ' to hold the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourish ucut ministered, and knit together, .increaseth. ii. c 18 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. with the increase of God,'1 and publicly to avow or maintain no doctrine which is Subversive of the foundation on which the church is built. Revealed religion cen tres in Christ, and is referred to his glory as Mediator. Hence, all the members of a church ought to profess their faith in him and willingness to own him as their Lord and Lawgiver, and to give him the glory which is due to him as a divine Person, and as one who is appointed to execute the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. The apos tle gives a short but very comprehensive description of those who are fit members of a church, when he says, ' We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. 'm It follows, that every religious society is not a church. False religions have been propagated among the heathen and others, in distinct societies of those who performed religious wor ship, who yet had no relation to Christ, and therefore were not reckoned among his churches. On the other hand, we cannot determine concerning every member of a particular church, that his heart is right with God. That is a prerogative which belongs only to the Searcher of hearts. It is the external profession which is our rule of judging. All are not in a state of salvation who are church-members, as the apostle says, ' They are not all Israel which are of Israel.'11 He makes a dis tinction between a real subjection to Christ by faith, and a professed subjection to him. He says, concerning the church of the Jews, ' He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and hot in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God.'0 Yet they were all church-members, professedly or apparently devoted to God. Concerning such we are bound, by a judgment of charity, to conclude, that they are what they profess themselves to be, till their conduct plainly gives the lie to their profession. The visible church is compared to the net, which had good and bad fish in it ;P and to 'the great house' in which are 'vessels' of various kinds, — 'some to honour, and some to dishonour, 'Q — some fit for the master's use, others to be broken as ' vessels wherein is no pleasure,'1, — some sincere, others hypocrites. Yet till their hypocrisy is made manifest, they are supposed to be fit matter for a church. [See Note E, p. 42.]III. We are now to consider the form or bond of union, whereby the members are incorporated into a society, and so denominated a church of Christ. It is neither profession of faith, nor conduct agreeable to it, which constitutes a person a mem ber of a particular church ; for, according to the laws of society, there must be a mutual consent to walk together, or to have communion one with another in all the ordinances which Christ has established. As the materials of which a building consists, do not constitute the building unless they are cemented and joined to gether ; so the union of professing Christians, whereby they are joined together and become one body by mutual consent, is necessary to constitute them a church, as much as their professed subjection to Christ to denominate them a church of Christ. Hereby they become a confederate body ; and as every one, in a private capacity, was before engaged to perform those duties which are incumbent on all men as Christians, now they bring themselves, pursuant to Christ's appointment, under an obligation to endeavour, by the assistance of divine grace, to walk becom ing the relation they stand in to each other, or, as the apostle expresses himself, 'to build up themselves in their most holy faith,'5 so that the ends of Christian society may be answered, and the glory of Christ secured ; and they have ground to expect his presence in waiting on him in all his holy institutions. By means of this union they who were before considered as fit subjects for church-fellowship are said to be united together as a church of Christ. But as this principally respects the foundation or erection of churches, there are other things necessary for their increase, for the maintaining of that purity which is their glory, and for thereby preventing their contracting the guilt which would otherwise ensue. IV. We are thus led to consider the power which Christ has given them, and the rules which he has laid down to be observed by them, in the admission of per sons to church communion, and in the exclusion ot them from it. 1 Col. ii. 19. m Phil. iii. 3. n Rom. ix. 6. o Chap. ii. 28, 29. p Matt. xm. 47. q 2 Tim. ii. 20. r Jer. xxii. 28. s Jude 20. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 19 1. As to the admission of members who may fill up the places of those whose relation to them is dissolved by death, it is highly reasonable that the churches should have all the satisfaction which is necessary concerning their fitness for church communion. Butwe must inquire what terms or conditions are to be insisted on, and complied with, in order to admission. We must not suppose that these are arbitrary, or such as a church shall please to impose ; for it is no more in their power to make terms of communion, than it is to make a rule of faith or worship. In this, a church differs from a civil society. The terms of admission into the lat ter are arbitrary, provided they do not interfere with any of the laws of God or man. But the terms of Christian communion are fixed by Christ, the Head of his church ; and therefore no society of men have a right to make the door of admission into their own communion straiter or wider than Christ has made it. This is a matter in which some of the reformed churches differ among themselves ; though the dis- sention ought not to rise so high as to cause any alienation of affection, or any de gree of uncharitableness, so as to occasion any to think that because they do not in all things agree as to this matter, they ought not to treat one another as those who hold the Head, and are designing to advance the interest of Christ in the various methods they are pursuing to advance it. I think it is allowed by most of the churches of Christ— at least by those who suppose that persons have no right to church communion, without the consent of that particular society of which any one is to be made a member — that nothing short of a professed subjection to Christ, and a desire to adhere to him in all his offices, as well as worship him in all his ordinances, can be reckoned a .term of church communion. For we suppose the church to be built upon this foundation ; and nothing short of it can sufficiently set forth the glory of Christ as its Head, or answer the valuable ends of church com munion. It follows that, as ignorance of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ dis qualifies for church communion, so also does immorality in conduct ; for both of these evince a person to be alienated from the life of God, a stranger to the cove nant of promise, and in subjection to Satan, the god of this world, which is incon sistent with a professed subjection to Christ. Hence, a mind rightly informed in the great doctrines of the gospel, with a conduct in life corresponding to it, is to be insisted on, as a term of church communion. But that in which the sentiments of men differ, is the way and manner in which this qualification for church communion is to be rendered visible ; and whether some things which are merely circumstantial are to be insisted on as terms of com munion. That those qualifications which are necessary to church communion ought to be, in some way or other, made visible, is taken for granted by many on both sides. Indeed, without it the church could not be called 'visible,' or a society of such as profess the true religion, and, together with it, their subjection to Christ. Qualification for fellowship must, in a special manner, be made known to those who are to hold communion with the persons admitted, as called to be saints ; for this communion cannot, from the nature of the thing, be held, unless the character of saints be, in some way or other, made to appear. If it be said that there is no occasion for this character to be explicit, or the profession of it to be made other wise than as their relation to a church declares them visible professors ; we must observe that that relation is only a presumptive evidence that they are Christians, and does not sufficiently distinguish them from the world, especially from that part of it who make an outward show of religion, and attend on several branches of public worship. This mere outward profession is certainly very remote from the character given of all those churches which .we have an account of in the New Tes tament, concerning some of whom the apostle says, that 'their faith' was not only known to the particular society to which they belonged, but was ' spread abroad, ' or 'spoken of throughout the whole world.'* This it could never have been, if they who were more immediately concerned to know it, had received no other con viction than what is the result of their joining with them in some external acts of worship. That Christian character must be made visible may be inferred, also, from what is generally allowed by those who explain the nature of the Lord's Sup- t 1 Thess. i. 8, compared with Rom. i. 8. 20 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. per, which is a church ordinance, and lay down the qualifications of those who are deemed fit to partake of it, particularly that they are under an obligation to ex- mine themselves, not only concerning their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, but concerning their faith to feed on him, their repentance, love, and new obedience, their trusting in his mercy, and rejoicing in his love, and that they are under a necessity of renewing the exercise of those graces which may render them meet for this ordinance.11 This is consonant to the practice of many of the reformed churches ; who will not admit any into their communion, without receiving satisfaction as to their having these qualifications for this ordinance. Now, as the matter in contro versy with them principally respects the manner in which this is to be given, and the concern of the church in it, we may infer that there is the highest reason that the church should receive satisfaction, as well as those who preside over it. They are obliged, in conscience, to have communion with the persons admitted, and to reckon them among the number of those who have been made partakers of the grace of Christ ; and this they cannot well he said to do, unless the Christian char acter of the persons admitted be in some way or other made visible to them. We are thus led to consider the manner in which a profession of Christianity is to be made visible, — whether it is to be done by every one in his own person, or whether a report of it by another in his name may be deemed sufficient. This I can reckon no other than a circumstance. Hence, I am of opinion that one of these ways is not so far to be insisted on, as that a person whose qualifications for it are not to be questioned, should be denied the privilege of church communion because he is unwilling to comply with it, as thinking that the main end designed by it may be as effectually answered by the other. If a person be duly qualified, as the apostle says concerning Timothy, to make ' a good profession before many witnesses ;'x if his making such a profession may not only have a tendency to an swer the end of giving satisfaction to the church, but be an expedient, in an un; common degree, to promote their edification ; if he have something remarkable to impart, and desire to bear his testimony to the grace of God which he has experi enced in his own person, and thereby to induce others to join with him in giving him the glory of it ; there is no law of God or nature which prohibits or forbids him to do it. Nor ought such a public profession to be censured, as if it could not be made without being liable to the common imputation that pride must be the necessary inducement to it ; for that is such a censure and reproach as is unbe coming Christians, especially when it is alleged as an universal exception. I am far, however, from pleading for such a public profession as a necessary term of communion ; nor do I think that a person's desire to give the church satisfaction in such a way, ought always to be complied with ; for whatever occasion some may suppose they have for it, all are not fit to do it in such a way as may tend to the church's edification. There are various other ways by which a church may know that those who are proposed to its communion have a right to it, which I forbear to mention. But one of them is not to be so far insisted on, as that a refusal to comply with it rather than another, provided the general end be answered, should debar a person, otherwise qualified, from church communion. The church being satisfied, he is joined to them by their consent ; and is, in consequence, laid under equal engagements with them, to walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, blameless. 2. We are now led to consider the exclusion of members from church communion. This is agreeable to the laws of society, as well as their admission into it ; and hereby a becoming zeal is expressed for the glory of God, and a public testimony given against those who discover the insincerity of their professed subjection to Christ, which was the ground and reason of their being admitted into that relation which now they appear to have forfeited. Now, the church has a right to exclude those from its communion who appear to be unqualified for it, or a reproach to it. Here I cannot but take notice of the opinion of the Erastians, that a church has no power, distinct from the civil government, to exclude persons from its communion. This opinion was advanced by Erastus, a u See Quest, clxxi, clxxiv. x 1 Tim. vi. 12. THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 21 physician in Germany, soon after the beginning of the Reformation. What seems to have given occasion to it, was the just prejudice which he entertained against the Popish doctrine, concerning the independence of the church upon the state. This was then, and is at this day, maintained and abused to such a degree, that if a clergyman insults the government, and sets himself at the head of a rebellion against his lawful prince, or is guilty of any other enormous crimes, he flies to the church for protection, and generally finds it there ; especially if the king should, in any respect, disoblige him, or refuse to lay his crown at his feet, if he desire it. Opposition to this was, I say, a just prejudice ; and gave first rise to the opinion of Erastus, who, in opposing one extreme, ran into another. The argument by which his opinion is generally supported, is, that the independence of the church upon the state tends to erect or set up one government within another/ But this is not contrary to the law of nature and nations, when a smaller government is not co-ordinate with the other, but allowed and protected by it. The government of a family or corporation must be acknowledged by all to be a smaller government in cluded in a greater. But will any one deny that they are inconsistent with it ? May not a master admit into his family whom he pleases, or exclude them from being members of it? Or may not a corporation make the by-laws by which it is governed, without being supposed to interfere with the civil government ? And, by a parity of reason, may not a church, pursuant not only to the laws of society, but to the rule which Christ has given, exclude members from its communion, with out being supposed to subvert the fundamental laws of civil government ? We do not deny that, if the church should pretend to inflict corporal punishments on its members, or make use of the civil sword, which is committed into the hand of the magistrate ; or if it should act contrary to the laws of Christ, by defending, en couraging, or abetting those who are enemies to the civil government, or excluding them from those privileges which the laws of the land give them a right to, its do ing so would be a notoriously unwarrantable instance of erecting one government within another, subversive of it. But this is not the design of excommunication, as one of those ordinances which Christ has given to his church. We are now to consider the causes of inflicting censure on persons. These are no other than those things which, had they been before known, would have been a hinderance to their being admitted to church communion. Hence, when a person is guilty of those crimes which, had they been known before, he ought not to have been received, and when these are made to appear, he is deemed unqualified for that privilege which he was before admitted to partake of. On this account we generally say, that every one first excludes himself, by being guilty of those crimes which disqualify him for church communion, before he is to be excluded from it by the sentence of the church.— But, that we may be a little more particular on this subject, let us consider that they who disturb the tranquillity of the church, by the uneasiness of their tempers, or who are not only unwilling to comply with the me thod of its government, but endeavour to make others so, or who are restless in their attempts to bring innovations into it, or to propagate doctrines which are contrary to scripture, and the general faith of the church founded on it, though these be not di rectly subversive of the gospel, yet, inasmuch as the persons are not satisfied in retain ing their own sentiments, without giving disturbance to others who cannot adhere to them, such, I think, ought to be separated from the communion of the church, purely out of a principle of self-preservation ; though it is not the church's im mediate duty to judge the state so much as the temper of the persons, whom they withdraw from. — Again, if a person propagate a doctrine subversive of the gospel, or of that faith on which the church is founded, he is to be excluded. It is such an one, as I humbly conceive, whom the apostle styles ' an heretic, ' and advises Titus ' to reject, ' and of whom he speaks as one that ' is subverted, and sin- neth, being condemned of himself. 'z Some think that the person here spoken of, is one who pretends to believe one doctrine, but really believes another which is of a most pernicious tendency ; that he is to be rejected, not for his sentiments, but for his insincerity ; and that on this account he is said to be ' self-condemned. '» But I cannot acquiesce in this sense of the text. For though there may be some y Impcrium in imperio. z Tit. iii. 10, 11, a &t>rixtt"> Tav *yi6v 'xsirou nvtu/iwras firecga xilf,™mii ffuKlrai tlixadovert "imfioms xai xcXXtts titwut tTtriXouai xxi ifui(pit Jerusalem mure church- members than could assemble iu one place of meeting. A plurality of pastors, however, is no evi dence of a plurality of congregations. Most ot the Christian congregations during the first, second, and third centuries — at least most if not all in large towns — appear, un unquestionable testimony, to have had each a college of pastors. As to the church at Jerusalem, I have no inclination to make it seem less numerous, than the highest calculations will warrant; but, whatever were its numbers, It clearly, so long as we have notices of it in the New Testament, held all its public meetings as a single congregation. We have no hint either ot two simultaneous meetings having been held, or of the mem bers having been partitioned into two or more sections ; but, on the other hand, we have au account of ' all the multitude,' ' the apostles and elders, with the whole church,' so late as thirteen )ears after the day of Pentecost, holding their meeting in one place, Actsxv. 12, 22. A very large proportion of the converts or original members of the church at Jerusalem, it must be remembered, were strangers or temporary visiters from almost every province ot the Roman empire (Acts ii. 7 11.); and they must be supposed, like the Ethiopian eunuch, to have soon returned to their respective homes, there to live in a dispersed condition as ' the salt ot the earth.' Besides, however nuui.ruus the 38 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. resident members of the church were, they had scarcely tasted the enjoyments of church-fellow- ship when ' they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles,' Acts viii. 1. No stronger a presumption, peihaps. against a theoretic possibility of any church being able to meet and to observe Christian ordinances in one place, could he urged than the events of the church at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. ' They that gladly received the word,' we are told, ' were baptized ; and the same day there were added about three thousand souls,' Acts ii. 41. Now, is it conceivable, a theorist might exclaim, that a church could meet in company with so enormous a multitude that three thousand of the latter should at a single meeting be converted ? Is it conceivable that, in one place of assembly, three thousand persons could be baptized that a church of more than this number of persons could, in one place, hold stated meetings and observe Christian ordinances? Yes, says the narrative, not Only is it possible, but it was the fact ; for apart from the circumstance that the conversion and the baptism of the three thousand occurred at the church's public meeting, 'the church,' after the three thousand were added to them, and while constantly receiving fresh accessions, 'continued daily with one accord iu the temple,' Acts ii. 46. See also chap. iv. 23, 24, 31, 32; v. 41, 42. The instances of Ephesus and Jerusalem, then, are no exceptions to the current and remarkably frequent use of the word 'church' to designate a single Christian congregation. Another class of theological writers allege that the word ' church ' bears two meanings distinct from any we have yet mentioned. One of these is, a Christian congregation as actually assembled. They distinguish this sense of the word from a Christian congregation simply as such, and found particularly on the passage, ' lc is a shame for women to speak in the church;' (1 Cor. xiv. 35.) re marking that if ' church ' be not here understood as something distinct from a congregation, female - church-members are virtually prohibited from ever speaking. But is it not clear that 'in the church' means in the church as such ? If by church were meant church-fellow ship, or the relation of church-membership, women might, indeed, be said to lie under an obligation of perpetual silence. But what is said is, ' It is a shame for women to speak in the church,' — not in the condition of church-members, not in the family circle, not in the presence of a few fellow-members, but either in the congregation as assembled or in any manner involving address to all its members. The writers to w horn I allude seem thus to fall into a non-sequitur when they argue lor the distinctness of a church as such, and of a church as assembled. Nor do they reason better in support of their other sense of the word, — that it means a family of believers together with any Christians statedly meeting with them for worship. This meaning they found on the phrase which occurs in three texts, in reference to three distinct bodies, 'the church which is in their house,' Rom. xvi. 5; Col. iv. 15 ; Philem. 2. But who, except a person habituated to make distinctions almost for the sake of making them, can see any difference between a church in a private house and a churcli in a vast area like that of the temple at Jerusalem, except that the one was very small and the other very large ? Various principalities on the continent of Europe do not number half a million of sub jects, while the principality of China is said to number upwards of three hundred millions ; are the former, on account ot their comparative littleness, not really sovereign states? The two senses, then, of the word church — that it means the aggregate body of the redeemed, and that it means a single congregation of Christians — appear, so far as we have examined the sub ject, to be the only ones sanctioned in reference to the Christian dispensation. — Ed.] [Note B- The Invisible Church. — Not one scripture is quoted as even remotely sanctioning the use of the word 'church' in the sense of 'the invisible church.' Nor, in fact, are we told or helped to conceive what ' the invisible church,' as distinct from the church in the sense of the aggregate body of the redeemed, is. So far as appears from either definition or evidence, the thing talked about eludes not more completely the sense ol sight, than every other sense, and the understanding to boot. Dr. Ridgeley speaks of it, under three particulars, as elect and subject to Christ, as only in the progress ol being gathered to its living Head, and as ' hid with Christ in God.' But so far as these ideas are correlative with any meaning of the word church, they describe simply the general body of the saved, or denote some features by which it is characterized. If, on such grounds, or on account of distinguishing phases in the condition or history of the redeemed, we are to have the distinction of 'the church invisible,' we not only may, with Dr. Ridgeley, have the further distinc tions of ' the church militant,' and ' the church triumphant,' but may also have the distinctions of ' the church elect,' ' the church regenerated,' ' the church millennial,' ' the church ante-resurrec- tional,' ' the church post-resurrectional,' ' the church in sackcloth,' ' the church in royal robes,' 'the ctaun h imperfect,' 'the church perfect,' 'the church missionary," 'the church terrestrial, 'the church associate with angels.' There is, in fact, no end to distinctions, when the passion for making them usurps the place of simplification and exposition. The scholais of the nineteenth century could probably add tenfold to the long list of them iu the writings of the schoolmen of the dark ages, who regarded the making of them as the only creditable achievement in theological pursuit. But modern writers, instead of perpetuating the practice of the schoolmen, are b.tter employed when they discard every distinction not sanctioned by the Bible. The simple fact that the idea ot ' the church invisible' has not the countenance of one text ol scripture, and is incom petent to throw light on an\ doctrine ot revelation, or any scriptural view of ecclesiastical economy, is a sufficient reason for its being entirely rejected. Ed.] [Note C.^ The Holy Catholic Church The ancient Christians held no such opinion respecting •the church as seems indicated in what is popularly but erroneously termed 'the Apostles' Creed.' Neither the apostolic Christians, as distinguished from earh errorists, nor the senior Christian com munity, as distinguished lrom the first dissenters, were called • the Catholic, church.' Those sum- manes of the primitive faith which are preserved in the extant writings of the three earliest centu- n,s, are free lrom such phraseology, ou the subject of ' the church,' as. figures in some creeds of later periods. One of them given bv Origen, says merely, that " the true faith is very clearlv preached iu all the churches;" another, given by Cyprian, speaks of " the remission of sins, and life THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 39 everlasting, through the holy church ;" and all the others are silent as to either ' the church' or 1 churches.' The general writings of the period pursue a similar course. Tertullian, and even earlier authors, made frequent use, indeed, of the word 'church;' yet they employed it in uo such exclusive sense as was attached to it in the fourth and following centuries; but identified it chiefly with ' the body of Christ,' or with the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit. " Where the church is," says Irenaeus. "there is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the church, and every grace." " The Spirit," says Tertullian, "gathers together that church which the Lord hath established ; and hence any number of persons who may have jointly adopted this faith, are esteemed a church hy its author, who set it apart. The church, therefore, will indeed give remis sions ; but the church is the Spirit acting through the spiritual man ; the church is not a number of bishops (ministers)." Early in the third century undue importance began to be attached to the administering and re moving of church censures. Sins against the brethren came to be in a degree undistinguished from sins against God; or, more .properly, sins as disqualifying for Christian fellowship, came to be un distinguished from sins us affecting the condition of the soul. The province of the churches to judge of the evidences of Christian character, began gradually to be viewed as a province to decide on the state of a professing Christian's heart. All the early churches justly regarded their discipline as the use of ' the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' or as the exercise of the power of ' binding and loosing,' which was committed to the apostles. But what, in the two earliest centuries, was viewed as admission to mere fraternal confidence, began, in the third, to be viewed as in a degree the imparting of a character, or the deciding of a moral condition. What chiefly, and perhaps solely, occasioned this change, was the gradual usurpation by the pastors or ' bishops' of undue ecclesias tical power. When the ecclesiastics of the third century set up pretensions to a loftier domination than comported with the simplicity of more primitive times, they claimed for their authority every possible kind of importance, and naturally promulged new and strange doctrines, such as might im press the people with awe, respecting the nature and consequences of their acts of discipline. To admit or to excommunicate members, was hence represented as • a binding' or ' a loosing' in some mysterious or peculiarly solemn sense, — 'a binding' or 'a loosing' of such a character, as to involve more or less the highest interests of the soul. This error, which was destined to assume, in the course of a feyv centuries, the settled form of the Romish doctrine of absolution from all sins by ordained priests, had acquired sufficient distinctness of outline to be perceptible, even in the days of Tertullian; and as first mooted, or as existing iu a shadowy and unackuoyvledged state, it is exactly what that primi tive yy liter denounces iu the qdotation which closed our last paragraph: "The church will, indeed, give remissions; but. the church is the Spirit acting through the spiritual man; the church is not a number of bishops." Teitullian's doctrine, promulged during the first years of the third century, was extensively undermined betyveen the years 248 and 260, — a period which yvas distinguished by alike the pious labours and the injurious influences of the celebrated Cyprian. That generally ex cellent man yvas the worst innovator, whom the churches had hitherto encountered, on the rights and liberties of the Christian people; and, without intending or foreseeing so painful a result, he did more than many of his predecessors united, to convert the primitive form of church order into an incipient system of unscriptuial domination. Noyv, excepting one given by Origen which talks simply of 'the preaching of truth in the churches,' that, given by Cy prian is the only one of theprimitive summaries of faith, yvhich affords even a re mote sanction to the clause iu the apostles' creed : ' The Holy Catholic Church.' Yet even Cyprian says nothing respecting 'the Catholic church,' and he speaks of 'the Holy church,' not as a distinct article of belief, but as connected with 'remission of sins and life eternal.' He identifies— not in his creed, indeed, but in bis accompanying writings — first, ' the church' with the church's bishops, and next, the bishops' acts of discipline with some loose or floating ideas of absolution from sin or df infliction of punishment as affecting the permanent condition of the soul. He no doubt repre sents faithfully the belief which prevailed at the period, especially among his own immediate people; yet he states1 it as a belief simply in the doctrine of 'remission of sins through the holy church ;' and lie leaves us to inier, what is rendered abundantly certain by even later records than his writings, that all Such notions of ' the Holy Catholic Church' as prevailed from near the commencement of the fourth century, generally till the epoch of the Reformation, and in a degree till the present time, were unknown and uuthought of at the period yy hen he wrote. We must thus look to later documents th.m the primitive summaries of faith, in-order to find sanction lor the phrase, "the Holy Catholic Church.' The earliest creed in which it appears is the Nicene. No writer mentions any thing of 'the church' a's an article of belief, or says any thing like • I believe in the Holy Catholic Church,' before Alexander bishop of Alexandria; and even be is known or thought to have written so, onlv as he is reported in the ecclesiastical history of Theo- doret, who wrote about'the year 430. Alexander himself was the cotemporary of the council of Nice, and yvas a chief party in bringing before it both the Ariaus and the orthodox sect of Miletians; and, as represented by Theodoret, be speaks of 'the one only Catholic and apostolic church,' iu the course of a professed commentary ou the enactments ol Nice. Alter him, except as existing in the Nicene creed, there is no further trace of the clause till the time of Epiphanius, who wrote about the year 390. This yvriter, as well as several cotemporary or imineuiatel, subsequent Greek authors, recoid it as begun to be incorporated, among the eastern churches, with copies ot the apostles' creed. Yet, even at the late date of the close of the lounh century, when this clause began to be copied from the1 Nicene creed into the apostles', it -n ad for a stasou in all copies of the latter, not 'the Holy Catholic Church,' but simply 'the Holy Church.' ltufinus, who yvas cotemporary with Epi phanius, remarks, — " We do not say ' we belieye iu the Holy Church,' but ' yve believe the Holy Church,' not as in God, but as a church congregated by God;" and Augustine, writing about the year 410, and expounding the apostles' creed, says, " We believe the Holy Church, to yvit, the 40 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. Catholic one," clearly adding the word 'catholic' as a term expository of the phrase, 'the Holy Church,' yvhich yvas all his copy of the creed contained. This phrase, then, 'the Holy Catholic Church,' belongs, in all its authority and parts, to the creed of Nice, and in no degree or resp ct whatever to the apostles' creed, except as carried into it from the other toyvard the end of the fourth century, and during the progress of the fifth. If we would knoyv either its history or its intended meaning, we must look solely to the proceedings of the Nicene council. In the creed of that assembly, it reads, 'I believe one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.' This is its legitimate shape, that which it originally possessed, and the only one in which it ought ever to have appeared. Let the clause retain this form, and let a glance be given at the occasion and the objects ol convoking the council of Nice, and all its intended meaning, as well as its utter want of sanction in the consent of the three earliest centuries, will he distinctly understood. The Nicene council yyas summoned by Constantine the Great, to settle existing differences among the various parties and sects of the professing Christians. It dealt, in the fiist instance and chiefly, with the Arians, who yvere a heterodox party in the bosom of the general communion; and next to tliein, it dealt most prominently with the Novatians and the Miletiaiis, who were two large sects of or thodox dissenters, or. according to the language of the period, orthodox ' schismatics.' One of its twenty cations is occupied wholly with the affairs ot the Ntfvatians. Now, as regarded doctrine, it declared fitly enough — that the Arians weie not believers in Christ's true gospel; and as regarded commu nion, it declared — most unfitly — that the Novatians and the Miletiaiis were not members of Christ's true church; or what amounted to the same thing, it enacted that the Arians should not be treated as Christian brethren, because tbey were ' heretics,' and that the Novatians and Miletiaiis, except on condition of tneir ' conforming,' should not he treated as such, because they were 'schismatics.' What the council decreed against error was summed up iu the numerous clauses of their creed which assert the true Deity of Christ; and what they decreed against the orthodox sects was summed up in the yvords, ' the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church.' Their conduct virtually amounted to the foreshadowing, thoueh unwittingly, of those bauelul claims which have, for so many centu ries, been pleaded by the Church of Rome. The words ' Holy Catholic Church,' if interpreted either by the litht of history, the concurrent usage of early authors, or the original intention ot the council of Nice, mean little else than that the large sect protected and endowed by the Christian Roman Emperors, and afterwards presided over by 'the patriarchs' of Rome, is the one only church built ou the apostles or acknowledged by Christ, whilst the holiest and most orthodox communities who dissented from it, iu common with such egregious errorists as the Valentinians, the Basilidians, and the Carpocratians, lie under the displeasure of the great King of the Christian dispensation. We might quote several early yvriters on the clause to shoyv that this view of its original meaning is correct; but we shall content ourselves with one quotation from Augustine: " We believe the Holy Church, to wit, the Catholic one; for heretics and schismatics call their congregations churches; but heretics, by false opinions concerning God, violate the faith; and schismatics, by unjust separa tions, depart from brotherly love, although they believe what we believe. Wherefore a heretic doth not belong to the catholic church, because she loves God; nor a schismatic, because she loves her neighbour." So far, then, as the apostles' creed represents the Christian sentiments of the three earliest cen turies, the clause, 'the Holy Catholic Church,' must be expunged; and so lar as it represents the sentiments of later ages, that clause must be treated as at war with the doctrines of the Bible, and as a defence of the corruptions which pioneered the papacy. The best possible apology which can be made for it is, that, vieyved apart from its history, it absolutely wants meaning. • To believe a church,' in any such sense as to believe a doctrine, such as * the resurrection of the body,' or ' the life everlasting,' is manifestly absurd; and 'to believe in a church,' would be to make erring mor tals the guides of unerring faith, or to invest them yvith an authority over the conscience yvhich should be inconsistent w ith the supreme claims of revelation. The scriptures invite us to ' believe ' only in doctrines revealed; and they invite us to 'believe in' only the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christ's churches upon earth are simply communities of ' saints,' ' laithful men,' 'called,' 'brethren;' they are hollies of believers who must 'bear one another's burdens,' and ' each esteem others better than himself — 'fed' and 'taught' by ministers who are not 'lords over them, but helpers ol their joy ' — and bound to 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free.' — Ed.] [Note D. The Visible Church. — Used as a collective term to denote all Christian congregations, or the aggregate body of professing Christians, the word 'church' is convenient and expressive, and can hardly, even by a fastidious thinker, be regarded as liable to exception. This sense of it, however, must not, I think, be exhibited as having the sanction of scripture; nor must it be allowed to have any influence or place iu questions of ecclesiastical economy. To speak of the church iu a general way as expressive of the aggregate body of professing Christians, is only a convenient usage, which saves a yvrtter from periphrases, or from the cacophonous use of such phrases as ' the pro fessing Christian churches of the world,' ' the professedly Christian population of the earth ;' but to speak ot ' the church' iu the technical and distinctive manner intended by the designation ' the visible church,' is to introduce interminable confusion into our ideas of ecclesiastical economy, and afford an inlet and a sanction to innumerable abuses iu the practice of discipline and the observance of ordinances. The phrase ' visible church,' if viewed in the light of history, or even in that of present usage, is a perfect polyglott of significations, — sometimes exhibiting six or eight languages in a royv. Even an alleged part of 'the visible church ' — 'the national church' of any given country — is not untrequentlv understood in a variety of conflicting senses. At one time it means all the inhabitants of the soil ; at another, all the baptized inhabitants; at another, all the baptized who hay e received baptism iu the established communion ; at another, all the Christian communicants of the country ; at another, all the communicants of the established sect; at another, all the church judicatories ut the country ; at another, the supreme ecclesiastical judicatory of the establishment THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 41 co-operating with the state. In all these senses, and perhaps in some others, the phrase ' the church of ,' as designative of the sect established by law in a country, is often understood. Yet this phrase, with all its diversity of meanings, designates only a part of what is meant to be expressed by the phrase, 'the visible church.' How perplexingly conlused, then, how surpassingly indefinite, hoyv exquisitely adapted to the purposes of subterfuge and corruption, must the latter phrase he I The grossest outrages on Christian libetty, the most latitudinarian or licentious invasions on scriptural views of ecclesiastical discipline, the wildest efforts to extend the Christian name to almost any thing in faith and almost every thing in 'morals, the most audacious courses of antichris- tian usurpation and tyranny, have all careered over the phrase 'visible church' as a field of summer dust, a yvildemess ot impalpable sand, throwing up such clouds as have at once concealed their oyvn movements and blinded the eyes of onlookers or pursuers. The only definition of 'the visible church' yvhich can at all bear examination, is that which makes it a collective name for all single Christian congregations, or a designation of the viggregate body of professing Christians. This seems to be, with some deviations, the sense attached to it throughout Dr. liidgeley's remarks; it is, at all events, the sense in yvhich he understands it when he claims lor it a scriptural sanction. As far, then, as he is concerned, the only question is, whe ther the use of the word ' church,' thus understood, is simply a matter of convenience, or whether it possesses sacred authority, ami, iu consequence, ought to influence our views of ecclesiastical economy ? Noyv, Dr. Ridgeley does appear to me to fail in his attempt to adduce scriptural proof. As to the passage, 'God hath set some iu the church, first apostles; secondarily prophets,' &c, (1 Cor. xii. 28.) it would be hard to shoyv that ' the church' of which it speaks is the aggregate body of Christian congregations coteinporaueously existing at any period ou the earth. Just to that church, to those persons, to that elected multitude yvhom Christ bought with his blood, has God given, as they pass in their successive generations through the world, all those ordinances, whether the ministry of apostles, or the ministry of prophets, or the ministry of evangelists, or the ministry of pastors and teachers, which are for 'the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till they all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knoyvledge of the Sou of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,' Eph. iv. 1 1 — 13. The apostles, iu particular — on the peculiarity of whose office Dr. Ridgeley appears wholly to rest his argument — were not given to the aggregate body of single congregations in the primitive age, nor to the aggregate bqdy of professing Christians in any one period of the world's history, but to 'the general assembly anil church of the first-born yvhich are written in heaven,' or to that entire church over yvhom their inspired writings yvill have an everlasting influence. Hence, the wall of the new Jerusalem, the emblem of the entire body of the saved in a state of celestial glorification, is said to have 't .ehe foundations, anil in them the names of the tyvelve apostles of the Lamb,' Rev. xxi. 14. Hence, loo, the united multitude ui Jewish and Gentile believers — all who have 'access by one Spirit to the Father' — are said to be ' built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groyvetb unto an holy temple in the Lord,' Eph. ii. 20, 21. As to the passages which speak of Paul's persecuting ' the church,' they may not be of so easy explanation. If, however, any one should assert that by ' the church' of which they speak is to be understood only the church at Jerusalem, the obligation to prove the opposite would lie with persons w ho adopt Dr. liidgeley's exposition. For belbre it can be alleged that the word is an aggregate designation of seyeral churches or congregations, proof must be furnished that such churches existed at the time to which the passages refer. Noiv, yvhere is the proof that, at the period ol Paul's being " persecutor, there had been formed any other stated congregation than that at Jerusalem? Paul, it is to be remembered, was comerted in the year 33; anil he is first noticed as a persecutor only in the previous year, when, in consequence apparently of his proceedings, the church at Jerusalem ' were all scattered abroad throughout Judea and Samaria.' His persecution is noticed in the book of Acts seemingly iu connexion with Jerusalem only, and with his purpose to make inquisition iu Damascus. He appears to have remained at Jerusalem till 'he went to the high pritst; and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues.' He speaks, indeed, of ' the churches ol Judea;' but he not only says that ' he was unknown by face to them,' but makes mention ot them as cotempoianeous with his 'going into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,' Gal. i. 21, 22. Now, as we learn from comparing Gal. i. 17, 18. with Acts ix. 22—30, he did not go into ' Syria and Cilicia,' or toward ' Ctesarea and Tarsus,' till at least three years — possibly not till four or rive or six — after his conversion. Is it not probable, then, that 'the churches ot Judea" which then existed had sprung out of the labours of the brethren composing the church at Jerusalem who, a little w bile before his conversion, ' yvere scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria,' and who ' went everywhere preaching the word?' Acts vni. 1, 4. If so, these churches 'hearing that he w ho persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroy ed,' (Gal. i. 23.) must refer simply to his persecuting persons ol their vieyvs and character,— persecuting the class ot men to which they belonged. Had ihey existed as churches in the days of his being perse cutor, and been subjected, as Dr. liidgeley's argument assumes, to his persecuting rage, he could i ardly have been ' unknown to them by face.' At yvhatever time these churches were planted, thev yvere, so late as at least three years after his conversion, unacquainted with his person, and had only heard of his character and history. Two things may seem strange in the supposition I have made, — that, so late as the date of Paul's conversion, or in the fourth year alter the nay of Pentecost, there yvas no Christian church except that uf Jerusalem ; and that, so early alter that interyal as the date of his going to Syria and Cilicia, churches bad sprung up iu Judea, But it must be remembered that the apostles, in the commission thev received to preach the gospel to the world, were instructed to "begin at Jerusalem;' (Luke xxiv 47 ) and that they appear io haye been remarkably sloyv to commence exertiuus ucyuiiu the II'. ' * 42 THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. precincts of that city. Petei's visit to Cornelius, for example, did not occur till eleven years u tcr Pentecost, or seven alter Paul's conversion. As to churches springing up in Judea between the date of the dispersion of the church of Jeiusalem and that of Paul's going to Syria anil Cilicia, no event, not expressly narrated, can seem more probable. The interval between the dates was four years; and the number of dispersed brethren employed in preaching must have been very great, — almost multitudinous. During this interval, too, yye are expressly told ' Samaria received the yvnrd of God,' or for the first time produced any materials for a Christian church, Acts viii. 14. 'Now. the dispei sion which affected Samaria was exactly the event yvhich affected Judea; for the brethren who went everyyvhere preaching the word yvere 'scattered abroad tbroughuut the regions of Judea and Samaria.' What more probable an inference, then, than that ' the churches of Judea ' referred to by Paul yvere planted during the period immediately succeeding bis persecutions? There is only another point in Dr. Ridgeley's argument, or in the passages adduced by him, which requires notice. Paul says he ' persecuted the church of God;' and he here employs a designation 'ihich may he thought too emphatic to be applied to the congregation of Jerusalem. But exactly fhe same designation is elsewhere applied by him to each of several congregations. Thus he in scribes hjs First Epistle to the Corinthians 'To the church of God which is at Corinth,' 1 Cor. i. 2. He asks the disorderly communicants of that, congregation, in reference to their seemingly contemp tuous treatment of the stated public meetings of their brethren, ' Despise ye the church of God ?' 1 Cor. xi. 22. He exhorts the elders of Ephesus, iu reference to the pastoral duties which they owed to the congregation, to 'feed the church of God, yvhich he hath purchased with his oyvn blood,' Acts xx. 28, He asks, in reference to a bishop or pastor's relation to the congregation which he rules, ' If a man know not how to rule bis oyvn bouse, how shall he take care of the church of God?' I Tim. iii. 5. To apply the designation 'church of God' to a single congregation, is thus a current usage of the apostle's style. I am far from asserting that the vieyy I have given of the church yvhich Paul persecuted, accords with assured tact. All I yvould say respecting it is, that it is vindicated by yvhat appears to me respectable evitlence; while the view contended for by Dr. Ridgeley is, so far as I know, supported by no evidence whatever. Before it can be asserted that 'the church' which Paul persecuted wa. what is usually termed 'the visible church,' or even a plurality of Christian congregations, a refuta tion must he made of the reasons which have been assigned for supposing that it yvas only the church at Jerusalem, and evidence must be furnished that other churches than the latter existed prior to Paul's conversion. Alter all, the three texts yvhich speak of Paul's persecuting the church, — texts one in subject, though three in number, — are the only ones out of upwards of one hundred yvhich are seriously claimed in sanction of any of the technical or scholastic meanings attached by syste matic yvriters to the word 'church.' Of thirty -two texts iu yvhich the plural ' churches' occurs, none whatever are claimed; and of about seventy in which the singular 'church' occurs, almost all ore admitted, and the small remainder are but feebly dtnied, to exhibit 'the church' either as the aggregate body of the saved, or as a single Christian congregation. — Ed.] [Note E. Qualification for Church-feltowship. — " The apostle," says Dr. Ridgeley, "gives a short but very comprehensive description of those who are fit members of a church, when he says, ' We are the circumcision which yvorship God in the Spirit, and rejoice iu Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' " Does it not follow, then, that some evidence of persons possessing this character is requisite for their oyvn sakes, and ought to be demanded by a church before their being admitted to its lelloyvship? Yet Dr. Ridgeley makes the only qualification for admission to consist in 'a profession,' — a qualification, according to him, so valid and conclusive as to entitle persons to the enjoyment and retention of fellowship till they shall perpetrate conduct yvhich 'gives the lie' to what they profess. No term, perhaps, has been more abused, more indefinite in meaning, more accommodated to all varieties of laxity or severity ol discipline, than this word ' profession.' Every body of nominal Christians attaches to it just such a meaning as best accords with its own practical standard of fitness for church-fellowship. The geographical pastor, who admits all persons above a given age and within certain territorial limits, and the austere separatist disciplinarian, who demands acquaintance with not only the elements but the minute lessons of Christian character, equally, according to their own showing, require candidates to make 'a profession.' It is high time that Christian churches should define 'a profession' to he positive evidence — such evidence as satis fies the judgment of faithfulness and charity — of nothing less and nothing more than a person's being 'a new creature in Christ. Jesus.' The notion of ' the visible church,' as distinguished from 'the invisible,' has worked havoc upon correct notions of Christian fellowship. Pastors without number imagine that they are building up a community yvhich is iu some sense a true church of God, and composed of persons in some sense Christians) all the while that, confessedly to themselves, they are including in it but an in different pioportion of hopeful, members of yvhat they are pleased to call 'the invisible churcli.' ".The members of the invisible church," says Dr. Ridgeley, iu a previous part of his work, (See conclusion of Sect. ' The. meaning of the phrases, the Visible and the Invisible Church,' under this Quest.) " are the children of God by laith ;" but " the members of the visible church are the chil dren of God as made partakers of the external dispensation ot the covenant of grace." All, then, yyho enjoy the ministry of the gospeWor that alone can be meant by the exteinal dispensation u'l the covenant — are members of the visible church, and of course are to be admitted to its fellowship! Now, in what conceivable sense are they 'the children of God?' By what imaginable process does the meie enjoyment ol the gospel ministry constitute persons Christians? In yvhat consistent or vind.cahle sense can men who are destitute of faith in Christ be regarded as members of his body and subjects of his kingdom? To talk of the Israelites having been the children of God, is only to confess the folly of the sentiment in question. For if all persons under the external dispensation ot the covenant are the children of God because the Israelites were so, the offering' of wine and oil must be a Christian act oi thanksgiving, and the burning of incense a Christian act ot pray er. These THE (HUKCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 43 ¦carnal' acts were not less certainly symbolical of spiritual affections, than the act of circumcision was symbolical of the regeneration of the heart, or the outward sonship of an Israelite symbolical of the ipward and heaven.bom sonship of ' a new creature in Christ Jesus ' Dr. Ridgeley's prin ciple, then, of esteeming all yvho enjoy 'the external dispensation of the covenant of grace' to be ' the children of God' and ' members of the visible church,' till they ' give the lie' to their pro fession,,^ directly contradictory of the only sound qualification, for church-membersbip which he had himself virtually stated, — satisfactory evidence of regenerated and believing character. Dr. Ridgeley further says, ' The visible church is compared to the net yvhich had good and bad fish in it, or to the great house in which are vessels of various kinds, some to honour and some to dishonour.' Noyv, what our Lord compares to 'the net' is, not 'the visible church,' but the king dom of heaven, h [i&triXtuz raty aveawt, the reign of heaven, the dispensation of divine mercy over our world. But this kingdom, this reign, this, dispensation, extends to at least all persons who have access to the truths of the Christian revelation, or yvho enjoy opportunity of approaching the minis trations of the Christian economy. Accordingly, the very chapter (Matt, xiii.) which compares the kingdom of heaven to a net, compares it also to the sowing of seed, (compare verse 3 with verses 10> 11.) and to the joint growth of tares and wheat, verses 24 — ,30. Hence, if the fish of all kinds caught in the net mean men of various characters united to the visible church, he who receiyes the seed by the wayside, and from whom the wicked one catches it away, — he yvho receives the seed among thorns, and in whom the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and render it unfruitful, — and he who receives the seed into stony places, and who has not root in himself, but by and by, because of the word, is offended,— arc all as legitimately and literally members of the church, as he who received the seed into good ground, and iu whom it bears fruit and brings forth thirty; or sixty, or an hundred fold. Yet yvho, with a mind unohscured by false ideas of eccle siastical economy, or with his thoughts fixed on the principles and model of church-discipline ex hibited in the New Testament, does not see that the latter character only — he yvho produces fruit, or affords some evidence of his having spiritually profited by the ministry of the word — alone is entitled to enter the fillowship of 'a church of saints and faithful brethren iu Christ Jesus?' Again, as to the illustration of 'the kingdom of heaven' by the parable of the tares and the wheat, — the field mentioned in the parable must, according to Dr. Ridgeley's vieyv of the parallel parable of the net, be the visible church, , No, says our Saviour, 'the field is the yvorld." The tares and the wheat, also, must be the associate or commingled body of persons 'making a profissiou of religion * and living together as fellow-members of the church. No, says our Lord, * the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one.' The party, like wise, who placed the tares and the yvheat together, must be the Christian ministers of the visible church who admit all who make a profession to its fellowship. No, says our Lord, the party who ' sowed the tares,' or who intermixed them yvith the wheat, is ' an enemy,' and that enemy is 'the devil.' The very text, then, to yvhich Dr. Ridgeley appeals in support of his notion of qualification for church-membership, directly denounces as ' the world,' and as the yvork of the destroyer, what that notion exhibits as the visible church and the legitimate work of Christian ministers. The parables to which I have referred are a Warning to Christian churches and pastors scarcely less solemn than the injunctions and denunciations as to putting a difference between the clean and the unclean, (Ezek. xxii. 25, 26; xliv. 23.) to use such care in admitting none to their fellovrship but those who afford scriptural evidence of having spiritually profited by the gospel, that ' of the rest no man shall dare join himself to them,' Acts v. 13 — Ed.] [Note F. The Office of a Ruling Elder. — Dr. Ridgeley writes quite unlike himself on the sub ject of ruling ehjers. He is eminent above most theological writers for appealing directly antj solely 'to the layv and to the testimony.' Very seldom, on even a very subordinate question, does he advance an opinion without referring to one or more texts in which he supposes it to be taught. His holding, therefore, that there may be ruling elders, and being able to adduce no better reason for it than ' I cannot but think' that it is allow able, is a tacit and some w hat emphatic coulession that the doctrine is untenable on scriptural grounds. As to 'the necessity of the church' iu any emergency requiring any additional office to those instituted by Christ or obviously sanctioned by the New Testament, or as to 'the work of preaching and ruling' in any instance being ' too much' for ti pastor, and of such a kind as to render another set of office-bearers 'advisable,' the case is altogether imaginary. Cases of supposed 'emergency,' ' necessity,' or ' advisableness,' can never, in a legitimate course of scriptural church order and discipline, outstrip the provision made by 'the Shepherd and Bishop of souls' lor all his churches. Whenever they are alleged to do so, the inter ested parties are themselves the judges buth of the neci ssity or emergency, and of the means for surmounting it, or of the remedy to be applied. All judge according to their respective temper and inclinations. What one calls an emergency, another calls an ordinary event; what one esteems a reason for introducing new, anil, it may be, pompous and dignified offices, another esteems aii evi dence that the old and legitimate offices are conupted, and require to be revived or reinstated in their primitive simplicity and vigour. Once admit, iu lact, that any office may be instituted in Chris tian churches, or any machinery ol ecclesiastical economy erected on the principle of expediency, and an inlet and a sanction are afforded lor exactly such a species ot procedure, or course of inno vation, as overthrew in the third and following centuries the pure and simple constitution of the primitive churches, and erected in its stead the complex ritual, and the prelatical, metropolitical patriarchal, papal government of the Romish hierarchy — Ed,] 44 THE BENEFITS ENJOYED THE BENEFITS ENJOYED BY THE INVISIBLE CHURCH. Question LXV. What special benefits do the members of the invisible church enjoy by Christ f Answer. The members of the invisible church, by Christ, enjoy union and communion with him in grace and glory. Question LXVI. What is that union which the elect have with Christ f Answek. The union which the elect have with Christ, is the yvork of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably joined to Christ, as their head and hus band, which is done in their effectual calling. In the preceding part of this work we considered man as at first made upright, as not having continued in that state, and as having plunged into those depths of sin and misery which would have rendered his state altogether desperate, without the inter position of a Mediator. Under several Answers we considered also the designation of Christ to his mediatorial work, his fitness for it, and his faithful discharge of it. We there had an account of his Person as God-man; his offices of prophet, priest, and king ; his twofold state of humiliation and exaltation ; and the benefits which accrue to his church. The church was considered either as visible or as invisible ; and the former as enjoying many privileges which respect, more especially, the ordinary rreans of salvation. What the Benefits are which the Invisible Church enjoys. We are now led to consider the benefits which the members of the invisible church, namely, the whole number of the elect, which have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ their head, enjoy by him. These are of two gen eral classes, namely, union and communion with him in grace and in glory ; and they comprise the blessings of both worlds, as the result of their relation to and interest in him. They are first united to him, and then are made partakers of his benefits. All grace imparted to us here, is the result of union with him. ' Of him,' says the apostle, ' are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.'1 ' He that abideth in me,' says our Saviour, 'and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. 'k And the con trary to this is inconsistent with the exercise of any grace : ' Without me ye can do nothing.' Moreover, that communion which the saints have with Christ in glory, whereby they who are brought to a state of perfection participate of those graces and comforts which flow from their continued union with Christ, and the first-fruits or foretastes of glory which they have in this world, are also founded on union to the Saviour. Accordingly, the apostle calls Christ, in his people, ' the hope of glory -,'1 and, speaking of his giving eternal life to them, he considers them as being 'in his hand,' whence 'none shall pluck them out,'m or separate them from him. They shall, therefore, enjoy everlasting happiness with him, inasmuch a3 they shall ' be found in him. '" What Union to Christ is. We are thus led particularly to consider what union with Christ is. The scrip ture often speaks of Christ's being or abiding in his people, and they in him ; and assigns this union as an evidence of their interest in the blessings he has' pur chased for them. Indeed, it is from hence that all internal and practical godliness is derived. This privilege argues infinite condescension in him, and tends to the highest advancement of those who are its subjects. That we may understand what is intended by it, let us take heed that we do not include in it any thing which tends on the one hand to extenuate it, or on the other, to exalt those who are made par takers of it above the station or condition into which they are brought by it. It i 1 Cor. i. 30. k John xv. 5, 1 Col. i. 27. m John x. 28. n Phil. iii. 9. BY THE INVISIBLE CHURCH. 45 is not sufficient to suppose that this union implies no more than that his people have the same kind of nature with him, as being made 'partakers of flesh and blood,' he having ' himself taken part of the same.'0 He is indeed allied to us, as having all the essential perfections of our nature ; and his coming into this alliance was a dis play of infinite condescension in him, and absolutely necessary to our redemption. Yet this similitude of nature, abstracted from other considerations accompanying or flowing from his incarnation, involves no other idea of union between Christ and his people, than that which they have with one another ; nor is it a privilege pecu liar to believers, since Christ took on him the same human nature which all men have, though with a peculiar design of grace to those whom he came, to redeem. This I take particular notice of, because the Socinians, and others who speak of this privilege, inasmuch as it is often mentioned in scripture, appear to have very low thoughts of it, when they suppose it to mean nothing more than common participa tion of human nature. — Again, union with Christ includes more than the mutual love which is between Christ and believers, in the sense in which there is an union of affection between those who love one another. It is said, ' The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David ; and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.'P Now, in such a union of affection, believers are united to one another ; or, as the apos tle expresses it, their hearts are ' knit together in love, '9 ' being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;'r or, as he adds, 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'8 I say, union with Christ includes more than this ; which is rather the fruit and consequence of that union, than the matter in which it principally consists. — Moreover, we must take heed that we do not, in explaining the union between Christ and believers, include more in it than what belongs to creatures infinitely below him to whom they are said to be united. We cannot but abhor the blasphemy of those who speak of an essential union of creatures with God, or of their having such an union as gave them something in common with Christ the great Mediator.' But passing by these methods of explaining the union between Christ and be lievers, there are two senses in which it is understood in scripture. One is, that which results from Christ's being their federal head, representative, or surety ; having undertaken to deal with the justice of God in their behalf, so that what he should do, as standing in this relation to them, should be placed to their account, as much as if it had been done by them in their own persons. This is what gives them a concern in the covenant of grace, made with him in their behalf, — of which something was said under a preceding Answer ;a and it is the foundation of their sins having been imputed to him, and of his righteousness being imputed to them, — which will be farther considered, when we treat of the doctrine of justification under a following Answer." The union with Christ which is mentioned in the Answer we are now explaining, is of another nature ; and, in some respects, may be pro perly styled a vital union, as all spiritual life is derived from it, or a conjugal union, as it is founded in consent, and said to be by faith. Now there are two things observed concerning it. 1. It is expressed by our being spiritually and mystically joined to Christ. It o Heb. ii. 14. p 1 Sam. xviii. 1. q Col. ii. 2. r Phil. ii. 2. s Verse 5. y t The first yvho seems to have used this unsavoury mode of speaking, is Gregory Nazianzen; who did not consider how inconsistent some of those rhetorical yvays of speaking he seems lond of, are with that doctrine which, in other parts of his writings, he maintained. Those \rords_X(irr«r«ii^ and diMr«ut, which he sometimes uses to express the nature or consequence of this union between Christ and believers, are very disgusting. In one place of his writings, [Vid. ejusd. Orat. 41.] ex horting Christians to be like Christ, he says, 'because he became like unto us,' ytiaiptSet 8i« )/ aiwov, 'efneiamur dii propter ipsum;' and elsewhere [in Orat. 35. de Filio.] he says, ¦ Hie homo ¦Deus effectus postea quarn cum Deo coaluit,' Jv« yitu/uti f the gospel, or the call to sinners to repent and believe ; which they have no reason to conclude that they can do without the aid; of divine grace, and these they are to wait, pray, and hope for, in all God's insti tuted methods. As to the statement in the objection respecting promises made to us on the condition that we would release ourselves from the chains of sin, and cou- s Mark vi. 20. t Rom. ii. 14. „ John v. 40. x Matt. xii. 33. y Chap. vii. 16. s EFFECTUAL CALLING. 53 cerning the joy God would have in our being set free, when the thing is in itself impossible ; it is no otherwise true than as it contains a declaration of the connec tion there is between conversion and salvation, or between freedom from the sla very of sin and God's conferring many spiritual honours and privileges on those who are converted, — not that it does, in the least, denote that it is in our power to con vert ourselves. But that this may be more clearly understood, we shall consider it with reference to the two branches of the objection, and so speak of God, either as commanding, calling, and inviting men to do what is out of their power, namely, to repent and believe, or as holding forth promises of that salvation which they shall not attain, because the graces of faith and repentance are out of their power. This is the substance of what is usually objected against the doctrine we are main taining, by those who are on the other side of the question ; who suppose that the call of the gospel, according to our view of it, is illusory, and therefore unbecoming the divine perfections. As to God's commanding, calling, and inviting men to do what is out of their own power, as for instance, bidding a dead man to arise, or one who is blind to see, or those who are shut up in prison to come out thence ; this is to be explained, and then, perhaps, the doctrine we are maintaining will appear to be less exceptionable. We have elsewhere, in defending the doctrine of particular redemption against an objection not much unlike this, considered how Christ is said to be offered in the gospel,2 or in what sense the overture may be said to be made to all who are fa voured with it, while the efficacy of it extends to those only whom Christ has re deemed, and who shall be effectually called. But that we may a little farther explain this matter, let us consider that the gospel contains a declaration, that God designs to save a part of this miserable world, and that, in subserviency to this end, he has given them a discovery of Christ, as the object of faith, and the purchaser and author of salvation. But he does not in this declaration give the least intima tion to any, while in a state of unregeneracy, that they shall be enabled to believe, and, in consequence, be saved. The names, characters, or places of abode, or the natural embellishments of those who shall attain this privilege, are nowhere pointed at in scripture. Nor is the book of God's secret purpose concerning election to eternal life opened, so that any one can discern his name written in it, before he be effectually called. We have no warrant to look any farther than God's revealed will, which assigns no evidence of our interests in the saving blessings of the gospel till they are experienced by us, in this effectual call. Again, God plainly discovers to nien, in the gospel, that all those graces which are inseparably connected with salva tion, are his work and gift, and consequently out of their own power ; or that ' it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.'* He nowhere tells the man who ' is tied and bound with the chain of his sin,' that he is able to set himself free ; but puts him upon expecting and praying for it, from ' the pitifulness of his great mercy.' He nowhere tells him, that he can implant a principle of spiritual life and grace in himself, or that he ought so much as to attempt to do any thing to atone for his sins, by his obedience and sufferings ; but suggests the contrary, and says, ' Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteous ness and strength. 'b Further, he gives none the least ground to expect or lay claim to salvation, till they believe ; and as both faith and salvation are his gifts, he puts them upon seeking and desiring them in their respective order, first grace, and then glory. Moreover, the gospel call is designed to put men upon a diligent attendance on the ordinances, as means of grace, and to leave the issue and success to God who ' waits that he may be gracious,' — that so his sovereignty may appear more emi nently in the dispensing of this privilege ; and, in the mean time, he assigns it as their duty to ' wait for him.'0 And while we are engaged in this waiting, we are to acknowledge that we have nothing which can give us any right to the privi lege we are seeking. We infer, therefore, that God might justly deny success to his ordinances. Yet if he is pleased to give us, while we are attending on them, ear nest desires that they may be made effectual to our conversion and salvation, we z See Sect. 'Examination of Arguments for Universal Redemption,' under Quest, xliv. a Rom. ix. 16. b Isa. xiv, 24. c Chap. xxx. 16. 54 EFFECTUAL CALLING. may conclude his doing so to be a token for good, that he designs us some special advantage. Nor do we know but that even those desires for grace may be the be ginning of the Spirit's saving work, and therefore an earnest of his carrying it on. Finally, when God commands persons, in the gospel, to do those things which can not be performed without his special grace, he sometimes, when he gives the com mand,- supposes them to have a principle of spiritual life and grace, which is, in effect, to bid one who is made alive put forth living actions, which respect, more especially, the progress of grace after the work is begun. In this sense I understand those words of the apostle, ' Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God which worketh,' that is, hath wrought, ' in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure.'3 Let us now consider the gospel as holding forth promises of salvation, when, at the same time, it is not in our power to exercise those graces which accompany it. This gives occasion to those who except against the doctrine we are maintaining, to say that it represents God as offering those blessings which he does not design to bestow. Here we have opportunity to explain what we mean, when we consider salvation as offered in the gospel. By this we understand nothing else but a de claration that all who repent and believe shall be saved ; which contains a character or description of the persons who have ground to expect this privilege. Not that salvation is founded on dubious and uncertain conditions, which depend upon the power and liberty of our will ; or that it depends upon impossible conditions, as if God should say, ' If man will change his own heart, and work faith and all other graces in himself, then I will save him.' All that we mean is, that those graces which are inseparably connected with salvation, are to be waited for in our attend ance on all God's ordinances ; and that, when he is pleased to work them, we may conclude that we have a right to the promise of salvation. 5. Having thus spoken of the gospel call, what it is, how far it may be improved by those who are destitute of special grace, and what is God's design in giving it, we proceed to consider the issue and consequence of it. It is observed in this An swer, that many wilfully neglect, contemn, or refuse to comply with it; with respect to whom it is not made effectual to their salvation. This appears from the report which Christ's disciples brought to him, concerning the excuses many made when called to come to the marriage-feast in the parable. One pretended that he had 'bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it;' another that he had 'bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them ;' and another ' had married a wife, and therefore could not come.' It is elsewhere said, ' They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise ; and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.'e The prophet introduces our Saviour himself as complaining, ' I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought. 'f And the reason is, ' because Israel is not gathered ;' which words are to be understood in a comparative sense, as denoting the fewness of those who complied with his gracious invitations to come to him, or were convinced by the miracles which he wrought to confirm his doctrine. —Our position is farther evident from the smallness of the number of those who are effec tually prevailed upon under the gospel dispensation ; which the apostle calls ' the grace of God that brings salvation, that hath appeared to all men, teaching them to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.' It appears, also, from the great opposition and hatred which many express to the person of Christ, who is the subject of the gospel. The pro phet not only relates this as what was observed in his day ; but foretells that, in after ages, a great part of mankind would not believe the report made concerning Christ, and that he should be ' despised and rejected of men,' who would ' hide, as it were, their faces from him, and not esteem him.'s This conduct is certainly the highest contempt of the gospel ; for it is an undervaluing of the greatest privi leges, as if they were not worthy to be embraced, desired, or sought after. And inasmuch as the conduct is wilful, arising from the enmity of the will of man against d Phil. ii. 12, 13. e Luke xiv. 18—20. compared with Matt. xxii. 5, 6. f Isa. xlix. 4, 5. g Isi. I.... ;, 3. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 55 God, and against the method of salvation which he has prescribed, it has a tendency to provoke his wrath ; so that those guilty of it being justly left in their unbelief, they will not come to Christ that they may have life. And as they are judicially left to themselves, they contract a greater degree of alienation from God and averse ness to him, and so never truly come to Jesus Christ ; which is an awful and tre mendous consideration. This is the result with respect to those who have only the common call of the gospel. We must hence conclude that that call is not sufficient to salvation, unless there be an internal effectual call ; and what that is, will be considered under our next head. But it is here necessary to inquire, whether all men, at least those who sit under the sound of the gospel, have sufficient grace given them to be able, by their own conduct, without the internal powerful influences of the Spirit, to attain salvation. This argument is much insisted on by those who adhere to the Pelagian scheme ; so that we cannot wholly pass it over. Now, every one must allow that all who sit under the sound of the gospel have sufficient objective grace, or sufficient external means, to lead them in the way of salvation ; for to deny this, would be to deny that the gospel is a perfect rule of faith. Accordingly, this is allowed on both sides ; and we think nothing more is intended, when God says, concerning the church of the Jews, ' What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ?'h But the question is, Whether there be a sufficiency of power or ability in man to enable him, without the internal efficacious grace of God determining and inclining his will, to make a right improvement of the gospel for his salvation ? This is what we cannot but deny. For, that the external means of grace are not rendered effectual to the salvation of all who are favoured with them, is evident ; because, as was just observed, many neglect and contemn the gospel. And as to others who improve it, so that the means of grace become effectual, it must be inquired, What is it that makes them so ? how comes it that the preaching of the gospel is styled to some a savour of life, to others a savour of death ? The answer which the Pelagians give is, that they in whom it is effectual render it so by their improving the liberty of their will ; so that they choose what is represented in the gospel as eligible, and refuse the contrary. And if the question be asked, ' Who maketh thee to differ from another ?' they have, when disposed to speak agreeably to their own scheme, this answer ready at hand, ' I make myself to differ ;' which is as much as to say, ' I have a natural power of improving the means of grace, without having recourse to God for any farther assistance in a supernatural way.' It may easily be observed that this supposition is greatly derogatory to the glory of God, and renders all dependence on him, both to will and to do, unnecessary. It supposes that we have sufficient ability to work those graces in ourselves which accompany salvation ; otherwise the grace is not sufficient to salvation. The supposition, therefore, is contrary to all those scrip tures which speak of the graces which accompany salvation as the work or the effect of the exceeding greatness of the power of God. The Previous Character of Persons who are Effectually Called. We are now led. to consider the doctrine of effectual calling, as stated in the former of the Answers which we are explaining. At present we shall inquire into the antecedent character of those who are effectually called. They have nothing which can recomraend them to the divine favour ; for, being considered as fallen, guilty creatures, they are unable not only to make atonement for sin, but to do what is spiritually good. Thus the apostle represents thena as 'without strength;'' which is the immediate consequence of man's first apostacy from God. Universal experience, also, proves that we have a propensity to everything which is evil, and that this propensity daily increases. We may add, that the mind is blinded, the affections stupified, the will full of obstinacy, the conscience disposed to deal treacherously, whereby we deceive ourselves ; so that the whole soul is out of order. The apostle speaks of man ' by nature,' as ' dead in trespasses and sins, h Isa. v. 4. i Rom. v. 6. 58 EFFECTUAL CALLING. walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ; having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. 'k The prophet speaks of ' the heart ' of man as being ' deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. '' The apdstle again describes some as ' walking in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blind ness of their heart ; who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasci viousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness ;'m and others as being ' filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerci ful.'11 This, indeed, is spoken of the Gentiles, who were destitute of the means of grace, and had contracted greater degrees of impiety than many others ; but they who are effectually called would have run into the same abominations, their natures being equally inclined to them, without preventing grace. Accordingly, some of the church of Corinth are said to have done so before their conversion ; whom the apostle speaks of as once having been ' unrighteous, fornicators, idola ters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners.'0 And elsewhere he says, ' We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. * The obstinacy and perverseness of men going on in a course of sin is so great, that God reproves a professing people by telling them that ' their neck was an iron sinew, and their brow brass. 'i Thus they were, before he ' refined' and 'chose ' some of them, 'in the furnace of affliction. 'r It hence evidently appears, that men are not naturally inclined to comply with the gospel call ; and that the privilege of willingness to comply is conferred on them, when, by the Spirit, the call is made effectual to their salvation. It is objected to what has been said concerning persons being dead in sin, before they are effectually called, that the expression ' dead in sin' is metaphorical, and is not to be strained so far as to be made to imply that they are altogether without a power to do that which is spiritually good. But while the state of men before they are effectually called, is styled 'a death in sin,' which is a metaphorical expression, we must suppose that there is a sense affixed to it which, in some respects, is adapted to those ideas which we have of the words. If scripture metaphors prove nothing because the words are transferred from their literal sense to some other, we shall be at the greatest loss to understand many important doctrines contained in the sacred writings ; which abound very much in such modes of speaking. We do not suppose the metaphor to be extended so far as to imply that a person dead in sin, is incapable of acting as if he were a stock or a stone ; the contrary to which is evident from what has been already said concerning the power which they who are in an unregenerate state have of doing things materially good. But we are now considering men as unable to do what is good in all its circumstances, which may render their actions the object of the divine approbation, as agreeable to God's re vealed will. This, we suppose, an unregenerate person is as unable to do, as a dead man is to put forth living actions ; and the reason is, that he is destitute of a supernatural principle of spiritual life. Scripture and experience not only evinco the weakness, blindness, and disinclination of such to what is good, but their aver sion to it. Whatever we do, therefore, either in the beginning or in the progress of the life of faith, must proceed from a renewed nature, or a supernatural princi ple implanted m the soul. This is sometimes called, 'a new heart,*8 'a divine nature, as well as a quickening or a being raised from the dead. k Eph. ii. .1—3. 1 Jer. xvii. 9. m Eph. iv. 17—19. n Rom. i. 29—31. o I Cor. v.. 9-11. p Tit. iii. 3. q uL xlviii. 4. r Ver. 10. s Ezck. xxxvi. 26. t 2 Pet. i. 4. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 51 The Change Wrought in Effectual Calling. We are now led to consider the change which is wrought in effectual calling, together with the grounds we have to conclude that it is a supernatural work, or, as it is styled in this Answer, 'the work of God's almighty power and grace.' Those whom we more especially oppose in this head of argument, are the Pelagians, and others, who, though in some things they seem to recede from them, yet cannot support their cause without adopting their scheme, when treating on the subjects of free-will, nature, and grace. These all allow that there is a change made in conversion or effectual calling ; but they suppose that it is a change in man's natu ral temper and disposition, rather than one arising from a supernatural principle. According to them, it consists in overcoming those habits of sin which we have con tracted, and in acquiring habits of virtue, — a ceasing to do evil, and a learning to do well. They suppose also that the change is in man's own power, with the con currence of God as the God of nature, or at least, with some superadded assistances from the external dispensations of providence, which have an influence on the minds of men to produce it. By this means they think grace is first attained, and men disposed to comply with the external call of the gospel, whereby it is rendered effec tual. They sometimes, indeed, use the word 'conversion,' and speak of the power and grace of God in it ; and that they may not seem to detract from its glory, they profess to adore and magnify God as its author. But all they say amounts to no more than that nature acts under the influence of common providence. Something, indeed, they ascribe to God ; but much less than what we think the scripture does. They say that he has made man an intelligent creature, having a power capable of choosing whatever seems advantageous, or refusing what appears to be destructive to him. Man is hence able, they say, to discern what is his duty and interest ; and when his will duly attends to these dictates of his understanding, it has a power inclining it to be influenced thereby, and to embrace whatever overtures are made con ducive to his future happiness. They say, farther, that as the understanding and reasoning powers and faculties are often impaired and hindered in their acting, by some accidental inconveniences of nature, such as the temperament of the body, or the diseases to which it is sometimes liable, which affect the mind ; these, God, by his powerful providence, removes or protects against, that the work may go on successfully. And as our outward circumstances in the world, give a different turn to our passions, and hinder us from entertaining any inclinations to religion, they suppose that there is a farther hand of providence in ordering the various changes or conditions of life, as to its prosperous or adverse circumstances ; whereby a sanguine temper is changed to one which is more melancholy or thoughtful, and more inclined to be afraid of those sins which are likely to be prejudicial ; an angry and choleric temper, changed to one which has a greater mixture of meekness and humility. They say, too, that while hinderance may arise from a man's conversing with persons who tempt him to lay aside all thoughts about religion, or who load religion with reproach, in order to make him ashamed to pretend to it, the provi dence of God so orders circumstances and things as to make these persons unac ceptable to him, or to make him disinclined to converse with them. There hence arises a congruity, as they call it, between men's natural dispositions and that grace which they are called by the gospel to exert, when they are persuaded to comply with it, — a congruity without which the overture would be in vain. Again, providence farther performs its part, by overruling some concurring circumstances external to and unthought of by an individual, in casting his lot among those who are able and desirous to persuade him to alter his sentiments in matters of religion ; whose industry and zeal for his good, accompanied with their skilfulness in manag ing persuasive arguments used to convince him, have a great tendency to prevail upon him. He is hence persuaded, they say, to give a hearing to that which before he despised and made the subject of ridicule ; and sometimes the motives and in ducements which are used, accompanied with a pathetic manner of address in those whose ministry he attends, are very conducive to answer the end attained, namely, his conviction and the altering of his conduct in life, — all which are under the un- II. H 58 EFFECTUAL CALLING. foreseen direction of providence. They add, that there is a kind of internal work in exciting the passions by a general influence upon them leaving it, notwithstand ing-, in man's power to determine them with respect to their proper objects ; that as for the willf it still remains free and unbiassed ; but that by this moral suasion, or these rational arguments, it is prevailed upon to comply with that which is for '^AccTrdSto this method of accounting for the work of conversion, what the Pelagians attribute to the grace of God, is nothing more than the result of common providence ; and is supposed to act no otherwise than in an objective way. What gives the turn to all is, the influence of moral suasion, whereby men are prevailed on • but for which, according to the view we have stated, they are beholden to God only as the God of nature. When this is called, by the Pelagians, a display of divine grace, nature and grace are, without scripture warrant, made to signify the same thing. Moreover, as it is plain that all which we have mentioned may be done, and yet persons remain in an unconverted state, and the gospel call be inef fectual, they suppose that there is something to be performed on man's part, which gives a sanction to and completes the work. Accordingly, say they, he must rightly use and improve the power of reasoning which God has given him, by dili gently observing and attending to his law ; he must persuade himself that it is highly reasonable to obey it ; he must duly weigh the consequence of his compli ance or refusal, and endeavour to affect himself with the consideration of promised rewards and punishments, to excite his diligence or awaken his fears ; he must make use of those motives which are proper to induce him to lead a virtuous life, and, when he is brought to conclude this most eligible, he must add the force of the strongest resolutions, to avoid occasions of sin, perform several necessary duties, and associate himself with those whose conversation and example may induce him to virtue ; he must attend on the word preached, with intenseness of thought, and a disposition to adhere, with the greatest impartiality, to what is recommended to him, as conducive to his future happiness. By these means, say they, he is per suaded ; and thence proceed those acts of grace which afterwards, by being fre quently repeated, arrive to a habit ; so that, being brought into a state of conver sion, if his acquired habits of goodness be not lost by negligence, stupidity, and impenitence, or by adhering to the temptations of Satan, he is in a fair way to heaven ; which, notwithstanding, he may miss by apostacy, since the work is to be carried on by him, as it was at first begun, by his own conduct. This account of effectual calling or conversion, supposes it to be little more than a work of common providence. All the grace which the Pelagians seem to own, is nothing more than nature exerting itself under the conduct of those reasoning powers which God has given it. None pretend to deny that our reasoning poweis are to be exerted and improved ; or that those arguments which tend to give con viction, and motives to enforce obedience, must be duly attended to. Nor do we deny that there is a kind hand of providence seen in overruling our natural tempers and dispositions, in giving a check to that corruption which is prevalent in us, and in rendering our condition in life, some way or other, conducive to a farther work which God designs to bring about. We assert also, that providence greatly favours us in bringing us under the means of grace, or in casting our lot in places where we have the advantages of the conversation and example of others who are burning and shining lights in their generation. Nor is providence less seen in adapting a suitable word to our condition, or in raising our affections while attending to it. All this, however, falls very far short of effectual calling, as a display of God's power and grace. This work is no more than natural ; while conversion is a supernatural work. In this we may be led by common grace ; but effectual calling is a work of special grace. The effect of this is only a change of life ; but we assert, and have scripture ground for doing so, that there is in conversion a change of heart. This scheme supposes the very principle and spring of grace to be acquired by man's improving his natural powers, under the conduct of God's providence ; whereas we suppose, and shall endeavour to prove under a following head, that it is not ac quired, but infused, and is the effect of divine power. This supposes that the work is brought about by moral suasion, and that, while the understanding receives the EFFECTUAL CALLING. 59 arguments which are made use of in an objective way, the will is induced to a com pliance, by choosing that which is good, and refusing that which is evil ; whereas we assert that the will of man is bowed and subjected to Christ, its enmity over come, and we a^e said to be ' made willing in the day of his power.' But that which bears the greatest share in this work, is, according to the Pela gians', the will and power of man determining itself, by proper motives and argu ments, to what is good. This supposes that the will acts freely in the matter. We have here an opportunity to consider the nature of human liberty. Now we do not deny, in general, that man is endowed with a free will, which exerts itself in things of a lower nature than that which we are speaking of ; for this is as evident as that he is endowed with an understanding. We shall, therefore, in speaking concerning the liberty of the will of man, consider, first, what are the essential pro perties of liberty," without which an action would cease to be free ; and, secondly, how far the power of man's free will may be extended, with a particular view to the matter under our present consideration. 1. As to the nature and essential properties of human liberty, they whose senti ments of free will and grace we are opposing, suppose that it is essential to a free action, that it be performed with indifference, that is, that the will of man should be so equally poised that, while it determines itself to one extreme, it might as well have determined itself to the other. They hence say, that he who loves God freely, might, by a determination of his will, as well have inclined himself to hate him ; and that, on the other hand, he who hates God, might, by an act of his will, have determined himself to love him. The balance is supposed to be equal ; and it is the method which the person uses to determine his will, which gives a turn to it. They hence infer that those who persevere in grace, which they do freely, may, for the same reason, apostatize. Yea, they proceed farther, at least some of them do, and maintain that our Saviour might have sinned, and consequently that the work of our redemption might have miscarried in his hands ; because, accord ing to their notion of liberty, he acted freely in ail those exercises of grace which, we suppose, were no less free that they were necessary. From the account they give of liberty, our opponents infer also, that the angels and glorified saints may sin, and so lose the state of blessedness which they are possessed of; otherwise their obedience is not free. These absurdities are so apparently gross, that they who duly weigh them will not easily adopt this notion of liberty. There is another absurd ity, which the Pelagians dare not assert ; for it would be the greatest blasphemy that could be expressed in words, though it equally flows from their method of ex plaining the nature of liberty ; that either God must not act freely, or else he might act the contrary, with respect to those things in which he acts, like himself, as a God of infinite perfection ; and accordingly, if he loves or delights in himself freely, or designs his own glory as the highest end of all that he does, and uses means to bring about those ends which are most conducive to it, wherein his holi ness, wisdom, justice, and faithfulness appear, I say, it will follow from their scheme, and I cannot but tremble to mention it, that he might do the contrary ; and what is this but to say, that he might cease to be God ? The arguments which they who attempt to support this notion of liberty, insist on, are taken from the ideas which we generally have of a person's acting freely. For instance, if a man performs any of the common actions of life, such as walk ing, sitting, standing, reading, writing, &c. freely, he may do the contrary. But there is a vast difference between asserting that many of the actions of life are arbitrary or indifferent, so that we might do the contrary, and'saying that indiffer ence is essential to liberty ; for that which is essential to an action must belong to every individual action of the same kind.* Thus concerning their notion of liberty, whom we oppose. The notion of liberty in which we acquiesce is, that its essential property or na ture consists in a person's doing a thing without being laid un'der a natural neces- u This is \\hat is generally called the 'formalis ratio' of liberty. x We generally say, that whatever is essential to a thing, belongs to it as such. And there is a known rule in lojjic, ' A quateuus ad omue valet coiisequeutia ;' and then the absurd consequences, above-mention, d, yyould nee ssaiy follow. 60 EFFECTUAL CALLING. sity to do it;? or doing it of his own accord, without any force laid on him/ Others express it by a person's doing a thing out of choice, as having the highest reason to determine him to do it.* This is that notion of liberty which we cannot U2 ^eTenow to show how far the power of man's free will may be extended, with a particular view to the matter under our present consideration. Here let- it be observed, that the power of man's will extends itself to things within its own sphere and not above it. All actions and powers of acting, are contained within certain limits, agreeably to the nature and capacity of the agent Creatures below man cannot put forth rational actions ; and man cannot put forth supernatural actions if he be not made partaker of a divine or spiritual nature, as being endowed with a 'supernatural principle, such as that which is implanted in regeneration. Consider him as an intelligent creature, and it is agreeable to his nature to put forth free actions, under the conduct and direction of the understanding ; but if we consider him as renewed, converted, or effectually called, and acting agreeably to his being so, he is under the influence of a higher principle, which I call ' a divine nature, "according to the phrase which the apostle uses.b The former supposes no more than the concourse of common providence, which first gave and then main tains our reasoning faculties ; while the latter supposes that we are under the in fluence of the Spirit, whereby we are enabled to act in a supernatural way, our natures being renewed and disposed so to act. In this, however, we are not divest ed of the liberty of our wills ; but they are improved and enabled to do what be fore they were averse and disinclined to. That man acts freely in those things which are agreeable to his nature, as an intelligent creature, all will allow. More over, we consider that the understanding and the will concur in actions which are free, and that one of these is subservient to the other. For instance, we can not be said to desire, delight in, choose, or refuse a thing, unless we have some idea of it, as an object which we think meet to be desired or rejected. — It may be farther inquired, whether the will has in itself a power to follow the dictates of the understanding, in things which are agreeable to our nature ; and whether it is gen erally disposed to do this, unless biassed by the passions, inclining and determin ing it another way. Now this, I think, is not to be denied. But in our present argument, we are to consider the will of man as conversant about things superna tural, and accordingly, must give a different account of Christian liberty from that which is merely human, as before described. The Pelagians will allow what has been said concerning the nature of liberty in general ; but the difference between us and them is, that we confine it within its own sphere, while they extend it far ther, and apply it to regeneration, effectual calling, and conversion. Now as re gards these, the will discovers itself no otherwise than as enslaved to or a servant of sin ;° and the powers and faculties of the soul, with relation to it, are weakened by the prevalence of corruption, so that we are not able to put forth those actions which proceed from a renewe*d nature, and determine a person to be ' renewed in the spirit of his mind,' or to have put ' on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.' — Again, it may be inquired, whether the will necessarily follows the dictates of the understanding, so that the grace of God takes its rise thence. Now, the understanding, indeed, represents things spiritual and heavenly to us, as good and desirable, and worthy of all acceptation, and gives us an undeniable conviction that all the motives used in scripture, to choose and em brace them, are highly reasonable ; but yet it does not follow, that the will of man is always overcome by these representations of the understanding. d The reason * y In this respect divines generally consider liberty as opposed to coaction. But here we must distinguish between a natural coaction and a moral one. Liberty is not opposed to a moral coac tion, which is very consistent with it. Thus an honest man cannot alloyv himself in a vile action; he is under a moral constraint to the contrary; and yet he abstains from sin freely. A believer loves Christ Ireely, as the apostle Paul certainly did ; and yet at the same time, he was under the constraint of the love of Christ ; as he himself expresses it,' 2 Cor. v. 14. z This divines generally call * spontaneity.' a This some call 'lubentia rationalis.' b 2 Pet. l. 4.^ c This some divines call ' voluntas serva.' d The question between us and the Pelagians, is not. Whether the will sometimes folloyvs the dictates ol the understanding? but, Whether it either ahyays dous so? or, if not, Whether that EFFECTUAL CALLING. 61 of this is, the strong propensity and inclination which there is in corrupt nature to siii, which bids defiance to all the arguments and persuasions which are used to the contrary, till we are brought under the influence of a supernatural principle, implanted in the soul in effectual calling. This leads us farther to inquire, whether, supposing a man has this principle implanted in effectual calling, he then acts freely ? or, what is the liberty of man's will, when internally moved and influenced by divine grace ? Here we must con sider that special grace does not destroy, but improve, the liberty of man's will. When there is a new nature implanted in him, it discovers its energy, and makes a change in all the powers and faculties of the soul. There is a new light shining in the understanding, vastly different from, and superior to, that which it had be fore. This may truly be called, ' the light of life,'e not only as it leads to eternal life, but as it proceeds from a principle of spiritual life. It is what we generally call ' saving knowledge ;' as it is said, ' This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'f Now this light in the understanding, being attended with power in the will, the latter is induced to comply with the dictates of the former ; not merely as being prevailed on by ration al arguments, but as there is a divine power accompanying them. It is not indeed prevailed on without arguments ; for the Spirit makes use of the word to persuade, as well as to direct. Though we do not, with the Pelagians, say that the will is overcome only by arguments, as if the victory were owing to our power of reasoning ; yet we freely own that we act with judgment, and see the highest reason for what we do. We are enabled to use our reasoning powers, indeed ; but these are sancti fied by the Spirit, as well as the will renewed ; and both concur in order to our re ceiving and improving the doctrines contained in the gospel. The Spirit of God also removes those rooted prejudices which we had entertained against the way of salvation by Christ. Upon the whole, therefore, the gospel has its use, as it directs and excites our faith. Our reasoning powers and faculties have their use also, as we take in, and are convinced by, what is therein contained. All this, however, would be to no purpose, if there were not a superior power determining the will to a thorough compliance. We do not deny that moral suasion often has a ten dency to incline a man to the performance of moral duties ; but it is what I choose rather to call evangelical persuasion, or the Spirit of God setting home upon the heart and conscience what is contained in the gospel, which makes it effectual to salvation. Effectual Galling a Divine Work. We have thus spoken concerning the nature and extent of human liberty. But as this liberty is not to be assigned as that which renders the gospel call effectual, let it be farther considered that effectual calling is brought about by the almighty power of God. As is observed in this Answer, it is 'a work of God's almighty power and grace.' This is what enhances the excellency and glory of it above all the works of common providence. Yet our saying that it is a divine work, is hardly sufficient to distinguish it from what the Pelagians often call it ; by which, how ever, they mean nothing more than the powerful work of God, as the God of nature and providence. We must consider it as a work of divine power exerting itself in a supernatural way ; not only as excluding the agency of creatures from bearing a part in it, but as opposed to those works which are brought about by the moral in fluence of persuasive arguments, without any change wrought in the will of man. which binders it, is not defect in the dictates of the understanding? Accordingly, they speak of the dictates of the understanding as practical, and not merely speculative, and with a particular application to ourselves. They also consider the will as having been before in some suspense ; but ihat dictate of the understanding which it follows, is the last, after mature deliberation ; and it is nippos (I to have compared things together; and therefore presents a thing, not only as pood, bu$ more eligible than any thing else, which they call a comparate dictate of the understanding; and In this means the will is persuaded to a compliance. But though this may he true in many in- gi'iiuces which are natural, daily experience proves that it does not hold good with respect to things divine and supernatural. e John viii. 12. f Chap. xvii. 3. 62 EFFECTUAL CALLING. In this sense we understand effectual calling to be a work of God's almighty power. That it may appear to be so, let it be premised, that it is not inconsistent with God's dealing with men as intelligent creatures, endowed with liberty of will, to exert this power ; for special providence or efficacious grace does no more destroy man's natural powers,' by its internal influence enabling and exciting him to do what is supernaturally good, than common providence being conversant about the free actions of men, makes them cease to be free, — only the former exerts itself in a different and superior way, producing effects much more glorious and excellent. This being supposed, we shall, without pretending fully to explain the manner of the divine agency, which is principally known by its effects, endeavour to show that effectual calling is, in a way of eminence, the work of divine power, as distinguished from other works which are, in their kind, the effects of power in a natural way. We shall next observe what effects are produced by it, and in what order. We shall then consider it as it is, in a peculiar manner, attributed to the Spirit of God, and also show that it is a wonderful display of his grace. We shall farther consider this divine power as irresistible, and consequently such as cannot but be effectual to produce what it is designed to bring about. And finally, we shall say something concerning the season in which this is done ; which is called ' God's accepted time.' I. Effectual calling is eminently a work of divine power. For the proof of this, we have not only many express texts of scripture which sufficiently establish it, but we may appeal to the experience of those who are made partakers of this grace. If they compare their former and present state, they may easily perceive in them selves that there is such a change wrought in them as is contrary to the inclinations of corrupt nature, — a change in which the stubbornness and obstinacy of their wills has been subdued, and such effects produced in them as they never experienced before. And the manner in which these effects have been produced, as well as the consequences of them, gives them a proof of the agency of God in the change, and of the glory of his power exerted ; so that they who deny that effectual calling is eminently a work of divine power, must be unacquainted with themselves, or not duly observe that which carries its own evidence with it. But we shall take our proofs principally from scripture. There we have an ac count of the beginning of this -work, which is styled ' the new birth.' In this we are said to be made ' partakers of the divine nature ;'g that is, a nature which is produced by divine power. We are also said to be 'born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'h The gospel, which is the instrument he makes use of in calling effectually, is styled ' the rod of his strength. ' " The effect of it is ascribed to the ' revelation of his arm. ' k The season in which this is done, is called ' the day of his power.'1 And the gospel itself is, by a metonymy, called ' his power.'"1 The cross of Christ is also, when preached and made effectual for con version, styled ' the power of God.'n Moreover, the progress of the work of grace is ascribed to ' the power of Gbd.'° It is this power which ' keeps ' those who are effectually called 'through faith unto salvation. 'p That the power may appear to be extraordinary, the apostle uses an uncommon emphasis of expression, when ne calls it ' the exceeding greatness of his power,' and ' the working of his mighty power ;'i which wordsr can hardly be translated without losing something of their force and beauty. Indeed, there is not an expression used in scripture to signify the efficacy of divine power, which exceeds, or, I may say, equals them. That the apostle may appear to speak of the power more strongly, he, in the following words, represents it as being no less than 'that power which wrought in Christ, when God raised him from the dead.' — Let me add, that something to the same purpose may be inferred from those metaphorical expressions by which conversion is set forth. Thus it is called ' a creation.' When we are made partakers of this privilege, we are said to ' be created in righteousness and true holiness.'8 The apostle seems to compare it with the creation of man at first after the image of God, which consisted f ?¦ P,lt' '" o' h J<>hn i. 13. i Psal. ex. 2. k Isa. liii. 1. ,,", ''*' * , ml Cor. i. 18; Rom. i. 16. n 1 Cor. i. 24 n 2 I hess. ,.11, p , pet t 5_ q Eph ._ ]g 2()> 1 1» l/«{„«A.l5|r fltyifnf t„s tuta/tuif a.VTQV, XUTX mt ttSPyiIXt IW XPXTOUS T»f WVWf KUT3V. s L|ii. iv. 24. * s EFFECTUAL CALLING. 63 principally in righteousness and true holiness. He, accordingly, considers this image as restored when a principle of grace is implanted, whereby we are again disposed to the exercise of righteousness and holiness. Elsewhere, also, he says, ' We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that we should walk in them.'' Here he supposes that this creating power must be exerted before we can put forth good works ; so that it can be nothing less than the power of God. Nor would it have been styled ' a creation,' if it had not been a supernatural work ; so that it is, in that respect, more glorious than many other effects of the divine power. — Conversion is styled, also, ' a resurrection from the dead.' Thus the apostle says, ' You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.'" In this respect, it certainly exceeds the power of men. A physician by his skill may mend a crazy constitution, or recover it from the confines of death ; but to raise the dead exceeds the limits of finite power. This mode of speaking our Sa viour makes use of to signify the conversion or effectual call of sinners, when he Says, ' The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall live.'1 He had, in the preceding verse, been speaking of those ' having eternal life,' and ' not coming into condemnation, and being passed from death to life,' who hear his words and believe ; and then it fol lows, that ' the hour is coming,' that is, the time is near at hand when the Spirit shall be poured forth, and the gospel-dispensation be. begun, and it 'now is,' in some degree, namely, in those who were converted by his ministry, 'when the dead shall hear his voice and live,' or pass from a state of spiritual death to life, as a means for their attaining eternal life. This view is much more agreeable to the context, than to conclude, as some do to evade the force of this argument, that, in the words 'now is,' our Saviour speaks concerning some who were then, or should thereafter be, raised from the dead in a miraculous manner ; and that ' the hour is coming, ' refers to the general resurrection. But this seems not to be the sense of the text ; because our Saviour, in a following verse, supposes his hearers to be astonished at the doctrine, as though it was too great an instance of power for him to implant a principle of spiritual life in dead sinners ; and. therefore he proves his assertion from his raising the dead at the last day: ' Marvel not, for the hour is coming,' that is, at the end of the world, ' when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice. '' This cannot well agree with understanding Christ's raising the dead to refer to the general resurrection ; for that would represent him as answering their objection, or putting a stop to their wonder at what he had said, by asserting the same thing in other words. If, how ever, you suppose the dead 'hearing his voice,' to imply a spiritual resurrection, and 'the dead being raised out of their graves,' to be an argument to convince his hearers that his power was sufficient to bring about this great effect, there is much more beauty in the expression, and strength in the reasoning, than to understand the passage otherwise. — This is so plain a proof of the argument we are endea vouring to defend, that nothing needs be added. However, I cannot but mention another scripture, in which our Saviour says, ' No man can come to me except the Father draw him.'z Here Christ, by ' coming to him,' does not mean attend ing on his ministry, which did not require any power to induce them to it ; but 'believing on him,' so as to 'have everlasting life.' In this sense, "coming to him ' is often understood in the gospels ;a and it is the immediate consequence of effectual calling. Now, when our Saviour says that ' no man can ' thus ' come to him' without being ' drawn by the Father,' we may understand what he means by what is said in a following verse, namely, their being ' taught of God,' and having ' heard and learned of the Father.'15 Such, says he, 'come unto me.' Now, this ' teaching ' certainly implies more than giving a rule of faith contained in divine revelation ; for Christ is not here, as elsewhere, proving the necessity of divine revelation, but is speaking concerning its saving efficacy ; and none can deny that many have been objectively taught and instructed by the word, who have not come to Christ, or believed in him to everlasting life. The words are a quotation from the prophets, to whom he refers, and who intimate that they should be ' all taught t Eph. ii. 10. u Chap. ii. 1, 5. x John v. 25. y John v. 28. z John vi. 44. a Ver. 47. b Ver. 45. 64 EFFECTUAL CALLING. of God.' But this teaching certainly implies more than an objective teaching and instructing; for in this sense they, having divine revelation, were always taught ot God What the prophet Isaiah mentions, when he foretells this matter, is a special privilege ; as appears by his connecting it with the great peace which its subjects should have, or the confluence of saving blessings which should attend it. c Hie prophet Jeremiah, who speaks to the same purpose, says, ' 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;'a that is, not only shall they have an objective revelation, or that which some call moral suasion, but this shall be made effectual to their salvation. And iii order to its being so, God promises that he would ' put his law in the inward part, and write it in the 'heart,' and that he would 'give them a new heart,' and' put a new spirit within them,' and hereby 'cause them to walk in his statutes.'e The teaching, therefore, is not merely a rectifying of some mistakes to which they are liable, but a producing in them of something which they had not before ; not building upon the old foundation, but laying a new one, and so working a change in the powers and faculties of the soul. And as they formerly were obdurate and hardened in sin, he promises to ' take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh,' and by his 'word,' which is compared to 'a hammer,' to 'break the rock in pieces.'1 This is certainly a work of power. But that it is so, will farther appear from what follows in considering the work itself. II. We are thus led to show what effects are produced by the power of God, when we are effectually called. 1. The first step which he is pleased to take in this work, is his implanting a prin ciple of spiritual life and grace, which is absolutely necessary for our attaining to, or receiving advantage by, the external call of the gospel. This is generally styled regeneration, or the new birth, or, as in the scripture just referred to, ' a new heart.' If it be inquired, what we are to understand by this principle, we answer that, as principles are known only by the effects they produce, springs of acting, by the actions themselves, we must be content with the description, that it is something wrought in the heart of man, whereby he is habitually and prevailingly biassed and inclined to what is good. In virtue of it, he freely, readily, and willingly chooses those things which tend to the glory of God ; and refuses, abhors, and flees -from what is contrary to it. As this effect more immediately concerns the understand ing, whereby it is enabled to discern in a spiritual way the things which God re veals in the gospel, it is styled his ' shining in the heart, b to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory,' or his giving ' an eye to see, and an ear to hear.'" As it respects the will, it contains a power whereby it is disposed and enabled to yield the obedience of faith, to whatever God is pleased to reveal to us as a rule of duty ; so that we are made willing in the day of his power. And as it respects the affec tions, they are all inclined to run in a right channel, to desire, delight, and rejoice in every thing which is pleasing to God, and to flee from every thing which is pro voking to him. This is that whereby a dead sinner is made alive, and so enabled to put forth Lving actions. Concerning this principle of grace, let it be observed that it is infused, and not acquired. The first principle or spring of good actions, may as truly be supposed to be infused into us as Christians, as the principle of reasoning is said to be in fused into us as men. None ever supposed that the natural power of reasoning may be acquired, though a greater facility or degree of it is gradually attained. In the same way, that power whereby we are enabled to put forth supernatural acts of grace, which we call a principle of grace, must be supposed to be implanted in us ; for, were it acquired, we could not, properly speaking, be said to be born of God. I am hence obliged to infer, that the regenerating act, or the implanting of this principle of grace, which, in the order of nature at least, is antecedent to any act of grace put forth by us, is the immediate effect of the power of God. This none who speak of regeneration as a divine work, pretend to deny. I cannot but conclude, therefore, that it is wrought in us without the instrumentality of thi r Is-i. liv. 13. d .Ter. xxxi. 33, 34. e Ezek. xxxvi. 26. f Jer. xxiii. 2'J. g 2 Cor. iv. 6. li Lieut, xxix. 4. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 65 word, or of any of the ordinary means of grace. My reason for thinking so is, that it is necessary, from the nature of the thing, to our receiving or improving the word of God. or reaping any saving advantage by it, that the Spirit should produce the principle of faith. Now, to say that this is done by the word, is, in effect, to assert that the word produces the principle, and the principle gives efficacy to the word ; which seems, to me, little less than arguing in a circle. The word cannot profit, unless it be mixed with faith ; faith cannot be put forth, unless it proceed from a principle of grace implanted ; therefore this principle of grace is not pro duced by the word. We may as well suppose that the presenting of a beautiful pic ture before a man who is blind can enable him to see, or that the violent motion of a withered hand can produce strength for action, as we can suppose that the pre senting of the word, in an objective way, is the instrument whereby God produces that internal principle by which we are enabled to embrace it. Nor would this so well agree with the idea of its being a new creature, or of our being ' created unto good works ;' for then it ought rather to be said, we are created by faith, which is a good work. This is, in effect, to say that the principle of grace is produced by the instrumentality of that which supposes its being implanted, and that it is the r«6ult and consequence of it. — I am sorry that I am obliged, in this assertion, to appear at least to oppose what has been maintained by many divines of great worth ; who have, in all other respects, explained the doctrine of regeneration agreeably to the mind and will of God, and the analogy of faith.1 It may be the principal dif ference between this explanation and theirs is, that they speak of regeneration in a large sense, as including, not merely the implanting of the principle, but the ex citing of it, and do not sufficiently distinguish between the principle as implanted and as deduced into action ; for, I readily own that the latter is by the instru mentality of the word, though I cannot think the former so. Or it may be, they consider the principle as exerted ; while I consider it as created or wrought in us, and therefore can no more conclude that the new creation is wrought by an instrument, than I can that the first creation of all things was. I am ready to conjecture that what leads many divines into this way of think ing, is the sense in which they understand the words of the apostle : ' Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liv- eth and abideth for ever;'k and elsewhere, ' Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.'1 But this language respects not so much the implanting of the principle of grace, as our being enabled to act from that principle. It is as if the inspired writers had said, ' He hath made us believers, or induced us to love and obey him by the word of truth.' This supposes a principle of grace to have been implanted ; otherwise the word of truth would never have produced these effects. Regeneration may be taken, not only for our being made alive to God, or created unto good works, but fo» our putting forth living actions, proceeding from that principle which is implanted in the soul. I am far from denying that faith and all other graces are wrought in us by the instrumentality of the word ; and it is in this sense that some who treat on this subject explain their sentiments, when they speak of being born again by the word. I persuade myself, therefore, that I differ from them only in the acceptation of words, and not in the substance of the doctrine they maintain.111 [See Note H, page 77.] 2. The principle of grace being implanted, the acts of grace in those who are adult, immediately follow. There is, in other words, a change of our behaviour, a renovation of our lives and actions, which may properly be called conversion. Having explained what we mean by regeneration, it is now necessary to consider. how it differs from conversion. Here I shall take leave to transcribe a few passages from the excellent divine just mentioned. " Regeneration is a spiritual change;, i See Cbarnock, vol. ii. pages 220, 221, &c. and Cole on Regeneration. k 1 Pet. i. 23. 1 James i. 16. m See Chamock, vol. ii. page 232, who, speaking concerning its being an instrument appointed by God for this purpose, says, " God hath made a combination between hearing and believing; so that believing comes not without hearing;'' and while he infers from this, that the principle of grace is implanted, by hearing and believing the word, he must be supposed to understand it, con-- cerning the principle deduced into action, and not concerning the implanting of the principle itself. II. I 66 EFFECTUAL CALLING. conversion is a spiritual motion. In regeneration there is a power conferred ; con version is the exercise of this power. In regeneration there is given us a princi ple to turn ; conversion is our actual turning. In the covenant, the new heart, and God's putting the Spirit into them, is distinguished from their walking in his statutes, from the first step we take in the way of God, and is set down as the cause of our motion. In renewing us, God gives us a power ; in converting us, he excites that power. Men are naturally dead, and have a stone upon them ; regeneration is a rolling away the stone from the heart, and a raising to newness of life • and then conversion is as natural to a regenerate man, as motion is to a living body. A principle of activity will produce action. The first reviving us is wholly the act of God, without any concurrence of the creature ; but, after we are revived, we do actively and voluntarily live in his sight. Regeneration is the motion of God in the creature ; conversion is the motion of the creature to God, by virtue of that first principle. From this principle all the acts of believing, re penting, mortifying, quickening, do spring. In all these a man is active ; in the other, he is merely passive."11 This is what we may call the second step, which God takes in effectual calling ; and it is brought about by the instrumentality of the word. The word before this was preached to little or no purpose, or, it may be, was despised, rejected, and disregarded ; but now a man is enabled to see a beauty and a glory in it, all the powers and faculties of his soul being under the influence of the spiritual life implanted in regeneration, and inclined to yield a ready and cheerful obedience. This work is gradual and progressive, and as such, is called the work of sanctification, — of which more shall be said under a following Answer ; ° and it is attended with repentance unto life, and all other graces which accompany salvation. In this respect we are drawn to Christ by his word and Spirit ; or, by his Spirit making use of his word, our minds are savingly enlight ened, our wills renewed and determined to what is good ; so that, as it is expressed in the Answer we are explaining, we are made willing and able freely to answer the call of God, and to accept of and embrace the grace offered and conveyed in the gospel. *The first thing in which that change which is wrought in effectual calling mani fests itself, is our understanding being enlightened to receive the truths revealed to us in the word of God. Accordingly, we see things with a new and different light, — behold a greater beauty, excellency, and glory in divine things, than ever we did before. We are also led into ourselves, and convinced of sin and misery, conclud ing ourselves to be, by nature, in a lost and undone condition. The soul then sees the glory of Christ, the greatness of his love who came to seek and save those that were lost, and who now appears precious, as he is said to be to those who believe. Then the will — being determined or enabled so to do, by the Spirit of God excit ing the principle of graoe which he had implanted — accepts of Christ on his own terms ; and trie affections all centre in him, and desire to derive all spiritual bless ings from him. Thus the work of grace is begun in effectual calling, which is after wards carried on in sanctification. As we are here considering the beginning of the work of grace in effectual caLL ing, I cannot but take notice of a question which frequently occurs on this subject, namely, Whether man, in the first moment of effectual calling, that is, in regen; eration, be merely passive, though active in every thing which follows ? That he is so, we cannot but affirm, not only against the Pelagians, but against others whose method of treating the doctrine of divine grace seems to agree with theirs. Here, that we may obviate a popular objection, usually brought against our assertion, as if we argued that God dealt with men as if they were machines, and not endowed with, understanding or will, let it be observed that we consider the subjects of this grace no otherwise than as intelligent creatures, capable of being internally excited and disposed to what is good, or else God would never work this principle in them. l?-1 i.d°vTe suPPose> however men are said to be passive in the first moment in which this principle is implanted, that they are so afterwards ; but we say that thev are enabled to act under the divine influence. The case is similar to the literal n See Charnock on Regeneration, voL ii. pages 70, 71. o See Quest, lxxv. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 67 creation of Adam. When his soul was created, it could not be said to be active in its own creation, and in the implanting of those powers which were concreated with it ; yet it was active, or those powers exerted themselves, immediately after it was created. This is the state of the question we are now debating. We cannot but maintain, therefore, that men do not concur in the implanting of the principle of grace ; for then they would be active in being created unto good works. But these are the result, and not the cause of that power which is infused into them, in order to their being produced. The doctrine we have stated is sufficiently evi dent, riot only from the impotency of corrupt nature as to what is good, but from its utter aversion to it, and from the work being truly and properly divine, or, as was formerly observed, the effect of almighty power. This is not a controversy of late date ; but has been either defended or opposed, since the time of Augustine and Pelagius. Many volumes have been written concerning the aids and assistances of divine grace in the work of conversion. The schoolmen were divided in their sentiments about it, as they adhered to or receded from Augustine's doctrine. Both sides seem to allow that the grace of God affords some assistance ; but the main thing in debate, is, Whether the grace of God bears only one part in this work, and the will of man the other ; like two persons lifting at the same burden, and carrying it between them ? Some have allowed that the divine concourse is necessary, and yet have not been willing to own that man bears no part in this work, or that * it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 'p This the apostle asserts in so plain terms, that the most known sense of his words cannot well be evaded. Indeed, were it otherwise, it could hardly be said, that ' we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves ; a saying which, though immediately applied to ministers, is certainly, by a parity of reason, applicable to all Christians. i Nor would it be, in all respects, true, that we are 'born of God,' or that we, who formerly were dead in sin, are raised to a spiritual life, or made, with respect to the principle of spiritual actions, new creatures ; all which is done in regeneration. We might also take occasion, under this head, to notice what we often meet with in practical discourses and sermons, concerning preparatory works, or previous dis positions, which facilitate and lead to the work of conversion. Some assert that we must do what we can, and, by using our reasoning powers and faculties, endea vour to convert or turn ourselves; and that then God will do the rest, or finish the work which we have begun. Many things are often considered as the steps which men may take in the reformation of their lives, — such as abstaining from gross enormities which they may have been guilty of, thinking on their ways, observing the tendency of their present course of life, and setting before themselves proper arguments which may induce them to repent and believe ; and then, it is alleged, they may be said to have prepared themselves for the grace of God, the bestowal of which upon them will follow. It is added that, if there be any thing remaining, which is out of their power, God has engaged to give success to their endeavours ; so that he will bring them into a state of regeneration and conversion. — Now, this method of accounting for the work of grace is liable to many exceptions ; parti cularly as it supposes man to be the first mover in his own conversion, and the divine energy to be dependent upon our conduct. For the contrary is agreeable, not only to scripture, but to the divine perfections, as well as to the doctrine we have been maintaining as to effectual calling being, in the most proper sense, a divine work.— But that we may impartially consider this matter, and set what some call a prepa ratory work in a just light, let it be observed that preparatory works must either be considered as good in all those circumstances which are necessary to denominate them good, particularly they must proceed from a good principle, that is to say, a prin ciple of regeneration ; or else they are only such works as are materially good, which many perform who are never brought into a state of conversion. Or if, on the other hand, they are-supposed to proceed from a principle of regeneration,- they are works, from the nature of the thing, not preparatory to the first grace, but rather consequent upon it.— Again, it is one thing to assert that it is our duty to p Phil, ii.13. q 2 Cor. iii. 5. 68 EFFECTUAL CALLING. perform all those works which some call preparatory for conversion, — such as medi tation, attendance on ordinances, duly weighing those arguments or motives which should lead us to repentance and the exercise of all other graces ; and another thing to say that every one who performs these duties shall certainly have regenerating grace. Or, it is one thing to apply ourselves to the performance of those duties, as far as it is in our own power, and, at the same time, to wait, pray, and hope for success to attend them ; and another thing to assert that success shall always at tend them, as if God had laid himself under an obligation to give special grace to those who, in this way, improve that which is common. For the contrary to this may be observed in many instances ; and when we have done all, we must conclude that the grace of God, if he is pleased to give success to our endeavours, is free and sovereign. — Further, they who say that if we do all we can, God will do the rest, advance very little to support their argument ; since there is no one who can pre tend that he has done what he could. May we not suppose, too, that God, in a judicial way, as punishing us for the many sins we commit, may deny us success s How can it be said, then, that success will necessarily follow ? When we perform any of those duties which some call preparatory to conversion, they are to be con sidered as the Spirit's preparing his own way, rather than as corrupt nature's pre paring itself for grace. We are far from denying that there is a beautiful order in the divine dispensations. The Spirit of God first convinces of sin ; and then shows the convinced sinner where his help is to be had, and enables him to close with Christ by faith. He first shows the soul its own corruption and nothingness ; and then leads him to see Christ's fulness, or that all his salvation is reposed in his hands, and enables him to believe in him to the saving of the soul. One of these works, indeed, prepares the way for the other. None of them, however, can be said to prepare the way for regeneration ; which is the work of the Spirit of God, and without which no other can be said to be a saving work. It is objected that there are several scriptures which seem to speak of common grace, as being preparatory for special. Thus the scribe, mentioned in the gospel, who expressed himself 'discreetly,' in asserting that, 'to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, soul, and strength, and to love our neigh bour as ourselves, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices,' is said to have been 'not far from the kingdom of God.'r Elsewhere, too, we are exhorted 'to ask' and ' to seek ;' and a promise is annexed, that ' it shall be given us, and we shall find.'s In another place, we are commanded 'to turn at God's reproof;' and it is said, ' he will pour out his Spirit' unto us, ' and make known his words unto us.'4 There are also several other scriptures, in which superadded grace is connected with duty enjoined ; which duty is supposed to be in our own power, and to be preparatory for it. — Now, as to the first of these scriptures, in which our Saviour tells the scribe that he was 'not far from the kingdom of God,' he intends nothing else but that the profession he made, which he calls his ' answer ing discreetly,' was not very remote from that which was made by those who were the subjects of his kingdom. It is the doctrine the scribe mentions which Christ commends. It must hence not be inferred that he had regard to his state, as if his inward temper of mind, or moral conduct of life, were such as more imme diately disposed him for a state of grace, so that he was hovering between a state of unregeneracy and conversion. — As for the instance in which persons are supposed to prepare themselves by prayer for that grace which God gives in answer to it, the meaning is not that he has obliged himself to give whatever they ask for relating to their salvation. Neither the scripture referred to, nor any other to the same purpose, can have this meaning, unless it be understood of the prayer of faith, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This, however, supposes regenerating grace, and therefore, is foreign to the argument in which man is considered as pre paring himself for the grace of God, and not as expecting farther degrees of grace, upon his being inclined by the Spirit of God to seek them.— As for God's engaging ' to give the Spirit,' and to ' make known his words,' to those who ' turn at his reproof ;' this, I conceive, contains nothing else but a promise of the Spirit, to carry on the work of grace in all those in whom it is begun. Though ' turning,' in scripture, is some, r Mark xii. 33, 34. s Matt. vii. 7. t Prov. i. 23. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 69 times taken for external reformation, which is in our own power, as it is our indis pensable duty ; yet, whenever a promise of saving blessings is, as in this scripture, annexed to it, it is to be understood as denoting the grace of repentance. If it be said that this is God's gift, and therefore cannot be the subject of an exhortation, it may be replied that saving grace is often represented, in scripture, as our act or duty ; in order to the performance of which we ought to say, as the church is re presented as doing, ' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned ;'u that is, ' I shall return unto thee with my whole heart, and not feignedly.'x — The same reply might be given to the objector's sense of several other scriptures brought to maintain the doctrine of preparatory works performed by us, as necessarily inferring our obtain ing the special grace of God. But I shall close this head with a few hints taken from the excellent divine formerly mentioned. " Man cannot prepare himself for the new birth. He hath, indeed, a subjective capacity for grace, above any other creature in the inferior world ; and this is a kind of natural preparation, which other creatures have not, — a capacity, in regard of the powers of the soul, though not in respect of the present disposition of them. He hath an understanding to know, and, when it is enlightened, to know God's law, — a will to move and run, and, when enlarged by grace, to run the ways of God's commandments ; so that he stands in an immediate capacity to receive the life of grace upon the breath and touch of God, which a stone doth not ; for in this it is necessary that rational fac ulties should be put as a foundation of spiritual motions. Though the soul is thus capable, as a subject, to receive the grace of God, yet it is not therefore capable, as an agent, to prepare itself for it, or produce it. It is capable to receive the truths of God ; but, as the heart is stony, it is incapable to receive the impressions of those truths. Though some things which man may do by common grace, may be said to be preparations ; yet they are not formally so, — as that there is an ab solute, causal connection between such preparations and regeneration. They are not disposing causes of grace. Grace is all in a way of reception by the soul, not of action from the soul. The highest morality in the world is not necessary to the first infusion of the divine nature. If there were any thing in the subject that was the cause of it, the tenderest and softest dispositions would be wrought upon ; and the most intelligent men would soonest receive 'the gospel. Though we see them sometimes renewed, yet many times the roughest tempers are seized upon by grace. Though morality seems to set men at a greater nearness to the kingdom of God ; yet, with all its own strength, it cannot bring it into the heart, unless the Spirit open the lock. Yea, sometimes it sets a man farther from the kingdom of God, as being a great enemy to the righteousness of the gospel, both imputed and inhe rent. And other operations upon the soul, which seem to be nearer preparations, such as convictions, &c, do not infer grace ; for the heart, as a field, may be ploughed by terrors, and yet not planted with any good seed. Planting and water ing are preparations, but not the cause of fruit. The increase depends upon God."* Thus this learned author, who also proves that there is no obligation on God by any thing which may look like a* preparation on man ; and adds that, if any pre parations were our own, and were pure, which they are not, yet they cannot oblige God to give supernatural grace. III. We are now led to consider that this work is, in a peculiar manner, attri buted to the Spirit of God ; the only moving cause of it being his grace. That the Spirit is the author of this work, is not to be proved by experience, as the impres sions of divine power in it are ; but it is to be proved by scripture ; and the scrip ture is very express on the subject. Thus, when God promises to ' give a new heart, to take away the heart of stone, and to give an heart of flesh, and to cause his people to walk in his statutes,'2 he tells them that, in order to his doing so, he would 'put his Spirit within them.' Elsewhere they are said to have 'purified their souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.'" Our Saviour also asserts the necessity of. our being ' born of the Spirit,''1 in order to our entering into the kingdom of God. So that, from these and several other scriptures which might be u Jer. xxxi. 18. x Jer. iii. 10. y See Charnock on Regeneration, vol. ii. pages 147, 148, &c. z Exek. xxxvi. 26, 27. a 1 Pet. i. 22. b John iii. 5. 70 EFFECTUAL CALLING. referred to, it appears that effectual calling is the internal powerful work of the Holy Ghost.0 It is objected by some, that this doctrine savours of enthusiasm ; smce it supposes that there is no difference between the Spirit's internal influences and his inspira tion ; and to pretend to this, now that the miraculous dispensation which was in the apostle's days has ceased, is vain and enthusiastic— But the charge of enthusiasm is very unjustly deduced from this doctrine ; for we must distinguish between the extraordinary and the ordinary influence of the Holy Ghost. The former is allowed by all to have now ceased ; so that they who pretend to it are liable to this charge. But it is a very great dishonour cast upon the Holy Ghost to deny his powerful influence or agency in the work of grace ; and it renders the present condition of the church, in a very material circumstance, so much inferior to what it was of old, that it is incapable of attaining salvation, — unless it could be proved that salvation might be attained without the divine energy. — But, that we may farther reply to the objection, let it be considered that the Spirit's influence, as subservient to the work of grace, is evidently distinguished from inspiration. The latter was a pecu liar honour conferred upon some persons, who either were to transmit to the church a rule of faith by the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost, or were favoured with inspiration to answer some extraordinary ends which could not be attained without it, namely, their being furnished with wisdom, as well as courage and boldness, to maintain the cause which they were not otherwise furnished to defend, -against the opposition that it met with from their persecuting and malicious enemies, that so it might not suffer through their weakness. Hence our Saviour bids his disciples ' not take thought what they should say,' when brought before rulers, &c. ; and promises that 'the Spirit should speak in them.'d In some other particular in stances, especially in the church at Corinth, we read that when ministers had not those advantages to qualify themselves to preach the gospel which they afterwards were favoured with, some had this extraordinary gift, so that they spake by the Spirit, but this was only conferred occasionally, and for some special reasons. Hence those scriptures which speak of the influences of the Spirit which were more common, and immediately subservient to the work of grace in the souls of those who were, the subjects of them, were, at that time, the same with those that we are pleading for, and were designed to continue so in the church in all ages. Thus, when persons are said ' through the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body,'e the language does not respect any extraordinary dispensation which they were then under ; since it is the duty of all men, in all ages, without the extraordinary influ ences of the Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the body ; so that we may expect this powerful energy as well as they, or else our condition would be very deplorable. — Besides, we never find that extraordinary gifts were immediately subservient to the subduing of corruption, or, at least, that every one who had them did mortify sin, and so appear to be internally sanctified. Yet, to mortify sin, is a character of those who are under sanctifying influences ; and not to have these influences, determines a person to be in an unregenerate state, or ' to live after the flesh,' and so to be liable to death. f No one can suppose that when the apostle, in the fore going verse, says, ' If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,' he means, ' If ye are not under inspiration, ye shall die, as living after the flesh.' His reasoning, however, is strong and conclusive, if we understand the divine influence of which he speaks, as what is distinct from inspiration, and consequently a privilege necessary for the beginning and carrying on of the work of grace, and so belonging to believers in all ages. — Again, when the Spirit is said ' to help our infirmities ' e in prayer, is not prayer as much a duty now as it was when they had extraordinary gifts ? and ought we not to hope for the assistance of the Spirit in all ages ? The Spirit's c When we speak of effectual calling being the work of the Spirit, the agency of the Father and son is not excluded; smce the divine power by which all effects are produced, belongs to the divine essence yvhich is equally predicated of all the persons in the Godhead. But when any work is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit, it implies that his personal glory is demonstrated thereby, agree ably to what is elsewhere called the economy of the divine persons. See this farther explained in Se1 'J ?u"TJ ot the Pel's°»s i» the Godhead,' under Quest, ix, x, xi. d Matt. *. 18—20. e Rom. viii. 13. f Ver. 12. g Ver 26 EFFECTUAL CALLING. 71 help, therefore, is not confined to the age when there was a miraculous dispensation, or extraordinary inspiration. — Further, when it is said, ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,'h can we suppose that none were the sons of God but such as had extraordinary gifts ? Does not this privilege belong to us as well as to them ? Now, if we are the sons pf God, as well as they, we have this evidence of our being so, that we are ' led by the Spirit of God ;' though we pretend not to be led by him as a Spirit of inspiration. — We may add, that the apostle elsewhere speaks of some who were ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance.' These are described as ' trusting in Christ, after they had heard the word of salvation,' and 'believing in him.'1 But this character belongs to the church in all ages ; so that the ' sealing ' spoken of is not a privilege confined to those who had the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, but one which belongs to believers as such. — Moreover, it is said, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'k Therefore some per sons may, in a way of self-examination, know themselves to be the children of God, by the witness of the Spirit which is common to all believers ; they may do so with out pretending, to be inspired, which would be to know this matter without the con curring testimony of our own spirits. — Many things of a similar nature might be observed concerning other scriptures which are generally brought to prove that be lievers, in our day, though they pretend not to the Spirit of inspiration, are made partakers of the powerful influences of the Holy Ghost. But what we have stated is a sufficient Answer to the objection we have been considering. It is farther objected, that, if the Spirit does work internally in the souls of men, we are hot to suppose that he works a change in their wills, but only that he presents objects to them which they, by their own power, improve and make use of for their good ; even as a finite spirit may suggest good or bad thoughts, without disposing us to comply with them ; or, as the devil is said to work in men, and is called, ' The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'1 But an objective influence, properly speaking, is no influence at all ; much less is it becoming the dignity of the Holy Ghost, to say that he has no more an hand in the work of conversion than that which a mere creature might have. I will not deny that the Greek wOrd,m which signifies energy, or internal working, is sometimes taken for such a kind of influence as is not properly the effect of power, as in the instance stated in the objection. Yet, let it be considered that in other instances the same word is often used, in senses very different, when applied to God and the creature ; the word, in itself, being indeterminate, while the ap plication of it so determines the meaning as to leave no doubt as to the sense of it. Thus, when 'to make,' ' form,' or 'produce,' is applied to God, and the thing made, formed, or produced, is represented as a display of his almighty power which exceeds the limits of finite power, the sense is determined to be very differ ent from making, forming, or producing, when applied to men, acting in their own sphere. So the apostle speaks of ' building, ' in a very different sense, as applied to God and the creature, which no one is at a loss to understand : ' Every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.'n Now, to apply this to our present purpose, we do not deny that a finite spirit has an energy in in ob jective way ; ,but when the same word is applied to God's manner of acting, and, as was formerly observed, is used to denote a display of his almighty power, produc ing a change in the soul, and not only persuading but enabling a man to perforin good works, from a principle of spiritual life implanted, it may easily be under- Stood as having a Very different sense from the same word, when applied to the in ternal agency of a finite spirit. The objection in question, therefore, does not Overthrow the argument we are maintaining. It is farther objected against the illustration of the powerful work of the Spirit from a person's being raised from the dead, that this implies nothing supernatural, or out of the power of man ; since the apostle says, ' Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.'0 If arising from the h Rom. viii. 14. i Eph. i. 13, 14. k Rom. viii. 16. 1 Eph. ii. 2. m Ettiyim. n Heb. iii. 4. o Eph. v. 14. ** EFFECTUAL CALLING. dead, it is said, be the effect of almighty power, when applied to the work of grace, it seems preposterous for this ' arising from the dead ' to be recommended as our duty ; and if it be not a work of almighty power, those scriptures- which illustrate effectual calling by the resurrection of the dead, are nothing to the argument for which they have been brought. Now, some suppose that its being assigned as a ' matter of duty for sinners to rise from the dead, does not infer that their doing so is in their own power ; but that it signifies only that none can expect eternal life except those who rise from the death of sin. Accordingly, as the promise here mentioned, relating to our 'having light,' is said to be 'Christ's gift;' so the power to perform that duty which is inseparably connected with it, namely, ' rising from the dead,' is to be sought for at his hand. But if this Answer be not reckoned sufficient, I see no absurdity in supposing that the two expressions, ' awake, thou that sleepest,' and ' arise from the dead,' import the same thing. Sleep is, as it were,- the image of death, and, by a metaphorical way of speaking, may be here called death ; and if so, the apostle commands believers to awake out of their carnal security, or shake off their stupid frames, as they expect the light of eternal life. Though, however, it be taken in this sense here; yet when we meet with the words ' quickened,' or 'raised from the dead,' elsewhere, they may be understood in a dif ferent sense, as denoting the implanting of a principle of grace in regeneration, as will appear by the context. Thus when God is said to ' quicken those who , were dead in trespasses and sins, who walked according to the course of this world, ful filling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath ;' and to do this with a design to show ' the exceeding riches of his grace, and kindness towards them ;' and, in consequence, to work that faith which accom- panies salvation, and which is not of themselves, but is his gift ; when God is said to do these things in our being 'quickened or raised from the dead,' the expres sions certainly argue more than a stupid believer's awaking from the carnal security which he is under, who is supposed to have a principle of spiritual life, whereby he may be enabled so to do. It is also objected to what has been said as to effectual calling being a work of divine power, that those scriptures which speak of it as such, denote nothing else but the power of working miracles ; whereby they to whom the gospel was preached were induced to believe. Thus, when the apostle says, ' My preaching was in de monstration of the Spirit and of power, * his meaning is alleged to be that the doctrines he preached were confirmed, and the truth of them demonstrated, by the power of the Holy Ghost enabling him to work miracles. Again, the words, ' The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, '« are alleged to mean that the gospel was not only preached, but confirmed by miracles ; and the words, ' Our gospel came to you in power and in the Holy Ghost,'1" are paraphrased, — ' The gospel which we preach, was confirmed by the power and miraculous works of the Holy Ghost ;' which, say the objectors, has no reference to the internal efficacious influences of the Spirit put forth in effectual calling. — Now, though we often read that the gos pel was confirmed by miracles ; yet I cannot see that this is the principal, much less the only sense of these scriptures, and some others which might have been produced to the same purpose. — As to the first of them, in which the apostle speaks of his preaching being 'in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' it may be observed that, in the preceding chapter, he had been speaking concerning Christ preached, and his glory set forth among them, as ' the power of God ;' that is to say, the power of God rendered the preaching of the doctrine of Christ effec tual to the conversion of those who believed. Now, this the apostle concludes to contain no less a conviction of the truth of the Christian religion, than if he had wrought signs or miracles ; which the Jews demanded, and which he had no design to work among them. Why, then, should we suppose that, when he speaks of his preaching being 'in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' he means the confirming of _ his doctrine by miracles, and not the confirming of it in the same sense he had just signified of Christ being the power of God. — As for the scripture in which it is said, ' The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power,' it is to p 1 Cor. ii. 4. q Chap. iv. 20. r 1 Thess. i. 5. EFFECTUAL CALLING. 73 be understood by comparing it with what immediately goes before, in which he says, ' I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and know not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power.' If we suppose that, by ' them who are puffed up,' he means some of their teachers, who, swelled either with pride or envy, probably were sowing some seeds of error among them, it does seem to be just to explain the following words, ' I will know not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power,' to mean, ' I will not so much regard the doctrines they deliver, as I will inquire and be convinced that they have confirmed them by miracles.' For he would rather regard their doctrine than their pretence to miracles, or have said, ' I will not inquire whether they have wrought any miracles, but what efficacy their doctrine has had.' By 'knowing the power,' therefore, the apostle does not mean that of working miracles ; but he intimates that he would know, not only what doctrines these persons taught, but what success attended their preaching. And then he adds, that 'the kingdom of God,' that is, the gospel-state, is advanced and promoted, not merely by the church's enjoying the means of grace, such as the preaching of the word, but 'by the power of God,' which makes the word preached effectual to salvation, whereby sinners are converted, and many added to the church, such as shall be saved. — As to the last scripture mentioned, in which the apostle says, ' Our gospel came to you, not in word only, but in power,' I can not think that he has any reference in it to the confirming of the gospel by miracles ; because what it says is assigned as a mark of their election, ' Knowing, brethren, your election of God ; for our gospel came unto you, not only in word, but in power,' &c. Now, whether we take election for God's eternal design to save them, for the execution of that design in his applying the graces of the Spirit to them, or, in the lowest sense which they on the other side of the question generally adopt, for their being a choice, religious, unblameable society of Christians, excelling many others in piety, it could not be evinced by the gospel being confirmed by miracles. This sense, then, seems not agreeable to the apostle's design. Hence, the objection founded on those scriptures which speak of the power of God in conversion, as implying nothing else but his power exerted in working miracles, will not, in the least, be sufficient to weaken the force of the argument we are maintaining. Thus, concerning effectual calling being a work of power attributed, in particular, to the Holy Spirit. There is one thing more observed in the Answer we are explaining, which must be briefly considered, namely, that effectual calling is a work of grace, which was the internal moving cause of it, or the reason of God's exerting his divine power in it. Effectual calling must be a work of grace, without any motive taken from those who are its subjects ; for they had nothing in them which could render them the objects of divine love, being described as 'dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from the life of God,' and 'enmity ' itself 'against him.' Their condition, ante cedent to effectual calling, cannot be supposed to be the moving cause of it ; for that which is in itself altogether unlovely, cannot afford a motive for love to any one who weighs the circumstances of persons and things, and acts accordingly. But it is objected, that though the present condition of unregenerate persons cannot afford any motive inducing God to make them the subjects of effectual call ing, yet the foresight of their future conduct might. We answer, that all the good which shall be found in believers is God's gift. He is the finisher as well as the author of faith ; and therefore it cannot be said, that any thing out of himself was the moving cause of it. We may add that God foresaw the vile and unworthy be haviour ofbelievers, proceeding from the remains of corrupt nature in them, as well as those graces which he would enable them to act ; so that there is as much in them which might induce him to hate them, as there is to move him to love them. We must conclude, therefore, that his love proceeds from another cause, or that it is by the grace of God alone that we are what we are. IV. We are now led to consider that the power and grace of God displayed in effectual calling, is irresistible, and consequently such as cannot but be effectual to produce that which is designed to be brought about by it. To deny this, would be to infer that the creature has an equal, if not a superior force to God. For, as in nature, every thing which impedes or stops a thing which is in motion must have an equal force to resist with that which is affected by it ; so, in the work of II. K 74 EFFECTUAL CALLING. grace, if the will of man can render the power of God of none effect, or stop the progress of divine grace, contrary to his design or purpose, the creature's power of resisting must be equal to that which is put forth by God, in order to the bringing of this work to perfection. This consequence is so derogatory to the divine glory, that no one who sees it to be just, will maintain the premises whence it is deduced. If it be said that God may suffer himself to be resisted, and his grace which would otherwise have been effectual to be defeated, this will not much mend the matter, but will only, in order to the avoiding of one absurd consequence, bring in another ; for if every one would have brought to pass what he purposes to be done, and would not be disappointed if he could help it, the same must be said of the great God. Now to say, that God could have prevented his purpose from being defeated, but would not, argues a defect of wisdom. If his own glory was designed by purposing to do that which the creature renders ineffectual, then he misses that end which cannot but be the most valuable, and consequently most desirable. Hence, for God to suffer a purpose of this nature to be defeated, supposing he could prevent it, is to suffer himself to be a loser of that glory which is due to his name. More over, the supposition is directly contrary to what the apostle says, ' Who hath re sisted his will?'s or, "Who hath rendered the grace which he designed should take effect, ineffectual?" or, which is the same thing, " Who can do it?" The ground on which many have asserted that the grace of God may be resisted, is taken from some scriptures which speak of man's being in open hostility against him. Thus we read of a bold daring sinner as ' stretching out his hand against God, and strengthening himself against the Almighty, running upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers. '* Stephen reproves the Jews as having 'always resisted the Holy Ghost, both they and their fathers.'11 The Pharisees are said to ' have rejected,'1 or, as the word? might have been rendered, ' disannulled the counsel of God against themselves.' And the prophet speaks of God's 'stretching out his hand all the day, unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. 'z These, and similar scriptures, give occasion to some to suppose that the power and grace, as well as the purpose of God, may be resisted. But that we may understand the sense of these scriptures, and, at the same time, not relinquish the doctrine we are maintaining, and thereby infer the consequence above-men tioned, we must distinguish between our opposition to God's revealed will contained in his word, which is the rule of duty to us, and resisting his secret will, which de termines the event. Or, as it may be otherwise expressed, it is one thing to set ourselves against the objective grace of God, that is, the gospel ; and another thing to defeat his subjective grace, that when he is about to work effectually in us, we should put a stop to his proceedings. The former no one denies ; the latter we can by no means allow. Persons may express a great deal of reluctance and per- verseness at the time when God is about to subdue their stubborn and obstinate wills ; but the power of God will break through all this opposition, and the will of man shall not be able to make his work void, or without effect. The Jews, as above-mentioned, might ' resist the Holy Ghost,' that is, oppose the doctrines con tained in scripture, which were given by the Spirit's inspiration ; and they might make this revelation of no effect with respect to themselves ; but had God designed that it should take effect, he would have prevented their resisting it. Israel might be 'a gainsaying (people, ' that is, they might oppose what God communicated to them by the prophets, which it was their duty and interest to have complied with ; and so the offer of grace in God's revealed will might be in vain with respect to them ; but it never was so with respect to those whom he designed to save. And if the hardened sinner, 'stretching out his hand against God,' may be said hereby to express his averseness to holiness, and his desire to be exempted from the divine government, he may be found in open rebellion against him, as hating and oppos- !w..o!ff t l^ ^6 Cann0t offer an^ real inJul7 t0 his d^ine perfections, so as to aeti act from his glory, or render his purpose of no effect. Moses, speaking concern ing God s works of providence, says, ' They are perfect; for all his ways are judg- ; *;:»:;;. ,9- *. t^:,223,26- u Acts vii- »• sa- * Lute - 3°- EFFECTUAL CALLING. 75 ment.'" Elsewhere, God, by the prophet' Isaiah, says, 'I will work, and who shall let it;'b whence he argues his eternal Deity and uncontrollable power, 'Before the day was, I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand ;' so that if a stop might be put to his works of providence, he would cease to be a God of infinite perfection. May we not infer, then, that his works of grace are not subject to any control ; so that when he designs to call any effectually, nothing shall prevent this end from being answered? This is what we intend, when we speak of the power and grace of God as irresistible. V. We are now to consider the season or time in which persons are effectually called. This, in the Answer under consideration, is said to be ' God's accepted time.' If the work be free and sovereign, withoOt any motive in us, the time in which he does it must be that which he thinks most proper. Here we may ob serve that some are regenerated in their infancy, when the word can have no in strumentality in producing the least acts of grace. These "have therefore the seeds of grace, which spring up and discover themselves when they are able to make use of the word. That persons are capable of regeneration from the womb, is no less evident, than that they are capable of having the seeds or principle of reason, which they certainly have ; and if it be allowed that regeneration is con nected with salvation, and that infants are capable of the latter, as our Saviour says that 'of such is the kingdom of God,' they must be certainly capable of the former. Not to suppose some infants regenerated from the womb, would, without scripture-warrant, be to exclude a very great part of mankind from salvation. Others are effectually called in their childhood, others in riper years, and some few in old age ; that so no age of life may be an inducement to despair, or persons be discouraged from attending on the means of grace. Thus ' Josiah, in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, began to seek after the God of David his father.'0 David was converted when he was a youth, a stripling of a ruddy and beautiful countenance. 'd Moses seems to have been effectually called, when he left Pharaoh's court, and 'it came into his heart to visit his brethren the chil dren of Israel ;' at which time he was 'forty years o!d.'e Abraham seems to have been made partaker of this grace, when he was called to leave his country, when he was seventy-five years old ; before which it is probable that he, together with the rest of his family, served other ;gods.f We read also, in one instance, of a person converted in the very agonies of death, namely, the thief upon the cross.* Sometimes when persons seem most disposed to conversion, and are under the greatest convictions, and more inclined to reform their lives than at other times, the work appears, by the issue of it, to be no more than that of common grace, which miscarries and leaves them worse than they were before ; and it may be that afterwards, when they seem less inclined, God's accepted time will come, when ho begins the work with power, which he afterwards carries on and completes. Some are suffered to run great lengths in sin, before they are effectually called ; as the apostle ' Paul, in whom God was pleased to show forth all ldng-suffering, afe a pattern to them which should hereafter believe.'11 Hence the time and means being entirely in God's hand, as we ought not to presume, but to wait for the day of salvation in all his ordinances ; so, whatever our age and circumstances, we are encouraged to hope for the mercy of God unto eternal life, or that he will save and call us with an holy calling. a Deut. xxxii. 4. b Isa. xliii. 13. c 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3. d 1 Sam. xvi. 12, compared with chap. xvii. 56, .58. e Acts vii. 23. f Josh. xxiv. 2. compared with Gen. xii. 14. g Luke xxiii. 43. h 1 Tim. i. 16. [Note G. Common Grace Dr. Ridgeley, in what he says respecting ' common grace,' ' restrain ing grace,' and ' common operations of the Spirit,' appears to have got so engaged in expounding' the Catechism that he forgot duly to inquire, ' "What saith the scripture?' Grace which does not ' bring salvation,' and a work of the Holy Spirit on the soul which does not renovate and savingly enlighten, mu-t seem, to any person who has studied the scriptures apart from the theology of the schoolmen, very extraordinary ideas. Dr. Ridgeley himself appears not to understand them. He says, " Though Me Spirit is considered as an external agent, inasmuch as he never duells in the heart of any bu> believ.-rs ; yet the effect produced is internal in the mind and consciences of men, and, in some degree, in the will, which is almost persuaded to comply." Now, if the Spirit is not an inter nal agent, if he never dwells, or carries on a work, in the heart of any but believers; how can he 76 EFFECTUAL CALLING. be said to perform 'operations,' whether 'common' or otherwise, on the souls of persons who continue to reject the truth ? « Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he leads into all truth.' ' But the natural man receiyeth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them ; because they are spiritually discerned.' While the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is 'known to believers, and ' dwelleth with them, and shall be in them,' the world ' cannot receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.' Nor is the case altered by saying that "effects are produced internal in the mind and consciences of men, and, in some degree, in the will. By the common occurren ces of providence, bereavements, losses, public calamities, pestilences, and rumours ot war, as truly as by direct appeals concerning ' temperance, and righteousness, and judgment to come,' many an unconverted sinner is occasionally made to ' tremble,' to stand self-convicted of guilt, to resolve upon amendment of conduct, and, in general, to experience strong internal effects upon his moral affections. Yet who would speak of the consternations, the moral panics, the temporary reforma tions of ordinary life as a work of grace, or the result of common operations of the Spirit ? Im pressions on the human mind, by means of the occurrences of providence, through the medium of natural conscience and reason, are, in all respects, perfectly distinct from impressions by means of the word of God and the ordinances of Christianity, through the divine Spirit's illuminating power or gracious operations ; and these two classes of impressions seem to include all the varieties of moral feeling — of internal effect on the mind and consciences of men, or even upon the will — which come within the limits of human experience on earth. To distinguish a middle class of impres sions, and represent these as of higher quality than such as properly comport with man's fallen and unregenerated character, and yet of lower quality than such as are connected with the renewing of the heart and the spiritual illuminating of the understanding, appears to be just a breaking down of the lofty and broad line of demarcation between a work of natural conscience and a work of divine grace, — a work which belongs to the economy of God's general government, and a work which belongs to the sovereign and gracious economy of redemption. Some sinners, it is true, experience, in coming under the saving work of the Holy Spirit, a con currence of impressions by means of the divine word and by means of providential events ; and other sinners, on the contrary, experience, while they continue in unregeneracy, a series of excite ments as truly from the appeals of the Bible as from the general lessons of the divine government. It is not, however, the nature of the instrumentality employed, but the nature of the agency at work in the mind, which constitutes the difference between the effects produced. In the one class, the reason works with the aid merely of natural conscience, while, in the other class, it is enlight ened, convinced, and directed by the Holy Spirit. Natural conscience, even in circumstances where the light of revelation is nearly extinct, achieves many a self-accusation ; and,"*in circumstances where the full light of the gospel is enjoyed, may easily be supposed to work out, in thousands of instances, quite as strong moral excitements as those which were felt by Felix under the preaching of Paul. ' 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 work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another,' Rom. ii. 14, 15^ Yet the strong workings of conscience even in the heathen, and its still stronger workings in unconverted men under the ordinances of the gospel, take place in connexion simply with God's general moral government, and are quite dis tinct from any results whatever of the dispensation of the economy of grace, or the redemptional operations of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Ridgeley vindicates what he calls " the Spirit's common work of conviction," by an appeal to the text, ' When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin.' But this text clearly speaks of the demonstrative evidence which the Holy Spirit should furnish — not by transient impressions on the minds of the ungodly — but by the miraculous establishment of the gospel dispensation, and by the actual conversion to God of multitudes of unbelievers. When he descended on the day of Pentecost, and when he afterwards gave power to the ministry of his faithful servants, he demon stratively convinced thousands of 'the world' that they sinned in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the only Saviour of sinners, — that they could become righteous, as to either their acceptance before God, or the purification of their hearts from defilement, only through the merits of Christ's sacrifice and intercession, — and that they could act safely for themselves and piously toward God, only by seeing that ' all judgment is committed to the Son,' that he is the King and the Lawgiver of the re deemed, and that he reigns ' the Lord of the living and the dead,' ' alive for evermore,' having ' the keys of hell and of death.' ' When the Paraclete is come,' says the Saviour, ' he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment ; of sin, because they believe not on me : of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more : of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,' John xvi. 8—11. The Divine Spirit began this work on the day of Pen tecost, when three thousand ' gladly received the word and were baptized ;' he carried it on in the ministry of the apostles, who ' preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,' —whose ' preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the hpint and of power ;' and he continues still to conduct it both by the enduring attestation of those miracles by which he established the new dispensation, and by his gracious power upon men to en lighten them savingly in the knowledge of the gospel, and to turn them from the error of their ways to the wisdom and obedience of the just. But his thus ' reproving the world of sin,' is a work unbelievers om hls alle6"e " U ls necessary to our receiving or improving the word of God that the Spirit should produce the principle of faith." The word, that is to say! is the instru ment in producing faith ; and yet is of no saving use to us whatever, and, of course, of no use in producing faith, till faith be actually produced. Dr. Ridgeley may be alleged, indeed/to distinguish EFFECTUAL CALLING. 79 between 'the grace of faith' and ' the principle of faith,' for he uses the former phrase when ad mitting, and the latter, when denying that faith is wrought by the instrumentality of the word. But, if words have meaning, faith is a grace simply as it is of divine origin, and it is a principle, simply as it prompts and regulates conduct ; and, under the two names, it is strictly and entirely one thing, merely viewed in different aspects. Besides, he uses the word ' faith ' without the ad junct of either ' grace ' or ' principle,' in a sentence which exhibits even a larger circumference than that already noticed, of reasoning in a circle. He says, " The word cannot profit unless it be mixed with faith ; faith cannot be put forth unless it proceed from a principle of grace implanted ; there fore this principle of grace is not produced by the word !." Yet, while a principle of grace goes before faith, and faith goes before the instrumentality of the word, both "faith and all other graces are wrought in us by the instrumentality of the word." Such is the confusion of thought resulting from the distinction between the implantation and the activity of " the principle of regeneration." ' Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' We believe, not by possessing an abstract capacity, but by counting true the record which God has given concerning his Son. Our minds, by their own unaided efforts, will look in vain upon divine truth in order either to understand its spiritual import, or receive it in its evidence ; yet they are necessarily turned toward it, and made to look on some of its declarations, when the divine Spirit gives them ' the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.' Just while he speaks in his word — while he discloses the truth in its real colours, its genume glory, its perfect adaptation to man — he makes all things new. In the moral creation, as in the physical, ' he speaks and it is done, he commands and it stands fast.' Exhibiting the truth in its evidence, enlightening the understanding, affecting the heart, giving origin to faith, and renewing the spirit of the mind, are all but different phases of strictly one act. When the change which passes upon a sinner on his. being mad.% spiritually alive,, is viewed in reference to the instrumentality employed, it is called his believing or receiving the truth ; when it is viewed in reference to its result upon his understanding, it is called the enlightening of his mind ; when it is viewed in reference to its result upon his heart or character, it is called regeneration ; and when it is viewed in reference to its result on his condition, or in reference rather to the redemptional grounds on which it is effected, it is called justification. These constituent parts or different as pects of the impartation to a dead soul of eternal life, are exhibited in scripture, not as consecutive acts in a causational process, — not as separate events or separate things following one another in a given order, — but strictly as one great change, constituting the man who was dead in trespasses and sins alive unto God. Perfectly distinct, therefore, as the conceptions afforded us by the Bible are of our change of state, our change of character, and our change of views — our justification, our regeneration, and the saving enlightenment of our understanding — we are not to conceive of even these as arising out of one another in the order of causation or the order of priority ; and still less are we to conceive in this manner of any number of parts or aspects into which we may divide our notions either of believing, of being enlightened, or of becoming ' new creatures in Christ Jesus.' However much, in particular, we may, for the sake of clearness of conception, distribute our thoughts on regeneration into classes referring to the agency, the instrumentality, the concomitant circumstances, the results upon the will, the desires and the affections, we must carefully sum them all up in the one idea stated in the expressive phrase, ' Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth. A dispute, then, in which some writers have indulged, as to whether, in regeneration, there is the implantation of a positive principle, or merely the communication of light to the understanding which acts reflexly on the heart, is — if the subject be viewed as we have stated it— a mere logo machy. What one party really mean by the reflex influence of communicated light, is probably just what the other party mean by the implantation of a positive principle. Both expressions — as all words must be which refer to matters of mere consciousness or abstract intelligence, and espe cially to matters of divine influence on the soul — are essentially figurative ; and they differ from each other, if they differ at all, only in the strength and appropriateness of their respective tropes. Light, literally understood, is just as really positive as any palpable substance capable of being im-! planted ; and light, understood metaphorically of what is conveyed to the understanding and im pressed on the heart by the divine Spirit, can differ nothing from what is termed the implantation of a principle of grace. The metaphor of implanting, however, — especially when collocated with the very general and indefinite word ' principle' — falls far short, as to either fitness or force, of the expressive metaphors of the shining of light into darkness, a resurrection from the dead, a new creation, and a being begotten of God, or begotten again, employed in the scriptures. Even the phrase, ' the new birth ' or being ' born again,' so < urrently applied to regeneration and repeatedly occurring in our English version of the New Testament, is considerably less expressive than the phrase whose "place it usurps, ' begotten anew,' or 'begotten from above.' Reading the passage as it ought to be translated, how doubly significant, for example, are the words : ' Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love ye one another with a pure heart fervently, ye having been bigotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.' The great features of regeneration, additional to the grace and the divine agency of its origina tion, the instrumentality of the divine word in effecting it, and its connexion in identity of occurrence with justification through the merits of Christ, are its instantaneity, its moral nature, its totality, its incompleteness, and its imperceptibility to consciousness. Its instantaneity is its being, not a work or a process, but a single act ; and appears from the character of the metaphors, especially those of creation, resurrection, and the impartation of life, which are employed to describe it. Its moral nature is its affecting only man's will, his affections, and his views or motives of action, and not his intellectual powers or the peculiar configuration of his mind ; and appears both from the fact'hat regenerated men retain just the intellectual faculties and culture which they possessed when unregenerated, and from the statement that ' the old man' is crucified in the crucifixion of 80 COMMUNION IN GRACE WITH CHRIST. depraved ' affections and desires,' and that the new man is created after the image of God ' in right eousness and true holiness.' Its totality is its affecting all the moral faculties, leaving not one moral power, not one member of the heart, untouched ; and appears from the idea of entireness conveyed in the images of a new creation, a new heart, a new man, as well as from the declaration, ' Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.' Its incompleteness is its affect ing the soul only in the way of begun holiness, of the commencement of a work of sanctification, of the impartation of what requires to be reared up to maturity ; and appears both from the imper fect state in which regenerated persons continue while on earth, and from the image of ' a babe in Christ' employed to describe the comparative condition of a recent convert. Its imperceptibility to consciousness is its not being, by the mind of its subject, distinguishable, as to the very act in which it takes place, from those emotions of concern which precede or accompany it, or from the commencing growth of those fruits of inward holiness by which its reality is evinced ; and it appears, both from the experimental testimony of men who afford eminent evidence of having been its subjects, and from the express declaration of our Lord : ' The wind bloweth where, it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.' Such seem to be the characteristic features of regeneration. They are exhibited, however, not as separate things in the act, and still less as things which in any sense originate one another, but simply as different aspects of the same thing, conceived of sepa rately, and viewed each by each, for the sake of distinctly conceiving the undivided whole Ed.] COMMUNION IN GRACE WITH CHRIST. Question LXIX. What is the communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ f Answer. The communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ, is, their partaking of the virtue of his mediation, in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with him. Having considered the vital union which the members of the invisible church have with Christ in their effectual calling, we are now led to speak concerning the com munion in grace which they have with him. Communion with Christ does not in the least import our being made partakers of any of the glories or privileges which belong to him as Mediator ; but it con sists in our participation of those benefits which he hath purchased for us. It im plies, on his part, infinite condescension, that he will be pleased to communicate such blessings to us ; and, on ours, unspeakable honours and privileges, which we enjoy from him. It is sometimes called ' fellowship ;'» which is the result of friend ship, and proceeds from his love. Thus our Saviour speaks of his ' loving ' his dis ciples, ' and manifesting himself to them.'k Italso proceeds from union with him, and is the immediate effect and consequence of effectual calling. Hence, God is said to have 'called us unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ.'1 It is farther said, in this Answer, to be a manifestation of our union with him. He has received those blessings for us which he purchased by his blood ; and, accordingly, is the treasury, as well as the fountain of all grace ; and we are therefore said to ' receive of his fulness, grace for grace. 'm And the blessings which we are said to receive, by virtue of his mediation, are justification, adoption, and sanctification, with ali other benefits which either accompany or flow from them. These are particularly explained in the following Answers. i 1 John i. 3. k John xiv. 21. 1 1 Cor. i. 9. m J0hn i. 16. JUSTIFICATION. 81 JUSTIFICATION. Question LXX. What is justification t Answer. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone. Question LXXI. How is justification an act of God's free grace 1 Answer. Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satis faction to God's justice, in the behalf of them that are justified; yet, inasmuch as God accepteth the satisfaction from a Surety, which he might have demanded of them, did provide this Surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justifica tion but faith ; which also is his gift ; their justification is, to them, of free grace. The Importance of the Doctrine of Justification. Hitherto we have been led to consider that change of heart and life which is be gun in effectual calling ; whereby a dead sinner is made alive, and one who was wholly indisposed for good works, and averse to the performance of them, is enabled to perform them by the power of divine grace. Now we are to speak concerning that change of state which accompanies change of heart ; whereby one who, being guilty before God, was liable to the condemning sentence of the law, and expected no other than an eternal banishment from his presence, is pardoned, received into favour, and has a right to all the blessings which Christ has, by his obedience and sufferings, purchased for him. This is what we call justification ; and it is placed immediately after the subject of effectual calling, agreeably to the method in which it is insisted on in the golden chain of salvation exhibited by the apostle, ' Whom he called, them he also justified.'11 This is certainly a doctrine of the highest importance ; inasmuch as it contains the way of peace, the foundation of all our hope, of the acceptance both of our per sons and our services, and the beholding of the face of God, at last, with joy. Some have styled it the very basis of Christianity. Our forefathers thought it so necessary to be insisted on and maintained, according to the scripture account of it, that they reckoned it one of the principal doctrines of the Reformation. Indeed, the apostle Paul speaks of it as so necessary to be believed, that he concluded the denying or perverting of it to be the ground and reason of the Jews being rejected : ' Who being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish a right eousness of their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.' If, as many suppose, their call be meant in the account which we have of ' the marriage of the Lamb, and of his wife having made herself ready, '° it is worth ob serving that she is described as ' arrayed in fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints,' or, Christ's righteousness by which they are justified. This is that in which they glory ; and therefore they are represented as being convinced of the impor tance of that doctrine of which they were formerly ignorant. This doctrine we have an account of in the two Answers which we are now to explain. In considering it, we shall endeavour to observe the following method. First, we shall consider what we are to understand by the word 'justify.' Second ly, we shall inquire what the privileges are, which are contained in it, as reduced to two heads, namely, pardon of sin, and God's accounting those who are justified righteous in his sight. Thirdly, we shall inquire what the foundation is of our justification, namely, a righteousness wrought out for us. Fourthly, we shall show the utter inability of fallen man to perform any righteousness which can be the matter of his justification in the sight of God. Fifthly, we shall show that our Lord Jesus Christ has, as our surety, wrought out this righteousness for us, by per forming active and passive obedience, which is imputed to us for our justification. Sixthly, we shall consider justification as an act of God's free grace. Lastly, we shall show the use of faith in justification, or in what respects faith is said to justify. r. Rom. viii. 30. o Rev. xix. 7. n. i 82 JUSTIFICATION. The Meaning of the Word ' Justify.' We shall first consider in what sense we are to understand the word 'justify.' As there are many disputes about the method of explaining the doctrine of justi fication • so there is a contest between us and the Papists about the sense of the word. They generally suppose that ' to justify,' is to make inherently righteous and holy ; because righteousness and holiness sometimes import the same thing, and because both denote an internal change in the person who is so denominated. Accordingly, they argue that, as to magnity signifies to make great, — to fortify, to make strong, — so to justify, is to make just or holy. And they suppose that what ever we do to make ourselves so, or whatever good works are the ingredients of our sanctification, must be considered as the matter of our justification. Some Protes tant divines haVe supposed that the difference between them and us is principally about the sense of a word. This favourable and charitable construction of their doctrine would have been less exceptionable, if the Papists had asserted no more than that justification might be taken in the sense they contend for, when not considered as giving us a right to eternal life, or as being the foundation of that sentence of absolution which God passes upon us. But as this is the sense they give of it, when they say that we are justified by our inherent holiness, we are bound to conclude that it is very remote from the scripture sense of the word. We do not deny that justification is sometimes taken in a sense different from that in which it is understood when used to signify the doctrine we are explaining. Sometimes nothing more is intended by it, than our vindicating the divine perfec tions from any charge which is pretended to be brought against them. Thus the psalmist says, ' That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.'P And our Saviour is said to be justified, that is, his person or character vindicated or defended, from the reproaches which were cast on him. ' Wisdom,' it is said, ' is justified of her children. '« We frequently read in scrip ture, also, of the justification of the actions or conduct of persons ; in which sense their own works may be said to justify or vindicate them from the charge of hypocrisy or unregeneracy. Again, to justify is sometimes taken, in scripture, for using endeavours to turn many to righteousness. Hence, the words, in the pro phecy of Daniel, which signify, ' they who justify many,' are rendered by our trans lators, ' they who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars. 'r There are various other senses given of this word, which we pass over as not applicable to the doctrine we are maintaining. We shall proceed to consider the sense in which it is used, when importing a sinner's justification in the sight of God. When thus used, it is to be taken only in a forensic sense ; and accordingly signifies a person's being acquitted or dis charged from guilt or a liability to condemnation, in such a way as is done in courts of judicature. Thus we read in the judicial law, ' If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 's Here 'to justify the righteous,' is to be understood for acquitting, or discharging from condemnation, one who appears to be righteous, or not guilty ; while ' the wicked, ' that is, they who appear to be guilty, are to be ' condemned.' In this sense the word is used, when applied to the doctrine of justification, in the New Testament, and parti cularly in Paul's epistles, who largely insists on this subject. Now, that we may understand how a sinner may expect to be discharged at God's tribunal, let us consider the methods of proceeding used in human courts of judicature. In these, it is supposed that there is a law which forbids some actions which are deemed criminal ; and also that a punishment is annexed to this law, which renders the person who violates it guilty. Next, persons are supposed to be charged with the Y10^tlon of. the law ; and if the charge be not made good, they are said to be jus tified, that is, cleared from presumptive, not real guilt. But if the charge be made good, and if he who falls under it is liable to punishment, and actually suffers the p Psal. li. 4. q Matt. xi. 19; Luke vii. 35. r Dan. xii. 3. «pn»B"|. s Deut. xxv. 1. JUSTIFICATION. 83 punishment, he is justified ; as in crimes which are not of a capital nature. Or if he be any otherwise cleared from the charge, so that his guilt be removed, he is deemed a justified person, and the law has nothing to lay to his charge, with re spect to that which he was accused of. Thus, when a sinner, who had been charged with the violation of the divine law, found guilty before God, and exposed to a sentence of condemnation, is freed from it, he is said to be justified. The Privileges contained in Justification. We are now led to consider the privileges contained in justification. These are forgiveness of sin, and a right and title to eternal life. They are sufficiently dis tinguished, though never separated ; so that, when we find but one of them men tioned in a particular scripture which treats on this subject, the other is not ex cluded. Forgiveness of sin is sometimes expressed in scripture, by not imputing sin ; and a right to life, includes our being made partakers of the adoption of children, and a right to the inheritance prepared for them. The apostle mentions both when he speaks of our having ' redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins,' and of our being ' made meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.'4 Elsewhere, also, he speaks of Christ's ' redeem ing them that were under the la,w,' which includes the former branch of justifica tion ; and of their ' receiving the adoption of children,' which includes the latter. Again, he considers justified persons as 'having peace with God,' which more especially respects pardon of sin ; and of their ' having access to the grace wherein they stand,' and 'rejoicing in hope of the glory of God,'u which is what we are to understand by, or includes, their right to life. That justification consists of both these branches, we maintain against the Papists. They suppose that it includes nothing else but forgiveness of sin, which is founded on the blood of Christ ; and they say that our right to life depends on our internal qualifications or sincere obedience. There are also some Protestant divines who suppose that it consists only in pardon of sin. This is asserted by them, with different views. Some assert it as most consistent with the doctrine of justi fication by works, which they plead for ; while others assert it as most agreeable to another notion which they advance, namely, that we are justified only by Christ's passive obedience, which will be considered under a following Head. Again, there are others, whose views of the doctrine of justification are agreeable to scripture, who maintain that it includes both forgiveness of sins and a right to life ; but who yet say that the former is founded on Christ's passive obedience, and the latter on his active. We cannot but think, however, that the whole of Christ's obedience, both active and passive, is the foundation of each. But as this point will be considered when we come to speak concerning the procuring cause of our justification, all that we shall observe at present, is, that the two privileges in question are inseparably connected. As no one can have a right to life, but he whose sins are pardoned ; so no one can obtain forgiveness of sin, without, in consequence, having a right to life. As by the fall man became guilty, and then lost that right to life which was promised in the event of his standing, so it is agreeable to the divine perfections, provided the guilt be removed, that he should be put in the same state as if it had not been contracted, and consequently he should have, not only forgiveness of sins, but a right to life. Forgiveness of sin, without a right to eternal life, would ren der our justification incomplete. Hence, when any one is pardoned by an act of grace, he is put in possession of that which, by his rebellion, he had forfeited : he is considered, not only as released out of prison, but as one who has the privi leges of a subject, such as those which he had before he committed the crime. With out this he would be like Absalom, when, upon Joab's intercession with David, the, guilt of murder, which he had contracted, was remitted so far as that he had liberty to return from Geshur, whither he had fled ; but who, nevertheless, reckons him self not fully discharged from the guilt he had contracted, and concludes his return to Jerusalem, as it were an insignificant privilege, unless by being admitted to see t Col. i. 12, 14. u Rom. v. 1, 2. 84 JUSTIFICATION. the king's face, and enjoy the privileges which he was possessed of before, he might be dealt with as one who was taken into favour, as well as forgiven ;x which was accordingly granted. This leads us to a particular consideration of the two branches of justification. . . . . 1. Forgiveness of sin. Sin is sometimes represented as containing moral impu rity, as opposed to holiness of heart and life. Accordingly, it is said to ' defile a man ;'y and it is set forth in scripture by several metaphorical expressions which tend to beget an abhorrence of it as of things impure. In this sense it is removed in sanctification, rather than in justification. Not but that divines sometimes speak of Christ's redeeming us from the filth and the dominion of sin, and our deliverance from it in justification. But when the filth and the dominion of sin are thus spoken of, they are to be understood as rendering us guilty ; inasmuch as all moral pollu tions are criminal, as contrary to the law of God. For, were they not so viewed, our deliverance from them would not be a branch of justification. In speaking on this subject, therefore, we shall consider sin as that which renders men guilty be fore God, and so show what we are to understand by guilt. Guilt supposes a person to be under a law, and to have violated it. According ly, sin is described as ' the transgression of the law.'2 The law of God, in com mon with all other laws, is primarily designed to be the rule of obedience ; and, in order to its being so, it is a declaration of the divine will which, as creatures and subjects, we are under a natural obligation to comply with. Moreover, God, as a God of infinite holiness and sovereignty, cannot but signify his displeasure in case of disobedience ; and therefore he has annexed a threatening to his law, or passed a condemning sentence, as what is due for every transgression. This, divines sometimes call the sanction of the law, or a fence with which it is guarded, that so, through the corruption of our nature, we may not conclude that we may rebel against him with impunity. The scripture styles it, ' the curse of the law ;'a so that guilt is a liableness to the curse, or condemning sentence of the law, for our violation of it. It is sometimes called a debt of punishment which we owe to the justice of God for not paying that debt of obedience which was due from us to his law. Thus, when our Saviour advises us to pray that our sins may be forgiven, he expresses it by ' forgiving us our debts ;'b so that forgiveness, as it is a freeing us from guilt, discharges us from the de"bt of punishment to which we were liable. There is a twofold debt which man owes to God. One he owes to him as a crea ture under a law. This is that debt of obedience which he cannot be discharged from ; and therefore a justified person is, in this sense, as much a debtor as any other. There is also a debt which man contracts as a criminal, whereby he is liable to suffer punishment. This alone is removed in justification. Moreover, we must carefully distinguish between the demerit of sin, or its desert of punish ment, and the sinner's obligation to suffer punishment for it. The former is in separable from sin, and not removed, or in the least lessened, by pardoning mercy. For sin is no less the object of the divine detestation, nor is its intrinsic evil or demerit abated, by its being forgiven. Hence, a justified person remaining still a sinner, as transgressing the law of God, has as much reason to condemn himself in this respect as if he had not been forgiven. The psalmist, speaking concerning a person who is actually forgiven or justified, says, ' If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand?'" He was in a justified state, but yet con cludes that there is a demerit of punishment in every sin which he committed ; though, when it is pardoned, the obligation to suffer punishment is taken away.d Hence, the apostle speaking of such, says, ' There is no condemnation to them.'e We must farther distinguish between our having matter of condemnation in us, — which a justified person has ; and there being no condemnation to us, which is the .immediate result of being pardoned. There are several expressions in scripture whereby forgiveness is set forth. It b LulTxLT; 3Ltt vi 12 y Matt' XV" 19' 2°- % 1pJ°,hn il!- \ " Gal" '»• W. A Th» t„.m r Zi ,. c Psal. cxxx. 3. m„r it tH \ ™»,ti f V'nes cM ' reatus Potentials ;' the latter, ' reatus actualis.' The for e Rom? viii lT. conse1«««ce of sin ; the latter is taken away in justification. "* JUSTIFICATION. 85 is called God's covering sin. Thus the psalmist says, ' Blessed is he whose trans gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.'1 It is called, also, his hiding his face from it, and blotting it out ; its ' not being found 's ' when it is sought for ;'h and 'casting our sins into the depths of the sea.'1 Elsewhere it is said that, when God had pardoned the sins of his people, ' he did not behold iniquity in Jacob, nor see perverseness in Israel. 'k This amounts to the same thing as the foregoing expres sions, as to sin being covered, hid, blotted out, &c. I am sensible there have been many contests about the sense of this scripture, which might, without much diffi culty, have been compromised, had the contending parties been desirous to know one another's opinion without prejudice or partiality. It is not to be thought that, when God forgives sin, he does not know or suppose that the person forgiven had contracted guilt by sins committed ; for without this he could not be the object of forgiveness. When God is said not to look upon his people's sins, or to hide his face from them, it is not to be supposed that he knows not what they have done, or what iniquities they daily commit against him ; for that would be subversive of his omniscience. When, again, he is said not to mark our iniquities, we are not to understand it as if he did not look upon the sins we commit, though in a justified state, with abhorrence ; for the sinner may be pardoned, and yet the crime forgiven be detested. God's not seeing sin in his people, is to be understood in a forensic sense. Accordingly, when an atonement is made for sin, and the guilt of it is taken away, the criminal is, in the eye of the law, as if he had not sinned. He is as fully discharged from the indictment which was brought in against him, as if he had been innocent, — not liable to any charge founded upon it. Hence, the apostle says, ' Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justi- fieth.'1 It is the same thing as for God ' not to enter into judgment,' as the psal mist elsewhere expresses it ; or to ' punish us less than our iniquities have deserved.'™1 In this sense, the indictment which was brought against the sinner is cancelled, the sentence reversed, and prosecution stopped ; so that whatever evils are endured as the consequence of sin, or with a design to humble the transgressor for it, as bring ing sin to his remembrance with all its aggravating circumstances, he is encouraged to hope that these are inflicted, not in a judicial way by the vindictive justice of God demanding satisfaction, but to display and set forth the holiness of his nature as in finitely opposed to all sin, and also the holiness of the dispensations of his provi dence, and that with a design to bring the transgressor to repentance. That the privilege of forgiveness may appear to be most conducive to our happi ness and comfort, let it be considered that, wherever God forgives sin, he forgives all sin, cancels every debt which rendered the sinner liable to punishment. Were it otherwise, our condition would be very miserable, and our salvation impossible. Our condition would be like that of a person who has several indictments brought in against him, every one of which contains an intimation that his life is forfeited ; and whom it would avail very little for one indictment to be superseded, while the sentence due to him for the others should be executed. Accordingly, the apostle speaks of ' the free gift' being 'of many,' that is, of the multitude of our 'offences unto justification.'11 Elsewhere, too, he speaks of God's forgiving his people ' all trespasses.'0 And as he forgives all past sins, so he gives the pardoned ground to conclude that iniquity shall not be their ruin ; so that the same grace which now abounds towards them in forgiveness, together with the virtue of the atonement made for sin, shall prevent future crimes from being charged upon them to their condemnation. Thus concerning forgiveness of sin. The other privilege which they who are justified are made partakers of, is the acceptance of their persons as righteous in the sight of God. They are said to be ' made accepted in the Beloved. 'P And as their persons are accepted, so are their performances, notwithstanding the many defects which adhere to them. Thus God is said to have ' had respect unto Abel, and to his offering. 'i Besides, they have a right and title to eternal life ; which is that inheritance which Christ has pur chased for them, and which God, in his covenant of grace, has promised to them, f Psal. xxxii. 1. g Jer. 1. 20. h Psal. li. 9. i Micah vii. 19. k Numb, xxiii. 21. 1 Boin. viii. 33. m Psal. cxliii. 2; Ezra*ix. 13. u Rom. v. 16. o Col. ii. 13. p Eph. i. 6. q Gen. iy. 4. 86 JUSTIFICATION. This is a very comprehensive blessing ; for it contains a right to all those great and precious promises which God has made respecting their happiness both here and hereafter. But we shall have occasion to insist on it under a following Answer when speakino- on the subject of adoption, which some divines, not without good reason, conclude to be a branch of justification, or at least to contain those positive privileges which they who are justified partake of, either here or hereafter. The Foundation of Justification. We now proceed to consider what is the foundation of our justification. This must be some righteousness wrought out either by us or for us. Since justification is a person's being 'made righteous,' as the apostle styles it,1" we must consider what we are to understand by this phrase. A person is said to be righteous who never violated the law of God, or exposed himself to its condemning sentence. In this respect, man, while in a state of innocency, was righteous. His perfect obedience was the righteousness which, according to the tenor of the covenant he was under, gave him a right to eternal life ; and it would especially have done so, had it been persisted in till he became possessed of that life. But such a righteousness as this cannot be the foundation of our justification ; for the apostle says, ' By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.'3 The righteousness we are now speaking of must be something wrought out for us by one who stood in our room and stead, and was able to pay that debt of obedience and endure those sufferings which were due for sin. This debt the law of God might have exacted of us, and insisted on the payment of in our own persons ; and, as paid by Christ for us, it is, as will be considered under a following Head, that which we generally call Christ's righteous ness, or what he did and suffered in our stead in conformity to the law of God ; whereby its honour was secured and vindicated, and justice satisfied, so that God appears to be, as the apostle says, 'just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'* Mans inability to work out a justifying Righteousness. We are now to consider the utter inability of fallen man to perform any righte ousness which can be the matter of his justification in the sight of God ; whereby it will appear, as is observed in this Answer, that we are not accounted righteous in' his sight for any thing wrought in us or done by us. That we cannot be justi fied by suffering the punishment which was due to sin, appears from the infinite evil of it, and the eternal duration of the punishment which it deserves. Thus our Saviour observes in the parable concerning the debtor who did not ' agree with his adversary while in the way,' but was ' delivered to the officer, and cast into prison,' that he should not come out 'till he had paid the uttermost farthing, 'u that is to say, he should never be discharged. A criminal »ho is sentenced to endure some punishments short of death, or which are to continue but for a term of years, is discharged or justified when he has suffered them. But it is far otherwise with ' man, when fallen into the hands of the vindictive justice of God. Hence, the psal mist says, 'Enter not into judgment with thy servant,' or do not punish me accord ing to the demerit of sin ; ' for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified.' Nor can any one be justified by performing active obedience to the law of God. No thing is sufficient to answer that end, but what is perfect in all respects. It must be sinless obedience ; and that not only as to what concerns the time to come, but as respecting the time past. But this is impossible from the nature of the thing, to be affirmed of a sinner ; for to affirm it implies a contradiction in terms. Besides the holiness of God cannot but detest the least defect, and therefore will not deal witn a sinful creature as though he had been innocent. As for sins which are past !v£L!iei7 6r US equally liable t0 a debt of punishment with those which are com! nutted at present, or shall be hereafter, in the sight of God. Moreover, the hon our of the law cannot be secured, unless it be perfectly fulfilled ; and it cannot be so if there be any defect of obedience. r Rom. v. 19. , Gal. ii. 16. t Rom. iii. 26. u Matt. v. 25, 26. JUSTIFICATION. 87 As for works which are done by us without the assistance of the Spirit of God, they proceed from a wrong principle, and have many other blemishes attending them, on account of which they have only a partial goodness. For that reason Augustine gives them no better a character than that of shining sins.x But what ever terms we give them, they are certainly very far from coming up to a confor mity to the divine law. And as for good works which are said to be wrought in us, and are the effect of the power and grace of God, and the consequence of our being regenerated and converted; they fall far short of perfection ; there is a great deal of sin attending them, which; if God should mark, none could stand. This is ex pressed by. Job, in a very humble manner: ' How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.' ' If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 'J When God is said to ' work in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, 'z we are not to understand that the grace which he' works in us renders us accepted in his sight, in a i forensic sense, or that it justifies us ; for in this respect we are ' made accepted' only ' in the Beloved,' that is, in Christ.3 — Moreover, as what is wrought in us has many defects ; so it is not from ourselves, and therefore cannot be accepted as a payment of that debt of obedience which we owe to the justice of God ; and conse quently we cannot be justified by it. Some, indeed, make the terms of acceptance or justification in the sight of God as low as if nothing were demanded of us but our sincere endeavours to yield obedience, whatever imperfections it be chargeable with. Others pretend that our confessing our sins will be conducive to our justi fication, and assert that our tears are sufficient to wash away the guilt of sin. The Papists add that some penances, or acts of self-denial, will satisfy his justice, and procure a pardon for us ; yea, they go farther than this, and maintain that per sons may perform works of supererogation, or pay more than the debt which is owing from them, or than what the law of God requires, and thereby not only satisfy his justice, but render him a debtor to them ; and they put them into a ca pacity of transferring these arrears of debt to those who stand in need of them, and thereby lay an obligation on them in gratitude to pay them honours next to divine. Such', absurdities do men run into who plead for human satisfactions, and the merit of good works, as the matter of our justification. Indeed, nothing can tend more to depreciate Christ's satisfaction, on the one hand, and stupify the conscience on the other ; and therefore, it is so far from being an expedient for justification, that it is destructive to the souls of men. — As for our sincere endeavours or imperfect obedience-, these cannot be placed, by the justice of God, in the room of perfect ; for todo so is contrary to the nature of justice. We cannot suppose that he who pays a peppercorn or a few mites, instead of a large sum, really pays the debt which was due from him. Justice cannot account this to be a payment ; and a discharge from condemnation on the ground of it, cannot be styled a justification. To say • that it is esteemed so by an act of grace, is to advance the glory of one divine perfection, and, at the same time, detract from that of another. Nothing, therefore, can be our righteousness, but that which the justice of God may, in hon our, accept of for our justification ; and our own righteousness is so small and incon siderable a thing, that it is a dishonour for him to accept of it in this respect ; so that, we cannot be justified by works done by us or wrought in us.— This will far ther appear, if we consider the properties of this righteousness, and in particular, that it must not only be perfect, and therefore such as a sinful creature cannot per form, but also be: of infinite value, otherwise it could not give satisfaction to the infinite justice of God, and consequently cannot be performed by any other than a divine person. It must also bear some resemblance to that debt which was due from us ; inasmuch as it was designed to satisfy for the debt which we had con tracted ; and therefore it must be performed by one who is really man. But as this has been insisted on elsewhere, under the head of Christ's priestly office,b we shall not farther enlarge on it. x Splendida peccata. v "Job ix. 2, 3, 30—32. z Heb. xiii. 21. a Eph. i. 6. b See Sect. ' The Necessity of Satisfaction for Sin,' under Quest, xliv. 88 JUSTIFICATION. Christ's Righteousness as the ground of Justification. We now proceed to observe that our Lord Jesus Christ has wrought out this righteousness for us, as our surety, by performing active and passive obedience ; which is imputed to us for our justification. We have already shown that it is im possible that such a righteousness as is sufficient to be the matter of our justification, should be wrought out by us in our own persons. It must hence be wrought out for us by one who bears the character of a surety, and performs every thing which is necessary to our justification. Such an one is our Lord Jesus Christ. I. Here we must show what we are to understand by ' a surety ;' since it is the righteousness of Christ under this relation to us, which is the matter of our justifi cation. A surety is one who submits to be charged with, and undertakes to pay, a debt contracted by another, to the end that the debtor may be discharged. Thus the apostle Paul engages to be surety to Philemon for Onesimus, who had fled from Philemon whom he had wronged or injured, and to whom he was in consequence indebted. Concerning Onesimus, the apostle says, ' If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account ; I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it.'0 We read also of Judah's overture to be surety for his brother Benjamin that he should return to his father, as a motive to induce the latter to give his consent that he should go with him into Egypt : ' I will be surety for him ; of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever.'d Suretiship is so com monly known in civil transactions of a similar nature between man and man, that it needs no farther explication. — It may be observed, however, that a person's be coming surety for another, must be a free and voluntary act. For to force any one to bind himself to pay a debt which he has not contracted, is as much an act of in justice as it is in any other instance to exact a debt where it is not due. — Again, he who engages to be surety for another, must be in a capacity to pay the debt; otherwise he is unjust to the creditor, as well as brings ruin upon himself. Hence, it is said, ' Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts, if thou hast nothing to pay ; why should he take away thy bed from under thee?'6 — Further, he who engages to be surety for another, is supposed not to have contracted the debt himself ; and therefore the creditor must have no de mands upon him, as being involved together with the debtor,, and so becoming en gaged antecedent to his being surety. Yet after he has become surety he is deemed, in the eye of the law, to stand in the debtor's room and to be charged with his debt, and to be as much obliged to pay it as if he had contracted it, especially if the creditor be resolved to exact the payment of him rather than of the original debt or. ' — Further, as debts are of different kinds, so the obligation of a surety admits of different circumstances. Thus there are pecuniary debts resulting from those dealings or contracts which pass between man and man in civil affairs ; and there are debts of service or obedience ; as also debts of punishment, as was formerly observed, for crimes committed. In all these cases, as the nature of the debt differs, so there are some things peculiar in the nature of suretiship for it. In pe cuniary debts the creditor is obliged to accept of payment at the hand of any one who, at the request of the debtor, is willing to discharge the debt which he has contracted, especially if what he pays be his own ; but in debts of service or punishment, when the surety offers himself to perform or suffer what was due from another, the credi tor is at liberty to accept or refuse satisfaction from him, and might insist on the payment of the debt in his own person by him from whom it is due. 2. Christ was a surety for us, or substituted in our room, with a design to pay the Cf ^i'ern".-Ve"e '?" , d Gen' xliii- 9- e Prov. xxii. 26, 27. t i he distinction is often used in the civil law between 'fide-jussor ' and 'expromissor.' A ner- Eon s being hound together with the original debtor, and the creditor's being left to his liberty to exact the debt of which of the two he pleases, is called ' fidejussor ;' and the surety's so takine the debt upon himself that he who contracted it is discharged, is what we understand by 'expromis! sor. This distinction has been considered elsewhere. See Note near the end of Sect. ' The ad ministration of the Covenant under the Old Testament,' under Quest, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv. JUSTIFICATION. 89 debt which was due to the justice of God from us. — Here, that we may resume the ideas of a surety just mentioned, and apply them to Christ as our surety, let it be considered that what he did and suffered for us was free and voluntary. This ap pears from his readiness to engage in the work, expressed by his saying, ' Lo, I come to do thy will's Hence, whatever he suffered for us did not infer the least injustice in God who inflicted it.h — Again, he was able to pay the debt; so that there was not the least injury offered to the justice of God by his undertaking. This is evident, from his being God incarnate. In the one nature, he was able to do and suffer whatever was demanded of us ; and in the other nature, he was able to add an infinite value to what he performed. — Further, he was not rendered incapable of paying our debt, or of answering for the guilt which we had contracted, by any debt of his own, which involved him in the same guilt and rendered him liable to the same punishment with us. This is evident from what the prophet says concerning him, that he was charged with our guilt, though 'he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.'1 What the prophet calls 'doing no violence,' the apostle Peter, referring to and explain ing it, styles ' doing ' or committing ' no sin ' of any kind. He was not involved in the guilt of Adam's sin, which would have rendered him incapable of being a surety to pay that debt for us ; nor had he the least degree of corruption of nature, being conceived in an extraordinary way, and sanctified from the womb ;k nor did he ever commit actual sin, for ' he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.' — Another thing observed in the character of a surety, which corresponds very much with Christ's being our surety, is that what he engaged to pay was his own, or at his own disposal. He did not offer any injury to justice, by paying a debt which was before due to it, or by performing any service which he had no warrant to do. It is true, he gave his life a ransom ; but consider him as a divine Person, and he had an undoubted right to dispose of or lay down that life which he had as man. Did he consent, in the eternal transaction between the Father and him, to be incarnate, and in our nature to perform the work of a surety? This was an act of his sovereign will ; so that whatever he paid as a ransom for us, was, in the highest sense, his own. The case was not the same as if one man who has no power to dispose of his life at pleasure, should offer to lay down his life for another. We are not lords of our own lives. As we do not come into the world by our own wills, we are not to go out of it when we please. But Christ as God, was, if I may so ex press myself, lord of himself, of all that he did and suffered as man ; by which I un derstand that he had a right as God to consent or determine to do and suffer whatever he did and suffered as man. The debt, therefore, which he paid in the human nature, was his own. — Further, as in some cases he who is willing to substitute himself as a surety in the room of the debtor, must be accepted and approved by him to whom the debt is due ; so our Saviour's substitution as our surety in our room, had a sane- < tion from God the Father ; who gave many undeniable evidences that what Christ did and suffered for us, was accepted by him as really as if it had been done by us in our own persons. This, as was formerly Observed, might have been refused by him, it being the payment of a debt of obedience and sufferings. But that God the Father testified his acceptance of Christ as our surety, appears from his well-pleasedness with him, both before and after his incarnation. Before he came into the world, God seems to speak with pleasure in the forethought of what he would be and do, as Mediator, when he says, ' Behold my servant, whom I uphold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.'1 He is also said to be 'well-pleased for his righteous ness' sake,'m or in his determining beforehand that he should, as Mediator, bring in that righteousness which would tend to magnify the law and make it honourable. Moreover, his having anointed him by a previous designation to his work, as the prophet intimates, speaking of him before his incarnation,11 is certainly .an evidence of his being approved to be our surety. And when he was incarnate, God approved of him, when engaged in the work which he came into the world to perform. Thus, when he was solemnly set apart by baptism to the discharge of his public ministry, g Heb. x. 9. h Volenti non fit injuria. i Isa. liii. 9. k See Sect. ' Christ not re presented by Adam,' under Quest, xxii. 1 Isa. xiii. I. m Ver. 21. n Ua. lxi. I, 2. II. M 90 JUSTIFICATION. a voice from heaven said, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. '« We may add, that there was the most undeniable proof of God s well-pleasedness with him, as having accomplished this work, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. Again, that the Father tes tified his acceptance of Christ as our surety, may be argued from his justifying and saving those for whom he undertook to be a surety, before the debt was actually paid, and from his applying the same blessings to his people since the work of re demption was finished. The application of what Christ undertook to purchase, is an evidence of the acceptableness of the price. This may be considered, either as respects those who were saved before his incarnation and death, or those who are, from that time, in all succeeding ages, made partakers of the saving benefits of re demption. Before the actual accomplishment of what he undertook to do and suf fer as our surety, God the Father trusted him ; and, by virtue of his promising to pay the debt, discharged the Old Testament saints from condemnation, as effec tually as if it had been actually paid. There are some cases in which a surety's undertaking to pay a debt, is reckoned equivalent to the actual payment of it ; namely, when it is impossible that he should make a failure in the payment, either through mutability or fickleness of temper inducing him to change his purpose, or from unfaithfulness, which might render him regardless of his engagement, or from some change in his circumstances, whereby, though he once was able to pay, he afterwards becomes unable: I say, if none of these things can take place, and especially, if the creditor, by not demanding present payment, receives some ad vantage, which is an argument that he does not stand in need of payment, then the promise to pay a debt is equivalent to the payment of it. Now these things may well be applied to Christ's undertaking to pay our debt. It was impossible that he should fail in the accomplishment of what he had undertaken ; or change his purpose, and so, though he designed to execute his work, enter into other mea sures ; or, though he had promised to execute it, be unfaithful in the accomplish ment of it ; — these things are all inconsistent with the character of his person ; for though he suffered for us in the human nature, it was his divine nature that under took to do the work in the human nature ; and the divine nature is infinitely free from the least imputation of weakness, mutability, or unfaithfulness. While, too, the present payment was not immediately demanded, nor designed to be made till the fulness of time was come, the delay of it was compensated by the revenue of glory which accrued to the divine name, and by the honour which redounded to the Mediator, in the salvation of the elect before his incarnation. This, then, was certainly an undeniable evidence of God's approving his undertaking. Moreover, since the work of redemption has been completed, all those who are or shall be brought to glory, have, in themselves, a convincing proof of God's being well- pleased with Christ, as substituted in their room and stead, to pay the debt which was due from them to his justice, and so to lay the foundation of their justification. It hence plainly appears, that Christ was substituted as a surety in our room and stead, to do that for us which was necessary for our justification. We have also sufficient ground to conclude that he was so from scripture, whence alone this point can be proved, it being a matter of pure revelation. Thus it is said, in express terms, that he was 'made a surety of a better testament. 'p And that, as our surety, he paid the debt of sufferings which was due from us, is evident from its being1 said that ' he offered himself a sacrifice for our sins, '9 and that he was 'once offered to bear the sins of many.'r From his being holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, the apostle argues that he had no occasion to offer a sacrifice for himself, or that he had no sin of his own to be charged with ; so that, when he suffered, he bore or answered for our sins. Thus the apostle Peter says, ' He bare our sins m his own body on the tree; by whose stripes ye were healed.'8 And elsewhere we read of 'his being made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ;' ' that is, he who had no guilt of his own to answer for, submitted to be charged with our guilt, to stand in our room and ^HeT'ixVs7' P Heb. vii. 22. q Ver. 27. . lieb. ix. 28. „ i Pet> Ui 24. t 2 Cor. v. 21. JUSTIFICATION. 91 stead, and accordingly to be made a sacrifice for sin. Now all this implies his having been made a surety for us. But on this point we particularly insisted else where when speaking concerning Christ's satisfaction, which could not be explained without taking occasion to mention his being substituted in the room and stead of those for whom he paid a price of redemption ; and we also considered the mean ing of those scriptures which speak of his 'bearing our sins.'u 3. We shall now proceed, then, to consider what Christ did as our surety, in his paying all that debt which the justice of God demanded from us, and which consisted in active and passive obedience. There was a debt of active obedience demanded of man as a creature ; and upon his failing to pay it, when he sinned, it became an outstanding debt due from us, but such as could never be paid by us. God determines not to justify any, unless this outstanding debt be paid. Christ, as our surety, engages to take the payment of it on himself. While, too> this defect of obedience, together with all aotual transgressions, which proceed from the corruption of our nature, render us guilty or liable to the stroke of vin dictive justice, Christ, as our surety, undertakes to bear that also. This we gen erally call the imputation of our sin to Christ, the 1 la.ring of our debt to his ac count, and the transferring to him of the debt of punishment which was due from us. On this account he is said to yield obedience, and suffer in our room and stead, or to perform active and passive obedience for us. These two ideas the apostle, joins in one expression, when he says that lie ' became obedient unto death.'1 'But this having been insisted on elsewhere, under the head of Christ's satisfaction/ where we not only showed that Christ performed active as well as passive obedience for us, but endeavoured to answer the objections which are gen erally brought against Christ's active obedience being part of that debt which he engaged to pay for us, we shall pass it by at present. — Again, that our sin and guilt was imputed to him, may be argued from his having been ' made a curse for us,' in order to his redeeming us from the curse of the law ;z from his having been ' made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ;'a and from other scriptures which speak of him as suffering, though innocent, — pun ished for sin, though he was the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, — dealt with as guilty, though he had never contracted any guilt, — and made a sacrifice for sin, though sinless. These things could not have been done consistently with the jus tice of God, had not our sins been placed to his account, or imputed to him. — It is indeed a very difficult thing to convince some persons, how Christ could be charged with sin or have sin imputed to him, in consistency with the sinless purity of his, nature. This some think to be no better than a contradiction ; though it is agree able to the scripture mode of speaking, as 'he was made sin for us,' and yet 'knew no sin.'b When, however, we, speak of sin being imputed to him, we are far from insinuating that he committed, any acts of sin, or that his human nature was, in the least, inclined to or defiled by it. We choose, therefore, to use the scripture phrase, in which he is said to have 'borne our sins,' rather than to say that he was a sinner. Much less would I give countenance to the expression which some make use of, that he was the greatest sinner in the world ; for I do not desire to apply a word to him, which is often taken in a sense not in the least applicable to the holy Jesus. We cannot be too cautious in our expressions, lest the most common sense in which we understand ' the greatest sinner' when applied to men, should give any one a wrong idea of him, as though he had committed sin, or were de^ filed with it. All we assert is, that he was charged with our sins when he suffered for them, — not with having committed them, but with the guilt of them, which, by his own consent, was imputed to him. For had it been otherwise, his sufferings could not have been a punishment for sin, nor could oilr sin have been expiated, or his sufferings have been the ground of our justification. 4. We are thus led to consider the reference which Christ's suretiship-righteous- ness has to our justification. This is generally styled its being imputed, which u See Sect. 'The Reality of the Atonement,' under Quest, xliv. x Phil. ii. 8. y See Sect. ' The Nature of the Satisfaction required," under Quest, xliv. z Gal. iii. 13. a 2 Cur. ». 21. b Ibid. 92 JUSTIFICATION. is a word very much used by those who plead for the scripture sense of the doctrine of justification, and as much opposed by those who deny it. We are obliged to defend the use of it; otherwise Christ's righteousness, how glorious soever it be in itself, would not avail for our justification. . , Here it is necessary for us to explain what we mean by the imputation ot Christ s righteousness. There are some who oppose this doctrine by calling it a putative righteousness, the shadow or appearance of what has no reality ; or our being ac counted what we are not, whereby a wrong judgment is passed on persons and things. We are not, however, to deny the doctrine because it is thus misrepresented, and thereby unfairly opposed. It is certain that there are words used in scripture and often applied to this doctrine, which, without any ambiguity or strain on the sense of them, may be translated ' to reckon, ' ' to account, ' or to place a thing done by another to our account, or as we express it, ' to impute.'0 This respects either what is done by us, or something done by another for us. Imputation in the for mer of these senses, our adversaries do not oppose. Thus, it is said, that ' Phinehas executed judgment, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, 'd that is, it was approved by God as a righteous action. This expression seems to obviate an ob jection which some might make against imputation. They might suppose that Phinehas did that which more properly belonged to the civil magistrate, or that his judicial act was done without a formal trial, and, it may be, too hastily. God, however, owns the action, and, in a way of approbation, places it to his account for righteousness, that it should be reckoned a righteous action throughout all genera tions. — Again, sometimes that which is done by a person, is imputed to him or charged upon him so that he must answer for it, or suffer the punishment due to it. Thus Shimei says to David, ' Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me ;'e that is, ' Do not charge upon me that sin which I committed, so as to put me to death for it, which thou mightest justly do.' And Stephen prays, ' Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ;'f that is, impute it not to them, or inflict not the punish ment on them which it deserves. No one can deny that what is done by a person himself may be placed to his own account ; so that he may be rewarded or pun ished for it, or that it may be approved or disapproved. This, however, is not the sense in which we understand imputation, when speaking concerning the impu tation of Christ's righteousness to us ; for this supposes that what was done by another is placed to our account. This is the main thing which is denied by those who have other sentiments of the doctrine we are maintaining. They pretend that, for God to account Christ's righteousness ours, is to take a wrong estimate of things, to reckon that done by us which was not. This, they say, is contrary to the wisdom of God, who can, by no means, entertain any false ideas of things ; and they add, that, if the action be reckoned ours, the character of the person perform ing it must also be applied to us, — which is to make us sharers in Christ's media torial office and glory. But this is the most perverse sense which can be put on the words, and a setting of this doctrine in such a light as no one takes it in who pleads for it. We do not suppose that God looks upon man with his all-seeing eye, as having done that which Christ did, or as sustaining the character which be longed to him in doing it. We are always reckoned by him as offenders, or as contracting guilt, and unable to do any thing which can make an atonement for it. Hence, what interest soever we have in what Christ did, is not reputed our action. God's imputing Christ's righteousness to us, is to be understood in a forensic sense ; which is agreeable to the idea of a debt being paid by a surety. It is not supposed that the debtor paid the debt which the surety paid ; yet the payment ol it is placed to his account, or imputed to him as really as if he had made it himself. So what Christ did and suffered in our room and stead, is as much placed to our ac count as if we had done and suffered it ourselves ; so that we are, in consequence, discharged from condemnation. This is the sense in which we understand the imputation of Christ's righteous ness to us ; and it is agreeable to the account we have in scripture. Thus we are said to be 'made the righteousness of God in him;'s that is, the abstract being put c awn X«yiJ>. d Psal. cvi. 31. e 2 Sam. xix. 19. f Acts vii. 60. g 2 Cor. v. 2 JUSTIFICATION. 93 for the concrete, we are denominated and dealt with as righteous persons, acquitted and discharged from condemnation in virtue of what was done by him. Elsewhere, also, he is styled 'the Lord our righteousness.' The apostle, too, speaks of his 'having Christ's righteousness ;'h that is, having it imputed to him, or having an in terest in it, or being dealt with according to the tenor of it. In this respect, he opposes it to that righteousness which was in himself as the result of his own per formances. Again, Christ is said to be 'made of God unto us righteousness ;' that is, his fulfilling the law is placed to our account. Further, the apostle speaks of ' Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth -,'1 which is the same as what he asserts in other words elsewhere, concerning ' the righ teousness of the law being fulfilled in us,'k who could not be justified by our own obedience to it, ' in that it was weak through the flesh,' or by reason of our fallen state. Christ, therefore, performed obedience for us, and accordingly God deals with us as if we had fulfilled the law in our own persons, inasmuch as it was ful filled by him as our surety. — This may farther be illustrated, by what we generally understand by Adam's sin being imputed to us, as one contrary may illustrate an other. As sin and death entered into the world by 'the offence of one,' namely, the first Adam, ' in whom all have sinned ; so by the righteousness of one, the free gift,'1 that is, eternal life, 'came upon all men,' namely, those who shall be saved, ' unto justification of life.' For this reason the apostle speaks of Adam as 'the figure of him that was to come.'m Now, as Adam's sin was imputed to us as our public head and representative, so that we are involved in the guilt of it, or fall in him ; so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, as he was our public head and surety. Accordingly, in the eye of the law, that which was done by him was the same as if it had been done by us ; so that, as the effect and consequence of it, we are justified. This is what'we call Christ's righteousness being imputed to us, or placed to our account ; and it is very agreeable to the acceptation of the word, in dealings between man and man. When one has contracted a debt, and desires that it may be placed to the account of his surety, who undertakes for the payment of it, it is said to be imputed to him ; and the debtor's consequent discharge is as valid as t if he had paid it in his own person. Justification an Act of God's Free Grace. We shall now consider justification as an act of God's free grace. This point is particularly insisted on in one of the Answers we are explaining. We are not to suppose, however, that our being justified by an act of grace, is opposed to our being justified on account of a full satisfaction made by our surety to the justice of God ; in which respect we consider our discharge from condemnation as an act of justice. The debtor is, indeed, beholden to the grace of God for this privilege ; but the surety who paid the debt, had not the least abatement made, but was obliged to glorify the justice of God to the utmost, which accordingly he did. Yet, there are several things in which the grace of God is eminently displayed. 1. It is displayed in God's willingness to accept satisfaction from the hands of our surety. He might have demanded the satisfaction of ourselves. The debt which we had contracted was not of the same nature with pecuniary debts ; in which case the creditor is obliged to accept payment, though the offer of it is made by another and not by him who contracted the debt. But, in debts of obedience to be performed or of punishment to be endured, he to whom satisfaction is to be given, must of his free choice accept one to be substituted in the room of him from whom the obedience or sufferings were originally due, otherwise the overture made, or'what is done and suffered by the substitute, is not regarded, or available to procure a discharge for him in whose room he substituted himself. God might have exacted the debt of us, in our own persons ; and then our condition would have been equally miserable with that of fallen angels, for whom no mediator was accepted, no more than provided. 2. The grace of God farther appears in having provided a surety for us. We h Phil. iii. 9. i Bom. x. 4. k Chap. viii. 3, 4. 1 Chap. v. 18. m Ver. 14. 94 JUSTIFICATION. could not have provided a surety for ourselves, nor have engaged Him to be so who was the only person that could bring about the great work of our redemption. T he only creatures who are capable of performing perfect obedience are the holy angels. These, however, could not be our surety ; for, as was formerly observed, whoever per forms it must be incarnate, that he may be capable of paying, in some respects In kind, the debt which was due from us. He requires, therefore, to suffer death, and consequently to have a nature which is capable of dying. But this the angels had not, and could not have, but by the divine will. Besides, if God should have dispensed with that part of satisfaction which consists in subjection to death, and have declared that active obedience should be sufficient to procure our justification, the angels, though capable of performing active obedience, would, notwithstanding, have been defective in it; so that justice could not, in honour, have accepted it, any more than it could have dispensed with the obligation to perform obedience in general. It would not have been of infinite value ; and it is the value of things which justice regards, and not merely the matter or perfection of them in other respects. Hence, the obedience must have had in it something infinitely valuable, else it could not have been accepted by God, as a price of redemption, in order to the procuring of our justification ; and such an obedience could be performed by none but "our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious author and procurer of this privilege. Jt was impossible for man to have found out this Mediator or surety. The ap pointment of him had its origin with God, and not with us. It is he who found a ransom, and laid help upon one that is mighty. This was the result of his will. Hence, our Saviour is represented as saying, ' Lo, I come to do thy will.'11 That we could not, by any means, have found out this surety, or engaged him to have done that for us which was necessary for our justification, will evidently appear if we consider that, when man fell, the Son of God was not incarnate. Even if we allow that fallen man had some idea of a trinity of persons, in the unity of the divine essence, — and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he had, since it was necessary that this doctrine should be revealed to him in order to his performing acceptable worship"; yet, can any one suppose that man could have asked such a favour of a divine person, as to take his nature, and put himself in his room and^ stead, and expose himself to the curse of that law which he had violated? Such a thing could never have entered into his heart; yea, the very thought, if it had taken its rise from him, would have savoured of more presumption than had he entreated that God would pardon his sin without a satisfaction.' But if he had sup posed it possible for the Son of God to be incarnate, or had conjectured that there had been the least probability of his being willing to express this instance of conde scending goodness, how could he have known that God would accept the payment of our debt at the hands of another, or commend his love to us who were such ene mies to him, in not sparing him but delivering him up for us ? If God's accepting a satisfaction, as well as the perfection or infinite value of it, be necessary in order to its taking effect ; it is certain, man could not have known that he would have done it, for this was a matter of pure revelation. Moreover, should we suppose even this possible, or that man might have expected that God would be moved by entreaty to appoint and accept the satisfaction ; yet such was the corruption, per- verseness, and rebellion of man's nature as fallen, and so great was his inability to perform any act of worship, that he could not have addressed himself to God in a right manner, to entreat that he would admit of a surety. Besides, God cannot hear any prayer but that which is offered to him by faith ; which supposes a Medi ator, whose purchase and gift it is. Now, as the sinful creature could not plead with God by faith that he would send his Son to be a Mediator, how could he hope to obtain this blessing? It evidently foUows, then, that, as man could not give satisfaction for himself, so he could not find out any one who could or would give it for him. Hence, the grace of God, in the provision which he has made of such a surety as his own Son, unasked for, unthought of, as well as undeserved, is verv illustrious. J 3. It was a very great display of grace in our Saviour, that he was pleased to n Heb. x. 7. THE CONNECTION OF FAITH WITH JUSTIFICATION. 95 consent to perform this work for us. Without his consent the justice of God could not have exacted the debt of him.. He being perfectly innocent, could not be obliged to suffer punishment; and it would have been unjust in God to have in flicted it, had he not been willing to be charged with our guilt, and to stand in oui room and stead. Though, too, he knew beforehand all the difficulties, sorrows, and temptations which he was to meet with in the discharge of this work, he was not discouraged from undertaking it. Nor was he unapprized of the character of those for whom he undertook it. He knew their rebellion and the guilt contracted by it, which rendered satisfaction necessary in order to their salvation. He knew also that they would, notwithstanding all the engagements he might lay on them to the contrary, discover the greatest ingratitude toward him ; that, instead of improving so great a display of condescending goodness, they would neglect the great salvation when purchased by him ; and that, in consequence, they would appear to be his greatest enemies, notwithstanding his friendship to them, unless he engaged not only to pnrchase redemption for them, but to apply it to them, and to work those graces in them whereby they might be enabled to give him the glory which is due to him for his great undertaking. We are next led to consider the use of faith in justification, and how, notwith standing what has been said concerning our being justified by Christ's righteous ness, we may, in other respects, be said to be justified by faith ; and also to show what this faith is, whereby we are justified. These subjects being particularly in sisted on in the two following Answers, we proceed to consider them. THE CONNECTION OF FAITH WITH JUSTIFICATION. Question I.XXII. What is justifying Faith f Answer. Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner, by the Spirit and Word ol God , whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself, and all other creatures, to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. Question LXXIII. How doth faith justify a sinner in the sight of God t Answer. Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God; not because of those other graces which do alwavs accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it; nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification; but only as it is an instrument, by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his righteousness. As the latter of these Answers, in which faith is considered as that whereby a sinner is justified, seems better connected with what has been before insisted on in explaining the doctrine of justification, we choose to discuss it before discussing the former. In considering the account which it gives of justifying faith, there are two things which may be taken notice of. First, it is observed that, though there are other graces which always accompany faith and the good works which flow from it, none of these are said to justify a sinner in the sight of God. Next, we have a statement of how faith justifies, or what it is to be justified by faith. Other Graces than Faith do not Justify. We observe, then, that though there are other graces which always accompany faith and the good works which flow from it, none of these are said to justify a sinner in the sight of God. There is an inseparable connection between faith and all other graces ; and, though it is distinguished, it is never separate from them. They are all considered as ' fruits of the Spirit.'0 The apostle reckons up several graces which are connected with faith and proceed from the same Spirit, such as 'love, peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance.' The o Gal. v. 22, 23. 96 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH same apostle commends the church at Thessalonica for their 'work of faith ;' and considers this as connected with a 'labour of love, and patience of hope m our Lord Jesus Christ.'* The apostle Peter exhorts the church to which he writes to ' add to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness charity ;'« which supposes that all these graces ought to be con nected together. The apostle James calls that a 'dead faith 'r which has not other works or graces joined with it. Indeed, these graces not only are connected with it, but flow from it, or are the fruits of it. Thus we read of ' the heart being purified by faith ;'s that is, this grace, when exercised in a right manner, will have a ten dency, in some degree, to purge the soul from that moral impurity which proceeds out of the heart of man, and is inconsistent with saving faith. Elsewhere, also, we read of faith as ' working by love,'' that is, exciting those acts of love, both to God and man, which contain a summary of practical religion. It is likewise said to 'overcome the world ;'u and it enables Christians to do or suffer great things for Christ's sake, of which the apostle gives various instances in the Old Testament saints.1 But notwithstanding the connection of other graces with faith, and with those works which flow from it, we are never said in scripture to be justified by these graces, — not by love to God, nor by any acts of obedience to him, which can be called no other than works. On the contrary, when the apostle speaks of our justification by faith, he puts it in opposition to works. 'A man,' says he, 'is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.'? It is objected that the apostle here speaks concerning the ceremonial law, which he excludes from being the matter of our justification ; and not the moral law, or any evangelical duty, such as love and sincere obedience, which, together with faith, is the matter of our justification. We reply that, when the apostle speaks of our justification by faith, without the deeds of the law, he does not intend the ceremonial law ; for those whom he describes as justified persons are said, in a following verse, to be not Jews only, but Gentiles who were converted to the Chris tian faith. The former, indeed, were under a temptation to seek to be justified by the ceremonial law, and so to conclude that they had a right to eternal life because of their being distinguished from the world, by the external privileges of the cove nant which they were under, many of which were contained in or signified by that law ; but the Gentiles had nothing to do with it, and therefore never expected to be justified by the ceremonial law. Accordingly, when the apostle speaks of justi fication by faith without the deeds of the law, he cannot be supposed to intend the ceremonial law. Besides, if we look a little farther into the context, we shall find by his reasoning, that he excludes all works in general, and opposes faith to them. He argues that we are justified in such a way as tends to exclude boasting. But he who insists on any works performed by himself as the matter of his justification, cannot do so any otherwise than in a boasting way, valuing himself, and founding his right to eternal life, upon them. We are justified therefore, not by them, but by faith ; that is, we are justified in such a way that, while we lay claim to the greatest privileges from Christ, we are disposed to give him all the glory, or to renounce our own righteousness at the same time that we have recourse by faith to his righteousness for justification. That it may farther appear that our justification by faith is opposed to justifica tion by works, either those which accompany or those which flow from it, we may apply to this argument what was formerly suggested, in considering the matter of our justification. If we consider the demands of justice, or what it may in honour reckon a sufficient compensation for the dishonour which has been brought to the divine name by sin, or what may be deemed a satisfactory payment of the out standing debt of perfect obedience which was due from us, or of punishment to which we were liable according to the sanction of the divine law ; we may easily TV, n° obedience performed by us, though including the utmost perfection wnicn a fallen creature is capable of attaining, is a sufficient satisfaction ; and if ?Ga!bvSV"3' <* 2 Pet- i. 5, 6, 7. r James ii. 17. s Acts xv. 9. * Ga'- U & u ' Joh» v' 4- * Heb. xi. y Rom. hi. 28. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 97 there can be no justification without satisfaction, we cannot be justified by such obedience. It is a vain thing, therefore, for persons to distinguish between works done before and after faith, as though the former only were excluded from being the matter of our justification ; or to say, as some do, that we are justified not in deed by obedience to the moral law, but by our obeying the precepts which our Saviour has laid down in the gospel, such as faith, repentance, &c, which they call obedience to the gospel as a new law. Let it be observed that these evangelical duties are supposed to be performed as the result of a divine command, which has the formal nature of a law, whether they be contained in the moral law or not ; so that, when we are justified by faith in opposition to the works of the law, obedience of any kind performed by us must be excluded. This point appears farther from the nature of faith, to which justification by the works of the law is opposed. For faith is a soul-humbling grace, and includes a renouncing of all merit, or induce ment taken from ourselves as a reason why God should bestow upon us the bless ings we stand in need of. It trusts in Christ for righteousness, and in him alone ; and therefore turns itself from any thing which may have the least tendency to eclipse his glory, as the only foundation of our justification. Hence, when we are said to.be justified by faith, and not by the works of the law, the meaning is, that we are justified in such a way as tends to set the crown upon Christ's head, acknow ledging him to be the only fountain whence this privilege is derived. From what has been said, it follows that our justification cannot be founded on our repentance. That it is founded on repentance, is often maintained by those who are on the other side of the question. They suppose that justification con tains nothing else but forgiveness of sin ; and that, if offences are to be forgiven by men upon their repentance or confessing their fault, then forgiveness may be expected from God on our repentance. Some use a very unsavoury way of speak ing, when they say that our tears have a virtue to wash away our sins. That they may gain farther countenance to their opinions, they refer to the scripture in which it is said, ' Repent, that your sins may be blotted out ; ' z and to other scriptures of a similar nature. We are not to suppose, however, that, in the text just quoted, the apostle, means that forgiveness of sin is founded on our repentance, as the mat ter of our justification in the sight of God ; but we are to understand him as teach ing that there is an inseparable connection between our claim to forgiveness of sin, together with all the fruits and effects of the death of Christ whereby this blessing was procured, and repentance, — so that the one is not to be expected without the other. While men are to forgive injuries when the offender acknowledges his fault. and makes sufficient restitution, they may do so as far as the offence is committed only against a creature, — especially if the offence be of a private nature. But in juridical and forensic cases, will any one say that the prince is obliged to forgive the criminal who is under a sentence of condemnation, because he is sorry for what he has done, or confesses his fault ? Would his doing so secure his honour as a lawgiver ? And if, upon his pardoning the offender, the latter were to be discharged from his guilt, would there not be a defect in the administration of the legisla ture ? How, then, can the principle of pardoning on the ground of repentance be applied to forgiveness as expected at the hand of God ? Here justice as well as mercy is to have the glory which is due to it ; and we are to be not only acquit- - ted, but justified, or pronounced guiltless. How, then, can forgiveness be expect ed, when our acknowledgment of our offence cannot be reckoned a sufficient satis faction to the justice of God? It is objected by those on the other side of the question, that, though repentance be not in itself a sufficient compensation to the justice of God, for the crimes which we have committed ; yet God may, by an act of grace, accept it as if it had been sufficient." This they illustrate by a similitude taken from a person's selling an estate of a considerable value, to one who has no money to buy it, provided he will z Acts iii. 19. a This is what is generally styled, by a diminutive word, ' Acceptilatio gratiosa,' which is an ac cepting a small part of a debt, instead of the whole ; a sort of composition, in which, though the payment be inconsiderable, the debtor's discbarge is founded on it by an act of favour in the credi tor, as if the whole sum had been paid. II. N 90 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH pay a peppercorn of acknowledgment. Thus, say they, how insignificant soever repentance, or any other grace which is deemed the matter of our justification, be in itself, it is by an act of favour, deemed a sufficient price. Now, I would ob serve, that the objection which was formerly brought against the doctrine we have been maintaining, concerning the imputation of Christ's righteousness, namely, that it is a putative righteousness, a not judging of things according to truth, and the like, seems to be of no weight when it affects their own cause ; otherwise we might turn their argument against themselves, and ask them whether it be for God to judge according to truth, when that is accepted as a sufficient payment, by his justice, which is in itself of no value ? But passing this by, we may farther observe that their supposition wholly sets aside the necessity of satisfaction, as the Socinians do ; so that it is no wonder that the latter make use of the supposition. As for others who do not altogether deny the doctrine of satisfaction, yet think that a small price may be deemed satisfactory for sin committed, it may be re plied to them, that if justification, as tending to advance the glory of divine justice in taking away the guilt of sin, depends upon a price paid which is equivalent to the debt contracted, and if nothing short of a price of infinite value can be reck oned such an equivalent, then certainly that which is performed by men .cannot be deemed a sufficient payment, or accepted as such. It is a vain thing for persons to pretend that there is a difference between satisfying God, and satisfying his jus tice, or that to satisfy God is to pay a price which he demands, be it never so small, while satisfying justice is paying a price equal to the thing purchased ; for we must conclude that God cannot deem any thing satisfactory to himself, which is not so to his justice. This distinction, therefore, will not avail to free their argument from the absurdity which attends it. We might here observe, that as some speak of pardon of sin being founded on our repentance, others speak of our justification being by the act of faith, or by faith considered as a work. In defending justification by works, as if, contrary to what has been already proved, it were not opposed to justification by faith, they argue that we are often said in scripture to be justified by faith, that faith is a work, and that, therefore, it cannot be denied that we are justified by works. But it is one thing to say, that we are justified by faith, that is, a work, and another thing to say, that we are justified by it as a work ; or, it is one thing to say, that we are justified for our faith, and another thing to say, that we are justified by it. This will more evidently appear under the following Head. How Faith Justifies. We therefore proceed to consider what it is for us to be justified by faith, or how faith justifies. None can, with the least shadow of reason, deny that justification by faith is a scripture mode of speaking. Some, indeed, have questioned whether the apostle's words, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,' give countenance to the doctrine of justification by faith; for they observe that, by putting a stop immediately after the word justified, the sense would be, that they who are justified by Christ's righteousness, have peace with God by faith, through our Lord Jesus Christ. But though this will a little alter the reading of the text ; it will not overthrow the doctrine of justification by faith as contained in it. For if we understand our ' having peace with God,' as im porting, not merely peace of conscience, but that peace which they have a right to who are interested in Christ's righteousness, it will follow that to have this peace by faith, is, in effect, the same as to be justified by faith. This farther appears from the following words, ' By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.' The ' grace wherein we stand' is that grace which is the foun dation of our justification, and not merely peace of conscience. When, therefore, we have access by faith into this grace, it is the same as for us to be justified by faith.— Moreover this is not the only place in which we are said to be justified bv faith, ihe apostle says elsewhere, ' We are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ,'" b Gal. ii. 16. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 99 or, by faith in Jesus Christ. Again, he says, ' The just shall live by faith ;'c which, agreeably to the context, must be understood of their being justified by faith ; in which sense he particularly explains the words elsewhere."1 In another place he speaks of ' the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ ;'e and also of a believer's ' waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith.' f We must, there fore, not deny that justification is by faith ; but rather explain the sense of those scriptures which establish this doctrine, agreeably to the mind of the Holy Ghost in them. There are various methods taken to explain the doctrine of justification by faith ; particularly one which we think subversive of justification by Christ's righteousness ; and another, that which is contained in the Answer which we are explaining. 1. As to the former of these, namely, that which is inconsistent with the doc trine of justification by Christ's righteousness, it is maintained by those who plead for justification by works. They say that we are justified by faith and all other graces ; and these they call the conditions of our justification in the sight of God. Indeed, to be justified by faith, according to them, is little other than to be justi fied for faith. Whether they reckon it a meritorious condition or not, they must own it to be a pleadable condition, otherwise it would have no reference to justifi cation ; and if it be understood in this sense, our justification depends as much upon it as if it had been meritorious. This is the account which some give of justifica tion. To prepare the way for their opinion, they suppose that the terms of salva tion in the gospel, which are substituted for those which were required under the first covenant made with Adam, are faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, in stead of perfect ; that God, in justifying a penitent, believing sinner, pursuant to the performance of these conditions, declares his willingness that there should be a relaxation of that law which man was at first obliged to obey ; and, accordingly, that sincerity is demanded by him instead of perfection, or is substituted in the room of it. This some of them call the new law, and others a remedial law. Hence, according to their opinion, instead of being justified by Christ's yielding perfect obedience, or paying the outstanding debt which we were obliged, by rea son of the violation of the first covenant, to pay ; we are to be justified by our own imperfect obedience. What may be objected to this reasoning, is, that it is incon sistent with the holiness of the divine nature, and the glory of the justice of God, detracts from the honour of his law, and is, in effect, to maintain that we are justi fied without satisfaction given. For though the alleged terms of our justification and acceptance in the sight of God may be falsely styled a valuable consideration ; yet none will pretend to assert that they are an infinite price ; and nothing short of such a price, which is no other than Christ's righteousness, is sufficient to answer the end of satisfaction. I am sensible that they who lay down this plan of justifi cation allege in defence of it, that, though the terms of acceptance are of small value in themselves, yet God, by an act of grace, reckons the payment of a small debt equivalent to that of a greater, as was formerly observed. They also speak of faith and repentance as having a value set upon them by their reference to the blood of Christ, s who merited the privilege for us of our being justified in such a way, or upon these conditions performed. They call them indeed easier terms or conditions, and include them all in the general word sincerity, instead of perfec tion. Vet they are somewhat divided in their method of explaining themselves. Some suppose these conditions to be wholly in our own power, without the aids of divine grace, as much as perfect obedience was in the power of our first parents. Others, though they do not suppose that these conditions are altogether out of our own power, ascribe a little more to the grace of God, according as they explain the doctrine of effectual calling ; and they so far lay a foundation for the sinner's glory ing, as to suppose that our right to justification and eternal life are founded on per forming the conditions. I cannot but think that this method of explaining the doctrine of justification is c Rom. i. 17. " Gal. iii. 11. e Rom. iii. 22. f Gal. v. 5. g These works tbey speak of as ' Tincta sanguine Christi.' 100 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH subversive of the gospel ; and that it is highly derogatory to the glory of God to assert that he can dispense with the demand of perfect obedience, and justify a person on easier terms. To say this is little better than what the apostle calls ' making void the law.' This, says he, we are far from doing 'by faith,' or by our asserting the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's righteousness ; ' butwe rather establish it' hereby. Moreover, to say that God sets such a value on our performing these con ditions of the new covenant that they are deemed equivalent to Christ's perform ing perfect obedience for us, reflects on his glory, as set forth to be a propitiation for sin to declare God's righteousness in the remission of it, and detracts from the obligation which we are laid under to him for what he did and suffered in our be half for our justification. — Again, to- assert that God sets this value on our per formances pursuant to Christ's merit, or that they are highly esteemed by him because they are tinctured with his blood, is contrary to the design of Christ's death. For that design was, not that such an estimate might be set on what is done by us, but rather that the iniquities which attend our best performances may be forgiven, — that, though, when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, we may be made accepted in the Beloved, — and that, having no justifying righteous ness of our own, we may be justified by that which he hath wrought out for us, and glory in it. — As to the supposition that faith, repentance, and new obedience are not only conditions of justification, but conditions easy to be performed, it plainly discovers that they who maintain it, either think too lightly of man's impotency and aversion to what is good, and of his alienation from the life of God, or are strangers to their own hearts, and not duly sensible that it is God that works in his people both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. — The only thing which I shall add, in opposition to the doctrine of justification by works, is, that what ever is the matter or ground of our justification in the sight of God, must be plead able at his bar. For we cannot be justified without a plea; and if any plea taken from our own works be thought sufficient, how much soever the proud and deluded heart of man may set too great a value upon them, God will not reckon the plea valid, so as to discharge us from guilt, and give us on account of it a right and title to eternal life. 2. We now proceed to consider the method taken in the Answer before us, to explain the doctrine of justification by faith. This method, we think, is agreeable to the divine perfections, and contains a true state of the doctrine in question. We formerly considered justification as a forensic act, that we might understand what is meant by our sins being imputed to Christ our head and surety, and his righte ousness imputed to us, or placed to our account. And we are now to speak of this righteousness as pleaded by or applied to us, as the foundation of our claim to all the blessings which were purchased by it. Here we must consider a sinner as bringing in his plea, in order to his discharge ; and he does this either with the view of being declared innocent, or with the view of being justified on the ground of Christ's righteousness. If he be charged by men or by Satan with crimes not committed, he pleads his own innocency ; if charged with hypocrisy, he pleads his own sincerity. In this sense, we are to understand several expressions in scripture. When, for example, a charge of the kind mentioned was brought against Job, Satan having suggested that he did not serve God for nought, and that, if God would touch his bone and his flesh, he would curse him to his face, and his friends having often applied to him the character they give of the hypocrite, and so concluded him to be a wicked person, he said, ' God forbid that I should justify you,' that is, that I should acknow ledge your charge to be just ' Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from pToacli UI8 i SneTS v h° h !a,St' and Tm n0t let {t 8°* My ^eart sh^l not re- mv heJ U tRg- I8 * He£ V^* 1S' '* never viU 0TO what you insinuate, that ment wh ch Z "^ ^ ^ Dayid' als0' vhen explaining of the ill treat- reread down T v?h fr0m ^ 6nemieS and Perse^tors, who desired not only murder L name Lei1Up°\the earth'' but t0 'Ia? his honour ia the dust,' to murder his name as well as his person, prays, 'Judge me, O Lord, according to h Job xxvii. 5, 6. