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COMPLETE BODY DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL DIVINITY: A SYSTEM OF EVANGELICAL TRUTHS, DEDUCKD FROM Till'. J>acrrti &m'pturt*. BY JOHN GILL, D.I). A NEW EDITION. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSIDE; B «H1PFIN AND CO., GLASGOW; TEGG AND CO., DUBLIN J AND J. AND S. A. TKC<;, SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN. mdcccxxxix. . ,-g^ARy"bj? . 7'u: ;ic/ ,r X ^ ^' "D&- _ _ -C3 f£

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140.703 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. BOOK I. PACK OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST . . . . . 1 CAUSES OF IT . . . . . . . . 6 OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION 11 OF THOSE PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE WHICH FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION 20 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST 32 PROPITIATION, ATONEMENT, AND RECONCILIATION . . 50 OF THE PARDON OF SIN 56 OF JUSTIFICATION 68 ADOPTION 93 CHRISTIAN LIBERTY . 102 REGENERATION 107 EFFECTUAL CALLING 121 CONVERSION . . , . .131 SANCTIFICATION ....... 141 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS . .151 BOOK II. OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY 179 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 187 STATE OF THE SOUL TILL THE RESURRECTION . . . 198 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY '211 SECOND COMING OF CHRIST ....... 230

VI CONTENTS. MILLENNIUM LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS BOOK III. PACE 243 CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE .... OF THE NEW HEAVENS AND EAKTII 258 268 302 316 329 341 341 346 364 377 OF THE WORSHIP OF GOD ...... OF THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP .... OF INTERNAL WORSHIP ...... OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 352 OF REPENTANCE ...... OF THE FEAR OF GOD OF FAITH IN GOD AND CHRIST ..... 387 OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD . . .- . . 409 OF HOPE . . 420 OF LOVE 432 OF SPIRITUAL JOY . . . . ... . 449 OF PEACE OF MIND . . . . . .... 460 OF CONTENTMENT ........ 466 OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD ....... 477 OF HUMILITY 487 OF SELF-DENIAL ......... 493 OF RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF GOD .... 500 OF PATIENCE ......... 507 OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE ..... . 512 OF ZEAL . . 519 OF WISDOM AND PRUDENCE ...... 527 OF GODLY SINCERITY ........ 533 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS ...... 539 OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE ....... 546 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD ...... 551

CONTENTS. VII BOOK IV. PICiK PUBLIC WORSHIP 558 OF THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH .... 558 DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OF A CHURCH TO EACH OTHER 568 PASTORS OF CHURCHES 574 DUTIES OF CHURCHES TO THEIR PASTORS . . . . 593 OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONS . . . . . 600 OF THE DISCIPLINE OF CHURCHES . . . . . 607 BOOK V. OF THE PUBLIC ORDINANCES ...... 621 OF BAPTISM 621 OF THE LORD'S SUPPER ....... 647 OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 660 PUBLIC HEARING OF THE GOSPEL 671 OF PUBLIC PRAYER 682 OF THE LORD'S PRAYER ....... 694 OF SINGING PSALMS ........ 707 PLACE AND TIME OF PUBLIC WORSHIP .... 716 BOOK VI. OF PRIVATE WORSHIP, RELATIVE DUTIES, &C. . . 729 DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE ..... 729 DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN ..... 734 DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS .... 739 DUTIES OF MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS . . . 743 OF GOOD WORKS 750 OF THE DECALOGUE .... . 754

Vlll CONTENTS. DISSERTATION. l'Al,t OF THE VARIOUS SORTS OF JEWISH PROS-ELYTES . . 760 OCCASION OF THIS DISSERTATION 765 PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO . 768 PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUDS . . 780 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSliLYTE BAP TISM . 787

BOOK I. OF THE BLESSINGS OF GRACE, WHICH COME BY CHRIST; AND OF THE DOCTRINES IN WHICH THEY ARE HELD FORTH. OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST.' Having, in the preceding Book, gone through the twofold state of Christ, his Humiliation and Exaltation ; and considered the several offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, sustained and exercised by him therein ; I shall now proceed to consider the blessings of grace, which come by him, through the exercise of them ; and especially his priestly office ; for he is come a High- Priest of good things to come, which under the former dispensation, were promised, prophesied of, and pre figured in it ; but not accomplished ; for the law had only a shadow of these good things to come, but now they are come, and are actually obtained, through Christ's coming in the flesh ; and through what ho has done and suffered in it ; as redemption, satisfaction, and reconcilia tion for sin, remission of sin, justification, adoption, &c ; and as redemp tion stands in the first place, and is a principal and most important blessing and doctrine of grace, I shall begin with that. I. I shall settle the meaning of the word ; and show what it supposes, includes, and is designed by it. Our English word Redemption, is from the Latin tongue, and signifies, buying again ; and several words in the Greek language, of the New Testament, are used in the affair of our Redemption, which signify the obtaining of something by paying a proper price for it ; sometimes the simple verb ayopafa, to buy, is used : so the redeemed are said to be bought unto God by the blood of Christ ; and to be bought from the earth ; and to bo bought from among men ; and to be bought with a price ; that is, with the price of Christ's blood, 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; hence the church of God is said to be purchased with it, Acts xx. 28. Sometimes the compound word t£ayopaCai, is used ; which signifies, to buy again, or out of the hands of another ; as the redeemed are bought out of the hands of justice ; as in Gal. iii. 13, and iv. 5. In other places Xirrpow is used, or others derived from it ; which signifies, voi.. H. n

2 OF TtEDEMFTION BY CHRIST. the deliverance of a slave, or captive, from his thraldom, by paying a ransom-price for him : so the saints are said to be redeemed, not with silver or gold, the usual price paid for a ransom ; but with a far greater one, the blood and life of Christ, which he came into this world to give, as a ransom-price for many ; and even himself, which is avriXvrpov, and answerable, adequate, and full price for them, 1 Pet. i. 18. There aro various typical redemptions, and that are of a civil nature, which may serve to illustrate our spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ. i. The deliverances of the people of Israel out of their captivities, Egyptian and Babylonian ; the latter I shall not much insist upon ; since, though the Jews were exiles in Babylon, they did not appear to be in much slavery and thraldom : but built houses, planted gardens, and had many privileges ; insomuch that some of them, when they might have had their liberty, chose rather to continue where they were ; and though their deliverance is sometimes called a redemption, yet sparingly, and in an improper sense, Jer. xv. 21 ; for they were redeemed without money ; and Cyrus, their deliverer, neither gave nor took a price for them ; and is never called a redeemer. But the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt, was a very special and remarkable type of redemption by Christ, out of a worse state of bondage than that of Egypt. The Israelites were made to serve with rigour, and their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, in brick and mortar, and service in the field ; and they cried to God, by reason of their bondage, it was so intolerable ; and it was aggravated by the task-masters set over them ; who, by the order of Pharaoh, obliged them to provide them selves with straw, and yet bring in the full tale of brick as before ; which fitly expresses the state and condition that men aro in ; who, through sin, aro weak and unable to fulfil the law ; yet it is as regardless of want of strength, as the Egyptian task-masters were of want of straw : it requires sinless and perfect obedience to it ; and curses and condemns such as continue not in all things to do it. The deliverance of the people of Israel, is called a redemption ; God promised to rid them of their bondage, and to redeem them with a stretched-out arm ; and when they were delivered, he is said to have led forth the people he had redeemed : and the bringing them out of the house of bondage, or redeeming them out of the house of bondmen, is used as an argument to engage them to regard the commandments of God, Exod. vi. 6, and xx. 2. And which redemption by Christ, from sin, the law, and death, lay the redeemed under a still greater obligation to do ; Moses, who was the instrument God raised up, and whom he called and sent to redeem Israel, is said to be a deliverer, or as it should be rendered, a redeemer, Acts vii. 35 ; in which he was a type of Christ, whom God raised up, called, and sent to be a Redeemer of his spiritual Israel : and there was, in some sense, a price paid for the redemption of literal Israel ; since they arc expressly said to be a purchased people, bought by the Lord, and their deliverance was owing to blood, the blood of the passover lamb, sprinkled on their door posts ; typical of the blood of Christ, the price of our redemption. Besides, as it has been observed by some, the redemption of the people of Israel, being the Lord's people, was by

OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. S virtue of their future redemption by Christ : whose sufferings and death were for the redemption of transgressions, or of transgressors, who were under the first testament ; and that the temporal deliverance of none but the Lord's people is called a redemption, not that of his and their enemies. ii. The ransom of the people of Israel, when numbered, was typical of the ransom by Christ ; which was made by paying half a shekel, called tho atonement-money for their souls, and which was paid alike for a rich man, as a poor man ; whereby they were preserved from any plague among them, Exod. xxx. 12— 16. None but Israelites were ransomed ; and none are ransomed by Christ, but the spiritual Israel of God, whom he has chosen, Christ has redeemed, and who shall be saved with an everlasting salvation ; even the wholo Israel of God, Jews and Gentiles : they were a numbered people for whom the ransom was paid ; and so are they that are ransomed and redeemed by Christ ; whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life ; who have passed under the hands of him that telleth them, and have been told into tho hands of Christ ; and are particularly and distinctly known by him, even by name ; the sheep for whom he has laid down his life ; and are a special and peculiar people. The half-shekel was paid alike for rich and poor, for one neither more nor less. Christ's people, though some may bo redeemed from more greater sins than others ; yet they are all redeemed from all their sins, and with the same price, the price of his blood, and which is, as the half-shekel was, an atonement for their souls ; by which peace and reconciliation, and full satisfaction are made for sin, so that no plague shall come nigh them ; they are delivered from going down to the pit of destruction ; and are saved from the second death. hi. The buying again of an Israelite, waxen poor, and sold to another, by any near akin to him ; is a lively representation of tho purchase and redemption of the Lord's poor people, Lev. xxv. 47—49, who, in a state of nature are poor, and wretched, and miserable ; even so as to be like beggars on the dunghill ; when such was the grace of Christ, who, though rich, for their sakes became poor, that they, through his poverty might be made rich ; and to such a degree, as to be raised from the dunghill and sit among princes, and inherit the throne of glory. Though some may not sell themselves to work wicked ness as Ahab did, yet all are sold under sin ; for if this was the case of the apostle Paul, though regenerate, much more must it be the case of an unregenerate man ; who, through sin, is brought into subjection to it, a servant of it, and a slave to it ; as the poor Israelite, sold to a stranger, was a bond-man to him ; and such an one cannot redeem himself, being without strength, unable to fulfil the law, and to make atonement for sin ; nor can any of his friends, though ever so rich, redeem him, or give to God a ransom for him ; such may redeem a poor relation, or friend from prison, by paying his pecuniary debts for him ; but cannot redeem his soul from hell and destruction ; may give a ransom-price to man for one in slavery and bondage ; but cannot give to God a ransom to deliver from wrath to come : only Christ, the near Kinsman of his people, can do this, and has done it ; he that is their b2

