The Preface to the
Lord’s Prayer
‘Our
Father which art in Heaven ’
The First
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘Hallowed
be thy name.’
Matt 6: 9
The Second
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘Thy
kingdom come.’
Matt 6: 10
The Third
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘Thy will
be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’
Matt 6: 10
The Fourth
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘Give us
this day our daily bread.’
Matt 6: 11
The Fifth
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’
Matt 6: 12
The Sixth
Petition in the Lord’s Prayer
‘And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Matt 6: 13
The Preface to the Lord’s Prayer
‘Our
Father which art in Heaven ’
Having
gone over the chief grounds and fundamentals of religion, and enlarged
upon the decalogue, or ten commandments, I shall speak now upon the
Lord’s prayer.
‘After
this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven hallowed,’
&100:.
Matt. 6: 9.
In this
Scripture are two things observable: the introduction to the prayer, and
the prayer itself
The
introduction to the Lord’s prayer is, ‘After this manner pray ye.’ Our
Lord Jesus, in these words, gave to his disciples and to us a directory
for prayer. The ten commandments are the rule of our life, the creed is
the sum of our faith, and the Lord’s prayer is the pattern of our
prayer. As God prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle (Exod
25: 9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer.
‘After this manner pray ye,’ &c. The meaning is, let this be the rule
and model according to which you frame your prayers.
Ad hanc regulam
preces nostras exigere necesse est
[We ought to examine our prayers by this rule]. Calvin. Not that we are
tied to the words of the Lord’s prayer. Christ says not, ‘After these
words, pray ye;’ but ‘After this manner:’ that is, let all your
petitions agree and symbolise with the things contained in the Lord’s
prayer; and well may we make all our prayers consonant and agreeable to
this prayer. Tertullian calls it,
Breviarium
totius evangelii, ‘a breviary
and compendium of the gospel,’ it is like a heap of massive gold. The
exactness of this prayer appears in the dignity of the Author. A piece
of work has commendation from its artifices, and this prayer has
commendation from its Author; it is the Lord’s prayer. As the moral law
was written with the finger of God, so this prayer was dropped from the
lips of the Son of God.
Non vox hominem
sonat, est Deus [The voice is
not that of a man, but that of God]. The exactness of the prayer appears
in the excellence of the matter. It is ‘as silver tried in a furnace,
purified seven times.’
Psa 12: 6. Never was prayer so admirably and curiously
composed as this. As Solomon’s Song, for its excellence is called the
‘Song of songs,’ so may this be well called the ‘Prayer of prayers’. The
matter of it is admirable, 1. For its comprehensiveness. It is short and
pithy,
Multum in parvo, a great deal
said in a few words. It requires most art to draw the two globes
curiously in a little map. This short prayer is a system or body of
divinity. 2. For its clearness. It is plain and intelligible to every
capacity. Clearness is the grace of speech. 3. For its completeness. It
contains the chief things that we have to ask, or God has to bestow.
Use. Let
us have a great esteem of the Lord’s prayer; let it be the model and
pattern of all our prayers. There is a double benefit arising from
framing our petitions suitably to this prayer. Hereby error in prayer is
prevented. It is not easy to write wrong after this copy; we cannot
easily err when we have our pattern before us. Hereby mercies requested
are obtained; for the apostle assures us that God will hear us when we
pray ‘according to his will.’
1 John 5: 14. And sure we pray according to his will when we
pray according to the pattern he has set us. So much for the
introduction to the Lord’s prayer, ‘After this manner pray ye.’
The
prayer itself consists of three parts. 1. A Preface. 2. Petitions. 3.
The Conclusion. The preface to the prayer includes, ‘Our Father;’ and,
‘Which art in heaven.’
I. The
first part of the preface is ‘Our Father.’ Father is sometimes taken
personally, ‘My Father is greater than I’ (John
14: 28); but Father in the text is taken essentially for the
whole Deity. This title, Father, teaches us that we must address
ourselves in prayer to God alone. There is no such thing in the Lord’s
prayer, as, ‘O ye saints or angels that are in heaven, hear us’; but,
‘Our Father which art in heaven.’
In what
order must we direct our prayers to God? Here the Father only is named.
May we not direct our prayers to the Son and Holy Ghost also?
Though
the Father only be named in the Lord’s prayer, yet the other two Persons
are not excluded. The Father is mentioned because he is first in order;
but the Son and Holy Ghost are included because they are the same in
essence. As all the three Persons subsist in one Godhead, so, in our
prayers, though we name but one Person, we must pray to all. To come
more closely to the first words of the preface, ‘Our Father.’ Princes on
earth give themselves titles expressing their greatness, as ‘High and
Mighty.’ God might have done so, and expressed himself thus, ‘Our King
of glory, our Judge:’ but he gives himself another title, ‘Our Father,’
an expression of love and condescension. That he might encourage us to
pray to him, he represents himself under the sweet notion of a Father.
‘Our Father.’
Dulce nomen
Patris [Sweet is the name of
Father]. The name Jehovah carries majesty in it: the name Father carries
mercy in it.
In what
sense is God a Father?
(1) By
creation; it is he that has made us: ‘We are also his offspring.’
Acts 17: 28. ‘Have we not all one Father?’
Mal 2: 10. Has not one God created us? But there is little
comfort in this; for God is Father in the same way to the devils by
creation; but he that made them will not save them.
(2) God
is a Father by election, having chosen a certain number to be his
children, upon whom he will entail heaven. ‘He has chosen us in him.’
Eph 1: 4.
(3) God
is a Father by special grace. He consecrates the elect by his Spirit,
and infuses a supernatural principle of holiness, therefore they are
said to be ‘born of God.’
1 John 3: 9. Such only as are sanctified can say, ‘Our Father
which art in heaven.’
What is
the difference between God being the Father of Christ, and the Father of
the elect?
He is
the Father of Christ in a more glorious and transcendent manner. Christ
has the primogeniture; he is the eldest Son, a Son by eternal
generation; ‘I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever
the earth was.’
Prov 8: 23. ‘Who shall declare his generation?’
Isa 53: 8. Christ is a Son to the Father, as he is of the
same nature with the Father, having all the incommunicable properties of
the Godhead belonging to him; but we are sons of God by adoption and
grace, ‘That we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4: 5.
What is
that which makes God our Father?
Faith.
‘Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.’
Gal 3: 26. An unbeliever may call God his Creator, and his
Judge, but not his Father. Faith legitimises us, and makes us of the
blood-royal of heaven. ‘Ye are the children of God by faith.’ Baptism
makes us church members, but faith makes us children. Without faith the
devil can show as good a coat of arms as we can.
How does
faith make God to be our Father?
As it is
a uniting grace. By faith we have coalition and union with Christ, and
so the kindred comes in; being united to Christ, the natural Son, we
become adopted sons. God is the Father of Christ; faith makes us
Christ’s brethren, and so God comes to be our Father.
Heb 2: 11.
Wherein
does it appear that God is the best Father?
(1) In
that he is most ancient. ‘The Ancient of days did sit.’
Dan 7: 9. A figurative representation of God, who was before
all time, which may cause veneration.
(2) God
is the best Father, because he is perfect. ‘Your Father which is in
heaven is perfect;’ he is perfectly good.
Matt 5: 48. Earthly fathers are subject to infirmities;
Elias, though a prophet, ‘was a man subject to like passions’ (James
5: 17); but God is perfectly good. All the perfection we can
arrive at in this life is sincerity. We may resemble God a little, but
not equal him; he is infinitely perfect.
(3) God
is the best Father in respect of wisdom. ‘The only wise God.’
1 Tim 1: 17. He has a perfect idea of wisdom in himself; he
knows the fittest means to bring about his own designs. The angels light
at his lamp. In particular, one branch of his wisdom is, that he knows
what is best for us. An earthly parent knows not, in some intricate
cases, how to advise his child, or what may be best for him to do; but
God is a most wise Father; he knows what is best for us; he knows what
comfort is best for us: he keeps his cordials for fainting. ‘God that
comforteth those that are cast down.’
2 Cor 7: 6. He knows when affliction is best for us, and when
it is fit to give a bitter potion. ‘If need be ye are in heaviness.’
1 Pet 1: 6. He is the only wise God; he knows how to make
evil things work for good to his children.
Rom 8: 28. He can make a sovereign treacle of poison. Thus he
is the best Father for wisdom.
(4) He
is the best Father, because the most loving. ‘God is love.’
1 John 4: 16. He who causes bowels of affection in others,
must needs have more bowels himself;
quod efficit
tale [for he accomplishes the
same]. The affections in parents are but marble and adamant in
comparison of God’s love to his children; he gives them the cream of his
love — electing love, saving love. ‘He will rejoice over thee with joy;
he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.’
Zeph 3: 17. No father like God for love; if thou art his
child thou canst not love thy own soul so entirely as he loves thee.
(5) He
is the best Father, for riches. He has land enough to give to all his
children; he has unsearchable riches.
Eph 3: 8. He gives the hidden manna, the tree of life, rivers
of joy. He has treasures that cannot be exhausted, gates of pearl,
pleasures that cannot be ended. If earthly fathers should be ever
giving, they would have nothing left to give; but God is ever giving to
his children, and yet has not the less. His riches are imparted not
impaired; like the sun that still shines, and yet has not less light. He
cannot be poor who is infinite. Thus he is the best Father; he gives
more to his children than any father or prince can bestow.
(6) God
is the best Father, because he can reform his children. When his son
takes bad courses, a father knows not how to make him better; but God
knows how to make the children of the election better: he can change
their hearts. When Paul was breathing out persecution against the
saints, God soon altered his course, and set him praying. ‘Behold, he
prayeth.’
Acts 9: 11. None of those who belong to the election are so
roughcast and unhewn but God can polish them with his grace, and make
them fit for the inheritance.
(7) God
is the best Father, because he never dies. ‘Who only has immortality.’
1 Tim. 6: 16. Earthly fathers die, and their children are
exposed to many injuries, but God lives for ever. ‘I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending.’
Rev 1: 8. God’s crown has no successors.
Wherein
lies the dignity of those who have God for their Father?
(1) They
have greater honour than is conferred on the princes of the earth; they
are precious in God’s esteem. ‘Since thou wast precious in my sight,
thou hast been honourable.’
Isa 43: 4. The wicked are dross (Psa
119: 119), and chaff (Psa
1: 4); but God numbers his children among his jewels.
Mal 3: 17. He writes all his children’s names in the book of
life. ‘Whose names are in the book of life.’
Phil 4: 3. Among the Romans the names of their senators were
written down in a book,
patres
conscripti [the enrolled
fathers]. God enrols the names of his children, and will not blot them
out of the register. ‘I will not blot his name out of the book of life.’
Rev 3: 5. God will not be ashamed of his children. ‘God is
not ashamed to be called their God.’
Heb 11: 16. One might think it were something below God to
father such children as are dust and sin mingled; but he is not ashamed
to be called our God. That we may see he is not ashamed of his children,
he writes his own name upon them. ‘I will write upon him the name of my
God;’ that is, I will openly acknowledge him before all the angels to be
my child; I will write my name upon him, as the son bears his father’s
name.
Rev 3: 12. What an honour and dignity is this!
(2) God
confers honourable titles upon his children. He calls them the excellent
of the earth, or the magnificent, as Junius renders it.
Psa 16: 3. They must needs be excellent who are
e regio
sanguine nati, of the blood
royal of heaven; they are the spiritual phoenixes of the world, the
glory of the creation. God calls his children his glory. ‘Israel, my
glory.’
Isa 46: 13. He honours his people with the title of kings.
‘And has made us kings.’
Rev 1: 6. All God’s children are kings, though they have not
earthly kingdoms. They carry a kingdom about them. ‘The kingdom of God
is within you. ‘Grace is a kingdom set up in the hearts of God’s
children.
Luke 17: 21. They are kings to rule over their sins, to bind
those kings in chains.
Psa 149: 8. They are like kings. They have their insignia
regalia, their ensigns of royalty and majesty. They have their crown. In
this life they are kings in disguise; they are not known, therefore they
are exposed to poverty and reproach. ‘Now are we the sons of God, and it
does not yet appear what we shall be.’
1 John 3: 2. Why, what shall we be? Every son of God shall
have his crown of glory, and white robes.
1 Pet 5: 4;
Rev. 6: 2: Robes signify dignity, and white signifies
sanctity.
(3) The
honour of those who have God for their Father is, that they are all
heirs; the youngest son is an heir. God’s children are heirs to the
things of this life. God being their Father, they have the best title to
earthly things, they have a sanctified right to them. Though they have
often the least share, they have the best right; and with what they have
they have the blessing of God’s love and favour. Others may have more of
the venison, but God’s children have more of the blessing. Thus they are
heirs to the things of this life. They are heirs to the other world.
‘Heirs of salvation’ (Heb
1: 14); ‘Joint heirs with Christ’ (Rom
8: 17). They are co-sharers with Christ in glory. Among men
the eldest son commonly carries away all; but God’s children are all —
joint-heirs with Christ, they have a co-partnership with him in his
riches. Has Christ a place in the celestial mansions? So have the
saints. ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place
for you.’
John 14: 2. Has he his Father’s love? So have they. ‘That the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them.’
Psa 146: 8;
John 17: 26. Does he sit upon a throne? So do God’s children.
Rev 3: 21. What a high honour is this!
(4) God
makes his children equal in honour to the angels.
Luke 20: 36. They are equal to the angels; nay, those saints
who have God for their Father, are in some sense superior to the angels;
for Jesus Christ having taken our nature,
naturam
nostram nobilitavit, says
Augustine, has ennobled and honoured it above the angelic.
Heb 2: 16. God has made his children, by adoption, nearer to
himself than the angels. The angels are the friends of Christ: believers
are his members, and this honour have all the saints. What a comfort is
this to God’s children who are here despised, and loaded with calumnies
and invectives! ‘We are made as the filth of the world,’ etc.
1 Cor 4: 13. But God will put honour upon his children at the
last day, and crown them with immortal bliss, to the envy of their
adversaries.
How may
we know that God is our Father? All cannot say, ‘Our Father.’ The Jews
boasted that God was their Father. ‘We have one Father, even God.’
John 8: 41. Christ tells them their true pedigree. ‘Ye are of
your father the devil;’
ver 44. They who are of Satanic spirits, and make use of
their power to beat down the power of godliness, cannot say, God is
their Father; they may say, ‘Our father who art in hell.’ How then may
we know that God is our Father?
(1) By
having a filial disposition, which is seen in four things. [1] To melt
in tears for sin as a child weeps for offending his father: When Christ
looked on Peter, and Peter remembered his sin in denying him, he fell to
weeping. Clemens Alexandrinus reports of Peter that he never heard a
cock crow but he wept. It is a sign that God is our Father when the
heart of stone is taken away, and there is a gracious thaw in the heart;
and it melts into tears for sin. He who has a childlike heart, mourns
for sin in a spiritual manner, as it is sin he grieves for, as it is an
act of pollution. Sin deflowers the virgin soul; it defaces God’s image;
it turns beauty into deformity; it is called the plague of the heart.
1 Kings 8: 38. A child of God mourns for the defilement of
sin; sin has to him a blacker aspect than hell.
He who
has a childlike heart, grieves for sin, as it is an act of enmity. Sin
is diametrically opposed to God. It is called walking contrary to God.
‘If they shall confess their iniquity, and that they have walked
contrary unto me.’
Lev 26: 40. It does all it can to spite God; if God be of one
mind, sin will be of another; sin would not only enthrone God, but
strike at his very being. If sin could help it, God would no longer be
God. A childlike heart grieves for this; ‘Oh!’ say she, ‘that I should
have so much enmity in me, that my will should be no more subdued to the
will of my heavenly Father!’ This springs a leak of godly sorrow.
A
childlike heart weeps for sin, as it is an act of ingratitude. It is an
abuse of God’s love; it is taking the jewels of his mercies, and making
use of them to sin. God has done more for his children than others; he
has planted his grace and given them some intimations of his favour; and
to sin against kindness, dyes a sin in grain, and makes it crimson; like
Absalom, who soon as his Father kissed him, and took him into favour,
plotted treason against him. Nothing so melts a childlike heart in
tears, as sins of unkindness. Oh, that I should sin against the blood of
a Saviour, and the bowels of a Father! I condemn ingratitude in my
child, yet I am guilty of ingratitude against my heavenly Father. This
opens a vein of godly sorrow, and makes the heart bleed afresh.
Certainly it evidences God to be our Father, when he has given us a
childlike frame of heart, to weep for sin as it is sin, an act of
pollution, enmity and ingratitude. A wicked man may mourn for the bitter
fruit of sin, but only a child of God can grieve for its odious nature.
[2] A
filial disposition is to be full of sympathy. We lay to heart the
dishonours reflected upon our heavenly Father. When we see his worship
adulterated, and his truth mingled with the poison of error, it is as a
sword in our bones, to see his glory suffer. ‘I beheld the transgressors
and was grieved. ’
Psa 119: 158. Homer describing Agamemnon’s grief when forced
to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, brings in all his friends weeping
and condoling with him; so, when God is dishonoured, we sympathise, and
are as it were clad in mourning. A child that has any good nature, is
cut to the heart to hear his father reproached; so an heir of heaven
takes a dishonour done to God more heinous than a disgrace done to
himself.
[3] A
filial disposition, is to love our heavenly Father. He is unnatural that
does not love his father. God who is crowned with excellency, is the
proper object of delight; and every true child of God says as Peter,
‘Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.’ But who will not say he loves
God? If ours be a true genuine love to our heavenly Father, it may be
known by the effects. Then we have a holy fear. There is the fear which
rises from love to God, of losing the visible tokens of his presence.
Eli’s ‘heart trembled for the ark.’
1 Sam 4: 13. It is not said his heart trembled for his two
sons Hophni and Phinehas; but his heart trembled for the ark, because
the ark was the special sign of God’s presence; and if that were taken,
the glory was departed. He who loves his heavenly Father, fears lest the
tokens of his presence should be removed, lest profaneness should break
in like a flood, lest Popery should get head, and God should go from his
people. The presence of God in his ordinances is the glory and strength
of a nation. The Trojans had the image of Dallas, and they had an
opinion that as long as that image was preserved among them, they should
never be conquered; so, as long as God’s presence is with a people they
are safe. Every true child of God fears lest God should go, and the
glory depart. Let us try by this whether we have a filial disposition.
Do we love God, and does this love cause fear and jealousy? Are we
afraid lest we should lose God’s presence, lest the Sun of Righteousness
should remove out of our horizon? Many are afraid lest they should lose
some of their worldly profits, but not lest they should lose the
presence of God. If they may have peace and trading, they care not what
becomes of the ark of God. A true child of God fears nothing so much as
the loss of his Father’s presence. ‘Woe to them when I depart from
them.’
Hos 9: 12.
Love to
our heavenly Father is seen by loving his day. ‘If thou call the Sabbath
a delight.’
Isa 58: 13. The ancients called this
regina dierum,
the queen of days. If we love our Father in heaven, we spend this day in
devotion, in reading, hearing, meditating; on this day manna falls
double. God sanctified the Sabbath; he made all the other days in the
week, but he has sanctified this day; this day he has crowned with a
blessing. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his children.
‘Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten
of him.’
1 John 5: 1. If we love God, the more we see of him in any,
the more we love them. We love then though they are poor, as a child
loves to see his father’s picture, though hung in a mean frame. We love
the children of our Father, though they are persecuted. ‘Onesiphorus was
not ashamed of my chain.’
2 Tim 1: 16. Constantine kissed the hole of Paphnusius’s eye,
because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ. They have no love to
God, who have no love to his children; they care not for their company;
they have a secret disgust and antipathy against them. Hypocrites
pretend great reverence to departed saints; they canonise dead saints,
but persecute living ones. I may say of these, as the apostle in
Heb 12: 8: they are ‘bastards, not sons.’
If we
love our heavenly Father, we shall be advocates for him, and stand up in
the defence of his truth. He who loves his father will plead for him
when he is traduced and wronged. He has no childlike heart, no love to
God, who can hear his name dishonoured and be silent. Does Christ appear
for us in heaven, and are we afraid to appear for him on earth? Such as
dare not own God and religion in times of danger, God will be ashamed to
be called their God; it will be a reproach to him to have such children
as will not own him. A childlike love to God is known by its degree. We
love our Father in heaven above all other things; above estate, or
relations, as oil runs above the water.
Psa 73: 25. A child of God seeing a supereminence of goodness
and a constellation of all beauties in him, is carried out in love to
him in the highest measure. As God gives his children electing love,
such as he does not bestow upon the wicked, so his children give to him
such love as they bestow upon none else. They give him the flower and
spirits of their love; they love him with a love joined with worship;
this spiced wine they keep only for their Father to drink of.
Cant 8: 2.
[4] A
childlike disposition is seen in honouring our heavenly Father. ‘A son
honoureth his father.’
Mal 1: 6.
We show
our honour to our Father in heaven, by having a reverential awe of him
upon us. ‘Thou shalt fear thy God.’
Lev 25: 17. This reverential fear of God, is when we dare do
nothing that he has forbidden in his Word. ‘How can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?’
Gen 39: 9. It is part of the honour a son gives to a father,
that he fears to displease him. We show our honour to our heavenly
Father, by doing all we can to exalt him and make his excellencies shine
forth. Though we cannot lift him up higher in heaven, yet we may lift
him higher in our hearts, and in the esteem of others. When we speak
well of God, set forth his renown, display the trophies of his goodness;
when we ascribe the glory of all we do to him; when we are the
trumpeters of his praise; this is honouring our Father in heaven, and a
sure sign of a childlike heart. ‘Whose offereth praise, glorifieth me.’
Psa 123.
(2) We
may know God is our Father by resembling him. The child is his father’s
picture. ‘Each one resembled the children of a king’, every child of God
resembles the king of heaven.
Judg 8: 18. Herein God’s adopted children and man’s differ. A
man adopts one for his son and heir that does not at all resemble him;
but whomsoever God adopts for his child is like him; he not only bears
his heavenly Father’s name, but his image. ‘And have put on the new man,
which is renewed after the image of him that created him.’
Col 3: 10. He who has God for his Father, resembles him in
holiness, which is the glory of the Godhead.
Exod 15: 11. The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of
his essence. He who has God for his Father, partakes of the divine
nature; though not of the divine essence, yet of the divine likeness; as
the seal sets its print and likeness upon the wax, so he who has God for
his Father, has the print and effigies of his holiness stamped upon him.
‘Aaron, the saint of the Lord.’
Psa 106: 16. Wicked men desire to be like God hereafter in
glory, but do not affect to be like him here in grace; they give it out
to the world that God is their Father, yet have nothing of God to be
seen in them; they are unclean: they are not only without his image, but
hate it.
(3) We
may know God is our Father by having his Spirit in us. [1] By having the
intercession of the Spirit. It is a Spirit of prayer. ‘Because ye are
sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying
Abba, Father.’
Gal 4: 6. Prayer is the soul’s breathing itself into the
bosom of its heavenly Father. None of God’s children are born dumb.
Implet
Spiritus Sanctus organum suum, et tanquam fila chordarum tangit Spiritus
Dei corda sanctorum [The Holy
Spirit fills his instrument, and the Spirit of God touches the hearts of
the saints like the threads of harp-strings]. Prosper. ‘Behold, he
prayeth.’
Acts 9: 11. But it is not every prayer that evidences God’s
Spirit in us. Such as have no grace may excel in gifts, and affect the
hearts of others in prayer, when their own hearts are not affected; as
the lute makes a sweet sound in the ears of others, but itself is not
sensible.
How
shall we know our prayers to be indited by the Spirit, and so he is our
Father?
When
they are not only vocal, but mental; when they are not only gifts, but
groans.
Rom 8: 26. The best music is in concert: the best prayer is
when the heart and tongue join together in concert.
When
they are zealous and fervent. ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.’
James 5: 16. The eyes melt in prayer, and the heart burns.
Fervency is to prayer as fire to incense, which makes it ascend to
heaven as a sweet perfume.
When
prayer has faith mingled with it. Prayer is the key of heaven, and faith
is the hand that turns it. ‘We cry, Abba, Father.’
Rom 8: 15. ‘We cry,’ there is fervency in prayer; ‘Abba,
Father,’ there is faith. Those prayers suffer shipwreck which dash upon
the rock of unbelief. We may know God is our Father, by having his
Spirit praying in us; as Christ intercedes above, so the Spirit
intercedes within.
[2] By
having the renewing of the Spirit, which is nothing else but
regeneration, which is called a being born of the Spirit.
John 3: 5. This regenerating work of the Spirit is a
transformation, or change of nature. ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind.’
Rom 12: 2. He who is born of God has a new heart: new, not
for substance, but for qualities. The strings of a viol may be the same,
but the tune is altered. Before regeneration, there are spiritual pangs,
much heart-breaking for sin. It is called a circumcision of the heart.
Col 2: 11. In circumcision there was a pain in the flesh; so
in spiritual circumcision there is pain in the heart; there is much
sorrow arising from a sense of guilt and wrath. The jailor’s trembling
was a pang in the new birth.
Acts 16: 29. God’s Spirit is a spirit of bondage before it is
a spirit of adoption. This blessed work of regeneration spreads over the
whole soul; it irradiates the mind; it consecrates the heart, and
reforms the life; though regeneration be but in part, yet it is in every
part.
1 Thess 5: 23. Regeneration is the signature and engraving of
the Holy Ghost upon the soul, the new-born Christian is bespangled with
the jewels of the graces, which are the angels’ glory. Regeneration is
the spring of all true joy. At our first birth we come weeping into the
world, but at our new birth there is cause of rejoicing; for now, God is
our Father, and we are begotten to a lively hope of glory.
1 Pet 1: 3. We may try by this our relation to God. Has a
regenerating work of God’s Spirit passed upon our souls? Are we made of
another spirit, humble and heavenly? This is a good sign of sonship, and
we may say, ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’
[3] We
know God is our Father by having the conduct of the Spirit. We are led
by the Spirit. ‘As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God.’
Rom 8: 14. God’s Spirit does not only quicken us in our
regeneration, but leads us on till we come to the end of our faith. It
is not enough that the child has life, but he must be led every step by
the nurse. ‘I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms.’
Hos 11: 3. As the Israelites had the cloud and pillar of fire
to go before them, and be a guide to them, so God’s Spirit is a guide to
go before us, and lead us into all truth, and counsel us in all our
doubts, and influence us in all our actions. ‘Thou shalt guide me with
thy counsel.’
Psa 73: 24. None can call God Father but such as have the
conduct of the Spirit. Try then what spirit you are led by. Such as are
led by a spirit of envy, lust, and avarice, are not led by the Spirit of
God; it were blasphemy for them to call God Father; they are led by the
spirit of Satan, and may say, ‘Our father which art in hell.’
[4] By
having the witness of the Spirit. ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’
Rom 8: 16. This witness of the Spirit, suggesting that God is
our Father, is not a vocal witness or voice from heaven. The Spirit in
the word witnesseth: the Spirit in the word says, he who is qualified,
who is a hater of sin and a lover of holiness, is a child of God, and
God is his Father. If I can find such qualifications wrought, it is the
Spirit witnessing with my spirit that I am a child of God. Besides, we
may carry it higher. The Spirit of God witnesses to our spirit by making
more than ordinary impressions upon our hearts, and giving some secret
hints and whispers that God has purposes of love to us, which is a
concurrent witness of the Spirit with conscience, that we are heirs of
heaven, and God is our Father. This witness is better felt than
expressed; it scatters doubts and fears, and silences temptations. But
what shall one do that has not this witness of the Spirit? If we want
the witness of the Spirit let us labour to find the work of the Spirit;
if we have not the Spirit testifying, let us labour to have it
sanctifying, and that will be a support to us.
(4) If
God be our Father, we are of peaceable spirits. ‘Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’
Matt 5: 9. Grace infuses a sweet, amicable disposition; it
files off the ruggedness of men’s spirits; it turns the lion-like
fierceness into a lamb-like gentleness.
Isa 11: 7. They who have God to be their Father follow peace
as well as holiness. God the Father is called the ‘God of peace,’
Heb 13: 20: God the Son, the ‘Prince of Peace,’
Isa 9: 6: God the Holy Ghost, a Spirit of peace; ‘the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’
Eph 4: 3. The more peaceable, the more like God. God is not
the Father of those who are fierce and cruel, as if, with Romulus, they
had sucked the milk of a wolf ‘The way of peace have they not known.’
Rom 3: 17. They sport in mischief, and are of a persecuting
spirit, as Maximinus, Diocletian, Antiochus, who, as Eusebius says, took
more tedious journeys, and ran more hazards in vexing and persecuting
the Jews, than any of his predecessors had done in obtaining victories.
These furies cannot call God Father. If they do, they will have as
little comfort in saying Father, as Dives had in hell, when he said,
‘Father Abraham.’
Luke 16: 24. Nor can those who are makers of division. ‘Mark
them which cause divisions, and avoid them.’
Rom 16: 17. Such as are born of God, are makers of peace.
What shall we think of such as are makers of divisions? Will God father
these? The devil made the first division in heaven. They may call the
devil father; they may give the cloven foot in their coat of arms; their
sweetest music is in discord; they unite to divide. Samson’s fox tails
were tied together only to set the Philistine’ corn on fire.
Judges 15: 4. Papists unite only to set the church’s peace on
fire. Satan’s kingdom grows up by making divisions. Chrysostom observes
of the church of Corinth, that when many converts were brought in, Satan
knew no better way to dam up the current of religion than to throw in an
apple of strife, and divide them into parties: one was for Paul, and
another for Apollo, but few for Christ. Would Christ not have his coat
rent, and can he endure to have his body rent? Surely, God will never
father them who are not sons of peace. Of all those whom God hates, he
is named for one who is a sower of discord among brethren.
Prov 6: 19.
(5) If
God be our Father, we shall love to be near him, and to have converse
with him. An ingenuous child delights to approach near to his father,
and go into his presence. David envied the birds that built their nest
near to God’s altars, when he was debarred his Father’s house.
Psa 84: 3. True saints love to get as near to God as they
can. In the word they draw near to his holy oracle, in the sacrament
they draw near to his table. A child of God delights to be in his
Father’s presence; he cannot stay away long from God; he sees a
Sabbath-day approaching, and rejoices; his heart has been often melted
and quickened in an ordinance; he has tasted that the Lord is good,
therefore he loves to be in his Father’s presence; he cannot keep away
long from God. Such as care not for ordinances cannot say, ‘Our Father
which art in heaven.’ Is God the Father of those who cannot endure to be
in his presence?
Use 1.
For instruction. See the amazing goodness of God, that he is pleased to
enter into the sweet relation of a Father to us. He needed not to adopt
us, he did not want a Son, but we wanted a Father. He showed power in
being our Maker, but mercy in being our Father. That when we were
enemies, and our hearts stood out as garrisons against God, he should
conquer our stubbornness, and of enemies make us children, and write his
name, and put his image upon us, and bestow a kingdom of glory; what a
miracle of mercy is this! Every adopted child may say, ‘Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight.’
Matt 11: 26.
If God
be a Father, then I infer that whatever he does to his children, is in
love.
(1) If
he smiles upon them in prosperity, it is in love. They have the world
not only with God’s leave, but with his love. He says to every child of
his, as Naaman to Gehazi, ‘Be content, take two talents.’
2 Kings 5: 23. So God says to his child, ‘I am thy Father,
take two talents.’ Take health, and take my love with it; take an
estate, and take my love with it: take two talents. His love is a
sweetening ingredient in every mercy.
How does
it appear that a child of God has worldly things in love?
Because
he has a good title to them. God is his father, therefore he has a good
title. A wicked man has a civil title to the creature, but no more; he
has it not from the hand of a father; he is like one that takes up cloth
at the draper’s, and it is not paid for; but a believer has a good title
to every foot of land he has, for his Father has settled it upon him.
A child
of God has worldly things in love, because they are sanctified to him.
They make him better, and are loadstones to draw him nearer to God. He
has his Father’s blessing with them. A little that is blest is sweet.
‘He shall bless thy bread and thy water.’
Exod 23: 25. Esau had the venison, but Jacob got the
blessing. While the wicked have their meat sauced with God’s wrath,
believers have their comforts seasoned with a blessing.
Psa 78: 30, 31. It was a sacred blessing from God that made
Daniel’s pulse nourish him more, and made him look fairer than they that
ate of the king’s meat.
Dan 1: 15.
A child
of God has worldly things in love, because whatever he has is an earnest
of more; every bit of bread is a pledge and earnest of glory.
(2) God
being a Father, if he frown, if he dip his pen in gall, and write bitter
things, if he correct, it is in love. A father loves his child as well
when he chastises and disciplines him, as when he settles his land on
him. ‘As many as I love, I rebuke.’
Rev 3: 19. Afflictions are sharp arrows, says Gregory
Nazianzen, but they are shot from the hand of a loving Father.
Correctio est
virtutis gymnasium [Correction
is the school of character]. God afflicts with love: he does it to
humble and purify. Gentle correction is as necessary as daily bread;
nay, as needful as ordinances, as word and sacraments. There is love in
all: God smites that he may save.
(3) God
being a Father, if he desert and hide his face from his child, it is in
love. Desertion is sad in itself, a short hell.
Job 6: 9. When the light is withdrawn, the dew falls. Yet we
may see a rainbow in the cloud — the love of a Father in all this. God
hereby quickens grace. Perhaps grace lay dormant.
Cant 5: 2. It was as fire in the embers, and God withdrew
comfort to invigorate and exercise it. Faith as a star sometimes shines
brightest in the dark night of desertion.
Jonah 2: 4. When God hides his face from his child, he is
still a Father, and his heart is towards his child. As when Joseph spake
roughly to his brethren, and made them believe he would take them for
spies, his heart was full of love, and he was fain to go aside and weep;
so God’s bowels yearn towards his children when he seems to look
strange. ‘In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.’
Isa 54: 8. Though God may have the look of an enemy, yet
still he has the heart of a Father.
Learn
hence the sad case of the wicked. They cannot say, ‘Our Father in
heaven;’ they may say, ‘Our Judge,’ but not ‘Our Father;’ they fetch
their pedigree from hell. ‘Ye are of your father the devil.’
John 8: 44. Such as are unclean and profane, are the spurious
brood of the old serpent, and it were blasphemy for them to call God
Father. The case of the wicked is deplorable; if they are in misery,
they have none to make their moan to. God is not their Father, he
disclaims all kindred with them. ‘I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.’
Matt 7: 23. The wicked, dying in their sins, can expect no
mercy from God as a Father. Many say, He that made them will save them;
but ‘It is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them
will not have mercy on them.’
Isa 27: 11. Though God was their Father by creation, yet
because they were not his children by adoption, therefore He that made
them would not save them.
Use 2.
For invitation. Let all who are yet strangers to God, labour to come
into this heavenly kindred; never cease till they can say, ‘Our Father
which art in heaven.’
But will
God be a Father to me, who has profaned his name, and been a great
sinner?
If thou
wilt now at last seek God by prayer, and break off thy sins, he has the
bowels of a Father for thee, and will in nowise cast thee out. When the
prodigal arose and went to his father, ‘his father had compassion, and
ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.’
Luke 15: 20. Though thou hast been a prodigal, and almost
spent all upon thy lusts, yet if thou wilt give a bill of divorce to thy
sins, and flee to God by repentance, know that he has the bowels of a
Father; he will embrace thee in the arms of his mercy, and seal thy
pardon with a kiss. What though thy sins have been heinous? The wound is
not so broad as the plaister of Christ’s blood. The sea covers great
rocks; the sea of God’s compassion can drown thy great sins; therefore
be not discouraged, go to God, resolve to cast thyself upon his Fatherly
compassion. He may be entreated of thee, as he was of Manasseh.
2 Chron 33: 13.
Use 3.
For comfort. Here is comfort for such as can, upon good grounds, call
God Father. There is more sweetness in this word Father than if we had
ten thousand worlds. David thought it a great matter to be son-in-law to
a king. ‘What is my father’s family, that I should be son-in-law to the
king?’
1 Sam 18: 18. But what is it to be born of God, and have him
for our Father?
Wherein
lies the happiness of having God for our Father?
(1) If
God be our Father, he will teach us. What father will refuse to counsel
his son? Does God command parents to instruct their children, and will
not he instruct his?
Deut 4: 10. ‘I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to
profit.’
Isa 48: 17. ‘O God, thou hast taught me from my youth.’
Psa 71: 17. If God be our Father, he will give us the
teachings of his Spirit. ‘The natural man receiveth not the things of
God, neither can he know them.’
1 Cor 2: 14. The natural man may have excellent notions in
divinity but God must teach us to know the mysteries of the gospel after
a spiritual manner. A man may see the figures upon a dial, but he cannot
tell how the day goes unless the sun shines; so we may read many truths
in the Bible, but we cannot know them savingly, till God by his Spirit
shines upon our soul. God teaches not only our ear, but our heart; he
not only informs our mind, but inclines our will. We never learn aught
till God teach us. If he be our Father, he will teach us how to order
our affairs with discretion (Psa
112: 5) and how to carry ourselves wisely. ‘David behaved
himself wisely.’
1 Sam 18: 5. He will teach us what to answer when we are
brought before governors; he will put words into our mouths. ‘Ye shall
be brought before governors and kings for my sake; but take no thought
how or what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit
of your Father which speaketh in you.’
Matt 10: 18, 19, 20.
(2) If
God be our Father, he has bowels of affection towards us. If it be so
unnatural for a father not to love his child, can we think God can be
defective in his love? All the affections of parents come from God, yet
are they but a spark from his flame. He is the Father of mercies.
2 Cor 1: 3. He begets all the mercies and bowels in the
creature; his love to his children is a love which passeth knowledge.
Eph 3: 19. It exceeds all dimensions; it is higher than
heaven, it is broader than the sea. That you may see God’s fatherly love
to his children: Consider, God makes a precious valuation of them.
‘Since thou wast precious in my sight.’
Isa 43: 4. A father prizes his child above his jewels. Their
names are precious, for they have God’s own name written upon them. ‘I
will write upon him the name of my God.’
Rev 3: 12. Their prayers are a precious perfume; their tears
he bottles.
Psa 56: 8. He esteems his children as a crown of glory in his
hands.
Isa 62: 3. God loves the places where they were born in for
their sakes. ‘Of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in
her’; this and that believer was born there.
Psa 87: 5. He loves the ground his children tread upon;
hence, Judea, the seat of his children and chosen ones, he calls a
delight some land.
Mal 3: 12. It was not only pleasant for situation and
fruitfulness, but because his children, who were his Hephzibah, or
delight, lived there. He charges the great ones of the world not to
injure his children, because their persons are sacred. ‘He suffered no
man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying,
Touch not mine anointed.’
Psa 105: 14, 15. By anointed is meant the children of the
high God, who have the unction of the Spirit, and are set apart for God.
He delights in their company. He loves to see their countenance, and
hear their voice.
Cant 2: 14. He cannot refrain long from their company; let
but two or three of his children meet and pray together, he will be sure
to be among them. ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.’
Matt 18: 20. He bears his children in his bosom, as a nursing
father does the sucking child.
Numb 11: 12;
Isa 46: 4. To be carried in God’s bosom shows how near his
children lie to his heart. He is full of solicitous care for them. ‘He
cares for you.’
1 Peter 5: 7. His eye is still upon them, they are never out
of his thoughts. A father cannot always take care for his child, he
sometimes is asleep; but God is a Father that never sleeps. ‘He shall
neither slumber nor sleep.’
Psa 121: 4. He thinks nothing too good to part with for his
children; he gives them the kidneys of the wheat, and honey out of the
rock, and ‘wines on the lees well refined.’
Isa 25: 6. He gives them three jewels more worth than heaven
— the blood of his Son, the grace of his Spirit, and the light of his
countenance. Never was there such an indulgent, affectionate Father. If
he has one love better than another, he bestows it upon them; they have
the cream and quintessence of his love. ‘He will rejoice over thee, he
will rest in his love.’
Zeph 3: 17. He loves his children with such a love as he
loves Christ.
John 17: 26. It is the same love, for the unchangeableness of
it. God will no more cease to love his adopted sons than he will to love
his natural Son.
(3) If
God be our Father, he will be full of sympathy. ‘As a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.’
Psa 103: 13. ‘Is Ephraim my dear son? my bowels are troubled
for him.’
Jer 31: 20. God pities his children in two cases.
[1] In
case of infirmities. If the child be deformed, or has any bodily
distemper, the father pities it; so, if God be our Father, he pities our
weaknesses: and he so pities them as to heal them. ‘I have seen his
ways, and will heal him.’
Isa 57: 18. As he has bowels to pity, so he has balsam to
heal.
[2] In
case of injuries. Every blow of the child goes to the father’s heart;
so, when the saints suffer, God sympathises. ‘In all their affliction he
was afflicted.’
Isa 63: 9. He did, as it were, bleed in their wounds. ‘Saul,
Saul, why persecutes thou me?’ When the foot was trod on, the head cried
out. God’s soul was grieved for the children of Israel.
Judges 10: 16. As when one string in a lute is touched, all
the rest sound; so when God’s children are stricken, his bowels sound.
‘He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.’
Zech 2: 8.
(4) If
God be our Father, he will take notice of the least good he sees in us;
if there be but a sigh for sin, he hears it. ‘My groaning is not hid
from thee.’
Psa 38: 9. If but a penitential tear comes out of the eye he
sees it. ‘I have seen thy tears.’
Isa 38: 5. If there be but a good intention, he takes notice
of it. ‘Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name,
thou didst well that it was in thine heart.’
1 Kings 8: 18. He punishes intentional wickedness, and crowns
intentional goodness. ‘Thou didst well that it was in thine heart,’ He
takes notice of the least scintilla, the least spark of grace in his
children. ‘Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’
1 Peter 3: 6. The Holy Ghost does not mention Sara’s
unbelief, or laughing at the promise; he puts a finger upon the scar,
winks at her failing, and only takes notice of the good that was in her,
her obedience to her husband — she ‘obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’
Nay, that good which the saints scarce take notice of in themselves, God
in a special manner observes. ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. Then shall the righteous answer,
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee?’
Matt 25: 35, 37. They as it were overlooked and disclaimed
their own works of charity, but Christ takes notice of them — ‘I was an
hungred, and ye fed me.’ What comfort is this! God spies the least good
in his children; he can see a grain of corn hid under chaff, grace hid
under corruption.
(5) If
God be our Father, he will take all we do in good part. Those duties
which we ourselves censure he will crown. When a child of God looks over
his best duties, he sees so much sin cleaving to them that he is
confounded. ‘Lord,’ he says, ‘there is more sulphur than incense in my
prayers.’ But for your comfort, if God be your Father, he will crown
those duties which you yourselves censure. He sees there is sincerity in
the hearts of his children, and this gold, though light, shall have
grains of allowance. Though there may be many defects in the services of
his children, he will not cast away their offering. ‘The Lord healed the
people.’
2 Chron 30: 20. The tribes of Israel, being straitened in
time, wanted some legal purifications; yet because their hearts were
right God healed them and pardoned them. He accepts of the good will.
2 Cor 8: 12. A father takes a letter from his son kindly,
though there are blots or bad English in it. What blotting are there in
our holy things! Yet our Father in heaven accepts them. ‘It is my
child,’ God says, ‘and he will do better; I will look upon him, through
Christ, with a merciful eye.’
(6) If
God be our Father, he will correct us in measure. ‘I will correct thee
in measure.’
Jer 30: 11. This he will do two ways. It shall be in measure
for the kind. He will not lay upon us more than we are able to bear.
1 Cor 10: 13. He knows our frame.
Psa 103: 14. He knows we are not steel or marble, therefore
will deal gently, he will not over-afflict. As the physician, who knows
the temper of the body, will not give physic too strong for the body,
nor give one drachm or scruple too much, so God, who has not only the
title, but the bowels of a father, will not lay too heavy burdens on his
children, lest their spirits fail before him. He will correct in
measure, for duration; he will not let the affliction lie too long. ‘The
rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous,’
Psa 125: 3. It may be there, but not rest. ‘I will not
contend for ever.’
Isa 57: 16. Our heavenly Father will love for ever, but he
will not contend for ever. The torments of the damned are for ever. ‘The
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.’
Rev 14: 11. The wicked shall drink a sea of wrath, but God’s
children only taste of the cup of affliction, and their heavenly Father
will say, transeat calix, ‘let this cup pass away from them.’
Isa 35: 10.
(7) If
God be our Father, he will intermix mercy with all our afflictions. If
he gives us wormwood to drink, he will mix it with honey. In the ark the
rod was laid up and manna; so with our Father’s rod there is always some
manna. Asher’s shoes were iron and brass, but his foot was dipped in
oil.
Deut 33: 24, 25. Affliction is the shoe of brass that
pinches; but there is mercy in the affliction, there is the foot dipped
in oil. When God afflicts the body, he gives peace of conscience; there
is mercy in the affliction. An affliction comes to prevent falling into
sin; there is mercy in an affliction. Jacob had his thigh hurt in
wrestling; there was the affliction: but when he saw God’s face, and
received a blessing from the angel, there was mercy in the affliction.
Gen 32: 30. In every cloud a child of God may see a rainbow
of mercy shining. As the painter mixeth dark shadows and bright colours
together, so our heavenly Father mingles the dark and bright together,
crosses and blessings; and is not this a great happiness, for God thus
to cheques his providence, and mingle goodness with severity?
(8) If
God be our Father, the evil one shall not prevail against us. Satan is
called the evil one, emphatically. He is the grand enemy of the saints;
and that both in a military sense, as he fights against them with his
temptations; and in a forensic or law sense, as he is an accuser, and
pleads against them; yet neither way shall he prevail against God’s
children. As for shooting his fiery darts, God will bruise Satan shortly
under the saints’ feet.
Rom 16: 20. As for his accusing, Christ is an advocate for
the saints, and answers all bills of indictment brought against them.
God will make all Satan’s temptations promote the good of his children.
[1] As they set them praying.
2 Cor 12: 8. Temptation is a medicine for security. [2] As
they are a means to humble them. ‘Lest I should be exalted above
measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan.’
2 Cor 12: 7. The thorn in the flesh was a temptation; it was
to prick the bladder of pride. [3] As they establish them more in grace.
A tree shaken by the wind is more settled and rooted; so the blowing of
a temptation does but settle a child of God more in grace. Thus the evil
one, Satan, shall not prevail against the children of God.
(9) If
God be our Father, no real evil shall befall us. ‘There shall no evil
befall thee.’
Psa 91: 10. It is not said, no trouble; but, no evil. God’s
children are privileged persons; they are privileged from being hurt of
every thing. ‘Nothing shall by any means hurt you.’
Luke 10: 19. The hurt and malignity of the affliction is
taken away. Affliction to a wicked man has evil in it; it makes him
worse. ‘Men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of
God.’
Rev 16: 9. But no evil befalls a child of God; he is bettered
by affliction. ‘That we might be made partakers of his holiness.’
Heb 12: 10. What hurt does the furnace to the gold? It only
makes it purer. What hurt does affliction to grace? Only refine and
purify it. What a great privilege it is to be freed, though not from the
stroke, yet from the sting of affliction! No evil shall touch a saint.
When the dragon, say they, has poisoned the water, the unicorn with his
horn draws out the poison. Christ has drawn the poison out of every
affliction, that it cannot injure a child of God. Again, no evil befalls
a child of God, because no condemnation. ‘No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus.’
Rom 8: 1. God does not condemn them, nor does conscience.
When both jury and judge acquit, no evil befalls the accused; for
nothing is really an evil but that which damns.
(10) If
God be our Father, we may go with cheerfulness to the throne of grace.
Were a man to petition his enemy, there were little hope; but when a
child petitions his father, he may hope with confidence to succeed. The
word ‘Father’ works upon God; it toucheth his very bowels. What can a
father deny his child? ‘If his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?’
Matt 7: 9. This may embolden us to go to God for pardon of
sin, and further degrees of sanctity. We pray to a Father of mercy
sitting upon a throne of grace. ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’
Luke 11: 13. This quickens the church, and adds wing to
prayer. ‘Look down from heaven.’
Isa 63: 15. ‘Doubtless thou art our Father’;
ver 16. For whom does God keep his mercies but for his
children? Three things may give boldness in prayer. We have a Father to
pray to, and the Spirit to help us to pray, and an Advocate to present
our prayers. God’s children should in all their troubles run to their
heavenly Father, as the sick child in
2 Kings 4: 19: ‘He said unto his father, My head, my head.’
So pour out thy complaint to God in prayer. ‘Father, my heart, my heart;
my dead heart, quicken it; my hard heart, soften it in Christ’s blood.
Father, my heart, my heart.’ Surely God, who hears the cry of ravens,
will hear the cry of his children!
(11) If
God be our Father, he will stand between us and danger. A father will
keep off danger from his child. God calls himself Scutum, a shield. As a
shield he defends the head, guards the vitals, and shields off dangers
from his children. ‘I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt
thee.’
Acts 18: 10. God is a hiding-place.
Psa 27: 5. He preserved Athanasius strangely; he put it into
his mind to depart out of the house he was in, the night before the
enemy came to search for him. As God has a breast to feed, so he has
wings to cover his children. ‘He shall cover thee with his feathers, and
under his wings shalt thou trust.’
Psa 91: 4. He appoints his holy angels to be a lifeguard
about his children.
Heb 1: 14. Never was any prince so well guarded as a
believer. The angels [1] are a numerous guard. ‘The mountain was full of
horses of fire round about Elisha.’
2 Kings 6: 17. ‘The horses and chariots of fire’ were the
angels of God to defend the prophet Elisha. [2] A strong guard. One
angel, in a night, slew a hundred and fourscore and five thousand.
2 Kings 19: 35. If one angel slew so many, what would an army
of angels have done? [3] The angels are a swift guard; they are ready in
an instant to help God’s children. They are described with wings to show
their swiftness: they fly to our help. ‘At the beginning of thy
supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come.’
Dan 9: 23. Here was swift motion for the angel, to come from
heaven to earth between the beginning and ending of Daniel’s prayer. [4]
The angels are a watchful guard; not like Saul’s guard, asleep when
their lord was in danger.
1 Sam 26: 12. The angels are a vigilant guard; they watch
over God’s children to defend them. ‘The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him.’
Psa 34: 7. There is an invisible guardianship of angels about
God’s children.
(12) If
God be our Father, we shall not want anything that he sees to be good
for us. ‘They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.’
Psa 34: 10. God is pleased sometimes to keep his children on
hard commons, but it is good for them. As sheep thrive best on short
pasture, so God sees too much may not be good for his people; plenty
might breed surfeit.
Luxuriant
animi rebus secundis [In
prosperity men’s characters run riot]. God sees it good sometimes to
diet his children, and keep them short, that they may run the heavenly
race the better. It was good for Jacob that there was a famine in the
land; it was the means of bringing him to his son Joseph; so God’s
children sometimes see the world’s emptiness, that they may acquaint
themselves more with Christ’s fulness. If God sees it to be good for
them to have more of the world, they shall have it. He will not let them
want any good thing.
(13) If
God be our Father, all the promises of the Bible belong to us. His
children are called ‘heirs of promise.’
Heb 6: 17. A wicked man can lay claim to nothing in the Bible
but the curses; he has no more to do absolutely with the promises than a
ploughman has to do with the city charter. The promises are children’s
bread; they are
mulctralia
evangelii, the breasts of the
gospel milking out consolations; and who are to suck these breasts but
God’s children? The promise of pardon is for them. ‘I will pardon all
their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me.’
Jer 33: 8. The promise of healing is for them.
Isa 57: 19. The promise of salvation is for them.
Jer 23: 6. The promises are the supports of faith; they are
God’s sealed deed; they are a Christian’s cordial. Oh, the heavenly
comforts which are distilled from the promises! Chrysostom compares the
Scripture to a garden: the promises are the fruit trees that grow in
this garden. A child of God may go to any promise in the Bible, and
pluck comfort from it; he is an heir of the promise.
(14) God
makes all his children conquerors. They conquer themselves;
fortior est
qui se quam qui fortissima vincit moenia
[he who conquers himself is stronger than he who conquers the stoutest
ramparts]. The saints conquer their own lusts; they bind these princes
in fetters of iron.
Psa 149: 8. Though the children of God may be sometimes
foiled, and lose a single battle, yet not the victory. They conquer the
world. The world holds forth her two breasts of profit and pleasure, and
many are overcome by it; but the children of God have a world-conquering
faith. ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’
1 John 5: 4. They conquer their enemies. How can that be,
when their enemies often take away their lives? They conquer, by not
complying with them; as the three children would not fall down to the
golden image.
Dan 3: 18. They would rather burn than bow. Thus they were
conquerors. He who complies with another’s lust, is a captive; he who
refuses to comply, is a conqueror. God’s children conquer their enemies
by heroic patience. A patient Christian, like the anvil, bears all
strokes invincibly. Thus the martyrs overcame their enemies by patience.
God’s children are more than conquerors. ‘We are more than conquerors.’
Rom 8: 37. How are they more than conquerors? Because they
conquer without loss, and because they are crowned after death, which
other conquerors are not.
(15) If
God be our Father, he will now and then send us some token of his love.
His children live far from home, and meet sometimes with coarse usage
from the unkind world; therefore, to encourage them, he sends them
tokens and pledges of his love. What are these? He gives them an answer
to prayer, which is a token of love; he quickens and enlarges their
hearts in duty, which is a token of love; he gives them the first fruits
of his Spirit, which are love tokens.
Rom 8: 23. As he gives the wicked the first fruits of hell,
horror of conscience and despair, so he gives his children the first
fruits of his Spirit, joy and peace, which are foretastes of glory. Some
of his children, having received those tokens of love from him, have
been so transported, that they have died for joy, as the glass often
breaks with the strength of the wine put into it.
(16) If
God be our Father, he will indulge and spare us. ‘I will spare them, as
a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’
Mal 3: 17. God’s sparing his children, imports his clemency
towards them. He does not punish them as he might. ‘He has not dealt
with us after our sins.’
Psa 103: 10. We often do that which merits wrath, grieve
God’s Spirit, and relapse into sin. God passes by much and spares us. He
did not spare his natural Son, and yet he spares his adopted sons.
Rom 8: 32. He threatened Ephraim to make him as the chaff
driven with the whirlwind, but he soon repented. ‘Yet I am the Lord thy
God.’
Hos 13: 4. ‘I will be thy king;’
ver 10. Here God spared him, as a father spares his son.
Israel often provoked God with their complaints, but he used clemency
towards them; he often answered their murmurings with mercies. Thus he
spared them, as a father spares his son.
(17) If
God be our Father, he will put honour and renown upon us at the last
day. [1] He will clear the innocence of his children. His children in
this life are strangely misrepresented. They are loaded with invectives
— they are called factious, seditious; as Elijah, the troubler of
Israel; and Luther, the trumpet of rebellion. Athanasius was accused to
the Emperor Constantine as the raiser of tumults; and the primitive
Christians were accused as
infanticidii,
incestus rei, ‘killers of their
children, guilty of incest.’ Tertullus reported Paul to be a pestilent
person.
Acts 24: 5. Famous Wycliffe was called the idol of the
heretics, and reported to have died drunk. If Satan cannot defile God’s
children, he will disgrace then; if he cannot strike his fiery darts
into their consciences he will put a dead fly to their names; but God
will one day clear their innocence; he will roll away their reproach. As
he will make a resurrection of bodies, so of names. ‘The Lord God will
wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall
he take away.’
Isa 25: 8. He will be the saints’ vindicator. ‘He shall bring
forth thy righteousness as the light.’
Psa 37: 6. The night casts its dark mantle upon the most
beautiful flowers; but the light comes in the morning and dispels the
darkness, and every flower appears in its orient brightness. So the
wicked may by misreports darken the honour and repute of the saints; but
God will dispel this darkness, and cause their names to shine forth. ‘He
shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.’ Thus God stood up for
the honour of Moses when Aaron and Miriam sought to eclipse his fame.
‘Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’
Numb 12: 8. So God will one day say to the wicked, ‘Wherefore
were ye not afraid to defame and traduce my children? Having my image
upon them, how durst you abuse my picture?’ At last his children shall
come forth out of all their calumnies, as ‘a dove covered with silver,
and her feathers with yellow gold.’
Psa 68: 13. [2] God will make an open and honourable recital
of all their good deeds. As the sins of the wicked shall be openly
mentioned, to their eternal infamy and confusion; so all the good deeds
of the saints shall be openly mentioned, ‘and then shall every man have
praise of God.’
1 Cor 4: 5. Every prayer made with melting eyes, every good
service, every work of charity, shall be openly declared before men and
angels. ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: thirsty, and ye gave me
drink: naked, and ye clothed me.’
Matt 25: 35, 36. Thus God will set a trophy of honour upon
all his children at the last day. ‘Then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’
Matt 13: 43.
(18) If
God be our Father, he will settle a good inheritance upon us. ‘Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, which has begotten us again
unto a lively hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled.’
I Pet 1: 3, 4. A father may have lost his goods, and have
nothing to leave his son but his blessing; but God will settle an
inheritance on his children, and an inheritance no less than a kingdom.
‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’
Luke 12: 32. This kingdom is more glorious and magnificent
than any earthly kingdom; it is set out by pearls, precious stones, and
the richest jewels.
Rev 21: 19. What are all the rarities of the world, the
coasts of pearl, the islands of spices, the rocks of diamonds, to this
kingdom? In this heavenly kingdom is satisfying, unparalleled beauty,
rivers of pleasure, and that for ever. ‘At thy right hand are pleasures
for evermore.’
Psa 16: 2. Heaven’s eminence is its permanence; and this
kingdom God’s children enter into immediately after death. There is a
sudden transition and passage from death to glory. ‘Absent from the
body, present with the Lord.’
2 Cor 5: 8. God’s children shall not wait long for their
inheritance; it is but winking, and they shall see God. How should this
comfort those of God’s children who are low in the world! Your Father in
heaven will settle a kingdom upon you at death, such a kingdom as eye
has not seen; he will give you a crown not of gold, but glory; he will
give you white robes lined with immortality. ‘It is your Father’s good
pleasure to give you the kingdom.’
(19) If
God be our Father, it is a comfort in case of the loss of relations.
Hast thou lost a father? If thou art a believer, thou art no orphan,
thou hast a heavenly Father, a Father that never dies. ‘Who only has
immortality.’
1 Tim 6: 16. It is comfort in case of your own death. God is
thy Father, and death is but going to thy Father. Well might Paul say
death is yours.
1 Cor 3: 22. It is your friend that will carry you home to
your Father. How glad are children when they are going home! It was
Christ’s comfort at death that he was going to his Father. ‘I leave the
world, and go to the Father.’
John 16: 28. ‘I ascend unto my Father.’
John 20: 17. If God be our Father, we may with comfort, at
the day of death, resign our souls into his hand. Thus did Christ.
‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’
Luke 23: 46. If a child has any jewel, he will in time of
danger put it into his father’s hands, where he thinks it will be kept
most safe; so the soul, which is our richest jewel, we may resign at
death into God’s hands, where it will be safer than in our own keeping.
‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’ What a comfort it is that
death carries a believer to his Father’s house, where are delights
unspeakable and full of glory! How glad was old Jacob when he saw the
wagons and chariots to carry him to his son Joseph! ‘The spirit of Jacob
revived.’
Gen 45: 27. Death is a triumphant chariot, to carry every
child of God to his Father’s mansion-house.
(20) If
God be our Father, he will not disinherit us. He may for a time desert
his children, but will not disinherit them. The sons of kings have
sometimes been disinherited by the cruelty of usurpers; as the son of
Alexander the Great was put out of his just right, through the violence
and ambition of his father’s captains; but what power on earth can
hinder the heirs of the promise from their inheritance? Men cannot, and
God will not cut off the entail. The Armenians hold falling away from
grace, so that a child of God may be deprived of his inheritance, but
God’s children can never be degraded or disinherited, and their heavenly
Father will not cast them off from being children. It is evident that
God’s children cannot be finally disinherited, by virtue of the eternal
decree of heaven. God’s decree is the very pillar and basis on which the
saints’ perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so
fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder. ‘Whom he
did predestinate, them he also called,’ &c.
Rom 8: 30. Predestination is nothing else but God’s decreeing
a certain number to be heirs of glory, on whom he will settle the crown;
for whom he predestinates, he glorifies. What shall hinder God’s
electing love, or make his decree null and void? Besides God’s decree,
he has engaged himself by promise, that the heirs of heaven shall never
be put out of their inheritance. His promises are not like blanks in a
lottery, but as a sealed deed which cannot be reversed; they are the
saints’ royal charter; and one promise is that their heavenly Father
will not disinherit them. ‘I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, that I will not turn away from them; but I will put my fear in
their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.’
Jer 32: 40. God’s fidelity, which is the richest pearl of his
crown, is engaged in this promise for his children’s perseverance. ‘I
will not turn away from them.’ A child of God cannot fall away while he
is held fast in these two arms of God — his love, and his faithfulness.
Jesus Christ undertakes that all God’s children by adoption shall be
preserved in a state of grace till they inherit glory. The heathens
feigned of Atlas that he bore up the heavens from falling; but Jesus
Christ is that blessed Atlas that bears up the saints from falling away.
How does
Christ preserve the saints’ graces, till they come to heaven?
(1)
Influxu
Spiritus [By the influence of
the Spirit]. He carries on grace in the souls of the elect, by the
influence and co-operation of his Spirit. He continually excites and
quickens grace in the godly; he by his Spirit blows up the sparks of
grace into a holy flame.
Spiritus est
vicarius Christi; the Spirit is
Christ’s vicar on earth, his proxy, his executor, to see that all that
he has purchased for the saints be made good. Christ has obtained for
them an inheritance incorruptible, and the Spirit is his executor, to
see that the inheritance be settled upon them.
1 Pet 1: 4, 5. (2) He carries on his work perseveringly in
the souls of the elect, by the prevalence of his intercession. ‘He ever
liveth to make intercession for them.’
Heb 7: 25. He prays that every saint may hold out in grace
till he comes to heaven. Can the children of such prayers perish? If the
heirs of heaven should be disinherited, and fall short of glory, then
God’s decree must be reversed, his promise broken, and Christ’s prayer
frustrated, which would be blasphemy to imagine.
(3) That
God’s children cannot be disinherited, or put out of their right to the
crown of heaven, is evident from their mystic union with Christ.
Believers are incorporated into him; they are knit to him as members to
the head, by the nerves and ligaments of faith, so that they cannot be
broken off. ‘The church, which is his body.’
Eph 1: 22, 23. What was once said of Christ’s natural body,
is as true of his mystic body. ‘A bone of it shall not be broken.’ As it
is impossible to sever the leaven and the dough when they are once
mingled and kneaded together, so it is impossible, when Christ and
believers are once united, that they should ever, by the power of death
or hell, be separated. Christ and his spiritual members make one Christ.
Is it possible that any part of Christ should perish? How can Christ
want any member of his mystic body and be perfect? Every member is an
ornament to the body, and adds to the honour of it. How can Christ part
with any mystic member, and not part with some of his glory too? By all
this it is evident that God’s children must needs persevere in grace,
and cannot be disinherited. If they could be disinherited, the Scripture
could not be fulfilled, which tells us of glorious rewards for the heirs
of promise. ‘Verily there is a reward for the righteous.’
Psa 58: 11. If God’s adopted children should fall away
finally from grace, and miss of heaven, what reward would there be for
the righteous? Moses indiscreetly looked for the recompense of the
reward, and a door would be opened to despair.
But the
doctrine of final perseverance, and the certainty of the heavenly
inheritance may lead to carnal security, and unholy walking.
Corrupt
nature may suck poison from this flower; but he who has felt the
efficacy of grace upon his heart, dares not abuse this doctrine. He
knows that perseverance is attained in the use of means, and walks
homily, that in the use of the means he may arrive at perseverance. Paul
knew that he should not be disinherited, and that nothing could separate
him from the love of Christ; but who more holy and watchful than he was?
‘I keep under my body.’
1 Cor 9: 27. ‘I press toward the mark.’
Phil 3: 14. God’s children have a holy fear which keeps them
from self-security and wantonness; they believe the promise, therefore
they rejoice in hope; they fear their hearts, therefore they watch and
pray.
Thus you
see what strong consolation there is for all the heirs of the promise.
Such as have God for their Father are the happiest persons on earth;
they are in such a condition that nothing can hurt them; they have their
Father’s blessing, all things conspire for their good; they have a
kingdom settled on them, and the entail can never be cut off. How
comforted should they be in all conditions, let the times be what they
will! Their Father who is in heaven rules over all. If troubles arise,
they carry them sooner to their Father. The more violently the wind
beats against the sails of a ship, the sooner it is brought to the
haven; and the more fiercely God’s children are assaulted, the sooner
they come to their Father’s house. ‘Wherefore comfort one another with
these words.’
1 Thess 4: 18.
Use 4.
For exhortation. Let us behave ourselves as the children of such a
Father.
(1) Let
us depend upon him in all our straits and exigencies; let us believe
that he will provide for all our wants. Children rely upon their parents
for the supply of their wants. If we trust God for salvation, shall we
not trust him for a livelihood? There is a lawful and prudent care to be
used. But beware of being distrustful. ‘Consider the ravens: for they
neither sow nor reap; and God feedeth them.’
Luke 12: 24. Does God feed the birds of the air, and will he
not feed his children? ‘Consider the lilies how they grow: they spin
not; yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these;’
ver 27. Does God clothe the lilies, and will he not clothe
his lambs? Even the wicked taste of his bounty. ‘Their eyes stand out
with fatness.’
Psa 73: 7. Does God feed his slaves, and will he not feed his
family? His children may not have a liberal share in the things of this
life; they may have but little meal in the barrel; they may be drawn
low, and almost dry; but they shall have as much as God sees to be good
for them. ‘They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.’
Psa 34: 10. If God gives them not
ad voluntaten
[what they want], he will
ad sanitatem
[what is good for them]; if he gives them not always what they crave, he
will give them what they need; if he gives them not a feast, he will
give them a viaticum — a bait by the way. Let them depend upon his
fatherly providence; let them not give way to distrustful thoughts,
distracting cares, or indirect means. ‘Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you.’
I Pet 5: 7. An earthly parent may have affection for his
child, and would gladly provide for him, but may not be able; but God is
never at a loss to provide for his children, and he has promised an
adequate supply. ‘Verily thou shalt be fed.’
Psa 37: 3. Will God give his children heaven, and will he not
give them enough to bear their charges thither? Will he give them a
kingdom, and deny them daily bread? O put your trust in him, for he has
said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’
Heb 13: 5.
(2) If
God be our Father, let us imitate him. The child not only bears his
father’s image, but imitates him in his speech, gesture and behaviour.
If God be our Father, let us imitate him. ‘Be ye followers of God, as
dear children.’
Eph 5: 1. Imitate God in forgiving injuries. ‘I have blotted
out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions.’
Isa 44: 22. As the sun scatters not only thin mists, but
thick clouds, so God pardons great offences. Imitate him in this.
‘Forgiving one another.’
Eph 4: 32. Cranmer was a man of a forgiving spirit: he buried
injuries and requited good for evil. He who has God for his Father, will
have him for his pattern. Imitate God in works of mercy. ‘The Lord
looseth the prisoners.’
Psa 146: 7. He opens his hand and satisfies the desire of
every living thing.
Psa 145: 16. He drops his sweet dew upon the thistle as well
as the rose. Imitate God in works of mercy; relieve the wants of others;
be rich in good works. ‘Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful.’
Luke 6: 36. Be not so hard hearted as to shut out the poor
from all communication. Dives denied Lazarus a crumb of bread, and Dives
was denied a drop of water.
(3) If
God be our Father, let us submit patiently to his will. If he lay his
strokes on us, they are the corrections of a Father, not the punishments
of a judge. This made Christ himself patient. ‘The cup which my Father
has given me, shall I not drink it?’
John 18: 11. He sees we need affliction.
1 Pet 1: 6. He appoints it as a diet drink, to purge and
sanctify us.
Isa 27: 9. Therefore dispute not, but submit. ‘We have had
fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.’
Heb 12: 9. They might correct out of ill humour, but God does
it for our profit.
Heb 12: 10. Therefore say as Eli, ‘It is the Lord: let him do
what seemeth him good’.
1 Sam 3:18. What does the child get by struggling, but more
blows? What got Israel by their murmuring and rebelling, but a longer
and more tedious march, till, at last, their carcass fell in the
wilderness?
(4) If
God be our Father, let it cause in us a childlike reverence. ‘If I be a
father, where is mine honour?’
Mal 1: 6. It is part of the honour we give to God to
reverence and adore him; if we have not always a childlike confidence,
let us always preserve a childlike reverence. How ready are we to run
into extremes, either to despond or to grow wanton! Because God is a
Father, do not think you may take liberty to sin, if you do, he may act
as if he were no Father, and throw hell into your conscience. When David
presumed upon God’s paternal affection, and began to wax wanton under
mercy, God made him pay dear for it by withdrawing the sense of his
love; and, though he had the heart of a Father, yet he had the look of
an enemy. David prayed, ‘Make me to hear joy and gladness.’
Psa 51: 8. He lay several months in desertion, and it is
thought never recovered his full joy to the day of his death. O keep
alive holy fear! With childlike confidence, preserve an humble
reverence. The Lord is a Father, therefore love to serve him, he is the
mighty God, therefore fear to offend him.
(5) If
God be our Father, let us walk obediently. ‘As obedient children.’
I Pet 1: 14. When God bids you be humble and self-denying,
deny yourselves; part with your bosom sin. Be sober in your attire,
savoury in your speech, grave in your deportment; obey your Father’s
voice; open to him as the flower to the sun. If you expect your Father’s
blessing, obey him in whatever he commands, both in first and second
table duties. When a musician would make sweet music, he touches upon
every string of the lute. The ten commandments are like a ten-stringed
instrument, and we must touch every string, obey every commandment, or
we cannot make sweet melody in religion. Obey your heavenly Father,
though he commands things contrary to flesh and blood; when he commands
to mortify sin, the sin which has been most dear: pluck out a right eye,
that you may see better to go to heaven; when he commands you to suffer
for sin.
Acts 21: 13. Every good Christian has a spirit of martyrdom
in him, and is ready to suffer for the truth rather than the truth
should suffer. Luther said he had rather be a martyr than a monarch.
Peter was crucified with his head downwards, as Eusebius relates.
Ignatius called his chains his spiritual pearls, and wore his fetters as
a bracelet of diamonds. We act as God’s children, when we obey his
voice, and count not our lives dear, so that we may show our love to
him. ‘They loved not their lives unto the death.’
Rev 12: 11.
(6) If
God be our Father, let us show by our cheerful looks that we are the
children of such a Father. Too much drooping and despondency disparages
the relation in which we stand to him. What though we meet with hard
usage in the world! We are now in a strange land, far from home, it will
be shortly better with us when we are in our own country, and our Father
has us in his arms. Does not the heir rejoice in hope? Shall the sons of
a king walk dejected? ‘Why art thou, being the king’s son, lean?’
2 Samuel 13: 4. Is God an unkind Father? Are his commands
grievous? Has he no land to give his heirs? Why, then, do his children
walk so sad? Never had children such privileges as they who are of the
seed-royal of heaven, and have God for their Father. They should rejoice
who are within a few hours of being crowned with glory.
(7) If
God be our Father, let us honour him by walking very homily. ‘Be ye
holy; for I am holy.’
I Pet 1: 16. A young prince, having asked a philosopher how
he should behave himself, the philosopher said, ‘Memento
te filium esse regis.’ ‘Remember
thou art a king’s son; do nothing but what becomes the son of a king.’
So let us remember we are the adopted sons and daughters of the high
God, and do nothing unworthy of such a relation. A debauched child is
the disgrace of his father. ‘Is this thy son’s coat?’ said they to
Jacob, when they brought it home dipped in blood. So, when we see a
person defiled with malice, passion, drunkenness, we may say, Is this
the coat of God’s adopted son? Does he look like an heir of glory? It is
blaspheming the name of God to call him Father, and yet live in sin.
Such as profess God to be their Father and live unholily, slander and
defraud; they are as bad to God as the heathen. ‘Are ye not as children
of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.’
Amos 9: 7. When Israel grew wicked, they were no better to
God than Ethiopians, who were uncircumcised, a base and ill-bred people.
Loose, scandalous livers under the gospel are no better in God’s esteem
than Pagans; nay, they shall have a hotter place in hell. Oh! let all
who profess God to be their Father, honour him by their unspotted lives.
Scipio abhorred the embraces of a harlot, because he was the general of
an army. Abstain from all sin, because you are born of God, and have God
for your Father. ‘Abstain from all appearance of evil.’
1 Thess 5: 22. It was a saying of Augustus, that ‘an emperor
should not only be free from crimes, but from the suspicion of them.’ By
a holy life you should bring glory to your heavenly Father, and cause
others to become his children.
Est pellax
virtutis odor [the fragrance of
virtue is seductive]. Causinus, in his hieroglyphics, speaks of a dove,
whose wings being perfumed with sweet ointments, drew the other doves
after her; so the holy lives of God’s children are a sweet perfume to
draw others to religion, and make them to be of the family of God.
Justin Martyr says, that which converted him to Christianity was
beholding the blameless lives of the Christians.
(8) If
God be our Father, let us love all that are his children. ‘How pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’
Psa 133: 1. It is compared to ointment for its sweet
fragrance. ‘Love the brotherhood.’
1 Peter 2: 17.
Idem est
motus animae in imaginem et rem
[The motion of the soul is the same towards the image and the reality].
The saints are the walking pictures of God. If God be our Father, we
shall love to see his picture of holiness in believers; shall pity them
for their infirmities, but love them for their graces; we shall prize
their company above others.
Psa 119: 63. It may justly be suspected that God is not
Father of those who love not his children. Though they retain the
communion of saints in their creed, they banish the communion of saints
out of their company.
(9) If
God be our Father, let us show heavenly-mindedness. They who are born of
God, set their affections on things that are above.
Col 3: 2. O ye children of the high God! do not disgrace your
high birth by sordid covetousness. What, a son of God, and a slave to
the world! What, sprung from heaven, and buried in the earth! For a
Christian, who pretends to derive his pedigree from heaven, wholly to
mind earthly things is to debase himself; as if a king should leave his
throne to follow the slough. ‘Seekest thou great things for thyself?’
Jer 45:5. As if the Lord had said, ‘What thou Barak, thou who
art born of God, akin to angels, and by thy office a Levite dost thou
debase thyself, and spot the silver wings of thy grace by beliming them
with earth! Seekest thou great things? Seek them not.’ The earth chokes
the fire; so earthliness chokes the fire of good affections.
(10) If
God be our Father, let us own him as such in the worst times, stand up
in his cause, and defend his truths. Athanasius owned God when most of
the world turned Asians. If suffering come, do not deny God. He is a bad
son who denies his father. Such as are ashamed to own God in times of
danger, he will be ashamed to own for his children. ‘Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous generation, of
him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of
his Father, with the holy angels.’
Mark 8: 38.
II. The
second part of the preface is, ‘Which art in heaven.’ God is said to be
in heaven, not because he is so included there as if he were nowhere
else; for ‘the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.’
1 Kings 8: 27. But the meaning is, that he is chiefly
resident in what the apostle calls ‘the third heaven,’ where he reveals
his glory most to saints and angels.
2 Cor 12: 2.
What
may we learn from God being in heaven?
(1)
That we are to raise our minds in prayer above the earth. God is nowhere
to be spoken with but in heaven. He never denied that soul its suit that
went as far as heaven to ask it.
(2) We
learn his sovereign power.
Hoc vocabulo
intelligitur omnia subesse ejus imperio
[By this word we learn that all things are under his rule]. Calvin. ‘Our
God is in the heavens: he has done whatsoever he has pleased.’
Psa 115: 3. In heaven he governs the universe, and orders all
occurrences here below for the good of his children. When the saints are
in straits and dangers, and see no way of relief, he sends from heaven
and helps them. ‘He shall send from heaven, and save me.’
Psa 57: 3.
(3) We
learn his glory and majesty. He is in heaven; therefore he is covered
with light.
Psa 104: 2. He is ‘clothed with honour.’
Psa 104: 1: He is far above all worldly princes, as heaven is
above earth.
(4) We
learn his omniscience. All things are naked and unmasked to his eye.
Heb 4: 13. Men plot and contrive against the church; but God
is in heaven, and they do nothing but what he sees. If a man were on the
top of a tower or theatre, he might see all the people below; God in
heaven, as on a high tower or theatre, sees all the transactions of men.
The wicked make wounds in the backs of the righteous, and then pour in
vinegar; but God writes down their cruelty. ‘I have surely seen the
affliction of my people.’
Exod 3: 7. God can thunder out of heaven upon his enemies.
‘The Lord thundered in the heavens; yea, he sent out his arrows, and
scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.’
Psa 18: 13, 14.
(5) We
learn comfort for the children of God. When they pray to their Father,
the way to heaven cannot be blocked up. One may have a father living in
foreign parts, but the way, both by sea and land, may be so blocked up,
that there is no coming to him; but thou, saint of God, when thou
prayest to thy Father, he is in heaven; and though thou art ever so
confined, thou mayest have access to him. A prison cannot keep thee from
thy God; the way to heaven can never be blocked up.
III. I
shall next speak of the pronoun ‘our.’ There is an appropriation of the
appellation, ‘Father.’ ‘Our Father.’ Christ, by the word ‘our,’ would
teach us thus much: that in all our prayers to God, we should exercise
faith. Father denotes reverence: Our Father, denotes faith. In all our
prayers to God we should exercise faith. Faith baptises prayer, and
gives it a name; it is called ‘the prayer of faith.’
James 5: 15. Without faith, it is speaking, not praying.
Faith is the breath of prayer; prayer is dead unless faith breathe in
it. Faith is a necessary requisite in prayer. The oil of the sanctuary
was made up of several sweet spices, pure myrrh, cassia, cinnamon.
Exod 30: 23, 24. Faith is the chief spice or ingredient in
prayer, which makes it go up to the Lord as sweet incense. ‘Let him ask
in faith.’
James 1: 6. ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye
shall receive.’
Matt 21: 22.
Invoco te, Domine, quamquam languida et imbecilla fide, tamen fide.
‘Lord,’ said Cruciger, ‘I pray, though with a weak faith, yet with
faith.’ Prayer is the gun we shoot with, fervency is the fire that
discharges it, and faith is the bullet which pierces the throne of
grace. Prayer is the key of heaven, faith is the hand that turns it.
Pray in faith, ‘Our Father.’ Faith must take prayer by the hand, or
there is no coming nigh to God. Prayer without faith is unsuccessful. If
a poor handicraftsman, who lives by his labour, has spoiled his tools so
that he cannot work, how shall he subsist? Prayer is the tool we work
with, which procures all good for us; but unbelief spoils and blunts our
prayers, and then we get no blessing from God. A faithless prayer is
fruitless. As Joseph said, ‘Ye shall not see my face, except your
brother be with you’ (Gen
43: 3); so prayer cannot see God’s face unless it bring its
brother faith with it. What is said of Israel, ‘They could not enter in
because of unbelief,’ is as true of prayer; it cannot enter into heaven
because of unbelief.
Heb 3: 19. Prayer often suffers shipwreck because it dashes
upon the rock of unbelief. O mingle faith with prayer! We must say, ‘Our
Father.’
What
does praying in faith imply?
Praying
in faith implies having faith, and the act implies the habit. To walk
implies a principle of life; so to pray in faith implies a habit of
grace. None can pray in faith but believers.
What is
it to pray in faith?
(1) It
is to pray for that which God has promised. Where there is no promise,
we cannot pray in faith.
(2) It
is to pray in Christ’s meritorious name. ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do.’
John 14: 13. To pray in Christ’s name, is to pray with
confidence in Christ’s merit. When we present Christ to God in prayer;
when we carry the Lamb slain in our arms; when we say, ‘Lord, we are
sinners, but here is our surety; for Christ’s sake be propitious,’ we
come to God in Christ’s name; and this is to pray in faith.
(3) It
is to fix our faith in prayer on God’s faithfulness, believing that he
hears and will help. This is taking hold of God.
Isa 64: 7. By prayer we draw nigh to God, by faith we take
hold of him. ‘They cried unto the Lord;’ and this was the crying of
faith.
2 Chron 13: 14. They ‘prevailed, because they relied upon the
Lord God of their fathers;’
ver 18. Making supplication to God, and staying the soul on
God, is praying in faith. To pray, and not rely on God to grant our
petitions,
irrisio Dei
est, says Pelican; ‘it is to
abuse and put a scorn on God.’ By praying we seem to honour God; by not
believing we affront him. In prayer we say, ‘Almighty, merciful Father;’
by not believing, we blot out all his titles again.
How may
we know that we truly pray in faith?
(1)
When faith in prayer is humble. A presumptuous person hopes to be heard
for some inherent worthiness in himself; he is so qualified, and has
done God good service, therefore he is confident God will hear him. See
an instance in
Luke 18: 11, 12: ‘The Pharisee stood and prayed thus, God, I
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust. I fast
twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ This was a
presumptuous prayer; but a sincere heart evinces humility in prayer as
well as faith. ‘The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner.’ ‘God be merciful,’ there was faith; ‘to me a
sinner,’ there was humility and a sense of unworthiness.
Luke 18: 13.
(2) We
may know we pray in faith, when, though we have not the thing we pray
for, we believe God will grant it, and are willing to stay his leisure.
A Christian having a command to pray, and a promise, is resolved to
follow God with prayer, and not give over; as Peter knocked, and when
the door was not opened, continued knocking until at last it was opened.
Acts 12: 16. So when a Christian prays, and prays, and has no
answer, he continues to knock at heaven’s door, knowing an answer will
come. ‘Thou wilt answer me.’
Psa 86: 7. Here is one that prays in faith. Christ says,
‘Pray, and faint not.’
Luke 18: 1. A believer, at Christ’s word, lets down the net
of prayer, and though he catch nothing, he will cast the net again,
believing that mercy will come. Patience in prayer is nothing but faith
spun out.
Use 1.
For reproof of those who pray in formality, not in faith; they who
question whether God hears or will grant. ‘Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss.’
James 4: 3. He does not say, ye ask that which is unlawful;
but ye ask amiss, and therefore ye receive not. Unbelief clips the wings
of prayer, that it will not fly to the throne of grace; the rubbish of
unbelief stops the current of prayer.
Use 2.
For exhortation. Let us set faith to work in prayer. The husband man
sows in hope; prayer is the seed we sow, and when the hand of faith
scatters this seed, it brings forth a fruitful crop of blessing. Prayer
is the ship we send out to heaven; when faith makes an adventure in this
ship, it brings home large returns of mercy. O pray in faith; say, ‘Our
Father.’ That we may exercise faith in prayer, consider:
(1)
God’s readiness to hear prayer.
Deus paratus
ad vota exaudienda.
Calvin: Did God forbid all
addresses to him, it would put a damp upon the trade of prayer; but his
ear is open to prayer. One of the names by which he is known, is, ‘O
thou that hearest prayer.’
Psa 65: 2. The aediles among the Romans had their doors
always open, that all who had petitions might have free access to them.
God is both ready to hear and grant prayer, which should encourage faith
in prayer. Some may say, they have prayed, but have had no answer. God
may hear prayer, though he does not immediately answer it. We write a
letter to a friend, he may have received it, though we have yet had no
answer to it. Perhaps thou prayest for the light of God’s face; he may
lend thee an ear, though he does not show thee his face. God may give an
answer to prayer, when we do not perceive it. His giving a heart to
pray, and inflaming the affections in prayer, is an answer to prayer.
‘In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with
strength in my soul.’
Psa 138: 3. David’s inward strength was an answer to prayer.
Therefore let God’s readiness to hear prayer encourage faith in prayer.
(2)
That we may exercise faith in prayer, let us consider that we do not
pray alone. Christ prays our prayers over again. His prayer is the
ground why our prayer is heard. He takes the dross out of our prayer,
and presents nothing to his Father but pure gold. He mingles his sweet
odours with the prayers of the saints.
Rev 5: 8. Think of the dignity of his person, he is God; and
the sweetness of his relation, he is a Son. Oh, what encouragement is
here, to pray in faith! Our prayers are put into the hand of a Mediator.
Christ’s prayer is mighty and powerful.
(3) We
pray to God for nothing but what is pleasing to him, and he has a mind
to grant. If a son ask nothing but what his father is willing to bestow,
it will make him go to him with confidence. When we pray to God for holy
hearts, there is nothing more pleasing to him. ‘This is the will of God,
even your sanctification.’
1 Thess 4: 3. We pray that God would give us hearts to love
him, and there is nothing he more desires than our love. How should it
make us pray in faith, when we pray for nothing but what is acceptable
to God, and which he delights to bestow!
(4) To
encourage faith in prayer, let us consider the many sweet promises that
God has made to prayer. The cork keeps the net from sinking, so the
promises are the cork to keep faith from sinking in prayer. God has
bound himself to us by his promises. The Bible is bespangled with
promises made to prayer. ‘He will be very gracious unto thee at the
voice of thy cry.’
Isa 30: 19. ‘The Lord is rich unto all that call upon him.’
Rom 10: 12. ‘Ye shall find me, when ye shall search for me
with all your heart.’
Jer 29: 13. ‘He will fulfil the desire of them that fear
him.’
Psa 145: 19. The Syrians tied their god Hercules with a
golden chain that he should not remove; God has tied himself fast to us
by his promises. How should these animate and spirit faith in prayer!
Faith gets strength in prayer by sucking from the breast of a promise.
(5)
That we may exercise faith in prayer, consider that Jesus Christ has
purchased that which we pray for. We may think the things we ask for in
prayer too great for us to obtain, but they are not too great for Christ
to purchase. We pray for pardon. Christ has purchased it with his blood.
We pray for the Spirit to animate and inspire us. The sending down of
the Holy Ghost into our hearts, is the fruit of Christ’s death. It
should put life into our prayers, and make us pray in faith, to reflect
that the things we ask, though more than we deserve, yet they are not
more than Christ has purchased for us.
(6) To
pray in faith, consider there is such bountifulness in God, that he
often exceeds the prayers of his people. He gives them more than they
ask! Hannah asked a son, and God not only gave her a son, but a prophet.
Solomon asked wisdom, and God gave him not only wisdom, but riches and
honour besides. Jacob prayed that God would give him food and raiment,
and he increased his pilgrim’s staff into two bands.
Gen 32: 10. God is often better to us than our prayers, as
when Gehazi asked but one talent, Naaman would needs force two upon him.
2 Kings 5: 23. We ask one talent, and God gives two. The
woman of Canaan asked but a crumb, namely, to have the life of her
child; and Christ gave her more, he sent her home with the life of her
soul.
(7) The
great success which the prayer of faith has found. Like Jonathan’s bow,
it has not returned empty.
Vocula pater
dicta in corde [The little word
‘father’ spoken in the heart], says Luther. The little word father,
pronounced in faith, has overcome God. ‘Deliver me, I pray thee.’
Gen 32: 11. This was mixed with faith in the promise. ‘Thou
saidst, I will surely do thee good;’
ver 12. This prayer had power with God, and prevailed.
Hos 12: 4. The prayer of faith has opened prison doors,
stopped the chariot of the sun, locked and unlocked heaven.
James 5: 17. The prayer of faith has strangled the plots of
enemies in their birth, and has routed their forces. Moses’ prayer
against Amalek did more than Joshua’s sword; and should not this hearten
and corroborate faith in prayer?
(8) If
all this will not prevail, consider how heartless and comfortless it is
not to pray in faith! The heart misgives secretly that God does not
hear, nor will he grant. Faithless praying must needs be comfortless;
for there is no promise made to unbelieving prayer. It is sad sailing
where there is no anchoring, and sad praying where there is no promise
to anchor upon.
James 1: 7. The disciples toiled all night and caught
nothing; so the unbeliever toils in prayer and catches nothing; he
receives not any spiritual blessings, pardon of sin, or grace. As for
the temporal mercies which the unbeliever has, he cannot look upon them
as the fruit of prayer, but as the overflowing of God’s bounty. Oh,
therefore labour to exert and put forth faith in prayer!
But so
much sin cleaves to my prayer, that I fear it is not the prayer of
faith, and God will not hear it.
If thou
mournest for this, it hinders not but that thy prayer may be in faith,
and God may hear it. Weakness shall not make void the saint’s prayers.
‘I said in my haste, I am cut off.’
Psa 31: 22. There was much unbelief in that prayer: ‘I said
in my haste:’ in the Hebrew, ‘in my trembling,’ David’s faith trembled
and fainted, yet God heard his prayer. The saints’ passions do not
hinder their prayers.
James 5: 17. Therefore be not discouraged, for though sin
will cleave to thy holy offering, yea, these two things may comfort,
that thou mayest pray with faith, though with weakness; and God sees the
sincerity, and will pass by the infirmity.
How
shall we pray in faith?
Implore
the Spirit of God. We cannot say, ‘Our Father,’ but by the Holy Ghost.
God’s Spirit helps us, not only to pray with sighs and groans, but with
faith. The Spirit carries us to God, not only as to a Creator, but a
Father. ‘God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father.’
Gal 4: 6. ‘Crying:’ there the Spirit causes us to pray with
fervency. ‘Abba, Father:’ there the Spirit helps us to pray with faith.
The Spirit helps faith to turn the key of prayer, and then it unlocks
heaven.
The First Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘Hallowed be thy name.’
Matt 6: 9.
Having
spoken of the introduction to the Lord’s prayer, ‘After this manner
therefore pray ye,’ and the preface, ‘Our Father which art in heaven;’ I
come, thirdly, to the prayer itself, which consists of seven petitions.
The first petition is:
‘Hallowed
be thy name.’ In the Latin it is,
sanctificetur
nomen tuum, ‘Sanctified be thy
name.’ In this petition, we pray that God’s name may shine forth
gloriously, and that it may be honoured and sanctified by us, in the
whole course and tenor of our lives. It was the angels’ song, ‘Glory be
to God in the highest;’ that is, let his name be glorified and hallowed.
This petition is set in the forefront, to show that the hallowing of
God’s name is to be preferred before all things. It is to be preferred
before life. We pray, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ before we pray, ‘Give us
this day our daily bread.’ It is to be preferred before salvation.
Rom 9: 23. God’s glory is more worth than the salvation of
all men’s souls. As Christ said of love in
Matt 22: 38, ‘This is the first and great commandment;’ so I
may say of this petition, ‘Hallowed be thy name:’ it is the first and
great petition; it contains the most weighty thing in religion, which is
God’s glory. When some of the other petitions shall be useless and out
of date, as we shall not need to pray in heaven, ‘Give us our daily
bread,’ because there shall be no hunger; nor, ‘Forgive us our
trespasses,’ because there shall be no sin; nor, ‘Lead us not into
temptation,’ because the old serpent is not there to tempt: yet the
hallowing of God’s name will be of great use and request in heaven; we
shall be ever singing hallelujahs, which is nothing else but the
hallowing of God’s name. Every Person in the blessed Trinity, God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must have this honour, to be hallowed;
their glory being equal, and their majesty co-eternal. ‘Hallowed be thy
name.’ To admire God’s name is not enough; we may admire a conqueror;
but when we say, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ we set God’s name above every
name, and not only admire him, but adore him; and this is proper to the
Deity only. For the further explanation, I shall propound three
questions.
I. What is
meant by God’s name?
[1] His
essence. ‘The name of the God of Jacob defend thee’ (Psa
20: 1); that is, the God of Jacob defend thee.
[2]
Anything by which he may be known. As a man is known by his name; so by
his attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, and goodness, God is known as
by his name.
II. What
is meant by hallowing God’s name?
To hallow,
is a
communi separare, to set apart a
thing from the common use, to some sacred end. As the vessels of the
sanctuary were said to be hallowed, so, to hallow God’s name, is to set
it apart from all abuses, and to use it homily and reverently. In
particular, hallowing God’s name is to give him high honour and
veneration, and render his name sacred. We can add nothing to his
essential glory; but we are said to honour and sanctify his name when we
lift him up in the world, and make him appear greater in the eyes of
others. When a prince is crowned, there is something added really to his
honour; but when we crown God with our triumphs and hallelujahs there is
nothing added to his essential glory. He cannot be greater than he is,
only we may make him appear greater in the eyes of others.
III. When
may we be said to hallow and sanctify God’s name?
[1] When
we profess his name. Our meeting in his holy assembly is an honour done
to his name. This is good, but it is not enough. All that wear God’s
livery by profession are not true servants; there are some professors
against whom Christ will profess at the last day. ‘I will profess I
never knew you.’
Matt 7: 23. Therefore, to go a little further:
[2] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we have a high appreciation and
esteem of him, and set him highest in our thoughts. The Hebrew word to
honour, signifies to esteem precious: we conceive of God in our minds as
the most super excellent and infinite good; we see in him a
constellation of all beauties and delights; we adore him in his glorious
attributes, which are the several beams by which his divine nature
shines forth; we adore him in his works, which are bound up in three
great volumes — creation, redemption, and providence. We hallow and
sanctify his name when we lift him highest in our souls; we esteem him a
supereminent and incomprehensible God.
[3] We
hallow and sanctify his name when we trust in it. ‘We have trusted in
his holy name.’
Psa 33: 21. No way can we bring more revenues of honour to
God, or make his crown shine brighter, than by confiding in him. Abraham
‘was strong in faith, giving glory to God.’
Rom 4: 20. Here was hallowing God’s name. Unbelief stains
God’s honour and eclipses his name. ‘He that believeth not God has made
him a liar’ (1
John 5: 10); So faith glorifies and hallows his name. The
believer trusts his best jewels in God’s hands. ‘Into thine hand I
commit my spirit.’
Psa 31: 5. Faith in a Mediator does more honour, and
sanctifies God’s name more, than martyrdom or the most sublime acts of
obedience.
[4] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we never make mention of it but with
the highest reverence. His name is sacred, and it must not be spoken of
but with veneration. When the Scripture speaks of God, it gives him his
titles of honour. ‘Blessed be the most high God.’
Gen 14: 20. ‘Blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted
above all praise.’
Neh 9: 5. To speak vainly or slightly of God is profaning his
name, and is taking his name in vain. By giving God his venerable
titles, we hang his jewels on his crown.
[5] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we love his name. ‘Let them that
love thy name be joyful.’
Psa 5: 11. The love which honours God’s name must be special
and discriminating love — the cream and flower of our love; such as we
give to none besides; as the wife honours her husband by giving him such
love as she gives to none else — a conjugal love. Thus we hallow God’s
name by giving him such love as we give to none else — a love joined
with worship. ‘He is thy Lord; and worship thou him.’
Psa 45: 2.
[6] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we give him a holy and spiritual
worship. (1) When we give him the same kind of worship that he has
appointed. ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me:’ that is, I
will be sanctified with that very worship I have appointed.
Lev 10: 3. It is the purity of worship that God loves better
than the pomp. It dishonours his name to bring anything into his worship
which he has not instituted; as if he were not wise enough to appoint
the manner in which he will be served. Men prescribe to him and super
add their inventions; which he looks upon as offering strange fire, and
as a high provocation. (2) When we give to God the same heart devotion
in worship that he has appointed. ‘Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’
Rom 12: 11. The word for fervent is a metaphor, which alludes
to water that seethes and boils over; to signify that our affections
should boil over in holy duties. To give God outside worship, and not
the devotion of the heart, instead of hallowing and sanctifying him in
an ordinance, is to abuse him; as if one calls for wine and you give him
an empty glass. It is to deal with God as Prometheus did with Jupiter,
who did eat the flesh and present Jupiter with nothing but bones covered
over with skin. We hallow God’s name and sanctify him in an ordinance
when we give him the vitals of religion, and a heart flaming with zeal.
[7] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we hallow his day. ‘Hallow ye the
sabbath day.’
Jer 17: 22. Our Christian Sabbath, which comes in the room of
the Jews’ Sabbath, is called the Lord’s day.
Rev 1: 10. It was anciently called dies lucis, a day of
light, wherein Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines in an
extraordinary manner. It is an honour done to God to hallow his Sabbath.
(1) We must rest on this day from all secular works. ‘Bring in no burden
on the sabbath day.’
Jer 17: 24. As when Joseph would speak with his brethren he
thrust out the Egyptians; so when we would converse with God on this
day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. Mary Magdalene refused
to anoint Christ’s dead body on the sabbath day.
Luke 23: 56. She had before prepared her ointment and spices,
but came not to the sepulchre till the Sabbath was past; she rested on
that day from civil work, even the commendable and glorious work of
anointing Christ’s dead body. (2) We must in a solemn manner devote
ourselves to God on this day; we must spend the whole day with God. Some
will hear the word, but leave all their religion at church; they do
nothing at home, they do not pray or repeat the word in their houses,
and so rob God of a part of his day. It is lamentable to see how God’s
day is profaned. Let no man think God’s name is hallowed while his
Sabbath is broken.
[8] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we ascribe the honour of all we do
to him. ‘Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.’
Psa 96: 8. Herod, instead of hallowing God’s name,
dishonoured it by assuming that praise to himself which was due to God
only.
Acts 12: 23. We ought to take the honour from ourselves and
give it to God. ‘I laboured more abundantly than they all;’ one would
think this had savoured of pride: but the apostle pulls the crown from
his own head and sets it upon the head of free grace: ‘Yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me.’
1 Cor 15: 10. If a Christian has any assistance in duty, or
victory over temptation, he rears up a pillar and writes upon it,
Hucusque
adjuvavit Deus. ‘Hitherto the
Lord has helped me.’ John the Baptist transferred all the honour from
himself to Christ; he was content to be eclipsed that Christ might shine
the more. ‘He that comes after me is preferred before me.’
John 1: 15. I am but the herald, the voice of one crying; he
is the prince. I am but a lesser star; he is the sun. I baptise with
water only; he with the Holy Ghost. This is hallowing God’s name, when
we transfer all honour from ourselves to God. ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto thy name give glory.’
Psa 115: 1. The king of Sweden wrote this motto on the battle
at Leipsic,
Ista a Domino
facta sunt — the Lord has
wrought this victory for us.
[9] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name by obeying him. How does a son more
honour his father than by obedience? ‘I delight to do thy will, O my
God.’
Psa 40: 8. The wise men showed honour to Christ, not only by
bowing the knee to him, but by presenting him with gold and myrrh.
Matt 2: 11. We hallow God’s name, not only by lifting up our
eyes and hands to heaven and bowing the knee in prayer, but by
presenting him with golden obedience. As the factor trades for the
merchant, so we trade for God and lay out our strength in his service.
It was a saying of Dr Jewel, ‘I have spent and exhausted myself in the
labours of my holy calling.’ ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’ The
cherubim representing the angels are set forth with their wings
displayed, to show how ready they are to do service to God. To obey is
angelic; to pretend honour to God’s name, and yet not obey, is but a
devout compliment. Abraham honoured God by obedience; he was ready to
sacrifice his son, though the son of his old age, and a son of the
promise. ‘By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast
done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in
blessing I will bless thee.’
Gen 22: 16, 17.
[10] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we lift up his name in our praises.
God is said to sanctify, and man is said to sanctify. God sanctifies us
by giving us grace; and we sanctify him by giving him praise. What were
our tongues given for but to be organs of God’s praise? ‘Let my mouth be
filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.’
Psa 71: 8. ‘Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever.’
Rev 5: 13. Thus God’s name is hallowed and sanctified in
heaven; the angels and glorified saints are singing hallelujahs. Let us
begin the work of heaven here. David sang forth God’s praises and
doxologies in a most melodious manner, and was, therefore, called the
sweet singer of Israel.
2 Samuel 23: 1. Praising God is hallowing his name; it
spreads his renown; it displays the trophies of his excellency; it
exalts him in the eyes of others. ‘Whose offereth praise glorifieth me.’
Psa 123. This is one of the highest and purest acts of
religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels.
Praise is the music of heaven, and a work fit for a saint. ‘Let the
saints be joyful: let the high praises of God be in their mouth.’
Psa 149: 5, 6. None but saints can in a right manner thus
hallow God’s name by praising him. As everyone has not skill to play on
the viol and organ, so every one cannot rightly sound forth God’s
harmonious praises; only the saints can do it; they only can make their
tongue and heart join in concert. ‘I will praise the Lord with my whole
heart.’
Psa 111: 1. ‘He was extolled with my tongue.’
Psa 66: 17. Here was joining in concert. This hallowing God’s
name by praise is very becoming a Christian. It is unbecoming to murmur,
which is dishonouring God’s name; but it becomes the saints to be
spiritual choristers, singing forth the honour of his name. It is called
the ‘garment of praise.’
Isa 61: 3. How comely and handsome is this garment of praise
for a saint to wear! ‘Praise is comely for the upright.’
Psa 33: 1. Especially is it a high degree of hallowing God’s
name when we can speak well of him and bless him in an afflicted state.
‘The Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’
Job 1: 21. Many will bless God when he gives, but to bless
him when he takes away, is in a high degree to honour him and hallow his
name. Let us thus magnify God’s name. Has he not given us abundant
matter for praising him? He has given us grace, a mercy spun and woven
out of his bowels; and he intends to crown grace with glory. This should
make us hallow his name by being trumpets for his praise.