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 101 my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.'1 What could he plead against malicious and false insinuations, but his righteousness or his integrity ? Elsewhere, also, when he says, ' The Lord rewarded me according to my righteous ness ; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me ; for I have kept the ways of the Lord ; his judgments were before me ; I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity, 'k his words are nothing else but an intimation that, how much soever he might be charged with the contrary vices, he was, as regarded them, innocent. Though God did not justify him at his tribunal for his personal righteousness ; yet, in the course of his providence, he seemed so far to approve his plea, that, whatever the world thought of him, he plainly dealt with him as one who was highly favoured by him, or as one whom, by his dealings with him, he evidently distinguished from those whose hearts were not right with him. It is true, some who plead for justification by our own righteousness, allege these scriptures as a proof of it; but they do not distinguish between the justification of our persons in the sight of God, and the justification of our righteous cause, or be tween our being justified when accused at God's tribunal, and our being justified or vindicated from those charges which are brought against us at man's. When a person stands at God's tribunal, as we must suppose the sinner to do, when bringing in his plea for justification in his sight, he has nothing to plead tint Christ's righteousness ; and faith is the grace which pleads it. On this account, we are said to be justified by faith, or in a way of believing. Faith does not justify by presenting or pleading itself, or any other grace which accompanies or flows from it, as the cause why God should forgive sin, or give us a right to eternal life ; for no grace has a sufficient worth or excellency to procure these blessings. When we are said to be justified by faith, it is by faith as apprehending, pleading, or laying hold on Christ's righteousness. This gives occasion to divines to call it the instru ment of our justification. Christ's righteousness is the thing claimed or appre hended ; and faith is that by which it is claimed or apprehended. Agreeably to the idea of an instrument, we are said to be justified, not for faith, but by it. Christ's righteousness is that which procures a discharge from condemnation for all for whom it was wrought out ; and faith is the hand which receives it, whereby a person has a right to conclude that it was wrought out for him. Christ's righte ousness is that which has a tendency to enrich and adorn the soul ; and faith is the hand which receives it, whereby it becomes ours in a way of fiducial application. As the righteousness of Christ is compared, in scripture, to a glorious robe which renders the soul beautiful, or is its highest and chief ornament ; so it is by faith that this robe is put on. Thus its beauty, as the prophet says, is rendered ' perfect through his comeliness, which is put upon him.'1 Hence, Christ's righteousness justifies, as it is the cause of our discharge; faith justifies as the instrument which applies this discharge to us. Accordingly, when it is said, ' The just shall live by faith,' faith is considered as that which seeks and finds life in him. The effect is, by a metonymy, applied to the instrument ; as when the husbandman is said to live or be maintained by his plough, and the artist to live by his hands, or the beggar by his empty hand which receives the donative. If a person were in a dungeon, as the prophet Jeremiah was, and a rope were let down to draw him out, his laying hold on it is the instrument, but the hand which draws him out is the principal cause of his release. Or, that we may make use of a similitude which more directly illustrates the doctrine we are maintaining, suppose a condemned malefactor had a pardon procured for him, which gives him a right to liberty or a discharge from the place of his confinement, this pardon must be pleaded, and his claim be rendered visible ; and afterwards he is no longer deemed a guilty person,. but discharged, in open court, from the sentence which he was under. Thus, Christ procures forgiveness by his blood ; the gospel holds it forth, and describes those who have a right to claim it as believers ; faith pleads it, and claims it as belonging to him in particular ; and hence arises a visible discharge from condem nation, and a right to claim the benefits which attend it. If we understand justi fication by faith in this sense, we do not attribute too much to laith, on the one hand, nor too little to Christ's righteousness on the other. [See Note I, page 121.] i Psal. vii. 8. k 2 Sam. xxii. 21, et stq. 1 Ezek. xvi. 14. 102 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH We choose to call faith an instrument rather than a condition of our justifica tion, as we are sensible that the word ' condition' is generally used to signify that for the sake of which a benefit is conferred, rather than the instrument by which it is applied. Not but that the word may be explained m such a way as is con sistent with the doctrine of justification by faith. We do not deny that faith is the condition of our claim to Christ's righteousness ; or that it is God's ordinance, with out which we have no ground to conclude our interest in it. We must distinguish between its being a condition of forgiveness, and its being a condition of our visible and apparent right to forgiveness. This privilege cannot be said to belong to us, unless we receive it ; nor can we conclude that we have an interest in Christ's re demption, any more than they for whom he did not lay down his life, but by this medium. We must first consider Christ's righteousness as wrought out for all those who were given him by the Father ; and then consider faith as that which gives us ground to conclude that the privilege belongs in particular to us. This account of the use of faith in justification, we cannot but think sufficient to obviate the most material ejections which are brought against our way of maintaining the doc trine of justification, namely, by Christ's righteousness, in one respect, and by faith in another. It is an injurious suggestion to suppose that we deny the necessity of faith in any sense, or to conclude that we may lay claim to justification without it ; for we strenuously assert, on the one hand, the necessity of Christ's righteousness being wrought out for us, and of forgiveness being thereby procured, — and, on the other hand, the necessity of our receiving it. Each of these points is true in its respective place. Christ must have the glory which is due to him ; and faith the work or office which belongs to it. We have thus considered Christ's righteousness as applied by faith. It may be observed, also, that there is one scripture in which it is said to be ' imputed by faith.' The apostle Paul, when speaking concerning Abraham's justification by faith in this righteousness, says, ' It was imputed to him for righteousness ;' and adds, that ' it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe. 'm In this scripture, I con ceive, imputation is taken for application. Accordingly, the meaning is, the righ teousness of Christ is so imputed that we have ground to place it to our own ac count, if we believe. This is the same as applying it by faith. It must be allowed, indeed, that while the apostle speaks elsewhere of ' faith being counted for righ teousness ;'n there is a great deal of difficulty in the mode of expression. If we assert that the act of believing is imputed for righteousness, as tliey do who establish the doctrine of justification by works, or by faith as a work, we overthrow what we have been maintaining. If, on the other hand, we understand faith for the object of faith, namely, what was wrought out by Christ, which faith is conversant about, and conclude, as I conceive we ought to do, that this is imputed for righteous ness, we are supposed by some to. deviate too much from the common sense of words. But if there be such a figurative way of speaking used in other scriptures, why may we not suppose that it is used in the text under consideration ? If other graces are sometimes taken for the object of them, why may not faith be taken, by a metonymy, foritsobject? Thus the apostle calls those to whom he writes, 'his joy,' that is, the object or matter of his joy.° In the book of Canticles, the church calls Christ ' her love.'P that is, the object of her love. Hope also is plainly taken for the object of it, when the apostle says, ' Hope that is seen, is not hope ; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?'i He here plainly intends that whatever is the object of hope, cannot be in our present possession. Christ, moreover, is styled, 'the blessed hope,'1 that is, the person whose appearance we hope for lw\t0°' Sp^aks of God as This consists more especially in those acts of faith which contain an entire subjec- vr t-ft the Powers and faculties of the soul to Christ, arising from the views which it has of his glory, and its experience of his almighty power. This is not qlPet. i. 5 r Chap. iv. 19 s John x. 28. t2Timil2 u See Quest, lxxx. x Heb. x. 39. y 1 Pet. i. 9. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 115 only the way to everlasting salvation, but the first-fruits of it. It is such a receiv ing and resting on Christ for salvation as has been already described. This grace is farther said to be wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit. We formerly considered effectual calling as a wofk of divine power, and proved that the Spirit is the author of it,7- and that they who are effectually called are en abled to accept of and embrace the grace offered in the gospel. From this it is evident that faith is the fruit and consequence of our effectual calling ; and that, therefore, it must be a work of the almighty power and grace of the Holy Spirit. That it is so, farther appears from the account which we have of it in several scrip tures. Thus the apOstle Peter, describing those to whom he writes as having ' ob tained like precious faith, through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,' and also as having ' all things that pertain unto godliness,' in which faith is certainly included, ascribes this to 'the divine power.'" Elsewhere also we read of 'the exceeding greatness of the power' of God exerted 'in them that believe. 'b When the work of faith is carried on, or fulfilled in the souls Of those in whom it was begun, it is considered as an effect of the same power/ And as all that grace which is the effect of divine power is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, when he is said, as acting in subserviency to the Father and Son, to demonstrate his personal glory ; so the work of faith, as included in that grace, is represented as his work. On this account he is called ' the Spirit of faithi'd But what we shall more particularly consider is, that the grace of faith is wrought by the instrumentality of the word; We have already observed that the principle of grace, implanted in regeneration, is the immediate effect Of the divine power, without the instrumentality Of the word ; but that when the Spirit works faith, and all other graces which proceed from that principle, then he makes Use of the word. Thus the apostle says, ' Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'6 As it is necessary, in order to our seeing any object, that the eye be rightly disposed and fitted for sight, and that the object be presented to it ; so there are two things necessary to faith, namely, the soul's being changed, renewed, quick ened, aftd so prepared to act this grace, and the object's being presented to it, about which it is to be conversant. The latter is done by the word of God. Hence, the soul is' first internally disposed to receive what God is pleased to reveal relating to the way of salvation by Jesus Christ before it believes ; and what he is pleased to reveal is contained in the gospel, which is adapted to the various acts of faith, as before described. As faith implies a coming to Christ, or receiving him ; the word of God reveals him to us as giving an invitation to sinners, encouraging them to come to him. Thus Our Saiviour says', ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.'f As a farther inducement to come to him, it sets forth the advantages that will at tend it, namely, that he will not reject them, how unworthy soever they be. He says', ' Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. '* There are also many other privileges which he will bestow on those who come to him, namely, the blessings of both worlds, grace here, and glory hereafter, all which contain the very sum and' substance of the gospel. — Again, if we consider faith as including a giving up Ourselves to Christ to be entirely his ; the word of God represents him as having an undoubted right to all who do so, inasmuch as they are bought with the price of bis blood, given to him as his own by the Father. And as they devote themselves to him to be his servants, it sets before them the privileges which at tend his service, as they are delivered from the dominion of sin, and a servile fear and dread of hi3 wrath ; and lets them know the ease, pleasure, and delight which there is in bearing his yoke, and the blessed consequences in their having ' their fruit unto holiness, and the end life everlasting.'11 — Further, as faith looks to Christi for forgiveness of sin, in which respect it is called justifying faith ; so the word of God represents him to Us, as having made atonement for sin,— as set forth to be a pro- , pitiation to secure us from the guilt to which we were liable, and from the con demning sentence of the law,r— as bearing the curse, and, in consequence, giving z See Sect. '"Effectual Calling a Divine Work,' under Quest, lxvii, lxviii. a 2 Pet. i. I. compared with the third verse. b Eph. i. 19. c 2 Thess. i. II. d 2 Cor. iv. 13. e Rom. *. 17. f John vii. 37. g John vi. 37. h Rom. vi. 22, 116 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH us a right to all the privileges of his children. It also represents this forgiveness as full, free, and irreversible ; and the soul, by faith rejoices in its freedom from condemnation, and in that right and title to eternal life which is inseparably con nected with it.- Again, as faith includes a trusting or relying on Christ, the gos pel represents him as an all-sufficient Saviour, 'able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him;'1 and as faith trusts him for the accomplishment of all the promises, it considers him as having engaged to make them good, inasmuch as ' in him they are yea and in him amen, unto the glory of God.'k The believer, therefore runs no risk, or is at no uncertainty as to this matter ; for Christ's media torial glory lies at stake. If there be the least failure in the accomplishment of any promise, or any blessing made over to his people in the covenant of grace which shall be conferred upon them, he is content to bear the blame for ever. But this is altogether impossible, since he who has undertaken to apply the blessings promised, is faithful and true, as well as the Father who gave them. This affords those ' strong consolation who are fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before them ' in the gospel. ' Thus Christ is set forth ; and agreeably to this dis covery made of him, faith takes up its rest in him, and therein finds safety and peace. The Degrees of Faith. We shall now consider faith as strong or weak, increasing or declining ; and also the various marks and signs of its being in these respective states. As habits of sin are stronger or weaker, the same may be said concerning habits of grace. It is one thing for them to be entirely lost ; and another thing to be in a declining state. Their strength and vigour may be much abated, and their energy frequently interrupted ;' yet God will maintain the principle of grace, as we shall endeavour to prove under a following Answer.™ Grace is not always equally strong and lively. The pro phet supposes it to be declining, when he says, ' Revive thy work, 0 Lord, in the midst of the years.'11 Our Saviour's advice to the churches at Sardis and Ephesus implies as much, when he exhorts the former to ' strengthen the things which re main, that are ready to die ;'° and when he bids the church at Ephesus ' remem ber from whence they were fallen, and repent and do their first works. * Some are said, as Abraham, to be ' strong in faith, giving glory to God ;'i and others are reproved, as our Saviour does his disciples, when he says, ' 0 ye of little faith. 'r As our natural constitution is not always equally healthy and vigorous, nor our condi tion in the world equally prosperous ; the same may be said concerning the habits of grace. Sometimes they are strong, and then, as the apostle says concerning his beloved Gaius,s 'the soul prospereth,' and we 'go from strength to strength,'1 from one degree of grace to another ; but at other times, we are ready to ' faint in the day of adversity,' and our 'strength is small. 'u This cannot but be observed by all who are not strangers to themselves, or who take notice of the various frames of spirit which are visible in those whom they converse with. But it will be inquired, By what marks or evidences may we discern the strength or weakness of faith ? Though this will more evidently appear from what will be said under a following Answer, * when we are led to speak concerning the reason of the imperfection of sanctification in believers ; yet we shall not wholly pass it over in this place. Let it be observed, then, that the strength or weakness of faith, is to be judged of by the degree of esteem and value which the soul has for Christ and the steadiness or abatement of its dependence on him. The greater diffidence or distrust we have of self, and the more we see of our own emptiness and nothingness the stronger is our faith. On the other hand, self-confidence, or relying on our own strength, is a certain sign of the weakness of our faith.— Again, strong faith is that which carries the soul through difficult duties. Thus the apostle says, ' I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'* Weak faith, on the contrary, n^ablii'f ^pC°r-i-o20- lHeb.Yi.18. m See Quest. Ixxix. I { ?; i ^ ?erv; ln:.2- P Chap. ii. 5. q Rom. iv. 20. r Mutt vi. 30. sdJohnu. t Psah lxxxiv. 7. u Prov, xxiv 10 x See Quest, lxxvm. y Phil. iv. 13. u" WITH JUSTIFICATION. 117 is ready to sink under the discouragements which it meets with. The former is 'steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord;'2 the latter is like a reed shaken with the wind. Strong faith, as it is said of Job,3 blesses God when he strips him of all earthly enjoyments, and rejoices that the soul is 'counted worthy to suffer shame for his name ;'b and it carries the believer above those fears which have a tendency to deject and dishearten him. ' He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.'0 Weak faith, on the contrary, is borne down with discouragements. The believer under its influence finds it hard to hold on in the performance of his duty ; and sees mountains of difficulties in his way, in consequence of which he is ready to con clude that he shall not be able to get safely to his journey's end. He does not rightly improve the consideration of the almighty power of God, and his faithful ness to his promise, in which he has engaged that ' the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.'4 When we sustain losses and disappointments in the world, or things go contrary to our expectation, we are ready to say with the psalmist, ' Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?e We sometimes con clude also, that we have no interest in the love of God, because the dispensations of his providence are afflictive, and fill us with great uneasiness. In this case, fear looks upon every adverse providence, as it were, through a magnifying glass, and apprehends it to be but the beginning of sorrows ; for it cannot say with the pro phet, ' I will trust and not be afraid ;f for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. '& — Moreover, the strength or weakness of faith may farther be discerned by our enjoying or being destitute of communion with God, — our conversing with him in ordinances, or being deprived of this privilege. We may conclude-our faith to be strong, when we can say as the apostle does, ' Our conversation is in heaven,' or we live above. But when, on the other hand, we have too great an anxiety or solicitude about earthly things, and an immoderate love to the present world, we may conclude our faith to be weak. — The difference between strong and weak faith may also be discerned by the frame of our spirit in prayer. When faith is strong, the soul has a great degree of boldness or liberty of access to the throne of grace, — a greater measure of importunity and fervency, accompanied with an expecta tion of the blessings prayed for, by a secret and powerful intimation from the Spirit as a Spirit of grace and supplication ; whence it infers that he who excites this grace will encourage it, as he ' says not to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.'h— . We might add, that strong faith may likewise be discerned, when it is accompanied with an assurance of an interest in Christ's righteousness, and of our right and title to eternal life founded thereon, or that God will guide us by his counsel and afterwards receive us to glory, and a persuasion wrought in the soul by the Spirit that nothing shall separate us from his love. Weak faith is attended with many doubts concerning our interest in Christ ; sometimes fearing that our former hope was no other than a delusion, our present experiences not real. The ground we stand on sinks under us ; and we are ready to conclude that we shall one day fall by the hands of our spiritual enemies. When I speak of these doubts and fears as an evidence of weak faith, I do not say that they are ingredients in faith ; for they are to be considered rather as a burden and encumbrance which attends it. Hence, though there be some good thing in us towards the Lord our God, or a small degree of faith like a grain of mustard-seed, these doubts proceed from the weakness of faith, as opposed to that which is strong, and which would denote the soul to be in a happy and flourishing condition. The Use of Faith in a Believer's Life. We are now led to speak concerning the use of faith in the whole conduct of our lives ; as every thing which we do in an acceptable manner, is said to be done by it. It is one thing occasionally to put forth some acts of faith, and another thing to live z 1 Cor. xv. 58. a Job i. 21. b Acts v. 41. c Psal. cxii. 7- d Job xvii. 9. e Psal. lxxvii. 9. f Isa. xii. 2. g Chap. xxvi. 4. h Chap. xiv. 19. 118 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH by faith. As the latter is the most noble and excellent life ; so nothing short of it can, properly speaking, be called a good life, how much soever many are styled good livers who are wholly strangers to the grace of faith. The apostle Paul speaks of this way of living, and considers it as exemplified in himself, when he says ' The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. He speaks of -fai* as his constant work, or that which ran through the whole busi ness of his life. Whether we are engaged in civil or in religious duties, they are all to be performed by faith. ,t ... „, 1. Here we shall consider the life of faith, first, as it discovers itself m all the common actions of life. In these we act as men ; but the faith which is the prin cipal ingredient in them, and their chief ornament, denotes us to walk as Christians. This we are said to do when we receive every outward mercy as the purchase of the blood of Christ, as well as the gift of his grace, and consider it as a blessing bestowed by a covenant-God, who, together with outward things, is pleased to give himself to us ; which infinitely enhances the value of the blessing, and induces us to receive it with a proportionable degree of thankiulness. — Again, we live by faith when we sit loose from all the enjoyments of this world, not taking up our rest in them as if they were our portion or chief good ; so that the esteem and value we have for them is very much below that which we have for things divine and heavenly. When we use the things of this li.e to the glory of God, and account the best outward enjoy ments nothing if compared with Christ ; or when, as the apostle says, ' we count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and do count them but dung, that we may win Christ ;'k our exercising faith in this way will quiet our spirits under afflictions, and induce us to submit to the disposing providence of God when our best outward enjoyments are removed, or we called to suffer the loss of all things for Christ's sake, or by his sovereign will.— Further, we live by faith when all the success which we hope for in our secular employments, is considered as a display of that care which Christ takes of his people, in which he overrules and orders all things for his own glory, and their welfare. We are, in consequence, persuaded that he will cause whatever we take in hand to prosper, provided he sees that it is best for us ; and if not, we are disposed to acquiesce in his will. This is such an instance of faith as will put us upon doing every thing in the name and to the glory of Christ, and fortify us against any disappointment which may attend our expectation in every employment wherein we are engaged. — Further, we live by faith when outward blessings, instead of proving a snare and temptation to draw off our hearts from Christ, are a means to bring us nearer to him ; so that if our circumstances are easy and comfortable in the world, and we have more frequent opportunities offered to us to engage in religious duties than others, we are accord ingly inclined to embrace them ; while every thing we enjoy, as an instance of dis tinguishing favour from God, above what many in the world do, excites in us a due sense of gratitude, and an earnest desire and endeavour to use the world to his glory. — Again, we live by faith when adverse providences, which sometimes have a tendency to drive the soul from Christ, and occasion repining thoughts, as though the divine distributions were not equal, are made of use to bring us nearer to him, so that whatever we lose in the creature, we look for and endeavour to find in him ; when, with a submissive spirit, we can say that he does all things well for us, as we hope and trust that he will make even those things which run counter "to our se cular interests subservient to our eternal welfare ; and when, in consequence we endeavour to keep up a becoming frame of spirit, in such a condition of life as' has a tendency to cast the soul down and fill it with great disquietude.— Again we live by faith when we devote and consecrate all we have in the world to God consider ing that, as we are not our own but his, so all we have is his ; when, in consequence, we are endowed with a public spirit, desirous to approve ourselves blessings to mankind in general, to the utmost of our power ; and when, after having done all we not only say with David, ' Of thine own we have given thee,'* but say as our Saviour taught his disciples to do, ' We are unprofitable servants.'— Finally, the life of faith discovers itself in the government of our affections, namely, as they are i Gal. ii. 20. k Phil. iii. 8. 1 l chron. xxix. 14. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 119 kept within due bounds, set upon right objects, and rendered subservient to pro mote Christ's glory and interest. We are prevented from Setting our affections immoderately on the things of this world, when faith shows us that there are far better things to draw them forth, which deserve our highest love. It also prevents our being worldly and carnal ; as though we were swallowed up with the things of sense, and had nothing else to mind, and religion were only to be occasionally en gaged in ; or as though an holy, humble, self-denying frame of spirit were incon sistent with worldly business. Faith suggests the contrary ; it puts us upon making religion our great business, and engaging in secular affairs rather as a ne cessary avocation than as the chief end of living. It also puts us upon glorifying Ghrist in our secular concerns, as we manage them in such a way as he ordains. By faith the believer is kept in a spiritual frame, while abiding with God in the calling to which he is called. This we attribute more especially to the grace of faith, not only as it is connected with other graces, and, as will be observed under our next Headv excites them, but as it has its eye constantly fixed on Christ as its ©bject, and by this steers its course, and takes an estimate of the valuableness and importance of all the affairs of this life by their subserviency to our salvation, and the advancement of his glory. 2. Faith discovers itself in the performance of all religious duties, and in the exercise of all other graces. Thus, we read of the prayer of faith, whereby a soul has aiecess to God as to a father, in the name of Christ, firmly relies on the promises Which are established in him, and has a liberty to plead with him, and a hope of acceptance in his sight. Moreover, when we wait on God to hear what he has to impart to us in his word, faith, having experienced some degree of communion with him already, and had some displays of his love, puts the soul upon desiring more. Accordingly, the psalmist says, ' My soul thirsteth for thee ; my flesh longeth for thee, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.'™ And whatever other ordinances of divine appointment we are engaged in, we are encouraged by faith to hope for his presence and draw nigh to him in them, with a reverential fear, and delight in him. — Faith also puts us upon the exercise of those graces which are necessary for the right performance of gospel-worship in general. These are not only joined with it, but may be said to be excited by it ; so that faith is, as it were, the principle of all other graces. Thus, when the heart is drawn forth in love to Christ, it may be said that ' faith worketh by love.'n When this love is accompanied with 'joy unspeakable and full of glory,' this we have in a way of 'believing.'0 What tends to excite the grace of love, is the view which faith takes of Christ's mediatorial glory and excellencies, and of the obligations we are under to love him from his love to us. This is a strong motive, inducing us to express our love to him by universal obedience ; which is called ' the obedience of faith. 'p — Again, when we exercise the grace of repentance, and thereby hate and turn from all sins, and are, in a peculiar manner, sensible, as we ought to be, of the sin of unbelief, it is faith which gives us this sense of unbelief; as it is best able to see its own defects. When we confess sin, or humble ourselves before God for it, faith views it not only as a violation of the divine law, but as a display of the highest ingratitude. When we desire, in the exercise of repentance, to forsake sin, faith makes us sensible of our own weakness, and puts us upon a firm and steadfast dependence on Christ to enable us to do so. When, in the further exer cise of repentance, our consciences are burdened with a sense of guilt, and unbelief is ready to suggest that our sins are so heinously aggravated that there is no room to hope for pardoning mercy, faith relieves us against these despairing thoughts, and encourages us to wait for the mercy of God, who will ' abundantly pardon, 'i and with whom there is ' forgiveness, that he may be feared.'1" — Again, when we use endeavours to mortify sih, we are to do so by a fiducial view of Christ crucified ; and when we encourage ourselves to hope that the indictment brought against us for it was nailed to the cross of Christ, that there is ' no condemnation to us ' as being in him,9 and that, as the apostle says, ' our old man is crucified with him, in Psal. lxiii. 1, 2. n Gal. v. 6. o 1 Pet. i. 8. p Rom. xvi. 26. q Isa. lv. 7. r Psal. cxxx. 4. s Rom. viii. 1. 12C THE CONNECTION OF FAITH that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should no longer serve Bin," all this is to be done by faith.-We might observe, also, that the grace of patience is connected with and is incited by faith. The apostle" joins faith and patience together, as supposing that faith affords a motive to patience. Elsewhere, too in the Account which we have of the great things which the Old Testament saints did and suffered by this grace, we read of what great things patience enables us not onlv to do but to bear. Hence, whatever graces are exercised under the afflictions of the present life, faith excites in us a resignation to the will of God, and considers them as the chastisements of a merciful Father, and as ' bringing forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby ;x and we are encouraged to bear them with such a composed frame of spirit that they seem light, and not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be re vealed. This, faith has constantly in view, setting one against the other ; so that what would otherwise be a hinderance to us in our way, is improved by us to our spiritual advantage ; and we are enabled to go on, not only safely, but comfortably, till we arrive at the full fruition of what we now behold at a distance, and rejoice in the fiducial expectation of. How Faith is Attained or Increased. We are now brought to consider how faith is to be attained or increased, and what are the means conducive to these ends. Though faith, in common with all other graces, is wrought in us by the power of God, yet we are far from assert ing that there is no duty incumbent on us, in the performing of which we are to hope and wait for the divine blessing, upon which all the success of it depends. To deny this, would give just occasion to charge the doctrine of efficacious grace with leading to carnal security or licentiousness ; a charge which many bring against it without ground. Though grace and duty are very distinct, they are not inconsist ent with each other ; the former is God's work, the latter our act. The duties required of us, considered as expecting the divine grace and blessing to attend them, are a diligent waiting on God in all his ordinances, — looking into the state of our souls, by impartial self-examination, — calling to mind our past miscarriages, and what matter of humiliation we have for them in the sight of God, as also our natural aversion and inability to do what is good, our need of Christ's righteousness to take away the guilt we have contracted, and of his strength to subdue our corruptions and enable us to plead earnestly with him for these privi leges. As for the unregenerate, they must pray and wait on him for the first grace, and say with Ephraim, ' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned.'? They must be earnest with him that he would bestow upon them the grace of faith, which is styled his gift ; that he would remove everything which is at present an obstacle or hinder ance to this grace, and also all the prejudices which corrupt nature has entertain ed against Christ and the way of salvation by him ; and that he would shine into their souls, to give them the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ, reveal his arm, and incline them, by the internal working of his power, to receive the grace which is held forth in the gospel. These are duties incumbent on persons who are not called effectually, being destitute of regenerating grace. But, on the other hand, they who have ground to conclude that they have experienced this grace, though at present they apprehend that their faith is weak and on the de cline, must be found waiting on God in his own way, and be importunate with him in prayer for the revival of his work, that so they may recover their former experiences. They must bless him for the privileges they once enjoyed, and be humbled for their past backslidings, whereby they have provoked him to withdraw from them They must say with the church, ' I will go and return to my first husband ; for then was it better with me than now ;'* and, as it is elsewhere ex pressed lake away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ; so will we render the calves ot our lips. » They must lament the dishonour which they have brought to ITlJlt ^LViv'l X Chap. xii. 11. vJe,xxxi.,e. WITH JUSTIFICATION. 121 God ; and consider how, by means of it, they have grieved the Holy Spirit, wounded their own consciences, and made work for a bitter repentance and humiliation be fore God. They must be sensible that it is the same hand which wrought grace in them at first, which must now recover them from their fallen state, and, by exciting the principle of grace implanted, bring them into a lively frame. And when he has done this, they must still depend on him to maintain this frame of spirit ; considering that as the beginning so the progress of grace is owing to him who is the author and finisher of faith, who worketh in us that which is pleasing in his sight, and carries on his own work to perfection. Note I. The connexion of Faith with Justification If there were a necessity for calling faith 'the hand of the soul,' 'the appropriating act,' or 'the medium,' 'the condition,' or ' the instrument of justification,' or for applying to it any other name or description whatever not used in scripture, there would be intense interest in the discussions of theological writers as to which name or description is the most proper. All evangelical divines discard at once such names as obviously assign to faith a meritorious character, or represent it either as the sinner's own act, or as the reason of his obtain ing justification ; hut while, for the most part, they retain or select terms not found in scripture, and apparently to them somewhat expressive, they seem, in a considerable degree, embarrassed to harmonize the use of them with strict notions of the immediate connexion of justification with the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and of its being an act of God extraneous to the sinner, and affecting not his understanding or his heart, but his condition in reference to the divine law. In one instant the sinner lives, or passes from death to life : he lives as to both his acceptance with God, and his experiencing the commencement of personal holiness. On the grounds of Christ's merits he passes from under condemnation, and by the power of the Divine Spirit, he passes from under the uncontrolled dominion of depravity ; in the former respect, he begins to live in his posi tion towards the divine law, and in the latter, he begins to live in his experience of personal holi ness ; in the one view, he becomes alive to God, in being accepted in the Beloved, and in the other view, he becomes alive to God, in being a subject of the work of the life-giving, the sanctifying Spirit. In other words, he is at once justified and regenerated: he, at the same instant, is ac cepted of him who justifies the ungodly, and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. He is not first regenerated and then justified, or first justified and then regenerated; but, in one change, in one transition, in one event, he begins to live both from the death of condemnation and the death of sin. What he receives is life; and this, though widely different in its aspect as to his relation to the divine law and its aspect as to his personal character, is strictly one in its nature, and one in its commencement — it is eternal life — life together with Christ : not for one instant, or in any circumstances, can we conceive of the life of acceptance with God existing apart from the life of begun personal holiness, or the life of begun personal holiness existing apart from the life of accept ance with God. The two are not distinct or separate lives, but the one life of the soul viewed respectively in its enjoyment of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and in its being the sub ject of the operations of the Divine Spirit. Now, if there is, in point of fact, no priority in the order of justification and regeneration, and if the two, however different in their aspects and references, constitute jointly the instantaneous com mencement of one spiritual life, there can he neither wisdom nor correctness of thinking in setting up and advocating doctrines based on the assumption, not only of the priority of the one to the other, hut of the priority of occurrences belonging respectively to each. Yet it is a taking for granted of the latter sort of priority which occasions all speculations and disputes as to the relative connexion which faith has with justification. Most theological writers assume that faith goes be fore justification, and, in consequence, institute an inquiry as to whether it is the condition, the in strument, or the medium of our being justified ; and a few assume it to follow justification, and become divided in opinion as to whether it appropriates the righteousness of Christ, or, as the hand of the soul,, receives the pardon which has been granted, or as to whether there are not even two Justifications, — one going before faith, and constituting the sinner righteous by union to the Savi our, and another following faith, and constituting him happy in the reception of the peace which -esults from his acceptance. These opinions all indicate embarrassment in so adjusting the position and describing the character of faith, as strictly and clearly to maintain that justification is altoge ther of grace, an act of God, and based on the righteousness or sacrificial merits of the Saviour. Evangelical writers justly regard the exhibition of this doctrine in its integrity and in perfect lucid- ness as of essential importance ; but they see, at the same time, that faith has a connexion with justification altogether inseparable, — that wherever a sinner is justified he is necessarily a believer, — and they endeavour, each class in his own way, so to speak of the act of believing and the event of being justified, that while the latter is viewed as wholly of grace, the former shall be regarded as indispensable or co-existent. Most of them, however, lose sight of justification being strictly an act, and not a process, or a series of acts ; and in proportion as they do this, they depart from the simple phraseology of scripture, and involve their ideas in obscurity. Every epithet, every mode of discussion, in particular, which represents a priority of a sinner's believing to his being justified, entails consequences which, if not directly at war with the doctrine of grace, can be kept in appa rent amity with it only by means of manifold and not very luminous explanations. Dr. Ridgeley justly objects to faith being called the condition of justification, because, as he ob serves, " the word condition is generally used to signify that for the sake of which a benefit is con ferred " Yet he adds, that " the word may be explained in such a way as is csnsistent with the doctritfe of Justification by faith ;" and he afterwards proceeds to speak of faith both as "the con dition of our claim to Christ's righteousness," and as "the medium of our concluding that we have II. « 122 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH an interest in Christ's redemption." What he maintains is that, in speaking of the forgiveness of si.,, the putting oh of Christ's righteousness, or the receiving of discharge from condemnation the word 'conditio..' as applied to faith is wrong, and that the word then proper to be u»edi, instru ment. He would hence appear to make faith an instrument before the act of acquittal, mid a con dition or a medium after that act,_the instrument of our receiving or having imputed to us Christ s righteousness, and the condition or medium of our concluding ourselves to have an interest in it, or experiencing a sense of acceptance. If I do not mistake the import and tendency of his dis tinction he thus exhibits faith as both anterior and subsequent to the justifying act ; so that, to be consistent he must be viewed as exhibiting two acts of faith, each distinct in quality and office from the other, and holding a different place in the order of priority. I am quite convinced, in deed that he never would have adopted any such consequence; and I mention it, only to show the confusion of idea occasioned by instituting distinctions of consecutiveness in the parts or connex ions of justification, and applying to them epithets unsanctioned by scripture. Even the word 'instrument' which Dr. Ridgeley prefers to express the main connexion of faith with justification, and which, if any distinction of priority were allowable, is probably the least objectionable term which can be found, is defined and illustrated by him in such a manner as to become but in a small degree less offensive than the phraseology which he rejects. " When we are said," he observes, " to be justified by faith, it is by faith as apprehending, pleading, or laying hold on Christ's righteousness ;" and to illustrate what he means by it as an instrument, he says, " If a person were in a dungeon, as the prophet Jeremiah was, and a rope were let down to draw him out, his laying hold on it is the instrument, but the hand which draws him out is the principal cause of his release." Now, there is a life, an activity, a conditional connexion, a concurrent agency, in the idea of the endungeoned person seizing a rope and clinging to it while another per son draws him from his dungeon, which is utterly repugnant to the doctrine of the sovereign and entirely divine agency of justification. So very much, in fact, of the idea of concurrent agency or concurrent causation is involved in the so-called instrumentality, that Dr. Ridgeley speaks of the hand which draws the prisoner out as ' the principal cause of bis release,' — clearly implying that what he terms ' the instrument ' is, in reality, a cause, and a cause not the less necessary and active that it is merely subordinate. He obviously does not mean to teach what his language imports ; yet, in nearly all he says respecting faith as an instrument — not only in his illustration of it from a pardoned criminal pleading his pardon and rendering his claim to it visible in open court before he obtains his discharge, but even in his very definitions — he makes more or less of an impression upon the mind, that it is really more a precurrent though subordinate cause than what may strictly be termed an instrument. The reason of this impression is obvious : an instrument is what is employed by an agent, and faith, when spoken of as the instrument in justification, is represented as employed by the sinner, or as that by which he lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, or by which he pleads that righteousness and receives acquittal. The idea of an instrument is therefore quite as embarrassing to correct notions of the entire sovereignty and divine agency of justification, as that either of medium, of condition, or of anything else on the part of man which is represented as connected with the divine act of acquitting the sinner, and as preceding it ; and both it and all kindred ideas — if we would have distinct conceptions of that all-important doctrine — would need either to be better expounded than they usually are, or laid entirely aside. Yet the invariable, the necessary connexion of faith with justification requires to be fully and prominently stated. But in what terms is the statement so to be made as to be free from objec tion ? Obviously in the very terms of scripture, — in a translation or paraphrase of the expression, hxxicruvn tx TiirTtac or oixxiuSivns ix rmTtui, as literal, or as faithfully representative of the sense of the Greek words, as English vocables can frame. As regards the connexion of faith with justi fication, the entire force of either phrase depends upon the preposition tx. Now, this word is ill represented in English by the word ' by,' and very rarely, if ever, denotes the relation of strict in strumentality, and still less that of agency or causation. Its literal or primitive meaning is ' of,' or ' out of.' In a figurative sense, or in expressing a moral or abstract relation, its prevailing signifi cation ranges through almost every variety of mode which can be expressed by ' in connexion with,' ' in relation to,' ' out of,' ' from,' ' of.' But what may be regarded as its distinctive or chief use is to give cxplicitness and energy to the expression of the principal idea conveyed — whether after » noun or after a verb — by the genitive or possessive case of nouns This idea, according to the de finition of Moses Stuart, in his Grammar of the New Testament Dialect, " seems to be that of an essential and immediate relation or connexion of objects ;" and is so expansive as to include, besides the ideas of other subordinate relations or connexions, those of possession, source, occasion, object, subject, material, quality, place, time, and value. So many of these and other connexions as may be expressed by 'of,' or ' out of,' are just those, or at least are peculiarly or specially those which, with added distinctness and energy, are designated by the preposition tx. If any one of them, to the exclusion of every other, were necessarily supposed to be intended in the phrase, iixaMom ix menus, it would seem to be that of quality,— justification tx mrrtat being distinguished, quali- fymgly or adjectively, from justification tx t*ym. The phrase, however, appears to take tx, not in the sense of any one subordinate relation of the possessive case, but in the general sense, or in a sense approaching the general one, of essential and immediate connexion. Justification, in other wows, seems to be represented in it, not as by faith, or on the condition of faith, or through the S L^iTl y "a /a",h ; but ^"P1^ "s °f faith>-as inseparably connected with faith. Two texts 7* hi so T^i ? a%™ 0ther 1uotations miUl>t be added— will place in a strong light the use of one suborrihnfp «i f ? }e ? sens*o{ essential connexion as cannot justly be identified with any ZtiZl^ 1 » i fi i°n deslS"ated by the possessive case. In this ' tabernacle we groan earnestly ?W ZStZ^ M ? ed "iP,f with " ««'«P" «/"" « '? «*•"• our habitation which is of heaven ' 'If ye, then, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much n onhall . **me o >l „,.„, the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to th^m that ask hi, '2 Cor WITH JUSTIFICATION. 123 v. 2 ; Luke xi. 13. Now, in what specific sense of the possessive case can a relation be affirmed between heaven and the glorified body of believers, or between heaven and the Giver of the bless ings of salvation? If any specific or subordinate sense whatever can be understood, must it not be one of the dative case,— not that of ' from ' or ' of,' but that of ' in ?' But, as the case used is actually the possessive, and as «* belongs in its invariable use and in all its meanings to that case, what other relation can be intended but the general one — made by its particular application to be expressly specific — of necessary connexion ? The glorified bodies of believers are necessarily con nected with heaven, — they can be enjoyed or can exist only in the heavenly state— -they are strictly, as to inseparable relation, aixnritpx t\ ao^atau. This idea is not only distinct but graphic, and mani festly would be utterly impaired by any attempt to fuse it into the notion of medium, quality, con dition, object, instrumentality, or any other subordinate relation designated by the possessive case. If, then, the general but emphatic idea of inseparable connexion be a sense of the preposition «, and a sense, from the nature of the case, less secondary than any subordinate idea of possession, quality, or instrumentality, persons who speak in the usual way of the relation between faith and justification, must feel themselves bound to show cause for departing from this sense in interpret ing the phrase oixxtcrovn tx trimut. Is there anything in any statement, of scripture, or in the scrip tural view of the abstract nature either of faith or of justification, to show that the relation be tween these is one of condition, medium, or instrumentality? Does not every scriptural statement, on the contrary, and every scriptural view, exhibit faith and justification as related simply in the emphatic sense of inseparable connexion ? He who believes is justified ; and he who is justified believes. A sinner is ' saved by grace, through faith ; and that not of himself: it is the gift of God.' His believing is as truly a phasis of his salvation as his being justified. He believes through the operation upon his mind of the divine Spirit ; and is justified by God's imputing to him the righteousness of Christ. Both his faith and his justification are of God : the former a gift or grace of the Holy Spirit, and the latter an act of God in Christ, — of the Father imputing the sacrificial merits of the Saviour, and accepting into his sovereign and complacent favour. Nor though dif ferently viewed in the economy of salvation, do they seem, as respects their experience by the sin ner, to be otherwise regarded than as constituting, along with regeneration, one event, — as related simply by such inseparable connexion as to be the commencement of his spiritual life. If, by a dis tinction based upon supposed analogies in human operations, faith may he supposed to go before the imputation of Christ's righteousness ; then, by a similar distinction, life, on the other hand, may be supposed to go before faith, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to go before life. One man, on the footing of human analogies and distinctions, may as truly say that he cannot con ceive of the soul's believing before it be made alive, as another man, on the same footing, may say that he cannot conceive of its being acquitted from condemnation before believing. Hence, to sup pose a priority either in the one way or in the other, not only goes beyond the simple statements of the Bible, but tends to produce confusion of idea. Believing, being acquitted on the ground of Christ's righteousness, and becoming a new creature, occur as one event ; and believing and being acquitted are exhibited prominently and constantly as related in inseparable and essential connex ion, because faith looks at that truth which both discloses the redemptional work of the Saviour on the ground of which the sinner is made alive, and is the instrument of the divine Spirit in oper ating upon the soul. The gospel unfolded by the Holy Spirit is 'the power of God unto salvation;' it comes in demonstration and in power and in much assurance; it carries with it its own evidence, and cannot be seen without being believed. In the very act, therefore, of the Holy Spirit's unfold ing it, he works faith in the soul. But, in the same instant that the sinner believes he lives, — lives as to both the imputation to him of the righteousness of Christ, and the commencement of personal holiness in his own heart. ' Faith is the assured expectation imrrxnt of things hoped for, the conviction tteyx°s of things not seen.' It is the act of a living soul, while the act in which the soul begins to live ; it realizes, both in conviction as to what he has accomplished, and in confident expectation of glorious and eternal results, the redemptional work of the Saviour ; and, if an order of priority could be contended for, it might be viewed both as actually laying hold of Christ's right eousness, and as exulting or even as existing in a sense of that righteousness being already imputed. So close, so essential, so unique is its connexion with the soul's acquittal from condemnation, its Union to Christ, its resting on his righteousness, its being an object of sovereign favour, that the two cannot he viewed apart in their occurrence or existence. How forcible, then, the apostle's declaration : ' Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law.' The believing soul is necessarily, from the essential connexion of faith, a soul spiritually plive, — alive in union to Christ, in position toward the divine law, in enjoyment of the divine favour, in experience of the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit, and in the commencement of personal and persevering holiness ; it is alive in the begun enjoyment of ' life with Christ in Gody having its fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. How, then, could the apostles, by preaching faith do otherwise than establish the law ? How forcible, too, is the metonymy em ployed in describing the case of Abraham, — ' his faith was counted to him for righteousness !' Whether that righteousness be viewed as the righteousness of Christ imputed hi justification or as the commencement of personal holiness in regeneration, faith has so essential a connexion with the former, and is so identified with the perception of the truth which the Holy Spirit employs as the instrument of the latter, that wherever it exists, and in the very act of its existing, the one right eousness is imputed and the other righteousness is experienced. A heliever is both a justified and « regenerated man : he who has faith in the record which God has given concerning his Son, has eternal life, — he lives both by the imputation to him of the righteousness of his great Surety, and the working of personal righteousness in his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The metonyme is hence peculiarly emphatic : ' Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.' Before concluding this note, I may remark how very different the idea of instrumentalitv is — 124 THE CONNECTION OF FAITH applied to the connexion which faith has with justification, and as applied to the relation which the divine word has to regeneration. An instrument, as was already observed, is that which an agent employs in producing an effect, or that in the use of which an agent does or acts. Now the person who is justified is he who believes : he it is who has faith, and who, in popular language on the sub ject of justification, is said to lay hold by faith on Christ's righteousness, or to receive by faith his acquittal from condemnation, or the pardon of his sins and the acceptance of his person But this receiving this laying hold of, this believing, is not the act of justifying. It is God that justifieth. Justification is directly, altogether, and in every sense, God's act. The sinner himself, then, being in no respect the agent in justification, and yet being the party who exercises faith, faith cannot be the instrument in justification. But in regeneration, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit is both the agent who regenerates, and he who employs the word in connexion with regenerating. The word regenerates, not as used by man, but as used by the Holy Spirit : it is employed directly and alto gether by the Holy Spirit in making man a new creature ; and, wielded by him in his own personal agency, it is with propriety regarded as his instrument. Accordingly, the two passages which con nect the word with regeneration, (I Peter i. 23; James i. 18.) represent the relation of the former to the latter to be that of instrumentality. In the one the preposition "Six with a possessive case is used ; and in the other the dative case is used without any preposition. Now S<«, when governing in the possessive a noun which does not designate a cause or an agent, peculiarly denotes instrumen tality ; and the dative case in construction with a prior clause designating causation or agency, con veys, without a preposition, emphatically the idea of an instrument. The two passages read, ' Avxyiytvvtifitvtn * * itxXoyou Qatvrog Oeow xxi fctvavros, 'Bav^nStis xtrtxvvfftv Vftxs Xoyu x\n§uxs ',' and are translated in the authorized version, ' Being born again by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever,' ' Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.' — Ed.] [Note K. What is Faith ? — Faith is exhibited by Dr. Ridgeley under two phases, — as assent to what is true and good, and as an act of trust or dependence on him who is its object. Both these views of faith appear to be entertained with special reference to the faith of the gospel, hut at the same time with comprehensive reference to faith in general. Dr. Ridgeley talks of the influences which affect faith, — the kinds and degrees of evidence by which the quality or strength of it is determined ; and, while settling what faith is as resting on divine testimony, he glances at its nature as exercised about matters of abstract science or merely human. Now faith or belief, understand it as we may and apply it as we will, seems to be just assent to evidence, — counting true propositions or statements submitted to the j udgment. But though in matters of revelation it is necessarily an assent to what is true and good, — every portion of divine testimony being essentially in the highest sense both good and true ; it may, in other matters, par ticularly in those of human testimony or of flippant report, be an assent to what is both false and mischievous. Men often believe a lie, a malign and insidious falsehood, as really as they believe a truth ; and they are affected in their heart and conduct by what they believe, as sensibly for evil if they believe a pestiferous error, as for good if they believe an infallible moral doctrine. Faith, in its own proper nature, is simply assent, opening up the avenues of the soul to have all its affections acted upon, and all its faculties propelled by the moral influences, be they evil or good, human or divine, of the statements believed. Every statement, be it what it may, has power to affect either the intellect or the heart, to modify the ideas, to act upon the faculties, to touch the intellectual or moral habits ; and it wields this power immediately over the heart and will, and propels to practical results in the conduct, just in the proportion of its being of a moral nature, addressing itself to the conscience, and unfolding motives to deter from one action and incite to another. Whatever is be lieved affects man according to the nature of the proposition or statement, — intellectually if it he purely intellectual, morally if it be purely moral, moving the particular power or inciting the parti cular affection to which it specially appeals. Faith or belief lays hold upon tjie statement as a mat ter hitherto extraneous to the man, and brings it to bear upon his intellectual or moral nature as a matter internal to him, or a matter in contact with his mind. So long as any statement is not believed, it is as if it did not exist ; but whenever it is assented to, or counted true, or made a mat ter of faith, it ceases to be a matter of indifference, and operates in a way suited to its own nature, and with a force proportioned to the amount of evidence which sustains it or the degree of faith with which it is received. The distinction, then, between faith in a statement as simply true, and faith in a statement as both true and good, — a distinction followed out to the result of a speculative assent, in the former case, and a practical assent seated partly in the understanding and partly in the will, in the latter seems to be without foundation. Some statements, such as the axioms and elements of mathema tical science, contain in themselves nothing which appeals to the moral feelings, and of course do not excite them; yet, whenever they are believed, they affect the mind to the whole amount of their influence, and, so far as they bear upon practice either in thinking or in conduct in imparting ideas of mental calculation, or furnishing materials and motives for mathematical experiment— even they are really practical. Absolutely speculative believing, or believing which does not modify the thoughts and propel and influence mental or concrete action, seems, in a being constituted like man, an utter impossibility. One statement, indeed, has a practical influence, especially in reference to JEtZ ™dfaffircti°ns, tenfold, or an hundredfold, or a thousandfold, more than another; but the „l v Y?1 ,1" 4. Those are called the sons of God who are endowed with his supernatural image, and admitted to the highest honours and privileges conferred upon creatures. Thus the angels are called 'the sons of God.'1 5. Our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of God, in a sense not applicable to any other. His Sonship includes his deity, and his having, in his hunutn nature, received a commission from the Father, to engage in the great work of our redemp tion, as becoming surety for us ; which is the foundation of all those saving bless ings which we enjoy or hope for. 6. Believers are called the sons of God, by a special adoption. This is to he particularly considered, as it is the subject of the present Answer. Adoption is a word taken from the civil law. The practice which it denotes was much in use among the Romans in the apostles' time ; in which it was a custom for persons who had no children of their own, and were possessed of an estate, to prevent its being divided, or descending to strangers, to make choice of such as were agreeable to them and beloved by them, whom they took into the political relation of chil dren, obliging them to take their name upon them and to pay respect to them as if they had been their natural parents, engaging to deal with them as if they had been so, and accordingly giving them a right to their estates as an inheritance. This new relation, founded in mutual consent, is a bond of affection ; and the privilege arising from it is, that he who is in this sense a father, takes care of and provides for the person whom he adopts, as if he were his son by nature. Hence, civilians call adoption an act of legitimation, imitating nature, or supplying the place of it. The Difference between Divine and Human Adoption. We are now led to consider the difference between adoption as understood by men, and as it is applied in this Answer to God's taking persons into the relation of being his children. 1. When men adopt persons, or take them into the relation of children, they do it because they are destitute of children of their own to possess their estates, and so fix their love on strangers. But God was under no obligation to do this ; for if he designed to manifest his glory to any creatures, the holy angels were subjects capable of receiving the displays of it ; and his own Son, who had all the perfec tions of the divine nature, was infinitely the object of his delight, and in all re spects fitted to be as he is styled, ' the heir of all things. 'k 2. When men adopt, they are generally inclined to do it by seeing some excel lency or amiableness in the persons whom they fix their love upon. Thus Pharaoh's daughter took up Moses, and nourished him as her own son, because he was ' ex ceeding fair.'1 Or it may be, she was moved by a natural compassion she had for him, besides the motive of his beauty ; as it is said, ' the babe wept, and she had compassion on him.'m Mordecai also adopted Esther, or took her as his own C ST ¦'""in' d Exod' iv- 22- e Isa- '• 2- f Matt, viii 12. k Heb "' 2 1 ?T XVio,f5o:, C°mpared With 28' i Job x*™»- 7. k Heb- '• 2' l Alts vu. 2U, 21. m Exod. ii. 6. ADOPTION. 133 daughter, ' for she was his uncle's daughter, and was fair .and beautiful,' and an orphan, ' having neither father nor mother.'11 But when God takes any into the rela tion of children, they have no beauty or comeliness, and might justly have been for ever the object of his abhorrence. Thus he says concerning the church of Israel, when he first took them into this relation, ' None eye pitied thee ; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live,'0 &c. It might indeed be said concerning man, when admitted to this favour and privilege, that he was miserable ; but misery, how much soever it may render the soul an object of pity, cannot, properly speaking, be said to be a motive or inducement whence the divine compassion took its rise. This appears from the account we have of the mercy of God, as founded only on his sovereign will or pleasure, as he says, ' I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion ;'p and also from the con sideration of man's being exposed to misery by sin, which rendered him an object rather of vindictive justice than of mercy. His misery, therefore, cannot be the ground of God's giving him a right to an inheritance. Hence, adoption is truly said, in this Answer, to be an act of the free grace of God. 3. When men adopt, their taking persons into the relation of children, is not necessarily attended with any change of disposition or temper in the persons adopted. A person may be admitted to this privilege, and yet remain the same, in that re spect, as he was before. But when God takes his people into the relation of chil dren, he gives them not only those other privileges which arise thence, but also that temper and disposition which becomes those who are thus related to him. The Reference of the Sonship of Believers to the Sonship of Christ. We are next to consider the reference which the sonship of believers has to the superior and more glorious Sonship of Jesus Christ ; and how it is said to be for his sake. Here we must suppose that there is a sense in which Christ is said to be the Son of God, as the result of the divine decree. This contains an idea very dis tinct from his being a divine person. For that was not the result of the will of the Father ; whereas it is said concerning him, ' I will declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. '9 Else where, also, it is said, ' He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than ' the angels ; and this is represented as the consequence of God's saying to him, ' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' and ' I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son ;'r which plainly refers to Christ as Media tor.8 Now, when we consider this mediatorial Sonship of Christ, if I may so ex press it, we are far from asserting that Christ's Sonship and that of believers is of the same kind ; for, as much as he exceeds them as Mediator, as to the glory of his person and office, so much is his Sonship superior to theirs. This beitig premised, we may now better understand the reference which the sonship of believers has to Christ's being the Son of God as Mediator. Let it be considered, then, that it is a prerogative and glory of Christ as the Son of God, that he has all things which relate to the salvation of his elect put into his hand. Hence, whatever the saints enjoy or hope for, which is sometimes called in scrip ture their inheritance, agreeably to their character as the children of God by adop tion, is considered as first purchased by Christ and then put into his hand. On this account it is styled his inheritance ; he being, pursuant to his having accom plished the work of redemption, constituted heir of all things ; and as suxh, not only having a right to his people, but being put in possession of all those spiritual blessings in heavenly places, wherewith they are 'blessed in him.'4 It hence fol lows that the sonship of believers, and their right to that inheritance which God has reserved for them, depends upon the sonship of Christ, which is infinitely more n Esther ii. 7. o Ezek. xvi. 5. p Rom. ix. 15. q Psal. ii. 7. r Heb. i. 4, 5. s [ for an examination of the views which Dr. Ridgeley here and elsewhere expresses of our Lord's Sonship, See Note ' The Sonship of Christ,' under Quest, ix, x, xi — Er.] t Enh. i. 3. 134 ADOPTION. glorious and excellent. • As God's adopted sons, they have the honour conferred upon them of being ' made kings and priests ' to him.u These honours are conferred by Christ ; and, in order to their being so, they are first given to him to bestow upon them. Thus he says, ' I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.'1 Christ is first appointed heir of all things as Mediator; and then his people, or his children, are considered as 'heirs of God,' as the apos tle expresses it, 'and joint-heirs with Christ. 'y Not that they have any share in his personal or mediatorial glory ; but when they are styled 'joint-heirs ' with him, we must consider them as having a right to that inheritance which he is possessed of in their name as Mediator. In this sense we are to understand those scriptures which speak of God being first the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then, in him, our Father. Thus Christ says, ' I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to my God, and your God.'z Elsewhere God is styled 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' and then ' the Father of mercies,' or our merciful Father.3 Again, the apostle says, ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Christ, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself.'0 And inasmuch as he designed to 'bring many sons to glory,' they being 'made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,' he first ' made the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'0 In this respect, our right to the inheri tance of children is founded in the eternal purpose of God relating to that right, and in the purchase of Christ as having obtained this inheritance for us. The Privileges of Adoption. We are now to consider the privileges conferred on or reserved for those who are the sons of God by adoption. These are summed up in a very comprehensive ex pression which contains an amazing display of divine grace : ' He that overcometh, shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.'d It is a very large grant which God is pleased to make to them : ' they shall inherit all things.' God is not ashamed to be called their God ; and in having him,- they are said to possess all things, which are eminently and transcendently in him. They have a right to all the blessings which he had designed for them, and which have a tendency to make them completely happy. In this sense we are to understand our Saviour's words in the parable : ' Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' e Nothing greater than this can be desired or enjoyed by creatures whom the Lord delights to honour. Let us, however, be a little more particular in con sidering the privileges which God confers on or has reserved for his children. 1. They are all emancipated, or freed from the slavery which they were before under either to sin or Satan. They who were once ' the servants of sin,' are, by adoption, ' made free from sin, and become the servants of righteousness,' or be come ' servants to God, have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.' 'The Son makes them free ;' and therefore, 'they arefree indeed.'^ They are described as having formerly ' served divers lusts and pleasures ;'h and are said to have been ; of their father, the devil,' and to 'have done his works,' or followed his suggestions,1 ensnared and ' taken captive by him at his will ;'k and, in conse quence, they were in perpetual bondage, arising from a dread of the wrath of God, and from a ; fear of death ' impressed on their spirits by him who is said to have the power of death. But they have now deliverance from these evils ; which cannot but be reckoned a glorious privilege. 2 They have God's name put upon them, and accordingly are described as ' his people, called by his name.'111 This is an high and honourable character, denoting their relation to him as a peculiar people ; and it belongs to them alone. Thus the church says, 'We are thine; thou never bearest rule over them,'11 namely, a 2^',% b F^V^ 29' , ¦,. X Ro™- viii. 17. z John xx. 17. a i Cor. i. 6 b Eph. i. 3. compared with 5. c Heb. ii. 10. compared with Col i 12 * . V' "''2r 6 Luk.C l"JX' ' Ro,n- vL 17- ,8- 22' S J°b» viii 36 h Tit «i 3 i John vm. 44. k 2 Tim. ii. 26. 1 Heb ii 14 15 m 9 ri," ¦ \?" n Isa. lxiii. 19. ' '* m 2 chr<">- vu. 14. ADOPTION. 135 thine adversaries ; ' they were not called by thy name.' God's adopted children have also Christ's name put on them. ' Of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named.'0 This signifies not only that propriety which he has in them as Mediator, but their relation to him as the ransomed of the Lord, — his sheep, whom he leads and feeds like a shepherd. They are also styled his children, when he says, ' Behold I and the children which God hath given me.'p Indeed, when he is called a surety, or an advocate, or is said to execute certain offices as a Saviour or Redeemer, these are all relative terms ; and whatever he does in the capacities which they denote is in the name of his people, and for their advantage. Accord ingly, it is said, ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wis dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' °> 3. They are taken into God's family, and dealt with as members of it ; and ac cordingly are styled 'fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.'r As the consequence of this, they have protection, provision, and communion with him. First, they have safe protection. As the master of a family thinks himself obliged to secure and defend from danger all who are under his roof, whose house is, as it were, their castle ; so Christ is his people's defence. Accordingly, it is said concerning him, ' A man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.'8 As the consequence of this, it is added, ' My peo ple shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet rest ing-places.'* ' They dwell on high ; their place of defence is the munition of rocks. 'u He who has subdued their enemies, and will, in his own time, bruise them under their feet, will take care that they shall not meet with that disturbance from them which may hinder their repose or rest in him, or render their state unsafe, so as to endanger their perishing or falling from it. — Again, they enjoy the plentiful provisions of God's house. Hence, Christ is called their ' shepherd, 'x not only as leading and defending them, but as providing for them. ' He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.'? As all grace is treasured up in him, and there is a fulness of it which he has to impart to the heirs of salvation which is sufficient to supply all their wants ; so they shall never have reason to complain that they are straitened in him. The blessings of his house are not only exhilarating but satisfying, and such as have a tendency to make them completely happy. — Further, they are ad mitted to the greatest intimacy with Christ, and have sweet communion with him : ' The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.'2 He deals with them as with ' friends ;' particularly, as he tells his disciples, in that ' all that he has heard of the Father,'11 that is, whatever he had a commission to impart for their direction or comfort, he ' makes known unto them ;' which must needs be reckoned a very great privilege. If the queen of Sheba, when beholding the advantages which they who were in Solomon's presence enjoyed, could not but with an ecstasy of admira tion say, ' Happy are thy men ; happy are thy servants, which stand continually before thee, that hear thy wisdom ;'° much more may they be said to be happy who are admitted into his presence in whom ' are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'0 4. Another privilege which they enjoy, is access to God, as a reconciled Father, through Christ. They have liberty to ' come boldly to the throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.'d Whatever their straits and difficulties are, God holds forth his golden sceptre, invites them to come to him, asks, ' What is thy petition ?' and gives them ground to hope that it shall be granted, so far as it may redound to his glory and their good. And inasmuch as they are often straitened in their spirits, and unprepared to draw nigh to him, they have the promise of the Spirit to assist them ; on which account he is called 'the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father.' e This privilege is said to be a consequence of their being sons : 'Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 'f By this means they have o Eph. iii. 15. P Heb. ii. 13. q 1 Cor. i. 31 r Eph. ii. 19. s Isa. xxxii. 2. t Ver. 18. u Chap, xxxin. 16. x Psal. xxiii. 1. y Isa. xl. 11. z Psal. xxv. 14. a John xv. lo. 1, | Kings x. 8. c Col. ii. 3. d Web. iv. 16. e Rom. viii. 15. f Gal. iv. 6. 136 ADOPTION. becoming conceptions of the Divine Majesty, a reverential fear of him, a love to m earnest desires of communion with him, and oi being made partakers of what he has to impart. They have a right to plead the promises ; and in so doing, are encouraged to hope for the blessings they contain. 5 As God's children are prone to backslide from him, and so have need of re storing erace, he will recover and humble them, and thereby prevent their total aoostasy This he sometimes does by afflictions, which the apostle calls fatherly chastisements, and which he reckons not only consistent with his love, but evi dences of it ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth ; and ' if ye be without chas tisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.'s The apostle speaks here, of afflictions, not as considered absolutely in themselves, but as proceeding from the love of God, as designed to do them good, and as adapted to the present state, in which they are training up for the glorious inheritance reserved for them in heaven, and need some trying dispensations which may put them in mind of that state of perfect blessedness which is laid up for them. These afflic tions are rendered subservient to their present and future advantage. In the pre sent life, they ' bring forth the peaceful fruits of righteousness ' to them ; and when they are in the end perfectly freed from them, they will tend to enhance their joy and praise. This leads us to consider another privilege, which is so great that it crowns all those they are now possessed of. 6. They shall, at last, be brought into God's immediate presence, and satisfied with his likeness. The apostle, speaking of the perfect blessedness of the saints, when raised from the dead, and delivered from the bondage of corruption, and made partakers of the glorious liberty of the sons of God, calls it by way of eminence, ' the adoption, to wit, the redemption of their bodies.' This signifies, not only the full manifestation of their adoption, but their taking possession of their inheritance, which they are now waiting and hoping for, and which is too great for the heart of man to conceive of in this present state. ' Now,' says the apostle, ' 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 shall see him as he is.'h Hence, all the blessings which we have either in hand or in hope, the blessings of both worlds, the blessings which are conferred upon us from our conversion to our glori fication, are the privileges which God bestows on those who are his adopted children. The Connection between Adoption and Justification. From what has been said concerning adoption, we may take occasion to observe how, in some respects, it agrees with justification, or may indeed be reckoned a branch of it, and, in other respects, includes something which is an ingredient in sanctifi cation. We formerly observed, when treating of justification, that, when God for gives sin, he confers on his people a right to life, or to all the blessings of the cove nant of grace, in which are contained the promises which belong to the life that now is, and that which is to come. These are the privileges which God's adopted children are made partakers of ; and in this respect some divines suppose that adoption is included in our justification.1 If justification be explained as denoting an immanent act in God, wherebv the elect are considered, in the covenant between the Father and the Son, as in Ctirist their federal head ; they are then considered as the adopted children of God in Christ. Accordingly, when described as chosen in Christ unto eternal life, they are said to be 'predestinated unto the adoption of children ;'k which is a privilege to be obtained by Jesus Christ. In this respect all the elect are called Christ's 'seed that shall serve him,'1 whom he had a special regard to, when he made his soul an offering for sin, and concerning whom he had the promise made to him in the covenant which passed between the Father and him, that ' he should see them, and the pleasure of the Lord,' with respect to their everlasting salvation, 'should prosper in his hand.'m Now, when Christ is considered as the head of the elect, who g Heb. xii. 6, 8, 11. h 1 John iii. 2. i Vid. Turret. Theol. Elenct. Tom. 2. Loc. 16 S 7. k E,,h- '• 5- 1 Psal. xxii. 30. m Isa. liii. 10. S SANCTIFICATION. 137 are in this sense called his sons whom he has engaged to bring to glory, faith is the fruit and consequence of adoption. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.'11 But as justification is a declared act, and is said to be by faith ; so adoption, agreeing with it, is of the same nature. Accordingly we are said to be the 'chil dren of God by faith ;'° that is, it is by faith that we have a right to claim the relation of children, together with the privileges which are the result of it. Moreover, as adoption includes a person's being made meet for the inheritance which God has reserved for him, and his being endowed with the temper and dis position of his children, consisting in humility, heavenly-mindedness, love to him, dependence upon him, a zeal for his glory, a likeness to Christ, a having in some measure the same mind in us which was in him, it in this respect agrees with sanc tification, — which is what we are next to consider. SANCTIFICATION. Qbestiok LXXV. What is sanctification f Answer. Sanctification is a work of God's grace, whereby they whom God hath, before tne foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit, applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man, after the image of God, having the seeds of repentance unto life, and of all other saving graces, put into their heurts; and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life. The meaning of the word ' Sanctify.' We shall show what we are to understand by the word ' sanctify.' Sanctifying is sometimes considered as what has God for its object. Thus he is said to ' sanctify himself,' when he appears in the glory of his holiness, and gives occasion to the world to adore that perfection. This he is sometimes represented as doing, When he punishes sin in a visible and exemplary manner. Thus, when God threat ens to call for 'a sword,' and to 'plead against' a rebellious people 'with pestilence arid with blood,' he is said, by this means, to 'magnify and sanctify himself,' so as to be ' known,' that is, as a holy God, ' in the eyes of many nations.' Likewise, when he fulfils his promises, and thereby advances his holiness, as when he brought his people out of captivity, and gathered them out of the countries in which they had been scattered, he is said to be 'sanctified in them.'P And he is sanctified by his people, when they give him the glory which is due to his holiness, as thus dis played and magnified by him. Thus, God's people are said to ' sanctify the Lord of hosts,' when they make him the object of their ' fear and Of their dread. 'q This, however, is not the sense in which we are here to understand the word ' sanctify.' But we are to consider it as applied to men. In this respect it is taken in various senses. Sometimes it is used to denote their consecration or separation to God. Thus, our Saviour says, when devoting and applying himself to the work for which he came into the world, 'For their sakes I sanctify myself. 'r But this is not the sense in which it is to be understood in this Answer. More over, it is often taken in scripture for persons being devoted to God to minister in holy things. Thus, Aaron and his sons were 'sanctified, that they might minister unto him in the priest's office.'8 It is sometimes taken also for an external federal dedication to God, to walk before him as a peculiar people in observance of his holy institutions. Thus, when Israel consented to be God's people, they are styled, 'holiness unto the Lord,'' 'the holy seed,'u and 'a holy nation.'1 And the church under the gospel-dispensation, as consecrated and professing subjection to Christ, n Gal. iv. 6. o Chap. iii. 26. p Ezek. xxxviii. 21—23. q Isa. viii. 13. r John xvii. 19. s Exod. xxviii. 41. t Jer. ii. 3. u Ezra ix. 2. x 1 Pet. ii. 9. 138 SANCTIFICATION. or as separated to his service and waiting for his presence while engaged in aU those ordinances which he has appointed in the gospel, is described as ' called to be saints;'? and, as thus sanctified, they are related to him in an external and visible way. Neither is this, however, the sense in which the word is understood in this Answer. . . . We are here to understand sanctification as a special discriminating grace, whereby persons are, not externally only, but really devoted to Christ by faith. It is the internal beauty of the soul ; whereby all the faculties being renewed, and a powerful effectual change wrought in them, they are enabled to turn from sin unto God, and exercise all those graces by which they ' walk in holiness and righ teousness before him all the days of their lives,'2 till this work, which is gradually carried on here, shall be brought to perfection hereafter. What Sanctification includes. Sanctification, as described in this Answer, may be considered as including several graces which have been already insisted on, namely, regeneration, effectual calling, and faith: There is also another grace connected with it, which will be particularly insisted on under the next Answer, namely, repentance unto life. All these graces are said to be wrought by the powerful operation of the Spirit in those who were, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy. Regeneration is styled by some 'initial sanctification,' as all graces take their rise from the principle which is therein implanted. Effectual calling, or conversion, is that whereby we are brought into the way of holiness, and internally disposed to walk in it. Faith is that grace whereby this work is promoted ; as all holy actions proceed from it, as deriving strength from Christ to perform them. Repentance is that whereby the work of sanctification discovers itself in the soul's abhorring and fleeing from everything which tends to defile it, and approves itself to God as one who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity without the greatest detestation. But as these graces either have been or will be particularly insisted on in their proper place, we shall more especially consider sanctification as a progressive work. As such it is distinguished from them ; and, as the subject of it, we daily consecrate or de vote ourselves to God, our actions have all a tendency to advance his glory, and, by the Spirit, we are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righ teousness. It is therefore not merely one act of grace, but includes the whole pro gress of the work of grace, as gradually carried on till perfected in glory. This is what we are particularly to consider. I. Sanctification includes a continual devotedness to God. As the first act of faith consists in making a surrender of ourselves to Christ, depending on his assist ance in beginning the work of obedience in the exercise of all Christian graces ; so sanctification is the continuance of this surrender and dependence. When we are converted, we receive Christ Jesus the Lord ; and in sanctification we walk in him, exercise a daily dependence on him in the execution of all his offices, make his word our rule, and delight in it after the inward man. How difficult soever the duties are which he commands, we take pleasure in the performance of them, make religion our great business, and, in order to this, conclude that every thing we receive from him is to be improved to his glory. And as every duty is to be performed by faith ; so what was formerly observed concerning the life of faith, is to be considered as an expedient to promote the work of sanctification II. In the carrying on of the work of sanctification, we are to endeavour, to our utmost to guard against the prevailing power of sin, by all those methods which are prescribed m the gospel ; that so it may not have dominion over us. This is gen erally styled the work of mortification. The apostle speaks of ' our old man bling crucified with Christ, and the body of sin destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; of our 'crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts ;' and of our 'mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit,' °_that is, by his assistance and grace, which is necessary to our success.0 This is a very difficult work espe- y Rom. i. 7- z Luke i. 75. a Rom. vi. 6. b Gal. ». 24. c Rom. viii. 13. SANCTIFICATION. 139 cially considering the prevalence of corruption, — the multitude of temptations to which we are exposed.^the subtilty and watchfulness of Satan, who walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, — the treachery of our own hearts, which are so prone to depart from God, — the fickleness and instability of our reso lutions, — the irregularity of our affections, and the constant efforts made by cor rupt nature to gain the ascendency over them, and turn them aside from God. Cor rupt nature sometimes gains the ascendency by presenting things in a false view, calling evil good, and good evil ; representing some things as harmless and not dis pleasing to God, which are most pernicious and offensive ; endeavouring to lead us into mistakes as to the matter of sin or duty, and to persuade us that those things will issue well which are likely to prove bitterness in the end ; and attempting to make us believe that we are in a right and safe way, when in reality we are walking contrary to God, and corrupt nature is gaining strength. This, however, will be farther considered, when we speak concerning the imperfection of sanctification in believers.* Now, the difficulties which we have stated render it necessary for us to make use of those methods which God has prescribed for the mortification of sin. 1. We must endeavour to maintain a constant sense of the heinous nature of sin, as it is contrary to the holiness of God, a stain which cannot be washed away but by the blood of Jesus, the highest display of ingratitude for all the benefits which we have received, a bitter and an only evil, the abominable thing that God hates. It is to be considered not only as condemning, but as defiling ; that} by so con sidering it, we may maintain a constant abhorrence of it, — and that not only of those sins which expose us to scorn and reproach in the eye of the world, but of every thing which is in itself sinful, as contrary to the law of God. 2. We must be watchful against the breakings forth of corrupt nature ; observe the frame and disposition of our spirits, and the deceitfulness of sin, which has a tendency to harden us ; and avoid all occasions of or incentives to it, ' hating even the garment spotted by the flesh,'6 ' abstaining from all appearance of evil.'1 We may add, that we are frequently to examine ourselves with respect to our behaviour in every state of life ; whether sin be gaining or losing ground in us ; whether we make conscience of performing every duty, both personal and relative ; what guilt we contract by sins of omission, or the want of that fervency of spirit which has a tendency to beget a formal, dead, and stupid frame and temper of mind, and there by hinder the progress of the work of sanctification. But that which is the prin cipal if not the only expedient which will prove effectual for the mortifying of sin, is our seeking help against it from him who is able to give us the victory over it. 3. Whatever attempts we use against the prevailing power of sin, in order to the mortifying of it, must be performed by faith ; seeking and deriving that help from Christ which is necessary to our success. Hence, as the dominion of sin consists in its rendering us guilty in the sight of God, so that the conscience is burdened by reason of the dread which it has of the punishment which is due to us, and of the condemning sentence of the law to which we are liable ; and as its mortification, in this respect, consists in our deliverance from that which makes us so uneasy ; no expedient can be used to mortify it, but our looking by faith to Christ as a propi tiation for sin, whereby we are enabled to behold the debt which we had contracted cancelled, the indictment superseded, and the condemning sentence repealed, whence the soul concludes that iniquity shall not be its ruin. This is the only me thod we are to take when oppressed with a sense of the euilt of sin, which is daily committed by us. It was shadowed forth by the Israelites looking to the brazen serpent, a type of Christ crucified, when they were stung with fiery serpents, which occasioned exquisite pain, and would, without this expedient, have brought imme diate death. Thus the deadly wound of sin is healed by the sovereign balm of Christ's blood applied by faith ; and we, by his having fulfilled the law, may be said to be dead to it, as freed from its curse and from all the sad consequences which would follow. Again, sin is said to have dominion over us, in all the powers and faculties of d See Quest, lxxviii. e Jude 23. f 2 Thess. v. 22. 140 SANCTIFICATION. our souls being enslaved by it, whereby, as the apostle expresses it, 'we are carnal, sold under sin ;'s in our being weak and unable to perform what is good; and in the corruption of nature being so predominant, that we are, as it were, carried down the stream, which we strive against, but in vain. Now, in this respect, sin is to be mortified by a fiducial application to Christ for help against it. We are to consider him as having undertaken to deliver not only from the condemning, but from the prevailing power of sin. His delivering us from this is a part of the work which he is now engaged in ; wherein he applies the redemption he purchased, by the powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, and the soul seeks to him for them. As it is natural for us, when we are in imminent danger of present ruin, or are assaulted by an enemy whose superior force we are not able to withstand, to cry out to some kind friend for help ; or when we are in danger of death, by some disease which nature is ready to sink under, to apply ourselves to the physician for relief ; so the believer is to apply to Christ for strength against the prevailing power of indwell ing sin, and for grace to make him more than a conqueror over it ; and Christ, by his Spirit, enables us1, as the apostle says, 'to mortify the deeds of the body.'h In order to our thus applying to Christ, we take encouragement from the promises of God, and from the connection which' there is between Christ's having made satisfaction for sin, and his delivering his redeemed people from the power of it. The apostle says, ' Sin shall not havedominion over you ; for ye are not under the law,' that is, under the condemning sentence of it, 'but under grace,'1 as having an interest in that grace which has engaged to deliver from sin. In both these re spects, we consider Christ, not only as able, but as having undertaken, to deliver his people from all their spiritual enemies, to relieve them in all their straits and exigencies, and to bring them off safe and victorious. This is the method which we are to take to mortify sin ; and it is a never-failing remedy. What was ob served under the foregoing Heads, concerning Our endeavouring to see the evil of sin, and exercising watchfulness against the occasions of it, are necessary duties, without which sin will gain strength. The victory over it, however, is principally owing to our deriving righteousness and strength, by faith, from Christ ; whereby he has the glory of a conqueror over it,-and we have the advantage of receiving this privilege as applying ourselves to him, and relying upon him, for it. Having considered the way in which sin is to be mortified agreeably to the gos pel-rule, we shall, before we close this Head, take notice of some other methods which many rest in, thinking thereby to free themselves from the dominion of sin, which will not answer that end. Some, who do not duly consider the spirituality of the law of God, have no other notion of sin than as it discovers itself in those gross enormities which are matter of public scandal or reproach in the eye of the world. Such sentiments of moral evil the apostle Paul had before his conversion ; he says, ' I was alive without the law once ;' k and, ' I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not eovet.' ' Sin' did not ' appear to be sin ;' ' that is, nothing was thought sin by him but that which was openly scandalous, and deemed so by universal consent. He hence says elsewhere, that ' touching the righteous ness which is in the law, he was blameless.'1" Ephraim also is represented as say ing, 'In all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.'n Per sons of the class to which we refer think they shall come off well, if they can say that they are not guilty of some enormous crimes ; so that none can charge them with those open debaucheries or other sins which are not to be mentioned among Christians. Or if, through any change in their condition of life, or by being deliv ered from those temptations which gave occasion to' them, or by their natural temper being less inclined to them than before, they abstain from such crimes, they call their abstinence a mortifying of sin ; though the most that can be said of it is, that sin is only curbed or confined, and their natural inclinations to it abated, while it is far from being dead. Others who will allow that sin is of a far larger extent, and in cludes that which prevails in the heart, as well as that which renders itself visible in the life, and contains the omission of duties, as well as the actual commission g Rom. vii 14. h Chap. viii. 13. i Chap. vi. 14. k Chap. vii. 9. compared with 7. 1 Verse 13. m Phil. iii. 6. n Hosl xii. 8. SANCTIFICATION. 141 of known sins, often take a preposterous method to mortify it. If they are sensi ble of the guilt which is contracted, they use no other method to be discharged lrom it, but to pretend to make atonement, either by confessing their sins, by using endeavours to abstain from them, or by the performance of some duties of religion by which they think to make God amends for the injuries they have offered to him. This, however, is so far from mortifying sin, that it increases its guilt, and causes it to take deeper root, and afterwards to break forth in a greater degree ; or it tends to stupify the conscience, so that they afterwards go on in the way of sin, with carnal security, and without remorse. Others think, that to mortify sin, is nothing else but to subdue and keep under their passions, at least to such a degree that they may not, through the irregularity and impetuous violence of them, com mit those sins which they cannot but reflect upon with shame when brought into a more calm and considerate temper of mind. In order to this, they subject them selves to certain rules, which the light of nature will suggest, and the wiser heathen have laid down, to induce persons to lead a virtuous life. They argue with them selves, that it is below the dignity of human nature for men to suffer their passions to lead their reason captive, or to do that which betrays a want of wisdom as well as temper. If by this means the exorbitancy of their passions is abated, and many sins which it occasions are prevented, they conclude their lives to be unblemished, and sin subdued. Yet all they do is nothing but a restraining of the fury of their temper, or the giving of a check to some sins, while sin in general remains unmortified. As to the methods prescribed by some Popish casuists, of emaciating the body, or keeping it under by physic or a sparing diet, and submitting to hard penances, not only to atone for past sins, but to prevent them for the future ; these have not a tendency to strike at the root of sin, and therefore are unjustly called a mortifying of it. For though an abstemious regular way of living is conducive to some valu able ends, and though without it, men are led to the commission of many sins ; yet it is no expedient to take away guilt, nor does it sufficiently subdue the enslaving, captivating, and prevailing power of indwelling sin, which discovers itself in various shapes, and attends every condition and circumstance of life. Equally useless are those common methods which' many others take, and which are of a different nature. When persons resolve, though in their own strength, to break off their sins by re pentance, or when they endeavour to strengthen their resolutions to lead a virtuous life, when these are weak and not much regarded by them, their efforts will not answer the designed end. Sin will be too strong for all their resolutions ; and the engagements with which they bind themselves will be but like the cords with which Sampson was bound, which were broken by him like threads. If we rely on our own strength, how much soever we may be resolved to abstain from sin at present, God will make us sensible of our weakness by leaving us to ourselves ; and then how much soever we resolve to abstain from sin, it will appear that it is far lrom being mortified or subdued by us. We conclude, therefore, that mortification of sin cannot be performed, but by going forth in the name and strength of Christ, who is able to keep us from falling, or, when fallen, to recover us. This will be found in the end to be the best expedient for promoting this branch of our sanctification. III. In carrying on the work of sanctification, we are enabled to walk with God, or before him, in holiness and righteousness. We are first made alive in regener ation ; and then we put forth living actions. The experience of this some call vivification, as distinguished from that part of sanctification which has been already considered, namely, mortification of sin. This is what we may call leading an holy life ; and we are to understand by it much more than many do. They suppose that it consists only in the performance of some moral duties which contain the external part of religion, without which there would not be the least shadow of holiness ; in performing those duties which we owe to men in the various relations which we stand in to them ; or, at least, in keeping ourselves clear of those ' pollu tions which are in the world through lust.'0 The Pharisee, in the gospel, thought himself an extraordinarily holy person, because he was no extortioner, nor unjust, nor adulterer, but fasted, paid tithes, and performed several works of charity. o 2 Pet. i. 4. 142 SANCTIFICATION. Many also are great pretenders to holiness, who have no other than a form of god liness without the power of it, or who are more than ordinarily diligent in their attendance on the ordinances of God's appointment, though they are far from giving that attendance in a right way, and are like those whom the prophet speaks of, who are said to ' seek God daily, and to delight to know his ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God,' though at the same time, they are said to ' fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, 'p That we may consider several other things which are contained in a person's leading an holy life, let it be observed that our natures must be changed. Sanc tification always supposes and flows from regeneration. There must be grace in the heart, else it can never discover itself in the life. The root must be good, else the tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The spring of action must be cleansed, otherwise the actions themselves will be impure. Some persons, who are generally strangers to the internal work of grace, are very apt to insist much on the good- . ness of their hearts ; and they sometimes plead this in excuse for the badness of their lives ; while, in reality, they never had a due sense of the plague and perverse- ness of their own hearts. Good actions must proceed from a good principle, otherwise persons are in an unsanctified state. And, as these actions must be conformable to the rule laid down in the word of God, and performed in a right manner, and to the glory of God as the end designed by them ; so they must be performed by faith, whereby we, being sensible of our own weakness and unworthiness, depend on Christ for assistance and acceptance. This exercise of faith and dependence must be our constant work and business ; whereby we are said to walk with God, as well as to live to him. Again, in order to our leading a holy life, we must make use of those motives and inducements which are contained in the gospel. In particular, we are to have in our view that perfect pattern of holiness which Christ has given us. He has 'left us an example that we should follow his steps. 'i Whatever we find in the life of Christ, prescribed for our imitation, should be improved to promote the work of sanctification. His humility, meekness, patience, submission to the divine will, his zeal for the glory of God and the good of mankind, and his unfainting perse verance in pursuing the end for which he came into the world, are all mentioned in scripture, not merely that we should yield an assent to the account we have of them in the gospel-history, but that ' the same mind should be in us, which was also in him.'r ' He,' says the apostle, ' that saith he abideth in him, ought him self also to walk even as he walked.'3 We may add, that we ought to set before us the example of others, and be followers of them so far as they followed him. Their example, indeed, is as much inferior to Christ's, as imperfect holiness is to that which is perfect ; yet it is an encouragement to us, that, in following the foot steps of the flock, we have many bright examples of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. — Another motive to holiness is the love of Christ, expressed in the great work of our redemption, and in that care and compassion which he has extended towards us in the application of it, in all the methods he has used in beginning and carrying on the work of grace ; in regard to which we may say, ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' The love of Christ ought to be im proved so as to ' constrain us, ' * as he has hereby laid us under the highest obliga tion to live to him. And as love to Christ is the main ingredient in sanctification ; so when by faith we behold him as the most engaging and desirable object, it will afford a constant inducement to holiness. — Another motive to holiness, is our rela tion to God as his children, and our professed subjection to him. ¦ As we gave up ourselves to him when first we believed, avouched him to be our God, and, since then, have experienced many instances of his condescending goodness and faithful ness ; as he has been pleased to grant us some degrees of communion with him, through Christ ; as he has given us many great and precious promises, and, in various instances, made them good to us ; and as he has reserved an inheritance for all that are sanctified, in that better world to which they shall at last be brought ; so, on all these grounds, we should be induced to lead a life of holiness. ' Having p Isa. lviii. 2. q 1 Pet. ii. 21. r Phil. ii. 5 si John ii. 6. t 2 Cor. ,. 14. SANCTIFICATION. 143 these promises,' says the apostle, 'let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'u Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Sanctification. 1. From what has been said in explaining the doctrine of sanctification, we may infer the difference that there is between moral virtue, so far as it may be attained by the light of nature and the improvement of human reason, and that holiness of heart and life which includes all Christian virtues, and is inseparably connected with salvation. All who are conversant with the writings of the heathen moralists will find in some of them a great many things which tend to regulate the conduct of life, and precepts laid down which, if followed, bear a great resemblance to the grace of sanctification. In this matter, some who have been destitute of the light of the gospel have very much excelled many who bear the Christian name. "When we find a lively representation of the universal corruption and degeneracy of human nature, the disorder and irregularity of the affections, and man's natural propensity to vice ; rules laid down for the attaining of virtue, by means of which men are directed how to free themselves from that slavery which they are under to their lusts ; and advice given to press after a resemblance and conformity to God ; these things carry in them a great show of holiness. A late writer * has collected several passages out of their writings with a design to prove that, though they were destitute of gospel-light, yet they might attain salvation ; inasmuch as they use many expressions which very much resemble the grace of sanctification. One of them, for example, speaking concerning contentment in the station of life in which providence had fixed him, says, "A servant of God should not be solicitous for the morrow. Can any good man fear that he should want food ? Doth God so neglect his servants, and his witnesses, as that they should be destitute of his care and providence ?" And he adds, " Did I ever, Lord, accuse thee, or complain of thy government ? Was I not always willing to be sick when it was thy pleasure that I should be so ? Did I ever desire to be what thou wouldst not have me to be ? Am I not always ready to do what thou commandest ? Wilt thou have me to con tinue here ? I will freely do as thou wiliest. Or, wouldst thou have me depart hence ? I will freely do it at thy command. I have always had my will subject to that of God. Deal with me according to thy pleasure. . I am always of the same mind with thee. I refuse nothing which thou art pleased to lay upon me. Lead me whither thou wilt ; clothe me as thou pleasest. I will be a magistrate, or private person ; continue me in my country, or in exile ; I will not only submit to but defend thy proceedings in all things." We might also produce quotations out of other writings, whereby it appears that some of the heathen excelled many Chris tians in the consistency of their sentiments about religious matters with the divine perfections ; as when they say, " Whatever endowment of the mind has a tendency to make a man truly great and excellent, is owing to an internal divine influence. "' Others, speaking of the natural propensity which there is in mankind to vice, maintained that, to guard against it, there is a necessity of their having assistance from God in order to their leading a virtuous life ; and that virtue is not attained by instruction, that is, not only by that means, but that it is from God, and is to be sought for at his hands by faith and prayer. Much, to this purpose may be seen in the writings of Plato, Maximus Tyrius, Hierocles, and several others.2 The principal use which I would make of the fact I have been illustrating, is to observe that it should humble many Christians, who are far from coming up to the Heathen in the practice of moral virtue. As for the sentiments of those who deny the necessity of our having divine influence in order to our performing in a right manner the duties which God requires of us, they fall very short of what the light u 2 Cor. vii. 1. x See Whitby's Dis. &c, page 541, in which he quotes Arrian, as giving the sense of Epictetus, lib. i. cap. 9. lib. iii. cap. 5, 24, 26, 36, &c. y Vid. Cic. de natura Deorum, lib. ii. ' Nullus unquam vir magnus fuit, sine aliquo afflatu di vino.' z See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, book iii. chap. i. and chap. x. and Wits, de Gicon. Fed. pages 461 — 463. 144 SANCTIFICATION. of nature has suggested to those who have duly attended to it, though destitute of divine revelation. When I meet with such expressions as I have quoted, and many other divine things, in the writings of Plato, and what he says of the conversation of his master Socrates, both in his life and at his death, I cannot but apply in this case what our Saviour says to the Scribe in the gospel who answered him discreetly, ' Thou art not far from the kipgdom of God.' a These things, it is true, very much resemble the grace of sanctification ; yet, in many respects, they fall short of it ; inasmuch as those who maintained them had no acts of faith in a Mediator, whom they were altogether strangers to, being destitute of divine revelation. It is not my design, at present, to inquire whether they had any hope of salvation, this sub ject having been considered under a former Answer.0 All that I shall here observe is, that some of the best of them were charged with notorious crimes, which a Chris tian would hardly reckon consistent with the truth of grace. Plato was charged with flattering tyrants, and too much indulging pride and luxury ;c Socrates, with pleading for fornication and incest, and practising sodomy ; if what some have reported concerning them be true.d But, without laying any stress on the char acter of particular persons, who, in other respects, have said and done many excel lent things ; it is evident, that whatever appearance of holiness there maybe in the writings or conversation of those who are strangers to Christ and his gospel, falls short of the grace of sanctification. There is a vast difference between recommend ing or practising moral virtues, as agreeable to the nature of man, and the dictates of reason ; and a person's being led in that way of holiness which our Saviour has prescribed in the gospel. This takes its rise from a change of nature wrought in regeneration, is excited by gospel-motives, is encouraged by promises of holy attain ments, and proceeds from the grace of faith, without which all pretensions to holi ness are vain and defective. What advances soever the heathen moralists may have made, in endeavouring to free themselves from the slavery of sin, they were very deficient as to its mortification. Being ignorant of that great atonement which is made by Christ, as the only, expedient to take away the guilt of sin, they could not by any method attain a conscience void of offence, or any degree of hope concerning the forgiveness of sin, and the way of acceptance in the sight of God. Moreover, their using endeavours to stop the current of vice, and to subdue their inordinate affections, could not be effectual to answer that end, inasmuch as they were destitute of the Spirit of God, who affords his divine assistance in order to the attainment of it, in no other way than what is prescribed in the gospel. Hence, as ' without holiness no man shall see the Lord,' this graee is to be expected in that way which God has prescribed ; and every one who is holy is made so by the fcpirit, who glorifies himself in rendering men fruitful in every good work they being raised by him from the death of sin to the life of faith in Christ ; which is a blessing peculiar to the gospel. 2. Since holiness is required of all persons, as what is absolutely necessary to sal vation, and is also recommended as that which God works in those in whom the gospel is made effectual to salvation ; we may infer that no gospel doctrine has the least tendency to lead to licentiousness. The grace of God may indeed be abused ; and men who are strangers to it may take occasion, from ' the abounding' of that grace, to ¦ continue in sin,' as some did in the apostle's days ; ¦ but this is not the genuine tendency of the gospel, which is to lead men to holiness. Whatever duties it engages to, are all designed to answer this end ; and whatever privileges Hiul wereP.tt ached to the "nMlZnn """7 ^ th°Se Wh° ^ in the Hrst »&" °f ,he cbl"'<'h' (treat ami important trX „Pf t'{0,0Phv' ,we™ f buv . th,s mea»s. ¦« "* supposes, led aside from many oi her*. He Vth . s Pnose, haf 1 ; °f ,h,"fn;"nber were °f'^"> '"-tin Martyr, and several «iil. as to what respec u snirit, .1 ,V m""y °f them a,iva"t"ed 'oncerning the libeity of man's uhicl, «ere subversive of the *r»V» i n' T" °iT°n !° ' le.Peli,Siil,ls <° propagate tho.e doctrines ri-e from the .ame source V "'..P0'1 '• ,i".1'1 «"»* the Arian and Samosatian heresies took their e Horn. vi. 1. " Part "'' u00k "• chaP- '¦ SANCTIFICATION. 145 are offered in it, are all inducements to holiness. Are we ' delivered out of the hands of our' spiritual ' enemies ? ' It is 'that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our lives. 'f As for the promises, they are an inducement to us, as the apostle expresses it, to ' cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'s And every ordinance and providence should be improved by us, to promote the work of sanctification. 3. Let us examine ourselves whether this work be begun and the grace of God wrought in us in truth, and, if so, whether it be increasing or declining in our souls. As to the truth of grace, let us take heed that we do not think we are something when we are nothing, deceiving our own souls ; or rest in a form of godliness, while denying the power of it, or in a name to live, while we are dead. Let us think that it is' not enough to abstain from grosser enormities, or engage in some exter nal duties of religion, with wrong ends. If, upon inquiry into ourselves, we find that we are destitute of a principle of spiritual life and grace, let us not think that, because we have escaped some of the pollutions which are in the world, or do not run with others in all excess of riot, we therefore lead holy lives. But rather let us inquire whether the life we live in the flesh be by the faith of the Son of God, under the influence of his Spirit, with great diffidence of our own righteousness and strength, and firm dependence upon Christ ; and whether, as the result of this, we are found in the practice of universal holiness, and hate and avoid all appearance of evil,' using all those endeavours which are prescribed in the gospel, to glorify him in our spirits, souls, and bodies, which are his. If we have ground to hope that the work of sanctification is begun, let us inquire whether it be advancing or declining ; whether we go from strength to strength, or make improvements in pro portion to the privileges we enjoy. Many have reason to complain that it is not with them as in months past ; that grace is languishing, the frame of their spirits in holy duties stupid, and they destitute of that communion with God which they once enjoyed. Such ought to remember whence they are fallen, and repent, and do their first works ; and beg of God, from whom alone our fruit is derived, that he would revive the work of grace in them, and cause their souls to flourish in the courts of his house, and to bring forth much fruit unto holiness, to the glory of his own name and their spiritual peace and comfort. As for those who are frequently complaining of and bewailing their declensions in grace, who seem to others to be making a very considerable progress in it, let them not give way to unbelief, so far as to deny or set aside the experiences which they have had of God's presence with them ; for sometimes grace grows, though without our own observation. If they are destitute of the comforts of it or of the fruits of righteousness, which are peace, assurance, and joy in the Holy Ghost, let them consider that the work of sanctifica tion, in the present state, is, at best, but growing up towards that perfection to which it has not yet arrived. If it does not spring up and flourish, as to those fruits and effects of it which they are pressing after but have not attained, let them bless God if grace is taking root downward, and is attended with an humble sense of their own weakness and imperfection, and an earnest desire for those spiritual blessings which they are labouring after. This ought to afford matter of thankful ness, rather than have a tendency to weaken their hands, or induce them to con clude that they are in an unsanctified state because of the many hinderances and discouragements which attend their progress in holiness. f Luke i. 74, 7fi. g 2 Cor. vii. 1. 146 REPENTANCE. REPENTANCE. Question LXXVI. What is Sepentance unto life ? Answer. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God; whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but also of the mthiness and odiousness of "his sins, and upon the apprehension of God s mercy -in Christ to such as are penitent he so grieves for, and hates his sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purpos ing and endeavouring constantly to walk with him in. all the ways of new obedience. In discussing this Answer we shall consider that the subject of repentance is a sinful fallen creature ; that, though this is his condition, he is naturally averse to the ex ercise of repentance, till God is pleased to bring him to it ; that the Spirit of God brings him to repent ; and what are the various acts and effects of repentance. The Subjects of Repentance. No one can be said to repent but a sinner. Whatever other graces might be exercised by man in a state of innocency, or shall be exercised by him when brought to a state of perfection ; there cannot, properly speaking, be any room for repentance. Some, indeed, have queried whether there shall be repentance in heaven. But it may easily be determined, that, though that hatred of sin in general and opposition to it which is contained in true repentance, is not inconsis tent with a state of perfect blessedness, as it is inseparably connected with perfec tion of holiness ; yet a sense of sin, which is afflictive, and is attended with grief and sorrow of heart for the guilt and consequences of sin, is altogether inconsistent with a state of perfection ; and these are some ingredients in that repentance which comes under our present consideration. We must conclude, therefore, that the subject of repentance is a sinner. Man's Natural Aversion to Repentance. Though all sinners contract guilt, expose themselves to misery, and will sooner or laterbe filled with distress and sorrow for what they have done against God ; yet many. have, no sense of it at present, nor repentance or remorse for it. These are described as.' past feeling,'has 'hardened through the deceitfujness of sin,'' as obstinate, and having 'their neck as an, iron sinew, and their brow as brass. 'k There are several methods which they take to ward off the force of convictions. Sometimes they are stupid, and hardly give themselves, the liberty to consider. the difference which there is between i moral good and evil, or the natural obligation we are under to pursue the one and avoid, the other. They consider not the all- seeing eye of God, which observes all their actions, nor the power of his anger, who will; take vengeance on impenitent sinners. They regard not the various aggra vations of sin, nor consider that God will, for those things, bring them to judg ment. Hence, impenitency is generally attended with. presumption ; whereby the person concludes, though without ground, that it shall go well with him in the end. Such an one is represented as blessing himself in his heart, saying, ' I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination,' or as it is in the margin, in the stubborn ness ' of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.'1 Or if, on the other hand, he cannot but conclude that with God is terrible majesty, that he is a consuming fire, and that none ever hardened themselves against him and prospered, and if he does not fall down before him with humble confession of sin and repentance for it, he will certainly be broken with his rod of iron and dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel, — broken with a tempest, and utterly destroyed, when his wrath is kindled. Then he resolves that some time or other he will repent, but still delays and puts off repentance for a more convenient season ; and though God gives him space to do it, h Eph. iv. 19. , Heb. iii. 13. k Isa. xlviii. 4. 1 Deut. xxix. 19. REPENTANCE. 147 he repenteth not.m Thus he goes on in the greatness of his way, till God visits him with the blessings of his goodness, and brings him to repentance. Repentance wrought by the Divine Spirit. We are thus led to consider that repentance is God's work ; or, as is observed in this Answer, that it is wrought by the Spirit of God. Whether we consider it as a common or as a saving grace, it is the Spirit that convinces or reproves the world of sin. If it be of the same kind as that which Pharaoh, Ahab, or Judas had, it is excited by a dread of God's judgments, and his wrath breaking in upon conscience, when he reproves for sin, and sets it in order before their eyes. If they are touched with a sense of guilt, and, in consequence, stopped for the present, or obliged to make a retreat, and desist from pursuing their former methods, it is God, in the course of his providence, that gives a check to them. But this comes short of that repentance which is said to be unto life, or which is styled a saving grace ; which is wrought ;by the Spirit of God, as the beginning of that saving work which is a branch of sanctification, and shall end in complete salvation. This is expressly styled; in scripture, 'repentance unto life,'" inasmuch as every one who is favoured with it sb.all obtain eternal life ; and it is connected with con version and remission of sins, which will certainly end in eternal salvation. Thus it is said, ' Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.'0 For this reason it is called a saving grace, or a grace which accompanies salvation ; on which account it is distinguished from that repentance which some have who yet remain in a state of unregeneracy. It is also called ' repentance to salvation, not to be repented of ;'p that is, it shall issue well ; and he who thus repents, shall, in the end, have reason to bless God, and rejoice in his grace^ who has made him partaker of it. The Means of Repentance. We shall now consider the instrument or means whereby the Spirit works this grace. It is said to be ' wrought in the heart of a sinner, by the word of God,' as all other graces are, except regeneration, as was formerly observed. We must first suppose the principle of grace implanted, and the word presenting mo tives and arguments leading to repentance ; and then the understanding is enlight ened and disposed to receive what is imparted. The word ' calls sinners to repent- ance.:'i Hence, when this grace is wrought, we are not only turned by the power of God, but 'instructed'1" by the Spirit's setting home what is contained in the word, whereby we are led into the knowledge of those things which are necessary to repentance. The word contains a display of the holiness of the divine nature and law, and of our obligation, in conformity to it, to exercise holiness of heart and life ; as God says, ' Be ye holy, for I am holy. '" It contains also a display of the holiness of God in his threatenings, which he has denounced against every transgression and disobedience, which shall receive a just recompence of reward; and in all the instances of his punishing sin in those who have exposed themselves to its penalty, that hereby he might deter men from it, and lead them to repent ance. Accordingly, the apostle speaks of the law of God as ' holy, and the com mandment holy, just, and good ;'4 and of its leading him into the knowledge of sin, by which means it appeared to be sin, that is, opposite to an holy God, and, as he expresses it, 'became exceeding sinful.' — Moreover, by the word of God persons are led into themselves ; and by comparing their hearts and lives with it, are en abled to see their own vileness and want of conformity to the rule which he has given them, the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their hearts, and what occasion there is to abhor themselves, and repent in dust and ashes. Thus the apostle, in the place just mentioned, speaks of himself as ' once alive without the law ; but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died, ' and he concluded himself to be ' carnal, m ReV; ii. 21. n Acts xi. 18. o Chap. iii. 19. p 2 Cor. vii. 10. q Matt. ix. 13. r Jer. xxxi. 19. s Lev. xi. 44. t Rom. vii. 12, 13. 148 REPENTANCE. sold under sin. * This is a necessary means leading to repentance.— We may add that God makes use, not only of the word, but of his providences to answer this end. Hence, he speaks of a sinning people, when ' carried away captive into the land of the enemy,' as 'bethinking' themselves, and afterwards ' repenting and making sup. plication to him '* We read also of sickness and bodily diseases as ordamed by God to bring persons to repentance. Thus Elihu speaks of a person being ' chastened with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain ; his soul drawing nigh to the grave, and his life to the destroyers ;'* and then represents the person thus chastened, and afterwards recovered from his sickness, as acknow ledging that he had ' sinned and perverted that which is right, and that it profited him not.' The apostle likewise speaks of 'the goodness of God ' in the various dispensations of his providence, as ' leading to repentance. 'z But these dispensa tions are always to be considered in conjunction with the word, and as impressed on the consciences of men by the Spirit, in order to their attaining this desir able end. — In order, however, that we may insist on this matter more particularly, we must take an estimate of repentance, either as it is a common or a special grace. In both these respects it is from the Spirit, and wrought by the instrumentality of the word, applied to the consciences of men ; but there is a vast difference between the one and the other in the application of the word, as well as in the effects and consequences. 1. As to those who are brought under convictions, but not made partakers of the saving grace of repentance, the Holy Spirit awakens them, and fills them with the terrors of God, and the dread of his vengeance, 'by the law,' by which 'is the know ledge of sin,' and ' all the world becomes guilty before God.'a These are what we call legal convictions ; whereby the wound is opened, but no healing medicine ap plied. The sinner apprehends himself under a sentence of condemnation, but at the same time cannot apply any promise which may afford hope and relief to him ; groans under his burden, and knows not where to find ease or comfort, and dreads the consequences as what would sink him into hell. God appears to him as a consum ing fire ; his arrows stick fast in his soul ; the poison of them drinketh up his spirits. If he endeavour to shake off his fears, and to relieve himself against his despairing thoughts, he is, notwithstanding, described as being like ' the troubled sea,' when it 'cannot rest,' which 'casts forth mire and dirt.'b This is a most afflictive case ; concerning which it is said, that though ' the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, a wounded spirit who can bear?'0 [See Note N, page 152.] Thus it is with some when convinced of sin by the law. But there are others who endeavour to quiet their consciences by using indirect methods, thinking to make atonement for their sin, and by some instances of external reformation to make God amends, and thereby procure his favour, but to no purpose ; for ' sin taking occasion by the commandment, works in them all manner of concupiscence.'11 And if they grow stupid, which is often the consequence, their sense of sin is entirely lost, and their repentance ends in presumption, and a great degree of boldness in the commission of all manner of wickedness. 2. We shall now consider how the Spirit works repentance unto life, which is principally insisted on in this Answer. This is said to be done by the word of God ; not by the law without the gospel, but by them both, the one being made subser vient to the other. The law shows the sinner his sin, and the gospel directs him where he may find a remedy. The one wounds and the other heals. * The law enters,' as the apostle expresses it, 'that the offence might abound ;'e but the gospel shows him how 'grace does much more abound,' and where he may obtain forgiveness. By this means he is kept from sinking under the weight of guilt which lies on his conscience. The gospel also leads him, from motives which are truly excellent, to hate and abstain from sin ; for which reason his repentance is called evangelical. U « °m" -":. 9' U- xl Kinga viii- 46- 47. y Job xxxiii. 19, 27. x Kom. n. 4. a Rom. ijj 20. compared with 19. b Isa. lvii. 20. c Prov. xvm. 14. d Rom. vii. 8. e Rom. v. 2a REPENTANCE. 149 The Difference between Legal and Evangelical Repentance. That, we may better understand the nature of this repentance, we shall consider how it differs from that which we before described, which arises only from convic tion of sin by the law, which a person may have who is destitute of this grace of repentance which we are speaking of. Repentance, of what kind soever it be, in cludes a sense of sin. But if the sense of sin be such as an unregenerate person may have, it includes little more than a sense of the danger and misery which he has exposed himself to by sins committed. The principal motives leading to it are the threatenings which the law of God denounces against those who violate it. De struction from God is a terror to him who has such a sense of sin ; and if this were not the consequence of sin, he would be so far from repenting of it, that it would be the object of his chief delight. Besides, that guilt which he charges himself with is principally such as arises from the commission of the most notorious crimes, which expose him to the greatest degree of punishment. Repentance unto life, on the contrary, brings a soul under a sense of the guilt of sin, as it is contrary to the holy 'nature and law of God, which the least, as well as the greatest sins, are opposed to, and contain a violation of. He, therefore, who has this repentance, charges himself not only with open sins which are detestable in the eyes of men, but with secret sins which others have little or no sense of, — sins of omission as well as sins of commission ; and he is particularly affected with the sin of unbelief, inasmuch as it contains a contempt of Christ and of the grace of the gospel. He is sensible not only of those sins which break forth in his life, but of that propen sity of nature whereby he is. inclined to rebel against God. Hence, the sense of guilt which he entertains differs, in some respects, from that which those are brought under who are destitute of saving repentance. But that in which they more especially differ is, that saving repentance includes a sense of the filth and odious nature of sin, and so considers it as defiling, or contrary to the holiness of God, and rendering the soul worthy to be abhorred by him. Hence, as the sense of guilt excites fear, and a dread of the wratli of God ; so this sense of the odious nature of sin fills him with shame, confusion of face, and self-abhorrence. These are inseparably connected with the grace of repentance. Accordingly, they are joined together, as Job says, ' I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes ;'f or as God describes his people when he promises that he will bestow this blessing on them, ' Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations, 's Before this they set too high a value upon themselves, and were ready to palliate and excuse their crimes, or insist on their innocence, though their iniquity was written in legible characters, as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond, and to say with Ephraim, ' In all my labour they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin,'h and resembled the rebellious people con cerning whom the prophet Jeremiah says, that ' though in their skirts were found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents,' they had the front to say, ' Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me.'1 When, however, God brings them to repentance, and heals their backslidings, they express themselves in a very different way : ' We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us ; for we have sinned against the Lord our God.'k Now, this is such an ingredient in true repentance as is not be found in that which falls short of being a saving grace. In the latter case, the sinner is afraid of punishment indeed, or perhaps he may be filled with shame because of the reproach which attends his vile and notorious crimes in the eyes of the world ; yet he is not ashamed or confounded, as consider ing how vile he has rendered himself in the eye of a holy God. There is another thing observed in this Answer which is an ingredient in repent ance unto life. This repentance is connected with faith, inasmuch as he who is the subject of it apprehends the mercy of God in Christ to such as are penitent ; and this effectually secures him from that despair which sometimes, as was before f Job xiii. 6. g Ezek. xxxvi. 31. h Hos. xii. 8. i Jer. ii. 34, 35. k Chap. iii. 25. 150 REPENTANCE. observed, attends a legal repentance, as well as affords him relief against the sense of guilt with which this grace is attended. The difference between legal and evan gelical repentance does not so much cons,st in the former representing sin as more aggravated, or in inducing him who is the subject of it to think himself a greater sinner than the other ; for the true penitent is ready to confess himself the chief of sinners He is far from extenuating his sin ; being ready on all occasions to charge himself with more guilt than others are generally sensible of. But that which he depends upon as his only comfort and support is the mercy of God in Christ, or the consideration that there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared.' This is what affords the principal motive and encouragement to repent ance, and has a tendency to excite the various acts of it. The Various Acts of Evangelical Repentance. We are thus led to consider what are the various acts of repentance unto life, or what are the fruits and effects produced by it. 1. The soul is filled with hatred of sin. When he who truly repents looks back on his past life, he bewails what cannot now be avoided, charges himself with folly and madness, and wishes, though to no purpose, that he had done many things which he has omitted, and avoided those sins, together with the occasions of them, which he has committed, the guilt of which lies with great weight upon him. How glad would he be if lost seasons and opportunities of grace might be recalled, and the talents which were once put into his hand, though misimproved, regained I But all these wishes are in vain. These, how ever, are the after-thoughts which will arise in th,e minds of those who are brought under a sense of sin. Sin wounds the soul. The Spirit of God, when convincing of it, opens the wound, and causes a person to feel the smart of it, and gives him to know that ' it is an evil thing, and. bitter, that he has forsaken the Lord his God.'1 This sometimes depresses the spirits, and causes him to walk softly, to ' sit alone and keep silence,'™ being filled with an uneasiness which is very afflictive to him. At other times it gives vent to itself in tears, ' I am weary,' says the psalmist, ' with my groaning ; all the night make I my bed to swim ; I water my couch with my tears. 'n In this case, the only thing which gives the penitent relief or comfort is, that the guilt of sin is removed by the blood of Christ, which tends to quiet his spirit, which would otherwise be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. We may add that sin is always the object of his detestation, even when there is an abatement of that grief which, by the divine supports and comforts, he is protected against. He hates sin, not merely because of the sad consequences of it, but as it is in itself the object of abhorrence. His heart is hence set against all sin ; as the psalmist says, ' I hate every false way.'0 This hatred discovers itself by putting him upon fleeing from it, together with all the occasions of it, or incentives to it. He not only abstains from those sins which they who have little more than the remains of moral virtue are ashamed of and afraid to commit, but hates every thing which has the appearance of sin ; and this hatred is irreconcilable. As for giveness does not make sin less odious in its own nature ; so whatever experience he has of the grace of God in forgiveness, or whatever measure of peace he enjoys, whereby his grief and sorrow are assuaged, his hatred of sin not only remains but increases. 2. He, therefore, turns from sin unto God. He first hates sin, and then flees from it ; seeing it to be the spring of all his grief and fears, — that which separates between him and his God. Thus Ephraim, when brought to repentance, and re flecting with a kind of indignation on his past conduct, when addicted to idols, is represented as saying, ' What have I to do any more with idols ?'° So the true penitent, who has hitherto been walking in those paths which lead to death and de struction, now inquires after the way of holiness, and the paths of peace. As he has hitherto walked contrary to God, now he desires to walk with him ; and having wearied himself in the gre'atness of his way, and seeing no fruit in those things 1 Jer. ii. 19. m Lam. iii. 28. n Psal. vi. 6. o Psal. cxix 104. p Hos. xiv. 6. REPENTANCE. 151 whereof he is now ashamed, and being brought into the utmost straits, he deter mines to return to his God and Father. In doing this he purposes and endeavours ta walk with him in all the ways of new obedience. Accordingly, the apostle exhorts those who had received good by his ministry that, ' with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord.'i This purpose is not like those hasty resolutions which unconverted sinners make, when God is hedging up their way with thorns, and they are under the most distressing apprehensions of his wrath. Then they say as the people did to Joshua, ' We will serve the Lord ;'r though they are not sensible how difficult it is to fulfil the engagements which they lay themselves un der, or of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and the need they stand in of grace from God to enable them so to do. This purpose to walk with God does not so much respect what a person will do hereafter ; but it contains a resolution which is immediately put in execution ; and so is opposed to the penitent's former obsti nacy, when determining to go on in the way of his own heart. Thus the prodigal son, in the parable, no sooner resolved that he would ' arise and go to his Father,'8 than he arose and went. True repentance is always attended with endeavours after new obedience ; so that a person lays aside that sloth and indolence which was inconsistent with his setting a due value on or improving the means of grace. As the result of this, he now exerts himself, with all his might, in pursuing after those things by which he may approve himself God's faithful servant. And hereby he discovers the sincerity of his repentance. This he does, or rather is enabled to do, by that grace which at first began and then carries on this work in the soul, and by which he ' has his fruit unto holiness, and the end' thereof 'everlasting life.'' Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Repentance. 1. From what has been said we may infer that, since repentance is a grace which accompanies salvation, and consequently is absolutely necessary to it, it is an in stance of unwarrantable and bold presumption, for impenitent sinners to expect that they shall be made partakers of the benefits which Christ has purchased, while they continue in a state of enmity, opposition, and rebellion against him, or that they shall be saved by him in their sins, without being saved from them. For ' he that covereth his sins, shall not prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.'" 2. Since repentance is the work of the Spirit, and his gift, we infer that what ever endeavours we are obliged to use, or whatever motives or inducements are given to lead us to it, we must not conclude that it is in our own power to repent when we please. It should, therefore, be the matter of our earnest and constant prayer to God, that he wotild turn our hearts, give us a true sight and sense of sin, accompanied with faith in Christ ; as Ephraim is represented, saying, ' Turn thou me, and I shall be turned.'1 3. Let not those who have a distressing sense of their former sins, how great so ever they have been, give way to despairing thoughts ; but let them lay hold on the mercy of God in Christ, extended to the chief of sinners, and improve it to encour age them, from evangelical motives, to hate sin, and forsake it. There will be a tendency to remove their fears while they look on God, not as a sin-revenging judge, out a reconciled Father, ready and willing to receive those who return to him with unfeigned repentance. 4. Since we daily commit sin, it follows that we stand in need of daily repent ance. Moreover, repentance being a branch of sanctification, as the latter is a progressive work; so is the former. We are not to expect that sin should be wholly extirpated while we are in this imperfect state ; and therefore it is constantly to be bewailed, and by the grace of God working effectually in us, avoided -; that, in con sequence, we may have a comfortable hope that the promise shall be fulfilled, ' They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.'? q Acts xi. 23. r Josh. xxiv. 21. s Luke xv. 18, comp. with 20. t Rom. vi. 22. u Prov. xxviii. 13. x Jer. xxxi. 18. y pBaj cxxv'i, $[ 152 THE CONNECTION AND THE DIFFERENCE [Note N. Legal Convictions of &'«.-That there are « persons brought under convictions of sin but not made partakers of the saving grace of repentance " is beyond doubt. But are we to believe that their convictions result from the work of the Holy Spirit on their soul, or, ,n other words that like all convictions which the Divine Spirit produces, they spring up in connexion with an ell^nS^mWtte work of Christ and the plan of mercy? To discuss ith.s qu-taon here would only be to repeat in substance what was said in a former note, under the title Common Grace." But I may remark that when the Saviour spake of the Comforter coming to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of j udgment. he added 'He will guide you into all truth ; * he shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you, —that when, through the prophet Zechariah, he promised to pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, he said, ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,'— that the inspired comment upon the declaration, ' I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,' points us to the scenes of the day of Pentecost when ' all were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance,' and when, in connexion with the exhibition of Christ as the Saviour, men not only were ' goaded in their heart,' but ' received the word gladly,' — and that, in general throughout the scrip tures, the economical work of the Divine Spirit is represented as a work of grace and a work con nected with salvation, while such conviction of sin as he produces is exhibited as resulting by means of a disclosure to the mind, not only of the claims of the divine law, but of the mediatorial work of the Redeemer. Convictions of sin, therefore, which are not attended with the saying grace of re pentance, would seem to arise wholly from the effects of God's general moral administration, making impression upon man's natural conscience. They are, accordingly, found to be experienced by men in all varieties of circumstances, — not only as enjoying the ministration of the gospel and its or dinances, but as living amidst the ignorance and stupidities of heathenism. Mere conscience, when roused by peculiar occurrences, has proverbially an agitating and even terrific power ; and it pro duces or entertains convictions of sin, self-accusations of guilt, which, whether weak or strong, are distinguished from the hallowing convictions produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit, just by their being unaccompanied with ' the saving grace of repentance.' While conviction accompanied with grace is just repentance, or a part of it, conviction unaccompanied with grace is unmingled self-accusation or remorse. Hence, persons who experience the latter may be to the full as miser able as Dr. Ridgeley describes. It is doubtful, however, whether the passage which he quotes has reference to the misery arising from their convictions : ' The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.' The words would rather seem to describe the wretchedness arising from the depravity of their nature, — the turbulence and tempestuousness of their unholy passions, — the tumult and agitation of proud and angry tempers, and of ungovernable and rabid lusts, which continually cast up, in the thoughts and conduct, pollution and vileness and every thing at war with tranquillity or repose. — Ed.] THE CONNECTION AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUSTI FICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. Question LXXV1I. Wherein do Justification and Sanctification differ ? Answeb. Although Sanctification be inseparably joined with Justification; yet they differ, in that God, in Justification, imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in Sanctification, his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former sin is pardoned, in the other it is sub dued ; the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation, the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection. This Answer being principally a recapitulation of what is contained in those which have been already insisted on, wherein the doctrine of justification and sanctifica tion are particularly explained, we shall not much enlarge on it. But as there are some who suppose that one of these graces may be attained without the other j and as others confound them, as though to be justified and to be sanctified implied the same thing ; we shall briefly consider, first, what is supposed in this Answer, namely, that justification and sanctification are inseparably joined together, and next, what is directly contained in the Answer, namely, some things in which justi fication and sanctification differ. The Connection between Justification and Sanctification. Sanctification and justification are inseparably joined together ; so that no one has a warrant to claim the one without the other. This appears from the fact that they are graces which accompany salvation. When the apostle connects justilica- BETWEEN JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION. 153 tion and effectual calling together in the golden chain of our salvation,2 he includes sanctification in this calling. Elsewhere, when Christ is said to be ' made righte ousness and redemption' to us for our justification, he is, at the same time, said to be made 'wisdom and sanctification. ' a We are also said to be 'saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, ' b which is the beginning Of the work of sanctification, ' that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' Speaking of some who were once gjeeat sinners, and afterwards made true believers, the apostle says, that they were 'washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.'0 And when God promises to pardon and ' pass by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,'" he also gives them ground to expect that he would ' subdue their iniquities.' The former of these he does in justification ; the latter, in sanctification. From the connection which there is between justification and sanctification,. we infer that no one has ground to conclude that his sins are pardoned, and that he shall be saved, while he is in an unsanctified state. For as such a supposition tends to turn the grace of God into wantonness ; so it separates what he has joined together, and, in those who entertain it, is a certain evidence that they are neither justified nor sanctified. Let us therefore give diligence to evince the truth of our justification, by our sanctification ; or that we have a right and title to Christ's righteousness, by the life of faith, and the exercise of all those other graces which accompany or flow from it. The Difference between Justification and Sanctification. We have, in this Answer, an account of some things in which justification and sanctification differ. 1. ' In justification God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us ; whereas, in sanctification the Spirit inluseth grace and enableth to the exercise thereof.' What it is for God to impute Christ's righteousness has been already considered. We shall at present, therefore, make only one additional remark. The righteousness whereby we are justified is, without us, wrought out by Christ for us, — so that it is 'by his obedience,' as the apostle expresses it, that 'we are made righteous ;'e and that which Christ did as our surety, is placed to our account and accepted by the justice of God as if it had been done by us. In sanctification, on the other hand, the graces of the Spirit are wrought and excited in us ; and we are denomi nated holy, and our right to eternal life is evinced, though not procured. 2. In justification sin is pardoned ; in sanctification it is subdued. The former takes away its guilt ; the latter its reigning power. When sin is pardoned, it shall not be our ruin ; yet it gives us daily disturbance and uneasiness, makes work for repentance, and is to be opposed by our dying to it, and living to righteousness. This is, therefore, sufficiently distinguished from justification ; which is also to be considered as a motive or inducement leading to it. 3. Justification equally frees all believers from the avenging wrath of God, in which respect it is perfect in this life, so that a justified person shall never fall into condemnation ; whereas, the work of sanctification is not equal in all, not perfect' in this life, but growing up to perfection. For understanding this, let us consider that when we speak of justification as perfect in this life, or say that all are equally justified, we mean that when God forgives one sin, he forgives all; so that, as the apostle says, ' there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. 'f And he adds, ' Who shall 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.'e Were it not so, a person might be said to be justified, and not have a right to eternal life, which implies a contradiction ; for though he might be acquitted, as to the guilt charged upon him by one indictment, he would be condemned by that which is contained in another. * We may hence infer, that all justified persons have an equal right to z Rom. viii. 30. a 1 Cor. i. 31. b Tit. iii. 5. c 1 Cor. vi. 11. d Micah vii. 18, 19. e Rom. v. 19. f Chap. viii. 1. g Verses 33, 34, II. 0 154 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. conclude themselves discharged from guilt, and the condemning sentence of the law of God ; though all cannot see their right to claim this privilege by reason of the weakness of their faith. Sanctification, on the other hand, is far from being equal in all ; for the best of believers have reason to complain of the weakness of their faith and the imperfection of all other graces which are wrought in them by the Spirit.' If it be inquired whence this imperfection of sanctification arises, a reply will be given under the following Answer. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. Question LXXVIII. Whence ariseth the imperfection of sanctification in believers t Answer. The imperfection of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit, whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God. In this Answer, we may consider, first, that there is something supposed, namely, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life, or that there are the rem nants of sin still abiding in the best of men ; secondly, in what the imperfection of sanctification more especially discovers itself, and in particular, what we are to understand by the lusting of the flesh against the spirit ; and thirdly, the conse quences of this, namely, their being foiled with temptations, falling into many sins, and being hindered in their spiritual services. The Imperfection of Believers. The thing supposed in this Answer, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life, must be allowed by all who are not strangers to themselves. It is said, ' There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.'h Fine gold is not without a mixture of some baser metal or alloy ; even so, our best frames of spirit, when we think ourselves nearest heaven, or when we have most communion with God, are not without a tincture of indwelling sin, which is easy to be discerned in us. Whatever grace we exercise, there are some defects attending it, with re spect either to the manner of its exerting itself, or to the degree of it. Perfection, therefore, how desirable soever it be, is a blessing which we cannot at present attain to. And if it be thus with us when at the best, we shall find that, at other times, corrupt nature not only discovers itself, but gives us great interruption and disturb ance ; so that the work of sanctification seems to be, as it were, at a stand, and we are induced to question the truth and sincerity of our graces. If, notwithstanding this, we have sufficient ground to conclude that our hearts are right with God ; we are still obliged to say with the apostle, that we are ' carnal, sold under sin,' and that, 'when we would do good, evil is present with us.'' This is an undeniable proof of the imperfection ot the work of sanctification. The contrary opinion is maintained by many ; who pretend that perfection is attainable in this life. To gain countenance to their opinion, they refer to some scriptures in which persons are characterized as "' perfect ' men, and to others in which perfection is represented as a duty incumbent on us. Thus our Saviour says, ' Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ;'k and the apos tle, in his valedictory exhortation to the church, advises theui to ' be perfect,' as well as ' of one mind, ' as they expected that the God of love and peace should be with them.1 These scriptures, however, speak not of a sinless perfection, but of such a perfection as is opposed to hypocrisy ; as Hezekiah says concerning h)mself, that he had ' walked before the Lord in truth, and with a perfect heart. 'm The perfection of those who are thus described in scripture, is explained as denoting their uprightness. h Eccl. vii. 20. i Rom. vii. 14, compared with 21. k Matt. v. 48. 1 2 Cor. xin. 11. m Isa. xxxviii. 3. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 155 Thus Job is described as • a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschew ed evil ;'n though he elsewhere disclaims any pretensions to a sinless perfection, and says, ' If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse.' ° So when Noah is said to have been ' perfect in his generations,' the statement is explained as denoting that he was a 'just' or an ' holy man,' and one that 'walked with God.'P As for scriptures which speak of perfection as a duty incumbent on us, they are to be understood, not concerning a perfection of degrees, but concerning the perfection of grace, as to those essential parts of it without which it eouldnot be denominated true and genuine. True grace is perfect indeed, as it contains those necessary in gredients whereby an action is denominated good in all its circumstances, in opposi tion to that which is so only in some respects ; and therefore it must proceed from a good principle, a heart renewed by regenerating grace ; it must be agreeable to the rule which God has prescribed in the gospel, and be performed in a right man ner and for right ends. Thus a person may be said to be a perfect man, just as a new-born infant is denominated a man,, as having all the essential perfections of the human nature, though not arrived at that perfection, in other respects, to which it shall afterwards attain. Accordingly, grace, when described in scripture as perfect, is sometimes explained by a metaphorical allusion to a state of perfect manhood, in opposition to that of children. In this manner the apostle speaks of some, whom he represents as ' being of full age,' — where the same word is used 9 which is else where rendered ' perfect ;' and these he opposes to others whom he had been speak ing of as weak believers, or ' babes ' in Christ.1, Elsewhere also he speaks of the church, which he styles ' the body of Christ,' as arrived at a state of manhood, and so calls it ' a perfect man,' which had attained ' the measure of the stature of the ful ness of Christ ' — still alluding to that stature at which persons arrive when they are adult ; and these he opposes in the following words, to children, who, through the weakness of their faith, were liable to be ' tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.'8 Moreover, in other places where Christians are described as perfect, there is a word used which signifies their having that internal furniture whereby they are prepared or disposed to do what is good. Thus the apostle speaks of ' the man of God ' being ' perfect,' ' that is, ' throughly furnished unto all good works.'" Elsewhere also he prays for those to whom he writes, that God would ' make them perfect in,' or for, ' every good work,' to the end ' that they may do his will.'1 This is such a perfection as is necessary to our putting forth any act of grace ; and therefore does not in the least infer that perfection which they plead for whom we are now opposing. Indeed, they take occasion to defend their doctrine, not merely from the sense they give of those scriptures which speak of persons being perfect, — which they can not but suppose may be otherwise understood ; but the main thing from which they defend it is the opinion that God does not require sinless perfection of fallen man, inasmuch as that is impossible, — and that therefore he calls that perfection which includes our using those endeavours to lead a good life which are in our own power. This opinion is agreeable to the Pelagian scheme, and to that which the Papists maintain ; who make farther advances on the Pelagian hypothesis, and assert, not only that men may attain perfection in this life, but that they may arrive at such a degree of it as exceeds the demands of the law, and perform works of supereroga tion. This doctrine is calculated to establish that of justification by works. What may be alleged in opposition to it is, that it is disagreeable to the divine perfections, and a notorious making void of the law of God, to assert that our obligation to yield perfect obedience ceases, because we have lost our power to perform it ; as though a person's being insolvent, were a sufficient excuse for his not paying a just debt. We must distinguish between God's demanding perfect obedience as an outstanding debt, which is consistent with the glory of his holiness and sovereignty as a law giver ; and his determining that we shall not be saved, unless we perform it in our n Job i. I, compared with 8. o Chap. ix. 20. p Gen. vi. 9. q TiXuai. r Hfb. v. 13, i4. s Eph. iv. 13, 14. t AfriaS. u 2 Tim. iii. 17. x The word is xxTx^na-xr, which signifies to give them au internal disposition or fitness lor the peitoniiiince of the duties which they were to engage in. Heb. xiii. 21. 156 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. own persons. We also distinguish between his connecting a right to eternal life with our performing perfect obedience, as what he might justly insist on according to the tenor of the first covenant, as our Saviour tells the young man in the gospel, ' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments ;'* and his resolving that we shall not be saved, unless we are able to perform it. The gospel proposes another expedient, namely, that they who were obliged to yield perfect obedience, and ought to be humbled for their inability to perform it, should depend on Christ's righteous ness, which is the foundation of their right to eternal life ; in which respect they are said to be perfect or ' complete in him.'z This is the only just notion of. per-. fection, as attainable in this life. To conclude this Head, it is very unreasonable . for a person to suppose that God will abate some part of the debt of perfect obe- . dience, and so to call our performing those works which have many imperfections adhering to them, a state of perfection. To do this, is to make it an easier matter to be a Christian than God has made it. Thus concerning the thing supposed in this Answer, namely, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life. Why Believers are allowed to be Imperfect. But before we pass to another subject, we shall inquire why God does not bring this work to perfection at once ; which he could easily have done, and, as is cer tain, will do when he brings the soul to heaven. Now, let it be considered in gen eral, that it is not meet for us to say unto God, Why dost thou thus ? especially considering that this, as well as many of his other works, is designed to display the glory of his sovereignty ; which very eminently appears in the beginning, carrying on, and perfecting the work of grace. We may as well ask the reason, why he did not begin the work of sanctification sooner, or why he makes use of this or that instrument or means rather than another to effect it. These things are to be resolved into his own pleasure. But as it is evident that he does not bring this work to perfection in this world, we may adore his wisdom in this arrangement, as well as his sovereignty. 1. Hereby he gives his people occasion to exercise repentance and godly sorrow for their former sins committed before they were converted. Perfect holiness would admit of no occasion to bring past sins to remembrance ; but when we sin daily, and have daily need of the exercise of repentance and godly sorrow, we have occasion to entertain a more sensible view of past sins. When corrupt nature dis covers itself in those who are converted, they take occasion to consider how they have been transgressors from the womb. Thus David, when he repented of his sin in the matter of Uriah, at the same time that he aggravated the guilt of this crime as it justly deserved, he called to mind his former sins from his very infancy, and charged that guilt upon himself which he brought into the world : ' Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 'a And when Job considers God's afflictive providences towards him, as designed to bring sin to remembrance, and desires that he would ' make him to know his transgression and his sin ;' he adds, ' Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniqui ties of my youth. 'b Sins committed after conversion were brought to mind, and ordered as a means to humble him for those which were committed before it. As for sins committed before conversion, they cannot, till he who has committed them be converted, be said to be truly repented of ; for to say that they can would be to suppose the grace of repentance antecedent to conversion. Hence, if the work of sanctification were to be immediately brought to perfection, perfect holiness would here be as much attended with perfect happiness as it is in heaven, and consequently godly sorrow would be no more exercised on earth than it is there. But God, in or dering the gradual progress of the work of sanctification, attended with the remains of sin, gives occasion to many humbling reflections, tending to excite unfeigned repentance, not only for sins committed after they had experienced the grace of God, but for those great lengths they ran in sin before they tasted that the Lord was gracious. On this account, he does not bring the work of sanctification to perfection in this present world. y Matt. xix. 16. z Col. ii. 10. a Psal. li. 5. b Job xiii. 23, 26. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 157 2. Another reason of this dispensation of providence is, that believers, from their own experience of the breakings forth of corruption, together with the guilt they contract thereby, and the advantage they receive in gaining any victory over it, may be qualified to administer suitable advice and warning to those who are in a state of unregeneracy, that they may be persuaded to see the evil of sin, which at present they do not. 3. God farther orders this, that he may give occasion to his people to exercise a daily conflict with indwelling sin. He suffers it to give them great disturbance and uneasiness, that they may be induced to endeavour to mortify it, and be found in the exercise of such graces as are adapted to an imperfect state. These graces cannot be exercised in heaven ; nor could they be exercised on earth, were believers to be brought into a sinless state and remain in it while here ; particularly there could not be any acts of faith, in managing that conflict whereby they endeavour to stand their ground while exposed to the difficulties which arise from the per petual lustings of the flesh against the spirit. How the Imperfection of Sanctification is displayed. We are now led to inquire in what the imperfection of sanctification more especially discovers itself. This it does in the weakness of every grace which we are at any time enabled to act, and in the many failures we are chargeable with in the perfor mance of every duty incumbent upon us ; so that, as appears from what was said under a former Head concerning perfection as not attainable in this life, if an exact scrutiny were made into our best actions, and they weighed in the balance, they would be found very defective. But the imperfection of sanctification more parti cularly appears, as is observed in this Answer, from the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit. Thus the apostle speaks of ' the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,'0 and of the contrariety of the one to the other, ' so that we cannot do the things that we would ;' and he points himself out as an instance, when he says, ' I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing ; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. The good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do.'a This reluct&nce and opposition to what is good, he lays to the charge of sin which dwelt in him, which he considers as having, as it were, the force of a law. In par ticular, he styles it 'the law of his members warring against the law of his mind ;' which is the same thing as the lusting of the flesh against the spirit. It hence appears that, wheii God implants a principle of grace in regeneration, and carries on the work of sanctification in believers, he does not wholly destroy or root out those habits of sin which were formerly in the soul, but enables us to militate against and overcome them by his implanting and exciting a principle of grace. Hence arises this conflict which we are to consider. Indwelling sin is constantly opposing the principle of grace ; but it does not always prevail against it. The event or success of this combat is various, at dif ferent times. When corrupt nature prevails, the principle of grace, though not wholly extinguished, remains inactive, or does not exert itself as at other times. All grace becomes languid, and there appears but little difference between the be liever and an unbeliever. He falls into very great sins, whereby he wounds his own conscience, grieves the Holy Spirit, and makes sad work for a bitter repent ance, which will afterwards follow. But as the principle of spiritual life and grace is not wholly lost, it will some time or other be excited, and then will oppose the flesh or the corruption of nature, and maintain its ground against it ; and, as the result, those acts of grace will be again put forth which were before suspended. Having thus given an account of the conflict between indwelling sin and grace, we shall now more particularly show how the habits of sin exert themselves in those who are unregenerate, where there is no principle of grace to oppose them, and then how they exert themselves in believers, what opposition is made to them by the c Gal. v. 19. d Rom. vii. 18—23. 158 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. principle of grace in them, and how it comes to pass that sometimes the one prevails, and sometimes the other. 1. We shall consider those violent efforts which are made by corrupt nature, m those who are unregenerate. Though there is no principle of grace in such per sons to enable them to withstand these ; yet they, have a conflict in their own spirits. There is something in nature which, for a time, keeps them from comply ing with temptations to the greatest sins ; though the flesh, or that propensity which is in them to sin, will prevail at last, and lead them from one degree of im piety to another, unless prevented by the grace of God. Here the conflict is be tween corrupt nature and an enlightened conscience. This is the case more especially in those who have had the advantage of a religious education, and the good example of some whom they have conversed with,, whereby they have con tracted some habits of moral virtue which are not immediately extinguished. It is not an easy matter to persuade them to commit those gross and scandalous sins which others, whose minds are blinded, and whose hearts are hardened to a greater degree by the deceitfulness of sin, commit with greediness and without remorse. The principles of education are not immediately broken through ; for in this case men meet with a great struggle in their own breasts, before they entirely lose them ; and:they proceed, by various steps, from one degree of wickedness to an other.6 A breach is first made in the fence, and afterwards widened by a continu ance in the same sins, or by committing new ones, especially such as have in them a greater degree of presumption. The individual is hence disposed to comply with temptations to greater sins ; though it would be to no purpose to tempt him to be openly profane, blaspheme the name of God, or cast off all external forms of reli gion, and abandon himself to those immoralities which the most notoriously wicked and profligate sinners commit without shame, till he has paved the way to them by the commission of other sins which lead to them. That which at first prevents or restrains him from the commission of them, is something short of a principle of grace : we call it the dictates of natural conscience, which often checks and reproves him. His natural temper or disposition is not at present so far vitiated as to allow of anything which is openly vile and scandalous, or to incline him to pursue it.- He abhors it, and, as it were, trembles at the thought of it. Thus, when Hazael was told by the prophet Elisha of all the evil which he would do to the children of Israel, that he would ' set their strongholds on fire, slay their young men with the sword, dash their children, and' rip up their women with child,' he entertained the thought with a kind of abhorrence, and said, ' But what! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing ?'f Yet afterwards, when king of Syria, we find him of another mind ; for he was a greater scourge to the people of God than any of the neighbouring princes, and ' smote- them in all the coasts of Israel. 's Now, that which prevents these greater sins is generally fear or shame. Men's consciences terrify them with the thoughts of the wrath of God to which they would expose themselves by committing them ; or they are apprehensive that such a course of life would blast their reputation amongst men, and be altogether inconsistent with that form of godliness which they have had a liking to from their childhood. But as these restraints do not proceed from the internal and powerful influence of regenerating grace, being excited by lower motives than those which the Spirit of God suggests in those who are converted, ~— as natural conscience is the main , restraint, corrupt nature first endeavours to counteract its dictates, and by degrees gets the mastery over them. When, con science reproves the transgressors, they first offer a bribe to it by performing some moral duties to silence its accusations for presumptuous sins, and pretend that their crime falls short of those committed by many others. At other times, they com plain of its being too strict in its demands of duty, or severe in its reproofs for sin. If all this will not prevail against it, and if it still perform the office of a faithful reprover, the sinner resolves to stop his ears against convictions. If even this will e It is a true observation which some have laid down in this known aphorism, ' Nemo repente fit turpissimus. .. r ' .spciiw, f 2 Kings viii. 12, 13. U Cnap. A. 32. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 159 not altogether prevent his being made uneasy, he betakes himself to those diversions which may give another turn to his thoughts ; he will not allow himself time for serious reflection ; he associates with those whose conversation will effectually tend to extinguish all his former impressions of moral virtue. By this means he at last stupifies his conscience, so that it becomes, as the apostle expresses it, ' seared with a hot iron ;'h and so he gets, as I may express it, a fatal victory over himself, and henceforth meets with no reluctance or opposition in his own breast, while, ' being past feeling, he gives himself over unto lasciviousness, to work uncleanness ' and all manner of ' iniquity with greediness.'1 2. We are now led to consider the conflict which is between the flesh and the spirit in those in whom the work of sanctification is begun. Here we shall first observe the lustings of the flesh ; and then the opposition it meets with from the principle of grace implanted and excited in them, which is called the lusting of the spirit against it. Now, as to corrupt nature exerting itself in believers to prevent the actings of grace, what gives occasion to it is the Spirit's withdrawing his powerful influences ; which, when the soul is, favoured with them, have a tendency to prevent those pernicious conse quences which otherwise ensue. God withdraws these powerful influences some times in a way of sovereignty, to show the believer that it is not in his own power to avoid sin when he will, or that he cannot, without the aids of divine grace, with stand those temptations which are offered to him to commit it. Or God withdraws these influences with a design to let him know what is in his heart, to give him occasion to humble him for past sins or present miscarriages, and to make him more watchful for the future. — Again, there are some things which present them selves in an objective way, which are as so many snares laid to entangle him. Cor rupt nature makes a bad improvement of these ; so that his natural constitution is more and more vitiated by giving way to sin, and defiled by the remains of sin which dwelleth in him. The temptation is generally adapted to the corrupt inclination of his nature, and Satan has a hand in it. Thus, if his natural temper incline him to be proud or ambitious, immediately the honours and applause of the world are presented to him ; and he never wants examples of those who, in an unlawful way, have gained a great measure of esteem in the world, and made themselves consi derable in the stations in whioh they have been placed. If he is naturally addicted to pleasures, of what kind soever they be, something is offered which is agreeable to corrupt nature, and which seems delightful to it, though it is in itself sinful. If he is more than ordinarily, addicted to covetousness, the profits and advantages of the world are presented as a bait to corrupt nature, and groundless fears are raised in him of being reduced to poverty, which, by an immoderate pursuit after the world, he is tempted to guard against. If his natural constitution inclines him to resent injuries, Satan has always. his instruments ready at hand to stir up his corruption and provoke him to wrath, by offering either real or supposed injuries ; magnifying the fprmer beyond their due bounds, or inferring the latter without duly consider ing the design of those whose innocent behaviour sometimes gives occasion to them, and, at the same time, overcharging his thoughts with them as though no expedient could be found to atone for them. If his natural constitution inclines him to sloth and inactivity, the difficulties of religion are set before him to discourage him from the exercise of that diligence which is necessary to surmount them. If, on the other hand, his natural temper leads him to be courageous and resolute, corrupt nature endeavours to make him self-confident, and thereby to weaken his trust in God. Or if he is naturally inclined to fear, something is offered to him which may tend to his discouragement, and to sink him into despair. These are the methods used by the flesh, when lusting against the spirit. Let us next consider the opposition of the spirit to the flesh, or how the principle of grace in believers inclines them to make a stand against indwelling sin, which is called the lusting of the spirit against the flesh. The grace of God, when wrought in the heart in regeneration, is not an inactive principle ; for it soon exerts itself, being excited by the power of the Spirit, who implanted it. There henceforth is, or ought to be, a constant opposition made by it to corrupt nature. This is the h 1 Tim. iv. 2. i Eph. iv. 19. 160 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. case, not only as the believer, with unfeigned repentance, mourns on account of corrupt nature, and exercises that self-abhorrence which the too great prevalence of it calls for ; but as it leads him to implore help from God against it, by whose assistance he endeavours to subdue the corrupt motions of the flesh, or, as the apostle expresses it, to 'mortify the deeds of the body,'k that, in consequence, they may not be entertained, or prove injurious and destructive to him. Moreover, as there is something objective, as well as subjective, in this work, since the power of God never excites the principle of grace without presenting objects for it to be con versant about ; so there are several things suggested to the soul which, if duly weighed and improved, are a means conducive to its being preserved from a com pliance with the corrupt motions of indwelling sin. These are of a superior nature to those made use of by an enlightened conscience, in unregenerate persons, to prevent their committing the vilest abominations. Indeed, they are such — espe cially some of them — as, from the nature of the thing, can be used by none but those in whom the work of grace is begun. Accordingly, a believer considers not only the glorious excellencies and perfections of Christ, which he is now duly sen sible of, as he is said to be precious to them that believe ; but he is also affected with the manifold engagements which he has been laid under to love him, and to hate and oppose every thing which is contrary to his glory and interest. The love of Christ constraineth him ; and therefore he abhors the thoughts of being so un grateful and disingenuous as he would appear to be, should he fulfil the lusts of the flesh. The sense of redeeming love and grace is deeply impressed on his soul. He calls to mind how he has been quickened, effectually called, and brought into the way of peace and holiness ; and therefore cannot entertain any thoughts of relaps ing or returning again to folly. Here he considers the great advantage which he has received ; which he would not lose on any terms. The delight which he has had in the ways of God and godliness, has been so great, that corrupt nature can not produce any thing which may be an equivalent for the loss of it. He is very sensible that the more closely he has walked with God, the more comfortably he has walked. Besides, he looks forward, and, by faith, takes a view of the blessed Issue of the life of grace, or of those reserves of glory which are laid up for him in another world ; and he is, in consequence, inclined to cast the utmost contempt on every thing which has the least tendency to induce him to relinquish or abandon his interest in them. — Again, he considers and improves the bright examples which are set before him to encourage him to go on in the way of holiness ; takes Christ himself for a pattern, endeavouring, so far as he is able, to follow him ; walks as they have done who have not only stood their ground, but come off victorious in the conflict, and are reaping the blessed fruits and effects of victory. He also con siders as an inducement to him to oppose the corrupt motions of the flesh, that he has by faith, as his own act and deed, in the most solemn manner, given up himself to Christ entirely, and without reserve, and professed his obligation to obey him in all things, and to avoid whatever has a tendency to displease him. He hence reckons that he is not his own, or at his own disposal, but Christ's, whose he is, by a double right, not only as purchased by him, but as devoted and consecrated to him. He therefore says with the apostle, ' How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?'1 He communes with himself to this effect: 'I have given up my name to Christ ; and I have not, since doing so, seen the least reason to repent of what I did. I have not found the least iniquity in him, neither has he ibeen a hard master; but, on the other hand, he has expressed the greatest tenderness and compassion to me ; and to his grace alone it is owing that I am what I am. Shall I, then, abandon his interest, or prove a deserter at last, and turn aside into the enemy's camp? Is there any thing which can be proposed as a sufficient motive for my doing so?' Such thoughts as these, through the prevail ing influence of the principle of grace implanted and excited by the Spirit, are an effectual means to keep him from a sinful compliance with the motions of the flesh, and to excite him to make the greatest resistance against them. We have thus considered the opposition which there is between the flesh and the k Rom. viii. 13. 1 Chap. vi. 2. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 161 spirit, and how each of these prevails by turns. We might now observe the con sequence of the victory obtained on either side. When grace prevails, all things tend to promote our spiritual peace and joy ; and we are fortified against tempta tions, and not only enabled to stand our ground, but made more than conquerors through him that loved us. But it is not always so with a believer. He some times finds that corrupt nature prevails ; and then many sad consequences follow, which not only occasion the loss of the peace and joy which he had before, but ex pose him to many troubles which render his life very uncomfortable. The Consequences of the Prevailing Power of Indwelling Sin. We are thus led to consider what are the consequences of the prevailing power of indwelling sin. When the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and God is pleased to withhold his grace, the soul is subjected to many evils. These are mentioned in the remaining part of this Answer. 1. A believer is foiled with temptation. Satan, by this means, gains ground against him, and pursues the victory which the flesh has obtained against the spirit. His conflicts are now doubled, arising, as the apostle expresses it, not only from ' flesh and blood, ' but from ' the rulers of the darkness of this world. 'm His difficulties increase upon him ; his enemies are more insulting, and he less able to stand his ground against them ; his faith is weakened, and his fears are increasing, so that he is perpetually, subject to bondage. Sometimes he is inclined to think that he shall one day fall, and that whatever he formerly thought he had gained will be lost by the assaults of his spiritual enemies. At other times he is disposed to question whether ever he had the truth of grace or not. In this case his spirit must needs be filled with the greatest perplexity, and almost overwhelmed within him. He is destitute of that boldness or liberty of access to the throne of grace, and that comfortable sense of his interest in Christ, which once he had ; and he finds it very difficult to recover those lively frames which he has lost, or to stand his ground against the great opposition made by corrupt nature, which still in creases as faith grows weaker. 2. Another consequence of the power of indwelling sin, is the believer's fall ing into many sins. We are not to suppose, indeed, that he shall be so far left as to fall into a state of unregeneracy, or lose the principle of grace which was implanted in regeneration. Yet when this principle does not exert itself, and cor rupt nature, on the other hand, is prevalent, it is hard to say how far he will run into the commission of known and wilful sins. As for sins of infirmity, they can not be avoided, when we are in the best frame. But in this case we shall find a person committing presumptuous sins, so that if we were to judge of his state by his present frames, without considering the former experiences which he had of the grace of God, we should be ready to question whether his heart were right with God. Sins of omission generally follow. He cannot draw nigh to God with that frame of spirit which he once had, and therefore is ready to say, ' What profit should I have if I pray unto him?'n and sometimes concludes that he contracts guilt by attempting to engage in holy duties. We may add, as is farther observed in this Answer, that he is hindered in all his spiritual services. Thus the apostle says, ' When I would do good, evil is present with me.'0 He finds his heart disposed to wander from God, and his thoughts taken up with vanity. On this account it may be truly said, that his best works are not only imperfect, but defiled in the sight of God, who searcheth the heart, and observes the various steps by which it treach erously departs from him. Nor can the believer find any way to recover himself till God is pleased to revive his work, take away the guilt which he has contracted, recover him out of the snare into which he has fallen, and so cause the work 01 grace again to flourish in the soul as it once did. Practical Inferences from the Imperfect State of Believers. We shall conclude with some inferences from what has been said concerning the m Eph. vi. 12. n Job xxi. 15. o Rom. vii. 21. II. X 162 THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. imperfection of sanctification in believers, together with the reasons and conse quences of it. 1. Since sinless perfection is not attainable in this life, we should take occasion to give a check to our censorious thoughts concerning persons or things, so as not to determine persons to be in an unconverted state, because they are chargeable with many sinful infirmities, which are not inconsistent with the truth of grace. Some abatements are to be made for their being sanctified but in part, and having the remnants of sin in them. Indeed, the greatest degree of grace which can be attained here, comes far short of that which the saints have arrived at in heaven. Accordingly, the difference between a believer and an unregenerate sinner does not consist in the one being perfect and the other imperfect ; for when we consider the brightest characters given of any inscripture, their blemishes as well as their graces are recorded, so that none but our Saviour could challenge the world to convict or reprove them of sin. The apostle speaks of Elias, as 'a man subject to like passions as we are ;'p and he might have spoken similarly of many others. Hence, when we are sensible of our own imperfections, we ought to inquire whether the spots we find in ourselves are like the spots of God's children ? or whether our infirmities may he reckoned consistent with the truth of grace ? Should we be able to draw a favour able conclusion, then, though it affords matter for humiliation that we are liable to any sinful failures or defects, it will be some encouragement to us, and matter of thanksgiving to God, that notwithstanding this our hearts are right with him. That we may be, in some measure, satisfied as to this matter, we must distin guish between a person's being tempted to the greatest sins which are inconsistent with the truth of grace, and his complying with the temptation. A temptation of this kind may offer itself ; and, at the same time, grace may exert itself in an eminent degree, by the opposition which it makes to it, whether it arises from' indwelling sin or from Satan. — Again, when we read of some sins which are incon sistent with the truth of grace, such as those which the apostle speaks of, when he says that ' neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God, '* and elsewhere, that ' the fearful and unbelieving,' as well as those who are guilty of other notorious crimes, shall ' have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, ' r we must distinguish between those who are guilty of these sins in a less degree than what is intended, when they are said to exclude from the kingdom of heaven ; and others who are guilty of them, in a notorious degree, with greater aggravations. Thus unbeliev ing fears in those who are called to suffer for Christ's sake, if they do not issue in a denial of him, are not altogether inconsistent with the truth of grace, though they render a person guilty before God. The least degree of oovetousness, in the same way, though it is not to be excused, does not exclude from the kingdom of hea ven ; but the prevailing love of the world, or the immoderate pursuit of it in those who use unlawful means to attain it, or have a rooted habitual desire after it more than after Christ, or put it in his room, is to be reckoned a mark of unregen eracy. — Further, we must distinguish between sinful infirmities, and allowed in firmities, or those who sin through surprise, being assaulted by an unforeseen tempta tion, when not on their guard, and those who commit the same sin with deliberation. The latter gives greater ground to fear that a person is in a state of unregeneracy than the former. — We must also distinguish between sins committed and repented of, with that degree of godly sorrow which is proportioned to their respective aggra vations;; and the same sins committed and continued in with impenitency. The latter gives .ground to conclude that a person is in an unconverted state, though not the former. The difference arises not merely from the nature of the crimes, for we suppose the sins in themselves to be the same ; but from other evidenoes which a person has or has not of his being in a state of grace. 2. From what has been said concerning the opposition which there is between natural conscience and corrupt nature in the unregenerate, we may infer that it is a great blessing to have a religious education, as it has a tendency to prevent many p James v. 17. q i Cor. vi. 9, 10. r Rev. xxi. 8. THE IMPERFECTION OF SANCTIFICATION. 163 enormities which others who are destitute of it run into. They who have had this privilege ought to bless God for it, and make a right improvement of it. But as those principles which take their rise from it are liable, unless the grace of God prevent, to be overcome and lost ; let us press after something more than this, and be importunate with God, whose providence has favoured us thus far, that he would give us a better preservative against sin, or that its prevailing power may be pre vented by converting grace. 3. From the opposition which corrupt nature makes in believers to the work of grace, we may infer that the standing of the best of men, or their not being charge able with the greatest sins, is owing not so much to themselves as to the grace of God, by which we are what we are ; that therefore the glory of our being pre served from such sins belongs entirely to him ; that we have reason, when we are praying against our spiritual enemies, to beg that God would deliver us from the greatest of them, namely, ourselves ; and that he who has a sovereignty over the hearts of all men, and can govern and sanctify their natural tempers and disposi tions, would keep us from being drawn away by these ; and that we ought to walk watchfully, and be always on our guard, depending on the grace of God for help, that indwelling sin may not so far prevail as to turn aside and alienate our affections from him. 4. From what has been said concerning the flesh and the spirit prevailing by turns, we infer the uncertainty of the frame of our spirits, and what changes we are liable to, with respect to the actings of grace or the comforts which result from it. This somewhat resemhles the state of man as subject to various changes with respect to the dispensations of providence ; sometimes lifted up, at other times cast down, and not abiding long in the same condition. Thus we are enabled at some times to gain advantage over indwelling sin, and enjoy the comforts which arise thence ; at other times, when the flesh prevails, the acts of grace are interrupted, and its comforts almost, if not entirely, lost. What reason have we, therefore, to bless God that, though our graces are far from being brought to perfection, and our frames so various, yet he has given us ground to conclude that grace shall not wholly be lost, and that our state, as we are justified, is not liable to the same uncertainty, so that that which interrupts the progress of sanctification does not bring us into an unjustified state, or render us liable to condemnation ? 5. From the inconveniences we sustain by the flesh prevailing against the spirit, as we are foiled by temptation, fall into sins, and are hindered in spiritual services, we infer the great hurt which sin does to those who are in a justified and sanctified state, as well as to those who are under the dominion of it. It is hence a vile and unwarrantable way of speaking to say, as some do, that because nothing shall sepa rate them from the love of Christ, or bring those who are justified back again into an unjustified state, therefore sin can do them no hurt; as though all the consequences of the prevalency of corrupt nature, and the dishonour we bring to God, and the guilt we contract, could hardly be reckoned prejudicial. This is such a way of speaking as confutes itself in the opinion of all judicious and sober Christians. — Again, we might infer from the consequences of the prevalence of corruption, as we are liable hereby to be discouraged from duty or hindered in the performance of it, that we ought, if we find it thus with us, to take occasion to inquire whether some secret sin be not indulged and entertained by us, which gives occasion to the prevalence of corrupt nature, and for which we ought to be humbled. Or if we have lived in the omission of those duties which are incumbent on us, or have pro voked God to leave us to ourselves, and so have had a hand in our present evils, we have occasion for great humiliation. And we ought to be very importunate with God for restoring grace, not only that our faith may not fail, but that we may be recovered out of the snare in which we are entangled, and may be brought off victorious over all our spiritual enemies. 164 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. Question LXX1X. May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many tempta tions and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state ofgracj f Answer. True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and cove nant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his continual intercession for them, and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. General View of the Doctrine of Perseverance. It is natural for persons, when they enjoy any blessing, to be solicitous about their retaining it ; otherwise the pleasure which arises from it, if it is likely to be short and transitory, is rather an amusement than a solid and substantial happiness. The same may be said of those graces and privileges which believers are made par takers of, as the fruits and effects of the death of Christ. These are undoubtedly the most valuable blessings. It hence highly concerns us to inquire whether we may assuredly conclude that we shall not lose them, and so fail of that future bless edness which we have had so delightful a prospect of. The saints' perseverance has been denied not only by many since the Reformation, and, in particular, by Papists, Socinians, and Remonstrants, but also by the Pela gians of old, and by all those whose sentiments bear some affinity to their scheme, or are derived from it. Indeed, when persons endeavour to establish the doctrines of conditional election, universal redemption, &c. ; or when they explain the na ture of human liberty so as to make the grace of God to be dependent on it for its efficacy in the beginning and carrying on of the work of conversion and sanctification ; and accordingly assert, that the will has an equal power to determine itself to good or evil, — that the grace of God affords no other assistance to promote the one or guard against the other than what is objective, or, at least, than by supporting our na tural faculties, — and, if there be any divine concourse, that it consists only in what respects the external dispensations of providence, as a remote means conducive to the end, the event depending on our own conduct or disposition to improve these means ; I say, when persons maintain these and similar doctrines, it is not to be wondered if we find them pleading for the possibility of a believer's falling totally and finally from the grace of God. They who have brought themselves into a state of grace, may apostatize or fall from it. If a man's free-will first inclined itself to exercise those graces which we call special, such as faith, repentance, love to God, &c, it follows that he may lose them and relapse to the contrary vices, and may plunge himself into the same depths of sin and misery whence he had escaped. Accord ing to this scheme, there may be, in the course of our lives, a great many instances of defection lrom the grace of God, and recovery to it, and finally, a drawing back unto perdition. Or if a person be so happy as to recover himself out of his last apostacy before he leaves the world, he is saved ; otherwise, he finally perishes. This is a doctrine which some defend ; but the contrary to it we shall endeavour to maintain, as being the subject insisted on in this Answer. But before we proceed to the defence of it, it may not be amiss to premise some thing which may have, at least, a remote tendency to dispose us to receive convic tion from the arguments which may be brought to prove it. We may consider that the contrary side of the question is in itself less desirable, if it could be de fended. It is certain that the doctrine of the possibility of the saints falling from grace, tends very much to abate that delight and comfort which the believer has 1 v, i 6 f°1'e~views oi' the issue and event 0I bis present state. It is a very melan choly thought to consider that he who has now advanced to the very borders of heaven, may be cast down into heU ; that though he has at present an interest in tne special and discriminating love of God, he may afterwards become the object ot nis natred, so as never to behold his face with joy in a future world ; that, though ins leet are set upon a rock, his goings are not established ; that, though he is walk ing in a plain and safe path, he may be ensnared, entangled, and fall, so as never to rise agam ; that though God is his friend, he may suffer him to fall into the PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. IOO hands of his enemies, and be in consequence ruined and undone, as though his own glory were not concerned in his coming off victorious over them, or connected with the salvation of his people. Hence, as this doctrine renders the state of believ ers very precarious and uncertain, it tends effectually to damp their joys, and blast their expectations, and subject them to perpetual bondage ; and it is a great hin- derance to their offering praise and thanksgiving to God, whose grace is not so much magnified towards them as it would be, had they ground to conclude that the work which is now begun should certainly be brought to perfection. On the other hand, the doctrine which we are to maintain is in itself so very comfortable that, if we were at present in suspense concerning its truth, we cannot but desire that it may appear to be agreeable to the mind of God. It is certainly a very delightful thing for us to be assured, that what is at present well, shall end well ; that they who are brought to believe in Christ, shall for ever abide with him ; and that the work of grace which, at present, affords so fair and pleasing a prospect of its being at last perfected in glory, shall not miscarry. This will have a tendency to enhance our joy in proportion to the ground we have to conclude that the work is true and gen uine ; and it will excite our thankfulness to God, when we consider that he who is the author will also be the finisher of faith. It is certain, therefore, that this doc trine deserves confirmation. We shall endeavour to establish our faith in it according to the following method : — First, we shall consider what we are to understand by persevering in grace, or falling from it. Secondly, we shall prove that the best believers would certainly fall from grace, were they left to themselves ; so that their perseverance in grace is principally to be ascribed to the power of God, which keeps them through faith unto salvation. Thirdly, we shall consider what ground we have to conclude that the saints shall persevere in grace ; and so explain and illustrate the several argu ments insisted on in this Answer, and add some others taken from several scrip tures by which this doctrine may be defended. Lastly, we shall endeavour to an swer some objections which are generally brought against it. Explanation of the Doctrine of Perseverance. We shall consider what we are to understand by persevering in grace, or falling from it. 1. When we speak of a person as persevering in grace, we suppose that he has the truth of grace. We do not mean that a person may not fall away from a pro fession of faith ; or that no one can lose that which we generally call common grace, wljich, in many things, bears a resemblance to that which is saving. ' We have already shown that there is a temporary faith whereby persons appear religious while their doing so comports with their secular interests ; but when they are called by reason of persecution or tribulation, which may arise for the sake of the gospel, to forego their worldly interests, or quit their pretensions to religion, they fall away, or lose that grace which, as the evangelist says,8 they ' seemed to have.' We read of some whose hope of salvation is like the spider's web, or the giving up of the ghost ; but these are described not as true believers, but as hypocrites. It is beyond dispute that such may apostatize, and not only lay aside the external practice of some religious duties, but deny and oppose the doctrines of the gospel, which they once assented to the truth of. 2. It is certain that true believers may fall into very great sins ; but yet they shall be recovered and brought again to repentance. We must distinguish, there fore, between their dishonouring Christ, disobeying his commands, and thereby provoking him to be angry with them ; and their falling away totally from him. We formerly considered, when we proved that perfection is not attainable in this life, that the best men are sometimes chargeable with great failings and defects. Indeed, sometimes their sins are very heinously aggravated, their conversation in the mean while discovering that they are destitute of the actings of grace, and that to such a degree that they can hardly be distinguished from those who are in » Luke viii. 18. 1C6 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. an unregenerate state. It is hence one thing for a believer not to be able to put forth those acts of grace which he once did ; and another thing for him to lose the principle of grace. It would be a very preposterous thing to say, that, when David sinned in the matter of Uriah, the principle of grace exerted itself ; yet it was not wholly lost. It is not the same in this case as in the more common instances of the saints' in firmities, which they are daily chargeable with, and in which the conflict which there is between the flesh and the spirit appears ; for when corrupt' nature exerts itself to such a degree as to lead persons to the commission of deliberate and pre sumptuous sins, they hardly appear at the time to be believers. Yet if we com pare what they were before they fell, with what they shall be when brought to re pentance, we may conclude that they did not, by their fall, bring themselves alto gether into a state of unregeneracy. 3. It is beyond dispute that, as a believer may be destitute of the acts of grace, so he may lose the comforts of it, and sink into the depths of despair. Of this we have several instances recorded in scripture, which correspond with the experiences of many in our day. Thus the psalmist at one time says, that he was 'cast down,' and 'his soul disquieted within him.'4 At another time he says, ' The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.' Elsewhere also he complains, ' Will the Lord cast off for ever ? will he be favourable no more ? is his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth his promise fail for evermore ? hath God forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?'u Again, a believer is represented as being altogether destitute of a comfortable sense of the divine love, when complaining, ' Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead ? Shall the dead arise and praise thee ? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Thy fierce wrath goeth over me, thy terrors have cut me off.'1 It is certain, too, that when at any time he falls into very great sins, which seem in consistent with a state of grace, he has no present evidence that he is a believer, and is never favoured with a comfortable sense of his interest in Christ. Nor is the joy of God's salvation restored to him, till he is brought unfeignedly to repent of his sin. Former experiences will not evince the truth of grace, while he remains impenitent. It is a bad sign when any one, who formerly appeared to have the truth of grace, but is now fallen into great sins, thinks himself to be in a state of grace, without the exercise of true repentance ; for his thinking so can be deemed little better than presumption. Yet God, whose mercy is infinitely above our deserts, will, in the end, recover him ; though, at present, he does not look like one of his children. 4. There are some who suppose that a believer may totally, though not finally, fall from grace. They hold this opinion because they conclude, as they have suffi cient warrant to do from scripture, that believers shall not fall finally, inasmuch as the purpose of God concerning election must stand ; and that if they had not been chosen to salvation they would never have been brought into a state of grace. They suppose that persons, before they fell, were in a state of sanctification, and thus were partakers of a blessing which is inseparably connected with salvation. Hence, though they consider them, in their present state, as having lost the grace of sanc tification, and so to have fallen totally ; yet they believe that they shall be re covered, and therefore not fall finally. Sanctification is Christ's purchase ; and where grace is purchased for any one, a price of redemption is paid for his deliver ance from condemnation ; and consequently he shall be recovered and saved at last, though, at present, he is, according to their opinion, totally fallen. These suppose that, not only the acts of grace, but the very principle and the reason of it may be lost, because they cannot see how great and notorious sins, such as those committed by David, Peter, Solomon, and some others, can consist with a principle ot grace. This opinion indeed cuts the knot of some difficulties which seem to attend the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, though falling into great sins. I tnint it may easily be proved, however, and we shall endeavour to do so, that be- t Psal. xiii. 5. and cxvi. 3 u Psal. ,xxvii. 7_o, x psal> ^^ 6> ^ PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 167 lievers shall be preserved from a total as well as from a final apostasy ; or that, when they fall into great sins, they do not lose the principle of grace, though it be at the time inactive. This we shall take occasion to insist on more particularly under a following Head, when we consider the argument mentioned in this Answer for the proof of the doctrine of perseverance taken from the Spirit and seed of God abiding in a believer, as tb#t which preserves him from a total as well as a final apostasy. Persev>.erqm^ ike. result of the Divine Power and Will. We shall now consider that the best believers would certainly fall from grace, were they left to themselves ; so that their perseverance in grace is principally to be ascribed to the power of God, which keeps them through faith unto salvation. This is particularly observed in this Answer ; which lays down several arguments to prove the doctrine of the saints' perseverance in grace, and supposes that perse verance to be founded on God's power and will to maintain it. God is styled ' the preserver of men,'y inasmuch as he upholds all things by the word of his power, so that independency on him is inconsistent with the idea of our being creatures ; and ¦yre have no less ground to conclude that his power maintains the new creature, or that grace which took its rise from him. Should he fail or forsake us, we could not put forth the least act of grace, much less persevere in grace. When man at first came oi*t of the hands of God, he was endowed with, a greater ability to stand than any one, excepting our Saviour, has been favoured with since sin entered into the world ; yet he apostatized, not from any necessity of nature, but by adhering to that temptation which he might have withstood.. Then how unable is he to Stand in his present state, having become weak, and, though brought into a state of grace, having been renewed and sanctified only in part, and having still the re mains of corruption, which maintain a constant opposition to the principle of grace? Our perseverance in grace, therefore, cannot be owing to ourselves. Accordingly, the apostle ascribes it to a divine hand, when he says, ' we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. 'z A late celebrated writer, on the other side of the question,* attempts to evade the force of this argument to prove the doctrine of perseverance, though, I think, without much strength of reasoning. He says that all who are preserved to salva tion are kept by the power of God, but not that all believers are so kept. We re ply, that all believers whose character answers that of the church to which the apos tle writes, shall be saved, namely, all who are ' begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them ;' whose ' faith,' after it has been tried! shall be ' found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 'b I say, these shall certainly be saved ; and if all who are thus pre served to salvation are kept by the power of God, every thing is conceded which we contend for. But the writer referred to adds, that when they are said to be kept through faith, the meaning is, they are kept jf they continue in the faith. Nqw, their continuance in the faith was put out of all dispute, by what is said con cerning them in the words going before and following, as now referred to, Besides, the writer's argument amounts to no more than this ; they shall be kept by the power of God, if they keep themselves ; or they shall persevere if they persevere. To this argument I need make no reply. But as our main design in this Head is not to prove that believers shall perse- vei'e, a point which we reserve to our next, but to show that whatever we assert concerning their perseverance takes its rise from God ; we shall consider this as plainly contained in scripture. Thus the apostle Paul speaks of the Lord's 'deliv ering him from every evil work, and preserving him tp his heavenly kingdom.'0 The apostle Jude speaks of believers as ' sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called,' or as being first called, and the.n preserved by God the y Job vii. 20. z I Pet. i. 5. a See Whitby's discourse, &c. d. 463. b 1 Pet. i. 3, 4, 7. c 2 Tim. iv. 18. Jude verse 1. ' v 1G8 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. Father, through the intervention of Christ, our great Mediator, tiU they are brought to glory And our Saviour, in his affectionate prayer for his church, a little before he left the world, says, ' Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me.'u These words not only prove that the perseverance of the saints is owing to God, but that the glory of his own name is concerned in it ; so that it is not from ourselves, but from him. There is also a scripture in which our Saviour speaks of the perseverance of his ' sheep ' in grace, and of his giving them eternal life ; and he adds, ' They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of mv hand.'6 It is owing, therefore, to his care, as the great Shepherd of the sheep, and to his power, which is superior to that of all those who attempt to destroy them, that they shall persevere in grace. > Proofs of the Doctrine of Perseverance. We shall now consider what ground we have to conclude that the saints shall persevere in grace, and so explain and illustrate the arguments insisted on in this Answer, together with some others which may be taken from the sense of several scriptures, by which this doctrine may be defended. 1. The saints' perseverance in grace may be proved from the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and purpose, relating to their salvation, in which it is dis covered and executed. That God loved them with a love of good-will, before they were inclined to express any love to him, is evident ; because their love to him ia assigned as the effect and consequence of his love to them, as the apostle says, 'We love him because he first loved us.'f The love of God to his people, there fore, must be considered as an immanent act ; whence it follows, that it was from eternity, since all God's immanent acts are eternal. This is particularly expressed by the prophet when he says, ' The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.'s Were this language meant of a love that shall never have an end, it would plainly prove the doctrine we are defend ing ; but as the words which immediately follow, ' Therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee,' seem to intimate that the love is that which was from everlasting, his drawing them or bringing them into a converted state being the result of it, it fol lows that this everlasting love is the same as his eternal purpose or design to save them. Now, if there be such an eternal purpose relating to their salvation, it neces sarily infers their perseverance ; and that there was such a design in God was proved under a former Answer.h Besides, they who are the objects of this eternal purpose of grace are frequently described in scripture as believers, inasmuch as faith and salvation are inseparably connected together. Hence, the execution of God's purpose in giving faith, necessarily infers the execution of it in saving those who believe. That the purpose of grace is unchangeable, was formerly proved ; ' and may be farther argued from what the apostle says concerning ' the immutability of his counsel,' shown to ' the heirs of promise,' as the ground of that 'strong consola tion ' which they have ' who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them.'k Now, if God cannot change his purpose relating to the salvation of believers, it necessarily follows that they shall certainly attain salvation, and conse quently shall persevere in grace. It will be objected that, though God may be said to love his people while they retain their integrity, yet they may provoke him by their sins to cast them off; so that the present exercise of divine love to them is no certain argument that it shall be extended to the end, or that, by virtue of it, he will enable them to persevere, and then bring them to glory. Now, we do not deny that believers, by their sins, may so far provoke God, that, if he should mark their iniquities, or deal with them according to the demerit of them, he would cast them off for ever. Still he will not fVnmthpitT8!6 ^.dolng i* »ould be inconsistent with his purpose to recover them Horn their backshdmgs, and forgive their iniquities. Moreover, it cannot be denied il t'n*,"" e ChaP- x' 28' f 1 John iv. 19. e Jer xxxi * polsof ^ctit 'u,Xg, I SeB S-e-Ct- 'The Eternity- Wisd°m Unchangeablengess of th"pur. k H u vi 17 18 Q eSt" X"' XU1' and Sect' ' The immutability of God,' under Quest, ix i xi PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 169 that, notwithstanding God's eternal love to them, there are many instances of his hatred and displeasure expressed in the external dispensations of his providence, which are as often changed as their conduct towards him is changed. But this fact does not infer a change in God's purpose. He may testify his displeasure against them, or, as the psalmist expresses it, ' visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes ;M and yet he cannot change his resolution to save them, but will, by some methods of grace, recover them from their backslidings, and enable them to persevere in grace, since ' his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.' 2. Another argument to prove the saints' perseverance, may be taken from the covenant of grace, and the many promises respecting their salvation which are con tained in it. That this may appear, let it be considered that, as was observed un der a former Answer,™ Christ was appointed to be the head of this covenant. Accordingly, there was an eternal transaction between the Father and him, in which all things relating to the everlasting salvation of the elect, whom he therein represented, were stipulated in their behalf. In this covenant, God the Father pro mised, not only that Christ should 'have a seed to serve him,'n but that he 'should see his seed,' that 'the pleasure of the Lord,' with relation to them, 'should pros per in his hand,' and that he should ' see of the travail of his soul, and be satis fied, '° which implies that he should see the fruits and effects of all that he had done and suffered for them in order to their salvation. Nor is this said respecting some of them, but respecting all ; and it could not have had its accomplishment, were it possible for them not to persevere in grace. Again, in this covenant Christ has undertaken to keep them, as the result of his becoming a surety for them ; in doing which, he not only engaged to pay the debt of obedience and sufferings which was due from them, which he has already done, but tKat he would work all that grace in them which he purchased by his blood. Now, he has already begun this work in them ; though it is not yet ac complished. Can we suppose, then, that he will not bring it to perfection, or that he will not enable them to endure to the end, that they may be saved ? This would argue the greatest unfaithfulness in him, who is styled ' faithful and true.' Moreover, as there are engagements on Christ's part relating to this matter, and as, in pursuance of these, they are said to be in his hand ; so the Father has given them an additional security, that they shall be preserved from apostacy. They are hence said to be also 'in his hand,' whence 'none can pluck them out ;' and it is thence argued that' ' they shall? never perish.'? We may observe, too, that the life which Christ is said to give them is not only the beginning of life, in the first grace which they are made partakers of in conversion, but is called ' eternal life,' which certainly denotes the completing of the work of grace in their everlasting salvation. Further, the promises contained in the covenant of grace, relate not only to their sanctification here, but to their salvation hereafter. On this account it is called ' an everlasting covenant, ' and the mercies of it, ' the sure mercies of David ; 'i that is, either those mercies which David, who had an interest in this covenant, was given to expect, or mercies which Christ had engaged to purchase and bestow, who is here, as elsewhere,1, called David, inasmuch as David was an eminent type of him, as well as because he was his seed according to the flesh. That the latter is the more probable sense of the two, appears from the following words, in which he is said to be 'given for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.' Now, if these mercies are in Christ's hand to be applied, it is no wonder that they are styled ' sure mercies.' We might here consider the covenant of grace as contain ing all the promises which respect the beginning, carrying on, or completing of the salvation of his people. The'se relate, not only to what God will do for them, but to what he will enable them to be and do, in those things which concern their faithfulness to him ; whereby they have the highest security that they shall be have themselves as becomes a covenant-people. Thus he assures them that he will be to them a God, that is, that he will glorify his divine perfections in bestowing 1 Psal. lxxxix. 32. m See Quest, xxxi. n Psal. xxii. 3a o Isa. liii. 10, 11. p John x. 28, 29. q Isa. lv. 3 4. r Hos. iii. 5. II. * 170 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. on them the special and distinguishing blessings of the covenant ; and that they shall be to him a people, that is, shall so behave themselves that they shall not, by apostacy from him, oblige him to disown his relation to them or exclude them from his covenant. He has encouraged them to expect, not only those great things which he would do for them provided they yielded obedience to his law, but also that he would 'put his law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts,' whereby they might be disposed to obey him. And when he says that they ' shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,' he gives them to understand that they should not only teach or instruct one another in the knowledge of God, which respects their being favoured with the external means of grace, but that they ' should all know him, from the least of them unto the greatest.' This denotes that they should have, not only a speculative knowledge of divine truth, but a saving knowledge of it, such as is in separably connected with ' life eternal.'8 That this knowledge is intended appears from its being accompanied with or flowing from forgiveness of sin ; for it is immediately added, ' I will forgive their iniquity,' and this is expressed with a peculiar emphasis. Now, their enjoying forgiveness of sins, connected with a saving knowledge of divine truth, is certainly inconsistent with their falling from a justified state, especially, as it is said, ' I will remember their sin no more.'4 Elsewhere, also, when God speaks of his ' making an everlasting covenant ' with his people," he promises that ' he will not turn away from them to do them good ;' and, inasmuch as they are prone, by reason of the deceitfulness of their hearts, to turn aside from him, he adds, ' I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Here it is not only said that he will not turn from them, if they fear him ; but he gives them se curity in this covenant, that they shall fear him. Can we conclude, then, that they, in whom this covenant is so far made good that God has put his fear in their hearts, which is supposed in their being believers, shall not attain the other blessing pro mised, namely, that of their not departing from him ? Moreover, the stability of this covenant, as a foundation of the saints' perseverance, is set forth by a meta phor, taken from the most fixed and stable parts of nature ; and it is said to exceed these in stability, ' The mountains shall depart, and the hills 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.'1 The principal objection which is brought to enervate the force of the argument taken from those promises of the covenant which respect the saints' perseverance, is, that either these promises are to be considered as. conditional, and the conditions of them as not fulfilled, in which case they are not obligatory, so that God is not bound to give salvation to those to whom he has promised it on these conditions ; or else they are to be considered as made to a political body, namely, the Jewish nation, in which case they respect, not their eternal salvation, but only some temporal deliverances of which they were to be made partakers, and which belonged to them generally as a church, — everlasting salvation never being con sidered as a blessing which shall be applied to whole nations, hpw much soever a whole nation may partake of the common gifts of divine bounty which are be stowed in this world. — In answer to this objection, in both its branches, I need only refer to what has been said elsewhere. As to the former branch of it, we have endeavoured to show how those scriptures are to be understood which are laid down in a conditional form, without supposing that they militate against the ab soluteness of God's purpose, or its unchangeableness, and independency on the conduct of men. J As to the latter branch of it, what has been said in answer to an objection of a similar nature, brought against the doctrine of election bv Dr, Whitby, and others, who suppose that the blessings which the elect are' said in scripture to be made partakers of respect the nation of the Jews or the church in general, and not a particular number chosen out of them to salvation, and that the promises which are directed to them are only such as they were given to ex pect as a church or political body of men, may well be applied to our present pur. 8 John xvii 3. t Jer. xxxi. 83. 34. u Chap, xxxii. 40. x Isa. hv. 10. y See vol. i. pages 289—292. et alibi passim. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 171 pose, and serve as an answer to this objection.2 In this place, therefore, I shall add but a few remarks by way of reply. If any expressions are annexed to the promises of the covenant which give, occa sion to some to conclude that they are conditional, we must take heed that we do not understand them as denoting the dependence of God's determinations on the arbitrary will of man ; as though his purpose relating to the salvation of his people were indeterminate, and it were a matter of doubt with him, as well as with us, whether he should fulfil it or not, because it is uncertain whether the conditions of it shall be performed. To suppose this is inconsistent with the divine perfections. But if, on the other hand, we suppose that the grace or duty annexed to the pro mise must have some idea of a condition contained in it, this may be understood according to the tenor of God's revealed will, as denoting nothing else but a condi tion of our expectation, or of our claim to the blessing promised ; and then nothing can be inferred from it, but that some who lay claim to or expect salvation, without performing the condition of it, may apostatize, and miss it ; which does not in the least militate against the doctrine we are defending. We may add that, when such a condition is annexed to a promise, (for I will not decline to call it so in the sense just stated,) and there is another promise added, in which God engages that he will enable his people to perform it, the condition is then equivalent to an abso lute promise. Of this kind are those conditions which are mentioned in the scrip tures formerly referred to. When God promises that he will be a God to his people, that he will forgive their iniquities, and never reverse the sentence of forgiveness, or remember their sins any more, and that he will never turn away from them to do them good, he, at the same time, promises that he will put his law in their in ward parts, and write it in their hearts, and put his fear in their hearts, and so enable them to behave themselves as his people, or to be to him a people. When, again, God sets forth the stability of his covenant, and intimates that it should not be removed, he adds that his kindness shall not depart from them. Nor does this kindness respect merely some temporal blessings which he would bestow upon them, but his extending that grace to them which should keep them faithful to him. Hence, he says that ' in righteousness they should be established ;' words which contain a promise that he would maintain grace in them, without which they could hardly be said to be established in righteousness, as well as that he would perform the other things promised to them in this covenant. The other branch of the objection we are examining, considers that the promises are given to the church in general, or to the Jews as a political body of men ; and that they cannot be supposed to respect their everlasting salvation, but only some temporal blessings which they should enjoy. Now, this point is to be determined by the express words contained in the promise. If God tells those to whom the promises are made that he will do that for them which includes more than the blessings which they are supposed to enjoy of a temporal nature, we are not to con clude that there is nothing of salvation referred to in them, when the words thus seem to imply the contrary. Besides, though these promises are said to be given to the Jews as a political body of men, and there are some circumstances in them which have an immediate and particular relation to that people ; yet the promises of special grace and salvation were to be applied only by those among them who believed. Moreover, the same promises are to be applied by believers in all ages ; else we must understand the texts which contain them as only an historical relation of things which do not belong to us, — an interpretation which would tend very much to detract from the spirituality and usefulness of many parts of scripture. To make this appear, we might consider some promises which, when first made, had a particular relation to God's dealings with his people in the circumstances in which they were then placed, but which are, notwithstanding, applied in a more extensive manner to New Testament believers in all ages. Thus, when God says to his people, in the scripture formerly referred to, ' All thy children shall be taught of the Lord,'a whatever respect the promise may have to the church of the Jews, our Saviour applies it in a more extensive way, as belonging to believers in all z See Sect. ' The Meaning of Election,' under Quest, xii, xiii. a Isa. liv. 13. 172 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. ages, when he says, ' Every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the father, cometh unto me.'b Again, God promises Joshua that ' he would not fail nor forsake him,' and encourages him thereby 'not to fear nor be dismayed,'0 when he was to pass over Jordan into the land of Canaan, and afterwards to engage in a work which was attended with many difficulties. Now, this promise is applied by tho apostle as an inducement to believers in his day to be ' content with such things as they have ;' for after exhorting them to be so, he adds, that what God told Joshua of old was written for their encouragement, namely, that ' he would never leave them, nor forsake them.'d We cannot therefore but conclude, that the objection we have been considering is of no force in either of its branches to overthrow the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, as founded on the stability of the promises of the covenant of grace. 3. The saints' perseverance in grace may be farther proved from their insepar able union with Christ. Not only is this union federal, as he is the head of the covenant of grace, and they his members, whose salvation, as was observed under the last Head, he has engaged to bring about ; but he may be considered also as their vital head, from whom they receive spiritual life and influence ; so that as long as they abide in him, their spiritual life is maintained as derived from him. If we consider the church, or the whole election of grace as united to him, it is called 'his body,'e 'the fulness of him that filleth all in all;'f and every believer being a member of this body, or a part, if I may so express it, of this fulness, if it should perish and be separated from him, his body would be defective, and he would sustain a loss of that which is an ingredient in his fulness. Moreover, as this union includes that relation between Christ and his people which is, by a metaphorical way of speaking, styled conjugal,? and accordingly is mutual, as the result of his becoming theirs by an act of grace, and they his by an act of self-dedication ; so it is the foundation of mutual love, which is abiding. The love is certainly abiding on his part ; because it is unchangeable, as founded on a covenant engagement which he cannot violate ; and though their love to him is in itself subject to change through the prevalency of corrupt nature, which too much inclines them to be un- steadfast in this marriage covenant, yet he will recover and bring them back to him. He will not deal with them as persons do with strangers, whom they exclude from their presence or favour, if they render themselves unworthy of it ; but as persons who stand in a nearer relation to him, and accordingly are the objects of his special love, and shall not be cast off for ever, how much soever he may resent their unworthy behaviour to him. Not to be separate from Christ, is, according to the apostle's expression, not to 'be separated from his love ;' and this, he says, he was 'persuaded ' he should not be. ' I am persuaded, ' says he, ' 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, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'h Accordingly it is said, that Christ 'having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.'' Here I cannot but take notice of a very jejune and empty sense which some give of this text, to evade the force of the argument taken from it to prove the doctrine we are maintaining. By ' his own ' they mean no other than Christ's disciples, whom he was at the time conversant with. Indeed, they apply whatever Christ says, in some following chapters, to them, exclusive of all others. When for exam ple he says, ' Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world ¦'" and ' Because I live, ye shall live also ;' ' they suppose that he speaks of them in particular. So in interpreting the text before us, they understand the clause, tbn^1^ T^ 1S °™ Wl"°h Vere in the world-' t0 mean h^ own disciples, as though he had a propriety in none but them ; and the clause ' he loved them to the are 'm^n?6-' "v t0 theLend °f their lives' for that would Pr0™ the doctrine we th^"wrritbUttt0i,the 6nd °f,hiS U[e' Which Was n™ at hand = and his ^ve to tnem, they suppose to be expressed in his condescending to wash their feet. But g See'plgefs, 4. Vr™' vi'/'ss 18 \ , f EPh- !- 2S- 1 Chap. xiv. 19. m> vm- 35> 38? 39- ' John *»'• i- k Chap: xv. 19. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 173 if this were the sense of the words, his love to them would not be so extraordinary a privilege as it really is ; for it would be only an instance of human and not divine love. Indeed, our happiness consists, not only in Christ's loving us to the end of his life, but in his continuing to express his love in his going into heaven to prepare a place for us, in his there making continual intercession on our behalf, and in his coming again in the end, to receive us to himself, that where he is we may be also. 4. The saints' perseverance farther appears from Christ's continual intercession for them. This was particularly explained under a foregoing Answer.™ The apos tle, speaking of his ' ever living to make intercession ' for his people, infers that ' he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.'n But this Christ could not be said to do, should he leave the work which he has begun in them imperfect, and suffer those who come to him by faith, to apostatize from him. We formerly considered Christ's intercession as including his appearing in the pre sence of God, in behalf of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice while on earth. We considered also that what he intercedes for shall certainly be granted him, not only because he is the Son of God in whom he is well-pleased, but because he pleads his own merits, and because to deny him what he merited, would be, in effect, to deny the sufficiency of his sacrifice, as though the purchase had not been fully satisfactory. We must conclude, therefore, as he himself said on earth, that 'the Father heareth him always.' It is also evident that he prays for the perse verance of hi3 people. He says to Peter, ' I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.'0 And there are many things in the affectionate prayer, mentioned in John xvii., which he put up to God immediately before his last sufferings, which respect his people's perseverance in grace. Thus he says, ' Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are ;'p and, ' I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil ;'q that is, either that he would keep them from the evil which often attends the condition in which they are in the world, that so the work of grace may not suffer, at least not miscarry thereby ; or that he would keep them from the evil one, that so they may not be brought again under his dominion. He also prays ' that they may be made perfect in one ;'r that is, not only that they may be perfectly joined together in the same design, but that their unanimity may continue till they are brought to a state of perfection, and ' that the world, may know that God has loved them, even as he has loved Christ.' Moreover, he declares his will ; which shows that his intercession is founded on justice, and accordingly is of the nature of a demand, rather than of a supplication for what might be given or denied, and his ' will ' is, ' that they whom the Father has given him may be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory.'8 Now, all these expressions are very inconsistent with the supposition, that it is possi ble that they whom he thus intercedes for may apostatize, or fall short of salvation. It is objected by some, that this prayer respects none but his disciples, who were his immediate friends and followers, and not believers in all ages and places in the world. But the contrary is evident from several things which are mentioned in it. For instance, he says, that ' the Father hath given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as he hath given him.'4 The sense of these words will sink too low, if we suppose that he intends, ' Thou hast given me power to dispose of all persons and things in this world, that I may give eternal life to that small number which thou hast given me, namely ,niy disciples.' He obviously speaks of that universal dominion which he has oyejrall persons and things, which were committed to him with the view that all th.Cse who were put into his hand to be redeemed and saved, should attain eternal life. Again, he says, ' I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest riie out of the world, thine they were, and thou gaves't them me, and they have kept thy word.'u Did Christ manifest the divine name and glory to none but those who w^re his disciples ; and were there none but they who had kept his word ? Moreover, when he says that they whom he prayed for are the Father's, and adds, ' All mine are thine, and m See vol. i. Quest, lv. n Heb. vii. 25. o Luke xxii. 83. p John xvii. 11. (j John xvii. 15. r Verse 23. s Verse 24. t VeW 2. u Verse 6. 174 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. thine are mine, and I am glorified in them,'* is the number of those whom Christ has a right to, and the Father has set apart for himself, m whom he would show forth bis glory as the objects of his love, and in whom Christ as Mediator was to be glorified, so small that it included only the eleven disciples ? Or, does it not rather respect all who have believed, or shall believe, from the beginning to the end of time ? And again, when he speaks of ' the world hating them, because they are not of the world, 'J and of their being exposed to the evils which are in the world, or the assaults of Satan who is their avowed enemy ; is this applicable only to the disciples? And when he says, 'Neither pray I for these alone,' that is, for those who now believe, 'but for them also which shall believe ;'z does it not plainly intimate that he had others in view besides his disciples ? These, and several other passages in this prayer, are a sufficient evidence that there is no weight in the objection, to overthrow the argument we are maintaining. 5. Believers' perseverance in grace may be proved from the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them. When they were regenerated, it was by the power of the Holy Ghost, as condescending to come and take up his abode in them. Thus we Often read of their being acted by, and under the influence of the Holy Ghost, who is said to dwell where he is pleased to display his divine power and glory ; and if these displays are internal, then he dwells in the heart. Our Saviour speaks of him as ' another Comforter ' given, ' that he may abide ' with his peo ple 'for ever.'" This indwelling of the Spirit is very distinct from that extra ordinary dispensation which the church had, when they were favoured with in spiration ; for the apostle speaks of it as a privilege peculiar to believers as such : ' Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'b The meaning of these words cannot be that those have no interest in Christ who have not the extraordinary afflatus of the Spirit, such as the prophets had. We must suppose, therefore, that the privilege spoken of is one which believers have in all ages. Now, if the Spirit is pleased to condescend thus to take up his abode in the soul, and that for ever, he will certainly preserve it from apostasy. We may add, that there are several fruits and effects of the Spirit's dwelling in the soul, which afford an additional proof of this doctrine. Thus believers are said to have ' the first-fruits of the Spirit ;'c that is, they have those graces wrought in them which are the beginning of salvation ; and as the first-fruits are a part of the harvest which will follow, these are the foretastes of the heavenly blessedness which God Would never have bestowed upon them had he not designed to preserve them from apostasy. Moreover, believers are said to be ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance.'4 The earnest, as given by men, is generally deemed a part of payment ; and upon any receiving it, they are satisfied that they shall, at last, receive the full reward. And shall believers miss of the heavenly blessedness, who have such a glorious pledge and earnest of it ? Again, if we consider ' the Spirit ' as ' bearing witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ;' and that 'they shall be glorified together' with him;e is this testimony invalid, or not to be depended on ? Yet it could not be depended on were it possible for them to fall from a state of grace. This testimony, as will be observed under the next Answer, is what we de pend very much upon, in order to our attaining assurance that we are in a state of grace, and that we shall 'persevere in it. At present, we shalHake it for grant ed that there is such a thing*a« assurance, or that this blessing is attainable. The use which I would nisike of this supposition to maintain our present argu ment, is, that the Spirit's having any hand in working or encouraging this hope that we have of the Wth of grace, and consequently that we shall persevere in it to salvation, arguSST that the hope is warrantable, and not delusive ; for he who is the author or gper of it cannot deceive our expectation, or put us upon ' '";: '¦¦" that whicltis not a reality. It hence follows that it is impossible x John xvii. 9, 10. y Verses 14, 15. z Verse 20. a Chap. xiv. 16 b Rom. VIII. 9. r Vprsi. 2"? A p„i. • i, i a n ^ ... i. ' - c verse AS. d i.pn. i. 13 14. e Rom. viii. 16, 17, PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 175 that they should apostatize to whom ' God has given ' this * good hope through grace,' so that they should fail of that 'everlasting consolation,' which is connected with it.f This consequence will hardly be denied by those who are on the other side of the question ; and we may observe, that they who oppose the doctrine of perseverance, always deny that of assurance, especially as proceeding from the testimony of the Spirit. Yet that we may not be misunderstood, we do not say, that every one who has a strong persuasion that he shall be saved, shall be saved ; for such a persuasion is no other than enthusiasm. But our argument, in short, is, that if there is a witness of the Spirit to the truth of grace which cannot be charged with enthusiasm, then the doctrine we are maintaining is undeniably true. This will more evidently appear from what will be said in defence of the doctrine of assurance under our next Answer. We proceed, therefore, to the other branch of the argument we have mentioned to prove this doctrine, namely, that believers have the seed of God abiding in them. This is founded on what the apostle says in 1 John iii. 9, ' Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.' For understanding this, let us consider that, by the words ' he cannot commit sin, ' the apostle does not intend that such a one is not a sinner, or that there is such a thing as sinless perfection attainable in this life ; for that is contrary, not only to the whole tenor of scripture and daily experience of man kind, but to what he had expressly said, ' If we say we have' no sin, we deceive oiirselves, and the truth is not in us.'s In this text he is doubtless speaking of persons committing sins which are inconsistent with the truth of grace ; as he says, in a foregoing verse, ' Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. '" The sin be speaks of is such as argues a person to be in a state of unregeneracy. Accordingly, when he says, ' He that committeth sin is of the devil,'1 he certainly speaks of such a commission of sin as argues us to be under the reigning power of the devil. That this may plainly appear to be his meaning, we may observe that he elsewhere distinguishes between 'a sin that is unto death,' and a sin that is 'not unto death. 'k Here he does not mean, as the Papists suppose, that some sins de serve eternal death, and others not ; the former of which they call mortal sins, the latter venial. But he is speaking of a sin which is inconsistent with the principle of grace, and the sin which is -consistent with it. The former is sometimes called ' the pollution that is in the world through lust -,'1 the latter, ' the spot of God's children.'111 The least sin deserves death, though they who commit it shall not perish, but be brought to repentance ; but the ' sin unto death ' is wilful sin, com mitted and continued in with impenitency ; and with this limitation we are to un derstand the apostle's words, ' He who is born of God doth not commit sin.' We shall now consider the reason assigned why the person he speaks of cannot in this sense commit sin, namely, he is 'born of God,' and 'the seed of God abid eth in him.' To be born of God is what is elsewhere styled regeneration, or being born of the Spirit ; in which there is a principle of grace implanted, which is here called ' the seed of God.' Indeed, this metaphorical way of speaking is very ex pressive of the thing intended. For as in nature the seed produces fruit, and in things moral the principle of action produces action, as the principle of reason pro duces acts of reason ; soin things spiritual, the principle not converse with those who endeavour to overthrow their faith. Indeed, all who are faithful shall be kept from iniquity by God, as they are here given to under stand that it is their duty to endeavour to depart from it ; and consequently they shall be kept from apostasy. This seems to be the sense of these words ; and it is agreeable to the analogy of faith, as well as a plain proof of the doctrine which we are maintaining. A late writer,z by 'the foundation of God, which standeth sure,' supposes the doctrine of the resurrection to be intended, which Hymeneus and Philetus denied, saying that it ' was past already.' This doctrine, says he, which is a fundamental article of faith, ' standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth who are his ;' that is, he loveth and approveth of them. But though it is true that the resur rection is spoken of in the foregoing verse, and we do not deny that it is a funda mental article of faith ; yet it does not seem to be what is intended by the word ' foundation ' in this text. For if by the resurrection we understand the doctrine of the general resurrection of the dead, I cannot see where the force of the apostle's argument lies, namely, that there shall be a general resurrection, because the Lord Knoweth who are his ; for the whole world are to be raised from the dead. But if Dy the resurrection we are to understand a resurrection to eternal life, so that they 1™? ^"T" h?l°yed of God shaU haye their Pan in i*' and ^ the apostle's reasoning be, that they who believe shall be raised to eternal life ; this interpreta- uJohniv. 14. x Chap. v. 24. y 1 Pet. ii 6 z See Whitby's Discourse, &c. pages 67, 68, 463. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 179 tion, so far from militating against the argument we are maintaining, is agreeable to the sense we have given of the text, and makes for us rather than against us. As to what is farther advanced by the author just referred to, namely, that the words ' The Lord knoweth them that are his,' are to be taken for that regard which God had to his apostles and ministers, this sense of the text seems too great a strain on the words, and is so much different from the scope of the apostle, as well as disagreeable to the caution given, that ' every one who names the name of Christ should depart from iniquity,' that no one who reads the scriptures without preju dice, can easily adopt it. I shall mention but one scripture more for the proof of the doctrine of the saints' perseverance ;.and that is 1 John ii. 19, ' They went out from us, but they were not of us : for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us ; but they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.' For understanding this, let it be considered that the apostle is speak ing of some who were formerly members of the church, who afterwards turned apostates and open enemies to Christ and his gospel. It is plain that the words ' they went out from us,' and ' they were not of us,' must be taken in different re spects ; for it would imply a contradiction to say that a person departed from the faith and communion of the church, when he never embraced it or had communion with it. But if the two phrases be differently understood, these persons left the faith and communion of the, church because they were Christians only in pretence, and did not heartily embrace the faith on which the church was built, and were not really made partakers of that grace which the apostles and other faithful members of the church had received from God, as being effectually called by it. The sense is thus very plain and easy : there were some false professors, who made a great show of religion, and were admitted into communion with the church ; and, it may be, some of them preached the gospel and were more esteemed than others. But they apostatized ; for they had not the truth of grace, but were like the seed which sprang up without having root in itself, which afterwards withered. If, however, they had had this grace, it would have been abiding ; and so they would, ' without doubt,' says the apostle, 'have continued with us ;' but by their apostasy it appears that they were not, in this sense, of our number, that is, believers. They who understood this scripture, not of persons who were members of the church, but of ministers who first joined themselves with the apostles, and after wards deserted them and their doctrine, advance nothing which tends to overthrow the argument we are maintaining. For, according to that interpretation, we may understand the words thus ; they pretended to be true ministers of Jesus Christ, and doubtless, to be, as the apostles were, men of piety and religion, for in other re spects, they were of them visibly, whilst they preached the ' same doctrines ; but afterwards by departing from the faith, it appeared that, though they were min isters, they were not sincere Christians, for if they had, they would not have apostatized. Examination of Objections against the Doctrine of Perseverance. We shall now proceed to consider the objections which are usually brought against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance in grace. I. It is objected that there are several persons mentioned in scripture, who ap pear to have been true believers, and yet apostatized, — some totally, as David and Peter, — others not only totally but finally, in which number Solomon is included. Others, also, are described as apostates, such as Hymeneus and Alexander, who are said ' concerning faith, to have made shipwreck,' and who are hence supposed to have had the grace of faith. Judas likewise is reckoned to have been a true believer, whom all allow afterwards to have proved an apostate. 1. As to the case of David and Peter, it is true, that their fall was very noto rious, that the former seems to have continued some months in a state of impeni tency, and that when they fell, there appeared no marks of grace in either of them. Peter's sin, indeed, was committed through surprise and fear ; yet it had such aggravating circumstances attending it, that if others, whose character is less esta- 180 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. Wished than his was, had committed the same sin, we should be ready to conclude that they were in a state of unregeneracy. And David's sin was committed with such deliberation, and was so complicated a crime, that if any believer ever lost the principle of grace, we should have been inclined to suppose that he did so. Yet what gives us ground to conclude that this principle was not wholly extin guished either in Peter or in him at the time that they fell, and therefore that they were not total apostates, is what we formerly observed, that the principle of grace may be altogether inactive and yet abide in the soul, agreeably to the sense we gave of that scripture, ' His seed abideth in him.' If what has been already said concerning the possibility of the principle of grace remaining, though it makes no resistance against the contrary habits of sin, be of any force," then these instances, and others of a similar nature on which one branch of the objection is founded, will not be sufficient to prove the possibility of the total apostasy of any true believer. 2. As to the case of Solomon, that he once was a true believer, is allowed on both sides. For it is said concerning him, soon after he was born, that 'the Lord loved him ;'b on which account he gave him the significant name, Jedidiah, ' the beloved of the Lord.' It is certain, also, that, in the beginning of his reign, his piety was no less remarkable than his wisdom. This appears from his great zeal, expressed in building the temple of God, and establishing its worship ; and also from the extraordinary instance of devotion with which he dedicated or conse crated this house to God,0 and the prayer put up to him on that occasion. It ap pears also from God's appearing to him twice. In his first appearance, he conde scended to ask him, what he should give him ; and upon Solomon's choosing ' an understanding heart' to judge his people, he was pleased with him, and gave him several other things which he asked not for, so that there were 'not any among the kings like unto him.'a From all this it is taken for granted that he once was a believer. But, on the other hand, we must, if we duly weigh the force of the ob jection, set the latter part of his life against the former ; and then we find him ' guilty of very great sins. Not only did he multiply wives and concubines, beyond what any of his predecessors had done ; but ' his heart was turned away after other gods, and,' as is expressly said, 'was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 'e It is also said that ' the Lord was angry with Solo mon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had ap peared to him twice. 'f On this occasion, he determined to rend part of the king dom from his son ;S which came to pass accordingly. Now, all this is said to have been done ' when he was old ;'h and in the remaining part of his history, we read of several who were 'stirred up as adversaries' to him,1 and of little but trouble and uneasiness that he met with. This seemed to continue to his death, an account ol which we have in 1 Kings xi. chapter throughout ; which contains the history ol his sin and troubles, but does not contain the least intimation of his repentance. For this reason he is supposed, in the objection, to have apostatized- totally and finally. The main strength of this objection lies in the ^supposition that , Solomon did nol repent of his idolatry which he committed in his old age, or, as is supposed, in the latter part of his life, — a supposition which is based on the alleged silence of scripture as to this matter, especially in that part of it which gives an account ol his fall and death. But what is alleged is not sufficient to support the weight ol the objection, and to oblige us to regard him as an apostate ; for there is nothing in the account we have of him in scripture which appears to preclude the idea that he might have sufficient time for repentance, between his fall and his death. It is said, indeed, that in his old age his wives turned him aside ; but this they might do and yet he not die an apostate ; for sometimes that part of life which is called old age comprises several years. Hence, when he began to be in' his declining age, ne might sin, and afterwards be brought to repentance. And as for the scripture speaking first of his fall, and then of his death, it does not follow that the one oc- o ChTnri79 Io619 „ b ^Sam- Xii- 24> ** c l Kin«8 viii. 1, et seq. iWlCsSlM. ' eChap.xi.4. f Ver. 9. g Ver. li k Ver\ PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 181 curred immediately after the other ; since the history of the blemishes and troubles of his life is but short. On the other hand, there are several things which may give ns ground to conclude, that he repented after his fall. In particular, we have an intimation of his repentance in that communication of God respecting him in which it is supposed that Gpd would suffer him to fall, and a provisionary encour agement is given to expect that he should be recovered. He says, ' I will chastise him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men ; but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away be fore thee.'k The same thing js repeated in Psal. lxxxix. 30 — 34, in which his fall is supposed, and his recovery from it particularly mentioned ; as though God had designed that this should be a supplement to his history, and remove the doubts which might arise with relation to his salvation. There are also some things in other parts of scripture which plainly refer to the part of his life between his fall and his death, which give sufficient ground to conclude that he was a true penitent. None can deny that he was the inspired writer of Ecclesiastes ; inasmuch as it is said, in the title or preface set before it, that they are ' the words of the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem. ' Now, if we duly weigh several passages in that book, we shall find many things in which he expresses the great sense he had of the vanity of his past life. He says, for example, ' I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly.'1 Here, by 'madness and folly,' he doubtless intends what was so in a moral sense, when he indulged his sinful passions, and what, therefore, respects the worst part of his life. This he farther insists on when he says, ' Whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour,'™ or in all those things which afterwards were matter of grief and uneasiness to me. Here he ob serves how he did, as it were, take pains to bring on himself a long train of miser ies which troubled him afterwards. And then he plainly expresses his repentance, when he says, ' All was vanity and vexation of spirit,' and there was 'no profit un der the sun;'n as though he had said, ' I turned from God to the creature, to see what happiness I could find in it, but I met with nothing but disappointment.' He had ' no profit in those things, whereof he was now ashamed.' It is probable, that God showed him the vanity of his pursuits, by his chastening him, or visiting his transgressions with the rod, and his iniquities with stripes, as he had promised to do, and so brought him to experience ' vexation of spirit.' This phrase is a plain intimation of that godly sorrow which proceeded from a sense of sin, which made him, beyond measure, uneasy ; and this vexation or uneasiness was so great that he says, ' I hated life,' that is, I hated my past wicked life, and abhorred myself for it, 'because the work that is wrought under the sun, is grievous unto me,' that is, the work which I wrought was such as gave me grief of heart, 'for all is vanity and vexation of spirit,'0 that is,, this is all the consequence of what I did. It can not be supposed that he was weary of his life for the same reasons that many others are, who are deprived of the blessings of common providence, and reduced to that condition which makes them miserable as to their outward circumstances in the world. It was the uneasiness he found in his own spirit, the secret wounds of con science and bitterness of soul arising from a sense of sin, which made him thus com plain. Elsewhere, too, he seems to be sensible of his sin, in heaping up vast trea sures. The doing of this he calls ' loving silver ;' and he adds, what seems very applicable to his own case, that he who is guilty of it, ' shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase ; this is also vanity ;'p that is, this had been an instance of his former vanity. He adds farther, ' The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much ; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.' i If by this we understand that the increase of riches sometimes gives disturbance to and stirs up the corruptions of those who possess them, and if the passage thus understood be applied to himself, it is an ac knowledgment of his sin. Or, if we understand by it that the abundance of a rich man will not give him rest at night, when his mind is made uneasy with a sense of k 2 Sam. viij 14, 15. 1 Eccl. i. 17. m Chap. ii. 10. n Verse 11. o Eccl. ii. 17. P CnaP- v- 10- 1 Verse 12. 182 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. the guilt of sin, and if it be applied to his own case when he is fallen it intimates that his repentance not only gave him uneasiness by day but took away Ins rest by night. It seems also not improbable, that what gave him farther occasion to see the vanity of his past life, was the sense of mortality impressed on him for he says, ' It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feast ing for that is the end of all men, and the living wil lay it to his heart ; that is, he will or ought to improve the sense of his own frailty which we may conclude he had done ; and therefore he adds, ' Sorrow is better than laughter ; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made betters-It may be objected indeed, that all these expressions, and many others of a similar nature, which might have been referred tof which are expressive of great repentance, are not applicable to himself. Now, though I cannot but think that the contrary seems very probable ; yet there is something farther added, which he expressly applies to himself, and which refers to his unlawful love of women: ' I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands. Whoso pleaseth. God shall escape from her ; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher.'' If these things be not expressive of repentance, it is hard to say what are. We may add that, as he expresses a grief of heart for his past sins, so he warns others that they may not be guilty of that which he him self found more bitter than death. Accordingly, having described the arts used by the wicked woman to betray the unthinking passenger, he cautions every one to . take heed of declining to her ways ; inasmuch as the consequence will be, that 'a dart will strike through his liver,' and he is ' as a bird that hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.'u He also adds, ' She hath cast down many wounded ; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. 'x So that we find in Solomon two of the greatest evidences which we can have of sincere repentance ; namely, a great degree of sorrow for sin, and an earnest desire that others would avoid it, by giving those cautions which are necessary to prevent their falling into the' snare in which he had been entangled. — Moreover, something is spoken in Solomon's commenda tion, after his death. This may be gathered from its being said that, during the three first years of Rehoboam's reign, which God approved of, ' he walked in the way of David and of Solomon ;'y where we may observe that Solomon is joined with his father David. Hence, as there were abatements to be made for the blemishes in David's reign ; the reign of Solomon had in it' great blemishes. But as one re pented, so did the other, and therefore ought not to be reckoned an apostate. We may add, that he was a penman of scripture ; and it does not appear that God con ferred this honour upon any who apostatized from him. On the other hand, they have the general character given of them by the apostle Peter, that they were all ' holy men of God.'z Thus, then, we must conclude Solomon to have been, till we have greater evidence to the contrary than they can produce who say he was an apostate. 3. There are others mentioned in the objection, namely, Hymeneus and Alex ander, whose apostasy we have no ground to doubt of ; but we cannot allow that they fell from or lost the saving grace of faith. It is one thing to fall from the profession of faith, and another thing to lose the grace of faith. Hence, the only thing to be proved in answer to this branch of the objection, is, that these persons, who are described as apostates, never had the truth of grace, or that they fell only from that visible profession of it, whereby they were reckoned to be, what in reality they were not, namely, true believers. Now, the apostle speaks of them as having ' departed from the faith, ' namely, the doctrines of the gospel ; and their doing this was attended with blasphemy, for which they were ' delivered unto Satan,' which is a phrase used by the apostle here and elsewhere, for persons being cut off from the communion of the church. Hence, he advises Timothy to ' hold faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck,' as these had done. Now, the main force of the objection seems to lie in this, that r Eccl. vii. 2. s Verse 3. t Verses 26, 27- u Prov. vii. 23. compared with the foregoing verses. x Verses 26, 27. y 2 Chron. xi. 17. z 2 Pet. i. 21. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 183 they who have made shipwreck of faith were once true believers ; and that, there fore, such may apostatize, and so fall short of salvation. But by ' faith ' here is meant the doctrines of the gospel, which are often styled ' faith. ' Thus it is said that the apostle ' preached the faith which once he destroyed.'* Elsewhere also it is said, 'before faith came,' that is, before the gospel-dispensation began, and those doctrines were preached, which, under that dispensation, were to be published to the world, 'we were kept under the law.'b Again, ' Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?'0 that is, by hearing those doctrines which are contained in the gospel. Hence, what the apostle charges the apostates with, is making shipwreck of faith, considered objectively. They once, indeed, held the truth, but it was in unrighteousness ; they had right notions of the gospel, which they afterwards lost. Now, the apostle advises Timothy not only to ' hold faith,' that is, to retain the doctrines of the gospel as one who had right senti ments of divine truths, but to hold it 'with a good conscience.' For I take the expression, 'hold faith and a good conscience,' to contain an hendyadis ; and soit is the same as if he had said, ' Be not content with a mere assent to the truths of the gospel, but labour after a conscience void of offence towards God, that thou mayest have its testimony that thy knowledge of divine truth is practical and ex perimental, and then thou art out of danger of making shipwreck of faith, as these have done, who held it without a good conscience.' It is not said they made ship wreck of a good conscience ; for that they never had. What is said is, ' Concerning faith,' which they once professed, 'they made shipwreck.' The same thing may be said concerning Judas. He apostatized from the faith which he once made a very great profession of, being not only one of Christ's dis ciples, but sent forth with the rest of them to preach the gospel and work miracles ; yet it is evident that he had not the saving grace of faith. Our Saviour, who knew the hearts of all men, was not deceived in him, though others were ; for it is said, ' He knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.'d The principal force of the objection, however, is put in this way: Judas must needs have been a believer, because he was given to Christ ; and our Saviour says, that ' those who were given to him were kept by him, and none of them was lost but the son of perdition. 'e His being styled ' the son of perdition ' argues him an apostate, and his having been ' given to Christ ' denotes that he was once a true believer ; so that he fell totally and finally. In answer to this, some conclude that they who are said to have been ' given to Christ,' are such as were appointed, by the providence of God, to be his servants in the work of the minis try. Now, it is said concerning them, that they were given to Christ to be employed by him in this service, and that all of them were kept faithful, except the son of perdition. If this be the sense of their being given to him, it does not necessarily infer their being made partakers of special grace. It is one thing to be given to Christ, to be employed in some peculiar acts of service in which his glory is con cerned ; and another thing to be given to him, as being chosen and called by him to partake of special communion with him. If Judas had been given to him in the latter sense, he would not have been a son of perdition, but would have been kept by him, as the other disciples were ; but as he was given to Christ only that he might serve the design of his providence in the work of the ministry, he might be lost, or appear to be a son of perdition, and yet not fall from the truth of grace. If, on the other hand, by being 'given to Christ,' we understand a being given to him as objects of his care and special love, we must suppose that all who were thus given to him were kept by him ; and in this sense Judas, who is called ' the son of perdition,' and was not kept by him, was not given to him. Accordingly, the par ticle ' but' is not exceptive, but adversative ; and the passage is as if our Lord had said, ' All that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost; but the son of perdition is lost.' I have not preserved him ; for he was not the object of my special care and love. He was not given me to save ; therefore he is lost. Now it is cer^ tain that the particle ' but ' is used in this sense in many other scriptures, particu larly that in which it is said, ' There shall in no wise enter into it,' that is, the a Gal. i. 23. b Chap. iii. 23. c Ver. 2. d John vi. 64. e Chap. xvii. 12. 184 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. heavenly Jerusalem, 'any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abo mination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb s book of life ; ' which is as if it had been said, ' Ungodly men shall not enter in ; but they that are written in the Lamb's book of life shall. 's Thus much concerning the objec tion taken from particular persons who are supposed to have fallen from grace. II. The next objection is taken from what the apostle Paul says concerning the church of the Jews, whom he describes as apostatized from God. It is evident that thev are to this day given up to judicial blindness, and not in the least disposed to repent of that crime for which they were cast off. Concerning these, he says that they once were holy : ' If the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy ; and if the root be holy, so are the branches ;'h and afterwards he speaks of ' their casting away,' and of 'some of the branches being broken off, because of unbelief.'1 Now, say the objectors, if the whole church apostatized, we must conclude that at least some of them were true believers. Hence, true believers may fall from the grace of God. Now, that the church of the Jews apostatized, and were cut off for their unbelief, is sufficiently evident. But we must distinguish between the apostacy'of a profess ing people such as the church of the Jews were, who first rejected God, and then were cast off by him, and the apostacy of those who were truly religious amongst them. The apostle himself gives us ground for this distinction, when he says, ' They are not all Israel which are of Israel ; neither, because, they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children.* Elsewhere, also, he distinguishes between one who is a Jew, as being partaker of the external privileges of the covenant which the Jewish church was under; and a person's being a Jew, as partaking of the sav ing blessings of that covenant. He says, ' He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men but of God. '' A church may lose its external privileges, and cease to have the honourable character given it of being a church, — the greatest part of them may be blinded ; when, at the same time, 'the election,' that is, all among them who were chosen to eternal life, 'obtain it.' The apostle observes this,m and, in doing so, intimates that some who were members of the Jew ish church wer.e faithful. These were preserved from the common apostacy, being converted to the Christian faith. Their privileges as members of a church were lost ; but they still retained their spiritual and inseparable union with Christ, which they had as believers, and not as the result of their being the natural seed of Abra ham. They were made partakers of the blessings which accompany salvation ; and therefore were not separated from the love of God in Christ ; whilst formal profes sors and hypocrites, who were Abraham's natural seed, but not his spiritual, were cast off by Christ. III. It is farther objected that there are some who have the character of righ teous persons, concerning whom it is supposed that they may fall away or perish. The objectors particularly refer to Ezekiel xviii. 24, ' When the righteous turn- eth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live ? All his righte ousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath tres^ passed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die ' The objectors refer also to Hebrews x. 38, in which it is said, ' The just shaU live by faith • but if any man,' or, as the word should be rendered, ' if he draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. They hence infer that, as the righteous man may turn from his righteousness, and draw back to perdition, the doctrine of the saints' oer- severance cannot be defended. F ¦wV ^1° the f°rmer f ihese scriPtures' we m"st consider the sense of it affree- proved the people for those vile abominations which they were guilty of and had denounced the threatenings of God, which should hav/their SmpShZnuJ f Rev xxi 27 a Matt. xxiv. 36; Gal. i 7- R(?„ ^e f verul other scriptures in which «, ^ is taken adversatively, k Rom. ix. 6, 7. ¦ 7' ReV' iVhap. ii. 28, 29*. R°m- ~ ^ B Chap. j^F" ^ ^ 19' ^ PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 185 their utter ruin. Particularly, he foretells the judgments which should sweep away many of them before the captivity, and others that should befall them in it. This is the subject principally insisted on by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The people were, in consequence, sometimes represented as disliking the doctrine, desiring that ' smooth things' might be prophesied to them, and that 'the Holy One of Israel might cease from before them.'n At other times they are represented as complaining of the hardship of the dispensation, intimating that it was unjust and severe, and, at the same time; justifying themselves, as though they had done nothing which deserved it, and as though it was to befall them wholly for the sins of their fathers. Accordingly, there was a proverbial expression often- made use of by them, mentioned in the second verse of this chapter, ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' But by this they did not understand that we expect to perish eternally for our fathers' sins; in which sense it must be taken if the objection in question has any force. Now God, by the prophet, tells them that they had no reason to use this proverb, and so puts them upon looking into their past conduct, and inquiring whether they had not been guilty of the same sins which their fathers were charged with ; and he assures them, that if they could exculpate themselves from these, they should be delivered, and not die, that is, not fall by those judgments which either should go before or follow the captivity, — for that, as we have observed elsewhere," seems to be the sense of ' dying,' according to the prophetic way of speaking. For understanding this scripture, then, we must consider that the prophet addresses himself to ' the house of Israel.' These are represented as complaining that ' the way of the Lord was not equal,'5 or that God's threatenings or judgments, which were the forerunners of the captivity* were such as they had not deserved. He hence tells them that he would deal with them according to their deserts. ' When the righteous, ' « that is, one whose conversation formerly seemed to be unblemished, and who appeared not guilty of such1 enormous crimes as were committed by others — which may be sup posed, and yet the person not be in a state of grace,— when such an one ' turneth away from his righteousness, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth,' that is, becomes openly vile and profligate, 'shall he live?' can he expect any thing else but that God should follow him with exemplary judg ments, or that he should be involved in the common destruction ? ' In his sin that he hath sinned, shall he die.' On the other hand, ' When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness;'1, that is, when they who have been guilty of these abominations shall reform their lives, or turn from their idolatry, murders, adul teries, -oppressions, and other vile crimes which the people in general were charged with by the prophet, and which are assigned as the reason of God's sending the dreadful judgment of the captivity ; I say, if there be such an instance of reforma tion, ' he shall save his soul alive ;' that is, either he shall be delivered from the captivity, or shall be preserved from those temporal judgments which either went before or followed after it. This reformation, followed by deliverance from these judgments, amounts to something less than saving grace, and a right to eternal life, which is inseparably connected with it. Hence, if nothing else than what has been stated be intended by ' the righteous ' and 'the wicked man ;' and if the judg ments threatened, or their deliverance from them in case of reformation, includes no more than temporal judgments and temporal deliverance ; it is evident, that the passage does not in the least suppose that any true believer shall apostatize or fall' from a state of grace. As we may distinguish between eternal death and temporal judgments ; so we must distinguish between a person's abstaining from the vilest abominations as a means to escape these judgments, and his exercising those graces which accompany salvation. There may be an external reformation in those who have no special grace, if nothing farther be regarded than a person's moral charac ter, or inoffensive behaviour in the eye of the world. If we consider him only as abstaining from those sins which are universally reckoned disreputable among per sons who make any pretensions to religion, and if in this respect he be denominated n Isa. xxx7 10, 1 1. o See Sect. 