4 OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. Goel and Kinsman, partaker of the same flesh and blood with them, is their Redeemer, who has given himself a ransom for them. iv. The delivery of a debtor from prison, by paying his debts for him, is an emblem of deliverance and redemption by Christ : a man that is in debt, is liable to be arrested, and cast into prison, as is often the case ; where he must lie till the debt is discharged, by himself or another : sins are debts ; and a sinner owes more than ten thousand talents, and has nothing to pay ; he cannot answer to the justice of God for one debt of a thousand ; nor can he, by paying a debt of obe dience he owes to God, pay off one debt of sin, or obligation to punish ment ; and so is liable to a prison, and is in one ; is concluded under sin, under the guilt of it, which exposes him to punishment ; and he is held with the cords and fetters of it ; which he cannot loose himself from; and he is shut up under the law, in which he is held, until delivered and released by Christ ; who, as he has engaged to pay the debts of his people, has paid them, cleared the whole score, and blotted out the liand-writing that was against them ; in consequence of which is pro claimed, in the gospel, liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; and in effectual vocation Christ says to the prisoners, go forth, opening the prison-doors for them ; and to them that sit in darkness, in the gloomy cells of the prison, show your selves ; all which is done in virtue of the redemption-price paid by Christ for his people. v. The ransoming of persons out of slavery, by paying a ransom-price for them, serves to give an idea of the redemption of the Lord's people by Christ. They are in a state of slavery, out of which they cannot deliver themselves ; Christ is the ransomer of them out of the hands of such that are stronger than they ; his life and blood are the ransomprice he has paid for them ; and they are called, the ransomed of the Lord ; their deliverance from present bondage, and future ruin and destruction, is in consequence of a ransom found and given ; / have found a ransom, Job xxxiii. 4. In which there is an allusion to a custom in the Eastern countries, to put their slaves in an evening into a pit, where they are close shut up till the morning, and then taken out, to be put to their slavish employments ; but not delivered, unless a suffi cient ransom is given for them ; and such is the blood of the covenant. Now all these views of redemption, plainly point out to us the following things, with respect to the redemption of the Lord's people. i. That they are, previous to their redemption, and, which that supposes, in a state of captivity and bondage ; they are sinners in Adam, and by actual transgressions ; and so come into the hands of vindictive justice, offended by sin ; and which will not clear the guilty, without satisfaction given to it ; which is made by paying a price : Redemption by Christ, is nothing more nor less, than buying his people out of the hands of justice, in which they are held for sin : and that is with the price of his blood ; which is therefore paid into the hands of justice for them : hence they are said to be redeemed, or bought unto God, by his blood, Rev. v. 9. Being sinners, and offenders of the justice of God, that holds under sin ; under the guilt of it, which binds over to punish

OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. 0 ment, unless delivered from it ; it holds them under the sentence of the law, transgressed by them ; which not only accuses of, and charges with sin, but pronounces guilty, and condemns and curses : it holds them in subjection to death, even eternal death ; which is the wages and just demerit of sin : the law threatened with it in case of sin ; sin being committed, the sentence of death passed upon all men ; all having sinned, judgment, or the judicial sentence, came upon all men to con demnation in a legal way ; and sin reigned unto death, in a tyrannical manner ; or, in other words, man became not only deserving of wrath, but obnoxious to it ; the wrath of God was revealed from heaven, against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men ; and indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, como upon every soul of man, as upon the children of disobedience, unless delivered from it, through the redemption that is by Christ. In such an enthralled state are men to sin, to the justice of God, to death, and wrath to come. ii. That redemption by Christ is a deliverance from all this. It is a redemption from sin ; from all iniquities whatever, original and actual, Tit. ii. 14; from avenging justice, on account of sin ; irom the guilt of sin ; for there is no condemnation by it, to them that are interested in redemption by Christ ; Who shall condemn ? it is Christ that died ! and by dying, has redeemed his people from sin, and secured them from condemnation, Rom. viii. 1, 33 ; and in virtue of this, they are delivered from the dominion of sin ; for though this is done in effectual vocation, by the power of divine grace, it is in virtue of redemption by Christ, by whom sin is crucified, and the body of it destroyed ; so that it shall not reign in them, or have dominion over them : one branch of redemp tion, lies in being delivered from a vain conversation ; and, ere long, the redeemed shall be delivered from the very being of sin ; when their redemption, as to the application of it, will be complete ; as it will be in the resurrection ; when the soul will not only be among the spirits of just men made perfect ; but the body will be clear of sm, mortality and death ; which is called redemption that draws near, the redemption of the body waited for, and the day of redemption, Rom. viii. 23. Redemption is a deliverance from the law, from the bondage of it, and from the curse and condemnation by it ; so that there shall be no more curse ; and from eternal death and wrath to come : life is forfeited into the hands of justice by sin ; which life is redeemed from destruction by Christ, giving his life a ransom for it ; he, by redeeming his people, has delivered them from wrath to come ; being justified through the redemption that is in Christ, by his blood, they are, and shall be saved, from everlasting wrath, ruin, and destruction. in. That redemption by Christ is such a deliverance, as that it is setting persons quite free, and at entire liberty ; such who are dead to sin, by Christ are freed from it, from the damning power of it, and from its dominion and tyranny ; and though, not as yet, from the being of it : yet ere long, they will be ; when, with the rest of the members of the church, they will be presented glorious, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing : and such are free from the law ; though not from obedience to it, yet from the bondage of it ; they are delivered from it,

D OF THE CAUSES OP REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. and are no longer held in it, as in a prison ; but are directed and exhorted to stand fast in the liberty from it, with which Christ has made free ; and this will have its full completion on all accounts, when the saints shall be delivered from every degree of bondage, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. OF THE CAUSES OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. The next thing to be considered, are the causes of redemption ; what it springs from, by whom, and by what means it is obtained ; and for what ends and purposes it is wrought out. I. The moving cause of it, or from whence it springs and flows ; and that is, the everlasting love of God ; which, as it is the source and spring of every blessing of grace ; as of election, regeneration, and effectual vocation ; so of redemption. The gift of Christ to be tho Redeemer of his people, flows from this love. Christ was given to be a Redeemer, before he was sent ; when he was given for a covenant to the people, he was given in covenant to be the Redeemer of them : and this gift was the effect of love ; to this Christ himself ascribes it ; God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that is, to be their Redeemer ; hence, before he came, Job had knowledge of him as his living Redeemer ; and all the Old Testament-saints waited for him as such. The mission of Christ in tho fulness of time, to be the propitiation for the sins of men, and to redeem them from them, is given as a manifest, clear, and undoubted instance of his love; In this was manifested the love of God, &c Herein is love, &c, 1 John iv. 9, 10 ; and God not sparing his Son, but delivering him into the hands of justice and death, to die in the room and stead of sinners, while they were such, is a full demonstration, and high commendation of his great love unto them, Rom. v. 8. The free grace of God, for grace, if it is not altogether free, is not grace ; and which is no other than unmerited love, clear of all conditions, merit and motives in the creature ; it is at the bottom of our redemption by Christ ; for as we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ; so that redemption that is in and by Christ, is of free grace ; tho gift of Christ is a free gracegift ; his being sent and delivered up to death, are owing to the grace of God ; it is by the grace of God he tasted death for every one ; for every one of the sons of God : and this cannot be attributed to any merit or desert in those for whom Christ died ; sinco they were without strength, ungodly, wicked, sinners, the chief of sinners, and enemies in their minds by wicked works, Rom. v. 6 — 10. Mercy, which is no other than the love and grace of God, exercised towards miserable creatures, gives rise to this blessing of redemption : God first resolved to have mercy on sinful men ; and then determined to redeem and save them by his Son ; and it is through the tender mercy of our God, that Christ, the day-spring from on high, visited and redeemed his people ; and so per formed the mercy promised to men, Luke i. 68—78 ; hence God is said to save men according to his mercy ; and mercy is glorified in their