[11] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we sympathise with him; when we
grieve when his name suffers. (1) We lay to heart his dishonour. How was
Moses affected with God’s dishonour! He broke the tables.
Exod 32: 19. We grieve to see God’s Sabbaths profaned, his
worship adulterated, the wine of truth mingled with error. (2) We grieve
when God’s church is brought low, because his name suffers. Nehemiah
lays to heart the miseries of Sion; his complexion begins to alter, and
he looks sad. ‘Why is thy countenance sad?’
Neh 2: 2. What! sad, when the king’s cup-bearer, and wine is
so near! Oh! but it fared ill with the church of God, and religion
seemed to lose ground, and God’s name suffered; therefore Nehemiah grows
weary of the court; he leaves his wine and mingles his drink with
weeping. Such holy sympathy and grieving when God’s name suffers, he
esteems as honouring and sanctifying his name. Hezekiah grieved when the
king of Assyria reproached the living God. He went to the temple, and
spread the letter of blasphemy before the Lord.
Isa 37: 17. He no doubt watered the letter with his tears; he
seemed not to be so much troubled at the fear of losing his own life and
kingdom, as that God should lose his glory.
[12] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name when we give the same honour to God the
Son that we give to God the Father. ‘That all men should honour the Son,
even as they honour the Father.’
John 5: 23. The Socinians deny Christ’s divinity, saying that
he is a mere man: which is to make him below the angels. The human
nature, considered in itself, is below the angelic, and thus they
reflect dishonour upon the Lord of glory.
Psa 8: 5. We must give equal honour to the Son as to the
Father; we must believe Christ’s deity; he is the picture of his
Father’s glory.
Heb 1: 3. If the Godhead be in Christ, he must needs be God;
but the Godhead shines in him. ‘In him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily;’ therefore, he is God.
Col 2: 9. How could these divine titles be given to Christ as
omnipotence, in
Heb 1: 3; ubiquity, in
Matt 28: 20; a power of sealing pardons in
Matt 9: 6; co-equality with God the Father, both in power and
dignity, in
John 5: 21, 23, if he were not crowned with the Deity? When
we believe Christ’s Godhead, and build our hope of salvation on the
corner-stone of his merit; when we see neither the righteousness of the
law, nor of angels, can justify, but flee to Christ’s blood as to the
altar of refuge; this is honouring and sanctifying God’s name. God never
thinks his name hallowed unless his Son be honoured.
[13] We
hallow God’s name by standing up for his truths. Much of God’s glory
lies in his truths. His truths are his oracles. He intrusts us with his
truths as a treasure; we have not a richer jewel to intrust him with
than our souls, nor has he a greater jewel to intrust us with than his
truths. His truths set forth his glory. When we are zealous advocates
for his truths, it is an honour done to his name. Athanasius was called
the bulwark of truth; he stood up in the defence of God’s truths against
the Asians, and so was a pillar in the temple of God. We had better have
truth without peace, than peace without truth. It concerns the sons of
Zion to stand up for the great doctrines of the gospel; as the doctrine
of the Trinity, the hypostatical union, justification by faith, and the
saints’ perseverance. We are bid to contend earnestly, to strive as in
an agony for the faith, that is the doctrine of faith.
Jude 3. This contending for the truth, brings great revenues
to heaven’s exchequer; and hallows God’s name. Some can contend for
ceremonies, but not for the truth. We should count him unwise that
should contend for a box of counters more than for his box of
title-deeds.
[14] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name by making as many proselytes as we can to
him; when, by all holy expedients, counsel, prayer, example, we
endeavour the salvation of others. How did Monica, Augustine’s mother,
labour for his conversion! She had sorer pangs in travail for his new
birth than for his natural birth. It is hallowing God’s name when we
diffuse the sweet savour of godliness, and propagate religion to others;
when not only we ourselves honour God, but are instruments to make
others honour him. Certainly when the heart is seasoned with grace,
there will be an endeavour to season others. God’s glory is as dear to a
saint as his own salvation; and that this glory may be promoted he
endeavours the conversion of souls. Every convert is a new member added
to Christ. Let us then hallow God’s name by labouring to advance piety
in others; especially let us endeavour that those who are nearly related
to us, or are under our roof, may honour God. ‘As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.’
Josh 24: 15. Let us make our houses Bethels, places where
God’s name is called upon. ‘Salute Nymphas, and the church that is in
his house.’
Col 4: 15. Let the parent endeavour that his children may
honour God, and the master that his servants may honour him. Read the
Word, drop holy instruction, perfume your houses with prayer. The Jews
had sacrifices in their families as well as in the tabernacle.
Exod 12: 3. This is hallowing God’s name when we make
proselytes to him, and endeavour that all under our charge should honour
and sanctify his name.
[15] We
hallow God’s name when we prefer the honour of his name before the
dearest things. (1) When we prefer the honour of God’s name before our
own credit. The saints of old have, for the honour of God, been willing
to endure reproach. ‘For thy sake I have borne reproach.’
Psa 69: 7. David cared not what reproach he suffered, so
God’s name might not suffer. The prophet Elijah was called in derision,
the ‘hairy prophet;’ and the prophet Isaiah ‘the bearer of burdens;’ and
the prophet Zephaniah, ‘the bitter prophet;’ but they wound these
reproaches as a crown about their head. The honour of God’s name was
dearer to them than their own honour. Moses esteemed the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
Heb 11: 26. The apostles went away rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ! that they were
graced so far as to be disgraced for the name of Christ.
Acts 5: 41. We hallow God’s name when we are content to have
our name eclipsed, that his name may shine the more. (2) When we prefer
the honour of God’s name before our worldly profit and interest. ‘We
have forsaken all, and followed thee.’
Matt 19: 27. When these two, God and estate, come in
competition, we would rather let estate go than God’s love and favour.
Thus that noble Marquis of Vice parted with a fair estate, using these
words, ‘Let their money perish with them, that count all the gold and
silver in the world worth one hour’s communion with Jesus Christ.’ (3)
When we prefer the honour of God’s name before our own life. ‘For thy
sake we are killed all the day long.’
Rom 8: 36. The honour done to God’s name is not by bringing
the outward pomp and glory to him as we do to kings, but it comes in
another way, and that is by the sufferings of his people. When the world
sees how entirely his people love him, that they will die in his
service, it exalts and honours his name. God’s crown flourishes in the
ashes of his martyrs. Basil speaks of a virgin, condemned to the fire,
who having her life and estate offered her, if she would bow to the
idol, answered,
Valeat vita,
pereat pecunia: Let life and
money go, welcome Christ. When God’s glory weighs heaviest in the
balance, and we are willing to suffer the loss of all rather than God’s
name should suffer, we do, in a high degree, hallow God’s name.
[16] We
hallow and sanctify God’s name by a holy conversation. ‘Ye are a royal
priesthood, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of
him who has called you.’
1 Pet 2: 9. As an unholy life dishonours God’s name, ‘The
name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you;’
Rom 2: 24, so by our holy and Bible conversation we honour
God’s name. A holy life speaks louder than all the anthems and praises
in the world. Though the main work of religion lies in the heart, yet
when our light so shines, that others behold it, we glorify God. When
our lives shine, his name shines in us. The Macedonians used one day in
the year to wear the picture of Alexander set with pearl and costly
jewels; so when we carry the picture of Christ about us in our holy
example, we bring honour to God’s name.
Use 1.
See the true note and character of a godly person: he is a sanctifier of
God’s name. A true saint ambitiously endeavours to advance God’s name.
The question he asks himself in everything he is going about is, Will
this action tend to the honour of God’s name? Will it exalt God? It was
Paul’s chief design that Christ might be magnified, that the crown upon
his head might flourish.
Phil 1: 20. A godly man thinks it scarce worth his while to
live if he may not bring some revenues of honour to God’s name.
Use 2. I
may here take up a sad lamentation, and speak, as the apostle Paul,
weeping.
Phil 3: 18. Consider how God’s name, instead of being
hallowed and sanctified, is dishonoured. His name, which is worth more
than the salvation of all men’s souls, suffers deeply. We are apt to
speak of our sufferings; alas! what are all our sufferings! God’s name
suffers most. His name is the dearest thing he has. How do men stand
upon their name and honour! God’s name is this day dishonoured; it is
like the sun in an eclipse. Theodosius took it heinously when they threw
dirt upon his statue; but what is far worse, disgrace is thrown upon the
glorious name of Jehovah. His name, instead of being hallowed, is
dishonoured by all sorts; by heathens, by Turks, by Jews, by Papists,
and by Protestants.
(1) By
heathens; who have a knowledge of a godhead by the light of nature; yet
dishonour him, and sin against the light of nature.
Rom 1: 19. The Egyptians worship an ox; the Persian worship
the sun; the Grecians and Romans, Jupiter; and the Parthians worship the
devil.
(2) God’s
name is dishonoured by the Turks, who adore Mahomet their great prophet,
as one divinely inspired. Mahomet was of an impure, vicious nature. He
plucked the crown from Christ’s head by denying his Deity.
(3) God’s
name is dishonoured by the Jews, who give not equal honour and adoration
to God the Son, as to God the Father. They expect a Messiah yet to come,
saeculum
futurum [an age to come]. They
believe not in Christ; they blaspheme him; they reject imputed
righteousness; they vilify the Christian Sabbath.
(4) God’s
name is dishonoured by the Papists. Theirs is a God-dishonouring
religion. They dishonour the name of God by their idolatry, which is
spiritual adultery. Idolatry is to worship a false God, or the true God
in a false manner. They dishonour God by their idolatry, in making
graven images, and giving the same honour to them that is due to God.
Images are teachers of lies. They represent God in a bodily shape.
Hab 2: 18. They dishonour God by their idolatry in the mass;
worshipping the host, and offering it up as a sacrifice for sin. The
apostle says, ‘By one offering [Christ] has perfected forever them that
are sanctified’ (Heb
10: 14); but as if his offering on the cross were imperfect,
they offer him up daily in the mass, which is a dishonour to Christ’s
priestly office. The Papist, instead of hallowing God’s name, dishonours
it by locking up the Scriptures in an unknown tongue. Like the
Philistine, they pluck out people’s eyes, and then make sport with them.
The Bible is a shining light, but they draw a curtain over it; they take
away the key of knowledge, and hinder God’s glory by hindering men’s
salvation.
Luke 11: 52. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonour
it by giving men indulgences. They say the Pope, as Peter’s successor,
has power to grant indulgences, by virtue whereof men are set free in
the sight of God. This is to steal a flower from the crown of heaven.
The Pope assumes a power to pardon which is God’s royal prerogative.
‘Who can forgive sins but God only?’
Mark 2: 7. The Pope, by his indulgence, encourages men to
sin. What need the Papists care what sins they commit, when they have a
license and patent from the Pope to bear them harmless? Instead of
hallowing God’s name, they dishonour it by their invocation to saints.
We are to pray to God only. ‘Pray to thy Father;’ not pray to a saint or
the Virgin Mary, but pray to your Father in heaven.
Matt 6: 6. We may pray to none but whom we may believe in.
Rom 10: 14. The saints in heaven are ignorant of our
grievances. ‘Abraham is ignorant of us.’
Isa 63: 16. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonour
it, by their luxury and uncleanness. At Rome, fornication keeps open
shop, and is in some cases preferred before honourable matrimony.
Urbs est jam
tota lupanar [The whole city is
now a brothel]. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they dishonour it, by
their blasphemies. They give equal, nay, more honour to the Virgin Mary
than to Christ; they ascribe more to her milk than to his blood; they
call her
Scala Coeli,
the ladder of heaven;
Janua paradisi,
the gate of Paradise. In their doxologies they say, ‘Praise be to the
Virgin Mary, and also to Christ.’ What blasphemy is this, to set the
creature above the Creator! They say to her,
O felix
puerpera, nostra piaris scelera!
O happy Mother of a Son, who purgest away our crimes! Instead of
hallowing God’s name, they dishonour it, by their lies. Their golden
legend is an imposture, and is full of lying wonders. They show John
Baptist’s forehead for a relic in Spain, yet his whole head they affirm
to be seen in St. Sylvester’s in Rome. They show Peter’s shadow at Rome.
We read of St Peter’s shadow in
Acts 5: 15; but it is strange how the Papists could catch it,
and keep it by them so long. Instead of hallowing God’s name, they
dishonour it, by baptising sin with the name of virtue. Breach of oaths
is with the Papists a virtue. If a man has bound his soul to God by an
oath, to violate it is virtuous, if it may propagate the Catholic cause.
Killing those who are of a different religion, is not only venial, but a
virtue among Catholics. Destroying two hundred thousand of the
Albigenses, who were Protestants, was commended as a glorious action,
honoured with a triumph at Rome, and crowned with his holiness’s
blessing. Is not this a high dishonour to God, to gild over the foulest
crimes with the name of virtue and piety? Instead of hallowing God’s
name they dishonour it, by their damnable assertions. The Papists affirm
that the Pope is above Scripture; that he may dispense with it, and that
his canon binds more then the Word of God. They teach merit by good
works; but if a debtor cannot pay his creditor, how can he merit at his
hands? They affirm that the Scripture is not a perfect rule of faith and
manners; and therefore eke it out with their traditions, which they hold
to be of equal authority. They teach that an implicit faith is saving;
though one may have an implicit faith, and yet be ignorant of all the
articles of religion. They say, that the inward act of the mind is not
required in God’s worship. Diversion of the mind in duty, though one
prays and never thinks of God, is no sin, as Angelus and Sylvester, and
other Papists say. They make habitual love to God unnecessary. ‘It is
not needful,’ says Bellarmine, ‘to perform any acts of religion out of
love to God.’ Stapleton and Cajetan affirm, that the precept of loving
God with all our heart is not binding; by which they cut asunder the
sinews and soul of all religion. Thus, instead of honouring God’s name,
the Papists dishonour it. Let us pray heartily, that this Romish
religion may never again get footing in this nation. God grant that this
poisonous weed of Popery may never be watered here; but that being a
plant which our heavenly Father has not planted, it may be rooted up.
(5) God’s
name is dishonoured by Protestants. How is his name this day dishonoured
in England! Christians, instead of hallowing God’s name, preach and
dishonour it by their tongues. They speak irreverently of his name.
God’s name is sacred. ‘That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful
name: THE LORD THY GOD.’
Deut 28: 58. The names of kings are not mentioned without
giving them their tides of honour, high and mighty; but men speak
irreverently of God, as if he were like one of them.
Psa 50: 21. This is taking God’s name in vain. They swear by
his name. Many seldom mention God’s name but in oaths. How is he
dishonoured, when men rend and tear his name by oaths and imprecations!
‘Because of swearing the land mourneth.’
Jer 23: 10. If God will reckon with men for idle words, shall
not idle oaths be put into the account-book? ‘Oh! but,’ says one, ‘I
cannot help it: it is a custom of swearing I have got and I cannot help
it. I hope God will forgive me. Is the custom of swearing a good plea?
It is no excuse, but an aggravation of sin; as if one who had been
accused of killing a man should plead with the judge to spare him,
because it was his custom to murder. That would be an aggravation of the
offence; for would not the judge say, ‘Thou shalt the rather die’? So it
is here.
As men
dishonour God by their tongues, so by their lives. What is it to say,
‘Hallowed be thy name,’ when in their lives they profane his name? They
dishonour God by their atheism, Sabbath-breaking, uncleanness, perjury,
intemperance, and injustice. Men hang out a flag of defiance against
heaven. As the Thracians, when it thunders, shoot their arrows against
heaven, so men shoot their sins as bearded arrows against heaven.
Sinners are hardened in sin, they despise counsel, they laugh at
reproof, they cast off the veil of modesty. Satan has taken such full
possession of them, that when they sin, they glory in their shame.
Phil 3: 19. They brag how many new oaths they have invented,
how often they have been drunk, how many they have defiled; they declare
their sin as Sodom. Such horrid impieties are committed that a modest
heathen would blush at. Men in this age sin at that rate, as if either
they did not believe there were a hell, or as if they feared hell would
be full ere they could get there! Was God’s name ever so openly
dishonoured? All our preaching will not make them leave their sins. What
a black veil is drawn over the face of religion at this day?
Vivimus in
temporum faecibus. Seneca. ‘We
live in the dregs of time,’ wherein the common sewer of wickedness runs.
Physicians call it cachexia, when there is no part of the body free from
distemper. England has such a disease. ‘The whole head is sick, the
whole heart is faint.’
Isa 1: 5. As black vapours rising out of the earth cloud and
darken the sun, so the sins of people in our age, like hellish vapours,
cast a cloud upon God’s glorious name. O that our eyes were rivers of
water of holy tears, to see how God’s name, instead of being hallowed,
is polluted and profaned! May we not justly fear some heavy judgements
on this account? Can God put up with our affronts any longer? Can he
endure to have his name reproached? Will a king suffer his crown- jewels
to be trampled in the dust? Do we not see the symptoms of God’s anger?
Do we not see his judgements hovering over us? Surely God is whetting
his sword, he has bent his bow, and is preparing his arrows to shoot.
Qualis
per arva Leo fulvam miniaci fronte concutiens jubam
[Like the Lion with threatening brows shaking his tawny mane over the
land]. Seneca. The body politic is in a paroxysm, or burning fit; and
may not the Lord cause a sad phlebotomy? Seeing we will not leave our
sins, he may make us lose our blood. May we not fear that the ark should
remove, the vision cease, the stars in God’s church be removed, and we
follow the gospel to the grave? When God’s name, which should be
hallowed, is profaned by a nation, it is just with God to write that
dismal epitaph upon its tomb, ‘The glory is departed.’ It were well if
the profane party only were guilty; but may not many professors be
called to the bar, and indicted for having dishonoured God’s name? ‘Are
there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?’
2 Chron 28: 10. Are these the spots of God’s children?
Deut 32: 5. If you are diamonds, have you no flaws? Have you
not your vanities? If your discourse be not profane, is it not vain?
Have you not your self-seekings, rash censures, indecent dresses? If the
wicked of the land swear, do not you sometimes slander? If they are
drunk with wine, are not you sometimes drunk with passion? If their sin
be blaspheming, is not your sin murmuring? ‘Are there not with you, even
with you, sins against the Lord?’ The sins of God’s children go nearer
to his heart than the sins of others. ‘When the Lord saw it, he abhorred
them, because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters.’
Deut 32: 19. The sins of the wicked anger God, the sins of
his own people grieve him; he will be sure to punish them. ‘You only
have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish
you for all your iniquities.’
Amos 3: 2. O that our head were waters, that we could make
this place a Bochim, a place of weeping, that God’s children might mix
blushing with tears, that they have so little hallowed, and so much
eclipsed, God’s name! Truly his own people have sinned enough to justify
him in all his severe acting against them.
Use 3.
For exhortation. Let us hallow and sanctify God’s name. Could we but see
a glimpse of God’s glory, as Moses did in the rock, it would draw
adoration and praise from us. Could we ’see God face to face,’ as the
angels in heaven do, could we behold him sitting on his throne like a
jasper-stone, at the sight of his glory we should do as the twenty-four
elders, who ‘worship him that liveth for ever, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power.’
Rev 4: 11. That we may be stirred up to this great duty of
hallowing, adoring, and sanctifying God’s name, let us consider:
(1) It is
the very end of our being. Why did God give us life, but that by living
we may hallow his name? Why did he give us souls, but to admire him? and
tongues, but to praise him? The excellence of a thing is the end for
which it was made; as of a star to give light, and of a plant to be
fruitful. So the excellence of a Christian is to answer the end of his
creation, which is to hallow God’s name, and live to that God by whom he
lives. He who lives, and of whom God has no honour, buries himself
alive, and exposes himself to a curse. Christ cursed the barren
fig-tree.
(2) God’s
name is so excellent that it deserves to be hallowed. ‘How excellent is
thy name in all the earth!’
Psa 8: 9. ‘Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.’
Psa 104: 1. As the sun has its brightness, whether we admire
it or not, so God’s name is illustrious and glorious, whether we hallow
it or not. In him are all shining perfections, holiness, wisdom, and
mercy. He is ‘worthy to be praised.’
2 Samuel 22: 4. God is
dignus honore,
worthy of honour, love, and adoration. We often bestow titles of honour
upon those who do not deserve them; but God is worthy to be praised; his
name deserves hallowing; he is above all the honour and praise which
angels in heaven give him.
(3) We
pray, ‘hallowed be thy name’; that is, let thy name be honoured and
magnified by us. If we do not magnify his name, we contradict our own
prayers. To say, ‘hallowed be thy name,’ yet not to bring honour to
God’s name, is to take his name in vain.
(4) If
men will not hallow God’s name, and bring revenues of honour to him, he
will get honour upon them. ‘I will get me honour upon Pharaoh.’
Exod 14: 17. Pharaoh would not hallow God’s name; he said,
‘Who is the Lord that I should obey him?’ Well, says God, if Pharaoh
will not honour me, I will get honour upon him. When God overthrew him
and his chariots in the sea, he got honour upon him. God’s power and
justice were gloried in his destruction. There are some whom God has
raised to great power and dignity, and they will not honour his name;
they make use of their power to dishonour him; they cast reproach upon
his name, and revile his servants. If they will not honour God, he will
get honour upon them in their final ruin. Herod did not give glory to
God, but God got glory upon him. ‘The angel of the Lord smote him
because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms.’
Acts 12: 23.
(5) It
will be no small comfort to us when we come to die, that we have
hallowed and sanctified God’s name. Christ’s comfort a little before his
death was, ‘I have glorified thee on the earth.’
John 17: 4. His redeeming mankind was hallowing and
glorifying God’s name. Never was more honour brought to God’s name than
by this great undertaking of Christ. Here was his comfort before death,
that he had hallowed God’s name, and brought glory to him. So, what a
cordial will it be to us at last, when our whole life has been a
hallowing of God’s name! We have loved him with our hearts, praised him
with our lips, honoured him with our lives; we have been to the praise
of his glory.
Eph 1: 6. At the hour of death, all your earthly comforts
will vanish; to think how rich you have been, or what pleasures you have
enjoyed upon earth, will not give one drachm of comfort. What is one the
better for an estate that is spent? But to have conscience witnessing
that you have hallowed God’s name, that your whole life has been
glorifying him, what sweet peace and satisfaction will this give! How
glad is that servant who has been all day working in the vineyard, when
evening comes, that he shall receive his pay! How sweet will death be
when they who have spent their lives in honouring God, shall receive the
recompense of reward! What comfort was it to Hezekiah, when on his sick
bed, that he could appeal to God, ‘Remember, Lord, how I have walked
before thee with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in
thy sight.’
Isa 38: 3. I have hallowed thy name, I have brought all the
honour I could to thee, ‘I have done that which is good in thy sight.’
(6) There
is nothing lost by what we do for God. If we bring honour to his name,
he will honour us. As Balak said to Balaam, ‘Am not I able to promote
thee to honour?’
Num 22: 37. So if we hallow and sanctify God’s name, is he
not able to promote us to honour? He will honour us in our life. He will
put honour upon our persons: he will number us among his jewels.
Mal 3: 17. He will make us a royal diadem in his hand.
Isa 62: 3. He will lift us up in the eyes of others. ‘They
shall be as the stones of a crown lifted up, as an ensign of glory.’
Zech 9: 17. He will esteem us as the cream and flower of the
creation. ‘Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
honourable.’
Isa 43: 4. God will put honour upon our names. ‘The memory of
the just is blessed.’
Prov 10: 7. How renowned have the saints been in all ages,
who have hallowed God’s name! How renowned was Abraham for his faith,
Moses for his meekness, David for his zeal, Paul for his love to Christ!
Their names as a precious ointment, send forth a sweet perfume in God’s
church to this day. God will honour us at our death. He will send his
angels to carry us up with triumph into heaven. ‘The beggar died, and
was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.’
Luke 16: 22. Amasis king of Egypt, had his chariot drawn by
four kings, whom he had conquered in war; but what is this to the glory
every believer shall have at his death? He shall be carried by the
angels of God. God will put honour upon us after death. He will put
glory upon our bodies. We shall be as the angels, not for substance, but
quality; our bodies shall be agile and nimble. Now they are as a weight,
then they shall be as a wing, moving swiftly from place to place; they
shall be full of clarity and brightness, like Christ’s glorious body.
Phil 3: 21. The bodies of the saints shall be as cloth dyed
into a scarlet colour, made more illustrious; they shall be so clear and
transparent, that the soul shall sparkle through them, as the wine
through the glass. God will put glory upon our souls. If the cabinet of
the body shall be so illustrious, of what orient brightness shall the
jewel be! Then will be the great coronation day, when the saints shall
wear the robe of immortality, and the crown of righteousness which fades
not away. Oh, how glorious will that garland be which is made of the
flowers of paradise! Who then would not hallow and glorify his name, and
spread his renown in the world, who will put such immortal honour upon
his people, ‘as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into
the heart of man to conceive’?
(7) If
men do not hallow, but profane and dishonour God’s name, he will pour
contempt upon them. Though they be ever so great, and though clothed in
purple and scarlet, they shall be abhorred of God, and their name shall
rot. Though the name of Judas be in the Bible, and the name of Pontius
Pilate be in the Creed, yet their names stand there for infamy, as
traitors to the crown of heaven. ‘I will make thy grave, for thou art
vile.’
Nahum 1: 14. It is said of Antiochus Epiphanes, though he was
a king, and his name signifies illustrious, yet God esteemed him vile.
To show how base the wicked are in God’s esteem, he compares them to
things most vile, to chaff (Psa
1: 4); to dross (Psa
119: 119); to the filth that foams out of the sea (Isa
57: 20). As God vilely esteems such as do not hallow his
name, so he sends them to a vile place at last. Vagrants are sent to the
house of correction; and hell is the house of correction to which the
wicked are sent when they die. Let all this prevail with us to hallow
and sanctify God’s name.
What
should we do to honour and sanctify God’s name?
Let us
get: (1) A sound knowledge of God. Take a view of his superlative
excellencies; his holiness, his incomprehensible goodness. The angels
know God better than we, therefore they sanctify his name, and sing
hallelujahs to him. Let us labour to know him to be our God. ‘This God
is our God.’
Psa 48: 14. We may dread him as a judge, but we cannot honour
him as a father, till we know he is our God.
(2) Get a
sincere love to God; a love of appreciation, and a love of complacency
to delight in him. ‘Lord, thou knowest I love thee.’
John 21: 15. He can never honour his master who does not love
him. The reason God’s name is no more hallowed, is because his name is
no more loved.
So much
for the first petition.
The Second Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘Thy
kingdom come.’
Matt 6: 10.
A soul
truly devoted to God, joins heartily in this petition,
adveniat regnum
tuum, ‘thy kingdom come.’ In
these words it is implied that God is a king, for he who has a kingdom,
can be no less than a king. ‘God is the King of all the earth.’
Psa 47: 7. He is a King upon his throne. ‘God sitteth upon
the throne of his holiness.’
Psa 47: 8. He has a regal title, high and mighty. ‘Thus saith
the high and lofty One.’
Isa 57: 15. He has the ensigns of royalty. He has his sword.
‘If I whet my glittering sword.’
Deut 32: 41. He has his sceptre. ‘A sceptre of righteousness
is the sceptre of thy kingdom.’
Heb 1: 8. He has his crown royal. ‘On his head were many
crowns.’
Rev 19: 12. He has his
jura regalia,
his kingly prerogatives. He has power to make laws, to seal pardons,
which are the flowers and jewels belonging to his crown. Thus the Lord
is King.
Further, he
is a great King. ‘A great King above all gods.’
Psa 95: 3. He is great in and of himself; and not like other
kings, who are made great by their subjects. That he is so great a King
appears by the immensity of his being. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the Lord.’
Jer 23: 24. His centre is everywhere; he is nowhere included,
yet nowhere excluded, he is so immensely great, that ‘the heaven of
heavens cannot contain him’.
1 Kings 8: 27. His greatness appears by the effects of his
power. He ‘made heaven and earth,’ and can unmake it.
Psa 124: 8. With a breath he can crumble us to dust; with a
word he can unpin the world, and break the axle-tree of it in pieces.
‘He poureth contempt upon princes.’
Job 12: 21. ‘He shall cut off the spirit of princes.’
Psa 76: 12. He is Lord paramount, who does whatever he will.
Psa 115: 3. He weigheth ‘the mountains in scales, and the
hills in a balance.’
Psa 40: 12.
God is a
glorious King. ‘Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the
King of glory.’
Psa 24: 10. He has internal glory. ‘The Lord reigneth, he is
clothed with majesty.’
Psa 93: 1. Other kings have royal and sumptuous apparel to
make them appear glorious to beholders, but all their magnificence is
borrowed; God is clothed with his own majesty; his own glorious essence
is instead of royal robes, and ‘he has girded himself with strength.’
Kings have their guard about them to defend their person, because they
are not able to defend themselves; but God needs no guard or assistance
from others. ‘He has girded himself with strength.’ His own power is his
lifeguard. ‘Who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among
the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?’
Psa 89: 6. He has a pre-eminence above all other kings for
majesty. ‘He has on his vesture a name written,
Rex Regum,
KING OF KINGS.’
Rev 19: 16. He has the highest throne, the richest crown, the
largest dominions, and the longest possession. ‘The Lord sitteth King
for ever.’
Psa 29: 10. Though he has many heirs, yet no successors. He
sets up his throne where no other king does; he rules the will and
affections; his power binds the conscience. Angels serve him, all the
kings of the earth hold their crowns and diadems by immediate tenure
from this great King. ‘By me kings reign,’
Prov 8: 15. To this Lord Jehovah all kings must give account,
and from his tribunal there is no appeal.
Use 1. For
instruction (1) If God be so great a King, and sits King for ever, it is
no disparagement for us to serve him,
Deo servire est
regnare [to serve God is to
reign]; it is an honour to serve a king. If the angels fly swiftly upon
the King of heaven’s message, then well may we look upon it as a favour
to be taken into his royal service.
Dan 9: 21. Theodosius thought it a greater honour to be God’s
servant, than to be an emperor. It is more honour to serve God than to
have kings serve us. Every subject of this King is crowned with regal
honour. He ‘has made us kings.’
Rev 1: 6. therefore, as the queen of Sheba, having seen the
glory of Solomon’s kingdom, said, ‘Happy are these thy servants which
stand continually before thee.’
1 Kings 10: 8. So happy are those saints who stand before the
King of heaven, and wait on his throne.
(2) If God
be such a glorious King, crowned with wisdom, armed with power, be
spangled with riches, it shows us what prudence it is to have this King
to be ours; to say, ‘My King, and my God.’
Psa 5: 2. It is counted great policy to be on the strongest
side. If we belong to the King of heaven, we are sure to be on the
strongest side. The King of glory can with ease destroy his adversaries;
he can pull down their pride, befoul their policy and restrain their
malice. That stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote
the image (Dan
2: 34), was an emblem, says Augustine, of Christ’s
monarchical power, conquering and triumphing over his enemies. If we are
on God’s side, we are on the strongest side; he can with a word destroy
his enemies. ‘Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath.’
Psa 2: 5. Nay, with a look he can destroy them. ‘Look upon
every one that is proud and bring him low.’
Job 40: 12. It needs cost God no more to confound those who
rise up against him, than a look, a cast of his eye. ‘In the morning
watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the
pillar of fire, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off
their chariot-wheels.’
Exod 14: 24. What wisdom is it then to have this King to be
ours! Then we are on the strongest side.
Use 2. For
exhortation (1) If God be so glorious a King, full of power and majesty,
let us trust in him. ‘They that know thy name will put their trust in
thee.’
Psa 9: 10. Trust him with your soul; you cannot put this
jewel in safer hands. And trust him with church and state affairs; he is
King. ‘The Lord is a man of war.’
Exod 15: 3. He can make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all
the nations. If means fail, he is never at a loss; there are no
impossibilities with him; he can make the dry bones live.
Ezek 37: 10. As a King he can command, and as a God he can
create salvation. ‘I create Jerusalem a rejoicing.’
Isa 65: 18. Let us trust all our affairs with this great
King. Either God can remove mountains or can leap over them.
Cant 2: 8.
(2) If God
be so great a King, let us fear him. ‘Fear ye not me? saith the Lord:
will ye not tremble at my presence?’
Jer 5: 22. We have enough of fear of men. Fear makes danger
appear greater, and sin less; but let us fear the King of kings, who has
power to cast body and soul into hell.
Luke 12: 5. As one wedge drives out another, so the fear of
God would drive out all base carnal fear. Let us fear that God whose
throne is set above all kings; they may be mighty, but he is almighty.
Kings have no power, but what God has given them; their power is
limited, his is infinite. Let us fear this King, whose eyes are ‘as a
flame of fire.’
Rev 1: 14. ‘The mountains quake at him; and the rocks are
thrown down by him.’
Nahum 1: 5, 6. If he stamps with his foot, all the creatures
are presently up in a battalion to fight for him. Oh, tremble and fear
before this God. Fear is janitor animae, the doorkeeper of the soul. It
keeps sin from entering. ‘How can I do this great wickedness, and sin
against God?’
Gen 39: 9.
(3) If God
be so glorious a King, he has
jus vitae et
necis, he has the power of life
and death in his hand. Let all the potentates of the earth take heed how
they employ their power against the King of heaven. They employ their
power against God, who with their sceptres beat down his truth, which is
the most orient pearl of his crown; who crush and persecute his people,
who are the apple of his eye (Zech
2: 8); who trample upon his laws, and royal edicts, which he
has set forth (Psa
2: 3). What is a king without his laws? Let all that are
invested with worldly power and grandeur take heed how they oppose the
King of glory. The Lord will be too hard for all that come against him.
‘Hast thou an arm like God?’
Job 40: 9. Wilt thou measure arms with the Almighty? Shall a
little child fight with an archangel? ‘Can thy heart endure, or can thy
hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee?’
Ezek 22: 14. Christ will put all his enemies at last under
his feet.
Psa 110: 1. All the multitude of the wicked, who set
themselves against God, shall be but as so many clusters of ripe grapes,
to be cast into the winepress of the wrath of God, to be trodden by him
till their blood come forth. The King of glory will come off victor at
last. Men may set up their standard, but God always sets up his trophies
of victory. The Lord has a golden sceptre, and an iron rod.
Psa 2: 9. Those who will not bow to the one, shall be broken
by the other.
(4) Is God
so great a king, having all power in heaven and earth in his hand! let
us learn subjection to him. You who have gone on in sin, and by your
impieties hung out a flag of defiance against the King of heaven, O come
in quickly, and make your peace, submit to God. ‘Kiss the Son, lest he
be angry.’
Psa 2: 12. Kiss Christ with a kiss of love, and a kiss of
obedience. Obey the King of heaven, when he speaks to you by his
ministers and ambassadors.
2 Cor 5: 20. When God bids you flee from sin, and espouse
holiness, obey him: to obey is better than sacrifice. ‘To obey God,’
says Luther, ‘is better than to work miracles.’ Obey God willingly.
Isa 1: 19. That is the best obedience that is cheerful, as
that is the sweetest honey which drops out of the comb. Obey God
swiftly. ‘Then lifted I up mine eyes, and, behold, two women, and the
wind was in their wings.’
Zech 5: 9. Wings are swift, but wind in the wings denotes
great swiftness; such should our obedience to God be. Obey the King of
glory.
Use 3. For
consolation. Here is comfort to those who are the subjects of the King
of heaven. God will put forth all the royal power for their succour and
comfort. (1) The King of heaven will plead their cause. ‘I will plead
thy cause, and take vengeance for thee.’
Jer 51: 36. (2) He will protect his people. He sets an
invisible guard about them. ‘I will be unto her a wall of fire round
about.’
Zech 2: 5. A wall, that is defensive; a wall of fire, that is
offensive. (3) When it may be for the good of his people, he will raise
up deliverance to them. ‘The Lord saved them by a great deliverance.’
1 Chron 11: 14. God reigning as a king, can save any way;
even by contemptible means, as the blowing of the trumpets, and blazing
of lamps.
Judges 7: 20. By contrary means; as when he made the sea a
wall to Israel, and the waters were a means to keep them from drowning.
The fish’s belly was a ship in which Jonah sailed safe to shore. God
will never want ways of saving his people; rather than fail, their very
enemies shall do his work.
2 Chron 20: 23. He sets Ammon and Mount Seir one against
another. As God will deliver his people from temporal danger, so from
spiritual danger, as from sin, and from hell. ‘Jesus which delivered us
from the wrath to come.’
1 Thess 1: l0.
Use 4. For
intimidation. If God be king, he will set his utmost strength against
those who are the enemies of his kingdom. ‘A fire goeth before him, and
burneth up his enemies round about.’
Psa 97: 3. (1) He will set himself against his enemies. He
will set his attributes against them, his power and justice; and ‘who
knoweth the power of thine anger?’
Psa 90: 2: (2) He will set the creatures against them. ‘The
stars in their courses fought against Sisera.’
Judges 5: 20. Tertullian observes, that when the Persian
fought against the Christians, a mighty wind arose, which made the
Persian’ arrows to fly back in their own faces. Every creature has a
quarrel with a sinner; the stone out of the wall, the hail and the
frost.
Hab 2: 11. ‘He destroyed their vines with hail, and their
sycomore-trees with frost.’
Psa 78: 47. (3) God will set men against themselves. He will
set conscience against them. How terrible is this rod when turned into a
serpent! Melanchthon calls it
Erinnys
conscientiae, a hellish fury; it
is called
vermis
conscientiae, the worm of
conscience.
Mark 9: 44. What a worm did Spira feel in his conscience! He
was a terror to himself. The worst civil wars are between a man and his
conscience. (4) God will set the diseases of men’s bodies against them.
‘The Lord smote [Jehoram] in his bowels with an incurable disease.’
2 Chron 21: 18. God can raise an army against a man out of
his own bowels; he can set one humour of the body against another; the
heat to dry up the moisture, and the moisture to drown the heat. The
Lord needs not go far for instruments to punish the sinner; he can make
the joints of the same body to smite one against another.
Dan 5: 6. (5) God will set men’s friends against them. Where
they used to have honey, they shall have nothing but aloes and wormwood.
‘When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at
peace with him.’
Prov 16: 7. When he opposes God, he makes his friends to be
his enemies. The wife of Commodes, the emperor, gave him poison in
perfumed wine. Sennacherib’s two sons were the death of him.
2 Kings 19: 37. (6) God will set Satan against them. ‘Let
Satan stand at his right hand.’
Psa 109: 6. What does Satan at the sinner’s elbows? He helps
him to contrive sin. He tempts him to commit sin. He terrifies him for
sin. He that has Satan standing at his right hand, is sure to be set at
God’s left hand. Here is the misery of such as oppose God’s royal
sceptre, that he will set everything in the world against them. If there
be either justice in heaven or fire in hell, sinners shall not be
unpunished.
Use 5. For
encouragement. If God be such an absolute monarch, and crowned with such
glory and majesty, let us all engage in his service, and stand up for
his truth and worship. Dare to own God in the worst time. He is King of
kings, and is able to reward all his servants. We may be losers for him,
we shall never be losers by him. We are ready to say, as Amaziah, ‘What
shall I do for the hundred talents?’
2 Chron 25: 9. If I appear for God, I may lose my estate, my
life. I say with the prophet, God is able to give you much more than
this; he can give you for the present inward peace, and for the future a
crown of glory which fadeth not away.
What
kingdom is meant when Christ says, ‘Thy kingdom come’?
Let us
show first what he does not mean. (1) He does not mean a political or
earthly kingdom. The apostles indeed did desire Christ’s temporal reign.
‘Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom again to Israel?’
Acts 1: 6. But Christ said his kingdom was not of this world.
John 18: 36. So that, when Christ taught his disciples to
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ he did not mean it of any earthly kingdom,
that he should reign here in outward pomp and splendour. (2) It is not
meant of God’s providential kingdom. ‘His kingdom ruleth over all;’ that
is, the kingdom of his providence.
Psa 103: 19. This kingdom we do not pray for when we say,
‘Thy kingdom come;’ for this kingdom is already come. God exercises the
kingdom of his providence in the world. ‘He putteth down one and setteth
up another.’
Psa 75: 7. Nothing stirs in the world but God has a hand in
it; he sets every wheel at work; he humbles the proud, and raises the
poor out of the dust to set them among princes.
1 Sam 2: 8. The kingdom of God’s providence rules over all;
kings do nothing but what his providence permits and orders.
Acts 4: 27, 28. This kingdom of God’s providence we do not
pray should come, for it is already come.
What
kingdom then is meant when we say, ‘Thy kingdom come’? Positively a
twofold kingdom is meant. (1) The kingdom of grace, which God exercises
in the consciences of his people. This is regnum Dei micron. God’s
lesser kingdom. When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that the
kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts and increased. (2) We pray
also, that the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that we may, in God’s
good time be translated into it. These two kingdoms of grace and glory,
differ not specifically, but gradually; they differ not in nature, but
in degree only. The kingdom of grace is nothing but the beginning of the
kingdom of glory. The kingdom of grace is glory in the seed, and the
kingdom of glory is grace in the flower. The kingdom of grace is glory
in the daybreak, and the kingdom of glory is grace in the full meridian.
The kingdom of grace is glory militant, and the kingdom of glory is
grace triumphant. There is such an inseparable connection between these
two kingdoms, grace and glory, that there is no passing into the one but
by the other. At Athens there were two temples, a temple of virtue and a
temple of honour; and there was no going into the temple of honour, but
through the temple of virtue; so the kingdoms of grace and glory are so
closely joined together, that we cannot go into the kingdom of glory but
through the kingdom of grace. Many people aspire after the kingdom of
glory, but never look after grace; but these two, which God has joined
together, may not be put asunder. The kingdom of grace leads to the
kingdom of glory.
I. The
first thing implied in this petition, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ is that we are
in the kingdom of darkness. We pray that we may be brought out of the
kingdom of darkness. The state of nature is a kingdom of darkness, where
sin is said to reign.
Rom 6: 12. It is called, ‘the power of darkness. ’
Col 1: 13. Man, before the fall, was illuminated with perfect
knowledge, but this light is now eclipsed, and he is fallen into the
kingdom of darkness.
How many
ways is a natural man in the kingdom of darkness?
(1) He is
under the darkness of ignorance. ‘Having the understanding darkened.’
Eph 4: 18. Ignorance is a black veil drawn over the mind. Men
by nature may have a deep reach in the things of the world, and yet be
ignorant of the things of God. Nahash the Ammonite would make a covenant
with Israel to thrust out their right eyes.
1 Sam 11: 2. Since the fall, our left eye remains, a deep
insight into worldly matters; but our right eye is thrust out, we have
no saving knowledge of God. Something we know by nature, but nothing as
we ought to know.
1 Cor 8: 2. Ignorance draws the curtains round about the
soul.
1 Cor 2: 14.
(2) A
natural man is under the darkness of pollution. Hence sinful actions are
called ‘works of darkness.’
Rom 13: 12. Pride and lust darken the glory of the soul. A
sinner’s heart is a dark conclave that looks blacker than hell.
(3) A
natural man is under the darkness of misery; he is exposed to divine
vengeance; and the sadness of this darkness is, that men are not
sensible of it. They are blind, yet they think they see. The darkness of
Egypt was such thick darkness as ‘might be felt.’
Exod 10: 21. Men by nature are in thick darkness; but here is
the misery, the darkness cannot be felt; they will not believe they are
in the dark till they are past recovery.
Use I. See
what the state of nature is. It is a ‘kingdom of darkness,’ and it is a
bewitching darkness. ‘Men loved darkness rather than light;’ as the
Athlantes in Ethiopia curse the sun.
John 3: 19. Darkness of sin leads to ‘chains under darkness.’
Jude 6. What comfort can such take in earthly things? The
Egyptians might have food, gold, silver; but they could take but little
comfort in them, while they were in such darkness as might be felt; so
the natural man may have riches and friends to delight in, yet he is in
the kingdom of darkness, and how dead are all these comforts! Thou who
art in the kingdom of darkness, knowest not whither thou goest. As the
ox is driven to the shambles, but knows not whither he goes, so the
devil is driving thee before him to hell, but thou knowest not whither
thou goest. Shouldest thou die in thy natural estate, while thou art in
the kingdom of darkness, blackness of darkness is reserved for thee. ‘To
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.’
Jude 13.
Use 2. Let
us pray that God will bring us out of this kingdom of darkness. God’s
kingdom of grace cannot come into our hearts till we are brought out of
the kingdom of darkness.
Col 1: 13. Why should not we strive to get out of this
kingdom of darkness? Who would desire to stay in a dark dungeon? O fear
the chains of darkness.
Jude 6. These chains are God’s power, binding men as in
chains under wrath for ever. O pray that God would deliver you out of
the kingdom of darkness! (1) Be sensible of thy dark, damned estate,
that thou hast not one spark of fire to give thee light! (2) Go to
Christ to enlighten thee! ‘Christ shall give thee light;’ he will not
only bring thy light to thee, but open thine eyes to see it.
Eph 5: 14. That is the first thing implied, ‘Thy kingdom
come;’ we pray that we may be brought out of the kingdom of darkness.
II. The
second thing implied is ’ Thy kingdom come,’ is that we pray against the
devil’s kingdom; that his kingdom may be demolished in the world. His
kingdom stands in opposition to Christ’s kingdom; and when we pray, ‘Thy
kingdom come,’ we pray against Satan’s kingdom. He has a kingdom: he got
it by conquest: he conquered mankind in paradise. He has his throne.
‘Thou dwellest where Satan’s seat is.’
Rev 2: 13. His throne is set up in the hearts of men; he does
not care for their purses, but their hearts. He is served upon the knee.
Eph 2: 2. ‘They worshipped the dragon,’ that is, the devil.
Rev 13: 4. Satan’s empire is very large. Most kingdoms in the
world pay tribute to him. His kingdom has two qualifications or
characters: [1] It is
regnum nequitiae:
a kingdom of impiety. [2] It is
regnum
servitutis: a kingdom of
slavery.
[1] The
kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of impiety. Nothing but sin goes on in his
kingdom. Murder and heresy, lust and treachery, oppression and division,
are the constant trade driven in his dominions. He is called ‘the
unclean spirit.’
Luke 11: 24. What else is propagated in his kingdom but a
mystery of iniquity?
[2]
Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of slavery. He makes all his subjects
slaves.
Peccati reus dura daemonis tyrannide tenetur
[The sinner is held captive under the grim tyranny of the devil]. Satan
is a usurper and a tyrant; he is a worse tyrant than any other. (1)
Other tyrants do but rule over the body, but Satan’s kingdom rules over
the soul. He rides some men as we do upon horses. (2) Other tyrants have
some pity on their slaves. Though they make them work in the galleys,
yet they give them meat, and let them have their hours for rest; but
Satan is a merciless tyrant, who gives his slaves poison instead of
meat, and hurtful lusts to feed on.
1 Tim 6: 9. Nor will he let his slaves have any rest: he
hires them out to do his drudgery. ‘They weary themselves to commit
iniquity.’
Jer 9: 5. When the devil had entered into Judas, he sent him
to the high priests, and from thence to the garden, and never let him
rest till he had betrayed Christ and hanged himself. Thus he is the
worst of tyrants. When men have served him to their utmost strength, he
welcomes them to hell with fire and brimstone.
Use. Let
us pray that Satan’s kingdom, set up in the world, may be overthrown. It
is sad to think that, though the devil’s kingdom be so bad, yet that it
should have so many to support it. He has more to stand up for his
kingdom than Christ has for his. What a large harvest of souls has
Satan! and God only a few gleanings. The Pope and the Turk give the
power to Satan. If in God’s visible church the devil has so many loyal
subjects that serve him with their lives and souls, how do his subjects
swarm in places of idolatry and paganism, where there is none to oppose
him, but all vote on the devil’s side! Men are willing slaves to Satan;
they will fight and die for him; therefore he is not only called ‘the
prince of this world,’ but ‘the god of this world’ (John
12: 31;
2 Cor 4: 4), to show what power he has over men’s souls. O
let us pray that God would break the sceptre of the devil’s kingdom;
that Michael may destroy the dragon; that, by the help of a religious
magistracy and ministry, the hellish kingdom of the prince of darkness
may be beaten down! Satan’s kingdom must be thrown down before Christ’s
kingdom can flourish in its power and majesty.
When we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ something is positively intended.
III. We
pray that the kingdom of grace may be set up in our hearts.
When we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ we pray that the kingdom of grace may come
into our hearts. This is
regnum Dei
mikron, God’s lesser kingdom.
‘The kingdom of God is righteousness.’
Rom 14: 17. ‘The kingdom of God is within you.’
Luke 17: 21.
Why is
grace called a kingdom?
Because,
when grace comes, there is a kingly government set up in the soul. Grace
rules the will and affections, and brings the whole man in subjection to
Christ; it kings it in the soul, sways the sceptre, subdues mutinous
lusts, and keeps the soul in a spiritual decorum.
Why is
there such need to pray that this kingdom of grace may come into our
hearts?
(1)
Because, till the kingdom of grace come, we have no right to the
covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is sweetened with love,
bespangled with promises; it is our Magna Charta, by virtue of which God
passes himself over to us to be our God. Who are heirs of the covenant
of grace? Only such as have the kingdom of grace in their hearts. ‘A new
heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’
Ezek 36: 26. Here the kingdom of grace is set up in the soul;
it then follows, ‘I will be your God’,
36: 28. The covenant of grace is to an ungracious person a
sealed fountain; it is kept as a paradise with a flaming sword, that the
sinner may not touch it. Without grace, you have no more right to it
than a farmer to the city-charter.
(2) Unless
the kingdom of grace be set up in our hearts, our purest offerings are
defiled. They may be good as to the matter, but not as to the manner;
they want that which should meliorate and sweeten them. Under the law,
if a man who was unclean by a dead body, carried a piece of holy flesh
in his skirt, the holy flesh could not cleanse him, but he polluted it.
Hag 2: 12. Till the kingdom of grace be in our hearts,
ordinances do not purify us, but we pollute them. Even the prayer of an
ungracious person becomes sin.
Prov 15: 8. In what a sad condition is a man before God’s
kingdom of grace is set up in his heart! Whether he comes or comes not
to the ordinance, he sins. If he does not come to the ordinance, he is a
condemner of it; if he does come, he is a polluter of it. A sinner’s
works are opera mortua, dead works; and those works which are dead,
cannot please God. A dead flower has no sweetness.
Heb 11: 6.
(3) We had
need pray that the kingdom of grace may come, because until this kingdom
come into our hearts, we are loathsome in God’s eyes. ‘My soul loathed
them.’
Zech 11: 8.
Quanta est
foeditas vitiosae mentis [How
great is the foulness of a corrupt mind]. A heart void of grace looks
blacker than hell. Sin transforms man into a devil. ‘Have I not chosen
you twelve, and one of you is a devil?’
John 6: 70. Envy is the devil’s eye, hypocrisy is his cloven
foot. Thus it is before the kingdom of grace come. So deformed is a
graceless person, that when once he sees his own filth and leprosy, the
first thing he does is to loathe himself. ‘Ye shall loathe yourself in
your own sight for all your evils.’
Ezek 20: 43. I have read of a woman who always used
flattering glasses, and who, by chance, seeing her face in a true glass,
in
insaniam delapsa est, she ran
mad. When once God gives those who now dress themselves by the
flattering glass of presumption, a sight of their own filthiness, they
will abhor themselves. ‘Ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for
all your evils.’
(4) Before
the kingdom of grace comes unto us we are spiritually illegitimate, of
the bastard brood of the old serpent.
John 8: 44. To be illegitimate is the greatest infamy. ‘A
bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord even to his
tenth generation.’
Deut 23: 2. He was to be kept out of the holy assemblies of
Israel as an infamous creature. A bastard by law cannot inherit. Before
the kingdom of grace comes into the heart, a person is to God as
illegitimate, and so continuing he cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven.
(5) Before
the kingdom of grace be set up in men’s hearts, the kingdom of Satan is
set up in them. They are said to be under ‘the power of Satan.’
Acts 26: 18. Satan commands the will; though he cannot force
the will, by his subtle temptations he can draw it. He is said to take
men captive ‘at his will.’
2 Tim 2: 26. The Greek word signifies to take them alive as
the fowler does the bird in the snare. The sinner’s heart is the devil’s
mansion-house. ‘I will return into my house.’
Matt 12: 44. It is
officina diaboli,
Satan’s shop, where he works. ‘The prince of the air that now worketh in
the children of disobedience.’
Eph 2: 2. The members of the body are the tools with which
Satan works. He possesses men. In Christ’s time many had their bodies
possessed, but it is far worse to have the souls possessed. One is
possessed with an unclean devil, another with a revengeful devil. No
wonder the ship goes full sail when the wind blows; no wonder men go
full sail in sin when the devil, the prince of the air, blows them.
Thus, till the kingdom of grace come, men are under the power of Satan,
who, like Draco, writes all his laws in blood.
(6) Till
the kingdom of grace comes, a man is exposed to the wrath of God. ‘Who
knoweth the power of thine anger?’
Psa 90: 11. If when but a spark of God’s wrath flies into a
man’s conscience in this life it is so terrible, what will it be when
God stirs up all his anger? So inconceivably torturing is God’s wrath,
that the wicked call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide
them from it.
Rev 6: 16. The hellish torments are compared to a fiery lake.
Rev 20: 15. Other fire is but painted in comparison of this;
and this lake of fire burns for ever.
Mark 9: 44. God’s breath kindles this fire.
Isa 30: 33. Where shall we find engines or buckets to quench
it? Time will not finish it; tears will not quench it. To this fiery
lake are men exposed till the kingdom of grace be set up in them.
(7) Till
the kingdom of grace comes, men cannot die with comfort. He only who
takes Christ in the arms of his faith can look death in the face with
joy. It is sad to have the king of terrors in the body and not the
kingdom of grace in the soul. It is a wonder every graceless person does
not die distracted. What will a grace- despiser do when death comes to
him with a writ of habeas corpus? Hell follows death. ‘Behold, a pale
horse, and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with
him.’
Rev 6: 8. Thus you see what need we have to pray that the
kingdom of grace may come. Of him that dies without Christ I may say,
‘It had been good for that man if he had not been born.’
Matt 26: 24. Few believe the necessity of having the kingdom
of grace set up in their hearts, as appears by this, that they are well
content to live without it. Does that man believe the necessity of
pardon who is content to be without it? Most people, if they may have
trading, and may sit quietly under their vine and fig-trees, are in
their kingdom, though they have not the kingdom of God within them. If
the candle of prosperity shine upon their head, they care not whether
the grace of God shine in their hearts. Do these men believe the
necessity of grace? Were they convinced how needful it is to have the
kingdom of God within them, they would cry out as the jailor, ‘What must
I do to be saved?’
Acts 16: 30.
How may we
know that the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts?
It
concerns us to examine this, for our salvation depends upon it, and we
had need be cautious in the search, because there is something that
looks like grace, which is not. ‘If a man think himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.’
Gal 6: 3. Many think they have the kingdom of grace come into
their heart, and it is only a chimera, a golden dream.
Quam multi cum
vana spe descendunt ad inferos!
[How many with vain hope go down to hell!] Augustine. Zeuxis painted
grapes so lively that he deceived the living birds. There are many
deceits about grace.
(1) Men
think they have the kingdom of grace in their hearts because they have
the means of grace. They live where the silver trumpet of the gospel
sounds, they are lifted up to heaven with ordinances. ‘I have a Levite
to my priest,’ surely I shall go to heaven.
Judges 17: 13. The Jews cried, ‘The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord are [we].’
Jer 7: 4. We are apt to glory in this, that the oracles of
God are committed to us, that we have the word and sacrament. Alas! this
is a fallacy; we may have the means of grace, and yet the kingdom of
grace may not be set up in our hearts. We may have the kingdom of God
come nigh us, but not into us; the sound of the word in our ears, but
not the savour of it in our hearts.
Luke 11: 20. Many of the Jews, who had Christ for their
preacher, were not the better for it. Hot clothes will not put warmth
into a dead man. Thou mayest have hot clothes, warn and lively
preaching, and yet be spiritually dead. ‘The children of the kingdom
shall be cast out.’
Matt 8: 12.
(2) Men
think they have the kingdom of grace set up in their hearts, because
they have some common works of the Spirit.
[1] They
have great enlightening of mind, profound knowledge, and almost speak
like angels dropped from heaven; but the apostle supposes a case in
which, after men have been enlightened, they may fall away.
Heb. 6: 4, 5, 6.
But
wherein does this illumination come short?
The
illumination of hypocrites is not virtual, it does not leave an
impression of holiness behind; it is like weak physic that will not
work. The mind is enlightened, but the heart is not renewed. A Christian
that is all head, but no feet, does not walk in the ways of God.
[2] Men
have had convictions and stirrings of conscience for sin, they have seen
the evil of their ways, and now hope the kingdom of grace is come; but
though convictions are a step towards grace, they are not grace. Had not
Pharaoh and Judas convictions?
Exod 10: 16.
What makes
convictions prove abortive? Wherein do they fail?
They are
not deep enough. A sinner never saw himself lost without Christ. The
seed that wanted depth of earth withered.
Matt 13: 5. These convictions are like blossoms blown off
before they come to maturity. They are also involuntary. The sinner does
what he can to stile them; he drowns them in wine and mirth; he labours
to get rid of them. As the deer when shot runs and shakes out the arrow,
so does he the arrow of conviction; or as the prisoner files off his
fetters, and breaks loose, so he breaks loose from convictions. His
corruptions are stronger than his convictions.
[3] Men
have had some kind of humiliation, and have shed tears for their sins,
and therefore hope the kingdom of grace is come into their hearts. But
this is no infallible sign of grace. Saul wept, and Ahab humbled
himself.
Why is not
humiliation a grace? Wherein does it come short of it?
Tears in
the wicked do not spring from love to God, but are forced by affliction,
as water that drops from distillation is forced by the fire.
Gen 4: 13. The tears of sinners are forced by God’s fiery
judgements. They are deceitful tears;
lacrimae mentiri
doctae [tears taught to lie].
Men weep, yet go on in sin; they do not drown their sins in their tears.
[4] Men
have begun some reformation, therefore surely now they think the kingdom
of grace is come; but there may be deceit in this. A man may leave his
oaths and drunkenness, and still be in love with sin. He may leave his
sin, out of fear of hell, or because it brings shame and penury, but
still his heart goes after it, ‘They set their heart on their iniquity’
(Hos
4: 8); as Lot’s wife left Sodom, but still her heart was in
Sodom. Hypocrites are like the snake which casts her coat, but keeps her
poison. They keep the love of sin as one that has been long suitor to
another; though his friends break off the match, yet still he has a
hankering love to her. It may be a partial reformation. He may leave off
one sin and live in another; he may refrain drunkenness and live in
covetousness; he may refrain swearing and live in the sin of slandering;
one devil may be cast out and another as bad may come in his room. A man
may forsake gross sins, but have no reluctance against heart sins;
motus
primo primi [the very earliest
motions of sin] as proud, lustful thoughts. Though he dams up the
stream, he lets alone the fountain. Oh, therefore, if there be so many
deceits, and men may think the kingdom of heaven is come into their
hearts when it is not, how curious and critical had we need be in our
search whether we have it really in our hearts! If a man be deceived in
the title of his land, it is but the loss of his estate; but if he be
deceived about his grace, it is the loss of his soul.
How may we
know positively that the kingdom of grace is set up in us?
In
general, by having a metamorphosis or change wrought in the soul, which
is ca]led the ‘new creature.’
2 Cor 5: 17. The faculties are not new, but there is a new
nature; as the strings of a lute are the same, but the tune is altered.
When the kingdom of grace is set up, there is light in the mind, order
in the affections, pliableness in the will, tenderness in the
conscience. They who can find no change of heart, are the same as they
were; as vain, as earthly, as unclean as ever; there is no sign of God’s
kingdom of grace in them.
More
particularly we may know the kingdom of grace is set up in our hearts.
(1) By having unfeigned desires after God, which is the smoking flax
that Christ will not quench. A true desire of grace is grace: by the
beating of this pulse we conclude there is life. ‘O Lord, let thine ear
be attentive to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name.’
Neh 1: 11. But may not a hypocrite have good desires? ‘Let me
die the death of the righteous.’
Num 23: 10. Unfeigned desires evidence the kingdom of God
within a man.
How may
these unfeigned desires be known?
An
unfeigned desire is ingenuous. We desire God
propter se,
for himself, for his intrinsic excellencies. The savour of the ointment
of Christ’s graces draws the virgins’ desires after him.
Cant 1: 3. A true saint desires him not on]y for what he has,
but for what he is; not only for his rewards, but for his holiness. No
hypocrite can thus desire God; he may desire him for his jewels, but not
for his beauty.
An
unfeigned desire is insatiable. It cannot be satisfied without God; let
the world heap her honours and riches, they will not satisfy. No flowers
or music will content him who is thirsty; so nothing will quench the
soul’s thirst but the blood of Christ. He faints away, his heart breaks
with longing for God.
Psa 84: 2;
Psa 119: 20.
An
unfeigned desire is active; it flourishes into endeavour. ‘With my soul
have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I
seek thee early.’
Isa 26: 9. A soul that desires aright says, ‘I must have
Christ; I must have grace; I will have heaven, though I take it by
storm.’ He who desires water will let down the bucket into the well to
draw it up.
An
unfeigned desire is supreme. We desire Christ, not only more than the
world, but more than heaven. ‘whom have I in heaven but thee?’
Psa 73: 25. Heaven itself would not satisfy without Christ.
He is the diamond in the ring of glory. If God should say to the soul, I
will put thee into heaven, but I will hide my face from thee, I will
draw a curtain between that thou shalt not behold my glory, the soul
would not be satisfied, but say, as Absalom, ‘Now therefore let me see
the king’s face.’
2 Samuel 14: 32.
An
unfeigned desire is gradual. It increases as the sun in the horizon. A
little of God will not satisfy, but the pious soul desires still more. A
drop of water is not enough for the thirsty traveller. Though a
Christian is thankful for the least degree of grace, yet he is not
satisfied with the greatest; he still thirsts for more of Christ, and
his Spirit. Desire is a holy dropsy. A saint would have more knowledge,
more sanctity, more of Christ’s presence. A glimpse of Christ through
the lattice of an ordinance is sweet; and the soul will never leave
longing till it sees him face to face. It desires to have grace
perfected in glory.
Dulcissimo Deo
totus immergi cupit et inviscerari
[it desires to be wholly plunged and embowelled in the sweetness of
God]. We would be swallowed up in God, and be ever bathing ourselves in
those perfumed waters of pleasure which run at his right hand for ever.
Surely this unfeigned desire after God is a blessed sign that the
kingdom of grace is come into our hearts. The beating of this pulse
shows life.
Est a Deo ut
bene velimus [God desires are
from God]. Augustine. If iron move upwards contrary to its nature, it is
a sign some loadstone has been there drawing it; if the soul move
towards God in an unfeigned desire, it is a sign the loadstone of the
Spirit has been drawing it.
(2) We may
know the kingdom of grace has come into our hearts by having the
princely grace of faith.
Fides est
sanctissima humani pectoris
[Faith is the most sacred jewel of the human heart] Gemma. Faith cuts us
from the wild olive of nature, and ingrafts us into Christ. It is the
vital artery of the soul. ‘The just shall live by faith.’
Heb 10: 38. Faith makes a holy adventure on Christ’s merits.
As a princely grace it reigns in the soul, when the kingdom of God is
come unto us. The Hebrew word for faith comes from radix which signifies
to nourish; faith nourisheth the soul, and is the nurse of all the
graces. But, who will not say he is a believer? Simon Magus believed,
yet was in the gall of bitterness.
Acts 8: 13, 23. The hypocrite can put on faith’s mantle, as
the devil did Samuel’s.
How shall
we know therefore that our faith is sound, that it is the faith of the
operation of God, and that the kingdom of God is within us?
True faith
is wrought by the ministry of the word. ‘Faith comes by hearing.’
Rom 10: 17. Peter let down the net of his ministry, and at
one draught caught three thousand souls. Let us examine how our faith
was wrought. Did God in the ministry of the word humble us? Did he break
up the fallow ground of our heart, and then cast in the seed of faith? A
good sign; but, if you know not how you came by your faith, suspect
yourselves; as we suspect men to have stolen goods, when they know not
how they came by them.
True faith
is at first small, like a grain of mustard-seed; it is full of doubts
and fears; it is smoking flax: it smokes with desire, but does not flame
with comfort. It is so small that a Christian can hardly discern whether
he has faith or not.
True faith
is long in working,
non fit in
instanti [it does not come about
in a moment]. It costs many searchings of heart, many prayers and tears;
there is a spiritual combat. The soul suffers many sore pangs of
humiliation before the child of faith is born. To those whose faith is
per
saltum [at a leap], who leap out
of sin into a confidence that Christ is theirs, we may say, as Isaac
concerning his son’s venison, ‘How is it that thou hast found it so
quickly?’
Gen 27: 20. How is it that thou camest by thy faith so soon?
The seed in the parable which sprung up suddenly withered.
Mark 4: 5, 6.
Solent praecocia
subito flaccescere [Things that
are too forward have a way of suddenly wilting].
True faith
is joined with sanctity. As a little bezoar is strong in operation, and
a little musk sweetens, so a little faith purifies. ‘Holding the mystery
of the faith in a pure conscience.’
1 Tim 3: 9. Though faith does but touch Christ, it fetches a
healing virtue from him. Justifying faith does that in a spiritual sense
which miraculous faith does; it removes the mountains of sin, and casts
them into the sea of Christ’s blood.
True faith
will trust God without a pawn. Though a Christian be cut short in
provisions — the fig-tree does not blossom — yet he will trust in God.
Fides
famem non formidat. Faith fears
not famine. God has given us his promise as his bond. ‘Verily thou shalt
be fed.’
Psa 37: 3. Faith puts this bond in suit, that God will rather
work a miracle than his promise shall fail. He has cause to suspect his
faith, who says, he trusts God for the greater, but dares not trust him
for the less: he trusts God for salvation, but dares not trust him for a
livelihood.
True faith
is prolific. It brings forth fruit; it has Rachel’s beauty and Leah’s
fruitfulness.
Fides pinguescit
operibus. Luther. Faith is full
of good works. It believes as if it did not work, and it works as if it
did not believe. It is the spouse-like grace which marries Christ, and
good works are the children which it bears. By having such faith we may
know the kingdom of God is within us; that grace is certainly in our
hearts.
(3) We may
know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts by having the grace of
love. Faith and love are the two poles on which all religion turns. ‘The
upright love thee.’
Cant 1: 4. True love is to love God out of choice. It turns
the son] into a seraphim; it makes it burn in a flame of affection; it
is the truest touchstone of sincerity; it is the queen of the graces; it
commands the whole soul.
2 Cor 5: 14. If our love to God be genuine, we let him have
the supremacy; we set him in the highest room of our soul; we give him
the purest of our love. ‘I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of
the juice of my pomegranate.’
Cant 8: 2. If the spouse had anything better than another, a
cup more juicy and spiced, Christ should drink of that. We give the
creature the milk of our love, but God the cream. In short, if we love
God aright, we love his laws; we love his picture drawn in the saints by
the pencil of the Holy Ghost; we love his presence in his ordinances.
Sleidan says, that the Protestants in France had a church which they
call paradise; as if they thought themselves in paradise while they had
God’s presence in his sanctuary. The soul that loves God, loves his
appearing.
2 Tim 4: 8. It will be a glorious appearing to the saints
when their union with Christ shall be complete; then their joy shall be
full. The bride longs for the marriage day. ‘The Spirit and the bride
say, Come: even so, come, Lord Jesus.’
Rev 22: 17, 20. By this sacred love we may know the kingdom
of God is within us.
(4) We may
know the kingdom of grace is come into our hearts by spiritualizing the
duties of religion. ‘Ye are an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices.’
1 Pet 2:5 Spiritualizing duty consists in three things:
[1]
Fixedness of mind. We spiritualize duty when our minds are fixed on God.
‘That you may attend on the Lord without distraction.’
1 Cor 7: 35 Though impertinent thoughts sometimes come into
the heart in duty, they are not allowed.
Psa 119: 113. They come as unwelcome guests, which are no
sooner spied but they are turned out.
[2]
Fervency of devotion. ‘Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.’
Rom 12: 11. The allusion is to water that seethes and boils
over; so the affections boil over, the eyes melt in tears, and the heart
flows in holy ejaculations. We not only bring our offering to God, but
our hearts.
[3]
Uprightness of aim. A man whose heart is upright has three ends in duty.
First, that he may grow more like God. Moses on the mount had some of
God’s glory reflected on him: ‘his face shined.’ Secondly, that he may
have more communion with God. ‘Our fellowship is with the Father.’
1 John 1: 3. Thirdly, that he may bring more glory to God.
I Pet 4: 11 ‘That Christ shall be magnified.’
Phil 1: 20. Sincerity aims at God in all things. Though we
shoot short, yet we take a right aim, which is a sure evidence of grace.
The spirits of wine are best, so is the spiritual part of duty. A little
spiritualness in duty is better than all the gildings of the temple, or
outward pompous worship which dazzles carnal eyes.
(5) We may
know the kingdom of grace is come into us by antipathy and opposition
against every known sin. ‘I hate every false way.’
Psa 119: 104. Hatred is against the whole kind; hatred is
implacable: anger may be reconciled, hatred cannot. A gracious soul not
only forsakes sin (as a man forsakes his country, never to return to it
more), but hates sin. As there is an antipathy between the crocodile and
the scorpion, so, if the kingdom of God be within us, we not only hate
sin for hell, but we hate it as hell, as being contrary to God’s
holiness and happiness.
(6) We may
know the kingdom of grace is come into us when we have given up
ourselves to God by obedience. As a servant gives up himself to his
master, as a wife gives up herself to her husband, so we give up
ourselves to God by obedience. This obedience is free, as that is the
sweetest honey which drops from the comb; and uniform. We obey God in
one thing as well as another. ‘Then shall I not be ashamed;’ or, as it
is in the Hebrew, I shall not blush ‘when I have respect unto all thy
commandments.’
Psa 119: 6. As a pair of compasses has one foot upon the
centre and the other goes round the circle, so a Christian, by faith,
stands on God the centre, and by obedience goes round the circle of his
commandments. It is a sign the kingdom of grace is not come into the
heart, when it does not reign there by universal obedience. Hypocrites
would have Christ to be their Saviour, but they pluck the government
from his shoulders, and will not have him rule; but he who has the
kingdom of God within him, submits cheerfully to every command of God;
he will do what God will have him do; he will be what God will have him
be; he puts a blank paper into God’s hand, and says, ‘Lord, write what
thou wilt, I will subscribe.’ Blessed is he that can find all these
things in his soul. He is ‘all glorious within.’
Psa 45: 13. He carries a kingdom about him, and this kingdom
of grace will certainly bring to a kingdom of glory.
I shall
now answer some doubts and objections that a Christian may make against
himself
I fear the
kingdom of grace is not yet come into my heart.
When a
Christian is under temptation, or grace lies dormant, he is not fit to
be his own judge; but must take the witness of others who have the
spirit of discerning. But let us hear a Christian’s objections against
himself, why he thinks the kingdom of grace is not yet come into his
heart.
I cannot
discern grace.
A child of
God may have the kingdom of grace in his heart, and yet not know it. The
cup was in Benjamin’s sack, though he did not know it was there; so thou
mayest have faith in thy heart, the cup may be in thy sack, though thou
knowest it not. Old Jacob wept for his son Joseph when Joseph was alive;
so thou mayest weep for want of grace, when grace may be alive in thy
heart. The seed may be in the ground, when we do not see it spring up;
so the seed of God may be sown in thy heart, though thou dost not
perceive it springing up. Think not grace is lost because it is hid.
Before the
kingdom of grace come into the heart, there must be some preparation for
it; the fallow ground must be broken up: I fear the plough of the law
has not gone deep enough: I have not been humbled enough: therefore I
have no grace.
God does
not prescribe an exact proportion of sorrow and humiliation; Scripture
mentions the truth of sorrow, but not the measure. Some are more
flagitous sinners than others, and must have a greater degree of
humiliation. A knotty piece of timber requires more wedges to be driven
into it. Some stomachs are fouler than others, therefore need stronger
physic. But wouldest thou know when thou hast been humbled enough for
sin? When thou art willing to let go thy sins. The gold has lain long
enough in the furnace when the dross is purged out; so, when the love of
sin is purged out, a soul is humbled enough for divine acceptation,
though not for divine satisfaction. Now, if thou art humbled enough,
what needs more? If a needle will let out the imposthume, what needs a
lance? Be not more cruel to thyself than God would have thee.
If the
kingdom of God were within me, it would be a kingdom of power; it would
enable me to serve God with vigour of soul. But I have a spirit of in
infirmity upon me, I am weak and impotent, and untuned to every holy
action.
There is a
great difference between the weakness of grace and the want of grace. A
man may have life, though he be sick and weak. Weak grace is not to be
despised, but cherished. Christ will not break the bruised reed. Do not
argue from the weakness of grace to the nullity. (1) Weak grace will
give us a title to Christ as well as strong. A weak hand of faith will
receive the alms of Christ’s merits. (2) Weak faith is capable of
growth. The scud springs up by degrees, first the blade, and then the
ear, and then the full corn in the ear. The faith that is strongest was
once in its infancy. Grace is like the waters of the sanctuary, which
rose higher and higher. Be not discouraged at thy weak faith; though it
be but blossoming, it will by degrees come to more maturity. (3) The
weakest grace shall persevere as well as the strongest. A child was as
safe in the ark as Noah. An infant believer that is but newly laid to
the breast of the promise, is as safe in Christ as the most eminent
heroic saint.
I fear the
kingdom of grace is not yet come, because I find the kingdom of sin so
strong in me. Had I faith, it would purify my heart; but I find much
pride, worldliness, and passion.
The best
of saints have remainders of corruption. ‘They had their dominion taken
away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season.’
Dan 7: 12. So in the regenerate, though the dominion of sin
be taken away, yet the life of it is prolonged for a season. What pride
was there in Christ’s own disciples, when they strove which should be
greatest! The issue of sin will not be quite stopped till death. The
Lord is pleased to let the in-being of sin continue, to humble his
people, and make them prize Christ more. Because you find corruptions
stirring, do not therefore presently unsaint yourselves, and deny the
kingdom of grace to be come into your souls. That you feel sin is an
evidence of spiritual life; that you mourn for it is a fruit of love to
God; that you have a combat with sin, argues antipathy against it. Those
sins which you once wore as a crown on your head, are now as fetters on
the leg. Is not all this from the Spirit of grace in you? Sin is in you,
as poison in the body, which you are sick of, and use all Scripture
antidotes to expel. Should we condemn all those who have indwelling sin,
nay, who have had sin sometimes prevailing, we should blot some of the
best saints out of the Bible.
Where the
kingdom of grace comes, it softens the heart; but I find my heart frozen
and congealed into hardness; I can hardly squeeze out one tear. Do
flowers grow on a rock? Can there be any grace in such a rocky heart?
There may
be grief where there are no tears. The best sorrow is rational. In your
judgement you esteem sin the most hyperbolical evil, you have a disgust
against it which is a rational sorrow, and such as God will accept. A
Christian may have some hardness in his heart, and yet not have a hard
heart. A field may have tares in it, and we call it a field of wheat, so
in the best heart there may be a mixture of hardness, yet because there
is some softness and melting, God looks upon it as a soft heart.
Therefore, Christian, dispute not against thyself, if thou canst find
but this one thing, that the frame and temper of thy soul be holy. Art
thou still breathing after God, delighting in him? Is the complexion of
thy soul heavenly? Canst thou say, as David, ‘When I awake, I am still
with thee’?
Psa 139: 18. As colours laid in oil, or a statue carved in
gold abide, so does a holy complexion; the soul is still pointing
towards God. If it be thus with thee, assure thyself the kingdom of
grace is come into the soul. Be not unkind to God, to deny any work of
his Spirit, which he has wrought in thee.
Use 1. For
exhortation. Labour to find that this kingdom of grace is set up in your
hearts. While others aspire after earthly kingdoms, labour to have the
kingdom of God within you.
Luke 17: 21. The kingdom of grace must come into us before we
can go into the kingdom of glory. The motives to this are:
(1) The
kingdom of God within is our spiritual beauty. The kingdom of grace
adorns a person, and sets him off in the eyes of God and of angels. It
makes the king’s daughter all glorious within.
Psa 45: 13. Grace sheds a glory and lustre upon the soul. As
the diamond to the ring, so is grace to the soul. A heart beautified
with grace has the King of heaven’s picture hung in it.
(2) The
kingdom of grace set up in the heart is our spiritual defence. Grace is
called ‘the armour of light.’
Rom 13: 12. It is light for beauty, and armour for defence.
He who has the kingdom of grace within him, is ’strengthened with all
might according to [God’s] glorious power.’
Col 1: 11. He has the shield of faith, the helmet of hope,
and the breastplate of righteousness. His armour can never be shot
through. He is fortified against the assaults of temptation, and the
terrors of hell.
(3) The
kingdom of grace set up in the heart brings peace with it. ‘The kingdom
of God is righteousness and peace.’
Rom 14: 17. There is a secret peace proceeding from holiness.
Peace is the best blessing of a kingdom.
Pax una
triumphis innumeris melior [One
peace is better than countless victories]. The kingdom of grace is a
kingdom of peace. Grace is the root, peace is the flower that grows out
of it. It is
pax in procella
[peace in a storm], such peace that no worldly affliction can shake. The
doors of Solomon’s temple were made of olive tree, carved with open
flowers; so in a gracious heart is the olive of peace, and the open
flowers of joy.
1 Kings 6: 32.
(4) The
kingdom of grace enriches the soul. A kingdom has its riches. A believer
is said to be rich in faith.
James 2: 5. How rich is he who has God for his God, who is
heir to all the promises!
Heb 6: 17. A man may be rich in bills and bonds, but a
believer may say as Peter, ‘Silver and gold have I none (Acts
3: 6); yet I am rich in bills and bonds, an heir to all God’s
promises;’ and to be heir to the promises, is better than to be heir to
the crown.
(5) When
the kingdom of grace comes, it fixes and establishes the heart. ‘O God,
my heart is fixed.’
Psa 57: 7. Before the kingdom of grace comes, the heart is
very unfixed and unsettled; like a ship without ballast, like
quicksilver that cannot be made to fix: but when the kingdom of grace
comes, it does stabilire animum, fixes the heart on God; and when the
heart is fixed, it rests quiet as in its centre.
(6) This
kingdom of grace is distinguishing. It is a sure pledge of God’s love.
God may give kingdoms in anger; but wherever the kingdom of grace is set
up, it is in love. He cannot give grace in anger. The crown always goes
with the kingdom; let us therefore be ambitious of this kingdom of
grace.
What must
we do to obtain this kingdom?
(1) In
general, take pains for it. We cannot have the world without labour, and
do we think to have grace? ‘If thou seekest her as silver.’
Prov 2: 4. A man may as well expect a crop without sowing, as
grace without labour. We must not think to have grace as Israel had
manna; who did not plough nor sow, but it was rained down from heaven
upon them. No, we must operam dare, take pains for grace. Our salvation
cost Christ blood, and will cost us sweat.
(2) Let
us go to God to set up this kingdom of grace in our hearts. He is called
the ‘God of all grace.’
I Pet 5: 10. Say, Lord, I want this kingdom of grace, I want
a humble, believing heart. O enrich me with grace; let thy kingdom come.
Be importunate suitors. As Achsah said to her father Caleb, ‘Thou hast
given me a south land, give me also springs of water;’ so, Lord, thou
hast given me enough of the world, here is a south land; but Lord, give
me the upper springs of grace; let thy kingdom come.
Josh 15: 19. What is the venison thou hast given me, without
the blessing? When we are importunate with God, and will take no denial,
he will set up his kingdom within us.
(3) Keep
close to the word preached. The word preached, is virga virtutis, the
rod of God’s strength; it is the great engine he uses for setting up the
kingdom of grace in the heart. ‘Faith comes by hearing.’
Rom 10: 17. Though God could work grace immediately by his
Spirit, or by the ministry of angels from heaven, yet he chooses to work
by the word preached. This is the usual mean, by which he sets up the
kingdom of grace in the heart; and the reason is, because he has put his
divine sanction upon it; he has appointed it for the means of working
grace, and he will honour his own ordinance.
1 Cor 1: 21. What reason could be given why the waters of
Damascus should not have as sovereign virtue to heal Naaman’s leprosy,
as the waters of Jordan, but this, that God appointed and sanctified the
waters of Jordan to heal, and not the others? Let us keep the word
preached, because the power of God goes along with it.
Use 2.
For thanksgiving. What will you be thankful for, if not for a kingdom?
Grace is the best blessing, it is the result and product of God’s
electing love. In setting up his kingdom of grace, God has done more for
you than if he had made you kings and queens; for you are born of God,
and of the blood-royal of heaven. Oh! admire and exalt free grace. ‘Make
[God’s] praise glorious.’
Psa 66: 2. The apostle seldom mentions the work of grace, but
he joins praise. ‘Giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’
Col 1: 12. If God has crowned you with the kingdom of grace,
do you crown him with your praises.
IV. We
pray that the kingdom of grace may increase, that it may come more into
us: and this may answer a question.
Why do we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ when the kingdom of grace is already come into
the soul?
Though
the kingdom of grace be already come into us, yet still we must pray,
‘Thy kingdom come,’ that grace may be increased, and that this kingdom
may flourish still more in our souls. Till we come to live among the
angels, we shall need to pray this prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ Lord, let
thy kingdom of grace come in more power into my soul; let grace be more
augmented and increased.
When does
the kingdom of grace increase in the soul? When is it a flourishing
kingdom?
When a
Christian has further degrees of grace, there is more oil in the lamp,
his knowledge is clear, his love is more inflamed. Grace is capable of
degrees, and may rise higher as the sun in the horizon. It is not with
us as it was with Christ, who received the Spirit without measure.
John 3: 34. He could not be more holy than he was; but our
grace is receptive of further degrees; we may have more sanctity, we may
add more cubits to our spiritual stature.
The
kingdom of grace increases when a Christian has got more strength than
he had. ‘He that has clean hands, shall be stronger and stronger.’
Job 17: 9. ‘He shall add to his strength.’ Heb. A Christian
has strength to resist temptation, to forgive his enemies, to suffer
affliction. It is not easy to suffer; a man must deny himself before he
can take up the cross. The way to heaven is like the way which Jonathan
and his armour bearer had in climbing up a steep place. ‘There was a
sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other.’
1 Sam 14: 4. It requires much strength to climb up this rocky
way. That grace which will carry us through prosperity, will not carry
us through sufferings. The ship needs stronger tackling to carry it
through a storm than a calm. Now, when we are so strong in grace, that
we can bear up under affliction without murmuring or fainting, the
kingdom of grace is increased. What mighty strength of grace had he, who
told the emperor Valentinian, You may take away my life, but you cannot
take away my love to the truth!
The
kingdom of grace increases when a Christian has most conflict with
spiritual corruptions; when he not only abstains from gross evils, but
has a combat with inward, hidden, close corruptions; as pride, envy,
hypocrisy, vain thoughts, carnal confidence, which are spiritual
wickedness, and both defile and disturb. ‘Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.’
2 Cor 7: 1. There are two sorts of corruptions, one of the
flesh, the other of the spirit. When we grieve for and combat with
spiritual sin, which is the root of all gross sins, then the kingdom of
grace increases, and spreads its territories in the soul.
The
kingdom of grace flourishes when a Christian has learned to live by
faith. ‘I live by the faith of the Son of God.’
Gal 2: 20. There is the habit of faith, and the drawing of
this habit into exercise. For a Christian to graft his hope of
salvation, only upon the stock of Christ’s righteousness, and make
Christ all in justification; to live on the promises, as a bee on the
flower, and suck out the sweetness of them; to trust God where we cannot
trace him; to believe his love through a frown; to persuade ourselves,
when he has the face of an enemy, that he has the heart of a Father —
when we are arrived at this, the kingdom of grace is flourishing in our
souls.
It
flourishes when a Christian is full of holy zeal.
Numb 25: 13. Phinehas was zealous for his God. Zeal is the
flame of the affections, it turns a saint into a seraphim. A zealous
Christian is impatient when God is dishonoured.
Rev 2: 2. He will wrestle with difficulties, he will swim to
Christ through a sea of blood.
Acts 21: 13. Zeal loves truth when it is despised and
opposed. ‘They have made void thy law, therefore I love thy
commandments.’
Psa 119: 126, 127. Zeal resembles the Holy Ghost. ‘There
appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.’
Acts 2: 3. Tongues of fire were an emblem of that fire of
zeal which the Spirit poured on them.
The
kingdom of grace increases when a Christian is as diligent in his
particular calling, as he is devout in his general calling. He is the
wise Christian that carries things equally; that so lives by faith that
he lives in a calling. Therefore it is worthy of notice, that when the
apostle had exhorted the Thessalonians to increase in grace, he
presently adds, ‘And that you do your own business, and work with your
own hands.’
1 Thess 4: 10, 11. It is a sign grace is increasing, when
Christians go cheerfully about their calling. Indeed, to be all the day
in the mount with God, and to have the mind fixed on glory, is more
sweet to a man’s self, and is a heaven upon earth; but to be conversant
in our callings, is more profitable to others. Paul says, ‘To be with
Christ is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful
for you.’
Phil 1: 23, 24. So, to converse with God in prayer and sweet
meditation all the week long, is more for the comfort of a man’s own
person; but to be sometimes employed in the business of a calling, is
more profitable for the family to which he belongs. It is not good to be
as the lilies, which toil not, neither do they spin. It shows the
increase of grace when a Christian keeps a due decorum. He joins piety
and industry, when zeal runs forth in religion, and diligence is put
forth in a calling.
The
kingdom of grace increases when a Christian is established in the belief
and love of the truth. The heart by nature is as a ship without ballast,
that wavers and fluctuates. Beza writes of one Bolezius, that his
religion changed as the moon and planet Mercury. Such as are wandering
stars will be falling stars; but when a soul is built on the rock
Christ, and no winds of temptation can blow it away, the kingdom of
grace flourishes. One calls Athanasius,
Adamas
Ecclesiae, an invincible
adamant, in respect of his stability in the truth. ‘Rooted and built up
in him.’
Col 2: 7. The rooting of a tree evidences growth.
The
kingdom of grace increases in a man’s own heart when he labours to be
instrumental to set up this kingdom in others. Though it is the greatest
benefit to have grace wrought in ourselves, it is the greatest honour to
be instrumental to work it in others. ‘Of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you.’
Gal 4: 19. Such as are masters of a family should endeavour
to see the kingdom of grace set up in their servants; such as are godly
parents should not let God alone by prayer, till they see grace in their
children. What a comfort to be both the natural and spiritual fathers of
your children! Augustine says his mother Monica travailed with greater
care and pain for his new birth, than his natural. It shows the increase
of grace when we labour to see the kingdom of grace set up in others. As
water abounds in the river, when it overflows and runs into the meadows,
so grace increases in the soul when it has influence upon others, and we
seek their salvation.
What need
is there that the kingdom of grace should be increased?
God’s
design in keeping up a standing ministry in the church is to increase
the kingdom of grace in men’s hearts. ‘He gave gifts unto men;’ that is,
ministerial gifts. Why so? ‘For the edifying of the body of Christ.’
Eph 4: 8, 12. Not only for conversion, but for augmentation;
therefore the word preached is compared not only to seed, but to milk;
because God designs our growth in grace.
We need
have the kingdom of grace increase, as we have a great deal of work to
do, and a little grace will hardly carry us through. A Christian’s life
is laborious: there are many temptations to resist, many promises to
believe, many precepts to obey, so that it will require a great deal of
grace. A Christian must not only pray, but ‘be zealous, and repent’ (Rev
3: 19); not only love, but be sick of love.
Cant 2: 5. What need, therefore, to have the kingdom of grace
enlarged in his soul? As his work increases upon him, so his grace need
increase.
If the
kingdom of grace does not increase, it will decay. ‘Thou hast left thy
first love.’
Rev 2: 4. Grace, for want of increasing, is sometimes like a
winter plant in which all the sap runs to the root, and it looks as if
it were dead. ‘Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to
die.’
Rev 3: 2. Though grace cannot expire, it may wither; and a
withering Christian loses much of his beauty and fragrance. What great
need have we to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ that this kingdom of grace may
be increased! If grace be not improved, it will soon be impaired. A
Christian, for want of increasing his grace, loses his strength; he is
like a sick man that cannot either walk or work; his prayers are sick
and weak; he is as if he had no life in him; his faith can hardly fetch
breath, and you can scarcely feel the pulse of his love to beat.
To have
grace increasing is suitable to Christianity. Christians are called
trees of righteousness.
Isa 61: 3. The saints are not only jewels for sparkling
lustre, but trees for growth. They are called the lights of the world.
Phil 2: 15. Light is still increasing. First there is the
crepusculum, or daybreak, and so
it shines brighter to the meridian. They who are the lights of the world
must increase till they come to the meridian of glory. Not to grow is
suspicious; painted things do not grow.
As the
kingdom of grace increases, so a Christian’s comforts increase. Comfort
belongs to the bene esse, or well-being of a Christian; like sweetmeat,
it is delicious to the taste.
Psa 94: 19. The more grace, the more joy; as the more sap in
the root, the more wine in the grape. Who more increased in grace than
David? And who more in consolation? ‘Thou hast put gladness in my
heart.’
Psa 4: 7. Grace turns to joy as milk to cream.
How may
they be comforted who bewail their want of growth, and weep that they
cannot find the kingdom of grace increase?
To see
and bewail our decay in grace, argues not only the life of grace, but
growth. It is a sign that a man recovers and gets strength when he feels
his weakness. It is a step forward in grace to see our imperfections.
The more the Spirit shines in the heart, the more evil it discovers. A
Christian thinks it worse with him than it was, whereas his grace may
not grow less, but his light greater.
If a
Christian does not increase in one grace, he may in another; if not in
knowledge he may in humility. If a tree does not grow so much in the
branches, it may in the root: and to grow downwards in the root, is good
growth.
A
Christian may grow less in affection when he grows more in judgement. As
the fingers of a musician, when he is old, are stiff, and not so nimble
at the lute as they were, but he plays with more art and judgement than
before, so a Christian may not have so much affection in duty as at the
first conversion, but he is more solid in religion, and more settled in
his judgement than he was before.
A
Christian may think he does not increase in grace because he does not
increase in gifts; whereas there may be a decay of natural parts, the
memory and other faculties, when there is not a decay of grace. Parts
may be impaired when grace is improved. Be not discouraged, it is better
to decay in parts, and be enlarged in grace, than to be enlarged in
parts, and to decay in grace.
A
Christian may increase in grace, and not be sensible of it. As seed may
grow in the earth, when we do not perceive it to spring up, so grace may
grow in time of desertion, and not be perceived.
V. We
pray that the kingdom of glory may hasten, and that God would in his due
time translate us into it. Under this we have now to consider [1] What
this kingdom of glory is? [2] What are the properties of it? [3] Wherein
it exceeds all other kingdoms? [4] When this kingdom comes? [5] Wherein
appears the certainty of it? [6] Why we should pray for its coming?
[1] By
this kingdom is meant, that glorious estate which the saints shall enjoy
when they shall reign with God and angels for ever. If a man stand upon
the sea-shore, he cannot see all the dimensions of the sea, its length,
breadth, and depth, yet he may see it is of vast extension, so, though
the kingdom of heaven be of that incomparable excellence, that neither
tongue of man or angels can express, yet we may conceive of it to be an
exceeding glorious thing, such as the eye has not seen.
Concerning the kingdom of heaven I shall show what it implies, and what
it imports.
First, it
implies a blessed freedom from all evil.
(1) It
implies a freedom from the necessities of nature. We are in this life
subject to many necessities; we need food to nourish us, clothes to
cover us, armour to defend us, sleep to refresh us; but in the kingdom
of heaven there will be no need of these things; and it is better not to
need them than to have them; as it is better not to need crutches than
to have them. What need will there be of food when our bodies shall be
made spiritual?
1 Cor 15: 44. Though not spiritual for substance, yet for
qualities. What need will there be of clothing when our bodies shall be
like Christ’s glorious body? What need will there be of armour when
there is no enemy? What need will there be of sleep when there is no
night?
Rev 22: 5. The saints shall be freed, in the heavenly
kingdom, from these necessities of nature to which they are now exposed.
(2) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the imperfections of
nature. Since the fall, our knowledge has suffered an eclipse.
Our
natural knowledge is imperfect, it is chequered with ignorance. There
are many hard knots in nature which we cannot easily untie. He who sees
dearest, has a mist before his eyes. Socrates said on his death-bed,
that there were many things he had yet to learn. Our ignorance is more
than our knowledge.
Our
divine knowledge is imperfect. We know but in part, said Paul, though he
had many revelations, and was rapt up in the third heaven.
1 Cor 13: 9. We have but dark conceptions of the Trinity,
‘Canst thou by searching find out God?’
Job 11: 7. Our narrow capacities would no more contain the
Trinity, than a little glass vial would hold all the water in the sea.
We cannot unriddle the mystery of the incarnation, the human nature
assumed into the person of the Son of God; the human nature not God, yet
united with God. We see now in aenigmate, in a glass darkly; but in the
kingdom of heaven the veil shall be taken off, all imperfection of
nature shall be done away. When the sunlight of glory shall begin to
shine in the heavenly horizon, all dark shadows of ignorance shall fly
away, our lamp of knowledge shall burn brightly, we shall have a full
knowledge of God, though we shall not know him fully.
(3) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the toilsome labours of
this life. God enacted a law in paradise, ‘in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread.’
Gen 3: 19. There is the labour of the hand in manufacture and
the labour of the mind in study. ‘All things are full of labour’ (Eccl
1: 8); but in the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from
our labours.
There
needs no labour when a man has got to the haven, he has no more need of
sailing. In heaven there needs no labour, because the saints shall have
the glory which they laboured for.
There
shall be no labour. ‘They rest from their labours.’
Rev 14: 13. As when God had finished the work of creation, he
rested from his labours, so, when his saints have finished the work of
sanctification, they rest from theirs. Where should there be rest, but
in the heavenly centre? Not that this sweet rest in the kingdom of
heaven excludes all motion, for spirits cannot be idle; but the
glorified saints shall rest from all wearisome employment. It will be a
labour full of ease, a motion full of delight. The saints in heaven
shall love God, and what labour is that? Is it any labour to love
beauty? They shall praise God, and that surely is delightful. When the
bird sings, it is not so much a labour as a pleasure.
(4) In
the kingdom of heaven, we shall be freed from original corruption, which
is causa
causati, the root of all actual
sin. There would be no actual sin if there were no original; there would
be no water in the stream if there were none in the fountain. Original
sin is incorporated into our nature; it is as if the whole mass of blood
were corrupted. Thus, to offend the God whom he loves, makes a Christian
weary of his life. What would he give to have his chains taken off, to
be rid of vain thoughts? How did Paul, that bird of paradise, bemoan
himself for his sins!
Rom 7: 24. We cannot exercise either our duties or our graces
without sin. The soul that is most refined and clarified by grace, is
not without some dregs of corruption; but in the kingdom of heaven the
fountain of original sin shall be quite dried up. What a blessed time
will that be, never to grieve God’s Spirit more! In heaven are virgin
souls; their beauty is not stained with lust: nothing enters there that
defiles.
Rev 21: 27.
(5) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all sorrows. ‘There shall
be no more sorrow.’
Rev 21: 4. Our life here is interwoven with trouble.
Psa 31: 10. Either losses grieve, or law- suits vex, or
unkindness breaks the heart. We may as well separate moisture from air,
or weight from lead, as troubles from man’s life.
Quid est diu
vivere, nisi diu torqueri? [What
is long life but long torment?] Augustine. But, in the kingdom of
heaven, sorrow and sighing shall fly away. Here the saints sit by the
rivers weeping, but one smile from Christ’s face will make them forget
all their sufferings. Their water shall then be turned into wine, their
mourning into singing.
(6) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be beyond the reach of temptation. Satan
is not yet fully cast into prison; like a prisoner under bail, he walks
about tempting, and labouring, to draw us into sin. He is either laying
snares, or shooting darts.
Stat in
procinctu diabolus [The devil
stands girded for battle]. He laid a train of temptation to blow up the
castle of Job’s faith. It is as great a grief to a believer to be
followed with temptations to sin, as for a virgin to have her chastity
assaulted. But in the kingdom of heaven the saints shall be freed from
the red dragon, who is cast out of paradise, and shall be for ever
locked up in chains.
Jude 6.
(7) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all vexing cares. The Greek
word for care comes from a primitive which signifies to cut the heart in
pieces. Care tortures the mind, wastes the spirits, and eats out the
comfort of life. Care to prevent future dangers, and preserve present
comforts, is an evil spirit that haunts us. All care is full of fear,
and fear is full of torment.
1 John 4: 18. God threatens it as a judgement. ‘They shall
eat their bread with carefulness.’
Ezek 12: 19. Every comfort has its care, as every rose has
its thorns; but in the kingdom of heaven we shall shake off the viper of
care. What needs a glorified saint to take any anxious care, who has all
things provided to his hand? There is the tree of life, bearing all
sorts of fruit. When the heart shall be freed from sin, the head shall
be freed from care.
(8) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all doubts and scruples. In
this life the best saint has his doubting, as the brightest star has his
twinkling. If there were no doubting, there would be no unbelief.
Assurance itself does not exclude all doubting. ‘Thy loving kindness is
before mine eyes.’
Psa 26: 3. At another time, ‘Lord, where are thy former
loving kindnesses?’
Psa 89: 49. A Christian is like a ship at anchor, which,
though safe, may sometimes be tossed upon the water. Sometimes a
Christian questions his interest in Christ, and his title to the
promise. As these doubting eclipse a Christian’s comfort, so they bear
false witness against the Spirit. But, when the saints shall come into
the kingdom of heaven, there shall be no more doubting; the Christian
shall then say, as Peter, ‘Now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent
his angel and has delivered me.’
Acts 12: 11. Now I know that I am passed from death to life,
and I am got beyond all rocks, I have shot the gulf, now I am in my
Saviour’s embraces for ever.
(9) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all society with the
wicked. Here we are sometimes forced to be in their company. ‘Woe is me,
that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.’
Psa 120: 5. Kedar was Ishmael’s son, whose children dwelt in
Arabia, a profane, barbarous people. Here the wicked are still raising
persecutions against the godly, and crucifying their ears with their
oaths and curses. Christ’s lily is among thorns; but in the heavenly
kingdom there shall be no more any pricking brier. ‘The Son of man shall
send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all
things that offend.’
Matt 13: 41. As Moses said, ‘Stand still, and see the
salvation of the Lord: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye
shall see them again no more for ever;’ so will God say, Stand still,
and see the salvation of God; these your enemies, that vex and molest
you, you shall see them again no more for ever.
Exod 14: 13. At that day, God will separate the precious from
the vile; Christ will thoroughly purge his floor; he will gather the
wheat into the garner; and the wicked, which are the chaff, shall be
blown into hell.
(10) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all signs of God’s
displeasure. Here he may be angry with his people. Though he has the
heart of a father, he may have the look of an enemy; and this is sad. As
when the sun is gone, the dew falls; so when the light of God’s face is
gone, tears drop from the saints’ eyes. But in the kingdom of heaven,
there shall be no spiritual eclipses, there shall never appear any
tokens of God’s displeasure; the saints shall have a constant aspect of
love from him, they shall never complain any more, ‘My beloved had
withdrawn himself.’
Cant 5: 6.
(11) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from all divisions. The saddest
thing in the world is to see divisions among them that are good. It is
sad that such as have one faith, should not be of one heart. Ephraim
envies Judah, and Judah vexeth Ephraim. It is matter of tears, to see
those who are united to Christ, divided one from another. The soldier’s
spear pierced Christ’s side, but the divisions of saints wound his
heart. But in the kingdom of heaven there shall be no vilifying one
another, or censuring. Those who before could hardly pray together,
shall praise God together. There shall not be one jarring string in the
saints’ music.
(12) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from vanity and dissatisfaction.
What Job says of wisdom, in
chap. 28: 14; ‘The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea
saith, It is not with me;’ I may say concerning satisfaction; every
creature says, ‘It is not in me.’ Take things most pleasing and from
which we promise ourselves most content, still, of the spirit and
essence of them all we shall say, ‘Behold, all was vanity.’
Eccl 2: 11. God never did, nor will, put a satisfying virtue
into any creature. In the sweetest music the world makes, either some
string is wanting, or out of tune. Who would have thought that Haman,
who was so great in the king’s favour, that he ’set his seat above all
the princes’ of the provinces, for want of the bowing of a knee, would
be dissatisfied?
Est 3: 1. But in the kingdom of heaven, we shall be freed
from these dissatisfactions. The world is like a landscape painting, in
which you may see gardens with fruit trees, curiously drawn, but you
cannot enter them; but into the joys of heaven you may enter. ‘Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.’ The soul shall be satisfied while it
bathes in those rivers of pleasure at God’s right hand. ‘I shall be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.’
Psa 17: 15.
(13) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall be freed from the torments of hell.