'Extent of the Atonement,' under Quest xliv p Ezek. xviii. 25. q Verse 24. r Verse 27. II. 2 A IgQ PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. a righteous man ; he may turn away from his righteousness and become immoral and profligate, and so be reckoned among the number of apostates. He cannot be said, however, to apostatize or iall from the grace ol God ; since moral virtue, or j.u„ ' ;„„ „r ~„if+«m„«m«SK in our dealings with men, is as much inferior to sav- the exercise of righteousness in our dealings with men, ing grace, as a form of godliness is to its power. 2 As to the other scripture mentioned in the objection, it is generally urged against" us as an unanswerable argument, in the express words of it, to prove the possibility of the saints' apostasy. Our translation of it is charged with a wilful mistake, to serve a turn, and make the text speak what it never intended ; since all, it is' alleged, who understand the original must allow that it ought to be ren dered, ' If he draw back,' which supposes that the just man may apostatize, or draw back unto perdition. But though the words, according to the form in which they are laid down, contain a supposition, it does not infer the being or reality of the thing supposed;3 but only this, that if such a thing should happen, it would be attended with what is laid down as a consequence. This is very agreeable to our common mode of speaking. We say, for example, that if a virtuous person should commit a capital crime, he will fall under the lash of the law as much as though he had made no pretensions to virtue. Yet it does not follow, that such an one shall do it, or expose himself to this punishment. On the other hand, if a king should say to a criminal, as Solomon did to Adonijah, ' If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth,' it cannot be inferred that he will behave himself so that his life shall be secured to him. The proposi tion is true, as there is a just connection between the supposition and the conse quence ; yet this does not argue that the thing supposed shall come to pass. So it is with the scripture under our present consideration. The proposition is doubt less true, that if the just man should draw back, so as to become a wicked man ; if he should lose the principle of grace which was implanted in regeneration, and abandon himself to the greatest impieties ; he would as certainly perish as though he had never experienced the grace of God. But it must not be inferred from this, that God will suffer such an one, who is the object of both his love and his care, thus to fall and perish, so that his soul should have no pleasure in him. — Again, if we suppose the person here spoken of, whom we consider as a true believer, to draw back, we may distinguish between backsliding or turning aside from God by the commission of very great sins, and apostasy, — or between drawing back, by be ing guilty of great crimes, so as to expose himself to sore judgments, and drawing back to perdition. The just man, in this text, is said, indeed, to draw back; but he is distinguished from one who draws back to perdition. . Accordingly, it is said in the following verse, ' We are not of them who draw back to perdition ; but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul.' Such a drawing back as this, though it shall not end in perdition, inasmuch as the person shall be recovered and brought to repentance, shall yet be attended with very great marks of God's displeasure against believers for those sins which they have committed. Accordingly, ' his soul having no pleasure ' in them, denotes that he would, in various instances, as a display of his holiness, reveal his wrath against relapsing believers, who shall nevertheless be recovered and saved at last. If these things be duly considered, the objection seems to have no weight, even though it should be allowed that the words upon which it is principally founded are not rightly translated. — I cannot see sufficient reason, however, to set aside our translation ; it being equally just to render the words, ' If any man draw back.'* For as the supplying of the words ' any man,' or ' any one,' is allowed in many other instances, both in the Old and the New Testament ; so there is not the least incongruity in their being supplied in the text under consideration.11 Now if they be supplied, the sense which we s It is a known maxim in logic, ' Suppositio nihil ponit in esse.' t Ea» irarmXvrxi. ?hat thp T'i il"' 1 tbe Partic,es "¦«• 1«"*. a"<1 others of similar import, are often left out, and „'H „,,! fX . •1\.t°.be BUPP'ied in the translation. Thus it is in Job xxxiii. 27. where the Hebrew Ir,S, v rii, f n been rennere" - and he shall sav,' is better rendered ' and if »nv sav,' &c. told him • i", At'"i! : , °f ' he told Ja<'ob-' '* is better rendered • one told Jacob,' or ''somebody which we dc „! eid"" ft *"i Vh!C,h iS Ie? °Ut in the Greek text' is slWlied "' the *'»™l»tion, in wnicn «e go not read 'after days,' but ' after some days.' See Nold. Concord. Partie. pages 41, 42 PERSEVER*ANCE IN GRACE. 187 give of it, will appear very agreeable to the context. For the meaning is, ' The just shall live by faith ;' or, as in one of the foregoing verses, they who ' know in themselves that they have in heaven a better and an enduring substance' shall live by faith ; but as for others who do not live by faith, having only a form or show oi religion, whose manner is to forsake the assembling of themselves together,1 these are inclined to ' draw back.' Let them know, therefore, that ' if any one,' or who soever, ' draws back,' it will be at their peril ; for it will be to their own ' perdition.' Yet, saith the apostle, that true believers may not be discouraged by the apostasy of others, let them take notice of what is said in the following words, ' We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.' These things being duly considered, it will be sufficiently evident that this text does not militate against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance. IV. There is an objection brought against the doctrine we have been endeavour ing to maintain, taken from what the apostle says in Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6, ' It is impos sible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open Shame.' The force of this objection lies in two things, namely, that the persons are described as total and final apostates, and that, ac cording to the account we have of their former condition, they appear to have been true believers. This is thought, by some who defend the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, to be one of the most difficult objections which we generally meet with against it. Those especially who cannot see how it is possible for a person to make such advances towards true godliness, and yet be no other than an hypocrite or formal professor, are obliged to take a method to set aside the force of the ob jection which I cannot agree with. They allege that when the apostle says ' it is impossible' that such should be 'renewed again to repentance,' the word 'impossible' denotes nothing else but that the thing is exceedingly difficult, not that they shall eventually perish. It is supposed that they are true believers ; that their recov ery, after such a notorious instance of backsliding shall be attended with difficul ties so great that nothing can surmount them but the extraordinary power of God ; and that though he will recover them, yet they shall feel the smart of their back sliding as long as they live, — that they shall be saved, ' yet so as by fire.'? But in which several texts of scripture are produced to the same purpose, and among the rest, this in Heb. x. 38, which we are at present considering as what ought to be rendered ' if any one draw back. In this and similar instances we may observe that the verb personal has an impersonal signification, or that which is properly active is rendered passively. So Eccl. ix. 15, nn Nlfm is not rendered ' and he found in it,' &c, but ' now there was found in it.' Many other instances of the like nature are to be observed in the Hebrew text in the Old Testament ; and sometimes this mode of speaking is imitated by the Greek text in the New. I might also observe, with respect to the scripture under our present consideration, that the learned Grotius observes that ne ought to be supplied, and that consequently the text ought to be rendered as it is in our translation, ' if any man draw back.' This he observes as what is agreeable to the grammatical construction of the words, with out any regard to the doctrine we are maintaining, with respect to which he is otherwise minded. x Heb. x. 25. y To give countenance to this sense of the word 'impossible,' they refer to some scriptures in ivliich it does not denote an absolute impossibility of the thing, but only that if it comes to pass it will be with much difficulty. Thus it is said, Acts xx. 16, that the apostle Paul 'hasted, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost;' where his making haste argues that the thing was in itself not impossible but difficult. In Rom. xii. 18. we are exhorted, 'if it be possible, as much as in us lieth, to live peaceably with all men.' This shows that it is hard indeed so to do, but that we are nevertheless to use our utmost endeavours to do it; which does not argue that the thing is in itself altogether impossible. There is another scripture which they bring to justify this sense of the words, namely, Matt. xix. 23 — 26, in which our Saviour's design is to show the difficulty of a rich man's entering into the kingdom of heaven. This he compares to a ' camel's going through the eye of a needle ;' tiy which very few suppose that the beast so called is intended, but a cable- tope, which is sometimes called a camel. Thus the Syriac and Arabic versions translate the word. And a learned writer observes that the Jews, in a proverbial way, express the difficulty of a thing by that of a cable-rope passing through the eye of a needle. See Buxt. Lex. Talmud, page 1719, and Bochart lliero. Part. I. lib. ii. cap 3. And • by needle' is not meant that which is used in work- iinf, but an iron through which a small rope nm\ be easily drawn, though it was very difficult to force a camel, or cable rope, thrdugh it. They suppose, therefore, that our Saviour is not speaking ol a lhinii winch is absolutely impossible, but of what is exceedingly difficult; and that this may be 188 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. though the word ' impossible' may be sometimes taken for. that which, is very dim- cult, I cannot but conclude that the apostle is- here speaking of that which is im possible with, respect to the event, and therefore that he is giving the character of apostates who shall never be recovered. This appears not only from the heinous- ness of the crime, as they are said to ' crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame ;' but from what is mentioned in the following verses, in which they are compared to ' the earth that bringeth forth thorns and briars, which is rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned ;' and from their being distinguished from those who shall be saved, concerning whom the apostle was 'persuaded better things, and things that accompany salvation.' I think, therefore, he is speaking here concerning a total and final apostasy. But that this may not appear to militate against the doctrine we are maintaining, I shall endeavour to show that, notwithstanding the character the apostle gives of the persons he speaks of, they were destitute of the truth, of grace ; so that no thing is said concerning them, but what a formal professor may attain to. . They are described as ' once enlightened ;' but this a person may be, and yet be destitute of saving faith. If by being ' enlightened ' we understand their having been baptized, a sense in which the word is taken by some critics, and in which it was used in some following ages, it might easily be alleged that a person might be baptized and yet not be a true believer. But as I question whether, in the apostles' age,z baptism was expressed by illumination, I would rather understand by it their having been convinced of the truth of the gospel, or their having yielded an assent to the doctrines contained in it. Now this a person may do, and yet be destitute of saving faith ; which is seated not merely in the understanding, but in the will, and therefore supposes him not only to be rightly informed with respect to those things which are the object of faith, but to be internally and effectually called. — Again, they are said to have ' tasted the good word of God.' This de scription agrees with the character we formerly had of those who had a temporary faith,a who seemed for a while pleased with the word, and whose affections were raised in hearing it. Thus, Herod is said to have ' heard John the Baptist gladly, and to have done many things ;' and certain hearers of the word are compared by our Saviour to the seed sown in stony ground, which soon sprang up, but afterwards withered away. Now, a person may hear the word in this way, and yet not have saving faith ; for it is one thing to approve of and be affected with the word, and another thing to mix it with that faith which accompanies salvation. As all men desire to be happy, a person may with pleasure entertain those doctrines contained in the word which relate to a future state of blessedness, and at the same time be far from practising the duties of self-denial, taking up the cross and following Christ, mortifying indwelling sin, and exercising an entire dependence upon him and resig-. nation to him in all things. To do this includes much more than what is expressed by ' tasting the good word of God.' — Further, the persons are described as having ' tasted the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and of the powers of the world to come.' All these expressions, I humbly conceive, carry in them no more than this, that they had been enabled to work miracles, or that they had a faith of miracles, which has been already described,11 and has been proved to fall very short of saving faith.0 The characters given of them, therefore, do not inferred; from his reply to what the disciples objected, ' Who then can be saved ?' when he says, ' With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.' And to apply this to the scripture under consideration, they suppose that the apostle, when he speaks of the ' renewing' of those persons "to repentance,' does not intend that which is absolutely impossible, but that it cannot be brought about but by the extraordinary power of God, with whom all things are possible. z We do not find the word used in that sense till the second century, by Justin Martyr [Vid. ejusd. Dial. 2.] and Clemens Alexandrinus [in Paedag. lib. i. cap. 6J. Now, we are not altogether to take our measures in explaining the sense of the words used in scripture from those who some times mistake the sense of the doctrine contained in it. Yet, even if we take the word in this sense, it does not militate against our argument, since a person may be baptized who is not in a state ot grace and salvation. a See Sect. • The Various Kinds of Faith,' under Quest, lxxii, lxxiii. »ee »*«¦ The Various Kinds of Faith,' under Quest, lxxii, lxxiii. c lnere seems to be a hendyadis in the apostle's mode of speaking. Bv the 'heavenly eiff we are to understand extraordinary gifts, which are elsewhere called 'the Holy Ghost,' Acts xix. 2, PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 189 argue that they were true believers ; and consequently the objection, which depends on the supposition that they were, is of no force to prove that saints may totally or finally fall from grace.4 V. The next objection against the doctrine we have been maintaining is taken from Heb. x. 29, ' Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done de spite unto the Spirit of grace ?' The crime here spoken of is of the most heinous nature, and the greatest punishment is said to be inflicted for it. Now, say the objectors, inasmuch as these are described as having been ' sanctified by the blood of the covenant, ' it follows that they were true believers, and consequently true believers may apostatize and fall short of salvation. The force of the objection lies principally in the words, ' The blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanc tified.' This expression is taken by divines in two different senses. 1. Some take the word 'he' in the same sense as it is taken in the objection, as referring to the apostate ; and then the difficulty which occurs is, how such a one could be said to be sanctified by the blood of the covenant, and yet not be regene rated, effectually called, or a true believer. To solve this, they suppose that by ' sanctification ' we are to understand only a relative holiness, which those have who are made partakers of the common grace of the gospel. Thus it is said, ' Is rael was holiness unto the Lord, '6 or, as the apostle Peter expresses it, ' an holy nation. 'f They were God's people by an external covenant relation, and by an explicit consent to be governed by those laws which he gave them when they first became a church.s and publicly avouched him to be their God, and he avouched them to be his peculiar people, which was done upon some solemn occasions.11 Tet many of them were destitute of the special grace of sanctification, as including a thorough and universal change of heart and life. Moreover, it is supposed that this privilege of being God's people by an external covenant relation, together with all those common gifts and graces which attend it, was purchased by and founded on the blood of Christ, which is called 'the blood of the covenant,' inasmuch as he was ' given for a covenant of the people j'1 and, pursuant to this, he shed his blood to procure for them the external as well as the saving blessings of the covenant of grace. The former of these, the persons here described as apostates are supposed to have been partakers of, as the apostle says, ' To them pertaineth the adop tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. 'k They worshipped him in all his ordinances, as those whom the prophet speaks of, ' who seek him daily, and delight to know his ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God ; they ask of him the ordinances of justice, and take delight in approaching to God;' and yet these things were not done by faith.1 In this respect persons may be sanc tified, and yet afterwards forfeit, neglect, despise, and forsake these ordinances, and lose the external privileges of the covenant of grace which they once had, and so become apostates. This is the most common method used to solve the difficulty contained in the objection. But I would rather acquiesce in another way which may be taken to account for the sense of those words, ' The blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified.' 2. The word ' he ' may be understood as referring, not to the apostate, but to our Saviour, who is spoken of immediately before. Thus the apostate is said to ' trample under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant, wherewith He,' that is, Christ, 'was sanctified, an unholy thing.' That this sense may ap pear just, it may be observed, that Christ was, in two respects, sanctified or set apart by the Father, to perform all the branches of his mediatorial office. He was because they were from the Holy Ghost as effects of his power, and wrought to confirm the gospel- dispensation, which is called ' the world to come,' Heb. ii. 5, and therefore they are styled ' the powers of the world to come.' d [For some remarks on Heb. vi. 4 — 6, and the apostates whom it describes, see Note ' Is any Sin Unpardonable?' appended to Sect. 'For Whom Prayer is not to be made,' under Quest, clxxxiv —Ed.] e Jer. ii. 3. f 1 Pet. ii. 9. g Exod. xxiv. 3. h Deut. xxvi. 17, 18. i Isa. xiii. 6. k Rom. ix. 4. 1 Isa. lviii. 2. .90 PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. so set apart as he was foreordained or appointed by him, to come into the world te shed his blood for the redemption of his people. Accordingly, his undertaking t* redeem them, is called his sanctifying or devoting himself to perform this work. ' For their sakes,' says he, ' I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.'"1 This he did in pursuance of the eternal transaction between the Father and him, relating to their redemption. But it will be said, that this was antecedent to his dying for them ; and that hence he could not, properly speaking, be said, in this respect, to be 'sanctified by the blood of the covenant.' We add, therefore, that he was also sanctified or set apart by the Father, to apply the work of redemption after he had purchased it. His sanctification was, in the most proper sense, the result of his shedding his blood, which was the blood of the covenant. Hence, as he was ' brought again from the dead,' as the apostle says, 'through the blood of the everlasting covenant,'11 all the blessings which he in consequence applies to his people are the result of his being sanctified or set apart to carry on and perfect the work of our salvation, the foundation of which was laid ¦in his blood. Moreover, that they who, in the passage under consideration, are described as apostates, had not formerly the grace of faith, is evident from the context, which distinguishes them from true believers. The apostle seems to speak of two sorts of persons. He speaks first of some who had cast off the ordinances of God's wor ship, 'forsaking the assembling of themselves together,' and these are distinguished from those whom he dehorts from this sin, who had the grace of faith, whereby they were enabled to ' draw near to God in full assurance thereof, having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water.' Joncerning these he says, ' We are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but cf them that believe to the saving of the soul.'° We must conclude, therefore, that others are intended in the text under our present consideration, who were not true believers. It hence does not appear from this text that true believers may totally or finally fall from a state of grace. The apostates spoken of in this and the foregoing objection, were probably some among the Jews, to whom the gospel was preached, who embraced the Christian faith, being convinced by those miracles which were wrought for that purpose, but who afterwards revolted from it, and were more inveterately set against Christ and the gospel than they had been before they made this profession. Accordingly, as they had formerly approved of the crimes of those who crucified Christ, in which respect they are said to have crucified him ; now they do, in the same sense, crucify him afresh. And as they had been made partakers of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost ; afterwards they openly blasphemed him, and did so with spite and malice. These texts, therefore, not only contain a sad instance of the apostasy of some, but prove that they were irrecoverably lost. This comes as near the account we have in the gospels of the unpardonable sin, as any thing mentioned in scripture. What has been said, however, to prove that they never were true believers, is a sufficient answer to this and the foregoing objection. VI. Another objection against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, is taken from 2 Peter ii. 20—22, ' For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome ; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.' They are also said in the following verse, to 'turn from the holy com mandment delivered unto them ;' and their doing so is compared to the ' dog turn ing to his own vomit again ; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. ' Now, though every one must conclude that the persons whom the apostle here speaks of plainly appear to be apostates ; yet there is nothing in their character which argues that they apostatized or fell from the truth of grace ; and it is only such whom we are at present speaking of. It may be observed that the apostle is so tar from including these apostates in the number of those to whom he writes t.ns ana the foregoing epistle, whom he describes as ' elect, according to the fore- m John xvii. 19. _ u„l ••• on n Heb. xin. 20. „ v.nnp. x. 39. PERSEVERANCE IN GRACE. 191 knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,' and as having been 'begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance reserved for them in heaven,' and as such as should be ' kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, 'p that he plainly distinguishes them from them. For in the first verse of the chapter whence the objection is taken, it is said, ' There shall be false teachers among you, and many shall follow their pernicious ways.' He does not say many who are now of your number, but many who shall be joined to the Church, when these false teachers arise. These persons, indeed, are represented as making a great show of religion, by which they gained reputation among some professors whom they seduced by means of it ; and therefore it is said that ' they had escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' and that they had 'known the way of righteousness.' Such might indeed be joined to the church afterwards ; but they did not now belong to it. And what is said concerning them amounts to no more than an external visible re formation, together with their having attained the knowledge of Christ and divine things ; so that they were enlightened in the doctrines of the gospel, though they made it appear, by the methods they used to deceive others, that they had not ex perienced the grace of the gospel themselves, and therefore they fell away from their profession, and turned aside from the faith which once they preached. It is one thing for a formal professor, who makes a great show of religion, to turn aside from his profession, to all excess of riot ; and another thing to suppose that a true believer can do so, and that to such a degree as to continue in apostasy. This the grace of God will keep him from. [See Note 0, page 194.] VII. Another objection against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, is taken from the parable of the debtor and creditor, in Matt, xviii. 26, person to exercise caution and use means to prevent sin, which, if he should commit it, would prove him a hypocrite; ana another thing for one who is a true believer, to be suffered to commit those sins by which he would apostatize from God, and so miss of salvation. T"nS"VERANC'E IN -GRACE. 193 IX. What we have just stated will serve to answer another objection which is usually brought against the doctrine we are maintaining. This objection is, that the doctrine is inconsistent with that holy fear which believers ought to have of fall ing, as an inducement to care and watchfulness in the discharge of their duty ; as it is said, ' Happy is the man that feareth alway.'' But we must distinguish be tween that fear of caution, which is a preservative against sin, and includes a watch fulness over our actions, that we may not dishonour God ; and an unbelieving fear, that though we are in a state of grace, and are enabled to exercise that diligence and circumspection which becomes Christians, yet we have no fouudation whereon to set our foot, or ground to hope for salvation. Or, it is one thing to fear lest we should, by giving way to sin, dishonour God, grieve his Spirit, wound our own consciences, and do that which is a disgrace to the gospel, through the prevalency of corrupt nature, whereby we shall have ground to conclude that we thought ourselves some thing when we were nothing, deceiving our own souls ; and another thing to fear that we shall perish and fall, though our hearts are right with God, and we have reason to expect that we shall be kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation. Practical Inferences, from the doctrine of Perseverance. We shall conclude this Answer with a few inferences from what has been said to prove the doctrine of the saints' perseverance. 1. Since we do not pretend to assert that all who make a profession of religion are assured that they shall never apostatize, but only true believers, let unbelievers take no encouragement from what we have said to conclude that it shall be well with them in the end. Many are externally called, who are not really sanctified ; they presume that they shall be saved, but without ground, inasmuch as they con tinue in impenitency and unbelief. Such have no warrant to take comfort from the doctrine we have been maintaining. 2. We may, from what has been said, observe the difference between the security of a believer's state, as his hope is fixed on the stability of the covenant and on its promises relating to his salvation, together with the Spirit's witness with ours con cerning our own sincerity ; and that which we generally call carnal security, where by a person thinks himself safe, or that all things shall go well with him, though he make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. This is an unwarrantable security in a state of unregeneracy, or it is a licentiousness, which the doctrine of, perseverance does not in the least give countenance to. 3. From what has been said concerning the apostacy of some from that faith. which they once made a profession of, we may infer that it is only the grace of God . experienced in truth, which will preserve us from turning aside from the faith of, the gospel. The apostle speaks of some who, by embracing those doctrines which were subversive of the gospel, had ' fallen from grace, 'u that is, from the doctrines of grace ; concerning whom he says, ' Christ profited them nothing,' or was 'become of no effect to them, 'x that is, the gospel, which contains a display of the glory of Christ, was of no saving advantage to them. All the sad instances we have of many who are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and are made a prey to those who lie in wait to deceive, proceed from their being destitute of the grace of God ; which would have a tendency to preserve them from turning aside from the faith of the gospel. 4. Let us be exhorted to be as diligent and watchful against the breakings forth of corruption, and endeavour as much to avoid all occasions of sin, as though per severance in grace were to be ascribed to our own endeavours, or as though God had given us no ground to conclude that he would enable us to persevere. Yet, let us, at the same time, depend on his assistance, without which this blessing can not be attained ; and hope in his mercy and faithfulness ; and lay hold on the pro mises which he has given us, that it shall go well with us in the end, or that we shall have all joy and peace in believing. 5. Let us endeavour not only to persevere, but to grow in grace. These two t Prov. xxviii. 14. u Gal. v. 4. x Chap, v. 2 4 II. 2 B r. . ¦ 194 PERSEVERANCE IN GRA8E. blessings are joined together ; as it is said, ' The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. 'J 6. The doctrine of perseverance has a, great tendency to support and fortify be lievers under the most adverse dispensations of providence to which at any time they are liable, and to comfort them under all the assaults of their spiritual ene mies. For though these may be suffered to discourage or give them interruption in the exercise of those graces which they have experienced, yet grace shall not he wholly extinguished. Sometimes, also, by the overruling providence of God, those things which in themselves have a tendency to weaken their faith, shall be ordered as a means to increase it ; so that when they can do nothing in their own strength, they may be enabled, by depending on Christ, and receiving strength from him, to prevail against all the opposition they meet with, and at last come off ' more than conquerors, through him that loved them.'2 y Job xvii. 9. z Rom. viii. 37. [Note O. The characters described in 2 Pet. ii. 21, 22 The proverb which the apostle quotes, is, ' As a dog returneth to his vomit, soafool returneth tohisfolly,' Prov. xxvi. 11. Thecharacter whom he describes, therefore, is a fool, — one who, notwithstanding his knowledge, or rather by misconceiving and perverting it, had never become ' wise unto salvation.' ' Swine ' and ' dogs ' are not sheep they are not new creatures — they form no part of the flock, and never were admitted to the fold of the good Shepherd ; but, according to the uniform imagery of scripture language, they are enemies of purity, lovers of corruption, false teachers, perverters of truth, depraved and wicked men. ' Give not that which is holy to the dogs,' says our blessed Lord, ' neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.' The dogs of whom Peter speaks are expressly said by him to have been ' false teachers,' verse 1. Now this very class of persons are called dogs also by the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul. ' His watch men are blind ; they are all ignorant ; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark ; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber ; yea, they are* greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand,' Isa. lvi. 10, 11. 'Beware of dogs, beware of evil-workers, be ware of the concision,' Phil. iii. 2. Moreover, Peter says, respecting those whom he describes, that ' they have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,' Verse 15. Now, as they ' escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' so Balaam ' heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the vision of the Almighty, and, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open, said, I shall see him, hut not now ; I shall be hold him, but not nigh ; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth,' Numb. xxiv. 16, 17 ; and, as Balaam, on the one hand, became rebukeable even by a dumb ass for the madness of opposing what he knew, so the persons described by Peter ' turned from the holy commandment delivered unto them. ' They and ' the mad prophet ' were the same class of persons, and possessed a common character. Though they, for a time, escaped the pollutions of the world, they were always defiled and swayed by unsubdued pollution of heart. While externally ' washed,' they were internally altogether vile ; and even when outwardly clean, they were but washed swine, unrenewed in their nature, filthy in their inclinations, prepared to roll themselves anew in the mire, governed by habits and possessing dispositions altogether alien from those of the sheep of Christ's pasture Ed.] ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. Question LXXX. Can true believers be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace, and that they shall persevere therein unto salvation? Answer. Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavour to walk in all good conscience before him, may, without extraordinary revelation, by faith grounded upon the truth of God's promises, and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves those graces to which the promises of life are made, and bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God, be infallibly as sured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere therein unto salvation. We have considered a believer as made partaker of those graces of the Holy Spirit which accompany salvation, and by which his state is rendered safe. We have considered also that he shall not draw back unto perdition, but shall attain the end ot nis faith, even the salvation of his soul. But it is necessary for the establishing or nis comfort and joy, that he. should know himself to be interested in this privilege. it is a great btoanng to be redeemed by Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit; but it is a superadded privilege to know that we are so, or to be assured that we are in ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 195 a state of grace. This is the subject insisted on in the present Answer. In dis cussing it we shall observe the following method. First, we shall say something concerning the nature of assurance, and how far persons may be said to be infalli bly assured of their salvation. Secondly, we shall endeavour to prove that this blessing is attainable in this life. Thirdly, we shall consider the character of those to whom it belongs. Lastly, we shall consider the means whereby it may be attained. The Nature and Degrees of Assurance. We shall speak first concerning the nature of assurance, and how far persons may be said to be infallibly assured of their salvation. Assurance is opposed to doubting, which is inconsistent with it. He who has attained this privilege, is car ried above all those doubts and fears respecting the truth of grace, and his interest in the love of God, which others are exposed to, and by which their lives are ren dered very uncomfortable. It may be considered also as containing something more than our being enabled to hope that we are in a state of grace ; for though such hope affords relief against despair, yet it falls short of assurance, which is sometimes called a ' full assurance of hope.'a And it certainly contains a great deal more than a probability or a conjectural persuasion relating to this matter ; which is the only thing that some will allow to be attainable by believers, especially they who deny the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, and lay the greatest stress of man's salvation on his own free-will, rather than the efficacious grace of God. All that they will own as to this matter is, that persons may be in a hopeful way to salvation, and that it is probable they may attain it at last ; but that they cannot be fully assured that they shall, unless they were assured concerning their perse verance. This, however, they suppose, no one can be ; because, as they think, the carrying on of the work of grace, as well as the beginning of it, depends on the free will of man, and because, according to their notion of liberty, as was observed under another Answer,* he who acts freely may act the contrary. They hence conclude that, as every thing which is done in the carrying on of the work of grace is done freely ; no one can be assured that this work shall not miscarry ; so that none can attain assurance. This is what some assert, but we deny. It is observed in this Answer, not only that believers may attain assurance that they ' are in a state of grace, and shall persevere therein unto salvation,' but that they may be ' infallibly assured' of this, and so possess the highest degree of assurance, flow far this is attainable by believers, may be the subject of our farther inquiry. It is a matter of dispute among some, whether assurance admits of any degrees ; whether a person can be said to be more or less assured of a thing ; or whether that which does not amount to the highest degree of certainty, may be called as surance. This is denied by some, for this reason, that assurance is the highest and strongest assent which can be given to the truth of any proposition ; so that the least defect of evidence on which it is supposed to be founded, leaves the mind in a proportionable degree of doubt as to the truth of it ; in which case there may be a probability, but not an assurance. If this method of explaining the meaning of the word be correct, it is beyond dispute that they who have attained assurance of their being in a state of grace, may be said to be 'infallibly assured.' Whether this be the sense of that expression in this Answer, I will not pretend to determine ; neither shall I enter any farther into this dispute, which amounts to little more than what concerns the propriety or impropriety of the sense of the word ' assurance. ' All that I shall add concerning it, is that, according to our common mode of speak ing, it is reckoned no absurdity for a person to say he is sure of a thing, though it be possible for him to have greater evidence of the truth of it, and consequently a greater degree of assurance. Thus the assurance which arises from the possession of a thing cannot but be greater than that which attends the mere expectation of it. Hence, whatever be the sense of the ' infallible assurance' which is here spoken of, we cannot suppose that there is any degree of assurance attainable in this life, concerning the happiness of the saints in heaven, equal to that which those have Heb. vi. 1 1. b See Sect. « The Change wrought in Effectual Calling,' under Quest. Ix7ii. 196 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. who are actually possessed of that blessedness. To suppose this would be to confound earth and heaven together, or expectation with actual fruition. As to our assurance, there is among some another matter of dispute which I am not desirous to enter into, namely, whether it is possible for a believer to be as sure that he shall be saved, as he is that he exists, or that he is a sinner and so stands in need of salvation ; or whether it is possible for a person to be as sure that he shall be saved, as he is sure of that truth which is matter of pure revelation, namely, that he that believes shall be saved ; or whether it is possible for a person to be as sure that he has the truth of grace, as he may be that he performs any actions, whether natural or religious, such as speaking, praying, reading, hear ing, &c. ; or whether we may be as sure that we have a principle of grace, as we are that we put forth such actions as seem to proceed from that principle, when engaged in the performance of some religious duties. If any are disposed to defend the possibility of our attaining assurance in so great a degree as this, thinking it to be the meaning of what some divines have asserted, agreeably to what is contained in this Answer, that a believer may be ' infallibly assured of his salvation,' I will not enter the lists with them ; though I very much question whether it will not be a matter of too great difficulty for them to support their argument, without the least appearance of exception to it. I would not, however, extenuate or deny the privileges which some saints have been favoured with, who have been, as it were, in the suburbs of heaven, and had not only a prelibation but a kind of sensation of the enjoyments of it, and expressed as full an assurance as though they had been actually in heaven. It cannot be denied that this, in various instances, has amounted as near as possible to an as surance of infallibility. And that such a degree of assurance has been attained by some believers, both in former and later ages, will be proved under a following Head. Now, this, I am apt to think, is what is intended in this Answer by the possibility of a believer's being infallibly assured of salvation. But let it be con sidered that these are uncommon instances, in which the Spirit of God, by his im mediate testimony, has favoured persons with as to this matter, and are not to be reckoned as a standard, whereby we may judge of that assurance which God's chil dren desire and sometimes enjoy, which falls short of it. When God is pleased to give a believer such a degree of assurance as oarries him above all his doubts and fears with respect to his being in a state of grace, and fills him with those conse quent joys which are unspeakable and full of glory ; the believer possesses that assurance which we are now to consider, and which, in this Answer, is called an infallible assurance. But as to whether it is more or less properly called ' an in fallible assurance,' we have nothing farther to add. The Attainableness of Assurance. We shall now proceed to prove that this privilege is attainable in the present life, 1. We observe, then, that if the knowledge of other things which are of less im portance be attainable, certainly it is possible for us to attain that which is of the greatest importance. This argument is founded on the goodness of God. If he has given us sufficient means to lead us into the knowledge of things which respect our comfort and happiness in this world ; has he left us altogether destitute of those means whereby we may conclude that it shall go well with us in a better ? God has sometimes been pleased to favour his people with some intimations con cerning the blessings of common providence, which they might expect for their encouragement, under the trials and difficulties which they were to meet with in the world. Our Saviour encourages his disciples to expect that, notwithstanding their present destitute circumstances, as to outward things, their Father, who knoweth that they had need of them,' would supply their wants ; so that they had no reason to be over-solicitous in ' taking thought what they should eat and drink, ana wherewithal they should be clothed. "= God, that he may encourage the faith oi nis people, gives them assurance that 'no temptation shall befall them, but what c Matt. vi. 31, 32. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 197 is common to men,' or that they shall not be pressed down, so as to sink and de spair of help from him, under the burdens and difficulties which, in the course of his providence, he lays on them. Now, if he is pleased to give such intimations to his people, with respect to their condition in this world, that they may be assured that it shall go well with them as to many things which concern their outward circumstances ; may we not conclude that the assurance of those things which concern their everlasting, salvation may be attained ? Or, if the promises which respect the one may be depended on, so as to afford relief against all doubts and fears which may arise from our present circumstances in the world ; may we not, with as good reason, suppose that the promises which respect the other, namely, the carrying on and perfecting of the work of grace, afford equal matter of encouragement ? May we not hence conclude, that the one is as much to be depended on as the other ; so that, as the apostle says, ' they who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before them, may have a strong consola tion ' arising thence ?d It will be objected that the promises which respect outward blessings are not always fulfilled ; so that we cannot be assured concerning our future condition, as to outward circumstances in the world ; though godliness, as the apostle says, ' hath promise of the life that now is,' as well as of ' that which is to come.' This, say the objectors, appears from the uncommon instances of affliction which the best men often meet with, and which others are exempted from. It is hence inferred that the promises which respect the carrying on and completing of the work of grace, will not afford that assurance of salvation which we suppose a believer may attain to as founded on them. Now, we reply, that the promises of outward bless ings are always fulfilled, either in kind or in value. Sometimes the destitute state of believers, as to the good things of this life, is abundantly compensated with those spiritual blessings which are bestowed on them at present, or are reserved for them hereafter. Hence, if their oondition in the world be attended with little else but affliction, they have no reason to say that they are disappointed ; for while they are denied lesser blessings, they have greater instead. Their assurance of the ac complishment of the promises of outward blessings, therefore, must be understood with this limitation. But as to spiritual blessings which God has promised to his people, there is no foundation for any distinction of their being made good in kind or in value. If the promise of eternal life be not made good accord-; ing to the letter of it, it cannot, in any sense, be said to be accomplished. Hence, as God gives his people these promises, as a foundation of hope, we may conclude that the assurance of believers relating to their salvation, is as much to be de pended on as the assurance they have, founded on the promises of God, concern ing any blessings which may tend to support them in their present condition in the world. 2. That assurance of justification, sanctification, and salvation, may be attained in this life, is farther evident from the obligations which persons are under to pray for these privileges, and to bless God for the experience which they have of the one, and the ground which they have to expect the other. That it is our duty to pray for them is no less certain than that we stand in need of them. This, then, being taken for granted, it may be inferred that there is some way by which we may know that our prayers are answered. To think that there is not such a way would be a very discouraging consideration. Nor, if there were not such a way, could the experience of answer to prayer be alleged as a motive to the performance of the duty ; as the psalmist says, ' 0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.'0 Nor could any believer have the least reason to say as he does else where, ' Verily God hath heard me ; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.''' The apostle also says that, ' if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us;' s and, in the following words* he adds, ' We know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.' It follows, therefore, that we may know, from the exer cise of faith in prayer for the forgiveness of sin, that our iniquities are forgiven. The same may be said concerning prayer for all oth«r blessings which accompany d Heb. vi. 18. e Psal. lxv. 2. f Psal lxvi. 19. g 1 John v. 14, 15. 198 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. salvation ; so that it is possible for us to know whether God has granted us these blessings or not. It may be objected, that it is not absolutely necessary that an humble suppliant should have any intimations given him that his petition shall be granted ; or that it would be a very unbecoming thing for such an one to say, that he will not ask for a favour, if he be not sure beforehand that it will be bestowed. We answer, that we are not only to pray for saving blessings, but to praise God for our experi ence of them. Thus it is said, ' Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me ;'h and ' Praise is comely for the upright.'' Now, this supposes that we know that God has be stowed upon us the blessings we prayed for. If the psalmist calls upon his soul to 'bless the Lord for forgiving him all his iniquities,'11 we must suppose that there was some method by which he attained the assurance of the blessing which he praises God for. 3. Some have attained the privilege of assurance ; and therefore it is not impos sible for others to attain it. That some have been assured of their salvation, is evident from the account we have in several scriptures. Thus the apostle tells the church he writes to, ' God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salva tion ;'' and he says concerning himself, ' I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that day.'m It is objected that though some persons of old experienced this privilege, yet it does not follow that we have any ground to expect it ; since they attained it by extra ordinary revelation, in that age in which they were favoured with the spirit of in spiration, whereby they arrived at the knowledge of things future, even such as it was impossible for them otherwise to have known. At least, say the objectors, they could not, without these extraordinary intimations, have arrived at any more than a probable conjecture concerning this matter. Now, continue they, that by these means some obtained assurance, is not denied, while to pretend to more than this, is to suppose that we have it by extraordinary inspiration, which, at present, can be reckoned no other than enthusiasm. We answer, that though God does not give the church, at present, the least ground to expect extraordinary intimations concerning their interest in spiritual and saving blessings, as he formerly did ; yet we must not conclude that there is no method whereby they may attain the assurance of that interest in a common and ordinary way, by the internal testi mony of the Spirit, — a testimony, as will farther appear under a following Head, which differs very much from enthusiasm, since it is attended with and founded on those evidences which God has given in scripture, of their being in a state of grace, and which they, in a way of self-examination, are enabled to apprehend in themselves. That this may appear, let it be considered that there never was any privilege conferred upon the church by extraordinary revelation, while that dispensation was continued in it, but the same, or some other which is equivalent to it, is still conferred in an ordinary way, provided it be absolutely necessary for the advanc ing of the glory of God, and their edification and consolation in Christ. If this were not true, the church could hardly subsist ; much less would the present dispensa tion of the covenant of grace excel the other which the church was under in former ages, as to those spiritual privileges which they have ground to expect. It is, I think, allowed by all, that the gospel-dispensation, not only in the beginning of it, when extraordinary gifts were conferred, but in its continuance, now that they have ceased, excels that which went before it, with respect to the spiritual privileges which are conferred in it. Now, if God was pleased formerly to converse with men in an extraordinary way, and thereby to give them an intimation of things relating to their salvation, but at present withholds not only the way and manner, 0 ¦1m? ^mS sucn intimation to his people, but the blessings conveyed thereby ; it will follow that the church is in a worse state than it was before, or else it must be supposed that these privileges are not absolutely necessary to enable them to glorify lioa, which they do by offering praise to him, and to their attaining that peace and h Psal. 1. 23. i p8ai, xxxiii j k Psal dii 2 3 j j Thegs y g m2 Tim> . ^ ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 199 joy which they are given to expect in a way of believing. If the church were desti tute of this privilege, it would be in a very unhappy state, and retain nothing which could compensate the loss of those extraordinary gifts which have now ceased. They who insist on the objection, and charge the doctrine of assurance with savour ing of enthusiasm, are obliged, by their own method of reasoning, to apply the same objection to the doctrine of internal, special, efficacious grace, which, under a foregoing Answer,11 we proved to be the work of the Spirit ; and if these internal works are confined to the extraordinary dispensation of the Spirit, then the church is at present as much destitute of sanctification as it is of assurance. We must hence conclude, that the one no more savours of enthusiasm than the other ; or that we have ground to hope for assurance of salvation, though not in an extraordi nary way, as much as the saints had in former ages. Our Saviour has promised his people the Spirit to perform what is necessary for carrying on the work of grace in all ages, even when extraordinary gifts should cease. Thus he says, ' The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'0 Elsewhere, also, it is said, ' Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. * And as to the privilege of assurance, it is said, ' 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.'i Besides, there are many other promises of the Spirit, which, though they had their accomplishment, as to what respects the conferring of extraordinary gifts, in the first age of the church, yet have a farther accomplish ment in what the Spirit was to bestow on the church in following ages, though in an ordinary way. This seems very evident from scripture, inasmuch as the fruits of the Spirit are said to appear in the exercise of those graces which believers have in all ages, who never had extraordinary gifts. Thus it is said, ' The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. 'r Now, if these graces be produced by the Spirit, as they are called his ' fruits,' and the exercise of them be not confined to any particular age of the church, we must suppose that the Spirit's energy extends itself to all ages. — Again, believers are said to be ' led by the Spirit ;'s and their being so is assigned as an evidence of their being ' the sons of God.' On the other hand, it is said, ' If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.'' We may hence conclude that there was, in the apostle's days, an effusion of the Spirit common to all be lievers, besides that which was conferred in an extraordinary way on those who were favoured with the gift of inspiration ; otherwise, having the Spirit would not have been considered as a privilege belonging only to believers, and being destitute of it an evidence of a person's not belonging to Christ. As to the extraordinary dispensation of the Holy Ghost, it was not inseparably connected with salvation. For many had it who were Christians only in name, and had nothing more than a form of godliness ; and, on the other hand, many true believers brought forth those fruits which proceeded from the Spirit in an ordinary way, who had not these extraordinary gifts conferred on them. Moreover, the apostle speaks of believers 'through the Spirit mortifying the deeds of the body.'u Now, if the work of mor tification be incumbent on believers in all ages, then the influences of the Spirit, enabling to this work, may be expected in all ages. To apply this to our present argument, — the Spirit's bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, which is the foundation of that assurance which we are pleading for, is, toge ther with the other fruits and effects of the Spirit just mentioned, a privilege which believers, as such, are given to desire and hope for, and which they stand in as much need of as those who had this or other privileges conferred on them in an extra ordinary way in the first age of the gospel church. — We might add, that the extra ordinary gilts of the Spirit were conferred on particular persons, and not on whole churches ; while assurance is considered by the apostle as a privilege conferred on the church to which he writes, that is, the greatest part of them, whence the deno- n See Sect. ' Effectual Calling a Divine Work,' under Quest, lxvii, lxviii. o John xiv. 26. p 1 John ii. 20. q 1 Cor. ii. 12. r Gal. v. 22 23. I Rom. viii. 14. t Ver. 9. u Rom. viii. 13. 200 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. mination is taken. On this account, the apostle, speaking to the believing Corinthians, says ' We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a buildino- of God an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'" Here he does not mean only himself and other ministers, but the generality of behevers at that time who are described as walking by faith. There are many things said concerning them in the foregoing and following verses, which make it sufficiently evident that he intends more than himself and other ministers, when he speaks of their having assurance ; since many had it who were not made partakers of extra ordinary gifts. We must not conclude, therefore, that the church has at present no ground to expect this privilege ; or that they are liable to the charge of enthu siasm if they claim it. But that the objection which we are examining may farther appear not to be sufficient to overthrow our argument, we may appeal to the experience of many believers in the present age, who pretend not to extraordinary revelation. Let it be considered, then, that many, in later ages, since extraordinary revelation has ceased, have attained this privilege, and consequently it is now attainable. To deny this would be to offend against the generation of God's people, of whom many have given their testimony to this truth, and have declared what a comfortable sense they have had of their interest in Christ, and what sensible impressions they have enjoyed of his love shed abroad in their hearts, whereby they have had, as it were, a preliba- tion of the heavenly blessedness. This assurance has been attended with the most powerful influence of the Spirit of God, enabling them to exercise those graces which correspond with these comfortable experiences, whereby they have been car ried through and enabled to surmount the greatest difficulties which have attended them in life. Many, too, have been supported and comforted therewith at the ap* proach of death ; so that the sting of death has been taken away, and they have expressed themselves with a kind of triumph over it, in the apostle's words, ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory V1 — That some have been favoured with this invaluable privilege, is undeniable. The account we have in the history of the lives and deaths of many who have been burning and shining lights in their generation, puts it out of all doubt. And if this were not sufficient, we might appeal to the experience of many now living ; for there is scarcely any age or place in which the gospel comes with power, but we have some instances of the Spirit's testimony to his own work, whereby it comes, with much assurance, a com fortable sense of God's love, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which are the first-fruits and earnest of eternal life. But since this point will be particu larly insisted on, and farther proofs given of it under a following Answer,2 we may at present take it for granted, that many have been assured of their being in a state of grace, who have not made the least pretension to inspiration ; while to charge them with enthusiasm, or a vain ungrounded delusion, is to cast a reflection on the best of men, as well as on one of the highest privileges which we can enjoy in this world. — I am sensible that it will be objected that, though some have indeed ex pressed such a degree of assurance, yet this will afford conviction only to those who have it, who are the best judges of their own experience, and of the evidence on which their assurance is founded, but is not a sufficient proof to us, with respect to whom it is only a matter of report. It may also be said, on the other hand, that it is possible these persons might be mistaken who have been so sure of their own salvation. It is very unreasonable, however, to suppose that all have been mistaken or deluded who have declared that they have been favoured with this blessing. Charity will hardly admit of such a supposition ; and if there be no possibility of attaining this assurance, they must all have been deceived who have concluded that they had it. Moreover, this privilege has been attained, not only by a few persons, and these the more credulous part of mankind, or by such as have not been able to assign any marks or evidences tending to support it ; but by many believers who, at the same time, have been far from discovering any weakness of judgment, or disposition to unwarrantable credulity. Yea, they have enjoyed it at a time when they have been most sensible of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and x 2 Cor. v. 1. jl Cor. xv. 55. z See Quest, lxxxiii. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 201 could not but own that there was a peculiar hand of God in it ; and the same per sons, when destitute of the Spirit's testimony, have acknowledged themselves to have used their utmost endeavours to attain it, but in vain. It is alleged, indeed, that though we suppose assurance true to a demonstration to those who have it, as being matter of sensation to them, it is only matter ef report to us ; and that we are no farther bound to believe it, than we can depend on the credibility of their evidence who have declared that they have experienced it. But if there be such a thing as certainty founded on report, to deny which would be the greatest degree of scepticism, and if the truth of assurance has been transmitted to us by a great number of those who cannot be charged with any thing which looks like a disposi tion to deceive either themselves or others, we are bound to believe, from their own testimony, that there is such an assurance to be attained by those who pretend not to receive it by extraordinary inspiration from the Spirit of God. The Character of the Persons who enjoy Assurance. We are now led to consider the character of the persons to whom this privilege belongs. They are described, in this Answer, as ' such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavour to walk in all good conscience before him.' These only have ground to expect this privilege. It is an assurance of our having the truth of grace that we are considering ; which supposes a person truly to believe in Christ. Accord ingly, it is distinguished from that unwarrantable presumption whereby many per suade themselves that they shall be saved, though they be not sanctified. It is not ' the hope of the hypocrite ' we are speaking of, which shall ' perish ' and be ' cut off;' ' whose trust shall be as the spider's web,' which shall be swept away with the besom of destruction, ¦and be like 'the giving up of the ghost,' which shall end in everlasting despair.* What we are speaking of is a well-grounded hope, such as is accompanied with and supported by the life of faith ; so that we are first enabled to act grace, and then to discern the truth of it in our own souls, and accordingly reap the comfortable fruits and effects which attend this assurance ; as the apostle prays in behalf of the believing Romans, that ' the God of hope would fill them with all joy and peace in believing. '° An unbeliever, therefore, has no right to this privi lege. Indeed, from the nature of the thing, it is preposterous for a person to be assured of that which in itself has no reality ; as the apostle says, ' If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.'0 And if faith be necessary to assurance, it follows, as is farther observed in this Answer, that they who have attained this privilege walk in all good conscience before God ; where by the sincerity of their faith is evinced. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Our re joicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincer ity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. 'd The Means of attaining Assurance. We are now to consider the means by which assurance is to be attained, namely, not by extraordinary revelation, but by faith, founded on the promises of God. As to the former, we have already considered that assurance may be attained without extraordinary revelation ; as it has been experienced by some in the present dispen sation of the gospel, in which extraordinary revelation has ceased. Indeed, it may be observed, in the account the scripture gives of this privilege, that it does not appear that, when extraordinary revelation was granted to many in the first age of the gospel, the design of it was to lead men into the knowledge of their own state, so that they should by means of it attain assurance of their interest in Christ and right to eternal life. The main design of inspiration was to qualify ministers in' an extraordinary way to preach the gospel ; as the necessity of affairs seemed then to require it. It was necessary also for the imparting of some doctrines which could not otherwise be known. Inasmuch, too, as it was an extraordinary dispen- a Job viii. 13, 14, and chap. xi. 20. b Rom. xv. 13. c Gal. vi. 3. d 2 Cor. i. 12. II. 2 C 202 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. sation of divine providence, it was an expedient to give conviction to the world con cerning the truth of the Christian religion ; since God hereby was pleased to con verse in an immediate way with men, to testify the great regard he had to his church and to promote the great ends of inspiration in propagating that religion which was then to be set up in the world. But we do not find that by extraordinary revelation the work of grace was ordinarily wrought or carried on; nor was it God's instituted means without which believers could not attain assurance, for, in that age of extraordinary inspiration, they arrived at that privilege in the same way in which we are to expect to attain it. It is true, God occasionally intimated, by immediate revelation, that he would save some particular persons, and that their ' names were written in the book of life ;'e but these were special and extraordinary instances of divine condescension ; and it is not designed by them that others should expect to attain the privilege of assurance in the same way. Hence, it will be hard to prove that the apostle Paul, and others whom he speaks of, who were assured of their sal vation, though they received the knowledge of other things by inspiration, were led into the knowledge of their own state in such a way, much less may we expect to attain assurance by extraordinary revelation. We are now led to consider the ordinary means whereby we may attain assurance. This means is, in this Answer, said to be faith, grounded on the truth of God's promises, and the Spirit's testimony, whereby we are enabled to discern in our selves those graces which accompany salvation. Accordingly, in order to our arriv ing at a comfortable persuasion that we shall be saved, there must be revealed those promises of life and salvation which are contained in the gospel. These are re motely necessary to assurance ; for without a promise of salvation we can have no hope of it. Yet though these promises are contained in the gospel, many are desti tute of assurance. Again, it is necessary, in order to our- attaining assurance, that there should be some marks and evidences revealed in the word of God as a rule for persons to try themselves by, in order to their knowing that they are in a state of grace. Now, we may say concerning this rule, as well as concerning the promises of salvation revealed, that, though it is necessary to assurance, yet it is only an objective means for our attaining it; inasmuch as we are hereby led to see what graces experienced, or duties performed by us, have the promise of salvation annexed to them. Hence, it is. further necessary that we should discern in our selves those marks and evidences of grace to which the promise of salvation is an nexed ; otherwise we have no right to lay claim to it. Accordingly, it is our duty to look into ourselves, and observe what marks of grace we have, whence we may, by the Spirit's testimony with ours, discern ourselves to be in a state of grace. We shall, then, in examining this subject, consider the following points ; — that in order to our attaining assurance, we must exercise the duty of self-examination ; what we may truly call a mark or evidence of grace, whereby we may discern that we are in a state of salvation ; and that we are to depend on, hope, and pray for, the testimony of the Spirit with our spirits, that we are the children of God, and that the evidences of grace are found in us. I. In order to our attaining assurance, it is necessary that we exercise the duty of self-examination, which is God's ordinance for this end. It is certainly a duty and privilege for us to know ourselves, — not only what we do, but what we are ; for without knowing this, whatever knowledge we may have of other things, we are chargeable with great ignorance in a matter of the highest importance ; nor can we be sufficiently humble for those sins we commit, or thankful for the mercies we receive. If we reckon it an advantage to know what is done in the world, and are very inquisitive into the affairs of others, it is much more necessary and reasonable for us to endeavour to know what more immediately relates to ourselves ; or if we are very desirous to know those things which concern our natural or civil affairs in the world, whether we are in prosperous or adverse circumstances ; ought we not much more to inquire, how matters stand with us as to what concerns a better world —Again, we cannot know the state of our souls, without impartial self-ex amination. This is evident from the nature of the thing. As inquiry is the means e Phil. iv. 3. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 203 for our attaining knowledge ; so looking into ourselves is a means of attaining self- acquaintance.— Further, self-examination is a duty founded on a divine command, and an ordinance appointed for our attaining the knowledge of our state. Thus the apostle says, ' Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves. 'f Now, whatever duty God has commanded us to engage in, as ex pecting any spiritual privilege to attend it, is properly an ordinance for the attain ing of that privilege ; and its being so is an argument to enforce the performance of that duty. Having thus proved self-examination to be a Christian's duty, we shall now con sider how it ought to be performed. Here let it be observed that, as it is God's ordinance, we are to have a due regard to his presence, and consider him as an heart-searching God, and depend on his assistance, without which it cannot be per formed to any great advantage. But more particularly, we are to engage in this duty deliberately. It cannot well be performed while we are in a hurry of business. As every thing is beautiful in its season, so we ought to redeem time and to retire from the world, to apply ourselves to this as well as other secret duties. We have the more need to do this, that a rash and hasty judgment concerning any thing is generally faulty, and must be reckoned an evidence of weakness in him who passes it, and will be much more so when the thing to be determined is of such vast im portance. — Again, the duty of self-examination ought to be done frequently ; not like those things which are to be performed but once in our lives, or only upon some extraordinary occasions, but often, at least so often that no presumptuous sin may be committed, or any extraordinary judgment inflicted on us, or mercy vouchsafed to us, without a due observation being made of it, in order to our improving it aright to the glory of God and our own edification. We cannot, however, exactly determine what relates to the frequency of this duty, any more than we can pre scribe to those who are in a way of trade and business in the world, how often they are to cast up their accounts, and set their books in order, that they may judge whether they go forward or backward in the world. Yet, as the neglect of these mercantile duties has been detrimental to many, as to their worldly affairs ; so the neglect of self-examination has been often found an hinderance to our comfortable procedure in our Christian course. So far, however, as we may advise concern ing the frequency of this duty, it would redound much to the glory of God and our own advantage if, at the close of every day, we would call to mind the experiences we have had, and observe the frame of spirit with which we have engaged in all its business. This the psalmist advises when he says, ' Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still's Moreover, it is advisable for us to perform this duty whenever we engage in other solemn stated religious duties, whether pub lic or private, that we may know what matter we have for prayer or praise, what help we want from God against the prevalency of corruption or temptation, what answers of prayer we have received from him, or what success we have had under any ordi nance in which we have engaged, as well as what the present frame of our spirit is when drawing nigh to God in any holy duty. The duty of self-examination ought to be performed with great diligence. To arrive at a knowledge of ourselves, and the secret working of our hearts and affec tions in what respects things divine and heavenly, or to discern the truth of grace, so as not to mistake that for a saving work which has the external show of godli ness without the power of it, requires great diligence and industry. Accordingly, the psalmist, in speaking concerning the performance of this duty, says, ' I com mune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.'11 The thing to be inquired into is not merely, whether we are sinners in general, or exposed to many miseries in this life in consequence of being so, for this is sufficiently evident by daily experience. But we are to endeavour after a more particular knowledge of ourselves ; and, accordingly are to inquire whether sin hath dominion over us to such a degree that all the powers and faculties of our souls are enslaved by it, and whether we commit sin in such a way as denominates us, as our Saviour expresses it, 'servants of sin,'1 or, whether sin be loathed and abhorred, avoided and repented f 2 Cor. xiii. 5. g Psal. iv. 4. h Psal. lxxvii. 6. i John viii. 31. 204 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. of. As to our state, we are to inquire whether we have ground to conclude that we are justified, and in consequence delivered from the guilt of sin, and the con demning sentence of the law ; er whether we remain in a state of condemnation, and the wrath of God abideth on us. We must inquire whether the work of grace be really begun, so that we are effectually called, and enabled to put forth spiritual actions from a renewed nature ; and whether this work is going forward or declin ing, what is the strength or weakness of our faith. We are to inquire also what is the general tenor of our actions ; whether the ends we design in all reli gious duties are right and warrantable ; whether our improvement in grace bears any proportion to the means we are favoured with. Moreover, we are to examine whether we perform all those relative duties which are incumbent on us, so as to glorify God in our conversation with men ; whether we endeavour to do good to them, and receive good from them, and so improve our talents to the glory of Gods from whom we received them. These and similar things are to be inquired into ; and our examining ourselves respecting them will be more immediately subservient to the attaining of the privilege of assurance. Self-examination ought to be performed with the greatest impartiality. Con science, which is to act the part of a judge and a witness, must be faithful in its dictates and determinations, the matter in question being one of the greatest im portance. Hence, in passing a judgment en our state, we must proceed according to the rules of strict justice, not denying, on the one hand; what we have received from God, or resolutely concluding against ourselves that there is no hope, when there are many things which afford matter of peace and comfort to us ; nor, on the other hand, are we to think ourselves something when we are nothing. Some are obliged to conclude, as the result of this inquiry into their state, that they are un regenerate and destitute of the saving grace of God. This sentence those are obliged to pass on themselves who are grossly ignorant, not sensible of the plague of their own hearts ; who are altogether unacquainted with the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, or the method prescribed in the gospel for a sinner's justification or freedom from the guilt of sin, in a fiducial application of Christ's righteousness, which is the only means conducive to it ; and who know not what is included in evangelical repentance, how sin is to be mortified, and what it is to depend on Christ in the execution of his offices of prophet, priest, and king. At least, if they have not such a degree of the knowledge of these things, though they cannot fully and clearly describe them, as may influence their practice, and excite those graces which all true converts are enabled to exercise, they have ground to conclude that they are in a state of unregeneracy. We may add, that a person must conclude against himself that he is destitute of the grace of God, if he allows himself in the omission of known duties, or the commission of known sins, and is content with a form of godliness without the power of it, or values and esteems the praise of men more than of God. Such must conclude that their hearts are not right with him. Again, we must examine ourselves concerning our state, with a resolution, by the grace of God, to make a right improvement of that judgment which we are bound to pass on ourselves. If we apprehend that we are in a state of unregeneracy, we are not to sink into despair ; but we are to wait on God in all his appointed means and ordinances, in order to our obtaining the first grace, that, by the powerful in fluences of the Spirit, there may be such a true change wrought in us that we may have ground to hope better things concerning ourselves, even things which accom pany salvation. If, on the other hand, we find that we have experienced the grace of God in truth, we must be disposed to give him all the glory, to exercise a con tinued dependence on him for what is still lacking to complete the work, and, as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, to walk in him. — Finally, this duty must be performed with judgment. We are to compare our hearts and actions with the rule which is prescribed in the word of God, whereby we may know whether we have those marks and evidences of grace whence we may conclude that we have a good foundation to build on, and that our hope is such as shall never make ashamed. II. We are thus led to consider what we may truly call a mark or evidence of grace, whereby we may discern that we are in a state of salvation. In order to our un derstanding this, we must consider two rules. First, every thing which is a mark ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 205 or evidence of a thing, must be more known than that which is designed to be evinced by it. The sign must always be more known than the thing signified by it ; inasmuch as it is a means of our knowing that which we are at present in doubt about ; as when the finger is placed in a cross-road, to direct the traveller which way he is to take. Again, a mark or evidence of a thing must contain some essential property of that which it is designed to evince. Thus the inferring of consequences from premises is an essential property belonging to every intelli gent creature, and to none else. It is hence a mark or evidence of an intelligent creature. So to design the best end, and use those means which are conducive to it, is an essential property of a wise man, and consequently a mark or evidence of wisdom. On the other hand, there are some things which are not essential pro perties, but accidental, as a healthful constitution is to a man, or a particular action which has some appearance but not all the necessary ingredients of wisdom and goodness to a wise or good man. Now, let these rules be applied to our present purpose, in determining what we may call marks or evidences of grace. With re spect to the former of them, namely, that a mark must be more known than the thing which is evinced by it, we may conclude that eternal election, and the Spirit's implanting a principle of grace in regeneration, cannot be said to be marks or evi dences of sanctification, since these are less known than the thing designed to be evinced. As to the other rule, namely, that a mark must contain an essential property of that which it evinces, it follows from it, that our engaging in holy duties without the exercise of grace, or our extending charity to the poor when it does not proceed from faith or love to God, &c, is no certain evidence of the truth of grace ; for a person may perform these duties and yet be destitute of grace, while that which is essential to a thing is inseparable from it. — I could not but think it necessary to premise these general observations respecting marks of grace ; inasmuch as some have entertained prejudices against all marks of grace, and seemed to assert that a believer is not to judge of his state by them. Nothing seems more absurd than this opinion. If they who adopt it have nothing to say in its defence, but that some assign those things to be marks of grace which are not so, and thereby lead themselves and others into mistakes about them ; what has been premised concerning the nature of a mark or evidence, may, in some measure, guard against this prejudice, as well as prepare our way for what may be said con cerning them. In treating this subject, we shall consider, first, those things which can hardly be reckoned marks of grace ; and, secondly, what marks we may judge of ourselves by. 1. As to what are not to be reckoned marks of grace, we are not to conclude that a person is in a state of grace, merely because he has a strong impression on his own spirit that he is so. Sueh an impression is accidental, and not essential to grace ; and many are mistaken with respect to it. It is not to be doubted that they whom our Saviour represents as saying, ' Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works ?'k had a strong persuasion founded on this evidence, that they were in a state of grace, till they found themselves mistaken, when he commanded them to ' depart from him. ' Nothing is more obvious than .that many presume that they are something when they are nothing. Indeed, a persuasion that a person is in a state of grace, merely because he cannot think otherwise of himself, the thing being impressed on his spirit, without any other evidence, lays him too open to the charge of enthusiasm. Again, an external profession of religion, discovered in the performance of several holy duties, is no certain sign of the truth of grace ; for this many make who are not effectually called. Of such Christ speaks when he says, ' Many are called, but few are chosen.'1 We may add, that persons may have some degree of raised affections when attending on the ordinances, some sudden flashes of joy when they hear of the privileges of believers, both in this and in a better world ; though their conversation be not agreeable to their confident and presumptuous expectation. On the other hand, some have their fears very much awakened under k Matt. vii. 22. 1 Chap. xx. 16. 206 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. the ordinances, as the subject of their meditations has a tendency to excite such fears ; others have such a degree of sorrow that it gives vent to itself in a flood of tears, as Esau is said to have 'sought the blessing with tears ;'m but still there is something else wanting to evince the truth of grace. I do not deny that it is a great blessing to have raised affections in holy duties. But when these are experi enced only in particular instances, and are excited principally by some external motives or circumstances attending the ordinance the persons are engaged in ; and when the impressions made on them wear off as soon as the ordinance is over ; we can hardly determine them, on the evidence of these raised affections, to be in a state of grace. The affections, indeed, are warmed in holy duties ; but their being so is like iron heated in the fire, which, when taken out, soon grows cold again, and not like that natural heat which remains in the body of man, which is an abiding sign of life. This subject, however, is to be treated with the utmost caution ; in asmuch as many" are apt to conclude that they have no grace, because they have no raised affections in holy duties, as truly as others presume that they have grace merely because they experience such affections. Let it be considered, then, that when we speak of raised affections not being a certain mark of grace, we consider the persons who experience them as being destitute of other evidences which con tain some essential properties of grace. The affections are often raised by insigni ficant sounds, or by the tone of the voice, when there is nothing in the matter de livered which is adapted to excite any grace, the judgment not informed thereby, nor the will persuaded to embrace Christ as offered in the gospel. There may he transports of joy in hearing the word, when, at the same time, corrupt nature re tains its opposition to the spirituality of the divine truth. A person may conceive the greatest pleasure in an ungrounded hope of heaven, as a state of freedom from the miseries of this life, when he has no favour or relish of that holiness which is its glory, in which respect his conversation is not in heaven. He may also be very much terrified with the wrath of God, and the punishment of sin in hell ; when, at the same time, he has not a due sense of the vile and odious nature of sin, or an abhorrence of it. Such instances of raised affections we intend when we speak of them as no marks or evidences of the truth of grace. But, on the other hand, when, together with raised affections, there is the exercise of suitable graces, and the impression of the raised affections remains after their fervency is abated or lost, a good sign is afforded of grace ; though, when they are not accompanied with the exercise of any grace, they afford no mark or evidence of the truth of it. Now, that we may not be mistaken as to this matter, we ought to inquire, not only what it is that has a tendency to raise the affections, but whether our understandings are rightly in formed in the doctrines of the gospel, and our wills choose and embrace what is therein revealed. If we find it a difficult matter for our affections to be raised in holy duties, we ought farther to inquire whether this may not proceed from our natural constitution. And if the passions are not easily moved with any other things m the common affairs of life, we have then no reason to conclude that our being destitute of raised affections in the exercise of holy duties is a sign that we have not the truth of grace, especiaUy if Christ and divine things are the objects of our settled choice, and our hearts are fixed, trusting in him. Further, the performance of those moral duties which are materiaUy good, is no certain sign of the truth of grace. I do not say that this is not necessary ; tor when we speak of a mark of grace, as containing what is essential to it, we distinguish between that which is a necessary prerequisite, without which no one can have grace, and that which is an essential ingredient in it. Where there is no morality, there is certainly no grace ; but if there be nothing more than morality, there is wanting an essential ingredient by which this matter must be determined. A person may abstain from gross" enormities, such as ZZ:!^ aduitery> *heft' "^8- extortion, covetousness, &c, and, in many lespects, perform the contrary duties, and yet be destitute of faith in Christ. ihe i Pharisee, whom our Saviour mentions in the gospel, had as much to sav on this subject as any one ; yet his heart was not right with God, nor wa^ m Heb. xii. 17. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 207 his boasting approved by Christ. There are multitudes who perform many re ligious duties, when their doing so comports with their secular interests, — they ad here to Christ in a time of prosperity, but in a time of adversity they fall from him, — and then, that which seemed to be most excellent in them is lost, and they appear to be, what they always were, destitute of the truth of grace. 2. We now proceed to consider what are those marks by which persons may safely conclude themselves to be in a state of grace. In order to our determining this matter, we must consider what are the true and genuine effects of faith, as men tioned in scripture. There are other graces which accompany or flow from it ; as when faith is said to ' work by love, ' n or to enable us to ' overcome the world, ' ° or despise its honours, riches, and pleasures, especially when standing in competition with Christ, or drawing our hearts aside from him. This effect it produced in Moses, when he ' 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 sea son, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt;'? and in others, who ' confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, 'i who ' desired a better country, that is, an heavenly,' whose 'conversation was in heaven.'1 Moreover, we are to inquire whether faith has a tendency to 'purify the heart,'3 and so puts us upon abhorring, fleeing from, watching and striving against, every thing which tends to corrupt and defile the soul ; and whether it tends to ex cite us to universal obedience, called ' the obedience of faith,' ' and a carefulness to 'maintain good works,'" which proceed from it and are evidences of its truth ; as the apostle says, ' Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works,'" or as our Saviour says, ' The tree is known by its fruit.' But that we may more particularly judge of the truth of grace by its marks and evidences, we must consider its beginning and progress, or with what frame of spirit we first embraced and closed with Christ, and what our conversation has been since that time. As to the former of these, onr judging of the truth of grace by the beginning of it, we are to inquire what were the motives and inducements which inclined us to aocept Christ. Did we first see ourselves lost and undone, as sinful, fallen creatures ; and were we thence determined to have recourse to him for salvation, as the only refuge we could betake ourselves to? Did we first consider ourselves as guilty; did this guilt sit very uneasy upon us ; and, in order to the removal of it, did we betake our selves to Christ for forgiveness ? Did we first consider ourselves as weak and un able to do what is good, and so apply ourselves to him for strength against indwell ing sin, and victory over the temptations which prevailed against us ? — Moreover, we ought to inquire whether it was only a slavish fear and dread of the wrath of God, and the punishment of sin in hell, which gave the first turn to our thoughts and affections, so as to put us on altering our course of life ; or, whether, besides this, we saw the evil of sin arising from its intrinsic nature, and its opposition to the holiness of God ; and whether our so seeing it was attended with shame and self-abhorrence, with a perception of the excellency and loveliness of Christ, with a feeling that he was ' precious ' to us ' as he is to them that believe.'* We ought farther to inquire, what were the workings of our spirits when we first closed with Christ. Did we close with him with judgment, duly weighing what he demands of us in a way of duty, as well as what we are encouraged to expect from him ? Were we made willing to accept him in all his offices, and to have respect to all his com mandments ? Were we earnestly desirous to have communion with him here, as well as to be glorified with him hereafter ? Were we content to submit to the cross of Christ, to bear his reproach, and to count this preferable to all the glories of the world ? Were we willing to be conformed to an humbled suffering Jesus, and to take our lot with his servants, though they might be reckoned the refuse and offscouring of all things ? — Again, we ought to inquire whether we acted thus with reliance on his assistance, as being sensible of the treachery and deceitfulness of our own hearts, and of our utter inability, without the aids of his grace, to do what is good. Did n Gal. v. 6. o 1 John v. 4. p Heb. xi. 24—26. q Verses 13, 16. r Phil. iii. 20. s Acts xv. 9. t Rom. xvi. 26. u Tit. iii. 8. x James ii. 18. y 1 Pet. ii. 7. 208 ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. we, accordingly, give up ourselves to him in hope of obtaining help from him, in order to the right discharge of every duty ? Did we reckon ourselves nothing, and Christ all in all, that all our springs are in him ? This was a good beginning of the work of grace ; and will prepare the way for this grace of assurance which we are now considering. Some will object against what has been said concerning our inquiring into, or being able to discern, the first acts of faith, or that frame of spirit wherewith we first closed with Christ, that they know not the time of their conversion, if ever they were converted. They cannot remember or determine what was the particular ordinance or providence which gave them the first conviction of sin and of their need of Christ, and induced them to close with him. Much less can they tell what were the workings of their hearts at such a time. It is impossible for them to trace the footsteps of providence, so as to point out the way and manner in which this work was begun in their souls. Objectors will infer, therefore, that the frame of spirit in which persons first closed with Christ, which so few are able to discern, is not to be laid down as a mark or evidence of grace. — Now, I am not insensible that the case described is that of the greatest number of believers. There are very few who, like the apostle Paul, can tell the time and place of their conversion and every circumstance leading to it ; or who are like those converts who, when the gospel was first preached by Peter, ' were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?'* or like the jailer, who broke forth into an affectionate inquiry very similar to this, ' Sirs, What must I do to be saved ?'a though the ordinance leading to it was of a different nature. Sometimes the way of the Spirit of God in the soul at first, is so discernible that it cannot but be observed by those who are brought into a state of grace. Others, however, know nothing of this, especially they who have not run in all excess of riot, and been stopped in their course on a sudden by the grace of God ; in whom the change made in conversion was real, though it could not, from the nature of the thing, be so plainly discerned in all its circumstances. Some have been regenerate from the womb ; and others have had a great degree of re straining grace, and been trained up in the knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel from their very childhood, and retain the impressions of a religious education. These cannot so easily discern the first beginnings of the work of grace in their souls. Yet they may and ought to inquire, whether they ever found, in the course of their lives, such a frame of spirit as has been already described, which believers have when the work of grace is first begun. Nor is it very material for them to be able to discern whether these were the first actings of grace or not. The main thing to be determined is, whether they have ground to conclude that ever they experienced the grace of God in truth. In this case, the most which some can say concerning themselves, is, as the blind man says in the gospel, when the Pharisees were inquisitive about the restoring of his sight, and the way and manner in which it was done, ' Whereas I was blind, now I see.'b The true convert says, 'Whereas I was once dead in trespasses and sins, I am now alive, and enabled to put forth living and spiritual actions to the glory of God.' This evidence will give as much ground to believers to conclude that they are in a state of grace, as though they were able to determine when they were first brought into it. Again, we may judge of the truth of grace by the method in which it has been carried on, whether we are able to determine the way and manner in which it was first begun, or not. Sanctification is a progressive work. Hence, in order to our concluding that we are in a state of grace, it is not enough for us to set our faces heavenwards, but we must make advances towards it, and be found in the daily exercise of grace. A believer must not only set out in the right way, but he must hold on in it. He must live by faith, if he would conclude that the work of faith is begun in truth. It is not sufficient to call upon God, or implore help from him when under some distressing providences, and afterwards to grow remiss in or lay aside the duty of prayer, — it must be our constant work. A true Christian is dis tinguished from an hypocrite in its being said concerning the latter, ' Will he de- z Acts ii. 37. a Chap. xvi. 30. b John ix. 25. y ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 209 light himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?'0 denoting that a true believer will do so. He is either habitually or actually inclined to it ; and that in such a way as is attended with the daily exercise of those graces which are the fruits and effects of faith, whereby we may conclude that he is in a state of grace. III. Thus far we have considered those marks or evidences of grace which, in order to our attaining assurance, we must be able to discern in ourselves. But a believer may understand what are the marks of grace contained in scripture, and, at the same time, inquire into the state of his soul to know whether he can appre hend in himself any evidences of the truth of grace, and yet not be able to art-ive at a satisfaction as to this matter, so as to have his doubts and fears removed. Let it be considered, therefore, that he must depend on, hope, and pray for the testi mony of the Spirit with his spirit, that he is a child of God. It will be a difficult matter for us to conclude that we have the truth of grace, till the Spirit is pleased to shine on his own work. But when he does this, all things will appear clear and bright to us ; though formerly we might have walked in darkness, and had no light. In speaking concerning 'this inward testimony of the Spirit, which is necessary to enable a believer to discern in himself the marks of grace, on his doing which his assurance of salvation is founded, let it be premised that, as it is a branch of the Spirit's divine glory, by his internal influence, to deal with the hearts of his people ; so he does this in various ways, according to the various faculties of the soul, which are the subjects of his influence. In particular, when by his power he renews the will, and causes it to act those graces which are the effects of his divine power, he is said to sanctify a believer. But when he deals with the understand ing and conscience, enabling us to discern the truth of the work of grace that we may take the comfort of it, he is described in scripture as a witness to our being in a state*of grace, or as witnessing with our spirits that we are in that state ; and the consequence is, that « the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, we know what is the hope of his calling. 'd Accordingly, he gives us to discern that he has called us by his grace ; and that, as the result of his having done so, he has granted us a hope of eternal life. This testimony of the Spirit is a privilege plainly mentioned in scripture. Nor must we suppose that none had it but those who had extraordinary revelation ; since it is so necessary to a believer's attaining peace and joy, which the church is certainly not less possessed of in the present dispensation than it was in former ages. That the Spirit gives his testimony to the work of grace in the souls of be lievers, though extraordinary revelation has ceased, is evident from what is matter of daily experience. For there are many instances of those who have used their utmost endeavours in examining themselves to know whether they had any marks of grace, who have not been able to discern any, though they have been thought to be sincere believers by others, till, on a sudden, light has broke forth out of dark ness, and their evidences for eternal life cleared up, so that all their doubts have been removed* This attaining of assurance they could not but attribute to a divine hand ; inasmuch as formerly they could meditate nothing but terror to themselves. In this case, what the apostle prays for with respect to the church, ' that the God of hope would fill them with all joy and peace in believing, that they might abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost,'6 is experienced by them. On this account they are said to be ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise 'f whereby their hope is established, and whereby that is now confirmed to them which they were before in perplexity about. We have therefore as much ground to conclude that the Spirit is the author of assurance in believers, as we have that he is the author of sanctification. But that this doctrine may not appear liable to the charge of enthusiasm, let it be considered that the Spirit never gives his testimony to the truth of grace in any in whom he has not first wrought it ; for to do this would be, as it were, a setting his seal to a blank. We may add, that, at the time when he gives his testimony to the truth of grace in believers, he excites the lively exercise of it, whereby they are enabled to discern that it is true and genuine ; so that their assurance, though it c Job xxvii. 10. d Eph. i. 18. e Rom. xv. 13. f Eph. i. 13. II. 2 D 210 DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. is not without some internal impressive influences which they are favoured with. yet is not wholly dependent on these. Hence, if you demand a reason of the hope which is in them, though they ascribe the glory of that hope to the Holy Spirit, as enabling them to discern the truth of grace, yet they are able to prove their own- selves after having examined themselves whether they are m the faith, by discover ing their evidences of the faith of God's elect. This fact argues that their assur ance is no delusion. DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. Question LXXXI. ^4re all true believers, at all times, assured of their present being in the estate of grace, and that they shall be saved ? Answer. Assurance of grace and salvation not being of the essence of faith, true believers may wait long before they obtain it; and after the enjoyment thereof, may have it weakened and inter mitted through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions; yet are they never left with out such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair. Having considered some believers as favoured with assurance of their being in a state of grace, we are, in this Answer, led to speak of others who are destitute of it. Here something is supposed, namely, that assurance of grace and salvation is not of the essence of saving faith. Again, some things are inferred from this supposi tion ; first, that true believers may wait long before they obtain assurance ; secondly, that, after the enjoyment of assurance, it may be weakened and intermitted through bodily distempers, sins, temptations, and divine desertions ; yet, thirdly, that they are never left without the support of the Spirit of God, and so are kept from sink ing into utter despair. Assurance not of the Essence of Faith. As to the thing supposed in this Answer, namely, that assurance of grace and sal vation is not of the essence of faith, many persons who, in other respects, explain the nature of faith in such a way as is unexceptionable, assert that assurance is of the essence of it. Now, in this we cannot but think they express themselves very un warily ; at least, they ought to have more clearly discovered what they mean by faith, and what by assurance, than they appear to do. If by assurance being of the essence of faith, they mean that no one has saving faith but he who has an assur ance of his own salvation ; they not only assert what is contrary to the experience of many believers, but lay a stumbling-block in the way of weak Christians, who will be induced to conclude that, because they cannot tell whether they are true believers or not, they are destitute of saving faith. On this account, it is necessary for us to inquire how far the opinion in question is to be allowed, and in what re spect denied. It is certain that there are many excellent divines in our own and foreign nations, who have defined faith by assurance ; which they have supposed so essential to it, that without it no one can be reckoned a believer. It may be they were inclined thus to express themselves in consequence of the sense in which they understood several texts, of scripture, in which assurance seems to be considered as a necessary ingre dient in faith. Thus it is said, ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assur ance of faith. '8 Again, the apostle speaks of assurance as a privilege which belonged to the church to which he wrote, ' We know that if our earthly house of this taber nacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 'h Elsewhere, also, he so far blames their not knowing themselves, or their being destitute of this assurance, that he will hardly allow those to have any faith who were without it : ' Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates ?'¦ From such expressions as E Heb. x. 22. h 2 Cor. v. 1. i Chap. xiii. 5. DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. 211 these, they who plead for assurance being of the essence of faith are ready to con clude that they who are destitute of it can hardly be called believers. But that this matter may be set in a true light, we must distinguish between assurance of the object, namely, the great and important doctrines of the gospel, being of the essence of faith ; and assurance of our interest in Christ being so. The former we will not deny ; for no one can come to Christ who is not assured that he will receive him, or trust in him till he is fully assured that he is able to save him. But the latter we must take leave to- deny ; for if no one is a believer but he who knows himself to be so, then he who doubts of his salvation must be concluded to be no believer. This is certainly a very discouraging doctrine to weak Christians ; and, according to it, when we lose the comfortable persuasion we once had of our interest in Christ, we are bound to question all our former experiences, and to determine ourselves to be in a state of unregeneracy. But to do this would be in effect to with hold from God the glory of that powerful work which was formerly wrought in us, which we then thought to be a work of grace. — If, indeed, they mean by assurance being of the essence of faith, that an assurance of our interest in Christ is essential to the highest or most comfortable acts of faith, meaning by this doctrine that we ought to be incited to press after assurance if we have not attained it, and that God is very much glorified by it, and a foundation laid for our offering praise to him for the experience we have had of his grace, which a doubting Christian cannot be said to do ; we have nothing to say against it. Or if they should assert that doubting is no ingredient in faith, nor a commendable excellency in a Christian ; we do not oppose them. All we are contending for is, that there may be a direct act of faith, or a faith of reliance, in those who are destitute of assurance that they are in a state of grace. This is the thing supposed in this Answer, when it is said that assurance is not of the essence of faith. That this may be better understood, and we be led into the sense of scriptures, such as those just mentioned and others of a similar kind, which describe believers as having assurance, let it be considered that there are many scriptures in which believers are said to have such an assurance as respects only the object of faith, namely, the person, offices, and glory of Christ, and the truth and promises of the gospel, — an assurance which we do not deny to be of the essence of faith. Thus the apostle prays for the church, ' That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. 'k Else where he says, ' Our gospel came to you in much assurance.'1 And he exhorts persons to ' draw near to God, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. 'm Now, it is probable that, in these and several other scriptures of similar import, he means no more than an assurance of the object of faith. As for the scripture" where he seems to assert that all who are destitute of this privilege are 'reprobates,' some understand the word which we translate ' reprobates,' as signifying only injudicious Christians ; and if this be its meaning, the thing which it denotes is not inconsis tent with the character of believers. Others, however, with an equal degree of probability, render it 'disapproved;'0 and so the meaning is, 'If you know not k Col. ii. 2. 1 1 Thess. i. 5. m Heb. x. 22. n 2 Cor. xiii. 5. o Though the word xSaxi/tai is sometimes used to signify such as are rejected as objects of God's hatred, as in Heb. vi. 8, and consequently is inconsistent with the character of believers; yet in other places it may be taken according to its grammatical construction, as opposed to iaxi/xai, which sig nifies persons approved, 2 Tim. ii. 15; and so it signifies a person whose conduct is blameworthy, or whose actions are not to be approved of. Now, this may be applied to some who are not alto gether destitute of faith; though they are not able to vindicate themselves iu all respects as blame less. That the apostle uses the word in this sense here, seems probable from the application he makes of it to himself. It is said, verse 3, ' Ye seek a proof of Christ speaking iu ine,' 2axiftr,> £»Tiir»; and, verse 6, he says, ' I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.' So we render the words tX Si art yvata-ta'St, an nptt; oux icrpiv xboxLfj.oi ; but it would be more agreeable to what is said in verse 4, if we should render them, ' I trust that ye shall know that we are not disapproved, or that ye shall find a proof of Christ's speaking in us.' In verse 7. he farther says, ' I pray to God, not that we should appear approved,' «»;g Ux Ii/ms icxi/xu Qxm/u), that is, not so much that ye should find a proof of Christ speaking in us, but that je should do that which is honest; as if he had said, ' I am more concerned for you than for myself.' Though we ' be as reprobates,' i/un Si is xiaxi/iai */u>, that is, whether you think we have a proof of Christ's speak ing in us or not, or of his approving us in the course of our ministry, my great concern is that you 212 DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. your ownselves, that Christ is in you, you are greatly to be blamed, or disapproved ; especially as your not knowing this proceeds from your neglect of the duty of self- examination ; by which means you have no proof of Christ s being in you, who are so ready to demand a proof of his speaking in his ministers, p It does not appear from this text, then, that every one who endeavours to know that he is m a state of grace by diligent self examination, but cannot conclude that he is so, must be de termined to be destitute of faith ; which would necessarily follow from our assert ing that assurance of our interest in Christ is of the essence of saving faith. — There are other scriptures which speak of assurance as a distinguishing character of Chris tians in general ; which are usually brought to prove that assurance is of the essence of faith. Thus, ' We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis solved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'9 Again, ' We know that we are of God.'r There are also several places in the New Testament in which the apostle addresses his discourse to whole churches, as having assurance as well as the grace of faith. Thus the apostle Peter speaks of them as ' loving Christ, believing in him, rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls ;'s which could hardly be said of them, if they were destitute of assurance of their own sal vation. All, however, that I would infer from these and similar scriptures is, that it seems probable that assurance was a privilege more commonly experienced in that age of the church than it is in our day. There may be two reasons assigned for this. First, the change which passed upon them when they were converted, was so apparent that it was hardly possible for it not to be discerned. They turned from dead idols and the practice of the vilest abominations, to serve the living God ; which two extremes are so opposite, that their being brought from the one to the other could not but be remarked by themselves, and consequently more visible, to them, than if their conversion had been otherwise. The other principal reason is, that the church was called at that time to bear a public testimony to the gospel, by endur ing persecutions of various kinds ; and some of them were to resist even unto blood. Now, that God might prepare them for these sufferings, and that he might encour age others to embrace the faith of the gospel, which was then in its infant-state, he was pleased to favour them with this great privilege. And it may be hereafter, if God should call the church to endure like trials, that he will in mercy grant them a greater degree of assurance than is ordinarily experienced. Nevertheless, it may be questioned whether those scriptures which speak of assurance as if it were a privilege common to the whole church, are not to be understoodas applicable to the greater part of them, rather than to every individual believer among them. For though the apostle, in one of the scriptures before-mentioned, considers the church at Corinth as enjoying this privilege, and as concluding that it should go well with them in another world when this earthly tabernacle was dissolved ; yet, in the same epistle, he speaks of some of them as not knowing their ownselves, that Jesus Christ was in them. The apostle John also, notwithstanding his saying to the church, ' We know that we are of God, '* which argues that many of them had assurance, plainly intimates that all had it not ; for he says, ' These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.'™ Though, too, in another scripture, just mentioned, the apostle Peter speaks to the church to which he writes, as having 'joy unspeakable and full of glory ' consequent upon their faith, which argues that they had assurance ; yet he exhorts others of them to 'give diligence to make their calling and election sure ;'* so that these are supposed, at that time, not to have had it. From all this it may be con- may be approved. It is plain, therefore, that the apostle uses the word aiaxipat as signifying dis approved.- Hence, as it is applied to those he speaks of in verse 5, the meaning is, • You seek to know whether we are approved of God as ministers; therefore I would advise you to examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, and to prove jour ownselves; and if you know riot you/- selves, you are in this respect blameworthy, or to be disapproved; especially because you seem to have been negligent as to the duty of self-examination.' Whether he who is diligent in the exer cise of this duty,- and yet cannot apprehend that he is in a state of grace, be in this respect to be disapproved or not, it is certain that he who is a stranger to himself, because of the neglect of the duty, is disapproved. p 2 Cor. xiii. 3. q 2 Cor. v. 1. r 1 John v. 19. s 1 Pet. i. 8 9 t 1 John v. 19. u Verse 13. x 2 Pet. i. 10. DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. 213 eluded, that assurance of grace and salvation is not of the essence of saving faith ; which is the thing supposed in this Answer. Assurance may not be soon attained. We proceed to Consider the first of those things which are inferred from this sup position, namely, that a believer may wait long before he attains assurance. This appears from daily experience and observation. The sovereignty of God discovers itself in it, as much as it does when he makes the ordinances effectual to salvation in giving converting grace to those who attend upon them. Some are called early to be made partakers of the salvation which is in Christ ; others late. The same may be said with respect to God's giving assurance. Some are favoured with this privilege soon after or when first they believe ; others are like those whom the apos tle speaks of, ' who, through fear of death, are all their lifetime subject to bondage. 'J Many have often inquired into the state of their souls, and been unable to discern any marks or evidences of grace in themselves, whose conversation is such that others cannot but conclude them to be true believers. Their spirits are depressed; doubts and fears prevail, and tend to make their lives very uncomfortable ; they wait and pray for the evidence and sense of God's love to them, but cannot imme diately find it. This state of feeling the . psalmist speaks of, either in his own per- sbn, or as representing the case of many who had the truth of grace but not the assurance of it, when he says, ' 0 Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee ; I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up ; while I suffer thy terrors1 1 am distracted.'21 God suffers it to be thus with his people for wise ends. Hereby he lets them know that assurance of his love is a special gift and work of the Spirit ; without which they remain destitute of it, and cannot take comfort from either former or present experiences. Assurance may be weakened and intermitted. We observe next, that they who once enjoyed assurance may have it weakened and intermitted. Whether it may be entirely lost, will be considered under a following Head, when we speak concerning the supports which believers have, and how far they are kept by these from sinking into utter despair. It is one thing to fall from the truth of grace ; another thing to lose the comfortable sense of it. The joy of faith may be suspended, when the acts and habits of faith remain firm and unshaken. As the brightest morning may be followed with clouds and tem pests ; so our clearest discoveries of. our interest in the love of God may be fol lowed with the withdrawment of the light of his countenance, and we be left under many discouraging circumstances concerning our state, having lost the assurance we once had. If it be inquired, what reason may be, assigned for this ? I answer, that it must, in a great measure, be resolved into the sovereignty of God, who will bring his people to heaven which way he pleases, and may take away those comforts which had their first rise from himself ; and, at the same time, none must say, why dost thou thus? We may observe some particular reasons, however, which the providence of God points out to us, to which we may in other respects ascribe our want of assurance; and these may be reduced to four- heads, particularly men tioned in this Answer. 1. The weakening or intermitting of assurance is sometimes occasioned by mani fold distempers, or bodily diseases. The soul and body are so closely joined to and dependent on each other, that the one can hardly suffer without the other. Hence it is that bodily distempers affect the mind, excite and give disturbance to the passions, a circumstance which greatly adds to the uneasiness which follows these distempers. When the spirits are depressed, and we are under the preva lence of a melancholy disposition, we are often inclined to think that we are not in a state of grace ; and though we were formerly disposed to comfort others in simi lar cases, we are now unable to take the least encouragement ourselves. All things y Heb. ii. 15. * Psal. lxxxviii. 1. compared with ver. 15. 214 DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. look black and dismal ; our former hope is reckoned no other than delusive ; and we are brought to the very brink of despair. It may be observed, too, that these sad and melancholy apprehensions concerning our state increase or abate, as the distemper which gives occasion to them more or less prevails. Now, that we may be able to determine whether our want of assurance proceeds from some natural cause, or bodily distemper, we must inquire whether we formerly endeavoured to walk in all good conscience in the sight of God, to hate every false way, and make religion the great business of life, so that we cannot assign any reigning sin as the cause of our present desponding frame ; and also whether we have been diligent in per forming the duty of self-examination, and have been sensible that we stood in need of the Spirit's witness with ours, in order to our arriving at a comfortable persua sion that we are in a state of grace. If, as the result of these inquiries, we cannot see any cause but the unavoidable infirmities to which we are daily liable leading to this dejection of spirit, we may probably conclude that it arises from a distemper of body. But in order to our determining this matter, we must farther inquire whether some afflictive providence has not had an influence upon us, to bring us into a melancholy temper ; and whether our depression of spirit does not appear in what relates to our secular, as well as our spiritual concerns. If this be the case, though it be very afflictive, it is not attended with that guilt which it would be, had it been occasioned by some presumptuous sin. In this case, too, there are other medicines to be used besides those which are of a spiritual nature, and are contained in the gospel, but what these are, it is not our business in this place to determine. 2. There are many sins which are the occasion of a person's being destitute of assurance. As all the troubles of life are brought upon us by sin ; so are all our doubts and fears, arising from the want of a comfortable sense of or interest in the love of God. It pleases God in the method of his providence, thus to deal with his people, that he may humble them for presumptuous sins ; more especially those which are committed against light and conviction of conscience, that he may bring to remembrance their sins of omission, or neglect to exercise those graces, in which the life of faith consists, that they may feel the effect of their stupidity, indiffer ence, and carnal security, or their engaging in religious duties in their own strength, without dependence on the Spirit and grace of God, or a due sense of their inability to perform any duty in a right way. Or sometimes, as was formerly observed, they want assurance because they do not practise self-examination, which is God's ordinance for the attaining of this privilege ; or if they do practise it, they neglect to give that glory to the Holy Spirit which is due to him, by depending on his enlightening influence to bring them to a comfortable persuasion of their interest in Christ. 3. Assurance is often weakened and intermitted through manifold temptations. Satan is very active in this matter, and shows his enmity against the interest of Christ in the souls of his people, as much as lies in his power. Hence, though it is impossible for him to ruin the soul, by rooting out the grace which is implanted in it; yet he tries to disturb its peace, and weaken its assurance, and, if not pre vented, to hurry it into despair. In this case the general design of his temptations is to represent God as a sin-revenging Judge, a consuming fire, to present to our view the threatenings by which his wrath is revealed against sinners, and to endea vour to set aside the promises of the gospel from which alone relief may be had. Moreover, he puts us upon considering sin, not only as heinously aggravated — and it may for the most part be so considered with justice — but also as altogether un pardonable ; and, at the same time, pretends to insinuate to us that we are not elected, or that Christ did not die for us, and that, therefore, what he has done and suffered will not redound to our advantage. Now, there is apparently the hand of Satan in this matter; inasmuch as he attempts, by false methods of reasoning, to persuade us that we are not in a state of grace, that God is an enemy to us, and that therefore our condition is desperate. Here he uses the arts of the old serpent, that he may deceive us by drawing conclusions against ourselves from false pre mises. He induces us to reason that, because we daily experience the internal workings of corrupt nature, which incline us to many sins, both of omission and of DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. 215 commission, there is no room for us to expect mercy and forgiveness from God. From our barrenness also and unprofitableness under the means of grace, our im provements not being proportioned to the obligations we have been laid under, or from our having great reason to charge ourselves with many declensions and back- slidings, which afford matter for deep humiliation, and should put us upon sincere repentance, he endeavours to persuade us that we are altogether destitute of special grace. Again, whenever we are unprepared or indisposed for the right performance of holy duties, and our affections are not suitably raised in them, but grow stupid, remiss, and careless, he puts us upon concluding that it is a vain thing for us to draw nigh to God, and that he has utterly rejected both our persons and our ser vices. Or if we are not favoured with immediate answers to prayer, and sensible communion with God in the performance of that duty, he tempts us to infer that we shall never obtain the blessing we are pressing after, and that we may as well lay aside this duty, and say, ' Why should I wait on the Lord any longer ?' If by this method he cannot discourage us from engaging in holy duties, he sometimes injects blasphemous thoughts or unbecoming conceptions of the divine Majesty, which fill the soul with the greatest grief and uneasiness, that in consequence of these he might give us occasion to conclude that we sin in- persisting in holy duties. By all these temptations he endeavours to plunge us into the depths of despair. He tempts us also as to the purpose of God relating to the event of things. When we are led to determine that we are not elected, we come to this conclusion without sufficient ground. In presenting the question to us, he deceives us by pursuing false methods of reasoning, and puts us upon presuming to enter into those secret things which do not belong to us, or to infer that God has rejected us, be cause we deserve to be cast off by him for our sins, instead of giving diligence to make our calling and election sure. It is one thing not to be able to conclude that we are elected ; and another thing to say that we are not so. The former is the consequence of our present doubts and desponding apprehensions concerning our state ; the latter is plainly a temptation of Satan. This we are often subject to, when we have lost that assurance of our interest in Christ which we once enjoyed. 4. A believer's want of assurance is, for the most part, attended with, and arises from, divine desertion. Not that we are to suppose that God will cast off his peo ple, whom he has foreknown, effectually called, and preserved hitherto, so as to forsake them utterly ; for to suppose this is inconsistent with his everlasting love, and the promises of the covenant of grace which respect their salvation. What we understand by divine desertion, is God's withdrawing his comforting presence, and withholding the witness of his Spirit to the work of grace in the soul ; whence arise those doubts and fears which attend the want of assurance. Thus God says to his people, ' For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee.'a In this respect they are destitute of God's comforting pre sence ; though at the same time they may be favoured with his supporting presence, and those powerful influences which are necessary to maintain the work of grace, which at present appears to be very weak and languishing. The State of Believers who want Assurance. We are thus led to consider the last thing mentioned in this Answer, namely, that, though believers are thus described, they are not left without such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair. This observation ought to be explained and considered with certain limitations, lest, while, on the one hand, we assert that which affords matter of encouragement to believers when they have some degree of hope, we should, on the other hand, throw discouragements in the way of others who will be apt to imagine, when they are ready to sink into despair, that what they experience is wholly inconsistent with any direct act of faith. I dare not say that no believer was ever so far deserted as to be left for a while to despair of his interest in Christ ; for scripture and daily experience give us instances of some, whose conversation in many respects discovers a Isa. lir. 7. 216 DESTITUTION OF ASSURANCE. them to have had the truth of grace, whom God has been pleased, for wise ends, to leave to the terror of their own thoughts, and who have remained for some time in the depths of despair ; while others have gone out of the world under a cloud, concerning whom there has been ground of hope that their state was safe. It is some what difficult, therefore, to determine what is meant in this Answer, by a believer's being kept from sinking into utter despair. If the meaning is, that they have the supports of the Spirit of God, so as to be kept from relapsing into a state of unre generacy, in their despairing condition, that may be easily accounted for ; or, if the meaning is, that believers are not generally given up to the greatest degree of despair, especially such as is inconsistent with the exercise of any grace, that is not to be denied. I would rather say, however, that, though a believer may have despairing apprehensions concerning his state, and though the guilt of sin may lie upon him like a great weight so as to depress his spirits ; yet he shall not sink into endless misery ; for though darkness may continue for a night, light and joy shall come in the morning. Accordingly, though there are many who are far from hav ing assurance, yet they are, at some times, favoured with a small glimmering of hope, which keeps them from utter despair. Again, if they are in deep despair, yet they are not so far left as not to desire grace, though they conclude themselves to be destitute of it, or not to lament the loss of those comforts and inability to exercise those graces which once they thought themselves possessed of. Further, a believer, when in a despairing way, is notwithstanding enabled, by a direct act of faith, to give himself up to Christ, though he cannot see his interest in him, and to long for those experiences and comforts which he once enjoyed ; and when he is at the worst, he can say with Job, '•Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.'b Moreover, in this case a person has generally such a degree of the presence of God that he is enabled to justify him in all his dealings with him, and lay the blame of all the troubles which he is under on himself ;; and this is attended with shame and confu sion of face, self-abhorrence, and godly sorrow. Finally, despairing believers have, notwithstanding, such a presence of God with them as keeps them from abandoning his interest, or running with sinners into all excess of riot, which would give occa sion to others to conclude that they never had the truth of grace. From what has been said concerning true believers being destitute of assurance, and yet having at the same time some degree of the presence of God, we may draw several inferences. First, this is not inconsistent with what was said concern ing a believer's perseverance in grace. Yet it must be considered with this limitation, that though the truth of grace shall not be lost, the comforts and evi dences of it may and often are. — Again, this should put us upon circumspect walk ing and watchfulness against presumptuous sins, which, as was formerly observed, are often the occasion of the loss of assurance ; and also on the exercise of a faith of reliance on Christ, for maintaining the acts of grace, as well as restoring its comforts. — Further, this should instruct believers what to do when destitute of the privilege of assurance. We have observed that want of assurance is attended with divine desertion, which is generally occasioned by sins committed. Therefore let us say with Job, ' Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.'c " Let me know what are those secret sins by which I have provoked thee to leave me destitute of thy comforting presence ; enable me to be affected with, and humbled for them, and un- feignedly to repent of them, and to exercise that faith in Christ which may be a means of my recovering that hope or assurance of which I am at present destitute." —Again, what has been said concerning a believer's being sometimes destitute of assurance, should put us upon sympathizing with those who are in a despairing way, and using endeavours to administer comfort to them, rather than to censure them or conclude them to be in an unregenerate state ; as Job's friends did him, because the hand of God had touched him, and he was destitute of his comforting presence. — Finally, from what has been said concerning that degree of the presence of God which believers enjoy, which has a tendency to keep them from utter despair, at least from sinking into perdition, how disconsolate soever their case may be at pre sent, we may be induced to admire the goodness and faithfulness of God in his b Job xiii. 15. c Chap. x. 2. COMMUNION WITH CHRIST IN GLORY. 217 dealings with his people, who will not lay more on them than he will enable them to bear. Though they are comfortless and hopeless, yet they shallnot be destroyed ; and, in the end, they shall be satisfied with God's lovingikindness ; and, when the clouds are all dispersed, they shall have a bright and glorious day in his immediate presence, where ' there is fulness of joy,' and at his ' right hand,' where 'there are pleasures for evermore.'"1 COMMUNION WITH CHRIST IN GLORY. Question LXXX1I. What is the communion in glory, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ ? Answer. The communion in glory, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ, is, iu this life, immediately after death ; and at last perfected at the resurrection and day of judgment. After having considered believers, or the members of the invisible church, as en joying the privilege of union with Christ, and, as the immediate consequence of it, communion with him, it was observed that this communion is either in grace or in glory^ Their communion with him in grace consists in their partaking of the vir tue of his mediation, in their justification, adoption, and sanctification. These have been particularly considered, together with other graces and comforts which accompany and flow from them. We are now led to speak concerning the com munion which believers have with Christ in glory. This is the highest privilege they are capable of receiving. It consists in his giving them some bright dis coveries of the glory which they behold and enjoy by faith in this life, and also of that which shall be immediate, and in some respects complete, after death. And, at the resurrection and day of judgment, it shall be brought, in all respects, to the utmost degree of perfection ; when their joy, as well as their happiness, shall be full, and continued throughout all the ages of eternity. These are the subjects' insisted on in several following Answers, which remain to be considered in this first part of the Catechism. EARNESTS OF GLORY, AND APPREHENSIONS OF, WRATH. Question LXXXI1I. What is the communion in glory, with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life ? Answer. The members of the invisible church have communicated to them in this life, the first-fruits of glory with Christ, as they are members of bim their head, and so, in him, are inter ested in that glory which he is fully possessed of; and as an earnest thereof, enjoy the sense of God's love, peace. of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and hope of glory; as, on the contrary, the sense of God's revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful expectation of judgment,. are to the wicked the beginning of their torments which they shall endure after death. There are two sorts of persons mentioned in this Answer, namely, the righteous and, the wicked, and the different condition of each of them is considered. With respect to the righteous, who are here styled ' the members of the invisible church,' there* are several invaluable privileges which they are made partakers of in this life, in which they are said to have a degree of communion in glory with Christ. In par ticular, they have this communion in glory with Christ, as they enjoy tbe first- fruits or earnest of that glory which they shall have with him hereafter ; as they are members of him, their head, and accordingly may be said, in some respects, to be interested in that glory which he is fully possessed of; and as they have a com fortable sense of his love to them, attended with peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and an hope of glory. On the other hand, we have an account of the dreadful condition of impenitent sinners, when God sets their iniquities in order d Psal. xvi. 11. 2e 218 EARNESTS OF GLORY, before them. This is represented in a very moving way. They are said to be filled with ' a sense of God's revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful expectation of judgment ;' and these are considered as the beginning of those tor ments which they shall endure after death. Earnests of Glory. There are several invaluable privileges enjoyed by the righteous in this life, which are styled the first-fruits or earnest of glory. Though Christ has reserved the fulness of glory for his people to the time when he shall bring them to hea ven ; yet there are some small degrees of glory, which they enjoy in their way to it. The 'crown of righteousness,' as the apostle speaks, is 'laid up for them, which the righteous Judge shall give them at that day,'6 namely, when he shall come to judgment. Then their joy shall be full ; they shall be satisfied in his likeness, and made completely blessed. Yet there are some prelibations or fore tastes which they have of glory, for their support and encouragement while they are in this imperfect state. We are not to suppose, however, that the present en joyments which believers experience in the highest degree, do fully come up to those which are reserved for them. There is a great difference as to the degree. As a child newly born has something in common with what he shall have when arrived at a state of manhood, but, in several degrees, and other circumstances, falls short of it ; or as a few drops are of the same nature as the whole collection of water in the ocean, while there is a very small proportion between one and the other, so the brightest discovery of the glory of God "which we are capable of enjoying in this world, or the most comfortable foretaste which believers have of heaven, falls very much short of that which they shall be possessed of when they are received into it. There are also very great alloys, and many things which tend to interrupt and abate their happiness, agreeably to the imperfection of the present state. What ever grace they are enabled to act, though in an uncommon degree, is attended with a mixture of corruption ; and as their graces are imperfect, so are the com forts that arise from them, which are interwoven with many things very afflictive. Hence, they are not what they shall be ; but are travelling through this wilder ness to a better country, and are exposed to many evils in their way thither. Again, all believers do not enjoy those delights and pleasures which some are favoured with in their way to heaven. The comforts as well as the graces of the Holy Spirit, are bestowed in a way of sovereignty, to some more, and to others less. Some have reason to say with the apostle, ' Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.'* Others are filled with doubts concern ing their interest in him, and go mourning after him all the day ; and if they have at sometimes a small glimpse of his glory, by which they conclude themselves to be, as it were, in the suburbs of heaven, they soon lose it, and find themselves to be in the valley of the shadow of death. When the disciples were with Christ at his transfiguration, which was an emblem of the heavenly blessedness, and when his ' face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light,' they had occa sion to say, ' It is good for us to be here ;' yet before they had done speaking, or had time to reflect on their present enjoyment, they were deprived of it by ' the cloud overshadowing them.'s So the believer is not to expect uninterrupted com munion with God, or perfect fruition of him here. What we are at present to consider, however, is that degree of communion with God which some enjoy, which is here called the first-fruits and earnest of glory. The scripture sets it forth under both these expressions. Believers are said to re ceive the first-fruits of it, or as the apostle styles it, ' the first-fruits of the Spirit,'0 that is, the graces and comforts of the Holy Ghost. These are the first-fruits of that blessedness which they are said to wait for, which is called ' the adoption,' that is, those privileges which God's children shall be made partakers of, or ' the glorious liberty ' which they shall hereafter enjoy. The name ' first-fruits ' is used in allu sion to the cluster of grapes which they who were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, e 2 Tim. iv. 8. f 2 Cor. ii. 14. g Matt. xvii. 2—5. h Rom. viii. 23. AND APPREHENSIONS OF WRATH. 219 were ordered to bring to the Israelites in the wilderness, that hereby they might be encouraged in their expectatiofa of the great plenty which was to be enjoyed when they were brought into it. Or it has reference to the feast of in-gathering before the harvest, when the Israelites were to bring the sheaf which was first to be cut down, and ' wave it before the Lord,'1 with thankfulness and joy, in expectation of the full harvest, which would be the reward of the industry and labour of the hus bandman. Thus believers are given not only to expect the glory of God, but to rejoice in hope of it. — Again, communion with God is also called an earnest of glory. Thus believers are said to be ' sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance.'15 Elsewhere likewise it is said, ' God hath given unto us the earnest of his Spirit.'1 An earnest is a small sum, given in part of payment ; whereby they who receive it, are encouraged to expect the whole. So a believer may conclude that as surely as he now enjoys those spiritual privileges which accompany salvation, he shall not fail of that glory of which they are an earnest. In this re spect God is pleased to give his people a wonderful display of his condescending love, that they may hereby be led to know what the happiness of the heavenly state is, in a greater degree than can be learned from all the descripti ons which are given of it by those who are destitute of this privilege. Heaven is the port to which every believer is bound, the reward of all those labours and difficulties which he sustains in his way to it ; and to quicken him to greater diligence in pursuing after it, it is necessary that he should have his thoughts, meditation, and conversation there. The reason why God is pleased to give his people some foretastes of it, is that they may love and long for Christ's appearing, when they shall reap the full harvest of glory. Now, this earnest, prelibation, or first-fruits of the heavenly blessedness, which believers enjoy in this life, is considered in this Answer, first, as it is included in that glory which Christ is possessed of as their Head and Mediator ; and secondly, as they have those graces wrought in them, and comforts flowing thence, which bear some small resemblance to what they shall hereafter be made partakers of. 1. Christ's being possessed of the heavenly blessedness, as the Head of his people, is an earnest of their salvation. For understanding this, let it be considered that our Lord Jesus sustained this character, not only in what he suffered for them that he might redeem them from the curse of the law, but in the glory which he was afterwards advanced to. Thus it is said, ' He is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 'm Accordingly, they are said to be ' risen with him,'n as regards that communion which they have with him in his resurrection. Again, when he ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, his people are said ' to sit together in heavenly places in him.'0 Not that we are to suppose that they are made partakers of any branch of his medi atorial glory, or are joined with him in the work which he there performs as their exalted Head ; but we are to understand, that his being considered as their repre sentative appearing in the presence of God for them, is a foundation of their hope that they shall be brought thither at last. Hence, when he was about to depart out of this world, he gave an intimation to his people whom he left behind him that he ' went to prepare a place for them ;'p and assured them that, ' because he lives, they shall live also. ' i 2. The graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, which believers are made par takers of, may also be said to be a pledge and earnest of eternal life. Heaven is a state in which that grace is brought to perfection, which at present is only begun in the soul. The beginning of it, however, affords ground of hope that it shall be completed. As a curious artist, when he draws the first lines of a picture, does not design to leave it unfinished ; or he that lays the foundation of a building, de termines to carry it on gradually, till he has laid the top-stone of it ; so the work of grace, when begun by the Spirit, is a ground of hope that it shall not be left un finished. As God would never have brought his people out of Egypt, with an high hand and an outstretched arm, and divided the Red sea before them, if he had not designed to bring them into the promised land ; so we may conclude that, when i Lev. xxiii. 10, 11. compared with Deut. xxvi. 10, 11. k Eph. i. 13, 14. 1 2 Cor. v. 5. m 1 Cor. xv. 20. h Col. iii. 1. o Eph. ii. 6. p John xiv. 3. q Verse 19. 220 EARNESTS OF GLORY, God has magnified his grace in delivering his people from the dominion of darkness, and translating them into the kingdom of his dear Son, — when he has helped them hitherto, and given them a fair and beautiful prospect of the good land to which they are going, he will not leave his work imperfect, nor suffer them to fall and perish in the way. Christ in believers, is said to be ' the hope of glory ;' r and the joy which they have in believing, is said to be not only 'unspeakable,' but ' full of glory ;'s that is, it bears a small resemblance to that joy which they shall be filled with when brought to glory, and- therefore may well be styled the earnest or first- fruits of it. That this may farther appear, let it be considered that the happiness of heaven consists in the immediate vision and fruition of God, where the saints behold his face in light and glory,' and enjoy all those comfortable fruits and effects arising thence, which tend to make them completely happy. Thus it is said that ' they shall see him as he is,'u and that 'they shall enter into the joy of their Lord.'* Believers, it is true, are not in all respects said to be partakers of this blessedness here ; and their highest enjoyments bear but a very small proportion to it. Yet, when we speak of some as having the foretastes of it, we must consider that there is something in the lively exercise of faith and of the joy which arises from it, when believers have attained a full assurance of the love of God, and have those sensible manifestations of his comfortable presenoe with them, which bears some small resemblance to a life of glory. That which in some respects resembles the beatific vision, is a sight of God's reconciled face, and of their interest by faith in all the blessings of the covenant of grace. It is true, the1 views which they have of the glory of God here, are not immediate, but at a distance ; and therefore they are said to ' behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.'* ¦ We see things at a distance through a perspective glass, which enlarges the object, and brings it, as it were, near to the eye, though in reality it be at a great distance from it ; and so gives us a clear discerning of that which could otherwise hardly be discovered. Sol faith gives us clearer views of this glory than we could have any other way. Hereby we are said 'to see him that is invisible.'2 Thus, when God bade Moses go up to the top of Pisgah, and strengthened his sight, Moses took a view of the whole land of Canaan ; though, without this strengthening of his sight, he could have beheld only a small part of it. So when God not only gives an eye of faith, but strengthens it in proportion to the views he designs it shall take of the heavenly state which lies at so great a distance, the soul is enabled to see it, and, in seeing it, has a faint emblem of the beatific vision. Moreover, as heaven is a state in which the saints have the perfect fruition 0/f those blessings which tend to make them completely happy ; the view which a be liever is enabled by faith to take of his interest in Christ, and of the glory he shall be made partaker of with him, is sometimes attended with such an ecstasy of joy and triumph, as is a kind of anticipation of that glory which he is not yet fully possessed of. Such an one is like an heir who wants but a few days of being of age ; who does not look upon his estate with that distant view which he formerly did, but with the satisfaction and pleasure arising from his being ready to enter into the possession of it. Or he is like one who, after a long and tedious voyage, is within sight of his harbour, which he cannot but behold with a pleasure which very much resembles that which he shall have when he enters into it. The joy of which we speak is more than a mere hope of heaven ; it is a full assurance, attended with a kind of sensation of those joys which are inexpressible, which render the believer a wonder to himself, and afford the most convincing proof to others that there is something real and substantial in the heavenly glory, which God is pleased to favour some of his people with the prelibations of. That some have enjoyed such manifestations of the divine love, and been filled with such raptures of joy, accompanying their assurance of salvation, is evident from the experience which they have had of it in some extraordinary and memorable occurrences in life, and, in other cases, at the approach of death. Of this there are multitudes of instances r Col. i. 27. s 1 Pet. i. 8. t See Quest. Ixxxvi, xc. u 1 John iii. 2. x Matt. xxv. 21. y 2 Cor. iii. 18. z Heb. xi. 27. AND APPREHENSIONS OF WRATH. 221 transmitted to us in history. I shall content myself with a brief extract of some passages which we meet with in the life and death of some who appear to have had as comfortable a foretaste of the joys of heaven as it is possible for any one to have in this world. The first I shall mention is the eminently learned and pious Dr. Rivet ; who, in his last sickness, seemed to be in the very suburbs of heaven, signifying to all about him, what intimate communion he had with God, his fore-views of the heavenly state, his assurance of being admitted into it, and how earnestly he longed to be there. In the very close of his life, one who stood by him could not forbear expressing himself to this effect : " I cannot but think that he is now enjoying the vision of God." This gave him occasion to signify, as well as he was able to express himself, that it was so. The account of this and of much more to the same pur pose, is not only mentioned by the author of his last hours, but is taken notice of in a public funeral oration, occasioned by his death.a A very worthy writer,b speaking concerning that excellent servant of Christ, Mr. Rutherford, recites some of his last words, which are very remarkable : "I shall shine, I shall see him as he is, and all the fair company with him, and shall have my large share. It is no easy thing to be a Christian ; but as for me, I have got the victory, and Christ is holding forth his arms to embrace me. I have had my fears and faintings, as another sinful man, to be carried through creditably ; but as sure as ever he spake to me in his word, his Spirit witnessed to my heart, saying, Fear not. He had accepted my suffering, and the outgate should not be matter of prayer, but of praise." A little before his death, after some faint ing, he said, " Now, I feel, I believe, I enjoy, I rejoice, I feed on manna, I have angels' food, my eyes shall see my Redeemer ; I know that he shall stand, at the latter day, on the earth, and I shall be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air. I sleep in Christ ; and when I awake I shall be satisfied with his like ness ; 0 for arms to embrace him!" To one who was speaking concerning his laboriousness in the ministry, he cried out, " I disclaim all. The port I would be in at, is redemption and forgiveness of sins through his blood." Thus, full of the Spirit, yea, as it were, overcome with sensible enjoyment, he breathes out his soul, his last words being these : " Glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land." I may add the account given of that great man Dr. Goodwin, in some memoirs of his life, composed out of his own papers published by his son ;° who intimates that he rejoiced in the thoughts that he was dying, and going to have a full and unin terrupted communion with God. " I am going," said he, " to the three Persons with whom I have had communion. They have taken me ; I did not take them. I shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye. All my lusts and corruptions I shall be rid of, which I could not be here ; those croaking toads will fall off in a moment." Referring to the great examples of faith mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, he said, " All these died in faith. I could not have imagined I should ever have had such a measure of faith in this hour ; no, I could never have imagined it. 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 doth. I think I cannot love Christ better than I do. I am swallowed up a Vid. Dauberi orat. Funeb. ad front, et Hor. Noviss. ad cale. Tom. 3. Riveti operum : in which he is represented as saying, "Nolite mei causa dolere, ultima haec momenta nihil habent funesti ; corpus languet quidem, at anima robore et consolatione plena est, nee impedit paries iste interger- inus nebula ista exigua, qud minus lucem Dei videam. Atque exinde magis magisque optavit dis- solvi et cum Christo esse. Sufficit mi Deus exclamabat subinde, sufficit, suscipe animam meam : Non tamen moram impatienter fero. Expecto, credo, persevero, dimoveri nequeo, Dei Spiritus meo spiritui testatur, me ex filiis suis esse: O amorem ineffabilem ! id quod sentio, omnem expres- sioncm altfe transcendit. Veni Domine Jesu, veni, etenim deficio, non quidem impatiens Domiue, sed anima mea respicit te ut terra sicca. Preces et votum, ut Deus Paradisum aperiret, et huic fideli servo suo faciem suam ostenderet; his verbis supplevit ; cum animabusjustorumsanctificatis; Amen Amen. Exinde lingua prapedita verbo affirmare ; mox ad vocem adstantium, ipsum jam visione Dei friii annuere; paulo post sub mediam decimam matutinam placide in Domino obdormiit." b See Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture, in foi. Part I., page 187. c See Dr. Goodwin's works, vol. v. in his life, page 19. 222 EARNESTS OF GLORY, in God." Then he added, " Now shall I ever be with the Lord." With this as surance of faith and fulness of joy, his soul left this world, and went to see and enjoy the reality of that blessed state of glory. There is also an account, in the life and death of Mr. John Janeway, of the great assurance and joy which he had in his last sickness, in which he expresses himself to this purpose : " I am, through mercy, quite above the fears of death, and am going unto him whom I love above life. 0 that I could but let you know what I now feel ! O that I could show you what I see ! 0 that I could express the thousandth part of that sweetness which now I find in Christ ! you would all then think it worth the while to make it your business to be religious. 0 my dear friends, you little think what a Christ is worth upon a death-bed ! I would not, for a world, nay, for millions of worlds, be now without a Christ and a pardon. O the glory, the unspeakable glory, that I behold ! My heart is full, my heart is full ; Christ smiles and I cannot choose but smile. Can you find in your heart to stop me, who am now going to the complete and eternal enjoyment of Christ ? Would you keep me from my crown ? The arms of my blessed Saviour are open to embrace me ; the angels stand ready to carry my soul into his bosom. 0 did you but see what I see, you would all cry out with me, How long, dear Lord ! come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! Or why are his chariot-wheels so long a coming ?" Much more to the same purpose may be found in the life of that excellent man, which is exceedingly affecting. There is another who does not come short of him in his death-bed triumphs.4 He says concerning himself, " Death is not terrible ; it is unstinged ; the curse of the fiery law is done away. I bless his name I have found him ; I am taken up in blessing him ; I am dying rejoicing in the Lord ; I long to be in the promised land ; I wait for thy salvation. How long ! Come sweet Lord Jesus, take me by the hand ; I wait for thy salvation, as the watchman watcheth for the morning ; I am weary with de lays ; I faint for thy salvation. Why are his chariot- wheels so long a coming ? What means he to stay so long ? I am like to faint with delays.'' Afterwards he said, " 0 Sirs, I could not believe that I could have borne, and borne cheerfully, this rod so long. This is a miracle, pain without pain. And this is not a fancy of man disordered in his brain, but of one lying in full composure. 0 blessed be God that ever I was born. 0 if I were where he is I And yet, for all this, God's withdraw ing from me would make me weak as water. All this I enjoy, though it be mir acle upon miracle, would not make me stand without new supply from God. The thing I rejoice in is, that God is altogether full, and that in the Mediator Christ Jesus, there is all the fulness of the Godhead, and it will never run out. I am wonderfully helped beyond the power of nature. Though my body be sufficiently teazed, yet my spirit is untouched." Much more to this purpose we have in the account of the latter part of his life. But I shall close with one thing which is very remarkable. When he was apprehensive that he was very near his death he said, " When I fall so low that I am not able to speak, I'll show you a sign of tri umph, when I am near glory, if I be able." This accordingly he did, by lifting up his hands, and clapping them together, when he was speechless, and in the agonies of death. Many more instances might have been given to illustrate our argument. But from those which have been given it will evidently appear that God is pleased some times to deal familiarly with men, by giving them extraordinary manifestations of his presence, before he brings them into the immediate enjoyment of himself in heaven, — manifestations which may be well called an earnest or prelibation of it.e The instances which we have narrated may serve also as a farther illustration of d See the Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Halyburton, cap. 6. •tel See th's arSumellt improved by Mr. Fleming, in his Fulfilling of the Scripture, edit, in foi. page 391, et seq. He there takes several remarkable passages out of Melchior Adam's Lives, and gives several instances of that extraordinary communion which some have had with God, both in life and death; whose conversation was well known in Scotland; so that he mentions it as what is a matter undeniably true. He also relates other things concerning the assurance and joy which some have had ; which has afforded them the sweetest comforts in prisons and dungeons, and given them a foretaste of heaven when they have been called to suffer death for Christ's shke. AND APPREHENSIONS OF WRATH. 223 an argument formerly insisted onf to prove that assurance of God's love is at tainable in this life. This assurance, as it may be observed, is accompanied with the lively acts of faith, by which it appears to be well grounded ; so that, as the apostle says, ' The God of hope ' is pleased to ' fill them with all joy and peace m believing,' whereby they ' abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. '* In this respect it may be said, to use the prophet's words, that ' they joy before thee, according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 'h The joy they experience is like the appearing of the morning-star, which ushers in a bright and glorious day, and gives a full discovery to themselves and others, that there is much of heaven enjoyed in the way to it, by those whom God delights to honou^ Thus concerning the communion in glory, which the members of the invisible church sometimes enjoy in this life. Apprehensions of Wrath. •We shall now consider the miserable condition of the wicked in this life, when God is provoked, as a sin-revenging Judge, to fill them with a sense of his wrath. From this arise horror of conscience and a fearful expectation of judgment ; which, as is observed in the latter part of this Answer, are the beginning of those torments which they shall endure after death. We have many instances in scripture of the punishment of sin in this world, in those whom God is said 'to reprove,' and before whose eyes he sets their iniquities in order.1 This fills them with horror of con science/ and leaves them in utter despair. They once thought themselves in a prosperous condition, and it was said concerning them, ' Their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish -,'1 but their end was terrible, for they were ' set in slippery places,' being ' cast down into destruction, brought into desolation as in a moment, and utterly consumed with terrors.'111 We have a sad instance of this in Cain, after he had slain his brother, and had fallen under the curse of God, whereby he was sentenced to be a fugitive and vaga bond in the earth. He separated himself indeed from the presence of the Lord, and the place in which he was worshipped ; but he could not flee from the terrors of his own thoughts, or get any relief under the uneasiness of a guilty conscience. He hence feared that he should be slain by the hand of every one who met him, and complained, ' My punishment is greater than I can bear.'n Some understand the words of Lamech in the same sense when he says, ' I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven-fold. ' ° The wrath of God was also denounced against Pashur ; as it is said, ' The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib ; for thus saith the Lord, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends. 'p Judas, likewise, after he had betrayed our Saviour, was filled with the terrors of an accusing conscience, which forced him to confess, not as a believing penitent, but as a despairing criminal, ' I have sinned in that I have be trayed the innocent blood;' after which it is said, ' He departed, and went and hanged himself. '* Nothing is more terrible than this remorse of conscience, which renders sinners inexpressibly miserable. It is a punishment inflicted on those who sin wilfully, presumptuously, and obstinately against the checks of conscience, the rebukes of providence, and various warnings to the contrary, who treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. They are ' contentious, and do not obey the truth,' that is, they are so far from obeying it, that they persecute and oppose it ; and on the other hand, they ' obey unrighteousness.' To these belong, as the apostle says, 'indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.'1- Not only does this punishment wait for them as ' laid up in store, and sealed up among God's treasures, to whom vengeance belongeth ;'s but they are made to taste the bitter ness of that cup which shall afterwards be poured forth without mixture. In this world ' their eyes shall see their destruction, ' and afterwards ' they shall drink of See Sect. ' The Attainableness of Assurance,' under Quest, lxxx. g Rom. xv. 13. h Isa. ix. 3. i Psal. 1. 21. k See vol. i. page 355. 1 Psal. lxxiii. 7. in Psal. lxxiii. 18, 19. n Gen. iv. 13. o Gen. iv. 23, 24. p Jer. xx. 3, 4. q Matt, xxvii. 4, 5. r Rom. ii. 5, 8, 9. s Deut. xxxii. 34, 35.' 224 EARNESTS OF GLORY, the wrath of the Almighty.'' This is a most affecting subject. How awful a thing is it to see a person surrounded with miseries, and, at the same time, shut up in darkness, and left destitute of hope ! With what horror and anguish was the soul of Saul filled, when he uttered that doleful complaint, ' I am sore distressed ; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me!'u Much more dreadful is it for a person to apprehend himself to have fallen into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire ; and to have nothing left but the fear ful expectation of future judgment, and an abyss of woes which will ensue. These are the evils which some endure in this life ; and they are no less terrible to them, than the comfortable foretastes of the love of God are joyful to the saints. Practical Inferences from the Different Prospects of the Righteous and the Wicked. From this different view of the end of the wicked, and that of the righteous, many useful instructions may be learned. 1. When we consider the wicked as distressed with the afflicting sense of what they feel, and with the dread of that wrath which they would fain flee from but can not, we may infer that a state of unregeneracy, whatever advantages may attend it as to the outward blessings of common providence, is a very sad and deplorable condition, far from being the object of choice to those who duly consider its con sequences. The present amusements which arise from the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, whence the sinner concludes himself to be happy, afford the most miser able instance of self-deceit, and will appear to do so, if we consider the end of them, or that ' the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment, ' x and that then nothing shall remain but what shall wound his spirit, and make his misery intolerable. Again, when we meet with instances of persons sunk in the depths of despair, and tormenting themselves with the fore-views of hell and destruction, let their case be a warning to others to flee from the wrath to come. I would not be peremptory in passing a judgment on the state of those who apprehend themselves to be irre trievably lost, and feel those terrors in then- consciences which no tongue can ex press. A person can hardly read the account of the despair of poor Spira, soon after the Reformation, and how much his sentiments concerning himself resembled the punishment of sin in hell, without trembling. He was, indeed, a sad instance of the wrath of God breaking in upon conscience ; and is set up as a monument to warn others to take heed of apostasy. In his case, and in others of a similar kind, we have a convincing proof of the reality of a future state of misery, or that the punishment of sin in hell is not an ungrounded fancy. It is not for us, however, to enter into those secrets which belong not to us, or to reckon him among the damned in another world, because he reckoned himself among them in this. As to any others whom we may see in similar circumstances, we are not so much to pass a judgment concerning their future state, as to infer the desperate estate of sinners when left of God, and to bless him that this is not our case. On the other hand, let not unregenerate sinners think that they are safe, merely because their consciences are quiet, or rather stupid ; for the false peace which they have is no better than ' the hope of the hypocrite,' which ' shall perish ' and be ' cut off.' And his ' trust shall be as a spider's web,' if he continue in his present condition. 2. From what has been said concerning the happiness of the righteous, in the enjoyment they have of the first-fruits of the heavenly glory, we may attain farther conviction that there is a state of complete blessedness reserved for the saints in another world. For, besides the proofs of this which we have from scripture, we have others founded in experience, so far as it is possible for any to attain the joys of heaven before they go thither. Though the instances of this we have mentioned are uncommon, yet our inference from them is just, — and may afford matter of con viction to those who are wholly taken up with earthly things, and have no taste of nor delight in things spiritual, — that religion has its own rewards, and that a be liever is the only happy man in the world. t Job xxi. 20. u 1 Sam. xxviii. 15. x Job xx. 5. AND APPREHENSIONS OF WRATH. 225 Again, the happy experience on the part of many of the earnests of glory, may serve as an encouraging motive to induce Christians to hold on their way. What ever difficulties or distressing providences they may meet with in this life, if they have the earnest and foretastes of heaven at any time, these will make their afflictions seem light, inasmuch as they work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. If they are rather waiting and hoping for them, than actually enjoying them, let them adore and depend on the sovereignty of God, who dis penses these comforts when he pleases. If they are destitute of the joy of faith, let them endeavour to be found in the lively exercise of the direct acts of it, trust ing in Christ, though they have not such sensible communion with him as others have ; and let them bless God that, though they have not those foretastes of the heavenly glory which accompany a full assurance of it, they have a quiet, composed lrame of spirit, and are not given up to desponding thoughts, or unbelieving fears, and have ground to conclude that, though their state is not so comfortable as that of others, yet it is not less safe, and shall at last bring them to the fruition of that felicity which others have the first-fruits of. Finally, let those who are at any time favoured with the privilege of assurance, and the joy which arises from it, walk very humbly with God, sensible that this frame of spirit is not owing to themselves, but to the quickening and sealing influ ences of the Holy Ghost, and that if, by neglecting to depend on him for the con tinuance of it, we provoke him to leave us to ourselves, we shall soon lose it, and be left in darkness. As without him we can do nothing, so without his continued presence we can enjoy none of those privileges which tend to make our lives comfortable, and give us an anticipation of future glory. DEATH. Question LXXXIV. Shall all men die t Answer. Death being threatened as the wages of sin, it is appointed unto all men once to die ; for that all have sinned. Question LXXXV. Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ t Answer. The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it ; so that, although they die, yet it is out of God's love, to free them perfectly from sin and misery, and to make them capable of farther communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon. In these Answers we have, first, an account of the unalterable1 purpose of God, or his appointment that all men once must die, and death is considered also as the wages of sin ; next, it is supposed that death has a sting and curse attending it with respect to some ; and thirdly, it is stated to be the peculiar privilege of the righteous, that though they shall not be delivered from death, yet death shall redound to their ad vantage. The reasons of this privilege are stated to be, first, that the sting and curse of death is taken from them ; and secondly, that, in three respects, their dying is the result of God's love to them, — as they are thereby freed from sin and misery, — as they are made capable of farther communion with Christ in glory, beyond what they can have in this world, — and as they shall immediately enter upon that glorious and blessed state when they die. The Certainty of Death. God has determined, by an unalterable purpose and decree, that all men must die. Whatever different sentiments persons may have about other things, this remains an uncontested truth. We have as much reason to conclude that we shall leave the world, as at present we have that we live in it. ' I know, ' says Job, ' that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. 'J' On y Job xxx. 23. II. 2 F 226 DEATH. this account the psalmist says, ' I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.'z Even if scripture had been wholly silent about the frailty of man, daily experience would have afforded a sufficient proof of it. We have much said concerning man's mortality in the writings of the heathen ; but they are at a loss to determine the origin or cause of it. They hence consider it as the unavoidable consequence of the frame of nature arising from its contexture ; that which is formed out of the dust must be resolved into its first principle, or that which is composed of flesh and blood cannot but be liable to corruption. But we have this matter set in a true light in scripture, which considers death as the consequence of man's apostasy at first from God. Before this he was immortal, and would have always remained so, had he not violated the covenant in which the continuance of his immortality was secured to him. The care of providence would have prevented a dissolution, either from the decays of nature, or from any external means leading to it. Hence, some of the Socinian writers have been very bold in contradicting the express account we have in scripture of the origin of death, when they assert that death was at first the consequence of nature.* But for this reason man would have been liable to it though he had not sinned ; whereas the apostle says, ' By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. 'b We have a particular account of this in the sentence God passed on our first parents immediately after their fall ; when, having de nounced a curse upon the ground for their sake, he says, ' Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'0 It may be observed,' also, that as death is unavoidable, pursuant to the decree of God ; so the constitution of our nature, as well as the ex ternal dispensations of providence, lead to it. The sentence no sooner took place than the temperament of human bodies was altered.3 The jarring principles of nature, on the due temperament of which life and health depend, could not but have a tendency by degrees to destroy the bodily frame. If there be too great a conflu ence of humours, or a defect of them ; if heat or cold immoderately prevail ; if the circulation of the blood and juices be too swift or slow, or the motion of the animal spirits too violent, or in the least impeded ; diseases of different kinds will neces sarily ensue. Or if the food on which we live, or the air which we breathe, be not agreeable to the constitution of our nature, or any external violence be offered to it, the frame of nature will be weakened, and dissolution brought on. David, speaking concerning Saul, includes the various means by which men die, in three general Heads, ' The Lord shall smite him ; or his day shall come to die ; or he shall descend into battle and perish.' ' The Lord shall smite him,'e denotes a per son's dying by a sudden stroke of providence, in which there is the more immediate hand of God ; and his ' falling in battle,' denotes a violent death by the hands of men. In both these respects, men die before that time which they might have lived to, according to the course of nature ; and ' his day coming to die,' means a person's dying what we call a natural death. When the dissolution of the frame of nature is gradual, or when nature is so spent and wasted that it can no longer subsist by all the skill of physicians or the virtue of medicine, then the soul leaves its habitation, being no longer able to perform any of the functions of life. We might here consider those diseases which are the forerunners of death. These are sometimes more acute ; and by means of them, as one elegantly ex presses it, nature feels the cruel victory before it yields to the enemy. As a ship which is tossed by a mighty tempest, and by the concussion of the winds and waves loses its rudder and masts, takes water in at every part, and gradually sinks into the ocean ; so in the shipwreck of nature, the body is so shaken and weakened by the violence of disease, that the senses, the animal and vital operations, decline, and at last are extinguished in death.f This seemed so formidable to good Hezekiah, that he uttered this mournful complaint, ' Mine age is departed, and removed from me a-s a shepherd's tent ; I have cut off like a weaver my life ; he will cut me off with pining sickness : from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I z Psal. xxxix. 12. a Sequela natural b Rom. v. 12. c Gen. iii. 19. d Before this there was what some call 'temperamentum ad poudus,' which was lost by sin ; and a broken constitution, leading to mortality, ensued. e 1 Sam. xxvi. 10. f See Dr. Bates on Death, chap. ii. DEATH. 227 reckoned till morning, that as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.'s We might also consider the empire of death as universal. The wise man says, ' One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh ;'h and then they pass away also, like the ebbing and flowing of the sea. Death spares none ; the strongest constitution can no more withstand its stroke than the weakest ; no age of man is exempted from it. This is beautifully described by Job : ' One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His breasts are full of milk, and bis bones are moistened with marrow. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul ; and never eateth with pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.'1 We might also consider the body after death, as a prey for worms, the seat of corruption ; and lodged in the grave, the house appointed for all living. Then an end is put to all the actions, as well as enjoyments of this life ; and, as the psalmist says, ' In that very day' all ' their thoughts perish.'? Whatever they have been projecting, whatever schemes they have laid, either for themselves or others, are all broken. So the historian observes concerning the Roman emperor, that when he had formed great designs for the advantage of the empire,1 death broke all his measures, and prevented the execution of them. We might also consider death as putting an end to our present enjoyments, re moving us from the society of our dearest friends to a dismal and frightful solitude. This was one of the consequences of it which was very afflictive to Hezekiah, when he said, ' I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 'm It also strips us of all our possessions, and all the honours we have been advanced to in this world. The psalmist says, ' When he dieth he shall carry nothing away, kis glory shall not descend after him. 'n We might also consider the time of life and death, as being in God's hand. As we were brought into the world by the sovereignty of his providence ; so we are called out of it at his pleasure. ' Our times are in his hand.'0 Hence, as nothing is more certain than death, nothing is more uncertain to us than the time when. This God has concealed from us for wise ends. Did we know that we should soon die, it would discourage us from attempting any thing great in life ; and did we know that the lease of life was long, and that we should certainly arrive at old age, we might take occasion to delay all concern about our soul's welfare, presuming that it should be time enough to think of the affairs of religion and another world, when we should apprehend ourselves to be near death. Hence, God, by concealing from us the time of our departure from this world, has made it our wisdom, as well as our duty, to be waiting all the days of our appointed time, till our change come. From what has been said under this Head, we may learn the vanity of man as mortal. If, indeed, we look on believers as enjoying that happiness which lies be yond the grave, there is a very different view of things ; but as to what respects this world, we have reason to say as the psalmist does, ' Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. * We may see the vanity of all those honours and car nal pleasures which many pursue with so much eagerness, as though they had no thing else to mind, nothing to make provision for but the flesh ; which they do at the expense of that which is in itself most excellent and desirable. — We may infer, also, that the certainty of death affords an undeniable and universal motive to hu mility. Death knows no distinction of persons, regards the rich no more than the poor, puts no mark of distinction between the remains of a prince and those of a peasant, and not only takes away every thing which men value themselves upon, but levels the highest part of mankind with common dust. They who boast of their extraction, descent, and kindred, are obliged with Job to ' say to corruption, Thou art my father ; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. '« Shall we be . proud of our habitations, ' who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust ?'r Are any proud of their youth and beauty? These are at best but like a g Isa. xxxviii. 12, 13. h Eceles. i. 4.. i Job xxi. 23—26. k Psal. cxlvi. 4. 1 Vid. Seuton. in Vit. Jul. Cass. Talia agentem atque meditantein mors praevenit. m Isa. xxxviii. 11. n. Psal. xlix. 17. o Psal. xxxi. 15. p Psal. xxxix. 5. q Job xvii. 14. r Chap. iv. 19. 228 DEATH. flower which does not abide long in its bloom, and, when cut down, withers. The finest features are not only spoiled by death, but rendered unpleasant and ghastly to behold ; and accordingly are removed out of sight, and laid in the grave. — Again, from the consideration of man's liability to death, and those diseases which lead to it as the wages of sin, we may infer that sin is a bitter and formidable evil. The cause is to be judged of by its effects. As death, accompanied with all those diseases which are the forerunners of it, is the greatest natural evil to which we are liable ; so sin, whence it took its rise, must be the greatest moral evil. We should never reflect on the one, without lying low before God under a sense of the other. The psalmist, when meditating on his own mortality, traces it to its spring, and ascribes it to those ' rebukes ' with which ' God corrects men for their iniqui ties,' so that they die, and their 'beauty consumes away like a moth.'8 Elsewhere, also, when he compares the life of man to ' the grass which in the morning flourish- eth, and groweth up, and in the evening is cut down and withereth,' he immediately adds, ' Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.'4 When Hezekiah had an intimation of his recovery, after he had the sentence of death within himself, he speaks of his deliverance from ' the pit of corruption 'u as accompanied with God's 'casting all his sins behind his back.' And since we cannot be delivered from these sad effects of sin till the frame of nature is dissolved and afterwards rebuilt, our liability to death should put us upon using proper methods by which we may be freed from the guilt and dominion of sin ; and accordingly should have a tendency in us to promote a life of holiness. — Finally, from the uncertainty of life, let us be induced to improve our present time, and endeavour so to live that, when God calls us hence, we may be ready. We ought t« pray with the psalmist, ' So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom ;'x that, by this means, that which deprives us of all earthly en joyments, may give us an admission into a better world, and be the gate to eternal life. The Sting and Curse of Death. We are now led to consider that death, with respect to some, has a sting and curse annexed to it. The apostle expressly says, 'The sting of death is sin.'* As sin brought death into the world ; so it is the guilt of it lying on the consciences of men, which is the principal thing that makes them afraid to leave the world. Not that death is in itself an evil which nature cannot think of without some reluctance. The apostle Paul, when he expressed his assurance of happiness in another world, which he ' groaned ' after, and ' earnestly ' longed to be possessed of; yet had it been put to his choice, would have wished that he could have been 'clothed upon with his house which is from heaven ;'z that is, had it been the will of God that he might have been brought to heaven without going the way of all the earth, he would have felt this more agreeable to nature. But when the two evils of death meet together, namely, that which is abhorrent to nature, and the sting which makes it much more formidable, they constitute an evil beyond measure distressing. In this Answer the sting and curse of death are put together, as implying the same thing. It is that whereby a person apprehends himself liable to the condemning sentence of the law, separated from God, and excluded from his favour ; so that death appears to him to be the beginning of sorrows. This view of death is what tends to embitter it, and fills him with dread and horror at the thoughts of it. Death an Advantage to Believers. +i, W\n°i7 Proceed to show that i* is the peculiar privilege of the righteous, that tnough they shall not be delivered from death, yet it shall redound to their advan- £ n a ,at.theT sha11 not be exempted from death, is evident; because the decree oi uoa relating to it extends to all men. We read, indeed, of two who escaped the ; i ctr xv!^1- : c ctr c;.62.8- u *- m"1- ,r- * **¦ » a. DEATH. 229 grave, namely, Enoch, who was translated that he should not see death, and Elijah, who was carried to heaven in a fiery chariot. But these were extraordinary instances, not designed as precedents by which we may judge of the common lot of believers. The saints who shall be found alive at Christ's second coming, shall undergo a change,* which, though equivalent to death, cannot properly be styled a dying. The apostle opposes it to death, when he says, ' We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed ;'b and he speaks of it as a future dispensation of providence, which does not immediately concern us in the present age. We must not conclude, there fore, that believers are delivered from the stroke of death. Nevertheless, death is ordered for their good. The apostle says, with a particular application to himself, ' For me to die is gain ;'° and when he speaks of the many blessings which believers have in possession or in reversion, he says, ' Death is yours,' as if he had said, ' It shall redound to your advantage.' 1. The sting of death is taken away from them. This is the result of their being in a justified state. For as a person's being liable to the condemning sentence of the law is the principal thing which has a tendency to make him uneasy, and may be truly called the sting which wounds the conscience ; so a sense of his interest in forgiveness through the blood of Christ, tends to give peace to it. A person who has this sense of interest in forgiveness can say, ' Who shall lay any thing to my charge ? It is God that justifieth ;' or, ' Though I have contracted guilt, which renders me unworthy of his favour, yet I am persuaded that this guilt is removed ; so that iniquity shall not be my ruin, and even death itself shall bring me to the possession of those blessings which were purchased for me by the blood of Christ, and which I have been enabled to apply to myself by faith. With this confidence he can say with the apostle, ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ?'d 2. Their dying is an instance of God's love to them. As those whom Christ is said to have ' loved in the world, he loved unto the end ' of his life ; so he loves them to the end of theirs.6 And as nothing has hitherto separated them from this love, nothing shall be able to do it. There are three particulars in which the love of God to dying believers discovers itself. First, they are freed from sin and misery. This they never will nor can be till death. As for sin, there are the remains of it in the best of men, which give them great disturbance, and occasion for the daily conflict which there is between the flesh and the spirit. But at death the conflict will be at an end, and the vic tory which they shall attain over it complete. There shall be no law in the mem bers warring against the law of the mind ; no propensity or inclination to what is evil ; nor any guilt or defilement contracted ; which would be inconsistent with a state of perfect holiness. Moreover, as the state to which they are introduced is one of perfect happiness, there is an entire freedom from all those miseries which sin brought into this lower world. These are either internal or external, personal or relative ; none of which shall occur to allay, or give any disturbance to, the saints' blessedness afte,r death. But more of this will be considered under a following An swer ; in which we shall be led to speak of the happiness of the righteous at the day of judgment, both in soul and body.f Again, the death of a believer appears to be an instance of divine love, as it is the means of his being made capable of farther communion with Christ in glory. Persons must be made meet for heaven before they are admitted to it. Our pre sent season and day of grace, indeed, is a time in which God is training his people up for glory ; and there is a habitual preparation for it, when the work of grace is begun. This is what the apostle intends, when he speaks of some who, when they were translated into Christ's kingdom, were ' made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, 's This, however, falls very short of that actual meetness which the saints must have when they are brought to take posses sion of the heavenly blessedness. Then, as will be observed in the next Answer, they shall be made perfect in holiness ; for were it otherwise, there could be no per. a See more of this in Quest. Ixxxvii. b 1 Cor. xv. 51. c Phil. i. 21. d 1 Cor. xv. 55. e John xiii. I. f See Quest, xc. g Col. i. 12. *30 THE FUTURE STATE. feet happiness. Besides, the soul must be more enlarged than it can be here, that it may be enabled to receive the immediate discoveries of the divine glory, and to converse with the heavenly inhabitants.. The frame of nature must be changed ; which is what the apostle intends when he says, ' Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.'h Accordingly he adds, ' This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.'1 Here he intimates that frail, mortal, and corruptible man, is not able to bear that glory which is reserved for a state of immortality. The soul, therefore, must be so changed as to be rendered receptive of that glory ; and, in order to its being so, all its powers and faculties must be greatly enlarged ; other wise it could no more receive the immediate rays of the divine glory, than the weak and distempered eye can look steadily on the sun shining in its meridian brightness. In this world our ideas of divine things are very imperfect, by reason of the narrow ness of our capacities, and God condescends to reveal himself to us in proportion to this ; but when the saints shall see him as he is, or have a perfect and immediate vision and fruition of his glory, they shall be made receptive of it. This is done at death ; and then they are rendered capable of farther communion with Christ in glory. Finally, at death believers immediately enter upon, and are admitted into, the possession of this glory. At the same time that the soul is enlarged and fitted for the work and enjoyment of heaven, it is received into it ; where it shall have an uninterrupted communion with Christ in glory. This is the subject insisted on in the following Answer. THE FUTURE STATE. Question LXXXVI. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the in* visible church enjoy immediately after death ? Answer. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death, is. in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full re demption of their bodies, which, even iu death, continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again united to their souls: Whereas the souls of the wicked are at death cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day. Having considered the soul as separated from the body by death, the next thing which will be inquired into, is what becomes of it, and how it is disposed of, in its separate state. Here we find that there is a vast difference between the righteous and the wicked. The former have communion with Christ in glory ; the latter are in a state of banishment and separation from him, being cast into hell, and there remaining in torments and utter darkness. Both these subjects are particularly insisted on in this Answer. In considering them, we shall observe the following method ;— First, we shall notice that there is something supposed, namely, that the soul of man is immortal, otherwise it could not be capable of happiness or misery. Secondly, we shall consider the happiness which the members of the invisible church enjoy,— called 'communion with Christ in glory.' Lastly, we shall consider the misery which the souls of the wicked endure at death ; which is stated in the latter part of the Answer. The Immortality of the Soul. th^l^f ShaU ?P?akconc™g the thing supposed in this Answer, namely, that must hi en man !? ™T°rtaL Th,S is a SubJect of so much importance, that we Zpiness o/m^ °- ** ^ °f $ bef°re We Can COnclude that there is a »*te of i- Se es arv for u?t " T^"" T^' But bef°re We Ploceed to the P™»f °f ^ it 1- necessary foi us to explain what we are to understand by it. We read in scrip. hlCor-xv-S0- i Verse 53. THE FUTURE STATE. 231 ture of the death of the soul, in a spiritual sense ; as separated by sin from God, the fountain of life and blessedness ; and as being destitute of a principle of grace, and in consequence, as utterly indisposed to perform any actions which are spirit ually good, as a dead man is unable to perform the functions of life. In this sense we are to understand the apostle's words, ' She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. 'k In regard to it, unregenerate persons are said to be ' dead in tres passes and sins ;M and a condemned state, which is the consequence of it, is a state of death. Now that which is opposed to this is called in scripture a spiritual life, or immortality. This, however, is not the sense in which we are to consider the life of the soul in our present argument. — Again, immortality may be considered as an attribute peculiar to God. Thus the apostle says, ' He only hath immortality.'™ The meaning of this is, that his life, which includes his Being and all his perfec tions, is necessary anjl independent. But in this respect no creature is immortal ; their life is maintained by the will and providence of God, which gave being to it at first. — When we speak of creatures being immortal, we must either consider them as not having in the constitution of their nature any thing which tends to a dissolu tion, which cannot be effected by any second cause ; or we must consider their eternal existence as resulting from the will of God, who could, had he pleased, have annihilated them. It is in both these senses that we are to consider the immor tality of the soul. That it is in its own nature immortal, has been allowed by many of the hea thens, who have had just conceptions of the spirituality of its nature, and paid any due regards to the providence of God, and those marks of distinction which he puts between good and bad men, as the consequence of their behaviour in this life. That the soul survives the body, has been reckoned by some of the heathens an opinion which has almost universally obtained in the world." Thus Plato intro duces Socrates0 as discoursing largely on this subject, immediately before his death ; and in others of his writings, he not only asserts this doctrine, but gives as good proofs of it as any one destitute of scripture-light could do. One of his fol lowers, in the account he gives of the doctrine as taught by him, recommends and insists on argument which he brings to prove it, which is not without its weight, namely, that the soul acts from a principle seated in its own nature, and not by the influence of some external cause, as things material do.P Strabo also speaks of the ancient Brahmins among the Indians, as entertaining some notions of the immor tality of the soul, and of the judgment passed upon it in its separate state ; agree ably to what Plato advances on that subject.i Some, indeed, have thought that this notion took its rise from Thales, the Milesian, who lived between two and three hundred years before Plato, and about six hundred years before the Christian era. They ascribe the notion to him from an occasional passage mentioned by Diogenes Laertius in his life, which he brings in only as matter of report,r and which is hardly sufficient to justify the supposition. Cicero8 supposes it was first propagated by Pherecydes, who was contemporary with him ; though Diogenes Laertius makes no mention of such a fact. It may be inferred, however, from many things in Homer, the oldest writer in the Greek tongue, who lived above three hundred years before Thales, that the world had in his time entertained some confused ideas of the immortality of the soul. For we often find him bringing in the souls of his deceased heroes, appearing to their surviving friends in a form and speaking with a voice like that which they had when living ; and he not only supposes, but plainly k 1 Tim. v. 6. 1 Eph. ii. 1. m 1 Tim. vi. 16. n Vid. Senec. Epist. 117. Cum de animarum immortalitate loquimur, non leve momentum apud nos haliet consensus hominum, aut timentium inferos, aut colentium. Utor hac pcrsuasione publica. Et Cic. Ttisc. Quest, lib. i. Permanere aminos arbitramur consensu nationum omnium; qua in sede unmeant, qualesque sint ratione discendum est. o In PuaBif. p Vii'. Alcin. de Doct Plat. cap. xxv. AoToxnnrav it fwirtiv •^uxi'; in n/ifurav t%timv &1', «« mpyovexv xxS' xvmi. q ViU Strah. Geog. lib. xv. Uxox'rXtxovrt 3§ xxi pviovs. utrrto xxi irXxnuv vtpt Tt xtoQxpa-ixs ^uy*s, xxi tu* xxf xSov x^ttnut. xxi xXXx roixvrx, wtgi ft-tv tuv B^^aiwj txvtx Xtyti. r Vid. Diog. I.aert. in Vit. Thai. s Vid. Cic. Tusc. Quaest. lib. i. 232 THE FUTURE STATE. intimates, that their souls existed in a separate .state.4 In other places, also, he represents some suffering punishment for their crimes committed on earth ;u which plainly argues, whatever fabulous account we have of the nature of the punishment, or the person suffering it, that it was an opinion generally received at that time, that the soul existed in a separate state. Indeed, this may be inferred from the doctrine of demons, or the superstitious worship which the heathens paid to the souls of those heroes who formerly lived on earth, who, as they thought, had done some things which rendered them the peculiar favourites of God, and the objects of worship by men, and whose souls, as they believed, existed with God in great hon our and favour in a separate state." But passing this by, it may be farther observed that whatever notions some of the heathens had of the immortality of the soul in general, they were very much at a loss, many of them, in determining the place, or many things relating to the state, in which they were. Hence, many asserted, with Pythagoras, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, or of their passing from one body to another, and being condemned to reside in vile and dishonourable bodies, as a punishment for sins committed in former bodies. This doctrine, though it perverts, yet does not overthrow, that of the soul's immortality. Others of the heathen seemed to doubt whether, after four or five courses of transmigration of souls from one body to an other, they might not at last shrivel into nothing. It must also be acknowledged that there was a considerable party among them who adhered to the sentiments of Epicurus, who denied the immortality ol the soul, supposing it to ¦ be material. The Sadducees likewise are represented, in scripture, as imbibing that notion ; they are said to have 'denied both angels and spirits. 'J In this respect they adopted Epicurus' philosophy, as to his denying the immortality of the soul, or its existence in a future state.2 We may observe, however, that notwithstanding all that has been said concern ing this doctrine, by the better and wiser part of the heathen in their writings, their notions seem to have been very defective. If we trace them farther than t Vid. Horn. Iliad 23. lin. 65, et seq. Jixh V fjri ^vx*) HxrgaxXnos o'ttXota, Hx»t XVTU [ttyiDof Tt XXI CfJ.fJ.XTX xxX tlXVIX, Km tpoviiv' XXI toix irtpi %P0I i'lfiXTX tffTB Ityi S' x£ i/vrt^ xiipxXins, xxi fj.it vgas ftvht ttivrtv. Here, after he had killed Hector, he addresses himself to his friend Patroclus, signifying that he had done this to revenge his death ; on which, the poet brings in Patroclus as appearing to him. u Vid. Odys. lib. xi. lin. 575, et seq. iu which he speaks of the punishment of Tityus and Tan talus. In this, as well as many other things, be is imitated by Virgil. See JEneid. lib. vi. lin. 595, et seq. x See this argument managed with a great deal of learning and judgment by Mede, in bis ' Apos tasy of the Latter Times.' He proves, from many of their own writers, that the gods whom the heathens worshipped, were the souls of men deified or canonized after death, chap. iv. and Voss. de orig- &c idol. lib. i. cap. xi, xii, xiii, who relets to Lact. lib. i. de fais. Relig. cap. v. whose words are these ; Quos imperiti, et iusipientes, tanquam D. os et nuncupant, et adorant, nemo est tarn inconsideratus, qui non intelligat fuisse mortales. Quomodo ergo, inquiet aliquis, Dii crediti sunt? Nimirum quia reges maxiini, ac potentissimi fuerunt, ob merita virtu turn suarum, aut munerum, aut artium repertarum, cum chari luissent iis, quibus imperitaverant, in memoriam sunt consecrati. Quod si quis dubitet, res eorum gestas, et facta, consideret: quae uni versa turn poetae, turn historici veteres, prodiderunt. Et August, de Civ. Dei, lib. viii. cap. v. Ipsi etiam majorum gentium Dii, quos Cicero in Tusculanis, tacitis nominibus videtur attingcre, Jupiter, Juno, Satur- nus, Vulcanus, Vesta, ,et, alii plurimi, quos Varro conatur ad mundi partes, sive elementa trans fers, homines fuisse produntur. Et Cic. lib. i. de nat. Deor. Quid, qui aut fortes, aut claros, aut potentes viros tradunt post mortem ad Deos pervenisse; eosque ipsos quos, nos colere, precari, venerarique soleamus? y Acts xxiii. 8. z Some have wondered how the Sadducees could deny angels, and yet receive the five books of Moses, in which there is so frequent mention of the appearance of angels; and it might as well be wondered how they could make any pretensions to religion while they denied the immortality of the soul. But as to both points, it may be said concerning them, that they were the most irreli gious part of the Jewish nation. To make them consistent with themselves is past the skill of any who treat on this subject. Some suppose that they understand all those scriptures which speak concerning the appearance of angels, as importing nothing else but a bodily shape, appearing tor a tune, and conversing with those to whom it was sent, moved and actuated by the divine power, and then disappearing and vanishing into nothing. THE FUTURE STATE. 233 what concerns the mere separate existence of the soul, or if they attempt to speak any thing concerning its happiness in a future state, they then discover that they know but little of the matter. Many of them, also, though they cannot deny the soul's immortality, seem to hesitate about it. We may therefore say with the apostle, that ' life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel ;' a that is, if we would be sure of the immortality of the soul, and know its state and enjoy ments in another world, we must look farther than the light of nature for it ; and in seeking for arguments in scripture, we shall find great satisfaction concerning this matter, which we cannot do from the writers before-mentioned. That some of the heathen were in doubt about this important truth, is very evident from their writings. Plato himself,b notwithstanding the many things which he represents Socrates as saying concerning a state of immortality after death, yet when endea vouring to convince his friend Cebes about that matter, and apprehending that he had so far prevailed in the argument as to have forced his antagonist to allow that the soul survives the body, though he held that it transmigrated into other bodies, seems to concede this point to him, and adds, that it is uncertain whether the soul, having worn out many bodies, may not at last perish with one that it is united to ; c and he farther says to him, " I must now die, and you shall live ; but which of us is in the better state, God only knows. "d As for Aristotle, though, in many places of his writings, he seems to maintain the immortality of the soul ; yet in others, it appears that he is in doubt about it, and seems to assert that neither good nor evil happens to any man after his death. e The Stoics, also, who did not altogether deny this doctrine ; yet supposed that, in process of time, the soul would be dis solved.'1 Even Cicero himself, notwithstanding all he says in apparent harmony with this doctrine, yet sometimes speaks with great hesitation about it.s And not withstanding what Seneca says concerning the immortality of the soul, as has been before observed, yet he speaks doubtfully of it.h We must, therefore, have re course to scripture, and to those consequences which are deduced from it, as well as those things which may be inferred from the nature of the soul, to prove that it is immortal. 1. For the proof of this doctrine, let it be considered that the soul is immaterial. This appears from its being capable of thought, whereby it is conversant about and takes in ideas of things divine and spiritual, which no creature below man can do. It has a power of inferring consequences from premises, and accordingly is the sub ject of moral government, capable of conversing with God here, and of expecting rewards or punishments from him hereafter. All this cannot be produced by matter and motion. As for matter, it is in itself altogether inactive ; and when motion is impressed upon it, the only change made is in the situation and contexture of its parts, — a change which cannot give it life, sensation, or preception, much less a 2 Tim. i. 10. b In Phasd. c His words are these: KtGtie Se pot tlafy Tcvra /xtt t/tai %0yx*>(ttv, xeXv%Beti*>ri£av yt utxt "¥u%n» ru/iXTas' xXXx Tcit etittXet trxtn, fin icaXXx iti ffufAXTX xxi sroXXxxis xxTXTPiipxa-x rl -^u^n. *ra TtXturxiev, rufj.x xxrxXixooffx toy xvm xgraXXviiTxr xxi y avre touto Bxvxtos, $v%vis eXtfyes' turn ffufix y xtt xiraX- Xufiltav at/hit vxvtTxi. d 'Ofartaoi it hp-ait io%avrxi i, tplxi>mt h titxi ; on which occa sion Cicero says that, though they assert that they shall continue a great while in being, yet they deny that they shall exist lor ever. Vid. Ejusd. in Tusc. Quaest. lib. i. Stoici usuram nobis largi- untur, tanquam cornicibus ; diu mausuros animos aiunt ; semper, negant. g Et ibid. Ea quae vis, ut potero, explicabo, nee tamen quasi Pythius Apollo certa ut sint, et fixa quae dixero, sed ut homunculus unus e multis, probabilia conjectura sequeus; ultra enim quo pro- greiliar quam ut verisimilia videam, non habeo; which Lactantius observes, speaking of him as in doubt about it. Vid. Lactant. de Vit. Beat. lib. vii. §. 8. And elsewhere he says, in lib. de Ami- citia : Sin autem ilia verinra, ut idem interitus sit animorum, et corporum, nee ullus sensus maneat : Ut nihil boni est in morte, sic certe nihil est mali. Et in lib. de Senect : Quod si in hoc erro, quod animos hominum immortalesesse credam, iibenter erro: Nee mihi nunc errorem, quo delector, duin vivo, extoi queri voio. Sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam ; non vereor, ne hunc errorem meum philosophi minuti irrideant ; Quod si non sumus immortales futuri, tamen extingui homiuem suo tempore, optabile est. h Epist. 102. Credebam opinionibus magnorum virorum rem gratissimam promittentium, magis quain probantium. II. 28 234 THE FUTURE STATE. a power of judging and willing, or of being conversant about things spiritual and immaterial. Nor was this power of thinking or reasoning derived from the body to which the soul is united. That which has not in itself these superior endow ments, cannot communicate them to another. The body's union with the soul cannot impart them to it ; for whatever sensation the body has, which is below the power of reasoning, is derived from the soul. This appears from its being wholly destitute of sensation, when the union between the soul and it is broken. Hence, as these superior powers or excellences of the soul are produced by another cause, we must conclude that they are immediately from God. This evidently appears from scripture. The body of Adam was first formed ; and then it is said, ' God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,'1 that is, he put into it that soul which was the spring and fountain of all living actions ; and then it follows, ' Man became a living soul.' Moreover, it is considered as a peculiar display of the glory of God, that ' he formeth the spirit of man within him.'k It follows, then, that the disso lution of the body makes no alteration in the powers and faculties of the soul ; or that the soul, when dissolution takes place, is not rendered subject to death. For, as it did not derive these powers from the body, as was before observed ; so it can not be said to lose them in the ruin of the body. Thus our Saviour speaks of the soul as not being affected with those injuries which tend to the body's destruction, when he says, ' Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.'1 2. We have in scripture a particular account of the soul when separated from the body, as disposed of in a different way from it. It does not go down to the earth, as the body does, whence it was, but ' returns to God who gave it.'m Its return to God supposes that it is accountable to him for its actions performed in the body, or for the way and manner in which its faculties were exerted. Accordingly, when separate from it, it is represented as returning to God to give an account of its behaviour in the body, and to reap the fruits and effects of it. And as it is said to return to God ; so believers breathe forth their souls, and resign them by faith, into the hand of God. Thus our Saviour said, ' Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ;'n and Stephen said, ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'0 3. The soul's immortality may be proved from the vast extent of its capacities, and the small improvement men make of them in this world, especially the greatest part of mankind. What a multitude are there who never had the faculties of the soul deduced into act, in whom the powers of reasoning were altogether useless, while in this world, — I mean those whose souls are separated from their bodies as soon as they are born ! Others die in their childhood, before reason comes to ma turity. And how great a part of the world live to old age, whose souls have not been employed in any thing great or excellent, in proportion to their capacities! Now, were these made in vain ? Or did God design, when he brought them into the world, or continued them either a longer or a shorter time in it, that they should never be employed in any thing worthy of these noble faculties ? We must conclude, therefore, that there is another state, in which the soul shall act more agreeably to those capacities with which it is endowed. 4. This may be farther proved, not only from the natural desires which there are in all men of immortality, but more especially from those desires which the saints have of enjoying some things in God, which cannot be attained in this life. The natural desire of immortality is what belongs to all. With what reluctance, aris ing from a natural aversion to a dissolution, do the soul and body part, unless there be a well-grounded hope of a life of blessedness to follow ! Moreover, there is not only a desire but an expectation of the soul's living for ever, when separated from the body, in a state of happiness, — an expectation which believers are made par takers of as a peculiar blessing from God. We must conclude, therefore, that he who gave such desire and expectation of immortality will satisfy them ; so that as men have a thirst after happiness, which is the effect of a supernatural power, they shall not be disappointed or destitute of it ; which they would be if the soul does not survive the body. i Gen. ii. 17. k Zech. xii. i j Matt> ^ 28- m Eccl. xn. 7. :; Luke xxjjj. 46. 0 Acts vii. 59. THE FUTURE STATE. 235 5. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the justice of God, as the governor of the world. This divine perfection renders it necessary, that rewards and punishments should be distributed according to men's behaviour in this life. We formerly observed, from the consideration of the spirit's returning to him, that man is supposed to be accountable to God ; and the same thing follows, from what was said under another Head, concerning the soul's being the subject of moral government. But this argument will be farther improved under a following Answer, when we consider our Saviour's coming to judge the world.p All the use we shall at present make of it is, that the soul, being thus account able to God, has reason to expect some peculiar marks of favour beyond what it receives in this world, or to fear, as the consequence of crimes committed, some punishment from the hand of the supreme Judge of all. Accordingly, it is said, ' God will render to every man according to his deeds ;'i and ' Every one shall re ceive according to what he hath done in the body, whether it be good or bad.'r Now, that which makes for our present argument is, that the best men in the world do not at present receive such peculiar marks of divine favour, as to their outward condition, as some of the vilest men often do. This the prophet Jeremiah takes notice of, when he says, ' Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, when I plead with thee ; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments : Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?'8 The psalmist, also, when observing the prosperity of the wicked, says, ' They are not in trouble like other men ; neither are they plagued like other men,'* that is, not ex posed to such rebukes of providence, as to outward things, as good men are. What some allege to solve this difficulty is, that virtue has its own reward ; and that therefore the good man cannot but be happy, whatever troubles he meets with in this life, since he has something within himself which makes him so. This con sideration, however, cannot give the least satisfaction to those who are destitute of the inward comfort referred to, that the divine distributions are just and equal. Besides, the principal ingredient in that internal happiness which arises from the exercise of religion and virtue, consists in the divine approbation, and in the interest which those who possess it have in that love which shall discover itself more fully when the soul, being separate from the body, shall enjoy the happiness resulting from it in another world. The consideration in question, therefore, so far from militating against the doctrine we are maintaining, affords a considerable argu ment to support it. But, on the other hand, it may be objected that sin brings its own punishment along with it, in that uneasiness which the wicked find in their own breasts ; concerning whom it is said, ' They are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest ; whose waters cast up mire and dirt.'u This consideration, however, so far from being an objection, proves the immortality of the soul. For the fear which the wicked experience, arises from a sense of guilt, whereby persons are liable to punishment in another world, who are not in the least concerned about the punishment of sin in this, and are ready to conclude themselves out of the reach of human judicature. What they are afraid of is God's righteous judgments in another world, which they cannot, by any means, free themselves from the dread of. We must conclude, therefore, that this is as natural to man, considered as sinful, as the hope of future blessedness is to one who is righteous ; and both these are the result of a divine impression stamped on the souls of men, and afford an evident proof of their immortality. The objections against the doctrine of the soul's immortality, are generally such as involve the lowest and most abject thoughts of human nature, in those who may truly be said to despise their own souls. When they pretend, as was formerly ob served, that they are immaterial, they set the soul on a level with the body ; for matter, how much soever it be refined, has, when resolved into the particles of which it consists, no excellency above other material beings. As to the objections which are brought against this doctrine from scripture, by which the frailty of the present life is set forth, they do not in the least tend to overthrow the immortality p See Quest, lxxxviii, lxxxix. q Rom. ii. 6. r 2 Cor. v. 10. s Jer. xii. 1. t Psal. lxxiii. 5. u Isa. lvii. 20. 236 THE FUTURE STATE. of the soul. Thus, when it is said, ' That which befalleth the sons of men, beall- eth beasts, even one thing befalleth them. As the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast. All go unto one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again,'" it is plain that Solomon speaks of the inferior part of man, in which he has no pre-eminence above the beasts, as his body is resolved into dust, as well as the bodies of the brute creatures. Besides, the following words sufficiently confute the objection, . ' The spirit of a man goeth upward ;' for here he asserts, not only the superior excellency, but the immortality, of the soul. — Again; it is said, ' The living know that they must die, but the dead know not any thing ; neither have they any more a reward ; for the memory of them is forgotten. '* Now, the objection, as founded on these words, is sufficiently answered by only reading the following words. Their memory is forgotten, and they are said to have no farther reward in this world, or, as it is expressed, ' they have no more any portion for ever, in any thing that is done under the sun ;' but this does not in the least intimate that they have no portion in what respects the things of another world. Indeed, their labour being unrewarded here, affords us an incontestable argument, that they shall have it hereafter, when the soul leaves this world. — Further, there are other scriptures which seem to speak as if death put an end to all those actions of religion which were performed by good men in this life. Thus, ' When I go down to the pit, shall the dust praise thee, shall it declare thy truth?'2* ' The dead praise not the Lord ; neither any that go down into silence.' a ' The grave cannot praise thee ; death cannot celebrate thee ; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 'b But these and similar expressions mean only that the praises of God cannot be celebrated by those who are in the state of the dead in such a way as when they lived in this world ; that they cannot praise him in the assemblies of his saints, from which they are separated, they being no longer considered as mem bers of the militant church ; and that they are not apprized of, or affected with, the things done in this lower world, in which respect they are said to know nothing. But this does not in the least militate against their praising God with the church triumphant, and having those privileges conferred upon them which are adapted to a state of immortality and eternal life. — Finally, others object that the immortality of the soul respects only the righteous ; because the apostle says, 'The world pass eth away, and the lust thereof ; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'c But the sense which the objectors give of these words contradicts all those scrip tures which speak of the punishment of sin in another world ; for if none are said to ' abide for ever ' but the righteous, or they who do the will of God, the wicked must necessarily go unpunished. Hence, we must understand the word ' abiding ' in the same sense as the psalmist does, when he says, ' The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous ;'d which does not signify their not existing in a future state, but their not being admitted into the congregation of the righteous, or made happy with them in that state. The Immediate Happiness of the Righteous after Death. We shall now consider the happiness which the members of the invisible church enjoy, called ' communion with Christ in glory,' as it includes perfect holiness. Thus we read of ' the spirits of just men made perfect. 'c This perfection consists in the rooting out of all those remains of corruption, and those habitual inclina tions to sin, which they were never wholly freed from in this world. The most that can be said concerning a believer at present, is that he has a principle of spirit ual life and grace, which inclines him to oppose, and stand his ground against, the assaults of sin which dwelleth in him, whereby it is mortified, but not wholly de stroyed. The work of sanctification is daily growing up to perfection, though it does not fully attain it. But when the soul leaves this world, it arrives at perfec-v tion in a moment ; so that the power which man had at first to yield sinless obe- x Eccl. iii. 19, 20. y Chap. ix. 5. z Psal. xxx. 9. a Psal. cxv. 17. b Isa. xxxviii. 18. c 1 John ii. 17. d Psal. i. 5. e Heb. xii. 23. THE FUTURE STATE. 237 dience, and which was lost by the fall of our first parents, is regained with great advantage. For this perfection of holiness denotes not only a sinless state, but the soul's being confirmed in that state." Accordingly, the soul is said to be re ceived into the highest heaven, the place into which no unclean thing can enter, where there is spotless purity, as well as everlasting happiness ; and here the righteous are described as beholding the face of God in light and glory. These things need not be particularly insisted on in this place, since the same privileges are said, in a following Answer, to belong to believers after the day of judgment, both in their souls and bodies, when they shall be received into heaven, and be made perfectly holy and happy, and be blessed with the immediate vision of God.f At present, therefore, we shall notice on this subject only the following particu lars : — First, The soul is made partaker of this blessedness immediately on its separation from the body. Secondly, It is farther described as waiting for the full redemption of the body, which is still supposed to continue under the dominion of death, though united to Christ, and consequently under his special protection. On this account believers are said, when they die, to rest in their graves, as in their beds, till their bodies are again united to their souls at the last day. I. We shall consider that the soul, as is observed in this Answer, is made par taker of this blessedness immediately after its separation from the body. This doctrine seems to militate against three absurd opinions which have been advanced relating to the state of separate souls. The first is that of the Papists, who main tain that the soul is not made perfect in holiness at death, but enters into a middle state, which they call purgatory, in which it is to endure exquisite torments, de signed partly as a punishment inflicted for those sins committed in this life which have not been expiated by satisfaction made by them, and partly to free them from the sin which they brought with them into that state. Another opinion which seems to be opposed in this answer, is what was maintained by some of the ancient Fathers, namely, that the souls of believers do immediately enter, not into the highest heaven before they are reunited to their bodies, but into paradise, not to suffer, as the Papists pretend they do in purgatory, but to enjoy pleasures which are reserved for them in a place not much inferior to heaven. The third opinion which is subversive of the doctrine contained in Answer, is, that the soul, at its separation from the body, sleeps till the resurrection, and that, therefore, in the intermediate space of time in which it is separate, it is no more capable of happi ness or misery than the body which lies in the grave. The absurdity of these opinions we shall take occasion farther to consider. 1. We notice first the opinion of the Papists concerning a middle state, into which they suppose souls enter at death, in order to their being cleansed from the remains of sin, and so made meet for heaven. This doctrine, how ludicrous and ungrounded soever it may appear to be, they are so fond of, that it will be as hard a matter to convince them of the absurdity of it, as it was of old to convince the worshippers of Diana at Ephesus of their stupid idolatry ; and the reason is, that it tends to pro mote their secular interest. They first endeavoured to persuade the poor deluded people, that they must suffer very great torments after death, unless they be re lieved by the prayers of their surviving friends ; and then they endeavoured to in duce survivors to show this favour to them, as well as to merit for themselves some abatement of these torments, or a speedy release from them. They tell them that it is their duty and interest to leave their estates, by their last will and testament, to pious uses, such as building of churches, endowing of monasteries, &c. ; and by their success in such appeals, they have got a great part of the estates of the people into their own hands. To carry on this cheat, they give particular instances, in some of their writings, of souls being released from this dreadful place by their prayers. The account they give of this middle state between heaven and hell, is not only that souls are not admitted into the immediate presence of God, but that they are exposed to grievous torments by fire, little short of those which are en dured in hell, and that if they are not helped by the prayers of the church, they are in danger of being sent directly to hell whence there is no release. They add f See Quest, xc. 238 THE FUTURE STATE. that the punishment in this middle state, is longer or shorter, in proportion to the crimes committed in this world, for which satisfaction has not been made by pen ances endured, or money given to compensate for them. Some, indeed, are allowed by them to pass immediately into heaven, without being detained here, namely, those who have performed works of supererogation, or who, by entering into a vow of poverty, have parted with their estates, while living in the world, for the use of the church ; for in this case no end could be answered, by telling them this fable of purgatory. Others are told that they may escape it by entering into a vow of chastity and canonical obedience. This belongs more especially to the priests, when entering into holy orders ; who thus take care to make provision for themselves, that so the deluded people may have a greater regard to their prayers, since they will find none in purgatory to perform that service for them. This is so vile and absurd an opinion, that it cannot but expose the church of Rome to the scorn and contempt of all who are not given up to strong delusions. But though it sufficiently appears, that secular interest is the main foundation of the doctrine ; yet there are some arguments, which they take from scripture to support it. These alone require our notice. One scripture to which they refer is in Isa. iv. 4, where the prophet speaks concerning the Lord's ' purging the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.' The event here spoken of they suppose should have its accomplishment when the soul left the body, and should be detained in pur gatory. This interpretation, however, is very remote from the design of the Holy Ghost in the passage. The words contain only a metaphorical description of some judgments which God would inflict on the people of Jerusalem in this life, as a punishment for their iniquities, and as a means to reclaim them from them. In the same way, we often read in the prophets of God's ' refining ' his people ' in the furnace of affliction. '« And it is said, ' The Lord's fire is in Zion, and his fur nace in Jerusalem ;'h denoting the sore judgments they should undergo in this world, as a punishment for their idolatry. Another scripture, which is miserably perverted, to support the doctrine of pur gatory, is Zech. ix. 11, ' By the blood of thy covenant have I sent forth thy pri soners out of the pit wherein is no water.' This passage, they suppose, is to be understood of some state after this life ; because the place of which it speaks is called 'the pit,' and is described as a place of misery, inasmuch as there is no water, that is, no refreshing comforts. They add, that the prophet does not speak of hell; because some persons are described as 'sent forth,' or released from it; so that it must needs be understood of this middle state between heaven and hell. But this is far from being the sense of the text. It contains a prediction of the Jews being delivered from the Babylonish captivity ; and Babylon, in a metaphorical way of speaking, is called 'the pit wherein is no water,' to denote the great dis tress that the people were to be brought under there. Thus the prophet Isaiah, speaking of their deliverance from the captivity, says, ' The captive exile hasten- eth, that he may be loosed, and that he should, not die in the pit.'1 Or the pas sage denotes some future deliverance, which the church was to expect after great calamities undergone by them. This is said to be 'by the blood of the covenant,' because all the happiness which the church shall enjoy in this world, as well as in the other, is founded in the blood of Christ, pursuant to the covenant of grace. Even if the text must necessarily be understood of a deliverance from evil after death, it may be considered as a prediction of our being delivered from eternal destruction, by the blood of Jesus. Another scripture which they bring to support the fabulous doctrine of purga tory, is 1 Cor. iii. 13 — 15, 'Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built there upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss ; but he himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire.' The reason why this scrip ture is forced into the cause which they maintain is, that it speaks of persons being g Isa. xlviii. 10. h Chap. xxxi. 9. i Chap. li. 14 THE FUTURE STATE. 239 ' saved so as by fire.' This they suppose to refer to what should follow after the particular judgment of every one at death, when a scrutiny shall be made concern ing their works, or their behaviour in this world, and when they who are found faulty may be saved after they have endured those sufferings which are there allotted for them. But there is nothing in the text which gives the least countenance to this notion. The apostle seems to be speaking concerning those ministers who preach false doctrines, that is, propagate errors not directly subversive of the fundamen tal articles of faith, but such as tend to embarrass the consciences of men, and, in many respects, lead them out of the way ; or of others, who have been perverted by them, and have embraced pernicious errors, which, in their consequences, are sub versive of the faith, but yet do not hold those consequences. These may be saved ; but their salvation shall be attended with some difficulty, arising from the mistaken notions which they have imbibed. Some compare their case to that of a person whose house is in flames, and who saves his life with difficulty, being scorched by the fire. God will, in his own time, take some method to discover what notions we have received in religion ; and he is said to do this by fire. Whether the pas sage, as a learned writer observes, is to be understood of the clear gospel-dispensa tion,11 or whether it respects some trying dispensation of providence, accompanied with a greater measure of the effusion of the Spirit, which shall lead men into the knowledge of their mistakes, and set them in the right way, I will not determine. But whether the one or the other of these senses of the text seems most agreeable to the mind of the apostle, it is sufficiently evident that no countenance is given, either in this or any other scripture, to the absurd doctrine of the Papists. Another scripture which they bring for the proof of this doctrine is 1 Pet. iii. 19, in which it is said that our Saviour ' went and preached unto the spirits in prison.' The sense they give of this text, compared with the foregoing verse, is that our Saviour, after his death, visited those repositories where the Old Testa ment saints were lodged, and preached the gospel to them ; that they embraced it, and in consequence were admitted into heaven ; and that, in like manner, he went down to the subterraneous prison of purgatory, and preached to its inmates also. But whether his preaching to them was attended with the same success or not, they pretend not to determine. Only the supposed fact of his preaching, they allege as a proof that there is such a place. To give countenance to their inter pretation, they say that by ' the prison ' here spoken of, the prison of hell cannot be intended ; inasmuch as there is no hope of salvation there, and consequently no preaching of the gospel. Nor, they add, can it be meant of his preaching to any in this world ; for they suppose that he went after he left the world and ' preached to spirits,' that is, to persons whose souls were separate from their bodies. Hence, he went, as they argue, and preached to those that are in purgatory. But in giving this sense of the text, they are obliged to take no notice of what follows, which, if duly considered, would plainly overthrow it. The meaning of the passage is, that our Saviour preached by his Spirit to the old world in the ministry of Noah, while the latter was preparing the ark ; and that they, being disobedient, were not only destroyed by the flood, but shut up in the prison of hell. On this account, it is said that he preached to those that are now in prison. This scripture, therefore, makes nothing. for the doctrine which we are opposing. [See Note P, page 245.] Nor does any other which is or can be brought ; so that all the arguments pretended to be taken from scripture are a manifest perversion of it. There is, however, one method of reasoning made use of by them which I cannot pass over, inasmuch as they apprehend that it contains a dilemma which is unan swerable ; namely, that there is some place in which persons are perfectly freed from sin, which must be either this world, or heaven, or some middle state between them. It is allowed by all, they say, that there is no perfect freedom from sin in this world ; and to suppose that persons are perfectly freed from sin after they come to heaven, is to conclude that heaven is a state of probation, in which the gospel must be preached, and persons who attend upon it be inclined to embrace it. This, k See Dr. Edward's Exercit., Part II., on 1 Cor. iii. 15, who, to give countenance to this opinion, produces two scriptures, namely, Mark xiv. 54, and Luke xxii. 56, where the word THE FUTURE STATE. 243 senses. Or if, on the other hand, he was ' out of the body,' his ' hearing unspeak able words' plainly proves our argument, — that the soul is capable of action, and consequently of enjoying the heavenly glory, when separate from the body. More over, this is evident from our Saviour's words to the penitent thief on the cross, ' Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.'0 To be 'in paradise' is certainly to be in heaven in a state of complete blessedness, where the soul delights itself in the enjoyment of God, which is altogether inconsistent with a state of insensibility. Were it otherwise, it ought rather to have been said, thou shalt be with me in paradise after the resurrection of the body, than to-day. The method which some take to evade the force of this argument, who say that ' to-day' refers, not to the time of his being admitted into heaven, but to the time when Christ spake these words, is so low and trifling, that it does not deserve an answer. — There is another scripture which fully proves our doctrine, namely, ' I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.'4 Here the apostle takes it for granted that, as soon as he departed out of this world, he should be with Christ. This denotes that he should be in his imme diate presence, beholding his glory ; and is inconsistent with the supposition that the soul sleeps at death. Besides, he says, ' This is far better ;' and he could not have said so, if the notion we are opposing were true. For it is much better for a saint to be serving Christ's interest in this world, and made so eminently useful in promoting his glory as the apostle was, than to be in a state of inactivity, in which the soul is not capable of doing any thing for him, or of enjoying any thing from him. Indeed, there is no comparison between the two states ; so that when he said he was ' in a strait' which he should choose, the matter, had it been referred to him, might easily have been determined in favour of his continuing in this world ; for here he was useful, — while, in a state of inactivity, he would not only be useless, but incapable of enjoying those privileges which he was made partaker of here. — Further, we have another argument taken from 2 Cor. v. 8, ' We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.' Here presence with the Lord is inferred from absence from the body, without any intimation of waiting till the soul is united again to the body, before being admitted into Christ's presence. — Again, our doctrine appears from the words of Solomon, in Eccles.- iv. 2, ' I praised the dead, which are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive.' By these words we are to understand that the state of believers, when they die, is much more happy than it can be in this life. Now this supposes that they are capable of happiness, and consequently that the soul, when separated from the body, is not in a state of insensibility, which is altogether inconsistent with happiness. We may add what our Saviour says in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus : ' The beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.'6 In this parable we have an account of the different state of the souls of the righteous and of the wicked at -death, and not merely what shall follow after the resurrection of the body. For when the rich man is represented as being in torments, he says, in a following part of the parable, ' I have five brethren ;' and he would have had ' Lazarus sent to testify to them, lest they should also come into that place of torment ;' and he is told, ' They have Mos'es and the prophets, let them hear them.'f Now all this plainly intimates that the parable refers to the state of separate souls before the resurrection, whilst others enjoyed the means of grace ; and consequently it proves that the soul, when separate from the body, is capable of happiness or misery, and, what is more, is fixed in the one or the other of them. An objection is founded on those scriptures which speak of the happiness or misery of men, as deferred to the end of the world. It is intimated in the parable of the tares, that ' the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from the just ; 's and the former are said to be 'cast into a furnace of fire ;'b and the latter, namely, the righteous, are said to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.'' c Luke xxiii. 43. d Phil. i. 23. e Luke xvi. 22, 23. f Verses 28, 29. g Matt. xiii. 9. h Verses 49, 50. i Verse 43. 244 THE FUTURE STATE. Moreover, our Saviour speaks of his people as ' blessed, and recompensed at the resurrection of the just.'k The apostle Paul also expresses his hope of ' a crown ot righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, should give him at that day, that is, the day of his coming to judgment. Several other scriptures likewise speak of what is consequent to the resurrection.— Now, we observe, in reply, that these scriptures respect, not the beginning, but the consummation of the happiness ol the saints, or their complete blessedness in soul and body. This, however, is not in consistent with the happiness which separate souls enjoy before the resurrection. Nor is the misery which is consequent upon the resurrection inconsistent with that which sinners endure before it, when their souls are separate from their bodies. Thus concerning the happiness of the souls of believers at death. II. We are now led to consider what is farther observed in this Answer, concern ing the soul's waiting for the full redemption of the body. The justified soul, though it continues under the dominion of death, is notwithstanding united to Christ ; and accordingly believers are said to rest in their graves as in their beds, till the re surrection. 1. The souls of believers are described as ' waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. ' This is the same expression which the apostle uses, Rom. viii. 23 ; where ' redemption' denotes a full discharge from the state of confinement in the grave, in which the body was rendered incapable of answering the end for which it was re deemed by Christ, while the soul was, at the same time, destitute of that happiness which its reunion therewith shall convey to it. The soul's enjoyments were all spiritual, and, in their kind, perfect ; yet it was naked, or, as the apostle expresses it, ' unclothed ;' it wanted that which was designed to be a constituent part of the human nature, and without which it was indisposed for those actions and enjoy ments which arise from its union with the body. This reunion with the body it is said to wait for, as a desire of reunion therewith is natural to it ; yet it waits without impatience, or any diminution of its intellectual happiness. 2. As to the bodies of believers, they are said to continue united to Christ. This is the result of their being redeemed by him, and of his condescending to dwell in them by his Spirit. His love extends itself to their lower part, as well as to their souls. ' Nothing,' as the apostle says, ' shall separate' a believer ' from his love ;' no ' not death itself.'™ On this account they are said to 'sleep in Jesus, 'n or to 'die in the Lord.'0 They are indeed buried in the grave, and seem to lie ne glected like common dust ; yet it is said, ' Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 'p Christ reckons every particle of their dust among 'his jewels;'0* and is no more ashamed to own them as his peculiar care, than he was when they were in their most flourishing state in this world. For this reason they , are also said to ' rest in their graves as in their beds.' This is a scripture-expres sion, as the psalmist says, ' My flesh shall rest in hope ;'r and the prophet Isaiah, ' He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds.'s The body, indeed, re mains under the external part of the curse due to man for sin ; yet, as will be abundantly demonstrated when death shall be completely swallowed up in victory, it is freed from that which is the most bitter ingredient of it. In this the bodies of believers have the advantage of all others. The frame of nature indeed is dis solved ; there is no visible mark of distinction from the wicked put upon them in the grave ; yet there is a vast difference in God's account. This a writer elegantly compares to the removing of the tabernacle in the wilderness. When the Israelites changed their stations, all the parts of the tabernacle were carefully taken down and delivered to the Levites' charge, in order to its being raised again with honour. On the contrary, the house incurably infected with the leprosy, was plucked down with violence, and thrown into an unclean place with execration. The bodies of the saints are committed to the bosom of the earth, as the repository Christ has appointed for them ; whence he wiU call them forth at last, when their souls shall be again united to them in the glorious morning of the resurrection. k Luke xiv. 14. 1 2 Tim. iv. 8. m Rom. viii. 38, 39. " «,.??• ,'»• 14' ° Rev- xiv- >3- P Psal- cxvi. 15. q Mal. in. 17. r Psa, xvj_ 9. J Ua_ lyii- 2 THE FUTURE STATE. 245 The Misery of the Wicked at Death. We shall now consider the misery which the soiils of the wicked endure at death. This is stated in the latter part of this Answer. We have here a different scene opened, the final state of the wicked described in words adapted to strike dread and terror into those who have at present no sense of their future misery. Their souls are considered as cast into or shut up in hell, their bodies imprisoned in the grave, and both the objects of divine wrath. We shall have occasion, under a following An swer,4 farther to speak concerning the punishment which shall be inflicted on sinners, whose torments shall be inexpressible, both in body and in soul, after the day of judg ment. At present, therefore, we shall consider only the misery which the souls of the wicked shall undergo before they are united to their bodies. The soul which carries out of the world with it the power of reflecting on itself as happy or miserable, immediately sees itself separate from the comfortable presence of God, the fountain of blessedness. What tends to enhance its misery beyond what it is capable of in this life, will be the enlargement of its faculties. Its apprehension shall be more clear, and its sensation of the wrath of God more pungent, when it is not oppressed with the drowsiness and stupidity which characterized it in the present life. Nor will it be possible for it to delude itself with those vain hopes which it once con ceived of escaping that misery which it is now plunged into ; when all the waves and billows of the Almighty shall overwhelm and swallow it up. The soul is, in a peculiar manner, the subject of misery, as it is made uneasy by its own thoughts ; which are compared to the worm that dieth not. While the sinner looks back wards, and calls to mind the actions of his past life, and all his sins are charged upon him, his soul is filled with such a sense of guilt and confusion as is inexpres sibly tormenting ; and when he looks forwards, there is nothing but what adminis ters despair, which increases his misery to the highest degree. These torments the soul endures before it is reunited to the body, and thereby rendered receptive of others, which we generally call the punishment of sense. The place of punishment is the same that is allotted for soul and body, namely, hell. This is called outer darkness ; which is an expression used to signify the greatest degree of misery. As for their bodies, they dread the thoughts of being united to them again ; inasmuch as the reunion will bring with it new accessions of torment. They are considered as liable to a double dishonour ; not only that which arises from their being in a state of corruption in common with all mankind, but in their being detained in the grave, as prisoners to the justice of God, whence they shall not be released as persons acquitted or discharged, but remanded from that prison to another, from which there is no deliverance. But more of this under a following Answer. t Quest, lxxxix. [Note P. Christ's Preaching to the Spirits in Piison Our Lord went at death, not to do any work in a middle state, but to be with his Father and reveal himself in paradise to the saved. On the eve of his death, he said to his disciples, ' I go to my Father ;' on the cross, he said to the peni tent thief, ' To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise ;' and at the moment of expiring, he said to the Father, ' Into thy hands I commit my spirit.' Nor did he go in person to ' the spirits in prison ' of whom the apostle Peter speaks ; but he went and preached to them by the Spirit, — the Holy Ghost, who spoke in all the prophets and holy men of old, and testified of Christ. Just as he went to ' the spirits' in question, so he went to the Ephesians who, in the days of the apostolic ministry, were converted to the Christian faith. ' Having slain the enmity by the cross,' says the apostle Paul, addressing the Ephesian behevers, 'he came and preached peace to you who were afar off,' Eph. ii. 17- As, by the ministry of Paul, but not in his own person, he ' came and preached' to the Ephesians; so, by the ministry of Noah, but not in his own person, 'he went and preached to the spirits in prison.' Noah was ' a preacher of righteousness,' (2 Pet. ii. 5.) or of the way of mercy ; and he just as really as Paul ' prayed men in Christ's stead, as though God did beseech them by him, to be reconciled to God.' The time, therefore, at which Christ preached to 'the spirits in prison,' was ' the days of JNoah,' when the ark was a-preparing. ' The spirits,' too, were not only disobedient but objects of long-suffering : they were persons who were disobedient ' when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah :' they were not condemned men enduring the miseries of final wrath, but disobedient hearers of divine warnings which told them of wrath to come, and favoured objects of the divine long-suffering which ' waited' for their repentance. Nor is it strange that they are called ' spirits,' — ' souls' or 'spirits' being a current designation of living 246 THE FUTURE STATE. men, in even the historical parts of scripture. See Gen. xii. 5; xlvi. 15 18 22, 25, 26, 27 Exod. i. 5; xii. 4; Josh. *. 28, 30, 32; xi. 11, and many other texts. The prison then l, in which they were confined, was simply the doomed world, converted into a vast dungeon from which the impenitent could not escape, and walled round by denunciations of the divine anger which should certainly be executed. They were persons 'in keeping, or 'under guard •, QvXxxV. Ac cordingly they were not, as the Romish gloss on the passage represents, delivered from ' the guard which Was over them, or 'the prison' in which they were shut up; for only 'a few, that is, eight souls ' Noah and his family, who held a common position with them, ' were saved.' Even these, also were saved, not by fire, but ' by water,'— not by the action of purgatorial flame, but by being borne aloft in the ark on the surface of the flood,—' the like figure whereunto,' adds the apostle, ' even baptism doth also now save us — not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God — by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' Tccrown all, the persons described were guilty of what Romanists call ' mortal sin,' or rather of all mortal sins combined ; and, therefore, could' not, according to the church of Rome's own doctrine, have been allowed ad mission to her supposed purgatory. Scarcely, then, can there be a more reckless perversion of the ^"V^M ^ ^"ies of the fust, by fhe Spirit of'Chri and made 1 ke to r.esurlect'°»- « their head, shall he raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible bTm as an off'nded jlllgT* * ^^ °f "" Wicked Sba" be ralSed Up '" disbonoUr by lL^t^rT^S ,th s Isa xxv lg % Ma. xxv. 0 u Chllp xxv j Hos xjij ,4 j c z Exod. in. 6. a Luke xx. 37, 38. * * THE RESURRECTION. 259 not exist cannot be the subject of a promise ; yet are not able to see how the resur rection can be proved from it ; though it is brought by our Saviour for that pur pose. But that the force of it may appear, we must consider what is the import of the promise contained in the covenant, that ' God would be the God of Abraham.' This is explained elsewhere, when he told him, ' I am thy shield, and thy exceed ing great reward. 'b Abraham, therefore, was given to expect, at the hand of God, all the spiritual and saving blessings of the covenant of grace. But these blessings respect not only the soul, but the body ; and as they are extended to both worlds, the promise of them is an evident proof of the happiness of the saints in their bodies in a future state, and consequently that they shall be raised from the dead. 2. We are now led to consider those arguments to prove the doctrine of the re surrection which are contained in the New Testament, in which it is more fully and expressly revealed than in any other part of scripture. Here we may first take notice of those particular instances in which our Saviour raised persons from the dead in a miraculous way, as the prophets Elijah and Elisha did under the Old Testament dispensation. Thus he raised Jairus' daughter, whom he found dead in the house.0 He raised also the widow's son at Nain, when they were carrying him to the grave ; and he did this in the presence of a great multitude.4 He like wise raised Lazarus from the dead,6 in a very solemn and public manner, after he had been dead four days, his body being then corrupted and laid in the grave, whence Christ called him, and he immediately revived and came forth. These instances of the resurrection of particular persons tended to put the doctrine of the general resurrection out of all manner of doubt. Indeed, it was, at this time, hard ly questioned by any excepting the Sadducees. Accordingly, before Christ raised Lazarus, when he only told his sister Martha that he 'should rise again,' she, not then understanding that he designed immediately to raise him from the dead, ex pressed her faith in the doctrine of the general resurrection : ' I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day ;'f on which occasion our Saviour re plied, ' I am the resurrection and the life,'* denoting that this work was to be per formed by him. Moreover, this doctrine was asserted and maintained by the apostles, after Christ had given the greatest proof of it in his own resurrection from the dead. It is said that they preached through Jesus, the resurrection from the dead.'1' The apostle Paul standing before Felix, and confessing his belief of all things which are written in the law and the prophets, immediately adds that he had ' hope towards God, which they themselves also allow,' that is, the main body of the Jewish na tion, ' that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the un just.' He, however, not only asserts but proves it with very great strength of reason ing, in the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians. The argument which he there insists on, is taken from Christ's resurrection. ' If there be no re surrection, then is Christ not risen.'' Now, Christ's resurrection is a doctrine which could not be denied by any who embraced the Christian religion ; since it was the very foundation of it. But if any one should entertain the least doubt about it, he adds, ' If Christ be not raised from the dead, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins, ' k that is, your hope of justification hereby is ungrounded, ' and they also which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished.' But this none of them could deny ; so that they must have concluded that he had risen from the dead. If it be inquired how this argument proves the general 'resurrection, he farther says, ' Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.'1 Christ's resurrection removes all the difficulties which might afford the least matter of doubt concerning the possibility of the resurrection of the dead ; and his being raised as ' the first-fruits of them that slept,' or as the head of all the elect, who are said to have communion with him in his resurrection, or to be ' risen with him, 'm renders the doctrine of the resurrection of all his saints undeniably certain. As the first-fruits are a part and pledge of the harvest ; so Christ's resurrection is a b Gen. xv. I. c Matt. ix. 25. d Luke vi . 11, 14, 15. e John xi. 43, 44. f John xi. 24. g Ver. 25. h Acts iv. 2. i 1 Cor. xv. 13. k 1 Cor. xv. J 7. 1 Ver. 20. m Col. iii. 1 260 THE RESURRECTION. pledge and earnest of the resurrection of his people. Thus the apostle says else where, ' If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell m you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. » Our Saviour also, when he was discoursing with his disciples concerning his death, and his resurrection which would follow, told them that, though he should be separated for a time from them, and ' the world should see him no more,' yet ' they should see him again ;' and he assigned, this as a reason, ' Because I live ye shall live also:'0 as if he had said, 'Because I shall be raised from the dead, and live for ever in heaven, you who are my favourites, friends, and followers, shall also be raised and live with me there.' The resurrection of believers, therefore, is plainly evinced from Christ's resurrection. I might produce many other scriptures out of the New Testament, in which this doctrine is maintained ; but we shall proceed to consider what proofs may be de duced from scripture consequences. It may here be observed that our Lord Jesus Christ has, by his death and resurrection, purchased an universal dominion over his subjects, or a right to dispose of them in such a way as will be most conducive to his own glory and their advantage. Thus the apostle speaks of him as ' dying, rising, and reviving, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living ;' and he infers thence that ' whether we live or die we are the Lord's.'? Christ being Lord over the dead is expressed in other terms, by his ' having the keys of hell and death ;' and this is stated to be the consequence of his ' being alive ' after his death, or of his resurrection from the dead.i We conclude, therefore, that he has a power, as Mediator, to raise the dead. We may add, that he has engaged to do this work, as truly as he did to redeem the souls of his people. When believers are said to be given to him, or purchased by him, it is the whole man that is included. Accordingly, he purchased the bodies as well as the souls of his people, as may be argued from our obligation consequent on his redeeming us to ' glorify him in our bodies' as well as 'in our spirits, which are God's. 'r They are both under his care ; and he has undertaken that his people's bodies shall not be lost in the grave. His having done so is very emphatically expressed, when he is represented as say ing, ' This is the will of the Father which hath sent me,'8 or is contained in the commission which I received from him, when he invested me with the office of Mediator, ' that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' What should be the reason that he here speaks of things rather than persons, if he had not a peculiar regard to the bodies of be lievers ? As these are the subjects of his power when raised from the dead, so they are the objects of his care ; and therefore he will raise them up at the last day. We might farther consider Christ's dominion as extended to the wicked as well as the righteous. He is not, indeed, their federal head ; but he is appointed to be their Judge. Hence, though they are neither the objects of his special love, nor redeemed by his blood, nor the dutiful and obedient subjects of his kingdom, he has a right to demand them to come forth out of their graves, to appear before his tri bunal ; for it is said, ' God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assur ance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.'* Elsewhere, also, it is said, that he was ' ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.'u Hence, we read that he shall ' sit upon the throne of his glory ;' that ' before him shall be gathered all nations ;'x and that, as is stated in the following verses, he shall determine the final state, both of the righteous and the wicked. Now, this general judgment is described more particularly as being immediately after the universal resurrection. It is said, ' I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, T — language, as will be observed under our next Answer, which respects his judging the world ; and in order to this, it is farther said, that 'the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell1 delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they were judged every man according to their r. Bom. viii. 11. 0 John xiv_ l9, Rom xiy 8> 9 Rey ; lg r lCor. vi. 20 s john vi, 39 40. t Acts xvii. 31. u Chap. x. 42. x Matt. xxv. 31, 32. y Rev. xx. 12, 13. THE RESURRECTION. 261 works.' Besides, as Christ is represented as a Judge, it is necessary that he should execute his vindictive justice against his enemies, and punish them as their sins deserve. But this respects not only the soul but the body. Hence, Christ, that he may secure the glory of, his justice, shall raise the bodies of sinners, that he may punish them according to their works ; and therefore he is said to be the object of fear, because he is ' able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'z We have thus endeavoured to prove the doctrine of the resurrection by argu ments taken from the Old and the New Testament, and from those scripture con sequences whence it may be plainly deduced. How much soever, then, it may be thought a strange and incredible doctrine, by those who have no other light to guide them but that of nature ; it will be generally believed by all whose faith is founded upon divine revelation, and who adore the infinite power and impartial justice of God, the governor of the world. Indeed, it is not attended with such difficulties arising from the nature of the thing, as many pretend ; since we have several emblems in nature which seem to illustrate it. These are very elegantly represented by some of the Fathers, and especially by Tertullian ;a whom the learned and excellent Bishop Pearson refers to and imitates in his style and mode of expression.11 His words are these, " As the day dies into night, so doth the summer into winter. The sap is said to descend into the root, and there it lies buried in the ground. The earth is covered with snow, or crusted with frost, and becomes a general sepulchre. When the spring appeareth, all begin to rise ; the plants and flowers peep out of their graves, revive, and grow, and flourish. This is the annual resurrection. The corn by which we live, and for want of which we perish with famine, is notwithstanding cast upon the earth, and buried in the ground, with a design that it may corrupt, and being corrupted, may revive and multiply. Our bodies are fed with this constant experiment, and we continue this present life by succession of resurrections. Thus all things are repaired by cor rupting, are preserved by perishing, and revive by dying. And can we think that z Matt. x. 28. •¦ Vid. Minut. Fel. in Octav. § 33. Vide adeo quam in solatium nostri Resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditatur. Sol demergit, et nascitur ; astra labuntur, et redeunt ; Mores occidunt, et reviviscunt; post senium arbusta frondescutit; semina non nisi corrupta revirescunt ; ita corpus in sepulchro ut arbores in hyberno occultant virorem ariditate mentita. Expectandum nobis etiam corporis ver est, &c- b See his Exposition on the Creed, Artie, xi. and Tertull. de Resurr. Cam. cap. xii. Aspice nunc ad ipsa quoque exempla divinae potestatis: Dies moritur in noctem, et tenebris usquequaque sepelitur. Funestatur mundi honor, omnis substantia denigratur. Sordent, silent, stupentcuueta; ubique justitiiim est, quies rerum. Ita lux amissa lugetur ; et tamen rursus cum suo cult u, cum dote, cum sole, eadem et Integra et tota universo orhi reviviscit, interficiens mortem suam noctem, rescindens sepulturam suam tenebras, fiaeres sibimet existens, donee et nox reviviscat, cum suo et ilia suggestu. Redaccenduntur enim et stellarum radii, quos matutina successio extinxerat. Redu- cuutur et siderum absentiae, quas temporalis distinctio exemerat. Redornantur, et specula lunae quae menstruus Humerus adtriverat. Revolvuntur hyemes et aestates, et verna, et autumna, cum suis vin bus. moribus, fructibus. Quippe etiam terrae de ccelo disci plina est, arbores vestire post spolio, Mores deiiuo colorare, herbas rursus imponere, exhibere eadem quas absumpta sunt semina ; nee prius exhibere quam absumpta : Mira ratio: De fraudatrice servatrix : Ut reddat, intercipit : Ut custo- diat, perdit : Ut integret, vitiat: Ut etiam ampliet, prius decoquit. Siquidem uberiora et cultiora restituit quam exterminavit. Revera foenore interitu, et injuria usura, et lucro damno : Semel dixerim uni versa conditio recidivaest. Quodcunqueconveneris, fuit: Quotlcunqueamiseris, nihil non iterum est. Omnia in statum redeunt, quum abscesseriut; Omnia incipiunt, quum desieriut. ldeo liiiitiutur. ut tiant. Nihil dep rit, nisi in salutem. Totusigitur hie ordo revolubilis rerum, testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum. Operibus earn praescripsit Deus ante, quam literis : Viribus praedi- cavit ante, quam vocibus. Praemisit tibi naturam magistram, submissurus et prophetiam quo fa. cilius credas prophetiae, discipulus naturae: Quo statini admittas, quum audiens, quod ubique jam viiieris : Nee dubites Deum carnis etiam resuscitatorem, quein omnium noris restituorem. Ec utique si omnia liomini resurgunt, cui procurata sunt, porrd non homiui, nisi et carni, quale est ut ipsa depe- reat in totum, propter quam et cui nihil deperit? Et Vid. Ejusd. Apologet. cap. xlviii. in which he proves the resurrection of the body from the possibility of that being restored to a former being, with the same ease with which it was made out of nothing; and shows how God has impressed upon this world many testimonies of the resurrection; and then he adds, Lux quotidi& interfecta re- splendet, et tenebrae, pari vice decedendo succedunt, sidera defuncta vivescunt, tempora, tibi fini- untur, incipiunt, fructus corisummantur, et redeunt. Certe semina non nisi corrupta et dissoluta fcecuiidius surgunt, omnia pereundo servantur, omnia de interitu reformantur. Tu homo tantuin nomen, si iiitelligas te, vel de titulo Pythia? discerns, dominus omnium morientium et resurgentiuin, ad hoc iiiorieris, ut pereas? 262 THE RESURRECTION. man, the lord of all these things, which thus die and revive J' ^^J.^ tained in death as never to live again? Is it imaginable that God should thus Je toi e aU tWs to man, and not restore man to himself ? If there were no other consideration but of the principles of human nature, of the liberty and remuner- ability of human actions, and of the natural revolutions and resurrections of other creatures, it were abundantly sufficient to render the resurrection of our bodies highly probable." Examination of Objections against the Resurrection. We shall now consider some objections which are generally brought against the doctrine of the resurrection. Some things, indeed, are objected against it, which are so vain and trifling, that they do not deserve an answer. The followers of Aristotle, for example, assert that it is impossible for a thing which is totally de stroyed, to be restored to that condition in which it was before.0 And some have been so foolish as to think that those nations who burnt their dead bodies, put an eternal bar in the way of their resurrection ; since the particles being so changed and separated by fire as they are, can never return again to their former bodies ; or that those bodies which have been swallowed up by the ocean,- so that the par ticles of which they consisted have been dissolved by water, and every one of them separated from the other, can never be again restored to their former situation. Such objections as these, I say, do not deserve an answer ; because they consider the resurrection as if it were to be brought about in the same way in which effects are produced by second causes, according to the common course of nature, without any regard to the almighty power of God, which can easily surmount all the diffi culties which, they pretend, lie in the way of the resurrection. There are other objections, taken from a perverse sense of some texts of scripture, without consi dering the drift and design of these, or what is added in some following words, which sufficiently overthrows the objection. Thus some produce as an objection that scripture in which it is said, ' That which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast ; all go unto one place, and all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 'd This text we formerly noticed as brought against the immortality of the soul ; and it is also alleged against the resurrection of the body, by those who conclude that the body shall be no more raised from the dead than the bodies of brute creatures. But this is rather a cavil or a sophism, than a just way of reasoning ; inasmuch as the following words plainly intimate that men and beasts are compared together only as to their mor tality, not as to what respects their condition after death ; so that it is no sufficient argument to overthrow the doctrine of the resurrection. These and similar objec tions are so trifling that we shall not insist on them. There are, however, three or four that we shall lay down, and consider what answers may be given to them, 1. It is objected against the doctrine of the resurrection, that, though the power of God can do all things possible to be done, yet the raising of the dead, at least in some particular instances, is impossible, from the nature of the thing ; so that we may say, without any reflection cast on the divine Omnipotency, that God can not raise them, at least not so that every one shall have his own body restored to him. Thus there are some instances of cannibals, or men-eaters, who devour one another, by which means the flesh of one man is turned into the flesh of another. In those instances also which are more common, the bodies of men, being turned into dust, produce food, like other parts of the earth, for brute creatures, and some of the particles of which they consisted are changed into the flesh of these crea tures, and these again are eaten by men ; so that the particles of one human body, after having undergone several changes, become a part of another. There can not, therefore, say the objectors, be a distinct resurrection of every one of those bodies that have lived in all the ages of the world. But it cannot be proved that, in those instances mentioned in the objection, when c This is what they generally intend by that aphorism, ' A privatione ad hahitum non datur regressus.' d Eccl. iii. 19, 20, 21. ' THE RESURRECTION 263 one man preys upon another, or when brute creatures live upon grass produced by the ground made fertile by the bodies of men turned to corruption, and, it may be, con taining some of the particles of these bodies, — it cannot, I say, be proved that, in these instances, the particles of the bodies of men are turned into nourishment, and so become a part of human flesh ; since providence did not design them to be for food. If so, then it is not true in fact, that the particles of one human body become a part of another. But, suppose it were otherwise, and suppose the objection to have as much weight as possible, we may farther observe that it is but a very small part of what is eaten which is turned into flesh ; so that those particles of one human body which by this means are supposed to pass into another, make up but a very inconsiderable part of the latter. Hence, if some few particles of one human body in the resurrection are restored again to that body to which they at first belonged, the doctrine of the resurrection of the same body will not be overthrown. If the body of a man lose a few ounces of its weight, no one supposes that it is not the same body. So when the bodies of men are raised from the dead, if the far greater part of the particles of them are re-collected and united together, they may truly be said to constitute the same body. The facts alleged in the objection, therefore, do not overthrow the resurrection of the same body from the nature of the thing. 2. It is farther objected, especially against the possibility of the resurrection of the same body which was once alive in this world, that the bodies of men, while they live, are subject to such alterations that it can hardly be said that we are the same when we are men as when we were children. The expenditure of those par ticles which are insensibly lost by perspiration, and the daily gaining of others by nutrition, make such an alteration in the contexture of the body, that, as some suppose, in the space of about seven years, almost all the particles of the body are changed, some lost and others regained. Now, if it be supposed that the same body we once had shall be raised, it is hard to determine whether those particles of which it consisted when we were young, shall be gathered together in the resur rection, or the particles of the emaciated or enfeebled body which was laid down in the grave. We are obliged to take notice, of such objections as these, because they are often alleged in a cavilling way, against the doctrine of the resurrection. The answer that I would give to this, is, that the more solid and substantial parts of the body, such as the skin, bones, cartilages, veins, arteries, nerves, fibres, that compose the muscles, with the ligaments and tendons, are not subject to the change which is mentioned in the objection by evaporation or perspiration, which more especially respects the fluids, and not the solids of the body. These remain the same in men as they were in children, excepting what respects their strength and size. Now, if the body, as consisting of these and some of the particles which it has lost, which the wisdom of God thinks fit to re-collect, be gathered together in the resur rection ; we may truly say that the same body which once lived, notwithstanding the change made in the fluids of it, is raised from the dead. [See Note R, p. 269.] 3. There is another objection which is sometimes brought against the doctrine of the resurrection of the just, especially against their being raised with the same body which they once had. This objection is founded on the supposed inconsistency of their resurrection with their living in the other world, called heaven ; which is gen erally distinguished from the earth, as being a more pure, subtile, and ethereal re gion, and therefore not fit to be an habitation for bodies compounded of such gross matter as ours are, which are adapted to the state and world in which they now live. To suppose them placed in heaven, say the objectors, is inconsistent with the nature of gravity ; so that we may as well conclude a body which naturally tends to the earth as its centre, to be capable of living in the air, at a distance from the surface of the earth, as we may conclude that it is possible for such a body to live in heaven. They hence argue, that the bodies of men, at the resurrection, must be changed so as to become ethereal ; and by advancing this position, they in effect overthrow the doctrine of the resurrection, as respecting, at least, the re storing of the bodies of men to the same form which once they had. — Moreover, this objection is improved by another supposition, which gave the Socinians occa sion to assert that the same body shall not be raised, namely, that if the bodies of 264 THE RESURRECTION. men should be the same as they are now, they would be rendered incapable of that state of immortality which is in heaven. They argue, as was formerly observed, that because man's body at first was to be supported by food, breathe in proper air, and be protected from dissolution only by being guarded against things which might tend to destroy its temperament, man would have been liable to mortality, though he had not sinned, or in other words, death was then the consequence of nature ; and from the same premises they conclude that, at the resurrection, we must not have such bodies as we now have, but ethereal. ' To give countenance to this opin ion, they refer to the apostle's words, * Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; ' e and to his speaking of ' celestial bodies ' as distinguished from ' terrestial, ' f and of the body being raised ' a spiritual body. '8 They generally refer also to a scripture in which our Saviour speaks of believers, in the resurrection, being ' as the angels of God;'h which they understand as signifying at least that their motion will no more be hindered by the weight of the body, than the motion of an angel is ; so that their bodies must be of another kind that what we suppose they shall be in the resurrection. Now, as to the inconsistency of bodies like ours living in the upper world, as being contrary to the nature of gravitation, it may be answered that, according to the generally received opinion of modern philosophers, gravity arises from an ex ternal pressure made upon bodies which are said to be heavy or light, according to their force. Hence, those bodies which are in the upper regions, above the atmo sphere, are equally adapted to ascend or descend, — a fact which sufficiently answers that part of the objection. A learned writer takes notice of it ;' and if it be not acquiesced in, he advances another hypothesis ; which, because it has something of wit and spirit in it, I shall take leave to mention, though I must suspend my judg ment concerning it, as to whether it be true or false. He says that perhaps our heaven will be nothing else but an heaven upon earth ; and that it seems more natural to suppose that, since we have solid and material bodies, we shall be placed as we are in this life, in some solid and material orb. This supposition he thinks agreeable to the apostle Peter's words, when he speaks of ' a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ;' k whence he concludes, that either this world shall be fitted to be the seat of the blessed, or some other which has a solid basis like it. To give countenance to this opinion, he refers to some ancient writers. He particularly tells us, that Maximus speaks of it as the opinion of many in his time ; and that Epi- phanius brings in Methodius in the third century as asserting the same thing. — As to that part of the objection, that bodies like those we have now are unmeet for the heavenly state, inasmuch as they cannot be supported without food and other con veniences of nature, which tend to the preservation of life in this world; it may be answered, that it is not necessary to suppose that the body shall be raised with such qualities that it will stand in need of food, rest, or other conveniences of na ture, which at present tend to the support of life. The apostle seems to assert the contrary when he says, ' Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats ; but God shall destroy both it and them.'1 There is certainly a medium between asserting, with some, that we shall be raised with an ethereal body, in all respects unlike that which we have at present ; and maintaining, that we shall have such bodies as are liable to the imperfections of the present state, and supported in the same way in which they now are. As to what the apostle says concerning ' flesh and blood not inheriting the kingdom of heaven,' he does not mean that our bodies shall be so changed that they shall in no respect consist of flesh and blood. And when he speaks of ' celestial ' and ' spiritual ' bodies, it is not necessary for us to suppose that he intends aerial or ethereal bodies. But this will be more particularly con sidered under a following Head, when we speak of the circumstances in which the bodies of believers shall be raised from the dead. As to the scripture in which glorified believers are said to be ' as the angels of God in heaven,' it respects their being immortal and incorruptible, or, as the context seems to intimate, that they need not marriage to perpetuate their generations in that world. We have no el Cor. xv. 50 f Ver. 40. g Ver. 44. h Matt. xxii. 3a 1 See Hody on the Resurrection, &c. pages 205—208. k 2 Pet. iii. 13. 1 1 Cor. vi. 13. THE RESURRECTION. 265 occasion, therefore, to strain the sense of the words, so as to suppose that our Sa viour intends, in his saying ' they shall be as angels,' that they*shall cease to be like what they were when men on earth. 