OP THE CAUSES OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. 7 salvation and redemption by Christ ; and they are under obligation to sing of mercy, to praise the Lord, and give thanks unto him, on account of it, Tit. iii. 5, Psalm cvii. 1,2; it is now, by the love, grace, and mercy of God to sinful men, that his will is determined, and his resolu tion fixed, to redeem them ; for redemption is according to an eternal purpose he has purposed in Christ ; who was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, to redeem men from a vain conversation with his precious blood : he was set forth, in the decrees and purposes of God, to be the propitiation for sin ; God appointed him to be the Redeemer and Saviour; and appointed men, not unto wrath, which they deserved, but to obtain salvation by him ; even the vessels of mercy, afore prepared for glory ; and being moved, from his love, grace, and mercy, within himself, to determine upon the redemption of them, his wisdom was set to work to find out the best way and method of doing it : upon this a council was held ; God was, in Christ, forming a scheme of peace, reconciliation, and redemption ; in which he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, in fixing upon the most proper Person, and the most proper means, whereby to effect it : and hence the scheme of redemption, as formed in the eternal mind and council of God, is called the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. i. 7, 8, and iii. 10. But of the wisdom of God, as it appears in redemption by Christ, I have more largely treated when on the attribute of Wisdom. All these workings in the heart and will of God, issued in a covenant between him and his Son ; in which he proposed to his Son, that he should be the Raiser-up, Restorer, and Redeemer of his people, both among Jews and Gentiles ; and to which he agreed, and said, Lo, I comc to do thy will ! which was no other, than to work out the redemption of his people. Hence this covenant is by some called, the covenant of redemption, in which this great affair was settled and secured. Now upon all this, the love, grace, and mercy of God, the good- will and purpose of his heart, his council and covenant, the plot of man's redemption is formed ; this is the source and spring of it. II. The procuring Cause, or Author of redemption, is Christ, the Son of God; he was appointed to it, and assented to it, was prophesied of as the Redeemer that should come to Zion ; he was sent to redeem them that were under the law; and he has obtained eternal redemption; and in him believers have it, through his blood, and he is of God made redemption to them. i. If it be asked, how Christ came to be the Redeemer ? it may bo answered, as the love, grace and mercy of God the Father moved him to resolve upon redemption, and appoint his Son, and call him to this work ; so like love, grace, and mercy, wrought in the heart of the Son of God to accept of this call, and engage in this work ; the love of Christ, which was in his heart from everlasting, and was a love of complacency and delight ; this showed itself in various acts, and especially in giving himself for his people to redeem them; in giving himself an offering and a sacrilice for their sins ; in laying down his life for them ; all which is frequently ascribed to his love, 1 John iii. 16; and this love is unmerited, as appears from the

8 OF THE CAUSES OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. characters of the persons for whom he died, observed before ; and so is called the grace of Christ, free grace, unmoved and unmerited by any thing in the creature ; and to this is attributed the whole affair of our redemption and salvation by Christ, 2 Cor. viii. 5 ; pity and compassion in his heart towards his people, in their miserable and enthralled state, moved him to undertake and perform the work of their redemption : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, as he did Israel of old, Isa. lxiii. 9. This love, grace and mercy, influenced and engaged him to resolve upon the redemption of them ; hence he said, / will ransom them, I will redeem them ; as from the grave and death, so from every other enemy, Hos. xiii. 14 ; and as he entered into covenant engagements with his Father from everlasting; he considered himself as under obligation to perform this work, and therefore spoke in language which imports the same ; as that he must work the works of hi m that sent him, of which this is the principal ; that he ought to suffer and die as he did ; and that he must bring in those the Father gave him, and he undertook for, and bring them safe to glory. ii. The fitness of Christ to be a Redeemer of his people, is worthy of notice. As he engaged in it, he was every way fit for it ; none so fit as he, none fit for it but himself ; no creature, man or angel : no man, for all have sinned, and so every one needs a redeemer from sin, and can neither redeem himself nor any other ; nor could an angel redeem any of the sons of men ; God has put no trust of this kind in those his servants the angels, knowing that they were unequal to it : the angel Jacob speaks of, that redeemed him from all evil, was not a created, but the uncreated angel : the angel and messenger of the covenant, the Messiah. Now Christ's fitness for the work of redemption, lies in his being God and man in one person. It was the Son of God that was sent to redeem men, who is of the same nature, and possessed of the same perfections his divine Father is; the bright ness of his glory, and the express image of his person ; who was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal to him : this Son of God is the true God, the great God, and so fit to be the Redeemer and Saviour of men ; and a mighty redeemer he must be, since he is Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, and therefore equal to such a work as this, and he is both God and man ; he is the child born, as man, and the son given, as a divine person ; he is Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, and so fit to be a mediator between God and man ; and to be an umpire, a days-man to lay hands on both ; and to do the work required of a Redeemer of men, to make reconciliation for their sins and to take care of things pertaining to the glory of God, his justice and holiness. As man he could be made, as he was made, under the law, and so capable of yielding obedience to it, and of bearing the penalty of it ; which it was necessary he should, as the surety and redeemer of men ; as man, he had blopd to shed, with which most precious blopd he could redeem them unto God ; had a life to lay down, a sufficient ransom-price for his people, and was capable of suffering and dying in

OF THE CAUSES OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. 9 their room and stead, and so of making full satisfaction for them. As God, he would be zealously concerned for the glory of the divine perfections, and secure the honour of them in the redemption wrought out by him ; as such, he i;ould put an infinite virtue into his blood, and make it a full and adequate price for the purchase of his church, and the redemption of it, as such he could support the human naturo under the load of sin and of sufferings for it, and of carrying it through the work, otherwise insupportable ; as both God and man, he had a right to redeem ; as Lord of all, he had a right as well as power to redeem them that were his ; and being, as man, their near kinsman, the right of redemption belonged to him, and therefore bears the name of Goel, which signifies a redeemer, and a near kinsman ; and who so fit to be the redeemer, of the church, as he who is her head and her husband '. in. The means by which redemption is wrought out by Christ; and that is by his blood, his life, to which it is often ascribed, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; this was shed and shed freely, for the remission of sins, and for the redemption of men ; had it been shed involuntarily, by accident or by force, against his will, it would not have been a proper redemp tion-price, or have answered such an end; but it was purposely and voluntarily shed, and with full consent ; Christ, as he had the full dis posal of his own life, freely gave his life a ransom- price for many; / lay down my life for the sheep, says he, as a ransom price for them ; / lay it down ofmyself Matt. xx. 28, John x. 15, 18 ; and the blood that was thus freely shed, was the same with that of those for whom it was shed, which was necessary ; not the blood of bulls and goats, which could not be an adequate price of redemption, but human blood; Christ partook of the same flesh and blood with the children for whom he died ; only with this difference, it was not tainted with sin as theirs is ; which is another requisite of the ransom-price ; it must be the blood of an innocent person, as Christ was : much notice is taken in Scripture of the innocence, holiness, and righteousness of the Redeemer; that he was holy in his nature, harmless m life, knew no sin, nor ever committed any ; that he, the just and holy one, suffered for the unjust ; a great emphasis is put upon this, that the price with which men are redeemed, is the precious blood of Christ, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; for if he had had any sin in him, he could not have been a redeemer from sin, nor his blood the price of redemption : and yet more than all this, it is necessary to make this price a full and adequate one, it must not be the blood of a mere creature, but of one that is God as well as man, and such is Christ ; hence God, who is Christ, is said to purchase the church with his own blood ; being God and man in one person, this gave his blood a sufficient virtue to make such a purchase; and a peculiar emphasis is put upon his blood, being the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God, which cleanses from all sin, Acts xx. 28, 1 John i. 7- Now this price is paid into the hands of God, whose justice is offended, whose law is broken, and who is the lawgiver, that is able to save and to destroy ; and against whom all sin is committed ; and who will not deaf the guilty, unless his justice is satisfied ; for he

10 OP THE CAUSES OP REDEMPTION BY CHRIST. is the judge of all the earth, who will do right; wherefore Christ is said to redeem men unto God by his blood. The price of redemption, which is the blood of Christ, was paid unto God, whereby redemption from vindictive justice was obtained ; it w|s not paid into the hands of Satan, or any other enemy that had power over the redeemed ; for the power of Satan was only a usurpation ; he had no legal right to hold them captives ; and therefore the delivery of them out of his hand, is by power and not by price : but the justice of God had a legal right to shut them up, and detain them as prisoners, till satis faction was given ; and therefore redemption from avenging justice, which is properly the redemption that is by Christ, is by a price paid to justice for the ransom of them. in. The final cause, or causes, or ends, for which redemption was wrought out and obtained by Christ in this way ; and they are these. —1. That the justice of God might be satisfied in the salvation of a sinner ; that God might appear to bo just, whilst ho is the justifier of him that believes in Jesus ; and be just and faithful in forgiving sins, and cleansing from all unrighteousness; that the attributes of his justice, holiness, truth and faithfulness, might be glorified in the redemption of men, as well as the other perfections of his, Rom. iii. 25, 26—2. That the people of God might be reconciled unto him, and have peace with him, and joy through believing in Christ ; for the price of redemption being paid for them, and satisfaction given, they are reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; even to his justice, as they always stood in his love and favour ; and peace being made by the blood of Christ on such a footing, they may joy in God through Christ, by whom they have received the atonement, Rom. v. 10, 11.—3. Another end of redemption by Christ is, that the redeemed might enjoy the blessing of adoption ; for so it is said that God sent his Son to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, Gal. iv. 4, 5 ; for though the saints are predestinated to the adoption of children in the purpose of God from everlasting ; and this blessing is provided and secured in the covenant of grace ; yet sin having thrown, a remora in the way of the enjoyment of it in their own persons, consistent with the holiness and justice of God, this is removed by the redemption which is through Christ ; so that they come to receive and enjoy this blessing of grace in themselves in virtue of their redemption by Christ, and through believing in him. —4. The sanctification of God's elect, is another end of redemp tion by Christ ; Who gave himselffor them, that he might redeem them from all iniquity ; and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Tit. ii. 14; and again, Christ is said to lovo the church, and give himselffor it, a ransom -price for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, Eph. v. 25, 26 ; and the redeemed are said to be redeemed by his blood from a vain conversation, for in consequence of redemp tion by Christ, the Spirit of Christ comes as a Spirit of sanctification, and begins and carries on that work in the souls of God's people ; and by applying the grace and benefit of redemption, lays them under the highest obligation to holiness of life and conversation : in a word, the