‘Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.’
1 Thess 1: 10. Consider the multiplicity of those torments.
In this life the body is usually exercised but with one pain, the stone
or headache, at one time; but in hell there is a diversity of torments;
there is darkness to affright, fire to burn, a lake of sulphur to choke,
chains to bind, and the worm to gnaw. The torments of hell will seize
upon every part of the body and soul. The eye shall be tortured with the
sight of devils, and the tongue that has sworn so many oaths shall be
tortured. ‘Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water,
and cool my tongue.’
Luke 16: 24. The memory will be tormented to remember the
mercies that have been abused, and seasons of grace neglected. The
conscience will be tormented with self-accusations.
In the
pains of hell there is no mitigation, no mixture of mercy. In this life
God in anger remembers mercy.
Hab 3: 2. But in hell there is no alleviation or lessening of
the pains. As in the sacrifice of jealousy, God would have no oil or
frankincense put into it, so, in hell, there is no oil of mercy to
lenify the sufferings of the damned, no incense of prayer to appease his
wrath.
Numb 5: 15. In the pains of hell there is no intermission.
The poets feign of Endymion, that he got leave of Jupiter always to
sleep. What would the damned in hell give for one hour’s sleep! ‘They
have no rest day nor night.’
Rev 14: 11. They are perpetually on the rack. In the pains of
hell there is no expiration; they must always lie scorching in flames of
wrath. ‘The smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever;’ but
in the heavenly kingdom, the elect shall be freed from all infernal
torments. ‘Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come.’ A prison is not
made for the king’s children. Christ drank that bitter cup of God’s
wrath that the saints might never drink it.
A second
thing in the kingdom of heaven is, a glorious fruition of all good. Had
I as many tongues as hairs on my head, I could not fully describe this.
It is a place where there is no want of anything.
Judges 18: 10. It is called ‘the excellent glory.’
2 Pet 1: 17. I might as well span the firmament, or drain the
ocean, as set forth the glory of this kingdom.
Coelum non
habet hyperbolum; the kingdom of
heaven is above all hyperbole. Were the sun ten thousand times brighter
than it is, it could not parallel the lustre of this kingdom. Apelles’
pencil would blotch, angels’ tongues would lessen it. I can but give you
the skiagraphia, or dark shadow of it; expect not to see it in all its
orient colours till you are mounted above the stars. But let us not
stand afar off, as Moses, to behold this Canaan, but enter into it, and
taste the honey. The privileges of this heavenly kingdom are:
(1) We
shall have an immediate communion with God himself, who is the
inexhaustible sea of all happiness. This divines call ‘the beatific
vision.’ The psalmist triumphed in the enjoyment he had of God in this
life. ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?’
Psa 73: 25. If God, enjoyed by faith, gives so much comfort
to the soul, how much more when he is enjoyed by immediate vision! Here
we see God darkly through the glass of ordinances but in the kingdom of
heaven we shall see him ‘face to face.’
1 Cor 13: 12. We shall have an intellectual sight of him; we
shall see him with the eyes of our mind; we shall know him as much as
the angels in heaven do.
Matt 18: 10; we shall know as we are known.
1 Cor 13: 12. We shall have a full knowledge of God, though
not know him fully; as a vessel in the sea is full of the sea, though it
holds not all the sea. To see and enjoy God will be most delicious; in
him are beams of majesty, and bowels of mercy. God has all excellencies
concentred in him,
bonum in quo
omnia bona [the good in which
are all good things]. If one flower should have the sweetness of all
flowers how sweet would that flower be! All the beauty and sweetness
which lies scattered in the creature is infinitely to be found in God.
To see and enjoy him, therefore, will ravish the soul with delight. We
shall see God so as to love him, and be made sensible of his love; and
when we shall have this sweet communion with him he shall be ‘all in
all;’ light to the eye, manna to the taste, and music to the ear.
1 Cor 15: 28.
(2) In
the kingdom of heaven, we shall with these eyes see the glorified body
of Jesus Christ. The Saviour makes it a great part of the glory of
heaven to view the glory of his human nature. ‘That they may behold my
glory.’
John 17: 24. When Christ was transfigured upon earth, it is
said, that ‘his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as
the light.’
Matt 17: 2. If the glory of his transfiguration was so great,
what will the glory of his exaltation be! Much of the glory of God
shines in Christ, by virtue of the hypostatic union. ‘In him dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’
Col 2: 9. Through Christ’s humanity, as through a bright
mirror, we may see some beams of the divine majesty shine forth. Put a
back of steel to a glass and you may see a face in it. Christ’s human
nature is as a back of steel put to the divine nature, through which we
may see God, and then our capacities are enlarged to a wonderful degree,
to receive this glorious object; and we not only see God’s glory, but
some of his glory shall be put upon us.
Non tantum
aderit gloria sed inerit [Glory
will be not only present, but within]. Bernard. A beggar may behold the
glory of a king and not be the happier; but Christ’s glory shall be
ours, ‘We shall be like him.’
1 John 3: 2. We shall shine by his beams.
(3) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall enjoy the society of ‘an innumerable
company of angels.’
Heb 12: 22.
But is
there not enough in God to fill the soul with delight? Can the sight of
angels add to its happiness? What need is there of the light of torches,
when the sun shines?
Besides
the divine essence, the sight of angels is desirable. Much of God’s
curious workmanship shines in the angels; they are beautiful, glorious
creatures; and as the several strings in a lute make the harmony
sweeter, and the several stars make the firmament brighter, so the
society with angels will make the delight of heaven the greater; and we
shall not only see them with the glorified eye of our understanding, but
converse with them.
(4) In
the kingdom of heaven, we shall have sweet society with glorified
saints. Oh! what a blessed time will it be when those who have prayed,
wept, and suffered together, shall rejoice together! We shall see the
saints, in their white linen of purity, and see them as so many crowned
kings: in beholding the glorified saints, we shall behold a heaven full
of suns. Some have asked whether we shall know one another in heaven?
Surely, our knowledge will not be diminished, but increased. The
judgement of Luther and Anselm, and many other divines is, that we shall
know one another; yea, the saints of all ages, whose faces we never saw,
and, when we shall see the saints in glory without their infirmities of
pride and passion, it will be a glorious sight. We see how Peter was
transported when he saw but two prophets in the transfiguration; but
what a blessed sight will it be when we shall see the whole glorious
company of prophets, and martyrs, and holy men of God!
Matt 17: 3. How sweet will the music be when all shall sing
together in concert in the heavenly choir! And though, in this great
assembly of saints and angels, ‘one star may differ from another in
glory,’ yet no such weed as envy shall ever grow in the paradise of God;
there shall be perfect love, which, as it casts out fear, so also envy.
Though one vessel of glory may hold more than another, every vessel will
be full.
(5) In
the kingdom of heaven there shall be incomprehensible joy. Aristotle
says, ‘Joy proceeds from union.’ When the saints’ union with Christ is
perfected in heaven, their joy shall be full. All the birds of the
heavenly paradise sing for joy. What joy, when the saints shall see the
great gulf shot, and know that they are passed from death to life! What
joy, when they are as holy as they would be, and as God would have them
to be! What joy to hear the music of angels; to see the golden banner of
Christ’s love displayed over the soul; to be drinking that water of life
which is sweeter than all nectar and ambrosia! What joy, when the saints
shall see Christ clothed in their flesh, sitting in glory above the
angels! Then they shall enter into the joy of their Lord.
Matt 25: 21. Here joy enters into the saints; in heaven ‘they
enter into joy.’ O thou saint of God, who now hangest thy harp upon the
willows, and mingles thy drink with weeping, in the kingdom of heaven
thy water shall be turned into wine; thou shalt have so much felicity
that thy soul cannot wish for more. The sea is not so full of water as
the heart of a glorified saint is of joy. There can be no more sorrow in
heaven than there is joy in hell.
(6) In
heaven honour and dignity are put upon the saints. A kingdom implies
honour. All that come into heaven are kings. They have, 1. A crown.
Rev 2: 10. ‘I will give thee a crown of life.’
Corona est
insigne regiae potestatis [A
crown is the sign of royal power] This crown is not lined with thorns,
but hung with jewels; it is a never-fading crown.
I Pet 5: 4. 2. The saints in heaven have their robes. They
exchange their sackcloth for white robes. ‘I beheld a great multitude,
which no man could number, clothed with white robes.’
Rev 7: 9. Robes signify their glory, white their sanctity.
And, 3. They sit with Christ upon the throne.
Rev 3: 21. We read in
1 Kings 6: 32, the doors of the holy of holies were made of
palm-trees, and open flowers covered with gold — an emblem of that
victory, and that garland of glory, which the saints shall wear in the
kingdom of heaven. When all the titles and ensigns of worldly honour
shall lie in the dust, the mace, the silver star, the garter, the
saints’ honour shall remain.
(7) In
the kingdom of heaven we shall have a blessed rest. Rest is the end of
motion; heaven is centrum quietativum animae, the blessed centre where
the soul acquiesces and rests. In this life we are subject to unquiet
motions and fluctuations. ‘We were troubled on every side’ (2
Cor 7: 5): like a ship on the sea having the waves beating on
both sides; but in the kingdom of heaven there is rest.
Heb 4: 9. How welcome is rest to a weary traveller! When
death cuts asunder the string of the body, the soul, as a dove, flies
away, and is at rest. This rest is when the saints shall lie on Christ’s
bosom that hive of sweetness, that bed of perfume.
(8) The
saints in the kingdom of heaven shall have their bodies richly
bespangled with glory. They shall be full of brightness and beauty. As
Moses’ face shined, that Israel were not able to behold the glory (Exod
34: 30), so the bodies of the saints shall shine seven times
brighter than the sun, as Chrysostom says; they shall have such a
resplendence of beauty on them, that the angels shall fall in love with
them; and no wonder, for they shall be made like Christ’s glorious body.
Phil 3: 21. The bodies of saints gloried need no jewels, when
they shall shine like Christ’s body.
(9) In
the heavenly kingdom is eternity. It is an eternal fruition, they shall
never be put out of the throne. ‘They shall reign for ever and ever.’
Rev 22: 5. It is called ‘the everlasting kingdom’ (2
Pet 1: 11), and an ‘eternal weight of glory.’
2 Cor 4: 17. The flowers of paradise, of which the saints’
garland is made, never wither. If there could be a cessation of heaven’s
glory, or the saints had but the least fear or suspicion of losing their
felicity, it would infinitely abate and cool their joy; but their
kingdom is for ever, the rivers of paradise cannot be dried up. ‘At thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’
Psa 16: 2: The kingdom of heaven was typified by the temple
which was built with stone, covered with cedar overlaid with gold, to
show that the fixed permanent state of glory abides for ever. Well may
we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come.’
[2] The
properties or qualifications of the kingdom of heaven.
(1) The
glory of this kingdom is solid and substantial. The Hebrew word for
glory signifies a weight, to show how solid and weighty the glory of the
celestial kingdom is. The glory of the worldly kingdom is airy and
imaginary, like a blazing comes, or fancy. Agrippa and Bernice came with
a great pomp, with a great fancy.
Acts 25: 23. The earth hangs like a ball in the air, without
anything to uphold it.
Job 26: 7. The glory of the heavenly kingdom is substantial,
it has twelve foundations.
Rev 21: 14. That which God and angels count glory, is true
glory.
(2) The
glory of this kingdom is satisfying. ‘With thee is the fountain of
life.’
Psa 36: 9. How can they choose but be full who are at the
fountainhead? ‘When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness,’
i.e., when I awake in the morning of the resurrection, having some of
the beams of thy glory shining in me, I shall be satisfied.
Psa 17: 15. The creature says, concerning satisfaction, ‘It
is not in me.’
Job 28: 14. If we go for happiness to the creature, we go to
the wrong box: heaven’s glory only is commensurate to the vast desires
of an immortal soul. A Christian bathing himself in these rivers of
pleasures, cries out in divine ecstasy, I have enough. The soul is never
satisfied till it has God for its portion, and heaven for its haven.
Dissatisfaction arises from some defect, but God is an infinite good,
and there can be no defect in that which is infinite.
(3) The
glory of heaven’s kingdom is pure and unmixed. The streams of paradise
are not muddied,
omnia clara,
omnia jucunda [all are clear,
all are delightful]. There gold has no alloy. There is no bitter
ingredient in that glory: it is pure as the honey that drops from the
comb. There the rose of Sharon grows without thorns. There is ease
without pain, honour without disgrace, life without death.
(4) The
glory of this kingdom is constantly exhilarating and refreshing; there
is fulness, but no surfeit. Worldly comforts, though sweet, yet in time
grow stale. A down-bed pleases awhile, but soon we are weary and would
rise. Too much pleasure is a pain; but the glory of heaven never
surfeits or nauseates; because, as there are all rarities imaginable, so
every moment fresh delights spring from God into the glorified soul.
(5) The
glory of this kingdom is distributed to every individual saint. In an
earthly kingdom the crown goes but to one, a crown will fit but one
head; but in that kingdom above, the crown goes to all.
Rev 1: 6. All the elect are kings. The land is settled
chiefly upon the heir, and the rest are ill provided for; but in the
kingdom of heaven all the saints are heirs. ‘Heirs of God, and co- heirs
with Christ.’
Rom 8: 17. God has land enough to give to all his heirs.
(6) Lucid
and transparent. This kingdom of heaven is adorned and bespangled with
light.
1 Tim 6: 16. Light is the glory of the creation. ‘The light
is sweet.’
Eccl. 11: 7. Hell is a dark dungeon; fire, but no light.
Matt 22:13. The kingdom of heaven is a
diaphanum
[transparency], all embroidered with light, clear as crystal. How can
there be want of light, where Christ the Sun of Righteousness displays
his golden beams? ‘The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof.’
Rev 21: 23.
(7) The
glory of this kingdom is adequate and proportionable to the desire of
the soul. In creature fruitions, that which commends them, and sets them
off to us, is suitableness. The content of marriage lies not in beauty
or portion, but in suitableness of disposition. The excellence of a
feast is, when the meat is suited to the palate. One ingredient in the
glory of heaven is, that it exactly suits the desires of the glorified
saints. We shall not say in heaven, ‘Here is a dish I do not love!’
There shall be music to suit the ear in the anthems of angels; and food
that suits the glorified palate in the hidden manna of God’s love.
(8) The
glory of this kingdom will be seasonable. The seasonableness of a mercy
adds to its beauty and sweetness, like apples of gold to pictures of
silver. After a hard winter in this cold climate, is it not seasonable
to have the spring flowers of glory appear, and the singing of the birds
of paradise come? When we have been wearied, and tired out in battle
with sin and Satan, will not a crown be seasonable?
[3] The
kingdom of heaven infinitely excels all the kingdoms of the earth.
(1) It
excels in its Architect. Other kingdoms have men to raise their
structures, but God himself laid the first stone in this kingdom.
Heb 11: 10. This kingdom is of the greatest antiquity. God
was the first King and founder of it; no angel was worthy to lay a stone
in this building.
(2) This
heavenly kingdom excels in altitude. It is higher than any kingdom. The
higher anything is the more excellent it is. Fire being the most sublime
element, is most noble. The kingdom of heaven is seated above all the
visible orbs. There is, 1. The airy heaven, which is the space from the
earth to the sphere of the moon. 2. The starry heaven, the place where
the planets are, of a higher elevation, as Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. 3.
The
coelum empyraeum, the empyrean
heaven, which Paul calls the third heaven; where Christ is, there the
kingdom of glory is situated. This kingdom is so high that no scaling
ladders of enemies can reach it; so high that the old serpent cannot
shoot up his fiery darts to it. If wicked men could build their nests
among the stars, the least believer would shortly be above them.
(3) The
kingdom of heaven excels all others in splendour and riches. It is
described by precious stones.
Rev 21: 19. What are all the rarities of the earth to this
kingdom — coasts of pearl, rocks of diamonds, islands of spices? What
are the wonders of the world to it — the Egyptian pyramids, the temple
of Diana, the pillar of the sun offered to Jupiter? What a rich kingdom
is that where God will lay out all his cost! Those who are poor in the
world, soon as they come into this kingdom, grow rich, as rich as the
angels. Other kingdoms are enriched with gold, this is enriched with the
Deity.
(4) The
kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in holiness. Kingdoms on
earth are for the most part unholy; there is a common sore of luxury and
uncleanness running in them. Kingdoms are stages for sin to be acted on.
‘All tables are full of vomit’ (Isa
28: 8); but the kingdom of heaven is so holy that it will not
mix with any corruption. There shall enter into it nothing that
defileth.
Rev 21: 27. It is so pure a soil, that no serpent of sin will
breed there. There beauty is not stained with lust, and honour is not
swelled with pride. Holiness is the brightest jewel of the crown of
heaven.
(5) The
kingdom of heaven excels all other kingdoms in its pacific nature. It is
regnum pacis, a kingdom of peace. Peace is the glory of a kingdom;
pax una
triumphis innumeris melior [one
peace is better than countless victories]. A king’s crown is more
adorned with the white lily of peace, than when beset with the red roses
of a bloody war. But where shall we find an uninterrupted peace upon
earth? Either there are home-bred divisions or foreign invasions. ‘There
was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in.’
2 Chron 15: 5. But the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of
peace; there are no enemies to conflict with; for all Christ’s enemies
shall be under his feet.
Psa 110: 1. The gates of that kingdom always stand open: ‘The
gates shall not be shut at all;’ to show that there is no fear of an
assault of an enemy.
Rev 21: 25. When the saints die they are said to enter into
peace.
Isa 57: 2. There is no beating of drums or roaring of
cannons; but the voice of harpers harping, in token of peace.
Rev 14: 2. In heaven, ‘righteousness and peace kiss each
other.’
(6) The
kingdom of heaven excels in magnitude; it is of vast dimensions. Though
the gate of the kingdom be strait, and we must pass into it through the
strait gate of mortification, yet, when once we are in it, it is very
large. Though there be an innumerable company of saints and angels, yet
there is room enough for them all. The kingdom of heaven may be called
by the name of that well in
Gen 26: 22: Isaac ‘called the name of it Rehoboth; and he
said, For now the Lord has made room for us.’ Thou who art now confined
to a small cottage, when thou comest into the celestial kingdom, shalt
not be straitened for room. As every star has a large orb to move in, so
it shall be with the saints, when they shall shine as stars in the
kingdom of heaven.
(7) The
kingdom of heaven excels in unity. All the inhabitants agree together in
love. Love will be the perfume and music of heaven; as love to God will
be intense, so to the saints. As perfect love casts out fear, so it
casts out envy and discord. Those Christians who could not live quietly
together on earth (which was the blemish of their profession) in the
heaven shall be all love; the fire of strife shall cease; there shall be
no vilifying, or censuring one another, or raking into one another’s
sores, but all shall be tied together with the heart-strings of love.
There Luther and Zwingli are agreed. Satan cannot put in his cloven foot
there to make divisions. There shall be perfect harmony and concord, and
not one jarring string in the saints’ music. It were worth dying to be
in that kingdom.
(8) This
kingdom exceeds all earthly kingdoms in joy and pleasure, and is
therefore called paradise.
2 Cor 12: 4. For delight, there are all things to cause
pleasure; there is the water of life clear as crystal; there is the
honeycomb of God’s love dropping. It is called ‘entering into the joy of
our Lord.’
Matt 25: 23. There are two things which cause joy.
[1]
Separation from sin shall be complete, and then joy follows. There can
be no more sorrow in heaven than there is joy in hell.
[2]
Perfect union with Christ. Joy, as Aristotle says, flows from union with
the object. When our union with Christ shall be perfect our joy shall be
full. If the joy of faith be so great, what will the joy of sight be?
I Pet 1: 8. Joseph gave his brethren provision for the way,
but the full sacks of corn were kept till they came to their father’s
house. God gives the saints a taste of joy here, but the full sacks are
kept till they come to heaven. Not only the organic parts, the outward
senses, the eye, ear, taste, but the heart of a glorified saint shall be
filled with joy. The understanding, will, and affections, are such a
triangle as none can fill but the Trinity. There must needs be infinite
joy, where nothing is seen but beauty; nothing is tasted but love.
(9) This
kingdom of heaven excels all earthly kingdoms in self- perfection. Other
kingdoms are defective, they have not all provision within themselves,
but are fain to traffic abroad to supply their wants at home, as King
Solomon sent to Ophir for gold.
2 Chron 8:18. But there is no defect in the kingdom of
heaven; it has all commodities of its own growth.
Rev 22: 2. There is the pearl of price, the morning star, the
mountains of spices, the bed of love; there are those sacred rarities,
wherewith God and angels are delighted.
(10) This
kingdom of heaven excels all others in honour and nobility. It not only
equals them in the ensigns of royalty, the throne and white robes, but
it far transcends them. Other kings are of the blood-royal, but they in
this heavenly kingdom are born of God. Other kings converse with nobles:
the saints glorified are fellow commoners with angels; they have a more
noble crown; it is made of the flowers of paradise, and is a crown that
fadeth not away.
I Pet 5: 4. They sit on a better throne. King Solomon sat on
a throne of ivory overlaid with gold (1
Kings 10: 18); but the saints in heaven are higher advanced,
they sit with Christ upon his throne.
Rev 3: 21. They shall judge the princes and great ones of the
earth.
1 Cor 6: 2. This honour have all the glorified saints.
(11) This
kingdom of heaven excels all others in healthfulness. Death is a worm
that is ever feeding at the root of our gourd: kingdoms are often
hospitals of sick persons; but the kingdom of heaven is a most healthful
climate. Physicians there are out of date: no distemper there, no
passing bell, or bill of mortality. ‘Neither can they die any more.’
Luke 20: 36. In the heavenly climate are no ill vapours to
breed diseases, but a sweet, aromatic smell coming from Christ; all his
garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
(12) This
kingdom of heaven excels in duration, it abides for ever. Suppose
earthly kingdoms to be more glorious than they are, their foundations of
gold, their walls of pearl, their windows of sapphire; yet they are
corruptible and fading. ‘I will cause to cease the kingdom.’
Hos 1: 4. Troy and Athens now lie buried in their ruins;
jam
seges est ubi Troja fuit [corn
now grows where Troy once stood]. Mortality is the disgrace of all
earthly kingdoms; but the kingdom of heaven has eternity written upon
it, it is an everlasting kingdom.
2 Pet 1: 11. It is founded upon the strong basis of God’s
omnipotence. The saints shall never be turned out of this kingdom, or be
deposed from their throne, as some kings have been, as Henry VI., &c.
but shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 22: 5.
How
should all this affect our hearts! What should we mind but this kingdom
of heaven, which more outshines all the kingdoms of the earth than the
sun outshines the light of a taper!
[4] This
glory in the kingdom of heaven shall be begun at death, but not
perfected till the resurrection.
(1) The
saints shall enter upon the kingdom of glory immediately after death.
Before
their bodies are buried, their souls shall be crowned. ‘Having a desire
to depart, and to be with Christ.’
Phil 1: 23. From this connection, departing, and being with
Christ, we see clearly that there is a
subitus
transitus, speedy passage from
death to glory; no sooner is the soul of a believer divorced from the
body, but it presently goes to Christ. ‘Absent from the body, present
with the Lord.’
2 Cor 5: 8. It were better for believers to stay here, if
immediately after death they were not with Christ in glory; for here the
saints are daily increasing their grace; here they may have many
praelibamina
[foretastes], sweet tastes of God’s love: so that it were better to stay
here, if their soul should sleep in their body, and they should not have
a speedy sight of God in glory; but the consolation of believers is that
they shall not stay long from their kingdom; it is but winking and they
shall see God. It will not only be a blessed change to a believer, from
a desert to a paradise, from a bloody battle to a victorious crown, but
a sudden change. No sooner did Lazarus die, but he had a convoy of
angels to conduct his soul to the kingdom of glory. You who now are full
of bodily diseases, scarce a day well, saying, ‘My life is spent with
grief’ (Psa
31: 10); be of good comfort, you may be happy before you are
aware, before another week or month be over, you may be in the kingdom
of glory, and then all tears shall be wiped away.
(2) The
glory in the kingdom of heaven will be fully perfected at the
resurrection and general day of judgement. Then the bodies and souls of
believers will be reunited. What joy will there be at the reunion and
meeting together of the soul and body of a saint! Oh, what a welcome
will the soul give to the body! ‘O my dear body, thou didst often join
with me in prayer, and now thou shalt join with me in praise; thou were
willing to suffer with me, and now thou shalt reign with me; thou were
sown a vile body, but now thou art made like Christ’s glorious body; we
were once for a time divorced, but now we are married, and crowned
together in a kingdom, and shall mutually congratulate each other’s
felicity.’
[5] The
certainty and infallibility of this kingdom of glory.
That this
blessed kingdom shall be bestowed on the saints, is beyond all dispute.
(1) God
has promised it. ‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the
kingdom.’
Luke 12: 32. ‘I appoint unto you a kingdom.’
Luke 22: 29. ‘I bequeath it as my last will and testament.’
Has God promised a kingdom, and will he not make it good? God’s promise
is better than any bond. ‘In hope of eternal life which God, that cannot
lie, promised.’
Tit 1: 2. The whole earth hangs upon the word of God’s power;
and cannot our faith hang upon the word of his promise?
(2) There
is a price laid down for this kingdom. Heaven is not only a kingdom
which God has promised, but which Christ has purchased; it is called a
purchased possession.
Eph 1: 14. Though this kingdom is given us freely, yet Christ
bought it with the price of his blood; which is a heaven procuring
blood. ‘Having boldness to enter into the holiest (i.e., into heaven) by
the blood of Jesus.’
Heb 10: 19.
Crux Christi
clavis paradisi [The cross of
Christ is the key of paradise], Christ’s blood is the key that opens the
gates of heaven. Should not the saints have this kingdom, then Christ
should lose his purchase. Christ on the cross was in hard travail.
Isa 53: 11. He travailed to bring forth salvation to the
elect: should not they possess the kingdom when they die, Christ would
lose his travail; all his pangs and agonies of soul upon the cross would
be in vain.
(3)
Christ prays that the saints may have this kingdom settled upon them.
‘Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am.’ i.e., in heaven.
John 17: 24. This is Christ’s prayer, that the saints may be
with him in his kingdom, and be bespangled with some of the beams of his
glory. Now, if they should not go into this heavenly kingdom, then
Christ’s prayer would be frustrated; but that cannot be, for he is God’s
favourite. ‘I knew that thou hearest me always;’ and besides, what
Christ prays for, he has power to give.
John 11: 42. Observe the manner of Christ’s prayer, ‘Father,
I will;’ Father, there he prays as man; ‘I will,’ there he gives as God.
(4) The
saints must have this blessed kingdom by virtue of Christ’s ascension.
‘I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’
John 20: 17. Where lies the comfort of this? Jesus Christ
ascended to take possession of heaven for all believers. As a husband
takes up land in another country in behalf of his wife, so Christ went
to take possession of heaven in behalf of all believers. ‘I go to
prepare a place for you.’
John 14: 2. My ascension is to make all things ready against
your coming: I go to prepare the heavenly mansions for you. The flesh
that Christ has taken into heaven, is a sure pledge that our flesh and
bodies shall be where he is ere long. Christ did not ascend to heaven as
a private person, but as a public person, for the good of all believers;
his ascension was a certain forerunner of the saints ascending into
heaven.
(5) The
elect must have this blessed kingdom, in regard of the previous work of
the Spirit in their hearts. They have the beginning of the kingdom of
heaven in them here: grace is heaven begun in the soul; besides, God
gives them
primitias
Spiritus, the first-fruits of
the Spirit.
Rom 8: 23. The first-fruits are the comforts of the Spirit.
These first-fruits under the law were a certain sigh to the Jews of the
full crop of vintage which they should after receive. The first-fruits
of the Spirit, consisting of joy and peace, assure the saints of the
full vintage of glory they shall be ever reaping in the kingdom of God.
The saints in this life are said to have the earnest of the Spirit in
their hearts.
2 Cor 5: 5. As an earnest is part of payment, and an
assurance of payment in full to be made in due time, so God’s Spirit in
the hearts of believers, giving them his comforts, bestows on them an
earnest, or taste of glory, which further assures them of that full
reward which they shall have in the kingdom of heaven. ‘Believing, ye
rejoice;’ there is the earnest of heaven.
I Pet 1: 8. ‘Receiving the end of your faith,’ salvation;
there is the full payment;
ver 9.
(6) The
elect must have this blessed kingdom by virtue of their coalition and
union with Jesus Christ, they are members of Christ, therefore they must
be where their head is. Indeed, the Arminians hold, that a justified
person may fall from grace, and so his union with Christ may be
dissolved and the kingdom lost; but I demand of them, can Christ lose a
member of his body? Then he is not perfect; and if Christ may lose one
member of his body, why not as well all, by the same reason? He will
then be a head without a body; but be assured a believer’s union with
Christ cannot be broken, and so long he cannot be hindered of the
kingdom.
John 17: 12. What was said of Christ’s natural body, is as
true of his mystical. ‘A bone of him shall not be broken.’
John 19: 36. Look how every bone and limb of Christ’s natural
body was raised up out of the grave, and carried into heaven; so shall
every member of his mystical body be carried up into glory.
(7) We
read of some who have been translated into this kingdom. Paul had a
sight of it, for he was caught up into the third heaven.
2 Cor 12: 2. And the converted thief on the cross was
translated into glory. ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.’
Luke 23: 43. By all that has been said, it is most evident
that believers have a glorious kingdom laid up for them in reversion,
and that they shall go to this kingdom when they die. None doubt the
certainty of the heavenly kingdom but such as doubt the verity of
Scripture.
[6] We
should pray earnestly, ‘Thy kingdom come.’
(1)
Because it is a kingdom worth praying for. It exceeds the glory of all
earthly kingdoms, it has gates of pearl.
Rev 21: 21. We have heard of a cabinet of pearl, but when did
we hear of gates of pearl? In that kingdom is the bed of love, the
mountains of spices; there are the cherubim, not to keep us out, but to
welcome us into the kingdom. Heaven is a kingdom worth praying for;
nothing is wanting in that kingdom which may complete the saints’
happiness; for, wherein does happiness consist? Is it in knowledge? We
’shall know as we are known.’ Is it in dainty fare? We shall be at the
‘marriage supper of the Lamb.’ Is it in rich apparel? We shall be
‘clothed in long white robes.’ Is it in delicious music? We shall hear
the choir of angels singing. Is it in dominion? We shall reign as kings,
and judge angels. Is it in pleasure? We shall enter into the joy of our
Lord. Surely then this kingdom is worth praying for! ‘Thy kingdom come.’
Would God give us a vision of heaven awhile, as he did Stephen, who saw
‘the heavens opened’ (Acts
7: 56), we should fall into a trance; and being a little
recovered out of it, how importunately would we put up this petition,
‘Thy kingdom come!’
(2) We
must pray for this kingdom of glory, because God will not bestow it on
any without prayer. ‘To them who seek for glory and immortality’ (Rom
2: 7); and how do we seek but by prayer? God has promised a
kingdom, and we must by prayer put the bond in suit. God is not so
lavish as to throw away a kingdom on those who do not ask it. And
certainly, if Christ himself, who had merited glory, did pray, ‘Now, O
Father, glorify me with thine own self’ (John
17: 5), how much more ought we to pray for the excellent
glory who have this kingdom granted as a charter of God’s mere grace and
favour!
(3) We
must pray that the kingdom of glory may come, that by going into it we
may make an end of sinning. I think sometimes, what a blessed time it
will be, never to have a sinful thought more! though we must not pray,
‘Thy kingdom come,’ out of discontent, because we would be rid of the
troubles and crosses of this life. This was Jonah’s fault; he would die
in a pet, because God took away his gourd; ‘Lord,’ says he, ‘take my
life from me.’
Jonah 4: 3. But we must pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ out of a
holy design that the fetters of corruption may be pulled off, and we may
be as the angels, those virgin spirits, who never sin. This made the
church pray in
Rev 22: 20,
Veni, Domine
Jesu [Come, Lord Jesus].
(4)
Because that all Christ’s enemies shall be put under his feet. The devil
shall have no more power to tempt, nor wicked men to persecute; the
antichristian hierarchy shall be pulled down, and Zion’s glory shall
shine as a lamp, and the Turkish strength shall be broken.
(5) We
must pray earnestly that the kingdom of glory may come, that we may see
God ‘face to face,’ and have an uninterrupted and eternal communion with
him in the empyrean heaven. Moses desired but a glimpse of God’s glory.
Exod 33: 18. How then should we pray to see him in all his
embroidered robes of glory, when he shall shine ten thousand times
brighter than the sun in its meridian splendour! Here, in this life, we
rather desire God than enjoy him; how earnestly therefore should we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom of glory come!’ The beholding and enjoying God will
be the diamond in the ring, the very quintessence of glory. And must we
pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’? How then are they ever like to come to heaven
who never pray for it? Though God gives some profane persons ‘daily
bread’ who never pray for it, yet he will not give them a kingdom who
never pray for it. God may feed them, but he will never crown them.
Use 1.
For information.
(1) From
all this, you see that nothing within the whole sphere of religion is
imposed upon unreasonable terms. When God bids us serve him, it is no
unreasonable request; out of free grace he will enthrone us in a
kingdom. When we hear of repentance, steeping our souls in brinish tears
for sin; or of mortification, beheading our king-sin, we are ready to
grumble, and think this is hard and unreasonable. ‘But, do we serve God
for nought?’ Is it not infinite bounty to reward us with a kingdom? This
kingdom is as far above our thoughts, as it is beyond our deserts. No
man can say, without wrong to God, that he is a hard master; for though
he sets us about hard work, yet he is no hard master. God gives double
pay; he gives great perquisites in his service, sweet joy and peace; and
a great reward after, ‘an eternal weight of glory.’ God gives the
spring-flowers, and a crop; he settles upon us such a kingdom as exceeds
our faith.
Praemium quod
fide non attingitur [The reward
which is not attained by faith]. Augustine. Such as mortal eye has not
seen, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive.
1 Cor 2: 9. Alas, what an infinite difference is there
between duty enjoined, and the kingdom prepared! What is the shedding of
a tear to a crown! So that God’s ‘commandments are not grievous.’
1 John 5: 3. Our service cannot be so hard as a kingdom is
sweet.
(2) See
hence the royal bounty of God to his children, that he has prepared a
kingdom for them, a kingdom bespangled with glory; infinitely above the
model we can draw of it in our thoughts. The painter going to draw the
picture of Helena, as not being able to draw her beauty to the life,
drew her face covered with a vail; so, when we speak of the kingdom of
heaven, we must draw a vail, we cannot set it forth in all its orient
beauty and magnificence; gold and pearl do but faintly shadow it out.
Rev 21: 21. The glory of this kingdom is better felt than
expressed.
They who
inherit this kingdom are
amicti stolis
albis, ‘clothed with white
robes.’
Rev 7: 9. White robes denote three things: [1] Their dignity.
The Persian were arrayed in white, in token of honour. [2] Their purity.
The magistrates among the Romans were clothed in white, therefore called
candidate, to show their integrity. Thus the queen, the Lamb’s wife, is
arrayed in fine linen, pure and white, which is ‘the righteousness of
the saints.’
Rev 19: 8. [3] Their joy. White is an emblem of joy. ‘Eat thy
bread with joy, let thy garments be always white.’
Eccl 9: 7, 8.
The
dwellers in this kingdom have ‘palms in their hands,’ in token of
victory.
Rev 7: 9. They are conquerors over the world: and, being
victors, they have now palm-branches. They sit upon the throne with
Christ.
Rev 3: 21. When Caesar returned from conquering his enemies,
there was set for him a chair of state in the senate, and a throne in
the theatre. Thus the saints in glory, after their heroic victories,
shall sit upon a throne with Christ. It is royal bounty in God, to
bestow such an illustrious kingdom upon the saints. It is a mercy to be
pardoned, but what is it to be crowned? It is a mercy to be delivered
from wrath to come, but what is it to be invested with a kingdom?
‘Behold, what manner of love is this?’ Earthly princes may bestow great
gifts and donations upon their subjects, but they keep the kingdom to
themselves. Though king Pharaoh advanced Joseph to honour, and took the
ring off his finger and gave it to him, yet he would keep the kingdom to
himself.
Gen 41: 40. But God enthrones the saints in a kingdom. He
thinks nothing too good for his children. We are ready to think much of
a tear, a prayer, or to sacrifice a sin for him; but he does not think
much to bestow a kingdom upon us.
(3) See
hence, that religion is no ignominious disgraceful thing. Satan labours
to cast all the odium and reproach upon it that he can; that it is
devout frenzy, ingrain folly.
Acts 28: 22. ‘As concerning this sect, we know that
everywhere it is spoken against.’ But wise men measure things by the
end. What is the end of a religious life? It ends in a kingdom. Would a
prince regard the slightings of a few frantics, when he is going to be
crowned? You who are beginners, bind their reproaches as a crown about
your head; despise their censures as much as their praise: a kingdom is
coming.
(4) See
what contrary ways the godly and the wicked go at death. The godly go to
a kingdom, the wicked to a prison: the devil is the jailer, and they are
bound with the chains of darkness.
Jude 6. But what are these chains? Not iron chains, but
worse; the chain of God’s decree, decreeing them to torment; and the
chain of God’s power, whereby he binds them fast under wrath. The
deplorable condition of impenitent sinners, is that they do not go to a
kingdom when they die, but to a prison. Oh, think what horror and
despair will possess the wicked, when they see themselves engulfed in
misery, and their condition hopeless, helpless, endless! They are in a
fiery prison, and there is no possibility of getting out. A servant
under the law, who had a hard master, at every seventh year might go
free; but in hell there is no year of release when the damned shall go
free; the fire, the worm, the prison are eternal. If the whole world,
from earth to heaven, were filled with grains of sand, and once in a
thousand years an angel should come and fetch one grain, how many
millions of ages would pass before that vast heap of sand would be quite
spent! Yet, if after all this time the sinner might come out of hell,
there would be some hope: but this word “ever” breaks the heart with
despair.
(5) See
that which may make us in love with holy duties; that every duty
spiritually performed brings us a step nearer to the kingdom.
Finis dat
amabilitatem mediis [The end
makes the means loveable]. He whose heart is set on riches, counts
trading pleasant, because it brings him riches. If our hearts are set
upon heaven, we shall love duty, because it brings us by degrees to the
kingdom; we are going to heaven in the way of duty. Holy duties increase
grace; and as grace ripens, so glory hastens. The duties of religion are
irksome to flesh and blood, but we should look upon them as spiritual
chariots to carry us apace to the heavenly kingdom. The Protestants in
France call their church paradise; and well they might, because the
ordinances led them to the paradise of God. As every flower has its
sweetness, so would every duty, if we would look upon it as giving us a
lift nearer heaven.
(6) It
shows us what little cause the children of God have to envy the
prosperity of the wicked.
Quis aerario
quis plenis loculis indiget [Who
needs a full purse when he owns a treasury]? Seneca. The wicked have the
‘waters of a full cup wrung out to them.’
Psa 73: 10. As if they had a monopoly of happiness: they have
all they can desire; nay, they have ‘more than heart can wish.’
Psa 73: 7. They steep themselves in pleasure. ‘They take the
timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.’
Job 21: 12. The wicked are high when God’s people are low in
the world: the goats clamber up the mountains of preferment, when
Christ’s sheep are below in the valley of tears. The wicked are clothed
in purple, while the godly are in sackcloth. The prosperity of the
wicked is a great stumbling- block. This made Averroes deny a
providence, and made Asaph say, ‘Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain.’
Psa 73: 13. But there is no cause of envy at their
prosperity, if we consider two things. First, this is all they have.
‘Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things:’
thou hadst all thy heaven here.
Luke 16: 25. Luther calls the Turkish empire a bone which God
casts to dogs. Secondly, that God has laid up better things for his
children. He has prepared a kingdom of glory for them. They shall have
the beatific vision: they shall hear the angels sing in concert; they
shall be crowned with the pleasures of paradise for ever. Oh, then, envy
not the flourishing prosperity of the wicked! They go through fairway to
execution, and the godly go through foul way to coronation.
(7) Is
there a kingdom of glory coming? See how happy all the saints are at
death! They go to a kingdom; they shall see God’s face, which shines ten
thousand times brighter than the sun in its meridian glory. The godly at
death shall be installed into their honour, and have the crown royal set
upon their head. They have in the kingdom of heaven the quintessence of
all delights; they have the water of life clear as crystal; they have
all aromatic perfumes; they feed not on the dew of Hermon, but the manna
of angels; they lie in Christ’s bosom, that bed of spices. There is such
a pleasant variety in the happiness of heaven, that after millions of
years it will be as fresh and desirable as the first hour’s enjoyment.
In the kingdom of heaven, the saints are crowned with all those
perfections which human nature is capable of. The desires of the
glorified saints are infinitely satisfied; there is nothing absent that
they could wish might be enjoyed; there is nothing present that they
could wish might be removed. They who are got into this kingdom would be
loath to come back to the earth again, for it would be much to their
loss. They would not leave the fulness and the sweetness of the olive,
to court the bramble; the things which tempt us, they would scorn. What
are golden bags to the golden beams of the Sun of Righteousness? In the
kingdom of heaven there is glory in its highest elevation; in that
kingdom is knowledge without ignorance, holiness without sin, beauty
without blemish, strength without weakness, light without darkness,
riches without poverty, ease without pain, liberty without restraint,
rest without labour, joy without sorrow, love without hatred, plenty
without surfeit, honour without disgrace, health without sickness, peace
without war, contentment without cessation. Oh, the happiness of those
that die in the Lord! They go into this blessed kingdom. And if they are
so happy when they die, then let me make two inferences.
[1] What
little cause have the saints to fear death! Are any afraid of going to a
kingdom? What is there in this world that should make us desirous to
stay here? Do we not see God dishonoured, and how can we bear it? Is not
this world ‘a valley of tears,’ and do we weep to leave it? Are we not
in a wilderness among fiery serpents, and are we afraid to go from these
serpents? Our best friends live above. God is ever displaying the banner
of his love in heaven, and is there any love like his? Are there any
sweeter smiles, or softer embraces than his? What news so welcome as
leaving the world and going to a kingdom? Christian, thy dying day will
be thy wedding day, and dost thou fear it? Is a slave afraid to be
redeemed? Is a virgin afraid to be matched into the crown? Death may
take away a few worldly comforts, but it gives that which is better; it
takes away a flower and gives a jewel; it takes away a short lease and
gives land of inheritance. If the saints possess a kingdom when they
die, they have no cause to fear death. A prince would not be afraid to
cross the sea, though tempestuous, if he were sure to be crowned as soon
as he came to shore.
[2] If
the godly are so happy when they die, that they go to a kingdom, what
cause have we to mourn immoderately for the death of godly friends?
Shall we mourn for their preferment? Why should we shed tears
immoderately for them who have all tears wiped from their eyes? Why
should we be swallowed up of grief for them who are swallowed up of joy?
They are gone to their kingdom; they are not lost, but gone a little
before; not perished, but translated.
Non amissi sed
praemissi. Cyprian. They are
removed for their advantage; as if one should be removed out of a smoky
cottage to a palace. Elijah was removed in a fiery chariot to heaven.
Shall Elisha weep inordinately because he enjoys not the company of
Elijah? Shall Jacob weep when he knows his son Joseph is preferred and
made chief ruler in Egypt? We should not be excessive in grief when we
know our godly friends are advanced to a kingdom. I confess when any of
our relations die in their impenitence, there is just cause of mourning,
but not when our friends take their flight to glory. David lost two
sons: Absalom, a wicked son, he mourned for him bitterly; he lost the
child he had by Bathsheba: he mourned not when the child was departed.
Ambrose gives this reason, that David had a good hope, nay, assurance
that the child was translated into heaven, but he doubted of Absalom; he
died in his sins; therefore David wept for him, ‘O Absalom, my son, my
son.’ But though we are to weep to think any of our flesh should burn in
hell, yet let us not be cast down for them who are so highly preferred
at death as to a kingdom. Our godly friends who die in the Lord, are in
that blessed estate, and are crowned with such infinite delights, that
if we could hear them speak to us out of heaven, they would say, ‘Weep
not for us, but weep for yourselves.’
Luke 23: 28. We are in our kingdom, weep not for our
preferment, ‘b- t weep for yourselves,’ who are in a sinful sorrowful
world. You are tossing on the troublesome waves, but we are got to the
haven: you are fighting with temptations, while we are wearing a
victorious crown, ‘Weep not for us, but weep for yourselves.’
(8) See
the wisdom of the godly. They have the serpent’s eye in the dove’s head;
they are ‘wise virgins.’
Matt 25: 2. Their wisdom appears in their choice. They choose
that which will bring them to a kingdom; they choose grace, and what is
grace but the seed of glory? They choose Christ with his cross, but this
cross leads to a crown. Moses chose ‘rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God.’
Heb 11: 25. It was a wise, rational choice, for he knew if he
suffered he should reign. At the day of judgement, those whom the world
accounted foolish, will appear to be wise. They made a prudent choice —
they chose holiness; and what is happiness but the quintessence of
holiness? They chose affliction with the people of God; but, through
this purgatory of affliction they pass to paradise. God will proclaim
the saints’ wisdom before men and angels.
(9) See
the folly of those who, for vain pleasures and profits, will lose such a
glorious kingdom; like that cardinal of France who said, ‘He would lose
his part in paradise, if he might keep his cardinalship in Paris.’ I may
say (as
Eccl 9: 3), ‘Madness is in their heart.’ Lysimachus, for a
draught of water, lost his empire; so, for a draught of sinful pleasure,
these will lose heaven. We too much resemble our grandfather, Adam, who
for an apple lost paradise. Many for trifles, to get a shilling more in
the shop or bushel, will venture the loss of heaven. It will be an
aggravation of the sinner’s torment, to think how foolishly he was
undone; for a flash of impure joy he lost an eternal weight of glory.
Would it not vex one who is the lord of a manor to think he should part
with his stately inheritance for a fit of music. Such are they who let
heaven go for a song. This will make the devil insult at the last day,
to think how he has gulled men, and made them lose their souls and their
happiness for ‘lying vanities.’ If Satan could make good his brag, in
giving all the glory and kingdoms of the world, it could not countervail
the loss of the celestial kingdom. All the tears in hell are not
sufficient to lament the loss of heaven.
Use 2.
For reproof.
(1) It
reproves such as do not look after this kingdom of glory, and live as if
all we say about heaven were but a romance. That they mind it not
appears, because they do not labour to have the kingdom of grace set up
in their hearts. If they have some thoughts of this kingdom, yet it is
in a dull, careless manner; they serve God as if they served him not;
they do not
vires exercere,
put forth their strength for the heavenly kingdom. How industrious were
the saints of old for this kingdom! ‘Reaching forth unto those things
which are before;’ the Greek word is epekteinomenos, ’stretching out the
neck,’ a metaphor from racers, that strain every limb, and reach forward
to lay hold on the prize.
Phil 3: 13. Luther spent three hours a day in prayer. Anna,
the prophetess, ‘departed not from the temple, but served God with
fasting and prayers night and day.’
Luke 2: 37. How zealous and industrious were the martyrs to
get into this heavenly kingdom! They wore their fetters as ornaments,
snatched up torments as crowns, and embraced the flames as cheerfully as
Elijah did the fiery chariot which came to fetch him to heaven; and do
we not think this kingdom worth our labour? The great pains which the
heathens took in their Olympic races, when they ran but for a crown made
of olive intermixed with gold, will rise up in judgement against such as
take little or no pains in seeking after the kingdom of glory. The
dullness of many in seeking after heaven is such as if they did not
believe there was such a kingdom; or as if it would not countervail
their labour; or as if they thought it were indifferent whether they
obtained it or not, which is as much as to say, whether they were saved
or not; whether they were crowned in glory, or chained as galley slaves
in hell for ever.
(2) It
reproves those who spend their sweat more in getting the world than the
kingdom of heaven. ‘Who mind earthly things.’
Phil 3: 19. The world is the great Diana they cry up, as if
they would fetch happiness out of the earth which God has cursed; they
labour for honour and riches. Like Korah and Nathan, ‘The earth
swallowed them up.’
Numb 16: 32. It swallows up their time and thoughts. If they
are not pagans, they are infidels; they do not believe there is such a
kingdom: they go for Christians, yet question that great article in
their faith, life everlasting. Like the serpent, they lick the dust. Oh,
what is there in the world that we should so idolise it, and Christ and
heaven are to be disregarded? What has Christ done for you? Died for
your sins. What will the world do for you? Can it pacify an angry
conscience? Can it procure God’s favour? Can it fly death? Can it bribe
the judge? Can it purchase for you a place in the kingdom of heaven? Oh,
how are men bewitched with worldly profits and honours, that for these
things they will let go paradise! It was a good prayer of Bernard,
Sic
possideamus mundana, ut non perdamus aeterna.
Let us so possess things temporal, that we do not lose things eternal.
(3) It
reproves such who delay and put off seeking this kingdom till it be too
late; like the foolish virgins who came when the door was shut.
Mora trahit
periculum [Delay brings danger].
People let the lamp of life blaze out, and when the symptoms of death
are upon them, and they know not what else to do, will look up to the
kingdom of heaven. Christ bids them seek God’s kingdom first, and they
will seek it last; they put off the kingdom of heaven to a death-bed, as
if it were as easy to make their peace as to make their will. How many
have lost the heavenly kingdom through delays and procrastinations!
Plutarch reports of Archias, the Lacedemonian, that when, being among
his cups, one delivered him a letter and desired him to read it
presently, being of serious business, he replied, ‘Seria
cras, I will mind serious things
to-morrow;’ and that night he was slain. Thou that sayest, thou wilt
look after the kingdom of heaven to-morrow, knowest not but that thou
mayest be in hell before to-morrow. Sometimes death comes suddenly: it
strikes without giving warning. What folly is it to put off seeking the
kingdom of heaven till the day of grace expire; till the radical
moisture be spent. As if a man should begin to run a race when a fit of
the gout takes him.
(4) It
reproves such as were once great zealots in religion, and seemed to be
touched with a coal from God’s altar, but have since cooled in their
devotion, and left off pursuing the celestial kingdom. ‘Israel has cast
off the thing that is good:’ there is no face of religion to be seen:
they have left off the house of prayer, and gone to play-houses; they
have left off pursuing the heavenly kingdom.
Hos 8: 3.
Whence is
this?
[1] For
want of a supernatural principle of grace. That branch must needs die
which has no root to grow upon. That which moves from a principle of
life lasts, as the beating of the pulse; but that which moves from an
artificial spring only, when the spring is down, the motion ceases. The
hypocrite’s religion is artificial, not vital; he acts from the outward
spring of applause or gain, and if that be down, his motion towards
heaven ceases.
[2] From
unbelief. ‘An evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.’
Heb 3: 12. ‘They believed not in God.’
Psa 78: 22. ‘They turned back;’
5: 41. Sinners have hard thoughts of God: they think they may
pray and hear; yet be never the better.
Mal 3: 14. They question whether God will give them the
kingdom at last; then they turn back, and throw away Christ’s colours;
they distrust God’s love, and no wonder they desert his service.
Infidelity is the root of apostasy.
[3] Men
leave off pursuing the heavenly kingdom, from some secret lust nourished
in the soul, perhaps a wanton or a covetous lust. Demas, for love of the
world, forsook his religion, and afterwards turned priest in an idol
temple. One of Christ’s own apostles was caught with a silver bait.
Covetousness will make men betray a good cause, and make shipwreck of a
good conscience. If there be any lust unmortified in the soul, it will
bring forth the bitter fruit either of scandal or apostasy.
[4] Men
leave off pursuing the kingdom of heaven out of timidity. If they
persist in religion, they may lose their places of profit, perhaps their
lives. The reason, says Aristotle, why the chameleon turns into so many
colours is through excessive fear. When carnal fear prevails, it makes
men change their religion as fast as the chameleon does its colours.
When many of the Jews, who were great followers of Christ, saw the
swords and staves, they deserted him. What Solomon said of the sluggard,
is as true of the coward: he says, ‘There is a lion without.’
Prov 22: 13. He sees dangers before him; he would go on in
the way to the kingdom of heaven, but there is a lion in the way. This
is dismal. ‘If any man draw back (in the Greek, if he steals, as a
soldier, from his colours), my soul shall have no pleasure in him.’
Heb 10: 38.
Use 3.
For trial.
Let us
examine whether we shall go to this kingdom when we die. Heaven is
called a ‘kingdom prepared.’
Matt 25: 34.
How shall
we know this kingdom is prepared for us?
If we are
prepared for the kingdom.
How may
that be known?
By being
heavenly persons. An earthly heart is no more fit for heaven, than a
clod of dust is fit to be a star; there is nothing of Christ or grace in
such a heart. It were a miracle to find a pearl in a gold mine; and it
is as great a miracle to find Christ, the pearl of price, in an earthly
heart. Would we go to the kingdom of heaven? Are we heavenly?
(1) Are
we heavenly in our contemplations? Do our thoughts run upon this
kingdom? Do we get sometimes upon Mount Pisgah, and take a prospect of
glory? Thoughts are as travellers: most of David’s thoughts travelled
heaven’s road.
Psa 139: 17. Are our minds heavenlized? ‘Walk about Zion,
tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks,’
Psa 68: 12, 13. Do we walk into the heavenly mount, and see
what a glorious situation it is? Do we tell the towers of that kingdom?
While a Christian fixes his thoughts on God and glory, he does as it
were tread upon the borders of the heavenly kingdom, and peep within the
veil. As Moses had a sight of Canaan, though he did not enter into it,
so the heavenly Christian has a sight of heaven, though he be not yet
entered into it.
(2) Are
we heavenly in our affections? Do we set our affections on the kingdom
of heaven?
Col 3: 2. If we are heavenly, we despise all things below in
comparison of the kingdom of God; we look upon the world but as a
beautiful prison; and we cannot be much in love with our fetters, though
they are made of gold: our hearts are in heaven. A stranger may be in a
foreign land to gather up debts owing him, but he desires to be in his
own kingdom and nation: so we are here awhile as in a strange land, but
our desire is chiefly after the kingdom of heaven, where we shall be for
ever. The world is the place of a saint’s abode, not his delight. Is it
thus with us? Do we, like the patriarchs of old, desire a better
country?
Heb 11: 16. This is the temper of a true saint, his
affections are set on the kingdom of God: his anchor is cast in heaven,
and he is carried thither with the sails of desire.
(3) Are
we heavenly in our speeches? Christ, after his resurrection, spoke of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Acts 1: 3. Are your tongues turned to the language of the
heavenly Canaan? ‘Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to
another.’
Mal 3: 16. Do you in your visits season your discourses with
heaven? There are many say, they hope they shall be saved, but you shall
never hear them speak of the kingdom of heaven perhaps of their wares
and drugs, or of some rich purchase they have got, but nothing of the
kingdom. Can men travel together in a journey, and not speak a word of
the place they are travelling to? Are you travellers for heaven, and
never speak a word of the kingdom you are travelling to? Herein many
discover they do not belong to heaven, for you shall never hear a good
word come from them.
Verba sunt
speculum mentis. Bernard. The
words are the looking-glass of the mind, they show what the heart is.
(4) Are
we heavenly in our trading? Is our traffic and merchandise in heaven? Do
we trade in the heavenly kingdom by faith? A man may live in one place,
and trade in another; he may live in Ireland, and trade in the West
Indies; so we trade in the heavenly kingdom. They who do not trade in
heaven while they live, shall never go to heaven when they die. Do we
send up to heaven volleys of sighs and groans? Do we send forth the ship
of prayer thither, which fetches in returns of mercy? Is our communion
with the Father and his Son Jesus?
1 John 1: 3.
Phil 3: 20.
(5) Are
our lives heavenly? Do we live as if we had seen the Lord with bodily
eyes? Do we emulate and imitate the angels in sanctity? Do we labour to
copy out Christ’s life in ours?
1 John 2: 6. It was a custom among the Macedonians, on
Alexander’s birth-day, to wear his picture about their necks set with
pearl and diamond. Do we carry Christ’s picture about us, and resemble
him in the heavenliness of our conversation? If we are thus heavenly, we
shall go to the kingdom of heaven when we die; and truly there is a
great deal of reason why we should be thus heavenly in our thoughts,
affections, and conversation, if we consider that the main end why God
has given us our souls, is, that we may mind the kingdom of heaven. Our
souls are of noble extraction, they are akin to angels, a glass of the
Trinity, as Plato speaks. Now, is it rational to imagine that God would
have breathed into us such noble souls only to look after sensual
objects? Were such bright stars made only to shoot into the earth? Were
these immortal souls made only to seek after dying comforts? Had this
been the only end of our creation, to eat and drink, and converse with
earthly objects, worse souls would have served us: sensitive souls had
been good enough for us. What need our souls to be rational and divine,
to do that work only which a beast may do?
Great
reason we should be heavenly in our thoughts, affections, conversation,
if we consider what a blessed kingdom heaven is. It is beyond all
hyperbole. Earthly kingdoms scarce deserve the names of cottages
compared with it. We read of an angel coming down from heaven, who set
his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.
Rev 10: 2. Had we but once been in the heavenly kingdom, and
viewed the superlative glory of it, how might we, in holy scorn, trample
with one foot on the earth, and with the other foot upon the sea? There
are rivers of pleasure, gates of pearl, sparkling crowns, white robes;
and should not this make our hearts heavenly? It is a heavenly kingdom,
and such only go into it who are heavenly.
Use 4.
For exhortation to all in general.
(1) If
there be such a glorious kingdom, believe this great truth. Socinians
deny it. The Rabbis say, the great dispute between Cain and Abel was
about the world to come; Abel affirmed it, Cain denied it. It should be
engraver upon our hearts as with the point of a diamond, that there is a
blessed kingdom in reversion. ‘Verily, there is a reward for the
righteous.’
Psa 58: 11. Let us not hesitate through unbelief. Doubting
principles is the next way to denying them. Unbelief, like Samson, would
pull down the pillars of religion. Be confirmed in this, there is a
kingdom of glory to come; whoever denies this, cuts asunder the main
article of the creed, ‘life everlasting.’
(2) If
there be such a blessed kingdom of glory to come, let us take heed lest
we miss this kingdom; let us fear lest we lose heaven by short shooting.
Trembling in the body, is a malady; in the soul, a grace. This fear is
not a fear of diffidence or distrust, such as discourages the soul, for
such fear frights from religion, it cuts the sinews of endeavour; but
holy fear lest we miss the kingdom of heaven, is a fear of diligence; it
quickens us in the use of means, and puts us forward, that we may not
fail of our hope. ‘Noah moved with fear, prepared an ark.’
Heb 11: 7. Fear is a watch-bell to awaken sleepy Christians;
it guards against security; it is a spur to a sluggish heart. He who
fears he shall come short of his journey, rides the faster. And indeed
this exhortation to fear lest we miss this kingdom, is most necessary,
if we consider two things:
[1] There
are many who have gone many steps in the way to heaven, and yet have
fallen short of it. ‘Thou art not far from the kingdom of God;’ yet he
was not near enough.
Mark 12: 34.
How many
steps may a man take in the way to the kingdom of God, and yet miss it?
He may be
adorned with civility; he may be morally righteous; he may be prudent,
just, temperate; he may be free from penal statutes; all which is good,
but not enough to bring a man to heaven.
He may
hang out the flag of a glorious profession, and yet fall short of the
kingdom. The Scribes and Pharisees went far; they sat in Moses’ chair,
were expounders of the law; they prayed, gave alms, were strict in the
observation of the Sabbath; if one had got a thorn in his foot, he would
not pull it out on the Sabbath-day, for fear of breaking the Sabbath.
They were so externally devout in God’s worship, that the Jews thought,
that if but two in all the world went to heaven, the one would be a
Scribe, and the other a Pharisee; but the mantle of their profession was
not lined with sincerity; they did all for the applause of men, and
therefore missed heaven. ‘Except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven.’
Matt 5: 20.
A man may
be a frequenter of ordinances, and yet miss the kingdom. It is a good
sight to see people flock as doves to the windows of God’s house; it is
good to lie in the way where Christ passes by; yet, be not offended, if
I say, one may be a hearer of the word, and fall short of glory. Herod
heard John the Baptist gladly, yet beheaded John instead of beheading
his sin. The prophet Ezekiel’s hearers came with as much delight to his
preaching, as one would do to a piece of music. ‘Thou art to them as a
very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on
an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do them not.’
Ezek 33: 32. What is it to hear one’s duty, and not do it? It
is as if a physician prescribed a good recipe, but the patient would not
take it.
A man may
have some trouble for sin, and weep for it, and yet miss the heavenly
kingdom.
Whence is
this?
A
sinner’s tears are forced by God’s judgements; as water which comes out
of a distillery is forced by the fire. Trouble for sin is transient, it
is quickly over again. As some that go to sea are sea- sick, but when
they come to land are well again; so hypocrites may be sermon-sick, but
this trouble does not last, the sick-fit is soon over. A sinner weeps,
but goes on in sin; his sins are not drowned in his tears.
A man may
have good desires and yet miss the kingdom. ‘Let me die the death of the
righteous.’
Numb 23: 10.
Wherein
do these desires come short?
They are
sluggish. A man would have heaven, but will take no pains. As if one
should say, he desires water, but will not let down the bucket into the
well. ‘The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to
labour.’
Prov 21: 25. The sinner desires mercy but not grace; he
desires Christ as a Saviour, but not as he is the Holy One; he desires
Christ only as a bridge to lead him over to heaven. Such desires as
these may be found among the damned.
A man may
forsake his sins, oaths, drunkenness, uncleanness, and yet come short of
the kingdom. He may forsake gross sins, and yet have no reluctance to
heart-sins, pride, unbelief, and the first risings of malice and
concupiscence. Though he dams up the stream, he lets alone the fountain;
though he lop and prune the branches, he does not strike at the root of
it. Though he leaves sin for fear of hell, or because it brings shame
and penury, yet he still loves sin; as if a snake should cast her coat,
and yet retain her poison. ‘They set their heart on their iniquity.’
Hos 4: 8. It is but a partial forsaking of sin; though he
leaves one sin, he lives in some other. Herod reformed very much. ‘He
did many things;’ but he lived in incest.
Mark 6: 20. Some leave drunkenness, and live in covetousness;
they forbear swearing, and live in slandering. It is but a partial
reformation, and so they miss of the kingdom of glory. Thus you see
there are some who have gone many steps in the way to heaven, and yet
have come short. Some have gone so far in profession, that they have
been confident their estate has been good, and that they should go to
the kingdom of heaven, and yet have missed it. ‘When once the master of
the house is risen up, and has shut to the door, and ye begin to stand
without, and to knock, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us.’
Luke 13: 25. How confident were these of salvation! They did
not beseech, but knock, as if they did not doubt but to be let into
heaven; yet to these Christ says, ‘I know you not whence ye are; depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity.’ Therefore fear and tremble, lest
any miss of this kingdom of heaven.
[2] This
fear is necessary, if we consider what a loss it is to lose the heavenly
kingdom. All the tears in hell are not sufficient to lament the loss of
heaven. They who lose the heavenly kingdom, lose God’s sweet presence,
the ravishing views and smiles of his glorious face. God’s presence is
the diamond in the ring of glory. ‘In thy presence is fulness of joy.’
Psa 16: 11. If God be the fountain of all bliss, then, to be
separated from him, is the fountain of all misery. They who lose the
heaven]y kingdom, lose the society of angels; and, what sweeter music
than to hear them praise God in concert? They lose all their treasure,
their white robes, their sparkling crowns; they lose their hopes. ‘Whose
hope shall be cut off.’
Job 8: 14. Their hope is not an anchor, but a spider’s web.
If hope deferred makes the heart sick, what is hope disappointed?
Prov 13: 12. They lose the end of their being. Why were they
created, but to be enthroned in glory? Now, to lose this, is to lose the
end of their being, as if an angel should be turned to a worm. There are
many aggravations of the loss of this heavenly kingdom.
The eyes
of the wicked shall be opened to see their loss; now they care not for
the loss of God’s favour, because they know not the worth of it. A man
that loses a rich diamond, and took it but for an ordinary stone, is not
much troubled at the loss of it; but when he comes to know what a jewel
he lost, he laments. He whose heart would never break at the sight of
his sins, breaks at the sight of his loss. When the wife of Phinehas
heard the ark was lost, she cried out, ‘The glory is departed.’
1 Sam 4: 21. When the sinner sees what he has lost, that he
has lost the beatific vision, he has lost the kingdom of heaven, he will
cry out in horror and despair, ‘The glory, the everlasting glory, is
departed.’
A second
aggravation of the loss of this kingdom will be, that sinners shall be
upbraided by their own conscience. This is the worm that never dies, a
self-accusing mind.
Mark 9: 44. When sinners shall consider that they were in a
fair way to the kingdom; that they had a possibility of salvation; that
though the door of heaven was strait, yet it was open; that they had the
means of grace; that the jubilee of the gospel was proclaimed in their
ears; that God called but they refused; that Jesus Christ offered them a
plaister of his own blood to heal them, but they trampled it under foot;
that the Holy Spirit stood at the door of their heart, knocking and
crying to them to receive Christ and heaven, but they repulsed the
Spirit, and sent away this dove; and that now, through their own folly
and wilfulness, they have lost the kingdom of heaven; a self- accusing
conscience will be terrible, it will be like a venomous worm gnawing at
the heart.
A third
aggravation of the loss of heaven will be, to look upon others that have
gained the kingdom. The happiness of the blessed will be an eyesore.
‘There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of
God, and you yourselves thrust out.’
Luke 13: 28. When the wicked shall see those whom they hated
and scorned exalted to a kingdom, and shine with robes of glory, and
they themselves miss the kingdom, it will be a dagger at the heart, and
make them gnash their teeth for envy.
A fourth
aggravation is, that this loss of the kingdom of heaven is accompanied
with the punishment of sense. He who leaps short of the bank, falls into
the river: such as come short of heaven, fall into the river of fire and
brimstone. ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell;’ and how dreadful is
that!
Psa 9: 17. If to have but a spark of God’s anger light upon
the conscience be so torturing here, what will it be to have mountains
of God’s wrath thrown upon the soul? ‘Who knoweth the power of thine
anger?’
Psa 90: 11. The angel never poured out his vial, but some woe
followed.
Rev 16: 3. When the bitter vials of God’s wrath are poured
out, damnation follows. Dives cries out, ‘I am tormented in this flame.’
Luke 16: 24. In hell there is not a drop of mercy. There was
no oil nor frankincense used in the sacrifice of jealousy.
Numb 5: 15. In hell there is no oil of mercy to lenify the
sufferings of the damned, nor incense of prayer to appease God’s wrath.
A fifth
aggravation of the loss of this kingdom will be to consider on what easy
and reasonable terms men might have had this kingdom. If indeed God had
commanded impossibilities, to have satisfied justice in their own
persons, it had been another matter; but what God did demand was
reasonable, and was for their good, which was to accept of Christ for
their Lord and Husband, and to part with that which would ruin them.
These were the fair terms on which they might have enjoyed the heavenly
kingdom. Now, to lose heaven, which might have been had upon such easy
terms, will be a cutting aggravation. It will rend a sinner’s heart with
rage and grief, to think how easily he might have prevented the loss of
the heavenly kingdom.
It will
be an aggravation of the loss of heaven for sinners to think how active
they were in doing that which lost them the kingdom. It was felo de se.
What pains they took to resist the Spirit and to stifle conscience! They
sinned until they were out of breath. ‘They weary themselves to commit
iniquity.’
Jer 9: 5. What difficulties men went through! How much they
endured for their sins! How much shame and pain! How sick was the
drunkard with his cups! How sore in his body was the adulterer! What
marks of sin he carried about him! What dangers men adventure upon for
their lusts! They adventure God’s wrath, and adventure the laws of the
land. Oh, how will this aggravate the loss of heaven! How will it make
men curse themselves to think what pains they were at to lose happiness!
How will it sting men’s consciences to think that had they but taken as
much pains for heaven as they did for he]1, they had not lost it!
It will
be an aggravation of the loss of this kingdom, that it will be
irreparable: heaven once lost can never be recovered. Worldly losses may
be made up again. If a man lose his health he may have it repaired by
physic; if he be driven out of his kingdom he may be restored to it
again as king Nebuchadnezzar was, ‘Mine honour returned unto me, and I
was established in my kingdom.’
Dan 4: 36. King Henry VI was deposed from his throne, and
restored to it again. But they who once lose heaven can never be
restored to it again. After millions of years they are as far from
obtaining glory as at first. Thus you see how needful this exhortation
is, that we should fear lest we fall short of this kingdom of heaven.
What
shall we do that we may not miss this kingdom of glory?
Take heed
of those things which will make you miss heaven. (1) Take heed of
spiritual sloth. Many Christians are settled upon their lees; they are
loath to put themselves to too much pains. It is said of Israel, ‘They
despised the pleasant land.’
Psa 106: 24. Canaan was a paradise of delights, a type of
heaven; ay, but some of the Jews thought it would cost them a great deal
of trouble and hazard in the getting, and they would rather go without
it. ‘They despised the pleasant land.’ I have read of certain Spaniards
that live where there is a great store of fish, but are so lazy that
they will not be at the pains to catch them, but buy of their
neighbours. Such sinful sloth is upon the most, that though the kingdom
of heaven be offered them, yet they will not put themselves to any
labour for it. They have some faint wishes and desires. O that I had
this kingdom! They are like a man that wishes for venison, but will not
hunt for it. ‘The soul of the sluggard desireth, and has nothing.’
Prov 13: 4. Men could be content to have the kingdom of
heaven if it would drop as a ripe fig into their mouths, but they are
loath to fight for it. O take heed of spiritual sloth! God never made
heaven to be a hive for drones. We cannot have the world without labour,
and do we think to have the kingdom of heaven? Heathens will rise up in
judgement against many Christians. What pains did they take in their
Olympic races when they ran but for a crown of olive or myrtle
intermixed with gold; and do we stand still when we are running for a
kingdom? ‘Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep.’
Prov 19: 15. Sloth is the soul’s sleep. Adam lost his rib
when he was asleep. Many a man loses the kingdom of heaven when he is in
this deep sleep of sloth.
(2) Take
heed of unbelief. Unbelief kept Israel out of Canaan. ‘So we see that
they could not enter in because of unbelief.’
Heb 3: 19. And it keeps many out of heaven. Unbelief is an
enemy to salvation, it is a damning sin; it whispers thus, To what
purpose is all this pains for the heavenly kingdom? I had as good sit
still; I may come near to heaven, yet come short of heaven. ‘And they
said, There is no hope.’
Jer 18: 12. Unbelief destroys hope; and if you cut this
sinew, a Christian goes but lamely in religion, if he goes at all.
Unbelief raises jealous thoughts of God; it represents him as a severe
judge; it discourages many a soul, and takes it off from duty. Beware of
unbelief: believe the promises. ‘The Lord is good to the soul that
seeketh him:’ seek him earnestly and he will open both heart and heaven
to you.
Lam 3: 25.
Deus volentibus
non deest [God does not fail
those who desire him]. Do what you are able, and God will help you.
While you spread the sails of your endeavour, God’s Spirit will blow
upon these sails, and carry you swiftly to the kingdom of glory.
(3) If
you would not miss the heavenly kingdom, take heed of mistake by
imagining the way to be easier than it is; as though it were but a sigh,
or, Lord have mercy. There is no going to heaven
per saltum
[at a leap]; one cannot leap out of Delilah’s lap into Abraham’s bosom.
The sinner is ‘dead in trespasses.’
Eph 2: 1. Is it easy for a dead man to restore himself to
life? Is regeneration easy? Are there no pangs in the new birth? Does
not the Scripture call Christianity a warfare and a race? And do you
fancy this easy? The way to the kingdom is not easy, but a mistake about
the way is easy.
(4) If
you would not miss the heavenly kingdom, take heed of delays and
procrastinations.
Mora trahit
periculum [Delay brings danger].
It is a usual delusion, I will mind the kingdom of heaven, but not yet;
when I have gotten an estate, and grown old, then I will look after
heaven; but on a sudden, death surprises men, and they fall short of
heaven. Delay strengthens sin, hardens the heart, and gives the devil
fuller possession of a man. Take heed of adjourning and putting off
seeking the kingdom of heaven till it be too late. Caesar, deferring to
read a letter put into his hand, was killed in the senate-house.
Consider how short your life is; it is a taper soon blown out.
Animantis
cujusque vita in fuga est [The
life of everyone living is fleeing away]. The body is like a vessel
tunned with breath: sickness broaches it, death draws it out. Delay not
the business of salvation a day longer; sometimes death strikes, and
gives no warning.
(5) If
you would not come short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed at
prejudice. Many take a prejudice at religion, and on this rock dash
their souls. They are prejudiced at Christ’s person, his truths, his
followers, his ways.
They are
prejudiced at his person. ‘And they were offended in him.’
Matt 13: 57. What is there in Christ that men should be
offended at him? He is the ‘pearl of great price.’
Matt 13: 46. Are men offended at pearls and diamonds? Christ
is the wonder of beauty. ‘Fairer than the children of men.’
Psa 45: 2. Is there anything in beauty to offend? He is the
mirror of mercy.
Heb 2: 17. Why should mercy offend any? He is a Redeemer. Why
should a captive slave be offended at him who comes with a sum of money
to ransom him? The prejudice men take at Christ is from the inbred
depravity of their hearts. The eye that is sore cannot endure the light
of the sun: the fault is not in the sun, but in the sore eye. There are
two things in Christ against which men are prejudiced: [1] His meanness.
The Jews expected a monarch for their Messiah; but Christ came not with
outward pomp and splendour. His kingdom was not of this world. The stars
which are seated in the brightest orbs are least seen. Christ, who is
the bright morning-star, was not much seen; his divinity was hid in the
dark lantern of his humanity, all who saw the man did not see the
Messiah. The Jews stumbled at the meanness of his person. [2] Men are
prejudiced at Christ’s strictness. They look upon him as austere, and
his laws as too severe. ‘Let us break their bands, and cast away their
cords from us.’
Psa 2: 3. Though to a saint, Christ’s laws are no more
burdensome than wings to a bird, yet to the wicked his laws are a yoke;
and they love not to come under restraint, therefore they hate Christ.
Though they pretend to love him as a Saviour, they hate him as he is the
Holy One.
Men are
prejudiced at the truths of Christ. [1] Self-denial. A man must deny his
righteousness.
Phil 3: 9. He will graft the hope of salvation upon the stock
of his own righteousness. [2] He must deny his unrighteousness. The
Scripture seals no patents to sin; it teacheth us to deny all
‘ungodliness and worldly lusts.’
Tit 2: 12. We must divorce those sins which bring in
pleasures and profit. [3] Forgiveness of injuries.
Mark 11: 25. These truths men are prejudiced at; they can
rather want forgiveness from God, than they can forgive others.
Men are
prejudiced at the followers of Christ. [1] Their paucity. There are but
few, in comparison, that embrace Christ; but why should this offend? Men
are not offended at pearls and precious stones, because they are few.
[2] Their poverty. Many that wear Christ’s livery are low in the world;
but why should this give offence? Christ has better things than these to
bestow upon his followers; as the holy anointing, the white stone, the
hidden manna, and the crown of glory. All Christ’s followers are not
humbled with poverty. Abraham was rich with gold and silver, as well as
rich in faith. Though not many noble are called, yet some noble are.
‘Honourable women which were Greeks’ believed.
Acts 17: 12. Constantine and Theodosius were godly emperors.
So that this stumbling block is removed. [3] Their scandals. Some of
Christ’s followers, under a mask of piety, commit sin, which begets a
prejudice against religion; but does Christ or his gospel teach any such
thing? The rules he prescribes are holy. Why should the master be
thought the worse of, because some of his servants prove bad?
Men are
prejudiced at the ways of Christ. They expose them to sufferings. ‘Let
him take up his cross and follow me.’
Matt 16: 24. Many stumble at the cross. There are, as
Tertullian says,
delicatuli,
silken Christians, who love their ease; they will follow Christ to mount
Tabor, to see him transfigured, but not to mount Golgotha, to suffer
with him. But, alas! what is affliction to the glory that follows! The
weight of glory makes affliction light.
Adimant caput,
non coronam [Let them take the
head, but not the crown]. O take heed of prejudice, which has been a
stumbling-stone in men’s way to heaven, and has made them fall short of
the kingdom!
(6) If
you would not miss the kingdom of heaven, take heed of presumption. Men
presume all is well, and take it as a principle not to be disputed, that
they shall go to heaven. The devil has given them opium, to cast them
into a deep sleep of security. The presumptuous sinner is like the
leviathan, made ‘without fear;’ he lives as bad as the worst, yet hopes
he shall be saved as well as the best; he blesses himself and saith, he
shall have peace, though he goes on in sin.
Deut 29: 19. As if a man should drink poison, yet not fear
but he will have his health. But whence does this presumptuous hope
arise? Surely from a conceit that God is made up of all mercy. It is
true that God is merciful, but he is just too. ‘Keeping mercy for
thousands, and that will by no means clear the guilty.’
Exod 34: 7. If a king proclaimed that those only should be
pardoned who came in and submitted, ought any still persisting in
rebellion, to claim the benefit of the pardon? Dost thou hope for mercy
who wilt not lay down thy weapons, but stand out in rebellion against
heaven? None might touch the ark but the priests: none may touch this
ark of God’s mercy, but holy, consecrated persons. Presumption is heluo
animarum, the great devourer of souls. A thousand have missed heaven by
putting on the broad spectacles of presumption.
(7) If
you would not miss the heavenly kingdom, take heed of the delights and
pleasures of the flesh. Soft pleasures harden the heart; many people
cannot endure a serious thought, but are for comedies and romances; they
play away their salvation.
Homilies
capiuntur voluptate, ut pisces hamo
[Men are caught by pleasure, as fish by the hook]. Cicero. Pleasure is
the sugared bait men bite at, but there is a hook under it. ‘They take
the timbrel and harp; and rejoice at the sound of the organ.’
Job 21: 12. ‘That lie upon beds of ivory, that chant to the
sound of the viol, that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with
the chief ointments.’
Amos 6: 4, 5, 6. The pleasures of the world keep many from
the pleasures of paradise. What a shame is it, that the soul, that
princely thing, which sways the sceptre of reason, and is akin to
angels, should be enslaved by sinful pleasure! Beard, in his Theatre,
speaks of one who had a room richly hung with fair pictures, he had most
delicious music, he had the rarest beauties, he had all the candies, and
curious preserves of the confectioner, to gratify his senses with
pleasure, and swore he would live one week as a god, though he were sure
to be damned in hell the next day. Diodorus Siculus observes, that the
dogs of Sicily while hunting among the sweet flowers, lose the scent of
the hare; so, many while hunting after the sweet pleasures of the world,
lose the kingdom of heaven. It is, says Theophylact, one of the worst
sights to see a sinner go laughing to hell.
(8) If
you would not fall short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed of
worldly-mindedness. A covetous spirit is a dunghill spirit, it chokes
good affections, as the earth puts out the fire. The world hindered the
young man from following Christ;
abiit tristis,
he went away sorrowful, which extorted these words from our Saviour:
‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!’
Luke 18: 23, 24.
Divitiae
saeculi sunt laquei diaboli [The
riches of the world are the snares of the devil]. Bernard. Riches are
golden snares. If a man were to climb up a steep rock, and had weights
tied to his legs, it would hinder him in his ascent; so too many golden
weights will hinder us from climbing up the steep rock which leads to
heaven. ‘They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them
in.’
Exod 14: 3. So it may be said of many, they are entangled in
earthly affairs, the world has shut them in. The world is no friend to
grace. The more the child sucks, the weaker the nurse is; and the more
the world sucks and draws from us, the weaker our grace is. ‘Love not
the world.’
1 John 2: 15. Had a man a monopoly of all the wealth of the
world; were he able to empty the western parts of gold, and the eastern
of spices; could he heap up riches to the starry heaven, yet his heart
would not be filled. Covetousness is a dry dropsy. Joshua could stop the
course of the sun, but could not stop Achan in his covetous pursuit of
the wedge of gold. He whose heart is locked up in his chest, will be
locked out of heaven. Some ships that have escaped the rocks, have been
cast away upon the sands; so, many who have escaped gross sins, have
been cast away upon the world’s golden sands.
(9) If
you would not come short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed of
indulging any sin. One millstone will drown, as well as more, and one
sin lived in will damn, as well as more.
Ubi regnat
peccatum, non potest regnare Dei regnum.
Jerome. If any one sin reign, it will keep you from reigning in the
kingdom of heaven. Especially keep from sins of presumption, which waste
conscience,
vastare
conscientiam (Tertullian); and
the sin of your natural constitution; the
peccatum in
deliciis (Augustine); thy
darling sin; ‘I kept myself from mine iniquity,’ that sin which my heart
would soonest decoy and flatter me into.
Psa 18: 23. As in the hive there is one master bee, so in the
heart one master-sin: Oh, take heed of this!
How may
this sin be known?
That sin
for which a man cannot endure the arrow of a reproof is the bosom-sin.
Herod could not brook to have his incest meddled with, that was a
noli me tangere
[touch me not]. Men can be content to have other sins declaimed against;
but if a minister put his finger upon the sore, and touches upon one
special sin, then
igne micant
oculi [their eyes flash with
fire], they are enraged, and spit the venom of malice.
That sin
which a man’s heart runs out most to, and he is most easily captivated
by, is the Delilah in the bosom. One man is overcome with wantonness,
another by worldliness. It is a sad thing for a man to be so bewitched
by a beloved sin, that if it ask him to part with not only one half the
kingdom, but the whole kingdom of heaven, he must part with it to
gratify that lust.
That sin
which most troubles a man and flies in his face in an hour of sickness
and distress, is the sin he has allowed himself in, and is his
complexion-sin. When Joseph’s brethren were distressed, their sin in
selling their brother came into their remembrance. ‘We are verily guilty
concerning our brother,’ &c.
Gen 42: 21. So, when a man is upon his sick-bed, and
conscience shall say, Thou hast been guilty of such a sin, the sin of
slandering or uncleanness, conscience reads a man a sad lecture, and
affrights him most for one sin; that is the complexion-sin.
That sin
which a man is least inclined to part with, is the endeared sin. Of all
his sons Jacob could most hardly part with Benjamin. ‘Will ye take
Benjamin away.’
Gen 42: 35. So says the sinner, this and that sin I have
left, but must Benjamin go too? Must I part with this delightful sin?
That goes to the heart. As with a castle that has several forts about
it, the first and second forts of which are yielded, when it comes to
the main castle, the governor will rather fight and die than yield it;
so a man may suffer many of his sins to be demolished; but when it comes
to one, that is like the taking of a castle, he will never yield to part
with that; surely that is the master-sin. Take heed especially of this
sin; the strength of sin lies in the beloved sin, which, like a humour
striking to the heart, brings death. I have read of a monarch, who being
pursued by the enemy, threw away the crown of gold on his head, that he
might run the faster; so the sin which thou didst wear as a crown of
gold must be thrown away, that thou mayest run the faster to the kingdom
of heaven. Oh, if you would not lose glory, mortify the beloved sin; set
it, as Uriah, in the forefront of the battle to be slain. By plucking
out this right eye you will see the better to go to heaven.
(10) If
you would not fall short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed of
inordinate passion. Many a ship has been lost in the storm; and many a
soul has been lost in a storm of unruly passions. Every member of the
body is infected with sin, as every branch of wormwood is bitter; but
‘the tongue is full of deadly poison.’
James 3: 8. Some care not what they say in their passion;
they will censure, slander, and wish evil to others. How can Christ be
in the heart, when the devil has taken possession of the tongue? Passion
disturbs reason, it is
brevis insania,
a short frenzy. Jonah in a passion flies out against God. ‘I do well to
be angry, even unto death.’
Jon 4: 9. What! to be angry with God, and to justify it? ‘I
do well to be angry;’ the man was not well in his wits. Passion unfits
for prayer. ‘I will, therefore, that men pray, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath.’
1 Tim 2: 8. He that prays in wrath may lift up his hands in
prayer, but he does not lift up holy hands. Water, when hot, soon boils
over; so, when the heart is heated with anger, it soon boils over in
fiery passionate speeches. Some curse others in their passion. Let those
whose tongues are set on fire, take heed that they do not one day in
hell desire a drop of water to coo] them. Oh, if you would not miss the
heavenly kingdom, beware of giving way to unbridled passions. Some say,
words are but wind; but they are such a wind as may blow them to hell.
(11) If
you would not fall short of the heavenly kingdom, beware of too much
indulging the sensual appetite. ‘Make not provision for the flesh.’
Rom 13: 14. The Greek word, pronoian poiein, to make
provision, signifies to be caterers for the flesh. ‘Whose god is their
belly.’
Phil 3: 19. The throat is a slippery place. Judas received
the devil in the sop; and often the devil slides down in the liquor;
excess in meat and drink clouds the mind, chokes good affections, and
provokes lust. Many a man digs his own grave with his teeth. The heathen
could say,
Magnus sum et
ad majora natus quam ut sim corporis mei mancipium
[I am great and born to greater things than to be a slave to my body].
Seneca. He was higher born than to be a slave to his body. To pamper the
body, and neglect the soul, is to feed the slave and to starve the wife.
Take such a proportion of food as may recruit nature, but do not surfeit
it. Excess in things lawful has lost many the kingdom of heaven. A bee
may suck a little honey from the leaf, but put it in a barrel of honey,
and it is drowned. To suck temperately from the creature, God allows;
but excess engulfs men in perdition.
(12) If
you would not fall short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed of
injustice in your dealings. Defrauding lies in two things, 1. Mixing
commodities, as if anyone should mix bad wheat with good, and sell it
for pure wheat, which is to defraud. ‘Thy wine mixed with water.’
Isa 1: 22. 2. Giving scant measure. ‘Making the ephah small.’
Amos 8: 5. The ephah was a measure which the Jews used in
selling: they made the ephah small; they gave not full measure. I wish
this were not the sin of many. ‘He is a merchant, the balances of deceit
are in his hand.’
Hos 12: 7. Can they be holy which are not just? ‘Shall I
count them pure with the wicked balances?’
Micah 6: 11. Is his heart sincere who has false weights? Many
cannot reach heaven because of their over-reaching.
(13) If
you would not miss the kingdom of heaven, take heed of evil company.
There is a necessary commerce with men in buying and selling, or, as the
apostle says, we must go out of the world, but do not voluntarily choose
the company of the wicked.
1 Cor 5: 10. ‘I have written unto you not to keep company.’
1 Cor 5: 11. Do not incorporate into the society of the
wicked, or be too much familiar with them. The wicked are God-haters and
‘Shouldest thou love them that hate the Lord?’
2 Chron 19: 2. A Christian is bound, by virtue of his oath of
allegiance to God in baptism, not to have intimate converse with such as
are God’s sworn enemies: it is a thing of bad report. What do Christ’s
doves among birds of prey? What do virgins among harlots? The company of
the wicked is very defiling, it is like going among them that have the
plague. ‘They were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.’
Psa 106: 35. If you mingle bright armour with rusty, the
bright armour will not brighten the rusty, but the rusty armour will
spoil the bright. Such as have had religious education, and have some
inclinations to good, by mixing with the wicked, are apt to receive
hurt. The bad will sooner corrupt the good, than the good will convert
the bad. Pharaoh taught Joseph to swear, but Joseph did not teach
Pharaoh to pray. There is a strange attractive power in ill company to
corrupt and poison the best dispositions; they damp good affections.
Throw a fire-ball into the snow, and it is soon quenched. Among the
wicked, the heat of zealous affections is lost. By holding familiar
correspondence with the wicked, they will dissuade us from strict
godliness, and debar us our liberty and pleasure. ‘This sect everywhere
is spoken against.’
Acts 28:22.
Hereupon
he, who before looked towards heaven, begins to be discouraged, and
gradually declines from goodness. There steals upon him a dislike of his
former religious course of life; he thinks he was righteous overmuch,
stricter than needed. There is instilled into his heart a secret delight
of evil. He begins to like foolish scurrilous discourse; he can hear
religion spoken against, and be silent, nay, well pleased; he loves
vanity, and makes sport of sin. He is by degrees so metamorphosed, and
made like the company he converses with, that he now grows into disgust
and hatred of his former sober ways. He is ill-affected towards good
men, transformed into scoffing Ishmael, a breathing devil; and becomes
at last as much the child of hell as any of that graceless damned crew
he conversed with. And what is the end of all? A blot in the name, a
moth in the estate, a worm in the conscience. Oh, if you would not miss
the kingdom of heaven, beware of evil company! Bad company is the bane
and poison of the youth of this age. Such as were once soberly inclined,
by coming among the profane, grow familiar, till at last they keep one
another company in hell.
(14) If
you would not miss the kingdom of heaven, take heed of parleying with
the fleshly part. The flesh is a bosom traitor. When an enemy is gotten
within the walls of a castle, it is in great danger of being taken. The
flesh is an enemy within: it is a bad counsellor; it says, There is a
lion in the way; it discourages from religious strictness; it says as
Peter did to Christ, ‘Spare thyself;’ it says as Judas, ‘What needs all
this waste?’ What needs this praying? Why do you waste your strength and
spirits in religion? What needs all this waste? The flesh cries out for
ease and pleasure. How many, by consulting with the flesh, have lost the
kingdom of heaven!
(15) If
you would not fall short of heaven, take heed of carnal relations. Our
carnal friends are often bars and locks in our way to heaven; they will
say, Religion is preciseness and singularity. A wife in the bosom may be
a tempter. Job’s wife was so. ‘Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
Curse God, and die.’
Job 2: 9. What! still pray? What dost thou get by serving
God? Job, where are thy earnings? What canst thou show thou hast had in
God’s service, but boils and ulcers? And dost thou still retain thy
integrity? Throw off God’s livery, renounce religion. Here was a
temptation handed over to him by his wife. The woman was made of the
rib, the devil turned this rib into an arrow, and would have shot Job to
the heart, but his faith quenched his fiery dart. Beware of carnal
relations. We read that some of Christ’s kindred laid hold on him, and
would have hindered him when he was going to preach. ‘They said, He is
beside himself’
Mark 3: 21. Our kindred sometimes would stand in our way to
heaven, and, judging all zeal rashness, would hinder us from being
saved. Such carnal relations Spira had; for having advised with them
whether he should remain constant in his orthodox opinion, they
persuaded him to recant; and so, abjuring his former faith, he fell into
horror and despondency of mind. Galeacius, Marquis of Vice, found his
carnal relations a great block in his way; and what ado had he to break
through their temptations! Take heed of a snare in your bosom. It is a
brave saying of Jerome,
si mater mihi
ubera ostendat, &c. ‘If my
parent should persuade me to deny Christ, if my mother should show me
her breast that gave me suck, if my wife should go to charm me with her
embraces, I would forsake all, and fly to Christ.’
(16) If
you would not fall short of the kingdom of heaven, take heed of falling
off. Beware of apostasy. He misses the prize who does not hold out in
the race; he who makes shipwreck of the faith cannot come to the haven
of glory. We live in the fall of the leaf; men fall from that goodness
they seemed to have; some are turned to error, others to vice; some to
drinking and dicing, and others to shoring; the very mantle of their
profession is fallen off. It is dreadful for men to fall off from
hopeful beginnings. The apostate, says Tertullian, seems to put God and
Satan in the balance, and having weighed both their services, prefers
the devil’s service, and proclaims him to be the best master; in which
respect he is said to put Christ to open shame.
Heb 6: 6. This is sad at last.
Heb 10: 38. If you would not miss the glory, take heed of
apostasy. Those who fall away, must needs fall short of the kingdom.
What,
then, must we do?
(1) If we
would not come short of this heavenly kingdom, let us be much in the
exercise of self-denial. ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself.’
Matt 16: 24. He who would go to heaven must deny self
righteousness.
Cavendum eat a
propria justitia [We must beware
of our own righteousness]. ‘That I may be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness.’
Phil 3: 9. The spider weaves a web out of her own bowels; so
a hypocrite would spin a web of salvation out of his own righteousness.
We must deny our civility in point of justification. Civility is a good
staff to walk with among men, but it is a bad ladder to climb up to
heaven. We must deny our holy things in point of justification. Alas!
how are our duties chequered with sin! Put gold in the fire, and there
comes out dross; so our most golden services are mixed with unbelief.
Deny self- righteousness; use duty, but trust to Christ. Noah’s dove
made use of her wings to fly, but trusted to the ark for safety! Let
duties have your diligence, but not your confidence. Self-denial is
via ad
regnum [the way to the kingdom].
There is no getting into heaven but through this strait gate of
self-denial.
(2) The
second means for obtaining the kingdom is serious consideration. Most
men fall short of heaven for want of consideration.
We should
often consider what a kingdom heaven is. It is called
regnum paratum,
a kingdom prepared, which implies something that is rare and excellent.
Matt 25: 34. God has prepared in his kingdom such things as
‘eye has not seen nor ear heard.’
1 Cor 2: 9. Heaven is beyond hyperbole. In particular in this
celestial kingdom are two things. A stately palace, and a royal feast.
The stately palace is large and has several storeys. The dimensions of
it are twelve thousand furlongs, or, as it is in some Greek copies,
twelve times twelve thousand furlongs, a finite number put for an
infinite; no arithmetician can number these furlongs.
Rev 21: 15. Though there be an innumerable company of saints
and angels in heaven, yet there is infinitely enough room to receive
them. The palace of this kingdom is lucid and transparent; it is adorned
with light, and the light is sweet. Hell is a dark dungeon, but the
palace above is bespangled with light.
Col 1: 12. Such illustrious beams of glory shine from God, as
shed a brightness and splendour upon the empyrean heaven. This palace of
the kingdom is well situated for good air and a pleasant prospect. There
is the best air, which is perfumed with the odours of Christ’s
ointments; and a most pleasant prospect of the bright morning-star. The
palace is rich and sumptuous. It has gates of pearl.
Rev 21: 21. It is enriched with white robes and crowns of
glory; it never falls to decay, and the dwellers in it never die. ‘They
shall reign for ever and ever.’
Rev 22: 5.
There is
also a royal feast. It is called ‘the marriage-supper of the Lamb.’
Rev 19: 9. Bullinger and Gregory the Great understood this of
the magnificent supper prepared in the kingdom of heaven. A glorious
feast it will be in respect of the founder. The glorified saints shall
feast their eyes with God’s beauty, and their hearts with his love. A
delicious feast it will be in respect of the festivity and holy mirth.
What joy shall there be in the anthems and triumphs of glorified
spirits! Saints and angels shall twist together in an inseparable union
of love, and lie in each others’ sweet embrace. A royal banquet it will
be, where there is no surfeit, because a fresh course is continually
served in. The serious consideration of what a kingdom of heaven is,
would be a means to quicken our endeavours in the pursuit after it. What
causes men to make voyages to the Indies but the consideration of the
gold and spices which are to be had there? Did we survey and contemplate
the glory of heaven, we should soon take a voyage, and never leave till
we had arrived at the celestial kingdom.
How it
will trouble you if you should perish to think you came short of heaven
for want of a little more pains! The prophet Elisha bid the king of
Israel smite the ground six times, and he smote but thrice, and stayed.
2 Kings 13: 19. He lost many victories by it; so when a man
shall think thus, I did something in religion, but did not do enough; I
prayed, but it was coldly; I did not put coals to the incense; I heard
the word, but did not meditate on it; I did not chew the cud; I smote
but thrice, when I should have smote six times; had I taken a little
more pains I had been happy, but I have lost the kingdom of heaven by
short-shooting. The consideration, how terrible the thought will be of
losing heaven for want of a little more pains, should be a means to spur
on our sluggish hearts, and make us more diligent to get the kingdom.
(3) The
third means for obtaining this kingdom is to keep up daily prayer. ‘I
give myself unto prayer.’
Psa 109: 4. Prayer inflames the affections, and oils the
wheels of endeavour; it prevails with God, unlocks his bowels, and then
he unlocks heaven. All that have got to heaven have crept thither upon
their knees. The saints now in heaven have been men of prayer. Daniel
prayed three times a day, Jacob wrestled with God in prayer, and as a
prince, prevailed. Prayer must be fervent, else it is
thuribulum sine
prunis, as Luther says, a golden
censer without fire. O follow God with prayers and tears; say as Jacob
to the angel, ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.’
Gen 32: 26. Prayer
vincit
Invincibilem; as Luther says, it
conquers the Omnipotent. Elijah by prayer opened heaven: by ardent and
constant prayer heaven is opened to us.
(4) If
you would obtain the heavenly kingdom, get a love to heaven. Love puts a
man upon the use of all means to enjoy the thing loved. He who loves the
world, how active is he! He will break his sleep and peace for it. He
that loves honour, what hazards will he run! He will swim to the throne
in blood. Jacob loved Rachel, and what would he not do, though it were
serving two seven-years’ apprenticeships for obtaining her! Love carries
a man out violently to the object loved. Love like wings to the bird,
like sails to the ship, carries a Christian full sail to heaven. Heaven
is a place of rest and joy, it is paradise, and will you not love it?
Love heaven, and you cannot miss it. Love breaks through all opposition;
it takes heaven by storm. Though it labour, it is never weary. It is
like the rod of myrtle in the traveller’s hand, which makes him fresh
and lively in his travel, and keeps him from being weary.
(5) If
you would obtain the kingdom of heaven, make religion your business.
What a man looks upon as a parergon, a thing by the by, he does not much
mind. If ever we would have heaven, we must look upon it as our main
concern; other things do but concern our livelihood, this concerns our
salvation. We make religion our business when we wholly devote ourselves
to God’s service.
Psa 139: 18. We count those the best hours which are spent
with God; we give God the cream of our affections, the flower of our
time and strength; we traffic in heaven every day, we are merchants for
the ‘pearl of price.’ He will not get an estate who does not mind his
trade; he will never get heaven who does not make religion his main
business.
(6) If
you would obtain the kingdom of heaven, bind your hearts to God by
sacred vows. Vow to the Lord that, by his grace, you will be more intent
upon heaven than ever. ‘Thy vows are upon me, O God.’
Psa 56: 12. A vow binds the votary to duty; he looks upon
himself as obliged by his vow to cleave to God. When bees fly in a great
wind, they ballast themselves with little stones, that they may not be
carried away; so we must fortify ourselves with strong vows, that we may
not be carried away from God with the violent wind of temptation. No
question, a Christian may make such a vow, because the ground of it is
morally good, he vows nothing but what he is bound to do by virtue of
his baptismal vow, namely, to walk with God more closely, and to pursue
heaven more vigorously.
(7) If
you would obtain the kingdom, embrace all seasons and opportunities for
your soul’s welfare. ‘Redeeming the time.’
Eph 5: 16. Opportunity is the cream of time; improving
seasons of grace is as much as our salvation is worth. The mariner, by
taking the present season while the wind blows, gets to the haven; by
taking the season, while we have the means of grace, and the wind of the
Spirit blows, we may arrive at the kingdom of heaven. We know not how
long we shall enjoy the gospel. The seasons of grace, like Noah’s dove,
come with an olive branch in their mouth, but they soon take wings and
fly. Though they are sweet, yet they are swift. God may remove the
golden candlestick from us, as he did from the churches of Asia. We have
many sad symptoms, ‘Grey hairs are here and there upon him.’
Hos 7: 9. Therefore let us lay hold upon the present seasons.
They that sleep in seedtime, will beg in harvest.
(8) If
you would go to the kingdom of heaven, you must
excubias agere,
keep a daily watch. ‘I say unto all, watch.’
Mark 13: 37. Many have lost heaven for want of watchfulness.
Our hearts are ready to decoy us into sin, and the devil lies in ambush
by his temptations; we must every day set a spy, and keep sentinel in
our souls. ‘I will stand upon my watch.’
Hab 2: 1.
We must
watch our eye. ‘I made a covenant with mine eyes.’
Job 31: 1. Much sin comes in by the eye. When Eve saw the
tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, then she took.
Gen 3: 6. First she looked, and then she lusted; the eye, by
beholding an impure object, sets the heart on fire; the devil often
creeps in at the window of the eye. Watch your eyes.
Watch
your ear. Much poison is conveyed through the ear. Let your ear be open
to God, and shut to sin.
Watch
your hearts. We watch suspicious persons. ‘The heart is deceitful.’
Jer 17: 9. Watch your heart, [1] When you are about holy
things, it will be stealing out to vanity. When I am at prayer, says
Jerome,
aut per porticum deambulo aut de foenore computo;
either I am walking through galleries or casting up accounts. [2] Watch
your hearts when you are in company. The basilisk poisons the herbs he
breathes on; so the breath of the wicked is infectious. Nay, watch your
hearts when you are in good company. Such as have some good in them may
be some grains too light, and have much levity of discourse; so that, if
no scum boils up, yet there may be too much froth. The devil is subtle,
and he can as well creep into the dove as he did once into the serpent.
Satan tempted Christ by an apostle. [3] Watch your hearts in prosperity.
Now you are in danger of pride. The higher the water of the Themes
rises, the higher the boat is lifted up: the higher men’s estates rise,
the higher their hearts are lifted up in pride. In prosperity, you are
in danger not only to forget God, but to lift up the heel against him.
‘Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.’
