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 BX9178,M14 S44 1834 
 
 McEweii, William, 1735-1762. 
 
 Select essays, doctrinal and practical : upoi 
 
 variety of the most important and interestir 
 
 in divinity : mcluding fourteen new essays • 
 
.-y . V 
 
 \ 
 
SELECT ESSAYS. 
 
.-•■y 
 
 .o> 
 
 y 
 
SELECT 
 
 DOCTRINAL & PRACTICAL, 
 
 A VARIETY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND 
 INTERESTING SUBJECTS 
 
 IN DIVINITY. 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 FOURTEEN NEW ESSAYS ON THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 KY THE LATt /' 
 
 Rev. WILLIAM^I'EWEN, 
 
 MINISTER or THE GOSPEL, DUNDEE. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR*S LIFE. 
 
 THE EIGHTH EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 \V A U G H AND I N N E S, 
 
 BOOKSELLERS TO HIS ZMAJESTV. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIV. 
 
ANDREW JACK AND CO. PUINTERS. 
 
ADVERTISMENT. 
 
 The additional Essays, on the Divine Perfec- 
 tions, are taken from Mr M'Ewen's manuscripts. — 
 Some of them are copied with little alteration. With 
 others of them greater freedom was used, as it became 
 necessary to throw them into the form of Essays from 
 the notes of sermons which he had preached on the 
 subject. A few Essays are necessary to complete the 
 series, which cannot be found ; but those which are 
 now presented to the Public, will, to those who are 
 acquainted with Mr M'Ewen's style of writing-, suffi- 
 ciently indicate the Author, and will, it is presumed, 
 do no discredit to his memory. The subjects are im- 
 portant ; they are handled in a lively, evangelical and 
 practical manner ; and the frequent use of scriptural 
 language and allusions will recommend them to the 
 serious reader as well calculated at once to profit and 
 to please. 
 
 Edinburgh, Oct. 22, 1799. 
 
TO HIS GRACE, 
 
 JOHN, EARL OF GLASGOW, 
 
 his majesty's high commissioner to the general 
 assembly of the church of scotland. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Without any previous solicitation for acceptance, 
 I have taken the liberty to prefix your Lordship's name 
 to the following sheets. 
 
 Whether the dignity and importance of the subjects 
 treated of in these sheets, are sufficient to apologize 
 for this unexpected address, your Lordship will at 
 once be able to determine. 
 
 The irresistible motive which induced me to make 
 this intrusion, was the particular disadvantageous point 
 of view in which the seceding ministers were exhib- 
 ited before your Lordship, both in the last and in the 
 preceding Assembly. 
 
 I assure myself, that your Lordship is too well ac- 
 quainted with the civil and ecclesiastical policy of this 
 free country, to be influenced by any representation of 
 men or principles, that is in the least inconsistent with 
 matters of fact. And that, when you fix your opinions 
 of any religious body, you will equally abhor the power 
 of prejudice, and the influence of faction. 
 
 That your Lordship may be enabled to form a just 
 and proper estimate of the religious principles and tem- 
 per of the associate ministers, in a state of secession 
 from the established judicatories of the church of Scot- 
 land, permit me, with the most respectful humility, to 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 present your Lordship with the following specimen of 
 the doctrines relative both to faith and practice, in 
 which they daily instruct those of his Majesty's sub- 
 jects who are under their pastoral inspection. 
 
 With regard to the loyalty and attachment of that 
 numerous body to our most gracious Sovereign, and 
 his illustrious house, I need not recal to your Lord- 
 ship's remembrance, the pubhc proof which they gave 
 of their duty to the throne, when, in the year 1746, a 
 bold and dangerous rebellion assaulted it. As there 
 was not so much as a single individual of our com- 
 munion, who swerved from his duty and allegiance 
 at that memorable period : so I beg leave to assure 
 your Lordship, that they still persist in the same sen- 
 timents of duty to the throne, and loyalty to the best 
 of princes. 
 
 That your Lordship may ever be a steady pattern 
 of piety, and that pure and undefiled religion may al- 
 ways aggrandize your high character, is a request in 
 which my brethren join with, 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Your Grace's most humble, and 
 Most obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN PATISON. 
 
 Bristo Street, 
 Edin. May 23, 1767. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 The Preface, containing the Author's Lite and char- 
 acter _ _ - - - 9 
 A brief Account of the Secession principles - 15 
 
 ESSAYS. 
 
 The great evil of sin - - - - 21 
 On man's misery by sin - - - 24 
 On the inevitable misery of the wicked - - 29 
 On Christ's dying instead of sinners, to make a full satis- 
 faction for their transgressions - - 33 
 On the union betwixt Christ and believers - 36 
 On trusting in God - - - - 41 
 On trusting in Christ - - - - 43 
 Oh imitating of Christ - - - 45 
 On faith - . - . . 48 
 On forgiveness of sin, through faith in Christ's divine 
 
 blood ----- 52 
 On evangelical repentance for sin - - 56 
 On hungering and thirsting for righteousness - 59 
 On purity of heart - - - - 61 
 On holiness ; its nature, excellency, and necessity 64 
 On peace of conscience - - - 67 
 On joy in the Holy Ghost - - - 69 
 On pleasure - - - - 72 
 On affliction and consolation - - 74 
 On looking at the things that are not seen - 79 
 On Christian hope - - - 81 
 On the vain hopes of the hypocrite - - 83 
 The character of a hypocrite - - 85 
 The character of a sincere Christian - • - 87 
 On Christian prudence - - - 89 
 On Christian diligence - - - 91 
 On slothfulness ; or, the Christian stirred up to dili- 
 gence and activity - - - 93 
 On the improvement of time - - 96 
 The superior and distinguishing advantages of the Chris- 
 tian in this life - - - 99 
 On the certainty of the Christian's perseverance in his 
 
 happy state - - - 100 
 
b CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Un assurance of present and future happiness - 103 
 
 On death - - - - 105 
 
 On the resurrection - - ' - 109 
 
 On the resurrection and judgment - - 113 
 
 On the misery of the damned - - 115 
 
 On the happiness of heaven - - 118 
 On the manifestation of the Son of God in human flesh 123 
 
 On Christ laid in the grave - - 138 
 
 On Christ rising out of the grave - - 139 
 
 On Christ compared to the sun - - 141 
 On Christ comparing himself to the rose of Sharon, and 
 
 the lily of the valleys - - 145 
 
 On walking in the Spirit - - - 147 
 
 On a godly man - _ _ 149 
 
 Delight in God - - . 151 
 
 Reverence and godly fear - - 153 
 
 On self-denial - - - 155 
 
 On humility - - - - 158 
 
 On meekness - - - 161 
 
 On the merciful man - - - 164 
 
 On tenderness of heart - - - 167 
 
 On gratitude - - - - 169 
 
 On resignation - - - - 172 
 
 On patience - - - - ]74 
 
 On fortitude - - . . 176 
 
 On contentment - - - _ ]78 
 
 On contempt of the world - - 181 
 
 On the pursuit of real riches - - 184 
 
 On an ingenuous and free spirit - - 180 
 
 On sincerity and truth - - - 187 
 
 On temperance - - - - 190 
 The harmony of the divine attributes ; or, the council of 
 
 peace - - - - 193 
 
 On steadfastness - - - . 195 
 
 On zeal - - - - 197 
 
 On religious strictness - - _ 200 
 
 On the religious worshipper _ _ _ 203 
 
 On hearing the word - - - 205 
 
 On meditation _ _ .. 207 
 
 On singing of praise - - - 209 
 
 On prayer - - - - 212 
 
 On mourning or fasting - - - 215 
 
 On the sacrament of the supper - - 217 
 
 On the divine institution of the Sabbath-day - 222 
 
 On the benefit of ordinances - - 225 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 Page. 
 •On the excellency of Christianity - - 227 
 On the high privilege of adoption - - 231 
 The complaint - - - - 234 
 The successful supplicant - - 235 
 On watchfulness . _ _ 236 
 On gentleness _ - - 239 
 The natural state of mankind - - 241 
 On immortality _ _ - 243 
 The Holy Scriptures - - - 246 
 On election - - - 251 
 Evidence of the truth of Christianity - 253 
 The different states and ends of the righteous and wick- 
 ed ; a fragment - - - 258 
 
 ADDITIONAL ESSAYS. 
 
 On the spirituality of God - - 260 
 
 On the unchangeableness of God - - 264 
 
 On the omniscience of God _ _ _ 269 
 
 On the Divine wisdom _ _ _ 276 
 
 On the power of God . _ _ 279 
 
 On the holiness of God - - - 285 
 
 On the justice of God _ _ _ 291 
 
 On the goodness of God » _ _ 297 
 
 On the mercy of God - - - 301 
 
 On the grace of God - - - 305 
 
 On the long-suffering of God - - 310 
 
 On the truth of God - - - 315 
 
 On the Divine sovereignty - - 320 
 
 On the Trinity ... 327 
 
SHORT ACCOUNT 
 
 AUTHOR'S LIFE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 The Rev. Mr William M*Ewen, the worthy au- 
 thor of the following Essays, was descended from 
 pious and respectable parents in the town of Perth, 
 who spared neither pains nor expence to give him a 
 truly christian and liberal education. To this they 
 were g-reatly encouraged, by the early attachment 
 which he himself shewed, both to piety and learning. 
 
 His constitution of body was rather delicate and 
 weakly ; though in common he was tolerably healthy : 
 but his intellectual powers were sound and strong. 
 He had a penetrating and comprehensive mind ; a 
 fine perception ; and an elegant taste. These happy 
 talents were attended with solidity of judgment, and 
 a sense of the truly beautiful and sublime, peculiar to 
 himself ; and still farther heightened, by an imagina- 
 tion and invention equally lively, and a memory un- 
 commonly capacious and retentive. 
 
 To cultivate and improve these admirable natural 
 endowments, he employed the most assiduous care, 
 and unwearied industry. By his diligent study of the 
 Roman and Greek classics ; of logic and philosophy ; 
 of the best English poets and historians ; and, above 
 all, the Scriptures of truth, in their originals, with the 
 most judicious and evangelical books of our own and 
 foreign divines ; he collected a large stock of the best 
 ideas, and enriched with a variety of select knowledge, 
 and suitable literature. 
 
 A 
 
10 LIFE AND CHARACTEi: 
 
 His Studies in divinity were assisted for some years 
 )iy the advice of the late celebrated Mr Ebenezer 
 Erskine of Stirling; and finished under the tuition of 
 the Rev. Mr James Fisher of Glasijow. 
 
 He was in 1753 licensed to preach the gospel by 
 the associate presbytery of Dunfermline ; and, in the 
 beginning- of the year 1754, he was ordained, by the 
 same presbytery, minister of the associate congrega- 
 tion in the town of Dundee. 
 
 Having, in a solemn and public manner, devoted 
 himself to the more immediate service of the blessed 
 Jesus, in the ministration of his gospel, and had the 
 charge of a particular flock committed to him ; he was 
 earnestly desirous to have them grounded in the prin- 
 ciples, and actuated by the true spirit of Christ's gos- 
 pel. Entirely satisfied, that the scriptural plan of re- 
 demption, by the blood of Christ, is divinely calculat- 
 ed to draw men's affections from iniquity, and attach 
 them to the blessed God ; to sweeten their tempers, 
 and form them to true happiness : it was his daily 
 endeavour, by the most easy and engaging methods of 
 instruction, to fill their minds with the knowledge of 
 these heavenly doctrines. He longed particularly to 
 have a lively sense of God Almighty's goodness, 
 manifested in freely offering pardon and peace to re- 
 bellious sinners in the gospel, impressed on their 
 souls ; because, from this source, and the influences of 
 the sanctifying Spirit, he was persuaded, that all the 
 noble qualities, the amiable graces, and tlie important 
 duties, which constitute the dignity or the happiness 
 of our nature, could only be derived. 
 
 Far from addressing his hearers in that flattering 
 and dangerous strain, which supposes the powers of 
 the human mind to be as perfect as ever ; or but vi- 
 tiated in a small degree ; or, that the soul of man is 
 possessed of such principles of virtue, as need only to 
 be roused into action ; he was solicitously concerned 
 to have them thoroughly convinced, that they were 
 ignorant, guilty, impotent creatures. That from such 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 11 
 
 convictions they might perceive their indispensablt 
 need of a Saviour: of a Saviour in all his mediatorial 
 offices ; as a prophet to instruct them, and, by his 
 word and Spirit, make them wise unto salvation ; as a 
 priest to make an atonement and expiation for their 
 sms, and make their persons acceptable to that awful 
 Majesty, who dwelleth in lig-ht inaccessible ; as a king 
 to subdue their iniquities, to write his laws in their 
 hearts, make them partakers of a divine nature, and 
 enable them " to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this 
 present world," Tit. ii. 12. 
 
 In fine, the point he chiefly laboured, was, to beget 
 in his people's minds a deep and abiding- sense, that 
 God was their chiefest good ; their only sufficient 
 happiness and portion : that the blessed Jesus was the 
 foundation of their pardon, acceptance, and salvation : 
 that all their dependence, for acquiring the beauties 
 of holiness, and tasting the consolations and pleasures 
 of a religious life, was to be placed in the Holy Ghost, 
 the Comforter ; whose office is to take the things of 
 Christ, and shew them to sinful men, John xvi. 14. ; 
 and to " give them to know the things that are free- 
 ly given to them of God," 1 Cor. ii. 12. 
 
 Our author's talent of preaching was much admir- 
 ed. The propositions he insisted on were few ; but 
 always of very weighty and edifying import, and na- 
 turally resulting from the passage of sacred writ under 
 immediate consideration. His explanations were clear 
 and accurate ; his proofs plain and decisive ; his illus- 
 trations beautiful and entertaining ; his applications 
 close and searching. All the heads of the discourse 
 remarkably distinct, yet connected in such regular 
 order, and in such pleasing succession, as gave his in- 
 structions the greatest advantage ; and eveiy part con- 
 tributed to the strength and beauty of the whole. 
 
 And indeed such was the depth of his thoughts ; 
 such the propriety of his words ; and such the variety, 
 force, and fire of his style : so remarkable was the 
 
12 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 justness and solidity of his reasoning, and so judn 
 cious the change of his method ; that notwithstanding 
 he invariably pursued the same end, yet proceeding 
 l)y different paths, and varying his address, according 
 as he meant to alarm, convince, or comfort ; he was 
 so far from growing tedious, that he never failed to 
 please as well as to improve his audience. 
 
 In imitation of the great apostle of the Gentiles, 
 that most amiable and accomplished preacher, he was 
 peculiarly careful to cultivate a spirit of zeal and de- 
 votion in all his discourses. Accordingly, he was fer- 
 vent in spirit, as well as cogent in argument. When 
 he argued, conviction flashed ; when he exhorted, 
 pathos glowed. And by distributing to each of his 
 audience a portion suitable to their several states, he 
 endeavoured rightly to divide the word of truth. 
 
 The same zeal and fervour which influenced and 
 animated his public addresses from the ^.nlpit, appear- 
 ed also in the discharge of the much-neglected duties 
 of catechising ; teaching from house to house ; and 
 visiting the sick ; as well as in the administration of 
 the holy sacraments. 
 
 In the most unaffected devotion towards God, and 
 in a diffusive love to all men ; in modesty, humility, 
 and candour ; in a gravity of deportment, tempered 
 with becoming cheerfulness ; in purity of manners, 
 and integrity of conduct, Mr M'Ewen was a pattern 
 to all around him, His hearers had abundant reason 
 afforded them to believe that he lived above this sor- 
 did world, even while he was in it : that he was no 
 lover of filthy lucre ; no hunter of carnal pleasures ; 
 but that his hopes, and all his views of happiness, 
 were hid with Christ in God : that he directed all his 
 aims to the glory of God ; and considered the honour 
 of Jesus Christ as the final cause of his existence ; 
 that he carried on no base and sinister design ; that 
 he had no separate interest from the glory of his di- 
 vine Ma;iter, and the welfare of his people; but that 
 the whole desire and delight of his soul, was to set 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 13 
 
 forward their salvation; that by their being "made 
 meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints 
 in light," his exalted Lord might " see of the travail 
 of his soul, and be satisfied." 
 
 On the 29th of December 1761, he came from 
 Dundee to Edinburgh ; and, on Sabbath following, 
 preached (his last sermon) in Bristo meeting, from 
 Isa. Ixiii. 4. " For the day of vengeance is in mine 
 heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." On 
 the Monday evening, he was married at Dalkeith, to 
 the oldest daughter of Mr John Wardlaw, late mer- 
 chant of the same place. In this important period of 
 his Hfe, when a variety of temporary prospects ingross 
 the attention of the most part of mankind, it was ob- 
 served, that, in his social intercourse with his friends, 
 he discovered a strong inclination to fix the conver- 
 sation to that awful, yet delightful subject, the eter- 
 nal world, into which all must soon enter. Like one 
 established in the faith, he seemed daily to be " look- 
 ing for, and hastening to the coming of the Lord 
 Jesus." 
 
 On Wednesday afternoon, attended by his friends, 
 he went to Leith, in his way home to Dundee ; and 
 that same night he was suddenly taken ill, owing, as 
 is supposed, to the cold and wet he had suifered in his 
 crossing the Frith the preceding week. His disorder 
 soon issued in a violent fever, which rendered him 
 unfit for any conversation, and on Wednesday night, 
 the 13th of January 1762, put an end to all his la- 
 bours, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and 
 seventh of his ministry. Cut down in the prime of 
 life, and public usefulness, his death was universally 
 lamented as a severe and afflicting loss to his friends, 
 his congregation, and the church of God. His body 
 was interred in the church-yard of Dalkeith. 
 
 In December 1758, he published a sermon deliver- 
 ed at the ordination of the Rev. Mr Alexander Dick 
 in Aberdeen, entitled, " The great Matter and End 
 of Gospel Preaching," from 2 Cor. iv. 5. This dis- 
 
 A 2 
 
14 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 ccwirse was reprinted in 1764, and has been much 
 esteemed by the best judges, on account of the clear 
 evangehcal strain of doctrine, together with the ner- 
 vous and pathetic manner of address, which runs 
 through the whole of it. It has undergone five im- 
 pressions. 
 
 In 1763, his meditations on the Types and Figures 
 »>f the Old Testament were published in a neat vo- 
 lume 12mo. The favourable reception which this 
 piece met with from the public, shews, in a much 
 stronger light, the distinguishing excellency of it, 
 than any thing else that could be advanced. Many 
 editions of this work have been already sold, and the 
 demand for it still continues. 
 
 With regard to the following sheets, they contain 
 the substance of what the author originally compos- 
 ed and delivered in the pulpit, in the form of ser- 
 mons. His heart, his time, his study, were entirely 
 devoted to the duties of his profession. To contract 
 the force and spirit of a subject into a small com- 
 pass, and to exhibit it to the mind in one clear and easy 
 view, was a study he was remarkably fond of. And 
 though he prepared his discourses for the pulpit with 
 great diligence and accuracy, he frequently employed 
 a leisure moment in digesting them, after they had 
 been preached, into the form of little essays. 
 
 From his collection of manuscripts in this kind, 
 the following Essays were selected. Each of them* 
 was committed to paper at one sitting, without any 
 design of publishing them ; and none of them appear 
 to have been written over again, or revised by the 
 Author. It should not then be thought strange, if, 
 in some things, they will not bear a critical examina- 
 tion with regard to the minutiae of graceful composi- 
 tion. More important matters engaged Mr M'Ewen's 
 attention ; nor was fame, as a writer, by any means 
 his aim. 
 
 But it is hoped the reader who peruses them with 
 the humble child-like spirit of a christian, and seeks 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. 15 
 
 religious advantage in all he reads, will not lose his 
 labour. He will find a just and lively representation 
 of true Christianity, in a variety of its most import- 
 ant articles, and disting-uishing peculiarities, enforced 
 by a very warm and pathetic mode of expression, 
 happily conspiring at once to enhghten the under- 
 standing, and persuade the heart. Apparent repeti- 
 tions will doubtless sometimes occur ; but this will be 
 chiefly in those things which lie at the root of all 
 vital religion, and evidently lay very near the Au- 
 thor's heart ; which is very different from that thin 
 starvling common-place work that flows from a barren 
 head, or an unfeeling heart. As these Essays were 
 the first effusion of thought, they ought to be consid- 
 ered rather as the production of the heart, than the 
 head, which, it is hoped, will be no disagreeable re- 
 commendation of them to the sober christian. From 
 a few cursory specimens, the reader could form no 
 adequate idea of a work replete with such a vast 
 variety of important subjects ; and, therefore, I have 
 only to add, that as no order has been observed in 
 writing these sheets, I have not attempted to me- 
 thodise their contents, or combine them into a regular 
 series. 
 
 Thus far the original Editor of these Essays has 
 given us an account of the life and character of the 
 worthy Author ; and to the first edition of them in 
 two volumes, he also prefixed a Preface, containing a 
 brief description of the Secession. The propriety that 
 the pubhsher at that time saw, for prefixing such a 
 long account of the rise and progress of the Seces- 
 sion, is suggested in the dedication, which was the 
 disadvantageous point of view in which the seceding 
 ministers were exhibited in two preceding General 
 Assemblies at that time. 
 
 But as that long account has no immediate connec- 
 tion with the Essays themselves, we shall waive in- 
 
16 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 serting- the whole of it, referring- the reader who want* 
 to be satisfied in these matters, either to that pre- 
 face, or rather to the " Rev. Mr Brown's Historical 
 Account of the Secession," as much fuller ; and con- 
 tent ourselves by inserting the following extract from 
 the beginning- of the preface, as sufficient to the pre- 
 sent purpose. 
 
 " In regard the Secession has been described in an 
 overture laid before the last General Assembly of the 
 established church of Scotland, not only as a schism, 
 that is remarkably on the growing hand, but as an 
 alarming evil, of threatening aspect to the church, 
 the interest of religion, and the peace of the country, 
 it becomes in some measure necessary, for the vindi- 
 cation of our Authors character, who was a respect- 
 able minister of that communion, and for the due in- 
 formation of the public, that they may be enabled to 
 judge for themselves, to subjoin a short narrative of 
 that memorable event in Scotland, as well as a display 
 of their sentiments, spirit, and fellowship as a body. 
 
 " The fundamental maxims of the reformation in 
 Scotland were, the absolute perfection of the word of 
 God, and the unrivalled headship of Christ over the 
 church, which the Secession adopted as their basis and 
 plan of procedure. In conjunction with these distin- 
 guishing articles, our reformers invariably affirmed, 
 that the constitutional form, the privileges, and the 
 administrations of the kingdom of Christ, are deline- 
 ated in the sacred records ; and that the appointments 
 of Jesiis are the only perfect and authoritative stand- 
 ard of all the ordinances, officers, and services, neces- 
 sary to her establishment and edification. 
 
 " From principles so important and so evident, 
 these champions for truth and holiness inferred every 
 conclusion that formed their creed, and promoted the 
 interests ofrehgion. Soundness in the faith once de- 
 livered to the saints, a conversation becoming the gos- 
 pel, and a steady attachment to the order and fellow- 
 ship of the Christian church, became, at a very early 
 
THE SECESSION PRINCIPLES. 17 
 
 period, and in a comfortable degree, the living char- 
 acter of the reformed Presbyterian church of Scotland. 
 
 " Her faith and order, as the church of the living 
 God, a pillar and ground of the truth, are larg:ely ex- 
 hibited in her standards ; but, some few articles of 
 the greatest consequence to throw hght on her con- 
 stitution and administrations, have a pecuhar claim 
 to our attention. 
 
 " She admitted, upon the clearest evidence from rea- 
 son, and the most explicit declarations of scripture, 
 that the catholic church, or kingdom of Christ, is 
 either visible or invisible. She defined the invisible 
 church, the whole number of the elect that have 
 been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ 
 the head. — She described the cathohc visible church, 
 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. — She believed, that, unto this catholic visi- 
 ble church, Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, 
 and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfect- 
 ing the saints in this Hfe, to the end of the world. 
 She taught, that it is the bounden duty, and a most 
 valuable privilege of believers, to enter into church 
 fellowship, and perseveringly to observe all things 
 whatsoever Christ hath commanded. 
 
 " Her views of the nature, discipline, and govern- 
 ment of the New Testament church, are summarily 
 comprehended in the following aphorisms. The visi- 
 ble church is the kingdom of Christ, and not of this 
 world: the King of Zion is her Lawgiver, Judge, and 
 King: he has appointed a form and order of government 
 for her edification in faith and holiness : this govern- 
 ment is to be exercised by elders, and by none but 
 elders who only rule, and elders who also labour in 
 the word and doctrine, acting conjunctly in different 
 judicatories, subordinate to one another: church judi- 
 catories have no power to make laws to bind the con- 
 science, but only to apply (as circumstances and oc- 
 casions may require) the laws of Christ recorded in 
 
18 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 his word: the church of Christ has an exclusive right 
 to order all her affairs, independant of any foreign in- 
 jfluence : it is equally improper for the civi magis- 
 trate, who is the ordinance of God in the government 
 of the state, to be obliged implicitly to ratify the de- 
 cisions of the church ; and for the church either to 
 employ her authority to gratify the worldly views of 
 civil rulers, or to acknowledge the competency of 
 their judgment of spiritual matters: her religious lib- 
 erties being clearly conveyed, and unalienably secur- 
 ed, by the word, the promise, the oath, the blood of 
 her glorious Head ; it must be no less dishonouring 
 to the wisdom, the authority, and goodness of the 
 Lord Jesus, than injurious to his body, to innovate, 
 to alter, or abridge her heavenly charter: the pro- 
 vince, the authority, and just claims of the church 
 and the state, are so essentially different, that they 
 neither can be blended together, nor opposed to one 
 another, without doing violence and injury to both : 
 it is the duty of every Christian carefully to examine 
 the scripture limits of these several jurisdictions, that 
 we may acquire just apprehensions of the nature and 
 extent of the powers which Christ hath conferred on 
 his church, and of her exemption from the controul 
 of the princes of this world : as every improper connec- 
 tion of the church with the kingdoms of this world, 
 is inconsistent with the purity of divine institutions ; 
 so, wherever it takes place, Christians ought to cleave 
 to the original model of her constitution and policy, 
 drawn and recorded by the pencil of inspiration in the 
 holy oracles : and when the saints walk according to 
 this rule, without offence to God or men, contend- 
 ing against the corrupt majority of an established 
 church, or even withdrawing from their communion ; 
 they acquit themselves as the sons of God, and the 
 followers of Jesus. 
 
 "This is but a short sketch of the leading articles in 
 her ecclesiastical constitution ; and yet it is sufficient 
 to shew, that, formed on this plan, standing fast in 
 
THE SECESSION PRINCIPLES. 19 
 
 these liberties, and conducting her administrations ac- 
 cording- to these principles, the reforming church of 
 Scotland must have looked forth as the morning, fair 
 as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army 
 with banners. A warm and regular zeal for the hon- 
 our of truth, for the simplicity of divine worship, and 
 for strictness and impartiality in the exercise of disci- 
 pline, was stamped on the general tenor of her pro- 
 ceedings. The learning, piety, and diligence of her 
 ministers, insured them the respect of the people. 
 The solemnity of her administrations, joined with a 
 visible air of seriousness and gravity through the na- 
 tion, was the joy of her friends, and the terror of her 
 enemies. 
 
 " To exhibit the grounds of our belief concerning 
 the several heads of faith and practice, would exceed 
 all reasonable bounds ; it is foreign to my purpose : 
 and, moreover, it is quite unnecessary, as they are 
 fully and distinctly opened in a book published some 
 years ago, by common consent, entitled, " The As- 
 sembly's Shorter Catechism Explained, by way of 
 Question and Answer," in two volumes. As this book 
 has undergone several large impressions, it must be in 
 the hands of many ; and we leave it to speak for itself. 
 
 " According to these principles, so we believe, so 
 we walk, and so we teach : and, however some may 
 choose to represent them as the fruit of ignorance, as 
 friendly to licentiousness, as an erroneous enthusiastic 
 system ; we are not much concerned at their censure, 
 " knowing of whom we have learned them." Instead 
 of making unkind returns to the language of calum- 
 ny, we will rather pray, " Father, forgive them, for it 
 seems probable they know not what they do." We 
 adore that providence which calls us from time to 
 time to lay before the world the manner of our doc- 
 trine and conversation. Without the smallest diffi- 
 dence about the goodness of our cause, we cheerfully 
 submit to the public an explicit account of the reason 
 of the hope that is in us. If our words be wrested, 
 
20 A BRIEF DESCRIPTION, &c. 
 
 in order to g^ive some colour to an undeserved cen- 
 sure, we know who hath said, " Veng-eance is mine," 
 and can patiently wait his time of retribution. If we 
 misconceive facts, or injure truth by adopting false 
 principles, or drawing" erroneous conclusions ; it will 
 be an office of friendship to use proper means to cor- 
 rect our mistakes, and give us better information. 
 
 "The striking difference between that g-enuine strict- 
 ness in religion, which we teach and inculcate from 
 the law of God, and the example of Christ ; and that 
 spurious strictness in religion, which is often mis- 
 taken for the other, not only by the world, but by 
 the parties themselves, is most clearly opened, dis- 
 played, and enforced by our author, in a short descrip- 
 tion of the true notion of strictness. It is the sub- 
 stance of a sermon he preached some years before his 
 death, on that subject, to his own people, and was 
 composed, like the rest of the following Essays, with- 
 out any view to the press ; and, therefore, cannot be 
 liable to any suspicion of having been adapted to the 
 design of the present publication."* 
 
 It now remains to beg the reader's excuse for de- 
 taining him so long from a perusal of the more im- 
 portant and interesting contents of the following- 
 sheets ; and, to express my ardent desire, that, bless- 
 ed by a gracious providence, they may gain the haven 
 of public acceptance, and import these valuable com- 
 modities, — pleasure which improves, and improve- 
 ment which delights. 
 
 J. P. 
 
 Those who incline to see a more full view of the 
 principles which the Seceders believe, profess, and 
 practise, may consult the Rev. Mr Brown's Historical 
 Account of the Rise and Progress of the Secession, 
 P. 63—68. Edit. 4. 
 
 * See Essay on Religious Strictness. 
 
ESSAYS. 
 
 ON THE GREAT EVIL OF SIN. 
 
 O SIN, thou only evil in which there is no good; 
 thou superfluity of naughtiness, thou quintessence of 
 what is odious and execrable, whose nature is entirely 
 opposite to that of God, and the reverse of his holy 
 law ; who claimest the devil for thy fire ; while death, 
 and hell, and misery, confess thee for their only pa- 
 rent ! how hast thou troubled all the creation ! upon 
 what creatures hast thou not transmitted thy baleful 
 influence ! 
 
 Ye angels of darkness, once the angels, of light, 
 how are you fallen ! how changed ! how is your fine 
 gold become dim ! What plucked you from your 
 starry mansions, where you did walk with God, high 
 in salvation, in the climes of bliss ! You were the 
 angels that sinned ; therefore you could not keep your 
 first and happy state, but were driven out from God, 
 flung from eternal splendours to everlasting horrors. 
 " The crown is fallen from your head ; woe unto us, 
 for you have sinned." 
 
 Ye sons of men, once were you blessed with inno- 
 cence and peace, in the morning of your existence, 
 when our grand-parents first lifted to the heavens 
 their wondering eyes, and reposed themselves in the 
 blissful bowers of Paradise — that happy garden plant* 
 ed by the Lord, and fitted out for their reception. 
 The understanding was bright as the light. The will 
 
52 ON THE GREAT 
 
 all pure and holy, reigned queen of the affections, and 
 swayed them with a golden sceptre. The memory 
 was faithful to his trust, being replenished only with 
 good things. And, O how peaceful was the con- 
 science ! how serene ! Nothing unholy was hatched 
 in the heart, or uttered by the lips, or manifested i>y 
 the actions. Disease had not invaded our body ; 
 death would not have dissolved our frame. We 
 should have been strangers to the miseries of life, 
 and to the dreary mansions of the grave. But sin, 
 that cursed monster, sin hath quenched our intellec- 
 tual light — hath enthralled the will to vile unruly 
 passions — hath vitiated the memory, tenacious now 
 of evil — hath banished true peace from the conscience. 
 Some are harassed with direful apprehensions, and 
 consumed away with fearful terrors. What multi- 
 tudes are stretched on the bed of pain I It was sin 
 which bade the head to ache, — fevers to revel through 
 our veins, — convulsions shake the human frames, and 
 ag"ues agitate our bodies. 
 
 See there, in that house of mourning, the pale and 
 ghastly corpse extended on the bed. Descend into 
 thy silent grave, and view the putrefying flesh, and 
 the mouldering bones. Ah ! where are we I To what 
 are we reduced ! Is this that heaven-laboured form, 
 which wore the divine resemblance ! Yes I yes ! 
 " Sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and 
 so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin- 
 ned." 
 
 But can we venture lower still in our meditations 
 into those dismal regions, where God's mercies are 
 clean gone, and where he will be favourable no more ? 
 Hear how they shriek and roar ; see how they toss in 
 the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ! Un- 
 happy beings, what brought you to that place of tor- 
 ment ? " We are filled with the fruit of our own 
 ways, and are reaping the wages of sin." Yes ; it was 
 sin which laid the foundation-stone of your prison. 
 
EVIL OF SIN. 23 
 
 and filled it with these inexhausted treasures of wrath 
 and indignation. 
 
 Not in the rational creation only we discern the 
 fatal evils of this accursed thing. " The whole crea- 
 tion groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
 now." Once it died of a dropsy of waters, in the days 
 of Noah ; and shortly will expire in a fever of flames, 
 when " the heaven shall pass away with a great noise, 
 and the elements shall melt \;v'ith fervent heat." Even 
 now, the husbandman, conscious of the sickliness of 
 nature, acts like physician to the earth. Sometimes 
 he opens her veins with the plough, and covers with 
 soil, as with a strengthening plaster ; sometimes lays 
 her asleep, by suffering her to lie fallow for a time. 
 Without these necessary precautions, she would re- 
 fuse to yield her increase, and cleanness of teeth would 
 be in all our borders. 
 
 It is a small thing for sin thus to affect the whole 
 creation. The garden of Gethsemane knows, and 
 Calvary can tell how sin hath affected even the great 
 Creator. Bread of life, why wast thou hungry ? 
 Fountain of life, why wast thou thirsty ? Why wast 
 thou a man of sorrows, O thou Consolation of Israel ? 
 Thou glory of the human race, wherefore wast thou 
 a reproach of men, and despised of the people ? Thy 
 visage was more marred than any man, and thy form 
 than the sons of men. Sin nailed thee to the cross ; 
 sin stabbed thee to the heart ; sin, like a thick im- 
 penetrable cloud, eclipsed thy Father's countenance 
 to thy disconsolate soul ; sin laid thee in a grave, O 
 thou Resurrection and the Life ! 
 
 Who would have believed, that the enemy would 
 have entered within the gates of the heavenly Jerusa- 
 lem, pulled angels from their thrones, and brought 
 even God himself from bis high habitation, from ex- 
 cellent glory, from ineffable joys, to poverty and re- 
 proach, to sorrow and tribulation, and to the most in- 
 glorious death ! 
 
 O heavy burden I under whose weight such multi- 
 
'J4 ON man's extreme 
 
 tudes of creatures groan ; which made the mighty 
 God, clothed with our flesh, to sweat great drops of 
 hlood ; though sinners walk lightly on beneath the 
 mighty load. O dreadful plague ! O formidable sick- 
 ness ! not to be chased away by a less costly medi- 
 cine than the most precious blood of Christ, by whose 
 stripes we are healed. O deadly poison ! even when 
 presented in a golden cup, and sweet wnto the taste, 
 it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder, 
 and never fails to prove bitterness in the latter end. 
 Nor can it be expelled by any other way than lifting 
 up the Son of Man, as Moses lifted up the serpent 
 in the wilderness. O mighty debt, whose payment 
 could impoverish him, whose is the silver and the 
 gold ; who, " though he was rich, yet for our sakes 
 became poor, that we through his poverty might be 
 made rich ! O ugly stain ! O inveterate pollution ! 
 not to be washed away by all the rivers that run into 
 the sea. In vain we take imto us nitre, and much 
 soap ; in vain we use our most vigorous endeavours 
 to purge away our blot. Sooner might the Ethiopian 
 change his skin, and the leopard his spots. The only 
 Fuller that is equal to this mighty work, is he who 
 purges the conscience from dead works, to serve the 
 living God. The blood of the Lamb is the only pur- 
 gatory that makes you whiter than the snow. 
 
 When, O when, shall I hate thee with a perfect 
 hatred, thou worse than death ! When shall I be 
 afraid of thee alone, and be ashamed of thee alone ! 
 O thing exceeding sinful ! When shall I be dehver- 
 ed from thy abhorred dommion ! O when shall thy 
 destructions have a perpetual end ! 
 
 ON MAN'S EXTREME MISERY BY SIN. 
 
 Who can refrain from tears, whose eye of reason 
 hath snatched but a cursory glance of mankind's nu- 
 
MISERY BY SIN. 25 
 
 merous woes ? Who but he whose heart is made of 
 stone, and is lost to every impression of benevolence ? 
 As the dancing^ spark flies upward, so man is born 
 unto trouble. Unhappy creatures, that kept not your 
 primeval state ! Full early you revolted from your 
 Creator, God, in whose smile alone your happiness 
 mig-ht dwell. The sparkling- crown of innocence is 
 fallen from your head. Hence all these fatal evils of 
 your race. Ah me ! what ghastly spectres are these ! 
 8ee moon-struck madness replenishing the melancholy 
 bedlam, and torturing despair, a terror to herself, and 
 all around her. See there oppression with iron hands, 
 and heart of steel ; poverty with her hollow eyes, her 
 tattered garments, and sordid habitation ; and all the 
 family of pain, who tear the pillow from 1)eneath our 
 head, while sleep affrighted, flies from our eye-lids. 
 Shall I mention, in the next place, drudgery with her 
 grievous looks, toiling at the oar, or stooping under 
 the burden ? Alas I with what laborious efforts do 
 mortals spend their vitals, to gain a wretched susten- 
 ance for themselves, and their tender offspring, to be 
 defended from the g-nawings of hunger, and the power 
 of chilling cold ! 
 
 What creature is not armed against thee, O man ! 
 who all espouse their Maker's quarrel? There are, 
 whom the angels of darkness harass with dreadful 
 temptations, and still more dreadful possessions. The 
 angels of light loathe and detest such polluted be- 
 ings, and frequently have been the executioners of 
 direful vengeance- I might relate the numerous ills 
 to which we are exposed from the inhabitants of the 
 air, the beasts of the earth, and even the fishes of 
 the sea. How hateful to men the hostile race of scaley 
 serpents, hissing adders, ravenous lions, prowling 
 wolves, hideous and weeping crocodiles ! And even 
 the puny race of locusts and caterpillars, have scour- 
 ged guilty nations for their crimes. 
 
 How frequently have fire and water, these service- 
 able elements, made horrid insurrections, disastrous to 
 
 B 
 
2© ON man's extreme 
 
 the human race ? Populous cities, with gilded pala- 
 ces, and lofty temples, have smoked in lieiy ruins ; 
 and, in old time, the dwellings of sinful men were 
 swept away by a watery inundation. In vain the 
 shrieking- wretches betook themselves for safety to 
 the lofty battlements of houses, the tops of the high- 
 est trees, or even the summits of the aerial moun- 
 tains. Hear how the earth groans under the burden 
 of thy sins ! Here she spreads a barren wilderness, 
 an idle desert ; there lifts a frightful ridge of rocks, 
 whence in many places we look down with giddy hor- 
 ror. In some countries she belches fire and smoke 
 from dreadful volcanoes, tremendous indeed to all who 
 hear, but much more terrible to those who live in the 
 neighbouring city, or in the villages of the circumja- 
 cent plain. Be it so, that these awful phenomena 
 of nature, and others of like threatening aspect, be- 
 speak not this our globe to be the habitation of an 
 accursed race ; what shall we say to useless choking' 
 weeds, and poisonous plants, of which she is a willing- 
 parent, whilst she refuses to produce the foodful grain, 
 unless when much caressed and importuned ? How 
 frequently she disappoints our fond hopes, and baulks 
 our expectations ! 
 
 When she refuses to yield her increase, then it is 
 we have cleanness of teeth in all our borders, while 
 pale famine walks abroad with her evil arrows. The 
 staff of bread is broken, and feeble man totters, and 
 falls, and dies. — At other times she expands her jaws, 
 and swallows up alive vast multitudes of rational 
 beings. Earthquake ! men tremble when thou art 
 but named ! Who can think of thee without horror ? 
 O what dire consternation in that dreadful moment ? 
 Whither, ah ! whither can they lly from the doleful 
 calamity ! Avert it, Heaven. Execute not thy 
 threatened vengeance upon these guilty lands, and 
 our proud metropolis. If thou hast a mind to punish 
 us, O visit with some milder rod, some gentler minis- 
 ter of wrath. 
 
MISERY BY SIX. 27 
 
 Not the earth alone, on which we tread, hut the 
 air in which we hve, and move, and have our being, 
 proves deathful to our wretched race. Sometimes 
 she summons her stormy winds, her roaring- tempests, 
 and bids them shake the wails of stone, and dash the 
 wall-buiit vessel on the rock. Vain is the help of 
 tough cables, and tenacious anchors. The mighty 
 waters at once receive the valuable cargo, and the des- 
 pairing mariners. How often is she infected with the 
 wide-wasting pestilence ! Then death's shafts fly 
 thick, and the hungry grave rejoices at the uncom- 
 mon fare. Yet, ugly monster ! she never says, It is 
 enough. — But, with no greater calamity can you be 
 visited, ye sons of men, than those which claim your 
 own species for their original. Fell are the monsters 
 of the Lybian deserts ; but not to be compared with 
 the abhorred productions of the human heart. Hence 
 matchless killing envy, filthy slander ; hence perse- 
 cution with torturing engines, war with her odious 
 din, and bloody garments. How can you have peace 
 among yourselves, w^hen warring with your God ? 
 
 Nor is there any period of life wherein we are ex- 
 empted from wo. Not even the smiling infant is se- 
 cured against the most fatal disasters. The miseries 
 of childhood are apparent. Affliction spares not the 
 blooming youth, nor reverences the venerable old 
 man. Even age itself, what is it ? An incurable 
 distemper, always terminating in death. See how 
 the countenance is shrivelled up with wrinkles, the 
 shoulders stoop, the hands tremble, the strong men 
 bow themselves, and they that look out of the win- 
 dows are darkened ! 
 
 Neither can any station or condition rescue from 
 these incumbent miseries. The rich, the honourable, 
 and they who swim in tides of pleasure, can bear wit- 
 ness. Why else would Ahab sicken for Naboth's 
 vineyard, and Haman lay so sore to heart the refrac- 
 tory behaviour of Mordecai ? If treasured riches, if 
 sensual delights, added even to knowledge and wis- 
 
28. ON man's extreme misery by sin. 
 
 dom, could satisfy the heart, then might thou, Solo- 
 mon, have enjoyed aheaven upon earth, nor complained 
 of vanity and vexation, nor that he who increaseth 
 knowledge, increaseth sorrow. Alas ! even our great- 
 est comforts prove killing ; and far from issuing in 
 contentment, we still complain even in large abun- 
 dance of worldly delights. 
 
 What shall we say then to these things ? Shall 
 wretched mortals abandon themselves to sullen sor- 
 row, and hopeless desperation ? Shall the world be 
 turned into a Bochim ? Is it a place where his mer- 
 cies are clean gone, and where he will be favourable 
 no more ? Are there not many footsteps of the di- 
 vine benignity, even in this our earthly mansion ? 
 Doubtless there are ; for he hath not left himself 
 without a witness, that goodness is essential to his 
 nature : he bids the earth teem with plenty, and the 
 clouds to drop with vegetable fatness. There are 
 pleasures of sight, of smell, of taste, peculiar to the 
 various seasons of the revolving year. Many crea- 
 tures are yet subservient to our interest, and all the 
 elements are made to contribute for our welfare. Far 
 be it from high-favoured man, to despise the riches 
 of the Almighty's goodness. But, O ye everlasting 
 joys, which the glorious gospel reveals ! what thought- 
 ful being would not be discontented with such a world 
 as this, without the consideration of you ! The distant 
 prospect of life and immortality is able, and that alone, 
 to reconcile the heart to the visible economy of God. 
 Even great and sore affliction is deemed but light and 
 vain, because it lasts but for a moment. Eternity 
 apart, the miseries of life would swallow up the joys. 
 But now,, even these devourers are buried in the cap- 
 acious womb of vast eternity. 
 
 Blessed be thy condescension, O patient Son of 
 God, who disdained not to taste the bitter cup of 
 grief; grief, not thy own, but ours. And blessed be 
 that wisdom, to whose glorious contrivance we are in- 
 debted for the cup of consolation presented in the 
 
ON THE INEVITABLE &C, 29 
 
 gospel, which we may drink, and remember our misery- 
 no more. — By various ways the sons of men have tried 
 to extricate themselves from the lamented consequents 
 t)f their fall. Games and recreations, arts and sciences, 
 yea, many false religions, have been invented for this 
 end. Miserable comforters are they all ! Christianity, 
 it is thine alone to chase our gloom of thought, and 
 wipe away our tears ; while by thee we are directed 
 to dart our thoughts beyond this transitory world, 
 this inconsiderable speck of time, unto the eternal 
 scene, which shall commence when the last trumpet 
 shall be sounded ; we no more repine at the appear- 
 ances of wo, nor think " our light affliction worthy 
 to be compared with that glory that is to be revealed ; 
 while we look not at the things that are seen, but at 
 the things which are not seen : for the things that 
 are seen are temporal, but the things that are not 
 seen are eternal." 
 
 ON THE INEVITABLE MISERY OF THE 
 WICKED. 
 
 But there shall be no reward unto the evil man. 
 No reward, did I say ? Nay, if God be just, then 
 " he will render indignation and wrath, tribulation 
 and anguish, to every soul of man that doth evil, 
 without respect of persons." To him belongeth ven- 
 geance. Though patience may delay, though cle- 
 mency may mitigate, though mercy, grace and wis- 
 dom, may transfer the punishment to the person of a 
 Surety ; yet still his wrath must be revealed against 
 all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. 
 
 Doth not even nature herself teach us, that sin 
 and punishment are most inviolably connected? For, 
 even barbarians could infer, when they saw a viper 
 fasten upon the hand of a person whom they knew 
 not, after he had escaped a dismal shipwreck ; " Cer- 
 
 B 2 
 
30 ON THE INEVITABLE MISERY 
 
 tainly this man was a murderer; for vengeance siiffer- 
 eth him not to hve." How often are the wicked 
 consumed with fearful terrors, when they can be un- 
 der no apprehension of punishment from men ? For 
 they know that it is " the judgment of God, that they 
 who do such things are worthy of death." Whence 
 are we struck with trembling at any uncommon ap- 
 pearances of nature ? If a storm of thunder and 
 lightning torments the air ? If the sun labours in an 
 eclipse ? If a glaring comet waves its banner over 
 the nations ? — Whence the terrors of apparitions ? 
 Whence the forebodings of misery after death ? 
 Whence the prevailing opinion, even among the 
 ancient Jews, that death was to be the consequence 
 of any extraordinary appearance of the Deity ? Is it 
 not because we are insolvent debtors, that we dread 
 the face of our injured Creditor ? Is it not because 
 we are traitorous rebels, we abhor the presence of our 
 offended Sovereign ? Therefore, with Adam, we hide 
 ourselves from the presence of the Lord. And with 
 the widow of Zarephath, we are ready to think, that 
 whatever is more than common, is a messenger of the 
 Lord of hosts to slay us, and bring our sin to remem- 
 brance. 
 
 Oft-times the guilty conscience will create unto it- 
 self imaginary horrors, and sinners are in great fear, 
 where no fear is, while they are apt to say, with Cain, 
 " Every one that meeteth me, will slay me." What 
 nation under heaven have not attested the truth of 
 this, while they have appeased their gods with bloody 
 expiatory sacrifices I And (horrid to relate I) their 
 altars have reeked even with human gore : the fruit 
 of the body has been given for the sin of the soul. 
 Whether the dreadful custom may be derived from 
 the mangled tradition of Abraham offering up Isaac ; 
 or, whether our adversary the devil would, by stirring 
 them up to such abominations, insult over the guilt 
 of their consciences, and blindness of their hearts, by 
 aping the sacrifice of Christ, hereby intended to dis- 
 
OF THE WICKED. 31 
 
 credit the glorious method of salvation ; one thing 
 is certain, that mankind, degenerate as they were, 
 did really judge, that an expiation was necessary to 
 be made, and that " He will by no means clear the 
 guilty." 
 
 And however much their foolish heart was darken- 
 ed, as to the manner of propitiating the Deity ; yet 
 certainly the necessity of it is one of the dictates of 
 nature. For, could we suppose, that a sinning crea- 
 ture should escape the righteous judgment of God, 
 and feel no eifects of bis displeasure ; how could it 
 appear that he were a God of purer eyes than to be- 
 hold iniquity? Would there not be too much reason 
 to say, " Every one that doth evil, is good in the 
 sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them ? and 
 where is the God of judgment ?" How could his 
 lordship and dominion over the world be maintained, 
 should he forbear to punish the violaters of his law ? 
 Is it possible he can be divested of his sovereign rule ? 
 or that his creatures can throw off all moral depen- 
 dence upon him that made them ? So it is impossi- 
 ble but the order of punishment must succeed, when 
 the order of obedience is disturbed : and they who 
 burst the bands of the law, must of necessity be 
 bound in the cords of affliction. " Consider this, 
 and be afraid, ye that forget God." While a method 
 is not fallen upon to appease incensed justice, and 
 separate sin from your souls; if God be the righteous 
 Judge of all the earth ; if God be the Lord of his 
 creatures; if God be blessed, (O tremble to think it!) 
 you must be miserable. As the fire devours the chaff, 
 as the flame consumes the stubble ; so must you perish 
 at his presence. 
 
 But, let us hearken to the sacred oracles on this 
 interesting subject. " Search ye out of the book of 
 the Lord, and see that every disobedience receives a 
 just recompence of reward." The flames of Sodom, 
 the waters of Noah, the torments of hell, the suffer- 
 ings of Christ, bear witness unto this. O sin, thou 
 
32 ON THE INKVITABLE MISERY 
 
 hast kindled a fire that will burn to the bottom of the 
 mountains ! " Behold, he will come with fire, and 
 with his chariots, as a whirlwind, to render his anger 
 with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire: for, by 
 fire, and with his sword, will the Lord plead with all 
 flesh ; and the slain of the Lord shall be many." Nor 
 can we reasonably blame the bowels of the Deity, be- 
 cause he taketh vengeance; for, according to Moses, it 
 is a branch of his goodness, that he "will by no means 
 clear the guilty." According to Joshua, it is because 
 he is a holy God that he will not "forgive our trans- 
 gressions." According to David, it is because the 
 " righteous Lord loveth righteousness," that he will 
 rain upon the wicked " snares, fire, and brimstone, 
 and a burning tempest ;" the portion of their cup. 
 
 But, especially, had it been an indiff"erent thing 
 with God to punish, or not to punish the guilty, who 
 can persuade us, that he who " afflicts not wiUingly, 
 nor grieves the children of men," would take such 
 pleasure in bruising his only begotten Son, whom 
 he loved ? Was he without necessity exposed to 
 such direful sufferings ? Nay : for God hath set him 
 forth to be the propitiation, to declare" — his love : 
 True ; but to declare also " his righteousness in the 
 remission of sin, and that he may be just." 
 
 Blessed be that matchless grace and wisdom, that 
 has provided a lamb for a burnt sacrifice ; — that has 
 found a ransom ; — that has opened a city of refuge ; 
 — that has reconciled mercy and truth, and righteous- 
 ness with peace. O that the gracious Redeemer,, 
 without whose kindly interposition we had better 
 been crushed in the very bud of being, might for 
 ever live in our hearts, might for ever be esteemed 
 above all other beloveds, might for ever be the reign- 
 ing subject of our thoughts, both when we wake and 
 when we sleep ! " If we forget thee, O blessed 
 Jesus, then let our right hand forget her cunning. 
 If we do not remember thee, let our tongue cleave to 
 the roof of our mouth ; if we prefer not thee above 
 
ON Christ's dying, &c. 33 
 
 our chief joy." O I let us never drink that as water, 
 which cost the effusion of thy blood ! Let us never 
 have that sweet in our mouth, which tendered to thy 
 lips the vinegar and gall! Let us never rejoice in 
 that which made thee exceeding- sorrowful ! nor bless 
 ourselves in that which subjected thee to the curse ! 
 nor live in that for which thou died ! 
 
 ON CHRIST'S DYING* IN THE STEAD OF SIN- 
 NERS, TO MAKE FULL SATISFACTION FOR 
 THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS. 
 
 That Christ died for his people, not merely for 
 their good, but in their room and place, is a funda- 
 mental article of our holy religion, and a grand pecu- 
 liarity of the gospel ; though regarded by many as 
 only a speculative point, and by many traduced as a 
 senseless absurdity, inconsistent with reason, and the 
 perfections of the Deity. And here I must confess, 
 that if we are not to attend to the sacred oracles as 
 our rule ; if we are to be solely conducted in our 
 researches by the light of nature and reason, our 
 cause is lost. For though the doctrine itself is not 
 contrary to sound reason, it is the mystery of his 
 will, which is hid from the wise and prudent, and 
 which would never have entered into our thoughts, if 
 God had not been pleased to reveal it. Let us go to 
 the law and testimony ; and, according to the obser- 
 vation of a very eminent divine, the death of Christ 
 
 * The death of Christ includes, not only his sufferings, 
 but his obedience. The shedding of his precious blood, was 
 at once the grand instance of his suffering, and the finishing 
 act of his obedience. In this view it is considered, and thus 
 it is interpreted, by his own ambassador ; who, speaking of 
 his divine Master, says, " He was obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross," Phil. ii. 8. Hervey's Dialogues, 
 vol. ii. p. 4<7. - 
 
34 
 
 ON CHRIST S DYING 
 
 is exhibited in three capital views ; as a price, a pun- 
 ishment, and as a sacritice. And it will, from every 
 one of these, appear, with the brightest evidence, that 
 the death of Christ was a true and proper satisfaction 
 in the room of his elect people 
 
 Let us begin with it as a price. Now, what is a 
 price ? A price is a valuable compensation of one 
 thing for another. A slave is redeemed from capti- 
 vity, a debtor from prison, when some gracious re- 
 deemer procures their liberty, by giving some equiva- 
 lent to the person by whom they are detained. We 
 are debtors; we cannot pay unto God what we are ow- 
 ing — We are captives, and we cannot hasten to be 
 loosed. Jesus Christ is the merciful Redeemer, who 
 pays the sum we were owing, and says to the prison- 
 ers, go forth. Will we not believe an apostle, when 
 he tell us, " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought 
 with a price?" Would you know what this price is? 
 Another apostle will tell; "Ye are not redeemed with 
 corruptible things as silver, and gold, but with the pre- 
 cious blood of Christ." Now, though it be true, that 
 there is a redemption by power mentioned in the 
 scripture; yet, redemption by price is the only proper 
 redemption ; and we cannot reasonably doubt, but re- 
 demption by price is the meaning of the most re- 
 markable texts of scripture, where Christ is character- 
 ized by this lovely denomination. What hath he ob- 
 tained for us by his death ? " Eternal redemption," 
 Heb. ix. 12. What have we through his blood ? " Re- 
 demption and forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7. What 
 is Christ made unto us of God? " Sanctification and 
 redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. What did they look for, 
 that expected the coming of the Messias ? *' Re- 
 demption in Israel," Luke ii. 28. Even .Job could 
 say, " I know that my Redeemer liveth," chap. xix. 
 25. We sold ourselves for nought, and we are re- 
 deemed without money of our own. The redemp- 
 tion of the soul was too precious to be effected by 
 our impoverished stock. — But we are not redeemed 
 
FOR SINNERS. 35 
 
 without money to the Lord Jesus, " who gave him- 
 self for us, to redeem us from all iniquity." The ran- 
 som was paid down, the price beyond all price ; a 
 sum too large for the arithmetic of angels to com- 
 pute. — Let the adversaries bring fjorth their strong 
 reasons. If, say they, the death of Christ was a pro- 
 per price, it was paid to the devil, whose captives we 
 were. No ; it was paid to God, whose captives we 
 were ; the devil was only his slave, jailor, and execu- 
 tioner. But, say they, if it was paid to God, it was 
 paid by Christ to himself. And, where is the absurd- 
 ity here ? It is true, a man cannot satisfy himself 
 as to a money-debt, by giving money to himself, 
 that another owes him ; yet as to a criminal debt, 
 there is nothing to hinder a just judge, even among 
 men, to satisfy his own law, by submitting to wha,t it 
 requires. Nor does this gospel-doctrine calumniate 
 the Deity, as though he were a greedy tyrant, that 
 will let no prisoners go, unless he can get great riches 
 for their ransom. For our price did not enrich him, 
 but only paved the way for our being released, to the 
 honour of his justice. 
 
 Next, let us consider it as a punishment. A pun- 
 ishment is never inflicted by a just governor, except 
 upon transgressors of the law ; for, " to punish the 
 just, is not good." It is for the punishment of evil- 
 doers that magistrates are set up by God. Now, if 
 the death of Christ was a punishment, it must un- 
 avoidably follow, that it was vicarious. Why wouldst 
 thou, O heavenly Father, command the sword of jus- 
 tice to awake, and smite the Man that is thy fellow ! 
 Surely it was not for his own fault ; for " he did no 
 sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." Even 
 Pilate acquitted him, and Judas absolved him. Why 
 then did the almighty Sovereign of heaven permit 
 such an innocent person to be put to death ? Why 
 did not the thunders awake ? Lo ; here the mystery 
 is unfolded : he died, " the just for the unjust, that 
 he might bring us to God. He was cut off, but not 
 
36 
 
 THE UNION BETWIXT 
 
 for himself ; for the transgression of ray people was 
 he smitten."— Let insolent cavillers object, that it 
 degrades our Messiah, to regard him in the light of 
 ^n executed lelon ; the lower the humiliation, the 
 deeper is the love. 
 
 - Lastly, That Christ died in the room and stead of 
 his people, appears from its being called a sacrifice. 
 Who knows not, that our Redeemer is often styled a 
 High Priest ? His human nature was the victim, 
 his divine nature the altar, his body was the taber- 
 nacle. Who knows not, that the legal high priests 
 did bear the sins of the people ? and because they 
 could not atone for the people, by laying down their 
 own lives, they offered bullocks, goats, lambs, and 
 sheep. Whatever absurd accounts our ancient and 
 modern Socinians have invented of the meaning of 
 sacrifices of expiation, most certainly the language 
 of them was, ' O Lord, I have sinned ; I deserve ^o 
 die ; but, I beseech thee, let thine anger fall on this 
 my victim, or on that which is signified bv it ; and 
 be nierciful to me a sinner.'— Thus God was cere- 
 monially appeased, sin was expiated, and the Israelite 
 was fore-iven. 
 
 THF UNION BETWIXT CHRIST & BELIEVERS. 
 
 The suffering Redeemer had now resigned his 
 breath, after he had implored the divine forgiveness 
 to his bloody murderers, and with an amazing loud 
 cry, commended his departing spirit into the hands 
 of his heavenly Father, who shewed it the path of 
 life. A scene it was, which nature trembled to be- 
 hold. The sun called in his rays, and mourned in 
 sackcloth. The temple rent her vail, to testify at 
 once her indignation, and that the way into the holi- 
 est of all was now made manifest. And even the 
 rocks, the flinty rocks, upbraided with the hardness of 
 
CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 37 
 
 their hearts, the unpitying- tormentors of the Lord of 
 glory ; Lo ! there he hangs a lifeless corpse ! A 
 wealthy disciple obtains a warrant to perform the 
 last kindly offices. The mangled body is wrapped 
 in fine linen, and decently interred. In vain you 
 seal the stone, and appoint a watch ; still these re- 
 mains are the body of Christ, and the peculiar care of 
 heaven, which shall not see corruption. For the 
 third day shall see him arising from the bed of death ; 
 and what is now sown in dishonour, shall be raised 
 in glory. 
 
 So, just so, the elect, who are chosen in Christ 
 from all everlasting, even while dead in trespasses 
 and sins, and lying in the grave of the corrupt na- 
 tural state, are regarded by God as the body to which 
 he was federally united in the council of peace. Was 
 it impossible for the fleshly part of the Redeemer to 
 see putrefaction in the grave, and to remain under 
 his gloomy power for ever? Equally impossible it 
 is that those should pine away in their iniquities, who 
 are Christ's dead men ; whom he has loved with an 
 everlasting love. 
 
 Within two days he will revive them, the third 
 day he will raise them up, and they shall live in his 
 sight. According to the gracious promise, by the 
 mouth of the prophet Isaiah, they shall not always 
 remain in the congregation of the dead. " For thus 
 saith the Lord, thy dead men shall live, together with 
 my body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that 
 dwell in the dust." 
 
 A federal union there is, in scripture-reckoning, be- 
 tween the Lord Jesus, and those who are predestin- 
 ated unto life. An union which commences not only 
 before they are born into the world of grace, but 
 before they were born into the world of nature. 
 Before they were born, did I say ? nay, it is an union 
 ancient as eternity itself; and grace was given them 
 in Christ before the world began. With him they 
 were crucified ; with him they died ; with him they 
 descended into the grave : when he arose from the 
 
38 THE UNION BETWIXT 
 
 dead, they also did arise ; when he ascended on high 
 they also ascended, and sat down with him in heaven- 
 ly places. Yet still this blessed connection with the 
 g-lorious Surety, is a secret reserved in the breast of 
 God ; and they are by nature the children of wrath, 
 even as others, until, in the day of conversion, they 
 are actually united unto Christ by a mystical implan- 
 tation. 
 
 In the worlds of nature and art, there are found 
 many conjunctions ; and which of them is not sum- 
 moned by the Spirit of God to shadow forth this su- 
 pernatural one ? As the body is joined to the gar- 
 ments which it wears, to the head with which it is 
 adorned, to the soul wherewith it is animated ; as the 
 mother to the child conceived in the woml) ; as the 
 root to the branches ; as the foundation to the super- 
 structure ; as the husband to the wife ; so is Christ 
 unto believers. They have put him on as a gar- 
 ment ; they are knit together, they are nourished, 
 they increase by him as a head, with the increase of 
 God. He is their life ; it is not they that live, but 
 Christ liveth in them. He is formed in their hearts. 
 In him they are rooted as branches in the vine, built 
 up as lively stones upon a living foundation. Great 
 is the nearness of the husband and wife, when they 
 are no more twain but one flesh ; but still more close 
 is this connection ; for, he that is joined to the Lord, 
 is one spirit. 
 
 Does any one of these similitudes convey but an 
 imperfect idea of this mysterious unity ? let the remain- 
 ing ones contribute their help to aid your apprehen- 
 sions. But, after all, they fall infinitely short of the 
 thing they are intended to adumbrate. And there- 
 fore the wisdom of God compares it to an union, bv 
 which indeed it is infinitely transcended. In behalf 
 of his beloved people, he prays the Father, " That 
 they may be one," saith he, " in us, as thou Father, 
 art in me, and I in thee:"' John xvii. 21. — It is true, 
 they are not joined unto the Redeemer, by such an 
 
CHRIST AND BELIEVERS. 39 
 
 essential conjunction as is betwixt the sacred persons 
 of the Godhead ; nor by such a personal union as is 
 between the eternal Son and his temporal humanity. 
 It is not an unition of persons in one nature, like the 
 tbrraer ; nor of natures in one person, like the latter ; 
 ))ut an union of a multitude of persons, not merely 
 unto the doctrine of Christ, not merely unto the 
 grace of Christ, but the person of Christ, considered 
 not as God only, not as man only, but as God-man. 
 
 They are indeed linked together by the bonds ot 
 government and subjection, and by the ties of strong- 
 est friendship : that is, of a political ; and this, of a 
 moral kind. But shall we say, the mysterious ex- 
 pressions we mentioned above, denote no more but 
 this ? Believers are joined to Christ by the bands of 
 government and friendship. Does the Spirit of God 
 then, wrap up the plainest things in the darkest phra- 
 seologies ? Is this to the honour of the Scriptures ? 
 No ; that be far from the Spirit of wisdom and revel- 
 ation ; the perfection of the sacred oracles. It is not 
 the dark phrases, but the sublime and heavenly thing, 
 of which the apostle of the Gentiles is discoursing, when 
 he says, " This is a great mystery ; I speak concern- 
 ing Christ and the church." 
 
 Christ Jesus and believers are the parties ; the 
 Spirit and faith are the bonds ; the law and the gos- 
 pel are the instruments; the sacraments of divine 
 institution are the seals, in this mysterious coalition. 
 Mysterious indeed, which shall not be thoroughly ap- 
 prehended, but in the light of glory. For thus the 
 promise runs : " In that day shall ye know that I am 
 in the Father, and the Father in me ; and I in you, 
 and you in me." 
 
 A mystery this, worthy to be contemplated of angels 
 and archangels. Angels see, but saints experience it. 
 It is one of the deep things of God, which the na- 
 tural man receiveth not ; and even the spiritual man 
 is unable to comprehend it. But shall it therefore be 
 rejected as incredible, when it is only incomprehensi- 
 
40 THE rXION BETWIXT, &r 
 
 ble ? Christians believe greater mysteries than this ; 
 and without all perad venture, the less is conrirmed 
 hy the greater. And philosophers acknowledge the 
 reality of unions, for which they cannot account. 
 
 But, O I thrice happy they who are thus joined 
 unto the Lord ; and found in Christ, not having their 
 own righteousness ! They are called by his name ; 
 they are partakers of his fulness ; and in all their af- 
 flictions, he is afflicted. Though he resides in hea- 
 venly places, and they are sojourners on the earth, 
 yet are they blessed in him with all spiritual blessings. 
 You trample upon the toe, the head cries out, " why 
 persecutest thou me ?" But when you clothe his nak- 
 ed, and feed his hungry members, he deems you did 
 it to himself. " I was hungry, and ye gave me meat ; 
 naked, and ye clothed me." 
 
 Let supercilious, puny mortals, regard with con- 
 tempt, or cold indifierence, the saints of the Most 
 High ; but, O ! let my delights be with you, ye ex- 
 cellent of the earth. Christ is not ashamed to call 
 you brethren ; God is not ashamed to call himself 
 your God. A more exalted honour this, than to wear 
 an imperial crown, and fill the throne of the whole 
 earth ! — To you there is no condemnation, nor falling 
 totally away. You are the members of Christ, there- 
 fore he knows your wants ; you are the body of 
 Christ, therefore he will supply them. Christ is your 
 head, he will cleanse your defilements ; Christ is your 
 head, he will cure your diseases. What though you 
 be in poverty ? you are in Christ. What though you 
 be in reproach ? you are in Christ. Let death divide 
 your souls and bodies ; let the grave calcine your 
 flesh and bones ; let the four winds war for your dust ; 
 your vital union with Christ shall still remain. W^hen 
 you shall render up the ghost, you die in the Lord ; 
 and when you descend into the peaceful grave, your 
 dust shall sleep in Jesus. — Can any force, can any 
 fraud, find means to enter into the heaven of heavens ; 
 and pluck an eye, or tear a limb, from the glorified 
 
ON TRUSTING IN GOD. 41 
 
 humanity of the exalted Redeemer ? And even in 
 the days of his huraihation, the soldiers could not 
 break his bones, because they saw he was already 
 dead. For so it was foretold in ancient prophecy, " A 
 bone of him shall not be broken." But ye are kept 
 as the apple of his eye ; and are the members of his 
 body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 
 
 OX TRUSTING IN GOD. 
 
 He that trusts in the Lord with all his heart, does 
 not indeed expect, that God will do that for him 
 which he has never promised ; far less that he will be 
 favourable unto him, in what is contrary to his re- 
 vealed will. But, first, he sees that his matters are 
 good and right ; and then he commits the keeping- of 
 his soul unto the faithful Creator; who is a buckler 
 to them alone that walk uprightly. 
 
 If he is called of God to any difficult duty, for 
 which he finds himself unequal, he persuades himself^ 
 that God will command his strength, and work in him 
 both to will and to do of his good pleasure ; and out 
 of weakness, he is made strong. 
 
 He will not indeed presume on the divine protec- 
 tion, when rushing- headlong into dangers, evidently 
 foreseen, without necessity ; as though the Almighty 
 were o])liged to suspend for him the laws of nature, 
 and be prodigal of his miraculous operations. For 
 even the Son of God himself would not tempt his 
 loving Father, by casting himself down from the pin- 
 nacle ; though, as the bold impostor told him, the 
 angels had in charge to keep him in all his ways. 
 But let him hear the voice of God and conscience ; 
 " This is the way, walk ye in it ;" though he should 
 pass through fire and water, he laughs at fear ; and is 
 not greatly moved by the most ghastly appearances 
 of danger. Though war should rise against him ; and 
 
 C 
 
42 ON TRUSTING IN GOD. 
 
 death, with sable wiug-s, should hover round his head ; 
 yet will he fear no evil. For " thou wilt keep him in 
 perfect peace, O God \ whose mind is stayed on thee, 
 because he trusteth in thee." 
 
 The perfections of the Godhead are the chambers 
 of safety wherein he hides himself. That everlasting- 
 strength, for which nothing is too difScult ; — that 
 matchless goodness, that extends itself even to the 
 birds of the air, and lilies of the field ; — that perfect 
 immutability, that excludes all variableness and sha- 
 dow of turning ; — that inviolable veracity, by which it 
 is impossible for God to lie ; — that exact omniscience, 
 from which no want can be hid ; — that incomprehen- 
 sible wisdom, which can make all things work to- 
 gether for his own glory, and our good ; the promises 
 of the word, and all the experiences of the saints ; 
 these are his sure foundations on which he builds his 
 trust. 
 
 If he himself has found the eternal God his refuge, 
 experience worketh hope. As he hath delivered, and 
 doth deliver, he trusts in God, that he will yet de- 
 liver. If he has recourse to his own experiences, and 
 finds no light from that quarter, he searches out of 
 the book of the Lord, and finds, that never were the 
 righteous forsaken. If friends proved faithless, or 
 unable to afford him any relief in the day of calamity, 
 enemies shall befriend. Even Philistines and Chal- 
 deans shall intreat him well in the evil day. Did all 
 human relief fail, and vain was the help of man ? then 
 God has made a friendly covenant for him with the 
 beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes 
 of the sea. Ravens shall feed him, bears shall avenge 
 his quarrel, and monsters of the deep afford a safe re- 
 treat. Fishes have supplied his wants ; and dogs 
 have proved physicians to his sores. — If the animal 
 creation failed, the dead and lifeless creatures have 
 come into his interests. The roaring waves divide to 
 give him passage ; and for his sake the fierce element 
 of fire forgets its burning power. If neither men, nor 
 
ON TRUSTING IN CHRIST. 43 
 
 beasts, nor elements, appeared to his aid ; numbers of 
 mig-hty angels encamp around, and deliver him. But 
 chiefly God has been a never-failing refuge, when 
 neither friends, — nor foes, — nor beasts, — nor elements., 
 — nor angels, — nor any other creature, have interpos- 
 ed for their safety. " Thou hast been a strength to 
 the poor ; a strength to the needy in his distress ; a 
 refuge from the storm ; a shadow from the heat, when 
 the blast of the terrible ones was as a storm against 
 the wall." 
 
 Whilst he, by this believing confidence, gives glory 
 to God, a full reward is given by the God of Israel, 
 under whose wings he trusts. No anxious cares about 
 this world's good things ; no dispiriting fears about its 
 evil things ; shall be able to disturb his repose. He 
 is careful for nothing that can befal his mortal body, 
 his civil reputation, or his worldly accommodations. 
 Having devolved all his cares uyjon the great Jehovah, 
 commended to him his present and his future inter- 
 ests, he lies down, and his sleep is sweet unto him. 
 His flesh shall rest in hope, even in the clay-cold bed 
 of the grave. His righteousness is brought forth as 
 the light. Surely the Lord will make perfect what 
 concerneth him. " O Lord of hosts, blessed is the 
 man that trusteth in thee." 
 
 ON TRUSTING IN CHRIST. 
 
 Nor is it less our duty to trust in thee, O almighty 
 Saviour of sinners, who savest us, not by bow, nor by 
 sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen, 
 nor by might and power; but by thy blood which 
 thou shed, and by thy Spirit which thou pourest down. 
 " Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteous- 
 ness and strength." For he shall be enabled to dis- 
 cern all other grounds of trust to be but arms of flesh; 
 — but lies arid vanities ; — but spiders' webs ; — but per- 
 
44 ON TRUSTING IN ("HHIST. 
 
 ishing- gourds ; — but foundations that shall be over- 
 sown with a flood ; whilst he that puts his trust in 
 the Lord, shall be safe, and shall inherit his holy 
 mountain. 
 
 Though his distinguished jDrivileges should be like 
 those of Capernaum, that was exalted up into heaven, 
 he confides not in the temple of the Lord, but in the 
 Lord of the temple. Though he could boast an illus- 
 trious descent from the venerable Abraham ; or claim 
 kindred, according to the flesh, with Jesus Christ hmi- 
 self ; he would not on that account think himself in- 
 titled to the divine regard. — Though he should find 
 much worldly substance ; he " will not say to gold, 
 Thou art my hope ; nor to fine gold, Thou art my 
 confidence ; as though the Almighty would esteem 
 his riches, or as though they could be profitable in the 
 day of his wrath. — Though he should equal Hernan 
 in the deepness of his exercise, and Paul in the abun- 
 ♦lance of revelation ; he would not reckon it expedient 
 for him to glory. — Though, for the cause of Christ, 
 he should even pour his blood ; yet by the blood of 
 the Lamb would he overcome ; yet in the blood of the 
 Lamb, and not his own, would he wash his robes, 
 and make them white. Though his gifts should be 
 eminent ; his knowledge clear and extensive : — though, 
 in the sweetness of his natural temper, he should be 
 like a Moses ; and a Paul, in the blamelessness of his 
 life, touching the righteousness of the law: — though 
 his profession were ever so strict, and his reputation 
 ever so fair : — in a word, though he should shed many 
 tears, pour many prayers, endure many hardships, 
 make many vows, form many resolutions, and exert 
 the most vig-orous endeavours in working out his own 
 salvation ; yet all these things he counts but loss and 
 dung, that he may win Christ, and be found in him. 
 Though the saving grace of God should be implanted 
 in his heart, he is not strong- in the grace that is in 
 himself, but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. His 
 justifying merit is the alone ground of his confidence 
 
ON IMITATING OF CHRIST. 45 
 
 for the pardon of his guilt ; his sanctifying- Spirit, for 
 vanquishing the power of his inbred corruption. All 
 other confidence he rejects, because the Lord hath re- 
 jected them. No tempest shall be able to batter down 
 his walls ; his foundation never shall be razed ; his 
 confidence shall never be rooted out of his tabernacle, 
 but shall have a great recompence of reward. O 
 " blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and 
 whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree 
 planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots 
 by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh ; 
 but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in 
 the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding 
 fruit.'' 
 
 ON IMITATING OF CHRIST. 
 