4. The last objection which we shall mention, is taken from the resurrection not being agreeable to the goodness of God, extended to those who are made, partakers of eternal life, inasmuch as it is a bringing of them into a worse condition than the soul was in when separate from the body. This objection is generally brought by those who adopt the mode of speaking often uSed by Plato m and his followers, that the body in this world, is the prison of the soul, which at death is set at liberty. They hence suppose that its being united to the body again, is no other than its being condemned to a second imprisonment ; which is so far from being a favour conferred, that it rather seems to be a punishment inflicted. Others, with Celsus, reckon it a dishonour for the soul to be reunited to a body which is corrupted.11 Others say that the body is a great hinderance to the soul in its actings ; that it frequently inclines it to the exercise of some of those passions which tend to make men uneasy, and in consequence unhappy ; and that it may in some way or other operate thus in a future state. There is no great difficulty in answering this objection ; in which there is not a due difference put between the present and the future state of believers. The only thing which might give occasion to men to conclude that their souls are imprisoned in this world, is that they are abridged of that happiness which they shall be pos sessed of in another ; which the apostle calls ' the glorious liberty of the children of God.'0 As for the reproaches which some of the greatest enemies to Christianity have cast on this doctrine, these are not sufficient to beget the least dislike of it in the minds of serious and unprejudiced Christians. What though the body be turned to corruption ! It shall be raised incorruptible, and in glory ; and therefore shall be a palace fit to entertain its noble inhabitant. What though it has, in this world, offered many temptations to the soul to sin, by which the latter has been sometimes overcome and exposed to passions which have defiled it, and made it very uneasy I Is this to be objected against its being raised from the dead in such a state of perfection, that it shall never more contract any guilt, or render the soul unhappy, by any inconvenience arising from it? But this will farther appear, when we speak, under a following Head, of the condition in which the body shall be raised. The Resurrection Universal. We proceed to consider the resurrection of the dead as universal, including all wto have lived, or shall live, from the beginning of time, till Christ's second com ing, excepting those who shall be found alive, on whom a change shall pass which is equivalent to a resurrection. 1. All the dead shall be raised. This is expressly mentioned in the vision of John, ' I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened ; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they were judged every man according to their works. 'p Here the Judge is represented as demand ing the bodies of men of all ranks, conditions, and ages, out of those places where they have been lodged, with a design to reward or punish them according toi their works. Now, if the justice of God is to be displayed in this solemn and awful trans action, and the bodies, as well as the souls of men, are the subjects on which judgi ment must pass ; it follows that the resurrection. will be universal. Thus our Sa viour says, ' All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done m Vid. Plat, in Cratyl. who brings in Socrates as gravely punning on the word eu/ia as if it were tnfi.a., ' sepulchrum;' and supposing that this name was given it to denote that the soul suffers punishment for its faults, by being detained or shut up in this prison. Seneca speaks to the same purpose : Corpus hoc, animi pondus, et poena est, permanente illo urgetur, in vinculis est. Vid. Sen. Epist. 65. n Vid. Orig. in Loc. supra citat. o Rom. viii. 21. p Rev. x.\. 12, et stq. 2 t 266 THE RESURRECTION. evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'? This is so evident a truth, founded on the divine perfections, as well as express words of scripture, that it is strange to find that any who allow that the dead shall be raised should deny it. We meet, however, with several expressions in Rabbinical writers, which seem to speak of the resurrection as a peculiar privilege belonging to some but not to alL Accordingly, they have a proverbial expression, that, though the rain descends on the just and' on the unjust, yet the resurrection of the dead belongs only to the just.' This they infer from the words of the prophet Daniel, ' Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.'8 These words contain a difficulty which most have found it an hard matter to solve agreeably to the sense of the prophet. He says, in the words immediately following, that, as the consequence of the resur rection of which he speaks, ' some shall awake to everlasting life, and some to ever lasting shame and contempt.' Here he divides the world into two parts, and con siders the one as happy, the other as miserable ; so that he must, doubtless, speak of a universal resurrection. But the great difficulty lies in these words, ' Many of them that sleep in the dust shall arise.' Some conclude that this expression con tains an exception of others who shall not arise. Thus some Jewish writers seem to have understood it. I rather think, however, that the word 'many,' there, im ports nothing else but ' multitude,' that is, the whole number of those that sleep shall awake.' It is somewhat hard to determine what the Rabbinical writers in tend when they seem to confine the resurrection to the Israelites. Some of them do this in order to exclude from it, not only the wicked, but those who had not ad dicted themselves to the study of the law, whom they call the Gnam Haaretz. Thus they are represented in scripture as giving them but a very indifferent char acter, ' The people that knoweth not the law are accursed.'" By this means they bring the number of those who shall be raised from the dead into a very narrow compass. Nevertheless they speak of future rewards and punishments in another world. Hence, some have thought that, when they exclude all but the Israelites, and, of them, all but those who were in the greatest reputation amongst them, they understand nothing else by the resurrection, but that which they fancied would happen in the days of the Messiah ; in which, they suppose that some of the Jews shall be raised from the dead before the general resurrection at the last day. In this sense we may easily understand their exclusive account, when they speak of many who shall not be partakers of this privilege. But if their opinion be extended to the resurrection at the last day, I am apt to think that they intend a resurrec tion to eternal life. So some understand the common proverb just mentioned, as to the rain descending upon all, while the resurrection belongs only to the just, to mean that though the rain descends upon the wilderness and barren ground, yet it is only some places which are made fruitful by it, and that in the same way, though the re surrection shall be universal both of the righteous and the wicked, yet the resur rection to eternal life belongs only to the just.* All that I shall observe at present q John v. 28, 29. r Beneficium pluviae ad omnes spectare, resurrectionem mortuorum ad justos tantum. s Dan. xii. 2. t The words are, -ivrn D'31, multi ex dormientibus. Now, it is certain that D»31, is often trans lated 'a multitude,' or 'multitudes,' and signifies the same with ail, or the Greek word some allusion' at least> to what ,h"U be k Matt vi i to P , ,7 whe" be shal1 eome to judgment. k Matt. xi... 39. 1 Verse 49. ,„ Matt. xxv. 32. ,, Verse 31. o Heb. i. 14. THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 274 as standing before his tribunal as persons whose cause is to be tried oy him ; or because they are considered, as having' been long before confirmed in holiness and happiness, as beholding the face of God in heaven, and consequently not to be dealt with as those who are to undergo a farther scrutiny in order to their having a new sentence passed upon them. As to the fallen angels, they are to be brought as criminals before Christ's tri bunal, in order to his passing a righteous sentence upon them. Whether the charge of their apostasy from God shall be again renewed, and sin traced to the very first spring and fountain of it, we know not. But all the guilt which they have contract ed since they were, by a former sentence, cast out of heaven, shall be laid to their charge. All that they have done against the interest of God in the world, begun in the seduction of our first parents, and continued ever since, with all those methods of revenge and subtilty whereby they have opposed the kingdom of Christ in the world, and endeavoured to ruin his people, will be alleged against them, as well as the bold attempt they made on him in his own person, whilst he was in his state of humiliation. Accordingly, the fallen angels, though represented as cast down to hell, are yet said to be ' 'delivered into chains of darkness, and reserved unto judgment.'? This they are at present apprehensive of, and are accordingly said ' to tremble 'i at the forethoughts of it. That they shall be judged at the last day may be inferred also from what they said to our, Saviour, ' Art thou come to torment us before the time?'r Moreover, as the result of the final judgment, it is said that 'the devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,'8 that is, ad judged to endure a greater degree of torment in proportion to the increase of his guilt. But what is more particularly insisted on in scripture, and what we are immediate ly concerned in, is that men shall be judged by Christ. That they shall be so is set forth in universal terms. The apostle says, ' We must all appear before the judg ment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, ac cording to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.'* Men of all ranks and conditions must appear there, 'small and great,'u ' quick and dead,'* that is, those who died before or shall be found alive at bis coming, ' the righteous and the wicked, 'y and among these, not only those who have lived under the gospel dispen sation, but others who have had no other light but that of nature, as it is said, ' As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law.'2 We have no account in scripture, indeed, of the last class being adjudged to eternal life, for their doing by nature some things that are contained in the law. To suppose this, is to be wise above what is written. Indeed, it seems contradictory to those scriptures which assert the necessity of faith in Christ to salvation. But this class are generally described as suffering punishment proportioned to their works. Thus we read of ' the men of Nineveh,'8 ' the queen of the south, 'b ' the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon,'0 and ' those of Sodom and Gomorrah, 'd as ' appearing in judg ment,' and being exposed to a less degree of punishment than those who sinned against greater light. But there is not the least intimation given of their being discharged from condemnation. Our Saviour, indeed, speaks of ' the servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself to do according to it, who should be beaten with many stripes,' that is, exposed to a greater condemnation. Yet he, at the same time, intimates that 'the servant who did not know it,' that is, who sinned under greater disadvantages for want of gospel revelation, ' should be beaten with few stripes,' or adjudged to suffer a less degree of punishment. The Pelagians, indeed, have endeavoured not only to exempt the heathen from the consequences of the final judgment ; but some have insinuated that they shall not be concerned in it at all. Thus one e supposes that the persons who are repre sented as appearing at Christ's tribunal,* and sentenced by him according to their works, are only those who made a profession of the Christian religion. The princi pal argument which he brings to support this opinion is, that they on whom a sen- p 2 Pet. ii. 4; Jude ver. 6. q James ii. 19. r Matt. viii. 29. s Rev. xx. 10. t 2 Cor. v. 10. u'Rev. xx. 12. x 2 Tim. iv. 1. y Eccl. iii. 17. z Rom. ii. 12. a Matt. xii. 41. b Ver. 42. c Chap. xi. 22. d Matt. xi. 24. e Curcellaeus in Dissert, de necessit. cognit. Christ. § vi. f Matt. xxv. 276 THE FINAL JUDGMENT. tence of condemnation is passed, are accused of not ministering to Christ's mem bers ; that this ministering is interpreted as not giving him meat when he was hungry, or drink when he was thirsty, &c. ; and that this charge cannot be brought against those who never heard of Christ, or that if it could, they might excuse themselves by alleging that it was impossible for them to show respect to him whom they never knew. But though our Saviour's design here, is to aggra vate the condemnation of those who sinned under the gospel, and to charge some with crimes of the highest nature ; yet there is nothing mentioned to exclude others so as to give occasion to suppose that the judgment of the great day will respect those only who have sat under the sound of the gospel. We have hence ground to conclude that, as the resurrection of the dead will be universal, so all who have lived, or shall live, from the beginning to the end of time, shall be the subjects of the judicial proceedings in that solemn and awful day. The Manner of the Judgment. We now proceed to consider the manner in which Christ shall proceed in judging the world. It is evident that the design of this glorious transaction is to determine the final state of all men ; which will be done in a public and visible manner, that it may appear that the Judge of all does right. The transaction differs very much from that particular judgment which is passed on every one at death ; in which, though the state of men is unalterably determined, yet it is not done in an open and visible manner, but with a design that the cause should be tried again in that day which is appointed for it. The account we have in scripture of the manner in which this shall be done, bears some resemblance to the proceedings in human courts of judicature. The day is set in which causes are to be tried; the judge appears with the ensigns of his authority ; he being seated on the tribunal, the per sons to be tried appear before him ; the cause is heard ; and as all are to be judged according to law, the law is supposed to be known, or the particular statute which is the rule of judgment is produced, and whatever charge is brought against any one is drawn up in the form of an indictment, and supported by sufficient evidence ; and the persons are then acquitted or condemned. In allusion to this process of judgment we read of Christ's appearing in a visible manner, seated on a throne of judgment ; or of ' the Son of man appearing with all the 4ioly angels with him,' — of his ' sitting upon the throne of his glory, and all nations being gathered before him 's — 'the judgment set, and the books opened. 'h The righteous, who are a part of those who shall stand before Christ's tribunal, shall be separated from the wicked ; the former placed at his right hand, the latter at his left. With respect to the wicked, an indictment shall be brought in, in which they shall be charged with the violation of the holy law of God, with all the aggra vating circumstances of their crimes, the detail of which is contained in the books which are said to be opened. This charge shall be supported by evidence ; in which case men shall be witnesses against one another, so far as they have been ap prized of each other's behaviour, or immediately concerned in it. It is not impro bable also, that as the holy angels are conversant in this lower world, and as they are sometimes represented as being present in worshipping assemblies,1 and observ ing the actions of men,k that they shall appear as evidences against the wicked. It may be observed too, that the Judge himself will be a witness against the crimi nals ; which is not usual in human courts of judicature, though it does not savour of the least injustice. Thus it is said, ' I will come near to you in judgment ; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me saith the Lord of hosts.'1 The divine Omniscience will put the charge out ot all manner of doubt. There can be no appeal from it ; for it is impossible I I^im"*:-*?1' ^ "| ET ™-?6' K- » 12' » 1 Co, xi. 10. 1 Mal. in. 5. THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 277 for God, either to be deceived himself, or to deceive others. Besides, there shall be the testimony of conscience, whereby persons shall stand self-convicted. Their •own hearts shall condemn them,' as well as 'God, who is greater than their hearts. 'm Thus it is said that ' the consciences of men bear witness, and their thoughts, in the mean while, accuse or else excuse one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.' Accordingly, • every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world ' of the ungodly 'become guilty,'" or appear by their own confession to be so, ' before God.'0 And in order to this, there shall be a particular dispensation of providence, whereby those sins which have been long since forgotten, shall be brought to remembrance. This seems intimated in our Saviour's words in the parable : ' Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, receiv- edst thy good things, * &c; and also in God's 'setting the iniquities' of sinners 'in order before their eyes ;'i and this will have a greater tendency to support the charge than ten thousand witnesses. As to the things which shall be brought into judgment, or be charged and proved, they are mentioned in a very particular manner. Thus it is said, ' God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.'r Elsewhere he is represented as 'executing judgment upon all, and convincing all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'s Our Saviour particularly intimates,* that their behaviour, under the means of grace, shall be inquired into, and that what they have done against him and his interest in the world, shall be alleged against them. But now that we are speaking concerning those matters which shall be produced in judgment against the wicked, it may be inquired whether the smallest sins committed by them shall be brought into judgment against them. This seems to be intimated by our Sa viour when he says, ' Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.'" From this statement some take occasion to com plain of the severity of the divine dispensations, as if it were intended that persons shall be condemned to suffer eternal punishments for a vain thought. But no one will bring this as an objection against the methods of the divine proceeding in the great day, who duly considers the infinite evil of sin ; or that the least sin deserves a sentence of banishment from God, as it is an affront to his sovereignty, and oppo site to his holiness. Let it be considered, however, that no person in the world shall have reason to complain that he is separated from God, or rendered eternally miserable, only for a vain thought, or for a sin of infirmity, as though he had been guilty of nothing else. When our Saviour says that ' every idle word shall come into judgment,' the meaning is, that every such sin shall tend to fill up the measure of their iniquity ; so that the punishments which they shall be exposed to, shall be for this, in conjunction with all other sins. Every sin brings guilt with it; and all sins taken together, smaller as well as greater, enhance the guilt. Hence our Sa viour's meaning 4s, that every sin exposes men to a degree of condemnation, in pro portion to the aggravation of it ; though those sins which are of a more heinous nature, bring with them a greater degree of condemnation. Thus concerning the charge brought against the wicked. The next thing to be considered, is the trial of the righteous, who are said to stand before Christ's judgment-seat. Here it may be observed that no indictment shall be brought against them, at least, with the Judge's approbation ; for they were acquitted and discharged, when brought into a justified state ; and as the conse quence of their having been so, ' none,' as the apostle says, ' shall lay any thing to their charge,' since 'it is God that justifieth. 'x If any thing be alleged against them by the enemies of God, who loaded them with reproach, and laid many things to their charge in this world of which some have been just, and others unjust and malicious, the great and merciful Judge will appear as an advocate on their be half, and will vindicate them from those charges which are ungrounded, and will farther allege, as a foundation of their discharge from the guilt of all others, that m 1 John iii. 20. n Rom. ii. 15, 16. o Chnp. iii. 19. p Luke xvi. 25. q Psal. 1. 21. r Eccl. xii. 14. s Jude 15. t Matt. xxv. 42, 43. u Chap. xii. 36. x Rom. viii. 33. 273 THE FINAL JUDGMENT. he has made a full atonement for them. Hence, when their sins are sought for; they shall not be found in judgment, or charged upon them to their shame, confu sion, or condemnation ; but they shall be pronounced righteous, as interested in Christ's righteousness. The great Judge shall evince that they are so, by produc ing those graces which were wrought in them, which are inseparably connected with their justification, though not the foundation of it, that so the method of the divine proceedings may be vindicated, and it may appear that, as ''without holiness no one shall see the Lord, ' so they are holy, and accordingly possess that internal quality which denotes them to be persons whom God designed to save. This I take to be the meaning of our Saviour's address to the righteous, when he pronounces them 'blessed,' and invites them to ' come and inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world ; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink, 'y &c. Here the word ' for' is taken demonstratively, and not causally ; and denotes that they were such as might expect to be admitted to this honour and blessedness, having those marks and characters of his children upon them to which the promise of salvation was annexed ; not as though any thing done by them was the cause of their salvation. It hence appears that the graces of God's people shall be published before angels and men, to the praise of the glory of him who was the author of them. But there is a difficult question proposed by some, namely, Whether shall the sins of God's people be published in the great day ; though it is certain they shall not be alleged against them to their condemnation ? This is one of the secret things which belong to God, which he has not so fully or clearly revealed to us in his word; so that we can say little more about it than what is matter of conjecture. Some have thought that the sins of the godly, though forgiven, shall be made mani fest, that so the glory of that grace which has pardoned them may appear more illustrious, and their obligation to God farther enhanced. They also think that the justice of the proceedings of that day requires it ; since it is presumed and known by the whole world that they were prone to sin as well as others, — that, before, conversion, they were as great sinners as any, — and that, after it, their sins had a peculiar aggravation. Why, then, they ask, should not their sins be made public, as a glory due to the justice and holiness of God, as being infinitely opposite to all sin ? This they farther suppose to be necessary, that the impartiality of divine justice may appear. Moreover, if God, by recording the sins of his saints in scrip ture, has perpetuated the knowledge of them, and if it is to their honour that the sins there mentioned were repented of, as well as forgiven, why may it not be sup posed that the sins of believers shall be made known in the great day ? Besides, that they shall be made known seems agreeable to those scriptures which state that every word and every action shall be brought into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be bad. — On the other hand, it is supposed by others, that though the making known of sin which is subdued and forgiven, tends to the advancement of divine grace ; yet it is sufficient to answer* this end, as far as God designs it shall be answered, that the sins which have been subdued and forgiven, should be known to those who committed them, who, in consequence of hav ing received pardon, have matter of praise to God. Again, the expressions of scrip ture whereby forgiveness of sin is set forth, are such as seem to argue that those sins which were forgiven shall not be made manifest. Thus they are said to be 'blotted out,'* ' covered, 'a 'subdued,' • cast into the depths of the sea ;'b and 're membered no more,'0 &c. Besides, Christ's being a Judge, does not divest him of the character of an Advocate, whose part is rather to conceal the crimes of those whose cause he pleads, than to divulge them. We may add, that the law which }^n?e-\ 7' and forblds the contrai7 sins> is not the rule by which they who are ^nt I flt0 ° P1?0^11 aSainst< for if it were, they could not stand in iudg- wd covS ^6y' aie deal\wlth accordinS t0 the ten°r of the gospel, which forgives sms before ??«T i Fuif jermore- ll is argued that the public declaring of all their sms before the whole world, notwithstanding their interest in forgiving grace, would EmcIVvi^'33- fT" a Psal. xxxii. ,. ° c Jer. xxxi. 34. THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 279 fill them with such shame as is hardly'consistent with a state of perfect blessedness. Lastly, the principal argument insisted on, is that our Saviour, in Matt, xxv., in which he gives a particular account of the proceedings of that day, makes no men tion of the sins, but only commends the graces, of his saints. Such arguments as these are alleged to prove that it is probable the sins of the saints shall not be ex posed to public view in the great day. But after all that has been said, it is safest for us not to be too peremptory in determining this matter, lest, by pretending to be wise beyond what is clearly revealed in scripture, we betray our own folly and top bold presumption, or assert that which is not right of this glorious Judge. Thus concerning the method in which Christ shall proceed in judging the world. The Place and Time of the Judgment. We are now to consider some circumstances relating to the place where, and the time when, this great and awful work shall be performed, at least, so far as it is convenient for us to inquire into this matter, without giving too much scope to a vain curiosity, or desire to be wise above what is written. 1. As tfO the place, it does not seem probable that it shall be upon the surface of the earth ; because we read that ' they which are ' found ' alive ' at Christ's coming, ' shall be caught up together with them,' that is, the others who are raised from the dea,d, ' in th,e clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.' This statement immediately follows the, account which the apostle gives of the Lord's ' descending from heaven with, a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ;'d which is the signal to be given of the immediate appearance of the Judge. Hence, their being ' caught up in the clouds,' denotes that Christ shall judge the world, in some place above this earth ; otherwise they must be supposed to be caught up thither, and afterwards obliged to descend thence to the place from which they were taken; which does not seem probable. This is all that we dare assert, concerning the place where this great and solemn transaction shall be performed. I the rather observe this, because some are of opinion that the jaliej of Jehosh aphat is designed to be the place. They found this opinion on the prediction of the prophet Joel,6 ' 1 will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people. 'f This, however, seems to, be a prophecy of some signal victory which the church should gain oyer its enemies ; which shall have its accpmplishment before Christ comes to judgment, and be no less remarkable than that which God gave Jehoshaphat over the Moab ites, Ammonites, and the inhabitants of mount Seir, mentioned in 2 Chron. xx. ; on which occasion the place where it was obtained, was called ' the valley of Bera- chah,' which signifies blessing. The prophet seems, by 'the valley of Jehoshaphat,' not to point out any particular place known by that name, but rather to allude to the signification of the word, as importing the judgment of the Lord. So that no thing else is intended, by it but that God shall, in the latter day, probably when those scriptures shall have had their accomplishment, which relate to the conver sion of. the Jews, execute some remarkable judgment against tt\e heathen, amongst whom, vhey were scattered. It cannot, therefore, with the least shadow of justice, d 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. e Joel iii. 2. f Of this opinion are some amongst the Papists, and particularly Cornelius a Lapide, Vid. ejusd. Comment, in loc. who describes it as a place situated at the foot of the mount of Olives, in or near the place uhere our Saviour was iu his agony, betrajed and delivered by Judas, into the hands of his enemies. This will be, according to him, the fittest place for Christ to execute judgment upon them, and to ftppear in his triumphant and glorious manner for this purpose. The same opinion is' mentioned by many Jewish writers, who maintained it. Thus the author of the Chaldee Para phrase on Canticles viii. 5, sais. that the dead shall be raised, and the mountain of Olives shall be cleft, and all the dead of Israel shall come out hence; and tf^at the just who died in the captivity, and consequently were buried in or near that place, shall come through the caverns of the earth! that they may here arise to judgment. Several Rabbinical writers adopt this chiinera ; which is mentioned also in both the Talmuils. Ami many of the modern Jews, as is observed by some late travellers into the Holy Land, are so fond of bur\ ing their dead in or near this place, that they might not have far to come under the earth, when they rise from the dead, and must appear here at the day of judgment, that they pay a certain sum of money for the privilege of burying their dead there. See Hody on the Resurrection, pages 70, 71. 280 THE FINAL JUDGMENT. be argued from this scripture, that the place called the ' valley of Jehoshaphat,' is that where all the nations of the earth shall be gathered to judgment. Besides, some have observed, that how great soever this valley may be, it is not large enough to hold the vast multitudes that shall be convened on this occasion. 2. As to the time when Christ shall judge the world, it is called, in scripture, fa day.'s This does not signify that the whole work shall be performed in the space of time which we generally call a day ; for that space can hardly be sufficient for per forming the many things which are to be done. Some have thought that the whole process shall take up no less than a thousand years ; and suppose, that the apostle Peter intimates as much, when, speaking concerning the day of judgment, he says, ' One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.'h In this sense the excellent Mr. Mede understands that scripture. ' But as the idea is not more clearly explained by other scriptures, speaking to the same purpose, I dare not be too peremptory in adopting it. I would rather conclude that the time of the continuance of the last judgment is called ' a day,' as denoting a season appointed for the despatch of a work, whether it be longer or shorter. Thus Christ calls that season in which the gospel was preached to the Jews, ' their day.'k It is the safest way for us to acknowledge this point to be a secret which belongs not to us to inquire into. As to the time when Christ shall come to judgment, or when this glorious day shall begin, this also is considered as a matter kept secret, not only from us, but from all creatures. Thus our Saviour, speaking concerning it, says, ' Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.'1 This is particularly intimated in the Answer we are explaining ; and the reason assigned why it is kept secret from us is, that all may watch and pray, and be ready for the coming of the Lord, which is certainly a matter of the highest importance. It is evident that if God had either revealed the time of Christ's coming to judg ment, or let men know how long they should continue in this world before that judg ment which is passed on all at death, the corruption of our nature might have taken occasion to put'off all thoughts about it till it was at hand. Hence, our Saviour, in wisdom, as well as in kindness to his people, has represented his coming under the similitude of ' a thief in the night ;'m and accordingly says, ' Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. ' n Thus concerning the day of judgment. As to the consequences of it, and the sentence which shall be pronounced on the righteous and the wicked, these shall be treated under the two following Answers. Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of the Final Judgment. All that I shall add at present are some practical inferences from this doctrine of Christ's coming to judgment. 1. What has been observed concerning Christ's coming to judge the world in his own glory, and that of his Father, and of his holy angels, should fill us with high and honourable thoughts of him ; and since the angels reckon it an honour to attend him as ministering spirits in that great day, we should be excited to an holy ambi tion to approve ourselves his servants in all things, and to account it our honour that he will esteem us such. 2. Since Christ, at his coming to judgment, will bring all things to light, and impartially state and try the cause of every one, who shall be rewarded according to his works ; we ought to feel protected against all unbelieving thoughts which may arise in our minds, concerning the seemingly unequal distributions of provi dence, in God's dealing with the righteous and the wicked, as to the outward affairs g Acts xvii. 31. h2Pet. iii. 8. whicthc is foVw'Jo' Ui- !" Comment Apocal. page 662, and his Remains, chap. xi. page 748, in iii chap, v i paKr78 rT0^ fhelearned Gale. in hi* Courtof the Gentiles, Part I. book 6000 years ami tl.it ' ?P V S0"'e "?eW,bh vmter8 as ""'"taining, that the world shall continue thisVs a, op in o wUb PflTaVr" th-e ??T ShaU be ^-l" °' J""8™'"- He a'S° me"tio»° this is the irr.at PL,, ., '"V1 received by conversing with some of them; and concludes, that k 1 ll rJ ^^i," h'ch is ""'"io""'' V that philosopher and his followers. K LUke XIX. 4.. Matt. xxiy> .6& m L Thess_ y_ 2> u ^^ xx.^ ^ THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 281 of life. We ought also to feel convinced that, though we know not his design in the various afflictive providences wherewith we are exercised, since we are not to expect those blessings here which he has reserved for his people at Christ's appear ing to judgment ; yet, if he is pleased to bestow them upon us hereafter, we shall then have the highest reason to admire his wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness, in the whole method of his providential dealings with us. 3. This doctrine tends to reprove the atheism and profaneness of those, who make a jest of or scoff at the day of judgment ; like those the apostle Peter mentions, whom he calls ' scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'0 It also reproves those who abuse the day of God's patience ; and because his coming to judgment is delayed, take occasion to commit the vilest crimes. Our Saviour speaks of some as acting thus, and inti mates that he will ' come in a day when they looked not for him, and shall cut them asunder, and appoint them their portion with hypocrites, 'p 4. This doctrine should stir us up to universal holiness, and the greatest circum spection and diligence in the service of God. Accordingly, the apostle, when speaking concerning Christ's coming to judgment, with those displays of terrible majesty which shall attend it, says, ' What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness ; looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God ?'q ' 5. Since we expect that Christ will judge the world at the last day, it behoves us to be often judging and trying ourselves ; examining how matters stand between God and us ; and whether we behave ourselves in such a way that we may be meet for Christ's coming, and have boldness in the day of judgment. As the apostle says, ' If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, 'T that is, with the judgment of condemnation. 6. It is an inexpressible advantage when we can conclude, upon good grounds, that this great Judge is our Friend, our Saviour, our Advocate, and that, living and dying, we shall be found in him ; for in that case, though he come in such a way as will strike the utmost terror and confusion into his enemies, we shall be found of him in peace ; and the consequence of this day's solemnity shall be our admission into his immediate presence, and being for ever blessed in it. FINAL PUNISHMENT. Question LXXXIX. What shall be done to the wicked at the day of judgment ? Answer. At tbe day of judgment the wicked shall be set on Christ's left hand ; and upon clear evidence, and full conviction of their own consciences, shall have the fearful, but just sentence of condemnation pronounced against them ; and thereupon shall be cast out from the favourable presence of God, and the glorious fellowship with Christ, bis saints, and all bis holy angels, into hell, to be punished with unspeakable torments both of body and soul, with the devil and his angels for ever. Having, under the last Answer, taken a view of Christ as coming to judgment, and the whole world as seated at his tribunal, the wicked on his left hand, and the righteous on his right, the books opened, the cause tried, and the evidence pro duced ; we are now to consider the sentence which will be past on each of them, together with the consequences. In particular, we have an account in this Answer, of a sentence of condemnation, pronounced against the wicked, and the punish ment inflicted on them in execution of it. This our Saviour expresses in words full of dread and horror : ' Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment.'8 This includes an eternal banishment and separation from him, in whose favour there is life. As sin is the object of his detestation, it being contrary to the holiness of his nature, they who o 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. p Matt. xxiv. 48—51. q 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12. r I Cor. xi. 31. s Matt. xxv. 41, 45. ii. 2 x 282 FINAL PUNISHMENT. are found in open rebellion against. him shall not '*^*****™* ^oned did not desire his special and gracious presence, which hi « X^S 7 AadS their chief iov in this world, they shall be deprived of it in the next. And _ wiien Shev are conn^'aided to depart from him, they are described as ' cursed that is bound ovrTsuffer all those punishments which the vindictive justice of God will inflict and which are contained in the threatening* denounced by his law which they have vfolated, and to be sent down into hell, to be punished with unspeak able torments, both in body and soul, with the devil and his angels for ever. Accord ingly there are three tilings to be considered, relating to the punishment of sin ners in another world, namely, the kind of it, its degree, and its eternal duration. The Nature of the Punishment. As to the kind of punishment ; it is generally considered in two respects, namely, the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense. 1. The punishment of loss includes a separation from Gotf, the fountain of bless edness ; a being destitute of every thing which might administer comfort to them, ;, and, as the consequence of this, a deprivation of fellowship, not only with Christ, but with his saints. Not that they were ever the objects of their love or delight, but, on the other hand, their conversation was distasteful and burdensome, espe cially when it was in itself most savoury and spiritual ; yet it is reckoned to be one ingredient in their misery, as our Saviour states, when he first speaks of ' the workers of iniquity' as commanded to 'depart from him,'u and then tells them, ' Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the king dom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.' Here the happiness of others is con sidered as what will raise their envy, and prove a torment to them. 2. There is the punishment of sense. This is set forth by unspeakable torments to be endured both in soul and body ; and because no pain is so exquisite as that which is occasioned by fire, it is called 'unquenchable and everlasting fire.'1 As for the inquiry which some make whether the fire be elementary or material, like that which is in this world, it savours more of curiosity than what tends to real ad vantage. As it is called ' a fire prepared for the devil and his angels,' some have a little hesitated about this matter, concluding it impossible for material fire, jo affect spirits ; but I am not desirous to enter too far into this disquisition. It is, indeed, a hard matter for us to determine whether or how far a spirit is capable of the punishment of sense, any otherwise, than as, by reason of its union with the body, it has an afflictive sensation of the evils which that immediately endures. Hence, some have thought that, when we read of the fire of hell, it is to be taken in a metaphorical sense, to denote those punishments which are most exquisite and have a tendency to torment both soul and body in different respects. The soul may be tormented as the wrath of God has an immediate access to it, to make it miserable. And though this cannot be styled the punishment of sense in the same respect as that is of which the bpdy is }he more immediate subject ; yet if we understand tb,e word ' sense ' as importing an intellectual perception of those miseries which it un dergoes, whereby it is made uneasy, and, in a moral sense, subject to pain, as we sometimes speak of the pain of the mind, as well as that of the body, then it may be said to endure, the punishment of sense, though it is a spiritual substance. There are various ways by which the wrath of God may have access to the soul, to make it miserable. This punishment is sometimes compared to fire, as it is beyond expression dreadful. Accordingly, God, when inflicting it, is styled, ' a consum ing fire ;'* and elsewhere ' his jealousy' is said to ' burn like fire.'z Hence, some. have described the punishment of sin in hell, as including the insupportable weight of the wrath of God lying on the consciences of men, and sinking them into perdi tion -^ whereby it appears to be ' a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living x. 31_ • FINAL PUNISHMENT. 283 it is said, ' They shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord,'b as denoting an exclusion from his comforting presence, which is an undoubted truth, and the more generally received sense of it, but^he speaks of the, presence of God, as well as his power, as the immediate cause of their destruction ; just as the psalmist joins these id^as together when he says, ' Who knoweth the, power of thine anger?'0 This interpretation seems most agreeable to the gramma tical construction of the words.d Thus concerning that punishment which is more, immediately adapted to the soul. As for the punishment of sense which the body shaE endure, whether, it be com pared to, fire as containing some effects not unlike those produced by fire, or whether it signifies only that the punishment shall be most, exquisite, as no pain is so terri ble as that which is the effect of fire, I will not pretend^1 to determine. There are, indeed, other expressions, as well as fire, by which it is set forth in scripture, namely, ' cutting asunder, ' 8 ' tearing in pieces, ' f ' drowning men in destruction an,d; perdition,'? ' a being bound ^and and foot,' and 'cast into outer darkness,'11 or into ' a furnace of fire,'1 or ' a lake of. fire burning with brimstone. 'k Some of these, are, doubtless, metaphorical expressions, by which the punishment of sin is set forth ; but whether they are all so, we must not be too positive in determining. Some, however, suppose that they are, because the glory of heaven is described by the metaphors of ' streets of gold, gates of pearl,'1 ' rivers of pleasure,'™ &c, and the wrath of God is metaphorically described, when he is called ' a consuming fire.'n Now, as the glory of heaven is represented by metaphors, denoting that it is incon ceivably great ; so, if we suppose that the punishment of sin in hell is set forth by metaphorical ways of speaking, we cannot, from the metaphors used to describe it, take, in all respects, an estimate of its quality. Yet, from such expressions we must conclude in general that it is inexpressibly terrible, and that it respects both soul and body, and in different senses is, called the punishment of sense. The Degree of the Pu/nishment. We now come to consider this punishment as to its degree. This is generally described as being various, in proportion to the aggravations of sin committed. Accordingly, they who have sinned under the gospel dispensation, are considered as exposed to a greater degree of punishment than others who have not had those advan-r tages. Thus the apostle says, ' Of how much sorer punishment shall ho, be thought, worthy, who, hath trodden under foot the Son of God ?'° Our Saviour, speaking concerning the Scribes and Pharisees, who were notorious hypocrites, and whose, religion was no more than a pretence, and made subservient to the vilest practices, tells them that 'they should receive the greater damnation, 'p that is, a greater de gree of punishment, as they had contracted greater guilt, than others. The apos tle likewise speaks of some who had had, great advantages through ' the riches of God's goodness and forbearance ' towards them, but yet were ' impenitent ' and hardened in sin ; and these he says ' treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, '« that is, add greater degrees to the punishment which they shall en dure in another world. The Duration of the Punishment. We are now to consider the punishment which sinners are liable to in the world b 2 Thess. i. 9. cPsal.xc.il. d See this largely insisted on by Dr. Goodwin, in his Works, vol. iii. book xiii. His critical re. mark in chap. ii. seems very just, viz. that xra is casual here, as well as in many other scriptures which he refers to. His strongest argument to prove that it is to be taken so in this verse, is, that, iih lie observes, xtm must he applied to ' the glory of his power,' as well as to ' his presence ;' so that ii it denotes a separation lrom the one, it must also denote a separation from the other; whereas no one supposes that this punishment consists in a separation from the power of God, but that it is to lie considered as the effect (hereof. e Matt. xxiv. 51. f l'sal. 1. 22. g 1 Tim. vi. 9. b Matt xxii. 13. i .M.,ti. xiii. 42. k Rev. xix. -20. 1 Chap. xxi. 21. ni Psal. xxxvi. 8.° n 11. li. xi. -d. o Chap. x. 29. p Matt, xxiii. 14. q Ruin' ii. 5. 284 FINAL PUNISHMENT. to come, as to its duration ; in which respect, it shall be without intermission and eternal. That there shall be no relaxation of punishment, may be proved from what our Saviour says in the parable ; ' the rich man, who was tormented in flames, could not obtain ' one drop of water to cool his tongue. ' Thus we read that the wicked ' drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mix ture into the cup of his indignation;' that 'the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ;' and that ' they have no rest day nor night.'3 Our Saviour speaks of the two main ingredients in the punishment of sin ; namely, the torment ing sense which conscience shaE have of the wrath of God, due to it ; and the punish ment of sense, which is compared to that which proceeds from fire ; and both are described as eternal: ' Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.'1 That the punishment of sin in another world will be eternal, may be argued from the impossibility of their obtaining a discharge from the sentence of condemnation under which they are, unless satisfaction be given to the justice of God for sins committed. This cannot be given by the person who suffers ; inasmuch as his suf ferings are due to him in execution of the sentence of the Judge, and agreeably to the demerit of sin. The latter being, as it is usually expressed, objectively infinite, because committed against an infinite God, and containing a contempt of his sover eignty and other perfections which are infinite, deserves a punishment proportion able to it. And as the sufferings of finite creatures are no other than finite, and consequently bear no proportion to the demands of infinite justice, they must be infinite in duration, that is, eternal. — It may be observed also, that at the same time that persons are suffering for past sins, they are committing others. This is not like God's furnace which is in Sion, by means of which he designs, not to con sume, but to refine and purge away the dross and the tin ; for it cannot in any in stance be said, that this is overruled for good. Hence, the habits of sin are in creased rather than weakened by it ; and consequently sinners are set at a farther distance from God, from holiness and happiness ; and as their sin is still increasing, their punishment must be eternal. — We may add, that there is no Mediator appoint ed between God and them, none who has undertaken to pay this debt for them, and procure their discharge. Accordingly, the apostle says concerning those who have ' sinned wilfully, after they had received the knowledge of the truth ; there remain- eth no more sacrifice for sin ;'u no advocate to plead their cause ; no ordinances in which the glad tidings of salvation are published, nor any golden sceptre of mercy held forth to invite them to come in, or give them hope of finding acceptance in the sight of God ; no covenant of grace which contains any promise that will afford re lief ; and no inclination in their own souls to return to God with an humble sense of sin, and desire to forsake it. Hence arises everlasting despair, beyond expres sion tormenting, which the apostle calls ' blackness of darkness for ever. 'x This is a very awful and awakening subject. Many are as little desirous to hear of it, as the people were to hear the account which the prophet Isaiah gave them of approaching judgments ; and therefore they say, ' Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.'y But as there is such a passion in men as fear, and as this is often made subservient to their spiritual advantage ; it pleases God, in wis dom and mercy, sometimes to reveal those things in his word which have a ten dency to awaken our fears, and to set before us death as well as life, the threaten- ings as well as the promises, that we may see it to be our duty and interest to flee from the wrath to come, and to use those precautions prescribed in the gospel which may have a tendency, through divine grace, to prevent our sinking into everlasting perdition. They who cast off fear, and think themselves safe, because the rod of God is not upon them, generally cast off a sense of duty, and say unto God, ' De part from us ; for we desire not the, knowledge of thy ways.'z Hence, these sub jects are to be insisted on as warnings to induce men to avoid the rock on which multitudes have split and perished ; not to lead them to despair. r Luke xvi. 26. 8 Rev. xiv. 10, 11. t Mark ix. 44. 46. 48. u Heb. x. 26. x Jude, verse ja. v lsa. xxx. i;> , Job xxj 9> u ' FINAL PUNISHMENT. 285 How the Doctrine of Final Punishment is to be preached. There is great need of prudence, however, in applying every truth in such a way that it may be of advantage ; which renders the work of those that are employed in preaching the gospel exceedingly difficult. Every one must have those doc trines inculcated and applied to him, which are adapted to his respective condition, as well as founded on the word of God. We tlierefore subjoin two remarks for direction. 1. Such subjects as those which relate to the final punishment of the wicked, though they are not to be concealed, as being a part of the counsel of God, and a means ordained by him to answer some valuable ends ; yet are not only or princi pally to be insisted on, as if there were no passion to be wrought upon but fear. It is the stupid person who is to be awaked out of his lethargy by violent methods. The man who says, ' I shall have peace, though I walk according to the corrupt inclinations of my own heart ; the danger is over ; or no ill consequences will fol low the wilful impenitency and unbelief which is like to prove destructive to one ;' or the person who is willing to deceive himself, and endeavours to extenuate his sin, apprehending that the consequences of it will not be so pernicious as they reaEy are, or that the mercy of God will save him though he remain in open rebellion against him, as if there were no arrows in his quiver, or vials of wrath to be poured forth on his enemies ; — these ought to be dealt with by representing God as a con suming fire, with whom is terrible majesty ; and they must be told of the punish ment of sin in this and another world, that they may see their danger before it be too late to escape. If it be said that the terrors of God have a tendency to drive persons to, despair, we reply that the persons we are speaking of are so far from despairing of the mercy of God, that they are inclined to abuse it ; and that that which is likely to be their ruin, is the contrary extreme, presumption, which leads them to turn the grace of God into wantonness. 2. As for others who are humbled under a sense of sin, whose flesh trembles for fear of God's judgments, there is not so much occasion to insist on these awakening subjects, when we have to do with them ; for to do so would be like adding fuel to the fire. If the heart be broken and contrite, and is apt to meditate little else but terror ; such subjects as are encouraging are to be insisted on. Thus when the prophet Jeremiah had been reproving the people for their abominations, and threatening many sore judgments which God would execute upon them, he applies healing medicines : ' Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?'a Elsewhere, also, when he had been reprehending them for their idolatry, and putting them in mind of those judgments they had exposed themselves to, he encourages them to ' cry unto God, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth. Will he reserve his anger for ever ? will he keep it to the end ?'b God, in his usual method of deal ing with sinners, first excites their fear by charging sin on the conscience, and putting them in mind of the dreadful consequences of it, in which respect, as the apostle expresses it, ' The law enters that the offence might abound ;' and then he shows them that the soul may take encouragement when humbled under a sense of its own guilt, that ' where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded.'0 — The gospel is designed to administer comfort to those who are distressed under a dread of the wrath of God. Hence, there are promises as well as threatenings ; and each are to be applied as the occasion requires ; so that the happiness of heaven is to be set in opposition to the punishment of sin in hell. Accordingly, as the Answer we have been explaining contains a very awful and awakening subject ; so, in the next, we are led to consider a doctrine which is full of comfort to those who have an interest in Jesus Christ. a Jer. viii. 22. Chap. iii. 4, 5. c Rom. v. 20. 286 FINAL BLESSEDNESS. FINAL BLESSEDNESS. "Question XC. What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment? Answer. At the day of judgment, the righteous being caught up to Christ in the clonds, shall be set on his right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted ; shall join uith him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into heaven : where thev shall be fully and for ever freed from all sin and misery, filled with unconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy, both in bodv and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the'immediate vision and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy "Spirit, to all eternity : And this is the perfect and full communion which the members of the 'in visible church shall enjoy with Christ in glory at the resurrection and day of judgment. We have, in this Answer, an account of !the great honours and privileges which the saints shall be advanced to and partake of, as the consequence of that sentence which Christ wiE pass on them, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world ;'a which are words con taining a gracious invitation to them to take possession of that glory which shaE tend to make them completely and for ever happy. We have already considered the righteous as caught up to Christ in the clouds. Either this is done by the 'ministry iof angels, or else their bodies will be so changed that they shall be able to mount upward as easily as they now are to walk upon the surface of the earth. We have also considered them as set at Christ's right hand. Whether this has any regard to the place of their situation, we cannot'determine ; but, according to the scripture mode of speaking, it certainly denotes the highest honours conferred upon them. These will be nOt only spiritual but external and visible ; whereby it shall appeair to all, that they are Christ's peculiar friends and favourites. That they should be thus dealt with by so glorious a person, while they were in themselves unworthy of his notice, will tend to raise in them the highest astonishment, and shall afford matter of eternal praise. What is farther observed concerning them in this Answer, is contained in the following Heads. First, they shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted. Secondly, they shall join with Christ in the judging of reprobate angels and men. Thirdly, 'they shaE be received into heaven ; and there they shall be freed 'from sin and misery, filled with unspeakable joy, made perfectly holy and happy, both in body and soul, and admitted into the company of saints and holy angels, and have the immediate Vision and fruition of God to aE eternity. The Saints Acknowledged and Acquitted. They shaE be openly acknowledged and acquitted. Our Lord Jesus was not ashamed to own his people, when he condescended to take their nature upon him, and dwell among them ; or, as the apostle expresses it, ' He is not ashamed to call them brethren.'6 He gives them many tokens of his approbation, by those spiri tual privileges which he bestows on them here. But at last he shaE own them Jiublidy, in the presence of the whole world, as a people whom he has chosen, re deemed, and sanctified, and in whom he has brought the work of grace to perfection. He overlooks all their former failures and defects, and looks upon them as adorned with perfect beauty, appearing without spot before him, and having now nothing which may be offensive to his holy eye, or denote them unmeet for the relation which they stand in to him, and the blessings which they shall enjoy with him. Moreover, it is said that he shall openly acquit them, that is, declare publicly that he has given satisfaction for all their offences, and that therefore they are for ever pronounced clear from the guilt of them. It is not improbable, also, as was former ly observed, that their former sins shall not be so much as mentioned, being all covered, and if sought for, shall not be found. But it is certain that if they shall be mentioned, it shall not be to their confusion or condemnation ; for it shall be d Matt. xxv. 34. e Heb. ii. 11. FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 287 declared that the justice of God has nothing to lay to their charge ; and, in con sequence, they shaE be delivered from that fear, shame, and distress, which they had formerly been subject to, through the afflicting sense of the guilt and preva lence of sin. When, however, they are represented as thus acquitted, we are not to suppose that their sins were not fully pardoned before, or that justification in this life is imperfect, as to what concerns their right to forgiveness or eternal life. The debt was fully cancelled, and a discharge given into Christ's hands in behalf of all his elect, on his making satisfaction to the justice of God. But this was not their visible discharge ; and not being a declared act, it could not be claimed by them, nor w,as it applied to them, till they believed ; and then they might say, 'Who shall lay any thing to our charge? It is God that justifieth.' Yet their justification, as it is declared to faith, and apprehended by it, could not be said to be, in aE respects, so apparent, or so attended with those comfortable fruits and effects which are the consequence of it, as it is when they are pronounced justified by Christ at death. And even then the discharge is not so open and visible to the whole world, as it shaE be in the day of judgment. The Saints Joining Christ in Judging. It is farther said that the saints shall join with Christ in judging reprobate angels and men. This is very often asserted by those who treat on this subject ; and it seems to be founded on the sense which is commonly given of the apostle's words in 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3, ' Know ye not that the saints shafl judge the world ?' and, ' Know ye not that we shall judge angels?' We must take heed, however, if we apply that scripture to the case before us, that we do not advance anything which tends in the least to derogate from the glory of Christ, who alone is fit for, and ap pointed to perform, this great work. Hence, if we suppose that the apostle is here speaking concerning the judgment of the great day, the saints are said to judge the world in a less proper sense. But whatever be the sense in which we explain it, we must not think that they shaE be assessors with Christ in his throne of judg ment. It is one thing for them to be near his throne in the capacity and station of favourites ; and another thing for them to be in it. If they are in any sense said to judge the world, it must be understood, not as if the trying of the cause or the passing of the sentence, Were committed to them, but rather of their approving what Christ shaE do. This they are represented as doing, when Christ is set forth as 'judging the great whore, 'f namely, the antichristian powers. They so far join with him in doing this, that they ascribe glory and honour to him, and say, ' Righte ous are his judgments.' There is another senSe in which some understand this scripture concerning 'the saints judging the wOrld,' namely, as denoting that the pub lic mention which shaE be made of the graces of the saints, their faith, repentance, -love to God, and universal holiness, will have a tendency to condemn those whose conversation in this world has been the reverse of theirs. Their having forsaken aE and followed Christ, and accounted aE things but loss that they might win him, the choice which they have made of suffering rather than of sinning, which appears to be an instance of the highest wisdom, shaE condemn the wickedness and foEy of those who have exposed themselves to inevitable ruin and misery by being otherwise minded. Thus Noah is said to have ' condemned the world by his faith, 'e when, in obedience to the divine command, he ' prepared an ark to the saving of his house ;.' which the world then thought to be the most preposterous action which ever was performed, though they were" afterwards, to their cost, convinced of the contrary. ' The men of Nineveh, ' also, and 'the queen of the south,' it is said, shaE ' rise in the judgment with that generation, and condemn it,'h that is, shaE do so objectively, rather than formally ; as their respective behaviour tended to expose the impenitency and unbelief of the Jews, whom Christ there reproves. If the saints' judging the world, be understood in either of these senses, it is an undoubted truth ; but more than this I dare not assert. We may take occasion to inquire, however, whether the text on which this doc- f Bev. xix. 2. g Heb. xi. 7. h Matt. xii. 41, 42. 288 FINAL BLESSEDNESS. trine is founded, may not be explained in another sense, as denoting some privilege which the saints were to enjoy in this world, when the empire should become Chris tian. Magistrates and judges should then be chosen out of the church ; and in this respect they should 'judge the world.' This seems to me the most probable sense of the apostle's words. It is that in which an excellent and learned writer under stands them ; ' and it is very agreeable to the context, in which believers are dis suaded from' going to law before the unjust, and not before the saints. 'k The apostle here signifies the inexpediency of exposing those controversies, before hea then magistrates, which ought to be compromised in the church ; as though the 'Christians thought themselves unfit to judge the smallest matters ; for he speaks only of such matters, not of capital offences, which were to be tried only by the civil magistrate. Now to enforce his advice, he says, ' Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?' It is objected to this sense of the text, that, at the same time when ' the saints ' are said to 'judge the world,' the apostle speaks of them as 'judging angels,' a work which comes not within the province of civil magistrates, though we suppose them to be Christians. But when the apostle speaks of the ' saints judging angels,' his language is brought in occasionally, the former sense of 'judging ' being more agreeable to the context. Since he is insisting on an honour which should be con ferred on the church, he farther enlarges on that subject, and so speaks of their 'judging angels,' as denoting that the consequence and success of the gospel would be an evident conviction to the world, that the devil's empire was weakened, and that he had no right to reign over the children of disobedience as he formerly had done. Thus our Saviour speaks of Satan's kingdom being destroyed by the preach ing and success of the gospel, ' Now is the judgment of this world ; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.'1 Elsewhere also it is said, ' Now is come salva tion and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down.'m Moreover, the apostle may have a particular reference to their power of casting out devils, not only in that but in some following ages, — a power which our Saviour, before he left the world,11 pro mised they should have, and which is known to have continued in the church till the third century. ° It is farther objected that there is another scripture which seems to favour the opinion that the saints shall judge the world in the last day, namely, our Saviour's words in Matt, xix. 28, ' Ye which have foEowed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' That, it is alleged, which makes this sense more probable is what he mentions in the following verse as a reward which they who had ' forsaken all for his name's sake,' should enjoy, namely, 'Ye shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.' We reply, that our Saviour, in one of these verses, may, without any strain on the sense of the words, be under stood as giving his people to expect some honours which should be conferred on them here, and in the other, those which they should receive in another world. As to the honours which were to be conferred on them here, namely, their ' sitting on thrones,' &c, these are said to be enjoyed ' in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory,' that is, not when the Son of man shall come to judgment, but when he shall enter into his state of exaltation, and sit at God's right hand. ' The regeneration ' seems most applicable to the gospel state ; in which, as the apostle says, ' old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new,'? agreeably to what is foretold by the prophet, ' Behold I create new heavens and a, new earth ;'« which may well be called ' the ' regeneration.' As for the apostles ' sitting on thrones,' this may signify the spiritual honours which should be conferred upon them ; so that however they might be despised by the world, they should be reckoned by all who entertain just notions of things, the chief and most honourable men of the earth. Their 'judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' may, in the same way, oe understood of their convicting the Jews, and condemning them for their un- L^ev^'lO Sjm\?xrrclt ^ Sect- 18-20- k 1 Cor. vi. 1. 1 John xii. 31. in Kev. xn. 10. ,, Mark xvi. 17. o See vol. ii. p. 25. p 2 Cor. v. 17. q lsa. lxv. 17. FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 289 belief in crucifying Christ, and rejecting and persecuting the gospel. This they might be said to do, partly in the exercise of their ministry, and partly in the suc cess of it. Indeed, the gospel may be said to judge men when it convicts and re proves them. If this be the sense of the text, then it does not respect any honours which the apostles should be advanced to in the day of judgment ; and consequently it does not give any countenance to the opinion that they, any more than other saints, shaE bear a part in judging the world, either of angels or men. The Saints Blessed in Heaven. The saints shall be received into heaven. This includes their being brought into a glorious place and state. The apostle calls this place, * an house not made with hands ;'r which, doubtless, far excels all the other parts of the creation. For, as the earthly paradise far exceEed all other places in this world, being planted imme diately by God, and furnished with every thing which might be delightful and en tertaining for man, for whom it was designed; so must this place be supposed to be the most glorious part of the frame of nature, being designed to be the place of the eternal abode of the best of creatures. Indeed, whatever is called heaven in scripture, comes short of it, this being styled, ' The heaven of heavens.'8 It is also particularly described as ' God's throne ;'* the place of his immediate residence, where he displays his glory in an extraordinary manner. As for that particular part of the universe in which it is situated, it is neither possible nor of any advan tage for us to determine, any otherwise than as it is described, as being above this lower world. The principal thing to be considered, is the glory of the state into which the saints shall there be brought. This is set forth in this Answer, by a variety of expressions. 1. The saints shall be fully, and for ever, freed from all sin and misery. These- being inseparably connected, they are delivered from both at once. As to deliv erance from the guilt of sin, it includes not only their being for ever discharged from the guilt of past sins, which is involved in their being openly acquitted, but their not contracting guilt for the future. Accordingly, they are put into such a etate that they shall be disposed and enabled to yield sinless obedience ; and as they are presented without spot and blemish before God, they shall never contract the least defilement, or do any thing which shall render them unmeet for that glory to which they are advanced, afford matter of reproach to them, or provoke God to cast them out of that place which cannot entertain any but sinless creatures. Their state, therefore, differs not only from that sinless state in which man was created at first, but from that in which the angels were' created, who were not aE confirmed in their state_of holiness, so as to render it impossible for any of them to fall. But a state of confirmed holiness is the happiness of glorified saints. We may infer also that there shall be no temptations to sin ; none arising from themselves, since there are no lusts or remains of corruption to draw them aside from God ; and no tempta tions from others, sinoe they are all made perfectly holy. The soul meets with no temptations from the body, as it often did, while it was subject to the infirmities of nature in this imperfect state. It shaE never be liable to any weakness, weariness, stupidity, or any of those diseases with which it is now oppressed ; so that the soul shaE never meet with any temptations arising thence, inasmuch as the happiness of the body consists in its subserviency to it, in aE those things which may tend to promote its complete blessedness. Moreover, the saints are considered as delivered from all misery, whether per sonal or relative. The afflictions of believers are confined to the present state. In heaven ' God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things are passed^away.'" Nothing remains which may tend to abatfr their happiness,' or render the state in which they are imperfect. 2. They shall be filled with inconceivable joys. Thus our Saviour says to the man in the parable, who had improved the talents he had been intrusted with r 2 Cor. v. I. s Psal. cxlviii. 4. t Isa. lxvi. I. „ Rev xx; 4 II. 2o I 290, FINAL BLESSEDNESS. ' Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'* They are said to be 'presented,' not only 'faultless before the presence of the glory of Christ,' but 'with exceeding joy.'* This is the necessary result of a state of perfect blessedness ; which cannot but ad minister the highest satisfaction and comfort to those who are possessed of it ; inas much as it not only answers, but even exceeds, their most raised expectations. These jovs are not indeed carnal, but spiritual ; for, as the greatest delight which the saints have here, consists in the favour and love of God, and in the bright rays of his glory shining into the soul, so they shall be perfectly blessed with this delight hereafter, and in respect to it their joy shall be full. 3. They shall be made perfectly holy and happy, both in body and in soul. The soul shall be unspeakably more enlarged than it was before, as to all its powers and faculties. The understanding shall be rendered more capable of contemplating the divine perfections ; and it shall be entertained with those discoveries of the glory of these perfections, which at present we have but a very imperfect know ledge of. It shall be fitted to behold the wisdom of God in the works of creation and redemption, and be led into the deep mysteries of his providence, and the reason of those various dispensations of it, which, though they know not now, they shall know hereafter. The will shall be perfectly free, having no corrupt nature to bias it or turn it aside from that which is its chief good and happiness ; nor shall it choose any thing but what is conducive to that end. There will be no re mains of rebellion and obstinacy, but a perfect and entire conformity to the will of God. The affections shall be perfectly regulated, and shall unalterably run in a right channel, fixed upon the best objects, and not in the least inclined to deviate from them. As for the body, it shall be fitted for a state of perfection, as well as the soul ; for it shall be raised a spiritual, celestial, and glorious body, and there fore perfectly adapted to be a partaker with the soul of that glory which the whole man shall be possessed of, and sanctified to be a temple of the Holy Ghost for ever. 4. They shall be joined with the innumerable company of the saints and holy angels. The apostle speaks of 'an innumerable company of angels, and the general assembly and church of the first-born, 'z to which we are said in this world, to ' come ' by faith ; but hereafter these two assemblies shall be joined together, and make one body, that they may, with one consent, ' adore ' and proclaim ' the wor thiness, riches, wisdom, and strength of the Lamb that was slain, who lives for ever and ever.'3 ' As the saints and angels are described as making up the same body, and engaged m the same worship, some have taken occasion to inquire concerning the means by which they shall converse together in another world, or in what manner this united body shall be made visible to each other. These things, however, we must be con tent to be ignorant of in this present state. Yet as to the saints, they shaE con verse with one another by the organs of sense and speech ; for that they may do so is one of the ends for which the body shaE be raised and reunited to the soul ; and it may be proved also, from the fact that Moses and Elias conversed with Christ at his transfiguration m such a manner.* Some propose the question relating to this matter, Whether shall there be a diversity of language, in heaven, as there is on earth? But this we cannot pretend to determine. Some think that there shall ¦ that as persons of all nations and tongues shall make up that ble&sed society so they shall praise God in the same language which they used when on earth -and that in order to this worship being performed with the greatest harmony, and'to mutual edification, all the saints shall, by the immediate power and providence of God be able to understand and make use of every one of those different languages as well as their own. This opinion they found on the apostle's words, ' That It the JeTs ChrS! Teve7,kn:;e should bow, and that every tongue should confess that resnecS"1 L b i ?! TShlp °f °hmt here deso»^cl, they suppose to have n Sen JnM ?****' ^^t ? WJ^d t0 be done>oth by ' those that are onymv oflff ! I * M'e °u earth> But th0USh the aP°stle speaks, by a me tonymy, 0f different tongues, that is, persons who speak different languages, being x Matt. xxv. 21, 23 t j a Rev. v. 11, et seq J If*.' ver.'- 2*' * Heb. xii. 22, 23. H I) Matt. xvn. 3. c Phil. ii. 10, U. FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 291 subject to Christ, he probably means by the expression persons of different nations, whether they shall praise him in their own language in heaven or not. Accord ingly, some conjecture, that the diversity of languages shall then cease ; because it took its rise from God's judicial hand, when he confounded the speech of those who presumptuously attempted to build the city and tower of Babel, and because it has been ever since attended with many inconveniences. Indeed, the apostle seems expressly to intimate as much, when speaking concerning the heavenly state, he says, that 'tongues shaE cease,'4 that is, the present variety of languages. Moreover, as the gift of tongues was bestowed on the apostles, for the gathering and building up of the church in the first age, and as it ceased to be bestowed when this end was answered ; so it is probable, that, in like manner, the diversity of lan guages shall hereafter cease. I am aware that there are some who object that the saints' understanding all languages, will be an addition to their honour, glory, and happiness. Butwe may answer, that though it is indeed an accomplishment in this world for a person to understand several languages, its being so arises from the subserviency of it to those valuable ends which are answered by it. But all neces sity for it, and consequently all such subserviency, would be entirely removed, if the diversity of languages be taken away in heaven, as some suppose it will. There are some, who, it may be, give too much scope to a vain curiosity on this subject; they pretend to inquire what this language shall be, and determine, as the Jews and some of the fathers do, that it shall be the Hebrew. Their argu ments for this opinion are not sufficiently conclusive ; and are principally these ; — that Hebrew was the language with which God inspired man in paradise, and that which the saints and patriarchs spake, and the church generally made use of in all ages, till our Saviour's time ; that it was this language which he himself spake while on earth ; that since his ascension into heaven, he spake to Paul in the He brew tongue ;e and that when the inhabitants of heaven are described in Reve lation as praising God, there is one word used, by which their praise is expressed, namely, ' Hallelujah,' which is Hebrew, the meaning of which is, ' Praise ye the Lord.' But these arguments are not sufficiently convincing ; so that we must reckon the opinion which they are brought to support no more than a conjecture. Others suppose that the language spoken in heaven will not be any particular language which is or has been spoken in this world, but one more perfect and sig nificative ; and that this language is what the apostle means when he speaks of ' the tongue of angels. "* Now, though it is more than probable that there shall be some language more perfect and significative than any now known in the world, which glorified saints shall receive by immediate inspiration ; yet that there will be such does not fully appear to be the apostle's meaning in the scripture referred to. For it is not certain that angels express their ideas by the sound of words ; inas much as they have no bodies, nor organs of speech, nor can we certainly determine that they frame voices some other way. ' The tongue of angels,' which the apostle speaks of, is an hyperbolical expression, signifying the most excellent language, or such an one as angels would speak, did they use a voice ; just as ' the face of angels * signifies the most bright, glorious, and majestic countenance ; and as manna is called ' angel's food,'h that is, the most pleasant and delightful. But these things, though often inquired into by those who treat on this subject, are very uncertain ; nor is it of any advantage for us to be able to determine them. But there is another thing arising from the consideration of the saints being joined in one society, which is much more useful, and, so far as we have light to determine it, will afford a very comfortable and delightful thought to us, namely, what concerns their knowing one another in heaven. The scripture, indeed, does not so fully determine this matter as it does some others relating to the heavenly state ; yet many of God's children have died with a firm persuasion that they shall see and know their friends, in another world, and have been ready to conclude such knowledge to be a part of that happiness which they shall enjoy there. Nor can we think this altogether an ungrounded opinion ; though it is not to be contended for as if it were a necessary and important article of faith. The arguments which d 1 Cor. xiii. 8. e Acts xxvi. 14. f 1 Cor. xiii. 1. g Acts vi. 15. h Psal. lxxviii. 25. 292 FINAL BLESSEDNESS. are generally brought in defence of it, are taken from those instances recorded in scripture in which persons who have never seen one another before, have imme diately known each other in this world, by a special, immediate, divine revelation, given to them. Adam in this manner knew that Eve was taken out of him, and therefore said, ' This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.'1 He was 'cast into a deep sleep, when God took one of his ribs, and so formed the woman,' as we read in the foregoing words ; yet the knowledge of the event was communicated to him by God. — Moreover, we read that Peter, James, and John, knew Moses and Elias ;k as appears from Peter's making a particular mention of them, ' Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias,'1 though he had never seen them before. — Again, our Saviour, in the parable, represents ' the rich man' as 'seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom ;'m and speaks of him as addressing his discourse to him. From such arguments some think it may be in ferred that the saints shall know one another in heaven, when joined together in the same assembly. — Again, some think that this may be proved from the apostle's words, in 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20, ' What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? for ye are our glory and joy.' This language seems to argue that he apprehended their happiness in heaven should contribute or be an addition to his, as he was made an instrument to bring them thither. Even so, by a parity of reason, every one who has been instrumental in the conversion and building up of others in their holy faith, as the apostle Paul was with respect to them, may expect that these shall tend to enhance his praise, and give him occasion to glorify God on their behalf. It follows, then, that the redeemed shall know one another ; and that they who have walked to gether in the ways of God, and have been useful to one another as relations and intimate friends, in what respects more especially their spiritual concerns, shall bless God for the mutual advantages which they have received. — Further, some prove this from that expression of our Saviour, ' Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlast ing habitations.'"1 If by these ' everlasting habitations' be meant heaven, as many suppose ; then the meaning is, that they whom you have relieved and shown kind ness to in this world, shall express a particular joy upon your being admitted into heaven ; and consequently they shall know you, and bless God for your having been so useful and beneficial to them. It is objected that, if the saints shall know one another in heaven, they shaU know that several of those who were their intimate friends here on earth, whom they loved with a very great affection, are not there ; and that their knowing this will have a tendency to give them some uneasiness, and be a diminution of their j oy and happiness. But if it be allowed that the saints shaE know that some whom they loved on earth are not in heaven, they wiE not experience uneasiness ; for the affection which took its rise principally from the relation which we stood in to per sons on earth, or the intimacy which we have contracted with them, wiE cease in another world, or rather run in another channel, and be excited by superior motives namely, their relation to Christ, that perfect holiness which they are adorned with, their being joined in one blessed society and engaged in one employment, and the remembrance of their former usefulness one to another, in promoting their spiritual welfare, as made subservient to the happiness they now enjoy. As for others who are excluded from their society, they will think themselves obliged out of a due regard to the justice and holiness of God, to acquiesce in his righteous judgments. Thus the inhabitants of heaven are represented as adoring the divine perfections, when the vials of God's wrath were poured out upon his enemies, and saying, ' Thou art righteous, 0 Lord, because thou hast judged thus. True and righteous are thy judgments.'0 5\ Another ingredient in the glory of heaven, which is, indeed, the greatest of all, is the saints' enjoying the immediate vision and fruition of God* This vision i Gen. ii. 23. k Matt. xxii. 1 Ver. 4 m Luke xvi. 23. „ Ver. 9, o Rev. xvL 5v 7- FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 293 includes something more than their beholding the human nature of Christ, as Job speaks, when he says, ' In my flesh shall I see God.'P This, indeed, will be a de lightful object, not Only by reason of the glory of it, but from the love which they bear to his person who, in that nature, procured for them the happiness which they are advanced to. But the principal thing contained in this vision of God, is that it is contemplative and intellectual ; for, in other respects, he is invisible. Yet, there are two ways by whnih persons are said to see him. The one is by faith, adapted to our present state. Thus Moses is said to have ' seen him who is invi sible,' i that is, to contemplate, adore, and improve the glory of the divine perfec tions, so far as he is pleased to manifest it to us in this world. But the other way of beholding him is more perfect, as his glory is displayed with the greatest clear ness and in the highest degree in heaven. This the apostle opposes to that vision which we have of God by faith, when he says that in heaven ' we shall see face to face, and know even as we are also known ;'r that is, we shall have more bright and immediate discoveries of the glory of God. This, when represented by the metaphor of ' seeing face to face,' has some allusion to our knowing persons when we are in their immediate presence, which far exceeds that knowledge which we had of them by report, when at a distance from them. This immediate knowledge of God the apostle expresses by a mode of speaking which cannot well be under stood in this imperfect state, when he says, ' We shall see him as he is.'s It differs from those views which the saints have sometimes had of the glory of- God, when manifested in an emblematical way in this world. Saints in heaven behold that glory as shining forth in its greatest effulgency. Moreover, as the apostle speaks of this as a privilege which should be enjoyed by the saints at the appearing of Christ, who seems to be the object more especially here intended, it may denote their be holding his mediatorial glory in its highest advancement. Now, the view which they have of it, is said to be assimilating, as well as delightful. Hence, the apostle adds, ' We shall be like him.' It shall also be satisfying. Thus the psalmist says, ' I will, ' or shaE ' behold thy face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness.'* How vastly does this differ from the brightest views which the saints have of the glory of God here I It is true they know something of him as he manifests himself in the works of creation and grace. But their know ledge of him as thus manifested is very imperfect. The object is not presented in its brightest lustre ; nor is the soul, which is the recipient of it, enlarged, as it shall then be, to take in the rays of divine glory. Though, however, this vision of God shall be unspeakable, so that much more shaE be known of his perfections than we can attain to in this life ; yet the saints shall not have a comprehensive view of it ; for that is not consistent with the idea of them as finite creatures. Thus concerning the immediate vision of God. It is farther observed that this vision is attended with fruition ; and therefore it is not merely speculative or contemplative, but such as is felicitating. Ac cordingly, the saints know their interest in God, and see themselves to be the happy objects of the former and present displays of the glory of his perfections, and how these have all been exerted in bringing them to this blessed state, and fixing them in it; and hence arises that joy which accompanies this vision of God. Besides, there are some impressions of his glory on their souls, which not only occasion but excite this joy. — Again, it is observed that this fruition is of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father is beheld and enjoyed, as his glory shines forth in the face of Christ, as bestowing on his saints all the blessings which he has promised in that everlasting covenant which was established with and in Christ, as their Head and Saviour ; his purposes of grace, and all his promises having had their full accomplishment in him. The glory of Christ is beheld as the person to whom the whole work of redemption, together with the application of it, was committed, and by whom it is now brought to perfection. The Holy Ghost is beheld as the person who has, by his power, rendered every thing which was designed by the Father, and purchased by the Son, effectual to answer the end which is now attained, by shedding abroad the love of the Father and Son in p Job xix. 26. q Heb. xi. 27. r 1 Cor. xiii. 12. s 1 John iii. 2. t Psal. xvii. 15. 294 FINAL BLESSEDNESS. their hearts, dwelling in them as his temple, and beginning, carrying on, and per fecting that work which is so glorious in its effects and consequences. In these re spects the saints have perfect and distinct communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; which far exceeds all they can have here, and is infinitely preferable to all the delight which arises from that enjoyment which they have of the blessed society of perfect creatures to whom they are joined. G. The last ingredient in the happiness which believers shall enjoy in heaven is that it shall be to all eternity. As the soul is immortal, and the body to which it shall be united shall be raised incorruptible; so the inheritance which is reserved in heaven for the saints, is such as ' fadeth not away.'u This will tend to make their happiness complete ; which nothing could do were there not a full assurance of its everlasting duration. It would be a continual alloy to it, and a very uncomfort able thought, to conclude that, though their enjoyments are very great, they shall have an end. The glory of heaven is not like the glories of this present world, which are but for a moment, and, as it were, perish in the using ; nor like the state of holiness and happiness in which God created man at first, which, through the mutability of his nature, it was possible for him to lose. But it is established by the decree of God, founded on the virtue of the blood of Christ, who purchased for his people eternal redemption, and in the covenant of grace settled this inheri tance upon them, as an everlasting possession. This is a doctrine so universally acknowledged, that it is needless to insist on the proof of it ; and it is so frequently mentioned in scripture, that we scarcely ever read of the glory of heaven, but it is described as ' eternal.'31' There is one thing more which, though it is not particularly mentioned in this Answer, I would not entirely pass over, that is, what may be said to a question proposed by some, Whether there are degrees of glory in heaven ? The Papists not only maintain that there are, but pretend that greater degrees of glory shaE be conferred on persons, in proportion to the merit of their good works here on earth. They, accordingly, have assigned the highest places there, to those who have per formed works of supererogation, by doing more than was strictly enjoined them by the law of God. But all Protestant divines, who allow that there are degrees of glory in heaven, strenuously maintain that these are rewards of grace, as every in gredient in the heavenly blessedness is supposed to be. When this doctrine is made the subject of controversy, neither side ought to contend for their particular opinion, as if it were one of the most important articles of faith,? or charge those who de fend the other side of the question with maintaining something directly contrary to scripture or of a pernicious consequence. They who suppose that there are no degrees of glory in heaven, are afraid that, if they should assert the contrary, it would in some measure eclipse the glory of the grace of God, and give too much countenance to the popish doctrine of the merit of good works. But this aE Pro testant divines, as was just observed, sufficiently guard against. — Again, it is argued against degrees of glory, that those external and relative privileges which the saints enjoy, such as election, justification, and adoption, belong equally and alike to all, and that the same price of redemption was paid for all, so that their glory shall be equal. But this reasoning will not appear very conclusive, if we consider that sanctification is as much the result of their being elected, justified, redeemed, and adopted, as their being glorified. Yet sanctification appears not to be equal in all ; and it hence does not follow that their glory in a future state shall be so. Besides, though their objective blessedness, which consists in that infinite fulness of grace which there is in God, is inconsistent with any idea of degrees ; yet it does not follow that the communications resulting from it, which are finite, shaE be in a like degree. — Nor can it be inferred, that if there are degrees of glory, the state of those who have the least degree shaE be imperfect in its kind, or have anything in u 1 Pet. i. 4 ; chap. v. 4. x See Jude verses 6 and 21 ; Matt. xxv. 46 ; Tit. i. 2 ; Rom. vi. 22; Gal. vi. 8 j 1 Tim. i. 16; Psal. xvi. 11. y [Dr. Ridgeley evidently means here the doctrine of degrees of glory, altogether apart from the question as to tliese degrees being ' rewards of grace.' From the whole tenor of bis sentiments he clearly regards the affirmative ol this question — supposing the doctrine of degrees to be admitted—. as not open to a moment's doubt among true Christians Ed.] FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 295 it which shaE afford the least abatement of their happiness, or be the occasion of envy or uneasiness, as the superior excellencies of some, in this imperfect state, often appear to be ; for any such result would be inconsistent with perfect holi ness. Nor is it to be supposed that there are any degrees with respect to the de liverance of the saints from the sins, guilt, and miseries of this present life ; for this deliverance is equal in all. Nor do they who think that there are degrees of glory in heaven, in the least insinuate that every one shall not be perfectly filled and satisfied, in proportion to his receptive disposition. As a smaE vessel, put into the ocean, is as full, in proportion to its capacity, as the largest ; so none of the saints will desire, nor indeed can contain, more than God designs to communicate to them. — In defence of the opinion that there are no degrees of glory in heaven, reference is sometimes made to the parable of the persons who were hired to work in ' the vineyard.'2 There it is said that ' they that were hired about the eleventh hour, received every man a penny ;' which is as much as others received who were hired early in the morning, and had ' borne the heat and burden of the day.' But this does not sufficiently pi'ove the opinion ; for some of these labourers are repre sented as ' murmuring,' and insinuating that they had wrong done them ; and Christ replies to them, ' Is thine eye evil because I am good V and they are described as ' called,' but 'not chosen. 'a The parable, therefore, is designed to set forth, not the glory of heaven, but the temper and disposition of the Jewish church, who were partakers of the external blessings of the covenant of grace, and to show that they and the gospel-church had equal privileges. The arguments, then, which are generally insisted on to prove that there are no degrees of glory in heaven, can hardly be reckoned sufficient to overthrow the con trary doctrine ; especially if those other scriptures which are often brought to prove that there are, be understood in their most obvious sense. One of these is Daniel xii. 3, ' 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.' Here the pro phet speaks of those who excel in grace and usefulness in this world ; and then con siders them, not only as 'wise,' but as 'turning many to righteousness ;' whose glory, after the resurrection, of which he speaks in the foregoing verse, has in it some thing illustrious and distinguishing, which is compared to ' the brightness of the firma ment' and ' stars.' It is objected, however, that our Saviour b illustrates the happiness of all the glorified saints, whom he calls 'the righteous,' by their ' shining as the sun ;' that therefore the prophet Daniel means no other glory but what is common to all saints ; and that consequently there are no degrees of glory. We reply, that our Saviour does not compare the glory of one of the saints in heaven, with that of another ; but intimates that the happiness of every one of them shall be 'inconceiv ably great, and very fitly illustrates it by ' the brightness of the sun.' The pro phet, on the other hand, is speaking of some who were honoured above others in their usefulness here ; and then considers them as having peculiar degrees of glory conferred upon them hereafter. This is something more than what he refers to in the foregoing verse, which is common to all the saints, when he speaks of them as ' awaking out of the dust to everlasting life.' Another scripture brought to prove this doctrine, is 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42, ' There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory ; so also is the resurrection of the dead.' Here the apostle is speaking concerning tlie happiness of the saints after the resurrection. He does not compare them with what they were when they left the world, for then they had no glory, being ' sown in corruption and dishonour ;' but he seems to compare the glory of one saint, after the resurrection, with that of an other. Accordingly, he illustrates it by the brightness of the heavenly luminaries ; every one of which has a glory superior to terrestrial bodies. Yet he seems to in timate, that if we compare them together, the glory of the one exceeds that of the other. Thus the glory of the least saint in heaven is inconceivably greater than that of the greatest on earth. The glory, indeed, is full and complete in its kind ; yet when compared with the glory of others, it may in some circumstances fall short of it. z Matt. xx. 9. a Verses 15, 16. h Chap. xiii. 43. 296 FINAL BLESSEDNESS. Another argument brought by some to prove this doctrine is taken from the par able of the talents." There the reward is proportioned to the respective improve ment of the talents by those who received them ; and it seems to have reference to some blessings which they were to receive in another world. Our Saviour com pares himself to one who ' travels into a far country,' and after along time, returns and reckons with his servants. Now, by the former is meant his ascension into heaven, and by the latter his return to judgment ; so that the rewards spoken of which differ in degree, must respect some peculiar glory which he wiE confer on his people in another world. Indeed, the whole chapter seems to refer to the same thing. The preceding parable of the wise and foolish virgins denotes the behaviour of persons here, and the consequence of it hereafter ; and the latter part of the chap ter expressly speaks of Christ's coming to judgment, and dealing with every one according to his works. If, therefore, the improvement of the talents respects some advantages which one is to expect above another, it seems to intimate that there are degrees of glory. This is farther argued from the higher degree of grace which some have in this world than others ; which is a peculiar honour bestowed on them, and is sometimes considered as the fruit and consequence of their right improvement of the graces which they had formerly received. Their enjoyment of it may be considered as laying a foundation for greater praise ; so that the soul must be enlarged in pro portion to the grace received, in order that it may give to God the glory due to his name, as the result of what it enjoys. Hence, if we take an estimate of God's future from his present dispensations, it not only removes some objections which are sometimes brought against this doctrine, but adds farther strength to the arguments taken from the scriptures before-mentioned, to prove it. But notwith standing aE that has been said on this subject, it is the safest way for us to con fess that we know but little of the affairs of another world, and much less of the cir cumstances of glorified saints, considered as compared with one another. Nor are we to conclude, if there are degrees of glory, that the highest of these is founded on the merit of what any have done or suffered for Christ, or, on the other hand, that the lowest is inconsistent with complete blessedness ; which shaE be proportioned to their most enlarged desires, and as much as they are capable of containing. Thus concerning the question proposed by some as to whether there are degrees of glory. There is another which has some affinity to it, which I would not wholly pass over, namely, whether the saints in heaven shall not have some additional improve ments, or make progressive advances, in some things which may be reckoned a farther ingredient in their future happiness. This is to be insisted on with the utmost caution, lest any thing should be advanced which is inconsistent with the complete blessedness which they are immediately possessed of. I do not think, however, that it will detract from it, if we should venture to assert, that the under standing of glorified saints shall receive very considerable improvements, from those objects which shall be presented to them, and from the perpetual discoveries which will be made of the glorious mysteries of divine grace, whereby the whole scene of providence, and its subserviency to their eternal happiness, shall be opened, to raise their wonder, and enhance their praise. As it is not inconsistent with the perfect blessedness of the angels, to desire to know more of this mystery, which they are said to 'look into ;'d and as their joy is increased by those new occasions which daily present themselves ; why may not the same be said with respect to the saints in heaven, especially if we consider that this will redound so much to the glory of God, as weE as give us more raised ideas of that happiness which they shall be possessed of? Practical Inferences from the Doctrine of Final Blessedness. lall conclude with some practical inferences from what has bet wer, concerning the happiness of the saints in heaven. c Matt. xxv. 14, et seq. ,} J pet j. 12, FINAL BLESSEDNESS. 297 1. We may learn the great difference which there is between the militant and triumphant state of the church. Here believers meet with perpetual conflicts ; but hereafter they shall be crowned with complete victory. Now, they walk by faith ; but then faith shall be swallowed up in vision, and hope in enjoyment. The saints of God are, at present, in their minority, having a right to their inheritance, but not the possession of it. Their desires are enlarged, and their expectations raised ; but nothing can give them full satisfaction till they arrive at that state of perfection to which God will at last bring them. 2. The account which we have of the happiness of heaven being of a spiritual nature, and accompanied with perfect blessedness, and of the enjoyments of heaven being of a corresponding nature., may tend to reprove the carnal conceptions which many entertain concerning it, as though it were no other than what Mahommed promised his followers ; who fancy that they shall have there those delights which are agreeable to the sensual appetites of such as have no other ideas of happiness than that it consists in the pleasures of sin. Nor is it enough for us to conceive of the heavenly blessedness as merely a freedom from the miseries of this life, though this is an ingredient in it ; nor must we think of it as if it had no reference to the bringing of those graces which are begun here to perfection, or as if it did not con sist in the blessed work of admiring and adoring the divine perfections, and im proving the displays of these in the Mediator, a work in which the saints shall for ever be engaged. 3. Let us not content ourselves merely with the description which we have in the word of God of the glory of heaven, brat inquire whether we have a weE-grounded hope that we have a right to it, and are found in the exercise of those graces which will be an evidence of our fitness. It is a very low and insignificant thing for us to be convinced that the glory of heaven contains all those things which shall render those who are possessed of it completely happy, if we have no ground to claim an interest in it ; and if we have this ground of hope, it will have a tendency to excite practical godliness, which is inseparably connected with eternal life, and affords an evidence of our right to it. But without this godliness, our hope will be delusive, and we shall be chargeable with an unwarrantable presumption, in ex pecting salvation without sanctification. 4. If we have any hope concerning future blessedness, it ought to be improved by us, to support and comfort us under the present miseries of life. Thus the apostle exhorts the church to which he writes, to 'comfort one another with these words, 'e or from considerations of the heavenly glory. Our hope should also be an inducement to us to bear afflictions with patience, since these ' work for us an ex ceeding and eternal weight of glory. 'f 5. Let the hope we have of the privileges to be enjoyed hereafter, put us upon the greatest diligence in the performance of those duties which are incumbent om us, as expectants of this inheritance ; and let us endeavour to have our conversa tion in heaven, and be frequently meditating on the blessed employment of that state, and be earnest with God that we may be made more meet for it, and in the end received to it. 6. If we are enabled by faith to conclude that we have a right to the heavenly inheritance, let us be frequently engaged in the work and employment of that in heritance, so far as is consistent with the present imperfect state. Let us be much in praising and blessing God, who has prepared these glorious mansions for his people ; and let us set a due value on the blood of Christ, by which they were purchased, and give glory to the Holy Ghost, who has given us the earnest of them, and who, having begun the work of grace, wiE, we trust, carry it on to perfection. e 1 Thess. iv. 18. f 2 Cor. iv. 17 n. 2 p 298 MORAL OBLIGATION. MORAL OBLIGATION. Question XCI. What is the duty that God requireth of man ? Answer. The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will. Question XCII. What did God at first reveal unto man as the rule of his obedience 1 Answer. The rule of obedience revealed to Adam in the state of innocency, and to all mankind in him, beside a special command, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the moral law. Having, in the former part of the Catechism, been led to consider what we are to believe concerning God, and those works of nature and grace wherein he has dis played his glory to man, whether considered as created after his image, or as hav ing lost it by sin, and as afterwards redeemed, and made partaker of those blessings which are consequent on redemption ; we are now to consider him as under an in dispensable obligation to yield obedience to God. They who have received most grace from him, are laid under the strongest ties and engagements to yield obe dience. Man Bound to Obey God. We observe, then, that obedience is due from man to God. Our obligation to obey results from the relation we stand in to him as creatures ; who ought to say with the psalmist, ' 0 come let us worship and bow down ; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, 's Our obligation results particularly from our being intelligent creatures, having excellencies superior to all others in this world, whereby we are rendered capable, not only of subserving the ends of his providence, but performing obedience as subjects of moral government. But our obligation becomes highest when we are considered as redeemed, justified, and sanctified, and made partakers of all the blessings which accompany salvation. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.'h Obedience may be considered, not only as our duty, but as our highest wisdom ; as it is said, ' The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, is understanding.'' Hereby, in some measure, we answer the end for which we came into the world ; and to render it is our interest, inasmuch as it is conducive to our present and future blessedness, and inseparably connected with it. We are to be very sensible, however, that to yield obedience is out of our own power ; as our Saviour says, ' Without me ye can do nothing. 'k We should, therefore, exercise a constant dependence on him who works in his people both to wiE and to do, of his own good pleasure. We might here consider the nature and properties of that duty and obedience which we owe to (jod. 1. If it be such as we hope God will accept or approve, it must proceed from a renewed nature, and, in consequence, from a principle of love to God as a recon ciled Father ; not from a slavish fear and dread of his wiatli, as a sin-revenging Judge. Thus the psalmist says, ' There is forgiveness with ilico, that thou mayest be feared.'1 2. It ought to be without the least reserve, including a ready compliance with whatever he commands. In performing it, we ought to approve ourselves to him as our Sovereign Lord and Lawgiver, and consider that we are under his aE-seeing eye. Accordingly, his glory is to be assigned as the highest end of all we do. 3. It ought to be performed with constancy. It does not consist merely in a sud den fit of devotion, arising from the dictates of an awakened conscience, or the dread we have of his wrath, when under some distressing providence ; but it ought to be the constant work and business of life. 4. When we have done or suffered most for God, we are not only to consider our selves as 'unprofitable servants, 'm as our Saviour expresses it ; but we must lament i is"ul xcv- «?• h * Cor- vi- 20- ' J°» "xviii. 28. k John xv. 5. 1 p8al. txxx. 4. m Luke xvii_ 1()_ MORAL OBLIGATION. 299 our imperfections, and be deeply humbled for the iniquities which attend our holy things, inasmuch as ' there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin- neth not.'n Connexion of Revelation with Moral Obligation. In order to our yielding obedience, it is necessary that God should signify to us, in what instances he will be obeyed, and the manner in which obedience is to be performed ; otherwise it would be rather a fulfilling of our own will than of his. None but those who are authorized by God to communicate his will, and who re ceive what they impart to us by divine inspiration, can, without the boldest pre sumption, assume to themselves the prerogative of prescribing to us a rule of duty to God. It follows that obedience must be to his revealed will. The secret purposes of God are the rule and measure of his own actings ; but his revealed will is the rule of our obedience. ' Secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed, belong unto us and to our children.'0 The Law of God as the Rule of Obligation. The will of God, as thus made known to us, is called a Law. Now, let us con sider that a law is the decree or revealed wiE of a sovereign, designed to direct and govern the actions of his subjects, and thereby to secure his own honour and their welfare. If this be applied to the law of God, we must consider him as our Lord and Sovereign, whose will is the rule of our actions ; and he, being infinitely wise and good, is able and inclined to direct us in those things which are conducive to his own honour and our safety and happiness. This he has been pleased to do ; and accordingly has given us a law as the rule of life. The laws of God are in part such as take their rise from his holy nature. Ac cordingly, our obligation to yield obedience to these proceeds, not only or principaEy from the command of God, but from their being agreeable to his divine perfections; which must be assigned as the reason of his prescribing them as matter of obliga tion. These are all reducible to what we call, in general, the law of nature ; which, because it is agreeable to the dictates of reason, is called by way of eminence the moral law. Thus when we consider ourselves as creatures, we are led to confess that we are subject to God, and therefore bound to obey him. When we think of him as a God of infinite perfection, our obedience must be agreeable to that perfec tion. Because he is a Spirit, our obedience must be performed in a spiritual man ner ; and as he is a holy God, he is to be worshipped with reverence and holy fear. Thus far we are induced to yield obedience by the law of nature. — But, on the other hand, there are many laws relating to the circumstances or manner in which God will be worshipped, which are founded in his sovereign will. These we caE positive laws. Of this kind was that law given to our first parents, not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; and doubtless, there were many other laws given to them relating to their conduct of life and mode of worship, though they are not particularly mentioned in the short history we have of the state of man be fore the fall. — As for the moral law, it is said, in one of the Answers we are explain ing, to have been revealed to Adam in his state of innocency, and to all mankind in him. Its being revealed to man, must be supposed to be a less proper way of speaking ; inasmuch as the method of discovery by revelation is more especially applicable to positive laws. Hence, I would rather choose to express it, as in a fore going Answer,p by God's writing his laws in the hearts of our first parents, or im pressing the commands of the moral law on their nature ; so that by the power of reasoning with which they were endowed, they might attain to the knowledge of them. Accordingly, man, by the light of nature, knew all things contained in the moral law. As to what is farther said in this Answer, that the moral law was given to man in innocency, we considered this subject elsewhere. And as all mankind were re- n Eccl. vii. 20. o Deut. xxix. 29. p See Quest, xvii. 300 THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. presented by him, we are to understand these words as meaning that it was given to all mankind in him. But these things having been insisted on in another place, as also what relates to his having been prohibited from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, I shall pass them over, and proceed to speak more particularly concerning the moral law, together with the uses of it to aE sorts of men. THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. Question XCIII. What is the moral law? Answer. The moral law is the declaration of the will of God to mankind, directing and binding every one to personal, perfect, and perpetual conformity and obedience thereunto, in the frame add disposition of the whole man. soul and body, and in performance of all those duties of holiness and righteousness which he oweth to God and man; promising life upon the fulfilling, and threatening death upon tbe breach, of it. Question XCIV. Is there any use of the moral law to man, since the fall? Answer. Although no man, since the fall, can attain to righteousness and life by tbe moral law; yet there is great use thereof, as well common to all men, as peculiar either to the unregenerate, or the regenerate. Question XCV. Of what use is the moral law to all men f Answer. The moral law is of use to all men, to inform them of the holy nature and will of God, and of their duty, binding them to walk accordingly ; to convince them of their disability to keep it, and of the sinful pollution of their nature, hearts, and lives; to humble them in the sense of their sin and misery, and thereby help them to a clearer sight of the need tbey have of Christ, and Of the perfection oi his obedience. Question XCVI. What particular use is there of the moral law to unregenerate men ? Answer Tbe moral law is of use to unregenerate men, to awaken their consciences to flee from wrath to come, and to drive them to Christ; or, upon their continuance in the estate and way of Bin, to leave them inexcusable, and under the curse thereof. Question XCVII. What special use is there of the moral law to the regenerate f Answer. Although they that are regenerate, and believe in Christ, be delivered from tbe moral law as a covenant of works, so as thereby they are neither justified nor condemned; yet beside the general uses thereof common to them with all men, it is of special use, to show them how much tbey are bound to Christ lor his fulfilling it, and enduring the curse thereof in their stead, and* for their good; and thereby to provoke them to more thankfulness, and to express the same in their greater care, to conform themselves thereunto, as the rule of their obedience. The Nature of the Moral Law. In these Answers we have, first, a description of the moral law. I. This law is a declaration of the will of God to mankind, that so we may not be destitute of a rule to guide and regulate our behaviour, both towards God and man. This is the first idea contained in a law. But there is another, which re spects the obligation which we are laid under by the law, arising from our being creatures, and consequently subject to God, who, as the supreme Governor, has an undoubted right to demand obedience from us to every thing which he prescribes and reveals to us as a rule for our direction. Moreover, that which God requires of us in this law, is, personal, perfect, and perpetual conformity and obedience to its precepts. 1. Our obedience must be personal, that is, it is not to be performed by proxy. Whatever services we may expect from men, we must not conclude that they can perform obedience for us to God, and fulfil the obligation which we are personally laid under. Yea, we may proceed farther, and assert that the obedience whieh Christ has performed for us, does not exempt us from an obligation to yield perfect obedience. Obedience, indeed, is not to be performed by us with the same view with which he performed it. This will be farther considered under a following Head, where we shaE show, that though the law is not to be obeyed by us as a cove* nant of works, yet we are obliged to obey it as a rule of life. 2. Our obedience to the law of God must be perfect. The same obligation THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. 301 which man was under at first, to yield perfect obedience, remains still in force, though we are not able to perform it. The insolvency of man by the fall, did not cancel or disannul this debt.' How much soever God may own and approve the sincerity of his people, which is aE the perfection that fallen man can arrive at in this world ; yet we must not suppose that hereby we fulfil the obligation which God» as a Lawgiver, has laid us under. This I the rather take notice of, that there may not be the least ground to suppose that we make void the law : we rather establish it, and assert the right which God has to that perfection of obedience which is due from us, though unable to perform it. 3. Our obedience must be perpetual, without backsliding from God, or the least remissness in our duty to him. There is no abatement or dispensation allowed, which may give countenance to the least defect of this obedience. Thus the psalmist says, ' I wiE never forget thy precepts ;'r and, ' Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.'s — Moreover, this obedience is to be performed with the whole man, and in particular, by the soul, with the ut most intenseness, in all its powers and faculties. Accordingly, our understandings are to be rightly instructed, as to the matter and manner of performing it ; our wills to be entirely subjected to the will of God ; and our affections engaged in his service, being sanctified and excited by the Spirit, to the end that duty may be performed with delight, arising from the love which we bear to him whose servants we are. Our obedience is to be performed also with our bodies. The former in cludes that obedience more especially which is internal ; this, that which is exter nal. This is what is styled a lower sort of obedience ; and if we rest here, it is far from being acceptable, as the apostle says that ' bodily exercise profiteth little.'* Yet as the body is an instrument of the soul in acting, that service which is per formed in it is absolutely necessary. Hence, all religious worship is to be engaged in with a becoming reverence which is external, as well as witli that which is in ternal ; without which the soul cannot be said to engage in any religious duties in a becoming manner. — Again, this obedience includes holiness and righteousness. The former of these respects more especiaEy our duty to God, which, being a branch of religious worship, ought to be performed with a reverential fear of his divine Majesty, and a due regard to his infinite purity, and entire dedication and consecration of ourselves to him, as becomes those who are sanctified by his Spirit, and enabled to exercise all those graces whereby we may approve ourselves his faithful servants and subjects. The latter more especially respects those duties which we owe to men, in the various relations we stand in to them, and which are incumbent on us as enjoined by God. II. The moral law is farther considered as Having a promise of life annexed to it, and a threatening of death upon the breach of it. This is what is generaEy called the sanction annexed to the law. A law without a sanction would not be much regarded, especially by those who have not a due sense of their obligation to obedience. Persons are very much disposed to inquire, when a command is given, what the consequence of their obeying or disregarding it will be ; and this being made known beforehand, is a strong motive to obedience. If God is pleased, out of his abundant grace, to encourage his people, by giving them to expect some blessings which he will bestow on those who obey him, it is, in some respect, ne cessary that his doing so should be known. But especiaEy as punishment, in pro portion to the nature of the crime, wiE be the consequence of disobedience, it is becoming the divine perfections to let it be known that the wages of sin is death. Now, this sanction was not only annexed to the moral law, but equally impressed on the nature of man, who could not but know that rebellion against God would be punished with a separation from him, and that aE those miseries which it de serves would attend it, in proportion to its respective aggravation. q It is a known maxim in the civil law, Cessante capacitate subditi non cessat obligatio. r Psal. cxix. 93. s Psal. cxlv. 2. . t 1 Tim. iv. a 302 THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. The Uses of the Moral Law. We have an account of the use of the moral law since the fall ; and that either with respect to mankind in general, or the unregenerate and regenerate. Here it is observed that no man since the fall can attain righteousness and life by it ; sc that it is not to be used with that view. We may hence infer that this end might have been attained by man before the fall, according to the tenor of the covenant which he was under, the sum and substance of which was, that ' the man that doeth these things shall live by them.'u Eternal life was promised to man in innocency; and he was then able to yield sinless obedience, which was the condition of his obtaining it. But it is impossible for fallen man thus to obey. How perfect soever his obedience may be for the future, it is supposed, from the nature of the thing, that it cannot be sinless, after sin has been committed ; and it would be a reflection on the justice and holiness of God, for us to conclude that he will accept of imper fect obedience, instead of perfect. It follows that a right to life is not to be ex pected from our imperfect obedience to the law ; as the apostle says, ' By the deeds of the law there shaE no flesh be justified,'1 in God's sight. In this respect our own righteousness is represented, not only as faulty and defective, but as altogether insufficient to procure an interest in the divine favour, or to exempt us from the punishment which is due to us for sin. It is one thing to say that eternal life is connected with obedience, so that no one can have the least ground to expect the former without the latter, and another thing to say that eternal life is founded upon obedience, or that it gives us a right and title to it. We are not to conclude, however, that the law is of no use. For, 1. It is of use to all men, in several respects. It informs us of the holy nature and will of God, and of our duty to him. This is the first idea we have of a law,* which signifies more especially a doctrine ; and, as the grand scope of it respects our being taught what we are obliged to as commanded by a lawgiver, it signifies a law. The divine perfections are eminently stamped on it in very legible charac ters : his sovereignty, as having a right to demand obedience ; his holiness in the matter of it, and in the obligation it lays us under to be ' holy in all conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy ;'z and therefore this perfection is set forth in those threatenings which are annexed to it, whereby ' the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.'a As the law is designed to discover our secret faults, that we may be humbled for them, and a multitude of sins may be prevented ; so it sets forth, not only the holiness, but the goodness of God. Indeed, there is nothing enjoined in it as our duty, but what includes some advantage. Thus the psalmist describes it as ' more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than honey and the honey comb ;' and adds, that ' in keeping thereof there is great reward. 'b Again, the moral law is of use to all men, as it binds them to perform that which is enjoined in it as matter of duty. This is another idea contained in a law; namely, it is that which binds the consciences of men, that so we may not vainly and presumptuously conclude, to our own destruction, that we may live as we list, or say, Who is Lord over us ? It is a great instance of the care and goodness of God, that he has taken this method to prevent that ruin which would arise from our withdrawing the allegiance which we owe to him, and to lay us under the strictest engagement to seek after that blessedness which is connected with obe dience to him. Further, we are convinced by the moral law of our inability to keep its precepts, and of the sinful pollution of our nature, hearts, and lives, as an expedient to hum ble us under the sense of sin and misery. The law being spiritual, we are con vinced by it that 'we are carnal, and sold under sin,' as the apostle expresses it ;c and he also says, ' I had not known sin, but by the law.'d When we consider our- * u Rom. a 5, x Chap. iii. 20. y Thus the word mm, is derived from rrv, didicit, or viam monstravit. z 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. a Rom. i. 18. b Psal. xi.v. 10, 1 1. c Rom. vn. 14. ,1 Verse 17. THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. 303 selves as being obliged to yield perfect obedience, and compare our hearts and lives with the law which requires this, we shaE see nothing but holiness and purity on the one hand, and a wretched mass of corruption and impurity on the other. God demands perfect obedience, while we are unable of ourselves to perform any obedience ; and our best duties being attended with many imperfections, we are led to be humbled under a sense of sin, whatever thoughts we formerly had of our selves. When ' the law enters, sin will abound;'6 and if we were apprehensive that 'we were alive,' as the apostle expresses it, 'without the law, when the commandment comes, sin revives and we die, ' f and see ourselves exposed to the miseries threatened against those who violate it. Hence arises a clear sight of the need which persons have of Christ, and of the perfection of his obedience. When we find that we are condemned by the law, and that righteousness is not to be attained by our own obedience to it, we are led to see our need of seeking it elsewhere ; and when the gospel gives us a discovery of Christ, as ordained by God to procure for us righteousness, or a right to eternal life by his obedience, we see the need we have of faith in him, whereby we derive from him that which could not be attained by our own conformity to the law, 2. The moral law is of use in particular to the unregenerate. We considered, under the former Head, that it is of use to all men, among whom the unregenerate are included, as it gives them a discovery of the pollution and guilt of sin ; and now we are led to inquire into the consequence of this. Sin may be charged on the conscience, and the guilt of it make it very uneasy, so that a person may ap prehend himself under the condemning sentence of the law ; and yet he may re ceive no saving advantage. He may have a sight of sin, and not be truly humbled for it or turned from it. In some, corruption is excited by conviction ; and the soul grows worse than it was before. Thus the apostle says, ' Sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. 's Others, when filled with a dread of the wrath of God, are inclined to stretch out their hand against him, and strengthen themselves against the Almighty ; resolving, some way or other, to disentangle themselves, though, by such conduct, they render their condition much worse. These are compared to ' a wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord ;'h or, as our Saviour says concerning Paul, before his con version, ' they kick against the pricks.'1 Every step they take to free themselves from the horrible pit and miry clay into which they are cast, sinks them deeper into it. Others are convinced of sin by the law, and, at the same time, despair of obtaining mercy. They complain with Cain, ' My punishment is greater than I can bear ;'k or, as it is in the margin, ' Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven.' These see themselves lost, or condemned by the law ; but have no sight of Christ as coming into the world to save sinners, or, at least, to save the chief of them. The wound is opened ; but there are no healing medicines applied. There are others also, whose condition is no less dangerous, in whom ' the wound is healed slightly,' who ' say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.'1 They are, indeed, convinced of sin ; and their conviction is attended sometimes with an ex ternal humiliation, arising from the dread of God's judgments. This effect it had in Pharaoh™ and Ahab.n They are willing also to part with some particular sins, while they indulge others, that by this partial reformation they may free them selves from the condemning sentence of the law. But all this is to no purpose ; sin gains strength, and the guilt of it is still increased. This is a wrong method to flee from the wrath to come. Hence, when convictions of sin have a good issue, in inciting those who experience them to flee from it, they have recourse to Christ. This is caEed a being driven to Christ ; by which we are to understand that they see themselves under an unavoidable necessity of going to him, as not being able to find peace or solid rest elsewhere. But as this effect is in a peculiar manner ascribed to the gospel, the law being only the remote means 'of it, I would rather express it by their being drawn to him, or encouraged by the p-race contained in the gospel, to close with him by faith ; and then the work e Rom. v. 20. f Chap. vii. 9. g Ver. 8. h Isa. li. 20. i Acts. ix. 5. k Gen. iv. 13. 1 Jer. vi. 14. m Exod. x. 16, 17. n 1 Kings xxi. 27 — 29. 304 THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. is rendered effectual, and convictions end in a saving conversion. But if it be otherwise, or they apply themselves to indireot means to ease themselves of the burden which lies on them, they are farther described as left inexcusable, and stiE emaining under the curse and condemning sentence of the law. 3. The moral law is of use to the regenerate. In considering this, it may be ob served that there is something supposed in the Answer which treats on this subject, namely, that they who believe in Christ are delivered from the law as a covenant of works. This is the only sense in which we are to understand those scriptures which speak of believers as ' not being under the law,'0 and as being ' dead to the law,'!* having been ' redeemed from its curse.'9 The moral law is to be considered in two respects, as a rule of life, and so no one is delivered from it ; or as a covenant of works, in the same sense in which it was given to man in innocency, the condition of which was his performing perfect obedience, in default whereof he was liable to a sentence of death. In the latter respect a believer is delivered from it. This deliverance is the great privilege which believers are made partakers of in the gos pel ; which sets forth Christ as our surety, performing perfect obedience for us, and enduring the curse we were liable to. Hence, tliough the law was a covenant of works to him, it ceases to be so to those who are interested in him. Accordingly, it is added, that they are hereby neither justified nor condemned. They are not justified by it ; for the apostle says, ' By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.'1. Justification is to be expected only from him who is 'the Lord our Righteousness ;'" 'in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and glory.'1 Nor are they condemned by the law ; for that they should be so is inconsistent with a justified state. Thus the apostle says, ' There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.'u We must distinguish, however, between a believer's actions being condemned by the law, or his being reproved by it, and laid under convic tion, for sins daily committed ; and his being in a condemned state, according to the sentence of the law. We are far from denying that a believer is under an obligation to condemn or abhor himself, that is, to confess that he deserves to be condemned by God, for the sins which he commits ; for were God to mark these, or to punish him according to the demerit of them, he could not stand. Thus the psalmist says, though speaking of himself as a believer, and consequently in a jus tified state, ' Enter not into judgment with thy servant ; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.'1 This a believer may say, and yet not conclude himself to be in a state of condemnation ; inasmuch as he sees himself by faith to have ground to determine that he is delivered from the law, and so not condemned by it, as a covenant of works. It is observed, on the other hand, in the Answer under our present considera tion, that the moral law is of use to a believer, in those respects in which it is of use to all men. He is hence laid under the strictest obligation to perform all the duties which we owe to God and man, and to be humbled for those defects which he has reason to charge himself with, which call for the daily exercise of repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. But as to the special use of the moral law to those who are regenerate, as dis tinguished from all others, it is said to show them how much they are bound to Christ for his fulfilling it, and enduring its curse in their stead and for their good. Christ is said to be 'the end of the law for righteousness ;'r that is, he has answered the end and demand of the law, by performing that obedience which it requires, and thereby procuring a justifying righteousness, which is applied to every one who believes. This lays them under a superadded obligation to obedience, peculiar to them as believers ; so that they are engaged to the practice of universal holiness, not only from the consideration of the sovereignty of God commanding them in common with aE others, but from 'the love of Christ,' which does as it were ' con strain them' to obey.2 Hereby also they are said to be provoked to more thank* fulness, as they have greater inducements to it than any others ; and this gratitude cannot be better expressed than by the utmost care to approve themselves to him O Rom vi. 14. p Chap. vii. 4. q Gal. iii. 13. r Rom. iii. 20. s- Jer. xxiii. 6. t isa. xiv. 25. u Iloul, vin. I. x Psal. cxliii. 2. y Rom. x.-4. z,2 Cor. v. 14. THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. 305 in all things. The grace of God, therefore, is so far from leading to licentiousness, that all who have experienced it are put by it upon the exercise of that obedience which they owe to God as their rightful Lord and Sovereign, and to Christ as their gracious Redeemer, whom they love entirely, and therefore keep his com mandments. Strictures on Antinomianism. I cannot but here take occasion to observe, not only with dislike, but a just in dignation, how some, under a pretence of religion, sap the very foundation of it, while they frequently make mention of the gospel, and the liberty wherewith Christ has made his people tree, and at the same time abuse it, not only by practising but pleading for licentiousness. The Epicureans were libertines among the heathen, and the Sadducees among the Jews ; but these were vile and profligate out of prin ciple, either denying the being of a God, or disowning his perfections as well as future rewards and punishments ; so that it is no wonder that they had no regard to the divine law. But I want words to express the wickedness of those who per vert the gospel of Christ, so as to make it appear to exempt them from the obliga tion which all are under to universal obedience. The apostle had to do with some such in his day; and he represents them as saying, 'Is the law sin?'a a question which may be paraphrased, ' Since we are delivered from the condemning sentence of the law, may we not take encouragement thence to sin?' or, as he elsewhere brings them in as saying, ' Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ?' b To both these questions he replies, with the greatest detestation, ' God forbid.' Afterwards, in an early age of the church, the Nicolaitans0 and Gnostics, and among them, the Valentinians, held these pernicious opinions, and encouraged themselves in the practice of the greatest immoralities.d Augustin speaks also of the Aerians and Eunomians, who lived in his time, who pretended that any who persisted in the vilest crimes, would receive no detriment, provided they adhered to the sentiments which they advanced.8 There are many likewise in later ages, whose sentiments have been, in this respect, subversive of all religion ; and from their denying the obligation we are under to yield obedience to the law of God, are justly called Antinomians. But that we may not appear to be unjust to the characters of men, let it be con sidered that we are not here speaking of the charge of Antinomianism, which some who defend or oppose the doctrines of grace bring against each other, supposing that their respective sentiments lead to licentiousness. The Papists and Pelagians pretend, though unjustly, that the doctrine of predestination, efficacious grace, and the final perseverance of the saints, is liable to this charge ; while they, on the other hand, lay themselves open to the same charge, by advancing doctrines which have the most pernicious tendency, as subversive of practical godliness, in various instances, — particularly by their asserting that God, in the gospel- covenant, dis penses with imperfect obedience instead of perfect, and that this is only such as we are able to perform without the aids of divine grace. We leave each party, how ever, to defend their scheme from this imputation. As to others who are more especially known by the character of Antinomians, they are of two sorts. The first are such as openly maintain that the moral law is not a rule of life in any sense ; that good works are not to be insisted on as having any reference to salva tion ; that, therefore, if persons presume, as they, according to them, ought to do, that Christ died for them, and that they were justified before they had a being, they may live in the practice of the greatest immoralities, or give countenance to those who do so, without entertaining the least doubt of their salvation ; and that it is a preposterous thing, for those who thus presumptuously conclude themselves to be justified, to confess themselves guilty of sin, since to do so would be to deny that they are in a justified state, — or in any sense to pray for the pardon a Rom. vii. 7- b Chap. vi. 1. c Rev. ii. 6. d Vid. Ca'v. Hist. Lit. torn. i. page 30. e Vid. Aug. de Haeres. cap. liv. where speaking of Eunomius, he says, Fertur etiam usque adeo fuisse bonis moribus inimicus, ut asseveraret, quod nihil cuique obesset, quorum libet perpetratio ac perseverantia peccatorum, si hujus quae ah illo docebatur, ridei particeps esset. II. 2 Q 306 THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. of sin, since to do this would argue that sin is not forgiven. Nor can they, with any tolerable degree of patience, entertain the least exhortations to practical god liness ; because they pretend that they are exempted from the obligation to per form any branch of it, by their not being under the law. Nay, some of them have been so impudent and daringly wicked as to assert that, if they should commit murder, adultery, or any other crimes of a similar nature, even this would be no bar in the way of their salvation ; and that the most vile sins which can be com mitted, will do them no hurt, nor in the least affect their eternal state. I have, indeed, sometimes thought that this representation of Antinomianism was only a consequence deduced from some absurd doctrines which have been maintained ; or that so much of hell could never put on the mask or show of religion in any de gree ; and that this character belonged to none but those who are open and pro fessed atheists. But though my lot has not been cast among persons of so vile a character, yet I have been informed by those whose souls have been grieved with their conversation, that there are some in the world who thus set themselves against the law of God. There are others, indeed, who are styled Antinomians, whose conversation is blameless, and are not therefore to be ranked with these men, or judged Antino mians in practice ; who nevertheless, do great disservice to the truth, and, it may be, give occasion to some to be licentious, by advancing unguarded expressions which will admit of a double construction, without condescending to explain some bold positions which they occasionally lay down. Thus, when they maintain eternal justification, without considering it as an immanent act in God, or as his secret determination not to impute sin to those who are given to Christ, but ascribe that to it which is only to be applied to justification, as it is the result of God's revealed will, in which respect it is said to be by faith ; and when they encourage persons from hence to conclude that their state is safe, and maintain that it is the duty of every one to believe that he is thus justified ; they certainly advance positions which have a tendency to lead some out of the way of truth and holiness, whether they design so or not. Again, when others speak diminutively of good works, as though they were in no sense necessary to salvation, because they are not the matter of our justification ; some may take occasion to think that they may be saved without them. — Further, when others deny the law to be a rule of life, or assert that believers have nothing to do with it ; though, it may be, they mean nothing else but that it is not that rule according to which God proceeds in justifying his people or in giving them a right to eternal life, or that a believer is not under the law as a covenant of works ; yet many would be ready to think that their words had a different meaning, and so be led out of the way by them, how far soever this might be from their inten tion.— Moreover, if a person seems studiously to avoid confessing sin or praying for forgiveness, some would be ready to judge of his sentiments by his practice ; and certainly our denying either of these to be a duty in any sense, is not only con trary to scripture, but inconsistent with the humility and faith which are essential to practical godliness. Or when persons deny that self-examination is a duty, and speak of aE marks and evidences of grace, though never so just and agreeable to the scripture-account of them, as legal, or as a low way of a person's coming to the knowledge of himself, or suppose that these marks and evidences are unnecessary, as being inconsistent with the Spirit's testimony ; this has a tendency to lead to pre sumption, which is a degree of licentiousness. — Again, when they assert that God is not angry with his people for their sins, nor, in any sense, punishes them for them, without distinguishing between fatherly chastisements, and the stroke of vindictive justice, or the external and sensible effects of that hatred which God cannot but exercise against sin, and his casting them out of a justified state ; such doctrines lead some persons to licentiousness, whatever be the secret meaning of those who advance them. We have an instance of this, as the historian observes/ in Agri- cola, who was Luther's townsman, and great admirer. He, as is probable, did not thoroughly understand what Luther maintained concerning the subserviency of the law to the gospel, and its having no place in the justification of a sinner ; or else, f See Sleid. Comment, de Stat. Relig. et Repub. lib. xii. THE NATURE AND USES OF THE MORAL LAW. 307 from some unguarded expressions which Luther was sometimes apt to make use of, this friend of his took occasion to advance some Antinomian tenets, namely, that repentance ought not to be urged from the consideration of the breach of the law, that the gospel ought to be preached to sinners before they are brought under con viction by the law, and that, how scandalous and debauched soever persons be in their lives, yet, if they do but believe the promises of the gospel, they shall be jus tilled. In these doctrines, Agricola was followed by a party of men. Accordingly Antinomianism is said to have taken its rise, in this part of the world, from that time. Luther, on the other hand, was forced to take a great deal of pains to rec tify his mistakes ; which, though it tended to Agricola's conviction, yet did not put a stop to the spread of his errors, which he had before propagated. As for those who were charged with Antinomianism in England, in the last cen tury, such as Dr. Crisp, Eaton, Saltmarsh, Town, and others, whatever their design might be, and how much soever they were remote from the charge of Antinomi anism in practice ; though it be alleged by some in their vindication that the prin cipal thing they had in view was to bear their testimony against the prevailing doctrine of Arminianism, which was studiously propagated by some persons of great character and influence in the nation ; yet we cannot but conclude that they would have done more service to the cause of truth, had they been more cautious in explaining their sentiments, and saved those who had favourable thoughts of them, in other respects, the trouble of producing some expressions out of their writings, to convince the world that they did not hold those dangerous notions which were charged upon them. It is too evident to be denied, that many have under stood their opinions in the worst sense ; who have hence been ready to charge the most important doctrines of the gospel with leading to licentiousness. One result has: been,, that some are more sparing in defending those truths which ought to be insisted on and explained, though in words more intelligible and unexceptionable. THE JUDICIAL AND THE CEREMONIAL LAW. Question. XCVIII. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended 1 Answer. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments, which were delivered by the voice of God upon mount Sinai, and written by him in two tables of stone, and are recorded in the twentieth chapter of Exodus ; the four first commandments containing our duty to God, and the other six our duty to man. Having considered the moral law, as written on the heart of man at first, and the knowledge of it as in some degree attainable by all who exercise their reasoning powers ; we are, in this and some foEowing Answers, led to consider that epitome or abstract of it which was given to the Israelites by the voice of God upon mount Sinai, which is contained in the Ten Commandments. But as we are considering this instance of divine condescension to them, it may not be reckoned altogether foreign to our present design, to give some brief account of those other laws which God gave, together with the moral law, most of which were communicated from mount Sinai. We may observe, therefore, that, together with the moral law, there were several forensic or judicial laws given by God for the government of the people of Israel, which more especially respected their civil rights. And there were other laws which had a more immediate subserviency to their attaining the knowledge of those things which related to the way of salvation by the promised Messiah, which are more fuEy revealed in the gospel. These are what we caE the ceremonial law. Both are to be considered before we come to speak concerning the moral law, as summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. The Judicial Law. We shaU speak first concerning the judicial law. It cannot be supposed that so great a people, so much interested in the care of God, to whom he condescended 308 THE JUDICIAL AND THE CEREMONIAL LAW. to be their king, should be without a body of laws for their government. Accord ingly, there were some given them .by him, which were founded in and agreeable to the law of nature and nations ; which all well-governed states observe to this day, such as that murder should be punished with death, and that theft should be punished with restitution or some other punishments which may best tend to deter men from it. Moreover, there were other judicial laws given to Israel, which had a more immediate tendency to promote their civil welfare, as a nation dis tinguished from all others in the world ; which laws expired when their civil polity was extinct. These were the following : — 1. Such as tended to prevent the alienation of inheritances from the respective families to which they were at first given. God commanded, that if a man died without children, his brother should marry his widow to raise up seed to him, to inherit his estate and name.s 2. If an Israelite had become poor, and was obliged to sell his land for the pay ment of his debts, the purchaser was to admit any of his family to redeem it ; or, if they could not, he was, nevertheless, to restore the land at the year of jubilee, which was every fiftieth year.h 3. If an Hebrew servant was sold for the payment of debts, which he could not otherwise discharge, his master was obliged to release him after six years' service.' But if the servant chose to stay with his master longer than that time, out of the love he bare to him ; then he was to have his ear bored, as a token that he should serve him, without being subject to the aforesaid laws, which made provision for his discharge after a certain number of years.k 4. The land was to lie unfilled, and the vineyards and olive-yards were to be free for every one to come and eat of the fruit of them every seventh year. This law was designed more especiaEy for the relief of the poor amongst them, who had no distinct inheritance of their own.1 v 5. They were prohibited from taking usury of an Israelite, though they might of a stranger. The reason of this law might be that they might exercise brotherly kindness and charity to one another, in which sense the law is in force to this day ; especiaEy when the poor borrow money to supply themselves with necessary food, in which case it is now unlawful to take usury. Or the reason of it was, that the Israelites lived upon their farms or cattle, by which they seldom got more than what was a necessary provision for their families ; so that the paying of usury whenever they were necessitated to borrow money, would have proved their ruin in the end. Hence they were not to take usury of an Israelite, but of a stranger they might ; because these enriched themselves by merchandise, and were gainers in a way of trade by what they borrowed. 6. All the males were to come up to Jerusalem, to appear before God, and per form public worship in the temple three times a-year, namely, at the solemn festi vals, — the passover, pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles.™ 7. Six cities of refuge were appointed for those to flee to for protection, who killed any one by accident ; though a near kinsman, as an avenger of blood, might kill the manslayer before he came to one of these cities. The design of this law was to induce them to take care that none might lose their lives through inadver tency. And there was provision made in these cites for the manslayer to dwell safely ; whereby a just difference was put between such an one, and a wEful mur derer." Thus concerning the judicial laws. ' The Ceremonial Law. We now proceed to consider the ceremonial laws which were given them, the design of which was to lead them into the knowledge of Christ, and the way of salvation by him, then to come.0 These may be considered under six heads, which we shall briefly notice. g Deut. xxv. 5, 6; Matt. xxii. 24. h Levit. xxv. 11—13, 25—27. i Exod. xxi. 2. k Exod. xxi. 5, 6. 1 Chap, xxiii. 10. m Deut. xvi. 16, 17. n Numb. xxxv. 15, 26, 27. « Heb. x. 1 ; Gal. iii. 24, 25. THE JUDICIAL AND THE CEREMONIAL LAW. 309 1. It was ordained that all their males should be circumcised. Circumcision was designed to be a visible mark put on the church, whom God had set apart for himself, that they might be distinguished from the world. But the principal de sign of it was, that it might be a sign or seal of the blessings of the covenant of grace, in which God promised that he would be ' a God to them ;' and by observ ing this rite, they were to own themselves as his people.p 2. There were various ways, whereby persons were reckoned unclean, and ordi nances appointed for their cleansing. They were rendered unclean by eating those birds, beasts, fishes, and creeping things, which God had pronounced unclean, and not designed for food.i Moreover, they were poEuted by touching the dead bodies of such unclean birds, beasts, fishes, or creeping things.1. Again, some diseases, in cident to the bodies of men, which were more than ordinarily noisome, rendered them unclean, such as the issue, leprosy,8 &c. Besides, the clothes they wore, the houses they lived in, the beds on which they lay, their ovens, and the vessels used in eating or drinking, were, on several accounts, deemed unclean ; and accordingly were either to be cleansed or destroyed, otherwise the owners of them would be polluted by them.4 This law was designed to signify how odious and abominable sin, which is a moral pollution, is in God's account, who is 'of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.'" We might also observe that there were various ordinances appointed for their cleansing, in order to which, several sacrifices were to be offered, and divers washings with water.1 The former signified the way of our being delivered from sin by the blood of Christ, as the procuring cause of forgiveness ¦? the latter, our being cleansed from sin by the internal, powerful influences of the Holy Spirit, in regeneration and sanc tification^ 3. There were holy places, such as the tabernacle and temple, with their vessels and ornaments. The tabernacle was erected according to the pattern which God showed to Moses in the mount ;a and was so framed that it might be taken to pieces, and removed from place to place, as often as the host of Israel changed their station in the wilderness. Accordingly, there were Levites appointed to take it down and. set it up ; and also waggons, with oxen, to carry it, excepting those parts of it which belonged to the holiest of all, which were to be carried on men's shoulders.b The temple was the fixed place appointed for public worship at Jerusslem ; first built by Solomon, and afterwards rebuilt by Zerubbabel. Both this and the tabernacle signified that God would dwell in the midst of his people, and accept that solemn and instituted worship which was to be performed by his church in aE ages. The temple was designed to be a type of the incarnation of the Son of God, who is styled ' Emmanuel, God with us ;' and who, in allusion to it, calls his body a tem ple.'0 Moreover, the courts of the tabernacle and temple, and the ministry per formed in them, had each its respective signification annexed to it. That in which the priests came daily to minister, wherein gifts and sacrifices were offered, pre figured Christ's offering himself a sacrifice upon earth, for the sins of his people. And the inner court, which was the holiest of all, into which none but the high priest was to enter, and that with blood and incense, signified Christ's ' entering into heaven, to appear in the presence of God for us.'d As for the vessels of the tabernacle and temple, some of these were in the first court, which is also called 'the sanctuary ; in which was the candlestick, the table, and the show-bread, 'e the laver and the altar ;f all which were designed for types. The candlestick signified the church, and the preaching the gospel therein ; whereby light is held forth to the worlds The show-bread set up, signified the communion which the members of the church have with Christ, and with one another ;h as he styles himself the 'bread of life,' or, 'the bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.'1 The laver signified that, when we draw nigh to God, our persons and our services ought to be pure and holy. To this the p Gen. xvii. 7, 10. q Lev. xi. r Verse 31. s Lev. xv. 2, et seq. and chap. xiii. t See a particular account hereof in Lev. xi. 15. u Hub. i. 13. x Lev. xiii xv y Heb. ix. 13, 14; Eph. i. 7- z Ezek. xxxvi. 25—27; Heb. x. 22; Tit. iii. 5, 6! a Exod. xxv. 40. b Numb. vii. 6. c John ii. 19. d Heb. ix. 24. e Lev. xxiv o 7. Heb. ix. 2. f Exod. xxx. 18. g Rev. i. 20; Matt. v. 14. h 1 Cor. I. 17.' i John vi. 33. 310 THE JUDICIAL AND THE CEREMONIAL LAW. apostle alludes, when he says, ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in fuE assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 'k The altar, which was holy, and sanctified the gift that the high-priest offered on it,1 so that 'every thing that touched it was holy,'m signified that the divine nature of Christ added an infinite worth to what he did in the human, in which he offered himself a sacrifice to God. These were the vessels in the outer court. — Those in the inward court, or holiest of all, ' in which were the golden cen ser, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy- seat,'11 were a symbol and type of God's special presence with his people, which is their glory, or of the Son of God's dwelling with us in our nature. The mercy-seat, which was placed over the ark, signified that the mercy of God was displayed to sin ners through Christ. The cherubim of glory with their wings spread, overshadow ing and looking down upon the mercy-seat, signified that the angels behold and ad mire the stupendous work of our redemption.0 The altar of incense, and the golden censer, were types of the intercession of Christ for his people ; and the fragrancy of the incense typified the acceptableness of that intercession in the sight of God. There were, besides, three more things in the holiest of all, which are particularly men tioned. One was 'the pot of manna,' which was miraculously preserved from cor ruption throughout their generations, as a memorial of the bread which God had fed them with in the wilderness, and a type of Christ, the bread of life, who was to come down from heaven.P There was also Aaron's rod, which was preserved in memory of the wonders which were wrought by it in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness. It is said also to have 'blossomed and yielded almonds ;'i which seemed to typify the flourishing state of the gospel, which is called, ' the rod of God's strength.'1. Moreover, the two tables of the law were put into the ark, whereby the exceeding holiness of the law was signified, and also that it should be fulfilled and magnified by Christ, when he came to dwell among us. Thus we have given a brief account of the holy vessels of the temple and the tabernacle. We might have added that there were various ornaments of the temple and the tabernacle. They were adorned with silver, gold, and precious stones, carved, and curious needle-work ; which rendered them exceedingly rich and beautiful. The temple, in particular, was the wonder of the world, far surpassing all other build ings, either before or since.8 Its splendour may be supposed to shadow forth the spiritual beauty and glory of the gospel-church, and of the heavenly state, in which the church shall be brought to its utmost perfection.' Thus concerning those holy places, which were immediately designed for worship. There were other holy places, such as the land of Canaan, which was styled ' the holy land,' while the inhabitants of it were called 'a holy nation,' or 'the people of his holiness.'11 As this was a place where God gave them rest, and a settlement, after forty years' travel in the wilderness, it was a type of that rest which the church was to expect from Christ under the gospel." Moreover, Jerusalem was an holy city ? because thither the tribes went up to worship,2 and God was present with them there. a 4. There were laws which respected those whom God had appointed to be minis ters in holy things. These were the Priests ; the Levites, who were to assist the former in some parts of their office ; but especially the High-priest, who was the chief or head of them all, and who is considered as an eminent type in several respects of Christ's priestly office.1. There were also various ceremonies instituted, which were observed in the consecration of them. In particular, they were to be washed with water ;° ablution with which was a rite used in the consecration of persons and things, and signified that they who ministered in holy things should be holy in their conversation. Moreover, there were several garments to be made and put on them, which are styled 'holy,' and designed 'for glory and for beauty.'3 These k Heb. x. 22. 1 Matt, xxiii. 19. m Exod. xxix. 37. n Heb. ix. 3—5. o 1 Pet. l. 12. p John vi. 48—50. . q Numb. xvii. 8. r Psal. ex. 2. s Exod. xxv. 3_7; 1 Chron. xxix. 2—5. t Rev. xxi. 11—23. u Isa. lxiii. 18. x Isa. xi. 10 ; Heb. iv. 9. y Neh.m. xi. 1 ; Matt. iv. 5. z Psal. exxii. 4. a Ezck. xxxvii. 27, 28. b Heb. v. 1—5. c Exod. xxix. 4. d Chup. xxviii. 2, et seq. THE JUDICIAL AND THE CEREMONIAL LAW. 311 signified the dignity and holiness of Christ's priesthood. In particular, the breast plate, adorned with precious stones, on which the names of the children of Israel were engraven, which was worn only by the high-priest, and with which he was to go into the holy of holies, signified the concern of Christ's people in the execution of his priestly office, and his representing them when appearing in the presence of God for them. Again, the priests were anointed with the precious ointment com pounded for that purpose ;e whereby they were set apart or consecrated to minister in the priest's office, and were types of Christ. On this account he is said to be ' anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows.'* 5. There were laws respecting the temple-service, or the gifts and sacrifices which were to be offered there. There were many gifts presented or devoted to God ; some of which were designed, not for sacrifice, but to testify their acknowledgment of God's right to-all we are and have. Among these, the first ripe fruits were offered, or presented, as gifts to him.s As for those things which were designed for sacrifice, they were offered, and their blood poured forth on the altar; which signified the ex piation of sin by the blood of Jesus.h That part of the high-priest's office, which re spected his carrying the blood with the incense, into the holiest of all, was a type of Christ's 'entering into heaven, there to appear in the presence of God' for his people.' 6. There were laws which respected the holy times or festivals appointed for solemn worship. Some of these festivals were monthly, as the new moons ; others annual, as the passover. The latter was not only a commemorative sign of their having been formerly delivered from the sword of the destroying angel, when he slew the first-born of Egypt ; but it typified our deliverance from the stroke of vindictive justice, on which account Christ is called ¦ our passover. 'k There was also the feast of harvest, in which the first-fruits were presented to God as an ac knowledgment that he has a right to the best of our time and service. There was likewise the feast of tabernacles ; which not only called to remembrance their dwelling in tents in the wilderness, but was an acknowledgment that we are stran gers and sojourners upon earth, and was also a type of Christ, who was expected to come and pitch his tabernacle among us in his incarnation. — There are many other laws, both judicial and ceremonial, which I might have mentioned ; but as these things are only spoken of occasionally, in connection with their having been im parted by God to Israel, by the hand of Moses, from mount Sinai, about the same time that the ten commandments were given,1 we shall add no more concerning them, The Legislation from Horeb. We proceed to consider what is particularly mentioned in this Answer, concern ing God's giving the abstract of the moral law contained in the ten commandments. This was delivered by a voice ; in respect to which God is said to have 'talked with them face to face. 'm But at the same time there were many ensigns of ter rible majesty attending the delivery of this law. 'The mountain burned with fire.' n There were ' lightnings, thunderings, and earthquakes, and the sound of a trumpet, that waxed louder and louder ; which made the people, and Moses himself, exceed ingly tremble.'0 There was also the ministry of angels,. who performed that part of the work which they were employed in on this solemn occasion. This is de scribed in a majestic style, becoming the subject insisted on, when it is said, ' The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints ; lrom his right hand went a fiery law.'P Their ministry might probably consist in their forming the thunder, lightnings, and tempest. Yet the law was not originally from them, but given im mediately by God. The design of its being given in such an awful and majestic way, was that God might hereby set forth his greatness, and fill them with a rever ential fear of him ; and to intimate that, if they did not yield obedience to him, e Exod. xxx. 25, 30. f Psal. xiv. 7. g Exod. xxix. 29. h Heb. ix. 22, 23, 26. i Heb. ix. 24. k 1 Cor. v. 7. 1 Deut. iv. 12, 13. m Chap. v. 4. n Exod. xix. 18. o Chap. xx. 18; Heb. xii. 18, 19. p Deut. xxxiii. 2. 312 ItULES FOR UNDERSTANDING they were to expect nothing else but to be consumed by the fire of his jealousy. It was an intimation, however, not that he designed to destroy them, but that he designed to prove them ; as it is said, that ' his fear might be before their faces, that they should not sin.'q What we may farther observe is, that, after God had delivered the ten commandments by words, he wrote them with his own finger on two tables of stone. In these ten commandments, written on the two tables, the whole moral law is summarily comprehended. This is particularly explained in several foEowing Answers. RULES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Question XCIX. What rules are to be observed for the right understanding of the Ten Com mandments ? Answer. For the right understanding of the Ten Commandments, these rules are to be observed, I. That the law is perfect, and bindeth every one to full conformity in the whole man unto the righteousness thereof, and unto entire obedience for ever, so as to require the utmost perfection of every duty, and to forbid the least degree of every sin. This implies that, how unable soever we are to yield perfect obedience, yet it does not cease to be a duty ; and that, though some sins are smaller than others, yet the least is contrary to the law of God, and therefore not to be committed by us. II. That it is spiritual, and so reacheth the understanding, will, affections, and all other powers, of the soul, as well as words, works, and gestures. This denotes that obedience ought to be performed in a spiritual manner. God is to be worshipped with our spirits ; without which, all external modes of worship will avail nothing. Nevertheless, external worship is to be performed and expressed by words, works, and gestures ; and it therefore supposes that our understandings are rightly informed, or that we do not worship an unknown God, — that our wiEs express a readiness to obey him out of choice, and without the least reluctance, — and that our affections must centre in him, we performing the duties incumbent on us, with the utmost delight and pleasure. III. That one and the same thing, in divers respects, is required or forbidden, in several com mandments. Thus covetousness is forbidden in the tenth commandment. Yet as by this sin the world is loved more than God, it is a breach of the first commandment, and as such is styled ' idolatry. 'r IV. That as, where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden ; and where a sin is for bidden, the contrary duty is commanded : so, where a promise is annexed, the contrary threatening is included; and where a threatening is annexed, the contrary promise is included. Thus the fifth commandment requires us to honour our superiors. It hence for bids our reproaching them, or doing any thing dishonourable or injurious to them.8 The eighth commandment forbids stealing ; and it also requires the contrary duty, namely, that we should labour for a competent maintenance, that we may not be exposed to any temptation to steal. Thus it is said, ' Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.'* Moreover, as there is a pro mise of long life annexed to the fifth commandment, this promise includes the con trary threatening to those that break it. Thus it is said, ' The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shaE eat it.' u On the other hand, whatever threatening is annexed to any commandment, the contrary promise is included, and belongs to those who repent of, abhor, and turn from the sin forbidden. Thus it is said, 'At what instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up q Exod. xx. 20. r Col. iii. 5. s Matt. xv. 4. t Eph. iv. 28. u Prov. xxx. 17 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 313 and to pull down," and to destroy it ; if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.'1 V. That what God forbids, is at no time to be done ; what he commands, is always our duty, and yet every particular duty is not to be done at all times. Thus sin is, under no pretence, to be committed. Accordingly, Moses, when he was in a prosperous condition in Pharaoh's court, though he might have pre tended that his greatness, and the advantages which Israel might have expected from it, would be an excuse for his continuing to enjoy the pleasures of sin there ; yet he was sensible that these considerations would not exempt him from guilt. Hence, ' he forsook Egypt, and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.' J — Again, what God commands is always a duty ; so that there is no season of life in which it ceases to be so, for example, praying, reading, hearing the word, &c. Yet these duties are not actually to be engaged in every moment of our lives. It is always our duty to visit the sick, com fort the afflicted, defend the oppressed ; but such objects do not always present themselves to us, so as to render it our duty at all times. VI. That, under one sin or duty, all of the same kind are forbidden or commanded, together with all the causes, means, occasions, and appearances thereof, and provocations thereunto. Thus, according to the fourth commandment, it is our duty to sanctify the Sab bath, and consequently to avoid every thing which may be a means or occasion of our breach of it. In the sixth commandment murder is forbidden ; so is likewise all sinful passion or anger with our brethren without a cause. z In the seventh, adultery is forbidden; so is also 'looking on a woman to lust after her.'" And as we are obliged to ' abstain ' from every sin forbidden, so ' from all appearance of evil, ' b or what may be an occasion of it. Thus ' fathers ' are ' not to provoke their children to wrath;'0 and according to the moral reason of the command, we are not to provoke any one to wrath, or do that which may excite their corruptions. VII. That what is forbidden or commanded to ourselves, we are bound, according to our places, to endeavour that it may be avoided or performed by others, according to the duty of their places. Not to endeavour to prevent sin in others, is, in effect, to commit it ourselves. Thus Eli contracted the guilt of his son's crimes, by not endeavouring to prevent them. Persons are said to ' hate their brethren in their hearts ' who ' do not rebuke them, but suffer sin upon them. 'd And Abraham is commended for his having 'commanded his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord. ' e It is hence a duty for parents to instruct their children in the ways of God.' f VIII. That, in what' is commanded to others, we are hound according to our places and callings, to be helpful to them, and to take heed of partaking with others in what is forbidden them. That we are to be helpful to others, in that which is their duty, appears from our obligation to endeavour that God may be glorified. Hence, we are, to our utmost, to promote their faith and joy in Christ. Thus the apostle says, ' We are helpers of your joy.'s On the other hand, we ought to take care that we do not partake with others in their sin. Thus the psalmist says, ' When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.'11 x Jer. xviii. 7, 8. y Heb. xi. 25. z Matt. v. 22. a Matt. v. 28. b 1 Thess. v. 22. c Eph. vi. 4. d Lev. xix. 17. e Gen. xviii. 19. f Deut. vi. 6, 7. g 2 Cor. i. 24. h Psal. 1. 18. II. 2E 314 THE PREFACE AND SUM OF THE PREFACE AND SUM OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Question C. What special things are we to consider in the Ten Commandments ? Answer. We are to consider in the Ten Commandments, the preface, the substance of the com mandments themselves, and several reasons annexed to some of them, the more to enforce them. Question CI. What is the preface to the Commandments f Answer. The preface to the Commandments is contained in these words, 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,' wherein God manifesteth his sovereignty, as being Jehovah, the eternal, immutable, and almighty God, having his being in and ot himself, and giving being to all bis words and works; ami that he is a God in covenant, as \iith Israel of old, so with all his people; who, as he brought them out of thejr bon dage in Egypt, so he delivereth us from our spiritual thraldom; and that therefore we are bound to take him tor our God alone, and to keep all his commandments Question CII. What is the sum of the four Commandments, which contain our duty to God? Answer. The sum of tbe four Commandments containing our duty to God, is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind. These Answers contain some things necessary to be observed. I. The substance of each commandment is to be considered by us ; or what it is which God enjoins or forbids in it. We find that every commandment contains a distinct head of duty, and is to be explained according to the rules laid down in the foregoing Answer. We find also that some of them have reasons annexed to them ; and it is an instance of God's condescending goodness, that, besides the consideration of our obligation to obey whatever he commands because it is his wiE, we may have other motives to enforce obedience. What these reasons or motives are, will be considered in their proper place. II. Here is a general preface, which God has set before the commandments, and Which contains several motives to obedience. Some of these, indeed, were pecu liarly adapted to the Israelites, whereby they were put in mind of their late de liverance out of the land of Egypt. Yet if we consider the moral reason of the preface, as it, together with the matter of the commandments to which it is pre fixed, may be applied to God's people in aE ages, we shaE find that it extends farther than to show the obligation which Israel was under, as delivered from the Egyptian bondage. 1. We observe, then, that God reveals himself as the Lord, whose name alone is Jehovah, a God of infinite sovereignty and almighty power, as weE as faithful to his promises. Hence, whatever he obliges us to do, or gives us encouragement to expect from him, we have the highest motive and inducement to do and expect. 2. He styles himself his people's God ; and so puts them in, mind of that relation which they stand in to him, as the result of the covenant of grace, in which he gives them a warrant to lay claim to those spiritual blessings which he bestows on a people nigh unto him. This is considered as a farther obligation to obedience. The covenant of grace respects either the external dispensation of it which belongs to the church in general, that is, to aE who are made partakers of the glad tidings of salvation which are contained in the gospel ; or else that particular claim which believers have to the saving ¦ blessings which are made oveV to them in it, which respects all those graces which God is pleased to give his people here, and that glory which he has reserved for them hereafter ; and this must certainly be reck oned' the highest motive to, duty. ( 3. As to God's having brought Israel ' out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,' it is to be extended farther than that particular providence, which was then fresh in their memories. It denotes all the deliverances which God is pleased to vouchsafe to his people, whether temporal or spiritual, — in par ticular, that which was procured for us by Christ, from the bondage and thraldom of sin and Satan, the condemning sentence of the law, together with the salvation which i$ inseparably connected with it. This deliverance is to be improved by us as an inducement to yield universal obedience to all God's commandments. There are some, indeed, who think that we should call the preface a part of the first THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 315 Commandment ; and so the meaning is, ' Thou art to know, and practically con sider, that I am the Lord thy God, ' as containing the affirmative part of the com mandment ; and then follows the negative, ' Thou shalt have no other gods.' Or they suppose the sentence to be a reason annexed to this commandment in par ticular. But it seems most probable that it is a. preface .to aE the commandments; and that, accordingly, it is to be applied as a motive to enforce obedience to every one of them. III. We have farther an account of the sum of the four commandments which contain our duty to God. Here we may observe, thatthe sum of all the command ments is love. This is what the apostle intends, when he says, ' The end of the commandment is charity,' or rather ' love,' as it ought to be rendered.' Accord ingly, he says, ' He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.'k This love hath either God or man for its object, and comprises the duties which we owe to God or man. AE these duties are reduced to this general Head, that hereby we may understand that obedience, whether it be to God or man, is to be performed with delight. Without this, it wiE be a burden to us and unacceptable to him, who has obliged us to love him and keep his commandments, because he first loved us. These commandments, as they respect our duty to God and man, are comprised in two tables, which are tobe divided according to their respective objects. Some ancient writers, indeed, have very injudiciously supposed that the five first com mandments belong to the first table, and the others to the second ; and so make an equal division of them. The Papists, on the other hand, have assigned but three to the first table, making the second commandment an appendix to the first ; and, that the number ten may be complete, they divide the tenth commandment into two. The reason urged by them for this matter, will be considered in its proper place. We are bound to conclude, however, that the first four commandments con tain the duties of the first table ; and are those, which respect the duties which we owe immediately to God. These are to be performed, as our Saviour says, ' with all our soul, with aE our strength, and with all our mind.'1 This is an idea superior to that which is contained in the duty we owe to man. The six last commandments contain the duties of the second table, of which our neighbour is the more imme diate object. That this division of the commandments is just, appears from what the apostle says when, speaking concerning the duty contained in the fifth com mandment, ' Honour thy father and mother,' he caEs it 'the first commandment with promise.'™ Now, it is not the first commandment which has a promise annexed to it, since the second commandment contains a promise of mercy to 'thousands of them that love God and keep his commandments ;' nor is it the first of the ten commandments. The apostle, therefore, can intend nothing by calling it ' the first commandment with promise, ' but that it is the first of the second table. Now, that we are considering the commandments as contained in two tables, and distinguished, with respect to their more immediate object, we may farther ob serve that, .though the duties of both tables are enjoined by the authority of God, and consequently are equally binding, so that the obedience which is acceptable in his sight must be so extensive that we must ' have respect to all his command- . ments ;'n yet the duties of the first table, in which we have to do with God as the more immediate object of them, are to be considered as acts of religious wor ship, in performing which we not only confess our obligation to obey him, but adore and magnify his divine perfections as the highest end and reason of our obedience. This feature is not included in the idea of the duties which we owe to our neigh bour, as contained in the commandments of the second table. These, indeed, are to be religiously observed, not from any circumstance respecting our neighbour, but as duties which we perform in obedience to God.0 — Again, though the principal and most exceEent branch of religion consists in our obeying the commandments of the first table ; yet our obedience is not only defective, but unacceptable to God, if we neglect to perform those of the second. On the other hand, the performance of the duties of the second table is not sufficient to denominate a person a religious man, who lives in the neglect of those which are contained in the first. — Further, the i 1 Tim. i. 5. k Rom. xiii. 8. 1 Luke x. 27. m Eph. vi. 2. n Psal. cxix. 6. o The former of these are generally styled the elicit acts of religion, the latter imperate. 316 THE DUTIES REQUIRED IN duties which we owe to our neighbour, as contained in the second table, are, for the most part, to give way to those which we owe to God, as enjoined in the first; especially when they are considered as standing in competition with them. Thus we are obliged, in the fifth commandment, to obey our parents or superiors ; yet, if they command us to break the Sabbath, profane the name of God, or attend on such worship as he has not required, we are to disobey them, or to ' obey God rather than men.'? Accordingly, it is said, ' If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go, and serve other gods ; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him.'i This our Saviour calls ' hating father and mother, wife, children, and brethren,'1, without which we cannot be his disciples. By this language he intends that, if the love which we otherwise owe them be inconsistent with that obedience which he requires of his followers, or if we cannot oblige them, and at the same time perform the duties which we owe to him, the inferior obligation must give way to the superior. THE DUTIES REQUIRED IN THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. Question CIII. Which is the first commandment? Answer. The first commandment is, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Question CIV. What are the duties required in the first commandment ? Answer. The duties required in the first commandment, are the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God ; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by think ing, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honouring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fear ing of him, believing him, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him, being zealous for him, call. ing upon bim, giving all praise and thanks, and" yielding all obedience and submission to him, with the whole man, being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in any thing he is offended, and walking humbly with bim. The duties required in this commandment, are contained in three general Heads. 1. We are obliged to know God. This supposes that our understanding is rightly informed as to what relates to the divine perfections as displayed in the works of creation and providence, by which we are led into the knowledge of his eternal power and Godhead. This is called the natural knowledge of God. But that knowledge which we are to endeavour to attain, who have a brighter manifestation of his perfections in the gospel, is of a far more excellent and superior nature. For we see in the gospel, the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; or behold the perfections of the divine nature as displayed in and through a Mediator. To know God thus, is to possess that knowledge which is absolutely necessary to sal vation ; as our Saviour says, ' This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'5 By means of it we know, not only what God is, but our interest in him, and the foundation which we have 'of our being accepted in his sight. 2. We are farther commanded to acknowledge God, or make a visible profession of our subjection to him, and, in particular, to Christ, as our great Mediator. His name, interest, and glory, should be most dear to us ; and we are, on all occasions, to testify that we count it our glory to be his servants, and to make it appear that he is the supreme object of our desire and delight. Thus, the psalmist says, ' I cried unto thee, 0 Lord ; I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living;'1 and, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.'u 3. We are farther obliged by this commandment to worship and glorify God, pursuant to what we know and the profession we make of him as the true God and our God. To worship and glorify God, is to ascribe all possible glory and perfec tion to him, and to have our hearts suitably affected therewith, as sensible of that pActsiv. 19. q Deut. xiii. 6, 8. r Luke xiv. 26. s John xvii. 3. t Psal. cxlii. 5. u Psal. lxxiii. 25. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 317 infinite distance which we stand at from him. This is considered under several Heads, which contain the substance of what is required in this commandment. — First, we must make God the subject of our daily meditation ; calling to mind what he is in himself, and what he is to us, or does for us. This is to be considered as a means to preserve us from sin, and a spur to duty, a motive to holy fear and re verence. — Again, we are to honour, adore, and fear him for his greatness. Thus the psalmist says, ' Who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord ? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord ? God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of the saints, and to be had in reverence of aE them that are about him. 'x— Further, as God is the best good, and has promised that he will be a God to us ; so he is to be desired, loved, delighted and rejoiced in, and chosen by us. Thus the prophet says, ' With my soul have I desired thee in the night ;'* and the church, ' I sat down under his shadow with great delight ;'z and the apostle, ' Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.'3 — Further, as he is a God of truth, we are to believe all that he has spoken ; and, in particular, what he has revealed in his promises or threatenings, relating to mercies which he will bestow, or judgments which he wiE inflict. Thus our Saviour says, ' If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me ?'b And it is said that, when ' Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.'0 — Again, as he is able to save to the uttermost, and faithful in fulfilling aE his promises, we are to trust him with all we have from him, and for all those bless ings which we hope to receive at his hands. Thus the prophet says, ' Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.'3 And the apostle speaks of his ' having committed ' all to him,e as the consequence of what he knew him to be. — Again, when the name, interest, and glory of God are opposed in the world, we are to express an holy zeal for them. Thus the prophet Elijah says, ' I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts ; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. 'f As to what concerns our conversation in general, we are to be 'not sloth ful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.'s — Further, as he is a God who hears prayer, we are daily to call upon him, ' 0 thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall aE flesh come.'h — Moreover, as he is the God of aE our mercies, we are to thank and praise him for them. Thus the psalmist says, ' 0 give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.'1 — Further, his sover eignty and dominion over us call for subjection and obedience, and a constant care to please him, and to approve ourselves to him in all things. Thus the apostle says, ' Submit yourselves to God ;'k and the psalmist speaks of a person's ' cleansing his way, by taking heed thereto according to his word.'1 — Again, as he is an holy, jeal ous, and sin-hating God, we are to be filled with grief and sorrow of heart when he is offended, either by ourselves or others. Thus Ephraim says, ' I was ashamed, yea, even confounded ; because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 'm And the psalmist says, ' Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they,' that is, the world in general, ' keep not thy law.'n — Finally, a sense of our unworthiness and daily in firmities should excite us to ' walk humbly with God.' This is enjoined as a neces sary duty,0 and is called a being 'clothed with humility. 'p Thus concerning the duties required in this commandment. That which maybe farther observed is, that it is fitly placed before aE the other commandments, because what it enjoins is, from the nature of the thing, necessary to our performing the duties which are required in them. The object of worship must first be known before we can apply ourselves, in a right manner, to perform any duty prescribed, whether respecting God or man. — It may be also farther consid ered, that it is not an easy matter to keep this commandment, because of the spirit uality and vast extent of the duty enjoined, and because of the many graces which are to be exercised by those who would perform it aright. Hence, we ought ear- x Psal. lxxxix. 6, 7. y Isa. xxvi. 9. z Cant. ii. 3. a John xxi. 15. b John viii. 46. c Exod. xiv. 31. d Isa. xxvi. 4. e 2 Tim. i. 12. t I Kings xix. 10. g Rom. xii. 11. h Psal. lxv. 2. i Psal. cxxxvi. 1. k James iv. 7. 1 Psal. cxix. 9. m Jer. xxxi. 19. n r.-al. cxix. 136. o Micah vi. 8. p 1 Pet. v. 5. 318 THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN nestly to beg of God that our hearts may be set right with him, and inclined and excited by him to perform it. This is a peculiar blessing to be desired and expected from the Holy Spirit. Thus the psalmist says, ' Incline my heart unto thy testi monies, 'i THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. Question CV. What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment? Answer. The sins forbidden in the first commandment, are, Atheism, in denying, or not having a God ; Idolatry, in having, or worshipping more gods than one, or any with, or instead of, the true God ; the not having and avouching him for God, and our God ; the omission or neglect of any thing due to him required in this commandment, ignorance, forgetfuliiess, misapprehensions, false opinions, unworthy and wicked thoughts of him, bold and curious searching into his secrets, all pro- faneness, hatred of God, self-love, self-seeking, and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things, and taking them off from bim, in u hole or in part ; vaiit credulity, unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair, incorrigibleness, insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart, pride, presumption, carnal security, tempting ol God, using unlawful means, and trusting in lawful means, carnal delights and jovs; corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal, lukewarmness, and deadness in the things of God, estranging ourselves, antl apostatizing from God, praying or giving any religious worship to saints, angels, or any other creatures, all compacts, and consulting with the devil, and hearkening to his suggestions, making men the lords Of our faith and conscience, slighting abd despising God and his commandments, resisting and grieving of his Spirit, discontent, and impatience at his dispensations, charging him foolishly for the evils he inflicts on us, and ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have, or can do, to fortune, idols, ourselves, or any other creature. Question CVI. What are we especially taught by these words before me in the first command ment ? Answer. These words before me, or ' before my face,' in the first commandment, teach us, that God who seeth all things, takes special notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god ; that so it may be an argument to dissuade from it, and to aggravate it, as a most impu dent provocation, as also to persuade us to do, as in his sight, whatever we do in his service. The sins forbidden in this commandment may be reduced to two general Heads, atheism and idolatry. Atheism. By atheism men are so far from taking God for their God, that they deny that there is a God, or, at least, that he is what he has revealed himself to be. Thus the wicked man, who is styled 'a fool,' is represented as • saying in his heart, There is no God.'r Atheism is either speculative or practical. The former is that which is seated in the minds and consciences of men ; who are so far blinded, perverted, and deluded as to think that there is no God. There are, indeed, very few among these who are so bold and profane as to deny this truth when they at tend to the dictates of nature, or duly exercise those reasoning faculties with which God has endowed them ; by neglecting to do which, they must be reckoned but one remove from brutes. Some, it is true, are ready to wish that there were no God ; or, inclined to deny those divine perfections which are essential to him, they cast contempt on his government, or, it may be, deny a providence ; which is, in effect, to deny that there is a God. It must be observed, however, that none pro ceed to this degree of wickedness, till, by a long continuance in sin, they are given up to judicial hardness of heart, and blindness of mind.8 And even these have been forced, at times, to confess that there is a God, with whom is terrible majesty ; when he has broken in on their consciences, and filled them with the dreadful ap prehensions of his wrath, as a sin-revenging Judge. — But where there is one speculative atheist, there are a thousand practical ones, who live without God in the world ; and these are described in this Answer, as being guilty of those sins which none who duly consider his divine perfections would venture to commit. ' To en- q Psal. cxix. 36. r Psal. xiv. 1. s Rom. i. 28; Eph. iv. 17—20. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 319 large on every one of those instances, particularly mentioned in this Answer, in which this sin is supposed to consist, would require a distinct treatise, and be in consistent with our designed brevity in explaining the ten commandments. All, therefore, that we shall attempt at present, shall be to consider some instances in which practical atheism discovers itself, together with the aggravations of this sin ; and then we shall inquire what judgment we are to pass concerning those who com plain of atheistical and blasphemous thoughts, and consider whether this be a de gree of that atheism which we are speaking of, and what are the causes of this sin, and the remedies against it. 1. We shall first consider the instances in which practical atheism discovers itself. Among these are the foEowing : — To be grossly ignorant, and know nothing of God but the name, — being utter strangers to those perfections whereby he makes himself known to the world ; or to entertain carnal conceptions of him, as though he were altogether such an one as ourselves.' — Never seriously to exercise thoughts about God, though we know, in some measure, what he is. This forgetfulness is a degree of atheism, and wiE be severely punished by him." — To maintain corrupt doctrines and dangerous heresies, subversiye of the fundamental articles of faith, and contrary to the divine perfections. Of this kind are those doctrines which militate against his sovereignty and dominion over the wiEs, consciences, and affec tions of men ; when we conclude that his counsels and determinations may be dis annulled or defeated ; or when we suppose that he changes, as we do ; or when, under a pretence of advancing one perfection, we set aside the glory of another ; when, in order to magnify his mercy, we disregard his holiness or justice, and so presume that we shall be happy without being holy ; or when we give way to de spairing thoughts, from the consideration of his vindictive justice, without improv ing the displays of his mercy, as set forth in the gospel. — Again, to repine and quarrel at his providence, and pretend to find fault with the dispensations of it ; or charge God foolishly, and go about to prescribe laws to him, who is the Governor of the world, and may do what he will with the work of his hands. — To refuse to engage in those acts of religious worship which he has appointed, or to attend on his ordinances, in which we may hope for his presence and blessing. — To behave ourselves,' in the conduct of our lives, as though we were not accountable to him, and had no reason to be afraid of his judgments ; when we set our affections on other things, and take them off from him ; when we are guilty of wilful impeni tence and unbelief, and are incorrigible under divine rebukes ; when our hearts and lives are estranged from him, as though we desired not the knowledge of his ways ; when we resist and grieve his Spirit, are discontented and impatient under his hand, or ascribe that to second causes or to chance which is under the direction of his pro vidence. In these and many other instances, persons are notoriously guilty of practical atheism, which is forbidden in this commandment. 2. We are now to consider the aggravations and dreadful consequences of this sin. It is contrary to the light of nature, and the dictates of conscience, a disre garding of those impressions which God has made of his glory on the souls of men. In those who have been favoured with the revelation of the grace of God in the gospel, in which his perfections have been set forth to the utmost, it is a shutting of our eyes against the light, and casting contempt on that which should raise our admiration, and excite in us the highest esteem of him whom we practicaEy disown and deny. — Again, it is directly opposite to all religion, and entirely inconsistent with it, and opens a door to the greatest degree of licentiousness. To Eve without God in the world, is to give the reins to our own corruptions. It is not merely a sin of infirmity or inadvertency, but a running in aE excess of riot ; and therefore the consequence of it must be dreadful ; for that which strikes at the very being of God, cannot but expose the sinner to the sorest condemnation. 3. But there are some sins mentioned in this Answer, which contain a degree of practical atheism, and which believers themselves are prone to fall into and com plain of, such as forgetfulness of God, unbelief, distrust of his providence, insensi bility under judgments, too great a degree of hardness of heart, pride, carnal t Psal. 1. 21. u Psal. ix. 17, and 1. 22. 320 THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN security, discontent and impatience under his dispensations. That believers are subject to these sins may tend very much to discourage them, and make them con clude that they are not in a state of grace ; especially when they find, as sometimes they do, atheistical and blasphemous thoughts suggested to their minds. We must hence inquire what judgment we are to pass concerning those who are ready to charge themselves with practical atheism, especially as to those unbecoming thoughts and conceptions which they sometimes have of the divine Majesty? whether this be altogether inconsistent with the truth of grace, together with the causes of it, and the remedies against it ? It is certain that the best of God's people are sanctified but in part, and there fore are prone to commit those sins which seem to involve a denial, at least, a neglect, of that regard which we ought to have for the divine perfections, and especially when we are followed not only with vain but with blasphemous thoughts, which give great disturbance to us when engaged in holy duties. This state of mind ought to be reckoned a very great affliction, and occasion many searchings of heart ; since sometimes it brings much guilt with it. Yet we are not always to conclude from it that we are in a state of unregeneracy. It is the prevalency of corruption, or the dominion of sin, which is inconsistent with the truth of grace, not the remains of it. A person may have faith, who yet complains of unbelief. He may have a due regard to God, as to what respects the course and tenor of his actions ; and yet, in many instances, be chargeable with forgetfulness of him. He may have a love to him, and yet sometimes be guilty of indiscreet zeal, on the one hand, or of lukewarmness and deadness of heart, on the other. His mind and affections may be sanctified ; and yet he be sometimes followed with atheistical and blasphemous thoughts. — We have instances in scripture of good men, who have spoken not only unadvisedly, but, as we may term it, wickedly with their lips. Thus Job is justly reproved by Elihu for charging God with ' finding occa sions against him ; putting his feet in the stocks, and marking all his paths ;'* as though his dealings with him had been unjust and severe ; especially when he says at the same time, ' I am clean, and without transgression ; I am innocent ; neither is there iniquity in me.'y Jonah, also, when he was reproved by God for his pas sionate behaviour towards him, vindicated himself, and said, ' I do well to be angry, even unto death. 'z These are expressions which savour of a degree of atheism; and so do those unbecoming conceptions of God whereby our thoughts are sometimes defiled and depraved. But it is one thing to be guilty of this through surprise and the prevalency of temptation, and another thing to have these thoughts indulged by and lodged in us unrepented of. — Moreover, there are some instances in which believers are afflicted with atheistical and blasphemous thoughts, when it is hard to say that they contract guilt by them, or, at least, their being afflicted with them must be reckoned only an infirmity arising from the present imperfect state. It must especially be thus viewed when the thoughts are injected by Satan, and are without the consent of our wills, but treated with the utmost abhorrence, constantly bewailed and resisted with all our might ; more particularly when we take occasion from them to exercise those graces which discover that we have other apprehen sions of God than what are suggested at those times when we are hurried by these temptations, and can scarcely say that we have the government of our own thoughts ; especially if we are enabled to say, at such a time as our Saviour did, when un- advisably tempted by Peter, who was at the time the devil's instrument to per suade him to relinquish the work which he came into the world to perform, ' Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence to me.'1 Let us now consider' the causes of such atheistical and blasphemous thoughts. Sometimes they proceed from a neglect of waiting on God in his ordinances, or from indulging a carnal and stupid frame of spirit in them, and not maintaining that holy reverence, or becoming sense of his all-seeing eye, which we ought always to have. Moreover, there is nothing that has a greater tendency to produce them, than our conversing with those who make religion the subject of their pro- x Job xxxiii. 10, 11. y Ver. 9. z Jonah i v. 9. a Matt. xvi. 23 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 321 fane wit aud drollery ; especially if we do this out of choice, and do not at the same time testify a just abhorrence of it. As for those remedies which are to be made use of to protect against and cure the sinfulness of our thoughts in such instances ; it behoves us to repent of those sins which may have been the occasion of them or have given rise to them. And is it is not in our own power to govern our hearts or affections, or restrain the breakings forth of corruption ; it is necessary for us to commit our souls into Christ's hands, with earnest supplications to him that he would sanctify, regulate, and cleanse our thoughts, and bring us into and keep us in a good frame. We ought also to desire, seek after, and improve all opportunities of conversing with those whose discourse is holy and profitable.11 By this means our affections may be raised, and our thoughts tinctured with divine things, which wiE leave an abid ing impression behind them.0 Idolatry. We proceed now to consider this commandment as forbidding idolatry. When it is said, ' Thou shalt have no other gods,' the meaning is, ' Thou shalt not wor ship idols, or set a creature in the place of God, or pay that regard to it which is due to him alone.' Here it may not be inconvenient to consider the difference between idolatry, as it is a breach of the first and of the second commandment. As it is a breach of the first commandment, it contains a giving of divine honour to that which is not God ; but as it is a sin against the second commandment, it is a wor shipping of God by the creature, to whom an inferior kind of worship is given. Thus when the Papists worship God by images, supposing them to be an help to their devotion, or a means of performing that worship which they pretend to be given ultimately to God ; or when they ascribe any branch of divine glory to saints or angels ; notwithstanding what they say to exculpate themselves from the breach of the first commandment, they are justly chargeable with the breach of the second. We are here to consider the idolatry more especially which is forbidden in the first commandment. This is either what is more gross, such as that which is found among the heathen ; or that which is more secret, and may be found in the hearts of all, and is discovered by the practice of multitudes of Christians, who profess the utmost detestation of idolatry in the other sense. 1. We shaE first consider idolatry in the former sense, together with the rise and progress of it. As to its rise, we may observe, that it proceeded from the ignorance and pride of man, who, though he could not but know, by the light of nature, that there is a God, yet, being ignorant of his perfections, or of what he has revealed himself to be in his word, was disposed to frame those ideas of a God which took their rise from his invention. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' When ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.'d When iniquity abounded in the world, and men withdrew from the ordinances of God, ai*d cast contempt on them, they invented and worshipped new gods. In this man ner some suppose Cain and his posterity acted, when ' he went out from the pre sence of the Lord ;'e and ' the sons of God,' that is, the church, when they con tracted marriages with ' the daughters of men,'f and joined with them in idolatry ; so that it is no wonder if persons leave the true worship of God, that they should choose to themselves other gods. When men acted thus,' God gave them up to judicial blindness; so that ' they worshipped the host of heaven.'s as the apostle says the heathen did. As to the idolatry which was practised among the Israelites, it took its rise from the fond ambition which they had to be like other nations, who were abhorred of God. They counted the religion of the heathen a fashionable religion ; and find ing the true worshippers of God to be fewer in number than the rest of the world, so that, as the prophet says, they were 'like a speckled bird,' despised and hated by the heathen 'round about them,'h they approved and learned the heathen's ti Mal. iii. lfi. c Luke xxiv. 32. d Gal. iv. 8. e Gen. iv. 16, f Gen. vi. 2. g Acts vii. 42. b Jer. xii. 9. II. 2 3 322 THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN ivays. It was this which occasioned Solomon to cleave to them in love ;'' which was not much unlike the argument used by Demetrius and his followers why Diana should be worshipped, namely, ' because all Asia and the world worshipped her.'k The devil was permitted, for the trial of the faith of God's people, and as an in stance of his righteous judgment on his enemies, to abuse the unthinking part of the world by various signs and lying wonders. Thus we read of prophets, and dreamers of dreams, who gave forth signs and wonders which God sometimes judicially suffered to come to pass ; whereby many took occasion to 'go after other gods.'1 Antichrist also is said ' to come after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. 'm These signs and lying wonders were managed by the craft and covetousness of the priests, who made a gain of them, and amused the common people by them. The heathen oracles, so much spoken of by ancient writers, which gave countenance to their idolatry, are reckoned by some to have been no other than a contrivance of those who had little else but secular interest in view. When they predicted things future, or revealed secrets, they generally did so in doubtful expressions ; so that whether the thing really came to pass or not, the end designed might be answered. Now there was doubtless a hand of Sa tan in this matter, to harden the world in that idolatry which was then practised by them. The gods they worshipped were as numerous as the countries and king doms where idolatry prevailed. Every nation, yea, every city, had its particular god and distinct modes of worship. — Some worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, supposing that their regular motion and influence on earthly bodies was not to be attributed to the aE-wise providence of God, but to some intelligent being which resided in them, and gave them that motion and influence on account of which they worshipped them as gods. This worship of the heavenly bodies was practised by some in the early age in which Job lived ; n and the Israelites were warned against it.0 Afterwards we read of ' idolatrous priests, who burnt incense to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven ;' and dedi cated ' horses and chariots to the sun.'P — Again, others worshipped the earth, and many creatures therein, especially those from which they received more than an ordinary advantage. Thus the Egyptians worshipped the river Nile ; by the over flowing of which their country was rendered fertile. Some who lived in maritime towns worshipped the sea, thinking thereby to prevent an inundation from it. And the Philistines worshipped Dagon ; inasmuch, as living near the sea, it afforded them plenty of fish. — Others worshipped those parts of the earth which they most delighted in ; such as gardens, woods, groves, springs, &c. These they sup posed to be inhabited by some gods, who produced the advantages which they re ceived from them ; without regarding the providence of God, to which every thing is to be ascribed, which the earth brings forth for the support and delight of men. — Others supposed that there were particular gods who had the oversight of men, gave success to their undertakings in the various affairs of life, conducted them when travelling by sea or land, gave good or ill success to their secular employ ments, and preserved them in sickness and health ; and accordingly they paid divine adoration to them. — Others expressed the regard they had to virtue, by wor shipping some men after, their death, who had signalized themselves by inventing some things which were of common advantage to mankind while they lived. The Romans were so much addicted to this species of idolatry, that some of their em perors, though tyrants and monsters in wickedness whilst they lived, obliged their subjects to perpetuate their memories by worshipping them as gods when they were dead. — Others of the heathen were so stupid that they worshipped stocks and stones, ascribing divinity to them ; and in doing so, they acted below the reason of inteEi- gent creatures. Thus the prophet speaks of their idols as first ' growing in the wood,' then ' framed by the smith,' or carpenter, ' into gods,' and afterwards ' wor shipped by them. '« And the psalmist justly observes, ' They that make them are like unto them ; so is every one that trusteth in them.'r i 1 Kin - xi. 2. k Acts xix. 27. 1 Deut. xiii. 1—3. m 2 Thess. ii. 9. n Job xxxi. 26. o Deut. iv. 19. p 2 Kings xxiii. 5, 11. q Isa. xliv. 9i_l7 r Psal. cxv. 4—7, compared with 8. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 323 Wo might under this Head consider some things mentioned in scripture in which idolaters not only acted contrary to the dictates of reason, but discovered themselves to be cruel and inhuman in their modes of worship. Thus Baal's worshippers, in Ahab's time, cut themselves with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them ;s and others made their children pass through the fire, in the worship they paid to Moloch, or the sun, whom the psalmist refers to, when he says, ' They sac rificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters.'4 This language, indeed, some think, intends nothing else but that they passed between two fires ; so that they were scorch ed by them. Yet others, with greater reason, suppose that they were enclosed in that brazen idol, and so burnt to death in the most barbarous manner.11 The use which we ought to make of this doctrine, should be to feel excited by it to bless God for the clear light of the gospel, whereby we are led to turn from dead idols to serve the living and true God. Yet we are to take heed lest we be charge able with heart-idolatry ; whereby we may be said to break this commandment, though in a different way from that in which the heathen did. 2. We are thus led to consider that idolatry which is sometimes found among Christians. Though they abhor the thoughts of giving divine worship to a crea ture, yet, if, they look into their own hearts, they will have reason to charge them selves with those things which are in scripture called idolatry ; namely, when they put any thing in the room of God, or love it more than him. This idolatry may be considered in several instances. Self may be reckoned among those idols which many who make profession of the true religion pay a greater regard to than God. The apostle, speaking concerning the great degeneracy of the world, says, among other things, that 'men should be lovers of their own selves;'1 so that self-love turns away the heart from God, and excludes all practical religion. This we may be said to be guilty of ; and in respect to it we are chargeable with heart-idolatry. — We are guilty of it when we reject or refuse to give credit to any of the great doctrines contained in divine revelation, unless we are able to comprehend them within the shallow limits of our own understandings. On this account some are inclined to treat the most sacred mysteries of our religion with contempt ; and, for the same reason, they might as well deny and disbelieve what is said concerning the infinite perfections of the divine nature, because they cannot be comprehended by us. This is no other than a setting up of our own understanding, which is weak and liable to err, in opposition to the wisdom of God ; and, in some respects, a giving superior glory to it. — Again, we are guilty of heart-idolatry, when we are resolute and incorrigible under the various rebukes of providence, and persist in our rebel lion against God, notwithstanding the threatenings which he has denounced, or the judgments which he executes, or when our will is obstinately set on those things which are directly contrary to the will of God, and, though we are warned of the danger of this, resolve, notwithstanding, to add rebellion to our iniquities, like the wild ass used to the wilderness, or the swift dromedary traversing her ways, which cannot be easily turned out of her course. In acting thus, the will of man is set in opposition to God ; and he is, for this reason, justly chargeable with idolatry. — The same sin discovers itself in our affections, when either they are set on unlawful ob jects, or immoderately pursue those which would otherwise be lawful ; when we love those things which God hates, or covet what he has expressly forbidden, as Achan did the wedge of gold, and the Babylonish garment. On this account ' covetousness ' is, by the apostle, called ' idolatry. '* — We may add, that we are chargeable with this sin, when we ' make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. 'z Thus the apos tle speaks of some ' whose god is their belly. 'a As for those things which are other wise lawful, we may be guilty of idolatry in the immoderate pursuit of them, when they take up too much of our thoughts, time, and concern ; when our affections are s 1 Kings xviii. 28. t Psal. cvi. 37, 38. u To this the poet's observation might well be applied, ' Tantum religio potuit suadere malor- um !' Luc-ret. de Nat. Rer. lib. i. That human sacrifices were offered, appears from what we read concerning the king of Moab, who ' took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering,' 2 Kings iii. 27. x 2 Tim. iii. 2. y Col. iii. 5. z Rom. xiii. 14. a Phil. iii. 19. 324 THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN as much set upon them as if we had nothing better to mind ; when we are not will ing to part with them though God calls for them at our hands, and are more cast down at the loss of them than we are when deprived of those spiritual blessings which are of the highest importance. In these instances we may be said to set up self as our idol in opposition to God. — We may add, that there is a more subtile kind of idolatry, whereby self enters into and takes its place in those religious duties which believers are engaged in. Believers are guilty of this when they at tempt to perform these duties in their own strength, as though they had a suffi ciency iu themselves, and had no occasion to depend on the almighty power of God to work in them that which is pleasing in his sight. We are farther guilty of this sin when, through the pride of our hearts, we are apt to applaud ourselves when we have performed some religious duties, and expect to be justified by them ; which is a setting up of self as an idol in the room of Christ. Lastly, we are guilty of this sin when self is the end designed in what we do in matters of religion, and so rob God of that glory which is due to his name. There is another idol which is put in the room of God, and that is the world. When the profits, pleasures, or honours of it are thought of with the greatest de light, as though they were our chief good ; when they are pursued with more ear nestness than Christ's interest and glory ; when the world not only has the highest place in our affections, but, as it were, engrosses them ; we are guilty of that love of the world which, as the apostle says, is inconsistent with the love of the Father,b and denotes us guilty of that idolatry which we are now speaking of. — More par ticularly, we are guilty of this when our thoughts are so much engaged in the pur suit of the world, that we not only grow cold and remiss as to spiritual things, but allow ourselves no time for serious meditations on them, or for conversing with God in secret. — Again, we are guilty of it when the world has our first and last thoughts every day ; when we are so far from following the psalmist's example, who says, ' When I awake, I am still with thee,'0 as considering ourselves under the care of providence, and indebted to God for the mercies which we enjoy, that we are taken up with nothing else but the projects and schemes which we lay for the gaining or increasing of our wealth or worldly condition ; and when this, having been the great business of the day, takes up and engages our wakeful thoughts by night, as though it were the main work and business of life. — Further, we are guilty of this sin when we pursue the world, without depending on God for his blessing to attend our lawful undertakings, and do not consider its good things as his special gift, or the disappointments which attend us in it as ordered by his overruling providence to engage us to walk more closely with him, and to take up our rest in him as our only happiness. — Again, we are guilty of this sin when our hearts are hardened by the world, and grow cold and indifferent in religion, or when it foEows and disturbs us in holy duties, and renders us formal in the discharge of them ; when the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world have a tendency to quiet our spirits, and give us full satisfaction, though under spiritual declensions, and destitute of the special presence of God, which is our greatest happiness ; when we fret or repine at the providence of God, under the disappointments we meet with in our secular affairs in the world ; and when we despise the members of Christ, because they are poor in the world, are ashamed of his cross, and refuse to bear reproach for his sake. There is another instance of heart-idolatry, namely, when we adhere to the dic tates of Satan, and regard his suggestions more than the convictions of our own consciences, or the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Satan's design in his temptations is to turn us away from God ; and when we are drawn aside by them, we may be said to obey him rather than God. This is what all are more or less guilty of; but some are said, in an uncommon degree, to be his servants. Thus the apostle Paul styles the sorcerer, who sought to turn aside the deputy from the faith, ' a child of the devil ;'d and our Saviour tells the Jews, ' Ye are of your father the devil ; and the lusts of your father ye will do,'e &c. Satan is also caEed 'the god of this world, 'f and 'the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. '*>' Accordingly, he attempts to usurp the throne of God; and by b 1 John ii. 15. c Psal. cxxxix. 18. d Acts xiii. 10. e John viii. 44. f 2 Cor. iv. 4. g Eph. ii. 2. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 325 doing so, has led a great part of the world after him. As he tempted our Saviour to fall down and worship him,h though without success, he prevails upon others to do it to their own ruin. — Here it may be observed that he has propagated several doc trines, in opposition to the gospel. Indeed, aE those doctrines which are subver sive of it, take their rise from him. Thus the apostle speaks of some who, ' in the latter times, should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc trines of devils.'' This they do when they depart from the way of truth. [See Note S, page 327.] — Again, Satan has sometimes invented modes of worship, which have been observed by some, in imitation of the sacrifices which God had ordained. Whatever pretence there might be of religion in such modes of worship, he doubt less designed by them to set up himself in opposition to God. — Further, he has amused and hardened the hearts of his subjects, by pretended miracles, designed to oppose and lessen the credit of those real miracles which have been wrought to confirm the truth by the finger of God.k — He has also endeavoured to extirpate the true religion, by raising persecutions against the faithful worshippers of God. This has been his constant practice, so far as he has been permitted, in all ages. — Moreover, he has excited, in some of his subjects, the greatest degree of hatred of God, opposition to him, and rebellion against him. Thus he ' entered into the heart of Judas ;n and ' filled the heart of Ananias, that he lied to the Holy Ghost ;'m and hardened the hearts of others, so that they bade defiance to the Almighty, like Pharaoh, who said, ' Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ?'n — Again, he has persuaded many of his subjects to enter into a kind of confederacy with him, and with one another, to promote his wicked designs. This was the case with those wretched Jews, who ' bound themselves under a curse, that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.'0 And we read of others who had ' made a covenant with death and with hell.'P The vilest instances of sins of this nature were found among some who used sorcery, divination, witchcraft, and other diabolical practices. These are so horrid crimes, and so contrary to the dictates of human nature, that had we not an account of some in scripture who practised them, we should be ready to think that none were ever guilty of them. I will not deny that many things which are commonly related concerning witch craft and sorcery, as practised in later ages, are fabulous and incredible ; that some things, said to be done by the power of the devil, may be accounted for by natural causes ; and that others are ascribed to it, which are performed by the concealed arts of some who get a livelihood by cheating the unthinking part of mankind. I am far from thinking, however, as some modern writers suggest, that the account we have of witchcraft and sorcery in scripture, is without any manner of foundation. The famous story of the witch of Endori is an argument that there were persons, at that time, in the world who practised these arts. It will be ob jected, I am aware, that she was a cunning woman, who lived by her wits, and deceived Saul by pretending that she used some infernal art, as an expedient to bring him to the speech of Samuel. It may not be amiss, therefore, to inquire into her case. Let it be observed, then, that it is by no means to be supposed that she raised Samuel from the dead ; for it is out of the devil's power to call the soul of a saint out of heaven, with a design to subserve his interest by doing so, and to set up his kingdom in opposition to Christ's. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that Samuel should do the devil so much service after his death, who was so great an enemy to him in his life. Besides, he was buried at Ramah ; r and can we think that he should be now raised at Endor ? On the other hand, we are not to imagine that it was a mere trick or juggle of the woman, whereby she imposed on Saul ; for though, it is true, he did not see a Shape, yet he heard a voice, and made a reply to it. Moreover, we read that he had an intimation given him, that Israel should be de livered into the hands of the Philistines, and that he and his sons should be with him the next day, that is, in the state of the dead. But the woman was not cun- h Matt. iv. 9. i 1 Tim. iv. 1. k Exod. viii. 7. 1 Luke xxii. 3. m Acts v. 3. n Exod. v. 2. o Acts xxiii. 14. p Isa. xxviii. 15. q Mentioned in 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 — 20. r 1 Sam. xxv. 1. 326 THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN ning enough to foretell this ; or if she had guessed that it would be so, she would hardly have ventured to tell Saul such ungrateful tidings ; since if he had lived to see himself cheated, and her prediction confuted, her life would have been en dangered. Had it been nothing but a cheat or a juggle, she would rather have told°him that he would be safe and victorious ; for had this come to pass, she might have expected a reward ; and had it not, she would have had nothing to fear from him as a just punishment of her impiety. We must suppose, therefore, that she was a professed servant of the devil, and had, as the text says, ' a familiar spirit.' By this we are to understand that she conversed with Satan ; who, that he might harden her the more in her sin, and lead others, like Saul, into a credulous, dia bolical presumption, might reveal some secrets to her, and, at the same time, either assume the shape, or, at least counterfeit the voice, of Samuel. Thus concerning those, who, by the practice of these arts, have professed them selves to be in a kind of confederacy with Satan. It is certain no good man ever practised them. Hence, some have found it very difficult to understand the sense of the scripture concerning the cup which was in Benjamin's sack: 'Is not this the cup wherein my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth ?'s And Joseph himself says, ' Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?'* Though Joseph was a prophet, it is certain he was no diviner in the sense in which the word is commonly used in scripture ; nor was this cup an instrument by which he practised any such art. For understanding this scripture, then, we remark that the word which we render ' to divine,' denotes, as is observed in the margin, to make trial of or search after, or to discover or find out a matter ; and- that, instead of ' whereby,' or ' by which,' we ought to read ' concerning which.' The meaning of the scripture, then, is only this : ' Is not this the cup in which my Lord drink eth, and concerning which he maketh search?' As it was the cup in which he drank, if it were lost or stolen, he would soon miss it, and make inquiry to find out the thief, as he now did. And when Joseph says, ' Wot ye not that such a man as I can divine ?' the meaning is, " Do you think that one who is so diligent and industrious in the management of all those affairs which are incumbent en me, would lose the cup in which I drink, and make no inquiry after it? Did you ex pect to go undiscovered, when you had such an one as I to deal with, who have not only an inclination, but all the advantages that can be desired, to make search after those who have dealt unjustly by me, as you have done ?" Again, ' to divine ' may signify to prophesy ; and so it may be taken in a good sense as well as in a bad one. Accordingly, when Joseph's servants speak of him as divining concern ing the cup, they consider him as one who had an extraordinary gift from God of revealing secrets. Hence, they might easily conclude that he would, by this means, find out the person who had stolen his cup. This is agreeable to the Egyptian mode of speaking ; for those whom the Hebrews called prophets, the Egyptians called diviners. Joseph uses the same expression when he says, ' Wot you not that such a man as I could divine ?' as if he had said, ' Did you not know that I was a pro phet, and by this means was advanced to my present honour in Pharaoh's court ?' So that, whether we take the words in this or in the other sense, it does not follow that he used any arts which were diabolical or unlawful. Now that we are speaking concerning the arts by which Satan deludes those who, either directly, or by consequence, pay that regard to him which is due only to God, it may farther be inquired what we are to conclude concerning the practice of judicial astrology by those, who, in scripture, are called ' stargazers,' as a term of contempt, and whose profession scripture universally condemns. These are, especiaEy in our age, a generation of men, who impose on the weakness of many superstitious and ignorant people, who, by encouraging them, are partakers with them in their sin. The art they pretend to, is not only uncertain, but presumptu ous, and involves a contempt of the providence of God, in paying regard to the signs and intimations which they suppose they receive from the stars, concerning future contingent events, or those actions which take their rise from the free-wiE of man. What I would observe in general concerning this practice is, that we no- s Gen. xliv. 5. t Y«se 15. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 327 where find in scripture, that the stars were designed to signify the prosperous or adverse circumstances in which men shaE be in the world, or to foretell the riches or poverty, sickness or health, which we should experience in our passage through it, or how long we shall continue in it. Our times and circumstances in the world are only in God's hand ; and it is in mercy to us that he has concealed these future events from us. We may add, that this art, and those who use it, are very often spoken against in scripture, and that the church is warned against it. Thus God says, ' Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.'11 Again, ' Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels ; let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee.'x Elsewhere, the persons thus described are ranked with 'diviners,' and called ' liars. '? It may be inquired whether any good men have ever prac tised this art, though without pretending to have had any intimation from Satan, but only proceeding according to the rules prescribed in the art. But it is not my business to censure men, but things. The best that can be said is, that if any good men have studied or practised it, they have generally blamed themselves for it afterwards, or, at least, confessed the uncertainty and presumption of it. We read of some who, in the time of their ignorance, had addicted themselves to it, who, when it pleased God to convert them, laid it aside, and burned the books whence they learned it.z It is objected against what has been said concerning the unlawfulness of judicial astrology, that Moses addicted himself to the study of it, of whom it is said that ' he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.'3 But if, by ' the wisdom of the Egyptians,' we understand, as most expositors do, judicial astrology, Moses might know, but not approve of, or practise this art, which was so much* in use among the Egyptians. Perhaps, however, nothing more is intended but his know ing the regular motion of the stars, and the wisdom of God seen in it, without judging by it of future events ; and in that case, his knowledge was not only law ful, but commendable. Yet I am apt to think that, by ' the wisdom of the Egyp tians,' we are to understand those maxims of state, and the secrets of Pharaoh's court, which he had an opportunity to know, as being a great favourite with him, as Josephus observes, who thinks that Pharaoh designed that he should succeed him in the throne.0 Having thus considered this commandment as being broken by atheism and idol atry, and considered also the various kinds and degrees of the latter, which is called our having other gods ; we may now inquire what is meant by these words " before me" in the first commandment. They are an intimation of the aggravation of the sins forbidden in it. God puts us in mind by them of his all-seeing eye, which ought to deter us from the breach of it ; especially when we consider, that inas much as he beholds all our actions, he cannot but be exceedingly displeased when we entertain any conceptions of him which tend to question his authority, dethrone his sovereignty, or alienate our affections from him, and set up any thing in com petition with him. We ought hence to set the Lord always before us, considering him as the heart-searching God, who is jealous for his own honour, and wiE not suffer this sin to go unpunished. u Jer. a. 2. x Isa. xlvii. 13. y Chap. xliv. 25. z Acts xix. 19. , a Chap. vii. 22. b Vid. Jos. Antiq. lib. ii. cap. v. [Note S. Doctrines of Devils The word txiftatix was currently used among the Greeks to signify superior intelligences, — objects of religious worship ; and, in conformity with this sense, it is in one passage translated in our version by the word ' strange gods.' Its most common signification among the Greeks, seems to have been, ' the souls of men deified or canonized after death ;' and this signifi cation appears to be attached to it in Acts xvii. 18 ; Rev. ix. 20 ; I Cor. x. 20, 21 ; and 1 Tim. iv. 1. The phrase in the last of these text*, iihxo-xxXixi ixifj-iviat, is of parallel construction with the phrases which occur elsewhere, (Heb. vi. 2 ; Acts xiii 12.) faxtrrnrfiut "iitxxis. Tt) 5;S«£ii tcv tkuiinv, and may fairly be translated 'doctrines concerning deified or canonized men,' just as these may be translated, ' doctrine concerning baptisms,' ' the doctrine concerning the Lord.' The word ' spirits,' too, is employed in the New Testament (1 John iv. 1.) to designate pretenders to inspiration or miraculous gifts. The entire prophecy in 1 Tim iv. 1 — 3, therefore, is a graphic description of the peculiar or characteristic features which should early be developed in tbe great antichristian apostacy ; for it enumerates errors by which both the western and the eastern sections of the body 328 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. calling itself ' Catholic,' has been eminently characterized,—' departure from the apostolic faith, pretension to infallibility and miraculous powers the canonizing and worshipping of departed souls, the prohibition of marriage to the clergy, and the encouraging of monasticism, the enjoining of lasts and festivals and the promoting of courses of cynicism and penance : ' Now the spirit speaketh ex pressly that.'in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing pretend- eri to authority over the conscience, and doctrines concerning canonized men ; speaking lies in hypocrisy • having their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry [and commanding] to abstain 'from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of those who be- lieve and know the truth.' — Ed.] THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. Question CVII. Which is the second commandment ? Answer. The second commandment is, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them; for 1 the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth genera tion of them that hate ine ; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.*' Question CVIII. What are the duties required in the second commandment ? Answer. The duties required in tbe second commandment are the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religions worship and ordinances as God hath instituted in his word, particularly prater and thanksgiving in the name of Christ, the reading, preaching, and hear ing of the viord, the administration and receiving of the sacraments, church-government and dis cipline, the ministry and maintenance thereof, religious fasting, sweating hy the name of God, and vowing unto him; as also the disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false worship, and, according to each one's place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of idolatry. Question CIX. What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment ? Answer. The sins forbidden in the second commandment, are all devising, counselling, command ing, using, and any wavs approving any religious worship not instituted by God himself, tolerating a false religion, tbe making any representation of God, of all, or of any of the three Persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly, in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever, all worshipping of it, or God in it, or by it; the making of any representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging to them, all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or re ceived by tradition from others ; though under tbe title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good in tent, or any other pretence whatsoever, simony, sacrilege, all neglect, contempt, hindering and op posing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed. Question CX. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment the more to enforce it ? Answer. The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to enforce it, contained in these words, "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation ot them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments," are, besides God's sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship, as being a spiritual whoredom, accounting the breakers of this command ment such as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations, and esteeming the observers of it, such as love him, and keep his commandments, and promising mercy to them unto many generations. Difference between the First and the Second Commandment. Before we proceed to consider the matter of this commandment, we shall premise something, in general, concerning the difference between it and the first com mandment. The first commandment respects the object of worship ; the second, the manner in which it is to be performed. Accordingly, the former forbids our not owning God to be such an one as he has revealed himself to be in his word, and also the substituting of any creature in his room, or acknowledging it, either directly or by consequence, to be our chief good and happiness ; the latter obliges us to worship God, in such a way as he has prescribed, in opposition to that which takes its rise from our own invention. These two commandments, therefore, being so distinct, we cannot but think the Papists to be chargeable with a very great absurdity, in making the second to be only an appendix to the first, or an explana tion of it. The design of their doing so seems to be, that they may exculpate THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 329 themselves from the charge of idolatry, in setting up image-worship, which they think to be no crime ; because they are not so stupid as to style the image a god, or make it a supreme object of worship. This commandment, however, in forbid ding false worship, is directly contrary to their practice of worshipping God by images. The method in which this commandment is laid down, is the same with that of several others ; we have an account of (the duties -required, the sins forbidden, and the reasons annexed to enforce- it. The Duties Enjoined in the Second Commandment. We shall first consider the duties commanded. These are contained in two Heads. 1. We are under an obligation to observe, or attend upon, such religious worship and ordinances as God has , appointed. Religious worship is that whereby we ad^ dress ourselves to God, as a God of infinite perfection ; profess an entire subjection and devotedness to him as our God ; put our trust in him for a supply of all our wants ; and ascribe to him that praise and glory which is his due, as our chief good, -most bountiful benefactor, and only portion" and happiness. As for the or dinances, our attendance on them depends on a divine command, to which God has annexed a promise of his gracious presence, whereby our expectations are raised that we shall obtain some blessings from him, when we engage in them in a right man ner. In this respect they are instituted means of grace, and pledges of tljat special favour which he designs to bestow on his people. This is that which more espe cially renders a duty enjoined an ordinance, Accordingly, our Saviour says, ' Where two or three are gathered together- in my name, there am I in the midst of them. ' ° Now, these ordinances are either solitary or social ; such as we are obliged to perform, either in our closets, d in our families, or in those public assem blies where God is worshipped. They are particularly mentioned in this Answer ; and they are prayer, thanksgiving, reading, preaching and hearing the word, the administration and- receiving of the sacraments, to which we may add, praising God by singing. All these will be insisted on in a following Answer, and therefore we pass by them at present. Now, as these are duties which are daily incumbent on us, so there • are other duties or ordinances, which are to be performed only as the necessity of affairs re quires. One of these is religious lasting, whereby we express public tokens of mourning and humiliation, and peiform other duties corresponding with these, when God is provoked by crying sins, or when his judgments are upon us and our families, or the church of God in general. Thus the prophet Joel, when speaking concern ing several desolating judgments to which Israel was exposed, commands them ' to sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; and to weep between the porch and the altar ; and say, Spare thy people, 0 Lord, and give not thiiie heritage to reproach.'6 This is not to be done at all times ; but only when the providence of God Calls lor it. Hence, we have no warrant for the observanbe of annual fasts, when that which! was the first occasion of them is removed ; much less for those weeks of fasting which the Papists observe, which they call Lent. No sufficient reason can be as signed why Lent should be observed at the season fixed on by the Papists, rather than at any other time of the year. Nor can their fasting on certain days of the week be vindicated, much less their doing so without joining other religious duties to it ; or their abstaining from some kinds of food, while they indulge themselves in eating others which are equaEy grateful to the appetite. This is a ludicrous and superstitious way of fasting. — Again, another occasional duty or ordinance, is our setting apart time for thanksgiving to God for deliverances from public or national calamities, or those which more immediately respect ourselves and families. In observing this ordinance, those religious duties are to be performed which tend to express our spiritual joy and thankfulness to God, who is the Author of our de liverances ; and, at the same time, we are to pray that he would enable us to walk c Matt, xviii. 20. d Chap. vi. 6. e Joel ii. 15, 17. 2t 330 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. a-i those who are hereby laid under renewed engagements to be his. Thus the Jews observed some days of thanksgiving for their deliverance from Hainan's conspiracy.' Such public thanksgiving for providential deliverances, is to be religiously observ ed ; and so it differs from that carnal joy which is generally expressed by those who receive mercies, but do not give glory to God, the sole author of them. But besides these occasional ordinances, there is another mentioned in this An swer, namely, vowing to God. Thus the psalmist says, ' Vow and pay unto the Lord.'s This language either, more especially, respects God's ancient people entering into a solemn obligation or promise to give something which was to be applied to the support of the public and costly worship which was performed under the ceremonial law, on which account it is said, in the following words, ' Bring pre sents unto him ;' or it may be considered as to the moral reason of the thing, as including our resolution to set apart or apply some portion of our worldly sub stance, as God has prospered us in our secular affairs, to the maintaining and pro moting of his cause and interest in the world. But we ought, at the same time, to devote ourselves to him, whereby we acknowledge his right to us, and aE that we have. Thus the apostle says, concerning the churches of Macedonia, not only that they devoted their substance to God, but that they • gave themselves ' also 'unto the Lord.'h This duty does not include our resolving to do those things which are out of our own power, or that we will exercise those graces which are the special gift of the Spirit of God ; but it is rather a dedication of ourselves to him, in hope of obtaining that grace from him which will enable us to perform those duties which are indispensably necessary to salvation, and inseparably connected with it. This is such a vowing to God, as will not have a tendency to ensnare our consciences, or detract from his glory who is alone the Author of all grace. Nor does it contain the least instance of presumption ; but is a duty which we ought to perform by faith, to his glory and our own edification. We might notice another ordinance, mentioned in this Answer ; namely, swear ing by the name of God. This, as we have elsewhere expressed it, includes a swear ing fealty to him, and our consecrating and devoting ourselves to him. ' As to swearing, as a religious duty to be performed in subserviency to civil duties, we shall have occasion to speak of it under the third commandment ; and therefore we pass it over at present. 2. We proceed to observe that the religious duties or ordinances which we have noticed, and all others which God has enjoined, are to be kept pure and entire. As we are not to cast off the ordinances of God in general, so we must take heed that we do not, while we perform some, live in the neglect of others ; for that is not to keep them entire. Thus private duties are not to shut out those which are social in our families or the public assemblies, nor intrench on that time which ought to be allotted for them ; and, on the other hand, it is not sufficient for us to worship God in public, and, at the same time, cast off aE secret duties. This re proves the practice of some modern enthusiasts, who pray not, unless moved by the Spirit, as they pretend ; and deny their obligation to observe the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper. Moreover, as we are to keep the ordinances of God entire, we are also to keep them pure, that is, to allow, or practise nothing but what is warranted by the rules which God has given us in his word ; in oppo sition to those who corrupt his worship, by intruding those ordinances into it which are of their own invention, and pretending that, though God has not commanded these, yet the service which we perform, which can be no other than wiE- worship, wiE be acceptable to him. The Sins Forbidden in the Second Commandment. We now proceed to consider the sins forbidden in this commandment. The general scope and design of the commandment, as to the negative part of it, is God's prohibiting all false worship, either in our hearts, or in our outward actions f Estb. ix. 20, et seq. g psal. lxxvi. 11. h 2 Cor. viii 5 i bee more ol this in Sect. ' The Covenant of Grace as made with Man,' under Quest, xxxi. THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 331 or gestures, whereby we adhere to our own imaginations rather than his revealed will, which is the only rule of instituted worship. The things forbidden in this commandment may be reduced to three Heads. 1. A not attending on the ordinances of God with that holy, humble, and becom ing frame of spirit which the solemnity of the duties themselves, or the authority of God enjoining them, or the advantages which we may expect to receive by them, call for. When we do not seriously think what we are going about before we engage in holy duties, or watch over our hearts and affections, or when we worship God in a careless and indifferent manner ; we may be said to draw nigh to him with our lips, while our hearts are far from him. 2. We farther break this commandment, when we invent ordinances which God has nowhere in his word commanded ; or think to recommend ourselves to him by gestures, or modes of worship, which we have no precedent or example for in the New Testament. This is what is generally called superstition and will-worship. Thus we read in the degenerate age of the church, that ' the statutes of Omri were kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab ;'k referring to that false worship which was practised by them. Here we cannot but observe, that there are many things in which the Papists are chargeable with superstition and will-worship, if not with idolatry. For example, they worship the bread in the sacrament, supposing it to be the real body and blood of Christ, and not merely the sign of him. They under stand the words of our Saviour when instituting this ordinance, ' This is my body,'1 in a literal sense, though they ought to be understood in a figurative sense. — Again, they lift up the bread in the sacrament, pretending that their doing so is a real of fering of Christ ; and, at the same time, the people are obliged to show all possible marks of sorrow, such as beating their breasts, shaking their heads, &c, as though they really saw Christ on the cross. But it is a profaning of the Lord's supper, to say that Christ is really and visibly offered in it by the hands of the priest ; and is contrary to what the apostle says of his having been but ' once offered to bear the sins of many.'™ — Moreover, they use several superstitious ceremonies in baptism, which have, indeed, a show of religion, but want a divine sanction, and are no other than an addition to Christ's institution. Thus they use spittle, salt, and cream, be sides the water with which the child is to be baptized ; and anoint it with oil, and use exorcism, commanding the unclean spirit to depart out of it, and signing it with the sign of the cross ; at which they suppose the devil to be so terrified, that he is obliged to leave it, being by this means, as it were, frightened away. The princi pal reason, however, which they give for their adding this ceremony to Christ's institution, is to signify that the child js hereby obliged to fight manfully under Christ's banner. But this ceremony neither increases nor diminishes the child's obligation ; and it is a sign which Christ makes no mention of. — We may mention also their frequent crossing of themselves, as a preservative against sin, and as a means to keep them from the power of the devil, and to render their prayers ac ceptable in the sight of God ; the splendour and magnificence of their churches, and especially the shape and figure of them, as accommodated to that of Solomon's temple, and their situation east and west ; also their bowing to the altar, which is placed in the east, — a practice for which there is not the least shadow of argument in scripture, or example in the purest ages of the Church ; the ludicrous and un warrantable ceremonies used in the consecration of churches, and the reverence which every one must show to places thus consecrated, even at other times than that of divine worship. We may add, that there are many superstitious ceremonies in consecrating all the vessels and utensils which are used in their churches. Yea, the very bells are baptized, or, as they express it, consecrated, in order that the devil may be afraid of the sound of them, and keep his distance from those places oi worship in which they are fixed. But such charms can be reckoned only the (-port of the powers of darkness, or looked on by them with contempt. — Again, the i 'apists ascribe a divine, yea, a meritorious virtue, to the frequent repeating of the Lord's prayer in Latin, commonly called ' Paternoster,' and the angel's salutation of the V irgin Mary,n called ' Ave Maria.' The words of this salutation they put a k Micah vi. 16. 1 Matt. xxvi. 26. m Heb. x. 28. n Mentioned in Luke i. 28. 332 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. corrupt sense upon, contrary to their proper meaning and the recitation of them ; and whether they be understood or not, it is reckoned acceptable service. — We may men tion likewise the distinction of garments, and the relative holiness of the persons who wear them, as signified by that distinction. We may mention, too, the canoni cal hours which are appointed for the performing of divine service ; especiaEy if we consider the reason which they allege for the practice, namely, that there was something remarkable done or suffered by Christ at those hours in the day. These things argue them guilty of superstition. — We might take notice also of the many things which they make merchandise of, as consecrated bread, wax-candles, &c. They ascribe to these a spiritual virtue, or some advantage to be received by those who purchase them ; and so they advance the price of them. There are also the relics which they call the church's treasure, or those rarities which they purchase at a great rate ; though some of the wiser Papists have made but a jest of them. — We pass by, for brevity's sake, many other superstitious ceremonies used by them, and observe only their bowing at the name of Jesus. This practice can hardly be vindicated from the charge of superstition, especially as no extraordinary expres: Sion of reverence is made at the mention of those incommunicable attributes of God which are ascribed to him ; nor, indeed, do' they bow the knee at the mentioning of the word ' Saviour,' ' Christ,' or ' Emmanuel,' or when any other divine characters are given him. The only scripture they make use of to vindicate this practice, is Phil. ii. 10, ' That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.' But it is plain that this ' bowing the knee' does not signify a bodily gesture, but only a subjection of soul to Christ, as ' angels, authorities, and powers' are said to be ' made subject unto him.'° These, indeed, are a very considerable part of the inhabitants of heaven, but they have no knees to bow ; and as for ' things under the earth,' that is, the powers of darkness, they do not bow to him in a way of worship, but are subjected to him as conquered enernies. 3. We now proceed to consider that they are guilty of the breach of this com mandment, who frame an image of any of the persons of the Godhead, or of any creature in heaven or earth, as a means or help made use of in order to their wor shipping God. Here it must be inquired whether the making of images, absolutely or in all respects, be unlawful. It is generally answered that, if pictures repre senting creatures, either in heaven or earth, be made with no other design but, in an historical way, to propagate the memory of persons and their actions to posterity, the making of them seems not to be a breach of this commandment. But the sin forbidden in it, expressed'in those words, ' Making to ourselves the image or like ness of creatures in heaven or earth,' is committed when we design to worship God by the images. Accordingly, the Using of bodily gestures to them, such as those which were used in the worship of God, as bowing, uncovering the head, &c, wherein a person designs an act of worship, is idolatry. Even if nothing else is intended but the wdrshipping of God by the images, the use of them can hardly be excused, from at least the appearance of idolatry ; so that, according to one of the rules be fore laid down for understanding the ten commandments, it is to be reckoned a breach of the second commandment ; which is what we are now considering.? — Again, it must be inquired whether it be unlawful to represent any of the persons in the Godhead, by pictures or carved images ? We answer, that, God being infinite and incomprehensible, it is impossible to frame any image like him.i Moreover, he assigns as a reason why Israel should make no image of him, that 'they saw no manner of similitude when he spake to them in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire ;' and adds, ' lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image. 'r And the apostle styles the representing of God by an image, an offering the highest affront to him, when he speaks of some who "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.'8 But there are some who, though they do not much care to defend the practice of making pictures of God, yet plead for describing an emblem of the Trinity, such as a triangle, with the name Jehovah in the midst of it. Now, I would observe concerning this practice, that if the design o 1 Pet. iii. 22. p See page 312. q Isa. xl. 18; Chap. xlvi. 5; Acts xvii. 29. r Deut. iv. 15, 16. s Rom. i. 23. THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 333 of it be to worship God by the emblem, it is idolatry ; but if not, it is unwarrantable, and, indeed, unnecessary ; since a Trinity of persons in the unity of the divine essence, is to be understood as revealed in scripture, and not brought to our remem brance by an emblem, which is an ordinance of our own invention. It is farther inquired whether we may not describe our Saviour, as he sometimes is by the Pa pists, in those things which respect his human nature ? whether we may not por tray him as an infant in his mother's arms, or as conversing on earth, or hanging on the cross? The Papists not only describe him thus, but adore the image or representation of Christ crucified, which they caE a crucifix. But whatever of Christ comes within the reach of the art of man to delineate or describe, is only his human nature, which is not the object of divine adoration ; so that the practice of describing him in the way mentioned tends rather to debase, than to give us raised and becoming conceptions of him as such. As God is sometimes represented as having a body or bodily parts, and as the prophet Daniel describes God the Father as 'the Ancient of days ;'* some suppose that it is not unlawful for them to make such representations of him by images. But God's being described by the parts of human bodies, is in condescension to the weakness of our capacities, or agreeable to human modes of speaking ; according to which the eye signifies wisdom, the arm power, the heart love, &c. We are, notwith standing these modes of expression, to abstract, in our thoughts, every thing which is carnal or applicable to the creature, when conceiving of God ; and therefore not to give occasion to any to think that he is like ourselves, by describing him in such a way. The. Papists not only plead for making such images, but set them up in churches, calling them the laymen's books, with a design to instruct them in those things which the images represent. But such a method of instruction is without any warrant from scripture, as well as contrary to the practice of the purest ages of the church ; who always thought that the word of God was sufficient to lead them into the knowledge of himself, without making use of a picture for that purpose. — Yet though this colour is put on the practice of setting up such images in churches, there are some of the Papists who plead for the worship of images only with this distinction, that it is a subordinate or a relative worship which they give to them, while, at the same time, the highest worship is given to God only. But they can not thus exculpate themselves from the charge of idolatry. Indeed, in some of their books of devotion, we find the same expressions used when they address them selves to the creature, as if they were paying divine adoration to God ; particularly in the book, which is well known among them, called the Virgin Mary's Psalter, in which her name is often inserted instead of the name of God, which is the highest strain of blasphemy. Thus when it is said, ' 0 come let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, 'u instead of ' the Lord,' they put 'the Virgin Mary ;' and when it is said, ' Have mercy upon me, 0 God,'x they pray, ' Have mercy upon me, 0 Lady,' &c. These expressions cannot be read without detestation ; and there are in that book many more of a similar kind. When this has been objected against them as a speci men of their idolatry, all the reply they make is, that the book was written by a private person as an help to devotion, but not established by the authority of the church, which is not to be charged with every absurdity which some of their communion may advance. We reply, that the church of Rome has been very ready to condemn better books, written by those who were not in her communion ; while she has never publicly condemned this book, but rather commended it as written with a good design. Besides, there are many blasphemous expressions given to the Virgin Mary, in their Breviaries and Missals, which are used by public authority. Thus she is often addressed in such characters as these, — ' the mother of mercy, ' ' the gate of heaven,' 'the queen of heaven,' 'the empress of the world;' and sometimes she is desired not only to pray her son to help them, but, by the authority of a mother, to command him to do it. At other times, they desire her to help and save them herself ; and accordingly they give her the title of Redeemer and Sa viour, as well as our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes also they profess to put their trust and confidence in her. Now, if this be not idolatry, where is there any to be found in the world ? t Dan. vii. 9. u Tsal. xcv. 6. x Psal. li. 1. • 334 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. We may notice, likewise, that idolatry which is practised by them in their devo tion to the images of other saints. Every saint in their calendar is called upon in his turn. Among those, indeed, some were good men, as the martyrs, who re fused to be worshipped while on earth ; bow much soever the Papists worship them now that they are in heaven. But there are others whom the Popes have canon ized as saints, who were little better than devils incarnate, while they were upon earth ; and others were rebels and traitors to their king and country, and suffered the just reward of their wickedness. Such as these are found among those whom they pay this worship to. There are also others whom they worship as saints, con cerning whom it may be much questioned whether there ever were such persons in the world. These may be called fabulous saints ; yet images are made to their honour, and prayers directed to them. There are also things worshipped by them which never had life, as the picture of the cross, and many pretended relics of the saints. Upon the whole, therefore, we cannot but think that we have, in this mode of worship, a notorious instance of the breach of the second commandment ; and we cannot but conclude that, in rendering this worship, they have apostatized or turned aside from the purity of the gospel. It may be observed, that the church, for the first three hundred years after Christ, had comparatively but little superstition and no idolatry. But in the fourth century, superstition began to insinuate itself into it. Then it was that the pic tures of the martyrs, who had suffered in Christ's cause, were first set up in churches, though without any design of worshipping them ; and the setting of them up was not universally approved of. As for image-worship, it was not brought into the church till above seven hundred years after Christ ; and then there was a consider able opposition made to it by some. This kind of worship was set up in one reign, and prohibited in another ; but afterwards it universally prevailed in the Romish church, when arrived at that height of impiety and idolatry, without opposition, which it maintains at this day. The Reasons annexed to the Second Commandment. We now proceed to observe the reasons annexed to this Commandment. These are taken from the consideration of what God is in himself: ' I am the Lord,' or ' Jehovah.' This being a name never given to any creature, is expressive of all his divine perfections, which render him the object of worship, and oblige us to per form that worship which he requires, in such a way as is agreeable to his character. He also styles himself a God to his people : ' I am thy God.' Hence, to set up strange gods, or to worship him in a way not prescribed by him, is a violation of his covenant, as well as not performing the duty we owe to him, and would render us unfit to be owned by him as his people. Moreover, they who thus corrupt them selves, and pervert his worship, are styled haters of him, and therefore can expect nothing but to be dealt with as enemies. This he gives them to understand, in his styling himself ' a jealous,' or sin-revenging God, ' visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.' For understanding this language, let it be considered that, though God does not punish children with eternal destruction for the sins of their immediate parents, yet these often bring temporal judgments on families. Thus all the children of Israel who murmured and despised the good land, so far bare their fathers' iniquity, that they wandered in the wilderness nearly forty years. Again, these judgments fall more heavily on those children who make their parents' sins their own. This was the case of the Jews. Hence, our Saviour tells them that ' all the blood that was shed upon the earth, should come upon them, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar. 'y They approved and committed the same sins which their fathers were guilty of, and consequently are said to have ' filled up the measure of their sins.' Hence, the judgments of God which they exposed themselves to, were most terrible. Further, whatever temporal judgments may be inflicted on children for their parents' sins, shall be sanctified, and redound to their spiritual advantage, as y Matt, xxiii. 35. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. 33.=> well as end in their everlasting happiness, if they do not follow their bad example. Accordingly, it is farther observed that God ' shows mercy unto thousands of thi-m that love him and keep his commandments.' These are very great motives and in ducements to enforce the observance of all God's commandments, and this in par ticular. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. Question CXI. Which is the third commandment ? Answer. Tbe third commandment is, " Thou shalt not take the name of tbe Lord thy God in vain ; lor the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Question CXIL What is required in the third commandment ? Answer. The third commandment requires, that the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordi nances, the word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his works, and whatsoever else there is whereby be makes himself known, he holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, writing, by an holy profession, and answerable conversation, to the glory of God, and the good of ourselves and others. Question CXIII. What are the sins forbidaen in the third commandment ? Answer. The sins forbidden in the third commandment are, the not using of God's name as is required, and the abuse of it, in an ignorant, vain, irreverent, profane, superstitious, or wicked mentioning or otherwise using his titles, attributes, ordinances, or works ; by blasphemy, perjury j all sinful cursings, oaths, vows, and lots ; violating our oaths and vows, if lawful, and fulfilling them, if of things unlaw ful, murmuring and quarrelling at, curious prying into, and misapplying of God's derrees und providences, misinterpreting, misapplying, or any way perverting the word, or any part of it, to profane jests, curious or unprofitable questions, vain janglings, or the maintaining of false doctrines, abusing it, the creatures, or any thing contained under the name of God, to charms, or sin ful lusts and practices, the maligning, scorning, reviling, or any ways opposing of God's truth, grace, and ways, making profession of religion in hypocrisy, or for sinister ends ; being ashamed of it, or a shame to it, by uncomfortable, unwise, unfruitful, and offensive walkings, or backsliding from it. Question CX1V. What are the reasons annexed to the third commandment f Answer. The reasons annexed to the third commandment in these words, " the Lord thy God," and " for the Lord w ill not hold bim guiltless that taketh his name in vain," are, because he is the Lord and our God, and therefore his name is not to be profaned, or any way abused by us, espe cially, because he is so far from acquitting and sparing the transgressors of this commandment, as that he will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment, albeit many such escape tbe cen sures and punishments of men. General View of the Third Commandment. As the second commandment respects the manner in which God is to be worshipped, agreeably to his revealed will ; in this we are commanded to worship him with that frame of spirit which is suitabfe to the greatness of the work, and the majesty of him with whom we have to do. By the name of God we are to understand all those things whereby he is pleased to make himself known ; and these are his names, titles, attributes, words, and works. The attributes of God have been largely insisted on under the Question, ' What is God ?' z His names and titles have also been considered, as belonging to all the persons in the Godhead, in prov ing that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father.3 His word is that in which the glory contained in his names, titles, and attributes, is set forth in the most glorious manner. Thus the psalmist says, ' Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name ;'b or, thou hast given a brighter discovery of thyself in thy word, than thou hast done in any thing else by which thou hast made thyself known to thy creatures. As for the works of God, whether of nature or of grace, they are designed to lead us into the knowledge of his power, wisdom, goodness, holiness, and faithfulness, which are eminently glorified in all that he does. Now, this commandment respects our having a due regard to aE those ways whereby he x Quest, iv. a Quest, xi. b Psal. exxxviii. 2. 336 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. makes himself known ; and contains a prohibition of every thing which may tend to cast the least dishonour upon them. The Duties Enjoined in the Third Commandment. Agreeably to the method in which we are led to discuss the commandments, we shaE first observe the duties enjoined. The third commandment supposes that it is an indispensable duty for us to make mention of the name of God. Since he has given us some discoveries of himself, by what means soever he has done it, it would be an instance of the highest contempt of the greatest privilege for us to express no regard to them. But this those may be said practically to do, who make no profession of religion, and desire not to be instructed in those things which re late to the name and glory of God. Such conduct argues a person to be abandoned to the greatest wickedness, and to live without God in the world. Now there are several duties mentioned in this Answer, in which we are said to make use of God's name. These duties are performed, in particular, when we attend on his ordinances, namely, the word, sacraments, and prayer ; and when we take religious oaths, and make solemn vows ; and these duties are, doubtless, to be performed with the utmost reverence. We have many instances, in scripture, of holy men who, when they have drawn nigh to him in prayer, have adored his divine perfections with a becoming humility. Thus Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, addresses himself to God : ' There is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart.'0 Jacob, when wrestling with God in prayer, says, ' 0 God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee ; I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant. 'd Hezekiah expresses himself thus in prayer, ' 0 Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. 'e Daniel, in prayer, styles him, 'the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his command ments.'* Abraham, when standing before the Lord, and pleading in behalf of Sodom, says, ' Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. '« And the inhabitants of heaven, who are nearest the throne of God, are represented as worshipping him with the greatest reverence, • casting their crowns before the throne,' in token of their being unworthy of the honour that they are advanced to, and saying, ' Thou art worthy, O Lord, to re ceive glory, and honour, and power ;'h which is to be understood of him, exclusive of all others. Now, as this reverence is to be expressed when we ask any thing at the hand of God, by a parity of reason it ought to be expressed in any other reli gious duty, on which he has made some impressions of his glory. It may be inquired whether this reverence is consistent with that boldness which believers are said to have in prayer, when they are exhorted to ' come boldly unto the throne of grace,'1 and to ' have boldness to enter into the holiest of all, by the blood of Jesus. 'k But the word there translated 'boldness,'1 may be rendered a liberty of speech. Though he is infinitely above us, and a God of infinite holiness and purity, and therefore has the utmost abhorrence of sin, which we have reason to charge, ourselves with ; yet we are encouraged to come to him, as sitting on a throne of grace, whence he displays his glory as a sin-pardoning God, who other wise appears in his jealousy, as a sin-revenging Judge. This ' boldness,' then, is nothing else but our making use of that liberty which God gives us to come into his presence with hope of being accepted in his sight, in and through a Mediator. We might farther observe that, as we are to express an holy reverence in draw ing nigh to God in all religious duties, so we ought not to think of any of his works, c 1 Kings viii. 23. d Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. e 2 Kings xix. 15. f Dan. ix. 4. g Gen. xviii. 27. h Rev. iv. 10, 11. l Heb. iv. 16. k Chap. x. 19. 1 n«?/>V«t. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. 337 but with a due regard to, and the highest veneration of, his glory, shining forth in them. Thus it is said, ' Remember that thou magnify his work, which men be hold.'111 This reverence is to be expressed in our meditations, words, and writings ; so that we should never think or treat of divine subjects, but in an holy manner, — we should never speak of any thing by which God manifests his glory, but with a design to beget in ourselves and others a reverential fear of him, and the highest esteem for him. The Sins Forbidden in the Third Commandment. We are now to consider the sins forbidden in this commandment. In general, we violate it by not using the name of God in such a way as is required. This includes various particulars. I. Persons break this commandment by not making any profession of religion, being afraid or ashamed to own that in which the name of God is so much con cerned. Persons, indeed, do not usually arrive at this height of wickedness at once ; but the mind is alienated from God and his worship by degrees. There is first a great deal of lukewarmness, formality, and hypocrisy, reigning in the heart of man ; so that if they attend on the ordinances of God's worship, it is with great indifference, with many prejudices, and with such a frame of spirit as savours more of profaneness than true religion. Afterwards they are ashamed of Christ and his cause, being influenced by the reproach which is cast on it in the world. Thus the Jews pretended, concerning Christianity, that it was ' a sect everywhere spoken against.'" And ' Demas forsook' the apostle, 'having loved this present world;'0 being more concerned for his reputation in it, than for Christ's interest. Eventu ally such persons cast off aE public worship ; and their doing so is generally attended with a seared conscience, and running into all excess of riot. II. Persons take the name of God in vain, when, though they make a profession of religion, yet it is not in such a way as God has required. This is done by treat ing in an unbecoming manner his titles, attributes, or any ordinances or works in whicli he makes himself known. It is done when we speak of the divine perfec tions, and, at the same time, have no just ideas of what is intended by them ; or when we use the name of God with a vanity or levity of spirit, and mention sacred things in a common way, whereby we may be said to profane them ; or when we superstitiously pay a kind of veneration to the sound of words, relating to divine matters, but regard not the thing signified by them. This is using the name of God in such a way as he has not required, and consequently taking it in vain. III. The name of God is taken in vain by blasphemy. This is a thinking or speaking reproachfully of him, as though he had no right to the glory which be longs to his name ; and is, in effect, a cursing him in our hearts, and offering the greatest injury which can be done to a God of infinite perfection. This, though it is not a real lessening of his essential glory, yet argues the greatest malignity, and the highest degree of impiety in those who are guilty of it. It was so great a crime, that, by God's command, it was punished with death.P IV. This commandment is broken by not using religious oaths in a right man ner, or by violating them ; and, on the other hand, by aE sinful and profane oaths and cursing. 1. By not using religious oaths in a right manner. It is certain, that we are, upon extraordinary occasions, to make mention of the name of God by solemn oaths ; in which we appeal to him as a God of truth, the searcher of hearts, and the avenger of falsehood. That this is a duty, appears from the fact that we have various instances, in scripture, of God's condescending to confirm what he has spoken by an oath ; wherein he appeals to his own perfections for the confirmation of our faith. Thus he is represented as ' swearing by himself,' and ' by his holi ness, 'i Again, there are several examples and commands, in scripture, which make it our duty to appeal to God, on some occasions, by solemn oaths. Thus it in Job xxxvi. 24. n Acts xxviii. 22. o 2 Tim. iv. 10. p Levit. xxiv. 16- q Gen. xxii. 16, 17' Psal. lxxxix. 35. II. 2 U 338 THF THIRD COMMANDMENT. is said, ' Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name ;'r and ' To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. 