Deut 32: 15. It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling,
and to carry a full, prosperous estate without sinning.
Turpi fregerunt
saecula luxu divitiae molles
[Soft riches have ruined the age by disgraceful luxury]. Seneca. As
Samson fell asleep in Delilah’s lap, so many have fallen so fast asleep
in the lap of prosperity, that they have never awaked till they have
been in hell. [4] Watch your hearts after holy duties. When Christ had
been praying and fasting, the devil tempted him.
Matt 4: 3. After combating with Satan in prayer, we are apt
to grow secure and put our spiritual armour off, and then the devil
falls on and wounds us. Oh, if you would get to heaven, be always upon
your watch-tower, set a spy, keep close sentinel in your souls. Who
would not watch when it is for a kingdom!
(9) If
you would arrive at the heavenly kingdom, get these three graces, which
will undoubtedly bring your thither.
[1]
Divine knowledge. There is no going to heaven blindfold. In the
creation, light was the first thing that was made; so it is in the new
creation. Knowledge is the pillar of fire that goes before us, and
lights us into the heavenly kingdom. It is light that must bring us to
the ‘inheritance in light.’
Col 1: 12.
[2]
Faith. Faith ends in salvation. ‘Receiving the end of your faith,
salvation.’
1 Pet 1: 9. He who believes, is as sure to go to heaven as if
he were in heaven already.
Acts 16: 31. Faith touches Christ; and can he miss of heaven
who touches Christ? Faith unites to Christ; and shall not the members be
where the head is? All have not the same degree of faith; we must
distinguish between the direct act of faith and the reflex act of
affiance and assurance; yet the least seed and spark of faith gives an
undoubted title to the heavenly kingdom. I am justified because I
believe, not because I know I believe.
[3] Love
to God. Heaven is prepared for those that love God.
1 Cor 2: 9. Love is the soul of obedience, the touchstone of
sincerity; by our loving God, we may know he loves us.
1 John 4: 19. And those whom God loves, he will lay in his
bosom. Ambrose, in his funeral oration for Theodosius, brings in the
angels hovering about his departing soul, and ready to carry it to
heaven, who ask him, ‘What that grace was he had practised most on
earth?’ Theodosius replied,
Dilexi, Dilexi,
‘I have loved, I have loved,’ and straightway, by a convoy of angels, he
was translated to glory. Love is a sacred fire kindled in the breast; in
the flames of which the devout soul ascends to heaven.
(10) If
we would obtain this heavenly kingdom, let us labour for sincerity.
‘Whoso walketh uprightly, shall be saved.’
Prov 28: 18. The sincere Christian may fall short of some
degrees of grace, but he never falls short of the kingdom. God will pass
by many failings where the heart is right.
Numb 23: 21. True gold, though it be light, has grains of
alloy. ‘Thou desires truth in the inward parts.’
Psa 51: 6. Sincerity is the sauce which seasons all our
actions, and makes them savoury; it is an ingredient in every grace; it
is called ‘unfeigned faith,’ and ‘love in sincerity.’
2 Tim 1: 5;
Eph 6: 24. Coin will not go current that wants the king’s
stamp; and grace is not current if it be not stamped with sincerity.
Glorious duties soured with hypocrisy are rejected, when great
infirmities sweetened with sincerity are accepted. If any thing in the
world will bring us to heaven, it is sincerity. Sincerity signifies
plainness of heart. ‘In whose spirit there is no guile,’
Psa 32: 2. The plainer the diamond is, the richer.
Sincerity
is when we serve God with our heart; when we do not worship him only,
but love him. Cain brought his sacrifice, but not his heart. God’s
delight is a sacrifice flaming upon the altar of the heart. A sincere
Christian, though he has a double principle in him, flesh and spirit,
has not a double heart, his heart is for God.
Sincerity
is when we aim purely at God in all we do. The glory of God is more
worth than the salvation of all men’s souls. Though a sincere Christian
comes short in duty, he takes a right aim. As the herb, heliotropium,
turns about according to the motion of the sun, so a godly man’s actions
all move towards the glory of God.
(11) If
we would obtain the heavenly kingdom, let us keep up fervency in duty.
What is a dead form without the power? ‘Because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’
Rev 3: 16. Fervency puts life into duty. ‘Fervent in spirit,
serving God;’ Gr. Zeontes, ‘boiling over.’
Rom 12: 11. Christ prayed ‘more earnestly.’
Luke 22: 44. When the fire on the golden censor was ready to
go out, Aaron was to put more coals to the incense; so praying with
devotion is putting more coals to the incense. It is not formality, but
fervency, that will bring us to heaven. The formalist is like Ephraim, a
cake not turned, hot on one side, and dough on the other. In the
external] part of God’s worship, he seems to be hot; but as for the
spiritual part of God’s worship, he is cold. Oh! if you would have the
kingdom of heaven, keep up heart and fervour in duty. Elijah was carried
up to heaven in a fiery chariot: if you would go to heaven, you must be
carried thither in the fiery chariot of zeal. It is violence that takes
the kingdom of heaven.
(12) If
we would arrive at the heavenly kingdom, let us cherish the motions of
God’s Spirit in our hearts. The mariner may spread his sails, but the
ship cannot get to the haven without a gale of wind; so we may spread
the sails of our endeavour, but we cannot get to the haven of glory
without the north and south wind of God’s Spirit. How nearly therefore
does it concern us to make much of the motions of the Spirit — motions
to prayer, motions to repentance. ‘When thou hearest the sound of a
going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself,
for then shall the Lord go out before thee.’
2 Samuel 5: 24. So, when we hear a voice within us, a secret
inspiration stirring us up to good duties, we should bestir ourselves.
While the Spirit works in us, we should work with the Spirit. Many men
have God’s Spirit striving with them, he puts good motions in their
hearts and holy purposes; but they neglect to prosecute these good
motions, and the Spirit is grieved, and, being grieved, withdraws his
assistance, and that assistance being gone, there is no getting to
heaven. Oh! make much of the motion of the Spirit; it is as much as your
salvation is worth. The Spirit of God is compared to fire.
Acts 2: 3. If we are careful to blow the spark, we may have
fire to inflame our affections, and to light our feet into the way of
peace. If we quench the Spirit by neglecting and resisting its motions,
we cut ourselves off from salvation. The Spirit of God has a drawing
power.
Cant 1: 4. The blessed Spirit draws by attraction, as the
loadstone the iron. In the preaching of the word, the Spirit draws the
heart up to heaven in holy longings and ejaculations. Now, when the
Spirit is about thus to draw us, let us take heed of drawing back, lest
it be to perdition.
Heb 10: 39. Do as Noah, who, when the dove came flying to the
ark, put forth his hand, and took it into the ark; so when the sweet
dove of God’s Spirit comes flying to your hearts, and brings a gracious
impulse as an olive-branch of peace in its mouth, O take this dove into
the ark; entertain the Spirit in your hearts, and it will bring you to
heaven.
How shall
we know the motions of the Spirit from a delusion?
The
motions of the Spirit are always agreeable to the word. If the word be
for holiness, so is the Spirit. The Spirit persuades to nothing but what
the word directs. Which way the tide of the word runs, that way the wind
of the Spirit blows.
(13) We
obtain the kingdom of heaven by uniform and cheerful obedience.
Obedience is the road through which we travel to heaven. Many say they
love God, but refuse to obey him. Does he love the prince’s person who
slights his commands?
Obedience
must be uniform. ‘Then shall I not be ashamed’ (Heb. I shall not blush)
‘when I have respect unto all thy commandments.’
Psa 119: 6. As the sun goes through all the signs of the
zodiac, so we must go through all the duties of religion. If a man has
to go a hundred miles, and he goes ninety nine, and there stops, he
comes short of the place he is to travel to. If, with Herod, we do many
things that God commands, yet, if we die in the total neglect of any
duty, we come short of the kingdom of heaven. For instance, if a man
seem to make conscience of duties of the first table, and not the duties
of the second; if he seem to be religious, but is not just, he is a
transgressor, and is in danger of losing heaven. As the needle which
points the way which the loadstone draws, so a good heart moves the way
which the word draws.
Obedience
must be cheerful. ‘I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is
within my heart.’
Psa 40: 8. That is the sweetest obedience which is cheerful,
as that is the sweetest honey which drops from the comb freely. God
sometimes accepts willingness without the work, but never of the work
without willingness. ‘There came out two women, and the wind was in
their wings.’
Zech 5: 9. Wings are swift, but wind in the wings denotes
great swiftness; and is an emblem of the swiftness and cheerfulness
which should be in obedience. We go to heaven in the way of obedience
(14) If
we would obtain this kingdom we must be much in the communion of saints.
One coal of juniper will warm and inflame another; so, when the heart is
dead and frozen, the communion of saints will help to warm it. ‘They
that feared the Lord spake often one to another.’
Mal 3: 16. ‘Christians should never meet,’ says Mr Boston,
‘without speaking of their meeting together in heaven.’ One Christian
may be very helpful by prayer and conference to another, and give him a
lift towards heaven. Old Latimer was much strengthened and comforted by
hearing Mr Bilney’s confession of faith. We read that when Moses’ hands
were heavy, and he was ready to let them fall, Aaron and Hur stayed them
up.
Exod 17: 12. A Christian who is ready to faint under
temptation, and lets down the hands of his faith, by conversing with
other Christians is strengthened, and his hands are held up. A great
benefit of holy conference is counsel and advice. ‘If a man,’ says
Chrysostom, ‘who has but one head to advise him, could make that head a
hundred, he would be very wise; but a single Christian has this benefit
by the communion of saints, that they are as so many heads to advise him
what to do in such a case or exigency.’ By Christian conference the
saints can say, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us?’ Communion of saints
we have in our creed, but it is too little in our practice. Men usually
travel fastest in company; so we travel fastest to heaven in the
communion of saints.
(15) If
we would attain to this kingdom of heaven, let us be willing to come up
to Christ’s terms. Many will cheapen, and bid something for the kingdom
of heaven; they will avoid gross sin, and will come to church, and say
their prayers; and yet all this while they are not willing to come up to
God’s price, that is, they will not resist the idol of
self-righteousness, flying only to Christ as the horns of the altar;
they will not sacrifice their bosom-sin; they will not give God
spirit-worship, serving him with zeal and intenseness of soul.
John 4: 24. They will not forgive their enemies; they will
not part with their carnal profits for Christ; they would have the
kingdom of heaven, but they will not come up to the price. If you would
have this kingdom, do not article and bargain with Christ, but accept of
his terms; say, ‘Lord, I am willing to have the kingdom of heaven,
whatever it cost me; I am willing to pluck out my right eye, to part
with all for the kingdom; here is a blank paper I put into thy hand,
Lord, write thy own articles, I will subscribe to them.’
(16) If
we would obtain the heavenly kingdom, let us attend to the holy
ordinances, by which God brings souls to heaven. ‘Except these abide in
the ship, ye cannot be saved.’
Acts 27: 31. Some people would leap out of the ship of
ordinances, and then God knows whither they leap; but except ye abide in
the ship of ordinances, ye cannot be saved. Especially, if you would get
to heaven, attend to the word preached. It was by the ear, by our first
parents listening to the serpent, that we lost paradise; and it is by
the ear, by hearing of the word, that we get to heaven. ‘Hear, and your
soul shall live.’
Isa 55: 3. God sometimes in the preaching of the word drops
the holy oil into the ear, which softens and sanctifies the heart. The
word preached is called the ‘ministration of the Spirit,’ because the
Spirit of God makes use of the engine to convert souls.
2 Cor 3: 8. If the word preached does not work upon men,
nothing will; not judgement, nor miracles; no, not though one should
rise from the dead.
Luke 16: 31. If a glorified saint should come out of heaven,
and assume a body, and tell you of all the glory of heaven, and the joys
of the blessed, and persuade you to believe; if the preaching of the
word will not bring you to heaven, neither would his rhetoric do it who
rose from the dead. In heaven there will be no need of ordinances, but
while we live here there is. The lamp needs oil, but the star needs
none. While the saints have their lamp of grace burning here, they need
the oil of ordinances to be continually dropping upon them; but there
will be no need of this oil when they are stars in heaven. If you intend
to get to heaven, be swift to hear: for faith comes by hearing.
Rom 10: 14, 17. Peter let down the net of his ministry, and
at one draught caught three thousand souls. If you would have heaven’s
door opened to you, wait at the posts of wisdom’s door.
(17) If
you would arrive at heaven, have this kingdom ever in your eye. Our
blessed Lord looked at the joy that was set before him; and Moses had an
‘eye to the recompence of the reward.’
Heb 11: 26. Let the kingdom be much in your thoughts;
meditation is the means to help us to heaven.
How does
it help?
As it is
a means to prevent sin. No sword like this to cut asunder the sinews of
temptation. It is almost impossible to sin presumptuously with lively
thoughts and hopes of heaven. It was when Moses was out of sight that
Israel set up a calf, and worshipped it; so when the kingdom of heaven
is out of sight, out of men’s thoughts, they set up their lusts and
idolise them. The meditation of heaven banishes sin; he who thinks of
the weight of glory, throws away the weight of sin.
To
meditate on the kingdom of heaven would excite and quicken obedience. We
should think we could never pray enough, never love God enough, who has
prepared such a kingdom for us.
Immensum gloria
calcar habet [Glory possesses an
immeasurable stimulus]. Paul had heaven in his eye, he was once caught
up thither; and how active was he for God!
1 Cor 16: 10. This oils the wheels of obedience.
It would
make us strive after holiness, because none but such are admitted into
this kingdom; only the pure in heart shall see God.
Matt 5: 8. Holiness is the language of heaven, it is the only
coin that will pass current there. This consideration should make us
‘cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’
2 Cor 7: 1.
(18) The
last means for obtaining the heavenly kingdom is perseverance in
holiness. ‘Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life.’
Rev 2: 10. In Christians
non initia set
fines laudantur
[it is not the beginning but the end
which wins praise]. Jerome.
Is there
such a thing as persevering till we come to heaven?
That any
one holds out to the kingdom, is a wonder, if you consider, (1) What a
world of corruption is mingled with grace. Grace is apt to be stifled,
as the coal to be choked with its own ashes. Like a spark in the sea, it
is a wonder it is not quenched. It is a wonder that sin does not overlay
grace, as the nurse sometimes does the child, that it dies.
(2) The
implacable malice of Satan. He envies that we should have a kingdom,
when he himself is cast out. It cuts him to the heart to see a piece of
dust and clay made a bright star in glory, and he himself an angel of
darkness. He will
Acheronta
movere, move all the powers of
hell to hinder us from the kingdom; he spits his venom, shoots his fiery
darts, raises a storm of persecution; yea, and prevails against some.
‘There appeared a great red dragon, and his tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.’
Rev 12: 3, 4. By the red dragon is meant the heathenish
empire; now, when his tail cast so many to the earth, it is a wonder
that any of the stars keep fixed in their orb.
(3) The
blandishments of riches. The young man in the gospel went very far, but
he had rich possessions, and these golden weights hindered him from the
kingdom.
Luke 18: 23. Jonathan pursued the battle till he came at the
honeycomb, and then he stood still.
1 Sam 14: 27. Many are forward for heaven, till they taste
the sweetness of the world; but when they come at the honeycomb, they
stand still, and go no further.
Faenus pecuniae
funus animae [The gain of money
is the ruin of the soul]. Those who have escaped the rocks of gross
sins, have been cast away upon the golden sands. What a wonder therefore
that any holds on till he come to the kingdom!
(4) It is
a wonder that any hold out in grace, and do not tire in their march to
heaven, if you consider the difficulty of the Christian’s work. He has
no time to lie fallow, he is either watching or fighting; nay, he is to
do those duties which to the eye of sense and reason seem inconsistent.
While he does one duty, he seems to cross another. He must come with
holy boldness to God in prayer, yet must serve him with fear; he must
mourn for sin, yet rejoice; he must be contented, yet covet (1
Cor 12: 31); condemn men’s impieties, and yet reverence their
authority. What difficult work is this! It is a wonder that any saint
arrives at the heavenly kingdom. To this I might add, the evil examples
abroad, which are so attractive, that we may say the devils are come
among us in the likeness of men. What a wonder is it that any soul
perseveres till he come to the kingdom of heaven! But great as the
wonder is, there is such a thing as perseverance. A saint’s perseverance
is built upon three immutable pillars.
Upon
God’s eternal love. We are inconstant in our love to God; but he is not
so in his love to us. ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love;’ with
a love of eternity.
Jer 31: 3. God’s love to the elect is not like a king’s love
to his favourite, which when it is at the highest spring-tide, soonest
ebbs; but God’s love is eternized. He may desert, not disinherit; he may
change his love into a frown, not into hatred; he may alter his
providence, not his decree. When once the sunshine of God’s electing
love is risen upon the soul, it never sets finally.
A saint’s
perseverance is built upon the covenant of grace. It is a firm,
impregnable covenant; as you read in the words of the sweet singer of
Israel. ‘God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all
things and sure.’
2 Samuel 23: 5. It is a sweet covenant, that God will be our
God; the marrow and quintessence of all blessing; and it is a sure
covenant, that he will put his fear in our heart, and we shall never
depart from him.
Jer 32: 40. This covenant is inviolable, it cannot be broken;
indeed, sin may break the peace of the covenant, but it cannot break the
bond of the covenant.
The third
pillar upon which perseverance is built is the mystic union. Believers
are incorporated into Christ, they are knit to him as members to the
head, by the nerve and ligament of faith, so that they cannot be broken
off.
Eph 5: 23. What was once said of Christ’s natural body is as
true of his mystic body. ‘A bone of him shall not be broken.’
John 19: 36. As it is impossible to sever the leaven and the
dough when they are once mingled, so it is impossible when Christ and
believers are once united, ever by the power of death or hell to be
separated. How can Christ lose any member of his body and be perfect?
You see upon what strong pillars the saints’ perseverance is built.
How does
a Christians hold on till he comes to the kingdom? How does he
persevere?
(1)
Auxilio
Spiritus [By the help of the
Spirit]. God carries on a Christian to perseverance by the energy and
vigorous working of his Spirit. The Spirit maintains the essence and
seed of grace; it blows up the sparks of grace into a holy flame.
Spiritus est
Vicarius Christi [The Spirit is
the Vicar of Christ]. Tertullian. It is Christ’s deputy and proxy; it is
every day at work in a believer’s heart, exerting grace into exercise,
and ripening it into perseverance. The Spirit carves and polishes the
vessels of mercy, and makes them fit for glory.
(2)
Christ causes perseverance, and carries on a saint till he comes to the
heavenly kingdom, vi orationis, by his intercession. He is an advocate
as well as a surety; he prays that the saints may arrive safe at the
kingdom. ‘Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost (i.e.
perfectly), seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.’
Heb 7: 25. That prayer he made for Peter on earth, he prays
now in heaven for the saints, that their faith fail not, and that they
may be with him where he is.
Luke 22: 32.
John 17: 24. And surely if he pray that they may be with him
in his kingdom, they cannot perish by the way. Christ’s prayer is
efficacious. If the saints’ prayers have so much force and prevalence in
them, as Jacob, who had power with God, and as a prince prevailed, and
Elijah by prayer unlocked heaven; if the prayers of the saints have so
much power with God, what has Christ’s prayer? How can the children of
such prayers miscarry? How can they fall short of the kingdom who have
him praying for them, who is not only a Priest, but a Son? Besides, what
he prays for as he is man, he has power to give as he is God.
But
methinks I hear some Christian say, if only perseverance obtains the
kingdom, they fear they shall not come thither; they fear they shall
faint by the way, and the weak legs of their grace will never carry them
to the kingdom of heaven.
Wert thou
indeed to stand in thy own strength, thou mightest fall away. The branch
withers and dies that has no root to grow upon. Thou growest upon the
root Christ, who will be daily sending forth vital influence to
strengthen thee; though thou art imbecile and weak in grace, yet fear
not falling short of heaven: For,
(1) God
has made a promise to weak believers. What is a bruised reed but an
emblem of a weak faith? yet it has a promise made to it. ‘A bruised reed
shall he not break.’
Matt 12: 20. God has promised to supply the weak Christian
with as much grace as he shall need, until he comes to heaven. Beside
the two pence which the good Samaritan left to pay for the cure of the
poor wounded man, he passed his word for all that he should need beside.
Luke 10: 35. So, Christ does not only give a little grace in
hand, but his bond for more, that he will give as much grace as a saint
should need till he comes to heaven. ‘The Lord will give grace and
glory:’ that is, a fresh supply of grace, till we be perfected in glory.
Psa 84: 11.
(2) God
has most care of his weak saints, who fear they shall never hold out
till they come to the kingdom. Does not the mother tend the weak child
most? ‘He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his
bosom.’
Isa 40: 11. If thou thinkest that thou art so weak that thou
shalt never hold out till thou comest to heaven, thou shalt be carried
in the arms of the Almighty. He gathers the lambs in his arms. Christ,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, marches before his people, and his power
is their rereward, so that none of them faint or die in their march to
heaven.
What are
the encouragements to make Christians hold on till they come to the
kingdom of heaven?
(1) It is
a great credit to a Christian, not only to hold forth the truth, but to
hold fast the truth till he comes to heaven. When grace flourishes into
perseverance, and with the church of Thyatira, our last works are more
than our first, it is
insigne
honouris, a star of honour.
Rev 2: 1. It is matter of renown to see grey hairs shine with
golden virtues. The excellency of a thing lies in the finishing of it.
Where is the excellence of a building? Not when the first stone is laid,
but when it is finished. So the beauty and excellence of a Christian is,
when he has finished his faith, having done his work, and is landed safe
in heaven.
(2) You
that have made a progress in religion, have not many miles to go before
you come at the kingdom of heaven. ‘Now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed.’
Rom 13: 11. You who have hoary hairs, your green tree is
turned into an almond tree; you are near to heaven, it is but going a
little further and you will set your feet within heaven’s gates. Oh!
therefore now be encouraged to hold out, your salvation is nearer than
when you first began to believe. Our diligence should be greater when
our salvation is nearer. When a man is almost at the end of the race,
will he now tire and faint? Will he not put forth all his strength, and
strain every limb, that he may lay hold upon the prize? Our salvation is
now nearer; the kingdom is as it were within sight; how should we now
put forth all our strength, that we may lay hold upon the garland of
glory! Doctor Taylor, when going to his martyrdom, said, ‘I have but two
stiles to go over, and I shall be at my Father’s house.’ Though the way
to heaven be up-hill, you must climb the steep rock of mortification;
and though there be thorns in the way, you have gone the greatest part
of it, and are within a few days’ march of the kingdom, and will not you
persevere? Christian, pluck up thy courage, fight the good fight of
faith, pursue holiness. Ere long you will put off your armour, and end
all your weary marches, and receive a victorious crown; your salvation
is nearer, you are within a little of the kingdom, therefore now
persevere, you are ready to commence and take your degree of glory.
(3) The
blessed promise annexed to perseverance is an encouragement. The promise
is a crown of life.
Rev 2: 10. Death is a worm that feeds in the crowns of
princes, but behold here a living crown, and a never-fading crown.
1 Pet 5: 4. ‘He that overcometh, and keepeth my works to the
end, I will give him
stellam
matutinam, the morning-star.’
Rev 2: 28. The morning-star is brighter than the rest. This
morning-star is meant of Christ; as if Christ had said, I will give to
him that perseveres some of my beauty; I will put some of my illustrious
rays upon him; he shall have the next degree of glory to me, as the
morning-star is next the sun. Will not this animate and make us hold
out? We shall have a kingdom, and that which is better than a kingdom, a
bright morning-star.
What are
the means which conduce to perseverance, or, what shall we do that we
may hold out to the kingdom?
(1) Take
up religion upon good grounds, not in a fit or humour, or out of worldly
design; but be deliberate, weigh things well in the balance. ‘Which of
you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the
cost?’
Luke 14: 28. Think with yourselves what religion must cost
you; it must cost you the parting with your sins; and may cost you the
parting with your lives. Consider if a kingdom will not countervail your
sufferings. Weigh things well, and then make your choice. ‘I have chosen
the way of truth.’
Psa 119: 30. Why do many apostatise, and fall away, but
because they never sit down and count the cost?
(2) If we
would hold out to the kingdom, let us cherish the grace of faith. ‘By
faith ye stand.’
2 Cor 1: 24. Faith, like Hercules’ club, beats down all
opposition before it; it is a conquering grace.
How comes
faith to be so strong?
Faith
fetches Christ’s strength into the soul.
Phil 4: 13. A captain may give his soldier armour, but not
strength. Faith partakes of Christ’s strength, and gets strength from
the promise; as the child by sucking the breast gets strength, so faith
by sucking the breast of the promise; hence faith is such a wonder-
working grace, and enables a Christian to persevere.
(3) If
you would hold out to the kingdom, set before your eyes the examples of
those noble heroic saints who have persevered to the kingdom.
Vivitur
exemplis [Life is lived by
examples], examples have more influence upon us than precepts. ‘My foot
has held his steps.’
Job 23: 11. Though the way of religion has flints and thorns
in it, yet my foot has held its steps; I have not fainted in the way,
nor turned out of the way. Daniel held on his religion, and would not
intermit prayer, though he knew the writing was signed against him, and
a prayer might cost him his life.
Dan 6: 10. The blessed martyrs persevered to the kingdom
through sufferings. Saunders, that holy man, said, ‘Welcome the cross of
Christ; my Saviour began to me in a bitter cup, and shall I not pledge
him?’ Another martyr, kissing the stake, said, ‘I shall not lose my
life, but change it for a better; instead of coals I shall have pearls.’
What a spirit of gallantry was in these saints! Let us learn constancy
from their courage. A soldier, seeing his general fight valiantly, is
animated by his example, and has new spirits put into him.
(4) Let
us add fervent prayer to God, that he would enable us to hold out to the
heavenly kingdom. ‘Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.’
Psa 119: 117. Let us not presume on our own strength. When
Peter cried to Christ on the water, ‘Lord save me,’ then Christ took him
by the hand.
Matt 14: 30. When he grew confident of his own strength,
Christ let him fall. Oh pray to God for auxiliary grace. The child is
safe when held in the nurse’s arms; so are we in Christ’s arms. Let us
pray that God will put his fear in our hearts, that we do not depart
from him; and that prayer of Cyprian,
Domine, quod
coepisti perfice, ne in portu naufragium accidat.
Lord, perfect that which thou hast begun in me, that I may not suffer
shipwreck when I am almost at the haven.
Use 5.
Here let me lay down some powerful persuasive, or divine arguments to
make you put to all your strength for obtaining this blessed kingdom.
(1) The
great errand for which God sent us into the world is to prepare for this
heavenly kingdom. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God.’
Matt 6: 33. First in time, before all things; and first in
affection, above all things. Great care is taken for securing worldly
things.
Matt 6: 25. To see people labouring for the earth, as ants
about a molehill, would make one think it were the only errand they came
about. But, alas! what is all this to the kingdom of heaven? I have read
of a devout pilgrim travelling to Jerusalem, who passing through several
cities, where he saw many stately edifices, wares and monuments, would
say, ‘I must not stay here, this is not Jerusalem;’ so when we enjoy
worldly things, peace and plenty, and have our presses burst out with
new wine, we should say to ourselves, this is not the kingdom we are to
look after, this is not heaven. It is wisdom to remember our errand. It
will be but sad upon a death-bed for a man to find he has busied himself
about trifles, played with a feather, and neglected the main thing he
came into the world about.
(2)
Seeking the heavenly kingdom will be judged most prudent by all men at
last. Those who are most regardless of their souls now, will wish before
they die that they had minded eternity more. When conscience is
awakened, and men begin to come to themselves, what would they give for
the kingdom of heaven? How happy would it be if men were of the same
mind now, as they will be at death! Death will alter men’s opinions.
They who most slighted and disparaged the ways of religion, will wish
their time and thoughts had been taken up about the excellent glory. At
death men’s eyes will be opened, and they will see their folly when it
is too late. All men, even the worst, will wish at last that they had
minded the kingdom of heaven. Why should not we do now what all will
wish they had done when they come to die?
(3) This
kingdom of heaven deserves our utmost pains and diligence. It is
glorious, beyond hyperbole. Suppose earthly kingdoms more magnificent
than they are, their foundations of gold, their walls of pearl, their
windows of sapphire, they are not comparable to the heavenly kingdom. If
the pavement of it be bespangled with so many bright shining lights and
glorious stars, what is the kingdom itself? ‘It does not yet appear what
we shall be.’
1 John 3: 2. This kingdom exceeds our faith. How sublime and
wonderful is that place where the blessed Deity shines forth in his
immense glory, infinitely beyond the comprehension of angels!
The
kingdom of heaven is a place of honour. There are glorious triumphs and
sparkling crowns. In other kingdoms there is but one king, but in heaven
all are kings.
Rev 1: 6. Every glorified saint partakes of the same glory as
Christ does. ‘The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.’
John 17: 22.
This
kingdom is a place of joy. ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.’
Matt 25: 21. To have a continual aspect of love in God’s
face, to be crowned with immortality, to be as the angels of God, to
drink of the rivers of pleasure for ever, this will cause raptures of
joy. Surely it deserves our utmost pains to pursue and to secure this
kingdom. Julius Caesar coming towards Rome with his army, and hearing
the senate and people had fled from it, said, ‘They that will not fight
for this city, what city will they fight for?’ If we will not take pains
for the kingdom of heaven, what kingdom will we take pains for? It was
the speech of the spies to their brethren, ‘We have seen the land, and
behold, it is very good; and are ye still? Be not slothful to go, and to
enter to possess the land.’
Judg 18: 9. We have had a lively description of the glory of
heaven, we find the kingdom is very good; why then do we sit still? Why
do we not
operam navare,
put forth our utmost zeal and industry for this kingdom? The diligence
of others in seeking after earthly kingdoms, shames our coldness and
indifference in pursuing after the kingdom of heaven.
(4) The
time we have to make sure of the heavenly kingdom is very short and
uncertain. Take heed it does not slip away before you have prepared for
the kingdom. Time passes on apace, cito pede preterita vite: it will not
be long before the silver cord be loosed, and the golden bowl broken.
Eccl 12: 6. The skull wherein the brains are inclosed is a
bowl that will soon be broken. Our soul is in the body as the bird in
the shell, which soon breaks, and the bird flies out; the shell of the
body broken, the soul flies into eternity. We know not whether we shall
live to another Sabbath. Before we hear another sermon-bell go, our
passing-bell may go. Our life runs as a swift stream into the ocean of
eternity. Brethren, if our time be so minute and transient, if the taper
of life be so soon wasted, or perhaps blown out by violent death, how
should we put to all our strength, and call in help from heaven that we
may obtain the kingdom of glory! If time be so short, why do we waste it
about things of less moment, and neglect the ‘one thing needful,’ which
is the kingdom of heaven? A man that has a great work to be done, and
but one day for doing it, needs to work hard. We have a great work to
do, we are striving for a kingdom, and alas! we are not certain of one
day to work in; therefore what need have we to bestir ourselves, and
what we do for heaven, to do it with all our might!
(5) To
excite our diligence, let us consider how inexcusable we shall be if we
miss the kingdom of heaven. Who have had such helps for heaven as we
have had? Indians who have mines of gold, have not such advantages for
glory as we. They have the light of the sun, moon, and stars, and the
light of reason, but this is not enough to light them to heaven. We have
had the light of the gospel shining in our horizon; we have been lifted
up to heaven with ordinances; we have had the word in season and out of
season. The ordinances are the pipes of the sanctuary, which empty the
golden oil of grace into the soul; they are
scala paradisi,
the ladder by which we ascend to the kingdom of heaven. ‘What nation is
there so great who has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in
all things that we call upon him for?’
Deut 4: 7. We have had heaven and hell set before us; we have
had counsels of friends, warnings, examples, the motions and
inspirations of the Holy Ghost; how should all these spurs quicken us in
our pace to heaven? Should not that ship sail apace to the haven which
has the tide of ordinances, and the wind of the Spirit to carry it?
Surely if we, through negligence, miss the kingdom of heaven, we shall
have nothing to say for ourselves; we shall be as far from excuse as
from happiness.
(6) You
cannot do too much for the kingdom of heaven. You cannot pray too much,
sanctify the Sabbath too much, nor love God too much. In secular things
a man may labour too hard, he may kill himself with work; but there is
no fear of working too hard for heaven.
In virtute non est verendum
ne quid nimium sit [In
righteousness there is no need to fear excess]. Seneca. The world is apt
to censure the godly, as if they were too zealous, and overstrained
themselves in religion. Indeed, a man may follow the world too much, he
may make too much haste to be rich. The ferry-man may take too many
passengers into his boat, so as to sink it; so a man may heap up so much
gold and silver as to sink himself in perdition.
1 Tim 6: 9. We cannot be too earnest and zealous for the
kingdom of heaven; there is no fear of excess here; when we do all we
can, we come short of the golden rule set us, and of Christ’s golden
pattern. When our faith is highest, like the sun in the meridian, still
there is something lacking in our faith, so that all our labour for the
kingdom is little enough.
1 Thess 3: 1. When a Christian has done his best, still he
has sins, and wants to bewail.
(7) You
may judge of the state of your souls, whether you have grace or not, by
your earnest pursuit after the heavenly kingdom. Grace infuses a spirit
of activity into a person; it does not lie dormant in the soul; it is
not a sleepy habit, but it makes a Christian like the seraphim, swift
and winged in his heavenly motion; like fire, it makes him burn in love
to God; and the more he loves him, the more he presses forward to
heaven, where he may fully enjoy him. Hope is an active grace, it is
called ‘a lively hope.’
1 Pet 1: 3. It is like the spring in the watch, which sets
all the wheels of the soul running. Hope of a crop makes the husband man
sow his seed; hope of victory makes the soldier fight; and a true hope
of glory makes a Christian vigorously pursue it. Here is a spiritual
touchstone by which to try our grace. If we have the anointing of the
Spirit, it will oil the wheels of our endeavour, and make us lively in
our pursuit of the heavenly kingdom. No sooner had Paul grace infused,
but it is said, ‘Behold, he prayeth.’
Acts 9: 11. The affections are by divines called ‘the feet of
the soul;’ if these feet move not towards heaven, it is because there is
no life in them.
(8) Your
labour for heaven is not lost. Perhaps you may think that you have
served God in vain; but know that your pains are not lost. The seed is
cast into the earth, and it dies, yet at last it brings forth a
plentiful crop; so your labours seem to be fruitless, but at last they
bring you to a kingdom. Who would not work hard for one hour, when, for
that hour’s work, he should be a king as long as he lived? And let me
tell you, the more labour you have put forth for the kingdom of heaven,
the more degrees of glory you shall have. As there are degrees of
torment in hell, so of glory in heaven.
Matt 23: 14. As one star differeth from another in glory, so
shall one saint.
1 Cor 15: 41. Though every vessel of mercy shall be full, yet
one may hold more than another. Such as have done more work for God,
shall have more glory in the heavenly kingdom. Could we hear departed
saints speaking to us from heaven, surely they would speak after this
manner: ‘Were we to leave heaven awhile, and live on the earth again, we
would do God a thousand times more service than ever we did; we would
pray with more life, act with more zeal; for now we see, the more has
been our labour, the greater is our reward in heaven.’
(9) While
we are labouring for the kingdom, God will help us. ‘I will put my
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.’
Ezek 36: 27. The promise encourages us, and God’s Spirit
enables us. A master gives his servant work to do, but he cannot give
him strength to work; but God both cuts us out work and gives us
strength. ‘Give thy strength unto thy servant.’
Psa 86: 16. God not only gives us a crown when we have done
running, but gives us legs to run; he gives exciting, assisting grace;
lex
jubet, gratia juvat [law
commands, grace assists]; the Spirit helping us in our work for heaven,
makes it easy. If the loadstone draw the iron, it is not hard for the
iron to move; so, if God’s Spirit draws the heart, it moves towards
heaven with facility and alacrity.
(10) The
more pains we have taken for heaven, the sweeter heaven will be when we
come there. As when a husband man has been grafting trees, or setting
flowers in his garden, it is pleasant to review and look over his
labours: so, when in heaven, we shall remember our former zeal and
earnestness for the kingdom, which will sweeten heaven, and add to the
joy of it. For a Christian to think, such a day I spent in examining my
heart; such a day I was weeping for sin; when others were at their
sport, I was at prayer; and now, have I lost any thing by my devotion?
My tears are wiped away, and the wine of paradise cheers my heart. I now
enjoy him whom my soul loves, I am possessed of a kingdom; my labour is
over, but joy remains.
(11) If
you do not take pains for the kingdom of heaven now, there will be
nothing to be done for your souls after death. This is the only fit
season for working; and if this season be lost, the kingdom is
forfeited. ‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for
there is no work, nor device, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou
goest.’
Eccl 9: 10. It was a saying of Charles V, ‘I have spent my
treasure, but that I may recover again; I have lost my health, but that
I may have again; but I have lost a great many brave soldiers, but them
I can never have again.’ So other temporal blessings may be lost and
recovered again; but if the term of life, wherein you should work for
heaven, be once lost, it is past all recovery, you can never have
another season again for your souls.
(12)
There is nothing else but this kingdom of heaven of which we can make
sure. We cannot make sure of life.
Quis scit an
adjiciant hodiernae crastina vitiae tempora di superi?
[Who knows whether the gods above will add a tomorrow to the life of
today?]. Horace. When our breath goes out, we know not whether we shall
draw it in again. How many are taken away suddenly! We cannot make
riches sure; it is uncertain whether we shall get them. The world is
like a lottery, in which every one is not sure to draw a prize. If we
get riches, we are not sure to keep them. ‘Riches make themselves wings,
they fly away.’
Prov 23: 5. Experience seals the truth of this. Many who have
had plentiful estates, by fire, or losses at sea, have been squeezed as
sponges, and all their estates exhausted; but if men should keep their
estates awhile, death strips them of all. When death’s gun goes off,
away flies the estate. ‘It is certain we can carry nothing out’ of the
world.
1 Tim 6: 7. So that there is no making sure of anything here
below, but we may make sure of the kingdom of heaven. ‘To him that
soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.’
Prov 11: 18. He who has grace is sure of heaven, for he has
heaven begun in him. A believer has an evidence of heaven. ‘Faith is the
evidence of things not seen.’
Heb 11: 1. He has an earnest of glory. ‘Who has given us the
earnest of the Spirit.’
2 Cor 1: 22. An earnest is part of the whole sum. He has a
sure hope. ‘Which hope we have as an anchor.’
Heb 6: 19. This anchor is cast upon God’s promise. ‘In hope
of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised.’
Tit 1: 2. So that here is great encouragement to take pains
for heaven, that we may make sure of this kingdom.
(13) The
kingdom of heaven cannot be obtained without labour.
Non est
ad astra mollis e terris via
[The way from earth to heaven is not
easy]. A boat may as well get to land without oars, as we to heaven
without labour. We cannot have the world without labour, and do we think
to have heaven? If a man digs for gravel, much more for gold. ‘I press
toward the mark.’
Phil 3: 14. Heaven’s gate is not like that iron gate which
opened to Peter of its own accord.
Acts 12: 10. Heaven is not like those ripe figs which fall
into the mouth of the eater.
Nah 3: 12. No, there must be taking pains. Two things are
requisite for a Christian, a watchful eye and a working hand. We must,
as Hannibal to Rome, force a way to the heavenly kingdom through
difficulties. We must win the garland of glory by labour, before we wear
it with triumph. God has enacted this law, ‘That no man shall eat of the
tree of paradise but in the sweat of his brows.’ How, then, dare any
censure Christian diligence? How dare they say you take more pains for
heaven than need? God says, ‘Strive as in an agony: fight the good fight
of faith;’ and they say, ‘You are too strict:’ but whom shall we
believe, a holy God who bids us strive, or a profane atheist who says we
strive too much?
(14) Much
of our time being already misspent, we had need work the harder for the
kingdom of heaven. He who has lost his time at school, and often played
truant, had need ply it the harder, that he may gain a stock of
learning; and he who has slept and loitered in the beginning of his
journey, had need ride the faster in the evening, lest he fall short of
the place to which he is travelling. Some are in their youth, others in
the flower of their age, others have grey hairs, the almond tree
blossoms, and yet perhaps have been very regardless of their souls and
heaven. Time spent unprofitably is not time lived, but time lost. If
there be any such here who have misspent their golden hours, they have
not only been slothful, but wasteful servants. They had need now to
redeem the time, and press forward with might and main to the heavenly
kingdom. ‘The time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles.’
1 Pet 4: 3. It may suffice us that we have lost so much time
already, let us now work the harder. They who have crept as snails, had
need now fly as eagles to the paradise of God. If, in the former part of
your life, you have been as willows, barren in goodness, in the latter
part, be as ‘an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits.’
Cant 4: 13. Recompense former remissness with future
diligence.
(15) How
uncomely and sordid a slothful temper of soul is! ‘I will punish the men
who are settled on their lees;’ (Heb ‘Curdled on their lees.’)
Zeph 1: 12. Settling on the lees is an emblem of a dull,
inactive soul. The snail, by reason of its slow motion, was reckoned
among the unclean.
Lev 11: 30. ‘A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom:’ he
is loath to pull it out, though it be to lay hold on a crown.
Prov 19: 24.
Non capit porta
illa caelestis torpore languidos
[That gate of heaven does not receive those who are dull with sloth].
Brugensis. The devil himself cannot be charged with idleness. He
‘walketh about.’
1 Pet 5: 8. An idle soul stands in the world for a cipher,
and God writes down no ciphers in the book of life. Heaven is no hive
for drones. An idle person is fit for a temptation. When the bird sits
still upon the bough, it is in danger of the gun: when one sits still in
sloth, the devil shoots him with a temptation. Standing water putrifies.
Heathens will rise up in judgement against supine Christians. What pains
did they take in the Olympic games! They ran but for a garland of
flowers, or olive; and do we sit still who run for a kingdom? How can he
expect a reward who never works, or a crown who never fights?
Inertia animae
somnus. Sloth is the soul’s
sleep. Adam, when asleep, lost his rib; and when a person is in the deep
sleep of sloth, he loses salvation.
(16) Holy
activity and industry ennoble a Christian.
Labor splendore
decoratur
[Work is adorned with honour]. Cicero.
The more excellent anything is, the more active. The sun is a glorious
creature, it is ever in motion, going its circuit. Fire is the purest
element, and the most active, it is ever sparkling and flaming; the
angels are the most noble creatures, they are represented by the
cherubim, with wings displayed. The more active for heaven, the more
illustrious, and the more do we resemble the angels. The phoenix flies
with a coronet on its head; so the industrious soul has his coronet, his
labour is his ensign of honour.
(17) It
is a mercy that there is a possibility of happiness, and that upon our
painstaking we may have a kingdom. By our fall in Adam we forfeited
heaven. Why might not God have dealt with us as with the lapsed angels?
They had no sooner sinned than they were expelled from heaven, never to
come thither more. We may say, as the apostle, ‘Behold the goodness and
severity of God. ’
Rom 11: 22. The apostate angels behold the severity of God,
that he should throw them down to hell for ever; we behold the goodness
of God in that he has put us into a possibility of mercy; so that if we
do but take pains, a kingdom stands ready for us. How should this whet
and sharpen our industry, that we are in a capacity of salvation; and
that if we do but what we are able, we shall receive an eternal weight
of glory!
(18) Our
labour for the kingdom of heaven is minute and transient. It is not to
endure long; it expires with our life. It is but awhile, and we shall
leave off working; for a little labour we shall have an eternal rest.
Who would think much to wade through a little water, if he were sure to
be crowned as soon as he came on shore? Christians, let this encourage
you, you have but a little more pains to take, a few tears more to shed,
a few more Sabbaths to keep, and, behold an eternal recompense of
reward. What are a few tears to a crown, a few minutes of time to an
eternity of glory?
(19) What
striving is there for earthly kingdoms, which are corruptible, and
subject to change! With what vigour and alacrity did Hannibal’s soldiers
continue their march over the Alps, and craggy rocks, and Caesar’s
soldiers fight with hunger and cold! Men will break through laws and
oaths, they will swim to a crown in blood. Will they venture thus for
earthly promotions, and shall not we strive more for a heavenly kingdom?
This is ‘a kingdom which cannot be moved’ (Heb
12: 28); a kingdom where there is unparalleled beauty,
unstained honour, unmixed joy; a kingdom where there shall be nothing
present which we could wish were removed, and nothing absent which we
could wish were enjoyed. Surely if there be any spark of grace, or true
generosity in our breasts, we shall not suffer ourselves to be
out-striven by others; we shall not let them take more pains for earthly
honours, than we do for that excellent glory which will crown all our
desires.
(20) What
pains some men take to go to hell, and shall not we take more pains to
go to heaven? ‘They weary themselves to commit iniquity.’
Jer 9: 5. Sinners hackney themselves out in the devil’s
service. What pains some men take to satisfy their unclean lusts! They
waste their estates, wear the shameful marks of their sin about them,
and visit the harlot’s house, though it stands the next door to hell.
‘Her house is the way to hell.’
Prov 7: 27. What pains do others take in persecuting!
Holiness is the mark they shoot at. It is said of Antiochus Epiphanes,
that he undertook more tedious journeys, and went upon greater hazards,
to vex and oppose the Jews, than any of his predecessors had done in
getting victories. The devil blows the horn and men ride post to hell,
as if they feared hell would be full see they should get thither. When
Satan had entered into Judas, how active was he! He went to the high
priests, from them to the band of soldiers, and with them back again to
the garden, and never left till he had betrayed Christ! How industrious
were the idolatrous Jews! So fiercely were they bent upon their sin,
that they would sacrifice their sons and daughters to their idol-gods.
Jer 32: 35. Do men take all these pains for hell, and shall
not we take pains for the kingdom of heaven? The wicked have nothing to
encourage them in their sins, they have all the threatening of God as a
flaming sword against them. Oh, let it never be said that the devil’s
servants are more active than Christ’s; that they serve him better who
rewards them only with fire and brimstone, than we do God, who rewards
with a kingdom!
(21) The
labour we take for heaven is a labour full of pleasure.
Prov 3: 17. A man sweats at his recreation, tires himself
with hunting, but there is a delight he takes in it which sweetens it.
‘I delight in the law of God after the inward man.’ (Gr. I take
pleasure)
Rom 7: 22. Not only is the kingdom of heaven delightful, but
the way thither. What a delight has a gracious soul in prayer! ‘I will
make them joyful in my house of prayer.’
Isa 56: 7. While a Christian weeps, joy drops with tears;
while he is musing on God, he has such quickening of the Spirit, and, as
it were, such transfigurations of soul, that he thinks himself half in
heaven. ‘My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my
mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my
bed,’ &c.
Psa 63: 5, 6. A Christian’s work for heaven is like a
bridegroom’s work on the morning of the marriage-day, he puts on his
vesture and wedding-robes in which he shall be married to his bride; so,
in all the duties of religion, we are putting on those wedding robes in
which we shall be married to Christ in glory. Oh, what solace and inward
peace is there in close walking with God! ‘The work of righteousness
shall be peace.’
Isa 32: 17. Serving God is like gathering spices or flowers,
wherein there is some labour, but the labour is recompensed with
delight. Working for heaven is like digging in a gold mine; the digging
is labour, but getting the gold is pleasure! O, then, let us bestir
ourselves for the kingdom of heaven; it is a labour of pleasure. A
Christian would not part with his joy for the most delicious music; he
would not exchange his anchor of hope for a crown of gold. Well might
David say, ‘In keeping [thy precepts] there is great reward,’ not only
after keeping thy precepts, but in keeping them.
Psa 19: 11. A Christian has both the spring-flowers and the
crop; inward delight in serving God is the spring-flowers, in the
kingdom of glory at last is the full crop.
(22) How
industrious have the saints in former ages been! They thought they could
never do enough for heaven; they could never serve God enough, love him
enough.
Minus te amavi Domine.
Augustine. Lord, I have loved thee too little. What pains did Paul take
for the heavenly kingdom. ‘Reaching forth unto those things which are
before.’
Phil 3: 13. The Greek word, to reach forth, signifies to
stretch out the neck; a metaphor from racers, who strain every limb, and
reach forward to lay hold on the prize. Anna, the prophetess, ‘departed
not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and
day.’
Luke 2: 37. Basil the Great, by much labour and watching,
exhausted his bodily strength. ‘Let racks, pulleys, and all torments
come upon me,’ said Ignatius, ’so I may win Christ.’ The industry and
courage of former saints, who are now crowned with glory, should provoke
our diligence, that so at last we may sit down with them in the kingdom
of heaven.
(23) The
more pains we take for heaven, the more welcome will death be to us.
What is it that makes men so loath to die? They are like a tenant that
will not go out of the house till the serjeant pull him out. They love
not to hear of death. Why so? Because their conscience accuses them that
they have taken little or no pains for heaven; they have been sleeping
when they should have been working, and now they are afraid lest death
should carry them prisoners to hell; but he who has spent his time in
serving God, can look death in the face with comfort; he was wholly
taken up about heaven, and now he shall be taken up to heaven; he traded
before in heaven, and now he shall go to live there.
Cupio dissolvi,
I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.
Phil 1: 23. Paul had wholly laid himself out for God, and now
he knew there was a crown laid up for him, and he longed to take
possession.
Thus I
have given you twenty-three persuasive or arguments to exert and put
forth your utmost diligence for obtaining the kingdom of heaven. O that
they were written in all your hearts, as with the point of a diamond!
Because delays in these cases are dangerous, let me desire you to set
upon this work for heaven at once. ‘I made haste, and delayed not to
keep thy commandments.’
Psa 119: 60. Many people are convinced of the necessity of
looking after the kingdom of glory, but they say as those in
Hag 1: 2, ‘The time is not come.’ They adjourn and put off
till their time is slipped away, and so they lose the kingdom of heaven.
Beware of this fallacy; delay strengthens sin, hardens the heart, and
gives the devil fuller possession of a man. ‘The king’s business
required haste;’ so the business of salvation requires haste.
1 Sam 21: 8. Do not put off an hour longer.
Volat ambiguis
mobilis alis hora [The fleeting
hour flies on fickle wings]. What assurance have you that you shall live
another day? Have you any lease of life granted? Why then do you not
presently arise out of the bed of sloth, and put forth all your strength
and spirits, that you may be possessed of the kingdom of glory? Should
not things of the highest importance be done first? Settling a man’s
estate, and clearing the title to his land, is not delayed, but done in
the first place. What is there of such grand importance as the saving of
your souls, and the gaining a kingdom? Therefore to-day hear God’s
voice; now mind eternity; now get your title to heaven cleared before
the decree of death brings forth. What imprudence is it to lay the
heaviest load upon the weakest horse! So it is to lay the heavy load of
repentance on thyself when thou art enfeebled by sickness, the hands
shake, the lips quiver, and the heart faints. O be wise in time; prepare
now for the kingdom. If a man begins his voyage to heaven in the storm
of death, it is a thousand to one if he does not suffer an eternal
shipwreck.
Use 6.
For exhortation to those who have any good hope through grace. You that
are the heirs of this kingdom, let me exhort you to six things:
(1) Often
take a prospect of this heavenly kingdom. Climb up the celestial mount;
take a turn, as it were, in heaven every day by holy meditation. ‘Walk
about Zion, tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks.’
Psa 48: 12, 13. See what a glorious kingdom heaven is; go
tell the towers, view the palaces of the heavenly Jerusalem. Christian,
show thy heart the gates of pearl, the beds of spices, the clusters of
grapes which grow in the paradise of God. Say, ‘O my soul, all this
glory is thine, it is thy Father’s good pleasure to give thee this
kingdom.’ The thoughts of heaven are very delightful and ravishing. Can
men of the world so delight in viewing their bags of gold, and fields of
corn, and shall not the heirs of promise take more delight in
contemplating the celestial kingdom? The serious meditation of the
kingdom of glory would work these three effects:
It would
put a damp and slur upon all worldly glory. To those who stand upon the
top of the Alps, the great cities of Campania seem but small in their
eye; so, could we look through the perspective glass of faith, and take
a view of heaven’s glory, how small and minute would all other things
appear! Moses slighted the honours of Pharaoh’s court, having an eye to
the recompense of reward.
Heb 11: 26. When Paul had a vision of glory, and John was
carried away in the Spirit, and saw the holy Jerusalem descending out of
heaven, having the glory of God in it, how did the world after appear in
an eclipse to them!
The
meditation of the heavenly kingdom would much promote holiness in us.
Heaven is a holy place: ‘an inheritance undefiled.’
I Pet 1: 4. It is described by transparent glass, to denote
its purity.
Rev 21: 21. Contemplating heaven would put us upon the study
of holiness, because none but such are admitted to that kingdom. Heaven
is not like Noah’s ark, into which came clean beasts and unclean. Only
the pure in heart shall see God.
Matt 5: 8.
The
meditation of the heavenly kingdom would be a spur to diligence.
Immensum gloria
calcar habet [Glory possesses an
immeasurable stimulus]. ‘Always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’
1 Cor 15: 58. When the mariner sees the haven, he plies
harder with his oars; so when we have a sight and prospect of glory, we
should be much in prayer, alms, and watching; it should add wings to
duty, and make the lamp of our devotion burn brighter.
(2) If
you have hopes of this kingdom, be content though you have but a little
of the world! Contentment is a rare thing, it is a jewel that but few
Christians wear; but if you have a grounded hope of heaven, it may work
your heart to contentation. What though you have but little in
possession, you have a kingdom in reversion! Were you to take an
estimate of a man’s estate, how would you value it? By what he has in
his house, or by his land? Perhaps he has little money or jewels in his
house, but he is a landed man — there lies his estate. A believer has
but a little oil in the cruse, and meal in the barrel, but he is a
landed man, he has a title to a kingdom, and may not this satisfy him?
If a man who lived here in England, had a great estate befallen him
beyond the seas, and perhaps had no more money at present but just to
pay for his voyage, he is content; he knows when he comes to his estate
he shall have money enough; so, thou who art a believer hast a kingdom
befallen thee; though thou hast but little in thy purse, yet if thou
hast enough to pay for thy voyage, enough to bear thy charges to heaven,
it is sufficient. God has given thee grace, which is the fore-crop, and
will give thee glory, which is the after-crop; and may not this make
thee content?
(3) If
you have hope of this blessed kingdom, pray often for its coming; say,
‘Thy kingdom come.’ Only believers can pray heartily for the hastening
of the kingdom of glory.
They
cannot pray that Christ’s kingdom of glory may come who never had the
kingdom of grace set up in their hearts. Can the guilty prisoners pray
that the as sizes may come?
They
cannot pray heartily that Christ’s kingdom of glory may come who are
lovers of the world. They have found paradise, they are in their kingdom
already; this is their heaven, and they desire to hear of no other; they
are of his mind who said, If he might keep his cardinalship in Paris, he
would give up his part in paradise.
They
cannot pray heartily that Christ’s kingdom of glory may come who oppose
his kingdom of grace, who break his laws, which are the sceptre of his
kingdom, who shoot at those who bear Christ’s name and carry his
colours. Surely these cannot pray that Christ’s kingdom of glory may
come, for then Christ will judge them; and if they say this prayer, they
are hypocrites, they mean not what they speak. But you who have the
kingdom of grace set up in your hearts, pray much that the kingdom of
glory may hasten; say, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ When this kingdom comes, then
you shall behold Christ in all his embroidered robes of glory, shining
ten thousand times brighter than the sun in all its meridian splendour.
When Christ’s kingdom comes, the bodies of the saints that sleep in the
dust shall be raised in honour, and made like Christ’s glorious body;
then your souls like diamonds shall sparkle with holiness; you shall
never have a sinful thought more, you shall be as holy as the angels;
you shall be as holy as you would be, and as holy as God would have you
to be; then you shall be in a better state than in innocence. Adam was
created a glorious creature, but mutable; a bright star, but a falling
star; but in the kingdom of heaven is a fixation of happiness. When
Christ’s kingdom of glory comes, you shall be rid of all your enemies;
as Moses said, ‘The Egyptians whom you have seen to day, you shall see
them no more for ever.’
Exod 14: 13. So those enemies who have sloughed on the backs
of God’s people, and made deep their furrows, when Christ shall come in
his glory, you shall see no more. All Christ’s enemies shall be ‘put
under his feet.’
1 Cor 15: 25. Before the wicked be destroyed, the saints
shall judge them. ‘Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the
world?’
1 Cor 6: 2. It will cut the wicked to the heart that those
whom they have formerly scorned and scourged, shall sit as judges upon
them, and vote with Christ in his judicial proceedings. Oh, then, well
may you pray for the hastening of the kingdom of glory, ‘Thy kingdom
come.’
(4) If
you have any good hope of this blessed kingdom, let it make the colour
come in your faces, be of a sanguine, cheerful temper. Have you a title
to a kingdom, and are sad? ‘We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’
Rom 5: 2. Christians, the trumpet is ready to sound, an
eternal jubilee is at hand, when a freedom from sin shall be proclaimed;
your coronation-day is coming. It is but putting off your clothes, and
laying your head upon a pillow of dust, and you shall be enthroned in a
kingdom, and invested with the embroidered robes of glory. Does not all
this call for a cheerful spirit? Cheerfulness adorns religion. It is a
temper of soul that Christ loves. ‘If ye loved me, ye would rejoice.’
John 14: 28. It makes many suspect heaven is not so pleasant,
when they see those that walk thither sad. How does the heir rejoice in
hope of the inheritance? Who should rejoice if not a believer, who is
heir of the kingdom, and such a kingdom as eye has not seen? When the
flesh begins to droop, let faith lift up its head, and cause a holy
jubilation and rejoicing in the soul.
(5) Let
the saints long to be in that blessed kingdom. Does not a prince that
travels in foreign parts long to be in his own nation, that he may be
crowned? The bride desires the marriage day. ‘The Spirit and the bride
say, Come: even so, come, Lord Jesus.’
Rev 22: 17, 20. Sure our unwillingness to go hence, shows
either the weakness of our faith in the belief of the heavenly kingdom,
or the strength of our doubts whether we have an interest in it. Were
our title to heaven more clear, we should need patience to be content to
stay here any longer.
Again,
our unwillingness to go hence, declares we love the world too much, and
Christ too little. Love, as Aristotle says, desires union. Did we love
Christ as we should, we should desire to be united to him in glory, when
we might take our fill of love. Be humbled that ye are so unwilling to
go hence. Let us labour to arrive at that divine temper of soul which
Paul had:
Cupio dissolvi,
‘Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ.’
Phil 1: 23. We are compassed with a body of sin: should we
not long to shake off this viper? We are in Mesech, and the tents of
Cedar, in a place where we see God dishonoured. Should we not desire to
have our pass to be gone? We are in a valley of tears. Is it not better
to be in a kingdom? Here we are combating with Satan. Should we not
desire to be called out of the bloody field, where the bullets of
temptation fly so fast, that we may receive a victorious crown? O ye
saints, breathe after the heavenly kingdom. Though we should be willing
to stay to do service, yet we should ambitiously desire to be always
sunning ourselves in the light of God’s countenance. Think what it will
be to be ever with the Lord! Are there any sweeter smiles or embraces
than his? Is there any bed so soft as Christ’s bosom? Is there any such
joy as to have the golden banner of Christ’s love displayed over us? Is
there any such honour as to sit upon the throne with Christ?
Rev 3: 21. O, then, long for the celestial kingdom!
(6) Wait
for this kingdom of glory. It is not incongruous or improper to long for
heaven, yet wait for it. Long for it because it is a kingdom, yet wait
your Father’s good pleasure. God could bestow this kingdom at once, but
he sees it good that we should wait awhile.
[1] Had
we the kingdom of heaven as soon as ever grace is infused, then God
would lose much of his glory. Where would be our living by faith, which
is the grace that brings in the chief revenues of glory to God?
Rom 5: 20. Where would be our suffering for God, which is a
way of honouring him which the angels in heaven are not capable of?
Where would be the active service we are to do for God? Would we have
God give us a kingdom, and we do nothing for him before we come there?
Would we have rest before labour, a crown before victory? This were
disingenuous. Paul was content to stay out of heaven awhile that he
might be a means of bringing others thither.
Phil 1: 24.
[2] While
we wait for the kingdom, our grace is increasing. Every duty religiously
performed, adds a jewel to our crown. Do we desire to have our robes of
glory shine brighter? Let us wait and work. The longer we stay for the
principal, the greater will the interest be. As the husband man waits
till the seed spring up, wait for the harvest of glory. Some have their
waiting weeks at court; this is your waiting time. Christ says, men
ought to pray, and not to faint.
Luke 18: 1. So, wait, and faint not. Be not weary, the
kingdom of heaven will make amends for waiting. ‘I have waited for thy
salvation, O Lord,’ said the dying patriarch.
Gen 49: 18.
Use 7.
For comfort to the people of God.
(1) In
all their sufferings. The true saint, as Luther says, is
haeres crucis,
heir to the cross. Affliction is his diet-drink, but this keeps him from
fainting, that his sufferings bring a kingdom. The hope of the kingdom
of heaven, says Basil, should indulcerate and sweeten all our troubles.
‘If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.’
2 Tim 2: 12. It is but a short fight, but an eternal triumph.
This light suffering produces an ‘eternal weight of glory.’
2 Cor 4: 17. The more weighty precious things are, the more
they are worth, as the more weight in a crown of gold, the more it is
worth. Did this glory last for awhile only, it would much abate and
embitter the joys of heaven; but it runs parallel with eternity. God
will be a deep sea of blessedness, and the glorified saints shall for
ever bathe themselves in the ocean. One day’s wearing the crown will
abundantly pay for all the saints’ sufferings; how much more when ‘they
shall reign for ever and ever!’
Rev 22: 5. O let this be our support under all the calamities
and sufferings in this life. What a vast difference is there between a
believer’s sufferings and his reward! ‘The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us.’
Rom 8: 18. For a few tears, rivers of pleasure; for mourning,
white robes. This made the primitive Christians laugh at imprisonments,
and snatch up torments as so many crowns. Though now we drink in a
wormwood-cup, there is sugar in the bottom to sweeten it. ‘It is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’
(2)
Comfort in death. That which takes away from God’s children the terror
of death, is that they are entering into the kingdom. No wonder if
wicked men be appalled and terrified at the approach of death, for they
die unpardoned. Death carries them to the jail, where they must lie for
ever, without bail or deliverance; but why should any of God’s children
be scared and half dead with the thoughts of death? What hurt can death
do to them, but lead them to a glorious kingdom? Faith gives a title to
heaven, death a possession. Let this be a gospel antidote to expel the
fear of death. Hilarion, that blessed man, cried out,
Egredere,
anima, egredere, quid times? Go
forth, my soul, go forth, what fearest thou? Let them fear death who do
not fear sin; but let not God’s children be over much troubled at the
grim face of that messenger, which brings them to the end of their
sorrow, and the beginning of their joy. Death is yours, it is a part of
the believer’s inventory.
1 Cor 3: 22. Is a prince afraid to cross a narrow sea, who
shall be crowned when he comes to shore? Death to the saints shall be an
usher to bring them into the presence of the King of glory. This thought
puts lilies and roses into the ghastly face of death, and makes it look
amiable. Death brings us to a crown of glory which fades not away. The
day of death is better to a believer than the day of his birth. Death is
aditus ad gloriam, an entrance into a blessed eternity. Fear not death,
but rather let your hearts revive when you think these rattling wheels
of death’s chariot are but to carry you home to an everlasting kingdom.
The Third Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘Thy
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’
Matt 6: 10.
We come
next to the third petition, ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven.
This
petition consists of two parts: the matter, ‘Doing God’s will;’ and the
manner, ‘As it is in heaven.’
What is
meant by the will of God?
There is a
twofold will. (1)
Voluntas decreti,
God’s secret will, or ‘the will of his decree’. We pray not that God’s
secret will may be done by us. This secret will cannot be known, it is
locked up in God’s own breast, and neither man nor angel has a key to
open it. (2)
Voluntas
revelata, God’s ‘revealed will.’
This will is written in the book of Scripture, which is a declaration of
God’s will, and discovers what he would have us do in order to our
salvation.
What do we
pray for in these words, ‘Thy will be done?’
We pray
for two things; 1: For active obedience; that we may do God’s will
actively in what he commands. 2. For passive obedience; that we may
submit to God’s will patiently in what he inflicts.
We pray
that we may do God’s will actively, subscribe to all his commands,
believe in Jesus, which is the cardinal grace, and lead holy lives. So
Augustine, upon this petition,
Nobis a Deo
precamur obedientiam; we pray
that we may actively obey God’s will. This is the sum of all religion,
the two tables epitomised, the doing God’s will. ‘Thy will be done.’ We
must know his will before we can do it; knowledge is the eye which must
direct the foot of obedience. At Athens there was an altar set up, ‘To
the unknown God.’
Acts 17: 23. It is as bad to offer the blind to God as the
dead. Knowledge is the pillar of fire to give light to practice; but
though knowledge is requisite, yet the knowledge of God’s will is not
enough without doing it. If one had a system of divinity in his head; if
he had ‘all knowledge,’ yet, if obedience were wanting, his knowledge
were lame, and would not carry him to heaven.
1 Cor 13: 2. Knowing God’s will may make a man admired, but
it is doing it that makes him blessed. Knowing God’s will without doing
it, will not crown us with happiness.
[1] The
bare knowledge of God’s will is inefficacious, it does not better the
heart. Knowledge alone is like a winter-sun, which has no heat or
influence; it does not warm the affections, or purify the conscience.
Judas was a great luminary, he knew God’s will, but he was a traitor.
[2]
Knowing without doing God’s will, will make the case worse. It will heat
hell the hotter. ‘That servant which knew his Lord’s will,’ and did it
not, ’shall be beaten with many stripes.’
Luke 12: 47. Many a man’s knowledge is a torch to light him
to hell. Thou who hast knowledge of God’s will but does not do it,
wherein does thou excel a hypocrite? Nay, wherein does thou excel the
devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light? It is improper to
call such Christians, who are knowers of God’s will but not doers of it.
It is improper to call him a tradesman who never wrought in his trade;
so to call him a Christian, who never wrought in the trade of religion.
Let us not rest in knowing God’s will. Let it not be said of us, as
Plutarch speaks of the Grecians, ‘They knew what was just, but did it
not.’ Let us set upon the doing God’s will. ‘Thy will be done.’
Why is
the doing God’s will requisite?
(1) Out
of equity. God may justly claim a right to our obedience. He is our
founder, and we have our being from him; and it is but just that we
should do his will at whose word we were created. God is our benefactor.
It is but just that, if he gives us our allowance, we should give him
our allegiance.
(2) The
great design of God in the word is to make us doers of his will. [1] All
God’s royal edicts and precepts are to bring us to be doers of his will.
What needed God to have been at the pains to give us the copy of his
law, and write it out with his own finger but for this end? The word of
God is not only a rule of knowledge, but of duty. ‘This day the Lord thy
God has commanded thee to do these statutes; thou shalt therefore keep
and do them. ’
Deut 26: 16. If you tell your children what is your mind, it
is not only that they may know your will, but do it. God gives us his
word, as a master gives his scholar a copy, to write after it; he gives
it as his will and testament, that we should be the executors to see it
performed. [2] The end of all God’s promises is to draw us to do his
will. The promises are loadstones to obedience. ‘A blessing if ye obey;’
as a father gives his son money to bribe him to obedience.
Deut 11: 27. ‘If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
Lord thy God, to do all his commandments, the Lord thy God will set thee
on high above all the nations of the earth; blessed shalt thou be in the
city and in the field.’
Deut 28: 1, 3. The promises are a royal charter settled upon
obedience. [3] The minatory part of the word, the threatening of God,
stand as the angel with a flaming sword to deter us from sin, and make
us doers of God’s will. ‘A curse if ye will not obey.’
Deut 11: 28. ‘God shall wound the hairy scalp of such an one
as goes on still in his trespasses.’
Psa 68: 21. These threatening often take hold of men in this
life; they are made examples, and hung up in chains to scare others from
disobedience. [4] All God’s providence are to make us doers of his will.
As he makes use of all the seasons of the year for harvest, so all his
various providence are to bring on the harvest of obedience. [5]
Afflictions are said to be sent us to make us do God’s will. ‘When he
[Manasseh] was in affliction, he besought the Lord, and humbled himself
greatly.’
2 Chron 33: 12. The rod has this voice, ‘Be doers of God’s
will.’ Affliction is called a furnace. The furnace melts the metal, and
then it is cast into a new mould. God’s furnace is to melt us and mould
us into obedience. [6] God’s mercies are to make us do his will. ‘I
beseech you by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice.’
Rom 12: 1. Body is by synecdoche put for the whole man; if
the soul should not be presented to God as well as the body, it could
not be a reasonable service; therefore the apostle says, ‘I beseech you
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.’
Mercies are the strongest obligations to duty. ‘I drew them with cords
of a man;’ that is, with golden cords of my mercy.
Hos 11: 4. In a word, all that is written in the law or
gospel tends to this, that we should be doers of God’s will. ‘Thy will
be done.’
(3) By
doing the will of God, we evidence sincerity. As Christ said in another
sense, ‘The works that I do, bear witness of me.’
John 10: 25. It is not all our golden words, if we could
speak like angels, but our works, our doing of God’s will which bears
witness of our sincerity. We judge not the health of a man’s body by his
high colour, but by the pulse of the arm, where the blood chiefly stirs;
so a Christian’s soundness is not to be judged by his profession; but
the estimate of a Christian is to be taken by his obediential acting,
his doing the will of God. This is the best certificate and testimonial
to show for heaven.
(4) Doing
God’s will propagates the gospel. It is the diamond that sparkles in
religion. Others cannot see what faith is in the heart, but when they
see we do God’s will on earth, it makes them have a venerable opinion of
religion, and become proselytes to it. Julian, in one of his epistles,
writing to Arsatius, says, ‘that the Christian religion did much
flourish, by the sanctity and obedience of them that professed it.’
(5) By
doing God’s will, we show our love to Christ. ‘He that has my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.’
John 14: 21. What greater love to Christ than to do his will,
though it cross our own? Every one would be thought to love Christ; but,
how shall it be known but by this? — Do you do his will on earth?
Neque principem
veneramur, si odio ejus leges habemus
[We do not honour the ruler if we hate his laws]. Isidore. It is a vain
thing for a man to say he loves Christ’s person, when he slights his
commands. Not to do God’s will on earth is a great evil.
It is
sinful. We go against our prayers; we pray,
fiat voluntas
tua, thy will be done, and yet
we do not obey his will; we confute our own prayer. We go against our
vow in baptism; we have vowed to fight under the Lord’s banner, to obey
his sceptre, and this vow we have often renewed in the Lord’s supper; if
we do not God’s will on earth, we are forsworn, and God will indict us
for perjury.
Not to do
God’s will on earth is foolish; because there is no standing out against
God. If we do not obey him, we cannot resist him. ‘Are we stronger than
he?’
1 Cor 10: 22. ‘Hast thou an arm like God?’
Job 40: 9. Canst thou measure arms with him? To oppose God,
is as if a child should fight with an archangel; as if a heap of briers
should put themselves into a battalion against the flame. Not to do
God’s will is foolish; because, if we do it not, we do the devil’s will.
Is it not folly to gratify an enemy — to do his will who seeks our ruin?
But are
any so wicked as to do the devil’s will?
Yes! ‘Ye
are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.’
John 8: 44. When a man tells a lie, does he not do the
devil’s will? ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost?’
Acts 5: 3.
Not to do
God’s will is dangerous. It brings a spiritual Praemunire. If God’s will
be not done by us, he will have his will upon us; if we obey not his
will in commanding, we shall obey it in perishing. ‘The Lord Jesus shall
be revealed with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on
them that obey not the gospel.’
2 Thess 1: 7, 8. Either we must do his will, or suffer it.
(6) To do
God’s will is for our benefit. It promotes our own self-interest. As if
a king commands a subject to dig in a mine of gold, and gives him all
the gold he had digged. God bids us do his will, and that is for our
good. ‘And now, Israeli what does the Lord thy God require of thee, but
to fear the Lord thy God, to keep the commandments of the Lord, which I
command thee this day for thy good?’
Deut 10: 13. It is God’s will that we should repent, and this
is for our good; for repentance ushers in remission. ‘Repent, that your
sins may be blotted out.’
Acts 3: 19. It is God’s will that we should believe; and why
is it, but that we should be crowned with salvation? ‘He that believeth,
shall be saved.’
Mark 16: 16. What God wills, is not so much our duty, as our
privilege; he bids us obey his voice, and it is greatly for our good.
‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God.’
Jer 7: 23. I will not only give you my angels to be your
guard, but myself to be your portion; my spirit shall be yours to
sanctify you; my love shall be yours to comfort you; my mercy shall be
yours to save you; ‘I will be your God.’
(7) To do
God’s will is our honour. A person thinks it an honour to have a king
speak to him to do a thing. The angels count it their highest honour in
heaven to do God’s will. Servire Deo regnare est, to serve God is to
reign.
Non onerant nos, sed ornant
[They do not burden us but adorn us]. Salvian. How cheerfully did the
rowers row the barge that carried Caesar! To be employed in this barge
was an honour: to be employed in doing God’s will is
insigne honoris,
the highest ensign of honour that a mortal creature is capable of.
Christ’s precepts do not burden us, but adorn us.
(8) To do
God’s will on earth makes us like Christ, and akin to him. It makes us
like Christ. Is it not our prayer that we may be like Christ Jesus
Christ did his Father’s will. ‘I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me.’
John 6: 38. As God the Father and Christ have but one
essence, so but one will. Christ’s will was melted into his Father’s.
‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.’
John 4: 34. By doing God’s will on earth, we resemble Christ,
nay, we are akin to him and are of the blood royal of heaven. Alexander
called himself cousin to the gods; but what honour is it to be akin to
Christ! ‘Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,
the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.’
Matt 12: 50. Did king Solomon rise off his throne to meet his
mother and set her on a throne by him?
1 Kings 2: 19. Such honour will Christ bestow on such as are
doers of God’s will; he will salute them as his kindred, and set them on
a glorious throne in the amphitheatre of heaven.
(9) Doing
God’s will on earth brings peace in life and death. [1] In life. ‘In
keeping them [thy precepts] there is great reward,’ not only after
keeping them, but in keeping them.
Psa 19: 11. When we walk closely with God in obedience, there
is a secret joy let into the soul and how swiftly and cheerfully do the
wheels of the soul move when they are oiled with the oil of gladness!
[2] Peace in death. When Hezekiah thought he was about to die, what gave
him comfort? That he had done the will of God. ‘Remember O Lord, I
beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and have done that
which is good in thy sight.’
Isa 38: 3. It was Augustus’s wish that he might have an easy
death, without much pain. If anything make our pillow easy at death, it
will be that we have endeavoured to do God’s will on earth. Did you ever
hear any cry out on their death-bed, that they have done God’s will too
much? No! Has it not been, that they have done his will no more, that
they came so short in their obedience? Doing God’s will, will be both
your comfort and your crown.
(10) If
we are not doers of God’s will, we shall be looked upon as condemners of
his will. Let God say what he will, yet men will go on in sin, which is
to condemn God. ‘Wherefore does the wicked condemn God?’
Psa 10: 13. To condemn God is worse than to rebel. The tribes
of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam, because he made their yoke heavier.
1 Kings 12: 16. But to condemn God is worse: it is to slight
him; it is to put a scorn upon him, and affront him to his face; and an
affront will make him draw his sword.
In what
manner are we to do God ’s will, that we may find acceptance?
The
manner of doing God’s will is the chief thing. The schoolmen say well,
Modus
rei cadit sub precepto, ‘the
manner of a thing is as well required as the thing itself.’ If a man
build a house, and the owner likes it not, and it be not according to
his mind, he thinks all his charges lost; so if we do not God’s will in
the right manner, it is not accepted. We must not only do what he
appoints, but as he appoints. Here lies the very life-blood of religion.
It is a great question, therefore, ‘In what manner are we to do God’s
will that we may find acceptance?’
(I) We do
God’s will acceptably when we do duties spiritually. ‘We worship God in
the spirit.’
Phil 3: 3. To serve God spiritually, is to do duties ab
interno principio, from an inward principle. The Pharisees were very
exact about the external part of God’s worship. How zealous were they in
the outward observation of the Sabbath, even charging Christ with the
breach of it! But all this was outward obedience only: there was nothing
of spirituality in it. We do God’s will acceptably when we serve him
from a renewed principle of grace. A crab tree may bear as well as a
good apple tree, but it is not so good fruit as the other, because it
does not come from so sweet a root; so an unregenerate person may do as
much external obedience as a child of God: he may pray as much, hear as
much, but his obedience is harsh and sour, because it does not come from
the sweet and pleasant root of grace. The inward principle of obedience
is faith; therefore it is called ‘the obedience of faith.’
Rom 16: 26. But why must this silver thread of faith run
through the whole work of obedience? Because faith looks at Christ in
every duty, it touches the hem of his garment; and through Christ, both
the person and the offering are accepted.
Eph 1: 6.
(2) We do
God’s will acceptably when we prefer his will before all others. If God
wills one thing, and man wills the contrary, we are not to obey man’s
will, but God’s. ‘Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto
God, judge ye.’
Acts 4: 19. God says, ‘Thou shalt not make a graven image.’
King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image to be worshipped; but the
three children, or rather champions, resolved God’s will should prevail,
and they would obey him, though with the loss of their lives. ‘Be it
known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up.’
Dan 3: 18.
(3) We do
God’s will acceptably when we do it as it is done in heaven, that is, as
the angels do it. To do God’s will as the angels
similitudinem
notat, non aequalitatem [marks
our likeness to them, not our equality with them]. Brugensis. It denotes
this much, that we are to resemble them, and make them our pattern.
Though we cannot equal the angels in doing God’s will, yet we must
imitate them; a child cannot write so well as the copy, yet he imitates
it.
[1] We do
God’s will as the angels in heaven when we do it regularly,
sine deflexu
[without wavering]; when we go according to the divine institutions, not
decrees of councils, or traditions of men. Angels do nothing but what is
commanded; they are not for ceremonies. As there are statute laws in the
land which bind, so the Scripture is God’s statute law, which we must
exactly observe. As the watch is set by the dial, so our obedience is
right when it goes by the sun-dial of the word. If obedience has not the
word for its rule, it is not doing God’s will, but our own; it is
will-worship. The Lord would have Moses make the tabernacle according to
the pattern.
Exod 25: 40. If Moses had left out anything or added anything
to it, it would have been very provoking. To mix anything of our own
devising in God’s worship, is to go beside, yea, contrary to the
pattern. His worship is the apple of his eye, that which he is the most
tender of; and there is nothing he has more showed his displeasure
against than corrupting his worship. How severely did he punish Nadab
and Abihu for offering up strange fire, that is, such fire as God has
not sanctified on the altar!
Lev 10: 2. Whatever is not divinely appointed, is offering up
strange fire. There is in many a strange itch after superstition: they
love a gaudy religion, and are more for the pomp of worship than the
purity; which cannot be pleasing to God. As if God were not wise enough
to appoint the manner how he will be served, man will be so bold as to
prescribe for him. To thrust human inventions into sacred things, is
doing our will, not God’s; and he will say, quis quaesivit haec? ‘Who
has required this at your hand?’
Isa 1: 12. We do God’s will as it is done in heaven when we
do it regularly, when we reverence his institutions, and the mode of
worship, which have the stamp of divine authority upon them.
[2] We do
God’s will as it is done by the angels in heaven when we do it entirely,
sine
mutilatione [with nothing cut
away]; when we do all God’s will. The angels in heaven do all that God
commands; they leave nothing of his will undone. ‘Ye his angels that do
his commandments.’
Psa 103: 20. If God sends an angel to the virgin Mary, he
goes on God’s errand, if he gives his angels a charge to minister for
the saints, they obey.
Heb 1: 14. It cannot stand with angelic obedience, to leave
the least iota of God’s will unfulfilled. It is to do God’s will as the
angels when we do all his will,
quicquid
propter Deum fit aequaliter fit
[whatever is done for God’s sake is done uniformly]. This was God’s
charge to Israel. ‘Remember and do all my commandments.’
Numb 15: 40, It is said of David, ‘I have found David, a man
after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.’ (Gr. all my
wills.)
Acts 13: 22. Every command has the same authority; and if we
do God’s will uprightly, we do it uniformly; we obey every part and
branch of his will; we join first and second table. Surely we owe to God
our Father, what the Papists say we owe to our mother, the church,
unlimited obedience. We must incline to every command, as the needle
moves the way which the loadstone draws.
Many do
God’s will by halves, they pick and choose in religion: in some they
comply with God’s will, but not in others; like a lame horse, which sets
some of its feet on the ground, but favours one. He who is to play upon
a lute, must strike upon every string, or he spoils all the music. God’s
commandments may be compared to a ten-stringed lute; we must obey his
will in every command, strike upon every string, or we can make no good
melody in religion. The badger has one foot shorter than the other, so
hypocrites are shorter in some duties than others. Some will pray, but
not give alms; some hear the word, but not forgive their enemies; others
receive the sacrament, but not make restitution. How can they be holy
who are not just? Hypocrites profess fair, but when it comes to
sacrificing the Isaac, crucifying the beloved sin, or parting with some
of their estate for Christ, they pause and say, as Naaman, ‘In this
thing, the Lord pardon thy servant.’
2 Kings 5: 18. This is far from doing God’s will as the
angels do. God likes not such as do his will by halves. If your servant
should do some of your work which you set him about, but not all, how
would you like it?
But who
is able to do all God’s will?
Though we
cannot do all his will legally, we may evangelically; which is: (1) When
we mourn that we can do God’s will no better; when we fail we weep.
Rom 7: 24. (2) When it is the desire of our soul to do God’s
whole will, ‘O that my ways were directed to keep thy precepts.’
Psa 119: 5. What a child of God wants in strength, he makes
up in desire,
in magnis
voluisse sat est [in great
matters it is enough to have had the will]. (3) When we endeavour
quoad conatum
[as far as we are able] to do the whole will of God. When a father bids
his child lift a burden, and the child is not able, but tries, and does
his best, the father accepts it as if he had done it; so to do our best,
is to do God’s will evangelically. He takes it in good part; though it
be not to satisfaction, it is to acceptation.
[3] We do
God’s will as it is done in heaven by the angels when we do it
sincerely,
sine fuco
[without pretence]. To do God’s will sincerely lies in two things,
first, to do God’s will out of a pure respect to his command. Abraham’s
sacrificing Isaac was contrary to flesh and blood. To sacrifice the son
of his love, the son of the promise, and by no other hand but the
father’s own, was hard service; but, because God commanded it, and out
of pure respect to the command, Abraham obeyed. This is to do God’s will
aright, when though we feel no present joy or comfort in duty, yet,
because God commands we obey. Not comfort, but the command is the ground
of duty. Thus the angels do God’s will in heaven. His command is the
weight that sets the wheels of their obedience going. Secondly, to do
God’s will sincerely, is to do it with a pure eye to his glory. The
Pharisees did the will of God giving alms; but that which was a dead fly
in the ointment, was that they did not aim at his glory, but vain glory;
they blew a trumpet. Jehu did the will of God in destroying the
Baal-worshippers, and God commended him for it; but because he aimed
more at setting himself in the kingdom, than at the glory of God, God
looked upon it as no better than murder, and said he would avenge the
blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.
Hos 1: 4. Let us look to our ends in obedience; though we
shoot short, let us take a right aim. We may do God’s will, and yet not
with a perfect heart. ‘Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of
the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.’
2 Chron 25: 2. The action was right for the matter, but his
aim was not right; and the action which wants good aim, wants a good
issue. He does God’s will rightly that does it uprightly, whose end is
to honour God and lift up his name in the world. A gracious soul makes
God his centre. As Joab, when he had taken Rabbah, sent for King David,
that he might have the glory of the victory, so when a gracious soul has
done any duty, it desires that the glory of all may be given to God.
2 Sam 12: 27, 28. ‘That God in all things may be glorified.’
1 Pet 4: 11. It is to do God’s will as the angels, when we
not only advance his glory, but design his glory. The angels are said to
cast their crowns before the throne.
Rev 4: 10. Crowns are signs of the greatest honour, but these
the angels lay at the Lord’s feet, to show they ascribe the glory of all
they do to him.
[4] We do
God’s will as it is done in heaven by the angels when we do it
willingly,
sine
murmuratione [without
complaint]. The angels love to be employed in God’s service. It is their
heaven to serve God. They willingly descend from heaven to earth, when
they bring messages from God, and glad tidings to the church. Heaven
being a place of much joy, the angels would not leave it a minute were
it not that they take such infinite delight in doing God’s will. We
resemble the angels when we do God’s will willingly. ‘And thou Solomon,
my son, serve [the Lord] with a willing mind.’
1 Chron 28: 9. God’s people are called a willing people (Heb.
a people of willingnesses); they give God a freewill offering; though
they cannot serve him perfectly, they serve him willingly.
Psa 110: 3. A hypocrite is able
facere bonum
[to do good], yet not
velle
[desire it], he has no delight in duty; he does it rather out of fear of
hell than love to God. When he does God’s will it is against his own.
Virtus
nolentium nulla est [There is no
virtue in the unwilling]. Cain brought his sacrifice, but grudgingly;
his worship was rather a task than an offering, rather penance than a
sacrifice; he did God’s will, but against his own. We must be carried
upon the wings of delight in every duty. Israel were to blow the
trumpets when they offered burnt offerings.
Num 10: 10. This was to show their joy and cheerfulness in
serving God. We must read and hear the word with delight. ‘Thy words
were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart.’
Jer 15: 16. A pious soul goes to the word as to a feast, or
as one would go with delight to hear music. Sleidan reports that the
Protestants of France had a church which they called paradise, because,
when they were in the house of God, they thought themselves in paradise.
The saints flock as doves to the windows of God’s house. ‘Who are these
that fly as the doves to their windows?’
Isa 60: 8. Not that a truly regenerate person is always in
the same cheerful temper of obedience; he may sometimes find an
indisposition and weariness of soul, but his weariness is his burden; he
is weary of his weariness; he prays, weeps, uses all means to regain the
alacrity and freedom in God’s service that he was wont to have. To do
God’s will acceptably is to do it willingly. Delight in duty is better
than duty itself. The musician is not commended for playing long, but
well; it is not how much we do, but how much we love. ‘O, how love I thy
law!’
Psa 119: 97. Love is as musk among linen, that perfumes it;
it perfumes obedience, and makes it go up to heaven as incense. It is
doing God’s will as the angels in heaven do. They are ravished with
delight while praising God; they are said to have harps in their hands,
to signify their cheerfulness in God’s service.
Rev 15: 2.
[5] We do
God’s will as the angels in heaven when we do it fervently,
sine remissione
[without slackness]. ‘Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;’ a metaphor
taken from water when it seethes and boils over; so our affections
should boil over in zeal and fervour.
Rom 12: 11. The angels serve God with such fervour and
intenseness that they are called seraphim, from a Hebrew word which
signifies to burn, to show they are all on fire; they burn in love and
zeal in doing God’s will.
Psa 104: 4. Grace turns a saint into a seraphim. Aaron must
put burning coals to the incense.
Lev 16: 12. Incense was a type of prayer, burning coals of
zeal, to show that the fire of zeal must be put to the incense of
prayer. Formality starves duty. Is it like the angels to serve God dully
and coldly? Duty without fervour is as a sacrifice without fire. We
should ascend to heaven in a fiery chariot of devotion.
[6] We do
God’s will as the angels in heaven when we give him the best in every
service. ‘Out of all your gifts, ye shall offer all the best thereof.’
Numb 18: 29. ‘In the holy place shalt thou cause the strong
wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering.’
Numb 28: 7. The Jews might not offer to the Lord wine that
was small or mixed, but the strong wine, to imply that we must offer to
God the best, the strongest of our affections. If the spouse had a cup
more juicy and spiced, Christ should drink of that. ‘I would cause thee
to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.’
Cant 8: 2. Thus the angels in heaven do God’s will; they
serve him in the best manner; they give him their seraphic high stringed
praises; so he who loves God, gives him the cream of his obedience. God
challenged the fat of all the sacrifice as his due.
Lev 3: 16. Hypocrites care not what services they bring to
God; they think to put him off with anything; they put no cost in their
duties. ‘Cain brought of the fruit of the ground.’
Gen 4: 3. The Holy Ghost took notice of Abel’s offering that
it was costly. He ‘brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the
fat thereof.’
Gen 4: 4. When he speaks of Cain’s offering, he says only,
‘He brought of the fruit of the ground.’ We do God’s will aright when we
offer
pinguia [fat things], dedicate
to him the best. Domitian would not have his image carved in wood or
iron, but in gold. God will have the best we have — golden services.
[7] We do
God’s will as the angels in heaven when we do it readily and swiftly.
The angels do not dispute or reason the case, but soon as they have
their charge and commission from God, they immediately obey. To show how
ready they are to execute God’s will, the cherubim, representing angels,
are described with wings. ‘The man Gabriel (that was an angel) being
caused to fly swiftly.’
Dan 9: 21. Thus should we do God’s will as the angels. Soon
as ever God speaks the word we should be ambitious to obey. Alas! how
long is it sometimes ere we can get leave of our hearts to go to a duty!
Christ went more readily
ad crucem
[to the cross], than we to the throne of grace. How many disputes and
excuses have we! Is this to do God’s will as the angels in heaven do it?
O let us shake off this backwardness to duty, as Paul shook off the
viper.
Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia
[The grace of the Holy Spirit knows nothing of sluggish efforts. ‘Behold
two women, and the wind was in their wings.’
Zech 5: 9. Wings are swift, but wind in the wings is great
swiftness; such readiness should be in our obedience. Soon as Christ
commanded Peter to let down his net, he let it down, and you know what
success he had.
Luke 5: 4. It was prophesied of such as were brought home to
Christ, ‘As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.’
Psa 18: 44.
[8] We do
God’s will as the angels in heaven when we do it constantly. The angels
are never weary of doing God’s will; they serve him day and night.
Rev 7: 15. Thus we should imitate them. ‘Blessed [is] he that
does righteousness at all times.’
Psa 106: 3. Constancy crowns obedience.
Non coepisse,
sed perfecisse, virtutis est
[The righteousness consists not in beginning but in completing the
work]. Cyprian. Our obedience must be like the fire of the altar, which
was continually kept burning.
Lev 6: 13. Hypocrites soon give over doing God’s will. They
are like chrysolite, which is of a golden colour in the morning, very
bright to look upon, but towards evening grows dull and loses its
splendour. We should continue doing God’s will, because of the great
loss that will befall us if we do it not. There will be a loss of
honour. ‘That no man take thy crown;’ implying, if the church of
Philadelphia left off her obedience, she would lose her crown that is,
her honour and reputation.
Rev 3: 2: Apostasy creates infamy. Judas came from an apostle
to be a traitor, which was a dishonour. If we give over our obedience,
it is a loss of all that has been already done; as if one should work in
silver, and then pick out all the stitches. All a man’s prayers are
lost, all the Sabbaths he has kept are lost; he unravels all his good
works. ‘All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned.’
Ezek 18: 24. He undoes all he has done; as if one drew a
curious picture with the pencil, and then came with his sponge and wiped
it out again. A loss of the soul and happiness. We were in a fair way
for heaven, but left off doing God’s will, missed the excellent glory,
and are plunged deeper in damnation. ‘It had been better not to have
known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment.’
2 Pet 2: 21. Therefore let us continue in doing God’s will.
Constancy sets the crown upon the head of obedience.
Use 1.
For instruction.
(1) See
hence our impotence. We have no innate power to do God’s will. What need
to pray, ‘Thy will be done,’ if we have power of ourselves to do it? I
wonder freewillers pray this petition.
(2) If we
are to do God’s will on earth as it is done by the angels in heaven, see
the folly of those who go by a wrong pattern. They do as most of their
neighbours do: if they talk vain on the Sabbath, if now and then they
swear an oath, it is the custom of their neighbours to do so; but we are
to do God’s will, as the angels in heaven. We must make the angels our
patterns, and not our neighbours. If our neighbours do the devil’s will,
shall we do so too? If our neighbours go to hell, shall we go thither
too for company?
(3) See
here that which may make us long to be in heaven, where we shall do
God’s will perfectly, as the angels do. Alas! how defective are we in
our obedience here! How far we fall short! We cannot write a copy of
holiness without blotting. Our holy things are blemished like the moon,
which, when it shines brightest, has a dark spot in it; but in heaven we
shall do God’s will perfectly, as the angels in glory.
Use 2.
For reproof.
(1) It
reproves such as do not God’s will. They have a knowledge of God’s will,
but though they know it, they do it not. They know what God would have
them avoid. They know they should not swear. ‘Swear not at all.’
Matt 5: 34. ‘Because of swearing the land mourneth.’
Jer 23: 10. Yet, though they pray ‘hallowed be thy name,’
they profane it by shooting oaths like chain bullets against heaven.
They know they should abstain from fornication and uncleanness, yet they
cannot but bite at the devil’s hook, if he bait it with flesh.
Jude 7.
They know
what God would have them practice, but they ‘Leave undone those things
which they ought to have done.’ They know it is the will of God they
should be true in their promises, just in their dealings, good in their
relations; but they do it not. They know they should read the
Scriptures, consult with God’s oracles: but the Bible, like rusty
armour, is hung up, and seldom used; they look softener upon a pack of
cards than upon a Bible. They know their houses should be palestrae
pietatis, nurseries of piety, yet they have no religion in them; they do
not perfume their houses with prayer. What hypocrites are they who kneel
down in the church, and lift up their eyes to heaven and say, ‘Thy will
be done,’ and yet have no care at all to do God’s will! What is this but
to hang out a flag of defiance against heaven! Rebellion is as the sin
of witchcraft.
(2) It
reproves those who do not God’s will in a right acceptable manner. They
do not God’s will entirely. They will obey him in some things, but not
in others; as if a servant should do some of your work you set him
about, but not all. Jehu destroyed the idolatry of Baal, but let the
golden calves of Jeroboam stand.
2 Kings 10: 28, 29. Some will observe the duties of the
second table, but not the first. Others make a high profession, as if
their tongues had been touched with a coal from God’s altar, but live
idly, and out of a calling; of whom the apostle thus complains: ‘We hear
there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all.’
2 Thess 3: 11. Living by faith, and living in a calling, must
go together. It is an evil thing not to do all God’s will.
They do
not God’s will ardently, nor cheerfully. They put not coals to the
incense; they bring their sacrifice, but not their heart. This is far
from doing God’s will as the angels. How can God like us to serve him as
if we served him not? How can he mind our duties, when we ourselves do
not mind them?
Use 3.
For examination.
Let us
examine all our actions whether they are according to God’s will. The
will of God is the rule and standard: it is the sun- dial by which we
must regulate all our actions. He is no good workman that does not work
by rule; so he can be no Christian who goes not according to the rule of
God’s will. Let us examine our actions whether they do
quadrare
[square with], agree to the will of God. Are our speeches according to
his will? Are our words savoury, being seasoned with grace? Is our
apparel according to God’s will? ‘In like manner that women adorn
themselves in modest apparel,’ not wanton and garish, to invite comers.
1 Tim 2: 9. Is our diet according to God’s will? Do we hold
the golden bridle of temperance, and only take so much as may rather
satisfy nature than surfeit it? Too much oil chokes the lamp. Is our
whole carriage and behaviour according to God’s will? Are we patterns of
prudence and piety? Do we keep up the credit of religion, and shine as
lights in the world? We pray, ‘Thy will be done as it is in heaven.’ Are
we like our pattern? Would the angels do this if they were on earth?
Would Jesus Christ do this? It is to Christianise, this is to be saints
of degrees; when we live our prayer, and our actions are the counterpart
of God’s will.
Use 4.
For exhortation.
Let us be
doers of the will of God, ‘Thy will be done.’ It is our wisdom to do
God’s will. ‘Keep and do [these statutes], for this is your wisdom.’
Deut 4: 6. Further, it is our safety. Has not misery always
attended the doing our own will, and happiness the doing of God’s will?
(1)
Misery has always attended the doing our own will. Our first parents
left God’s will to fulfil their own, in eating the forbidden fruit; and
what came of it? The apple had a bitter core in it; they purchased a
curse for themselves and all their posterity. King Saul left God’s will
to do his own; he spared Agog and the best of the sheep, and what was
the issue, but the loss of his kingdom?
(2)
Happiness has always attended the doing God’s will. Joseph obeyed God’s
will, in refusing the embrace of his mistress; and was not this his
preferment? God raised him to be the second man in the kingdom. Daniel
did God’s will contrary to the king’s decree; he bowed his knee in
prayer to God, and did not God make all Persia bow their knees to
Daniel?
(3) The
way to have our will is to do God’s will. Would we have a blessing in
our estate? Let us do God’s will. ‘If thou shalt hearken to the voice of
the Lord thy God, to do all his commandments, the Lord thy God will set
thee on high above all nations of the earth: blessed shalt thou be in
the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.’
Deut 28: 1, 3. This is the way to have a good harvest. Would
we have a blessing in our souls? Let us do God’s will. ‘Obey my voice,
and I will be your God:’ I will entail myself upon you, as an
everlasting portion; my grace shall be yours to sanctify you, my mercy
shall be yours to save you.
Jer 7: 23. You see you lose nothing by doing God’s will; it
is the way to have your own will. Let God have his will in being obeyed,
and you shall have your will in being saved.
How shall
we do God’s will aright?
(1) Get
sound knowledge. We must know his will before we can do it; knowledge is
the eye to direct the foot of obedience. The Papists make ignorance the
mother of devotion; but Christ makes ignorance the mother of error. ‘Ye
do err, not knowing the Scriptures.’
Matt 22: 29. We must know God’s will before we can do it
aright. Affection without knowledge, is like a horse full of mettle, but
his eyes are out.
(2) If we
would do God’s will aright, let us labour for self denial. Unless we
deny our own will, we shall never do God’s will. His will and ours are
like the wind and tide when they are contrary. He wills one thing, we
will another; he calls us to be crucified to the world, by nature we
love the world; he calls us to forgive our enemies, by nature we bear
malice in our hearts. His will and ours are contrary, and till we can
cross our own will, we shall never fulfil his.
(3) Let
us get humble hearts. Pride is the spring of disobedience. ‘Who is the
Lord, that I should obey his voice?’
Exod 5: 2. A proud man thinks it below him to stoop to God’s
will. Be humble. The humble son says, Lord what wilt thou have me to
do?’ He puts, as it were, a blank paper into God hand; and bids him
write what he will, and he will subscribe to it.
(4) Beg
grace and strength of God to do his will. ‘Teach me to do thy will:’ as
if David had said, Lord, I need not be taught to do my own will, I can
do it fast enough, but teach me to do thy will.
Psa 143: 10. And that which may add wings to prayer, is God’s
gracious promise, ‘I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes.’
Ezek 36: 27. If the loadstone draw the iron, it is not hard
for the iron to move: if God’s Spirit enable, it will not be hard, but
rather delightful to do God’s will.
II. We
pray that we may have grace to submit to God’s will patiently in what he
inflicts. The text is to be understood as well of suffering God’s will
as of doing it; so Maldonet, and the most judicious interpreters. A good
Christian, when under any disastrous providence, should lie quietly at
God’s feet, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’
What is
patient submission to God’s will not?
There is
something that looks like patience which is not: as when a man bears a
thing because he cannot help it; he takes affliction as his fate and
destiny, therefore he endures quietly what he cannot avoid: this is
necessity rather than patience.
What
accompanies patient submissions to God’s will?
(1) A
Christian may be deeply sensible of affliction, and yet patiently submit
to God’s will. We ought not to be Stoics, insensible and unconcerned
with God’s dealings; like the sons of Deucalion, who, as the poets say,
were begotten of a stone. Christ was sensible when he sweat great drops
of blood, but there was submission to God’s will. ‘Nevertheless, not as
I will, but as thou wilt.’
Matt 26: 39. We are bid to humble ourselves under God’s hand,
which we cannot do unless we are sensible of it.
1 Pet 5: 6.
(2) A
Christian may weep under an affliction, and yet patiently submit to
God’s will. God allows tears: it is a sin to be ‘without natural
affection.’
Rom. 1: 31. Grace makes the heart tender;
strangulat
inclusis dolor [grief which is
held in chokes the heart]; weeping gives vent to sorrow;
expletur
lacrimis dolor [grief is poured
out in tears]. Joseph wept over his dead father; Job, when he had much
ill news brought him at once, rent his mantle, as an expression of
grief, but did not tear his hair in anger. Worldly grief, however, must
not be immoderate; a vein may bleed too much; the water rises too high
when it overflows the banks.
(3) A
Christian may complain in his affliction, and yet be submissive to God’s
will. ‘I cried unto the Lord with my voice, I poured out my complaint
before him.’
Psa 142: 1, 2. We may, when under oppression, tell God how it
is with us, and desire him to write down our injuries. Shall not the
child complain to his father when he is wronged? Holy complaint may
agree with patient submission to God’s will; but though we may complain
to God, we must not complain of God.
What is
inconsistent with patient submission to God’s will?
(1)
Discontent with providence. Discontent has a mixture of grief and anger
in it, and both these must needs raise a storm of passion in the soul.