 The imitator of Jesus Christ is one, who, being in- 
 terested in him as his propitiation, cannot but choose 
 to follow him as his pattern ; for he knows, that 
 though it be not the only or principal end why the 
 Son of God was manifested, it is, however, a very 
 considerable part of his errand, in visiting these re- 
 gions of mortality, to give us a fair transcript, and a 
 living copy of all those graces and duties that are 
 pleasing unto God, and that are commanded in the 
 law\ He reverences, indeed, the footsteps of the flock, 
 and blesses God for the holy examples of living and 
 dead saints, which are noble incentives to piety, and 
 a devout conversation. But still he regards the holi- 
 est examples of living and dead saints, as but imper- 
 fect models of duty ; some of their actions being evi- 
 dently sinful, and others of them doubtful and suspi- 
 cious. Jesus Christ he considers as the only finished 
 pattern of obedience, in whose presence Moses is not 
 meek, Solomon is not wise, Job is not patient, David 
 is not upright, Abraham is not strong in faith, Elijah 
 
 C 2 
 
46 ON IMITATING OF CHRIST. 
 
 is not zealous, and Paul, the labouring- apostle is not 
 diligent. His fellow saints, and those who have gone 
 before him, may indeed surpass him in what he actu- 
 ally attains unto, but not in what he aims at. He 
 knows, that the finer the copy is, the fairer will be the 
 learner's hand ; therefore he sets the Lord alway be- 
 fore him. To follow the steps of Christ alone, is far 
 more eligible in his esteem, than to go in the way of 
 the world, or follow the multitude to do evil. And 
 how can it be otherwise, when he considers that the 
 example of Christ is the example of his best friend, 
 his glorious Head, his great Lord and Master, his 
 leader and commander, the shepherd and bishop of his 
 soul, the captain of his salvation, and the author of 
 his high and heavenly calling ? 
 
 He reckons it a far more glorious and honourable 
 attainment, to resemble his blessed Saviour in holi- 
 ness, and obedience to the will of God, than though 
 he could be like him in the power of working mir- 
 acles — a power which has been, in some measure, 
 imparted to the workers of iniquity. 
 
 These most invaluable books, the gospels of Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, and John, that contain the sacred me- 
 moirs of the life of Jesus, he prefers before all other bio- 
 graphy. These venerable histories he peruses night 
 and day ; not merely with the eye of a critic, that he 
 may understand their sense, and discover their beau- 
 ties, but, with the eye of a painter, who gazes at a 
 fine picture, that he may imitate the artist's delicate 
 designs, that he may go and do likewise. 
 
 In all places, companies, duties, and emergencies, 
 he labours to consider with himself. How would my 
 Lord and Saviour, were he in my place, acquit him- 
 self on this occasion ? Would he do this or that ? 
 Would he allow it to be done ? 
 
 There are many actions of the man Christ Jesus , 
 which were performed by him, as a human creature, 
 in conformity to the moral law, which are to be imi- 
 tated in the letter of them. If he obeyed his parents, 
 
ON IMITATING OF CHRIST. 47 
 
 prayed to his God, forgave his enemies, paid tribute 
 to Csssar, despised no man for his poverty, esteemed 
 no man for his wealth : if he pleased not himself, nor 
 sought his own glory ; if he was heavenly in his dis- 
 course, cheerful in his obedience, unwearied in his ap- 
 plication to his work, and mortified to the world in the 
 whole tenor of his conversation ; — these are branches 
 of his behaviour, in which the servant of Christ fol- 
 lows him in the most literal sense, though at a hum- 
 ble distance ; not as Asahel followed Abner, but as 
 Peter followed his Master afar oif. These duties are 
 not only incumbent upon him, by the authority of 
 the precept, but are sanctified unto him, are rendered 
 sweet and easy, by the example of the Lord. 
 
 But there are other actions of Christ, in which he 
 acted as God. He fasted forty days ; he judged the 
 hearts of the Pharisees ; he took the ass of another 
 man to ride upon, as if it had been his own ; he 
 scourged the buyers and sellers out of the temple ; he 
 foretold future events, and performed a great number 
 of miracles. To imitate these, in the letter of them, 
 the christian knows very well, is utterly impossible ; 
 and to attempt it, absolutely unlawful. But though 
 the matter of them is only proposed to his faith, the 
 spirit of them, or the mind with which he did them, 
 is also proposed to his imitation. His taking upon 
 him the form of a servant, when he was in the form 
 of God, and his giving himself a sacrifice unto God, 
 of a sweet-smelling savour, though, for the matter of 
 them, they are actions utterly incapable of imitation ; 
 yet, even these high acts, in the true spirit of them, 
 the christian will endeavour to transcribe, by a hum- 
 ble and condescending behaviour, and by walking in 
 love, as Christ also loved him. As John the Baptist 
 did go before the Messiah, in the spirit and power of 
 Elias — though there was a great difference betwixt 
 the individual actions of these two men — so he goes 
 in the spirit and power of Christ, notwithstanding of 
 
48 O.N FAITH. 
 
 the hug-e distance that must always be between the 
 Saviour and the saint. 
 
 He may, as his Lord and Master, be exposed to 
 caUimnies of every kind ; but at last his righteous- 
 ness is brought forth as the light ; and even when he 
 gains not the applause of the tongue, he wins the ap- 
 probation of the heart. If any human thing could 
 reclaim an ungodly sinner, it would be the conversa- 
 tion of him who imitates the life of Christ. Here, 
 even the carnal man beholds the reality of religion 
 brought home to his very senses, and the power of 
 his lusts is assaulted with holy violence. As Christ 
 is the visible image of the invisible God, so is this 
 man the visible image of Christ, whom the world 
 seeth no more, because " the heavens must contain 
 him until the time of the restitution of all thing's."' 
 
 ON FAITH. 
 
 Happy the man who lives in mortal flesh, a life of 
 faith upon the Son of God ! Though he dwells not 
 in the gilded palace, he has the Most High for his 
 habitation. Though his food be homely, he fares 
 dehciously every day, upon the hidden manna. For, 
 O that noble gift of God ! he in whose heart she 
 dwells, is at once possessed of riches, and honours, and 
 pleasures. Let others curiously dispute where she 
 resides — in what faculty, in the understanding or the 
 will, be it my exalted privilege to have her formed in 
 my soul. The mountains may depart, the hills may 
 be removed, the solid earth, with the surrounding 
 heavens, may pass away ; but her foundations are 
 everlasting. Sooner shall chaos come again, and God 
 deny himself; sooner shall the natural and the moral 
 world be tossed into confusion, than that should fail 
 by which she is supported. Great is that revenue of 
 glory she brings unto her God, whether she trem- 
 
0\ FAITH. 49 
 
 bles at the threatening-, or relies upon the promise, 
 which he hath spoken in his hohness ; but most of 
 all, when her main object, Christ, is before her eyes, 
 as the Saviour from sin and wrath. When angels 
 circle the throne of God with heavenly anthems, and 
 yield the most unspotted obedience to the divine law, 
 they glorify their Maker. But when by her, the guil- 
 ty, self-condemned wretch, devolves upon the Lord, 
 the burden of innumerable sins, and trusts for pardon 
 of them all, this is glory to God in the highest. 
 Though each obediential act is for the praise of God, 
 and glorifies some one perfection of his nature, it is 
 her's to render him the glory of them all. 
 
 As reason is superior to sense, so faith has the pre- 
 eminence over reason. Be reason reverenced in mat- 
 ters that fall within her sphere ; but when she ven- 
 tures into the deeps of God, the seas where faith has 
 all the sovereignty ; when acting like herself, she 
 lowers her sails. As sense would seem to tell us 
 many things which reason contradicts, so faith will 
 rectify the fond mistakes of reason : nor ought she 
 to be dissatisfied. Faith only shuts the eye of rea- 
 son, not picks it out. Nor these alone submit them- 
 selves before this noble grace ; even other her fellow- 
 virtues do obeisance. Though, as a gracious quality, 
 she stands upon a level with the rest, yet, as an iiv- 
 strument, she far excels in glory. She cannot boast, 
 indeed, of her intrinsic worth, but of the post of hon- 
 our which she fills by Heaven's appointment. She 
 only is the general receiver of all the blessings of the 
 gospel. By her we call Heaven's rich unfathomable 
 mines our own. Because she humbleth herself, there- 
 fore hath God highly exalted her, and given her a 
 name above every grace. Even charity herself is 
 only greater in duration ; for she abideth when faith 
 shall fail, as to its actings ; and die, like Moses, in 
 the mount. Such 7a her humble nature, that even 
 the jealous God, who will not give his glory to an- 
 other, even he is found to give his glory unto her. 
 
50 ON FAITH. 
 
 We are " saved by faith ; we are justified by faith." 
 She faithfully returns the glory to her object. He 
 hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid, because 
 himself has said, " Them that honour me I will hon- 
 our. 
 
 Though weak in herself, she is strong in the Lord. 
 Her very weakness is her strength. She overcomes 
 the devil, and the world, and the flesh. She binds 
 up the arm of vengeance, and wields the arm of Om- 
 nipotence. The creature is not able to resist her, 
 and the Creator will not. She says unto this moun- 
 tain of difficulty, " be thou removed, and cast into the 
 sea." She subdues kingdoms of lusts — quenches the 
 violence of the fire of wrath — stops the mouth of the 
 infernal lion, and escapes the edge of the sword of 
 angry justice. When other graces quit the field, her 
 own arm brings salvation. What shall I say more ? 
 " If thou canst believe, all things are possible." 
 
 Such is her strength. No wonder she is as bold as 
 a lion, though timorous and distrustful of the crea- 
 ture. Confiding in the Lord, she is not afraid to ven- 
 ture into the holiest of all. She plays upon the hole 
 of the asp, and thrusts her hand into the cockatrice's 
 den. " O death where is thy sting ?" she says with 
 bold defiance. When presumptuous unbelievers are 
 buried in the mighty waters, like the Egyptian host, 
 she passes through the foaming waves triumphant. 
 There is none like her in all the earth. Who is made 
 without fear ? 
 
 Though poor in herself, she makes many rich with 
 the treasures of eternity. She is not afraid of the 
 snow for her household ; for all her household are 
 clothed in the scarlet robes of everlasting righteous- 
 ness. Justly she is denominated, precious faith, when 
 she interests us in precious promises, and applies un- 
 to the conscience precious blood. 
 
 There are, indeed, who think her blind and head- 
 long ; yet is she a sharp-sighted grace. She compre- 
 hends the love of Christ that passeth knowledge. 
 
ON FAITH. 51 
 
 Doctrines, which to the natural man are fooHshness, 
 and events that have no present existence, are real- 
 ized by her. " She is the evidence of things not 
 seen, the substance of things hoped for," though ever 
 so remote in time or place. She is a kind of second 
 sight, not merely to behold spectacles of horror, ghosts, 
 and apparitions, but the King in his beauty, the land 
 that is afar off, the things that are not seen, that are 
 eternal, 
 
 It is true, her strength is to sit still, to look on, 
 while the Lord himself doth wondrously. Like the 
 hUes of the field, she toils not, neither does she spin. 
 And certain bold blasphemers have talked of our 
 most holy faith, as though she were no friend to 
 works of righteousness. Impossible ! absurd ! for all 
 good works, without exception, are her dear offspring, 
 which issue from her pregnant womb. These are her 
 children which praise her in the gates. And she 
 may say in truth, with the apostle of the Gentiles, " I 
 laboured more abundantly than all the other graces. 
 Do we make void the law through faith ? God for- 
 bid : nay, we establish the law." The law as a cove- 
 nant she makes not void : for she presents the perfect 
 righteousness of Christ, which answers every legal 
 charge. And though she strips the law, to all who 
 have her, of the old covenant-form, she turns it to a 
 rule of life, and supplies the believer with most effec- 
 tual motives to all holy obedience. No work of God 
 can be acceptably performed, till once you have be- 
 lieved. This is his prime command, and your most 
 necessary duty. " For without faith it is impossible 
 to please God," by any doing, or by any suffering. 
 By faith Abraham offered up Isaac his first-born son ; 
 and by faith the children of Abraham put the knife 
 unto the throat of their most favourite lusts. 
 
 But, ah ! how few are there among the sons of 
 men, who can lay claim to this invaluable grace ! 
 Though all her ways are pleasantness and peace, great 
 is the opposition, by all the powers of corrupt nature, 
 
52 . ON FORGIVENESS OF SIN 
 
 unto this heavenly virtue. The hig-otted Pa])ist will 
 rather undergo the dnidg-ery of dismal superstition. 
 The blinded Pag-ans will rather choose to imbrue their 
 hands in the blood of their own offspring-. The per- 
 verse Jews, descended from Abraham only according- 
 to the flesh, will rather yield their servile necks to 
 the old g-alling- yoke of antiquated ceremonies, than 
 be at all induced to submit unto the righteousness of 
 faith. They know not. nor will understand the na- 
 ture of this exalted grace ; though, even in matters 
 of this world, all know that trust is no uncommon 
 thing. The husbandman, at the return of spring, is 
 not afraid to sow in hope, when he commits the food- 
 ful grain into the furrows of the field : " For his God 
 doth instruct him to discretion." They who go down 
 to the sea in ships repose such confidence in their 
 floating vessels, as not to be afraid to trust themselves 
 and all their worldly riches, unto the mercy of the 
 boisterous waves. Why is it that so few will venture 
 their eternal all, and their temporal felicity, unto the 
 faithful word of promise ? The man who sows his 
 grain in the furrow, is frequently disappointed of his 
 hopes. And many a time the loaded vessel becomes 
 a prey to the unpitying element of water. But, "he 
 that believeth shall not be ashamed, world without 
 end." 
 
 ON FORGIVENESS OF SIN THROUGH FAITH 
 IN CHRIST'S DIVINE BLOOD.* 
 
 When the guilt of innumerable evils stares me in 
 the face, and angry conscience rouses from her slum- 
 
 * By the blood of Christ is frequently signified in scripture, 
 tlie whole merit of his life and death, of his actions and suffer- 
 ings, of his trials and graces : which satisfied God's justice, 
 and magnified God's law j which made propitiation for ini- 
 quity, and brought in an everlasting righteousness. — Hervey's 
 Sermon ori the Means of Safety. 
 
THROUGH Christ's divine blood. 53 
 
 ber; where shall I fly for refuge? where shall I hide 
 my head ? how lay the grizly spectres ? Ye favourite 
 lusts, ye pleasing- comforts, ye amusing- recreations, 
 in vain ye lend your aid. Let Cain, with his hands 
 reeking- in blood, betake himself to building- cities ; 
 let Saul attempt to find relief from his unquiet mind, 
 in the charms of music, while David touched the 
 pleasant harp ; let the drunkard seek for consolation 
 in his flowing- bowl and jolly companions ; the sullen 
 ghosts refuse still to depart, when God calls, as in a 
 solemn day, his terrors round about. Even vows and 
 resolutions, prayers and tears, costly sacrifices, and 
 solemn promises of future amendment, cannot recal 
 the departed peace. Let Pagans, with horrid rites, 
 seek reconcihation with their fancied gods, and peace 
 unto their consciences ; let carnal Jews think to have 
 matters adjusted by their ceremonial observances, be- 
 ing- ig-norant of the righteousness of God ; scourg-e 
 yourselves to death, ye blinded Papists, and waste 
 your carcases to ghastly skeletons, by withholding- 
 sleep from your eyes, and nourishment from your 
 mouths; travel to the remotest climes in weary pil- 
 grimages ; it is all in vain. Fools that you are, to 
 think you shall have peace by walking- after the ima- 
 gination of your own hearts. " The way of peace 
 vou have not known : there is no judgment in your 
 goings." 
 
 For, unto whona should we go but unto thee, O 
 thou bleeding- Saviour ! By thy blood hast thou made 
 peace betwixt an offended Deity, and offending mor- 
 tals. No cause of death was found in thee. For us 
 thou drank the bitter cup. Far be it from us to sub- 
 stitute our pretended sincerity, our sorrowful repent- 
 ance, or even the more noble grace of faith, in the 
 room of thy satisfactory sufferings. O thou Prince 
 of peace ! By thy seasonable interposition, his anger 
 is turned away ; and now it is a righteous thing with 
 God abundantly to pardon. 
 
 Happy, thrice happy, they, who come unto God by 
 
54 ON FORGIVENESS OF SIN 
 
 him ; whose iniquity is pardoned, whose transgression 
 is Ibrg-iven. Riches and honours, thrones, crowns, 
 and sceptres, cannot greatly add unto their bliss; pain 
 and poverty, ignominy and reproach, cannot greatly 
 diminish their liappiness. It is true, O ye favourites 
 of Heaven, the fact of sin cannot be taken away, the 
 desert of sin cannot be removed ; yea, even its power 
 and dominion shall not be totally destroyed in your 
 present state of imperfection : however, there is no 
 condemnation to you that are in Christ Jesus. No 
 condemnation for your inherent corruption ; none for 
 your actual transgressions ; none for your past, none 
 for your future provocations. Chastised you may be 
 with the rod of a Father, but not with the wounds of 
 an enemy. "It is God that justifieth, who is he that 
 condemneth ?" What though your sins are many ? he 
 multiplies to pardon. What though your afflictions 
 are great ? there is no wrath in the portion of your 
 cup. Though men should condemn you, God will 
 not ; thoug-h devils accuse you, they shall not prevail. 
 " No weapon that is formed against thee shall pros- 
 per, and every tongue that riseth in judgment against 
 thee, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of 
 the servants of the Lord : and their righteousness is 
 of me, saith the Lord." 
 
 Fly, ye profane, who turn this grace of God into 
 lasciviousness. Be awakened, ye presumptuous, who 
 fondly dream your sins are pardoned, because ye have 
 forgotten them, or because ye have felt some pangs 
 of conviction, or because judgment is not speedily 
 executed against your evil works. How can ye be 
 pardoned, who have such shght thoughts of the God 
 who bestows, the Saviour who procures it, the gospel 
 which reveals it ? Ye that are ready to perish under 
 the pressure of your iniquities, and ye tliat are of a 
 heavy heart on account of your innumerable trans- 
 gressions, here is a strong cordial, a refreshful draught 
 from the wells of salvation. O drink, and remember 
 your misery no more. " God was in Christ, recon- 
 
THROUGH CHRIST S DIVINE BLOOD. 5o 
 
 ciling the world unto himself, not imputing- their 
 trespasses unto them." 
 
 Nor is it vain presumption in you to believe, that 
 he in Christ is, at this present hour, pacified towards 
 you for all that you have done. Thoug^h you have 
 been wicked and unrighteous, though your sins have 
 been of a crimson-dye, scarlet-coloured abominations; 
 the blood of Jesus can wash out the deadly tincture, 
 and make you white as finest wool, or virgin snow. 
 Was it any difficulty for the Red Sea to cover with 
 its waves the numerous host of Egypt, when Pharaoh, 
 with his captains and common soldiers, chariots and 
 horses, did sink unto the bottom as a stone? No more 
 for the ocean of unbounded love to subdue all your 
 iniquities ; not the common soldiers only of ordinary 
 provocations, but the most grizly and gigantic sins. 
 In the presence of his exalted Majesty, your persons 
 are but like the small dust of the balance ; which is 
 not considerable enough to sway the scale, and which 
 the gentlest breath can blow away. Just as insig- 
 nificant are your sins, in presence of his pardoning 
 mercy. 
 
 Nor is it with a grudge and reluctance the liberal 
 God bestows Ihis perfect gift. Once he dehghted in 
 wrath, when it pleased him to bruise his beloved Son. 
 That was his act, his strange act ; his work, his strange 
 work. Has he no pleasure in the death even of the 
 guilty sinner, as himself declares ; why th^n in the 
 death, the cruel death, of the innocent Iramanuel ? 
 The reason, the amazing reason is, because he de- 
 lighted in mercy; in mercy to the human race. 
 Therefore it pleased the Father to bruise him. 
 
 Glorify God for this mercy, ye pardoned ones. A 
 distinguished blessing it is, which will not accent the 
 song of angels, but of the redeemed from among the 
 human race. Rejoice, not that your wealth is increas- 
 ed, that your circumstances are prosperous, but that 
 your iniquity is pardoned. Fear the Lord and his 
 goodness, and walk humbly with thy God. 
 
56 ON EVANGELICAL 
 
 Reject not the counsel of God ag-ainst your own 
 souls, you who have not yet lied for refuge unto this 
 hope set before you, as you would not rob God of his 
 i^lory, nor yourselves of peace. Will you neglect this 
 great salvation ? Will you say unto the Almig-hty, 
 Depart from us ; thy gifts be to thyself? Cursed shall 
 ye be of the Lord, whose g;lory it is to pass over a 
 transgression. The Lord Jesus Christ shall subscribe 
 thy condemnation ; and all the holy angels shout 
 tlieir applause. Amen, says the church mihtant ; 
 Amen, the church triumphant. " In returning and rest 
 should you have been saved ; in quietness and confi- 
 dence should have been your rest : but you would not 
 hear." Lo ! there the men who made not the Lord 
 their confidence ; who robbed the Lord of his glory ; 
 and would not be beholden to him for the pardon of 
 their iniquities. Behold the time of their visitation 
 is come ; and where shall they fiy for help ? If in this 
 manner a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for 
 him ? They would not take hold of his strength ; they 
 would not make peace ; they would not consider any 
 of his ways. See now the red right arm of vengeance 
 takes hold of the glittering sword of justice. A sword ; 
 a sword is furbished with the oil of nxercy, that was 
 despised and affronted. See how he cleaves their 
 reins asunder, and breaketh them with breach upon 
 breach. Merciful Lord ! it is a fearful thing to fall 
 into thy hands ; when thou art angry, the nations 
 shall not be able to abide thy indignation. Make us 
 wise unto salvation, to know the things that belong 
 to our peace ; and to fiy to our strong-hold, while we 
 are tlie prisoners of hope. 
 
 ON EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE FOR SIN. 
 
 Let us first begin with the thoughts of his heart, 
 whose repentance is of the gospel-kind, and not to be 
 
REPENTANCE FOR SIN. 5/ 
 
 repented of. Of all evils, he is persuaded that sin is 
 the greatest; and of all sinners, he is disposed to 
 think that himself is the chiefest. He has obtained 
 a view of that abominable thing, which before he con- 
 demned only in words ; and sees it, in the gospel 
 light, the heaviest of debts, the ugliest of stains, the 
 weightiest of burdens, and the most deadly sting. 
 Though no enormities of behaviour should tarnish 
 his civil reputation among men, yet he sees that in- 
 numerable evils compass him about ; that he is the 
 man who has violated every precept of the law ; the 
 devil who has transgressed against a gracious God, by 
 a thousand provoking iniquities. Having descended 
 into his own breast, and contracted a more thorough 
 acquaintance with the plagues of his own heart, he 
 thinks less favourably of himself than he can possibly 
 do of others, or they of him. He blesses and adores 
 that sparing goodness that bore with him so long ; 
 nor filled him with the fruit of his own ways. Even 
 his most holy duties, which some would call his 
 righteousness, these he discerns to labour under so 
 many imperfections, as to deserve the epithet oijilthy 
 rags. Nor are these self-abasing thoughts the mere 
 remonstrances of natural conscience, which pass away 
 like the morning cloud and early dew, or the dazzling 
 flashes of the lightning, by which the benighted tra- 
 veller is rather blinded than directed : far less must 
 they be held the melancholy suggestions of wicked 
 spirits, intending to exaggerate the guilt of his ini- 
 quities, and drive him to despair ; but they are the 
 fixed and sober sentiments of his soul, which the holy 
 and blessed Spirit begets in his mind, when he strikes 
 home the word of the law upon the conscience ; but, 
 chiefly, the persuasion of forgiveness which God oper- 
 ates on his heart with the most kindly influence. 
 The knowledge of sin, which is by the law, may be 
 productive of servile fear, and worldly sorrow ; but it 
 is the province of the gospel alone to paint it in such 
 colours, as to make him ashamed, yea, even confoundi- 
 
 D 
 
56 ON EVANGKLICAL HEPENTANCE. 
 
 ed, because he does bear the reproach of bis youth. 
 O glorious grief! O noble pain I He is scorched with 
 the beams of g-oodness ; and waters with his tears, 
 even the joyful pardon of his sins: not so much for 
 the punishment they bring upon his own nature, as 
 for the indignity done to the divine. He looks on 
 thee, whom he has pierced, O bleeding Propitiation * 
 and mourns, not so much for himself, as for thee ; as 
 the tender-hearted parent mourns, with unfeigned 
 sorrow, when the eye-lids of an only son are closed in 
 death, or the remains of a first-born are consigned 
 over to the silent grave ; or as the sorrowful Israelites, 
 at Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo, wept for 
 the good Josiah, when snatched away by an untime- 
 ly death, in the sins of the people ; and whilst he 
 mourns, he tastes more true refreshment than worldly 
 joy can give. 
 
 When such are the inmost sentiments of his soul ; 
 no wonder that out of the abundance of his heart, the 
 most ample confessions of sin do How from his tongue. 
 Sometimes to men, whom he may have scandalized ; 
 but always to God, whom he has mainly offended. 
 Far from covering his transgression, as Adam, he 
 knows not where to find expressions black enough to 
 set forth the extreme odiousness of his guilt. The 
 powers of language fail him ; and, with the most ex- 
 pressive silence, he lays his hand upon his mouth, 
 his mouth in the dust, as being unable to declare 
 either the vastness of the multitude of his iniquities, 
 or the grievousness of their aggravation. 
 
 To the words of his mouth correspond the actions 
 of his life ; and the resolutions of his heart, now rent 
 from sin, as well as for it ; though once it was dear 
 to him as the apple of his eye. Begone, deceitful 
 lusts, he says : too long you have prevailed against 
 me by your bewitching infiuence. Farewell, ye gild- 
 ed snares, ye soul-destroyers, ye murderers of my 
 (jod ; dyed crimson with his blood. Welcome, thou 
 glorious liberty, that frees me from the bondage of 
 
ON HUNGERING, ^c. 59 
 
 corruption. Now, every the smallest degree of moral 
 evil shows vile in his account ; he abstains from 
 every appearance of it; and carefully avoids the 
 avenues of temptation. He does not merely relin- 
 quish one sin, that with the greater freedom he may 
 indulge another, to which he is equally addicted. 
 For sin, as such, is the object of his aversion. But 
 chiefly, if any inquity has prevailed against him more 
 than another ; if any sin there be that easily besets 
 him ; against this he levels his opposition, and cheer- 
 fully forgoes it. As the captive exile hastens to be 
 loosed, and with a joyful heart forsakes his dungeon ; 
 so he abandons, with unreluctant mind, what former- 
 Iv he loved. 
 
 ON HUNGERING AND THIRSTING FOR 
 RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 He that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, is a 
 happy person ; who being convinced of the excel- 
 lency, suitableness, and absolute necessity, both of a 
 justifying righteousness before God, and an edifyinsi 
 righteousness before men, feels in his own heart, a 
 sense of its want, and a desire of supply. 
 
 Though, in comparison of the wicked who are full 
 of all unrighteousness, he is filled already with all 
 goodness ; yet, when he compares his own attain- 
 ments in religion, with the superior attainments of 
 other saints, and especially with the just demands of 
 the holy law, he looks upon himself as more brutish 
 than any man; and that he has not the knowledge of 
 the holy. Once, indeed, before the commandment 
 came, he was pure in his own eyes ; and as insensible 
 of the universal pollution of his heart and life, as a 
 beastly drunkard of his spots, though his face and 
 garments are all besmeared with mire and clay. But 
 when the fumes of liquor are dispelled, he awakes as out 
 
60 ON HUNGERING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 of a sleep ; discerns himself to be a monster of pollu- 
 tion ; and his own clothes do abhor him. He now- 
 perceives that the former good opinion he had of 
 himself, was owing to nothing- else but gross inatten- 
 tion to the quality of his own heart, and impotence of 
 thought. *' As when a hungry man dreameth, and 
 behold, he eateth ; but he awaketh, and his soul is 
 empty : or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, 
 he drinketh ; but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint, 
 and his soul hath appetite." " Woes me," he cries, 
 " I am undone : I am a man of unclean lips : and, 
 wherewith shall I come before the Lord ?" 
 
 As hunger has reconciled men to the most incredi- 
 ble hardships ; and for a drink of water, kingdoms 
 have been given away : (for hunger and thirst are 
 vital appetites, which, if they are not supplied, will 
 bring- inevitable death) ; so is this spiritual and holy 
 appetite supreme, prevalent, and triumphant over all 
 other desires. What is gold to him that is perishing- 
 for hunger? what is silver to him that is expiring- 
 for thirst ? And what are thy enjoyments, O vain 
 world, to this hungry and thirsty creature ? The 
 j)ersecuted hart doth not more eagerly pant for the 
 water-brook ; nor didst thou, O David, more ardent- 
 ly long for the water of the well of Bethlehem ; than 
 the hungry and thirsty christian for his Saviour's 
 justifying righteousness, and sanctifying Spirit. He 
 contents not himself with the hypocritical wish of 
 Baalam, to die the death of the righteous ; nor with 
 the lazy desires of the yawning sluggard, whose hands 
 refuse to labour : but in the sweat of his brow, and 
 exercise of christian diligence, does he eat his spiritual 
 bread. Where the carcase is, there does he go, with 
 willing steps, to the ordinances of Christ ; or rather 
 to Christ himself in them, in whom all fulness dwells. 
 
 When it is his meat and drink to do the will of 
 God ; how little he envies you of your dainties, that 
 are the workers of iniquity ! His hungering and his 
 thirsting is better than their feasting and carousing. 
 
ON PURITY OF HEART. 61 
 
 O blessed hung-er ! O desirable thirst ! of which to 
 die were a happiness to be envied. But he will not 
 suffer the soul of the rig-hteous to famish. " Bread 
 shall be g-iven them, and water shall be sure." For 
 thus saith the voice of inspiration, "The Lamb 
 that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, 
 and shall lead them unto living- fountains of waters." 
 But the wicked "shall wander up and down for meat, 
 and grudge if they be not satified." 
 
 ON PURITY OF HEART. 
 
 Purity of heart, is that holy disposition of the 
 soul, whereby the christian, whose conscience is 
 sprinkled with the clean water of Christ's atoning- 
 blood from the guilt of his iniquities, is inclined to 
 hate and depart from the pollution of all sin in g-ene- 
 ral, and in particular from the pollution of fleshly lusts. 
 
 First, Let us describe this holy disposition, as op- 
 posed to the predominant power of sin in general. The 
 pure in heart is a person who cannot satisfy himself with 
 a ceremonial purity, like that of the ancient Pharisees, 
 which consisted only in " putting away the filth of 
 the flesh ;" nor with a federal purity, which lies in 
 church-membership; nor with a civil purity, which is 
 no more but a freedom from scandalous sins ; and 
 may be entirely owing to a virtuous education, and to 
 restraining common grace. But the Holy Spirit of 
 God has created in him a clean heart, and renewed a 
 right spirit within him. He has seen the loathsome 
 nature of that abominable thing which God's soul 
 hates,; of which the vomit of a dog, the poison of a 
 serpent, and the putrefaction of a grave, are but faint 
 emblems. He has seen, that all the faculties of his 
 soul and body, all the periods of his hfe, and all his 
 thoughts, his words, his actions, are so deeply stained 
 with this moral contagion, that the pure eves of God 
 
 D 2 
 
62 ON PURITY OF HEART. 
 
 cannot behold him : yea, he loathes himself in his 
 own sight. He has seen, that this inbred corruption 
 is so deeply ingrained in his nature, that all his own 
 endeavours to wash out the deadly stain, would be as 
 vain, as ineffectual, as to attempt, with common 
 water, to wash out the scarlet dye, or the crimson 
 tincture, from those garments that have thoroughly 
 drunk in these vivid colours ; or, as if the Ethiopian 
 should think, by this feeble means, to change his hue, 
 or the leopard his spots. He has seen, that Jesus 
 Christ, by his word, by his blood, and by his Spirit, 
 is the only fountain opened for sin, and for unclean- 
 ness. He that came by water and blood, has, by his 
 word and Spirit, begotten in his heart a purifying 
 faith, and a purifying hope ; and made him, as the 
 King's daughter, all glorious within. It is true, he 
 is not yet without all spots or wrinkles ; but only 
 without the spots which are not the spots of God's 
 children. As a fair day may have some clouds ; a 
 fair face may have some freckles ; and a good field of 
 corn may have some weeds : so the pure in heart may 
 have some blemishes and imperfections. But as, by 
 actual attainment, he is purged from the reigning 
 }>ollution of sin ; so by ardent desire, and serious en- 
 deavours, he aspires after the perfection of pure and 
 undefiled religion. He cannot boast that he has al- 
 ready attained it. Ah no I But he wishes for it, he 
 prays for it, and he labours after it. 
 
 I5ut in a special manner, the pure in heart has in 
 some good measure gained the mastery over those 
 vile affections, and sensual indulgences of the flesh, 
 of which it is a shame even to speak, and hardly safe 
 even to reprove. — He remembers, that the pure eyes 
 of God are always upon him ; that the pure Spirit of 
 God inhabits the temple of his body ; that he is re- 
 deemed with the precious blood of a holy and undefil- 
 ed Redeemer; and that he is the expectant of an in- 
 corruptible, undefiled inheritance. He cleanses his 
 
ON ruriiTV OF heart. 63: 
 
 way, by taking heed thereto, according to the pure 
 word of God. 
 
 He hates the thoughts of impurity. If they are 
 darted into his mind, he disallows them, he groans 
 under them, and suffers them not t^ lodge within 
 him. He hates the words of impurity ; the mire and 
 dirt of filthiness, and foolish talking ; which is as sure a 
 token of an impure heart, as smoke rushing from the 
 chimney is an indication of fire on the hearth. He hates 
 the deeds of impurity : hates them, not only when per- 
 petrated by others, but if himself has been formerly 
 chargeable with them. He reflects not upon his past 
 follies with gloriation, or with indifference and cold 
 remorse ; but with unfeigned sorrow and deep humi- 
 liation. He hates the occasions of impurity, and 
 labours to avoid them. Conscious of the infirmity of 
 his flesh, and the treachery of his heart, he endea- 
 vours to keep at a distance from the incentives toi 
 sensuality, makes a covenant with his eyes, and ven- 
 tures not even to the utmost verge of his christian- 
 liberty. 
 
 His mind being first pure, is then peaceable ; and 
 he enjoys a holy serenity, which the impure sensual- 
 ist can have no idea of. The doctrines of religion are 
 plain and clear to his pure mind. He holds the mys- 
 tery of faith in a pure conscience. His prayer being 
 pure, is fervent and effectual. His hearing the word 
 is profitable, because he lays aside all filthiness and 
 superfluity of naughtiness. All things are pure unto 
 him, because he is pure himself; when to the defiled 
 and unbelieving is nothing pure. — Would you know 
 the sum of his happiness ? You have it all declared 
 in one word, by the teacher who came from God ; to 
 which nothing can be added, and after which we need 
 say no more ; " Blessed are the pure in heart ; for 
 they shall see God." 
 
G4 ON HOLINESS. 
 
 ON HOLINESS, ITS NATURE, EXCELLENCY, 
 AND NECESSITY. 
 
 • O DIVINE holiness ! or, shall we call thee by the 
 name of goodness, or rig-hteousness, or uprightness ? 
 with what praises shall we extol thee ! Thou art 
 the brightest ornament of the universe; more beau- 
 teous than the stars of light, or than the roses that 
 strew the footsteps of the spring. The sun himself, 
 can boast no glory in thy presence. 
 
 Thou art the darling attribute of the Deity ; the 
 brightest pearl of Jehovah's crown. Without thee, 
 an Ichabod were written on every other perfection. 
 —Adieu to his wisdom ; farewell to his blessedness ; 
 the absolute perfection of his nature is no more. 
 Thou art that beauty of the Lord, which, above all, 
 the saints of the Most High are desirous of behold- 
 ing. In no perfection he more rejoices. By this he 
 swears. With thee the angels swell their notes ; 
 when, with covered feet, because of shame ; and faces 
 Vailed, because of reverence ; they surround his throne. 
 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," they cry ; 
 " the whole earth is full of his glory. Omniscience 
 is his piercing eye, omnipotence his powerful arm, 
 and mercy is compared to his yearning bowels; but 
 holiness is like the face and visage of the Godhead. 
 
 • Consult we the sacred oracles, what attribute is 
 more conspicuous in every description of the Al- 
 mighty I — Read we the volume of creation, he is holy 
 in all his works : the volume of providence, he is 
 righteous in all his ways, of mercy, and of judgment. 
 Search and see, if there are not very distinguishing 
 marks of the divine regard to holiness, in every pro- 
 vidential way. " Say ye to the righteous, it shall be 
 well with him : but wo unto the wicked, it shall be 
 ill with him." Witness, ye angels of darkness, and 
 ye damned spirits, attest this truth : " the righteous; 
 Lord loveth righteousness ;" which God hath written 
 
ON HOLINESS. 6j& 
 
 to your dreadful experience in fiery flames. O earth, 
 wherefore dost thou groan, but because thou art the 
 habitation of the ungodly? And wherefore did the 
 fiery deluge destroy your pleasant dwellings, ye cities 
 of the plain ? Ye justified behevers, whose iniquities 
 are pardoned, whose transgression is forgiven, your 
 Surety felt the eftects of that hatred of sin which you 
 should have experienced. Not all the vials of his 
 vengeance poured on the heads of sinful men and 
 angels, can half so loud proclaim the holiness of God, 
 as the sufferings of the innocent and lovely Jesus ; 
 who, therefore, is represented by an inspired writer, 
 when testifying before-hand of the sufferings of Christ, 
 to turn his meditation upon the holiness of him that 
 inhabits the praises of Israel, when grappling with the 
 dreadful vengeance due to our iniquities : " My God, 
 my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? why art thou 
 so far from helping me ?" Am I not the Son of thy 
 love ? have I not done always the things that pleased 
 thee ? why dost thou hide thy face ? why dost thou 
 count me for an enemy, and deal with me as I were 
 an egregious transgressor? But what do I say? I 
 am the Surety of lost sinners, by my Father's com- 
 mission, by my own consent. My sufferings are 
 just; are necessary, from the holiness of thy nature ; 
 and for this amazing transaction, thou shalt rejoice 
 in the praises of Israel to all everlasting. 
 
 As every disobedience receives a just recompence 
 of reward ; so his countenance doth behold the up- 
 rig-ht : he will bless the righteous, and compass them 
 with his favour as with a shield. — O blessed Jesus, 
 "thou loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; and 
 God, even thy God, did for this cause anoint thee 
 with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." And 
 what are all the blessings of the followers of the 
 Lamb, from the smallest crumb, to the ponderous 
 crown of glory, but the reward of holiness; the re- 
 ward of grace to their implanted, of debt to their im- 
 puted, righteousness ? Yea, even in the place of pun- 
 
0)H ON I10LINK.<S. 
 
 ishmeiit, where he will be favourable no more, the 
 kind regards of God to goodness and morality will be 
 demonstrated. Those who, though far from righ- 
 teousness, were not so vicious as others, shall wear a 
 lighter chain, than their fellows who have been guilty 
 of more atrocious crimes. 
 
 Ye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity ? 
 how long will ye turn this glory into shame ? Love- 
 ly perfection, how much art thou despised in the 
 world ! How rarely to be found in the land of the 
 living ; whether we search for thee in city or in coun- 
 try, m the lofty palace, or in the humble cottage ! 
 How small the number of thy votaries ! This man 
 affects to be learned, that to be polite, and another 
 to be witty ; but few to be holy in all manner of con- 
 versation. Yet are thy pleasures pure, and without 
 alloy. " Thy ways are pleasantness, and all thy paths 
 are peace." How greatly they reproach thee, who 
 draw thy picture in robes of melancholy, and looks of 
 dark disquietude ? Whether thou leadest thy favour- 
 ites by the still waters of meditation, or bringest them 
 to the house of prayer, or makest them lie down in 
 the green pastures of ordinances ; thy joys are joys 
 indeed, which nothing earthly gives, or can destroy. 
 Joys that will abide the test ; nor flush the cheek of 
 shame, nor render pale with guilt. Under thy kind- 
 ly influence what pleasing exercise is afforded to 
 every rational power ! In those happy moments, the 
 soul, and all that is within us, is stirred up to mag- 
 nify and bless his holy name, and all our bones to 
 sav, " Who is like unto thee ?" Nor can the coun- 
 tenance dissemble the heart- felt satisfaction. As the 
 blaze of crackling thorns, difi'ers from the light of the 
 day, sent from the sun's bright orb ; so differ worldly 
 pleasures from divine. These leave behind no stings 
 of fierce repentance ; can greatly triumph over death, 
 and ask the grave, " Where is thy victory ?" 
 
 When thou withdrawest thy footsteps, the world is 
 out of joint, and all its foundations are out of course. 
 
ON PEACE OF CONSCIENCE. 67 
 
 Aug-els are turned into devils, and heaven is turned 
 into hell. For the r^rieving- of thy injured honour, 
 the Son of God came down from his exalted throne ; 
 and, in the likeness of sinful flesh, stained the cross 
 with his blood. For the advancement of thy interest, 
 the word of God was written, and the exceeding- great 
 and precious promises are left unto us, that by these, 
 being- made partakers of the divine nature, we may 
 cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit. And that our souls may be adorned with 
 thy glorious beauty, the Holy Ghost descends into 
 our hearts. 
 
 By thee the righteous is more excellent than his 
 neig-hbour ; and the beg-gar with whom thou dwellest, 
 more honourable than the king- upon the throne. 
 When the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, 
 and the inhabitants of the earth shall die, thou pass- 
 est over into eternity, where God hath prepared for 
 thee a glorious habitation. When time, and fair cre- 
 ation, are perhaps forgot, thou shalt beam forth in 
 amiable eiFulgence, and become an eternal excellency. 
 
 ON PEACE OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 The happy soul, in whose heart this peace of God 
 hath erected her throne, has firmly resolved, with 
 Job, that holy sufl"erer, that his heart shall not re- 
 proach him, with any approven guile, so long as he 
 lives. He goes not about to patch \\p a fatal peace 
 betwixt his conscience and his lusts ; (a very com- 
 mon, dreadful mistake): but if iniquity be in his hand, 
 he puts it far away. He loves the divine law with 
 the most ardent aff'ection ; — hearkens unto its com- 
 mandments ; — walks according to its unerring rule ; — 
 and walking in his uprightness, he enters into peace. 
 Being pleasingly conscious of the integrity of his 
 heart, he has this inward testimony of his rejoicin,g 
 
68 ON PEACE OF CONSCIENCE. 
 
 though he should hear the slanders of many. His 
 conscience, like the wisdom that comes down from 
 above, is first pure, then peaceable. For if even the 
 imperfect morahty of the Gentiles, was attended with 
 much serenity and peace; much more shall righteous- 
 ness and peace kiss each other in his renewed and 
 spiritual mind, whose conscience is purged from dead 
 works, to serve the living God. 
 
 But is his own defective righteousness the only 
 rock on which he builds his peace ? Then it were 
 of all things the most precarious and uncertain. 
 Alas ! he cannot but be conscious, how small a claim 
 he has to the character of innocence; and how he 
 richly deserves, that the Almighty should write bit- 
 ter things against him. His conscience is not seared 
 as with a hot iron ; but is endued with the most live- 
 ly feeling- of sin, and its desert. Full often he has 
 the sentence of death in himself; and war arises 
 against him. What does he, but betake himself unto 
 that blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better, and 
 more peaceful things, than that of Abel. When 
 thus his heart is spoken to, in these most gentle ac- 
 cents, he knows that ravishing delight which an 
 apostle styles " the answer of a good conscience." 
 He beholds the crucified Redeemer, as making peace 
 by the blood of his cross, when the chastisement of 
 our peace was upon him. Blessed with this noble 
 view, he sits down with great delight under the 
 shadow of his righteousness imputed; the place where 
 he makes his flocks to rest at noon. And, on the 
 dove-like wmgs of faith, he flies far away, from the 
 windy storm and tempest of an enraged conscience ; 
 and finds a quiet sanctuary, and safe retreat, in the 
 difts of the Kock of ag-es. 
 
 O happy man, whose heart is thus sprinkled from 
 an evil conscience I From what a dreadful inmate 
 is he delivered I infinitely worse than a contentious 
 woman in a wide house. Whilst those miserable 
 wretches, that are haunted by this most awful fury, 
 
ON JOY IN THE HbLY GHOST. 69 
 
 may fitly be compared, even in their jovial hours; 
 and best estate, to those stately prisons, adornrd in 
 the front with all the decorations of the palace. \ou 
 go in, and behold the abodes of misery, and the dis- 
 mal dungeons of chained malefactors. He whose 
 conscience thus speaks peace, has something within, 
 that renders him superior to all adversity ; that 
 charms all fear and sorrow. Even his cottage out- 
 vies the palace. His coarse attire, outshines em- 
 broidered purple. An house fall of sacrifices, where 
 strife of conscience is, may not compare with his 
 most homely food, though it should be no better than 
 a dinner of green herbs. To him the sun shines 
 with a more pleasing light, the birds sing with more 
 melodious notes. Also he lies down, and his sleep 
 shall be sweet. He is not afraid of terror by night ; 
 of the pestilence, that walks in darkness ; or of des- 
 truction, that wasteth at noon-day. Though he, like 
 good Josiah, should fall by the stroke of hostile sword, 
 in the battle ; yet still his latter end is peace. Even 
 the decisive hour of judgment, need not appal his 
 heart ; because he shall be found of him in peace, 
 without spot and blameless. 
 
 ON JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 This excellent fruit of the Spirit may be viewed, 
 either as that habitual cheerfulness of temper, which 
 the sincere christian, under the influence of the Holy 
 Ghost, studios to maintain upon all occasions ; or, it 
 may be considered as importing in it, those ravishing 
 sallies of pleasure and delight, which an apostle styles, 
 " Joy unspeakable and full of glory ;" which are only 
 indulged in some happy moments, and on special oc- 
 casions. Let us begin with the first. 
 
 It is true, his heart is contrite ; and rivers of waters 
 have been known to run down his eyes, in so much 
 
/O ON JOY IN 
 
 that superficial spectators may take him for a man of 
 sorrows ; a g-loomy, melancholy creature. But could 
 they look into his heart, they would find it full of the 
 oil of g-ladness, even when his eyes are full of the tears 
 of sorrow. The smile of God from without, of con- 
 science from within, cannot fail to inspire him with 
 such cheering- tranquillity, as could not possibly result 
 merely from the most excellent temperature of body, 
 or the most easy circumstances of this world. He 
 thankfully receives the gifts of providence ; tastes in 
 them that the Lord is good : but chielly he rejoices 
 in the word of the truth of the gospel ; and that his 
 name is written in heaven ; that God is his Father, 
 Christ his Saviour, and heaven his inheritance. Be 
 it so, that sometimes, through the agency of wicked 
 and melancholy spirits without, and the too great pre- 
 valence of unbelief within, he gives too much way to 
 a desponding frame ; he very well knows, that it is 
 neither acceptable to God, glorifying to Christ, pleas- 
 ing to the Spirit, honouring to the gospel, edifying to 
 his neighbour, or beneficial to his own soul. Ask you 
 the cordials that cheer his drooping spirits ? He me- 
 ditates on God, and rejoices under the shadow of his 
 wings. He reads his Bible, and finds it the joy of his 
 heart. He mortifies every known sin. He pours out 
 \into God the sorrows of his heart. His countenance 
 is no more sad. For God is favourable unto him. and 
 he will see his face with joy. 
 
 Such is the habitual serenity of mind he studies to 
 maintain. Such are the means by which it is pro- 
 moted. But in some blessed periods of his life ; some 
 happy days which the Lord has made ; his joy, like a 
 river swelled by impetuous rains, bursts all its banks, 
 and carries all before it ; at once the joys, at once the 
 sorrows of the world. When he obtains the most 
 comfortable intimations of the divine favour; of his 
 nterest in the Redeemer ; and of his title to the 
 iheavenly inheritance ; O then, how his heart exults I 
 how his countenance looks cheerful ! how the voice 
 
THE HOLY GHO5T. 71 
 
 of melody is heard in his tabernacle ! Now every ob- 
 ject is fit to fill his raind with highest rapture. Every 
 perfection of the divine nature ; every purpose of his 
 will ; every sentence of his word ; every operation of 
 his hand ; every privilege of his covenant, whether in 
 hand or hope, is a well of salvation, out of which he 
 draws water with joy. The birds mend their notes, 
 the sun his beams, the outgoings of the morning and 
 evening are made more joyful. All sorrow is turned 
 into joy before him. Every desert rejoices. Every 
 wilderness blossoms as the rose. Every mountain of 
 discouragement skips like a calf; Lebanon and Siriori 
 like a young unicorn. Every cloud is stamped with 
 a rainbow. Death loses his dart ; the grave lays aside 
 her gloom ; and hell her chosen terrors. 
 
 Great is the joy of the bridegroom, when he is put 
 in possession of his fair one ; of the mother, when her 
 pangs are over, and a man-child is born into the world; 
 of the husbandman, when the labours of the year are 
 finished, and his barns filled with plenty ; of the sol- 
 dier, when a happy victory puts an end to the fatigues 
 of a tedious campaign. But what is the joy of the 
 bridegroom ? What is the joy of the child-bearing 
 woman ? What is the joy of the harvest? And what 
 is the joy of them that find great spoil ? What are 
 any, what are all these joys, to the joy of him that re- 
 joices in the Lord, and is glad in the God of his sal- 
 vation ? For who can tell what is included in the 
 epithet of it given by a blessed apostle ? " Unspeak- 
 able, and full of glory." — If such, O Lord, are the first 
 fruits ; what must be the harvest of that light which 
 is sown for the righteous, and gladness which is sown 
 for the upright in heart? If in this vale of tears, thy 
 favourite ones so greatly rejoice ; who can conceive 
 what is prepared for them, in that state when they 
 shall come into thy beatific presence, where there is 
 fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore ? 
 
7'2 ON PLEASURE. 
 
 ON TLEASURE. 
 
 Nor is the christian's claim to pleasure less appar- 
 ent. For, first, he only knows to taste the sweetness 
 of his lawful comforts ; and to enjoy those satisfac- 
 tions that are common to his neighbour and himself. 
 Who is it that makes the best of the world ? The 
 man of pleasure, who wallows in sensuality ? Alas ! 
 he does not use the world, but abuses it. Fond as he 
 seems, he but condemns his joys to death. His head 
 is sick ; his heart is faint. Is it any wonder his flesh 
 abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat ? Poor man ! 
 he pines even in the midst of plenty. For thoug^h 
 his nerves should be braced with strength, and health 
 should wanton in his veins ; yet is his soul but sickly 
 and consumptive. Hence weariness of time ; hence 
 impatience of thought ; hence listless inability ; hence 
 variable inconstancy, dark cares, and heaving sighs, 
 fetched from the bottom of the heart. Though all 
 surrounding objects should wear a face of pleasure, and 
 seem fit to inspire every joy unto the heart ; it is all 
 in vain. He desires to have, but he cannot obtain. 
 He obtains, but his hopes are frustrated. Real en- 
 joyment he is a stranger unto. For he tastes not 
 that God is good, in his earthly delights ; and finds 
 them but empty husks. — Not so he that enjoys God 
 in his inferior enjoyments. To him the spring wears 
 a more beauteous face, the sun shines with a more 
 pleasing light, the tulip assumes a deeper dye, and the 
 rose a more fragrant smell. I make no doubt but the 
 poor beggar Lazarus in the parable, who lay at the 
 gate of the proud and wealthy sinner, (whose name is 
 buried in oblivion), might taste more exquisite de- 
 light, in his scanty crumbs, and in the healing 
 tongues of the dogs, than the unpitying miser, in all 
 liis delicious fare. 
 
 But there are pleasures appropriated to the true 
 christian ; joys which no stranger intermeddles with, 
 
ON PLEASURE. 73 
 
 in the exercise of pure anJ undefiled religion ; which 
 is not only a heightener of other delights, but is itself 
 the greatest of any. Even as the sun imparts a 
 brightness to every other object, and is himself the 
 brightest of all. Whether he contemplates the de- 
 lightful truths, and ravishing mysteries of the gospel ; 
 the banquet of the mind, sweeter than all honey : — 
 or practises spiritual duties towards his neighbour, or 
 his God ; when he prays with fervent supplication, or 
 praises with joyful lips, or hears in his lovely taber- 
 nacles what God the Lord will say, or relieves the in- 
 digent for his Redeemer's sake, and comforts the dis- 
 tressed : — or exercises christian graces ; be it faiih. 
 that is attended with joy unspeakable ; or love, that 
 is its own reward, and the fulfilling of the law ; or 
 hope, that anticipates the joys above, in blissful ex- 
 pectation, the surest anchor of the soul : — or mortifies 
 fieshly lusts : — or resists temptations, triumphing over 
 them with christian magnanimity : — or endures afflic- 
 tions, with a becoming patience and cheerful resigna- 
 tion : — he tastes more solid pleasures than ever the 
 sensualist could boast. Pleasures, that are true in 
 their fruition, fully answering the most sanguine ex- 
 pectation. Pleasures, whose repetition does not cloy, 
 and their continuance is not cloe-sred with satietv. 
 Pleasures, whose review fills not the cheek with blush- 
 ing ; being honourable and glorious as the immortal 
 soul, and pure as the joys of angels. Pleasures, w'hose 
 consequences are not dangerous — to the body, by wast- 
 ing its beauty, or preying on its health ; — to the re- 
 putation, by fixing upon it an indelible stain ; — to the 
 estate, by making a shipwreck of it in the abhorred 
 gulf of prodigality. Especially not dangerous to the 
 soul, by darkening the mind, fattening the heart, sear- 
 ing the conscience, and exposing to eternal vengeance. 
 Pleasures, whose duration is not short ; that can live 
 in the winter of adversity, illuminate the valley of 
 death, and pass into eternity. 
 
 He that is acquainted with them, may leave unto 
 E 
 
74 ON AFFLICTION 
 
 the guilty adulterer his impure thoughts, his wantou 
 looks, and his abominable works ; at which the mid- 
 night veils her face, and the morning blushes. — May 
 leave unto the beastly drunkard his tlowing bowl, his 
 sparkling wine, his wo and sorrow, his babbling, his 
 redness of eyes, his wounds without cause. — May 
 leave unto the cursed swearer his bloody oaths; which 
 neither gratify the sense, nor afford the least equiva- 
 lent to countervail the damnation of the soul. — May 
 leave to all the sons of sensuality, who count it plea- 
 sure to riot in the day time, their consumed flesh, 
 their sunk reputation, their beggared fortune, their 
 darkened understanding, their seared conscience. Sear- 
 ed, did I say ? See there that miserable wretch, ex- 
 tended on the bed of death, who lived in pleasure on 
 the earth, and lulled his conscience asleep by a thou- 
 sand opiates : but now, refreshed with her long slum- 
 ber, she awakes ; and, as a giant refreshed with wine, 
 she cries, she roars, she lifts up her voice like a trum- 
 pet. The astonished soul hears and trembles. While 
 sin and sickness, a dreadful pair, join their forces, as- 
 saulting at once his body and his soul ; where, O 
 where shall he flee for help ? He perceives his dread- 
 ful mistake, but cannot deliver his own soul. In all 
 the agony of hopeless despair, he resigns his vital 
 breath, and dies without wisdom. 
 
 If another of these brethren in iniquity remains, 
 even to the last, a stranger to remorse ; yet poor is 
 the alleviation of his misery, that he never lifts up his 
 eyes, till he is in hell, being in torments. Ah, then ! 
 what avails him those fleeting joys of sense, which, 
 though of short continuance, must now be expiated 
 with everlasting pain I 
 
 ON AFFLICTION AND CONSOLATION. 
 
 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and griefs 
 on every side. Here how an eminent apostle cries, 
 
AND CONSOLATION. 75 
 
 " Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
 this body of death !" And another extraordinaiy 
 saint, " I am the man that have seen affliction." In- 
 to what deeps they are often plunged by sin, that 
 worst of evils ! Shall I speak of the sin that easily 
 besets them ; their predominant corruption, which can 
 no more be vanquished, than the Israelites could drive 
 out the Canaanites, dreadful with chariots of iron ! 
 What sighs it fetches from the bottom of their heart ! 
 Not to mention the trouble occasioned by scandalous 
 outbreakings ; which waste the conscience, and might 
 be distressful even to an unrenewed mind, from which 
 the saints themselves are not exempted ; there are 
 provocations, which others think of trifling nature, 
 that wear a grisly aspect in the eyes of the tender- 
 hearted christian. W'hen manifestations are abused, 
 opportunities neglected, admonitions despised, con- 
 victions stifled, mercies and judgments not improved, 
 how do they walk mournfully before the Lord of 
 hosts ! It is true, the law cannot condemn them any 
 more ; yet still it can convince and reprove. When 
 Moses was old, and stricken in years, his eye waxed 
 not dim, his force was not abated. His law, though 
 old, loses nothing of its severity. Sometimes they 
 go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy 
 of their salvation ; and the Comforter that should re- 
 lieve their souls is far away. 
 
 How frequently they are under the frowns of pro- 
 vidence ! and though nothing seems to befal them, 
 but what is common unto men, the wormwood and 
 the gall of their affliction is not obvious unto the eye 
 of the world. Perhaps they are living too much un- 
 der the power of some particular corruption ; or some 
 past iniquity is presented to them anew in all its hor- 
 rid aggravations. Their flesh trembleth because of 
 him, and they are afraid of his judgments. Comest 
 thou peaceably, O Lord, in this thy visitation. " Art 
 thou come to bring my sin to remembrance, and to 
 slay my son ?" said the widow of Zarephath. " We 
 
76 ON AFFLICTION 
 
 are verily g-iiilty concerning our brother," said the dis- 
 tressed patriarchs. Nor is their adversary the devil 
 for ordinary idle on such occasions of temptation. 
 Intang-led in the wilderness, like Israel ; the devil, like 
 Pharaoh, resolves to pursue them, and to reveng^e him- 
 self upon them. — But who can enumerate all their 
 sorrows ! 
 
 In such circumstances of distress, what healing 
 hand shall pour the balm of peace ? To comfort the 
 heart is more than to make a world, said the holy and 
 tempted Luther. Consolation is a commodity of 
 heaven, not to be imported but from the distant coun- 
 try of Immanuel. It is God alone, the God of peace, 
 to whom almighty power belong-eth, that can comfort 
 the soul. He it is whom an inspired writer styles, 
 " the God of all consolations," and " the God who 
 comforteth them that are cast down." The Father is 
 he who loved us, and hath given us everlasting- con- 
 solation. The Son is the consolation of Israel ; the 
 Prince of peace ; and the true Noah, who comforts us 
 concerning- the work of our hands. For this end he 
 became a man of sorrows, and the chastisement of our 
 peace was upon him. But eminently the Holy Ghost 
 is the Comforter, who, like the dove of Noah, flies 
 with the olive branch of peace, to assure us the win- 
 ter is past, and the rain is over and gone. Ministers 
 are indeed the helpers of your joy; but it is God who 
 wipes oiF all tears from off all faces. 
 
 Whatsoever was written aforetime, was written for 
 our instruction, that we through patience and comfort 
 of the Scriptures might have hope. For this the Old, 
 and for this the New Testament was written, that, 
 like two breasts of consolation, they might be sucked 
 by the humble and contrite ones. But you are un- 
 able to lay hold upon a promise : lo ! there is an at- 
 tribute of God, an office of Christ ; endeavour from 
 thence to derive your consolation. 
 
 O ye heirs of the promise ! what strong- consola- 
 tion is allotted for you by your heavenly Father ! 
 
AND CONSOLATION. 77 
 
 what divine peace, what unspeakable joy, what full 
 assurance may you attain ! Even in your g-odly sor- 
 row, you taste most sweet refreshment, while you can 
 say of laug-hter, it is mad. Rivers of waters did run 
 down the eyes of the sweet singer of Israel ; and the 
 spirit of mourning- is the spirit of consolation also. 
 While here, you tread the vale of tears ; but with your 
 rods, you have the hidden manna, which the world 
 knoweth not of. Ye cannot, indeed, be assured of a 
 perpetual triumph ; yet may your peace stand firm 
 with God, while you have none from Satan, and in the 
 world tribulation. But, O ye children of the King- ! 
 why should you be sad from day to day ? Will the 
 King of heaven be pleased with you to sit in sack- 
 cloth in his gate? Is he an austere Master, who 
 grudges at your welfare ? Your Head is now a man 
 of joy, as once he was a man of sorrows ; and shall 
 not ye rejoice with him, who are the body of Christ, 
 and members in particular? Grieve not the Holy 
 Spirit by your dejected sorrow, who is the oil of glad- 
 ness, and he who seals you to the day of redemption. 
 Give not place to the devil, that melancholy spirit, 
 who being himself condemned to feed on dust, sore 
 envies you your hidden manna ; for we are not igno- 
 rant of his devices. What daming christians might 
 you be, who are now like the smoking flax ? What 
 lofty cedars, who now only resemble the bruised reed, 
 because you are not careful to serve the Lord with 
 gladness ? for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 
 " Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous ; and again I say, 
 rejoice." 
 
 Ye afilicted, tossed with tempests, and not comfort- 
 ed, that walk in darkness, and have no hght, consider 
 how the husbandman, when he commits to the fur- 
 rows of the field his grain, the hopes of the ensuing 
 year ; he waiteth long, and hath great patience for it, 
 till he receive the early and the latter rain. So, just 
 so, " hght is sown for the righteous, and gladness for 
 the upright in heart." 
 
 E 2 
 
78 ON AFFLICTION. 
 
 Some comfort themselves with their lusts ; some 
 with their worldly possessions ; the more refined mo- 
 ralists, with their duties. But, O ye sons of men ! 
 how long- will ye love vanities ? How soon will your 
 springs be dried up, that are not supplied from the 
 Fountain of living waters ? As the flower of the 
 grass, your comforts shall perish ; and as the gourd 
 of Jonah shall they fade away, in the time of your 
 greatest need. Especially ye who think to spin out 
 of your bowels, a robe of righteousness to screen you 
 from the angry vengeance of God, and pacify your 
 consciences with duties of your ovm, but despise the 
 everlasting righteousness of the Redeemer, know that 
 your hope shall be like the spider's web. Whereas, 
 the real christian, like the lilies of the field, he toils 
 not, he spins not; yet far outshines Solomon in all 
 his glory ; far excels the busy legalist, when vested 
 with his most pompous performances. 
 
 Woe to you, rich men, who trust in your hoarded 
 heaps, for ye have received your consolation. All ye 
 that rejoice in iniquity, let your laughter be turned 
 into mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Alas ! 
 your flashy mirth will never bid you smile at death, 
 nor turn your eye undaunted on the grave. And 
 what will you do in the awful judgment, when God 
 will laugh at your calamity, and the merciful Media- 
 tor afford you no relief? " Because, when I called, 
 ye refused ; and when I stretched out my hands, ye 
 would not regard." Wherewith shall we comfort you, 
 who are strangers to the consolation of Israel ? This 
 is the children's bread, and dogs must not partake. 
 A precious oil it is, no vessel but the contrite heart 
 can hold. W^e will not put this new wine into old 
 bottles, but into new bottles, that both may be pre- 
 served. 
 
 When others take up the timbrel and harp, and re- 
 joice at the sound of the organ, O heavenly word, be 
 thou my consolation. And though weeping may en- 
 dure for a night, yet with the rising day, my joy re- 
 
ON LOOKING AT UNSEEN THINGS. 79 
 
 turns — a joy the world gives not, nor takes away. 
 When every pleasurable enjoyment besides, shall lan- 
 guish and expire, this passes over into eternity, great- 
 ly triumphant over death and the grave. No more 
 shall the countenance be sad, nor the eye dim with 
 tears, when the ransomed of the Lord shall obtain joy 
 and gladness, and sighing and sorrowing shall Hee away. 
 
 ON LOOKING AT THE THINGS THAT ARE 
 NOT SEEN. 
 
 He that looks at the things that are not seen, is a 
 person who is endowed with a blessed and holy second 
 sight, by which he is distinguished from other men, 
 and sees, not mournful objects, as coffins and corpses, 
 but such objects as are most cheering and delightful. 
 The eyes of his understanding are enlightened by the 
 Holy Ghost, to know the things that the natural man 
 perceiveth not — the riches of the glory of his inherit- 
 ance in the saints. Though the good and the bad 
 things of this vain world are always pressing on his 
 senses, he is not chiefly influenced by them, as though 
 they were the principal things. For the things above, 
 and the things that are eternal, he judges to be no 
 less real, for their being invisible and distant ; and 
 unspeakably the most important of all other things. 
 He firmly believes, frequently thinks of, highly es- 
 teems, ardently desires, earnestly expects, and dili- 
 gently labours after the enjoyment of them. He be- 
 stows the cream of his thoughts in meditating upon 
 them ; and talks about them, not by constraint, when 
 he is not able to avoid the discourse, but naturally, and 
 with a ready mind. 
 
 Some have thought him incapable of paying a suf- 
 ficient attention to the necessary affairs of the world, 
 as though one could not be fervent in spirit, without 
 being slothful in business. But this is a vile slander. 
 
80 ON LOOKING AT UNSEEN THINGS. 
 
 For, moderate industry is not a diversion from serious 
 religion, but a singular help unto it : and the spiritual 
 man, who holds the plough, or handles the axe, is, 
 even in these common actions, more holy than the 
 carnal man in his most solemn devotions. 
 
 He esteems a man much more because he is gra- 
 cious, than because he is rich ; and can never be indu- 
 ced to think, that proud sinners are happy, though 
 they be elevated to the very summit of fortune. He 
 would much rather choose to see his children deeply 
 tinctured with the principles of true rehgion, than put 
 in a condition to make a figure in this world. If he 
 is in adversity, he derives not his comfort from earth- 
 ly enjoyments, but eternal things. These are the 
 hills to which he lifts his eyes, and from whence com- 
 eth his aid. If he is in prosperity, his earthly bless- 
 ings are not the chief source of his joy and happiness ; 
 but in this he rejoices, that his name is written in 
 heaven. 
 
 As he who ascends a high mountain, and from its 
 top surveys the plains below, will think large fields 
 but inconsiderable spots of land ; so he who is set on 
 these high places of eternity, and converses much 
 with everlasting things, will regard, in a very dimin- 
 utive light, the most important businesses of this 
 transitory life. His mind acquires a sublime turn, 
 and an elevated way of thinking, not to be easily taken 
 with slight and trilling vanities. 
 
 By this blessed temper of mind, he is habitually 
 disposed to perform spiritual duties ; the frown is 
 struck from the brow of death — his mind is strongly 
 fortified against afiilictions of every sort ; and the edge 
 of all temptations is most eft'ectually blunted. Hav- 
 ing obtained a view of that ineffably glorious prize of 
 the high calling of God, he cannot possibly think any 
 pains too great to reach it. For this he can instantly 
 serve God day and night. For this he can both la- 
 bour and suffer reproach, take joyfully the spoiling of 
 his goods, and sometimes even resign his breath in 
 
ON CHRISTIAN HOPE. 81* 
 
 cruel flames. In vain does this present world spread 
 her blandishments, and arm her face with frowns, to 
 shake his steady purpose, who looks not at the things 
 that are seen. What thoug-h the advantages of the 
 world are present, and the advantages of religion are, 
 in great measure, future ; yet this wise and enlight- 
 ened soul is at no Joss which he should prefer. For, 
 an eternal advantage, that will certainly come, is far 
 to be preferred to a present one, that is of a short du- 
 ration. O faith ! it is thine to realize and render 
 present, the things that are invisible to the corporeal 
 eye, whether by reason of the nature of the things 
 themselves, or by reason of their distance from us in 
 time and place. By thee inspired, we can choose the 
 sharpest afflictions, before the most poignant plea- 
 sures, and esteem the most grievous reproaches, great- 
 er riches than the peculiar treasure of most wealthy 
 kings. 
 
 ON CHRISTIAN HOPE. 
 
 Let us attend first unto those glorious objects at 
 which she throws a wishful eye. These are not the 
 fading honours, the transitory pleasures, or the uncer- 
 tain riches of this world ; but what infinitely excels 
 them all, the things that are not seen, that are eter- 
 nal. All that is contained in the vast mines of the 
 promise, and in the bowels of the Redeemer's right- 
 eousness, which is like the great mountains ; all that 
 is comprehended under that most emphatical word, sal- 
 I'titiun ; final perseverance in grace here, and everlasting 
 joys hereafter, are the blessings she teaches the Chris- 
 tian to wait for. Though surrounded with formidable 
 enemies, he is persuaded they shall not separate him 
 from the love of Christ ; and checks every distrustful 
 thought. " Hope thou in God, my soul," he says, 
 " for I shall yet praise him." If he takes a solitary 
 
82 ON CHRISTIAN HOPE. 
 
 walk in the church-yard, and views the silent g-raves, 
 and mouldering- bones ; and considering- his latter end, 
 recollects how soon even his bones shall be dry, and 
 tor his part he shall be cut oft"; though headlong: 
 sense, and unenlightened reason, would suggest, that 
 man lieth down, and awaketh not again ; though there 
 is hope of a tree when it is cut down ; he sees with 
 joyful heart, the prisoners of the earth emerging from 
 their long confinement, and with joyful lips, he utters 
 that most blissful expectation, " thou wilt shew the 
 path of life ; in thy presence is fulness of joy ; at thy 
 right hand are pleasures for evermore." 
 
 Whilst he thus anticipates the joys above, his tow- 
 ering hopes are not supported by the sand. For God, 
 and Christ, and every smiling promise, is his founda- 
 tion. But chiefly, he is begotten again to this lively 
 hope, by thy resurrection, blessed Jesus. Thou art 
 the rock on which he casts this anchor. And shall I 
 call the faithful promises of the word, the cables that 
 secure it ! He shuns alike the abhorred gulf of des- 
 pair, and the dangerous rock of presumption, infamous 
 for shipwrecks. And by the gentle lireathings of the 
 heavenly wind, he is wafted at length into the fair 
 havens of life and immortality. 
 
 What storms of adversity will he not defy, having 
 this hope as an anchor of the soul ? What fight of 
 afflictions can he not endure, defended by this impene- 
 trable helmet ? whilst he poises the exceeding great 
 and eternal weight of glory, against his light and mo- 
 mentary sufferings ; against the spoiling of his goods, 
 the better and enduring substance ? If, for the hope 
 of Israel, he is bound in a chain, he glories in his fet- 
 ters. Amid the ocean of eternal delights, sunk are 
 the sorrows of the world ; as in a sea of honey, a drop 
 of vinegar is swallowed up and lost. 
 
 Animated by this same grace, he stirs up himself 
 in every duty ; and is not slothful in the business of 
 his salvation. Whilst he hopes for thy salvation, O 
 God ! he does thy commandments. The bringing in 
 
ON THE VAIN HOPES OF THE HYPOCRITE. 83 
 
 of this best hope, strengthens his weak hands, and 
 confirms his feeble knees. 
 
 How g-reatly he disdains to wallow in the puddle of 
 sin ! The darts of temptation fall ineffectual to the 
 g^round. In dang-er he is courageous ; in sorrow he is 
 moderate ; in duty he is diligent ; in tribulation he is 
 patient ; and even in death he smiles. 
 
 ON THE VAIN HOPES OF THE HYPOCRITE. 
 
 O THE vain and presumptuous hopes of sinners ! 
 You inherit the kingdom of heaven I You ascend in- 
 to the hill of the Lord ! You enter into the heavenly 
 Canaan, and inherit his holy mountain ! Who are un- 
 righteous — who are of an Egyptian nature, hankering- 
 after the onions and the garlic, — whose hands are not 
 clean, — whose hearts are not pure, — who are alienated 
 from the divine life, — who are drenched in sensuality, 
 — who are estranged from the womb, — who say to the 
 Almighty, depart from us, — whose carnal minds are 
 enmity against God, — never formed for himself, — 
 never made meet to be partakers of the undefiled in- 
 heritance, — never wrought ^or this self-same thing. 
 Go seek a Mahometan paradise. Christianity affords 
 you no ground of hope. These pure regions of bless- 
 edness will eternally exclude you from their blessed 
 abodes. Ye grovelling sons of earth, who never 
 deemed yourselves strangers and pilgrims here, — who 
 embrace the dunghill of this world as your portion, 
 how can the eternal Majesty but be ashamed to call 
 himself your God ? How can his heart be towards 
 you? How can he make you cleave unto himself, as 
 the girdle to the loins of a man ? Go reconcile light 
 with darkness. Bid fire and water meet in mutual 
 embraces. Then may righteousness and unrighteous- 
 ness have fellowship together: then may Christ and 
 
84 ON THE VAIN HOPES OF THE HYPOCRITE. 
 
 Belial agree. Then may evil dwell with God, and 
 the foolish stand in his presence. 
 
 Make the ahsurd and impossible supposition, that 
 the eternal Sovereign should reverse his high decree; 
 should belie his faithful word, and rescind his threat- 
 ening- ; or, which is all one thing, should set open 
 unto you the doors of paradise, and admit you into 
 that place of blessedness, yet where could you fly 
 from the guilt of your consciences ? where from the 
 carnality of your heart ! 
 
 Where from the guilt of your consciences ? If you 
 ascend to heaven, lo ! it is there, as well as though 
 you made your bed in hell. How couldst thou hold 
 up thy ashamed countenance towards his awful face ? 
 Would not his pure eyes flash confusion upon you, 
 and strike you through with a dart, when you touch- 
 ed this mountain of his holiness ? 
 
 But though thy conscience, O wicked man, were 
 supposed to be as secure then, as now it is, still hap- 
 piness is far removed from thee ; for, who will recon- 
 cile thy carnal heart to the spirituality of heavenly 
 
 joys ? 
 
 O ye delightful mansions of the blessed, how would 
 your charms be lost on him, whose soul within him 
 were full of sin, the abomination that maketh desol- 
 ate ! 
 
 What consolation could he find in the society of 
 the heavenly inhabitants ? There are the holy angels; 
 there are the spirits of the just, escaped from a sinful 
 and vain world ; there are the general assembly and 
 church of the first-born. You never loved them here; 
 you despised and hated them, when their holiness was 
 but imperfect ; you hated and despised them for the 
 sake of their holiness. How can you take pleasure 
 in their company, when they are perfectly like him ? 
 
 Nor would the employment of the redeemed con- 
 duce one whit more to thy happiness, O unsanctified 
 soul ! How couldst thou dwell with ever new delight 
 in the contemplation of that God who was not in all 
 
THE CHARACTER OF A HYPOCRITE. 8j 
 
 thy thoug-hts ? — of that Redeemer who was despised 
 and rejected by thee ? — of these awful mysteries, which 
 were never revealed unto thee in their native sweet- 
 ness and glory? How couldst thou join in the song- 
 of salvation, when the voice of melody was never 
 heard in thy dwelling, and praise in thy lips was never 
 comely ? 
 
 Be merciful, O God, to miserable sinners ! Rouse 
 them from their slumber. Awaken them from their 
 delirious dreams of happiness hereafter, without a pre- 
 sent participation of thy divine nature. O gracious 
 God, enhghten their eyes ; convince them of their 
 fond delusion, before thou vindicate thy own hohness 
 and truth with fiery indignation. For " thou art not 
 a God that hast pleasure in wickedness, neither shall 
 evil dwell with thee ; the foolish shall not stand in 
 thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou 
 wilt destroy them that speak leasing-. Thou, Lord, 
 will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF A HYPOCRITE. 
 