's But we must observe that there is a vast difference between God's swearing by himself, or by any of his perfections, and man's swearing by him. When God swears by himself, his doing so is a display of the glory of his perfections, as a God that can not lie ; but when man swears by him, -his doing so is an act of religious worship, containing an acknowledgment of God's perfections, and an appeal to him as a God of truth, and as the avenger of a lie. Hence, an oath is not to be taken but in matters of great importance, which cannot be decided without it ; and being an act of religious worship,' it ought to be performed in the most solemn manner ; otherwise we profane the name of God, and so violate this commandment. This respects not so much the form used in swearing, as the levity of spirit with which the act is done, or our pretending to confirm by our oath that which is false. The form used in solemn oaths has been various. We read of some ceremonies used in swearing which were only occasional. Thus when Jacob and Laban took a solemn oath to each other at their parting, a pillar was erected, and a heap of stones gathered together ; and they both eat upon the heap, and ' sware by the God of Abraham and Nahor, and the Fear of Isaac,' that they would do no injury to each other.4 Also we read that, when Abraham made his servant swear -that he would take a wife for Isaac from among his kindred, and not out of the land where he dwelt, he ordered him to ' put his hand under his thigh.'11 This form of swearing seemed to be an appeal to God, as having promised that his seed should be in creased and multiplied, and that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed ; which was a circumstance well-adapted to the matter and occasion of the oath, namely, that he should provide such a wife for Isaac as God approved of. The common form of swearing used of old, seems to have been by lilting up the hand to heaven, thereby signifying an appeal to God, whose throne 'is there. Ac cordingly, the lifting up of the hand to heaven imports the same thing as to swear, according to the scripture-mode of speaking.* In this manner Abraham sware,? and the angel which appeared to John f and this is, undoubtedly, a very good and justifiable form of swearing, and is used in some Protestant countries even at this day. As to the form used by us in public solemn oaths, namely, laying the hand on the bible, or on the gospels, and kissing the book, it is nowhere warranted by scripture, and therefore is not so eligible as that of lifting up the hand. Yet because it is the common legal form used among us, it is rather to be complied with than that the duty should be neglected ; because, as has been but now ob served, some forms of swearing are said to have been used in scripture, and not re proved, which were of men's invention. The thing principally to be looked at in an oath, is the solemn appeal made in it to God. Hence, it is the frame of spirit with which this is done, which is chiefly to be regarded ; and what we have pro mised to do, is religiously to be observed, that so our oaths may not be violated. The objections against the use of religious oaths, are principally taken from two or three scriptures, not rightly understood, in which they seem to be for bidden. Thus our Saviour says, 'I say Unto you, Swear not at all;'a and the apostle James speaks to the same purposed It is farther objected that the prophet speaks of swearing as a national sin, when he says, ' Because of swearing the land mourneth.'0 But in these scriptures it is profane swearing which is forbidden, whereby persons make use of the name of God in a light and trifling manner to confirm what they say, or it is swearing by creatures, as the heaven, the earth, or any creature in them. The texts in question do not forbid swearing as a religious appeal to God in a solemn manner, for the confirming of what we assert. When the prophet speaks of ' the land mourning because of swearing, ' his words may be ren dered, as in the margin of our bibles, 'because of cursing the land mourneth ;' in timating that it was a custom among them to imprecate the wrath of God against one another, which was a sin highly provoking to the Majesty of heaven. Besides, r Deut. vi. 13. s Isa. xiv. 23. t Gen. xxxi. 45—53. u Chap. xxiv. 2, 3, 4. x Deut. xxxii. 40. y Gen. xiv. 22, 23. z Rev. a. 5. a Matt. v. 34. b James v. 12. c Jer. xxiii. 10. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. 339 it appears by what is said in the words immediately following, that the prophet is speaking of profane cursing or swearing, ' for both prophet and priest are profane.' The people of all ranks and degrees were profane ; the prophets and priests, by abusing the sacred mysteries ; and the people, in their common discourse, using oaths and curses ; for which things the land mourned. This is the plain sense of that scripture ; so that no argument can be drawn from it to prove that solemn and religious oaths are unlawful. It is, indeed, unlawful to swear by creatures, as is observed in the scriptures just mentioned ; for they are not omniscient, and there fore not to be appealed to for the deciding of matters which are known to none but ourselves and the searcher of hearts. Nor are they to be reckoned avengers of the cause of injured truth ; for they have not a sovereignty over man, or a right to judge and punish him in such a way as God has, and to whom alone belongs the work of judging and punishing. Hence, to swear by their name, is to give them a branch of his glory, and consequently to take his name in vain. 2. This commandment is broken by violating religious oaths, either those which are assertory or those which are promissary. When men assert that for truth which is uncertain, especiaEy if they know it to be false, and so design to deceive, they break this commandment. As for promissary oaths, they contain an appeal to God concerning some things to be done by us, conducive to the good of others. Now, we are guilty of the breach of this commandment when we assert a thing, without implying the condition which ought to be contained in it, that if God will, or he be pleased to enable us, we will do it. This the apostle particularly mentions, when he blames those who say, ' To-day or to-morrow we wiE go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain ; whereas they know not what shall be on the morrow ;' and therefore, they 'ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.'4 — Again, we break this commandment when we promise a thing which is out of our power to perform ; and, much more, when we do not design to perform it. — Further, we break it when we promise a thing which is in itself unlawful ; ' as the Jews did, who ' bound themselves under a curse, that they would not eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 'e If we have obliged ourselves by an oath to perform that which is unlawful, as we sin in making the promise, so we should sin in fulfiEing it. There are, however, some cases in which persons may not perform what they have sworn to do, and yet not be guilty of per jury, or violation of their oaths. One of these cases is when they have used their utmost endeavours to fulfil what they have promised to do, but cannot accomplish it. It must be observed, indeed, that if the thing promised was absolutely out of their power when the promise was made, the oath, as we just now observed, was unlawful. But suppose that the thing was in their power when they promised it, and that an unforeseen providence has put it out of their power at present to per form it, though they have used their utmost endeavours to do so, they are not chargeable with the guilt of perjury. If, on the other hand, we have promised to do a thing which is for the advantage of another, but now see reason to alter our mind, apprehending that some detriment will accrue to ourselves ; we must, not withstanding, fulfil our promise. Thus the psalmist says, ' He sweareth to his own hurt, and changelh not.'4' Yet if the person to whom we made the promise, who is to receive the advantage by our fulfilling it, is wiEing to discharge us from our obligation, we may omit to do it; and not be guilty of perjury. Here it might be inquired whether we are always obliged to fulfil a promise extorted from us by violence. It is generally supposed by divines that we are not. Yet the person can hardly be excused from sin in making such a promise, when he designs not to perform it, though some small degree of force or threatening were used ; especially as the will cannot be obliged to consent, or the tongue to utter the promise. , We may add, that they are guilty of the breach of this commandment, how much soever they may think themselves guiltless, who use equivocations, or mental reservations, in taking solemn and religious oaths. Thus the Papists make no scruple of swear ing to support the government under which they live, and yet take the first oppor tunity which offers to subvert it, pretending that they swore to support it as it stood d James iv. 13, 15. Acts xxii. IS. f Psal. xv. 4. 340 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. before the Reformation. Or they swear allegiance to their sovereign, and yet do what they can to dethrone him, and have this mental reservation, that they intended only to do it for the present, till they should have a convenient opportunity to join in a successful rebellion. By this means they break through the solemn tie of religious oaths, elude the law, and impose upon the common sense of mankind, in such a way as even the heathen themselves are afraid and ashamed to do. 3. This farther leads us to consider this commandment as broken by swearing profanely ; namely, when we make use of the name of , God, and pretend to confirm what we assert by an appeal to him, and, at the same time, are far from doing so in a religious manner. This many do who give vent to their passions by profane swearing, by invoking the name of God upon light and trifling occasions, without that due regard which ought always to be paid to his divine majesty. Under this Head we may observe, that cursing is a vile sin, whether a man imprecates the wrath of God on himself or on others. They who curse themselves do, in effect, pray that God would hasten their everlasting destruction ; as though their damna tion slumbered, or as if it were a thing to be wished for. They do that which the devils themselves would not venture to do. And to curse others is to put up a pro fane wicked prayer to God, to pour out his vengeance upon them. This is the highest affront to him ; as though the vials of his wrath were to be emptied on their fellow-men when they pleased, to satisfy their passionate revenge against them. It also includes vile uncharitableness towards those whom we are commanded to love as ourselves.? And how contrary is it to that golden rule laid down by our Saviour, ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them?'h Thus we break this commandment by perjury or profane swear ing. We may add, that it is notoriously broken by sinful vows ; either when we resolve or determine to do what is unlawful, or bring ourselves under solemn en gagements to do that which is lawful, in our own strength, without dependence on the grace of God in Christ. 4. It is farther observed in this Answer, that men take the name of God in vain, by sinful lots. This subject, however, needs explanation. Let it be considered, then, that when lots were an ordinance, by which God in an extraordinary manner determined things which were before unknown, they being an instituted means of appealing to him for that end, as in the case of Achan and others,1 were not to be used in a common way ; for to have used them so would have been a profaning of a sacred institution. But as this extraordinary ordinance has now ceased, it does not seem unlawful, so as to be an instance of profaneness, to make use of lots in civil matters ; provided we do not consider them as an ordinance which God has appointed, in which we think we have ground to expect his immediate interposition, and to depend upon it as if it were a divine oracle. In this view it would be un lawful, at present, to use lots in any respect whatsoever. 5. Persons are said to break this commandment by murmuring, quarreEing at, curiously prying into, and misapplying God's decrees or providences, or perverting what he has revealed in his word. In other words, we break it when we apply things sacred to profane uses, and have not a due regard to the glory of God con tained in them ; or when we pervert scripture, by making use of its sacred expres sions in our common discourse, as some make the scripture the subject of their profane wit and drollery. This conduct is certainly a taking of God's name in vain. It is added, that we are guilty of this sin by maintaining false doctrines, that is, when we pretend that any doctrine is from God, when it is not, or that he makes himself known by it, when it is altogether disowned by him. 6. This commandment is farther broken, by making use of God's name as a charm ; as when the writing, or pronouncing of some name of God, is pretended to be an expedient to heal diseases, or drive away evil spirits. This is a great in stance of profaneness, and that which he abhors. 7. This commandment is farther broken, by reviling or opposing God's truth, grace, and ways; whereby we. cast contempt on that which is most sacred, and lightly esteem that which he sets such a value on, and makes himself known by. g Matt, xxii. 39. h Chap. vii. 12. i Josh. vii. 13, 14 ; Acts i. 26. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. 341 We may add, that this is done by hypocrisy and sinister ends in religion, whereby we walk so as to be an offence to others, and backslide from the ways of God, This is an abuse of that which ought to be our glory, and a disregarding of that whereby God manifests his name and glory to the world. The Reasons Annexed to the Third Commandment. We are now to consider the reasons annexed to the third commandment. These are taken from the consideration of what God is in himself, as he is the Lord, whose name alone is Jehovah ; whereby he puts us in mind of his sovereignty over us, and his undoubted right to obedience from us ; and intimates that his exceEency should fill us with the greatest reverence and humility, when we think or speak of any thing by which he makes himself known. Moreover, he reveals himself to his people as their God, that so his greatness should not confound us, or his dread, as an absolute God whom we have offended, make us despair of being accepted in his sight. Hence, we are to look upon him as our reconciled God and Father in Christ ; which is the highest motive to obedience. Again, the observance of this commandment is farther enforced by a threatening denounced against those who break it ; concerning whom it is said, that ' the Lord will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain.' This implies that there will be a judgment, a reckoning day, when all shall be called to an account ; and that it shall be known whether they are guilty, or not guilty. It is farther observed, that the profaning of God's name is a sin which includes a great weight of guilt, and renders the sinner liable to punishment in proportion to it. Accordingly, God is said not to hold them guiltless, or they shall not escape punishment from him, though they may, and often do, escape punishment from men. There are many instances of the profanation of the name of God, which no laws of man can reach ; as when we attend on his ordinances without that inward purity of heart, and those high and becoming thoughts of him, which we ought always to entertain. On the other hand, human laws against the open profaning of the name of God are not severe enough to deter men from it ; and if they are, they are seldom put in execution. This is one reason why we behold the name of God so openly blasphemed, while this iniquity goes unpunished by men. Yet such as are guilty of it are to expect that God will follow them with the tokens of his displeasure, sometimes with tem poral, at other times with spiritual judgments. And that he will do so is assigned as a reason why we ought to make mention of the name of God, or of every thing whereby he makes himself known in such a way that we may glorify him. THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. Question CXV. Which is the fourth commandment ? Answer. The fourth commandment is, "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; hut the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in tbem is, and rested tbe seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Question CXVI. What is required in the fourth commandment ? Answer. The fourth commandment requireth of all men, the sanctifying, or keeping holy to God, such set time as he hath appointed in his word ; expressly one whole day in seven, which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world ; which is the Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament, called the Lord's day. General Import of the Fourth Commandment. In this commandment it is supposed, that God is the sovereign Lord of our time ; which is to be improved by us, to the best purposes, as he shall direct. As there 342 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. are some special seasons which he has appointed for the exercise of religious worship, these are called holy days ; and as we are to abstain from our secular em ployments in them and engage in religious duties, they are called sabbaths; and *hat more especially, because they are sanctified by God for his service.; These are considered, more generally, as including aE those set times which God has ap pointed in his word ; and that they include these is implied in the moral reason of this commandment. Hence, if he was pleased to institute, as he did under the cere monial law, various sabbaths, or days appointed for rest, and the performance of religious worship, his people were obliged to observe them. I take the meaning of this commandment, then, to be, ' Remember a sabbath day, or every sabbath day, or every day, which God hath sanctified for that end, to keep it holy;' and then follows the particular intimation of the weekly sabbath. This, as is observed in the Answer we are explaining, was the seventh day of the week, from the begin ning of the world, to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since. The latter is the Christian sabbath, and, in the New Testament, is caEed the Lord's day. The Nature of the Sabbatic Institution. . We shaE here inquire — since the fourth commandment is contained in the decalogue, which is an abstract of the moral law — whether we are obliged to observe the sabbath by the law of nature, or by some positive law. For un derstanding this, let it be premised that some laws are moral by way of eminence, or, in thehighest sense, as distinguished from all positive laws ; and that others may be called moral-positive, that is, the laws are positive, while there is, at the same time, some moral reason annexed to enforce our obedience to them. This moral reason is either what is founded in the sovereignty of God commanding, as is the case in all positive laws, which, in this respect, are moral, though they could not be known without a divine revelation ; or else positive laws may have a moral circumstance annexed to them to engage us to obedience, taken from some glory which redounds to God or good to ourselves by the observance of them, or from some other reason assigned by God. For example, the reason annexed to the fourth commandment is taken from God's resting from the work of creation on the seventh day, and its being sanctified for our performing religious duties. 1. We shall consider first in what respects the sabbath is moral in the highest and most proper sense of the word. Here we shaE lay down the following propositions, which may be considered in their respective connection. — First, it is a branch of the moral law, that G'od should be worshipped. This is founded in his divine per fections, in the relation- we stand in to him, and in the consideration of our being intelligent creatures, capable of worship. — Again, the moral law obliges us to per form social worship. This appears from the fact that man, as a creature, is capa ble of society, and is naturally inclined and disposed to it. That he is so, we can not but know, when we look into ourselves, and consider the disposition of all in telligent creatures, leading them together with ourselves to this erid ; so that with out any positive law to direct us, we should be naturally inclined to converse with one another. — Further, as man is a creature designed to worship God, as the law of nature suggests ; so it appears, from the same law, that he is obliged to perform social worship. For, if we are obliged to converse with one another, and thereby to be helpful to one another, in other respects ; certainly we are obliged by the same law, to converse with one another about divine matters, to be helpiul to one another in them, and to express our united concurrence in those ' things which relate to the glory of God. — Again, the law of nature farther suggests that as the whole of our business in this world is not included in that of society, which is rather to be occa sional than stated ; and as there are other secular employments which we are to be engaged in, in which we do not converse with others ; so we are not to spend our whole time in public or social worship. From these premises, then, it follows that some stated times are to be appointed for public and social worship. Now, it is agreeable to the law of nature, that God, who is the sovereign Lord of our time, as weE as the object of social worship, should appoint these times ; that is, that ha THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. 343 should ordain a sabbath, or what proportion of time he pleases, for us to perform those religious duties which he enjoins. These considerations relating to our obser vance of the sabbath, are purely moral and not positive. , 2. We shall now show in what respects the sabbath is positive, and not moral in the highest and most proper sense of the word. Here let it be considered that it, is the result, pf a positive, law, that one proportion of time should be observed for a sabbath rather than another ; namely, that it should be a seventh, rather than a third, fourth, fifth, or sixth part of our time. For this point could not have been known by the light of nature, any more than the other branches of instituted wor ship that are tp be performed. Hence, whether it be the seventh day in the week, or the .first, which we are tp observe, the appointment of it being founded in the divine will, we conclude it to be a positive law. This we are obliged to assert that we may guard against two extremes, namely, that of those who deny the sabbath tqhave any thing of a moral nature contained in it ; and that of others who sup- ppse,,that there is no idea of a positive law in it. That, in some respects, the fourth commandment is a branch of the moral law, may be proved by various argu ments. — In particular, it is inserted, among other commandments which are moral, and which were proclaimed by the voice of God from mount Sinai. But the cere monial and judicial laws were not so proclaimed ; they were given by divine in spiration : ' These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out .of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice ; and he added no roore,'k namely, at that time. Moreover, they were written on two tables, with the finger of God, which none of the other laws were ; and were laid up in the ark before the Lord. l Now, these circumstances denote the dignity and perpetuity of these laws, above all which were ceremonial, judicial, or merely positive. — Again, the sabbath was not only enjoined to be observed by the Israel ites, who were in covenant with God, together with their servants, who were made proselytes to their religion, and were obliged to observe the ceremonial and other positive laws ; but it was also to be observed by the stranger within their gates, namely, the heathen, who dwelt among them, who were not in covenant with God, and did not observe the ceremonial law. These were obliged to obey the sabbath, it being, in many respects, a branch of the moral law. — Further, if the observance of the sabbath had been a duty of the ceremonial, and in no respects of the moral law, it would have been wholly abolished at the death of Christ. But, though then the day was altered, yet there was still a sabbath observed after his resurrection, even when the ceremonial law was no longer in force. — Moreover, the weekly sab bath is distinguished from all the ceremonial festivals, which are also called sab baths ; for God lays a special claim to it, as his own day. Hence, it is called, in this commandment, ,' the sabbath of the Lord thy God ;' and it is styled, ' his holy day,'™ by way of eminence, to distinguish it from other days which he has appointed to be, in other respect, devoted to his service ; and, when changed, it is called ' the Lord's day,'n which is a peculiar honour put upon it. For these reasons, we conclude that the sabbath has in it something moral,. and is not a part of the ceremonial law. It is objected that the sabbath is included, by the apostle, among the ceremonial laws, which were designed to be abrogated under ,the gospel-dispensation ; and therefore he says, ' Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days ; which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of Christ.'0 But by ' the sabbath- days,' which are 'a shadow of things to come,' we are to understand the Jewish festivals, such as the new-moons, the passover, penteopst, the feast of tabernacles, &a., which are often called sabbaths ; wherein holy convocations were held. Hence, when the apostle says, ,' Let no man judge you ' in respect of this matter, he means, let none have occasion to reprove you for your observing those days which were merely ceremonial, and the design of which was to typify the gospel-rest. That the apostle does not mean the weekly sabbath, is plain ; for if he did he would contradict his own practice, and that of the churches in his day, who observed k Deut. v. 22. 1 Exod. xxxi. 18. m Isa. lviii. 13. n "Rev. i. 10. o Col. ii. 16, 17. 344 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. it. The other sabbaths, however, were abolished, together with the ceremonial law. Moreover, that he intends no more than the ceremonial sabbaths, or Jewish festivals, is evident from "what follows, ' Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,' as well as ' in respect of an holy day,' &c. Here he does not mean, let no one have reason to judge or condemn you for gluttony or drunkenness ; but he means, let no man judge or condemn you for your abstaining from several sorts of meat, forbidden by the ceremonial law; and he thus intimates that the distinction of meats is removed under the gospel-dispensation. Now, it follows that the ceremonial sabbaths, or holy days, are taken away ; which are intended by 'the sabbath day,' in that place, and not the weekly sabbath. Hence, our translation rightly renders it, 'the sabbath days,' not the sabbath day. Or if it ought to be rendered ' the sabbath day,' or the weekly sabbath, because it is distin guished from the holy days previously mentioned ; then he means the seventh- day-sabbath, which was abolished, together with the ceremonial law, in opposition to the Lord's day. How far this seventh-day-sabbath was a sign or shadow of good things to come, will be considered in our reply to the next objection. It is farther objected by those who pretend that the sabbath is a branch of the ceremonial law, that it is said, ' The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever,'!1 &c. But whenever the weekly sabbath has any idea annexed to it corresponding to that of the ceremonial law, as when, in this scripture, it is said to be ' a sign' between God and Israel, we are to understand only that there was a ceremonial accommodation annexed to it, as an ordinance for their faith in particular, signifying the gospel rest. This signification was annexed to it, not from the beginning, but when it was given to Israel. From the begin ning, it was not a type ; but when God gave the ceremonial law, it was made a type. So the rainbow, which proceeds from natural causes, was, doubtless, set in the hea vens before Noah's time ; yet it was not ordained to be a sign of the covenant be tween God and him, tiE God ordered it to be so in his time. Thus God ordained the sabbath to be a type or sign to Israel, when he gave them the ceremonial law, though it was not so before. And at Christ's resurrection it ceased to be an ordi nance for their faith in the gospel-rest, or to be observed ; when another day was substituted in the room of it, namely, the first day of the week. It is farther objected that, when the observance of the sabbath was enjoined, God bade the Israelites ' remember that they were servants in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord their God brought them out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm ;' and ' therefore commanded them to keep the sabbath day.' 1 But God's bringing his people out of Egypt, is no argument that this command ment is a part of the ceremonial law, which was given soon after that time. For, in the preface to the ten commandments, his bringing his people out of the land of Egypt is assigned as a reason why they should observe all the commandments. Hence, it might as well be inferred that they are aE a part of the ceremonial law, as that the fourth commandment is so ; since they are all enforced by the same motive. Again, though this particular reason is given to induce the Israelites to observe this commandment, and it is in a more especial manner applied to that dis pensation of providence which they were lately under ; yet it could not be said to apply to the first institution of the sabbath, if we suppose, as we shall endeavour to prove under a following Head, that it was instituted before Moses' time. Fur ther, the particular reason taken from their having been ' servants in Egypt,' is added to enforce the obligation laid on masters, to let their servants rest on the sabbath day, namely, because they themselves were once servants in Egypt ; with out any reference being made to the matter of the commandment, or any intima tion that it is a branch of the ceremonial law. The Date of the Sabbatic Institution. We shaE now consider when this law, relating to the observation of the sabbath, p Exod. xxxi. 16, 17. q Deut. v. 15. THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. 345 was first given. There are various opinions about this matter. Some think that the sabbath was first instituted when God spake to Israel from mount Sinai ; in asmuch as it is one of the ten commandments which God gave them from that place. But we may remark that the sabbath was observed some days before Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai, namely, when they were in the wilderness of Sin. Thus Moses, when speaking concerning their gathering twice as much manna as was usual, the day before the sabbath, assigns as a reason for it, ' To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord.'r And that this was before they encamped at mount Sinai, appears from its being said that ' they came into the wEderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month,'8 whereas they did not come into the wilderness of Sinai, till the third month.4 Others, therefore, fix the epoch of the giving this law, from their coming into the wilderness of Sin ; this being the first time in which the sabbath is expressly said in scripture to have been observed. Nothing, however, can be justly inferred to this effect from the mode of expression used by Moses in this scripture ; for it argues, not the giving of a new law, which had not been before observed, but only the putting them in mind of the observance of that day which had, for some time, been disregarded. Ac cordingly, the approach of the sabbath is assigned as a reason of their gathering twice the quantity of manna on the sixth day ; which supposes that they knew be forehand, that they were to rest on the seventh. It is highly probable, indeed, that the observance of this commandment had been neglected, for some years be fore, while they were in Egypt ; and it may be, they were not suffered by those who held them there in bondage to observe it, and many other of the divine laws. Yet the memory of the sabbath was not whoEy lost among them ; and Moses now puts them in mind of it. The most probable opinion therefore relating to the institution of the sabbath, is, that it was given to man from the beginning. This may be argued from the reason annexed to the commandment, namely, God's resting from his work of crea tion ; and it immediately follows, that when he rested from his work, he blessed and sanctified the seventh day ; that so man might celebrate and commemorate his power and glory which had been displayed." It is objected, however, that God's blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, may be understood proleptically, as denoting that at first he sanctified or ordained that it should be a sabbath to his people in following ages ; and that it did not become so till Moses' time. Accordingly, the objectors suppose that Moses, having been speaking of the creation of the world, and God's resting from his work, gives them to understand that this was the rea son of the law which was now given them, concerning the observance of the sab bath, which they never heard of before. But this sense of the text will appear very absurd to any unprejudiced person. For if God's resting from his work, which is mentioned immediately before, as the reason of his sanctifying the seventh day, is to be taken literally, why must his sanctifying the sabbath be taken figuratively ? If the one be an account of what was just done, why should the other be an account of what was not to take place till two thousand and five hundred years after ? Again, if God had a church in the world, and public worship was performed by them from Adam to Moses' time, then there were set times in which they were to meet together for that end, and consequently a sabbath. This stated season of sacred rest was equally necessary for the good of the church in foregoing as in fol lowing ages ; and therefore we cannot suppose that it should have been denied that privilege then which has been granted it ever since, or that from Moses' time the churcli should be obliged to celebrate the glory of God, as their Creator, sovereign Ruler, and bountiful Benefactor, and by his express command, devote a seventh part of time to this service, and yet that he should loss the glory, and his people the advantage arising from it, before that time. — We are told, however, that the scrip ture is whoEy silent as to this matter ; so that nothing can be concluded in favour of the argument we are maintaining. But some think that the scripture is not wholly silent as to this matter ; but that it may be inferred from what we read in Gen. iv. 3, 4, where it is said that ' in process of time it came to pass, that Cain i Exod. xvi, 23. s Ver. 1. t Chap. xix. 1. u Gen. ii. 1, 2, 3. n 2x 346 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. brought an offering unto the Lord,' which was, doubtless, an instance of public wor ship. We render the words ' in process of time ;' but they may, with equal justice, be rendered, as is observed in the margin, ' at the end of days ;' that is, at the end of that cycle of days which we generally caE a week, or on the seventh day. Then the offering was brought, and the solemn worship performed ; and hereby the sab bath was sanctified according to God's institution. But if this argument be. not aEowed, it does not follow that the scripture's not mentioning their observing a sabbath, gives us just ground to suppose that they did not observe any. It might as weE be argued that, because the scripture speaks very little of any public wor ship performed before the flood, there was then none in the world j or that as we do not read of the church's observing a sabbath, and many other parts of instituted worship all the time of the Judges, which is said to have been ' about the space of four hundred and fifty years, 'x it foEows that a sabbath was not observed during the whole of that interval, and all instituted worship was wholly neglected. The next thing to be inquired into is, whether the sabbath was instituted before or after the fall of our first parents. Now it appears to have been instituted before the fall ; because the reason of its institution was God's resting from his work of creation, of which we read before the account of their fall. It is objected, however, that Adam, in innocency, had no man-servants, nor maid-servants, nor stranger within his gate ; and therefore was not in a capacity to observe this commandment. But before the world was increased, our first parents might observe the principal thing contained in the commandment, by setting apart a day for religious worship ; and, when the world was increased, the other part of the commandment, which is only circumstantial, might also be observed. Indeed, this objection might be as much alleged against Adam's being obliged to yield obedience to the fifth, seventh, and eighth commandments, as against his obeying the fourth. The Change of the Sabbath. It is farther observed, in this Answer, that the day which we call a seventh part of time, was the seventh day of the week, from the beginning of the world till the resurrection of Christ ; and that it has been the first day of the week ever since, and will continue to be so till the end of the world. The latter is the Christian pabbath, or the Lord's day. That the seventh day of the week was observed as a sabbath 'at first, is taken for granted. Nor do we find that it was abolished by a positive law, so that there should be no sabbath ; but the day was changed, by substituting another in its room. If, according to the fourth commandment, there is to be but one sabbath in the week, and the other six days are allowed for our own lawful employments, and if we can prove, as we shall attempt to do, that the first day of the week is the Christian sabbath, then it foEows that the seventh day ceases to be a sabbath. It may be observed, indeed, from several ecclesiastical writers, that some, in the three first centuries, observed both the seventh and the first day of the week. As for the apostles, they often assembled with the Jews, in their synagogues, on the seventh day ;? but they did so with a design to propagate the Christian religion among them, which could not, with equal conveniency, be done on other days. The church afterwards met together on that day, as well as the Lord's day, apprehending that, though it was not now to be reckoned God's holy day, or the Christian sabbath, yet the observance of it was expedient in order that they might keep up the memory of his having, on that day, finished the work of creation. Others kept it as a day of fasting, accompanied with other religious exercises, in memory of Christ's lying that day in the grave. But this practice can hardly be justified. It is evident, however, that they did not pay the same regard to it as to the Lord's day, nor style it God's holy day, or the Christian sabbath, by way of eminence. Some expressly intimated that, whatever regard they paid to the seventh day, or what assemblies soever they held on it for worship, they did not observe it in the same way the Jews did.2 Nor were they obliged to hold meetings on that day, as they were on the Lord's day, the matter being, in part, left to their discre- x Acts xiii. 20. v Acts xiii. 14. and xvii. 2. z Vid. Athanas. Horn, de Seinente. THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. 347 tion. It was supposed that they had sufficient leisure from their secular callings, and therefore might attend to the worship of God on that day, as an opportunity offered itself ;, though they did not count it equally holy with the Lord's day, nor were obliged, when the worship was over, to abstain from their secular employ ments.* I mention these facts only occasionaEy, in order to obviate an objection taken from the practice of some of the ancient church, in observing the seventh day of the week ; an argument which does not much affect the cause we are main taining, our design being to prove that the first day of the week is ordained to be the Christian sabbath. But before we enter on that subject, it may be necessary to premise some considerations. It does not in the least derogate from the honour and glory of God, to change the sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. It would, indeed, dero gate from the glory of God if he should take away one sabbath and not institute another in its room ; for then he would lose the honour of that public worship which he has appointed to be performed to him on that day. Moreover, if there be a greater work than that of creation to be remembered and celebrated, it tends much more to the advancing of the glory of God, to appoint a day for the solemn remem brance of that work than if no such appointment should be made. We may add, that if all men must honour the Son even as they honour the Father, it is expe dient that a day should be set apart for his honour, namely, the day on which he rested from the work of redemption, or, as the apostle says, ' ceased from it, as God did from his.'b On the following grounds, then, it was expedient that God should alter the sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. — Hereby Christ took occasion to give a display of his glory, and in particular of his sover eign authority, to enjoin what time he would have us set apart for his worship under the gospel-dispensation, as well as what worship he wiE have performed in it, and to discover himself to be, as, he styles himself, ' the Lord of the sabbath day.'c — Again, we, in the observance pf the Christian sabbath, signify our faith, in a public manner, that Christ is come in the flesh, that the work of our redemption is brought to perfection, and consequently, that there is a way prepared for our justification and access to God, as our God, in hope of finding acceptance in his sight. — Fur ther, all the ordinances of gospel-worship have a peculiar relation to Christ ; and it is accordingly expedient that the time in which they are to be performed under the gospel-dispensation, should likewise have relation to him. Hence, that day in which he finished his work of redemption must be set apart in commemoration of it ; and that was the first day of the week. We are now led to consider what ground we have to conclude that the sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, after the resurrection of Christ. 1. This change of the sabbath appears from the example of Christ and his apostles, who celebrated the first day of the week as a sabbath, after his resurrection. Thus we read that ' the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you.'d And 'after eight days,' or the eighth day after inclusive, ' again his disciples were within ; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you.'6 Here we may observe, that the meeting spoken of was not merely an occa sional meeting, but a fixed one, which returned weekly. Hence, they met eight days after, or the foEowing first day of the week ; which was the second Christian sabbath. Again, on both these days of their meeting together lor public worship, Christ appeared in the midst of them, and spake peace to them. He thus owned the day, and confirmed their faith in the observance of it as a sabbath, for the future. i It is objected that the reason of the apostles meeting together on the first day of the week, was for fear of the Jews ; and not because that day was substituted in a Vid. Ignat. Epist. ad Miign. And much more to the same purpose may be seen in a learned book, entitled, Dies Dominica, in cap. iii. et alibi passim. b Heb. ir. 10. c Matt. xii. 8. d John xx. 19. e Verse 26. 348 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. the room of the seventh day, as a sabbath perpetually to be observed. But it is not said that they met together for fear of the Jews ; but that when they were as sembled, the doors were shut for fear of them. Besides, the fear of persecution would have been no warrant for them, not to keep the seventh-day sabbath, or to substitute another day in the room of it. We may add, too, that they might have more securely met together on the seventh day of the week, than on any other day, if they had been afraid of disturbance from the Jews ; for then the Jews were engaged in worship themselves, and it is probable, would be inclined to let them alone, for want of leisure to give them disturbance in their worship. 2. That the sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, farther appears from the fact that this was a day in which the church met, together tyith the apostles, for solemn public worship. Thus we read that ' upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.'4" Now this was not a private, but a public meeting of the church ; for it is said, that the disciples, that is, the church, met together. Nor was the day occasionally appointed by the apostle ; but it was the stated usual time of their meeting. For it is said, not that Paul designed to preach to them on that day, and therefore they met together ; but that when they came together, ' on the first day of the week,' that is, on the day of their usual meeting, ' Paul preached unto them.' Again, the apostle had been with them some days before ; for it is said in the fore going verse, that ' he abode there seven days.' Now, why did they not meet together, and he preach to them the day before, namely, the seventh day of the week, on which day he was with them ; but because that was no longer a sabbath, but changed to the first day ? Further, the object of their meeting was to break bread. Now, though the word is to be preached in season and out of season ; yet no day is so proper to break bread on, or celebrate the Lord's supper, as that on which he rose from the dead. Besides, when a day is particularly described as that which is set apart for solemn worship, such as preaching and breaking of bread is supposed to be, that day must be understood to be the sabbath. Moreover, the disciples could not be said now to meet together for fear of the Jews, as was before objected to their observing the first sabbath ; for the meeting in this case was at Troas, where the Jews had no influence, and could not persecute them, the church consisting of converted Gentiles. It is objected that the word which we render 'the first day of the week,'? might be rendered 'one day of the week,' or a certain day. But our translation of the Greek word is by far the most proper, as all know who understand that language. Besides, the same words are used in John xx. 1, and Luke xxiv. 1, in both of which scriptures Christ's resurrection is said to have occurred ' on the first day of the week.' How preposterous would it be, to render the words there, ' on a cer tain day of the week V And if they are, in these scriptures, and in others which might be referred to, to be rendered 'the first day of the week,' as all allow they must, why should they be rendered otherwise in the text under present considera tion ? — It is farther objected, that their meeting together on the first day of the week to break bread, does not argue the day to have been a sabbath ; because in the early ages the Lord's supper used to be administered whenever the word was preached, and that was on other days, besides the first day of the week ; yea, we read, that in some ages of the church the word was preached, and the Lord's supper administered, every day. But though the Lord's supper may be adminis tered on another day, yet, as has been already observed, the occasion mentioned in the passage in question is said to have been the day more especially appointed for the observance of this solemn ordinance, or for public worship. Besides, though the Lord's supper was administered on other days after this ; it will be hard to prove that it was administered on any other day than the Lord's day in the apos tles time. j v 3. The change of the sabbath, from the seventh to the first day of the week, may be farther argued from 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, in which the apostle says, ' As I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the I Acts xx. 7. g E» tii fax rut rxZZxrut, THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. 349 week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him ; that there be no gatherings when I come.' Here we may observe that there is a work of charity recommended, — a duty most proper for the sabbath, as a testimony of our thankfulness to God for spiritual blessings held forth to or received by us on that day ; and it is a day in which our hearts are most likely to be enlarged to others, when most affected with the love of God to us. Those duties which the prophet recommends as suitable to a fast which God had chosen, are very suitable to aE public ordinances, and in particular to sabbaths, namely, ' to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to deal forth bread to the hungry. 'h If the poor of the church were to be provided for, this was to be done not by a private but by a public collection, whereby more might be raised, and no burden laid on particular persons. It is said, moreover, that they were to 'lay by as God had prospered them ;' that is, not only in proportion to the increase of their worldly substance, or the success which attended their secular employments on other days, but in proportion to the spiritual advantage they received from Christ under his ordinances. Again, this work of charity was to be done, not on one first day of the . week, but on the return of every first day ; as all who read this scripture impar- tiaEy must understand it.' Hence, the first day of the week was a day in which the church met together for solemn, public, and stated worship. Further, the work , was not only commanded to the church at Corinth, but was agreeable to what had been commanded to ' all the churches of Galatia.' It foEows that the churches of Galatia were obliged to observe the first day of the week, as well as that at Corinth. And inasmuch as this epistle is directed to ' all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, 'k it may, by a parity of reason, be applied to them. Ac cordingly, it may be argued that it was a universal practice of the church at that time, to meet together for religious worship on the first day of the week. This argument cannot but have some weight to prove the doctrine which we are main taining, as to the change of the sabbath from the seventh to the first day, of the week. 4. The change of the sabbath, from the seventh to the first day of the week, far ther appears from the fact that there is a day, mentioned in the New Testament, which is styled 'the Lord's day.' Thus it is said, 'I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.'1 Here it may be observed, that there is a peculiar claim which Christ lays to this day as his own, distinct from all other days. As the seventh day of the week was formerly caEed, as in this commandment, ' the sabbath of the Lord thy God,' and elsewhere, ' his holy day ;'m so there is a peculiar day which our Sa viour, who is the Lord here spoken of, claims as his holy day. And what can this be, but that day which he instituted in commemoration of his having finished the work of our redemption? It may be farther observed that, when God is said to lay claim to things in scripture, the meaning is that they are of his appointment, and for his glory. Thus the bread and the wine in that ordinance which Christ has appointed in remembrance of his death, is caEed 'the Lord's supper,' or ' the Lord's table,' denoting that it is an ordinance of his own appointment. In like manner, ' the Lord's day' may be fitly so caEed for the reason that it is instituted by him. The arguments which have hitherto been brought to prove that the sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, are principally such as are founded on a scripture consequence. We shaE now proceed to prove that this con sequence is just, namely, that because the first day of the week was observed by our Saviour, his apostles, and the church in general, as the Lord's day, that is, a day instituted by him in commemoration of his having finished the work of our re demption, therefore we ought to observe it for that end. It is not to be supposed that this day was universally observed by the church at random, or by accident, without some direction given them. For as the apostles were appointed to erect the gospel church, and, as God's ministers, to give laws to it, relating to the insti tuted worship which was to be performed in it, it is reasonable to suppose that they gave direction concerning the time in which public solemn worship should be per il Isa. lviii. 6, 7. i Kmvm putt e-xCSxrat. k 1 Cor. i. 2. 1 Rev. i. 10. m Isa. lviii. 13. 350 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. formed. Now, whatever the apostles ordered tbe church. to observe, in matters be longing to religious worship, they did it by divine direction ; otherwise the rules they laid down for instituted worship could not be much depended on, and they would doubtless have been blamed, as not having fulfilled the commission which they received from Christ, to ' teach ' the church ' to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them.' Nor could the apostle have made this appeal to the church: ' I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God ;'n and elsewhere, ' I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you;'0 and, ' I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, 'p Nor would he have acted agreeably to the character he gave of himself and the rest of the apos tles, concerning whom he says, ' Let a man so account' of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful, 'i And he says concerning himself, ' I have obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful;'1 and elsewhere, ' If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.'9 Hence, whatever directions he gave about the time as well as mode of worship, were stamped with divine authority ; so that an apostolic intimation relating to this matter contained a divine command. ., Those things which were delivered to the church by ^persons under divine inspir ation, are not to be reckoned among the traditions which the Papists plead for, which took their rise in those ages when inspiration had ceased. The apostle uses the word ' tradition ' in the same sense in which we are to understand a divine oracle, or a command given by those who were divinely inspired. Accordingly, he says ' I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances,.' or, as it is in the margin, 'traditions, as I delivered them to you.'4 And elsewhere he exhorts them to ' hold the traditions which they had been taught, whether by word or his epistle ;'u that is, all those things which had been commu nicated to them by divine inspiration, in whatever form they were transmitted to them, whether by word or writing ; which different circumstances of imparting them, do not in the least detract from their divine authority. The laws which God gave to his church, were either immediately from himself, as the ten com mandments, or were given by those who were inspired for that purpose. Indeed, the greater part of what related to gospel worship was in the latter way. This was either verbal or real ; the former containing an intimation of what the apostles had received of the Lord, and the latter being enforced by their example and practice. Now, their example and practice, supposing them under divine inspiration, was a sufficient warrant for the faith and practice of the church, whether relating to the mode or to the time of worship ; and consequently, the practice and example of the apostles and church, in their day, in observing the first day of the week, is a sufficient argument to convince us concerning the change of the sabbath from the seventh to the Lord's day, which was to be observed by the church in all succeeding ages. A question is proposed by some, When was it that Christ gave instructions to the apostles concerning the change of the sabbath? But this is an over-curious inquiry. It is enough for us to conclude that this, together with other laws given by them relating to the gospel-dispensation, were given by him during that interval of time in which ' he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God ;'x of which, we may reasonably suppose this to have been one. But if this consideration be not reckoned sufficient for confirming our faith, we have the highest reason to conclude that it was given by the inspiration of the Spirit, concerning whom Christ promised to the apostles that he would guide 'them into all truth,' and that he should ' show them things to them.'? By this we are to understand that he was to lead them, not only into those truths which were neces sary for them to know as Christians, but into those things which it was necessary for them as ministers to impart to the churches as a rule of faith and practice. This, I think, may give us sufficient satisfaction, as to the divine origin of the n Acts xx. 27. o 1 Cor. xi. 23. p Chap. xv. 3. q Chap. iv. 1. r Chap. vii. 25. s 1 Cor. xiv. 37. t Chap. xi. 2. u 2 Thess. ii. 15. x Acts i. 3. y John xvi. 13. THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. 351 Lord's day ; without our being obliged to have recourse to an ecclesiastical estab-, lishment, without a divine institution, a device which would very ,much detract from the dignity and glory of the Christian sabbath, and from the- regard which we ought to pay to it, as the Lord's holy day. We> have considered that it was in stituted by the apostles ; that they had instructions in all things relating to the edification of the church ; and that they were so faithful, in what they imparted, that they cannot be, in the least, suspected of intruding any invention of their own into the worship of God, in this any more than any other branch of that worship, — to suppose which, would leave us in the greatest uncertainty as to matters of the highest importance. Thus, concerning the observance of the Lord's day, as founded on a divine warrant given to the church by the ministry of the apostles, who were appointed by God to make known those laws to them which respect the manner and time in which he will be worshipped, under the gospel-dispensation. The next thing to be considered, is that the church, in and after the apostles' time, universally attended to the religious observance of the Lord's day ; which was celebrated as a sabbath in aE succeeding ages. This is so evident from his tory that it needs no proof. That the apostles and the church in their day observed it, has been already considered ; and that the observance of it was continued in the church after their death, appears from the writings of most of the Fathers, who speak of it as a day in which the church met together for public worship, and to which they paid a much greater deference than to any of the other days of the week in which they occasionally attended on the exercise of religious duties. Thus Igna tius, who lived in the beginning of the second century, advises every one who loved Christ to celebrate the Lord's day, which was consecrated to his resurrec tion ; and he caEs it ' the queen, and chief of all days.'z Justin Martyr, also, who lived about the middle of the same century, in one of his apologies for the Chris tians, says, " On that day, which they," namely, the heathen, ¦' call Sunday, all who live in cities or villages, meet together in the same place, where the writings of the apostles and prophets are read, and we all assemble ; it being the day in which God finished the creation, and Jesus Christ, our Saviour, rose from the dead. For the day before Saturday he was crucified ; and the day after it, that is, Sunday, he appeared to his apostles and disciples, and instructed them in those things which we propose to your consideration."* In the third century, when persecution so much raged against the church, it is well-known that Christians distinguish them selves, by the character of observers of the Lord's day, which they reckon a badge of Christianity.11 I need not descend any lower, to prove that the Lord's day was universally observed by the church, in commemoration of Christ's resurrection, in all succeeding ages ; for that is generally allowed. I shaE therefore add only a simple thought or two to illustrate this argument, taken from the practice of the Christian church, from our Saviour's resurrection to this day. It cannot reason ably be supposed that God would suffer his church universaEy to run into so great a mistake, as to keep a wrong day as a weekly sabbath ; and that not only in one z Vid. Ignat. Epist. ad Magnes. a Vid. Just. Mart. edit, a Grab. Apol. i. § 87, and 89. It may be observed, that that Father is not alone in his calling it Sunday. Tertullian [Adv. Gent. cap. xvi.] calls it so; and Jerome says it may be so called, because the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in his wings. But it is generally called ' the Lord's day ;' not only hy others, but by the same Fathers, except when, in their apologies for the Christian religion against the heathen, tbey used the word in compliance' with their mode of speaking. But that which is more strange, and savours a little of affectation, is that Justin, and some others of the Fathers, should choose to use a circumlocution, and instead of Friday, say ' the day before Saturday.' Ignatius, in Epist. ad Trail, calls it parasceva, or, the preparation for the sabbath, as the Jews did ; and Irenieus calls it the day before the sabbath, in lib. v. adv. Her. cap. xxiii. The learned Grabe supposes the reason of this to have been that thev might show how much they detested the name of Venus, to whom Friday was dedicated by the heathen. But they ought to have been as cautious of using the word Sunday ; for not only was that day dedicated to the Sun, but some took occasion from the name given to it, to asperse the Christians as if they worshipped the Sun, a charge from which Tertullian, in Apol. udv. Gent. cap. xvi. is obliged to exculpate them. b Dominicum agere, or celebrare, was a phrase well known in that age, in which many Christians were put to death, upon their being examined, and boldly professing that they observed the horn's day. • The assemblies in which all the parts of public worship were performed on that (lav, wire generally called Synaxes. 352 THE SABBATIC INSTITUTION. or two, but in all ages, since our Saviour's time. Whatever error particular churches have been suffered to imbibe, God has not left them aE, before the cor ruption and apostasy of the church of Rome, as well as since the Reformation, to be deceived ; yet they must have been so left, had they esteemed that to be God's holy day which he has neither instituted nor owned as such. Again, God has not only suffered all his churches to go on in this error, if it be an error, and not undeceived them ; but he has, at the same time, granted them many signal marks of his favour, and has, to this day, in many instances, owned the strict and religious observance of the Christian sabbath. Now, we can hardly suppose him to have done this, or to have given a sanction to it, by being present with his people when attending on him in it, in the ordinances of his appointment, if the day had not been of his own institution. The Relative Time of the Sabbath. We now come to observe the proportion of time which is to be observed as a weekly sabbath. It is said in this Answer, we are to keep holy to God, one whole day in seven. A day is either artificial or natural. The former is the space of time from the sun's rising to its setting ; the latter includes the space of twenty- four hours. Now, the Lord's day must be supposed to continue longer than the measure of an artificial day ; otherwise it would fall short of a seventh part of time. But this point has not so many difficulties attending it, as that has which relates to the time of the day when the sabbath begins. Yet we have some direction as to this matter, from the intimation given us that Christ rose from the dead ' on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, while it was yet dark.'0 Hence, the Lord's day begins in the morning, before sun-rising ; or, according to our usual way of reckoning, we may conclude, that it begins immediately after midnight, and continues till midnight following. This is our common method of computing time, beginning the day with the morning, and ending it with the evening ; and it is agreeable to the psalmist's observation, ' Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour ' in the morning, 'until the evening.'3 Rest, in the order of nature, follows labour ; and the night foEows the day. Hence, the Lord's day evening follows the day ; and on this account, the day must be supposed to begin in the morning. Again, if the sabbath begins in the evening, religious worship ought to be performed some time in the evening ; and then, soon after it is begun, it will be interrupted by the succeeding night, and it must be revived the foEowing day. Besides, as to the design of the sabbath, it seems not agreeable to it that, when we have been engaged in the worship of God in the day, we should spend the evening in secular employments ; yet our doing so cannot be judged unlawful, if the sabbath be then at an end. It is much more expedient that the whole work of the day should be continued as long as our worldly employments are on other days ; and that our beginning and ending the performance of religious duties, should, in some measure, correspond with the nature of them. Again, that the sabbath begins in the morning may be proved from what is said in Exod. xvi. 23, ' To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord ;' whereas, if the sabbath had begun in the evening, it would rather have been said, ' THis evening begins the rest of the holy sabbath.' Another scripture generally brought to prove this argument, is John xx. 19, ' The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you.' Here the evening of the first day of the week is called ' the evening of the same day ;' so that the worship which was performed that day was continued in the evening. It is not called the evening of the next day, but of the same day in which Christ rose from the dead ; which was the first Christian sabbath. It is objected that the ceremonial sabbaths under the law, began at evening. Thus it is said, ' In the fourteenth day of the first month, at even, is the Lord's passover ;'e and, speaking concerning the feast of expiation, which was on the c John xx. 1 ; Luke xxiv. 1. d Psal. civ. 23. e Lev. xxiii. 6. THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 353 tenth day of the seventh month, it is said, ' It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest; and ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month, at even. From even unto even ^hall ye celebrate your sabbath.'4" We reply, that the beginning of sacred days is to be at the same time with that of civil ; and the date of the former was governed by the custom of nations. The Jews' civil day began at evening, and therefore it was ordained that from evening to evening should be the measure of their sacred days. Our days have another beginning and ending. This differ ence, however, is only circumstantial. The principal thing enjoined, is that one whole day in seven be observed as a sabbath to the Lord. THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. Question CXVII. How is the sabbath, or Lord's day, to be sanctified ? Answer. The sabbath, or Lord's day, is to be sanctified, by an holy resting all the day, not only from such works as arc, at all times, sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recrea tions as are on other days lawful, and making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to be taken up in works of necessity and mercy) in the public and private exercises of God's worship; and to that end, we are to prepare our hearts, and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation to dispose, and seasonably to despatch our worldly business, that we may be the more free and fit for the duties of that day. Question CXVIII. Why is the charge of keeping the sabbath more specially directed to gover nors of families, and other superiors ? ' Answer. The charge of keeping the sabbath is more specially directed to governors of families and other superiors, because they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge ; and because they are prone ofttimes to hinder them by employments of their own. Preparatory Duties to Sabbath- Sanctification. The former of these Answers more especially respects the manner in which th» sabbath is to be sanctified. The first thing in reference to it which requires our attention, is that we are to prepare our hearts, and, with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose of and seasonably to despatch our worldly business, that we may be more free and fit for the business of that day. We do not read, indeed, that there is any time sanctified, or set apart by God, in order to our preparing for the sabbath ; but this matter is left to our Christian prudence. Yet we read in the New Testament of the day of preparation for the sabbath ; that is, the day before the Jewish sabbath. Persons who had any sense of the importance of the work to be performed on the following day, thought it their duty to prepare for it beforehand, at least by giving despatch to their worldly business, that their thoughts might be fixed on the duties in which they were to engage. Thus we read that ' that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And they re turned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the sabbath day, according to the commandment, 's The mixing of ointments and spices, which were com pounded, according to the custom of those times, for the embalming of the dead, was a work of labour, and not fit to be done on the sabbath. They therefore did this work the day before, that they might not be brought under any necessity of performing that on the sabbath which might be done on another day. This prac tice of despatching worldly business, in order to their being prepared for the sacred employment of the sabbath, seems to have been inculcated when the observance of that day was revived by Moses in the wilderness of Sin. On that occasion he says, ' To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that ye wiE seethe ; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 'h The meaning of this is, that they were to gather the manna, — work which would take up a considerable time, — and to grind or prepare it for baking or seething. This was a servile or laborious work, and f Lev. xxiii. 32. g Luke xxiii. 54, 56. h Exod. xvi. 23. II. 2 T 354 THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN might as well be done the day before. Accordingly, they were commanded then to despatch or finish it, that they might rest in and sanctify the sabbath immediately following. As to the time which the more religious Jews took, in preparing for the sabbath before it came, something may be learned from the practice of holy Nehe miah ; whereby it appears that, in order to their preparing for the sabbath the day before, they laid aside their worldly business at sunset, or when it began to be dark. Thus it is said, ' When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, he commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath.'1 This matter, however, was discretionary ; and some Jewish writers observe that many of them began to prepare for the sabbath the even ing before, at six o'clock, and some at three ; and that others spent the whole day before in the despatch of their secular business, that they might be better prepared for the sabbath. Now, this practice as to what is equitable or moral iu it, is, doubt less, an example to us ; so that we many say as Hezekiah did in his prayer, ' The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. 'k This leads us to consider the duties to be performed preparatory to the right ob serving of the Lord's day. Now, we ought, the evening before, to lay aside our care and worldly business, that our thoughts may not be encumbered, diverted, or taken up with unseasonable or unlawful concerns about it% This is a duty very much neglected ; and the omission of it is one reason of our unprofitable attendance on the ordinances of God on the Lord's day. Thus, many keep their shops open tiE midnight ; and by this means make encroachments on part of the morning of the Lord's day, by indulging in too much sleep, — a practice which occasions drowsiness under the ordinances, as well as their thoughts being filled with worldly concerns and business while attending on them. We may add, that all envyings, contentions, evil surmising against our neighbour, are to be laid aside ; since these will tend to defile our souls and deprave our minds, when we ought to be wholly taken up about divine things. Thus the apostle advises those to whom he writes, to ' lay aside all malice, and aE guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speakings, and as new born babes to desire the sincere milk of the word, that they might grow thereby.'1 Moreover, we are, the evening before, to endeavour to bring our souls into a pre pared frame for the duties of the Lord's day, by having our thoughts engaged in those meditations which are suitable to these duties. In particular, we are to con- sider the many lost sabbaths we have to account for or repent of, as also the won derful patience of God, who has, notwithstanding, spared us to the approach of another sabbath ; and what precautions are necessary to be used, that we may not profane or trifle it away. It would also be expedient for us to meditate on the ¦vanity of worldly things, which we have laid aside all care about, and think how contemptible the gain of them is, if compared with communion with God, which is our great concern. Hence, we are to consider ourselves as having a greater work to transact with God on his own day, and desire to have then no disturbance from the world. To these meditations we ought to join our fervent prayers to God, that the sins committed by us in former sabbaths may be forgiven, that he may not be provoked to withdraw the influences of his Spirit on the approaching day, and that the world, with its cares, may not then be a snare to us, through the temptations of Satan, together with the corruption of our own hearts, whereby our converse with God would be interrupted. We ought to pray also that he would assist his ministers in preparing a seasonable word, which may be blessed to our selves and others. Thus the apostle exhorts the church, to ' pray always with aU prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and to watch thereunto with all perseverance, and supplication for all saints ; and for him, that utterance might be given unto him, that he might open his mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gos pel.'111 We ought to be very importunate with God, that he would sanctify and fill our thoughts, from the beginning to the end of the Lord's day, which he has con secrated for his immediate service and glory. i Neh. xiii. 19. k 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. 1 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. m Eph. vi. 18, 19. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 355 The Sabbatic Rest. We are now to consider what we are to rest and abstain from on the Lord's day. This is included in two general Heads, namely, not only from things sinful, but from what is in itself lawful on other days. As to those things which are sinful on other days, they are much more so on the sabbath ; for when we do them then we contract double guilt, not only in com mitting the sin, but in breaking the sabbath. Such sins are, for the most part, presumptuously committed, and greatly tend to harden the heart ; and they not only hinder the efficacy of the ordinances, but, if .aEowed, and persisted in, are a sad step to apostasy. We break the sabbath also by engaging in things which would be lawful on other days, whether these be worldly employments or recreations. We are wholly to lay aside or abstain from worldly employments, particularly buying and selling or en couraging those who do so. We have a noble instance of zeal in Nehemiah, relat ing to this matter. He says, ' In those days saw I in Judah, some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses ; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold vic tuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and aE manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day ?'n The prophet Jeremiah also speaks to the same purpose, when he prohibits ' carrying burdens on the sabbath day, or doing any work ' therein, and exhorts the people to ' hallow the sabbath day as God commanded their fathers.'0 These texts may tend to reprove those trades men who, on the sabbath, post their books, state their accounts, or prepare their goods, which are to be exposed to sale on the following day. And if we do not run these lengths in profaning the sabbath, yet we are highly guilty when our thoughts and discourse run after our covetousness, which is, in effect, a saying as they did who complained, ' When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the sabbath that we may set forth wheat ?'p This conduct the prophet reproves when he says, ' They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. '« Again, the sabbath is violated by recreations. We are therefore to abstain from these ; otherwise we spurn at the sabbath. Accordingly, the prophet Isaiah speaks of those who sanctify the sabbath, as ' turning away their foot from doing their pleasure on God's holy day, and calling the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, honouring him, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, nor speaking their own words.'1. The recreations we are to abstain from, on the Lord's day, are unnecessary visits ; by which the worship of God in families is interrupted, the minds of men perverted and filled with vanity, the motions of the Spirit quenched, and the advantage of public worship greatly hindered, if not wholly lost. We are to abstain also from walking in the fields ; whereby, instead of meditating on the word, the mind is diverted from it. We may add, that we are to abstain from taking unnecessary journeys. These will appear to be no other than finding our own pleasure and doing our own works on God's holy day. We read, indeed, of ' a sabbath day's journey ;'s a phrase which seems to argue that it was not unlawful to travel on the Lord's day. But, that we may not mistake this matter, let it be considered that 'a sabbath day's journey,' according to Jew ish writers, contained the length of two thousand cubits, or about a mile ; which was, ordinarily speaking, the length of their cities, together with their respective suburbs. Now, as this is the measure of a sabbath day's journey, the phrase im plies that they were not to go out of their cities to divert themselves, or to under- n Neh. xiii. 15, 16, 17. o Jer. xvii. 21, 22. p Amos viii. 5. q Ezek, xxxiii. 31. r Isa. lviii. 13. . s Acts j. 12. 356 THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN take journeys under a pretence of business. Accordingly, they were commanded to ' abide every man in his place on the seventh day ;'4 that is, not to wander out of their tents to take the air, though they were obliged to go out of their tents to the tabernacle, the place of public worship, which was pitched in the midst of them for the conveniency of their coming to it. Hither, indeed, they went, from their respective tents ; and their going to it was the only journey they took, unless in case of necessity, on the sabbath day. We may add, that it is not. lawful, on the sabbath day, for persons to divert themselves by talking of news or common affairs. Such unseasonable discourse often gives a check to those lively frames of spirit we have had under the word preached ; and by indulging it, we not only break the sabbath ourselves, but, by our example, induce others to do the same. I do not deny that it may be seasonable to meditate on the providence of God towards the church and the world, on the Lord's day, as well as at other times ; but then we must tako heed that his glory, and not merely our own diversion, is the great induce ment to such meditation. Works of Necessity and Mercy. When it is said, in this fourth commandment, ' Thou shalt do no manner of work on the sabbath day,' there is an exception made, or an intimation that works of necessity and mercy, though they include something servile or laborious, may, notwithstanding, be done on the Lord's day. Some things are necessary, as they tend to the support of nature, such as eating and drinking. Hence, the providing of food for that end, is doubtless, lawful; especially if too much time be not spent in it, too many servants or others detained by it from the worship of God, or enter tainments and splendid feasts made, in which variety of things are prepared to please the appetite, and all this attended with vain and trifling conversation, un becoming the holiness of the day. There are also other works of necessity which may be done on the sabbath day, namely, such as are subservient to the worship of God ; without which it is impossible that the public exercises of that worship should be performed. Under the ceremonial law, there were many laborious services which attended public worship, — particularly the killing of those beasts which were appointed for sacrifice on the sabbath day ; though we are exempted from such services under the gospel-dispensation. To these, it is probable, our Saviour refers when he says, ' Have ye not read in the law, how that the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless ?'u that is, perform those servile works, subservient to public worship, which, according to your method of reasoning, would be a profaning of the sabbath. Here it is inquired by some, whether it be lawful to kindle a fire on the sabbath day, since this seems to have been forbidden to the Israelites ; to whom Moses says, ' Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.'* Some are of opinion, that if this be lawful at present, agreeably to what we gen erally practise, its being so is a peculiar privilege attending the gospel-dispensa tion. We may hence take occasion to explain what is meant by this prohibition. Now, it could not have been hereby forbidden to kindle a fire for refreshment in cold weather ; for that was as necessary as any of the other conveniences of life, such as eating, drinking, sitting down when we are weary, &c. It was done, too, with very little pains or difficulty ; so that it would not much hinder the religious ex ercises of the sabbath. On the other hand, the not making a fire, provided the season of the year was extremely cold, would indispose men for the worship of God. It is most probable, therefore, that the meaning of the text in question is this, that as at the time when this law was given, many of the Israelites were employed in the work of building and adorning the tabernacle, a work which, as all artificers know, required the kindling of fires for the melting of metals, heating of iron tools, &c, and, as the people might be apt to think that, because the building of the tabernacle required expedition, they might kindle fires and therewith employ them selves in the work of it, on the sabbath day ; Moses teEs them, that it was not a t Exod. xvi. 29. u Matt. xii. 5. z Exod. xxxv. 3. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 357 work so absolutely necessary that it required that they should attend to it on that day. This seems to be the reason of the law which prohibited the kindling of a fire on the sabbath day. But there was an application of that law to the dressing of food, which seems to be prohibited in the passage, ' Bake that ye will bake to-day, and seethe that which ye will seethe ; and that which remaineth over, lay it up to be kept for you until the morning. 'y Now, the meaning of this seems to be, ' Bake or seethe that which is necessary for your food, the day before the sabbath, and lay up the rest, to be baked or seethed on the sabbath. ' The command more especially prohibits the gathering of manna on the sabbath, and preparing it for baking or seething ; which would have taken up too great a part of the day, and have been a diversion from religious worship. But the baking or seething which would have afforded but a small interruption to the work of the sabbath, does not seem to have been forbidden. We are now led to inquire what judgment we may pass on the ' stoning of the man who gathered sticks on the sabbath day.'z The gathering of sticks for the making of a fire on the sabbath day, seems to be a work of necessity. Hence, some may be ready to conclude that the punishment inflicted on him was too severe. But, instead of excepting against the greatness of the punishment inflicted, I would rather infer that the crime was very great. For he might have gathered sticks on other days, and so have provided a sufficient quantity for his necessary use on the sabbath day ; or else he should have been content to have been without a fire on that day, rather than give so ill a precedent of the breach of the sabbath. Again, it is probable that he gathered the sticks, not to supply his present necessities, but to increase his store ; and, that he did not gather a few sticks, but a large quantity. But his acting thus cannot be pretended to be a work of necessity. Nor is it un likely, that the man made a practice of it, for several sabbaths together ; and so lived in a total contempt and neglect of God's public ordinances. Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that he persisted in this practice presumptuously, publicly, and in defiance of the divine command, after having been reproved for it ; and he might obstinately vindicate it, and resolve, for the future, to persist in it ; for to do so is the nature of a presumptuous sin. It is plain, indeed, that he sinned pre sumptuously. For, in the verses immediately foregoing, God had threatened that ' the soul that doth ought presumptuously, ' or, as it is in the margin, ' with an high hand,' who 'reproached the Lord' herein, 'should be cut off';' and then the account of the man's being stoned for gathering sticks on the sabbath day, is brought in as an instance of a just punishment of a presumptuous sinner. These things being duly considered, we cannot take occasion to conclude, as many do, that there is this difference between the legal and the gospel-dispensa tion, that the sabbath was formerly to be observed more strictly than now ; and that the more strict observance of it was a part of the yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear, the relaxation of which is reckoned a branch of that liberty which we have under the gospel. This sounds very ill in the ears of all serious Christians, who think the duties of religion, and the strictness of our obligation in regard to them, a privilege rather than a burden. Thus concerning the lawfulness of our performing works of necessity on the sabbath day. We proceed farther to consider that works of mercy ought to be done on that day ; such as visiting and preparing medicines for the sick, relieving the poor, providing food and water for cattle and other brute creatures. This our Saviour vindicates by his practice, and illustrates by asserting the necessity of 'lifting out a sheep,' that has ' fallen into a pit,' on the sabbath day.a When, however, we maintain the lawfulness of performing works of necessity and mercy on the sabbath day, some cautions ought to be attended to. First, let the necessity be real, not pretended ; of which, God and our own consciences are the judges. — Again, if we think that we have a necessary call to omit or lay aside our attendance on the ordinances of God on the sabbath day, let us take heed that the necessity be not brought on us by some sin committed, which gives occasion to the judicial hand of God. Let us observe also that providence, which renders it neces- y Exod. xvi. 23. z See Numb. xv. 32, &c. a Matt. xii. 10—13. 358 THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN sary for us to absent from ordinances, should be rather submitted to, than esteemed a matter of choice or delight.— Further, if necessity obliges us to engage in secular employments on the Lord's day, as in the instances of those whose business is to provide physic for the sick, let us, nevertheless, labour to possess a spiritual frame, becoming the holiness of the day, so far as may consist with what we are imme diately called to do. — Again, as we ought to see that the work we are engaged in is necessary ; so we must not spend more time in it than what is needful.— Finally, if 'we have a necessary call to engage in worldly matters, and so be detained from public ordinances, we must endeavour to satisfy others that the providence of God obliges us to act as we do ; that so we may not give offence to them, or they take occasion, without just reason, to follow their own employments, to do which would be a sin in them. The Sanctifying of the Sabbath. We are to sanctify the sabbath, by spending the whole day in the public and private exercises of God's worship, and by maintaining a becoming holy frame of spirit, from the beginning of the day to the end of it. 1. In the beginning of the day, let not sleep make encroachments on more of the morning than what is needful, particularly, more than what we allow ourselves before we begin our employments on other days. Let us begin the day with spiri tual meditations, and carefully watch against worldly thoughts, as what will give us great interruption and hinderance in the work of the sabbath. Let us be ear nest with God in prayer, that he would prepare .our hearts for the solemn duties we are to engage in. Let us consider the sabbath as a very great talent that we are intrusted with ; and that it is of the greatest importance for us to improve it, to the glory of God and our spiritual advantage. 2. WhEe we are engaged in holy duties, especially in the public ordinances of God's worship, let us endeavour to maintain a becoming reverence and filial fear of God, in whose presence we are, and a love to his holy institutions, which are stamped with his authority. Let us, moreover, watch and strive against the first motions and suggestions of Satan, and our corrupt hearts, endeavouring to divert us from or disturb us in holy duties. Let us often lift up our hearts to God, by spiritual, short ejaculatory prayers, for help from him, to enable us to improve the word, and, at the same time, endeavour, to our utmost, to affect our hearts with a sense of the great worth of gospel opportunities. Let us also cherish, im prove, and bless God for all the influences of his Holy Spirit, which he is pleased, at any time, to grant to us ; or bewail and lament the want of these, when they are withheld. 3. In the intervals between our attendance on the ordinances of God's public worship, we are to engage in private duties, and worship God in and with our fam ilies. In order to this, we are to call to mind what we have heard, impress it on our own souls, recommend it to those whom we converse with and are concerned for, and take heed that we do nothing, between one public ordinance and another, which may unfit us for the remaining duties of the day, but, on the other hand, that we strive against and give a check to the least motions of corruption in our own souls. 4. The sabbath is to be sanctified in the evening, when the public ordinances are over. We are then to call to mind with thankfulness, what we have received from God, and how we have behaved ourselves in all the parts of divine worship, in which we have been engaged. We ought to inquire whether the sabbath was welcome to us, and we rejoiced in it as a blessing, as well as set about the observing of it as a duty ; as the psalmist says, ' I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.'b Moreover, we ought to inquire whether our aim was right in all the duties we performed ; whether the glory of God, and the good of our own souls, was our great concern ; or whether we were influenced only by custom, and rested in a form of godliness without regarding the power of it, and loved the opin ion and praise of men more than that of God. We ought to inquire whether our b Psal. cxxii. 1. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 359 minds, our affections, and outward gestures were grave, sedate, and composed, and we were ready to receive whatever God was pleased to impart in his word ; whether we had a due sense of the divine perfections impressed on our spirits, and of the infinite distance which there is between the great God and us ; whether we saw our need of the word, as Job says that ' he esteemed the words of God's mouth more than his necessary food ;'° and whether we have not only attended to every truth, but applied it to our own souls, as desiring to retain and improve it, and to make it the rule of our conversation. We are also to consider what we have received from God under his ordinances ; whether we have had any sensible communion with him, any experiences of his love, or impressions of his power on our hearts ; whether we have had fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ ; whether, as we have gone from one ordinance to another, we have gone from strength to strength, our faith being more lively, our love to God increased, and our spiritual joy enlarged by every duty. We ought to inquire whether we have learned some doctrine from the word, which we understood not, or, at least, have been more con firmed in it, after some degree of wavering, or have been affected with some truth which we never saw such a beauty and glory in before ; whether we have been melted under the word; whether it has been, as the prophet says, 'like fire,' or as ' the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ;'d or whether we can adopt the lan guage of the disciples, ' Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures ?'° Now, we may comfort ably conclude that we have received good under the ordinances, if we have been brought into an holy and lively frame of spirit ; if the more we attend on them, the more our hearts are drawn forth to desire and delight in them ; and especiaEy if public duties fit us for private, and if, from the advantage that we receive from such opportunities, we are more disposed to walk with God in all the affairs and businesses of life, so that our whole conversation in this world receives a tincture from the benefit which we gain by that communion which we enjoy with God in his ordinances on his own day. Thus we are to take a view of our behaviour when engaged in public worship ; and if we have received any spiritual advantage, the glory of it is to be given to God. But if, on the other hand, upon a strict and im partial inquiry into the frame of our spirits under the ordinances, we have, as too often happens, reason to complain of our deadness and stupidity under them ; if we have not experienced that sensible communion with God which we have at other times enjoyed, or have reason to say that we wax worse, rather than better, under them ; let us dread the consequence of this experience, lest it should issue in a judi cial hardness of heart, and habitual unprofitableness, under the means of grace. We ought, in this case, to search out that secret sin which is as a root of bitterness ' springing up within us and troubling us, and to be humbled before God for it. We ought also to be still pressing after that special presence of God in his ordinances which will have a tendency to promote the life and power of religion in our souls. We may add that, besides our dealing thus with ourselves in our private retire ments, after having attended public worship, we are to endeavour to sanctify the sabbath in our families in the evening. Family worship is to be neglected no day ; but on the sabbath it is to be engaged in with a particular relation to the duties which we have been performing in public. Accordingly, it is said, in one of the An swers we are explaining, that the charge of keeping the sabbath is directed to the governors of families, and other superiors ; inasmuch as they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those who are under their charge, and not to hinder them, as many are prone to do, by employing them in those works which are foreign to the duties of the day. Masters of families are not only, on the sabbath day, to restrain immoralities in those who are under their care, but to lay their commands on them to engage with them in the worship of God, as they expect a blessing from him in all their undertakings. Thus Joshua resolves that 'he and his house would serve the Lord ;'f and God speaks to the honour of Abraham, when he says, ' I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him ; and they shaE keep the way of the Lord.'s Superiors c Job xxiii. J2. d Jer. xxiii. '29. e Luke xxiv. 32. f Josh. xxiv. 15. g Gen. xviii. 19. 360 THE PROHIBITIONS AND MOTIVES OF have no power to dispense with any of God's commandments, or disengage their dependents from yielding obedience to them. But, on the other hand, they are obliged to see that all under their care perform their duty to God, as well as to them, and particularly that of sanctifying the sabbath. They are hence to restrain them from taking their own diversions, or finding their own pleasure in sinful re creations on the Lord's day ; and to impress on them those suitable exhortations which may have a tendency to promote religion in their families ; by which means they may hope for a peculiar blessing from God, in every relation and condition of life. THE PROHIBITIONS AND MOTIVES OF THE FOURTH COM MANDMENT. Question CXIX. What are the sins forbidden in the fourth commandment ? Answer. The sins forbidden in the fourth commandment, are, all omissions of the duties re quired, all careless, negligent, and unprofitable performing of them, and being weary of them, all profaning the day by idleness, and doing that which is in itself sinful, and by all needless works, words, and thoughts about our worldly employments and recreations. Question CXX. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the more to en force it ? Answer. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, the more to enforce it, are taken from the equity of it, God allowing us six days of seven for our own affairs, and reserving hut one for himself, in these words, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;'' from God's chal lenging a special propriety iu that day, " The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God ;" from the example of God, who, " in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ;" and from that blessing which God put upon that day, not only in sanctifying it to he a day for his service, but in ordaining it to be a means of blessing to us in our sanctifying it; " wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." Question CXXI. Whyis the word "remember" set in the beginning of the fourth commandment? Answer. The word " remember " is set in the beginning of the fourth commandment, partly he- cause of the great benefit of remembering it; we being thereby helped, in our |)repaiation to keep it; and in keeping it better, to keep all tbe rest of the commandments, and to continue a thankful remembrance of the two great benefits of creation and redemption, which contain a short abridg ment of .religion ; and partly because »e are very ready to forget it ; for thnt there is less light of nature fer it, and yet it restraineth our natural liberty in things at other times law fill ; that it com eth but once in seven da) s, and many worldly businesses come between, and too often take off our minds from thinking of it, either to prepare for it, or to sanctify it; and that Satan, with his i instruments, much labour to blot out the glory, and even the memory of it, to bring in all irreligion and impiety. The Sins Forbidden in the Fourth Commandment. In discussing these Answers, we shaE first consider the sins forbidden in this com mandment. 1. The first of these are the omission of the duties required. Sins of omission are exceedingly prejudicial ; because, though they have a tendency to harden the heart and stupify the conscience, yet they are, of all others, least regarded. As to the omission of holy duties on the sabbath day, it is a slighting and casting away of a great prize, put into our hands. Hence, in such a case, it wiE be said, ' Where fore is there a price put into the hands of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?'h It may be observed also that the omission of holy duties on the sab bath is generally attended with the neglect of secret duties, and is an* inlet to aE manner of sins, and to a total apostacy from God. 2. The next thing forbidden in this commandment, is the careless performance of holy duties. We commit this sin when our hearts are not engaged in them, or when we content ourselves with a form of godliness, denying the power of it, and have no sense of God's all-seeing eye, or dread of spiritual judgments, being given up to barrenness and unprofitableness under the means of grace. Such a frame h Prov. xvii. 16. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 361 of spirit as this, is always attended with a declining state of religion ; especially if we do not lament and strive against it. We may add, that we greatly sin when we profane the day by idleness ; either by sleeping away a great part of the morn ing of the day as though it were a day of sloth, and not of spiritual rest, designed for religious exercises ; or by drowsiness under the ordinances, as though we had no concern in them, whereby we give all about us to understand that we do, as it were, withdraw our thoughts from the work in which we pretend to be engaged. In some, indeed, this drowsiness proceeds very much from the weakness of their natural constitution. Such may be heavy and weary in duty, though they are not weary of it ; and they lament it, and are far from giving way to it, though they are, sometimes, unavoidably overtaken with it. In this case, though it cannot be excused from being a sin ; yet it is such, as, it is to be hoped, our Saviour will cover with the mantle of his love, or at least not charge upon them for their condemnation, though he may reprove them for it to bring them under conviction. Thus he dealt with his disciples, when he • came to them, and found them asleep.'1 Though he tacitly reproves them, yet he does not infer that they were wholly destitute of laith ; • but he charges their unbecoming carriage on the weakness of faith, and on their being overpowered by the infirmities of nature, when he says, ' The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' 3. There are other sins forbidden in the fourth commandment, which are particu larly mentioned in this Answer. But these were insisted on, in considering how the sabbath is to sanctified ; where we showed that, as we are not to do that which is in itself sinful, so we are to abstain from our worldly employments and recrea tions, and endeavour to guard against that vanity of thoughts which will have a tendency to alienate our affections from God, or hinder the success of ordinances. The Reasons Annemd to the Fourth Commandment. We proceed now to consider the reasons annexed to this commandment. 1. It is highly reasonable that we should sanctify the Lord's day ; since God is pleased to allow us six days out of seven, for attending to our worldly affairs, and reserves but one to himself. This supposes that we are allowed to engage in our secular callings on other days. Hence, though it is brought in occasionally in this commandment, the duty which it implies belongs rather to the second table than to the first. In particular, it seems to be a branch of the eighth commandment. It is aEeged, however, as a reason of our observing this commandment. Now, six days in seven is a very large aEowance which God has made for our own employ ments. If, on the other hand, he had allowed us but one day in seven for them, and laid claim to six days to be set apart for religious worship, none would have had reason to complain ; since he, being the absolute Lord of our time, may demand what proportion of it he pleases. And they who are truly sensible of the real ad vantage which there is in attendance on all God's holy institutions, and consider the sabbath as a privilege and blessing, would think it not only reasonable, but a great instance of the kindness of God to man, had this earth so much resembled heaven, that there should be a perpetual sabbath celebrated here, as there is there, where the saints count it their happiness to be engaged without interruption, in the immediate service of God. It is objected by some that they cannot spare out of their worldly business a seventh part of time for religious duties, and that it is very hard for them to get bread for their families by aE their diligence and industry. Others allege that the sab bath is their market-day, by selling things on which they get more than they do on other days. As to the former part of the objection, taken from the difficulty of persons subsisting their families, it may be replied that God is able to make up the loss of the seventh part of time, so that their not working in it shall not be a real detriment to those who are in the lowest circumstances in the world. God has ordered it so, that our observing his holy institutions shaE not, in the end, prove detrimental to us. Thus when Israel was commanded to rest, and, every seventh year, not to cultivate their land for a whole year together, providence so i Matt. xxvi. 40. 41. 9 7 362 THE PROHIBITIONS AND MOTIVES OF ordered it that they were not sufferers by this institution, inasmuch as the year before brought forth enough for three years ; k and when they were not to gather manna on the seventh day of the week, there was a double quantity rained upon them, which they gathered, the day before. ' Why, then, may we not conclude that, by the blessing of God, what is lost by our not attending to our secular call ings on the Lord's day, may be abundantly made up, by his blessing giving suc cess to our endeavours on other days ? As to that part of the objection in which persons pretend that the Lord's day is their market-day, in which they expect more advantage than on other days, it may be replied that if this be true it arises from the iniquity of the times ; and it should be a caution to us, not to encourage those who expose their wares to sale on the sabbath day, since, if there were no buyers, there would be no seEers, and this public and notorious sin would be prevented. We have a noble instance of this in Nehemiah, whose wisdom, zeal, and holy re solution, put an effectual stop to this practice, in his dealing with those who ' sold fish on the sabbath day.'m First, 'he shut the gates of the city against them ;' and when he saw that they continued without the walls, hoping, by some means or other, to get into the city, or to entice some to come out to buy their merchandise, then he ' testified against them,' and commanded them not to continue without the walls, and by this means gave a check to their scandalous practice. Moreover, this gain of iniquity is not to be pretended as a just excuse for the breach of a positive commandment ; since, what is gotten in a way of presumptuous rebeEion against God, is not likely to prosper, whatever pretence of poverty may be alleged to give countenance to it. 2. Another reason annexed to enforce our observance of the sabbath day, is taken from God's challenging a special propriety in it. Thus it is called 'the sabbath of the Lord thy God ;' a day which he has consecrated or separated to himself, and to which accordingly he lays claim. Hence, it is no less than sacrilege, or a rob bing of him, to employ it in any thing but what he requires to be done in it. 3. God sets his own example before us for our imitation. Thus it is said, ' In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested the seventh day, and hallowed it.' It is observed that God was six days in making the world ; whereas, had he pleased, he could have created all things with the same beauty and perfection in which they are at present, in an instant. But he performed this work by degrees, that he might teach us that whatever our hand finds to do, we should do in the proper season allotted for it. And as he ceased from his work on the seventh day, he requires that we should rest from ours, in conformity to his own example. 4. The last reason assigned for our sanctifying the sabbath, is taken from God's blessing and sanctifying it, or setting it apart for an holy use. To bless a day, is to give it to us as a particular blessing and privilege. Accordingly, we ought to reckon the sabbath a great instance of God's care and compassion to men, and a very great privilege, which ought to be highly esteemed by them. Again, for God to sanctify a day, is to set it apart from a common to an holy use. Accord ingly, we ought to reckon the sabbath a day signalized above all others, with the character of God's holy day ; and as such, we ought to employ it in holy exercises, answerable to the end for which it was instituted. Import of the Word ' Remember ' in the Fourth Commandment. It is observed in the last Answer we are explaining, that the word ' remember ' is set in the beginning of the fourth commandment. From this circumstance we may observe our great proneness, through worldly business, and Satan's tempta tions, to forget the sabbath. We may learn also the importance of our observing the sabbath, without which irreligion and profaneness would universally abound in the world ; and that, on the other hand, in our observing this day as we ought to do, we may hope for grace from God, whereby we may be enabled to keep his other commandments. — Again, the word 'remember,' prefixed to this commandment, imports, not only that we are to call to mind that this particular day which God k Lev. xxv. 20—22. 1-Exotl. xvi. 22—24. m Neh. xiii. K3— 21. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. 363 Las sanctified is a sabbath, or to know what day it is in the order of the days of the week, but that we ought to endeavour to have a frame of spirit becoming the holiness of the day, or to remember it so as to keep it holy. It is certain that it is an hard matter, through the corruption of nature, to get our hearts disengaged from the vain amusements and entanglements of the present world ; in consequence of which, we lose the advantage which would redound to us, by our conversing with God in holy duties. We are therefore to desire of him that he would impress on our souls a sense of our obligation to duty, and of the advantage which we may hope to gain from it. To induce us to act thus, let it be considered that the pro fanation of the sabbath is generally the first step to all manner of wickedness, and a making great advances to a total apostasy from God. Again, the observing of it is reckoned as a sign between God and his people. With respect to him, it is a sign of his favour ; and with respect to man, it is a sign of their subjection to God, as their King and Lawgiver, in all his holy appointments. Moreover, we cannot reasonably expect that God should bless us in what we undertake on other days, if we neglect to own him on his day, or to devote ourselves to him, and by doing so discover our preferring him and the affairs of his worship before all things in the world. Inferences from the Fourth Commandment. 1. What has been said in explaining this commandment may serve to confute those who think that the observance of days in general, or that the keeping of the first day of the week as a sabbath, is a setting up of the ceremonial law, without distinguishing aright between a ceremonial and a moral precept. For, how much soever the observance of the seventh day, might have a ceremonial signification as it was enjoined to Israel from mount Sinai, it is possible for the typical reference of it to cease, and yet the moral reason of it to remain in force to us ; as the sab bath is a, day appointed by God in which he is to be worshipped, so that we may have ground to expect his presence and blessing, while attending on him in his holy institutions. 2. Others are to blame who think that every day is to be kept as a sabbath, pre tending that such a practice is most agreeable to a state of perfection. It is contrary, however, to God's allowing us six days for our own employment. Indeed, none who make use of this argument, do, in reality, keep any day as a sabbath, at least in such a way as they ought. 3. Others are guilty of a. great error who think that the sabbath is, indeed, to be observed ; but that there is no need of that strictness which has been inculcated, or of its being kept holy from beginning to end. Some suppose that the only design of God in instituting it, was, that public worship should be maintained in the world ; and that, therefore, it is sufficient if they attend on it, without endeavouring to con verse with him in secret. 4. What has been said, is directly contrary to the opinion of those who think that the Lord's day was a mere human institution ; without considering, as has been hinted, that what the apostles prescribed respecting it, was by divine direction. This opinion, if it should prevail, would open a door to great carelessness and for mality in holy duties, and would be an inducement to us to profane the day in vari ous instances. THE SUM OF THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW. Question CXX1I. What is the sum of the six commandments, which contain our duty to man ? Answer. The sum of the six commandments, which contain our duty to man, is, to love our neighbour as ourselves, and to do to others what we would have them do to us. As the first table of the ten commandments respects our duty to God, so the other contains our duty to our neighbour. This is comprised in the general idea of 364 THE SUM OF THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW. love ; which therefore is styled the sum of the following six commandments. It is included in our Saviour's words, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;'" and elsewhere. ' Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.'0 Love to our Neighbour. We are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves. This implies a cau tion against a selfish temper ; as though we were born only for ourselves, or were obliged to do good to none else. Such selfishness is what the apostle reproves, when he says, ' Men shall be lovers of their own selves ;'p that is, they shall study and consult the happiness, ease, and comfort of none but themselves. — Moreover, our loving our neighbour as ourselves, implies our using endeavours to promote the good of all whom we converse with ; and thereby rendering ourselves a blessing to mankind. It does not, indeed, exclude self-love, which it supposes to be a duty ; but obliges us to love others as weE as ourselves, in things which relate to their spiritual and temporal good. Here we may inquire whether we ought to love others better than ourselves ; or what the apostle intends when he says, ' Let each esteem other better than them selves ?'i Now, it cannot be hereby meant that they who have attained a great measure of the knowledge of the truths of God, should reckon themselves as igno rant of or unstable in the doctrines of the gospel, as those who never made them the subject of their study and inquiry ; or that they who have had large experience of the grace of God, should conclude that they have no more experience of it than those who are unregenerate, and have not taken one step heavenward. But the mean ing is, that the greatest saint should not think himself better than the least, any otherwise than as he has received more from the discriminating grace of God ; as the apostle says, ' Who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou, that thou didst not receive ?'r Indeed, such an one may see more sin in himself than he can see in any other ; and, therefore, may have reason to reckon himself, as the apostle says, ' the chief of sinners.'8 The best saints would have been as bad as the vilest of men, had they been left to themselves ; and it maybe, some of those who have had less grace, have had fewer talents and opportunities of grace than the former have had, which they have improved better in proportion to what' they have received, than the others have the many advantages which God has been pleased to bestow on them. Our next inquiry may be, whether our love to our neighbour should extend so far that we should be willing, were it needful, to lay down our lives for them ; as it is said, ' We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren ;'4 and, ' Peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.'u But by 'laying down our lives,' in these scriptures, is principally intended hazarding our lives, or exposing ourselves to the utmost danger, even of death itself, for others. Yet we are not to do this rashly, and at all times ; but only when God, who is the sovereign Lord of our lives, calls us to it. Nor ought this to be done for every one, but ' the brethren ;' especially for those who are more eminently useful in the church of God than our selves or others. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' for a good man,' that is, one who is a common good, or a blessing to many others, ' one would even dare to die.' Moreover, our obeying this precept must be at times when, in exposing ourselves for the sake of others, we give our testimony to the gospel ; and, in defending them, plead the injured cause of Christ and religion. Doing as we would be done by. Loving our neighbour as ourselves is farther illustrated in this Answer, by doing to others what we would have them do to us. This is one of the most undeniable and seU'-evident truths contained in the law of nature. Whatever disputable mat- n Matt. xxii. 39. o Chap. vii. 12. p 2 Tim. iii. 2. q Phil. ii. 3. r 1 Cor. iv. 7. s 1 Tim. i. 15. t 1 John iii. 16. u Rom. v. 7. THE SUM OF THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW. 365 ters there may be as to other duties, this rule is allowed by all mankind. Many, indeed, do not conform their practice to it ; and their acting so gives occasion to the injuries done between man and man. Yet the vilest of men, when they deli berate on their own actions, cannot but blame themselves for acting contrary to it. This Saul did when he said to David, ' Thou art more righteous than I ; for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.'x We conclude, then, that it is one of the first principles of the law of nature, and may weE be called, as it is in this Answer, the sum of the commandments of the second table, or that to which they are all reduced. There are two things which we shall lay down, relating to this golden rule of doing to others as we would that they should do to us. 1. It is miserably neglected by a great part of the world. It is neglected by those who turn away their hearts from the afflicted ; so as not to pity,' help, or endeavour to comfort them in their distress. The psalmist was of another mind than these persons, when he said, ' As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother. I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. 'J Moreover, this rule is broken by those who deny to others those natural, civil, or religious Eberties which, by God's appointment, they have a right to, or envy them the possession of these. 2. We are farther to inquire how this rule, of doing to others what we would have them do to us, may be of use in order to our right observing the command ments of the second table. The fifth commandment, which requires the perfor mance of all relative duties, would be better observed, did superiors put themselves in the place of inferiors, and consider what they would then expect from them ; and the same they ought to do to them. The same thing may be said with regard to the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments ; which respect the life, the honour, and the wealth of others. If these are dear to us, ought we not to consider that they are so to others ? And if we would not be deprived of them ourselves, how un reasonable is it for us to do any thing which may tend to deprive others of them ? Again, if, according to the ninth commandment, our good name be so valuable, that we ought to maintain it, should not defamers, slanderers, and backbiters reflect that they do that to others which they would not have done to themselves ? As to the tenth commandment, it forbids our uneasiness at, or being discontented with, the good of others, or our endeavouring to divest them of the possession of what God has given them in this world. Now, these things cannot be done by any per sons who duly consider, how unwiEing they would be to have what they possess taken away, to satisfy the covetousness or lust of others. z 1 Sam. xxiv. 17. y Psal. xxxv. 13—15. 566 THE RELATIONS OF LIFE. THE RELATIONS OF LIFE. Question CXXIII. Which is the fifth commandment ? Answer. The fifth commandment is, " Honour thy father and thy mother ; that thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord tby God giveth thee." Question CXXIV. Who are meant by father and mother, in the fifth commandment ? Answer. By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts, and especially such as, by God's ordinance, are over us in place uf authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth. Question CXXV. Wliy are superiors styled father and mother? Answer. Superiors are styled father and mother, both to teach them in all duties towards their inferiors, like natural parents, to express love and tenderness to them, according to their several relations, and to work inferiors to a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their duties to their superiors, as to their parents. Question CXXVI. Wliat is the general scope of the fifth commandment ? Answer. The general scope of the fifth commandment is, the peiformance of those duties which we u.iUtually owe in our several relations, as inferiors, superiors, equals. The Meaning of 'Father and Mother ' in the Fifth Commandment. In the fifth commandment, no other relations are mentioned but father and mother ; yet it may be observed that by these all superiors in general are intended. Many are called fathers in scripture besides our natural parents. Superiors in age are so called. Thus it is said, ' Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren ; the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.'" They also are called fathers who are superior in gifts ; and ac cordingly have been inventors of arts which have been useful to the world. Thus Jabal is said to be ' the father of such as dwell in tents, and have cattle, ' a that is, the first who made considerable improvements in the art of husbandry ; and Jubal is said to be ' (the father,' that is, the instructor ' of all such as handle the harp and organ, ' b or the first who made improvements in the art of music. Moreover, those are called fathers to whom we owe, under God, our outward prosperity and happi ness. In this sense Joseph, though a subject, a young man, and, a little before, a prisoner, is caEed ' a father to Pharaoh ;c that is, he was an instrument to support his greatness, and preserve him from the inconveniences of a seven years' famine. Again, princes, great men, and heads of families, are called fathers. Thus Naaman was so called by his servants."1 Further, men of honour and usefulness in the church are so caEed. Thus when Elisha saw Elijah ascend into heaven, he cried out, ' My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.'8 Joash, the king of Israel, used the same expression to Elijah, ' when fallen sick.'* The apostle also takes by implication the name father to himself when he styles those to whom he had been made useful for their conviction, and enlightening in the doctrines of the gospel, ' My little children. '& Finally, good kings and governors are called fathers. Thus it is said, ' Kings shaE be thy nursing-fathers, and queens thy nursing-mothers. 'h Why Superiors are styled Father and Mother. We have an account, in one of the Answers we are explaining, of the reason why superiors are styled father and mother. This is, that they should behave to wards their inferiors with the same love and tenderness as if they were natural parents. Authority is not only consistent with such love ; but it ought to be exer cised, by superiors towards inferiors, under the influence of this love. Thus Job, when in his prosperity, was, as it were, a common father to all who were under him. z I V™' v:1' 2- a Gen- iv- 20- o Ver. 21. c Chap. xiv. 8. d 2 Kings v. 13. -. 2 Kings n. 12. f Chap. xiii. 14. g Gal. iv. 19. h La. xlix. 23. THE RELATIONS OF LIFE. 367 Accordingly, he says, ' I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him ;'' and ' I was a father to the poor.'k Ministers, also, who, in some respects, are superior in office to others, when their reproofs are mixed with tenderness and compassion towards the souls of men under their care, are compared to 'the nurse that cherisheth her children;' as 'being affectionately de sirous, and willing to impart to them, not the gospel of God only, but also tljeir own souls, as being dear to them.'1 The Bases and Nature of the Social Relations. We have, in another of the Answers under our consideration, an account of the general scope of the fifth commandment ; and, as it requires the duties to be per formed by every one in their several relations, these are considered either as superiors, inferiors, or equals. There are several sorts of relations in which per sons are styled superior or inferior to one another. There are relations founded in nature, as that of parents and children. There are such relations as are political, designed for the good of mankind, living together as members of the same com monwealth, in which every one has a right to his civil liberties, which are to be enjoyed by the one party, and defended by the other. Of this sort is the relation of magistrates and subjects. There is also a relation founded in mutual compact and agreement, respecting things to be done on the one side, and gratifications to be allowed on the other. Of this kind is the relation between master and servant. The only difficulty which arises from the account we have of the obligation of persons to give honour to others, respects superiors honouring inferiors. Now, let it be considered that superiors are not obliged to show the same marks of honour to their inferiors, as inferiors are bound, by the laws of God and nature, to express to them. Yet there is a duty which the greatest men owe to the least. There is also a degree of honour which the lowest of men, as reasonable creatures or Chris tians, have, and which is put upon them by God ; and this is to be regarded by those who are, as to their condition in the world, superior to them. Besides, the mean est and lowest part of mankind, are, in many respects, necessary and useful to those who are much their superiors ; and are to be regarded by them in proportion to their being useful and necessary. Now, the performing of the duties which superiors owe to them, is called honouring them. i Job xxix. 12. k Verse 16. 1 I Thess. ii. 7, 8. 368 RELATIVE DUTIES. RELATIVE DUTIES. Question CXXVII. What is the honour that inferiors owe to their superiors ? Answer. The honour which inferiors owe to their superiors, is, all due reverence, in heart, word, and behaviour; prayer, and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces, willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels, due subm ssion to their corrections, fidelity to, defence, and inaintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honour to them and to their government. Question CXXVIII. What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors? Answer. The sins of inferiors against their superiors are, all neglect of the duties required to. ward them, envying at, contempt of, and rebellion against their persons and places, in their lawful counsels, commands, and corrections, cursing, mocking, and all such refractory and scandalous carriage as proves a shame and dishonour to them and their government. Question CXXIX. What is required of superiors towards their inferiors? Answer. It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel, and admonish them; countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well; discountenanc ing, reproving, and chastising such as do ill; protecting and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body; and by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary cairiage, to procure glory to God, honour to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God hath put upon them. Question CXXX. What are the sins of superiors ? Answer. The sins of superiors are, beside the neglect of the duties required of them, and inor dinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things un lawful, or not in the power of infeiiors to perform ; counselling, encouraging, or favouring them in that » hich is evil ; dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good ; correcting them unduly, careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or any way dishonouring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behaviour. Question CXXXI. What are the duties of equals ? Answer. The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honour to go one before another, and to rejoice in each others' gifts and advancement, as in m.n- own. Question CXXXII. What are the sins of equals ? Answer. The sins of equals are, beside the neglect of the duties required, the unci r mining of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the advancement or prosperity one of another, aim n.-ui|>- ing pre-eminence one over another. The Duties of Inferiors to Superiors. We have in the first of these Answers an account of the honour which inferiors owe to their superiors. Here it will be necessary for us to premise some things concerning the measure of submission and obedience which inferiors owe to su periors, of what kind soever the relation be. When the authority with which God has invested superiors is abused, and the highest end of all sort of government, namely, the glory of God and the good of mankind, can never be attained, nor is, indeed, designed ; or when the commands of superiors contradict the commands of God ; we are then to obey him rather than men.m Again, if we cannot obey the commands of superiors, as being unjust, we must pray that God would interpose, and would direct and overrule their authority, that it may not be abused by them, or become a snare or an occasion of sin to us. Tliough, however, we cannot yield obedience to them, in those things which are contrary to the laws of God, we are not discharged from our obligation to obey their commands, in other things which are agreeable to these laws ; for we are not to suppose that the abuse of their authority in some instances, divests them of it in all respects. 1. In now proceeding to consider the duties which inferiors owe to their superiors, we notice first that of children to parents. This is founded on the law of nature. Under God, children derive their being from their parents ; and they are obliged m Acts iv. 19. RELATIVE DUTIES. 369 to honour them from a sense of gratitude for that love, tenderness, and compassion which they have shown to them. The apostle says that this duty ' is right, ' n that is, equitable and highly reasonable ; and that it is 'well-pleasing unto the Lord.'0 This duty includes several things. Children are sometimes to show the regard they have to their parents by out ward tokens of respect. Thus Solomon, though his character, as a king, rendered him superior to all his subjects, expressed a great deal of honour by outward ges tures to his mother. When she went to him to speak in the behalf of Adonijah, it is said that ' the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.'P — Again, children ought to be ready to do their parents any acts of service which are not unlawful or impossible, when commanded by them. Thus Joseph obeyed Jacob, when he sent him to see where his brethren were, and what they were engaged in ;« and David obeyed Jesse, when he sent him to his brethren to the camp of Israel.1- This service is required more especiaEy of children whEe they live with their parents, are maintained by them, and have not, by mutual com pact, become servants to others. — Another duty which they owe, is, patient sub mission to their just reproofs, designed for their good. Thus the apostle says, 'We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.'8 — Further, they are to attend to and comply with their parents' wholesome advice and instruction. Thus it is said, ' A wise son heareth his father's instruction ;'4 while, on the other hand, he is branded with the character of ' a fool' who ' despiseth it;'u — and it is added, ' He that regardeth reproof is prudent.' — Moreover, children are to express their duty to their parents, by a thankful acknowledgment of past fa vours ; and accordingly ought to relieve them, if they are able, when their indigent circumstances caE for it, and endeavour to be a staff, comfort, and support to them, in their old age. This conduct is exemplified in the message which Joseph sent to Jacob, when he invited him to come down to him into Egypt.* So when Ruth bare a son to Boaz, her mother Naomi's companions blessed her, and said, ' He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age. 'J Children are also to pay deference to their parents' wishes, and, so far as it con cerns the glory of God and their own future good, be advised by them in disposmg of themselves in marriage, or any other important change of their condition and. circumstances in the world. By this conduct they acknowledge their authority as superiors, and the care and concern which it is supposed they naturaEy have for their welfare as a part of themselves. Moreover, by this they pay a deference to their wisdom and judgment, as being superior in age, and probably, in wisdom, as well as relation. And this ought to be done out of a sense of gratitude for past fa vours received. Prudence too will, for the most part, dictate as much ; especiaEy when they depend on them for present comforts, or expect future advantages from them. This is also an expedient to maintain love and peace in families ; which is often broken by the contrary practice. It may be recommended, likewise, from the laudable examples of it in good men. Thus Isaac submitted, as to his marriage, to the direction of his father Abraham ; and Jacob z was determined by the con sent of Laban.a Many more instances might be given to the same purpose. On the other hand, Esau's contrary practice is recorded in scripture as a vile instance of disobedience, 'which was a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah;'b and it was, doubtless, an evidence that he had no regard to God or religion. — Nevertheless, this obligation is not without some exceptions. For we do not speak of parents who are so far deprived of judgment that they are not fit to determine this matter ; nor of such as have divested themselves of the natural affection of parents, and, enter taining an ungrounded prejudice against some of their children, endeavour to ex pose them to ruin, that they may show more kindness to others. These forfeit that right which is otherwise founded in nature. Again, if parents, by refusing to comply with the desire of their children, plainly, in the judgment of the wisest of n Ephes. vi. 1. o Col. iii. 20. p 1 Kings ii. 19. q Gen. xxxvii. 13. r 1 Sam. xvii. 17, 20. s Heb. xii. 9. t Prov. xiii. 1. u Chap. xv. S. x Gen. xiv. 9—11. y Ruth iv. 15. i Gen. xxix. a Chap. xxix. b Gen. xxvi. 35. 3a 370 RELATIVE DUTIES. men, obstruct their happiness, and the glory of God ; or if they give no reason for their not complying, or the reason given is contrary to the laws of God, or the com mon sense of aE impartial judges ; especiaEy if the affair took its rise from them, and afterwards they changed their mind, without sufficient ground ; these circum stances, without doubt, lessen, or, it may be, wholly take away the charge of sin in the child, in acting contrary to the wiE of his parents, and fasten the guilt on them. Further, the case is peculiar when children are so far from being dependent on their parents, that they depend on them. In this case, some deference and respect ought to be paid to them ; and as it is the children's duty, it may be their interest to render them. For we can hardly suppose that parents who depend on their chil dren, would oppose their happiness in an affair which is apparently contrary to their own interest, if they did not think that they had sufficient reason for doing so. Their opposition, therefore, ought to be duly weighed, that it may be known, whether their advice is expedient to be complied with or not. And if, in this or any other instance, children are obliged to act contrary to the wiE of their parents, they ought to satisfy th*em that their choice is made, not out of any contempt of their authority, but from a conscientious regard to the glory of God, and that, in the opinion of the wisest and best of men, it is conducive to their happiness. 2. We shall now consider the duty of servants to their masters. This depends upon and is limited by the contract, which brought them into that relation, the not fulfilling of which renders them guilty of unfaithfulness. Nor is it less an in stance of immorality for them to rob their masters of that time which they have engaged to serve, than it is to take away any part of their estate. But more par ticularly, servants ought to behave themselves in their caEing with industry, being as much concerned for their master's interest as their own. In this manner Joseph, though a foreigner, and one who does not appear to have expected any reward for his service, but a maintenance, served Potiphar. In this manner also Jacob served Laban, though an unjust, severe, and unrighteous master. This may lead us to inquire concerning the duty of servants, when their masters are froward, passionate, and unreasonable in their demands, — a circumstance which renders their service very irksome and unpleasant. But let it be considered that the mas'ter's passion, which is his sin, ought not to draw forth the corruption of his servant; for, sin indulged by one, is no excuse for its being committed by another. The apostle Peter supposes the case under consideration, and gives this advice : ' Servants, be subject to your masters with aE fear ; not only to the good and gen tle, but also to the froward.'0 Again, if the master's demands are unreasonable, the servant must know the extent of his contract and obligation ; and this he must, injustice, fulfil 'as unto Christ. 'd As for those services which are reckoned un reasonable, and not agreeable to the contract, these, if demanded, are rather to be referred to the determination of others, since persons are apt to be partial in judg ing in their own cause. There seems, indeed, to be an exception to what we have stated, in some instances which we find in scripture of the unlimited obedience of servants under the cere monial law ; which was not founded in nor the result of any contract between their masters and them. Accordingly, we read that persons became servants through poverty ; by reason of which, they sold themselves for the payment of debts. In this case, indeed, there was a kind of contract ; and the service to be performed ought, agreeably to the law of God and nature, to have corresponded with and been adjusted by the value of the debt contracted. Again, prisoners taken in war, were treated as servants, and, as such, sold to others. In this case, all the chEdren that were born to them during their servitude, were the property of the master. These are called home-born servants, and had not so much liberty allowed them as those who were servants by mutual compact. Engagement by mutual compact is the method most common among us in which persons become servants ; and in this case both parties are bound by the terms of agreement. 3. We proceed to consider the duty of the members of a commonwealth or body c 1 Pet. ii. 18. d Eph. vi. 5—8. RELATIVE DUTIES. 371 politic, to their lawful magistrates. The apostle says, ' Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.'8 Here we may observe the necessity of civil government. This will appear if we consider mankind in general as prone to be influenced by passions which are not entirely under the conduct of reason, and which, if no check were given to them, would prove injurious to societies. We observe also that God has, in his law, ordained certain punishments to be inflicted, with a design to re strain these corruptions, and to keep the world in order. Now, that this end may more effectually be answered, it is necessary that some should be set over others, to administer justice, in chastising the guilty, and defending the innocent. Without such an institution, the world would be filled with confusion, and men would commit sin with impunity, and more resemble brute creatures than beings who are endowed with reason, and are capable of moral government. Thus it is said, ' When there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.'*" We proceed now to consider the advantage of Civil government. It is in itself a blessing to mankind, when it does not degenerate into tyranny. Hence, good magistrates are a great instance of divine favour to a nation ; as the queen of Sheba said to Solomon, ' Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God : be cause thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. '& And it is included among the blessings of the gospel-state, that 'kings should bef their nursing-fathers, and their queens their nursing-mothers. 'h Such are said, as David was, to be ' raised up to fulfil the will of God.'1 Nevertheless, civil government may be so administered that it may cease to be a blessing to the' subjects. Thus Samuel describes the miserable state of a1 people, whose kings endeavour to establish their own greatness by en slaving and plundering their subjects, ' taking their sons and daughters ' by force to be their servants, seizing their' 'fields, their vineyards and olive-yards, and the tenth of their increase;' an expression which would oblige them to 'cry unto the Lord, because of their oppression. 'k We have an instance of this in Rehoboam, who was as remarkable for his want of conduct as his father was for his excelling wisdom. His rough and ill-timed answer to his subjects, in which he gave them to expect nothing else but oppression and slavery, issued in the revolt of ten tribes from his government.1 From this different method of the administration of civil government, whereby it is rendered either a blessing or an affliction to the subjects, we may infer some im portant lessons. When that which is in itself a blessing, is turned into a curse, the event may be looked upon as a punishment inflicted by God for the iniquity of a people. Thus he says, ' I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.'™ — - Again, we have great reason to be well-pleased with the govern ment we are under, and to bless God for it. We are not exposed to the slavery which some other nations are ; who have' no laws but what result from the arbitrary will of their prince, and who can call nothing they have their own. This should make us prize the liberties which we enjoy ; and be a strong motive to us to give due and cheerful obedience to our rightful and lawful sovereign, and aE magistrates under him, who rule in righteousness, and are a terror' to evil-doers, but a praise to them that do weE. — Further, there' is matter of reproof to the restless tempers of those who are under the mildest government; whieh is administered beyond aE reasonable exception, our enemies themselves being judges. Indeed, they would confess this, were they not blinded with prejudice ; which puts them upon betaking themselves to raillery, instead of better arguments. These are reproved by the apostle, who says, ' Some walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, and de spise government. Presumptuous are they, self-wiEed, they are not afraid to speak evil' even 'of dignities.'11 We are now led to consider 'the honour which subjects owe to their lawful magis trates. They are highly to resent, and endeavour, in' their several stations and e Rom. xijj. 1. f Judges xxi. 25. g 2 Chron. ix. 7, 8. h Isa. xlix. 23. i Acts xifi: 22. k l'Sarri. viii. 11—18. 1 1 Kings xii. 13, 14. m Hosea xiii. 11. n 2 Pet. ii. 10. 372 RELATIVE DUTIES. capacities, to check the insolence of those who make bold with the character of their magistrates and take the liberty to reproach them in common conversation. Such conduct is directly contrary to the law of God ; which says, ' Curse not the kino-, no, not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber. For a bird of the air shall carry the voice ; and that which hath wings shall tell the mat ter.'0 — Again, we are to support the honour of government, by paying those tri butes which are lawfully exacted. Thus the apostle says, ' Render to all their due ; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.'0 — Further, we are to pray for a blessing from God on the admin istration of our civil governors, that it may be under the divine direction, and tend to answer the great ends of government, namely, the glory of God, and the welfare of the subject. Here I cannot but observe, that no one on earth has a power of discharging sub jects from their obedience to their lawful governors, who endeavour to rule them according to the laws of God and nature, and those fundamental constitutions that are agreeable to these. Hence, it is a most detestable position advanced by the papists, that the pope has a power to excommunicate and depose sovereign princes ; though it does not appear that he has received any such authority from Christ, but herein intermeddles with a province which does not belong to him. For princes do not receive their crowns from the pope ; and therefore are not to be deposed by him. The assumption of such power by him is directly contrary to the temper of the blessed Jesus, and of the apostles and primitive Christians ; who did not en courage their followers to depose heathen kings and emperors ; but, on the other hand, exhorted them to ' submit to them in all things ' consistent with the glory of God, and the good of mankind, 'not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake.'i The church has no temporal sword committed to her, all her censures being spirit ual. Temporal punishments are left in the hands of the civil magistrate ; con cerning whom, the apostle says, ' He is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain ; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.'r On the other hand, when speaking concerning those who have the govern ment of ecclesiastical matters committed to them, he says, ' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the puEing down of strong holds.'8 The arguments generally used by the papists, to support the cause of rebellion, and their usurped power to depose magistrates who are not of their communion, are very weak, and, most of them, such as may easily be answered. They aEege the commission given by Christ, to Peter, ' Feed my sheep.'4 They pretend, that to ' feed,' is the same as to govern, and that this implies a power of punishing ; which they suppose to be extended so far that the bishop of Rome may depose sovereign princes, as occasion offers ; and they say that this power was given to Peter and his successors, which the popes of Rome pretend to be. But this commission given by Christ to Peter, to 'feed his sheep,' imports his feeding them with knowledge and understanding, and not lording it over God's heritage. Thus our Saviour says, ' The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and they that exer cise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so ; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger ; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.'11 Moreover, their pretence that the bishops of Rome are Peter's successors, contains a claim of what they have not the least shadow of right to ; and is, indeed, to place those in Peter's chair who are the greatest opposers of his doctrine. Another argument they bring, tending to overthrow the power of the civil magis trate, is that, as the soul is more excellent than the body, and its welfare to be preferred in proportion ; so the church is to take care of the spiritual concerns of mankind, to which aE temporal concerns are to give place ; and hence its power is greater than that of the civil magistrate. But this similitude does not prove the o Eecles. x. 20. p Bom. xiii. 7. q Verse 5. r Verse 4 • 2 Cor. x. 4. t John xxi. 17- a Luke «ii. 25, 26. RELATIVE DUTIES. 373 thing for which it is brought. Though it is aEowed that the soul is more excellent than the body, yet its welfare is not to be secured by inflicting corporal punish ments, such as persecutions and massacres ; to abet and encourage which, is to cast a reproach on religion, and wiE tend very much to weaken the interest of Christ in the world. Moreover, the magistrate is ordained by God to defend the religious as weE as the civil liberties of his subjects. Accordingly, the apostle ex horts that prayers be made ' for kings, and for aE that are in authority ; that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty ;*¦ and elsewhere we are exhorted to ' submit to governors, as unto them who are sent by the Lord, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do weE.' ? There is another argument which they make use of, taken from Azariah the priest's opposing king Uzziah, for intruding himself into the priest's office, in burn ing incense in the temple. Thus it is said, ' When he was strong, his heart was . lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord, to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God.'z To support their argument taken from this scripture, they observe that the priests who went in with Azariah are said to be ' valiant men,' and so ready to commit any hostilities against the king. Azariah also threatens the king, when he teEs him, ' it should not be for his honour ;' and peremptorily commands him to be gone out of the temple. This, they suppose, is a flagrant instance of the power of the church over the civil magistrate, in all those things which inter fere with what is sacred. Uzziah 's sin, according to the law of that dispensation, was very great, and against an express command of God ; who had ordered that none should officiate in the priest's office, but those who were of the family of Aaron. Again, Azariah and the rest of the priests did not attempt to depose him, but to prevent his going on in this sin ; which would not be for his honour, as the high priest teEs him. Nor does Azariah say this in a menacing way, as signifying that he would inflict some punishment on him, but as declaring what God would do against him, which would tend to his dishonour for this sin. Further, though the high priest, in God's name, commanded him to go out of the sanctuary ; yet he did not lay violent hands on him, at least, tiE the leprosy was seen upon him. ' And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence ; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.'a This they did, because a leper was not, according to the law of God, to enter into the congregation, inas much as he would defile it. Finally, he was not properly deposed ; but, by this plague of leprosy, rendered incapable of reigning. Hence, ' he dwelt in a several house, being a leper ; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.'0 This arrangement was agreeable to the law of God, touching the leper ; in which it is said, ' AE the days wherein the plague shaE be in him, he shall be defiled ; he is unclean. He shall dwell alone ; without the camp shall his habitation be.'0 It may be observed, too, that his son managed the affairs of the kingdom for him. The use, therefore, which is made by the papists of this scripture, to give counte nance to their doctrine of deposing princes, is foreign to its true sense. There is one more scripture example which the papists bring, whereby they de fend their practice, not only of deposing, but of murdering princes ; and that is 2 Kings xi. 15, ' But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hun dreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges ; and him that foEoweth her, kiE with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the Lord.' But Athaliah was plainly an - 1 Tim. ii. 2. y 1 Pet. ii. 14. z 2 Chron. xxvi. 16 — 18. a 2 Chron. xxvi. 20. b Ver. 21. c Lev. xiii. 46. 374 RELATIVE DUTIES. usurper. Not only was she so by reason of her sex, since a woman was not to reign over Israel or Judah ; but, to establish herself in the throne, she kiEed aE the seed royal, except Joash, who escaped, being hid from her fury in an apart ment belonging to the temple.!1 Again, what Jehoiada did in deposing her, was not only with a good design to set up the lawful heir, but was done by an ex press command from the Lord.0 Further, Joash was proclaimed, and anointed, and universally owned as king by the people, before Athaliah was slain. f The Sins of Inferiors against their Superiors. We are now to consider the sins of inferiors against their superiors. These are expressed in general terms, in one of the Answers we are explaining ; namely, " neglecting the duties we owe to them, envying at, and contempt of their persons, places, and lawful counsels and commands, and all refractory carriage, that may prove a shame and dishonour to their government." But, more particularly, in feriors sin against their superiors in divulging their secrets, — and that either as to what respects the affairs of their families, or their secular caEings in the world ; in mocking, reproaching, or exposing their infirmities, — as it is said, ' The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shaE pick it out, and the young eagles shaE eat it ;'g or in endeavouring to make disturbance or disorders in families or the commonwealth, through discontent with their station as inferiors, or a desire to rule oyer those to whom they ought to be in subjection. Servants sin, in neglecting to fulfil their contract or do the service which they engaged to perform, when they entered into that relation ; or in being disposed to perform the duties incumbent on them, only when they are under their master's eye, having no sense of common justice, or their obligation to approve themselves to God, in performing the duties they owe to man. Thus the apostle exhorts servants to ' be obedient to them which are their masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye-service, as men- pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.'h Children sin, by being unnatural to their parents, refusing or neglecting to main tain them if they need it, especiaEy when they are aged. By this conduct they appear to have no sense of gratitude for past favours, nor regard to that duty which nature obliges them to perform. The Duties of Superiors to Inferiors. We are to consider the duties which superiors owe to their inferiors. Whatever cir cumstance of advancement one has above another in the world, is a peculiar gift of God, and should not give occasion to that pride of heart which is natural to fallen man, which puts him upon casting contempt on those who are -below him. Much less should those who have advancement in the world oppress others who are in a lower station of life than themselves ; but they should endeavour to do good to them, and thereby glorify God. Indeed, as every relation is mutual, and caEs for its re spective duties ; so while superiors .expect the duty which belongs to them from in feriors, it is equally just and reasonable that they should not neglect those duties which they themselves are obliged to perform in return, though these are of a dif ferent nature from those which they demand from them. 1. We shall first consider the duty of parents to children. This not only in cludes the using of their utmost endeavours to promote their chEdren 's worldly ad vantage, as to their present or future condition in life ; but they ought to have a just concern for their spiritual welfare. The latter is a duty very much neglected, though it is incumbent on all parents who have a sense of God and religion upon their spirits. The apostle calls it ' bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.'1 When children are first capable of being instructed, or when they first take in the knowledge of common things ; then it is the parent's duty to instil d 2 Chron. xxii. 11. e Chap, xxiii. 3. f 2 Kings xi. 12—14. g 1'iox. xax. 17. h Eij1j- vi> 5) 6 j EpQ yi_ 4_ RELATIVE DUTIES. 375 into them those things which are spiritual. It is, indeed, a difficult matter to speak to them about divine things, so as to lead them into the knowledge of them, and requires a great measure of wisdom and faithfulness. One of the first duties which they owe to their children, is acknowledging God's right to them, putting them un der his care, giving them up to him, hoping and trusting in Christ that he will be stow on them the saving blessings of the covenant of grace, and that in their early life. Moreover,, as children soon discover themselves to have a corrupt nature, this ought to be checked and guarded against, as much as is in our power. All habits of sin are of an increasing nature, and though it is difficult to prevent them, we shall find it much more difficult to root them out. Now, that we may instil into the minds of children the principles of religion, as soon as they are capable of receiving instruction, various things are to be observed. First, parents must take great care that they neither speak nor act any thing before their children, which may tend to corrupt their minds, or which may afford a bad example of pernicious consequence for them to follow ; nor ought they to suffer those passions to break forth which may render them mean and contemptible in the eyes of their children, or give them occasion, by example, to indulge the same pas sions. — Again, they must take heed that they do not, on the one hand, exercise severity for trifles, or for those inadvertencies which children are chargeable with, or, on the other, itoo much indulge them in that incorrigibleness and profaneness which they sometimes see in them. — Further, they must separate from them aE companions or servants from whom they may imbibe the principles of sin, and oblige those who have the immediate care of their education to instil into them the principles of religion, and, at the same time, to recommend to them the pleasure, ¦heauty, and advantage of holiness in aE, but especially in young ones. — Further, the examples which we have, either in scripture, or our own observation in the world, of those who have devoted themselves to God and been early religious, are to be frequently inculcated for their imitation, with all the affecting and moving ex pressions which it is possible for the parents to use, and with a particular applica tion of these examples to their children's case. On the other hand, the miserable consequences which have attended persons neglecting to embrace the ways of God in the days of their youth, and the sore judgments which have often foEowed, are also to be set before them ; as it is said, ' His bones are fuE of the sin of his youth.' k — Again, reproofs for sin are to be given, with a zeal and concern for the glory of God, and yet with such affection as may convince children that, in those things in which they are ready to think their parents their enemies, they appear to be their greatest friends. — Moreover, they who have the care of children, ought, on the one hand, to take heed that they do not lead them into, or give them occasion to rest in, a formal or external appearance of religion ; and, on the other hand, they are not to use any methods which may induce them to think that a burden or a re proach which they ought to esteem their delight and honour. — Further, those op portunities are more especially to be embraced, in which instructions are most likely to be regarded by them ; as when they are inquisitive about divine things. An inquisitive state of mind should give the parent occasion to be particular in ex plaining to them matters about which they make inquiry. Thus God commands Israel, ' When thy son asketh thee in time to come, What mean the testimonies and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord thy God commanded you ? say unto him, we were Pharaoh's bondsmen ;u and so they were to relate to their chil dren those dispensations of providence towards them which gave occasion to these statutes which he had appointed.— Finally, parents should let their children know that their obedience to God's oommands will always entitle -them to the greatest share in their affection, that this may be ;a motive and inducement to their per forming it. 2. We are now to consider the duty which masters owe to their servants. They ouglit to recommend the good ways of God to them, endeavouring to persuade them to be religious ; and, by their exemplary conversation in their families, whereby they adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things, afford them an additional k Job xx. 11. 1 Deut. vi. 20, 21. 376 RELATIVE DUTIES. motive to become so. They ought likewise to encourage religion in their servants, as well as diligence and industry. For, as the one tends to the advantage of those to whom their service is due ; the other tends to the glory of God, and "the good of the souls of those who are found in the practice of it. Masters should also en deavour to instruct their servants in the principles of religion, especially if igno rant. Moreover, they should allow them sufficient time for religious duties ; which, if needful, ought to be taken out of that time in which they would otherwise be employed in their service. This they ought to do, considering that the best Chris tians are likely to make the most faithful servants. 3. We are now to consider the duty of magistrates towards their subjects. ^ They ought to endeavour to promote their liberty, safety, and happiness, by the justice and clemency of their administration. Thus it is said, ' He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.'m By this means they wEl lay their sub jects under the highest obligation to duty and obedience ; and the respect which they have from them, wiE render the station in which they are more agreeable. They ought also to defend the rights of subjects, when injured, against their op pressors ; that they may appear to be, as it were, their common fathers, to whom they have recourse in all difficulties, and from whom they find redress. They ought farther to encourage and support the common design of Christianity, by sup pressing irreligion and profaneness, and every thing which is a scandal to the Chris tian name, or a reproach to a well-ordered government. The Sins of Superiors against Inferiors. We are now led to consider the sins of superiors. One sin in their behaviour towards their inferiors, is pride and haughtiness. They commit this when they treat those who are below them with contempt and disdain ; as though, because they are not, in many respects, their equals, they were not their feEow-creatures. This sin discovers itself either in reproachful words or actions. Thus the Phari sees treated those whom they apprehended inferior to them in gifts or station in the church, with contempt ; so that they often made use of that aphorism, ' This people, who knoweth not the law, are cursed.'0 — Another sin of superiors is, when masters exact severe and unmerciful labour, beyond what is reasonable, of their servants. This is little better than the oppression of the Egyptian task-masters ; who com manded the Israelites to make brick without straw,0 and beat them, and dealt severely with them, because they could not fulfil their unreasonable exactions. Sin is committed by those who, being princes or generals, exercise inhuman cruelty, contrary to the law of nature and nations, towards their conquered enemies, when they have them in their power. This David seems to have been charged with, as a blemish in his reign ; when he put the men of Rabbah, after he had con quered them, ' under saws, and under harrows of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kilns. Thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon.' Such conduct seems hardly justifiable by martial law, and therefore must be reckoned a failing in him ; unless indeed the Ammonites had done something extraordinary to deserve it, or had used Israel in a similar manner ; for in that case it might be reckoned a just reprisal upon them.P We may add, that magistrates do not behave to their subjects as they ought, and therefore commit sin, when they inflict punish ment beyond what the law directs, or the crime deserves. Small offences are not to be punished with death, as capital crimes are ; since the punishment must be greater or less, in proportion to the crime. Thus God enjoined a certain number of stripes for some crimes committed ; and if the rulers inflicted a greater number, ' their brother would seem vile unto them, '°- that is, they would treat him with greater severity than the nature of the crime demanded. Again, superiors sin, when they take advantage of the necessities of the poor, in buying or selling. This is caEed a 'grinding the faces of the poor.'1" — Further, masters or parents sin, in giving undue correction to their servants or children for m 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. n John vii. 49. o Exod. v. 15, 16. p 2 Sam. xii. 31. q Deut. xxv. 2, 3, r Isa. iii. 14, 15. RELATIVE DUTIES. 377 small faults ; as when they punish the neglect of some punctilios of respect which are due to them, with greater severity than they do open sins against God ; or when they are transported with unreasonable passion for trifles. By this conduct they render themselves hated by their dependents, and provoke them to wrath, rather than promote the end of chastisement, which is the glory of God and their good. This the apostle forbids parents to do ;s and he also speaks of ' the fathers of our flesh chastising us after their own pleasure,'4 as being disagreeable to the divine dispensations, and consequently not to be justified in those who practise it. — Again, superiors sin, when they command those things of their inferiors which are in themselves sinful, which they cannot in their consciences comply with ; or when they demand those things which are impossible, and are enraged against them for not doing them. — Finally, superiors sin, when they surmise that their inferiors have committed a fault, which they resent and punish, without suffering them to vindicate themselves, though they request this favour in the most submissive way. This is to extend their authority beyond the bounds of reason. The Duties of Equals. We shall now consider the duties of equals. They ought to encourage and strengthen the hands of one another in the ways of God ; which is the great end and design of Christian societies. They ought to sympathize with one another in their weakness, warning and helping each other, when exposed to temptations or overcome by them. They ought to defend one another when reproached by the enemies of God and religion. They ought to love one another, and rejoice in each other's welfare. Finally, they ought to withdraw from the society of those who are a reproach to the good ways of God, or endeavour to turn them aside from them. The Sins of Equals. We shall now consider the sins of equals. One sin is to entertain unjust and unfriendly quarrels, contrary to that love which ought to be amongst brethren. — Another sin is to affect or usurp pre-eminence over one another ; as Diotrephes did, whom the apostle speaks of, who ' loved to have the pre-eminence amongst them.'u Christ's disciples themselves were sometimes liable to this charge ; especially when ' there was a strife among them, which of them should be accounted greatest. ** This our Saviour is so far from commending in them, that he reproves them for it. — Again, it is a great sin, when equals endeavour to make breaches amongst those who are otherwise inclined to live peaceably with one another. This is the wretched employment of tale-bearers, busy-bodies, make-bates, and slanderers, who delight to raise and propagate false reports ; as the psalmist supposes some inclined to do, who are distinguished from those who ' do not backbite with their tongue, nor take up a reproach against their neighbour,''' - as superseded at the advent of our Lord. Its institutes were a shadow of which the mediatorial dispensation is the substance; and they are exhibited as in themselves mere form or letter, the spirit of which is to be found in the work and lessons of the Redeemer. ' The law was given by Moses ; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' Whatever was set up by the Jewish legislator belonged to a state of things which was only introductory to the truth or reality set up by the Saviour. The law, as given by Moses, or that portion of divine revelation which was given in the organizing of the Jewish economy, was 'the pedagogue of the church until Christ,' a t«fj,o( •xxi'x. yaiys SifJ.oJt yiymt us Xf;et. iii. 16. e Chap. iv. 14; Acts v. 41. f 1 Pet. iv. 8 ; Prov. xvii. 9. g Matt, xviii. 16, 17. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 405 We shall close this head by considering what reason we have to endeavour to maintain the good name of others. To take away our neighbour's good name, is to take away one of the most valuable privileges he is possessed of. The loss of it may be inexpressibly detrimental to him ; and sometimes may affect his secular interest ; so that in taking it away, we may be said to take away his wealth and outward estate, and prevent his usefulness in that station of life in whjch provi- ¦ dence has fixed him. Accordingly, we are to express a due concern for the honour and reputation of others as weE as for our own. Thus concerning the duties re quired in this commandment. The Sins Forbidden in the Ninth Commandment. We proceed to consider the sins forbidden in this commandment. These are summed up in the general expression, 'bearing false witness ;' and they may re spect either ourselves or others. A person may be said to bear false witness against himself, in thinking either too highly or too meanly of himself. In the former respect, we value ourselves, or our supposed attainments, either in gifts or graces, too much. As regards these, we are, for the most part, mistaken, and pass a wrong judgment on them, and are ready to say, with the church at Laodicea, ' I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and know not ' that we are 'wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.'h On the one hand, some mistake the common gifts of the Spirit for grace, and conclude themselves to be something when they are nothing. But on the other hand, many conclude that they have no grace, and rank themselves among hypocrites and unbelievers, when their hearts are right with God, and they have had large experience of the power ful influences of his Spirit, but are not sensible of it. Thus Christ says to the church in Smyrna, ' I know thy poverty ; but thou art rich.'1 In these respects persons may be said to bear false witness against themselves. But that which is principally forbidden in this commandment, is a person's bearing false witness against his neighbour. He does this either when he endea vours to deceive him, or when he endeavours to do him prejudice as to his reputa tion in the world. The one is called lying ; the other backbiting or slandering. As to the former, our saying that which is contrary to what we know to be truth, with a design to deceive, is what we caE telling a lie ; and our doing that which is contrary to truth, may be deemed a practical lie ; both of which are very great sins. 1. A person is guilty of lying, when he says that which is contrary to truth, with a design to deceive. This the old prophet at Bethel did to the prophet of the Lord ; on which occasion it is said that he ' lied unto him.'k Now, lying is something more than saying what is contrary to truth ; for a person may do this and be guiltless. He may do so, for example, when there is some circumstance which discovers him to speak ironically ; so that he does not appear to have a design to deceive those to whom he addresses his discourse. Thus when the prophet Micaiah said to Ahab, ' Go and prosper, for the Lord shaE deliver it, ' namely, Ramoth-Gilead, 'into the hands of the king;'1 it is plain that he spake the lan guage of the false prophets, and that Ahab understood him in this sense, or sus pected that he spake ironically. For he says, ' How many times shall I adjure thee, that thou tell me nothing but that which is true ?'m The prophet then tells him, without irony, though in a metaphorical way which Ahab easily understood, ' I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd. And tbe Lord said, These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace.'11 This was an intimation, that, if he went up to Ramoth-Gilead, he should fall in battle. Hence, Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, ' Did I not tell thee, that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?'0 It thus appears that the prophet did not deceive him ; though the mode of speaking which he at first made use of, without considering it as irony, seemed to intimate as much. — Again, a per il Rev. iii. 17. i Chap. ii. 9. k 1 Kings xiii. 18. 1 Chap. xxii. 15. m 1 Kings xxii. 16. r. Verse 17. o Veres 18. 406 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. son may say that which is contrary to truth, being imposed on himself, without any design to deceive another. This cannot, indeed, according to the description be fore given, be properly called a lie. Yet he may sin by asserting too positively that which he thinks to be true from probable circumstances or uncertain informa tion ; especially if what he reports carries in it matter of scandal or censure. This ' was the case of Job's friends. They did not teE a lie against their own consciences ; yet they were too peremptory in charging him with hypocrisy, without sufficient ground. Hence, God imputes foEy to them, in that ' they had. not spoken of him the thing which was right, 'p Here it may be inquired whether a person who designs not to deceive, nor speaks contrary to the dictates of his own conscience, but who promises to do a thing, and does it not, is guilty of lying. Now, if a person promises to do a thing, which at the same time he really designs, and afterwards uses all the endeavours he could to fulfil his promise, but something unforeseen happens in the course of providence to prevent the execution of it, he cannot, properly speaking, be said to be guilty of a lie ; though we ought not to promise any thing but upon the supposition that God enables us to perform it. Again, if a person intends to do a thing, and, ac cordingly, promises to do it, but afterwards sees some justifiable reason to alter his mind, he is not guilty of a lie ; since all creatures are supposed to be mutable, Thus the angels told Lot, that they would ' abide in the street all night ;' but afterwards, upon his entreaty, they ' went into the house with him.'i Our Saviour also, when he walked with his disciples to Emmaus, ' made as though he would have gone farther ; but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us ; and he went in to tarry with them.'r But, notwithstanding this, if a person promises to do any thing which is of advantage to another, as the paying of a just debt, &c, it is not a sufficient excuse to clear him from the guilt of sin, if he pretends that he has altered his mind, supposing that it is in his power to fulfil his promise. This con duct is, indeed, a breach of the eighth commandment ; and, in some respects, it will appear to him to whom he made the promise to be a violation of it. That we may more particularly speak concerning the sin of lying, which multi tudes are chargeable with, let it be observed, that there are three sorts of lies. First, when we speak that which is contrary to truth, and the dictates of our own con science, with a desigii to cover a fault or excuse ourselves or others. This we gen erally caE an officious lie.s Secondly, when a person speaks that which is contrary to the known truth, in a jesting way ; and embellishes his discourse with his own fictions, designing to impose on others. This they are guilty of, who invent false news, or tell stories for truth which they know to be false. This is to lie in a jest ing, ludicrous manner.* Thirdly, there is a pernicious lie, namely, when a person raises and spreads a false report with a design to do injury, to another. This is a complicated crime, and the worst sort of lying.11 Here there are two or three inquiries which it may not be improper to take no tice of. One of these is, whether the midwives were guilty of an officious lie, when they told Pharaoh that ' the Hebrew women were delivered of their children, ere they came in unto them ;'h concerning whom it is said, in the foEowing verse, that ' God dealt well with the midwives ' for this report, which carries in it the appear ance of a lie. Now, they seem not to have been guilty of a lie ; for it is not im probable, that God, in mercy to the Hebrew women and their children, might give them uncommon strength ; so that they might be delivered without the midwives' assistance. Or if this was not the case with all the Hebrew women, but only with some or many of them, the midwives' report is only a concealing of part of the truth, while they related, in other respects, that which was matter of fact. Now, a per son is not guilty of telling a lie, who does not discover all, that he knows. There is a vast difference between concealing a part of the truth, and telling that which is directly false. No one is obliged to tell all he knows to one who, he is sure, will make a bad use of it. This seems to have been the case of the midwives. Hence, p Job xiii. 8. q Gen. xix. 2, 3. r Luke xxiv'. 28, 29. s ¦ Mendacium officiosum.' t This is called ' mendacium jocosum.' u This is called ' mendacium pemitiosum.' x Exod. i. 19. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 407 their action was justifiable, and commended by God ; they being not guilty, pro perly speaking, of an officious lie. Another inquiry is, what judgment we must pass concerning the actions of Ra hab, the harlot, who invented an officious lie, to save the spies from those who pur sued them. It is said, ' she took the two men and hid them ;'? and, at the same time, pretended to those who were sent to inquire of her concerning them, that ' she wist not whence they were,' but that they ' went out of the city about the time of the shutting of the gate, though whither they went she knew not' The main difficulty we have to solve is what the apostle says in apparent commenda tion of this action, ' By faith Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 'z Now, the apostle says, indeed, that she ' received the spies with peace,' that is, she protected them, and did not betray them into the hand of their enemies. But this act of faith does not relate directly to the lie which she invented to conceal them ; for, doubtless, she would have been more clear from the guilt of sin, had she refused to give the messengers any answer relating to them, and so had given them leave to search for them, and left the event to providence. This, indeed, was a very difficult duty ; for it might have endan gered her life ; and her choosing to secure them and herself, by inventing this lie, brought with it a degree of guilt, and was an evidence of the weakness of her faith. But, on the other hand, that faith which the apostle commends in her, respects some other circumstances attending this action. Accordingly, it is not said that by faith she made the report to the messengers concerning the spies, but, that ' by faith she received them with peace.' Now, there are several things in which her faith was very remarkable. She was confident that ' the Lord would give them the land ' which they were contending for.a She makes a just inference relating to this matter, from the wonders which God had wrought for them in the Red sea.b She makes a noble confession, that ' the Lord their God is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath.'6 She put herself under the protection of the Israelites, and desired to take her lot with them ; and she did this at the hazard of her life, though she might have saved it, and probably have received a reward, had she be trayed them. This I conceive to be a better vindication of Rahab 's conduct than that which is alleged by some, who suppose that, by entering into confederacy with the spies, she put herself into a state of war with her own countrymen, and so was not obliged to speak truth to the men of Jericho. Such an interpretation is fol lowed by many ill consequences, and gives too much countenance to persons deceiv ing others, under pretence of being in a state of war with them. As to what the Papists say in her vindication, that a good design will justify a bad action ; this is not true in fact, and therefore not to be applied to her case. It might be farther inquired what judgment we ought to pass on the method which Jacob took to obtain the blessing, when he told his father, ' I am Esau, thy first born ; I have done according as thou badest me ; 'd whether he was guilty of a lie in this conduct. Now, there is not the least doubt that he was. Some, indeed, endeav our to excuse him, by alleging that he had, before this, bought the birth-right of Esau, and that on this account he caEs himself Isaac's first-born. But this wiE not clear him from the guilt -of a lie ; for what he said would still have been an equivocation, and spoken with a design to deceive. Others own it to have been a lie ; but extenuate it, from the consideration of God's having designed the blessing for him before he was born.e But these do not at all mend the matter. For, though God may permit or overrule the sinful actions of men, to bring about his own purpose ; yet his doing so does not, in the least, extenuate their sin. We may farther observe, in reference to this action and the consequence of it, that good men are sometimes liable to sinful infirmities, as Jacob1 was ; who was followed with many sore rebukes of providence, which made the remaining part of his life very uneasy. He lived in exile twenty years, with Laban, an hard master, and an unjust and unnatural father-in-law. Again, great distress befell him in his return ; occasioned first by Laban 's pursuit of him, and then by the tidings which he re- y Josh. ii. 4, 5. z Heb. xi. 31. a Josh. ii. 9. b Verse 10. c Josh. ii. 11. d Gen. xxvii. 19. e Chap. xxv. 23. 408 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. ceived of his brother Esau coming out to meet him, 'with four hundred men.' As Esau was prompted by revenge, which he had long harboured in his breast, Jacob expected nothing less than the destruction of himself and his whole family. Further, he did not obtain deliverance from the hand of God without ' great wrestling ;'f and this attended with ' weeping,' as well as ' making supplica tion, 's And, though he prevailed, and so obtained the blessing, and therewith for giveness of his sin ; yet God so ordered it, that he should carry the mark of his success upon him as long as he lived, by touching the hollow of his thigh, which occasioned an incurable lameness. Another inquiry is, whether the prophet Elijah did not tell a lie to the Syrian host, who were before Dothan, in quest of him, when he said, ' This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me. and I will bring you to the man you seek. But he led them to Samaria ?'h But if what he says to them be duly considered, it will appear not to be a lie ; for he told them nothing but what proved true, ac cording to the import of his words. He does not say, I am not the man ye seek, which would have been a lie ; nor does he say, the man is not here ; but he tells them, ' I will lead you to the place where ye shall find him,' or have him discovered and presented before you. Again, when he says, ' This is not the way, neither is this the city ;' he does not say, this is not the way to Dothan, neither is this the city so called ; for then they would have been able to have convicted him of a lie, for they knew that they were at Dothan before they were struck with blindness. But the plain meaning of his words is, " This is not your way to find him, since the men of this city will not deliver him to you ; but I will lead you to the place where you shall see him ;" and 'so he led them to Samaria,' where their eyes were opened, and they saw him. What he said, therefore, was not a lie. And the rea son of his management was, that the king of Israel and the Syrian host might be convinced that they were poor creatures in God's hand, and that he could easily turn their counsels into foolishness, and cause their attempts to miscarry with shame as well as disappointment. It may be farther inquired, whether the apostle Paul was guilty of a lie, when, being charged with ' reviling God's high priest,' he said, ' I wist not that he was the high priest?'1 How was it possible that he should entertain any doubt con cerning his being the high priest ; a matter which none who were present could, in the least, question ? Now, we may suppose that the apostle, when he says, ' I wist not that he was the high priest,' intends nothing, but " I do not own him to be the high priest, as you call him ; for he is not an high priest of God's appoint ing or approving. Had he been so, he would have acted in a manner more becom ing that character ; and then I should have had no occasion to have told him, ' God shall smite thee, thou whited wall.' For to have said so would have been ' reviling him ;' since I know that scripture very well which says, ' Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.' " He thus intimates that, though he was-an high priest of man's making, he was not one of God's approving; and that accord ingly he was to be treated with contempt, instead of that regard which was former ly paid to the high priests, when they were better men, and acted more agreeably to their character. No one who deserves to be caEed God's high priest, would have ordered a prisoner who came to be tried for his life, instead of making his de fence, to be smitten on the mouth. But, suppose we render the words agreeably to our translation, ' I did not understand that he was the high priest,' Paul may still be vindicated from the charge of telling a lie. The assembly was a confused one, and not a regular court of judicature, in which the judge or chief magistrate is known to all, by the place in which he sits, or the part he acts in trying causes. Again, the high priest, in courts of judicature, was not known by any robe or dis tinct habit which he wore, as judges now are ; for he never wore any but his com mon garments, which were the same that other people wore, except when he min istered in offering gifts and sacrifices in the temple. Hence, the apostle could not know him by any distinct garment which he wore. Further, through the corrup tion of the times, the high priest was changed almost every year, according to the f Gen. xxxii. 24—26. g Hosea xii. 4. h 2 Kings vi. 19. i Acts xxiii. 4., 5. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 409 wiE of the chief governor, who advanced his own friends to that dignity, and often times sold it for money. It is therefore probable that Ananias had not been long high priest ; and Paul was now a stranger at Jerusalem, and so might not know that he was high priest. Thus, if we take the words in the sense in which they are commonly understood, the apostle may be sufficiently vindicated from the charge of telling a lie. It may be farther inquired, what judgment we may pass concerning David's pretence, when he came to Ahimelech, that ' the king commanded him a business, which no one was to know any thing of,' and that he had ' appointed his servants . to such and such a place ;'k and also concerning his 'feigning himself mad,' before the king of Gath,1 which dissimulation can be reckoned no other than a practical lie. In both these instances he must be allowed to have sinned ; and therefore is not proposed as a pattern to us. AE that can be inferred is, that there is a great deal of the corruption of nature remaining in the best of God's people. What he told Ahimelech was certainly a lie ; and aE that he expected to gain by it, was only a supply of his present necessities ; the consequence of which was the poor man's losing his life, together with all the priests, except Abiathar, by Saul's in humanity. David seems to have been truly sensible of this sin ; as appears from Psal. xxxiv., which, as is intimated in its title, was penned on this occasion. Here he warns others against the same sin, ' Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile ;'m and he seems to relate his own experience when he says, ' The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a con trite spirit.'11 As to his behaviour before the king of Gath, which was a visible lie discovered in his actions, it can by no means be excused from being a breach of this commandment. It is, indeed, alleged by some to extenuate his fault, that he was afraid that his having killed Goliath, would induce Achish to take away his life ; as appears from what is said in verses 11, 12. Yet it may be considered as an aggravation of his sin, that his fear seems to have been altogether ground less. For why should he suppose that the king of Gath would break through aE the laws of arms and honour, since Goliath had been killed in a fair duel, the chal lenge having first been given by himself? Why should David fear that he would kill him for that, any more than for other hostilities committed in war ? Besides, it is plain from what Achish says, ' Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence ? should this fellow come into mine house ?'° that the king of Gath was so far from designing to revenge Goliath's death on him, that he intended to employ him in his service, and take him into his house. But David's mean action made him despised by all ; for it seems probable, by Achish's saying, ' Have ye brought this fellow to play the madman ?' that he per ceived it to be a feigned and not a real distraction. And this was overruled by the providence of God, to let the Philistines know that the greatest hero is but a low-spirited man, if his God be not with him. On the other hand, if we suppose that there had been just ground for David's fear, the method taken to secure him self involved a distrust of providence. Providence would, doubtless, have delivered him without his dissembling, or thus demeaning himself, or using such an indirect method to effect his deliverance. Thus concerning the violation of this command ment, by speaking that which is contrary to truth. II. This commandment is farther broken, by doing that which is contrary to truth. This is what we call hypocrisy. It may be considered, first, as a reigning sin, inconsistent with a state ol grace ; in which respect an hypocrite is opposed to a true believer. Hypocrites make 'a fair show of religion ; but it is with a design to be seen of men.P They are sometimes, indeed, represented as ' seeking ' God, and ' inquiring early ' or with a kind of earnestness after him, when under his afflicting hand ; but their doing so is deemed no other than a ' flattering him with their mouth, and a lying unto him with their tongues ;' inasmuch as ' their heart is not right with him.'i Elsewhere, too, they are said to ' love the praise of men more than the praise of God.'r — Again, hypocrisy may be considered as that which be- k 1 Sam. xxi. 2. 1 Verse 13. m Psal. xxxiv. 13. n Verse 18. o 1 Sam. xxf. 15. p Matt. vi. 5. q Psal. Ixxviii. 34 — 37. r John xii. 43. II. 3f 410 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. « lievcrs are sometimes chargeable with, which is an argument that they are sancti- fied but in part; but this rather respects some particular actions, and not the tenor of their conduct. Thus the apostle Paul charges Peter with dissimulation ; s though the latter was far from deserving the character of an hypocrite as to his general conduct. And our Saviour cautions his disciples against hypocrisy, as that which they were in danger of being overtaken with ; * though he does not charge them with it as a reigning sin, as he did the scribes and Pharisees, whom he compares to 'painted sepulchres ;'u nor were they such as the apostle speaks of, whom he calls ' double-minded men, who are unstable in aE their ways.'1 That hypocrisy which we may call a reigning sin, may be known by a person's accommodating himself to all those whom he converses with, how much soever his doing so may tend to the dishonour of Christ and the gospel. Here we may take occasion to inquire whether the apostle Paul was, in any respects, chargeable with this sin, when he said, ' Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law ; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak ; I am made aE things to all men, that I might by all means save some.'y For understanding this scripture, and vindicating the apostle from the charge of hypocrisy, let it be considered that the compliance he here speaks of, was with a design, not to gain the applause of the world, but to serve the interest of Christ. Nor did he connive at, or give coun tenance to, that false worship or those sinful practices of any, which were contrary to the faith or purity of the gospel. Hence, when he says, ' Unto the Jews I be came as a Jew,' he does not mean that he gave them the least ground to conclude that it was an indifferent matter, whether they adhered to, or laid aside, the obser vance of the ceremonial law. For he expressly tells some of the church at Galatia who were disposed to judaize, that this was contrary to ' the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, a being again entangled with the yoke of bondage ;' that 'if they were circumcised, Christ should profit them nothing;' and, that they were ' fallen from grace,' that is, turned aside from the faith of the gospel.2 In this sense, therefore, he did not become as a Jew, to the Jews. Nor did he so far comply with the Gentiles as to give them ground to conclude, that the superstition and idolatry which they were guilty of, was an harmless thing, and might still be practised by them. Hence, the amount of his compliance with the Jews or Gen tiles, was nothing else but this, whatever he found praiseworthy in them, he com mended ; and if, in any instances, they were addicted to their former rites or modes of worship, he endeavoured to draw them off from them, not by a severe and rigid behaviour censuring them, refusing to converse with them, or reproaching them for their weakness, but by the use of kind and gentle methods, designing rather to inform than discourage them ; while, at the same time, he was far from approving or giving countenance to any thing which was sinful in them or unbecoming the gospel. From what has beep said concerning an hypocrite's being one who performs re ligious duties with a design to be seen of men, as our Saviour says of the Pharisees that ' they love to stand praying in the synagogues, or in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,'a we may inquire what may be said in vindication of the prophelj Daniel from the charge of hypocrisy, concerning whom it is said that, when Darius had signed a decree prohibiting any one from asking a petition of any god or, .man, save of the king, he should be cast into the den of lions, 'he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber, towards Jerusa lem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a-day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. 'b Now, he acted thus, not to gain the esteem or applause of men, a motive which they are charged with who are guilty of hypo crisy ; but he acted in contempt of the vile decree of the Persian monarch. Again, he acted as he did at the peril of his life ; and showed that he had rather be cast s Gal. ii. 11-13 t Luke xii. 1: u Matt. xxii. 27, 28. x James i. 8. y 1 Cor. ii. 20-22. z Gal. ». 1-4. a Matt. vi. 6. b Dan. iv. 10. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 411 into the den of lions, than give occasion to any to think that he complied with the king in his idolatrous decree. Further, though it is said that ' he prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime,' we are not to understand that he set open his windows aforetime. His praying publicly at, this, time, was to show that he was neither ashamed nor afraid to own his God, whatever it should cost him. Hence, he was so far from being guilty of hypocrisy, that his conduct is one of the most noble instances of zeal for the worship of the true God which we find recorded in scripture. We proceed to observe that hypocrisy is a reigning sin when we boast of our high attainments in gifts or grace, or set too great a value on ourselves because of the performance of some religious duties, while we neglect others in which the principal part of true godliness consists. Tims the Pharisee paid ' tithe of mint, anise, and cummin,' while he 'omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. 'c — Again, hypocrisy, as a reigning sin, consists in exclaiming against and censuring others for lesser faults, while we allow greater in ourselves ; like those whom our Saviour speaks of who ' behold the mote that is in their bro ther's eye, but consider not the beam that is in their own ;'d or, according to that proverbial way of speaking, 'strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.' These are very fond of exposing the ignorance of others ; though they have no experimental, saving knowledge of divine truth in themselves. Or they are very froward to blame the coldness and lukewarmness which they see in some ; while, at the same time, that zeal which they express in their whole conduct, is rather to advance them selves than the glory of God. — Further, persons are guilty of hypocrisy as a reign ing sin when they make a gain of godliness,e or of their pretensions to it. Thus Balaam prophesied for a reward ; and accordingly it is said that ' he loved the wages of unrighteousness.'' — Finally, persons are guilty of it wh'o make a profes sion of religion because it is uppermost, and are as ready to despise and cast it off, when it is reproached, or when they are likely to suffer for it. Thus the Pharisees, how much soever they seemed disposed to embrace Christ when attending on John's ministry ; yet afterwards, when they saw that their doing so was contrary to their secular interest, they were 'offended in him,' and prejudiced against him, and said, ' Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on him?'s This sin of hypocrisy, which is a practical lie, has a tendency to corrupt and vitiate aE our pretensions to religion. It is like 'the dead fly,' mentioned by Solomon, ' that causeth the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour ;'h and it will, in the end, bring on those who are guilty of it many sore judgments, some of which are spiritual. Thus it is said of the heathen, that ' be cause, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, and did not like to retain him in their knowledge ; he gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do'those things that are not convenient,'1 &c. As for the false hope and vain confidence which the hypocrite entertains, it shall leave him in despair and confusion,k and be attended with unspeakable horror of conscience.1 On this account hypocrites are said to ' heap up wrath,' and bring on themselves a greater degree of condem nation than others."1 We have thus considered this commandment as broken by speaking or acting that which is contrary or prejudicial to truth. III. We proceed to consider that this commandment is broken by our doing that which is injurious to our neighbour's good name, either by words or actions. This is done in two ways, either before his face, or behind his back. 1. Doing injury to another, by speaking against him before his face. It is true, we give him hereby the liberty of vindicating himself ; yet if the thing be false which is alleged against him, proceeding from malice and envy, our speaking against him is a crime of a very heinous nature. This crime is committed by those who, in courts of judicature, commence and cany on malicious prosecutions. Here the plaintiff, the witness, the advocate who manages the cause, the jury who luing in a false verdict, and the judge who passes sentence contrary to law or evi- c Matt, xxiii. 23, 24. d Chap. vii. 3, 5. el Tim. vi. 5. . . f 2 Pet. ii. 16. g John vii. 48. h Eccles. x. 1. i Rom. i. 21, 22, 28. k Job viii. 13—15 1 Job xxvii. 18; Isa. xxxiii. 14. m Job xxxvi. 13; Matt, xxiii. 14. 412 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. dence as well as the dictates of his own conscience, with a design to crush and ruin him who is maliciously prosecuted, are all notoriously guilty of the breach of this commandment. Again, those may be said to do that which is injurious to their neighbour's good name, who reproach them in common conversation. This is a sin too much committed in this licentious age ; as though men were not account able to God for what they speak, as well as for other parts c>f the conduct of life. There are several things which persons make the subject of their reproach. Among these are the defects and blemishes of nature ; such as lameness, blindness, deafness, impediment of speech, meanness of capacity, or actions which proceed from a degree of distraction. Many suppose that the apostle Paul was reproached for some natural deformity in his body or impediment in his speech. This is in ferred from his representing some as saying, ' His letters are weighty and powerful ; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.'™ Elsewhere, also, he commends the Galatians for not despising him on this account. ' My tempta tion,' says he, 'which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected ; but ye re ceived me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.'0 The aggravations of this sin of reproaching persons for their natural infirmities, are very great. For, it is a finding fault with the workmanship of the God of nature, a thinking meanly of a person for that which is not chargeable on him as a crime, and which he can by no means redress. It is a censuring those who are, in some respects, objects of compassion ; especially if the reproach be levelled against the defects of the mind, or any degree of distraction. It also argues a great deal of pride and unthankful- ness to God, for those natural endowments which we have received from him, though we do not improve them to his glory. Here we may take occasion to say something respecting the children's sin who reproached Elisha for his baldness, and the punishment which followed, namely, his ' cursing them in the name of the Lord ;' and ' two and forty' of them being ' torn in pieces by two she-bears out of the wood.'P It may be inquired by some, whether this was not too great an instance of passion in that holy man, and too severe a punishment inflicted ; inasmuch as they who reproached him are called 'little children.' The children, however, were not so little as not to be able to know their right hand from their left, or to discern between good and evil ; for such are not usually trusted out of their parents' sight ; nor would they have gathered themselves together in a body, or gone some distance from the city, on purpose to insult the prophet, as it is plain they did, understanding that he was to come there at that time. They must, therefore, have been boys of a sufficient age to commit the most presumptuous sin ; and hence not too young to suffer such a punishment as followed. Again, their sin was great, in mocking a grave old man, who ought to have been honoured for his age, and a prophet, whom they should have esteemed for his character. In despising him, they despised God who called and sent him. Further, Bethel, where they lived, was the chief seat of idolatry, in which these children had been trained up ; and it was a prevailing inclination to it, together with an hatred of the true religion, which occasioned their reproaching and Casting contempt on the prophet. Finally, the manner of expression argues a great deal of profaneness, ' Go up, thou bald head ;' that is, either go up to Bethel, speaking in an insulting way, as if they had said, ' You may go there, but you will not be regarded by the people ; for they value no such men as you are ;' or rather, it is as if they had said, ' You pretend that your predecessor Elijah is gone dp to heaven ; do you go up after him, that you may trouble us no longer with your prophecies.' These children, then, though young in years, were hardened in sin ; and their conduct was not so much an occasional mocking of the prophet for his baldness, as a public contrivance, and tumultuous opposition to his ministry; which is a very great crime, and accordingly, was attended with a just resentment in the prophet, and followed by that punishment which was inflicted. Some reproach persons for their sinful infirmities ; and do so in such a way that they are styled 'fools' who 'make a mock of sin. '9 We are guilty of this when we reflect on persons for sins committed before their conversion. These they have n 2 Cor. x. 10. o Gal. iv. 14. p 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. a Prov. vi* 0 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 413 repented of, and God has forgiven ; so that they should not be now charged against them, as a matter of reproach. Thus the Pharisee reproached the poor penitent woman, who stood weeping at our Saviour's feet, and said within himself, ' If this man were a prophet, he would have known what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. 'r This reproach respected not her present but her former condition. Again, persons are ' fools who make a mock of sin,' when they reproach others with levity of spirit for the sins they are guilty of at present ; as when the shameful actions of a drunken man are made the subject of laughter ; which ought not to be thought of without regret or pity. It may be objected that sin renders a person vile, and is really a reproach to him ; so that it may be charged upon him as such ; especially as it is said concerning the righteous man, ' In his eyes a vile person is contemned.'8 Now, we are far from asserting that it is a sin to reprove sin, and show the person who commits it his vileness, and the reason he has to reproach and charge himself with it, and loathe himself for it. But the contempt which is to be cast on a vile person, does not consist in making him the subject of laughter, as though it were a light matter for him to dishonour God as he does ; for his conduct should occasion grief in aE true believers, as the psalmist says, ' I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved because they kept not thy word. '* Accordingly, when the psalmist advises to ' con temn' such an one, the meaning is, that we should not make him our intimate or bosom friend ; or that if he be in advanced circumstances in the world, we are not to flatter him in his sin ; whereby, especially when it is public, he forfeits that re spect which would otherwise be due to him. In this sense we are to understand Mordecai's contempt of Hainan." Here we may take occasion to distinguish between reproving sin, and reproach ing persons for it. The former is to be done with sorrow of heart, and compassion expressed to the sinner ; as our Saviour reproved Jerusalem, and, at the same time, ' wept over it.'x But, on the other hand, reproach is attended with hatred of him, and a secret pleasure taken in his sin and ruin. Again, reproof for sin ought to be with a design to reclaim the offender ; whereas, reproach tends only to expose, exasperate, and harden him in his sin. Moreover, reproof for sin ought to be given with the greatest seriousness and conviction of the evil and danger which will follow ; whereas they who reproach persons, charge sin on them under the in fluence of their own passions, without any concern for the dishonour which they bring to God and religion, or desire for their repentance and reformation. Sometimes that which is the highest ornament and greatest excellency of a Christian, is turned to his reproach. In particular, some have been reproached for extraordinary gifts, which God has been pleased to confer on them. Thus the spirit of prophesy was sometimes reckoned, by profane persons, the effect of distraction.* Joseph was reproached by his brethren, in a taunting way, with the character of a dreamer ; because of the prophetic intimation which he had from God, in a dream, concerning the future state of his family.2 When the apostles were favoured with the extraordinary gift of tongues, and preached to men of different nations, in their own language, ' some were amazed, and others mocked them, and said, These men are full of new wine.'" — Again, raised affections, and extraordinary instances of zeal for the glory of God, have been derided, as though they were matter of re proach. Thus Michal reproached David, when 'he danced before the ark;'b he being actuated by an holy zeal, and transport of joy ; and so far from reckoning it a reproach, he counted that which she called vile, glorious. — Further, spiritual ex periences of the grace of God have sometimes been turned by those who are stran gers to them, to their reproach, and termed no other than madness. Thus when the apostle Paul related the gracious dealings of God with him in his conversion, Festus charges him with being 'beside himself.'0 — Again, a person's being made use of by God, to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, has been charged against him, as though it were rebellion. Thus the Jews told Pilate, when he sought to release r Luke vii. 37—39. s Psal. xv. 4. t Psal. cxix. 158. u Esther iii. 2. x Luke xix 41, 42. y 2 Kings ix. 11. z Gen. xxxvii. 13 a Acts ii. 13. b 2 Sam. vi. 20. c Acts xxvi. 24. 414 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. Jesus, 'If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend.'0- And that reforma tion which the apostles were instrumental in making in the world, by preaching the gospel, is styled ' turning the world upside down.'e — Further, humility of mind in owning our weakness, as not being able to comprehend some divine mysteries con tained in the gospel, is reckoned matter of reproach by many ; who call it implicit faith, and admitting of the greatest absurdities in matters of religion.— Further, giving glory to the Spirit, as the Author of all grace and peace, and desiring to draw nigh to God in prayer, or engage in other holy duties, by his assistance, is reproached by some, as though it were enthusiasm, and as though they who desire or are favoured with this privilege, were pretenders to extraordinary revelation. — Again, a being conscientious in abstaining from those sins which abound in a licen tious age, or reproving and bearing our testimony against those who are guilty of them, is reproached with the character of hypocrisy, preciseness, and being right eous overmuch. — FinaEy, separating from communion with a false church, and re nouncing those doctrines which tend to pervert the gospel of Christ, is called by some heresy. Thus the Papists brand the Protestants with the reproachful name of heretics. But we may answer, that this is rather our glory, and confess that 'after the way which they call heresy, so worship we the God of our fathers.'' This sin is attended with many aggravations ; for God reckons it as a contempt cast on himself, s They who are guilty of it, also, plainly intimate that they pre tend not to be what they reproach and deride in others ; so that if the latter he in the right way to heaven, those who reproach them discover that they desire not to go thither. In their whole conduct, indeed, they act as though they were en deavouring to banish all religion out of the world, by methods of scorn and ridicule ; and if their design should take effect, this earth would be but a smaE degree better than hell. When we are thus reproached for the sake of God and religion, let us not render railing for railing ; but look on those who revile us as objects of pity,h who do more hurt to themselves than they can do to us. Moreover, let us reflect on our own sins, which provoke God to suffer our being reproached ; and beg of him that he would turn it to his own glory and our good. Thus David did, when he was unjustly and barbarously cursed and railed at by Shimei. ' We ought also to esteem religion the more, because of the opposition and contempt which it meets with from the enemies of God. That very contempt and opposition, indeed, afford us some evidence of the truth and excellency of religion ; as our Saviour says concerning his disciples, ' If ye were of the world, the world would love his own ; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.'k Again, when we are reviled for the sake of Christ and religion, let us fake encouragement from the consideration that we have the same treatment which he and all his saints have met with. ' Let us also consider that there are many pro mises annexed to our being so reviled.m It is also an advantage to our character as Christians ; for hereby it appears, that we are not on their side who are Christ's avowed enemies. Hence, we should reckon their reproach our glory ;n or as the apostle says, ' take pleasure in reproaches for Christ's sake, '° or, as it is said else where, ' Rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.'P Thus concerning our doing injury to our neighbour, by speaking against him before his face. 2. We shall now consider the injury which is done to others by speaking against them behind their back. This those are guilty of who raise or invent false reports of their neighbours, or spread those which are uncertain, or divulge those which ought to be kept secret, with a design to take away their good name. These are called talebearers, backbiters, slanderers ; who offer injuries to others who are not in a capacity to defend themselves.? Their malicious reports are oftenj indeed, prefaced with a pretence of great respect to the person whom they speak against, d John xix. 12. e Acts xvii. 6. f Chap. xxiv. 14. g Luke x. 16. h 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13; 1 Pet. ii. 23. i 2 Sam. xvi. 10, 12. k John xv. 19 1 Heb xn. 2, 3; Chap. xi. 36. m Matt. v. 11, 12; 1 Pet. iv. 14. n Heb. xi 26. o 2 Cor. xn. 10. p Acts v. 41. q L,v. xix. l6. THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 415 They seem very much surprised at and sorry for what they are going to relate ; and sometimes signify their hope, that it may not be true ; and desire that what they report may be concealed, while they make it ' their business themselves to divulge it. But this method will not secure their own reputation, while they are endeavouring to ruin that of another. They propagate slander in various ways. They do so by pretending that a person is guilty of a fault which he is innocent of. Thus our Saviour' and John the Baptist were charged with immoral practices, which there was not the least shadow or pretence for.r Again, they do so by divulging a real fault which has been acknowledged and repented of, and therefore ought to be concealed ;s or when there is no pretence for making it public, but what arises from malice and hatred of the person. Further, they do so by aggra vating faults or representing them worse than they are. Thus Absalom's sin in murdering Amnon was very great ; but he who brought tidings of it to David, re presented it worse than it was, when he said that Absalom had ' slain aE the king's sons.'* Again, persons propagate slander by reporting the bad actions of men, and, at the same, overlooking and extenuating their good ones ; and so not doing them the justice of setting one in the balance against the other. Further, they do so by putting the worst and most injurious construction on actions which are really excellent. Thus, because our Saviour admitted publicans and sinners into his presence, and did them good by his doctrine, the Jews reproached him as though he were 'a friend of publicans and sinners, 'u taking the word 'friend' in the worst sense, as signifying an approver of them. Finally, persons propagate slander by reporting things to the prejudice of others, which are grounded on such slender evidence, that they themselves hardly believe them, or at least would not, had they not a design to make use of them, to defame them. Thus Sanballat, in his letter to Nehemiah, tells him that 'he and the Jews thought to rebel ; and built the wall of Jerusalem, that he might be their king ;'* which it can hardly be sup posed the enemy himself gave any credit to. Thus concerning the instances in which persons backbite or raise false reports on others. We may add, that, as they are guilty who raise slanders ; so are they who listen to and endeavour to propagate them. It is not, indeed, the mere hearing of a report which we cannot but think to be attended with malice and slander which wiE render us guilty, for that we may not be able to avoid ; but it is our encourag ing him who raises or spreads it which renders us guilty. In particular, we sin when we hear malicious reports, if we conceal them from the party concerned in them, and so deny him the justice of answering what is said against him, in his own vindica tion, or when we do not reprove those who make a practice of slandering and back biting others, in order to our bringing them to shame and repentance ; and, most of all, when we contract an intimacy with those who are guilty of this sin, and are too easy in giving credit to what they say, though not supported by sufficient evi dence, but on the other hand, carrying in it the appearance of envy and resentment. Thus concerning the sins forbidden in this commandment. We shall close this Head by proposing some remedies against slander. If the thing reported to another's prejudice be true, we ought to consider that we are not without many faults ourselves ; which we would be unwilling, if others knew them, that they should divulge. If the thing reported be doubtful, we, by reporting it, may give occasion to some to believe it to be true, without sufficient evidence ; so that our neighbour wiE receive real prejudice from that which to us is only mat ter of surmise and conjecture. But if, on the other hand, what is reported be apparently false, the sin is stEl the greater ; and, by inventing and propagating it, the highest injustice is offered to the innocent, while we, at the same time, are guilty of a known and presumptuous sin. Again, such a way of exposing men answers no good end ; nor is it a means of reclaiming them. Further, by our inventing or propagating slander, we lay ourselves open to the censur'e of others ; and by en deavouring to take away our neighbour's good name, endanger the loss of our own. r Matt. xi. 18, 19. s Chap, xviii. 15. t 2 Sam. xiii. 30. u Matt. xi. 19. x Nehem. vi. 6. 416 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. Question CXLVI. Wliich is the tenth commandment ? Answer. The tenth commandment is, " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighhoui's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant.'nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." Question CXLVII. What are the duties required in the tenth commandment ? Answer. The duties required in the tenth commandment are, such a full contentment with our own condition, and such a chaiitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbour, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him tend unto and further all that good which is his. Question CXLVIII. What are the sins forbidden in the tenth commandment ? Answer. The sins forbidden in the tenth commandment, are, discontent with our own estate i envying, and grieving at the good of our neighbour, together with all inordinate motions and affec tions to any thing that is his. The general design of this commandment is to regulate and set bounds to our de sires ; and it contains a prohibition of coveting those things which belong not tous. It is not to be split into two commandments, as the Papists pretend. They sup pose that, ' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,' is the ninth, and, ' Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,' &c. is the tenth commandment. But these are only particular instances of the breach of the same commandment. The argu ment taken from the repetition of the words, ' Thou shalt not covet,' is so very weak and inconclusive, that it would hardly have been made use of by them, had they not thought it necessary, some way or other, to make up the number ten ; having, as was observed under a foregoing Head, determined the second commandment not to be distinct from but an appendix to the first/ The Duties Required in the Tenth Commandment. We proceed to consider the duties required in the tenth commandment. These may be reduced to two Heads. 1. Contentment with our own condition. By this we are not to understand that we are to give way to indolence or stupidity, but to exercise a composure of mind, acquiescing in the divine dispensations in every condition of life. Thus the apos tle says, ' I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.'2 This duty is applicable to all sorts of men. In particular, it is a grace which is to be exercised by those who are in prosperous circumstances in the world. Thus the apostle says, ' I know how to abound, 'a and to be ' full,' as weE as ' to suffer need.' We often find that they who have the greatest share of the good things of this world, are so far from being satisfied with it, that their covetousness increases in proportion to their substance. But such ought to consider that their conduct is most unreasonable and ungrateful, and may justly provoke God to take away the blessings which he has given them, or add some circumstance to them which will tend to embitter them. Moreover, it is a giving way to such a temper of mind as renders them really miserable in the midst of their abundance. But what we shall principally consider, is how the grace of contentment is to be exercised by those who are in an afflicted state, together with the motives and in ducements leading to it. We will suppose persons under bodily weakness or pain, which tends much to embitter the comforts of life, by which means they are made uneasy. Indeed, it is impossible, from the nature of the thing, for them not to complain or groan under the burdens which are laid on them ; as the psalmist did, who speaks of himself as 'weary of his groaning.'0 Nor is such sense of suffer ing unlawful, provided they do not repine at, or find fault with, the methods of God's providence, in his dealing with them. There are, however, some things which may induce them to be content. If we consider that the body gave occasion >- Sm page 313. z Phil. iv. 11. a Verse 12. b Psal. vi. 6. THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. 417 to the entrance of sin into the world, and bears a part with the soul in all the sins committed and guilt contracted by it, it is no wonder that we find it to have its share in those miseries to which the soul is exposed. Again, bodily diseases are our monitors, to put us in mind of the frailty of our present state. Hence, as they are the harbingers of death, we are forewarned by them to prepare for it, as mak ing sensible advances towards it. Further, the greatest pains to which we are lia ble, are far short of what Christ endured for us ; in which respect our afflictions are comparatively light, and convincingly evident not to be certain indications of our being rejected by God.c Moreover, as God will not lay more on us than he will enable us to bear ; so none of these afflictive dispensations shall have a ten dency to separate the soul from Christ. Though we sometimes complain that afflic tion is a great interruption to the exercise of grace ; yet this shall not be charged upon us as our fault, any otherwise than as it is the effect of that sin which is the procuring cause of all affliction. Besides, the heavier our afflictions are at present, the more sweet and comfortable the heavenly rest will be to those who have a well- grounded hope that they shall be brought to it.d If our condition be low and poor in the world, we are not without some induce ments to be content. Poverty is not in itself a curse, or inconsistent with the love of God ; for Christ himself submitted to it ;e and his best saints have been exposed to it, and glorified God under it,f more than others. Moreover, how poor soever we are, we have more than we brought into the world with us, or than the richest person can carry out of it.s And they who have least of the world have more than they deserve, or than God was under any obligation to give them. Suppose we are afflicted in our good name, and do not meet with that love and esteem from the world which might be expected, but, on the other hand, are cen sured, reproached, and hated by those whom we converse with ; we should not be made, beyond measure, uneasy. We have reason to conclude that the esteem of the world is precarious and uncertain ; and that they who most deserve it, have often the least of it. Thus our Saviour was one day followed with the caresses of the multitude, shouting forth their Hosannas to him ; and the next day the com mon cry was, 'Crucify him, crucify him.' When the apostles Paul and Barnabas had healed the cripple at Lystra, they could at first hardly restrain the people from offering sacrifice to them ; but afterwards the same people joined with the malicious Jews in stoning them.h And Paul tells the Galatians, that ' if it had been possible, they would have plucked out their eyes, and have given them to him ;' but, a little after, he complains that he was ' become their enemy, because he told them the truth.'1 Besides, the esteem of men is no farther to be desired than as it may render us useful to them ; and if God is pleased to deny this to us, we are not to prescribe to him what measure of respect he shall allot to us from the world, or usefulness in it. Moreover, let us consider that we know more evil abounding in our own heart than others can charge us with. Hence, how much soever they are guilty of injustice to us ; our knowledge of ourselves affords us a motive to contentment. Besides, we have not brought that honour to God which we ought ; therefore, how just is it for him to deny us that esteem from men which we desire ? Suppose we are afflicted in our relations, there are some motives to contentment. If servants have masters who make their lives uncomfortable, by their unreason able demands or unjust severity, they ought to consider that their faithfulness and industry wiE be approved of by God, how much soever it may be disregarded by men ; and a conscientious discharge of the duties incumbent on them, in the rela tion in which they stand, will give them ground to expect a blessing from God, to whom they are herein said to do service, which shaE not go unrewarded.k On the other hand, if masters are afflicted, by reason of the stubborn and unfaithful be haviour, or sloth and negligence, of their servants ; let them inquire whether this be not the consequence of their not being so much concerned for their spiritual c Eccles. ix. 1. d Job iii. 17; 2 Thess. i. 7; 2 Cor. iv. 17. e 2 Cor. viii. 9; Matt. riii. 20. f 2 Cor. vi. 10. g Job i. 21. h Acts xiv. 18, 19. i Gal. iv. 15, 16. k Eph. vi. 7, 8, n. 3 o 418 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. welfare as they ought, or keeping up strict religion in their families, or whether they have not been more concerned that their servants should obey them, than their great Master who is in heaven. — Again, if parents have undutiful children, who are a grief of heart to them ; let them consider, as a motive to contentment, whether they have not formerly neglected their duty to their parents, slighted their counsels, or disregarded their reproofs, or whether they have not reason to charge themselves with the iniquity of their youth, and inquire whether God be not now writing bitter things against them for it, or whether they have not neglected to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. These consid erations will fence against all repining thoughts at the providence of God, that lias brought these troubles upon them. As a farther inducement to make them easy, let them consider, that if the undutiful conduct of their children does not altogether lie at their door, and that if they have been faithful to their children, in praying for and instructing them, God may hear their prayers, and send home their in structions on their hearts, when they themselves are removed out of the world. On the other hand, if children have wicked parents, whose conversation fills them with great uneasiness ; let them consider that theirs has been the case of many of God's faithful servants, such as Hezekiah, Josiah, and others. And they may be assured that they shall have no occasion to use that proverb, ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'1 If we are afflicted by reason of the treachery and unfaithfulness of pretended friends, which wound us in the most tender part,m we may be induced to be con tent. For we have no ground to expect perfection in the best of men, or that their love and favour is immutable ; nor is our conduct always such that we do not often forfeit the respect which we once had from others. Besides, if our friends deal de ceitfully with us, or are unfaithful to us, without just ground, they do not act so, without the permission of the wise and overruling providence of God, who some times orders such affliction in order to take us off from a dependence upon men, or from expecting too much happiness from them, — which is to be sought for only in himself.11 Moreover, when we find a change in the behaviour of friends towards us, our encouragement is that our chief happiness consists in the unchangeable love of God.0 When we are afflicted in the loss of friends or near relations, we have also mo tives to contentment. There is no reversing or altering the decree of God, which fixes the bounds of men's continuance in this world.? All the comfort we have in friends and relations is a peculiar blessing from God ; and he sometimes afflicts us in the loss of them, that he may draw off our affections from the best creature-en joyments, and induce us to take up our rest entirely in himself. Moreover, we had never any reason to look on our friends as immortal, any more than ourselves ; and therefore ought to say as David did when he lost his child, ' I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.' q So far too as self-love is concerned in our bereave ments, we have a reason to give a check to the excess of it, by the exercise of self- denial, and say with David, ' I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because thou didst it ;'r or follow the example of Aaron, concerning whom it is said, that, when he lost two of his sons at once, by a public and awful stroke of divine justice, ' he held his peace.'8 If we are afflicted by the want of success or the many disappointments which attend us, in our lawful callings in the world, we have reason, notwithstanding, to be content. It is the sovereign hand of God which orders our condition, as to the success or disappointments attending our lawful callings ; and hence we are not to strive against our Maker, or find fault with his will, who may do what he pleases with his own. Again, a man's happiness does not really consist in the abundance of what he possesses,' but rather in his having a heart to use it aright. Hence, we ought to say to ourselves, as God did to Baruch, ' Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.' u Further, the world is a scene of vanity. We have no reason to expect too much from it, and hence ought not to be dejected at the loss 1 Ezek. xviii. 2. m Psal. lv. 12, 13. n Isa. ii. 22. o Mal. iii. 6. p Job xiv. 9. q 2 Sam. xn. 23. r Psal. xxxix. 8. s Lev. x. 3. t Luke xii. 15. u Jer. xiv. 5. THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. 419 of it ; especiaEy considering that such disappointments arc the eomnoii lot of all sorts of men. Moreover, the providence of God sometimes denies us the good things of this world, that we may think it our duty and interest to lay*up treasures in heaven. Suppose we meet with afflictions as to our spiritual concerns, being under divino desertion or decays of grace, or wanting a sense of the love of God or those spirit ual comforts which we once enjoyed from him ; in this condition no believer can or ought to be easy, at least stupid, and unconcerned. But, on the other hand, ha ought to be humbled for those sins which may give occasion to it, and press aftei the enjoyment of what he is, at present, deprived of. Yet contentment, as it i? opposed to repining or- quarrelling with God, is his present duty ; and there are some inducements tending to it. A person may have the truth of grace, when he is destitute of the comfortable sense of it. And there are some great and precious promises made to believers, in this condition.31 Moreover, God has wise ends in such a dispensation ; for hereby he brings sin to remembrance, humbles us for it, and guards us against presumption and confidence in our own strength.? He also puts us upon the exercise of suitable graces ; z and when he is pleased to comfort us after such afflictions, we are better furnished to comfort others in a similar con dition. 2. The next thing required in this commandment, is a charitable frame of spirit towards our neighbour ; so that all our inward motions and affections should load us to promote and rejoice in his good.a This charitable frame of spirit ought to be exercised towards those who excel us in gifts or graces. These they receive from the hand of providence, as talpnts to be improved. Hence, if they have a greater share of them than ourselves, more is required of them in proportion. b If they excel us in grace, we ought rather to rejoice that, though we bring but little glory to God, others bring more ; and it will afford us an evidence of the truth of grace, if, while we are humbled under a sense of our own defects, we are thankful for the honour which is brought to God by others.0 — Again, we ought to exercise a charitable frame of spirit towards those who are in more prosperous cir cumstances in the world ; not envying, grieving, or repining at the providence of God, because their condition is better than ours. We are, therefore, to consider that the most flourishing and prosperous condition in the world is not always the best ;a and that it is not without many temptations which often attend it.e Be sides, if it be not improved to the glory of God, it will bring a greater weight of guilt on their consciences. If, on the other hand, we enjoy communion with God, and the blessings of the upper springs, we have what is much more desirable than the most prosperous condition in the world, without it.f The Sins Forbidden in the Tenth Commandment. We are now led to consider the sins forbidden in this commandment. These include that corrupt fountain whence the irregularity of our desires proceeds ; or the streams which flow from it, and which discover themselves in the lusts of con cupiscence in various instances, as well as in our being discontented with our own condition. 1. As to the former of these, namely, the corruption of nature, it must be con sidered as contrary to the law of God, and consequently forbidden in this com mandment. The Pelagians and Papists, indeed, pretend that the law of God re spects only the corruption of our actions, which is to be checked and restrained by it, and not the internal habits or principle whence our actions proceed. Accord ingly, they take an estimate of the law of God from human laws, which respect only the overt acts of sin, and not those internal inclinations and dispositions which persons have to commit it. But when we speak of the divine laws, we must not take our plan thence ; for though man can judge only of outward actions, God z Isa. liv. 7, 8; Psal. cxii. 4. y Psal. xxx. 6, 7. z Psal. xiii. 6. and Ixxvii. 6. a I Cor. xiii. 4—7; Bom. xii. 15. b Luke xii. 48. c Gal. i. 23, 24; John iii. 26—28, 30. d Psal. xxxvii. 16. e 1 Tim. vi. 9. f Psal. xvi. 5, 6. 420 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. i judgeth the heart. Hence, the sin which reigns there, cannot but be, in the highest degree, offensive to him. And though the corruption of our nature cannot be altogether prevented or extirpated, by any prescription in the divine law ; yet this is the means which God takes to reprove and humble us for it.e It is objected that the apostle James distinguishes between lust and sin: 'When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.'h And it is hence inferred that the cor ruption of nature is not properly sin, and, consequently, not forbidden by the law. But lust may be distinguished from sin, as the habit or corrupt principle is from the act which it produces. Hence, the apostle's meaning in this scripture, is that lust, or irregular desires, are first conceived in the heart, and then actual sins proceed from them in the life ; and both are abhorred by God, and contrary to his law. And they seem to be forbidden, in particular, in this tenth commandment. Here we may observe the various methods which corrupt nature takes, in order to its producing and bringing forth sinful actions. First, the temptation is offered, either by Satan, or the world, with a specious pretence of some advantage which may arise from our compliance with it ; and, at the same time, we consider not whether it be lawful or unlawful, and regard not the threatenings which should deter us from it. And we sometimes take occasion, from the pernicious example of the falls and miscarriages of others, to venture on the commission of the same sins ; pretending that they are, many of them, more acquainted with scripture than we are ; and that there seems to be no iE consequence attending their commission of those sins. Why, then, we ask ourselves, may not we give way to them ? We pre tend also that many, who have had more fortitude and resolution than we can pre tend to, have been overcome by the same temptations ; so that it is in vain for us to strive against them. Again, corrupt nature sometimes fills the soul with a secret dislike of the strictness and purity of the law of God ; and, at other times, it sug gests that tliere are some dispensations allowed, in compliance with the frailty of nature ; and it hence suggests that we may venture on the commission of some sins. At length we take up a resolution that we will try the experiment, whatever be the consequence. Thus lust brings forth sin ; which, after it has been, for some time, indulged, is committed with greediness, and persisted in with resolution, and, in the end, brings forth death. 2. We are now to consider the irregularity of those actions which proceed from the corruption of our nature, which are sometimes caEed the lusts of concupi- Bcence : whereby, without the least show of justice, we endeavour to possess our selves of those things which belong to our neighbour. Thus Ahab was restless in his own spirit, till he had got Naboth's vineyard into his hand ; and, in order to gain his point, joined in a conspiracy to take away his life.1 David also coveted his neighbour's wife ; which was one of the greatest blemishes in his life, and brought with it a long train of miseries which attended him in the following part of his reign.k And Achan coveted those goods which belonged not to him, the wedge of gold, and the Babylonish garment ;' which sin proved his ruin. This sin of covetousness arises from a being discontented with our present con dition ; so that whatever measure of tbe blessings of providence" we enjoy, we are filled with disquietude of mind, because we are destitute of what we are' lusting after. This must be considered as a sin attended with very great aggravations. It unfits us for the performance of holy duties ; prevents the exercise of those graces, which are necessary in order to this ; and, on the other hand, exposes us to mani fold temptations, whereby we are rendered an easy prey to our spiritual enemies. — Again, it is altogether unlike the temper of the blessed Jesus, who expressed an entire resignation to the divine will, under the greatest sufferings.11 Indeed, it is a very great reproach to religion in general, and a discouragement to those who are setting their faces towards it, who will be ready to conclude,. from our example, that the consolations of God are small, or that there is not enough in the promises oi the covenant of grace to quiet our spirits under their present uneasiness. — More over, it is to act as though we expected or desired our portion in this world, or g Rom. vii. 9 h James j. js. j , Ri xxi 4 k 2 Sam. xn. 9-12. 1 J08h. vii. 21. m John xviii. 1 1 ; Luke xxii. 42. THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. 421 looked no farther than present things, which is contrary to the practice of the best of God's saints.11 — Further, it tends to cast the utmost contempt on the many mercies we have received or enjoy, which are, as it were, forgotten in unthankfulness ; and it is a setting aside of those blessings which the gospel gives us to expect. — Again, it argues an unwillingness to be at God's disposal, and a leaning to our own under standings, as though we knew better than he, what was most conducive to our pre sent and future happiness ; and hence it is a tempting of God, a grieving of his Holy Spirit, and has a tendency to provoke him to ' turn to be our enemy, and fight against us.'0 — Further, it deprives us of the present sweetness of other mer cies ; renders every providence, in our own apprehension, afflictive ; and those bur dens which would otherwise be light, almost insupportable. — Moreover, if God is pleased to give us what we were discontented and uneasy for the want of, he often sends some great affliction with it. Thus Rachel, in a discontented frame, says, ' Give me children, or else I die.'p She had, indeed, in some respects, her desire of children ; but she died in travail with one of them.0- — Finally, the sin of which we are speaking is such that they who are guilty of it will find it very difficult, to be brought to a thorough conviction of the guilt which they contract by it, or to a true repentance for it. Thus Jonah, when under a discontented and uneasy frame of spirit, justified himself, and, as it were, defied God to do his worst against him; so that when it was said to him, ' Dost thou well to be angry ?' he replied, in a very insolent manner, ' I do well to be angry, even unto death. 'r The justifying of our selves under such a frame of spirit, cannot but be highly provoking to God ; and whatever we may be prone to allege in our own behalf, will rather aggravate than extenuate the crime. There are several things which a discontented person is apt to allege in his own vindication, which have a tendency only to enhance his guilt. He pretends, for example, that his natural temper leads him to be uneasy ; so that he cannot by any means subdue his passions^ or submit to the disposing providence of God. But the corruption of our nature, and itspronenessto sin, are no just excuse for our deprav ity, bnt rather an aggravation of it ; whereby it appears to be more deeply rooted in our hearts. Indeed, our natural incfinations to any sin are increased by indulg ing it. Hence, in this case, we ought rather to-be importunate with God for that grace which may have a tendency to restrain the inordinacy of our affections, and render us willing to acquiesce in the divine dispensations, than to palliate and ex cuse our sin ; for our doing the latter only aggravates our guilt. — Again, some, in excuse for their discontented and uneasy frame of spirit, allege that the injuries which have been offered to them ought to be resented ; that they are such as they are not able to bear ; and that not to show themselves uneasy under them, would be to encourage persons to insult and trample on them. But while we complain of injuries done us by men, and are prone to meditate revenge against them, we do not consider the great dishonour which we bring to God, and how much we deserve to be made the monuments of his fury, so that we should not obtain forgiveness from him, who are so prone to resent lesser injuries done to us by our fellow-crea tures.8 — Moreover, others excuse their discontent, by alleging the greatness of their afflictions ; that their burden is almost insupportable, so that they are pressed out of measure, above strength, and are ready to say with Job, ' Even to-day is my complaint bitter ; my stroke is heavier than my ¦ groaning. '' But our afflictions are not so great as our sins, which are the procuring cause of them ; nor are they greater than some which befall others who are better than ourselves. Indeed, by indulging a discontented frame of spirit, we render them heavier than they would otherwise be.— Some, again, pretend that they are discontented and uneasy be cause the affliction they are under was altogether unexpected ; so that they were unprovided for it, and so less able to bear it. But a Christian ought daily to ex pect afflictions in this miserable and sinful world, at least so far as not to be un provided for them, or think it strange that he should be exercised with them.u We have received many unlooked-for mercies ; and why should' we be uneasy because n 2 Cor. iv. 18. o Isa. lxiii. 10. p Gen. xxx. 1. q Chap. xxxv. 19. r Jonah iv. 9. s Matt, xviii. 23, et seq. t Job xxiii. 2. u 1 Pet. iv. 12. 422 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT. we meet with unexpected afflictions, and not rather set the one against the other ? Besides, God is not obliged to forewarn us or give us notice of the trials which he designs we shall pass under ; and when he deals thus with us, it discovers to us the necessity of our being always provided for them. Some of God's best children, too, have often been surprised with afflictive providences, and yet have been en abled to exercise contentment under them. Thus the messengers who brought Job heavy and unexpected tidings of one affliction immediately following another,* did not overthrow his faith, or make him discontented under the hand of God ; for, notwithstanding all, ' he worshipped and blessed the name of the Lord.'? — Again, others allege that the change which is made in their circumstances in the world, from a prosperous to an afflicted condition in life, is so great, and lies with such weight upon their spirits, that it is impossible for them to be easy under it. But, when God gave us the good things we are deprived of, he reserved to himself the liberty of taking them away when he pleased, designing thus to show his absolute sovereignty over us. Hence, it is our duty before any affliction befalls us, ac cording to the apostle's advice, to 'rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and to use the world as not abusing it ;'z and, after it befalls us, not to think it strange that we should be deprived of the world, inasmuch as ' the fashion of it pass eth away.' Besides, the greater variety of conditions in which we have been or are in the world, afford more abundant experience of those dealings of God with us which are designed as an ordinance for our faith. Hence, instead of being discontented under them, we ought rather to be put on the exercise of those graces which are suitable to the change of our condition ; as the apostle says, ' I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. 'a — Further, some allege that they have the greatest reason to be discontented, because of the influence which their afflictions have on their spiritual concerns, as they tend to interrupt their communion with God ; and they are often ready to fear that these are indi cations of his wrath, and, as it were, the beginning of sorrows ; which leads them to the very brink of despair. Now, it is certain that nothing more sharpens the edge of afflictions, or has a greater tendency to make us uneasy under them, than such thoughts as these ; and not to be sensible of them, would be an instance of the greatest stupidity. Yet if our fears are ill-grounded, as they sometimes are, the uneasiness which arises from them is unwarrantable. Or if we have too much ground for these fears, we are to make use of the remedy which God has provided. Accordingly, we are to have recourse by faith to the blood of Jesus for forgive ness ; and our doing so ought to be accompanied with the exercise of true repen tance and godly sorrow for sin, without giving way to those despairing apprehensions which sometimes arise from a sense of the greatness of our guilt, as though it set us out of the reach of mercy ; for such apprehensions will add an insupportable weight to our burden. And if, under the afflicting hand of God, we are rendered unfit for holy duties, and have no communion with him in them, the reason may be, not the affliction, but that discontented, uneasy frame of spirit which we too much indulge under it. Hence, we are not to allege the affliction as an excuse for that murmuring, repining frame of spirit which we are too apt to discover while exer cised with it. The last thing to be considered is, the remedies against this sin of being discon tented with our present condition. Let us, then, have a due sense of that un doubted right which God has to dispose of us and our condition in this world, as he pleases ; inasmuch as we are his own.b — Again, uneasiness under the hand of God, or repining at his dealings when he thinks fit to deprive us of the blessings we once enjoyed, is not the way to recover the possession of them. The best expe dient for us to regain them, or some other blessings which are more than an equiva lent for them, is our exercising an entire resignation to the will of God, and con cluding that all his dispensations are holy, just, and good. — Let us consider, too, that God often designs to make us better by the sharpest trials ; which are an ordinance to bring us nearer to himself. Thus David says, ' Before I was afflicted, X Jn ''• l3'm4 8e1- y Ver. 20, 21. z 1 Cor. vii. 30. a Phil. iv. 12. b Miltt. xx. i5. MAN S INABILITY TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. 423 I went astray ; but now have I kept thy word.'" — Moreover, we ought to consider that God's design in these dispensations is to ' try our faith,' that it ' maybe found afterwards unto praise, honour and glory,' as it will be, with respect to every true believer, 'at the appearing of Jesus Christ.'13 — We may add, that there are many promises of the presence of God, which have a tendency, not only to afford relief against uneasiness or dejection of spirit, but to give us the greatest encouragement under the sorest afflictions, particularly that comprehensive promise, ' I wiE never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'e MAN'S INABILITY TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. Question CXLIX. Ik any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God ? Answer. No man is able, either of himself, or by any grace received in this life, perfectly to keep tbe commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. Having considered man's duty and obligation to keep the commandments of God, we are now led to speak of him as unable to keep them, and, on the other hand, as chargeable with the daily breach of them, which is an evidence of the imperfection of the present state. We endeavoured, under a foregoing Answer,* to prove that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life ; so that all the boasts of the Pelagians and others, who defend the possibility of attaining perfection here, are vain and unwarrantable. We also considered the reasons why God orders that it should be so ; and therefore we shall, without enlarging so much on this subject as otherwise we might have done, principally take notice of what is to be observed in this Answer, under two general Heads. The Nature and Limits of Man's Inability. We shall notice first in what respects, and with what limitations, man is said to be unable to keep the commandments of God. It is said that no man is able per fectly to keep them. By 'no man' here we are to understand, as is observed in the Shorter Catechism.s no mere man ; so that our Saviour is excepted, who yielded perfect obedience in our nature. But there is another limitation, namely, that no man is able to keep the commandments since the fall ; denoting that man, in his state of innocency, was able perfectly to keep the commandments of God. For he was made upright, and had the image of God, which consisted in knowledge, righ teousness, and holiness,1' stamped on his soul ; having the law of God written in his heart, and power to fulfil it. 1 Indeed, to suppose the contrary, would be a re flection upon the divine government, and would argue man to have been created under a natural necessity of sinning and perishing ; to suppose which is contrary to the goodness, holiness, and justice of God. Moreover, it is observed that no man is able, in this life, perfectly to keep God's commandments. An intimation is thus made that the glorified saints in heaven will be enabled to yield perfect obe dience, notwithstanding the many imperfections they are now liable to. Again, as man is not able, of himself, or without the aids of divine grace, to obey God ; so he is not to expect such assistance from him as shall enable him to obey him per fectly. There is no doubt that the grace of God could free us from all the remains of sin in this world, as weE as in our passing from it to heaven ; but we have no ground to conclude that it will. For ' the whole creation ' is liable to the curse, which was consequent upon man's first apostasy from God ; and under this it 'groaneth' till the present day.k Nor shall it be delivered from it, till the scene of time and things shaE be changed, and the saints shaE be fully possessed of what they are c Psal. cxix. 67. d 1 Pet. i. 7. e Heb. xiii. 5. f See Quest. Ixxviii. g See Quest, lxxxii. h Eccles. vii. 29; Gen. i. 27. i See Quest, xvii. Sect. ' Man Created after the Image of God." k Rom. viii. 22, 23. 421 MAN'S INABILITY TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. now waiting for, namely, the 'adoption, or the redemption of their bodies.' Be sides, God is pleased to deny his people that perfection of holiness here which they shall attain to hereafter, that he may give them daily occasion to exercise the duties of self-denial, mortification of sin, faith and repentance, which redound to his own glory and their spiritual advantage. The Uniform and Constant Display of Man's Inability. We are now led to consider that we daily break the commandments of God, in thought, word, and deed. 1. We do so in thought ; namely, when the mind is conversant about sinful ob jects, in such a way that it contracts defilement. It is a sign that the wickedness of man is very great, when ' every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil,' and that 'continually.'1 — Now, thoughts of men maybe said to be sinful when they choose, delight in, and are daily conversant about things which are vain, empty of what is good, and have no tendency to the glory of God, or the spiritual advantage either of themselves or others. The least vain thought which contains an excursion from our duty to God, brings some degree of guilt with it. But when the mind is wholly taken up with vanity, so that it is turned aside from or takes no delight in those things which are of the highest importance, it will become vitiated and alienated from the life of God. — Again, the thoughts of men may be said to be sinful, when they are not fixed, or intensely set, on God and divine things, when engaged in holy duties. This may happen either when worldly cares or busi ness, how lawful soever they may be at other times, have a tendency to divert our thoughts ; or when our minds are conversant about spiritual things unseasonably, so as to be diverted from our present design. The latter case occurs, for example, when we are joining with others in prayer, and when — instead of bearing a part with them in the exercise of faith and other graces, or of our thoughts being em ployed about the same object with theirs — we are meditating on some other divine subject foreign to the occasion. — Further, our thoughts may be said to be sinful, when they are conversant about spiritual things without suitable affections, and, consequently, meditating on them as common things, in which we are not much concerned ; as when we are destitute of those holy desires after God, or delight in him, when drawing nigh to him in holy duties, which his law requires. This will more evidently appear when, by comparing the frame of our spirit in these duties with what we observe it to be in other instances, we find that our affections are easily raised when engaged in matters of less importance, but stupid and uncon cerned about our eternal welfare, in holy duties. Such a state of mind is accom panied with hardness of heart and impenitence, and sometimes with uneasiness and weariness, as though they were a burden to us. On the other hand, our affections may be raised in these duties, and yet we be chargeable with a sinfulness of thought while engaging in them. This happens when the affections are raised by things of less importance, while other things which are more affecting are not regarded. A person, for example, may meditate on Christ's sufferings, and be very much affected with and enraged at the treachery of Judas who betrayed him, or the bar barity of the Jews who crucified him ; while he is not in the least affected with the sin of the world which was the occasion of his death, or with the greatness of his love, which moved him to submit to it. — Again, our affections, when raised in holy duties, are sinful, when they are all that we depend upon for justification and acceptance in the sight of God, and when we vainly suppose that our tears will wash away our sins, while we are destitute of faith in the blood of Christ ; or when we are concerned about the misery consequent on our sins, but are not in the least inclined to hate them, nor grieved at the dishonour brought by them to the name of God. — Let us here consider the causes of this state of the affections, and the remedies against it. If we do not find that our affections are raised in religious exercises, as they have been in times past, we ought to inquire into the reason ; whether the etE-be not attended with some great backslidings from God, which 1 Gen. vi. 5. MAN'S INABILITY TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. 42£> might first occasion it. Sometimes it proceeds from a neglect of holy duties, either public or private ; at other times, from presumptuous sins, committed, or continued in, with impenitence. We often find, too, that our being too much embarrassed with the profits or pleasures of this world, or immoderately engaged in our pursuit of them, stupifies and damps our affections, as to religious mat ters, so that they are seldom or never raised in holy duties. As to the reme dies against this stupid and unaffected frame of spirit ; we must not only repent of, but abstain from, those sins which have been the occasion of it ; meditate on those subjects most suitable to our case, which have a tendency to inflame our love to Christ, and desire after him, and our zeal for his glory ; and often confess and be wail our stupidity and unbecoming behaviour in holy duties ; earnestly imploring the powerful influence of the Spirit of God, to bring us into, and keep us in, a right frame of spirit for them. Again, we have reason to charge ourselves with sin, when guilty of blasphemous thoughts ; when we have, by degrees, brought on ourselves a disregard of God, either by living in the neglect of holy duties, or allowing ourselves in the practice of known sins, when before we were followed with blasphemous thoughts, we found that we gave way to some doubts about the divine perfections, or, through the ignorance, pride, and vanity of our minds, contracted an habitual disregard to or neglect of that holy reverence with which we ought to meditate on them ; when we can hear those execrable oaths or curses by which some profanely blaspheme the name of God, with out expressing our resentment with the utmost abhorrence and detestation ; or when we find, that, being followed with blasphemous thoughts, our hearts are too prone to give in to them, as though they were the sentiments of our mind, whereby we do, as it were, consent to them, instead of rejecting them with the utmost aversion. But, on the other hand, blasphemous thoughts are not always to be charged on us as a sin. Sometimes they are chargeable on Satan, who, in regard to them, acts according to his character as God's open enemy, and endeavours to instil into us the same ideas which he himself has. These thoughts may be charged on him, when they are hastily injected into our minds, not being the result of choice or de liberation, but are a kind of violence offered to our imagination ; and when we cannot but discover the greatest detestation of them, as well as of that enemy of souls from whom they take their rise ; and when( at the same time, we are enabled to exercise the contrary graces, and betake ourselves to God with faith and prayer, that he would rebuke the devil, and preserve our consciences undefiled, under this sore temptation, which we cannot but reckon one of the greatest afflictions that be falls, us in this world. Thus concerning the sinfulness of our thoughts. 2. We are farther said daily to break the commandments of God in word. The apostle James speaks of the tongue as 'an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 'm Evil- speaking, as was observed concerning the sinfulness of our thoughts, is attended with a greater or a less degree of guilt, as the vanity of the mind, and the wicked ness of the heart, more or less discover themselves in it. Our Saviour speaks of the ac- countableness of man in the day of judgment for ' every idle word;'" intimating that there is no sin so small but what is displeasing to an holy God, a violation of his law, and brings with it a degree of guilt, in proportion to its nature. These, indeed, are the lowest instances of the sinfulness of words. There are others of so heinous a nature that they can hardly be reckoned consistent with true godliness, such as defaming and malicious words, which are sometimes compared to 'a sword,' or 'ar rows,'0 or 'a serpent's tongue,' that leaves a sting and poison behind it.P But the sinfulness of our words extends itself yet farther, as they are directed against the blessed God ; when persons ' set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth ;'« when they give themselves the Eberty to talk profanely about sacred things, and openly blaspheme the name and perfections of God. This degree of impiety, indeed, all are not chargeable with. We may say, however, that should God mark the iniquity of our words, as weE as of our thoughts, ' who could stand ? 3. We are said to break the commandments of God by deeds, that is, by com- m James iii. 8. n Matt. xii. 36. o Psal. lvii. 4. p Psal. cxl. 3. q Psal. lxxiii 9 H. 3h 426 THE DEGREES OF SIN. mitting tho e sins which are contrived in the heart, and uttered with our tongues. These have been considered under their respective heads, as violations respectively of the ten commandments, or doing those things which are forbidden in them. We therefore pass them over in this place, and proceed to speak concerning the aggra vations of sin. THE DEGREES OF SIN. Question CL. Are all transgressions of the law of God equally heinous in themselves and in the sight of God ? Answer. All transgressions of the law of God are not equally heinous : but some sins in them selves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. Though all sins are objectively infinite, and equally opposite to the holiness of God ; yet there are some circumstances attending them of so pernicious a tendency that they render one sin more heinous than another ; so that it is not to be thought of, without the greatest horror and resentment, and it exposes the sinner to a sorer condemnation, if it be not forgiven. Such sins strike at the very essentials of re ligion, and tend, as much as in us lies, to sap its foundation ; as when men deny the being and perfections of God, and practically disown their obligation to yield obedience to him. Moreover, some sins against the second table, which more immediately respect our neighbour, are more heinous than others, in proportion to the degree of injury which they do him. Thus the taking away of the life of an other, is more injurious, and consequently more aggravated, than merely the hating of him ; which is, nevertheless, a very great crime. Again, the same sin, whether against the commandments of the first or of the second table, may be said to be more or less heinous, in proportion to the degree of obstinacy, deliberation, malice or enmity against God, with which it is committed. But these things wiE more evidently appear under the foEowing Answer. THE AGGRAVATIONS OF SIN. Question CLI. What are those aggravations which make some sins more heinous than others ? Aggravations from the Persons offending. Answer. Sins receive their aggravations, I. From tbe persons offending, if they be of riper age, greater experience, or grace, eminent for pro fession, gifts, place, office ; guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed by others. Sins are greater than otherwise they would be, when committed by those whose age and experience ought to have taught them better. Thus Elihu says, ' A mul titude of years should teach wisdom. 'r Many things would be a reproach to per sons of age and experience, which are more agreeable to the character of children, than those who are advanced in age. Again, if persons have had large experience of the grace of God, and been eminent for their profession, or gifts conferred on them, these circumstances will render a sin committed by them more aggravated ; for where much is given, a proportionate improvement is expected, and where great pretensions are made to religion, acting disagreeably to it enhances guilt and ren ders sin more heinous. Again, when a person is in an eminent station or office in the world or the church, so that either he is a guide to others, or the eyes of many are upon him, who will be apt to follow and receive prejudice by his example, if he commit a public and open sin, it is more aggravated than if it had been committed i r Job xxxii. 7. THE AGGRAVATIONS OF SIN. 427 by another. Thus God bids the prophet Ezekiel ' see what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery.'6 And the prophet Jeremiah speaks of those who ought to have been guides to the people, namely, the priests and the prophets,' who transgressed against the Lord ; and charges their transgression on them as an extraordinary instance of wickedness ; which their character in the world and the church rendered more heinous, though it was exceedingly heinous in itself. Aggravations from the Parties offended. II. Sins receive their aggravations, from the parties offended ; if immediately against God, his attributes, and worship ; against Christ, and his grace ; the Holy Spirit, his witness, and workings; against superiors, men of eminency, and such as we stand especially related and engaged unto; against any of tbe saints, particularly weak brethren, the souls of them, or any other, and the com mon good of all or many. 1. Though there is no sin but what may be said to be committed against God ; yet some sins are more immediately against him, as they carry in them a contempt of his attributes and worship ; whereby his name and ordinances are profaned, and the glory which is stamped on them little esteemed." Other sins reflect dishonour on our Lord Jesus Christ ; either on his person, when we conclude him to be, or at least to act, as if he were no other than a mere creature ; or on his offices, when we refuse to receive instruction from him as a prophet, or to depend on his righte ousness as a priest in order to our justification and acceptance in the sight of God, or to submit to him as a king who is able to subdue us to himself, and defend us from the assaults of our spiritual enemies, or when we despise his grace and ne glect that salvation which he has purchased, and offers in the gospel.1 Again, our sins are aggravated, when they are committed against the person of the Holy Ghost ; when we deny him to be a divine person, or the author of the work of re generation, supposing that grace takes its rise from ourselves, rather than from him ; or when we do not desire to be led by the Spirit, or seek his divine influence, in order to our guidance, but, on the other hand, resist his holy motions and im pressions, and act contrary to those convictions which he is pleased to grant us, by which means we are said to " grieve ' and ' quench the Spirit ;'* also when we re ject and set ourselves against the witness of the Spirit, either by concluding that assurance of our interest in the love of God may be attained without it, and reckon aE pretences to it no better than enthusiasm, or by supposing that the Spirit wit nesses with our spirits that we are the children of God, without regard had to the work of sanctification, which always accompanies, and is an evidence of it, and so take that comfort to ourselves which does not proceed from the Spirit of holiness. 2. Sins are aggravated as committed more immediately or directly against men, and particularly those to whom we stand related in the bonds of nature, or who have laid us under the greatest obligations by acts of friendship to us. This is ap plicable to inferiors, who ought to pay a deference to their superiors. Those sins which are committed by such, contain the highest instance of ingratitude, and are contrary to the laws or dictates of nature, and therefore proportionately aggravated. Moreover, if sins are committed against the saints, they are reckoned by God an instance of contempt cast on himself, whose image the saints are said to bear ; and much more are they reckoned so if committed against them as saints.2 But though we do not proceed to this degree of wickedness, our crime is said to be greatly aggravated, when we lay a stumbling-block before those who are weak in the faith, which may tend to discourage them in the ways of God ; for, by acting thus, we do what in us lies to 'destroy those for whom Christ died.'a This is an injury done, not so much to their bodies, as to their souls ; which are wounded, and brought into great perplexity thereby. We must distinguish, however, between an offence given, and one unjustly taken. It is one thing for persons to be offended at that which is our indispensable duty, — in which case we are not to regard the senti- s Ez-k. viii. 12. t Jer. xxiii. 11, 14. « Mal. i. 3, 4. x Heb. ii. 8. v Ephes. iv. 7; 1 Thess. v. 19. Luke xvi. 16; Matt. xii. 6. a Rom. xiv. 15; 1 Cor. viii. 11. 428 THE AGGRAVATIONS OF SIN. ments of those who attempt to discourage us from it, or censure us for the perform ance of it ; and it is another thing to give offence in matters which are in them selves indifferent, and might, without any prejudice, be avoided. In this case a compliance with the party offended seems to be our duty ; especially if the offence takes its rise from conscience, rather than humour and corruption, and if our not complying with him would tend very much to discourage and weaken his hands in the ways of God, and therefore may be reckoned an aggravation of our sin. More over, it is a farther aggravation of sin committed, when it appears to be contrary to the common good of all men. This guilt may be said to be contracted when there is an endeavour to hinder the success or preaching of the gospel ;b or other wise, when the sin of one man brings down the judgments of God on a whole church or body of people. Of the latter kind was Achan's sin.c Aggravations from the Nature and Quality of the Offence. III. Sins are aggravated from the nature and quality of the offence ; if it be against the expres. letter of the law, break many commandments, contain iu it many sins; if not only conceived in the heart, but lireaks forth in words and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no reparation; if against means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction of conscience ; public or private ad monition, censures of the church, civil punishments, and our own prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engagements to God or men; if done deliberately, wilfully, presumptuously, impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, obstinately, with delight, continuance, or relapsing after repentance. Sin is aggravated when it is committed against the express letter of the law ; so that there remains no manner of doubt whether it be a sin or a duty. To venture on the commission of what plainly appears to us to be unlawful, is to sin with great boldness and presumption, whereby the crime is very much aggravated.11 — Again, sin is aggravated when it contains a breach of several of the commanilments, and may be reckoned a complicated crime. Of this kind was the sin of David in the matter of Uriah, in which he was guilty of murder, adultery, dissimulation, injus tice, &c. ; also Ahab's sin against Naboth, which included not only covetousness, but perjury, murder, oppression, and injustice. — Sins are more aggravated when they break forth in words or outward actions, than if they were only conceived in the heart. It is true, sin in the heart has some peculiar aggravations, as it takes deeper root, becomes habitual, and is entertained with a secret delight and plea sure, and as it is the source and fountain whence actual sins proceed. Yet when that which was before conceived in the heart is discovered by words or actions, its being so adds an aggravation to it, as it brings a more public dishonour to God, and often a greater injury to men. — Sins are farther aggravated when they are of such a nature that it is impossible for us to repair the injuries done by them, or make restitution for them. Thus nothing can compensate for our taking away the life of another ; or for our casting a reproach on the holy ways of God, and thereby endeavouring to bring his gospel into contempt ; or for our enticing others to sin, by which means we turn them aside from God, and endeavour to ruin their souls, Each of these is an injury which we cannot by any means repair ; so that the crime is exceedingly aggravated. — Further, sin is aggravated if it be committed contrary to the very light of nature, such as would be offensive even to the hea then.6- — Again, sins receive aggravations when committed against means, mercies, and judgments ; as when we break through all the fences which are set to prevent them ; when the grace of God, revealed in the gospel, is not only ineffectual to pre serve from sin, though designed for that end,f but turned into lasciviousness ;« or when mercies are misimproved, undervalued, and, as it were, trampled on,h and judgments, whether threatened or inflicted, are not regarded, or are unsuccessful in reclaiming us. — Sins are aggravated when they are committed against the checks and convictions of conscience ; which is a judge and a reprover within our own breasts. To commit such sins is to offer violence to ourselves, and to make many bold advances towards judicial blindness, hardness of heart, and a total apostasy. — 5 ' Tn.?S8-ii- 1S- c Josh- vii- 20, 21, 25. d Kom. i. 32. e 1 Cor. v. 1. f Tit. n. 1 1, 12. g Jude, ver. 4. h Rom. ii. i ; Isa. i. 3 ; Deut. xxxii. 6. THE AGGRAVATIONS OF SIN. 429 Moreover, sins are aggravated when they are committed against public or private admonitions, censures of the church or civil punishments, which are God's ordi nance to bring men to repentance. If these means prove ineffectual to answer the designed end, the offenders will be left more stupid than they were before. — Sins are farther aggravated when they are contrary to our own prayers, vows, covenants, and promises made, either to God or men ; when we confess any sins, or pretend to humble ourselves for them before God in prayer, and yet at other times indulge them, and are proud, self- conceited, and exalt ourselves against him ; when we pray for strength against corruption, or for grace to perform holy duties, while, in reality, we have no love to these duties nor desire after them ; when we praise him for mercies received, while we are habitually unthankful, and forgetful of his bene fits ; or when we are very forward to make vows, covenants of engagements to be the Lord's, whereby we often lay a snare for ourselves, from some circumstances which attended this action, and more especially from our disregarding it afterwards. — Again, sins are aggravated from the manner of our committing them. They are so if they are done deliberately, with forethought or contrivance ; as when persons are said to devise mischief upon their beds, and then, as to their conduct, to set themselves against that which is good. A sin is aggravated if it be done wilfully, that is, with the full bent of the will, making it the matter of our choice, and resolving to commit it whatever it cost us. A sin is aggravated when we do it presumptuously, either when we take encouragement to do it from the grace of God,k or when his hand is lifted up against us, or we see his judgments falling very lieavy upon others, and are not disposed to take warning, but grow more hardened and stupid than before. — ¦ Further, when sin is committed maliciously, impudently, and obstinately, it argues a rooted hatred against God ; or when it is committed with delight, arising either from the thoughts we entertain of it before we commit it, or the pleasure we after wards take in what we have done ; or when we boast of what we have done, which is to glory in our shame,1 — when we do, as it were, value ourselves for having got rid of the prejudices of education, and all former convictions of sin, that so we may go on in it with less disturbance ; or when persons boast of their over-reaching others in their way of dealing in the world,1" which they very often do in their se cret thoughts, though they are ashamed to let the world know how remote they are from the practice of that justice which ought to be between man and man. — Again, sins are aggravated when they are frequently committed, or when we relapse into the same sin, after having pretended to repent of it.D Aggravations from the Circumstances of Time and Place. IV. Sins are aggravated from circumstances of time and place; if on the Lord's-day, or other times of divine worship, or immediately before, or after these, or other helps, to prevent or remedy such miscarriages, if in public, or in the presence of others who are thereby likely to be provoked or defiled. When a sin is committed by us on the Lord's-day, it is a profaning of that time which God has sanctified for his service, and so renders us guilty of a double crime. Or when sins are committed at any other time which we occasionally set apart for divine worship, or in those seasons when God calls for fasting and mourning, or at other times when we have lately received signal deliverances, either personal or national,0 they also are particularly aggravated. Or when they are committed im mediately before or immediately after we have engaged in holy duties, they in the former case render us very unfit for them, and, in the latter, effectuaEy take away all those impressions which have been made on our spirits while engaged in the duties. Again, sins receive aggravations from the place in which they are committed. If, for example, they are committed in those places in which the name of God is more immediately called on, they will, if visible, afford great matter of scandal to some, and an El example to others, and, if secretly committed, wiE tend to defile i Psal. xxxvi. 4. k Rom. vi. 1. 1 Psal. x. 3; lii. 1. m Prov it id n 2 Pet. ii. 20—22 ; Matt. xii. 43—45. o Psal. cvi. 7. 430 THE DESERT OF SIN, our souls, and argue us guilty of great hypocrisy. Moreover, when we commit those sins which are generally abhorred in the places where providence has cast our lot, we render ourselves a stain and dishonour to those with whom we converse. Thus the prophet speaks of some who, ' in the land of uprightness,' will ' deal un justly.'" In particular, when we commit sins in the presence of persons who are likely to be provoked or defiled by them, we contract the guilt of other men's sins, as well as our own ; and are doubly guilty, in being the cause, in many respects, of their transgressing. There are several instances in which we may be said to contract the guilt of other men's sins. These I shall only mention briefly. When superiors lay their commands on inferiors, or oblige them, to do that which is in itself sinful ; or, when we advise those who stand upon a level with us, to commit sin, or give our consent to the commission of it.i — Again, when inferiors flatter superiors, or commend them for their sin. Thus, when Herod had courted the applause of the people, by the oration which he made to them, they, on the other hand, flattered him when they 'gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.'r — Again, when we have recourse to those places where sin is usually committed, and desire to asso ciate ourselves with those whose conversation is a reproach to religion ;s or when we are sharers or partakers with others in their unlawful gains, first encouraging, abetting, and helping them, and then dividing the spoil with them.' — Again, when we connive at sin committed, or, if it be in our power, do not restrain or hinder the commission of it ; or when we conceal it, when the farther progress of it might be prevented by our divulging it. — Again, when we provoke persons to sin, and so draw forth their corruptions ; or when we extenuate sin, whether committed by ourselves or others, and so, in a degree, vindicate it, or plead for it ; or lastly, when we do not mourn for or pray against those sins which are publicly committed in the world, and which are like to bring down national judgments.11 THE DESERT OF SIN, AND THE WAY OF ESCAPE FROM IT. Question CLII. What doth every sin deserve at the hands of God ? Answer. Every sin, even the least, being against the sovereigntv, goodness, and holiness of God, and against his righteous law, deservi-th his wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to coine, and cannot be expiated, but by the blood of Christ. Question CLIII. What doth God require of us that we may escape hiswrath and curse due to us by reason of the transgression of the law ? Answer. That we may escape the wrath and curse of God due to us bv reason of the transgres sion of the law. he requireth of us repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and the diligent use of the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation. The Desert of Sin. In the former of these Answers, we have an account of the demerit of sin ; in the latter, we have the character and disposition of those who have ground to conclude that they shall be delivered from the wrath and curse of God due to it. We have already considered some sins as greater than others, by reason of several circum stances which tend to enhance the guilt of those who commit them. Yet there is no sin so small but it has this aggravation, that it is a violation of the law of God, p Isa. xxvi. 10. q Acts vii. 58 ; Chap. vii. 1. r Chap. xii. 22. s Prov. xiii. 20. t Chap. i. 23—25. u These several Heads, concerning the aggravations of sin, are contained in three or four lines, winch are helpful to our memories. Most of the Heads of this Answer, are contained in that verse, Quia.' Quid? Ubi? Quibus auxiliis? Cur? Quomodo? Qnando? And those that relate to our contracting the guilt of other men's sins, in the following lints; Jussu, Consilio, Consensu, Palpo, Kecursu, farticipans, Nutans, Non obstans, Non manifestaus, Incessans, Minuens, Non mierens, bolicitansve. AND THE WAY OF ESCAPE FROM IT. 431 and is opposite to his holiness. Hence, it cannot but render the sinner guilty in his sight ; and guilt is that whereby a person is liable to suffer punishment in proportion to the offence committed. It follows, then, that there is no ground for the distinction which the Papists make between mortal and venial sins. The former, they sup pose, deserve the wrath and curse of God both in this and in another world ; but as to the latter, namely, venial sins, they conclude that they may be atoned for by human satisfactions or penances, and that they are, in their own nature, so small that they do not deserve eternal punishment." This is an opinion highly deroga tory to the glory of God, and opens a door to licentiousness, in a variety of in stances ; and the contrary to it is contained in the Answer we are now explaining. Now, let it be considered that it is one thing for a. sin to deserve the wrath and curse of God, and another thing for the sinner to be liable and exposed to it. The former arises from the heinous nature of sin, and is inseparable from it ; the latter is inconsistent with a justified state. Nothing can take away the guilt of sin, but the atonement made by Christ, and that forgiveness or freedom from condemnation which God is' pleased to bestow as the consequence of the atonement." It is this which discharges a believer from a liability to the wrath and curse of God. Though, as was observed under the last Answer, one sin is greater than another, by reason of various circumstances which attend it or are contained in it ; yet the least sin must be concluded to be objectively infinite, as it is committed against a God of infinite perfection, and as all offences are great in proportion to the dignity of the person against whom they are committed. Thus the sin which is committed against an inferior or an equal, and deserves a less degree of punishment, if it be committed against a king, may be so circumstanced that it will be deemed a capi tal offence, and render the criminal guilty of high treason ; though at the same time, no real injury is done to him, but only attempted against him. In like man ner, we must conclude that, though it is out of our power to injure or detract from the essential glory of the great God, yet every offence committed against him is great in proportion to his infinite exceEency, and is therefore said to deserve his wrath and curse. Wrath or anger, when affirmed of God, is not to be considered as a passion in him, as it is in men ; but it denotes his will to punish sin committed, which takes its rise from the holiness of his nature, which is infinitely opposite to sin. Now the degree of punishment which he designs to inflict is stated in his law ; and as that law denounces threatenings against those who violate it, the sin ner is said to be exposed to its curse or condemning sentence, agreeably to the rules of justice, and the nature of the offence. This is what we are to understand, in this Answer, by sin deserving the wrath and curse of God. The wrath and curse of God are farther considered as what extend to this life and that which is to come. Punishments inflicted in this life are but the begin ning of miseries. Yet they are sometimes inexpressibly great ; as the psalmist says, ' Who knoweth the power of thine anger ? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. '? Sometimes there is but a very short interval between the sin and the punishment ; as in the case of Nadab and Abihu, Korah and his company, Achan, and many others. At other times, however, it is long deferred ; though it will fall with great weight, at last, on the offender. Thus God sometimes punishes the sins of youth in old age ; and when a greater degree of guilt has been con tracted, writes bitter things against them.z But the greatest degree of punishment is reserved for sinners in another world ; and is styled ' the wrath to come.'a As these things, however, have been insisted on in some foregoing Answers,b we shaU say no more respecting them in this place. The Way of Escape from the Desert of Sin. We proceed now to notice what is farther observed, that this punishment cannot be expiated any otherwise than by the blood of Christ. This remark is fitly in serted after the account we have had of man's liability to the wrath of God by x Rom. viii. 1, 33. y Psal. xc. 11. z Job xiii. 26. a 1 Thess. i. 10. b See Quest, xxviii, xxix, and Quest, lxxxix. 432 THE DESERT OF SIN, reason of sin ; for when we have an afflicting sense of the guilt we have exposed ourselves to, nothing else will afford us relief. What we have to consider, then, is how our guilt may be removed, or by what means the justice of God may be satis fied, and an atonement made for sin. This is said to be done no other way but by the blood of Christ, as was considered under a foregoing Answer ; when we endea voured to prove the necessity of Christ's making satisfaction, and the price which he paid in order to his making it.0 We also considered the fruits and effects of his satisfaction, as it has a tendency to remove the guilt of sin, and procure for us a right to eternal life.d We shaE therefore pass over the consideration of the sub ject in this place ; only we may observe, that, while our deliverance from guilt and punishment can be brought about by no other means than Christ's satisfaction, it is not inconsistent with what is contained in the following words, if rightly understood by us, to assert that God requires of us repentance, faith, and a diligent attendance on the outward means of grace ; though we must not conclude them to be the pro curing cause of our justification, or a means to expiate sin. Those are certainly very much unacquainted with the way of salvation by Christ, as well as with the great defects of their repentance and faith, who suppose that God is induced by our repenting and believing to pardon our sins, or deliver us from the wrath we have deserved. Yet we are not to think that impenitent unbelieving sinners have a right to determine that they are in a justified state, or have ground to claim an interest in the benefits of Christ's redemption. The graces of faith and repentance are necessary to evince our interest in what he has done and suffered for us, and are inseparably connected with salvation ; though they do not give us a right and title to eternal life, as Christ's righteousness does. Under two foregoing Answers, we gave a particular account of repentance and faith. Concerning repentance, we observed that it is a special saving grace, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit ; and we showed iii what way he works it, and what the difference is between legal and evangelical repentance, as the former is often found in those who are destitute of the latter. We also considered the various acts of repentance unto life ;e what the objects and acts of saving faith are ; how it differs from that which is not so ; the use of it in the whole conduct of our lives ; and how it gives life and vigour to aE other graces, and enables us to perform duties in a right manner.f We shall not, therefore, insist on this subject at present ; but only speak of repentance and faith as means appointed by God, in order to our attaining complete salvation. The means conducive to salvation are either internal or external. The former are inseparably connected with salvation ; so that none who repent and believe shall perish.s The graces of faith and repentance, together with all others which accompany or flow from them, are the fruits and effects of Christ's mediation ; and hence are sometimes called saving graces. As they are wrought in the hearts of believers, and have a reference to salvation, they may be truly styled internal means of salvation ; and, as such, they are distinguished from those outward and ordinary means of grace by which God is pleased to work them. The latter are the ordinances ; which we are diligently to attend on, in hopes of obtaining these graces under them, till God is pleased to give success to our endeavours, and work grace in our use of them ; and the efficacy of them is wholly owing to his power and is to be resolved into his sovereign will. This may be fitly illustrated by what is said concerning the poor impotent, blind, halt, and withered persons, waiting at the pool of Bethesda, for the angel's troubling the water ; after which, he who first stepped in, was made whole.11 We do not find that every one who waited there embraced the first opportunity, and received a cure ; for some were obliged to wait many years, and if they were made whole at last, they had no rea son to think their labour lost. This may be applied to those who have the means of grace. Many sit under them who receive no saving advantage, till God is pleased, in his accepted time, to work those graces which render the ordinances effectual to salvation. The blessed success attending them is from God. He could, indeed, save his people without them, as he converted Paul, when going to C See Quest, xliv. d 'See Quest, lxx, lxxi, and vVhat was said under those Answers to explain the doctrine of justification. e See Quest, lxxvi. f See Quest, lxxii, lxxiii. g John iii. 16. n .Tnl.- .. o a AND THE WAY OF ESCAPE FROM IT. 433 Damascus, with a design to persecute the churcli there, and when not only unac quainted with the means of grace, but prejudiced against them. But this is not God's ordinary method. He has put an honour on his own institutions, so as to render it necessary for us to pray, wait, and hope for saving blessings, in attending on them. Thus, when he promises to 'put his Spirit' within his people, and 'cause them to walk in his statutes, ' he adds, ' Yet for this will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.'1 Accordingly, we are commanded to ' seek the Lord whilst he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near.'k By our attendance on his ordinances, we testify our approbation of that method which he has ordained for the application of redemption ; and by our perseverance in it, determining not to leave off waiting till we have obtained the blessing expected, we proclaim the valuableness of that method, and subscribe to the sovereignty of God in dispensing those blessings to his people which they stand in need of, as well as pray and hope for them in his own time and way. Thus we are to wait on the means of grace. It is farther observed, that we are to wait on the means of grace with diligence, and not in a careless and indifferent manner, as though we neither expected nor desired much advantage from them. This implies an embracing of every oppor tunity, and an observing of those special seasons in which God is pleased, in his gospel, to hold forth the golden sceptre of grace ; as also our having earnest de sires and raised expectations of obtaining that grace from him which he encourages1 us to wait and hope for. We are thus led to speak particularly concerning these outward means, as stated in the following Answer THE ORDINANCES. Question CLIV. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation ? Answer. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to bis church the benefits of his mediation, are all his ordinances ; especially the word, sacraments, and prayer ; all which are made effectual to the elect for their salvation. The Import of the Ordinances. In explaining this Answer, we shaE first consider what we are to understand by the ordinances ; which are here styled outward and ordinary means of grace. The first idea contained in them, is that they are religious duties, prescribed by God, as an instituted method in which he wiE be worshipped by his creatures. But what more especially denominates them ordinances, is the promise which he has annexed to them of his special presence, and the encouragement which he has given to his people in attending on them, to hope for those blessings which accom pany salvation. As God works grace by and under them, they are caEed means of grace ; as he seldom works grace without first inclining persons to attend on him in them, and wait for his salvation, they are called the ordinary means of grace ; and as they have not in themselves a tendency to work grace, without the inward and powerful influences of the Holy Spirit accompanying them, they are distinguished from it, and accordingly styled the outward means of grace. 1. Now, the ordinances, as thus described, must be engaged in according to a divine appointment. No creature has a warrant to enjoin any modes of worship, pretending that these will be acceptable or weE-pleasing to God ; since God alone; who is the object of worship, has a right to prescribe the way in which he wiE be worshipped. For a creature to institute modes of worship would be an instance of profaneness and bold presumption ; and the Worship' performed would be 'in vain;' as our Saviour says concerning that which has no higher sanction than ' the com mandments of men.'1 Whatever pretence of religion there may fee, God" lbdks- i Ezek. xxxvi. 27, 37. k Isa, lv. 6. 1 Jfett. xY. & n. 3 1 434 THE ORDINANCES. upon such worshippers as well as those whose prescriptions they follow, with the utmost contempt, and will punish rather than encourage them. Thus the prophet reproves Israel for being guilty of defection from God, in engaging in that worsh.p which he had not ordained, when he says, ' The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab ; and ye walk in their counsels that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing. Therefore shall ye bear the reproach of my people.'™ And Jeroboam is often branded with having ' made Israel to sin,' for instituting ordinances of divine worship, and 'setting up calves in Dan and Bethel, making an house of high places, and priests of the lowest of the people,' and appointing sacred times in which they should perform this worship ; all which were of his own devising, and became a snare to the people.11 It is certain that such appointments cannot be reckoned means of grace, or pledges of God's pre sence ; and it would redound to his dishonour, should he be obliged to communi cate the benefits of Christ's redemption by means of them, to any who, under a pretence of worshipping him in a way of their own devising, offer the highest affront to him. 2. If God is pleased to reveal his will concerning the way in which we are to worship him and to hope for his presence, it is our indispensable duty to comply with it, to implore his acceptance of us in it, and to be importunate with him that he would put a glory on his own institutions, and grant us his special presence and grace, that we may be enabled to perform whatever duty he enjoins, in such a manner that the most valuable ends may be answered, and our spiritual edification and salvation promoted. 3. Though we consider the ordinances as instituted means of grace, yet a mere attendance on them will not of itself confer grace. This is very evident from the declining state of religion, in those who engage in the external part of it, and at tend upon aE the ordinances of God's appointment, and yet remain destitute of saving grace ; who are stupid under the awakening calls of the gospel, and regard not its invitations to adhere steadfastly to Jesus Christ, whom in words they profess to own, though in works they deny him. The case of these persons is a convincing evidence, that it is God alone, who, having appointed these ordinances, can make them effectual to salvation. Thus concerning the nature of an ordinance, and in what respects it may be caEed an outward and ordinary means of grace. Classification of the Ordinances. We are now to consider what are those ordinances by which Christ communi cates the benefits of his mediation. 1. They are such as are engaged in by particular persons, in subserviency to their spiritual welfare, in order to the beginning or carrying on of the work of grace in their souls ; such as meditation about divine subjects, self-examination, and all other duties which are performed by them in their private retirement, in hope of having communion with God. 2. There are other ordinances which God has given to worshipping assemblies, which are founded on that general promise, ' In all places where 1 record my name, I wiE come unto thee, and I will bless thee.'0 Those mentioned in this Answer, are the word, sacraments, and prayer. Of these the sacraments are particularly given to the churches ; the word and prayer, to all who are favoured with the gospel-dispensation. To these we may add, singing the praises of God ; which, though it is not particularly mentioned in this Answer, is a duty in which we may expect to meet with his presence and blessing ; and, accordingly, is an ordinance which God makes effectual to promote our salvation. The Ordinance of Praise. Before we enter on the consideration of the following Answers, we shaE s»«y m Micah vi. 16. n 1 Kings xii. 30, 31. o Exod. xx. 24. THE ORDINANCES. 435 something concerning this duty, of singing the praises of God, as an ordinance which he has instituted ; together with the manner in which it is to be performed. 1. We may inquire what ground we have to reckon it among the ordinances of God. That it is a divine ordinance must not be taken for granted, but proved ; be cause there are many who deny it to be so. That it was an ordinance enjoined to and practised by the church under the Old Testament dispensation, appears from the many songs aud psalms given, by divine inspiration, to be used by them in their solemn acts of worship. Not only were some of these sung by particular persons, but the whole church is represented as joining in them with united voices. Thus when Pharaoh's host was drowned in the Red sea, it is said, ' Moses and the children of Israel sang ' the song which was given by divine inspiration for that purpose.? And when Moses was inspired with the song recorded in Deut. xxxii., he was commanded to ' write it for them, and teach it to them, and put it in their mouths, 'i that they might sing it in their public worship ; which he accordingly did/ And from the days of David, when public worship was more settled than it had been before, and many things relating to the order, beauty, and harmony of it, brought into the church by divine direction, there was an order of men called singers who were to preside over and set forward this work. There was also a book of psalms given by divine inspiration for the use of the church, that they might not be at a loss as to the matter of praise in this ordinance. That the psalms were given them to be publicly sung may be inferred from the style of them, the words being often put in the plural number ; which argues that the^ were to be sung, not by one person in the church, but by the whole congregation in their solemn and public acts of worship. Accordingly, we often find the whole multitude exhorted to sing the praises of God. Thus it is said, ' Sing unto the Lord, 0 ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness ;'s and ' Sing aloud unto God our strength ; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, &c. for this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.'' Sometimes also the church are represented as exciting one another to this duty. Thus it is said, ' 0 come, let us sing unto the Lord ; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 'u It may be observed, too, that how much soever the use of musical instruments in this worship may be concluded to have been particularly adapted to that dispensation, as it was typical of that spiritual joy which the gospel church should obtain by Christ ; yet the ordinance of singing remains a duty, as founded on the moral law. Accordingly, we find that the practice of it was recommended, not only to the Jews, but to all nations. Thus it is said, ' Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth. 'x The psalmist speaks to the same purpose, when he presses this duty upon ' all lands,' whom he exhorts to 'serve God with gladness ; and to come before the Lord with singing. '? Besides, it seems to be preferred before some other parts of worship, which were merely ceremonial. Thus the psalmist says, ' I will praise the name of God with a song. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock ;'z that is, God is more glorified hereby than he is by the external rites of ceremonial worship, espe ciaEy when abstracted from those acts of faith which add an excellency and glory to them. We are thus led to consider the singing of praises to God as an ordinance prac tised by the New Testament church. Some had songs given to them by inspira tion ; as the Virgin Mary, Zacharias, and Simeon. a Sometimes also the mem bers of particular churches had a psalm given in by extraordinary revelation ;b and we can hardly suppose this to have been without a design that it should be sung in the church for their edification, — especiaEy considering it as an extraordinary dis pensation of the Spirit. And, as the singing of a psalm in the church is an act of public worship, it is reasonable to suppose that the whole assembly joined in it ; so that this ordinance was not only practised by them, but had also a divine sanction, p Contained in Exod. xv. q Deut. xxxi. r Verse 22. s Psal. xxx. 4. t Psal. lxxxi. 1, 2, 3, 4. u Psal. xcv. 1, 2. x Psal. xcviii. 4. y Psal. c 1, 2. z Psal. lxix. 30, 31. a Luke i. 46, 47, et seq : Chap. ii. 28, et seq. b 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 436 THE ORDINANCES. in the Spirit being the author of the psalm which was pung. Moreover, we some times read of the°church singing an hymn, which was no other than a psalm or spiritual son?, at the Lord's supper. Thus our Saviour, at the close of that ordi nance, sung "an hymn with his disciples, — that small church with whom he then communicated.0 At another time, when he was ' come nigh to the descent of the mount of Olives,' it is said that ' the whole multitude of the disciples began to re joice, and to praise God with a loud voice. 'd Here, by ' the multitude of the dis ciples,' we must understand all who followed him, and had a conviction in their consciences that he was the Messiah, from the miracles which they had seen him work. And we have an account of the short hymn which they sang : ' Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord ; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.'e This was not, indeed, sung in a church-assembly ; yet it was sung with ' a loud voice,' and in singing it they gave glory to God. And though some of the Pharisees were offended at it,f yet our Saviour, in the following words, vindicates their practice : and his doing so argues that it was a branch of religious worship performed by them at that time, and a duty approved of by him. All that I would infer is, that as our Saviour gave countenance to the singing of the praises of God with united voices, it follows that we ought, on all occasions, to do the same thing, and consequently, that singing is an ordinance whereby the church ought to glorify God, and show forth his praise. Thus we have considered singing to be an ordi nance, or a branch of instituted worship. 2. There are several things in which this ordinance agrees with some others; particularly with prayer in all the parts of it, and with the reading and preaching of the word. That it has something in common with prayer, appears from the sub ject of several of the psalms of David. Some of these are called prayers ; and ac cordingly contain several petitions for blessings that the church stood in need of, together with various confessions of sin, as well as thanksgiving for mercies received. As to the agreement of this ordinance with the preaching or reading of the word, that, I think, may be inferred in general from one of the ends of it mentioned by the apostle, namely, 'teaching and admonishing one another. '& Singing the praises of God is what the psalmist styles, 'talking of all his wondrous works.* The church also are said to ' speak to themselves,' or to ' one another ' in this duty.1 More over, in some of the psalms the psalmist is represented as speaking to the church, and they as making their reply to him. Thus he advises them to "lilt up their hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord ;'k and they answer him, ' The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.'1 The same thing may be ob served in many other psalms, in which there is a frequent change of the person speaking. Indeed, the entire book contains many admonitions or cautions neces sary to be observed by others, which they who sing direct and apply to each other. Again, in singing the praises of God, we take notice of or celebrate the dispensa tions of his providence, either in a way of judgment or of mercy ; and of this we have many instances in the book of psalms, as is very evident in aE those which are properly historical. 3. We must, notwithstanding, suppose singing to be a distinct ordinance from preaching, prayer, or reading the word ; for it is mentioned in scripture as such. What it principally differs in, is that it is designed to raise the affections ; and it is certain that the modulation or tone of the voice has often a tendency to do so. And because the performing of religious worship with raised affeetions, is a great duty and privilege ; God has appointed singing as an ordinance in some degreei conducive to answer that end. It is objected that, if the tone of the voice be reckoned an' ordinance to raise the affections, vocal or instrumental music may be deemed sufficient, without mak ing use of those words in singing which God has ordained, and in the use of which singing becomes a religious duty. We reply, that to have the affections raised, is no branch of religion, unless they are excited by those ideas of divine things in which it principally consists. That which is a means of raising the affections, may c Mark xiv. 26. d Luke xix. 37. e Verae 36. f Verse 39. g CoL iii. 16. h Psal. cv. 1, 2. i Eph. v. 19. lc Paak cxxxiv. 2^ f Verse 3. THE ORDINANCES. 437 not have a tendency to excite religious affections. Hence, it is not merely singing, but celebrating the praises of God in it with raised affections, which is the duty and ordinance we ought to engage in. These two, then, must be connected together, and if God is pleased, not only to instruct us as to the matter about which our faith is to be conversant, but to give us an ordinance conducive to the exciting of our affec tions, it must be reckoned an additional advantage, and a help to our praising him in a becoming manner. It is farther objected that those arguments which have been taken from the prac tice of the Old Testament church, to prove singing an ordinance, may, with equal justice, be alleged to prove the use of instrumental music in religious worship ; since we very often read of their praising God with ' the sound of the trumpet, psaltery, harp, organ,' and other musical instruments.™ This is the principal argu ment brought for the use of musical instruments by those who defend it and con clude it an help to devotion. But, though we often read of music being used in singing the praises of God under the Old Testament ; yet if what has been said concerning its being a type of that spiritual joy which attends our praising God for the privilege of that redemption which Christ has purchased, the objection will ap pear to have no weight, the type being now abolished, together with the ceremonial law. Besides, though we read of the use of music in the temple-service, yet it does not sufficiently appear that it was ever used in the Jewish synagogues ; the mode of worship observed in which more resembled that which is at present per formed by us in our public assemblies. But what may sufficiently determine this matter, is that we have no precept nor precedent for it in the New Testament, either from the practice of Christ, or his apostles. Some, indeed, allege that the absence of any such precept or precedent overthrows the ordinance of singing, and pretend that this ought to be no more used by us than the harp, organ, or other musical instruments. But it might as well be objected that, because incense, which was used under the ceremonial law, together with prayer in the temple,11 is not now to be offered by us, prayer ought to be laid aside ; which is, as all own, a duty founded on the moral law. 4. In singing those psalms or songs which are given by divine inspiration, we are not to consider the subject of them as always expressive of the frame of our own spirits, or as denoting the dispensations of providence which we or the church of ' God are at present exercised with. This is necessary in order to our singing with understanding ; and it may be inferred from what we have said concerning the agreement which there is between singing and reading any of David's psalms. It must be allowed by all, that we ought to have the same acts of faith in the one, as we have in the other. This is evident from all compositions in prose or verse, whether divine or human. If the subject be historical, whatever the form be in which it is laid down, the principal things to be considered are the matters of fact which are related. If an history be written in prose, and the same should be turned into verse, though its being laid down in the form of a poem adds something of beauty to the mode of expression, yet the ideas which are conveyed, or the historical re presentation of things, are the same as if they had not been written in verse. The reading of the history in verse may perhaps add something of pleasure and delight to our ideas, just as singing, though the same in matter as respects the exciting of the affections, is a distinct ordinance from reading ; yet the circumstance of the history being in verse does not give us different ideas of the matter narrated ; and much less are we to take occasion thence to apply those things to ourselves which are spoken of others, unless parallel circumstances required us to do so. If this rule be not observed, I do not see how we can sing many of the psalms of David. Some times the subject of them is not agreeable to every age of life, or to the universal experience of particular persons. It would be very preposterous for a child, in singing those words, ' I have been young, and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread,'0 or what is elsewhere said, ' Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, 0 God, forsake me not,'? to apply them in particular to himself. And when some other psalms are sung in a public assembly, Psal. cl. 3—5. n Luke i. 9, 10. o Psal. xxxvii. 25. p Psal. lxxi. 18. 438 THE ORDINANCES. in which God's people are represented as dejected, disconsolate, and, as it were, sinking in the depths of despair, as when it is said, ' My soul refused to be com forted. I remembered God, and was troubled : I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed ;' i 'I am counted with them that go down into the pit. Thv wrath lieth hard upon me. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted,'1 they can not be applied to every particular person in a worshipping assembly, as denot ing that frame of spirit in which he is at present. Those expressions also which we meet with elsewhere, which speak of a believer as having full assurance of God's love to him, and of his right and title to eternal life, as when it is said, ' Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory,'3 cannot be applied to those who are in a dejected, despairing, or unbelieving frame of spirit. More over, those psalms which contain an historical account of some particular dispensa tions of providence towards the church of old, cannot be applied to it in every age, or to the circumstances of every believer. When it is said, for example, ' By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Sion,'1 the words are not to be considered as expressive of our own case when we in the present day sing them. Or, when, on the other hand, the church is represented as praising God for particular deliverances,11 or expressing its triumphs in the vic tories obtained over its enemies," the words are not to be applied by particular per sons, to themselves, especially at all times. Again, when the psalmist makes use of those phrases which are adapted to the ceremonial law, as when he speaks of ' binding the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar, 'y or of 'offer ing bullocks upon it ;'z the language cannot be taken in a literal sense, when ap plied to the gospel-state. And when we are exhorted to ' praise God with the psaltery,'" &c, we are to express those acts of faith which are agreeable to the gospel-dispensation. The general rule, indeed, which is applicable to aE psalms of a similar nature, is that with the same frame of spirit with which we read them, we ought to sing them. Sometimes we are to consider them as containing an ac count of those providences to which we are liable, rather than those which we are at present under ; or of what we desire or fear, rather than of what we experience ; and we are to improve them so as to excite those graces which ought to be exer cised in like circumstances, when it shall please God to bring us under them. With this frame of spirit, the psalms of David are to be sung as well as read ; otherwise we shall be obliged to exclude several of them as not fit to be used in gospel-wor- ' ship. I would, however, assert nothing which should give the least countenance to any of them not being sung ; just as I would not affirm that they are not to he read in public assemblies. To what has been said concerning our using David's psalms in singing the praises of God, it is objected that some of them contain such imprecations or desires that God would destroy his enemies, b as are inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel, or with that love which it obliges us to express towards our enemies, agreeably to the command and practice of the holy Jesus.c Now, before I proceed to a direct answer to this objection, it may be observed that it is generally alleged by the Deists with a design to cast a reproach on divine revelation. They hence take occasion outrageously to inveigh against David, as though he were of a malicious and implacable spirit. Indeed, they will hardly allow him to have been a good man ; for the imprecations which occur in his psalms of the wrath of God on the church's enemies, are reckoned by them no other than the effects of his passion and hatred of them. Hence, say they, it is a preposterous thing to suppose that his psalms were given by divine inspiration. There are others, however, namely, some among the Socinians, who give a different turn to such expressions ; and pretend that, under the Old Testament dispensation, it was not unlawful for per sons to hate their enemies, or curse them, or imprecate the wrath of God upon them ; though our Saviour thought fit, under the New Testament dispensation, to command what was directly contrary. That the hating of enemies was formerly q Psal. lxxvii. 2, 3. r Psal. lxxxviii. 4, 7. 15. e Psal. lxxiii. 24. t Psal. cxxxvii. 1. u As in Psal. cvn. x As in Psal. cxlix. y Psal. cxviii. 27. z Psal. li 19 a Psal. cl b Psal. lv. 15; lix. 13—15 ; lxix. 22—25, 27, 28. c Matt. v. 44, 45; Luke xxin. 34. THE ORDINANCES. 439 '.awful, they argue from what is said in Matt. v. 43, 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy ;' while the new commandment which Christ substituted in the room of this, is contained in the following words, in which he obliges us to ' love our enemies,' &c. But this in terpretation gives a grossly mistaken view of that scripture which speaks of ' hating enemies ;' for our Saviour, in mentioning it, does not design to refer to any thing said in the Old Testament, but only to expose the corrupt gloss of the scribes and Pharisees, given on some passages. We must conclude, therefore, that it was as unlawful to hate enemies before, as it is now under the gospel-dispensation. These things I could not but premise, before we came to a direct answer to the objection which we have stated. Now, if what is alleged in that objection were true, it would certainly be unlaw ful to sing David's psalms ; and, at the same time, it would be a very difficult mat ter to substitute any hymns and songs in their room, which would be altogether unexceptionable ; and then the ordinance of singing would be effectually overthrown. We observe, however, that the words having been spoken by David, under divine inspiration, some of the scriptures referred to may, agreeably to the rules of gram mar, be understood as a prediction of those judgments which God would execute on his implacable enemies. This is especially the case if the word which is sup posed in the objection to contain the form of an imprecation, is put in the future tense as it often is ; and if it be put in the imperative mood, as in other places in which it is said, ' Let death seize on them ; let them go down quick into hell ; let them be blotted out of the book of the living,' the mode of speaking, especially when applied to God, contains an intimation of what he would do, or of the wrath which he would pour forth, as a punishment of sin committed, persisted in, and not repented of. Indeed, in one of these psalms, namely, the sixty-ninth, in which the righteous judgments of God are denounced against sinners, the psalmist plainly speaks in the person of our Saviour, to whom the ninth and twenty-first verses are expressly applied in the New Testament."1 Hence, when he says, in the twenty- second verse, ' Let their table become a snare,' the meaning is, that God would deny some of his furious and implacable enemies that grace which alone could pre vent their waxing worse and worse under outward prosperity. When he says, in the twenty-third verse, ' Let their eyes be darkened,' the meaning is, they shaE be given up to judicial blindness, as the Jews were ; the providence of God permitting, though not effecting it. When it is said, in the twenty-fourth verse, ' Pour out thine indignation upon them,' the words are an intimation that this judicial blind ness should come upon them. When he adds, in the twenty-fifth verse, ' Let their habitation be desolate,' the meaning is, that the land in which they dwelt should be destitute of its former inhabitants ; and so the words contain a predic tion of the desolate state of the Jewish nation, after they were destroyed and driven out of their country by the Romans. When he farther says, ' Add iniquity to their iniquity,' his words, as was observed elsewhere, may be explained consistently with the divine perfections ;e so that the sense of them is not liable to any just excep tion. I have made these observations on this psalm, only to show that it is not necessary to' suppose that these imprecations are always to be understood as what will warrant or give countenance to private persons to wish or pray for the destruc tion of their enemies. Moreover, if the evil denounced be of a temporal nature, as when the psalmist is represented as desiring that his enemies may be ' consumed as the stubble before the wind,' or as 'the wood that the fire burneth ;'f the desires are not those of one who meditates private revenge, or wishes to see the ruin of persons whom he hates. But they are the sentiments of the church of God in general, as acquiescing in his righteous judgments, which should be poured forth on those that hate him and persecute his people. Now, if either the church must be ruined, or those who set themselves against it removed out of the way, they cannot but desire the latter rather than the former. If such expressions be thus understood there will be no sufficient reason for the exception which is taken against the d John ii. 17 ; Matt, xxvii. 34. e See Sect. ' The Doctrine of Reprobation. under Quest, xn, xm. f Psal. lxxxiii. 13, 14. 440 THE ORDINANCES. book of the psalms ; nor will any one have just occasion to lay aside a part of them, as what cannot be sung by a Christian congregation. It is farther objected, that if singing could be proved to be an ordinance to be used by particular persons, it will not follow that the whole congregation ought to join their voices together. It is sufficient, say the objectors, if one person sing, and others make melody in their hearts. United voices in singing will occasion confusion in the worship of God ; and, when a mixed multitude join in it, it can hardly be supposed that they all sing with the spirit and with the understanding also. Hence, if one should sing, it is sufficient for those who are qualified to join in this ordinance, to say, Amen, or to have their hearts engaged as they have who join in public prayer, in which one is the mouth of the whole assembly. We reply, that to insinuate that singing with united voices is confusion, is to cast a great re proach on that worship which we often read of in scripture, which was performed in this manner. Thus Moses and the children of Israel sang the praises of God on occasion of their deliverance from the Egyptians f and their doing so was cer tainly an act of public worship, not performed by Moses alone, but by the whole con gregation. In the New Testament, too, there is a very remarkable example of sing ing with united voices, our Saviour himself being present.1* It is said that he and his disciples ' sang an hymn.' The word is in the plural number ;' so that they all joined with their voices in singing. Some observe, also, that it is not without de sign that it is said, 'He,' that is, Christ, 'blessed the bread, 'and ' He gave thanks ;'k they joining with him in this act only in their hearts, as the congregation joins with the minister who is their mouth in public prayer. But when the evangelist speaks of the ordinance of singing, he represents them as all joining with their voices. Accordingly, the word, as was just now observed, is in the plural number.1 Another part of the objection respects the congregation's joining in the heart, with one who sings with the voice, in like manner as we do in prayer. Now, though he who joins in heart with another who prays, may be said to perform the duty of prayer, though he does not express his desires with his own voice ; yet joining with the heart, while only one sings, cannot, properly speaking, be caEed singing, much less ' singing with the voice,' or ' singing with a loud voice,' as it is often expressed in scripture. The apostle, indeed, speaks of ' singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.'m This language, in some measure, seems to favour the ob jection ; and it is inferred from it, that, if one sings with the voice, others may make melody in the heart. But I understand it otherwise. The apostle, as I think, is pressing the church to sing, that is, to make melody to tbe Lord ; and is showing that, in order to this ordinance being performed in a right manner, the heart ought to go along with the voice. He thus intimates that there ought nof only to be a melodious sound, by which the praises of God are sung, but together with this, suitable acts of faith ought to be put forth, whereby we worship him with our hearts, as well as our voices. What he says, therefore, does not prove that the melody spoken of respects only the frame of spirit, exclusive of the use of the voice in singing. Another part of the objection is that, when a mixed multitude sing, some must be supposed to want two necessary qualifications for singing, namely, the Spirit and the understanding ; and that their singing, while they want these, is to join in the external ordinance, while there is no harmony as to the internal frame of spirit, or the exercise of faith, which alone makes it pleasing to God. We reply, that a mixed multitude may join together in prayer, and that the word of God, and particularly the psalms of David, may be read in the public congregation. Now, though there are, perhaps, many present who do not understand the meaning of every particular phrase used in the psalms of David, it does not follow that these psalms ought not to be sung by us. We have already observed that there is no essential difference, especially as to what concerns the frame of our spirit, between singing and reading. It follows, then, that whatever psalm may be read may be sung. He who is not qualified to do the latter, is not qualified to do the former. The apostle, indeed, g Exod. xvi. 1. h Mark xiv. 26. i T/*»»»-«fr|§. k Matt. xxvi. 26, 27. f Verse 30. m Eph. v. 19. THE ORDINANCES. 441 speaks of his 'praying and singing with the Spirit,' as well as ' with the under standing ;' but the meaning is, that we ought to desire the efficacious influences of the Spirit, and press after the knowledge of the meaning of the words we use, either in prayer or singing. Yet the defect of our understanding, or our having a less degree of it than others, or than we ought to have, does not exempt us from a right to engage in this ordinance. Hence, we are not to refuse to join with those in singing the praises of God, whom we would not exclude from our society, if we were reading any of the psalms of David in public. 5. We are now to consider the matter to be sung. There are very few who aEow singing to be an ordinance, who will deny it to be our duty to sing the psalms of David, and other spiritual songs which we frequently meet with in scripture. Some, indeed, have contested the expediency of a Christian assembly making use of several Old Testament phrases which are contained in these. Others have al leged that the phrases ought to be altered in many instances, especially in those which have a peculiar reference to the psalmist's personal circumstances, and others substituted for them to express matter of universal experience. But, if what has been said under the last Head be true, this argument will appear to have little weight ; inasmuch as all the arguments which are brought in defence of making these alterations in the psalms as they are to be sung by us, will hold equally good as applicable to the ordinance of reading them, and, it may be, will as much evince the necessity of altering the phrases of scripture in several other parts as well as in these. For if some psalms are not to be sung by a Christian assembly in the words in which they were at first delivered, and consequently are not to be read by them, because the phraseology is not agreeable to the state of the Christian church, and needs to be altered when applied to our present use ; the same may be said concerning other parts of scripture ; and then the word of God, as it was at first given to us, is no more to be read than to be sung by us. As to the objection that it is inexpedient for us to make use of those words, and apply them to our case in our devotions, which David used in his with a peculiar view to his own condi tion, what was said under the fourth Head relating to the frame of spirit with which the psalms are to be sung, will very much weaken the force of it. The con sideration stated there is what, in a great measure, determines my sentiments as to the ordinance of conjoint singing, as well as the matter of it ; for I am well per suaded that if the words were to be considered as our own, as they ought to be when joining with another who is our mouth to God in prayer, there are very few psalms or hymns of human composition which can be sung by a mixed assembly. But as a divine veneration ought to be paid to the psalms, and they are to be read with those acts of faith which are the main ingredients in our devotions, we are to sing them with the same view, only with this difference that we are to make use of the tone of the voice as a farther help to the raising of our affections. The next thing to be considered, is what version of the psalms is to have the pre ference in our esteem, as subservient to the design of this ordinance. It is not my business, under this Head, to criticise the various versions of the psalms. Nor can it be supposed that I have a regard to those poetical beauties in which one version excels another ; for then I should be inclined to think some of those which I do not choose to make use of in the ordinance of singing, much preferable to others, for the exactness of their style and composition. But when I am to sing the praises of Godt in the words of David or any other inspired writer, or as nearly as possible in their words, what I principally regard is the agreeableness of the version to the original ; and then the psalms may be sung with the same frame, of spirit with which they are to be read, and I am not obliged, in singing, to consider the words as expre*. sive of my own frame of spirit, any more than I am in reading them. But if the composition cannot properly be caEed a version, but is an imitation of David's psalms, then I make use of it in the ordinance of singing, with the same view as I ¦jrould an hymn ; but of this more shaE be said hereafter. Now the versions which, J think, come nearest to the original are the New England and the Scotch.11 The l There is » version of psalms, printed by the late Dr. Mather, in blank verse, which I once hail sight of, but am not capable of passing a judgment on it-, only, that it was very near tbe origi- ; but whether in other respects it was preferable to these two other versions, I know noK »' the sig nal ; _ II. 3 K 442 THE ORDINANCES. latter, however, I think much preferable to the former ; inasmuch as the sentences are not so transposed as in the other, and the lines are much more smooth and pleasant to be read. I should be very glad to see a version more perfect, which comes as near the sense of the original, and excels it in the beauty or elegance of its style. And it would be a very great advantage if some marginal notes were added, as a comment upon it ; which would be an help to our right understanding of it. I shaE now give my thoughts concerning the singing of hymns. These, according to the common acceptation of the word, are distinguished from psalms, — and they generally denote an human composition, fitted for singing, the matter of which contains some divine subjects in the words agreeable to or deduced from scripture. The argument which is generally brought in defence of them is this : — Though scripture is a rule of faith whence all the knowledge of divine things is primarily deduced, and therefore has the preference, as to its excellency and authority, to any other composition ; yet it is not only lawful but necessary to express our faith in the doctrines which it contains in other words than its own, as we do in prayer or preaching. Now if it be a duty to praise God with the voice, it is not unlaw ful to praise him in words agreeable to scripture, as well as in the express words of it. Hence both may be proved to be a duty, namely, praising God in the words of David, and by other songs contained in scripture, and prais ing him in words agreeable to scripture, though of human composition. This is the best reasoning which I have met with in defence of the lawfulness of singing hymns, not as opposed to or excluding David's psalms, but as used occasion ally, as providence directs us ; that so our acknowledgments of benefits received may be insisted on with greater enlargement than they are in the book of psalms, For though there may be in that book something adapted to every case, yet the particular occasion of our praise is not so largely contained in the same section or paragraph ; and therefore a hymn may be composed adapted to each occasion, in order to our praising God. But when, on the other hand, persons seem to prefer hymns to David's psalms, and substitute them for the latter, I cannot but disap prove of their practice. A late writer0 speaks on this subject with a great deal of moderation. Though he proves that scripture psalms should be preferred before all others, and more ordinarily sung ; yet he thinks that hymns of human composi tion ought not wholly to be excluded, provided they be exactly agreeable to, and as much as may be, the words of holy scripture. There are other writers to whom I pay equal deference, who have concisely, though with a considerable degree of judg ment, proved singing to be a gospel ordinance,? who argue against singing of hymns. Indeed, what they say in opposition to those who defend the practice from Eph. v. 19, and Col. iii. 16, and allege that ' hymns ' are distinct from ' psalms and spiritual songs,' and that we are to understand by them human compositions agreeable to scripture, as by psalms and spiritual songs we are to understand those which are contained in the very words of scripture, seems very just. What they say corre sponds with the opinion of several judicious and learned men, who assert that these three words signify nothing else but those psalms or songs which are contained in scripture.0- The question in debate with me, is not whether the psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs which are contained in scripture, are designed to be a directory for gospel-worship,— for that, I think, all ought to allow ; but, whether it be lawful to sing a human composition which is agreeable to scripture, either as to its words or o See Mr. Richard Allein's Essay on singing, chap. iv. who seems, in my opinion, in the whole of his short performance, to argue with a considerable degree of candour and judgment. p See Sidenham's Gospel-ordinance concerning singing, &e. and Hitchin's Scripture proof for singing, &c. q It cimiiot well be denied that the psalms of David are called indifferently by these three names, ' Psalms,' ' Hyn ns,' and ' Songs,' VW intta, rrbrrn. -^xX/ias, i/itti, aihti; and sometimes the same psalm is called a Song or Psalm, as in the title of Psalm lxv. or a Song of a Psalm [as the LXX. render it. uiti ¦tyxXfj.av]. And in Psalm cv. 2. when it is said, ' Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him;' 17 YWI lb yvw the former word signifies to sing a spiritual song; the latter to sign a psalm; or, as the Septuagint render the same word, in 1 Chron xvi. 9, a Hymn. [a«ti xxi i/i.tna-xTi.'] See Sidenham's Gospel-ordinance, &c chap. ii. and Ains worth on the title ef Psalm iii. whom he there refers to. THE ORDINANCES. 443 its sense, — especially when the subject of our praise is not laid down so largely in one particular section of scripture, as we desire to express it. In this case, if we were to connect several parts of scripture together, so that the des'gn of enlarging on a particular subject might be answered, there would be less necessity to compose a hymn in other words. But as the occasions of praise are very large and exten sive, and as it may be thought expedient to adore the divine perfections in our own words in singing, just as we do in prayer, considering the one to be a moral duty as well as the other ; I will not pretend to maintain the unlawfulness of singing hymns of human composition, though some of much superior learning and judg ment have done so. I would, however, always pay the greatest- deference to those divine compositions which are given as the principal rule for our procedure in praise. Yet I cannot but express my dislike of several hymns yvhich I have often heard sung. In some of these the heads of the sermon have been com prised; and others are so very mean and injudicious, and, it may be, in some respects, so unaccordant with the analogy of faith, that I cannot, in the least, approve of them. But if we have ground to conclude the composition, as to the matter and the mode of expression, unexceptionable, and adapted to raise the affections, as well as excite suitable acts of faith in extolling the praise of God, it gives me no more disgust, though it be not in scripture-words, than praying or preaching does when the matter is scriptural. Yet as, when we confess sin, ac knowledge mercies received, or desire those blessings which are suited to our case, we always suppose that the words which he who is the mouth of the congregation uses, ought to be such as all can join with him in, and in this, the reading of one of David's prayers, and the putting up of a prayer in the congregation, differ as to a very considerable circumstance ; so the same ought to be observed in hymns. But, if an hymn be so composed that all who sing it are represented as signifying their having experienced those things which belong not to them, or as blessing God for what they never received ; the use of it, I conceive, would be as unwarrantable a method of singing hymns of human composition as if the expressions were used in public prayer. There are, indeed, many hymns which have a great vein of piety and devotion, but are not adapted to the experience of the whole assembly that sings them. Hence, while a congregation may join in singing some hymns, I do not think they can well join in singing all ; though the subject of them may be agreeable to the analogy of faith. The reason of this rests on the difference which we formerly stated between making use of a divine and of a human composition ; in the former of which, the words are not always to be considered as our own or as expressive of the frame of our own spirits ; while they are always to be so consid ered with respect to the latter. Thus concerning the ordinance of singing ; which we cannot but think included among those whereby Christ communicates to his church the benefits of his media tion. We are now led to consider the other ordinances ; which are particularly in sisted on in the remaining part of this work. That which next comes under our consideration, is the word read and preached. THE ORDINANCE OF THE WORD. Question CLV. How is the word made effectual to salvation ? Answer. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners, of driving them out of them selves, and drawing tbem unto Christ, of conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will, of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions, of building them up in grace, and establishing their heart in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. Having had an account, in the foregoing Answer, of the ordinances by which Christ communicates the benefits of redemption to his church, and what they are, and having also considered that singing the praises of God is one of those ordinances ; we are now to consider another ordinance which is made effectual to salvation 444 THE ORDINANCE OF THE WORD. namely, the word read or preached. We had occasion, under some former Answers, to speak of the word of God as contained in the scriptures of the Old and Now Testaments ; and we considered it as the only rule of faith and obedience, and as having all the properties which are necessary to its being such, so that we may de pend upon it as a perfect and infallible revelation of all things necessary to be be lieved and done, in order to our enjoying God here, and attaining eternal life here after.1. We are now to consider the word as made the subject of our study and inquiry ; without which it would be of no use' to us. The Word is to be Read and Explained. We may observe in this Answer, then, something supposed ; namely, that the word of God is to be read by us, and explained by those who are qualified and called to preach it. We are not, indeed, to conclude that the explanations of falli ble men, how much soever they are fitted to preach the gospel, are of equal au thority with the sacred oracles, as transmitted to us by those who received them by infallible inspiration from the Spirit of God. The text is much more to be de pended on than the comment upon it ; and the truth of the latter is to be tried by the former.8 Yet the explanation of the word by qualified persons is to be reckoned a great blessing, which God is pleased to bestow upon his church, in order to our understanding and making a right use of the written word. Accordingly, preach ing, as well as the reading of the word, is an ordinance which the Spirit of God makes subservient to the salvation of those who believe. It is farther supposed, however, that the word is to be read by us, and that we are to attend to the preach ing of it. To neglect either of these is to despise our own souls, and deprive our selves of the advantage of God's instituted means of grace. Hence, we are not to content ourselves with merely the reading of the word of God in our closets or families, but we must embrace all opportunities for hearing it preached in a public manner, the one being no less an ordinance of God than the other. It is objected by some, that they know as much as ministers can teach them ; at least, that they know enough, if they could but practise it. This objection sometimes savours of pride and self-conceit, in those who suppose themselves to un derstand more of the doctrines of the gospel than they reaEy do. It can hardly be said concerning the greatest number of professors, that they either know as much as they ought, or that it is not possible for them to make advances in knowledge by a diligent attendance on an able and faithful ministry. However, that we may give the utmost scope to the objection, we will allow that some Christians know more than many ministers, who are less skilful than others in the word of truth. But it must be observed that there are other ends of hearing the word besides the gaining of knowledge, namely, the bringing of the doctrines of the gospel to our re membrance,' and their being impressed on our affections ; and for attaining these ends, the wisest and best of men have not thought it below them to attend upon the ministry of those who knew less than themselves. Our Saviour was an hearer of the word before he entered on his public ministry ;u and though it might, I think, truly be said of him, that though he was but twelve years old, he knew more than the doctors, in the midst of whom he sat in the temple, yet ' he heard and asked them questions.' And David, though he professes himself to have 'more understanding than all his teachers ;'x yet was glad to embrace all opportunities to go up into the house of the Lord ; this being God's appointed means for a be liever's making advances in grace. The Word made Effectual to Salvation, There are several things particularly mentioned in this Answer, in which the Spirit of God makes the word, read or preached, effectual to salvation. I. By the word the mind is enlightened and furnished with the knowledge of r See vol. i. Quest, iii. and iv. s Isa. viii. 20; 1 Thess. v. 21 ; Acts xvii. 11. t John xiv. 26. u Luke ii. 46. x Psal. cxix. 99. THE ORDINANCE OF THE WORD. 445 divine truths, which is a very great privilege. As faith is inseparably connected with salvation ; so the knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel is necessary to faith, and this is said to ' come by hearing. '* We must not content ourselves, however, with a mere assent to what is revealed in the word of God ; but must duly weigh the tendency of it to our sanctification and consolation, and admire the beauty, ex ceEency, and glory that there is in the great doctrines of the gospel, as the divine perfections shine forth in them to the utmost. We must also duly consider the' importance of those doctrines which are contained in the gospel, and how they are to be improved by us to our spiritual advantage. And when we find our hearts filled with love to Jesus Christ, in proportion to those greater measures of light which he is pleased to impart to us, so that we grow in grace as well as in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christy then the word may be said to be made effectual to our salvation, as our minds are very much enlightened and improved in the knowledge of those things which lead to it. 2. The word is made effectual to bring us under conviction ; so that we see our selves sinful and miserable creatures. In particular, we are hereby led to see those depths of wickedness which are in our hearts by nature, which otherwise could .pot be sufficiently discerned by us, much less improved to our spiritual advantage.8 Would we take a view of the manifold sins committed in our lives, with all their respective aggravations, so as to lay to heart the guilt that we have contracted by them ; or would we be affected with the consideration of the misery which will follow, as we not only deserve the wrath and curse of God, but, without an Interest in forgiving grace, are bound to conclude ourselves liable to it ; we must be led into a knowledge of these things by the word of God. Again, if we would know whether our convictions of sin are such as have a more immediate reference to sal vation, we must inquire whether they are attended with grief and sorrow of heart for the intrinsic evil of sin, as well as for its sad consequences ;b or whether, when we have taken this view of it, we are led to apply for the remedy, and seek for giveness through the blood of Christ, and strength against those corruptions which we have ground to charge ourselves with, and which have so much prevailed over us.0 3. The word is made effectual to salvation, when what is contained in it tends to humble us and lay us low at the foot of God ; when we acknowledge that all his judgments are right, or whatever punishments have been inflicted in execution of the threatenings which he has denounced have been less than our iniquities de serve ;a and when we receive reproofs for sins committed, with a particular applica tion of them to ourselves, and are sensible of the guilt we have contracted. But that we may make a right use of the word, for bringing us to this state of mind, let us consider what humbling considerations are contained in it which have a tendency to answer this end. The word of God represents to us the infinite dis tance which there is between him and us ; so that the best of creatures are in his sight 'as nothing,0 less than nothing, and vanity.' We here behold God as in finitely perfect, and men as very imperfect, and unlike him ; and in particular, we behold him as a God of infinite holiness, spotless purity, and ourselves as impure, polluted creatures. This is a very humbling consideration. f Again, the word of God discovers to us the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of our hearts ; whereby we are naturaEy inclined to rebel against him ; and whereby also we should, had it not been for his preventing and renewing grace, have run with the vilest of men in all excess of riot. It likewise leads us into the knowledge of the various kinds of sin which we have ground to charge ourselves with in the course of our lives, the frequent omission of those duties which are required of us, our great neglect of relative duties in the station in which God has fixed us, and the injury we have done to others, whom we have caused to stumble or faE by our example, or, at least, by our unconcernedness about their spiritual welfare. It also discovers to us the various aggravations of sins committed, as they are against light, love, y Rom. x. 17 ; Acts viii. 30, 31. z 2 Peter iii. 18. a Jer. xvii. 9 ; Rom. vii. 9. b Psal. xxxviii. 18. compared with verse 4. c Acts xvi. 30 ; Psal. xix. 13; xxv. 11 ; Jer. viii. 22. d Ezra ix. 13. e Isa. xl. 17. f Prov. xxx. 2; Isa. lxiv. 6. 446 THE ORDINANCE OF THE WORD. mercies, and manifold engagements, which we are laid under ; and the great con tempt which we have cast on the blessed Jesus, in disregarding, or not improving, the benefits of his mediation. All these things, duly considered, have a tendency to humble us ; and we are led into the discovery of them by the word of God. 4. The word of God is made effectual to salvation, as it has a tendency to drive sinners out of themselves, and to draw them to Jesus Christ. On the one hand, it shows them the utter impossibility of their saving themselves, by doing any thing which may bring them into a justified state, and so render them accepted in the sight of God ; and, on the other hand, it draws or leads them to Christ, whom they are enabled to behold by faith, as discovered in the gospel, to be a merciful and all-sufficient Saviour. The former is not only also antecedent, but necessary to the latter. For so long as we fancy that we have a sufficiency in ourselves to recom mend us to God, and procure for us a right and title to eternal life, we shall never think of committing our souls into Christ's hand, in order to our obtaining salva tion from him in his own way. Accordingly, the prophet brings in a self-con ceited people as saying, ' We are lords, we will come no more unto thee. '* No one will seek help or safety from Christ, who is not sensible of his own weakness, and of his being in the utmost danger without him. The first thing, then, which the Spirit of God does in the souls of men, when he makes the word effectual to salva tion, is to lead them into an humble sense of their utter inability to do what is spiritually good or acceptable to God, or so to make atonement for the sins which they have committed against him that they may be brought into a justified state. It is, indeed, an hard matter to convince the sinner of this ; for he is very prone to be full of himself, sometimes to glory, with the Pharisee,11 in some religious duties he performs, and at other times to glory in his abstaining from those gross enormities which others are chargeable with. Or, if he will own himself to have exceeded many in sin ; yet he is ready to think that, by some expedient or other, he shall be able to make atonement for it. This sets him at a great distance from Christ. As ' they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick,'1 so persons of the character we are describing do not see their need of a Saviour, till they are convinced that they have nothing in themselves which can afford any re lief to them, so as to deliver them from the guilt of sin and consequent misery. On this account our Saviour observes that ' publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God, 'k or are made sensible of their need of Christ, being convinced of sin, before the ' chief priests and elders,' who thought they had a righteousness of their own to justify them, and therefore refused to comply with the method of the gospel, iu having recourse to Christ alone for this privilege. Now, the word of God is made use of by the Spirit to drive the sinner out of these strong-holds, and to show him that he cannot, by any means, recover himself out of that state of sin and misery into which he is plunged. It is a very hard thing for a person to be convinced of the truth of what our Saviour says, ' That which is highly esteemed amongst men, is an abomination in the sight of God,'1 that is, when it is put in the room of Christ and his righteousness ; and to convince us of this is one of the great ends to which the word is made subservient, when rendered effectual to salvation. More over, the word of God draws the soul to Christ, so that it is persuaded and induced, from gospel-motives, to come to him, ano\, at the same time, enabled so to do by the almighty power of God, without which he cannot come to him.m The former draws ob jectively, the latter subjectively and internally. As to what the gospel does in this matter, it sets before us the exceEency and glory of Christ as our great Mediator ; represents him as a divine person, and, consequently, the object of faith, and as such ' able to save, to the uttermost, them that come unto God by him. '" It con siders him as having purchased salvation for his people ; so that they may obtain forgiveness through his blood. It also discovers him as not only able but willing to save all that come to him by faith ; so that he will in no wise cast them out.0 It also represents him as having a right to us ; we are his by purchase, and there fore it is our indispensable duty to give up ourselves unto him. It also makes g Jer ii. 31. h Luke xviii. 11. 1 Matt. ix. 12. k Chap. xxi. 31. 1 Luke xvi. 15. m John vi. 44. n Heb. vii. 25. o John vi. 37. THE ORDINANCE OF THE WORD. 447 known to us the greatness of his love, as the highest inducement to our giving our selves up to him ; the freeness, riches, and extensiveness of his grace, as ready to embrace the chief of sinners, and pass by all the injuries which they have done against him, and as giving them the utmost assurance that, having loved them in the world, he will love them to the end. Thus Christ is set forth in the gospel ; and when the word is made effectual to salvation, the soul is induced, or, as it were, constrained to love him, and to yield the obedience of faith to him in all things. 5. The word is made of use by the Spirit, as a means to conform the soul to the image of God, and subdue it to his will. The image of God in man is defaced by sin ; so that he is not only rendered unlike him, but averse to him. stripped of all his beauty, and become abominable and filthy in his sight, and, as long as he re mains so, is unmeet for communion with him, or for obtaining salvation from him. Now, when the Spirit of God communicates special grace to sinners, he stamps this image afresh upon the soul, which he renews in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness ; he sanctifies all its powers and faculties, and subdues the wiE, so that it yields a cheerful obedience to the will of God, and delights in his law after the inward man, and its language is, ' Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' This change the Spirit of God works in the heart, by his internal efficacious influence ; as was formerly observed, when we considered the work of conversion and sancti fication as brought about by him.? This effect is also ascribed to the word as a moral instrument ; it is not attained without the word, and is indeed the principal end of the preaching of the gospel. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,'0- and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 6. The word is farther said to be made effectual to salvation, as we are strength ened by it against temptation and corruption. By temptation those objects are presented to us which have a tendency to alienate our affections from God ; and by corruption temptations are embraced and complied with, and the affections en tangled in the snare which is laid for them. Satan or the world presents the bait, and corrupt nature is easily allured and taken by it. The tempter uses many wiles and stratagems to ensnare us, and our own hearts are deceitful above all things, and without much difficulty turned aside, and so led captive by Satan at his will. But when the Spirit of God makes the word effectual to salvation, he takes occa sion by it to detect the fallacy, lays open the designs of our spiritual enemies, and the pernicious tendency of them, and internaEy fortifies the soul against them, so that it is ' kept from the paths of the destroyer ;'r and this he does by presenting other and better objects to engage our affections, and leading us into the know ledge of those glorious truths which may prevent a sinful compliance with the solicitations of the devil. According to the nature of the temptation which may occur, we are directed to the precepts or promises contained in the word of God ; which, being duly improved by us, have a tendency to keep the heart steady and fixed in the ways of God. 7. The word of God is made effectual by the Spirit, as he thereby builds the soul up in grace, and establishes it in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. The work of grace is not immediately brought to perfection, but is, in a progressive way, making advances towards it. We are first made holy by the renovation of our hearts and lives, and made partakers of those spiritual consolations which ac- sompany or flow from the work of sanctification ; and then we are built up in holi ness and comfort, and so go from strength to strength, and are more and more established in the ways of God. Now this work is effected in us by the preaching of the word, whereby we are said to ' grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;'8 so that every step we take in our way to heaven, from the time that our faces are first turned towards it, we are enabled to go on safely and comfortably, tiU the work of grace is perfected in glory. p See Quest, lxvii, lxviii. q 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. r Psal. xvii. 4. s 2 Pet. iii. 18. 448 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. Question CLVI. Is the word of God to be read by all? Answer. Although all are not to be permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves, and with their families, to which end the holy scriptures are to be translated out of the original, into vulgar languages. Question CLVII. How is the word of God to be read ? Answer. The holy scriptures are to be read with an high and reverent esteem of them; with a firm persuasion that they are the very word of God, and that he only can enable us to under stand them, with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them, with dili gence and attention to the matter and scope of them ; with meditation, application, self-denial, and prayer. The word being made effectual to salvation, which was the subject last insisted on, supposes not only that we read it as translated into vulgar languages, but that we understand what we read, in order to our applying it to our particular case, and improving it for our spiritual advantage. These things are next to be con sidered, as contained in the Answers we are now to explain. The Word to be read by and to all men. We have an account in the former of these Answers, of the obligation which all persons are under to read, or at least, attend to the reading of the word of Godj 1. It is to be read publicly in the congregation, by those who are appointed for that purpose. The church and all the public worship performed in it, are founded on the doctrines contained in scripture. Hence, every one who would be made wise to salvation, ought to be well acquainted with scripture. Besides, the reading of it publicly, as a part of the worship performed in the church, is not only a testi mony of the high esteem which we have for it, but will be of great use to those who, through a sinful neglect to read it in families, or in their private retirement, or who, through the stupidity of their hearts, and the many incumbrances of worldly business, will not allow themselves time to do so, remain strangers to those great and important truths which are contained in it. Moreover, that the public read ing of the word is a duty, appears from the charge which the apostle gives that the epistle which he wrote to the church at Thessalonica should ' be read unto all the holy brethren.'4 And he gives a similar charge to the church at Colosse.u We may add, that the scripture is not only to be read, but explained ; which is the prin cipal design of the preaching of it. This is no new practice. For the Old Testament was not only read, but explained in the synagogues 'every sabbath day ;' and the explaining of it is called, by a metonymy, 'reading Moses,'1 that is, explaining the law which was given by him. Thus ' Ezra stood upon a pulpit of wood, opened the book in the sight of all the people,' and, with some of his brethren who assisted him, ' read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading, ' that is, the meaning of it.? In like manner our Sa viour ' went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up and read a part of the holy scriptures in the prophecy of Isaiah ; and when he had done so, he ap plied it to himself, and showed them how ' it was fulfilled in their ears. 'z It is sup posed, therefore, that the word is to be publicly read. The only thing in this Answer which needs explanation is the clause, ' All are not to be permitted to read the word publicly to the congregation.' We are not to suppose that there is an order of men whom Christ has appointed to be readers in the church, distinct from ministers. But the meaning of the expression may be, that all are not to read the word of God together, in a public assembly, with a loud voice ; for to do so would tend rather to confusion than to edification. Nor ought any to be appointed to read, but such as are grave, pious, and able to read t VF1hes?.'.v' ,27- •> GoU iv. 16V x Acts xv. 21. y Neb. vin. 4-8. z riuie iv. r;6_2£ BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 449 distinctly, for the edification of others. And who is so fit for this work, as the minister whose office is, not only to read the scripture, but to explain it in the or dinary course of his ministry? 2. The word of God is to be read in our families. This duty is absolutely neces sary for the propagating of religion in them. It is indeed shamefully neglected' ; and the neglect of it is one great reason of the ignorance and decay of piety in the rising generation, and is also contrary to God's command," as well as the example of those who are highly commended for this practice. Thus, ' Abraham command ed his children, and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord.'b 3. The word of God ought to be read by every one, in private ; and that not only occasionally, but frequently, as one of the great duties of life. Thus God says to Joshua,0 ' This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. 'd And our Saviour commands the Jews to ' search the scriptures. 'e In some of his discourses with them too, though he was sensible that they were a degenerate people, yet he takes it for granted that they had not altogether laid aside this duty/ This practice, especially where the word of God has not only been read, but the meaning of it sought after and attended to with great diligence, is recommended as a peculiar excellency in Christians, who, as attending to it, are styled ' more noble' than others who are defective in this duty .8 That it is the duty of every one to read the word of God, appears from the fact that it is given us with this design. If God is pleased, as it were, to send us an epistle from heaven, it is a very great instance of contempt cast on it, as well as on the divine condescension expressed in it, for us to neglect to read it. Does he impart his mind to us in scripture ; and is it not our indispensable duty to pay the utmost regard to it ?h Moreover, our own advantage should be a farther inducement to us to read the word of God ; since his design in giving it was that we might believe, and that believing, we may attain life through the name of Christ.! The word of God is sometimes compared to ' a sword,' for our defence against our spir itual enemies ;k and is therefore designed for use, without which it is of no advan tage to us. It is elsewhere compared to ' a lamp to our feet ;'¦ which is not de signed for an ornament, but to guide us in the right way ; so that we must attend to its direction. It is also compared to 'food,' whereby we are said to be ' nour- hed up in the words of faith and good doctrine ;' and as ' new-born babes' we are exhorted to ' desire the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby."™ But this end cannot be attained unless the word be read and applied by us to our own necessities. We are now led to take notice of the opposition which the Papists make to the general reading of scripture. They deny the common people the liberty of read ing the scriptures in their own language, without leave given them from the bishop, or some other of their spiritual guides, who are authorized to allow or deny this privilege, as they think fit. As an instance of their opposition, they have some times burnt whole impressions of the Bible, in the open market place ; as weE as expressed their contempt by burning particular copies of scripture, or dragging them through the streets, throwing them in the kennels, and stamping them under feet, or tearing them in pieces, as though the Bible were the vilest book in the world. Some persons have even been burnt for reading it. That it might be brought into the utmost contempt, the Papists have cast the most injurious re proaches upon it, calling it a bending rule, a nose of wax, a dumb judge ; and some have blasphemed it, by saying that it has no more authority than iEsop's fables, and have compared the psalms of David to profane ballads. By aE this conduct, too, they pretend to consult the good of the people, that they may not be misled by scripture. They generally allege in their vindication, that they oppose, not so much the reading of the scripture, as the reading of those translations of it which have been made by Protestants ; and they say that it is our Bible, not a Deut. vi. 6,* 7. b Gen. xviii. 1 9 ; Psal. lxxviii. 3, 4, 5. c Josh. i. 8. d, Psal. i. 2. e John v. 39. f Matt. xii. 5 ; Chap. xxi. 42; Luke vi. 3. g Acts xvii. ll! h Rev. i. 11. compared with Chap. ii. 29. i John xv. 31 ; Rom. x. 17; ChaD xv 4* k Eph. vi. 17. 1 Psal cxix. 105. m 1 Pet. ii. 2. r* * il. I 3 I, 450 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. that which they aEow to be the word of God, which they treat with such injurious contempt. The truth is, however, they do not so much bring objections against scripture, taken from some passages which they pretend to be falsely translated ; but their design is, plainly, to keep the people in ignorance, that they may not, as the consequence of their reading it, imbibe those doctrines which will, as they pretend, turn them aside from the faith of the church. Hence, they usually maintain that the common people ought to be kept in ignorance, as an expe dient to excite devotion ; and that, by this means, they will be the more humble, and pay a greater deference to those unwritten traditions which are propagated by them, and pretended to be of equal authority with scripture, which the common people must take up with instead of it. Indeed, the consequence corresponds with their desire ; for the people appear to be grossly ignorant, and think themselves bound to believe whatever their leaders pretend to be true, without exercising a judgment of discretion, or endeavouring to know the mind of God. What the Papists generally allege in opposing the common people's reading the Bible, is that scripture contains ' some things hard to be understood,' as the apostle Peter expresses, ' which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.'11 Now, it must be allowed that some things contained in scripture are hard to be understood ; inasmuch as the gospel contains some mysteries which finite wisdom cannot comprehend ; and the great doctrines of the gospel are sometimes unintelligible by us, by reason of the ignorance and alienation of our minds from the life of God, as weE as from the imperfection of the present state, in which we know but in part. Yet they who, with diligence and humility, desire and earnestly seek after the knowledge of those truths which are more immediately subservient to their salvation, shaE find that their labour is not lost. But in following on to know the Lord, thtey shall know as much of him as is necessary to their glorifying and enjoying him ; as the pro phet says, ' Then shaE ye know if ye follow on to know the Lord.'0 It is to be owned that there are some depths in scripture which cannot be fathomed by a finite understanding ; and these should raise our admiration, and put us upon adoring the unsearchable wisdom of God, as well as excite us to an humble confession that 'we are but of yesterday, and know' comparatively ' nothing. 'p Yet there are many doctrines which we may attain a clear knowledge of, and improve to the glory of God in the conduct of our lives. Thus the prophet speaks of ' an highway,' called ' the way of holiness,' concerning which he says, that 'way-faring men,' who walk in it, ' though fools,' that is, such as have the meanest capacity as to other things, ' shall not err therein ;'i that is, they who humbly desire the teaching of the Spirit, whereby they may be made acquainted with the mind and will of God, shaE not be led out of the way by any thing which he has revealed to his people in his word. It is very injurious to the sacred oracles to infer that, because some things are hard to be understood, all who read them must necessarily wrest them to their own destruction. Besides, the apostle does not say that all do so, but oiily those who are ' unlearned and unstable ;' — ' unlearned,' that is, altogether unac quainted with the doctrines of the gospel, not making them the matter of their study and inquiry ; and ' unstable,' that is, such as give way to scepticism, or they whose faith is not built on the right foundation, but are inclined to turn aside from the truth with every wind of doctrine. This God's people may hope to be kept from, while they study the holy scriptures, and earnestly desire to be made wise by them unto salvation. [See Note tJ, page 472.] The Papists farther allege against the common people being permitted to read the scriptures, that it will make them proud, and induce them to inquire into those things which do not belong to them, so that they will soon think themselves wiser than their teachers. They allege also that the reading of the scriptures by the ¦common people has been the occasion of all the heresies which are in the world. But whatever iE consequences attend a person's reading of scripture are to be ascribed, not to the use, but to the abuse of it. Will any one say that we ought to abstain from eating and drinking, because some are guilty of excess in them, by n 2 Pet. iii. 16. o Hosea vi. 3. p Job viii. 9. q Isa. xxxv. 8. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 45 I gluttony and drunkenness? No more ought we to abstain from reading the scrip tures, because some make a wrong use of them. As to its being supposed that \>y reading the scriptures some, through pride, will think themselves wiser than then- teachers, we will allow they may do so, without passing a wrong judgment en them selves. But it is an injurious treatment of mankind, to keep the world in igno rance that they may not detect the fallacies, or expose the errors, of those who pretend to be their guides in matters of faith. As to the allegation that the read ing of scripture has been the occasion of many heresies in the world, I am rather inclined to think that this evil ought to be charged on men's neglect of that duty, or, at least, on their not studying the scripture with diligence and an humble de pendence on God for his blessing. It may be observed, that whatever reasons are assigned by the Papists for their denying the people the liberty of reading the scripture, seem to carry a pretence of great kindness to them. The scriptures are pretended to be withheld from them that they may not be led out of the way, and do themselves hurt, just as it is a dangerous thing to put a knife or a sword into a child's or a madman's hand ; and thus they suppose the common people to be ignorant, and would keep them so. But, whatever reasons they assign, the true reason why they so much oppose the read ing of scripture is, that it detects and exposes the absurdity of many doctrines which are imbibed by them, and which will not bear to be tried by it. If they can but persuade their votaries, that whatever is handed down by tradition as a rule of faith, is to be received without the least hesitation, though contrary to the mind of God in scripture, they are not likely to meet with any opposition from them, let them advance doctrines never so absurd or contrary to reason. It may be inquired whether they universally prohibit the reading of scripture ? Now, it must be allowed that the vulgax Latin version of it may be read by any one who understands it, without falling under their censure. But then they are sensible that the greater part of the common people cannot understand it. Be sides, though they should understand it, it is so corrupta translation, that it seems plainly calculated to give countenance to the errors they advance. r It hence appears from their whole management in this matter, that their design is to de prive mankind of one of the greatest blessings which God has granted them, and to discourage persons from the performance of a duty which is absolutely neces sary to promote the interest of God and religion in the world. We must conclude, then, that it is an invaluable privilege that we are not only permitted but com manded to read the scriptures, as translated into the language which is generally understood by us. We are thus led to consider the inference deduced in the latter part of the Answer which we are explaining, namely, that the scriptures are to be translated out of the original into vulgar languages. That this ought to be done is evi dent from the fact that reading signifies nothing where the words are not under stood. Nor is every private Christian obliged to addict himself to the study of the languages in which the scriptures were written ; for this is a work of so much pains and difficulty, that few have opportunity or inclination to apply themselves to it to any considerable purpose. Hence, the words of scripture must be rendered intelligible to aE, and, consequently, translated into a language they understand. That this ought to be done may be farther argued from the care of providence as to the languages in which scripture was originally given. The scriptures were deliv ered to the Jews, in their own language. The greatest part of the Old Testament r Many instances of this might be produced.- Thus in Gen. iii. 15, instead of ' it shall bruise thy head,' they read ' she,' by which they understand the Virgin Mary, • shall bruise thy head,' that is the serpent's. In Gen. xlviii. 16, instead of, 'my name shall he named on them,' which are the words of Jacob concerning Joseph's sons, they read ' my name shall be invoked, or called upon by them ;' which favours the doctrine of invocation of saints. In Psal. xcix. 5, instead of, 'Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool,' they read, ' worship his footstool,' which gives counte nance to their error of paying divine adoration to places or things. In Heb. xi. 21, instead of 'Ja cob worshipped leaning on tbe top of his staff,' they read ' he worshipped the top of his staff.' And in Heb. xiii. 16, instead of, ' with such sacrifices God is well pleased,' they read, ' with such sacrifices God is merited ' which they make use of to establish the merit of good works. 452 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. was written in Hebrew ; and those few sections or chapters in Ezra and Daniel, which were written in the Chaldee language, were not inserted till they understood that language.8 And when the world generally understood the Greek tongue, so that there was no necessity for the common people to learn it in schools, and the Hebrew was not understood by those nations for whom the gospel was designed ; it pleased God to deliver the New Testament in the Greek language. It is hence beyond dispute that he intended that the scripture should not only be read, but understood by the common people. Moreover, when the gospel was sent to various nations of different languages, the Spirit of God, by an extraordinary and miracu lous dispensation in which he bestowed on them the gift of tongues, furnished the apostles to speak to every one in their own language ; a dispeiisation which would have been needless, if it were not necessary for persons to read or hear the holy scriptures with understanding. Directions for Reading the Word of God. We are now to consider how the word of God is to be read, that we may under- stand and improve what it contains to our spiritual advantage. On this subject there are several directions given in the latter of the Answers we are explaining. I. We must read the scriptures with a high and reverent esteem of them, arising from a firm persuasion that they are the very word of God. That they are so, has been proved by several arguments.' We will suppose that those who read them are persuaded that they are so ; and their having this persuasion wiE beget a high and reverent esteem of them. The perfections of God, and particularly his wisdom, sovereignty, and goodness, shine forth with as much glory in his word, as they do in any of his works. It hence has a preference to all human compositions. What ever is revealed in it is to be admired and depended on for its unerring wisdom and infallible verity ; so that it is impossible for those who understand and improve it, to be turned aside by it from the way of truth. We are also to consider the use which God makes of it, to propagate his kingdom and interest in the world. It is by means of it that he convinces men of sin, and discovers to them the way of obtaining forgiveness of it, and victory over it ; and thoroughly furnishes them unto every good work.u For this reason the wisest and best of men have expressed the highest esteem and value for it. The psalmist mentions the love he had to it, as a person who was in a rapture : ' 0 how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the. day.'1 ' It is more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb. '* Such high veneration as this we all ought to have -, otherwise we may sometimes be tempted to read it with prejudice, and may, in con sequence, through the corruption of our nature, be prone to cavil at it, as we some times do at those writings which are merely human, and which savour of the weak ness and imperfection of their authors ; and thus it will be impossible for us to re ceive any saving advantage from reading it. II. We must, in reading the word of God, be sensible that he alone can enable us to understand it. To read the scriptures and not understand them, will be of no advantage to us. Hence, it is supposed that we are endeavouring to have our minds rightly informed and furnished with the knowledge of divine truths. But by reason of the corruption, ignorance, and depravity of our natures, this knowledge cannot be attained without a peculiar blessing from God attending our endeavours. We ought therefore to glorify him, by dependence on him, for this privilege, — sen sible that all spiritual wisdom is from him. For if we would see a beauty and a glory in those things which are revealed in scripture, and be thoroughly established in the doctrines of the gospel, so as not to be in danger of being turned aside from *i.8 T.h!re '?' i,"'eeu' one verse '" Jeremiah, chap. x. II, written in Chaldee, which, it is probable, they did not at that time well understand. But the prophet by this intimates to them, that they snoukl be carried into a country where that language should be used ; and therefore the Holy Ghost tui-iushes them with a message that tbey were to deliver to the Chaldeans from the Lord, in their own «»"g««ge. f he gods, that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.' t See Quest, iv. u 2 Tim. iii. 16. x Psal. cxix. 97. y Psal. xix. 10. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 453 them, or, especially, if we would improve them to our being made wise unto salva tion, we must consider these objects of desire as the gift of God. It is he alone who can enable us to understand his word aright ; for it is not less necessary that there should be an internal illumination of our minds, than that there should be an external revelation as the matter of our studies and inquiries. Thus our Saviour not only repeated the words of those scriptures which concerned himself, to the two disciples going to Emmaus ; but ' he opened their understandings, that they might understand them.'z Without this divine illumination, a person may have the brightest parts, and most penetrating judgment in other respects, and yet be un acquainted with the mind of God in his word, and inclined to embrace those doc trines which are contrary to it. In particular, if God is not pleased to succeed our endeavours, we shall remain destitute of the experimental knowledge of divine truths, which is absolutely necessary to salvation. III. We must read the word of God with a desire to know, believe, and obey his will, revealed in it. If we do not desire to know or understand the meaning of scripture, it will remain no better than a sealed book to us ; and, instead of re ceiving advantage from it, we shall be ready to entertain prejudices against it, tiE we lay it aside with the utmost dislike, and, in consequence, be utterly estranged" from the life of God through the ignorance and vanity of our minds. We must also read the word of God with a desire to have our faith established by it, that our feet may be set upon a rock, and we may be delivered from all manner of doubts and hesitations, with respect to those important truths which are revealed in it. And we ought to desire, not only to believe, but to yield a constant and cheerful obedience to every thing which God therein requires of us. IV. Our reading the word of God ought to be accompanied with meditation, and the exercise of sell-denial. Our thoughts should be wholly and intensely taken up with the subject of it as persons who are studiously, and with the greatest earnest ness, pressing after the knowledge of those doctrines which are of the highest im portance, that our profiting in the study of it may appear to ourselves and others.3 As to the exercise of self-denial, all those perverse reasonings which our carnal minds are prone to suggest against the matter of divine revelation, are to be laid aside. If we are resolved to believe nothing but what we can comprehend, we ought to consider that the gospel contains unsearchable mysteries, which surpass finite wisdom ; so that we must be content to acknowledge that we know but in part. There is a deference to be paid to the wisdom of God which eminently ap pears in every thing he has discovered to us in his word ; and hence we must adore the divine perfections which are displayed in it, whilst we retain an humble sense of the imperfection of our own knowledge. Our reason is not to be considered as useless ; but we must desire that it may be sanctified, and inclined to receive what ever God is pleased to impart. We are to exercise the grace of self-denial also with respect to that obstinacy of our wills whereby they are naturally disinclined to acquiesce in, approve of, and yield obedience to, the will of God ; so that we may be entirely satisfied that every thing which he commands in his word, is holy, just, and good. V. The word of God is to be read with fervent prayer. ' If any man lack wis dom,' says the apostle, ' let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.'b The advantage which we expect by reading the word, is, as was formerly observed, his gift ; and hence we are humbly to supplicate him for it. There are many things in his word which are hard to bo understood ; so that we ought to say, whenever we take the scriptures into our hands, as the psalmist does, ' Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.'0 We may, in this case, humbly acknowledge the weakness of our capacities, and the blindness of our minds, which render it necessary for us to desire to be instructed by him in the way of truth. We may also plead that his design in giving us his word, was that it might be a lamp to our feet, and a light to our paths ; so that we dread the thoughts of walking in darkness, when there is such a clear discovery of those things which are so glorious and necessary z Luke xxiv. 45. a I Tim. iv. 15. b James i. 5. c Psal. cxix. 18, 454 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. to be known. We may aleo plead that our Lord Jesus is revealed to bis people as the prophet of his church ; and that whatever office he is invested with, he de lights to execute, as his glory is concerned in his doing so; so that weitrust and hope that he will lead us, by his Spirit, into all truth. We may also plead the impossibility of our .attaining the knowledge of divine things, without his assistance ; and how much it would redound to his glory, as well as our own comfort and ad vantage, if he will be pleased to lead us into the saving knowledge of the truth as it is in him. This we cannot but importunately desire,, being sensible of the sad consequences of our being destitute of it ; inasmuch as we should remain in dark ness, though favoured with the light of the gospel. VI. The word of God is to be read with diligence, and with attention to its matter and scope. We have hitherto been directed, in this Answer, to apply ourselves to the reading of scripture, with that frame of spirit which becometh Christians, who desire to know the mind and will of God ; — that we ought to have our minds dis engaged from those prejudices which would hinder our receiving any advantage from it, and to exercise those graces which the nature and importance of the duty require ; that we ought to depend upon God. and address ourselves to him by faith and prayer for the knowledge of those divine truths which are contained in scripture. But, in this last Head, we are led to speak of some other methods condu cive to our understanding scripture ; which are the effects of diligence and of at tention to the sense of the words of it, and the scope and design of them. This being an useful Head, I shall take occasion to enlarge on it more than I have done on others, and to add some things which may serve as a farther means to direct us how we may read the scriptures with understanding. I might here observe that they who are weE acquainted with the languages in which they were written, and are able to make just remarks on the words, phrases, and particles used in them, some of which cannot be expressed in another language without losing much of their native beauty and significance, have certainly the advantage of aE others. But as the greater part of mankind cannot enjoy this advantage, they being strangers to the Greek and Hebrew languages, they must have recourse to some other helps for the attaining of the desired end. 1. It will be of great use for them to consult those expositions which we have of the whole or some particular parts of scripture ; of which some are more large, others concise, — some critical, others practical. I shall forbear making any re marks tending to depreciate the performance of some expositors, or extol the judg-- ment of others ; only this must be observed, that many have passed over some dif ficulties of scripture, and by their omissions have given a degree of disgust to the more inquisitive part of Christians. The course they have pursued maybe attributed, in some instances, to a commendable modesty, which we find not only in those who have written in our own language, but in those who have written in others., whereby they tacitly confess, either that they could not solve the difficulties which they pass by, or that it was better to leave them undetermined, than to attempt solutions which, at best, would amount to Ettle more than probable conjectures. It may also be observed that others who have commented on scripture, seemed to be prepossessed with a particular scheme of doctrine, which, if duly considered, is not very defensible ; and they are obliged, sometimes, to strain the sense of a text, that it may appear to speak agreeably to their own sentiments. Their expositions, however, may, in other respects, be used with great advantage. We may add, that as the word preached is designed to lead us into the knowledge. of scripture doctrines, we ought to attend upon and improve it, as a means condu-, cive to this end, and to bless God for the great helps and advantages we enjoy. But more shall be said on this subject under some foEowing Answers relating to the preaching and hearing of the word.d 2. We ought to make the best use we can of those translations of scripture which we have in our own language. If we compare these together, we shaE find, not only that the style in which one is written differs from that of another, agreeably to the respective times in which they were written, but that they differ very much d See Quest, clix, clx. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 455 in the sense they give of many places of scripture. Their differences may easily be accounted for from the various acceptations of the same Hebrew or Greek word, as may be observed in all other languages. Tliere are also difficulties relating to the proper manner of translating some particular phrases, or to the various senses in which several particles are to be understood. Now, by comparing translations together, they who are unacquainted with the original, will be sometimes led into a sense more agreeable to the context and the analogy of faith, by one of them, than by another. But we will suppose the English reader to confine himself to the translation which is generally used by us. Though this cannot be supposed to be of equal authority with the original, or so perfect that it admits of no correction as to any word or phrase which it contains ; yet I would be far from taking occasion to de preciate it, or to say any thing which may stagger the faith of any, as though we were in danger of being led aside by it from the way of truth. Some who plead for the necessity of a new translation of the Bible, pretend that we are in some such danger ; though it is much to be feared, that if any new translation should be at tempted, it would deviate more from the sense of the Holy Ghost, than that which we now have, and have reason to bless God for, and which, I cannot but think, comes as near the original as most that are extant. We shaE therefore consider how this may be used to the best advantage, for our understanding the mind of God. Now, let it be observed, that there is another translation of words referred to in the margin of our Bibles, which will sometimes give very great light to the sense of the text, and appear more emphatic, and rather to be acquiesced in. I shall give a short specimen of some texts of scripture which may be illustrated from the mar ginal reading. In Job iv. 18, it is said, ' He put no trust in his servants, and his angels he charged with folly.' In the margin, it is observed that the words may be read, ' He put no trust in his servants, nor in his angels, in whom he put light.' This reading points out the excellency of the nature of angels, and the wisdom with which they are endowed ; and shows that, notwithstanding these, God put no trust in them, not having thought fit to make use of them in creating the world, nor having committed to them the government of it. Again, in Isaiah liii. 3, it is said, speaking of our Saviour, ' We hid, as it were, our faces from him ;' but in the margin it is, ' He hid, as it were, his face from us.' The latter reading implies that as he bore our grief, so he was charged with our guilt ; and accordingly is re presented, as having his face covered, as an emblem of his bearing it. Or it denotes his concealing or veiling his glory, as he who was really in the form of God, appeared in the form of a servant. Again, in Jer. xliii 20, the prophet re proving the people, says, 'Ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, pray for us ;' but in the margin- it 'is, ' You have used deceit against your souls.' Here the marginal reading contains a farther illustra tion of the text ; as it not only denotes their hypocrisy, but the consequence of it, namely,, their destruction. This sense agrees very well with the threatening de nounced in verse 22, that they should ' die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.' The same prophet, in chap. x. 14, speaking of idolaters, says, ' Every man is brutish in his knowledge ;' but in the margin it is, ' Every man is more brutish than to know.' Here their stupidity is assigned rather to their igno rance than to their knowledge.* Again, in Zechariah xii. 5, it is said, ' The gover nors of Judah shall say in their hearts, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God ;' but in the margin- it is, ' The governors of Judah shall say, There is strength to me, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the Lord of hosts.' This reading seems more agreeable to what foEows; which contains several promises of ; deliverance and salvation, which God would work for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. >, Hence, we are not to suppose 'them saying, 'Jeru salem shall be our strength ;' but, ' The Lord of hosts shall 'be bur strength,' who is a safeguard to Jerusalem, as well as to the governors of Judah. Again, in Acts xvii. 23,, it is said, ' As I passed by, and beheld- your devotions ;' but in the mar gin it-is, ' the gods, whom, yewoi-shipj or the things ye pay divine "honour to ;, a reading which is very agreeable to the context, and the design of the apostle. Again, in chap. xxii. 29, it is said, ' They departed from him, which should have examined him,' meaning Paul ; but in the margin it is, ' tortured him ;' and this 456 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. reading refers to the Roman custom of scourging, and thereby tormenting one who was under examination ior supposed crimes. Again, in Gal. i. 14, the apostle says, ' I profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals ;' but in the margin it is, ' my equals in years ;' a reading which seems much more agreeable to the apostle's design. Again, in Heb. ii. 7, it is said in the text, ' Thou madest him,' that is, our Saviour, 'a little lower than the angels ;' but in the margin it is, 'a little while inferior to them.' Here there is a reference to his state of humiliation, which continued, comparatively, but a little while. Further, in order to our making a right use of our English translation, that we may understand the mind of God contained in it, let it be observed that, by reason of the conciseness of the style of the Hebrew and Greek texts, there are several words left out, which must be supplied to complete the sense, and that these are inserted in an Italic character. Now, it will not be difficult for us to determine whether the insertion be just or not ; when we consider that the translators often take their direction in making it from some words, either expressed or understood, in the context. Thus in Heb. viii. 7, 'If the first covenant had been faultless,' &c, the word ' covenant' is inserted, as it is also in verse 13, because it is express ly mentioned in verses 8 — 10. Again, in chap. x. 6, it is said, ' In sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure.' Here the word ' sacrifices' is supplied from the fore going verse ; and, for the same reason, 'offerings' might as well have been sup plied, as it is verse 8. And, in verse 25, we are commanded to ' exhort one an other ;' where ' one another ' is supplied from the foregoing verse. Again, in 1 Pet. iv. 16, " If any man suffer as a Chrstian, let him not be ashamed,' the words, 'any man suffer ' are inserted as agreeable to what is mentioned verse 15. Again, in Ephes. ii. 1, ' You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,' the words ' hath he quickened ' are supplied from verse 5 ; and our translators might as weE have added, ' you hath he quickened, together with him,' namely, Christ. These instances I mention only as a specimen of insertions to complete the sense in our translation ; and we shall find that the words supplied in other scriptures are, for the most part, sufficiently just. But if they be not so, they are subject to correction, without the least imputation of altering the words of scripture, while we are endeavouring to give the true sense of it ; and we may be allowed, without perverting the sacred writings, sometimes to supply other words instead of them, which may seem more agreeable to the mind of the Holy Ghost. Thus, in Eph. vi. 12, it is said, ' We wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places.' Here the word ' places ' is supplied by our translators ; and, in the margin, it is observed that it might as well be rendered ' heavenly places.' Now, because there is no spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, they choose, without regard to the proper sense of the Greek word, to render it ' high places ;' while in chap. iii. 10, where there is no appearance of such an objection, they render the same word, 'heavenly places ;' though, I think, the word in both scriptures, might better be rendered 'in what concerns heavenly things.' Again, in 2 Cor. vi. 1, it is said, 'We, as workers together with him, beseech you,' &c. Here, 'with him,' is supplied to complete the sense ; but, I think, it might better have been left out, and then the sense would have been, ministers are ' workers together with one another,' and not 'to gether with God.' They are honoured to be employed by God, as moral instru ments which he makes use of ; but they have no other causality in bringing about the work of grace. The principal reason why the words ' with him ' are supplied, is that the supplement seems agreeable to the apostle's mode of speaking, in 1 Cor. iii. 9, ' We are labourers together with God.' But, I think, those words might better be rendered, ' Labourers together of God ;'e meaning that we are jointly en gaged in his work. There is, therefore, no reason from this passage to supply the words ' with him,' in the text just referred to. 3. If we would understand the sense of a particular text of scripture, we must consider its connection with the context. Accordingly, we must observe the scope, design, or argument insisted on, in the paragraph in which it is contained. Thus, in Eom. viii., the apostle's design in general, is to prove that there is ' no condemna- e Btau y*i> tffj.it rvtipyei. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 457 tion to them which are in Christ Jesus,' and to show who they are who may conclude themselves to be interested in this privilege, together with the many blessings which are connected with it or flow from it. In Heb. i. the apostle's principal de sign is, as he intimates in the fourth verse, to prove the excellency and glory of Christ, as Mediator, above the angels ; and this argument is particularly insisted on, and illustrated, in the following part of the chapter. In chap. xi. his design is to give an account of the great things the Old Testament church were enabled to do and suffer by faith ; on which subject there is an induction of particulars. In Rom. v. the apostle insists on the doctrine of original sin, and shows "how sin and death first entered into the world, and by what means we may expect to be delivered from them ; and so he takes occasion to compare Adam and Christ as two distinct heads or representatives of those who were included in the respective covenants which mankind were under, — by the former of whom, sin reigned unto death, and, by the latter, grace and righteousness unto eternal life. Again, in chap, vii., especially from verse 5, the general argument insisted on, is the conflict and opposition which there is between sin and grace, and the manner in which cor rupt nature discovers itself in the souls of the regenerated, together with the dis turbance and uneasiness which it constantly gives them. In Psal. lxxxviii. we have an account of the distress which a soul is in, when under divine desertion, and brought to the very brink of despair. In Psal. lxxii., under the type of the glory of Solomon's kingdom, and the advantages his subjects should receive, the glory and excellency of Christ's kingdom is illustrated, together with the gospel state and its blessings. In Psal. li. David represents a true penitent as addressing himself to God for forgiveness ; though making particular reference to his own case, after he had sinned in the matter of Uriah. Again, the general argument of Isa. liii. is to set forth the sufferings of Christ whereby he made satisfaction for sin, together with the glory redounding to himself, and the advantages accruing to believers. Further, we must, in examining any passage, consider the method made use of iu managing the argument ; whether it is close reasoning, and the deduction of consequences from premises ; or whether it is an explanation of what was designed to inform the judgment, and was laid down before in a general proposition ; or whether the principal design of the paragraph is to regulate the conduct of our lives, awaken our consciences out of a stupid frame, or excite in us becoming affections ; and we are to observe how every part of it is adapted to answer these ends. More over, we are to consider who is the person speaking or spoken to ; whether they are the words of God, the church, or the inspired writer ; and, whether they are directed to particular persons, or to all men in general. Here we may often ob serve that, in the same paragraph, there is an apostrophe, or turning of the dis course from one person to another. Nothing is more common than this in the poetical writings of scripture. Thus in the Psalms of David, sometimes God is represented as speaking to man, and then man as speaking to or concerning God. We may observe this, for example, in Psal. cxxxvii. In verses 1 — 4, there is a relation of the church's troubles in Babylon ; in verses 5, 6, the psalmist addresses his discourse to the church : ' If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning ;' in verse 7, he speaks to God, praying that he would 'remem ber the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem ; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof;' and in verses 8, 9, he turns his discourse to Babylon, as a nation destined to destruction. Again, in Psal. ii. he speaks concerning the rage of the heathen against Christ and his church, and that disappointment and ruin which they should meet with for it. In verse 6, he represents God the Father as saying concerning Christ, 'Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion ;' in verses 7, 8, Christ is brought in as making mention of the decree of God relat ing to his character and office as Mediator, and the success of his kingdom as ex tended to 'the uttermost parts of the earth,' pursuant to his mtercession, which was founded on his satisfaction ; and, in verses 10 — 12, the psalmist turns his dis course to those persecuting powers, or the kings of the earth, whom he had spoken of in the former part of the psalm, and instructs them what methods they should take to escape God's righteous vengeance. Such changes as these of persona J.A. 3 .vi 458 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. speaking, or spoken to. may be observed in many of the psalms. f Throughout the whole Book of Canticles, also, there is an interchangeable discourse between Christ and his church, which is sometimes called his spouse, at other times his sister. Sometimes he speaks to the church, and at other times of it. In other places the church is represented as speaking to him, or to the daughters of Jerusalem, name ly, those professors of religion who had little more than a form of godliness.^ Again, we often find that there is a change with respect to the persons speaking, spoken to, or of, in the writings of the prophets, as well as in the poetical writings. This may be observed in Isa. lxiii., throughout the chapter. And, in Micah vii. 18 — 20, there is a change of persons in almost every sentence : ' Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, &c. He retaineth not his anger for ever; he will subdue our iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.' We are farther to consider the occasion of what is laid down in any chapter, paragraph, or book of scripture, which we desire to understand. Thus the parti cular occasion of the book of Lamentations, was the approaching ruin of Judah, and the miseries which they should be exposed to when Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans. That this was the occasion of the book appears from the subject of it ; though, it may be, that which was the more immediate occasion of it, was that the prophet might lament the death of good Josiah.s This event the prophet probably had a peculiar eye to, when he says, ' The crown is fallen from our head ;'h as well as the destruction of the whole nation which should soon follow, in which their civil and religious liberties would be invaded by their enemies, who would oppress them and lead them captive. — Again, the principal occasion of the apostle's writing the epistle to the Galatians, was that he might establish some among them in the faith of the gospel, who were much disposed to turn aside from him who had called them, and to embrace another scheme of religion which was subversive of the gospel. Accordingly, in chap. i. 6, by this ' other gospel ' which he dissuades them from turning aside unto, we are to understand those doctrines which they had imbibed from those false teachers who endeavoured either to re-establish the observance of the ceremonial law, or to put them upon seeking righteousness and life from their observing the precepts of the moral law, — a course which tended to overthrow the doctrine of justification by Christ's, righteousness, on which the apostle often insists both in this and in his other epistles. — This method of inquiring into the occasion of what is mentioned in particular paragraphs of scripture, wiE often give light to some things contained in them. . Thus we read, in Matt. xxi. 23—27, that the chief priests and elders asked our Saviour the question, ' By what authority doest thou these things?' Now, had. this jquestion proceeded from an humble mind, desirous to be convinced by his reply to it, or had he not often, in their hearing, asserted the authority by which he did' those things; he would, doubtless, have told them that he received a commission to do them from the Fa ther, and that every miracle which he wrought was, as it were, a confirming seal annexed to it. But our Saviour, knowing the. design of the question, and the character of the persons who asked it, does not think fit to make any reply to it,' rather choosing to put them to silence, by proposing another question* to them which he knew they would not be forward to answer, relating to -the baptism of John, ' namely, whether it was from heaven, or of men. This was certainly the best method he could have taken ; for he dealt with them as cavillers, who were to be1 put to silence, and at the same time made ashamed. 4. In order to our understanding the sense of scripture, we must, so far as it is possible, compare the phrases or modes of expression as well as the subject insisted on, with what occurs in. parallel places. In several of the historical parts of scrip ture, for example, we have the same history, or, at least, many things tending to illustrate it. Thus, the history of the reign of the kings of Judah and Israel, is the principal subject of the books of Kings and Chronicles, one of which often re fers to, as well as explains, the other, and, by comparing them together, we shall find that one gives light to the other. Thus it is said, in 2 Kings xii. 2, that ' Je- f See Psal. xvi. 1, &c. and cxxxiv. g See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. h Lam. v. 16. BY WHOM AND HOW THF WORD IS TO BE READ. 459 hoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, wherein Jehoi- ada the priest instructed him. ' Here it is intimated that, after the death of Johoiada, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. That he did so, however, is not particularly mentioned in this chapter, which principally insists on that part of his reign which was commendable. But if we compare it with 2 Chron. xxiv., we there have an account of his reign after the death of Jehoiada, how he 'set up idolatry, ' ' being instigated by his princes, who flattered him or 'made obeisance unto hjm ;' how he disregarded the prophets sent to testify against these practices ; and how he ' stoned Zechariah in the court of the house of the Lord,' for his faithful reproof and pro phetic intimation of the consequence of his idolatry, — an act in which he showed the greatest ingratitude, and forgetfulness of the good things which had been done for him by his father, who set him on the throne. We have also an account of the time when the Syrians came up against him ; how they overcame him with a small company of men ; and how ' the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.'11 — Again, in the Book of Kings we have but a short history of the reign of Azariah, otherwise called Uzziah, and of his being ' smitten by the Lord, so that he was a leper until the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house.'1 But in 2 Chron. xxvi. there is a larger account of him, of his success in war, and of the honour and the riches which he gained by it ; and there is also a particular account of the reason of the Lord's smiting him with leprosy, — namely, his invading a branch of the priest's office. — Again, in the history of the reign of Manasseh, in 2 Kings xxi., we have an account of only the vile and abominable part of it. But in 2 Chron. xxxiii. we have an account not only of his wickedness, but of his repentance, together with the afflic tion which occasioned it.m Moreover, when we read the prophetic writings, we must, for our better under-, standing them, compare them with the particular history of the reign of those kings in whose time they were written, and with the history of the state of the Jewish churcn, of their alliances or wars with neighbouring princes, and of the sins which they were guilty of, which gave occasion to their being sometimes insulted and overcome by them, tiE their ruin was completed in being carried captive into Babylon. Thus the seventh chapter of Isaiah gives an account of the attempt of Rezin king of Sy ria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, against Ahaz, and contains a prediction of their miscarriage in this attempt; it also foretells that the king of Assyria should be hired to assist Ahaz, but should, instead, deal deceitfully with him, so that he should deprive Judah of their ornaments, and impoverish them instead of being helpful to them. Now, of these matters we have a farther explanation in the history of Ahaz's reign, in 2 Kings xvi, and 2 Chron. xxviii. — Again, we ought to com pare the account, in the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh chapters of Isaiah, of Sen nacherib's invading Judah, and the blasphemous insult of his servant Rabshakeh, together with his defeat, and the remarkable hand of God which brought it about as an encouragement of Hezekiah's piety, with the historical account of the same occurrences, in 2 Kings xviii. and xix. and 2 Chron. xxxii. — Again, we must com pare the psalms of David with his life, or with the state of the church, which is par ticularly referred to in some of them, and which may be very much illustrated by other scriptures which have relation to the same dispensations of providence, or con tain an historical account of them. Those psalms, for example, which were penned on particular occasions, mentioned in the respective titles prefixed to them, will be better understood if we compare the subject of them with the history they refer to. Moreover, we shall often find that when the same thing is mentioned in different; places of scripture, there is something added in one, which farther illustrates, what is contained in the other. Thus, in the account we have of the life of Joseph,! is Gen. xxxix. 20, it is said that he was 'put into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound;' and, in chap. xii. 14, it is said that he was keptrfin • the dungeon, ' which is the worst part of the prison. But the psalmist, speakingcof the same matter, in Psal. cv. 18, adds that his ' feet were hurt with fetters,' and lie was ' laid iu irons ; ' and thus affords a farther illustration of the history of his troubles.— i 2 Chron. xxiv. 17, 18. k Verses 23, 24. 1 2 Kings xv. 1_5. m 2 Chrori. xxxiii. 12— -19* 460 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. Again, we read in Numb. xi. 31, 32, of God's 'feeding Israel,' upon their murmuring in the desert for want of flesh, ' with quails in great abundance ;' and the same event is mentioned in Psal. lxxviii. 27, where we have an account that these quails were a sort of ' feathered fowl, ' — a fact which could not have been so well understood by the sense of the Hebrew word which we render quails." We have also an account, in Exod. xvii. 6, of God's supplying them with ' water out of the rock in Horeb ;' and if we compare what is there said with Psal. cv. 41, we shall find that this water issued thence in so large a stream, that it was like a river. The apostle Paul likewise gives farther light on the subject, when he says, speaking in a figurative way, that ' the rock followed them,'0 that is, the water which ran from it like a river, did not flow in a right line, but, by a continued miracle, changed its course, as they altered their stations, in their various removes from place to place in the wilderness ; and he adds that God designed this event to be a type of Christ. I might also observe that there many things in the life of David after his expulsion from Saul's court, which would argue him an usurper. He did not merely flee to secure his life, which, as a private person, he might lawfully do ; but he raised a small army. Accordingly, it is said that ' every one that was in distress, or in debt, or discontented, gathered themselves unto him ; and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men.'P And Jonathan, who was heir-apparent to the crown, was forced to capitulate with him, and take an oath of him that he would grant him his life, concluding that he would be king after his father's death. i Nor was Saul's jealousy, which was attended with rage amounting to a kind of distraction, altogether without ground ; and he intimates as much when he tells him, 'Behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king.'1 Accordingly, in the following verses, he makes him ' swear to him, that he would not cut off his seed after him, or destroy his name out of his father's house.' Now, this conduct of David could hardly be justified, if we did not consider what we read in another part of scripture, that, before that time, God had taken away the king dom from Saul, and ordered David to be anointed king in his stead,8 though he had not the actual possession of the kingdom till after Saul's death. I might farther observe, that the accounts contained in the books of Moses of the ceremonial law, and the various rites and ordinances of divine service contained in it, and also many expressions in the Old Testament which refer to it, ought to be compared with several things which are recorded in the writings of the apostle Paul, particularly, in a very considerable part of his epistle to the Hebrews,1 in which we have an account of the signification of the ceremonial observances as or dained to be types of the gospel-dispensation. Indeed, there are many scriptures of the Old Testament, which will be better understood by comparing them with others which refer to them in the New. Thus, Isa. xiv. 23, ' Unto me every knee shall bow, ' appears to be very agreeable to what is said concerning our Saviour, in Phil. ii. 10. ; and it is not only spoken of the divine honour which should be paid to him, but relates, in a peculiar manner, to that glory which all shall ascribe to him, when they stand before his tribunal. This appears by comparing the passage with Rom. xiv. 10, 11. — Again, when we read, in Isa. vi. 10, of God's sending the prophet to ' make the heart of the people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed;' it is not to be supposed that God is re presented here as the author of their sin. This will plainly appear if we compare the passage with Matt. xiii. 15, where it is cited and farther explained: 'This people's heart is waxed fat, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes,' &c. In Acts xxviii. 26, 27, also it is referred to, and explained in the same sense, as charging their sin and the consequence of it upon themselves. n The word is V?w, which being neither a root to any other word, nor derived from any other root, by which the sense of Hebrew words is generally known, nor found any where in scripture, excepting in those two or three places which refer to this particular dispensation of providence, it is a hard matter to determine the sense of it, without comparing these two scriptures together. ° . ? °r" A' 4' P * Sam- xxii- 2" 1 CnaP- xx- 14- l5- compared with ver. 42. r 1 ham. xxiv. 20. s Chap. xvi. 13. t See the epistle to the Hebrews, chap, v— y. inclusive, and 2 Cor. x. 1 6. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 4P\ By this method of comparing the Old and New Testament together, we shall be led to see the beautiful harmony of scripture, and how its predictions have been accom plished; which will tend very much to establish our faith in the truth of the Chris tian religion founded on it. But this point having been insisted on elsewhere," we pass it over at present, and proceed to make another observation. There are several places in the New Testament which, being compared together, will give light to one another. Thus, in the four evangelists, which contain the history of the life and death of Christ, some things are left out or but briefly hinted at in one of them, which are more largely insisted on in another. Thus we read, in Matt. xii. 14, 15, that 'the Pharisees went out and held a counsel against' our Saviour, ' how they might destroy him ;' and that on that occasion ' he withdrew himself from thence ; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.' But Mark,x speaking concerning the same thing, intimates that the Herodians were joined with the Pharisees in this conspiracy ; and that he 'withdrew himself to the sea,' namely, of Tiberias, where he ordered that ' a smaE ship should wait on him, lest the multitude should throng him.' We have also an account of several places whence they came, namely, ' Galilee, Jerusalem, Idumea, and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, ' so that a great part of them were Gentiles. Now, these additional particulars give light to what follows in Matt. xii. 18, 21, where it is intimated that the occurrence was an accomplishment of what was ' foretold by the prophet Esaias,' that Christ should 'show judgment to the Gentiles,' and that, 'in his name the Gentiles should trust.' Hence, he wrought miracles to convince them that he was the Messias. — Again, it is said, in Matt. xiii. 12, 'Who soever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance ; but who soever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.' Here some will be ready to inquire how that which a man hath can be said to be taken away, when he is supposed to have nothing ; or how a person can be said to lose that which he never had. But if we compare the passage in Matthew with a parallel scripture, in Luke viii. 18, we shall find it there said, ' Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have ;' or as it is in the margin, 'that which he thinketh he hath.' Now, though a man cannot lose grace, who had it not ; yet an hypocrite, who seems to have it, may lose that which he sup- poseth himself to have. — This method of comparing the four evangelists together, is attempted by several divines. Among these, a late writer, who is deservedly esteemed by aE the Reformed churches/ thinks that the inscription on the cross of Christ can hardly be determined, without comparing what is said of it by all the four evangelists. Mark says the words were, ' The King of the Jews ;'z Luke says they were, ' This is the King of the Jews ;'a Matthew adds another word, ' This is Jesus, the King of the Jews ;'b and John says the inscription was, ' Jesus of Nazar eth, the King of the Jews.'0 Hence, by comparing them all together, and supplying those words from one which are left out by others, we must conclude that the in scription was, ' This is Jesus of Nazareth,- the King of the Jews.' Again, as the Acts of the Apostles contains a brief history of the first planting of the gospel-church, and in particular, of the travels and ministry of the apostle Paul, it ought to be compared with some things occasionally mentioned in Paul's epistles, which will give farther light to its statements. Thus the apostle says, in 1 Cor. xv. 8, ' Last of aE he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time ;' and speaks of himself, in ver. 9, as ' the least of the apostles, not meet to be called an apostle ; because he persecuted the church of God.' Now, this ac count of himself ought to be compared with Acts ix. 1 — 6, which gives an account of him as a persecutor before his conversion, and shows how our Saviour was seen of him. By comparing the two passages, it appears that Christ's being seen of him is not to be understood in the same sense as that in which he was seen by the rest of the apostles before his ascension into heaven ; but of his being seen of him after u See Sect. ' Proofs that the Scriptures are inspired,' under Quest, iv. x Mark iii. 7, et seq. y See Lightfoot's Harmony of the Four Evangelists; and his Harmony of the New Testament vol. i. page 2G8. z Mark xv. 26. a Luke xxiii. 38. b Matt, xxvii. 37. c John xix. 19. 402 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. his ascension, when, on the occasion mentioned in the latter pnssage, he appeared to him. If, again, we examine 1 Cor. xi. 1, we shall find that Paul considers this sight of Jesus as having been a necessary qualification for the apostleship. Hence, when he speaks of himself as ' born out of due time, ' he means that he was called to the apostleship, and qualified for it, out of due time ; that is, not at the same time in which the other apostles were, but by this extraordinary dispensation of provi dence. Again, when the apostle, in 1 Thess. ii. 2, speaks of his having been ' shamefully entreated at Philippi, ' his statement will be better understood if we com pare it with Acts xvi. 16, 21, 22, et seq. And when he tells the Thessalonians, in the following words, 'We were bold in our God, to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention,' his words should be compared with Acts xvii. 1, et seq. Many instances of a similar nature might be given, from which the usefulness of comparing one scripture with another would farther appear. But, I design what I have stated as only a specimen, to assist us in the application of this direction ; which a diligent inquirer into the sense of scripture will be able to make farther improvements upon. 5, In order to our understanding the scriptures, we must take notice of the several figurative modes of speaking which are used in them. For example, the part is often put for the whole. d Thus the soul, which is one constituent part of man, is some times put for the whole man ; as in Gen. xlvi. 26, where we read of 'the souls' that came ' with Jacob into Egypt. And, in Rom. xii. 1, the body is put for the whole man : ' I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies,' that is, yourselves, ' a living sacrifice to God.' So the blood of Christ, which is often spoken of in scripture as that by which we are redeemed, justified, and saved, is to be taken for the whole of his obedience and sufferings, both in life and in death ; to which our salvation is to be ascribed, as well as to the effusion of his blood. Again, the thing containing, is put for that which is contained in it.e Thus the cup in the Lord's supper, is put for the wine.f And the thing signified is put for that which is the sign of it. Thus when it is said, ' This is my body ;'s the mean ing is, this bread is a sign of my body, namely, of the sufferings endured in it. Again, places are, by way of anticipation, called by those names which, in reality, were not given them, or which they were not commonly known by till some time after. Thus it is said that, as soon as Israel had passed over Jordan, they ' en camped in Gilgal,h that is, in the place which was afterwards so called ; for we read that it was called Gilgal because there they were circumcised, and so ' the reproach of Egypt,' occasioned by the neglect of that ordinance, ' was roEed away.'1 Again, it is said, ' The kings that came up against Sodom,' when Lot was taken prisoner, ' had smitten all the country of the Amalekites.'k Yet the country which was afterwards known by that name, could not be so called at that time ; since Amalek, from whom it took its name, was not born tiE some ages after, he being of the posterity of Esau.1 Further, the time past or present is often, especially in the prophetic writings, put for the time to come. This mode of writing denotes the certainty of the per formance of the prediction, as much as though it were actuaEy accomplished. Thus it is said, ' fie,' that is, our Saviour, 'is despised and rejected of men ; he hath borne our griefs, he was wounded for our transgressions.'"1 And elsewhere, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.'" And, ' Unto us a child is born,'0 &c. Further, one of the senses is sometimes put for another. Thus when it is said, ' I turned to see the voice that spake to me,'P seeing is put for hearing, or for un derstanding the meaning of the voice which spake. Again, positive assertions are sometimes taken in a comparative sense. Thus God says to Samuel, The people in asking a king, ' have not rejected thee, but me ;'i that is, they have cast more contempt on me than they have on thee, or they have offered a greater affront to my government who condescended to be their d This is called synecdoche. e This is called a metonymy. f 1 Cor. xi. 25. g Ver. 24. h Josh. iv. 19. i Chap. v. 9. k Gen. xiv. 7. 1 Chap, xxxvi. 12. m Isa. lin. 4, 5. n Chap. ix. 2. o Ver. 6. p Kev. i. 12. q 1 Sam. viii. 7. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 463 king, though they have been uneasy under thine administration as appointed to bo their judge. So" in Psal. li. 4, David says, ' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned.' Yet he had sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, having murdered the one, and tempted the other to commit adultery with him ; he had sinned against the army, whom he occasioned to fall in battle, in execution of the orders he gave Joab, with a design to destroy Uriah. But though he had sinned against these parties, he says, ' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned ;' that is, the great est aggravation of my sin is, that it contains rebellion against thee. Elsewhere also God says, ' I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ;'r that is, more than sacrifice. Again, there are several hyperbolical ways of speaking in scripture, whereby more is expressed than what is generaEy understood. Thus the vessel in the temple in which things were washed, which was ten cubits from one brim to the other, is called 'a molten sea ;'8 because it contained a great quantity of water; though, indeed, it was very small, if compared with the dimensions of the sea. In 1 Kings x. 27, it is said that ' Solomon made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones ; and cedars as the sycamore-trees, which are in the vale for abundance.' Now sil ver was not, strictly speaking, as plentiful as stones ; but the language implies that there were vast treasures of it heaped up by the king and many of his subjects, and that there was no lack of it on the part of any one. In Judges xx. 16, it is said there were ' some of the Benjamites left-handed, every one of whom could sling stones at an hair-breadth, and not miss.' But this statement means only that they had an uncommon expertness in this matter. When, again, we read of some of the cities in the land of Canaan, that were 'great, and walled up to heaven;'* the meaning only denotes that their waEs were very high. In 1 Kings i. 40, it is said that, on occasion of Solomon's being anointed king, ' the people rejoiced with great joy ; so that the' earth rent with the sound of them.' Here the mean ing is only that the shouts of the people were so great, that if the concussion of the air made by such means could have rent the earth, they would have done it. Further, we sometimes find ironical expressions, and sarcasms used in scripture, with a design to expose the wickedness and folly of men. Thus, when our first parents sinned by adhering to the suggestions of Satan, who told them that they ' should be as gods, knowing good and evil ;'u God says, in an ironical way, ' Be hold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,'" &c. So the prophet Elijah exposes Baal's worshippers, and Micaiah, Ahab's false prophets, by using a sarcastic way of speaking.? Job uses the same figurative way of speaking, when he reproves the bitter invectives and false reasonings of his friends : ' No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.'z Solomon uses the same way of address, when he says, ' Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 'a The man who trusts in his own righteousness for justification, is also exposed in the same way, ' Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks ; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. 'b And when our Saviour , says to his disciples, having found them asleep, ' Sleep on now, and take your rest ; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is be trayed into the hands of sinners, 'c it is plain, from the following words, that he uses this figurative way of speaking ; for he immediately adds, without an irony, ' Rise, let us be going.' Some think also that this is the method of speaking which our Saviour makes use of, when he reproves his disciples for the fond conceit they had that his kingdom was of this world, contending sometimes among themselves who should be greatest \n it. Referring to that conceit, he bids them make provision for war, and take care to secure those two things which are necessary for it, money and arms. ' He that hath a purse,' says he, ' let him take it ; and he that hath no sword, let him seE his garment, and buy one.'d They did not, indeed, imme- r Hos. vi. 6. s 1 Kings vii. 23. t Deut. i. 28. u Gen. iii. 5. x Verse 22. y 1 Kings xviii. 27; chap. xxii. 15. z Job xii. 2. a Eccl. xi. 9. b Isa. 1. 11." c Ma t. xxvi. 45, 46. d Luke xxii. 36. 464 BY WHOM AtfD HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. diately perceive that he spake in an ironical way ; and therefore replied, ' Lord. behold here are two swords; 'e He then said to them, still carrying on the irony, ' It is enough.' Hence, whether they understood his meaning or not, it seems to have been this : " If you are disposed to contend who shall be greatest, as though my kingdom were of a temporal nature, and to be erected and maintained by force of arms, do you think you have a sufficient treasure to hire forces to join with you, or buy arms for that purpose ? or, do you imagine that you have courage enough to attack the Roman empire, and gain it by force ? You say, you have two swords ; can you suppose that these are enough ? What a ludicrous and indifferent figure would you make, if you expected to come off conquerors by this means ! No, they that take the sword shall perish with the sword; for my kingdom is not of this world. All the advantages and honours which you are to expect in it, are of a spiritual nature." This seems to be the meaning of this scripture, rather than that which the Papists generally acquiesce in, namely, that by 'the two swords,' are meant the civil and ecclesiastical, both of which, as they pretend, are put into the Pope's hands. Again, the scripture often makes use of a figurative way of speaking, generally called an hendyadis, whereby one complex idea is expressed by two words. This figure is very common in the Hebrew language. Thus when God promises his peo ple that he would give them 'an expected end, 'f intending hereby their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity ; the words, if literally translated, ought to be ren dered, as is observed in the" margin, ' an end and expectation.' Our translators, however, were apprized that there is such a figurative way of speaking contained in them ; and therefore they render them, 'an expected end.' This figure is some times used in the New Testament. Thus our Saviour tells his disciples, ' I will give you a mouth and wisdom ;'« that is, I will give you ability to express your selves with so much wisdom, ' that all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say it.' Some think, that the same way of speaking is used in John iii. 5, ' Ex cept a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God ;' that is, except a man be born of the Holy Spirit, or regenerated, a work which is signified by being born of water, he cannot, &c. Finally, nothing is more common than for the Holy Ghost, in scripture, to make use of metaphors. These are a very elegant way of representing things, by com paring them with and illustrating them by others, borrowing from others such iEustrations as add a very considerable beauty to the things illustrated. Thus repentance and godly sorrow, together with the blessed privileges which shall here after follow them, are compared to sowing and reaping. ' They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'h Thus, too, the prophet, by a metaphor taken from husbandry, sets forth the labour and pains which Israel had taken in sin, and exhorts them to be as industrious in pursuing what would turn to a better account. He says that they had ' ploughed wicked ness, and reaped iniquity ;' and advises them to ' sow to themselves in righteous ness, and reap in mercy.'1 This, he adds, they should do by 'seeking the Lord ;' and ' it is time,' says he, ' to seek him, till he come and rain righteousness upon you ;' which is necessary to a plenteous harvest of blessings, which you may hope for in so doing. He also reproves their adulteries by a metaphor taken from ' an oven heated by the baker ;'k and their hypocrisy by another taken from 'a cake not turned ;'' and their being weakened and almost ruined hereby, he compares to the ' gray hairs' of those who are bowed down under the infirmities of age ;m and for their cowardice and seeking help from other nations, and not from God, he calls them 'a silly dove without an heart.'" We may observe that there is often a chain of metaphors in the same paragraph. Of this kind is that elegant descrip tion of old age, sickness, and death, which Solomon gives in exhorting persons to ' remember their Creator in the days of their youth, while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened.'0 By these expressions it is probable he e Luke xxii. 38. f Jer. xxix. 11. g Luke xxi. 15. h Psal. cxxvi. 5, 6. l Hos. x. 12, 13. k Chap. vii. 4. 1 Verse 8. m Verse 9. s Hos. vii. 11. o Eccles. xii. 1—6. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 4G5 intends the impairing of the intellect, the loss of those sprightly parts which once they had, or of the memory and judgment ; on which account men are sometimes said to outlive themselves. He speaks also of 'the keepers of the house trembling,' that is, the hands and arms, designed for the defence of the body, being seized with paralytic disorders ; ' the strong men bowing themselves,' that is, those parts which are designed to support the body being weakened, and needing a staff to bear themselves up ; ' the grinders ceasing because they are few,' that is, the loss of teeth ; 'they that look out of the windows being darkened,' that is, a decay of sight ; ' rising up at the voice of the bird, ' that is, their loss of one of the main props of nature, namely, sleep, so that they may rise early in the morning, when the birds begin to sing, because their beds wiE not afford them rest. And ' the daughters of music being brought low,' denotes a decay of the voice and hearing, and being not affected with those sounds which were once most delightful. ' The almond-tree flourishing, ' plainly signifies the hoary head. ' The grasshopper' be ing 'a burden,' is either a proverbial phrase importing a want of courage, strength, and resolution, to bear the smallest pressures ; or, as others understand it, their stooping, when bowed down with old age. ' The silver cord loosed,' or 'the golden bowl broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,' signifies a decay of the animal spirits, a laxation of the nerves, irregular circulation of the blood, or the universal stoppage of it ; when the frame of nature is broken, and man ' returns to the dust.'P In the New Testament there are several metaphors used. Some of these are taken from the Isthmian and Olympic games, practised by the Greeks and Romans. Thus the apostle Paul compares the Christian life to 'a race,' in which 'many run,' but do not aE ' receive the prize. 'i He alludes also1, to another exer cise, namely, wrestling ; and recommends temperance as what was practised by the wrestlers as a means for their obtaining the crown. He likewise8 uses a metaphor, taken from another of the games, namely, fighting in hope of victory ; by which he illustrates his zeal in the discharge of his ministry. In another place,* he speaks of the Christian race, and the necessity of 'laying aside every weight, ' namely, allowed sins, which would retard our course, or hinder us in the way to heaven. Again, he speaks of himself both as a minister and a Christian, as ' forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, and press ing towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus ;'u where he plainly alludes to the posture, industry, and earnestness of those who run in a race. Elsewhere also1 he speaks of the difficulties, temptations, and opposition which believers are exposed to in the Christian life, and advises them to 'put on the whole armour of God ;' and so carries on the metaphor or allegory, by alluding to the various pieces of armour which soldiers make use of when engaged in battle, to iEustrate the methods we ought to take that we may come off conquerors at last. 6. It will be very useful, in order to our understanding scripture, for us to know some things relating to the different forms of civil government, and the various changes made in it, among the Jews and other nations with whom they were con versant. At first we find that distinct families had the administration of civil affairs committed to them, and that the heads of them were, as it were, the chief magistrates, who had, in some instances, the exercise of civil power, especiaEy if it did not interfere with that of the country in which they lived. Some think, in deed, that it extended to the punishing of capital crimes with death ; and that Judah, who was the head of a branch of Jacob's family, when he passed this sentence concerning Tamar, ' Bring her forth, and let her be burnt, 'J did it as a civil magis trate. But if it be not to be deemed a rash and unjustifiable expression in him, when he says, ' Let her be brought forth, and burnt,' we must suppose the mean ing to be, ' Let her first be confined till she is delivered of her child, and then tried by the civil magistrate, the consequence of which will be, her being burnt, when found guilty of the adultery charged upon her.' It hence does not appear that the heads of families, when sojourning in other countries, had a power distinct p See more of this in an ingenious discourse on this subject, by Smith, in Solomon's Portraiture of Old Age. q 1 Cor. ix. 24. r VerBe 25. s Verse 26. t Heb. xii. 1. u Phil. iii. 13, 14. x Eph. vi. 11 — 16. y Gen. xxxviii. 24. H. 3n 4G6 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. from that of the government under which they lived, to punish offenders with death ; though I think, it is beyond dispute that they had a government in their own families which extended, in many respects, to civil affairs, as weE as enforced an obligation to observe those religious duties which God required. It may be far ther observed that this government extended so far that the patriarchs, or heads of families, had sometimes a power of making war, or of entering into confederacies with neighbouring princes for their own safety, or for recovering their rights when invaded. Thus when Lot and the Sodomites were taken prisoners by the four kings who came up against them, we readz that Abraham called in the assistance of some of his neighbours with whom he was in confederacy, and ' armed his trained servants, three hundred and eighteen, born in his house,' and rescued Lot and the men of Sodom from the hands of those who had taken them prisoners. We have little more light as to this matter, so long as the government continued domestic, and the church was in the condition of sojourners. But when they were increased to a great nation, their civil as weE as religious government was settled, by divine direction, under the hand of Moses in the wilderness. The first form of it was a Theocracy. God gave them laws in an immediate way ; condescended to satisfy them, as to some things which they inquired of him about ; gave them particular intimations how they should manage their affairs of war and peace ; and appeared for them in giving them victory over their enemies, in a very extraordi nary and sometimes miraculous way. But besides this great honour which God put on them, he established a form of government among them, under which they were divided into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens ;a all of which divisions had their respective captains or governors, who are sometimes styled ' the nobles of the chil dren of Israel. 'b These governors were generaEy heads of considerable families among them ; which were also divided in the same way, into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, in proportion to their largeness. Thus Gideon, speaking of his family,0 calls it, as the Hebrew word signifies, ' his thousand.' In the same manner, too, their armies were divided, when engaged in war. Thus when Jesse sent David with a present into the army to his brethren, he bade him deliver it to ' the captain of their thousand; 'd who was the same description of officer whom, in our modern way of speaking, we call a commanding officer over a regiment of soldiers. Again, when David's soldiers went out to war against Absalom, it is said, ' They came out by hundreds, and by thousands ;'e each distinct company or regiment having its commanding officer. Thus the government was settled as to civil and military affairs, in such a way that the head of the respective division had a power of judg ing in lesser matters. But as there were some affairs of the greatest importance to be transacted in the form of their government, by divine direction, God appointed seventy men of the children of Israel, to assist Moses in those matters in which they had more immediately to do with him. Accordingly, he ' gave them* the Spirit,'* that is, the extraordinary inspiration of the Spirit, whereby he communi cated his mind and will to them. This was the origin of the Sanhedrim ; and those who composed that body had a power of judging in civil matters, throughout all the ages of the church, till the Jews were made tributary to the Romans. But after that period, they became as vile and contemptible as they had before been honourable in the eyes of just and good men. This appears from their tumultuous and unprecedented behaviour in the trial of our Saviour, and from the malicious prosecutions set on foot by them against the apostles, without any pretence or form of law.After the death of Joshua, and the elders who survived him, there was an alter ation in the form of government, occasioned by the oppression to which the Israel ites were liable from their enemies ; who insulted and vexed them, and sometimes plundered them of their substance. Then God raised up judges, who first procured peace for them by success in war, and afterwards governed them, though without the character or ensigns of royal dignity. This government not being successive, the z Gen. xiv. 13, 14. a Exod. xviii. 21 ; Deut. i. 15. b Exod. xxiv. 11. c Judges vi. 15. d 1 Sam. xvii. 18; and chap, xviii. 13. e 2 Sam. xviii. 4. f Numb. xi. 16, 17. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 4G7 Israelites were, on the death of these respective judges, brought into great confu sion, every one doing that which was right in his own eyes, till another judge was raised up, as some future emergency required it. Thus the posture of their affairs continued, as the apostle observes, ' about the space of four hundred and fifty years ;'s and then it was altered, when, through their unsettled temper, they de sired a king, in conformity to the custom of the nations round about them. Though their request was displeasing to God, yet he granted it ;h and so the government became regal. Then followed a succession of kings, set over the whole nation, till the division between Judah and Israel ; when they became two distinct kingdoms, and so continued till their respective captivity. These things being duly consider ed, will give great light to several things contained in scripture ; especiaEy as to what relates to the civil affairs of the church of God. But it will be necessary also that we take a view of the government of other na tions, with whom they were conversant. We read of almost as many kings in scripture as there were cities in several of those countries which lay round about the Israelites. Thus,1 we read of many dukes and kings, whose power was much the same, who descended from Esau. These had very small dominions, each of them being, as is probable, the chief governor of one city, or at most of a little tract of land round about it. Indeed, except the Assyrian and other monarchies which were of a very large extent, and had none, under that character, who stood in competition with them while they subsisted, all other kingdoms were very small. Hence, four kings were obliged to enter into a confederacy, to make war with Sodom and the four neighbouring cities, which a very inconsiderable army might, without much difficulty, have subdued.k One of these four kings, indeed, is called ' king of nations ;' but he is called so, [not because he had large dominions, but because he was the chief governor of a mixed people from divers nations, who were settled together in one distinct colony. The king of Shinar there spoken of, too, is not the king of Babylon, who was too potent a prince to have stood in need of others to join with him in such an expedition ; but he was a petty king who reigned in some city near Babylon,, and was tributary to the Assyrian empire. These four kings, with aE their forces, were so few in number that Abraham was not afraid to attack them ; which he did with success. — Again, we read, that in Joshua's time, the kings in the land of Canaan, whom he subdued, had each of them very smaE dominions, consisting of but one capital city, with a few villages round about it. We read of thirty-one kings who reigned in that country, which was not so big as a fourth part of the kingdom of England.1 Afterwards most of these kingdoms were swallowed up by the Assyrian empire. Accordingly, the king of Assyria, as Rabshakeh boasts, had entirely conquered the kings of Hamath, Arphad, Gozan, and Haran, with several others.™ These had very small dominions, and therefore were easily subdued by forces so much superior to any which they could raise. Egypt, indeed, was more formidable ; and therefore we often read in scripture of Israel's having recourse to them for help, and of their being blamed for trusting in them more than in God. In Arabia, also, there were some kings who had large dominions, as appears by the vast armies that they raised. Thus ' Zerah the Ethiopian came forth against Asa, with a thousand thousand men.'" Yet, the church of God was able to stand its ground ; for whether the neighbouring kings were many of them confederated against them, or the armies they raised exceedingly numerous, like the sand on the sea-shore, they had safety and protection as well as success in war, from the care and blessing of providence. Of these matters we have an account in the history of scripture relating to them. 7. It will be of some advantage, in order to our understanding the sense of scrip ture, for us to inquire into the meaning of those civil and religious offices and characters by which several persons are described, both in the Old and in the New Testament, As to the priests and Levites, we have had occasion frequently to in sist on their caE and office. Among the former, one was styled 'high priest.' He not only was the chief minister in holy things under the Jewish dispensation ; but fActs xiii. 20. h 1 Sam. viii. 5 — 7. i Gen. xxxvi. k Chap. xiv. 1, &c Josh. xii. m 2 Kings xix. 12, 13. n 2 Chron. xiv. 9. 458 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. presided over the other priests in all those things which respected the temple-ser vice. There was also another priest who had pre-eminence over his brethren, and was next to the high priest in office. He seems to be referred to in 2 Kings xxv. 18, where we read of ' Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest.' This officer is not often mentioned in scripture ; but is frequently spoken of by Jewish writers. They call him, as the author of the Chaldee paraphrase does on the text just quoted, the Sagan. Some think that this office was first instituted in Numb. iii. 32, where we read that Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, was to be • chief over the chief of the Levites, and to have the oversight of them that kept the charge of the sanctuary.' Elsewhere, also, we read of Zadok and Abiathar being by way of eminence, ' priests at the same time ;'° by which, it is probable, we are to understand, as many expositors do, that the one was the high priest, and the other the Sagan ; who was to perform the office which belonged to the high priest in all its branches, if the high priest should happen to be incapacitated for it. Besides these, there were others who were styled ' chief priests.' These were the heads of their respective classes, and presided over them when they came to Jer usalem, to minister in their courses. There was also the president of the Sanhe drim, who is generally reckoned one of the chief priests. Moreover, when any one was, by the arbitrary will of their governors, in the degenerate and declining state of the Jewish church, deposed from the high priesthood, merely to make way for another favourite to enjoy that honour, he was, though divested of his office, nevertheless called ' chief priest.' This fact will give light to several scriptures in the New Testament, in which we read of many chief priests at the same time.? As to the Levites, they were not only appointed to be the high priest's ministers in offering gifts and sacrifices in the temple ; but many of them were engaged in other offices. Some instructed the people, in the respective cities where they dwelt, who were to resort to them for that purpose ; or in synagogues, erected for this branch of public worship. Others were employed as judges in determining civil or eccle siastical matters. Again, we often read in scripture of scribes. These were of two sorts. Some were employed only in civil matters. We sometimes read of one person, in particular, who was appointed to be the king's scribe. Thus in David's reign, we read of Shemaiah the scribe ; in Hezekiah's, of Shebna. 9 This seems to have been a civil officer, not much unlike a secretary of state among us ; and we seldom find men tion made of more than one scribe at a time, except in Solomon's reign, when there were two.r But we often read, also, of scribes who were engaged in other works. It is generally supposed that many of them were employed in transcribing the whole or some parts of scripture, for the use of those who employed them in that work and compensated them for it, — a work which was necessary for the pro pagating of religion in those ages in which printing was not known. Moreover, there were others who explained the law to the people. Thus Ezra is styled, ' a ready scribe in the law of Moses.'8 This was an honourable and useful employ ment, faithfully managed by him and many others, in the best ages of the church. But, in our Saviour's time, there were scribes who pretended to expound the law and instruct the people, whose doctrines were very contrary to the mind of the Holy Ghost in Moses' writings, and whose way of preaching was very empty and unpro fitable. Hence, it is said that our Lord ' taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes.'* Further, we sometimes read in the New Testament of 'lawyers,' against whom our Saviour denounces woes, for opposing him and his gospel. This is supposed by some to be only a different name given to the scribes. For they practised the law in public courts of judicature, and pleaded causes in the Sanhedrim, or taught in their schools or religious assemblies ; and both of these things were done by the scribes. The evangelist Matthew, too, speaks of 'a lawyer' who asked our Sa viour a question, ' Which is the great commandment ?' u while Mark, mentioning the 2 Kin« «iil Vl25 ' X'X; I1- • . P See Luke Hi- 2 ! Mark xiv- S3' 1 ' Chron- *xiv- 6 '• 2 Kings xvm. 18. r I Kings iv. 4. s Ezra vii. 6. t Matt. vii. 29. u Chap, xxii. 35, 36. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 469 same thing, caEs the person ' one of the scribes.'1 The same thing, in sub stance, seems to be intended by both evangelists. Some suppose, indeed, that there was a difference between the lawyers and scribes, from its being said that when our Saviour had been reproving the scribes and Pharisees, ' one of the law yers said unto him ; Thus saying, thou reproachest us also,'^ where the lawyers speak as though they were distinct from the scribes. Yet it is evident that, how ever they might be distinguished from them in other respects, they agreed with them as engaged in expounding the law ; and are said, in the performance of this work, to have 'laden men with heavy burdens, grievous to be borne,' which they themselves ' would not touch with one of their fingers. ' As for those civil officers whom we read of in the Old Testament before the captiv ity, especially in David and Solomon's reign, they were either such as were set over the tribute, the principal of which was at the head of the treasury,2 or such as were employed under them, to see that the taxes were duly levied and paid. The latter are called ' receivers.'1 Others were employed in keeping and adjusting the public records. Of these one was the chief ; who, by way of eminence, is called ' the recorder.' Others were appointed to manage the king's domestic affairs ; of whom the chief was ' set over the household.'11 Another is said to, have been ' set over the host.'0 He either had the chief command of the army, or was appointed to muster and determine who should go to war or be excused from it. There is still another officer whom we read of once in scripture, namely, he who ' counted the towers ;'d whose business seems to have been to survey and keep the fortifications in repair. But these not being so frequently mentioned in scripture as others, we pass them over, and proceed more especially to consider some characters of persons which we meet with in the New Testament. There was one sort of officers who were concerned in exacting the public reve nues, after the Jews were made tributary to the Roman empire. These are called publicans. The chief of them were generally persons of great honour and substance, who sometimes farmed a branch of the revenue ; and were, for the most part, Ro mans of noble extraction. We have an account of them in Cicero,6 and other heathen writers ; but there is no mention of them in scripture. This honourable post was never conferred on the Jews. Yet we read of Zaccheus, who is said to have been 'one of the chief among the publicans,' though a Jew.f The mean ing is, that he was the chief officer in a particular port, and had other publicans un der him ; whose business was constantly to attend at the ports, and take an account of the taxes which were to be paid there by those of whom they were exacted. Of the latter sort was Matthew, who is called ' the publican,' that is, one of the lowest officers concerned in the revenue.s These were usually very profligate in their morals, and inclined to oppress those of whom they received taxes, probably to gain advantage to themselves, and were universally hated by the Jews. There was another sort of men, often mentioned in the New Testament, who made the greatest pretensions to religion, but were most remote from it, and are justly branded with the character of hypocrites, — namely, the Pharisees, who made themselves popular by their external show of piety. There is not, indeed, the least hint of there having been such a sect amongst the Jews before the captivity ; though, it is true, the prophet Isaiahh speaks of a sort of people who much resembled them, who said, ' Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou.' From this passage it seems that there were some of similar principles in Isaiah's day ; unless we suppose that the passage had its accomplishment when the sect of the Phari sees appeared in the world in a following age. The time when they appeared was x Mark xii. 28. y Luke xi. 44, 45. z 1 Kings iv. 6. a Isa. xxxiii. 18. li 2 Kings xviii. 18. c 1 Kings iv. 4. d Isa. xxxiii. 18. e Vid. Cic. in Orat. pro Plane, florem Equitum Romanorum ornamentum civitatis, firmamentum reipublicce publicanorum ordine contineri. And in his oration, ad Quintum Fratrem, he has many things concerning the dignity of the publicans, and their advantage to the commonwealth. He Bays, ' Si Publicanis adversemur ordinem de nobis optime meritum. et per nos cum republica con- juiictum, et a nobis, et a republica disjungimus.' And in his familiar Epistles, lib. xix. Epist. x. he calls them, 'Ordinem sibi semper commendatissimum;' et ad Atticum, lib. vii. Epist. vii, he savs, ' Caesari amicissimos fuisse Publicanos.' '[ Luke xix 2. g Matt. a. 3, compared with chap. ix. 9. h Isa. lxv. 5. 470 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. not long after the reign of Alexander the Great,1 between two and three hundred years before our Saviour's time. They are generally described in scripture, as pretending to be more expert than all others in the knowledge of the law ; but, in reality, making it void, by establishing those oral traditions which were contrary to its true intent and meaning. They are described also as setting up their own righteousness, and depending on the performance of some lesser duties of the law, as that from which they expected a right to eternal life. These were the greatest enemies, in their conduct, as well as their doctrines, to Christ and his gospel. There was another sect who joined with the Pharisees in persecuting and op posing our Saviour ; though otherwise they did not in the least accord with them. These were the Sadducees, who appeared in the world about the same time as the Pharisees. They were men generally reputed as profligate in their morals ; and, for that reason, they were as much hated by the common people, as the Pharisees were caressed by them. They adhered to the philosophy of Epicurus ; and took occasion from it, as they are said in scripture k to have done, to deny the resurrec tion, angels, and spirits. It is true they did not desire to be thought irreligious, though they were really so ; yet our Saviour describes them, as weE as the Phari sees, as hypocrites and inveterate enemies to his gospel. There was another sort of people, sometimes mentioned in the New Testament, namely, the Samaritans. These separated from the Jews, out of a private pique, and built a distinct temple on mount Gerizim ; 1 and for doing this they were ex communicated by the Jews, and universaEy hated, so that there was no intercourse between them,1" especially in those things in which one might be said to be obliged to another. They did very much corrupt the worship of God ; so that Christ charges them with 'worshipping they knew not what.'" It is also observed con cerning them, that after the ten tribes were carried captive into Assyria, they who were left in the land 'feared not the Lord, and he sent lions amongst them.'0 On this occasion, a priest was dismissed by the king of Assyria, under pretence of ' in structing them in the manner of the G°d of the land ;' and he erected a strange medley of religion, consisting partly of those corruptions which had been practised by the Israelites for some ages past, and partly of the heathen idolatry which they brought from Assyria. On this account it is said, ' They feared the Lord, and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. 'p There is another sort of men, mentioned in the New Testament, caEed Herodians. These seem to have been a political rather than a religious sect. Some of the fathers, indeed, think that they were so called because they complimented Herod with the character of th e Messiah ;i who, as they supposed, would be a very flourishing prince, and would reign over them, according to the ancient prediction of the patriarch Jacob, after ' the sceptre was departed from Judah. ' But this seems to be a very improbable conjecture ; for Herod the Great was dead, before we read any thing of the Herodians in scripture. Besides, the Jews had an opinion, about this time, that the Messiah should never die.r The most probable opinion is, that these Herodians were, in their origin, the favourites and courtiers of Herod, and disposed to adopt any alterations which he was inclined to make in the religious or civil affair of the Jews.3 From what is said concerning them in scripture, it is supposed that they were, for the most part, Sadducees. For, if we compare Matt. xvi. 6, with Mark viii. 15, we shall find that our Saviour warns his disciples on occasion of their having ' forgot to take bread,' to 'beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees,' as the former evangelist expresses it, and ' of the leaven of i See Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. ix. And we have an account of their pride and insolence in the same author, chap, xviii., and of the great disturbance they made in civil governments, if chief magistrates did not please them. k Acts xxiii. 8. 1 See Joseph. Antiq. lib. xi. cap. viii. m John iv. 9. n Verse 22. o 2 Kings xvii. 25. p Verse 33. q See Tertull. in prascrip. adv. Hier. cap. xiv. and Jipipbamus, in Hter. cap. xx. r John xii. 34. s That Herod was disposed to make alterations in the Jews' religion, by adding to it a mixture ot several rites and ceremonies, taken from the heathen, is affirmed hv some. See Cunasus de Kep. HseDr. lib. l. cap. xvi., who quotes Josephus as saying that he altered' the ancient laws of \. li v.] i country. BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS TO BE READ. 471 Herod,' that is, the Herodians, as it is in the latter. Now, though these Herodians, or court parasites, might take their rise in the reign of Herod the Great ; yet a party of men succeeded them who held the same principles, and were disposed to compliment their governors with their civil and religious rights. These, however, more especially distinguished themselves, by their propagating principles of loyalty among the people. While the Jews, under a pretence that they were a free na tion, were very unwilling to give tribute to Caesar, — though they would not venture their lives, as Judas of Galilee and some others had done, by refusing it ; these Herodians laid it down as an article of their faith, that they ought to pay tribute to Csesar. Hence, when they came with this question to our Saviour, ' Is it lawful to give tribute unto Csesar, or not?'* he soon discovered their hypocrisy, and knew the design of their question, as he might easily do from their being Hero dians. Thus concerning the various characters of persons mentioned in scripture, as subservient to our right understanding of it. 8. After all these helps for understanding the sense of scripture, there is one more which is universaEy to be observed ; namely, that no sense is to be given of any text, but what is agreeable to the analogy of faith, and has a tendency to ad vance the divine perfections, stain the pride of all flesh in the sight of God, and promote practical godliness in all its branches. Scripture must be explained agree ably to the analogy of faith. It is supposed that there is something we depend on, which we can prove to be the faith of scripture, or demonstrably founded upon it. This we are bound to adhere to ; otherwise we must be charged with scepticism, and concluded not to know where to set our feet in matters of religion. Now, so far as our faith in the summary and assured view of divine truth is founded on scripture, every sense we -give of a text must be agreeable to it ; otherwise we do as it were suppose that the word of God in one place destroys what in another it establishes, which would be a great reflection on that which is the standard and rule of our faith. I do not hereby mean, that our sentiments are to be a rule of faith to others ; any farther than as they are evidently contained in scripture, or deduced from it. Yet that which we believe, thinking it to be the sense of scrip ture, is so far a rule to us that, whatever sense we give of any other scripture, must be agreeable to it ; or else we must be content to acknowledge that we were mistaken in some of those things which we caEed articles of faith as founded on scripture. Again, no sense given of scripture must be contrary to the divine perfections. Thus, when human passions are ascribed to God, such as grief, fear, desire, wrath, fury, indignation, &c, they are not to be explained as when the same passions are ascribed to men, in which sense they argue weakness and imperfection. And when any phrase of scripture seems to represent him as defective in power, as ' Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save ?'u we are to understand it as a charge that would be unjustly brought against God, if he did not appear in behalf of his people, by those who are disposed to reproach and find fault with the dispensations of his providence. But as we have taken occasion, in explaining many scriptures and doctrines founded upon them, to apply this rule, I shall content myself at present with Tiaving merely mentioned it. Further, we are to explain scripture in such a way that it may have a tendency to promote practical godliness in aE its branches ; the promotion of which is the main end and design of scripture. Many instances might be given in which this rule is to be applied. When, for example, we are said ' not to be under the law, but under grace, '* we are not to understand the language as meaning that we are discharged from an obligation to, yield obedience to whatever God commands, but as denoting our having been delivered either from the condemning sentence of the law, or from the ceremonial law, to which the gospel-dispensation, which is a disr play of the grace of God, is always opposed. Again, when it is said, ' Be not righ teous over-much, neither make thyself over-wise ; why shouldest thou destroy thy self ?1 we are not to understand that there is any danger of our being too holy or strict in the performance of religious duties ; but we are to view the passage as t Matt. xxii. 17 u Jer. xiv. 9. x Rom. vii. 14. y Eccl. vii. 16. 472 BY WHOM AND HOW THE WORD IS BE TO READ. forbidding an hypocritical appearing to be more righteous than we are, or an en tertaining of a proud and vain-glorious conceit of our own righteousness because we perform some duties of religion. Moreover, there are scriptures which are some times perverted, as though they intimated that prayer or other religious duties were not incumbent on wicked men. Thus it is said, ' The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord ;'z ' He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination ;'a ' What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth ?'b But these scrip tures imply, not that the wicked are not obliged to perform religious duties, but that it is contrary to the holiness of God, and a great provocation to him, when they regard not the frame of spirit with which they perform them, drawing nigh to him with their lips, when their heart is far from him, or laying claim to the blessings of the covenant of grace, while continuing in open hostility against him. To apply this rule fully, would be to go through the whole of scripture, and to show how all the great doctrines of religion which are founded upon it, have a tendency to promote practical godliness in all it's branches. But this we have endeavoured to do in all those instances in which we have had occasion to give the sense of scripture ; and therefore shall content ourselves with this brief specimen, and leave it to every one to improve the rule in his daily meditations, in inquiring into the sense of scripture, in order to his being farther established in that religion which is founded on it. z Prov. xxi. 27. a Chap, xxviii. 9. b Psal. 1. 16. [Note U. Scriptures 'hard to be understood.' — The passage, ' In Paul's epistles are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction,' is so stoutly quoted by Romanists against the Bible being read by the laity at all, and so often appealed to by careless Protestants as an excuse for its being read listlessly and infrequently, that a few remarks upon it, additional to those made by Dr. Ridge ley, may not be improper. What the passage refers to are not words, but ' things ;' and these may be as effectually wrested when heard as when read. But must we infer that to hear the doctrine of Christianity, as well as to read the word of God, is prohibited to the laity ? — Only ' some things,' too, were ' hard to be understood ;' so that, even if a prohibition of scripture were a fair consequence, only some parts of it, and not all, should be prohibited Again, tbe persons who wrested them, were not the laity as distinguished from the clergy, but ' the unlearned and the unstable,' as distinguished from the learned and the steady. Are not many of the Romish laity learned and steady, and many of the Romish clergy ' unlearned and unstable ?' Should not, then, the scriptures, if prohibited at all, be prohibited to a portion of the clergy, and unprohibited to a portion of the laity ? But Peter does not speak of ' the unlearned' in the literary sense — for if he did he would include himself and the other apostolic fishermen of Galilee : he speaks of the unlearned in the moral sense, or in the sense of unacquaintance with the doctrine of Christianity, or inexperience of the teaching of the Holy Spirit. What misled and destroyed the persons to whom he refers was ignorance. Had they possessed the disposition of disciples, and ' asked wisdom of Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not,' they would have found the scriptures unmingled light and life to their souls ; but because they were uninformed in even the rudimental knowledge of the gospel, and were so unsteady as to be ' tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,' and yet attempted to analyze and probably affected to understand the most profound portions of scripture, they wrested them to their destruction — Yet difficult as the portions were which they encountered, they are said to have done them damage, not by being read, but by being wrested. Before even froward and ignorant profes sors of religion, received injury from a text ' hard to be understood,' they distorted, racked, or dis located it {a-TPiiXBtia-i) ; so that had they treated it withrfairness, and allowed it to address them in its own freedom and energy, they would have found, as it lodged itself in their understanding, not a gory mass, but an agency of life and peace — The very fact, also, of their wresting the scriptures is proof that they read them,_that they enjoyed unrestricted access to them, — that, up to the time when Peter wrote, the scriptures were laid freely open before even the uninstructed and uninitiated. Nor does Peter direct the warning which he gives against the reading of even ' things difficult to be understood :' he directs it altogether against the wresting of them, and, in doing so, clearly assumes the reading of them to be at once a common privilege and a common duty. Paul, indeed, had written the things in question 'according to the wisdom given to him,' and had formally ad dressed them to ' the faithful in Christ Jesus,'— to ' all the saints which are in all Achaia,'— to ' all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both- theirs and ours,' Eph. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; 1 Cor. i. 2. Peter also formally addressed his first epistle, and he likewise practically addressed his second, or that which contains the very passage we are examining, ' to the strangers scattered abroad, throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia :' he addressed them simply as professed believers in the Saviour ; he made no distinction of laity and clergy, or of novices and adepts but wrote indiscriminately to all. Nor did he write only on topics which had not been wrested : he wrote, just as truly as Paul, ' some things which were hard to be understood ;' he wrote even on the same topics which, as discussed by Paul, had been wrested by the unlearned, 1 I et. m. 15, and first clause of verse 16. Whatever the Holy Spirit had dictated either by his THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 473 own pen or by the pens of Paul and other inspired writers, he expected to be prized, and therefore read, heard, or known, by all who named the name of Christ. ' We have,' said he, ' a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts,' 1 Pet. i. 19. But surely a light shining in a dark place — and shining upon all or in the sight of all who are enveloped in darkness — is an emblem exhibiting any idea rather than that of a book which is prohibited to all whom it may interest, except a select few. How utterly unwarrantable then is it, view Peter's words respecting the wresting of the scriptures as we may, to regard them as, in any sense or degree whatever, a pro hibition of the Bible to the laity, or an excuse for its being read seldom or with inattention 1 — Ed.] THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. Question CLVIII. By whom is the word of God to be preached ? Answer. The word of God is to be preached only by such as are sufficiently gifted, and also duly approved and called to that office. Question CLIX. How is the word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto ? Answer. Tbey that are called to labour in the ministry of the word, are to preach sound doc trine, diligently ; in season, and out of season ; plainly, not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and power ; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God ; wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities ol the hearers; zealously, with fervent love to God, and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edi fication, and salvation. Question CLX. What is required of those that hear the word preached ? Answer. It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with dili gence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear, by the scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the word of God ; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their heart, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. We have considered what method we are to take, in our private station or capacity, to understand the word of God. Butwe have great reason to be thankful, that he has ordained that it should be publicly preached or explained, as a farther means conducive to this end. Accordingly, we are led, in these Answers, to show who they are whom God has called to the work of preaching ; how such ought to per form it ; and with what frame of spirit we ought to attend on it. By Whom the Word is to be Preached. The persons by whom the word of God is to be preached are only such as he has qualified with gifts sufficient for the work. They ought also when called to it, to be duly approved of by those among whom the providence of God directs them to exercise their ministry. I. We shaE first say something concerning the qualifications which are neces sary in those who are employed in preaching the gospel. Here it is observed in general, that they must be sufficiently gifted for it. This is so evident that it would be unreasonable for any one to deny it ; for no one is to attempt any thing which he is not able to perform, — especiaEy if it be a work of the highest impor tance, and if the unskilful managing of it may have a tendency to do prejudice to the interest of Christ, rather than advance it. It would be a reflection on the wis dom of a master, to employ his servant in a work which he has no capacity for, or intrust him with an affair which is likely to miscarry in his hands. In like manner, we are not to suppose that God caEs any to preach the gospel but those whom he has, in some measure, furnished for it. The best, it is true, may say, as the apos tle does, ' We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God.' Yet he adds, that they who are employed by God in this work, are made 'able ministers of the New Testament.'0 It is, indeed, a difficult matter to determine who are sufficiently gifted for it ; the work being so great, and our natural and acquired endowments very smaE if compared with it. But that we may briefly consider this matter, we shaE offer two particular observations. c 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. U. 3 0 474 THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 1. Some qualifications are moral ; without which, they who preach the gospel would be a reproach to it. These qualifications respect, more especially, the con versation of those who are engaged in this work, which ought to be blameless and exemplary,— not only inoffensive, but such as they whom they are called to in struct may safely copy. Thus the apostle says, ' Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holilv, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that be lieve.'4 And he advises the Corinthians to be ' followers of him ;'e and commends the church elsewhere, for conforming themselves to his example, so far as it was agreeable to that of our Saviour ;f in which respect alone the best of men are to be followed.^ Now, preachers being an example to their hearers, supposes that they have that which we call a moral qualification, as necessary to the work of the ministry. Without this, a person will do more hurt by his example, than he can do good by his doctrine ; for he will lay a stumbling-block in the way of Christians, who would be ready to say, as the apostle does to some of those who were teachers among the Jews, ' Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?'11 or, dost thou live in the practice of those crimes, which thou condemnest in others, and exhortest them to avoid? This qualification, therefore, must be supposed to be necessary. Indeed, an experimental knowledge of divine truths, will greatly furnish preachers to communicate these truths to others, and incite them jealously to use their utmost endeavours that their hearers may be made partakers of the same experiences which they themselves have been favoured with. We are not to suppose, however, that this qualification alone will warrant a person's engaging in the work of the ministry ; for then every one who has experienced the grace of God, might attempt it, how unable soever he be to manage it to the glory of God, and the edification of the church. 2. There are, therefore, other qualifications more directly subservient to the work of the ministry. These the apostle speaks of when he describes a gospel minister as one who is 'apt to teach,'1 and able 'rightly to divide the word of truth,'kand, 'by sound doctrine,' to exhort and 'convince gainsayers.'1 They who take upon them to explain scripture, and apply it to the consciences of men, ought certainly, with great diligence and hard study, to use their utmost endea vours to understand it. They ought, also, to be able to reason, or infer just con sequences from it ; that so they may appear to be weE-verscd in those great doc trines on which our faith and religion is founded. This, indeed, must be confessed to be a work of difficulty ; and, they who think themselves best furnished for it, will have reason to conclude, as the apostle says, that they ' know but in part, and prophesy in part.'m Again, there are various parts of learning, which may be reckoned in some re spects ornamental, which would tend to secure him who preaches the gospel from, contempt. There are also others more immediately subservient to our understand ing scripture, namely, being well-acquainted with those languages in which the Old and the New Testament were written, and able to make critical remarks on the style and mode of expression used in each of them ; and being conversant in the writings of those, whether in our own or other languages, who have clearly and judi ciously explained the doctrines of the gospel, or led us into the knowledge of those things which have a tendency to iEustrate them. Moreover, as preaching includes an address to the judgments and consciences of men, I cannot but reckon it a qual ification necessary for it, that all those parts of learning which have a tendency to enlarge the reasoning faculties, or help us to see the connection or dependence of one thing upon another, should be attended to, so that we may he fitted to con vey our ideas with judgment and method. These qualifications are to be acquired. We pass by those which are natural, namely, a sufficient degree of parts, and such an elocution as is necessary for those who are to speak to the edification, of an au dience, without which all other endeavours to furnish themselves for this work, wiE be to very little purpose. II. They by whom the word of God is to be preached, are to' be duly approved d 1 Thess. ii. 10. e 1 Cor. iv. 16. f 1 Thess. i. 6. g 1 Cor. xi. 1. h Rom. ii. 21. i 1 Tim. ni. 2. k 2 Tim. ii. 15. 1 Tit. i. 9. ml Cor. xiii. 9. THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 475 and called to that office. A person may think himself qualified for it, without suf ficient ground ; and hence the question of his being qualified ought to be submitted to the judgment of others, by whose approbation he is to engage in this work. The first thing which is to be inquired into, is, whether he is caEed to it by God, not only by his providence, which opens a door for his preaching the gospel, but by the success which he is pleased to grant to his endeavours to become qualified for it. Yet, as persons may be mistaken, and think they have a divine call to this work, when they have not ; it is necessary that they should be approved by those who are sufficient judges of their having such a caE, that they may not be exposed to temptation, so as to engage in a work which they are not deemed sufficient for. It is not, indeed, in the power of ministers or churches, especiaEy according to the present situation of things, to hinder an unqualified person, who has too high thoughts of his own abilities, from preaching to a number of people who are dis posed to hear him ; yet no one is bound, or ought in prudence or in faithfulness to God or man, to own any to be a minister whose gifts do not render him fit to be approved. Nor, on the other hand, can any judgment be passed on any one's fit ness, without sufficient acquaintance or conversation with him ; that, by this means, it may be known whether he be a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, and able rightly to divide the word of truth. Here, I think, there is some difference between the approbation which ought to be passed on those who first engage in the work of preaching, and the call to the pas toral office. The latter supposes the former. Hence, a person ought first to be approved of, as fit to preach the gospel, in the opinion of those who are allowed to be competent judges of the matter. His being so approved of is necessary to his en trance on that work with reputation and acceptance. Without it, he is to stand and fall to his own Master, and acquiesce in the approbation of those who are wiE- ing to sit under his ministry ; while others are not bound, being destitute of suffi cient evidence, to conclude him furnished for or called to it. As to the call to the pastoral office, though no one has a right to impose pastors on churches, yet it is the indispensable duty of every church to inquire, not merely whether the person whom they have a desire to call to that office, be such an one as is approved by the greater number of them, but whether the step they are taking be such as has a ten dency to secure their reputation as a church of Christ, without exposing them to the just blame and censure of others who are in the same faith and order with themselves, that they may do nothing which is in the least offensive, or has a ten dency to weaken the interest of Christ in his ehurches. It is true, no one can put a stop to their proceeding, if they are resolved to set over them one who is not only scandalous in his conversation, but inclined to preach what is subversive of the fundamental articles of our faith ; yet they cannot be said, in such a proceeding, to act as a church which has obtained mercy from God to be faithful, or to engage in this important work with judgment. It is hence expedient that churches should set over them ministers approved by others as sound in the faith, as well as reckoned by themselves able to preach to their edification ; and, in order to this, it is expe dient that some ministers and members of other churches should be present at their investiture iu that office to which they have caEed them, not merely to be witnesses of their faith and order in common with the whole assembly, but to testify by their presence their approbation of their proceedings, and give ground to the world to conclude that the persons whom they have called are owned by others as weE as by themselves. It hence is necessary that ministers who are to join in begging the blessing of God on a church's proceedings, and giving a word of exhortation to them, should be satisfied concerning the fitness of him whom they have called to be their pastor ; for their being satisfied of his fitness is supposed by their being present, and bearing their respective parts in the service. This, I think, is intended by that expression of the apostle in which he advises Timothy to ' lay hands suddenly on n6 man ; and not to be partaker of other men's sins ; but to keep himself pure,'" that is, without guilt, as being active in approving of those whom he ought not to apjirove of. I do not, by this, take the power out of the hands of the church, of n 1 Tim. v. 22. 476 THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. setting a pastor over themselves ; but only argue the expediency of their consulting the honour of the gospel in that matter, and acting so that they may have the ap probation of other churches. How the Word is to be Preached. We are now to consider how the word of God is to be preached by those who are qualified and approved for the work and called to perform it. We shall consider this both as to the doctrines to be insisted on, and as to the manner in which they are to be delivered. I. What they are to preach, ought to be sound doctrine. We do not mean that it must be sound merely in the estimation of him who preaches it ; for there is scarcely any one who does notjthink himself sound in the faith, how remote soever his sentiments may be from the true intent and meaning of the word of God. But we mean that those doctrines are to be preached which are caEed sound by the apostle,0 such as are agreeable to that 'form of sound words' which is transmitted to us by divine inspiration.^ — 'the doctrine which is according to godliness, '9 hav ing a tendency to recommend and promote it. This is styled elsewhere, 'the* faith once delivered to the saints ;' which is not only to be preached, but ' earnestly contended for.'r The doctrines in question are such as have a tendency to advance the glory of God, and do good to the souls of men ; such as are relished by sincere Christians, who 'know the truth as it is in Jesus,' and are 'nourished up,' as the apostle says, ' in the words of faith and of good doctrine. 's The teaching of these doctrines, as it has a peculiar reference to the gospel and to the way of salvation contained in it, is caEed ' preaching Christ,'1 or a ' determining to know nothing,' that is, to appear to know or to discover nothing, ' save Jesus Christ and him cru cified,'11 or to deliver nothing but what tends to set forth the person and offices of Christ, either directly or in its remote tendency. Our Saviour advises the church to ' take heed what they hear,'* signifying that we are to receive no doctrines hut what are agreeable to the gospel. Sufficient intimation is thus given that only such doctrines are to be preached. The apostle calls the preaching of any other ' perverting the gospel of Christ;' and adds, ' Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. 1 These are the only doctrines which God wiE own ; because they tend to set forth his perfections, as they were at first communicated by him for that end. II. We are now to consider the manner in which these doctrines are to be preached. This is laid down in several Heads. 1. They are to be preached diligently and constantly, in season and out of sea son. A minister is to consider the preaching of them the main business of life, — that which he is to 'give himself whoEy to;'z and all his studies are to be subser vient to this end. He is to rejoice in all opportunities which he may have for lead ing those to whom he is called to minister, in the way to heaven ; and be willing to lay out his strength, and those abilities which God has given him, to his glory. Thus the apostle says, ' I would very gladly spend, and be spent for you.'4 The word, therefore, is not merely to be preached occasionally, as though it were to he hid from the world ; or imparted only when the leisure or inclination of those who are called to preach it will admit. The character which the apostle gives of gospel ministers, is that they ' watch for the souls of those to whom they minister ;' that is, they wait for the best and fittest seasons to inculcate divine truths upon them. Their diligence in their work is particularly expressed by ' preaching the word, and being instant in season, and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and ex horting with all long-suffering and doctrine.'" This statement implies that the word ought to be preached, not only on that day which God has sanctified for pub lic worship, of which preaching is a part, but on all occasions when ministers are apprehensive that the people are desirous to receive and hear it. ° iTt- '' ?' « p W Tim- L 13' 1 l Tim- vi- 3- r Jude, ver. 3. ^"•4Vn6- tCol.i.28. ulCor.ii.2. x Mark i v. 24. y Gal. l. 7, 8. z 1 Tim. iv. 15. a 2 Cor. xii. 15. b 2 Tim. iv. 2. THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 477 2. The word of God is to be preached plainly. The apostle says, ' We use great plainness of speech.' c This method of preaching is inconsistent with the using of uninteEigible expressions ; which is, as it were, a speaking in an unknown tongue, or an attempting to deliver things which neither the speakers nor their hearers well understand. The style ought to be familiar, and adapted to the meanest capacities ; and it may be so without being exposed to contempt. It is par ticularly observed that preaching ought not to be ' in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power.' d The great design of it is, not to please the ear with well-turned periods, or rhetorical expressions, or an affectation of showing skill in human learning, in those instances in which it is not directly adapted to edification, or rendered subservient to the explaining of scrip ture. A demonstrative way of preaching is not, indeed, opposed to the plainness which is here intended ; but it is ' the demonstration of the Spirit.' This differs, indeed, from that which the apostles were favoured with ; who were led into the doctrines they preached, by immediate inspiration. Yet we are to endeavour to prove, by strength of argument, that what we deliver is agreeable to the mind and will of God ; and at the same time, we are to do this with plainness of address, as those who desire to awaken the consciences of men, and give them the fullest con viction, proving from the scriptures, that what we say is true. This account the apostle gives of his ministry,6 as what was most adapted to answer its valuable ends. 3. The word of God is to be preached faithfully. This supposes that they who are called to this work, have the souls of those to whom they preach committed to their care ; so that, if these perish for want of due instruction, they are, for their neglect, found guilty before God. Thus God says to the prophet, ' Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel ; ' f and therefore the prophet was to 'give them warning.' If he did this he ' delivered his own soul ;' but if not, God intimates to him that ' their blood should be required at his hand.' That ministers are thus set to watch for souls supposes that they are accountable to God for the doctrines they deliver. Hence, the apostle speaks of them as ' stewards of the mysteries of God, ' of whom it is required that they should ' be found faithful. ' & As a particular instance, he makes a solemn appeal to the elders of the church of Ephesus, that he had ' kept back nothing that was profitable unto them, nor shunned to declare aE the counsel of God.'h This faithfulness in the exercise of the min istry, is opposed to ministers having respect of persons from some obligation which they are laid under to them, or the prospect of some advantage which they expect from them ; so that they are sparing in reproving those who are blame-worthy, for fear of giving offence or losing their friendship. It is also opposed to preaching those doctrines which are suited to the humours and corruptions of men ; and ne glecting to insist on the most necessary and important truths, because they appre hend that these wiE be entertained with disgust. To minister in the latter way, is to act as though their main design were to please men rather than God, and is very remote from the conduct of the prophet Isaiah ; who, when he was informed that the people desired that the prophets would ' prophesy smooth things ' to them, and ' cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before them,'1 took occasion, how unwilling soever they were to receive his doctrine, to represent God as the Holy One of Israel, and to denounce the judgments which he would bring upon them. We may add that those are to be reckoned no other than unfaithful in their method of preaching, who, under a pretence of pressing the observance of moral duties, set aside the great doctrines of faith in Christ, and justification by his righteous ness, which is the only foundation of our acceptance in his sight, — a blessing con cerning which, in connection with moral virtue, we may say, without being supposed to have light thoughts of the latter, that the one ought in nowise to exclude the other. Nor can those be reckoned faithful who shun to declare those important truths on which the glory of God and the comfort of his people depend. Hence, if morality be rightly preached, it ought to be inculcated from evangeEcal motives, and connected with other truths which have a tendency more directly to set forth c 2 Cor. iii. 12. fl 1 Cor. ii. 4. e 2 Cor. iv. 2. f Ezek. iii. 17, &C. g 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. h Acts xx. 27. i Isa. xxx. 10. 11. 478 THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. the Mediator's glory. These truths ought not to be laid aside as controverted doc trines, which all cannot acquiesce in, or which the tempers, or rather the igno rance and corruption of men, may be supposed will not bear. 4. The word of God is to be preached wisely. There is to be wisdom in the choice of those subjects which have the greatest tendency to promote the interest of Christ, and the good of mankind in general. There are many doctrines which must be allowed to be true, which are not of equal importance with others, nor so much adapted to promote the work of salvation, and the glory of God in that work. There are some doctrines which the apostle calls ' the present truth, 'k in which he instructs those to whom he writes. Accordingly, those truths are to be frequently inculcated which, because of their holiness, spirituality, beauty, and glory, are most opposite to the dictates of corrupt nature and carnal reason. — Again, those doctrines are to be explained and supported by the most solid and judicious methods of reasoning, which are very much perverted and undermined by the sub tile enemies of our salvation. — Moreover, whatever truth is necessary to be known, as subservient to godliness, which multitudes are ignorant of, is to be frequently insisted on, that they may not be destroyed for lack of knowledge ; and those duties which we are most prone to neglect, in which the life and power of religion discov ers itself, are to be inculcated as a means to promote practical godliness. The wisdom of those who preach the gospel, farther appears in suiting their dis courses to the capacities of their hearers. Some of these, it must be supposed, are ignorant and weak in the faith, and cannot easily take in those truths which are, with much more ease, apprehended and received by others. Now, for their sake, the word of God is to be preached with the greatest plainness and familiarity of style. Thus the apostle speaks of some who needed to be 'fed with milk,' being ' unskilful in the word of righteousness,' and, as it were, ' babes' in knowledge ;' while others, whom he compares to ' strong men,' were fed with ' meat,' which was agreeable to them. Here he doth not mean, as I apprehend, a difference of doc trines, as though some were to have nothing preached to them but moral duties, whEe others were to have the doctrines of justification, faith in Christ, &c. preached to them ; but he means rather a different way of treating the subjects, as to the closeness and connection, of the reasoning by which they are established, which some are better able to improve a.nd receive advantage from than others. — Again, some hearers must be supposed to be wavering, and in danger of being, perverted from the faith of the gospel. And for their sakes, the most strong and cogent arguments are to be made use of, and weE managed, in order to their establishment in that faith ; and those objections which are generaEy brought against it are to be answered. — Again, others are lukewarm and indifferent in matters of religion ; and need to have awakening truths insisted on with great seriousness and affection. — Moreover, others are assaulted with temptations, and subject to many doubts and fears about the state of their souls and the truth of grace ; or, it may be, their con sciences are burdened with some scruples about the lawfulness or expediency of things, and some hesitation of mind whether what they engage in is a sin or a duty. Now, that the word may be adapted to their condition, the wiles of Satan are to be discovered, cases of conscience resolved, evidences of the truth of grace or the marks of sincerity and hypocrisy plainly laid down, and the fulness, freeness, and riches of divine grace,, through a Mediator, set forth as the only expedient to fence them against their doubts and fears, and keep them from giving way to despair. 5. The word of God is to be preached zealously, with fervent love to God and to the souls of his people. Thus it is said concerning Apollos, that ' being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord.'™ This. zeal does not consist in a passionate, furious address, arising from personal pique and prejudice, or in exposing men for their weakness, or expressing an undue resentment of some injuries received from them; but it is such a zeal as is consistent with fervent love to God and to the souls of men. The love which is to be expressed to God, dis covers itself in the concern ministers have for the advancing of his truth, name, and glory, and the promoting of his interest in the world, which is infinitely pre- k 2 Pet. i. 12. 1 Heb. v. 12 — 14. m Acts xviii. 25. THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 479 ferable to all other interests ; and their love to the souls of men induces them to preach with concern and sympathy. Their hearers not only have the same nature in common with themselves, in which they must either be happy or miserable for ever ; but they are liable to the same infirmities, difficulties, dangers, and spiritual enemies. Hence they who preach the gospel should express the greatest sympathy with them in their troubles, while they are using their utmost endeavours to help them in their way to heaven. They are to be considered as being, by nature, in a lost, undone condition ; and the success of the gospel is to be regarded as the only means to prevent their perishing for ever. With respect to those in whom the word of God is made effectual for their conversion, ministers are to endeavour to build them up in their holy faith, as persons who, they hope, wiE be their •crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming.'11 6. The word is to be preached sincerely, aiming at the glory of God, and the conversion, edification, and salvation of his people. Ministers must firmly believe the doctrines they deliver, and not preach them because they are the generaEy received opinion of the churches. For to preach them in that light is hardly con sistent with sincerity ; at least, it argues a great deal of weakness or want of judg ment, as though ministers were wavering about those important truths which they think, in compliance with custom, they are obliged to communicate. Again, they must have no selfish and unwarrantable ends in preaching, namely, the gaining of the esteem of men, or promoting their own secular interest. Though what the apostle says is true, that 'the labourer, is worthy of his hire,' and, 'they that preach the gospel, must live of the gospel;'0 the obtaining of temporal support ought not to be the principal end of a minister's labouring. The influence of such a motive is like what was threatened against the remains of the house of Eli, who were exposed to such a servile and mercenary temper, as to ' crouch for a piece of silver, and to say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may- eat a piece of bread.'? The glory of God is to be the principal end of their min istry ; and, accordingly, they are to endeavour to approve themselves to him in the whole of their conduct in it. Thus the apostle speaks of himself as ' not seeking to please men ; which, if I do,' says he, ' I should not be the servant of Christ. 'i This method of preaching wiE be a. means to beget, in the minds of men, the high est esteem for those who practise it. More especially, the glory of God is to be set forth as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, or discovers itself in the work of salvation, brought about by him. This is the only expedient to render the preaching of the gospel conducive to an swer the most valuable ends. And as, next to the glory of God, the conversion, edification, and salvation of men, are to be aimed at, such a method of preaching is to be used, as is best adapted to promote them. Sinners are to be led into a sense of their guilt and misery, while in an unconverted state ; of the necessity of their believing on Christ to the salvation of the soul ; and of the methods prescribed in the gospel for their recovery, and for their escaping the wrath to which they are liable. They are to be made acquainted with the gospel caE, in which sinners arc invited to come to Christ ; and with his wiEingness to receive aE that repent arid believe in him. Moreover, as conversion is the peculiar work of the Spirit, they are to pray and hope for his grace, to give success to his ordinances, in which they wait for his salvation. [See Note V, page 481.] If God is pleased to send home the truth on the consciences of men, and enable them to comply with the gospel call, then the word is preached in a right manner, and their labour is not in vain in the Lord. As for those who are converted, their farther establishment and edi fication in Christ is designed, together with the increase of the work of grace which . is begun in them. Accordingly, they are to be told of the imperfection of their present state, and what is stiE wanting to fiE up the measure of their faith and obedience ; and they are to be warned of the assaults which they are likely to meet with from their spiritual enemies, and of the wiles and devices of Satan, to interrupt the actings of grace, overthrow their confidence, or disturb their peace. They are also to be directed how they may improve the redemption purchased by n 1 Thess. ii. 19. o 1 Cor. ix. 14. pi Sam. ii. 36. q Gal. i. 10. 480 THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. Christ, for the mortifying of sin, the obtaining of victory over temptation, and the increasing of their faith in him. Ministers, in addressing themselves to them, are to explain difficult scriptures, that they may grow in knowledge ; and discover to them the evidences of the strength and weakness of grace, tending to promote the one, and prevent the other. The promises of the gospel likewise are to be applied to them for their encouragement ; and they are to be excited to go on in the ways of God, depending on Christ, and deriving strength from him, for the carrying on of the work which is begun in them. The Hearing of the Word. We are now led to consider what the hearer's duty is, who desires to receive spiritual advantage from the word preached. This respects his behaviour before, in, and after his hearing the word. 1. Before we hear the word, we are to endeavour to prepare ourselves for the solemn work which we are to engage in. We are duly to consider how we need in struction, or at least, to have truths brought to our remembrance and impressed on our hearts. We are to consider also that this is an ordinance which God has insti tuted for that purpose ; and that, as it is stamped with his authority, so we may depend on it that his eye will be upon us, to observe our frame of spirit under the word. We ought likewise to have an awful sense of his perfections, to excite in us an holy reverence and the exercise of other graces, necessary to our engaging in this duty in a right manner ; and inasmuch as these are God's gift, we are to be very importunate with him in prayer for them. Among other things, we are to desire that he would assist his ministers in preaching the word, so that what shall be delivered by them may be agreeable to his mind and will ; that it may be de livered in such a way that it may recommend itself to the consciences of those who hear it ; that their -understandings may be enlightened, and they enabled to re ceive it with faith and love ; and that all those corruptions or temptations which hinder the success of it may be prevented. These and similar things are to be desired of God in prayer ; not only for ourselves in particular, but for all those who shaE be engaged with us in this ordinance. We might here consider the arguments or pleas which we may make use of in such prayer. These are taken from those promises which God has made of his presence with his people, when engaged in public worship. r We may also plead the insufficiency ol man's instructions, without the Spirit's teaching, or leading us into aE truth ; and that Christ has promised that the Spirit shall be given to his people for this end. 8 We may also plead our own inability to hear the word of God in a right manner ; the violent efforts which are made by our corrupt nature to hinder our receiving advantage by it ; and what endeavours Satan often uses in conjunction with it, to 'catch away,' as our Saviour expresses it in the parable,' that seed which was sown in the heart, so as to make it become unfruitful. We may likewise plead the afflictive sense we have of the ill consequences which will attend our hearing the word and not profiting by it, whereby the soul is left worse than it was before ; as the apostle says that, in the course of his ministrv, he was to some 'the savour of death unto death. 'u We may also plead the glory which wiE redound to God, by the displays of his grace, in making the word effectual to salvation ; and the great honour he hereby puts on his own institution, inasmuch as he thus sets his seal to it. We may also plead that through the ordinance of the word God usually dispenses his grace ; that he has encouraged us to hope and wait for it in it ; that multitudes of his saints, both on earth and in heaven, have experienced his presence with them under the word, whereby they were first en abled to believe in Christ, and afterwards established more and more in that grace which they were made partakers of at first from him ; and that, therefore, we hope and trust that we may be admitted to participate of the same privilege. 2. There are several duties required of us in hearing the word. In particular, we are to try the doctrines which are delivered, whether they are agreeabk to r Exod. xx 24 ; Matt, xviii. 20. s John xvi. 13. 14. t Matt. xiii. 19. u 2 Cor. ii. 16. THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. 481 scripture, and founded on it, that we may not be imposed upon by the errors of men, instead of the truths of God. Moreover, we are to endeavour to exercise those graces which are suitable to the work we are engaged in. We are, as the apostle says, to 'mix the word with faith,'1 and express the highest love and esteem for the glorious truths which are contained in it, discovering the greatest readiness to yield obedience to every thing God commands, and thankfulness for whatever he has promised to us. Moreover, we are to hear the word with a particular ap plication of it to our own condition, whether it be in a way of admonition, reproof, exhortation, or encouragement, and to see how much we are concerned to improve it to our spiritual advantage. 3. We are now to consider those duties which are to be performed by us, after we have heard the word preached. Some of these require privacy or retirement from the world. We are, in retirement, to meditate on, digest, and apply what we have heard ; and at the same time, we are to examine ourselves, and so take a view of our behaviour, while we were engaged in public worship, in order to our being humbled for sins committed, or thankful for grace received. But this subject hav ing been particularly considered under another Answer, relating to our sanctifying the sabbath in the evening of it,' I shall pass it over at present. There is another duty incumbent on us, after we have heard the word, which may conduce to> the spiritual advantage of others, — it is, that the word which we have heard be the subject of our conversation. We are to take occasion to observe the excellency, beauty, and glory of divine truths, which are communicated in scrip ture. We are not to hear the word as critics, making our remarks on the elegance of style, the fluency of expression, or other gifts which we are ready to applaud in the preacher, on the one hand, nor exposing and censuring the defects which we have observed in his method of address, on the other. We are rather to take notice of the suitableness of the truths delivered to the condition of mankind in general, or to our own in particular, and observe how consonant the word preached has been to the holy scriptures, the standard of truth, and how it agrees with the experiences of God's people. We are also to take occasion to inquire into the meaning of scrip-'. ture, especiaEy some particular texts which have been insisted on, or in some mea sure explained, in the preaching of the word, in order to our farther information and improvement in the knowledge of divine things. The last thing which is observed in this Answer, is that, after having heard the word of God, we are to endeavour to bring forth the fruit of it in our lives. This consists in a conversation becoming the gospel ; and in our being induced by the word to ' deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.'2 We ought also to express a becoming zeal for divine truths, defending them when opposed, and endeavouring to establish others in them ; so that we may recommend religion to them, as that which is the most solid foundation for peace, and leads to universal holiness ; and that thus we may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. x Heb. iv. 2. v See Sect. ' The Sanctifying of the Sabbath,' under Quest, cxvii, cxviii. z Tit. ii. 13. [Note V. Are unconverted persons to be exhorted to pray ? — Here, and in other places, Dr. Ridgeley speaks of unconverted men praying ; and not a few ministers even exhort them to practise prayer as a means of their conversion. But is an unconverted man able to pray ? Or — as in the case of believing — is there any warrant from scripture to expect, that, in his making an effort to pray, he will receive the grace or Spirit of prayer, — or that any adaptation exists between an unre newed man's attempting to exercise prayer, and the production within him, by the Divine Spirit, of the dispositions and the faith with which prayer is associated ? Prayer, it must be remembered, is the act or exercise of a believing soul. ' He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.' A man cannot desire the removal of evils which he does not believe to exist ; nor can he desire the enjoyment of blessings which either are wholly unknown to him, or are so figured out by his mind as to be utterly misconceived and de. preciated. Even, in fact, when the understanding is spiritually enlightened to ' know the things which are freely given to us of God,' and much more when it is in a state of ignorance, error, and delusion, it fails, without a special accompanying work of the Holy Spirit on the heart, to excite the holy desires of genuine prayer. Believers themselves ' know not what they should pray for as they ought ; but the Holy Spirit maketh intercession for them with groanings which cannot be uttered.' How, then, can men who are destitute alike of faith and of spiritual knowledge offer true prayer? ' Without faith it is impossible to please God.' ' Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.' U. 3 P 482 THE PREACHING AND HEARING OF THE WORD. But I may be reminded that faith its If cannot be exercised by an unrenewed man, and that yet he is expressly and often enjoined in scripture to believe. The cases of believing and of praying, however, are widely different. An effort to believe, an inquiry into the truths which are submitted to faith, a fixation of the mind on the doctrines to which assent is required, is just to put the soul into that attitude, to have it brought into that contact with the gospel, in which the Divine Spirit enlightens and renews it. ' Faith ¦ cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' An adapted instrumentality is set up by the renovator of the heart and the enlightener of the under standing, for performing his saving work upon the sinner ; and this instrumentality, as brought into contact with the mind, is the way, the path, the approach by which faith comes. To have the mind fixed on vacancy, or on what is foreign to its good, is to have it directed to what not even the grace of the Holy Spirit will make a means of enlightening it ; while to have it fixed, in the way of inquiry, or perusal, or reflection, on the gospel, is to have it directed to ' the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' — to what he makes ' the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation,' — to the very thing the spiritual import of which he teaches, the divine evidences of which he dis closes, and the details of which he makes matters of the soui's unfeigned and joyous assent. There is thus a direct adaptation of hearing the word to believing it, — of fixing the attention on divine truth to receiving the grace of faith ; and this adaptation is exhibited and enforced in each of the numerous instances in which unconverted hearers of the word are directly commanded to believe. But is there any such adaptation between an effort to pray and receiving the grace of prayer, — or rather, between an effort to pray, and the conversion of the sinner ? Is conversion, or the spirit of true prayer, anywhere said to come by attempts to pray ? Is there suitable instrumentality, or in strumentality of any kind or degree, in the thoughts or desires of an unconverted man's attempt at devotion, to work the regeneration of his soul, or the impartation to him of the faith and holy affections of true prayer ? Are commands, in any instance, addressed to the unrenewed to offer prayer as an act of passing from spiritual death to spiritual life, — or, still more, td offer it as a means of experiencing conversion ? Few persons, if any, will answer these questions in the affirmative ; and yet they would require so to answer them, in order even to maintain the alleged parallel be tween the Bible's commands to unrenewed men to believe, and the exhortations which ministers frequently address to unrenewed persons to pray. Prayer is, no doubt, the duty of every man ; but so is love to God, humility, self-denial, Sabbath- sanctification, almsgiving, honesty, — everything, in fact, which the divine law enjoins. Yet who — if he would maintain consistent or scriptural views of the economy of salvation — would inculcate, upon spiritually dead men, moral duties, as means, or antecedents, or concomitants, on their own part, of their being made spiritually alive ? To hear, to listen, to hearken, to consider one's ways, to search the scriptures, to seek the Lord, are duties enjoined on unconverted men which they may perform simply as enjoying access to the divine word ; to believe and to repent, are duties enjoined on them, which they may perform by the enlightening and renovating work of the Divine Spirit within them, through the instrumentality of the word which they were hearing or considering ; and to pray, to praise, to love, to obey, to walk in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, are duties enjoined on them, which they may perform when they are no longer unconverted, but are made alive unto God, and have become new creatures in Christ Jesus. True prayer is the cry of the new-born soul, — the desire of the babe for the sincere milk of the word, — the hungering of a spiritually active being for the bread of life and the righteousness of the reign of grace. ' Behold, he prays 1' said the Lord to Ananias, respecting Saul of Tarsus ; ' behold, he prays !' That the man who had breathed out slaughter against the disciples, and who had persecuted them even unto strange cities, now prayed, — that he breathed the affections and exercised the faith of one who ap proached with spiritual desires the throne of the divine grace, — was the evidence to which the Lord of glory himself pointed that the man had been ' renewed in the spirit of his mind,' and had ' put on Christ.' Even the evangelical writers and preachers, indeed, who incautiously at times recommend prayer as a means of conversion or a precurrent duty to believing, in general describe it as, in its own nature, the act or the exercise only of a true convert or believer in Jesus, — as 'the pulse of the soul,' the breathing of sanctified desires, the expression of feelings and the uttering of thoughts which only the indwelling Spirit of God produces and sustains. But, it may be asked, Is formal prayer, or an attempt to pray, on the part of children, or of nominal professors of religion who furnish no satisfactory evidence of being believers in Christ, to be dis couraged ? This question may be answered by another, Is honesty, veracity, or external obedience to any divine command whatever, to be discouraged ? Surely not. Yet while labour is expended in showing to all whom we instruct what the divine law is, what duties it requires, what intimate connexion there is between each part of obedience and true happiness or well-being ; every care must be used to exhibit prominently the way of salvation, — to show that ' entrance into life,' or experience of justification and regeneration, is on the foreground of all duty, — to press as of imme diate obligation the commands to believe and repent, —and to guard most sedulously against the impression being maintained or produced that formal prayer or external moral obedience, in any form whatever, either is life itself or is a means leading to its possession. — Ed. J THE SACRAMENTS. 483 THE SACRAMENTS. Question CLXI. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation ? Answer. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not by any power in themselves, or any virture derived from the piety and intention of bim by whom they are administered ; but only iiy the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ, by whom they are instituted. Question CLXII. What is a sacrament ? Answer. A sacrament is an holy ordinance, instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit, unto those that are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of his mediation ; to strengthen and increase their faith, and all other graces ; to oblige them to obedience ; to testify and cherish their love and communion one with another, and to distinguish them from those that are without. Question CLXIII. What are the parts of a sacrament ? Answer. The parts of a sacrament are two; the one, an outward and sensible sign, used accord ing to Christ's own appointment; the other, an inward and spiritual grace, thereby signified. Question CLX1V. How many sacraments hath Christ instituted in his church, under the New Testament-? Answer. Under the New Testament, Christ hath instituted in his church only two sacraments Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. It has pleased God, in setting forth the glory of his wisdom and sovereignty, to impart his mind and will to man, in various ways, besides the discovery which he makes of himself in the dispensations of his providence. These are more especially reducible to two general Heads, namely, his making it known by words, which is the more plain and common way by which we are led into the knowledge of divine truths ; and his making it known by visible signs, which are sometimes called types, figures, or sacraments. The former we have already insisted on ; the latter we now proceed to consider. Here we are first to explain the nature, and show what are the parts, of a sacrament, as we have an account of them in the two last of these Answers ; and then we are to consider how the sacraments become effectual means of salvation, a? explained in the first of the Answers. The Nature and Parts of a Sacrament. 1. In order to our understanding the nature and parts of a sacrament, we shall first consider the meaning of the word. It is certain that the word ' sacrament ' is not to be found in scripture, though the thing intended by it is there expressed in other words. For this reason, some have scrupled to make use of it, and chosen rather to make use of other phrases more agreeable to the scripture-mode of speak ing. But though we are not to hold any doctrine which is not founded on scripture ; yet those which are contained in it may be explained in our own words, provided they be consonant to it. The Greek church knew nothing of the word ' sacrament, ' it being of Latin original. Instead of it, they used the word ' mystery ;' thereby denoting that there is in the sacraments, besides the outward and visible signs, some secret or hidden mystery signified. The Latin church used the word 'sacrament,' not only as signifying, something whici is sacred, but as denoting that thereby they were bound as with an oath to be the Lord's. Thus the psalmist says, ' I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments ;'a and God by the prophet, says, ' Unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shaE swear. 'b The word ' sacrament' was used, indeed, by the Romans, to signify the oath which the soldiers took to be true and faithful to their general, and to fight courageously under his banner. But the primitive Christians signified by the word, that, when they were caEed to suffer for Christ, which was, as it were, a fighting under his banner, they did in the ordinance of the supper, as it were, take an oath to him, expressing their obligation not to desert his cause. Now, as this notion is agreeable to the end and design of a sacrament, whatever be the origin of a Psal. cxix. 106. b Isa. xiv. 23. 484 THE SACRAMENTS. the use of the word, I think we have no reason to scruple the using of it, though it be not found in scripture. Christians, however, ought not to contend or be angry with one another about this matter, it being of no great importauco, if we adliere steadfastly to the explanation given of the ordinance in scripture. [See Note W, page 490.] 2. We shall now consider the nature of a sacrament, as described in one of the Answers we are explaining. Here it is observed concerning it, that it is ' an holy ordinance, instituted by Christ.' What we are to understand by an ordinance, and its being founded on a divine institution, which is our only warrant to engage in it, was formerly considered. Indeed, every duty which is to be performed by God's express command, and which he has designed to be a pledge of his presence, and a means of grace, is a branch of religious worship, and may be truly styled au holy ordinance. Now, that the sacraments are founded on Christ's institution, is very evident from scripture. Thus he commanded his apostles, to 'baptize all na tions ;'c and, as to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, he commanded thein to ' do' what is contained in it, 'in remembrance of him.'u The persons for whom the sacraments were instituted, are the church, who stand in an external covenant-relation to God, and, as the apostle says, are 'called to be saints. 'c It is to them, more especially, that Christ, when he ascended up on high, gave ministers, as a token of his regard to them ; that thus those may be edified who aie styled ' his body.'' And, though these ministers are authorized to preach the gospel to all nations, — a work which is necessary for the gathering of churches out of the world ; yet they are never ordered to administer the sacraments to all nations, nor indeed to any — especially the sacrament of the Lord's supper — till they profess subjection to Christ, and by doing so join in the fellowship of the gospel. As the sacraments under the Old.Testimieut dispensation were to be ad ministered to none but the church of the Jews, the only people in the world who professed the true religion ; so, under the gospel dispensation, none have a right to sacraments but those who are professedly devoted to him. 3. We are now to consider the matter of the sacraments. This is set forth in general terms ; and is also called in one of the Answers we are explaining, the parts of a sacrament. These are an outward and visible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace signified by it. Or, a sacrament, as it is otherwise expressed, signi fies, seals, and exhibits to those who are within the covenant of grace, the benefits of Christ's mediation. These words are often used, but not so weE explained as might be desired. It is called a sign, in which, by a visible action, some spiritual benefits are signi fied. This is undoubtedly true. And jt is a reproach cast on God's holy institu tions, to deny, as some do, that the sacraments are divine ordinances, and to style them carnal ordinances, beggarly elements, or a re-establishing of the ceremonial law ; without distinguishing between significant signs which were formerly ordi nances to the Jewish church, but are now abolished, and those signs which Christ has given to the gospel church. We must consider that a sacrament, as a sign, agrees in some tilings with the preaching of the word. Christ and his benefits are set forth, both by it and by preaching, as objects of our faith. The same ends also arc desired and attained by both, namely, our being affected with the blessings purchased by him, and making a right improvement of them, together with our enjoying communion with him ; and they are both sacred ordinances, instituted by Christ, and therefore to be attended on in an holy manner. But, on the other hand, they differ, with respect to the way or means by which Christ and his bene fits are set forth. In the preaching of the word, there is a narration of what he did and suffered ; and, on this account, the apostle says, ' Faith cometh by hear ing, and hearing by the word of God.'s But, in the sacraments, there is a repre sentation of the same thing by signs ; on which account we may use in reference to them the words of the prophet, ' Mine eye affecteth mine heart, 'h as there is the external symbol of Christ's dying love, which is an inducement to us to love him c Matt, xxviu. 19. d Matt. xxvi. 26, 27, compared with I Cor. xi. 24, 25. e Rom. i. 7. f Eph. iv. 16. g Rom. x. 17. h Lam. iii. 51. THE SACRAMENTS 485 again. They also differ in this, that, not only are the sacraments designed to in struct, but, in our observance of them, we signify our engagement to be the Lord's. The sacraments are also said to seal the blessings which they signify ; and ac cordingly they are called, not only signs, but seals. It is a difficult matter to ex plain and clearly to state the difference between these two words, or to show what is contained in a seal that is not in a sign. Some think that it is a distinction without a difference. The principal ground which most divines proceed upon, when they distinguish between them, is its being said' concerning Abraham, ' He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith. 'k But the same thing might have been affirmed concerning circumcision or any other signifi cant ordinance, if the words ' sign ' and ' seal ' were supposed to be of the same im port ; for it is not said he received the ordinance of circumcision, which is not only a sign, but a seal, — but he received that which was a sign, or a seal of the blessing about which his faith was conversant. But that we may explain this matter, with out laying aside those words which are commonly used and distinguished in treat ing on this subject, it may be observed that a sign is generally understood as im porting any thing which has a tendency to signify or confirm something which is transacted, or designed to be published and made visible. Accordingly, some signs have a natural tendency to signify the things intended by them ; as the regular beating of the pulse is a sign of health, smoke the sign of fire. Other things not only signify but represent that which they give us an idea of, by some similitude which there is in it, as the picture does its original. Other things are significant only as they are ordained or designed to be so by custom or appointment. Thus, in civil matters, a staff is a sign of power to exercise an office ; the seal of a bond or conveyance, is the sign of a right which is in that document conveyed or made over to another to possess. It is in this latter point of view that the sacraments are signs of the covenant of grace. They do not naturally represent Christ and his benefits ; but they signify them by divine appointment. But, on the other hand, a seal, according to the most common acceptation of the word, imports a con firming sign.1 Yet we must take heed that we do not, in compliance with custom, include more in our ideas of this word than is agreeable to the analogy of faith. Let it be considered, therefore, that the principal method God has taken for the confirming of our faith in the benefits of Christ's redemption, is his own truth and faithfulness, whereby the heirs of salvation ' have strong consolation,'"1 or else the internal testimony of the Spirit of God in our hearts. The former is an objective means of confirmation ; and the latter is a subjective means, and is called by the apostle our ' being established in Christ, and sealed, having the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.'11 This, however, is not the sense in which we are to under stand the word as applied to the sacraments. If we call them confirming seals, we intend nothing else but that God has, to the promises that are given us in his word, added these ordinances ; not only to bring to mind the great doctrine that Christ has redeemed his people by his blood, but to assure us that they who believe in him shall be made partakers of redemption. Hence, these ordinances are a pledge to them of redemption ; and in regard to them God has so set his seal that, in an objective way, he gives believers to understand that Christ and his benefits are theirs. At the same time, they are obliged by faith, as well as in an external and visible manner, to signify their compliance with his covenant ; and their doing so we may caE their setting to their seal that God is true, as we may allude to that expression of our Saviour, ' He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true.'0 The sacraments are God's seals, as they are ordinances given by him for the confirmation of our faith, that he would be our covenant God ; and they are our seals when we profess in the observance of them, as we ought also to do by faith, that we give ourselves up to him to be his people, and desire to be made partakers in his own way, of the benefits which Christ hath i Rom. iv. II. k K«i rtiftttay tXetGt trt^tTafj.tss, eq)oxytb*x rns hxx.aa-vttis Ttts irifrwt. 1 When these two are distinguished by divines, the one n. generally called siftiium significans, the other, signum confirmans ; or, the former is said, s-gn (Scare ; the latter, obs-gnare. m Heb. vi. 17, 18. n 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. John iii. 33. 486 THE SACRAMENTS. purchased. Thus concerning the sacraments, as being signs and seals of the cove nant of grace. There is another expression, used in this Answer, which needs a little explanation ; namely, the sacraments being said, not only to signify and seal, but to ' exhibit the benefits of Christ's mediation.' ' To exhibit ' sometimes signifies to show or pre sent to our view. If the word be so understood in this place, it imports the same as when it is said that the sacraments are signs or seals of the benefits of Christ's mediation, or significant ordinances for directing and exciting our faith, as conver sant about what we are to understand by them. ¦ Again, ' to exhibit ' sometimes signifies to give, communicate, or convey. And as ' exhibiting, ' in the definition which we have of a sacrament in the Shorter Catechism, is not only distinguished from signifying and sealing, but is described as that by which Christ and his bene fits are ' applied ' to believers ; I am inclined to think that it is in this latter sense that the word is to be understood in the Answer which we are explaining. If so, we must distinguish between Christ's benefits being conveyed, made over, exhibited, or applied, by the gift of divine grace, through the effectual working of the Spirit ; and this being done by an ordinance, as an external means of grace. Accordingly, I am bound to conclude that, as the Spirit of God gives the benefits of redemption to believers who engage in a right manner in the observance of the ordinances ; so this grace is represented, and God's people have ground to expect, as far as an ordinance can be the means of it, that they shall be made partakers of these bene fits. We may also observe that, though the sacraments are appointed to signify to all who partake of them, that Christ has purchased salvation for his people, or that the work of redemption is brought to perfection ; yet it is they only who en gage in the observance of them by faith, who can look upon them as signs or seals to confirm their faith, that they have a right to the benefits of Christ's redemption, as not only signified but exhibited or applied to them. The sacraments are thus signs to those who believe, in a sense in which they are to none others. 4. We are now to consider the persons to whom the sacraments are given. These are described as those who are within the covenant of grace. To be within the covenant of grace, implies either a being externally in covenant with God, or a be ing intemaEy and spiritually so, as interested in its saving blessings. They who are externally in covenant, are such as are visibly so ; who are called by God's name, professedly devote themselves to him, and lay claim to him as their God. These, if they are no otherwise in covenant, are said to be in Christ as the branch which beareth no fruit is said to be in the vine? They are like those whom the prophet speaks of, when he says, ' Hear ye this, 0 house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.' q They have the ordinances, which must be reckoned a very great privilege ; they have the external overtures of divine grace, the convictions and strivings of the Spirit ; and thus they enjoy those means by which God is sometimes pleased to work special grace ; and when that special grace is wrought in them, they may conclude themselves to have more than the external blessings of the covenant. Accordingly, some are internally or spiritually in covenant, children of God by faith. These are such as are true and real members of Jesus Christ, by a federal or conjugal union with him. They have the same mind as was in him, and receive vital influences from him, being made partakers of the Spirit. They have, not only professedly, but by faith, embraced him in all his offices ; and have surrendered themselves to him to be entirely his, their understandings to be guided and directed, their wills and affections to be gov erned by him ; and are desirous to be disposed of by him, in the whole conduct of their lives. As to the privileges which they partake of, they have not merely a supposed but a real interest in all the benefits which Christ has purchased ; they have a right to his special care and love, which will render them safe and happy, both here and hereafter. Now, with respect to both classes, they are supposed to attend on the sacraments. The former, indeed, have not a right to the saving blessings signified by them, p John xv. 2. q Isa. xlviii. 1. THE SACRAMENTS. 487 Hence, if they know themselves to be strangers to the covenant of promise, they profess, by engaging in the ordinance of the supper, to lay claim to that which they have no right to. Yet, if their wanting an interest in the covenant be not discern ible in their conversation, which is blameless in the eye of the world ; men, who are not judges of their hearts, have no warrant to exclude them from the sacra ments. But, on the other hand, not only have they who are savingly or internally in covenant, a right to these ordinances in common with others, but Christ and his benefits, as was before observed, are exhibited and applied to them, as they have ground to conclude by faith that they have an interest in all the blessings which he has purchased. ' 5. We are now to consider what those benefits are which Christ communicates to his people in the sacraments, and which are signified by them. Some are common to the whole church. These are relative and external, rather than internal ; and by possessing them, the church are distinguished from those who are without. They are advantages ; though not such as are of a saving nature. Thus the apostle says, ' What advantage hath the Jew? or what profit, is thero in circumcision ?'r And he replies, ' Much every way,' or, in many respects ; as if he had said, ' Circumci sion is an honour which God has put on the church, as taking them into a visible relation to himself, and giving them the means of grace, in possessing which they are more favoured than the- rest of the world.' Again, there are benefits of Christ's mediation which are more especially applicable to believers. God makes every or dinance, and the sacraments in particular, subservient to the increase of their faith and all other graces. As faith is wrought under the word, it is, as will be con sidered under a following Answer, farther established and increased by the Lord's supper. And as believers have, in this ordinance, an occasion to exercise their love to one another ; so they have communion with Christ. This has a tendency to carry on the work of grace begun in the soul, and to enhance their love to Christ, who is eminently set forth and signified in the ordinance ; and, from the view they have of their interest in him, arises a stronger motive and inducement to hate aE sin in the whole course of their lives. How the Sacraments become Effectual Means of Salvation. We are now to consider how the sacraments become effectual means of salvation ; or whence their efficacy is derived to answer that great end. Now, they do not become effectual means of salvation by any power in themselves. For we are not to sup pose that they are more than ordinances, by which God works those graces which we receive under them, and which it is his prerogative alone to confer. Again, the efficacy of the sacraments is not derived from the piety or intention of those by whom they are administered ; who, though they are styled ' stewards of the mysteries of God,'s as persons to whom the administration of the ordinances is com mitted, yet have not the least power to confer that grace which is Christ's gift and work. Thus the apostle says, ' Who then is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave unto every man?'1 The Papists, how ever, suppose that the efficacy of the sacraments arises, partly from an internal vir tue which is in them to confer grace, which they illustrate by a- far-fetched simili tude, taken from the virtue there is in food to nourish the body, forgetting that no external act of religion can have a tendency to nourish the soul, without the inter nal efficacious grace of the Spirit accompanying it ; and partly from the design or intention of the priest who administers them, as they are consecrated and designed by him with the view of being efficacious. There is also an absurd notion main tained by some Protestants; as weE as the Papists, namely, that the sacrament of baptism, administered to infants, washes away the guilt of original sin, and gives them a right and title to heaven ; so that by virtue of it they are saved, if they hap pen to die before they commit actual sin. This account of the manner in which the sacraments become effectual to salvation, is absurd to the last degree ; for it puts a sanctifying and saving virtue into that which is no more than an outward r Rom. iii. 1, 2. si Cor. iv. 1. t Chap. iii. 5. 488 THE SACRAMENTS. and ordinary means of grace. As to the efficacy of the sacraments arising from the intention of him who administers them, it lays the whole stress of our salvation on the secret design of men, in whose power it is' supposed to be to render the or dinances means of grace, or to prevent them from being so. But to think thus is in the highest degree derogatory to the glory of God. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of Christ, by whom they were instituted. As, 'with out Christ we can do nothing, 'u so without his blessing we can receive nothing. Ordinances are only the channel through which grace is conveyed. But Christ is the author and finisher of faith ; and he conveys his grace by his Spirit, when he brings the heart into a good frame, and excites suitable acts of faith and love in those who are engaged in the ordinances, and maintains the lively impressions of them, which have a tendency to promote the work of grace in the whole conduct of their lives. What the Sacraments of the Gospel Dispensation are. We proceed to consider what sacraments Christ has instituted under the New Testament dispensation. It has pleased God, in every age of the world, to instruct his people by sacramental signs, as an addition to other ways in which he commu nicates his mind and will to them. Even our first parents, in their state of inno cency, had the tree of life ; which was a sacrament or ordinance for their faith, that if they retained their integrity, and performed the conditions of the covenant which they were under, they would be led into a farther conviction that they should certainly attain the blessings promised in that covenant. Some think, too, that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was another sacramental sign, whereby they were given to understand that, if they sinned, they should die. And para dise in which they were placed, was a sacrament, or kind of type of the heavenly state ; inasmuch as there is an allusion to it in that promise, ' To him that over- cometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God ;'* and heaven is, in another place, called ' paradise. '' Others think the sab bath was a sacramental sign to our first parents, of that eternal sabbatism which they should celebrate in a better world, in the event of their yielding perfect obe dience as the condition of the covenant they were under. I desire, however, not to be too peremptory as to this matter. It is enough to my present purpose, to consider the tree of life as a sacrament ; for from its having been so, it appears that God instituted such signs from the beginning of the world. But this sub ject having been insisted on elsewhere,2 we pass it over, and proceed to consider that, after the fall of man, there were sacramental signs, instituted as ordinances for the faith of the church in the promised Messiah. Sacrifices, in particular, were instituted, which signified his people's expectation that he would make atonement for sin by the shedding of his blood. Under the ceremonial law there was a large body of sacramental ordinances, or institutions, otherwise called types of Christ, and of the way of salvation by him. Some of these were occasional ; as manna, the water out of the rock, and the brazen serpent in the wilderness, &c. Others were standing ordinances in the church, as long as the ceremonial law continued ; as circumcision, the passover, and many things contained in the temple- service. These were the sacraments under the Old Testament. But, having taken occasion to say something concerning them elsewhere,8- 1 shall confine myself to those sacra ments which Christ has instituted under the New Testament ; which are only two, Baptism and the Lord's supper. The Papists, indeed, have added five more to them, though without a divine warrant ; and, to give countenance to what they have done, they pervert the sense of some scriptures, occasionally brought for that purpose. One of the sacraments which they have added, is what they call holy orders. By this they authorize u John xv. 5. x Rev. ii. 7. y Luke xxiii. 43. z See Sect. ' The Covenant with man in Paradise,' under Quest, xx. a See Sect. ' The Ceremonial Law,' under Quest, xcviii. and Sect. ' The Administration of the Covenant under the Old Testament,' under Quest, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv. THE SACRAMENTS. 489 persons to perform the office of priests, or deacons ; and they do so by the imposi tion of hands, and at the same time pretend to confer the Holy Ghost. The former they suppose to be the sign, the latter the thing signified. But this was not de signed to be a sacrament given to the church ; for the sacraments are ordinances which belong to all believers, and not only ministers. As for imposition of hands, whether it be considered as an ancient form of praying for a blessing on persons, or as used in setting others apart to an office ; it seems principally to have had re spect to those extraordinary gifts which the early Christians expected to qualify them for the discharge of their duties. Now, as these gifts have now ceased, the imposition of hands cannot be reckoned a sacramental sign ; and the blessing con ferred, namely, the Holy Ghost, from whom they received those extraordinary gifts, is no longer to be signified by it. Another sacrament which the Papists add, is that of confirmation. By this they pretend that children who, in baptism, were made members of Christ, are strengthened and confirmed in the faith, and receive the Holy Ghost in order to their performing their baptismal vow. But, whatever engagement they are laid under by the ordinance of baptism, it is God alone who can confirm or strengthen them, and enable them to walk conformably to their engagement. And the grace which they need, it is not in the power of men to bestow ; nor can it be conferred by any ordinance. Another sacrament the Papists speak of, is penance. In this, after auricular confession made to the priest, and some external marks of sorrow expressed by the penitent, the latter is to perform some difficult service enjoined, which they call penance ; whereby he makes satisfaction for his sins, and so is afterwards absolved from them. But this is an abominable practice ; by which persons are rather hardened in sin, than delivered from it. It is derogatory to Christ's satisfaction, and has not the least appearance of a sacrament or ordinance of God's appoint ment. Another sacrament which they have added, is extreme unction. This they found on James v. 14, 15, where the apostle speaks of ' sick' persons being 'anoint ed with oil in the name of the Lord ;' and where it is said, ' the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shaE raise him up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.' But, though the practice of anointing the sick with oil was observed in the first age of the church, while the miraculous gift of healing was continued ; yet, since that miraculous gift has now ceased, no such significant sign is to be used. As for forgiveness of sins, mentioned by the apostle, it seems not to have been conferred by the use of that sign, but was humbly expected and hoped for, as an answer of prayer. It is therefore a very preposterous thing to reckon this anointing among the sacraments, under the gospel dispensation. [See Note X, page 490.] Another sacrament which the Papists add, is that of matrimony. For this they have very little shadow of reason. They suppose that the apostle calls ' matri mony ' ' a great mystery ;'b and this word the Greek church used to signify a sacra ment. But Paul means, not that marriage is a mystery, but that the union be tween Christ and his church, which is illustrated by the conjugal union, is so.c Indeed, matrimony is an ordinance given, not to the church, but to mankind in general, heathens as weE as Christians. Hence, nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that it is one of the sacraments Christ has instituted in the gospel church. According to the Papists' opinion, too, the priests are excluded from this sacra ment, and forbidden to marry, just as the laity are excluded from the sacrament of holy orders ; so that when they pretend to add to those institutions which Christ has given to the church, or invent sacraments which he has not ordained, they betray, not only their foEy, but their bold presumption. We must conclude, therefore, that there are only two sacraments which Christ has given to his church, namely, baptism, and the Lord's supper. These are particularly considered in some following Answers. b Eph. v. 32. c See Sect. ' What Union to Christ i»,' under Quest, lxv. H. 3 i, or tft-ixm^a, lather than (ixirToj, or fixVTifyjj ; and also, that it nowhere signifies to nip, but as denoting a motle of and in ordei to washing; and that it signifies to wash in all good authors. He also refers to Scapula and Stephanus, as translating the word flxvfTiZaj by ' laVo,' Of 'abluo;' and Suidas, as feiideriiif? it by ' ina-de-fiiCio,' • lavO,' 'aliliio,' ' purgo,' ' munilo.' Aild he speaks Of some auf hors that he had searched in every place wherein they mentioned baptism, and that tie f'otind not o'rte word to the pur pose ; and therefore concludes, that he was obliged to say, and was ready to make it good, that no honest man who understands the Greek tongue, can deny that the word signifies to ' wash,' as well as to ' dip.' THE SUBJECTS AND MODE OF BAPTISM. 507 the subject ; because great stress is usually laid on the sense of the word, to estab lish that mode of baptism which is always used by those who are on the other side of the question. I shall only add to what the learned Dr. Owen has observed, that it does not appear to me that the word fai-n^* always signifies to wash, by dipping into water, but that it also means to wash by the application of water in some other way ; because it is sometimes applied to things which were too large and cumber some, and therefore could not well be cleansed in that way. Thus it is said that the Pharisees ' held the washing,' or, as it is in the Greek, the baptism not only ' of cups and pots, and brazen vessels,'1 which might, indeed, be washed by immersion, but of ' tables,' or, as it may be rendered, of ' beds,' or those seats on which the Jews, according to the custom of the eastern nations, lay at their ease when they eat their meals. These, I conceive, were washed in some way different from that of dipping or plunging in water ; and even if it were possible that they might be washed in that way, still the word may be applied to innumerable things which cannot be baptized by immersion. Hence, the general sense which we have given Of it, that it signifies to wash, whether by dipping into the water, or by the appli cation of water to the thing washed, may justify our practice with respect to the mode of baptism commonly used by us. It is objected that the mode used by us is not properly baptism, but rantism ; or, that to sprinkle or pour, is not to baptize. But this method of begging the question in controversy, is never reckoned a fair way of arguing. If baptism be a using of the means of cleansing by the application of water, which is the thing we contend for, then the word ' baptize ' may as well be applied to sprinkling or pour ing as to any other mode of washing. Besides, if the thing signified by the action of baptizing, namely, the blood of Jesus, together with the gifts and graces of the Spirit which are applied to those to whom God makes baptism a saving ordinance, be sometimes set forth by sprinkling or pouring clean water upon a person, then it Cannot well be concluded that Sprinkling or pouring is not baptizing, though it differs very much from that which they who contend with us about this matter generally call baptizing. That the word sprinkling or pouring is sometimes used in scripture, to signify the conferring of those spiritual gifts and graces which are signified in baptism, is very evident. Thus it is said, ' The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin ;'" and the blood of Christ is called 'the blood of sprinkling. '* In a spiritual sense, therefore, sprinkling is called cleansing from sin. Moreover, the graces of the Spirit conferred in regeneration, are represented by ' sprinkling clean water ;'J and this mode of speaking would never be used, were not sprinkling a means of cleansing. Some think, too, that the apostle, when he speaks of our ' drawing near to God, having our bodies washed with pure water,'z intends the ordinance of baplii-m ; and that he refers to the spiritual meaning of it when he speaks of having • the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience.' But, if his words do not denote the cniiiiance of baptism, they at least allude to the ceremonial cleansings under the law, which were often performed by sprinkling. We cannot but assert, therefore, that sprinkling water in baptism, is as much cleansing as any other mode used. Moreover, sometimes the thing signified in baptism, is represented by a metaphor taken from pouring ; which, if our mode of baptizing be just, will not seem disagreeable to it. Perhaps, indeed, .the explana tion of the metaphor turns upon this mode of baptizing ; as the conferring of the Holy Ghost, which they who were baptized were given to expect, is often called 'pouring out the Spirit. '" There is another objection which is concluded by many to be unanswerable, namely, that when we read of baptism in the New Testament, the person baptized is said to have 'gone down into the water.' This the eunuch did;b and imme diately afterwards he is said to have 'come up out of the water.' Now this lan guage, it is supposed, can be applied to no other mode of baptism than that of im mersion. The whole strength of this objection depends upon the sense which is given of the Greek particles which we often render ' into ' and ' out of.'c Hence, t Muck vii. 4. u 1 John i. 7. x Heb. xii. 24; 1 Pet. i. 2. y Ezek. xxxvi. 25 27. z Hi b. x. 22. a Acts ii. 17, 18; chap. a. 45. b Chap. viii. 38. c E« and tg.' 508 THE SUBJECTS AND MODE OF BAPTISM. the objection will have no weight with any but those who are unacquainted with the Greek language ; for it is well known to all who understand it, that the former of these particles often signifies 'to,' as well as 'into,' and the latter ' from,' as well as ' out of.' Innumerable instances, were it needful, might easily be given from scripture and other Greek authors, in which the words are applied to things which, according to the natural signification, cannot be understood as denoting 'into' or 'out of.' There is one scripture which no one can suppose is to be taken in any other sense but what is agreeable to our present purpose, —namely, that in which our Saviour bids Peter 'go to the sea,d and cast a iiook, and take up the fish that first cometh thence, 'e &c. Here, by 'go to the sea,' we can understand nothing else but, go to the sea-shore ; and yet the word is the same as that which is, in some other places, rendered 'into.' There are other scriptures in which persons are said to 'go to the mountain,' or some other places, in respect to which it would be very improper to say, that they went into them ; though the word is the same as that which in other instances we render 'into.' Again, the word f which is sometimes rendered 'out of,' is frequently rendered 'from,' and can be understood in no other sense. Thus, when it is said, ' The queen of the south came from the utmost parts of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon ;'e the words cannot be understood of her coming ' out of ' but ' from ' the parts of the earth referred to. But, this matter being so well known to all who read the New Testament in the original, it is needless for me to give any other in stances.11 As to the eunuch's 'going into the water,' I cannot think any thing else is intended, but that he descended or alighted from his chariot to the water, that is, by a metonymy, to the water-side, in order to his being baptized by Philip. It is no uncommon mode of speaking, to say that a person goes down to the river-side to take water, or to the well to draw it ; so that the interpretation I have given is no strain on the sense of the word. I am the rather inclined to adopt this opinion that some modern travellers; taking notice of the place where the eunuch was bap tized, intimate that it was only a spring of water, and therefore without sufficient depth to plunge the body in. Some ancient writers, who lived between three and four hundred years after our Saviour's time, as Jerome and Eusebius, intimate the same thing. If it be said, that these may be mistaken as to the place, inasmuch as the particular spot of ground in which this water was, is not mentioned in scrip ture ; I will not lay much stress upon the matter. I cannot but observe, however, that the place is represented by a diminutive expression ; for it is said, ' they came to a certain water,' that is, probably, a brook which was by the way-side; not a river, or a great collection of water. It is observed, too, that Philip, as well as the eunuch, ' went down into the water ;' though none suppose that he was plunged in the water. It does not, therefore certainly appear, from the sense of the word, that the eunuch was plunged, unless the matter in controversy be taken for granted, that baptism can be performed in no other way than by plunging. Moreover, ' to go down to the water,' does not always signify, in other scriptures, going down to the bottom of the water. Thus, when the psalmist speaks of those who ' go down to the sea in ships, '* he does not mean those who go down to the bottom Of it ; so that going down to the water, does not always signify being plunged in it. As for what is said concerning Philip and the eunuch's 'coming up out of the water,' it may very fairly be understood of their returning from the water-side, and of the eunuch's going up again into his chariot. Besides, I cannot but think that, in this and all other places where persons are said to ' come up out of the water,' the expression denotes an action performed with design, and in the perfect exercise of the understanding on the part of him who does it. But this idea does not correspond with the situation of one who is at the bottom of the water, and cannot well come up thence, unless by the help of bim who baptizes him. The sense which we have given of the words ' coming up out of the d Eis mt SxXxa-cxt. , e Matt. xvii. 27. f E*. g Luke xi. 31. h It any one has a mind to see how these particles, us and tx, are used in the New Testament, he may consult Schmid. Concord, iu voc. us mid tx, where there are a great number of places men tioned, in which these words are used ; and it will hardly be thought, by any impartial reader, that the greater part of them can lie rendered by ' into ' or ' out of,' but rather 'to ' or ' from.' i Psal. cvii. 23. THE SUBJECTS AND MODE OF BAPTISM. 609 water,' is agreeaiile to what is said conccrn'-ng our Saviour at his baptism, 'Jesus went up straightway out of the water. 'k But here there seems to be a mistake in our translation ; for the words ««¦<> «« HSxras should have been rendered ' from the water;' and the idea expressed by them is of the same import as the sense of the Greek particle t», when a person is said to 'come up out of the water.' It is further objected, that it seems very evident that John the Baptist used no mode but tha,t of immersion ; because he chose those places to exercise this part of his ministry in, which were well supplied with water, sufficient for this purpose. Ac cordingly, we first read of his removing from the wilderness of Judea, in which ' he preached the doctrine of repentance,' and told the people that 'the kingdom of heaven,' that is, the gospel-state, which was to begin with the appearing of the Messiah, ' was at hand ;' then we read of his removing to the banks of the river Jordan, for the conveniency of baptizing those who came to him for that purpose ; and afterwards, we read of another station in which he resided, namely, ' .flSnon, near to Salim,' it being assigned as the reason that 'there was much water there.'1 Now, say the objectors, if he had baptized by sprinkling or pouring a little water on the face, he had no need to remove out of the wilderness of Judea ; for what ever scarcity of water there might be there, it was no difficult matter for him to be supplied with enough to serve his occasion, had this been his mode of baptizing. But though John removed to Jordan and iBnon, that he might be well supplied with water, as he daily wanted large quantities of it ; it does not necessarily fol low, that he did this for the sake of practising immersion. Nor does it sufficiently appear to me, that ^Enon afforded water deep enough for a person to be immersed ; for it seems to have been but a small tract of land, in which it is hardly probable that there were many lakes, or rivers of water, which is as much as can be said concerning a well- watered country. I think, the words m ought to have been ren dered ' many waters ;' by which we are to understand, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, that iEnon was a place of springs" or small brooks of water. This place John chose that he might be supplied with water for his use ; but it does not, I think, necessarily follow, that he baptized by immersion. Besides, if there had been a great collection of waters there, there would have been some indications of them at this day ; but I believe, it would be hard to prove that there are any such. As to the other part of the objection, that it was a very easy matter for him to have been supplied with water in the wilderness of Judea, to baptize by sprinkling or pouring, by his having it brought to him in vessels for that purpose ; we reply, that if he had only poured water on the head or face, there is no need to suppose that he was so sparing of it as not to use above a spoonful, especially when it was so easy a matter for him, by his removing to another station, to be better supplied. If there was but a little water poured on every one who came to be baptized by him, it would require a very great quantity of water to baptize the vast multitudes who came ; for it is said, that ' Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, were baptized of him.' It is one thing for a little water to be brought in a bason to baptize a person or two, and another thing for this to be done in the case under consideration. Moreover, it is certain, that in hot countries, particu larly in Judea, and more especially in the wilderness of that country, there was a very great scarcity of water. Accordingly, we read that sometimes water was so valuable a thing, that it was reckoned a very considerable part of a man's estate. Thus Isaac was envied by the Philistines for all the wells his father's servants had digged ; and then we read of their stopping them up, and of his digging other wells ; and also of the strife between the herdsmen of Gerar and his herdsmen, for the possession of them. ° We read likewise, p that when Abraham sent Hagar away from him with Ishmael, he gave her bread, and 'a bottle of water;' and that 'when the water was spent in the bottle, she cast the child under one of the shrubs,' de spairing of his life ; which she needed not have done, if water was so easy to come by as is supposed in the objection. It is certain that a person may travel many miles in those desert places without finding water to quench his thirst. This far- k Matt. iii. 16. 