When God has touched the apple of our eye, and smitten us in that we
loved, we are touchy and sullen, and he has not a good look from us.
‘Why art thou wrath?’ like a sullen bird that is angry, and beats
herself against the cage.
Gen 4: 6.
(2)
Murmuring cannot stand with submission to God’s will. Murmuring is the
height of impatience, it is a kind of mutiny in the soul against God.
‘The people spake against God.’
Numb 21: 5. When a cloud of sorrow is gathered in the soul,
and it not only drops in tears, but out of it come hailstones, murmuring
words against God, this is far from patient submission to his will. When
water is hot the scum boils up; when the heart is heated with anger
against God, then murmuring boils up. Murmuring springs, [1] From pride.
Men think they have deserved better at God’s hand; and, when they begin
to swell, they spit poison. [2] From distrust. Men believe not that God
can make a treacle of poison, bring good out of all their troubles,
therefore they murmur. ‘They believed not his word, but murmured.’
Psa 106: 24, 25. Men murmur at God’s providence because they
distrust his promises. God has much ado to bear this sin.
Numb 14: 27. It is far from submission to God’s will.
(3)
Discomposedness of spirit cannot agree with quiet submission to God’s
will; as when a man says, I am so encompassed with trouble that I know
not how to get out; head and heart are so taken up, that I am not fit to
pray. When the strings of a lute are snarled, the lute can make no good
music; so when a Christian’s spirits are perplexed and disturbed, he
cannot make melody in his heart to the Lord. To be under discomposure of
mind, is as when an army is routed, one runs this way and another that,
all is in disorder; so when a Christian is in a hurry of mind, his
thoughts run up and down distracted, as if he were undone, which cannot
consist with patient submission to God’s will.
(4) Self
apology cannot agree with submission to God’s will, when, instead of
being humbled under God’s hand, a person justifies himself. A proud
sinner stands upon his own defence, and is ready to accuse God of
unrighteousness, which is, as if we should tax the sun with darkness.
This is far from submission to God’s will. God smote Jonah’s gourd, and
he stood upon his own vindication. ‘I do well to be angry, even unto
death.’
Jonah 4: 9. What! to be angry with God, and to justify this!
‘I do well to be angry!’ This was strange to come from a prophet, and
was far from the prayer Christ taught us, ‘Thy will be done.’
What is
patient submission to God’s will?
It is a
gracious frame of soul, whereby a Christian is content to be at God’s
disposal, and acquiesces in his wisdom. ‘It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good.’
1 Sam 3: 18. ‘The will of the Lord be done.’
Acts 21: 14. That I may further illustrate this, I shall show
you wherein this submission to the will of God lies. It lies chiefly in
three things:
(1) In
acknowledging God’s hand; seeing God in the affliction. ‘Affliction
comes not forth of the dust;’ it comes not by chance.
Job 5: 6. Job eyed God in all that befell him. ‘The Lord has
taken away.’
Job 1: 21. He complains not of the Chaldeans, or the
influence of the planets: he looks beyond second causes, he sees God in
the affliction. ‘The Lord has taken away.’ There can be no submission to
God’s will till there be an acknowledging of God’s hand.
(2)
Patient submission to God’s will lies in justifying God. ‘O my God, I
cry but thou hearest not,’ thou turnest a deaf ear to me in my
affliction.
Psa 22: 2. ‘But thou art holy;’
ver 3. God is holy and just, not only when he punishes the
wicked, but when he afflicts the righteous. Though he put wormwood in
our cup, yet we vindicate him, and proclaim his righteousness. When
Mauricius, the emperor, saw his son slain before his eyes, he exclaimed,
Justus
es, Domine, ‘Righteous art thou,
O Lord, in all thy ways.’ We justify God, and confess he punishes us
less than we deserve.
Ezra 9: 13.
(3)
Patient submission to God’s will lies in accepting the punishment. ‘And
they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity.’
Rev 26: 41. Accepting the punishment, is taking all that God
does in good part. He who accepts of the punishment says, ‘God is the
rod of the Lord;’ he kisses the rod, yea, blesses God that he would use
such a merciful severity, and rather afflict him than lose him.
Patient
submission to God’s will in affliction shows a great deal of wisdom and
piety. The skill of a pilot is most discerned in a storm, so a
Christian’s grace in the storm of affliction. Submission to God’s will
is most requisite for us while we live in this lower region. In heaven
there will be no more need of patience than there is need of the
starlight when the sun shines. In heaven there will be all joy, and what
need of patience then? It requires no patience to wear a crown of gold;
but while we live here in a valley of tears, patient submission to God’s
will is much needed. ‘Ye have need of patience.’
Heb 10: 36.
The Lord
sometimes lays heavy affliction upon us. ‘Thy hand presseth me sore.’
Psa 38: 2. The word in the original for ‘afflicted’ signifies
to be ‘melted.’ God sometimes melts his people in a furnace. He
sometimes lays divers afflictions upon us. ‘He multiplieth my wounds.’
Job 9: 17. God shoots divers sorts of arrows.
(1)
Sometimes God afflicts with poverty. The widow had nothing left her save
a pot of oil.
2 Kings 4: 2. Poverty is a great temptation. To have an
estate reduced almost to nothing, is hard to flesh and blood. ‘Call me
not Naomi, but Mara; I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home
again empty.’
Ruth 1: 20, 21. This exposes to contempt. When the prodigal
was poor, his brother was ashamed to own him. ‘This thy son;’ he said
not, this my brother, but this thy son; he scorned to call him brother.
Luke 15: 30. When the deer is shot and bleeds, the rest of
the herd push it away, so when God shoots the arrow of poverty at one,
others are ready to push him away. When Terence was grown poor, his
friend Scipio cast him off. The poets feign that the muses, Jupiter’s
daughters, had no suitors, because they wanted a dowry.
(2) God
sometimes afflicts with reproach. Such as have the light of grace
shining in them may be eclipsed in their name. The primitive Christians
were reproached as if they were guilty of incest, says Tertullian.
Luther was called a trumpeter of rebellion. David calls reproach
heart-breaking.
Psa 69: 20. God often lets his dear saints be exercised with
this. Dirt may be cast upon a pearl, and those names may be blotted
which are written in the book of life. Sincerity shields from hell, but
not from slander.
(3) God
sometimes afflicts with the loss of dear relations. ‘Son of man behold,
I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke.’
Ezek 24: 16. This is like pulling away a limb from the body.
He takes away a holy child: Jacob’s life was bound up in Benjamin.
Gen 44: 30. That which is worse than the loss of children is,
when they are continued as living crosses; where the parents expected
honey, there to have wormwood. What greater cut to a godly parent than a
child who disclaims his father’s God? A corrosive applied to the body
may do well, but a bad child is a corrosive to the heart. Such an
undutiful son had David, who conspired treason, and would not only have
taken away his father’s crown, but his life.
(4) God
sometimes afflicts with infirmity of body. Sickness takes away the
comfort of life, and makes one in deaths oft.
God tries
his people with various afflictions, so that there is need of patience
to submit to his will. He who has divers bullets shot at him needs
armour; so when divers afflictions assault, we need patience as proof
armour. He sometimes lets the affliction continue long.
Psa 74: 9. As with diseases, some are chronic, that linger
and hang about the body several years together; so it is with
affliction, the Lord is pleased to exercise many of his precious ones
with chronic affliction, such as lies upon them a long time. In all
these cases we need patience and submissiveness of spirit to God’s will.
Use 1.
For reproof. It reproves such as have not yet learned this part of the
Lord’s prayer: ‘Thy will be done;’ they have only said it, but not
learned it. If things be not according to their mind, if the wind of
Providence crosses the tide of their will, they are discontented and
querulous. Where is now submission of will to God? To be displeased with
God if things do not please us, is this to lie at God’s feet, and
acquiesce in his will? It is a very bad temper of spirit, and God may
justly punish us by letting us have our will. Rachel cried, ‘Give me
children, or else I die.’
Gen 30: 1. God let her have a child, but it cost her her
life.
Gen 35: 18. Israel was not content with manna, but they must
have quails, and God punished them by letting them have their will.
‘There went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails; and while the
flesh was yet between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was kindled
against them, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.’
Numb 11: 31, 33. They had better been without their quails
than had such sour sauce to them. Many have importunately desired the
life of a child, and could not bring their will to God’s to be content
to part with it; and the Lord has punished them by letting them have
their will; for the child has lived and been a burden to them. Seeing
their wills crossed God their child shall cross them.
Use 2.
For exhortation. Let us be exhorted, whatever troubles God exercises us
with,
aequo animo ferre [to bear with
a calm mind], to resign up our wills to him, and say, ‘Thy will be
done.’ Which is fittest, that God should bring his will to ours, or we
bring our wills to his? Say as Eli, ‘It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good;’ and as David, ‘Behold, here am I; let him do to me as
seemeth good unto him.’
1 Sam 3: 18.
2 Samuel 15: 26. It was the saying of Harpulas,
Placet mihi
quod Regi placet, ‘That pleases
me which pleases the king;’ so should we say, that which pleases God
pleases us. ‘Thy will be done.’ Some have not yet learned this art of
submission to God; and truly he who wants patience in affliction is like
a soldier in battle who wants armour.
When do
we not submit to God ’s will in affliction as we ought?
(1) When
we have hard thoughts of him, and our hearts begin to swell against hum.
(2) When
we are so troubled at our present affliction that we are unfit for duty.
We can mourn as doves, but not pray or praise God. We are so discomposed
that we are not fit to hearken to any good counsel. ‘They hearkened not
unto Moses for anguish of spirit.’
Exod 6: 9. Israel was so full of grief under their burdens,
that they minded not what Moses said, though he came with a message from
God to them; ‘They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit.’
(3) We do
not submit as we ought to God’s will when we labour to break loose from
affliction by indirect means. Many, to rid themselves out of trouble,
run themselves into sin. When God has bound them with the cords of
affliction, they go to the devil to loosen their bands. Better it is to
stay in affliction than to sin ourselves out of it. O let us learn to
stoop to God’s will in all afflictive providence.
But how
shall we bring ourselves, in all occurrences of providence, patiently to
acquiesce in God’s will, and say, ‘Thy will be done’?
The means
for a quiet resignation to God’s will in affliction are:
[1]
Judicious consideration. ‘In the day of adversity consider.’
Eccl 7: 14. When any thing burdens us, or runs cross to our
desires, did we but sit down and consider, and weigh things in the
balance of judgement, it would much quiet our minds, and subject our
wills to God. Consideration would be as David’s harp, to charm down the
evil spirit of frowardness and discontent.
But what
should we consider?
That
which should make us submit to God in affliction, and say, ‘Thy will be
done,’ is:
(1) To
consider that the present state of life is subject to afflictions, as a
seaman’s life is subject to storms;
ferre quam
sortem omnes patiuntur nemo recusat
[no one escapes bearing the lot which all suffer]. ‘Man is born unto
trouble;’ he is heir apparent to it; he comes into the world with a cry,
and goes out with a groan.
Job 5: 7.
Ea lege nati
sumus [On that condition are we
born]. The world is a place where much wormwood grows. ‘He has filled me
with bitterness (Heb with bitternesses); he has made me drunken with
wormwood.’
Lam 3: 15. Troubles arise like sparks out of a furnace.
Afflictions are some of the thorns which the earth after the curse
brings forth. We may as well think to stop the chariot of the sun when
it is in its swift motion, as put a stop to trouble. The consideration
of a life exposed to eclipses and sufferings should make us say with
patience, ‘Thy will be done.’ Shall a mariner be angry that he meets
with a storm at sea?
(2)
Consider that God has a special hand in the disposal of all occurrences.
Job eyed God in his affliction. ‘The Lord has taken away;’
chap 1: 21. He did not complain of the Sabeans, or the
influences of the planets; he looked beyond all second causes; he saw
God in the affliction, and that made him cheerfully submit; he said,
‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Christ looked beyond Judas and Pilate
to God’s determinate counsel in delivering him up to be crucified, which
made him say, ‘Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt.’
Acts 4: 27, 28,
Matt 26: 39. It is vain to quarrel with instruments: wicked
men are but a rod in God’s hand. ‘O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.’
Isa 10: 5. Whoever brings an affliction, God sends it. The
consideration of this should make us say, ‘Thy will be done;’ for what
God does he sees a reason for. We read of a wheel within a wheel.
Ezek 1: 16. The outward wheel, which turns all, is
providence; the wheel within this wheel is God’s decree; this believed,
would rock the heart quiet. Shall we mutiny at that which God does? We
may as well quarrel with the works of creation as with the works of
providence.
(3)
Consider that there is a necessity for affliction. ‘If need be, ye are
in heaviness.’
1 Pet 1: 6. It is needful some things be kept in brine.
Afflictions are needful upon several accounts.
[1] To
keep us humble. Often there is no other way to have the heart low but by
being brought low. When Manasseh ‘was in affliction, he humbled himself
greatly.’
2 Chron 33: 12. Corrections are corrosives to eat out the
proud flesh. ‘Remembering my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul
is humbled in me.’
Lam 3: 19, 20.
[2] It
is necessary that there should be affliction; for if God did not
sometimes bring us into affliction, how could his power be seen in
bringing us out? Had not Israel been in the Egyptian furnace, God had
lost his glory in their deliverance.
[3] If
there were no affliction, then many parts of Scripture could not be
fulfilled. God has promised to help us to bear affliction.
Psa 37: 24, 39. How could we experience his supporting us in
trouble, if we did not sometimes meet with it? God has promised to give
us joy in affliction.
John 16: 20. How could we taste this honey of joy if we were
not sometimes in affliction? Again, he has promised to wipe away tears
from our eyes.
Isa 25: 8. How could he wipe away our tears in heaven if we
never shed any? So that, in several respects, there is an absolute
necessity that we should meet with affliction; and shall not we quietly
submit, and say, ‘Lord, I see there is a necessity for it?’ ‘Thy will be
done!’
(4)
Consider that whatever we feel is what we have brought upon ourselves;
we have put a rod into God’s hand to chastise us. Christian, God lays
thy cross on thee; but it is of thy own making. If a man’s field be full
of tares, it is what he has sown in it: if thou reapest a bitter crop of
affliction, it is what thou thyself hast sown. The cords that pinch thee
are of thy own twisting;
meme adsum qui
feci [it is myself here who made
them]. If children will eat green fruit, they may thank themselves if
they are sick; and if we eat the forbidden fruit, no wonder we feel it
gripe. Sin is the Trojan horse that lands an army of afflictions upon
us. ‘A voice publisheth affliction:’ ‘Thy way and thy doings have
procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness.’ ,Jer
4: 15, 18. If we by sin run ourselves into arrears with God,
no wonder if he set affliction as a sergeant on our back to arrest us.
This should make us patiently submit to God in affliction, and say, ‘Thy
will be done.’ We have no cause to complain of God; it is nothing but
what our sins have merited. ‘Hast not thou procured this unto thyself?’
Jer 2: 17. The cross, though it be of God’s laying, is of our
making. Say, then, as Micah (chap
7: 9), ‘I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I
have sinned against him.’
(5)
Consider that God is about to prove and try us. ‘Thou, O God, hast tried
us as silver is tried, thou laidst affliction upon our loins.’
Psa 66: 10, 11. If there were no affliction, how could God
have an opportunity to try men? Hypocrites can serve in a pleasure boat:
they can serve God in prosperity; but when we can keep close to him in
times of danger, when we can trust him in darkness, and love him when we
have no smile, and say, ‘Thy will be done,’ that is the trial of
sincerity! God is only trying us; and what hurt is there in that? What
is gold the worse for being tried?
(6)
Consider that in all our crosses God has kindness for us. As there was
no night so dark but Israel had a pillar of fire to give light, so there
is no condition so cloudy but we may see that which gives light of
comfort. David could sing of mercy and judgement.
Psa 101: 1. It should make our wills cheerfully submit to
God’s, to consider that in every path of providence we may see a
footstep of kindness.
There is
kindness in affliction when God seems most unkind.
[1]
There is kindness in that there is love in it. God’s rod and his love
may stand together. ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’
Heb 12: 6. As when Abraham lifted up his hand to sacrifice,
Isaac loved him; so when God afflicts his people, and seems to sacrifice
their outward comforts, he loves them. The husband man loves his vine
when he cuts it and makes it bleed; and shall not we submit to God?
Shall we quarrel with that which has kindness in it, which comes in
love? The surgeon binds the patient, and lances him, but no wise man
will quarrel with him, because it is in order to a cure.
[2]
There is kindness in affliction, in that God deals with us as children.
‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.’
Heb 12: 7. God has one Son without sin, but no son without
stripes. Affliction is a badge of adoption; it is
Dei sigillum,
says Tertullian, it is God’s seal by which he marks us for his own. When
Munster, that holy man, lay sick, his friends asked him how he did? He
pointed to his sores, saying,
Hae sunt
gemmae Dei, these are the jewels
with which God decks his children. Shall not we then say, ‘Thy will be
done’? Lord, there is kindness in the cross, thou uses us as children.
The rod of discipline is to fit us for the inheritance.
[3] In
kindness God in all our afflictions has left us a promise; so that in
the most cloudy providence the promise appears as the rainbow in the
cloud. Then we have God’s promise to be with us. ‘I will be with him in
trouble.’
Psa 91: 15. It cannot be ill with that man with whom God is;
I will be with him, to support, sanctify, and sweeten every affliction.
I had rather be in prison and have God’s presence, than be in a palace
without it.
We have
the promise that he will not lay more upon us than he will enable us to
bear.
1 Cor 10: 13. He will not try us beyond our strength; either
he will make the yoke lighter, or our faith stronger. Should not this
make us submit our wills to his, when afflictions have so much kindness
in them? In all our trials he has left us promises, which are like manna
in the wilderness.
[4] It
is great kindness that all troubles that befall us shall be for our
profit. ‘He for our profit.’
Heb 12: 10.
What
profit is in affliction?
Afflictions are disciplinary, they teach us. They are,
Schola crucis,
Schola lucis [the school of the
cross, the school of light]. Many psalms have the inscription, Maschil,
a psalm giving instruction; so affliction has the inscription Maschil
upon it, an affliction giving instruction. ‘Hear ye the rod.’
Micah 6: 9. Luther says he could never rightly understand
some of the psalms till he was in affliction. Gideon ‘took thorns of the
wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.’
Judges 8: 16. God by the thorns and briers of affliction
teaches us.
Affliction shows us more of our own hearts. Water in a glass vial looks
clear; but set it on the fire, and the scum boils up; so when God sets
us upon the fire, corruption boils up which we did not discern before.
Sharp afflictions are to the soul as a soaking rain to the houses; we
know not that there are holes in the house till the shower comes, but
then we see it drop down here and there; so we do not know what
unfortified lusts are in the soul till the storm of affliction comes;
then we find unbelief, impatience, carnal fear, dropping down in many
places. Affliction is a sacred
collyrium
[eye-salve], it clears our eye-sight: the rod gives wisdom.
Affliction brings those sins to remembrance which we had buried in the
grave of forgetfulness. Joseph’s brethren, for twenty years together,
were not at all troubled for their sin in selling their brother; but
when they came into Egypt, and began to be in straits, their sin came to
their remembrance, and their hearts smote them. ‘They said one to
another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother. ’
Gen 42: 21. When a man is in distress his sin comes fresh
into his mind; conscience makes a rehearsal-sermon of all the evils
which have passed in his life; his expense of precious time, his
Sabbath-breaking, his slighting of the word, come to remembrance, and he
goes out with Peter and weeps bitterly. Thus the rod gives wisdom, shows
the hidden evil of the heart, and brings former sins to remembrance.
There is
profit in affliction, as it quickens the spirit of prayer;
premuntur
justi ut pressi clament [the
righteous are afflicted that in their affliction they may pray]. Jonah
was asleep in the ship, but at prayer in the whale’s belly. Perhaps in a
time of health and prosperity we prayed in a cold and formal manner, we
put no coals to the incense, we scarcely minded our own prayers, and how
should God mind them? God sends some cross or other to make us stir up
ourselves to take hold of him. When Jacob was in fear of his life by his
brother, he wrestled with God, and wept in prayer, and would not leave
him till he blessed him.
Hos 12: 4. It is with many of God’s children as with those
who formerly had the sweating sickness in this land, it was a sleepy
disease, if they slept they died; therefore, to keep them waking, they
were smitten with rosemary branches; so the Lord uses affliction as a
rosemary branch to keep us from sleeping, and to awaken a spirit of
prayer. ‘They poured out a prayer, when thy chastening was upon them;’
now their prayer pierced the heavens.
Isa 26: 16. In times of trouble we pray feelingly, and we
never pray so fervently as when we pray feelingly; and is not this for
our profit?
Affliction is for our profit, as it is a means to purge out our sins.
‘By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.’
Isa 27: 9. Affliction is God’s physic to expel the noxious
humour, it cures the imposthume of pride, the fever of lust; and is not
this for our profit? Affliction is God’s file to fetch off our rust, his
flail to thresh off our husks. The water of affliction is not to drown
us, but to wash off our spots.
To be
under the black rod is profitable, in that hereby we grow more serious,
and are more careful to clear our evidences for heaven. In times of
prosperity, when the rock poured out rivers of oil, we were careless in
getting, at least clearing, our title to glory.
Job 29: 6. Had many no better evidences for their land than
they have for their salvation, they were in an ill case; but when an
hour of trouble comes, we begin to look after our spiritual evidences,
and see how things stand between God and our souls; and is it not for
our profit to see our interest in Christ more clear than ever?
Affliction is for our profit, as it is a means to take us more off from
the world. The world often proves not only a spider’s web, but a
cockatrice egg. Pernicious worldly things are great enchantments, they
are
retinacula spei [the tether of
hope]. Tertullian. They hinder us in our passage to heaven. If a clock
be overwound, it stands still; so, when the heart is wound up too much
to the world, it stands still to heavenly things. Affliction sounds a
retreat to call us off the immoderate pursuit of earthly things. When
things are frozen and congealed together, the only way to separate them
is by fire; so, when the heart and the world are congealed together, God
has no better way to separate them than by the fire of affliction.
Affliction is for our profit, as it is a refiner. It works us up to
further degrees of sanctity. ‘He for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness.’
Heb 12: 10. The vessels of mercy are the brighter for
scouring. As you pour water on your linen when you would whiten it, so
God pours the waters of affliction upon us to whiten our souls. The
leaves of the fig-tree and root are bitter, but the fruit is sweet; so
afflictions are in themselves bitter, but they bring forth the sweet
fruits of righteousness.
Heb 12: 11. This should make us submit to God and say, ‘Thy
will be done.’
[5]
There is kindness in affliction, in that there is no condition so bad
but it might be worse. When it is dusk, it might be darker. God does not
make our cross so heavy as he might: he does not stir up all his anger.
Psa 78: 38. He does not put so many nails in our yoke, so
much wormwood in our cup, as he night. Does God chastise thy body? He
might torture thy conscience. Does he cut thee short? He might cut thee
off. The Lord might make our chains heavier. Is it a burning fever? It
might have been the burning lake. Does God use the pruning knife to lop
thee? He might bring his axe to hew thee down. ‘The waters were up to
the ankles.’ Do the waters of affliction come up to the ankles? God
might make them rise higher; nay, he might drown thee in the waters. God
uses the rod when he might use the scorpion.
[6]
There is kindness in affliction, in that your case is not so bad as
others, who are always upon the rack, and spend their years with
sighing.
Psa 31: 10. Have you a gentle fit of the ague? Others cry out
of the stone and strangulation. Do you bear the wrath of men? Others
bear the wrath of God. You have but a single trial: others have them
twisted together. God shoots but one arrow at you, he shoots a shower of
arrows at others. Is there not kindness in all this? We are apt to say,
never any suffered as we! Was it not worse with Lazarus, who was so full
of sores that the dogs took pity on him, and licked his sores? Nay, was
it not worse with Christ, who lived poor and died cursed? May not this
cause us to say, ‘Thy will be done’? It is in kindness that God deals
not so severely with us as with others.
[7]
There is kindness in affliction, in that, if we belong to God, it is all
the hell we shall have. Some have two hells: they suffer in their body
and conscience, which is one hell, and another hell to come is
unquenchable fire. Judas had two hells, but a child of God has but one.
Lazarus had all his hell here; he was full of sores, but had a convoy of
angels to carry him to heaven when he died. Say, then, Lo! if this be
the worst I shall have, if this be all my hell, I will patiently
acquiesce: ‘Thy will be done.’
[8]
There is kindness in that God gives gracious supports in affliction. If
he strikes with one hand, he supports with the other. ‘Underneath are
the everlasting arms.’
Deut 33: 27. There is not the least trial, but if God would
desert us, and not assist us with his grace, we should sink under it; as
the frown of a great man, the fear of reproach. Peter was frighted at
the voice of a maid.
Matt 26: 69. Oh, therefore, what mercy is it to have Christ
strengthen us, and as it were, bear the heaviest part of the cross with
us! One said, I have no ravishing joys in my sickness, but I bless God I
have sweet supports; and should not this cause submission to God’s will,
and make us say, ‘Lo! if thou art so kind as to bear us up in
affliction, that we do not faint, put us into what wine press thou
pleases: ‘Thy will be done’?
[9]
There is kindness in affliction in that it is preventive. God, by this
stroke of his, would prevent some sin. Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ was
to prevent his being lifted up in pride.
2 Cor 12: 7. Affliction is sometimes sent for the punishing
of sin, at other times for its prevention. Prosperity exposes to much
evil: it is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and a full estate
without sinning. God’s people know not how much they are beholden to
their affliction; they might have fallen into some scandal, had not God
set a hedge of thorns in their way to stop them. What kindness is this!
God lets us fall into sufferings to prevent falling into snares; say
then, Lord, do as it seems good in thy sight, ‘Thy will be done.’
God by
affliction would prevent damnation. We are corrected in the world, ‘that
we should not be condemned with the world.’
1 Cor 11: 32. A man, by falling into briers, is saved from
falling into the river; so God lets us fall into the briers of
affliction that we may not be drowned in perdition. It is a great favour
when a less punishment is inflicted to prevent a greater. Is it not
clemency in the judge, when he lays some light penalty on the prisoner,
and saves his life? So it is when God lays upon us light affliction, and
saves us from wrath to come. As Pilate said, ‘I will chastise him, and
let him go;’ so God chastises his children and lets them go, frees them
from eternal torment.
Luke 23: 16. What is the drop of sorrow the godly taste, to
that sea of wrath the wicked shall be drinking to all eternity? oh! what
kindness is here! Should it not make us say, ‘Thy will be done’?
[10]
There is kindness in that God mixes his providence. In anger he
remembers mercy.
Hab 3: 2. Not all pure gall, but some honey mixed with it.
Asher’s shoes were iron and brass, but his foot was dipped in oil.
Deut 33: 24, 25. Affliction is the shoe of brass, but God
causes the foot to be dipped in oil. As the painter mixes with his dark
shadows bright colours, so the wise God mingles the dark and bright
colours, crosses and blessings. The body is afflicted, but within is
peace of conscience. Joseph was sold into Egypt, and put into prison;
there was the dark side of the cloud. Job lost all that ever he had, his
skin was clothed with boils and ulcers; here was a sad providence. But
God gave a testimony from heaven of Job’s integrity, and afterwards
doubled his estate. ‘The Lord gave Job twice as much;’ here was the
goodness of God towards Job.
Job 42: 10. God cheques his works of providence, and shall
not we submit and say, Lord, if thou art so kind, mixing so many bright
colours with my dark condition, ‘Thy will be done.’
[11]
There is kindness in affliction in that God moderates his stroke. ‘I
will correct thee in measure.’
Jer 30: 11. God in the day of his east wind will stay his
rough wind.
Isa 27: 8. The physician that understands the crisis and
temper of the patient will not give too strong physic for the body, nor
will he give one drachm or scruple too much: so God knows our frame, he
will not over-afflict; he will not stretch the strings of the viol too
hard, lest they break. And, is there no kindness in all this? Should not
this work our hearts to submission? Lord, if thou uses so much
gentleness, and correctest in measure, ‘Thy will be done.’
[12]
There is kindness in affliction in that God often sweetens it with
divine consolation. ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulation.’
2 Cor 1: 4. After a bitter potion he gives a lump of sugar.
God comforts in affliction. (1) Partly by his word. ‘This is my comfort
in my affliction, for thy word has quickened me.’
Psa 119: 50. The promises of the word are a shop of cordials.
(2) God comforts by his Spirit. Philip, land grave of Jesse, said that
in his troubles,
Se divinas
martyrum consolationes sensisse,
he felt the divine consolations of the martyrs. David had his
pilgrimage-songs, and Paul his prison-songs.
Psa 119: 54;
Acts 16: 25. Thus God candies our wormwood with sugar, and
makes us gather grapes off thorns. Some of the saints have such
ravishing joys in affliction, that they had rather endure their
sufferings than want their comforts. Oh, how much kindness there is in
the cross! In the belly of this lion is a honeycomb. Should it not make
us cheerfully submit to God’s will, when he lines the yoke with comfort,
and gives us honey at the end of the rod?
[13]
There is kindness in affliction in that God curtails and shortens it; he
will not let it lie on too long. ‘I will not contend for ever, for the
spirit should fail before me.’
Isa 57: 16. God will give his people a writ of ease and
proclaim a year of jubilee; the wicked may slough upon the backs of the
saints, but God will cut their traces.
Psa 129: 3, 4. The goldsmith will not let his gold lie any
longer in the furnace than till it be purified. The wicked must drink a
sea of wrath, but the godly have only a cup of affliction, and God will
say, ‘Let this cup pass away.’
Isa 51: 17. Affliction may be compared to frost, that will
break, and spring-flowers will come on. ‘Sorrow and sighing shall flee
away.’
Isa 35: 10. Affliction has a sting, but withal a wing: sorrow
shall fly away. This land-flood shall be dried up. If there be so much
kindness in the cross, and God will cause a cessation of trouble, say
then,
fiat voluntas tua, ‘Thy will be
done.’
[14]
There is kindness in affliction in that it is a means to make us happy.
‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.’
Job 5: 17. It seems strange to flesh and blood that
affliction should make us happy. When Moses saw the bush burning and not
consumed, he said ‘I will turn aside and see this great sight.’
Exod 3: 3. So here is a strange sight, a man afflicted, and
yet happy. The world counts them happy who can escape affliction, but
happy is the man whom God correcteth.
How do
afflictions contribute to our happiness?
As they
are a means of bringing us nearer to God. The loadstone of prosperity
does not draw us so near to God as the cords of affliction. When the
prodigal was pinched with want, he said, ‘I will arise, and go to my
father.’
Luke 15: 18. As the deluge brought the dove to the ark, the
floods of sorrow make us hasten to Christ.
Afflictions make us happy, as they are safe guides to glory. The storm
drives the ship into the harbour. Blessed storm that drives the soul
into the heavenly harbour. Is it not better to go through affliction to
glory, than through pleasure to misery? Not that afflictions merit
glory, but they prepare us for it. No cross ever merited but that which
Christ endured. Think, O Christian, what affliction leads to! it leads
to paradise, where are rivers of pleasure always running. Should not
this make us cheerfully submit to God’s will, and say, Lord, if there be
so much kindness in affliction, if all thou does is to make us happy,
‘Thy will be done.’
(7)
Consider that it is God’s ordinary course to keep his people to a bitter
diet-drink, and exercise them with great trials. Affliction is the
beaten road in which all the saints have gone. The lively stones in the
spiritual building have been all hewn and polished. Christ’s lily has
grown among the thorns. ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall
suffer persecution.’
2 Tim 3: 12. It is too much for a Christian to have two
heavens: it is more than Christ had. It has been ever the lot of saints
to encounter sore trials. It was of the prophets, ‘Take, my brethren,
the prophets for an example of suffering affliction.’
James 5: 10. It was of the apostles: for Peter was crucified
with his head downwards. James was beheaded by Herod, John was banished
into the isle of Patmos, the apostle Thomas was thrust through with a
spear, Matthias (who was chosen apostle in Judas’s room) was stoned to
death, and Luke, the evangelist, was hanged on an olive-tree. Those
saints, of whom the world was not worthy, passed under the rod.
Heb 11: 38. Christ’s kingdom is
regnum crucis
[the kingdom of the cross]. Those whom God intends to save from hell, he
does not save from the cross. The consideration of this should quiet our
minds in affliction, and make us say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Do we think
God will alter his course of providence for us? Why should we look for
exemption from trouble more than others? Why should we think to tread
only upon roses and violets, when prophets and apostles have marched
through briars to heaven?
(8)
Consider that what God has already done for thee, Christian, should make
thee content to suffer anything at his hand, and say, ‘Thy will be
done.’
[1] He
has adopted thee for his child. David thought it no small honour to be
the king’s son-in-law.
1 Sam 18: 18. What an honour is it to derive thy pedigree
from heaven, to be born of God! Why then art thou troubled, and
murmurest at every slight cross? As Jonadab said to Amnon, ‘Why art
thou, being the king’s son, lean?’
2 Samuel 13: 4. Why art thou, who art son or daughter to the
king of heaven, troubled at these petty things? What! the king’s son,
and look lean! Let it quiet thy spirit and bring thy will to God’s, that
he has dignified thee with honour, he has made thee his son and heir,
and will entail a kingdom on thee.
[2] God
has given thee Christ. Christ is
communis
thesaurus, a magazine or
storehouse of all heavenly treasure; a pearl of price to enrich, a tree
of life to quicken; he is the quintessence of all blessings. Why then
art thou discontented at thy worldly crosses? They cannot be so bitter
as Christ is sweet. As Seneca said once to Polybius, ‘Why dost thou
complain of hard fortune,
salvo Caesare
[while it is well with Caesar]? Is not Caesar thy friend?’ So, is not
Christ thy friend? He can never be poor who has a mine of gold in his
field; nor he who has the unsearchable riches of Christ. Say then,
‘Lord, Thy will be done;’ though I have my cross, yet I have Christ with
it. The cross may make me weep, but Christ wipes off all tears.
Rev 7:17.
[3] God
has given thee grace. Grace is the rich embroidery and workmanship of
the Holy Ghost; it is the sacred unction.
1 John 2: 27. The graces are a chain of pearl to adorn, and
beds of spices which make a sweet odour to God. Grace is a
distinguishing blessing; Christ gave Judas his purse, but not his
Spirit. May not this quiet the heart in affliction, and make it say,
‘Thy will be done’? Lord, thou hast given me that jewel which thou
bestowest only on the elect; grace is the seal of thy love, it is both
food and cordial, it is an earnest of glory.
(9)
Consider that when God intends the greatest mercy to any of his people,
he brings them low in affliction. He seems to go quite cross to sense
and reason, for when he intends to raise us highest, he brings us
lowest. As Moses’ hand, before it wrought miracles, was leprous; and
Sarah’s womb, before it brought forth the son of promise, was barren.
God brings us low before he raiseth us, as water is at the lowest ebb
before there is a spring-tide.
This is
true in a temporal sense. When God would bring Israel to Canaan, a land
flowing with milk and honey, he first led them through a sea and a
wilderness. When he intended to advance Joseph to be the second man in
the kingdom, he cast him first into prison, and the iron entered into
his soul.
Psa 105: 18. He usually lets it be darkest before the
morning-star of deliverance appears.
It is
true in a spiritual sense. When God intends to raise a soul to spiritual
comfort, he first lays it low in desertion.
Isa 12: 1. As the painter lays his dark colour first, and
then lays his gold colour on it, so God first lays the soul in the dark
of desertion, and then his golden colour of joy and consolation. Should
not this make us cheerfully submit, and say, ‘Thy will be done’? Perhaps
now God afflicts me, he is about to raise me, he intends me a greater
mercy than I am aware of.
(10)
Consider the excellency of this frame of soul, to lie at God’s feet and
say, ‘Thy will be done.’
A soul
that is melted into God’s will shows variety of grace. As the holy
ointment was made up of several aromatic spices, myrrh, cinnamon, and
cassia, so this sweet temper of soul, submission to God’s will in
affliction has in it a mixture of several graces.
Exod 30: 23. In particular, it is compounded of three graces,
faith, love, humility. [1] Faith. Faith believes God does all in mercy,
that affliction is to mortify some sin, or exercise some grace; that God
corrects in love and faithfulness.
Psa 119: 75. The belief of this causes submission of will to
God. [2] Love. Love thinks no evil.
1 Cor 13: 5. It takes all God does in the best sense, it has
good thoughts of God, and causes submission. Let the righteous God smite
me, says love, it shall be a kindness; yea, it shall be an excellent
oil, which shall not break my head. [3] Humility. The humble soul looks
on its sins, and how much he has provoked God; he says not his
afflictions are great, but his sins are great; he lies low at God’s feet
and says, ‘I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have
sinned against him.’
Micah 7: 9. Thus a submissive frame of heart is full of
grace; it is compounded of several graces. God is pleased to see so many
graces at once sweetly exercised; he says of such a Christian, as David
of Goliath’s sword, ‘None like that, give it me.’
1 Sam 21: 9.
He who
puts his
fiat et placet
[so be it; agreed] to God’s will, and says, ‘Thy will be done,’ shows
not only variety of grace, but strength of grace. It argues much
strength in the body to be able to endure hard weather, yet not to be
altered by it; so to endure hard trials, yet not faint or fret, shows
more than ordinary strength of grace. You that can say you have brought
your wills to God’s — God’s will and yours agree, as the copy and the
original — let me assure you, you have outstripped many Christians who
perhaps shine in a higher sphere of knowledge than you. To be content to
be at God’s disposal, to be anything that God will have us, shows a
noble, heroic soul. It is reported of the eagle that it is not like
other fowls, which, when they are hungry, make a noise, as the ravens
cry for food, but it is never heard to make a noise, though it wants
meat, because of the nobleness and greatness of its spirit; it is above
other birds, and has a spirit suitable to its nature: so it is a proof
of great magnitude of spirit, that whatsoever cross providence befall a
Christian, he does not cry and whine as others, but is silent, and lies
quietly at God’s feet. There is much strength of grace in such a soul,
nay, the height of grace. When grace is crowning, it is not so much to
say, ‘Lord, thy will be done;’ but when grace is conflicting, and meets
with crosses and trials, then to say, ‘Thy will be done,’ is a glorious
thing indeed, and prepares for the garland of honour.
(11)
Consider that persons are usually better in adversity than prosperity;
therefore stoop to God’s will. A prosperous condition is not always so
safe. True it is more pleasing to the palate, and every one desires to
get on the warm side of the hedge, where the sun of prosperity shines,
but it is not always best; in a prosperous state there is more burden,
plus
oneris. Many look at the shining
and glittering of prosperity, but not at the burden.
[1]
There is the burden of care. Therefore God calls riches ‘cares.’
Luke 8: 14. A rose has its prickles, so have riches. We think
them happy that flourish in their silks and cloth of gold, but we see
not the troubles and cares that attend them. A shoe may have silver lace
on it, yet pinch the foot. Many a man that goes to his day-labour, lives
a more contented life than he that has his thousands per annum.
Disquieting care is the
malus genius,
the evil spirit that haunts the rich man. When his chests are full of
gold, his heart is full of care how to increase, or how to secure what
he has gotten. He is sometimes full of care to whom he shall leave it. A
large estate, like a long, trailing garment, is often more troublesome
than useful.
[2] In a
prosperous estate there is the burden of account. Such as are in high
places, have a far greater account to give to God than others. ‘Unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.’
Luke 12: 48. The more golden talents any are entrusted with,
the more they have to answer for; the more their revenues, the more
their reckonings. God will say, I gave you a great estate, what have you
done with it? How have you employed it for my glory? I have read of
Philip, king of Spain, that when he was about to die, said, ‘O that I
had never been a king! O that I had lived a private, solitary life! Here
is all the fruit of my kingdom, it has made my accounts heavier!’ So,
then, may not this quiet our hearts in a low, adverse condition, and
make us say, ‘Lord, thy will be done!’ as thou hast given me a less
portion of worldly things, so I have a less burden of care, and a less
burden of account.
[3] A
prosperous condition has
plus periculi,
more danger in it. Such as are on the top of the pinnacle of honour, are
in more danger of falling; they are subject to many temptations; their
table is often a snare. Heliogabalus made ponds of sweet water to bathe
in; millions are drowned in the sweet waters of pleasure. A great sail
overturns the vessel: how many, by having too great sails of prosperity,
have had their souls overturned! It must be a strong head that bears
heady wine; he had need have much wisdom and grace that knows how to
bear a high condition. It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling,
and a full estate without sinning. Augur feared if he were full, he
should deny God and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Prov 30: 9. Prosperity breeds pride. The children of Korah
were in a higher estate than the rest of the Levites: they were employed
in the tabernacle about the most holy things of all; they had the first
lot; but as they were lifted up above others of the Levites in honour,
so in pride.
Numb 4: 4;
Josh 21: 10;
Numb 16: 3. When the tide rises higher in the Themes, the
boat rises higher; so, when the tide of an estate rises higher, many
men’s hearts rise higher in pride. Prosperity breeds security. Samson
fell asleep in Delilah’s lap, so do men in the lap of ease and plenty.
The world’s golden sands are quicksands. ‘How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God!’
Luke 18: 24. The consideration of this should make us submit
to God in adversity, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’ God sees what is best
for us. If we have less estate, we are in less danger; if we want the
honours of others, so we want their temptations.
(12)
Consider that, having our wills melted into God’s is a good sign that
the present affliction is sanctified. Affliction is sanctified when it
attains the end for which it was sent. The end why God sends affliction,
is to calm the spirit, to subdue the will, and bring it to God’s will;
when this is done, affliction has attained the end for which it came; it
is sanctified, and it will not be long ere it be removed. When the sore
is healed, the smarting plaister is taken off.
(13)
Consider how unworthy it is of a Christian to be froward and
unsubmissive, and not bring his will to God’s.
[1] It
is below the spirit of a Christian. The spirit of a Christian is
dovelike, meek, and sedate, willing to be at God’s disposal. ‘Not my
will, but thine be done.’
Luke 22: 42. A Christian spirit is not fretful, but humble;
not craving, but contented. See the picture of a Christian spirit in
Paul. ‘I know how to be abased, and how to abound.’
Phil 4: 12. He could be either higher or lower, as God saw
good; he could sail with any wind of providence, either a prosperous or
boisterous gale; his will was melted into God’s. To be of a cross spirit
that cannot submit to God, is unworthy of the spirit of a Christian; it
is like the bird that, because it is pent up and cannot fly in the open
air, beats itself against the cage.
[2] A
froward unsubmissive frame that cannot submit to God’s will, is unworthy
of a Christian’s profession. He professes to live by faith, yet repines
at his condition. Faith lives not by bread alone; it feeds on promises,
it makes future glory present; it sees all in God. When the fig-tree
does not blossom, faith can joy in the God of its salvation.
Hab 3: 17, 18. To be troubled at our present estate, because
low and mean, shows weak faith. Surely that is a weak faith, or no
faith, which must have crutches to support it. Oh, be ashamed to call
thyself believer, if thou canst not trust God, and acquiesce in his
will, in the deficiency of outward comforts.
[3] To
be of a froward unsubmissive spirit, that cannot surrender its will unto
God, is unworthy of the high dignities God has put upon a Christian. He
is a rich heir; he is exalted above all creatures that ever God made
except the angels; yea, in some sense, as his nature is joined in a
hypostatic union to the divine nature, he is above the angels. Oh! then,
how is he below his dignity, for want of a few earthly comforts, to be
froward, and ready to quarrel with the Deity! Is it not unworthy of a
king’s son, because he may not pluck such a flower, to be discontented
and rebel against his royal father? A Christian is espoused to Jesus
Christ. What! to be married to Christ, yet froward and unsubmissive!
Hast not thou enough in him? as Elkanah said to Hannah, ‘Am not I better
than ten sons?’
1 Sam 1: 8. Is not Christ better than a thousand worldly
comforts?
Omnia bona in
summo bono [All good things in
the highest good]. It is a disparagement to Christ, that his spouse
should be froward when she is matched to the crown of heaven.
[4] To
be of a froward unsubmissive spirit is unsuitable to the prayers of a
Christian. He prays, ‘Thy will be done.’ It is the will of God he should
meet with such troubles, whether sickness, loss of estate, crosses in
children, God has decreed and ordered it; why then is there not
submission? Why are we discontented at that for which we pray? It is a
saying of Latimer, speaking of Peter, who denied his Master, that he
forgot the prayer, ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ So, we often forget our
prayers, nay, contradict them, when we pray ‘Thy will be done.’ Now, if
in submissiveness to God be so unworthy of a Christian, should we not
labour to bring our wills to God’s, and say, Lord, let me not disparage
religion, let me do nothing unworthy of a Christian?
(14)
Consider that frowardness or in submissiveness of will to God, is very
sinful.
[1] It
is sinful in its nature. To murmur when God crosses our will, shows much
ungodliness. The apostle Jude speaks of ungodly ones; and that we may
better know who these are, he sets a mark upon them: ‘These are
murmurers;’
ver 15, 16. Some think they are not so ungodly as others,
because they do not swear, nor get drunk, but they may be ungodly in
murmuring. There are not only ungodly drunkards, but ungodly murmurers:
nay, this is the height of ungodliness, it is rebellion. Korah and his
company murmured against God, and see how the Lord interpreted it.
‘Bring Aaron’s rod to be kept for a token against the rebels.’
Num 17: 10. To be a murmurer, and a rebel, is, in God’s
account, all one. ‘This is the water of Meribah, because the children of
Israel strove with the Lord.’
Num 20: 13. How did they strive with God? They murmured at
his providence;
ver 3. What! wilt thou be a rebel against God? It is a shame
for a servant to strive with his master, but what is it for a creature
to strive with its Maker.
[2] To
quarrel with God’s providence, and be unsubmissive to his will, is
sinful in the spring and cause; it arises from pride. It was Satan’s
temptation, ‘ye shall be as gods.’
Gen 3: 5. A proud person makes a god of himself, he disdains
to have his will crossed; he thinks himself better than others,
therefore he finds fault with God’s wisdom, that he is not above others.
[3]
Quarrelsomeness or in submissiveness to God’s will, is sinful in the
concomitants of it.
It is
joined with sinful risings of the heart. Evil thoughts arise. We think
hardly of God, as if he had done us wrong, or, as if we had deserved
better at his hands. Passions begin to rise; the heart secretly frets
against God. Jonah was crossed in his will, and passion began to boil in
him. ‘He was very angry.’
Jonah 4: 1. Jonah’s spirit, as well as the sea, wrought and
was tempestuous. Insubmissiveness of will is joined with unthankfulness.
Because in some one thing we are afflicted, we forget all the mercies we
have. We deal with God just as the widow of Sarepta did with the
prophet; the prophet Elijah had been a means to keep her alive in the
famine, but as soon as her child died she quarrelled with the prophet,
‘O thou man of God, art thou come to slay my son?’
1 Kings 17: 18. So, we can be content to receive blessings at
the hand of God; but soon as in the least thing he crosses us in our
will, we grow touchy, and are ready in a passion to fly out against him.
[4]
Frowardness and in submissiveness to God’s will is evil in the effects.
It unfits for duty. It is bad sailing in a storm, and it is ill praying
when the heart is stormy and unquiet; it is well if such prayers do not
suffer shipwreck. In submissiveness of spirit, sometimes unfits for the
use of reason. Jonah was discontented because he had not his will; God
withered the gourd, and his heart fretted against him; and in the midst
of his passion, he spake no better than nonsense and blasphemy. ‘I do
well to be angry, even unto death.’
Jonah 4: 9. Surely he did not know well what he said. What!
to be angry with God and die for anger! He speaks as if he had lost the
use of his reason. Thus in submissiveness of will is sinful in its
nature, causes concomitants and effects. Should not this martyr our
wills, and bring them to God in everything, making us say, ‘Thy will be
done?’
(15)
Consider that in submissiveness to God’s will is very imprudent: we get
nothing by it, it does not ease us of our burden, but rather makes it
heavier. The more the child struggles with the parent, the more it is
beaten; so, when we struggle with God, and will not submit to his will,
we get nothing but more blows. Instead of having the cords of affliction
loosened, we make God tie them tighter. Let us then submit, and say,
‘Lord, thy will be done.’ Why should I spin out my own trouble by
impatience, and make my cross heavier? What got Israel by their
frowardness? They were within eleven days’ journey of Canaan, and fell
into murmuring, and God led them a march of forty years longer in the
wilderness.
(16)
Consider that being unsubmissive to God’s will in affliction, lays a man
open to many temptations. Where the heart frets against God by
discontent, there is good fishing for Satan in those troubled waters. He
usually puts discontented persons upon indirect means. Job’s wife
fretted (so far was she from holy submission) and she presently put her
husband upon cursing God. ‘Curse God, and die.’
Job 2: 9. What is the reason why some have turned witches,
and given themselves to the devil, but out of envy and discontent,
because they have not had their will! Others being under a temptation of
poverty, and not having their wills in living at such a high rate as
others, have laid violent hands upon themselves. Oh, the temptations
that men of discontented spirits are exposed to! Here, says Satan, is
good fishing for me.
(17)
Consider how far in submissiveness of spirit is from that temper of soul
which God requires in affliction! He would have us in patience possess
our souls.
Luke 21: 19, The Greek word for patience signifies to bear up
under a burden without fainting or fretting; but is frowardness in
affliction, and quarrelling with God’s will, Christian patience? God
would have us rejoice in affliction. ‘Count it all joy when ye fall into
divers temptations:’ that is, afflictions; count it joy, be as birds
that sing in winter.
James 1: 2. ‘Having received the word in much affliction,
with joy.’
1 Thess 1: 6. Paul could leap in his fetters, and sing in the
stocks.
Acts 16: 25. How far is a discontented soul from this frame!
He is far from rejoicing in affliction that has not learned to submit.
(18)
Consider what is it that makes the difference between a godly man and an
ungodly man in affliction, but this, that the godly man submits to God’s
will, the ungodly man will not submit. A wicked man frets and fumes, and
is like a wild bull in a net. In affliction he blasphemes God. ‘Men were
scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God.’
Rev 16: 9. Put a stone in the fire, and it flies in your
face; so stony hearts fly in God’s face. The more a stuff that is rotten
is rubbed, the more it frets and tears. When God afflicts the sinner, he
tears himself in anger, but a godly man is sweetly submissive to his
will. His language is, ‘Shall not I drink the cup which my Father has
given me?’ Spices when bruised, send out a sweet fragrant smell; so,
when God bruises his saints, they send out the sweet perfume of
patience. Servulus, a holy man, was long afflicted with the palsy, yet
his ordinary speech was Laudatur Deus, let God be praised. Oh, let us
say, ‘Thy will be done;’ let us bear that patiently which God inflicts
justly, or how do we show our grace? What difference is there between us
and the wicked in affliction?
(19)
Consider that not to submit to God’s providential will, is highly
provoking to him. Can we anger him more than by quarrelling with him,
and not let him have his will? Kings do not love to have their wills
opposed, though they may be unjust. How ill does God take it, when we
will be disputing against his righteous will? It is a sin which he
cannot bear. ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which
murmur against me?’
Numb 14: 27. May not God justly say, How long shall I bear
with this wicked person, who, when anything falls out cross, murmurs
against me? ‘Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye
have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you;’
ver 28. God swears against a murmurer, ‘As I live;’ and what
will he do as he lives? ‘Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness;’
ver 29. You see how provoking a discontented quarrelsome
spirit is to God; it may cost men their lives, nay, their souls. God
sent fiery serpents among the people for their murmuring.
1 Cor 10: 10. He may send worse than fiery serpents, he may
send hell fire.
(20)
Consider how much God bears at our hand, and shall not we be content to
bear something at his hand? It would tire the patience of angels to bear
with us one day. ‘The Lord is long suffering to us-ward.’
2 Pet 3: 9. How often we offend in our eye by envious impure
glances, and in our tongues by rash censuring, but God passes by many
injuries, and bears with us! Should the Lord punish us every time we
offend, he might draw his sword every day. Shall he bear so much at our
hands, and can we bear with nothing at his hand? Shall he be patient
with us, and we impatient with him? Shall he be meek, and we murmur?
Shall he endure our sins, and shall not we endure his strokes? Oh, let
us say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Lord, thou hast been the greatest sufferer,
thou hast borne more from me than I can from thee.
(21)
Consider that submitting our wills to God in affliction disappoints
Satan of his hope, and quite spoils his design. The devil’s end is in
all our afflictions to make us sin. The reason why Satan smote Job in
his body and estate was to perplex his mind, and put him into a passion;
he hoped that Job would have been discontented, and in a fit of anger,
not only have cursed his birthday, but cursed his God. But Job, lying at
God’s feet, and blessing him in affliction, disappointed Satan of his
hope, and quite spoiled his plot. Had Job murmured, he had pleased
Satan; had he fallen into a heat, and sparks of his anger had flown
about, the devil had warmed himself at the fire of Job’s passion; but
Job quietly submitted, and blessed God. Thus Satan’s design was
frustrated, and he missed his intent. The devil has often deceived us;
the best way to deceive him is by quiet submission to God in all things,
saying, ‘Thy will be done.’
(22)
Consider that to the godly the nature of affliction is quite changed. To
a wicked man it is a curse, the rod is turned into a serpent; affliction
to him is but an effect of God’s displeasure, the beginning of sorrow,
but the nature of affliction is quite changed to a believer; it is by
divine chemistry turned into a blessing; it is like poison corrected,
which becomes a medicine; it is a love token, a badge of adoption, a
preparation for glory. Should not this make us say, ‘Thy will be done’?
The poison of the affliction is gone; it is not hurtful, but healing.
This has made the saints not only patient in affliction, but send forth
thankfulness. When bells have been cast into the fire, they afterwards
make a sweeter sound; so the godly, after they have been cast into the
fire of affliction, sound forth God’s praise. ‘It is good for me that I
have been afflicted.’
Psa 119: 71. ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’
Job 1: 21.
(23)
Consider how many good things we receive from God, and shall we not be
content to receive some evil? ‘Shall we receive good at the hand of God,
and shall we not receive evil?’
Job 2: 10. In the Hebrew, shall we receive good from God, and
not evil? This may make us say, ‘Thy will be done.’ How many blessings
have we received at the hand of God’s bounty? We have been bemiracled
with mercy. What sparing, preventing, delivering mercy have we had! The
honeycomb of mercy has continually dropped upon us. His mercies ‘are new
every morning.’
Lam 3: 23. Mercy comes in as constantly as the tide; nay, how
many tides of mercies do we see in one day. We never feed, but mercy
carves every bit to us; we never drink but in the golden cup of mercy;
we never go abroad, but mercy sets a guard of angels about us; we never
lie down in bed, but mercy draws the curtains of protection close about
us. Shall we receive so many good things at the hand of God, and shall
we not receive evil? Our mercies far outweigh our afflictions; for one
affliction we have a thousand mercies. O then, let us submit to God, and
say, ‘Thy will be done.’ The sea of God’s mercy should swallow up a few
drops of affliction.
(24)
Consider that the conformity of our wills to God in affliction brings
much honour to the gospel. An unsubmissive Christian reproaches
religion, as if it were not able to subdue an unruly spirit. It is weak
physic which cannot purge out ill humours; and sure it is a weak gospel
if it cannot master our discontent, and martyr our wills. In
submissiveness is a reproach, but a cheerful resignation of our will to
God sets a crown of honour upon the head of religion, it shows the power
of the gospel, which can charm down the passions, and melt the will into
God’s will; therefore in Scripture, submissive patience is brought in as
an adorning grace. ‘Here is the patience of the saints.’
Rev 14: 12.
(25)
Consider the example of our Lord Jesus, how flexible and submissive was
he to his Father! He who taught us this prayer, ‘Thy will be done,’ had
learned it himself. Christ’s will was perfectly tuned to his Father’s
will; it was the will of his Father that he should die for our sins, and
he ‘endured the cross.’
Heb 12: 2. It was a painful, shameful, cursed death; he
suffered the very pains of hell equivalently, yet he willingly
submitted. ‘He opened not his mouth:’ he opened his side when the blood
ran out, but he opened not his mouth in repining; his will was resolved
into the will of his Father.
Isa 53: 7. ‘The cup which my Father has given me shall I not
drink it?’
John 18: 11. Now, the more our wills are subject to God’s
will in affliction, the nearer we come to Christ our pattern. Is it not
our prayer that we may be like Christ? By holy submission we imitate
him; his will was melted into his Father’s will.
(26)
Consider that to submit our wills to God, is the way to have our own
will. Every one would be glad to have his will. The way to have our will
is to resign it. God deals with us as we do with froward children, while
we fret and quarrel, he will give us nothing, but when we are
submissive, and say, ‘Thy will be done,’ he carves out mercy to us. The
way to have our will is to submit to his. David brought his will to
God’s. ‘Here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.’
2 Samuel 15: 26. After he resigned his will he had his will.
God brought him back to the ark and settled him again on his throne.
2 Samuel 19. Many a parent who has had a dear child sick,
when he could bring his will to part with it, has had his child
restored. Nothing is lost by referring our will to God, the Lord takes
it kindly from us, and it is the only way to have our will.
(27)
Consider that we may the more cheerfully surrender our souls to God when
we die, when we have surrendered our will to God while we live. Our
blessed Saviour had all along submitted his will to God. There was but
one will between God the Father and Christ. Christ in his lifetime
having given up his will to his Father, at death cheerfully gave up his
soul to him. ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’
Luke 23: 46. You that resign up your wills to God, may at the
hour of death comfortably bequeath your souls to him.
[2] The
second means to bring our will to God in affliction is, to study his
will.
(1) It
is a sovereign will. He has a supreme right and dominion over his
creatures, to dispose of them as he pleases. A man may do with his own
as he lists. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?’
Matt 20: 15. A man may cut his own timber as he will. God’s
sovereignty may cause submission; he may do with us as he sees good. He
is not accountable to any creature for what he does. ‘He giveth not
account of any of his matters.’
Job 33: 13. Who shall call God to account? Who is higher than
the highest?
Eccl 5: 8. What man or angel dare summon God to his bar? ‘He
giveth not account of any of his matters.’ God will take an account of
our carriage towards him, but he will give no account of his carriage
towards us. He has an absolute jurisdiction over us, the remembrance of
which, as a sovereign will, to do with us what he pleases, may silence
all discontents, and charm down all unruly passions. We are not to
dispute, but to submit.
(2)
God’s will is wise. He knows what is conducive to the good of his
people, therefore submit. ‘The Lord is a God of judgement,’ that is, he
is able to judge what is best for us; therefore rest in his wisdom and
acquiesce in his will.
Isa 30: 18. We rest in the wisdom of a physician; we are
content he should scarify and let blood, because he injudicious, and
knows what is most conducive to our health. If the pilot be skilful, the
passenger says, ‘Let him alone; he knows best how to steer the ship.’
Shall we not rest in God’s wisdom? Did we but study how wisely he steers
all occurrences, and how he often brings us to heaven by a cross wind,
it would much quiet our spirits, and make us say, ‘Thy will be done.’
God’s will is guided by wisdom. Should he sometimes let us have our
will, we should undo ourselves; did he let us carve for ourselves, we
should choose the worst piece. Lot chose Sodom because it was well
watered, and was as the garden of the Lord, but God rained fire upon it
out of heaven.
Gen 13: 10;
Gen 19: 24.
(3)
God’s will is just. ‘Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?’
Gen 18: 25. God’s will is
regula et
mensura [rule and measure], it
is the rule of justice. The wills of men are corrupt, therefore unfit to
give law; but God’s will is a holy and unerring will, which may cause
submission.
Psa 97: 2. God may cross, but he cannot wrong us; severe he
may be, not unjust; therefore we must strike sail, and say, ‘Thy will be
done.’
(4)
God’s will is good and gracious. It promotes our interest: if it be his
will to afflict us, he shall make us say at last, it was good for us
that we were afflicted. His flail shall only thresh off our husks. That
which is against our will shall not be against our profit. Let us study
what a good will God’s is, and we shall say,
fiat voluntas,
‘Thy will be done.’
(5)
God’s will is irresistible. We may oppose it, but we cannot hinder it.
The rising wave cannot stop the ship when it is in full sail, so the
rising up of our will against God cannot stop the execution of his will.
‘Who has resisted his will?’
Rom 9: 19. Who can stay the chariot of the sun in its full
career? Who can hinder the progress of God’s will? Therefore it is in
vain to contest with God; his will shall take place: there is no way to
overcome him but by lying at his feet.
[3] The
means of submission to God in affliction is, to get a gracious heart.
All the rules and helps in the world will do but little good till grace
is infused. The bowl must have a good bias, or it will not run according
to our desire; so till God put a new bias of grace into the soul, which
inclines the will, it never submits to him. Grace renews the will, and
it must be renewed before it be subdued. Grace teaches self-denial, and
we can never submit our will till we deny it.
[4] A
fourth means is to labour to have our covenant interest cleared, to know
that God is our God. ‘This God is our God.’
Psa 48: 14. He whose faith flourishes in assurance, that can
say God is his, will say, ‘Thy will be done.’ A wicked man may say, ‘God
has laid this affliction upon me, and I cannot help it;’ but a believer
says, ‘My God has done it, and I will submit.’ He who can call God his,
knows God loves him as he loves Christ, and designs his salvation;
therefore he will, with Paul, take pleasure in reproaches.
2 Cor 12: 10. In every adverse providence yield to God, as
the wax to the impression of the seal.
[5]
Another means to submission to God in affliction is, to get a humble
spirit. A proud man will never stoop to God; he will rather break than
bend; but when the heart is humble, the will is pliable. What a vast
difference was there between Pharaoh and Eli! Pharaoh cried out, ‘Who is
the Lord that I should obey his voice?’
Exod 5: 2. But Eli said, ‘It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good.’
1 Sam 3: 18. See the difference between a heart that is
swelled with pride, and that which is ballasted with humility! Pharaoh
said, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Eli, ‘It is the Lord.’ A humble soul has a deep
sense of sin, he sees how he has provoked God, he wonders he is not in
hell; therefore, whatever God inflicts, he knows it is less than his
iniquities deserve, which makes him say, ‘Lord, thy will be done.’ O,
get into a humble posture. The will is never flexible till the heart is
humble.
[6]
Another means is to get your hearts loosened from things below. Be
crucified to the world. Whence children’s frowardness but when you take
away their playthings? When we love the things of the world, and God
takes them away from us, we grow froward and unsubmissive to his will.
Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd; and when God smote it, he grew
froward, and because God had killed his gourd, he said, Kill me too.
Jonah 4: 8. He who is a lover of the world, can never pray
this prayer heartily: ‘Thy will be done;’ his heart boils with anger
against God; and when the world is gone, his patience is gone too. Get
mortified affections to these sublunary things.
[7] A
further means for submission to God’s will is to get some good
persuasion that your sin is pardoned.
Feri, Domine,
feri, quia peccate mea condonata sunt:
Lord, smite where thou wilt,’ said Luther, ‘because my sins are
pardoned.’ Pardon of sin is a crowning blessing. Has God forgiven my
sin? I will bear anything; I will not murmur but admire; I will not
complain of the burden of affliction, but bless God for removing the
burden of sin. The pardoned soul says this prayer heartily, ‘Thy will be
done.’ Lord, use thy pruning- knife, so long as thou wilt not come with
thy bloody axe to hew me down.
[8]
Another means is, if we would have our wills submit to God, not to look
so much on the dark side of the cloud as the light side; that is, let us
not look so much on the smart of affliction as the good. It is bad to
pore all on the smart, as it is bad for sore eyes to look too much on
the fire; but we should look on the good of affliction. Samson not only
looked on the lion’s carcass, but on the honeycomb within it. ‘He turned
aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was honey in the
carcass.’
Judges 14: 8. Affliction is the frightful lion, but see what
honey there is in it. It humbles, purifies, fills us with the
consolations of God; there is honey in the belly of the lion. Could we
but look upon the benefit of affliction, stubbornness would be turned
into submissiveness, and we should say, ‘Thy will be done.’
[9] As a
further means, let us pray to God that he would calm our spirits and
conquer our wills. It is no easy thing to submit to God in affliction.
There will be risings of the heart; therefore let us pray that what God
inflicts righteously, we may bear patiently. Prayer is the best spell or
charm against impatience. It does to the heart what Christ did to the
sea when it was tempestuous, he rebuked the wind, and there was a great
calm. So, when passions are up, and the will is apt to mutiny against
God, prayer makes a gracious calm in the soul. Prayer does to the heart
what sponge does to the cannon: when hot, it cools it.
[10]
Another means, if we would submit to God’s will in affliction, is to put
a good interpretation upon God’s dealings, and take all he does in the
best sense. We are apt to misconstrue God’s dealings, and put a bad
interpretation upon them, as Israel did. ‘Why have ye brought up the
congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die
there?’
Numb 20: 4. God has brought affliction upon us, we say,
because he hates us, and intends to destroy us; and such hard thoughts
of God cause sullenness and stubbornness. Oh, let us make a fair and
candid interpretation of providence. Does God afflict us? Say, perhaps
he intends us mercy in this: he will try us whether we will love him in
afflictions; he is about to mortify some sin, or exercise some grace; he
smites the body that he may save the soul. Could we put such a good
meaning upon God’s dealings, we should say, ‘Thy will be done.’ ‘Let the
righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness; it shall be an excellent
oil, which shall not break my head.’
Psa 141: 5.
[11] The
last means, if you would submit to God in affliction, is to believe that
the present condition is best for you. We are not competent judges. We
fancy it is best to have ease and plenty, and have the rock pour out
rivers of oil; but God sees affliction to be best. He sees our souls
thrive best upon the bare common. The fall of the leaf is the spring of
our grace. Could we believe that condition to be best which God carves
out to us, the quarrel would soon be at an end, and we should sit down
satisfied with what he does, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’
The Fourth Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘Give
us this day our daily bread.’
Matt 6: 11.
In this
petition there are two things observable — the order, and the matter.
I. First,
we pray, ‘Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,’
before we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ God’s glory ought to
weigh down all before it; it must be preferred before our dearest
concerns. Christ preferred his Father’s glory before his own as he was
man. ‘I honour my Father, I seek not mine own glory.’
John 8: 49, 50. God’s glory is that which is most dear to
him; it is the apple of his eye; all his riches lie here. As Micah said,
‘What have I more’ (Judges
18: 24), so I may say of God’s glory, what has he more? His
glory is the most orient pearl of his crown, which he will not part
with. ‘My glory will I not give to another.’
Isa 42: 8. God’s glory is more worth than heaven, more worth
than the salvation of all men’s souls; better kingdoms be demolished,
better men and angels be annihilated, than God lose any part of his
glory. We are to prefer God’s glory before our nearest concerns; but
before we prefer God’s glory to our private concerns, we must be born
again. The natural man seeks his own secular interest before God’s
glory. He is ‘of the earth, earthly.’
John 3: 31. Let him have peace and trading, let the rock pour
out rivers of oil, and let God’s glory go which way it will, he minds it
not. A worm cannot fly and sing as a lark; so a natural man, whose heart
creeps upon the earth, cannot admire God, or advance his glory, as a man
elevated by grace does.
Use. For
trial. Do we prefer God’s glory before our private concerns?
Minus te amat
qui aliquid tecum amat, quod non propter te amat
[He loves thee too little, who loves anything as well as thee which he
does not love for thy sake]. Augustine. (1) Do we prefer God’s glory
before our own credit?
Fama pari passu
ambulat cum vita [Credit keeps
pace with life]. Credit is a jewel highly valued; like precious
ointment, it casts a fragrant smell; but God’s glory must be dearer than
credit or applause. We must be willing to have our credit trampled upon,
that God’s glory may be raised higher. The apostles rejoiced ‘that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name;’ that they were graced
so far as to be disgraced for Christ.
Acts 5: 41. (2) Do we prefer God’s glory before our
relations? Relations are dear, they are of our own flesh and bones; but
God’s glory must be dearer. ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his
father and mother, he cannot be my disciple.’
Luke 14: 26. Here
odium in suos
[hatred towards one’s own kin] is
pietas in Deum
[devotion towards God]. ‘If my friends,’ says Jerome, ’should persuade
me to deny Christ, if my wife should hang about my neck, if my mother
should show me her breasts that gave me suck, I would trample upon all
and flee to Christ.’ (3) We must prefer God’s glory before estate. Gold
is but shining dust: God’s glory must weigh heavier. If it come to this,
I cannot keep my place of profit, but God’s glory will be eclipsed, I
must rather suffer in my estate than God’s glory should suffer.
Heb 10: 34. (4) We must prefer God’s glory before our life.
‘They loved not their lives unto the death.’
Rev 12: 2. Ignatius called his fetters his spiritual jewels;
he wore them as a chain of pearl. Gordius the martyr, said, ‘It is to my
loss, if you bate me anything of my sufferings. This argues grace to be
growing and elevated in a high degree. Who but a soul inflamed with love
to God can set God highest on the throne, and prefer him above all
private concerns?
II. The
second thing in the petition is, the matter of it. ‘Give us this day our
daily bread.’ The sum of this petition is, that God would give us such a
competency in outward things as he sees most excellent for us. It is
much like that prayer of Augur, ‘Feed me with food convenient for me;’
give me a viaticum, a bait by the way, enough to bear my charges till I
come to heaven, and it suffices.
Prov 30: 8. Let me explain the words, ‘Give us this day our
daily bread.’ The good things of this life are the gifts of God; he is
the donor of all our blessings. ‘Give us.’ Not faith only, but food is
the gift of God; not daily grace only is from God, but ‘daily bread;’
every good thing comes from God. ‘Every good gift is from above, and
comes down from the Father of lights.’
James 1: 17. Wisdom is the gift of God. ‘His God does
instruct him to discretion.’
Isa 28: 26. Riches are the gift of God. ‘I will give thee
riches.’
2 Chron 1: 12. Peace is the gift of God. ‘He maketh peace in
thy borders.’
Psa 147: 14. Health, which is the cream of life, is the gift
of God. ‘I will restore health unto thee.’
Jer 30: 17. Rain is the gift of God. ‘Who giveth rain upon
the earth.’
Job 5: 10. All comes from God; he makes the corn to grow, and
the herbs to flourish.
(1) See
our own poverty and indigence. We all live upon alms and upon free gifts
— ‘Give us this day.’ All we have is from the hand of God’s royal
bounty; we have nothing but what he gives us out of his storehouse; we
cannot have one bit of bread but from God. The devil persuaded our first
parents, that by disobeying God, they should ‘be as gods;’ but we may
now see what goodly gods we are, that we have not a bit of bread to put
in our mouths unless God give it us.
Gen 3: 5. That is a humbling consideration,
(2) Is
all a gift? Then we are to seek every mercy from God by prayer. ‘Give us
this day.’ The tree of mercy will not drop its fruit unless shaken by
the hand of prayer. Whatever we have, if it do not come in the way of
prayer, it does not come in the way of love; it is given, as Israel’s
quails, in anger. If everything be a gift, we do not deserve it, we are
not fit for this alms. And must we go to God for every mercy? How wicked
are they, who, instead of going to God for food when they want, go to
the devil, and make a compact with him; and if he will help them to a
livelihood, they will give him their souls? Better starve than go to the
devil for provender. I wish there were none in our age guilty of this,
who, when they are in want, use indirect means for a livelihood; they
consult with witches, who are the devil’s oracles, whose end will be
fearful, as that of Saul was, whom the Lord is said to have killed,
because he asked counsel at a familiar spirit.
(3) If
all be a gift, then it is not a debt, and we cannot say to God as that
creditor who said, ‘Pay me that thou owest.’
Matt 18: 28. Who can make God a debtor, or do any act that is
obliging and meritorious? Whatever we receive from God is a gift; we can
give nothing to him but what he has given to us. ‘All things come of
thee, and of thine own have we given thee. ’
1 Chron 29: 14. David and his people offered to the building
of God’s house gold and silver, but they offered nothing but what God
had given them. ‘Of thine own have we given thee.’ If we love God, it is
he that has given us a heart to love him; if we praise him, he both
gives us the organ of tongue, and puts it in tune; if we give alms to
others, he has given alms to us first, so that we may say, ‘We offer, O
Lord, of thine own to thee.’ Is all of gift, how absurd, then, is the
doctrine of merit? That was a proud speech of the friar, who said,
redde
mihi Vitam Eternam quam debes;
give me, Lord eternal life, which thou owest me. We cannot deserve a bit
of bread, much less a crown of glory. If all be a gift, then merit is
exploded, and shut out of doors.
(4) If
all be a gift, then take notice of God’s goodness. There is nothing in
us that can deserve or requite God’s kindness; yet such is the sweetness
of his nature, that he gives us rich provision, and feeds us with the
finest of the wheat. Pindar says it was an opinion of the people of
Rhodes that Jupiter rained down gold upon the city. God has rained down
golden mercies upon us; he is upon the giving hand. Observe three things
in his giving:
[1] He
is not weary of giving; the springs of mercy are ever running. He not
only dispensed blessings in former ages, but he gives gifts to us; as
the sun not only enriches the world with its morning light, but keeps
light for the meridian. The honeycomb of God’s bounty is still dropping.
[2] He
delights in giving. ‘He delighteth in mercy.’
Mic 7: 18. As the mother delights to give the child the
breast, God loves that we should have the breast of mercy in our mouth.
[3] God
gives to his very enemies. Who will send in provisions to his enemies?
Men spread nets for their enemies, God spreads a table. The dew drops on
the thistle as well as the rose; the dew of God’s bounty drops upon the
worst. God puts bread in the mouths that are opened against him. Oh, the
royal bounty of God! ‘The goodness of God endureth continually.’
Psa 52: 1. He puts jewels upon swinish sinners, and feeds
them every day.
(5) If
all be a gift, see the odious ingratitude of men who sin against their
giver! God feeds them, and they fight against him; he gives them bread,
and they give him affronts. How unworthy is this! Should we not cry
shame of him who had a friend always feeding him with money, and yet he
should betray and injure him? Thus ungratefully do sinners deal with
God; they not only forget his mercies, but abuse them. ‘When I had fed
them to the full, they then committed adultery.’
Jer 5: 7. Oh, how horrid is it to sin against a bountiful
God! — to strike the hands that relieve us! How many make a dart of
God’s mercies and shoot at him! He gives them wit, and they serve the
devil with it; he gives them strength, and they waste it among harlots;
he gives them bread to eat, and they lift up the heel against him.
‘Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.’
Deut 32: 15. They are like Absalom, who, as soon as David his
father kissed him, plotted treason against him.
2 Samuel 15: 10. They are like the mule who kicks the dam
after she has given it milk. Those who sin against their giver, and
abuse God’s royal favours, the mercies of God will come in as witnesses
against them. What smoother than oil? But if it be heated, what more
scalding? What sweeter than mercy? But if it be abused, what more
dreadful? It turns to fury.
(6) If
God gives us all, let his giving excite us to thanksgiving. He is the
founder and donor of all our blessings, and should have all our
acknowledgements. ‘Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither
they return again.’
Eccl 1: 7. All our gifts come from God, and to him must all
our praises return. We are apt to burn incense to our own drag, to
attribute all we have to our own second causes.
Hab 1: 16.
[1] Our
own skill and industry. God is the giver; he gives daily bread.
Psa 136: 25; he gives riches. ‘It is he that giveth thee
power to get wealth.’
Deut 8: 18.
Or [2],
We often ascribe the praise to second causes and forget God. If friends
have bestowed an estate, we look at them and admire them, but not God
who is the great giver; as if one should be thankful to the steward, and
never take notice of the master of the family that provides all. Oh, if
God gives all, our eye-sight, our food, our clothing, let us sacrifice
the chief praise to him; let not God be a loser by his mercies. Praise
is a more illustrious part of God’s worship. Our wants may send us to
prayer, nature may make us beg daily bread; but it shows a heart full of
ingenuity and grace to be rendering praises to God. In petition we act
like men, in praise we act like angels. Does God sow seeds of mercy? Let
thankfulness be the crop we bring forth. We are called the temples of
God, and where should God’s praises be sounded forth but in his temples?
1 Cor 3: 16; ‘While I live will I praise the Lord, I will
sing praises unto my God while I have any being.’
Psa 146: 2. God gives us daily bread, let us give him daily
praise. Thankfulness to our donor is the best policy; there is nothing
lost by it. To be thankful for one mercy is the way to have more.
Musicians love to sound their trumpets where there is the best echo, and
God loves to bestow his mercies where there is the best echo of praise.
Offering the calves of our lips is not enough, but we must show our
thankfulness by improving the gifts which God gives us, and as it were
putting them out to use. God gives us an estate, and we honour the Lord
with our substance.
Prov 3: 9. He gives us the staff of bread, and we lay out the
strength we receive by it in his service; this is to be thankful; and
that we may be thankful, let us be humble. Pride stops the current of
gratitude. A proud man will never be thankful; he looks upon all he has
either to be of his own procuring or deserving. Let us see all we have
is God’s gift, and how unworthy we are to receive the least favour; and
this will make us much in doxology and gratitude; we shall be silver
trumpets sounding forth God’s praise.
[1] Thus
we argue from the word “Give”, that the good things of this life are the
gifts of God; he is the founder and donor; and that it is not unlawful
to pray for temporal things. We may pray for daily bread. ‘Feed me with
food convenient for me.’
Prov 30: 8. We may pray for health. ‘O Lord, heal me; for my
bones are vexed.’
Psa 6: 2. As these are in themselves good things, so they are
useful for us; they are as needful for preserving the comfort of life as
oil is needful for preserving the lamp from going out. Only let me
insert two things:
(1)
There is a great difference between praying for tempera] things and
spiritual. In praying for spiritual things we must be absolute. When we
pray for pardon of sin, and the favour of God, and the sanctifying
graces of the Spirit, which are indispensably necessary to salvation, we
must take no denial; but when we pray for temporal things, our prayers
must be limited; we must pray conditionally, so far as God sees them
good for us. He sometimes sees cause to withhold temporal things from
us: when they would be snares, and draw our hearts from him; therefore
we should pray for these things with submission to God’s will. It was
Israel’s sin that they would be peremptory and absolute in their desire
for temporal things; God’s bill of fare did not please them, they must
have dainties. ‘Who shall give us flesh to eat?’
Numb 11: 18. God has given them manna, he fed them with a
miracle from heaven, but their wanton palates craved more: they must
have quails. God let them have their desire, but they had sour sauce to
their quails. ‘While their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of
God came upon them and slew them.’
Psa 78: 31. Rachel was importunate in her desires for a
child. ‘Give me children, or I die;’ God let her have a child, but it
was a Ben-oni, a son of my sorrow; it cost her her life in bringing
forth.
Gen 30: 1;
Gen 35: 18. We must pray for outward things with submission
to God’s will, else they come in anger.
(2) When
we pray for things pertaining to this life, we must desire temporal
things for spiritual ends; we must desire these things to be as helps in
our journey to heaven. If we pray for health, it must be that we may
improve this talent of health for God’s glory, and may be fitter for his
service; if we pray for a competency of estate, it must be for a holy
end, that we may be kept from the temptations which poverty usually
exposes to, and that we may be in a better capacity to sow the golden
seeds of charity, and relieve such as are in want. Temporal things must
be prayed for for spiritual ends. Hannah prayed for a child, but it was
for this end, that her child might be devoted to God. ‘O Lord, if thou
wilt remember me, and wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I
will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.’
1 Sam 1: 11. Many pray for outward things only to gratify
their sensual appetites, as the ravens cry for food.
Psa 147: 9. To pray for outward things only to satisfy
nature, is to cry rather like ravens than Christians. We must have a
higher end in our prayers, we must aim at heaven while we are praying
for earth. Must we pray for temporal things for spiritual ends, that we
may be fitter to serve God? Then how wicked are they who beg temporal
mercies that they may be more enabled to sin against God! ‘Ye ask that
ye may consume it upon your lusts.’
James 4: 3. One man is sick, and he prays for health that he
may be among his cups and harlots; another prays for an estate; he would
not only have his belly filled, but his barns; and he would be rich that
he may raise his name, or that, having more power in his hand, he may
now take a fuller revenge on his enemies. It is impiety joined with
impudence to pray to God to give us temporal things that we may be the
better enabled to serve the devil.
If we
are to pray for temporal things, how much more for spiritual? If we are
to pray for bread, how much more for the bread of life? If for oil, how
much more for the oil of gladness? If to have our hunger satisfied, much
more should we pray to have our souls saved. Alas! what if God should
hear our prayers, and grant us these temporal things and no more, what
were we the better? What is it to have food and want grace? What is it
to have the back clothed and the soul naked? To have a south land, and
want the living springs in Christ’s blood, what comfort could that be? O
therefore let us be earnest for spiritual mercies! Lord, not only feed
me, but sanctify me; give me rather a heart full of grace than a house
full of gold. If we are to pray for daily bread, the things of this
life, much more for the things of the life that is to come.
Some may
say we have an estate already, and what need we pray, ‘Give us daily
bread’?
Supposing we have a plentiful estate, yet we need make the petition,
‘Give us daily bread;’ and that upon a double account.
(1) That
we may have a blessing upon our food, and all that we enjoy. ‘I will
bless her provision.’
Psa 132: 15. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’
Matt 4: 4. What is that but a word of blessing? Though the
bread is in our hand, yet the blessing is in God’s hand, and it must be
fetched out of his hand by prayer. Well, therefore, may rich men pray,
‘Give us our bread,’ let it be seasoned with a blessing. If God should
withhold a blessing, nothing we have would do us good; our clothes would
not warm us, our food would not nourish us. ‘He gave them their request,
but sent leanness into their soul;’ that is, they pined away, and their
meat did not nourish them.
Psa 106: 15. If God should withhold a blessing, what we eat
would turn to bad humours, and hasten death. If God do not bless our
riches, they will do us more hurt than good. ‘Riches kept for the owners
thereof to their hurt.’
Eccl 5: 13. So that, granting we have plentiful estates, yet
we had need pray, ‘Give us our bread;’ let us have a blessing of what we
have.
(2)
Though we have estates, yet we had need pray, Give, that we may hereby
engage God to continue these comforts to us. How many casualties may
fall out! How many have had corn in their barn, and a fire has come on a
sudden and consumed all! How many have had losses at sea, and great
estates boiled away to nothing! ‘I went out full, and the Lord has
brought me home again empty.’
Ruth 1: 21. Therefore, though we have estates, yet we had
need pray, ‘Give us;’ Lord, give us a continuance of these comforts,
that they may not, before we are aware, take wings and fly from us. So
much for the first word in the petition, Give.
[2]
Secondly, us. ‘Give us.’
Why do
we pray in the plural, ‘Give us’? Why is it not said, give me?
To show
that we are to have a public spirit in prayer. We must not only pray for
ourselves, but others. Both the law of God and the law of love bind us
to this, we must love our neighbour as ourselves; therefore we must pray
for them as well as ourselves. Every good Christian has a fellow-feeling
of the wants and miseries of others, and he prays God would extend his
bounty to them; especially he prays for the saints. ‘Praying always for
all saints.’
Eph 6: 18. These are children of the family.
Use 1.
Should we have a public spirit in prayer? It reproves narrow spirited
men who move within their own sphere only; who look only at themselves,
and mind not the case of others; who leave others out of their prayers;
if they have daily bread, they care not though others starve; if they
are clothed, they care not though others go naked. Christ taught us to
pray for others, to say, ‘Give us;’ but selfish persons are shut up
within themselves, as the snail in the shell, and never speak a word in
prayer for others. These have no commiseration or pity; they are like
Judas, whose bowels fell out.
Use 2.
Let us pray for others as well as for ourselves.
Vir bonus
aliis prodest aeque ac sibi [A
good man benefits others as much as himself]. Spiders work only for
themselves, but bees for the good of others. The more excellent anything
is, the more it operates for the good of others. Springs refresh others
with their crystal streams; the sun enlightens others with its golden
beams: the more a Christian is ennobled with grace, the more he besieges
heaven with his prayers for others. If we are members of the mystic
body, we cannot but have a sympathy with others in their wants; and this
sympathy would lead us to pray for them. David had a public spirit in
prayer. ‘Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good.’
Psa 125: 4. Though he begins the Psalm with prayer for
himself, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God,’ yet he ends the Psalm with prayer
for others. ‘Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.’
Psa 51: 1, 18.
Use 3.
It is matter of comfort to the godly, who are but low in the world, that
they have the prayers of God’s people for them; who pray not only for
the increase of their faith, but their food, that God will give them
‘daily bread.’ He is like to be rich who has several stocks going; so
they are in a likely way to thrive who have the prayers of the saints
going for them in several parts of the world.
[3] The
third word in the petition is ‘This day.’ We pray not give us bread for
a month or a year, but a day. ‘Give us this day.’
Is it
not lawful to lay up for the future? Does not the apostle say, that he
who provides not for his family, ‘is worse than an infidel’?
1 Tim 5: 8.
True, it
is lawful to lay up for posterity; but our Saviour has taught us to
pray, ‘Give us this day our bread,’ for two reasons:
(1) That
we should not have anxious care for the future. We should not set our
wits upon the tenter, or torment ourselves how to lay up great estates;
if we do
vivere in diem
[live for the day], if we have
but enough to supply for the present, it should suffice. ‘Give us this
day:’ ‘Take no thought for the morrow.’
Matt 6: 34. God fed Israel with manna in the wilderness, and
he fed them from hand to mouth. Sometimes all their manna was spent; and
if anyone had asked them where they would have their breakfast next
morning, they would have said, ‘Our care is only for the day: God will
rain down what manna we need. If we have bread to-day, let us not
distrust God’s providence for the future.’
(2) Our
Saviour will have us pray, ‘Give us bread this day,’ to teach us to live
every day as if it were our last. We are not to pray, Give us bread
tomorrow, because we do not know whether we shall live till to-morrow;
but, ‘Lord, Give us this day;’ it may be the last day we shall live, and
then we shall need no more.
If we
pray for bread for a day only, then you who have great estates have
cause to be thankful. You have more than you pray for; you pray but for
bread for one day, and God has given you enough to suffice all your
life. What a bountiful God do you serve! Two things should make rich men
thankful. (1) God gives them more than they deserve. (2) He gives them
more than they pray for.
[4] The
fourth thing in the petition is, ‘Our bread.’
Why is
it called ‘Our bread,’ when it is not ours, but God’s?
(1) We
must understand it in a qualified sense; it is our bread, being gotten
by honest industry. There are two sorts of bread that cannot properly be
called our bread: the bread of idleness and the bread of violence.
The
bread of idleness. ‘She eateth not the bread of idleness.’
Prov 31: 27, An idle person lives at another body’s cost.
‘His hands refuse to labour.’
Prov 21: 25. We must not be as the drones, which eat the
honey that other bees have brought into the hive. If we eat the bread of
idleness, it is not our own bread. ‘There are some which walk
disorderly, working not at all; such we command that they work, and eat
their own bread.’
2 Thess 3: 11, 12. The apostle gives this hint, that such as
live idly do not eat their own bread.
The
bread of violence. We cannot call that ‘our bread’ which is taken away
from others; that which is gotten by stealth or fraud, or any manner of
extortion, is not ‘our bread,’ it belongs to another. He who is a bird
of prey, who takes away the bread of the widow and fatherless, eats the
bread which is not his, nor can he pray for a blessing upon it. Can he
pray God to bless that which he has gotten unjustly?
(2) It
is called our bread by virtue of our title to it. There is a twofold
title to bread. [1] A spiritual title. In and by Christ we have a right
to the creature, and may call it ‘our bread.’ As we are believers we
have the best title to earthly things, we hold all
in capite
[in chief]. ‘All things are yours;’ by what title? ‘ye are Christ’s.’
1 Cor 3: 23. [2] A civil title, which the law confers on us.
To deny men a civil right to their possessions, and make all common,
opens the door to anarchy and confusion.
See the
privilege of believers. They have both a spiritual and a civil right to
what they possess. They who can say, ‘our Father,’ can say ‘our bread.’
Wicked men that have a legal right to what they possess, but not a
covenant right; they have it by providence, not by promise; with God’s
leave, not with his love. Wicked men are in God’s eye no better than
usurpers; all they have, their money and land, is like cloth taken up at
the draper’s, which is not paid for; but the sweet privilege of
believers is, that they can say, ‘our bread.’ Christ being theirs, all
is theirs. Oh, how sweet is every bit of bread dipped in Christ’s blood!
How well does that meat relish, which is a pledge and earnest of more!
The meal in the barrel is an earnest of our angels’ food in paradise. It
is the privilege of saints to have a right to earth and heaven.
[5] The
fifth and last thing in this petition is, the thing we pray for, ‘daily
bread.’
What is
meant by bread?
Bread
here, by a synecdoche,
species pro
genere
[the particular for the whole class],
is put for all the temporal blessings of this life, food, fuel,
clothing, &c.
Quicquid nobis
condicut ad bene esse [Whatever
serves for our well-being]. Augustine. Whatever may serve for necessity
or sober delight.
Learn to
be contented with the allowance God gives. If we have bread and a
competence of outward things, let us rest satisfied. We pray but for
bread, ‘Give us our daily bread;’ we do not pray for superfluities, nor
for quails or venison, but for bread which may support life. Though we
have not so much as others, so full a crop, so rich an estate, yet if we
have the staff of bread to keep us from falling, let us be content. Most
people are herein faulty. Though they pray that God would give them
bread, as much as he sees expedient for them, yet they are not content
with his allowance, but over greedily covet more, and with the daughters
of the horse-leech, cry, ‘Give, give.’
Prov 30: 15. This is a vice naturally ingrafted in us. Many
pray Agur’s first prayer, ‘Give me not poverty,’ but few pray his last
prayer, ‘Give me not riches.’
Prov 30: 8. They are not content with ‘daily bread,’ but have
the dry dropsy of covetousness; they are still craving for more. ‘Who
enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied.’
Hab 2: 5. There are, says Agur, four things that say it is
not enough, the grave, the barren womb, the earth, the fire; and I may
add a fifth thing, the heart of a covetous man.
Prov 30: 15. Such as are not content with daily bread, but
thirst insatiably after more, will break over the hedge of God’s
command; and to get riches will stick at no sin.
Cui nihil
satis est, eidem nihil turpe
[The man for whom nothing is enough holds nothing shameful]. Tacitus.
Therefore covetousness is called a radical vice. ‘The root of all evil.’
1 Tim 6: 10.
Quid non
mortalie pectora cogis, auri sacra fames?
[Oh cursed hunger for gold, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of
men?] The Greek word for covetousness, pleonexia, signifies an
inordinate desire of getting. Covetousness is not only in getting riches
unjustly, but in loving them inordinately, which is a key that opens the
door to all sin. It causes (1) Theft. Achan’s covetous humour made him
steal the wedge of gold which cleft asunder his soul from God.
Josh 7: 21. (2) It causes treason. What made Judas betray
Christ? It was the thirty pieces of silver.
Matt 26: 15. (3) It produces murder. It was the inordinate
love of the vineyard that made Ahab conspire Naboth’s death.
1 Kings 21: 13. (4) It is the root of perjury. Men shall be
covetous; and it follows, truce-breakers.
2 Tim 3: 23. Love of silver will make men take a fall — oath,
and break a just oath. (5) It is the spring of apostasy. ‘Demas has
forsaken me, having loved this present world.’
2 Tim 4: 10. He not only forsook Paul’s company, but his
doctrine. Demas afterwards became a priest in an idol-temple, according
to Dorotheus. (6) Covetousness will make men idolaters. ‘Covetousness
which is idolatry.’
Col 3: 5. Though the covetous man will not worship graven
images in the church, yet he will worship the graven image in his coin.
(7) Covetousness makes men give themselves to the devil. Pope Sylvester
II sold his soul to the devil for a popedom. Covetous persons forget the
prayer, ‘Give us daily bread.’ They are not content with that which may
satisfy nature, but are insatiable in their desire. O let us take heed
of this dry dropsy! ‘Be content with such things as ye have.’
Heb 13: 5.
Natura parvo
dimittitur [Nature is satisfied
with little]. Seneca.
Use.
That we may be content with ‘daily bread,’ that which God in his
providence carves out to us, and not covet or murmur, take the following
considerations:
(1) God
can bless a little. ‘He shall bless thy bread and thy water.’
Exod. 23: 25. A blessing puts sweetness into the least morsel
of bread, it is like sugar in wine. ‘I will bless her provision.’
Psa 132: 15. Daniel, and the three children, ate pulse, which
was a coarse fare, and yet they looked fairer than those who ate of the
king’s meat.
Dan 1: 12, 15. Whence was this? God infused a more than
ordinary blessing into the pulse. His blessing was better than the
king’s venison. A piece of bread with God’s love is angels’ food.
(2) God,
who gives us our allowance, knows what quantity of outward things is
fittest for us. A smaller provision may be fitter for some; bread may be
better than dainties. Everyone cannot bear a high condition, any more
than a weak brain can bear heavy wine. Has any one a larger proportion
of worldly things? God sees he can better manage such a condition; he
can order his affairs with discretion, which perhaps another cannot. As
he has a large estate, so he has a large heart to do good, which perhaps
another has not. This should make us content with a shorter bill of
fare. God’s wisdom is what we must acquiesce in; he sees what is best
for every one. That which is good for one, may be bad for another.
(3) In
being content with daily bread, though less than others have, much grace
is seen. All the graces act their part in a contented soul. As the holy
ointment was made up of several spices, myrrh, cinnamon, and cassia, so
contentment has in it a mixture of several graces.
Exod 30: 23. There is faith. A Christian believes that God
does all for the best. There is love, which thinks no evil, but takes
all God does in good part. There is patience, submitting cheerfully to
what God orders wisely. God is much pleased to see so many graces at
once sweetly exercised, like so many bright stars shining in a
constellation.
(4) To
be content with daily bread, though but sparing, keeps us from many
temptations which discontented persons fall into. When the devil sees a
person just of Israel’s humour, not content with manna, but must have
quails, he says, Here is good fishing for me. Satan often tempts
discontented ones to murmuring, and to unlawful means, cozening and
defrauding; and he who increases an estate by indirect means, stuffs his
pillow with thorns, so that his head will lie very uneasy when he comes
to die. If you would be freed from the temptations which discontent
exposes to, be content with such things as ye have, bless God for ‘daily
bread.’
(5) What
a rare and admirable thing is it to be content with ‘daily bread,’
though it be coarse, and though there be but little of it! Though a
Christian has but a
viaticum,
a little meal in the barrel, yet he has that which gives him content.
What he has not in the cupboard, he has in the promise. That bit of
bread he has is with the love of God, and that sauce makes it relish
sweet. The little oil in the cruse is a pledge and earnest of the
dainties he shall have in the kingdom of God, and this makes him
content. What a rare and wonderful thing is this! It is no wonder to be
content in heaven, when we are at the fountain-head, and have all things
we can desire; but to be content when God keeps us to short commons, and
we have scarcely ‘daily bread,’ is a wonder indeed. When grace is
crowning, it is no wonder to be content; but when grace is conflicting
with straits, to be content is a glorious thing, and deserves the
garland of praise.
(6) To
make us content with ‘daily bread,’ though God straitens us in our
allowance, think seriously of the danger there is in a high, prosperous
condition. Some are not content with ‘daily bread,’ but desire to have
their barns filled, and heap up silver as dust; which proves a snare to
them. ‘They that will be rich fall into a snare.’
1 Tim 6: 9. Pride, idleness, wantonness, are three worms that
usually breed of plenty. Prosperity often deafens the ear against God.
‘I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear.’
Jer 22: 21. Soft pleasures harden the heart. In the body, the
more fat, the less blood in the veins, and the less spirits; so the more
outward plenty, often the less piety. Prosperity has its honey, and also
its sting; like the full of the moon, it makes many lunatic. The
pastures of prosperity are rank and surfeiting. Anxious care is the
mains genius, the evil spirit that haunts the rich man, and will not let
him be quiet. When his chests are full of money, his heart is full of
care, either how to manage or how to increase, or how to secure what he
has gotten. Sunshine is pleasant, but sometimes it scorches. Should it
not make us content with what allowance God gives, if we have daily
bread, though not dainties? Think of the danger of prosperity! The
spreading of a full table may be the spreading of a snare. Many have
been sunk to hell with golden weights. The ferry-man takes in all
passengers, that he may increase his fare, and sometimes to the sinking
of his boat. ‘They that will be rich fall into many hurtful lusts, which
drown men in perdition.’
1 Tim 6: 9. The world’s golden sands are quicksands, which
should make us take our daily bread, though it be but coarse,
contentedly. What if we have less food, we have less snare; if less
dignity, less danger. As we lack the rich provisions of the world, so we
lack the temptations.
(7) If
God keeps us to a spare diet, if he gives us less temporal, he has made
it up in spirituals; he has given us the pearl of price, and the holy
anointing. The pearl of price, the Lord Jesus, he is the quintessence of
all good things. To give us Christ, is more than if God had given us all
the world. He can make more worlds, but he has no more Christs to
bestow; he is such a golden mine, that the angels cannot dig to the
bottom.
Eph 3: 8. From Christ we may have justification, adoption,
and coronation. The sea of God’s mercy in giving us Christ, says Luther,
should swallow up all our wants. God has anointed us with the graces,
the holy unction of his Spirit. Grace is a seed of God, a blossom of
eternity. The graces are the impressions of the divine nature, stars to
enlighten us, spices to perfume us, diamonds to enrich us; and if God
has adorned the hidden man of the heart with these sacred jewels, it may
well make us content, though we have but short commons, and that coarse
too. God has given his people better things than corn and wine; he has
given them that which he cannot give in anger, and which cannot stand
with reprobation, and they may say as David, ‘The lines are fallen unto
me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’
Psa 16: 6. Didimus was a blind man, but very holy; Anthony
asked him, if he was not troubled for the want of his eyes, and he told
him he was; Anthony replied, ‘Why are you troubled? You want that which
flies and birds have, but you have that which angels have.’ So I say to
Christians, if God has not given you the purse, he has given you his
Spirit. If you want that which rich men have, God has given you that
which angels have, and are you not content?
(8) If
you have but daily bread enough to suffice nature, be content. Consider
it is not having abundance that always makes life comfortable, it is not
a great cage that will make the bird sing. A competency may breed
contentment, when having more may make one less content. A staff may
help the traveller, but a bundle of staves will be a burden to him. A
great estate may be like a long trailing garment, more burdensome than
useful. Many that have great incomes and revenues have not so much
comfort in their lives as some that go to hard labour.
(9) If
you have less daily bread, you will have less account to give. The
riches and honours of this world, like alchemy, make a great show, and
with their glistening, dazzle men’s eyes; but they do not consider the
great account they must give to God. ‘Give an account of thy
stewardship.’
Luke 16: 2. What good hast thou done with thy estate? Hast
thou, as a good steward, traded thy golden talents for God’s glory? Hast
thou honoured the Lord with thy substance? The greater revenues the
greater reckonings. Let it quiet and content us, that if we have but
little daily bread, our account will be less.
(10) You
that have but a small competence in outward things, may be content to
consider how much you look for hereafter. God keeps the best wine till
last. What though now you have a small pittance, and are fed from hand
to mouth? You look for an eternal reward, white robes, sparkling crowns,
rivers of pleasure. A son is content though his father give him but now
and then a little money, as long as he expects his father should settle
all his land upon him at last; so if God give you but little at present,
yet you look for that glory which eye has not seen. The world is but a
diversorium, a great inn. If God give you sufficient to pay for your
charges in your inn, you may be content, you shall have enough when you
come to your own country.
How may
we be content, though God cut us short in these externals; though we
have but little daily bread, and coarse?
(1)
Think with yourselves that some have been much lower than you, who have
been better than you. Jacob, a holy patriarch, went over Jordan with his
staff, and lived in a mean condition a long time; he had the clouds for
his canopy, and a stone for his pillow. Moses, who might have been rich,
as some historians say, that Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him for her son,
because king Pharaoh had no heir, and so Moses was like to have come to
the crown, yet leaving the honours of the court, in what a low, mean
condition did he live in, when he went to Jethro, his father-in-law!
Musculus, famous for learning and piety, was put to great straits, even
to dig in a town ditch, and had scarcely daily bread, and yet was
content! Nay, Christ, who was heir of all, for our sakes became poor.
2 Cor 8: 9. Let all these examples make us content.
(2) Let
us labour to have the interest cleared between God and our souls. He who
can say, ‘My God,’ has enough to rock his heart quiet in the lowest
condition. What can he want who has El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient God
for his portion? Though the nether springs fail, yet he has the upper
springs; though the bill of fare grow short, yet an interest in God is a
pillar of support to us, and we may, with David, encourage ourselves in
the Lord our God.
The Fifth Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’
Matt 6: 12.
Before I
speak strictly to the words, I shall notice
[1] That
in this prayer there is but one petition for the body, ‘Give us our
daily bread,’ but two petitions for the soul, ‘Forgive us our
trespasses, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Observe hence, that we are to be more careful for our souls than for our
bodies, more careful for grace than for daily bread; and more desirous
to have our souls saved than our bodies fed. In the law, the weight of
the sanctuary was twice as big as the common weight, to typify that
spiritual things must be of far greater weight with us than earthly. The
excellency of the soul may challenge our chief care about it.