 He is a pretender to those good quahfications, of 
 which he is really destitute, and a dissembler of those 
 vices wdiich he secretly practises. He is that in the 
 church which a knave is in the state. The one is not 
 fit for civil society, nor the other for christian com- 
 munion. Were he to appear in his real colours, men 
 would clap their hands at him, and hiss him out of 
 his place. Therefore he paints his face, like Jezebel, 
 with the varnish of goodly words, of sanctified looks, 
 of actions seemingly benevolent and devout. He 
 prays with great fluency of expression ; you would 
 think him an angel for fervency and rapture ; but it 
 is only in the presence of others ; and though his 
 words are flaming-, his heart is ice. He g-ives alms 
 indeed, but must always take witnesses upon it. He 
 
8G THE CHARACTlill OF A HYPOCRITE. 
 
 is very punctual in going- to church, where he seats 
 himself in some remarkable corner, in order to attract 
 all eyes upon himself. He seems to be all attention 
 and composure : he lifts up his hands and eyes in a 
 religious manner, or covers his face, or heaves a sigh, 
 or sends forth a groan. O how mightily he is im- 
 pressed with the sermon, if you Ijelieve his face ; 
 while, in the meanwhile, he is indulging his lusts, and 
 his heart going out after his covetousness ! 
 
 When he fasts, he assumes a sorrowful air, and a 
 disfigured face ; and is grieved for sin as much as the 
 bulrush when it hangs the head. When he is in re- 
 ligious company, he talks of his experience, the 
 plagues of his heart, and complains of the great de- 
 cay of religion in the day. He is a most unchari- 
 table censurer of others, while he practises far greater 
 villanies himself. 
 
 All his religion, at least the greatest part of it, is 
 left behind him in the temple, or in the street ; for 
 he neither carries it to his family, nor to his closet. 
 He is like the rainbow, whose glorious colours are re- 
 flected from a dark vapour, only when the sun shines. 
 Notwithstanding his ostentation, he hates the light ; 
 and refuses to come into it, except when his mask is on. 
 He cannot endure a minister who rakes into his con- 
 science, nor a christian friend who gives him faithful 
 admonition. W'hen he is reproved for any miscar- 
 riage, lie says to the reprover, it is none of your busi- 
 ness, meddle with your own matters. Were it not 
 for his eager desire of applause from men, and the 
 roaring of his angry con-science, he would bid adieu 
 to all the duties of religion, whether private or public. 
 
 His most admired and pompous services can find 
 no acceptance with God ; and his most fervent devo- 
 tions are no more regarded, than if they were the 
 bowlings of a dog. What is all his religion but like 
 the kiss of Judas, or the bowing of the knee by the 
 crucifiers of the Lord of glory ? He makes God an 
 idol, and considers the creature like a deity, whom he 
 
THE CHARACTER OF A CHRISTIAN. 87 
 
 worships and serves more than the Creator : he is 
 like a grave, which may be covered by a white sepul- 
 chral stone of polished marble, and engraven with 
 some lying- panegyric for an epitaph ; but within, a 
 ghastly corpse presents itself to your eye, or noisome 
 stench offends the nostril. 
 
 The longer you grow in his acquaintance, your re- 
 spect for him will lessen, and at length, perhaps, will 
 turn to a just hatred and aversion ; for he is some- 
 times discerned and despised by men, but always by 
 God. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF A SINCERE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 He is one who needs not affect to appear in a 
 character foreign to himself, nor to conceal that char- 
 acter which really agrees to him. He studies to ap- 
 prove himself to God, and does not value himself up- 
 on the applause of men. Fame and reputation is a 
 thing he will not court, but will deserve it : he will 
 not hunt after it, but it will follow him through the 
 deepest shades : his real glory is not obvious to any 
 eye, but the penetrating eye of God, who delights in 
 him, approves him, and commends him : when he 
 prays, he pours out his heart ; when he praises, he 
 makes melody in his heart unto the Lord ; and his 
 heart is bigger than his words : he is not an enemy 
 to public religion ; but secret devotion is an essential 
 part of his happiness. He not only mourns over 
 those sins v.hich himself has committed, as Ahab 
 did ; but he laments for the sins of others, of which 
 he is personally innocent ; like Christ, who wept over 
 the sins of Jerusalem, though himself knew no sin. 
 He indeed regards every the smallest precept of the 
 law ; but when he tithes mint, anise, and cummin, he 
 neglects not the weightier matters. He is not for 
 dividing religion, like the pretended mother of the 
 
88 THE CHARACTER OF A CHRISTIAN. 
 
 child-, who thereby evidenced that she had no interest 
 in the babe. Though he has the remainder of sin in 
 him, hypocrisy not excepted, he has not a heart and 
 a heart, nor is he a monster with a double mind: 
 his religion is not the fulsome compliments of a well- 
 bred gentleman, who is your humble servant, glad of 
 your welfare, and extremely sorry for your slightest 
 inconvenience, but like the tender affection of an in- 
 genuous friend. 
 
 As the beauty of Absalom surpassed the daubings 
 of Jezebel, so does the holiness of the sincere chris- 
 tian excel the painting of the hypocrite. He is not 
 like a smoky chimney with a marble frontispiece ; 
 nor like a rotten grave with a marble monument ; but 
 like a mountain replete with precioas ore, while, per- 
 haps, the surface is barren and unsightly. He does 
 not want to bring down the word of God to his 
 private inclinations ; but is desirous of bringing his 
 private inclinations to be judged by the law and the 
 testimony. He is not ashamed to own that he was 
 once in an error ; nor afraid to know the worst about 
 himself; but, on the contrary, it is the language of 
 his heart, " what I know not, teach thou me." 
 
 Though he is far from ostentation on the one hand, 
 and prudent enough not to blaze abroad his secret 
 faults on the other, yet he loves to come into the 
 light, and needs not be ashamed, though ail the world 
 were a sun. Though he should not, with Balaam, 
 build seven altars, and offer up a bullock and a ram 
 on every one ; but, like Abraham, content himself 
 with one altar, and a single victim ; yet is his sacri- 
 fice accepted. His turtle-doves and young pigeons 
 are no less grateful than thousands of rams. Silk 
 and purple, and even goat's hair, for the service of 
 the san«'tuary, are not despised of the Lord, when his 
 circumstances cannot afford precious stones and gold. 
 His inward groans, his secret sighs, are a powerful 
 rhetoric, effectual and fervent : he puts their tears in 
 a bottle ; and a cup of cold water given to a thirsty 
 
ON CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. 89 
 
 '/iisGiple shall not lose its reward : his rejoicing is the 
 testimony of his conscience when he hears the scorn- 
 lags of the people : death, with all his grisly features, 
 cannot stare him out of countenance, and he needs 
 not be afraid in the awful judgment ; though, like 
 Josiah, he should die in battle, yet he comes to his 
 «rrave in peace. 
 
 ON CHRISTIAN PRUDENCE. 
 
 There is a prudence which is so essential to the 
 being of a christian, that it is but another name for 
 that faith by which he lives. He that is wise unto 
 salvation ; he that knows thee, the only true God, 
 and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent ; he that is in- 
 structed in the kingdom of heaven, to understand the 
 truths he should beheve, the duties he should prac- 
 tise, and the happiness he should pursue ; he — he is 
 a prudent man, though he should be neither a wise 
 economist in matters of this world, a plodding states- 
 man, nor a cunning artificer ; for his God doth in- 
 struct him to discretion ; and though a fool in his 
 own and others' opinion, he errs not in the way of 
 holiness. 
 
 But there is a prudence of a much narrower kind, 
 which, if it be not essential, is highly ornamental to 
 the christian in the whole tenor of his life. By this 
 he does not so much avoid immoralities, as impro- 
 prieties of behaviour, which, though they should not 
 make him guilty in the eye of God, would, notwith- 
 standing, render him contemptible among men. In 
 him the wisdom of the serpent is happily married 
 with the simplicity of the dove ; whilst he defends 
 himself from the injuries of the w^orld, without incur- 
 ring the guilt of being himself injurious. 
 
 There is not perhaps any one description that com- 
 prehends more of his real character than this, that 
 
 F 
 
90 ON CHRISTIAN DILIGKNCE. 
 
 " his heart discerns both time and judgment." It is 
 a maxim worthy to drop from the pen of the wisest 
 of all men, that " for every thing there is a season, 
 and a time for every purpose under heaven." Thi» 
 excellent precept he well understands, as knowing, 
 that let an action be ever so good, if it is misplaced, 
 and thrown out of its due order, it gathers an awk- 
 wardness, and exposes to contempt. 
 
 He knows when to be serious, and when to be 
 cheerful ; when to be zealous, and when to be moder- 
 ate ; when to be dehberate, and when to be hasty ; 
 when to be singular, and when to be conformed; when 
 to speak, and when to refrain from speaking ; when 
 to reprove, and when to commend ; when to give, 
 and when to withhold ; and never can, with a good 
 grace, become the object of contempt and derision. 
 
 For, by this prudent timing of every word and ac- 
 tion, he appears to every impartial spectator serious, 
 but not dumpish ; — cheerful, yet not frothy ; — zeal- 
 ous, yet not fiery ; — moderate, but not lax ; — deliber- 
 ate, but not lazy ; — active, but not rash ; — singular, 
 but not nice ; — courteous, but not cringing ; — noble, 
 but not proud ; — frugal, but not covetous ; — devout, 
 but not superstitious ; — resigned, but not negligent ; 
 — fixed, but not dogmatical ; — liberal, but not prodi- 
 gal. He speaks, but he is not talkative. He keeps 
 silence, but he is not sullen. He reproves, but he 
 breaks not the head. He commends, but he puffs 
 not up. His words are few, but they are as goads, 
 and as nails fastened in a sure place. Sometimes in- 
 deed he may be betrayed into an improper action, 
 when he trusts too much to his own understanding, 
 or gives the reins to his unruly passions ; than which 
 there are no greater adversaries to prudence of every 
 kind. But he improves even by his blunders, whilst 
 with shame he recollects them, and resolves against 
 the like failures in time coming. He searches the 
 scriptures, which can give even to the young man 
 knowledge and discretion. He mortifies his lusts, 
 
ON CHRISTIAN DILIGENCE. 91 
 
 and moderates his passions. He maintains a life of 
 communion with God. Therefore shall he guide his 
 affairs with discretion unto the end: therefore shall he 
 deal prudently ; he shall be extolled, and be very 
 high. Good men shall rejoice to see none occasion 
 of stumbling in him : and they that desire occasion, 
 shall be ashamed, because it is cut off. Go thou and 
 do likewise. 
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DILIGENCE. 
 
 The diligent christian is a person who looks upon 
 time as the most invaluable of all treasures, and upon 
 the salvation of his soul, as the most interesting busi- 
 ness of life. He assigns not the dregs of his time to 
 the exercises of devotion while the flower of it is 
 dedicated unto the pursuit of worldly employments ; 
 but he serves God with the best he can afford. He 
 does not say unto the duties of religion, as the par- 
 tial christians of the apostle James said to the poor 
 man in vile raiment, when he came into their assem- 
 bly, "Stand ye there, or sit here, under my footstool;" 
 while the duties of his civil calling are invited, with 
 the man that wears the gold ring, and gay clothing, 
 to sit in a good place. He seeks first the kingdom of 
 God, and his righteousness ; and other things can 
 only claim a secondary care. Like Solomon, he first 
 builds the house of God, and then his own house. 
 As the shekel of the sanctuary was double to the 
 common shekel ; so in the matters of eternity, he 
 doubles the diligence that he uses in the matters of 
 time. Religion is not his bye-work, nor a matter of 
 mere amusement, which he may, or may not attend 
 unto, as he pleases. He knows that in all labour 
 there is profit ; and that neither the blessings of pro- 
 vidence, nor grace, will fall into the mouth of the 
 yawning sluggard. 
 
92 ON CHRISTIAN DILIGENCE. 
 
 Dost tliou not see, O my soul! with what incessant 
 toil the children of men acquire their worldly riches ? 
 what dangers they defy ? what difficulties they sur- 
 mount ? with what laborious efforts they hew out to 
 themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water ? 
 They put forth their hand upon the rock, and over- 
 turn the very mountains. They are not afraid of kill- 
 ing- damps, nor overflowing floods, that their eye may 
 see every precious thing. And shall I not much 
 more give diligence, to obtain the prize of my high 
 calling, which cannot be valued with the gold of 
 Ophir, the precious onyx, or the sapphire ? How is 
 he filled with conscious shame at such a thought ! 
 that worldly vanities appear with more attractive 
 charms in the eyes of worldly men, than the things 
 above in his eyes ; and should inspire them with 
 greater ardour to obtain them ! — But especially, when 
 he considers the shame, the pain, the sorrow, and the 
 unknown agonies of the Redeemer, to compass our 
 salvation; he can no more regard it as a matter of in- 
 differency, that cost the Saviour so dear. Did he 
 think my salvation worthy of so much blood ? and 
 shall I think it worthy of no more but a few languid 
 endeavours, slothful wishes, lazy desires? He looks- 
 upon no time as incapable of religious improvement. 
 Even the seasons of worldly avocations are sometimes 
 blessed seasons of intercourse with Heaven. As the 
 image of Csesar was instamped upon the smallest 
 coin, as well as the greatest ; so the beauty of the 
 Lord his God is stamped upon the minutest actions 
 of life, and establishes every work of his hand. 
 
 HoHness, like a beautiful and shining varnish, 
 spread over the colourings of a picture, imparts a 
 heavenly lustre to his whole conversation. Instead 
 of contriving excuses to blunt the edge of the pre- 
 cept, and still the clamours of his own conscience, 
 when called to any necessary duty, he opens his 
 mouth, and pants for God's commandments. He 
 leaps upon the mountains, and skips over the hills of 
 
ON SLOTHFULNESS. 83 
 
 -difficulty. He esteems every day lost in which he 
 has done nothing- for the glory of God, the edification 
 of his neighbour, or his own salvation. Tlie time 
 which is employed by others in vain jangling, and 
 the canvassing of idle controversies, he bestows upon 
 the mortifying of his earthly affections, and holding- 
 fellowship with God. When engaged in prayer or 
 any holy duty, he puts a holy constraint upon the 
 backward flesh ; he rallies his wandering- thoughts, 
 awakens his drowsy powers, and takes, as it were by 
 violence, the kingdom of heaven. He considers no at- 
 tainment of religion as fit to be rested in ; and, in the 
 matters of salvation, he makes exception to the rule, 
 *' Be content with such things as you have." 
 
 When old age shall clothe his head in snow, and fur- 
 row his face with wrinkles, the retrospect of his past 
 life will not resemble a barren and unsightly desert, 
 but a cultivated garden. He is a credit to the reli- 
 gion he professes ; and, in some good measure, by 
 his edifying life, and confirming conversation, sup- 
 plies the want of miracles. But though he works 
 out his own salvation with fear and trembling, it is 
 not by his own strength ; nor does he look upon his 
 diligence, however great, as meritorious of eternal 
 life ; for, as Christ hath wrought all his works for 
 him ; so it is God that worketh in him both to will and 
 to do of his good pleasure. 
 
 ON SLOTHFULNESS; OR, THE CHRISTIAN 
 STIRRED UP TO DILIGENCE AND ACTIVITY. 
 
 Open thy drowsy eyes, thou yawning sluggard 
 spring from thy lazy couch, on which thou turnest 
 like the creaking door upon the hinges. Is eternity 
 nothing ? Are heavenly joys of such a trifling na- 
 ture ; are hellish torments so easy to be endured ; 
 that faint endeavours, languid resolutions, empty de- 
 
 F 2 
 
94 ON SLOTHFULNESS. 
 
 sires, are a sufficient method to lay hold upon the one, 
 and to avoid the other ? 
 
 See with what unwearied dilig^ence the children of 
 this world prosecute their temporary interests. They 
 rise up early, they sit up late, they eat the bread of 
 sorrow. For what? To acquire either the necessaries, 
 or the superfluities, of this present transitory life ; 
 whether their taste be riches, or honour, or pleasure. 
 What hardships will the sea-faring man refuse to un- 
 dergo, upon the howling waste of waters, animated 
 with the prospect of heaping up silver as the dust ? 
 They are not deterred from their steady purpose, 
 though you should represent unto them, in liveliest 
 images, the chosen terrors of the great deep ; though 
 you should remind them of the roaring tempest, the 
 treacherous rock, or latent quicksands, dreadful to 
 ships, they are not discouraged. They despise the 
 southern heat, and northern cold. They regard not 
 the labours of the day, nor the watchings of the night. 
 
 Shall we mention, next, the incredible fatigues of 
 the campaign, while the soldier pursues his way to 
 fame and glory, through troops of hostile spears, re- 
 gardless of the fierce countenances of the enemy, the 
 flashing of the swords, and the thunder of the roaring 
 engines, which spread desolation all before them ? — 
 With what amazing activity, with what intense appli- 
 cation, are the intrigues of statesmen planned and 
 executed ; while they seek for glory, honour, and im- 
 mortality ! Alas! shall these be wiser in their gener- 
 ation, in matters of time, than the professed children 
 of light in matters of eternity ? 
 
 But dart your eyes down to the centre, to those 
 accursed spirits who dwell in darkness, and are pun- 
 ished with an everlasting destruction ; (for even an 
 enemy may thus befriend us with instruction) : with 
 what vigilance they work in the children of disobe- 
 dience ! with what diligence they exert themselves 
 in dishonouring of God, in destruction of men, while 
 they traverse the earth in quest of mischief, as the 
 
ON SLOTHFULNESS. 95 
 
 hungry lion paces the desert round and round, if 
 haply he can find a beast of chace, whom he may de- 
 vour ! 
 
 Throw next your eyes towards these happy regions 
 where angels reside, and where the spirits of the just 
 made perfect eternally reap the fruits of their Re- 
 deemer's purchase. With alacrity they do his will ! 
 Swift as the lightning's glimpse they run, they fly. 
 Hear how they swell the note in the triumphant song 
 of Moses and the Lamb ! How nimbly they touch 
 the vocal strings ! Both day and night they perse- 
 vere in their exalted exercise, while they serve him, 
 with utmost ardour, in the temple of the skies. 
 
 But though the rational creation were dumb, the 
 inanimate creation would cry out against the slothful 
 christian. The golden sun rejoices as a strong man 
 to run a race, and calls you to run the race that is set. 
 The silver moon witnesses against you in the hea- 
 vens, as she walks in brightness amidst the sparkhng 
 stars. All the rivers run into the sea, which con- 
 stantly either ebbs or flows, but never stagnates in 
 Jazy slumbers, never fails to wash the shore with his 
 returning tide. 
 
 The God whom we serve is the living God. Away 
 then with deadness and formality. " Hast thou not 
 known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, 
 the Creator of all the ends of the earth, fainteth not, 
 neither is weary," in constantly upholding, by his all- 
 powerful word, this universal frame of nature ? The 
 reins of government, v/hether in the natural or moral 
 world, he never drops from his hand; but, by his 
 powerful energy, directs their various motions, in such 
 mysterious sort as his eternal wisdom did contrive. 
 Shall man, that noble creature, the peculiar glory of 
 whose nature is to wear the divine resemblance, to 
 be the very image of his Maker, shall he so far de- 
 generate from his all perfect pattern, as to give up 
 himself to lazy torpor, and shameful inactivity ? 
 
 All beings in the circle of existence, from the 
 
►96 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 hig-h Creator unto the meanest cn?ature, with one- 
 harmonious voice, awake thee from thy slumber. Go 
 to the ant, the Httle, the despicable, and yet laborious^ 
 ant ; consider her ways, O thou slug-gard I her pain- 
 ful, prudent ways ; consider of them, and be wise. 
 
 Ye have the prophets and the apostles of the Lord 
 for your ensamples. The noble company of martyrs^^ 
 and all the sanctified ones who have g-one before you, 
 who have finished their course, who have fought the 
 good fight, who have kept the faith ; and now, 
 through faith and patience, inherit the promises. 
 But a greater than any saint, or apostle, prophet, or 
 martyr is here. For, consider the Apostle and High 
 Priest of your profession, Christ Jesus; who not only 
 inculcated by his doctrine an holy fervour and alacrity 
 in matters of eternity, but exemplified it in his life. 
 Arduous was his work, and difficult was his undertak 
 ing- ; yet he did not fail, nor was discourag-ed, till he 
 could say, " It is finished/' Had he been slothful, 
 then wo had been to us, here and hereafter. He 
 went about doing good in the days of his humilia- 
 tion. He suffered no day to pass, in which he did not 
 accomplish some part of the work which the Father 
 gave him to do. Retired upon the solitary mountain, 
 he prayed whole nights away. How fervently he ad- 
 dressed the throne of his Father ! How pathetically 
 he declared the name of God unto his brethren, while 
 the listening crowds were lost in deep attention ! 
 
 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 O Time, how short is thy continuance! how un- 
 certain thy stay ! 
 
 Indeed, if we compare thee with the transitory 
 fashions of this world, thy face is full of wrinkles, and 
 thou art the oldest of things ; yet art thou but an in- 
 fant in comparison of eternity past i yet art thou but 
 
ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME. 97 
 
 a moment in comparison of eternity to come. Not 
 many thousand years ag-o, the voice of the Almig-hty 
 gave thee birth, when he spake, and it was done ; he 
 commanded, and it stood fast. — Yet a little while, the 
 voice of the archang-el, and the last trumpet's sound 
 shall give thee death, and thou shalt be no more. 
 But, O how scanty is the share we have even in thy 
 short duration ! To us thou dwindlest down to three- 
 score years and ten ; nor can we assure ourselves even 
 of this little span. 
 
 While we, poor dreaming mortals, supinely yawn 
 on our beds of sloth, forgetful of the difficult and ne- 
 cessary work of our salvation ; thou boldest on thy 
 unrelenting career, swifter than the weaver's shuttle, 
 the nimble arrow, or the eagle that hasteth to her 
 prey. 
 
 None ever heard the tread of thy nimble feet, nor 
 the sounding of thy wings. Though men have given 
 thee a tongue, and thou speakest not once or twice, 
 but twenty times in a day ; yet man perceiveth it 
 not. We never remember, that the striking of the 
 clock is the knell of our departed hours ; and we say, 
 with the sluggard, " Yet a little sleep, a little slum- 
 ber, a little folding of the hands to sleep." 
 
 Could we recal thy steps, could we retrieve thy 
 loss, perhaps our folly might admit some shadow of 
 excuse. If our work might be accomplished with 
 the slightest application ; and if we were not at all 
 accountable for the improvement we make of this 
 most precious talent, then might our shameful pro- 
 digality be a more pardonable error. But since all 
 these hopess are the most foolish and chimerical 
 which can possibly enter into human breasts, to what 
 shall we ascribe our listless languor, but to the most 
 desperate infatuation and stupidity ? 
 
 Happy the man who has a heart given him to use 
 this price put in his hand to get wisdom ; and who is 
 skilled in the holy merchandise of redeeming the 
 
98 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF TIME. 
 
 time I There are two maxims to which, in the 
 course of his life, he steadfastly adheres. 
 
 The^rst is, That no space of time is to be left 
 wholly blank and void, but every part of it ought to 
 be filled up with doing good. He considers his time 
 as an estate, or tract of ground, that ought to be dili- 
 gently cultivated, or manured ; and no parcel of it, 
 though ever so barren, incapable of some improve- 
 ment. He allows to the innocent demands of na- 
 ture, for sleep and recreation, no more than is neces- 
 sary to recruit its languishing powers. Every day 
 he estimates as lost, which has not produced some 
 action, that imports him as a rational and immortal 
 creature, tending to promote either the glory of God, 
 the good of his neighbour, or the salvation of his own 
 soul. He does not content himself in being dihgent 
 merely in the business of his civil calling, but to his 
 power he does good unto all men ; if the ignorant 
 are to be instructed ; — if the unruly are to be warn- 
 ed ; — if the weak are to be supported ; — if the discon- 
 solate are to be comforted ; if the needy are to be re- 
 lieved ; — if innocence is to be vindicated from unjust 
 aspersions ; — if mistaken prejudices are to be remov- 
 ed ; — and angry passions soothed. But chiefly acts 
 of devotion, hearing or reading the word, pouring out 
 his heart in prayer, to a reconciled God : — these are 
 his favourite employments, and the portions of time 
 employed in them, the golden spots of his existence. 
 A day in his courts, he esteems as better than a 
 thousand. 
 
 The second is, That no opportunity of time be 
 suffered to shp. As " to every thing there is a sea- 
 son, and a time for every purpose under heaven ;" 
 these opportunities he lays hold upon, as the calls of 
 providence to do good, which will be quickly over 
 and gone. — In a word, he is hasty in beginning, and 
 vigorous in pursuing every good work, and every 
 laudable enterprize, but chiefly the work of his salva- 
 tion. Every day he considers as a new life. He 
 
SUPERIOR ADVANTAGES OF THE CHRISTIAN. 99 
 
 cares not so much how long- time he lives in the 
 world, as how well he employs it ; as well knowing, 
 that it is a prelude either to a joyful or a disconsolate 
 eternity. 
 
 THE SUPERIOR AND DISTINGUISHING AD™ 
 VANTAGES OF THE CHRISTIAN IN THIS 
 LIFE. 
 
 It is true, there are beasts which excel us in bulk 
 of stature, in perfection of sense, in vigour of nerves, 
 in swiftness of their motion. The inhabitants of air 
 are accommodated with wings ; of water, with fins. — 
 What then ? Are we not still the emperors of the 
 world ? Yes, we are. Reason asserts our superiority ; 
 and reduces the most fierce, the most unwieldy, the 
 most untractable of the brutal kind, under our yoke. 
 By reason we put bits in the horse's mouth, tame 
 the elephant, conquer the lion. Birds and fishes are 
 catched in their own elements, and served up to our 
 tables. This heavenly gift maintains our glorious 
 prerog-ative. We ascend where they dare not soar, 
 and trace the paths of the stars. Nor are the goods 
 of fortune, g'lory, learning, much unlike the qualifica- 
 tions of the irrational kind, when compared with the 
 superior excellencies of true wisdom, goodness, and 
 relig-ion. Be it so ; the Christian is not versant in 
 mathematics, in history, in systems of philosophy; 
 not a logician, not an orator. He never stormed a 
 town, nor gained a victory. He has not what men 
 call riches and honours. His clothes are not be- 
 smeared with gold. He plows not half a country 
 with his oxen. He is not addressed with the high 
 and sounding titles of your Lordship and your Grace. 
 He lives remote from courts and palaces, and is not 
 surrounded with a numerous train of servants. The 
 circle of his acquaintance is small. He lives not in 
 
100 ON THE christian's PERSEVERANCLE. 
 
 the annals of time. He is not talked of among- dis- 
 tant nations. But when he dies he is forgotten. — 
 Yet let him not envy the great, the wealthy, the re- 
 nowned ; for, if true riches, if glorious honours, if re- 
 fined pleasures can make him blessed, he is a happy 
 man. He is not learned ; but he is wise in what im- 
 ports him most to know, as an immortal creature, — 
 wise unto salvation. Behold his knowledge ! for as 
 the twinkling stars of night are eclipsed by the glori- 
 ous star of day, so is the wisdom of the world, by 
 that which cometh from above. He is not powerful, 
 but he hath taken the kingdom of heaven by violence, 
 laid hold on eternal life, and subdued his earthly af- 
 fections. Behold the wonders of his might ! he is 
 not wealthy, but he is rich in faith, rich in hope ; 
 contentment is his natural wealth ; he complains not 
 of unsatisfied desires. Behold his riches ! he is not 
 honourable, but God is his Father, Christ his brother, 
 angels his servants, righteousness is his garment, 
 holiness his ornament, the cross is his coat-of-arms, 
 heaven is his inheritance. Christian is his style. Be- 
 hold his dignity I he is not renowned, but God com- 
 mends him, angels applaud him. His glory is not 
 bounded by the stars, nor ended by the conflagration. 
 Behold his fame ! in bondage he is free, in poverty he 
 is rich, in obscurity he is illustrious. Happy man ! 
 enjoy thyself in the possession of true felicity ; while 
 others hunt after the shadow, and weary themselves 
 in vain. 
 
 ON THE CERTAINTY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S 
 PERSEVERANCE IN HIS HAPPY STATE. 
 
 " Fear not, thou worm Jacob ; I will help thee, 
 saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel." 
 O heavenly soul, who art redeemed not with corriip- 
 tible things, such as silver and gold, but with the pre- 
 
ON THE christian's PERSEVERANCE. 101 
 
 cious blood of Christ ; who are sanctified of God the 
 Father ; whose faith, however weak, is yet unfeigned ; 
 know, to thy unspeakable comfort, no more thou shalt 
 become a child of wrath, or slave of sin. No ; sooner 
 shall the mountains depart, being- torn from their deep 
 foundations ; and the perpetual hills shall sooner be 
 removed : sooner shall the sun, the glorious parent of 
 the day ; the moon, the silver regent of the night ; be 
 extinguished in their habitation, and stars rush from 
 the darkened sky. 
 
 Your adversaries are many ; your strength is small ; 
 your fears are multiplied ; yet shall the principle of 
 life, the habit of grace, the seed of God, remain. He 
 whom you love, whom you fear, whom you serve ; is 
 able, is willing, to keep you from falling. He who 
 has begun the good work in you, will maintain, will 
 increase, will accomplish the life of grace, the death 
 of sin. lufeebled you may be, like a bruised reed, a 
 smoking flax, a withered tree, whose fruits and leaves 
 are nipped by surly winter ; but you shall not be de- 
 stroyed. Rejoice not against them, ye enemies of 
 their salvation ; triumph not over them, ye powers of 
 darkness ; for though they fall, they shall arise again. 
 
 Question not his power. Thus saith the faithful 
 and true Witness, " My Father is greater than all ; 
 and none is able," whether by power or guile, " to 
 pluck them out of my Father's hand," John x. 29. 
 Is any thing too hard for the Lord, who spoke into 
 existence this solid earth, and yonder glorious orbs ? 
 who holds them in the hollow of his hand ? How 
 many'are the wonders he has done, both in the heights 
 above, and deeps beneath ! But has he produced, and 
 shall he be unable to preserve the vital principle, though 
 like a living spark amidst an ocean of corruption ? 
 
 Doubt not his will, more than his power. It is the 
 will of God, your sanctification. For, lo ! a Trinity of 
 persons are in concert, as to produce, so to maintain 
 thy grace. 
 
 If there be any immutability of thy purpose ; if any 
 
lO'i ON THE christian's PERSEVERANCE. 
 
 stability of thy covenant ; if any veracity of thy pro- 
 mise, O eternal Father ! we shall not die, but live. — 
 From the beginning hast thou chosen them to salva- 
 tion ; and it is not possible they should be deceived, 
 even by those impostors who do great signs and won- 
 ders, Matt. xxiv. 24. Once hast thou sworn by thy 
 holiness ; thou wilt not lie unto the mystical David ; 
 that he shall see his seed, and that they shall be esta- 
 blished before thee. Thou will not retake thy gift to 
 thine eternal Son ; for thou art not a man that thou 
 shouldst repent. But in what smiling promises hast 
 thou plighted thy veracity, and declared the perpe- 
 tuity of thy counsel ? "I will be to them a God ; I 
 will give them one heart and one way, to fear me all 
 the days of their life ; and I will make an everlasting 
 covenant with them, that I will not turn away from 
 them to do them good ; and I will put my fear in 
 their hearts, and they shall not depart from me for 
 ever," Jer. xxxii. 38. " For though the mountains 
 shall depart, and the hills be removed, my loving 
 kindness shall not depart from thee, and the covenant 
 of my peace shall not be removed, saith the Lord, 
 that hath mercy on thee," Isa. liv. 10. 
 
 And shouldst not thou, O blessed Jesus ! preserve 
 with the most inviolable regard the gift of thy heaven- 
 ly Father ? Too dear they cost thee, O suffering Son 
 of God ! to suffer any, the least believer, to fall away, 
 and perish. For them thou left the skies ; for them 
 didst weep, and sweat great drops of blood, and groan, 
 and die. And shall they not persevere unto the end? 
 Yes : if prayers, if intercessions can ought avail. 
 " Holy Father, keep them through thine own name." 
 Thus he addressed the glorious throne, while yet a 
 sojourner of earth. Nor is he now unmindful of his 
 brethren in the realms on high ; for, while he breath- 
 ed terrestrial air, he promised his drooping friends, 
 " I will pray the Father, and he shall send you an- 
 other Comforter, and he shall abide with you for ever." 
 See him surrounded with prostrate seraphim ! What 
 
ON ASSURANCE OF HAPPINESS. 103 
 
 joy and gladness in his countenance I What heaven 
 in his eyes ! Mark how the keys of hell and death 
 depend upon his girdle ! Fear not, my beloved people, 
 " because I live, ye shall live also. I am he which 
 liveth, and was dead ; and behold, I am alive for ever- 
 more ; and I have the keys of hell and death :" to 
 lock the prison doors upon these ugly monsters. O 
 blessed Redeemer ! if we, being enemies, were recon- 
 ciled to God, our incensed Creator, by thy death ; 
 much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved from 
 falling away by thy life. 
 
 Nor dost thou, almighty Spirit, less insure our final 
 perseverance ; who dwellest in our souls, and makest 
 our bodies thy living temple ; who abidest in us a 
 well of living water, springing up unto everlasting 
 life. Thou art the abiding unction, the incorrupti- 
 ble seed of God, the joyful earnest of the heavenly 
 inheritance. By thee are we sealed unto the day of 
 redemption : who shall dare to break up these living 
 epistles, and deface the sacred characters of thy law, 
 which thou hast written in our hearts ! 
 
 ON ASSURANCE OF PRESENT AND FUTURE 
 HAPPINESS. 
 
 The assured christian is a rare and happy person, 
 whose conscience bears him witness in the Holy Ghost, 
 that his faith is unfeigned ; his love sincere ; his fear 
 filial ; his repentance evangelical. And being pleas- 
 ingly conscious of those prints of divine grace in his 
 own heart, which are the fruits of past election, and 
 the buds of future glory, firmly concludes, that he is 
 in a state of favour with God, and an heir of the 
 heavenly inheritance. He does not at all pretend un- 
 to extraordinary revelations ; but comparing the frame 
 of his own soul with the characters of the children of 
 God, he is persuaded, both from the outward declara- 
 
104 ON ASSURANCE OF HAPPINESS. 
 
 tions of the word, and the inward testimony of the 
 Spirit, that he dwelt upon the heart of a loving- God 
 from everlasting, and that every g-racious promise 
 shall be his inheritance at the last. For, by the 
 mouth of these two witnesses, the Spirit and the word, 
 he is established in the truth of this delightful per- 
 suasion. Therefore he knows, that it is no enthusi- 
 astic dream, or diabolical suggestion ; but a sober cer- 
 tainty of waking bliss. It is true, indeed, he may not 
 on all occasions be able to maintain such an exalted 
 frame as this. Through temptation, desertion, the 
 prevalence of corruption, he may walk in darkness, 
 and have no light. But while he trusts in the name 
 of the Lord, and stays himself on his God, the clouds 
 are scattered, and his former assurance returns to him 
 again with brighter evidence ; as clear shining after 
 the rain, or blooming health after a fit of sickness. 
 
 But, O the blissful serenity of his soul, when drink- 
 ing in the cheerful rays of the Almighty's counten- 
 ance ! He is calm as the evening of the summer, 
 and peaceful as the shades of the night. The sun 
 puts on a better beam, and every creature rejoices 
 around him. He eats his bread with joy, and drinks 
 his wine with a merry heart. The lying vanities of 
 the world are totally neglected. An empire, in his 
 balance, weighs a grain. The darkest night of afflic- 
 tion is illuminated by the sparklings of this white 
 stone. For he is persuaded that the afflictions of this 
 present life, cannot disannul the everlasting love of 
 God : as the law, which was four hundred years after, 
 could not disannul the promise, before confirmed of 
 God and Christ. — Sometimes he has devoured tor- 
 ments, and come with an appetite unto the fiames. 
 When the water-pots have been filled to the brim, the 
 waters of affliction have been turned into the wine of 
 consolation. He has played upon the hole of the asp, 
 and put his hand into the den of the cockatrice. " O 
 death," he says, "where is thy sting?" There is 
 none like him in all the earth, who is made without 
 
CS DEATH. " 10,5 
 
 fear. He is the chief of the ways of God ; the noblest 
 work of the Ahiiighty, With what alacrity he runs 
 the way of God's commandments I How sin is em- 
 bittered to his soul! How duties are sw^^ened! Not 
 all the terrors of Sinai ; the lightnings that flashed, 
 the thunders that roared, when God came from Teman, 
 and the holy One from Mount Paran, could have such 
 powerful influence to mollify the heart, as one drop 
 of this dew that descendeth upon the mountains of 
 Zion. How he twines about a precept I How he 
 long-s for a duty ! How he catches an opportunity ! 
 And, fearful of offending, he works out his own salva- 
 tion with fear and trembHng. How can he live iu 
 sin, when he is dead unto it ? How can he walk in 
 darkness, when he has fellowship with God? How 
 €an he hanker after the husks of the swine, Vvhen 
 feeding on the children's bread ? or desire the onions 
 and the iL^nrlic of Egypt, when eating the hidden 
 manna, and gathering the clusters of Canaan ? 
 
 Ye children of this world, whose little souls are 
 captivated with low and perishable vanities? what can 
 you produce equal unto his glorious prerogative ? 
 We may apply what was said in another case by 
 Gideon ? *' Is not the gleaning of the grapes of 
 Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer ?" 
 
 ON DEATH. 
 
 O DEATH, how dismal thy appearance ! how grisly 
 are thy features to those whose thoughts cannot over- 
 look this present transitory scene of things ! who have 
 not learned to expatiate in the unknown regions of 
 eternity, and know not where they shall fix their ever- 
 lasting abode ! How dost thou rend the man in 
 twain, bursting the silver cord which knit the soul and 
 body into one! From what dost thou snatch us away? 
 To what regions dost thou convey us ? Through what 
 
 G 
 
106 ON DEATH. 
 
 dark paths wilt thou conduct us from this world to- 
 the next? — These all conspire to heig^hten thy terror/ 
 and make thy gloom more dreadful. 
 
 Thou riflest the treasures of the anxious miser, and 
 sulliest all the honours of the proud. At thy com- 
 mand the drunkard makes haste to finish his debauch, 
 and the delicious epicure becomes the sweet repast of 
 worms and reptiles. How wilt thou quench each 
 burning lust in thy cold icy arms, O king- of terrors I 
 The man of letters forgets his favourite books, which 
 now in vain adorn the shelves covered with dust. The 
 sce})tered hand now drops the reins of government. 
 The stately rooms of the palace no more behold their 
 honoured lord. " Thou changest our countenance^ 
 and sendest us away." No more shall we behold our 
 joyous home; our pleasing and affectionate relations; 
 nor the cheerful face of the day ; nor the delightful 
 variations of the seasons. By thee, for aught we. 
 know, the stars are blown out as to us, the sun and 
 moon are extinguished in their habitation. 
 
 And whither, O whither wilt thou carry us, when 
 we renounce our correspondence with the sun? When 
 our dull body drops into the grave, and rots away un- 
 seen, where wilt thou send our trembling souls ? 
 What sights shall we see? What sounds shall we 
 hear? With whom shall we converse? Alas! it is a 
 state of which we are ignorant ; a world of spirits and 
 disembodied beings, with whom we have no familiarity 
 here. 
 
 How dark is the transition ! how dreary is the path 
 that leads us through thy deep and shady vale, O 
 death ! To whom have thy gates been opened ? Who 
 knows thy secret chambers ? No mortal ere returned 
 to tell us what thou art. 
 
 Yet must we tread the dismal road : nor are our 
 steps to be recalled when fairly entered on it. No 
 man hath power to retain the breath of his nostrils ; 
 neither hath he power in the day of wrath. How 
 universal is thy dominion I how cruel is thy appetite, 
 
ON DEATH, 107 
 
 which never says, It is enoug-h I Long hast thou 
 spread desolation throug-h the universe : not among 
 beasts and plants alone, but also among- man's impe- 
 rial race, in every period of time. Void of compassion 
 for the smiling infant, the blooming; youth, the ven- 
 erable sage, thou blendest them in undisting-uished 
 ruin. Thou regardest not the forces of strength, the 
 charms of beauty, nor the golden bribes of riches. 
 Thou pourest contempt upon princes, in whom we 
 cannot therefore safely trust ; and upon all the sons 
 of men, in whom there is no stay, because they are 
 born to die. 
 
 " What man is he that liveth, and shall not see 
 death ?" We need not search for thee in the plains 
 of battle, in the rocks and billows of the ocean, nor on 
 the loaded tables of luxury and intemperance. Num- 
 berless accidents, and ghastly bands of pale diseases, 
 surround us in terrible array. But accidents apart, 
 and pale diseases set aside, old age soon cuts the 
 thread of life, and hastens thy approach. Threescore 
 and ten, or fourscore revolving winters, may perhaps 
 be numbered by us. Alas ! how soon is this period 
 exhausted ! How exceeding diminutive it shews in 
 reason's eye ! and in the eye of him who is just now 
 to render up the ghost I As the shuttle sweeps over 
 the loom in the twinkling of an eye ; as the post, who 
 carrying some message of importance, is dispatched 
 away, gains upon the road, and takes no time to view 
 the adjacent country ; as the ship, which has the wind 
 in her wings, skims over the watery plain ; and as the 
 fleet eagle, who spies out his prey from on high, de- 
 scends with headlong precipitation ; so flies our mo- 
 mentary duration. 
 
 Yet boast not of thy victories over the human 
 race, thou unrelenting tyrant ! There are who can 
 behold thee with a smile, and laugh at the shaking of 
 thy spear. Jesus, the loving Saviour, received into 
 his soul thy fatal sting, and wrought out all thy dead- 
 ly venom. In vain you thought to hold him under 
 
lOS ON DEATH. 
 
 thy gloomy dominion ; for, " though he was dead, 
 yet he is ahve again, and hveth evermore." He en- 
 tered thy dreary gates, and tasted of thy bitter cup 
 for every elect man. Why should we fear to taste 
 thee, or tread thy dreary vale, when the Breaker is 
 gone up before us ; who leads the blind in a way they 
 know not, and in paths they have not known. 
 
 Repine at death ? Why should the mournful pri- 
 soner take in bad part the kindly office that unties his 
 fetters, and overturns the walls of his dungeon ? Why 
 should the child repine to burst the narrow confine- 
 ment of the womb, and salute the rejoicing light of 
 day ! Ought not the weary pilgrim to bless the day 
 which returns him to his Father's house? and the 
 espoused bride to rejoice in the hour when she is pre- 
 sented to her faithful Bridegroom, without spot, or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing? 
 
 Though thy pains, O death ! were as terrible as a 
 timorous imagination paints them, (which yet they 
 cannot be, when the sensation is gone ;) yet should 
 we soon forget our miseries, by reason of those trans- 
 porting scenes which shall straightway unfold unto our 
 view. 
 
 How soundly shall our dust sleep in the peaceful 
 grave, thy dark and solitary mansion ! where we shall 
 not be pained with the gnawing of the worm, nor 
 otiended by the nauseous stench, nor wearied with 
 the dismal solitude, nor frighted with the surrounding 
 darkness. These are the terrors of the living, not the 
 dead. 
 
 It is true, the pleasant enjoyments of time are ours 
 no more: but neither are the sins nor the sorrows. We 
 bid farewell to the streams, but we bathe in the foun- 
 tain of felicity. We shall no more behold the ways 
 of men, nor see the glory of the Lord in the land of 
 the living ; yet shall we come to God, the Judge of 
 all ; to ,lesus, the Mediator of the new covenant ; and 
 to the innumerable company of angels, and spirits of 
 just meii made perfect. 
 
ON thp: resurrection. 109 
 
 Whither canst thou carry us, O death ! from the 
 presence of that God, whose loving--kindness is better 
 than life ? When, with thy trident, thou shalt break 
 the pitcher of this mortal frame, the deathless soul is 
 not like water spilt upon the ground ; for the pitcher 
 being- broken at the fountain, it runs to its original, 
 and can be gathered up ag-ain. 
 
 Hail, happy day I that destroyest the last enemy, 
 in which the sleeping bones shall hear the call, and 
 reunite into a system ! How shall the reproach of 
 the grave be wiped away, when that which was sown 
 in dishonour, and shameful putrefaction, shall be 
 raised in glory ? Then, O death ! we shall no more 
 be subject to thy power, when we shall call eternal 
 life and immortality our own. " Rejoice not against 
 me, O mine enemy ! for though I fall by thy hand, 
 I shall rise again : and when I sit in darkness in the 
 grave, even then the Lord will be a light unto me," 
 
 ON THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 Shall death always triumph over the human race, 
 and hold these prisoners of the tomb in everlasting- 
 chains ? Will the Lord for ever despise the work of 
 his hands, nor evermore repair these heaven-laboured 
 frames of flesh ? Shall those holy hands, that were 
 devoutly lifted up to heaven — those knees, that often 
 were bended in humble supplication before the throne 
 — those tongues that talked of his wonderful works, 
 and uttered his praises — and all the other instruments 
 of righteousness, for ever lie in rubbish ? Shall the 
 expectation of the poor always fail ? Have the mar- 
 tyrs bled in vain, who were tortured, not accepting 
 deliverance ? Faithful is he who hath promised, who 
 also will do it. It is the work of death to part the 
 body from the soul ; and then the grave eats up our 
 flesh, and even gnaws our bones. Yet shall your works 
 
 G 2 
 
110 ON THE RESURRECTIOX. 
 
 be destroyed, ye frightful monsters ; bone shall ccmt* 
 to his bone, dust to his dust ; and every parted soul 
 re-enter its ancient habitation. 
 
 If it is marvellous in your eyes, should it be mar- 
 vellous in his eyes, whose understanding is infinite^ 
 whose power is not to be conceived ? Lift up your 
 eyes on high : who hath created all these God-like 
 luminaries, and marshals all their host ? Behold, he 
 formed the eye, and bored the ear, and fashioned all 
 your members. By whom is his arm shortened, that 
 he is not able to restore his workmanship, when gone 
 to dissolution ? We understand not the powers of 
 angels ; we are struck with admiration at the curious- 
 arts, and witty inventions of puny mortals, and won- 
 der how it is possible for them to give being to such 
 elaborate productions. The art of the painter is de- 
 servedly amazing to those who are not formed by na- 
 ture with such mysterious skill. How is the poor 
 Indian amazed at the moving machines of watches 
 and clocks, which are easily formed by European art- 
 ists ! With what inimitable art the skilful musician 
 swells his notes, and sweeps the vocal strings! Are 
 the ways of men above our shallow reach ! and shall 
 the ways of God be fully understood, seeing they are 
 higher than our ways, as the heavens are higher thai> 
 the earth ? 
 
 When the mystery of God shall be finished, and 
 the pregnant decree shall have travailed with her 
 last birth, the Lord himself shall descend from hea- 
 ven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
 and with the trump of God- Behold, consider, and 
 admire : the man of sorrows who was crucified, dead, 
 and buried, is the God who quickens the dead. Even 
 those are made alive by him, who imbrued their hands 
 in his blood — who pierced his hands and feet. " To 
 this end he both died, rose, and revived, that he might 
 be the Lord of the quick and dead." 
 
 O shrill-voiced trump of God, (whatever thou art) 
 how shalt thou wound the rest of many generations I 
 
ON THE HESURRECTION. Ill 
 
 The king- shall hear thee beneath the vaulted marble, 
 and shall come forth without his crown ; and the pea- 
 sant, who sleeps beneath the grassy turf, shall arise 
 at thy command. Ocean shall hear and tremble in 
 his deepest caverns, and render up his dead, which 
 long- did float upon his surface, and weltered to the 
 winds, and at last were devoured by the finny inhabit- 
 ants of the floods. 
 
 Populous assembly ! Not one amissing of past, 
 }>resent, and future generations. Neither can they 
 die any more. For, O thou last enemy ! destruc- 
 tions are come to a perpetual end. Though you 
 have razed cities, and their memorial is perished with 
 them, now, in your turn, you shall be swallowed up 
 in victory. How glad would the ungodly be to find 
 thee, when pulled out like sheep for the slaughter ! 
 They shall lift up, in that awful hour, a cry after thee, 
 far more doleful than what was heard in Egypt, in the 
 night fatal to their first-born. Gladly would they 
 search for thee in the bottom of the ocean, or pene- 
 trate into the centre, through interposing rocks, to 
 find thee. But thou shalt flee from them, and leave 
 them to eat the fruit of their ways. 
 
 Think on this dismal tragedy, ye dead in trespasses 
 and sins. Yet are ye the prisoners of hope. Christ is 
 the resurrection and the life. Believe on him, and 
 though ye be dead, then shall you live. Repent and 
 be converted every one of you, that your sins may be 
 blotted out, and not found when they shall be sought 
 for, when the times of refreshing shall come from the 
 presence of the Lord. 
 
 Times of refreshing indeed, to ail the followers of 
 the Lamb ! Then shall his going forth be prepared 
 as the morning, after a melancholy night of blackness, 
 and darkness, and tempest ; or as the beauteous spring, 
 when she comes after a surly winter, to strew the earth 
 with flowers, and clothe the naked trees in green at- 
 tire. " Awake, and sing," shall he say, " ye that 
 dwell in dust ; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs ; 
 
112 ON THE RESUKKECTION, 
 
 and the earth shall cast forth her dead, and shall ns» 
 more cover her slain. "^ 
 
 Then shall those who, perhaps, expired in mutual 
 wounds, join hand in hand, and mutually partake iii. 
 the Redeemer's purchase. Their Mephibosheths are 
 not lame, nor Leahs tender-eyed, nor shall Timothy 
 be any more subject to his often infirmities. For he 
 shall change our vile body, and make it like that glo- 
 rious one which he himself doth wear. Farewell to 
 pining sickness. Adieu, ye ghastly band of pale dii^- 
 eases, distempers lingering and acute, hunger, thirsty 
 and weariness. No more, O balmy sleep I shall we 
 need thy welcome refreshment, when that which i& 
 " sown in dishonour, shall be raised in glory." 
 
 Great is your gain, ye saints, when ye exchange 
 time for eternity ! Nor is it only gain to your undy- 
 ing soul, but even to your putrefying clay ; which, 
 with inconceivable improvement, shall be restored you 
 again. Nor is it a doubtful event. Ye dead men of 
 the Lord, together with his dead body shall you arise. 
 For you he visited the gloomy mansion of the grave* 
 Your Redeemer has warmed your clay-cold bed, and- 
 left a most delightful odour in the noisome sepulchre. 
 He who brought Israel out of Egypt, and Jonah from 
 the belly of the lish, and Daniel from the den of lions, 
 will surely bring you from the grave ; for the tem- 
 ples of the Holy Ghost will not always lie in rubbishy 
 nor the members of the body of Christ for ever be 
 forgotten in the pit of corruption. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ, he is the head, the living head ; and ye are 
 the members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 
 He is the first-fruits, and ye are the full harvest. He 
 is the first-begotten from the dead, and ye, as the 
 younger brethren, shall be begotten in your season. 
 And with your clay, your characters shall rise, and 
 your righteousness shall go forth as the light. For, 
 by the resurrection from the dead, ye shall, like Christ, 
 be declared the sons of God with power. 
 
ON THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 113 
 
 ON THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 There is a time, (who knows how near ?) when, 
 according to the tenor of the sacred oracles, the mys- 
 tery of God shall be finished ; the Lord himself shall 
 descend with a shout ; the dead shall be raised ; the 
 living- shall be changed ; the world shall be judged. 
 Whatever great or dreadful has been achieved under 
 the sun, falls infinitely short of the transactions of 
 this awful day. Mercifully has our gracious God sup- 
 pressed this day and hour in darkness, that we may 
 never intermit our watch. O did we make this wise 
 improvement of it ! 
 
 Methinks the awful period is arrived. The drowsy 
 world is lost in security, little dreaming of an extin- 
 guished sun, or falling stars. Some will be buying 
 and selling in the market; some will be debauching 
 in the tavern ; some will be planting trees ; some 
 will be building houses ; some will be marrying, and 
 giving in marriage ; when, lo ! the dreadful sound of 
 a trumpet, blown by a strong-lunged angel, (perhaps 
 the same that was once heard on Sinai, waxing louder 
 and louder) shall wound the ear of nature, proclaim- 
 ing the approach of the Judge, that an end, an end is 
 come, and the fashion of this world passeth away. 
 
 " Behold, he cometh with clouds !" innumerable 
 angels attend his approach, and pour around his cha- 
 riot. His radiant face eclipses the lustre of the sun. 
 Beneath him, a great throne, white as the snow, and 
 fiery as the flame. Is this he who was born in Beth- 
 lehem, and groaned in Calvary ? whom ye insulted^ 
 O malicious Jews ! bending your knees before him in 
 solemn mockery ? Say now, mistaken Caiaphas, whe- 
 ther did he or thou blaspheme ? 
 
 Long had the prisoners of the grave slept in dark- 
 ness ; but now they awake out of their iron sleep, — 
 they shake off the slumber of a thousand ages. Now 
 monuments render back their dust ; church-yards and 
 
il4 ON THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 burial-grounds pant and heave. Even palaces will 
 then be found to have been but upper chambers to a 
 tomb. And the ocean itself will seem to have been 
 paved with human skulls. Strange to behold ! the 
 fragments of bodies will fly through the air, to obey 
 the signal of the trumpet, and join their fellow-mem- 
 bers, however distant. Ask not, ye profane, how can 
 it be ? For who hath shortened his arm ? He who 
 knit your bodies together at the first, can reunite your 
 scattered dust, though the fourwiads were warring- for 
 it. Three days did the prophet Jonah suffer a living 
 death in the belly of the fish ; but when the third 
 morning- gilded the mountains, and played upon the 
 billows, the obedient monster returned his sacred 
 guest untouched, on the safe shore. So, at the ap- 
 pointed season, the grave, at the command of God, 
 shall cast forth her dead, and the earth shall no more 
 cover her slain. 
 
 Mean time, the living shall undergo a change equi- 
 valent unto death, and this mortal shall put on im- 
 mortality. This is a great mystery. Here let us 
 leave it under a vail, and proceed to take a view of 
 that most populous assembly, where Adam shall salute 
 his youngest son. The billows are not so numerous 
 that break upon the shore, nor the stars that glitter 
 in the firmament. The edict of the Almighty King- 
 shall sweep an area for this vast congregation. Here 
 all civil distinctions are buried. The mighty Caesar 
 stands upon a level with the meanest of the throng. 
 No respect is paid to him that wore imperial purple. 
 Here the great heroes of antiquity shall stand un- 
 marked and unadored. 
 
 See there on the left hand of the Judge, that dire- 
 ful crowd, pale with horror and amazement ! How 
 their eye-balls roll in wild affright ! What despair is 
 in every gesture ! Most gladly would they bless the 
 grave to cover them — the flames to wrap them — the 
 rocks to hide them, or the seas to sweep them from 
 the presence of him that sits upon the throne. 
 
ON THE MISERY OF THE DAMNED. 115 
 
 But mark on the right hand, that triumphant as- 
 sembly, who face the thunders with dauntless mag;- 
 nanimity ! when the stars are falling-, their thoughts 
 are fixed ; when the earth is quaking-, their hearts are 
 unappalled. They view, with calm serenity, the yawn- 
 ing- gulf, the glorious Judge ; and hail the happy morn- 
 ing- of the resurrection. Are these the forms that moul- 
 dered in the dust ! What rosy youth smiles in their 
 countenances ! Once did they lie among- the pots of 
 sin and misery ; but now they are made as a dove, 
 whose wings are covered with silver, and her feather;* 
 with yellow g-old. Not one sinner shall stand in this 
 vast cong-regation of the righteous. 
 
 ON THE MISERY OF THE DAMNED. 
 
 Canst thou descend, O my soul ! with awful step, 
 into the doleful regions of damnation ? Let thy 
 heart meditate terror. The more shal) thy fears be 
 alarmed to fly from the wrath to come in this thy day 
 of merciful visitation ; the more shall thy gratitude 
 be awakened unto thy loving- Saviour, who redeems 
 thy life from destruction, and who says unto thee, 
 " Fear not, I have the keys of hell and of death." 
 But have the doors of the shadow of death been 
 opened unto us ? Who can presume to g-ive the 
 geography of this dismal territory, or confidently say, 
 in what place of this large universe eternal justice has 
 ordained this doleful dungeon ? Whether it shall be 
 in the centre of the earth, or in some blazing comet, 
 or far beyond the limits of this hghtsome world, where 
 chaos and eternal darkness reign ; He only knows, be- 
 fore whom hell and destruction have no covering. 
 No thoughts can reach, no words can paint the hor- 
 rors of this dreary region, where the miserable inhab- 
 itants drink of the wrath of the Almighty, and know, 
 by dreadful experience, what is the power of his anger. 
 
116 ON THE MISERY 
 
 Waving- the metaphorical descriptions of darkness, 
 worms, and fire ; there dwells the most restless and 
 unsatisfied desire ; the most overwhelming shame ; 
 the most horrible fear ; the most dismal sorrow ; the 
 most tormenting envy ; the most unrelenting hard- 
 ness of heart ; and the most racking despair. 
 
 They hunger, but there is no food to relieve their 
 appetite ; they thirst, but there is no refreshing foun- 
 tain, nor even a cooHng drop. Should sensual appe- 
 tites remain, they never can be gratified. As hea- 
 then poets sung of Tantalus, burning with thirst and 
 hunger, gladly would he snatch at the delicious apples 
 hanging over his head, or steal a cooling draught of 
 water, that came up to his chin ; but no sooner did 
 he make the fruitless attempt, than the apples fled 
 from his grasp, and the waters from his taste. So 
 shall they " snatch on the right hand and be hungry ; 
 and they shall eat on the left, and shall not be satis- 
 fied ; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own 
 arm. 
 
 How will the impropriety of their past conduct ex- 
 pose them to the bitter taunts of insulting devils, and 
 to the painful upbraidings of their own hearts ! Fools 
 that we were, for one morsel of meat to sell our hea- 
 venly birth-right, for such transitory dehghts ; for 
 such little sips of polluted joys, to awaken these ever- 
 lasting flames. 
 
 What fearfulness and trembling shall come upon 
 them, when they behold the angry face of God clad 
 with an everlasting frown ! Who can behold it, and 
 not be sore amazed ! Even the Son of God did sweat 
 great drops of blood when he beheld it. How then 
 shall these feeble creatures endure it. 
 
 Lo ! heaven shuts its everlasting doors upon them, 
 while their minds are haunted with the ghastly ap- 
 paritions of their departed joys. How keen must be 
 the sorrow ; how cutting the anguish of such a 
 thought ; I have eternally lost the incomparable hap- 
 piness of yonder blessed abodes. Where are ye now, 
 
OF THE DAMNED. 117 
 
 my pleasing- comforts I how have ye fled away as a 
 vision of the night ? 
 
 Nor will it be a small part of their misery, to envy 
 the prosperity of the rig-hteous, vi^hen they shall seize 
 their heavenly thrones, and tune their harps to strains 
 of highest rapture. When " their horn shall be ex- 
 alted with honour, the wicked shall see it and be 
 grieved ; he shall g^nash with the teeth, and melt 
 away." 
 
 O shocking- to think I they will eternally hate the 
 Eternal Excellency, because they are hated of him. No 
 more shall the divine Spirit excite the faintest mo- 
 tion in their minds towards God or holiness. The 
 iron sinew of their stubborn will, will grow more hard 
 by these fierce flames. They may indeed repent, but 
 their repentance worketh death. 
 
 Here" hope supports under the greatest pressures ; 
 but there that anchor shall be broken. Here the 
 sons of sorrow will sometimes sink in soft repose, the 
 couch will ease their complaint, and kind officious 
 friends will fall on various methods to blunt the edge 
 of the sharpest pain. Even the tortured wretch, 
 though dying- hard and slow, may comfort himself 
 with this, that his torments will shortly come to an 
 end. But these can hope for no respite, nor period 
 of their woes. 
 
 How would it stamp a bow in their cloud, to think 
 there were an end ! but in vain, should they shed an 
 ocean of tears, and stretch out their suppliant hands. 
 Death will flee from them, consig-ning them over to 
 flat despair. Have pity upon them, O ye their 
 friends. Will no afl"ectionate relation shed a compas- 
 sionate tear ? Alas I the father will not pity bis 
 children, and tlie mother will have no compassion oii 
 the son of her womb, for they sing- Hallelujah, when 
 the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and 
 ever. 
 
 Surely " such are the dwellings of the wicked, and 
 this is the place of him that knoweth not God." O 
 
nS ON THE HAPPINESS 
 
 ray soul envy not their momentary happiness, '■/ come 
 not into their secret, be not united unto tliiir assem- 
 bly." How much better is it for thee to strive to 
 enter in at the strait gate, with these happv few 
 that fiiul it, than to go with the multitude in the 
 broad way that leadeth unto destruction ? Canst 
 thou fly too fast from hell and damnation ? canst 
 thou be too careful to avoid those paths, which, 
 though strewed with roses, lead down to the cham- 
 bers of death ? Whether is it better thy flesh should 
 murmur, or thy soul should perish ? O that know- 
 ing- these terrors of the Lord, our whole life might 
 be one constant flight from the wrath that is to come. 
 How miserable are they who will not be persuaded 
 of the reahty of everlasting torments, by all the threat- 
 enings of the word, when it is declared by the faith- 
 ful and true witness, " If they will not believe Moses 
 and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 though one should arise from the dead !" 
 
 ON THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of 
 God ! and of those happy beings who walk thy gold- 
 en streets, and dwell in thy ivory palaces. They are 
 all of them kings and priests unto God. 
 
 Hail, ye highly favoured of the Lord, ye nations 
 of them that are saved ! Now have ye received 
 })ower over the nations of numerous corruptions, and 
 rule them with a rod of iron. A crown, not of 
 flowers which fade, not of gold which is also a cor- 
 ruptible thing, but of glory, of righteousness, of life, 
 shall flourish on your heads. The throne of Christ 
 himself receives you. Eternal shall be your triumph, 
 ye happy victors, who have more than conquered. 
 Therefore are ye arrayed in white robes, palms are in 
 your hands, and songs of salvation are in your mouths. 
 
OP HEAVEN. 119 
 
 The Lord is your inheritance, ye royal priesthood. 
 Bv Jesus Christ your altar, shall you offer up the 
 sacriiices of praise continually. You shall go no more 
 •nt from the heavenly temple, as did the legal priests* 
 below ; for he shall make you as the pillars of Jachiii 
 and Boaz in the temple of your God. In what flowery 
 paths, by what living waters, shall the Lamb in the 
 midst of the throne conduct you, ye flock of his pas- 
 ture, for whom your good Shepherd did give his yery 
 life ! Under what verdant shades shall you repose, 
 where the sun shall not light on you, nor any heat ! 
 O happy rest from sin and sorrow, into which ye have 
 entered, ye people of God ! No more shall ye weary 
 yourselves in the greatness of your way. Your im- 
 derstanding shall rest in the contemplation of truth ; 
 your wills in the fruition of good. Ever}^ wish is 
 crowned, every desire is gratified by God himself, 
 your exceeding great reward. Plentiful feasts to 
 which ye are invited, where ye feed upon the hid- 
 den manna, and taste that the Lord is good. No 
 more shall pale famine approach your blessed abodes, 
 who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. 
 O blissful vision to which you are admitted ; no more 
 ye see through a glass darkly. Not the back parts 
 only, but the face and similitude of the Lord shall ye 
 behold. All ye beholding, with open face, this glory 
 of the Lord, shall be satisfied and sanctified at once. 
 With joy and in righteousness, shall ye see his face. 
 But O thou exceeding great and eternal weight of 
 glory ! eye hath not seen thee, ear hath not heard 
 thee, heart liath not conceived. What tongue, what 
 pen of ar.qcls can describe thee ? therefore, by such 
 variety of metaphors art thou shadowed out in the 
 book of God. 
 
 O heavenly Father, give me the light of the know- 
 ledge of thy glory ! Irradiate my mind, O divine 
 Spirit ! that in thy light I may know what is the 
 riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. 
 
 As delicious meat unto the taste ; as fragrant per- 
 
120 ON THE HAPPINESS 
 
 fume unto the smell ; as melodious accents to the 
 ear; as delightful colours to the eye ; so istheknow- 
 ledg-e of wisdom unto the soul. But, " where shall 
 wisdom be found ? and where is the place of undei- 
 standing?" In vain you search for it in these dull re- 
 gions. Here, with laborious assiduity, we dig- for her 
 as for hid treasures. When found, by many a pain- 
 ful effort, how far from satisfactory ? Neither do we 
 find that knowledg-e is productive of holiness in heart 
 and life. How many, like that prodigious imag-e 
 which Daniel beheld in the visions of the night, have 
 added feet of sordid clay to heads of purest gold ? But 
 in that happy country, the night of intellectual dark- 
 ness no more attends her dusky shade. The tree of 
 knowledge is the tree of life in the celestial paradise. 
 Then each mysterious doctrine in religion shines 
 brighter than the light, and full day pours on all the 
 paths of heaven. How are the channels of the deep 
 waters discovered, through which the Almighty held 
 his darksome way ? 
 
 Sin too is banished from those bright abodes : for 
 the people that dwell there shall be all righteous. 
 No more shall the body of sin, and power of indwell- 
 ing corruptions, fetch the deep groan from the bottom 
 of the heart. That root of bitterness which here- 
 away w^as left, with bands of iron and brass, is quite 
 extirpated. No more shall Jacob and Esau struggle 
 in the womb of the sanctified ones ; nor the law in 
 the members war against the law of the mind. It is 
 true the militant graces shall resign when every ene- 
 my lies prostrate on the field ; victorious faith and 
 hope now enter into rest ; but charity never faileth, 
 — charity, which is the fulfilling of the law, shall burn 
 in purest flames for ever and ever. Happy, thrice 
 happy, they who have attained this holy perfection : 
 your harps shall be always tuned, and your garments 
 always white: now are ye eased of your greatest burden, 
 and rescued from the hands of your deadliest foe : no 
 more shall wandering thoughts annoy your heart, nor 
 
OF HEAVEN. 121 
 
 idle words flow from your tong-ue ; while we, alas ! must 
 sore complain of vanity, perverseness, and disorder in 
 mind, will, and affection ? 
 
 Neither shall there be any more pain ; for sorrow 
 shall be turned into joy. O ye that rejoice in God 
 above all, and in Christ Jesus with joy unspeakable, 
 though now you see him not, how shall you be com- 
 forted when you shall behold his face in righteous- 
 ness, wearing sweet smiles ! Will it not be good for 
 you to be with him who died for you ? with him 
 where he is, that you may behold his glory ? Then 
 shall you see those hands and feet that were pierced; 
 that side which was wounded ; that head which wore 
 the thorny crown. Is this the man who groaned and 
 died in Calvary for me I who descended into the grave 
 for me ! Yes ; this is the man, the God-man, Jesus, 
 the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever. No flight 
 of years shall dissolve the mysterious union of his 
 humanity with the divine person of the eternal Sou. 
 
 All their springs of consolation are derived from 
 this fountain of living waters; yet are there other 
 considerations in which they shall rejoice, though 
 with inferior delight. Then shall they come to you, 
 ye innumerable company of angels ; nor be startled 
 at familiar interviews with you, though disembodied 
 creatures, as they were in their mortal state. Here 
 you were the spectators of their conflicts, and the 
 guardians of their virtue ; then shall ye be the asso- 
 ciates of their bliss. 
 
 O comfortable society ! Then, too, shall we come 
 to the general assembly and church of the first-born. 
 Those who have lived in distant periods of the world 
 shall meet in one congregation. The inhabitants of 
 distant regions shall be there ; those who dwelt in 
 Britain and Judea. O large communion ! which no 
 distance of time, no length of sea or land shall con- 
 fine ; no animosity shall corrupt, world without end. 
 There our grand parents eat the tree of life, no flam- 
 ing sword forbidding all access. The patriarchs shall 
 
 H 
 
122 ON THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 wander no more as pilgrims and strang-ers, having: 
 found the country they desired. There shall >ve see 
 the venerable saint whose faith enabled him to obey, 
 without reluctance, the most difficult precept that 
 ever was given ; and him whose invincible patience 
 triumphed over the greatest load of calamities : there 
 shall we see the prophets who foretold, and the apos- 
 tles who published the power and coming; of his Ma- 
 jesty ; and all the goodly company, who loved not 
 their lives unto the death, but rendered their lives, 
 by cruel tortures, for the love of the truth. How 
 frequently is that complaint of the prophet to be tak- 
 en up in these regions of sorrows, " Woe is me ! for 
 I am as when they gather the summer fruits, and 
 there is no cluster to eat ; the good man is perished 
 out the land !" But no sinner shall be there, no de- 
 ceitful hypocrite in all the fair association. 
 
 Nor will they be insensible of joy from the glories 
 of that delightful place where they shall dwell. O 
 the novelty, the beauty, the grandeur of the heaven 
 of heavens, the house not made with hands, the city 
 that hath foundations, infinitely surpassing the tem- 
 ple of Solomon, and the city of< David ! Beautiful 
 was the earthly paradise, and beautiful the earthly 
 Canaan ; yea, beautiful is this habitable earth, where 
 many of the enemies to God reside. What then 
 must be the heavenly Paradise, the heavenly Canaan, 
 which God hath prepared for them that love him ! 
 
 And, O with what fair bodies shall they be cloth- 
 ed who have put on immortality ! " The inhabitant 
 of that land shall not say, I am sick ;" but their coun- 
 tenance shall smile with rosy celestial youth for ever- 
 more. 
 
 The hell they have avoided will accent their songs 
 of salvation ; and the world they have escaped will 
 serve as a foil to their bhss. Thus it enhanced the 
 miraculous deliverances of the Israelites, to see from 
 the safe shore the wretched Egyptians tumbling in 
 the ocean ; and as the waste and howhng wilderness 
 
ON GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESK. 123 
 
 gave additional charms to the land that flowed with 
 milk and honey. 
 
 Nor will you be inactive through long- eternity : 
 you rest not day nor night; yet shall you be strangers 
 to weariness and fatigue. To praise him shall be your 
 element ; to teach the arches of your lofty palaces to 
 resound with the name of him you loved, will be your 
 delightful employment while ages roll away. 
 
 For, O eternity ! eternity I it is thine to crown 
 the joys above. Thou art the knot which bindest the 
 bundle of life together. Without the thought of 
 thee, dim sadness would not spare the faces of the 
 blessed, their songs would be marred with dreadful 
 discordance, and all the blissful bowers would lose 
 their charms. 
 
 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SON OF 
 GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 
 
 The seventy weeks of Daniel were now elapsed, 
 and they who looked for salvation in Israel were 
 wrapt in silent expectation of the Messiah coming in 
 the name of the Lord to save them. Long had the 
 Gentile nations walked in their own ways, and the 
 Jews practised the ceremonies of Moses ; but neither 
 could the precepts of the philosopher retrieve the 
 ruins of our fall, nor could the carnal ordinances of 
 the law make them perfect who had recourse unto 
 them, as touching the conscience ; for as yet the 
 daily oblation had not ceased, nor the temple smoked 
 in ruin, into which the Messenger of the covenant, 
 according to the ancient prediction was suddenly to 
 come. The sceptre of David was now sunk into the 
 hatchet of a carpenter, and his tabernacle was fallen 
 down. Tiberius swayed the sceptre of Rome ; Herod 
 was king in Judea ; John the Baptist had lien six 
 months in the womb, who was to be the harbinger of 
 
124 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 his coming ; and a profound peace reigned over tlw 
 world, as a presage of his birth, whose name is called, 
 *' the Prince of peace." When the almighty King, 
 who is ever mindful of his covenant, dispatches, from 
 the blessed abodes, the angel Gabriel, (none of the 
 least of the heavenly throng, and not now first em- 
 ployed in embassies of love to man)» to salute the 
 Messed virgin, the mother of our Lord ; the obedient 
 angel flies, and punctually discharges his commission. 
 But, O ye Papists, though he honours her as a saint, 
 he worships her not as a goddess. A new thing in- 
 deed it was in the earth, that a virgin should con- 
 ceive ; but by no means impossible unto the Holy 
 Ghost to bring about by his over-shadowing power. 
 If once a woman was formed out of the substance of 
 a man, why should not that same divine power be fully 
 able to produce a man out of the substance of a wo- 
 man ? May we not humbly judge, that it came from 
 Him who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in 
 working, that for the general honour of our nature, 
 the Saviour did spring from that feeble sex which was 
 first in the transgression? For, "as the woman is of 
 the man, even so also the man is by the woman : 
 but all things are of God." O condescending Savi- 
 our, blessed, beyond all peradventure, was the womb 
 that bare thee, and those paps that gave thee suck : 
 nor is it easy to conceive how a sinful woman could 
 be more highly honoure'^, than to carry thee in her 
 womb, unless by having thee formed in her heart. 
 
 Here let us forego all idle speculations about what 
 other methods were possible to God, by which to send 
 forth his Son into our lower world, and let us rather 
 be willing to discern the characters of wisdom that 
 are evidently instamped upon this dispensation, such 
 as it is ; for, had a body been prepared him of no- 
 thing, of the dust of the ground, or of some heavenly 
 materials, he would not have been of the same flesh 
 andblood with those he intended to redeem ; or had it 
 been produced in the ordinary method of human gen- 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 125 
 
 ^ration, he would have been involved in the same 
 g'uilt of Adam's original sin with the rest of mankind, 
 whom he represented in the first broken covenant. As 
 in the former case, his relation to us would have (for 
 what appears) been too remote ; so in the latter, he 
 would (in all appearance) have been too like us, not 
 only in the qualities of our nature, but in the guilt 
 of our persons. But now he is born of a woman, and 
 therefore of our bone, and of our flesh ; and because 
 his mother is a virgin, we easily understand how he is 
 holy, undefiled, and separated from sinners. But here 
 a difficulty arises to our thoughts ; for, if she is a 
 virgin that shall be with child by the Holy Ghost, 
 who shall preserve her character from the unjust as- 
 persions of the world ? It is far more fitting that her 
 holy child Jesus shall confirm the truth of his divine 
 extraction, by the tenor of his deportment, when 
 adult, than that she shall be the asserter of it. There- 
 fore she is betrothed unto a husband, who is at once 
 the witness and the guardian of her virginity. 
 
 But leaving the sacred embryo to be curiously 
 wrought in the lower parts of the earth by the fingers 
 of the Almighty, let us next see in what manner the 
 heavenly infant was ushered into the light. " For 
 thou Bethlehem-Ephratah, though little among the 
 thousands of Judah," according to the prophets, 
 " shalt give birth to the Ruler of Israel." But though 
 the blessed virgin can trace her genealogy from Da- 
 vid and from Abraham, she is a resident of Nazareth, 
 from whence no prophet was expected to arise. How 
 then shall the prediction be accomplished ? The em- 
 peror of Rome issues a royal edict, that all his large 
 dominion shall be taxed. He meant to fill his coffers 
 with money ; but a greater Sovereign than he intend- 
 ed the fulfilling of his promises. While every man 
 repairs to his city to be taxed, in obedience to the 
 imperial mandate, Joseph his father, as was supposed, 
 repairs among the rest to Bethlehem, the city of his 
 family, being of the house and lineage of David, 
 
 H 2 
 
12G ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 And now he is arrived with Mary, his espoused wife} 
 who being- near the time of her deUvery, had been di- 
 rected by providence, or special instinct, to accom- 
 pany her husband on this occasion. No costly palace 
 receives our wearied travellers ; a common inn is the 
 place of his nativity, — perhaps a silent intimation, 
 that he himself should be a common Saviour ; nor 
 even in the inn could a commodious apartment be 
 spared to the Lord of heaven and earth. Ye men of 
 Bethlehem, what a guest did you exclude ! The coarse 
 accommodation of the manger was all his mother 
 could obtain for her tender infant. Lo ! there He 
 lies wrapt in swaddHng clothes, whom the heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain : He is associated with the 
 herds in the stall, whom all the angels adore ! For 
 this is He^ — believe it ye children of men, — whose 
 name is Immanuel, which by interpretation is, God 
 with us ! This is He who, from all everlasting, was 
 the brightness of the Father's glory, the express im- 
 age of his person, who rejoiced always before him, and 
 was daily his delight I This is He who was in the 
 form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal 
 with God ; but, for our salvation, he is clothed in 
 flesh and blood, and now become a helpless feeble 
 infant ! O ye beautiful scenes of the creation, thou 
 glorious sun, thou silver moon, and all ye glittering 
 stars, in you the invisible things of God are clearly 
 seen ; but now ye are eclipsed by the more excellent 
 glory, — God manifested in the flesh I Come hither, 
 ye that thirst for curious knowledge, and lose yourself 
 in thankful admiration ; for the person of the eternal 
 Word, by whom all things were made, is found in the 
 likeness of man, is become as our brother, that suck- 
 ed the breasts of our mother : not that he stripped 
 himself of any divine perfection, or ceased to be what 
 he was ; but, by a most ineff'able act of condescension 
 and power, he has vailed the glory of his divinity, 
 and become what he was not, by assuming a portion 
 of our humanity to subsist in his own personahty. 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 127 
 
 O mysterious infant, the glory of our race, who art 
 not ashamed to call us brethren ! Now, thou art ful- 
 ly able to give our ransom unto God, and the re- 
 demption of our souls, though precious, shall not 
 cease for ever. 
 