OF THE OBJECrS OF REDEMPTION. 11 ^ end of Christ's redeeming his people is, that they might be freed from all evil, from every enemy, and all that is hurtful, sin, Satan, the world, law, hell, and death; and that they might be put into the possession of every good .thing. Christ has redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a cursefor them, that the blessing ofAbraham, even all the blessings of the covenant of grace in which Abraham was interested, might come on them through Jesus Christ, Gal. iii. 13, 14.— 6. And lastly, the subordinate- end of redemption, is the everlasting salvation of God's elect, and their eternal life and happiness ; and the ultimate end, is the glory of God, of his grace and justice, and of all the perfections of his nature. OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION'. The objects of redemption come next under consideration. These are a special and distinct people ; they are said to be redeemed from the earth ; that is, from among the inhabitants of the earth, as after* explained, redeemed from among men ; and one end of Christ's redemp tion of them is, to purify to himself a peculiar people. The inspired writers seem to delight in using the pronoun us, when speaking of the death of Christ, and redemption by it ; thereby pointing at a particular people, as the context shows : Christ died for us,— God delivered him upfor us all,—who gave himselffor us,—that he might redeem us,—hath redeemed us unto God by thy blood, Rom. v. 8, and viii. 32, Tit. ii. 14, Rev. v. 9. They are many indeed for whom Christ has given his life a ransom, a ransom-price, tho price of their redemption. But then these are so described, as show they are a peculiar people ; they are the many who are ordained unto eternal life ; the many the Father has given to Christ ; the many whoso sins ho bore on the cross ; the many for whom his blood was shed for the remission of their sins ; the many who are made righteous by his obedience ; tho many sons, he, the Captain of their salvation, brings to glory. That tho objects of redemption are a special people, will appear by the following observa tion. I. The objects of redemption, are such who are the objects of God's love ; for redemption, as has been observed, flows from the lovo of God and Christ ; and which lovo is not that general kindness shown in pro vidence to all men, as the creatures of God ; but is special and dis criminating ; the favour which he bears to his own people, as distinct from others ; Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated : and the love which Christ has expressed in redemption, is towards his own that were in the world, whom he has special right and property in, his people, his sheep, his church ; as will be seen hereafter. II. The objects of election and redemption are the same ; Who shall lay any thing to the- charge of God's elect ?—It is Christ that died! died for the elect : so the same, us all, for whom God delivered up his Son, are those whom he fore-knew, and whom he predestinated ; and whose calling, justification, and glorification are secured thereby, Rom.

12 OF THK OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. viii. 30—33 ; and the same us, who are said to be chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world, have redemption in him through his blood, Eph. i. 4—7. Election and redemption are of equal extent ; no more are redeemed by Christ, than are chosen in him ; and these are a special people ; what is said of the objects of the one, is true of the objects of the other. Are the elect the beloved of the Lord ? and does the act of election spring from love ? Election presupposes love : so the redeemed are the beloved of God and Christ ; and their redemp tion flows from love. Are the elect a people whom God has chosen for his peculiar treasure ? the redeemed are purified by Christ, to be a peculiar people to himself. Do the vessels of mercy, afore prepared for glory, consist of Jews and Gentiles ; even of them w:ho are called of both ? so Christ is the propitiation, not for the sins of the Jews only, or the Redeemer of them only ; but for the sins of the Gentile world also, or the Redeemer of his people among them. Are the elect of God a great number, of all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues I Christ has redeemed those he has redeemed unto God, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Is it true of the elect, that they cannot be totally and finally deceived and perish 1 it is true of the ransomed of the Lord, that they shall come to Zion, with everlasting joy ; Christ will never lose any part of the purchase of his blood. III. Those for whom Christ has died, and has redeemed by his blood, are no other than those for whom he became a surety. Now Christ was the surety of the better testament, or covenant of grace ; and of course became a surety for those, and for no other, than who were interested in that covenant, in which he engaged to be the Redeemer : Christ's suretyship is the ground and foundation of redemption ; the true reason of the sin of his people, and the punish ment of it, being laid upon him, and of his bearing it ; of the payment of the debts of his people, and of redeeming them out of the hands of justice ; was because he engaged as a surety, and laid himself under obligation to do all this. But for those for whom he did not become a surety, he was not obliged to pay their debts ; nor to suffer and die in their room and stead. Christ's suretyship and redemption, are of equal extent, and reach to the same objects ; they are the Lord's Benjamins, the sons of his right-hand, his beloved sons, that Christ, the antitype of Judah, became a surety for, and laid himself under obligation, to bring them safe to glory, and present them to his divine Father. IV. The objects of redemption, are described by such characters as show them to be a special and distinct people ; particularly they are called, the people of God and Christ. For the transgressions of my people, saith the Lord, was he stricken ; that is, Christ was, or would be, stricken by the rod of justice, to make satisfaction for their sins ; and thereby redeem them from them, Isa. liii. 8, and when he was about to come and redeem them, Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, at his birth said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ! for he hath visited and redeemed his people ; by sending Christ, the dayspring from on high, as he afterwards calls him, to visit them, and

OP THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. 13 redeem them by his blood. Hence, also, the angel that appeared to Joseph, and instructed him to call the Son that should be born of his wife by the name of Jesus, gives this reason, For he shall save, his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21. Now though all men are, in a sense, the people of God, as they are his creatures, and the care of his providence ; yet they are not all redeemed by Christ ; because those that are re deemed by Christ, are redeemed out of every people; and therefore cannot be every or all people, Rev. v. 9 ; the redeemed are God's cove nant-people ; of whom he says, They shall be my people, and I will be their God : they are his portion, and his inheritance ; a people near unto him, both with respect to union and communion ; a people given to Christ, to be redeemed and saved by him ; of whom it is said, Thy people shall be willing, &c V. The objects of redemption ; or those for whom Christ laid down his life a ransom-price, are described as sheep ; as the sheep of Christ, in whom he has a special property, being given him of his Father ; and who are represented as distinct from others, who are not his sheep, John x. 1 5 —29 ; and such things are said of them, as can only agree with some particular persons ; as, that they are known by Christ ; / know my sheep, not merely by his omniscience, so he knows all men ; but he knows them distinctly, as his own ; the Lord knows them that are his, from others ; he has knowledge of them, joined with special love and affection for them ; as he has not of others, to whom ho will say, Depart from me ; I know you not. Likewise Christ is known by those sheep of his he has laid down his life for ; they know him in his person, offices, and grace ; whereas there are some that neither know the Father nor the Son ; but those know the voice of Christ ; that is, the gospel of Christ, the joyful sound ; whereas the gospel is hid to them that are lost : and the sheep Christ has died for follow him, imitate him in the exercise of grace, of love, patience, humility, &c, and in the performance of duty : and this is said of the redeemed from among men ; that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes, Rev. xiv. 4. It is also affirmed of those sheep, that they shall never perish ; whereas the goats set on Christ's left-hand, shall be bid to go, as cursed, into everlasting fire. VI. The objects of redemption, are the sons of God ; redemption and adoption belong to the same persons ; according to the prophecy of Caiaphas, Christ was to die, not for the nation of the Jews only, but to gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad throughout the Gentile world, John xi. 52 ; and those who are Eredestinated to adoption by Christ, are said to have redemption in im, through his blood, and the blessing of adoption, in the full enjoy ment of it, in the resurrection, is called, the redemption of the body ; when redemption, as to the application of it, will be complete also, Rom. viii. 23. Now these sons or children of God, are a peculiar number of men, who are given of God to Christ, to redeem ; the seed promised to him in covenant, that he should see and enjoy ; and to whom he stands in the relation of the everlasting Father ; these are they on whose account he became incarnate, took part of the same flesh

14 OP THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. rind blood ; and these are the many sons he brings to glory, Heb. ii. 10 — 14. Now these are not all men ; The children of theflesh, or such as are never born again, they are not the children of God ; only such are openly, and manifestatively, the children of God, who believe in Christ ; and this is owing to special grace, to distinguishing love ; and is a favour that is only conferred on some, Rom. ix. 8, Gal. iii. 26, John i. 12, John iii. 1. VII. The objects of redemption, are the church and spouse of Christ ; it is the church he has loved, and given himself as a sacrifice and ransom-price for ; it is the church he has purchased with his blood ; even the general assembly, the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven ; that is, the elect of God, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, Eph. v. 25 ; of that church of which Christ is the head and husband, he is the Redeemer ; Thy maker is thine Husband : and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel ! Isa. liv. 5. This cannot be said of all communities and bodies of men : the whore of Babylon is not the spouse of Christ ; nor sects under the , influence of false teachers, though there may be threescore queens, and fourscoro concubines, of this sort ; yet, says Christ, my dove, my undefiled, is but one ; and who only is redeemed by Christ, and espoused to him. Now from all this it appears, that redemption is not universal, is not of all men ; for though they are many for whom the ransom-price is paid ; yet though all are many, many are not all ; and if the redeemed are such who are the objects of God s special love and favour, then not all men ; for there are some of whom it is said, He that made them, will not have mercy on them ; and he that formed them, will show them no favour, Isa. xxvii. 11. If they are the elect of God who are redeemed by Christ, and them only, and then not all men ; for all are not chosen ; The election hath obtained it; and the rest are blinded, Rom. xi. 7 ; if only those arc redeemed for whom Christ became a surety, then not all men ; since Christ did not engage to pay the debts of all men ; and if they are the people of God and Christ, then not all ; since there are some on whom God writes a lo-ammi, saying, Ye are not my people; and I will not be your God, Hos. i. 9. And if they are the sheep of Christ, to whom he gives eternal life ; then not the goats, who will go into everlasting punishment : and if they are the children of God, and the church and spouse of Christ ; then not all men ; for all do not bear these characters, nor stand in these relations. What may be farther necessary, will be to produce some reasons, or arguments, against universal redemption ; and to give answer to such scriptures as are brought in favour of it. It should be observed, that it is agreed on both sides, that all are not eventually saved : could universal salvation be established, there would be no objection to universal redemption ; the former not being the case, the latter cannot be true ; Christ cer tainly saves all whom he redeems. i. I shall give some reasons, or produce some arguments, against the universal scheme of redemption. And the first set of arguments shall be taken from hence, that universal redemption reflects highly on

OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. 15 the perfections of God ; and what is contrary to the divine perfections cannot be true ; for God cannot deny himself, nor say, nor do any thing contrary to his nature and attributes. 1. The universal scheme greatly reflects on the love of God to men; it may at first sight seem to magnify it, since it extends it to all ; but it will not appear so ; it lessens it, and reduces it to nothing. The Scriptures highly commend the love of God, as displayed in the death of his Son, and in redemption by him ; but what kind of love must that be which does not secure the salvation of any by it ? it is not that love which God bears to his own people, which is special and distin guishing; when, according to the umversal scheme, God loved Peter no more than he did Judas ; nor the saints now in heaven any more than those that are damned in hell, since they were both loved alike, and equally redeemed by Christ ; nor is it that love of God which is immutable, invariable, and unalterable; since, according to this scheme, God loves men with so intense a love at one time as to give his Son to die for them, and wills that they all should be saved, and afterwards this love is turned into wrath and fury, and he is determined to punish them with everlasting destruction. What sort of love must this be in God, not to spare his Son, but deliver him up to death for all the individuals of mankind, for their redemption ; and yet, to multitudes of them, does not send them so much as the gospel, to acquaint them with the blessing of redemption by Christ ; and much less his Spirit to apply the benefit of redemption to them ; nor give them faith to lay hold upon it for themselves ? Such love as this is unworthy of God, and of no service to the creature. 2. The universal scheme highly reflects on the wisdom of God ; it is certain God is wonderful in counsel in contriving the scheme of redemption ; and is excellent in working in the execution of it ; he is the wise God and our Saviour, and is wise as such. But where is his wisdom in forming a scheme in which he fails of his end ? there must be some deficiency in it ; a want of wisdom to concert a scheme which is not or cannot be carried into execution, at least as to some consider able part of it. Should it be said, that the failure is owing to some men's not performing the conditions of their redemption required of them ; it may be observed, either God did know, or did not know, that these men would not perform the conditions required ; if he did not know, this ascribes want of knowledge to him, which surely ought not to be ascribed to him that knows all things ; if he did know they would not perform them, where is his wisdom, to provide the blessing of redemption which he knew beforehand would be of no service to them? Let not such a charge of folly be brought again&t Infinite Wisdom. 3. The universal scheme highly reflects on the justice of God. God is righteous in all his ways and works, and so in this of redemption by Christ ; and indeed one principal end of it is, To declare the righteous ness of God that he might be just, or appear to be just, and the justifier of him which believed in Jesus. But if Christ died for the sins of all men, and the punishment of their sins is inflicted on him, and borne by

16 OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. him, and yet multitudes of them are everlastingly punished for them, where is the justice of God ? It is reckoned unjust with men, to punish twice for the same act of offence : if one man pays another man's debts, would it be just with the creditor to exact, require, and receive pay ment again at the hands of the debtor ? If Christ has paid the debts of all men, can it be just with God to arrest such persons, and cast them into the prison of hell till they have paid the uttermost farthing? Far be it from the Judge of all the earth to do so, who will do right. 4. The universal scheme reflects on the power of God, as if he was not able to carry his designs into execution ; whereas, The Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save ; but, according to this scheme, it seems as if it was ; for if Christ has redeemed all men, and all men are not saved, it must be either from want of will in God to save them or from want of power; —not from want of will; for, according to this scheme, it is the will of God that every individual man should be saved ; it must bo therefore for want of power, and so he is not omni potent. Should it be said, that some men not being saved is owing to evil dispositions in them obstructing the kind influences and intentions of God towards them ; to the perverseness of their wills, and the strength of their unbelief. But, what is man mightier than his Maker ? Are the kind influences of God, and his gracious intentions, to be obstructed by the corrupt dispositions of men ? Is not he able to work in them, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure ? Cannot he remove the perverseness of their wills and the hardness of their hearts? Cannot he, by his power, take away their unbelief, and work faith in them, to belicve in a living Redeemer ? Far be it to think otherwise of him with whom nothing is too hard, nor any thing impossible. 5. The universal scheme reflects on the immutability of God, of his love, and of his counsel. God, in the Scripture, says, / am the Lord, I cliange not, &c, Mal. iii. 6 ; but, according to this scheme, it should be rather, I am the Lord, I change ; and therefore the sons of men, or at least some of them, are consumed, are lost and perish, though redeemed by Christ; for the love of God, as has been observed, is changeable with respect unto them : one while he loves them, so that he wills their salvation ; at another time his love is changed into hatred, and he is resolved to stir up his wrath to the uttermost against them. He is said to be in one mind, and who can turn him ? and yet, according to this scheme, he is sometimes in one mind, and sometimes in another ; sometimes his mind is to save them, at another time his mind is to damn them. But let not this be said of him with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. 6. The universal scheme disappoints God of his chief end, and robs him of his glory. The ultimate end of God, in the redemption of men ; as has been observed ; is his own glory, the glory of his rich grace and mercy ; and of his righteousness, truth and faithfulness : but if men, any of them who aro redeomed, are not saved, so far God loses his end, and is deprived of his glory; for should this be the case, where would be the glory of God the Father, in forming a scheme which does not suc ceed, at least with respect to multitudes? and where would be the glory

OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. I / of God, the Redeemer, in working out the redemption of men, and yet they not saved by him I And where would be the glory of the Spirit of God, if the redemption wrought out, is not effectually applied by him ? But, on the contrary, the glory of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, is great in the salvation of all the redeemed ones. Another set of arguments against universal redemption, might be taken from its reflecting on the grace and work of Christ : whatever obscures, or lessens, the grace of Christ in redemption, or depreciates his work as a Redeemer, can never be true. 1. The universal scheme reflects on the love and grace of Christ. The Scriptures speak highly of the love of Christ, as displayed in redemp tion ; and Christ himself intimates, that he was about to give the greatest instance of his love to his people, by dying for them, that could be given ; even though and while they were enemies to him, John xv. 13. But what sort of love is that, to love men to such a degree as to die for them, and yet withhold the means of grace from multitudes of them, bestow no grace upon tliem, and at last say to them, Departfrom me, ye cursed, into everlastingfire. 2. The universal scheme reflects upon the work of Christ ; particu larly his work of satisfaction, which was to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, by satisfying divine justice for it ; by putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, either he has made satisfaction for every man, or he has not ; if he has, then they ought to be set free, and fully discharged, and not punishment inflicted on them, or their debts exacted of them : if he has not made satisfaction by redeeming them, this lessens the value of Christ's work, and makes it of no use, and ineffectual ; and indeed, generally, if not always, the advocates for general redemption deny the proper satisfaction, and real atone ment by Christ ; plainly discerning, that if he has made full satisfac tion for the sins of all men, they must all be saved ; and so the work of reconciliation, which is closely connected with, and involved in satis faction, is not perfect according to the Scriptures : Christ, by redeem ing men with the price of his blood, has made satisfaction to justice for them, and thereby has procured their reconciliation : for they are said to be reconciled unto God by the death of his Son ; and peace is said to be made by the blood of his cross which is the redemptionprice for them ; and he is pacified towards them for all that they have done ; which is meant by Christ being a propitiation for sin, whereby justice is appeased. But, according to the universal scheme, God is only made reconcilable, not reconciled, nor men reconciled to him : notwithstanding what Christ has done, there may be no peace to them, not any being actually made for them ; and, indeed, the work of redemption must be very incomplete ; though Christ is a Rock, as a Saviour and Redeemer, and his work is perfect, his work of redemp tion ; and hence called a plenteous one ; and Christ is said to have obtained eternal redemption for us ; and yet if all are not saved through it, it must be imperfect ; it cannot be a full redemption, nor of eternal efficacy ; the benefit of it, can at most, bo only for a time to vol. u. c

18 OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. some, if any at all, and not to be for ever ; which is greatly to depre ciate the efficacy of this work of Christ. 3. According to the universal scheme, the death of Christ, with respect to multitudes, for whom he is said to die, must be in vain ; for if Christ died to redeem all men, and all men are not saved by his death, so far his death must be in vain : if he paid a ransom for all, and all are not ransomed ; or if he has paid the debts of all, and they are not discharged, the price is given, and the payment made, in vain. According to this scheme, the death of Christ is no security against condemnation : though the apostle says, Who shall condemn ? It is Christ that died ! so that there is no condemnation to them whose sins are condemned in Christ : and he has condemned them in the flesh, and yet there is a world of men that will be condemned, 1 Cor. xi. 32, and therefore it may be concluded, that Christ did not die for them, or otherwise they would not come into condemnation ; or else Christ's death has no efficacy against condemnation. 4. The universal scheme, separates the works of Christ, the work of redemption, and the work of intercession ; and makes them to belong to different persons ; whereas they are of equal extent, and belong to the same ; for whom Christ died, for them he rose again from the dead ; and that was for their justification ; which is not true of all men : for those ho ascended to heaven, to God, as their God and Father, for the same he entered into heaven, as their forerunner, and appears in the presence of God for them, and ever lives to make intercession for them ; and for the same for whom he is an advocate, he is the propitia tion ; for his advocacy is founded upon his propitiatory sacrifice : now those for whom he prays and intercedes, aro not all men, himself being witness; Iprayfor them ; Ipray notfor the rcorld, John xvii. 9. Yet, according to the universal scheme, he died for them for whom he would not pray ; which is absurd and incredible. 5. If Christ died for all men, and all men are not saved, Christ will not see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied ; as was pro mised him, Isa. liii. ;. for what satisfaction can we have to see his labour with respect to multitudes, all lost labour, or labour in vain ? it was the joy that was set before him, of having those for whom he suffered and died, with him in heaven : but what joy can he have, and what a disappointment must it be to him, to see thousands and millions whom he so loved as to give himself for, howling in hell, under the ever lasting displeasure and wrath of God ? Other arguments against universal redemption, may be taken from the uselessness of it to great numbers of men. 1. To those whose sins are irrcmissible ; whose sins will never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come ; that there are such sinners, and such sins committed by them, is certain, from what Christ himself says, Matt. xii. 31, 32; and the apostle speaks of a sin which is unto death, unto eternal death ; which he does not advise to pray for, 1 John v. 16; and surely Christ cannot be thought to die for such sins, for which there is no forgiveness with God, and no prayer to be made by men for the remission of them ; to say that Christ