(1) The
soul is an immaterial substance; it is a heavenly spark, lighted by the
breath of God. It is the more refined and spiritual part of man; it is
of an angelic nature; it has some faint resemblance to God. The body is
the more humble part, it is the cabinet only, though curiously wrought,
but the soul is the jewel; it is near akin to angels; it is capax
beatitudinis, capable of communion with God in glory.
(2) It
is immortal; it never expires. It can act without the body. Though the
body dissolve into dust, the soul lives.
Luke 12: 4. The essence of the soul is eternal; it has a
beginning but no end. Surely, then, if the soul be so ennobled and
dignified, more care should be taken about it than the body. Hence, we
make but one petition for the body, but two petitions for the soul.
Use 1.
They are reproved who take more care for their bodies than their souls.
The body is but the brutish part, yet they take more care, (1) About
dressing their bodies than their souls. They put on the best clothes,
are dressed in the richest garb; but care not how naked or undressed
their souls are. They do not get the jewels of grace to adorn the inner
man. (2) About feeding their bodies than their souls. They are caterers
for the flesh, they make provision for the flesh, they have the best
diet, but let their souls starve; as if one should feed his hawk, but
let his child starve. The body must sit in the chair of state, but the
soul, that princely thing, is made a lackey to run on the devil’s
errands.
Use 2.
Let us be more careful for our souls.
Omnia si
perdas, animam servare memento
[If you lose everything, remember to keep your soul]. If it be well with
the soul, it shall be well with the body. If the soul be gracious, the
body shall be glorious, for it shall shine like Christ’s body.
Therefore, it is wisdom to look chiefly to the soul, because in saving
the soul we secure the happiness of the body. And we cannot show our
care for our souls more than by improving all seasons for their good; as
reading, praying, hearing, and meditating. Oh, look to the main chance;
let the soul be chiefly tended! The loss of the soul would be fatal.
Other losses may be made up again. If one loses his health, he may
recover it again; if he loses his estate, he may make it up again; but
if he lose his soul, the loss is irreparable. The merchant who ventures
all he has in one ship, if that be lost, is quite ruined.
[2] As
soon as Christ had said, ‘Give us daily bread,’ he adds, ‘and forgive
us.’ He joins the petition of forgiveness of sin immediately to the
other of daily bread, to show us that though we have daily bread, yet
all is nothing without forgiveness. If our sins be not pardoned, we can
take but little comfort in our food. As a man that is condemned takes
little comfort from the meat you bring him in prison, without a pardon;
so, though we have daily bread, yet it will do us no good unless sin be
forgiven. What though we should have manna, which was called angels’
food, though the rock should pour out rivers of oil, all is nothing
unless sin be done away. When Christ had said, ‘Give us our daily
bread,’ he presently added, and ‘forgive us our trespasses.’ Daily bread
may satisfy the appetite, but forgiveness of sin satisfies the
conscience.
Use 1.
It condemns the folly of most people, who, if they have daily bread, the
delicious things of this life, look no further; they are not solicitous
for the pardon of sin. If they have that which feeds them, they look not
after that which should crown them. Alas! you may have daily bread, and
yet perish. The rich man in the gospel had daily bread, nay, he had
dainties, he fared ’sumptuously every day;’ but ‘in hell he lift up his
eyes.’
Luke 16: 19, 23.
Use 2.
Let us pray that God would not give us our portion in this life, that he
would not put us off with daily bread, but that he would give
forgiveness. This is the sauce that would make our bread relish the
sweeter. A speech of Luther,
valde
protestatussum me nolle sic satiari ab illo.
I did solemnly protest that God should not put me off with outward
things. Be not content with that which is common to the brute creatures,
the dog or elephant, to have your hunger satisfied; but, besides daily
bread, get pardon of sin. A drop of Christ’s blood, or a dram of
forgiving mercy, is infinitely more valuable than all the delights under
the sun. Daily bread may make us live comfortably, but forgiveness of
sins will make us die comfortably. I come now to the words of the
petition, ‘Forgive us our debts,’ etc.
Here is
a term given to sin, it is a debt; the confession of the debt, ‘our
debts;’ a prayer, ‘forgive us;’ and a condition on which we desire
forgiveness, ‘as we forgive our debtors.’
1. The
first thing is the term given to sin; it is a debt. That which is here
called a debt is called sin. ‘Forgive us our sins.’
Luke 11: 4. So, then, sin is a debt, and every sinner is a
debtor. Sin is compared to a debt of ten thousand talents.
Matt 18:24.
Why is
sin called a debt?
Because
it fitly resembles it. (1) A debt arises upon non- payment of money, or
the not paying that which is one’s due. We owe to God exact obedience,
and not paying what is due, we are in debt. (2) In case of non-payment,
the debtor goes to prison; so, by our sin, we become guilty, and are
exposed to God’s curse of damnation. Though he grants a sinner a
reprieve for a time, yet he remains bound to eternal death if the debt
be not forgiven.
In what
sense is sin the worst debt?
(1)
Because we have nothing to pay. If we could pay the debt, what need to
pray, ‘forgive us’? We cannot say, as he in the gospel, ‘Have patience
with me, and I will pay thee all;’ we can pay neither principal nor
interest. Adam made us all bankrupts. In innocence Adam had a stock of
original righteousness to begin the world with, he could give God
personal and perfect obedience; but, by his sin, he was quite broken,
and beggared all his posterity. We have nothing to pay; all our duties
are mixed with sin, and so we cannot pay God in current coin.
(2) Sin
is the worst debt, because it is against an infinite majesty. An offence
against the person of a king, is
crimen laesae
majestatis [the crime of high
treason], it enhances and aggravates the crime. Sin wrongs God, and so
is an infinite offence. The schoolmen say,
omne peccatum
contra conscientiam est quasi deicidium,
i.e., every known sin strikes at the Godhead. The sinner would not only
unthrone God, but ungod him, which makes the debt infinite.
(3) Sin
is the worst debt, because it is not a single, but a multiplied debt.
Forgive us ‘our debts;’ we have debt upon debt. ‘Innumerable evils have
compassed me about.’
Psa 40: 12. We may as well reckon all the drops in the sea,
as reckon all our spiritual debts; we cannot tell how much we owe. A man
may know his other debts, but he cannot number his spiritual debts.
Every vain thought is a sin. ‘The thought of foolishness is sin.’
Prov 24: 9. And what swarms of vain thoughts have we! The
first rising of corruption, though it never blossom into outward act, is
a sin; then, ‘who can understand his errors?’ We do not know how much we
owe to God.
(4) Sin
is the worst debt; because it is an inexcusable debt in two respects;
[1] There is no denying the debt. Other debts men may deny. If the money
be not paid before witnesses, or if the creditor lose the bond, the
debtor may say he owes him nothing; but there is no denying the debt of
sin. If we say we have no sin, God can prove the debt. ‘I will set [thy
sins] in order before thine eyes.’
Psa 50: 21. God writes down our debts in his book of
remembrance, and his book, and the book of conscience exactly agree: so
that the debt cannot be denied.
[2]
There is no shifting off the debt. Other debts may be shifted off. We
may get friends to pay them, but neither man nor angel can pay this debt
for us. If all the angels in heaven should make a purse, they cannot pay
one of our debts. In other debts men may get a protection, so that none
can touch their persons, or sue them for it; but who shall give us a
protection from God’s justice? ‘There is none that can deliver out of
thine hand.’
Job 10: 7. Indeed, the Pope pretends that his pardon shall be
men’s protection, and God’s justice shall not sue them: but that is a
forgery, and cannot be pleaded at God’s tribunal. Other debts, if the
debtor dies in prison, cannot be recovered: death frees him from debt;
but if we die in debt to God, he knows how to recover it. As long as we
have souls to distrain on, God will not lose his debt. Not the death of
the debtor, but the death of the Surety, pays a sinner’s debt. In other
debts men may flee from their creditor, leave their country, and go into
foreign parts, and the creditor cannot find them; but we cannot flee
from God. He knows where to find all his debtors. ‘Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy right hand shall hold me.’
Psa 139: 7, 9, 10.
(3) Sin
is the worst debt, because it carries men, in case of non-payment, to a
worse prison than any upon earth, even to a fiery prison; and the sinner
is laid in worse chains, chains of darkness, where he is bound under
wrath for ever.
Wherein
have we the character of bad debtors?
(1) A
bad debtor does not love to be called to account. There is a day coming
when God will call his debtors to account. ‘So then, every one shall
give an account of himself to God.’
Rom 14: 12. But we play away the time, and do not love to
hear of the day of judgement; we love not that ministers should put us
in mind of our debts, or speak of the day of reckoning. What a
confounding word will that be to a self-secure sinner, redde rationem,
give an account of your stewardship!
(2) A
bad debtor is unwilling to confess his debt, he will put it off, or make
less of it; so we are more willing to excuse sin than confess it. How
hardly was Saul brought to confession. ‘I have obeyed the voice of the
Lord, but the people took of the spoil.’
1 Sam 15: 20, 21. He rather excuses his sin than confesses
it.
(3) A
bad debtor is apt to hate his creditor. Debtors wish their creditors
dead; so wicked men naturally hate God, because they think he is a just
judge, and will call them to account. In the Greek they are called God
haters. A debtor does not love to see his creditor.
Use 1.
They are reproved who are loath to be in debt, but make no reckoning of
sin, which is the greatest debt; they use no means to get out of it, but
run further in debt to God. We should think it strange, if writs or
warrants were out against a man, or a judgement granted to seize his
body and estate, and yet he was wholly regardless and unconcerned. God
has a writ out against a sinner, nay, many writs, for swearing,
drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and yet the sinner eats and drinks, and
is quiet, as if he were not in debt. What an opiate has Satan given men!
Use 2.
If sin be a debt, let us be humbled. The name of debt, says Ambrose, is
grave vocabulum, grievous. Men in debt are full of shame, they lie hid,
and do not care to be seen. A debtor is ever in fear of arrest.
Canis latrat
et cor palpitat [A dog barks and
his heart pounds]. Oh! let us blush and tremble, who are so deeply
indebted to God. A Roman dying in debt, Augustus the emperor sent to buy
his pillow, because, said he, I hope that will have some virtue to make
me sleep, on which a man so much in debt could take his ease. We that
have so many spiritual debts lying upon us, how can we be at rest till
we have some hope that they are discharged?
II. The
second thing in this petition is confession. Let us confess our debt.
Let us acknowledge that we are in arrears with God, and deserve that he
should enforce the law upon us, and throw us into hell-prison. By
confession we give glory to God. ‘My son, give glory to the God of
Israel, and make confession unto him.’
Josh 7: 19. Say that God would be righteous if he should
distrain upon all we have. If we confess the debt, God will forgive it.
‘If we confess our sins, he is just to forgive. ’
1 John 1: 9. Do but confess the debt, and God will cross it
out from the book. ‘I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the
Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.’
Psa 32: 5.
Let us
not confess merely, but labour to get our spiritual debts paid, by
Christ the Surety. Say, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and Christ shall
pay thee all. He has laid down an infinite price.’ The covenant of works
would not admit of a surety; it demanded personal obedience: but this
privilege we have by the gospel, which is a court of chancery to relieve
us. If we have nothing to pay, God will accept a surety. Believe in
Christ’s blood, and the debt is paid.
WE have
next to consider in these words the petition, ‘Forgive us our sins,’ and
the condition, ‘For we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.’
Our forgiving others is not a cause of God’s forgiving us, but it is a
condition without which he will not forgive us.
III. We
shall now consider the petition, ‘Forgive us our sins.’ This is a
blessed petition. The ignorant would say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ (Psa
4: 6) meaning a good lease, a good purchase; but the Saviour
teaches us to pray for that which is more noble, and will stand us in
more stead, which is the pardon of sin. Forgiveness of sins is a primary
blessing, it is one of the first mercies God bestows. ‘Then will I
sprinkle clean water upon you;’ that is, forgiveness.
Ezek 36: 25. When God pardons, there is nothing he will stick
at to do for the soul; he will adopt, sanctify, crown.
What is
forgiveness of sin?
It is
God’s passing by sin, wiping off the score and giving us a discharge.
Micah 7: 18.
[1] The
nature of forgiveness will more clearly appear, by opening some
Scripture phrases; and by laying down some propositions.
(1) To
forgive sin, is to take away iniquity. ‘Why dost thou not take away mine
iniquity?’
Job 7: 21. Hebrew, lift off. It is a metaphor taken from a
man that carries a heavy burden which is ready to sink him, and another
comes, and lifts it off, so when the heavy burden of sin is on us, God
in pardoning, lifts it off from the conscience, and lays it upon Christ.
‘He has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’
Isa 53: 6.
(2) To
forgive sin, is to cover it. ‘Thou hast covered all their sin.’
Psa 85: 2. This was typified by the mercy-seat covering the
ark, to show God’s covering of sin through Christ. God does not cover
sin in the Antinomian sense, so as he sees it not, but he so covers it,
that he will not impute it.
(3) To
forgive sin, is to blot it out. ‘I am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions.’
Isa 43: 25. The Hebrew word, to blot out, alludes to a
creditor who, when his debtor has paid him, blots out the debt, and
gives him an acquittance; so when God forgives sin, he blots out the
debt, he draws the red lines of Christ’s blood over it, and so crosses
the debt-book.
(4) To
forgive sin is for God to scatter our sins as a cloud. ‘I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions.’
Isa 44: 22. Sin is the cloud, an interposing cloud, which
disperses, that the light of his countenance may break forth.
(5) To
forgive sin, is for God to cast our sins into the depths of the sea,
which implies burying them out of sight, that they shall not rise up in
judgement against us. ‘Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of
the sea.’
Micah 7: 19. God will throw them in, not as cork that rises
again, but as lead that sinks to the bottom.
[2] The
nature of forgiveness will further appear by laying down some
propositions respecting it.
(1)
Every sin deserves death, and therefore needs forgiveness. The Papists
distinguish between mortal sins and venial sins. Some are
ex
surreptione [surreptitious],
they creep unawares into the mind, as vain thoughts, sudden motions of
anger and revenge, which Bellarmine says, are in their own nature
venial. It is true that the greatest sins are in one sense venial, that
is, God is able to forgive them; but the least sin is not in its own
nature venial, but deserves damnation. We read of the lusts of the
flesh, and the works of the flesh.
Rom 13: 14;
Gal 5: 19. The lusts of the flesh are sinful, as well as the
works of the flesh. That which is a transgression of the law merits
damnation; but the first stirrings of corruption are a breach of the
royal law, and therefore merit damnation.
Rom 7: 7,
Prov 24: 9. So that the least sin is mortal, and needs
forgiveness.
(2) It
is God only that forgives sin. To pardon sin is one of the
jura regalia
[royal prerogatives], the flowers of God’s crown. ‘Who can forgive sins
but God only?’
Mark 2: 7. It is most proper for God to pardon sin; only the
creditor can remit the debt. Sin is an infinite offence, and no finite
power can discharge an infinite offence. No man can take away sin,
unless he is able to infuse grace; for, as Aquinas says, with
forgiveness is always infusion of grace; but no man can infuse grace,
therefore no man can forgive sin. He only can forgive sin, who can remit
the penalty, but it is God’s prerogative only to forgive sin.
But a
Christian is charged to forgive his brother. ‘Forgiving one another.’
Col 3: 13.
In all
second-table sins, there are two distinct things; disobedience against
God, and injury to man. That which man is required to forgive, is the
wrong done to himself, but the wrong done to God, he cannot forgive. Man
may remit a trespass against himself, but not a transgression against
God.
The
Scripture speaks of a power committed to ministers to forgive sin:
‘Whose-soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.’
John 20: 23.
Ministers cannot remit sin authoritatively and effectually, but only
declaratively. They have a special office and authority to apply the
promises of pardon to broken hearts. When a minister sees one humbled
for sin, but afraid God has not pardoned him, and is ready to be
swallowed up of sorrow, for the easing of this man’s conscience, he may,
in the name of Christ, declare to him, that he is pardoned. He does not
forgive sin by his own authority, but as a herald, in Christ’s name,
pronounces a man’s pardon. As under the law, God cleansed the leper, and
the priest pronounced him clean, so God, by his prerogative, forgives
sin, and the minister pronounces forgiveness to the penitent sinner.
Power to forgive sin authoritatively in his own name, was never granted
to any mortal man. A king may spare a man’s life, but cannot pardon his
sin. Popes’ pardons are insignificant, like blanks in a lottery, good
for nothing but to be torn.
(3)
Forgiveness of sin is purely an act of God’s free grace. There are some
acts of God which declare his power, as making and governing the world;
others that declare his justice, as punishing the guilty; others that
declare his free-grace, as pardoning sinners. ‘I am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions for mine own sake.’
Isa 43: 25. He forgives as when a creditor freely forgives a
debtor. ‘I obtained mercy.’
1 Tim 1: 16. I was all over besprinkled with mercy. When God
pardons a sin, he does not pay a debt, but gives a legacy. Forgiveness
is spun out of the bowels of God’s mercy; there is nothing we can do
that can deserve it; not our prayers, or tears, or good deeds can
purchase pardon. When Simon Magus would have bought the gift of the Holy
Ghost with money, ‘Thy money,’ said Peter, ‘perish with thee.’
Acts 8: 20. So if men think they can buy pardon of sin with
their duties and alms, let their money perish with them. Forgiveness is
an act of God’s free grace, in which he displays the banner of love.
This will raise trophies of God’s glory, and cause the saints’ triumph
in heaven, that when there was no worthiness in them, when they lay in
their blood, God took pity on them, and held forth the golden sceptre of
love in forgiving. Forgiveness is a golden thread spun out of the bowels
of free-grace.
(4)
Forgiveness is through the blood of Christ. Free grace is the inward
moving cause. Christ’s blood is the outward cause of meriting pardon.
‘In whom we have redemption through his blood.’
Eph 1: 7. All pardons are sealed in Christ’s blood. The guilt
of sin was infinite, and nothing but that blood which was of infinite
value could procure forgiveness.
But if
Christ laid down his blood as the price of our pardon, how can we say
God freely forgives sin? If it be by purchase, how is it by grace?
It was
God’s free grace that found out a way of redemption through a Mediator.
Nay, God’s love appeared more in letting Christ die for us, than if he
had forgiven us without exacting any satisfaction. It was free grace
that moved God to accept of the price paid for our sins. That God should
accept a surety; that one should sin, and another suffer, was free
grace. So that forgiveness of sin, though purchased by Christ’s blood,
is by free grace.
(5) In
forgiveness of sin, God remits the guilt and penalty.
Remissa
culpa, remittitur poena [On
remission of guilt, the punishment is also remitted]. Guilt is an
obligation to punishment, it cries for justice. God in forgiving
indulges the sinner as to the penalty. He seems to say to him, ‘Though
thou art fallen into the hands of my justice, and deserves” to die, yet
I will take off the penalty; whatever is charged upon thee shall be
discharged.’ When God pardons a soul, he will not reckon with him in a
purely vindictive way; he stops the execution of justice.
(6) By
virtue of this pardon God will no more call sin to remembrance. ‘Their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more.’
Heb 8: 12. He will pass an act of oblivion, he will not
upbraid with former unkindnesses. When you fear that God will call your
sins again to remembrance after pardon, look into this act of indemnity,
‘Their iniquities will I remember no more.’ God is said therefore to
‘blot out our sin.’ A man does not call for a debt when he has crossed
the book. When God pardons a man, his former displeasure ceases. ‘Mine
anger is turned away.’
Hos 14: 4.
But is
God angry with his pardoned ones?
Though
a child of God, after pardon, may incur his fatherly displeasure yet his
judicial wrath is removed. Though he may lay on the rod, yet he has
taken away the curse. Correction may befall the saints, but not
destruction. ‘My lovingkindness will I not take from him.’
Psa 89: 33.
(7) Sin
is not forgiven till it be repented of. Therefore they are put together:
‘Repentance and remission.’
Luke 24: 47.
Domine, da
poenitentiam, et postea indulgentiam
[Grant repentance, Lord, and afterwards pardon]. Fulgentius. In
repentance there are three main ingredients, all which must be before
forgiveness. They are contrition, confession, and conversion.
Contrition, or brokenness of heart. ‘They shall be like doves of the
valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.’
Ezek 7: 16. This contrition or rending of the heart, is
expressed sometimes by smiting on the breast;
Luke 18: 13; sometimes by plucking off the hair;
Ezra 9: 3; and sometimes by watering the couch;
Psa 6: 6. But all humiliation is not contrition; some have
only pretended sorrow for sin, and so have missed forgiveness; as Ahab
humbled himself, whose garments were rent, but not his heart.
What is
that remorse and sorrow which goes before forgiveness of sin?
It is a
holy sorrow, it is a grieving for sin,
quatenus
sin, as it is sin, and as it is dishonouring God, and defiling the soul.
Though there were no sufferings to follow, yet the true penitent would
grieve for sin. ‘My sin is ever before me.’
Psa 51: 3. This contrition goes before remission. ‘I
repented; I smote upon my thigh. Is Ephraim my dear son? my bowels are
troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon him.’
Jer 31: 19, 20. Ephraim was troubled for sinning, and God’s
bowels were troubled for Ephraim. The woman in the gospel stood at
Jesus’ feet weeping, and a pardon followed. ‘Wherefore, I say, her sins
which are many, are forgiven.’
Luke 7: 47. The seal is set upon the wax when it melts; God
seals his pardon upon melting hearts.
The
second ingredient in repentance is confession. ‘Against thee, thee only,
have I sinned.’
Psa 51: 4. This is not auricular confession; which the
Papists make a sacrament, and affirm that without confession of all sins
in the ears of the priest, no man can receive forgiveness. The Scripture
is ignorant of this, nor do we read that any general Council, till the
Lateran Council, which was about twelve hundred years after Christ, ever
decreed auricular confession.
But
does not the Scripture say, ‘Confess your faults one to another’?
James 5: 16.
This is
absurdly brought for auricular confession; for, by this, the priest must
confess to the people, as well as the people to the priest. The sense of
that place is that in case of public scandals, or private wrongs,
confession is to be made to others; but chiefly, confession is to be
made to God, who is the party offended. ‘Against thee, thee only, have I
sinned.’ Confession gives vent to sorrow; it must be free without
compulsion, ingenuous without reserve, cordial without hypocrisy; the
heart must go along with it. This makes way for forgiveness. ‘I said I
will confess my transgressions, and thou forgavest.’
Psa 32: 5. When the publican and thief confessed, they had
pardon. The publican smote upon his breast with contrition, and said,
‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’ there was confession; he went away
justified, there was forgiveness. The thief said, ‘We indeed suffer
justly’: there was confession; and Christ absolved him before he died:
‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.’
Luke 23: 43. These words of Christ may have occasioned that
saying of Augustine: Confession shuts the mouth of hell, and opens the
gate of paradise.
The
third ingredient in repentance is conversion, or turning from sin. ‘We
have sinned:’ there was confession. ‘They put away the strange gods:’
there was conversion.
Judges 10: 15, 16. It must be a universal turning from sin.
‘Cast away from you all your transgressions.’
Ezek 18: 31. You would be loath that God should forgive some
of your sins only. Would you have him forgive all, and will you not
forsake all? He that hides one rebel, is a traitor to the crown; he that
lives in one known sin, is a traitorous hypocrite. There must not only
be a turning from sin, but a turning to God. Therefore it is called
‘Repentance toward God.’
Acts 20: 21. The heart points towards God as the needle to
the north pole. The prodigal not only left his harlots, but arose and
went to his father.
Luke 15: 18. This repentance is the ready way to pardon. ‘Let
the wicked forsake his way, and return unto the Lord, and he will
abundantly pardon.’
Isa 55: 7. A king will not pardon a rebel whilst he continues
in open hostility. Thus repentance goes before remission. They who never
repented can have no ground to hope that their sins are pardoned.
Not
that repentance merits the forgiveness of sin. To make repentance
satisfy is Popish. By repentance we please God, but we do not satisfy
him. ‘Christ’s blood must wash our tears.’ Repentance is a condition,
not a cause. God will not pardon for repentance, nor yet without it. He
seals his pardons on melting hearts. Repentance makes us prize pardon
the more. He who cries out of his broken bones, will the more prize the
mercy of having them set again; so, when there is nothing in the soul
but clouds of sorrow, and God brings pardon, which is setting a rainbow
in the cloud to tell the soul the flood of God’s wrath shall not
overflow, oh! What joy is there at the sight of this rainbow! The soul
burns in love to God.
(8) The
greatest sins come within the compass of forgiveness. Incest, sodomy,
adultery, theft, murder, which are sins of the first magnitude are
pardonable. Paul was a blasphemer, and so sinned against the first
table; a persecutor, and so sinned against the second table; and yet he
obtained mercy.
1 Tim 1: 13. Zaccheus, an extortioner, Mary Magdalene, an
unchaste woman, out of whom seven devils were cast, Manasseh, who made
the streets run with blood, had pardon. Some of the Jews, who had a hand
in crucifying Christ, were forgiven. God blots out not only the cloud,
but the thick cloud, enormities as well as infirmities.
Isa 44: 22. The king, in the parable, forgave his debtor that
owed him ten thousand talents.
Matt 28: 27. A talent weighed three thousand shekels, ten
thousand talents contained almost twelve tons of gold. This was an
emblem of God’s forgiving great sins. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow.’
Isa 1: 18. Scarlet, in the Greek, is called twice dipped, and
the art of man cannot wash out the dye again. Though your sins are of a
scarlet dye, God’s mercy can wash them way, as the sea covers great
rocks as well as little sands. This I mention that sinners may not
despair. God counts it a glory to him to forgive great sins: in which
mercy and love ride in triumph. ‘The grace of our Lord was exceeding
abundant,’ it was exuberant, it overflowed, as the Mile.
1 Tim 1: 14. We must not measure God by ourselves. His mercy
excels our sins as much as heaven does the earth.
Isa 55: 9. If great sins could not be forgiven, great sinners
should not be preached to; but the gospel is to be preached to all. If
they could not be forgiven, it were a dishonour to Christ’s blood; as if
the wound were broader than the plaister. God has first made great
sinners ‘broken vessels;’ he has broken their hearts for sin, and then
he has made them ‘golden vessels;’ he has filled them with the golden
oil of pardoning mercy. This may encourage great sinners to come in and
repent. The sin indeed against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable, not but
that there is mercy enough in God to forgive it, but because he who has
committed it will not have pardon. He despises God, scorns his mercy,
spills the cordial of Christ’s blood, and tramples it under foot; he
puts away salvation from him. When a poor sinner looks upon himself and
sees his guilt, and then looks on God’s justice and holiness, he falls
down confounded; but here is that which may be as a cork to the net, to
keep him from despair — if he will leave his sins and come to Christ,
mercy can seal his pardon.
(9)
When God pardons a sinner, he forgives all sins. ‘I will pardon all
their iniquities.’
Jer 33: 8. ‘Having forgiven you all trespasses.’
Col 2: 13. The mercy-seat, which was a type of forgiveness,
covered the whole ark, to show that God covers all our transgressions.
He does not leave one sin upon the score; he does not take his pen and
for fourscore sins write down fifty, but blots out all sin. ‘Who
forgiveth all shine iniquities.’
Psa 103: 3. When I say, God forgives all sins, I understand
it of sins past, for sins to come are not forgiven till they are
repented of. Indeed God has decreed to pardon them; and when he forgives
one sin, he will in time forgive all; but sins future are not actually
pardoned till they are repented of. It is absurd to think sin should be
forgiven before it is committed.
If all
sins past and to come are at once forgiven, then what need to pray for
the pardon of sin? It is a vain thing to pray for the pardon of that
which is already forgiven. The opinion that sins to come, as well as
past, are forgiven, takes away and makes void Christ’s intercession. He
is an advocate to intercede for daily sins.
1 John 2: 1. But if sin be forgiven before it be committed,
what need is there of his daily intercession? What need have I of an
advocate, if sin be pardoned before it be committed? So that, though God
forgives all sins past to a believer, yet sins to come are not forgiven
till repentance be renewed.
(10)
Faith necessarily precedes forgiveness. There must be believing on our
part before there is forgiving on God’s part. ‘To him give all the
prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins.’
Acts 10: 43. So that faith is a necessary antecedent to
forgiveness. There are two acts of faith, to accept Christ and to trust
in Christ, to accept of his terms, to trust in his merits; and he who
does neither of these, can have no forgiveness. He who does not accept
Christ, cannot have his person; he who does not trust in him, cannot
have benefit by his blood. So that, without faith, there is no
remission.
(11)
Though justification and sanctification are not the same, yet God never
pardons a sinner but he sanctifies him. Justification and sanctification
are not the same. Justification is without us, sanctification is within
us. The one is by righteousness imputed, the other is by righteousness
imparted. Justification is equal, sanctification is gradual.
Sanctification is
recipere
magis et minus [to receive more
and yet less]. One is sanctified more than another, but one is not
justified more than another; one has more grace than another, but he is
not more a believer than another. The matter of our justification is
perfect, viz., Christ’s righteousness; but our sanctification is
imperfect, there are the spots of God’s children.
Deut 32: 5. Our graces are mixed, our duties are defiled.
Thus
justification and sanctification are not the same. Yet, for all that,
they are not separated. God never pardons and justifies a sinner but he
sanctifies him. ‘But ye are sanctified, but ye are justified.’
1 Cor 6: 11. ‘This is he that came by water and blood, even
Jesus Christ.’
1 John 5: 6. Christ comes to the soul by blood, which denotes
remission; and by water, which denotes sanctification. Let no man say he
is pardoned who is not made holy. This I urge against the Antinomians,
who talk of their sin being forgiven, and having a part in Christ, and
yet remain unconverted, and live in the grossest sins. Pardon and
healing go together. ‘I create the fruit of the lips, peace.’
Isa 57: 19. Peace is the fruit of pardon, and then it
follows, ‘I will heal him.’ Where God pardons, he purifies. As in the
inauguration of kings, with the crown there is the oil to anoint; so
when God crowns a man with forgiveness, he gives the anointing oil of
grace to sanctify. ‘I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a
new name.’
Rev 2: 17. A ‘white stone,’ that is absolution; and a ‘new
name’ in the stone, that is sanctification.
If God
should pardon a man, and not sanctify him, it would be a reproach to
him. He would love and be well pleased with men in their sins, which is
diametrically contrary to his holy nature.
If God
should pardon and not sanctify, he could have no glory from us. God’s
people are formed to show forth his praise; but if he should pardon and
not sanctify us, how could we show forth his praise?
Isa 43: 21. How could we glorify him? What glory can God have
from a proud, ignorant, profane heart?
If God
should pardon and not sanctify, that would enter heaven which defileth;
but nothing shall enter that defileth.
Rev 21: 27. God should then settle the inheritance upon men
before they were fit for it. ‘Which hath made us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance.’
Col 1: 12. How is that but by the divine unction? So that
whoever God forgives, he transforms. Let no man say his sins are
forgiven who does not find an inherent work of holiness in his heart.
(12)
Where God remits sin, he imputes righteousness. This righteousness of
Christ imputed is a salvo to God’s law, and makes full satisfaction for
breaches of it. This righteousness procures God’s favour. God cannot
love us when he sees us in his Son’s robe, which both covers and adorns
us. In this spotless robe of Christ we outshine the angels. Theirs is
but the righteousness of creatures, this is the righteousness of God
himself ‘That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’
2 Cor 5: 21. How great a blessing then is forgiveness? With
remission of sin is joined imputation of righteousness.
(13)
They whose sins are forgiven must not omit praying for forgiveness.
‘Forgive us our trespasses.’ Believers who are pardoned must be
continual suitors for pardon. When Nathan told David, ‘The Lord hath put
away thy sin,’ David composed a penitential psalm for the pardon of his
sin.
2 Samuel 12: 13. Sin, after pardon, rebels. Like Samson’s
hair, though it be cut, it will grow again. We sin daily, and must ask
for daily pardon as well as for daily bread. Besides, a Christian’s
pardon is not so sure but he may desire to have a clearer evidence of
it.
(14) A
full absolution from all sin is not pronounced till the day of
judgement. The day of judgement is called a time of refreshing, when sin
shall be completely blotted out.
Acts 3: 19. Now God blots out sin truly, but then it shall be
done in a more public way. God will openly pronounce the saints’
absolution before men and angels. Their happiness is not completed till
the day of judgement, because their pardon shall be solemnly pronounced,
and there shall be the triumphs of the heavenly host. At that day it
will be true indeed that God sees no sin in his children; they shall be
as pure as the angels; then the church shall be presented without
wrinkle.
Eph 5: 27. She shall be as free from stain as guilt, Satan
shall no more accuse. Christ will show the debt-book crossed in his
blood. Therefore the church prays for Christ’s coming to judgement. The
bride says, ‘Come, Lord Jesus:’ light the lamps, then burn the incense.
Rev 22: 20.
Use 1.
For information.
(1)
From this word, ‘Forgive,’ we learn that if the debt of sin be no other
way discharged but by being forgiven, we cannot satisfy for it. Among
other damnable opinions of the church of Rome, one is, man’s power to
satisfy for sin. The Council of Trent holds that God is satisfied by our
undergoing the penalty imposed by the censure of priests; and again,
that we have works of our own by which we may satisfy for our wrongs
done to God. By these opinions we judge what the Popish religion is.
They intend to pay the debt they owe to God of themselves, to pay it in
part, and do not look to have it all forgiven; but why did Christ teach
us to pray, ‘Forgive us our sins,’ if we can of ourselves satisfy God
for the wrong we have done him? This doctrine robs God of his glory,
Christ of his merit, and the soul of salvation. Alas! is not the lock
cut where the strength lay? Are not all our works fly-blown with sin,
and can sin satisfy for sin? This doctrine makes men their own saviours,
which is most absurd to hold, for can the obedience of a finite creature
satisfy for an infinite offence? Sin being forgiven, clearly implies we
cannot satisfy for it.
(2)
From this word “us”, ‘Forgive us,’ we learn that pardon is chiefly to be
sought for ourselves; for though we are to pray for the pardon of
others, ‘Pray one for another,’ yet in the first place, we are to beg
pardon for ourselves.
James 5: 16. What! will another’s pardon do us good? Everyone
is to endeavour to have his own name in the pardon. A son may be made
free by his father’s freedom, but he cannot be pardoned by his father’s
pardon, he must have a pardon for himself. In this sense selfishness is
lawful, everyone must be for himself and get a pardon for his own sins.
‘Forgive us.’
(3)
From this word “our”, ‘our sins,’ we learn how just God is in punishing
us. The text says ‘our sins;’ we are not punished for other men’s sins,
but our own.
Nemo habet de
proprio, nisi peccatum [No one
has anything of his own, except his sin]. Augustine. There is nothing we
can call so properly ours as sin. Our daily bread we have from God, our
daily sins we have from ourselves. Sin is our own act, a web of our own
spinning. How righteous therefore is God in punishing us! We sow the
seed, and God makes us reap what we sow. ‘I give every man according to
the fruit of his doings.’
Jer 17: 10. When we are punished we but taste the fruit of
our own grafting.
(4)
From this word sins, see from hence the multitude of sin we stand guilty
of. We pray not, forgive us our sin, as if it were only a single debt,
but sins, in the plural. So vast is the catalogue of our sins that David
cries out, ‘Who can understand his errors?’
Psa 19: 12. Our sins are like the drops of the sea, like the
atoms in the sun — they exceed all arithmetic. The debts we owe to God
we can no more number than we can satisfy; which, as it should humble us
to consider how full of black spots our souls are, so it should put us
upon seeking after the pardon of our sins.
Use 2.
For exhortation.
Let us
labour for the forgiveness of sin, which is a main branch of the charter
or covenant of grace. ‘I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.’
Heb 8: 12. It is mercy to feed us, but it is rich mercy to
pardon us. Earthly things are no signs of God’s love: he may give the
venison, but not the blessing; but when he seals up forgiveness, he
gives his love and heaven with it. ‘Thou settest a crown of pure gold on
his head.’
Psa 21: 3. A crown of gold was a mercy; but if you look into
Psa 103 you shall find a greater mercy: ‘Who forgiveth all
shine iniquities, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness;’
ver 3, 4. To be crowned with forgiveness and lovingkindness
is afar greater mercy than be have a crown of pure gold set upon the
head. It was a mercy when Christ cured the palsied man; but when Christ
said to him, ‘Thy sins be forgiven,’ it was more than to have his palsy
healed.
Mark 2: 5. Forgiveness of sin is the chief thing to be sought
after; and surely, if conscience be once touched with a sense of sin,
there is nothing a man will thirst after more than forgiveness. ‘My sin
is ever before me.’
Psa 51: 3. This made David so earnest for pardon. ‘Have mercy
upon me, O God; blot out my transgressions.’
Psa 51: 1. If anyone should have come to David and asked him,
Where is thy pain? What is it troubles thee? Is it the fear of shame
which shall come upon thee and thy wives? Is it the fear of the sword
which God has threatened shall not depart from thy house? He would have
said, No, it is only my sin pains me: ‘My sin is ever before me.’ Were
this removed by forgiveness, though the sword rode in circuit in my
family, I would be well enough content. When the arrow of guilt sticks
in the conscience, nothing is so desirable as to have it plucked out by
forgiveness.
O
therefore seek after forgiveness of sin. You may make a shift to live
without it; but how will you die without it? Will not death have a sting
to an unpardoned sinner? How do you think to get to heaven without
forgiveness? As at some festivals there is no being admitted unless you
bring a ticket; so unless you have this ticket to show, ‘Forgiveness of
sin’, there is no being admitted into the holy place of heaven. Will God
ever crown those that he will not forgive? O be ambitious of pardoning
grace. When God had made Abraham great and large promises, Abraham
replied, ‘Lord, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless!’
Gen 15: 2. So, when God has given thee riches, and all thy
heart can wish, say to him, Lord, what is all this, seeing I want
forgiveness? Let my pardon be sealed in Christ’s blood. A prisoner in
the Tower is in an ill case, notwithstanding his brave diet, great
attendance, soft bed to lie on, because, being impeached, he looks every
day for his arraignment, and is afraid of the sentence of death. In such
a case and worse is he who swims in the pleasures of the world, but his
sins are not forgiven. A guilty conscience impeaches him, and he is in
fear of being arraigned and condemned at God’s judgement-seat. Give not
then sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids, till you have
gotten some well-grounded hope that your sins are blotted out. Before I
come to press the exhortation to seek after forgiveness of sin, I shall
propound one question.
If
pardon of sin he so absolutely necessary, what is the reason that so few
in the world seek after it? If they want health, they repair to the
physician; if they want riches, they take a voyage to the Indies; but if
they want forgiveness of sin, they seem to be unconcerned, and do not
seek after it: whence is this?
Inadvertency, or want of consideration. They do not look into their
spiritual estate, or cast up their accounts to see how matters stand
between God and their souls. ‘My people doth not consider:’ they do not
consider they are indebted to God in a debt often thousand talents, and
that God will, ere long, call them to account. ‘So, then, every one of
us shall give account of himself to God.’
Isa 1: 3;
Rom 14: 12. But people shun serious thoughts: ‘My people doth
not consider.’ Hence it is they do not look after pardon.
Men do
not seek after forgiveness of sin for want of conviction. Few are
convinced what a deadly evil sin is, that it is the spirits of mischief
distilled, it turns a man’s glory into shame, it brings all plagues on
the body, and curses on the soul. Unless a man’s sin be forgiven, there
is not the vilest creature alive, the dog, serpent, or toad, but is in a
better condition than the sinner; for when they die they go but to the
earth; but he, dying without pardon, goes into hell torments for ever.
Men are not convinced of this, but play with the viper of sin.
Men do
not seek earnestly after forgiveness, because they are seeking other
things. They seek the world immoderately. When Saul was seeking after
the asses, he did not think of a kingdom. The world is a golden snare.
Divitiae saeculi sunt laquei diaboli
[The riches of the world are the snares of the devil]. Bernard. The
wedge of gold hinders many from seeking after pardon. Ministers cry to
the people, ‘Get your pardon sealed;’ but if you call to a man that is
in a mill, the noise of the mill drowns the voice, that he cannot hear;
so when the mill of a trade is going, it makes such a noise, that the
people cannot hear the minister when he lifts up his voice like a
trumpet and cries to them to look after the sealing of their pardon. He
who spends all his time about the world and does not mind forgiveness,
will accuse himself of folly at last. You would judge that prisoner very
unwise that should spend all his time with the cook to get his dinner
ready, and should never mind getting a pardon.
Men
seek not after forgiveness of sin, through a bold presumption of mercy;
they conceive God to be made up all of mercy; and that he will indulge
them, though they take little or no pains to sue for their pardon. True,
God is merciful, but withal he is just, he will not wrong his justice by
showing mercy. Read the proclamation: ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious; and that will by no means clear the guilty.’
Exod 34: 6, 7. Such as go on in sin, and are so slothful or
wilful that they will not seek after forgiveness, though there be a
whole ocean of mercy in the Lord, not one drop shall fall to their
share. He ‘will by no means clear the guilty.’
Men
seek not earnestly after forgiveness out of hope of impunity. They
flatter themselves in sin, and because they have been spared so long,
therefore think God never intends to reckon with them. ‘He hath said in
his heart, God has forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.’
Psa 10: 11. Atheists think either the judge is blind or
forgetful; but let sinners know that long forbearance is no forgiveness.
God bore with Sodom a long time, but at last rained down fire and
brimstone upon them. The adjourning of the assizes does not acquit the
prisoner. The longer God is taking the blow, the heavier it will be at
last, if sinners repent not.
Men do
not seek earnestly after forgiveness through mistake. They think getting
a pardon is easy, it is but repenting at the last hour, a sigh, or a
‘Lord, have mercy,’ and a pardon will drop into their mouths. But is it
so easy to repent, and have a pardon? Tell me, O sinner, is regeneration
easy? Are there no pangs in the new birth? Is mortification easy? Is it
nothing to pluck out the right eye? Is it easy to leap out of Delilah’s
lap into Abraham’s bosom? This is the draw-net by which the devil drags
millions to hell, the facility of repenting and getting a pardon.
Men do
not look after forgiveness through despair. Oh, says the desponding
soul, it is a vain thing for me to expect pardon; my sins are so many
and heinous that surely God will not forgive me. ‘And they said, There
is no hope.’
Jer 38: 12. My sins are huge mountains, and can they ever be
cast into the sea? Despair cuts the sinews of endeavour. Who will use
means that despairs of success? The devil shows some men their sins at
the little end of the perspective-glass, and they seem little or none at
all; but he shows others their sins at the great end of the perspective,
and they fright them into despair. This is a soul-damning sin. Judas’s
despair was worse than his treason. Despair spills the cordial of
Christ’s blood. The voice of despair is, Christ’s blood cannot pardon
me. Thus you see whence it is that men seek no more earnestly after the
forgiveness of sin. Having answered this question, I shall now come to
press the exhortation upon every one of us, to seek earnestly after the
forgiveness of our sins.
(1) Our
very life lies in getting pardon. It is called the ‘justification of
life.’
Rom 5: 18. Now, if our life lies in our pardon, and we are
dead and damned without it, does it not concern us above all things to
labour after forgiveness of sin? ‘For it is not a vain thing for you,
because it is your life.’
Deut 32: 47. If a man be under a sentence of death, he will
set his wits to work, and make use of all his friends to get the king to
grant his pardon, because his life lies upon it; so we by reason of sin
are under a sentence of damnation. There is one friend at court we may
make use of to procure our pardon, namely, the Lord Jesus. How earnest
then should we be with him to be our Advocate to the Father for us, that
he would present the merit of his blood to the Father, as the price of
our pardon!
(2)
There is that in sin that should make us desire forgiveness. Sin is the
only thing that disquiets the soul. It is a burden, it burdens the
creation, it burdens the conscience.
Rom 8: 22;
Psa 38: 4. A wicked man is not sensible of sin, he is dead in
sin; and if you lay a thousand weight upon a dead man he feels it not.
But to an awakened conscience sin is a burden. When a man seriously
weighs with himself the glory and purity of that Majesty which sin has
offended, the preciousness of that soul which sin has polluted, the loss
of that happiness which sin has endangered, the greatness of that
torment which sin has deserved, to lay all this together, surely must
make sin burdensome: and should not we labour to have this burden
removed by pardoning mercy? Sin is a debt, ‘Forgive us our debts.’
Matt 6: 12. Every debt we owe, God has written down in his
book. ‘Behold, it is written before me,’ and one day God’s debt-book
will be opened. ‘The books were opened.’
Isa 65: 6;
Rev 20: 12. And should not this make us look after
forgiveness? Sin being such a debt as we must eternally lie in the
prison of hell for, if it be not discharged, should we not be earnest
with God to cross the debt-book with the blood of his Son? There is no
way to look God in the face with comfort, but by having our debts either
paid or pardoned.
(3)
Nothing but forgiveness can give ease to a troubled conscience. There is
a great difference between having the fancy pleased, and having the
conscience eased. Worldly things may please the fancy, but not ease the
conscience. Nothing but pardon can relieve a troubled soul. It is
strange what shifts men will make for ease when conscience is pained,
and how many false medicines they will use before they will take the
right way for a cure. When conscience is troubled, they will try what
merry company can do. They may perhaps drink away trouble of conscience;
perhaps they may play it away at cards; perhaps a Lent-whipping will do
the deed; perhaps multitude of business will so take up their time, that
they shall have no leisure to hear the clamours and accusations of
conscience; but how vain are all these attempts! Still the wound bleeds
inwardly, their heart trembles, their conscience roars, and they can
have no peace. Whence is it? The reason is they go not to the mercy of
God, and the blood of Christ, for the pardon of their sins; and hence
they have no ease. Suppose a man has a thorn in his foot, which puts him
to pain; let him anoint it, or wrap it up, and keep it warm; but till
the thorn be plucked out, it aches and swells, and he has no ease; so
when the thorn of sin is in a man’s conscience, there is no ease till it
be pulled out. When God removes iniquity, the thorn is plucked out. How
was David’s heart finely quieted, when Nathan the prophet told him, ‘The
Lord hath put away thy sin’!
2 Samuel 12: 13. How should we therefore labour for
forgiveness! Till then we can have no ease in the mind. Nothing but
pardon, sealed with the blood of the Redeemer, can ease a wounded
spirit.
(4)
Forgiveness of sin is feasible, and may be obtained. Impossibility
destroys endeavour; but, ‘There is hope in Israel concerning this.’
Ezra 10: 2. The devils are past hope; a sentence of death is
upon them, which is irrevocable; but there is hope for us of obtaining
pardon. ‘There is forgiveness with thee.’
Psa 130: 4. If pardon of sin were not possible, it were not
to be prayed for; but it has been prayed for. ‘I beseech thee, O Lord,
take away the iniquity of thy servant.’
2 Samuel 24: 10. And Christ bids us pray for it ‘Forgive us
our trespasses.’ That is possible which God has promised, but God has
promised pardon upon repentance. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way and
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon.’
Isa 55: 7. Hebrew, ‘He will multiply to pardon.’ That is
possible which others have obtained; but others have arrived at
forgiveness, therefore it is obtainable.
Psa 32: 5. ‘Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.’
Isa 38: 17.
(5)
Forgiveness of sin is a choice and eminent blessing. To have the book
cancelled, and God appeased, is worth obtaining, which may whet our
endeavour after it. That it is a rare transcendent blessing, appears by
three demonstrations:
First,
if we consider how this blessing is purchased, namely, by the Lord
Jesus. There are three things in reference to Christ which set forth the
choiceness and preciousness of forgiveness:
[1] No
mere created power in heaven or earth could expiate one sin, or procure
a pardon, but Jesus Christ only. ‘He is the propitiation for our sins.’
1 John 2: 2. No merit can buy out a pardon. Paul had as much
to boast of as any man, his high birth, his learning, his legal
righteousness; but he disclaims all in point of justification, and lays
them under Christ’s feet to tread upon. No angel, with all his holiness,
could lay down a price for the pardon of one sin. ‘If a man sin against
the Lord, who shall intreat for him?’
1 Sam 2: 25. What angel durst be so bold as to open his mouth
to God for a delinquent sinner? Only Jesus Christ, who is God-man, could
deal with God’s justice, and purchase forgiveness.
[2]
Christ himself could not procure a pardon without dying. Every pardon is
the price of blood. Christ’s life was a rule of holiness, and a pattern
of obedience. He fulfilled all righteousness.
Matt 3: 15. Certainly his active obedience was of great value
and merit; but that which raises the worth of forgiveness, is that his
active obedience had not fully procured a pardon for us without the
shedding of his blood. Our justification therefore is ascribed to his
blood. ‘Being justified by his blood.’
Rom 5: 9. Christ did bleed out our pardon. There is much
ascribed to his intercession, but his intercession had not prevailed
with God for the forgiveness of one sin had he not shed his blood. It is
worthy of notice, that when Christ is described to John as an
intercessor for his church, he is represented in the likeness of a Lamb
slain, to show that Christ must die and be slain before he can be an
intercessor.
Rev 5: 6.
[3]
Christ, by dying, had not purchased forgiveness for us if he had not
died an accursed death. He endured the curse.
Gal 3: 13. All the agonies Christ endured in his soul, all
the torments in his body, could not purchase a pardon except he had been
made a curse for us. He must be cursed before we could be blessed with a
pardon.
Secondly, forgiveness of sin is a choice blessing, if we consider what
glorious attributes God puts forth in it. He puts forth infinite power.
When Moses was pleading with God for the pardon of Israel’s sin, he
spoke thus: ‘Let the power of my Lord be great.’
Numb 14: 17. For God, forgiving sin is a work of as great
power as to make heaven and earth, nay, a greater. When he made the
world, he met with no opposition; but, when he pardons, Satan opposes,
and the heart opposes. A sinner is desperate, and slights, yea, defies
pardon, till God, by his mighty power, convinces him of his sin and
danger, and makes him willing to accept of pardon. God, in forgiving
sins, puts forth infinite mercy. ‘Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity
of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy.’
Numb 14: 19. It is mercy to have a reprieve; and if there be
mercy in sparing a sinner, what mercy is there in pardoning him! This is
the
flos lactis, the cream of mercy.
For God to put up with so many injuries, to wipe so many debts off the
score, is infinite favour.
Thirdly, forgiveness of sin is a choice blessing, as it lays a
foundation for other mercies. It is a leading mercy. It makes way for
temporal good things. It brings health. When Christ said to the palsied
man, ‘Thy sins are forgiven,’ he made way for a bodily cure. ‘Arise,
take up thy bed and walk.’
Matt 9: 6. The pardon of his sin made way for the healing of
his palsy. It brings prosperity.
Jer 33: 8, 9. It makes way for spiritual good things.
Forgiveness of sin never comes alone, but has other spiritual blessings
attending it. Whom God pardons, he sanctifies, adopts, crowns. It is a
voluminous mercy, it draws the silver link of grace, and the golden link
of glory after it. It is a high act of indulgence. God seals the
sinner’s pardon with a kiss. And should not we, above all things, seek
after so great a blessing as forgiveness?
(6)
That which may make us seek after forgiveness of sin is God’s
inclinableness to pardon. ‘Thou art a God ready to pardon.’
Neh 9: 17. In the Hebrew it is, ‘A God of pardons.’ We are
apt to entertain wrong conceits of God, that he is inexorable, and will
not forgive. ‘I knew thee that thou art an hard man.’
Matt 25: 24. But God is a sin-pardoning God. ‘The Lord
merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.’
Exod 34: 6, 7. Here is my name, says God, if you would know
how I am called, I tell you my name, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful,
forgiving iniquity.’ A pirate or rebel, that knows there is a
proclamation out against him, will never come in; but, if he hears that
the prince is full of clemency and there is a proclamation of pardon if
he submit, it will be a great incentive to him to lay down his arms and
become loyal to his prince. See God’s proclamation to repenting sinners,
in
Jer 3: 12: ‘Go and proclaim these words, and say, Return,
thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger
to fall upon you, for I am merciful.’ God’s mercy is a tender mercy. The
Hebrew word for mercy signifies bowels. God’s mercy is full of sympathy,
he is of a most sweet, indulgent nature. ‘Thou, Lord, art good, and
ready to forgive.’
Psa 86: 1. The bee does not more naturally give honey, than
God shows mercy.
But
does not God seem to delight in punitive acts, or acts of severity? ‘I
will laugh at your calamity.’
Prov 1: 26.
To
whom does God say this? See
verse 25. ‘Ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would
none of my reproof’ God delights in the destruction of those who despise
his instruction; but a humble penitent breaking off sin, and suing for
pardon, he delights in. ‘He delighteth in mercy.’
Mic 7: 18.
But
though God be so full of mercy, and ready to forgive, yet his mercy
reaches not to all; he forgives such only as are elected, and I question
my election.
No man
can say he is not elected. God has not revealed to any particular man
that he is a reprobate, excepting him only who has sinned the sin
against the Holy Ghost; which thou art far enough from who mournest for
sin, and seekest after forgiveness.
The
thought that we are not elected, and that there is no pardon for us,
comes from Satan, and is the poisoned arrow he shoots. He is the
accuser: he accuses us to God that we are great sinners; and he accuses
God to us as if he were a tyrant, one that watches to destroy his
creatures. These are diabolical suggestions; say, ‘Get thee behind me,
Satan.’
It is
sinful for any to hold that he is not elected. It would take him off
from the use of means, from praying and repenting; it would harden him,
and make him desperate. Therefore pry not into the arcana coeli, secrets
of heaven. Remember what befell the men of Bethshemesh, for looking into
the ark.
1 Sam 6: 19. Know that we are not to go by God’s secret will,
but by his revealed will. Let us look into God’s revealed will, and
there we shall find enough to cherish hope, and encourage us to go to
God for the pardon of our sins. He has said in his Word, that he is
‘rich in mercy,’ and that he does not delight in the destruction of a
sinner.
Eph 2: 4;
Ezek 18: 32.‘
Jurat per
essentiam. Musculus. He swears
by his essence. ‘As I live, saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked.’
Ezek 33: 11. Hence he waits long, and puts off the sessions
from time to time, to see if sinners will repent and seek to him for
pardon. Therefore, let God’s tender mercies and precious promises
encourage us to seek him for the forgiveness of our sins.
(7)
Not to seek earnestly for pardon is unspeakable misery to such as need
forgiveness. It must needs be ill with that malefactor that has not
pardon.
The
unpardoned sinner, who lives and dies such, is under the greatest loss
and privation. Is there any happiness like the enjoyment of God in
glory? This is the joy of angels, the crown of saints glorified, but the
unforgiven sinner shall not behold God’s smiling face; he shall see God
as an enemy, not as a friend; he shall have an affrighting sight of God,
not beatific; he shall see the black rod, not the mercy-seat. Sins
unpardoned are like the angel with a flaming sword, who stopped the
passage to paradise. They stop the way to the heavenly paradise. How
doleful is the condition of that soul which is banished from the place
of bliss, where the King of Glory keeps his court!
The
unpardoned sinner has nothing to do with any promise. The promises are
mulctralia evangelii, the breasts that hold the sincere milk of the
word, which fill the soul with precious sweetness. They are the royal
charter: but what has a stranger to do to meddle with the charter? It
was the dove that plucked the olive branch; it is only the believer who
plucks the tree of the promise. Till the condition of the promise be
performed, no man can have right to the comfort of it; and how sad is it
not to have one promise to show for heaven!
An
unpardoned sinner is continually in danger of the outcry of an accusing
conscience. An accusing conscience is a little hell.
Siculi non
invenere tyranni tormentum majus
[The Sicilian tyrants devised no worse a torture]. We tremble to hear a
lion roar: how terrible are the roarings of conscience! Judas hanged
himself to quiet his conscience. A sinner’s conscience at present is
either asleep or seared; but when God shall awaken it, either by
affliction or at death, how will the unpardoned sinner be affrighted!
When a man shall have all his sins set before his eyes, and drawn out in
their bloody colours, and the worm of conscience begins to gnaw, oh,
what a trembling at heart will the sinner have!
All
the curses of God stand in full force against an unpardoned sinner. His
very blessings are cursed. ‘I will curse your blessings.’
Mal 2: 2. His table is a snare; he eats and drinks a curse.
What comfort could Dionysius have at his feast, when he imagined he saw
a naked sword hanging by a twine-thread over his head? It is enough to
spoil a sinner’s banquet, that a curse like a naked sword, hangs over
his head. Caesar wondered to see one of his soldiers who was in debt so
merry. One would wonder that man could be merry who is heir to all God’s
curses. He does not see these curses, but is blinder than Balaam’s ass,
who saw the angel’s sword drawn.
The
unpardoned sinner is in an ill case at death. Luther professed there
were three things which he durst not think of without Christ; of his
sins, of death, and of the day of judgement. Death to a Christless soul
is the ‘king of terrors.’ As the prophet Ahijah said to Jeroboam’s wife,
‘I am sent to thee with heavy tidings’ (1
Kings 14: 6); so death is sent to the unpardoned soul with
heavy tidings; it is God’s jailer to arrest him. Death is a prologue to
damnation. It takes away all earthly comforts, it takes away sugared
morsels; no more drinking wine in bowls, no more mirth or music. ‘The
voice of harpers and musicians shall be heard no more at all in thee.’
Rev 18: 22. The sinner shall never taste of luscious delights
more to all eternity; his honey shall be turned into the ‘gall of asps.’
Job 20: 14. At death, an end shall be put to all reprieves.
Now God reprieves a sinner, he spares him such a fit of sickness; he
respites him many years; the sinner should have died at such a drinking
bout, but God granted him a reprieve; he lengthened out the silver
thread of patience to a miracle; but when the sinner dies without
repentance, and unpardoned, the lease of God’s patience is run out, and
he must appear in person before the righteous God to receive his
sentence; after which, there shall be none to bail him, nor shall he
hear of a reprieve any more.
(6)
The sinner dying unpardoned, must go into damnation; this is the second
death,
mors sine
morte [an undying death]. The
unpardoned soul must for ever bear the anger of a sin-revenging God. As
long as God is God, so long the vial of his wrath shall be dropping upon
the damned soul. This is a helpless condition. There is a time when a
sinner will not be helped; Christ and salvation are offered to him, but
he slights them, he will not be helped; and there is a time shortly
coming when he cannot be helped; he calls out for mercy, Oh! a pardon, a
pardon! but it is too late, the date of mercy is expired. Oh! how sad,
then, is it to live and die unpardoned! You may lay a grave-stone upon
that man, and write this epitaph upon it, ‘It had been good for that man
that he had never been born.’ Now, if the misery of an unpardoned state
be so inexpressible, how should we labour for forgiveness, that we may
not be engulfed in so dreadful a labyrinth of fire and brimstone to all
eternity!
(7)
Such as are unpardoned, must needs lead uncomfortable lives. ‘Thy life
shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night.’
Deut 28: 66. Thus the unpardoned sinner must needs have a
palpitation and trembling at the heart; he fears every bush he sees.
‘Fear has torment.’
1 John 4: 18. The Greek word for torment, kolasis, is used
sometimes for hell: fear has hell in it. A man in debt fears, every step
he goes, lest he should be arrested; so the unpardoned sinner fears,
what if this night death, death which is God’s sergeant, should arrest
him! ‘Why dost thou not pardon my transgression? For now shall I sleep
in the dust:’ as if Job had said, ‘Lord, I shall shortly die, I shall
sleep in the dust; and what shall I do if my sins be not pardoned?’
Job 7: 21. What comfort can an unpardoned soul take in
anything? Surely no more than a prisoner can take in meat or music, that
wants his pardon. Therefore, by all these powerful motives, let us
labour for the forgiveness of sins.
But I
am discouraged from going to God for pardon, for I am unworthy of
forgiveness; what am I, that God should show such a favour to me?
God
forgives, not because we are worthy, but because he is gracious. ‘The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious.’
Exod 34: 6. He forgives out of his clemency; acts of pardon
are acts of grace. What worthiness was there in Paul before conversion?
He was a blasphemer, and so he sinned against the first table; he was a
persecutor, and so he sinned against the second table; but free grace
sealed his pardon. ‘I obtained mercy;’ I was all bestrewed with mercy.
1 Tim 1: 13. What worthiness was in the woman of Samaria? She
was ignorant.
John 4: 22. She was unclean;
ver 18. She was morose and churlish, she would not give
Christ so much as a cup of cold water;
ver 9. How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me
which am a woman of Samaria? What worthiness was here? Yet Christ
overlooked all, and pardoned her ingratitude; and though she denied him
water out of the well, yet he gave her the water of life.
Gratia non
invenit dignos, sed facit. Free
grace does not find us worthy, but makes us worthy. Therefore,
notwithstanding unworthiness, seek to God, that your sins may be
pardoned.
But I
hare been a great sinner, and surely God will not pardon me?
David
brings it as an argument for pardon. ‘Pardon mine iniquity, for it is
great.’
Psa 25: 11. When God forgives great sins, he does a work like
himself. The desperateness of the wound the more sets forth the virtue
of Christ’s blood in curing it. Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven devils
were cast, was a great sinner, yet she had her pardon. When some of the
Jews, who had a hand in crucifying Christ, repented, the very blood they
shed sealed their pardon. Consider sins either for their number as the
sands of the sea, or for their weight as the rocks of the sea, yet there
is mercy enough in God to forgive them. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow.’
Isa 1: 18. Scarlet signifies twice dipped, which no art of
man can get out, yet God can wash out this scarlet dye. There is no sin
exempted from pardon but that sin which despises pardon, the sin against
the Holy Ghost.
Matt 12: 31. Therefore, O sinner, do not cast away thy anchor
of hope, but go to God for forgiveness. The vast ocean has bounds set to
it, but God’s pardoning mercy is boundless. He can as well forgive great
sins as little, as the sea can cover great rocks and little sands.
Nothing hinders pardon but the sinner’s not asking it.
That a
great sinner should not despair of forgiveness, we may learn from this
Scripture: ‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.’ If
you look on the foregoing words, you would wonder how this verse comes
in. ‘Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou has wearied me with
thine iniquities;’ and then it follows, ‘I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions.’
Isa 43: 24, 25. One would have thought it should have run
thus, ‘Thou hast wearied me with shine iniquities; I, even I, am he that
will punish thy iniquities;’ but God comes in a mild loving strain,
‘Thou hast wearied me with shine iniquities; I am he that blotteth out
thy iniquities.’ So that the greatness of our sins should not discourage
us from going to God for forgiveness. Though thou hast committed acts of
impiety, yet God can come with an act of indemnity, and say, ‘I, even I,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.’ God counts it his glory to
display free grace in its most brilliant colours. ‘Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound.’
Rom 5: 20. When sin becomes exceeding sinful, free grace
becomes exceeding glorious. God’s pardoning love can conquer the sinner,
and triumph over the sin. Consider, thou almost despairing soul, there
is not so much sin in man as there is mercy in God. Man’s sin in
comparison of God’s mercy is but as a spark to the ocean; and who would
doubt whether a spark could be quenched in an ocean?
But I
have relapsed into the same sins, and how can I have the face to come to
God for pardon of those sins into which I have more than once fallen?
I know
the Novatians held that after a relapse there is no forgiveness by the
church. But doubtless that was an error. Abraham twice equivocated; Lot
committed incest twice; Peter sinned thrice by carnal fear; but they
repented, and they had absolution.
There
is a twofold relapse, (1) A wilful relapse, when, after a man has
solemnly vowed himself to God, he falls into a league with sin, and
returns back to it. ‘I have loved strangers, and after them will I go’ (Jer
2: 25); and (2) there is a relapse through infirmity, when
the bent and resolution of a man’s heart is against sin, but, through
the violence of temptation, and withdrawing of God’s grace, he is
carried down the stream against his will. Now, though wilful and
continued relapses are desperate, and tend
vastare
conscientiam (as Tertullian), to
waste the conscience, and run men upon the precipice of damnation, yet
if they are through infirmity, and we mourn for them, we may obtain
forgiveness. A godly man does not march after sin as his general, but is
led captive by it; and the Lord will pity a captive prisoner. Christ
commands us to forgive a trespassing brother seventy times seven.
Matt 18: 22. If he bids us do it, much more will he forgive a
relapsing sinner in case he repent. ‘Return, thou backsliding Israel,
for I am merciful, saith the Lord.’
Jer 3: 12. It is not falling once or twice into the mire that
drowns, but lying there; it is not once relapsing into sin, but lying in
sin impenitently that damns.
But
God requires so much sorrow and humiliation before remission, that I
fear I shall never arrive at it!
He
requires no more humiliation than may fit a soul for mercy. Many a
Christian thinks, because he has not filled God’s bottle so full of
tears as others, he is not humbled enough to receive pardon. But God’s
dealings are various; all have not the like pangs in the new birth. Some
are won with love; the sense of God’s mercy abused causes ingenuous
tears to flow; others are more flagitious and hardened, and God deals
with them more roughly. That soul is humbled enough to receive a pardon
which is brought to a thorough sense of sin, and sees the need of a
Saviour, and loves him as the fairest of ten thousand. Therefore be not
discouraged, for if thy heart be bruised from sin and broken off from
it, thy sin shall be blotted out. No sooner did Ephraim weep than God’s
bowels were working. ‘My bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have
mercy upon him.’
Jer 31: 20.
Having
answered these objections, let me beseech you, above all things, labour
for the forgiveness of sin. Think with yourselves how great a mercy it
is: it is one of the richest jewels in the cabinet of the new covenant.
‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.’
Psa 32: 1: In the Hebrew it is ‘blessednesses’. And think of
the unparalleled misery of those whose sins are not forgiven! Such as
had not the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled upon their door-posts,
were destroyed by the angel.
Exod 12: So they who have not Christ’s blood sprinkled on
them, to wash away the guilt of sin, will fall into the gulf of
perdition. If you resolve to seek after forgiveness, do not delay.
Many
say they will get their pardon, but they procrastinate and put it off so
long that it is too late. When the shadows of the evening are stretched
forth, and the night of death approaches, they begin to look after their
pardon. This has been the undoing of millions. They purpose to look
after their souls, but they stay so long till the lease of mercy is run
out. Oh, therefore, hasten to get pardon! Think of the uncertainty of
life. What security have you that you shall live another day?
Volat
ambiguis mobilis alis hora
[The fleeting hour flies on
fickle wings]. Our life is a taper soon blown out; it is made up of a
few flying minutes. O thou dust and ashes! thou mayest fear every hour
to be blown into thy grave; and what if death come to arrest thee before
thy pardon be sealed? Plutarch reports of one Archias, who being among
his cups when a letter was delivered to him, and he was desired to read
it, as it was about serious business,
Seria cras,
he said, ‘I will mind serious things to-morrow;’ and that night he was
slain. Thou that sayest, ‘To-morrow I will repent, I will get my
pardon,’ thou mayest suddenly be slain; therefore to-day, while it is
called to-day, look after the forgiveness of sin. After awhile, all the
fountains of mercy will be stopped, there will not be one drop of
Christ’s blood to be had, there are no pardons after death.
Use 3.
Let us labour to have the evidence that our sins are forgiven. A man may
have his sins forgiven and not know it; he may have a pardon in the
court of heaven when he has it not in the court of conscience. David’s
sin was forgiven soon as he repented. God sent Nathan the prophet to
tell him so.
2 Samuel 12: 13. But David did not feel the comfort of it at
once, as appears by the penitential Psalm composed afterwards. ‘Make me
to hear joy;’ and ‘Cast me not away from thy presence.’
Psa 51: 8, 11. It is one thing to be pardoned and another to
feel it. The evidence of pardon may hot appear for a time, and this may
be:
(1)
From the imbecility and weakness of faith. Forgiveness of sin is so
strange and infinite a blessing that a Christian can hardly persuade
himself that God will extend such a favour to him. As it is said of the
apostles when Christ first appeared to them, ‘They believed not for joy,
and wondered,’ (Luke
24: 41), so the soul may be so stricken with admiration that
the wonder of pardon staggers its faith.
(2) A
man may be pardoned and not know it from the strength of temptation.
Satan accuses the godly of sin, and tells them that God does not love
them; and should such sinners think of pardon? Believers are compared to
bruised reeds; and temptations to winds.
Matt 12: 20;
chap 7: 25. Now, a reed is easily shaken with the wind.
Temptations shake the godly; and though they are pardoned, yet they know
it not. Job in a temptation thought God his enemy, and yet he was then
in a pardoned condition.
Job 16: 9.
Why
does God sometimes conceal the evidence of pardon?
Though
he pardons, he may withhold the sense of it for a time: (1) Because he
would lay us lower in contrition. He would have us see what an evil and
bitter thing it is to offend him. Therefore we must lie longer in the
briny tears of repentance before we have the sense of pardon. It was
long before David’s broken bones were set and his pardon sealed, that
his heart might be more contrite; and this was a sacrifice which God
delighted in. (2) Though God has forgiven sin, he may deny the
manifestation of it for a time, to make us prize pardon and make it
sweeter to us when it comes. The difficulty of obtaining a mercy
enhances its value. When we have been a long time tugging at prayer for
a pardon of sin, and still God withholds, but at last, after many sighs
and tears, it comes, we esteem it the more, and it is sweeter.
Quo longius
defertur eo suavius laetatur
[The longer the delay, the sweeter the rejoicing]. The longer mercy is
in the birth the more welcome will the deliverance be.
Let us
not be content however without the evidence and sense of pardon. He who
is pardoned and knows it not, is like one who has an estate bequeathed
to him, but knows it not. Our comfort consists in the knowledge of
forgiveness. ‘Make me to hear joy.’
Psa 51: 8. There is a jubilee in the soul when we are able to
read our pardon. To the witness of conscience God adds the witness of
his Spirit; and in the mouth of these two witnesses our joy is
confirmed. O labour for the evidence of forgiveness!
How
shall we know that our sins are forgiven?
We
must not be our own judges in this case. ‘He that trusteth in his own
heart is a fool.’
Prov 28: 26. ‘The heart is deceitful.’
Jer 17: 9. It is folly to trust a deceiver. The Lord only by
his word must judge whether we are pardoned or not. As under the law no
leper might judge himself to be clean, but the priest was to pronounce
him clean, (Lev
13: 37); so we are not to judge ourselves to be clean from
the guilt of sin till we are such as the word of God pronounces to be
clean.
How
shall we know by the word that our sins are pardoned?
(1)
The pardoned sinner is a great weeper. The sense of God’s love melts his
heart. That free grace should ever look upon me; that such crimson sins
should be washed away in Christ’s blood, makes the heart melt and the
eyes drop with tears; never did any man read his pardon with dry eyes.
‘She stood at his feet weeping.’
Luke 7: 38. Mary’s tears were more precious to Christ than
her ointment; her eyes, which before sparkled with lust, now became a
fountain, and washed Christ’s feet with her tears. She was a true
penitent, and had her pardon. ‘Wherefore, I say, her sins, which are
many, are forgiven;’
ver 47. A pardon will make the hardest heart relent and cause
the stony heart to bleed. Is it thus with us? Have we been dissolved
into tears for sin? God seals his pardons upon melting hearts.
(2) We
may know our sins are forgiven by having the grace of faith. ‘To him
give all the prophets witness, that whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins.’
Acts 10: 43. In saving faith there are two things —
renunciation and recumbency: [1] Renunciation. A man renounces all
opinion of himself; is digged out of his own burrow, and he is quite
taken off from himself.
Phil 3: 9. He sees all his duties are but broken reeds;
though he could weep a sea of tears; though he had all the grace of men
and angels, it could not purchase his pardon. [2] Recumbency. Faith is
an assent with affiance. The soul gets hold of Christ as Adonijah did of
the horns of the altar.
1 Kings 1: 51. Faith casts itself into the stream of Christ’s
blood, and says, If I perish, I perish. If we have but the minimum quod
sic, the least drachm of this precious faith, we have something to show
for pardon. This faith is acceptable to God, it pleases him more than
offering up ten thousand rivers of oil, than working miracles, than
martyrdom, or the highest acts of obedience. This faith is profitable to
us; it is our best certificate to show for pardon. No sooner does faith
reach forth its hand to receive Christ, than Christ sets his hand to our
pardon.
(3)
The pardoned soul is an admirer of God. ‘Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity?’
Mic 7: 18. Oh, that God should ever look upon me! I was a
sinner, and nothing but a sinner, yet I obtained mercy! ‘Who is a God
like unto thee?’ Mercy has been despised, and yet that mercy saves me.
Christ has been crucified by me, yet his cross crowns me. God has
displayed the ensigns of free grace, he has set up his mercy above my
sin, nay, in spite of it. This causes admiration. ‘Who is a God like
thee?’ A man that goes over a narrow bridge in the night, and next
morning sees the danger he was in, how miraculously he escaped, is
filled with admiration; so when God shows a man how near he was falling
into hell, how that gulf is passed, and all his sins are pardoned, he is
amazed, and cries out, ‘Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity?’ That God should pardon one and pass by another — one should
be taken and another left — fills the soul with wonder and astonishment.
(4)
Wherever God pardons sin, he subdues it. ‘He will have compassion on us,
he will subdue our iniquities.’
Mic 7: 19. Where men’s persons are justified, their lusts are
mortified. There is in sin
vis
imperatoria et damnatoria, a
commanding and a condemning power. The condemning power of sin is taken
away when the commanding power of it is taken away. We know our sins are
forgiven when they are subdued. If a malefactor be in prison, how shall
he know that his prince has pardoned him? If the jailor come and knock
off his chains and fetters, and lets him out of prison, then he knows he
is pardoned: so we know God has pardoned us when the fetters of sin are
broken off, and we walk at liberty in the ways of God. ‘I will walk at
liberty;’ this is a blessed sign that we are pardoned.
Psa 119: 45. Such as are washed in Christ’s blood from guilt,
are made kings to God.
Rev 1: 6. As kings they rule over their sins.
(5) He
whose sins are forgiven is full of love to God. Mary Magdalene’s heart
was fired with love. ‘Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she
loved much.’
Luke 7: 47. Her love was not the cause of her remission, but
a sign of it. A pardoned soul is a monument of mercy, and he thinks he
can never love God enough: he wishes he had a coal from God’s altar to
inflame his heart in love, he wishes he could borrow the wings of the
cherubims that he might fly swifter in obedience; a pardoned soul is
sick of love. He whose heart is like marble, locked up in impenitence,
that does not melt in love, gives evidence that his pardon is yet
unsealed.
(6)
Where sin is pardoned, the nature is purified. ‘I will heal their
backslidings, I will love them.’
Hos 14: 4. Every man, by nature, is both guilty and diseased.
When God remits the guilt, he cures the disease. ‘Who forgiveth all
shine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.’
Psa 103: 3. Herein God’s pardon goes beyond the king’s
pardon; the king may forgive a malefactor, but he cannot change his
heart, which may be a thievish heart still; but when God pardons, he
changes the heart. ‘A new heart also will I give you.’
Ezek 36: 26. A pardoned soul is adorned and embellished with
holiness. ‘This is he that came by water and blood.’
1 John 5: 6. When Christ comes with blood to justify, he
comes with water to cleanse. ‘I have caused thine iniquity to pass from
thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.’
Zech 3: 4. I will cause thy iniquity to pass from thee, there
is pardoning grace; and I will clothe thee with change of raiment, there
is sanctifying grace. Let no one say, he has pardon who has not grace.
Many tell us they hope they are pardoned, who were never sanctified.
They believe in Christ; but what faith is it? A swearing faith, a
whoring faith: the faith of devils is as good.
(7)
Such as are in the number of God’s people have forgiveness of sin.
‘Comfort ye my people, cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned.’
Isa 40: 1, 2.
How
shall we know that we are God’s elect people?
By
three characters.
God’s
people are a humble people. The livery which all Christ’s people wear is
humility. ‘Be clothed with humility.’
1 Pet 5: 5. A sight of God’s glory humbles. Elijah wrapped
his face in a mantle when God’s glory passed by. ‘Now mine eye seeth
thee, wherefore I abhor myself.’
Job 13: 5, 6. The stars vanish when the sun appears. A sight
of sin humbles. In the glass of the word the godly see their spots, and
they are humbling spots. Lo, says the soul, I can call nothing my own
but sins and wants. A humble sinner is in a better condition than a
proud angel.
God’s
people are a willing people. ‘A people of willingness;’ love constrains
them; they serve God freely, and out of choice.
Psa 110: 3. They stick at no service; they will run through a
sea, and a wilderness; they will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
God’s
people are a heavenly people. ‘They are not of the world.’
John 17: 16. As the primum mobile in the heavens has a motion
of its own, contrary to the other orbs, so God’s people have a heavenly
motion of the soul, contrary to the men of the world. They use the world
as their servant, but do not follow the world as their master. ‘Our
conversation is in heaven.’
Phil 3: 20. Such as have these three characters of God’s
people, have a good certificate to show that they are pardoned.
Forgiveness of sin belongs to them. ‘Comfort ye my people,’ tell them
their iniquity is forgiven.
(8) We
are pardoned, if, after many storms, we have a sweet calm and peace
within. ‘Being justified we have peace.’
Rom 5: 1. After many a bitter tear shed, and heart-breaking,
the mind has been more sedate, and a sweet serenity or still music has
followed; which brings the tidings that God is appeased. Before
conscience accused, now it secretly whispers comforts, which is a
blessed evidence that a man’s sins are pardoned. If the bailiffs do not
trouble and arrest the debtor, it is a sign his debt is compounded or
forgiven; so if conscience does not vex or accuse, but upon good grounds
whispers consolation, it is a sign that the debt is discharged, and the
sin is forgiven.
(9)
Sin is forgiven when we have hearts without guile. ‘Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and
in whose spirit there is no guile.’
Psa 32: 1, 2.
What
is it to be without guile?
He who
is without guile has plainness of heart. He is without collusion, he has
not cor duplex, a double heart; his heart is right with God. A man may
do a right action, but not with a right heart. ‘Amaziah did that which
was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.’
2 Chron 25: 2. To have the heart right with God, is to serve
him from a right principle, which is love; by a right rule, the word; to
a right end, the glory of God.
A
heart without guile dares not allow itself in the least sin; it avoids
secret sins. The man dares not hide any sin, as Rachel did her father’s
images, under her.
Gen 31: 34. He knows God sees him, which is more than if men
and angels beheld him. He avoids besetting sins. ‘I was also upright
before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.’
Psa 18: 23. As in the hive there is a master-bee, so in the
heart there is a master-sin. A heart without guile takes the sacrificing
knife of mortification, and runs it through its beloved sin.
A
heart without guile desires to know the whole mind and will of God. An
unsound heart is afraid of the light, it is not willing to know its
duty. A sincere soul says (as
Job 34: 32), ‘That which I see not, teach thou me:’ Lord,
show me what is my duty, and wherein I offend; let me not sin for want
of light; what I know not, teach thou me.
A
heart without guile is uniform in religion. The man has an equal eye to
all God’s commands. He makes conscience of private duties; he worships
God in his closet as well as in the temple. When Jacob was alone, he
wrestled with the angel.
Gen 32: 23, 24. So a Christian, when alone, wrestles with God
in prayer, and will not let him go till he has blessed him. He performs
difficult duties, wherein the heart and spirit of religion lie, and
which cross flesh and blood; he is much in self-humbling and
self-examining.
Utitur
speculis magis quam perspecillis.
Seneca. He rather uses the looking glass of the word to look into his
own heart, than the broad spectacles of censure to spy the faults of
others.
He who
has a heart without guile is true to God’s interest. He grieves to see
it go ill with the church. Nehemiah, though the king’s cupbearer, and
wine so near, was sad when Zion’s glory was eclipsed.
Neh 2: 3. Like the tree of which I have read, if any of the
leaves of which are cut, the rest shrink up of themselves, and for a
time hang down; so when God’s church suffers, a sincere soul feels
himself touched in his own person. He rejoices to see the cause of God
get ground; to see truth triumph, piety lift up her head, and the
flowers of Christ’s crown flourish. This is a heart without guile, it is
loyal and true to God’s interest.
He who
has a heart without guile is just in his dealings. As he is upright in
his words, so he is in his weights. He makes conscience of the second
table as well as the first; he is for equity as well as piety. ‘That no
man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.’
1 Thess 4: 6. A sincere person thinks he may as well rob as
defraud; his rule is to do to others what he would have them do to him.
Matt 7: 12.
He who
has a heart without guile is true in his promises; his word is as good
as his bond. If he has made a promise, though it be to his prejudice,
and entrenches upon his profit, he will not go back. The hypocrite plays
fast and loose, flees from his word; there is no more binding him with
oaths and promises, than Samson could be bound with green withs.
Judges 16: 7. A sincere soul saith as Jephthah, ‘I have
opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.’
Judges 11: 35.
He who
has a heart without guile is faithful in his friendship; he is what he
pretends; his heart goes along with his tongue, as a well-made dial goes
with the sun. He cannot flatter and hate, commend and censure.
Counterfeiting of love is hypocrisy. It is too usual to betray with a
kiss. Joab took Abner by the beard to kiss him, and smote him in the
fifth rib that he died.
2 Samuel 20: 9, 10. Many deceive with sugar words. Physicians
judge of the health of the body by the tongue; if that look well, the
body is in health; but we cannot judge of friendship by the tongue. The
words may be full of honey, when the heart has the gall of malice. His
heart is not true to God who is treacherous to his friend. Thus you see
what a heart without guile is; and that to have such a heart is a sign
that sin is pardoned. God will not impute sin to him ‘in whose spirit
there is no guile.’ What a blessed thing is it not to have sin imputed!
If our sins be not imputed, it is as if we had no sin; sins remitted are
as if they had not been committed. This blessing belongs to a sincere
soul. God imputes not iniquity to him in whose spirit is no guile.
(10)
He whose sins are forgiven is willing to forgive others who have
offended him. ‘Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has
forgiven you.’
Eph 4: 32. A hypocrite will read, come to church, give alms,
build hospitals, but cannot forgive wrongs; he will rather want
forgiveness from God than he will forgive his enemies. A pardoned soul
argues thus: ‘Has God been so good to me to forgive me my sins, and
shall I not imitate him in this? Has he forgiven me pounds, and shall I
not forgive pence?’ It is noted of Cranmer, nihil oblivisci solet
praeter injurias. Cicero. He was of a forgiving spirit, and would do
offices of love to all who had injured him; like the sun, which having
drawn up black vapours from the earth, returns them back in sweet
showers.
By
this touchstone we may try whether our sins are pardoned. We need not
climb up to heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven, but only look
into our hearts. Are we of forgiving spirits? Can we bury injuries,
requite good for evil? This would be a good sign that we are forgiven of
God. If we can find all these things wrought in our souls, they are
happy signs that our sins are pardoned, and are good letters testimonial
to show for heaven.
Use 4.
For consolation. I shall open a box of cordials, and show you some of
the glorious privileges of a pardoned condition. This is a peculiar
favour, it is a spring shut up, and unsealed for none but the elect. The
wicked may have forbearing mercy, but an elect person only has forgiving
mercy. Forgiveness of sin makes way for solid joy. ‘Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem;’ or, as
in the Hebrew, ’speak to her heart.’
Isa 40: 1, 2. What was to cheer her heart? ‘Cry unto her,
that her iniquity is pardoned.’ If anything would comfort her the Lord
knew it was this. When Christ would cheer the palsied man, he said,
‘Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.’
Matt 9: 2. It was a greater comfort to have his sins forgiven
than to have his palsy healed. This made David put on his best clothes,
and anoint himself
2 Samuel 12: 20. His child was newly dead, and God had told
him ‘the sword shall never depart from thine house;’ yet now he spruces
up himself, puts on his best clothes, and anoints himself, whence was
this? He had heard good news, God sent him pardon by Nathan the prophet.
‘The Lord has put away thy sin.’
2 Samuel 12: 13. This could not but revive his heart, and, in
token of joy, he anointed himself. Philo says, it was an opinion of some
of the philosophers, that among the heavenly spheres there was such
sweet harmony, that if the sound of it could reach our ears it would
affect us with wonder and delight. Surely he who is pardoned has such a
divine melody in his soul as replenishes him with infinite delight. When
Christ said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Thy sins are forgiven,’ he soon added,
‘go in peace.’
Luke 7: 50. More particularly:
(1)
God looks upon a pardoned soul as if he had never sinned. As cancelling
a bond nulls the bond, and makes it as if the money had never been
owing, so forgiving sin makes it not to be. Where sin is remitted, it is
as if it had not been committed. So that, as Rachel wept because her
children were not, so a child of God may rejoice because his sins are
not.
Jer 50: 20. God looks upon him as if he had never offended.
Though sin remain in him after pardon, yet God does not look upon him as
a sinner, but as a just man.
(2)
God having pardoned sin, will pass an act of oblivion. ‘I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.’
Jer 31: 34. When a creditor has crossed the book, he does not
call for the debt again. God will not reckon with the sinner in a
judicial way. When our sins are laid upon the head of Christ, our
scapegoat, they are carried into a land of forgetfulness.
(3)
The pardoned soul is for ever secured from the wrath of God. How
terrible is God’s wrath! ‘Who knoweth the power of thine anger?’
Psa 90: 11. If a spark of God’s wrath lighting upon a man’s
conscience fills it with horror, what is it to be always scorched in
that torrid zone, to lie upon beds of flames! Now, from this avenging
wrath of God every pardoned soul is freed. Though he may taste the
bitter cup of affliction, he shall never drink of the sea of God’s
wrath. ‘Being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him.’
Rom 5: 9. His blood quenches the flames of hell.
(4)
Sin being pardoned, conscience has no more authority to accuse.
Conscience roars against the unpardoned sinner, but it cannot terrify or
accuse him that is pardoned. God has discharged the sinner, and if the
creditor discharge the debtor, what right has the sergeant to arrest
him? The truth is, if God absolves, conscience if rightly informed,
absolves; if once God says, ‘Thy sins are pardoned,’ conscience says,
‘Go in peace.’ If the sky be clear, and no storms blow there, the sea is
calm; so, if all be clear above, and God shines with pardoning mercy
upon the soul, conscience is calm and serene.
(5)
Nothing that befalls a pardoned soul shall hurt him. ‘There shall no
evil befall thee:’ that is, no destructive evil.
Psa 91: 10. Everything to a wicked man is hurtful. Good
things are for his hurt. His very blessings are turned into a curse. ‘I
will curse your blessings.’
Mal 2: 2. Riches and prosperity do him hurt. They are not
munera [favours], but
insidiae
[snares]. Seneca. ‘Gold snares.’ ‘Riches kept for the owners thereof to
their hurt.’
Eccl 5: 13. Like Haman’s banquet, which ushered in his
funeral. Ordinances do a sinner hurt; they are a ’savour of death.’
2 Cor 2: 16. Cordials themselves kill. The best things hurt
the wicked, but the worst things which befall a pardoned soul shall do
him no hurt. The sting, the poison, the curse is gone. His soul is no
more hurt, than David hurt Saul, when he cut off the lap of his garment.
(6) To
a pardoned soul, everything has a commission to do him good. Afflictions
do him good; poverty, reproach, persecution. ‘Ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good.’
Gen 50: 20. As the elements, though of contrary qualities,
are so tempered that they work for the good of the universe, so the most
cross providences work for good to a pardoned soul. Correction as a
corrosive eats out sin; it cures the swelling of pride, the fever of
lust, and the dropsy of avarice. It is a refining fire to purify grace,
and make it sparkle as gold. Every cross providence, to a pardoned soul,
is like Paul’s Euroclydon or cross wind, which, though it broke the
ship, yet Paul was brought to shore upon the broken pieces.
Acts 27.
(7) A
pardoned soul is not only exempted from wrath, but invested with
dignity; as Joseph was not only freed from prison, but advanced to be
second man in the kingdom.
(8) A
pardoned soul is made a favourite of heaven. A king may pardon a
traitor, but will not make him one of his privy council; but whom God
pardons, he receives into favour. I may say to him as the angel to the
virgin Mary, ‘Thou hast found favour with God.’
Luke 1: 30. Hence, such as are forgiven, are said to be
crowned with lovingkindness.
Psa 103: 3, 4. Whom God pardons he crowns. Whom God absolves,
he marries to himself. ‘I am merciful, and I will not keep anger for
ever;’
Jer 3: 12; there is forgiveness; and in the fourteenth verse,
‘I am married to you;’ and he who is matched into the crown of heaven,
is as rich as the angels, as rich as heaven can make him.
(9)
Sin being pardoned, we may come with humble boldness to God in prayer.
Guilt makes us afraid to go to God. Adam having sinned, ‘was afraid, and
hid’ himself.
Gen 3: 10. Guilt clips the wings of prayer, it fills the face
with blushing; but forgiveness breeds confidence. We may look upon God
as a Father of mercy, holding forth a golden sceptre. He that has got
his pardon, can look upon his prince with comfort.
(10)
Forgiveness of sin makes our services acceptable. God takes all we do in
good part. A guilty person does nothing that is pleasing to God. His
prayer is ‘turned into sin;’ but when sin is pardoned, God accepts his
offering. We read of Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord:
‘Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,’ that is, he was guilty of
divers sins; now, saith the Lord, ‘Take away the filthy garments, I have
caused thine iniquity to pass from thee;’ and then he stood and
ministered before the Lord, and his services were accepted.
Zech 3: 3, 4.
(11)
Forgiveness of sin is the sauce which sweetens all the comforts of this
life. As guilt embitters our comforts, and puts wormwood into our cup,
so pardon sweetens all, and is like sugar to wine. Health and pardon,
estate and pardon, relish well. Pardon of sin gives a sanctified title
and a delicious taste to every comfort. As Naaman said to Gehazi, ‘Take
two talents,’ so says God to the pardoned soul, Take two talents; take
the venison, and take a blessing with it; take the oil in the cruse, and
take my love with it; ‘Take two talents.’
2 Kings 5: 23. It is observable that Christ joins these two
together, ‘Give us our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses,’ as if
Christ would teach us there is little comfort in daily bread unless sin
be forgiven. Forgiveness perfumes and drops sweetness into every earthly
enjoyment.
(12)
If sin be forgiven, God will never upbraid us with former sins. When the
prodigal came home to his father, the father received him into his
loving embraces, and never mentioned his former luxury, or spending his
estate among harlots; so God will not upbraid us with former sins — nay,
he will entirely love us; we shall be his jewels, and he will put us in
his bosom. To Mary Magdalene, a pardoned penitent, after Christ arose,
he first appeared.
Mark 16: 9. So far was he from upbraiding her, that he
brought her the first news of his resurrection.
(13)
Pardoned sin is a pillar of support in the loss of friends. God has
taken away thy child, thy husband; but he has also taken away thy sins.
He has given thee more than he has taken away; he has taken away a
flower, and given thee a jewel. He has given thee Christ and the Spirit,
and the earnest of glory. He has given thee more than he has taken away.
(14)
Where God pardons sins, he bestows righteousness. With remission of sin
goes imputation of righteousness. ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord:
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.’
Isa 61: 10. If a Christian can take any comfort in his
inherent righteousness, which is so stained and mixed with sin, oh, what
comfort may he take in Christ’s righteousness, which is a better
righteousness than that of Adam! Adam’s righteousness was mutable; but
suppose it had been unchangeable, it was but the righteousness of a man;
but that which is imputed is the righteousness of him who is God. ‘That
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’
2 Cor 5: 21. Oh, blessed privilege, to be reputed in the
sight of God righteous as Christ, having his embroidered robe put upon
the soul! This is the comfort of every one that is pardoned, he has a
perfect righteousness; and now God says of him, ‘Thou art all fair, my
love; there is no spot in thee.’
Cant 4: 7.
(15) A
pardoned soul needs not fear death. He may look on death with joy, who
can look on forgiveness with faith. To a pardoned soul, death has lost
his sting. Death, to a pardoned sinner, is like arresting a man after
the debt is paid; it may arrest, but Christ will show the debt-book
crossed in his blood. A pardoned soul may triumph over death, ‘O death!
where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?’ He who is pardoned
need not fear death: it is not to him a destruction, but a deliverance;
it is a day of jubilee or release; it releases him from all his sins.
Death comes to a pardoned soul as the angel did to Peter, when he smote
him, and beat off his chains, and carried him out of prison; it smites
his body, and the chains of sin fall off. Death gives a pardoned soul a
quietus est [he is at rest], it
frees from all his labours.
Rev 14: 13.
Felix transitus a labore ad requiem
[Happy is the passage from toil to rest]. Bernard. As it will wipe off
our tears, so it will wipe off our sweat. It will do a pardoned
Christian a good turn, therefore it is made a part of the inventory in
1 Cor 3: 22; even death is yours. It is like the waggon which
was sent for old Jacob, that came rattling with its wheels, but it was
to carry Jacob to his son Joseph; so the wheels of death’s chariot may
rattle and make a noise, but they are to carry a believer to Christ.
While a believer is here, he is absent from the Lord.
2 Cor 5: 6. He lives far from court, and cannot see him whom
his soul loves; but death gives him a sight of the King of Glory, in
whose presence is fulness of joy. To a pardoned soul, death is
transitus ad
regnum [a passage to the
kingdom]; it removes him to the place of bliss, where he shall hear the
triumphs and anthems of praise sung in the choir of angels. No cause has
a pardoned soul to fear death, what needs he fear to have his body
buried in the earth who has his sins buried in Christ’s wounds? What
hurt can death do to him? It is but his ferryman to ferry him over to
the land of promise. The day of death to a pardoned soul is his
ascension-day to heaven, his coronation-day, when he shall be crowned
with those delights of paradise which are unspeakable and full of glory.
These are the rich consolations which belong to a pardoned sinner. Well
might David proclaim him blessed. ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven;’ in the Hebrew it is in the plural, blessednesses.
Psa 32: 1. Here is a plurality of blessings. Forgiveness of
sin is like the first link of a chain which draws all the links after
it; it draws these fifteen privileges after it; it crowns with grace and
glory. Who then would not labour to have his sins forgiven? ‘Blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.’
Use 5.
Now follow the duties of those who have their sins forgiven.
(1) Be
much in praise and doxology. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth
all thine iniquities.’ Has God crowned you with pardoning mercy? set the
crown of your praise upon the head of free grace. Pardon of sin is a
discriminating mercy, a jewel hung only upon the elect, which calls for
acclamations of praise. You give thanks for ‘daily bread,’ and will you
not much more for pardon? You give thanks for deliverance from sickness
and will you not for deliverance from hell? God has done more for you in
forgiving your sin than if he had given you a kingdom. That you may be
more thankful, do but set the unpardoned condition before your eyes. How
sad is it to want a pardon! All the curses of the law stand in full
force against such a one. The unpardoned sinner dying drops into the
grave and hell both at once; he must quarter among the damned; and will
it not make you thankful that this is not your condition, but that you
are ‘delivered from the wrath to come’?
(2)
Let God’s pardoning love inflame your hearts with love to God. For God
to pardon freely without any desert of yours; to pardon so many
offences; to pardon you and pass by others; to take you out of the ruins
of mankind, of a clod of dust and sin, and make you a jewel sparkling
with heavenly glory; will not this make you love God much? If of three
prisoners that deserve to die the king pardons one, and leaves the other
two to the severity of the law, will not he that is pardoned love the
prince who has been so full of clemency to him? How should your hearts
be endeared in love to God! The schoolmen distinguish a twofold love,
amor
gratuitus, a love of bounty —
that is, God’s love to us in forgiving; and amor debitus, a love of duty
— that is, our love to God by way of return: We should show our love by
admiring God, by sweetly solacing ourselves in him, and binding
ourselves to him in a perpetual covenant.
(3)
Let the sense of God’s love in forgiving make you more cautious and
fearful of sin for the future. ‘There is forgiveness with thee that thou
mayest be feared.’
Psa 130: 4. Oh, fear to offend the God who has been so
forgiving to you. If a friend has done us a kindness, we shall not
disoblige him or abuse his love. After Nathan had told David, ‘The Lord
has put away thy sin,’ how tender was his conscience! How fearful was he
of staining his soul with the guilt of more blood! ‘Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, O God.’
Psa 51: 14. When men commit gross sins after pardon, God
changes his carriage towards them, he turns his smile into a frown; they
lie, es Jonah, in the ‘belly of hell;’ God’s wrath falls into their
conscience as a drop of scalding lead into the eye; the promises are as
a fountain sealed, not a drop of comfort comes from them. O Christians,
do you not remember what it cost before you got your pardon? how long it
was before your ‘broken bones’ were set? and will you again venture to
sin? You may be in such a condition that you may question whether you
belong to God or not. Though God does not damn you, he may give you a
taste of hell in this life.
(4) If
God has given you good hope that you are pardoned, walk cheerfully. ‘We
joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement.’
Rom 5: 11. Who should rejoice, if not he that has his pardon?
God rejoices when he shows us mercy; and should not we rejoice when we
receive mercy? In the saddest times, a pardoned soul may rejoice.
Afflictions have a commission to do him good; every cross wind of
providence shall blow him nearer to the haven of glory. Christian, God
has pulled off your prison- fetters, and clothed you with the robe of
righteousness, and crowned you with lovingkindness, and yet art thou
sad? ‘We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.’
Rom 5: 2. Can the wicked rejoice who have only a short
reprieve from hell, and not they who have a full pardon sealed?
(5)
Has God pardoned you? Do all the service you can for God. ‘Always
abounding in the work of the Lord.’
1 Cor 15: 58. Let your head study for God; let your hands
work for him; let your tongue be the organ of his praise. When Paul got
his pardon, and could say, ‘I obtained mercy,’ it was as oil to the
wheels, it made him move faster in obedience.
1 Tim 1: 16. ‘I laboured more abundantly than they all.’
1 Cor 15: 10. Paul’s obedience did not move slowly, as the
sun on the dial; but swiftly, as the sun in the firmament. He did spend,
and was spent for Christ. The pardoned soul thinks he can never love God
enough, or serve him enough.
Use 6.
Some rules or directions, how we may obtain forgiveness of sin.
(1) We
must take heed of mistakes about pardon of sin; as the mistake that our
sins are pardoned when they are not.
Whence
is this mistake?
From
two grounds. [1] Because God is merciful. God’s being merciful shows
that man’s sins are pardonable. But there is a great deal of difference
between sins pardonable and sins pardoned; thy sins may be pardonable,
yet not pardoned. Though God be merciful, yet whom is God’s mercy for?
Not for the presuming sinner, but the repenting sinner. Such as go on in
sin, cannot lay claim to it. God’s mercy is like the ark, which none but
the priests might touch; none but such as are spiritual priests,
sacrificing their sins, may touch the ark of God’s mercy. [2] Because
Christ died for their sins, therefore they are forgiven. That Christ
died for remission of sin is true; but that all have remission is false,
for then Judas would be forgiven. Remission is limited to believers. ‘By
him all that believe are justified;’ but all do not believe; some slight
and trample Christ’s blood under foot.
Acts 13: 39;
Heb 10: 29. Notwithstanding Christ’s death, all are not
pardoned. Take heed of this dangerous mistake. Who will seek after
pardon that thinks he has it already?
Another mistake is, that pardon is easy to be had; it is but a sigh, or,
Lord, have mercy; but how dearly has pardon cost those who have obtained
it? How long was it ere David’s broken bones were set! Happy are we if
we have the pardon of sin sealed, though at the very last hour; but why
do men think pardon of sin so easy to be obtained? Their sins are but
small, therefore venial. The devil holds the small end of the
perspective glass before their eyes. But there is no small sin against
Deity. Why is he punished with death that clips the king’s coin or
defaces his statue, but because it is an abuse offered to the person of
the king? Little sins, when multiplied, become great, as a little sum
when multiplied, comes to millions. What is less than a grain of sand,
but when the sand is multiplied, what heavier? Thy sins cost no small
price. View them in the glass of Christ’s sufferings, who veiled his
glory, lost his joy, and poured out his soul an offering for the least
sin. Little sins, unrepented of, will damn thee, as well as greater. Not
only great rivers fall into the sea, but little brooks; not only greater
sins carry men to hell, but less; therefore do not think pardon easy,
because sin is small. Beware of mistakes.
(2)
The second means for pardon of sin is to see yourselves guilty. Come to
God as condemned men. ‘They put ropes on their heads and came to the
king of Israel.’
1 Kings 20: 32. Let us come to God in profound humility; say
not, Lord, my heart is good, and my life blameless. God hates this. Lie
in the dust, be covered with sackcloth: say as the centurion, ‘Lord, I
am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof;’ I deserve not the
least smile from heaven.
Matt 8: 8. This is the way for pardon.
(3)
The third means for pardon is, hearty confession of sin. ‘I said, I will
confess my transgressions, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.’
Psa 32: 5. Would we have God cover our sins, we must uncover
them. ‘If we confess our sins, he is just to forgive us our sins.’
1 John 1: 9. One would have thought it should have run thus,
If we confess our sins, he is merciful to forgive them. Nay, but he is
just to forgive them. Why just? Because he has bound himself by a
promise to forgive humble confessors of sin.
Cum accusat
excusat. Tertullian. When we
accuse ourselves, God absolves us. We are apt to hide our sins, which is
as great a folly as for one to hide his disease from the physician; but
when we open our sins to God by confessing, he opens his mercy to us by
forgiving.
(4)
Another means for pardon is sound repentance. Repentance and remission
are put together.
Luke 24: 47. There is a promise of a fountain opened for
washing away the guilt of sin.