 What charming melody is that breaking the silence 
 of the night, and tasting strong of heaven ? It is a 
 multitude of the heavenly host praising God in strains 
 of highest rapture. O shepherds I blessed were your 
 ears to hear such early tidings of a Saviour born in 
 the city of David. Though your heads were wet with 
 dew, and your locks with the drops of the night ; yet 
 none of the princes of this world could boast of such 
 an honour. But, lo ! three eastern sages, conducted 
 by a wonderous star, or glittering meteor, come from 
 a far country to seek and worship the Princely Babe 
 of Bethlehem. They are not scandalized at the in- 
 glorious figure the infant King did cast ; but perceiv- 
 ing the rays of Deity, even through the vail of flesh, 
 Tsuch is the power of faith), they not only offer unto 
 him costly presents, but address him with divine 
 honours. A sad presage, ye children of the kingdom, 
 that "many shall come from the east, and from the 
 west, and from the south, and from the north, and 
 shall sit down with Abraham, with Isaac, and with 
 Jacob, in the kingdom of God, when you yourselves 
 shall be cast out." In vain does the besotted tyrant 
 of Judea think to reverse the high decrees of Heaven, 
 by issuing out a bloody mandate to murder the tender 
 innocents. While their mfant-blood defiles the streets 
 of Bethlehem, Egypt herself shall be a sanctuary to 
 the young Prince of peace. Be comforted, ye mothers, 
 whose lovely babes have perished in so good a cause, 
 and received such an early crown. In a little time 
 the cruel murderer shall feel the weight of so many 
 just curses upon his guilty head; and the Messias 
 shall reign in spite of his infuriate and feeble rage. 
 
 We cannot reasonably doubt, but the young Re- 
 deemer gave early proofs of his divine original. It 
 
128 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 was, no doubt, a very pleasing employment to the- 
 hig-hly-favoured parents, to rear up this tender plant 
 by a thousand endearing offices ; to mark the first 
 buddings of his genius more than mortal ; and to ob- 
 serve the blossoms of every heavenly grace that adorn- 
 ed his holy soul. But as it hath seemed good to the 
 wisdom of the Holy Ghost to be very sparing in the 
 history of his private life, after he called his Son out 
 of Egypt, we must be content to remain in ignorance 
 of what is not revealed. Yet, as a specimen of the 
 rest, one remarkable occurrence is transmitted down 
 to our knowledge concerning the holy child Jesus. 
 He had numbered but twelve revolving years, when, 
 accompanying his religious parents to the solemn fes- 
 tival of the passover, young as he was, he could main- 
 tain a dispute even with the doctors in the temple. 
 His parents, not suspecting where he was, seek him 
 with sorrowful hearts, and the third day restores him 
 to their longing eyes. Wist ye not that he had the 
 business of his heavenly Father to look after, and that 
 he needs not your paternal care ! For, though his 
 parents should both forsake him, the Lord will take 
 him up. — Ye learned doctors, little thought you, that 
 the amazing child, who talked with you to the great 
 admiration of every beholder, was he, of whom the 
 prophet says, " To us a child is born, to us a Son is 
 given : and his name shall be called. Wonderful, 
 Counsellor, and the mighty God." 
 
 For the space of thirty years he lurked in obscurity 
 in the contemptible village of Nazareth. Who would 
 have suspected that the son of the carpenter was him- 
 self the everlasting Father, and the Creator of all the 
 ends of the earth ? But now the time is come when 
 he shews himself unto Israel. What venerable person 
 is he, who, like the ancient Ellas, wears a hairy gar- 
 ment ; and, in the villages of the wilderness, preaches 
 the doctrine of repentance, talks of the kingdom of 
 heaven being at hand, of the axe to the root, the fan 
 to the wheat, and the chaff to the fire ? It is the fore- 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUiMAN FLESH. 129 
 
 runner of Christ, " the voice of one crying in the wil- 
 derness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." See how 
 the multitudes flock after him to his baptism ! even 
 Christ himself condescends to be baptized of him. 
 The hoary Baptist wonders, that the Master should 
 come to the servant, who was not worthy to perform 
 the meanest office to such an exalted Dignitary. But 
 "thus it became him to fulfil all righteousness." — 
 Once he was circumcised, to sanctify the church that 
 then was, to honour the divine ordinances, and to tes- 
 tify that he was a debtor to do the whole law. And 
 now he is baptized, to sanctify the church that is to 
 be, and to confirm his faith, by this expressive sign, 
 in the promise of his everlasting Father. For, though 
 he needed not the washing of regeneration, (as we) ; 
 yet, when he descended into the baptismal waters, it 
 signified the large effusion of the Spirit upon his sa- 
 cred humanity, to qualify him fully for his high and 
 saving work. And may we not also think, that when 
 he ascended from the consecrated stream into which 
 he went down with willing steps, he was then assur- 
 ed, that in like manner he should lift up his head 
 above the waters of adversity, and emerge victorious 
 from under the billows of his Father's wrath ? O 
 Jordan, it was a strange thing that befel thee, when 
 thy waters drove back their course at the presence of 
 God, and when Elijah smote them with his mantle : 
 'but much more strange is this, that he who poured 
 them into thy bed, and made the dry land, and the 
 fountains of waters, is now washed in thy hallowed 
 wave ; while from on high the heavens are opened, a 
 voice is heard from the excellent glory, and the Holy 
 Ghost, in the likeness of a dove, descends upon him. 
 Now, let us follow the illustrious Redeemer from 
 the banks of Jordan unto the solitary wilderness, where 
 Moses the giver, and Elias the restorer of the law, 
 fasted forty days ; and where the ancient Israelites 
 provoked him forty years. There, too, the great Ful- 
 filler of the law, during the space of forty days, abstains 
 
130 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 from food, being- supported by a divine power, and fed 
 with holy contemplation. But afterwards he feels the 
 gnawing power of hunger ; to expiate the luxury of 
 Adam in the garden of paradise, and to demonstrate 
 the truth of his humanity. When, lo ! the subtile 
 enemy is permitted to assault his virtue by sundry en- 
 snaring artifices. But all his efforts are baffled by this 
 Captain of our salvation. — Think it not strange, O 
 humble soul, if this malicious spirit shall tempt, with 
 restless importunity, even to the most atrocious 
 crimes, and shall abuse even the sacred oracles to this 
 vile purpose. He came unto the glorious Head, in 
 all points tempted like as we are. But being resisted 
 by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 
 he betakes himself to shameful flight. 
 
 Let us now proceed to trace the most interesting- 
 steps of our Redeemer's life, when he dwelt among us 
 in our flesh. And shall we first listen unto him as a 
 teacher come from God ! With what inimitable au- 
 thority ! with what irresistible wisdom, impartial free- 
 dom, undaunted boldness, unwearied diligence, burn- 
 ing zeal ! with what homely plainness, condescending 
 humility, tender compassion, amiable meekness, long- 
 suff'ering patience, divine delight, did he preach righ- 
 teousness in the great congregation ! How eloquent ! 
 How pathetic ! How mighty in the Scriptures ! — 
 But who can enumerate all the wonderful works which, 
 by his own power, and for the manifestation of his 
 own glory, he effected ? The raging element of w ater 
 he stills with a powerful word, and walks upon its 
 rolling surges. Trees withered at his rebuke ; fishes 
 have paid his tribute. How often did he give sight 
 to the blind ; hearing to the deaf ; speech to the 
 dumb ; strength to the weak ; health to the diseased ; 
 purity to the defiled ? Even strong death could not 
 retain his prisoners, when he gave the high command. 
 Never were words so gracious as those he spake. 
 Never were works so glorious as those he did. 
 
 Perhaps it might be enquired, In what palace he 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 131 
 
 dwelt ? what riches he possessed ? what princes was 
 he acquainted with ? But thoug-h he calls the silver 
 and the gold his own, if he pays tribute, a fish sup- 
 plies him with money ; if he rides, he must borrow an 
 ass. He built the sky, and had not where to lay his 
 head. He prepares the corn, and was fed at the table 
 of others. O poverty ! how dost thou expose to con- 
 tempt even the greatest wisdom, and most solid vir- 
 tue, in this degenerate world ! But though he was 
 rich, for our sakes he became poor ; and by his poverty, 
 we shall be enriched. 
 
 The faithless and perverse generation among whom 
 he conversed, not content with rejecting his heavenly 
 doctrines, blaspheming his miracles, and staining his 
 moral character with the most odious imputations, 
 arrived at that enormous pitch of wickedness, as on 
 many occasions to thirst for his blood. Sometimes 
 they take up stones to cast at him, as an abominable 
 wretch, unworthy to breathe the vital air ; and some- 
 times they lead him to the brow of an hill, with an 
 impious intention to cast him down, though in the 
 village where he was born, and though, a while before, 
 they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded 
 out of his mouth. 
 
 Nor was the conclusion of the scene unlike its be- 
 ginning. Even to the last we find him a man of sor- 
 rows. Is it nothing to you, O ye children of men ? 
 Much every way. For, by his bloody sweat you are 
 purged, by his condemnation you are absolved, by his 
 bonds you are loosed, by his death you are quickened, 
 and by his stripes you are healed. Nor must we re- 
 gard the last dismal sufferings of the Redeemer in the 
 light of an affecting tragedy, but of an evangelical 
 history. 
 
 Already he had made his triumphant, though lowly 
 entrance into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass, amid the 
 acclamations of the populace, in accomplishment of 
 an ancient prediction. His eye had melted in tender 
 compassion over the bloody city. He had eat the last 
 
132 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 passover, and instituted the new solemnity of the 
 supper. Many excellent discourses he had made to 
 his sorrowful disciples ; and, hy the significant cere- 
 mony of washing- their feet, he strongly inculcated, 
 how by love we should serve one another in all humi- 
 lity. — But as once we saw him in the wilderness, let 
 us now attend him into that garden of Gethsemane, 
 the scene of his dreadful agony, where he trode the 
 wine-press alone, or rather was trodden in the wine- 
 press of his Father's wrath ; where he was in all the 
 mysteries of woe ; where he beheld the angry face of 
 God ; and felt the sting of death, long- sharpened (if 
 we may use the expression) upon the stony tables of 
 the law, infixed into his very soul. See how he lies 
 all prostrate on the ground ; and pressed out of mea- 
 sure, with an invisible load, till large drops of blood 
 issue from every opened pore ! What words were 
 these, O Saviour, that dropped from thy lips in this 
 sore and bloody conflict, when, in the most fervent 
 manner, thou didst deprecate the bitter cup ? Was it 
 the prospect of thy cruel death ? Was it the terror of 
 thy crucifixion, that made thee to stand ag-hast, and 
 to shrink back with shuddering- horror ! O no ; thy 
 martyrs have rejoiced even in the sternest tribulations, 
 have bid defiance to all the variety of torture, and re- 
 solutely met the king of terrors in his most formid- 
 able armour. For they beheld the face of God clad 
 with sweet smiles, while their afflictions did abound. 
 But thine it was to know the power of God's anger ; 
 according to his fear, so is his wrath. It was the bur- 
 den of our guilt ; and it was the lively sense of the 
 Almighty's indignation, that filled thee with such 
 amazing anguish, and extorted from thy human na- 
 ture confession of distress, in tears and groans, and 
 prayers to him that was able to save thee from death. 
 But he survives the bloody sweat, being- strength- 
 ened by an angel, and supported by his own divinity ; 
 when, lo ! the perfidious traitor comes, and dares ap- 
 proach to salute with a treacherous kiss those lips 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 133 
 
 that knew no guile. For the wretched gain of 
 thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, when 
 pushed by an ox that he died, (a goodly price that he 
 was prized at by them !) did this miserable sinner be- 
 tray his Lord and Master. O cursed lust of gold ! 
 to what enormous crimes canst thou urge on the 
 human mind ! — But who are these he brings along 
 with him ? Romans and Jews sent from the high 
 priests. " Why do the heathen rage, and the people 
 imagine a vain thing, to plot against the Lord, and 
 his Anointed?" Against whom do they come thus 
 equipped with swords and staves? — But what is this? 
 They go backward, and fall to the ground ! — Under- 
 stand, ye wicked, that he is able to slay you with the 
 breath of his mouth, and cast you down beyond the 
 possibility of arising. But his hour is now come. — Take 
 him, and lead him away. — Let the disciples retire at 
 the permission of their Lord. — And thou Peter put 
 up thy sword : leave vengeance unto God. 
 
 The breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of the 
 Lord, is taken in their pits. He is bound like a 
 malefactor, who proclaims liberty to the captives. 
 Easily could he act the Samson, upon this occasion. 
 But the justice of his Father forbids it; and the cords 
 of his own love, stronger than all fetters, hold him 
 fast. Where do they lead him but to the high priest, 
 as a lamb to the slaughter ? 
 
 Li vain does the conscience of Pilate remonstrate 
 the innocency of the Pannel. In vain does the wife 
 of Pilate dissuade from sanguinary methods, and tell 
 about her ominous dream the preceding night. The 
 silly judge, iutimidated by the threats, and dunned by 
 the ince&sant clamour of the mob, delivers Jesus unto 
 their will, and releases unto them the murderer whom 
 they preferred. — W^hat barbarous indignities were 
 done unto him, both before and after he received his 
 sentence, may justly raise our wonder, while they ex- 
 cite our detestation. Lo ! he is exceedingly filled 
 with contempt, being forced to wear the ludicrous en- 
 
134 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 signs of majesty; his crown is a wreath of thorns; his 
 sceptre a reed ; the Judge of Israel is smitten with a rod 
 reproachfully ; he hides not his face from shame and 
 spitting ; they rest not here, for his back is prepared 
 for the tearing scourge. In these circumstances of 
 disgrace, he is denied by his own apostle who had the 
 courage to follow him. O Peter, hear you not the 
 witnesses accusing him falsely? Is this your kindness 
 to your friend ? Where is now your confident boast- 
 ing ? But so it was foretold by Christ ; and for this 
 let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. 
 
 Ah ! how have we made him to serve with our 
 iniquities ! For panting, and spent with toil, and 
 covered with blood and sweat, he bears the cross. 
 " His visage is marred more than any man's, and his 
 form than the sons of men." And now he is arrived 
 at the appointed place for consummating this melan- 
 choly scene ; his garments are parted ; the assembly 
 of the wicked inclose him round ; they pierce his 
 hands and feet ; see how he hangs suspended on the 
 racking cross, betwixt the heavens and the earth ! 
 
 No fountain relieves his parching thirst I No 
 angel strengthens him from heaven! No Peter draws 
 n sword in his quarrel I His inexpressible torments 
 are not able to command one tear from the unpitying 
 spectators, who shake the head at him in cruel scorn, 
 wrest his words, and mock his prayers ! — Even the 
 sun withdraws his light ! O golden ruler of the day, 
 didst thou fly the pain of thy Maker? Or, was it 
 incensed justice, that arrested thy beams from giving 
 light unto the suffering Surety ? But more horrid 
 was the darkness of his soul, when thou, O heavenly 
 Father, withheld the pleasing beams of thy coun- 
 tenance. Persecuted but not forsaken, may be the 
 motto of the suffering saint, but not of the suffering- 
 Saviour. Even in this hour and power of darkness, 
 he casts not his confidence away ; but, having com- 
 mended his mother to a beloved apostle, and his spi- 
 rit unto his beloved Father, he bows the head, and 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. 135 
 
 renders up the ghost. The earth quakes ; the dead 
 arise ; the temple rends her vail ; then were ye spoil- 
 ed, O principalities and powers; then justice was satis- 
 fied, the law was magnified ; the mighty works which 
 had employed the thoughts of God from all everlast- 
 ing, and which shall be the subject of the most de- 
 lightful contemplation to all the redeemed company, 
 world without end, did then receive its consummation. 
 
 O that this dying love of God might dwell for 
 ever in our thoughts; constrain us to every duty, and 
 deter us from every sin ! Must the Son of God ex- 
 piate, with such direful sufferings, sin, not his own ? 
 What then must they endure for their own sins, who 
 refuse to learn, from this amazing example, the in- 
 finite evil of that abominable thing ? 
 
 Great was thy victory, O death, when even the 
 Son of God slept in the chamber of the tomb, a 
 prisoner of darkness; a pale and ghastly corpse. But 
 wo unto us, if the gospel history had left him in the 
 silent grave. Then had the expectation of the poor 
 perished ; then had his promise failed for ever ; then 
 had we been still in our sins, unpurged, unpardoned. 
 
 But the third day beheld him emerging from the 
 darksome grave. In vain they set a watch, and seal 
 the stone. It is not possible he can be held. The 
 wounds of his body are miraculously healed ; the se- 
 parated spirit is reunited by a divine power, before he 
 saw corruption ; and he arises as a man refreshed with 
 sleep springs from his bed, when the morning shines 
 with purple radiance. No more shall infirmity clog 
 thy llesh ; or sorrow cloud thy brow, O risen Savi- 
 our. No more shall death reduce thee under his 
 gloomy power. Thy warfare is accomplished, and thou 
 hast received of the Lord's hand double for all our sins. 
 
 O earth, why didst thou quake ? and what disturb- 
 ed your repose, ye sleeping bones ? It was at the pre- 
 sence of the God of Jacob, who lately was crucified 
 in weakness ; but now he is raised in power. The 
 earth casts forth her dead. Sleep on, ye remaining 
 
136 ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 
 prisoners of the dust ; a time, a time will come, when 
 je too shall awake and sing-, and ascend to meet him 
 m the air. Ye living saints, rejoice that death is 
 swallowed up in victory. The grave, that hung-rr 
 monster, catching the hait of his humanity, was not 
 aware of the hook of his divinity, and swallowed its 
 own destruction. Now, may we rest in full assurance, 
 that all our debt is paid, when, by the order of the 
 Creditor, the Surety is taken from prison and from 
 judgment. For, lo ! a shining minister, whose coun- 
 tenance is as lightning and his raiment white as 
 snow, descends to roll away the stone from the holy 
 sepulchre ! For fear of him the keepers did shake, 
 and became as dead men. No doubt he was fully 
 able to have removed the stone, who had power to 
 lay down his life, and had power to take it up again. 
 For even the pillars of heaven tremble, and are aston- 
 ished at his reproof. But it was the will of the eter- 
 nal Father, that these excellent and glorious crea- 
 tures round his throne should put this token of re- 
 spect upon their Lord and ours, even in his lowest 
 humiliation. Hail happy day, on which a more glori- 
 ous work was finished, than when he planted the hea- 
 vens, and laid the foundations of the earth ! May 
 that sweet day of sacred rest be the joy of our souls ! 
 Then may we often join with God and angels, in re- 
 membering this most illustrious work, a finished 
 
 REDEMPTION ! 
 
 The victory is complete; what remains but that the 
 Victor shall triumph ? The atoning sacrifice is offered ; 
 what remains but that the High Priest shall enter with- 
 in the vail ? Forty days he converses with his dis- 
 ciples, instructing them in the nature of his kingdom, 
 by his heavenly discourses; and confirming them in the 
 certainty of his resurrection, by his frequent appear- 
 ances. Then does he lead them out as far as Bethany 
 and the mount of Olives. By that way he once 
 came to his ignominious cross ; and by that way he 
 returns to his glorious crown. And how did he em." 
 
SON OF GOD IN HUMAN FLE5K. 137 
 
 ploy the last parting- moments, but in blessing- his be- 
 loved apostles ; and assuring" them of his being ever 
 present with them in the discharge of their office 
 even when they should see him again no more ? 
 
 Could we have stood among that favoured few, 
 who witnessed this glorious transaction, then would 
 we have seen him slowly ascending from the earth ; 
 not snatched as Elijah in a whirlwind ; till an obe- 
 dient cloud receives him from the sight of the aston- 
 ished gazers, who had already seen enough to satisfy 
 their faith. " Be lifted up, ye everlasting doors of 
 paradise, that the King of glory may come in." Lis- 
 ten to the triumphant shout wherewith the blessed 
 assembly hailed his arrival. Observe the trophies of 
 of his victory ; the blunted sting of death, and the 
 keys of hell and the grave. Great was the pomp, 
 thou Sinai didst behold, when the Holy One descend- 
 ed on thy top, and out of his right hand went a iieiy 
 law ; but greater, doubtless, was the pomp, when he 
 ascended on high, leading captivity captive, after he 
 had magnified the law, and made it honourable. 
 
 Now, reign for ever, blessed Lord Jesus, upon thy 
 heavenly throne. For ever shall a crown of glory en- 
 circle thy radiant head. No more shalt thou com- 
 plain of a sorrowful soul, or a forsaking God. With 
 what infinite satisfaction shalt thou for ever revolve 
 thy past agonies, and see the travail of thy soul! Obe- 
 dient angels cast their crowns before thee. With 
 thee shall the church militant swell their song even in 
 this vale of tears. And unto thee shall the triumph- 
 ant church ascribe eternal praise, saying, with a loud 
 voice, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to re- 
 ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
 and honour, and glory, and blessing." To join the 
 songs on high, may we also in thy due time be 
 brought ! Amen. 
 
138 ON CHRIST LAID IN THE GRAVE. 
 
 ON CHRIST LAID IN THE GRAVE. 
 
 Is this the place ? Is this the gloom ? How dismal 
 the situation ! How ghastly the appearance ! See 
 there his face defiled with deadly paleness ! His eyes 
 closed in death ! His body, covered with hideous 
 wounds, and scars of ignominy, lies stiff and motion- 
 less, wrapped in a mournful shroud ! O how unlike 
 the place, the state from whence thou didst descend ! 
 And was it then for this thou left the skies ? Is this 
 that glorious person by whom the worlds were made? 
 who hung the starry globes on high ? gave rays unto 
 the sun, and brightness to the moon ? He thunders 
 with the voice of his excellency ; frighting the na- 
 tions with the tremendous roar. Lo! silence broods 
 around him deep as the night, or summer's noon-^ide 
 air. Ah! where is thy glory fled? Where are those 
 bright ministers, who have in charge to be thy constant 
 attendants, in all thy ways to keep thee ? these who 
 proclaimed thy birth ; hymned thy arrival on this 
 earth ; and who, with kindly services, refreshed thy 
 wearied virtue, in the day of thy temptation in the 
 wilderness ? Why have you abandoned your Lord 
 in such disgrace ? Why do you not brighten this 
 dismal place with your celestial splendour, that it 
 may look somewhat like the tomb of such a person ? 
 But, what are ye? Such a mysterious event the sun 
 could not behold, had not the sovereign Mind, who 
 rules on high, consented. — But why, O heavenly 
 Father, would thou forsake the darling of thy bosom, 
 who always did the things which pleased thee ? as 
 was by thee declared, when, from the opening cloud, 
 thou sent the heavenly Dove, who rested on his 
 head, when he ascended from the baptismal waters. 
 The hoary Baptist marvelled ; and every beholder 
 was lost in admiration. A voice sounded from the 
 excellent glory ; a voice, which was afterwards repeated : 
 " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 
ON CHRIST RISING OUT OF THE GRAVE. 139 
 
 Forbear, vain mortal, to tax the divine procedure. 
 You see the Surety, who just now paid the debt of 
 mankind. You behold the slaughtered victim, the 
 sacrifice of a sweet smelling- savour. Though here 
 the earthly part of his humanity is humbled for a 
 time ; yet shortly, very shortly, you may, with rap- 
 tured eyes, behold him emerging from these darksome 
 shades, much like the vigorous sun. But know, that 
 thine iniquity did bring him to the dust of death, and 
 plunged him in these depths of ignominy. 
 
 Ah ! cursed monster, sin, what hast thou done ? I 
 formerly heard you cast the angels from their bright 
 abodes, to coasts of dark destruction : and man was 
 driven by thee from paradise, and all its flowery plea- 
 sures. By your means, the race of men were buried 
 in a watery grave. You called for fire and brimstone, 
 to ky in ashes the proud towers and tents of wicked- 
 ness and lust, in Sodom's evil day. Thine is the pes- 
 tilence. The bed of languishing is thine, and every 
 sickness. You opened the pit of corruption, and fur- 
 nished with deadly arrows, the inexhausted quiver of 
 the king of terrors. Were not these achievements 
 sufficient to glut thy rage ? With these, audacious 
 monster, thou mightst have been content. How dared 
 you attack the Son of God, and kill the Prmce of 
 Life ? But know for this, thou thyself shalt die. 
 Thyself shalt be condemned. Lo ! in that grave I 
 see thee laid ; and gradually shalt thou consume away, 
 till even the hard and solid bones shall be reduced to 
 dust, without a vestige remaining. 
 
 ON CHRIST RISING OUT OF THE GRAVE. 
 
 I WILL not anxiously enquire, who shall roll me 
 away the stone, or waft me over the seas, to view the 
 local spot where the dead Redeemer was laid a breath- 
 less corpse. This I leave to you, sons of delusion, 
 who, destitute of true devotion, trudge many a need- 
 
140 OK CHRIST RISING OUT OF THE GRAVE. 
 
 less Step. But let me find the holy sepulchre in the 
 field of meditation ; and on the feet of love, and with 
 the eye of faith, let me approach and view the place 
 where thou, O Lord, didst lie. 
 
 When he beheld the g-rave of Lazarus, he wept. 
 Shall I not drop a tear, when, Oh ! it was mine ini- 
 quity that brought to the dust of death, and closed 
 his eyes in cruel slumbers ? But, wherefore weep ? 
 Why not rejoice also ? O death ! where is thy pri- 
 soner ? He is not here, but he is risen ; for the third 
 morn beheld him despise the g-rave. 
 
 He rose, he rose ; he burst the bars of death j 
 And with him all our triumph o'er the tomb. 
 
 What an agreeable perfume is exhaled from thif< 
 delig-htful place ! Here is no noisome g-rave, for no 
 sepulchral stench offends the nostril. The sacrifice 
 of a sweet- smelling- savour, hath left a most inviting 
 odour, which restoreth my soul again. 
 
 But hath he left those garments, this linen, pure 
 and white — emblem of his unspotted righteousness — 
 to me and all his followers ? Like the divine Elijah, 
 who left this mortal stage, nor felt the stroke of death 
 — a privilege, which, for our sakes, was not indulged 
 to a far greater than he. Lo ! there a napkin to wipe 
 all tears from off all faces. Lo ! garments of salva- 
 tion, and linen pure and white, are ready at your 
 hand. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 My languid spirits revive. I feel a lively vigour 
 diffuse itself over all my powers. What wonder that 
 such quickening influence proceeds from thy sepulchre. 
 Lord of life, when even a prophet's sleeping bones, 
 touched into life a stiffened corpse ! So sacred story 
 tells. Here let me come, and bring my lifeless heart, 
 when deadness seizes my soul ; here let me enter ; 
 here let me dwell. 
 
 My lusts be buried here; for ever lie entombed my 
 fears. O death ! where is thy sting ? Where is th}- 
 
ON CHRIST COMPARED TO THP: SUN. 141 
 
 victory, boasting- grave ? I no more consider th^e as 
 a gloomy dungeon. Now thou art a quiet sanctuary 
 — a downy bed — a lightsome mansion, and a peaceful 
 haven, in order to receive the weary wanderer, long 
 lost upon this troublous ocean of anxious cares and 
 tribulations. 
 
 ON CHRIST COMPARED TO THE SUN. 
 
 See there the glorious ruler of the day, who re- 
 joices as a strong man to run a race ! How universal 
 is his influence ! How rapid, and how constant is his 
 motion ! That heavenly lamp has blazed for multi- 
 tudes of ages, in the blue vault of the firmament. 
 Empires have arisen and decayed ; populous cities 
 have been laid in ashes, without any trace now re- 
 maining of their ancient dignity and grandeur. All 
 these revolutions have been beheld by this bright eye 
 of the world, without any visible diminution, or mate- 
 rial alteration. The self same sun now cheers us 
 with his beams, that arose upon former generations ; 
 and will administer the same consolation unto others, 
 when we shall be laid in the dust. Whether shall we 
 most admire the beauty or the usefulness of this re- 
 splendent luminary ? Not a more beauteous creature 
 did ever drop from the creating hands of the Almighty. 
 To this bright orb we are indebted for cheerful hght, 
 and genial warmth. 
 
 Without his powerful aid, we should for ever mourn 
 under the frown of hideous darkness, and pine away 
 under the piercing rage of winter. The rivers would 
 be hardened into ice, and the mountains covered with 
 eternal snow. Who could live in his cold ? Were it 
 not for his beneficial influence, our eyes would not be 
 charmed with the sight of vernal bloom, or summer's 
 rose ; our nostrils would not be saluted with the sweets 
 of the garden ; our taste would not be regaled with 
 
 12 
 
142 ON CHRIST COMPARED 
 
 the fruits of the autumn, and golden treasures of the 
 harvest. It is this which makes the melancholy de- 
 sert to rejoice, the fields to smile, the little hills to 
 sing". When he rejoices in his east, how do the cheer- 
 ful birds hail his arrival I And even the clouds of 
 melancholy are dispelled from the human mind. Fair 
 in himself, he beautifies all nature's works. He paints 
 the flowers of the spring- ; he clothes in sunny robes, 
 the rose and the lily ; he tips with gold, the morning 
 and the evening clouds ; and in the day of rain, the 
 bright etherial bow derives from him that inimitable 
 brightness which charms the eye of gazing multitudes. 
 Fair looks the sun, and fair the morning ray ; but 
 not to be compared with the beauty of the Lord, which 
 above all things, the sanctified soul is desirous of be- 
 holding. O thou who wast dead and art ahve again 
 — who livest for ever — thou brightest Sun of Right- 
 eousness, that shined in the firmament of the church 
 from the most early ages — that existed before the day- 
 spring knew his place — and that wilt be unto thy peo- 
 ple for an everlasting light ; who shall declare thy 
 matchless beauty, thy dazzling splendour, thy univer- 
 sal influence I When we essay to lift our weak and 
 sickly eyes to thee, we are not able to take a steady 
 view of the incomprehensible glory of thy mysteri- 
 ous person, for thou dwellest in the darkness of too 
 much light. By thee is life and immortality brought 
 to light ; and, were it not for thy directive ray, who 
 should guide our feet in the way of peace ? We no 
 more need to wander in uncertainty ; nor is the grave 
 a frightful prospect unto dying mortals. In thy light, 
 O let me walk ! and in thy light work out my own salva- 
 tion. O warm my cold afi'ections, and melt my frozen 
 heart with thy all-powerful beam. Enkindle such a 
 flame as many waters cannot quench. In vain, ye 
 gospel ministers, ye stars in the firmament of the 
 church ; in vain ye shade your feeble rays, when he, 
 the Fountain of your day, refuses to arise. Ye twink- 
 ling sparks of worldly comforts, you cannot drive away 
 
TO THE SUN. 
 
 143 
 
 the night of melancholy from our dejected spirits ; but 
 when he scatters his rays, and shews his face, O how 
 the shadows fly away ! 
 
 Then cheerfulness and joy return unto the soul, 
 and the voice of melody is heard in the tabernacles of 
 the righteous. " The flowers appear in the earth, the 
 time of the singing of birds is come." But when he 
 hides away his face, ah ! what withering of the soul ! 
 Then, ye trees of righteousness, the planting of the 
 Lord, that he may be glorified, resign your blooming 
 pride; and your branches are not loaded, as usual, 
 with the fruits of righteousness. 
 
 When clouds and darkness are round about us, in 
 the dark day of tribulation and afiliction, what direful 
 gloom would overspread our souls, but that this kindly 
 Sun of Righteousness stamps on our blackest clouds, a 
 glorious brightness. It is the bow in the cloud, which 
 makes our darkness smile. 
 
 Dreadful was that eclipse which thou didst labour 
 under, O thou light of the world ! when ofl'ering up 
 thyself through the eternal Spirit. From the hiding 
 of the Father's face, from the frown of his angry coun- 
 tenance, wast thou shorn of thy rays. Arraigned be- 
 fore an earthly tribunal — condemned with injustice — 
 wounded with ignominious scourges, and piercing 
 thorns, and crucified with unutterable agony, I see 
 thee descending into the grave. The rocks, the flinty 
 rocks, had compassion upon thy piteous sufferings. 
 Nor could the sun conceal his indignation ; for in that 
 hour and power of darkness, he laid aside his bride- 
 groom atrire, and clothed himself in sackcloth. Red 
 and bloody was thy setting, in the evening of thy 
 mortal life ; but glorious was thy arising, in the morn- 
 ing of thy resurrection. 
 
 For us, not for thyself, thou wast eclipsed in such 
 bloody sufferings, that we might not for ever dwell 
 in the dark regions of the shadow of death. Shine 
 thou for ever, blessed Jesus, in the firmament of the 
 church, and in the firmament of my soul ! Who shall 
 
144 ON CHRIST COMPARED TO THE SUN. 
 
 pluck thee from thy sphere, or arrest thee in thy pro- 
 gress ? Not all the powers of hell, nor the united 
 force of inward lusts, and strong- corruptions. Arise 
 upon the darkened nations with healing- in thy wings ; 
 and chase away ignorance and delusion, by the bright- 
 ness of thy coming-. 
 
 Blessed are those happy people, on whom thou spread- 
 est thy cheerful lig-ht; who triumph in thy beams, and 
 solace themselves under thy genial warmth. But, ah ! 
 how many times thy rays are intercepted by the moon 
 of a present world interposing- itself betwixt thee and 
 us ! How frequently the cares, how frequently the 
 comforts of this life, lie too near in my heart, and shew 
 big- in my eye, and hide thy cheerful face from my 
 soul ! How often have the clouds of prevailing ini- 
 quity and reiterated provocations, covered the face of 
 my mind, and blotted out the day ! O scatter thy 
 victorious rays abroad, and chase them from thy sky i 
 " Blot out as a cloud my transg-ressions ; and as a thick 
 cloud my sins," by the rays of thy justifying- right- 
 eousness, and sanctifying- influences. 
 
 Bless the Lord, ye highly favoured, who bask in 
 his rays, and walk in the light of his countenance. 
 " God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light : bind 
 ye the sacrifice with cords unto the horns of the altar. 
 For, through the tender mercies of God, the day-spring 
 from on high hath visited us. Walk in the light 
 while you have it ; and remember the days of dark- 
 ness, you know not but they shall be many." 
 
 O ye that slumber upon your beds, and waste your 
 golden season of grace in indolent repose ! awake ; 
 arise ; go forth ; and behold him coming forth of his 
 chamber as a bridegroom. The darkness is past ; the 
 shadows are fled ; the wild beasts have now retired to 
 their dens ; the birds of paradise rejoice ; and the 
 voice of gladness is heard in Immanuel's land. Now 
 is the time for the traveller to glory, to pursue his 
 journey to the better country. Shortly the night 
 coraeth, wherein no man can work or walk — a night 
 
liOSE OF SHARON, AND LILY OF THE VALLEYS. 145 
 
 that will not know the dawning- of the day. " Awake 
 thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ 
 shall give thee light." 
 
 ON CHRIST'S COMPARING HIMSELF TO THE 
 ROSE OF SHARON, AND THE LILY OF THE 
 VALLEYS.* 
 
 " Let another praise thee, and not thine own lips," 
 is a maxim that includes not within its verge, him- 
 who is Immanuel, and infinitely exalted above the 
 rank of mortals. In him self-commendation is both 
 graceful and useful. O fairer than the sons of men ! 
 so transcendent is thy excellency, so exalted is thy 
 dignity, thy perfection is so boundless, thy beauty so 
 matchless, so unparalleled, so elevated to the highest 
 degree, that words cannot express, thoughts cannot 
 reach thy glory. Thou onlyknowest what fulness thou 
 contains of grace and truth. No swelling pride, or 
 over-valuation of thyself ere lodged, or could lodge in 
 thy sacred breast. Thou only canst with safety, with 
 modesty, with decency, commend thy worthy Self. 
 O may I catch the flame thy words would enkindle, 
 and the opening of thy lips would inspire in my soul ! 
 
 Of all the flowers that imbibe the dew, and expand 
 their leaves to the morning ray, the rose and the lily 
 are the most goodly and delightful. These charming 
 sisters are signalized, both for their beauty and their 
 fragrance. Well may the lovely Jesus be resembled 
 to these blooming ornaments of the garden. 
 
 View him in his person. The lily of his divinity 
 is wedded to the rose of his humanity. In presence 
 of his divinity, the full blown lily, when bathed in 
 the evening or morning dew, can boast of no perfec? 
 tion. For even the sun is ashamed, and the moon 
 
 * Song IL 1. 
 
146 ROSE OF SHARON, AND LILY OF THE VA LLEYS. 
 
 confounded, when he unveils his glorious brightness. 
 In presence of his humanity, the sweet and blushing 
 rose loses her lustre. Beauteous was his soul, and 
 beauteous his body. As to the former, it was adorn- 
 ed with all the beauties of holiness ; and as to the 
 latter, doubtless it shines with comely grace. Though 
 in his days of deep humiliation, his face was furrowed 
 with sadness, his visage marred more than any man's, 
 and his form than the sons of men ; now joy bright- 
 ens his countenance, and smiles for ever in his eyes. 
 
 View him in his mediation. As he is the repre- 
 sentative of sinners unto God, he is the rose of 
 Sharon, in his bloody satisfaction : the lily of the 
 valleys, in his immaculate obedience. Wherefore 
 art thou red in thine apparel ? what unworthy cause 
 hath defiled with blood thy majestic looks, and stained 
 all thy raiment, O thou rose of Sharon ? " I have trod- 
 en the wine-press alone ; and of the people there was 
 none with me." The sword of my Father's indigna- 
 tion hath awaked against me, the man who am his 
 fellow. Therefore am I red in mine apparel, and my 
 garments like one that treadeth out the wine-press. 
 Canst thou spy any flaw, any the smallest deformity 
 in the lily of the valleys ? no more in the obedience 
 of the Son of God. Though he, by divine imputa- 
 tion, was made sin for us, and even, by human repu- 
 tation, was an egregious transgressor ; yet was he 
 holy, harmless, and undefiled. Undefiled in his na- 
 ture, by inherent corruption, undefiled in his life by 
 actual transgression. — View him in his mediation, as 
 he is the representative of God unto sinners. In the 
 clemency of his government, he is like the gentle 
 lily ; in the severity of his administration, like the 
 inflamed prickly rose. In the threatenings of his 
 holy law, he is fiery as the rose ; in the promise of 
 the gospel, he wears the lily's winning aspect. If we 
 are not attracted by his smile, we shall be appalled 
 by his frown, when he arms his angry countenance 
 with terror. 
 
ON WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. 147 
 
 How reviving-, how exhilarating, the fragrance that 
 is exhaled from this Plant of renown, which restoreth 
 the soul again ! When we obtain a smell of this 
 heaven-planted flower, the heart is g-lad, the tongue 
 rejoices, the sun puts on a brighter beam, and every 
 thing which we behold assumes a brighter aspect. 
 
 No roses could equal those of Sharon ; no lilies 
 like the lihes of the valleys. What grows in an irri- 
 guous soil, such as the low grounds usually prove, by 
 reason of the numerous rills which descend from the 
 neighbouring mountains, must be of more exquisite 
 kind, than the produce of the high and parched lands. 
 In all things, blessed Jesus, thou must have the pre- 
 eminence. If thou art a rose, thou art the rose of 
 Sharon. If thou art a lily, thou art the lily of the 
 valleys. 
 
 ON WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 The walker in the Spirit, is a person whose good- 
 ness and devotion comes not by fits and starts, and 
 on some rare occasions, but is habitually prevalent 
 in the tenor of his life. It is true, like the whole 
 spiritual creation, he groans under the bondage of 
 corruption ; yea, the more spiritual he is, the more car- 
 nal he sees himself to be ; Hke that most holy apostle, 
 whose mournful complaints are yet sounding in our 
 ears : " The law is spiritual, and the commandment 
 holy, just, and good ; but I am carnal, and sold under 
 sin." But a spiritual frame is his element, and with 
 careful assiduity, he cherishes those good impressions 
 that may be made upon his heart by the Holy Ghost, 
 of which he judges by their conformity to the divine 
 law. To the guidance and impulse of that holy in- 
 visible Agent, he endeavours to surrender himself in 
 every action of his life. That he may not quench 
 this holy fire, he crushes in the bud the rising 
 
148 ON WALKING IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 thoughts of sin ; dashes against the stones the infant 
 temptations ; avoids the snares of evil company ; the 
 practising of known sin ; the indulging of unlawful 
 pleasures ; and anxious carking cares about the things 
 of the earth. He is ever studying to picture out in 
 his life some spiritual grace. Spiritual truths are the 
 most savoury of all others unto his taste ; for the 
 blessed Comforter, according to the promise of Christ, 
 takes the things of Christ, shews them unto him, and 
 leads him into all truth. These are the light of his 
 eyes, the joy of his heart, more tasteful and delicious 
 than honey from the comb. Spiritual blessings he 
 esteems the most superlative and excellent ; he judges 
 not after the flesh, setting an high estimate on those 
 things that make the fairest shew in the eyes of na- 
 tural men, who cannot receive the things of the 
 Spirit of God, but spiritual riches, honours, pleasures, 
 spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus ; these are the bet- 
 ter things for which he pants, and wherein he greatly 
 rejoices. Spiritual thoughts are the native produce 
 of his mind, arising from his heart as water from a 
 living spring. As it is natural for the mother to 
 think of her sucking child, for the merchant to think 
 of his merchandise, for the scholar to think of that 
 particular science he is best acquainted with, for them 
 that are after the flesh, to mind the things of the 
 flesh, so it is natural for the spiritual walker, to mind 
 the things of the Spirit; when he buys and sells, 
 when he plows or sows, when he sits in the house, or 
 travels on a journey, as well as when he prays in his 
 closet, or repairs unto the place of the Holy. In 
 every object he is disposed to see God, in every sound 
 to hear him, to taste him in all that is sweet, to ad- 
 mire him in all that is great, to love him in all that 
 is lovely, to reverence him in all that is dreadful. He 
 perceives with David, the voice of God in the voice 
 of a railing Shimei ; and discerns with Job, the hand 
 of God in the hand of a plundering Chaldean. Every 
 creature is unto him a Jacob's ladder, by which he 
 
ON A GODLY MAN. 149 
 
 ascends unto heaven. Spiritual intentions reign in all 
 his enterprises and actions, both civil and religious. 
 Hence the most ordinary occurrences of life are sanc- 
 tified, whether he eats or drinks ; while the very- 
 sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the 
 Lord. Spiritual motives induce him to the hatred 
 of sin, to the practice of duty, to the pursuit of good ; 
 he abhors that which is evil, as well because it de- 
 files, as because it destroys ; he performs what is com- 
 manded, because it is commanded, and not that he 
 may be seen of men ; he asks temporal and spiritual 
 blessings from above, not that he may consume them 
 on his lusts, but that God may be glorified in all. 
 Spiritual duties are his delightful recreation, he thinks 
 not of them with reluctance, but anticipates in a joy- 
 ful expectation, the stated opportunities of intercourse 
 with heaven. It is not his body that leads the mind, 
 so much as his mind that leads the body, to any holy 
 exercise. When he falls upon his knees in prayer to 
 God, he goes not from the devil, or from the world 
 to God, but from God to God, because he is in the 
 fear of the Lord all the day long. 
 
 ON A GODLY MAN. 
 
 Though he esteems it idolatry to make images of 
 God, yet, he himself is a picture of God, walking up 
 and down in the earth ; and he reckons it his greatest 
 duty and honour to be so. The glory of God is the 
 end of all his actions, civil and religious ; and a tax 
 which he pays unto him with the same conscience 
 that he renders unto Caesar the things that are 
 Caesar's. The displeasure of all the world, when laid 
 in the balance with the smallest frown of his Father 
 in heaven, is hghter than a feather poised against a 
 talent of gold. But if he lift upon him the light of 
 his countenance, it is as impossible for him to be 
 
150 ON A GODLY MAN. 
 
 miserable, as it would be for one to shiver with cold, who, 
 in the warmest months of summer, should bask in the 
 meridian sun. The sovereign authority of God stirs 
 him up to all his duties ; without which they would 
 not be proper obedience. The same high will of God 
 reconciles him to every adverse dispensation ; saying, 
 with the most honourable of all sufferers, " The cup 
 which my Father giveth me, shall I not drink it ?" 
 By all the streams of created goodness, he is led unto 
 God, as the fountain from whence they arise. He 
 sees God in every object, he regards him as his awful 
 witness, so that he never can be alone, either in the 
 solitary field, or secret chamber. Prayer is not his 
 drudgery, but his element. He not only addresses 
 the throne of grace, when he has some petition to 
 lodge there, some interest to prosecute ; but when 
 he has no other errand, if it is not to tell God how 
 much he loves him ; how desirous he is of fellowship 
 with him, and to see his power and glory in the sanc- 
 tuary. 
 
 There is a mystery in the whole of his deportment, 
 when acting like himself, which even the ungodly 
 are forced to reverence. In vain shall they think to 
 burst their bands, and cast away their cords, for in 
 his hand is a sharp two-edged sword. He binds even 
 princes with cords, and nobles with fetters of iron. 
 He that sits in the chair of the scorner, shall be 
 greatly confounded ; they shall be turned back, that 
 say, Aha, aha ! 
 
 He greatly triumphs over the little insults of his 
 adversaries. Reproaches shall rebound as burs from 
 the polished surface of a looking-glass, shall melt as 
 snow-balls tossed against the sun, and shall pass away 
 as the morning cloud, or as the early dew. He would 
 not exchange his joy in the Holy Ghost, for the rap- 
 tures of the scholar, the triumphs of the soldier, and 
 the gratifications of the most sensual epicure. How 
 wide the field wherein he forages for joy, even in 
 tribulation I 
 
DELIGHT IN GOD. 151 
 
 Thoug^h withered is his vine, his harp unstrung-, 
 he is the richest of all merchants ; for, " godliness 
 with contentment, is great gain." Lay not wait, O 
 wicked man, against his dweUing, spoil not his rest- 
 ing place ; " For, know the Lord hath set apart him 
 that is godly for himself; the Lord will hear him 
 when he calls unto him." Though he were laid in 
 the lowest pits, in the darkness and deeps of hell, y^t 
 he could not be truly wretched, any more than a wick- 
 ed man could be truly happy, were he admitted into 
 the pure regions of life and immortality. 
 
 DELIGHT IN GOD, 
 
 Is a sweet frame of soul, whereby the real Christian 
 finds all his afflictions to be lightened, all his com- 
 forts to be sweetened, all his sins to be embittered, 
 and all his duties easy and delightful. It is the mar- 
 row of all his sacrifices, whilst those that want it, offer 
 nothing unto God, save goodly words, which are only 
 the outward part of the calves of the lips, resembling 
 the hair and skin. It is the commandment, in the 
 keeping of which he finds its own reward. 
 
 His mind is habitually filled with holy thoughts of 
 God, whether he sits in the house, or walks in the 
 field. He remembers him on his bed, and meditates 
 on him in the night watches, and rejoices under the 
 shadow of his wings. In those solitary moments, 
 when the vile person meditates villany, and his heart 
 will work iniquity; when the sensual sinner makes 
 provision for the flesh, to fulfil it in the lusts thereof; 
 when the miser betakes himself to his gold, and the 
 ambitious to their schemes of honour, he naturally 
 retires unto his God, and converses with those things 
 above, where Christ sitteth at his right hand. And 
 these thoughts arise in his heart as naturally as the 
 
152 DELIGHT IN GOD. 
 
 fruit-bearing tree putteth forth her blossoms, or the 
 fountain sendeth forth her waters. 
 
 Rehgious duties are his element ; and he rejoices 
 when it is said to him, " Go up to the house of the 
 Lord :" not that he may catch the applause of men ; 
 not that he may only comply with his convictions, 
 and stop the clamours of his conscience ; not that he 
 may, in some instances, gratify his curiosity, and feed 
 a ticklish fancy : but that he may go to God as his 
 exceeding joy ; and see his power and glory in the 
 sanctuary. Though the preacher of the word should 
 charm his ear with the delicate cadency of his voice, 
 and his eye with all the graces of motion ; if he hear 
 not the voice of God, he is frustrated of his most 
 valuable end. Instead of being, like him of Edora, 
 detained before the Lord, or saying with the unholy 
 Israehtes, "When will the Sabbath be over?" he 
 binds his sacrifice to the horns of the altar, with no 
 other cords than those of love, and counts the Sab- 
 bath a delight. As the Spirit of the living creatines 
 was in thy wheels, Ezekiel, so is his heart in duties. 
 
 His worldly comforts he grasps not with too close 
 an embrace, like those foolish animals, who hug their 
 young to death : but mainly rejoicing in God, nor 
 putting them in his room, he finds them strong and 
 
 lively. . 
 
 He cannot perish in his sorest affliction, because 
 God's law is his delight. Though the fig-tree should 
 not blossom, and the fields should yield no meat, he 
 has a never-failing refuge to betake himself unto. 
 He rejoices in the Lord, and is glad in the God of his 
 salvation. In the multitude of his thoughts within 
 him, thy comforts, O Lord, delight his soul. 
 
 But, O how sin is embittered, when he tastes those 
 ravishing pleasures that are at God's right hand ! In 
 what a contemptible light he regards the transient 
 sips of joy, for which the children of sensuahty forego 
 their everlasting interests, when, like Adam, they 
 sell a paradise for an apple ? For one morsel of meat 
 
REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR. 153 
 
 they renounce a birth-right, as Esau ; or taste, with 
 Jonathan, but a little honey, and for it they must 
 die. His pleasures, not being- of the sensual kind, 
 fill not his cheeks with blushing ; nor is heaviness the 
 end of his mirth : he eats not only the food of angels, 
 but the bread of God : the lines are fallen to him in 
 pleasant places, and he has a goodly heritage : the 
 greater an epicure, he is so much the more temperate : 
 his pleasures neither darken his understanding, nor 
 stupify his conscience, nor take away his heart : it is 
 his alone to find honey without stings, and roses void 
 of thorns. Take to yourselves, he says, your paradise 
 of fools, and your impure delights ; serve your divers 
 lusts and pleasures, all ye that are in the flesh ; but 
 " I dehght to do thy will, O God ! thy law is in the 
 midst of my heart." Away with the weeping food of 
 Egypt, — the onions and the garlic. Welcome thou 
 heavenly manna! Hail ye everlasting joys, which do 
 not resemble the crackling of thorns under a pot, but 
 that cheerful light of the sun that shineth more and 
 more until the day be perfect ! It is your's alone not 
 to be blasted by sickness, or nipped by the winter of 
 adversity ; and even in death you shall flourish like 
 the palm-tree, and pass into eternity. 
 
 REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR, 
 
 Is that grace whereby the real christian maintains 
 upon his heart a constant lively sense of the infinite 
 distance betwixt the infinite Creator and himself, a 
 finite creature ; and from a principle of love to the 
 glorious Jehovah, as the best and greatest of beings, 
 he stands in awe to sin against him, by thinking, 
 speaking, or doing, what were unworthy the perfec- 
 tions of his nature, and the relations he bears to him 
 as his Creator and Redeemer. 
 
 He is peculiarly cautious, not to intrude with bold 
 K 
 
154 REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR. 
 
 curiosity into those sublime mysteries which he hath 
 not seen, and which are only comprehensible to the 
 divine understanding-, nor to censure those dispensa- 
 tions which are unaccountable to his reason, when he 
 makes darkness his pavilion. 
 
 If, in the sacred volume of inspiration, mysterious 
 doctrines are revealed which far transcends his imper- 
 fect views, what he cannot comprehend he humbly 
 admires, and betakes himself to the sanctuary of Paul, 
 " O the height !" For he rightly judges, that to be 
 ignorant of what is revealed, is not more shameful 
 and ing-lorious, than curiously to pry into what God 
 hath wrapped in darkness. He considers religion as 
 bearing- a resemblance to the beautiful fabric of the 
 temple, in which there were not only commodious 
 chambers, and a great variety of necessary apartments, 
 but above the sacred roof, high towers and lofty bat- 
 tlements, which, thoug-h ornamental to the building-, 
 and g-rateful to the view of the spectator, would yet 
 be dangerous to climb upon. He knows that it is an 
 adversary who sets him on these pinnacles, where 
 none can stand but he who builds the temple of the 
 Lord and destroys the works of the devil. That lust 
 of the mind which commonly goes under the name 
 of curiosity, he endeavours to subdue, as well as any 
 other unruly appetite. 
 
 If, in the course of providence, the Almighty's 
 path is in the sea, and his footsteps in the deep wa- 
 ters, he is persuaded that he is fully able to justify 
 his ways to men, and fears to snatch out of his hand 
 the reins of government, or call before his tribunal 
 the Judge of all the earth. If, therefore, he presumes 
 to talk with him of his judgments, it is with the pro- 
 foundest submission, and the most lowly reverence, 
 rather confessing the darkness of his own mind, than 
 challenging the divine procedure. 
 
 The holy and tremendous name of God he never 
 takes up in his lips, but on some occasion worthy of 
 it; he makes it not a needless expletive of his dis- 
 
ON SELF-DENIAL. 155 
 
 course, nor speaks of it with an air of indifference, 
 ))ut with a serious countenance, and humble heart, 
 upon the most solemn occasions. When he addresses 
 him in prayer, though he uses a holy filial boldness, 
 yet is he singularly careful lest even this should de- 
 generate into a vile commonness of spirit, and an un- 
 holy familiarity, altogether unbecoming creatures 
 whose designation is but dust and ashes. 
 
 In the whole course and tenor of his life, the same 
 holy principle makes him fearful of offending God, by 
 doing what is forbidden in the law, or neglecting what 
 is expressly commanded. In ordinances of divine 
 worship, he keeps a steady eye to the sacred institu- 
 tions of the word, and fears to add inventions of his 
 own, as though he could improve upon the schemes 
 of unerring and comprehensive wisdom. Presumptu- 
 ous sinning, and presumptuous adding, are equally 
 removed from him. 
 
 In times of temptation he preserves his integrity, 
 because of the fear of God : in times of danger he is 
 confident : when sinners in Zion are afraid, and fear- 
 fulness surprises the hypocrite, he fears indeed, but 
 with that fihal fear which is the daughter of faith, the 
 sister of love, the mother of obedience, and the be- 
 ginning of wisdom. 
 
 ON SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 The christian who has learned to deny himself is 
 indeed abundantly conscious of the exalted dignity of 
 his nature, w'hich, by his first creation, is but a little 
 lower than the angels, and by his second, in Christ 
 Jesus, is elevated much beyond them ; for, of which 
 of the angels was it ever said at any time, " We are 
 the members of his body, of his llesh, and of his 
 bones ?" And again, " Of him are ye in Christ 
 Jesus." Much he esteems that rational and immor- 
 tal spirit within him, endowed with such noble powers : 
 
1.56 ON SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 much he reverences that curious fabric of flesh, build- 
 ed for a temple of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, while 
 he entertains the highest opinion of his own excellen- 
 cy, he most eff"ectnally promotes his own interest. 
 But there is a self which he does not esteem, — a self 
 which he does not gratify, that is, which he denies. 
 
 Self-estimation is the first thing to which his 
 amiable character is opposed. He studies not to 
 think of himself more highly than he ought, whether 
 by fancying himself possessed of those endowments 
 he really wants, or putting too high an estimate on 
 tliose which he really has. As to the former, how- 
 ever much he prizes the noble faculty of reason ; 
 however much he regards the duties of morality ; he 
 trusts not to that as an infallible guide ; nor to these 
 as the grounds of his acceptance. His intellectual 
 powers, he sees, are now impaired, that he cannot 
 discern spiritual truths aright : he renounces his own 
 reason : his moral abilities, he knows, are now en- 
 feebled, that he cannot practise spiritual duties in a right 
 manner : he renounces his own righteousness ; those 
 moral virtuous actions which some would so denomi- 
 nate, he sees to be but filthy rags ; and if performed 
 by the unregenerate, like the deaf ears of corn which 
 grow upon the house-tops, > herewith the mower can- 
 not fill his hand, nor he tluit binds sheaves his bosom. 
 Neither does he put too high an estimate on these ex- 
 cellencies, real or supposed, which he is possessed of. 
 His natural accomplishments ; his civil distinctions ; 
 his religious privileges and attainments ; all these he 
 counts as loss and dung ; or, shall we say he denies 
 his natural, his civil, and his religious self? He 
 thinks not too highly of himself. For his natural ac- 
 complishments, as the elegant proportions of his 
 body, or the sprightliness of his mind. — all these he 
 knows are the gifts of Heaven, and but of small ac- 
 count when compared with the more excellent quali- 
 ties of pure and undefiled religion ; nor for his civil 
 distinctions, — these he knows are still more foreign 
 
ON SELF-DENIAL. 157 
 
 to him, being- mere external adjuncts, and cannot add 
 one cubit to his stature ; nor for his religious attain- 
 ments, — he thinks it not expedient for him to glory, 
 though he could come to visions and revelations of 
 the Lord ; far less can he value himself, with the 
 vaunting Israelites, on his church privileges, crying 
 out, " The law, the law, the temple of the Lord ;" 
 and " We have Abraham for our father." 
 
 Let us now see how he stands affected to self-gra- 
 tification. Those darling lusts which seemed as 
 much a part of himself as his right hand, his right 
 foot, or his right eye, he is taught to deny by the 
 grace of God which bringeth salvation. Nor is he 
 only willing to abridge himself of sinful pleasures, 
 but upon occasion to forego his lawful comforts, — to 
 part with his worldly riches, for they are not his main 
 treasure, — with his worldly reputation, for it is not 
 his chief honour. Even the religious and holy de- 
 sires of the new creature, he may sometimes be called 
 to moderate ; though his heart should sicken at the 
 thought, yet must he consent to the deferring of his 
 hopes. If Christ says, " Touch me not," then must 
 he be all submission. " Tarry here a while longer in 
 your state of absence from the Lord ;" he acquiesces, 
 though it were far better to depart. Pure are his 
 pleasures, exalted are his honours, high are his 
 revenues ; whilst, that he may please God, he pleaseth 
 not himself: for, while he loses himself in God, he 
 finds himself again to infinite advantage. 
 
 Thy glorious pattern, O self-denying Saviour, he 
 principally regards, who, for our good and advantage, 
 pleased not thyself; who subjected to thy heavenly 
 Father thy human will, in drinking the bitter cup. 
 A far more illustrious example of self-denial than that 
 of thy most eminent apostle, who pleased not him- 
 self, but all men in all things, not seeking his own 
 profit, but the profit of many : what he only wished 
 for, thou didst actually undergo, when thou wast 
 accursed for thy brethren's sake, according to the 
 
 K 2 
 
158 ON HUMILITY. 
 
 flesh. It is thine, O humble Saviour, to cast this 
 mighty idol, Self, down from her seat, and utterly 
 abolish it in our souls. Thy heavenly doctrine, 
 thoug-h far from flattering- the lusts of men, yet it is 
 not rigorous and severe, even when thou sayest, " If 
 any man will come after me, let him deny himself;" 
 for what thou requirest of us thou workest also in us, 
 and goest before us by thy own encouraging example. 
 For this end thou laidest down thy life, '* that they 
 which live might riot live unto themselves, but unto 
 him that died for us." 
 
 ON HUMILITY. 
 
 Humility consists in a low opinion of one's self, 
 and in a contempt of vain-glory. He that shines 
 with this noble grace is a person whose high imagina- 
 tions have been cast down, not by the force of moral 
 precepts, but by the mighty weapons of the christian 
 warfare. Once he thought he was something, now 
 he sees that he is nothing : once he was desirous that 
 other men should think highly of him, and he loved 
 to have the pre-eminence ; but now he can, in some 
 sincerity, say, with the royal Psalmist, " Mine heart 
 is not haughty, neither are mine eyes lofty. I have 
 behaved and quieted myself as a child weaned of his 
 mother. My soul is even as a weaned child." Shall 
 we describe him in relation to his neighbour, and to 
 his God ? 
 
 In relation to his neighbour, he thinks more mean- 
 ly of himself than of others, or than others think of 
 him ; and he never abhors himself more than when 
 he is most highly applauded* His Saviour was meek 
 and lowly, when the multitudes were crying, Hosannah. 
 If you reprove him, he esteems it not an insult but a 
 kindness ; and is not ashamed to own that he was in 
 fault, or error. Talk to the praise of another before 
 
ON HUMILITY. 159 
 
 him, and he is not disgusted, as though himself were 
 rivalled and eclipsed. You tell him that some person 
 of note has been left to faU, and be a scandal to re- 
 ligion ; is he puifed up on this account ? Nay ; he 
 rather mourns, and adores the freedom of restraining 
 grace towards himself. You inform of him some, 
 who, instead of prasing him, revile and calumniate 
 him : but he is before-hand with his reproachers ; 
 for he has more ill things to lay to his own charge 
 than these you mention ; which makes him as a deaf 
 man, in whose mouth are no reproofs. His rest is 
 no more wounded than a dead man's would be, by 
 thrusting a spear into his side. The contempt of 
 bad men does not deter him from, nor the applause 
 of good men incite him to, the discharge of religious 
 duties. He loves his neighbour, not in proportion to 
 the regard his neighbour expresses to him, but in 
 proportion to his real worth. If he talks at any time 
 in a humble strain about himself, he is not laying 
 snares for your applause. His humble acknowledge- 
 ments are not empty words, like the Dei gratia, 
 which the proudest kings will write upon their coin ; 
 or like the pope's subscription to his haughty bulls, 
 " A servant of the servants of God ;" but he speaks 
 the genuine sentiments of his heart, and from the 
 bottom of his very soul. If he is obliged at any time 
 to vindicate his character from unjust aspersions, it is 
 with the greatest reluctance ; and is afraid lest he be 
 talking like a fool. If he compares himself with sin- 
 ners, he is ready to think himself the chiefest of them ; 
 if with saints, he apprehends that he is the least of 
 them all. He sees some excellency about the mean- 
 est of his fellow-christians, in which himself is sur- 
 passed. His eyes are full of his own wants, and the 
 perfections of other men. 
 
 In relation to God, how does he behave himself ! 
 He thinks that the blessings he receives from God 
 are above, and the afflictions which God lays upon 
 him are beneath, his deserts. As to the former, he 
 
160 ■ ON HUMILITY. 
 
 cries, " I am not worthy of the least of all thy mer- 
 cies." As to the latter, he acknowledges, " Thou 
 hast punished me less than mine iniquity deserves." 
 If he sins against God, he takes the blame to himself; 
 but if he does any good, he gives God the praise. 
 " I laboured ; yet not I. Not unto us, not unto us ; 
 but unto thy name give glory." 
 
 Instructed by this noble grace, he willingly sub- 
 mits his proud reason to heavenly revelation; and re 
 fuses not to admit for true, those tremendous mys- 
 teries which far transcend his natural comprehension. 
 But chiefly, being persuaded of the vast imperfection 
 of his own righteousness, that his goodness extends 
 not unto God; that he is but an unprofitable servant, 
 and a great deal worse; he despairs of himself, flies to 
 the mercy, and submits unto the righteousness of God, 
 as the sole ground of his pardon and acceptance. He 
 cannot dig, he cannot work for life; for he is a maim- 
 ed beggar ; but to beg he is not ashamed. 
 
 This is that distinguishing character of christian 
 humility, to which the highest moralist can produce no 
 claim ; nor can ever expect to arrive at, by all the pre- 
 cepts of philosophy. O blessed is that man, who is 
 endowed with this humble spirit ! Humility, thou 
 first of graces, thou leading ornament of every noble 
 creature, without whom the most glorious accom- 
 plishments are eclipsed into disgrace; with whom the 
 most ordinary and mean qualifications are heightened 
 into glory! who should not love thy comely features? 
 and what tongue should be silent in thy praises ? 
 Thou art the holy ornament of angels, who, in the 
 awful presence of their Maker, cover their faces with 
 their wings ; and with their wings they cover their 
 hands, when employed in services of love to man. 
 
 The saints in every age, have gloried in thee, as a 
 most distinguishing ingredient in their character; and 
 according to their eminency, has been their measure 
 of humility. The high and lofty One, who inhabits 
 eternity, and will not give his glory to another, when 
 
ON MEEKNESS. 161 
 
 from his hig-h and holy place he views men and their 
 works, he turns away disdainful from the pompous 
 palaces of mighty kings, the courts of popes and sul- 
 tans, and throws a favourable glance towards the hum- 
 ble cottage of him in whose heart thou dwellest. 
 
 But above all, to recommend thy heavenly charms, 
 the Son of God disdained not the form of a servant, 
 the humble manger, the ignominious cross, the gloomy 
 sepulchre. O let not man be proud, when God was 
 so humble ! Begone from my heart, all self-elating 
 thoughts ; hence, my ambitious desires. But come, 
 holy humility, with all thy amiable train, and fix thy 
 residence in my soul; predominate in my affections. 
 Holy Spirit, make all her enemies her footstool ; and 
 teach me to despise myself, except on the account of 
 my rational and immortal nature, to spurn under my 
 feet all vain-glory, and to pursue the honour that 
 Cometh from God only. 
 
 ON MEEKNESS. 
 
 The meek christian is one who has learned, at the 
 school of Jesus Christ, to restrain unlawful anger, 
 and to moderate lawful resentment. If he is endowed 
 with what is commonly called a good natural temper, 
 he exercises this good temper from christian motives; 
 such as, the pardoning love of God, the command of 
 the law, the example of Jesus of Christ, who was 
 meek and lowly. But though his natural temper 
 should happen to be fiery and eager, he has found the 
 virtue of that promise, " The wolf shall dwell with 
 the lamb ; the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; 
 and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." He is not 
 angry but on just occasions ; and even when the oc- 
 casion is just, his anger is kept under proper regula- 
 tions. 
 
 First, He is careful never to be angry, but when 
 
162 ON MEEKNESS. 
 
 there is a cause. To be angry at irrational creatures, 
 that are not capable of offending, or understanding 
 their offence ; to be angry at his brother, because he 
 reproves him, or because he outshines him in gilts or 
 grace, he endeavours to avoid. But especially he 
 trembles to be angry with God ; whether on account 
 of the strictness of his precepts, or the sovereignty of 
 his dispensations. Jonah, you did not well to be 
 angry, when God spared Nineveh, that great city, in 
 which were so many thousand infants, and also much 
 cattle. 
 
 But be the cause ever so just, if it is only a person- 
 al injury by which he is provoked, he is not soon 
 angry. No ; this is the mark of a fool. By deferring 
 his anger, he often discovers, that there is no reason 
 for it ; that no injury or affront was intended against 
 him ; but perhaps his brother designed doing him a 
 favour. He resembles not flax nor gun-powder, that 
 mount in a blaze at touching the least spark of fire ; 
 but he may be compared to green wood, that is not 
 easily blown into a flame ; and to a flint, that emits 
 no sparkles, unless it be often and violently struck. 
 He is not much angry. He will be so far from in- 
 dulging the mad sallies of passion for trivial offences, 
 that though the provocation were great, and the re- 
 sentment strong, he acts still like a reasonable creature ; 
 and is not unfitted for the duties incumbent on him, 
 whether social or religious. He is not long angry : 
 he loves not that the sun should go down upon his 
 wrath. He leaves it to heathens to be implacable. 
 He believes that anger rests in the bosom of none but 
 fools. He is swift to reconciliation ; and esteems it 
 his real honour to pass over a transgression. 
 
 Do you ask, What are the evidences of this fruit of 
 the Spirit ? First of all, it appears by his courteous 
 and obliging behaviour to all, his enemies and perse- 
 cutors not excepted. Even them he is ready to serve, 
 if it lies in his power, by discharging towards them 
 the duties of humanity. It appears by the gentle 
 
ON MEEKNESS. 163 
 
 strain of his discourse, which, like the waters of 
 Siloah, goes softly. — When he is reviled, he reviles 
 not ag-ain ; but either by a soft answer turns away 
 wrath ; or, by a modest silence, and not answering- 
 again, he withdraws the fuel from the fire of strife. 
 It appears by the sweetness of his looks, which are 
 not sullen and morose, but mild and inviting. But 
 chiefly it appears in the thoughts of his heart. The 
 words, the looks, and the outward actions, are not in- 
 fallible evidences of this heavenly temper. These may 
 be no more but artificial meekness. Even the fell 
 tribunal of the inquisition can talk in the meek style, 
 and recommend to mercy her wretched victims with 
 cruel mockery. But as he thinketh in his heart, 
 so is he. He can think of his implacable enemy with- 
 out wishing a curse unto him. He looks upon ran- 
 cour harboured in the breast, as a more dreadful foe 
 than any outward adversary possibly can be. 
 
 He is a profitable hearer of the word ; for he re- 
 ceives it with meekness. His prayers are pure and 
 prevalent ; for he lifts up holy hands without wrath. 
 His reproofs are successful ; and let them be never so 
 sharp, are well received, because the spirit of meek- 
 ness anoints them like a precious oil. He is clad in 
 a kind of armour that renders him invulnerable. He 
 lies not at the mercy of every puny assailant, that 
 would attack him with the sword of the tongue ; be- 
 cause, like a deaf man, he hears not. He is a most ac- 
 ceptable friend, and a most victorious enemy; and his 
 enemies, though like the devil for malice, are forced to 
 reverence him. When he shews out of a good conver- 
 sation his works with meekness of wisdom, he is a 
 bright image of Christ ; a living representation of 
 God ; who is " slow to anger, of great kindness, and 
 repenteth him of the evil." He takes the most effec- 
 tual method to promote even his temporal interest, 
 ease, and reputation. He has the real enjoyment of 
 himself; is a true inheritor of the earth. And God 
 at last will beautify him with salvation. 
 
164 ON THE MERCIFUL MAN. 
 
 ON THE MERCIFUL MAN. 
 
 Mercy is a disposition to feel the miseries of 
 others, and to do what lies in our power to prevent 
 and redress them. There is a natural mercy, con- 
 sisting- in a softness of temper, and an aversion at 
 seeing-, hearing-, or even thinking- of the distresses of 
 our lellow-creatures. There is a moral mercy, when 
 we pity the miserable from moral considerations. Both 
 those may, no doubt, be found in unrenewed hearts, 
 and were actually practised by many of the Gentiles 
 that knew not God. A man who would shudder in 
 every joint, to see a fellow-creature broke upon the 
 wheel, or broiled on the fire ; a man who would be far 
 from thinking- it a glorious spectacle, to look at a 
 ditch full of the blood of slaughtered men, is not im- 
 mediately a merciful man, in the full and scriptural 
 sense. It is true, this humane and g-entle temper, is 
 far more amiable than savage barbarity. To be im- 
 placable and unmerciful, is a truly heathen character ; 
 and the habitations of cruelty should be found no- 
 where, but in the dark places of the earth. But there 
 is a christian mercy, which is often enjoined as a 
 weighty matter of the law, and an eminent grace of 
 the gospel, and with which none are endowed but the 
 elect of God, the holy and the beloved. Let us de- 
 scribe it from its springs, its objects, and its acts. 
 
 The merciful man is one that loves to shew mercy, 
 not only on account of a soft, natural temper, self-in- 
 terest, philosophical considerations ; but from an un- 
 feigned regard to the authority of God in his holy 
 law, an earnest desire after conformity to his image ; 
 and especially from a serious sense of his pardoning 
 mercy in Christ Jesus. How can he but forgive a 
 few pence, who is himself forgiven in ten thousand 
 talents ? Has God, all gracious and merciful, opened 
 his bowels of compassion to me, a wretched guilty 
 creature ; and shall I shut up my bowels of compas- 
 
ON THE MERCIFUL MAN. 165 
 
 sioii from ray distressed brother ? Shall I put on 
 bowels of adamant and brass, who am a pensioner of 
 the tender mercies of God ? It is mercy that feeds 
 me ; it is mercy that clothes me ; it is mercy that de- 
 livers my soul from the lowest hell, where I had been 
 miserable beyond all expression. I have freely re- 
 ceived mercy, and shall I not freely give ? He is 
 merciful to others, for God is merciful to him. 
 
 Do you ask the objects about which this heavenly 
 temper is versant ? It is the creature that is either 
 actually under, or else capable of misery. A good 
 man is merciful to his beast, and much more to his 
 brother. Merciful to his beast, did we say ? yea, to 
 the beast of his mortal enemy. He would not suffer 
 the ass of his most malignant foe, to die under his 
 burden, but would, according to the divine law, assist 
 the helpless animal. He could not even find in his 
 heart, wantonly to destroy, or without necessity to 
 torment, the most insignificant and despicable insect. 
 Much more is he pitiful, and of tender mercy, towards 
 those more noble beings of his own species. He weeps 
 with them that weep. It is not the miseries of the 
 body alone, for which he is melted into commisera- 
 tion. A diseased leprous soul is, to his view, a far 
 more deplorable object, than a distempered body. He 
 pities the fatherless and the widow ; but much more 
 the Godless and the Christless. He beholds trans- 
 gressors like thee, O David ! and is grieved, because 
 they keep not God's law. 
 
 Shall we come to the works of mercy ? What are 
 the sweet waters that issue from this fountain ? The 
 merciful man will not always have it in his power, 
 actually to relieve the distressed ; but he weeps for 
 them, wishes for them, prays for them, and does for 
 them according as he is able. If they are indigent, 
 or in want of the necessaries of life, hungry or naked, 
 he puts them not off with good words, but gives them 
 the things they have need of, or excites others to do 
 it that are more wealthy. If they are insolvent, and 
 
166 ON THE MERCIFUL MAN. 
 
 unable to pay their just debts, he will not imprison, 
 where nothing- can be had, nor take for a pledge the 
 utensils by which they must earn their daily bread, 
 or the g-arraents in which they must sleep. If they 
 are solitary, he will visit them ; if disconsolate, he will 
 comfort them ; if ignorant, he will instruct them ; if 
 doubtful, he will counsel them ; if aspersed and ca- 
 lumniated unjustly, he will vindicate their characters; 
 if oppressed, he will espouse their cause ; if weak, he 
 will bear their infirmities ; if careless and secure, he 
 will warn them, and with compassion pull them out 
 of the fire ; if they have fallen, he will endeavour to 
 recover them. His wounds are faithful. Blessed be 
 his anger, for it is kind ; his wrath, for it is merciful. 
 He remembers the blessed maxim of the apostle James, 
 that " he who converteth a soul from the error of his 
 way, shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a 
 mnltitude of sins." 
 