1 John iii. 23. m "r l Cor- *'¦ 24- {520 THE LORD'S SUPPER. herein we pray for the best of blessings, and express our thankfulness to God for the benefits o"f Christ's redemption. Here I cannot but observe how the Papists pervert this ordinance in the manner of consecrating the bread. This the priest does only by repeating these words in Latin: 'This is my body.' They thence take occasion to advance the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation ; and suppose that, by these words pronounced, the bread is changed into the body and blood of Christ. This they assert contrary to all sense and reason, as well as the end and design of the ordinance. For, from this opinion it will follow, that man lias a power to make the body and blood of Christ. Another consequence of it will be that the human nature of Christ is omnipresent ; an idea which is inconsistent with a finite nature, and with those properties which belong to it as such, and from which it is to be concluded that his human nature is nowhere but in heaven. Besides, there is the greatest contra diction in supposing that it is bread, as having all the qualities of bread, while our senses are so far imposed on that we must believe that it is not so, but Christ's body, The opinion also supposes that Christ has as many bodies as there are con secrated wafers in the world ; which is a monstrous absurdity. It likewise con founds the sign with the thing signified, and is very opposite to the sense of those words of scripture, ' This is my body.' For the words imply no more than that the bread, •which is the same in itself, after the words of consecration that it was before, is an external symbol of Christ's body, that is, of the sufferings which he endured in it for his people. [See Note 2 A, page 525.] The Actions performed in observing the Lord's Supper. We are now to consider the actions both of the minister and of the church, when engaged in the Lord's supper, namely, breaking, distributing, eating the bread, pouring forth and drinking the wine, for the ends appointed by Christ in institut ing this ordinance. Whether our Saviour gave the bread and wine to every one of the disciples in particular, is not sufficiently determined by the words of in stitution. For though Matthew and Mark say, ' He gave the bread and the cup to the disciples ;'i Luke, speaking concerning either the cup used in the passover, or that in the Lord's supper, represents our Saviour as saying to his disciples, ' Take this and divide it among yourselves.'17 Now, these words seem to intimate that he distributed it to one or more of them, to be conveyed to the rest, that they might divide it among themselves. This corresponds with the practice of several of the reformed churches in our day, and seems most expedient when the number of the communicants is very great, and the elements cannot be so conveniently given by the pastor into the hand of every one. Here I may observe how the Papists pervert this part of the Lord's supper. They will not permit the common people to touch the bread with their hands, lest they should defile it ; but the priest puts it into their mouths. For this purpose it is made up into small, round wafers ; and the people are ordered to take great care that they do not use their teeth in chewing it, and are told that to do so would be, as it were, a crucifying of Christ afresh, as offering a kind of violence to what they call his body. But these things are so very absurd and unscriptural, that they confute themselves. And their consecrating a wafer to be reserved in a case pre pared for that purpose, and set upon the altar in the church to be worshipped by all who come near it, savours of gross superstition and idolatry. — We may farther observe, that they deny the people the cup in this ordinance, but not the priests ; for what reason it is hard to determine. They also mix the wine with water. This custom, though it does not seem to be agreeable to Christ's institution, was often practised by the ancient church, whence the Papists took it. But their making it a sacramental sign of Christ's divine and human nature, united in one person, is much more unwarrantable. Nor can I approve of what others suppose, namely, that it signifies the blood and water which came out of his side, when he was pierced on the cross. — Moreover, I can hardly think some Protestants altogether free from q Matt. xxvi. 26, 27 ; Mark xiv. 22, 23. r Luke xxii. 17. THE LORD'S SUPPETl. 52l the charge of superstition, when they so tenaciously adhere to the use of red wine, as bearing some small resemblance to the colour of Christ's blood. Others choose to bear their testimony against this ungrounded opinion, by the using of white wine, without supposing that any thing is signified by it more than by red ; and others choose to use one sort at one time, and another at another, to signify that this is an indifferent matter. The latter, I think, are.most in the right. — Again, the practice of the Papists and some others, in receiving the Lord's supper fasting, in order that the consecrated bread may not be mixed with undigested food, is not only unwarrantable, but superstitious, as well as contrary to our Saviour and his apostles having partaken of the Lord's supper at its institution, immediately after having eaten the passover, and to what the apostle suggests, when he reproves the church at Corinth for eating and drinking to excess immediately before they par took of the Lord's supper, advising them to ' eat and drink,' though with modera tion, 'in their own houses.'8 — Further, the administering of the Lord's supper pri vately, as the Papists and others do, to sick people, seems to be contrary to the design of its being a church ordinance. And when, to give countenance to this practice, it is styled, as by the Papists, ' a viaticum,' or a means to convey the soul, if it should soon after depart out of the body, to heaven, they are much more re mote from our Saviour's design in instituting this ordinance ; nor do they rightly understand the sense of the scripture whence they infer the necessity of it, ' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you,"-' when they apply it to this purpose. There is another thing which must not be wholly passed over, namely, the vari ous gestures used in receiving the Lord's supper. The Papists not only receive it kneeling, but they allege that they ought to do so, being obliged to adore the body and blood of Christ, which, as they absurdly suppose, is really present, inas much as the bread is transubstantiated, or turned into Christ's body and blood. The Lutherans, with equal absurdity, assert that the body of Christ is really, though invisibly, present in the bread ; and this they call consubstantiation. Some other Protestants, indeed, plead for the receiving of the Lord's supper kneeling, supposing Christ to be spiritually, though not corporally, present in it. They do not worship the bread and wine, but our Saviour ; and this, they suppose, they ought to do with the becoming reverence of kneeling. What I would take leave to say on this subject, is, that we humbly hope and trust that Christ, according to his promise, is present with his people in all his ordinances ; yet it is not supposed that we are obliged to engage in every one of them kneeling. But what determines the faith and practice of all reformed churches who do not use this gesture in the Lord's supper, is, that it is contrary to the example of our Saviour and his apostles when it was first celebrated ; for that example ought to be a rule to the churches in all succeeding ages. It maybe said, that this is a gesture most agreeable to prayer, or at least that sitting is not so. But the Lord's supper is not an ordinance principally or only designed for prayer ; for whatever prayers we put up to God in observing it are short, ejaculatory, and mixed with meditations, and they may be periormed with an awful reverence of the divine Majesty, such as we ought to have in other acts of religious worship, though we do not use the gesture of kneeling. Besides, we think ourselves obliged to receive the Lord's supper sitting, that being a table gesture in use among us, in the same manner as that which our Saviour and his apostles used was among the eastern nations. As for the reformed Gallican churches, they receive the Lord's supper, for the most part, standing ; which, being a medium between the extremes, they suppose to be most eligible. But this not being a table gesture, and so not conformed to that which was used by our Saviour and his apostles, I cannot think it warrantable. Some, however, make the gesture of standing or sitting a significant sign. The former they regard as a sign of our being servants, ready to obey the will of Christ, our great Lord and Master, or, as others explain it, a sign of our being travellers to the heavenly country ; and the latter, or sitting, they regard as a sign of our familiarity or communion with Christ. But these opinions are rather the result of human invention, than founded on a divine insti- ¦ 1 Cor. xi. 21, 22. * Jo"" vi. 53. n. . Su 522 the lord's supper. tution ; for we have not the least account in scrioture of such things being signified by the gesture used. What is Signified in the Lord's Supper. We are now led to consider the thing signified in this ordinance, and in what respect Christ is said to be present in it, together with the benefits expected from him, as we are said to feed upon him by faith for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. I cannot but think that the general design of the ordinance is not much unlike that institution of the ceremonial law which ordained that, aiter the sacrifice was offered, part of it should be reserved to be ' eaten in the holy place.'" This was a significant feast upon a sacrifice. In like manner, the Lord's supper, which comes in the room of the passover, is ordained to be a feast on Christ's sacrifice. So the apostle speaks of it when he says, ' Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us ; therefore, let us keep the feast, '* &c. The fiducial application of Christ and the benefits of his death, is the principal thing to be considered in this gospel festival. There are, however, some cautions necessary to be observed with respect to the things signified in it, which may be useful to us in directing us how our faith may be exercisod in a right manner. 1. Though the Lord's supper was instituted in commemoration of Christ's love, expressed in his death, which was the last and most bitter part of his sufferings for our redemption ; yet he did not design by it to exclude his other sufferings in life, nor, indeed, his whole course of obedience from his incarnation to his death. For, it is very evident that the death of Christ is often considered in scripture, by a synecdoche, as denoting his whole course of obedience, both active and passive, which is the matter of our justification. Hence, the whole of his obedience is to be the object on which our faith is to be conversant in the Lord's supper, as well as his sufferings in or immediately before his death. 2. When Christ's sufferings upon the cross are said to be signified by the bread and wine, we are not to conclude that these sufferings are to be so distinctly or separately considered that the bread broken is designed to signify the pains which he endured upon the cross, when his body was as it were broken, its tendons, nerves, and fibres snapped asunder, and his joints dislocated, by being stretched on the cross, and the wine poured forth to signify the shedding of his blood, when his hands and feet were pierced with the nails and his side with the spear. For all these things are to be made the subject of our affectionate meditation in every part of this ordinance, while we are taken up with the contemplation of his last suffer ings. That they should thus be jointly meditated on seems to give countenance to the practice of many of the reformed churches, in consecrating and distributing the bread and wine together. It is true, many think, on the other hand, that the elements are to be separately consecrated, as well as separately distributed, this practice being most agreeable to what is said concerning Christ's blessing the bread and giving it to his disciples, and afterwards taking the cup and giving it to them.? Still, if this be allowed, it is not necessary for us to infer that each of the elements is designed to signify some distinct part of Christ's sufferings on the cross ; but only that the ordinance is to be continued, the whole including two external and visible signs, each of which signifies the means whereby he procured our re demption. Indeed, when the wine is poured forth, and set apart for another part of this ordinance, we are not so much to enter on a new subject in our meditation, though the sign is different from that of the bread, as to proceed in thinking on and improving the love of Christ, in his 'humbling himself, and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'2 Now, all this is signified by this sign, as well as the other ; and neither of them is adapted to this end, otherwise than by divine appointment. 3. We must take heed that we do not make more significant signs in the bread and wine than Christ has done. Some suppose that almost every ingredient or ac tion used is to be applied to signify some things which he did or suffered for our u Lev. vi. 16. x 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. y Matt. xxvi. 26, 27. z Phil. ii. 8. THE LORD S SUPPER. 523 redemption. It is a very great liberty which some take in expatiating on this sub ject, and applying it to this ordinance. We have a specimen of this in a hymn, composed to be sung as a thanksgiving after receiving the Lord's supper." In that hymn the corn, as first living and growing, and afterwards cut down, and by thrashing, separated from the husk, and then ground in the mill, and baked in the oven, are all made significant signs of the sufferings and torments which our Sa viour endured. The corn being united in one loaf, is made a sign of the union between Christ and his church. In like manner, the grapes being gathered, pressed, and made into wine, is supposed to signify our spiritual joy, arising from Christ's shedding his blood. Many grapes making one vine, is also supposed to signify that believers should be united by faith and love. What lengths is it possi ble for the wit and fancy of men to run, when they have a fruitful invention, and are disposed to make significant signs, and apply them to this ordinance without a divine warrant ! 4. When we meditate on Christ's sufferings, our faith, as Dr. Goodwin observes,* is not principally to be fixed on the grievousness of them. We are not to endea vour only to have our hearts moved to a relenting, and compassion expressed to wards him, and indignation against the Jews who crucified him, together with an admiring of his noble and heroical love displayed in his sufferings. Some persons, if they can get their hearts thus affected, judge and account what they feel to be grace ; whereas, it is no more than what any similar tragical story of some great and noble personage, full of heroic virtues and ingenuity, yet inhumanly and un gratefully used, does ordinarily work in ingenuous spirits, who read or hear of it. When our contemplation of Christ's sufferings reaches no higher than this, it is so far from being faith, that it is but a carnal and fleshly devotion, and such as Christ himself, at his suffering, found fault with, as not being spiritual, when he said, ' Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children,'0 that is, not so much for my being thus unworthily handled by those for whom I die, as for yourselves. Moreover, it was not the malice of the Jews, the falseness of Judas, the fearfulness of Pilate, the iniquity of the times he fell into, that wrought our Saviour's death. God the Father had a higher design in that event ; and this our faith is constantly to be conversant about, considering the death of Christ as the result of an eternal agreement between the Father and the Son, and of that covenant which he came into the world to fulfil, and of his being made sin for us, to take away our sins by atonement. We may add, that the high est and most affecting consideration in Christ's sufferings, ought to include the idea of his being a divine person ; which is the only thing that argued them sufficient to answer the great ends designed by them, as it rendered them of infinite value ; and it was on this account that his condescension, expressed in his sufferings, might truly be said to be infinite. These things, I say, we are principally to rest in, when we meditate on Christ's sufferings in this ordinance ; though the sufferings them selves, which are exceedingly moving and affecting in their kind, are not to be passed over ; since the Holy Ghost has, for this end, given a particular account of them in the gospels, not merely as an historical relation of what was done to Christ, but as a convincing evidence of the greatness of his love to us. Thus concerning Christ's death, showed forth or signified in this ordinance. We are farther, under this Head, to consider how Christ is present, and how they who engage in it aright feed on his body and blood by faith. We are not to suppose that Christ is present in a corporal way, so that we should be said to par take of his body in a literal sense. But he being a divine person, and consequently omnipresent ; and having promised his presence with his church in all ages and places, when'met together in his name ; in this respect he is present with them, just as' he is in other ordinances, to supply their wants, hear their prayers, strengthen them against corruption and temptation, and remove their guilt by the application of his blood, which is presented as an object for their contemplation in a more peculiar manner in this ordinance. As for our feeding on or being nourished by a This hymn is inserted after Stemhold and Hopkins' version of the Psalms. h See Dr Goodwin's Christ set forth, § 2. chap. n. c Luke xxiii. 28. 524 THE LORD'S SUPPER. the body and blood of Christ, these are metaphorical expressions, taken from and adapted to the nature and quality of the bread and wine by which Christ's body and blood are signified. What we are to understand by them is, our graces 'being far ther strengthened and established, our being enabled to exercise them with greater vigour and delight, and our deriving these blessings from Christ, particularly as founded on his death. Our being said to feed upon him, in particular, denotes 'the application of what he has done and suffered, to ourselves ; and, in order to this, we are to bring our sins, with all the guilt which attends them, as it were, to the foot of the cross of Christ, confess and humble our souls for them before him, and by faith plead the virtue of his death, in order to our obtaining forgiveness, and, at the same time, renew our dedication to him, while hoping and praying for the blessings and privileges of the covenant of grace which were purchased by him. There is another thing signified in this ordinance, as a farther end for which it was instituted, — namely, we are to have communion with one another, and thereby to express our mutual love as members of Christ's mystical body, who have the same end in view, and make use of the same means, namely, Christ crucified, as we attend on the same ordinance in which this is set forth, and have the same common necessities, infirmities, and corruptions, and the same encouragements for our faith. Hence, we ought to sympathize with one another, and, by faith and prayer, be helpful to those with whom we join in this ordinance, while we are re presenting our own case in common with theirs, before the Lord. The Qualifications of Communicants. We are now led to consider what ought to be the qualifications of those who have a right to the Lord's supper, and are obliged to partake of it. These are expressed in general terms, by the apostle, by ' discerning the Lord's body.'d Now, this a person cannot do, who is ignorant of the design of his death ; so "that there must be some degree of knowledge in those who are qualified for this ordinance. There must also be an afflictive sense of the weight and burden of the guilt of those sins which are daily committed by us, and an apprehension arising thence of our need of the merits of Christ to take them away, and that his death is designed to answer this end. And, that the ordinance may be observed for our real advantage, as we are said to feed on Christ by faith, it is supposed that this grace is wrought in us, or that we are effectually called out of a state of unregeneracy to partake of gra cious communion with Christ ; whereby we may be said to be fitted to have fellow ship with him in this ordinance, and so partake of it in a right manner, for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. d 1 Cor. xi. 29 [Note Z. Half Communion Romanists defend their practice of withholding the cup in the ordinance of the Lord's supper from the laity, chiefly by arguments which assume the truth of the doctrine of transubstantiation, and which, in consequence, beg not only the question at issue, jut another question of higher import. When they say that the wafer is a whole Christ, and does not need to be accompanied by tbe cup, — that tbe putting of the cup into the bands of the laity would endanger ' the spilling of the blood,' or expose it to sacrilegious or unsanctified usage," that whole communion could not be practised consistently with due attention to a supreme adora tion of both the blood and the wafer, — they do little else than exhibit some awkward consequences which follow from their doctrine of transubstantiation, and furnish tools which might be effectively used for uncasing that doctrine, and laying open its deformity. They say, however — as an argument founded on the highest authority — that our Lord, in instj tuting the eucharist, gave the cup to the apostles in their official capacity, and not as church- members, and therefore gave it to them alone. But bow came our Lord's form of address, when giving tbe cup, to be exactly the same as when giving the bread? Did he give the bread also to -the apostles officially, and so make no institution whatever of tbe ordinance for the people ? What authority, too. have the Romish priests to take the cup? Are they the apostles, or even their successors? Besides, the principle on which the argument — or rather the allegation — rests, jyould set aside almost every divine command. For if it were admitted that the command, 'Drink ye all of fhis cup of the new covenant in my blood,' was addressed to the apostles alone, it might, with equal justice, be maintained that the decalogue, or written moral law, was addressed to the Israel ites alone, — the charges as to being * wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,' to the seventy alone, —the commission to carry the gospel to kings and princes, to Paul alone, — the command, ' Give thyself to reading,' to Timothy alone, — the injunctions as to church-order and discipline and rules THE LORD'S SUPPER. 525 t lato?vhdLyco^st0nnhthCOrinthf\nS alon«'-a"d ">o.t of our Lord's discourses, especially the con- i^Zl ,l2ZTJt 76 ?f h'S pa3sion' t0 the twe,ve al°"e- All the Bible was, in the first Lnd e^n thPsTfjirl Pa;tlcu,a7™T"ities and individuals, except only the Catholic epistles Vp Jil addressed to Christians of the first century, residing within certain limits to ' ?he .Zof God ' t0"tat,V ¦ *?¦ eV/ry, perSOn in every a?e t0 whom il comes' a"d is P™«tabl« unto everv^ood 1" f very individual who believes it, that he may be ' thoroughly furnished ,W that vveg throZh fa,'tJ W,hats°ever thjngs were written aforetime, were written for our learn ing, that we, through faith and patience of the scriptures, might have hope.' •hr "in thp^nrTfr Vw^0" °f «"»Practioe of half communion, is founded on the disjunctive x 27 BiitThe 1 d '°SOe,er Sha,1-eat, this bread> or <•) d""k thi3 C"P °f ">« Lord,' 1 Cor. he • whosoVv/r 7Zt' t tZ°! ,su,t tht purpose for which they are 1uote(1. would req^ to be, Whosoever eateth of this bread, or whosoever drinketh of this cup.' As they stand, thev both "e" ^ a'd6 "Z2TeB n°th tJT' a"d Ca" ^Sig"ate °",v °"e P-ty-who, therefor^ „™i k If / . Besides, ,t the argument founded on them were conceded, it would C»d tnLTT"-0" afMrU'y hy u,iu* the CUP t0 the exdusi°" °f ^e bread, as by using the bread to the exclusion of the cup; and would, in consequence, upset all the usages, and some of ai,v°P Tdn^ ? r t] ¦¦ ?£aVCh °f Ru°",e "T COnnected with the Withholding of fhe'cup from the S;7b,gwi, If ? ' wl"S:,*° wh°T tlle Word8 in 1uestion were P'-imarily addressed, commu- Cllf S ' 7h,at! SaVS the ap0Stle' 'have ^ not hou^ to eat and to drink in?' Not some of them appear to have communicated in both kinds, but oK.-Further, an exact parallel to the words occurs just two verses after, and it there stands, ' He that eateth and drmteth,' xx, «»,. Indeed, m .compass of eight verses, within which the words in question lie, the phrase eateth and drmWh occurs five times, and is implied as many times more,-proving, along with the entire scope o< .he passage, that, to observe the eucharist at all, was to observe it in the way of communion li JOth kinds.-Finally, the verse to which tbe Romanists appeal is the only one on the subject A which the disjunctive 'or' is found; and even it, in several manuscripts of the New Testament of considerable authority, is read with the copulative ' and ' A very brief summary of arguments against half communion will serve to expose it. The Church of Rome practised communion in both kinds till the 15th century; and yet, in the teeth of a total alteration of her practice, she affects and boasts to be 'semper eadem.' Half communion was first decreed by the council of Constance ; and, before that period, is proved by liturgies catechisms, canons, papal bulls, and all history, to have been unpractised and unknown Christ instituted and gave the cup exactly as he did the bread,—' in like wise,' or ' after the same man ner, Mxtirojs; (T Cor. xi. 25; Luke xxii. 20;) and, in consequence, placed them on equal footing, or made the use of them of co-extensive obligation. Nor did he only give the cup, but commanded it to be used in the same manner as the bread, saying, in reference to the one, as he said in refer ence to the other, ' This do in remembrance of me,' 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25 The cup, besides, pos sesses a distinctive character or object in the ordinance, and must be used in order to the due significancy of the eucharist being realized. Our Lord, in reference to the bread, says, ' This is my body broken for you;' but, in reference to the cup, says, ' This is the new covenant in my blood ; and while he leaves the use of the former to be connected simply or specially with faith in his atonement, he directs the use of the latter to be associated with the hope of heaven,— -say- •ng, ' I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with ,ou in my Father's kingdom,' Matt. xxvi. 29. The use of the bread, therefore, fixes the at tention particularly on the atonement; and the use of the cup fixes it, in addition, on the ratifying or establishing by our Lord's death of the everlasting and well-ordered covenant of mercy, and on the glorious and celestial results which follow in the experience of his people Again, the practice of the apostolic churches, in communicating in both kinds, is mentioned in scripture in an authoritative manner, or with assumption of its correctness. ' The cup of blessing which we bless,' says Paul, ' is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?' ' Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup,' 1 Cor. x. 16; xi. 2S Finally, communion in both kinds is directly commanded. ' As often,' says the Lord by his apostle, ' as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, show ye the Lord's death till he come,' 1 Cor. xi. 26. The act here stated is 'eating the bread and drinking the cup,' and the duty enjoined is ' showing the Lord's death;' but as the duty consists simply in performing the act in a right spirit or with a proper motive, it neces sarily includes the act, and, therefore, renders 'the drinking of the cup' as really imperative as ' the eating of the bread.' — Ed.] [Note 2 A. Transubstantiation. — The Romanists pretend to understand the words, ' This is my body,' literally ; yet they read them, or construct upon them the doctrine of transubstantia tion, as if they stood, ' This is my body, and blood, and soux, AND DIVINITY I' If this be a fair example of literal interpretation, they may, even from texts, about the meaning of which there is no dispute, easily prove any dogma of their creed, or almost any conceivable point which they may choose to adopt. Tbe saying of the apostle Peter, for example, ' I also am an elder,' might, in a strictly parallel way, be read, ' I also am an elder, and a prelate, or the bishop of Rome, and the head" of the universal chukch on earth, AND THE INFALLIBLE VICEGERENT OF CHRIST 1' But who would call this literal interpretation? Yet it is exactly such literal interpretation as is put upon the words, ' This is my body,' in order to bring out of them the doc trine of transubstantiation. — The idiom of scripture, however, does not allow the words to be Understood literally in reference to the mere body of Christ. ' The kine are seven years,' ' the candlesticks are the churches,' ' the rock was Christ,' ' the field is the world,' — are phrases in accordance with current scripture language, and, along with a multitude of their class, prove the substantive verb to be used in the sense of ' signify,' ' symbolize,' or 'represent.' — Besides, when the verb u/u bears its radical or substantive signification, it means existence in tbe ab- 526 the lord's supper. stract, and is not employed to denote existence in the sense of having become. Had our Lord's words comported with the idea that the bread had been transubstantiated into his body, they would, I presume, have been, not touto te-Ti to crojftx fiov but rovra yivtrxt or rovra ytytvtiTxi to truitx /tali. The Syriac language — that most probably in which our Lord addressed the disciples when instituting the supper— did not, I believe, contain a verb corresponding to our word ' signify,' or ' represent,' and, like the Hebrew and the Hebraistic Greek, always employed the substantive verb when the idea expressed by that word was intended. But even our own language — rich though it be in verbs to denote every phasis of the idea of representing — very often employs 'is' in the sense of ' represents.' How often do we say, pointing to a book, a picture, or an artificial mark on a map, ' This is Homer' — ' this is Newton' — ' this is London ! ' — Again, what shall be said respecting our Lord's words when giving the cup, — ' This cup is the new covenant in my blood?' 1 Cor. xi. 25; Luke xxii. 20. If, in the language he employed when instituting the eucharist, the part which referred to the bread is to be literally understood, tbe part which referred to the wine must — not only in common consistency, but in order to sustain the Romish belief in the transubstantiation of both elements — also be literally understood. Just, then, as the words in the one case are construed to mean that the bread in the eucharist is transubstantiated into Christ's body, so must the words in the other case be construed to mean that the cup is transub stantiated into the new covenant ! Every man who knows the meaning of words revolts from this consequence, yet sees it to be fair ; and he will, therefore, conclude that, in the very nature of the case, the language used in instituting the eucharist was figurative. — Finally, The context of the words of institution expressly assumes that no change, no transubstantiation, took place on the bread and wine. Our Lord, after, as the Romanists say, he had consecrated the wine, or after he had 'blessed' or 'given thanks,' distinctly called the contents of the cup, ' this fruit of the vine;' (Matt. xxvi. 29; Mark xiv. 25; Luke xxii. 18;) and the apostle Paul, speaking also of the bread after consecration, or after ' blessing,' or ' giving thanks,' and even speaking of it when in the process of being eaten, distinctly calls it 'this bread,' 1 Cor. xi. 27; x. 16, 17. See also Acts ii. 42 ; xx. 7. Dr. Ridgeley confutes the doctrine of transubstantiation by pointing out some of the absurdities or impossibilities which it involves. In addition to those he mentions — that it represents a crea ture as making his Creator, the human nature of Christ as omnipresent, the bread and wine to retain all their native properties while they are totally changed in substance, and the bodies of Christ to be as numerous, and in as many places entire and complete, as there are consecrated wafers, — I may observe that it assumes the five senses to be concurrently deceived, the capacity of the mouth or stomach of a communicant to be literally immense, the same thing to be in the same sense only one and yet thousands, the body of Christ to be at once of its proper size, of the size of a mere wafer, and of the size or capacity of ubiquity. But an absurdity quite as great, though not, at first sight, so obvious as any, is to say that the most wondrous of all miracles, the tran substantiation of bread into the Saviour, takes place without anything occurring to overawe or even attract the senses, and that the Lord of glory is literally present with his people on earth in the same incarnate and glorified state in which the disciples saw him ascending up into hea ven, amid such an utter absence of any mark, or token, or manifestation of his presence, that witnesses have no other intimation of the fact than the sound of a little bell rung by an offi ciate of the place I Miracles recorded in the Bible were all manifest, sensible, glorious, and deeply affecting chances ; and even when of small import compared with what is alleged in tran substantiation, they so displayed the Saviour's glory as, not only to arrest in the strongest man ner the attention of his disciples, but to command their faith, John ii. 11. Christ's body. Dr. Ridgeley remarks in the way of further refutation, " is nowhere else but in heaven." ' Whom the heaven,' says the apostle Peter, ' must receive until the times of res titution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,' Acts iii. 21. Nor is Christ's human nature any more connected, as the doctrine of transubstantiation represents it, with the state of being offered up in sacrifice. 'But this man,' says Paul, ' after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies he made his footstool,' Heb. x. 12, 13. His manhood, besides, is of a nature or substance, not which originates in a supernatural change upon bread or wine, but which was conceived and born of tbe body of a woman; his human toul is not such as may be 'broken' and 'eaten,' but is cogitative and inedible; and his person as mediator is in a state of exaltation, and remains enthroned in glory, at the right hand of the divine Majesty, — Acts j. 11; Heb. ix. 27, 28, and many other texts. The doctrine of transubstantiation is incompatible with all the views which the scripture gives of tbe nature of the eucharist. That ordinance is celebrative, not of a present sacrifice, but of one which was completed in the offering up once for all of the body of Jesus Christ : it is an ordinance of strictly a commemorative character. ' This do,' said the Redeemer, when commanding that the bread be eaten, and again when commanding that the cup be drunk, — ' This do in remembrance of me.' The ordinance, therefore, is not an exhibition of Jesus as present, but a memorial of bim as haying died, and risen, and ' passed into the heavens.' — Again, the eucharist is a social ordinance. It is not such as may be observed and entire in one person partaking of it, or in each person of a number partaking of it singly or apart from the rest; but such as requires joint participation or fellowship on the part of a church or congregation. ' Wherefore, my brethren,' says the apostle Paul to tbe church at Corinth, ' when ye come together to eat' the Lord's supper, 'tarry one for another,' 1 Cor. xi. 33. Nor does the ordinance admit of an entire bread — be it called 'loaf,' or ' wafer,' or whatever else — being received by each individual ; but it requires that one bread or one loat be participated by a society, or divided amongst them, in token of their fellowship with one another, and of their common union to the Saviour. ' The loaf which we break,' rat x(rat St xXufitt, says Paul, ' is it not the communion,' the joint participation, xaitamx, ' of the bodv of ( :hnu '¦> THE LORD S SUPPER. 027 For we, being many, are one loaf, one body, tl; xptbs, lv a-ufj-x; for we are all partakers of the one loaf,' i* Tan ttat xptpu, 1 Cor. x. 16, 17 Further, the eucharist, as to the manner in which the bread is used, or as to the form, breaking, and distribution of the bread, resembles a social repast. One phrase, ' the breaking of bread,' is employed in scripture in reference both to it and to a social meal; and 'he brake the bread' — the loaf or the cake, rot xprat, — is the scriptural description of the treatment both of the bread in an ordinary repast, and of the bread in the eucharist. Comp. Matt. vii. 6; xii. 4; xiv. I"; xxvi. 26; Mark xiv. 22; 1 Cor. x. 16; Acts ii. 42, 46; Luke xxiv. 35. Now the bread used among tbe Jews in their common meals, or that which the scriptures designate xptbs, ' bread,' or ' a loaf,' was a flat cake, such as in English would be termed a biscuit. Hence the force, and even tbe mere meaning of the phrase, ' the breaking of bread,' — ' he brake the bread, and gave it to them.' The xptbs, or bread, however, cannot thus be understood in consistency either with the idea of transubstantiation, or with that of a bread or xptbs being given entire, as the Romish wafer needs to be, to one individual. The doctrine of transutstantiation is opposed also to the leading doctrines of the gospel respect ing the ground of a believer's hope, and the spirit in which he acts and worships. He is justified through the blood of Christ, not as supernaturally transubstantiated out of bread, nor as received into his mouth and stomach, but as shed on the cross, or poured out once for all at the beginning of the Christian dispensation, — (Heb. ix. 26, 28; x. 14,) not as reproduced under the appearance of a solid wafer, but as visibly shed, and actually offered in sacrifice by the Saviour himself, the high-priest of his profession, Heb. ix. 22. He is saved, not by an act of his own in corporeally receiving the body and blood of Christ, but by grace, making him a new creature, and enabling him in a spiritual manner to contemplate Christ in God's word and ordinances, Eph. ii. 8 — 10, and many other texts. He lives, and worships, and approaches God in ordinances, not by tasting, touching, seeing, or otherwise exercising outward sense, but by faith as opposed to sense, — by beholding the Saviour, or enjoying union with him, not in any physical manner, but with his in tellect or soul, Isa. lv. 2 ; John i. 29 ; xx. 29. All his religious services, even when external symbols are employed, are strictly spiritual. He worships Him who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. He rejoices in Christ Jesus, serves God in the spirit, and has no confidence in the flesh. The kingdom of God, which is within him, is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, John iv. 4 ; vi. 63 ; Col. ii. 20—23 ; Matt. xv. 11, 17 ; Mark vii. 18, 19. Finally, The doctrine of transubstantiation is rendered utterly inadmissible by all those texts on the subject of the eucharist which, referring to the wine, call it metonymically, this cup, or refer ring to the bread and the wine after what the Romanists term ' consecration,' or after blessing, or giving thanks, call them ' this bread,' ' this fruit of the vine.' See Matt. xxvi. 27, 29 ; Mark xiv. 25; Luke xxii. 18, 20; xxiv. 35; Acts ii. 42; xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. x. 16, 17 ; xi. 25, 27 Ed.] PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER. Question CLXXI. How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, to prepare themselves before they come unto it ? Answer. They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, are, before they come, to pre pare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves, of their being in Christ, of their sins, and wants, of tbe truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance, love to God and the breth ren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong, of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these grates, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer. The Lord's supper being a sacred and solemn ordinance, it ought not to be engaged in without due preparation in those who partake of it. The duties mentioned in this Answer, which are preparatory for it, are self-examination, the renewing of the exercise of those graces which are necessary to our partaking of it aright, serious meditation on the work in which we are about to be engaged, and fervent prayer for the presence and blessing of God in it. Self-Examination. As to- the duty of self-examination, we must, in order to perform it, retire from the hurry and encumbrances of the world, that our minds may be disengaged from them, and not filled with distracting thoughts, which will be an hinderance to us in our inquiries into the state of our souls. We must also resolve to deal impartially with ourselves, and consider what really makes against us, as matter of sorrow, shame, and humiliation, as well as those things which are encouraging and occasions of thanksgiving to God. We must also endeavour to be acquainted with the word of God, to which our actions and behaviour are to be applied, and by 528 PREPARATION FOR THE LORD S SUPPER. which we are to determine the goodness and badness of our state, in general, or the frame of spirit in which we are, in particular. Now, there are several things, concerning which we are to examine ourselves before we come to the ^Lord's supper. 1. We are to examine whether we are in Christ or not ; since persons must be first in him before they can have spiritual communion with him. There are some things which, if we find them in ourselves, would give us ground to determine that we are not in Christ. In particular, that man is not in Christ who is an utter stranger to his person, natures, offices, and the design of his coming into the world, together with the spiritual benefits purchased by his death. Neither is he in Christ who never saw his need of him, or that there is no hope of salvation without him. Again, he is not in Christ who obstinately refuses to submit to his government, lives in a wilful contempt of his laws, resolutely persists in the commission of known sins, or in the total neglect of known duties. Again, he is not in Christ who is ashamed of his doctrine, his gospel, his cross, which a true believer counts his glory ; as the apostle says, ' God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ.'e He also must be reckoned out of Christ who is stupid and pre sumptuous, and who, though he may hope to be saved by him, yet desires not to have communion with him, but expects to be made partaker of his benefits without faith ; or whose faith, if he pretends to have any, is only an assent to some truths, without being accompanied with repentance and other graces which are inseparably connected with that faith which is saving. On the other hand, we may know that we are in Christ, if we can truly say that we have received a new nature from him, whence proceed renewed actions, which discover themselves in the whole course of our lives. ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ; old things are passed away ; behold all things are become new.'f We must also inquire whether we endeavour constantly to adhere to his revealed will, not merely as the result of some sudden conviction, but as making it the main business of life to approve ourselves to him in well-doing ; as our Saviour says, ' If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. '* Again, converse with Christ in ordinances, is another evidence of our being in him. For, as a man is said to be known by the company he keeps, or delights to be in ; so a true Christian is known, as the apostle says, by his ' having fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 'h Further, we must inquire whether we have a great concern for his glory and interest in our own souls, and an earnest desire that his name may be known and magnified in the world ; and whether this desire be accompanied with using our utmost endeavours in our vari ous stations and capacities in order to the attainment of the end. 2. The next thing which we are to examine ourselves about, before we come to the Lord's supper, is what sense we have of sin, whether we are truly humbled for it, and desirous to be delivered from it. It is not sufficient for us to take a general view of ourselves as sinners, in common with the rest of mankind, without being duly affected with it. We must consider the various aggravations of sin, with a particular application to ourselves ; and how much we have exceeded many others in sin, either before or since we were called by the grace of God. By this means we may take occasion to say, as the apostle does concerning himself, that we are ' the chief of sinners ;M and a sense of our guilt, when duly considered, will give us oc casion to lie very low at the foot of God. We are also to take notice of our natural propensity and inclination to sin, and the various ways by which this has discovered itself in our actions. Accordingly, we are to inquire whether we have sinned know ingly, wilfully, presumptuously, and obstinately ; or whether we have been surprised into sin, or ensnared by some sudden and unforeseen temptation, and have commit ted it without the full bent of our wills ; whether we have striven against it, or have given way to it, and suffered ourselves to be prevailed upon without making resist ance. We must also inquire whether we have continued in sin, or unfeignedly repented of it ; whether sin sits light or heavy on our consciences ; or if our con sciences are burdened with it, whether we seek relief against it in that way which e Gal. vi. 14. f 2 Cor. v. 17. g John viii. 31. h 1 John i. 3/ i 1 Tim. i. 15. PREPARATION FOR THE LORD S SUPPER. 529 Christ has prescribed in the gospel. We must also inquire whether there are not some sins which more frequently and easily beset us ; what tlioy are, and whether we are daily watchiul against them, and use our utmost endeavours to avoid them. We must also inquire whether we have not frequently relapsed into the same sin which we have resolved against at various times, and in particular, at the Lord's table, and thus have broken our engagements ; and if so, whether we did not rely too much on our own strength, when we made resolutions against sin. We are likewise to inquire whether sin gets ground upon us, so that grace is weakened ; or whether, though we commit it, we find its strength abated, and ourselves en abled, in some measure, to mortify it, though we do not wholly abstain from it ; as the apostle says, ' That which I do,. I allow not ; but what I hate, that do I.'k We are also to inquire whether our sins have not involved a great neglect of Christ, his blood, his grace, his benefits, we not thinking of them, admiring or prizing them above all things, nor laying hold on them by faith, and so not making a right use of his dying love, which is signified in the Lord's supper. 3. We are to examine ourselves, before we come to the Lord's table, as to what particular wants we have to be supplied. Our Saviour is to be considered in this ordinance, not only as signified by the external elements, but as present with his people when met together in his name, with earnest expectation of enjoying com munion with him. And as he is appointed to apply redemption to us, as well as purchase it for us, we must consider him as having his hands full of spiritual bless ings, to impart to his necessitous people who come to him for them. Hence, they ought, before they go, to inquire not only, as has been already observed, what are their sins to be confessed and bewailed before him, but what it is, more especially, that they stand in need of from him. The question which Christ will ask them when they go there, is, What is thy petition, and what is thy request? What are those wants which thou desirest a supply of? Accordingly, we are beforehand to inquire whether, though we have some little hope that we have experienced the grace of God in truth, yet we do not want a full assurance of our interest in Christ,, ' that we may know that we have eternal life,'1 together with the joy of faith acr companying its actings ; and whether we do not want enlargement of heart, and raised affections in holy duties, which the psalmist seems to intend, when he says, 'Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.'m Again, we are to inquire whether we do not want many experiences which we formerly had of the grace of God, and of his special presence in holy duties ; or have not occasion to say with Job, ' Oh that it were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me ; when his candle shined upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness !'n Moreover, we are to inquire whether we do not want a greater degree of establishment in the great doctrines of the gospel, or to be kept steady in a time of temptation ; and whether we do not want a greater degree of zeal for the honour of God, in a day in which many professors are lukewarm, as our Saviour ob serves concerning the church of Laodicea, that 'they were neither cold nor hot ;'° or whether we do not want, together with this zeal, a compassion to the souls of others who make shipwreck of faith, not having a good conscience, which may induce us, as the apostle says, ' In meekness to instruct those that oppose them selves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth ;T and whether we are duly affected with the degeneracy of, the age in which we live, and are not too negligent in bearing our testimony against the errors ad vanced in it; or whether we understand the meaning of those various dispensa tions of providence which we are under, and what is our present duty in compliance with them. These things are of a more general nature, and to be made the subject of our inquiry, whenever we draw nigh to Christ in any ordinance in which we hope for a supplv of our wants. But there are other things which we ought to have a more particular regard to in our inquiries, when we are to engage in the ordinance of the Lord's supper. . In order to our partaking of it aright, we are to inquire whether we do not want k Rom. vii. 15. 1 ^"..y-.1*- m ™- ™}"'l n Job xxix. 2, 3. • *<"¦ »'• lo- P 2 T'">- »• 25 II. 3x 530 PREPARATION FCK THE LORD'S SUPPER. a clear and distinct apprehension of the covenant of grace, and its seals; how we are to act faith in a way of self-dedication ; and how we ought to renew our cove nant engagements with God, which we are more especially called to do in this or dinance. We are also to inquire whether we do not want a broken heart, suitably affected with the dying love of Jesus Christ, signified in the ordinance, that we may ' look on him who was pierced, and mourn. '' We are likewise to inquire whether we do not want to be led into the true way of improving Christ crucified, to answer all those accusations which are brought in against us, either by Satan or our own consciences ; and how this is an expedient for taking away the guilt and power of sin. We are further to inquire whether we do not want to be made more like Christ, and conformed to his death, that, while we behold him represented as dying for us, we may ' reckon ourselves as dead to sin,' and to the world, and may reckon also that • our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be de stroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.'r We are also to inquire whether we do not want an abiding impression of the love of Christ, and a greater steadfast ness in our resolution to adhere to him ; that so, whatever grace we may be en abled to act, by strength derived from him, may be maintained and exercised, not only when we are, but also when we are not, immediately engaged in that ordinance. These things we are to examine ourselves concerning, that we may spread our wants before the Lord at his table. To induce us to this work of self-examination, we may consider that our corrupt nature is very prone to think ourselves better than we really are ; so that, how in digent and distressed soever we may be, we are ready to conclude, with the church of the Laodiceans, that ' we are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.'8 Moreover, if we are not truly sensible of our necessities, we shall not value Christ's fulness, or the rich provision he has made for his people, and is pleased to dispense in this ordinance ; as it is said, ' The whole need not a physi cian, but they that are sick.'4 We must consider also that a great part of our work in observing this ordinance consists in ejaculatory prayer, which we shall not be able to put up in a right manner if we are not sensible of our wants. One rea son why we are so often at a loss in prayer, or go out of the presence of God empty, is that our hearts are not enlarged in it. Now, they cannot be enlarged in prayer unless we are affected with a sense of our necessities. We have full encour agement, however, to examine ourselves concerning them, before we partake of the Lord's supper. Christ invites us to draw nigh to him in that ordinance, that he may take occasion to communicate the blessings of his redemption which are signi fied by it, that he may supply our wants, satisfy our desires, Surmount our difficul ties, and apply to us the great and precious promises of the covenant of grace. But these are to be sought for at his hands by faith and prayer ; which supposes the performance of this duty of self-examination, with respect to the blessings which we stand in need of from him. 4. We are, before we partake of the Lord's stipper, to examine ourselves concern ing the truth and measure of our knowledge in divine things ; inasmuch as with out the knowledge of these the heart cannot be good, nor any spiritual duty'en- gaged in in a right manner. A perfect comprehensive knowledge of divine truths, indeed, is not to be expected, by reason of the weakness of our capacities, and the imperfection of the present state; in which, as the apostle says, 'we see' hut ' through a glass darkly ;'u or, as it is said elsewhere, ' We are but of yesterday, and know, ' comparatively, ' nothing. '* There is, however, a degree of knowledge which is not only attainable, but necessary to our right engaging in this ordinance. This does not consist merely in our knowing that there is a God, or that he is to be worshipped, or that there was such a person as our Saviour, who lived in the world, was crucified, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. For a person may have a general notion of all these things, and yet be unacquainted with the end and design of Christ's death, and the blessings and privileges of the covenant of grace which he q Zech. xii. 10. r Rom. vi. 6, 10. s Rev. iii. 17. t Matt. ix. 12. u 1 Cor. xiii. 12. x Job viii. 9. PREPARATION FOR THE LORD S SUPPER. 531 procured by his death, or with the claim which a person may lay uy faith to them. But without being acquainted with these things, there is not a sufficient knowledge, such as the apostle calls • a discerning the Lord's body, 'J which we ought to have in this ordinance. The knowledge of divine truths which ought to be pressed after, and as to our attainments in which we are fo examine ourselves, respects the person of Christ, as God-man, Mediator, and the offices which he exe cutes as such. More particularly, it respects the manner and end of his executing his priestly office, in which he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, which we are more especially to commemorate in this ordinance. We must also have an affecting sense or knowledge of the guilt of sin ; and, as a relief against it, must be acquainted with the doctrine of the free grace of God, displayed in the gospel, and founded in the .blood of Jesus, whereby sin is pardoned. We are also to be fully convinced of the almighty power of the Holy Ghost, whereby alone sin can be subdued, and ot the method he takes to make the redemption purchased by Christ effectual to an swer that end. Again, we are to endeavour, in some measure, to know God as our Father, and covenant- God in Christ, who bestows on his people the rich and splen did entertainment of his house, and satisfies them with the abundance of his good ness, pursuant to what Christ has purchased. We must also know what it is to deal with him as those who see themselves obliged to devote themselves to him as their God ; and what large expectations they may have from him whom he has avouched to be his peculiar people ; and how these expectations are a foundation of that humble ' boldness' with which they are encouraged to ' come unto the throne of grace, that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.'2 Moreover, we are to inquire, not only whether we have conceptions of the excellency, glory, and suitableness of those great things which are revealed in the gospel, to answer our particular exigencies, and render us happy in the enjoyment of God, but whether the knowledge of them makes a due impression on our hearts, is of a transforming nature, and has a tendency to. regulate the conduct of our lives, and put us on the application of these great things to ourselves. As to the degree of our knowledge, we must inquire whether it be only a simple apprehension that the doctrines of the gospel are true, or at most, contains some general ideas of their being excellent and worthy of the highest esteem. We must also inquire whether we can prove them to be true, and render a reason of our faith. Without this, our knowledge may, indeed, be rightly placed as to its ob ject ; but it cannot be said to be deeply rooted, and therefore is exposed to greater danger of being foiled, weakened, or overthrown by temptation. We must also inquire whether we grow in knowledge in proportion to those opportunities or means of grace which we are favoured with. This the apostle calls 'growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'" 5. We are to examine ourselves concerning the truth and degree of our faith, and other graces which are inseparably connected with it. As for faith, we are to inquire whether it be a living faith, or what the apostle calls a 'dead faith, 'b as being ' alone,' and destitute of those good works which ought to proceed from it ; whether it contains only an assent to the truth of divine revelation ; or whether it puts us upon closing with Christ, embracing him in all his offices, and trusting in him for all those benefits which he has purchased by his blood. We must also inquire what fruits or effects it produces, and what other graces accompany or flow from it ; whether it inclines us to set the highest value on Christ, as being, m our esteem, altogether lovely, and gives us low thoughts of ourselves, as having nothing hut what we depend on him for, or derive from him ; whether it be attended with some degree of holiness in heart and life, as the apostle speaks of 'the heart being purified bv faith;'0 whether it be such a faith as 'overcomes the world, "and prevents our being easily turned aside from God, by the snares which we meet with ¦ whether we are inclined by it to confess ourselves to be ' strangers and pil grims on the earth,* "and to 'desire abetter country. 'f There are many other fruits and effects of faith, which the apostle mentions in the eleventh chapter of the „ l rn.. vi <2Q z Heb. iv. 16. a 2 Pet. iii. 18. b James ii. 17, 18. c Acts xv 9 <» 1 John "' 4' e Heb> xL 13' f Verse 16' 532 PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER. epistle to the Hebrews, by which we may examine ourselves concerning the truth and sincerity of this grace. There are also several graces mentioned in this An swer which are connected with faith, concerning which we must inquire whether they are found in us, — particularly repentance. This must of necessity be exer cised in this ordinance as well as faith ; inasmuch as by the one, we behold Christ's glory, and by the other, we take a view of sin's deformity. And it is such a re pentance as inclines us not only to hate sin, but to forsake and turn from it, as seeing the detestable and odious nature of it, in what Christ endured to make satisfaction for it. But as faith and repentance were particularly considered under a former Answer, together with the nature, properties, and effects of them,* we shall pass them over, and consider the graces of love to God, desire after Christ, and our using endeavours to approve ourselves his servants and subjects, by constant acts of obedience to him. These things are to be the subject of our inquiry, before we engage in this ordinance. It is very suitable to the occasion, to inquire whether we love Christ or not ; inasmuch as we are to behold and be affected with the most amazing instance of love which he has expressed to us. We ought therefore to inquire whether our love to him be superlative, far exceeding that which we bear to all creatures, how valuable soever they may be to us, how nearly soever we may be related to them, or whatever engagements we may be laid under to esteem and value them. We may also try the sincerity of our love to God, by inquiring whether it puts us on performing the most difficult duties for his sake, with the greatest cheerfulness ; and whether we are encouraged by it to bear the most afflictive evils with patience, because it is his pleasure that we should be exercised with them.h We ought also to inquire whether we love him with all our heart, or whether our love is divided betwixt him and the creature, so that our affections are often drawn aside from him ; whether our love to him puts us upon improving our time, strength, and all our other talents to his glory ;¦ whether we have no interest separate from his, which we cannot but prefer to our chief joy ; whether his glory be the very end of our living, as the apostle says, ' For me to live is Christ;'' whether we are ear nestly desirous "to bring others to him, not only by recommending his glory to them in words, but by expressing the esteem and value we have for him, in the whole course of our conversation ; whether we are inclined by our love to him to hate every thing which he hates, as the psalmist says, ' Ye that love the Lord, hate evil ;'k and whether we make those things the object of our choice which he delights in. Moreover, we are to inquire whether we have had any communion with him in ordinances, and particularly in this ordinance, at other times. And when he is pleased to withhold this privilege from us in any degree, in order that we may see that all our comforts flow from him, or that he may humble us for those sins which provoke him to depart from us, we are to inquire whether we are earnestly desirous of his return, and cannot be satisfied with any thing short of him. As for our desires after Christ, which we are farther to examine ourselves about, we must inquire whether that which moves or inclines us to desire him, be the view we have of the glory of his Person, and the delight which arises from our contemplating his divine excellencies ; or whether we desire him only for the sake of his benefits, or only that he might deliver us from the wrath to come ; whether we desire Christ only when his service is attended with the esteem of men, or as a means to gain some worldly advantage from them ; or whether we desire to adhere to him, when we are called to suffer reproach or even the loss of all things for his sake, — which will be a convincing evidence of the sincerity of our desires after him, and, consequently, of our love to him. We are farther to inquire whether our love to Christ, and desire after him, discovers itself by renewed acts of obedience to him ; particularly, whether our obedience be universal or partial, constant or wavering, performed with delight and pleasure, or with some reluctance ; and whe ther it puts us upon universal holiness, we being induced to practise it from the in- 6 See Sect. ' The Objects and Acts of Saving Faith,' and following sections, under Quest, lxxii, lxxm. See also Quest, lxxvi, lxxxv— Ixxxvii. h 1 Sam. iii. 18. j pj,jl i, 21. k Psal. xcvii. 10. PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER. 533 fluence of gospel-motives. Thus concerning our examining ourselves about our faith, repentance, love to Christ, desire after him, and our endeavour to yield obedience to him in all things. The next thing we are to examine ourselves concerning, is whether we have Buch a love to the brethren, and charity to all men, as disposes us to exercise forgiveness to those who have done us any injuries. The Lord's supper being an ordinance of mutual fellowship, we are obliged to behave ourselves toward one another as members of the same body, subjects of the same Lord, engaged in the same religious exercise ; and, consequently, are obliged so to love one another that it may appear that we are Christ's disciples.1 This love consists in our de siring and endeavouring to promote the spiritual interest of one another, in order that Christ may be glorified ; and it includes that charity which casts a vail over others' failures and defects, and our forgiving those injuries which they have at any time done to us. This frame of spirit is certainly becoming the nature of the ordinance ; in which we hope to be made partakers of the fruits and effects of Christ's love, and to obtain forgiveness from him of all the injuries we have done against him. It is therefore very necessary for us to inquire, concern ing our love to the brethren, whether it be such as is a distinguishing character of those who are Christ's friends and followers, or such, according to the apostle's ex pression, as will afford an evidence to us that we have ' passed from death unto life.'™ In order to our discovering this, let us examine ourselves whether we love the brethren because we behold the image of God in them, which is, in effect, to love and 'glorify God in them ;'n and whether our love to men leads us to desire and endeavour to be a common good to all, according to the utmost of our ability. Thus it is said of Mordecai, that ' he was accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.'0 Again, we are to inquire whether our love be more especially to the souls of men, as well as their outward concerns. This consists in our using all suitable endeavours to bring them under conviction of sin, by faithful and well-timed reproofs ; for the contrary to this, or our refusing to rebuke our neighbour or brother, and so ' suffering sin upon him,' is reckoned no other than a ' hating ' of him.P We are also to express our love to the souls of men, by endeavouring to persuade them to believe in Christ, if they are in an unconverted state, or to walk as becomes his gospel, if they have been made partakers of its grace. Thus the apostle expresses his love to those to whom he writes, when he says, ' I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you ;' i and elsewhere, he signifies to another of the churches, how ' affectionately desirous he was of them ;' so that he was ' willing, not only to impart the gospel of God, but his own soul ; because they were dear unto him.'r Again, we must in quire whether our love puts us upon choosing those to be our associates who truly fear the Lord, whom we count as the psalmist expresses it, ' the excellent, in whom i all our delight ;'8 and, on the other hand, whether we avoid the society of, or — help the ungodly, ... inquire whether our love to men is then expressed when it is most needed ; as it is said, ' A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."1 We are to inquire also whether we are inclined to all the acts of that charity which covers a multitude of faults ; as the apostle describes it, that it ' suffereth long, and is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil rejoiceth not in ini quity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things.'1 -,¦..•¦¦ Again we are to inquire whether our love to men be expressed m forgiving in juries This is a frame of spirit absolutely necessary for our engaging m any or- dinance. Accordingly, our Saviour says, ' If thou bring thy gift to the .altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, * that is, if there be 1 Tnhn xiii 35 m 1 John iii. 14. " Gal. i. 24. o Esth. x. 3. r. Lev xix 17 q ^- "' ,9' rl TheSS "' 8' * ?sal xvi' 3' t S ! Ch'rom xix. 2. u Prov. xvii. 17. x 1 Cor. xui. 4-8. y Matt. v. 23, 24 534 PREPARATION FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER. a misunderstanding between you, whoever be the aggressor, or gave the first occa sion for it, ' leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be recon ciled to thy brother,' that is, do whatever is in thy power in order to effect a recon cilement, and ' then come and offer thv gift.' Such an exercise of a forgiving spirit is especially necessarv when we engage in this ordinance ; in which we hope to obtain forgiveness of the many offences which we have committed against God. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sin cerity and truth. 'z It is no difficult matter for us to know whether we are disposed to forgive those who have injured us. Hence, the principal thing we are to exa mine ourselves about, is, whether we exercise forgiveness in a right frame of spirit, considering how prone we are to do things ourselves whicfi may render it necessary for us to be forgiven, both by God and man; and whether, as the consequence of forgiving others, though we were formerly inclined to overlook those graces which are discernible in them, we now can love them as brethren, and glorify God for what they have experienced, and be earnestly solicitous for their salvation as well as our own. Thus concerning the first duty mentioned in this Answer, namely, our examining ourselves before we engage in this ordinance. Various Duties of Preparation for the Lord's Supper. We now proceed to consider some other duties mentioned in this Answer. One of these is the renewing of the exercise of those graces which are necessary to our right engaging in it, so that the sincerity and truth of them may be discerned. As faith, repentance, and several other graces ought to be exercised in this ordi nance, it is necessary for us to give a specimen of them before we engage in it. As the artificer tries the instrument lm is to make use of in some curious work before he uses it, so the truth and sincerity of our faith are to be tried before it be exercised in this ordinance. Another duty preparatory to the Lord's supper, mentioned in this Answer, is serious meditation. We are to perform this duty that we may not engage in the ordinance without considering the greatness of the Majesty -with whom we have to do, together with our own vileness and unworthiness to approach his presence. We must also consider his power, wisdom, and goodness, to encourage us to hope for those supplies of grace from him which we stand in need of ; and we are to have an awful sense of his omnipresence and omniscience, as he is an heart-search ing God, that we may be excited to an holy reverence, and guarded against the wandering of our thoughts and affections from him, or any unbecoming behaviour in his presence. More particularly, we are to consider beforehand, the end and design of Christ's instituting this ordinance, — namely, that his dying love to sin ners might be signified and showed forth, as an encouragement to our faith, and an inducement to thanksgiving and praise. It is farther observed that we are tp endeavour to prepare for this ordinance by fervent prayer, being sensible that, when we have done our best, we shall be too much unprepared for it, unless we have the special assistance of God when engaging in it. To this case may be applied the words of Hezekiah, ' The good Lord par don every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers ; though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.' a We are to be earnest with God that he would give us a believing view of Christ cruci fied, and especially of our interest in bim. that we may be able to say as the apostle does, ' He loved me, and gave himself for me ;'b and that he would apply to us those blessings which he has purchased by his death, which we desire to wait upon him for when engaging in this ordinance, that our drawing nigh to him in it may redound to his glory and our spiritual advantage. ' * 1 Cor. v. 8. a 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. b Gal. ii. 20. THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 535 THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. Question CLXXII. May one who doubteth of his being in Christ., and of his due preparation, come to the Lord's supper ? Answer. One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God's account, hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeign- eillv desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity, in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians; he il to bewail his unbelief; and labour to have his doubts resolved, and so doing, he may, and ought to qqtne to the Lord's supper that he may be farther strengthened. Question CLXXIII. May any who profess the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's supper, bt kept from it ? Answer. Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding their profession of tjie faith, apd desire to come to the Lord's supper, may, and ought to be kept from that sacrament by the power which Christ hath left in his church, until thev receive instruction, and manifest their reformation. In these Answers we have an account of those who ought to partake of the Lord's supper, and of those who must be kept from it. The former Answer respects, more especially, doubting Christians, who desire to receive satisfaction, whether they ought to engage in the ordinance or not ; the latter respects persons who are ready to presume that they are qualified for it, and ought to partake of it, though they are such as are to be excluded from it. The Case of Doubting Professors. As to the case of one who doubteth of his being in Christ, and duly prepared for the Lord's supper, there are several things which may afford matter of encour agement to him. 1. Though his being duly prepared for the Lord's supper is a matter of doubt to him, he being destitute of assurance of his being in Christ ; yet he may be mis taken in the judgment which he passes concerning himself. Assurance, as was for merly observed, is not of the essence of saving faith ;c for a person may rely on Christ, or give himself up to him, by a direct act of faith, who cannot, at the same time, take the comfort that would otherwise arise from thence, that Christ has loved him and given himself for him. Many have reason to complain of the weak ness of their faith, and the great resistance and disturbance which they meet with from the corruption of nature. Others, too, who at present have assurance of their interest in Christ, may afterwards, through divine desertion, lose the comfortable sense of it. Hence, we must not conclude that every doubting believer is destitute of faith. Those are to be tenderly dealt with, and not discouraged from attending on the Lord's supper, whom others who converse with them cannot but think to have a right to it, and to be habitually prepared for it ; though they themselves very much question whether they are actually meet for it, being apprehensive that they cannot exercise those graces which are necessary to their partaking of the ordinance in a right manner.- Let it be considered, then, that there are some things, which, if duly considered by a weak, doubting Christian, would afford him ground of hope; though, it may b'e. he cannot sufficiently improve them to his own comfort. Thus, if he be truly affected with his want of assurance, and, in consequence, is filled with uneasiness in his own mind, laments his condition, and can take no comfort in any outward en joyments, while destitute of it; if he is importunate with God in prayer, that he would lift up the light of his countenance upon him, and grant him the exercise as well as the joy of faith ; if he frequently examines himself with impartiality, and with an earnest desire to be satisfied as to his state, yet still walks in darkness, and c See Quest, lxxxi. 536 THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD*S SUPPER. his doubts and fears prevail against him ; he has some ground to conclude that he is better than he apprehends himself to be, provided he is truly humbled for those sins which may be reckoned the procuring cause of his doubts and fears, and deter mines to be still waiting till God shall be pleased to discover to him his interest in forgiving grace, and thereby resolve his doubts and expel his fears, which render him so very uneasy. Moreover, a person has some ground of hope, if he can say that he unl'eignedly desires Christ and grace above all things, and can find satis faction in nothing short of him ; for in this case, it may be said that Christ is pre cious to him, as he is to those who believe. We may add, that he has some ground of hope, if he desires to forsake all sin, as being offensive and contrary to him, so that when he commits it, he can truly say with the apostle, ' That which I do, I allow not ; for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate that do I ;' and hence concludes himself 'wretched,' and earnestly desires to be 'delivered from the body of this death. 'd Again, there are some promises which a weak doubting Christian may lay hold on for his encouragement. If the guilt of sin lies as a heavy burden upon him, and is the occasion of his doubts about his being in Christ ; there are promises of forgiveness.*5 If he complains of the power of sin, and its prevalency over him ; there is a promise which is suited to his case : • Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 'f If Satan's temptations are very grievous to him, and such as he can hardly resist ; there are promises suited to his case, that ' God will not suffer' his people ' to be tempted above that they are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way to escape ;'s and, ' The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.'11 If he wants enlargement and raised affections in prayer or other religious duties, so that he is very greatly dis couraged, these promises may afford him some relief: ' I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of suppli cations;'* and ' Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble; thou wilt prepare their heart ; thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.'k If our doubts arise from frequent backslidings, and relapses into sin, we may apply these promises : 'He restoreth my soul,'1 &c. ; and ' I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely ; for mine anger is turned away from them.'m We may also, in this case, apply to him Isa. lvii. 17, 18, where it is supposed that God was wroth, and hid himself from his people for their iniquity ; and where, though they are described as ' going on frowardly in the way of their heart, ' yet God says, ' I have seen his ways, and will heal him ; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners.' We may likewise apply Hos. xi. 7 — 9, where, though God's people are described as bent to backslide from him, yet he determines not to destroy them, but says, in a very moving way, ' How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Is rael, &c. Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim ; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee.' Again, if we want communion with God, or his preseuce with us in his ordinances, and are hence led to conclude that we are not in Christ ; let us consider these texts : ' I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain ;'n and, 'For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.'0 If we are under frequent convictions which soon wear off, and are led to fear, from their want of permanency, that we never experienced a thorough work of conversion ; let us consider the following texts : ' Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord?'? ' Who hath despised the day of small things ?'i 'As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it ; so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.'r If we are in a withering and declining condition, and want reviving ; d Rom. vii. 15, 24. e Mic. vii. 18, 19; Isa. lv. 7, 8. f Rom. vi. 14. g 1 Cor. x. 13. h Rom. xvi. 20. i Zech. xii. 10. k Psal. x. 17. 1 Psal. xxiii. 3: m Hos. xiv. 4. n Isa. xiv. 19. o Chap. liv. 7, 8, p Chap. lxvi. 9. q Zech. iv. 10. r Isa. lxv. 8. THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 537 or, if we complain of barrenness under the means of grace, so that we attend upon them, as we apprehend, to very little purpose ; there are some promises suited to our case, as Hos. xiv. 7, 8 ; Isa. xlviii. 17. If our doubts arise from the hardness of our hearts, so that we cannot mourn for sin as we ought to do, or would do, let us consider what God has promised in Ezek. vii. 16 ; Deut. xxx. 6 ; Acts v. 31. If we are under the visible tokens of God's displeasure, so that we are ready to conclude that he distributes terrors to us in his anger ; and if, in consequence, we walk in darkness, and are far from peace ; there are many promises suited to our case, as Jer. iii. 5 ;' Psal. ciii. 8 — 10 ; Isa. xii. 1 ; Joel ii. 13 ; Isa. 1. 10 ; Psal. lxxix. 15 ; and xiii. 11. 2. We have a farther account how those who are, at present, discouraged from coming to the Lord's table ought to manage themselves. It is observed that they ought to bewail their unbelief, to labour to have their doubts resolved ; and that, instead of being discouraged, they should come to the Lord's supper to be farther strengthened. This advice is not given to stupid sinners, or such as are unconcerned about their state, or never had the least ground to conclude that they have had communion with God in any ordinance, — especially if their distress of conscience arises rather from a slavish fear of the wrath of God, than from a filial fear of him, or if they are more concerned about the dreadful con sequences of sin, than about the intrinsic evil of it ; I say, this advice is not given to such. But it is given to those, who, as formerly described, lament after the Lord ; earnestly seek him, though they cannot, at present, find him ; and have fer vent desires for his presence, though no sensible enjoyment of it ; and appear to have some small degrees of grace, though it be very weak. In this case a few words of advice ought to be given to them. In particular, they should take heed of giving way to any hard thoughts of God ; but should, on the other hand, lay the whole blame of their state on themselves. Thus God says by the prophet, ' Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way ?'s They should also give glory to, depend on, and seek relief from the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who glorifies himself by sealing believers till the day of redemption, and bestows those comforts on them which they stand in need of. They must likewise endeavour, to their utmost, to act grace, and so go forward in the ways of God, though they do not go on comfort ably ; and must not say, ' Why should I wait on the Lord any longer ?' Are they sometimes afraid that they shall not arrive safely at the end of their race ? They should nevertheless resolve not to give up or to run no longer in it. And because their way is attended with darkness, or hedged up with thorns, they should not determine, for that reason, to go backward, as though they had never set their faces heavenward. Again, they ought to lie at God's foot, acknowledging their unworthiness of that peace which they desire but are destitute of ; and should plead for his special presence, which would give an happy turn to the frame of their spirits, as that which they prefer to all the enjoyments of life ; as the psalmist says, ' There be many that say, Who will show us any good ? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.'* Further, it would be advisable for them to contract an intimacy and frequently converse with experienced Christians, who know the depths of Satan, and the deceitfulness of the heart of man, and the methods of divine grace in restoring comforts to those who are, at present, desti tute of them, agreeably to what they themselves have experienced in a similar case.0 Finally, they ought, for the strengthening of their faith, and the establish ing of their comforts, to wait on God in the ordinance of the Lord's supper, hoping for Christ's presence in it. Many have found, in observing it, that they have been enlivened, quickened, and comforted ; while others, through the neglect of it, have had their doubts and fears increased. The Case of Ignorant and Immoral Professors. We are now led to consider what is contained in the latter of the Answers we g Jer j; 17 t Psal. iv. 6. u 2 Cor. i. 4. ii. 3y j 538 THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. are explaining. This relates to those who desire to come to the Lord's supper, but are to be kept from it. Here it is taken for granted that all are not to be admitted to this ordinance ; though, it may be, they make a general profession of the Chris tian faith, and are not willing that any should question their right to it. These are described in this Answer as being ignorant of the great doctrines of the gospel, and consequently unacquainted with Christ, whom they never truly applied them selves to, nor received by faith. Hence, they cannot improve this ordinance aright, or have communion with Christ in it. — Again, those are to be excluded from the Lord's supper, who are scandalous or immoral in their practice, whatever pretensions they make to the character of Christians. These are described by the apostle as persons who ' profess that they know God, but in works deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.'" Such ought not to have communion with those whom the apostle describes as ' called to be saints. ' * Nor can they partake of this ordinance aright ; for they are not apprized of the end and design of it, and they are not able, as the apostle expresses it, to 'discern the Lord's body.'2 If they are strangers to themselves, how can they apply the benefits of Christ's redemption to their own case ? If they neglect the preparatory duty of self-examination, so that they do not know their own wants, how can they go to Christ in this ordinance for a supply of them ? If they do not desire the spiritual blessings of the covenant of grace, what right can they have to make use of its seals ? If they are openly and visibly of another family, under the dominion of the powers of darkness, what right have they to the privileges which Christ has purchased for those who are members of his family and spiritually united to him ? To what has been said concerning those who are to be excluded from this ordi nance, it is objected that it appears that both good and bad have a right to it, from what our Saviour says in the parable of the wheat and the tares,3 both of which are said to ' grow together until the harvest,' when the ' reapers' will be sent to ' gather first the tares, and bind them »in bundles to burn them, and the wheat into the barn.' Hence, say the objectors, hypocrites and sincere Christians are to continue together in the same church, and consequently to partake of the same ordinances. But the interpretation assumed in the objection is not the sense of the parable. Our Saviour explains it otherwise, when he says, ' The field is the world ; the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. ' b We may hence infer that good and bad men are, through the forbearance of God, suffered to live together in the world ; but the passage gives no countenance to the supposition that the wicked ought to be joined with the godly as members of the same church. Not that hypocrites may, and often do, intrude themselves into the churches of Christ ; yet as their doing so is not known to the churches, they are not to blame for it, the heart of man being known to God alone. The judg ment which we are to pass concerning those who are admitted into church-fellow ship, or to the Lord's supper in particular, is to be founded on their credible profes sion ; and though, in making that profession, it is possible for them to deceive others, yet the guilt and ill consequence of their doing so will affect only them selves. It is farther objected, that Judas was at the Lord's supper when it was instituted by our Saviour, though he knew that he was an hypocrite and a traitor, and that he would speedily execute what he had designed against his life. It is hence inferred that all ought to be admitted to this ordinance. The reason generally assigned for believing that Judas was present at the institution of the ordinance is, that it is said, ' When the hour was come, he sat down, and his twelve apostles with him.'c We likewise read afterwards that ' he took bread and brake it, &c. and also the cup after supper, 'd &c. ; and then it is said, ' Behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.'8 This is supposed, by the objectors, to have been spoken by Christ when they were eating the Lord's supper ; and they hence con clude that Judas was there. We reply, however, that it seems much more pro- x Tit. i. 16. y Rom. i. 7. zl Cor. xi. 27. a Matt. xiii. 29. b Ver. 38. c Luke xxii. 14. d Ver. 19. e Ver. 21. THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 539 bable that he was not present when the Lord's supper was administered, though he joined with Christ and tlie other apostles in eating the passover. The passover and tbe Lord's supper were celebrated, the one immediately after the other, at the same table, or sitting ; so that the hand of Judas might be with Christ on the table, in the former, though not in the latter. Hence, though these words, ' the hand of him that betrayeth me, is with me on the table, ' are inserted after the account of both these ordinances being concluded ; yet we have ground to suppose that they were spoken while they were eating the passover, when Judas was present. Moreover, it ap pears yet more probable that he was not present at the Lord's supper, from the account which John gives of the matter. According to that account, our Savi our tells the disciples that ' one of them should betray him ;'f and he thens discov ers that he meant Judas, by giving him the sop ; and it is said, that ' having received the sop, he went immediately out.'h Now it is certain there was no sop in the Lord's supper, as there was in the passover, inasmuch as there was no flesh used in it. Hence, Judas went out when they were eating the passover, before they began to partake of the Lord's supper ; being, as we may reasonably suppose, in a rage that his hypocrisy should be detected, and that he should be marked out as a traitor, who was previously reckoned as good a man as any of them. We have not sufficient ground, therefore, to conclude, from the case of Judas, that wicked men ought to be admitted to partake of the Lord's supper. It is farther objected, that for Christians to exclude any from the Lord's supper, would argue a great deal of pride, or vain-glorious boasting, and would be, as it were, to say to those who are excluded, Stand off, for we are holier than you. But a believer may, with thankfulness, acknowledge the distinguishing grace of God vouchsafed to him and not to others, and also bless him that he has given him a right to the privileges of his house which all are not admitted to partake of ; with out being guilty of any boasting. He may say with the apostle, ' By the grace of God, I am what I am ;' ! and yet deal faithfully with those who are destitute of this grace. He may bless God for the right which he hopes he has to "the ordinance of the Lord's supper ; and yet not think it his duty to admit those to it who have no right. Again, it is one thing not to admit persons who are unqualified to this or dinance, and another thing to despise them on this account. Our business is, not to reproach them, but to treat them with meekness ; if peradventure God may give ihem repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, that so they may appear to have a right to it. It is farther objected, that if wicked men are to be excluded from one ordinance which Christ has instituted in his church, they may, for the same reason, be excluded from all, and so may as well be debarred the privilege of hearing the word, and joining with the church in public prayer. We reply, that there is not the same reason for excluding wicked men from hearing the word, or joining in prayer with the church, as there is for refusing to admit them to partake of the Lord's supper. Prayer and preaching the word, are God's appointed means for working the grace of faith, in structing the ignorant, awakening the stupid and secure sinner, and putting him oh complying with that method of salvation which God has prescribed in the gospel, and embracing Christ as offered in it. On the other hand, the Lord's supper is an ordinance frhich supposes the soul to have previously received Christ by faith. The commu nicant is to feed upon Christ, and to take comfort from what he has done and suf fered for him, as conducive to the farther mortification of indwelling sin ; and this supposes that he has previously had some experience of the grace of God in truth. Thus concerning the exclusion from the Lord's supper of ignorant or immoral per sons, on account of their not being qualified. Here we may farther observe, that they who bring these and similar objections, with a design to open the door of the church so wide that all may be received into it, and partake of those ordinances by which it is more particularly distinguished from the world, are very ready, in defence of their own cause, to charge others with being too severe in their censures, and refusing to admit any into church commu nion who cannot tell the very time in which they were converted, and the means f John xiii. 31. g Ver. 26. h Ver. 30. i I Cor. x v. 16. 540 THE PARTAKERS OF THE LORD S SUPPER. by which this work was begun and carried on. They allege, too, that candidates for admission are obliged to profess their faith in so public a manner, that many are denied the privilege of partaking of this ordinance, for a mere circumstance ; and they say that this severe course is an extreme as much to be avoided, as the receiving of unqualified persons to the Lord's supper. But as this charge is rather the result of surmise than founded on sufficient evidence, it deserves to have less notice taken of it. Yet I would say in answer to it, that I never observed it to be the practice of any church of Christ to exclude persons from its communion be cause they knew not the time or means of their conversion. The conversion of per sons may sometimes be occasioned by their having been favoured with the blessing of a religious education and restraining grace from their childhood, so that they have not run those lengths in sin which others have done ; and, hence the change which is wrought in conversion, especially as to the time and manner of it, is less dis cernible. Sometimes the work is begun with a less degree of the terrors of con science, under a sense of the guilt of sin, and the condemning sentence of the law, than others have experienced. Persons in whom it has thus commenced have been drawn with the cords of love ; and the grace of God has descended upon them in sensibly, like the dew upon the grass ; so that all that can be perceived by them, or that is to be required of them as a necessary qualification for their being admitted to the ordinances and privileges which belong to believers, is their discovering those fruits of faith which are discernible in the conversation of such as have ex perienced the grace of God in truth. — As to the other part of the charge, which pretends that some churches insist on such terms of communion as are merely cir cumstantial, so as to refuse to receive any who cannot comply with them ; it is to be answered by those who appear to be liable to it. All that I shall add under this Head, is, that as a visible profession of faith in Christ is to be made, as neces sary to constitute a visible church, and the conversation of those who make it ought to be apparently agpeeable to it ; and as none are obliged to make known to the church anything which involves the least appearance of dishonour or reflection on their character in the world, but are required only to testify and give a proof of their steady adherence to Christ, and their desire to embrace him in all his offices, as well as worship him in all his ordinances ; the requiring of a profession of faith from them cannot justly be reckoned an unnecessary circumstance, or making that a term of communion which Christ has not made, and so excluding those who have a right to the Lord's supper. The Use of the Lord's Supper as a Civil Test. We have now considered the terms of communion, and the qualifications for it, as well as the spiritual privileges which are to be expected by those who have a right to it. Here, I cannot but observe how these are abused, and practically dis owned, by those who engage in this ordinance merely as a qualification for a civil employment. A person may certainly be a good member of a commonwealth and very fit to be intrusted with the administration of its civil affairs, who has little or nothing to say concerning his experience of the grace of God. To assert that a right to a civil employment is founded on the same qualifications which give a per son a right to partake of the Lord's supper, would be to advance, not only what is indefensible, but what would be almost universally denied, unless it could be proved Ihat all might partake of the ordinance, the contrary towhich we have endeavoured to maintain. Moreover, when Christ instituted this ordinance, his people were in no expectation of bearing any part in the civil government. ; so that its being used as a test of qualification for such a situation, was most remote from its first intent and design. We often find, too, that the use of it as a civil test is a temptation to men to profane it, and lays a burden on the consciences of those who know them selves unprepared for it, who had little or nothing in view but the securing of their secular interest. It is hence to be feared that many of them eat and drink un worthily, and, instead of receiving advantage by it, bring'their consciences under such entanglements as they cannot easily extricate themselves from. Thus con cerning those who are to be admitted to be partakers of the Lord's supper, though DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORDS SUPPER. 541 doubting of their meetness for it ; and concerning others being excluded, who have no right to it. The last thing observed in this Answer, is that they who are not, at present, deemed fit for this ordinance, may afterwards be admitted to it, when they have received instruction, and manifested a thorough reformation. If, by their diligent attendance on other ordinances or means of grace, accompanied with the divine bless ing, that which at present disqualifies them is removed, they may humbly and thankfully wait on God in this ordinance and hope for his presence and blessing ; and then the church will have reason as well as themselves, to bless God for that grace which they have experienced, whereby they may come to the ordinance for the better and not for the worse. DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. Question CLXXIV. What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper in the time of the administration of it? Answer. It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper, that during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord's body, and affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces, in judging themselves and sorrowing for sin, in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith, receiving of his fulness, trusting in his merits, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace, in renewing of their covenant with God, and love to all the saints. Question CLXXV. What is the duty of Christians after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's supper ? Answer. The duty of Christians after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's supper, is, si nouslv to consider how they have behaved themselves therein, and with what success; if they hud quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against re lapses, fulfil their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance; but if they find no present benefit, more exactly to review their preparation to, and carriage at the sacrament; in both which, if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time; but if they see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled, and to attend upon it afterward with more care and diligence. TiiEtE two Answers respect our behaviour in and after our engaging in this ordinance. Duties while observing the Lord's Supper. We are to consider with what frame of spirit we are to engage in the ordinance, how our meditations are to be employed, and what graces are to be exercised. Here is something observed which is common to it with all other ordinances, namely, that we are to wait on God with an holy reverence arising from a becom ing sense of his divine perfections, and the infinite distance we stand at from him ; and we are to impress on our souls an awful sense of his omniscience and omnipre sence. For he knows better than we do ourselves, with what frame of spirit we draw nigh to him ; and highly resents every thing which is contrary to his holi ness, or unbecoming the character of those who are worshipping at his footstool. But there are other things peculiar to this ordinance, which are necessary in order to our engaging in it in a right manner. 1. We are diligently to observe the sacramental elements and actions, which contain the external part of the duty required of us. The bread and wine, together with the actions to be performed in our receiving them by Christ's appointment, are, as was formerly observed, significant and instructive signs of his death, and of the benefits which he has procured for us by it ; and these are to be attended to, ' and brought to our remembrance in this ordinance. Moreover, we are to consider that while the blessings of the covenant of grace are signified by the sacramental elements and actions, as instituted, not as natural signs, the gospel in which we 542 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE have an account of what Christ did and suffered for us. is a largo nnd sufficient ex planation for the direction of our faith, when conversant about tltem. 2. We are affectionately to meditate on the sufferings and death of Christ, which are signified in the ordinance. Meditation is a great part of the work we are to be engaged in ; and the death of Christ is the principal subject of it. Accordingly, we are to consider his condescending love in giving his life a ransom for us ; and, in order to our being affected with this, and excited to admiration and thankfulness for it, we must contemplate the divine excellency and glory of his Person, which adds an infinite value to every part of his obedience and sufferings. We must consider also the kind of death he died; which is called his being 'wounded,' ' bruised, 'k 'cut off,'1 and is represented as having had the external mark of the curse of God annexed to it, so that he is said to have been made a curse for us.m We are to consider also the character of the persons for whom he laid down his life ; who are described as being ' without strength' or ability to do what is good, and 'ungodly,' and so open enemies to him;11 so that there was nothing, in us which could induce him to suffer and die for us. We are to consider also that he died in our room and stead, 'bearing our griefs, and carrying our sorrows,'0 and being 'delivered for our offences. 'p We are to consider likewise the great ends designed ; that God is glorified, and his holiness and justice in demanding and re ceiving a full satisfaction for sin, illustrated in the highest degree ; so that he de clares himself ' well-pleased' in what Christ has done and suffered, °- and ' well- pleased' likewise, as the prophet expresses it, 'for his righteousness' sake.'r We are to consider also the great advantage which we hope to receive ; that ' being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.'3 This is the highest inducement to us, to give ourselves entirely up to him. 3. We are, in this ordinance, to stir ourselves up to a vigorous exercise of those graces which the nature of the ordinance requires. Accordingly, we are to judge ourselves ; as the apostle says, ' If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.'' This we ought to do, by accusing, condemning, and passing sentence against ourselves, for those sins which we have committed against Christ, whereby we were plunged into the utmost depths of misery, in which we should for ever have continued, had, he notredeemed us by his blood. We are also to acknowledge our desert of God's wrath and curse ; so that ' if he should mark, iniquities, we could not stand.'0 Our sense of sin ought to be particular, including a view of those transgressions which are known to none but God and ourselves ? and we ought to make a particular application of the. blood of Christ for the forgiveness of them. To act thus is certainly very suitable to the nature of the ordinance, Christ being there set forth as a sacrifice for sin. And we are led, at the same time, to be duly affected with our malady, and the great remedy God has provided ; and in conse quence are incited to increased praise and thankfulness to him who loved us, and gave himself for us. Again, we are to exercise a godly sorrow for sin, which is the ground of all that distress and misery to which we are liable. We are first to he- wail our corruption of nature, whence all actual sins proceed ; and we are next to bewail our sins of omission, as well as commission, — our neglect to perform duties which are incumbent on us, as well as those sins which have been committed by ns with the greatest presumption, deliberation, wilfulness, and obstinacy, and which contain the highest ingratitude and contempt of the blood of Christ, and the method of salvation by him. Our sorrow for sin ought also to produce the good effects of praying and striving against it, and of endeavouring to return, to God from whom we have backslidden. The apostle calls it ' sorrowing after a godly sort ;' and speaks of it as attended with ' carefulness,' that we may avoid it for the future, — ' clearing of ourselves,' that we may either be encouraged to hope that we have not committed the sins which we are ready to charge ourselves with, or that the guilt of them is taken away by the atonement which Christ has made for us. It ought also to produce an holy ' indignation,' and a kind of ' revenge ' against sin, as that k Isa. liii. 5. 1 Dan. ix. 26. m Gal. iii. 13. n Rom. v. 6, 8, 10. o Isa. liii. 4. p Rom. iv. 25. q Matt. iii. 17. r Isa. xiii. 21. s Rom. v. 9. t 1 Cor. xi. 31. u Psal. cxxx. 3. OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 543 which has been so prejudicial to us ; likewise a 'fear' of offending, a 'zeal' for the glory of God, whom we have dishonoured, and ' a vehement desire ' of those bless ings which we have forfeited. It ought to proceed from an inward loathing and abhorrence of sin ; and the degree of it ought to bear some proportion to the re spective aggravations of sin, and the dishonour we have brought to God by it ¦ for if we thus view sin, we shall be effectually inclined to abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. To feel in this way is very agreeable to the nature of the ordi nance we are engaged in, since nothing tends more to enhance the vile and heinous nature of sin, than the consideration of its having crucified the Lord of glory. The* fact, too, of Christ having died on account of sin, is to be the immediate subject of our meditation in observing the ordinance. We read that Christ, in his last suffer ings, was 'exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.'1 Now, this extreme sorrow could not proceed from the afflictive view which he had of the pains and indigni ties he was to suffer in his crucifixion ; for to suppose that it did, would argue him to have had a less degree of holy courage and resolution than some of the martyrs have expressed when they have endured extreme torments and most ignominious reproaches for his sake. Hence, his sorrow proceeded from the afflictive sense which he had of the guilt of our sins which he bore. Now, if he not only suffered, but his soul was exceedingly sorrowful for our sins, we ought to be excited to the exercise of godly sorrow for sin, in this ordinance, in which Christ's suffering for it is brought to our remembrance. 3. We are to hunger and thirst after Christ ; and so to have an ardent desire of enjoying communion with him. Thus the church says, ' With my soul have I de sired thee in the night ; yea, with my spirit will I seek thee early ;'y and the psalmist compares a believer cherishing this desire to the hunted ' hart, ' ready to die for thirst, which 'pants after the water-brooks.'2 This desire arises from a deep sense of our need of Christ, and of farther supplies' of grace from him ; and is attended with a firm resolution that nothing short of him shall satisfy us, as not being adapted to supply our wants. Such a frame of spirit is agreeable to the ordi nance we are engaged in ; since Christ is there represented as having purchased and being ready to apply to his people, those blessings which are of a satisfying and comforting nature. 4. We are to feed on Christ by faith, and so receive of his fulness ; as he is fre quently represented in scripture, under the metaphor of ' food.' Thus he styles himself, ' the bread of life ;'a the blessings he bestows are called, ' the meat which perisheth not, but endureth to everlasting life ;'b and the gospel dispensation is set forth under the metaphor of ' a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. ' c Under the same metaphor, our Saviour represents that dispensation in the parable, d in which he commands his servants to invite those who were bidden to the marriage feast, by telling them, as an encouragement to their faith, what things he had prepared for their entertainment. Thus, when drawing nigh to Christ in this ordinance, we are to consider that fulness of grace which is in him, of merit for our justification, of strength to enable us to mortify sin ahd resist temptations, of wisdom to direct us in all emergencies and difficulties, of peace and comfort to revive and encourage us un der all bur doubts and fears, and to give us suitable relief when we are ready to faint under the burdens we complain of. All these blessings are to be apprehended and applied by faith ; otherwise we cannot conclude that they belong to us. Nor can anything be more adapted to this ordinance than this apprehending and applying of these blessings ; for Christ is there represented as having all those blessings to bestow whicji he has purchased by his blood, and there also they are signified or showed forth. 5. We are, in this ordinance, to trust in the merits of Christ, or to exercise an entire confidence in him ; who, by his death, has purchased for us all spiritual and saving blessings. This ought to be attended with an humble sense of our own un- worthiness, as being 'less than the least of all God's mercies,'8 and as deserving x Matt. xxvi. 38. y Is»- *xvi. 9. z Psal xiii. 1. a John vi. 35. b John vi. 27. « I"* "v- 6 d Matt- »"• *• e Gen. xxxii. 10. 544 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE nothing but his fierce wrath for our iniquities. And, as 'Christ has paid a full and satisfactory price of redemption for us, and so procured the blessings which we had forfeited, and which have a tendency to make us completely happy, we ought to lay the whole stress of our salvation on him, being sensible that ' he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.'f 6. We are to rejoice in Christ's love ; which is infinitely greater than what can be in the heart of one creature towards another. This love of Christ has several properties. It consists, not merely in his desiring our good or wishing that we were happy, but in making us so ; nor does it consist only in his sympathizing with us in our miseries, but also in his delivering us from them, and discovering himself as our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. — Again, as Christ's love to his people did not take its motive at first from any beauty or excellency which he found in them, who were deformed, polluted, and worthy to be abhorred by him, but afterwards were adorned and ' made comely through his comeliness put upon them ;'b so, when they forfeit his love by their frequent backslidings, and deserve to be cast off by him, it is nevertheless unchangeably fixed upon them, inasmuch as ' having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.'h — Further, Christ's love is infinitely condescending. Its conde scension arises not only from the infinite distance which there is between him and his people, but from his remembering them in their low estate, having compassion on them whom no eye pitied, and saving them when they were in the utmost depths of despair and misery, 'saying to them when they were in their blood, Live.'' — Again, his love is not like the love of strangers, which contents itself with some general endeavours to do good to persons whom they designed not to contract an intimacy with ; but it is attended with the highest acts of friendship and communion, imparting his secrets to them, as he promises ' to love them, and manifest himself to them,'k and tells his disciples, ' Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth. But I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.'1 — More over, it is such a love as forgives all former injuries, and upbraids not his people for what they have done against him, either before or since they believed in him. Thus God is said to 'pardon the iniquity and pass by the transgression of the rem nant of his heritage ;' to ' cast all their sins into the depths of the sea ;'m and to ' blot out their transgressions for his own sake, and not to remember their sins.'n — Again, it is such a love as affords us all seasonable and necessary help in times of our greatest straits and difficulties,0 and makes provision for our future neces sities. Thus he told his disciples, ' I go to prepare a place for you.'P that they might be assured of being happy in another world ; and accordingly he said, in his mediatorial prayer, ' Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. '9 — Further, it is such a love as puts him upon reckoning all injuries done against his people as though they were done against himself, and the kindnesses expressed to them as though they were expressed to him. Thus it is said, ' He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye ;'r and, ' He that despiseth you, despiseth me.'s And when he takes notice of those expressions of kindness which his people had shown to one another, he says, ' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'1 — Finally, it is such a love as inclines him to interpose between his people and all danger ; and so he prevents their being over come by their enemies. Indeed, he not only hazarded, but, as ' a good shepherd, gave his life for his sheep.' u This, then, is that love which is to be the subject of our meditation in the ordinance of the Lord's supper. Accordingly, we are first to endeavour to make out our interest in it by faith, which will be evinced by those acts of love to him that flow from it ; and then we may rejoice in it as a constant spring of peace and blessedness. f Heb. v i, 25. g F-zek. xvi. 14. h John xiii. 1. i Ezek. xvi- 6. k John xiv. 21. 1 Chap. xv. 15. m Micah vii. 18, 19. li Isa. xliii, 25. o Psal. xlvi. 1. p John xiv. 2. q Chap. xvii. 24. r Zech. ii. 8. s Luke x. 16. t Matt. xxv. 40. u John x. 11. OBSERVANCE OF THE LOUD S SUPPER. 645 7. The next grace to be exercised in this ordinance, is thankfulness. We are to adore and praise God that he has been pleased to extend compassion to us in bestowing those blessings which are the result of his discriminating grace. The instances of this grace are various : he delivers us from the ruin which sin would have inevitably brought upon us ; bestows upon us the blessings of goodness, and restrains the breaking forth of our corruptions, which would otherwise have in clined us to commit the vilest abominations ; more especially, he renews our nature, changes our hearts, creates us unto good works, and then quickens and excites that grace in 'us which his own hand has wrought, comforts us when our spirits are over whelmed with sorrow, enables us to go on in his way rejoicing, and so carries on the work which he has begun in us, till it be completed in glory. There is nothing which we have, either in hand or in hope, but what will afford matter for the exer cise of thankfulness. In particular, our hearts ought to be excited to it from the consideration of the benefits which are signified in the ordinance of the Lord's sup per ; especially if we are enabled to receive them by faith. 8. We are, at the Lord's supper, to renew our covenant with God. That this may be rightly understood, we must consider what it is for a believer to enter into covenant with God, which he is supposed to have done before. This does not con sist in our promising that we will do those things which are out of our power, or that we will exercise those graces which none but God, who works in his people both to will and to do, can enable us to put forth ; but it consists in our making a surrender of ourselves to Christ, and depending on him for the supply of all our spiritual wants, humbly hoping and trusting that he will enable us to adhere stead fastly to him, working in us all that grace which he requires of us ; and if he is pleased to grant us this blessing, we shall be enabled to perform all the duties which are incumbent on us, how difficult soever they may be. This is an unexception able way of entering into covenant with God, as it contains an acknowledgment ©f our own inability without him to do that which is good, and a desire to give- the glory of all to him ; on whom we steadfastly rely, that we may obtain mercy from him to be faithful. Moreover, to renew our covenant, is to declare that, through his grace, we are inclined steadfastly to adhere to our solemn dedication to him, not in the least repenting of what we did in it ; and that we have as much reason to depend on his assistance now as we had at first, since grace is carried on as well as begun by him alone. Accordingly, while we express our earnest desire to be stead fast in his covenant, we depend on his promise that he will never fail us, nor for sake us. And we especially avail ourselves of observing the Lord's supper to renew our dedication to him, as our doing so is very agreeable to the nature of this ordi nance ; in which we have the external symbols of his love to us, which lays us under the highest obligation to be dedicated to him. 9. We are in this ordinance to show our readiness to exercise a Christian love to all saints. This consists more especially in our earnest desire that all grace and peace may abound in them, as in our own souls ; that so they and we may have occasion to glorify God together, and show concern for one another's spirituail welfare. We are to bless God for the grace they are enabled to exercise, though, it may be, we cannot exercise it in the same degree ourselves. As for others, we are to sympathize with them in their weaknesses, grieve for their falls and miscar riages, and be very ready to make abatements for such of their frailties and infir mities as we ourselves are sometimes liable to, especially if they are not inconsis tent with grace, and we are to cast a mantle of love over these, not knowing but we may be exposed to and fall by the same temptations which have overcome them. This love to all Christians is to be expressed, more especially in the ordinance of the Lord's supper ; inasmuch as we are to consider all saints as membersof Christ's mystical body, children of the same God and Father, partakers of the same grace with us, fellow-travellers to the same heavenly country, where we hope to meet them at last, though now they are liable to the same difficulties with ourselves, and exposed to those assaults and temptations which we often meet with from our spiritual enemies. Moreover, though our love is to be more immediately and directly extended to the society who join in communion with us ; yet it is not to be confined within such narrow limits, but includes the highest esteem for all who are 3 z 546 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, though their place of abode be re mote, and they ai"e not known to us in the flesh. Duties After Observing the Lord's Supper. We are now to consider the duty of Christians after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's supper. This consists in inquiring how they behaved themselves in it ; and whether they have any ground to conclude that tfiey were favoured with the special presence of God in it, so that it has been made a means of grace to them. As to the frame of our spirits, while engaging in this solemn duty, we shall sometimes find that it has been such as affords matter for deep humiliation and self-abasement in the sight of God, when we reflect upon it. In particular, we have reason to blame our conduct in this ordinance, when our minds and affections have been conversant about those things which are altogether unsuitable to the work we have been engaged in ; and when, instead of conversing with Christ in the ordi nance, we have had our thoughts and meditations taken up chiefly with worldly matters. Or even if they have been conversant about religious affairs, we may, in some measure, see reason to blame ourselves, if these have been altogether foreign to the great end and design of the ordinance we have been engaged in. There are many portions of scripture, or topics in divinity founded upon it, which we may employ our thoughts about at other times, with great advantage, but which may not be altogether adapted to our receiving spiritual advantage from Christ crucified, or to our making a right improvement of him, as the nature of this ordinance requires. Again, they behave themselves unbecomingly in this or dinance, who meditate on the thing signified in it, namely, the dying love of Jesus Christ, as though they were unconcerned spectators ; having only an historical faith, and contenting themselves with the knowledge of what merely relates to the life .and death of Christ, without considering the end and design of them, namely, that he might make atonement for sin, or considering their particular concern in that atonement, so as to improve it as an expedient for taking away the guilt and power of sin in their own souls. Further, we may reflect on our behaviour in this ordinance, when we have given way to deadness and stupidity, without using those endeavours which are necessary for the exciting of our affections ; when a subject so affecting as Christ's pouring out his soul unto death, being wounded for our transgressions, despised and rejected of men, bleeding and dying on the cross, and in the midst of his sufferings crying out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou for saken me?' has not had an efficacy to raise our affections, any more than if it were a common subject. Moreover, we have reason to blame our behaviour in this or dinance, when we have attended on it with a resolution to continue in any known sin, without being earnest with God to mortify it, or desiring strength and grace from Christ, and improving his death, in order to the accomplishment of that end. Thus we have sometimes reason to reflect, with grief and sorrow of heart, on our behaviour at the Lord's supper, as what has been disagreeable to the nature of the ordinance. But, on the other hand, we may sometimes, in taking a view of our behaviour ¦ at the Lord's supper, find matter of encouragement ; when, abating for human frailties, and the imperfection of grace, which inseparably attend the present state, - than it pleases God to keep up the lively exercise of faith and other graces ; and this, being so valuable a blessing, is to be sought for by fervent prayer and supplication, that our good frames may not be like the morning cloud, or early dew, that soon passes away. Our seeking a continuance of these will discover that we set a value upon them, and glorify God as the author of them ; and it is the best expedient for our walking with God at other times, as well as when engaged in holy ordinances. Again, it is observed that they who have been quickened and comforted, when partaking of the Lord's supper, ought to watch against relapses into those sins which formerly they were overtaken with, but now see reason to abhor. This we ought to do, because, though we are sometimes brought into a good frame, we still have deceitful hearts, which, before we are aware, may betray us into the commis sion of such sins as have occasioned great distress to us in times past; and, we are subject also to the endeavours of Satan to ensnare us by his wiles, so that when we think ourselves in the greatest safety, we may be exposed to the greatest dangers. When we have been least apprehensive of our return to our former sins, and, it may be, have been too secure in our own opinion, while confiding too much to our own strength, we have lost our good frames, and our troubles have been renewed. It is hence our duty to watch against the secret workings of corrupt nature, and the first motions of sin in our hearts ; while we earnestly implore help from God that we may be kept from our own iniquities, — namely, those sins which we have former ly committed, or which more easily beset us. The next duty incumbent on us, after we have received the Lord's supper, is, to fulfil our vows. This will be better understood, if compared with what was former ly observed concerning sacramental vows or covenants. These ought not to include a making of promises, especially in our own strength, that we will be found in the exercise of those graces which are the special gift and effect of God's almighty power. Hence, I always, when mentioning the making of religious vows, consider them principally as containing an express declaration, that we are under an indis pensable obligation to perform those duties, and put forth those acts of grace, which are incumbent on us, as those who desire to approve ourselves Christ's faithful ser vants, and whom he has taken into a covenant relation with himself. We also, in making a vow, declare that, without help from God, we can do nothing. This help we implore from him at the time when we devote or give ourselves up to him. Hence, we devote ourselves to him, hoping and trusting that he will bestow upon us that grace which is out of our own power ; and we determine that, if he will be pleased to do this, he shall have all the glory that accrues. This explana tion of vowing is most agreeable to the sense of the Latin wordx whence the word ' vow ' is derived ; and, I think, it is much rather to be acquiesced in than the gen eral description which some give of it. These exhort persons who are engaged in this ordinance, to confess those sins which they have committed since they were last at the Lord's table, so far as they occur to their memories ; and, as a means of their obtaining forgiveness, to make a solemn vow or promise that they will ab stain from them for the future, and walk more agreeably to the engagements which they are laid under. Persons who act on this view, make their vow or solemn pro mise without an humble sense of the treachery of their own hearts, or their need of strength from God to perform any thing that is good ; and afterwards they are as little inclined to fulfil their own promises as they were before forward to make them, with too much reliance on their own strength ; and they, in consequence, bring themselves into the greatest perplexities, and go on, as it were, in a round of making solemn vows and resolutions, and then breaking them, and afterwards re newing them. On the other hand, to confess that what others promise in their own strength, we see ourselves obliged to do, and, at the same time, to depend on Christ for strength to enable us to perform it, and give ourselves up to him, as his cove nant people, in hope of receiving that strength, is the safest way of vowing ; for it redounds most to the honour of God, and includes every thing which may put us x Voveo. 548 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE upon using our utmost endeavours to perform the duties which are incumbent on us, and, at the same time, expresses our unfeigned desire to glorify God as the God and Author of that grace which is nec%ssary to our performing these duties. In this sense I would understand what we are exhorted to do in the Answers we are explaining, when it is said that, while we are receiving the Lord's supper, we ou^ht to renew our covenant with God, and that after we have received it, we are to fulfil our vows. The former of these duties includes such a dedication to God as has just been considered ; the latter, namely, the fulfilling of our vows, implies a do ing of every thing which is in our power, in order to our fulfilling them, and, at the same time, a waiting on God to give success to our endeavours, and to work in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, without which we can do nothing. [See Note 2 B, page 549.] After we have waited on the Lord in this ordinance, we are to encourage our. selves to a frequent attendance on it ; especially if we have ground to conclude that we have had any sensible communications of his grace vouchsafed to us while ob serving it. As the imparting of a sense of his comforting presence is an honour which God puts on his own institutions, it is certainly an encouragement to us to persevere in waiting on him in them. Thus the psalmist says, ' Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.'* Our having experienced God's comforting and quickening presence in our attending on the Lord's. supper, will effectually remove all those doubts and scruples which dis courage us from engaging in it, fearing that we shall not behave ourselves in a right manner in it, that we are not sufficiently prepared for it, and that we shall be disowned by Christ when we engage in it. But, suppose we have not enjoyed this comforting and quickening presence of God which the best believers do not, at all times, experience m a like degree ; then we ought, after we have received the Lord's supper, to endeavour to find out the particular cause of God's withdrawing it from us, and what is that root of bitterness which springs up and troubles us. It may be he withholds this privilege from us in a way of sovereignty, that we may learn that our comforts are not at our own disposal, or that they are not the neces sary result of our attendance on ordinances, but arise from the divine blessing ac companying them. Or it may be, he withholds this blessing from us for the trial of our graces ; and that we may see how needful it is for us to wait for those spiritual comforts which, at present, he withholds from us. Thus the prophet says, ' There fore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be ex alted, that he may have mercy upon you ; for the Lord is a G od of judgment ; blessed are all they that wait for him.'2 As, however, we may, for the most part, appre hend some particular reason, connected with sins of omission or commission before or during our observance of the ordinance, why God denies us his quickening and comforting presence, we must inquire whether there was not some defect as to pre paratory duties ; in particular, whether we duly examined ourselves before we came to the Lord's table, concerning our knowledge of Christ and the benefits of his re demption, and especially concerning our being enabled to improve them by faith ; and whether we examined ourselves concerning the sense we have of the guilt of sin, and the need we stand in of Christ's righteousness to take it away, and accord ingly resolved to wait on him in this ordinance with earnest desires of obtaining this privilege. We must also inquire whether our behaviour, when we were engaged in observing the Lord's supper, was not, in some measure, unbecoming the spirit uality and importance of the ordinance ; whether we have not spared or indulged some secret corruption, which broke forth while we were engaged in it ; whether we have not given way to some temptation, which then beset us ; whether we have not depended on our own righteousness, for taking away the guilt of sin, and pro curing for us acceptance in the sight of God. We must inquire especially whether we did not engage in the ordinance in our own strength, and by our self-confi dence provoke him to withdraw from us,. If we did this, we must practise deep humiliation in his sight, repentance and reformation, in order to our being guarded against the inconvenience which we at present labour under,; and then we may y Psal cxvi. 3. z Isa. xxx. 18. OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 549 hope that we shall be enabled to wait on him in this ordinance, in such a way that we may have those comfortable experiences of grace from him, which will be an evidence that we have waited on him' for the better and not for the worse. [Note 2 B. Covenanting and Vowing Such utterly mistaken views of the Lord's supper, of Christian character, and even of the way of salvation, have, in the experience of multitudes, been suggested or confirmed by exhortations to communicants to renew their covenant with God, and make or fulfil vows to him, that inquiry becomes imperative whether the idea, on the one hand, of observing tbe Lord's supper, and the idea, on the other, of covenanting and vowing, are legiti mately connected. Dr. Ridgeley explains the words of the Catechism, ' renewing their covenant with God,' and the correlative words often used in popular addresses, ' making or fulfilling vows. in a sense to which — apart from association with communicating in the Lord's supper — there can not be any objection. He, in fact, denudes both phrases of their distinctive meaning; and, with out formally omitting them, or even appearing to think them improper, divests them of all the of fensive ideas which they are usually employed to express. Making a vow, according to his ex planation, is simply to declare to ourselves, or to recognise, our duty to be the Lord's, to feel our utter weakness, and to look to the God of all grace for strength and guidance to enable and direct us to walk worthy of our high calling ; while, to ' renew* our covenant,' is to believe the promises of the well-ordered and everlasting covenant which God has established, and to give ourselves up to him as his covenant people — or as those to whom his covenant has been made known — in hop* of receiving from him grace to fight a good fight, and keep the faith, and lay hold of eternal life But to act in this way is just the distinctive conduct of a believer in Jesus, incumbent on him at every season, especially appropriate in every religious or devotional exercise in which he engages, and daily, or even hourly, requisite in order to his spiritual health and comfort ; and why should it either be associated distinctively, much less exclusively, with tbe observance of the ordinance of the supper, or be designated by a phrase so inexpressive of its nature, and, at the same time, so very liable to misconstruction, as ' making vows' and ' renewing a covenant ?' Vowing, in the strict or literal sense, or as practised under the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensa tions, is not, I suppose, contended for by any persons as a duty enjoined by the law of Christ. Even a cursory examination of the texts which mention it — especially those which occur in the Sinaitic law, (see inter alia, Lev. xx. 18; xxiii. 38; Numb. xxix. 39; xv. 3.)— will hardly fail to convince any man that, under the Mosaic dispensation, it was connected with the ceremonies and duties of the typical system, and that, in its own nature and objects, it belonged to a state of things precurrent and introductory to the completed revelation and the spiritual worship of the Christian dispensation. What is now contended for, under the designation of 'making vows,' is not any act which may, like the vowing mentioned in scripture, be connected with typical sacri fices and offerings, but something which is made to comport with the elementary and pervading duty of believing on Christ, as having once for all made an atonement by which we are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. But is it right, is it useful, is it safe, to retain the phrase when what is designated differs widely from tbe vowing; practised under the introductory dispensations? If making and performing vows of old occu pied, as to its nature, essentially the same ground as presenting a trespass offering, or paying tithes, pr performing ablution, or any other act connected with a prefigurative and temporary economy ; is there not danger, when men ate exhorted now to make and perform vows in a literal sense, that they may suppose the resources of their duty, and consequently the resources of their entire well-being, to be in as close a sense their own, or at least as easily available, as the Israelite did his flocks, the fruits of his field, or the water of the running stream? Are not ideas of self- reliance, indeed, actually engendered and nursed by appeals to professing Christians to make and perform vows.— vows of their own, framed by themselves, and extraneous to the direct obliga tions of the law of Christ? The truth, I suspect, is, that the Romish doctrine, or the doctrine Of the scholastic theology, respecting the connexion of vowing with the false and rejected sa craments of matrimony? penance, and holy orders, and with the supererogatory works of celi bacy, viduity, poverty, and seclusion from active life, was inadvertently retained, though in a modified form, by the Reformers from popery, and still exerts a strong but undetected influence on the minds of evangelical men attached to the spirit of modern antiquity', in connexion with the retained "sacraments," the admitted ordinances of Christ, the institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper. But, if my conjecture be erroneous, at least, let the advocates of Christian vowing point to the text of the New Testament in which the practice, as they explain it is sanctioned, either in a general way, or especially as part of the reception of baptism, or of the showing of the death of Christ. . , _ ,, As to covenanting.-the primary idea, in scripture, of making a covenant, appears to be God s making promises to man ratified by sacrifice ; the secondary idea man s making promises to man, Whethlr ratified by sacrifice or not; and the eollateral or figurative idea any act or institution or document in which a covenant is exhibited, or with which it is connected. But a fourth idea of a covenant, or that which represents it as a thing made by man with God, seems to be en tirely extra-scriptural. Take the word covenant in any one scriptural sense which it will bear,! or disnlav it in the light of any one text of the divine word in which it occurs, it cannot, so far as I am aware, be made to designate any state of things whatever between man and God, which originates with man. Such a sense of the word is of comparatively very recent date and must surely soon give way to a wise and reverential use of scripture terms-particularly of highly ex pressive ones—in senses which scripture warrants. ... Even moreover if language about making vows and renewing a covenant, in observing the Lord's supper, could be vindicated, what is gained, what wise or really useful end is accom- 550 THT. CORKESPONDENCE AND THE DIFFERENCE plishen, by using it? Tbe divinely simple, divinely sublime commands, 'This fn in rprncrn. brance of me,' ' Show ye tbe Lord's death till he come,' express, with incomparably more clear ness, the distinctive duties included in communicating in that ordinance, than the most elaborate and complex appeals into which the profoundest distinctions of scholastic divinity and morality could be woven. To remember the Saviour and to show his death — to meditate on his love, exercise reliance on the merits of his sacrifice, and expatiate, in faith, and hope, and adoring wonder, on the glorious results of his mediatorial work — are clearly the grand duties. involved in partaking the emblems of his broken body and shed blood. — Ed.] THE CORRESPONDENCE AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER. Question CLXXVI. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper agree? Answer. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper agree, in that the author of both is God, the spiritual part of both is Christ and his benefits; both are seals of the same covenant, are to be dispensed by ministers of the gospel, and by none other, and to be continued iu the church of Christ until bis second coming. Question CLXXVII. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper differ? Answer. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper differ, in that baptism is to be ad ministered but once with water ; to be a sign and seal of our regeneration, and ingrafting into Christ, and that even to infants, whereas the Lord's supper is to be administered often, in the elements of bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in bim, an j that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves. These two Answers contain little more than a recapitulation of some things which have been occasionally mentioned, in explaining the nature of these ordinances ; and therefore we shall very briefly insist on them. Correspondence between Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We shall first consider those things in which the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper agree. 1. It is observed that God is the Author of both. That he is so may be inferred from what has been said concerning their being holy ordinances, or means of grace ; in which we are to expect his presence and blessing, to make them effectual to sal vation. Now we cannot expect this without engaging in them by his own warrant ; and this he has been pleased to give us, as appears from his word, and the experi ence of many believers. Not a few of his people have found sensible advantage from observing these ordinances ; so that the effects of his power and grace which have been produced in their hearts when engaged in them, afford a convincing evidence that God is their Author. This, as concerns baptism, respects more especially the baptism of those who are adult ; for when infants are baptized, though God can and sometimes does, as is more than probable, own this ordinance by regenerating them at the time of their receiving it, yet his doing so cannot be known by us, unless it be inferred from the extraordinary communications of grace (vhich those may experience who are enabled by faith to give up their children to God in that ordinance. 2. Baptism and the Lord's supper farther agree, in Christ and his benefits being signified by both of them. For both are ordinances for our faith, as they are signs and seals of the covenant of grace, in which Christ and the benefits of his redemp tion are set forth. Thus the apostle says, with respect to baptism, ' So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death, buried with him by baptism into death. 'a Accordingly, we have communion with Christ as crucified, dying, and buried, and as afterwards rising from. the dead, and so bring ing the work of redemption to perfection. These things are signified in baptism ; and thus our faith is to make use of the sign. And the apostle says the same thing a Rom. vi. 3, 4. BETWEEN BAPTISM AND* THE LORD'S SUPPER. CCl with respect to the Lord's supper : ' As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.'b 3. Baptism and the Lord's supper are farther observed to agree, in their being to be dispensed by none but the ministers of the gospel. Under the Old Testa ment-dispensation, all the parts of the temple-service being significant signs of Christ and the benefits of the covenant of grace, were to be administered by none but those who were qualified, called, and lawfully set apart to the work ; as the apostle says, ' No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.'0 And we may conclude that the moral reason of the thing extends itself to the administration of the seals of the covenant, under the gospel-dispensation. It is certain that some must be appointed or set apart to the work of dispensing the ordinance, otherwise it would belong to every body, and there would be no determinate administrators of these ordinances, who might be said to have a special call to this work from God and man. The point may be inferred also from those scriptures which speak of ' pastors after God's own heart,' who are to ' feed' his people ' with knowledge and understanding,' as being his special 'gift;'d and from what the apostle says concerning gospel-ministers, whether extraordinary or ordinary, that they were Christ's 'gift' when he 'ascended up on high.'e 4. It is farther observed, that these two ordinances agree, in their being both to be continued in the church until Christ's second coming. Though we look and hope for more of the presence of God in them, and a greater effusion of his Spirit to make them more effectual, and render the church more bright and glorious, as being favoured with greater degrees of the communications of divine grace ; yet we have no ground to expect new ordinances, or a new dispensation to succeed this which we are under, till Christ's second and most glorious coming. Hence, the present dispensation is called, ' the last time.'f Hence also the apostle says that 'the ends of the world are come upon us ;'* by which we are to understand, that the dispensation of the gospel which we are under, is the last we are to expect till Christ's second coming. That the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper are to continue till Christ's second coming, appears also from the promise which Christ has given of his presence with his ministers and churches, when faithfully engaging in them. He says, ' Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.'h The fact, too, that his 'death' is to be 'showed forth till he come,'1 proves that the Lord's supper is to be continued in the church till then. This I the rather observe that it is contrary to what some maintain, who, while they hope for a greater effusion of the Spirit, and a more glorious state of the church in the lat ter day, are ready to extend their thoughts too far, and conclude that the dispen sation which they hope for will be new, and that the ordinances which the church is at present favoured with shall cease, particularly baptism and the Lord's supper. This opinion we can by no means approve. The Difference between Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We are now to consider wherein the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's sup per differ. , . , , 1. It is observed that they differ in this, that baptism is to be administered but once, while the Lord's supper is to be administered o.ten. This appears from two different circumstances contained in them. As for baptism, it signifies our first ingrafting into or putting on Christ ; and when denominated fromJ,l»-tkffig- signi fied by it it is called ' the washing of regeneration, and tbe renewing of the Holy Ghost 'k which is hoped for in this ordinance. Accordingly, it is considered as our first solemn dedication to Christ ; and, as this is signified by it, it is called an In itiating ordinance, in which we are bound to be the Lord s Now the bond winch then obliges us to be his holds good as long as we live, and therefore needs not to be signified sealed, or confirmed by our being baptized a second time. But, on the other hand, the Lord's supper signifies our feeding or living. upon Christ, and k i rv.n vi 9fi c Heb. v. 4. d Jer. iii. 15. e Eph. iv. 8, 11. f 1 John ii. 18. ° [ c°r." x. IL h Matt, xxviii. 20. i I Cor. xi. 26. k Titus iii. 5. 552 THE KINDS AND 'PARTS OF PRAYER. receiving daily supplies of grace from him, as our necessities require. Hence, this ordinance differs from baptism as it is often to be engaged in. 2. They differ in this, that the former, as was formerly proved, is to be applied, not only to the adult, if they have not been baptized before, but to the infants of believing parents, while the Lord's supper is not. In baptism, the person dedi cated may be considered as passive, and as devoted to God by the faith of another, who has a right so to devote him. But none are to partake of the Lord's supper but those who have such a degree of knowledge that they are able to discern the Lord's body, and capable of performing that duty which the apostle recommends as necessary to the performing of it, when he says, ' Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.'1 I am sensible that some of the ancient church, and particularly Cyprian, in the third century, pleaded for and practised the administration of the Lord's supper to infants, having been led into this mistake by supposing what does not sufficiently appear, namely, that infants among the Jews eat the passover, because whole families are said to have eaten it. But the passover does not appear to have been given to infants ; for whom another sort of food was designed. Nor could they have reaped any advantage by it, not being capable of discerning the thing signi fied, or feeding on Christ, the true paschal Lamb ; which could be done no other wise than by faith. Others were led into the mistake of administering the Lord's supper to infants, from the wrong sense they gave of the scripture in which Christ; says, ' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.'m They thought that our Saviour meant here the bread and wine in the Lord's supper ; that therefore this ordinance was absolutely necessary to sal vation ; and that it ought, in consequence, to be extended to infants, as a means of their obtaining it. But it is certain this cannot be the meaning of our Lord's words ; since the Lord's supper was not instituted, or known in the church, when* our Saviour spake them. He intends nothing else by them but the fiducial appli cation of his death, as an expedient for our obtaining eternal life. THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. Question CLXXVIII. What is Prayer? Answer. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies: Having considered the things which are to be believed and dOnet what remains1 is, to inquire concerning those things which are to be prayed for; and- how the great duty of prayer is to be performed. It is necessary that we should insist on this subject. For, while we are obliged to yield obedience to the revealed will of God, we can, by reason of our depravity and weakness, do nothing which is good without his assistance. Now, that assistance is not to be expected, unless it be humbly desired of him; and the desiring of it is what we ges»<- erally call prayer. As this duty is performed by creatures who are not only indi gent but unworthy, we are to acknowledge that we are so ; and accordingly we arfl^> in prayer, to confess sin as the principal ground and reason of our unworthincss. And iiiE.^'OTUch-.,f,'S God has been pleased to encourage us to hope that we shall- not1 seek his face in vain, and, in many instances, is pleased to grant returns of- prayer.",; we are under obligation to draw nigh to him with thanksgiving. These things are particularly contained in the Answer we are explaining. The method in which wse shall endeavour to discuss them is to consider, first, what prayer supposes ; secondlyi' what are the various kinds of prayer ; and thirdly, what are its various parts. 1 1 Cor. xi. 28. m John vi. 53. THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. 553 What Prayer Supposes. 1. Prayer supposes that we are dependent and indigent creatures, have many wants to be supplied, sins to be forgiven, miseries under which we need pity and relief, and weaknesses under which we want to be strengthened and assisted in order to the performance of the duties which are incumbent on us. It may hence be in ferred that, though our Lord Jesus Christ is often represented as praying to God, prayer was an action performed' by him in his human nature ; in which alone he could be said to be indigent, who, in his divine nature, is all-sufficient. 2. Prayer supposes that God, who is the object of it, is regarded by us not only as able, but as willing to help ; and that he has encouraged us to draw nigh to him for relief. Hence, it is a duty which more especially belongs to those who are favoured with the hope of the gospel. The Various Kinds of Prayer. We shall now show how prayer is to be considered as to its various kinds. We are represented as drawing nigh to God, with an humble sense of our secret sins and wants, which none but God and our own consciences are privy to. This kind of prayer our Saviour intends when he says, ' Thou, when thou pray est, enter into- thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 'n We have an instance of it in himself ; for it is said, ' When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.'0 Peter also 'went upon the house top topray ;'p where, being retired from the world, he had a greater liberty to pour forth his soul unto God. Moreover, we are to join with others in performing this duty ; and then we con fess those sins and implore a supply of those wants which are common to all who are engaged. This our Saviour encourages us to do when he says, ' If two of you- shall agree on earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered to* gether in my name, there am I in the midst of them. '9 This is a branch of social worship, and is to be performed by every family apart. Of this we have an exam ple in Cornelius, concerning whom it is said, that he was ' a devout man, and feared God with all his house, and prayed to him always ;' and that he did this at cer tain times, 'in his house. 'r Moreover, this duty is to be performed publicly in the church, or any worshipping assembly met together for that purpose. Of this we have an instance in the apostle Paul, who, when he had called for the elders of the church at Ephesus, designing to take his leave of them, after an affection ate discourse, and suitable advice given to them, ' kneeled down and- prayed with them all.'8 Again, prayer may be considered as that for which a stated time is set apart by us, either alone, or with others ; or, that which is occasional, short, and ejaculatory, consisting in a secret lifting up of our hearts to God, and which may be performed when we are engaged in other business of a different nature, without being a let or hinderance to it. Thus it is said, that Nehemiah prayed when he was going to 'deliver the cup into the king's hand,' between the king's asking him a question, and his returning him an answer to it. This seems to be the meaning of what is said in Nehem. ii. 4, 5, ' Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request » So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king,' &c. Ejacu* latory prayers are such as we put up to God, either while engaged m worldly busi ness, for direction, assistance, or success in it, or when attending on the word read or preached, or any other holy duties, for his presence in them. n Matt. vi. 6. o Chap. xiv. 23. p Acts x. 9. q Matt, xviii. 19, 20. r Acts x. 2, compared with verse 30. s Chap. xx. 36. if. 4 A 554 THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. The Various Parts of Prayer. The next thing to be considered, is, the various parts of prayer. These are three, —confession of sin, petition for a supply of our wants, and thanksgiving for mer cies received. Confession of sin supposes that we are guilty, and deserve punishment from God ; petition supposes that we are miserable and helpless ; and thanksgiving implies a disposition to own God as the author of all the good we enjoy or hope for, and includes a due sense of those undeserved favours we have received from him. From this general account of the parts of prayer, we may infer that the two for mer, namely, confession of sin, and petition for relief, under the various miseries and distresses to which we are liable, are applicable to those only who are in a sin ful and imperfect state, as believers are in this world. As for glorified saints in heaven, they have no sins to be confessed, nor any miseries under which they need help and pity. That part of prayer, indeed, which consists of thanksgiving for mercies already received, is agreeable to a perfect state, and is represented as the constant work of glorified saints. Thus the psalmist says, ' The heavens,' that is, the inhabitants of them, ' shall praise thy wonders, 0 Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.'* Again, sinners who have lost their day of grace, against whom the door of hope and mercy is shut, who are enduring the punishment of sin in hell, are not properly the subjects of prayer. Concerning them it may be said, not only that they cannot pray, being destitute of those graces which are necessary to the performance of it, but that they have no interest in a Mediator, or in the promises of the covenant of grace, which are a warrant and en couragement for performing it. Further, in this world, where we enjoy the means of grace, none are the subjects of prayer but man. The Psalmist, indeed, speaks of God's 'giving to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry ;'u and elsewhere it is said, ' He provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God.'* But the meaning of these texts is, not that brute creatures formally address themselves to God for a supply of their wants, having no idea of a Divine Being ; but that, when they complain lor want of food, the providence of God sup plies them, though they know not the hand whence it comes. Moreover, though it is the duty of all men in the world to pray ; yet none can pray by faith, and, consequently, in an acceptable manner, but believers ; concerning whom the apostle says, ' Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.'? As for the first part of prayer, namely, petition, or supplication, it will be parti cularly considered under several following Answers, especially those that contain an explanation of the Lord's prayer ; which is a directory for what we are to ask of God. Hence, we shall, at present, consider only the other two parts of prayer, namely, confession of sin, and thanksgiving for mercies. I. We shall speak first concerning confession of sin. 1. This duty is indispensably incumbent on all men. It is incumbent, not only on those who are in a state of unregeneracy, and consequently under the dominion of sin, but on believers themselves, who are in a justified state. This will appear, if we consider that not to confess sin, is, in effect, to justify ourselves in the com mission of it, and as it were, to deny that which is well-known to the heart-search ing God, as well as to our own consciences. It includes also a charging God with injustice, when he inflicts on us the punishment which is due to sin ; and so op poses what is said by Ezra, ' Thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniqui ties deserve. 'z Moreover, none was ever truly humbled in the sight of God, or obtained mercy and forgiveness of sin, but he was first brought to confess it with suitable affection, and brokenness of heart ; which are ingredients in true repen tance. Thus it is said, ' He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not ; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. 'a It is also said, ' He that t Psal. lxxxix. 5. u Psal. cxlvii. 9. x Job xxxviii. 41. y Rom. viii. 15. z Ezra ix. 13. a Job xxxiii. 27, 28. THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. 555 covereth his sins shall not prosper ; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 'b This duty of confessing sin is so evident, that, one would think, no one who duly considers what he is, or how contrary his actions are to the re vealed will of God, should have the front to deny its obligation. Yet it is well- known that many seem designedly to wave all confession of sin in prayer ; and that others argue against it, more especially, as to the case of believers. It is objected that believers ought not to confess sin, because to do so is incon sistent with a justified state ; it is in effect, to plead guilty, though God has taken away the guilt of sin, by forgiving it for the sake of the atonement which Christ has made ; it is a laying open of the wound which God hath healed and closed up, or a bringing to remembrance that which he hath said, ' he will remember no more ;'c and it is contrary to the grace of God, who hath said, none shall ' lay any thing to the charge ' of his ' elect,' since ' it is God that justifieth.'-1 We reply, that we must distinguish between a believer's desert of punishment or condemnation, and his being actually punished by God, as a sin-revenging Judge, according as his iniquities deserve. That a believer shall not eventually fall under condemnation, is true ; because his sins are forgiven, and ' there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.' e Still, though he is in a justified state, and, in consequence, shall be undoubtedly saved ; yet, according to the tenor of his own actions, he, being a sinner, contracts guilt in the sight of God. And a desert of punishment is in separably connected with every sin ; though a person who commits it may be in a justified state. It is one thing to be liable to condemnation, and another thing to deserve to be condemned. The former is, indeed, inconsistent with a justified state ; but the latter is not. And it is in this sense that we are to understand the psalmist's words, ' If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand ?'f Accordingly, the best believer on earth, though he have a full assurance of his being forgiven by God, yet inasmuch as he is a sinner, is obliged to confess that he deserves to be cast off by him, and that, if God should deal with him according to what he finds in him, without looking upon him as he is in Christ, his head and surety, he would be undone and lost for ever. Again, believers are daily sinning, and therefore contracting fresh guilt ; as it is said, ' There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. '8 Indeed, their sin is often so great, that they grieve the Holy Spirit, wound their own consciences, and act very disagree ably to their character as believers. Their sins, therefore, ought to be confessed with shame and self-abhorrence ; as the prophet says, ' That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame ; when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.'h Moreover, it is certain that believers, when they have had a discovery that their sin was pardoned, have at the same time confessed it with great humility. Thus, immediately after Nathan had reproved David for his sin, and told him, upon his repentance, that 'the Lord had put it away,'1 he made a penitent confession of it before God, and said, ' Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. 'k 2. We.shall now consider with what frame of spirit sin is to be confessed. First, we are to confess sin with a due sense of its infinite evil, as it reflects dishonour on the divine perfections, and particularly as it is opposite to the holiness and purity of God, and a contempt cast on his law, which expressly forbids it, and a disregard ing of the threatenings denounced by that law against those who violate it, and renders us liable to his wrath, as a sin-revenging Judge, pursuant to its intrinsic demerit. It is therefore justly styled ' an evil thing and bitter ;' — it is the only thing which can be called a moral evil ; and it is certainly bitter in its consequences. —Again, we are to confess sin with humility, shame, confusion of face, and self-ab horrence ; and that more especially, by reason of the vile ingratitude there is in it, as committed by those who are under the greatest engagements to the contrary duties. Further, sin is to be confessed with hope of obtaining forgiveness through b Prov xxviii 13. c Heb. x. 17- d Bom- viii. 33. e Ver. 1. f Psal. cxxx. 3. g Ecclcs. vii. 20. h Ezek. xvi. 63. i 2 Sam. xii. 13. k Psal. li. 4. bbb THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. the blood of Christ, as laying hold on the promises of mercy which are made to those who confess and forsake it ; l and with an earnest desire to be delivered from its prevailing power, by strength derived from Christ. 3. We shall now consider what sins we are to confess before God. These are, either the sin of our nature, or those actual transgressions which proceed from it: We are to confess the sin of our nature. As fallen creatures, we are destitute of the image of God ; and, having contracted corrupt habits, by repeated acts of rebellion against him, all the powers and faculties of our souls are vitiated ; and we are not only indisposed and disinclined to what is good, but naturally bent to back slide from God, and to commit the greatest abominations, if destitute of his pre'j venting, restraining, or renewing grace. Thus the apostle says, ' I know that iii' me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. 'm Sin is to be considered as whart' has universally defiled and depraved our nature ; and therefore we ought to cry out with the leper, ' Unclean, unclean ;'n or, in the words of the prophet; ' From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.'0 We are to consider it as insinuating itself into our best duties ; as like the fly which corrupts the precious ointment ; and as of such a nature that, when we have been enabled to gain some advantage against it, it- will afterwards recover strength, notwithstanding all our endeavours to the con trary. It is like an incurable disease in the body, which, though we endeavour to keep it under for a while, yet will prevail again, till the frame of nature is demo lished, and thereby all diseases cured at once. When, hbw-ever, we confess and are-'- humbled for this propensity which is in our nature to sih, we are to pray and hope that the prevailing power of it may be so far weakened that, by the principle of grace, implanted in regeneration, and excited by the Spirit in promoting the work of sanctification, though it dwells in us, it may not entirely have dominion over us, or we be denominated the servants of sin. We are to confess also the many actual sins which we daily commit, with all their respective aggravations ; sins of omission and commission, both of which are mentioned in the apostle's confession, ' The good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do.'p Our sinful neglects of duty are numberless'. We are to confess our not having redeemed our time, but spent it in those trifle's and vain amusements which profit not ; particularly if we have misimproved the very flower and best part of our time and strength, and not remembered our Crea1- tor in the days of our youth. This Job reckons the principal ground-and reason of-' the evils which befell him in his advanced age, when he says, ' Thou writest bitter things against me ; and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.' °- We are humbly to confess also our not having improved, and; in consequence^ lost many opportunities for extraordinary service, either to do or to get good. Thus the pro phet says, ' Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the' turtle, and the crane, attd the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the judgment of the Lordi'1- We are also to confess our neglect ing to comply with the calls and invitations of the gospel. On account of this ne glect, we are said to ' receive the grace of God in vain ;'s or ' not to know the time of our visitation.'4 On account of it likewise, when God has ' called, we have re fused ;' when he has ' stretched out his hand, no man regarded, but we have set at nought all his counsel, and would none of his reproof.'11 We are also to confess our neglect of public and secret duties, or our worshipping God in a careless indifferent manner. Thus the prophet represents the people as saying, ' Behold what a weariness is it, and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts ; and ye have brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick ; should I accept this atyour hands V We are also to confess our neglect of relative duties, in not instructing those under our care, nor reproving them for sin committed, nor sympathizing with the afflicted, nor warning those who are going out of God's way. By these means a multitude 1 Prov. xxviii. 13. m Rom. vii. 18. -.. Lev. xiii. 45. o Isa. i. 6. p Rom. vii. 19. q Job xiii. 26. r Jer. viii. 7. s 2 Cor. vi. 1. t Luke xix. 44. u Prov. i. 24, 25. x Mal. i. 13. THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. 557 of sins might have been prevented ; and, through our neglecting to use them, many persons have been ruined. Sins of commission, which are also to be confessed, are such as were committed either before or after our conversion to God. The former involve a disowning of his authority, or of his right to obedience ; the latter, an ungrateful disregard to or forgetfulness of the greatest benefits received from him. We are also to confess those sins which are contrary to the moral law, or the very light of nature ; which we are often guilty of. And, that we may be furnished with matter and give scope to our thoughts and affections in confessing them, it may be of use for us to consider the sins forbidden under each of the ten commandments, which have been before par ticularly insisted on. We ought also to confess the various aggravations of sin. To assist us in doing this, those things which are stated in a former Answer,? respect ing the aggravations of sin, may be of some use to us ; especially if we make a par ticular application of them to our own case, and observe how far we have reason to fall under a sense of guilt, or charge ourselves with such crimes as those which are there mentioned. Moreover, we are to confess the sins we have committed against the engagements or grace of the gospel ; the low thoughts we have sometimes'had of the person of Christ, his love to us, or the benefits we have been made partakers of from him, while we have been ready to say, as the daughters of Jerusalem are represented as doing, 'What is thy beloved more than another beloved?'2 how much we have hardened our hearts against him, refusing to submit to his yoke or bear his cross ; how often we have been ashamed of his cause and interest, especially when called to suffer reproach for it. Have we not sometimes questioned the truth of his promises, refused to submit to his righteousness, and to depend upon it alone for justification ; while we have had too high thoughts of ourselves, glorying and valuing ourselves upon the performance qf some moral duties which we have put in the room of Christ ? We ought likewise to confess how much we have op posed him in all his offices. We have not depended on him as a prophet, to lead us in the way of truth and peace, but have leaned to our own understanding, and therefore have been left to pervert, disbelieve, or, at least, entertain sorcie doubts about, the great doctrines of the gospel ; or, if our minds have been rightly in formed as to these doctrines, we have not made a practical improvement of them for our spiritual advantage. Have we not opposed him as a priest, neglecting to set a due value on the atonement he has made for sin, and not improving his in tercession for us.whp is entered into the holy place made without hands, to en courage us to come boldly to the throne of grace ? Have we not also refused to submit to him as King of saints, or to seek protection from him against the assaults of our spiritual enemies ? These things are to be confessed by us in prayer ; and we are to confess them with such a sense of our own guilt, that we acknowledge our selves to be, as the apostle says concerning himself, ' the chief of sinners. 'a I am sensible many will be ready to conclude, that much of what has been said concerning sins to be confessed is applicable to none but those who are in a state of unregeneracy ; that among these, few can spy that they are the chief of smners, unless they have been notoriously vile and scandalous in the eye of the world ; and that the apostle Paul, when he says this respecting himself, has a peculiar refer ence to what he was before his conversion. We reply, that it is impossible we should know so much of the sins of others, together with their respective aggrava tions, as we may of those which have been committed by ourselves. And it to liave not been left to commit those gross and scandalous sins which we have beheld in others with abhorrence, our not having committed them is owing, not to our selves, but to the grace of God, by which we are what we are. For had we been destitute of that grace, we should have been as bad as tfie worst of men ; and if our hearts have been renewed and changed by it, so that we are kept from com mitting those sins which are inconsistent with a state of grace ; yet there are very heinous aggravations attending such as we have reason to charge ourselves with; wherebv we have acted contrary to the experience we have had of the efficacious influence of the Holy Spirit, and have been guilty of very great ingratitude against y See Quest, eli. * Cant. v. 9. a 1 Tim. i. 15. 558 THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. him who has laid us under the highest obligations. Thus concerning confession of sin, when drawing nigh to God in the duty of prayer. II. We are now to consider another part of prayer, namely, that we are therein thankfully to acknowledge the mercies of God. Thus the psalmist says, ' Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise ; be thankful unto him, and bless his name.'b And elsewhere, ' I will offer to 'thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord;'0 that is, I will join prayer and praise together. Nothing is more obvious than that favours received ought to be acknowledged ; otherwise we are guilty of that ingratitude which is one of the vilest crimes. Not to acknowledge what we receive from God, is, in effect, to deny our obligation to him ; and to do this will provoke him to withhold from us those other mercies which we stand in need of. This duty ought to be performed at all times, and on all occasions. Thus the apostle says, ' In every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'d That thanksgiving is due in all circum stances, is evident from the fact that there is no condition of life but what has in it some mixture of mercy. The mercies we receive from God, are either outward or spiritual, common or special. The former he gives to all without distinction ; as it is said, ' The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works ;'6 and, ' He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil, ' f and ' maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.'* The latter sort of mercies he bestows on the heirs of salvation, in a covenant way, as the purchase of the blood of Christ, and a pledge of farther blessings which he has reserved in store for them. There are mercies which we have in hand or in possession, and others which we have in hope or in reversion. Thus the apostle speaks of the 'hope' which is 'laid up for' the saints ' in heaven, 'h which he thanks God for in his prayer for the church. Again, the mercies of God may be con sidered as either personal or relative. The former we are more immediately the subjects of ; the latter affect us so far as we stand related to others, for whose welfare we are greatly concerned, and whose happiness makes a very considerable addition to our own. 1. We are to express our thankfulness to God for personal mercies. Accordingly, we are to bless him for the advantages of nature, which are the effects of divine goodness. Thus the psalmist says, ' I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.'1 Though the human nature falls very short of what it was at first, when the image of God was perfectly stamped on all the powers and faculties of the soul ; and though it is not what it shall be when brought to a state of per fection in heaven ; yet there are many natural endowments which we have received from God, as a means for our glorifying him, and answering tbe end of our being in the whole conduct of our lives. We have, in every age of life, received the blessings of providence. We have great reason to be thankful, if, in our childhood and youth we had the invaluable blessing of a religious education, and were kept or delivered from the pernicious influence of bad examples, whence that age of life often receives such a tincture as tends to vitiate the soul, and to open the way for all manner of sin, which will after wards insinuate itself into all its powers and faculties, and prevail, like an infectious distemper, over them. What reason have we to bless God if we have been favoured with restraining or preventing grace, whereby we have been kept from youthful lusts which are destructive to multitudes, and lay a foundation for their luture ruin ; and especially if it has pleased God to bring us under early convictions of sin, so that we have experienced in our youth the hopeful beginnings of a work of grace, which is an effect of more than common providence I We ought to take notice, with great thankfulness, of the methods of divine grace, if we have been early led into the knowledge of the first principles of the oracles of God ; especially if they have made such an impression on our hearts that we can say, with good Obadiah, ' I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth. 'k Again, we are to express our thankful- b Psal. c. 4. c Psal. cxvi. 17. d Phil. iv. 6. e Psal. cxlv. 9. f Luke vi. 35. g Matt. v. 45. h Col. i. 3, 5. i Psal. cxxxix. 14. k 1 Kings xviii. 12. THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. 559 ness for the mercies which we have received in our advanced age, when arrived at a state of manhood. Accordingly, we are to bless God for directing and ordering our settlement in the world, in those things more especially which relate to our se cular callings and employments ; and for the advantages of suitable society in those families in which our lot has been cast, as well as the many instances of divine goodness in our own. We ought also to bless him for giving success to our industry and endeavours used to promote our comfort and happiness in the world, together with that degree of usefulness which it has pleased God to favour us with in these. We ought also to bless him for carrying us through many difficulties which lay in our way ; some of which we have been almost ready to think insurmountable. We ought likewise to bless him for bringing us under the means of grace ; particularly if we were not favoured with a religious education in our childhood ; and more especially, if these means have been made effectual to answer the highest and most valuable ends. Again, there are other mercies which some have reason to bless God for who have arrived at old age ; which is the last stage of life, wherein* the frame of nature is declining and hastening apace to a dissolution. These, I say, have reason to be thankful, if they have not, as it were, outlived themselves, wholly lost their memory and judgment, by which means they would have been brought back, as it were, to the state of childhood, as some have been. They have reason for thankfulness also, if old age be not pressed down beyond measure with pain and bodily diseases, or with a multitude of cares and troubles about outward circumstances in the world. For such troubles would tend to imbitter the small remains of life, which has not much strength of nature to bear up under great trials, and does not admit of those methods being made use of, whereby others, without much difficulty, are able to extricate themselves out of them. But they, of all others, have most reason to bless God, who can look back on a long series of use fulness, in proportion to the number of years they have lived ; so that that promise is fulfilled to them, ' They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing.'1 This is more than a common mercy, and therefore requires a greater degree of thankfulness. For then it may be said of them, ' The hoary head is a crown of glory,' being ' found in the way of righteousness ;'m and grace keeps equal pace with age, and they have nothing to do but to wait for a release from a careful, vain, uneasy life to heaven. Thus concerning the occasions we have for thankfulness in every age of life. We are now to consider the reason that we have to be thankful in the various circumstances or conditions of life. In particular, we are to be thankful when we have a great measure of outward prosperity. This is more than many enjoy, and calls for a proportionable degree of thankfulness ; especially if it be sanctified and sweetened with a sense of God's special love, so that it is a pledge and earnest of better things reserved for us hereafter, — when we have the good things of this life for our conveniency, that our passage through the world may be more easy and comfortable to us, and yet we have ground to hope that these are not our portion, or that we are not like those whom the psalmist speaks of, and calls ' the men of the world,' 'who have their portion in this life,'11 or, like the rich man in the parable, to whom it was said, ' Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things.'0 We have reason to bless God when outward prosperity is a means of our glorifying him, and being more serviceable to promote his interest, and not a snare or occasion of sin; when it is not like 'the prosperity of fools,' which has a tendency to ' destroy them ;' p when what is said concerning that mur muring generation of men, whom the psalmist speaks of, who ' lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert,' so that though 'he gave them their request, he sent leanness into their soul,' is not applicable to us ; °- when we enjoy the outward blessings of providence, and, at the same time, live above them, so that our hearts are not too much set upon them, but we are willing to part with them when God is about to deprive us of them or take us from them ; and when outward enjoyments are helps, and not hinderances, to us in our way to heaven 1 Psal xcii. 14. m Prov- xvi' 31- n P8a1, x™- 1*' ° •Luke xvi* 25' p Prov. i.*32.' q Psal- cvi. 14, 15. 560 THE KINDS AND PARTS OF PRAYER. These are inducements to the greatest thankfulness, and ought to be acknowledged to the glory of God. Again, we have reason to be thankful, though it pleases God to follow us with many afflictions and adverse providences in the world. These are not, indeed, to be reckoned blessings in themselves. Yet they are not inconsistent with a thankful frame of spirit ; especially when we take occasion from them to be affected with the vanity, emptiness, and uncertainty of all outward comforts, which perish in the using ; or when they have a tendency to humble us and make us sub missive to the divine will, so that we are led to have a deep sense of sin, the pro curing cause of them. Thus Ephraim speaks of his being ' chastised ' by God, and, at the same time, ' ashamed ' and ' confounded, ' as ' bearing the reproach ' of former sins committed by him.r We have also reason to be thankful under afflictions when those sins which formerly prevailed, are hereby prevented, and we are enabled to mortify them. Thus the psalmist says, ' Before I was afflicted, I went astray ; but now have I kept thy word.'8 We should likewise be thankful for afflictions when God is pleased to cause his grace to abound as outward troubles abound;* and when the want of outward mercies makes us to see the worth of them, and puts us upon improving every instance of the divine goodness as a great inducement to thank fulness. Moreover, we have reason to be thankful under afflictions, when we have a comfortable hope that they are evidences of our being God's children, interested in his special love ; u so that we have ground to conclude that he is hereby training us up and making us more meet for the heavenly inheritance, and we can say with the apostle, ' Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'1 2. We are to express our thankfulness for those mercies which we call relative, or for the blessings which others enjoy in whose welfare we are more immediately concerned. As it is the duty of every one to desire the good of all men ; so we ought to bless God for the mercies bestowed on others as well as on ourselves. The relation we stand in to others, is, in one respect, general or extensive, and includes all mankind. Accordingly, we are to be thankful for the mercies which our iellow- creatures receive from the hand of God, inasmuch as, by the bestowal of them, the divine perfections are magnified. The ends of Christ's death, and the dispensation of the gospel, are attained in the case of those who receive the blessings which ac company salvation ; and whatever mercies God bestows on others, we bless him for them, taking encouragement to hope that he will bestow the same blessings upon us, when we stand in need of them. As for those who are related to us in the bonds of nature, or as members of the family to which we belong, for whose welfare we are more immediately concerned, we may, in some measure, reckon the mercies they enjoy our own. We hence should be induced to bless God and be thankful lor them, as well as for those which we receive in our own persons. There is also another relation, which is more large and extensive, namely, that which we stand in to all the members of Christ's mystical body, whom the apostle calls ' the house hold of faith, 'y and whom, as such, he supposes to be entitled to our more special regard. Accordingly, we are to express our thankfulness to God, in prayer, for all the mercies they receive, especially those which are of a spiritual nature. For in the bestowal of these, Christ is glorified, and his interest advanced ; which ought to be dearer to us than any thing which relates to our own private or personal interest, as the psalmist speaks of his preferring Jerusalem's welfare above his 'chief joy.' z We are likewise to be thankful for the bestowal of spiritual blessings on believers, because we hope that we shall be made partakers of the same blessings, whereby others will have occasion to bless God on our behalf. Thus concerning the induce ments we have to thankfulness for blessings received, either by ourselves or others. I shall conclude this Head by considering that thankfulness, which ought to be a great ingredient in prayer, is always to be accompanied with the exercise of those graces whereby we are disposed to adore and magnify the divine perfections which are displayed in the distribution of those favours which we bless God for ; together with am humble sense of our own unworthiness of the least of those mer- r Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. s Psal. cxix. 67. t 2 Cor. iv. 16. u Heb. xii. 7. x 2 Coc. iv. 17. y Gal. vi. 10. z Psal.cxxxvii. 6. TO WHOM AND IN WHOSE NAME PRAYER IS MADE. &bk cies which we enjoy, and an earnest desire that we may be enabled, not only to make a confession of our unworthiness in words, but to express our thankfulness to him by such a frame of spirit as is agreeable to our feeling ourselves unworthy. There are two things more, contained in the Answer we have been explaining, without the due consideration of which, the duty of prayer would be very imper fectly handled, namely, its being an offering up of our desires to God, in the name of Christ, and by the help of the Spirit. But as these subjects are particularly insisted on in some following Answers, I purposely waive the consideration of them at present. TO WHOM AND IN WHOSE NAME PRAYER IS MADE. Question CLXXIX. Are we to pray unto God only? Answer. God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfil the desires of all, and only to be believed in, and worshipped with religious worship; prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other. Question CLXXX. What is it to pray in the name of Christ ? Answer. To pray in the name of Christ, is, in obedience to his command, and in confidence on his promises, to ask mercy for bis sake, not by bare mentioning of his name, but by drawing our en couragement to pray, and our boldness, strength, and hope of acceptance in prayer, from Christ and liis mediation. Question CLXXXI. Why are we to pray in the name of Christ ? Answer. The sinfulness of man, and his distance from God by reason thereof, being so great ai that we can have no access into his presence without a Mediator; and there being none in heaven or earth appointed to, or fit for that glorious work, but Christ alone ; we are to pray in no other name but his only. In these Answers we have a farther explanation of what is briefly laid down in the last ; more especially, as to the object of prayer, and the method prescribed in the gospel, relating to our drawing nigh to God, through a Mediator, which is called praying in the name of Christ ; together with the reason of this. Prayer is to be made to God only. It is observed that prayer is to be made to God only, and to none other. Thrt appears from various considerations. 1. Prayer is to be made to God only, because it is an act of religious worship, which is due to none but God. Thus our Saviour says, ' Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 'a That God only is to be wor shipped can be denied by none who are, in any measure, acquainted with either natural or revealed religion. For in worship, we are obliged to extol, adore, and admire those divine perfections which are displayed in the works of nature or grace, and to seek from God that help and those supplies of grace which we stand in need of to make us completely blessed ; which supposes him to be infinitely per fect, and all-sufficient. Now, to ascribe this divine glory to a creature, either directly, or by consequence, is, in effect, to say that he is equal with God, and to rob God of that glory which is due to him alone ; and to seek that from the crea ture which none but God can give, or to ascribe any of the perfections of the divine nature to it, is the highest affront that can be offered to the divine Majesty. Now, as prayer without adoration and invocation, is destitute of those ingredients which render it an act of religious worship ; so to address ourselves in prayer to any one but God, is an instance of such profaneness and idolatry as is not to be mentioned without the greatest detestation. _ 2. Prayer is to be made to Go', only, because he only is able to search the heart ; which is a glory" peculiar to himself, in which he is distinguished from all a Matt. iv. 10. 562 TO WHOM AND IN WHOSE NAME PRAYER IS MADE. creatures. b It is the heart which is principally to be regarded in prayer. If this be not right with God, no glory which we can ascribe to him will be reckoned any better than 'flattering him with our mouth,' and 'lying to him with our tongues.'c Hence, the inward frame of our spirit, and the principle or spring whence all religious duties proceed, being known only to God, prayer is to be directed only to him. 3. He alone can hear our requests, pardon our sins, and fulfil our desires. Prayer, when addressed to God, is not like that in which we desire favours from men. These favours are of a lower nature, whereby some particular wants are supplied, in those respects in which one creature may be of advantage to another. But when we pray to God, we seek blessings which are the effects of infinite power and goodness, such as may make us completely happy, both in this and in a better world. Moreover, we are to implore forgiveness of sin from God in prayer. Now, this is a blessing which none can bestow but God. d For as his law is the rule by which the goodness or badness of actions is determined ; and as the threatening which he has annexed to it, is that which renders us liable to the punishment which sin deserves ; so it is he alone who can remit the debt of punishment to which we were liable, and give us a right and title to forfeited blessings. Hence, as this forgiveness is the principal thing which we are to seek for in prayer, none but God is the object of prayer. 4. God alone is to be believed in. Accordingly, prayer, if it be acceptable to him, must be performed by faith. Thus the apostle says, ' How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?'0 There must be a firm persuasion that he can grant us the blessings we ask for ; faith addresses itself to him as God all- sufficient, and is persuaded that he will fulfil all his promises, as a God of infinite faithfulness ; and accordingly we are to give ourselves up entirely to him as our proprietor and bountiful benefactor, the only fountain of blessedness, and object of religious worship. This is to be done by faith in prayer; and, consequently, prayer is to be directed to God only. Prayer is to be made in the Name of Christ. We are now to consider what it is to pray in the name of Christ. This does not consist merely in mentioning his name ; which many do when they ask for favours for his sake, without a due regard to the method God has ordained. For, according to that method we are to draw nigh to him by Christ our great Media tor, who is to be glorified as the person by whom we are to have access to God the Father, as the fountain of all the blessings which are communicated to us in this method of divine grace. To come to God in Christ's name, includes the whole work of faith, as to what it has to plead with, or what it has to hope for from him, through a Mediator, in that way which he has prescribed to us in the gospel. It more especially consists in our making a right use of what Christ has done and suffered for us, as the foundation of our hope, that God will be pleased to grant us what he has purchased thereby ; which contains the sum of all that we can desire, when drawing nigh to him in prayer. Here let it be considered, that the thoughts of having to do with an absolute God cannot but fill us with the utmost distress and confusion, when we consider our selves as guilty sinners, and God, out of Christ, as a sin-revenging Judge, a con suming fire.f Thinking thus of God, we may well say, as our first parent did immediately after his fall, ' I heard thy voice, and I was afraid. '& Again, God is obliged in honour, as a God of infinite holiness, to separate and banish sinners from his comfortable presence, they being liable to the curse and condemning sentence of the law ; by reason of which his terror makes them afraid, and his dread falls upon them. They have, however, in the gospel, not only an invitation to come, but a discovery of that great Mediator whom God has ordained to conduct his people into his presence, and who has procured liberty of access to him, or as the b 1 Kings viii. 39 ; Acts i. 24. c Psal. Ixxviii. 36, 37. d Mark ii. 7. e Rom. x. 14. f Heb. xii. 29. g Gen. iii. 1ft TO WHOM AND IN WHOSE NAME PRAYER IS MADE. 563 apostle expresses it, 'boldness to enter into the holiest by his blood, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say. his flesh. 'h God has, for this end, erected a throne of grace, and encouraged us to come to it, and given many great and precious promises, whereby we may hope for acceptance in his sight. Now, these promises being all established in Christ, and the blessings contained in them having been procured by his blood, and we having liberty, in coming, to plead what he has done and suffered, as what was designed to be the foundation of our hope of obtaining mercy, we are said to come and make our supplications to God in the name of Christ. Why Prayer is to be made in the Name of Christ. We are now to consider the reason why we are to pray in the name of Christ. This is stated in one of the Answers we are explaining. There it is observed that man, by sin, is set at such a distance from God, that he cannot, by any means, come into his presence. God cannot look upon him with any delight or compla cency, inasmuch as his guilt renders bim the object of his abhorrence ; and he can not do any thing which has a tendency to reconcile God to him, and therefore is speechless, and can ask for no blessing at his hand. It is farther observed that there is none in heaven or earth, that is, no mere creature, who is fit for that glorious work of mediation. None has a sufficiency of merit to present to God, whereby he may be said to make atonement for sin ; or as Job expresses it, there is ' no days-man that might lay his hand on both parties,'1 that is, no one who is able to deal with God in paying a ransom which he may in honour accept, or with man, by encouraging him to hope that he shall obtain the blessings which he stands in need of, and by bringing him into such a frame that he might draw nigh to God in a right manner. This work is owing only to our Lord Jesus Christ ; and he does it as our great Mediator, who alone is fit to manage it. Hence, we are to pray to God, only in his name who is, by divine appointment, an advocate with the Father, pleading our cause before his throne, and so giving us ground of en couragement that our persons shall be accepted and our prayers answered on his account, who is the only Mediator of redemption and intercession, in whom God is well-pleased, and gives a believer ground to conclude that he shall not seek his face in vain. THE HOLY SPIRIT'S HELP IN PRAYER. Question CLXXXII. How doth the Spirit help us to pray ? Answer. We not knowing what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, by enabling us to understand both for whom, and what, and how prayer is to be made, and by work ing and quickening in our hearts (although not in all persons, nor at all times in tbe same measure) those apprehensions, affections, and graces, which are requisite for the right performance of that iuty. There is no duty which we can perform in a right manner, without help obtained from God. This is particularly true concerning the duty of prayer- Accordingly, we are led to speak of the help which the Spirit of God is pleased to afford be lievers, in order to their engaging aright in this duty. Prayer cannot be made without the Spirit's Help. Here it is supposed that we know not what to pray for as we ought, or how to bring our souls into a prepared frame for this duty, without the Spirit's assistance. 1. We are often at a loss with respect to the matter of prayer. Our being so may be said to proceed from our want of acquaintance with ourselves, and our not being duly sensible of our wants, weaknesses, or secret faults. Sometimes we can- .. ti.x. .nj«i i Job ix. 33. 564 THE HOLY SPlUIl's HELP IN I'KAYER. not determine whether we are in a state of grace or not ; or, if we arc, whether it is increasing or declining. Or, if we have ground to complain by reason of the hid ings of God's face, and our want of communion with him, we are often hard put to it to find out what the secret sin is which is the occasion of it ; nor are we suffi ciently apprized of the wiles of Satan, or the danger we are in of being ensnared or overcome by them. Moreover, we are often not able to know how to direct, our prayers to God aright, as we know not what is most conducive to his glory, or what it is that he requires of us, either iii obedience to his commanding will, or in sub mission to his providential will. Hence it Arises that many good men, in scripture, asked for some things which were in themselves unlawful, through the weakness of their faith, and the prevalency of their corruption. Thus, some desire"d that God would call them out of this world by death, being impatient under the many troubles they met with. Elijah, for example, ' requested foi; himself that he might die, and said, It is enough ; now, 0 Lord, take away my life ; for I am not better than my fathers. 'k Job says, ' 0 that I might have my request ! and that God would grant me the thing that I long for ! even that it would please God to de stroy me ; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off.'1 Jonah says, ' 0 Lord, I beseech thee, take my life from me ; for it is better for me to die than to live.' m Moses, though he had the character of the meekest man upon earth, and doubtless excelled all others in his day in those graces which he had received from God, as well as in the great honours conferred on him, yet put up a most unbecoming prayer, both as to the matter and the manner of it ; for he said unto the Lord, ' Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant ? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people; upon mo ? Have I con ceived all this people ? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers ? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people ? for they weep unto me, saying,. Give us fleslj, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight ; and let me not see iny wretchedness.' n In another instance, he asks for a thing which he knew beforehand God would, not grant him, when he says, ' I pray thee, let ine go over; and see the gpod land; that is beyond, Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.' On this occasion, God says, ' Let it suffifie thee ; speak no more unto me of this matter.' ° Many instances of a similar nature are mentioned in scripture, Indeed, nothing is more obvious from daily experience, than what the apostle James observes, that persons ' ask, and receive not, because they ask amiss ;' P or what the apostle Paul says,, ' We know not; what we should pray for, as we ought.' i 2. We are at other times straitened in our affections, and so know not how to ask' any thing with a suitable frame of spirit. It is certain we cannot,, when we please, excite our affections, or especially put; forth those grapes which are to be exercised in prayer. Our hearts are sometimes deadi, cold, and inclined- to wander from God in this duty ; and, at other times, we pray with a kind1 of indifference, as though it were of no great importance whether our prayer were answered or not. How seldom do we express that importunity in this duty which Jacob did, ' I w,ill not let thee go except thou bless me!'r As for those graces which are to be exercised in prayer, we often want that reverence and those high and' awful thoughts of the divine Majesty which we ought to have, who draw nigh to a God of infiriif;e perfec tion ; nor, on the other hand, do we express those low and bumble thoughts of our selves which our own meanness, the imperfection of our best performances, and the infinite distance which we stand at from God, ought to suggest. We may add, th,at we are often destitute of that love to Christ, and that trust in him, whifib are necessary to the right performance of this duty, and also o^ thaj; Iiowe of bejng teard which is a very great encouragement to it. k 1 Kings xix. 4. 1 Jflb: vi. 8, 9. m, Jonah ir^S. u Numb. ». 11— Ifi. o Deut. iii. 25, 26. p James iv. 3. q Rom. viii. 26. r Gen. xxxii. 26. THE HOLY SPIRIT'S HELP IN PRAYER. 5fi!) In what the Spirit's Help in Prayer consists. We are now to inquire wherein the Spirit is said to help our infirmities. His help may be considered as adapted to the twofold necessity which we are often , under, respecting the matter of prayer, or the frame of spirit with which the duty is to be performed. 1. The Spirit helps our infirmities, with respect to the matter of prayer. It is not in the least derogatory to his divine glory, that he is pleased to condescend thus to converse with man. Nor is it contrary to the nature of things ; for the Spirit, being a divine person, searches the heart, and can, with as much facility as any one can convey his ideas to another by words, impress those ideas on the souls of his people, by which they may be led into the knowledge of the things which they ought to ask in prayer. If it were impossible for God to do this, his providence could not be conversant about intelligent creatures, any otherwise than in an ob- jieetive way, and so it would not differ from that which may be attributed to finite spirits. Besides, it would have been impossible for God to have imparted his will by extraordinary revelation, — without which, it could not have been known ; if he may not, though in an ordinary way, communicate to the souls of his people those ideas by which they may be furnished with matter for prayer. I am not pleading for Extraordinary revelation, that being a blessing which God does not now give to his people. I only argue from the greater to the less,- — that it is not impossible or absurd, from the nature of the thing, or contrary to the divine perfections, for God to impress the thoughts of men in an ordinary way ; since he formerly did this in. an extraor dinary way, as will be allowed by all who are not disposed to deny and set aside revealed religion. Moreover, there was such a thing in the apostle's days as being led by the Spirit, which was distinguished from his miraculous and extraordinary influences, as a Spirit of inspiration ; otherwise, it is certain, the apostle would not, as he does,8 have assigned a being led by the Spirit as a character of the chil dren of God. And when our Saviour promises his people ' the Spirit to guide them into all truth,'' I cannot think that the guidance promised respected only the apostles, or their being led into the truths which they were to impart to the church by divine inspiration ; but it seems to be a privilege which belongs to all believers. We conclude, therefore, that it is no absurdity to suppose that the Holy Spirit may assist his people, as to what concerns the matter of their prayers, or suggest to them those becoming thoughts which they have in prayer, when drawing nigh to God in a right manner. Some have inquired whether we may conclude that the Spirit of God furnishes his people with words in prayer, distinct from his impressing ideas on their minds. This I would be very cautious in determining, lest I should not put a just difference between the assistance of the Spirit which believers hope for, and that which the prophets of old received by inspiration. I dare not say that the Spirit's work con sists in furnishing believers with proper expressions, with which their ideas are cloth ed, when they engage in this duty : I would rather say that it consists in fur nishing them with those suitable arguments and apprehensions of divine things which are more immediately subservient to prayer. Accordingly the apostle, speak ing of the Spirit's assisting believers, when they know not what to pray for as they ought, says, that the Spirit assists them ' with groanings that cannot be uttered;' that is, he impresses on their souls those divine breathings after things spiritual and heavenly Which they sometimes, notwithstanding, want words to express j though, at the same time, the frame of their spirits may be under a divine influence, which Gbd is said to know the meaning of, when he graciously hears and answers their prayers, how imperfect soever these may be as to the mode of expression. 2. The Spirit helps our infirmities by giving us a suitable frame of spirit, and ex citing those graces which are to be exercised in this duty of prayer. This the psalmist calls, ' preparing their hearts.' God does this, and then ' causes his ear to hear.'0 In order to our understanding aright this desirable blessing, let it be considered that ¦ Rom. viii. 14. * J°hn xvi- 13- u Psa'. *. 17- 566 THE HOLY SPIRIT'S HELP IN PRAYER. we cannot, without the Spirit's assistance, bring our hearts into a right frame for prayer. Our inability to do so is the reason why we engage in this duty in such a manner as gives great uneasiness to us when we reflect upon it. Hence, when we pretend to draw nigh to God, we can hardly say that we worship him as God, but we become vain in our imaginations ; and the corruption of our nature discovers itself more at this time than it does on other occasions ; and Satan uses his utmost endeavours to distract and disturb our thoughts, and take off the edge of our affec tions, so that we seem not really to desire those things which with our lips we ask at the hand of God. As for an unregenerate man, he has not a principle of grace, and therefore cannot pray in faith, or with the exercise of other graces, which lie is destitute of. Even the believer is renewed but in part ; and therefore, if the Spirit is not pleased to excite the principle of grace which he has implanted, he is very much indisposed for this duty, which cannot be performed aright without the Spirit's assistance. We are, nevertheless, to use our utmost endeavours, in order to prayer, hoping for a blessing from God to make them successful. We are to medi tate on the divine perfections, and the evil of sin, which is contrary to them, and by which we are rendered guilty, defiled, and unworthy to come into the presence of God. Yet we are to consider ourselves as invited to come to him in the gospel, and as encouraged by his promise and grace to cast ourselves before his footstool, in hope of obtaining mercy from him. We are also to examine ourselves, that we may know what sins are to be confessed by us, what those necessities are which will afford matter for petition or supplication in prayer, and what mercies we have re ceived, which are to be thankfully acknowledged. We are also to consider the many encouragements which we have to draw nigh to God in this duty, from his being ready to pardon our iniquities, heal our backslidings, help our infirmities, and grant us undeserved favours. We must also impress on our souls a due sense of the spirituality of the duty we are to engage in, and of our having to do with the heart-searching God, who will be worshipped with reverence and holy fear. We are therefore to endeavour to excite all the powers and faculties of our souls, to engage in this duty in such a way that we may glorify his name, and hope to re ceive a gracious answer. But when we have used our utmost endeavours to bring ourselves into a praying frame, we must depend on the Holy Spirit to give success to them, that we may be enabled to exercise those graces which are more especially his gift and work. We must give glory to him as the author of regeneration ; since no grace can be exercised in this duty but what proceeds from a right principle, or a nature renewed, and internally sanctified, and disposed for the performance of it ; which is his work, as ' the Spirit of grace and of supplications.'1 — Again, as we are, if we hope to be accepted by him, to draw nigh to God in this duty as a reconciled God and Father ; so we are to consider that our being enabled to do this is the peculiar work of the Spirit, whereby we 'cry, Abba, Father. '' This will not only dispose us to perform the duty in a right manner, so as to enable us to pray in faith ; but it will afford us ground of hope that our prayers will be heard and answered. — Further, as we often are straitened in our spirits, and so are greatly hindered in prayer, we must consider it as a peculiar blessing and gift of the Holy Ghost to have our hearts en larged. This the psalmist intends when he says, ' Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name ;'z and it is a peculiar branch of that liberty which God is pleased to bestow on his people, under the gospel dispensation. Thus the apostle says, ' Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.'3 By this means our affections will be raised, and we shall be enabled to pour out our souls before God. Raised Affections in Prayer. We may here take occasion to inquire concerning the difference which there is between raised affections in prayer, which unregenerate persons sometimes have from external motives, and those which the Spirit excites in us as a peculiar bless- x Zech. xii. 10. y Rom. viii. 15 ; Gal. iv. 6. z Psal. cxlii. 7. a 2 Cor. iii. 17* THE HOLY SPIRIT'S HELP IN PRAYER. 567 ing, whereby he assists us in the discharge of this duty. There are several things iu which they differ. The former often proceed from a slavish fear and dread of the wrath of God ; the latter from a love to him, and desire after him, which arises from the view we have of his glory, as our covenant God, in and through a Media tor. Again, raised affections in unregenerate persons, are seldom found except when they are under some pressing affliction. In this case, as the prophet says, 'they will seek God early ;'b but when the affliction is removed, the affections grow stupid, cold, and indifferent, as they were before. On the other hand, a be liever will find his heart drawn forth after God and divine things, when he is not sensible of any extraordinary affliction which excites his passions ; or he finds that, as afflictions tend to excite some graces in the exercise of which his affections are moved, so when it pleases God to deliver him from them, his affections are still raised while other graces are exercised agreeably to them. Further, raised affec tions, in unregenerate men, for the most part, carry them forth in the pursuit of those temporal blessings which they stand in need of. Thus when Esau sought the blessing carefully with tears, it was the outward prosperity contained in it which he had principally in view. He disdained that his brother Jacob should be preferred before him, or, as it is said, ' made his lord, and his brethren given him for servants;'0 but he had no regard to the spiritual or saving blessings which were contained in the birthright. A believer, on the contrary, is most concerned for and affected with those blessings which more immediately accompany salvation, or which include the special love of God, or communion with him, which he prefers to all other things. Thus the psalmist says, ' There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.'d We may add, that whatever raised affections unregenerate persons may have, they want a broken heart, an humble sense of sin, and an earnest desire that it may be subdued and mortified. They are destitute of self-denial, and other graces of a similar nature, which, in some degree, are found in a believer, when assisted by the Spirit, in performing the duty of prayer in a right manner. Practical Inferences from the Spirit's Help in Prayer. Frpm what has been said concerning the Spirit's assistance in prayer, several inferences may be drawn. First, there is a great difference between the gift and the grace of prayer. The former may be attained by the improvement of our na tural abilities, and is often of use to others who join with us ; while the latter is a peculiar blessing from the Spirit of God, and an evidence of the truth of grace. Again, they who deny that the Spirit has any hand in the work of grace, and con sequently disown his assistance in prayer, cannot be said to give him that glory which is due to him, and therefore must be supposed to be destitute of his assist ance, and very deficient as to this duty. Again, let us not presume on the Spirit's assistance in prayer, while we continue in a course of grieving him, and quenching his holy motions. Further, let us desire raised affections, as a great blessing from God, and yet not be discouraged from engaging in prayer though we want them ; since this grace, as well as all others, is dispensed in a way of sovereignty. And if he is pleased, for wise ends, to withhold his assistance ; yet we must not say, why should I wait on the Lord any longer ? Finally, if we would pray in the ' Spirit, or experience his help to perform this duty in a right manner, let us endea vour to walk in the Spirit, and to maintain at all times a spiritual, holy, self-deny ing frame. j IIos. v. 15. c Gen. xxvii. 37. d Psal. iv. 6. 568 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. Question CI.XXXIII. For whom are we to pray? Answer. We are to pray for the « hole church of Christ upon earth, for magistrates and minis ters, (o. u ...e',;eii, our brethren, yea, oui ei.euiien, .uni tor all sorts of men living, or that aoall live hereafter, but not for the dead, nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death. Question CI.XXXIV. For what things are we to pray t Answer. We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God, the welfare of the church, our own or others' good, but not for any thing that is unlawful. The former of these Answers notices the persons for whom we are to pray ; and, on the other hand, the persons who are not to be prayed for. For whom Prayer is to be made. 1. We are to pray for the whole church of Christ on earth. By this church we are to understand all those who profess the faith of the gospel, especially those whose practice is agreeable to their profession ; and, in particular, all those religious' societies who consent to walk in those ordinances whereby they testify their sub jection to Christ as King of saints. The particular members of which these societies consist, are, for the most part, unknown to us ; so that we cannot pray for them by name, or as being acquainted with the condition and circumstances in which they are ; yet they are not to be wholly disregarded, or excluded from the benefit Of our prayers. Thus the apostle speaks of ' the great conflict he had,' not only ' for them at Laodicea, but for as many as had not seen his face in the flesh.'6 Prayer for all Christians is a peculiar branch of the communion of saints ; and it is accompanied with earnest desires that God may be glorified in them a*d by them, as well as in and by ourselves. In particular, we are to pray that they may be united together in love to God and to one another ;f and that their union may be attended with all those other graces and comforts which are an evidence of their interest in Christ. We are to pray that they may have the special presence of God with them in $11 his ordinances ; which will be a visible testimony of his regard to them, and an honour put on his own institutions, as well as an accomplishment of what he pro mised to his apostles just before he ascended into heaven, that he wbUld '*be with them always, even unto the end of the world.'^ We are to pray that they may be supported under the burdens, difficulties, and persecutions which they meet with, either from the powers of darkness, or from wicked men, for Christ's sake ; that so the promise may be made good to them, that ' the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.'h We are to pray that many may be added to particular churches out of the world, such as shall be saved ; ' which will be an evidence of the success of the gospel. And when we pray that God would magnify his grace in bringing sinners home to himself, we are to pray for the accomplishment of those promises which respect the conversion of the Jews. Thus the apostle says, ' Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 'k We are to pray also that there may be a greater spread of the gospel throughout the most remote and dark parts of the earth, among whom Christ is at present unknown. This diffusion of the gospel the apostle calls ' The fulness of the Gentiles Coming in ;M and it is agreeable to the prediction in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, which seems not as yet to have had its full accomplishment. Again, we are to pi'ay that the life of faith and holiness may be daily promoted in all the faithful members of the church of Christ, that they may be enabled more and more to adorn the doc trine of God our Saviour, and be abundantly satisfied and delighted with the fruits and effects of his redeeming love. We are to pray that God would accept those sacrifices of prayer and praise which are daily offered to him by faith in the blood of Christ, in every worshipping assembly, and which will redound to the advantage of e Col. ii. 1. f J0l„, xvii. 21. g Matt, xxviii. 20. h Chap. xvi. 18. i Acts ii. 47. k Rom. x. I. 1 Chap. xi. 25. PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 569 all the servants of Christ, of whom they think themselves obliged to make mention, as well as to the glory of God, which is owned and advanced by them. We are to pray that the children of believers, who are devoted to God, may be under his special care and protection, that they may follow the footsteps of the flock, and fill up the places of those who are called off the stage of this world ; that so there may be a constant supply of those who shall bear a testimony to Christ and his gospel in tbe rising generation. Finally, we are to pray that the members of every par ticular church of Christ may so acquit themselves that they may honour him in the eyes of the world ; that they may be supported and carried safely through this waste howling wilderness, till they arrive at that better country for which they are bound ; and that they may not be foiled or overcome while they are in their mili tant state, till they shall be joined with the church triumphant in heaven. 2. We are to pray for magistrates. Not only is this duty included in the general exhortation given us to ' pray for all men ;' but it is particularly mentioned by the apostle, and is intimated to be ' good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Sa viour.'10 Besides, magistracy is God's ordinance;" and whatever ordinance is stamped with the divine authority, though it may principally respect civil affairs, we are to pray that God would bless and prosper it, that it may answer the valu able ends for which it was appointed. Now, there are several things which we are to pray for in behalf of magistrates. We are to pray that they may approve themselves rulers after God's own heart, to •fulfil all his will,'0 as was said of David ; that their counsels and conduct may be ordered for his glory, and the good of his church ; that they may be ' a terror,' not to 'good works,' that is, to persons who perform them, but 'to the evil,' and so •may not bear the sword in vain.'P We are to pray that they may be a public blessing to all their subjects, and so that promise be fulfilled, ' Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers ;'« and, as an instance of this, that under them 'we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.'1" As to their subjects, we are to pray that they may not, on the one hand, abuse and trample on their authority, and take occasion to offend with im punity ; nor, on the other hand, have cause to dread that authority as grievous, in instances of injustice and oppression. 3. We are to pray for ministers. This is a necessary duty, inasmuch as their work is exceedingly great and difficult ; so that the apostle might well say, ' Who is sufficient for these things?'8 Indeed, besides the difficulties which attend the work itself, there are others which they meet with, from the unstable temper of professed friends, who sometimes, as the apostle says, ' become their enemies for tell ing them the truth ;'* or from the restless malice and violent opposition of open enemies, which evidently. takes its rise from the inveterate hatred which they bear to Christ and his gospel. Moreover, as they have difficulties in the discharge of the work they are called to, so they must give an account to God for their faithful ness in it ; and it is of the highest importance that they do this ' with joy, and not with grief.'" So the apostle remarks ; and immediately he entreats the church's prayers, as what was necessary in order to his giving such an account, Sfow, there are several things which ought to be the subject of our prayers, with respect to ministers. We are to pray that God would send forth a supply or succes* sion of them, to answer the church's necessities ; inasmuch aS ' the liorvcst is plente ous, 'as our Saviour observes, 'but the labourers are few.'1 We are to pray that they may answer the character which the apostle gives of a faithful minister : and accord ingly may 'study to show themselves approved unto God, workmen thnt need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'? We are to pray that they maj1 be directed and enabled to impart those truths which are substantial, edifying, and suitable to the circumstances and condition of their hearers. We are to pray that they may be spirited with zeal and with love to souls, in the whole course of their ministry ; that the glory of God, and the advancement of his truth may lie nearest m 1 Tim ii. 1—3. " R°m- *'"• '• 2* ° Acts xiii- 22, P Bom- xiii- 3. 4- aU» Xc 23 r 1 Tim. ii. 2. s 2 Cor. ii. 16. t Gal. iv. 16. u Heb. xiii. 17, 18. x Matt. ix. 37, 38. v 2 Tim. ii. 15. II. 4C 570 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT their hearts ; and that a tender concern and compassion for the souls of men may incline them to use their utmost endeavours, as the apostle says, to ' save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire.'z We are to pray that their endeavours may be attended with success ; which, in some measure, may give them a comfortable hope that they are called, accepted, and approved of by God ; and which, from the na ture of the thing, will tend to our own advantage, who make the bestowal of it the subject of our earnest prayers on their behalf. Indeed, the neglect of this duty may, in some measure, be assigned as one reason why the word is often preached with very little success. Hence the duty ought to be performed, not merely as an act of favour, but as a duty which redounds to our own advantage. 4. We are to pray, not only for ourselves and our brethren, but also for our ene mies'. That we are to pray for ourselves, none ever denied, how much soever many live in the neglect of this duty. As for our obligation to pray for our brethren, it is founded in the law of nature ; which obliges us to love them as ourselves, and; consequently, to desire their welfare, together with our own. It may be inquired, however, what we are to understand by our brethren, whom we are to express this great concern for, in our supplications to God ? For understanding this, let it be considered that, besides being applied to those who are brethren in the most known acceptation of the word, as Jacob's sons tell Joseph, ' We be twelve brethren, sons of one father ;' a the word ' brother' is sometimes taken, in scripture, for any near kins man. Thus Abraham and Lot are called brethren, b though they were not sons of the same father ; for Lot was Abraham's brother's son.c This is a very common acceptation of the word in scripture. Again, it is sometimes taken in a more large sense, for those who are members of the same church. Thus the apostle calls those who belonged to the church at Colosse, ' the saints and faithful brethren in Christ.'4 Sometimes, also, they who are of the same nation are called brethren. Thus it is said, ' When Moses was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 'e It is likewise sometimes taken for those who make a profession of the same religion with ourselves ; and also for those who are kind and friendly to us. Thus it is said, ' A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.'' Indeed, the word is sometimes taken in the largest sense that can be, as comprising all mankind, who have the same nature with ourselves.^ These are the objects of love ; and therefore our prayers are, especially in propor tion to the nearness of the relation they stand in to us, to be directed to God on behalf of all. Some, indeed, are allied to us by stronger bonds than others ; but none, who are entitled to our love, pity, and compassion, are to be wholly excluded from our prayers. This will farther appear, if we consider that we are to pray also for our enemies. The law of nature obliges us to do good for evil ; and consequently, as our Saviour says, we are to ' pray for them which despitefully use us, and persecute us.'h We are not, indeed, to pray that they may obtain their wicked and unjust designs against us, or that they may have power and opportunity to hurt us ; for to do so would be contrary to the principle of self-preservation, which is impressed on our nature. But we are to pray that, however they act toward us, they may be made Christ's friends, their hearts changed, and they enabled to serve his interest ; that they, together with ourselves, may be partakers of everlasting salvation. Hence, it is a vile thing, and altogether inconsistent with the spirit of a Christian, to de sire the ruin, much more the damnation of any one, as many wickedly and pro fanely do. Again, we are to pray that their corruptions may be subdued, their tempers softened, and their hearts changed ; so that they may be sensible of their unjust resentments against us, and lay them aside. And if they are under any distress or misery, we are not to insult them, or take pleasure in beholding it ; but we are to pity them, and to pray for their deliverance, as much as though they were not enemies to us. 5. We are to pray, not only for all sorts of men now living, according to what is stated in the preceding Head, but for those who shall live hereafter. To pray z Jude, ver. 23. a Gen. xiii. 32. b Chap. xiii. 8. c Chap. xi. 31. d Col. i. 2. e Acts vii. 23. f Prov. xvii. 17. g 1 John iv. 21. h Matt. v. 44. PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 571 thus includes an earnest desire that the interest of Christ may be propagated from generation to generation ; and that his kingdom and glory may be advanced in the world till his second coming. Thus the psalmist says, ' He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the gener ation to come ; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.'1 And our Saviour says, ' Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.'k For whom Prayer is not to be made. We are now to consider those who are excluded from our prayers. These are either such as are dead, or those who have sinned the sin unto death. 1. We are not to pray for the dead. This is asserted in opposition to an opinion which was maintained and practised by some in the early ages in the church, and which paved the way for those abuses and corruptions which are, at this day, prac tised by the church of Rome, who first prayed for the dead, and afterwards pro ceeded to pray to them. The first step leading to this error, seems to have been great excesses, on the part of some in the early ages of the church, in the encomi ums they made, in their public anniversary orations, on the memory of the martyrs and confessors who had suffered in the cause of Christianity. This step was origi nally taken with a good design, namely, to excite those who survived to imitate the martyrs in their virtues, and to express their love to the cause for which they suf fered. But afterwards they went beyond the bounds of decency in magnifying and extolling them ; and then proceeded yet farther, in praying for them. This prac tice of praying for the dead is often excused, by some modern writers, from the respect they bear to those who first observed it ; though it can hardly be vindicat ed from the charge of will-worship, since no countenance is given to it in scripture. What is generally alleged in behalf of the early Christians who prayed for the dead, is, that they supposed the souls of believers did not immediately enter hea ven, but were sequestered or disposed of in some place inferior to it, sometimes called by them ' paradise' or ' Abraham's bosom,' where they are to continue till their souls are reunited to their bodies. Whether this place were above or below the earth, all were not agreed. Their mistake arose from their misunderstanding those scriptures which describe heaven under the metaphorical characters of ' par adise' or 'Abraham's bosom.'1 Here they supposed that departed believers are, indeed, delivered from the afflictions and miseries of this present life ; yet not pos sessed of perfect blessedness in God's immediate presence. They hence concluded that there was some room for prayer, that the degree of happiness which they were possessed of might be continued, or rather that it might, in the end, be perfected, when they are raised from the dead, and admitted to partake of the heavenly bless edness. Others thought that, at death, the sentence was not peremptorily passed either on the righteous or on the wicked, so that there was room left for them to pray for the increase of the happiness of the one, or for the mitigation of the tor ment of the other. Hence, in different respects, they prayed for all, both good and bad ; especially for those who were within the pale or enclosure of the churcli ; and above all, for such as had been useful to it, and highly esteemed by it. The princi-. pal thing which is said in vindication of their practice — for what we have just men tioned as the ground and reason of it will by no means justify it— is, that, though the souls of believers are in heaven, yet their happiness will not be, in all respects, eomplete, till the day of judgment. Accordingly, in their prayers, they chiefly had regard to the consummation of the blessedness of departed believers at Christ's second coming, together with the continuance of it till then ; without supposing that they received any other advantage by their prayers. But as the blessing they thus supplicated for them was not a matter of uncertainty, they observed that many things are to be prayed for which shall certainly come to pass, whether we pray for them or not, such as the gatliering in of the whole number of the elect, and the i Psal. cii. 17, 18. k Jonn xvii- 20. 1 See Sect. ' The Immediate Happiness of the Righteous after Death,' under Quest. Ixxxvi. 572 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT coming of Christ's kingdom of glory. They hence suppose that the advantage of pfayino- for the dead redounds principally to those who offer the prayers ; as, by doing so, they express their faith in the doctrine of the resurrection, the future blessedness of the saints, and the communion which there is between the church militant and the church triumphant. This is the fairest colour which can be put Upon the ancient practice of the church, and the numerous statements in the writ ings of the fathers, concerning prayers for the dead.™ < Such was the practice of the church before we read of the fictitious place which the Papists call purgatory. In this place the Papists fancy that separate souls endure some degrees of torment, and are relieved by the prayers of their surviving friends. This opinion was not known to the church before the seventh century ; and, as was observed under a former Answer," is without any foundation from script ture. Now, as it was formerly defended, and is still practised by the Papists, the contrary doctrine is asserted in this Answer, namely, that we are not to pray fbi* the dead. In proof of this doctrine, we shall offer a few remarks. The state of every man is unalterably fixed at death ; so that nothing remains which can be called an addition to the happiness of the righteous, or the misery of the wicked, but what is the result of the reunion of soul and body at the resurrec. tion. Hence, to pray that the saints may have greater degrees of glory conferred1 upon them, or sinners a release from their state of misery, is altogether groundless and unlawful. That the state of man is fixed at death is sufficiently evident frohi scripture. Thus our Saviour, in the parable of the rieh man and Lazarus, speaks of the one as immediately ' carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom,'0 — by which, notwithstanding what some ancient writers assert tb the contrary, we are to understand heaven ; and he speaks of the other as sent to a place of torments, without any hope or probability of the least mitigation, — whereby hell, not purga tory, is intended. And the apostle says, ' It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.'? Here he means that all men must leave the world'; and that, when they are parted from it, their state is determined by Christ, though Uot done in so publie and visible a manner as will be done in the general judgment. Now, if the state of nien be unalterably fixed at death, it may be justly inferred that there is no room for any one to put up prayers to God on their behalf. Prayer must have some promise on which it relies ; otherwise it cannot be addressed to God by faith, or, as the apostle expresses it, ' nothing wavering. ' i If, then, we have no ground to conclude that our prayers shall be heard and answered, or if we have any doubt in our spirits whether the thing prayed for be agreeable to the will of God, our prayers cannot be put up in faith, and therefore are not lawful. The Papists, in defence of the contrary doctrine, are very much at a loss for scriptures to support it. Yet there is a passage in the apocryphal writings, in which Judas Maccabeus and his company are represented as praying and offering a sin-offering, and thereby making reconciliation for some who had been slain in battle.1 Some persons reply to the argument founded on this passage, that the prayers for the dead here spoken of, are of a different nature from those which the1 Papists make use of in behalf of those whom tliey pretend to be in purgatory, or that Judas and his company prayed for nothing but what some of the Christian m That several of the fathers practised and pleaded for praying for the dead, is evident from what Cyprian says, Epist. xxxix. concernilig the church's offering sacrifices, by which he means prayers for the martyrs, among wbom he particularly mentions Laurentius and Ignatius, ou the yearly re turn of those days on which the memorial of their martyrdom was celebrated. Eusebius, also, in the life of Coiistantine, lib. iv. cap. lxxi., when epenking concerning the funeral obsequies performed for that monarch, says that a great number of people, with tears anil lamentations, poured forth prayers to God for the emperor's Soul. Gregory Nazianzen prayed for his brother Caesarius after (lis death. Vid. Ejusd. in Fun. Caesar. Orat. x. Ambrose prayed for the religious emperors, Valen- tinian and Gratian, and lor Theodosius, awl for bis brother Satyrus. Vid. Ejusd. deobit. Valentin. Theodos. et Satyr. Augustin speaks of his praying for his mother Monica, after her decease. Confess, lib. ix. cap. xiii. Epiphanius defends this practice with so much warmth, that he can hatdly forbear chaf-gin'g the denial of it as one of Aerius' heresies. Vid. Epiphan. haeres. lxxv. Anil some Popish writers, when defending their praying for the dead, have, with more malice than reason, chnrged the Protestants with being Atrians, on this account. n See Sect. 'The Immediate Happiness of the Righteous after Death,' under Quest, lxxxvi. o Luke xvi. 22, &l p Heb. ix. 27 <\ James i. 6. r 2 Mac. xii. 43—49. PRAYER IS TO HE MADE. 573 fathers did, namely, that the departed might be raised from the dead ; and that thus they simply expressed their faith in the doctrine of the resurrection. But, I think, a better reply is, that the argument is not taken from any inspired writing ; and that no more credit is to be given to the book of Maccabees than to any other human composition, iu which some things are true and others false. As for this book in particular, the author himself plainly intimates that he did not receive it by divine inspiration ; for he says, ' If I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired ; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto.'5 This is very honestly said, but is not like the language of an inspired writer. Hence, nothing which is said in the book is a sufficient proof of any important article of faith or practice, such as that which we are now considering. It is farther objected that the apostle Paul puts up a short and affectionate prayer for Onesiphorus, ' The Lord grant unto him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day ;'.* while, as is concluded by some, Onesiphorus was dead at the time when the apostle wrote this epistle. There are two petitions put up, one in this verse for him, and another in verse 16, for ' his house ;' and in chap. iv. 19, when Paul, according to his custom, salutes some of his friends, he makes mention of ' the household of Onesiphorus,' but not of himself. This turn Grotius himself gives of this scripture ; u and the Papists greedily embrace it, as it gives counte nance to their practice of praying for the dead. This argument, however, is built on but a weak foundation. For though Paul, in the close of the epistle, salutes Onesiphorus' household, and not himself, it does not follow that he was dead ; he might be absent from his family, as he often was when engaged in public service, being sent by the church as their messenger, to inquire concerning the progress and success of the gospel in other parts, or to carry relief to those who were suffer ing in Christ's cause. The apostle perhaps might be informed that he was then on his way to Rome, where he was himself a prisoner when he wrote the epistle ; and if so, it would not have been proper to send salutations to him whom he ex pected shortly to see, while, at the same time, he testified the great love he bore to him and all his family, as being a man of uncommon zeal for the interest of Christ and religion. 2. They are not to be prayed for who have sinned the sin unto death. This sin we read of, in scripture,31 as what excludes persons from forgiveness. Such things are said concerning it as should make us fear and tremble, not only lest we should be left to commit it, but give way to those sins which border upon it. There is, how ever, enough expressed to encourage us to hope that we have not committed it ; and this is the principal thing to be insisted on, when we treat on this sin in our public discourses, or when any are tempted to fear lest they are guilty of it. Here let it be observed, that though it is called 'the sin unto death,' we are not to suppose that it is one particular act of sin, but rather a course or complica tion of sins, in which there are many ingredients of the most heinous nature. It cannot be committed by any but those who have been favoured with a gospel light; for it always includes a rejection of the gospel, which supposes revelation or preach ing. Nor is it merely a rejecting of the gospel, though attended with sufficient objective evidence, in those who have not had an inward conviction of the truth of it, or whose opposition to it proceeds principally from ignorance ; for the apostle says concerning himself, that ' though he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and in jurious, yet he obtained mercy, because he did it ignorantly, in unbelief. 'J But it is a rejecting of the gospel which we once professed to embrace, and therefore has the nature of apostacy. Thus the scribes and Pharisees, when they attended on John's ministry, professed their willingness to adhere to Christ ; and afterwards, when he first appeared publicly in the world, they were convinced in their con sciences, by the miracles which he wrought, that he was the Messiah ; though afterwards they were offended in him, and ashamed to own him, because of the humble state and condition in which he appeared in the world ; and on this account, they in particular Were charged with the sin in question. Again, it includes a re- s Mac. xv. 38. * 2 Tim. i. 18. u Vid. Grot, in loc x Matt. xii. 32. X 1 Tim. u 13. 574 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT jecting of Christ and the known truth, out of envy, attended with reviling, persecut ing, and using the utmost endeavours to extirpate and banish it out of the world, and beget in the minds of men the greatest detestation of it. Thus the Jews are said to have 'delivered Christ out of envy;'2 and with the same spirit, they persecuted the gospel. Such as are gwilty of this sin, have no conviction in their consciences of any crime committed in regard to it, but stop their ears against all reproof, and set themselves, with the greatest hatred and malice, against those who, with faithfuhiess, admonish them. They also go out of the way of God's ordinances, and wilfully exclude themselves from the means of grace. These they treat with the utmost contempt ; and they use all the endeavours in their power that others may be deprived of them. This condition they not only live, but die in ; so that their apostacy is, not only total, but final. I cannot but observe, however, that some are of opinion that this sin cannot he now committed, because we have not the dispensation of miracles, whereby the Christian religion was incontestably proved, in the time of our Saviour and the apostles. They who hold this opinion think that the Pharisees spoken of in the twelfth chapter of Matthew, were mainly charged with saying that Christ ' cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils ;' whereby they intimated that those miracles which they had formerly been convinced of the truth of, as wrought by the finger of God, were wrought by the devil. This view of their case supposes that , they were eye-witnesses to the working of miracles, which we cannot be ; and it is hence inferred that the sin of which they were guilty cannot now be committed, in asmuch as the dispensation of miracles has ceased. But this reasoning will not appear so strong and conclusive, if we consider that, though the gospel is not now confirmed to us by miracles, yet we have no less ground to believe that the Chris tian religion was confirmed by means of them, than if we had been present when they were wrought. If, however, it should be alleged that a resisting of the evidence of miracles cannot, in every circumstance, be contained in the sin against the Holy Ghost, in our day ; there are other things included in the description we gave of the sin unto death, as things in which it principally consists, which bear a very great resemblance to the sin of which the Pharisees were guilty. If persons, for example, formerly believed Christ to be the Messiah, and were persuaded that his being so was incontestably proved by the miracles which he wrought, and accord ingly, were inclined to adhere to him, and embrace the gospel, in which his person and glory are set forth, and yet have afterwards apostatized from their profession ; if their apostacy has been attended with envy and malice against Christ ; if they have treated, with contempt and blasphemy, the evidence by which they once ac knowledged the Christian religion to have been undeniably supported ; if from carnal policy, and the love of this world, they have totally rejected that faith which they once professed ; and if their apostate condition is attended with judicial hardness of heart, blindness of mind, and strong delusions, together with a rooted hatred of all religion, and a malicious persecution of those who embrace it ; we cannot but conclude their sin to bear a very great resemblance to that which in scripture is called the unpardonable sin. Theirs is a most deplorable case ; and it should be so far improved by us that we should use the utmost caution that we may not give way to those sins which bear the least resemblance to it. Doubting Christians, however, are to take heed that they do not apply the account which we have given of this sin to themselves, so as to be led to despair ; for to produce such a result is not the design of any description of it which we have in scripture. Now, that they may be forti fied against applying the account of it to themselves, we shall offer one or two obser vations. It is one thing peremptorily to determine that it is impossible for any one to commit this sin in our day, since the dispensation of miracles has ceased, for to say this, is, in effect, to suppose that we can have no evidence for the truth of the Christian religion but what is founded on ocular demonstration, such as they had who saw Christ's miracles ; and it is another thing to determine concerning parti cular persons, that they are guilty of this sin. It is certain that the matter might be determined with special application to particular persons in the time of our Savi- i Matt, xxvii. 18 PRAYER IS TO BE MADE 575 our and the apostles. For then there was, among other extraordinary gifts, that of discerning of spirits ; and consequently it might be known whether they who aposta tized from the iaith of the gospel had formerly received a full conviction of its truth, and it might also- be known, by extraordinary revelation, that God would never give them repentance, so that their apostacy would be final. It is more than probable that this view of the case was supposed by the apostle, when he speaks of some who had committed this sin, who were not to be prayed for. But these things cannot be known by us. Hence, I would not advise any one to forbear to pray for the worst of sinners, who seem most to resemble those that are charged with this sin, the matter not being certainly known by us. What, however, is principally to be con sidered for the encouragement of those who are afraid that they have committed this sin, is that persons may certainly know that they have not committed it, though they are in an unregenerate state. If they have not had opportunity or necessary means to attain the knowledge of the truth, and so remain ignorant of it ; or if they have had sufficient means to know it, and have not improved them as they ought, yet they have not committed this sin, if they desire and resolve to wait on God in his ordinances, in order to their receiving good. Again, they who are under conviction of sin, disapprove of it, and have some degree of sorrow and shame for it, may certainly conclude that they have not committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. Further, if persons have reason to think that their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and that they have greatly backslidden from G od ; yet they ought not to conclude that they have committed this sin, if they are afraid lest they should be given up to a perpetual backsliding, or dread nothing more than a total and a final apostacy, and in consequence, are induced to pray against it, and to desire a broken heart, and that faith which at present they do not experience. In this case, though their state is dangerous, they ought not to determine concerning them selves that they have committed the sin unto death. [See Note 2 C, page 576.] We ought to make several uses of this awful doctrine, and of the hope which there is that we have not committed the sin unto death. First, we should take heed that we do not give way to wilful impenitency, and a contempt of the means of grace, lest we should provoke God to give us up to judicial hardness of heart, so as to make sad advances towards the commission of it. Let us take heed that we do not sin against the light and conviction of our consciences, and wilfully neglect and oppose the means of grace ; for whether any one's acting thus be the sin unto death or not, it is certainly a crime of the most heinous and dangerous tendency. Again, let doubting Christians take heed that they do not give way to Satan's sug gestions, tempting them to conclude that they have committed this sin. Though they are sometimes afraid that they have committed it, they might determine that they have not, did they duly weigh what has been just observed concerning this matter. Finally, let us bless God that yet there is a door of hope ; and let us resolve by his. grace, that we will always wait on him in the ordinances which he has appointed, till he shall be pleased to give us ground to conclude better things concerning our selves, even things which accompany salvation. For What Prayer is to be Made. We are now led to consider what we are to pray for. 1. We are to pray for those things which concern the glory of God. That we may know what these are, we are to inquire whether, if God should give us what we ask for, it would have a tendency to set forth any of his divine perfections, and so render him amiable and adorable in the eyes of his creatures, so that, in answer ing our prayers, he would act becoming himself. We are also to take an estimate of the adaptation of anything to promote his glory, from the intimation he has given us of it in his word. There we may observe, not only whether he has given us leave, but whether he has given us commands, and encourages us, to ask for it ; more especially, whether he has promised to give it to us, and whether our re ceiving the blessing we ask for, has a tendency to fit us for his service. 2. We are to pray for those things which concern our own good, or the good of others. These are particularly insisted on in the Lord's prayer, which is explained 576 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT in the following Answers. It is hence sufficient for us, at present, to consider the good we are to pray for in general. Now, we are to pray for temporal blessings ; which are the effects of divine bounty, and concerning which our Saviour says, 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.'* We are also to pray for spiritual blessings, such as forgiveness of sin, strength against sin, the sanctifying influences of the Spirit to produce in us holiness of heart and life, and deliverance from and victory over our spiritual enemies. We are also to pray for the consolations of the Holy Ghost, arising from assurance of the love of God, whereby we may have peace and joy in believing ; and for all those blessings which may make us happy in a better world. 3. We are to pray for those things which are lawful to be asked of God. The things we .pray for must be such as it is possible for us to receive, and particularly such as God has determined to bestow, or given us ground to expect in the present world. We are not to pray for those blessings to be applied here, which he has reserved for the heavenly state ; such as a perfect freedom from sin, from tribula tion or temptation, or for our enjoying the immediate views of the glory of God. These things are to be desired in that time and order in which God is determined to bestow them. Hence, we are to wait for them till we come to heaven; and, at pre sent, we are to desire only to be made partakers of those privileges which he gives to his children in their way thither. — Again, we are not to pray that God would inflict evils on others, to satisfy our private revenge for injuries done us. For re venge is in itself unlawful, and unbecoming a Christian frame of spirit, and con trary to the duty which was formerly considered of our praying for our very ene mies, and seeking their good. — Further, we are not to ask for outward blessings, without setting bounds to our desires ; nor are we to ask for them unseasonably, or for wrong ends. We are not to pray for them as though they were our chief good and happiness, or of equal importance with things which are more imme diately conducive to our spiritual advantage. Hence, whatever measure of impor tunity we express in praying for them, is not to be inconsistent with an entire sub mission to the divine will, or with being satisfied that God knows what is best for us, or whether what we desire will, in the end, prove good or hurtful to us. Much less ought we to ask for outward blessings in order to the satisfying of unlawful de sires, or, as the apostle James speaks, that we may ' consume them upon our lusts. 'b a Matt. vi. 32. b James iv. 3. [Note 2 C. Is any sin unpardonable ? — The phrase, ' the unpardonable sin,' is a startling one, and seems fairly to imply that there are limits to the intrinsic worth or efficacious power of the Re deemer's sacrifice. However popular the phrase is, and however sanctioned by not a few curious disquisitions on the part of respectable theological writers, it is, as I think, unwarranted by any statement in the Bible, and opposed to its current phraseology. Three texts have been adduced as giving it countenance,— Heb. x. 26; Heb. vi. 4 — 6; and Matt. xii. 31, 82. But the first of these does little more than teach that there is but one sacrifice for sin ; the second states that a prefer ence of idolatry or Judaism to the gospel of Christ, puts away the only means of moral renovation ; and the third, which is the strongest, describes a man as rejecting the Christian evidences, and as suming the position of a scornful unbeliever. All the passages, in other words, mention, not what cannot, but what shall not, be forgiven : they speak, not of an unpardonable sinner, but of one who refuses pardon. ' If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,' Heb. x. 26. In a brief paper, published about a year ago, I stated my views of this text ; and I may be excused for simply condensing here what I there said. ' The truth 'which Paul 6peaks of is, not revealed truth in general, nor the influence of the gospel upon the heart, but the great doctrine which he had just unfolded and proved, — thai Christ's sacrifice alone is availing, and possesses divine sufficiency for every purpose of redemption. To ' know this truth' cannot imply a better condition of soul than tp ' escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' Yet Peter describes persons who have so escaped (2 Pet. ii. 20 — 22i) — whose knowledge of Christ has been practical to the extent of freeing them from vice: — as merely washen swine, not as swine transmuted into sheep, — as dogs of beastly inclination, not as dogs ' created, anew' and ' converted ' into lambs. ' To sin,' according to the primary meaning of the Greek word, is ' t(j,go aside' or ' to miss the mark ;' and 'to sin wilfully after having received the knowledge of the truth,' or wilfully to gp aside or miss the m^i;k after having become acquainted- with the great doc- . .m( _,¦ ,i . ,, ¦ .. showy rites of heathen or of Romish it.oia.iiy, ur. barter it away for the lures and enjoyments of the present world— will look iii vain PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 577 urtiong the ceremonies or pleasures of their choice for a menns of exniating guilt The one true atonement rejected and despised, 'there remaineth no other sacrifice for sins.' Whoever hears of the atoning death of the Son of Goii,_its surpassing worth, its divine completeness its glorious adaptation to bring pardon and peace to the chief of sinners.— and after ha vino- sur veyed its excellence weakly or wilfully sets up his philosophy, or his alms-giving, or his devotee- „m, or some self-inflict.on, as a better refuge than it from the divine anger, or a surer means of obtaining the divine favour,— that man misses the mark of eternal life ; he goes aside from tbe narrow way to heaven ; he shuts his eyes on the hope, the only hope, set before him in the gospel, and welcomes a certain fearful ooking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Now, ' if he that despised Moses' law died without mercy, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,' who in so wicked a fashion prefers the devices of man to Heaven s sole and divinely costly plan of mercy, ' treading under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith atonement was made, a common thing? Yet such a man s fate is altogether of his own making; it is the fate, not of an unpar donable sinner, but of a sinner who scorns pardon ; it arises from neither the magnitude of his sins nor detect in the Christian sacrifice, but altogether from his own egregious self-conceit and his wilful blindness to the worth and grandeur of the Lord's atonement. Without, pausing to show how well these views of the passage in the tenth chapter of He brews agree with the scope of the apostle's reasoning, and with the general scheme of his doc trines, I shall now pass to «. consideration of the text in tbe sixth chapter of the same book. ' For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, ami-were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, und put bim to an open shame.' The persons whom Paul describes were 'once enlightened.' But ' if the light which was in them was darkness, bow great was that darkness?' Balaam 'saw the visions of the Almighty. and knew the knowledge of the Most High ;' and yet was a sordid, hardened infidel. They had 'tasted the heavenly gift.' To 'taste' is to perceive; and 'gift,' in this and some other texts, is not the thing bestowed, but the disposition of bestowing it. The persons described had per ceived or witnessed tbe benevolence of Christianity ; they had probably seen its benign charac ter in the miraculous cures effected by gur Lord or his apostles ; or they may even have dis cerned tbe salubrious character of its precepts, and the joyous complexion of its doctrines. They had also been ' made partakers of the Holy Ghost.' All persons were made so on whom the apostles imposed hands; yet they communicated not necessarily with the Holy Spirit's person, but only with his gifts. ' Holy Ghost,' when put by a metonyme for what the "Holy Ghost pro duces, means never communion with God, and seldom the enjoyment of regenerating or sancti fying influence, but generally the possession of supernatural endowments. Yet these, in the times of the apostles, were, in some instances, possessed by the unrenewed and unbelieving. 'Many,' said Christ, 'will say to meat that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me ye that work iniquity.' Again, tbe persons whom Paul describes had ' tasted the good word of God, and the powers of tbe world to come.' The phrase, 'the world to come,' bears a very different meaning in the scriptures to what it does in modern religious usage. * His name shall be called the Everlasting Father,' or ' the Father of the world to come,' Isa. ix. 6; ' Unto angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak,' Heb. ii. 3; in these and other passages, the phrase, which, if strictly rendered, is 'the future age,' — the age of Christianity as contrasted to the age of Judaism, — means the Christian dispensation. The word ' powers ' ought to be ' miracles ;' and it denotes not alone what was intrinsically supernatural, but what divinely, because miraculously, attested that the gospel is true. Now, the persons described saw 'the miracles of the Christian dispensation;' they witnessed them in connexion with ' the good affair,' or dispensation ' of God ;' they tasted or perceived both the ministry of reconciliation, and the mightiest testimonies which Jehovah bore to its doctrines. Were they, therefore, convinced of sin, and partakers of saving religious knowledge? Alas! a Seople more honoured, in a sense, than they, — a people who tried God, and proved him, and saw is works of love and miracle, forty years in the wilderness, — ' alway erred in their heart,' and ignomiuiously perished in impenitence. But it may be said that the persons of whom Paul speaks were such as might ' fall away,' or, more properly, ' fall back,' and that they must have been Christians, in order to be capable of becoming apostates. Falling back is simply transition, — transition from character, condition, rank, or even mere profession. Men can renounce only what they possess ; professors mere profession, — Mohammedans mere Mohammedism. Now Paul tells from what the apostates fell back : they abandoned or forsook simply their ' enlightenment,' their communication with miraculous gifts, and their observation of tbe supernatural evidences of the Christian dispensation ; they, in other words, expelled from their minds every favourable opinion of Christianity, and removed or kept their persons beyond the sphere of all the means, both ordi nary and extraordinary, which were employed under the apostolic ministry for bringing sinners to acknowledge or believe the gospel. If the remark which I have just made be duly considered, it will obviate all difficulty in what some persons regard as the most obscure clause in the text which I am considering : ' It is impossible to renew them again to repentance.' The meaning of the word ' repentance,' however, must previously be ascertained. John preached 'the baptism of repentance toward the remission of sins,' Mark i. 4. His disciples were the subjects of a repentance which merely pledged them by profession, and prepared them by the ordeal of religious instruction, to submit to the personal ministry of the Saviour. Few of them ever, and possibly hone at tbe outset, possessed ' repentance unto life,' or ' repentance toward God.' Their repentance, and that of the persons described by Paul, were essentially the same. The 578 FOR WHOM AND FOH WHAT latter sprang from perception of merely the external evidences of truth, and existed in union with unregeneracy; and it necessarily amounted to no more than a profession of attachment to Chris tianity, and a docile attendance on the ministry of the gospel. What the apostates had possessed, &.: to either change of mind or outward reformation, was at best but ' the form of godliness.' Now, the resumption of this was quite incompatible with their apostate condition : ' it was impos- sible to renew them again to repentance.' Having abandoned the profession of error, and em braced the profession of the truth, they ' fell back' to their original state, not only at the expense of relinquishing attendance on the Christian ministry, but in spite of the most convincing evi dences which the new economy could furnish of the truth of Christianity. All the means of grace saving been renounced, there was no instrumentality, no system of morals, no course of effort, which could reclaim them from error. They would not use the instituted ordinances of the gospel, and they even rejected the evidence of miracles The impossibility of renewing tbem was, there fore, natural and necessary: yet it was not absolute, but only relative. It was an impossibility neither in regard to the magnitude of their sins, nor in regard to the intrinsic power of Christian ity, nor in regard to the freeness and availableness of the divine mercy, but simply and altogether in regard to the relative position which infidels or despisers of revealed truth occupy, as such, to the gospel. The apostates were irreclaimable only while they could not be approached by evi dence or by the influence of Christian ordinances; in other words, they were irreclaimable, ' seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.' Their con dition was akin to that of the original murderers of Christ. They contemned Christianity ; they laboured to bring derision on the Saviour; they misconstrued or scorned the most splendid evi dences of his heavenly mission and divine majesty ; they ignominiously transfixed and exhibited to the view of enemies whatever in his cause they imagined to be weak or mortal; and thus, in en mity to God, and hatred of evangelical truth, and passion for the ascendency of error, they were whirled round in the very vortex which, during the scene of the crucifixion, sucked down all the sentiments and feelings of the murderers of Jesus. But were the apostates, therefore, beyond the reach of the divine mercy? or had they committed unpardonable sin? What hinders that there may have been a day of influence from on high and of awakening for them, as truly as there was a day of Pentecost for their prototypes? Suppose them only to have emerged from their seclusion, and to have heard once more the preaching of an apostle, or to have heard anew the gospel's glad tidings, or to have witnessed afresh the stupendous evidences of the apostolic times that Christian ity is true; and yqu will do no violence to any statement of Paul, you will follow out his own allusion to the crucifiers of the Saviour, you will think in unison with all the system of divine truth, and all the history of its highest achievements, if you imagine not a few of the apostates 'goaded to the heart' and ' receiving the word with all gladness and readiness of mind.' I have perhaps said more ou the text in the sixth chapter of Hebrews than was requisite. I view that text, however, as a key to those passages which speak of ' the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost,' and have been regarded as affording prime sanction to the notion of 'an unpardonable sin;' and I have made my remarks somewhat minute, in order that those passages might, in a de gree, be explained by anticipation, and might now, without the aid of any criticism, rise clearly and in their full and simple meaning into view. I have shown that ' world to come' means Christian dispensation; that 'Holy Ghost' is put, by a'metonyme, for miraculous gifts or for supernatural evidence of the truth of Christianity; and that inaccessibility to pardon or tbe means of moral re novation, is only relative, and arises from rejection and neglect of the means of grace. Now, if these explanations have been appreciated, they will be found to have removed the chief difficulties from what tbe evangelists record respecting the sin against the Holy Ghost : — ' Wherefore, I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the bon of Man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it Bhall not be forgiven bim, neither in this world, neither in the world to come, Matt. xii. 31, 32.' The statement in these verses, is, as I understand il, summarily this: — Any sin which merely defames Christ, but does not scorn the evidence of his mission, leaves tbe sinner accessible to the means of salvation; but the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost — because it rejects the chief or highest evidence that the gospel is true — shuts out tbe sinner from every instrumental influence, every method of persuasion, every means of grace employed under either the Jewish economy or the Christian, for bringing the ungodly to repentance. The Pharisees, whom our Lord was addressing} were guilty of self-righteousness and of perverting the word of God, but still stood in the way to be convinced of sin, and made partakers of pardon. They had even derided our Lord's claims to be considered the Messiah, they had denied his true Deity, they had blasphemed his whole charac ter ; still they listened to his discourses and observed his works, and were, in consequence, every moment eligible ' to be convinced of all, and judged of all,' and to be brought to the acknowledg ment and belief of the truth. Now, however, ' they blasphemed the Holy Ghost,' they ascribed to the power of Beelzebub what belonged to the power of God, they contemned the miracles which Jesus worked by the energy of the Divine Spirit; they thus poured scorn upon the brightest evi dences which ever had been exhibited or ever would be witnessed of the truth of a revelation, they despised the strongest attestation to the Messiahship of Jesus, they denied the genuineness of the grand sign-manual which heaven had affixed to the record of the gospel; and, guilty of such ini quities, they necessarily rejected all the ordinary and extraordinary means of grace, and sat down in a position which afforded not one approved, one available, one efficacious instrumentality for conducting sinners into the way of life. But why should it be thought that their sin was unpar donable or their condition hopeless ? A solemn declaration is made, indeed, that a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost should not be forgiven; but is not the same declaration made often, very often, respecting all the workers of iniquity? ' God will by no means clear the guilty.' ' He that be lieveth not on the Son of God shall not see life.' ' As many as have sinned without law shall also PRAYER IS TO EE MADE. 579 tirmilliwlill 7J ~theS,e' ^ 8 Jundred other nassn&es- dec,are that a!! tn(1 ""believing ann the ungodly shall he unpardoned that the sin of „,,l,„i;uf „,„i ,..„„„ „ .;., i..„;j„ „i °. ,he and i de- ,, ,i,,,,,( ¦!.,.. ' ""¦*""""" ic gospel, and of inciting the guilty iSiSfh . h-nl l % miiy .re°elVe Jt' Now' did the Lord of oW »n™. though but once, lay Dd he oi^e thoiiX.' "^ "" 'S* usual,metho'ls of appeal employed in the revelation of mercy? ai sinneTto rZt r'^T th« 6ra"d object of hi. mission and his ministry,-' the calling of s.nneis to repentance? The thought is not to be endured 1 No; he told the Pharisees the SfdrenfctafCt„aThlr I*6"' T' °"ly ,hat th^ mi^ht be warned °fthe extremity of their danger! renounce and ahhT *he -fPP^1'"^ T^F °f.their '"'l™* m^ that they ""B»* be incited *° f'""d abh0J lt; he explained to them how their blaspheming of miracles shut them out make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit;' he did not break away from them, or treat them with silence and in dignation, as if they had been criminals beyond the reach of mercy, but he proceeded to address their judgment and invoke their conscience, and thus treated them as persons who still might feel the influence and realize the salutary results of heavenly expostulation and instruction. The grand truth which he had placed on the foreground of his ministry was still in his heart, and still main- tained alliance with his ministrations and rebukes : ' As Moses lifted up the serpent it, the wilder ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him -whosoever believeth on him — should not perish, but have eternal life.' I have to notice still another text-but one referring to a totally different matter from those already considered —'If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death ; I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death,' 1 John v. lb, 17 1 his passage can, I think, be supposed to refer to any topic akin to the idea of some very peculiar and disastrous species of transgression, only by its being quite cut away from its con text, and by the word xpxgnx throughout it being construed in a sense which, I suspect, it never bears. In the thirteenth verse of the chapter, the apostle states that he had written his epistle in order that those who believed might know that they had eternal life. He then proceeds to say respecting such persons— or true believers, possessors of eternal life—' This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to bis will, he heareth us.' Their abstract privilege, or exaltedly honoured condition of possessing eternal life, was connected with the inter- nal confidence that every prayer of their heart, which should accord with the divine will, would be heard. ' And if we know that he hear us,' adds tbe apostle, ' whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.' Not one blessing shall be refused— not one request shall be denied. All the petitions which shall certainly be answered, however, must not only be framed hi the light of the divine word, but have reference to persons who are spiritually alive, who possess eternal life. To enjoy a confidence that our scriptural requests will all be granted, and to be personal possessors of eternal life, are correlative and co-extensive. We have assurance of spiritual blessings for ourselves and others, only if we and they believe on the Son of God, and be spiritually living men; and no assurance whatever of these blessings — the blessings which belong to God's people, and are enjoyed in a state of union to the Saviour — on the part of persons uho are spiritually dead. Hence, continues the apostle, ' If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.' He is clearly speaking of asking blessings in that confidence of being heard which he had stated to be the privilege of believers, — blessings, too, which are peculiar to the condition, or enjoyable in the justified and regenerated state, of men who are spiritually alive. Faith in Christ and living unto God are correlative with the condition in which the blessings are received, or the confidence that when asked they will be bestowed. To determine, therefore, what persons may certainly enjoy the blessing, or on behalf of whom they may confidently be supplicated, we must look at the conduct of ' brethren,' or those who appear or profess to be believers, and ascertain as accurately as we can whether they be spiritually alive or spiritually dead. ' If any man see his brother sin sin not toward death,' xfixprxtotrx ifj,xpnxt /j.h *pos Bavxrat, — marked by such blemishes, defiled by such remaining corruptions, overtaken with such faults, or in general sinning in such circumstances, as do not evince him to be spiritually dead, as do not constitute motion towards death, »¦{« Bxtxrat — he shall treat that person as still a bro ther, as, notwithstanding his defects, a possessor of spiritual life, and shall pray for him as a brother, in confidence that the blessings of life, the peculiar boons of reviving and sanctifying grace, will be granted to his soul. I am not aware that the word xfAxprix is ever used to denote one act of trans-1 gression, one distinctive species of sinning, or what, in English idiom, is distinctively called 'a sin;' and still less that the verb xitxprxta, either by itself, or followed by its cognate noun, can be under stood to mean, committing one act or species of transgression. Ajj,x^tix, as to its general use at least, means sin in the abstract, — in reference either to any description of sin whatever, or to sin in the aggregate, whether actual, original, or both. See James i. 15; 2 Cor. v. 21; 1 John iii. 4; and many other passages. " We are to suppose, then," as Dr. Ridgeley himself observes, "not that ' sin unto death' spoken of by the apostle is any one particular act of sin, but raiher fhat it is a course or complication of sins;" and so are we to suppose also, respecting ' sin not unto death.'. In proof that the term is understood in a general or abstract way, we need only to look at what the apostle immediately adds, — 'All unrighteousness is sin; and there is sin not towards death.' Commission of what the divine law forbids, or omission of what it commands, is, in all circum- 580 FOR WHOM AND FOR WHAT PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. stances, and in the case of every sort of person whatever, sin; but, in one set of circumstances, with one set of aggravations, it is sin of such a nature as comports with persons being in a justified or spiritually living state ; while, in another set of circumstances, and with another set of aggrava tions, it proves all who practise it to be spiritually dead. We are to distinguish, then, the apostle teaches, between such conduct and character as evince a professing ' brother' to be a self-deceiver and hypocrite, — and such as, though blameable and really sinful, comports with his being a sincere believer; and, according.to the conclusion respecting him which we fairly draw, we are, or are not, to pray on his behalf, with confidence of being beard, for those blessings which are ever available to believers in Jesus, but are peculiar to them as possessors of eternal life. If a professing ' brother' sin ' toward death,' he may. as other parts of the divine word teach, be prayed for as an unrenewed man. that he may be converted and brought to the saving knowledge of the truth ; but he may not, as the apostle shows, be prayed for as a believer, as a possessor of spiritual life, as one of that happy community who, 'whatsoever they ask of God, know that they have the petitions which they desire of him.' Due discrimination, in other words, is to be used in prayer. Just as we are not to pray for a believer, as though he were a stranger to the grace of God; so we are not to pray for an unbeliever, as though he were a renewed and sanctified man. Let the blessings of enlight ening and renovating grace he supplicated on behalf of the spiritually dead : but let the blessings which follow the possession of eternal life, and comport with a state of believing on the Son of God, be supplicated on behalf of those only who have been born of God, and who do not commit sin in the manner or with the aggravations of the unrenewed in heart. See verse lfcV- that follow ing the text in question— compared with 1 John iii. 8, 9. What the apostle teaches in the verses in question, is thus in strict keeping with the scope of the context, and is a matter of great practi cal moment, but a matter which has no conceivable affinity whatever to the idea of an unpardon able sin. I do not know whether I have succeeded in making my views of the texts discussed — especially of those in Hebrews and the gospels — clear and distinct. I shall be happy, howiever, if what I have said shall, while commending itself to tbe judgment, make a deeper impression than before upon the heart, of ' the love of God,' and 'the unsearchable riches of Christ.' I regret that the idea of ' an unpardonable sin' should ever have prevailed, and deplore the low estimate which it is fitted to occasion of the glorious, the surpassing, the infinite worth of our Lord's atonement. A limited efficiency in redemption, is far, very far, from clouding the most gorgeous views possible of unlimited sufficiency. Whenever mercy is exhibited, it is seen to be infinite, divinely full and free; whenever the atonement is described, it is seen to be rich as the moral glory of the Redeemer's Deity, available for ' the chief of sinners,' able to save to the uttermost; whenever ' the grace of God which bringeth salvation' is displayed, it is seen to be higher than height, deeper than depth, surmounting man's loftiest iniquities, and profounder far than his deepest miseries. ' Where sin was filling up, grace has exceeding overflowed ; so that while sin reigns by death, grace reigns through righteousness, on to life without end, through the Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord of the redeemed.' — Ed.] HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. Question CLXXXV. How are we to pray ? Answer. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of tbe majesty of God, and deep sense oi our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins, with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts, with un derstanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble sub mission to his will. The Frame of Mind in which Prayer, is to be made, This Answer respects the manner of performing prayer, and the frame of spirit. with which we are to draw nigh to God. 1. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God. Without this, our behaviour would be highly resented by him, and reckoned no other than a thinking him altogether such an one as ourselves. Some of the divine perfec* tions have a more immediate tendency to excite an holy reverence. Accordingly, we are to consider him as omnipresent and omniscient, to whom our secret thoughts and the principle -.whence our actions proceed, are better .known than they can be to ourselves. We are to conceive of him as a God of infinite holiness ; so that he cannot but be highly displeased with that worship which is opposite to holiness, and which proceeds from a conscience defiled with sin, or is performed in an un holy manner. Thus the prophet says, ' Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity ;'° that is, thou canst not behold it without tha c Hab. i. 13. HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 581 utmost detestation ; and therefore, ' if we regard it in our hearts, he will not hear our prayers.' d We are also to have a due sense of the spirituality of his nature, that we may worship him in a spiritual manner. Hence, we are not to entertain any carnal conceptions of him, or frame ideas of him like those we have of finite or corporeal beings ; nor are we to think it sufficient that our external deportment is grave and has a show of reverence, when our hearts are not, at the same time, engaged in this duty, or disposed to give him the glory which is due to his name. We are also to draw nigh to him with- a due sense of those perfections which tend to encourage us to perform this duty, with hope of finding acceptance in his sight. Accordingly, we are to conceive of him as a God of infinite goodness, mercy, and faithfulness, withwhom is plenteous redemption, in and through a Mediator, which is suitable to our: condition as indigent, miserable, and guilty sinners ; and as a God of infinite power, who is ' able to do exceeding abundantly above all we are able to ask - or think. ' e 2. Weare to pray to God with anhumble sense of our own unworthiness. This is the necessary -result of high conceptions of his divine excellency and greatness ; whereby we are led to consider ourselves as infinitely below him. Indeed, the best of creatures are induced by conceptions of his. divine excellency to worship him .with the greatest humility. Thus the seraphim are represented, in the vision which the prophet Isaiah had of them, as ministering to and attending upon our ^Lord, Jesus, when sitting on a throne in his temple ; and as 'covering their faces and, their feet with their wings,' denoting their unworthiness to behold his glory, or toibe employed by him in his service/ But when we take a view of his infi nite holiness, and our own impurity, we should be induced to draw nigh to him with the greaitest humility. As dependent creatures, we have nothing but what we de rive from him ; as frail dying creatures', we wither away, and are brought to nothing.s Job oompares our state to that of a leaf, which is easily broken and driven to and fro, or to that of the dry stubble, which can make no resistance against the wind that pursues it. .The psalmist, speaking of man in general, says, ' Lord, what is man that thou takest knowledge of him ; or the son of man, that thou makest ac count of him ?'h Elsewhere also it is said, ' What is man, that thou shouldst mag nify him, and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him?'' These are hum bling considerations. But we shall be led into a farther sense of our own un worthiness, .when we consider ourselves as sinful creatures, worthy to be abhorred by God ; so that he might justly reject us, and refuse to answer our prayers. But as this humble frame of spirit is so necessary for the right performance of this duty, . we shall notice some things which are particular inducements to it. First, the greatest glory we can bring to God can make no addition to his infinite perfections.. Thus it is said, ' Can a man be • profitable unto God, as he that is wise may. be profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure,' that is, any advantage, to the Almighty, ' that thou art righteous ? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect ?'k Elsewhere also it is said, ' If thou be righteous, what givest thou him, or what receiveth he of thy hand ?'» denoting that it is impossible for us, by. any thing we can do or suffer for his sake, to make him more glorious than he would have been in himself had we never- had a being. Now, if there is nothing by which We can lay any obligations on God, we have reason to address ourselves. to him with a sense of our own unworthiness.— Again, we are so far from meriting any good, thing from the hand of God, that by our repeated transgressions, notwith standing the- daily mercies we receive from him, we give farther proofs of our great unworthiness. Indeed, if we are enabled to do any thing in obedience to his will, our ability is not from ourselves ; yea, it is contrary to the dictates of corrupt nature, and must be ascribed to him as the author of it.