Zech 13: 1. But see what goes before: ‘They shall look upon
me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.’
Zech 12: 10. ‘Wash you, make you clean;’ that is, wash in the
waters of repentance; and then follows a promise of forgiveness, ‘Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’
Isa 1: 16, 18. It is easy to turn white into scarlet, but not
so easy to turn scarlet into white: yet, upon repentance, God has
promised to make the scarlet sinner of a milk-like whiteness.
Think
not, however, that repentance merits pardon, but it prepares for it. We
set our seal on the wax when it melts; so God seals his pardons on
melting hearts.
(5)
The next means for pardon is faith in the blood of Christ. It is
Christ’s blood that washes away sin.
Rev 1: 5. But this blood will not wash away sin, unless it be
applied by faith. The apostle speaks of the sprinkling of the blood of
Christ.
I Pet 1: 2. Many are not pardoned, though Christ’s blood be
shed, because it is not sprinkled; now it is faith that sprinkles
Christ’s blood on the soul, for the remission of sin. As Thomas put his
hands into Christ’s sides, so faith puts its hands into Christ’s wounds,
and takes of the blood and sprinkles it upon the conscience, for the
washing away of guilt.
John 20: 27. Hence in Scripture, we are said to obtain pardon
through faith. ‘By him all that believe are justified.’
Acts 13: 39. ‘Thy sins are forgiven.’
Luke 7: 48. Whence was this? ‘Thy faith has saved thee.’
7: 50. O let us labour for faith. Christ is a propitiation or
atonement to take away sin; but how? ‘Through faith in his blood.’
Rom 3: 25.
(6)
The last means is to pray much for pardon. ‘Take away all iniquity.’
Hos 14: 2. ‘The publican smote upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me a sinner.’
Luke 18: 13. And the text says, he went away justified. Many
pray for health, riches, children; but Christ has taught us to pray,
Dimitte nobis debita nostra,
‘Forgive us our sins.’ Be earnest suitors for pardon; consider what
guilt of sin is; it binds one over to the wrath of God; better thy house
were haunted with devils than thy soul with guilt. He who is in the bond
of iniquity, must needs be in the gall of bitterness.
Acts 8: 23. A guilty soul wears Cain’s mark, which was a
trembling at the heart, and a shaking in his flesh. Guilt makes the
sinner afraid, lest every trouble he meets with should arrest him and
bring him to judgement. If guilt be so dismal, and breed such convulsion
fits in the conscience, how earnest should we be in prayer, that God
would remove it, and so earnest as to resolve to take no denial! Plead
hard with God for pardon, as a man would plead with a judge for his
life. Fall upon thy knees, say, Lord, hear one word. God may say, What
canst thou say for thyself, that thou shouldest not die? Lord, I can say
but little, but I put in my Surety, Christ shall answer for me; O look
upon that blood which speaks better things than that of Abel; Christ is
my priest, his blood is my sacrifice, his divine nature is my altar. As
Rahab was to show the scarlet thread in the window, that when Joshua saw
it he might not destroy her, so show the Lord the scarlet thread of
Christ’s blood, for that is the way to have mercy.
Josh 2: 18, 21;
6: 22, 23. God may say, Why should I pardon thee? Thou hast
nowise obliged me. But, Lord, pardon me, because thou hast promised it;
I urge thy covenant. When a man is about to die by the law, he calls for
his book; so say, Lord, let me have the benefit of my book, thy word
says, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way and our God will abundantly
pardon.’
Isa 55: 7. Lord, I have forsaken my sins, let me therefore
have mercy; I plead the benefit of the book. But, for whose sake should
I pardon? Thou canst not deserve it. Lord, for thy own name’s sake; thou
hast said, thou wilt blot out sin, for thy own name’s sake.
Isa 43: 25. It will not eclipse thy crown; thy mercy will
shine forth, and all thy other attributes ride in triumph, if thou shalt
pardon me! Thus plead with God in prayer, and resolve not to give over
till thy pardon be sealed. God cannot deny importunity; he delights in
mercy. As the mother, says Chrysostom, delights to have her breasts
milked, so God delights to milk out the breast of mercy to the sinner.
These means being used will procure this great blessedness, the
forgiveness of sin.
IV.
The last part of this petition is the condition: ‘As we forgive them
that trespass against us.’ This word, As, is not a note of equality, but
similitude; not that we equal God in forgiving, but imitate him. The
great duty of forgiving others, is crossing the stream; it is contrary
to flesh and blood. Men forget kindnesses, but remember injuries. But it
is an indispensable duty to forgive; we are not bound to trust an enemy;
but we are bound to forgive him. We are naturally prone to revenge.
Revenge, says Homer, is sweet as dropping honey. The heathen
philosophers held revenge lawful.
Ulcisci te
lacessitus potes [When provoked
you may avenge yourself]. Cicero. But we learn better things from the
oracles of Scripture. ‘When ye stand praying, forgive.’
Mark 11: 25. ‘Many man have a quarrel against any: even as
Christ forgave you, so also do ye.’
Col 3: 13.
How
can we forgive others, when God only can forgive sin?
In
every breach of the second table, there are two things: an offence
against God, and a trespass against man. So far as it is an offence
against God, he only can forgive; but so far as it is a trespass against
man, we may forgive.
When
do we forgive others?
When
we strive against all thoughts of revenge; when we will not do our
enemies mischief, but wish well to them, grieve at their calamities,
pray for them, seek reconciliation with them, and show ourselves ready
on all occasions to relieve them. This is gospel- forgiving.
But I
have been much injured and abused, and to put up with it will be a stain
to my reputation.
(1) To
pass by an injury without revenge, is not eclipsing our honour. The
Scripture says of a man, ‘It is his glory to pass over a transgression.’
Prov 19: 11. It is more honour to bury an injury than to
revenge it. Wrath denotes weakness; a noble heroic spirit overlooks a
petty offence.
(2)
Suppose a man’s credit should be impaired with those whose censure is
not to be regarded; consider the folly of challenging another to a duel.
It is little wisdom for a man to redeem his credit by losing his life,
and to run to hell to be counted valorous.
But
the wrong he has done me is great.
But
thy not forgiving him is a greater wrong. In injuring thee he has
offended against man, but in not forgiving him thou offendest against
God.
But if
I forgive vile injury, I shall occasion more.
If the
more injuries you forgive, the more you meet with, it will make thy
grace thine the more. Often forgiving will add more to the weight of thy
glory. If any say, I strive to excel in other graces, but as for this
forgiving, I cannot do it, I desire in this to be excused, what becomes
of other graces? The graces are
inter se
connexae, linked and chained
together; when there is one, there is all. He that cannot forgive, his
grace is counterfeit, his faith is fancy, his devotion is hypocrisy.
But
suppose another has wronged me in my estate, may I not go to law for my
debt?
Yes,
else of what use were law courts? God has set judges to decide cases in
law, and to give every one his right. It is with going to law, as it is
with going to war; when the just rights of a nation are invaded, it is
lawful to go to war; so when a man’s estate is trespassed upon by
another, he may go to law to recover it. But the law must be used in the
last place; when no entreaties or arbitrations will prevail, then the
chancery must decide it. Yet this is no revenge, it is not so much to
injure another, as to right one’s self; which may be, and yet we may
live in charity.
Use 1.
Here is a bill of indictment against such as study revenge, and cannot
put up with the least discourtesy. They would have God forgive them, but
they will not forgive others. They will pray, come to church, give alms,
but, as Christ said, ‘One thing thou lackest.’
Mark 10: 21. They lack a forgiving spirit, they will rather
want forgiveness from God than they will forgive their brother. How sad
is it, that, for every slight wrong, or disgraceful word, men should let
malice boil in their hearts! would there be so many duels, arrests,
murders, if men had the art of forgiving? Revenge is the proper sin of
the devil; he is no drunkard or adulterer, but this old serpent is full
of the poison of malice: and what shall we say to those who make a
profession of religion, but instead of forgiving, pursue others
despitefully? It was prophesied, the ‘wolf shall dwell with the lamb.’
Isa 11: 6. But what shall we say, when such as profess to be
lambs become wolves? They open the mouths of the profane against
religion who will say these are as full of rancour as any. O whither is
love and mercy ‘deaf? If the son of man come, will he find charity on
the earth? I fear but little. How can those who cherish anger and malice
in their hearts, and will not forgive, pray, ‘Forgive us, as we forgive
others’? Either they must omit this petition, as Chrysostom says some
did in his time, or they pray against themselves.
Use 2.
Let us all be persuaded, if ever we hope for salvation, to pass by petty
injuries and discourtesies, and labour to be of forgiving spirits.
‘Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another.’
Col 3: 13.
(1)
Herein we resemble God. He is ready to forgive.
Psa 86: 5. He befriends his enemies; he opens his hands to
relieve those who open their mouths against him. It was Adam’s pride to
resemble God in omniscience; but it is lawful to resemble God in
forgiving enemies; this is a God-like disposition; and what is
godliness, but God-likeness?
(2) To
forgive is one of the highest evidences of grace. When grace comes into
the heart, it makes a man, as Caleb, of another spirit.
Numb 14: 24. It makes a great metamorphosis, it sweetens the
heart, and fills it with love and candour. As a scion grafted into a
stock, partakes of the nature and sap of the tree, and brings forth the
same fruit, so he who was once of a sour crabby disposition, given to
revenge, when ingrafted into Christ, partakes of the sap of the heavenly
olive, and bears sweet and generous fruit; he is full of love to his
enemies, and requites good for evil. As the sun draws up many thick
noxious vapours from the earth, and returns them in sweet showers, so a
gracious heart returns the unkindnesses of others with the sweet
influences of love and mercifulness. ‘They rewarded me evil for good;
but as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I humbled
my soul with fasting.’
Psa 35: 12, 13. This is a good certificate to show for
heaven.
(3)
The blessed example of our Lord Jesus teaches this. He was of a
forgiving spirit; his enemies reviled him, but he pitied them; their
words were more bitter than the gall and vinegar they gave him, but his
words were smoother than oil; they spat upon him, pierced him with the
spear and nails, but he prayed for them, ‘Father, forgive them.’ He wept
over his enemies, he shed tears for those that shed his blood. Never was
there such a pattern of amazing kindness. Christ bids us learn of him.
Matt 11: 29. He doth not bid us learn of him to work
miracles, but he would have us learn of him to forgive our enemies. If
we do not imitate Christ’s life, we cannot be saved by his death.
(4)
The danger of an implacable unforgiving spirit. It hinders the efficacy
of ordinances; it is like an obstruction in the body, which keeps it
from thriving. A revengeful spirit poisons our sacrifice; our prayers
are turned into sin. Will God receive prayer mingled with this strange
fire? Our coming to the sacrament is sin if we come not in charity, so
that ordinances are turned into sin. It were sad if all the meat we eat
should turn to poison; but malice poisons the sacramental cup, men eat
and drink their own damnation. Judas came to the passover in malice, and
after the sop, Satan entered into him.
John 13: 27.
(5)
God has tied his mercy to the condition, that if we do not forgive,
neither will he forgive us. ‘If ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’
Matt 6: 15. A man may as well go to hell for not forgiving as
for not believing. How can they expect mercy from God whose bowels are
shut up and are merciless to their trespassing brethren? ‘He shall have
judgement without mercy that has showed no mercy.’
James 2: 13. ‘I cannot forgive,’ said one, ‘though I go to
hell.’
(6)
The examples of the saints who have been of forgiving spirits. Joseph
forgave his brethren, though they put him into a pit and sold him. ‘Fear
not; I will nourish you and your little ones.’
Gen 50: 21. Stephen prayed for his persecutors. Moses was of
a forgiving spirit. How many injuries and affronts did he put up with!
The people of Israel dealt unkindly with him; they murmured against him
at the waters of Marah, but he prayed for them.
Exod 15: 25. ‘He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him
a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet.’ When they wanted water, they chided with him. ‘Wherefore is this
that thou hast brought us out of Egypt to kill us with thirst?’
Exod 17: 3. As if they had said, ‘If we die, we will lay our
death to thy charge.’ This was enough to have made Moses call for fire
from heaven upon them; but he passes by this injury, and, to show he
forgave them, he became an intercessor for them, and drew water from the
rock for them;
ver 4, 5, 6. The prophet Elisha feasted his enemies: he
prepared a table for those who would have prepared his grave.
2 Kings 6: 23. Cranmer was famous for forgiving injuries.
When Luther had reviled Calvin, Calvin said,
Etiamsi
millies me diabolum vocet:
‘Though he call me a devil a thousand times, yet I will love and honour
him as a precious servant of Christ.’ When one who had abused and
wronged a Christian asked him what wonders his Master Christ had
wrought, he said, ‘He has wrought this wonder, that though you have so
injured me, I can forgive you and pray for you.’
(7)
Forgiving and requiting good for evil is the best way to conquer and
melt the heart of an enemy. When Saul had pursued David with malice and
hunted him as a partridge upon the mountains, David would not do him
mischief when it was in his power. David’s kindness melted Saul’s heart.
‘Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept,
and said, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me
good.’
1 Sam 24: 16, 17. Such forgiving is heaping coals which melt
the enemy’s heart.
Rom 12: 20. It is the most noble victory to overcome an enemy
without striking a blow, to conquer him with love. When Philip of
Macedon was told that one Nicanor openly railed against him, instead of
putting him to death, he sent him a rich present, which so overcame the
man, and made his heart relent, that he went up and down to recant what
he had said against the king, and highly extolled the king’s clemency.
(8)
Forgiving others is the way to have forgiveness from God, and is a sign
of that forgiveness.
[1] It
is the way to have forgiveness. ‘If ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you.’
Matt 6: 14. But one would think other things should sooner
procure forgiveness from God than our forgiving others. No, surely
nothing like this to procure forgiveness; for all other acts of religion
may have leaven in them. God forbade leaven in the sacrifice.
Exod 34: 25. One may give alms, and there may be the leaven
of vainglory in it. The Pharisees sounded a trumpet, when they gave
alms, to gain applause.
Matt 6: 2. One may give his body to be burned, yet there may
be the leaven of false zeal in this; but to forgive others that have
offended us can have no leaven in it, no sinister aim. It is a duty
wholly spiritual, and is done purely out of love to God; hence God
annexes forgiveness to this rather than to the highest and most renowned
works of charity which are cried up in the world.
[2] It
is a sign of God’s forgiving us. It is not a cause of God’s forgiving
us, but a sign. We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins
are forgiven: let us look into our hearts, and see if we can forgive
others. If we can, we need not doubt but God has forgiven us. Our loving
others is the reflection of God’s love to us. Oh, therefore, by all
these arguments, let us be persuaded to forgive others. Christians, how
many offences has God passed by in us! Our sins are innumerable and
heinous. Is God willing to forgive us so many offences, and cannot we
forgive a few? No man can do so much wrong to us all our life as we do
to God in one day.
But
how must we forgive?
As God
forgives us. (1) Cordially. God not only makes a show of forgiveness,
and keeps our sins by him; but he really forgives, he passes an act of
oblivion.
Jer 31: 34. So we must not only say we forgive, but do it
with the heart. ‘If ye from your hearts forgive not.’
Matt 18: 35.
(2)
God forgives fully; he forgives all our sins. He does not for fourscore
write down fifty. ‘Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.’
Psa 103: 3. Hypocrites pass by some offences, but retain
others. Would we have God so deal with us as to remit only some
trespasses, and call us to account for the rest?
(3)
God forgives often. We run afresh upon the score, but God multiplies
pardon.
Isa 55: 7. Peter asks the question, ‘Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith
unto him, I say not until seven times, but until seventy times seven.’
Matt 18: 21, 22. If he say, ‘I repent,’ you must say, ‘I
remit.’
But
this is one of the highest acts of religion; flesh and blood cannot do
it; how shall I attain to it?
(1)
Let us consider how many wrongs and injuries we have done against God.
What volume can hold our errata? Our sins are more than the sparks in a
furnace.
(2) If
we would forgive, let us see God’s hand in all that men do or say
against us. Did we look higher than instruments, our hearts would grow
calm, and we should not meditate revenge. Shimei reproached David and
cursed; but David looked higher. ‘Let him alone, and let him curse, for
the Lord has bidden him.’
2 Samuel 16: 11. What made Christ, when he was reviled,
revile not again? He looked beyond Judas and Pilate, he saw his Father
putting the bitter cup into his hand. As we must see God’s hand in all
the affronts and incivilities we receive from men, so we must believe
God will do us good by all, if we belong to him. ‘It may be the Lord
will requite me good for his cursing this day.’
2 Samuel 16: 12.
Quisquis
detrahit famae meae addet mercedi meae.
Augustine. He that injures me shall add to my reward; he that clips my
name to make it weigh lighter, shall make my crown weigh heavier. Well
might Stephen pray for his enemies, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge.’
Acts 7: 60. He knew they did but increase his glory in
heaven, every stone his enemies threw at him added a pearl to his crown.
(3)
Lay up a stock of faith. ‘If thy brother trespass against thee seven
times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I
repent, thou shalt forgive him.’
Luke 17: 3, 4. The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our
faith,’ as if they had said, ‘We can never do this without a great deal
of faith; Lord, increase our faith.’ Believe God has pardoned you, and
you will pardon others; only faith can throw dust upon injuries, and
bury them in the grave of forgetfulness.
(4)
Think how thou hast sometimes wronged others; and may it not be just
with God that the same measure you mete to others should be measured to
you again? Hast thou not wronged others, if not in their goods, yet in
their name? If thou hast not borne false witness against them, yet
perhaps thou hast spoken falsely of them; the consideration of which may
make Christians bury injuries in silence.
(5)
Get humble hearts. A proud man thinks it a disgrace to put up with an
injury. What causes so many duels and murders but pride? ‘Be clothed
with humility.’
1 Pet 5: 5. He who is low in his own eyes will not be
troubled much though others lay him low; he knows there is a day coming
when there shall be a resurrection of names as well as bodies, and God
will avenge him of his adversaries. ‘And shall not God avenge his own
elect?’
Luke 18: 7. The humble soul leaves all his wrongs to God to
requite, who has said, ‘Vengeance is mine.’
Rom 12: 19.
Use 3.
For comfort. Such as forgive, God will forgive them. You have a good
argument to plead with God for forgiveness. Lo, I am willing to forgive
him who makes me no satisfaction, and wilt not thou forgive me who hast
received satisfaction in Christ my surety?
The Sixth Petition in the Lord’s
Prayer
‘And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
Matt 6: 13.
This
petition consists of two parts. First, Deprecatory, ‘Lead us not into
temptation.’ Secondly, Petitionary, ‘But deliver us from evil.’
I. ‘Lead
us not into temptation.’ Does God lead into temptation? God tempts no
man to sin. ‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.’
James 1: 13. He permits sin, but does not promote it. He who
is an encourager of holiness cannot be a pattern of sin. God does not
tempt to that to which he has an antipathy. What king will tempt his
subjects to break laws which he himself has established?
But is it
not said, God tempted Abraham?
Gen 22: 1.
Tempting
there was no more than trying. He tried Abraham’s faith, as a goldsmith
tries gold in the fire; but there is a great deal of difference between
trying his people’s grace and exciting their corruption; he tries their
grace, but does not excite their corruption. Man’s sin cannot be justly
fathered on God. God tempts no man.
What then
is the meaning of ‘Lead us not into temptation’?
The
meaning is, that God would not suffer us to be overcome by temptation;
that we may not be given up to the power of temptation, and be drawn
into sin.
Whence do
temptations come?
(1)
Ab intra
[From within], from ourselves. The heart is
fomes peccati
[the kindling of sin], the breeder of all evil. Our own hearts are the
greatest tempters:
quisque sibi
Satan est [everyone is Satan to
himself]. ‘Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust.’
The heart is a perfect decoy.
James 1: 14.
(a)
Temptations come
ab extra
[from without], from Satan. He is called the Tempter.
Matt 4: 3. He lies in ambush to do us mischief:
stat in
procinctu diabolus [the devil
stands girded for battle], the devil lays a train of temptation to blow
up the fort of our grace. He is not yet fully cast into prison, but is
like a prisoner under bail. The world is his diocese, where he is sure
to be found, whatever we are doing — reading, praying, or meditating. We
find him within, but how he came there we know not; we are sure of his
company, though uncertain how we came by it. A saint’s whole life, says
Augustine, is temptation. Elias, who could shut heaven by prayer, could
not shut his heart from temptation. This is a great molestation to a
child of God; as it is a trouble to a virgin to have her chastity daily
assaulted. The more we are tempted to evil, the more we are hindered
from good. We are in great danger of the ‘Prince of the air;’ and we
need often pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ That we may see in what
danger we are from Satan’s temptations:
Consider,
[1] His malice in tempting. This hellish serpent is swelled with the
poison of malice. Satan envies man’s happiness. To see a clod of dust so
near to God, and himself, once a glorious angel, cast out of the
heavenly paradise, makes him pursue mankind with inveterate hatred. ‘The
devil is come down unto you, having great wrath.’
Rev 12: 12. If there be anything this infernal spirit can
delight in, it is to ruin souls, and to bring them into the same
condemnation with himself. This malice of Satan in tempting must needs
be great, if we consider three things:
(1) That
Satan, though full of torment, should tempt others. One would think that
he would scarcely have a thought but of his own misery; and yet such is
his rage and malice that, while God is punishing him, he is tempting
others.
(2) His
malice is great, because he will tempt where he knows he cannot prevail;
he will put forth his sting, though he cannot hurt. He tempted Christ.
‘If thou be the Son of God.’
Matt 4: 3. He knew well enough Christ was God as well as man,
yet he would tempt him. Such was his malice against him that he would
put an affront on him, though he knew he should be conquered by him. He
tempts the elect to blasphemy; he knows he cannot prevail against them;
and yet such is his malice, that though he cannot storm the garrison of
their hearts, yet he will plant his pieces of ordnance against them.
(3) His
malice is great, because though knowing his tempting men to sin will
increase his own torment in hell, he will not leave it off. Every
temptation makes his chain heavier and his fire hotter, and yet he will
tempt. Therefore being such a malicious revengeful spirit, we need pray
that God will not suffer him to prevail by his temptation. ‘Lead us not
into temptation.’
[2]
Consider Satan’s diligence in tempting. He ‘walketh about.’
1 Pet 5: 8. He neglects no time; he who would have us idle is
himself always busy. This lion is ever hunting after his prey, he
compasses sea and land to make a proselyte; he walks about — he walks
not as a pilgrim, but a spy; he watches where he may throw in the
fireball of temptation. He is a restless spirit; if we repulse him, he
will not desist, but come again with a temptation. Like Marcellus, a
Roman captain Hannibal speaks of, whether he conquered or was conquered,
was never quiet. More particularly, Satan’s diligence in tempting is
seen in this:
(1) If he
gets the least advantage by temptation, he pursues it to the utmost. If
his motion to sin begins to take, he follows it close and presses to the
act of sin. When he tempted Judas to betray Christ, and found him
inclinable, and beginning to bite at the bait of thirty pieces of
silver, he hurried hum on, and never left him till he had betrayed his
Lord and Master. When he tempted Spira to renounce his religion, and saw
him begin to yield, he followed the temptation close, and never left off
till he had made him go to the legate at Venice, and there abjure his
faith in Christ.
(2)
Satan’s diligence in tempting is seen in the variety of temptations he
uses. He does not confine himself to one sort of temptation, he has more
plots than one. If he finds one temptation does not prevail, he will
have another; if he cannot tempt to lust, he will tempt to pride; if
temptation to covetousness does not prevail, he will tempt to
profuseness; if he cannot frighten men to despair, he will see if he
cannot draw them to presumption; if he cannot make them profane, he will
see if he cannot make them formalists; if he cannot make them vicious,
he will tempt them to be erroneous. He will tempt them to leave off
ordinances; he will pretend revelations. Error damns as well as vice:
the one pistols, the other poisons. Thus Satan’s diligence in tempting
is great: he will turn every stone; he has several tools to work with;
if one temptation will not do he will make use of another. Had we not
need then to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation’?
[3]
Consider Satan’s power in tempting. He is called ‘the prince of this
world’ (John
14: 30), and the ’strong man’ (Luke
11: 21), and the ‘great red dragon,’ who with his tail cast
down the third part of the stars.
Rev 12: 3, 4. He is full of power, being an angel; though he
has lost his holiness, yet not his strength. His power in tempting is
seen several ways: (1) As a spirit he can convey himself into the fancy,
and poison it with bad thoughts. As the Holy Ghost casts in good
motions, so the devil does bad. He put it into Judas’s heart to betray
Christ.
John 13: 2. (2) Though Satan cannot compel the will, he can
present pleasing objects to the senses, which have great force in them.
He set a ‘wedge of gold’ before Achan, and so enticed him with that
golden bait. (3) He can excite and stir up the corruption within, and
work some inclinableness in the heart to embrace the temptation. Thus he
stirred up corruption in David’s heart, and provoked him to number the
people.
1 Chron 21: 1. He can blow a spark of lust into a flame. (4)
Being a spirit, he can convey his temptations into our minds, so that we
cannot easily discern whether they come from him or from ourselves. One
bird may hatch the egg of another, thinking it to be her own: so we
often hatch the devil’s motions, thinking they come from our own hearts.
When Peter dissuaded Christ from suffering, he thought it came from the
good affection which he bore to his Master, little thinking that Satan
had a hand in it.
Matt 16: 22. Now, if the devil has such power to instil his
temptations, that we hardly know whether they are his or ours, we are in
great danger, and had need pray not to be led into temptation. Here,
some are desirous to move the question:
How shall
we perceive when a motion comes from our own hearts, arid when from
Satan?
It is
hard, as Bernard says, to distinguish
inter morsum
serpentis et morbum mentis
[between the bite of the serpent and the disease of the mind], between
those suggestions which come from Satan, and which breed out of our own
hearts. But I conceive there is this threefold difference:
First,
such motions to evil as come from our own hearts spring up more
leisurely, and by degrees. Sin is long concocted in the thoughts, ere
consent be given; but usually we may know a motion comes from Satan by
its suddenness. Temptation is compared to a dart, because it is shot
suddenly.
Eph 6: 16. David’s numbering the people was a motion which
the devil injected suddenly.
Secondly,
the motions to evil which come from our own hearts are not so terrible.
Few are frightened at the sight of their own children; but motions
coming from Satan are more ghastly and frightful, as motions to
blasphemy and self-murder. Hence it is that temptations are compared to
fiery darts, because, as flashes of fire, they startle and affright the
soul.
Eph 6: 16.
Thirdly,
when evil thoughts are thrown into the mind, when we loathe and have
reluctance to them; when we strive against them, and flee from them, as
Moses did from the serpent, it shows they are not the natural birth of
our own heart, but the hand of Joab is in this.
2 Samuel 14: 19. Satan has injected these impure motions.
(5)
Satan’s power in tempting appears by the long experience he has acquired
in the art; he has been a tempter well nigh as long as he has been an
angel. Who are fitter for action than men of experience? Who is fitter
to steer a ship than an old, experienced pilot? Satan has gained much
experience by being so long versed in the trade of tempting. Having such
experience, he knows what are the temptations which have foiled others,
and are most likely to prevail; as the bowler lays those snares which
have caught other birds. Satan having such power in tempting, increases
our danger, and we had need pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation.
[4]
Consider Satan’s subtlety in tempting. The Greek word to tempt,
signifies to deceive. Satan, in tempting, uses many subtle policies to
deceive. We read of the depths of Satan (Rev
2: 24), of his devices and stratagems (2
Cor 2: 11), of his snares and darts. He is called a lion for
his cruelty, and an old serpent for his subtlety. He has several sorts
of subtlety in tempting.
1st
subtlety. He observes the natural temper and constitution.
Omnium discutit
mores [He attacks the character
of all]. He does not know the hearts of men, but he may feel their
pulse, know their temper, and can apply himself accordingly. As the
husbandman knows what seed is proper to sow in such a soil, so Satan,
finding out the temper, knows what temptations are proper to sow in such
a heart. The same way the tide of a man’s constitution runs, the wind of
temptation blows. Satan tempts the ambitious man with a crown, the
sanguine man with beauty, the covetous man with a wedge of gold. He
provides savoury meat, such as the sinner loves.
2nd
subtlety. He chooses the fittest season to tempt in. As a cunning angler
casts in his angle when the fish will bite best, so the devil can hit
the very joint of time when temptation is likeliest to prevail. There
are several seasons he tempts in.
1st
season. He tempts us in our first initiation and entrance into religion,
when we have newly given up our names to Christ. He will never disturb
his vassals; but when we have broken his prison in conversion, he will
pursue us with violent temptations.
Solet inter
primordia conversionis acrius insurgere
[He is wont to attack more sharply at the first signs of conversion].
Bernard. When Israel were got a little out of Egypt, Pharaoh pursued
them. Soon as Christ was born, Herod sent to destroy him so when the
child of grace is newly born, the devil labours to strangle it with
temptation. When the first buddings and blossoms of grace begin to
appear, the devil would nip the tender buds with the sharp blasts of
temptation. At first conversion, grace is so weak, and temptation so
strong, that one wonders how the young convert escapes with his life.
Satan has a spite against the new creature.
2nd
season. The devil tempts when he finds us unemployed. We do not sow seed
in fallow ground; but Satan sows most of his seed in a person that lies
fallow. When the fowler sees a bird sit still and perch upon the tree,
he shoots it; so when Satan observes us sitting still, he shoots his
fiery darts of temptation at us. ‘While men slept, his enemy sowed
tares;’ so, while men sleep in sloth, Satan sows his tares.
Matt 13: 25. When David was walking on the housetop
unemployed, the devil set a tempting object before him, and it
prevailed.
2 Samuel 11: 2, 3.
3rd
season. When a person is reduced to outward wants and straits, the devil
tempts him. When Christ has fasted forty days, and is hungry, the devil
comes and tempts him with the glory of the world.
Matt 4: 8. When provisions grow short, Satan sets in with a
temptation; What, wilt thou starve rather than steal? reach forth thy
hand, and pluck the forbidden fruit. How often does this temptation
prevail? How many do we see, who, instead of living by faith, live by
their shifts, and will steal the venison, Though they lose the blessing.
4th
season. Satan tempts after an ordinance. When we have been hearing the
word, or at prayer, or sacrament, Satan casts in the angle of
temptation. When Christ had been fasting and praying, then came the
tempter.
Matt 4: 2, 3.
Why does
Satan choose time after an ordinance to tempt? We should think it to be
the most disadvantageous time, when the soul is raised to a heavenly
frame!
(1)
Malice puts Satan upon it. The ordinances, which cause fervour in a
saint, cause fury in Satan. He knows in every duty we have a design
against him; in every prayer we put up a suit in heaven against him; in
the Lord’s Supper, we take an oath to fight under Christ’s banner
against him; therefore he is more enraged, and lays his snares and
shoots his darts against us.
(2) Satan
tempts after an ordinance, because he thinks he will find us more
secure. After we have been at the solemn worship of God, we are apt to
grow remiss, and leave off former strictness; like a soldier, who, after
the bathe, leaves off his armour. Satan watches his time. He does as
David did to the Amalekites, who, when they had taken the spoil, and
were secure, and they did eat and drink, and dance, fell upon them, and
smote them.
1 Sam 30: 17. When we grow remiss after an ordinance, and
indulge ourselves too much in carnal delights, Satan falls upon us by
temptation, and often foils us. After a full meal, men are apt to grow
drowsy; so, after we have had a full meal at an ordinance, we are apt to
slumber and grow secure, and then Satan shoots his arrow of temptation,
and hits us between the joints of our armour.
5th
season. Satan tempts after some discoveries of God’s love. Like a pirate
who sets on a ship that is richly laden, when a soul has been laden with
spiritual comforts, the devil shoots at him to rob him of all. He envies
a soul feasted with spiritual joy. Joseph’s party-coloured coat made his
brethren envy him and plot against him. After David had the good news of
the pardon of his sin, which must needs fill him with consolation, Satan
tempted him to a new sin in numbering the people; and so all his comfort
leaked out and was spilt.
6th
season. Satan tempts when he sees us weakest. He breaks over the hedge
where it is lowest; as the sons of Jacob came upon the Shechemites when
they were sore, and could make no resistance.
Gen 34: 25. On two occasions Satan comes upon us in our
weakness: (1) When we are alone; as he came to Eve when her husband was
away, and she the less able to resist his temptation. He has the policy
to give his poison privately, when no one is by to discover the
treachery. Like a cunning suitor who wooes the daughter when the parents
are from home; when alone and none near, the devil comes wooing with a
temptation, and hopes to have the match struck up. (2) When the hour of
death approaches. As the crows peck at the poor sheep, when sick and
weak, and can hardly help itself, so, when a saint is weak on his
deathbed, the devil pecks at him with a temptation. He reserves his most
furious assaults till the last. The people of Israel were never so
fiercely assaulted as when they were going to take possession of the
promised land; then all the kings of Canaan combined their forces
against them; so, when the saints are leaving the world and going to set
their foot on the heavenly Canaan, Satan sets upon them by temptation;
he tells them they are hypocrites, and all their evidences are
counterfeit. Like a coward, he strikes the saints when they are down;
when death is striking at the body, he is striking at the soul.
3rd
subtlety. Satan, in tempting, baits his hook with religion. He can hang
out Christ’s colours and tempt to sin under pretences of piety.
Sometimes he is the white devil, and transforms himself into an angel of
light. Celsus wrote a book full of error, and he entitled it, Liber
Veritatis, The Book of Truth. So Satan can write the title of religion
upon his worst temptation. He comes to Christ with Scripture in his
mouth, ‘It is written,’ &c. So he comes to many and tempts them to sin,
under the pretence of religion. He tempts to evil, that good may come of
it; he tempts men to such unwarrantable actions, that they may be put
into a capacity of honouring God the more. He tempts them to accept of
preferment against conscience that they may be in a condition of doing
more good. He put Herod upon killing John the Baptist, that he might be
kept from the violation of his oath. He tempts many to oppression and
extortion, telling them they are bound to provide for their families. He
tempts many to make away with themselves, that they may live no longer
to sin against God. Thus he wraps his poisonous pills in sugar. Who
would suspect him when he comes as a divine, and quotes Scripture?
4th
subtlety. Satan tempts to sin gradually. The old serpent winds himself
in by degrees: he tempts first to less sins, that so he may bring on
greater. A small offence may occasion a great crime; as a little prick
of an artery may occasion a mortal gangrene. Satan first tempted David
to an impure glance of the eye to look upon Bathsheba, and that unclean
look occasioned adultery and murder. First he tempts to go into the
company of the wicked, then to twist into a cord of friendship, and so,
by degrees, to be brought into the same condemnation with them. It is a
great subtlety of Satan to tempt to less sins first, for these harden
the heart, and fit men for committing more horrid and tremendous sins.
5th
subtlety. Satan’s policy is to hand over temptations to us by those whom
we least suspect.
(1) By
near friends. He tempts us by those who are near in blood. He tempted
Job by a proxy, he handed over a temptation to him by his wife. ‘Dost
thou still retain thine integrity?’
Job 2: 9. As if he had said, Job, thou seest how, for all thy
religion, God deals with thee, his hand is gone out sore against thee;
what, and still pray and weep! Cast off all religion, turn atheist!
‘Curse God, and die!’ Thus Satan made use of Job’s wife to do his work.
The woman was made of the rib, and Satan made a bow of this rib, out of
which to shoot the arrow of his temptation.
Per costam
petit cor [He aims at the heart
through the rib]. The devil often stands behind the curtain — he will
not be seen in the business, but puts others to do his work. As a man
makes use of a sergeant to arrest another, so Satan makes use of a proxy
to tempt; as he crept into a serpent, so he can creep into a near
relation.
(2) He
tempts sometimes by religious friends. He keeps out of sight, that his
cloven foot may not be seen. Who would have thought to have found the
devil in Peter? When he would have dissuaded Christ from suffering,
saying, ‘Master, spare thyself,’ Christ spied Satan in the temptation.
‘Get thee behind me, Satan.’ When our religious friends would dissuade
us from doing our duty, Satan is a lying spirit in their mouths, and
would by them entice us to evil.
6th
subtlety. Satan tempts some persons more than others. Some are like wet
tinder, who will not so soon take the fire of temptation as others.
Satan tempts most where he thinks his policies will most easily prevail.
Some are fitter to receive the impression of temptations, as soft wax is
fitter to take the stamp of the seal. The apostle speaks of ‘vessels
fitted to destruction,’ so there are vessels fitted for temptation.
Rom 9: 22. Some, like the sponge, suck in Satan’s
temptations. There are five sorts of persons that Satan most broods upon
by his temptations.
(1)
Ignorant persons. The devil can lead these into any snare. You may lead
a blind man any whither. God made a law that the Jews should not put a
stumbling-block in the way of the blind.
Lev 19: 14. Satan knows it is easy to put a temptation in the
way of the blind, at which they shall stumble into hell. When the
Syrians were smitten with blindness, the prophet Elisha could lead them
whither he would into the enemy’s country.
2 Kings 6: 20. The bird that is blind is soon shot by the
fowler. Satan, the god of this world, blinds men and then shoots them.
An ignorant man cannot see the devil’s snares. Satan tells him such a
thing is no sin, or but a little one, and he will do well enough; it is
but repent.
(2) Satan
tempts unbelievers. He who, with Diagoras, doubts a Deity, or with the
Photinians, denies hell, what sin may he not be drawn into? He is like
metal that Satan can cast into any mould; he can dye him of any colour.
An unbeliever will stick at no sin, be it luxury, perjury, or injustice.
Paul was afraid of none so much as those who did not believe. ‘That I
may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea.’
Rom 15: 31.
(3) Satan
tempts proud persons: over these he has more power. None is in greater
danger of falling by temptation than he who stands high in his own
conceit. When David’s heart was lifted up in pride, the devil stirred
him up to number the people.
2 Samuel 24: 2.
Celsae graviore
casu decidunt turres, feriuntque summos fulmina montes
[Lofty towers crash with a heavier fall, and lightning strikes the tops
of mountains]. Horace. Satan made use of Haman’s pride to be his shame.
(4)
Melancholy persons. Melancholy is
atra bilis,
a black humour, seated chiefly in the brain. It clothes the mind in
sable, and disturbs reason. Satan works much upon this humour. There are
three things in melancholy which give the devil greet advantage: [1] It
unfits for duty, it pulls off the chariot-wheels; it dispirits a man.
Lute strings that are wet, will not sound; so when the spirit is sad and
melancholy, a Christian is out of tune for spiritual actions. [2]
Melancholy sides often with Satan against God. The devil tells such a
person God does not love him, there is no mercy for him; and the
melancholy soul is apt to think so too, and sets his hand to the devil’s
lies. [3] Melancholy breeds discontent, and discontent is the cause of
many sins, as unthankfulness, impatience, and often it ends in
self-murder. Judge, then, what an advantage Satan has against a
melancholy person, and how easily he may prevail with him by his
temptation! A melancholy person tempts the devil to tempt him.
(5) Idle
persons. The devil will find work for the idle to do. Jerome gave his
friend this counsel, To be ever well employed, that when the tempter
came, he might find him working in the vineyard. If the hands be not
working good, the head will be plotting evil.
Mic 2: 1.
7th
subtlety. Satan gives some little respite, and seems to leave off
tempting awhile, that he may come on after with more advantage; as
Israel made as if they were beaten before the men of Al, and fled; but
it was a policy to draw them out of their fenced cities, and ensnare
them by an ambush.
Josh 8: 15. The devil sometimes raises the siege, and feigns
a flight, that he may the better obtain the victory. He goes away for a
time, that he may return when he sees a better season. ‘When the unclean
spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking
rest: and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house, whence I
came out.’
Luke 11: 24. Satan, by feigning a flight, and leaving off
tempting awhile, causes security in persons; they think they are safe,
and are become victors, when, on a sudden, Satan falls on and wounds
them. As one that is going to leap, runs back a little, that he may take
the greater jump, so Satan seems to retire and run back a little, that
he may come on with a temptation more furiously and successfully. We
need, therefore, always to watch, and have on our spiritual armour.
8th
subtlety. The old serpent either takes men off from the use of means, or
makes them miscarry in the use of them.
(1) He
labours to take men off from duty, from praying and hearing, in order to
discourage them; and, to do that, he has two artifices:
He
discourages them from duty by suggesting to them their unworthiness;
that they are not worthy to approach to God, or have any signals of his
love and favour. They are sinful, and God is holy, how dare they presume
to bring their impure offering to God? That we should see ourselves
unworthy, is good, and argues humility; but to think we should not
approach God because of unworthiness, is a conclusion of the devil’s
making. God says, Come, though unworthy. By this temptation, the devil
takes many off from coming to the Lord’s table. Oh, says he, this is a
solemn ordinance, and requires much holiness: how darest thou so
unworthily come? you will eat and drink unworthily. Thus, as Saul kept
the people from eating honey, so the devil by this temptation, scares
many from this ordinance, which is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
Satan
endeavours to discourage from duty by objecting want of success. When
men have waited upon God in the use of ordinances, and find not the
comfort they desire, Satan disheartens them, and puts them upon resolves
of declining all religion; they begin to say as a wicked king, ‘What
should I wait for the Lord any longer?’
2 Kings 6: 33. When Saul saw God answered him not by dreams
and visions, Satan tempted him to leave his worship, and seek to the
witch of Endor.
1 Sam 28: 6. No answer to prayer comes; therefore, says
Satan, leave off praying; who will sow seed where no crop comes up? Thus
the devil by his subtle logic would dispute a poor soul out of duty. But
if he sees he cannot prevail this way, to take men off from the use of
means, then he labours:
(2) To
make them miscarry in the use of means. By this artifice he prevails
over multitudes of professors. The devil stands, as he did at Joshua’s
right hand, to resist men.
Zech 3: 1. If he cannot hinder them from duty, he will be
sure to hinder them in duty, two ways:
By
causing distraction in the service of God; and this he does by proposing
objects of vanity, or by whispering in men’s ears, that they can
scarcely know what they are doing.
He
hinders, by putting men upon doing duties in a wrong manner. [1] In a
dead formal manner, that so they may fail of the success. Satan knows
duties done superficially were as good as left undone. That prayer which
does not pierce the heart, will never pierce heaven. [2] He puts them
upon doing duties for wrong ends.
Finis
specificat actionem [The end
governs the action]; he will make them look asquint, and have by-ends in
duty. ‘Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray
standing in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.’
Matt 6: 5. Prayer is good, but to pray to be seen of men, was
a dead fly in the box of ointment. The oil of vainglory feeds the lamp;
sinister aims corrupt and flyblow our holy things. Here is Satan’s
policy, either to prevent duty, or pervert it; either to take men off
from the use of means, or make them miscarry in the use of them.
9th
subtlety. Satan can colour over sin with the name and pretence of
virtue. Alcibiades hung a curtain curiously embroidered over a foul
picture of satyrs; so Satan can put the image of virtue over the foul
picture of sin. He can cheat men with false wares; he can make them
believe that presumption is faith, that intemperate passion is zeal,
revenge is prudence, covetousness is frugality, and prodigality is good
hospitality. ‘Come, see my zeal for the Lord,’ says Jehu. Satan
persuaded him it was a fire from heaven, when it was nothing but the
wildfire of his own ambition; it was not zeal, but state policy. This is
a subtle art of Satan, to deceive by tempting, and put men off with the
dead child, instead of the live child; to make men believe that is a
grace which is a sin; as if one should write balm-water upon a glass of
poison. If Satan has all these subtle artifices in tempting, are we not
in great danger from this prince of the air? Have we not often need to
pray, ‘Lord, suffer us not to be led into temptation’? As the serpent
beguiled Eve with his subtlety, let us not be beguiled by his hellish
snares and policies.
2 Cor 11: 3.
He has a
dexterity in subtle contrivances. He hurts more as a fox than a lion;
his snares are worse than his darts. ‘We are not ignorant of his
devices.’
2 Cor 2: 1.
10th
subtlety. He labours to ensnare us by lawful things, in
licitis perimus
omnes [we all perish through
lawful things]. More are hurt by lawful things than unlawful, as more
are killed with wine than poison. Gross sins affright but how many take
a surfeit and die, in using lawful things inordinately. Recreation is
lawful, eating and drinking are lawful, but many offend by excess, and
their table is a snare. Relations are lawful, but how often does Satan
tempt to overlove! How often is the wife and child laid in God’s room!
Excess makes things lawful become sinful.
11th
subtlety. He makes the duties of our general and particular calling
hinder and jostle out one another. Our general calling is serving God,
our particular calling is minding our employments in the world. It is
wisdom to be regular in both these, when the particular calling does not
eat out the time for God’s service, nor the service of God hinder
diligence in a calling. The devil’s art is to make Christians defective
in one of these two. Some spend all their time in hearing, reading, and
under a pretence of living by faith, do not live in a calling; others
Satan takes off from duties of religion, under a pretence that they must
provide for their families, he makes them so careful for their bodies,
that they quite neglect their souls. The subtlety of the old serpent is
to make men negligent in the duties either of the first table or the
second.
12th
subtlety. He misrepresents true holiness that he may make others out of
love with it. He paints the face of religion full of scars, and with
seeming blemishes, that he may create in the minds of men prejudice
against it. He represents religion as the most melancholy thing, and
that he who embraces it must banish all joy out of his diocese, though
the apostle speaks of ‘joy in believing.’
Rom 15: 13. Satan suggests that religion exposes men to
danger: he shows them the cross, but hides the crown from them; he
labours to put all the disgrace he can upon holiness, that he may tempt
them to renounce it; he abuses the good Christian, and gives him a wrong
name. The truly zealous man he calls hot-headed and factious; the
patient man that bears injuries without revenge, he represents as a
coward; the humble man as low-spirited; the heavenly man he calls a
fool. He lets things that are seen go for things that are not seen; and
thus misrepresents religion to the world. As John Huss, that holy man,
was painted with red devils, so Satan paints holiness with as deformed
and misshapen a face as he can, that he may, by this temptation, draw
men off from solid piety, and make them rather scorn than embrace it.
The hand of Joab is in this. Satan is tempting persons to atheism, to
cast off all religion.
13th
subtlety. Satan draws men off from the love of the truth to embrace
error. ‘That they should believe a lie.’
2 Thess 2: 11. He is called in Scripture not only an unclean
spirit, but a lying spirit. As an unclean spirit he labours to defile
the soul with lust, and as a lying spirit he labours to corrupt the mind
with error. All this is dangerous, because many errors look so like the
truth as gilt represents true gold. Satan thus beguiles souls. Though
the Scripture blames heretics for being promoters of error, yet it
charges Satan with being the chief contriver of it. They spread the
error, but the devil is a lying spirit in their mouths. Satan’s great
temptation is to make men believe dangerous impostures to be glorious
truths. He thus transforms himself into an angel of light. What is the
meaning of Satan’s sowing tares in the parable but sowing error instead
of truth?
Matt 13: 25. How quickly had the devil broached false
doctrine in the apostles’ times? That it was necessary to be
circumcised, that angel worship was lawful, and that Christ was not come
in the flesh.
Acts 15: 1;
Col 2: 18;
1 John 4: 3. The devil tempts by drawing men to error,
because he knows how deadly the snare is, and the great mischief it will
do. (1) Error is of a spreading nature; it is compared to leaven because
it sours, and to a gangrene because it spreads.
Matt 16: 11;
2 Tim 2: 17. One error spreads into more, like a circle in
the water that multiplies into more circles; one error seldom goes
alone. Error spreads from one person to another. It is like the plague,
which infects all round about it. Satan by infecting one person with
error infects more! The error of Pelagius spread on a sudden to
Palestine, Africa, and Italy. The Arian error was at first but a single
spark, but at last it set almost the whole world on fire. (2) The devil
lays the snare of error, because it brings divisions into the church;
and these bring opprobrium and scandal upon the ways of God. The devil
dances at discord. Division destroys peace, which was Christ’s legacy;
and love, which is the bond of perfection. Not only has Christ’s coat
been rent, but his body, by the divisions which error has caused. In
churches and families where error creeps in, what animosities and
factions it makes! It sets the father against the son, and the son
against the father. What slaughters and bloodshed have been occasioned
by errors in the church! (3) The devil’s policy in raising errors is to
hinder reformation. He was never a friend to reformation. In the
primitive times, after the apostles’ days, the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman, which was a deluge of heresies,
that so he might hinder the progress of the gospel.
Rev 12: 15. (4) Satan tempts to error, because error devours
godliness. The Gnostics, as Epiphanius observes, were not only corrupted
in their judgements, but in their morals; they were loose in their
lives. ‘Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.’
Jude 4. The Familists afterwards turned Ranters, and gave
themselves over to vices and immoralities; and this they did while
boasting of the Spirit and of perfection. (5) The devil’s design in
seducing by error is, that he knows it is pernicious to souls. It damns
as well as vice; poison kills as well as a pistol. ‘Who privily shall
bring in damnable heresies.’
2 Pet 2: 1. If Satan be thus subtle in laying snares of error
to deceive, had we not need to pray that God would not suffer us to be
led into temptation; that he would make us wise to keep out of the snare
of error; or, if we have fallen into it, that he would enable us to
recover out of the snare by repentance?
14th
subtlety. Satan bewitches and ensnares men by setting pleasing baits
before them; as the riches, pleasures, and honours of the world. ‘All
these things will I give thee.’
Matt 4: 9. How many does he tempt with this golden apple?
Pride, idleness, luxury, are the three worms which are bred by plenty.
‘They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.’
1 Tim 6: 9. Satan kills with these silver darts. How many
surfeit on luscious delights! The pleasures of the world are the great
engine by which Satan batters down men’s souls. His policy is to tickle
them to death, to damn them with delights. The flesh would fain be
pleased, and Satan prevails by this temptation; he drowns them in the
sweet waters of pleasure. Such as have abundance of the world walk in
the midst of golden snares. We had need watch our hearts in prosperity,
and pray not to be led into temptation. We have as much need to be
careful that we are not endangered by prosperity as a man has to be
careful at a feast where there are some poisoned dishes of meat.
15th
subtlety. Satan in tempting pleads necessity. He knows that necessity
may in some cases seem to palliate and excuse a sin. It may seem to make
a less evil good to avoid a greater, as Lot offered to expose his
daughters to the Sodomites, and was willing that they should be defiled,
that he might preserve the angel strangers that were come into his
house.
Gen 19: 8. Doubtless Satan had a hand in this temptation, and
made Lot believe that the necessity of the action would excuse the sin.
The tradesman pleads the necessity of unlawful gain, or he cannot live;
another pleads a necessity of revenge, or his credit would be impaired.
Thus Satan tempts men to sin by the plea of the necessity. He will quote
Scripture to prove that in some extraordinary cases there may be a
necessity of doing that which is not at other times justifiable. Did not
David, in case of necessity, ‘eat the shewbread, which was not lawful
for him, but only the priests’?
Matt 12: 4. We do not read that he was blamed; then says
Satan, Why may not you in cases extraordinary trespass a little and take
the forbidden fruit? O beware of this temptation! Satan’s cloven foot is
in it. Nothing can warrant a thing in its own sinful: necessity will not
justify impiety.
16th
subtlety. Satan draws men to presumption. Presumption is a confidence
without sufficient ground: it is made up of two ingredients — audacity
and security. This temptation is common. There is a twofold presumption:
(1) When men presume that they are better than they are; that they have
grace when they have none. They will not take gold on trust, but they
will take grace upon trust. The foolish virgins presumed that they had
oil in their vessels when they had none. Here that rule of Epicharmus is
good, ‘Distrust a fallacious heart.’ (2) When men presume on God’s
mercy; that though they are not so good as they should be, yet God is
merciful. They look upon God’s mercy with the broad spectacles of
presumption. Satan soothes men in their sins; he preaches to them, ‘All
hope, no fear;’ and deludes them with golden dreams.
Quam multi cum
vana spe descendant ad inferos
[How many with vain hope go down to hell]. Augustine. Presumption is
Satan’s draw-net, by which he drags millions to hell. By this temptation
he often draws the godly to sin. They presume upon their privileges or
graces, and so venture on occasions of sin. Jehoshaphat joined in a
league of amity with king Ahab, presuming his grace would he an antidote
strong enough against the infection.
2 Chron 18: 3. Satan tempted Peter to presume upon his own
strength; and when it came to the trial he was foiled, and came off with
shame. We had therefore need pray, that we may not be led into this
temptation; and say with David, ‘Keep back thy servant from presumptuous
sins.’
Psa 19: 13.
17th
subtlety. Satan carries on his designs against us under the highest
pretences of friendship. He puts silver upon his bait, and dips his
poisoned pills in sugar, as some courtiers who make the greatest
pretences of love where they have the most deadly hatred. Satan puts off
his lion’s skin and comes in sheep’s clothing; he pretends kindness and
friendship, and would consult what might be for our good. Thus he came
to Christ, ‘Command that these stones be made bread.’
Matt 4: 3. As if he had said, ‘I see thou art hungry, and
here there is no table spread for thee in the wilderness; I, therefore,
pitying thy condition, wish thee to get something to eat; turn stones to
bread, that thy hunger may be satisfied:’ but Christ spied the
temptation, and with the sword of the Spirit wounded the old serpent.
Thus Satan came to Eve, and tempted her under the notion of a friend:
Eat, said he, of the forbidden fruit; for the Lord knows, ‘that in the
day ye eat thereof, ye shall be as gods:’ as if he had said, I persuade
you only to that which will put you into a better condition than you now
are in; eat of this tree, and it will make you omniscient, ‘Ye shall be
as gods.’ What a kind devil was here! But it was a subtle temptation.
She greedily swallowed the bait, and ruined herself and all her
posterity. Let us fear his fallacious flatteries.
Timeo Danaos et
done farentes [I distrust the
Greeks even when they bring gifts].
18th
subtlety. Satan tempts men to sin by persuading them to keep his
counsel. They are like those that have some foul disease, and will
rather die than tell the physician. It were wisdom, in case of sore
temptation, to open one’s mind to some experienced Christian, whose
counsel might be an antidote against it. There is danger in concealing
it, as in concealing a distemper that may prove mortal. How had we need
renew the petition, ‘Lead us not into temptation!’
19th
subtlety. Satan makes use of fit tools and engines for carrying on his
work — that is, he makes use of such persons as may be the most likely
means to promote his designs. He lays the plot of a temptation, cuts out
the work, and employs others to finish it.
(1) He
makes use of such as are in places of dignity, men of renown. He knows,
if he can get these on his side, they may draw others into snares. When
the princes and heads of the tribes joined with Korah, they presently
drew a multitude into the conspiracy.
Numb 16: 2, 10.
(2) He
carries on his designs by men of wit and parts, such as, if it were
possible, should deceive the very elect. He must have a great deal of
cunning that persuades a man to be out of love with his food; but the
devil can make use of heretical spirits to persuade men to be out of
love with the ordinances of God, in which they profess to have found
comfort. Many who once seemed to be strict frequenters of the house of
God are persuaded, by Satan’s cunning instruments, to leave it off and
to follow an
ignis fatuus,
the light within them. One great subtlety of the devil is to make use of
such cunning, subtle-paled men as may be fit to carry on his tempting
designs.
(3) He
makes use of bad company to be instruments of tempting, especially to
draw youth into sin. First they persuade them to come into their
company, then to twist into a cord of friendship, then to drink with
them, and, by degrees, debauch them. These are the devil’s decoys to
tempt others.
20th
subtlety. Satan strikes at some grace more than others. He aims at some
persons more than others; or at some grace more than others; and if he
can prevail in this, he knows it will be an advantage to him. If you ask
what grace it is that Satan most strikes at, I answer, it is the grace
of faith. He lays the train of his temptation to blow up the fort of our
faith.
Fidei scutum percutit [He
strikes the shield of faith]. Why did Christ pray more for Peter’s faith
than any other grace?
Luke 22: 32. Because he saw that his faith was most in
danger; the devil was striking at this grace. Satan, in tempting Eve,
laboured to weaken her faith. ‘Yea, has God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden?’
Gen 3: 1. The devil would persuade her that God had not
spoken truth; and when he had once brought her to distrust, she took of
the tree. It is called scutum fidei, ‘the shield of faith.’
Eph 6: 16. Satan, in tempting, strikes most at our shield, he
assaults our faith. Though true faith cannot be wholly lost, it may
suffer a great eclipse. Though the devil cannot by temptation take away
the life of faith, yet he may hinder its growth. He cannot
gratiam diruere
[destroy grace], but he may
debilitare
[weaken it].
Why does
Satan in tempting chiefly assault our faith?
‘Fight
neither with small nor great, save only with the king.’
1 Kings 22: 31. Faith is the king of the graces; it is a
royal, princely grace, and puts forth the most majestic and noble acts;
therefore Satan fights chiefly with this grace. I shall show you the
devil’s policy in assaulting faith most.
(1) It is
the grace that does Satan most mischief; it makes the most resistance
against him. ‘Whom resist, stedfast in faith.’
1 Pet 5: 9. No grace more bruises the serpent’s head than
faith. It is both a shield and a sword, defensive and offensive. It is a
shield to guard the head and defend the vitals. The shield of faith
prevents the fiery darts of temptation from piercing us through. Faith
is a sword that wounds the red dragon.
How comes
faith to be so strong that it can resist Satan and put him to flight?
Because
it brings the strength of Christ into the soul. Samson’s strength lay in
his hair, ours lies in Christ. If a child be assaulted, it runs and
calls to its father for help: when faith is assaulted, it runs and calls
Christ, and in his strength overcomes.
Faith
furnishes itself with a store of promises. The promises are faith’s
weapons to fight with. As David, by five stones in his sling, wounded
Goliath, so faith puts the promises, as stones, into its sling.
1 Sam 17: 40. ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’
Heb 13: 5. ‘A bruised reed shall he not break.’
Matt 12: 20. ‘Who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able.’
1 Cor 10: 13. ‘The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly.’
Rom 16: 20. ‘No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s
hand.’
John 10: 29. Here are five promises, like five stones, put
into the sling of faith, and with these a believer may wound the red
dragon. Faith being such a grace to resist and wound Satan, he watches
his opportunity to batter our shield, though he cannot break it.
(2) Satan
strikes most at our faith, and would weaken and destroy it, because it
has a great influence upon all the other graces, and sets them to work.
Like some rich clothier, that gives out a stock of wool to the poor, and
sets them spinning, faith gives out a stock to all the other graces, and
sets them to work. It sets love to work. ‘Faith which worketh by love.’
Gal 5: 6. When once the soul believes God’s love, its love is
kindled to God. The believing martyrs burned hotter in love than in
fire. Faith sets repentance to work. When the soul believes there is
mercy to be had, it sets the eyes weeping. Oh, says the soul, that ever
I should offend such a gracious God! Repenting tears drop from the eye
of faith. ‘The father of the child cried out with tears, Lord, I
believe.’
Mark 9: 24. If the devil cannot destroy our faith, yet if he
can disturb it, if he can hinder and stop its actings, he knows all the
other graces will be lame and inactive. If the spring in a watch be
stopped, the motion of the wheels will be hindered: so if faith be down,
all the other graces will be at a stand.
21st
subtlety. Satan encourages those doctrines that are flesh-pleasing. He
knows the flesh loves to be gratified, that it cries out for ease and
liberty, and that it will not endure any yoke, unless it be lined and
made soft. He will be sure, therefore, to lay his bait of temptation so
as to please and humour the flesh. The word says, ‘Strive as in an
agony’ to enter into glory; crucify the flesh; take the kingdom of
heaven by holy violence. Satan, to enervate and weaken these Scriptures,
flatters the flesh; tells man there needs no such strictness; nor so
much zeal and violence; a softer pace will serve; sure there is an
easier way to heaven; there needs no breaking the heart for sin: do but
confess to a priest, or tell over a few beads, or say some Ave Marias,
and that will procure you a pardon, and give you admission into
paradise. Or he goes another way to work: if he sees men startle at
Popery, he stirs up flattering Antinomianism, and says, ‘What needs all
this cost? what needs repenting tears? these are legal; what need to be
so strict in your obedience? Christ has done all for you: you should
make use of your Christian liberty.’ This temptation draws many away; it
takes them off from strictness of life. He who sells cheapest shall have
most customers, the devil knows that it is a cheap and easy doctrine
which pleases the flesh, and he doubts not but he shall have customers
enough.
22nd
subtlety. Satan has his temptations in reference to holy duties. His
policy is either to hinder from duty, or discourage in duty, or put men
too far in duty.
(1) To
hinder from duty, as (1
Thess 2: 18), ‘We would have come once and again, but Satan
hindered us.’ So many duties of religion would have been performed, but
Satan hindered. The hand of Joab is in this. There are three duties
which the devil is an enemy to, and labours to keep us from.
Meditation. He will let men profess, or pray and hear in a formal
manner, which does him no hurt and them no good, but he opposes
meditation, as being a means to compose the heart and make it serious.
He can stand your small shot, if you do not put in this bullet. He cares
not how much you hear or how little you meditate. Meditation is chewing
the cud, it makes the word digest and turn to nourishment; it is the
bellows of the affections. The devil is an enemy to this. When Christ is
alone in the wilderness, giving himself to divine contemplations, the
devil comes and tempts him, to hinder him. He will thrust in worldly
business, something or other to keep men off from holy meditation.
Mortification. This is as needful as heaven. ‘Mortify your members which
are upon the earth, uncleanness, inordinate affection.’
Col 3: 5. Satan will let men be angry with sin, exchange sin,
or restrain sin, which keeps it a prisoner, that cannot break out; but
when it comes to taking away the life of sin, he labours to stop the
warrant and hinder the execution. When sin is mortifying, Satan is being
crucified.
Self-examination. ‘Examine yourselves:’ a metaphor from metal that is
pierced through, to see if there be gold within.
2 Cor 13: 5. Self-examination is a spiritual inquisition set
up in the soul. Man must search his heart for sin, as one would search a
house for a traitor; or, as Israel sought for leaven to burn it. Satan,
if it be possible, will, by his temptations, keep men from this duty. He
tells them their estate is good, and what need they put themselves to
the trouble of examination? Though men will not take their money on
trust, but will examine it by the touchstone, yet Satan persuades them
to take their grace on trust. He persuaded the foolish virgins that they
had oil in their lamps. He has another policy, which is to show men the
faults of others, in order to keep them from searching their own. He
will allow them spectacles to see what is amiss in others, but not a
looking-glass to behold their own faces and see what is amiss in
themselves.
(2) His
policy is to discourage in duty. When any one has been performing holy
duties, he tells him he has played the hypocrite; he has served God for
money, he has had sinister ends: his duties have been full of
distraction they have been fly-blown with pride: he has offered the
blind and the lame and how can he expect a reward from God? He tells a
Christian he has increased his sin by prayer, and endeavours to make him
out of conceit with his duties, so he knows not whether he had better
pray or not.
(3) If
this plot will not take, he labours to put a Christian on too far in
duty. If he cannot keep him from duty, he will run him on too far in it.
Humiliation, or mourning for sin, is a duty, but Satan will push it too
far; he will say, Thou art not humbled enough; and, indeed, he never
thinks a man is humbled enough till he despairs. He would make a
Christian wade so far in the waters of repentance, that he should get
beyond his depth, and be drowned in the gulf of despair. He comes thus
to the soul, Thy sins have been great, and thy sorrows should be
proportionate to thy sins. But is it so? Canst thou say thou hast been
as great a mourner as thou hast been a sinner? Thou didst for many years
drive no other trade but sin — and is a drop of sorrow enough for a sea
of sin? No; thy soul must be more humbled, and lie steeping longer in
the brinish waters of repentance. He would have a Christian weep himself
blind, and in a desperate mood throw away the anchor of hope. Now, lest
any be troubled with this temptation, let me say that this is a mere
fallacy of Satan; for sorrow proportionable to sin is not attainable in
this life, nor does God expect it. It is sufficient for thee, Christian,
if thou hast a gospel-sorrow; if thou grievest so far as to see sin
hateful, and Christ precious; if thou grievest so as to break off
iniquity; if thy remorse end in divorce. This is to be humbled enough.
The gold has lain long enough in the fire when the dross is purged out;
so a Christian has lain long enough in humiliation when the love of sin
is purged out. This is to be humbled enough for divine acceptation. God,
for Christ’s sake, will accept of this sorrow for sin; therefore let not
Satan’s temptations drive thee to despair. You see how subtle an enemy
he is, to hinder from duty, or discourage in duty, or put men on too far
in duty, that he may run them upon the rock of despair. Had we not need,
then, who have such a subtle enemy, to pray, ‘Lord, lead us not into
temptation’? As the serpent beguiled Eve, let us not be beguiled by this
hellish Machiavelli.
23rd
subtlety. Satan tempts to sin by the hope of returning out of it by
speedy repentance. It is easy for the bird to fly into the snare, but it
is not so easy to get out of it. Is it so easy a thing to repent? Are
there no pangs in the new birth? Is it easy to leap out of Delilah’s lap
into Abraham’s bosom? How many has Satan flattered into hell by the
policy, that if they sin, they may recover themselves by repentance!
Alas! is repentance in our power? A springlock can shut of itself, but
it cannot open without a key; so we can shut ourselves out from God, but
we cannot open to him by repentance, till he opens our heart who has the
key of David in his hand.
24th
subtlety. Satan puts us upon doing that which is good, unseasonably.
To mourn
for sin is a duty; the sacrifices of God are a broken heart. But there
is a time when it may not be so seasonable.
Psa 51: 17. After some eminent deliverance, which calls for
rejoicing, to have the spirit dyed of a sad colour, and to sit weeping,
is not seasonable. There was a special time at the feast of tabernacles,
when God called his people to cheerfulness. ‘Seven days shalt thou keep
a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt surely rejoice.’
Deut 16: 15. Now, if at this time the Israelites had hung
their harps upon the willows, and been disconsolate, it had been very
unseasonable, like mourning at a wedding. When God, by his providence,
calls us to thanksgiving, and we sit drooping, and, with Rachel, refuse
to be comforted, it is very evil, and savours of ingratitude. It is
Satan’s temptation; the hand of Joab is in this.
To
rejoice is a duty. ‘Praise is comely for the upright.’
Psa 33: 1. But when God, by his judgements, calls us to
weeping, joy and mirth is unseasonable. ‘In that day did the Lord call
to weeping, and behold joy and gladness.’
Isa 22: 12, 13. Oecolampadius, and other learned writers,
think it was in the time of King Ahaz, when the signs of God’s anger,
like a blazing star, appeared. To be given to mirth at that time, was
very unseasonable.
To read
the word is a duty, but Satan sometimes puts men upon it when it is
unseasonable. To read it at home when God’s word is being preached, or
the sacrament administered, is unseasonable, yea, sinful; as Hushai
said, ‘The counsel is not good at this time.’
2 Samuel 17: 7. There was a set time enjoined for the
Passover, when the Jews were to bring their offering to the Lord.
Numb 9: 2. Had the people been reading the law at home in the
time of the Passover, it had not been in season, and God would have
punished it for a contempt. It is the devil’s subtle temptation either
to keep us from duty, or to put us upon it when it is least in season.
Duties of religion, not well timed, and done in season, are dangerous.
Snow and hail are good for the ground when they come in their season;
but in the harvest, when the corn is ripe, a storm of hail would do
hurt.
25th
subtlety. Satan persuades men to delay repenting and turning to God. He
says (as
Hag 1: 2), ‘The time is not come.’ Now youth is budding, or
you are but in the flower of your age, it is too soon to repent: ‘The
time is not come.’ This temptation is the devil’s draw-net by which he
draws millions to hell; it is a dangerous temptation. Sin is
dulce venenum
(a sweet poison). Bernard. The longer poison lies in the body, the more
mortal; so, by delay of repentance, sin strengthens, and the heart
hardens. The longer ice freezes, the harder it is to be broken; so the
longer a man freezes in impenitency, the more difficult it will be to
have his heart broken. When sin has gotten a haunt, it is not easily
driven away. Besides, the danger of delaying repentance appears in this,
that life is hazardous, and may on a sudden expire. What security have
you that you shall live another day? Life is made up of a few flying
minutes; it is a taper soon blown out. ‘What is your life? It is even a
vapour.’
James 4: 14. The body is like a vessel, tunned with a little
breath; sickness broaches it, death draws it out. How dangerous
therefore is it to procrastinate and put off turning to God by
repentance! Many now in hell purposed to repent, but death surprised
them.
26th
subtlety. Satan, in tempting, assaults and weakens the saints’ peace. If
he cannot destroy their grace, he will disturb their peace. He envies
the Christian his good day; and if he cannot keep him from a heaven
hereafter, he will keep him from a heaven upon earth. There is nothing,
next to holiness, a Christian prizes more than peace and tranquillity of
mind. It is the cream of life, a bunch of grapes by the way. Now,
Satan’s great policy is to shake a Christian’s peace; that, if he will
go to heaven, he shall go thither through frights, and plenty of tears.
He throws in his fire-balls of temptation, to set the saints’ peace on
fire. Of such great concern is spiritual peace, that no wonder if Satan
would, by his intricate subtleties, rob us of that jewel. Spiritual
peace is a token of God’s favour. As Joseph had a special testimony of
his father’s kindness in the party-coloured coat, so have the saints a
special token of God’s good will to them, when he gives them the
party-coloured coat of inward peace. No wonder then, if Satan rages so
much against the saints’ peace, and would tear off this comfortable robe
from them. The devil troubles the waters of the saints’ peace because
hereby he hopes to have the more advantage of them.
(1) By
perplexing their spirits, he takes off their chariot wheels; unfits them
for the service of God; and puts body and mind out of temper, as an
instrument out of tune. Sadness of spirit prevailing, a Christian can
think of nothing but his troubles; his mind is full of doubts, fears,
surmises, so that he is like a person distracted, and is scarcely
himself; either he neglects the duties of religion, or his mind is taken
off from them while he is doing them. There is one duty especially that
melancholy and sadness of spirit unfits for, and that is thankfulness.
Thankfulness is a tribute or quit-rent due to God. ‘Let the saints be
joyful, let the high praises of God be in their mouth.’
Psa 149: 5, 6. But when Satan has disturbed a Christian’s
spirit and filled his mind full of black, and almost despairing
thoughts, how can he be thankful? It rejoices Satan to see how his plot
takes. By making God’s children unquiet, he makes them unthankful.
(2) By
troubling the saints’ peace, Satan lays a stumbling block in the way of
others. By this he gets occasion to render the ways of God unlovely to
those who are looking heavenward. He sets before new beginners the
perplexing thoughts, the tears, the groans of those who are wounded in
spirit, to scare them from all seriousness in religion. He will object
to new beginners: Do you not see how these sad souls torture themselves
with melancholy thoughts, and will you change the comforts and pleasures
of this life to sit always in the house of mourning? Will you espouse
that religion which makes you a terror to yourselves, and a burden to
others? Can you he in dove with a religion that is ready to fright you
out of your wits? Thus the devil, by troubling the saints’ peace, would
discourage others who are looking towards heaven; he would beat them off
from prayer, and hearing all soul-awakening sermons, by the fear lest
they should fall into this black humour of melancholy, and end their
days in despair.
(3) By
this subtle policy of Satan, in disturbing the saints’ peace, and making
them believe God does not love them, he sometimes so far prevails as to
make them begin to entertain hard thoughts of God. Through the black
spectacles of melancholy, God’s dealings look sad and ghastly. Satan
tempts the godly to have strange thoughts of God; to think he has cast
off all pity, and has forgotten to he gracious, and to make sad
conclusions.
Psa 78: 7, 8, 9. ‘I reckoned, that as a lion, so will he
break all my bones: from day even to night, wilt thou make an end of
me.’
Isa 38: 13. The devil, by melancholy, causes a sad eclipse in
the soul, so that it begins to think God has shut up the springs of
mercy, and there is no hope. Hereupon Satan gets further advantage of a
troubled spirit. Sometimes he puts it upon sinful wishes and execrations
against itself; as Job, who in distemper of mind, cursed his birthday.
Job 3: 3. Though he did not curse his God, yet he cursed his
birthday. Thus you see what advantages the devil gets by raising storms
and troubling the saints’ peace. If the devil is capable of any delight,
it is to see the saints’ disquiets: their groans are his music. It is a
sport to him to see them torture themselves upon the rack of melancholy,
and almost drown themselves in tears. When the godly have unjust
surmises of God, question his love, deny the work of grace, and fall to
wishing they had never been born, Satan is ready to clap his hands, and
shout for a victory.
By what
arts and methods does Satan, in tempting, disturb the saints’ peace?
He slily
conveys evil thoughts, and makes a Christian believe they come from his
own heart. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack, but it was of Joseph’s
putting there; so a child of God often finds atheistical and blasphemous
thoughts in his mind, but Satan has put them there. As some lay their
children at another’s door, so Satan lays his temptations at our door,
and fathers them upon us. We then trouble ourselves about them, and
nurse them, as if they were our own.
Satan
disturbs the saints’ peace by drawing forth their sins in the black
colours to affright them, and make them ready to give up the ghost. He
is called the accuser of the brethren; not only because he accuses them
to God, but accuses them to themselves. He tells them they are guilty of
certain sins and they are hypocrites; whereas the sins of a believer
only show that grace is not perfect, not that he has no grace. When
Satan comes with this temptation, show him that Scripture, ‘The blood of
Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’
1 John 1: 7.
27th
subtlety. Satan, by plausible arguments, tempts men to commit felo de
se, to make away with themselves. This temptation not only crosses the
current of Scripture, but it is abhorrent to nature to be one’s own
executioner. Yet such are the cunning artifices of Satan, that he
persuades many to lay violent hands upon themselves, as the bills of
mortality witness. He tempts some to do this in terror of conscience,
telling them, All the hell they shall have is in their conscience, and
death will give them present ease. He tempts others to make away with
themselves that they may live no longer to sin against God. Others he
tempts to make away with themselves, that they may presently arrive at
happiness. He tells them, the best of the saints desire heaven, and the
sooner they are there the better.
Augustine speaks of Cleombrotus, who hearing Plato read a lecture on the
immortality of the soul, and the joys of the other world, se in
praecipitium dejecit, threw himself down a steep precipice, or rock, and
killed himself. This is Satan’s plot; but we must not break prison by
laying violent hands upon ourselves, but stay till God sends and opens
the door. Let us pray ‘Lead us not into temptation.’ Still bear in mind
that Scripture, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’
Exod 20: 13.
Clamitat in
caelum vox sanguinis [The voice
of blood cries to heaven]. If we may not kill another, much less
ourselves; and take heed of discontent, which often opens the door to
self-murder.
Thus I
have shown you twenty-seven subtleties of Satan in tempting, that you
may the better know them, and avoid them. There is a story of a Jew who
would have poisoned Luther, but a friend sent to Luther the picture of
the Jew, warning him to take heed of such a man when he saw him; by
which means he knew the murderer, and escaped his hands. I have told you
the subtle devices of Satan in tempting; I have shown you the picture of
him that would murder you. Being forewarned, I beseech you take heed of
the murderer.
From the
subtlety of Satan in tempting, let me draw three inferences.
(1) It
may administer matter of wonder to us how any are saved. How amazing
that Satan, this Abaddon, or angel of the bottomless pit (Rev
9: 11) this Apollyon, this soul-devourer, does not win all
mankind! What a wonder that some are preserved, that neither Satan’s
hidden snares prevail nor his fiery darts: that neither the head of the
serpent, nor the paw of the lion destroys them! Surely it will be matter
of admiration to the saints, when they come to heaven, to think how
strangely they came thither; that notwithstanding all the force and
fraud, the power and policy of hell, they should arrive safe at the
heavenly port! This is owing to the safe conduct of Christ, the Captain
of our salvation. Michael is too hard for the dragon.
(2) Is
Satan subtle? See what need we have to pray to God for wisdom to discern
the snares of Satan, and strength to resist them. We cannot of ourselves
stand against temptation; if we could, the prayer were needless, ‘Lead
us not,’ &c. Let us not think we can be too cunning for the devil, or
escape his wiles and darts. If David and Peter, who were pillars in
God’s temple fell by temptation, how soon should such weak reeds as we
are be blown down, if God should leave us! Take Christ’s advice, ‘Watch
and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.’
Matt 26: 41.
(3) See
how the end of all Satan’s subtleties in tempting is, that he may be an
accuser. He lays the plot, entices men to sin, and then brings in the
indictment; as if one should make another drunk, and then complain of
him to the magistrate for being drunk. The devil is first a tempter, and
then an informer: first a liar and then a murderer.
Having
shown the subtleties of Satan in tempting, I shall answer two questions:
Why does
God suffer his saints to be buffeted by Satan’s temptations?
He does
it for many wise and holy ends.
(1) He
lets them be tempted to try them. The Hebrew word signifies both to
tempt and to try. Temptation is a touchstone to try what is in the
heart. The devil tempts that he may deceive, but God lets us be tempted
to try us.
Qui non
tentatur, non probatur [He who
is not tempted is not tested]. Augustine.
Hereby
God tries our sincerity. Job’s sincerity was tried by temptation; the
devil told God that Job was a hypocrite, and served him only for a
livery; but, said he, ‘Touch all that he has (that is, let me tempt him)
and he will curse thee to thy face!’
Job 1: 11. Well, God did let the devil touch him by
temptation, and yet Job remained holy, he worshipped God, and blessed
God;
ver 20, 21. Here Job’s sincerity was proved; he had fiery
temptations, but he came out of the fire a golden Christian. Temptation
is a touchstone of sincerity.
By
temptation God tries our love. The wife of Tigranes never showed her
chastity and love to her husband, as when she was tempted by Cyrus, but
did not yield; so, our love to God is seen when we can look a temptation
in the face, and turn our back upon it. Though the devil come as a
serpent subtly, and offers a golden apple, yet he will not touch the
forbidden fruit. When the devil showed Christ all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them, such was Christ’s love to his Father, that
he abhorred the temptation. True love will not be bribed. When the
devil’s darts are most fiery, a saint’s love to God is most fervent.
By
temptation God tries our courage. ‘Ephraim is a silly dove without
heart.’
Hos 7: 11. So it may be said of many, they are
excordes,
without a heart; they have no heart to resist a temptation; no sooner
does Satan come with his solicitations, but they yield; like a coward,
who as soon as the thief approaches, delivers his purse. He is a
valorous Christian that brandishes the sword of the Spirit against
Satan, and will rather die than yield. The courage of the Romans was
never more seen than when they were assaulted by the Carthaginians; so
the heroic spirit of a saint is never more seen than in a battle-field,
when he is fighting with the red dragon, and by the power of faith puts
the devil to flight.
Fidei robur
potest esse concussum, non excussum
[The strength of faith can be shaken, not destroyed]. Tertullian. One
reason why God lets his people be tempted is, that their metal may be
tried, their sincerity, love, and magnanimity. When grace is proved, the
gospel is honoured.
(2) God
suffers his children to be tempted, that they may be kept from pride.
Quos
non gula superavit [Those whom
greed has not overcome]. Cyprian. Pride crept once into the angels, and
into the apostles, when they disputed which of them should be greatest;
and in Peter, when he said, ‘Though all men forsake thee, yet I will
not,’ as if he had had more grace than all the apostles. Pride keeps
grace low, that it cannot thrive; as the spleen swells, so the other
parts of the body consume; as pride grows, so grace consumes. God
resists pride; and, that he may keep his children humble, he suffers
them sometimes to fall into temptation. ‘Lest I should be exalted, there
was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me.’
2 Cor 12: 7. When Paul was lifted up by revelations, he was
in danger of being lifted up with pride; then came the messenger of
Satan to buffet him: that was some sore temptation to humble him. The
thorn in the flesh was to prick the bladder of pride. Better is the
temptation that humbles me than the duty that makes me proud. Rather
than a Christian should be proud, God lets him fall into the devil’s
hands awhile, that he may be cured of his swelling.
(3) God
lets his people be tempted that they may be fitter to comfort others who
are in the same distress, and speak a word in due season to such as are
weary. Paul was trained up in the fencing-school of temptation, and was
able to acquaint others with Satan’s wiles and stratagems,
2 Cor 2: 11. A man that has ridden over a place where there
are quicksands, is the fittest to guide others through that dangerous
way; so he who has been buffeted by Satan, and has felt the claws of the
roaring lion, is the fittest man to deal with one that is tempted.
(4) God
lets his children be tempted to make them long more for heaven, where
they shall be out of gunshot, and freed from the hissing of the old
serpent. Satan is not yet fully cast into prison, but like a prisoner
who is under bail, he vexes and molests the saints; he lays his snares,
throws his fireballs, but it only makes the people of God long to be
gone from hence, and pray that they had the wings of a dove, to fly away
and be at rest. God suffered Israel to be vexed with the Egyptians, that
they might long the more to be in Canaan. Heaven is the
centrum,
a place of rest,
centrum
quietativum: no bullets of
temptation fly there. The eagle that soars aloft in the air, and sits
perching upon the tops of high trees, is not troubled with the stinging
of serpents; so, when believers have got into the heaven above, they
shall not be stung with the old serpent. The devil is cast out of the
heavenly paradise. Heaven is compared to an exceeding high mountain.
Rev 21: 10. It is so high, that Satan’s fiery darts cannot
reach up to it.
Nullus ibi
hostium metes, nullae insidiae daemonum
[There is no fear of enemies there, no snares of devils]. Bernard.
The
temptations here are to make the saints long till death sound a retreat,
and call them off the field where the bullets of temptation fly so
thick, that they may receive a victorious crown.
What
rocks of support are there, or what comfort for tempted souls?
(1) That
it is not our case alone, but has been the case of God’s most eminent
saints. ‘There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man,’ yea, to the best men.
1 Cor 10: 13. Christ’s lambs, which have had the mark of
election upon them, have been set upon by the world. Elijah, that could
shut heaven by prayer, could not shut his heart from temptation.
1 Kings 19: 4. Job was tempted to curse God, Peter to deny
Christ; and hardly ever any saint has got to heaven but has met with a
lion by the way.
Sortem quam
omnes sancti patiuntur nemo recusat
[No one escapes the lot which all the saints suffer]. Nay, Jesus Christ
himself, though free from sin, yet was not free from temptation. We read
of his baptism; then he was ‘led into the wilderness to be tempted of
the devil.’
Matt 4: 1. No sooner was Christ out of the water of baptism,
but he was in the fire of temptation; and if the devil would set upon
Christ, no wonder if he set upon us. There was no sin in Christ, no
powder for the devil’s fire. Temptation to him was like a burr on a
crystal glass, which glides off; or like a spark of fire on a marble
pillar, which will not stick: and yet Satan was bold to tempt him. It is
some comfort that such as have been our betters have wrestled with
temptations.
(2)
Another rock of support that may comfort a tempted soul, is, that
temptations (where they are burdens) evidence grace. Satan does not
tempt God’s children because they have sin in them, but because they
have grace in them. Had they no grace he would not disturb them, for
where he keeps possession all is in peace.
Luke 11: 21. His temptations are to rob the saints of their
grace. A thief will not assault an empty house, but where he thinks
there is treasure; a pirate will not set upon an empty ship, but one
that is full of spices and jewels; so the devil assaults most the people
of God, because he thinks they have a rich treasure of grace in their
hearts, and he would rob them of it. Why are so many cudgels thrown at a
tree, but because there is much fruit upon it? The devil throws his
temptations at you, because he sees you have much fruit of grace growing
upon you. Though to be tempted is a trouble, yet to think why you are
tempted is a comfort.
(3)
Another rock of support or comfort is, that Jesus Christ is near at
hand, and stands by us in all our temptations. Here take notice of two
things:
[1]
Christ’s sympathy in our temptations.
Nobis
compatitur Christus [Christ
suffers with us]. ‘We have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities.’
Heb 4: 15. Jesus Christ sympathises with us; he is so
sensible of our temptations as if he himself lay under them, and did
feel them in his own soul. As in music, when one string is touched, all
the rest sound, so when we suffer Christ’s bowels sound; we cannot be
tempted but he is touched. If you saw a wolf worry your child, would you
not pity it? You cannot pity it as Christ does tempted ones. He had a
fellow feeling when upon earth, much more now in glory.
But how
can it consist with Christ’s glory now in heaven, to have a fellow
feeling with our sufferings?
This
fellow feeling in Christ arises not from an infirmity or passion, but
from the mystic union between him and his members. ‘He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of his eye.’
Zech 2: 8. Every injury done to a saint he takes as done to
him in heaven. Every temptation strikes at him, and he is touched with
the feeling of them.
[2]
Christ’s succour in temptation. As the good Samaritan first had
compassion on the wounded man, there was sympathy; then he poured in
wine and oil, there was succour (Luke
10: 34); so when we are wounded by the red dragon, Christ is
first touched with compassion, and then pours in wine and oil. ‘In that
he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that
are tempted.’
Heb 2: 18. The Greek word for succour (boethesia) signifies
to run speedily to one’s help; so fierce is Satan, so frail is man, that
Christ, who is God-man, runs speedily to his help. When Peter was ready
to sink, and said, ‘Lord, save me,’ Christ presently stretched forth his
hand, and caught him; so when a poor soul is tempted, and cries to
heaven for help, ‘Lord, save me,’ Christ comes in with his auxiliary
forces.
Noscit
Christus, our Lord Jesus knows
what it is to be tempted, therefore he is ready to succour such as are
tempted. It has been observed that child-bearing women are more pitiful
to others in their travails than such as are barren; so the Lord Jesus
having been in travail by temptations and sufferings, is more ready to
pity and succour such as are tempted.
Concerning Christ’s succouring the tempted, consider two things: his
ability, and his agility to succour. ‘He is able to succour them that
are tempted.’
Heb 2: 18. He is called Michael, which signifies, ‘Who is
like God.’
Rev 12: 7. Though the tempted soul is weak, yet he fights
under a good Captain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. When a tempted
soul fights, Christ comes into the field as his second. Michael will be
too hard for the dragon. When the devil lays the siege of a temptation,
Christ can raise it when he pleases; he can beat through the enemy’s
quarters, and so rout Satan that he shall never be able to rally his
forces any more. Jesus Christ is on the saint’s side, and who would
desire a better lifeguard than omnipotence? As Christ is able to succour
the tempted, so he will certainly succour them. His power enables him,
his love inclines him, his faithfulness engages him to succour tempted
souls. It is a great comfort to a soul in temptation to have a
succouring Saviour. God succoured Israel in the wilderness among fiery
serpents. The rock sending forth water, the manna, the pillar of cloud,
the brazen serpent, what were these but types of God’s succouring poor
souls in the wilderness of temptation, stung by the devil, that fiery
serpent? Alexander being asked how he could sleep so securely, when his
enemies were about him, said, ‘Antipater is awake, who is always
vigilant.’ So when our tempting enemy is near us, Jesus Christ is awake,
who is a wall of fire around us. There is a great deal of succour to the
tempted in the names given to Christ. As Satan’s names may terrify, so
Christ’s may succour. The devil is called Apollyon, the devourer.
Rev 9: 11. Christ is called a Saviour. The devil is called
the ’strong man.’
Matt 12: 29. Christ is called El Gibbor, the mighty God.
Isa 9: 6. The devil is called the accuser.
Rev 12: 10. Christ is called the Advocate.
1 John 2: 1. The devil is called the tempter.
Matt 4: 3. Christ is called the Comforter.
Luke 2: 25. The devil is called the prince of darkness.
Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness. The devil is called the old
serpent. Christ is called the Brazen Serpent that heals.
John 3: 14. Thus the very names of Christ have some succour
in them for tempted souls.
How and
in what manner does Christ succour them that are tempted?
He
succours them by sending his Spirit, whose work it is to bring those
promises to their mind which are fortifying. ‘He shall bring all things
to your remembrance.’
John 14: 26. The Spirit furnishes us with promises as so many
weapons to fight against the old serpent. ‘The God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly.’
Rom 16: 20. ‘God will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able.’
1 Cor 10: 13. The seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent’s head.
Gen 3: 15. We are often in times of temptation, as a man that
has his house beset, and cannot find his weapons, his sword and gun, in
which case Christ sends his Spirit, and brings things to our remembrance
that help us in our combat. The Spirit of Christ does for the tempted
what Aaron and Hur did for Moses, when they put a stone under him and
held up his hands, and then Israel prevailed. The Spirit puts the
promises under the hand of faith, and then the Christian overcomes the
devil, that spiritual Amalek. The promise is to the soul, as the anchor
to the ship, which keeps it steady in a storm.
Christ
succours them that are tempted by ‘interceding for them.’ When the devil
is tempting, Christ is praying. The prayer which Christ put up for Peter
when he was tempted, extends to all his saints. Lord, said Christ, it is
my child that is tempted; Father, pity him.
Luke 22: 32. When a poor soul lies bleeding of the wounds the
devil has given him, Christ presents his wounds to his Father, and, in
the virtue of those, pleads for mercy. How powerful must his prayer be!
He is a favourite.
John 11: 42. He is both High Priest and a Son. If God could
forget that Christ were a Priest, he cannot forget that he is a Son.
Besides, Christ prays for nothing but what is agreeable to his Father’s
will. If a king’s son petitions only for that which his father has a
mind to grant, his suit will not be denied.
Christ
succours his people, by taking off the tempter. When the sheep begin to
straggle, the shepherd sets the dog on them to bring them back to the
fold, and then calls off the dog; so God takes off the tempter. He ‘will
with the temptation make a way to escape,’ he will make an outlet.
1 Cor 10: 13. He will rebuke the tempter. ‘The Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan.’
Zech 3: 2. It is no small support, that Christ succours the
tempted. The mother succours the child most when it is sick; she sits by
its bedside, brings it cordials; so, when a soul is most assaulted, it
shall be most assisted.
I have
dealt unkindly with Christ and sinned against his love, and surely he
will nor succour me, but let me perish in the battle!
Christ
is a merciful High Priest, and will succour thee notwithstanding thy
failings. Joseph was a type of Christ; his brethren sold him away, and
the ‘irons entered into his soul;’ yet afterwards, when his brethren
were ready to die in the famine, he forgot their injuries, and succoured
them with money and corn. ‘I am,’ said he, ‘Joseph your brother.’ So
Christ will say to a tempted soul, ‘I know thy unkindnesses, how thou
hast distrusted my love, grieved my Spirit; but I am Joseph, I am Jesus,
therefore I will succour thee when thou art tempted.’
(4)
Another rock of support is that the best man may be most tempted. A rich
ship may be violently set upon by pirates; so he who is rich in faith
may have the devil upon him with his battering-pieces. Job, an eminent
saint, was fiercely assaulted. Satan smote his body that he might tempt
him either to question God’s providence or quarrel with it. Paul was a
chosen vessel, but how was this vessel battered with temptation!
2 Cor 12: 7.
Is it
not said, ‘He that is begotten of God, that wicked one toucheth him
not’?
1 John 5: 18.
It is
not meant that the devil does not tempt him, but he toucheth hint not,
that is, tactu lethali, Cajetan, with a deadly touch. ‘There is a sin
unto death.’
1 John 5: 16. Now, Satan with all his temptations does not
make a child of God sin ‘a sin unto death.’ Thus he touches him not.
(5)
Another rock of support is that Satan can go no further in tempting than
God gives him leave. The power of the tempter is limited. A whole legion
of devils could not touch one swine till Christ gave them leave. Satan
would have sifted Peter till he sifted out all his grace, but Christ
would not suffer him. ‘I have prayed for thee,’ &c. Christ binds the
devil in a chain.
Rev 20: 1. If Satan’s power were according to his malice, not
one soul should be saved; but he is a chained enemy. It is a comfort
that Satan cannot go a hair’s breadth beyond God’s permission. If an
enemy could not touch a child further than the father appointed, he
would do the child no great hurt.
(6)
Another rock of support is that it is not having a temptation that makes
guilty, but giving consent to it. We cannot hinder a temptation. If we
abhor the temptation, it is our burden, not our sin. We read in the old
law, that if one forced a virgin, and she cried out, she was reputed
innocent; so if Satan by temptation would commit a rape upon a
Christian, and he cries out, and does not consent, the Lord will charge
it upon the devil’s score. It is not laying the bait that hurts the fish
if the fish do not bite.
(7)
Another rock of support is, that our being tempted is no sign of God’s
hating us. A child of God often thinks God does not love him because he
lets him be haunted by the devil. Non sequitur, this is a wrong
conclusion. Was not Christ himself tempted, and yet by a voice from
heaven proclaimed, ‘This is my beloved Son’?
Matt 3: 17. Satan’s tempting and God’s loving may stand
together. The goldsmith loves his gold in the fire; and God loves a
saint, though shot at by fiery darts.
(8)
Another rock of support is that Christ’s temptation was for our
consolation,
aqua ignis
[water to fire]. Jesus Christ is to be looked upon as a public person,
as our head and representative; and what he did, he did for us: his
prayer was for us, his suffering was for us; when he was tempted, and
overcame the temptation, he overcame for us. Christ’s conquering Satan
was to show that elect persons shall at last be conquerors over Satan.
When Christ overcame Satan’s temptation, it was not only to give us an
example of courage, but an assurance of conquest. We have overcome Satan
already in our covenant head, and we shall at last perfectly overcome.
(9)Another rock of support is that the saints’ temptation shall not be
above their strength. The harper will not stretch the strings of his
harp too hard, lest they break. ‘God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able.’
1 Cor 10: 13. He will proportion our strength to the stroke.
‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’
2 Cor 12: 9. The torchlight of faith shall be kept burning,
though all the winds of temptation are blowing.
(10)
Another rock of support is that these temptations shall produce much
good.
They
quicken a spirit of prayer in the saints. They pray more and better.
Temptation is
orationis
flabellum [fan], the exciter of
prayer. Perhaps before, the saints came to God as cold suitors in prayer
— they prayed as if they prayed not. Temptation is a medicine for
security. When Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him, he was more
earnest in prayer. ‘For this thing I besought the Lord thrice.’
2 Cor 12: 8. The thorn in his flesh was a spur in his sides
to quicken him in prayer. The deer when shot with the dart runs faster
to the water; so a soul that is shot with the fiery darts of temptation
runs the faster to the throne of grace; and is earnest with God, either
to take off the tempter, or to stand by him when he is tempted.
God
makes the temptation to sin a means to prevent it. The more a Christian
is tempted, the more he fights against the temptation. The more a chaste
woman is assaulted, the more she abhors the attempt. The stronger
Joseph’s temptation was, the stronger was his opposition. The more the
enemy attempts to storm a castle, the more is he repelled and beat back.
A godly
man’s temptations cause the increase of grace.
Unus
Christianus temptatus mille;
‘one tempted Christian,’ says Luther, ‘is worth a thousand.’ He grows
more in grace. As the bellows increase the flame, so temptation
increases the flame of grace.
By these
temptations God makes way for comfort. After Christ was tempted, the
angels came and ministered unto him.
Matt 4: 2. When Abraham had been warring, Melchizedek brought
him bread and wine to revive his spirits.
Gen 14: 18. So after the saints have been warring with Satan,
God sends his Spirit to comfort them. Luther said that temptations were
amplexus Christi, Christ’s embraces, because he then manifests himself
most sweetly to the soul.
That I
may further comfort such as are tempted, let me speak to two particular
cases.
I have
horrid temptations to blasphemy, say some.
Did not
the devil tempt Christ after this manner: ‘All these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me’?
Matt 4: 9. What greater blasphemy can be imagined than that
the God of heaven and earth should worship the devil? Yet Christ was
tempted to this. If when blasphemous thoughts are injected, you tremble
at them, and are in a cold sweat, they are not yours, Satan shall answer
for them; let him that plots the treason suffer.
But my
case is yet worse, say others; I have been tempted to such sins, and
have yielded; the tempter has overcome me.
I grant
that, through the withdrawing of God’s grace, and the force of
temptation, a child of God may be overcome. David was overcome by
temptation in the case of Bathsheba, and in numbering the people. There
is a party of grace in the heart true to Christ; but sometimes it may be
overvoted by corruption, and then a Christian yields. It is sad thus to
yield to the tempter. But yet let not a child of God be wholly
discouraged, and say there is no hope. Let me pour in some balm of
Gilead into this wounded soul.
(1)
Though a Christian may fall by a temptation, yet the seed of God is in
him. ‘His seed remaineth in him.’
1 John 3: 9.
Gratia
concutitur, non excutitur [Grace
is shaken, not destroyed]. Augustine. A man may be bruised by a fall,
yet there is life in him. A Christian foiled by Satan may be like the
man going to Jericho, who fell among thieves, and was left ‘wounded and
half dead;’ but still there is a vital principle of grace; his seed
remains in him.
Luke 10: 30.
(2)
Though a child of God may be overcome in praelio, in a skirmish, yet not
in bello, in the main battle; as an army may be worsted in a skirmish,
but conquer at last. Though Satan may foil a child of God in a skirmish
by a temptation, the believer shall overcome at last. A saint may be
foiled, yet not conquered; he may lose ground, and not lose the victory.
(3) God
does not judge his children by one action, but by the frame of the
heart. As he does not judge a wicked man by one good action, so neither
a godly man by one bad action. A holy person may be worsted by a
temptation; but God does not measure him by that. Who measures milk when
it seethes and boils up? God does not take the measure of a saint when
the devil has boiled him up in a passion, but he judges of him by the
pulse and temper of his heart. He would fear God; and when he fails he
weeps. God looks which way the bias of his heart stands; if that be set
against sin, God will pardon.
(4) God
will make a saint’s fall by temptation turn to his spiritual advantage.
He may
let a regenerate person fall by a temptation to make him more watchful.
Perhaps he walked loosely, and was decoyed into sin; but for the future
he will grow more curious and cautious in his walking. The foiled
Christian is a vigilant Christian; he will take care not to come within
the lion’s chain any more; he will be shy and fearful of the occasion of
sin; he will not go abroad without his spiritual armour, and will gird
on his armour by prayer. When a wild beast gets over the hedge and hurts
the corn, the farther will make his fence stronger; so, when the devil
gets over the fence by temptation, and foils a Christian, he will be
sure to mend his fence, and be more vigilant against temptation
afterwards.
God
sometimes lets his children be foiled by temptation that they may see
their continual dependence on God, and may go to him for strength. We
need not only habitual grace to stand against temptation, but auxiliary
grace; as the boat needs not only the oars, but wind, to carry it
against a strong tide. God lets his children sometimes fall by
temptation, that, seeing their own weakness, they may rest more on
Christ and free grace.
Cant 8: 5.
By
suffering his children to be foiled by a temptation, God settles them
the more in grace. They get strength by their falls. The poets feign
that Antaeus the giant, in wrestling with Hercules, got strength by
every fall to the ground; so a saint, when foiled in wrestling with
Satan, gets more spiritual strength. Peter had never such strength of
faith as after being foiled in the high priest’s hall. How was he fired
with zeal and steeled with courage! He who before was dashed out of
countenance by the voice of a maid, now dares openly confess Christ
before rulers and the councils.
Acts 2: 14. As the shaking of the tree settles it the more,
God lets his children be shaken with the wind of temptation, that they
may be more settled in grace afterwards. Let not those Christians whom
God has suffered to be foiled by temptation, cast away their anchor, or
give way to despairing thoughts.
May it
not make Christians careless whether they fall into temptation or not,
if God can make the temptation advantageous to them?
We must
distinguish between being foiled through weakness and through
wilfulness. If a soldier fights, but is foiled for want of strength, the
general of the army will pity him, and bind up his wounds; but if he be
wilfully foiled, and proves treacherous, he must expect no favour; so,
if a Christian fight it out with Satan, but is foiled for want of
strength, as it was with Peter, God will pity him and do him good by his
being foiled; but if he be foiled wilfully and runs into temptation, as
it was with Judas, God will show him no favour, but will execute martial
law upon him.
The uses
remain.
Use 1.
See in what continual danger we are. Satan is an exquisite artist, a
deep headpiece, he lies in ambush to ensnare; he is the tempter, it is
his delight to make the saints sin; and he is subtle in tempting, he has
ways and methods to deceive.
(1) He
brings a saint into sin, by making him confide in his habitual graces.
He makes him believe he has such a stock of grace as will secure him
against all temptations. Thus he deceived Peter, he made him trust in
his grace; he had such a cable of faith and strong tacklings, that
though the winds of temptation blew ever so fierce, he could weather the
point. ‘Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I;’ as if he had more
grace than all the apostles. Thus he was led into temptation, and fell
in the battle. Man may make an idol of grace. Habitual grace is not
sufficient without auxiliary. The boat needs not only oars, but a gale
of wind, to carry it against the tide; so we need not only habitual
grace, but the gale of the Spirit, to carry us against a strong
temptation.
(2)
Satan tempts to sin by the baits and allurements of the world.
Faenus
pecuniae funus animae [The gain
of money is the ruin of the soul]. One of Christ’s own apostles was
caught with a silver bait. Those whom the devil cannot debauch with
vice, he will corrupt with money. ‘All these things will I give thee,’
was his last temptation.
Matt 4: 9. Achan was deluded by a wedge of gold. Sylvester II
sold his soul to the devil for a popedom.
(3)
Satan tempts to sin, sub specie boni, under a mask and show of good; his
temptations seem gracious motions.
[1] He
tempts men to duties of religion. You might think it strange that Satan
should tempt to duty; but it is so. He tempts men to duty out of
sinister ends. Thus he tempted the Pharisees to pray and give alms, that
they might be seen of men.