 He is an image of God, who delights in mercy, and 
 remembers it even in the midst of wrath. He is an 
 image of Christ, whose whole life was one continued 
 track of shewing mercy. His miracles were all of the 
 merciful kind, but two. His death was a most emi- 
 nent act of mercy. And still he is a merciful High 
 Priest, who is touched with the feeling of our infir- 
 mities. Commonly the merciful man obtains mercy 
 from man, when he stands in need of it ; as they have 
 judgment without mercy, that shewed no mercy. But 
 whatever treatment they should receive from their 
 fellow-creatures, they shall obtain mercy of the Lord 
 in that day, which will come to all others cruel with 
 wrath, and with fierce anger. Yet, after all, it is not 
 according to his own mercy, which is but a work of 
 righteousness that he has done ; but according to the 
 mercy of God, he shall be saved. Having obtained 
 mercy of the Lord, by which he was made merciful at 
 first, he shall obtain mercy more and more. 
 
ON TENDERNESS OF HEART. 167 
 
 ON TENDERNESS OF HEART. 
 
 The tender-hearted christian is he from whom the 
 hard and stony heart, which neither the hammer of 
 judg-ment could break, nor the oil of mercy soften, is, 
 in some good measure, taken away. His understand- 
 ing- is no more so unteachable, nor his affections so 
 immoveable, as formerly. His will has laid aside her 
 obstinacy, and his conscience her insensibility. 
 
 Shall we describe him first in relation to God ? 
 One reproof tendered in the sacred oracles, will enter 
 more into his soul, than an hundred stripes into a fool. 
 His heart stands in holy awe of the precepts, and trem- 
 bles at the threatenings of the word of God. But, O 
 how melting, how alluring- are the great and precious 
 promises ! And all its heavenly doctrines drop as the 
 rain, and distil as the dew ; not when it falls upon a 
 rock, from which it runs presently off again ; but when 
 it descends upon the parched ground, refreshing- the 
 thirsty earth, and making it as a watered g-arden, or a 
 field which the Lord has blessed. As to the dispen- 
 sations of divine Providence, he strives to know the 
 lang-uag-e of them, and to comply with the desig-n of 
 the Almighty, both when he smiles and frowns. 
 " Shew me," he cries, " why thou contendest with 
 me." Unlike those hardened wretches, whom the 
 weeping- Jeremiah describes in that most doleful la- 
 mentation ; " Thou hast stricken them, but they have 
 not grieved ; thou hast consumed them, but they have 
 refused to receive correction ; they have made their 
 faces harder than a rock ; yea they have refused to 
 return. His flesh trembles for fear of God ; and he is 
 afraid of his judgments." He sees when God's hand 
 is lifted up ; he turns at his reproof, and learns right- 
 eousness, when his judgments are in the earth. While 
 the ungodly sinner despises the riches of his goodness, 
 and after his hard and impenitent heart, treasures up 
 unto himself wrath against the day of wrath ; he is 
 
168 ON TENDERNESS OF HEART. 
 
 led by the goodness of God, unto repentance, and 
 every mercy pains him to the heart. 
 
 The influences of the holy and blessed Spirit, he 
 cherishes in the most kindly manner. He is fearful 
 to quench this holy fire, or fright away this heavenly 
 dove, when he vouchsafes to alight upon his soul. 
 He abhors their impiety, whose character it is, " ye 
 do always resist the Holy Ghost." As to the divine 
 glory and honour, he is grieved with whatever he 
 judges to encroach upon it ; and cannot but choose to 
 be uneasy and perplexed, when the interests of true 
 religion are threatened with imminent danger. His 
 heart, with Eli, trembles for the ark of God. 
 
 Shall we describe him next in relation to his neigh- 
 bour, for whom he puts on bowels of mercy, and with 
 whose miseries he cannot be unaffected ? Is he not 
 grieved for the poor? Does not his soul weep for 
 him that is in trouble ? But chiefly, he is touched 
 with compassion for their deplorable condition, who 
 go on in an evil course with prone career, whilst he 
 sees them incurring the dreadful vengeance of the 
 living and Almighty God. Rivers of waters run 
 down his eyes, because they keep not his law. 
 
 And with relation to himself, the tender-hearted 
 christian is careful to maintain the peace of his own 
 conscience ; to have that faithful monitor rightly in- 
 formed ; aud with the strictest attention, to follow its 
 impartial directions. When the consciences of some 
 are seared, as with a hot iron, his may be resembled 
 to the eye, that tenderest of organs, which even the 
 smallest particle of dust will put into disorder. For, 
 as to sin, by which alone the conscience is defiled, the 
 tender christian is fearful to commit it, easy to be 
 convinced, impatient to be purged. — Fearful to com- 
 mit it. Though secrecy and pleasure should con- 
 spire to tempt him with interest and advantage ! yet, 
 under the influence of this tender frame, he baiHes all 
 temptation ; and even aljstains from those actions of 
 which he is suspicious, being mindful of the apostolic 
 
ON GRATITUDE. 169 
 
 maxim, " He that doubteth, is condemned if he eat." 
 He dares not come too near the borders of his chris- 
 tian Hberty. He studies not only what is lawful, but 
 what is expedient for him to do. Easy to be con- 
 vinced, he does not add rebellion to his sin ; like them 
 whose perverseness is as witchcraft, and their stub- 
 bornness is as idolatry. 
 
 He g"oes not about to cover his transgressions, as 
 Adam, but takes with his iniquity, when it is said 
 unto him, "thou art the man." A very look will 
 melt his heart, and make him, like that fallen, but re- 
 covering apostle who denied his Lord, go forth, and 
 weep bitterly. Even when he has not a monitor to 
 warn him of his sin and danger, his own heart will 
 smite him. 
 
 But when the tender christian is convinced, what 
 does he ? Abandon himself to careless stupidity, and 
 wallow in the mire ! No. While he keeps silence, 
 his bones will wax old, through his roaring all the day. 
 " Restore," he cries, " the joy of thy salvation : wash 
 me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." 
 " For God maketli his heart soft, and the Almighty 
 troubleth him." 
 
 ON GRATITUDE. 
 
 The thankful christian is he who thinks highly of 
 the benefits he receives from others, especially from 
 God, and is disposed to make all the suitable returns 
 that lie in his power, whether by word or deed. He 
 no less abhors ingratitude towards his God, than to- 
 wards his neighbour. And, in every condition, he 
 writes himself a debtor to the Almighty. Him he re- 
 gards as his principal benefactor ; him, as the fountain 
 of his life, and joy, and comfort : the creatures as the 
 conduit-pipes through which they are conveyed. If 
 he is refreshed by the kindly visits of an agreeable 
 
 L 
 
170 ON GRATITUDE. 
 
 friend, it is God who comforts him. He sees his face 
 as the face of God. If, by prudent counsel, he is pre- 
 vented from carrying- any unworthy projects into ex- 
 ecution, such is the language of his heart, " Blessed 
 he the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day 
 to meet me ; and blessed be thou, and blessed be thy 
 advice, which kept me back." 
 
 If the gifts of ministers have been edifying- and re- 
 freshing- to his soul, he adores him who put the trea- 
 sure into these earthly vessels. Solomon must have 
 a thousand ; but the keeper of the vineyard two hun- 
 dred. 
 
 No mercy, however little, can be despised by him ; 
 whilst he considers the greatness of the Giver, and 
 the unworthiness of the receiver. He is so far from 
 thinking- himself entitled to the great and distinguish- 
 ing- favours of providence, that he confesses himself 
 unworthy of the least of all his mercies, as having- no- 
 thing due but wrath and indig-nation. 
 
 He does not bury the former loving-kindnesses of 
 the Lord in the grave of a bad memory, as though the 
 oldness of their date cancelled his obligations ; but 
 every renewed mercy he regards as a new indenture. 
 " Bless the Lord, O my soul," he says, " forget not 
 all his benefits." 
 
 Is he in prosperity ? he rejoices ; for it is God who 
 comforts him. Is he in adversity ? he rejoices ; for 
 it is God who corrects him. Afflictions he considers 
 as blessing's in disguise, as mercies which God vouch- 
 safes him even against his will. Is he punished for 
 his sins ? he is thankftil ; for God " punishes less 
 than iniquity deserves." Is he chastened for his pro- 
 fit ? he is thankful ; for it is that he " may not be 
 condemned with the world." Is he persecuted for 
 righteousness' sake? he is thankful ; for "it is given 
 him in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in his 
 name, but also to sufter for his sake." 
 
 To enhance divine favours the more, he sets a pe- 
 culiar mark on the endearing circumstances that at- 
 
ON GRATITUDE. 171 
 
 tend them. Such a mercy was bestowed when I was 
 going- on frowardly in the way of my own heart, and 
 might rather have expected tribulation and anguish. 
 Such a blessing was conferred when I was reduced to 
 the greatest extremity, and in the utmost article of 
 danger. For this I solicited the throne of grace, and 
 he heard me out of his holy temple. With that he 
 prevented my supplication ; and before I called, he 
 did answer. 
 
 Such are the sentiments wherewith his heart is 
 touched, for all those good and perfect gifts that come 
 down from above. But chietly for spiritual blessings 
 in Christ Jesus ; for thine unspeakable g-ift, O God ; 
 and that mercy which is from everlasting to everlast- 
 ing.^ 
 
 What thanks can he render unto God tor all the 
 joy wherewith he rejoices on this behalf? Too big- 
 for the heart, it overflows into the tongue, and ex- 
 tends itself into the life and conversation. He does 
 not thank God, like the proud Pharisee, with a design 
 to praise himself; nor, like the flattering- hypocrite, 
 by way of compliment and form. When he gives 
 God goodly words, he rests not in mere verbal hon- 
 our; but whilst he offers praise, he orders his conver- 
 sation aright, and pays his vows to the Most High. 
 Has his liberal God any command for his wealth and 
 substance ? it is at his service. For his name, credit, 
 and reputation ? it is ready at hand. For his wit and 
 learning ? it shall not be wanting. Yea, neither 
 counts he his life dear unto him, if called for at his 
 hand. Gratitude will teach his eye to weep for the 
 dishonours that are done to his bountiftil Benefactor ; 
 his hand to open in charitable distributions ; his feet 
 to run in the way of his commandments. Gratitude 
 for the mercies of God will enable him to present his 
 body a living sacrifice, which is his reasonable service, 
 holy and acceptable unto God. 
 
172 ON RESIGNATION. 
 
 ON RESIGNATION. 
 
 Be it so ; the providential ways of God do not per- 
 fectly harmonize with his weak views, nor suit his 
 private inclinations ; if any harsh thought of God 
 should arise in his heart, prompting him to utter 
 words unadvisedly with his tongue, the resigned chris- 
 tian will check the rising thought, and keep the door 
 of his lips with that reproof of the apostle, " Who art 
 thou, O man, that repliest against God ?" And as ho 
 trembles to arraign the Judge of all the earth, for 
 what he has already done ; so he dreads to prescribe, 
 with an unholy boldness, what is further proper for 
 him to do, who is the Governor among the nations. 
 
 If the favours of providence are distributed in a 
 manner that is, to outward appearance, not altogether 
 so advantageous to the cause of holiness and truth ; 
 when the wicked are great in power, diffusing their 
 verdant pride like the green bay-tree ; he ceases from 
 anger, and forsakes wrath, and frets not himself in 
 any wise to do evil. He rests on the Lord, and waits 
 patiently for him. He lets God alone to be the Go- 
 vernor of the world. " For, who hath instructed the 
 Spirit of the Lord ? and who hath been his coun- 
 sellor ?" If the subjects of earthly princes submit un- 
 to their ordinances, and acquiesce in their administra- 
 tions, even though strangers to the arcana of their go- 
 vernment ; much more he judges it incumbent on him 
 not to presume to censure the mysterious administra- 
 tions of the blessed and only Potentate, all whose 
 • ways are judgment. 
 
 Or, if the more distinguishing favours of divine 
 grace and mercy are dispensed in an absolute and so- 
 vereign way ; while some are sharers of them, and 
 others equally deserving are passed by ; he dares not, 
 with certain bold blasphemers, traduce the almighty 
 King, as though he were acting the part of a cruel 
 and arbitrary tyrant. For, he considers, that he may 
 
ON RESIGf^ATION. 173 
 
 do what he will with his own. — As some high tower, 
 though finished according- to the nicest rules of archi- 
 tecture ; yet, to the spectator's eye, who views it in 
 the plain below, may seem crooked, and as threaten- 
 ing a hideous fall, merely through a deception of the- 
 sight : so, if the high decrees of the holy One should 
 seem, at any time, partial and unequal, he imputes it 
 to the weakness of his sight, and not at all to the na- 
 ture of the decrees themselves. " Even so, Father," 
 he says, " for so it seemed good in thy sight." 
 
 Perhaps he is touched in some tender point ; his 
 afflictions are singular. He is visited with a distress 
 that scarcely happens in an age, to which it is hard 
 to find a precedent, or a parallel. Yet, even in such 
 a case, will the resigned christian say, " It is the 
 Lord, let him do w'hat seemeth him good," 1 Sam. 
 iii. 18. Though he be called to quit his earthly pos- 
 sessions for the sake of truth, and to forego some 
 worldly comfort that he most passionately loved ; goes 
 he away sorrowful, like him that had great posses- 
 sions ? Nay, but like the afflicted, though patient 
 Job, he says, " Behold, he taketh away, who can hin- 
 der him ? and, who shall say unto him. What doest 
 thou ?" And with faithful Abraham, when about to 
 offer up his beloved Isaac, he rises early in the morn- 
 ing, to keep the word of the Lord. — But we must not 
 at all forget thy most exemplary resignation, O per- 
 secuted King of Israel, when flying before an unna- 
 tural son, from thy royal palace and city. But, " if 
 he shall say, I have no delight in thee ; behold, here 
 am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him," 
 2 Sam. XV. 26. Though even his days are shortened, 
 and his purposes are broken off, he considers that his 
 times are wholly in the hand of God ; in obedience to 
 the will of God he falls asleep ; and, like Moses, dies 
 at the commandment of the Lord. His soul is not 
 taken from him, but he yields it into the hand of 
 God, as the Father of it, that he may shew it the path 
 of life. 
 
 L2 
 
174 ON PATIENCE. 
 
 If the answer of his prayers flies not upon the 
 wing-s of the wind, he does not presently commence a 
 suit against the hearer of prayer. For, still he casts 
 not away this confidence, that " if we ask any thing 
 according to his will, he heareth us." Heareth us in 
 the time himself knows to be most proper, and in what 
 manner shall be most conducive to his g'lory and our 
 good. 
 
 In all his enterprises, he leaves the event in the 
 hand of God. The common phrases, " If the Lord 
 will," and " If God permit," are not mere words of 
 form and custom, when proceeding out of his mouth, 
 but they are expressive of his heart. As being per- 
 suaded that his dominion is absolute; " for he is higher 
 than the highest :" that his purpose is immutable ; 
 for " he is the rock of ages :" that his power is irre- 
 sistible ; for " unto him every knee shall bow." He 
 is persuaded of the title God has to him ; greater than 
 that of parents to their children, of princes to their 
 subjects, or even of the potter to his clay. How can 
 he but be all submission ? 
 
 But chiefly his resignation is inspired by the know- 
 ledge he has of the tenderness of that care which he 
 exercises over him, because he is very pitiful, and of 
 tender mercy. When he reflects what a good Being- 
 sits at the helm of affairs, let them that can, be mis- 
 erable, he cannot possibly be so. As the bee puts 
 not forth its sting in the hive, when stored with honey, 
 gathered from a thousand flowers ; no more can he 
 put forth any sting of fretful murmurs, when he tastes 
 that the Lord is good. He trusts in him, and he is 
 blessed. 
 
 ON PATIENCE. 
 
 The patient christian is he who bears up, in a be- 
 coming manner, under the painful sense of evil pre- 
 
ON PATIENCE. 175 
 
 sent, and tedious expectation of absent good. It is 
 true, he is not proof against the inroads of sorrow, and 
 feelings of uneasiness ; he pretends not to the insen- 
 sibiHty of the blustering Stoic, as though his texture 
 varied from that of other mortals. His heart is not 
 made of stone, his flesh of brass, nor his bones of iron. 
 Confession of distress may be extorted from him ; but 
 his great soul disdains to be overcome by the greatest 
 severity of trouble, so as to utter with his mouth any 
 impious complaining thought, or hasten with his feet 
 to a sinful deliverance. Sometimes he has been known 
 to glory in tribulation ; to take pleasure in intirmities, 
 in reproaches, in necessities ; and count it all joy, if 
 he fell into divers temptations. 
 
 If he cannot attain to this triumphant gloriation, 
 when patience has her perfect work, he studies to 
 maintain a cheerfulness of temper, and a calm sere- 
 nity of spirit. But, if he cannot be cheerful, he is 
 silent. The sovereign will of God is the resistless 
 argument he uses with his own heart, whilst he con- 
 siders the various ills of life, not as the births of blind 
 and fatal necessity, but as the appointments of eternal 
 wisdom, both in their weight and number. He is 
 justly persuaded, that if consulting angels had con- 
 trived his best and properest affliction, and chose it to 
 his hand, they could not have half so well adjusted 
 what concerns him. He trembles to reply against 
 the God whom all the elements and powers of nature 
 serve ; who gives no account of his matters ; all whose 
 dispensations are the result of excellent wisdom, con- 
 trivance, and design. Every bitter cup he considers 
 as brewed in heaven, and as presented by a Father's 
 hand. " The men which are thy hand, O Lord," is 
 the stile he gives to the instruments of his afflic- 
 tion, and "the man which is thy sword." He bal- 
 ances the desert of his iniquities with the grievous- 
 ness of his trials ; and bears the indignation of the 
 Lord, for that he hath sinned against him. He con- 
 siders the benefit of the rod, and sees it blossoming, 
 
176 ON FORTITUDE. 
 
 like Aaron's, and yielding- the peaceable fruits of righ- 
 teousness. 
 
 If the Captain of his salvation assigns for him a 
 post of danger, like a good soldier he does not repine, 
 but rather deems it a very singular honour. The 
 louder shall be his applause, when he returns victori- 
 ous from the battle. Whilst with his eye of faith he 
 commands the vast unbounded prospect of eternity, 
 the longest period of time dwindles into a point : and 
 why should that be much regarded by him, which is 
 but for a moment ? No evil befals him, but he sees 
 it is common unto men. 
 
 The prophets, who have spoken in the name of the 
 Lord, and those of whom the world was not worthy, 
 he has for his examples of suffering affliction and of 
 patience. But chiefly he regards thy sufferings, bless- 
 ed Jesus ; the sorrows of thy life ; the agonies of thy 
 death ; thy bleeding cross ; the anguish of thy desert- 
 ed soul ; and he remembers his own misery no more. 
 
 The Scriptures are his grand dispensary, where he 
 finds balsamic truths and healing doctrines. A text 
 of Paul is more powerful to support his fainting soul, 
 than a sentence from Seneca ; a thought of Solomon, 
 than a paragraph of Epictetus. Of all conquerors, he 
 is the greatest ; for even when conquered, he over- 
 comes. His greatest enemies prove most friendly, 
 and plait for him a crown of glory. 
 
 Sickness is better to him than health ; loss than 
 gain ; death than life. While the vessels of clay 
 crack in fire ; he, like a vessel of gold in the furnace, 
 makes no din, but comes out more refined. Patience, 
 thou art thine own reward. Great is thy present 
 peace. Eternal is thy future glory. 
 
 ON FORTITUDE. 
 
 O FORTITUDE, thou noble grace ; not earthly is thy 
 original. The desperado knows thee not ; nor the 
 
ON FORTITUDE. 177 
 
 blustering gallant, who, for a glut of fell revenge, or 
 the false name honour^ dares risk his life in the de- 
 tested duel. Christianity alone inspires thee: God 
 and angels applaud thee. While cowardice falls into 
 the dangers she would avoid, and loses the life she in- 
 tended to save : it is thine to make more than a con- 
 queror in whatsoever event. Seated on thy trium- 
 phant chariot, thou draggest, at thy glowing wheels, 
 both shame and fear ; a dreadful pair. Humility, with 
 prudence, manage thy reins ; and glory stands behind 
 thee. By thee the hero is led into the glorious field; 
 and whilst by thee inspired, and love to his dear 
 country, his ears drink in the dreadful thunders of the 
 war with a peculiar pleasure, and his eyes behold the 
 dismal scenes of terror and amazement, nor turn away 
 abhorrent. By thee the still more glorious martyr re- 
 joices in sternest tribulations. So strange is thy in- 
 chanting power, galling fetters are turned into delight- 
 ful ornaments ; illuminated is the gloomy dungeon ; 
 prisons are palaces and delectable orchards ; and furi- 
 ous flames, fit to torment with keenest anguish, are 
 beds of roses, soft and perfumed, as burning martyrs 
 have declared. By thee the King of martyrs, who 
 witnessed a good confession, was taught to endure 
 the racking cross, and to despise the shame. Whilst 
 by thee, the joy which he now possesses was set be- 
 fore him, and the almighty Father as his helper, he 
 set his face like a flint, and made his heart as an ada- 
 mant. Great is thy present glory. Eternal is thy 
 future reward. 
 
 Is then the bloody field, the scafi'old, or the stake, 
 the only theatres for holy fortitude? Perhaps the 
 cause of your country, and the cause of your Re- 
 deemer, may never call you to expose and cast away 
 your life. But go, and l3ravely dare to be singular in 
 a dechning age ; though hissing crowds should point 
 at you as you go along, and men of fashion should 
 despise you. Reverence the Sabbath. Reverence the 
 name of the Lord. Bow the knee ; and let the voice 
 
178 ON CONTENTMENT. 
 
 of praise be heard in your dwelling-. Reprove the 
 bold blasphemer. Confess your faults, when it is for 
 the glory of God ; knowing that it is better to have a 
 wound, a blot in your reputation, than your con- 
 science. And before you will endeavour to retrieve 
 your situation in the world by dishonest baseness, 
 open the door to honest poverty. Be it the leading- 
 maxim of thy life, that nothing is greatly shameful, 
 but sin ; nor greatly fearful, but the displeasure of 
 your Maker. In a present life you shall have peace 
 of conscience ; and, in the world to come, receive an 
 incorruptible crown. 
 
 ON CONTENTMENT. 
 
 The Christian who rejoices in this excellent grace, 
 is one who would not indeed be satisfied with all 
 this world affords, as his eternal portion ; yet can 
 he say, even of its smallest share, " It is enough." 
 Whether he views himself as a member of the g-reat 
 society of the universe, or of the civil society to which 
 he particularly belongs, he is pleased with the station 
 which providence has allotted for him. He looks not 
 with envy on those above him, and repels not only 
 outward murmurings against the disposer of his lot, 
 but inward repinings. 
 
 If the middle state of life be that which falls to him, 
 where he is equally removed from the pomp of wealth, 
 and the indigence of poverty, he considers it as by 
 far the more eligible condition, like him who prayed, 
 " Give me neither poverty nor riches." For, as the 
 panes of glass in our windows, by their hardness and 
 solidity, bid a defiance to the stormy blast, yet, by 
 their transparency, admit the cheerful beams of the 
 sun ; so does this middle state of life defend him from 
 the injuries of the world, and at the same time, it ex- 
 cludes not the divine favour, nor darkens the light of 
 
ON CONTENTMENT. 179 
 
 his countenance ; whilst the wealthy are exposed to 
 peculiar temptations, and the poor are not without 
 their manifest inconveniences, and even solicitations 
 unto iniquity. 
 
 But, if poverty and want be his associates, whether 
 entailed upon him by his birth, or introduced by the 
 hand of accident or calamity, he can cheerfully wel- 
 come these unjoyous guests, and find them very toler- 
 able companions. As the soldiers had no power to 
 break the bones of his Redeemer, " when they saw 
 that he was already dead," so poverty, with her attend- 
 ant train of miseries, is unable to break his bones, and 
 wound his rest, when he is crucified to the world. He 
 knows, though he could call the world his own, God 
 never put therein such heavenly virtue, as to inspire 
 contentment ; reserving- this as his own great prerog- 
 ative. 
 
 Why should he be rendered miserable, by the want 
 of that, whose presence would not make him happy ? 
 If he has not all the advantages of riches and afflu- 
 ence, neither is he harassed with the anxious cares, 
 and dismal fears, and other sore temptations, to which 
 those in high life are necessarily subject. If he shines 
 not in the glitter of plenty, how many darts of agony 
 will he escape ! So, thunders strike tall trees, and 
 lofty mountains, while humbler shrubs and lonely 
 vales remain untouched. 
 
 This world he regards as an inn, where the short- 
 ness of his stay reconciles him to the indifferency of 
 his accommodation ; and, as a theatre, where it matters 
 not whether he act the part of a king or a peasant, 
 but how well he acquits himself in the character he 
 assumes. He is not always poring on the dark side 
 of his lot, and reflecting how many are happier than 
 himself; but oftentimes turns his thoughts upon the 
 favourable ingredients of his condition, and recollects 
 how many have been, and are, this precious moment, 
 more miserable than he. 
 
 If a valuable friend, or a beloved relative, is torn 
 
180 ON CONTENTMENT. 
 
 from his bleeding- bosom, by the relentless hand of 
 death, he remembers how many still survive. He 
 never can persuade himself that he is poor, whilst 
 possessed of so much natural wealth as a man, and 
 so much heavenly treasure as a Christian. The glo- 
 rious canopy of heaven he considers as the roof of his 
 earthly mansion, far more majestic than that of the 
 most magnificent palace, though adorned with glitter- 
 ing silver, and refulgent gold. The green earth is 
 the carpet on which he treads. When the crystal 
 well supplies him with drink, he can forego the ilow- 
 ng- bowl. The golden sun, the sparkling- stars, and the 
 smiling flowers that strew the earth, shew more glori- 
 ous in his eye, than g-ems and diamonds ; and, in- 
 deed are as truly possessed by him, as these are of 
 their owners. Health of body, soundness of mind, 
 (blessings which, for their commonness, are but too 
 g-enerally forgot), excite the most grateful emotions 
 in his heart. But especially as a Christian, O how 
 his riches rise ! how his treasures are replenished ! 
 God himself is the portion of his cup, and the word 
 of God the charter for his inheritance. 
 
 How can he be envious at the prosperity of the 
 wicked, when the unknown merits of Immanuel are 
 all his own ? Though he has but little, he knows it 
 is the earnest of infinitely more, and every table that 
 is spread for him in the wilderness, was purchased by 
 his Redeemer's blood, before it was procured by his 
 labour. It is not indeed a little of God will satisfy 
 him ; nor will he be pleased with a small share in the 
 treasures of eternity. These best gifts he most ear- 
 nestly covets. But as to temporal acquisitions, he 
 esteems it " better to be of a humble spirit with the 
 lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." 
 
 By moderating his desires, he has found out the 
 noble secret of turning- every thing to g-old, and finds 
 a compendious way of obtaining whatever he will. 
 He is a true Benjamite, who can use the left hand as 
 well as the right, and manage both fortunes to ad van- 
 
ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 181 
 
 tage : and the liveliest imag-e of the blessed God ; for, 
 like Solomon's good man, he ranges not abroad for 
 happiness, being- " satisfied from himself." 
 
 ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 But, what shall we say of him who despises the 
 world, and its fashions that pass away? Shall we 
 say that he is lazy and indolent in his lawful calling, 
 neglecting to provide for his own ? No ; for we find, 
 that even the Son of God himself, in the days of his 
 obscurity, handled the tools of the carpenter. Or 
 that his lawful comforts are tasteless and insipid to 
 him? How then should he be duly thankful to his 
 all-gracious Benefactor ? he neither admires the fool- 
 ish action of him who threw his money into the sea, 
 nor the discontented practice of those, whether of the 
 Pagan, Jewish, or Christian denomination; who, being 
 weary of the world, condemned themselves to a civil 
 death, or voluntary banishment from the cheerful 
 haunts of men, retiring to the lonely cell, or solitary 
 desert. He knows there is nothing better than for a 
 man to rejoice in his labour ; even in his worldly por- 
 tion he enjoys his God, and reaps the love of his 
 dying Redeemer. 
 
 But such is the acquaintance he has with the glory 
 of heaven, the dignity of his own soul, the vain and 
 hurtful nature of the world ; that he highly disdains 
 to set his affections on the things of the earth, either 
 in whole or in part, as though they could be the main 
 springs of his felicity. 
 
 Is he placed in humble circumstances, having no 
 large quantity of earthly goods at his command ? He 
 discerns, in this providence, the kindly affection of a 
 tender parent, removing from the reach of a beloved 
 child, what might prove hurtful and pernicious; 
 whilst those for whom he has no such tender regard,' 
 
182 ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 are permitted to fall upon it ; and, to their unspeak- 
 able prejudice, to fill their bellies with his hidden 
 treasure. He envies not, but rather pities the men 
 of superior rank, whose wishes are not crowned by 
 the abundance of their riches ; but their sorrows are 
 multiplied, and new fuel is added to their lusts, and 
 many of them, alas ! have their portion in this life. 
 As for those that set the world in their hearts, (by 
 far too fine a frame for such a wretched pebble), all 
 whose days are sorrow, and their labour grief ; he can 
 no more esteem them truly rich, than we would think 
 the man happy, whose entrails should be tortured 
 with a precious diamond, fit to shine in the crown 
 of the most exalted monarch. 
 
 If he is rich in this world, he is neither too joyful 
 in having, too solicitous in keeping, too anxious in 
 increasing, nor too sorrowful in losing these corrup- 
 tible things. He rejoices more in the promises of the 
 bible, than in the gold of his coffers. As the seamen 
 are careful not to admit into their vessel the waters 
 of the ocean, by any the smallest cranny, as well 
 aware how quickly they would descend to the bottom ; 
 so he is fearful to admit this world into his aifections, 
 lest he be drowned in perdition. He is fully per- 
 suaded, that he is as much an idolater, who offers the 
 aifections of his heart to the unrighteous mammon, 
 and says unto fine gold, " thou art my confidence ;" 
 as that he is an idolater who uncovers the head, kisses 
 the hand, or bows the knee to an idol, or honours the 
 vanities of the Gentiles with sacrifices and incense. 
 Too eagerly to grasp what is his own, he equally ab- 
 hors, as violently to snatch at what is the property of 
 his neighbour. Whilst the niggardly wretch wants 
 what he has, as well as what he has not. and his good 
 is not in his hand, he enjoys the gifts of ]Movidence, 
 by moderately using them to the glory of his Crea- 
 tor, and the good of his fellow creature. He steers 
 the middle course between the sordid miser, who lays 
 up his talent in a napkin, and the prodigal waster, 
 
ON CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. 183 
 
 who consumes upon his lusts, what was given him for 
 more noble ends. He thankfully receives, but does 
 not anxiously pursue the goods of fortune, nor aban- 
 don himself to unmanly grief, when they make unto 
 themselves wings, and fly away. The world is dead 
 to him. What though you bury it out of his sight ? 
 He reverences himself, and highly disdains to place 
 his happiness in what was only designed for his tem- 
 porary accommodation. Mindful of his high original, 
 he suffers not this servant to bear rule ; which were 
 to submit to a slavery, of all others the most inglori- 
 ous. Whilst he converses much with things eternal 
 and unseen, he acquires a high disdain of the tempo- 
 ral things that are seen. As he who deals much in 
 pieces of gold, thinks little of copper money ; the 
 good of the heavenly country is before him, even the 
 better and enduring substance ; and like the ven- 
 erable patriarch, he regards not his stuff of wordly en- 
 joyments, if he is called to forego them. He re- 
 joices more that his friends are holy, than that they 
 are wealthy ; and is more anxious to instil into the 
 minds of his children, sentiments of devotion, than to 
 bring them acquainted with the art of making their 
 fortune, and growing considerable in the world. He 
 uses the world as a flower, which preserves its beauty 
 and verdure the longer the less you handle it. When 
 the busy worldhng at once throws up his interest in 
 the comforts of time, and pleasures of eternity, this 
 heaven-born soul has the true rehsh of hfe ; and, at 
 the same time, can rejoice in all the treasures of eter- 
 nity as his own proper mercies. Happy soul ! he has 
 provided for himself bags that wax not old, and dur- 
 able riches, which no rust can corrupt, no thief can 
 steal; of which no storm, no conflagration, can be- 
 reave him. 
 
184 ON THE PURSUIT OF REAL RICHES. 
 
 ON THE PURSUIT OF REAL RICHES. 
 
 Can he be poor that is an heir of God, whose every 
 perfection is more glorious, than the mountains of 
 prey ? Who can call the unsearchable riches of Christ 
 his own, and is interested in the Pearl of great price ? 
 Whose is that saving grace, more precious than gold 
 tried in the fire ? that heavenly wisdom that cannot 
 be valued for jewels of fine gold ? Who can rejoice 
 in the divine word, more than they that find great 
 spoil, and take it for his heritage for ever? Who is 
 rich in good works, which are profitable unto men ? 
 Who can turn even reproaches into greater riches than 
 all the treasures of Egypt ? Of whom it may be said, 
 *' Though he is not the lord of this village — though 
 that spot of ground is not ploughed by his oxen, that 
 all things are his ?" Who, viewing the spacious gar- 
 den of his wealthy neighbour, is transported by his 
 thoughts to the celestial paradise ; and beholding his 
 magnificent palace, can meditate of the house not 
 made with hands ? Who can lift his eyes to that 
 blue vault of heaven, adorned with sparkling stars, 
 and considers it as the pavement of his heavenly man- 
 sion ? W^ho can consider his scanty share of worldly 
 good things, as the purchase of his Redeemer ; and a 
 little that he hath, as better than the riches of many 
 wicked ? He has little ; but it is the earnest of much. 
 It is not his portion ; but it is sanctified by the word 
 and prayer. He has little ; but the blessing of the 
 Lord maketh rich. He has little ; but he lays it up 
 in heaven, and lends it to a good Creditor, even unto 
 the Lord, who will render it again with usury. 
 
 No; he cannot be poor. For he is possessed of the 
 true riches, in comparison of which, how is the gold 
 become dim ! how is the most fine gold changed ! 
 
 But he is poor, who, though he fill his house with 
 silver and gold, high fed on the lap of fortune, is yet 
 n straits, even in the fulness of his sufficiency. Care, 
 
ON THE PURSUIT OF REAL RICHES. 185 
 
 like a greedy vulture, sits preying- on his heart. He 
 knows no other riches, but such as may be acquired 
 with injustice, used with indiscretion, and possessed 
 without happiness. 
 
 Alas ! these corruptible thing-s cannot redeem the 
 soul from death ; nor deHver from the incumbent 
 miseries of life. Will the head-ache be less perceiv- 
 ed, that the temples are surrounded with a crown ? 
 Will the fever be in the least abated, if the sick per- 
 son is laid on a bed of state ? Far less will the re- 
 sentful conscience be bribed with gold and silver to 
 intermit its wrath. See how they make unto them- 
 selves wing's, and fly away ! How often has he soli- 
 cited the cold hand of charity to-day, who yesterday 
 washed his steps in butter, and lived on the finest of 
 the wheat ? Where is the man whose glory ever de- 
 scended into the grave ? 
 
 O ye children of men, whose foreheads meet the 
 skies ; whose souls are rational and immortal ; are 
 these the precious acquisitions for which ye stoop 
 ignobly down, and dig into the bowels of the earth ? 
 Is it thus ye pant after the dust of the earth, and 
 think no pains too great, no dangers too considerable, 
 to deter you from the fantastic chase ? 
 
 O did we know the things that are freely given us 
 of God ; did we know what is the riches of the glory 
 of his inheritance in the saints ; how would we tram- 
 ple under our feet these lying vanities ! Are these 
 thy boasted offers, O vain world ? are these a portion 
 for my soul ? Can these enable me to live up to my 
 native dignity? Begone, ye vain pretenders. Wel- 
 come, ye durable riches ; ye safe enjoyments, that 
 puff not up with haughty pride, nor are enemies to 
 my peace, but are evidences of the divine love, and 
 profit in the day of death. Let me call you mine, and 
 I shall not know the approach of poverty. 
 
 M 
 
186 ON AN INGENUOUS AND FREE SPIRIT. 
 
 ON AN INGENUOUS AND FREE SPIRIT. 
 
 He greatly despises the admired thing's of the 
 world as low and vulgar. He can behold the gilded 
 chariots, the magnificent palaces, and splendid equi- 
 pages of the great, without a covetous eye.-r-Con- 
 scious of his native dignity as a man, and spiritual as 
 a christian, he rather scorns, than fears to sin. His 
 motto is, Reverence thyself; and from a principle of 
 holy pride, he departs from iniquity, though shame 
 and misery were not its inseparable attendants. The 
 g-oodness of God has the most powerful influence up- 
 on him to lead him to repentance; but he detests the 
 hellish sophistry of those who say, " Let us sin, be- 
 cause grace abounds." He asks not, " What can the 
 Almighty do for me ? What profit shall I have, if I 
 keep his ordinances ?" He serves a loving Father, 
 who spares him as a man spareth his son; not for the 
 love of wages, but for the wages of love. He is 
 touched with a generous concern for the glory of God, 
 as well as his own salvation ; and for the good of his 
 fellow-creatures, as well as his own interests. He 
 does not say of this duty, it is absolutely necessary ? 
 may I be saved, though I neglect it ? Nor of that, 
 What damage shall I sustain ? W^ill it infringe my 
 reputation ? Will it encroach on my estate ? But, is 
 it the commandment of the Lord ? The reverence he 
 has for God is not that fear which hath torment ; but 
 that fear which is attended by love. He is more 
 grieved by far for the displeasure done to God by his 
 sin, than for any punishment which he may have rea- 
 son to expect. If you eclipse the countenance of the 
 Almighty, who is his sun and shield ; in vain shall 
 the twinkling stars of worldly comforts scatter their 
 feeble beams. He weepeth sore as in the night, be- 
 cause the Comforter that should relieve his soul is 
 far away. He is not always contriving how he may 
 serve God at the cheapest rate; but is rather at a loss 
 
ON SINCERITY AND TRUTH. 187 
 
 what he shall render to the Lord for all his unde- 
 served mercies. This was thy princely spirit, O royal 
 prophet, " Shall I offer to the Lord that which cost 
 me nothing?" His liberal soul deviseth liberal things. 
 He disdains to be the servant of men ; to see things 
 with others eyes; to couch down under the burden of 
 human imposition : but he searches the scriptures 
 daily, to see if these things be so, that are told him 
 by learned and holy men ; and rejects or receives ac- 
 cordingly. He is willing to receive evil, as well as 
 good, from the hand of the Lord ; and makes not a 
 grave of any affliction, to bury the memory of former 
 mercies. He can blush for those sins that are kept 
 close from the eye of the world ; and mourn even for 
 a long past and pardoned transgression. When God 
 says unto him, "Seek ye my face;" he does not post- 
 pone this work till he is laid on the bed of languish- 
 ing, resolving to allot those dregs of time to the ser- 
 vice of the Almighty, which he cannot make a better 
 of; but he remembers his Creator before the arrival 
 of the evil day. 
 
 Does he sist himself in the presence of God ? he 
 hehaves as though the eye of men were upon him. 
 Does he converse with man? he sets the Lord always 
 before him. He is not so sordidly attached to the vain 
 pleasures and enjoyments of the world, but he can, 
 with the joy of the believing patriarch, obey the com- 
 mandment of the Lord, and go forth, not knowing 
 whither he goes. 
 
 ON SINCERITY AND TRUTH. 
 
 A LOVELY character indeed ! The person who is 
 really possessed of it, is a man who does not think 
 one way, and speak another ; or speak one way, and 
 act another; but he think as he speaks, and speaks as 
 he does. In all his words, in all his actions, he pays 
 
188 ON SINCERITY AND TRUTH. 
 
 the most inviolable regard to truth ; more than to 
 his own reputation ; yea, more than to his very life. 
 Truth he esteems as the most precious of all things 
 here below: — the bond of civil society, without which 
 public communities were nothing else but companies 
 of robbers and banditti : — an eminent part of the 
 illustrious image of God ; and a very orient pearl in 
 the crown of Jehovah; who, that he might not stain 
 the truth of his threatening, in acquitting the guilty, 
 did stain the cross with the blood of his only begotten 
 Son. For this end camest thou into the world, O 
 gracious Redeemer ! to bear witness to the truth ; 
 and to confirm all the divine promises, which are yea 
 and amen in thee. 
 
 How can the inhabitant of Zion allow himself, for 
 any puny interest, to encroach upon these sacred 
 rights of truth ; for the asserting of which the Most 
 High has exerted himself in such an amazing man- 
 ner ? How can he suffer himself to turn aside into 
 the crooked paths of falsehood and dissimulation ? 
 whether in judgment or commerce, or in ordinary dis- 
 course ? For so should he forfeit all pretensions of 
 belonging to that people, whose Lord is the God of 
 truth : — of possessing that Spirit, whose fruit is in all 
 goodness, righteousness, and truth : — of being in- 
 terested in that Redeemer, whose name is the way 
 and the truth : — and of being entitled to that inheri- 
 tance, which is the land of uprightness where nothing 
 enters that loveth or maketh a lie. 
 
 If he is called to act the part of a witness in civil 
 judicatures, he would not so much as declare what he 
 knows is a falsehood, though the disguising of the 
 truth, in the least instance, would tend ever so much 
 to his advantage. Far less can he be guilty of that 
 heaven-daring wickedness they are guilty of, who call 
 the all-seeing Majesty of heaven to testify against 
 them, if it is not as they say, even when they are 
 conscious that the contrary is the truth. O abhorred 
 wretches ! is it thus you pour contempt on eternal 
 
ON SINCERITY AND TRUTH. 189 
 
 Sovereignty ? thus you insult his omniscience ? thus 
 you bid defiance to his Almighty vengeance ? Yet 
 he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call 
 back his words ; and you shall know that it is a fear- 
 ful thing to faU into his hands. 
 
 In matters of commerce, he lays it down as his 
 leading maxim, that honesty is the best policy. He 
 never can think it an advantageous bargain, that 
 derogates from the peace of his conscience, whilst it 
 puts money into his coifers. He not only abhors 
 the grosser methods of dishonest gain ; such as, the 
 false balance, the bag of deceitful weights, but the 
 more genteel, or less shameful artifices of fraud and 
 circumvention. Such are these, which Solomon 
 touches at, with the most beautiful simplicity : " It 
 is naught, it is naught, sayeth the buyer ; but when 
 he is gone away, then he boasteth." 
 
 Nor is this godly sincerity less apparent in all his 
 social interviews, or friendly communications. If he 
 tells any story for true, to divert the company where 
 he is, he takes care it be really a matter of fact ; as 
 rightly judging, that nothing can render a man more 
 silly and ridiculous in the eyes of a rational beholder, 
 than to coin absolute fictions, or dress up matters of 
 fact by strange additions, in the garb of novelty, and 
 all for no other end, but to keep the company in good 
 humour, and gain their admiration. If he loses an 
 argument about any doubtful point, sincerity forbids 
 him to give out, that he is fully clear, when, perhaps, 
 he is really in the dark ; and that he sees no force at 
 all in his neighbour's argument, though, perhaps, it 
 amounts to a resistless demonstration. If he gives a 
 character of any absent party, he is careful to avoid all 
 hyperbolical descriptions, whether they tend to dimin- 
 ish or to exalt the worthiness of the person spoke of. 
 If he makes a promise, though about a trivial matter, 
 he thinks himself obliged to fulfil it. And lastly, in 
 passing of compliments, his courtesy does not in- 
 terfere with his veracity ; pretending the greatest 
 
 M 2 
 
190 ON TEMPERANCE. 
 
 warmth of kindness and affection, when perhaps, his 
 esteem is very low, and his affection very cold. His 
 love is without dissimulation. 
 
 ON TEMPERANCE. 
 
 " Bear and forbear," is a precept which may in- 
 clude under it, if not the whole, yet a very great part 
 of moral duty. The first part of the maxim relates 
 to the afflictions, the latter part refers to the pleasures 
 of life. Are you in adversity ? do things happen to 
 you, not as you could wish ? Bear them in a becom- 
 ing manner, and let patience have her perfect work. 
 Are you in prosperity ? do the pleasures of life lie 
 within your grasp ? Moderate your desires by tem- 
 perance, and forbear every unlawful gratification. If 
 you want temperance to use discreetly the pleasure- 
 able good things which you enjoy, they are turned 
 into real evils, as afflictions are turned into good by 
 the exercise of patience. 
 
 Temperance is the power and command which a 
 man has over himself, in moderating those appetites 
 which are common to us with the beasts. Gluttony, 
 drunkenness, and lust, are the opposite vices. The 
 two first are opposed to sobriety, and the last to 
 chastity. 
 
 It is a melancholy matter that ever intemperance 
 should be deemed a necessary article in the character 
 of a gentleman. Why should it not be regarded in 
 the same light as treachery or lying, seeing it is 
 equally condemned by the light of nature itself? Be 
 it so : this ugly hag has the appearance of good- 
 humour, and has many votaries among your gallant 
 spirits : to be intemperate is the most horrid ingrati- 
 tude in its own nature, and argues a littleness of soul, 
 and narrow way of thinking, extremely contemptible. 
 Was it for this, O ye sons of intemperance ! your 
 
ON TEMPERANCE. 191 
 
 bountiful Creator endowed you with bis own resem- 
 blance ; gave you that comely grace and dignity of 
 aspect by which your bodies are distinguished from 
 the brutes? Was it for this he spreads your table 
 with unsparing liberality, and gives you ail things ne- 
 cessary to support your lives, and comfort your hearts ? 
 That human nature which is by you defiled with 
 filthy lusts, your Creator deigned to assume, when he 
 took upon him the form of a servant. In this same 
 human nature the Holy Spirit deigns to dwell ; and 
 the time is fast approaching when many parcels of it 
 shall be raised in glory, and clothed with immortality. 
 But what is this to you who seem to disclaim your 
 humanity ; and while you affect to be artificial brutes, 
 are worse than the natural ones ! Such knowledge is 
 too wonderful for you ; such motives too celestial to 
 have influence upon your sensual minds ; yet shall 
 the truly wise be influenced from such considerations 
 to cleanse their way. 
 
 As to the pleasures which are supposed to attend 
 upon sensuahty of every sort, when coolly viewed, 
 they will appear infinitely deficient. He who is per- 
 petually feasted with a cheerful conscience, is an epi- 
 cure of a right kind. The pleasures of temperance 
 are by far superior to those of her rival, perhajDs in 
 real poignancy : but sure I am, if fleshly satisfactions 
 have any thing to recommend them on their own ac- 
 count, the attending evils swallow up the imaginary 
 pleasure ; as Pharaoh's lean kine eat up the fat and 
 well-favoured ones. 
 
 As a physician, I could advise you against intem- 
 perate courses. Temperance is natural, physic, where- 
 as intemperance is artificial distress. Are you not 
 beset round about with fatal distempers ? Is not old 
 age soon to wrinkle your face, and death to toss his 
 dart? Why invite these unjoyous guests ? They will 
 come soon enough of their own accord. O if you 
 could but think what an ugly set you give unto your 
 features ! Lo ! there is a looking glass, drunkard, 
 
192 ON TEMPERANCE. 
 
 which Solomon holds unto your face. " Who hath 
 wo ? who hath sorrow ? who hath contention ? who 
 hath babblings ? who hath wounds without cause ? 
 They that tarry long- at the wine." When the glut- 
 ton is murdered by his own mud ; and when the ilesh 
 of the adulterer is consumed, — then shall he mourn. 
 O Britain ! Britain ! though famine, pestilence, and 
 war should never visit you again ; yet this is a de- 
 struction that wasteth at noon-day. 
 
 As your lawyer, I might tell you how this vice 
 drains your worldly substance ; is a fire that wasteth 
 to destruction ; and will bring you to a morsel of 
 bread. 
 
 As a philosopher, I might put you in mind, that 
 it makes you less than a man, darkens the under- 
 standing, takes away the heart, metamorphoses you 
 into a beast. 
 
 But especially as a divine, I must tell you, that for 
 these things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the 
 children of disobedience. We are taught by our holy 
 religion to consider the lusts of intemperance, as the 
 procuring cause of temporal judgments, — of eternal 
 death. What cast Adam out of paradise ? Intem- 
 perance. What brought the flood on the old world ? 
 Intemperance. What kindled Sodom's flames, and laid 
 in ashes the cities of the plain? Intemperance. Intem- 
 perance brought on national judgments upon the Jews, 
 and exposes to everlasting burnings. It is related by 
 an eminent author in his travels, that in some places 
 of Germany they executed capital offenders in a very 
 extraordinary manner. There was an engine shaped 
 like a handsome lady, which the criminal saluted, and 
 afterwards retired. He returns again to salute the 
 fatal machine ; the figure opens its hands, and cuts 
 him through the heart. " Knowest thou not that 
 the dead are there ? that her guests are in the deeps 
 of hell ? None that go in unto her return again ; nei- 
 ther take they hold of the paths of life." 
 
THE HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 193 
 
 THE HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES; 
 OR, THE COUNCIL OF PEACE. 
 
 As yet there were no mountains covered with ver- 
 dure, nor valleys clad with yellow plenty. The trees 
 had not yet reared their lofty heads ; there was no 
 sun yet lighted up to spread the cheerful day ; no 
 firmament glowing- with lively sapphires ; but the 
 eternal mind alone existed; — himself was his own 
 happiness ; beholding from his exalted prospect (from 
 which all future things are present), the numerous 
 events which providence would bring forth, he spied 
 the human race all grovelling in the dust, and utter- 
 ly unable to recover themselves from a ruinous fall ; 
 he saw them in their great progenitor, in the very 
 morning of the world, involved in one common ruin, 
 by the artful insinuation of a subtle apostate ; he saw 
 the mischief and spite of his implacable adversary, 
 and resolved to redeem the lapsed race in such a me- 
 thod, as should redound to the glory of his perfec- 
 tions, and the never-ending confusion of the malicious 
 impostor. 
 
 He is revealed to have called a solemn council, 
 (for we must speak after the manner of men concern- 
 ing him), in order to concert the grand design. Ho- 
 liness and wisdom were present, with all their sister 
 attributes ; but chiefly, justice arid mercy met toge- 
 ther; — graces, which, like the sun and moon, are 
 rarely seen together among the sons of men. 
 
 And first, stern Justice rose with an awful counte- 
 nance, — justice, whose province is to see the rights 
 of heaven ; for sooner would she tear the earth from 
 her deep foundations, and blend it with the heavens in 
 imdistinguished ruin, than sufi'er any, the least infringe- 
 ment of the fundamental laws of God : she seemed to be 
 altogether averse from the merciful design : she pleads, 
 that guilty man is no more the proper object of mercy, 
 than the angels that sinned. Have they not violat- 
 
194 THE HARMONY OF THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. 
 
 ed thy holy laws, O righteous Father ! See what con- 
 fusion and disorder sin has introduced into thy fair 
 creation ! How the beautiful subordination of all 
 things to one another, and to thee, the great Creator 
 and Governor, is disturbed ! and, therefore, die he 
 must, or blot me out from thy nature, discard me 
 from thy court, let me be no more the supporter of 
 thy throne. 
 
 Holiness and faithfulness did back the speech of 
 justice. For my lustre is stained, said holiness, by 
 sin ; and my honour is pledged, said faithfulness, that 
 the deserved punishment shall be inflicted ; witness 
 the threatening of the law. 
 
 But a smiling attribute, in which the Almighty 
 has a peculiar delight, next interposed. Her bowels 
 were moved for us. With looks of gentlest aspect 
 she held forth the olive branch of peace, and dropt 
 these precious words, " Shall mankind perish, thy 
 youngest son, thy latest born ? shall the avenging 
 enemy always blaspheme thy name, and deem him- 
 self the conqueror ? O spare thy helpless tribe, be- 
 fooled out of life and happiness ! O stay thy aim of 
 vengeance ! Thou hast glorified these, my sister at- 
 tributes already, in thy works ! I see the beauteous 
 creation emerging out of nothing, to the glory of 
 thy power and wisdom ! Holiness and Justice have 
 triumphed in punishing the sinning angels. Shall 
 no ray of my glory shine forth in any of thv works ? 
 Here is a proper season, O let me now be glorified ! 
 It is true, O divine Holiness ! you have been stained 
 by sin ; nor is it less true you are engaged to inflict 
 the awful vengeance, O divine Veracity ! Righteous 
 are thy demands, O spotless Justice! But is there no 
 surety who may be substituted in the room of oft'end- 
 ing mortals ? Who is able ? Who is willing ? to un- 
 derly the threatened vengeance ? Hast thou no ex- 
 pedient, O eternal Wisdom ! to answer the pleas of 
 Holiness and Justice ? Canst thou not devise how 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS. 195 
 
 Faithfulness shall be verified, and Mercy be display- 
 ed?" 
 
 Eternal Wisdom then proposed for the surety, the 
 second person of trinal-unity. It is true, we cannot 
 find one equal to the mighty task among the angels, 
 or the human race ; but, let the Son of God become 
 man ; let him do ; let him die ; let him rise again. 
 The malicious adversary shall behold, with keen des- 
 pair, all his designs blasted ; God will be highly glo- 
 rified ; and even the gracious Redeemer will be high- 
 ly exalted; while mankind will be honourably saved, 
 by a rig-hteousness of infinite worth and. everlasting- 
 duration. O glorious device ! 
 
 The g-racious overture found universal acceptance, 
 — the Son of God consented, — Mercy rejoiced, — 
 Justice sheathed her sword, — Faithfulness laid her 
 hand on her mouth, — and Holiness shone out in 
 bright effulgence. 
 
 ON STEDFASTNESS. 
 
 As the plant never can thrive which is always re- 
 moved by the gardener from one spot to another ; 
 neither can the christian abound in the work of the 
 Lord, who is not stedfast and immoveable. But where 
 shall stedfastness be found ? In the jangling- schools, 
 among the wise men, the scribes, the disputers of 
 the world? Alas! none have been more unlearned, 
 more unstable, more pernicious wresters of the scrip- 
 ture to their own destruction, than the persons of this 
 denomination ; far less can the obstinate bigot lay any 
 just claim to this character : so call him who is eagerly 
 attached to the peculiarities of his party, without be- 
 ing- able himself to render a reason for his persuasion, 
 or wilHng- to undergo an impartial enquiry. 
 
 But the established christian is a person who has heard 
 and learned of the Father ; who knows the power of 
 
196 ON STEDFASTNESS. 
 
 divine truth on his heart and conscience. Long-, per- 
 haps, he wandered in uncertainty, had not where to 
 lay his head, or fix the sole of his foot ; but when he 
 found these old paths, these good ways, he found his 
 rest. Alighting-, like the dove of Noah, on the true 
 ark, " This is my rest," he says, " and here I will 
 abide." He is no more like the chaff, which, when 
 separated from the grain, becomes the sport of winds; 
 but, rooted in Christ Jesus, he flourishes as the palm- 
 tree, and grows as the cedar in Lebanon : his reli- 
 gious opinions are not now like travellers in an inn, 
 that lodge but for a night, nor his holy resolutions 
 like the morning cloud and early dew that passeth 
 away ; but that which he heard from the beginning- 
 abides in him, and with full purpose of heart he cleaves 
 unto the Lord : he holds fast the profession of his 
 faith without wavering ; and by a patient continuance 
 in well-doing, seeks for glory, honour, and immortal- 
 ity* Is he assaulted by the winds of vain doctrine, 
 and strong temptations ? The strength of his per- 
 suasion, and the firmness of his resolution, are so far 
 from being overcome, that, on the contrary, they ac- 
 quire a more unshaken stability ; as the tree that is 
 well rooted, clings closer to the soil by being tossed 
 in a tempest. 
 
 He peruses the holy scriptures, and finds God's 
 word as a hammer to fasten him, as a nail in a sure 
 place : he purifies his heart from every vile affection, 
 and holds the mystery of faith in a pure conscience : 
 he prays without ceasing, and finds his heart united 
 to fear God's name continually : he sets before his 
 eyes the stedfastness of his Redeemer, who, in the 
 cause of his salvation, did set his face like a flint, and 
 knew that he should not be ashamed, — and the ex- 
 amples of those christians who endured unto the end, 
 and held fast the beginning of their confidence : he 
 would not submit the truth of the doctrine certainly 
 believed by him, even to the judgment of an angel 
 from heaven : in the christian race, he runs not as 
 
ON ZEAL. 197 
 
 uncertainly ; and, in the christian warfare, fights not 
 as beating' the air. 
 
 While the soul that is unstable as water becomes a 
 ready prey to every temptation, and never can excel 
 in holiness or comfort, the established christian is a 
 lively image of the hving God, who is stedfast for 
 ever, and with whom there is no variableness, nor 
 shadow of turning. He is a disciple of Christ in- 
 deed ; for he continues in his word, an ornament to 
 the religion which he professes, and a bestower of 
 gladness to the heart of every faithful minister, who 
 can say, with the holy apostle, " Now we live, if ye 
 stand fast in the Lord." But, O that blessed serenity 
 of his mind, now settled into a pleasing tranquillity, 
 as milk into a sweet cream, when allowed to stand 
 still ! 
 
 Go on, O happy soul ! resist the devil, stedfast in 
 the faith. Thy prayers are powerful ; thy reward is 
 certain ; and, at the last, you are presented holy and 
 unblameable before him, if ye continue grounded and 
 settled in faith, and be not moved away from the 
 hope of the gospel. 
 
 ON ZEAL. 
 
 The zealous christian is one, who, from a tender 
 regard to the honour of his God and Redeemer, burns 
 with a holy anger against all doctrinal corruptions of 
 his truth, and practical violations of his law, and does 
 what in him lies for advancing his glory among men, 
 and for transmitting to latest posterity, pure and un- 
 corrupted, the holy religion wherein he has been 
 taught. In times of abounding iniquity, he waxes 
 not cold, but glows the more intensely, as the pier- 
 cing rage of winter imparts new vigour to the ele- 
 ment of fire. Though he very well knows the Al- 
 mighty needs not his feeble help, being fully able to 
 
198 ON ZEAL. 
 
 defend his own cause., and vindicate his injured rights; 
 yet, like thee, O venerable Elijah ! he is jealous for 
 the Lord of hosts, when the children of Israel had 
 thrown down his altars ; and fears the bitter curse of 
 Meroz, should he not come forth to the help of the 
 Lord, — to the help of the Lord against the mighty : 
 for he remembers how, in the cause of his salvation, 
 his gracious Redeemer was clad with zeal as with a 
 cloak ; he put on vengeance, and it covered him. 
 
 He does not, like the scrupulous Pharisee, confine 
 his whole reg'ard to the lesser matters of the law ; 
 while those of greater moment are forgot ; but still 
 he highly values every the smallest truth, and had 
 rather that heaven and earth should pass away, than 
 one jot of his word should perish. Many things 
 which some account of as small punctilios, and trilling 
 circumstantials, he finds, upon a nearer inspection, to 
 be worthy of contending for, as being more nearly re- 
 lated to the whole system, and present state of re- 
 ligion, than is generally imagined. Even those laws, 
 whereby the government of Christian societies is ad- 
 justed, he considers as necessary as the bark is to the 
 tree, or the hedge to the vineyard. 
 
 It is not a blind and headstrong passion that influ- 
 ences him, when he dissents from the way of the 
 multitude, like them who had a zeal of God, but not 
 according to knowledge, but being able to render a 
 reason to every man that asketh. He may be com- 
 pared to the bush that burned ; it was sharp indeed, 
 and prickly, but in the midst of light. Or, as the 
 legal priests burned incense, and lighted the lamps 
 together in the ancient tabernacle, so ought this 
 holy flame never to be awakened, but when the lamp 
 of knowledge is also lighted up. 
 
 Let 8aul, in his zeal for the Israelites, imbrue his 
 hands in the blood of the Gibeonites ; let another of 
 that name waste and persecute the church, being ex- 
 ceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers ; let 
 bloody papists think they are doing God good service, 
 
ON ZEAL. 199 
 
 when they consign over to the flames pretended 
 heretics ; blow up parhaments ; massacre whole na- 
 tions of men; and make the streets of populous cities 
 to swim with human gore ; he has not so learned 
 Christ. If any such wrathful emotions arise in his 
 heart, as would excite him to call for fire from hea- 
 ven, even against the most atrocious sinner ; he re- 
 collects the needful caution of the meek and lowly 
 Jesus, " Ye know not what manner of spirits ye are 
 of." Mercy and compassion is the oil that feeds this 
 flame, which many waters cannot quench. If it con- 
 sumes any, it is not the persons of other men, but 
 himself. 
 
 He affects not the zealous character for a cloak of 
 covetousness, like the crafty Demetrius of Ephesus ; 
 nor for a mark of ambition, like Jehu, the proud and 
 furious captain ; nor that he may, with greater se- 
 crecy, wreak his resentment on those he hates, as if 
 this heavenly grace could prove a sanctuary to malice 
 and revenge. It is not the persons of the sinners he 
 abhors ; but the sins of the persons. And against 
 these he fights, not so much by bitter invectives, and 
 noisy exclamations, as silent tears, and secret prayers. 
 He sees transgressors, and is grieved much for the 
 certain miseries they procure to themselves ; more, 
 for the dishonour they reflect upon their Maker. His 
 generous godly sorrow is not confined to his own per- 
 sonal iniquities ; his heart can bleed for a world that 
 lies in wickedness, but still his zeal begins at home, 
 like charity. He entertains no more favouring thoughts 
 of an evil way, though his most beloved friends should 
 be the abettors of it. But chiefly, he keeps his own 
 heart with all diligence, and carefully suppresses those 
 vices in his own soul, against which he declares in 
 other men. He remembers, that as the snufl'ers in 
 the temple were pure gold, so they who would be ad- 
 vocates for pure and undefiled religion, ought to be 
 pure themselves. And he fears to fall within the 
 
200 ON RELIGIOUS STRICTNESS. 
 
 verge of that most cutting- challenge, " Thou that 
 teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" 
 
 Though far from the indifference of a Gallio, in 
 the matters of his God, yet will he never speak wick- 
 edly for him, nor have recourse to pious fraud for the 
 promoting of his interest. As the stars in their 
 courses fought against Sisera, so he, when striv- 
 ing against sin, is careful in this holy war, to keep his 
 rank, and never to step aside from that station that is 
 allotted for him by his prudent General. 
 
 Such is the constant frame, and such the habitual 
 temper of his soul, not resembling a transitory flash 
 of lightening, but a standing pillar of fire. Some- 
 times, indeed, he incurs the censures of men, as 
 though he were righteous overmuch, and of a gloomy 
 nature ; but God and conscience acquit him from the 
 charge. In times of fearful judgments, and danger- 
 ous apostacy, he is ordinarily preserved, being mark- 
 ed with the seal of the living God on the forehead. 
 
 ON RELIGIOUS STRICTNESS. 
 
 The strict Christian is a person who places not his 
 religion in a rigid censuring of others, nor in an eager 
 attachment to the customs or opinions of a particular 
 party ; but is influenced in the whole of his conduct 
 by an inflexible regard to the divine law, as the only 
 rule of his life ; and by a careful attention to the ex- 
 ample of Jesus Christ, as the great pattern of his 
 obedience. He reckons it not sufficient to distin- 
 guish himself from the many that walk in the broad 
 way, by entertaining better notions, and more exalted 
 sentiments than they ; but his life is orthodox as his 
 faith, and his conversation as his tongue. 
 
 He is afraid to engage in whatsoever course of ac- 
 tion, without being first at all due pains to satisfy his 
 conscience, that it is well pleasing unto God, or at 
 
ON RELIGIOUS STRICTNESS. 201 
 
 least, not prohibited in the law. But when he dis- 
 cerns the stamp of God's authority on any precept ; 
 thoug-h the world should countermand, he knows his 
 own Master, and obeys God rather than man. 
 
 It is true, he abhors those foolish and cruel macer- 
 ations of the body, which some superstitious bigots 
 have mistaken for true mortification ; for he knows, 
 that his body, being- a temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 deserves to be honoured, by keeping- it in repair ; and 
 being the servant of his soul, should be mercifully 
 used, as the good man is merciful to his very beast. 
 But at the same time, he takes care not to pamper 
 the flesh too much, and make provision for its lusts, 
 under the specious pretence of using- his Christian 
 liberty. For, though he stands fast in this liberty, 
 and will not be brought into bondage by any, he 
 chooses not to be walking- always upon its utmost 
 verge or border. 
 
 Some things that are in themselves lawful, he 
 judges not expedient, on account of the attending 
 circumstances, and he abstains from them accordingly. 
 The regard he bears to the law of his God, is uniform, 
 equal, and consistent. He is no less conscientious in 
 performing relative duties, than in practising those 
 that are immediately religious. He abhors their im- 
 piety who make the divine commands to clash, and 
 break the one table of the law against the other ; who, 
 under pretence of devotion, forget natural aifection, 
 as if one should devote unto sacred uses what is ne- 
 cessary for supporting the life of his nearest relations, 
 and say, " It is a gift by whatsoever thou might have 
 been profited by me." 
 
 Though he is strict in observing every the least 
 commandment, it is not that he may indulge himself 
 in neglecting the weightier matters of the law, but 
 rather to demonstrate unto all beholders, that if the 
 authority of the great Lawgiver is to be so much re- 
 spected, even in the smallest things, much more in 
 
 N 
 
202 ON RELIGIOUS STRICTNESS. 
 
 those weighty and important matters, that are the very 
 soul of ndif^ion. 
 
 He equally detests the spurious strictness of" the 
 Pharisee, which was only partial and hypocritical, and 
 the profane looseness of the multitude, who walk at 
 random, and seem to think, that it is scarce possihle 
 to go wrong in the way that leadeth unto life. 
 
 He neither shuns nor courts the approbation of 
 the world, and studies rather not to deserve, than to 
 avoid their reproaches. His heart l)eing reconciled 
 unto the spirituality and holiness of the law, his liber- 
 ty and freedom is not in the least impaired, by the 
 strict rules he has imposed upon himself. He walks 
 at liberty, because he seeks thy precepts, O God. 
 
 Some there are, who esteem him to be no better 
 than a nice and precise fool, and an affecter of singU" 
 larity. But he endeavours, by joining to his strict- 
 ness, a sweet and obliging behaviour, to confute this 
 calumny : and oftentimes he increases, like his Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ, in favour with God and 
 man. He looks upon all his strictness as too little, 
 and coming not only exceeding short of what is re- 
 quired in the law, but of what others have arrived at ; 
 and he renounces it all in point of trust and confi- 
 dence. It is not his own strictness, but his Saviour's 
 atonement on which he builds his hopes of a happy 
 eternity. 
 
 Go on, O happy soul I though thy companions 
 should be few in the narrow way that leadeth unto 
 everlasting life. In a little thou shalt no more com- 
 plain of being solitary ; for thou shalt come to th(! 
 innumerable company of angels, to the general assem- 
 bly and church of the first-born, whose names are 
 written in heaven, where the strictest christian shall 
 receive the most glorious crown. For their shame, 
 they shall be advanced to double honour; and for con- 
 fusion, they shall rejoice in their eternal portion. 
 
 It now remains to beg the reader's excuse, for de- 
 taining him so long from a perusal of the more im- 
 
ON THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIPPER. 203 
 
 portant and interesting contents of the followin;^: 
 sheets ;* and to express my ardent desire, that bless- 
 ed by a gracious Providence, they may gain the ha- 
 ven of public acceptance, and import these most valu- 
 able commodities — pleasure which improves, and im- 
 provement which delig-hts. 
 
 ON THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIPPER. 
 
 First of all, he is careful that the worship he per- 
 forms be of divine institution, and suited to the genius 
 of the gospel. He is not so much taken with gaudy 
 ornaments, and glittering ceremonies, in any set of 
 rehgious observances, as with the stamp of heaven's 
 appointment. Though the commandments of men 
 should be ever so plausible and dazzling to the eye, 
 he can despise them as weak and beggarly elements, 
 as worldly rudiments, as carnal ordinances. 
 
 But though his worship should, as to form, boast 
 of ever so much purity, he knows where there is a 
 spiritual worship, there may be a carnal heart. The 
 soul of his devotion lies, neither in the reverence of 
 bodily demeanour, nor in the exercise of shining- 
 gifts ; but in the fixing of his mind, and the excit- 
 ing his grace into act, by the influence of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 The bended knee bespeaks the humiliation of his 
 soul ; the exalted voice indicates the fervency of his 
 mind ; the elevated hand betokens the lifting up of 
 his affections. The request of his lips is the same 
 thing with the desire of his heart. If his lips are 
 burning, his heart is also fervent. 
 
 Duties he considers as the means of communion 
 with God ; but he endeavours never to rest in them 
 as his end. He neither worships God with a view to 
 
 * This Essay concluded the preface in the first edition. 
 
204 ON THE RELIGIOUS WORSHIPPER. 
 
 gain the applause of men, by shewing his fine parts ; 
 to appease a resentful conscience, by some faint com- 
 pliances with its impartial dictates ; to work out a 
 righteousness whereby he might be justified before 
 him ; or, to encourage himself in the indulgence of 
 his lusts, because he has peace-offerings with him, or 
 because he has paid his vows. But his flesh and heart 
 crieth out for the living God. 
 
 The influences of the divine Spirit ; these are the 
 winds that blow upon his garden, and make the spicy 
 odours of every divine grace to flow forth. These are 
 the gales which urge him forward in every act of wor- 
 ship, without whose kindly aid he might ply the oar 
 of natural endeavours in vain. But the Spirit help- 
 eth his infirmities with groanings that cannot be ut- 
 tered. Without his divine succours, what were he, 
 but as the mighty Samson, when shorn of his sacred 
 locks, he became as another man ? Therefore, is he 
 tenderly solicitous to cherish every motion of this be- 
 nign agent, and to avoid whatsoever course of action 
 might quench this heavenly fire, by which his sacri- 
 fices are inflamed. 
 
 It is true, he may, through the workings of inbred 
 corruption, and the influence of wicked spirits, be pes- 
 tered with the intrusion of vain thoughts, even in his 
 most solemn devotions. But if these hellish birds 
 will alight upon, and pick his sacrifices, he will, as 
 Abraham, drive them away. And though he should 
 not be able to acquit himself with much clearness of 
 thought, and elegancy of expression, yet he finds a 
 gracious acceptance with God, who understands the 
 stammering tongue of his beloved children ; and is 
 more moved with their unutterable groans, than with 
 the accurate addresses of the gifted professor ; from 
 whom, as being destitute of divine grace, shall be ta- 
 ken away even that which he seemed to have. The 
 angel of the covenant ascends in the smoke of all his 
 offerings. Though he covets earnestly the best gifts, 
 yet God has shewed unto him a more excellent way. 
 
ON HEARING THE WORD. 205 
 
 ON HEARING THE WORD. 
 
 Ask you, why faith should come by hearing- ? Why 
 it should be the ministration of the Spirit ? Why he 
 should fall on them that hear the word ? Why saints 
 should be comforted, and sinners converted, by the 
 foolishness of preaching? The same g-racious ap- 
 pointment by which the clouds of heaven drop down 
 fatness from above, at the return of spring-, hath or- 
 dained that his doctrine shall drop as the rain, and 
 his speech distil as the dew. Suffice it for us to know, 
 that "of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." 
 He who teaches the tender babe to hanker after the 
 xiiother's breast, and renders the milk more nourish- 
 ing, when sucked from that living- fountain, than when 
 presented in a cup ; also instructs the infant Chris- 
 tian to desire, as a new born babe, the sincere milk 
 of the word, and makes him grow thereby. Let us 
 rather attend to the character of him who is not a for- 
 getful hearer, but a doer of the word. 
 
 First of all, he looks not on this divine ordinance 
 as a mere amusement, or as an expedient to pass away 
 a little time. He repairs not to the place of the holy, 
 merely to see, and be seen — that his curiosity may be 
 gratified with the novelty of the matter — that his 
 ears may be tickled with the melody of the voice — 
 that his passions may be touched by the elegancy of 
 the address — that his mouth may be filled with some 
 matter of discourse — that an ang-ry conscience may be 
 pacified — or that an empty name may be maintained : 
 but that his graces may be quickened — his lusts may 
 be mortified — his temptations resisted — his doubts 
 resolved — his discouragements dispelled — his under- 
 standing- may be stored with truths — his will with 
 holy resolutions — his aff"ections with heavenly emo- 
 tions. In short, that he may hear what God the 
 Lord will say ; and that he may profess the depend- 
 
 N 2 
 
:206 ON HEARING THE WORD. 
 
 ence he has on him for the knowledge of his will, and 
 instruction in the way of life. 
 
 For though he is only to hear the voice of a man 
 of like passions with himself, he considers him as the 
 mouth of the living- God speaking unto him from hea- 
 ven. Thou art going to hear, O my soul, not the 
 word spoken by an angel from the blessed abodes, 
 whose tongue is tipt with heavenly eloquence ; not 
 the word of a king, wherewith there is power com- 
 manding deep respect from all that hear ; but the 
 voice of him who is terrible to the kings of the earth, 
 and angels bend before him with lowly reverence. 
 Instead of diminishing his respect to the heavenly 
 message, because dehvered by a mortal tongue, it fires 
 his gratitude to the condescending Deity, who once 
 spake to the Jews in the likeness of sinful flesh, when 
 the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; and 
 now he speaks unto us by flesh,' having received gifts 
 for men, that his terror mav not make us afraid. 
 
 How can he but be all intention, when so great is 
 the majesty of the Speaker? — so vast the importance 
 of the thing spoken ? No vain speculation, no idle 
 tale, no cunningly devised fables, but truths which 
 angels pry into, and wherein he is most deeply inter- 
 ested ; even that word which God has magnified above 
 all his name. 
 
 Having, by fervent prayer, and serious meditation, 
 composed his wandering thoughts, allayed his passions, 
 and hushed his worldly cares, he receives, with meek- 
 ness, the ingrafted word. To the hearing of the ear, 
 he joins the hearing of faith. Wisdom enters into his 
 heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto his soul. If 
 the reproofs of the word are applicable unto himself, 
 he does not apply them to his neighbour, nor hate 
 him that reproveth in the gate. He adores that good- 
 ness that ceaseth not to be a reprover, but that makes 
 the word to be quick and powerful, sharper than any 
 two-edged sword, and a discerner of the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart. He obeys the voice, and receives 
 
ox MEDITATION. 207 
 
 correction. If the thunders of Sinai sound their trum- 
 pet, his belly trembles, and rottenness enters into his 
 bones. Knowing- these terrors of the Lord, he is per- 
 suaded to fly from the wrath to come, filessed soul ! 
 he is not offended with the strictness of the precepts ; 
 he turns not from the holy commandment, though it 
 should encroach upon his lusts or worldly interests, 
 and cost him a rig-ht hand, or a rig-ht eye. He 
 esteems no commandment little, on which the autho- 
 rity of the great God is enstamped ; or difficult, when 
 it comes from him who gives power to the faint. But 
 chiefly, he mixes faith with all those grer.t and pre- 
 cious promises, which in Christ are Yea and Amen, 
 and by which he is made a partaker of the divine na- 
 ture. These, he knows, it is his duty to believe, as 
 well as to reverence the reproofs, to obey the precepts, 
 or tremble at the threatenings. 
 
 What shall we say more ? what he hears, he under- 
 stands ; what he understands, he remembers ; what he 
 remembers, he loves ; what he loves, he believes ; and 
 what he believes, he practises. His life is a continual 
 sermon. And not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer 
 of the word, he shall be blessed in his deed. 
 
 ON MEDITATION. 
 
 It is the intense fixing of the thought on some 
 heavenly subject, till either the mind is informed, or 
 the heart affected. It may be compared to the bruis- 
 ing of sweet spices, which makes them spread abroad 
 their odour; or to the chewing of our natural food, 
 which makes it fit for being digested into nourish- 
 ment. 
 