— Again, if we could do the great est service to God by espousing his cause, and promoting his interest in the world ; it is no more than what we are bound to do ; and, at the same time, we must consider that ' it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.'™ — Further the best believers recorded in scripture, have entertained a constant, hum- d 'Pk'hI' lxvi 18 e Eph. iii. 20. f Isa. vi. 1—4. g Job xiii. 25. h Psal. civ. 3. i Job vii! 17. k Chap. xxii. 2, 3. 1 Chap. xxxv. 7. m Phil. ii. 13. 582 HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE". ble sense of their own unworthiness. Abraham, when he stood before the Lord, making supplications in behalf of Sodom, expressed himself thus : ' Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.' Jacob says, ' I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant.'" And they who have been most zealous and eminently useful in promoting Christ's interest in the world, have had an humble sense of their own unworthiness. Thus the apostle says concerning himself, ' I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle ;'° and lie imme diately adds, ' By the grace of God I am what I am.'P And elsewhere he styles himself, ' less than the least of all saints, 'i We have another instance of humility in prayer in the psalmist's words, ' I am a worm, and no man ;'r which, so far as they have any reference to his own case, may give us occasion to infer that the most advanced circumstances in which any are in the world, are not inconsistent with humility, when drawing nigh to God in prayer. But if we consider him as speaking in the person of Christ, as several expressions in the psalm argue him to do, and cannot well be taken in any other sense ; s then we have, in the words re ferred to, the most remarkable instance of the humble address which was used by Christ in his human nature, when drawing nigh to God in prayer. And this is certainly a great motive to induce us to engage in this duty with the utmost hu mility. 3. We are to draw nigh to God in prayer, with a sense of our necessities, and of the sins which we have committed against him. We are to consider ourselves as indigent creatures, who are stripped and deprived of that glory and those bright ornaments which were put on man in his state of innocency ; destitute of the divine image, and of all those things which are necessary to our happiness ; unless he is pleased to supply our wants, forgive our iniquities, and grant us communion with himself ; which things we are to draw nigh to him in prayer for. We are also, in this duty, to have a sense of sin, that is, of the guilt which we contract by it, and the punishment we have exposed ourselves to, that we may see our need of draw ing nigh to God in Christ's righteousness ; and also of the stain and pollution of it, that we may be induced to fall down before the footstool of the throne of grace, with the greatest degree of self-abhorrence. We are also to consider how we are enslaved to sin, and how prone we are at all times to ' serve divers lusts and plea sures,'' and to ' walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'" Moreover, we are to consider sin as deeply rooted in our hearts, debasing our affections, and captivating our wills. If we are in an unconverted state, we are to look upon it as growing and increasing in us, rendering us more and more indis posed for what is good, and setting us at a farther distance from God and holiness. If, on the other hand, we have ground to hope that we are made partakers of con- n Gen. xxxii. 10. o 1 Cor. xv. 9. p Ver. 10. q Ephes. iii. 8. r Psal. xxii. 6. s Many suppose that all those Psalms in which some particular expressions are referred to in Ihe New Testament, as having their accomplishment in Christ, are to be understood as containing a double reference, namely, to David, as descriptive of his particular case, and to Christ, of whom lie « as an eminent type, But as for Psalm xxii., there are several expr.-ssioris in it, not only applied to Christ in the New Testament, but which cannot well be understood of any other but him. In the first verse he useB the same words which were uttered by Christ on tbe cross. Matt, xxvii. 46, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' In verse 8, ' He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him,' is an expression which was used by those who mocked and derided him, Matt, xxvii. 41, 43. And what is said in verses 14, 1", 'All my bones are out of joint; I may tell them, they look and stare upon me ;' does not seem to be applicable to David, from any thing said concerning him elsewhere ; but is a lively representation of the torment a per son endures, when hanging on a cross, as our Saviour did ; which had a tendency to disjoint the bones, and cause them to stick out. And when it is said, verses 16, 18, 'They pierced my bands and my feet,' ami ' they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture;' the former was fulfilled iu Christ's being nailed to the cross, and his side pierced with a spear; and the latter is expressh referred to as fulfilled in the parting of Christ's garments, and casting lots upon his vesture, M,itt. xxvii. 35, as an accomplishment of what was foretold, by the royal prophet, in this Psalm. These expressions cannot, in the least, be applied to David, but are to be understood of our Saviour. We may conclude, therelore, that those words in verse 6, * I am a worm,' &c. are peculiarly to be applied to him. t Tit. iii. 3. u Ephes. ii. 2. HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 583 verting grace, we are to consider that we have acted contrary to the highest obli gations, and been guilty of the greatest ingratitude.. These things we are to en deavour to be affected with, when drawing nigh to God in prayer, in order to our performing this duty aright. The Graces which are to be exercised in Prayer. 1. Among the several graces which are to be exercised in prayer, is that of re pentance. This is necessary because we are sinners, and as such, are to come into the presence of God with confession, joined with supplication, which must be made with a penitent frame of spirit. The contrary to such a frame is a tacit approba tion of sin, and a kind of resolution to adhere to it ; which is very unbecoming those who are pleading for forgiveness. Accordingly, when God promised that he would ' pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications,' he adds, that ' they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him,' or for it, ' as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born,' and that this shall be done by 'every family apart, and their wives apart. '* So when 'the priests, the ministers of the Lord,' are commanded to 'pray' that he would ' spare his people ;' they are commanded, at the same time, to 'weep between the porch and the altar, to rend their hearts, and turn unto the Lord their God.'? And when Israel are advised to ' take with them words,' and instructed how they should pray, they are exhorted to ' turn unto the Lord,' to repent of their seeking help from Assyria and Egypt, and of that abominable idolatry which they had been guilty of. z Now, there are several very proper subjects of meditation which, through the divine blessing, may excite the grace of repentance when we are engaged in the duty of prayer ; particularly, the multitude of transgressions which are charged on the consciences of men by the law, that ' every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God ;'a and especially, the ingratitude which we have reason to accuse ourselves of, our contempt of Christ and of the way of sal vation by him discovered in the gospel, and our having done many things in the course of our lives which fill us with shame and sorrow, whenever we come into the presence of God, to pour out our hearts before him in this duty. 2. The next grace to be exercised in prayer, is thankfulness ; prayer and praise ought to be joined together. Thus the psalmist says, ' Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed, O thou that hearest prayer. 'b That this is a part of prayer was observed under a former Answer; where we considered the many blessings for which we have reason to be thankful. I shall only add, at present, that it is matter of thankfulness that we, who might have been for ever banished from his presence, or have been brought before his judgment-seat as criminals doomed to everlasting destruction, have liberty of ac cess to God, in hope of obtaining mercy from him, as sitting on a throne of grace. Moreover, we are to bless him, not only for leave to come before him, but for our having often experienced that he has heard and answered our prayers, and so ful filled that promise, ' I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.'c That we may be brought into a thankful frame, we ought to consider the worth of every mercy ; especially of those mercies which are spiritual, or accompany sal vation. This we may judge of by the price which was paid for them. That price was no less than the blood of Jesus ; and the apostle not only styles it ' precious,' but speaks-of it as infinitely preferable to every thing which is 'corruptible.'3 We may, in some measure, also, take an estimate of the value of salvation by the worth and excellency of the soul, and by its being conducive to promote its eternal wel fare Again, we are to consider every saving blessing as the fruit and result of everlasting love, and as the consequence of God's eternal design, in having chosen those who are the objects of his love to salvation in Christ.6 We must also x Zech xii. 10, et seq. y Joel ii. 13, 17. z Hosea xiv. 1—3, 8. a Rom. iii. 19. b Psal. lxv. 1,2. c Isa. xiv. 19. d 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. e Jer. xxxi. 3. 584 HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. consider the mercies of salvation as discriminating, or that God, in bestowing them, distinguishes his people from the world, and glorifies the riches of his grace in those who deserve to have been for ever the monuments of his wrath. — Again, we might here consider as an inducement to the grace of thankfulness, the aggravations of the sin of ingratitude. This sin is a virtual disowning of our obligation to God, or dependence on him from whom we receive all mercies ; and a behaving of our selves as if we were not indebted to him for them, or could be happy without him, or as if. we were self-sufficient, and did not look upon him as the fountain of bless edness. It is also a refusing to give him the glory of his wisdom, power, goodness, and faithfulness, which are eminently displayed in the blessings which he bestows. It is likewise unaccordant with the large expectations we have of the blessings he has reserved for his people, or promised to them, or that hope which he has laid* up for them in heaven. Hence we cannot but conclude that ingratitude argues a person destitute of holiness ; which eminently discovers itself in the exercise of thankfulness. Accordingly, the apostle joins ingratitude and unholiness together, when speaking of the vilest of men, whom he styles, ' unthankful, unholy.'* 3. Another grace to be exercised in prayer, is faith. This implies an habitual disposition of soul, proceeding from a principle of regenerating grace, whereby we are led to commit ourselves and all our concerns into Christ's hands, depending on his merits and mediation for the supply of all our wants, considering him as having purchased, and as being authorized to apply, all the benefits of the covenant of grace, which are the subject of our supplications. More particularly, faith exerts and discovers itself in prayer, by encouraging the soul, and giving it an holy bold ness to draw nigh to God, notwithstanding our great unworthiness. If we are afraid to come into the presence of an holy God ; if destruction from him is a ter ror to us ; if the threatenings he has denounced against sinners, such as we know ourselves to be, discourage us from drawing nigh to him, so that we are ready to say with Job, ' Therefore am I troubled at his presence ; when I consider, I am afraid of him ;'* if his almighty power, which can easily sink us into perdition, over whelms our spirits, and fills us with the utmost distress and confusion, so that we cannot draw nigh to him in prayer, considering him as an absolute God ; we are encouraged by faith to look upon him as our covenant God and Father in Christ, and then all his divine perfections afford relief to us. His sin-revenging justice is regarded by faith, as fully satisfied by Christ's obedience and sufferings ; so that it will not demand that satisfaction at our hands which it has already received from our Surety, who was ' made sin for us' though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.'11 His infinite power is no longer looked upon as engaged to destroy us, but rather as engaged to succour us under all our weakness ; so that, as Job says, ' He will not plead against us with his great power ; no, but he will put strength in us.'' We consider it as ready to support us under the heaviest pressures, and to enable us to perform the most difficult duties, and to overcome all our spiritual enemies, who would be otherwise too strong for us. Hence, this attribute is so far from discouraging us from drawing nigh to God in prayer, that, by faith, we behold it as delighting to exert and glorify itself, in do ing those great things for us which we have in view when we engage in this duty. Faith farther discovers itself in prayer, by enabling us to plead, and apply to ourselves, the great and precious promises which God has given to his people in the gospel. As prayer cannot subsist without a promise, so we are enabled by faith to apprehend and plead the promises, and to say, ' Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.'k By faith we look upon God as ready to bestow the blessings which he has promised, and upon his faithfulness as engaged to make them good. Thus the psalmist says, ' Hear my prayer, 0 Lord ; give ear to my supplications ; in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.'1 There is nothing that we want, or ought to pray for, but there are some promises contained in the word of God which faith improves and takes encouragement from, in this duty. As what we pray for respects either temporal blessings, or those which are spiritual and eternal, these are looked f 2 Tim. iii. 2. g Job xxi i. 15. h 2 Cor. v. 21. l Job xxiii. 6. k Psal. cxix. 49. 1 Psal. cxliii. 1. HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 585 upon by faith as promised. Accordingly, the apostle says, ' Godliness has the pro- mise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.'m That there are promises on which faith rests might be very largely insisted on, and many instances might be given of them in scripture ; but I shall" more especially consider those promises which respect God's enabling us to pray, and his hearing and answering our pray ers, which faith lays hold on and improves, in order to our performing this duty in a right manner. Thus there are promises of the Spirit's assistance to enable us to pray. This the apostle calls his ' making intercession for us, according to the will of God.'n And our Saviour says, ' If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy -Spirit to them that ask him?'0 There are also promises which respect God's hear ing and answering prayer. Thus it is said, ' In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee ; for thou wilt answer me ;'D and, ' God will regard the prayer of the des titute, and not despise their prayer.'i That God will hear and answer prayer is considered as of very large extent. Thus our Saviour says, ' Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name, he will give it you ;'r and, ' If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'' These universal expressions of God's giving believers 'what they will,' are to be understood of his granting their lawful and regular desires. Indeed, faith will never ask any thing but what tends to the glory of God ; and it presents its requests with an entire submission to his will. Hence, its desires are always fulfilled ; though it is far otherwise with respect to those prayers which are not put up in faith. Moreover, God has promised to hear and answer all kinds of prayer, provided they proceed from this grace. In particular, he promises to hear united prayers in the assemblies of his saints ; as he says to Solomon, after the dedication of the temple, ' Mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.' * He also promises to hear those prayers which' are put up to him in families. Where a small number, though it be but 'two or three,' are joined together, Christ has promised to be ' in the midst of them,'u not only to assist them in this duty, but to give them what they ask for. There are also promises made to secret prayer. Thus when our Saviour encourages people to ' pray to their Father, which is in se cret,' he. tells them, 'My Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.'* Here it will be inquired, whether it be necessary in order to our praying by faith, that we be assured, at all times, that our prayer shall be heard. We answer, first, that it is not our duty to believe that every prayer shall be heard ; for God heareth not sinners, that is, those who are under the reigning power of sin, and consequently are destitute of the grace of faith : nor will he hear those prayers that proceed from feigned lips. Thus it is said, 'If I regard, iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.' * Again, it is not the duty of those who have the truth of grace to believe that their prayer shall be heard when, byTeason of their infir mity, or the weakness of their faith, they ask for that which is unlawful, and does not redound to the glory of God and their real good. Again, even if what we pray for may be for the glory of God, and redound to our advantage, it is not our duty to determine, with too great peremptoriness, that he will certainly grant what we ask, immediately, or in the particular way which we desire ; for he may answer prayer, and yet do it in his own time and way. Further,1 it is not our duty to be lieve assuredly, that God will give us all the temporal blessings which we ask,— especially if they be not absolutely necessary for us ; for he may answer us m value, , though not in kind, and so give spiritual blessings, instead of those temporal ones which we pray for. In this case none will say that he is unfaithful to his promise, though, we haye not those blessings in kind which we desire. It is hence our duty, and the- great concern of faith in prayer, to be assured that, as God knows what is best for us, so he will make good his promises, in such a way that we shall have no reason to conclude ourselves to have been disappointed, or that we have asked hr faith but have not obtained. m 1 Tim iv 8. n Bom- »»'• 27". ° Luke "'• ,3, P Psa1' lx**v>- 7. a Psal cii 17 r J°hn xvi- 23- " Chap' xv' '' * 2 Chron- vii- ls- u Matt, xviii. 20. xChap. vi.6. y Psal. lxvi. 18. 1 E 586 HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. I am sensible there is a difficulty in the mode of expression used by the apostle James, ' But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering ; for let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.'2 By this language, the apostle does not intend that he who doubts whether his prayer shall be answered, cannot be said, in any sense, to pray in faith. For, as assurance of our salvation is not of the essence of faith, so that faith cannot subsist without it ; so assurance, or a firm persuasion that the very thing we ask shall be given, is not such an essential ingredient of faith in prayer as to warrant us to determine, that for want of it, we shall receive nothing which is good from the Lord. I conceive, therefore, that the apostle, by ' wavering,' in this text, has reference to our being in doubt about the object of faith, or to our not being steadfast in the grace of faith, but praying with hypocrisy. For he illustrates it by the similitude of ' a wave driven with the wind,' which sometimes moves one way, at other times the. contrary ; and he far ther explains it, when he says, ' A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.'" Hence, the person whom he describes as ' wavering ' is the same with ' a double- minded man,' or an hypocrite. Such an one cannot ask in faith. The apostle, therefore, does not mean that no one can exercise this grace in prayer, but he who has a full assurance that his prayer shall be answered in the particular way which he expects. It is objected by some that they have no faith ; and as this grace must be exer cised in prayer, they are very often discouraged from performing that duty. But though the want of a prepared frame of spirit for any duty, affords matter of humili ation, it is no excuse for the neglect of it. As for prayer, in particular, we are to wait on God in it for a prepared frame of spirit, that, by means of this, we may draw nigh to him in a right manner, as well as for a gracious answer from him. Again, if we cannot bring glory to God by a fiducial pleading of the promises, or applying them to ourselves ; we must endeavour to glorify him by confessing our guilt and unworthiness, and acknowledging that all our help is in him. Again, it is possible for us to have some acts of faith in prayer, when we are not sensible of them, and even bewail our want of this grace. Further, if none were to pray but those who have faith, it would follow that none must pray for the first grace, which supposes a person to be in an unregenerate state. Yet, such are obliged to perform this duty as well as they can, and therein to hope for that grace which may enable them to do it as they ought. It is objected by others that, though they dare not lay aside the duty of prayer, yet, as they do not experience those graces which are necessary for the right per formance of it, nor any returns of prayer, they have no satisfaction in their own spirits. But there may be faith in prayer, and yet no immediate answer to prayer. God, in answering prayer, acts in a way of sovereignty ; and he will have his peo ple know that if he grants their requests, it shall be in his own time and way. Hence, it is their duty to wait for him till he is pleased to manifest himself as a God hearing prayer, and till, in consequence, the discouragements which at pre sent they labour under are removed. Besides, there are other ways by which the truth of grace is to be judged of, besides our' having sensible answers of prayer. Sometimes, indeed, God may give many intimations of his acceptance of us, though, at present, we know it not. 4. The next grace to be exercised in prayer, is love to God. This implies an earnest desire of his presence, delight in him, or taking pleasure in contemplating his perfections as the most glorious and amiable object. Desire supposes him, in some measure, withdrawn from us, or that we are not possessed of that complete blessedness which is to be enjoyed in him ; and delight supposes him present, and, in some degree, manifesting himself to us. Now, love to God, in both these re spects, is to be exercised in prayer. Is he in any measure withdrawn from us ? We are, with the greatest earnestness, to long for his return to us, whose loving- kindness is better than life. Is he graciously pleased, in any degree, to manifest himself to us as the fountain of all we enjoy or hope for ? His doing so will have a tendency to excite our delight in him, and induce us to conclude that our happi- z James i. 6, 7. a Ver. 8. HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 587 ness consists in the enjoyment of him. These graces are to be exercised at all times, but more especially in prayer ; for this is an offering up of our desires to God, in which we press after the enjoyment first of himself, and then of his bene fits. And as we are to bless and praise him for the discoveries we have of his glory, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to the securing of our spiritual good and advantage ; we, in doing so, express that delight in him which is the highest instance of love. 5. Another grace to be exercised in prayer, is submission to the will of God. In practising this, we leave ourselves and our petitions in his hand, sensible that he knows what is best for us. The submission required does not include a being in different whether our prayers are heard or not ; for to have this feeling would be to contradict, by the frame of our spirits, what we express with our lips. Whatever may be concluded to be lawful for us to ask, as redounding to our advantage, and as expressly promised by God, we ought to request at his hand in prayer ; and if we pray for it, we cannot but desire that our prayer may be heard and answered. Now, this desire is not opposed to that submission to the divine will which we are speaking of, provided we leave it to God to do what he thinks best for us, being content that the manner of his answering us, as well as the time of his bestowing those blessings which we want, together with the degree of them, especially if they are of a temporal nature, ought to be resolved into his sovereign will. Thus con cerning the graces which we are to exercise in prayer. Requisites to the Graces which are to be exercised in Prayer. There are some things mentioned in' this Answer, which are necessary to 'our exercising the graces of which we have been speaking. These are the enlighten ment of our minds, the enlargement of our hearts, and our having sincerity in the inward part. 1. There must be some degree of understanding. Ignorance is so far from being, as the Papists pretend, the mother of devotion, that it is inconsistent with the ex ercise of those graces with which we ought to draw nigh to God in prayer. The affections, indeed, may be moved, where there is but a very little knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel ; but they will at the same time be misled. Nor, in such a case, can raised affections any more be called religious devotion, than the words or actions of one who is in a frenzy, can be called rational. Hence, as prayer is unacceptable without the exercise of grace ; so gra'ce cannot be exercised without the knowledge of the truth, as derived from the sacred treasury of scripture. Here we might consider, that we must know something of God who is the object of prayer, as well as of all other acts of religious worship. We must also know some thing of Christ the Mediator, through whom we have access to him, as well as ac ceptance with him ; and something of the work and glory of the Holy Ghost, on trbnm we are to depend for his assistance in presenting our supplications to God. We must know our necessities, otherwise we cannot tell what to ask for ; and also ihe promises of the gospel, otherwise we cannot be encouraged to hope for an answer. 2. In order to our exercising grace in prayes, we must have some degree of en- largedness of heart. By enlargedness of heart is meant that state of mind in which every thing tending to contract our affections, abate the fervency of our spirits, or hinder that importunity which we ought to express for the best of blessings, is re moved. Now, our hearts may be said to be enlarged in prayer, when we draw nigh to God in this duty with delight and earnest longing after his presence, and an interest in his love, which we reckon preferable to all other blessings ; when we are affected with a becoming sense of his glorious perfections, and our own nothing ness, in order to our adoring him, and coming before him with the greatest humil ity ; when we have suitable promises given in, and are enabled to plead them with a degree of hope, arising from the goodness and faithfulness of God, that he will fulfil them, more especially as we draw nigh to him as to a covenant-God ; and when our thoughts and affections are engaged without wandering, weariness, or lukewarmness, and filled with importunity, agreeable to the importance of the duty, and our absolute need of the blessings we pray for. 588 - HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 3. In order to our exercising those graces which are necessary for our drawing nigh to God aright in prayer, we must have sincerity of heart. This includes much more than what is generally so called, as opposed to dissimulation in those who perform some good actions merely to be seen of men, or who take up religion to answer some base and vile end which they have in view. In this respect a sin cere person is one who is no dissembler. But the sincerity which we are speaking of, consists in a person's acting from a principle of grace implanted in regeneration, or in his being able to appeal to God, as Job does, ' Thou knowest that I am not wicked ;'b that is, that there is no reigning sin, whereby my heart is alienated from thee, or set against thee. A sincere person is such an one as our Saviour describes, when he speaks of Nathanael, and gives him this character : '-' Behold an- Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.'c In this case, a person's heart and actions go toge ther ; and he may truly say, as David does, ' Attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. ' d Thus concerning the graces which are to be exercised in prayer, and what is necessary in order to our exercising them. Perseverance in Prayer. What is farther observed concerning prayer, is that we are to persevere in it ; resolving not to desist from waiting on God in it, whatever seeming discourage ments may, at present, lie in our way. Prayer is not a duty to be perfomed only at some certain times ; as the prophet speaks of those who, ' in their affliction, will seek God early ;'e or, as the mariners, in Jonah, who ' cried,, every man unto his god, ' in a storm, though it is probable they seldom prayed at other times. f But we are to 'pray always with all prayer and supplication, and to watch thereunto with all perseverance ;'s that is, we ought always to endeavour to be in.a pray ing frame, and on all occasions to lift up our hearts to God for direction, assist ance, and success in every thing we do agreeably to his will, and for a supply of those wants which daily recur upon us. There are various discouragements in our way which, through our unbelief, and the prevalency of corruption, often prevent our going on in this duty. Thus we are sometimes discouraged from persevering in prayer, by reason of the deadness and stupidity of our spirits, which we cannot bring into a- suitable frame for. the discharge of this duty; and therefore we are ready to conclude that* while-we draw nigh to God with our lips, our hearts are far from him. This is, indeed, a very afflictive case ; but we ought not to take occasion from it to lay aside the duty, but ought rather to depend on the assistance of the Spirit, to enable us to-perform- it in a right manner. Another discouraging circumstance is, God's denying us sensible returns of prayer. This he may do for various reasons. Sometimes he sees defects , in prayer, which he is obliged to testify his displeasure against ; , and. this he some times does by hiding himself, or, as it were, withdrawing from us, and, in all ap pearance, shutting out our prayers, that we may take .occasion to search out the secret sin which lies at the root of our defects, and confess it, and be humbled for it; Thus when Joshua, after a small 'defeat which Israel had received by the men of Ai, fell upon his face, and spread the matter before the Lord in prayer, God con descends to tell him the reason of the defeat, ' Get thee up ; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face ? Israel hath sinned, and. they have also transgressed, my -cove nant which I commanded them ; for they have even taken of the accursed thing,; therefore could they not stand before their enemies.'11 And. when the sin was dis covered, and Achan who troubled them was punished, what he asked for was granted. Again, God may deny an immediate answer of prayer, out of his mere sovereignty, in order that we may know that it is not for us to prescribe to him the time or way in which he shall dispense those benefits, which are not owing to our merit, but his own grace. Sometimes we pray, but do not use other means, which God has appointed for b Job x. 7. c John i. 47. d Psal. xvii. I. e Hoi. v. 15. f Jonah i. 5. g Eph. vi. 18. h Josh. vii. 10 — 12. HOW PRAYER IS TO BE MADE. 583 obtaining the blessing. Thus when Israel was disheartened, being pursued by Pharaoh and his host, and did not care to move out of their places, Moses ad dressed himself to God for them in prayer ; and ' the Lord said unto him, Where fore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward ;' and then he ordered him to ' lift up his rod and stretch it over the sea, and divide it, that they might go through the midst thereof on dry ground.'1 We are not only to pray, but to use other means which God has appointed ; without which we can not expect that prayer should be answered. Thus Hezekiah, when sick, prayed to God, who assured him that he had heard his prayers, and would heal him, but that, nevertheless, he was to use the means which God had ordered, by ' taking a lump of figs and laying it on the boil.' This he did accordingly, and was restored to health.k Do we pray for a comfortable subsistence in the world ? We must, if we expect that God should answer us, use industry in our callings, as well as own him by prayer and supplications. Do we pray for any of the graces of the Spirit, in order to the beginning or carrying on of the work of sanctification ? We must, at the same time, attend on the means of grace, which God has ordained for that purpose. Or do we pray for assurance of the love of God, and for the spiritual peace and comfort which are the result of that assurance ? We must be diligent in the performance of the work of self-examination ; else we are not to expect that God will answer our prayers. Sometimes God delays to answer our prayers, because we have not given him the glory of former mercies, or because he designs to try our patience, whether we are inclined, not only to wait upon him, but to wait for him. Thus the prophet says, ' I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.'1 So the psalmist says, ' As the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the eyes of her mistress ; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us.'m And elsewhere the psalmist, though he was in great depths, and stood in need of an immediate answer when he cried to the Lord, yet determines to ' wait for him,' and to ' hope in his word ;' that is, while he is expecting a mercy, he does not despair of having it in the end, because he depends on God's word of promise. He resolves to ' wait as those that watch for the morning ;'n and he thus practises two graces, namely, patiently wait ing for the blessing expected, and yet earnestly desiring it. The practising of these graces is our indispensable duty, whereby we glorify God, sensible that it is not for us to prescribe to him when he should fulfil our desires. We ought to say, with Jacob, • I will not let thee go, except thou bless me ;'° that is, I will perse vere in prayer till thou art pleased to give me all the blessings I stand in need of, and bring me into that state in which I shall be satisfied with thy goodness, and my imperfect prayers turned into endless praises. i Exod. xiv. 15, 16. k Isa. xxxviii. 21. 1 Hah. ii. 1. m Pud. cxxiii. 2. n Psal. cxxx. / 5, 6. o Gen. xxxn. » 590 THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. Question CLXXXVI. What rule hath God given for our direction in the duty of prayer* Answer. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of praying ; but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which our Saviour Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's prayer. Question CLXXXVII. How is the Lord's Prayer to be used f Answer. The Lord's Prayer is not only for dilection, as a pattern according to which we are to make other prayers, but may also be used as a prayer, so that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty. The Necessity of a Rule of Direction for Prayer. As to what is said in the former of these Answers, concerning the word of God being a rule for our direction in prayer, it may be observed that we need some direction in order to our performing this duty. Man is naturally a stranger to both God and himself ; he knows but little of the glorious perfections of the divine nature, and is not duly sensible of the guilt which he contracts, or the mercies which he receives ; and, in consequence, he is at a loss as to the matter of the duty in which he is to engage. It is certain, that many have a general notion of religion, or of some moral duties, which they are sensible of their being obliged to perform, and yet are unable to address themselves to God in such a manner as he requires ; so that it may truly be said of them, that ' they cannot order their speech by reason of darkness.' p We find that the disciples themselves, who were intimately conversant with Christ, and who, as must be supposed, often joined with him in prayer, were, notwithstanding, at a loss as to this duty ; and therefore they said, ' Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.' i The Word of God the Rule of Direction for Prayer. It is farther observed that the word of God is to be made use of for our direc tion in prayer. This is evident from the fact that we are to ask nothing but what is agreeable to his revealed will, which is contained in his word. Nor will any one who is well acquainted with scripture have reason to say, that he wants sufficient matter for prayer. This is a very useful Head ; and we shall consider several things in scripture which ought to be improved, in order to our direction and assist ance in the performance of this duty. I. The historical parts of scripture, which contain an account of the providences of God in the world and the church, may be of use for our direction in prayer. As we are to pray, not only for ourselves but for others, his former dealings with his people will furnish us with matter accommodated to our observations of the necessities of the church of God in our day. 1. We find, from scripture, that the sins which a professing people have committed, have been followed with many terrible instances of the divine wrath and vengeance. Thus we have an account of the universal apostacy of the world from God, which occasioned their being destroyed by a flood ; of the unnatural lusts of the inhabi tants of Sodom, for which they were consumed by fire from heaven ; and of the idolatry and other vile abominations committed by the Israelites, for which ' God was wroth, and greatly abhorred them,' and they were exposed to many temporal and spiritual judgments, so that, as the psalmist says, ' He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men ; and delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.'r We may hence take occasion to inquire whether we have not been guilty of sins equally great, and, it may be, of the same kind ; which are to be confessed, and the judgments entailed by them to be de precated. In the New Testament, also, we read of some flourishing churches, planted by the apostles in the beginning of the gospel dispensation, which have nothing left Job xxxvii. 19. q Luke xi. 1. r Psal. lxxviii. 59—61. THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. 591 but a sad remembrance of the privileges which they once enjoyed ; in whose history what Christ says concerning his removing 'his candlestick out of its place,' was soon fulfilled.8 Now, the case of these churches is of use for our direction in prayer, that he would keep his church and people of the present day from running into the same sms, and exposing themselves to the same judgments. 2. We have an account, in scripture, of the church's increase and preservation, notwithstanding the darkest dispensations of providence, and the most violent per secutions from its enemies. When they were in hard bondage, and severely dealt with in Egypt, it is observed that ' the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew ;'' and when they, in all appearance, were nearest to ruin, God opened a door for their deliverance, and often did great things in their behalf, which they looked not for. We have also an historical account in scripture of God's owning and encouraging his people, so long as they kept close to him ; and of his visiting their iniquities with a rod, when backsliding from him. Indeed, whatever we read concerning the providences of God towards particular believers in the Old or New Testament, is of very great use for our direction in prayer. Their experiences are recorded for our instruction, and their necessities, that we may know what to pray for, as far as there is an agreement between the account we have of them, and what we find in ourselves. II. The word of God, as it is a rule of faith, contains those great doctrines, with out the knowledge of which we cannot pray aright. Thus we have an account in scripture, not only of the being and perfections of God, which may be known by the light of nature, but of those glorious truths which cannot be known but by divine revelation. 1. We have an account of the personal glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father is considered as giving all spiritual blessings to his chosen people, in and through a Mediator. The Son is considered as invested in this office and character, and, as God incarnate, procuring for us, by his obedience and death, for giveness of sins and a right to eternal life. The Holy Ghost is considered as a divine person, and therefore equal with the Father and Son, yet as subservient to them in his method of acting ; as the application of redemption accomplishes the design of the purchase of it, just as the purchase of it was a means to bring about that 'purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began.'" These doctrines are necessary to direct us in those things which respect the distinct glory which we are to give to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the method in which we are to hope for the blessings which we ask in prayer. The apostle, speaking of this duty, supposes that we are acquainted with these doctrines, when he says, 'Through him,' that is, Christ, 'we have access by' one Spirit unto the Father. '* 2. In the word of God, we have not only an account of the works of nature and providence, or of God's being the Creator and Governor of the world, which we have some knowledge of by reasoning from the divine perfections ; but we have an account of those works which have an immediate reference to our salvation, and of that special providence in which God expresses a greater regard to the heirs of salvation than to all the world besides. When we draw nigh to God in prayer, we are to consider him as the God to whom we owe, not only our being as men, but our well-being as Christians, delivered from that ruin which we brought on ourselves by our apostacy from him. We are also, as the apostle expresses it in his affec tionate prayer for the church at Ephesus, to consider ' what is the exceeding great ness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.'? And when we survey the works of providence, we are not merely to think of God as the Governor of the world in general, but to consider what have been those special acts of providence by which he has governed man before and since the fall. Accord ingly, we are to consider the first covenant as made with man in innocency ; and the covenant of grace as a dispensation of grace, established in and with Christ as the Head of the elect, in order to their being delivered from that state of sin and ¦ Rev. ii. 5. t Exod. i. 12. u 2 Tim. i. 9. x Eph. ii. 18. y Chap. i. 18, 19. 592 THE I1ULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. misery into which they had brought themselves. These doctrines will be of use for our direction in prayer, as we are led by them to acknowledge our fallen state, what we were by nature, and what we should have been had we been left in that state ; and are also led to adore the riches of God's grace, as he brings the great est good to his saints out of the greatest evil. 3. The word of God gives us a distinct account of the offices of Christ, as they are suited to the necessities of his people, and also shows us what we are to ask with a particular relation to each of them, and what hope we have that he will grant our request. As he is appointed by the Father to be our High Priest, to make atonement for sin; our Advocate, to plead our cause; our Prophet,- to lead us in the- way of salvation ; and our King, to subdue- us' to 'himself,'' and defend us from the assaults of our spiritual enemies ; so we are, in our- prayers, to improve the discoveries made of him in these offices, as a means to direct us as to the sub ject both of prayer and of praise. III. The word of God is of use for our direction in prayer, as we have an account in it of the duties which are to be performed by us as men or as Christians, in every condition of life, and in all the relations which we stand in to one another. As for duty in general, or that obedience which we owe to God, it cannot be per formed but by his assistance ; which is humbly to be asked in prayer. Accord ingly, we are to say, as one does, " Lord, work in me that which thou requirest, and then require what thou pleasest." Here we might show how all the commands which God has given us may be of use to direct us in prayer, and to lead us to apply to him that he would enable us to obey them ; how all his prohibitions of sin may be of use to instruct us what to deprecate, when we pray that he would keep us from our own iniquities, and what to confess before him, and implore the forgive ness of ; and how all those commands which respect instituted worship, or our at tendance on the ordinances, and the exercise of various graces in the whole course of our conversation, are of use to direct us what to ask in reference to his worship, and particularly in reference to the advantage we hope to receive under the means of grace, whenever we draw nigh to God in the way which he has appointed. IV. As the word of God contains many promises and predictions, together with their accomplishment, for the encouragement of our faith and hope in prayer, it is of use to direct us in the performance of this duty. As for the predictions which are fulfilled, so far as they respect the blessings which God designed to bestow on his church, they are equivalent to promises ; and we are to take occasion from them to adore and magnify his faithfulness, and to hope that whatever remains to be done for us, or for his people in general, shall also have its accomplishment. The promises which are contained in scripture, are also a motive and induce ment to prayer. They are a declaration of God's will to give the blessings which he sees necessary for us ; and therefore are of great use in order to our performing this duty aright. Thus God gives an intimation of the great things which he will do for his people, or bestow upon them, when he says, ' I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.'2 There are also many expressions of a similar nature, which contain the form of a promise. — But besides these, there are passages which are equivalent to promises, and may be applied by us as if they were laid down in the same form as the promises generally are. Thus when God is said, in his word, to be able to do his people good, or to bestow some particular blessings upon them, they have ground to conclude that he will do it, or that his power shall be engaged in their behalf. Thus God is -saidi to ' be able to keep them from falling, and to present them fault less before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.'a And elsewhere it is said, ' God is able to make all grace abound towards ' his people, 'that they always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.'b This is the same as if it had been said that he would do this for them. — Again, any scripture in which God is said to glorify any of his perfections in giving those blessings which his people want, is also equivalent to a promise. Thus, when ' the Lord passed bybeiore Moses, and proclaimed; The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suf- z Jer.. xxxi. 33. a Jude, Ver. 24.! b 2 Cor. ix. 8. THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. 593 fering, and abundant in goodness and truth, '° &c, it is the same as if he had said that he would show mercy to them, since the design was to encourage them to hope for this blessing—Further, whatever blessings are said to be purchased by Christ as our Redeemer, or prayed for by him as our Advocate, may be included in the number of promised blessings ; for they will certainly be applied by him, who will not lose what he has purchased by his blood, and is never denied what he asks. —Again, the universal experience of believers, relating to the blessings which ac company salvation, contains the nature, though not the form, of a promise. Hence, when this is recorded in scripture, for the encouragement of others in all succeed ing ages, it is as much to be applied by us when we are in like circumstances, as though it were more directly promised to us. Thus when God's faithful servants are said to be ' kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation ;'d or when the psalmist says, ' I have been young, and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread ;'e these and similar expressions are to be applied by us as promises. — Again, that which is proposed to us, or which we are to have in view as the end of our attending on ordinances, is equivalent to a promise. Accordingly, when we are commanded or encouraged to pray and hope for any spiritual blessings, while waiting upon God in ordinances in the way which he requires, it is the same as if he had said that he would give us those blessings. If a believer is thirsty, and encoaraged to come to the waters, — if he wants grace or peace, and is told that they are to be attained in ordinances ; the mere intima tion that we are to seek these blessings in such a way, is equivalent to a promise. —Further, God's seeing our distress, or knowing our wants, is sometimes to be un derstood in scripture as containing the nature of a promise. Thus when our Sa viour tells his disciples, ' Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things ;'f his words are the same as if he had told them that God had pro mised or designed to bestow those outward blessings upon them. And when he designed or promised to deliver his people out of their bondage in Egypt, he says, ' I have surely seen the affliction of my people ; I know their sorrows, '« &,c. Having thus shown the manner in which the promises are laid down in scripture, we shall now consider how they are to be made use of in order to our direction and encouragement in prayer. Here it may be observed that the promises respect either outward or spiritual blessings, both of which we are to pray for. Thus the apostle says, ' Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which s to come.'" The former respects the temporal dispensations of providence ; the latter, grace and glory, or the things which accompany salvation. 1. We shall consider the promises which respect temporal or outward blessings, which we are obliged to pray for, as we stand in need of them. These are of various kinds. There are promises of health and strength, whereby our passage through this world may be made easy and comfortable, and we better enabled to glorify God in the present life. Thus it is said, ' Fear the Lord, and depart from evil It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones ;' ' and, ' Who satis- fieth thy mouth with good things ; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.'1' There are promises of food and raiment, or the necessary -provisions and conve niences of life. ' Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.' ' And, ' He doth execute the judgment of the father less and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. 'm There are promises of comfort and peace in our dwellings. ' Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.'" And, ' There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.'0 And, ' The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth and for evermore. '* There are promises of quiet and com posed rest. by night, on our beds. ' Thou shalt take thy rest in safety ; also thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee" afraid. '* And, ' When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid ; yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 'r c Exodj xxxiv. 4, 6. d I Pet. i. 5. e Psal. xxxvii. 25. f Matt. vi. 32. g Exod. iii. 7. ' n * Tim- iv- 8- ' Prov- "'• 7> 8- k Fsal- c,,i- 5. 1 Psal. xxxvii. 3 m Deut. x. 18. n Job v. 24. o Psal. xci. 10. P Psal. cxxi. 8. ' q Job xi. 18, 19. r Prov. iii. 24. n. 4 B 594 THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. There are promises of success and a blessing in our worldly callings. ' Thou shalt oat the labour of thine hands ; happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.' ' And, ' Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. The Lord shall open unto thee his good trea sure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land, in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand. And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and shalt not bor row.'4 And, ' He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doth shall prosper.' u There are promises of an entail of blessings on our families. ' Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, by the sides of thine house ; thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.' x And, ' The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him ; and his righteousness unto children's children, 'y And, ' The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.'z And, ' Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.' a I might have men tioned many more promises of outward blessings which God will bestow on his people ; though witli the limitation that they are subservient to his glory, and their real good. Thus there are promises respecting riches, ' Wealth and riches shall be in his house ; and his righteousness endureth for ever ;'b and honours, ' Them that honour me I will honour ;'° and long life, ' Length of days are in her right hand ; and in her left hand riches and honour.'4 ' What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.'6 Or there are promises that, if God does not think fit to give his people long life, he will take them out of the world in mercy, and gather them into a better, to prevent their seeing the evil which he designs to bring on the inhabitants of the earth. ' The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.'f He has also promised some blessings which respect their good name. ' I will make you a name and a praise among all the earth. '* ' The memory of the just is blessed. 'h But what I shall principally add concerning outward blessings, is that God has promised, not only that he will give them to his people, but that he will sanctify them to them for their spiritual advantage, and that he will enable them to im prove them aright to his glory, so that the blessings shall become more sweet and desirable. Thus God has promised that he will free his people, who enjoy outward good things, from the sorrow which is often mixed with them, and which tends greatly to embitter them. ' The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.'1 He has also promised to give them inward peace, to gether with outward prosperity. ' The meek shall inherit tbe earth, and shall de light themselves in the abundance of peace. 'k Again, he has promised to give them spiritual and heavenly blessings, together with the good things of this life. ' Thou shalt lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lilt up thy face unto God.'1 ' Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies ; thou anointest mine head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall fol low me all the days of my life ; and I will,' or, I shall, ' dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.'m Again, God has promised, together with outward blessings, to give a thankful heart, whereby his people may be enabled to give him the glory of what they enjoy. ' When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God, for the good land which he hath given thee.'n ' Ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt won drously with you ; and my people shall never me ashamed.'0 Further, he has pro mised, not only that he will confer outward good things on his people, but that he s Psal. cxxviii. 2. t Deut. xxviii. 4, 5, 12. u Psal. i. 3. x Psal. cxxviii. 3. y Psal. ciii. 17. z Psal. cii. 28. a Psal. xiv. 16. b Psal. cxii. 3. c 1 Sam. ii. 30. d Prov. iii. 17. e Psal. xxxiv. 12 13. f Isa. lvii. 1. fZeph. iii. 20. h Prov. a. 7. i Chap. x. 22. k Psal. xxxvii. 11. Job xxii. 24—26. m Psal. xxiii. 5, 6. n Deut. viii. 10. o Joel ii. 26. THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. 505 will make them blessings to others, and enable them to lay out what he gives them for their good, to support his cause and gospel in the world, and to relieve those who are in distress. ' I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing. 'p ' Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee and unto thine house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.'i These promises more especially respect those who are in a prosperous condition in the world. But there are others which are made to believers, in an afflicted state. Indeed, there is scarcely any affliction to which they are liable, but what has some special promises annexed to it. There are promises made to believers when lying on a sick bed, ' The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing ; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.'1 ' The Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee ; but will lay them upon all that hate thee.'s ' I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.'' There are promises made to believers, when poor and low in the world. ' I will abundantly bless her provision ; I will satisfy her poor with bread.'" There are promises which respect God's giving a full compensation for all the losses which his people have sustained for Christ's sake. ' Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit life everlasting.'1 ' He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life for my name's sake shall find it. 'J There are promises made to believers under oppression. ' For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.'z ' In thee the father less findeth mercy.' a ' A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.' b There are promises made to believers when reviled and persecuted for righteousness' sake. ' Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad ; for great is your reward in heaven.'c ' Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.'0 There are pro mises made to God's people, when they are in distress, and at present see no way of escape. Thus when Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the prison, he had this promise given him : ' Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.' e There are promises suited to the condition of God's people, when their lot is cast in perilous times. Thus it is said, ' When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.'f Now, there are several mercies which God has promised to his people, under the various afflictions to which they are exposed. Sometimes he promises to .prevent the afflictions which we are most afraid of. ' The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul ;'* 'He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.'h He has promised to preserve his people from a time of trouble, or defend them in it. ' Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.'1 ' Thus saith the Lord ; although I have cast 'them afar off among the heathen ; and although I have scattered them among the countries ; yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.'11 He has promised to moderate their afflictions. ' In measure when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it ; he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind.'1 'Fear thou not, 0 Jacob my servant, saith the Lord; for I am with thee for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure ; yet will 'not I leave thee wholly unpunished.'111 He has promised that, if need be, „ n.„ -,;; o q Deut. xxvi. 11. r Psal. xii. 3. s Deut. vii. 15. t Fvnri xviH 25 U P»l- «eu':- xxx- **• z Isa. li. 12. a Chap. xl. I, 2. b Chap. lvii. 18, 19. c Chap. xxv,. 3. il 2 Thess ii. 16. e Rom. xv. 4. f Psal. lxiv. 10. g Psul. xcvii. 11, 12. h Psal. lxxvii. 3, 4. i Ezek. xi. 19. k Jer. xxiii. 29. 598 THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. at least, that his knowledge of divine truths bears no proportion to the means of grace which he has been favoured with, and that he is often destitute of spiritual wisdom to direct his way, and to carry him through the difficulties he often meets with as to his temporal or spiritual affairs ; there are promises suited to this case : ' If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her, as for hid treasures ; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.'1 ' If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him.'m Again, if believers complain of the weakness of their mem ories, that they cannot retain the truths of God when they hear them ; Christ has promised that the Holy Ghost shall ' teach them all things, and bring all things to their remembrance.'11 Further, if they complain of their unthankfulness, or that they have not hearts disposed to praise God for the mercies they receive ; God gives them these promises : ' This people have I formed for myself ; they shall show forth my praise. '° ' Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name ; the upright shall dwell in thy presence.' p Further, there are many who are not altogether destitute of hope that they have the truth of grace, but yet are filled with trouble, apprehending that they do not make those advances in grace which they ought, but seem to be at a stand ; and they reckon their state little better than if going backward, and they dread the consequences. Now such may take encouragement from those promises ¦ which respect a believer's growing in grace. ' Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase.' i 'He giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. 'r And if they com plain of their unprofitableness under the means of grace, and of not receiving any spiritual advantage by the various dispensations of providence which they are un der ; there is a promise adapted to their case : ' Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.'8 Again, are they afraid that they shall fall away, after having made a long profession of religion? There is a promise which our Saviour himself took encouragement from, though never liable to any fear of this nature, which a believer may apply to himself, as affording re lief against these fears and discouragements : ' I have set the Lord always before me ; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' ' And there is another which is more directly applicable to this case : ' Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.'11 And if the believer has fallen, and, at the same time, is afraid that he shall never be able to rise again, and recover what he has lost, there is another promise : ' Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down ; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints.'" God also says, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'* Again, if a believer be under divine deser tion, which he may be, and yet be kept from apostasy ; if he is mourning after the Lord, and earnestly desiring that he would return to him ; he may take encourage ment from that promise: ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ; and why art thou disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.'2 And, ' Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together. For I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.'" Again, is he cast down under a sense of the guilt of sin, and atraid of the punish ment which will follow ? There are many promises in the word of God which re spect the forgiveness of sin. ' Who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases.'0 ' There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.'0 '!, 1 Prov. ii. 3 — 6. m James i. 5. n John xiv. 26. o Isa. xliii. °l. p Psal. cxl. 13. q Job viii. 7. r Isa. xl. 29, 31. s Isa. xlviii. 17. t Psal. xvi. 8. u 1 Cor. i. 8. x Psal. xxxvii. 24, 28. y Heb. x^ii 5. z Psal. xiii. 5. a Jer. xxxi. 13, 14. b Psal. ciii. 3. c Psal. exo. 4 THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. 599 even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.'d Finally, "is a believer afraid of the last enemy, death ; by reason of the fear of which ' he is all his life-time subject to bondage ? ' There are promises suited to his case. ' This God is our God for ever and ever : he will be our guide even unto death.'6 ' Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they com fort me.'f 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of that man is peace, 's Thus we have considered the promises of God as suited to every condition, and, consequenfjiy, as affording matter of encouragement to us in draw ing nigh to him in prayer. V. Those reproofs for sins committed, and threatenings which are contained in the word of God, as a means to deter from committing them, may be improved for our direction in prayer. We are induced by these reproofs and threatenings to hate , sin, beg strength to subdue and mortify it, and deprecate the wrath and judgments of God. We are also led by them to see our desert of punishment, while we con fess ourselves to be sinners, and to bless God that he has not inflicted it upon us ; especially if he has given us ground of hope that he has delivered us from the con demnation which was due to us for sin. Moreover, the reproofs of sin and threaten ings against it contained in the word of God will be of use to us in prayer, as we are led by them to have an awful sense of the holiness and justice of God, and to draw nigh to him with fear and trembling, lest we should provoke his wrath by our unbecoming behaviour in his presence, and so bring on ourselves a curse instead of a blessing. VI. The word of God is of use for our direction in prayer, as it contains many examples of the performance of this duty in a right manner by the saints, whose graces, and the manner in which they have drawn nigh to God, are proposed for our imitation. Thus we read of Jacob's wrestling with God, and of his great im portunity. It is said, ' He had power over the angel, and prevailed ; he wept and made supplication unto him.'h This refers to what is mentioned in Gen. xxxii. 26, 28. There ' the angel, 'that is, Christ, says, ' Let me go, for the day breaketh;' as if he had said, ' Cease thy importunity, which thou hast maintained to the break ing of the day ; during which time I have given thee no encouragement that I will grant thy request.' Jacob now persists in his resolution, and says, ' I will not let thee go, except thou bless me ;' that is, ' I will not leave off importuning thee, till thou givest me a gracious answer.' Our Saviour then says, ' As a prince hast thou power with God, '.that is, with me, 'and with men,' that is, with Esau thy brother, ' and hast prevailed ;' so that he shall do thee no hurt, but his heart shall be turned towards thee.1 Again, we read of Abraham's humility in prayer. He says, ' Be hold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.' k ' Oh ! let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak.'1 We also read of David's sincerity, ' Attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips.'m We likewise read of Hezekiah's addressing himself to God with tears in his sickness. Having done so, he immediately received a gracious answer; and when he had recovered, he gave praise to God:11 'The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. The father to the children shall make known thy truth.'0 Again, we have an instance of Jonah's faith in prayer, when his disobedience to the divine command had brought him into the utmost distress. ' Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight ; yet will I look again toward thy holy temple. 'p We have also an instance of Daniel drawing nigh to God with an uncommon reverence and awful fear of his divine Majesty, and an account of the manner in which he addresses himself to him, with confession of those sins which Israel had been guilty of 'I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, 0 Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments; we have sinned, and committed .1 I... vliii 25 e Heb. ii. 15; Psal. xlviii. 14. f Psal. xxiii. 4. g Psal. xxxvii. 37. h llo^en xii. 4. ' Ocn. xxxii. 28. k Gen. win. 2,. 1 Vi-rse 3(>.<, Psal xvii. !• " isa- xxxv"'- 3, 5. o Vu-se 19. p Jonah ii. 2, 4. COO THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgments. 'q We have this humble confession and suppli cation continued to the nineteenth verse ; and then an account of the succnsf jf it, in the gracious answer which God sent him by an angel from heaven. We also read of Joshua's interceding for Israel, when ' he fell upon his face before the ark of the Lord, with his clothes rent ;' r and we have the plea that he made use of, • What wilt thou do unto thy great name ?'s We have also an instance of fervency in Moses, when pleading for the people after they had worshipped the golden calf. He prefers God's glory to his own happiness ; and had rather have no name in the church, or be 'blotted out of the book ' which God had 'written,' than that his 'wrath' should 'wax hot against Israel, to consume them.'' There are many other instances mentioned in scripture ; which, for brevity's sake, I pass over. Indeed, the whole book of Lamentations is of use to direct us in prayer, under pressing afflictions, either feared or undergone ; and the book of Psalms is a directory for prayer to the believer, suited to every condition which he may be sup posed to be in, and of praise for mercies of all kinds, whether temporal or spiritual. And the same may be said of many other parts of scripture. Practical Inferences from the Word of God, being a Rule of Direction for Prayer. From what has been said concerning the word of God being a direction to us in prayer, several inferences may be drawn. First, as reading the scriptures in our families and closets is a great help to raise our affections, and bring us into a praying frame ; so the application of scripture doctrines and examples to our own case, will supply us with fit matter and expressions upon all occasions, when we draw nigh to God in this duty. — Again, the pretence of some that they know not how to pray, or that they cannot pray without a prescribed form, arises, for the most part, from an unacquaintedness with the scriptures, or a neglect to study them, to answer this end. — Again, since the word of God is a directory for prayer, we ought not to affect modes or expression, or human strains of rhetoric, which are not deduced from scripture or agreeable to it ; but, on the other hand, we are to use such a simplicity of style, and spirituality of expression, as we find contained in scripture, — especially in those parts of it which are more directly subservient to this duty. — -Further, it will be of very great use for us sometimes, in the course of our reading scripture, especially in private, to turn what we read into prayer, though it do not contain in itself the form of a prayer. Thus when we read of the presumptuous sins committed by some, and the visible marks of God's displeasure which followed, we ought to lift up our hearts to him, that he would keep us from them, or, if we have reason to charge ourselves as guilty of them, that we may be humbled and obtain forgiveness from him. And when we read the excellent char acters of some of the saints in scripture, we ought to pray that God would enable us to be followers of them in their excellencies ; or when, in some parts of scrip ture, believers are represented as praying for particular mercies, we ought to lift up our hearts to God for the same. Our pursuing this practice will be a means, not snly to furnish us with matter and proper expressions in prayer, but to excite our affections when we engage in this duty, in those stated times which we set apart for it. The Lord's Prayer a Special Rule of Direction for Prayer. We are now to consider that there is a special rule of direction contained in that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's prayer. This prayer is mentioned by only two of the evangelists, Matthew u and Luke." Though there is a perfect harmony between their reports of the prayer, as there is between all other parts of scripture, as to the matter or sense of the words ; yet it is obvious to all who compare them together, that there is some dif ference as to the mode of expression, — particularly in the fourth and fifth petitions. q Dan. ix. 4, 5. r Joshua vii. 6. s Verse 9. t Exod. xxxii. 10, 11, 31, 32. u Matt. vi. 8—13. x Luke xi. 2—1. THE RULE OF DIRECTION FOR PRAYER. 601 Nor is this difference only in the translation, which is sufficiently just ; but it is in the original ; and it would not have existed, had the Lord's prayer been designed for a form if prayer. Thus in the fourth petition, Luke teaches us to say, ' Give us day by day our daily bread ;' while in Matthew, it is expressed, ' Give us this day our daily bread.' Here there are different ideas contained in the respective words ; as is very common when the same sense is in substance laid down in different parts of scripture. ' Give us this day our daily bread,' contains a petition for what we want at present ; and, ' Give us this, day by day,' implies that our wants will daily recur upon us, so that it will every day be necessary to desire a supply from God. Hence, if both accounts of the petition be compared together, we are directed to pray, ' Lord, give us the blessings which we want at present ; and let these wants be daily supplied, as we shall stand in need of a supply from thee.' Again, in the fifth petition, Luke directs us to pray, ' Forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us ;' while, in Matthew, the ex pression is very different, namely, ' Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.' Again, the evangelist Luke leaves out the doxology, ' For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen ;' which Matthew adds. Hence, it may be inferred, I conceive, that our Saviour did not design, in dictating this prayer to his people, that they should confine themselves to the mode of expression used in it without the least variation ; for in that case, doubtless, the two evange lists would have laid it down in the very same words. But he rather designed it as a directory respecting the matter of prayer. I am sensible it will be objected, that the preface which Luke prefixes to it, is, 'When ye pray, say, Our Father,' &c, which seems to intimate that these very words should be used, and no other. We reply, that the evangelist Matthew, who, beyond dispute, laid down this prayer more iully than Luke does, says, by way of preface to it, ' After this manner pray ye.' Now, these words seem to be an in timation that it was designed to be rather a directory as to the matter of prayer, than a form of words to be used without the least variation. Hencfe, I cannot but think that what Luke says, ' When you pray, say,' &c, imports nothing else but, ' Pray after this manner. ' That our Saviour principally designed this prayer as a directory respecting the matter of our petitions, rather than as a form, further appears. from tiie fact that it does not explicitly contain all the parts of prayer, particularly, confession of sin, or thankful acknowledgment of mercies. I say, it does not contain these explicitly, but only implicitly, as a deduction, or inference from the petitions themselves. Thus our saying, ' Forgive us our debts,' or sins, supposes that we acknowledge •ourselves to be sinners. Nor can it be denied that there are some expressions which contain matter of thanksgiving. Thus our saying, 'Hallowed be thy name,' implies a thankful acknowledgment of all those instances in which God has sancti fied his name, as well as a desire that he would sanctify it : it is as if we should say, ' Thou hast, in the various dispensations of thy providence, and in all thine holy institutions, set forth the glory of thy perfections, that thou mayest be adored and magnified by thy creatures. This we own with thankfulness, at the same time that we desire the continuance of it.' Again, when we pray, * Give us daily bread,' we, in effect, acknowledge the bounty of his providence, whence we receive all the comforts of life, and his having hitherto supplied our wants. The Lord's prayer, then, is an implicit direction for thanksgiving. But if our Saviour had designed that it should be a perfect form of words, to be used without varying in the least from them, he would have given us some more full and direct account of what sins we are to acknowledge, and what mercies we are to thank him for. Such an ac count is more plainly contained in some other scriptures than it can be supposed to be in this prayer. Hence the prayer seems to be principally designed as a rule for our direction what we are to ask for, or how that part of prayer which includes petition ought to be performed agreeably to the mind and will of God. Moreover, there is'no explicit mention of the Mediator, in whose name we are to pray ; nor of his obedience, sufferings, or intercession, on which the efficacy of our prayers is founded and to which our faith is to have a great regard. These things, therefore, are to be supplied by what we find in other parts of scripture, all which, taken to il. 4g 602 THE PREFACE OF THE LORD*S PRAYER. gether, give us a perfect directory for prayer ; though neither this prayer, nor any other used in scripture, sufficiently appears to have been designed as a form of words which we are to confine ourselves to, without the least variation. It is observed in the latter of the Answers under consideration, that the Lord's prayer is not only for direction as a pattern, but may be used as a prayer, provided it be done in a right manner. Now, it is granted that the Lord's prayer is of use, as a pattern and rule for our direction, in common with all other prayers contained in scripture ; but the main difficulty is, whether our Saviour designed that his disciples, and the church in all following ages, should confine themselves to the words of the prayer, so far as that the mode of expression should not be in the least altered, or any thing added to the petitions contained in it, how agreeable soever to the sense and words of scripture. Now, this does not seem to have been his intention, As it will not be denied by any, that -every one of the petitions contained in the prayer may be interspersed and joined with other petitions ; so, when this has been done, or at least the sense of the petitions expressed in other words, it will be very hard to prove that it is absolutely necessary that the petitions should be recollected and prayed over again, in the same method in which they are laid down in the prayer, merely for the sake of our making use of it as a form. It will be especially hard to prove this, if the making use of the prayer as a form is not expressly commanded by our Saviour ; and that it is not so commanded, ap pears from what was formerly observed, that these words, ' When you pray, say, Our Father,' &c. imply nothing else but, ' Pray after this manner.' I would be very far, however, from censuring or blaming the practice observed by many of the reformed churches, who conclude their extempore or premeditated prayers with it, provided it be done with understanding, reverence, and suitable acts of faith. For any other petition contained in scripture may be made use of by us in prayer ; not only as to its sense, but in its express words. The principal thing which I would militate against, is not so much the using of the words, as doing this in a formal way, supposing that the mere recital of them does, as it were, sanctify our other prayers ; which, though very agreeable to the sense of the Lord's prayer, are, as some suppose, so incomplete, that they will hardly be re garded by God without it. Moreover, I cannot but conclude the Papists highly to blame, who think that the frequent repetition of it, though in a tongue unknown to the common people, is not only necessary, but in some measure meritorious. And the practice of some ignorant superstitious persons, who think that it may be made use of as a charm, and that the words of it may be repeated, as the Jews of old did their phylacteries, as a means to drive away evil spirits, is not only to be disapproved, but is a vile instance of profaneness, very remote from the design of our Saviour in giving it. THE PREFACE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Question CLXXXVIII. Of how many parts doth the Lord's prayer consist? Answer. The Lord's prayer consists of three parts, a preface, petitions, and a conclusion.. Question CLXXXIX. What doth the preface of the Lord's prayer teach us? Answer. The preface of the Lord's prayer, contained 'in these words, "Our Father, which art in heaven," teacheth us, when we praj , to draw near to God with confidence of bis fatherly goodness, and our interest therein, with reverence, and all other childlike dispositions, heavenly affections, and due apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and gracious condescension; as also to pray with and for others. In this prayer we are taught to begin our prayers with a preface, and therein to make an explict mention of the name of God, and some of his divine perfections. The preface to this prayer is contained in these words : *'Our Father, which art iu heaven.' It shows us that we are to draw near to God with reverence, and suit able apprehensions of his sovereign power, majesty, and other divine perfections, PREFACE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 603 and with an holy confidence of his fatherly goodness. The phrase, ' Our Father,' shows us also that we are to pray with and for others ; and instructs us to begin our prayers with some expressions of reverence, agreeable to the nature of the duty in which we are engaged, whereby we express the sense we have of his essential or relative glory. We have various instances in scripture in which God's people, when addressing themsplves to him. made mention of his glorious names, titles, and attiijvtes. in variety of expressions. Thus David, in his psalms, which '-ontain ine matter and form of prayers, sometimes begins with the mention of the name ot God, to whom they are directed. He says, for example, ' God be merciful unto us, and bless us,'* &c. And elsewhere, '0 God, thou art my God.'z Some times, also, he makes mention of his name f ehovah ; which we translate Lord. Thus he says, ' 0 Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath,' a &c. ' I will love thee, 0 Lord, my strength.'0 ' 0 Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth !'° Solomon begins his prayer at the consecration of the temple, ' Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above, or earth beneath ; who keep- est covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart.'4 Ezra begins his prayer, ' 0 my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God.' e Daniel expresses himself thus, in the preface to his prayer, ' 0 Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments.' f These are all expressions which denote reverence and adoration ; and, along with other expres sions of a similar nature, they are of use for our direction, as to the preface or beginning of our prayers to God. But the preface to the Lord's prayer is some what different ; and affords us some particular directions. 1. It teaches us to address ourselves to God as a Father. This relation includes something common to mankind in general ; and, in respect to this, we are to adore him as our Creator, our owner, and benefactor, ' in whom we live, and move, and have our being.'s Thus the prophet says, 'Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?'n Elsewhere, also, it is said, ' He lormeth the spirit of man within him ;'' on which account he is called, ' the God of the spirits of all flesh, 'k and, ' the Father of spirits.'1 — Again, God's being a Father to his people, sometimes denotes that external covenant relation which they stand in to him, as a people called by his name, favoured with the means of grace, and, as such, the objects of his care and goodness ; whom he is pleased to govern by laws given by special revelation from heaven, whom he encourages to wait on him in those ordi nances in which they may hope for his presence, and to whom, as persons who give themselves up to him by faith, he promises all saving 'blessings. In this sense we are to understand those scriptures in which God says, ' Israel is my son, even my first-born.'111 ' I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.'n 'Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ?'° — Further, the relation which God stands in to his people, as a Father, is sometimes taken in the highest sense, as implying discriminating grace, or special love, which he is pleased to extend to the heirs of salvation. Thus he is called so by right of redemption. Accordingly, Christ is styled, ' the everlast ing Father,'0 as being the Head and Redeemer of his people. And the church says, ' Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlast ing.'? And believers are called his children by regeneration ; in which respect they are said to be ' born of God,'r and to be 'made partakers of a divine,'8 that is, an holy and spiritual ' nature,' which had its rise from God, when he was ' pleased to stamp his image upon them, consisting in holiness and righteousness. They are also called the children of God by adoption. Thus he is said to have ' predestinated them to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself;'4 and they are said to ' receive the adoption of sons ;' u and, as such, they have a right to the inheritance of children. * y Psal. lxvii. 1. 5 f «»: l™-..1- oq a P.sal- ,xxxfiviii' '¦ ¦) Psal- x™<- >• f. Pa»l viii 1 • 4- t Ephes. i. 5. u Gal' iv- 5" x Kom' viii" ^' comPared with Col. i. 12. 604 PREFACE OF THE LORDS PRATER. These various senses in which God is said to be a Father to man, may serve for our direction when we style him, ' Our Father,' in prayer. Unregenerate persons, when they pray to God, can ascend no higher than what is contained in their rela tion to him as a God of nature, and of providence. They are obliged to adore him for the blessings which they have received from him as the effects of common bounty, which include all the blessings belonging to this life, together with his patience, forbearance, and long-suffering, in delaying to inflict the punishment which sin de serves. Hence, when they say, ' Our Father,' they acknowledge that they derive their being from him. Though they cannot lay claim to the benefits of Christ's redemption, yet they confess their obligations to God as their Creator, and consider him as having given them souls capable of spiritual blessings, and themselves as daily receiving the good things of this life from him, and as dependent on him for those things which tend to the comfort and support of life. They also stand in need of those blessings which are suited to the nature of the soul, and consequently beg that they may not remain destitute of the things which may conduce to their ever lasting welfare. Hence, they may use the psalmist's words, ' Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me : give me understanding, that I may learn thy com mandments. '» As for those who are God's children by an external covenant-relation, there is something more implied than merely their being creatures ; for, in considering that relation, they are led to adore him for the discoveries which he has made in the gos pel of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, who calls and invites sinners to come to him, and encourages them to hope that those who are enabled to do so in a right manner, he will in no wise cast out. Hence, when they call upon God in prayer, as their Father, they in effect, say, " Lord, we cannot conclude ourselves to be thy children as redeemed, effectually called, and sanctified ; nor can we lay claim to the inheritance* laid up for thy saints in heaven ; yet we are encouraged to wait on thee in the ordinances of thine appointment, and to hope for thy special presence in them, whereby they may be made effectual for our salvation. We are, indeed, destitute of special grace, and cannot conclude that we have a right to the saving blessings of the covenant ; yet, through thy great goodness, we still enjoy the means of grace. We have not been admitted to partake of Christ's fulness, nor to eat of the bread of life ; yet we are thankful for those blessings of thy house which thou art pleased to continue to us ; and since thou still includest us in the number of those who are thy children as favoured with the gospel, we humbly take leave, on this account, to call thee our Father, to wait and hope for thy salvation, and to continue to implore that grace from thee which will give us a right to the best of blessings that we stand in need of." As for those who are God's children in the highest sense, by redemption, regen eration, and adoption, they may draw nigh to him with an holy boldness. For they have, as the apostle expresses it, 'the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father ;' and have reason to adore him for privileges of the highest nature which he has conferred upon them, a,nd to encourage themselves that he will bestow upon them all the blessings they stand in need of as to this or a better world. Such may draw nigh to God with confidence of his fatherly goodness, and their in terest in it ; and they ought to take notioe of that goodness and improve it,-in order to their drawing nigh to him in a right manner in prayer, as well as to induce them to behave themselves, in the whole course of their conversation, as those who are taken into the honourable relation of being his children. They ought to have ad miring thoughts of God, that they, who were by nature strangers and enemies to him, should be admitted to partake of this inestimable privilege; as the apostle says, ' Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!'z They should also take encouragement to hope that he will hear and answer their prayers, though very imperfect, so far as his doing so may tend to his glory and their real advantage. Thus our Saviour says, ' If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ; how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things t^them that ask him?'" y Psal. cxix. 73. z 1 John iii. 1. a Matt. vii. 11. PREFACE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 605 Do we pray for spirj^ual blessings, such as the increase of grace, strength against corruption, and to be kept from temptation, or from falling by it ? We have ground to conclude that these shall be granted us, inasmuch as they are purchased for us by Christ, promised in the covenant of grace, and secured to us, as we have the earnest and first-fruits of the Spirit in our hearts, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. And when we pray for temporal blessings, we have reason to hope that they shall be granted, if they be necessary for us ; since our Saviour says, ' Your heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of all these things.'" In particular, our being the children of God ought to excite in us those childlike dispositions which are agreeable to this relation,, not only when we draw nigh to God in prayer, but in the whole conduct of our lives. One childlike disposition is humble reverence. This is not only becoming those who have an interest in God's love, and a liberty of access into his presence, with hope of acceptance in his sight ; but it is what we are obliged to as his peculiar people, and is a branch of that honour which is due to him as our God and Father. Thus he says by the prophet, ' A son honoureth his father;'0 and he here intimates, that humble reverence of him as their Father, is the character and disposition of those who stand in the relation of children to him. And the apostle argues from the less to the greater, when he says, * We have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits ?'d — Another childlike disposition is patience under rebukes. This we are to exercise, when we consider our proneness to go astray, whereby not only do we deserve rebukes, but they are rendered necessary ; and especially when we consider that they flow from love, and are designed for our good ; as the apostle says, ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.'0 — Another childlike disposition is being grieved for our Father's frowns ; especially that we have incurred his displeasure by our misbehaviour towards him. This disposi tion includes a readiness to confess our faults, and a carefulness to avoid them for the future. — Again, contentment with the provision of our Father's house, what ever it be, is another childlike disposition. We shall never, indeed, have the least cause to complain of scarcity ; for, as the returning prodigal in the parable said, even ' the hired servants of his father had bread enough, and to spare.'* It can hardly be supposed that he who is at the fountain-head can perish for thirst. Yet, though we are not straitened in God, we are often straitened in our own bowels, through the weakness of our faith, when we are not inclined to receive what God holds forth to us in the gospel ; and then we are discontented and uneasy, while the blame lies at our own door. If, however, we behaved ourselves as the children of such a Father, we should not only be pleased with the fulness of grace which is in Christ, but constantly adore and live upon it ; and whether he is pleased to give us more op less- of the blessings of common providence, we should learn, ' in what soever state we are, therewith to be content. '%— Again, obedience to a father's com mands, without disputing his authority, or his right to govern us, is another child like disposition. Thus, when we draw nigh to God as to our Father, we are to ex- press a readiness to do whatever he requires. And by acting thus, we not only ap prove ourselves subjects under a law, but, as the apostle styles it, • obedient child ren ' as being ' holy in all manner of conversation.'11— Another disposition of child ren is that they have a fervent zeal for their father's honour, and cannot bear to hear him reproached without the highest resentment. Thus the children of God, how much soever they may be concerned about their own affairs, when injuriously treated bv the world, are always ready to testify their utmost dislike of every thing which reflects dishonour on God, or his ways.— Another childlike disposition is love • which the relation of a father engages to. Thus when we draw nigh to God as to' our Father, we express our love to him ; and this is founded in his divine excellencies which render him the object of the highest delight and esteem.— Again, he who has a childlike disposition, retains a grateful sense of the obligations he ia under to his father. Thus we ought to be duly sensible of all the favours which ¦ „ „ „i aa * c Mal. i. 6. d Heb. xii. 9. e Verse 6. f££«:$ g Phil- W. II. h l Pet, i. 14, 15. 606 PREFACE O" THE LORD S PRAYER. we have received from God, which are more than can be numbered. The contrary to this disposition is reckoned the basest ingratitude and disingenuousness, altogether unbecoming the temper of children. Thus Moses says to Israel, ' Do ye thus re quite the Lord, 0 foolish people, and unwise ? is not he thy father who hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?'1 A believer's ob ligations to God are so very great, that he cannot look back upon hi% former state, or consider what he was, how vile and unworthy of any regard from him, how mis erable and unable to help himself when he first had compassion on him, without seeing himself under the strongest engagements to be entirely and for ever his. This is a becoming behaviour towards such a Father. — Further, love to all who are related to us as children of the same father, is another childlike disposition. Thus our love to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, is a temper becoming the children of God. Indeed, it is no other than loving God in them. We behold his image stamped upon them ; and in loving them, we express the high esteem we have for regenerating grace, whereby God is denominated our common Father ; and we, being acted by a principle common to all, are obliged and inclined to love as brethren. Thus they who love God are induced to love his children. Accord ingly, the apostle says, ' Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him ;'k and he adds, ' We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.'1 Thus concerning our drawing nigh to God, as to a Father, as we are taught to do in the Lord's prayer. 2. We are directed in the preface of this prayer, to draw nigh to God as being in heaven. Heaven is the most glorious part of the frame of nature, in which his power, wisdom, and goodness are eminently displayed, and which he designed to be an eternal habitation for the best of creatures, to whom he would discover more of his glory than to any others. In this respect, it is called his ' throne. 'm .Now, God's being in heaven should lead us to have high and awful thoughts of the majesty and greatness of God, whom all the hosts of heaven worship with the utmost reverence, being satisfied with the immense treasure of his goodness. We therefore take occasion to admire his infinite condescension, that he will look upon creatures here below. Thus Solomon, in his prayer, says, ' Will God, indeed, dwell on the earth ? Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ;'n will he therefore look down upon those, who are so mean, deformed, and destitute of his image, as we are, who dwell in houses of clay, and deserve to be banished out of his sight ? — Again, God's being in heaven should be improved by us to teach us humility and modesty, in our conceptions and discourse concerning God and divine things. It is but a little that we know of the affairs of the upper world, and of the manner in which God is pleased to manifest himself to his saints and angels tliere ; and we know much less of his divine perfections, which the inhabitants of heaven adore, being sensible of the infinite distance they stand at from him, as creatures, on which account they cannot comprehend the Almighty, or find him out to perfection ; and shall we pretend to -search out the secrets of his wisdom, or express ourselves in prayer as though we were speaking to one who is our equal, or could fathom the infinite depths of his unsearchable counsels ? Solomon's ad vice may be well adapted to this case, ' Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God ; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth ; therefore let thy words be few.'0 We are not to think that we may say what we please, or be ' rash ' and inconsiderate in what we say, when we are 'before the Lord;' 'for he is in heaven.' 'Therefore our words should be few ;' that is, we should not think that the efficacy of our prayers depends upon the multitude of our words ; or if we speak more or less to God, our expres sions ought not to be bold, rash, hasty, or inconsiderate, but should be framed with decency and reverence, becoming those who are speaking to the Majesty of heaven, — Further, God's being in heaven should put us upon meditating frequently on the glory of the heavenly state, as those who hope at last to be joined with that happy and numerous assembly who are in God's immediate presence in heaven. Hence, i Deut. xxxii. 6. k 1 John v. 1. £ 1 Chap. iii. 14. m Acts vii. 49. n 1 Kings viii. 27. o Eccl. v. 2. PREFACE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. C07 or.r conversation should be there ; and we should profess ourselves to be sojourners on earth, seeking a better country, looking and waiting for the glorious appearing of the great God, our Saviour, and hoping that, when he comes, he will receive us to heaven, where our hearts are at present, as our treasure is there. 3. We are, in the preface to the Lord's prayer, farther taught that it is our duty to pray with and for others. When we say, ' Our Father,' we signify our relation to, and concern for, all the members of Christ's mystical body. Hence, if we do not join with others in prayer, we are to have them upon our hearts, who are the objects of Christ's special love and care. We have thus a sympathy with all those who are exposed to the same wants and miseries as ourselves ; we take much de light in considering them as subjects of the same common Lord, joining in the same profession with ourselves ; and we desire and hope concerning them, that they and we shall be glorified together. — Moreover, if we join with others in prayer, so that the whole assembly make their supplications by one who is their mouth to God, we practise what is called social worship. It is hence our duty to pray with as well as for others. Now, we must take heed that nothing be contained in united prayer but what the whole assembly may join in, as expressive of their faith, desires, or experiences ; otherwise there cannot be such beautiful harmony as the nature and design of the duty we are jointly engaged in calls for. Besides, in all social or united prayers, the petitions are to be adapted to the particular case of every one who addresses himself to God, how numerous soever the worshipping assembly may be ; and therefore we are obliged to make use of that mode of expression, in which we are taught to say, ' Our Father.' Thus our Saviour directs us how we should begin our prayers to God. And as the direction he gives us ought to be reduced to practice, I shall give a summary account of what is contained in the preface to the Lord's prayer. We shall thus be furnished with matter for our addressing ourselves to God irrprayer, in a way agreeable to what is taught in that preface, when we come into his presence with such a frame of spirit as the importance of the duty requires. We are to ex press ourselves, then, to this effect: " 0 our God, we desire to draw nigh to thee with a becoming reverence, and an awful sense of thine infinite perfections. When we consider thee as a jealous God, and ourselves as sinful, guilty creatures, we might well be afraid to come before thee ; but thou hast encouraged us to approach thy presence as to a Father, in and through the merits and mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and therefore we come with an humble boldness before thy throne of grace, confessing that though we are called thy children, we have been very undutiful and rebellious against thee, and therefore unworthy of that relation, or of the inheritance which thou hast laid up for those whom thou hast ordained to eternal life. Thou, 0 Lord, hast established thy throne in the heavens, where there is an innumerable company of angels and spirits of just men made perfect, who all behold thy face, and are made completely blessed in thine immediate pre sence. As for us, we dwell in houses of clay ; but we earnestly beg that we may be made meet for that happy society, and then admitted into it, that we may wor ship thee in a more perfect manner than we are capable of doing in this imperfect state. May all the powers and faculties of our souls be renewed, and influenced by thy Holy Spirit, that we may have our conversation in heaven, whilst we are here below, and, in all things, may be enabled to approve ourselves thy children ; have a constant sense of duty, and of the manifold obligations thou hast laid us under, that we may love thee, delight in thee, and submit to thee in all things ; and have a fervent zeal for the honour of thy name as becomes thy children, that we. together with all thy faithful servants, may be under thy safe protection here, ana De received to thy glory hereafter." 608 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRA1ER. THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Question CXC. What do we pray for in the first petition ? Answer. In the first petition, which is, " Hallowed be thy name," acknowledging tbe utter inability and indisposition tbnt is in ourselves and all men to honour God aright, we pi-ay that uiod would, by his grace, enable and incline us, and others, to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem hun, his titles, attributes, oidinances. word, works, and whatsoever he is pleased to make himself known by, Hnd to gloiify bim in thought, word, and deed ; that he would prevent and re move atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and whatsoever is dishonourable to him ; and, by his overruling providence, direct and dispose of all things to his own glory. Having explained the preface to the Lord's prayer, we are next to consider its petitions. These are six ; and are laid down in the following method. First, we are taught to pray for what concerns God's glory. This is the highest and most valuable end ; and therefore ought first to be prayed for. It is the subject of the three first petitions. Secondly, we are directed to pray for what respects our own advantage. This is the subject of the three last petitions. In these we are directed to pray lor outward blessings, as in the fourth petition ; and then for spiritual, without which outward blessings would not afford us any relish or savour, or render us truly happy. These spiritual blessings include forgiveness of sin, which we pray for in the filth petition ; and our being sanctified and delivered from the prevalency of corruption and temptation, together with all the evils to which sin exposes us, and this blessing we pray for in the sixth petition. What we are more particularly to consider in this Answer, is, what we are taught to pray for in the first petition, which is contained in these words, ' Hallowed be thy name.' -By- the 'name' of God we are to understand every thing by whicli he is pleased to make himself known to his creatures. Thus he discovers himself in his divine perfections, which are either essential or personal, absolute or rela tive ; and in his glorious titles, as the Lord of Hosts, the God and Rock of Israel, the Hope of Israel, the God that cannot lie, the Father of mercies, the God of all grace and glory, the Preserver of man ; which have all a tendency to raise in us the highest veneration for him, and esteem of him. He has also made himself known by his ordinances, word, and works. These are the subject of this petition ; and when we pray that they maybe sanctified, we are to understand, not that they may be made holy, but that the holiness and glory of them may be demonstrated by him, and that we may be enabled to adore and magnify him in a becoming man ner. Now, the name ot God may be said to be sanctified in some respects by him self, and in other respects by his people. I. We pray that God would sanctity his name, that is, demonstrate the glory of it, or proclaim it and make it visible to the world, so as to excite that adoration and esteem which is due to him. His name, indeed, has been eminently glorified in all ages, in the various methods of his providence and grace ; whereby his power, wisdom, and goodness have been illustrated in the eyes of angels and men ; and, in all his works, he has appeared to be a God of infinite holiness. We therefore pray that he would continue to glorify these perfections, and enable us to improve the displays of them to our spiritual advantage. This is a subject of the highest importance, without which we cannot give to God the glory due to his name. Hence, as praise is joined with prayer, it is ne cessary for us to take a view of the various ways by which God has manifested the glory of his holiness. We might here consider how he did this in creating man at first, without the least blemish or disposition in his nature to sin, and in stamping his own image upon him, consisting principally in holiness, which was the greatest internal beauty and ornament that he could be endowed with. But what we shall principally consider, is, how the holiness of God is demonstrated in his dealings with fallen man. His suffering sin to enter into the world, was not inconsistent with the holiness of his nature. For his providence, as was formerly observed, was not conversant about it, by bringing any under a natural necessity of sinning ; and therefore there is not the least ground to charge him with being the author of THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 609 sin. We now proceed to show how the holiness of God was glorified in the dispen sations of his providence towards fallen man, and in the methods he took in order to his recovery. 1. The holiness of God was glorified, or he sanctified his great name, in the dis pensations of his providence towards fallen man, before he gave him any hope of salvation. It cannot be supposed that man's rebellion against God, and apostasy from him, should not be highly resented by him. Accordingly, we read of his proceeding as a judge against, the rebel, charging his crime upon him, and passing sentence according to the demerit of his sin. And all the miseries to which we are exposed, either in this life or in that which is to come, are the result of the display of his holiness, as a sin-revenging Judge. As soon as our first parents sinned against him, he charged their guilt on their consciences, and filled them with a dread of his wrath. Hence proceeded an inclination to flee from his presence ; and when they heard the voice of the Lord coming to call them to an account for what they had done, they were afraid. This is God's usual method in dealing with sinful creatures. He first convinces them of sin by the law, and awakens the conscience, so that his terrors are set in array against it round about ; and then he speaks good and comfortable words by the gospel. He thus sanctifies his name, and dis covers his infinite hatred of all sin. 2. God glorifies his holiness in the method he has taken to deliver man from that guilt and misery under which he had brought himself. The terms of reconciliation and salvation were such as tended to secure the glory of his justice ; and therefore he insisted on a satisfaction1 to be given, without making the least abatement of any part of the debt of punishment which was due for our sin. Accordingly, ' he spared not his own Son,' p but delivered him over unto death, and obliged him to drink the bitterest part of that cup which was most formidable to nature, and which, had it been possible, he would fain have been excused from drinking. Hence, Christ is represented, by one of the evangelists, as praying that God the Father would ' take this cup from him;'0- and. by another, that he would 'save him from this hour.'r Yet he expresses the utmost resignation to the divine will ; and, being sensible that his sufferings were an expedient to glorify the holiness Of God, he does, as it were, give a check to the voice of nature, and submits to bear the punishment he came into the-world to suffer, how terrible soever it might be. Hence, he says, ' Father, glorify thy name ;'s which is as if he had said, ' Take what method is most expe dient to demonstrate the glory of thy holiness ; let the whole debt be exacted on me ; Lam willing to pay the utmost farthing.' God then says, by a voice from heaven, ' I have glorified it, and will glorify it again ;' that is, ' In every step which has been or shall be taken, in order to the bringing about of the work of re demption, I have hallowed my name, and will do it hereafter.' Thus was God's holiness glorified in finishing transgression, making an end of sin, bringing in ever lasting righteousness, and also in the impetration of redemption, by our great Mediator and Surety. 3. God has sanctified his name in all the methods which he has taken in the ap plication of redemption, in the various dispensations of his providence and grace towards his church and people. He has determined that ' if his children forsake his iaw, and walk not in his judgments ; if they break his statutes and keep not his commandments ; he will visit their transgression with the rod, and their ini quity with stripes ;'* and he does all this in order to manifest the glory of his holiness. Though he is pleased to pardon their iniquity for the sake of Christ's righteousness ; yet they shall know by experience that he hates it. Whatever be his designs of grace with respect to his redeemed ones, they shall find that their sin shall not altogether go unpunished ; though their punishment is not of the same kind as that which was suffered by Christ, from the hand of vindictive justice de manding satisfaction. Moreover, God has sanctified his name, in his having con nected sanctification with salvation. Hence, he has said, ' Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.'u He makes his people first holy, and then happy. p Rom. viii. 32. 1 Mark xiv. 35, 36. r John xii. 27. B John xii. 28. * Psal- lxxxix- 30. 32- " Heb. xii. 14. it 4h G10 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Every mercy which he bestows, is a motive or inducement to holiness ; and all the ordinances and means of grace are made subservient to this end. Here we may take occasion to observe the various methods whereby God has sanctified his name, in all his dealings with his church, in various ages, both before and since our Savi our's incarnation. The people whom, under the legal dispensation, he chose out of all the nations of the earth, and called by his name, among whom he designed to magnify his perfections in such a way as argued them to be the peculiar objects of his regard above all others, as he designed to make them high in name, in praise, and in honour, are styled 'an holy people,'1 and elsewhere, 'holiness unto the Lord.'* The wonderful things which he did for them in destroying their enemies, when he brought them out of the Egyptian bondage, gave them occasion to celebrate his name, as a God 'glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.'2 The worship which he established among them was such as expressly required holiness, both in heart and in life. And when, at any time, they cast a reproach on his per fections, or defiled and debased his holy institutions, he testified his displeasure against them in the highest degree. Of this we have various instances in the judgments which he executed on particular persons, for not performing with the greatest exactness what he had commanded in things which related to his worship. Thus when Nadab and Abihu ' offered strange fire,' they were 'devoured, before the Lord, by fire from heaven. 'a When David was bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem, we read that Uzzah put forth his hand to take hold of it to prevent its falling, when shaken by the oxen. This he, doubtless, did with a good design, and it is therefore called an ' error,' rather than a presumptuous sin. Yet it is said, that ' the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, so that he smote him that he died by it.'b For what he did was contrary to an express law which God had given, that the sons of Kohath should 'bear the ark, but they should not touch it, or any holy thing' that was covered, 'lest they die.'0 We read, too, that some of the men of Bethshemesh, because they had ' looked into the ark of the Lord, were smitten, so that fifty thousand, and threescore and ten of them died ;'d for God had forbidden that any should indulge their curiosity, so far as to look on the holy things on pain of death.6 He also threatened the children of Israel with death, if any of those who were not appointed to minister in holy things, came nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, so as to perform that service which they were not sanctified or called to ; since their doing so was reckoned no other than an instance of profaneness. Even if Aaron himself, whose office it was to go into the holiest of all to perform the yearly service, in which he was to make atonement for the sins of the whole congregation, presumed to do this at any other time but that day which God had appointed, was to be punished with death.' — Again, when any thing was brought into the worship of God, contrary to what he had instituted, which was reckoned no other than profaning it, God hallowed his own name, by pouring forth his wrath on those who gave occasion to or complied with it. Thus ivhen Jeroboam set up calves in Bethel and Dan, ' made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi,' ' ordained feasts' like those which God had appointed, and, in many other instances, corrupted his worship, so that the people who followed him were led aside from God, it is said, ' This became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. 's When ' Ahaz erected an altar, according to the pattern of that which he saw at Damascus, and sacrificed to the gods of the people,' from whom he took the pattern, he brought ' ruin ' on himself and his kingdom.h When Uzziah usurped the priest's office, by offering incense in the temple, God immediately testi fied his displeasure against him, by 'smiting him with leprosy ;' whereby he was separated from the congregation of the Lord, and rendered unfit to govern his peo ple to the day of his death.' — Moreover, when holy men, in any instance, have not sanctified God's name in the eyes of the people, he has highly resented their be- x Deut. xxvi. 19. y Jer. ii. 3. z Exod. xv. 11. a Lev. x. 1, 2. b 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. c Numb. iv. 15. d 1 Sam. vi. 19. e Numb. iv. 20. f Lev. xvi. 2. g 1 Kings xii. 25—33, compared with chap. xiii. 34. h 2 Kings xvi. 10, compared with 2 Chron. xxviii. 23. i 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, 20, 21. THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 611 haviour. Thus when Moses and Aaron ' spake unadvisedly with tlieir lips,' on which account they are said ' not to have sanctified the name of God at the waters of Meribah,' he told them that tlierefore they should ' not bring the cliildren of Israel into the land of Canaan, but should die in the wilderness.'1' — Again, as we have many instances of the judgments of God on particular persons, for not sanc tifying his name ; so we have a public and visible display of his holiness, in his dealings with the whole nation of Israel, after their many revolts from him, when they served other gods, and not only corrupted but laid aside his institutions, and were guilty of vile abominations which were inconsistent with the least preten sions to holiness. God then sanctified his own name, not only by reproving them by the prophets, but by sending the many judgments which were the forerunners of that desolation which they had reason to expect, and afterwards by delivering them into the hands of those who carried them captive, Israel into Assyria, and Judah into Babylon. Let us now consider how God lias sanctified his name> and continues to sanctify it, under the gospel dispensation. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head and Saviour of his church, has, in his whole administration, set forth the glory of God's holiness. He came into the world, with a commission from his Father, to engago in the work of our redemption ; and accordingly, he is said to have been ' sancti fied and sent into it' for this very purpose.1 When he entered on his public min istry, he produced his commission, and gave undeniable proofs that he was the Messiah, the person whom God the Father had 'sealed,' and set over his house, to manage this great affair. Every miracle which he wrought, was a divine testimony for the confirmation of the truth that the gospel dispensation took its rise from Christ our great Mediator, and was a glorious display of the holiness of God. The world could not have the least ground to think they were imposed on, when they conclud ed that, according to the predictions of all the holy prophets who went before him, this Jesus was he who was to come into the world to erect that dispensation in'which his own and his Father's glory were eminently to shine forth, and by which the name of God was to be hallowed in a greater degree than it had ever been before. — Again, God sanctified his own name under the gospel dispensation, in raising Christ from the dead, after he had finished the work which he came into the world to perform. In this respect it maybe said of him, that ' for,' or after, ' the suffering of death, he was crowned with glory and honour,'111 and put into a capacity of ap plying the redemption which he had purchased ; so that God the Father 'glorified the Son, that the Son also might glorify him.'n That this was not done till he had made a full satisfaction to the justice of God, and thereby glorified his holi ness to the utmost, has been already considered. After his resurrection, he en tered upon his glory ; and, from that time, the gospel dispensation might, by way of eminency, be said to begin. Hence we may apply to this occasion the words of the psalmist, ' Sing unto the Lord ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remem brance of his holiness.'0 — Again, God sanctified or hallowed his name in his deal ings with the Jewish nation, after Christ's ascension into heaven. These dealings made way for the establishment of the gospel church, and were an awful display of his holiness. It must be supposed that the treatment which our Saviour met with from that nation, in which they might be said to fill up the measure of their in iquities to the utmost, would be followed with some terrible displays of divine ven geance Accordingly, the utter ruin of their civil and religious liberties was the immediate consequence ; and it is a visible proof of the truth of the Christian re ligion and a very awful instance of God's being sanctified in them.— Further, the holiness of God appears in the methods which he took to propagate his gospel through the world. This was not to be done by might or power, nor by those methods of secular policy whereby civil states are advanced ; but by his Spirit, wherebv they who were called, were sufficiently qualified for this important work. These preached the gospel to all nations, according to the commission which was given them, confirmed it by miracles, and were instrumental in gathering a people out of the world, who yielded themselves willing subjects to Christ, a people called k Numb. xx. 12. 1 John x. 36. m Heb. ii. 9. n John xvii. 1. o Psal. xxx. •* G12 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. by his name, and subjected and entirely devoted to him. — Again, the holiness of God appears in all those doctrines which were preached, on which the faith of the church is built ; and in those ordinances in which they were to express their sub jection to Christ, and hope of salvation by him. The doctrines of the gospel are all pure and holy. Their great design is to set forth the harmony of the divine perfections, as displayed in the method of salvation by Jesus Christ, and to induce those who are made partakers of it to serve him in holiness and righteousness. There is no gospel doctrine which leads to licentiousness, or gives the least counte nance to it. None have a right to claim an interest in Christ's righteousness, or to hope for that salvation which he has purchased, but they who believe ; and none can be said to believe to the saving of the soul, but they who are enabled to perform all those duties whereby it will appear that they are an holy as well as an happy people. All those ordinances also which Christ has instituted in the gospel, have a tendency to set forth the holiness of God. What these are, has been considered under some former Answers ; as also that they were instituted by Christ, and that no creature has a right to invent any modes of worship, or make any additions to his institutions, without incurring the guilt of depraving and sullying the beauty of gospel worship.0 All therefore that I shall add under this Head, is, that as these are set apart, and sanctified by God, to be means of grace, and pledges of his pre sence ; so those who engage in them are to do so with the view of their being made holy in all conversation, as he who hath called them- is holy. Thus God sanctifies his own name in the dispensations of his providence and grace. Now when we pray, ' Hallowed be thy name,' with a particular view to what God does in order to the sanctifying of it, we adore him with an holy trembling, beholding the displays of his vindictive justice in punishing sin. If he sees the punishing of sin to be necessary to secure his own honour as the Governor of the world, so that without it he would not appear to be an holy God, nor the glory of his truth in those threatenings which he has denounced against sin discovered, We are fully satisfied that all his ways are right, and acquiesce in his providence ; and when his judgments are made manifest, we say, ' Hallowed be thy name.' When, however, we put up this petition, with a particular view to God's executing his threat ened vengeance on his enemies, several cautions are to be nsed. We are to take heed that we do not offer the petition Out of hatred to the persons of any. For even they who are the monuments of divine justice, in whom God will be glorified as a sin-revenging Judge, are the objects of tiur compassion, as they are miserable ; how much soever that sin which is the cause of their misery, is to be hated and de tested by us. We must always pray, also, that God would rather convert than destroy his enemies, were it consistent with his purpose, which must be accom plished. Again, we are never called to pray expressly for the damnation of any one, how great an enemy soever he may have been to God or us. On the contrary, we are to pray that God would glorify his name in his salvation by Jesus Christ. Further, if we pray that God would prevent those evils to which his church is ex posed, through the power or malice of its enemies, and that, in order to this, he would remove these enemies Out of the way, that they may not be able to hurt them ; we are to consider their removal only as an expedient for the church's safety, so that if one of the two must suffer ruin, we desire that it may be rather his enemies than his people. We should be glad if God would be pleased to bring about the welfare of his ohurch some other way ; but if not, when we pray that his name may be hallowed, by the removal of their enemies, we do so principally with submission to his will, and an humble acknowledgment that all his judgments are right. Thus concerning God's sanctifyiBg his ownname, as the subject 6f ourprayeir in this petition. II. When we pray, ' Hallowed be thy name,' we signify our desire that we may be enabled to glorify God in every thing whereby he makes himself known. Here there is something supposed, namely, that all men are utterly unable and disinclined of themselves, to honour God aright, or to improve the various displays of his glory which we behold in his woi*d and works, ^hisarises from the sinfulness of our p See Quest, cliv. THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 613 nature, our alienation from an holy God, and opposition to him ; so that without the assistance of his Spirit, we are not able to do any thing which is good.' Hence, we pray that God would make us holy, by rendering the means of grace conducive to our sanctification, that we may give him the glory due to his name. But the thing more especially prayed for, with respect to ourselves and others, is, that we may be enabled to act suitably to the discoveries which God has made ot his divine perfections ; that we may adore his wisdom, power, and goodness in all he does, and worship him in all his ordinances in an holy manner, or, as the psalmist expresses it, 'worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. '°- We are also to desire that all his holy institutions may be made means of grace to us, that we may be sanctified by his truth, that beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, we may be transformed into his image, consisting in holiness and righteous ness, that we may have an high esteem of every thing whereby he makes himself known, and glorify him in thought, word, and deed. _ In particular, we pray that we may never think or speak of the divine perfec tions, but with a becoming reverence, and suitable acts of faith. When he dis covers himself as a God of infinite wisdom, we are to pray that we may not only ad mire the traces and footsteps of that wisdom as they are visible in all his works, but that we may thereby be made wise unto salvation. When we conceive of him as a God of infinite power, we are to desire that he would enable us to have recourse to him, to work all that grace in us which can be effected by none but him, with whom all things are, possible. When he discovers himself as a God of infinite good ness and mercy, we are to pray that we may be encouraged to hope that we shall be made partakers of his goodness, by his communicating to us the blessings which accompany salvation. When he reveals himself as a God of infinite holiness, we are to desire that we may be conformed to him, in some measure, so as to be en abled to hate and flee from every thing which is contrary to holiness ; and that all sin, which contains a reflection on the purity of his nature, as well as a. contempt of his authority, may be abhorred and detested by us. When he discovers himself as a God of infinite faithfulness, a God that keepeth covenant and mercy to them that fear him, who has made many promises respecting their salvation, and will certainly accomplish them, we are to pray that we may depend upon him, put our trust in him, and that he would remember his good word unto us on which he hath caused us to hope. When he makes himself known as our Creator, he the Potter and we the clay, we are to pray that we may be well-pleased with all the dispensations of his providence towards us, considering that he has a right to do what he will with his own. When he reveals himself as our Redeemer, we are to pray that we may be able to con clude that we are bought with that invaluable price which Christ gave for his elect ; and if we have a comfortable hope concerning our interest in Christ, we are to de^ sire that we may walk as becomes those who are laid under the highest obligations to love him and live to him. Again, we pray that we may worship Goo>in a right manner, in all his ordinances. •Accordingly, when he encourages us to attend to what he imparts in these ordi-, tiances, as in hearing or reading the word, we pray that we may be enabled to re ceive the truth in the love of it ; that we may improve it as that which is ' not the word of men, but of God, which effectually working in them that believe ;'r that we may esteem it as the only infallible rule of faith and duty ; that we may be en abled to ' hide it in our hearts, that we may not sin against him.'8 When we draw nigh to him in prayer, in which he requires that we should sanctify his name as a God all-sufficient, on whom we depend for the supply of our wants ; or when we bless and praise him for what we have received, we supplicate that the frame of our spirits may be suited to the spirituality and importance of the duty we are en gaged in, that we may not be like those whom our Saviour speaks of, who ' draw nigh to him with their mouths, and honour him with their lips, while their heart is far from him.'' . *• Further, as God makes himself known to us by his works, we are to beg of him that, in the work of creation, we may see and admire hi? eternal power and God q Psal. xxix. 2. r 1 Thess. ii. 13. s Psal. cxix. 11. t Matt. xv. 8. 614 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. head, and that from his works of common providence in which he upholds and governs all things, we may take occasion to adore the manifold wisdom of God, his almighty power, and the inexhaustible treasure of his goodness. But more especially when he discovers himself in the gracious dispensations of his providence, in those things which have an immediate reference to our salvation, we are not only to beg that he would enable us to look on them with admiration, but are particularly to express our love and thankfulness to Christ our great Mediator and Advocate, as those who humbly trust and hope that we have an interest in him by faith. Thus concerning our requesting these things for ourselves. We might here observe something concerning our praying that others may be enabled to act suitably to the discoveries which God has made of his perfections. We are to pray that they may have the highest esteem for God in all the points of view which we have specified ; and consequently, that his name may be known throughout the whole world, not merely as the God of nature, but as he has re vealed himself in his word. Hence, we are to pray that the way of salvation by Christ may be known, and his name adored and magnified as a Redeemer and Saviour, in those parts of the world which are at present destitute of gospel light ; and that, where the word is preached, it may be received with faith and love, that they who are called Christians may walk more becoming that relation which they stand in to the blessed Jesus. Thus concerning the subject of our requests in this petition, respecting God's enabling us and others to glorify him in every thing by which he makes himself known. There are two things inferred hence in the close of this Answer. 1. When we pray that God would sanctify his name, we, in effect, desire that he would prevent and remove every thing which is dishonourable to it. Some things tend to cast so great a reproach on the name of God, that sinners are hardened in their opposition to him ; as David, by his sin, is said to have ' given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.'11 God is highly dishonoured by those open and scandalous sins which are committed by such as make a profession of re ligion. By these sins, they make it apparent that they are strangers to the power of religion ; and they lay a stumbling-block in the Vay of persons who are ready to take an estimate of the ways of God, from the conversation of those who in words profess but in works deny him. Some deny the very being, perfections, and providence of God, or being ignorant of him, worship they know not what ; and there are others who treat things sacred with profaneness and scurrility ; and, in stead of sanctifying the name of God, openly blaspheme and cast a contempt on all his sacred institutions. Hence, we are to pray that God would prevent and remove atheism. When persons not only act as though there were no God, but with blas phemy and daring insolence express their atheism in words, they are generally hardened in their iniquities, and bid defiance to his justice ; as though they were, as is said of the leviathan, ' made without fear,'31 and were not apprehensive of any ill consequences. These are not to be convinced by arguments ; though there is nothing which occurs in the works of creation and providence, but what might con fute them and put them to silence, did they duly attend to it. Hence, we are to pray that God would assert his divine Being and perfections, and give them some convincing proof of these, by impressing the dread and terror of his wrath upon their consciences, that so they may learn not to blaspheme ; or that he would give them that internal light by which they may be brought to adore and sanctify his name. And as there are multitudes of practical atheists, who behave them selves as though there were no God to observe what they do, or punish them for it, and who presumptuously conclude that they may rebel without being called to an account ; we are to pray that God, by his grace, would prevent prevailing impiety, by working a thorough reformation in the hearts of men, to the end that practical godliness may be promoted, and his name glorified. — Again, we are to pray that God would prevent and remove that ignorance which is inconsistent with persons sanctifying his name. This respects, more especially, the not knowing or inquir ing into those great doctrines which are of the highest importance, and which more u 2 Sam. xii. 14. x Job xii. 33 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER 615 directly tend to the advancing of the glory of God, and the obtaining' of eternal life. In those who are destitute of divine revelation, this ignorance is invincible. Hence, with respect to such, we are to pray that God would grant to them the means of grace, by sending his gospel among them ; that they who sit in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death, may have a glorious light shining about them, whereby they may be made acquainted with the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. But there are others who sit under the sound of the gospel, and yet remain stran gers to its great doctrines, who have no love to the truth, and act as though it did not belong to them to study the scriptures. These are wilfully ignorant, like those who are said to ' hate knowledge, and not to choose the fear of the Lord.'^ We are to pray with regard to such, that in order to their sanctifying the name of God, they may be led into the knowledge of those great doctrines in which the glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is set forth, as it is in the work of redemption by Christ, together with the way in which righteousness and life may be attained ; and that they may know what are those graces which are inseparably connected with and necessary to salvation. — Again, we are to pray that God would prevent or remove idolatry ; either such as is more gross, and practised by the heathen and others, who give that worship to creatures which is due to God alone ; or that idolatry which may be observed in the hearts and lives of many who, though they abhor its grosser acts, are nevertheless guilty of it in their loving the creature more than God. This sin is what we all are either chargeable with or in danger of, and is directly contrary to our sanctifying the name of God. Hence, we are to pray, with respect to the former, that he would convince them that what they falsely call worship, is a dishonour, to him, and is abhorred by him ; and, with respect to the latter, that he would convince us that he deserves our supreme love, and will not admit of any thing to stand in competition with him ; that he would enable us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength ; that, in order to this, he would deliver us from the iniquity of covetousness, or those inordinate affections by which we are inclined immoderately to pursue the world, and which are incon sistent with an heavenly conversation ; and that we may be kept from self-seeking, or trusting to our own righteousness for justification, or giving that glory to any other which is due to God alone. — Further, we are to pray for the preventing and removal of that profaneness which is contrary to the sanctifying of the name of God ; that persons may not give themselves that liberty, which many do, to treat things sacred in a common way, or make religion the subject of wit and drollery ; which is very disgusting to the ears of those who have an awe of God on their spirits, and altogether unbecoming persons professing godliness. We are also to beg that God would deliver us from engaging in religious duties in a formal way, as though his name were to be sanctified only by an external show or appearance of religion, without that internal disposition of heart which is required in all those who draw nigh to him in a holy manner ; and also that we may be kept from making any innovation in the worship of God, and thereby profaning it, while we pretend to add to its beauty and its acceptableness in his sight,— conduct which is so far from hallowing his name, that it is highly provoking to him. ... 2 Another thing inferred from the account we have had of those methods by which the name of God is said to be sanctified, is, that we are to beg of him, that, by his overruling providence, he would direct and dispose of all things to his own glory This is his immediate work > without which his name would not be sancti fied bv his creatures. It consists in his bringing a revenue of glory to himself, out of those things which seem to be subversive of it. One of the glories of providence is that God brings good out of evil, and renders some things subservient to his in terest which in themselves have a tendency to overthrow it. This may be observed in several things consequent upon the sins and persecutions of the church. Thus, when Israel revolted from God, by making the golden calf in the wilderness, he first humbled them greatly for it, and then spirited them with zeal to execute iudement on those who did not repent of it. And afterwards, when, at Moses' entreaty, he forgave this sin, he filled them with a zeal for the establishing of his y Prov. i. 29. t)16 THE FIRST PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. worship, equal to that which had been expressed before in profaning his name ; so that, as they then parted with their golden ear-rings to make the idol which they worshipped, z they now made a very large contribution for the building of the tabernacle. a — Again, when, by their abominable idolatry, they had provoked God to give them into the hands of those who carried them captive into Babylon, the event was so overruled by his providence, that they were never guilty of idolatry afterwards, whatever temptations they had to it. Hence, when they returned from captivity, how much soever they were chargeable with want of zeal for building the temple, and setting up public worship in it, b or with many other crimes, in the priests seeking their secular interest rather than the glory of God, in their per forming several branches of their office in a profane manner, and thereby render ing the public worship contemptible, and in their offering the refuse of the flock in sacrifice to God, for which they were reproved by him ;° yet we never find them reproved for idolatry after their captivity. Accordingly, some think that the vision which the prbphet Zechariah had of the woman who was called wickedness, 'sitting in the midst of the ephah,' and of this being 'borne by two women that had wings like the wings of a stork into the land of Shinar, ' or Chaldea, ' to build an house for it, 'd that it might there be ' established, and set upon her own base, ' intimates that the idolatry of the heathen should not spread itself among the Israelites as it had done, but be confined to those parts of the world which had formerly set it up,, and which therefore are considered as the proper seat of it, and not the church. The same thing seems to be foretold by the prophet Hosea, when he says, that 'the children of Israel, after they had been many days without a king, without a priest, and without a sacrifice, should be without an image. 'e The former part of this passage denotes that they should have their civil and religious state broken and discontinued ; the latter seems to intimate, that providence would so far overrule this affliction that they should be disinclined and averse to idolatry, as they are at this day, though, in other respects, altogether alienated from God. — Again, all the persecutions which the church has met with from its enemies, with a design to bring about its ruin and destruction, have been overruled for the furtherance of the gospel. Thus when Saul, before his conversion, ' made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison,' so that 'a great persecution ' was raised by his instigation, and the people of God could not meet safely at Jerusalem, but were ' scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria ;'*' the event was ordered by the providence of God for the greater spread of the gospel, so that the Samaritans received the word of God. In following ages, also, we may observe that whatever attempts have been made against the interest of Christ in the world, have, contrary to the design of his enemies, been made sub servient to its greater advancement. Accordingly, some have observed that the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church. Thus, too, the psalmist's predic tion has been fulfilled, ' Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the re mainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. 's And often, when the gospel has, like the sea, lost ground in one part of the world, it has gained it in another. — Moreover, we may observe that God glorifies his holiness by overruling the falls and mis carriages of particular believers. They are hereby made more humble, watchful, and circumspect for the future ; and, when restored from their backslidings, they are put upon admiring his grace, and excited to thankfulness, which the nature of their case requires. They also take occasion to warn others, lest they be entangled in the snare out of which they have escaped ; or if fallen, to recommend to them those methods of divine grace whereby they themselves have been recovered. This improvement the psalmist made of the dealings of God with him. When he speaks of his being ' brought out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, his feet set upon a rock, and his goings established ;' he adds, ' Many shall see it and shall fear, and shall trust in the Lord.'h And when God's people have been greatly dejected under the troubles they have met with, he has overruled their sufferings for the restoring of comforts to them, and for enabling them to comfort others in z Exod. xxxii. 2, 3. a Chap. xxxv. 21—29, and xxxvi. 5, 6. b Hag. i. 9. c Mal. i. 10, et seq. d Zech. v. 7—11. e Hos. iii. 4. f Acts viii. 1—5. g Psal. lxxvi. 10. h Psal. xl. 2 3. THE FIRST PETITION OF THE' LORD'S PRAYER. 617 similar afflictions. Accordingly, the event, as the apostle expresses it, ' redounds to their consolation and salvation.'1 Thus concerning thefirst petition of the Lord's prayer, as it is explained in the Answer before us. We shall now consider how this petition may be reduced into practice, that we may be directed in our addressing ourselves to God in those things which concern the glory of his name. Accordingly, it is as if we said, "We adore thee, 0 our God, that thou hast been pleased to make such discoveries of thyself to thy people, as thou hast do-ib in all ages. In particular we give thanks at the rem jir.bij.iK>. < ' thine holiness. Thou mightest, indeed, have glorified thy name in the everlasting de struction of1 the whole race of fallen man ; but thou hast sanctified! thy name, and advanced thy perfections in bringing about the work of our redemption by a Medi- ator, in which justice and mercy are met together, righteousness and peace have embraced eaeh other ; and thou hast hereby a greater revenue of glory redounding to thy name than by all' thine other works, or than could have been brought to thee by the united services of the most excellent creatures. We also bless thee that thou hast been pleased to make such bright discoveries of thyself in thy word, which thou hast magnified above all thy name ; that thou hast given us thy gospel, and all the ordinances and means of grace, that hereby thou mayest gather to thy self a people out of the world, who might be holy in all conversation, as thou who hast called them art holy. We confess that we have not sanctified thy name as we ought ; nor attended on thine ordinances with that reverence and holy fear which is due to thy divine majesty, for which thou hast testified thy displeasure against us, in withdrawing thy presence from thine own institutions. We acknow ledge that herein thou art righteous, and hast punished us less than our iniquities have deserved ; for thou mightest have removed thy candlestiek out of its place, or taken thine ordinances from us, as thou hast done from many, who once wor shipped thee, as we do at this day, but are now wholly estranged from thee. Re vive thy work, 0 Lord, we beseech thee, and hereby sanctify thy great name. Let thy word have free course and be glorified. Set up thy standard against every thing which opposes thine interest in the world. Send forth thy light and thy truth, whereby the ignorant may be instructed in the way of salvation by Christ. Give a check to that atheism, profaneness, and irreligion that abounds among a professing people ; and let all the dispensations of thy providence have a tendency to bring about the work of reformation, that thereby thou mayest be glorified, and thy people enabled, more and more, to sanctify thee in every thing whereby thou makest thygelf known." THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Question CXCI. What do we pray for in the second petition? Answer. In the second petition, which is, " Thy kingdom come," acknowledging ourselves,- and all mankind, to be, by nature, under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate, that the ordinance* of Christ may be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted; that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of bis second coming, and our reign, ing with him for ever ; and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends. In this petition there are, first, some things supposed, relating to the sovereignty and dominion of God over men, and the opposition which it meets with, — which, how great soever it be, shall not hinder its advancement in the world. Secondly, there are several things which we are directed to pray for, in reference to these things which are supposed. i 2 Cor. i. 6. 4 i 618 THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. What is supposed in the Second Petition. I. One thing supposed in this petition, is, that God is a great and glorious King. This is the necessary result of his being the Creator of all things. From that character arises an universal propriety in all things, and a right to dispose of them at his pleasure, in the methods of his providence ; so that he can no more lose his right to govern the world, than he can cease to be God. It may be farther ob served, that the subjects governed are intelligent creatures ; for, though all other things are upheld by him, and made use of to fulfil his pleasure, yet they cannot be said to be under a law, or the subjects of moral government. Hence, God is more especially related to angels and men as their King. As to that branch of his government which is exercised in this lower world, it principally respects men. Now when God is said to be their King, the exercise of his dominion is variously considered, according to the different circumstances in which they are. 1. As men, they are the subjects of his providential kingdom. In this respect, they are the objects of his care and common goodness, which extends itself, as the psalmist says, to 'all his works, 'k or to his 'giving to all, life, and breath, and all things.'1 Moreover, whatever he does in the world, is, in some way or other, de signed for their use or advantage, either as subservient to their happiness, or as objects in which they behold the glory of his divine perfections shining forth. In this respect, as the God of nature, he is King over the whole world, whose glory infinitely surpasses that of the greatest monarch on earth. When men are said to have dominion, they derive it from his will and providence. It is also limited ; while his is universal. They are likewise accountable to him for the administration of that authority which he commits to them; but he giveth no account of his mat ters to any one, inasmuch as there is none superior to him. There are also many flaws and imperfections in the government of the best kings on earth, because their wisdom, holiness, power, and justice are imperfect ; and sometimes the most de sirable ends are not attained. But the divine government is such as tends to set forth God's glorious perfections, and answer the highest ends, namely, the advance ment of his own name, in promoting the welfare of his creatures. We may also observe that, not only are the greatest potentates on earth mortal, but their govern ment is often subject to change, and liable to be resisted and controlled by oflier kings like themselves. But God, on the contrary, has none equal with him, so that his government cannot be controlled ; and being all-sufficient, he cannot be destitute of what is necessary to fulfil his purpose, or advance his glory. Again, none but God has a right to give laws to the consciences of men. Indeed, no government is properly spiritual, and such as reaches the heart, like his ; nor does the honour which is due to any other, include the least right to divine worship or adoration, which belongs only to him. 2. As God has a peculiar people in the world, who are the objects of his grace, these are the subjects of Christ's mediatorial kingdom, in which respect he is styled, King of saints. This is not only a divine honour which we ascribe to him, but it belongs to him in particular as our Redeemer ; and so it is to be understood whenever he is called a King in scripture, as denoting that kingdom which he has received from the Father. His governing the world, on the other hand, which is styled his providential kingdom, necessarily belongs to him as God, and is no more conferred upon him by the will of the Father, than his divine nature, or personality. We do not therefore pray in this petition, that he would govern the world ; for we may as well address ourselves to him, that he would be an infinite Sovereign, and act agreeably to his divine nature, which he cannot but be and do. But the king dom which is here intended, to which we have a more immediate regard, as the subject of this petition, is that which belongs to him as Mediator, which he received from the Father ; who is said, in respect to it, to have ' set him' as his ' King upon his holy hill of Zion,'m and concerning which it was foretold, that ' the government' should be 'upon his shoulder.'" This is therefore not only an honour, but an office k Psal. cxlv. 9. 1 Acts xvii. 25. m Psal. ii. 6. n Isa. ix. 6. THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 619 which he is invested with, having received a commission from the Father to exe cute it. And whenever he is said to do any thing in the methods of his providence, which have an immediate reference to the salvation of his people, what he does is an exercise of this dominion, or is a branch of the glory of his mediatorial kingdom ; and this is what we have a peculiar regard to, when we desire that his kingdom may come. In this respect, we pray that all the dispensations of his providence may tend to the application of that redemption which is purchased for his people ; and in particular, that he would subdue them to himself, take possession of their hearts, govern them by his laws, defend them by his power, restrain and conquer all their enemies, and at last, admit them to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. In the New Testament, Christ's kingdom is generally taken for the gospel dis pensation. He is represented as sitting on a throne of grace ; and sinners are in vited to come and bow down before him, and receive the blessings which he encour ages them to expect, as their merciful Sovereign. This kingdom of grace shall not cease to be administered by him, till all his redeemed ones are made willing, in the day of his power, and eventually brought into a better world ; and then it will receive another denomination, and be called the kingdom of heaven. It is true, the gospel dispensation is often so called in the New Testament, as it respects the administration of his gracious government begun and carried on in this world. But, in heaven, that government will be administered in a most glorious manner, agreeably to the state of perfection to which his saints shall there be brought. As, however, these things have been particularly insisted on under a former Answer, in which Christ's kingly office was explained ;° we shall pass them over at present, and proceed to consider another thing supposed in this petition. II. Though God is the only supreme and lawful Sovereign, yet there are some who pretend to stand in competition with him, and usurp that dominion which be longs only to him. Man no sooner rebelled against him, than he was under the dominion of sin, and was inclined to serve divers lusts and pleasures, and willingly gave himself over as a vassal to Satan, who from that time was styled 'the prince,' or god, 'of this world, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience.'0 We must not suppose that he has the least right to this kingdom, or dominion, in which he sets himself against the divine government ; yet sinners who rebel against God, are said to be Satan's subjects. Where the gospel is not preached, he reigns without control ; and felse churches which oppose the faith contained in the gospel, are called ' synagogues of Satan.'0- Indeed, in all those places to which Christ's kingdom of grace has not been extended, persons are said to be subjects of Satan's kingdom ; which is opposed to the kingdom of Christ. These two kingdoms divide the world. Hence, when we pray that Christ's kingdom may be advanced, we ex press an earnest desire that whatsoever has a tendency to oppose it may be ruined and destroyed. What is prayed for in the Second Petition. We are now led to consider what we are to pray for in this petition. Now, we are not to pray that God would govern the world, or exercise his providential king dom ; for that he cannot but do. Nor are we to pray that Christ's kingdom may come in the same sense in which the church prayed for its coming before the gos pel dispensation, which is called his kingdom, was erected ; for to do so would be, in effect to deny that there is such a kingdom, or that our Saviour has a church in which he exercises his government in the world. We are to pray, however, that God would eminently display his perfections for the good of his people, in his pro vidential government of the world, and overrule all the dispensations of that gov ernment for the advancement of his own name, and the happiness of his churcli and people And though, as we have just observed, we are not to pray that the gospel dispensation may be erected ; yet we are to pray that Christ's spiritual kingdom may be farther extended, that subjects may be daily brought into it, and that the o See Quest, xiv. p John xii. 31 ; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Ephes. ii. 2. q Rev. ii. 9. 620 THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. blessed fruits and effects of it, which tend to promote his own glory and his people's happiness, may be abundantly experienced by them. I. In particular, when we say, ' Thy kingdom come, ' we express our desire that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed. This kingdom Christ will cer tainly destroy in his own time, inasmuch as it is directly opposite to his own king dom. The devil's chief design is to draw Christ's subjects off from their allegiance to him. Hence, Christ will certainly plead his own cause, that his enemies may not take occasion to insult him, as though they had gained a victory over the Al- • mighty. Moreover his holiness and justice oblige him to do this ; for as Satan's^ kingdom is supported by sin gaining strength, and as its being so supported tend^ to cast a reproach on the divine perfections, it must be destroyed. We may add,, that every one who is converted, is, as the apostle says, ' delivered from the, power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son.'r Hence, we, pray that Christ's interest may flourish in the world ; and so we express a desire that whatsoever is contrary to it may be thrown down. There are various steps and degreesAvhereby Satan's kingdom has been, and shall be, weakened, till it shall, be at last wholly destroyed. 1. It met with a great shock when the first gospel promise was given to Adam in paradise, relating to 'the seed of the woman bruising the serpent's head,'s or Christ's coming to defeat Satan's deep laid design against the interest of God in the world, by giving the deceiver a total defeat. Till this promise was given, there could not be the least hope of salvation for fallen man. His condition was not only deplorable but desperate, and, in all appearance, remediless. But by this first dis play of divine grace, a door of hope was opened, and Satan's kingdom began to he, broken and demolished. 2. It met with a farther shock, when men began to lay hold of this promise, and take encouragement from it ; when public worship was set up in the world ; and when the coming of the Messiah, who was expected to appear in our nature, and in the fulness of time to destroy the works of the devil, was farther made known to the church, and clearer intimations given of the glory of his Person, and the offices he was to execute, so that he was regarded as the object of faith by those who wait ed for and earnestly desired the gospel day, when all the types and prophecies re lating to his coming should have their accomplishment. 3. Satan's kingdom met with a very great defeat, when Christ, who was the der sire of all nations, took our nature, and dwelt among us, and, in the whole course of his ministry, discovered the way of salvation to his people more clearly than it had been in former ages ; when he finished the work of redemption in his death; whereby he paid to divine justice an infinite price for his elect, and, at the same time, ' destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,'* or, as it is expressed elsewhere, ' spoiled principalities and powers, openly triumphing over them in his cross.'0 In particular, when he was raised from the dead, and the work which he came to perform was brought to perfection, Satan's kingdom was so effec tually destroyed, that he shall not be able to maintain that dominion which he had over those who previously were his vassals, but are now become Christ's subjects by right of redemption. 4. The success of the gospel in the various ages since our Saviour was on earth.; his gathering and building up his church, and defeating all the attempts of his enemies who have threatened its ruin, so that the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against it ; and its having been favoured with his special presence, and the bestowal and continuance of the means of grace, together with the various in? stances of. success which have attended them ; have all had a tendency to weaken and destroy Satan's kingdom. 5. All the victories which believers are enabled to obtain over sin and Satan's temptations, and all the graces which they exercise, and comforts which they experience, are agradual weakening of Satan's kingdom. It is true, the victory over him is at present not complete, inasmuch as he has too great an interest in the hearts of God's people through the remains of corruption ; yet they shall at r Co.. L 13. s Jer. iii. 15. t Heb. ii. 14. u CoL ii. IS. THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 621 last be made more than conquerors over him, and the fruits and consequences of the victory which Christ has obtained over him shall be perfectly applied. II. In desiring that Christ's kingdom may come, we pray that the gospel may be propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in. When the gospel dispensation, which is Christ's kingdom, was first erected, the apostles, who were employed in the important work, were to fulfil the commission which he gave them, in preaching the gospel to all nations. This they accordingly did ; and, by the extraordinary hand of God attending their ministry, the gospel was spread, in a short space of time, through a considerable part of the world. Many of the Jews were called, — among whom all that were ordained to eternal life believed : and as for the Gentiles, who formerly were unacquainted with the way of salvation, they had Christ preached to them, and many churches were gathered from among them. Thus the kingdom of Christ was advanced ; and a foundation was laid for the propagation and flourishing state of the gospel in all succeeding ages, the effects of which are experienced at this day. Hence, when the petition relating to the coming of Christ's kingdom was used by the first disci ples, that which was principally intended by it, was that Christ might be preached to the Gentiles, and believed on in the world, — that the vail, or the face of the covering which was spread over all nations, might be taken away, — .and that the way of salvation might be known by those who sat in the region and shadow of death. When, however, it is used by us, we signify our desire that the invaluable blessing of the gospel may be still continued, and that the promises relating to the greater success of it may have a more full accomplishment. The apostles, indeed, in executing their commission, are said to have preached the gospel to all nations, that is, to a very considerable part of the heathen world. Jt does not appear, however, that every individual nation in the world has yet been favoured with this. privilege ; so that what was foretold concerning the earth being ' full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,'x and other predictions to the same purpose, do not seem hitherto to have had their full accomplishment.* It isivery evident, too, that many nations, who had the gospel preached to them by the apostles, are now wholly destitute of it. And, though it is true a considerable number of the Jews at first believed in Christ; yet the greatest part of that people were cast off, and all remain, at this day, strangers and enemies to him. Hence, we cannot but sup pose that those prophecies which respect their conversion, in the latter day, together with the fulness of the Gentiles being brought in, shall be more eminently accom plished than they have hitherto been. This, therefore, is what we are to pray for when we say, ' Thy kingdom come.' 1. We are to be importunate with God, that his interest may be still maintained in the church ; that the glory may not depart from it ; that it may still enjoy the ordinances of his grace, and those privileges by which it is distinguished from the world, notwithstanding all the attempts of hell and persecuting powers to under mine and overthrow it ; and, though it be brought to a very low ebb at this day, that he would revive his work in the midst of the years, till he shall be pleased to cause that glorious day to dawn which his people are now desiring, waiting and hoping for. . . 2. We are to pray that there may be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit. This is absolutely necessary to the advancement of Christ's kingdom, a farther reforma tion of the church, and a greater spread of the gospel in those nations where it is not at present known. . 3 We are to pray that the church may be furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances necessary to the furtherance of the gospel. We are not to pray, indeed, that new ordinances may be instituted, whieh at present are not known, and which we have no warrant from scripture to expect. But we are to pray that God, by the good hand of his providence, would send his ordinances, namely, the word, sacraments, and prayer, which are his outward and ordinary means of salvation, into those parts of the world which are at present strangers to them. In particu lar, we are to pray that wherever God has a people who thirst after the word, but Isa xi 9. y See Sect. « The Millennial Reign of Christ/ under Quest, xiv. 622 THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD*S PRAYER. enjoy not the preaching of it, especially with such zeal and clearness as is neces sary to their spiritual advantage and edification in Christ, he would send faithful labourers among them, that their souls may not pine, starve, and be in danger of perishing for lack of knowledge. Again, we are to pray that where the word of God has been preached with success, so that many believe in Christ, who, never theless, have not the advantage of walking together for their mutual edification in a church relation, God would so overrule and order matters that they who have given up themselves to the Lord, may encourage and strengthen the hands of one another, by joining together in religious societies, owning Christ's kingly govern ment, and worshipping him in all those ordinances which he has given to his churches. We are to pray also that, in such circumstances, there may be proper officers spirited, qualified, and raised up, so that there may be a constant supply of ' pastors according to his heart, which shall feed them with knowledge and under standing. 'z These are necessary to the well-being of a church. And though ex traordinary gifts are not to be expected, as when God was pleased to bestow them on his apostles at the planting of the gospel ; yet there are some gifts which Christ has purchased, and we are to pray for, which are particularly adapted to the fur nishing of those who are called to minister as officers in his churches, for the pro moting of his cause and interest, and the advancing of his spiritual kingdom. 4. We are to pray that the church may be purged from those corruptions which tend to defile it, and which are a great reproach to it, and very unbecoming the re lation which it stands in to Christ. It is not, indeed, to be supposed that any church in the world is so pure that there are no corruptions in it, which appear to the eye of the heart-searching God. Some, however, are visible to the world, be ing notorious, and inconsistent, not only with the purity, but, if allowed of, with the very being of a church of Christ. These are matter of lamentation to the godly, a reproach to those who are chargeable with them, and, as the apostle styles them, ' a root of bitterness, springing up and troubling ' them, ' whereby many are defiled. 'a These corruptions are such as respect either the faith or the conversation of professors. — First, there are corruptions in matters of faith. These consist in denying the most important doctrines, which are necessary to be known and believed in order to our salvation. With respect to them, we are to pray that Christians may not depart from the faith which was once delivered to the saints, being ' carried about with divers and strange doctrines,'0 or as it is said elsewhere, 'soon removed from him that called them into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.' : We are also to pray that he would root out those errors and heresies which are in consistent with the church's purity ; and which have a greater tendency to bring about its ruin than all the persecutions it can meet with from its most enraged enemies. — Again, there are corruptions which more especially respect the con versation of tho.se who are called Christians, who walk not as becomes the gospel of Christ, so that as regards them there is no visible difference between the church and the world. Thus the apostle tells the church at Corinth,4 that some of them were ' carnal, and walked as men ;' that is, notwithstanding the profession of re ligion which they made, they differed little in their conversation from the men of the world. He also speaks of others who ' profess that they know God, but in works deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unto every good work repro bate.'6 Now, with respect to these, we are to pray that their profession may be adorned by a holy life ; that none may cast a stumblingblock in the way of those who watch for their haltings, and are glad to take all opportunities to improve the falls and miscarriages of Christians against them ; and that God, by his providence, or rather by his Spirit, poured out from on high, would refine and purify his church, and, as the prophet expresses it, 'purge away the dross, and take away all the tin.'f 5. We are to pray that the ordinances of Christ maybe administered without any mixture of human inventions, which tend to debase them, and are far from adding any beauty or glory to them. It is natural, indeed, for man to be fond of, and pleased with, those ordinances which take their rise from himself ; but God, who is z Jer. iii. IS. a Heb. xii. 15. b Chap. xiii. 9. c Gal. i. 6. d 1 Cor. ni. 3. e Tit. i. 16. . f Isa. i. 25. THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 623 jealous for the purity of his own worship, can in no wise approve of them ; and they are so far from advancing Christ's kingdom, that God reckons the introduc ing of them no other than • setting our threshold by his thresholds,' and ' our post by his, 'and calls it 'a defiling his holy name, by the abominations which are com mitted, and denounces it as the ground and reason of his 'consuming' men 'in his auger. 's Hence, we are to pray that whatever intrudes itself into any branch of the worship of God, without receiving any warrant or sanction from himself, may be removed out of the way, that so his church may be reformed, and its destruction prevented. 6. We are to pray that the church may be encouraged by civil magistrates ; that their government may be subservient to Christ's spiritual kingdom ; that, accord ing to God's promise, ' kings may be ' its ' nursing fathers, and their queens ' its 'nursing mothers ;'h that by this means the church may have peace and safety, and not be exposed, as it has often been, to the rage and fury of persecuting powers ; and also that magistrates may be guardians, not only of the civil, but of the reli gious liberties of their subjects, which are necessary to complete the happiness of a nation, and bring down many blessings from God upon it. We are also to pray that God would not only incline magistrates to advance religion, by rendering the administration of civil government subservient to that pur-pose, but that by a steady adherence to it themselves, they may strengthen the hands of the faithful, and en courage many others to embrace it. If, on the other hand, they are disposed to exercise their power in such a way as tends to the discountenancing of religion, and the weakening of the hands of those who profess it ; we are to pray that God would overrule their counsels, and incline them to deal favourably with those who desire steadfastly to adhere to it. 7. We are to pray that the means of grace may be made effectual to the con verting of sinners, and to the confirming, comforting, and building up of believers ; that a great and effectual door may be opened for the success of the gospel ; that it may ' come, not in word only, but also in power ;n that by this means the Lord would be pleased to add to the church daily such as shall be saved ; and that thus Christ's government, or spiritual kingdom, may be promoted in the hearts of his people, and they be enabled to testify a ready and willing subjection to his authority, and to yield obedience to him with i all the powers and faculties of their souls. 8. We are to pray for the advancement of Christ's kingdom, at his second and glo rious coming ; when the work of grace shall be brought to its utmost perfection, and all the elect, who shall have lived from the beginning to the end of time, shall be gathered together and brought into Christ's kingdom of glory, as they have for merly been into his kingdom of grace ; and when the highest honours shall be con ferred upon them, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever. As the church under the Old Testament dispensation prayed that Christ's kingdom of grace might come, that is, that it might be administered, as it has been, and now is, under the gospel dispensation, — or, as the scripture expresses it, that Christ would be ' like a roe, or like a young hart upon the mountains of Bether,'k or, that 'the Desire of all nations would fill his house with glory ; so the New Testament church is represented as praying that Christ would 'come quickly,' according to his promise,1 and put a final period to every thing which has a, tendency to detract from the glory of his kingdom, or the happiness of his subjects. Hence, we must pray that the elect who are Christ's mystical body, may be gathered and brought in to him ; and then we may be sure that he will hasten his coming. Till this is done, we are to wait patiently, as ' the husbandman waite th for the pre cious fruit of the earth, ' in the desired harvest ; m and, in the meantime, we are to pray that he would be pleased to exert his power, and make the dispensations of his providence in the world conducive to the ends desired, and more particularly with respect to ourselves. Accordingly, we are to pray that we may have, not only an habitual, but an actual meetness for his heavenly kingdom; that when our g Ezek. xliii. 8. j> Isa. xlix. 23. i 1 Thess. i. 5. k Cant. ii. 17- l ReVl xx"' 20, m Jam<* v. 7. 624 THE SECOND PETITION OF THE LOnD's PRAYER. Lord shall come, we may not be like those ' virgins ' mentioned in the parable, who ' all slumbered and slept,'11 but that, upon the first alarm, we may go out to meet him with joy and triumph ; that, as an evidence of our meetness for his coming, we may be enabled to walk as ' strangers and pilgrims on the earth,* or as those who ' desire a better country, that is, an heavenly ;'° that we may keep up an in tercourse with Christ, and be ready to entertain him with delight and pleasure whenever he comes, so that when he who is our life, our hope, and Saviour, as well as our King, shall appear, we may appear with him in glory. We have thus considered the administration of Christ's kingly government, as the subject of this petition. That we may be further assisted in directing our prayers to God agreeably to the petition, we may consider his children as address ing themselves to him to this effect : " We adore and magnify thee, 0 God our Saviour, as the Governor of the world ; who dost according to thy will- in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. Thy power is irresistible, and thy works wonderful. But it is matter of the highest astonishment, that thou shouldst exercise that gracious government in which thou condescendest to be called the King of saints. What is man that thou shouldest thus magnify him, and set thine heart upon him; that they whom thou mightest have dealt with as traitors, and enemies to thy government, and, as such, have ruled them with a rod of iron, and broken them in pieces, like a potter's vessel, should be admitted to partake of the privileges which thou art pleased to bestow on thy servants and subjects! Thou hast often invited us, by holding forth thy sceptre of grace, to come and acknowledge thee to be our Lord and Sovereign ; but our hearts have been filled with rebellion against thee. We have served divers lusts and pleasures, and been in confederacy with hell and death, yielding ourselves slaves to Satan, thine avowed enemy. But now we desire to cast ourselves down before thy footstool ; and, while we stand amazed at thy clemency, we, with the greatest thankfulness, accept of the overture of a pardon which thou hast made in the gospel, accounting it our highest pri vilege, as well as our indispensable duty, to be thy subjects. Write thy law, we beseech thee, in our hearts ; bring down every high thought and imagination, which sets itself against thine interest ; and make us entirely willing to be thy ser vants, devoted to thy fear. We also beg that thou wouldst take to thyself thy great power and reign. Let Satan's kingdom be destroyed, and thy gospel propa gated throughout the world. May thine ancient people, the Jews, who now refuse that thou shouldest reign over them, be called and inclined to own thee as their King ; and may the dark parts of the earth see thy salvation. Reform thy churches ; let them be constantly supplied with those who shall go in and out be fore them, and shall feed them with knowledge and understanding. May they be purged from those corruptions which are a reproach to thy government. Let not the commandments of men be received, instead of thine holy institutions. May thine ordinances be purely dispensed, that thy people may have ground to hope for thy presence in them ; and may they be made effectual for the converting of sin ners, and the establishing of thy saints in their holy faith. And let all the dispen sations of thy providence in the world have a tendency to advance thy kingdom of grace, that, as thou hast in all ages appeared in behalf of thy church, so it may be preserved and carried through all the difficulties which it meets with, and be secured from the attempts of thine enemies against it, till they who rejoice in thy government here shall be received into thy heavenly kingdom hereafter." n Matt. xxv. 5. c Htt. il !£, 14 THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 625 THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Question CXCII. What do we pray for in the third petition ? Answer. In the third petition, which is, " Thy will be (lone on earth as it is in heaven," acknow ledging that, by nature, we, and all men, are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and to- do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his word, to repine and murmur against his provi dence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh and of the devil ; we pray that God would, by his Spirit, take away from ourselves and others, all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart, and by his grace, make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven. The Meaning of Doing the Will of God. To understand this petition, we must inquire what is meant by the will of God, and how it is said to be done by us. We considered,? under a former Answer, that the will of God is distinguished into his secret and revealed will ; and we showed that, as the former of these is the reason of his own actings, and determines the event of things, so the latter is what we are more especially concerned about, as it is a rule of duty to us. The will of God is also farther distinguished into his pre ceptive and providential will. The former of these we are to obey ; the latter we are to admire, submit to, and be well-pleased with. Accordingly, when we pray, ' Thy will be done/ we desire that his laws might be obeyed, and his universal dominion- and right to govern the world practically acknowledged ; and that, by this means, sin might be prevented, and this earth might not become so much like hell as it would be if this method which God has taken to direct our actions and give a check to our corruptions, were wholly disregarded by us. When we consider God as the Creator of man, the next idea we have of him is, that he exercises his dominion and sovereignty in giving laws to him. Now, these laws man is under a natural obligation to obey ; otherwise he disowns himself to be a creature, or a subject ; and his doing this is the highest affront which can be offered to the divine Majesty, and exposes him to that punishment which is due to those who are found. in open rebellion against him. This is what we are to pray against in this petition. Now, here there is something supposed ; it is supposed that the will of God must be known by us, otherwise it cannot be obeyed. Hence, his law has been pro mulged ; particularly as it was written by God on the heart of man at first, in such legible characters that our apostasy from him has not wholly erased it.0- But be sides this, there must be an internal impression made on the minds and consciences of men, whereby they may be brought to see the excellency and glory of the law, and their indispensable obligation to yield obedience to it. Again, it is supposed that the will of man is naturally averse and disinclined to obey the divine com mands. This aversion is the result of our fall and apostasy from God ; and, through the corruption of our nature, we are prone to say, ' Who is lord over us ?'r and, ' What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? 's This is the source of all that opposition which the heart of man expresses against the laws of God ; while sinners entertain a fixed resolution to give laws to themselves, and are wholly in clined to do the will of the flesh and of the devil. Such conduct the apostle calls ' fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind ; ' and ' walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedi ence.'1 This will of the flesh is agreeable to the dictates of Satan, by whom it is contented to be kept in perpetual bondage ; and his suggestions are agreeable to the corruption of nature. On the other hand, the commands of God, being contrary to it, as containing the signatures of his holiness, are grievous and burdensome to fallen man. The law is spiritual, and therefore cannot be agreeable to those who are carnal, and, as it were, sold under sin. Accordingly, sinful man is determined to do, not what is lawful, but what is pleasing to himself. He considers, not what p See Sect. ' The Eternity &c. of the purpose of Election,' under Quest, xii. q See Sect. * Proofs that Election respects only a part of mankind,' under Quest xii. r Psal. xii. 4 ¦ Job xxi. 15 t tEph. ii. 2,3. H. 4k f)26 THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYEB. he ought to do, as being accountable to God, the Judge of all, for his behaviour in this world ; but whether any action is agreeable to his own inclinations, and affords some present delight to his carnal appetite. As for Satan, he uses his utmost en deavours to strengthen our sinful resolutions, and increa'se the depravity and corrup tion of our nature. With this view, he daily presents objects to our imaginations which are agreeable to the desires of the flesh ; and these are received with plea sure and delight. Thus a snare is laid for the ruin of the soul, so that it becomes more and more alienated from the life of God, and not only indifferent as to mat ters of religion, but utterly averse to them. This is the reason of all the dishon our which is brought to God in the world ; whereby it appears, that his will is not done in it as it ought to be. Moreover, as the will of man sets itself against the commanding will of God, so it expresses the same aversion to his providential will. This will, indeed, is not said to be ' done ;' but it ought to be submitted to by us. Yet, we are as much inclined to find fault with what God does in the world, as we are to rebel against his law. We are discontented and uneasy, for example, with the allotments of providence, especially when we are under the afflicting hand of God ; and are apt to charge him as dealing hardly with us, because we have not the opportunities which we desire to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, or because some check, is given to our corrupt appetites or inclinations. How ready are we to cdmplain of injuries done us, as though God were obliged to give us whatever we would have, how con trary soever it may be to our real good and advantage, as well as his own glory ! Of this we have many instances, in the perverse behaviour of the children of Israel in the wilderness. They frequently complained of the hardships they endured ; and, by their murmuring against God, provoked him to send those terrible judg ments which, as they might have foreseen, would be the consequence of their con duct. Such behaviour as theirs is most unreasonable towards him who has a right to do what he will with his own, and directly contrary to that temper of mind which the gospel suggests ; for we are there taught, in whatsoever state or condi tion of life we are, therewith to be contented. Now, it is in respect, both to our obeying the divine commands, and to our being contented with the divine appoint ments, that we are instructed, in this petition, to pray that ' the will of the Lord ' may 'be done.' What is prayed for in the. Third Petition, We are now led to consider what we are taught to pray for in this petition, when we say, ' Thy will be done.' 1. With respect to God's commanding will, we are to pray that he would incline and enable us to yield obedience to it. We are to be earnest with. him, that he, would remove the ignorance and blindness of our minds, that we may see a beauty and glory in every thing which he commands ; for, next to the sovereignty of God, which is the first motive to our doing the divine will, the excellency of what he com mands is to be considered as an inducement to obedience. Hence, we are to be , convinoed that his ' law is holy,' his ' commandment holy, just, and good,'? or that duty and interest are inseparably connected, so that the one can never be secured without the other. To convince us of this is the work of the Spirit of God, when he directs and leads us in the way in which we ought to walk. Again, we are to pray that God would take away the obstinacy and perverseness of our wills, that our obedience may be matter of choice, and performed with de light, otherwise it cannot be pleasing to him. Accordingly, we are to pray that our obedience may be performed with the utmost sincerity, as approving ourselves not to men, but God, who searcheth the heart ; and that it may proceed from a principle of spiritual life and grace, and be done with a single eye to his glory, whose we are and whom we desire to serve. We are also to pray that our obe dience may arise from a filial fear of God, and a love to him, and not merely from a dread of punishment, or fear of his wrath, as the consequence of our rebellion u bom. vii. 12. THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 627 against him, or from a mercenary frame of spirit which looks at nothing farther than some advantages which we expect to receive from him ; and that it may al-o proceed from a sense of gratitude for the many benefits which we receive from him, whereby we are, as it were, constrained to do his will. We are to pray likewise that our obedience may be universal, with respect to the matter of it, and constant with respect to our perseverance in it. We are not to choose to obey some of the divine commands, and refuse others ; or to perform those duties which are most easy, and reject those which are difficult ; or to obey the will of God, so far as it com ports with our secular interest, and plead with him to be excused as to things which are inconsistent with it. But we must leave it to him alone to prescribe the matter of duty, and express an entire compliance with whatsoever he requires. Thus the psalmist says, ' Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments.'" Moreover, we are to pray that our obedience maybe constant, without our growing cold and indifferent in it, or desisting from it, accord ing as our condition in the world is altered; as though we had nothing to do with God and religion but when we are under some pressing difficulties ; for to act so is to set our faces heavenward for a time, and afterwards to draw back unto perdition. 2. We are to pray that God would enable us to submit to his disposing will, as being satisfied that all the dispensations of his providence are right. According ly, we are to say with David, ' Here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.'y Now, our submission consists in maintaining a quiet, easy, composed frame of spirit, fitted for the exercise of religious duties, though under trying dispensa tions of providence. It consists also in our justifying God, and laying the blame on ourselves, whatever afflictions we are exercised with. Thus when the psalmist speaks of himself as deserted, and of God as ' far from helping him,' he acknow ledges the equity of his dispensations, and says, ' Thou art holy, 0 thou that in- habitest the praises of Israel ;'z or, as he elsewhere expresses himself, ' The Lorfl is upright, he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.'a Moreover, our submission consists in our being disposed to bless God when he takes away outward mercies, as well as when he gives them. Thus Job, when he, was stripped at once of all he had, says, ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord.'b How the Will of God is to be done. We are now to consider the manner in which the will of God is to be done. We are taught to pray that it may be ' done on 'earth as it is in heaven.' We are not to suppose, indeed, that the best saints can arrive, while in this world, at the per fection of the heavenly state ; ' so that it is possible for them to do the will of God in the same manner or degree as it is done in heaven. The particle ' as ' respects similitude, rather than equality ; and all that we can infer from the use of it in the petition is, that there is some analogy or resemblance between the obedience of the saints here, and that of the inhabitants of heaven. In particular, the expression, ' Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' im plies that the will of God may be done with great humility and reverence. Thus the angels are represented, in the emblem or vision which the prophet Isaiah saw of ' the Lord, sitting on a throne 'c and the seraphim attending him, as having their ' faces covered with their wings,' in token of reverence and humility. And others are described as ' casting their'crowns before the throne, 'd intimating that all the glory which they enjoy is derived from him who sits on the throne, and that their honour is not to be regarded or mentioned, when compared with him who is the fountain of it. — Again, this expression implies a desire to do the will of God with all cheerfulness. Some think that the doing of the divine will in this manner is inti mated in the vision which John saw concerning the seven angels, who were employed to inflict the seven last plagues on the church's enemies ; they are represented as inflicting these plagues with ' harps in^their hands, 'e and, at the same time, as sing ing the praises of God. — Again, we are said to do the will of God on earth, as it is x Psal cxix. 6. y 2 Sam. xv. 26. z Psal. xxii. 1,3. a Psal. xcii. 15. b Job 1. 21. c Isa- vi> '> 2- •* Rev- vi- 10, £ Rev" xv' 1— 3' 628 THE THIRD PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. done by the angels in heaven, when we do it with faithfulness. Thus when they are represented as ministering to God's people, and as having charge over them to keep them in all their ways, they are spoken of as performing their ministry faith fully. Accordingly, it is said, ' They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 'f — Further, the angels are represented as a pattern of diligence in doing the will of God. Thus it is said of the angel Gabriel, that when the word of command was given him to carry a message to Daniel, he 'flew swiftly,' being expeditious in fulfilling the work about which he was employed, e — Further, the angels are said to do the will of God with zeal and fervency. For this reason, some think they are called, in the scripture just mentioned, ' seraphim,' or, as they are elsewhere styled, a 'flaming fire.'h — Again, the angels are said to do the* will of God sincerely. Thus the inhabitants of heaven are represented as having ' no guile found in their mouths,' and as being ' without fault before the throne of God.'1 — Finally, they are said to do the will of God with constancy. We read of them as ' serving him day and night in his temple. 'k And the angels, who are min istering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, are said ' always to behold the face of God in heaven j'1 that is, they never give up or are weary of his service. We have thus an excellent example set before us, in the obedience of the angels ; and are exhorted to pray that, in our measure, we may yield similar obedience to God, though we fall very short of doing it as they do who are in a perfect state. We are therefore taught, in this petition, to lift up our hearts to God in a way of ado ration, confession, and supplication, as if we should say, " We acknowledge, O Lord, that thou hast a right to the obedience of all creatures, and hast been pleased to give them thy law as the rule of it. It is our glory, as well as our happiness, to be thy servants ; for thy law is holy, thy commandment holy, just, and good. But we acknowledge and confess before thee, that we have rebelled against thee, and have refused to yield obedience to thy commands. ' And when we behold the uni versal corruption of human nature, we blush and are ashamed to think how little glory is brought to thy name, by the service and obedience of thy creatures here below. In heaven thy will is done perfectly, by those who serve thee with the greatest delight and pleasure ; but on earth thou hast but little glory. It is an instance of condescending goodness that thou hast not, long since, abandoned our world, and thereby rendered it like hell. But we beseech thee, take to thyself thy great power and reign in the hearts of men ; subdue their wills to thyself, that they may cheerfully and constantly obey thy commanding will, and submit to thy providential will, as being satisfied that all thy dispensations are right, and shal^ tend to thy glory, and the welfare of all that fear thy name." THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRATER. Question CXCIII. What do we pray for in the fourth petition? Answer. In the fourth petition, which is, " Give us this day our daily bread," acknowledging that in Adam, and by our sin, we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them ; and, that neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by our own industry, to procure them, but prone to desire, get, and use them unlawfully; we pray for ourselves and others, that both they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day, in the use of lawful means, may, of his free gift, and, as to his fatherly wisdom shall seem best, enjoy a com petent portion of them, and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfort able use of them, and contentment in them, and be kept from all things that are contrary to our temporal support and comfort. The Meaning of the Word ' Bread ' in the Fourth Petition. In order to our understanding this petition, we must first consider what is meant by ' bread.' Some have thought that our Saviour hereby intends spiritual mercies, f Psal. xci. 11, 12. g Dan. ix. 21. h Psal. civ. 4. i Rev. xiv. 5. k Chap. vii. 15. 1 Matt, xviii. 10. THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER 623 or that bread which is suited to the necessities of our souls ; and particularly, an interest in Christ, who is called 'the bread of life,' m 'the living bread which came down from heaven.'" It must be allowed, indeed, that this is a blessing exceeding all those which are of a temporal nature, as much as the happiness of the soul is pre ferable to that of the body ; and it is, doubtless, to be made the subject of our daily and importunate requests to God, as if we should say, Give me an interest in Christ, else I can have no delight or pleasure in any of the enjoyments of life. Yet this does not seem to be intended by our Saviour in this petition. The bread which we pray for has a more immediate respect to the blessings of this life, which, ac cording to the scripture mode of speaking, are often set forth by the word 'bread.' Thus God tells Adam, after his fall, ' In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread ;' ° by which we are to understand, that he should take a great deal of pains to provide for himself the necessaries of life. So when God promises outward bless ings to his people, he tells them that ' bread shall be given ' them, and their ' water shall be sure.'0 And elsewhere, he says, ' I will abundantly bless her provision ; I will satisfy her poor with bread.' i The blessings of the present life, then, are the bread which we are taught to pray for in this petition. What is supposed in the Fourth Petition. 1. It is supposed, in this petition, that, by our sins, we have forfeited a right to the outward blessings of the present life. This was the consequence of the forfeit ure of life itself, and a part of the curse to which we are exposed by our rebellion against God and apostacy from him. If he should deprive us of all the conveniencies of life, and so embitter it to us that we should be almost inclined to make the un happy choice which Job did of ' strangling and death, rather than life ;'r there would be no reason to say that there is unrighteousness with God. 2. It is farther supposed that outward blessings are God's free gift to us. Whether we have a greater or a smaller portion of these, "they are to be acknow ledged as the fruits of divine bounty. It is God who spreads a table for us. To some he gives a smaller and to others a larger share of tetnporal good things ; but, whatever we enjoy, it is to be owned as the effect of his providential goodness. We are not excluded, indeed, from the use of those means which are ordained for the preserving of life, and our obtaining the good things of it ; but we must, while using these means, acknowledge that all the wisdom, industry, and success which attend our endeavours are from God. It is he who 'giveth power to get wealth.'3 Or, as is elsewhere said, ' The rich and poor meet together ;' that is, they agree in this, that ' the Lord is the Maker of them all,'* or that, whatever be their cir cumstances in the world, it is he who provides for them what they have. And if what we enjoy is sweetened and sanctified to us for our good, so that we have not only the conveniences of life, but a blessing with them, and are enabled to make a right use and improvement of them, to the glory of God and the advantage of our selves and others ; we must reckon our enjoyments an instance of divine favour, or the gift of God. 3. It is farther supposed that temporal good things may lawfully be prayed for. As the providence of God does not, as was formerly observed, exclude the use of means ; so it is not inconsistent with prayer, but is rather an inducement to it. In deed, prayer is an ascribing of glory to God, as the fountain of all we enjoy ; and vfithout this, it would be an affront to the divine Majesty to expect any blessing from him. This remark is applicable to prayer in general, and, in particular, to our making supplication for outward blessings. What is prayed for in the Fourth Petition. We shall now consider the subject of the petition, or what we are to understand When we say, ' Give us this day our daily bread.' fii John vi 35. n Verse 51. o Gen. iii. 19. p Isa, xxxiii. 16. c Psal. cxxxii. 15. r Job vii. 15. 6 Deut. vni. 18. t Prov. xxii. 2. C30 THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD S PRAYER. 1. The thing prayed for is bread ; whereby our Saviour intimates, that we are to set due bounds to our desires, when we are pressing after outward blessings. He does not order us to be importunate with God for the great things of this life,; but rather for those things which are necessary, — in the enjoyment of which we may be better enabled to glorify him. He does not put his followers upon asking crowns and sceptres, as though his kingdom were of this world. Some, indeed, who were influenced by carnal motives, fondly imagined that his kingdom was of an earthly kind, and were ready to expect that many worldly advantages would accrue from their adhering to him ; and, when they found themselves mistaken, they shamefully deserted his cause, and relinquished the profession which they once made of him. But Christ never gave his people ground to expect that their secu lar interest should be promoted by embracing the gospel. Accordingly, when any one seemed desirous of being his disciple, he generally put the trying question to him, Whether was he content to leave all, and follow him, or to lead a mean life in the world, and be hated of all men for his name's sake ? His disciples, indeed, were sometimes filled with too great solicitude about their future circumstances' in life. But he encourages them to hope lor necessary provisions, when he says, ' Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.'0 It is always found, too, that where there is the greatest degree of faith, it tends to moderate our affections as to the things of this w..rld ; and if at any time they are apt to exceed their due bounds, it gives a check to them, as the prophet says to Baruch : ' Seek- est thou great things for thyself ? seek them not.'x We have an admirable instance of this in Jacob. When he was in a most destitute condition, fleeing from his fa ther's house to Padan-aram, not knowing what entertainment he should meet with there ; the principal thing which he desires, together with the divine presence and protection, is that he might have ' bread to eat, and raiment to put on.'y He does not ask that people and nations might bow down to him, or that God would take away the life of his brother Esau, whose malicious design against him occasioned his present hazardous journey ; he is not anxiously concerned for the great things of this world, but only desires that he may have the necessaries of life. And Agar's prayer is not unlike this ; he says, ' Give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me.'1 Such a frame of spirit our Saviour supposes those to have who address themselves to God in prayer for bread, or the outward ac commodations of life. 2. What we pray for is called ' our bread.' The meaning of this, is, that tliere is a distinct property which every one has, by the allotment of providence, in those outward blessings which God has given him, whatever be the measure or propor tion of them. This we are taught to acknowledge with thankfulness, as if we should say, ' Thou diust not design that one man should take possession of the whole world, or engross to himself all its stores ; and that the rest should starve and per ish for want of the necessaries of life. Iu the arrangement thouhastmade, thy wisdom ' and sovereignty appear ; and to this it is owing that there are some things which we have a right to, distinct from others, — not without thy providence, but by its gift and blessing.' Hence, whatever God thinks fit that we should receive, we call our own, and as such, pray for it. But whatever God does not think fit that we should re ceive, we are not in the least to desire or covet ; inasmuch as we are taught to pray for that only which we may call ours, as having a natural or civil right to it, which we have not to that which belongs to another. Now there are two ways, more especially included in this petition, by which we are said to receive, from the hand of God, outwai'd blessings which we may call our own. God, by his distinguishing hand, gives us that measure of outward blessings which he sees convenient for us ; and he does this either by giving success to our endea vours, or by supplying our wants in some way which was altogether unexpected by us, and thereby making provision for the comfort of our lives. There is sometimes a chain of providences leading to this result. Thus God speaks of his ' hearing the heavens;'3 that, when they want store of w.ater, he may furnish them with it, and ' they may hear the earth,' so as to moisten it with showers, when parched, andbe- u Matt. vi. 82. x Jer. xiv 5 y Gen. xxviii. 20. z Prov. xxx. 8. a Hos. ii. 21, 22. THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD*S PRAYER. 631 coming unfruitful ; and ' that the earth may hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, so as to produce them ; and that ' these may hear,' that is, may be distributed anftmg bods people, as he sees they want them. And the psalmist says, 'He wateretn the hills lrom his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man that 'he may bring forth fruit out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart ot man and oil to make his face to shine ; and bread which strengthened man s heart. Hence, tllBre are various causes and effects subservient to one an other, which are all owing tb the blessing of providence, whereby we come to possess that portion of the good things of this life which is allotted for us. Again, the outward blessings of this life may be caUed ours, when God is pleased to make them blessings to us, and give us the enjoyment of them. He must add his blessing to all the mercies he bestows, else they will not conduce to our happi ness, or answer the general end designed by them. Without the divine blessing, the bread we eat would no more nourish us than husks or chaff; our garments could no more contribute to our being warm, than if they were put Upon a statue ; and the air we breathe would 'rather stifle than refresh us. Thus it is said, ' Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God ;'c that is, it is not merely 'by Second causes, or the use of means, but by the blessing of God, or his power and providence, that life and health are sustained. Moreover, it is God alone who can give us the comfortable enjoyment of the things of this life. This all have not. Their tables are plentifully furnished, but they want that measure of health which is necessary for their receiving advantage from them. Thus it is said of the sick man, that ' his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.'d Such do, as it were, starve in the midst of plenty. And there are others wh6, thdugh they have a great deal of the world, and are not hindered from the enjoyment of it by the weakness or decays of nature, yet are made unhappy by the temper of their own minds. There are some, for example, who abound in riches, Who may, nevertheless, be said to be poor ; because they want an heart to use what they have, which is God's peculiar blessing. Accordingly, the wise man says, ' Every irian to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour, this is the gift of God.'6 For the lawful things of this life, then, and the divine blessing Upon them, we are dependent on God ; and the asking of them is what we mean, when we pray that God would 'give us our bread.' 3. We are farther taught to pray, that God would give us our bread ' this day ;' thereby denoting that we are to desire to have our present necessities supplied, as those who cannot be certain that we shall live till to-morrow. How often does God •break the thread of our lives in an instant, without giving us any notice beforehand! We may truly say that in the midst of life we are in death ; and we are advised to take no thought for the morrow, but to leave that entirely to the providence of God. Food nourishes but for a day ; so that what we now receive will not suffice us to-morrow. Nature is always craving supplies ; and therefore we are taught to have a continual recourse to God by prayer for them. If we look farther than the present time, we are to do so with the condition that the Lord has determined to prolong Our lives, and has rendered it necessary for us to pray for those things which will be needful for tbe support of it. Our praying on this condition seems to be the meaning of that variation of expression which occurs in the evangelist Luke, ' Give us day by day our daily bread ;'f and it may obviate an inference Which will be drawn by some, that if we are not to pray for what respects our future condition in this world, we are not to make provision lor it. But not to make pro vision for the future is contrary to what we are exhorted t6 do, when we are called to consider the provision which the smallest insects make for their subsistence: 'The ant provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her iood in the harvest's And the apostle says, ' If any provide nut for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 'h We hence b Psul. civ. 13 — 15. c Deut. viii. 3 d Job xxxiii. 20. e Eccl. v. 19. f Luke xi. 3. g Prov. vi. 8. h I Tim. v. 8. 632 THE FOURTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. ought to make provision for our future wants. Accordingly, we are to pray that God would give success to our lawful endeavours, in order to the attainment of this end. We must pray thus, however, with the limitation of our maintaining a con stant sense that our times are in his hand. Hence, whether he should be pleased to grant us a longer or a shorter lease of our lives, which to us is altogether uncer tain, we are to beg of him that we may never be destitute of what is necessary for our glorifying him while on earth. 4. This petition is to be considered as having -reference to others as well as to ourselves. By the words, ' Give us,' &c, we express a concern for their advantage, in what respects the good things of this life. The blessings of providence flow from an inexhaustible fountain ; and therefore we are not to think that, by desiring that others may have a supply of their wants, there will not be enough remaining for us. Now, our being bound to pray for the good of others, should always teach us to bear our part in relieving them, that they may not, through our neglect, perish for want of the necessaries of this life. Thus we are exhorted ' to deal our bread to the hungry, to bring the poor that are cast out to our houses ; and when we see the na ked, to cover them, and not to hide ourselves from our own flesh.'1 Job having been severely accused by his friends, as though all the afflictions which befell him were in judgment for his having oppressed and ' forsaken the poor,' and 'violently taken away an house which he builded not,' as Zophar insinuates,11 vindicates himself from the charge in the strongest terms, when he says, ' I have not withheld the poor from their desire, nor caused the eyes of the widow to fail ; nor eaten my morsel myself alone, so that the fatherless hath not eaten thereof ; nor seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering.'1 This is not only to pray that God would give others their daily bread, but to help them, so far as it is in our power ; and thus to help them is very agreeable to what we pray for in their behalf, as well as our own, when we say, as in this petition, ' Give us this day our daily bread.' Thus concerning the matter of the petition, as explained in this Answer. We shall give a summary account of it in the following meditation, which may be of use for the reducing of our Saviour's direction into practice ; — " Our eyes wait on thee, 0 thou Preserver of men, who givest to all their meat in due season. We are poor, indigent creatures, whose necessities oblige us to request a daily supply for our outward as well as our spiritual wants. Thou hast granted us life and favour ; and, having obtained help from thee, we continue unto this day. Thou preparest a table for us ; our cup runneth over ; we have never been wholly desti tute of those outward blessings which tend to make our pilgrimage through this world easy and comfortable. We therefore adore thee for the care and goodness of thy providence, which continues to us forfeited blessings. We have, by our sins, deserved to be deprived of all the good things we enjoy ; which we have not used to thy glory as we ought to have done. We acknowledge ourselves less than the least of all thy mercies ; yet thou hast encouraged us to pray and hope for the continuance of them. We leave it to thine infinite wisdom, to choose that condi tion of life which thou seest best for us. It is not the great things of this world that we are solicitous about, but that portion of it which is necessary to our glori fying thee in life. We desire, agreeably to what thou hast enjoined as our duty, to use that industry which is necessary to attain a comfortable subsistence in the world ; yet we are sensible that the success of our endeavours is wholly owing to thy blessing. We therefore beg that thou wouldst prosper our undertakings ; since it is thy blessing alone that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow. Keep our desires after the world within their due bounds ; and enable us to be content with what thou art pleased to allot for us, that our hearts may not be turned aside from an earnest pursuit after that bread which perisheth not, but endureth to everlasting life. If thou art pleased to give us the riches of this world, let not our hearts be set upon them. But if thou hast ordained that we should be in low circumstances, may the frame of our spirits be suited to them ; and may they be so sanctified that it may appear that we are not too low to be the objects of thy special regard and i Isa. lviii. 7. k Job xx. 19. 1 Chap. xxxi. 16—19. THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 633 discriminating grace, — that, having nothing, we may really possess all things, in having an interest in thy love. As to our future condition in this world, though thou hast made it our duty to use a provident care that we may not be reduced to those straits which would render the last stage of life uncomfortable ; yet we would do this with a constant sense of the uncertainty of life, since our times are in thy hand, our circumstances in the world at thy disposal, — and we rejoice that they are so. Therefore we earnestly beg that, if it be thy sovereign will to call us soon out of it, we may be as well pleased to leave, as ever we were to enjoy it, as being blessed with a well-grounded hope of a better life. And, if it be consistent with thy will that our lives be prolonged in the world, ' Give us day by day our daily bread,' that we may, at all times, experience that thou dost abundantly bless our provision, and satisfy us with those things which thou seest needful for us, till we come to our journey's end, and are possessed of that perfect blessedness which thou hast reserved for thy saints in a better world." THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Question CXCIV. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? Answkk. In i be fifth petition, which is, " Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," ac knowledging that we, and all others, are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of Goil ; anil that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction lor that debt ; we pray lor ourselves and others, that God of his free grace would, through the olit-uience anil satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt anil punishment of sin, accept us in his Beloved, continue bis favour and grace to us, pardon our daily failings, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness, which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we, from the heart, forgive others their offences. Having been directed, in the former petition, to pray for outward blessings, we are now led to ask for forgiveness of sin. It is with very good reason that these two petitions are joined together ; inasmuch as we cannot expect that God should give us the good things of this life, which are all forfeited by us, much less that we should have them bestowed on us in mercy and for our good, unless he is pleased to forgive those sins whereby we provoke him to withhold them from us Nor can we take comfort in any outward blessings, while our consciences are burdened with a sense of the guilt of sin, and we have nothing to expect, as the consequence of it but to be separated from his presence. Hence, we are taught to pray that God would 'forgive us our sins,' as one evangelist expresses it, or our ' debts, as it is in thIt°maey be here observed, in general, that sin is a debt. As contrary to the holi ness of God, it is a stain and blemish, a dishonour and reproach to us ; as a viola tion of his law, it is a crime ; and as involving us in guilt, it is called a debt. This is the principal thing considered in this petition. There was a debt of obedience de manded h-om us as creatures ; and in case of the failure of it, or of our comn lifting any other sin, there was a threatening denounced in terms of the sanction of the law, whence arises a debt of punishment. Now, it is in the latter respect that we are directed more especially; in this petition, to pray for forgiveness. There are several thugs regarding the nature of forgiveness, as founded on the satisfaction given by Christ, L our surety, which have been largely insisted on under some former Answers - Hence, in considering the subject of this petition, we shall, first, akTa view of sinful man as charged with guilt, and rendered uneasy under a sense of it second v we shall consider how he is to address himself to God by faith and prayer fo foulness ; and thirdly, we shall show the encouragement which he has to hone that hLprayer will be answered. Under this last head we shaU take oc casion tc J consider how far that disposition which we have to forgive others, is an evidence of our prayer for forgiveness having been heard. See Sect. 'The Reality of the Atonement.' under Quest, xliv. See also Quest, lxx, lxxi. m 11. 634 THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. Mans Uneasiness under a Sense of Guilt. We are first to consider the charge of guilt which is upon us, and that uneasi ness which is the consequence of it. Here we view the sinner as apprehended and standing before God, the Judge of all. An accusation is brought in against hirii ; he is charged with apostacy and rebellion against his rightful Lord and Sovereign ; his nature is, in consequence, represented as vitiated and depraveid, his heart de ceitful above all things, and desperately wicked ; whence proceed all actual trans gressions, with their respective aggravations, which, according to the tenor of tlie law of God, deserve his wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. n This charge is made good against him by such convincing evidence, tha't he must be very much unacquainted with himself, and a stranger to the law of God, if he does not see its truth. But if we suppose him stupid, and persisting in his own vindication, through the blindness of his mind, and hardness of his heart, and ready to say with Ephraim, ' In all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin;'° the charge will, notwithstanding, appear to be just, his mouth shall be stopped, and he shall be forced to confess himself guilty before God. His conscience is now awakened, and he trembles at the thoughts of falling into the hands of an absolute God, who appears no otherwise to him than as a consuming fire. His terrors set themselves in array against him, and cannot but fill him with the greatest anguish, especially as there is no method which he can find out to free himself from the misery which he dreads. If he pretends to extenuate his crimes, his excuses will not avail him ; and if his own conscience does not come in as a witness against him, as having been a party concerned in the rebellion, its being silent is an evidence of its having been rendered stupid by a continuance in sin. Nothing which it can allege in its own vindication, will be regarded in the court Of heaven, but will -rather tend to add weight to the guilt he has contracted ; for the omniscience of Godwill bring in an unanswerable charge against him, as a transgressor of his law, and liable to condemnation, and then vindictive justice will demand satis faction. If the sinner make an overture to pay the debt, he must either yield sinless obedience, which is impossible from the nature of the thing, or bear the stroke of justice, and suffer the punishment due to him ; and if he is content to do the lat ter, he knows not what it is to fall into the hands of the living- God, or to be plunged into an abyss of endless misery. If he think that he p-'h-yl-l be secure by fleeing from justice, he will find every attempt to flee from it va-in ; jot God is omnipresent, and ' there is no darkness nor shadow of death, wh-eie -tie workers of iniquity may- hide themselves.'0 Nothing therefore 'remains but t'halt he make supplication to his Judge, that he would pass by the crimes 'helialscoi.iiinlsted, Without demanding satisfaction. But to do this is to desire that he would act contrary to the holiness of his nature ; which would be such a blemish on Ms pe-i-lections, that he is obliged to reject the suit, or else must cease to be God. What would his pardoning crime without satisfaction be, but to relinquish his throne, dfeny his sovereignty, and act contrary to his own law, which is the rule of his government ? Sinners, besides, would take occasion to transgress, expecting that they may do with so impunity. But, is there no intercessor who will plead the sinner's oaus'e, or appear for him in the court of heaven ? There can be no such intercessor but one who is Able to make an atonement, and thereby secure the glory of divine justice, by having tbe debt transferred or placed to his account, and giving a full satisfaction for it. But this work belongs to none but our Lord Jesus Christ, who has obtained redemption and forgiveness through his blood. Now, no one can take encouragement from what he has done but he who addresses himself to God by faith. But we are now considering the sinner as destitute of faith, and therefore the charge of guilt remains upon him. And it is certain that the consequence is such as tends to fill him with the greatest uneasiness under the burden which lies on his conscience ; so that he has a perpetual dread of the execu tion of the sentence which is in force against him. His spirit is wounded ; and it is impossible for any one to apply to him healing medicines, but by directing him, a«'.- n Quest, clii. 0 Hos. xii. 8. p Job xxxiv. 22. THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 635 cording to the prescription contained in the gospel, to seek forgiveness in that way in which God applies it in and through a Mediator. How a Sinner is to ask Forgiveness. We are now to consider how a person is to address himself to God by faith and prayer for forgiveness. This is the principal topic exhibited in this petition. Here it is to be acknowledged that, when we draw nigh to God, we do so with a sense of guilt, and, it may be, with great distress of conscience arising from it. Yet this sense of guilt differs very much from what was observed under the last Head, when we considered a sinner as standing before an absolute God, without any hope of obtaining forgiveness. What such a person suffers is dread and horror ; but his drawing near to God under the sense of guilt tof which we now speak, is an expe dient for his obtaining a settled peace of conscience. Indeed, there is nothing of greater importance, than our performing this duty in a right manner. 1. Let it be considered, then, that when we pray for forgiveness of sin, it is sup posed that none can bestow this blessing imonus but God. No one has a right to forgive an offence, but he against whom it is committed. Sin is a neglect or re fusal to pay the debt of obedience which -is dueirom us to God ; and consequently it would be an invading of his right, for any one who had no power to demand pay ment of that debt to pretend to give a discharge to the sinner, as an insolvent debtor. This would be to act like the person mentioned in the parable, who was appointed, indeed, to receive his lord's debts, but not to cancel them ; and therefore our Sa viour calls him ' an unjust steward ;' and he is said to have ' wasted his lord's goods,' by compounding without his order, the debts which were pwing to him.'' Now, as obedience is a religious duty, it is due to God alone. It is only he who can give a discharge to those who have not performed it. As it belongs to him as a Judge and Lawgiver to punish offenders, it would be the highest affront to him for a crea ture to pretend to this prerogative. Hence, God appropriates it to himself, when he says, ' I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake ;'r an expression which is to be understood of him exclusive of all other's. Accord ingly, when the Jews charged our Saviour with blasphemy on his forgiving sins, and said, ' Who can forgive sins but God only ?' s the proposition was true, how false soever the inference was which they deduced from it to disprove his Deity. 2. We shall now consider that all ought to pray for forgiveness, and in what sense they are to do so. That all ought to pray for forgiveness, one would think is so evident, so agreeable to the condition of fallen man, so obviously founded on many scriptures, and expressly commanded in the petition which we are explaining, that it is needless to give a farther proof of it. Yet, some have asserted that a justified person ought not to pray for pardon of sin, since he already enjoys it. This is an inference from what they advance as to actual justification being from eternity. They hence suppose that it is as absurd for a justified person to pray that God would forgive him, as it is to pray that he would choose him to eternal life, or that Christ would satisfy the divine justice for the sins of his people, which he has already done. It is, indeed, not very easy to understand what some persons mean, when they insist on this subject ; for they lay down propositions, without sufficient ly explaining them. And while they allege in their own vindication that they intend nothing but what is agreeable to the sentiments of the reformed churches, it is cer tain that they advance several things, or, at least, make use of unguarded expres sions, which are altogether disowned by these churches ; and, at the same time, they give occasion to some to run into the contrary extreme, who, for fear of being thought to assert eternal justification, deny the eternal purpose of God relating to it, But whatever they intend, when they say that a justified person ought not to pray for pardon of sin ; the contrary to this opinion is sufficiently evident from scripture. For, as every believer is a justified person, any instances which we have of believers praying for the pardon of sin, sufficiently confute the absurd not;- which we are opposing. Now, that many have prayed for pardon of sin, who ' Oh iave, q Luke xvi. 1. et seq. r Isa. xliii. 25. s Mark ii. 7. €26 THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. at the same time, been true believers, is evident from David's praying for the par don of sin, as he often does. Thus he says, ' For thy name's sake, 0 Lord, par don mine iniquity, for it is great ;'* and yet, at the same time, he expresses him self like a justified person, ' 0 my God, I trust in thee, ' u and, ' Thou art the God of my salvation.'" Again, he prays, ' Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified ;'? yet, at the same time, he ap pears to be a believer ; for he speaks of his ' trusting in God, ' and ' lifting up his soul to him,'2 and ' fleeing to him,' that he would ' hide him,'a which are all acts of justifying faith. Again, he prays, ' Have mercy upon me, 0 God, according to thy loving-kindness ; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions ;'b ' hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.'0 Yet he had had a previous intimation from God, that he had pardoned his sin.d This appears from the preface to the psalm in which this prayer occurs ; so that the Spirit of God put words into his mouth, and taught him, notwithstanding the assurance he had had from him of his having obtained forgiveness, to pray for it. Moreover, the apostle Paul was in a justified state, when he expressed his earnest desire of being ' found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.'0 Be sides, that justified persons ought to pray for forgiveness, might be argued from all those scriptures which represent believers as praying for salvation ; for they can not pray for salvation without praying for forgiveness of sin, as being inseparably connected with it. I shall therefore add no more concerning the obligation which all are under, to pray for the pardon of sin. I now proceed to consider in what sense we are to pray for forgiveness. This may without much diffkulty be determined, if we rightly state the doctrine of justification. If justification be considered as an immanent act in God, or as the eternal purpose of his will not to impute sin, which is what divines call decretive justification, it is to be allowed that it is no more to be prayed for than eternal election. Nor are we to pray that Christ may be constituted the Head and Surety of his elect, _ or that he might finish transgressions, make an end of sin, and bring in everlasting righteousness, for that is already done. But the scripture often speaks of justification as consisting in the application of Christ's righteousness, or in the right which we have to lay claim to it. This is styled justification by faith, and is the only foundation on which we build our hope, that we have an interest in what Christ did and suffered, and are thereby discharged from guilt and con demnation. But this justification cannot take place before we believe ; and in this sense we pray that God would justify us. Now, as forgiveness of sin is a branch of justification, it is in this sense that we pray for the pardon of sin. [See Note 2 D, page 643.] In praying for forgiveness, we express an earnest desire that God would not lay those sins to our charge which we daily commit, or that he would not, as the psal mist says, ' enter into judgment with us, 'f and, in consequence, that he would not punish us as our iniquities deserve. We thus pray for the application of Christ's righteousness, as the ground and foundation of our claim to forgiveness. Again, we are to pray for the comfortable fruits and effects of forgiveness, that ' being justified by faith, we may have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand ;'« or that we may be able to conclude that our persons and services are accepted in the Beloved, and that Christ hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Further, we are to pray for the assurance or comfortable sense of forgiveness, so that we may rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And, inasmuch as we daily contract guilt, we are to pray that this blessing may be daily applied to us, and that, both living and dying, we may be dealt with as those who are interested in Christ's righteous ness as our Surety and Redeemer. It may be objected that these blessings are what every believer has ; and that t Paal. xxv. 11. u Verse 2. x Verse 5. y Psal. cxliii. 2. z Psal. cxlii. 8. a Verse 9. b Psal. li. 1. c Verse 9. d 2 Sam. xii. 13. e Phil. iii. 9. f Psal. cxliii. 2. g Rom. v. 1, 2. THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 637 therefore he ought not to pray for them. I answer, that there are many privileges which God does or certainly will bestow upon his people, which they are, neverthe less, to pray for ; otherwise they who are in a state ot grace, are not to pray for per severance in grace, because they are assured that it shall be maintained unto sal vation, according to God's promise. Indeed, whatever promises are contained in the covenant of grace, a believer ought not, according to this objection, to pray that God would apply them to him, and so glorify his faithfulness in accomplish ing them, since he is certainly persuaded that he will do it. Yet, all allow that we are to pray for the fulfilment to us of these promises. Hence, even if we have a full assurance that God has forgiven our sins, yet, as we daily contract guilt, we are daily to pray that he would not lay it to our charge, or deal with us as our iniquities deserve. 3. We shall now consider how we are to address ourselves to God, or what views we are to have of him when we pray for forgiveness of sin. This depends on the idea we have of those perfections which he glorifies in bestowing this privilege. These are, more especially, his mercy, grace, and faithfulness, in accomplishing what he has promised in the covenant of grace. As for his justice, it is considered, as will be observed under a following Head, as having received full satisfaction. It is concerned, however, in the purchase, not in the application of forgiveness. God, indeed, appears, in respect to it, with the glory of a Judge resolving to make no abatements of the debt which was contracted, that so he may express his utmost detestation of the sins committed. In this sense, forgiveness is not to be obtained by entreaty ; for it is inconsistent with the character of a Judge, to be moved- by entreaty, and contrary to the demands of law and justice. But, on the other hand, when we draw nigh to him, we consider him as a Father who delights in mercy, as is particularly intimated in the preface to this prayer ; and therefore we do not come before him as summoned to stand at his tribunal, and to be weighed in the balance by him. Were we in this position, we should be found wanting ; and, if our iniquities should be marked by him, we could not stand. But we consider our selves as invited to come into his presence, in hope of obtaining forgiveness ; and we consider him as he has revealed himself in the gospel, in which we are told that there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, not as the criminal fears his judge, who is ready to pass sentence upon him, but as a child comes into his father's presence with such a fear as proceeds from love, and is the result of the encouragement which is given him that he shall be accepted in his sight. The great inducement to our thus approaching God, is the intimation he has given of his love, in the promises of the covenant of grace, particularly in those which re spect forgiveness. There he has discovered himself as a God ready to pardon, ' 'gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness;'11 with whom is ' plenteous redemption.' £ He also styles himself, ' Our God, who will abundantly pardon,' inasmuch as ' his thoughts and ways are above ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth.'k He has likewise promised that he will ' cast all the sins' of his people 'into the depths of the sea.' Hence, we consider him, in forgiving our sins, not only as glorifying his mercy, but as ' performing his truth,' and act ing agreeably to his faithfulness.1 And all this depends entirely on the discoveries he has made of himself to us through a Mediator. 4 We are thus led to consider the way in which God bestows forgiveness, and in which we are to seek it at his hand by faith and prayer. We formerly observed that it would be an affront to the divine Majesty, to suppose that he will extend mercv to guilty sinners, without securing the glory of his vindictive justice ; and the securing of this depends wholly on the satisfaction which was given by Christ. Hence, wetre to beg forgiveness for his sake, whom God has 'set forth to be a propitiation for sin, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ' Accordingly, we are first considered as having his righteousness im puted to us ; and then this blessing which we pray for is applied to us. In this method of praying for forgiveness, we take occasion to adore the wisdom of God, which has found out this expedient to hallow or sanctify his own name, as well as h Neh. ix. 17. Psal- cxxx' 7' k Isa' lv- 7—9, ' Micah vii" 19, 20" C38 THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE Lord's PRAYER. io secure to us an interest in his love ; and, at the same time, we express the high esteem we have for the person of Christ, who has procured it for us, and also our sense of the infinite value of the price he paid in order to procure it. We refer our cause to him, that, as our Advocate, he would appear on our behalf, in the merit of his obedience and sufferings ; that our petition may be granted in such a way, that God may have the, highest revenue of glory redounding to himself, and that we may receive the consequent blessings. We are now to consider the frame of spirit with which we are to pray for forgive ness. There is no grace but what is to be exercised in prayer, agreeably to the subject of it. In particular, it is evident, from the nature of the thing, that when we pray for forgiveness, it ought to be with a penitent frame of spirit. Accord ingly, repentance and forgiveness of sins are often connected in scripture. Thus it is said, ' Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.'m We are not to suppose, indeed, that repentance, or any other grace, is the cause of God's secret purpose or determination to forgive sin, or that he accepts of it as any part of that atonement or satisfaction which his justice requires to be made for it ; for to suppose this is to ascribe that to repentance which belongs entirely to Christ's righteousness. Repentance, however, is so far necessary to forgiveness, that it would be a very preposterous thing for any one to ask this favour either of God or of man without it. Not to repent of a crime committed, is, in effect, a pleading for it, and a tacit resolution to persist in it, and, in consequence, disqualifies us from pleading for a pardon. Besides, it would be contrary to the divine perfections for God to give pardon to those who, in this manner do, as it were, practically disown their need of it. Moreover, the necessity of repentance, in those who are praying and hoping for forgiveness, appears from the connection which there is between it and all other graces. These, though distinguished, are not separated from it ; and they are all necessary to salvation, — which we can, by no means attain, without being forgiven. The Connexion between forgiving others and enjoying forgiveness from God. We proceed to consider the encouragement that they, who plead for forgiveness, with the exercise of faith, repentance, and other graces, have to expect, that they shall be heard and answered ; and, more particularly, how far the disposition which we have to forgive others, is an evidence of our having obtained forgiveness from God. Grace exercised, is an evidence of forgiveness. That it is so appears from the fact that it is a work and fruit of the Spirit, a branch of sanctification, and an ear nest of eternal life. In this respect, that good work may be truly said to be begun, which God will certainly carry on, and perfect in glory. Every grace, I say, pro vided it be true and genuine, is an evidence of our right to forgiveness, or justifi cation. Accordingly the apostle says, ' Whom he called, them he justified ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.'11 We are now to consider how far, or in what respect, our exercising forgiveness towards others, is an evidence of our having obtained forgiveness from God ; which is the sense given in this Answer, of those words, 'as we forgive our debtors.' We may here observe the variation of the expression in Matthew and Luke. In the former it is, ' Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors ;' and in the latter, • Forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.' There is a little difficulty contained in the sense of the particles 'as' and 'for ;' and these must be so explained that the sense of the petition, in both evangelists, may appear to be the same. When Matthew says, ' Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debt ors,' the particle ' as' is a note, not of equality, but of similitude. Accordingly, it signifies that we are to forgive others, even as God, for Christ's sake, has for given us, or as we hope to obtain forgiveness from him. If, indeed, we compare our forgiveness of others with God's forgiveness of us, there is an infinite disproportion between them, as to the injuries forgiven, and the circumstances attending the act m Acts iii. 19. n Rom. viii. 30. THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 639 of forgiveness. The injuries done to us are very small, if compared with the crimes which we commit against God ; and when we are said to forgive them, there is no comparison between our forgiveness and that which we desire from the hand of God. God's forgiving us is, indeed, a motive to us to forgive others ; but the one is not the measure or standard of the other. Hence, the petition implies that, while we ask for forgiveness, we ought to do so with a becoming frame of spirit, as those who are inclined to forgive others, and, at the same time, to bless God that he has wrought this disposition in us. So far as we make use of our forgiving others as an argument in prayer, the meaning is, that as God has made it our duty to for give others, and we trust has also given us grace to do so, we hope that he will, in like manner, ' forgive us our trespasses.' The petition as laid down by the evangelist Luke, ' Forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us,' is, in substance, the same as laid down in Matthew, and as now explained. The particle 'for' is not causal, but demonstrative. Hence, we are not to understand it as though our forgiving others were the ground and reason of God's forgiving us ; for to do this would be to put it in the room of Christ's righteousness. But the mean ing is, that we are encouraged to hope that he will forgive us, from the demonstrative evidence he has afforded us of his disposition io forgive, in his having bestowed upon us that grace which inclines and disposes us to forgive others. For from his having given us that grace, we have ground to conclude that we shall obtain the blessing for which we pray. We are thus led to consider the nature and extent of forgiveness, as exercised by us, and our obligation to perform this duty ; and when our performing it may be said to be an evidence of our obtaining forgiveness from God. 1. As to the nature and extent of forgiveness, there are some things to be pre mised. The injuries which are done us, are to be considered as either an invasion or a denial of those rights which belong to us, agreeably to the station and con dition in life in which the providence of God has fixed us. Any such invasion must be reckoned an injury, because it is detrimental to us, and an act of injustice. It may also be considered as a crime committed against God, inasmuch as it in fers a violation of the law of nature, which is stamped with his authority. By this law, the rights of every particular person are determined ; and to deprive us of them, is a sin against God, in the same sense in which sins immediately committed against men are said to be committed against him. — Again, injuries are to be for given by us, only as they are against ourselves. God alone can forgive them as they are against him. The reason is, that no one can dispense with that punish ment which is due for the violation of a law but he who gave it. The precept which is to be obeyed, and" the sanction which binds over the offender to suffer for his violation of it, must be established by the same authority. Hence, as the crea ture cannot demand that obedience which is due to God alone ; so, for the same rea son, he cannot remit that debt of punishment which belongs only to God to inflict. We are to desire, however, that God would pardon, rather than punish, those who have injured us. Our doing this is the only sense in which we may be said to for give others those crimes that are committed against God ; if, indeed, our doing it may be called forgiveness. But so far as any injury respects ourselves, as being detrimental to us, it is our duty to forgive it, and not to exercise that private re venge which is inconsistent with the scope of this petition.— Again, so far as an in jury which more especially respects ourselves, includes a violation of human laws, so that the offender has rendered himself obnoxious to a capital punishment ; it does not belong to us, as private persons, to forgive the criminal, so as to obstruct the course of justice. This matter does not concern us, as we have not the ex ecutive part of human laws in our power. To pretend to this executive power, would be not only to violate the laws of men, but to commit an offence agamst God who has established the just rights of civil government. Hence, that for giveness which we are obliged to exercise towards others, does not extend to inju ries which violate human laws. Nor are we obliged, when we forgive those who have injured us, to be unconcerned about doing justice to ourselves, when it is pos sible or at least easy, for us to have redress in the course of law or equity ; espe cially if the damage we sustain be, in a very great degree, prejudicial to ourselves 640 THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. or families. If an injury affect our good name in the world, the forgiving of it is not inconsistent with our using endeavours to vindicate our own reputation ; though, it may be, we can hardly do this without exposing him who has done us the injury, to suffer that shame which he has brought on himself by his calumnies. These things being premised, we proceed to consider the nature and extent of forgiveness, as it is to be exercised by us, so far as the injury committed respects ourselves. This forgiveness is opposed to our bearing the least degree of malice against the offender, or carrying our resentments too far, by magnifying lesser in juries, and meditating revenge. Nor ought we to be so partial in our own cause, as to deny or altogether overlook those things which are, in other respects, com mendable in him ; as though a crime committed against us were altogether incon sistent with the least degree of virtue or goodness in him who has committed it. His having done injustice to us, does not excuse any act of injustice to his person or character in instances which have not an immediate relation to ourselves. To look at him in his other conduct in the light of his injury against us, is to see things through a false medium, or to infer consequences which cannot fairly be deduced from any thing which he has done, how injurious soever it may have been to us. Moreover, we are not to take occasion, from the ill treatment we have met with from any one, to endeavour to ruin him, as to his estate or character in the world. For to act thus is not a proper expedient, either to do justice to ourselves, or to bring him who has done us the injury to repentance. Here we may take occasion to inquire, how far a person who is injured by an other may demand satisfaction ; and whether it is our duty to forgive him, though it be neither in his power nor in his inclination to make satisfaction. The answer which I would give is, that the law of God and nature does not prohibit us from demanding satisfaction in proportion to the injury received ; satisfaction being a debt which we ought to claim, in justice to ourselves and our character in the world. It may sometimes, however, be out of the offender's power to make full satisfaction. In this case we must be content, and forgive the injury, without it ; and we are to deal with him, as we are obliged to do with those who are insolvent in pecuniary debts. On the other hand, the person who has injured us may be able, at least, in some measure to make satisfaction ; but he is so far from being willing to do so, that he refuses to acknowledge his crime, and, what is still worse, seems inclined, as occasion may offer, to commit it again. This is the worst of tempers ; especially if the injury be not merely supposed, but real. Yet the tem per of the offender is no rule for us to proceed by, in forgiving injuries. For un derstanding this, let it be considered that satisfaction for injuries committed, con sists either in making a compensation in proportion to the damage sustained, or in a mere acknowledgment of the fault committed. The former we may, in justice, insist on ; though in most cases, where the injury respects only ourselves, it may be dispensed with or demanded at pleasure. But whether it be given or not, it is so far our duty to pass it by, as not to bear the least degree of malice against him who has injured us. In the latter kind of satisfaction, no more is demanded than a mere acknowledgment of the offence committed, which cannot be supposed to be out of the power of the offender ; but he is resolved that he will not make it, he persists in his own vindication, and determines to do the same injury as occasion offers. Now, we are to let him know that he sins, not only against us, but against God, and to exhort him to confess his crime before him ; and therefore we pity his obstinacy, while we express our readiness to pass by the injury he has done us. Yet out of a principle of self-preservation, such an one is not to be chosen by us as an intimate friend or associate, that he may not be in a capacity to injure us for the future, which his obstinacy discovers him to be inclined to do. Thus con cerning the nature and extent of the duty of forgiving injuries. 2. We proceed to consider the indispensable obligation we are under to forgive injuries. Without practising this duty, we could not make that appeal to God which is contained in the petition we are considering, or take encouragement to hope that we shall obtain forgiveness from him. To induce us to perform it, let us consider that if God should deal with us as we do with our fellow-creatures, when we refuse to forgive them, we should be for ever miserable. This our Saviour THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 641 illustrates by the parable of the debtor and creditor. » There a person is repre sented as • owing ten thousand talents;' and 'his lord,' upon his entreaty, 'forgave him the debt. Afterwards the person dealt severely with one who owed him but an hundred pence ;' and by doing so he provoked his lord to ' deliver him to the tor-mentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.' Though this parable does not argue the least mutability in the divine purpose* relating to forgiveness ; yet we may infer from it how inconsiderable the injuries which are done us are, when compared with those which we have done against God; and how little ground we have to expect forgiveness from him, if we are not disposed to forgive others.— Again, an implacable spirit meditating revenge for injuries done against us, wili render us altogether unfit for the performance of any holy duty, and particularly for imploring forgiveness from God. It also exposes us to many temptations. Ac cordingly, the apostle speaks of anger retained in our breasts, or ' letting the sun go down upon our wrath,' as that which 'gives place to the devil, 'p— Again, malice and fury tend to exasperate an enemy ; while forgiveness melts him into friendship, and very much recommends the gospel, which obliges us to do acts of brotherly kindness, even where they are least deserved. — Further, we have many bright ex amples for our imitation, of the best men, who have been highly injured, and yet have expressed a forgiving spirit. Thus Joseph forgave the injuries done against him by his brethren. After his father's death, they were jealous that he would hate them, and requite them all the evil which they had done to him ; but he not only comforted them and spake kindly to them, but made very liberal provision for the subsisting of them and their families, i Moses, when Miriam was smitten with leprosy for speaking against him, prayed for her recovery. r When the Syrian host was sent on purpose to destroy the prophet Elisha, and when God delivered them into his hand in the midst of Samaria, and the king of Israel was ready to smite them, had he desired it ; he was so far from wishing them to be destroyed, that he said to the king, • Thou shalt not smite them. Wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword, and with thy bow ? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 's In the New Testament, we have an instance of a forgiving spirit in Stephen, when, in the very agonies of death, having been before insulted, and now stoned by his enraged enemies," ' he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to tlieir charge.'' But the highest instance which can be given of the exercise of this grace we have in our Saviour, who prayed for those who crucified him, ' Father, iorgive them, for they know not what they do.'u These examples are worthy of our imitation ; and therefore we should reckon ourselves obliged to forgive those who have injured us. It will be objected by some, that the injuries done them are so very great, that they are not to be borne ; that it would be dishonourable for them not to take any notice of them ; or perhaps that the ingratitude expressed in them, is such as deserves the highest resentment ; and that to pass over the injuries, might be reckoned a tacit approbation of them, and give occasion to the offenders to despise and injure them for the future. But if the injury be great, it will be much more commendable, and a greater instance of virtue and grace, to forgive than to resent it. In this case, a man overcomes himself, subdues his own passions, and so lets his enemy know that he has a due sense of the divine command relat ing to forgiveness, and that his spirit is sanctified and calmed by the power of divine grace. To act thus is reckoned one of the greatest victories. Accordingly, it is said, ' He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.'1 As for our honour, which is pretended to be concerned in our forgiving injuries, they who allege it are very much mistaken in their sentiments about true honour. For it is said, ' The discretion of a man de- ferreth his anger ; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. '* Again, the forgiveness of injuries does not, in the least, argue that the person who forgives, ap- o Matt, xviii. 24, et seq. p Eph. iv. 26, 27. q Gen. 1. 15—21. r Numb. xii. 13. s 2 Kings vi. 22. t Acts vii. 60. u Luke xxiii. 34. x Prov. xvi. 32. y Prov. xix. 11. II. 4 M 642 THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. proves of his crime who has injured him. For our forgiving an offender is not incon sistent with our charging his sin on his conscience, and endeavouring to bring him .under a sense of guilt, as having not only injured us, but done that which is highly displeasing to God. He may also be given to understand that he has wronged his own soul more than us, and therefore has great reason to be humbled before God, and re pent of his sin committed* against us, which, as it is committed against God, he only can forgive ; though we let him know, that we are disposed to forgive him, so far as the crime is directed against us. As to the pretence that the forgiving of in juries will make those who have done them grow bold, and be more hardened in their crimes, and that they will take occasion from it to insult and injure us for the future, such a result very seldom follows. But if it should, we must consider that the ungrateful abuse of a kind and generous action, is no sufficient excuse for our not performing it. If, however, there be the least ingenuousness of temper, or if it pleases God, by his grace, to bless our kind behaviour towards them for their good, our forgiveness of their injuries will have a far different effect. Ac cordingly, it is observed, ' A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.'2 Thus concerning the obligation we are under to forgive the inju ries which are committed against us. 3. We are now to consider how our forgiveness of injuries is an evidence, or may afford us ground of hope, that we shall obtain forgiveness from God, when we are praying for it. Here let it be observed, that the forgiving of injuries may be con sidered merely as a virtue, proceeding from a goodness of temper, or from a sense of the equality and reasonableness of the duty, and from other motives which the light of nature may suggest, or, as it is recommended by Seneca, Epictetus, and other heathen moralists. Now, while the forgiving of injuries from such must be reckoned a very commendable quality, and a convincing evidence that a person is, in a great degree, master of his own passions ; we cannot conclude from it that a person is in a state of grace ; and nothing short of that can be an evidence of our right to forgiveness. Hence, we must consider the disposition to forgive injuries as a Christian virtue, or as containing some ingredients which manifest it to be a grace wrought in us by the Spirit, and a branch of sanctification, and, as such, having several other graces connected with it. Accordingly, when our forgiving injuries is an evidence of our having obtained forgiveness, we must practise'forgive- ness out of an. humble sense of the many crimes which we have committed against God. The disposition, therefore, is joined with the grace of repentance, and flows from it. Moreover, it contains several acts of faith. In forgiving injuries, we, in effect, acknowledge that all we have is in God's hand, who has a right to take it away when he pleases. If we are deprived of our reputation and usefulness in the world, or of our wealth and outward well-being by the injurious treatment we meet with from those who, without cause, are our enemies, we are sensible that what we suffer could not come upon us without God's permissive providence ; and in this we entirely acquiesce. We wholly lay the injury or injustice done us to the charge of those who hate us ; yet, in obedience to our Saviour's command, we desire to express our love to them in the most valuable acts, and, at the same time, to ac knowledge and adore the sovereignty and justice of God in suffering us to be thus dealt with by men, and hoping and trusting that he will overrule this and all other afflictive providences for our good. Thus David says when he speaks of God's suf fering Shimei to curse him : ' It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day.'a Further, when we forgive those who have injured us, we do so with an earnest desire that God would give them repentance ; so that his name may be glorified, and his interest promoted, whatever becomes of our name and usefulness in the world. When we are enabled to exercise such a frame of spirit as this in forgiving those who have injured us, we have ground to hope that, when we pray for forgiveness, the great God, who is the Author of all that grace which we exercise in forgiving others, will grant us the invaluable privilege which we desire. Having explained this petition, we shall now consider it as a directory, agree- z Prov. xv. 1. a 2 Sam. xvi. 12. THE FIFTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 643 ably to which wo may put up our requests to God. Accordingly; we are to cast ourselves before his iootstool, with humble confession of sin, and imploring forg.ve- ness from him, to this effect: — " We adore thee, 0 Lord, as a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts, and hast revealed thy wrath from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men. We acknowledge that we have, by our transgressions, become debtors to thy justice. Our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespasses grown up unto the heavens ; and thereby we have deserved to be banished out of thy sight, and cast into the prison of hell, without hope of being released thence. We are not able to stand in judgment, and therefore we dread the thoughts of appearing before thine awful tribunal, as an absolute God. If thou shouldst contend with us, we cannot answer for the least sin that we have committed ; and it would be an injury to thy justice, and. an increasing of our guilt, to expect or desire that thou shouldst pardon our sins without receiving satisfaction for them, which we are sen sible that we are not, nor ever shall be able to give thee. But we bless thy name that thou hast sent thy well-beloved Son into the world, who gave his life a ran som for thy people ; by which means thy justice is satisfied, thy law fulfilled, and all thy perfections infinitely glorified. He hath finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness ; which is to and upon all them that believe. Thou hast therefore given us leave and encouragement to come to thee by faith, to plead with thee for redemption and forgiveness through his blood, according to the riches of thy grace. In him thou art a God pardoning the iniquity, and passing by the transgressions of the rem nant of thine heritage. We pray for this invaluable privilege as those who hum bly hope and trust that we have those graces wrought in us, which are an evidence of our having Christ's righteousness imputed to us, for which we bless thee. In particular, we bless thee that thou hast enabled us to forgive all the injuries which are done us by our fellow-creatures; which are very small and inconsiderable, when compared with those affronts which we daily offer to thy Majesty. We be seech thee, grant that this and all other graces may more and more abound in us, that thereby our evidences of an interest in Christ's righteousness may be more strong and clear ; that though we daily contract guilt by our transgressions, we may be enabled to conclude for our comfort, that there is no condemnation to us, and that iniquity shall not be our ru:u." [Note 2 D. Prayer for Pardon Prayer for justification, in any just or scriptural sense what ever of justification before God, is essentially of the same nature as prayer.for regeneration; and either must be regarded as formal and unbelieving, or presupposes the possession of spiritual life, — a justified condition and a regenerated heart. The remarks made in a former note (See Note headed " Are unconverted persons to be exhorted to pray? appended to Sect. ' How the word is to be preached," under Quest, clx.) on prayer as a means of conversion, apply in all their force to prayer as an antecedent to justification. To exhort a person therefore, to pray that he may be justified, will as much tend to obscure in his view the gospel s invitation to him to believe and live, as to exhort him to pray in order that he may be converted. Prayer than tbe f of in scri[.._.. represented as a blessing to be asked by prayer. moval of guilt as entirely forfeiting the divine complacency, and placing the sinner under unqualified condemnation; but viewed apart from justification, it is the pardon of particular offences, the for . giveness of sin committed by persons partially sanctified the removal of gu.lt which, while it entails chastisement and stripes, does not occasion the withdrawal of God s covenant or promises of sav ng mercy In the oneP view, it is a blessing once bestowed, ever complete, and conferred on the spiritually dead when they are made alive to God; in the other it is a blessing daily needed, Xn received and properly or exclusively bestowed upon erring and delinquent belieyers,_per- sons who while justified and regenerated, are still so far under the influence of remaining corrup tion u in many things to transgress the divine law. In the former case, it is a result ot Christ s atonement or of the offering once for all which he made for taking away the sin of the world ; in tZultVr it is a result of his intercession— of his continuing in the presence of God on behalf of ' U",LC-1' ,: -. t0 Diead the merits of his blood, that he may save on to the last point Father who art in heaven, —neirs oi uou m.u jm™. «¦•>¦" — «=». """""A 7, * J v tion in their hearts, crying, ' Abba, Father;' and they who ' come boldly to the throne of grace, 644 THE SIXTH PETITION OF THE LORD'S PRATER. that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,' are those who 'have a despair of thy mercy, which thou art pleased to extend to the chief of sinners. We farther beg, though with submission to thy will, that we may be kept from the temptations of our grand adversary, because we are sensible of our own weakness and inability to resist him. Yet we are con fident that we can do all things by thine assistance. If, therefore, thou sufferest us to be tempted, appear in our behalf, that we may be made more than conquerors ; and when we fall by temptation, let us not be utterly cast down, but let us be up held with thine hand, and let thy strength be made perfect in our weakness. And in the end, bring us safely to that happy state where there is neither sin nor temp tation ; when we shall be delivered from all the evils of the present state, that thou mayest have the glory, and that we may praise thee throughout the ages of eternity." 1 Gen, xxxix. 9. m psaI. xxiii. 3. THE CONCLUSION OF THE LORD*S PRAYER. 663 THE CONCLUSION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. ' Question CXCVI. What doth the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us ? Answer. The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, " For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen," teacheth us to enforce our petitions with arguments, which are to be taken, not from any worthiness in ourselves, or in any other creature, but from God; and with our prayers, to join praises, ascribing to God alone eternal sovereignty, omnipotency, and glorious excellency ; in regard whereof, as he is able and willing to help us, so we by faith are emboldened to plead with him that he would, and quietly to rely upon him that he will fulfil our requests, and to testify this our desire and assurance, we say, "Amen." As we are taught to begin our prayers with those expressions of reverence which become the majesty of God when we draw nigh to him ; so we are to conclude them with a doxology, or an ascription of that glory which is due to his name. Thus praise is joined with prayer ; and we are encouraged to hope that he will hear and answer our petitions. In the conclusion of the Lord's prayer, we are directed to ascribe to God ' the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever,' and to sum up all with the comprehensive word, ' Amen.' This doxology may be considered in two respects, — as we express by it the due regard we have to the divine perfections ; and as we improve or make use of the clauses of it as so many arguments or pleas in prayer. * I. We shall consider the doxology as expressing the sense we have of the divine perfections. 1. We say, ' Thine is the kingdom.' Here God's sovereignty and his universal dominion over all creatures are acknowledged, as he has a right to every thing to which he gave being. As this is more especially a branch of his relative glory, since the idea of a king implies subjects over whom his dominion is exercised ; so it sup poses in us an humble expression of subjection to him, and dependence on him for all things which we enjoy or hope for. We also consider him as having a right to make use of all creatures at his pleasure ; inasmuch as the earth is his, and the fulness thereof. As we are intelligent creatures, we profess our obligation to yield obedience to his revealed will, and our fear of incurring his displeasure by rebelling against him, with whom is terrible majesty. And when we take a view of him as seated on a throne of grace, and of his government as extended to his church, on which account he is adored as ' King of saints,' n we hope for his safe protection, and for all the blessings which he bestows on those whom he governs in a way sub servient to their everlasting salvation. 2. We adore him as a God of infinite power, ' Thine is the power.' Dominion without power will not be sufficient to maintain its rights. Hence, as God is de scribed as having the kingdom belonging to him, or as being the Governor among the nations, his attribute of power ought to be next considered ; whereby he can, without the least difficulty, secure the welfare and happiness of his subjects, and bring to nought the designs of his enemies ; or as it is elegantly expressed, ' look on every one that is proud, and bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place, hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret.'0 3. It is added, ' Thine is the glory.' This expression may be understood in two senses. The ' glory ' may be viewed as including all his perfections, whereby he is rendered glorious in the eyes of angels and men ; so that there is nothing which we esteem beautiful or excellent in the whole system of created beings, but what is deformed and, as it were, vanishes and sinks into nothing, when compared with him Or the meaning of the expression is, that all the praise which arises from every thing done in the world which appears great and excellent, or which has a tendency to raise our esteem and admiration, is to be ascribed to him. In ascrib ing to him this praise, we disclaim the least shadow or appearance of divine honour ; which we are ready, on all occasions, to acknowledge to be due to him alone. Thus we adore him as having all divine perfections, when we say, ' Thine is the king dom, the power, and the glory.' , . , , , „ , . 4 It is farther added, that they belong to him ' for ever and ever. By this ex pression, it is intimated that, whatever changes there may be in the nature or con. „kev.xv.3. oJobxl.12,13. 664 THE CONCLUSION &F THE LORD B PRAYER. dition of created beings, he is unchangeably the same ; and therefore will remain glorious in himself, and be for ever admired and adored by all his saints, whose happiness depends upon his immutability. II. We shall' consider these divine perfections, as they afford us so many argu ments or pleas in prayer, whence we take encouragement to expect a gracious answer from him. That they are to be viewed in this light, appears from the illa tive particle ' for,' which is prefixed to the doxology. We may hence consider the doxology as subjoined to the petitions, as the strongest motive to induce us to hiope that the blessings we pray for shall be granted us. Accordingly, *we disclaim all worthiness in ourselves, and desire that our name or righteousness should not be mentioned, but that the whole revenue of glory may redound to God, as all our ex pectation is from him. We might here apply the several arguments or pleas con tained in the doXology to every one of the petitions ; and, if thus applied, they Would tend very'niuch to enforce them, and afford'mattef for enlargement in prayer. But I choose father to reduce the subject of them to the two; general Heads, under which they are contained. Accordingly, I shall show how we may make use of them in bur praying for those things which concern his glory; agreeably to what we are directed to ask for in the three first petitions ; an*d how we may make use of them in bur praying for temporal or Spiritual advantage,1 agreeably to what We are directed to ask in the three last. 1. As to the glory of God in the world, that his name maybe hallowed, his king dom advanced, and his Will be done, we pray that, ' as he is a great King, the blessed and only Potentate, the Governor of the world and the church, he would sahtitify his glorious name ; that his interest may be'ffiaintained, and prevail against every thing which opposes it ; and that he Would take to himself 'his great power and reign. And, as the success of the gospel, and the advancement of his kingdom of grace, is a work Surpassing finite power, and there are many endeavours used to Wfeaken and overthrow it ; we trust, we hope, we plead with 'him, for the glory of 'hiSname, that he would check and defeat the designs of his and our efaemies, that the enlargement of his kingdom may not be obstructed, nor his subjects disheart ened, while Satan's kingdom, which is set in opposition to it, makes such sensible advances and prevails so much against it. Moreover; in order that his name may be Sanctified by his people, and his kingdom advanced in the world, we pray that •his subjects may be inclined to obey him and submit to his will in all things, or that 'his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Hence, when we ascribe the -kingdom, power, and glory to him, we in effect/ say : — " Lord, what would become ¦of this wretched world, if it were not under thy gracious government, which is 'its 'gltiry and defence I Thou sittest on the throne of thy holiness, which thou -hast established of bid. We are, therefore, encouraged to hope that thou wilt not forsake thy people, who are called by thy name, nor suffer thine interest to be trampled on, or thy name to be profaned by those who say, ' Who is the Lord, 'that we should obey him?', Thine arm is not shortened; that thou canst not save ; For thine- is the power, and therefore nothing is too hard for thee. Thou hast given us ground to expect that thou wilt show thy people marvellous things ; and thou hast promised that all nations shall bow down before thee and serve thee, and that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of Christ. This thou sanst easily accomplish by thine almighty power, though it be too hard for man. Thou art tiever at a loss for instruments to fulfil thy pleasure ; for all things are in thy hand. Nor, indeed, dost thou need them ; for by thy powerful word, thou canst cause light to shine out of darkness, and revive thy work in the midst of the years, that thy people may rejoice and be glad in thy salvation. Take the work, therefore* into thine own hand, and, thereby, give us occasion to admire and ascribe to thee the glory which is due to thy name." 2. We are to consider how we may plead for temporal or spiritual blessings, as making use of the argument that the kingdom, power, and glory belong to God. .Accordingly, we pray that he would give us that portion of the good things of this life which he sees necessary for us, and that we may enjoy his blessing with it, in order to our being prepared for a better. We say, in effect: — "Give us daily •bread ; for the earth is thine, and the fulness thereof. Thou hast subdued us to thyself, and hast told us that thou wilt surely do us good, and bring us at last to THE CONCLUSION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 665 thy heavenly kingdom. We therefore humbly wait upon thee, that we may not be suffered to faint by the way, or be destitute of those blessings which are needful for us in our present condition. Thou art able to supply all our wants. We have hitherto been upheld by thy power, and thou hast sometimes done great things for us, which we looked not for, and hast been our refuge and strength, a very present help in every time of trouble. Thou hast granted us life and favour ; and thy visitations have preserved our spirits. What thou hast given us we have gathered ; thou hast opened thy hand, and filled us with good. And, as the treasures of thy bounty are not exhausted, nor thy power diminished ; so we desire, to exercise a constant dependence on thee, and to hope, in thy mercy, that.'as thou hast given us those better things which accompany salvation* thou wilt also bestow upon us what thou seest needful for us in our way to it. Grant us, 0 Lord, the.mercies which we need, that the bestowal of them may redound, not only to our comfort,- but to thy glory, who givest food to, all flesh ; for thy mercy endureth for ever." We also encourage ourselves to hope for those spiritual blessings which we stand.in need of. Accordingly, when we pray for forgiveness of sin, we consider God as sitting upon a throne of grape, and inviting us to come, and receive a pardon from his hand. Hence, we say, " Lord, thou art ready to forgive, and thereby to lay eternal obli gations on thy subjects, to love and fear thee. If thou shouldst resolve to display thy vindictive justice, in punishing sin according to its demerit, thy kingdom of grace would be at an end ; but thou encouragest us to hope for forgiveness, that hereby grace may reign through righteousness unto life eternal. And, as thou art a God of infinite power, we beg that thou wouldst work in us those graces which flow from, and are the evidences of, our having obtained forgiveness, that being delivered from the guilt of sin, we may walk before thee in newnessof life. We also ask this privilege, as what, thou bestowest for.Chri^t's sake, that Hereby he may be glorified as the purchaser of this blessing, and we laid under the highest obliga-t tions to love him, being constrained, byhis, love, expressed to us in washing us from our sins in his own blood." When we pray to be kept from ¦ temptation, or to be recovered when fallen, we consider ourselves as the subjects.of- Christ's kingdom, and his enemies. as endea vouring to draw us aside from our allegiance to him ; and dreading the consequence of their seductions, we address ourselves to him, to secure us from the danger we are exposed to from them. Accordingly, when we say, ' Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,' we are furnished with arguments adapted to our present exi gencies ; and we pray to this effect : — " The power of our spiritual enemies is great, and is specially formidable on account of the treachery of our own hearts ; yet we are encouraged to implore thine assistance against them, O our God and King, that we may be kept in the hour of temptation ; inasmuch as all the attempts which are made against us include an invasion. on thy sovereignty and dominion over usi We desire always to commit ourselves to thy protection, and hope, to find it. For there are no snares laid fojc.us but thou art able tOidetect them* and prevent our being entangled by them. Thou canst also bruise our enemies under our feet ; and if we are at any tim# overcome by them, thou canst recover us from. the paths of the destroyer. Do this for us, we beseech thee, that thou mayest have all the. glory. We have no might ; but our eyes are toward thee, who art able to keep us from falL ing, and to present us faultless before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy." The word ' Amen,' with which our Saviour concludes this prayer, is of Hebrew origin. It is sometimes prefixed to what is asserted with a vehemency of expression, and is .designed not only to confirm whatsis said, but to, bespeak;, for it the ,utjmost attention, as being a maiter of very great importance. In.thi&.case, it is rendered by. the word 'verily.' It is also sometimes repeated in order to add greateriforee to the confirmation. Thus when our Saviour asserts the necessity of regeneration, he says, ' Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'p Elsewhere, also, he says, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatso ever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.' « — Again, it is placed at the close of each of the evangelists, to denote, that whatever is contained in the narrative is to be depended on as of infallible verity. Almost all the epistles also p John iii. 3. q Chap. xvi. 23. II. 4* 666 THE CONCLT7SION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. are concluded with it. In the book of Revelation, it is placed after a short prayer or doxology ; and, in that position, it signifies that what is requested of God is ear nestly desired, and that the petition is summed up and ratified by it ; or that the glory which is ascribed is again acknowledged to belong to God, and that we re joice in the discovery of it which is made to us. — Again, the word is sometimes not only used, but at the same time explained, as containing a summary account of what we ask for. Thus when Benaiah preferred a petition to David in behalf of Solo mon, and had a grant from him that he should reign in his stead ; it is said, ' He answered the king, and said, Amen ; the Lord God of my lord the king say so too.' ' Thus, then, the Word ' Amen,' with which this and other prayers are to be con cluded, signifies, ' so it is,' ' so let it be,' or, ' so it shall be.'. In all these signifi cations it is to be used in reference to the subject of our prayers. As it respects sins confessed, or the glory which we ascribe to God for mercies received, it de notes, ' so it is.' As it refers to the promises which we plead and take encourage ment from, or the blessings which we desire, it signifies, ' so it shall be,' and ' so let it be.' Thus it is to be applied in the Lord's prayer. In particular, as it is im mediately subjoined to the doxology, ' Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever,' it is an expression of our faith, as well as of our adora tion of the divine perfections. — Moreover, there are some prayers, or doxologies, in which the glory of Christ and the gospel state is described, which are concluded with the repetition of the word. Thus when the psalmist had been enlarging on this subject, he concludes with, ' Blessed be his glorious name for ever ; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory, Amen, and Amen ;' that is, God has deter mined that it shall be so, and the whole church is obliged to express their faith, and say, ' Amen, so let it be.' Some have thought it expedient in social prayer, that the whole assembly, to gether with him who leads the devotions, should say ' Amen,' with a loud voice, and thereby signify their consent to the prayer, and their concern in its petitions. This appears to have been the practice of the church in the early ages. Justin Martyr observes that the practice was followed in his time ; s and it was afterwards ob served in Jerome's time, who compares the sound which the assembly made with their united voices to that of thunder. * But though this practice was followed with a pious design, and was not in the least to be blamed, yet it is not to be insisted on as necessary ; for all who are present professedly join in every part of the prayer, as much as if they repeated the words with an audible voice. It is suf ficient for every one, when prayer is publicly concluded with this comprehensive word, to lift up his heart to God, and thereby express the part he bears in the devotion. As to the contrary extreme, when one, whose office was altogether un known to the primitive church, is appointed to say ' Amen ' in the name of the whole congregation, it is, I think, altogether unwarrantable. Several Popish com mentators, indeed, defend it from the apostle's words, where he speaks of him who 'oocupieth the room of the unlearned,' as 'saying Amen, at the giving of thanks.'" Here, however, by ' the unlearned,' is meant, not the clerk of a congregation,1 but one who understands not the prayer, which the apostle supposes to be put up to Sod in an unknown tongue. All therefore which can be inferred from the apostle's words is, that we ought to pray to God with understanding and faith, and so may be able to sum up our requests, and glorify him by saying, « Amen.' r I Kings i. 36. 8 Vid. Justin Martyr, Apol. ii. pro Christ. He intimates that, when public prayer and giving of thanks was ended, the whole congregation testified their approbation by saying, ' Amen.' n« i ftx^an Xxat vxiv$nfj.tt Xtym xfint. t Vid. Hieron. in lib. ii. Comment, ad Galat. in Proem. Ad similitudinem caelestis tonitrus reboat, [scil. Ecclesia] Amen. u 1 Cor. xiv. 16. x Vid. 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