Matt 6: 5. Prayer is a duty, but to look asquint in prayer,
to do it for vainglory, turns prayer into sin. He tempts to duty when it
is not in season. ‘My offering and my bread for my sacrifices, shall ye
offer unto me in their due season.’
Numb 28: 2. Satan tempts to duty when it is out of season; he
tempts to read the word at home when we should be hearing the word. He
tempts to one duty, that he may hinder another. He tempts some to duty
that it may be a cloak for sin. He tempts them to frequency in duty that
they may sin and be less suspected. He tempted the Pharisees to make
long prayers that, under this pretence, they might devour widows’
houses.
Matt 23: 14. Who would suspect him of false weights that so
often holds a Bible in his hand?
[2] He
tempts men to sin out of a show of love to Christ. You might think this
strange, but there is truth in it. Many a good heart may think what he
does is in love to Christ, and all the while he may be under temptation.
When Christ told Peter he must suffer at Jerusalem, Peter took him and
rebuked him. ‘Be it far from thee, Lord,’ as if he had said, Lord, thou
hast deserved no such shameful death, and this shall not be unto thee.
Matt 16: 22. Peter did this, as he thought, out of love to
Christ, but he was under temptation. What had become of us if Christ had
hearkened to Peter, and had not suffered! So when Christ washed his
disciples’ feet, Peter was so mannerly that he said, ‘Thou shalt never
wash my feet.’
John 13: 8. This he did, as he thought, out of love and
respect to Christ. He thought Christ was too good to wash his feet, and
therefore would have put him off, but it was a temptation; the devil put
Peter upon this sinful modesty; he struck at Peter’s salvation, insomuch
that Christ said, ‘If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’ So
when the Samaritans would not receive Christ, the disciples James and
John said, ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from
heaven and consume them?’
Luke 9: 54. They did this, as they thought, out of love to
Christ; they wished for fire to consume his enemies, but they were under
temptation; it was not zeal, but the wild fire of their own passion. ‘Ye
know not,’ saith Christ, ‘what manner of spirit ye are or.
(4)
Satan tempts to the sin to which a man’s heart is naturally most
inclinable. He will not tempt a civil man to a gross sin, which is
abhorrent to the light of nature. Satan never sets a dish before men
that they do not love. He will tempt a civil man to pride, and to trust
in his own righteousness, and to make a Saviour of his civility. As the
spider weaves a web out of her own bowels, the civil man would weave a
web of salvation out of his own righteousness.
See,
then, in what danger we are, when Satan is continually lying in ambush
with his temptations!
See
man’s inability of himself to resist a temptation! Could he stand of
himself against a temptation, the prayer were needless, ‘Lead us not
into temptation:’ no man has power of himself to resist temptation,
further than God gives him strength. ‘O Lord, I know that the way of man
is not in himself.’
Jer 10: 23. If Peter, who had true grace, and Adam, who had
perfect grace, could not stand against temptation, much less can any
stand by the power of nature, which confutes the doctrine of free will.
What freedom of will has man, when he cannot resist the least
temptation?
Here is
matter for humiliation, that there is in us such an aptitude and
proneness to yield to temptation. We are as ready to swallow a
temptation as the fish to swallow the bait. If the devil tempt to pride,
lust, envy, revenge, how do we symbolise with Satan and embrace his
snares! Like a woman that has a suitor, and does not need much wooing,
but readily gives her consent, Satan comes wooing by temptation, and we
soon yield; he strikes fire, and we are as dry tinder dial catches the
first spark; he knocks by temptation, and it is sad to think how soon we
open the door to him, which is as if one should open the door to a
thief.
See
hence that a Christian’s life is no easy life. It is military: he has a
Goliath in the field to encounter with, one that is armed with power and
subtlety, and has his wiles and darts. A Christian must be continually
watching and fighting. Satan’s designs carry death in the front.
‘Seeking whom he may devour.’
I Pet 5: 8. Therefore we had need always have our weapons in
our hand. How few think their life a warfare! Though they have an enemy
in the field, always laying snares, or shooting darts, yet they do not
stand sentinel or get their spiritual artillery ready; they put on their
jewels, but not their armour. ‘They take the timbrel and harp, and
rejoice at the sound of the organ,’ as if they were rather in music than
in battle.
Job 21: 12. Many are asleep in sloth, when they should be
fighting against Satan; and no wonder the devil shoots them when he
finds them asleep.
Use 2.
They are reproved who pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ and yet run
of themselves into temptation. Such are they who go to plays and
masquerades, and hunt after strange flesh. Some go a slower pace to
hell, but such as run themselves into temptation go galloping thither.
We have too many of these in this debauched age, who, as if they thought
they could not sin fast enough, tempt the devil to tempt them.
Use 3.
Let us labour that we be not overcome by temptation.
What
means should be used, that Satan’s temptations may not prevail against
us?
(1)
Avoid solitariness. It is no wisdom, in fighting with an enemy, to give
him the advantage of the ground. We give Satan advantage of the ground
when we are alone. Eve was foiled in the absence of her husband. A
virgin is not so soon set upon in company. ‘Two are better than one.’
Eccl 4: 9. Get into the communion of saints, for that is a
good remedy against temptation.
(2) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, beware of the predominance of
melancholy, which is
atra bilis,
a black humour seated chiefly in the brain. Melancholy disturbs reason
and exposes to temptation. One calls melancholy balneum diaboli, the
devil’s bath; he bathes himself with delight in such a person.
Melancholy clothes the mind in sable; it fills it with such dismal
apprehensions as often end in self-murder.
(3) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, study sobriety. ‘Be sober,
because your adversary walketh about.’
I Pet 5: 8. Sober-mindedness consists in the moderate use of
earthly things: an immoderate desire of these things often brings men
into the snare of the devil. ‘They that will be rich fall into a snare.’
1 Tim 6: 9. He who loves riches inordinately, will purchase
them unjustly. Ahab would swim to Naboth’s vineyard in blood. He who is
drunk with the love of the world, is never free from temptation. He will
pull down his soul to build up an estate.
Quid non
mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames?
[Oh cursed hunger for gold, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of
men?] Virgil. Be sober, take heed of being drunk with the love of the
world, lest ye fall into temptation.
(4) Be
always upon your guard, watch against Satan’s wiles and subtleties. ‘Be
vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about.’
I Pet 5: 8. A Christian must
excubias agere,
keep watch and ward; he must see where Satan labours to make a breach,
see what grace he most strikes at, or what sin he most tempts to. ‘I say
unto all, Watch.’
Mark 13: 37. Watch all the senses, the eye, the ear, the
touch; for Satan can creep in by these. Oh, how needful is the spiritual
watch! Shall Satan be watchful, and we drowsy? Does he watch to devour
us, and shall not we watch to save ourselves? Let us see what sin our
heart most naturally inclines to, and watch against it.
(5)
Beware of idleness. Satan sows most of his seed in fallow ground. It was
Jerome’s counsel to his friend to be ever busied, that if the devil did
come, he might find him working in the vineyard. Idleness tempts the
devil to tempt. The bird that sits still is shot. He that wants
employment never wants temptation. When a man has nothing to do, Satan
will bring grist to the mill, and find him work enough.
(6) Make
known thy case to some godly friend. Hiding a serpent in the bosom is
not the way to be safe; when the old serpent has got into your bosom by
temptation, do not hide him there by keeping his counsel. If a spark be
got into the thatch, it is not wisdom to conceal it, it may set the
house on fire. Conceal not temptation. Keeping secrets is for familiar
friends: be not so great a friend to Satan as to keep his secrets.
Reveal your temptations, which is the way to procure others’ prayers and
advice; let all see that you are not true to Satan’s party, because you
tell all his plots and reveal his treasons. Besides, telling your case
to some experienced Christian, is the way to have ease; as the opening
of a vein gives ease, so the opening of your case to a friend will give
ease to the soul, and temptation will not so much inflame.
(7) Make
use of the word. This the apostle calls the ’sword of the Spirit,’ a fit
weapon with which to fight against the tempter.
Eph 6: 17. This ’sword of the Spirit’ is
gladius anceps,
a two-edged sword: it wounds carnal lust and it wounds Satan. He who
travels a road where there is robbing will be sure to ride with his
sword; we are travelling to heaven, and in this road there is a thief
who always besets us in every place where we go. He meets us at church,
he does not miss a sermon, he will be tempting us there; sometimes to
drowsiness: when any sleep at sermon, the devil rocks them; sometimes he
tempts by distracting the mind in hearing, sometimes he tempts by
questioning the truth of what is heard. He tempts in the shop to use
collusion and deceit. ‘The balances of deceit are in his hand.’
Hos 12: 7. Thus we meet with the tempter everywhere;
therefore, this thief being in the road, we had need ride with a sword;
we must have the ’sword of the Spirit’ about us. We must have skill to
use this sword, and have a heart to draw it out, and it will put the
devil to flight. Thus when Satan tempted our blessed Saviour to distrust
and blasphemy, he used a Scripture weapon, ‘It is written.’ Three times
he wounded the old serpent with this sword. Christ, with his power and
authority, could have rebuked the prince of the air as he did the winds;
but he stopped the devil’s mouth with Scripture, ‘It is written.’ It is
not our vows and resolutions that will do it, it is not the Papist’s
holy water or charms that will drive away the devil; but let us bring
the word of God against him: this is an argument that he cannot answer.
It was a saying of Luther, ‘I have had great troubles of mind; but so
soon as I laid hold on any place of Scripture, and stayed myself upon it
as upon my chief anchor, straightway my temptations vanished away.’
There is no temptation but we have fit Scripture to answer it. If Satan
tempts to Sabbath-breaking, answer him, ‘“It is written, Remember to
keep the Sabbath day holy.”’ If he tempts to uncleanness, answer him,
‘“It is written, whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”’ If he
tempts to carnal fear, say, ‘“It is written, Fear not them that kill the
body, and after that, have no more that they can do.”’ No such way to
confute temptation as by Scripture; the arrows we shoot against Satan
must be fetched out of this quiver. Many people want this sword of the
Spirit, they have not a Bible; others seldom make use of it, but let it
rust; they seldom look into it — no wonder, therefore, they are overcome
by temptations. He who is well skilled in the word is like one who has a
plaister ready to lay upon the wound as soon as it is made, and so the
danger is prevented. O study the Scripture, and you will be too hard for
the devil; he cannot stand against this.
(8) Let
us be careful of our own hearts, that they do not decoy us into sin. The
apostle says, ‘A man is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.’
James 1: 14.
Quisque sibi
Satan est [Everyone is Satan to
himself]. Bernard. Every man has a tempter in his own bosom. A traitor
within the castle is dangerous. The heart can bring forth a temptation,
though Satan do not midwife it into the world; if Satan were dead and
buried, the heart could draw us to evil. As the ground of all diseases
lies in the humours of the body, so the seed of all sin lies in the
original lust. Look to your hearts.
(9) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, flee the ‘occasions of sin.’
Occasions of sin have great force to awaken lust within. He that would
keep himself free from infection will not come near an infected house;
so if you would be sober, avoid drunken company. When Joseph was enticed
by his mistress, he shunned the occasion; the text says, ‘He hearkened
not unto her to be with her.’
Gen 39: 10. If you would not be ensnared with Popery, do not
hear the mass. The Nazarite, who was forbid wine, might not eat grapes,
which might occasion intemperance. Come not near the borders of
temptation. Suppose any one had a body made of gunpowder, he would not
come near the least spark of fire, lest he should be blown up. Many
pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ and yet run themselves into
temptation.
(10) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, make use of faith. ‘Above all
taking the shield of faith.’
Eph 6: 19. Faith wards off Satan’s fiery darts, that they do
not hurt. ‘Whom resist, stedfast in the faith.’
1 Pet 5: 9. Mariners in a storm flee to their anchor; flee to
your anchor of faith. Faith brings Christ with it. Duellers bring their
seconds with them into the field; so faith brings Christ for its second.
It puts us into Christ, and then the devil cannot hurt us. The chicken
is safe from the birds of prey, under the wings of the hen; and we are
secure from the tempter, under the wings of the Lord Jesus. Though other
graces are of use to resist the impulses of Satan, yet faith is the
conquering grace. It takes hold of Christ’s merits, value and virtue;
and so the Christian becomes too hard for the devil. As the stars vanish
when the sun appears, so Satan vanishes when faith appears.
(11) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, be much in prayer. Such as walk
in infectious places, carry antidotes about them: prayer is the best
antidote against temptation. When the apostle had exhorted, to ‘put on
the whole armour of God,’ he adds, ‘Praying with all prayer.’
Eph 6: 11, 18. Without this,
reliqua arma
parum prosunt. Zanchius. All
other weapons will do little good. Christ prescribes this remedy, ‘Watch
and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.’
Mark 14: 38. A Christian fetches down strength from heaven by
prayer. Let us cry to God for help against the tempter, as Samson cried
to heaven for help. ‘O Lord God, remember me and strengthen me, I pray
thee, that I may be avenged of the Philistines.’
Judges 16: 28. ‘The house fell upon the lords and upon all
the people;’
ver 30.
Prayer
is
flagellum diaboli, it whips and
torments the devil. The apostle bids us ‘pray without ceasing.’
1 Thess 5: 17. It was Luther’s advice to a lady, when
temptation came, to fall upon her knees in prayer. Prayer assuages the
force of temptation. It is the best charm or spell we can use against
the devil. Temptation may bruise our heel, but by prayer we wound the
serpent’s head. When Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him; what
remedy did he use? He betook himself to prayer. ‘For this thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.’
2 Cor 12: 8. When Satan assaults furiously, let us pray
fervently.
(12) If
you would not be overcome by temptation, be humble in your own eyes.
They are nearest falling who presume on their own strength. Pendleton
said his fat flesh should melt in the fire; but instead of his fat
melting, his heart melted, and he turned from the truth. When men grow
into big conceit God lets them fall, to prick the bladder of pride. O be
humble! They are likely to hold best out in temptation who have most
grace; but God gives more grace to the humble.
James 4: 6. Beware of pride; an abscess is not more dangerous
in the body than pride in the soul. The doves, says Pliny, take pride in
their feathers, and in their flying high, till at last they fly so high,
that they become a prey to the hawk; so when men fly high in pride and
self-confidence, they become a prey to the tempter.
(13) If
you would not be foiled by temptation, do not enter into a dispute with
Satan. When Eve began to argue the case with the serpent, the serpent
was too hard for her; the devil, by his logic, disputed her out of
paradise. Satan can mince sin, make it small, and garnish it over, and
make it look like virtue. He is too subtle a sophister for us to hold an
argument with him. Dispute not, but fight. If you enter into a parley
with him, you give him half the victory.
(14) If
we would not be overcome by Satan, we must put on Christian fortitude.
We must expect an enemy who is either shooting darts, or laying snares,
therefore let us be armed with courage. ‘Deal courageously, and the Lord
shall be with the good.’
2 Chron 19: 11. The coward never won a victory. To animate us
in our combat with Satan, let us think, [1] We have a good Captain that
marches before us. Christ is called the Captain of our salvation.
Heb 2: 10. [2] We have good armour. Grace is armour of God’s
making.
Eph 6: 11. [3] Satan is beaten in part already. Christ has
given him his death- wound upon the cross.
Col 2: 15. [4] Satan is a chained enemy, his power is
limited! he cannot force the will. Eve complained that the serpent
deceived her, not constrained her.
Gen 3: 13. Satan has
astutiam
suadendi [guile to persuade],
not
potentiam cogendi [power to
compel]; he may persuade, not compel. [5] He is a cursed enemy, and
God’s curse will blast him: therefore put on holy gallantry of spirit
and magnanimity. Fear not Satan. Greater is he that is in you than he
that is against you.
(15) If
we would not be overcome by temptation, let us call in the help of
others. If a house be on fire, would you not call in help? Satan tempts,
that he may rob you of your soul; acquaint some friends with your case,
and beg for their counsel and prayers. Who knows but Satan may be cast
out by the joint prayers of others? In case of temptation, how exceeding
hopeful is the communion of saints!
(16) If
we would not be overcome by temptation, let us make use of all the
encouragements we can. If Satan be a roaring lion, Christ is the lion of
the tribe of Judah. If Satan tempts, Christ prays. If Satan be a serpent
to sting, Christ is a brazen serpent to heal. If the conflict be hard,
look to the crown.
James 1: 12. Whilst we are fighting, Christ will succour us;
and when we overcome, he will crown us. What makes the soldier endure a
bloody fight but the hope of a golden harvest? Think that shortly God
will call us out of the field where the bullets of temptation fly so
fast, and he will set a garland of glory upon our head. How will the
case be altered then! Instead of fighting, singing; instead of a helmet,
a diadem; instead of a sword, a palm branch of victory; instead of
armour, white robes; instead of Satan’s skirmishes, the kisses and
embraces of a Saviour. These eternal recompenses should keep us from
yielding to temptation. Who, to gratify a lust, would lose a crown?
Use 4.
Let such as are tempted be wise to make good use of their temptations.
As we should labour to improve our afflictions, so to improve our
temptations. We should pick some good out of temptation, as Samson got
honey out of the lion.
What
good comes from temptation? Can there be any good in being set upon by
an enemy? Can it be good to have fiery darts shot at us?
Yes! God
can make his people get much good by their temptations. Hereby a
Christian sees that corruption in his heart which he never saw before.
Water in a glass looks pure, but set it on the fire, and the scum boils
up; so in temptation a Christian sees the scum of sin boil up, of
passion and distrust of God, which he thought had not been in his heart.
Hereby a Christian sees more of the wiles of Satan, and is better able
to withstand them. Paul had been in the fencing-school of temptation,
and grew expert in finding out Satan’s stratagems. ‘We are not ignorant
of his devices.’
2 Cor 2: 11. Hereby a Christian grows more humble. God would
rather let his children fall into the devil’s hands than be proud.
Temptation makes the plumes of pride fall. ‘Lest I should be exalted
above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh.’
2 Cor 41: 7. Better is that temptation that humbles than that
duty which makes us proud. Thus a Christian may get much good by
temptation, which made Luther say three things make a good divine,
prayer, meditation, and temptation.
Use 5.
Some have been under sore temptations and buffetings of Satan, to lust,
revenge, self-murder, but God has stood by them, and given them strength
to overcome the tempter.
(1) Let
them be very thankful to God. ‘Thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory.’
1 Cor 15: 57. Be much in doxology. Why were we kept more than
others from falling into sin? Was it because temptation was not so
strong? No, Satan shoots his darts with all his force. Was the cause in
our will? No, such a broken shield would never have conquered Satan’s
temptations. Know that it was free grace that beat back the tempter, and
brought us off with trophies of victory. O be thankful to God! Had you
been overcome by temptation, you might have put black spots in the face
of religion, and given occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme.
2 Samuel 12: 14. Had you been overcome, you might have lain
sick of a ‘wounded spirit’ and cried out, with David, of ‘broken bones.’
After David yielded to temptation, he lay for three quarters of a year
in horror of mind; and some divines think he never recovered his full
joy to the day of his death. Oh therefore, what cause have they to stand
upon mount Gerizim blessing God, who, in a field of battle have got the
better of Satan, and been more than conquerors! Say as the Psalmist,
‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth:’
blessed be God, who has not given us as a prey to Satan, that roaring
lion.
Psa 124: 6. When God puts mercy in the premises, we must put
praise in the conclusion.
(2) You
that have been tempted, and come off victors, be full of sympathy; pity
tempted souls; show your piety in your pity. Do you see Satan’s darts
sticking in their sides? Do what you can to pull them out. Communicate
your experiences to them; tell them how you broke the devil’s snare, and
your Saviour was your succourer. The apostle speaks of restoring others
‘in the spirit of meekness.’
Gal 6: 1. The Greek word for restore alludes to surgeons, who
set bones out of joint; so when we see such as are tempted, and Satan
has, as it were, put their bones out of joint, labour to put them in
again, with all love, meekness, and compassion. A word spoken in season
may relieve a soul fainting in temptation; and you may, as the good
Samaritan, drop oil and wine into the wound.
Luke 10: 34.
Vir
spiritualis consilia magis quam convicia meditatur
[The spiritual man thinks over advice rather than reproaches].
Augustine.
(3) You
that have got the conquest over Satan, be not secure. Think not that you
shall never be troubled with the tempter more. He is not like the
Syrians, of whom it is said, ‘The bands of Syria came no more into the
land of Israel’
2 Kings 6: 23. If a cock be once made to run away, it will
fight no more; but it is not so with Satan. He is a restless enemy; if
you have beaten him back, he will make a fresh onset. Hannibal said of
Marcellus, a Roman captain, that whether he beat or was beaten, he was
never quiet.
When
Satan was worsted by Christ, he went away, but ad tempos, for a season,
as if he meant to come again.
Luke 4: 13. When we have got the better of Satan, we are apt
to grow secure, to lay aside our armour, and leave off our watch; which,
when he perceives, he comes upon us with a new temptation and wounds us.
He deals with us as David did with the Amalekites, who, when they had
taken the spoil and were secure, ‘They were spread upon the earth
eating, and drinking, and dancing’ (1
Sam 30: 16); then ‘David smote them, and there escaped not a
man of them;’
ver 17. Therefore, after we have got the better of the
tempter, we must do as the mariners in a calm, mend our tackling, not
knowing how soon another storm may come. Satan for a time may retreat,
that he may afterwards come on more fiercely; he may go away awhile, and
bring other seven spirits with him.
Luke 11: 26.
Therefore, be not secure, but stand upon your watch-tower; lie in your
armour; always expect a fight. As he that has a short respite from an
ague says, I look every day when my fit shall come, so say, I look every
day when the tempter shall come; I will put myself into a warlike
posture. When Satan is beaten out of the field, he is not beaten out of
the heart; he will come again. He had little hope to prevail against
Christ. Christ gave him three deadly wounds, and made him retreat; yet
he departed ‘only for a season.’ If the devil cannot conquer us, he
knows he can molest us; if he cannot destroy us, he will surely disturb
us; therefore we must, with the pilot, have our compass ready, and be
able to turn our needle to any point where temptation shall blow. If the
tempter come not so soon as we expect, by putting ourselves in a
defensive posture, we shall have the advantage of being always prepared.
To
conclude all: let us often make this prayer, ‘Lead us not into
temptation.’ If Satan woo us by a temptation, let us not give consent.
In case a Christian has through weakness and not out of a design,
yielded to temptation, let him not ‘cast away his anchor;’ but take heed
of despair, which is worse than the fall itself.
Christian, steep thy soul in the brinish waters of repentance, and God
will be appeased. Repentance gives the soul a vomit. Christ loved Peter
after his denial of him, and sent the first news of his resurrection to
him — ‘Go tell the disciples and Peter.’ It is an error to think that
one act of sin can destroy the habit of grace. It is a wrong to God’s
mercy and to a Christian’s comfort, to make the despairing conclusion,
that after one has fallen by temptation, his estate is irrecoverable.
Therefore, Christian, if thou hast fallen with Peter, repent with Peter,
and God will be ready to seal thy pardon.
II.
‘Deliver us from evil.’ There is more in this petition than is
expressed. The thing expressed is, that we may be kept from evil: the
thing further intended is, that we may make progress in piety. ‘Denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts;’ there is being delivered from evil; ‘we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly;’ there is progress in
piety.
Titus 2: 12.
[1] In
general, when we pray, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ we pray to be delivered
from the evil of sin. Not that we pray to be delivered immediately from
the presence and inbeing of sin, for that cannot be in this life, we
cannot shake off this viper, but we pray that God would deliver us more
and more from the power and practice, from the scandalous acts of sin
which cast a reflection upon the gospel. Sin is the deadly evil we pray
against. With what pencil shall I be able to draw the deformed face of
sin? The devil would baptise sin with the name of virtue. It is easy to
lay fair colours on a black face. I shall endeavour to show you what a
prodigious monster sin is, and that there is great reason we should
pray, ‘Deliver us from evil.’
Sin, as
the apostle says, is exceeding sinful.
Rom 7: 13. It is the very spirits of mischief distilled; it
is called ‘an accursed thing.’
Josh 7: 13. That sin is the most execrable evil, appears
several ways: (1) Look upon sin in its origin. (2) Look upon sin in its
nature. (3) Look upon sin in the judgement and opinion of the godly. (4)
Look upon sin by comparison. (1) Look upon sin in the manner of its
cure. (6) Look upon sin in its direful effects. When you have seen all
these, you will apprehend what a horrid evil sin is, and what great
reason we have to pray, ‘Deliver us from evil.’
(1) Look
upon sin in its origin. It fetches its pedigree from hell. It is of the
devil.
John 8: 44. It calls the devil father. It is serpentis
venenum, as Augustine says; it is the poison which the old serpent has
spit into our virgin nature.
(2) Look
upon sin in its nature, and it is evil. See what the Scripture compares
it to. It has got a bad name. It is compared to the vomit of dogs (2
Pet 2: 22); to a menstruous cloth (Isa
30: 22); which, as Jerome says, was the most unclean thing
under the law; it is compared to the plague (1
Kings 8: 38); and to a gangrene (2
Tim 2: 17). Persons under these diseases we should be loth to
eat and drink with.
Sin is
evil in its nature, because it is transgression against God. It is a
breach of his royal law. ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’
1 John 3: 4. It is
crimen laesae
majestatis, high treason against
heaven. What greater injury can be offered to a prince than to trample
upon his royal edicts? ‘They cast thy law behind their backs.’
Neh 9: 26. Sin is an affront to God, as it is walking
contrary to him.
Lev 26: 40. The Hebrew word for sin signifies rebellion. It
flies in the face of God. ‘He stretcheth out his hand against God.’
Job 15: 25. We ought not to lift up a thought against God,
much less to lift up a hand against him; but the sinner does both. Sin
is
deicidium [the killing of God];
it would not only unthrone God, but ungod him; if sin could help it, God
should no longer be God.
Sin is
an act of high ingratitude to God. He feeds a sinner, screens off many
evils from him; and yet he not only forgets his mercies, but abuses
them. ‘I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver,
which they prepared for Baal.’
Hos 2: 8. God may say, I gave thee wit, health, riches, which
thou hast employed against me. A sinner makes an arrow of God’s mercies,
and shoots at him. ‘Is this thy kindness to thy friend?’
2 Samuel 16: 17. Did God give thee life to sin? Did he give
thee wages to serve the devil? Oh, what an ungrateful thing is sin!
Ingratitude forfeits mercy, as the merchant forfeits his goods by not
paying custom.
Sin is
evil in its nature, because it is a foolish thing. ‘Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee.’
Luke 12: 20. Is it not foolish to prefer a short lease before
an inheritance? A sinner prefers the pleasures of sin for a season
before those pleasures which are at God’s right hand for evermore. Is it
not folly to gratify an enemy? Sin gratifies Satan.
Mortalium
errores epulae sunt daemonum;
men’s sins feast the devil. Is it not folly for a man to be
felo de se,
guilty of his own destruction, to give himself poison? A sinner has a
hand in his own death. ‘They lay wait for their own blood.’
Prov 1: 18. No creature did ever willingly kill itself but
man.
Sin is a
polluting thing. It is not only a defection, but a pollution; it is as
rust to gold, as a stain to beauty. It is called ‘filthiness of flesh
and spirit.’
2 Cor 7: 1. It makes the soul red with guilt and black with
filth.
Quanta foeditas vitiosae mentis!
[How great is the foulness of a corrupt mind!] Cicero. This filth of sin
is inward. A spot in the face may easily be wiped off, but to have the
liver and lungs tainted is far worse. Sin has got into the conscience.
Titus 1: 15. It defiles all the faculties — the mind, memory,
affections, as if the whole mass of blood were corrupted. It pollutes
and fly-blows our holy things. If the leper under the law had touched
the altar, the altar would not cleanse him, but he would pollute the
altar, which is an emblem of sin’s leprosy spotting our holy things.
Sin is a
debasing thing, it degrades us of our honour. ‘In his estate shall stand
up a vile person.’
Dan 11: 21. This was spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a
king, and whose name signifies illustrious; but sin made him vile. Sin
blots a man’s name. Nothing so turns a man’s glory into shame as sin. It
makes a man like a beast.
Psa 49: 20. It is worse to be like a beast than to be a
beast; it is no shame to be a beast, but it is a shame for a man to be
like a beast. Lust makes a man brutish, and wrath makes him devilish.
Sin is
an enslaving thing. A sinner is a slave when he sins most freely.
Grave
servitutis jugum [Heavy is the
yoke of slavery]. Cicero. Sin makes men the devil’s servants. Satan bids
them sin, and they do it. He bid Judas betray Christ, and he did it; he
bid Ananias tell a lie, and he did it.
Acts 5: 3. When a man commits sin, he is the devil’s lackey
and runs on his errand. They who serve Satan have such a bad master that
they will be afraid to receive their wages.
Sin is
an unsavoury thing. ‘They are all together become filthy;’ in the
Hebrew, they are become stinking.
Psa 14: 3. Sin is very offensive to God. If he who worships
in God’s house lives in the sin of uncleanness, though he be perfumed
with all the spices of Arabia, his prayers are unsavoury. ‘Incense is an
abomination to me’ (Isa
1: 13); therefore ‘the proud he knoweth afar off.’
Psa 138: 6. He will not come near the dunghill sinner that
has such offensive vapours coming from him.
Sin is a
painful thing, it costs men much labour and pains to accomplish their
wicked designs. ‘They weary themselves to commit iniquity.’
Jer 9: 5.
Peccatum est
sui ipsius poena [Sin is its own
punishment]. What pains did Judas take to bring about his treason! He
goes to the high priest, then to the band of soldiers, and then back
again to the garden! What pains did the powder-traitors take in digging
through a thick stone wall! What pains in laying their barrels of
powder, and then covering them with crows of iron! How they tired
themselves out in sin’s drudgery! Chrysostom says virtue is easier than
vice. It is easier to be sober than intemperate; it is easier to serve
God than to follow sin. A wicked man sweats at the devil’s plough, and
is at great pains to damn himself.
Sin is a
disturbing thing. Whatever defiles disturbs. Sin breaks the peace of the
soul. ‘No peace to the wicked.’
Isa 57: 21. When a man sins presumptuously, he stuffs his
pillow with thorns, and his head will lie very uneasy when he comes to
die. Sin causes a trembling at the heart. When Spira had sinned, he had
a hell in his conscience; he was in such horror that he confessed he
envied Cain and Judas. Charles IX, who was guilty of a massacre in
Paris, was afterwards a terror to himself; he was frightened at every
noise, and could not endure to be awaked out of his sleep without music.
Sin breaks the peace of the soul. Cain in killing Abel stabbed half the
world at a blow, but could not kill the worm of his own conscience. Thus
you see what an evil sin is in the nature of it, and what need we have
to pray, ‘Deliver us from evil.’
(3) Look
upon sin in the judgement and opinion of the godly, and it will appear
to be the most prodigious evil.
It is so
great an evil that the godly will rather do anything than sin. Moses
chose ‘rather to suffer with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin.’
Heb 11: 24. The primitive Christians said,
ad leonem
potius quam lenonem [to the lion
rather than to the bawdy house], they chose rather to be devoured by
lions without than lusts within. Irenaeus was carried to a place where a
cross was on one side and an idol on the other, and he was put to his
choice either to bow to the idol or suffer on the cross, and he chose
the latter. A wise man will choose rather to have a rent in his coat
than in his flesh; and the godly will rather endure outward sufferings
than a rent in their conscience. So great an evil is sin that the godly
will not sin for the greatest gain; they will not sin though they might
purchase an estate by it — nay, though they were sure to promote God’s
glory by it.
The
godly testify sin to be a great evil, in that they desire to die upon no
account more than this, that they may be rid of sin. They are desirous
to put off the clothing of the flesh, that they may be unclothed of sin.
It is their greatest grief that they are troubled with such inmates as
the stirrings of pride, lust, and envy. It was a cruel torment of
Mezentius who tied a dead man to a living. Thus a child of God has
corruption joined with grace; a dead man tied to a living. So hateful is
this, that a believer desires to die for no reason more than this, that
death shall free him from sin. Sin brought death into the world, and
death shall carry sin out of the world.
(4)
Judge of sin by comparison, and it will appear to be the most deadly
evil. Compare what you will with it — afflictions, death, or hell, and
still sin is worse.
First
compare sin with affliction. There is more evil in a drop of sin than in
a sea of affliction.
[1] Sin
is the cause of affliction, and the cause is more than the effect. Sin
brings all mischief: it has sickness, sword, famine, and all judgements
in its womb. It rots the name, consumes the estate, and wastes the body.
As the poets feigned of Pandora’s box, that when opened it filled the
world full of diseases, so when Adam broke the box of original
righteousness, it caused all the penal evils in the world. Sin is the
Phaeton that sets the world on fire. It turned the angels out of heaven,
and Adam out of paradise. It causes mutinies, divisions, and massacres.
‘O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet?’
Jer 47: 6. The sword of God’s justice lies quietly in the
scabbard till sin draws it out and whets it against a nation. So that
sin is worse than affliction, being the cause of it: and the cause is
more than the effect.
[2] God
is the author of affliction. ‘Shall there be evil in a city, and the
Lord has not done it?’
Amos 3: 6. It is meant of the evil of affliction. God has a
hand in affliction, but no hand in sin. He is the cause of every action,
so far as it is natural, but not as it is sinful. He who makes an
instrument of iron is not the cause of the rust and canker which
corrupts it; so God made the instrument of our souls, but not the rust
and canker of sin which corrupts them.
Peccatum Deus
non fecit [God is not the author
of sin]. Augustine. God can no more act evil than the sun can darken. In
this sense sin is worse than affliction. God has a hand in affliction,
but disclaims having any hand in sin.
[3]
Affliction reaches the body only, and makes that miserable, but sin
makes the soul miserable. The soul is the most noble part. It is a
diamond set in a ring of clay; it is excellent in its essence, a
spiritual, immortal substance; excellent in the price paid for it,
redeemed with the blood of God.
Acts 20: 28. It is of more worth than a world. The world is
of a coarser make, the soul of a finer spinning: in the world we see the
finger of God, in the soul the image of God. To have the precious soul
endangered is far worse than to have the body endangered. Sin wrongs the
soul.
Prov 8: 36. It casts the jewel of the soul overboard.
Affliction is but skin-deep, it can but take away the life, but sin
takes away the soul.
Luke 12: 20. The loss of the soul is an unparalleled loss, it
can never be made up again. ‘God,’ says Chrysostom, ‘has given thee two
eyes, if thou losest one, thou hast another; but thou hast but one soul,
and if that be lost, it can never be repaired.’ Thus sin is worse than
affliction; the one can reach the body only, the other ruins the soul.
Is there not great reason, then, that we should often put up this
petition, ‘Deliver us from evil’?
[4]
Afflictions are good for us. ‘It is good for me that I have been
afflicted.’
Psa 119: 71. Many can bless God for affliction. Affliction
humbles. ‘Remembering mine affliction, the wormwood and the gall, my
soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.’
Lam 3: 19. Afflictions are compared to thorns; these thorns
are to prick the bladder of pride.
Hos 2: 6. Affliction is the school of repentance. ‘Thou hast
chastised me, and I was chastised; I repented.’
Jer 31: 18, 19. The fire being put under the distillery,
makes the water drop from the roses; so the fire of affliction makes the
water of repentance drop from the eyes. Affliction brings us nearer to
God. The loadstone of mercy does not draw us so near to God as the cords
of affliction. When the prodigal was pinched with want, he said, ‘I will
arise, and go to my Father.’
Luke 15: 18. Afflictions prepare for glory. ‘Light affliction
worketh for us an eternal weight of glory.’
2 Cor 4: 17. The painter lays his gold upon dark colours; so
God lays first the dark colours of affliction, and then the golden
colour of glory. Thus affliction is for our good; but sin is not for our
good; it keeps good things from us. ‘Your sins have withholden good
things from you.’
Jer 5: 25. Sin stops the current of God’s mercy; it
precipitates men to ruin. Manasseh’s affliction brought him to
humiliation; but that of Judas brought him to desperation.
[5] A
man may be afflicted, and his conscience be quiet. Paul’s feet were in
the stocks, yet he had the witness of his conscience.
2 Cor 1: 12. The head may ache, yet the heart may be well;
the outward man may be afflicted, yet the soul may dwell at ease.
Psa 25: 13. The hail may beat upon the tiles of the house
when there is music within. In the midst of outward pain there may be
inward peace. Thus, in affliction, conscience may be quiet; but when a
man commits a presumptuous, scandalous sin, conscience is troubled. By
defiling the purity of conscience we lose the peace of conscience. When
Spira had sinned and abjured the faith, he was a terror to himself; he
had a hell within. Tiberius the emperor felt such a sting in his
conscience, that he told the senate, he suffered death daily.
[6] In
affliction we may have the love of God. Afflictions are love tokens. ‘As
many as I love I rebuke.’
Rev 3: 19. Afflictions are sharp arrows, but shot from the
hand of a loving Father. If a man should throw a bag of money at
another, and it should bruise him a little, and raise the skin, he would
not be offended, but take it as a fruit of love; so, when God bruises us
with affliction, it is to enrich us with the golden graces of his
Spirit, and all is in love; but when we commit sin God withdraws his
love; it is the sun overcast with a cloud; nothing appears but anger and
displeasure. When David had sinned in the matter of Uriah, ‘the thing
that David had done displeased the Lord.’
2 Samuel 11: 27.
[7]
There are many encouragements to suffer affliction. God himself suffers
with us. ‘In all their affliction he was afflicted.’
Isa 63: 9. God will strengthen us in our sufferings. ‘He is
their strength in the time of trouble.’
Psa 37: 39. Either God makes our burden lighter, or our faith
stronger. He will compensate and recompense our sufferings. ‘Every one
that has forsaken houses or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and inherit everlasting life.’
Matt 19: 29. Here are encouragements to suffer affliction,
but there is no encouragement to sin. God has brandished a flaming sword
of threatenings to deter us from sin. ‘God shall wound the hairy scalp
of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.’
Psa 68: 21. A flying-roll of curses enters into the house of
a sinner.
Zech 5: 4. If a man sin, be it at his peril. ‘I will make
mine arrows drunk with blood.’
Deut 32: 42. God will make men weary of their sins, or he
will make them weary of their lives. Thus sin is worse than affliction.
There are encouragements to suffer affliction, but no encouragement to
sin.
[8] When
a person is afflicted, he suffers alone; but by sinning openly he hurts
others. He does hurt to the unconverted. One man’s sin may lay a stone
in another man’s way, at which he may stumble and fall into hell. Oh,
the evil of scandalous sin! Some are discouraged, others hardened. Thy
sinning may be the cause of another’s damning. The priests going wrong
caused others to stumble.
Mal 2: 7, 8. He does hurt to the converted. By an open
scandalous sin he offends weak believers, and so sins against Christ.
1 Cor 8: 12. Thus sin is worse than affliction, because it
does hurt to others.
[9] In
affliction the saints may rejoice. ‘Ye received the word in much
affliction, with joy.’
1 Thess 1: 6. ‘Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods.’
Heb 10: 34. Aristotle speaks of a bird that lives among
thorns, and yet sings sweetly; so a child of God can rejoice in
afflictions. Paul had his prison songs. ‘We glory in tribulations.’
Rom 5: 3. The Greek word signifies an exuberancy of joy, a
joy with boasting and triumph. God often pours in those divine
consolations that cause the saints to rejoice in afflictions, so that
they had rather have their afflictions than be without their comforts.
God candies their wormwood with sugar.
Rom 5: 5. You have seen the sunshine when it rains: the
saints have had the shinings of God’s face when afflictions have rained
and dropped upon them. Thus we may rejoice in affliction, but we cannot
rejoice in sin. ‘Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people, for
thou hast gone a whoring from thy God.’
Hos 9: 1. Sin is matter of shame and grief, not of joy. David
having sinned in numbering the people, his ‘heart smote him.’
2 Samuel 24: 10. As pricking a vein lets out the blood, so,
when sin has pricked the conscience, it lets out the joy.
[10]
Affliction magnifies a person. ‘What is man that thou shouldest magnify
him, and visit him every morning?’
Job 7: 17, 18. That is, visit him with affliction.
How do
addictions magnify us?
(1) As
they are signs of sonship. ‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with
you as with sons.’
Heb 12: 7. Every print of the rod is a badge of honour. (2)
As the sufferings of the godly have raised their fame and renown in the
world. The zeal and constancy of the martyrs in their sufferings have
eternalized their name. Oh, how eminent was Job for his patience! ‘Ye
have heard of the patience of Job.’
James 5: 2: Job the sufferer was more renowned than Alexander
the conqueror. Thus afflictions magnify a person; but sin does not
magnify, but vilifies him. When Eli’s sons had sinned and profaned their
priesthood, they turned their glory into shame; the text says they ‘made
themselves vile.’
1 Sam 3: 13. Sin casts an indelible blot on a man’s name.
‘whoso committeth adultery with a woman, a wound and dishonour shall he
get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away.’
Prov 6: 32, 33.
[11] A
man by suffering affliction may bring honour to religion. Paul’s iron
chain made the gospel wear a gold chain. Suffering credits and
propagates the gospel; but committing sin brings dishonour and scandal
upon the ways of God. Cyprian says, when in the primitive times a
virgin, who vowed herself to religion, had defiled her chastity,
totem
ecclesiae coetum erubescere,
shame and grief filled the face of the whole congregation. When
scandalous sins are committed by a few, they bring a reproach upon many;
as three or four brass shillings in a sum of money make all the rest
suspected.
[12]
When a man’s afflictions are upon a good account, when he suffers for
Christ, he has the prayers of God’s people. It is no small privilege to
have a stock of prayer going; it is like a merchant that has a part in
several ships: and suffering saints have a large share in the prayers of
others. ‘Peter was in prison; but prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him.’
Acts 12: 5. What greater happiness than to have God’s
promises and the saints’ prayers! But when a man sins presumptuously and
scandalously, he has the saints’ bitter tears and just censures; he is a
burden to all that know him, as David speaks in another case, ‘They that
did see me without fled from me.’
Psa 31: 2. So the people of God flee from a scandalous
sinner; he is like an infected person, everyone shuns and avoids him.
[13]
Affliction can hurt a man only while he is living, but sin hurts him
when he is dead. As a man’s virtues and alms may do good when he is
dead, so his sins may do him mischief when he is dead. When a spider is
killed, the poison of it may hurt; so the poison of an evil example may
do much hurt when a man is in his grave. Affliction at most can but last
a man’s life, but sin lives and hurts when he is gone. Thus sin is far
worse than affliction.
Secondly. Sin is worse than death. Aristotle calls death the terrible of
terribles, and Job calls it ‘the king of terrors,’ but sin is more
deadly than death itself.
Job 18: 14. 1. Death, though painful, would not hurt but for
sin; it is sin that embitters it and makes its sting. ‘The sting of
death is sin.’
1 Cor 15: 26. Were it not for sin, though death might kill,
it could not curse us. Sin poisons death’s arrow, so that it is worse
than death, because it puts a sting into death. 2. Death does but
separate between the body and the soul; but sin, without repentance,
separates between God and the soul. ‘Ye have taken away my gods, and
what have I more?’
Judges 18: 24. Death does but take away our life, but sin
takes away our God from us; so that it is worse than death.
Thirdly.
Sin is worse than hell. In hell there is the worm and the fire, but sin
is worse. 1. Hell is of God’s making, but sin is none of his making; it
is a monster of the devil’s creating. 2. The torments of hell are a
burden only to the sinner, but sin is a burden to God. ‘I am pressed
under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.’
Amos 2: 13. 3. In hell torments there is something that is
good: there is the execution of God’s justice, there is justice in hell;
but sin is the most unjust thing; it would rob God of his glory, Christ
of his purchase, and the soul of its happiness; so that it is worse than
hell.
(s) Look
upon sin in the manner of its cure. It cost much to be done away; the
guilt of sin could not be removed but by the blood of Christ; he who was
God must die and be made a curse for us before sin could be remitted.
How
horrid is sin, that no angel or archangel, nor all the powers of heaven,
could procure its pardon, but the blood of God only! If a man should
commit an offence, and all the nobles should kneel before the king for
him, but no pardon could be had, unless the king’s son be arraigned and
suffer death for him, all would conceive it to be a horrible thing that
was the cause of this. Such is the case here, the Son of God must die to
satisfy God’s justice for our sins. Oh, the agonies and sufferings of
Christ! In his body: his head crowned with thorns, his face spit upon,
his side pierced with the spear, his hands and feet nailed.
Totum pro
vulnere corpus [His whole body
as one wound]. He suffered in his soul. ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death.’
Matt 26: 38. He drank a bitter cup, mingled with curses,
which made him, though sanctified by the Spirit, supported by the Deity,
and comforted by angels, sweat drops of blood, and cry out upon the
cross, ‘My God, why hast thou forsaken me!’ All this was to do away with
our sin. View sin in Christ’s blood, and it will appear of a crimson
colour.
(6) Look
upon sin in its dismal effects, and it will appear the most horrid and
prodigious evil. ‘The wages of sin is death,’ that is, ‘the second
death.’
Rom 6: 23.
Rev 21: 8. Sin has shame for its companion, and death for its
wages. A wicked man knows what sin is in the pleasure of it, but does
not know what sin is in the punishment of it. Sin is
scorpio
pungens [a stinging scorpion],
it draws hell at the heels of it. This hellish torment consists of two
parts:
Poena
damni, the punishment of loss. ‘Depart from me.’
Matt 7: 23. It was a great trouble to Absalom that he might
not see the king’s face; but to lose God’s smiles, to be banished from
his presence, in whose presence is fulness of joy, how sad and
tremendous! That word, ‘Depart,’ said Chrysostom, is worse than the
fire. Sure sin must be the greatest evil, which separates us from the
greatest good.
Poena
senses, the punishment of sense. ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’
Matt 25: 41. Why, sinners might plead, ‘Lord, if we must
depart from thee, let us have thy blessing.’ ‘No; go, ye cursed.’ ‘If we
must depart from thee, let it be into some place of ease and rest.’ ‘No;
go into fire.’ ‘If we must go into fire, let it be for a little time;
let the fire be quickly put out.’ ‘No; go into everlasting fire.’ ‘If it
be so, that we must be there, let us be with good company.’ ‘No; with
the devil and his angels.’ Oh, what an evil is sin! All the torments of
this life are but
lubidrium et
risus [mockery and ridicule], a
kind of sport to hell torments. What is a burning fever to the burning
in hell! It is called, the ‘wrath of Almighty God.’
Rev 19: 15. The Almighty God inflicts the punishment,
therefore it will be heavy. A child cannot strike very hard, but if a
giant strike, he kills with a blow; but to have the almighty God lay on
the stroke, will be intolerable. Hell is the emphasis of misery. The
body and soul, which have sinned together, shall suffer together; and
those torments shall have no period put to them. They ’shall seek death,
and shall not find it.’
Rev 9: 6. ‘The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever
and ever.’
Rev 14: 11. Here the wicked thought a prayer long, a Sabbath
long; but how long will it be to lie upon beds of flames for ever! That
word, ever, breaks the heart. Surely, then, sin is the most deadly and
execrable evil. Look upon it in its original, in its nature, in the
judgement and estimate of the wise; look upon it comparatively, it is
worse than affliction, death, and hell; look upon it in the manner of
cure, and in the dismal effect, it brings eternal damnation. Is there
not, then, great reason that we should make this prayer, ‘Deliver us
from evil’?
Use 1.
For instruction. (1) Is sin such a deadly, pernicious evil, the evil of
evils? See what we are to pray most to be delivered from, and that it is
in reference to sin our Saviour has taught us to pray, ‘Deliver us from
evil.’ Hypocrites pray more against temporal evils than spiritual.
Pharaoh prayed more to have the plague of hail and thunder removed than
his hard heart to be removed.
Exod 9: 28. The Israelites prayed,
Tolle
serpentes, take away the
serpents from us, more than to have their sin taken away.
Numb 21: 7. The hypocrite’s prayer is carnal: he prays more
to be cured of his dearness and lameness than of his unbelief; more that
God would take away his pain than take away his sin. But our prayer
should be, ‘Deliver us from evil.’ Spiritual prayers are best. Hast thou
a diseased body? Pray more that the disease of thy soul may be removed
than of thy body. ‘Heal my soul, for I have sinned.’
Psa 41: 4. The plague of the heart is worse than a cancer in
the breast. Hast thou a child that is crooked? Pray more to have its
unholiness removed than its crookedness. Spiritual prayers are more
pleasing to God, and are as music in his ears. Christ has here taught us
to pray against sin, ‘Deliver us from evil.’
(2) If
sin be so great an evil, then admire the wonderful patience of God that
bears with sinners. Sin is a breach of God’s royal law, it strikes at
his glory; for God to bear with sinners who provoke him, shows admirable
patience. Well may he be called ‘the God of patience.’
Rom 15: 5. It would tire the patience of the angels to bear
with men’s sins one day; but what does God bear! How many affronts and
injuries he puts up with! He sees all the intrigues and horrid impieties
committed in a nation. ‘They have committed villainy in Israel, and have
committed adultery; even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.’
Jer 29: 23. God could strike men dead in their sins; but he
forbears, and respites them. Methinks I see the justice of God with a
flaming sword in his hand, ready to strike the stroke; and patience
steps in for the sinner and says, Lord, spare him awhile longer.
Methinks I hear the angel saying to God, as the king of Israel to the
prophet, ‘Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them?’
2 Kings 6: 21. Lord, here is such a sinner: shall I smite
him? Shall I take off the head of such a drunkard, swearer,
Sabbath-breaker? And God’s patience says, as the dresser of the
vineyard, ‘Let him alone this year.’
Luke 13: 8. Oh, the infinite patience of God, that he should
bear with sinners so long! ‘If a man find his enemy, will he let him go
well away?’
1 Sam 24: 19. God finds his enemies, yet he lets them go, he
is not presently avenged on them. Every sin has a voice to cry to God
for vengeance; as Sodom’s sin cried.
Gen 18: 20. God spares men; but let not sinners presume upon
his patience. Long forbearance is not forgiveness; God’s patience abused
leaves men more inexcusable.
(3) If
sin be so great an evil, there is no little sin. There is no little
treason: every sin strikes at God’s crown and dignity; and in this sense
it may be said, Are not ‘thine iniquities infinite?’
Job 22: 5. The least sin, as the schoolmen say, is infinite
objective, because it is committed against an infinite Majesty. Nothing
can do away with sin but that which has infinity in it; for though the
sufferings of Christ, as man, were not infinite, yet the divine nature
shed forth an infinite value and merit upon his sufferings. No sin is
little, and there is no little hell for sin. As we are not to think any
of God’s mercies little, because they are more than we can deserve, so
neither are we to think any of our sins little, because they are more
than we can answer for. The sin we esteem lightest, without Christ’s
blood, will be heavy enough to sink us into perdition.
(4) If
sin be so great an evil, see whence all personal or national troubles
come from. They come from the evil of sin. Sin grows high, which makes
divisions grow wide. It is the Achan that troubles us, it is the
cockatrice egg, out of which comes a fiery, flying serpent. It is like
Phaeton, who, as the poets feign, driving the chariot of the sun, set
the world on fire. Like the planet Saturn, it has a malignant influence.
It brings us into straits. ‘David said unto Gad, I am in a great
strait.’
2 Samuel 24: 14. ‘As keepers of a field are they against her
round about;’ as horses or deer in a field are so enclosed with hedges,
and so narrowly watched, that they cannot get out, so Jerusalem was so
close besieged with enemies and watched, that there was no escape for
her.
Jer 4: 17. whence was this? ‘This is thy wickedness;’
ver 18. Al our evils are from the evil of sin. The cords that
pinch us are of our own twisting.
Flagitium et
flagellum sunt tanquam acus et filum
[Punishment follows wickedness as the thread the needle]. Sin raises all
the storms in conscience. The sword of God’s justice lies quiet till sin
draws it out of the scabbard, and makes God whet it against a nation.
(5) If
sin be so great an evil, how little reason has any one to be in love
with it! Some are so infatuated with it, that they delight in it. The
devil can so cook and dress sin, that it pleases the sinner’s palate.
‘Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth.’
Job 20: 12. Sin is as delightful to corrupt nature as meat to
the taste. It is a feast on which men feed their lusts; but there is
little cause to be in love with it. ‘Though wickedness be sweet in his
mouth, it is the gall of asps within him.’
Job 20: 12, 14. To love sin is to hug an enemy. Sin puts a
worm into conscience, a sting into death, a fire into hell. It is like
those locusts in
Rev 9: 7: ‘On their heads were as it were crowns like gold
and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the
teeth of lions, and they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were
stings in their tails.’ After the woman’s hair comes in the scorpion’s
sting.
(6) If
sin be so great an evil, what shall we say of them who make light of
sin, as if there were no danger in it; as if God were not in earnest
when he threatens sin; or as if ministers were about a needless work,
when they preach against it? Some people make nothing of breaking a
commandment; they make nothing of telling a lie, of cozening or
slandering; nothing of living in the sin of uncleanness. If you weigh
sin in the balance of some men’s judgements, it is very light; but who
are those that make light of sin? Solomon has described them. ‘Fools
make a mock at sin.’
Prov 14: 9.
Stultus in
vitia cito dilabitur [The fool
falls quickly into vices]. Isidore. Who but fools would make light of
that which grieves the Spirit of God? Who but fools would put a viper in
their bosom? Who but fools would laugh at their own calamity, and make
sport while they give themselves poison?
(7) If
sin be so great an evil, I infer that there is no good to be got by it.
Of this thorn we cannot gather grapes. If sin be a deadly evil, we
cannot get any profit by it; no man ever could thrive upon this trade.
Atheists said, ‘It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it?’
Mal 3: 14. But we may say more truly, what profit is there in
sin? ‘What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
ashamed?’
Rom 6: 21. Where are your earnings? What have you got by sin?
It has shame for its companion, and death for its wages. What profit had
Achan of his wedge of gold? That wedge seemed to cleave asunder his soul
from God. What profit had Ahab of the vineyard he got unjustly? The dogs
licked his blood.
1 Kings 21: 19. What profit had Judas of his treason? For
thirty pieces he sold his Saviour, and bought his own damnation. All the
gain men get by their sins, they may put in their eye; nay, they must
put it there and weep it out again.
(8) If
sin be so great an evi], see the folly of those who venture upon it,
because of the pleasure they have in it. ‘Who had pleasure in
unrighteousness.’
2 Thess 2: 12. As for the pleasure of sin, it is but seeming;
it is but a pleasant fancy; a golden dream. And besides, it is a mixed
pleasure, it has bitterness intermingled with it. ‘I have, says the
harlot, perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.’
Prov 7: 17. For one sweet, here are two bitters; cinnamon is
sweet, but myrrh and aloes are bitter; the harlot’s pleasure is mixed.
There are those inward fears and lashes of conscience that embitter the
pleasure. If there be any pleasure in sin, it is only to the body, the
brutish part; the soul is not at all gratified by it. ‘Soul, take thine
ease;’ he might have more properly said, ‘Body, take thine ease;’ the
soul cannot feed on sensual objects.
Luke 12: 19. In short, the pleasure men talk of in sin, is
their disease. Some take pleasure in eating chalk or coals, which is
from disease; so when men talk of pleasure in eating the forbidden fruit
it is from the sickness and disease of their souls. They ‘put bitter for
sweet.’
Isa 5: 20. Oh, what folly is it, for a cup of pleasure, to
drink a sea of wrath! Sin will be bitter in the end. ‘Look not upon the
wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup; at the last
it biteth like a serpent.’
Prov 23: 31, 32. Sin will prove like Ezekiel’s roll, sweet in
the mouth, but bitter in the belly,
mel in ore,
fel in corde. Ask Cain now how
he likes his murder? Achan how he likes his golden wedge? O remember
thee saying of Augustine,
Momentaneum
est quod delectat, aeternum quad cruciat
[The pleasure is momentary, the torture eternal]. The pleasure of sin is
soon gone, but the sting remains.
(9) If
sin be so great an evil, what wisdom is it to depart from it! ‘To depart
from evil is understanding.’
Job 28: 28. To sin is to do foolishly; therefore to depart
from sin is to do wisely. Solomon says, ‘In the transgression of an evil
man there is a snare.’
Prov 29: 6. Is it not wisdom to avoid a snare? Sin is a
deceiver, it cheated our first parents. Instead of being as gods, they
became as the beasts that perish.
Psa 49: 20. Sin has cheated all that have meddled with it;
and is it not wisdom to shun such a cheater? Sin has many fair pleas,
and tells how it will gratify all the senses with pleasure; but, says a
gracious soul, Christ’s love is sweeter; peace of conscience is sweeter;
what are the pleasures of sin to the pleasures of paradise? Well may the
saints be called wise virgins, because they spy the deceits that are in
sin, and avoid the snares. ‘The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to
depart from evil is understanding.’
(10) If
sin be so great an evil, how justifiable and commendable are all those
means which are used to keep men from sin! How justifiable are a
minister’s admonitions and reproofs! ‘Rebuke them sharply’ (Titus
1: 13); cuttingly; a metaphor from a surgeon that searches a
wound, and cuts out the proud flesh that the patient may be sound; so
God’s minister comes with a cutting reproof, but it is to keep from sin,
and to save the soul.
Si merito
objurgaverit te aliquis, scito quia profuit
[If anyone has reproved you justly, be sure that it was to your
benefit]. Seneca. Esteem them your best friends who would keep you from
sinning against God. If a man were going to poison or drown himself,
would he not be his friend who should hinder hint from doing it? All a
minister’s reproofs are but to keep you from sin, and hinder from
self-murder; all is in love. ‘Knowing the terror of the Lord, we
persuade men.’
2 Cor 5: 11. It is the passion of most to be angry with those
who would reclaim them from sin. ‘They hate him that rebuketh in the
gate.’
Amos 5: 10. Who is angry with the physician for prescribing a
bitter potion, seeing it is to purge out the peccant humour? It is mercy
to men’s souls to tell them of their sins. And surely those are priests
of the devil who see men go on in sin, and ready to drop into hell, and
never pull them back by a reproof; nay, perhaps flatter them in their
sins. God never made ministers to be false glasses, to make bad faces
look fair; such make themselves guilty of other men’s sins.
(11) If
sin be so great an evil, the evil of evils, see what a bad choice they
make who choose sin to avoid affliction! It is as if to save the coat
from being rent, one should suffer his flesh to be rent. It was a false
charge that Elihu brought against Job: ‘This [iniquity] hast thou chosen
rather than affliction.’
Job 36: 21. This is a bad choice. Affliction has a promise
made to it, but sin has no promise made to it.
2 Samuel 22: 28. Affliction is for our good, but sin is not
for our good; it would entail hell and damnation upon us. Spira chose
iniquity rather than affliction, but it cost him dear; at last he
repented of his choice. He who commits sin to avoid suffering, is like
one that runs into a lion’s den to avoid the stinging of a gnat.
(12) If
sin be so great an evil, it should be a Christian’s great care in this
life to keep from it. ‘Deliver us from evil.’ Some make it all their
care to keep out of trouble; they had rather keep their skin whole than
their conscience pure; but our care should be chiefly to keep from sin.
How careful are we to forbear such a dish as the physicians tell us is
hurtful to us: it will bring the stone or gout! Much more should we be
careful that we eat not the forbidden fruit, which will bring divine
vengeance. ‘Keep thyself pure.’
1 Tim 5: 22. It has always been the study of the saints to
keep aloof from sin. ‘How can I do this great wickedness, and sin
against God?’
Gen 39: 9. ‘Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins.’
Psa 19: 13. It was a saying of Anselm, ‘If sin were on one
side, and hell on the other, I would rather leap into hell than
willingly sin against my God.’ Oh, what a mercy is it to be kept from
sin! We count it a great mercy to be kept from the plague and fire; but
what is it to be kept from sin!
(13) Is
sin so great an evil? It should make us long for heaven, where we shall
be perfectly freed from sin, not only from its outward acts, but from
the inbeing of sin. In heaven we shall not need to pray this prayer,
‘Deliver us from evil.’ What a blessed time will it be when we shall
never have a vain thought more! Then Christ’s spouse shall be sine
macula et ruga, without spot or wrinkle.
Eph 5: 27. Now there is a dead man tied to the living; we
cannot do any holy duty, but we mix sin with it; we cannot pray without
wandering; we cannot believe without doubting; but then our virgin souls
shall not be capable of the least tincture of sin, but we shall all be
as the angels of God.
In
heaven we shall have no temptation to sin. The old serpent is cast out
of paradise, and his fiery darts shall never come near to touch us.
Use 2.
For exhortation.
First to
all in general. If sin be so great and prodigious an evil, as you love
your souls, take heed of sin. If you taste the forbidden fruit, it will
cost you dear, it will cost you bitter tears, it may cost you lying in
hell. O therefore flee from sin.
(1) Take
heed of sins of omission.
Matt 23: 23. It is as really dangerous not to do things
commanded, as to do things forbidden. Some think it no great matter to
omit reading Scripture. The Bible lies by like rusty armour, which they
never use. They think it no great matter to omit family or
closet-prayer; they go several months, and God never hears from them.
They have nothing sanctified to them; they feed upon a curse; ‘for every
creature is sanctified by prayer.’
1 Tim 4: 4, 5. The bird which may shame many never takes a
drop but its eye is lifted up towards heaven. O take heed of living in
the neglect of any known duty. It was the prayer of a holy man on his
death-bed, ‘Lord, forgive my sins of omission.’
(2) Take
heed of secret sins. Some are more modest than to sin openly in a
balcony; but they will carry their sins under a canopy, they will sin in
secret. Rachel would not let her father’s images be seen, but she put
them under her, ‘and sat upon them.’
Gen 31: 34. Many will be drunk and unclean, if they may do it
when nobody sees them; they are like one that shuts up his shop windows,
but follows his trade within doors. If sin be so great an evil, let me
warn you this day not to sin in secret; know that you can never sin so
privately but that the two witnesses, God and conscience, are always by.
(3) Take
heed of your besetting sin, that which your nature and constitution most
incline to. As in the hive there is a master bee, so in the heart there
is a master sin. ‘I kept myself from mine iniquity.’
Psa 18: 23. There is some sin that is a special favourite,
the
peccatum in deliciis, the
darling sin that lies in the bosom, and this bewitches and draws away
the heart. O beware of this!
[1] That
sin which a man most cherishes, and to which all other sins are
subservient, is the sin which is most tended and waited upon. The
Pharisees’ darling sin was vainglory, all they did was to feed the sin
of pride. ‘That they may have glory of men;’ when they gave alms they
sounded a trumpet.
Matt 6: 2. If a stranger had asked the question, why does
this trumpet sound? the answer was, The Pharisees are going to give alms
to the poor. Their lamp of charity was filled with the oil of vainglory.
Matt 23: 5. All their works they did to be seen of men. Pride
was their bosom sin. Oftentimes covetousness is the darling sin; all
other sins are committed to maintain this. Why do men equivocate,
oppress, defraud, take bribes, but to uphold covetousness?
[2] The
sin which a man loves not to be reproved for is the darling sin. Herod
could not endure to have his incest spoken against; if John the Baptist
meddles with that sin, it shall cost him his head.
[3] That
sin which has most power over a man, and most easily leads him captive,
is the beloved of the soul. There are some sins which a man can better
put off and repulse; but there is one sin, which, if it becomes a suitor
he cannot deny, but is overcome by it: this is the bosom sin. The young
man in the gospel had a besetting sin which he could not resist, and
that was the love of the world; his silver was dearer to him than his
Saviour. It is a sad thing a man should be so bewitched by a lust that
he will part with the kingdom of heaven to gratify it.
[4] The
sin which men use arguments to defend is the darling sin. To plead for
sin is to be the devil’s attorney. If the sin be covetousness, and we
vindicate it; if it be rash anger, and we justify it, saying (as
Jonah 4: 9), ‘I do well to be angry,’ this is the besetting
sin.
[5] That
sin which most troubles a man, and flies in his face in an hour of
sickness and distress, is the beloved sin. When Joseph’s brethren were
distressed, their sin in selling their brother came to remembrance.
Gen 45: 3. So, when a man is upon his sick-bed, conscience
says, Dost not thou remember how thou hast lived in such a sin, though
thou hast been often warned, yet thou wouldst not leave it? Conscience
reads a curtain lecture upon the darling sin.
[6] The
sin which a man is most unwilling to part with is the darling sin. Jacob
could of all his sons, most hardly part with Benjamin. ‘Joseph is not,
and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away.’
Gen 13: 36. So says the sinner, this and that sin have I
parted with; but must Benjamin go? Must I part with this delightful sin?
That goes to the heart. It is the Delilah, the beloved sin. Oh, if sin
be such a deadly evil, dare not to indulge any bosom sin, which is the
most dangerous of all; and, like a humour striking to the heart, which
is mortal, leaves open but one gap for the wild beast to enter. One
darling sin lived in, sets open a gap for Satan to enter.
(4) Take
heed of the sins which attend your particular callings. A calling you
must have. Adam in paradise tilled the ground. God never sealed warrants
to idleness. But every calling has its snare; as some sin in living out
of a calling, so others sin in a calling. Remember how deadly an evil
sin is. Avoid those sins which you are exposed to in your trade. Take
heed of all fraud and collusion in your dealings. ‘Whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.’
Matt 7: 12.
Take
heed of a sinful tongue in selling. The Scripture says of one that goes
to heaven, ‘He speaketh the truth in his heart.’
Psa 15: 2. It is the custom of many to say the commodity
stands them more, and yet they take less. This is hardly creditable.
Beware
of a deceitful balance. ‘The balances of deceit are in his hand.’
Hos 12: 7. Men by making their weights lighter, make their
accounts heavier.
Beware
of sophisticating, mingling, and debasing commodities. ‘We sell the
refuse of the wheat.’
Amos 8: 6. They pick out the best grains of the wheat, and
sell the worst at the same price as they did the best. To mix a coarse
commodity with the fine, and sell it all for fine, is no better than
deceit.
Isa 1: 22.
Beware
of stretching your consciences too far, or taking more for a commodity
than it is worth. ‘If thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, ye shall not
oppress one another.’
Lev 25: 14. There is a lawful gain allowed, yet one may not
so advantage himself as to injure another. Let the tradesman’s motto be,
‘A conscience void of offence toward God and toward men.’
Acts 24: 16. He has a hard bargain that purchases the world
with the loss of his soul.
(5) Sin
being so deadly an evil, take heed of the appearance of sin. Abstain not
only from apparent evil, but the appearance of evil; if it be not
absolutely a sin, yet if it looks like sin, avoid it. He who is loyal to
his prince, not only forbears to have his hand in treason, but he will
take heed of that which has a show of treason. Joseph’s mistress tempted
him, and he fled and would not be with her.
Gen 39: 12. An appearance of good is too little, and an
appearance of evil is too much.
The
appearance of evil is often an occasion of evil. Dalliance is an
appearance of evil, and oftentimes occasions evil. Touching the
forbidden fruit occasions tasting. Dancing in masquerades has often been
the occasion of uncleanness.
The
appearance of evil may scandalise another. ‘When ye sin against the
brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.’
1 Cor 8: 12. Sinning against a member of Christ is sinning
against Christ himself.
What
means shall we use to be kept from acts of sin?
(1) If
you would be preserved from actual and scandalous sins, labour to
mortify original sin. If you would not have the branches bud and
blossom, smite at the root. I know that original sin cannot in this life
be removed, but labour to have it subdued. Why do men break forth into
actual sins but because they do not mortify heart sins? Suppress the
first risings of pride, lust, and passion. Original sin unmortified will
prove such a root of bitterness as will bring forth the cursed root of
scandalous sin.
(2) If
you would be kept from actual sins, think what an odious thing sin is.
Besides what you have heard, remember sin is the accursed thing.
Josh 7: 13. It is the abominable thing God hates. ‘Oh do not
this abominable thing that I hate.’
Jer 44: 4. Sin is the spirit of witchcraft; it is the devil’s
excrement; it is called filthiness.
James 1: 21. If all the evils in the world were put together,
and their essence strained out, they could not make a thing so filthy as
sin is. So odious is a sinner that God loathes the sight of him. ‘My
soul lothed them.’
Zech 11: 8. He who defiles himself with avarice, what is he
but a serpent licking the dust? He who defiles himself with the lust of
uncleanness, what is he but a swine with a man’s head? He who defiles
himself with pride, what is he but a bladder which the devil has blown
up? He who defiles himself with drunkenness, what is he but a beast that
has got the staggers? To consider how odious and base a thing sin is,
would be a means of keeping us from sinning.
(3) If
you would be kept from actual sins, get the fear of God planted in your
hearts. ‘By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.’
Prov 16: 6.
Cavebis si pavebis [You will
take care if you fear]; fear is a bridle to sin and a spur to holiness.
Fear puts a holy awe upon the heart and binds it to its good behaviour.
By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. When the Empress Eudoxia
threatened to banish Chrysostom, ‘Tell her,’ said he, ‘I fear nothing
but sin.’ Fear is
janitor animae;
it stands as a porter at the door of the soul and keeps sin from
entering. All sin is committed for want of the fear of God. ‘Whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood;
there is no fear of God before their eyes.’
Rom 3: 14, 15, 18. Holy fear stands sentinel, and is ever
watching against security, pride, and wantonness. Fear is a Christian’s
lifeguard to defend him against the fiery darts of temptation. Si vis
esse securus, semper time. The way to be safe is always to fear.
(4) If
we would be kept from actual sins, let us be careful to avoid all the
inlets and occasions of sin. Run not into evil company. He that would
not have the plague will not go into an infected house. Guard your
senses, which may be the inlets to sin. Keep the two portals, the eye
and the ear; especially look to your eyes. Much sin comes in by the eye;
the eye is often an inlet to sin; sin takes fire at the eye; the first
sin in the world began at the eye. ‘When the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and was pleasant to the eyes, she took of the fruit
thereof.’
Gen 3: 6. Looking begat lusting. Intemperance begins at the
eye. Looking on the wine when it is red and gives its colour in the
glass, causes excess of drinking.
Prov 23: 31. Covetousness begins at the eye. ‘When I saw
among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, I
coveted and took them.’
Josh 7: 21. The fire of lust begins to kindle at the eye.
David walking upon the roof of his house saw a woman washing herself,
and she was, says the text, ‘beautiful to look upon,’ and he sent
messengers and took her, and defiled himself with her.
2 Samuel 11: 2. therefore look to your eyes! Job made a
covenant with his eyes.
Job 31: 1. If the eye be once inflamed, it will be hard to
stand out long against sin. If the outworks are taken by the enemy,
there is great danger of the whole castle being taken.
(5) If
you would be kept from actual gross sin, study sobriety and temperance.
1 Pet 5: 8.
Sobrii este,
be sober. Check the inordinance of appetite, for sin frequently makes
its entrance this way. By gratifying the sensitive appetite, the soul,
that is akin to angels, is enslaved to the brutish part. Many drink to
drowsiness, if not to drunkenness. Not denying the sensitive appetite,
makes men’s consciences full of guilt, and the world full of scandal. If
you would be kept from running into sin, lay restraint upon the flesh.
For what has God given reason and conscience but to be a bridle to check
inordinate desires?
(6) If
you would be kept from actual sins, be continually upon your spiritual
watch.
Watch
your thoughts. ‘How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?’
Jer 4: 14. Sin begins at the thoughts. First, men cherish
revengeful thoughts, then they dip their hands in blood. Set a spy over
your thoughts.
Watch
your passions of anger and passions of lust. The heart is ready to be
destroyed by its own passions, as a vessel to be overturned by its
sails. Passion transports beyond the bounds of reason; it is brevis
insania (Seneca), a short frenzy. Moses in a passion ’spake unadvisedly
with his lips.’
Psa 106: 33. The disciples in a passion called fire from
heaven. A man in a passion is like a ship in a storm that has neither
pilot nor sails to help it, but is exposed to waves and rocks.
Watch
your temptations. Satan continually lies in ambush, and watches to draw
us to sin;
stat in
procincto diabolus [the devil
stands girded for battle]. He is fishing for our souls; he is either
laying snares, or shooting darts. Therefore we had need watch him, that
we be not decoyed into sin. Most sin is committed for want of
watchfulness.
(7) If
you would be kept front the evil of sin, consult the oracles of God; be
well versed in Scripture. ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might
not sin against thee.’
Psa 119: 11. The word is
anceps gladius,
a two-edged sword, to cut asunder men’s lusts. When the fogs and vapours
of sin begin to rise, let but the light of Scripture shine in the soul,
and it dispels them. ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.’
Col 3: 16. Alphonsus, king of Arragon, read over the Bible
fourteen times. The word shows the damnable evil of sin; it furnishes us
with precepts, which are so many recipes and antidotes against sin. When
Christ had a temptation to sin, he beat back the tempter, and wounded
him three times with the sword of the Spirit: ‘It is written.’ Why do
men live in sin, but because they either do not read the word or do not
believe it?
(8) If
you would be preserved from gross, presumptuous sin, get your hearts
fired with love to God. Love has great force in it; it is ’strong as
death;’ it breaks the league between the heart and sin. Two things in
God cause love.
[1] His
glorious beauty. Moses desired to see some glimpse of it. ‘Lord, show me
thy glory.’ [2] His amazing love. What a prodigy of love was it, to give
his Son out of his bosom, and lay such a jewel to pawn for our
redemption! The glories of God’s beauty, and the magnitude of his love,
like two loadstones, draw our love to God; and if we love him, we shall
not sin against him: he that loves his friend, will not by any means
displease him. I have read of four men meeting together, who asked one
another what it was that kept them from sinning? One said, the fear of
hell; another said, the joys of heaven; the third said, the odiousness
of sin; the fourth said, that which keeps me from sin is love to God;
shall I sin against so good a God? shall I abuse love? Love to God is
the best curbing-bit to keep from sin.
(9) If
you would be kept from the evil of sin, be diligent in a calling.
Dii laboribus
omnia vendunt [Work buys all
things from the gods]. Adam in paradise must till the ground. Such as
live idly, expose themselves to sin. If we have no work to do, Satan
will find us work; he sows most of his seed in fallow ground. A woman
being much tempted to sin, came to the reverend Mr Greenham, and asked
him what she should do to resist temptation? He answered, Be always well
employed, that when Satan comes he may find thee busied in thy calling,
and not at leisure to listen to his temptation.
(10) If
you would be kept from sin, fix the eye of your mind upon the ‘beauty of
holiness.’ Holiness consists in conformity to God. It is the sparkling
of the divine nature, a beam of God shining in the soul. How lovely is
Christ’s bride when decked and bespangled with the jewels of holiness!
What makes the seraphims angels of light, but their holiness? Do but
think with yourselves what a splendid, glorious thing holiness is, and
it will cause a disgust and hatred of sin, which is so contrary to it.
The beholding of beauty will make us out of love with deformity.
(11) If
you would keep from the evil of sin, meditate frequently on death. Think
of the unavoidableness of it.
Heb 9: 27.
Statutum est.
‘It is appointed unto men once to die.’ We are not so sure to lie down
this night in bed as to lie down in the grave. Think of the uncertainty
of the time. We are but tenants at will. We hold our life at the will of
our landlord, and how soon may God turn us out of this house of clay!
Death often comes when we least look for it. The flood, as some learned
writers observe, came in the month Ziph, or April, in the spring; when
the trees were blossoming, and the birds singing, and men least looked
for it; so, often in the spring of youth, when the body is most healthy,
and the spirits most sprightly and vigorous, and it is least thought on,
then death comes. Could we think often and seriously of death, it would
give a death’s wound to sin.
Nihil sic
revocat peccata quam crebra morbis contemplatio
[Nothing restrains from sin so much as the frequent thought of death].
Augustine. No stronger antidote against sin than the thought I am now
sinning, and to-morrow may be dying. What if death should find me doing
the devil’s work, would it not send me to him to receive my wages? Would
the adulterer but think, I am now in the act of sin, but how soon may
death come, and then I who have burned in lust, must burn in hell! it
would strike a damp into his soul, and make him afraid of going after
strange flesh.
(12) If
you would be kept from gross, scandalous sins, beware of a covetous
heart. Covetousness is a dry drunkenness. He who thirsts insatiably
after the world will stick at no sin; he will betray Christ and a good
cause for money.
Cui nihil
satis, eidem nihil turpe [The
man for whom nothing is enough holds nothing shameful]. Tacitus. ‘The
love of money is the root of all evil.’
1 Tim 6: 10. From this root comes theft. Achan’s covetous
humour made him steal the wedge of gold.
Josh 7: 21. Covetousness makes the gaols full. From this root
comes murder. Why did Ahab stone Naboth to death but to possess his
vineyard?
1 Kings 21: 13. Covetousness has made many swim to the crown
in blood. From this bitter root of covetousness proceeds fraud. It is
the covetous hand that holds false weights. From this root of
covetousness comes uncleanness. You read of the hire of a whore.
Deut 23: 18. For money she would let both her conscience and
chastity be set to sale. Oh, if you would be kept from the evil of sin,
beware of covetousness, which is the inlet to so many sins!
(13) Let
us be much in prayer to God, to keep us from engulfing ourselves in sin.
‘Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins.’
Psa 19: 13. We have no power inherent to keep us from evil.
Arnoldus says, that man in his corrupt estate, has
aliquas
reliquias vitae spiritualis,
some relics of spiritual life left. And Arminius says, man has a
sufficiency of grace within himself whereby he may
abstinere a
malo, abstain from evil; that
freewill is a sufficient curb to check and pull him back from sin. But
what needed Christ to have taught us this prayer:
Libera nos a
malo, ‘Deliver us from evil’? If
we have power of ourselves to keep from sin, why pray to God for power?
Alas! if David and Peter, who in a habit of grace fell, for want of a
fresh gale of the Spirit to hold them up, much more will they be in
danger of falling who have only the power of freewill to hold them.
Let us
therefore sue to God for strength to keep us from sinning! Let us pray
the prayer of David, ‘Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe’ (Psa
119: 117); and that other prayer, ‘Hold up my goings in thy
paths, that my footsteps slip nos.’
Psa 17: 5. Lord, keep me from dishonouring thee; keep me from
the defiling sins of the age, that I may not be worse for the times, nor
the times the worse for me. ‘Keep back thy servant from presumptuous
sins.’ Lord, whatever I suffer, keep me from sin. The child is safe in
the nurse’s arms; and we are only safe from falling into sin while we
are held up in the arms of Christ and free grace.
Secondly, this exhortation has an aspect to God’s children. You that are
professors, and carry Christ’s colours, I beseech you, above all others,
to take heed of sin; beware of any action that is scandalous and
unbecoming the gospel. You have heard what a prodigious hyperbolical
evil sin is. Come not near the forbidden fruit. ‘Though Israel play the
harlot, yet let not Judah offend.’
Hos 4: 15. So, though wicked men run into sin, yet let not
the spouse of Christ defile the breasts of her virginity. Sin ill
becomes any, but least becomes professors. Dung is unsightly in the
street; but to see it in the temple is much more offensive. Leprosy in
the foot is ill, but to see a leprous sore in the face is much worse: to
see sin break forth in those who have a face of religion, is most to be
abominated. The sins of the wicked are not so much to be wondered at.
‘The wicked shall do wickedly.’
Dan 12: 10. It is no wonder to see a toad spit poison. It was
not so wonderful to see Cain or Ahab sin; but to see Lot’s incest, to
see David’s hands stained with blood, was strange indeed. When the sun
is eclipsed every one stands and looks at it; so when a child of light
is eclipsed by scandalous sin, all stand and gaze at such an eclipse.
The sins
of God’s people do, in some sense, provoke him more than the sins of the
wicked! We read of the provocations of his sons and daughters.
Deut 32: 19. The sins of the wicked anger God, but the sins
of his people grieve him. The sins of God’s people have a more malignant
aspect, and are of a blacker dye than others. There are aggravations in
the sins of his people, which are not to be found in the sins of the
unregenerate, in eight particulars:
(1) The
godly have something which may
ponere obicem
[set up a barrier], restrain them from sin. When wicked men sin, they
have no principle to restrain them; they have wind and tide to carry
them, they have nothing to pull them back from sin; but a child of God
has a principle of grace to give check to sin; he has the impulses of
God’s Spirit dissuading him from evil. For him, therefore, to commit sin
is far worse than for others. It is to sin more desperately; it is as if
a woman should go about to kill the babe in her womb. Christian, when
thou sinnest presumptuously, thou doest what in thee liest to kill the
babe of grace in thy soul.
(2) The
sins of God’s people are greater than others, because they sin against
more mercy. It is like a weight put in a scale to make sin weigh
heavier. God has given Christ to a believer; he has cut him off from the
wild stock of nature, and grafted him into the true olive; and for him
to abuse all this mercy is to outdo the wicked, and to sin with a higher
aggravation, because it is to sin against greater love. How was Peter’s
sin enhanced and accented, by Christ having done more for him than
others! He had dropped some of the holy oil upon him; he had taken him
into the number of the apostles; he had carried him up into the mount of
transfiguration, and shown him the glory of heaven in a vision. For
Peter to deny Christ after all this mercy was heinous, and could not be
forgiven but by a miracle and prodigy of love.
(3) The
sins of the godly have this aggravation in them, that they sin against
clearer illumination than the wicked. ‘They are of those that rebel
against the light.’
Job 24: 13. Light is there taken figuratively for knowledge.
It cannot be denied, but the wicked sin knowingly; but the godly have a
light beyond them, such a divine, penetrating light as no hypocrite can
attain to. They have better eyes to see sin than others; and for them to
meddle with sin and embrace this dunghill, must needs provoke God, and
make the fury rise up in his face. O therefore, you that are the people
of God, flee from sin; your sins are more enhanced, and have worse
aggravations in them, than the sins of the unregenerate.
(4) The
sins of the godly are worse than the unregenerate; for, when they sin,
it is against great experiences. They have felt the bitterness of sin in
the pangs of the new birth, and afterwards God has spoken peace, and
they have had an experimental taste how sweet the Lord is; and yet,
after these experiences, that they should touch the forbidden fruit, and
venture upon a presumptuous sin, enhances and aggravates their guilt,
and is like putting a weight more in the scale to make their sin weigh
heavier. The wicked have never tasted the sweetness of a heavenly life;
they have never known what it is to have any smiles from God; they have
never tasted anything sweeter than corn and wine; therefore no wonder if
they sin: but for a child of God who has had such love-tokens from
heaven, and signal experiences from God, for him to gratify a lust, how
horrid is this! It was an aggravation of Solomon’s sin, that his heart
was turned from the Lord, who had appeared to him twice.
1 Kings 11: 9.
(5) The
sins of the godly are greater than others, because they sin against
their sonship. When wicked men sin, they sin against the command; but
when the godly sin, they sin against a privilege; they abuse their
sonship. The godly are adopted into the family of heaven, they have a
new name. Is it a light thing, said David, to be son-in-law to a king?
So, to be called the sons of God, to be heirs of the promises, is no
small honour. For such to run into an open offence, is sinning against
their adoption. They hereby make themselves vile, as if a king’s son
should be tumbling in the mire, or lie among swine.
(6) The
sins of the godly are worse than others, because they are committed
against more vows and engagements. They have given up their names to
God; they have bound themselves solemnly to God by oath. ‘I have sworn
that I will keep thy righteous judgements.’
Psa 119: 106. In the supper of the Lord, they have renewed
this sacred vow; and, after this, to run into presumptuous sin, is a
breach of vow, a kind of perjury, which dyes the sin of a crimson
colour.
(7) The
sins of the godly are worse than others, because they bring a greater
reproach upon religion. For the wicked to sin, must be expected from
them, as swine will wallow in the mire; but when sheep do so, when the
godly sin, it redounds to the dishonour of the gospel. ‘By this deed
thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.’
2 Samuel 12: 14. Every one’s eye is upon a stain in scarlet;
for the godly to sin, is like a spot in scarlet, it is more taken notice
of, and reflects greater dishonour upon the ways of God. When the sun is
eclipsed, every one stands and looks upon it; so, when a child of light
is eclipsed by scandalous sin, all stand and gaze at it. How does the
gospel suffer by the miscarriages of the godly! Their blood can never
wash off the stain they bring upon religion.
(8) The
sins of the godly are worse, because they encourage and harden wicked
men in sin. If the wicked see the godly loose and uncircumspect in their
lives, they think they may do so too. The wicked make the godly their
pattern, not in imitating their virtues, but their vices; and is it not
fearful to be the means to damn others? These are the aggravations of
the sins of the godly. You, therefore, above all others, beware of
presumptuous sin. Your sins wound conscience, weaken grace, and do more
highly provoke God than the sins of others, and God will be sure to
punish you. Whoever escapes, you shall not. ‘You only have I known of
all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your
iniquities.’
Amos 3: 2. If God does not damn you, he may send you to hell
in this life; he may cause such agonies and tremblings of heart, that
you will be a terror to yourselves. You may draw nigh to despair, and be
ready to look upon yourselves as castaways. When David had stained
himself with adultery and murder, he complained of his broken bones.
Psa 51: 8. This metaphor sets forth the grief and agony of
his soul; he lay in sore desertion three quarters of a year, and it is
thought he never recovered his full joy to his dying day. O. therefore,
you who belong to God and are enrolled in his family, take heed of
blemishing your profession with scandalous sin; you will pay dear for
it. Think of the broken bones. Though God does not blot you out of his
book, yet he may cast you out of his presence.
Psa 51: 2: He may keep you in long desertion. You may feel
such lashes in your conscience, that you may roar out and think
yourselves half in hell.
[2] We
also pray in a special sense, ‘Deliver us from evil.’ We pray to be
delivered from evil under a threefold notion. 1. From the evil of our
heart, which is called an evil heart.
Heb 3: 12. 2. From the evil of Satan, who is called the
‘wicked one.’
Matt 13: 19. 3. From the evil of the world, which is called
en ‘evil world.’
Gal 1: 4.
(1) In
the petition, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ we pray to be delivered from the
evil of our heart, that it may not entice us to sin. The heart is the
poisoned fountain, from whence all actual sins flow. ‘Out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, fornications, murders.’
Mark 7: 21. The cause of all evil lies in a man’s own breast,
all sin begins at the heart. Lust is first conceived in the heart, and
then it is midwifed into the world. Whence comes rash anger? The heart
sets the tongue on fire. The heart is a shop or workhouse, where all sin
is contrived and hammered out. How needful, therefore, is this prayer,
deliver us from the evil of our hearts! The heart is the greatest
seducer, therefore the apostle James says, ‘Every man is drawn away of
his own lust, and enticed.’
James 1: 14. The devil could not hurt us, if our own hearts
did not give consent. All that he can do is to lay the bait, but it is
our fault to swallow it.
O let us
pray to be delivered from the lusts and deceits of our own heart.
‘Deliver us from evil.’ Luther feared his heart more than the pope or
cardinal; and it was Augustine’s prayer,
Libera me,
Domine, a meipso; Lord, deliver
me from myself. It was good advice one gave to his friend,
Caveas teipsum
[Beware of yourself]. Beware of the bosom traitor, the flesh. The heart
of a man is the Trojan horse, out of which comes a whole army of lusts.
(2) In
this petition, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ we pray to be delivered from the
evil of Satan. He is ‘the wicked one.’
Matt 13: 19.
In what
respect is Satan the wicked one?
He was
the first inventor of evil. He plotted the first treason.
John 8: 44.
His
inclination is only to evil.
Eph 6: 12.
His
constant practice is doing evil.
1 Pet 5: 8.
He has
some hand in all the evils and mischief that fall out in the world.
He
hinders from good. ‘He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist
him.’
Zech 3: 1.
He
provokes to evil. He put it into Ananias’ heart to lie. ‘Why has Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?’
Acts 5: 3. The devil blows the fire of lust and strife. When
men are proud, the old serpent has poisoned them, and makes them swell.
Thus he is the evil one and well may we pray, ‘Lord, deliver us from the
evil one.’ The word Satan in the Hebrew signifies an opponent or
adversary.
He is a
restless adversary, he never sleeps. Spirits need no sleep. He is a
peripatetic. He ‘walketh about.’
1 Pet 5: 8. And how does he walk? Not as a pilgrim, but as a
spy. He narrowly observes where he may plant his pieces of battery, and
make his assaults with most advantage against us. Satan is a subtle
engineer; there is no place that can secure us from his assaults and
inroads. While we are praying, hearing, and meditating, we are of his
company, though uncertain how we came by it.
Satan is
a mighty adversary, he is armed with power. He is called the ’strong
man.’
Luke 11: 21. He takes men captive at his pleasure. ‘Who are
taken captive by him at his will,’ who are taken alive by him.
2 Tim 2: 26. It alludes to a bird that is taken alive in the
snare. The devil’s work is to angle for men’s souls; he lays suitable
baits; he allures the ambitious man with honour, the covetous man with
riches; he hooks his bait with silver; he allures the lustful man with
beauty, he tempts men to Delilah’s lap to keep them from Abraham’s
bosom. The devil glories in the damnation of souls. How needful then is
this prayer, ‘Deliver us from evil!’ Lord, keep us from the evil one.
Though Satan may solicit us to sin, suffer us not to give consent;
though he may assault the castle of our hearts, yet let us not deliver
up the keys of the castle to our mortal enemy.
(3) In
this petition, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ we pray to be delivered from the
evil of the world. It is called an evil world, not but that the world,
as God made it, is good, but through our corruption it becomes evil, and
we had need pray, deliver us from an evil world.
Gal 1: 4.
In what
sense is it an evil world?
(1) It
is a defiling world. It is like living in an infectious air, it requires
a high degree of grace to keep ourselves ‘unspotted from the world.’
James 1: 27. It is as hard to live in the world and not be
defiled, as to go much in the sun and not be tanned.
The
opinions of the world are defiling; as that a little religion will serve
the turn; that like leaf gold, it must be spread but thin; that morality
runs parallel with grace; that to be zealous is to be righteous over
much; that it is better to keep the skin whole than the conscience pure;
that the flesh is rather to be gratified than mortified. These opinions
of the world are defiling.
The
examples of the world are defiling. Examples have great force to draw us
to evil.
Princeps
imperio magnus exemplo major [A
prince great in power is greater by his example]. Princes are
looking-glasses by which we dress ourselves; if they do evil, we are apt
to imitate them. Great men are copies we set before us, and usually we
write most like the copy when it is blotted. There is great proneness in
us to follow the examples of the world; therefore God has put in a
caveat against it. ‘Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.’
Exod 23: 2. How easily are we hurried to sin, when we have
the tide of natural corruption and the wind of example to carry us! Lot
was the world’s wonder; the complexion of his soul kept pure in Sodom’s
infectious air. The river of Peru, in America, after running into the
main sea, keeps fresh, and does not mingle with the salt waters; to
which Lot might be compared, whose piety kept fresh in Sodom’s salt
water. Bad examples are catching. ‘They were mingled among the heathen,
and learned their works.’
Psa 106: 35. Had we not need then pray, Lord, deliver us from
this evil world? Living in the world is like travelling in a dirty road.
(2) It
is an evil world, as it is an ensnaring world. The world is full of
snares. Company is a snare, recreation is a snare, oaths are snares,
riches are golden snares.
Opes
irritamenfa malorum [Riches are
incitements to sin]. The apostle speaks of the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.’
1 John 2: 16. The lust of the flesh is beauty, the lust of
the eye is money, the pride of life is honour; these are the natural
man’s trinity.
In mundo
splendor opum, gloriae majestas, voluptatum illecebrae ab amore Dei nos
abstrabunt [In the world, the
splendour of wealth, the greatness of high reputation and the
allurements of pleasure draw us away from the love of God]. The world is
a flattering enemy; whom it kisses it betrays; it is a silken halter.
The pleasures of the world, like opium, cast men into the sleep of
security. Lysimachus sold his crown for a draught of water; so, many
part with heaven for the world. The king of Armenia was sent prisoner to
queen Cleopatra in golden fetters. Too many are enslaved with the
world’s golden fetters. The world bewitched Demas.
2 Tim 4: 10. One of Christ’s own apostles was caught with a
silver bait. It is hard to drink the wine of prosperity and not be
giddy. The world, through our innate corruption, is evil, as it is a
snare. ‘They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare.’
1 Tim 6: 9. If an angel were to live here, there were no
danger of the world’s ensnaring him, because he has no principle within
to receive the temptation; but we have a corrupt principle that suits
the temptation, and that makes us always in danger.
(3) It
is an evil world as it is a discouraging world. It casts scorn and
reproach upon those who live virtuously. What, will you be holier than
others, wiser than your ancestors? The world deals with the professors
of religion, as Sanballat did with the Jews when they were building. ‘He
mocked the Jews, and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify
themselves? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish
which are burned?’
Neh 4: 1. So the wicked world casts out squibs of reproach at
the godly. What, will ye build for heaven? What needs all this cost?
What profit is it to serve the Almighty? Thus the world would pluck off
our chariot wheels when we are driving towards heaven. These are called
cruel mockings.
Heb 11: 36. It requires a great measure of sanctity to
withstand the discouragements of the world, to dance among serpents, to
laugh at reproaches, and bind them as a crown about our head.
(4) It
is an evil world as it is a deadening world. It dulls and deadens the
affections to heavenly objects. It cools holy motions, like a damp in a
silver mine, which puts out the light. Earthly things choke the seed of
the word. A man entangled in the world is so taken up with secular
concerns that he can no more mind the things above than the earth can
ascend, or the elephant fly in the air. And even such as have grace in
them, when their affections are belimed with the earth, they find
themselves much indisposed to meditation and prayer; it is like swimming
with a stone about the neck.
(5) It
is an evil world as it is a maligning world. It hates the people of God.
‘Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.’
John 15: 19. Hatred, as Aristotle says, is against the whole
kind. Haman’s hatred was against the seed of the whole Jews. When you
can find a serpent without a sting, or a leopard without spots, then you
may expect to find a wicked world without hatred. The mark that is shot
at is piety. ‘They are mine adversaries, because I follow the thing that
good is.’
Psa 38: 20. The world pretends to hate the godly for
something else, but the ground of the quarrel is holiness. The world’s
hatred is implacable; anger may be reconciled, hatred cannot. You may as
well reconcile heaven and hell, as the two seeds. If the world hated
Christ, no wonder it hates us. ‘The world hated me before it hated you.’
John 15: 18. Why should any hate Christ? This blessed Dove
had no gall, this Rose of Sharon sent forth the sweetest perfume; but it
shows the world’s baseness, that it is a Christ-hating and a
saint-hating world. Had we not need to pray, deliver us from this evil
world?
(6) It
is an evil world, as it is a deceitful world.
There is
deceit in dealing. ‘He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his
hand.’
Hos 12: 7. The Hebrew word rimmah signifies both to deceive
and oppress. He who dares use deceit will not spare to oppress.
There is
a deceit in friendship. ‘But a faithful man who can find?’
Prov 20: 6.
Trita
frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen.
Some use too much courtship in friendship; they are like trumpets which
make a great noise, but within they are hollow. Some can flatter and
hate, commend and censure.
Mel in ore,
fel in corde [Honey on the
tongue, gall in the heart]. Dissembled love is worse than hatred.
There is
deceit in riches. ‘The deceitfulness of riches.’
Matt 13: 22. The world makes us believe it will satisfy our
desires, and it does but increase them; it makes us believe it will stay
with us, and it takes wings.
Prov 23: 5.
(7) It
is an evil world, as it is a disquieting world. It is full of trouble.
John 16: 33. The world is like a beehive; when, having tasted
a little honey, we have been stung with a thousand bees. Basil was of
opinion that before the fall the rose grew without prickles; but now
every sweet flower of our life has its thorns. There are many things
which cause disquiet-loss of friends, law-suits, crosses in estate.
Relations are not without their troubles; some are troubled that they
have no children, others that they have children: the world is a vexing
vanity. If a man be poor, he is despised by the rich; if he be rich, he
is envied by the poor. If we do not find an ensnaring world, we shall
find it an afflicting world; it has more in it to wean us than tempt us.
The world is a sea, where we are tossed upon the surging waves of
sorrow, and often in danger of shipwreck. It is a wilderness, full of
fiery serpents. What storms of persecution are raised against the
righteous!
2 Tim 3: 12. The wicked are briers, where Christ’s sheep lose
some of their golden fleece.
Mic 7: 4. Then had we not need pray, Lord, deliver us from
being hurt by this evil world? Why should we be forbidden to love the
world? Though we are commanded to love our enemies, yet this is an enemy
we must not love. ‘Love not the world.’
1 John 2: 15.
[3] Let
it be observed, however, that abstaining from, or forbearing the
external acts of sin, is not sufficient to entitle us to salvation. When
we pray, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ more is implied in it, as that we make
progress in holiness. Being divorced from sin is not enough, unless we
are espoused to virtue; therefore in Scripture these two are joined.
‘Depart from evil, and do good.’
Psa 34: 14;
Rom 12: 9. ‘Cease to do evil, learn to do well.’
Isa 1: 16, 17. ‘Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness.’
2 Cor 7: 1. Leaving sin is not enough, unless we embrace
righteousness.
Virtutis est
magis honesta agere quam non turpia
[The mark of righteousness is rather to do good than not to do evil]. As
it is in the body, it is not enough that the disease be stopped, but it
must grow in health; so in the soul, it is not enough that acts of sin
be forborne, which is stopping a disease, but it must be healthy, and
grow in holiness.
Use 1.
Those are reproved who labour only to suppress the outward acts of sin,
but do not press on to holiness; they cease from doing evil but do not
learn to do well. Their religion lies only in negatives; they glory in
this, that they are given to no vice, none can charge them with any foul
miscarriages. ‘God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are;
extortioners, unjust, adulterers.’
Luke 18: 11. This is not enough, you must advance a step
further in solid piety. It is not enough that a field be not sown with
tares or hemlock, but it must be sown with good seed. Consider two
things:
(1) If
that you are not guilty of gross sins be the best certificate you have
to show, God makes no account of you. Though a piece of brass be not so
bad as clay, yet not being so good as silver, it will not pass for
current coin; so, though you are not grossly profane, yet not being of
the right metal, wanting the stamp of holiness, you will never pass
current in heaven.
(2) A
man may abstain from evil, yet he may go to hell for not doing good.
‘Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.’
Matt 3: 10. Why were the foolish virgins shut out? They had
done no hurt, they had not broken their lamps: yea, but their fault was,
there was no goodness in them, they had no oil in their lamps. O
therefore, let us not content ourselves in being free from gross acts of
sin, but let us launch forth further in holiness; let us cleanse
ourselves from all pollution, perfecting holiness.
[4]
‘Deliver us from evil,’ may be from temporal evil. We pray that God will
either prevent temporal evils or deliver us out of them.
(1) We
pray that God will prevent temporal evils; that he will be our screen,
to stand between us and danger. ‘Save me from them that persecute me.’
Psa 7: 1. We may lawfully pray against the plots of the
wicked, that they may prove abortive, that, though they have a design
upon us, they may not have their desire upon us. ‘Keep me from the
snares which they have laid for me.’
Psa 141: 9.
(2) We
pray that God will deliver us out of temporal evils; that he will remove
his judgements from us, whether famine, sword, or pestilence. ‘Remove
thy stroke away from me.’
Psa 39: 10. Yet may we pray to be delivered from temporal
evils, only so far as God sees it good for us. We may pray to be
delivered from the evil of sin absolutely, but we must pray to be
delivered from temporal evils conditionally, so far as God sees fit for
us, and may stand with his glory.
Use 2.
In all the troubles that lie upon us, let us look up to God for ease and
succour. ‘Should not a people seek unto their God?’
Isa 8: 19. The Papists, then, are to blame who knock at the
wrong door. When they are in any trouble, they pray to the saints to
deliver them. When they are in danger of shipwreck, they pray to St
Nicholas; when they are in the fit of a fever, they pray to St
Petronilla! when they are in travail, they pray to St Margaret. How
unlawful it is to invocate saints in prayer I will prove from one
Scripture: ‘How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed?’
Rom 10: 14. We may pray to none but such as we believe in;
but we ought not to believe in any saint, therefore we may not pray to
him. The Papists have, in their Lady’s Psalter, directed their prayers
for deliverance to the Virgin Mary; Deliver me, O Lady.
Benedicta
Domina, in manibus tuis reposita est nostra salus;
O thou blessed Lady, in thy hands our salvation is laid up. But ‘Abraham
be ignorant of us.’
Isa 63: 16. The saints and virgin Mary are ignorant of us.
To pray
to saints is idolatry advanced to blasphemy. Our Saviour has taught us
in all our distresses to pray to God for a cure. ‘Deliver us from evil.’
He only knows what our troubles are, and can give us help from trouble;
he only that laid the burden on can take it off. David went to God: ‘O
bring thou me out of my distresses.’
Psa 25: 17. God with a word can heal. ‘He sent his word, and
healed them.’
Psa 107: 20. He delivered the three children out of the fiery
furnace, Joseph out of prison, Daniel out of the lions’ den; which
proves him to be God, because none can deliver as he does. ‘There is no
other God that can deliver after this sort.’
Dan 3: 29. Let us, then, in all our straits and exigencies,
look to God, and say, ‘Deliver us from evil.’ End