 Happy is that soul, who, being renewed in the spi- 
 rit of his mind, can retire into himself, from the hurry 
 of the world, and from the storm of passion, to con- 
 verse with God, and Christ, and things above ; and 
 
208 ON MEDITATION. 
 
 lind that solitude is sometimes the best society : who, 
 with his holy thoughts, can cheer the darkness of the 
 night, and soothe the labours of the day. While he 
 is musing-, the fire of holy love burns, vanity disap- 
 pears, and hoHness advances. 
 
 Ask you the themes on which he dwells ? Neither 
 on things that are too high for him, nor things un- 
 profitable and vain. Instead of weaving spider's webs, 
 or hatching cockatrice eggs, like the vile person, who 
 will meditate villany, and his heart will work iniquity, 
 his eyes will prevent the night-watches, to meditate 
 on thy statutes, O God. When he remembers thee 
 upon his bed, and meditates on thee in the night- 
 watches, he will rejoice under the shadow of thy 
 wings ; his soul will follow hard after thee, and thy 
 right hand shall sustain him. His meditation of thee 
 shall be sweet, both when the morning shines, and the 
 evening draws her curtain over the world. How great 
 shall be his peace I How great his safety ! And how 
 unspeakable his joy. 
 
 Or, shall thy person, and thy meditation, O exalt- 
 ed Redeemer ! what thou art, what thou hast, and 
 what thou hast done or suffered, employ his thoughts ! 
 When his heart shall endite a good matter concerning 
 thee, his soul shall be filled with marrow and fatness. 
 He shall meditate the agonies of thy cross, and mourn 
 for thee whom he has pierced ; the glories of thy pre- 
 sent state, and rejoice in thy highness. Thou wilt 
 send thy Holy Spirit to take thy own things, and 
 shew them unto him, that he need not betake him- 
 self to Antichristian aids, of bringing thy dying love 
 to his remembrance. Though crucifixes and pictures 
 should not meet his eye at every turning of the street, 
 yet will he naturally think of thee, the Author of his 
 life, and centre of his happiness. 
 
 Oftentimes he will take a trip into the world of 
 spirits, and come back all immortal. His thoughts 
 will range in the eternal regions, and contemplate the 
 happiness of the heavenly state, which he will com- 
 
ON SINGING OF PRAISE. 209 
 
 pare with the restless ag-onies of unquenchable fire ; 
 and beholding- this glory of the Lord, he will acquire 
 a blessed meetness for, and longing- after its enjoy- 
 ment, — will think but lightly of its transitory afflic- 
 tion, — will be roused into an holy ardour to be a fol- 
 lower of them who inherit the promises, — will com- 
 miserate their mistaken smiles, who take up the tim- 
 brel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the org-an. 
 His faith will be strengthened, his hope invigorated, 
 and though his outward man should perish, yet, for 
 this cause, he will not faint. 
 
 At other times he will indulge the thought of 
 death, — will consider his latter end, — will familiarize 
 unto his thoughts the dismal solemnities of his dying- 
 bed, and say of the grave, " It is mine house." 
 
 Shall I mention, in the next place, how he will re- 
 gard the doings of the Lord, and consider the opera- 
 tions of his hand ; that he may know what the Most 
 High is calling for, in a way of duty, by every merci- 
 ful interposition of providence, and by every frowning 
 dispensation ; and that, like a man of wisdom, he may 
 hear his voice, and see his name. 
 
 But we must not at all forget, how he communes 
 with his heart, how his spirit makes diligent search, 
 how he considers himself, lest he be tempted ; and 
 what is that sin which easily besets him. For thus 
 he guards the avenues of temptation, because he 
 knows what is the plague of his heart. What shall 
 we say more of him ? In the divine law, " he me- 
 ditaces day and night ; and shall be like a tree plant- 
 ed by the river of water, that bringeth forth fruit in 
 his season. His leaf also shall not wither ; and what- 
 soever he doth shall prosper." 
 
 ON SINGING OF PRAISE. 
 
 Where can grave, sweet melody be applied, with 
 such propriety, as to the sacred subjects of religion ? 
 
210 ON SINGING OF PRAISE. 
 
 By this, devotion is invigorated, joy is heightened in- 
 to rapture, divine truths are better impressed upon 
 the heart, and fixed into the memory. Distempered 
 passions are allayed, and heavenly affections are in- 
 spired. Even as the hand of the Lord was upon the 
 prophet when he called for a minstrel, and the evil 
 spirit departed from the king of Israel, while David 
 touched, with his skilful hand, the sweet resounding 
 harp. From the most early ages, and from the most 
 remote places of the world, have we heard songs, even 
 glory to the righteous. 
 
 To this heavenly mirth the christian is inspired, 
 not by the fumes of wine, wherein is excess ; but be- 
 ing filled with the Spirit, he speaks to himself in 
 psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and mak- 
 ing melody in his heart unto the Lord. He makes 
 the voice of his praise to be heard, not only in the 
 public assembly, but in his private dwelling. 
 
 Though there are peculiar seasons of this duty, 
 when it is more remarkably incumbent ; yet he sees 
 abundant reason to bless the Lord at all times, and to 
 have his praise continually flowing from his lips. 
 Even in the night of his distress, ofttimes he has a 
 song, when all joy would seem to be darkened, when 
 his harp would seem to be turned into mourning, and 
 his organ into the voice of them that weep. Thus 
 Paul, with Silas, sung at the dead hour of midnight, 
 though their backs were coloured with ignominious 
 scourges, and their feet made fast in the stocks. 
 
 Though he despises not the melody of the voice, 
 yet, by itself alone, he accounts it no more but bodily 
 exercise, that profits little. Therefore, he uses it on- 
 ly in a subserviency to his devotion, and rests not in 
 it as his ultimate end. What he chiefly attends un- 
 to, is, that he may sing praises with understanding and 
 with grace. 
 
 His praising is his reasonable service. And though 
 the subject sung should not exactly suit his own case; 
 though it should be — some dreadful imprecation, 
 
ON SINGING OF PRAISE. 211 
 
 uttered by the spirit of prophecy, — some hig-h attain- 
 ment to which he is not arrived, — some deep distress 
 which himself is unacquainted with ; yet, by ejacula- 
 tory prayers and serious meditation, he can digest even 
 these seemingly foreign subjects into the nourish- 
 ment of his soul, and sing of them to the praise and 
 glory of God. 
 
 As far as in him lies, he wants to have those affec- 
 tions set a-working, and those graces educed into ex- 
 ercise, that are naturally required by the theme of 
 which he sings : be they holy joy, fervent love, burn- 
 ing gratitude, reverential fear, or godly sorrow. But 
 chiefly the grace of faith must never fail to be acted, 
 in this as in other parts of worship. Christ is the 
 chief musician, to whom his songs are inscnbed. 
 Christ is his altar, by which he offers up his sacrifice 
 of praise continually. 
 
 And here can I forget to celebrate the fulness and 
 variety of that little Bible, composed by the Hebrew 
 king and prophet ? What attribute of God does he 
 not describe in lofty numbers ? What work suffers he 
 to pass uncelebrated or unsung ? What moral duty, 
 what christian grace, is not here emphatically recom- 
 mended ? What possible case is not here painted ? 
 To what distemper of the soul may we not find here 
 a sovereign remedy ? Here the secure may find what 
 is proper for their awakening, the disconsolate for re- 
 viving, the doubting for directing, the feeble for sup- 
 porting, to make them be as David. 
 
 What mortal pen can equal the sublimity of his 
 thoughts, the liveliness of his metaphors, the majesty 
 of his descriptions ? Which of his psalms may not 
 say, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made?" When 
 he displays the glory of the God of Israel, thousands 
 of mighty angels stand before him ; " God is in the 
 midst of them, as in mount Sinai." Now he flies on 
 the wings of the wind, and rides on flaming cherubims. 
 His lightnings hghten the world. The earth trembles 
 at his approach. The mountains melt as the snow 
 
212 ON PRAYER. 
 
 that covers them. The foundations of the world are 
 discovered. The floods drive back their tides. The 
 mountains skip hke rams. 
 
 Now he sets him on a throne, of which justice and 
 judgment are the foundation ; and mercy, accom- 
 panied with truth, go before his face. Now he de- 
 scribes the fierceness of his anger; and rains down 
 snares, fire, brimstone, and an horrible tempest. Dart- 
 ing his eye through distant ages, he brings down the 
 Son of God to dwell in clay ; a body is prepared for 
 him. The Jews are filled with rage against the Lord's 
 Anointed. He hears his melancholy groans. Sees 
 his heart melting like wax in the midst of his bowels. 
 But he leaves not his soul in hell. Messias lives, as- 
 cends on high, and leads captivity captive. Rejoice, 
 ye worlds of blessedness. Be lifted up, ye everlast- 
 ing doors, and the King of glory shall come in. 
 
 ON PRAYER. 
 
 Let prayer, the most honourable, the most plea- 
 surable, and the most beneficial of all exercises, be 
 next our theme. In this we converse with the Eter- 
 nal Mind, and contract a blessed familiarity with that 
 all-glorious Being, whose favour is better than life, 
 whose frown is worse than death. By this we taste 
 more exquisite delights, than all the pleasures of sin 
 can boast, than all the vanities of the world can be- 
 stow. By this every mercy is sanctified, every afiiic- 
 tion is alleviated, every holy disposition is invigorat- 
 ed, every corrupt aftection is weakened, and every 
 temptation is resisted. 
 
 Now, prayer, in the most general and abstracted 
 notion of that word, may be described. The speech of 
 the rational creature unto God, whether conceived in 
 the heart, or uttered by the mouth ; whereby we either 
 celebrate his amiable perfections, confess our own de- 
 
ON PRAYER. 213 
 
 fects, implore his divine power for the mercies we 
 want, or thank him for the blessings we have received. 
 
 But let us more particularly attend unto his char- 
 acter, of whom it may be said, " Behold he prayeth.'' 
 And, first of all, detesting- their abominable idolatries, 
 who direct their religious addresses, either to these 
 imaginary beings that never, perhaps, did so much as 
 exist ; or those beings which have indeed a real exis- 
 tence, but no divinity, seeing they are all the crea- 
 tures of God, and many of them the works of men's 
 hands. God, and God alone, is the object of his 
 adoration ; who only can hear, who only can judge, 
 who only can answer the prayers that are made; for 
 his knowledge is infaUible, for his equity is indexible, 
 for his power is irresistible. " O thou that hearest 
 prayer, unto thee shall all llesh come." Nor shall any 
 rotten distinction, devised by the antichristian church, 
 ever induce me to entertain a favourable thought of 
 that palpable violation of thy law, who hast expressly 
 commanded in thy word, " Thou shalt worship the 
 Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou fear." 
 
 But how shall he, whose character is a miserable 
 sinner, dare to approach that tremendous Majesty, in 
 whose presence the foolish shall not stand, who hears 
 not sinners, who abhors the workers of iniquity ? — 
 The mediation of Jesus Christ is ihe sole, is the happy 
 solution of this knot. To his care he directs all his 
 petitions. His name he mentions in faith and in 
 righteousness ; and finds a gracious acceptance. If, 
 as we are informed in history, the king Admetus was 
 reconciled to Themistodes, when the latter taking the 
 young prince in his arms presented him to the father; 
 shall not much more a gracious God shew favour, 
 complacency, and love unto sinners, who, though un- 
 worthy in themselves, yet bring the dearly beloved 
 Son of God in the arms of their faith, saying, " See, 
 O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine 
 Anointed ?" By him the humble supplicant draws 
 
214 ON PRAYER. 
 
 near to God, of whom it is said, " This is my beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 
 As in the sacred story the ang-el of Manoah ascend- 
 ed in the smoke of his offering- ; so Christ ascends in 
 the incense of all his prayers, and brings them near 
 the throne of his heavenly Father. By him he has 
 access with confidence. Towards him he bends his 
 (^ye in all his supplications ; even as the ancient Jews 
 never did pray, but with their faces towards the holy 
 temple at Jerusalem, thoug-h at the greatest distance 
 from them. 
 
 The word of God is the only rule by which he re- 
 gulates his devotions, both as to the time, the place, 
 the matter, the manner. By this he is taught, that 
 as no time is unfit, so no place is improper for this 
 honourable duty. Though there are stated times of 
 public and private devotion, which he cheerfully ob- 
 serves, and though it is the joy of his soul to join 
 with his fellow-worshippers in places that are appoint- 
 ed for the assembling of the church ; yet he never can 
 think, that prayers which are made in canonical hours, 
 or consecrated places, are of greater efficacy on that 
 account. The labours of the day he begins with 
 prayer, he mixes with prayer, he finishes with prayer. 
 He is more anxious to get a praying heart, than to 
 find a place ; for, he remembers how Jeremiah could 
 pray in the dungeon, Daniel in the den of lions, Jonah 
 in the belly of the fish, Hezekiah upon his bed, Ne- 
 hemiah in the king's presence, Peter on the house- 
 top, Paul on the shore, and Christ in the garden. — 
 He considers that Christ is an omnipresent temple ; 
 and therefore lifts up holy hands in every place. 
 
 By the same unerring rule he is directed to have a 
 special care, that the matter of his addresses be agree- 
 able to the divine nature and will. The bodily ges- 
 ture he uses, is free from irreverence on the one 
 hand, and from superstition on the other. Bowing, 
 kneeling, bodily prostration, elevation of the hands 
 and eyes, uncovering of the head, are the outward ex- 
 
ON MOURNING OR FASTING. 215 
 
 pressions of his inward reverence. But ludicrous and 
 antic Cc'remonies, Pharisaical disg-uisings of the face, 
 he avoids, as tending- to beget a contempt of religion 
 in the minds of spectators, instead of imprinting a re- 
 verence. The words of his mouth are neither too 
 low and familiar on the one hand, nor too high and 
 atfected on the other ; far less are they nnintelHgible, 
 and pronounced in an unknown tongue. For, as the 
 priests offered incense when the lamps were lighted, 
 so, when he prays in the Spirit, he prays with the 
 understanding also. The words which the Holy 
 Ghost teaches, he prefers before all others. Fie uses 
 not vain repetitions, as though much speaking- were 
 the thing that recommends him to the Almighty. 
 A multitude of words, he knows very well, is not that 
 importunity which availeth much in the fervent pray- 
 er of the righteous. For, though the gesture of the 
 body should be ever so decent, and the words of the 
 mouth ever so well chosen, he knows very well, that 
 still one thing is lacking, and indeed the principal 
 thing, the disposition of the heart, which, if it is not 
 right with God, the most lowly gestures, and the 
 most elegant expressions, are but a smoke in his nos- 
 trils, and a fire that burneth all the day. 
 
 ON MOURNING OR FASTING. 
 
 Laugh, ye profane, and prove your misery by your 
 smiles. What though games and revelry should 
 snatch your hours away, and your whole life should 
 seem but one continued festivity ? Miserable crea- 
 tures ! while you dance on the brink of a tremendous 
 precipice, in a moment you descend into the grave, 
 and drop into that place, where all joy is darkened, 
 and horror reigns in everlasting triumph. Commend 
 me to that awful joy that dwells with him that is poor 
 and of a contrite spirit. 
 
216 ON MOURNING OR FASTING. 
 
 A person of this holy temper is not a stranger to 
 natural cheerfulness, far less to spiritual joy. But 
 he endeavours to repress that vain and frothy mirth, 
 which, instead of doing- good as a medicine, will eat 
 as doth a canker. He waters with his tears, even the 
 pardon of his sins, and cannot think on the transgres- 
 sions of his past life, without real emotions of grief. 
 For, though they will never subject him to condem- 
 nation from God, for this very reason he condemns 
 himself the more. He is often heard, like Ephraim, 
 bemoaning himself, and mourning like a dove in the 
 valley, for the sad prevalence of the body of sin and 
 death. 
 
 He can drop a generous tear for the miseries of his 
 fellow-creatures, and remembers them that are in bonds 
 as bound with them. He cannot but be grieved with 
 transgressors ; cannot but be vexed with the filthy 
 conversation of the wicked, cannot but sigh and cry 
 for all the abominations that are committed in the 
 land of his nativity. He satisfies not himself with 
 open censures of public evils, which may proceed from 
 pride and malice, but weeps for them, like Jeremiah, 
 in a secret place ; and thus he proves his real charity, 
 his sincere regard to the divine honour, and disinter- 
 ested benevolence to men. Moreover, that he de- 
 livers his own soul from the guilt of those sins for 
 which he mourns. If the church of God is involved 
 in great distress, if she is under persecution ; or, what 
 is infinitely worse, if the bulk of her sons and daugh- 
 ters are labouring under a lamentable decay as to the 
 power of godliness, if her pastors are brutish, if her 
 ordinances are barren, if her doctrine is corrupted, if 
 her discipline is perverted, if her government is ne- 
 glected, if her unity is broken ; then is he sorrowful 
 for the solemn assembly ; he weeps when he remem- 
 bers Zion, like Nehemiah, who was the king's cup- 
 bearer ; and like you, ye captives of Babylon, when 
 ye hanged your harps upon the willows. 
 
 Pie follows for his pattern the great apostle of the 
 
ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE SUPPER. 217 
 
 Gentiles, who served the Lord with many tears, warn- 
 ing every man ; who had continual sorrow in his heart 
 for his brethren according to the iiesh ; and could not, 
 without weeping, so much as mention the enemies of 
 the cross of Christ. But chiefly he looks on him 
 whom he has pierced, and mourns for thee, O suffer- 
 ing Redeemer ! " Surely thou hast borne our griefs, 
 and carried our sorrows. We have often heard of thy 
 tears, but never of thy laughter. 
 
 O greatly wise, whose heart is in the house of 
 mourning ! strangers indeed they are to loud and 
 jovial mirth, and to the drunkard's noisy song ; but 
 not unto the smile at heart, and calm sunshine of the 
 mind. For them Christ is anointed to preach glad 
 tidings; to give them the oil of joy for mourn- 
 ing, and the garments of praise for the spirit of hea- 
 viness. With them the Holy One will deign to dwell 
 before all palaces and temples. Even now he keeps a 
 bottle for their tears, and is mindful of them, as they 
 were writen in a book. A time approaches, when, 
 with his own kindly hand, he will wipe them for ever 
 from their eyes ; and they who have gone forth weep- 
 ing, bearing precious seed, shall bring back their 
 sheaves with rejoicing. 
 
 ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE SUPPER. 
 
 It was in that fatal night, when the accursed trai- 
 tor had resolved, with calm, deliberate malice, ujjoii 
 the most unworthy terms, to betray his Lord and 
 Master into the hands of sinners. Ah ! cursed lust 
 of gold, to what enormous crimes dost thou push on 
 the human race ! O heart impenetrably hard, which 
 was not softened by all the endearing speeches and 
 deportment of the meek and dying Saviour ! The 
 rulers of the Jews were met in close cabal ; and thirst- 
 ing for the blood of the innocent Lamb of God, who 
 
 O 
 
218 ON THE SACRAMENT 
 
 takes away the sin of the world ; they concerted mea- 
 sures for apprehendinj^ him, hke a notorious disturber 
 of the peace, and troublesome pest of society. Their 
 dark designs were not unknown to the wise Redeem- 
 er, whose penetrating- eye beheld them throug^h the 
 deepest shades. Full well he knew the success their 
 enterprise was to meet with, according to the plan 
 laid down in the eternal council of the skies. He 
 was not unapprised of the inglorious and agonising- 
 death which was immediately before him ; nor of the 
 still more dismal conflict with angry Omnipotence. 
 Gethsemane can tell how he, the heavenly vine, was 
 squeezed in the wine press of the wrath of God, till, 
 from his opened pores, even in the cold night, and 
 on the cool ground, there issued forth great drops of 
 bloody sweat. Under all these direful apprehensions, 
 he enjoyed a calm serenity of mind, and mixed fa- 
 miliar discourse with his disciples at the last passover- 
 supper. If the last words, and dying actions of our 
 friends, claim our peculiar regard, the last concluding . 
 scene of our Redeemer's life, is ten thousand times 
 more worthy our attention. It was in those precious 
 moments, he, as the King of Israel, instituted the 
 commemorating ordinance of the supper. No more, 
 ye true Israel of God, shall ye practise the bloody 
 rites, which I commanded Moses, in memory of your 
 deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh ; now, that 
 ray blood is as good as shed, and I, who am the true 
 passover-lamb, on the brink of being sacrificed for 
 yoa; be it enacted, That in all succeeding genera- 
 tions, the simple elements of bread and wine be my 
 only memorials. 
 
 Had this ordinance been of a trifling nature, a mat- 
 ter of indifference, and but of short duration, who can 
 persuade themselves, that a person of such consum- 
 mate wisdom, would have employed those valuable 
 hours, in giving any injunctions about it to the de- 
 jected apostles ? The holy evangelists record it, and 
 the chosen vessel to bear God's name unto the Gen- 
 
OF THE SUPPER. 219 
 
 tiles, adds his confirmation ; " For I have received," 
 says he, " from the Lord, that which I also dehvered 
 unto you. That in the same night wherein he was 
 betrayed," he appointed this expressive ordinance to 
 be perpetuated in the church. 
 
 Lo ! he takes the bread, which was before him on 
 the table ; bread, which is the staff of life ; bread, 
 which streng'theneth the heart. He blessed it ; hot 
 for a natural use, as ordinary bread is sanctified by 
 prayer for common purposes, but he blessed it for ex- 
 traordinary purposes, and supernatural ends. As man, 
 he craved, as God he bestowed the blessing ; he breaks 
 it, he gives it into the hands of the apostles. Take with 
 your fingers, eat with your mouths, he says, this con- 
 secrated bread. For this, and not the roasted flesh of 
 the passover lamb, is, by my own appointment, the 
 sig-n and symbol of my body, broken by the stroke of 
 justice in your law-room, and place. Supper being- 
 ended, and the wine poured out to his hand, he takes 
 the cup, he blesses it, he gives it to his disciples. 
 The wine which is contained in this cup of blessing- 
 which I give you, is an emblem of my blood ; by 
 which, not the Old, but the New Testament, is con- 
 firmed ; of my blood, which is now about to be shed, 
 not in typical sacrifices, but in my real crucifixion. 
 Shed, not for the remission of ceremonial guilt unto 
 a few Israelites, but for the remission of the numer- 
 ous sins against the moral law, both unto Jews and 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Ye that are the lovers of Christ in sincerity, rever- 
 ence his dying command, who said, " Do this in re- 
 membrance of me." Had he left us in charge to do 
 some great thing, to practise some burdensome rite, 
 to observe some unintelhgible ceremony, whose mean- 
 ing it was not easy to take up, we ought to have been 
 all submission. How much more, when he only bids 
 us eat the consecrated bread, and drink the consecra- 
 ted cup, as a memorial of him to all generations I 
 
 Great is your privilege ! exalted is your honour ! 
 
220 ON THE SACRAMENT 
 
 who eat bread in the kingdom of God, and are worthy 
 partakers in this mysterious feast. Here Christ is 
 clearly crucified before you, and you taste that the 
 Lord is gracious. Let the deluded followers of the 
 Antichrist of Rome, fall down to their hreaden deity, 
 and fondly dream of swallowing the real Hesh of the 
 Redeemer ; ye have not so learned Christ, for ye 
 know, that the tlesh profiteth nothing. Monstrous 
 absurdity ! unprofita})le and senseless vanity ! the 
 belief whereof none can profess, who renounces not 
 all his sense, and bids not adieu to reason, without 
 being guilty of the grossest hypocrisy. Or, if any 
 can believe for true such a glaring lie, let us tremble 
 at the strong delusion. 
 
 No wonder the adversary, who sits in the temple 
 of God, and exalts himself above all that is called by 
 that tremendous name, should fearfully disfigure this 
 holy institution, by his cursed abominations. No 
 wonder, tiiat, in numerous instances, they are guilty 
 of sacrilegious mangling, and, in numerous instances, 
 of presumptuous and horrible adding to this import- 
 ant ordinance of the supper. F'or here, as in a medal, 
 there are engraven in miniature the characters of 
 dying love ; and in the conscientious discharge of 
 this commanded duty, the soul is satisfied as with 
 marrow and fatness. 
 
 Full oft the true christian can tell, how, in this holy 
 supper, his diseases are cured, his desires are satisfied, 
 and his discouragements converted into exultations ; 
 whilst he feeds, not on bare and empty symbols, ob- 
 vious to the corporeal touch ; but on the hidden man- 
 na, signified by external elements, and obvious to faith 
 alone. What wonder, his body and his blood afford 
 such heart-felt satisfaction to the believer in the sac- 
 rament, when even the heart of God was infinitely de- 
 lighted therewith, while on the cross he offered him- 
 self through the eternal Spirit ! This is the true 
 bread, with which the angel's food may not compare. 
 This is the true wine which rejoiceth the heart of m»n, 
 
OF THE SUPPER. 221 
 
 and even makes g-lad the heart of God. When bloom- 
 ing" in spiritual health, this makes you g-row ; or if you 
 languish under woeful decays, this will restore your 
 souls ag-ain. At this banquet of wine, the King- will 
 g;ive commandment to put to death the wicked Ha- 
 man of this and that corruption. Yea, " what is thy 
 petition ?" will he say, " and what is thy request ? 
 It shall be gi-anted, unto the whole of the king-dom." 
 
 Blessed be that bleeding- love, who instituted these 
 holy rites for the remembrance of itself. But cursed 
 he that impious superstition, which, not content with 
 the plainness and simplicity of the original command- 
 ment, g-oes about to refine the ordinance, and trick it 
 up in robes of human ceremonies. Glory to God, for 
 that happy providence which ordered our lot in these 
 reformed lands, where we have open access to worship 
 God in his own comely order. The mass — an un- 
 meaning word, an unscriptural name, worthy to be used 
 for such an anti-scriptural abomination — the mass is 
 now banished from our high-favoured island, with all 
 its magical rites, and base idolatries. Blessed be God 
 for his mercy. 
 
 Vain man would be wise, though born a fool, even 
 like the colt of the wild ass. In no instance have the 
 children of men bewrayed their ignorance and folly 
 more than this, attempting to improve and amend the 
 ordinances of Heaven, with their own puny inven- 
 tions. The plainness of the elements, and the sim- 
 plicity of the actions, have given them offence ; and 
 therefore they will deck the simple ordinances with 
 gaudy pompous rites. Why are they not offended 
 ulso at the inglorious cross ? why not disclaim the 
 lowly Saviour also, who made no splendid appearance 
 in the days of liis flesh, but wore the humble garb of 
 poverty ? As the carnal Jews would not receive a 
 mean despised Saviour, but wanted a Messias that 
 should be distinguished with worldly grandeur ; so 
 carnal christians will have carnal ordinances, and a 
 wbrldly sanctuary, or they can see no glory in them. 
 
 O 2 
 
222 ON THE DIVINE INSTITUTION 
 
 But those who are endued with the Spirit of wisdom 
 and illumination, behold a glory in the naked ordin- 
 ance, which they search for in vain in all the solemn 
 fopperies of man's invention. It was not the privi- 
 leg-e of every one who conversed with the incarnate 
 Redeemer, to behold his glory, as the glory of the 
 only begotten of the Father. Nor can every one dis- 
 cern in the sacramental symbols, the body of the Lord. 
 *' Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of 
 Israel, the Saviour." It is only they, the desire of 
 whose soul is towards thee, and towards the remem- 
 brance of thy name, who shall see thy power and thy 
 glory in the sanctuary. 
 
 ON THE DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE 
 SABBATH DAY. 
 
 Now had six days finished their rounds. The hea- 
 vens and the earth, and all their host, had underwent 
 the last retouches of their Creator's hand. He, from 
 his high and holy place, reviewing, with delight, his 
 recent works, as yet unstained by sin, pronounced 
 them all very good. '•' And he rested on the seventh 
 day from all his work which he had made. And God 
 blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because 
 that on it he rested from all his work that he had cre- 
 ated and made." How blessed it ? How sanctified 
 it ? To be sure the Sabbath was made for man, as 
 the Lord of the Sabbath tells us. He blessed it ; he 
 sanctified it ; because he ordained that every seventh 
 day should be employed, by his newly-formed crea- 
 ture, in holy exercises. Was it not then, that the 
 morning stars did sing together, and all the angel- 
 sons of God shouted for joy. 
 
 But soon, ah ! soon was the harmony interrupted. 
 Man, being in honour, did not abide. Full soon the 
 foul impostor found means to involve in his apostacy, 
 
OF THE SABBATH DAY. 223 
 
 our wretched race. Here, if mercy had not interpos- 
 ed, the Sabbath would have been for ever at an end. 
 For he, whose justice is inflexibly severe, would never 
 have consented to accept of any relig-ious homag-e from 
 his fallen rebellious creature. But having- from eter- 
 nity proposed to restore us again to his love, favour, 
 and image, by the mediation of his Son Jesus Christ, 
 he comes, and preaches peace to our trembling- first 
 parents. 
 
 Who can suspect, that the Sabbath should be now 
 superseded unto him ? that such a holy institution 
 should be discontinued, and its observance neglected 
 by Adam and his believing- seed ? Surely this law 
 was not first given by Moses ? Is it not evident, that 
 great lawgiver speaks of it as a thing in use before the 
 giving of the law? The glorious Jehovah had not 
 yet uttered all these words from amidst the thunders 
 of Sinai ; yet even then the manna was miraculously 
 restrained on the seventh day, and what they gather- 
 ed on the day before, miraculously preserved from 
 putrefaction. " And it came to pass, that there went 
 out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, 
 and they found none. And the Lord said unto Mo- 
 ses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments, 
 and my laws ? see for that the Lord hath given you 
 the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth 
 day, the bread of two days. Abide ye every man iu 
 his place." 
 
 To what original shall we trace up the custom, 
 which universally obtained among all nations, the 
 Roman and the Greek ? Can any natural reason be 
 assigned for it, like what may be assigned for the di- 
 vision of time into months and years ? Can we rea- 
 sonably suppose they would copy it from the despised 
 nation of Jews ? Is it not more than probable, that 
 it was an ancient tradition, conveyed from the first 
 man, and preserved among his apostate race, when its 
 true design was forgotten. 
 
 May we not then more than presume, that the 
 
"224 ON THE INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH, 
 
 ordinance of the Sabbath was an eminent part of the 
 religion even of the patriarchal ag-e ? and that it was 
 on this day, a very ancient sacred writer informs us, 
 the sons of God came to present themselves before 
 him ? 
 
 But now God plants his sanctuary among the pe- 
 culiar people of the Jews. How great a part this 
 was of their national religion, is witnessed both in 
 their law, their prophets, and in the history of their 
 church. 
 
 Let us descend to the days of the Messiah, who. 
 indeed, has abolished the ceremonial law, but has not 
 made the ordinance of the weekly Sabbath to cease. 
 Why did you reproach him, O malicious Pharisee, as 
 thoug-h he had been a Sabbath-breaker, who indeed 
 was Lord of the Sabbath day ? On the Sabbath day 
 he honoured the synagogue worship with his pre- 
 sence ; and speaks of it as an ordinance which he was 
 to perpetuate in his church after his resurrection. 
 " Pray," says he, to his disciples, " that your flight 
 be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath dav. 
 
 It IS true, indeed, we that are christians do not ob- 
 serve unto the Lord the seventh, but the first day of 
 the week ; but we observe one day in seven, which is 
 the substance of the commandment. If the Lord of 
 the Sabbath shall establish this alteration by his au- 
 thority, who can reasonably find fault ? 
 
 If the day on which he rose from the dead, be the 
 day which is called the Lord's ; if on the first day of 
 the week, the primitive christians, even in apostolic 
 times, did assemble for religious purposes — did hear 
 the word — did celebrate the supper — did lay by them 
 in store, as God had prospered them ; shall we not 
 conclude, that it is the will of God, that now the se- 
 venth day shall give place unto the first ? Hereby is 
 intimated to you, christians, that ye are not first to 
 work, and then to rest, as under the ancient covenant 
 of works ; but that, in the order of the new covenant, 
 
ON THE BENEFIT OF ORDINANCES. 225 
 
 your privilege precedes your duty, and your labour 
 follows after your rest. 
 
 O thou queen of days, shall we not count thee our 
 delig-ht, and thou holy of the Lord honourable ? Be 
 shut our heart to vain thoughts. Let no idle dis- 
 course flow from our tongue. Let us not only rest 
 from servile labour, but chiefly from all our sinful, 
 and from all our legal works. Then shall this earth- 
 ly rest be but a sweet prelude of that eternal Sabbath 
 they are now celebrating, who died in the Lord, and 
 their works did follow them. 
 
 ON THE BENEFIT OF ORDINANCES. 
 
 « A DAY in thy courts," says David, " is better 
 than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in 
 the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of 
 wickedness," Psalm Ixxxiv. 10. 
 
 Never did any words proceed out of the mouth 
 of the sweet singer of Israel, in which more of that 
 noble character, the man after God's own heart, ap- 
 peared. In this beautiful ode, where piety strives 
 with elegance, the royal psalmist extols the happi- 
 ness of those who have it in their power to attend 
 upon the divine ordinances — the whole psalm being 
 an illustration of that rapturous introductory exclam- 
 ation, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord 
 God of Hosts !" He not only pronounces them tru- 
 ly blessed, who perpetually resided in God's taber- 
 nacle, but also them who travelled thither, from the 
 most distant parts of Judea, three times in the year, 
 though the weather was rainy, and the journey was 
 tedious. By a strong poetical flight, he seems to envy 
 the httle birds that nested near the altars of his King 
 and God, from which himself was now debarred. 
 
 The subject of which he speaks in this text, is the 
 courts and house of his God. By which we are to 
 
226 ON THE BENEFIT OF ORDINANCES. 
 
 understand, the tabernacle, or that magnificent tent 
 which Moses reared up in the wilderness, and which, 
 at this time, was the royal palace of the Mighty King. 
 
 Concerning this tabernacle, he affirms two remark- 
 able things. 
 
 " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand." 
 A divine sentence indeed ! The celebrated Roman 
 orator, long after, hit upon a thought that bears some 
 small resemblance to this : " One day, O philosophy, 
 spent in obeying thy precepts, is to be far preferred to 
 a sinning immortality." Here that saying is brought 
 to pass, " One shall chase a thousand." A day in thy 
 courts, that is spent in the exercises of devotion, and 
 abstracted from the cares of the world, is not only 
 equal to two days, or ten days, or twenty days, in any 
 other place, but better than a thousand days ; or if 
 you will, a thousand years ; yea, a thousand ages. 
 And, though the happy person who enjoys but one 
 day of communion with God, were to resign his breath 
 that very evening, and never more behold the out- 
 goings of the morning, he need not retract his asser- 
 tion as too bold and daring, when he considers, that 
 a day in the courts below, of fellowship with God, is a 
 sure earnest of everlasting days in the courts above. 
 
 " I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my 
 God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Let us 
 here observe how the psalmist, not content with ap- 
 proving the things that are excellent, in a speculative 
 manner, makes a particular and practical choice of 
 them for himself. The contrast between the house 
 of God, and the tents of wickedness, and betwixt be- 
 ing a door-keeper in the one, and an indweller in the 
 other, is abundantly striking. At this time the house 
 of God was but a tent. He speaks as it were a palace. 
 The houses of the wicked were, perhaps, sumptuous 
 and magnificent palaces. He stiles them but the 
 tents of wickedness. Here it is natural to think how 
 the divine presence can aggrandize a tent into a pa- 
 lace. But if God be absent from a palace — if the 
 
ON THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRISTIANITY. 227 
 
 voice of riot, instead of prayer and praise, is heard in 
 it — if it is inhabited by doleful creatures, as all wick- 
 ed men are, it is more despicable in the eye of God, 
 than the most ragged cottage can be in the eye of men. 
 
 ON THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Let this man glory in his illustious ancestors, and 
 think himself entitled to the honour and esteem of 
 others, because descended of the worthy and renown- 
 ed ; yet, if he does not at all inherit their supposed 
 virtues, the nobility of his birth is the stain of his re- 
 putation, and the sounding titles wherewith he may 
 be addressed, are in reality no better than a satire up- 
 on his manners. As it will not add any thing to the 
 value of lead or tin, these vulgar metals, that they are 
 extracted from the precious silver ore; so neither will 
 an high extraction impart a value to the worthless and 
 vulgar character. 
 
 Let another bless himself in a fancied superiority 
 to others, because he enjoys the favour of the great, 
 dwells in a fine house, heaps up silver as the dust, 
 maintains a numerous retinue of servants, and loads 
 his table with the most delicious food ; I never can 
 think his character ennobled by all this pomp and 
 wealth. He enjoys the favour of the great, but not 
 thy loving-kindness, O God, which is better than life. 
 He dwells under a magnificent roof, but he makes not 
 the Most High his habitation. Tell me not of his 
 heaps of silver and gold, for he is not rich in good 
 works ; nor of his numerous servants, for himself is a 
 slave to vile affections. He loads his table with 
 luxurious food, but his soul feedeth on ashes, and 
 husks that swine do eat. 
 
 Nor has he a whit better title to fame and solid 
 glory, who enjoys what is commonly stiled popular- 
 ity, and lives upon the tongues of multitudes. Alas! 
 
228 ON THE EXCELLENCY 
 
 how far are they from being- competent judges of 
 what is truly great and laudable ! What wise man 
 values himself on the commendation of fools ? — But 
 sometimes they may be in the right. Be it so. Yet 
 still how scanty the limits, how short the duration, in 
 which the fame of the most renowned must necessari- 
 ly be confined ! How many places, even on this our 
 globe, where the name of the most clebrated man on 
 earth has not been heard of ! How many heroes of 
 antiquity, that kept the world awake with noise and 
 lustre, whose names and actions are forgot, as though 
 they had not been ! Where now are the mighty 
 troublers of mankind ? O death, what contempt dost 
 thou pour on princes ! As clouds are driven by the 
 northern blast; as snow is melted by the sun ; and as 
 stubble is consumed before the fire ; so vanishes all 
 glory and renown at thy approach. — Seest thou that 
 repository of the dead, where the dust of the vassal 
 and his lord are blended together in gross familiarity ! 
 Here all precedency is a jest. In vain is the corpse 
 of the right honourable deposited in marble, or inclos- 
 ed in silver. Alas ! the worms are not afraid to riot 
 on his flesh, who wore imperial purple. They keep 
 no awful distance from majesty itself. 
 
 Miserable they ! who were not careful to distin- 
 guish themselves from the common herd of mankind, 
 but by these distinctions that are abolished in the 
 grave, and that are of no avail in the awful judgment. 
 With what blank faces will they look, who have no 
 other recommendations but their illustrious pedigree, 
 their abundant wealth, and their popular renown, 
 when the Son of the carpenter, whose life was lowly, 
 and his death ignominious, shall sist them before his 
 tribunal ? When every mask shall be pulled off, and 
 every man appear in that character which really be- 
 longs to him ? When their eternal state shall be ad- 
 justed, not according to what they seemed in their 
 own or others' eyes, but according to what they were 
 
OF CHRISTIANITY. 229 
 
 in the eye of God, the most unquestionable Judge of 
 all their actions ? 
 
 Cease then, ray soul ! to admire, or to envy the 
 glory of the world. Nor judge them truly honour- 
 able, whose souls are not truly great, and whose glorv 
 will not descend after them into the grave. If a 
 horse is not judged of by the gaudiness of his trap- 
 pings, a statue by the grandeur of its pedestal ; why 
 should we judge of men by their outward appendages, 
 which may be stript off in this present life, and must 
 of necessity be in the life to come ? 
 
 Christianity, it is thine alone to lift the poor from 
 the dunghill, and the needy out of the dust, and set 
 them among princes ! In thy light we see clearly 
 how these that are esteemed the off-scourings of 
 all things, may, notwithstanding, be the excellent of 
 the earth. He — he is truly honourable, whom the 
 Almighty, from the heavens beholds, despising in his 
 heart those things which are reckoned great among 
 men ; and ardently aspiring at those sublime distinc- 
 tions that are worthy of his rational and immortal 
 nature. He pays indeed a due regard to his good 
 name ; and would not wilhngly so much as incur the 
 suspicion of being guilty of what is unworthy of him. 
 If a fair reputation may be acquired and maintained 
 by a patient continuance in well doing, he does not 
 at all despise it, but esteems it more than riches : for 
 a good report maketh the bones fat, and enables the 
 man that is possessed of it to be more extensively 
 useful, in promoting the good of his fellow-creatures, 
 and the glory of his Creator. But even when he 
 does good, it is not the applause of men he principal- 
 ly courts; but by honour and dishonour; by evil report 
 and good report ; he approves himself unto the con- 
 science of every man. If he gains their commenda- 
 tions, he does not greatly rejoice ; if he incurs their 
 censure, he is not greatly sorrowful. Sometimes he 
 takes pleasure in reproaches ; and rejoices that he is 
 counted worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake. . 
 
230 ON THE EXCELLENCY OP CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 What though he should live in the vale of life ? 
 though he be not pointed at as he goes along? though 
 he hear not the acclamations of his people? His praise 
 is not of men, but of God; who knows his way; who 
 points him forth to angels, as the object of their re- 
 gard ; while they, with true applause, recount his 
 praises. 
 
 What though he boast not the honours of his race, 
 when the royal blood of heaven flows in his veins, be- 
 cause he is born from above ? 
 
 What though he be not a favourite of the prince ; 
 when, like a prince, he has power with God? — 
 Though he possesses not a great quantity of wealth ; 
 when the unsearchable riches of Christ are all his 
 own ? — Though his steps are not attended by a 
 numerous train of servants ; when even the blessed 
 angels are ministering spirits unto him, and keep him 
 in all his ways? — Though he have no better mansion 
 than a cobwebbed cottage, when the King of glory 
 deigns to come under his lowly roof, and even to 
 dwell with him ? — Though his clothes are not be- 
 smeared with gold, when he puts on righteousness as 
 a garment ? — Though he lives on homely food, and 
 drinks not generous wine in gold and silver vessels, 
 when the flesh and blood of the Son of God is his 
 daily provision. — And though his memory should die 
 away, in the city where he lived, yet his memorial in 
 heaven is everlasting. 
 
 Go then, O immortal soul ! seek this honour that 
 comes from God only, which is no phantom that will 
 mock thy grasp ; no bubble that will break at thy 
 touch; no shadow that will fly from him that pursues 
 after; but a blessed reality that will crown thy wishes. 
 This passion needs not fill thy cheeks with bUishing ; 
 for it is adequate to thy rational nature. O glorious 
 honour! which Cesar cannot confer; which mone}' 
 cannot procure. The praises of men cannot bestow ; 
 the reproaches of men cannot take it away. The 
 Lord of hosts hath purposed to stain the pride of all 
 
ON THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF ADOPTION. 231 
 
 other glory ; but this honour shall never be laid in 
 the dust. 
 
 ON THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF ADOPTION. 
 
 Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
 stowed on us, that we should be called the sons of 
 God ! This was an exclamation worthy of thee, O 
 beloved apostle, whose favourite topic was love ; in- 
 spire us with these admiring- thoughts, O divine Spi- 
 rit ! inkindle in our hearts that holy flame which the 
 apostle felt, who declares unto us the things which he 
 saw and heard, that we may certainly know it is not 
 merely a rhetorical flourish, but a most weighty truth, 
 and a most blessed reality. 
 
 For, O ye children of this world, who glory in the 
 nobility of your birth, and trace your pedigree from 
 ancient kings ! and ye that said, we have Abraham 
 for our father ! what title can you show to such an 
 exalted honour, to such a glorious prerogative, as to be 
 called the sons of God? This honour have all his saints, 
 being born from above, and adopted into the family 
 of heaven. To the adoption of children they were 
 predestinated before the day-spring knew his place, 
 according to the good pleasure of his will. And when 
 the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, 
 made of a woman, made under the law, that they 
 might receive the adoption of sons. By faith in 
 Christ Jesus they all partake of this high privilege, 
 and in some happy moments they are pleasingly con- 
 scious of this distinguished felicity, while the Spirit 
 of his Son, sent forth into their hearts, bears witness 
 with their spirits that they are the children of God, 
 and enables them to cry, Abba, Father. — It is true, 
 their real glory is eclipsed in this state of their pil- 
 grimage, while absent from their Father's house ; but 
 the day of their manifestation is fast approaching, and 
 
232 ON THE HIGH PRIVILEGE 
 
 in the mean time they wait with humble hope for the 
 adoption, the redemption of their bodies, when, by 
 their resurrection from the dead, they shall, like their 
 glorious Redeemer, be declared the sons of God, with 
 power, before the assembled world. 
 
 Justly, very justly, may our wonder be raised to 
 the highest pitch, when we consider the greatness of 
 that God by whom this blessing is conferred, the 
 meanness of those persons on whom it is bestowed, 
 the loftiness of the means by which it is procured, 
 and the innumerable advantages with which it is at- 
 tended. 
 
 If the glory of children is their fathers ; if kindred 
 to the great is valued, though remote; if to be the son- 
 in-law of a king was held by David a matter of such 
 great importance : how distinguishing is their lot,- 
 whose God is their Father, and Jesus Christ is not 
 ashamed to call them brethren ! Though every king 
 and every emperor that wears a crown, and sways a 
 sceptre, were allied to them by the ties of blood, it 
 could not equal, by ten thousand degrees, this high 
 and ample renown. 
 
 And wherefore, O glorious Jehovah, wouldst thou 
 confer upon the children of men such inconceiveable 
 honour, to join them to thy family ! It was not to 
 supply thy wants, who was suflTicient to thy own hap- 
 piness, and infinitely well pleased in thy beloved Son. 
 It was not to reward our worth, who had no attracting 
 quahtications to recommend us. This is not the 
 manner of men, O Lord, who use not to adopt, un- 
 less they have no children of their own, or at least 
 observe some amiable quahty about the oNject of their 
 favour. Thus Esther is adopted by Mordecai, being 
 a beautiful virgin ; and Moses, being a proper child, 
 is drawn out of the water by the daughter of a great 
 king, and nourished as her own son ; but we were the 
 rliildren of wrath, heirs of damnation, and cast out in 
 our blood to the loathing of our person. How often 
 have we rebelled against the reproofs of his word, con* 
 
OF ADOPTION. 233 
 
 temned the thunders of his law, and rejected the 
 offers of his grace ! yet patience waited for us, and 
 mercy apprehended us. 
 
 And that we might receive the adoption of sons, 
 the Son of God did not abhor the ignominious cross ! 
 With a great sum indeed hast thou obtained this free- 
 dom for us ! To make us creatures did cost thee but a 
 word ; to make us children, demanded the eifusion of 
 thy blood ; and it pleased the Father to bruise thee ! 
 Herein perceive we the love of God, that he with- 
 held not his Son, his only God, from the most in- 
 conceivable agonies, to compass his design. 
 
 Glorious indeed must be the advantage of this high 
 relation, the purchase of such precious blood ! Angels, 
 ye shall have in charge these favourites of Heaven. 
 Ye enemies of their salvation, rejoice not against 
 them : if you devour them, you shall offend ; if you 
 touch them, you shall touch the apple of his eye ; 
 for in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and 
 his children shall have a place of refuge ; their par- 
 ents may leave them, but the Lord shall take them 
 up ; he may correct, but will not cast off; if he speaks 
 against them, he earnestly remembers them ; his 
 heart is turned, his bowels yearn, and his relentings 
 are kmdled : their strength is small, but he spares 
 them as a man spareth his son that serveth him : 
 their imperfections are many, but he pities them as a 
 father pitieth his children : as a crane and as a swallow, 
 so do they chatter, but he loves to hear their voice : 
 make known your request unto him, and he will give 
 you what is good : cry unto him, my Father ! he will 
 be the guide of your youth. But, O the riches of 
 the glory of that inheritance, which is neither cor- 
 ruptible, like thy gold and silver, thou vain world ! 
 nor defiled like the paradise of Mahomet ! but incor- 
 ruptible, and undefiled, and fading not away, which is 
 reserved in heaven for them. How justly may they 
 say, The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, 
 when God himself is their portion ? For thus runs' 
 
 P 
 
234 THE COMPLAINT. 
 
 the apostolic declaration, "If children, then heirs,- 
 heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Hail, ye 
 distinguished, happy persons ! who, thoiig-h poor and 
 despised, are the children of the Most High. Live 
 to his praise, and demonstrate to the world, that you 
 are indeed the children of your father ; imitate his 
 example, reverence his authority, and let it be your 
 meat and drink to do his will. 
 
 THE COMPLAINT. 
 
 Sweet was the time when he whom all the angels 
 love, and all the ransomed tribes adore, did hold fa- 
 miliar discourse with me a prisoner of earth : for, 
 whither could I turn mine eyes, and not behold the 
 most ravishing- prospect ? Above me, I could lift up 
 my most ardent thought to God that dwelleth in the 
 heavens, and I could call him mine ; and these bright 
 globes I could contemplate but as the pavement of 
 my Father's house. For me, O radiant sun I you 
 shine, you rise, you fall ; angels I ye are my guard- 
 ians ; ye beasts of the earth, and ye stones of the 
 iield, are my allies around me. The various ills of 
 life I could survey with calm composure ; yea, in the 
 midst of them, I could rejoice as more than a con- 
 queror. 
 
 Before me, death met my view deprived of his 
 sting ; and I could ask the grave, where is thy vic- 
 tory ? yea, even the awful judgment could not appal 
 my soul, in some distinguished moments : " Amen ; 
 even so, come. Lord Jesus!" could I say. Begone, 
 ye envious clouds ! prepare his way, ye glorious 
 storms of thunder and lightning ! For, O my con- 
 science ! what perfect peace was made in all thy 
 borders I 
 
 The rising morn beheld me pouring out my pray- 
 *ers; and when the evening star arose, this was my 
 
THE SUCCESSFUL SUPPLICANT. 2S5 
 
 t?xercise. O then ! the sacred word was sweet as 
 honey, refreshful as the dew, and cheering as the 
 ^.ig-ht. The high praises of God were uttered by my 
 mouth ; and when they said, Go up to the house of 
 the Lord, to the tabernacles of the Most High ; how 
 greatly I rejoiced ! Then I could count the Sabbath a 
 dehght. Methought the lovely light did wear an- 
 other aspect than that of other days. How sweetly 
 could I meditate on the law of the Lord I The doc- 
 trines of religion, the mysteries of redemption, and 
 the promises of the everlasting covenant, were my 
 darling theme ; and my delights were with the excel- 
 lent ones of the earth. 
 
 Ah ! lovely peace of mind, where art thou fled ! 
 The thoughts of God are a terror to me : I tremble 
 at his justice, and even his mercy and his goodness 
 afford not consolation. How dismal is the vale of 
 fleath, and the grave's solitary mansion ! The glory 
 is departed. I went out full, but am returned empty. 
 O ! v/herefore wouldst thou leave thy first and best 
 beloved for all that is in the world ? Can sin, with 
 its bewitching pleasures, the world with its empty 
 enjoyments, or thy own imperfect legal righteousness, 
 be in the stead of Christ unto the soul ? Begone ye 
 vain pretenders, " I will return unto my first husband; 
 then was it better with me than now." 
 
 THE SUCCESSFUL SUPPLICANT. 
 
 Some take delight in hunting after the breath of 
 popular applause ; and if they can live upon the 
 tongues of the multitude, they fancy they have at- 
 tained a great measure of felicity. This man revolves 
 with a world of pleasure, the works of the learned, 
 and reads the stars, and talks with heroes of former 
 ages. The flowing bowl and jolly company, are the 
 delights of another. " * 
 
236 ON WATCHFULNESS. 
 
 But, to the real christian, no exercise appears with 
 more distinguished grace than prayer in the name of 
 Christ. This opens the gates of heaven, and fetches 
 blessings from on high. The bended knee, the lift- 
 ed hand, the imploring eye, with the intlamed heart : 
 these never fail to be attended with joys unknown to 
 you, ye sons of the earth ! Angels rejoice, and God's 
 own ear listens delighted. Lift up your voice to him ; 
 O ! talk with him ; whether the morn purples the 
 east, or the evening-star lights up his lamp. 
 
 The eternal Son was yet unclothed with flesh and 
 blood ; but, trying on the coat of our humanity, he 
 is recorded to have appeared, in human shape, unto 
 the father of the patriarchs, from whom the Jewish 
 nation derived their original. Overwhelmed with 
 perplexity, and deeply distressed how to face the sup- 
 posed rage of his incensed brother, he tries to pour 
 his complaint into his compassionate bosom ; nor was 
 his labour vain. It was night, and silence reigned over 
 all ; when, lo ! a human likeness is presented to his 
 view. With him he held discourse, and spun out 
 the night, till now the star of the day was advancing 
 his chariot-wheels ; and thus the heavenly stranger 
 spoke, " It is enough, O friend of God ! permit me 
 to depart : the rising day, and flying shadows, forbid 
 my presence here." " No," said the favourite of 
 Heaven, " I will not let thee go, except thou bless 
 me." He wept, he made supphcation, he had power 
 over the angel and prevailed. Hence he had deserv- 
 ed the name of Israel* O happy victor ! He had 
 power with God, and conquered the Omnipotent ! 
 Let us go and do likewise. 
 
 ON WATCHFULNESS. 
 
 This may be considered, either as relating to sin, 
 that we may resist temptations to it ; or to judgment, 
 
ON WATCHFULNESS. 237 
 
 that we may be prepared for the coming of the Son 
 of Man. 
 
 In these views the watchful christian is one, who, 
 from a persuasion of the strength of his enemies 
 without, who wait for his halting, — of the wickedness 
 and deceit of his own heart within, — and the great- 
 ness of the danger he incurs, — carefully guards all the 
 avenues of temptation. There is nothing about him- 
 self he judges safe to trust : not his lips ; for with 
 thee, O David ! he prays, " Set a watch, O Lord ! 
 before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips :" not 
 his eyes ; for he makes a covenant with them : not 
 his ears ; he shuts them from hearing of blood, of 
 slander, and detraction, and of the instruction that 
 causeth to err : but, chiefly, he darts a jealous eye 
 over his heart : for, of its being " deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked," he has the most un- 
 questionable proof, both from his own experience, and 
 from the experience of the great surrounding cloud 
 of vntnesses. 
 
 No *m he judges himself absolutely secured against, 
 though ever so atrocious ; whilst he surveys the nu- 
 merous troops of slain, and sees how many stronger 
 than he hath fallen by the power of temptation. How 
 can he be confident in himself, when he sees the man 
 according to God's own heart weltering in murder 
 and adultery ? and that most eminent apostle, whose 
 faith the Lord so highly commended, who was with 
 him in the holy mount, and faithfully as well as par- 
 ticularly warned of his danger ; — even that most em- 
 inent apostle, denying his Lord and Master ; (blush, 
 ye papists, who make him the foundation of your 
 church !) denying him thrice ; denying him with 
 oaths and curses ; not when intimidated before any 
 tribunal, at the presence of his judges, but at the ac- 
 cusation of a silly maid. 
 
 Neither is there any time in which he thinks it 
 safe to intermit his vigilance. The whole time of 
 his sojourning here, he studies to pass in fear ; and 
 
 P 2 
 
238 ON WATCHFULNESS. 
 
 even ^vhen he sleeps, his heart is waking. He knowsy 
 that althoug-h there is a time for the body to sleep, 
 that its wearied powers may be recruited by these 
 balmy dews, and reanimated to new labours ; yet there 
 is no time for his soul to slumber, whose nature, like 
 the fiery fiame, is to be ever in motion ; and instead 
 of being- repaired by indolence and inactivity, is ren- 
 dered more dull and languid. Neither in prosperity 
 nor adversity, neither in solitude nor in society, can 
 he sing a requium to his soul, as if it were without 
 the verge of danger. And even in the time of spe- 
 cial enjoyments, and distinguished manifestations, he 
 knows very well that he ought not to say, " My 
 mountain stands strong, and I shall never be moved.'' 
 As he who comes out of a hot bath is very careful 
 how he ventures himself immediately to the cold and 
 chilling air, as being never more ready to catch a cold 
 than upon such an occasion ; so, he is never more 
 circumspect how he returns into the world, and ex- 
 poses himself to its hurtful snares, than when he has 
 been enjoying the happy hours of fellowship with God. 
 But if there is any known sin which may gain ad- 
 vantage over him, or easily beset him, whether be- 
 cause suited to his natural constitution, or perhaps it is 
 common to the age, and not branded with the infamy 
 it deserves ; or, perhaps it is of a secret nature, and 
 may be transacted without the knowledge of others ; 
 or, perhaps, it is an old sin from which he was purg- 
 ed, to which, if he should return, his last state would 
 be worse than the first ; or, perhaps, it is a sin which 
 is very ready to put on the vizor and mask of duty, 
 of which it is very difficult to repent ; — he is pecu- 
 liarly watchful against that sin. And that he may 
 keep at the remotest distance from all approaches un- 
 to iniquity, and abstain from all appearance of evil, 
 he goes not to the brink, or utmost verge even of 
 lawful liberty. That he may not be guilty of any 
 unlawful thing, he will abridge himself in the use of 
 lawful things, upon a proper occasion. 
 
ON GENTLENESS. 239 
 
 But it is no less the duty of the watchful christian 
 " to wait the coming- of his Lord," that he may be 
 found of him in peace. He gives diligence, that nei- 
 ther his conscience be defiled with known sin, nor his 
 affections entangled with vain cares ; that when he 
 shall appear, he may have confidence, and bid an un- 
 reluctant adieu to transitory vanities. He refers not 
 his eternal interests to be adjusted till he is stretched 
 on his sick or dying bed ; for he knows, that both 
 the time and manner of his exit are wholly in God's 
 hands. The numerous deaths of his acquaintances 
 and fellow-mortals, he considers as the calls of the 
 bridegroom, " Be ye also ready." If his head ache, 
 if his stomach loathes its food, or sleep ily from his 
 eye-lids, all these, and such like distresses, he re- 
 gards as a set of monsters crowding round about him, 
 and telling him, " that the Judge standeth before the 
 door," and " the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." 
 Death comes ; eternity unfolds itself to his view. 
 See ! with what dauntless magnanimity he enters the 
 list with his last enemy. Far from discouraging his 
 surviving fellow-christians, by a dispiriting behaviour, 
 he throws an additional lustre on the christian faith, 
 and makes the beholders wish themselves were the 
 dying person. 
 
 Ye lying vanities of life, farewell ! Welcome, ye 
 heavenly joys ! " Amen : even so, come quickly. 
 Lord Jesus." Such are the wishes he breathes from 
 his inmost soul. His latter end is peace. 
 
 ON GENTLENESS. 
 
 It is that amiable grace, whereby the christian re- 
 strains unlawful anger, and moderates even just re- 
 sentment. Perhaps his natural temper is of the rug- 
 ged kind ; yet he has experienced the accomplish- 
 ment of that gracious promise, that " the leopard shall 
 
240 ON GENTLENESS. 
 
 lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw 
 with the ox." It is not in his tongue, but in his 
 heart, where this grace chiefly resides. He pretends 
 not, with the ancient Stoics, wholly to discard the 
 passions of anger, which were not the meekness of 
 wisdom, but of folly. Nor does it wholly lie in a 
 courteous and obliging behaviour, commonly called 
 good manners, which may be but an artificial appear- 
 ance. Sometimes he may come with a rod, and as- 
 sume a prudent severity, but it is rather in the cause 
 of God, than in his own cause. If he smites, he 
 breaks not the head ; but his reproofs are precious oil. 
 Blessed be his anger, for it is merciful, and his wrath, 
 for it is kind. O my soul ! come thou into his secret, 
 and be thou united unto his assembly. 
 
 Cruelty and delight in the miseries of others, 
 though his most bitter enemies, is a disposition he 
 greatly abhors ; far less can he suffer his attachments 
 to any particular party to swallow up all his senti- 
 ments of humanity to those who differ from him. 
 Let bloody Papists sport themselves with the torments 
 of whom they call heretics; he has not so learned 
 Christ, upon whom the Spirit descended, not in the 
 likeness of a vulture, but a dove. When man is born 
 at first into the world of nature, we behold him a 
 peaceful infant, all naked and defenceless, not armed 
 with claws and teeth, as some other animals ; and can 
 we reasonably suppose, that when a man is born again 
 into the world of grace, he will come, armed with fire 
 and sword, to destroy all around him ? 
 
 So far is he from stretching forth his hand against 
 them that are at peace with him, that he will not 
 suffer rancour to foster in his breast against his most 
 malignant foe. He wisely considers, that he himself 
 has acted a more unjust part towards his God, than 
 ever the most ungenerous person did to him, and yet 
 obtained mercy. He does not only suppress his re- 
 sentment from bursting out into violent vociferations ; 
 nor is he like some who affect a sullen silence, louder 
 
THE NATURAL STATE OF MANKIND. 241 
 
 than all words, to proclaim the implacable malice of 
 their hearts : but he banishes from his very thoughts 
 the purpose of revenge. He considers, that it is far 
 more g-lorious, that it bespeaks more solid wisdom and 
 greatness, to forget an injury than to requite it. He 
 leaves it to fools and madmen, to furious beasts and 
 silly wretches, to tear themselves in their anger, to 
 Hash fury with their eyes, to faulter in their speech, 
 to tremble in their joints, to stamp with their feet, to 
 wreak their resentment on whatever comes in their 
 road, though perhaps senseless and inanimate ; when 
 they receive some petty affront, or meet with contra- 
 diction. 
 
 He resembles not a city without gates, or broken 
 down, and without walls, that may easily be assault- 
 ed ; nor powder, that may quickly be inflamed ; but 
 may be compared to green wood, that is not easily 
 kindled, but may soon be extinguished. He looks 
 not at every petty injury as through a microscope, 
 which magnifies far beyond the life. 
 
 r ^#'*w ^i^***^ ^i^rf»»<» »^^i»>» »»»»i#^ 
 
 THE NATURAL STATE OF MANKIND. 
 
 See ! how the mountains are covered with snow, 
 and the valleys are stript of their lovely verdure. No 
 fragrant flower perfumes the air, nor embalms the 
 evening walk. The songsters of the grove have fold- 
 ed up their wings, and forgot their notes, who, some 
 time ago, did sing among the branches. Where are 
 the golden treasures of the harvest, or the smihng 
 flowers of the spring ? Joy and gladness is fled from 
 the plentiful field, and all is one scene of desolation. 
 What wonder ! when the glorious fountain of our day 
 has withdrawn his enHvening beams ; resigning to the 
 power of chilling cold, both the aerial regions and the 
 watery element. In comparison with the heat of 
 summer, the warmest days are cold even at the height 
 
242 THE NATURAL STATE OF MANKIND. 
 
 of noon. Full often the scowling- wintry clouds wrap 
 up the day's fair face. All joy is darkened. The sun 
 seems to be swallowed up : the moon and stars with- 
 draw their shining-. The low-bent clouds pour down. 
 Short is the day. How tedious the length, and how 
 deep the horrors of the night ! When every brook is 
 swelled to a river, let not the traveller pursue his 
 journey. Ye that do business in great waters ! be not 
 rash to tear your cables from the shore, when winter s 
 fury rages on the main. 
 
 But, while I muse on the rigours of this unjoyous 
 season, let me reflect what moral sentiments may here 
 be taught. Even the barren winter may be fruitful 
 of intellectual truths ; and binding frosts may be in- 
 strumental in thawing- the heart, and melting the 
 affections. 
 
 And first then, what a lively emblem have we in 
 this, of that state we are in when we come into the 
 world ! who are, as an apostle tells, " by nature chil- 
 dren of wrath." While this winter is not past, the 
 flowers appear not in the earth, the time of the sing- 
 ing of birds is not come, the voice of the turtle is not 
 heard in our land. Then we derive not our consola- 
 tion from the glorious Sun of righteousness, but from 
 the fire of worldly enjoyments or sinful pleasures; no 
 flowers of divine grace adorn the conversation, nor are 
 we filled with the fruits of righteousness ; we know- 
 not the joyful sound, neither is the melody of praise 
 heard in our tabernacles. — Is the day short, and the 
 night long? Know, O natural man! that it is the 
 very picture of that natural state wherein you are. 
 How soon is the day of prosperity made dark with 
 night! — anight that shall not see the dawning of the 
 day, and no joyful sound comes therein. Though for 
 a while you may cheer up your heart, and think to 
 kindle a fire, and walk in the light of your fire, and 
 compass yourselves about with sparks ; what will you 
 do, when the shadows of the everlasting evening shall 
 be stretched forth, and the long night of eternity shall 
 
ON IMMORTALITY. 243 
 
 wrajD you in its impenetrable gloom ? Who can live 
 in his cold ? Who knows the power of his anger ? 
 
 And here I recal to mind an admonition of oiu- 
 Lord to his disciples, when warning them of the dread- 
 ful catastrophe of that ungrateful city Jemsalem, 
 " Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter." O 
 merciful Father ! let it not be my miserable fate, to 
 take my flight from time and this my mortal body, 
 while the winter of thy wrath is not past, while the 
 rain of thy indignation is not over and gone. 
 
 ON IMMORTALITY. 
 
 Rejoice, ye wise and good ! tremble, ye knaves 
 and fools ! (who is anxious for your happiness ?) for 
 immortality, that pleasing awful thought, is no fan- 
 tastic dream. Not only is it brought to light in the 
 gospel ; it is written in the volumes of creation and 
 providence. Set immortality aside, and beasts are 
 wiser and happier than men, and vice is preferable to 
 virtue. 
 
 Ye brutal race ! that fly in air, or swim in floods, or 
 tread the ground, soon you arrive at your highest per- 
 fection, and are quickly put in possession of your 
 chiefest good. You are not cursed with carking cares, 
 nor anxious thoughts of evils yet unfelt. Small are 
 your capacities ; and your desires are few, but none of 
 them are vain. But we always travel by slow degrees 
 to the summit of our perfection ; yea, in vain we 
 think to arrive at the perfection our nature is capable 
 of. How dim is our knowledge ! How languid is our 
 virtue! How imperfect is our happiness! — while here. 
 Our eyes are not satisfied with seeing, nor our ears 
 with hearing, nor our understandings with truth, nor 
 our desires with good. Were we to live coeval with 
 the siin, we might be still enlarging our views, exalt- 
 ing our sentiments, approaching nearer to the glorious 
 
244 ON IMMORTALITY. 
 
 Godhead, whose image we are. Large are our capa- 
 cities, many are our desires, which are not filled, which 
 are not satisfied. 
 
 Nor is the desire of immortality the feeblest. Who 
 among mankind covets not to be remembered, when 
 he himself shall forget all mortal things ? For this 
 the image of the mind is transfused into the page of 
 the orator, the poet, the philosopher. It is the office 
 of the statuary and painter, to eternize the image of 
 the body ; and even the poor mechanic erects his 
 monumental stone. There were who have called 
 their lands by their own names. Their inward thought 
 was, that their dwellings should continue to all gen- 
 erations. Death comes ; Death, the mighty leveller ; 
 he stops our ardent pursuits, disappoints our fond 
 hopes ; and even the monuments designed to immor- 
 talize our names, are mortal. — Like you, ye thought- 
 less herds ! we fall, we die, and are laid in the grave ; 
 our place no more beholds us. And, even in death, 
 you seem less wretched than the human race. To 
 you, death comes undreaded ; but we, long ere we 
 feel, must fear the blow. Yet we are your superiors, 
 higher in the dignity of our natures, and higher in the 
 divine regards. Short lived is your happiness, with 
 which your existence terminates in death. But ours 
 then first commences, when the dull body falls into 
 the grave. The sprightly mind spurns the vile earth. 
 No more we complain of unsatisfied desires, and use- 
 less capacities. Then, and not till then, shall we at- 
 tain that perfection, and taste that satisfaction, to 
 which we were designed. 
 
 Thus, even our inferiority to the brutes, proves 
 that we are superiors ; and the eternal perfection of 
 our nature, is proclaimed by our greatest imperfections. 
 Nor is it the only merit of immortality to assert the 
 glorious prerogative of human nature above the bestial 
 order : it is this alone which can support the cause of 
 virtue, and justify the ways of God to men. — Virtue 
 has charms indeed ; none will contest it. Being a 
 
ON IMMORTALITY. 245 
 
 lady of heavenly extraction, she shines in native ele- 
 gance and beauty. The radiant sun is not so fair, 
 when he emerges from the eastern wave ; nor the fair- 
 handed spring, when she flushes the infant year with 
 many-coloured blossoms. Yet, O celestial virgin ! 
 who would match with thee for good and all; if 
 misery here, if annihilation hereafter, were all thy 
 dowry ? Even peace of conscience, without the glory 
 of immortality, were but a shadowy happiness. Were 
 this hope a mere delusion, how could we justify thy 
 procedure, O thou wise and holy Governor of the 
 world ? " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
 right ?" See ! Wickedness, in various shapes, lifts 
 her proud head, and reigns triumphant ; while modest 
 Virtue seeks the shades, or pines in want, or groans in 
 chains, or mourns in the dungeon. 
 
 And, even in these happy countries, where Justice, 
 enthroned by wholesome laws, draws his impartial 
 sword, how many secret crimes, exceeding heinous 
 and detested, which cannot be found out by the most 
 accurate inquisition, or are capable of being animad- 
 verted upon ! How many virtues which cannot be 
 rewarded ! Presume not to blame the divine proce- 
 dure, nor question the wisdom of Providence, when 
 Jacob-like, she lays her hands awry ; the right hand 
 of prosperity, and the left hand of adversity, appear- 
 ing as misplaced, upon the heads of righteous and 
 wicked men. " For, verily, there is a reward for the 
 righteous, and a strange punishment for the workers 
 of iniquity." You see the wicked great in power ; 
 but suddenly you curse his habitation. But, mark the 
 perfect man ; behold the upright ; his latter end is 
 peace. '•' Righteous, O Lord ! are thy judgments ; 
 just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 
 
 O glorious Immortality ! it is thine alone to main- 
 tain the rights of virtue and humanity. Without 
 thee, the beasts were our superiors, and the worst of 
 men would have the advantage of the best, in num- 
 berless instances. The dying raptures of the saints 
 
246 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 and of martyrs, and the misg-iving- horrors of the un- 
 godly, are inspired by thee alone. And though thou 
 wert a gay chimera, and but a pleasing deceit ; yet 
 were it the interest of mankind to hold thee fast, to 
 refuse to let thee go. 
 
 And can eternity belong to me ? With what an 
 awful joy are all my powers affected ? Ye worldly 
 vanities ! where are ye now ? Lo ! there the beggar 
 stands upon a level with the king. At once the robes, 
 at once the rags, have disappeared. Weighed in this 
 even balance, how small your weight, ye worldly af- 
 flictions ! Where is thy grisly aspect king of terrors I 
 Be still a king of terrors to the wicked, I crown thee 
 prince of life. Why should I fear, if it is only thine 
 to wound my mortal part ? My heaven-born soul 
 laughs at the shaking of thy deadly dart. " O death ! 
 where is thy dreadful sting ? O grave ! where is thy 
 boasted victory ?" 
 
 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 Hail, sacred page ! volumes of inspiration ! in 
 whose presence the compositions of mortal wit hide 
 their ashamed countenances ; as stars which shone 
 brightly in the clear sky, disappear, when the morn- 
 ing sun purples the eastern clouds. Where shall we 
 find such venerable antiquity, as in this reverend 
 code ? Before Abraham was, was Christ, the great 
 I AM. Before Orpheus, or Linus, or Hesiode, or 
 Homer, were the scriptures of the Hebrew lawgiver. 
 
 It is true, the hoary head is not a crown of glory, 
 except when found in the way of righteousness. There 
 are trifling, there are immoral, there are inconsistent 
 productions. If these should vie with the sacred 
 oracles, in the earliness of their existence ; yet they 
 must not presume to claim an equal regard from men, 
 with the book of God, whose subject is a compound 
 
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 247 
 
 of the mm'vellous^ the pious, the useful, and the 
 grand. The histories of past, the prophecies of fu- 
 ture events, are neither trifling- nor deceitful. The 
 precepts, how pure ! the doctrines and mysteries, how 
 subhme ! how worthy of God to reveal them ! of 
 man to beHeve them ! Here, both the natural and 
 moral world unfold to our view. Here, we behold 
 this beauteous fabric, emerging out of nothing, and 
 wrapped in a winding-sheet of flames. Here, we are 
 informed of the birth of evil, both natural and moral ; 
 and how they are again rooted out of the world. The 
 miseries you are to avoid ; the happiness you are to 
 pursue ; the method wherein you may attain the one, 
 and avoid the other; — these are the important and 
 interesting themes of the Bible. Peruse these holy 
 records, and be acquainted with thyself, and with thy 
 God, O mortal ! To ransom thee from death, to render 
 you blessed both here and hereafter ; see here, thy 
 great Creator, lying in the womb, groaning on a cross, 
 and sleeping in a grave. Jesus ! thou Saviour of the 
 world, these Scriptures testify of thee. Thou art the 
 Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending 
 of them. In the Old Testament, thou art concealed ; 
 in the New Testament, thou art revealed. Thou art 
 the end of the law, and the sum of the gospel. 
 
 It is true indeed, not every place shines with an 
 equal lustre. But is it any detraction from the beau- 
 ty of the material world, the fair book of the creation, 
 that here there is a champagne country, and there a 
 barren wilderness ; here a craggy rock, and there a 
 fruitful valley ? We despise not the beauty of the 
 firmament, though some parts of it are not sown so 
 thick as others with starry lamps. But should we 
 nearer view those seemingly barren places in the field of 
 revelation ; should we dig into those rocky texts, with 
 care and reverence, perhaps then we might find cause 
 to altar our sentiments. Even the genealogies are 
 not useless, nor the ceremonies insignificant. Even 
 
248 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 here we find rich veins of wisdom ; and Christ the 
 pearl of great price. 
 
 But is there not something more than moral breath- 
 ing- through every page? It is here the attentive 
 mind is struck with awe, as under the impenetrable 
 shade of some aspiring grove, or under the roof of 
 some rehgious edifice. Thus, angels which appeared 
 to holy men of old, struck the beholders with a dread, 
 for which they could not well account. There was 
 something in their voice, in their air, in their gesture, 
 which spoke more than human. What loftiness of 
 phrase in some ! What majestic simplicity of ex- 
 pression in other passages ? How unparelleled ! 
 How inimitable by mortal pen ! Thus he whose 
 name is called "the Word of God," in his exalted 
 state, is more glorious than the kings of the earth ; 
 and, even in his humiliation, there was something 
 exceedingly majestic, which poured contempt upon 
 princes. 
 
 Be not ashamed of the Scriptures. They are the 
 power of God to salvation, to every one that believ- 
 eth. O blessed word ! thou convertest the soul ; 
 thou enlightenest the eyes ; thou rejoicest the heart ; 
 thou givest wisdom unto the simple ; and light unto 
 the blind ; and life unto the dead ! Peruse the Scrip- 
 tures ; your corruptions shall be mortified, your graces 
 shall be vivified, your thoughts, your words your ac- 
 tions, shall be sanctified, be purified, be rectified. 
 These will alleviate your sorrows in adversity, and in 
 prosperity heighten your enjoyments. Here, multi- 
 tudes have found life everlasting. 
 
 O ye who have received the truth, in the love 
 thereof! who have his blessed word sweeter than 
 honey to your mouth ! give glory to that God, who, 
 when the human race, were wandering in uncertainty 
 and error, was pleased to make such a revelation of 
 himself; — a revelation even dropt, where we have 
 notices conveyed to us, more true and certain than 
 from the famed deadly oracle of Delphos, or Dodona. 
 