OF THE OBJECTS OF REDEMPTION. 19 died for those, is to say that he died in vain : besides, there were mul titudes in hell at the time when Christ died ; and it cannot be thought that he died for those, as he must, if he died for all the individuals of mankind ; as the men of Sodom, who were then, as Jude says, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; and the inhabitants of the old world, the world of the ungodly, destroyed by the flood ; those that were disobedient in the times of Noah ; whose spirits, as the apostle Peter says, were, in his time, in the prison of hell, Jude 7, 1 Pet. iii. 20 ; if he died for these, his death must be fruitless and useless ; unless it can be thought, that a jail-delivery was made at his death, and the dominions and regions of hell were cleared of their subjects. 2. Redemption, if for all, must be useless to thoso who never were favoured with the means of grace; as all the nations of the world, excepting Israel, for many hundreds of years, were ; whoso times of ignorance God winked at and overlooked, and sent no messengers, nor messages of grace, unto them ; and since the coming of Christ, though the gospel has, in some ages, had a greater spread, yet not preached to all ; nor is it now, to many nations, who have never heard of Christ, and of redemption by him, Rom. x. 14. 3. The universal scheme, affords no encouragement to faith and hope in Christ : redemption, as it ascertains salvation to some, it encourages sensible sinners to hope in Christ for it ; Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with him is plenteous redemption, Psalm cxxx. 7 ; a redemption full of salvation ; and which secures that blessing to all that believe. But, according to the universal scheme, men may be redeemed by Christ, and yet not saved, but eternally perish : what hope of salvation can a man have upon such a scheme ? it requires no great discernment, nor judgment of things, to determine, which is most eligible of the two schemes, that which makes the salvation of somo certain ; or that which leaves the salvation of all precarious and uncertain; which though it asserts a redemption of all, yet it is possible none may be saved. 4. Hence, even to those who are redeemed and saved, it lays no foundation for, nor does it furnish with any argument to engage to love Christ, to be thankful to him, and to praise him for the redemption of them ; since the difference between them and others, is not owing to the efficacy of Christ's death, but to their own wills and works ; they are not beholden to Christ, who has done no more for them than for those that perish ; they are not from any such consideration obliged to walk in love, as Clirist has loved them, and given him self for them ; since he has loved them no more, and given himself for them no otherwise, than for them that are lost; nor are they under obligation to be thankful to him, and bless his name, that ho has redeemed their lives from destruction, since, notwithstanding his redemption of them, they might have been destroyed with an ever lasting destruction ; it is not owing to what Christ has done, but to what they have done themselves, performing the conditions of salva tion required, that they are saved from destruction, if ever they are, c2

20 OF SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM according to this scheme : nor can they indeed sing the song of praise to the Lamb, for their redemption ; saying, Thou art worthy—for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us, &c, since, according to this scheme, Christ has redeemed every kindred, every tongue, every people, and every nation. OF THOSE PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE WHICH SEEM TO FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. There are several passages of Scripture, which, at first sight, may seem to countenance the universal scheme, and which are usually brought in support of it, and which it will be necessary to take under consideration ; and these may be divided into three classes.—Sucli in which the words all and every one are used, when the death of Christ and the benefits of it arc spoken of.—Those in which the words world and the whole world occur, where the same subjects are treated of.— And those that seem to intimate as if Christ died for some that may be destroyed and perish. I. Such in which the words all and every one are used, when the death of Christ and the benefits of it, particularly redemption and salvation by him, are spoken of. i. The declaration of the angel in Luke ii. 10, 11, Behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, &c Let it be observed, that Christ is not here said to be the Saviour of all men, but to be born for the sake of some, that he might be the Saviour of them ; unto you is born a Saviour ; to you, the shepherds, who appeared to be good men, waiting for the salvation of God, and the coming of their Saviour, and therefore praised and glorified God for what they heard and saw ; the words fully agree with the prophetic language, in which the birth of Christ is signified, To its a child is born ; indeed it is said, that the news of the birth of a Saviour would be great joy to all people, or to all the people ; not to all the people of the world, many of whom never heard of it ; nor to all the people of the Jews, who did hear of it ; not to Herod the king, and to the scribes and Pharisees, and to many, at least, of the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; for when he and they heard the report the wise men from the east made of the birth of the King of the Jews, Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, Matt. ii. 3 ; but to all the people of God and Christ ; to the peoplo Christ came to save, and does save ; on whose account his name was called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins;' the people given him in covenant, and for whose transgressions he was stricken, and for whose sins he made reconciliation, at most, the birth of Christ as a Saviour can only be matter of great joy to whom the tidings of it come ; whereas, there are multitudes that come into the world and go out of it, who never hear of the birth of Christ, and of salvation by him ; and where the gospel, the good tidings of salvation by Christ, does come, it is only matter of great joy to them to whom it comes in power, and who are by it made sensible of their lost, perishing estate,

TO FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 21 of their want of a Saviour, and of the suitableness of salvation ; such as the three thousand convinced and converted under Peter's sermon, and the jailor and his household, who cried out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? To such, and to such only, the news of Christ as a Saviour is matter of great joy. n. The account given of John's ministry, and the end of it ; that all r,ien, through him, might believe, John i. 7 ; from whence it is concluded, that all men are bound to believe that Christ came to save them, and that he died for them ; and if he did not die for them, then they are bound to believe a lie ; and if condemned for not believing, they are condemned for not believing an untruth. But John's ministry only reached to the Jews, among whom he came preaching ; and the report he made of Christ they were bound to believe, was, not that he died for them ; as yet he had not died ; but that he was the Messiah : and their disbelief of this was their sin and condemnation ; as it is the sin of the deists, and of all unbelievers, to whom the gospel-revelation comes ; and they give not credit to it ; for such are bound to believe the report it makes, and give an assent to the truth of it ; and which is no other than an historical faith, and which men may have and not be saved ; and which the devils themselves have : so that men may be bound to believe, and yet not to the saving of their souls ; or that Christ died for them. And as the revelation that is made to men, so they are under obligation to believe : if no revelation is made, no faith is required ; how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard ? The Indians who have never heard of Christ, are not bound to believe in him ; nor will they bo condemned for their unbelief ; but for their sins against the light of nature they have been guilty of; see Rom. x. 14, and ii. 12. Where a revelation is made, and that is only external, and lies in the outward ministry of the word, declaring in general such and such things concerning the person and offico of Christ, men are obliged to give credit to them, upon the evidence they bring with them, and for their unbelief, will be condemned ; not because they did not believe that Christ died for them, to which they were not obliged ; but because they did not believe him to be God, the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Saviour of men. Where the revelation is internal, by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ ; showing to men their lost estate, and need of a Saviour ; acquainting them with Christ, as an able and willing Saviour ; setting before them the fulness and suitableness of his salvation ; such are, by the Spirit and grace of God, influenced and engaged to venture their souls on Christ, and to believe in him, to the saving of them ; but then the first act of faith, even in such, is not to believe that Christ died for them ; for it is the plerophory, the full assurance of faith to say, He hath loved me, and given himselffor me ! Gal. ii. 20. in. The words of Christ in John xii. 32 ; And I, if I be lifted upfrom the earth, will draw all men to me ; aro expressive of the death of Christ, and of the manner of it, crucifixion ; which would be the occasion of drawing a great number of persons together, as is usual at executions ; and more especially would be and was at Christ's, he being a remarkable

22 OF SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM and extraordinary person ; some to deplore his case and bewail him, and others to mock at him and reproach him. Though rather this is to be understood of the great multitude of souls who should be gathered to Christ through the ministry of the word after his death, as the fruit and consequence of it ; who should be drawn and influenced by the powerful and efficacious grace of God to come to Christ, and believe in him ; in which sense the word draio is used by Christ in John vi. 44 ; but this is not true of all and every individual person ; for there were multitudes then, as now, who will have no will to come to Christ, and are never wrought upon by the grace of God, or drawn by it to come unto him and believe in him ; and will be so -far from being gathered to him, and into fellowship with him, that they will be bid to depart from him another day, with a Go, ye cursed; and in the words before the text, mention is made of the judgment, or condemnation of the world, as being then come ; as well as of the prince of it being cast out. But by all men, are meant some of all sorts, Jews and Gentiles, more especially the latter, that should be gathered to Christ after his death, through the gospel preached unto them ; as was foretold, that when Shiloh, the Messiah, came, who now was come, to him should tho gathering of the people be ; that is, the Gentiles : and it may be observed, that at this time, when Christ spoke these words, that there were certain Greeks that were come to the feast to worship, who were desirous of seeing Jesus ; with which he was made acquainted by his disciples, and occa sioned the discourse of which these words are a part ; and in which our Lord suggests, that at present these Greeks could not be admitted to him, but the time was at hand when ho should be lifted up from the earth, or die ; by which, like a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, he should bring forth much fruit ; and should be lifted up also as an ensign in the ministry of the word, when the Gentiles in great numbers should flock and seek unto him. iv. The passage of the apostle in Rom. v. 18, By the righteousness of one, thefree gift came upon all men unto justification of life, is undoubtedly meant of the righteousness of Christ, called the free gift, because it was freely wrought out by Christ, and is freely imputed without works ; and faith, which receives it, is the gift of God ; but then this does not come upon, or is imputed to, every individual son and daughter of Adam ; for then they would be all justified by it, and entitled to eternal life through it ; and would be glorified, for whom he justified, them he also glorified ; and being justified by the blood and righteousness of Christ, they would be secure from condemnation, and saved from wrath to come ; but this is not true of every one ; there are some who are right eously foreordained to condemnation ; yea, there is a world of ungodly men, a multitude of them, that will be condemned, Jude 4, 1 Cor. xi. 32. The design of the apostle in the text and context is to show, that as all men are sinners, and are originally so through the sin and offence of the first man Adam ; so all that are righteous become right eous, or are justified, only through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them to their justification ; and those who are justified by it, as described by the apostle in this epistle as the elect of God ;Who shall