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 249 
 
 Praise him, who has not committed the intima- 
 tions of his will unto the leaves of uncertain tradi- 
 tion, which every breath of wind might puff away ; 
 which, in later ages, might have been greatly cor- 
 rupted, by passing through a multitude of hands. 
 But he hath written the same word, which formerls^ 
 was only verbal, in a book the peculiar care of Provi- 
 dence ; where the divine revelation is kept as in a 
 garrison, and needs not fear from the injuries of time, 
 from the cunning of Satan, nor from the evil designs 
 of corrupt men. Adore him, who, by his Holy Spirit, 
 informed the minds of holy men of old, with such 
 concealed truths, and guided their pens in writing 
 these holy originals. Acknowledge his goodness, who 
 hath preserved these heavenly records from flames, 
 and floods, and desolations ; who hath cast your lot, 
 not in those dusky corners of the world, where the 
 word of God sheds not its holy light, or is, by public 
 authority, prohibited from being consulted. 
 
 Know thy privilege, O happy island ! much are 
 you advantaged every way beyond thy neighbouring 
 states ; but, chiefly, that unto you are committed the 
 oracles of God. Turn not your blessing to a curse. 
 Young men ! search the Scriptures, they will make 
 you wise unto salvation ; you shall have more under- 
 standing than the ancients. Old men ! search the 
 scriptures, they will be the support of your old age, 
 and make you to sing as in the days of your youth. 
 Ye men of rank and station ! who dwell in lofty pa- 
 laces, and ride in gilded chariots, O make them your 
 heritage for ever ! Ye weaker Christians ! here is 
 much to satisfy your craving appetite. Ye men of 
 genius ! here is strong meat, to suit your nicer pal- 
 ates, and drive away disdain. 
 
 Meditate on the law of the Lord both day and 
 night. The more you draw from this refreshing 
 fountain, the more will the waters abound. But, 
 would you enter into the secret of the Lord, which is 
 with them that fear him ? Bring with you a pure, 
 
 Q 
 
230 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 an humble, and a fervent mind. Whom shall he 
 teach knowledge ? whom shall he make to understand 
 doctrine ? Those whose hearts are not haughty, nor 
 their eyes lofty ; but who are like the child weaned 
 from the milk, and drawn from the breasts ; those 
 who are estranged from their lusts, who lay aside all 
 filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness ; those whose 
 souls do pant exceedingly, and long for God's com- 
 mandments, like thee, O blessed David, whose eyes 
 did timeously prevent the night watches, to meditate 
 on the statutes of the Lord. 
 
 Take to yourselves, ye jealous Papists ! your fabu- 
 lous traditions, and hide this holy lamp under the 
 bushel of foreign languages ; and, by this confess the 
 weakness of your cause. Ye wild Enthusiasts ! vaunt 
 of the light within you, but take heed, lest that light 
 you boast is in you be darkness. Walk in the light 
 of your fire, and in the sparks of your kindling, ye 
 unbelieving Deists ! But, O house of Israel ! come, 
 and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Consult 
 this heavenly guide, O thou my soul ! and let your 
 delight be in the law of the Lord. Let me often ex- 
 patiate in these hallowed fields of revelation, and, like 
 the disciples, pluck the full ears of corn, and rub them 
 from the husk, by ardent meditation and fervent 
 prayer. 
 
 Shine upon my soul, O heavenly Spirit I bear wit- 
 ness in my heart. Imprint the Bible there, make this 
 the library of God. Then shall I be made wiser than 
 my teachers, and, in all my afflictions, be comforted ; 
 and, though I walk through death's dark shades, yet 
 will my steps be conducted unto those blissful regions, 
 where " the sun shall no more go down, nor the moon 
 withdraw her shining ; but the Lord shall be my ever- 
 lasting light, and my God my glory." 
 
ON ELECTION. 251 
 
 ON ELECTION. 
 
 Stoop down, presumptuous reason ! remember from 
 whence tbou art fallen. Behold ! even in thy per- 
 fect state, it was not in thee to find out God, by the 
 most accurate researches ; how much less shalt thou 
 now be able to find out the Almig-hty unto perfection ? 
 Come, holy faith, and humble reverence ! teach us to 
 lift our thoughts to the most distinguishing- privilege 
 of electing love. O that while we admire the sub- 
 limity of the doctrine, we may taste the sweetness of 
 the benefit ! Happy they, who, instead of intruding, 
 with bold curiosity, into the secrets of the Most High, 
 give diligence to make their calling and election sure. 
 By the dictates of unerring wisdom, let our senti- 
 ments be regulated in this important article of our 
 most holy faith — the purpose of God according to 
 election. 
 
 The date of it is eternal. Yes ; it must be so ; for 
 every purpose of his will must be coeval with him- 
 self. O glorious thought I to have dwelt upon the 
 heart of a loving God, before the foundation of the 
 world I What grateful emotions may it not excite in 
 the minds of these high favourites, that God has loved 
 them with an everlasting love, before the day-spring 
 knew his place ? How deservedly shall their medita- 
 tions of him be sweet, both in the night and day, 
 whose precious thoughts towards them, are ancient as 
 eternity itself? 
 
 Its objects are particular. Of the determinate coun- 
 sel of God we read in the scriptures ; but of the inde- 
 terminate counsel we do not read. If the names of 
 the disciples were written in heaven ; if Clement's 
 name was in the book of life, assign a reason, if you 
 can, why any that are the Lord's, should be less fore- 
 known by him, who knows whom he hath chosen, 
 without respect of persons. If in thy book, O God ! 
 all our members are written, which, in continuance, 
 
252 
 
 ON ELECTION. 
 
 were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them ; 
 much more are all the saints, the members of his body, 
 of his flesh and of his bones, written without excep- 
 tion, in the fair book of life. O ye that are partakers 
 of such disting-uished honour ! live to his praise ; and 
 be his worthy name engraven on your hearts, and on 
 the palms of your hands — by whom your worthless 
 names are written among- the living- in Jerusalem, 
 when others are written in the earth. 
 
 Its motives are sovereign. Boasting-, thou art for 
 ever excluded here ! Even the Saviour's merits, to 
 which we owe oar salvation, are not the source of our 
 election. Nor will precious faith g-ather where it has 
 not strawed, by laying- claim to be the cause of God's 
 electing- love. But least of all can it be said, that God 
 hath chosen us because we were holy, and according 
 to our works. Election is the root, these are the 
 flowers ; election is the foundation, these the super- 
 structure : election is the fountain, and these are the 
 streams that issue from it. How can they be elected 
 of God for any civil distinction, or moral prerogative, 
 when some of them were profligate and flagitious — 
 most of them illiterate and poor — and all of them by 
 nature the children of wrath, even as others ! This is 
 not the manner of men, O Lord ! How deservedly 
 they love thee, who, without deserving, were loved by 
 thee ! 
 
 The tenor is irrevocable. For, though the purposes 
 of earthly sovereigns may be disannulled — though 
 unforeseen accidents may dash their raaturest schemes, 
 and encroach upon their wisest plans, what should 
 alter the counsel of the Most High, who is not a man 
 that he should repent ? The mountains, these strong 
 foundations of the earth, may be removed, but the 
 foundation of God standeth sure. The election shall 
 obtain both grace and glory, though earth and hell 
 were leagued against them. As many as are ordained 
 to eternal life, shall believe ; nor shall they be de- 
 
EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 253 
 
 ceived by the most cunning- artifices of the enemy of 
 their salvation. 
 
 EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH OF 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 It is true that miracles are ceased, by which, in 
 early ag-es, it pleased the Holy Ghost to attract the 
 observation of the unthinking- world, to the doctrine 
 of the gospel, and to confirm the faith of true dis- 
 ciples. But, let not modern infidels complain on this 
 score, for want of sufficient evidence to the truth of 
 Christianity. Though we see not now the laws of na- 
 ture reversed — the lame foregoing his crutches — the 
 blind rejoicing in the light of day — and the dead re- 
 stored to life again ; we are not wanting of other ad- 
 vantages, which the miraculous age could not afford. 
 The doctrine of the gospel has travelled with the sun ; 
 is publicly professed by sundry nations of differing 
 customs, and various dispositions. Glorious are its 
 effects upon the hearts and lives of many (though, 
 alas ! too few) of its professors. The sensual man no 
 more serves divers lusts and pleasures, when he obeys 
 it from the heart. The cups of the drunkard, the 
 oaths of the blasphemer, the sordid gain of the op- 
 pressor, are renounced and forgotten. Those who 
 once wallowed in every sinful pollution, now shine in 
 the beauty of holiness. Such blest effects, it is true, 
 were known even in the age of miracles, in those 
 places where the gospel was first preached. But what 
 shall we now think of the almost universal spread, and 
 long continuance of this holy profession, in spite of 
 the philosopher's wit, and the persecutor's sword. 
 Be it so ; these favourable presumptions in behalf of 
 Christianity, do not beget that lively faith that puri- 
 fies the heart, nor what the great apostle calls " the 
 full assurance of understanding." No more could 
 
 Q2 
 
254 EVIDENCE OF THE 
 
 miracles. Yet both the one and the other are suflS- 
 cient to screen the holy faith from absolute contempt, 
 ay and until its high pretensions are candidly exam- 
 ined by the serious inquirer after truth. 
 
 Nor can I be easily persuaded that ever the deist 
 was born, who can truly say, I exerted myself to the 
 utmost of my ability, to find out the truth ; I begged 
 with my utmost fervour, my Maker to show me his 
 way ; I was not previously prejudiced against the gos- 
 pel, by the love of any lust. But, after all my ef- 
 forts, I cannot think that Jesus is any more than an 
 impostor. Such an impartial and vigorous inquiry, 
 is certainly that will of God, which, if any man will 
 do, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God. 
 
 Shall we say, then, that it is in the power of every 
 man to acquire the noble grace of faith, by his native 
 abilities ? Is not faith the gift of God, and not of 
 works, lest any man should boast ? The gospel itself 
 affirms they cannot please God who are in the flesh. 
 How then shall they, by prayers, or tears, or utmost 
 fervour, prevail with him to bestow this good and 
 perfect gift ? But we need not be under any uneasy 
 apprehensions, as though the gospel were impeached, 
 by asserting that a gracious God reveals himself to 
 such an impartial inquirer. This will not in the least 
 infer the natural power to do that which is well-plea- 
 sing in his sight. Nay, it rather confirms the doc- 
 trine of the fall. For such is the depravity of human 
 nature — such the aversion to every divine thing, that 
 no man is able to do all which himself allows is in 
 the power of his hand. It is only supernatural grace 
 which can enable one to exert even his natural ability 
 to the utmost, and do with all his might, what his 
 hand findeth. Happy the man who is thus strength- 
 ened from above, to search for God with all his heart ! 
 I say not that the sovereign God is obliged, is con- 
 strained, to confer the blessing of faith : " for, who 
 hath first given unto him, and it shall be recompen- 
 sed unto him again." But such is his goodness, now 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 253 
 
 that he is in Christ — such his condescending- regards 
 to the sons of men, his ears will not be deaf, his heart 
 not slow to give them their importunate requests for 
 things agreeable to his will. When the deist, then, 
 has exerted himself to the utmost of his confessed 
 abihties, (which he cannot do but by the Holy Ghost 
 in a saving operation) let him complain for want of 
 evidence. I cannot but think it will bear an ortho- 
 dox sense, what a noted poet says : 
 
 " An honest deist, where the gospel shines, 
 Matur'd to nobler in the christian ends." 
 
 But, if he is not able to do all he can, (which is a 
 certain truth, though it sounds hard in Pelagian ears) 
 and be unable to beheve the gospel, why should his 
 unbelief be counted to him for a sin ? For it seems 
 he cannot believe till it please God to give him the 
 Holy Spirit. Indeed, we are come at last into the 
 depths of God, whose way is in the sea, whose path 
 is in the mighty waters, his footsteps are not known. 
 Perhaps it will not satisfy the refractory understand- 
 ing of the haughty deist to tell him, that Sovereignty 
 may withhold and dispense her favours as she pleases, 
 and that it is not unjust to punish men for inabili- 
 ty, when it is of a voluntary kind. Yet, right reason 
 will attest the first, and conscience the last. 
 
 It is not required that you renounce your reasoning 
 powers, O ye unbelievers ! Ye need not turn simple- 
 tons to be christians ! Faith is no light credulity ! 
 But when the proposed doctrines are matters of ever- 
 lasting importance, do not belie the Lord, and say it 
 is not he, whether he speaks in the promise, or in the 
 threatening, merely because they quadrate not with 
 your vicious inclinations, or transcend your shallow 
 apprehensions. Alas ! is the mystery, is the purity 
 of the gospel, the stumbling-block in your way, which 
 ought to prejudice right reason in its favour ? But 
 when you stop the mouth of conscience, it is just 
 
256 EVIDENCE OF THE 
 
 your reason should mislead you. You are afraid, you 
 are unwilling:, to know, to understand the truth, what- 
 ever you pretend; and therefore you walk on in darkness. 
 
 If you were the true and g-enuine sons of reason, 
 you would see the necessity of submitting- it to your 
 Maker. If you really had the interests of virtue and 
 morality at heart, you would willingly see the imper- 
 fection of all human righteousness, and the necessity 
 of a better than your own. If you knew what real 
 g-ood and true happiness was, willingly would you be- 
 lieve in the eternal reward of blessed life and immor- 
 tality. Infidelity is an enemy to wisdom, virtue, and 
 felicity. 
 
 Be convinced that you are blind and miserable ! 
 Down with your hig-h imaginations I Reflect as you 
 ought, what a God he is, with whom you have to 
 do ! How just and severe, that you may not pre- 
 sume ! How merciful and good, that you may not 
 despair I Shall empty honours, swinish lusts, great 
 possessions, part you and your Redeemer ! Perhaps 
 there are not wanting who would believe on Christ, 
 and gladly be saved by him from misery, but not from 
 sin. If the grace of faith would start up in a night, 
 without their care or labour — if they could yawn 
 themselves into heaven, then good and well. But 
 love of sin, and love of ease, are inconsistent with 
 striving to enter in at the strait gate ; and being fol- 
 lowers of them, who, through faith and patience, now 
 inherit the promises. 
 
 Some are not startled, if eternal vengeance is de- 
 nounced against the lawless and disobedient — if against 
 murderers — if against adulterers — if against blasphe- 
 mers — if against idolaters : but why, say they against 
 unbelievers ? " He that believeth not, shall be damn- 
 ed." A hard saying ! who can bear it ! As though 
 unbelief were not the worst of murder, that crucifies 
 the Lord of glory ; that stabs him to the heart, not in 
 his human nature only, but in his mediatorial office. 
 As though it were not the worst of robberies, that steals 
 
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 257 
 
 away from God his most precious jewel, his glory, 
 which he will not give to another ; the most horrid 
 blasphemy, that makes the God of truth a liar. 
 
 Upbraid a miscreant wretch, one of the gallant spi- 
 rits of the age, with lewdness and debauchery ; up- 
 braid him with his revelling and drunkenness ; up- 
 braid him with his horrid swearing ; — he may perhaps 
 hear you with patience, nor take it in bad part, to have 
 his good-humoured and fashionable vices thus kindly 
 laid before him. But should you call his sincerity in 
 question ; you are nothing, Sir, but a villain, a liar, a 
 knave : you touch him in a tender point. Roused 
 are bis resentments. He storms, he rages, he breathes ! 
 you are in danger of having your throat cut, for the 
 insolence of your tongue. Wicked as he is, this foul 
 reproach he would willingly wipe away with your 
 blood. — Now, shall a puny mortal have such regard 
 to his character for truth ; and will not the holy God, 
 who cannot lie, any more than deny himself, render a 
 due reward to that audacious sinner, that tells him. 
 He is a liar, either in the promise or in the threaten- 
 
 ing? 
 
 But especially if you reject his testimony concern- 
 ing his beloved Son ; you pierce him in every attri- 
 bute, as Christ was wounded in every member ; you 
 touch the apple of his eye ; you filch away the most 
 splendid gem of his crown ; you do what in you lies 
 to pluck him from the throne of grace, and wipe away 
 that precious blood, wherewith the mercy-seat is 
 sprinkled ; you pour contempt upon his prime Mes- 
 senger ; you bring his counsel to nought, and say up- 
 on the matter to your Maker, " Thy gifts be to thy- 
 self. I see no glory in the contrivance of thy infinite 
 wisdom." You declare that Christ hath laboured in 
 vain, and spent his strength for nought. — All this, 
 and much more than this, is the language of the evil 
 heart of unbelief. 
 
 What more shall I say of thee, thou cursed mon- 
 ster ! What sins are not involved in thee only ! 
 
258 END OF THE 
 
 What innumerable evils compass thee about, thy 
 constant and inseparable attendants ! Thou art the 
 soul which animates the body of sin ; Beelzebub, the 
 prince of devils ; the great Antichrist, that in the 
 heart exaltest thyself above all that is called God. 
 Thou art the shield of every sin, and the enemy of 
 all righteousness. Whereas other sins are wounds, 
 bruises, and putrefying- sores ; it is thine to cast away 
 the healing- plaster. Sooner shall God cease to be true, 
 cease to be just, cease to be God ; — than those in 
 whom thou reig-nest shall enter into everlasting- rest. 
 
 THE DIFFERENT STATES AND ENDS OF THE 
 RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED; A FRAGMENT. 
 
 Ye sons of men, g-ive ear whilst I relate the differ- 
 ent states, the widely different ends, of the rig-hteous 
 and the wicked. Who is the blessed man; and where 
 shall you find the possessor of true felicity ? Will 
 you call them happy who work iniquity, and greatly 
 scorn religion, whether in its sacred doctrines, or in its 
 distinguished practices ? No ; you are not happy, 
 though fame should sound her trumpet, and honour 
 should prepare your way before you ; though you 
 should fill your coffers with glittering dust, and swim 
 in tides of polluted joys. How far am I from envying 
 you, your perishing honours, your winged riches, your 
 brutal satisfactions ! But, lo I the man, the rare and 
 despised man, who, far from imitating the pernicious 
 example of the sinner, or reducing their hellish de- 
 vices into practice ; who, far from mocking at religion 
 with lordly pride, and assuming impudence, will even 
 abandon the society of the wicked, greatly disdaining 
 to make them his bosom friends, or sit in their assem- 
 bly: This is the man who hath found true and perfect 
 felicity. I will not say he will be blessed, but he is so 
 already. Neither is it in the power of language to 
 
RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED. 239 
 
 express, or of my thoug-hts to represent, this superabun- 
 dant blessedness. Blessed shall he be in his immor- 
 tal soul, and even his mortal body shall partake of his 
 joy. Even in this wretched state of imperfection, 
 even in this vale of tears, he is a happy man, without 
 the smiles of fortune, nor waits he dissolution to be 
 blessed. 
 
 Would you know where the exalted delights of 
 this uncommon person are pitched, who thus aban- 
 dons the society of the wicked, and is not indebted to 
 the world for his felicity ? To meditate upon the 
 scriptures of truth is his favourite employment, whe- 
 ther they point forth unto him the doctrines that are 
 to be believed, or the duties that are to be practised, 
 by thy authority, thou great Lawgiver, that speaks in 
 every part of that hallowed page. Not content with 
 a superficial knowledge of these sacred contents, he 
 seeks to enter into the life and spirit of these heaven- 
 ly writings ; and knowing how rich they are in hid- 
 den and valuable treasures, he is not wearied in dig- 
 ging for the latent truths, whether the cheerful morn 
 purples the east, or whether the evening star lights 
 up his lamp. 
 
 As a tree planted by an industrious man upon the 
 verdant banks of a copious unexhausted stream, 
 spreads far and wide its watery roots, defies the stormy 
 blasts, nor is much dependent on the clouds of hea- 
 ven ; but in sultry years, and under parched skies, 
 this fails not, in the proper season, to adorn his 
 branches with fruit, after his kind, and verdant foli- 
 age ; so, just so, the truly religious man, planted by 
 the divine hand, along the margin of the sanctuary- 
 waters ; he shall not be afraid of the wintry blasts of 
 temptation, because he shall acquire an unshaken 
 stability ; neither shall he be meanly dependent on 
 the variable clouds of worldly enjoyments, because he 
 shall, without them, be maintained in a perpetual 
 moisture. And, therefore, whatever seeming barren- 
 ness may for a time appear ; yet, in the convenient 
 
260 ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD. 
 
 and proper season, this tree of rig-hteousness adorns 
 his branches with fruits of hohness and consolation, 
 after his kind ; the leaves also of his fair and beauti- 
 ful profession shall not be tarnished or fall away. — 
 Success shall crown his enterprises ; and even when 
 disappointments shall betide him, yet in the event it 
 shall appear how all things wrought together for his 
 real good, and every action of his hand was truly 
 prosperous. 
 
 But as to those who are despisers of the divine 
 word, and arm themselves with honour and insolent 
 contempt, and are the workers of iniquity ; they are 
 far from being resembled to this deep-rooted and fer- 
 tile plant, however considerable in the esteem of 
 others, or in their own conceit ; they are but like the 
 chaff, which, being light in its own nature, and alto- 
 gether unprofitable when separated from the grain, is 
 suffered by the careless husbandman to fly abroad, the 
 sport of winds, which, with the greatest ease imagin- 
 able, drive it away. 
 
 ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD.* 
 
 That " God is a Spirit," we are assured by the 
 great Prophet of the church, the only begotten Son, 
 who is in the bosom of the Father, and by whom, he 
 whom no man hath seen at any time, hath been de- 
 clared. To his infallible dictates we must give up 
 ourselves with all that confidence due to the Teacher 
 come from God. Let us try then if we can find out 
 what properties of the divine nature are bosomed in 
 this short description. 
 
 Here, indeed, we must confess ourselves unequal to 
 
 * This and the fourteen following Essays, on the Divine 
 Perfections, are additions to the original work. 
 
ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD. 261 
 
 the task of giving- any positive description of that mys- 
 terious rank of beings, denominated spirits. " There 
 is a spirit in man ;" so call we our better part, which 
 triumphs over death and the grave. Of this we know- 
 but little. The angels are spirits, both those who stood 
 and those who fell. Of these we know still less. But 
 least of all are we able to define the spirituality of 
 His essence who is the Father of spirits, and by 
 whose visitation they are preserved. " All liesh is 
 not the same flesh," says an inspired apostle ; and 
 may we not also say. All spirit is not the same spirit? 
 However, as there are certain qualities common to all 
 the various kinds of flesh, so there are certain quali- 
 ties common to all the various kinds of spirit. For 
 every spirit is a real or permanent substance ; endued 
 with life, thought, and power of acting ; that is not 
 compounded of diff'erent parts ; that cannot be seen 
 with the bodily eye, cannot be touched or aff"ected by 
 bodily force, cannot be described by the statuary's art, 
 or by the painter's device ; a substance that never 
 dies, being incorruptible. 
 
 Is a spirit a real substance, which has an existence 
 of its own, being neither a creature of the mind, nor 
 a quality of a thing which must have a subject to 
 support its very being? And who can doubt but He 
 is the most real of substances, whose existence is 
 necessary, and independent of any ? for so much is 
 imported in that most admirable epithet, I am that 
 I AM. To suppose God to be an idea of the mind, 
 and not a real being, is to be atheist at once ; is to 
 say with the fool, " There is no God." 
 
 Is a spirit endued with life ? Life ennobles the 
 being in which it is. Life makes a despicable fly more 
 glorious than the sun ; and " a living dog is better 
 than a dead lion." And must not He live, who gives 
 life to all, from the triumphing angel down to the 
 crawling insect ? Yes. He is the living God ; and 
 the fountain of life is with him alone. In this he 
 stands pre-eminent : nor must ye compare yourselves 
 
262 ON THE SPIRITUALITY OP GOD. 
 
 with him, ye idols of the nations, ye blind people that 
 have, and ye deaf that have not ears ; thoug-h silver 
 plates from Tarshish, and g-old from Uphaz be your 
 costly materials ; though blue and purple be your 
 clothing-, and you l)e all the work of cunning- men. 
 For the Lord is the true God ; he is the living- God 
 and the everlasting King. 
 
 What is a spirit ? A substance thinking and in- 
 telligent. Brutish indeed must they be who can per- 
 suade themselves that the exquisitely nice regulations 
 of the universe are owing to an unthinking cause ; or 
 that he himself doth not know who teacheth man 
 knowledge, and lights in human hearts the heavenly 
 lamp of reason, that candle of the Lord. 
 
 Is a spirit an immaterial substance, that hath 
 neither flesh nor bones, nor is manacled with joints 
 and limbs, nor is compounded of different parts ? In- 
 deed, that thought can spring from matter, however 
 modified, seems repugnant to all our ideas of its pro- 
 perties, and contradicts all our experience of its 
 power. Combine matter in your most ingenious 
 manner, ye artificers, ye cunning workmen ; subject 
 it to all the changes which can be effected by heat or 
 mixture, ye who make the material world the object 
 of your curious research ; has it ever sprung up to 
 life among your hands, or discovered any power of 
 thought ? You surprise us by phenomena unexpect- 
 ed and strange ; you produce machines complicated 
 and useful ; but have you ever found, in any of your 
 contrivances, that matter acquired the power of self- 
 government, capacity for speculation, or any con- 
 sciousness of right and wrong ? But why appeal to 
 you ? One who cannot err, hath assured us that spi- 
 rits hath not flesh and bones, and different parts, as 
 material substances are known to have. Of what 
 materials, then, is Jehovah composed, who is the 
 most excellent and perfect of spirits ? Must not his 
 essence be simple and uncompounded, who is contin- 
 ually present with all his works, who filleth heaven 
 
ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD. 263 
 
 and earth, who is not only every where, but all in 
 every place ? Bodily parts cannot belong to the in- 
 corruptible God. Even divine perfections are not 
 parts of God ; they are only God, whom we cannot 
 comprehend at one glance, viewed by our narrow 
 minds in different relations to his creatures, or acting- 
 in various ways. The divine wisdom is the only wise 
 God; the divine power the Lord God Omnipotent. 
 
 Can a spirit, which is immaterial, be seen by the 
 eve, or touched by the hand? How then can God be 
 seen or felt ? Symbols of the divine presence may 
 be the objects of our senses ; we- may see a form or 
 hear a sound ; but the blessed and only Potentate 
 himself is one to whom no man can approach, whom 
 no man hath seen or can see. Ye ancient people of 
 God, bear witness to this truth. What nation ever had 
 God so nig-h unto them as you ? Ye saw a visible 
 representation of his glory on the burning- mount ; 
 ye witnessed the smoke of Sinai, and ye heard a voice, 
 but his essence ye did not, could not see. Your 
 lawg-iver Moses assures you, that " ye saw no man- 
 ner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto 
 you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire :" a greater 
 than Moses told you, "ye have neither heard his 
 voice at any time, nor seen his shape." Have sym- 
 bolical representations of God been given to the 
 ancient church ; and has God represented himself as 
 having- bodily organs in the written word, and spoken 
 to us in our own idiom of those things which could 
 not have been uttered or made intelhgible in any 
 other way ? Let us not despise this condescending 
 goodness, nor fancy that the Godhead is really like 
 these visible representations or figurative descriptions. 
 What is his face ? It is the manifestation of his 
 favour. His mouth? The revelation of his will. 
 His nostrils ? The acceptation of our prayers and 
 praises. Omniscience is his eye ; power his arm ; 
 mercy his bowels. His feet is the ubiquity of his 
 presence, and his heart the sincerity of his love. 
 
264 ON THE UNCHANGEABLENESS 
 
 Where then are they who changed the glory of the 
 incorruptible God into the image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man, or into the likeness of an ox that eat- 
 eth grass ? Be astonished, O heavens ! even four- 
 footed beasts and creeping things have been mistaken 
 for the eternal Godhead. But for this cause, God 
 gave them up to vile affections. Remember this, and 
 show yourselves men ; bring it again to mind, O ye 
 transgressors. 
 
 And lastly, if God is a spirit, he must have im- 
 mortality. A spirit waxes not old, nor dies. All 
 flesh is grace. The heavens and the earth shall 
 perish ; they all shall wax old, as doth a garment, and 
 as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall 
 he changed. But thou art the same and thy years 
 shall have no end. 
 
 So then, they that are in the flesh, cannot please 
 God ; and they that worship him, must worship him 
 in spirit and in truth. Let us therefore have grace 
 to maintain a spiritual frame before him, to expect 
 spiritual blessings from him, to offer spiritual services 
 to him, and to seek satisfaction to our spirits in him 
 alone. 
 
 ON THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD. 
 
 That the Father of lights is without variablenesg 
 or shadow of turning, is the express assertion of Scrip- 
 ture, and an important article of christian faith. It 
 results from the perfection of his nature that he is in- 
 capable of change. How can he become better, who 
 is infinitely perfect; or how become worse, without 
 ceasing to be God ? By his immutability he is dis- 
 tinguished from all creatures, and exalted infinitely 
 above them. They either do change, or may be 
 changed ; their qualities may be altered, their beings 
 may be destroyed ; they were already changed from 
 
OF GOD. 265 
 
 nothing- to something, and what is there in their na- 
 ture to prevent their being- changed in a thousand 
 forms, and at last changed from something to no- 
 thing ? Bat God must always continue what he has 
 always been. All alterations of substance, all varia- 
 tions of condition, all fluctuation of passions, all revo-. 
 lution of purpose, are eternally removed from him who 
 has said, " I am the Lord, I change not." 
 
 What a variable being is man ? We all do fade as 
 the leaf. Sickness impairs our health ; death changes 
 our countenance ; the grave devours our flesh and our 
 bones. The teeth of time will even leave some im- 
 pression upon the hardest body, and the rocks may be 
 removed out of their place. Though spiritual sub- 
 stances are incorruptible, we are sure that the same 
 power that spake them into existence, may command 
 them to return again into the wide womb of uncreat- 
 ed night. But Jehovah is the incorruptible God, the 
 rock of ages, the living God, and stedfast for ever. O 
 earth, whose foundations were laid of old, and which 
 fools dream shall endure for ever, thou shalt perish ; 
 and ye heavens, which the divine skill has spread over 
 the earth like a splendid canopy, ye shall wax old like 
 a garment, and be thrown aside as an useless thing. 
 But he who made you is ever the same, and his years 
 shall have no end. " I am that I am :" this, Moses, 
 shall be thy credentials ; and this, Israelites, shall be 
 your consolation. 
 
 Variation of condition is as foreign to his nature as 
 alteration of substance. The sun may be eclipsed. 
 Beauty may degenerate into deformity, strength into 
 weakness, honour into ignominy, wisdom into follv. 
 He who yesterday filled a throne may this day mount 
 a scaffold, or mourn in a dungeon. Even the more 
 excellent qualities of righteousness and holiness may 
 diminish, or be utterly lost. Man kept not his first 
 estate ; and it is not even with saints always as it was 
 in months past. Angels are not all as they once 
 were : how are ye fallen ye morning stars, and ye sons 
 
 R 
 
266 ON THE UNCHANGEABLENESS 
 
 of Adam, how is the gold become dim ? But God is 
 never different from vvliat he was. His righteousness, 
 his every perfection, is hke the great mountains, which 
 cannot be removed, but abide for ever. The same 
 creature is at one time the object of his justice for 
 wickedness, and at another of his love for goodness ; 
 but the change is not in God, but in the creature. 
 The tree alters not its place, though, because we 
 change our position, it is at one time on our right, 
 and at another time on our left. 
 
 To what fluctuations of passion are we subject? 
 Now we love, now we hate ; now we hope, now we 
 fear ; now we grieve, and anon we rejoice. But that 
 passions are not in God, is evident from the logic of 
 Paul and Barnabas : We are men of like passions ; 
 therefore we are not gods. Be it so, that God is 
 spoken of in Scripture as grieving, joying, and the 
 like; we need not be surprised, though, in condescen- 
 sion to our weakness, he should speak in the language 
 of men, when in condescension to our misery, he hath 
 taken to himself, and appeared to us in the nature of 
 man. 
 
 Nor let it be said that he ever alters his purpose. 
 We indeed resolve one thing to-day and another thing 
 to morrow ; but he is in one mind, and who can turn 
 him ? As for us, from levity of temper we change 
 our purpose without reason ; and often, from the dis- 
 covery of mistake, we change it with the highest rea- 
 son ; but he is not a man that he should have cause 
 to repent, or have the folly without cause to change. 
 There are many devices in a man's heart, not a few of 
 which he cannot, and many of which, though he 
 could, he ought not to execute ; but the counsel of 
 the Lord, as it always should, always will stand. Say 
 not, if God were not mutable in his purpose, he would 
 not be free. Who ever heard that freedom was oppos- 
 ed to constancy ? It is only opposed to constraint. 
 If he said to Hezekiah, thou shalt die and not live, 
 and afterwards said, I will add unto thy days fifteen 
 
OF GOD. 
 
 267 
 
 years, the reprieve granted that good king was in con- 
 sequence of no change in the divine purpose : the 
 first was a declaration of the natural consequence of 
 the distemper with which he was afflicted ; by declar- 
 ing this he did not exclude himself from working a 
 miracle for his recovery, which he had always purpos- 
 ed, and now meant to effect. He abohshed the Old 
 Testament dispensation after he had long sanctioned 
 it, and introduced a better ; but he gave, during its 
 continuance, many proofs of his purpose to change, 
 and therefore the change itself, when it took place, in- 
 dicated no change of purpose. In short, our prayers, 
 when they prevail, prevail not on God to change his 
 decree : by pulhng, the boatman drags his vessel to 
 the shore, not the shore to him ; and by praying, we 
 bring not the decree to our will, but our will to the 
 decree. 
 
 In the word of this unchangeable God, how firmly 
 should we trust ; to his dispensations, how cheerfully 
 should we submit ; and on him, amidst all vicissitudes, 
 how safely may we rely ? Why doubt his word ? His 
 word is like himself. One jot shall not pass from it. 
 What he has said is certain as it were already done. 
 He will perform the truth unto Jacob. Why refuse 
 to submit to his dispensations ? It is his will, and who 
 can turn him ? Whatsoever he doth shall be for ever. 
 In all his works there is so much wisdom, that they 
 are incomprehensible ; so much righteousness, that 
 they are irreproveable ; so much power, that they are 
 irresistible. Why should we peevishly complain ? 
 Adversity is imbittered by fretful impatience, is 
 sweetened by patient submission. What meanest thou, 
 O murmurer ? It is the will of God. Shall the earth 
 be forsaken for thee, and shall the rock be removed 
 out of his place ? Nay rather, submit, and learn to 
 approve ; thus shalt thou suck honey out of the rock, 
 and sweetness out of the worraword and the gall. 
 
 Imagine not, christian, that thou shalt be exempt 
 from vicissitude in this ever-changing scene. It is 
 
268 ON THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD. 
 
 not always that we are permitted to die in our nest, 
 and to multiply our days as the sand. The godly 
 have often had reason to say, changes and war are 
 against me. It is inseparable from our condition while 
 here ; for what is there on earth but continual change? 
 See here the shepherd's crook turns a sceptre, and 
 there the sceptre is transformed into a hatchet. Here 
 an empire rises, and there it falls. Here an earth- 
 quake swallows up a city ; there a deluge sweeps away 
 a country. One generation goes and another comes. 
 Day follows night ; year follows year. After meagre 
 winter comes the delightful spring, and winter sweeps 
 away the golden fruits of harvest. New constellations 
 have actually appeared in the heavens, and vanished 
 again. But, O what a rock is God ! unchangeable 
 among changeable worlds. This rock lifts its tower- 
 ing head above the waves of this troublesome sea, un- 
 shaken by the billows which roll beneath, and afford- 
 ing safe anchorage to the long lost mariner who retires 
 to it for safety. Amidst the vicissitudes of time, let 
 us contemplate by faith the immutability of God, of 
 his purpose, and of his promise. When our heads are 
 like to turn giddy by looking at the rapid motion and 
 surprising turnings of the high rolhng wheels of his 
 providence, let us fasten them on that unchangeable 
 God, who sits above and directs all their motions. 
 Let us say. The fashion of this world changes con- 
 tinually and passeth away ; but my God is the same, 
 and therefore, though a miserable son of Jacob, I am 
 not and shall not be consumed. My flesh and my 
 heart shall soon fail ; but God is the strength of my 
 heart, and my portion for ever. 
 
 Ah ! how unlike the unchangeable God are his 
 children on earth, who ought, as far as suits their con- 
 dition, to imitate their Father ! How unbecoming in 
 them to be unstable in all their ways, when his ways 
 are everlasting ; to waver in their, persuasions, and 
 fluctuate in their resolutions ; to have their opinions, 
 like travellers, here to-day and away to-morrow ; their 
 
ON THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 269 
 
 good resolutions, like the morning- cloud, which is dis- 
 sipated before noon ! Unstable as water, variable as 
 the wind, how can we excel ? Be stedfast, immove- 
 able, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Let 
 your only change be, from glory to glory. 
 
 How miserable must ye be who are constant in no- 
 thing but in sinning against the Lord ! The un- 
 changeable God is an excellent friend, but a dreadful 
 foe. When he rises up, the boldness of your counte- 
 nance will be changed, however impudently you dare 
 at present to offend. It must be so. You are unholy, 
 and either God must change, or you. You will not, 
 he cannot change, and therefore you must be consum- 
 ed. Be wise for yourselves. You serve the world ; 
 how long will you serve this Laban, who hath chang- 
 ed your wages so many times ? How long will you 
 make the changeable things of this life your supreme 
 good ? How long shall you seek rest in the dry places 
 of the creation ? Arise, this is not your rest ; for is 
 this the rest wherewith he causeth the weary to rest ? 
 Come to this unchangeable God in Christ ; trust in 
 him, and you shall be like mount Zion, that can never 
 be removed, but abideth for ever. In him your rest 
 shall be glorious. 
 
 ON THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 
 
 When we say that God is omnipresent, we mean 
 that he is absent from no place ; when we say that he 
 is omniscient, that he is ignorant of no thing. The 
 first necessarily implies the second ; for he who is 
 every where must know every thing, — the nature of 
 all beings, the thoughts of all hearts, and the events 
 of all places and of all ages. 
 
 Infinite knowledge must be one of the glorious at- 
 tributes of him who is infinitely perfect ; for partial 
 ignorance would be imperfection. Besides, is there a 
 
 R2 
 
270 ON THE OMNISCIENCE 
 
 being- which God did not create, a place where God 
 does not reig-n, an event which God did not deter- 
 mine ? and can he be ignorant of any creature which 
 he formed and sustains, or unacquainted with any oc- 
 currence which takes place in his presence, and by his 
 appointment ? Moreover, that God is a God of know- 
 ledge, by whom actions are weighed, has in every age 
 been the terror of the bad, and the comfort of the 
 g-ood ; for why do the wicked fear, if conscience tell 
 them not that God knows ? or how could the righ- 
 teous rejoice, if they were not persuaded that the God 
 of Jacob regards? 
 
 Such knowledge, indeed, is too wonderful for us ; 
 it is high, we cannot attain unto it. Many things we 
 know not at all, many things we know but imperfect- 
 ly ; there is not one thing which we thoroughly un- 
 derstand in all its properties. Alas ! we are non- 
 plussed even by a pile of grass. Vain man, thou 
 wouldest be thought wise ; but turn thither and learn 
 to be modest and humble. Every object with which 
 thou art surrounded is calculated to confound thine 
 understanding, and repress thy pride. Understandest 
 thou the balancing- of the clouds, the springs of the 
 sea, and the treasures of the snow? Have the foun- 
 dations of the earth been discovered by thee ? Or 
 have the doors of the shadow of death been opened 
 unto thee ? Our knowledge is rather of facts than of 
 causes ; the little that we know is as nothing-, com- 
 pared with what remains unknown ; the works of na- 
 ture are more properly the objects of our admiration, 
 than of our knowledge. Look here, these things are 
 so small that they escape our notice ; look there, those 
 are so hugely great that they overwhelm our minds. 
 The variety of nature's works distracts us, the multi- 
 tude of them confounds us. Even the little know- 
 ledge which we acquire is not gained without a great 
 deal of labour, and so weak are we, that while toiling 
 for more, we lose much of what we have already ac- 
 quired. It is so in natural things, and much more in 
 
OF GOD. 
 
 271 
 
 things supernatural. We cannot by searching find 
 out the works of God, even though we have pleasure 
 in them; much less God himself and the mysteries of 
 his will. How many puzzHng- questions are there in 
 divinity ? how many dark Scriptures which we must 
 refer to the Holy Ghost? In his word as in his works, 
 there are paths which the vulture's eye hath not seen. 
 But as for thee, O God, before the view of thy mind 
 all mysteries evanish. There is no searching of thine 
 understanding. Thy knowledge is intuitive. Thine 
 understanding, which is infinite, embraces the uni- 
 verse of things at one glance, with greater ease than 
 that of men can view a single point ; it neither ac- 
 quires knowledge by labour, nor retains it with diffi- 
 culty ; it knows nothing by halves, it comprehends 
 every subject in all its circumstances and all its rela- 
 tions. " All things are naked and opened unto the eyes 
 of him with whom we have to do." 
 
 Even the fountains of that great deep, the human 
 heart, are broken up by God ; and there is no secret 
 spring of action within man so concealed, nor any 
 current of thought that flows so silently or passes 
 through the mind so swiftly, as to elude his observa- 
 tion. Ye uncharitable, who at every turn are passing 
 sentence on another man's servant, and who presume 
 to decide with oracular confidence on the secret motives 
 of his actions, ye take too much upon you. Ye in- 
 trude into things which you have not seen, vainly 
 puffed up by your fleshly mind. Ye sacrilegiously 
 invade the pecuHar province of the Omniscient. Who 
 can know the heart ? •' I the Lord search the heart, I 
 try the reins." This is his glory, and he will not give 
 it to another. Amazing knowledge! to know the 
 thoughts, not of a few men, not of a multitude ot 
 men, not of all the inhabitants of London, Paris, and 
 Constantinople, but of all the men that live ! The 
 Lord looketh from heaven, he beholdeth all the chil- 
 dren of men. From the place of his habitation he 
 looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He 
 
272 ON THE OMNISCIENCE 
 
 t'ashioueth their hearts ahke, he considereth all their 
 works. Dig- deep, ye wicked, to hide your counsels 
 from the Lord. It shall be in vain ; for I know the 
 things, saith the Lord, that come into your mind, 
 every one of them. Cover your hypocrisy with the 
 vail of a profession, ye Pharisees. It shall be in vain ; 
 for he searcheth Jerusalem with candles, and his eyes 
 are upon all the ways of its inhabitants ; they are not 
 hid from his face, neither is their iniquity hid from 
 his eyes. But comfort ye, his people. Thoughts 
 are words which are heard in heaven ; it is not neces- 
 sary, for this purpose, that they be expressed by 
 sounds, orevidencedby actions. Tell God your wants ; 
 but remember, that though prayer is the expression 
 of our desires, it is not a teacher to God ; he knows 
 what we need, and what we wish, before we ask it. 
 
 From this God what event can be hid ? Must not 
 he know all events that have happened, exactly ; that 
 are taking place, minutely ; that shall come to pass, 
 distinctly ? Look back to the past ? whatever has 
 happened, he remembers exactly. Have his people 
 wept in secret over the sins they have committed, or 
 the injuries they have sustained ? Not a tear has 
 one of them shed, which he has not put into his bot- 
 tle. Have they poured out many prayers before him, 
 and often with delight meditated and conversed on his 
 marvellous grace ? Not a believing prayer have they 
 offered, not a holy converse have they held with their 
 own minds or with their godly neighbours, which he has 
 not written in a book. All is recorded in heaven, 
 and cannot be forgotten. But have men lived in sin ? 
 Unforgiven iniquity may be forgotten by the trans- 
 gressor, but not by the lawgiver and judge ; trans- 
 gressions of the wicked are sealed up in a bag, and 
 God seweth up their iniquity, to be produced against 
 them in that day when the Lord shall make inqui- 
 sition. 
 
 Survey the present ; whatever is taking place he 
 observes minutely. His eyes run to and fro through 
 
OF GOD. 273 
 
 tbe whole earth ; but though the sphere of his obser- 
 vation be wide, the notice which he takes is not gen- 
 eral and superficial ; every individual event is remark- 
 ed as accurately as if there were not another to de- 
 mand his attention. How extensive, yet how accu- 
 rate and minute his observation ! Before him passes 
 in review whatsoever all the angels are doing in hea- 
 ven, all the devils in hell, and all men on the earth. 
 What say I ? Not a bird takes a flight through the 
 air which is unobserved by him ; every cloud which 
 blots the sky, is turned about by his counsel ; every 
 blast of wind which blows, he has brought out of his 
 treasury. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, 
 and seeth under the whole heaven. 
 
 Look forward to the future ; whatsoever shall come 
 to pass, he foresees distinctly. Into futurity we are 
 curious to pry, but an impenetrable cloud covers it 
 from our view, and the shrewdest of us can pierce in- 
 to it but a little way ; we rather guess than know 
 what shall happen ; and every day's experience evin- 
 ces that our conjectures, even respecting those pro- 
 bable events that seem most within our reach, are 
 more frequently erroneous than just. But the most 
 distant futurity is unveiled before Jehovah's mind, 
 whose distinguishing character it is, that he knows 
 and " declares the end from the beginning, and from 
 ancient times the things that are not yet done." What 
 though I cannot comprehend, nor answer every ob- 
 jection against the divine presence ? It becomes me, 
 notwithstanding, to ascribe foreknowledge to God, and 
 to exclude from his knowledge no future event, what- 
 ever be its quality ; though it be what we call sinful, 
 though it be what we deem small and inconsiderable, 
 though to us it be contingent and uncertain. Though 
 it be evil. Glass is not sullied by reflecting the im- 
 age of polluted things, and the foreknowledge of evil 
 actions impairs not the purity of the divine nature. 
 Did not he foreknow the fall of man by sin, who 
 knows before it happens, the fall of sparrows to the 
 
274 ON THE OMNISCIENCE 
 
 ground ? though it be small and inconsiderable. All 
 things, indeed, are so to God ; but even those which 
 appear so in our eyes are not beneath the divine fore- 
 knowledge. A man cannot carry a pitcher of water, 
 but he knows the place and the time when it shall 
 happen, and can inform disciples beforehand of the 
 circumstances, though it be contingent and uncertain. 
 Contingency to us is certainty to God. Is the lot 
 cast into the lap ? He knows on whom it shall fall. 
 Is the bow drawn at a venture ? He knows the track 
 of the arrow's llightj and the individual whom it shall 
 wound. Tiie freedom of the human will is not such 
 as to hide from God any one of its future volitions, 
 or of their consequences and effects. But why speak 
 of proofs of the foreknowledge of God ? On the one 
 hand we have the infinite perfection of his nature, and 
 on the other, all the predictions of scripture, which 
 unite in assuring us, that from God nothing future 
 can be hid. 
 
 Instead of perplexing ourselves with fruitless at- 
 tempts to solve the difficulties which may be started 
 respecting the divine knowledge, let us rather learn 
 from the subject to be humble and watchful ; humble, 
 I?ecause we know so little ; watchful, because we are 
 continually before him by whom nothing is unknown. 
 "Knowledge," saith Paul, "puffethup;" let this consi- 
 deration allay the tumour. The greatest branch of know- 
 ledge is to know our own ignorance. Had we the in- 
 credible memory of Cyrus, of whom it is said, that he 
 remembered the names of all the men in his army ; 
 or were we possessed of the huge genius of Solomon, 
 who had understanding exceeding much, and large- 
 ness of heart as the sand that is on the sea shore ; it 
 would become us, in the presence of the Omnipotent 
 God, to acknowledge ourselves brutish and ignorant, 
 and as beasts before him. Nor is watchfulness less 
 incumbent than humility. The ways of man are be- 
 fore the eyes of the Lord ; and shall we presume to 
 do that before God, which we would not do before 
 
OF GOD. 
 
 273 
 
 our fellow ? When we commit wickedness, if one 
 know us, we are in the terror of the shadow of death ; 
 shall it be otherwise when we are in the presence of 
 the Holy One of Israel ? Say not, the Lord doth not 
 see. If we forget the name of our God, shall not God 
 search this out? with him the night shineth as the day. 
 
 O what consolation springs out of this attribute to 
 the godly in danger and distress ! Art thou. Chris- 
 tian, unjustly accused, and thy character, Uberty, or 
 life at stake, for crimes of which thou art innocent ? 
 Here is the consolation : " Thou knowest that I am not 
 wicked." Art thou oppressed by enemies, who seek thy 
 ruin ? Here is the consolation : " Thou hast seen it, 
 the poor committeth himself unto thee." Art thou in- 
 volved in darkness, and at a loss to know what the 
 issue of the trying dispensations of Providence to- 
 wards thee may be ? Here is the consolation : " He 
 knoweth the way that I take ; when he hath tried 
 me, I shall come forth as gold." What though thy 
 body be infirm ? he knoweth thy frame, he remem- 
 bereth that thou art dust. What though thou be 
 poor and friendless, one whom no man careth for ? 
 "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his 
 ears are open to their cry." What though thou art 
 not able to express to God thy complaint ? " He that 
 searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the 
 Spirit," and understandeth the language of a groan. 
 
 But tremble, O sinner, before the omniscience of 
 God. Thine iniquities are set before God, thy secret 
 sins in the light of his countenance. In vain shall 
 be every attempt to impose upon him ; his eyes are 
 as a flame of fire, they penetrate through every dis- 
 guise. He cannot be mocked, like old Isaac, by the 
 smooth hands of the hypocrite. If thy heart con- 
 demn thee, God is greater than thy heart, and know- 
 eth all things. And all things which are now secret 
 shall be revealed by him, when he shall bring to light 
 the hidden things of dishonesty. Sinner, thy trans- 
 gressions can never be hid from the eye of God's om- 
 
276 ON THE DIVINE WISDOM. 
 
 niscience ; but thou thyself mayest find hiding- from 
 the stroke of his wrath, under the covert of the Re- 
 deemer's righteousness. To flee to this is thy duty, 
 thy interest, thy only safety ; but if thou wilt not 
 hear, in the latter days thou shalt consider it. 
 
 ON THE DIVINE WISDOM. 
 
 Wisdom relates to economy and design, as know- 
 ledg-e to speculation. A very distinguished perfec- 
 tion this ! Wisdom maketh the face to shine ; and a 
 man is commended according- to his wisdom. He 
 whose knowledg-e is not attended by wisdom, which is 
 profitable to direct, may be compared to a ship which, 
 though she crowd much sail, is destitute of a rudder. 
 The man of knowledge is not always the man of wis- 
 dom. But, O the depth of the riches both of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God ! who never acts but 
 to the most valuable ends, never is nonplussed with 
 difficulty, never mistakes his measures in the execu- 
 tion of any desig-n. 
 
 Bear witness, every divine work; beings endued 
 with reason, with instinct, with motion, with exist- 
 ence, bear witness to the wisdom of God. Angels of 
 God, ye high celestial orders, who far surpass the 
 human kind in the excellency of wisdom, it was he 
 who made you such ; and when compared with him, 
 you are chargeable with folly. Ye men on earth, it 
 was he who taught you more than the beasts of the 
 earth, and made you wiser than the fowls of heaven : 
 for, " there is a spirit in man ; and the inspiration of 
 the Almighty giveth him understanding." Ye that 
 go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great 
 waters, it was he who taught you to manage the gales, 
 to tame the unruly element, and turn about your 
 bulky vessels, that are driven of the fierce winds, with 
 a little helm. Ye military men, wise and prudent 
 generals, who marshal numerous armies in the bloody 
 
ON THE DIVINE WISDOM. 277 
 
 field, and dart your experienced eyes through the 
 long- files of the battle, it is he who teaches your 
 hands to war, and your fingers to fight. Tradesmen, 
 who by honest labour and industry earn your daily 
 bread, ye that toil at the plough, and ye that beat the 
 anvil, it is he who instructs you to discretion ; it is 
 he who creates the smith, that bloweth the coals in 
 the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his 
 work. Magistrates, kings, and counsellors of the 
 earth, who judge your subject people, and govern 
 them by salutary laws, it is God who is a spirit of 
 judgment to you when sitting in judgment ; it is God 
 who subdueth the people under you. Whosoever 
 thou art, who findest out the knowledge of witty in- 
 ventions, it is God who putteth wisdom in thy in- 
 ward parts, and giveth understanding to thy heart. 
 If, by your finite and derived wisdom, such curious 
 works may be produced, such amazing schemes may 
 be planned and executed, how great must be the wis- 
 dom of the liberal Giver unto all ! 
 
 Ye beasts, and birds, and insects, whose heart God 
 has hid from understanding, it is he who inspires you 
 with those amazing instincts so much resembling 
 reason. Ye little ants, emblems of wisdom and activ- 
 ity, it is God who teaches you to lay up, with pru- 
 dent foresight, your scanty food against the approach 
 of winter. O that we considered your ways so as to 
 be wise unto salvation ! Ye winged inhabitants of the 
 air, to him you are indebted for that inimitable skill 
 wherewith you build your nests, and for that nice 
 discretion by which you choose the food convenient 
 for you. Ye conies, it is he who bids you be diffi- 
 dent in your own strength, and make your houses 
 in the rock, because you are a feeble folk. 
 
 Ye dead and lifeless creatures that compose this 
 beautiful universe, it is he who has adjusted all your 
 motions, disposed all your parts in such a comely or- 
 der, and contrived you for the various uses to which 
 you are eminently fitted. A curious watch bespeaks 
 
278 ON THE DIVINE WISDOiM, 
 
 the skill of the artificer ; a lordly palace proclaims the 
 design of the architect ; an elegant treatise declares 
 the genius of its author ; and when our ears are re- 
 g-aled with charming music, we conclude that a skil- 
 ful musician is touching the vocal strings. And can 
 we impute to blind chance, yea, even to an ordinary 
 wisdom, the admirable regulations of this beautiful 
 system ? Even the clouds are turned about by his 
 counsels; and from him the sun learneth the time 
 of his going down : " He hath established the world 
 by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his 
 discretion." 
 
 Bear witness, ye providential ways of God. Who 
 seeth not that these wheels have been full of eyes 
 in every age? What crafty projects have been dis- 
 appointed ? How often has God gathered grapes of 
 thorns, and figs of thistles, (though it is not the man- 
 ner of men), by making all things work together for 
 the good of his chosen ? The burning lamp of wis- 
 dom has ever attended the smoking furnace of affiic- 
 tion. 
 
 But chiefly in redemption he hath abounded to- 
 ward us in all wisdom and prudence. Thy cross, O 
 Jesus, though foolishness unto the natural man, is 
 unto them that believe, the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God. Into these things the angels ever 
 desire to look with most prying attention ; and these 
 shall be the subject of long eternity's triumphant 
 song. 
 
 Happy are these thy servants that hear thy wis- 
 dom, said the Queen of the East, when she came to 
 visit the wise and wealthy Solomon ; but more happy 
 they who, through desire, have separated themselves 
 to contemplate the wonderful works of God, who 
 stand in his counsel, who submit to his laws, which 
 are a fountain of life ; who acquiesce in his dispensa- 
 tions ; who admire his wisdom where they see it, and 
 where they see it not, believe that all his ways are 
 judgment. For, O vain man, thou art born like the 
 
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 279 
 
 wild ass's colt : who art thou that thou darest to judge 
 the dispositions of his providence ? that adventurest 
 to refine upon his sacred institutions, and to contemn 
 the counsel of the Most High ? Shall any teach God 
 knowledge ? Shall he that contendeth with the Al- 
 mighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let 
 him answer it. But if you kick against his appoint- 
 ments, and contemn the counsel of the Most High, 
 you are a people of no understanding : He that made 
 you will not have mercy on you, and he that formed 
 you will show you no favour. 
 
 ON THE POWER OF GOD. 
 
 If we speak of strength, lo ! God is strong. " He 
 hath a mighty arm ; strong is his hand, and high is his 
 right hand." If he had not power, who would either 
 confide in his mercy, or tremble at his justice ? With- 
 out power he might promise, but he could not bless ; 
 he might threaten, but he could not punish. The 
 power of God gives confidence to them that hope in 
 his mercy, but inspires the wicked with the terror of 
 his wrath. 
 
 But is power an attribute of Deity ? The point is 
 put beyond all doubt. " God hath spoken once, twice 
 have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God." 
 Indeed he hath not only said it, but shewn it. His 
 works speak as explicitly on this subject as his word. 
 By his name, God Almighty, he made himself known 
 to Abraham ; and under the same character he has 
 revealed himself in every age to all the nations of 
 men. " For the invisible things of God, from the 
 creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under- 
 stood by the things which are made, even his eternal 
 power and Godhead." Look we up to heaven, we be- 
 hold the firmament of his power ; look we around us 
 on earth, we see every where the working of his 
 
280 ON THE POWER OF' GOD. 
 
 mighty power; when the thunders roll, we hear the 
 thunder of his power ; and when the floods lift up 
 their voice, they tell us that " the Lord on high is 
 mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the 
 mighty waves of the sea ; by his strength he setteth 
 fast the mountains, being girded with power." In an- 
 cient times was Egypt plagued ? It was by Xh(djingev 
 of God. In later times were devils cast out ? It was 
 by the finger of God. What then must be the power 
 of his hand^ and the strength of his arra ? Even by 
 the tvo7'd of his power all things were created, and by 
 the same word are all things upheld. It is this which 
 supports archangels and heavenly thrones ; it is this 
 which binds fast the fetters of the damned, making 
 strong their bands. 
 
 Let us not then set limits on the Holy One of 
 Israel. If thou sayest in hesitation, Is any thing too 
 hard for the Lord ? Job shall answer thee, " I know 
 that thou canst do every thing;" or rather, let us re- 
 ceive an answer from the Saviour's lips, " With God 
 all things are possible." All things I Can he per- 
 form contradictions ? No, he cannot ; but a contra- 
 diction is nothing ; what is naturally impossible is not 
 the object of divine power. Or, can he speak false- 
 hood, or commit sin ? No, he cannot ; for to be able 
 to do these things would argue weakness, not strength ; 
 it is because he is the strength of Israel that he will 
 not, and cannot lie. Yet still it is true, that with God 
 all things are possible. What can he not do ? Any 
 thing that his people ask ? He can do all this, and 
 more ; he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above 
 what they do or can ask or think. — Any thing that 
 his people need ? With respect to the present, he is 
 able to make all grace to abound towards them ; with 
 respect to the future, he is able to save them to the 
 uttermost. — Any thing which he has promised ? He 
 is not only faithful who hath promised, but able also 
 to perform. Fear not, Daniel, the den of lions, — 
 thy God, whom thou servest continually, is able to 
 
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 281 
 
 deliver thee ; neither fear, christian, the assaults of 
 the roaring- lion of hell, for he is able to succour them 
 that are tempted. — Any thing- which he has purposed 
 to do? "Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth, that doth he 
 in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep 
 places." Nor is this all : God can do many thing's 
 which we cannot conceive, and many thing-s which 
 he himself hath never determined to do. Could he 
 not, if it had pleased him, of the stones, have raised 
 up children to Abraham ? or have commanded twelve 
 leg-ions of angels to have rescued Christ from his ene- 
 mies ? Every star he coald have made a sun ; every 
 pile of grass a star ; and every soul an angel. No- 
 thing- he can make something-. If it please him, he 
 shall knead the dust of the earth into flesh and bones, 
 as in Adam ; a virgin shall conceive, as in Mary ; or 
 a Sarah shall bear an Isaac, when she is as good as 
 dead. If it please him, water shall stand immoveable 
 as the rock, and fire become harmless as the morning- 
 light ; the water shall blush into wine, or redden into 
 blood ; the river shall drive back its course ; yea, the 
 dead shall hear his voice, and shall arise. Nothing 
 indeed can resist his power. Even thy stubborn un- 
 toward heart, O sinner, must bend to his will : he can 
 turn it whithersoever he will, and cause the most ob- 
 durate to come to him as a willing people in the day 
 of his power. 
 
 As to God all things are possible which imply not 
 a contradiction, or discover moral imperfection in the 
 performer, so to God there is nothing difficult. In 
 his operations he works without time, without instru- 
 ments, and without weariness. — Without time. It is 
 true he took six days to make the world, but he 
 could have done it in the twinkling of an eye. Each 
 day's work was performed by a word ; he spake, and 
 it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. — With- 
 out instruments. It is tnie that in common he em- 
 ploys inferior agents in his operations ; but he uses 
 them, not from necessity, but from choice ; and his 
 
 S 
 
282 ON THE POWER OF GOD. 
 
 conduct is a proof, not of weakness, but of wisdom. — 
 Without weariness. " The glory of young- men," says 
 Solomon, " is their strength ;" but, as Isaiah adds, " Even 
 the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young 
 men," by labouring long, or beyond their ability, " shall 
 utterly fail." But " hast thou not known, hast thou 
 not heard, that the everlasting God fainteth not, nei- 
 ther is weary ?" It is true, after he had finished the 
 work of creation, he rested and was refreshed ; but 
 the rest of Jehovah was not the token of fatigue occa- 
 sioned by his labour, but the evidence of the compla- 
 cency which he took in his work : he saw whatever 
 he had made, and pronounced it good. God can with 
 as much ease make a world, as we can think of it. 
 
 Christian, thy Redeemer is strong; the Lord of 
 Hosts is his name. Be firm in the faith of the di- 
 vine power ; this faith will not be barren, but fruitful 
 in strength and consolation to thy soul. View his 
 power in relation to the promises, that thou mayest 
 believe them ; — to the precepts, that thou mayest obey 
 them ; — to the dispensations of Providence, that thou 
 mayest reverence them ; — to the corruptions of thine 
 own heart, that thou mayest subdue them ; — to the 
 temptations of the devil, that thou mayest resist them ; 
 — to the frowns of the world, that thou mayest despise 
 them. 
 
 He who has promised is able also to perform. He is 
 able, O Abraham, to raise up thy Isaac, though buried 
 in a grave, because he hath promised thee a seed ; 
 and let not Sarah laugh when God promises that she 
 shall conceive when old and well stricken in age ; for 
 " is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" Why did ye 
 doubt, ye Israelites, saying. Can God prepare a table 
 for us in the wilderness ? And why did you, ye Sad- 
 ducees, deny the possibility of the resurrection of the 
 dead ? Ye erred, "not knowing the Scriptures, nor the 
 power of God." Give your power to the beast, ye 
 kings of the earth ; yet Babylon shall come down, for 
 strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Oppress 
 
ON THE POWER OF GOD. 283 
 
 Israel, ye nations; yet let none say, "By whom shall 
 Jacob arise when he is small," for he shall arise by the 
 hands of the mighty God of Jacob. What promise 
 cannot the Almighty perform ? Ye hardened Jews, 
 God is able to graft you in again ; thou feeble-mind- 
 ed christian, God is able to keep that which you have 
 committed unto him against that day : Yea, where is 
 thy victory, O grave ? for though we die, we shall 
 live with Christ by the power of God. 
 
 He who commands can enable us to perform. 
 What can be too hard for the Lord ? and what too 
 hard for me, if God be for me? "I am not sufficient of 
 myself to think any thing as of myself; but my suffi- 
 ciency is of God," and I can do all things when he 
 strengtheneth me. " All things are possible to him 
 that believeth ;" for his divine power giveth us all 
 things that pertain to life and godliness. Go, then, 
 in your infirmities, christians ; put your hand to 
 every piece of work which he calls you to perform ; 
 shrink not back, because of its real or apparent diffi- 
 culty. He who bids you labour, "gives power to the 
 weak, and to him that hath no might increaseth 
 strength." Strengthened in the Lord, and in the 
 power of his might, the feeble among you shall be as 
 David, and David as the angel of the Lord. When 
 you are weak, then shall you be strong ; for God is 
 the glory of your strength. 
 
 Are the dispensations of divine Providence adverse? 
 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. 
 You are not stronger than he, and why by an im- 
 patient unsubmissive spirit should you provoke him 
 to jealousy. — Are the corruptions of your own hearts 
 strong ? Greater in power is he who is in you than 
 he who is in the world, and his strength can enable 
 you to mortify and subdue them. We have no 
 might, O our God, against this company of lusts that 
 cometh against us, neither know we what to do ; but 
 our eyes are upon thee. In thine hand is there not 
 power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? 
 
284 ON THE POWER OF GOD. 
 
 Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war : with 
 thee will I break in pieces the nations. — Are the 
 temptations of the devil powerful ? The Almighty is 
 on your side. He " will not suffer you to be tempted 
 above what you are able, but will with the temptation 
 make a way to escape." What though there be given 
 thee, Paul, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan 
 to buffet thee ? His strength shall be made perfect 
 in thy weakness. And what, christian, though thou 
 wrestlest against principalities and powers ! Cry to 
 him, and he will strengthen thee for the conflict with 
 strength in thy soul. — Does the world frown on thee? 
 Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man 
 that shall die, and of the son of man, which shall be 
 made as grass, and forgettest the Lord ? If they re- 
 proach,- if they oppress, if they persecute me, I will 
 seek to God, and unto God will I commit my cause, 
 who doth great things and unsearchable. I will bold- 
 ly say, " The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear 
 what man shall do unto me." 
 
 Hearken then to reproof, ye who limit the power 
 of the Holy One. Where, Moses, was thy faith, 
 when God promised Israel flesh to eat ? Though the 
 flocks and herds should not be slain, nor the fish of 
 the sea be gathered together for them, yet he can 
 give meat in abundance ; for is the Lord's hand wax- 
 ed short ? — Ye who make the divine power a plea for 
 your own laziness. Why, sluggard, refuse to work 
 out your own salvation ? The power of God's opera- 
 tion is not an excuse for indolence, hut the great 
 argument for diligence ; for " it is God that worketh 
 in you." — Ye who engage not the power of God by the 
 prayerof faith, ye have not, because you ask not. Behold 
 the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; 
 but your iniquities have separated between you and 
 your God. — Ye who trust not in his power. Ah, 
 Israel, ye have seen the breaches of the city of David, 
 that they are many, and the houses ye have broken 
 down, that ye might fortify the wall ; but ye have 
 
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 285 
 
 not looked to the Maker thereof, neither had respect 
 to him that fashioned it long- ago. Ah, Britain, trust 
 no more in chariots and horses, in fleets and armies, 
 but say, " We will remember the name of the Lord 
 our God." 
 
 What a powerful friend is this God! but ah, what a 
 powerful enemy ! It must be a fearful thing- to fall 
 into his hands. Think not, impenitent sinner, that 
 his threatening-s are unmeaning- words. He is able to 
 execute the judgments which he has threatened. Re- 
 sistance on thy part will be vain. " Hast thou an arm 
 like God ? or canst thou thunder with a voice like 
 him ?" If you return not, by the blast of God you 
 shall perish, and by the breath of his nostrils shall 
 you be consumed. He is mig-hty in strength ; who 
 hath ever hardened himself against him, and hath 
 prospered ? Behold, he removeth the mountains, and 
 they know not ; he overturneth them in his anger. 
 He shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars 
 thereof tremble. He commandeth the sun, and it 
 riseth not. Wlien he is displeased, he beholds and 
 drives asunder the nations ; and the everlasting- 
 mountains are scattered, the perpetual hills bow. 
 And shall sinful man stand before him when he riseth 
 up ? — How dreadful to have his power known in your 
 destruction ! for who knoweth the power of his anger? 
 and where shall the victim of his vengeance fly for 
 help ? Take hold, sinner, of Jehovah's strength, that 
 you may make peace with him, — " On mine arm," it 
 is written, '•' shall they trust." 
 
 ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 
 
 The heathen represent God to their senses, by 
 images made like to corruptible man, and to birds, 
 and four-footed beasts, and creeping things: this 
 is to rob him of his spirituality and majesty. The 
 
 S 2 
 
286 ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 
 
 wicked of all religions represent God to their im- 
 aginations, as altogether such an one as themselves, 
 and who will approve their sin : this is to rob him of 
 his holiness, and to do him a greater indignity than 
 is done by the heathen ; for his holiness is his pecu- 
 liar glory. Unless we conceive of him as holy, we 
 figure to ourselves a devil, and not a God. Without 
 holiness, what were wisdom, but subtilty ; what were 
 justice, but cruelty ; what were sovereignty, but 
 tyranny ; what were mercy, but foolish pity ? Power 
 is Jehovah's arm, omniscience is his eye, mercy is his 
 bowels, grace is his riches ; but holiness is the beauty 
 of the Lord. 
 
 But what is his holiness? We call a man holy when 
 he obeys the law ; but God is holy when he is a law 
 to himself. A man is holy, when he makes God his 
 chief good and highest end ; but God is holy, when 
 he makes his own will his rule, and his own glory his 
 end. The holiness of a man consists in the confor- 
 mity of his nature and actions to God ; the holiness 
 of God lies in conformity to himself; in the impossi- 
 bility of his doing or approving any thing but what is 
 consistent with the infinite perfection and excellency 
 of his own nature. It is hence that flow his hatred of 
 all sin, and his delight in all purity and righteous- 
 ness : the opposite would be unworthy of himself. 
 How indeed can God do evil, or approve of evil ? 
 Through ignorance ? his infinite knowledge prevents 
 it. Through weakness ? his infinite power forbids it. 
 Through necessity ? his infinite fulness raises him 
 above it. Through malice ? his infinite rectitude ab- 
 hors it. His pure eyes cannot behold evil, nor look 
 on iniquity. 
 
 God is glorious in his holiness ; — so glorious, that 
 the splendour of this perfection, like that of the sun, 
 dazzles the eye of every beholder. It shines with a 
 radiance, in comparison of which, the holiness of the 
 brightest seraph is only a dark and opaque mass. Holy 
 seraphims cover their faces in its presence, out of 
 
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 287 
 
 weakness to behold it ; and cover their feet, out of 
 shame, when they view themselves in its light. Saints 
 and ang-els are holy creatures, but, " Holy, holy, holy 
 is the Lord God of hosts;" they are holy, but he only 
 is holy ; for though they are pure from corruption, he 
 only is pure from imperfection. The heavens are 
 not clean in his sight. " God is Hght, and in him is 
 no darkness at all." 
 
 What a holy God, christian, is our God ? Every 
 thing about him is holy. Dost thou pronounce his 
 name ? do it with reverence ; it is holy and reverend. 
 Dost thou handle his word ? do it with reverence ; it 
 is the Holy Scriptures. Dost thou tread his courts ? 
 do it with reverence ; the place on which thou stand- 
 est is holy ground. Honour his people who love and 
 serve him; they are his saints, a holy nation. Touch 
 not his anointed, and do his prophets no harm ; they 
 are holy men of God. Reverence those spirits who 
 worship' before his throne, and minister to the heirs 
 of salvation ; they are his holy angels. Confide in 
 his word ; it is his holy promise. Profane not 
 the Sabbath; it is his day. Obey his law; it is 
 holy, just, and good. Despise none of his institu- 
 tions ; the whole hmit of his house round about is 
 most holy. 
 
 HoUness has this peculiar glory ; it is the attribute 
 which God and saints dehght to honour. God, for 
 by this only he swears ; and saints, for this they chief- 
 ly celebrate. Does God, to render inexcusable the 
 incredulity of men, confirm either his promise or his 
 threatening by an oath ? It is by his holiness that 
 he swears. His threatening, "the Lord God hath 
 sworn in his holiness ; surely I will never forget any 
 of their works." His promise, " once have I sworn 
 by my hoUness, that I will not lie unto David." Do 
 his people celebrate his glorious perfections ? This at- 
 tribute in their eyes excels in glory. What chiefly en- 
 dears God unto them ? his holiness ; for they rejoice 
 in the Holy One of Israel. What about God do they 
 
288 ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 
 
 chiefly desire to contemplate ? his holiness. This one 
 thing- do they desire and seek after, to hehold the 
 beauty of the Lord. What chiefly excites the grati- 
 tude of their hearts ? His holiness ; for they g-ive 
 thanks at the reraerabrance of his holiness, and they 
 praise his great and terrible name, because it is holy. 
 
 Nay, God not only honours this attribute most in 
 himself, but he most loves the resemblance of it in 
 his creatures. Ye princes, ye resemble him iia.sorae 
 measure in his sovereig-nty ; ye wise men, in his wis- 
 dom ; ye nobles, in his greatness ; ye strong men, in 
 his power : but boast not of your pre-eminence ; for 
 if ye resemble him not in his hohness, he will despise 
 your image. He abhors the bloody and deceitful man 
 in the midst of his wealth. But the man who is 
 holy, let him be poor as Job, or wretched as Lazarus, 
 is the object of his delight. One drachm of grace is 
 more esteemed by him than a world of greatness. 
 The Lord taketh not pleasure in the leg's of a man, 
 but in them that fear him. 
 
 We cannot, on account of its splendour, contem- 
 plate this perfection directly ; but let us view it, first 
 through his word, and then through his works ; 
 throug-h these glasses we shall discover much of its 
 infinite glory. 
 
 Look at it through his word. His words are all 
 pure, all clean, all right. What does he recommend 
 in his law ? To walk in the high way of duty — the 
 way which is called the way of holiness. What does 
 he forbid? Not only the gross act of sin, but the 
 most latent wickedness of the heart ; the evil desire, 
 the thought of wickedness, which is sin. Even the 
 ceremonial law exhibits the holiness of the Lawgiver; 
 for its lustrations and prohibitions all tend to enforce 
 abstinence from moral defilement, and the necessity 
 of purifying the heart. The precepts of the word 
 direct, its threatenings deter, and its promises allure 
 from sin. 
 
 Look at it through his works. What work of God 
 
ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 289 
 
 shows not that he is glorious in holiness ? Creation ? 
 God made man upright, though man has since sought 
 out many impure inventions. Had not all his works 
 been pure when he saw them, he would not have pro- 
 nounced them good. — Providence ? See how he has 
 treated his enemies. He has revealed his wrath, in 
 many providential dispensations, against all unright- 
 eousness and ungodliness of men. See how he treats 
 even his friends, when they touch the unclean thing. 
 Though he pardons their iniquity, he takes vengeance 
 on their inventions. Not the person of the sinner 
 merely, but the very instruments of his sin are stig- 
 matised. The serpent was innocent, yet God curses 
 it. The guilty inhabitants of Jericho were extirpated, 
 and even Jericho, their city, must not be rebuilt. 
 The gold and silver which had once been formed in- 
 to idols, must not be employed, even for ornaments, 
 or in trade : it is devoted, and must be destroyed. 
 For thy sake, Adam, Jehovah cursed the ground. For 
 your sakes, ye inhabitants of the cities of the plain, 
 your very country is transformed into a bituminous 
 lake. What meaneth the heat of this great anger ? 
 It proclaims the holiness of God, who hates, and will 
 punish iniquity. — Redemption ? See how he treated 
 his own, his beloved Son, though personally inno- 
 cent, when substituted in the place of sinners. Not 
 all the judgments executed on the wicked in this 
 world ; not all the misery of the damned in hell, af- 
 fords such a demonstration of his implacable hatred of 
 sin, as do the sufferings and death of the Surety of 
 sinners. Here, indeed, O God ! thou didst appear 
 sitting on the throne of thy holiness, sparing the sin- 
 ner, but unable to spare the sin ; loving holiness as 
 much as thou lovest thine only begotten and well-be- 
 loved Son. 
 
 Christians, your God is holy. Are you engaged 
 in any act of divine worship ? Remember his holi- 
 ness. He will be sanctified of all them that draw 
 near unto him. Put off the shoe of every unsancti- 
 
290 ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD. 
 
 tied aifection ; stand in awe, and sin not ; worship him 
 in the beauty of holiness. Are you occupied with 
 the affairs of hfe ? Remember his hohness. Be holy 
 in all manner of conversation. Let the beauty of the 
 Lord be ever visible upon you, in all your deport- 
 ment, else the work of your hands God will not esta- 
 blish. Are you afflicted. Remember his holiness. 
 Suppress every impatient, every unsubmissive emo- 
 tion, with that silencing^ consideration which was pre- 
 sent to the mind of the afflicted Redeemer, and of 
 David, his type, " but thou art holy." If the dispen- 
 sation be dark, yet wait on him that hideth himself ; 
 for surely God will not do wickedly, nor will the Al- 
 mighty pervert judgment. The design even of this, 
 is to make you partakers of his holiness. Are you 
 tempted ? Remember his holiness. This considera- 
 tion will blunt the edge of the weapons of tempta- 
 tion, or perhaps make them drop out of the hands of 
 your spiritual enemies. Shall I do this great evil, 
 and sin against God ? Are you in danger of pride ? 
 Remember his holiness. Shall the glow-worm boast 
 of its splendour, in the presence of the sun ; or a mis- 
 erable sinner, of his righteousness, in the presence of 
 the Holy One of Israel ? Isaiah saw God in his holi- 
 ness ; and " Woe is me," was his cry, " for I am un- 
 done ; for I am a man of unclean lips." Job had a 
 similar discovery, and abhorred himself, and repented 
 in dust and ashes. Are you in danger of self-confi- 
 dence ? Remember his holiness. For who can stand 
 in his own righteousness, before this holy Lord God ? 
 You must worship him through Christ, and be accept- 
 ed in the Beloved ; otherwise you cannot serve the 
 Lord ; for he is a holy God : he will not forgive your 
 transgressions nor your sins. 
 
 Happy the man who has a begun conformity to 
 God in holiness I His renovation into the divine 
 image, shall be advanced day by day. He shall be 
 changed into it from glory to glory, by the Spirit of 
 the Lord, till he become altogether like God, and see 
 
ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 291 
 
 him as he is. But miserable the man who is unlike 
 God ! He cannot see God, nor enjoy him. Ah ! 
 sinners, shall not his excellency make you afraid, and 
 his dread fall upon you ? He will surely reprove you. 
 He will be terrible to you out of his holy places. 
 Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your 
 doing-s. But remember, that as without holiness no 
 man shall see the Lord ; so without Christ, no man 
 shall see true holiness ; for Christ must be our sancti- 
 fication, as well as our righteousnesss, else he can 
 never be our redemption. 
 
 ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 
 
 Is there unrig-hteousness with God ? God forbid. 
 " The Lord is rig-hteous in all his ways, and holy in 
 all his works." The infinite purity and perfection of 
 his nature, secure him against every temptation to 
 injustice, and render it impossible for him to do any 
 man wrong-. He cannot add to his g-lory, extend his 
 power or dominion, or increase his felicity, for they 
 are infinite. He has no passions to gratify, no ne- 
 cessities to supply, no private ends to serve, which 
 might warp his judgment, or lead him in one instance 
 astray. His righteousness, therefore, must be, as the 
 psalmist says it is, " like the great mountains," not 
 only, as he elsewhere says, " very high," but so firmly 
 established on its base, that no temptation can shake 
 it, nor any of those convulsions, which overturn the 
 righteousness of creatures, loosen its deep foundations. 
 Yea, the mountains may depart, and the hills be re- 
 moved, the most stable parts of nature may be shaken, 
 and reel to and fro like a drunken man ; but God's 
 righteousness is for ever, and is immutable as the na- 
 ture in which it inheres. 
 
 In whatever point of view we consider his transac- 
 tions with his creatures, we find him girt about with 
 
292 ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 
 
 righteousness, and are obliged to acknowledge that all 
 his ways are judgment; that just and right is he. 
 Does he give laws to his rational creatures? All his 
 commandments concerning all things are right ; there 
 is not one of them grievous or oppressive. Does he 
 execute the laws which he hath given ? He exer- 
 ciseth loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, 
 in the earth ; for *' in these things I delight," saith the 
 Lord. Doth he reward ? It is as the righteous Judge 
 that he confers a crown on them that love Christ's 
 appearance. Doth he pardon ? He declares his right- 
 eousness in the remission of sins that are past, and 
 shews himself just, when he justifies him that be- 
 lieveth in Jesus. Does he punish ? Is God unright- 
 eous who taketh vengeance ? God forbid. It is a 
 righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation 
 to the wicked — taking vengeance on them that know- 
 not God, and obey not the gospel. He ministers 
 judgment to the people in uprightness. 
 
 But instead of saying more on the general subject 
 of the divine righteousness, let us consider that branch 
 of it which respects the punishment of sin. This has 
 been styled vindictive justice, and has been opposed 
 by every method which human ingenuity could de- 
 vise. Nor is this just matter of surprise ; for how 
 natural is it for the criminal to accuse the judge of 
 injustice, or the lawastoo severe? Therefore, " hear- 
 ken unto me, ye men of imderstanding." Far be it 
 from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the 
 Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. For the 
 work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause 
 every man to find according to his ways. I shall not 
 go far to vindicate the ways of God to men. My ap- 
 peal in his behalf, is to what you see, and to what you 
 feel. God is just in punishing sin, yourselves being 
 judges. 
 
 What do you see ? The earth is not only full of 
 the goodness of the Lord, but has spread over its sur- 
 face, many distinct and awful traces of his displeasure. 
 
ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 293 
 
 Whence is it that the earth often refuses to yield her 
 strength, and mocks at the toils, and disappoints the 
 hopes of the husbandman ? It is an act of justice in 
 him, who " turneth fruitful lands into barrenness, for 
 the wickedness of them that dwell therein." Whence 
 is it that the sword devoureth, and that the earth is 
 drenched with the blood, and covered with the heaps 
 of the slain ? It has received its commission from 
 the God of justice, who appoints it to avenge upon 
 men the transgressions of which they are guilty. 
 What is the pestilence, but the scourge of an angry 
 God ? What the invading spoiler and oppressor, but 
 the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation ? 
 Every disease is a minister of justice to punish the 
 guilty ; every adverse dispensation, a token of his 
 just indignation ; and, O death ! in each of thy thou- 
 sand hideous forms, thou proclaimest the vengeance 
 of God, which will not suffer the sinner to hve. In 
 these we see his wrath revealed from heaven against 
 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men ; and as 
 we conclude that God is good, from the evidences of 
 the divine goodness in the world, why may we not 
 with equal certainty, conclude that he is righteous, 
 and in righteousness punishes sin, from the no less 
 evident tokens of the divine anger? 
 
 But this is not all. Let me ask thee, whosoever 
 thou art who exaltest the benevolence and mercy of 
 God on the prostrate honour of his justice, what dost 
 thou feel ? Is there not a principle of conscience 
 within thee that dictates this truth ? Whence that in- 
 ward uneasiness which thou sufferest at the conscious- 
 ness of crimes? those upbraidings and rude accusa- 
 tions of thy own mind, those fears, those tormenting 
 pains, those forebodings of fiery indignation which 
 shall devour the adversaries. It is the voice of God 
 within thee proclaiming his justice to punish trans- 
 gressors. This voice has spoken the same language 
 in men of very different descriptions, in every age. 
 Hence, Adam, didst thou hide thyself among the trees 
 
294 ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 
 
 of the garden. Hence, ye Israelites, did ye entertain 
 the notion that inevitable death would be the conse- 
 quence of any appearance of the Deity to you. It 
 was this, Manoah, which made thee say to thy wife, 
 "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." It 
 was this, Isaiah, which made thee cry, " I am undone, 
 for mine eyes have seen the King-, the Lord of hosts." 
 Yea, the very heathens knew that those who commit- 
 ted sin were worthy of death, and believed that ven- 
 geance would overtake the sinner ; and hence, ye bar- 
 barous inhabitants of Melita, ye concluded that Paul 
 was a murderer, when ye saw the viper fasten on his 
 hand. From what principle but this can we account 
 for the continual terror with which mankind are tor- 
 mented, on every unusual appearance of nature ? 
 Comets, eclipses, prodigies, apparitions, have in every 
 age alarmed men ; they have trembled at them, as 
 the tokens of the divine indignation, and as the prog- 
 nostications of approaching vengeance ; and have said 
 on the matter, with the widow of Sarepta on another 
 occasion, " Art thou come to bring my sins to remem- 
 brance?" Hence, too, have all nations consulted to 
 appease their deities by sacrifices, and sometimes even 
 human blood has smoked on their altars. But so 
 many witnesses to the general conviction of the jus- 
 tice of God, as the punisher of sin, are unnecessary. 
 Let him be judge in our cause, whose sore runs in the 
 night, or whom the hand of God hath touched. 
 
 But we have a more sure word of prophecy, and 
 this let us now consult. Here we are assured, that 
 " every transgression and disobedience receives a just 
 recompence of reward," and that he is righteous who 
 judgeth thus. Here we read of the anger, the wrath, 
 the fury of the Lord, of his hot displeasure, of his 
 fiery indignation, of his furious rebukes, of the smok- 
 ing of his nostrils. This tells us, that the world was 
 once deluged with water, and shall again be consum-* 
 ed by fire, for the sins of its inhabitants. Thy plains, 
 O Sodom ! smoked in ruins ; thine, O Egypt ! were 
 
ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 295 
 
 kid waste by awful plagues ; and thine, Babylon ! 
 have been swept with the besom of destruction, and 
 transformed into a possession for the bittern, and pools 
 of water, because God in justice executed vengeance. 
 But chiefly in thy cross, O Jesus I does God appear 
 in awful majesty, inflicting- the vengeance due for the 
 transgressions of men. Neither the waters of Noah, 
 nor the smoke of Sodom, nor the plagues of Egypt, 
 nor the desolations of Babylon ; neither the flames of 
 a burning world, nor the yet fiercer and unquenchable 
 flames of hell, give so awful a display of the justice of 
 God, as the bitter cries of the Son of God in the gar- 
 den of Gethsemane, and his dying groan on the hill 
 of Calvary. Indeed we may defy all the world to pro- 
 duce an instance that sin is not punished either in hell 
 or on the cross. 
 
 Nor let us imagine, that the infliction of punish- 
 ment on the guilty does not necessarily follow from 
 the justice of God. God may be merciful, but he 
 must be just. Were sin to escape with impunity, 
 how could the glory of the Lawgiver, the honour of 
 the law, or the subjection of the rational creature, be 
 maintained ? God is holy, and cannot but hate sin ; 
 faithful, and cannot but execute his threatenings 
 'against it ; just, and cannot but punish it. He may 
 pardon, for justice does not exclude satisfaction by an- 
 other in the sinner's stead ; but he must punish either 
 the sinner or his surety, else sin would not receive its 
 wages, nor the sinner his due : and shall not the 
 Judge of all the earth do right ? Yes, O Lord God, 
 merciful and gracious, thou wilt by no means clear 
 the guilty. Yes, O our God, thou art a consuming- 
 fire ; and it is as impossible that fire should not con- 
 sume what is combustible, as that thou shouldst not 
 punish the guilty. Why were sacrifices instituted, 
 but to teach us, that without shedding of blood there 
 is no remission ? And why were they offered from 
 day to day, and year to year continually, but to teach 
 • us, that it is " impossible for the blood of bulls and of 
 
296 ON THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 
 
 goats to take away sin ?" But chiefly, why didst thou 
 die, O Prince of life and Lord of glory, if thy suffer- 
 ings and death had not been necessary for the vindi- 
 cation of the divine honour in the forgiveness of sin? 
 Never shall I think so unworthily of God, as to sup- 
 pose that he was severe without necessity to his well- 
 beloved Son, and inflicted on him the stroke of his 
 vengeance, when he could, without loss of honour, or 
 the failure of his plan of mercy, have spared. 
 
 Be thou ever hateful to my soul, O sin, thou abo- 
 minable thing, which God hateth, and cannot without 
 satisfaction forgive. Every thing proclaims to me thy 
 odious nature ; but because I know nothing so bad 
 as thou thyself art to which to liken thee, I must 
 borrow from thyself the fittest epithet of reproach, and 
 style thee " exceeding sinful." See what desolations 
 thou hast wrought ! What made heaven vomit out 
 its native inhabitants ? It was thou, w^ho didst trans- 
 form them into devils. What turned Eden into a 
 wilderness ? What subjected the earth to a curse, the 
 creature to vanity, man to death ? This is all thy 
 work, thou mother of abominations of the earth. 
 Thou hast armed men against one another, and all 
 against God. Thou hast sown sickness and disease in 
 the earth. Thou hast filled hospitals, and dug the 
 ^rave, whose open mouth cries, Give, give. Yea, O 
 sin ! thou hast kindled that fire which shall burn un- 
 to the lowest hell. 
 
 But be thou for ever precious to my soul, O Jesus, 
 thou Son of the Blessed. Had it not been for thy 
 gracious interposition, better had it been for me that 
 I had been strangled in the womb ; better that I had 
 relapsed into nothing ; for I should have lived the 
 slave and died the victim of sin, pursued by the curse 
 through life, overtaken by it in death, and sufl'ering 
 its misery through eternity. If I forget thee, let my 
 right hand forget her cunning. Never, through grace, 
 shall I love that which stabbed thee to the heart ; 
 never shall I walk lightly under that whose pressure 
 
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 297 
 
 made thee sweat drops of blood ; never follow that 
 which made thee complain as forsaken ; never have 
 that sweet in my mouth which gave thee vinegar and 
 g-all ; nor suffer that to go free which nailed thee to 
 the cross. 
 
 Consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you 
 in pieces, and there be none to deliver. His wrath is 
 revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
 of men ; and because there is wrath, beware lest he 
 take you away with his stroke ; then a great ransom 
 cannot dehver you. Since he is just, how can you 
 escape the damnation of hell ? Guilt unpardoned ren- 
 ders your escape impossible. Behold he spared not 
 the Son of his love, much less you. Was this done 
 in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry ? Can 
 your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in 
 the day when God shall deal with you in awful jus- 
 tice ? Ah no ! for behold the Lord will come with 
 lire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render 
 his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of 
 fire : and as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the 
 flame consumeth the chaff, so your root shall be as 
 rottenness, and your blossom shall go up as dust. 
 Escape for your lives while you may, for justice pur- 
 sues you. The gates of the city of refuge are open, 
 and the way is plain ; flee thither that your souls may 
 live. God hath set Christ forth to be the propitia- 
 tion through faith in his blood ; under the covert of 
 his atoning blood you are safe ; the just God will be 
 merciful to you. But if any thing should satisfy your 
 consciences but what hath satisfied justice, your peace 
 is delusive, and will be short lived. Better now be- 
 lieve that atonement is necessary to satisfy justice, 
 than feel its awful truth to all eternity. 
 
 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 
 
 As,. by the attribute of justice, God distributes un- 
 T 
 
298 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD, 
 
 to every one that which is due, or, to use the expres- 
 sion of a prophet, " the portion of their measure ;" 
 so, by his attribute of goodness, he is disposed to be 
 communicative of himself to other beings, in various 
 degrees, according to the good pleasure of his will. 
 Were he not as abundant in goodness as excellent in 
 plenty of justice, we might fear him indeed, but we 
 could never love him. When this divine attribute is 
 called in question, the sinews of all religion, natural 
 and revealed, are cut asunder. What sinner would be 
 led to repentance? What encouragement could we 
 have to serve him, who, though possessed of infinite 
 blessedness and perfection, were but a spring shut up, 
 a fountain sealed, a barren wilderness, a land of dark- 
 ness ? Hence the vile impostor who seduced our first 
 parents to fall off from their Creator, basely insinuat- 
 ed that he was not good, but envious of their happi- 
 ness ; as though he had forbidden them the tree ot 
 knowledge, because he knew that the eating of it 
 would have been perfective of their natures, and they 
 should be as gods. 
 
 But how great is his goodness ! Somewhat of it 
 may be learned from the image of this perfection, 
 which he has instamped on some liberal souls, that 
 devise liberal things ; but more of it from the bless- 
 ings which he hath scattered with an unsparing hand 
 amongst all creatures in general, amongst that class of 
 his creatures called man, and that part of men called 
 the elect in Christ Jesus in particular. 
 
 Let us begin with his goodness to all. And here 
 shall we mention first the blessing of existence, which 
 he has imparted to all the various ranks of being? 
 With this blessing of his goodness the angel and the 
 worm are equally prevented. For why did he call 
 them forth from darkness and from silence, when no- 
 thing heard his voice ? 
 
 " These are thy glorious works, Parent of good ! 
 
 Almighty, thine this universal frame, 
 
 Thus wondrous fair : Thyself how wondrous then ! 
 
ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 299 
 
 Unspeakable, who sitt'st above these heavens, 
 To us invisible, or dinnly seen 
 In these thy lowest works ; yet these declare 
 Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine." 
 
 Shall we mention next the parental care which he 
 exercises towards all, in liberally providing- for the 
 supply of every want ? May we not say, that his hands 
 are like gold rings set with beryl, which never fold 
 their joints, but are ever expanded? What creature 
 partakes not of his goodness ? The earth is full of it. 
 Behold, though he is great, he despiseth not any. 
 The greatest and the least, the noblest and most con- 
 temptible, whether they inhabit the air, the earth, or 
 the mighty waters ; " these all wait upon thee, O Lord, 
 that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
 That thou givest them, they gather ; thou openest 
 thine hand, they are filled with good." He hears the 
 croaking of the raven, and the roaring of the lion, 
 when they seek their meat from him. He feeds the 
 birds of the air. Yea, he clothes the grass of the 
 field in the gay attire of the spring, and decks the lily 
 with more than kingly glory. Lord, thou preservest 
 man and beast ; how excellent is thy loving-kindness ! 
 Chiefly let man, for whom the whole creation smiles, 
 who is at once the head, the heart, the tongue of all ; 
 let man, on whom he has instamped his image and 
 resemblance, for whom the heavens drop, and the 
 fruitful seasons roll, to fill his heart with food and 
 gladness ; let him never forget, let him never despise, 
 let him never abuse the riches of his goodness. Praise 
 him, whose hands have formed these bodies, so fear- 
 fully and wonderfully made ; whose breath hath 
 kindled in your bosoms these rational and immortal 
 souls by which you are animated. Praise him who 
 furnished with such abundance and such variety for 
 your convenience and comfort, this earthly mansion. 
 It is he who spread that spacious canopy, illuminated 
 by the sun, and studded with stars, over your head, 
 and under your feet that verdant carpet of grass. O 
 
300 ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 
 
 taste and see that he is good, whether you behold the 
 pleasant light, or drink the refreshing fountain, or 
 breathe the balmy air. It is he who fills thy mouth 
 with abundance of good things, who regales your ears 
 with the melody of birds that sing among the branch- 
 es. He warms you in the fire, he fans you in the 
 breeze, he gives you all things richly to enjoy for ac- 
 commodation and delight. O turn not his rich don- 
 ations against himself ; prepare not for Baal, consume 
 not on your lusts, his corn, his wine, and oil. Let 
 not your goodness be as the morning cloud and early 
 dew, when the goodness of God endureth continually. 
 
 But most of all, let the redeemed of the Lord say, 
 " truly God is good." It would require the tongue of 
 angels to mention the loving-kindness of the Lord, 
 and the praises of the Lord, according to all he hath 
 bestowed on us, according to his mercies, and accord- 
 ing to the multitude of his loving-kindness. Lo, for 
 their sakes he sends his Son to assume their nature 
 and expiate their guilt, his Spirit to instruct and sanc- 
 tify them, his angels to encamp around them. Even 
 in this state of imperfection, he gives them all things 
 that pertain to life and godliness. Sometimes he gives 
 even here, more than he takes, more than he promis- 
 es, and more than is asked of him ; — more than he 
 takes, for the substance of Job was doubled, and the 
 Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning ; 
 — more than he promises, for the rod of Aaron did 
 more than bud, it bloomed blossoms, and yielded 
 almonds ; — more than is asked of him, for Solomon 
 got riches and honour, when he asked only for wis- 
 dom. The life of Ishmael is the request of Abra- 
 ham ; food and raiment the demand of Jacob ; the 
 former gets the promise of all nations being blessed 
 in Isaac, and the latter becomes two bands. 
 
 But come. Eternity ! we know that goodness and 
 mercy shall surely follow the redeemed all the. days 
 of their life on earth, but thou only canst declare the 
 goodness of the Lord laid up for them that fear him 
 
ON THE MERCY OF GOD. 301 
 
 in the land of glory. Here they often taste that the 
 Lord is good ; but while thy everlasting ages roll, 
 they shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness 
 of his house, even of his holy temple. O God, thou 
 hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor ; but what 
 thou hast prepared, the eye hath not seen, neither 
 hath the ear heard. Let us never be niggardly to 
 thee, who hast dealt so bountifully with us. O let 
 us never forget to do good and to communicate, that 
 we may be the children of our Father, who is good 
 unto all, and whose tender mercies are over all his 
 works. Witness, every creature, if we be silent, 
 whether the morn empurples the east, or whether the 
 evening star arises ; bear witness, if we shew not forth 
 his loving kindness in the morning, and his faithful- 
 ness every night. 
 
 ON THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 The lovely perfection of divine mercy must not 
 be passed over, than which no branch of his good- 
 ness is more emphatically declared in the sacred 
 oracles. 
 
 Ye fathers, know what mercy is when ye pity your 
 children, and ye mothers, whose bowels yearn towards 
 your tender offspring. The merciful man knows it 
 when, by a sympathizing temper, he makes the 
 miseries of another his own, and is disposed to relieve 
 him by drawing out his soul to the hungry. But 
 though the mercies of every father, and the mercies 
 of every mother should be collected into one tender 
 heart, this tender heart would not be so full of com- 
 passion by the ten thousandth part, as the heart of 
 the Father of mercies. His mercy is great mercy, is 
 tender mercy, is abundant mercy. He is plenteous 
 in mercy, rich in mercy, very pitiful, and full of com- 
 passion. Mercy with him is a favourite exercise, in 
 which he is frequently employed, and of which he 
 
 T2 
 
302 ON THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 never wearies. Who has not heard of the multitude 
 of his mercies ? who knows not that he dehghteth in 
 mercy ? What more can we say of the mercy of our 
 God ? is it not great, beyond all that we can express 
 or conceive ? It hath a height which we cannot reach, 
 a depth which we cannot fathom, a breadth which we 
 cannot grasp, and a length which we cannot measure. 
 How high I " Thy mercy is great unto the heavens. 
 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Thy mercy is 
 great above the heavens ; for as the heaven is high 
 above the earth, so great is his mercy to them that 
 fear him." How deep ! for great is thy mercy to- 
 wards me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the 
 lowest hell. How broad ! he keepeth mercy for thou- 
 sands ; yea, his tender mercies are over all his works. 
 How long ! the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to 
 everlasting to them that fear him. O give thanks unto 
 the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. 
 In conformity to our ideas, we read of the pity, of 
 the compassion, of the bowels of our God. But we 
 must not suppose that the sounding of his bowels en- 
 croaches on the blessedness of his nature, or that his 
 repose is at all disturbed when his heart is turned 
 within him, and when his repentings are kindled to- 
 gether. Nor must we presume to think that this 
 lovely attribute ever walks abroad but in company 
 with truth, judgment, and righteousness, with whom 
 she takes sweet counsel. Yea, we ought not to im- 
 agine that the almighty Sovereign is obliged to ex- 
 ercise his mercy towards his sinning creatures, whom 
 he may justly leave to reap the fruit of their doings. 
 The exercise of justice is necessary, but of mercy 
 voluntary ; the Judge of all the earth cannot but do 
 what is right, but he hath mercy on whom he will 
 have mercy. Yet still we ought to sing of the mercy 
 of the Lord for ever. He hath not left himself with- 
 out a witness, that, as his name is the Lord, the Lord 
 God merciful and gracious, so is he ; for he commands 
 it in us, for he exercises it towards us. 
 
ON THE MERCY OF GOD. 303 
 
 He requires it in his word, when he shows unto us 
 what is good. Mercy is a weighty matter of the law, 
 according to Christ Jesus, the faithful and true wit- 
 ness. Mercy, even to his beast, is the character of a 
 good man, according to Solomon, the wise son of David. 
 If the Lord Jehovah were not himself very pitiful, and 
 of tender mercy, would he ever give such particular in- 
 junctions about it to the children of men ? would the 
 high and lofty One descend so low as to forbid in such 
 positive terms to take the dam with the young, to 
 muzzle the mouth of the ox ; or would he enjoin us 
 to reheve our enemy's ass when sinking under its bur- 
 den ; were it not to convince us that a cruel pleasure 
 in the miseries of other creatures is what he abhors ? 
 But what he requires in his word, he practises in 
 his works. And here shall we mention his tender 
 mercies over all his works, wherewith he visits every 
 living thing ? These doubtless are great, in provid- 
 ing such accommodations for men and beasts, without 
 which their very being would be a misery. Does the 
 sun shine by day ? the moon and stars by night ? do 
 the clouds drop fatness, does the earth teem with 
 plenty of corn and grass ? Acknowledge in all these 
 that the hand of a merciful God hath done this. For 
 consider with yourself, what a theatre of misery this 
 world would be, should he command the sun not to 
 rise, and seal up the stars but for the space of a year ; 
 or should the earth refuse to yield her increase, though 
 importuned ever so much by the labours of the hus- 
 bandman. 
 
 Great, however, as these common mercies are, they 
 are but as crumbs that fall from the table, to the chil- 
 dren's bread, compared with the distinguishing mercy 
 promised unto the fathers, and actually performed in 
 sending into the world the Son of his love, offering 
 him in the gospel even to the wretched Gentiles, and 
 reveaUng him in the vessels of mercy ; when, accord- 
 ing to his mercy, he saves them by the washing of 
 regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. And 
 
304 ON THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 who can enumerate the sure mercies of David, that 
 are built up for ever upon him as their foundation, 
 and knit together by him as their chief corner stone ? 
 Lo, goodness and mercy follow these favoured of the 
 Lord, all the days of their lives. All his paths to- 
 wards them are mercy and truth. If they are in dan- 
 ger of falling, his mercy upholds them. If an host 
 encamps against them, his mercy compasseth them 
 about. If he afflicts them, it is not wiJhngly ; if he 
 speaks against them, he earnestly remembers them 
 stilL But O that mercy of Christ Jesus, eternal life, 
 which they shall obtain in that day when he shall call 
 them from the grave, saying to the prisoners, go forth, 
 and to them that sit in darkness, shew yourselves ! 
 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the 
 heat nor sun smite them ; for he that hath mercy on 
 them shall lead them, even by the springs of water 
 shall he guide them. 
 
 For ever blessed be that condescending love that 
 contrived from all everlasting such an honourable 
 egress to the mercy of God towards miserable men, 
 as the Lord Jesus Christ is. That he might be mer- 
 ciful to us, he spared not his own Son. Now mercy 
 and truth are met together, and to the Lord our God 
 belong mercies and forgivenesses. The breasts of mer- 
 cy are full, that we may suck abundantly and be satis- 
 fied. 
 
 Come hither, all ye whose sore runneth in the 
 night and ceaseth not, who are amazed at the multi- 
 tude of your iniquities, because they are gone over 
 your head. For his mercies are in the heavens, and 
 he will abundantly pardon. But be far hence, ye pre- 
 sumptuous sinners, who are evil because he is good. 
 The mercies of the Lord were never intended to be a 
 pillow for your security. Now he is waiting that he 
 may be gracious, and that he may be exalted in having 
 mercy upon you. Now he is beseeching you by the mer- 
 cies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice ; 
 now he is commanding all men everywhere to repent. 
 
ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 305 
 
 How often have you heard the sounding of his bowels 
 in the invitations of his gospel ? But if you kick 
 against them, and contemn the counsel of the Most 
 High, you are a people of no understanding ; "he that 
 made you will not have mercy upon you, and he that 
 formed you will shew you no favour." 
 
 ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 As by his goodness God communicates himself to 
 his creatures in general, considered as his creatures, 
 and by his mercy to them considered as miserable ; 
 so by his grace he communicates himself to them con- 
 sidered as undeserving. 
 
 That God is gracious, as well as good and merciful, 
 is declared by himself, acknowledged by his people, 
 and attested by his works. By the mouth of these 
 three witnesses shall the delightful truth be establish- 
 ed. Listen to the divine declaration. Of old he 
 proclaimed his name, " The Lord, the Lord God, 
 merciful and gracious." Hear the acknowledgement 
 of his people. Sometimes indeed they are disposed 
 for a moment to withhold it, and say, " Hath God 
 forgotten to be gracious ?" but the scriptures are full 
 of their grateful acknowledgements of his grace ; and 
 their testimony deserves the more credit, because 
 they have not only heard and learned of the Father, 
 but have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Attend to 
 his works. If a Jacob is blessed with a numerous 
 family, they are the children whom God has gracious- 
 ly given him ; if his flocks and herd are increased, 
 and he has enough, it is because God hath dealt gra- 
 ciously with him. Does God hear the cry and plead 
 the cause of the oppressed poor ? He has told us 
 the reason; "for I am gracious." Do his people 
 find compassion before them that lead them captive ? 
 this, too, is his work, and this is the reason of it ; 
 
806 ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 " for the Lord their God is gracious and merciful." 
 Yea, why is Nineveh preserved from deserved and 
 threatened destruction ? The disappointed and angry 
 prophet informs us of the reason, when he peevishly 
 tells God, that from what he knew of him he anticipat- 
 ed the event ; " for I knew that thou art a gracious 
 God." Indeed no divine communication to a creature 
 can be any other than gracious ; for what are all the 
 creatures of God ? They are either ill- deserving, or 
 undeserving ; and in either case what they receive is 
 not of merit, but of grace. If guilty, what is due to 
 them is not good, but indignation and wrath ; and 
 even if innocent, the good which they receive, they 
 neither could deserve, nor can repay. 
 
 But come. Redemption, thou greatest of the works 
 of God, give thine attestation to his grace, and put 
 the matter past conjecture, and beyond all possibility 
 of doubt. His other works shew that he is gracious, 
 by all the good which he bestows on his creatures ; 
 but in this work his grace shines with peculiar lustre, 
 and appears in all its glory. The grace of God is the 
 golden thread which runs through the whole web of 
 salvation ? which gives firmness to the texture, and 
 beautifies every part of the work. What suggested 
 the plan, what is most conspicuous in the execution, 
 and what shall have the glory of our redemption, but 
 grace, from which it sprung, by which it is carried 
 forward, and to the praise of the glory of which per- 
 fection it all tends ? He who laid the plan of this 
 amazing work is the God of all grace ; he to whom 
 the execution of it was committed is the only begot- 
 ten of the Father, full of grace ; and he whose busi- 
 ness it is to apply it, is the Spirit of grace. Indeed 
 the very transaction in which the sacred Three form- 
 ed the plan of redemption, is commonly styled the 
 Covenant of Grace ; and for the same reason the gos- 
 pel, in which redemption is published to the world, 
 is designed, " The Gospel of the Grace of God." 
 Every where, in short, in this work God appears a 
 
ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 307 
 
 gracious God. Here be not only shows the exceed- 
 ing- riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in 
 Christ Jesus ; but grace reigns first, and midst, and 
 last, and without end. 
 
 Let us draw near and contemplate God as gracious in 
 our redemption. But where shall we begin, or where 
 shall we end? If we look back to eternity, grace 
 was given us in Christ before the world began. If 
 we look forward to eternity, grace shall reign through 
 righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. If we survey the intermediate space called 
 time, grace appears flowing like a mighty river to- 
 wards us with an uninterrupted course during the 
 whole period of our journey through this dry and parch- 
 ed land. We cannot say when God began to be gra- 
 cious to his people. The fountain of that grace which 
 appears in the day of the sinner's effectual calling, lies 
 hid from mortal view in the remotest eternity ; " for 
 we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the 
 world." Election to eternal life must have been an 
 election according to grace ; for the children being 
 not then born, neither having done good nor evil, 
 what but grace, free and sovereign, could have influ- 
 enced the choice ? Nor let us say that the foresight 
 of their future goodness determined God to prefer 
 them to others. He chose us, not because we were 
 or would become holy, but " that we should be holy 
 and without blame before him in love." What indeed 
 are the redeemed before he calls them by his grace ? 
 Some of them are openly flagitious ; most of them are 
 poor, illiterate, contemptible ; and all of them " are 
 by nature the children of wrath even as others." Be- 
 fore they were called, they had no good works to in- 
 duce God to pitch on them ; and since that time 
 they have none but what flow from his grace mani- 
 fested towards them. The conclusion of the whole 
 matter is, that God is gracious to whom he will be 
 gracious. " If it be of works, then it is no more of 
 grace." 
 
308 ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 
 
 But let us follow the stream which makes glad the 
 city of God. It appeared a river of pure grace when 
 it issued from the eternal throne before the world was 
 made, or time commenced ; nor can any thing but pure 
 grace be perceived in it in any part of its progress. 
 How was redemption obtained ? We had sold our- 
 selves for nought, and without money we were re- 
 deemed. A great price was given for our deliverance, 
 but no part of the mighty sum was laid down by us : 
 it was advanced by the great Redeemer, that it might 
 to us be free ; for " in Christ we have redemption 
 through his blood, according to the riches of his 
 grace." Nor is it by the grace of the Son of God 
 merely that we are redeemed. While we "know the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sakes 
 became poor, that we might be made rich," we are 
 not ignorant that it was by the grace of God, his and 
 our Father, that he tasted death for every man. In- 
 deed the very way of his death by wicked hands, pro- 
 claims his grace. He was put to death by those for 
 whom he suifered. For those he died whose malice 
 would not suffer him to live. 
 
 Nor must we stop here. Many who allow grace its 
 due in election and redemption, when they come to 
 eifectual calling and regeneration, like unskilful artists, 
 set this precious diamond to disadvantage in the heart, 
 and darken some of its lustre. But here we must say 
 with as little reservation as before, " by grace are we 
 saved." For by what means are we saved ? " The 
 grace of God appeared to us," bringing salvation 
 within our reach. Whence was it that we were 
 saved, though we often received the grace of God 
 in vain which had been preached to us ? " The 
 Lord waited that he might be gracious" to us. And 
 whence is it that at last we accepted the free salvation 
 which we had often before rejected ? " He called us 
 by his grace." Have we faith ? We believed through 
 grace ; faith is " not of ourselves, it is the gift of 
 God." Are we reg'enerated ? " It was not by works 
 
ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 309 
 
 of righteousness which we had done." Are we justi- 
 fied ? " We were justified freely by his grace through 
 the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Indeed, 
 we can neither merit righteousness for justification, 
 for it is the gift of righteousness ; nor the spirit of 
 sanctification, for it is a free spirit, a spirit of grace. 
 Away then with that rotten doctrine of human merit. 
 If men ever be saved, it must be by grace ; if they 
 scorn to take salvation freely, let them know that 
 they shall get merit when they go to hell. 
 
 Grace follows saints till they reach the consumma- 
 tion of the salvation to which they were called ; for 
 the Lord never ceases to give grace till he give glory. 
 Every spiritual privilege is grace bestowed on them ; 
 every heavenly disposition is grace working in them. 
 What keeps them from falling ? " His grace is suffi- 
 cient for them." Wliat recovers them when fallen ? 
 " He heals their backsliding, and loves them freely." 
 If they need, they go to the " throne of grace, and 
 find grace to help them in the time of need." If what 
 they already possess be not enough, he giveth more 
 grace; and however great their necessity, grace amply 
 supplies it ; for they " receive out of his fulness, and 
 grace for grace. Thus grace carries on as well as be- 
 gins their salvation, till the cope-stone is brought 
 forth to perfect the good work, with shoutings, Grace, 
 grace unto it. 
 
 To the grace of God, then, be the praise of all we 
 have, and all we do ; and from it let us expect what- 
 ever we desire to obtain. What have we? What- 
 ever it be, we are indebted to grace for it. Is it of a 
 temporal kind ? " I am not worthy of the least of all 
 thy mercies." Is it spiritual? " By the grace of God 
 I am what I am." " Take heed," says God, " lest 
 thou speak in thine heart, saying, because of my righ- 
 teousness hath the Lord brought me to this land." 
 One portion ascribed to ourselves mars the whole ; 
 for all is of grace. W^hat do we ? We do all by 
 grace. Does Daniel interpret excellently ? " This wis- 
 
i310 ON THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. 
 
 (lorn is not revealed to me for any wisdom I have 
 more than all living-." Do David and Israel contri- 
 bute liberally? "Who am I, and what is my people, 
 that we should be able to offer so willingly after this 
 sort ? for all things come of thee, and of thine own 
 have we given thee." Does Paul labour diligently ? 
 " I laboured more abundantly than they all : yet not 
 I, but the grace of God in me ; and his grace bestow- 
 ed on me was not in vain." Let us not then sacri- 
 fice to our own net, nor burn incense to our own 
 drag. What do we desire to obtain? Let us ex- 
 pect it wholly from grace, ask it as an unmerit- 
 ed favour, say, " Take away all iniquity, and re- 
 ceive us graciously ; grant me thy law graciously ; O 
 Lord, be gracious to us, we have waited for thee ; be 
 thou our arm every morning, our salvation also in 
 the time of trouble." This is the argument to which 
 his ear will not be deaf. When we plead with him 
 thus, he will be very gracious to us at the voice of 
 our cry. 
 
 ON THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. 
 
 The power of God enables him to punish trans- 
 gressors, and his justice forbids that they should final- 
 ly escape ; but his long-suffering, for wise and holy 
 ends, prevents for a while the execution of that pun- 
 ishment on multitudes of the guilty, which he hath 
 power and right to inflict. 
 
 Long-suffering is exercised only towards sinners, — 
 sinners of mankind, — sinners of mankind here on 
 earth. Towards sinners, for the innocent need not to 
 be borne with ; patience has no room when there is 
 nothing to provoke. — Towards sinners of mankind ; 
 for though devils are reserved to greater punishment, 
 they are not spared, and God uses no means for their 
 conversion. — Towards sinners of mankind on earth. 
 
ON THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. 311 
 
 In hell wrath comes on sinners to the uttermost ; 
 patience is at an end. In heaven hohness is perfect- 
 ed, and patience superseded. It is not to holy angels, 
 it is not to damned devils, it is not to the souls of de- 
 parted sinners, that God is long-suffering-: he is long- 
 suffering to us- ward. 
 
 The long-suffering of God is matter of wonder. 
 He sees sin, he hates it, he has threatened to punish 
 it, he is able to execute his threatening ; yet he suf- 
 fers long, and is kind. See the proofs of the aston- 
 ishing fact. His long-suffering waited in the days of 
 Noah all the while the ark was a-preparing. For an 
 hundred and twenty years he had patience with the 
 old world, though he saw that their wickedness was 
 great, and that all flesh had corrupted their ways. 
 During this period the preacher of righteousness con- 
 tinued to warn them. They were obstinate, however, 
 and his spirit w^ould not always strive. Nor has his 
 long-suffering been less remarkable since, than before 
 the flood. Let Jews and Gentiles both bear witness. 
 What was the state of the Gentile world before the 
 coming of Christ ? They " were filled with all un- 
 righteousness ; though they knew God, they glorifi- 
 ed him not as God ;" they paid divine honours either 
 to deceased heroes, or to damned spirits. Yet the times 
 of this ignorance God winked at ; yea, he did them 
 good, and gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful 
 seasons. Similar was his long-suffering towards his 
 favourite people. He suffered their manners forty 
 years in the wilderness, and in Canaan no less than 
 fifteen hundred years, before their final ejection. He 
 did not reject them from being his people, when they 
 had learned the ways of the heathen ; yea, he waited 
 forty years after they had murdered the Prince of life, 
 and gave them in the mean time the first offers of 
 peace. 
 
 But why go so far away as to the old world, or to 
 the Gentiles and Jews in ancient times, for examples 
 of the patience of God ? all mankind, without excep- 
 
312 ON THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. 
 
 tion, are monuments of his loug--suffering. On whom 
 doth not its light arise ? I speak not merely of the 
 vessels of mercy, both before their effectual calling- 
 and after it ; " he endures with much long-suffering 
 the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Consider 
 the case. See how God is every day provoked. If 
 the tongue itself, that little member, be a world of 
 iniquity, what must the whole soul and body be ? If 
 every individual may say, " innumerable evils compass 
 me about," how incalculable must be the sins of popu- 
 lous cities, of extensive countries ? How must God 
 be provoked in the dark places of the earth, which 
 are full of the habitations of cruelty ? but especially 
 in those valleys of vision where his name is recorded, 
 and his grace is despised ; where the motions of his 
 Spirit are quenched, where the calls of the gospel are 
 slighted, where the Spirit strives, ministers preach, 
 and the blood of Christ runs in vain ? Yet, O the 
 long-suffering of God I even those who spurn his 
 precepts are made sharers of his goodness. He 
 spreads a table for his enemies, and fills their cup to 
 the brim. Men groan from out of the city, and the 
 soul of the wounded crieth out, yet God layeth not 
 folly to them. Still his sun arises, still his light 
 shines, still his rain and dew descend, still his seasons 
 roll, still his gospel is preached ; why ? but because 
 he is long-suffering. 
 
 Nor is this all ; for by whom are these mercies be- 
 stowed, and against whom are these sins committed ? 
 Is he a God that doth not see, that doth not hate, 
 that cannot punish sin, or that is slack concerning 
 what he hath promised, or threatened to do ? No, but 
 altogether the reverse. He is a God that sees wick- 
 edness ; for " his eyes are on the ways of men, and he 
 seeth all their doings," He is a God that hates all 
 the workers of iniquity ; who is pressed under their 
 sins, says Amos, as a cart is pressed that is full of 
 sheaves ; who is broken, says Ezekiel, with their 
 whorish heart. He is a God who is able to revenge 
 
ON THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. 313 
 
 all disobedience. Though slow to anger, he is great 
 in power. Who hath shortened his arm, or robbed 
 him of his thunder ? Is he not able, O sinner, to 
 make his waters drown thee, his fire burn thee, his 
 earth swallow thee up. He can arrest the sun, and 
 extinguish the moon, and make it gross darkness, 
 that thou canst not see. His quiver is full of arrows. 
 He can make thy bliss thy bane, and the air thou 
 breathest pregnant with death. If he give the word 
 of command, he can arm thy conscience with scor- 
 pion whips ; and while thou sufferest his terrors, thou 
 shalt he distracted. Who that considers these things 
 seriously can fail being astonished that he is long-suf- 
 fering ? Yea, such is his long-suflPering, that the 
 meekness of Moses is only a faint shadow of it ; so 
 long-suffering is he, that the observation of it hath 
 proved a stumbling-block to the wicked, and the 
 godly themselves have been at a loss what conclusion 
 to draw. The former imagine, that God doth not 
 see, nor the God of Jacob regard ; and the latter are 
 ready to shp with their feet, when they see the way 
 of the wicked prosper, and all them happy that deal 
 very treacherously. Even glorified and blessed souls 
 seem to talk as if their patience were quite worn out, 
 while God continues to endure ; " How long, O Lord, 
 holy and true !" 
 
 Why, why does God suffer so long the wickedness 
 of men ? " For my name's sake," he says, " will I de- 
 fer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for 
 thee, that I cut thee not off." Yet, though the chief, 
 the glory of his name is not his only end ; the salva- 
 tion of his elect is promoted by his long-suffering. 
 Are they yet unconverted ? he waits, that he may be 
 gracious to them at the destined hour. Are they con- 
 verted ? the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; 
 for if he did not bear with the infirmities and sins, 
 with the ignorance, weakness, and folly of his people, 
 they could not possibly be saved. What an example 
 of the patience of God with an elect, unconverted sin- 
 
 U 
 
314 ON THE LONG-SUFFEIIING OF GOD. 
 
 ner was Paul, in his dispensations towards whom Jesus 
 Christ shewed forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to 
 them who should afterwards believe on him to life 
 everlasting- ! But not for the sinner's own good al- 
 ways, so much as for that of others, is God long-suf- 
 fering- towards him. The earth helps the woman, 
 the chaff preserves the wheat. The crab-tree may 
 have sweet fruit engrafted on it, and wicked parents 
 may have godly children. Destroy it not, says pa- 
 tience, for a blessing is in it. Yea, the end of long- 
 suffering may be the sinner's own condemnation ; for 
 this must render thee, O man, inexcusable. Since 
 God waits so long, every mouth must be stopped 
 when at length he strikes. 
 
 Despisest thou then, the riches of his goodness, 
 and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that 
 the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? Is 
 not his long suffering rather entitled to thy admira- 
 tion and gratitude ? How many are in hell who 
 never provoked him as thou hast done ? Hast thou 
 not committed sins as great as that of Uzzah, yet thou 
 hast not been struck dead ; as that of Nadab, and 
 Abihu, yet vengeance hath not smoked against thee ; 
 as Achan, yet thou hast not been stigmatised with 
 disgrace ; as Ananias and Sapphira, yet vengeance 
 has suffered thee to live ? 
 
 Ah ! how is the divine patience often abused ! Be- 
 cause he suffers long, one man thinks God such an 
 one as himself; another, with the fool, says, Soul, 
 take thine ease ; another, with the wicked, says. Peace 
 and safety, when sudden destruction cometh. This 
 man contemns the Most High because he forbears, 
 and sets his mouth against the heavens ; and that man 
 becomes impudent in sinning, because he is not 
 plagued as other men. But, son of man, whose heart 
 is fully set in thee to do evil, because sentence is not 
 speedily executed against thy evil works, tremble 
 while thou readest what follows : " Though a sinner 
 do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, 
 
ON THE TRUTH OF GOD. 315 
 
 yet surely I know that it shall not be well with the 
 wicked." 
 
 The patience of God with thee, O sinner, will have 
 an end ; God suffers long but not always. The talent 
 of lead will be laid on the ephah. If thou sinnest 
 on, soon there may be no remedy ; then God will 
 ease him of his adversaries, his indignation shall cease 
 and his anger only in thy destruction. Thy day, 
 Jerusalem, is now over ; ye for whom the long-suf- 
 fering of God waited in the days of Noah, have been 
 spirits in prison these several thousand years. And 
 if thou, sinner, dost not become weary of sinning, 
 God will one day become weary of repenting. Thy 
 feet shall slide in due time ; thy calamity is near at 
 hand, and the thing that comes on thee makes haste. 
 The end of the divine patience may soon arrive, thou 
 canst not be assured of to-morrow. The longer it is 
 in coming, the heavier will be the vengeance ; for 
 the higher the axe is lifted up, the greater is the 
 stroke. But whether it be sooner or later, the more 
 excraciating will be the torment of the despiser of 
 divine long-suffering, because space was given him to 
 repent, and he repented not. When, sinner, wilt thou 
 be wise ? When shall it once be ? Thou hast wearied 
 men, and wilt thou weary my God also ? In this thy 
 day, know the things that belong to thy peace, before 
 the decree bring forth. 
 
 ON THE TRUTH OF GOD. 
 
 Truth is every where in scripture ascribed to God 
 as his distinguishing attribute ; and the persuasion of 
 his inviolable veracity has been in all ages the terror 
 of the wicked, and the source of strong consolation to 
 the godly. Though the scriptures were silent, reason 
 would cry out that God can neither lie nor deceive. 
 Even Plato could say, that if God were to appear in 
 
316 ON THE TRUTH OF GOD. 
 
 a bodily shape, he would take light for his body and 
 truth for his soul. Men, indeed, may falsify their 
 word, to the great stain of their reputation ; but " he 
 is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man 
 that he should repent." Though they deviate from 
 truth, sometimes from the fear of evil, and at other 
 times from the hope of good, what evil can he have 
 to fear, or what advantage can he hope to gain, that 
 he should impose upon worms ? Can he speak un- 
 truth by mistake, who knoweth all things, or by de- 
 sign, who is immaculately holy ? Can he repent, 
 who is unchangeable ; or he prove unable to perform, 
 who is almighty ? 
 
 It must, therefore, be ever remembered, that our 
 God is the faithful God ; that he keepeth covenant 
 to a thousand generations ; that he keepeth the truth 
 for ever ; and that he can no more recede from truth, 
 in any the smallest instance, than he can deny him- 
 self. If we speak of his counsels of old, we must re- 
 member that they are faithfulness and truth ; if of his 
 words, that there is nothing froward or perverse in 
 them ; if of his ways, that all his paths are mercy and 
 truth. Wheresoever he goes, faithfulness is still the 
 girdle of his reins ; whatsoever he speaks, no guile is 
 found in his lips ; whatsoever he does is the perform- 
 ance of his word. Truth is the inseparable compan- 
 ion of the living God ; she goes before his face. Now 
 she walks forth accompanied with mercy, in the ac- 
 complishment of the promise ; now accompanied with 
 justice in the fulfilment of the threatening; and though 
 clouds and darkness should conceal her for a while from 
 the view of mortals, she will soon be revealed, to the 
 joy of the godly and to the confusion of the wicked, 
 in all her glory. Tremble, ye sinners, for he will 
 bring evil upon you, and will not call back his words. 
 Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, for he is ever mind- 
 ful of his covenant. Sooner shall the stars of heaven 
 fall from their orbits, sooner shall the ponderous moun- 
 tains be heaved from their foundations, than one tittle 
 
ON THE TRUTH OF GOD. 317 
 
 of his sacred word fall to the ground. The word of 
 our God shall stand for ever. 
 
 And where shall we lind a more illustrious display 
 of this g-lory of God than in the face and person of 
 Jesus, whose name is the truth, and in whom all the 
 promises and all the threatening-s are yea and amen ? 
 
 With respect to the promises, this is certain. What 
 promise may we not confidently depend upon, though 
 its accomplishment should seem ever so difficult, when 
 not one good word has failed of all that was foretold 
 of the Messiah ? It was thus the ancient prophets 
 sung- concerning the mercy promised to the fathers : 
 " A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son," and thou, 
 Bethlehem Ephratah, shalt give him birth. The 
 sceptre shall not be quite departed from Judah, when 
 he shall appear. A voice of one crying in the wil- 
 derness shall proclaim the approaching Deity. Then 
 the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, and the eyes 
 of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of dark- 
 ness ! It is true, indeed, his ungrateful countrymen 
 shall despise and abhor him ; for he shall be "wounded 
 for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." 
 But he shall arise from the grave, and swallow up 
 death in victory. He shall go up with a shout, and 
 lead the oppressor away spoiled. Behold, he '• shall 
 call a nation that knew him not, and they shall run 
 unto him, kings shall see and arise, and princes also 
 shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful." 
 As in water face answers unto face, so does Messias 
 in the promise, to Messias in the flesh. To him gave 
 all the prophets witness, and in him the word of the 
 Lord is tried. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, 
 and read; not one of his words hath failed. Now the 
 seed of the woman has bruised the head of the ser- 
 pent ; the people are gathered unto Shiloh, and the 
 prophet like unto Moses is raised up. The sword 
 has now awaked, and smitten the man that is God's 
 fellow. The Messias is now cut off, though not for 
 himself. Haggai's Desire of all Nations is now come ; 
 
318 ON THE TRUTH OP GOD. 
 
 Jeremiah's Branch of Righteousness is sprung up ; 
 and, Malachi, thy Sun of Rig-hteousness is arisen with 
 heahng- under his wing's. 
 
 And, as the promises are in Christ yea, and in him 
 amen, so the threatening-s are fulfilled in him in the 
 most striking" manner. Thy sentence, Adam, is fully 
 executed on him, " In the day thou eatest, thou shalt 
 surely die ;" "because we thus judg-e, that if one died 
 for all, then were all dead." And thinkest thou, O 
 sinner, that he will not be true to his word of threat- 
 ening- against thee, when, for the honour of this, he 
 stained the cross with the blood of his beloved Son ? 
 In vain did the tears and groans of his holy humanity, 
 and the yearnings of a father's bowels, plead that the 
 bitter cup should pass from him. Though it were 
 to save a son from death, it is impossible for God to 
 lie. 
 
 Having before us such glorious illustrations of the 
 truth of God, no room is left for doubting the truth 
 both of his promise and of his threatening in other 
 instances. Without all controversy, the less is con- 
 firmed of the greater ; and though the Lord should 
 seem slack concerning his promise, there can never 
 be reason for saying, " Doth his promise fail for ever- 
 more?" The promise is sure to all the seed, and 
 whatever delays may take place, whatever diflficul- 
 ties may intervene, it will be accomplished in its sea- 
 son, and not one of all the good things which the 
 Lord hath spoken shall fail. I will not, therefore, 
 call in question the faithfulness of God, for he that 
 beheveth not, maketh him a liar. I will, by believing 
 his testimony, set to my seal that God is true ; and 
 even when the time between the promise and the 
 performance seems long, I will not make haste. 
 Though the vision tarry, I will wait for it ; for at the 
 end it will speak and not lie. Though Providence 
 should seem to contradict the promise, I will not cast 
 away my confidence, which hath great recompence of 
 reward. Though the world should frown, I will hold 
 
ON THE TRUTH OF GOD. 319 
 
 fast the profession of my faith without wavering, be- 
 cause he is faithful who hath promised ; and when I 
 suffer for righteousness sake, I will not be ashamed 
 to commit my soul to a faithful Creator. How can I 
 suspect that one good word shall fail, when he is ever 
 mindful of his covenant, and when he is strong that 
 executes his word ? Though affliction should visit 
 me, I will reckon that it is in faithfulness. Though 
 conscience should accuse me, I will remember his 
 oath who hath sworn that he will no more be angry, 
 as the waters of Noah shall no more overflow the 
 earth. Though the adversary the devil tempt me, 
 yet will I rest assured that he will not be suffered to 
 cast me utterly down ; for God is faithful, who will 
 not suffer me to be tempted above what I am able to 
 bear. And when I am called to die, why should I 
 fear ? " Into thy hand I will commit my spirit, thou 
 hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." 
 
 If it be incivility to give the lie to an equal, 
 insolence to give it to a superior, treason to give it 
 to a prince, what must it be to give the lie to the 
 great God ? Yet, this ye do, " O fools and slow of 
 heart to believe" what he hath spoken. He hath 
 threatened to punish the wicked with everlasting de- 
 struction ; yet ye belie the Lord, and say, It is not 
 he, no evil shall come nigh us. He hath promised 
 salvation through Christ in the gospel ; yet ye treat 
 it as a cunningly devised fable, and will not account it 
 a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. How 
 long will ye provoke him to anger, and refuse to be- 
 lieve his word ? Shall not the men of Nineveh rise 
 up in judgment against you for your unbelief? Why 
 will ye die ? and die you must, if you persevere in 
 treating the faithful God as a liar, by disbeheving alike 
 the threatenings of his law and the promises of his 
 gospel. Lo, as justice and truth met in the law, so 
 mercy and truth meet in the gospel. God has purg- 
 ed himself by oath that he has no pleasure in your 
 death. He promises eternal hfe in Christ, and if this 
 
320 ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 salvation is refused, he has sworn that you shall never 
 enter into his rest. Whether, therefore, ye will hear 
 or forbear, know, that as he is not mocking you when 
 he makes this promise, nor attempting- to deceive you, 
 so you cannot deceive him, and he will not be mocked. 
 
 ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 The attribute of Sovereignty is none of the least 
 conspicuous in the character of Jehovah. The doc- 
 trine of it is mysterious ; but it is so far from being 
 merely speculative, that it is one of the rests for our 
 soul amidst a great many perplexing occurrences of 
 Providence. This is our refuge and sanctuary. On 
 this rock are many distinguished doctrines of religion 
 built, " and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 them." 
 
 Sovereignty is a relative attribute of Deity, and 
 differs from power. By power God can do what he 
 will ; by sovereignty he may do what he pleases. In 
 the fourth chapter of Daniel, the haughty Nebuchad- 
 nezzar vouches this truth. Nebuchadnezzar, whose 
 greatness reached, as he thought, unto heaven, and 
 his dominion to the end of the earth ; Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, before whom all nations trembled : whom he 
 would, he slew, and whom he would, he kept alive ; 
 Nebuchadnezzar, who said, I will ascend into heaven, 
 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; — 
 even this child of ease and pride, is obliged to confess 
 a higher than himself, in these remarkable words : 
 " He doth according to his will in the army of hea- 
 ven, and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and 
 none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost 
 thou ?" 
 
 The divine sovereignty is universal. It extends 
 to heaven and earth, and the armies of them ; to the 
 highest angel in heaven, and the greatest potentate 
 on earth. Petty sovereigns indeed you may call the 
 
ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 321 
 
 greatest monarchs. They rule only over a small part 
 of this little globe. They may leave their territories 
 and dominions behind them ; but no place is without, 
 no will above the government of God. 
 
 Through all the extent of his dominion his sway is 
 uncontroulable ; he needs not give account of any of 
 his procedure. It is true, indeed, he can do nothing 
 inconsistent with the rules of justice and goodness, 
 which are the foundation of his throne ; but he may 
 do whatsoever he pleases, and many things which we 
 may not think competent to him. He is, indeed, an 
 absolute monarch. 
 
 The great foundation of the sovereignty of God is 
 the supereminent perfection of his nature. The 
 more excellent, rules over the less excellent ; men 
 over beasts, the soul over the body, God over all. 
 Should mankind meet to choose a king, they would 
 pitch upon the man in whom the greatest perfection 
 should be found. Now there is none so discreet, so 
 wise, so powerful, so just, so good as God. Foras- 
 much as " there is none like unto thee, who would 
 not fear thee, O King of nations ? There is none 
 like unto thee, O Lord ; neither are there any works 
 like unto thy works : therefore, all nations whom 
 thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee." 
 
 To this let us add, the dependence that all beings 
 have upon him. He made them; he preserves them; 
 and some of them he hath redeemed. Sovereigns of 
 clay are made by their subjects, and for their subjects' 
 good ; but here the subject is made by the King, and 
 made for his honour and glory. A master thinks he 
 hath authority over a servant, because he hires him ; 
 a parent over a child, because he is its parent; a king 
 over the subject, because he is set upon the throne 
 by consent or conquest ; the potter over the clay, be- 
 cause he bought it ; the statuary over the image, be- 
 cause he carved it. But the parent did not make the 
 child, the king the subject, the master the servant, 
 the potter the clay, the statuary the wood and stone, 
 
322 ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 as " God made all things out of nothing." If any crea- 
 ture, indeed, had given being to itself, or if it could 
 preserve itself for a moment in being without God, 
 then might it be disputed whether God be sovereign; 
 but not as long as all things are determined to be the 
 works of his hands, and upheld by him. But now 
 they are his servants, for he formed them. He is 
 the possessor of heaven and earth, and the God of the 
 spirits of all flesh ; yea, in his hand is the breath of 
 every living thing : for " his pleasure they are and 
 were created." 
 
 Let us, however, take a more particular view of the 
 Divine Sovereignty. It displays itself in his decree, 
 in his precepts, and in his works. 
 
 We begin with his Decree. He worketh all things 
 after the counsel of his will. Why is this angel's 
 name written in the book of life, and that angel's not? 
 Why is this man ordained to salvation, and that man 
 passed by ? Let an apostle declare ; it is " according 
 to the good pleasure of his will." Why this poor man 
 chosen, that rich man left ? Why this despised man 
 chosen, that honourable man left ; this ignorant man 
 chosen, that learned man left ; this wicked man 
 chosen, that moral man left ? The answer is still 
 the same. You may, indeed, assign a reason of the 
 last condemnation, but not of the first election. 
 
 Let us descend from the decree to the Precept. 
 All creatures are at God's beck, not to speak of irra- 
 tional creatures. Who can quarrel, if he say to the 
 windows of heaven. Be opened, and drown the world ; 
 — to the sea, Stand up, that my ransomed may pass 
 over ; — to the sun. Stand still, that my host may con- 
 quer ; — to the raven, Feed my prophet ; — to the 
 flame. Touch not my faithful servants; — to the lions, 
 Injure not my Daniel ; — to the fish. Digest not ray 
 Jonah in your belly ? Stat pro ratione voluntas, is 
 his motto. — Angels, fly on my errand. — Devils, touch 
 not Job; enter not into the swine, without leave ask- 
 ed and given. — Adam, beware of the tree of know- 
 
ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 323 
 
 ledge. — Abraham, go forth of your country ; oifer up 
 your Isaac. — And are there not many of the cere- 
 monies of the Jewish ritual for which no reason can 
 be assigned, but the pleasure of his will ? 
 
 But let us come to the Works of his hand. And, 
 first. Creation. For his " pleasure all things were 
 created." Why was the world made only some thou- 
 sand years ago ? because " it was the pleasure of his 
 will. What adjusts the number of the stars ? Sover- 
 eignty." What makes one star differ from another in 
 glory ? Sovereignty. What marked out the paths of 
 the heavenly bodies ? Sovereignty. What appoints 
 the order of the seasons ? Sovereignty. What the 
 different shapes of animals ? Sovereignty. Why 
 is this portion of matter a flower, that a beast, this a 
 star, that a body of a man ? it proceeds from Sover- 
 eignty. Thou hast " created all things, and for thy 
 pleasure they are, and were created." And God giv- 
 eth a body as it hath pleased him. "Thou art the pot- 
 ter," may all created things say, "and we are the clay." 
 
 From creation let us come to Providence. Here 
 some appearances may puzzle our reason. One dieth 
 in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet ; 
 his breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moist- 
 ened with marrow : And another dieth in the bitter- 
 ness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. — 
 Was not Esau Jacob's brother ? saith the Lord ; yet 
 I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his moun- 
 tains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the 
 wilderness. Why is this man in poverty, that in 
 affluence ? " The rich and poor meet together, 
 and the Lord is the maker of them all ?" Why 
 is this man on a throne, that on a dunghill? " Promo- 
 tion Cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, 
 nor from the south; but God is the judge; he put- 
 teth down one and setteth another up." Why does 
 Uzzah touch the ark, and die ? Philistines sacrile- 
 giously carry it away, and live ? Moses spake unad- 
 visedly with his lips, and is shut out from Canaan ; 
 
324 ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 Jonah spake unadvisedly, and is only gently reprov- 
 ed. — Ham is preserved in the ark, though others, as 
 good as he, are drowned. — Job is aflflicted, though the 
 most upright of all men ; his wounds are multiplied 
 without cause. — This nation inhabits a fertile coun- 
 try ; that a parched wilderness, a frozen or icy conti- 
 nent. The sovereign will of God determined the 
 bounds of their habitation, the utmost bounds of the 
 everlasting hills. 
 
 Let us come, lastly, to Redemption, which is in- 
 deed the most remarkable part of divine providence. 
 Here there are many things for which we may pre- 
 tend to assign some reasons, arguing them to be fit 
 and becoming ; but the sovereignty of God is our 
 best sanctuary. Why was Christ, the Son of God, 
 appointed the Saviour of the world ? it pleased God. 
 Why did he become man ? it pleased God. Why 
 was he born in Bethlehem ? it pleased God. Why 
 in the fulness of time, and no sooner ? it pleased 
 God. Why were the Jews the crucifiers of him ? it 
 pleased God. Why was the gospel preached by 
 fishermen, a publican, a tent-maker ? it pleased God. 
 Why was Paul an apostle, not Gamaliel? Why is 
 the gospel sent to this part of the world, not to an- 
 other ? it pleased God. Why is it given to some to 
 know the mysteries of the kingdom, to others not ? 
 it pleaseth God. Why is one man hardened, another 
 moralized, another converted by the gospel ? it pleas- 
 eth God. Why is the coming of Christ, the caUing 
 of the Gentiles, the inbringing of the Jews so long 
 delayed ? " The times and the seasons, the Father 
 hath put in his own power." 
 
 Since such is the divine sovereignty, let us rever- 
 ence the decree, obey the law, and acquiesce in the 
 dispensations of the sovereign God. Let us rever- 
 ence his decree, particularly the decree of predestina- 
 tion. Let no son of Anak, no difficulty which carnal 
 reason may not be able to digest, influence us to 
 bring up an evil report on this decree, which, like 
 
ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 325 
 
 Canaan, flows ^vith milk and honey. Christ could 
 thank his Father for it, Matt. xi. Ask not, reason. 
 Who art thou that repliest against God ? Let us 
 obey his law. If he should command the sacrifice of 
 ^ son, his precept will make it lawful ; and, though 
 some commands should seem of a trifling nature, we 
 should be all obedience. Did Moses say. Lord, what 
 will it serve for me to stretch forth my hand over the 
 Red Sea ? Did Joshua say. Lord, what need for us 
 to go round the walls of Jericho, blowing rams' horns? 
 Say not, that Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, 
 are better than the waters of Israel. What if God 
 shall make clay of spittle for medicine ? What if he 
 ordain ceremonies to the Jews, the meaning of which 
 is hard to be understood ; and continue baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper to the end of the world ? 
 every ordinance hath meat to eat you know not of. 
 "Come, let us worship and bow down." At thy com- 
 mand, Master, I will let down the net. Let us ac- 
 quiesce in his dispensations. Why dost thou strive 
 against him, O bold repiner ? He giveth not account 
 of his matters. Is it fit to say to a king. Thou art 
 wicked, and to princes ye are ungodly ? How much 
 less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, 
 nor regardeth the rich more than the poor ? Even 
 sovereigns of dust allow not their subjects to under- 
 stand the arcana of government ; how much less shall 
 we grasp his designs ? Faith is a sworn officer : for 
 every lock proper to be opened it hath a key. If it 
 want, it will not force, but patiently wait till it be re- 
 gularly opened. I will wait on the Lord, it says, while 
 he hideth himself. " If thou seest the oppression of 
 the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and 
 justice in a province, marvel not at the matter ; for 
 he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and 
 there be higher than they." Your miscarriages, per- 
 haps, are not uncommon ; but your afflictions are 
 extraordinary. Lay your hand upon your mouth. 
 Though you be righteous, answer not, but make sup- 
 
326 ON THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 plication to your Judge. There is a cause, though 
 you know it not. It is your wisdom to forbear play- 
 ing the critic on his dispensations. If he sometimes 
 condescends to give a reason of his dispensations, it 
 is more than he needs to do, and more than you are al- 
 ways to expect. "Be still, and know that I am God." 
 Be convinced of your sin and danger, ye who have 
 been rebellious against your rightful Sovereign and 
 your Almighty King. You have said, " Let us break 
 his bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us." 
 You have said, " We will not have this God to rule 
 over us." — " Be astonished, O heavens ; I have nour- 
 ished and brought up children, and they have rebelled 
 against me." — Know and consider that this is an evil 
 and a dangerous thing. He will consume you in his 
 wrath, that ye may know that he rules in Jacob unto 
 the ends of the earth. The demand, for this purpose, 
 is by the word of the Holy One ; that you may know 
 that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. 
 — How dreadful to rebel against that God with whom 
 is terrible majesty ; against that God who can arm all 
 creatures against you ; arm the sun, arm the moon, 
 arm the stars ; — who can command his waters to 
 drown you, his fire to burn you, his sun to scorch 
 you, his wind to breathe contagion and death ; — who 
 can arm thy sweetest comforts with the most deadly 
 sting, and bid thy conscience lash thee with intoler- 
 able scourges ! How dreadful to be a rebel to that 
 God who can crush you in a moment; — that God whom 
 angels obey, before whom devils tremble, whose word, 
 fire, hail, wind, stormy vapour fulfil, and to whom 
 flashes of lightening say. Here we are ! 
 
 But, though you are rebels, he is willing to dwell 
 among you. He is reconciled ; — he is beseeching 
 you to be reconciled. — Acquaint now thyself with 
 him, and be at peace. I pray thee accept the indem- 
 nity. Say, " Behold we come unto thee, for thou art 
 the Lord our God." Be no more children of disobedi- 
 ence. If you will not hear, condemn them, ye angels 
 
ON THE TRINITY. 327 
 
 that obey his word ; condemn them, fire, hail, snow, 
 vapour, stormy wind ; condemn them, ye flashes of 
 lig-htning', that say to him. Here we are ; condemn 
 them, ye creeping- things, and ye birds of the air. 
 Yea, the very devils shall rise up in the judg-ment 
 ag-ainst you who were never called to the Most High. 
 And know, that whether you will or not, you shall be 
 subdued by him who is able to subdue all things to 
 himself. As he lives, he hath sworn, " That to him 
 every knee shall bow." 
 
 ON THE TRINITY. 
 
 The doctrine of the Trinity is a most adorable 
 mystery, which never would have entered into the 
 thoughts of angels or of men, unless he who best 
 knows his own nature had declared it in the holy 
 oracles. It is a mystery which reason is so far from 
 having been capable of discovering, if it had not been 
 revealed, that she cannot comprehend it when it is 
 plainly declared ; and is obliged to confess, such 
 knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is a mystery 
 which amazes our hearts, overpowers our thoughts, 
 and swallows up our words ; in respect to which, 
 logic complains for want of arguments to demon- 
 strate, rhetoric for want of similitudes to illustrate, 
 and grammar for want of terms fit to express it. But 
 though it is incomprehensible to our reason, it is not 
 incredible to our faith, that, " there are three persons 
 in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost, and these three are One." We tremble at the 
 thoughts of discoursing of this heavenly mystery. 
 Our words must be few and well chosen. O Thou who 
 dwellest in light inaccessible, teach us what we shall 
 say concerning thee, and captivate our thoughts to 
 the obedience of thy word. Open to us the scrip- 
 tures which thou hast written to lead us into the truth, 
 
328 ON THE TRINITY. 
 
 and not to mislead us into false notions concerning- 
 ourselves or thee ; and enable to take heed unto them 
 as to a lig-ht that shineth in a dark place. 
 
 That God is one, or that the divine perfections are 
 no where to be found but in one individual nature or 
 essence, is a truth which cannot reasonably admit of 
 dispute. Because your foolish hearts were darkened, 
 ye blinded Gentiles, ye had gods many, and lords 
 many. But the Lord our God is one Lord, and has 
 solemnly declared, " besides me there is no God, I 
 know not any." And doth not nature itself teach us, 
 that it implies the highest contradiction, that more 
 than one being should be possessed of infinite perfec- 
 tion. Besides, is not the existence of one God suffi- 
 cient to solve all the appearances in the world ; and 
 by consequence, is it not evident that the existence 
 of two or more gods must be entirely unnecessary ? 
 And how incongruous is it to suppose, that a divine 
 nature may exist without any necessity for it ? or to 
 talk of a needless Deity ? 
 
 But though God is one, yet there are three persons 
 in the Godhead. Hold thy peace, vain philosophy, 
 ask not, how can such a thing be ? Deny the being 
 of a God, and the book of nature is full of inexpli- 
 cable contradictions. Deny that there are three per- 
 sons in the Godhead, and the book of scripture is the 
 most self-inconsistent of compositions. But let God 
 be true, let reason be a fool, and every man a liar. 
 
 Even in the Old Testament there are many no ob- 
 scure hints of this tremendous mystery. When we 
 read, " that God created the heavens and the earth," 
 and the Spirit " moved on the face of the waters," 
 that God said, " Let us make man after our image ;" 
 that " the Lord rained fire and brimstone from the 
 Lord out of heaven," in Sodom's evil day ; that " the 
 Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand ;" 
 when it is said by Christ, " the Spirit of the Lord is 
 upon me," " the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent 
 me." Who sees not here a plurality of persons sup- 
 
ON THE TRINITY. 329 
 
 posed ; a trinity of persons evidently asserted ? But 
 may we not be allowed to think, that the full and 
 clear revelation of this mysterious doctrine was re- 
 served to grace the solemnity of the Mediator's in- 
 auguration to his high and saving work ? Let us 
 then repair to the banks of Jordan, where the glorious 
 Redeemer condescended to receive the baptism of 
 John. Lo, the Father is not seen in any shape, but 
 heard in a voice from the excellent glory ; the Holy 
 Ghost is not heard in any voice, but seen in the like- 
 ness of a dove ; and the Son is both seen in the like- 
 ness of a man, and heard in the language of prayer 
 and supplication. From Christ's baptism, let us pro- 
 ceed to our own. This initiating ceremony of our 
 holy religion, is performed in the name of the Sacred 
 Three ; for so is the commandment of our Lord and 
 Saviour, '• Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost." Shall we add in corroboration, the 
 solemn apostolical benediction pronounced in the 
 name of these three glorious persons, " The love of 
 the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship 
 of the Holy Ghost, be with you all ?" 
 
 Produce your strong reasons, ye that would destroy 
 this everlasting foundation. How is it that ye do 
 not understand that this is a doctrine inwoven in the 
 texture of the Bible, and in the whole scheme of our 
 most holy faith ? Shall it be pretended, that perhaps 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are not all personal 
 names ? Whose personality then, will you deny ? 
 The Father's ? Nay, the Father's person is an expres- 
 sion used by an inspired Apostle. Or is it the per- 
 sonality of the Son that you would call in question ? 
 Neither is this pretended. But we much question 
 the personality of the Holy Ghost ; what if he be no 
 more than the influential power of God ? But if he 
 were not a true and distinct person, how could he be 
 grieved? how could he be tempted? how could 
 Ananias lie unto him ? how could he be said to search 
 
 X 
 
330 ON THE TRINITY. 
 
 all things, even the deep things of God ? how to dis- 
 tribute to every man as he will ? How could he say, 
 " Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work 
 whereunto I have called them ?" Or how could he 
 say unto Peter, " Go with the messengers of Corne- 
 lius, for I have sent thee ?" 
 
 Or, if their distinct personaHty is allowed, will 
 their proper divinity be objected to? But what title 
 what attribute, what work, what honour is ascribed to 
 the one God even the Father, which is not also as- 
 cribed to the Son and Spirit ? Let us begin with the 
 Son. He it is whose name is the Lord our Right- 
 eousness ; the great I AM ; the true, the great, the 
 mighty, the only wise God, blessed for ever. He it 
 it is " whose goings forth are of old, even from ever- 
 lasting ;" who knows all things ; who promises, " Lo, I 
 am with you always where two or three are met to- 
 gether in my name ;" " who is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and for ever." " Neither are there any works 
 like unto his works." The world was made by him ; 
 by the word of his power the world is upheld ; and 
 by the price of his blood the world is redeemed. 
 " Look unto him, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the 
 earth, for he is God and there is none else ; besides 
 him there is no Saviour." Can any forgive sin, but 
 God ? Can any quicken the dead, but God ? Can 
 any judge the world, but God? No, blessed Jesus; 
 and these works are thine. Thou thoughtest it not 
 robbery to be equal with God. Even in the days of 
 thy flesh, conscious of thy true divinity, thou didst 
 not reject divine honours. All the angels worship 
 thee ; "into thy hands have dying martyrs resigned 
 their departing spirits; and, "when thy wrath is 
 kindled but a little, blessed are all they that trust in 
 
 thee." 
 
 Nor can we think less honourably of the third 
 sacred person. He is expressly called God. He is 
 the good, the holy, the eternal Spirit. Whither 
 shall we go from his presence ? or how declare all his 
 
ON THE TRINITY. 331 
 
 mig-hty works ? The creation of the world, the in- 
 spiration of the prophets, the sanctification of be- 
 lievers, and the resurrection of the dead, are some of 
 his divine performances ; and what more can be ne- 
 cessary to convince us, that divine honours are his 
 due, than to remark that in his name we are baptized, 
 and against his person the dreadful unpardonable sin 
 is said to be committed ? 
 
 We presume not to explain the relation of these 
 divine persons to one another. As to the g-eneration 
 of the Son, who shall declare it ? nor need we be 
 ashamed to profess our ignorance of the manner of 
 the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son. 
 O may it be our disting-uished attainment, to culti- 
 vate the most blissful correspondence with the sacred 
 Three, to have access by one Spirit to the Father 
 through the Son ! Then may we wait in humble 
 hope that, in the day of final consummation, we shall 
 more clearly perceive how the Son is in the Father, 
 and the Father in him. In the mean while, let us 
 adore what we cannot comprehend. Let us never 
 think of this mystery but with reverence, nor ever 
 ^peak of it but with a serious mind. 
 
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