TO FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 23 lay any thing to the cliarge of GoiFs elect ? it is God that justifies ; as believers in Christ, on whom his righteousness comes, or is imputed to their justification ; that is, unto all and upon all them that believe ; and such who receive that, receive also abundance of grace, chap. viii. 33, and iii. 22, and v. 17 ; all which cannot be said of every individual of mankind. But what will set this matter in a clear light is, that Adam and Christ, throughout tho whole context, are to be considered as two covenant-heads, having their respective seed and offspring under them ; the one as conveying sin and death to all his natural seed, and the other as conveying grace, righteousness and life to all his spiritual seed ; now as through the offence of the first Adam judgment came upon all to condemnation, who descended from him by natural generation, and upon none else ; as not upon the human nature of Christ, which did not so descend from him ; nor upon the angels that sinned, who were con demned and punished for their own offences, and not his, being none of his offspring ; so the free gift of Christ's righteousness comes upon all to justification, and to none else, but thoso who are the spiritual seed of Christ ; given to him as such in the covenant of grace, in which he stands a head to them ; and in whom all the seed of Israel, the spiritual Israel of God, are justified, and shall glory. v. The parallel place in 1 Cor. xv. 22 ; As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ; which is similar to the preceding in some respect, though not in every thing ; it is similar to it in that Adam and Christ are to be considered as representative heads of their respective offspring. Though these words have no respect at all to justification of life, nor to men being quickened together with Christ, nor to the quickening of them by the Spirit and grace of God ; but of the resurrection of the dead, when men that have been dead will be made alive, or quickened ; see verse 36 ; and the design of them is to show, as in the preceding verse, that as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection ofthe dead : as death came by the first Adam, the resurrection of the dead comes by the second Adam ; as the first Adam was a federal head and representative of all that naturally descended from him, and they were considered in him, and sinned in him, and death passed upon all in him, and actually reigns over all his posterity in all generations ; so Christ is a federal head and representative of all his spiritual seed, given to him in covenant, and who, though they die a corporal death, shall bo made alive, or raised from the dead, by virtue of union to him ; for of thoso only is the apostle speaking in the context, even of such of whom Christ is tho first fruits, and who belong to him, verso 23 ; for though all shall be made alive, or raised from the dead, by Christ, through his mighty power ; yet only those that belong to him, as his seed and offspring, or the members of his body, shall be raised through union to him, and in the first place, and to everlasting life; others will be raised to shame and everlasting contempt, and to the resurrection of damnation. vi. The text in 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, is sometimes brought as a proof of Christ's dying for all men in an unlimited sense ; if one died for all, then were all dead : now let it be observed, that in the supposition if one diedfor all, the word men is not used ; it is not all men, but all, and may

24 OF SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM be supplied from other scriptures, all his people, whom Christ came to save ; and all the sheep he laid down his life for ; all the members of the church for whom he gave himself ; all the sons whom he brings to glory : and the conclusion, then were all dead, is not to bo understood of their being dead in sin, which is no consequence of the death of Christ ; but of their being dead to sin in virtue of it ; and could it be understood in the first sense, it would only prove that all for whom Christ died arc dead in sin, which is true of the elect of God as of others, Eph. ii. 1 ; but it would not prove that Christ died for all those that are dead in sin, which is the case of every man ; but the latter sense is best, for to be dead to sin is the fruit and effect of Christ's death ; Christ bore the sins of his people on the cross, that they being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness ; through the death of Christ they become dead to the damning power of sin ; and to the law, as a cursing law ; that they might serve the Lord in newness of spirit ; this puts them into a capacity of living to him, and affords the strongest argument, drawn from his love in dying for them, to such purposes ; to influence and engage them to live to his glory. And let it bo further observed, that the same persons Christ died for, for them ho rose again ; now as Christ was delivered for the offences of men unto death, he was raised again for their justification ; and if he rose for the justification of all men, then all would be justified ; whereas they are not, as before observed. vii. The words in 1 Tim. ii. 4, who will have all men to be saved, &c It is certain that all that are saved it is the will of God they should be saved, and that by Christ, and by him only ; / will save them by the Lord their God; salvation of whomsoever, is not of the will of men, but flows from the sovereign will and pleasure of God ; and if it was the will of God that every individual of mankind should be saved, they weuld be saved ; for who hath resisted his will I he works all things after the counsel of it ; he does according to it in heaven and in earth ; but as it is certain in fact that all are not saved, it is as certain that it is not the will of God that every man and woman should be saved ; since there are some who are foreordained to condemnation ; and if there are any he appoints to condemnation, it cannot be his will that the self-same individuals should be saved ; besides, there are some of whom it is clearly signified that it is his will they should be damned ; as the man of sin and the son of perdition, antichrist and his followers, to whom God seiids strove/ delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they might be damned, 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. Besides, those it is the will of God that they should be saved, it is his will that they should come unto the knowledge of the truth ; both of Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, the true way to eternal life ; through the faith of whom, as well as through sanctification of the Spirit, men are chosen unto salvation ; and of the truth of the gospel ; not a notional and superficial but an experimental knowledge of it. Now to all men it is not the will of God to give the means of knowledge of Christ and tho truths of the gospel; for hundreds of years together God gave his word to Jacob, and his statutes unto Israel, a small people in one part

TO FAVOUR UNIVEKSAL REDEMPTION. 25 of the world ; and as for other nations, they knew them not ; God winked at and overlooked the times of their ignorance, and sent not the gospel, the means of knowledge, unto them ; and this is the case of many nations at this day; yea, where the gospel is sent and preached, it is the will of God to hide* the truth of it from many, and even from those who have the most penetrating abilities ; even so, Father, says Christ, for so it seemeth good in thy sight, Matt. xi. 25, 26 ; it was his will it should be so, and therefore it could not be his will they should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. It is best therefore to understand by all, some of all sorts, as the word all must be under stood in many places, particularly in Gen. vii. 14; and this sense agrees with the context, in which the apostle exhorts that prayers and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and for all in authority ; not only for men of low degree, but for men of high degree also ; for all sorts of men ; this being agreeable to God, and acceptable in his sight, whose will it is that men of all sorts should be saved and know the truth. Though it is best of all to understand this of the Gentiles, some of whom God would have saved as well as of the Jews, and therefore had chosen some of both unto salvation, and had appointed his Son to be his salvation to the ends of the earth ; and therefore had sent his gospel among them, declaring that whoever believed in Christ should be saved, whether Jew or Gentile ; and had made it the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile ; and therefore it was proper that prayers and thanksgivings should be made for Gentiles in every class of life. vm. Another passage in the same context, in which Christ is said to give himself a ransom for all, 6, or a ransom-price, avriXvTpov, in the room and stead of all ; but this cannot be understood of all and evory individual man ; for then all would be ransomed, or else the ransomprice must be paid in vain ; but of many, as it is expressed by Christ, Matt. xx. 28 ; and particularly of the Gentiles, as before ; the truth contained herein being what has been testified in the gospel, of which the apostle was ordained a preacher, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity, when the Jews forbade him and other apostles to preach unto them ; but as he opposed this prohibition of theirs, so another notion of theirs in the next verse, which confined public prayer to a certain place ; all which show whom the apostle had in view throughout the whole context, and intended by the word all. ix. Another passage in the same epistle is sometimes brought in favour of the general scheme, 1 Tim. iv. 10, wherc God is said to be the Saviour of all men ; but the passage is not to be understood of Christ, and of spiritual and eternal salvation by him ; which it is certain all men do not share in ; but of God the Father, and of temporal salvation by him ; and of his preservation of all his creatures ; who is the preserver of men, supports and upholds them in being, and supplies them with the necessaries of life ; and in a providential way is good to all ; but his providence is extended in a special manner towards those that trust and believe in him ; he takes a particular care of them, and makes particular provisions for them ; these being his people, his

26 OF SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM portion, and the lot of his inheritance, like Israel of old, he surrounds them by his power, leads them about by his wisdom, and keeps them as tenderly as the apple of his eye. x. So the words of the apostle, in Tit. ii. 11, 12, For the grace of God that bringoth salvation, hath appeared to all men ; but it is not said, that this grace brings salvation to all men, but has appeared to all men ; nor that it teaches all men to deny ungodliness, &c, but only us, to whom the gospel of the grace of God comes with power ; for that is to be understood by it ; not the grace and love of God, in his own heart, towards men ; for this is not manifested to all men, but is a favour he bears to his own people : nor grace, as wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God ; for this is not vouchsafed unto all men ; all men have not faith ; and some are without hope and God in the world, and have no love to God and Christ, and to his people ; but the gospel, which often goes by this name, because of the doctrines of grace contained in it : this had been like a candle lighted up in a small part of the world, in Judea ; but now as it was like the sun in its meridian glory, and appeared to Gentiles as well as Jews, being no longer confined to the latter ; and where it came with power, as it did not to every individual, it produced the effects herein mentioned ; from whence it appears, the apostle is speaking only of the external ministration of the gospel, and of the extent of that ; and not of redemption and salvation by Christ ; of which when he speaks, in a following verse, it is in a very different form ; Who gave himself for us, not for all, that he might redeem us, not every man, from all iniquity, and purify unto him self a peculiar people, a special and distinct people, zealous of good works. xi. Likewise what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, chap. ii. 9, that he (Christ) by the grace of God, should taste death for every man ; but the word man is not in the text ; it is only for every one ; and is to be interpreted, and supplied, by the context, for every one of the sons Christ brings to glory, 10 ; for every ono of the brethren whom he sanctifies, and is not ashamed to own in that relation, 11 ; and for every one of the members of the church, in the midst of which he sung .praise, and for the whole of it, 12 ; for every one of the children given him by his Father, and for whose sake he became incarnate, 13, 14. Besides, the words may be rendered, that he should taste of every death, of every kind of death, which it was proper he should, in bring ing many sons to glory, 10, and as he did ; of the death of afflictions, of which he had waters of a full cup wrung out to him ; of corporal death, being put to death in the flesh ; and of spiritual and eternal death, or what had a semblance thereof, and was tantamount there unto, when he was deprived of the divine presence, and had a sense of divine wrath ; as both in the garden, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and on the cross, when he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ! xn. One passage more is in Pet. iii. 9, God is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish ; but that all should come to repentance. This cannot be understood of every individual of mankind ; for certain it is, that God is willing that some should perish ; What if

TO FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 27 God willing, &c Rom. ix. 22. Nor is it true, that it is the will of God that all men should have repentance unto life ; for then he would give it to them ; for it is solely in his own gift ; at least, he could give them the means of it, which he does not : the key to this text lies in the phrase, to us-ward, to whom God is long-suffering ; these design a society to which the apostle belonged, and not all mankind ; and who are distinguished, in the context, from scoffers and mockers, that would be in the last days, 3, 4, and are described by the character of beloved, 8 ; beloved of God and Christ, and of his people ; for whose sake he waited, and did not bring on the destruction of the world so soon as, according to his promise, it might be expected ; but this was not owing to any dilatoriness in him ; but to his long-suffering towards his beloved and chosen ones, being unwilling that any of them should perish ; but that they should all come to, and partake of, repentance towards God, and faith in Christ ; and when every one of them are brought there unto, he would delay the coming of Christ, and the destruction of the world, no longer ; when the last man was called by grace, and con verted, and become a true believer, and a real penitent ; when the head, or last stone was laid upon the top of the building, the church, and that edifice completed thereby, he would stay no longer, but come suddenly, as a thief in the night, and burn the world about the ears of the ungodly : this world is but like scaffolding to a building, which, when fmished, the scaffolding is taken down and destroyed, and not before ; the building is the church, for the sake of which this world was made ; and when this edifice is finished, which will bo when all the elect of God are called, and brought to repentance, then it will be destroyed : the earth, and all therem, will be burnt with fire ; as in verse 10. II. A second class of scriptures, which may seem to favour, and]are sometimes brought in support of the universal scheme, are such in which the words world, and the whole world, are used ; when the death of Christ, and the benefits of it, are spoken of. i. The words of John the Baptist to his hearers, in John i. 29, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world/ which are to be understood neither of original sin, which is common to the whole world ; but is not taken away, with respect to all : nor of the actual transgressions of every person ; which is not true in fact ; and is only true of such whose sins are laid on Christ, and imputed to him ; and which he bore, and the whole punishment of them ; and so has taken them away, as to be seen no more ; which cannot be said of the sins of all men, 1 Tim. v. 24 ; they are the sins of many, and not all, which have been made to meet on Christ, and he has borne them, and taken them away. ii. The words of Christ himself, in John iii. 16, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c But all the individuals in the world are not loved by God in such a manner ; nor is Christ the special gift of God to them all ; nor have all faith in him ; nor can it be said of all, that they shall never perish, but have everlasting life ; since many will go into everlasting punishment : but by the world is

28 OP SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM meant the Gentiles ; and Christ opposes a notion of the Jews, that they themselves only were the objects of God's love, and that the Gentiles had no share in it, and would not enjoy any benefit by the Messiah when he came ; but, says Christ, I tell you, God has so loved the world of the Gentiles as to give his Son, that whosoever believes in him, be he of what nation soever, shall be saved with an everlasting salvation. in. The words of the Samaritans to the woman of Samaria, in John iv. 42, We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, of Gentiles as well as Jews ; this they learnt from what Christ had made known of himself, and of his grace to them; for they were originally Gentiles, and were now reckoned by the Jews as heathens. iv. The words of our Lord in his discourse about himself, as the bread which giveth life unto the world ; and which is his flesh he gave for the life of the world. Now no more can be designed by the world, than those who are quickened by this bread applied unto them, and received by them, and for the obtaining of eternal life ; for whom the Hesh or human nature of Christ was given, as a sacrifice for sin, whereby that is secured unto them : but this is not true of all men, since even the gospel, which exhibits the heavenly manna and holds forth Christ, the bread of life, is to some the savour of death unto death, whilst to others it is the savour of life unto life, 2 Cor. ii. 16. v. The words of the apostle, in 2 Cor. v. 19, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; these are the same with the us, in the preceding verse, which were a special and distinct people ; for it cannot bo said of every man what follows, not imputing their tresjyasses unto them, which is a special blessing that belongs to some ; for though it comes upon both Jews and Gentiles that believe, yet not upon all and every man, Rom. iv. 6—8 ; for some men's sins will be charged upon' them, and they will be punished for them with an everlastmg destruction ; by various circumstances in the context it seems that by the world the Gentiles are meant. vi. The famous and well-known text in this controversy is, 1 John ii. 2, where Christ is said to be the propitiation for the sins of the world. Now let it be observed, that these phrases, all the world and the whole world, are often in Scripture to be taken in a limited sense ; as in Luke ii. 1 , that all the world should be taxed; it can mean no more than that part of the world, the Roman empire, which was under the dominion of Caesar Augustus ; and in Rom. i. 8, it can only design the Christians throughout the world, not the heathens; and when the gospel is said to bo in all the world, and bring forth fruit, Col. i. 6, it can only intend true believers in Christ in all places, in whom only it brings forth fruit ; and when it is said all the world wondered after the beast, Rev. xiii. 3, at that same time, there were saints he made war with, because they would not worship him ; and so in other places ; and in this epistle of John the phrase is used in a restrained sense, 1 John v. 19, where those that belong to God are distinguished from the wholo world, described by lying in wickedness, which they do not. And as John was a Jew, he spake in the language of the Jews, who

TO FAVOUK UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 29 frequently in their writings use the phrase «d^v 'in}, the whole world, in a limited sense ; sometimes it only signifies a large number of people" ; sometimes a majority of their doctors b; sometimes a congregation0; or a whole synagogue d ; and sometimes very few e ; and so here in the text under consideration, it cannot be understood of all men ; only of those for whom Christ is an advocate, verse 1, whose advocacy is founded on his propitiatory sacrifice ; now Christ is not an advocate, or does not make intercession for all men ; for he himself says, I pray not for the world ; and Christ can be a propitiation for no more than he is an advocate ; if he was a propitiation for all, he would surely be an advocate for all, and plead on their behalf his propitiatory sacrifice ; but Christ was set forth, or preordained, to be a propitiation, not for all men, but for such only who, through faith in his blood, receive the benefit of it and rejoice in it, Rom. iii. 25, and v. 11; moreover, in this epistle, the persons for whom Christ is a propitiation, are repre sented as a peculiar people, and the objects of God's special love, 1 John iv. 10 ; but what may be observed, and will lead more clearly into the sense of the passage before us, is, that the apostle John was a Jew, and wrote to Jews ; and in the text speaks of them, and of the Gentiles, as to be distinguished ; and therefore says of Christ, he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, for the sins of us Jews only, butfor the sins of the whole world; of the Gentiles also, of all the elect of God throughout the Gentile world ; in which a notion of the Jews is opposed, that the Gentiles would receive no benefit by tho Messiah, as has been observed on John iii. 16; and here the apostle takes up the sentiment of his Lord and Master, in whose bosom he lay and expresses it. Nothing is more common in Jewish writings than to call the Gentiles the world, the whole world, and the nations of tho world ; as they are by the apostle Paul, in distinction from the Jews, Rom. xi. 12—15. III. Another class of scriptures, which may seem to favour the universal scheme, and are usually brought in support of it, are such which it is thought intimate that Christ died for some that may be destroyed and perish. i. The first passage is in Rom. xiv. 15, Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died ; which can never design eternal destruction, for that cannot be thought to be either in the will or power of men ; could it be supposed that it was in the will of any, or that any were of such a malicious disposition, as to wish for and seek the eternal dam nation of another, which surely cannot be imagined among men pro fessing religion, yet it could never be in their power ; for none but God can destroy soul and body in hell, Matt. x. 28 ; nor can one instance be produced of any that were eventually destroyed for whom Christ died ; nor can such destruction be brought about by eating meat, of different use, that might or might not be eaten, of which the apostle is speaking, neither through themselves nor others eating it ; for that can never affect the eternal state of men which makes a man neither » T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 71. 2. b Ibid. Bava Mctzia. fol. 33. 2. « Ibid. Mcgillah, fol. 22. 2. •' Ibid. Ho.-aioC fol. 33. 2. • Vide Mill. Form. Talmud, p. 41, 42.

30 OP SCRIPTURES WHICH SEEM better nor worse, 1 Cor. viii. 8. But the passage is to be understood of the destruction of a weak brother's peace and comfort, through the imprudent use of things indifferent by a stronger brother ; who thereby may be the occasion of offending and grieving his brother, and of his stumbling and falling, so as to wound and distress him, though not as to perish eternally ; thus it is explained, 13, 21, and is to be taken in the same sense as the phrase in 20, for meat destroy not the work of God; not saints, as the workmanship of God, for as that is not of man's making, it is not of man's marring ; nor the work of grace, which being begun will be perfected ; nor the work of faith, which will be performed with power ; but the work of peace in individual persons and in the church of God. ii. A similar passage, and to be understood in much the same manner, is in 1 Cor. viii. 12, And through thy knowledge shall thy weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ? which intends not the perishing of his immortal soul, or of his perishing eternally in hell, which can never be the case of any for whom Christ died ; for then the death of Christ would be so far in vain, and not be a security from condemna tion, contrary to Rom. viii. 33 ; nor be a full satisfaction to justice, or God must be unjust, to punish twice for the same offence ; but it intends the perishing of his peace and comfort for a time; and is explained by defiling and wounding his conscience, and making him to offend, through the imprudent use of Christian liberty in those who had stronger faith and greater knowledge, of which they should be careful, from this consideration, that a weak brother is as near and dear to Christ, since he died for him, as a stronger brother is. hi. Another passage urged for the same purpose is in 2 Pet. ii. 1, which speaks of false teachers that should be among the saints, who would bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them, &c, from whence it is concluded, that such as are bought by Christ may be destroyed ; but Christ is not here spoken of, but God the Father ; and of him the word bto-norqs is always used, when applied to a divine person, and not of Christ ; nor is there any thing in this text that obliges us to understand it of him ; nor is there here any thing said of Christ's dying for any persons in any sense whatever ; nor of the redemption of any by his blood ; and which is not intended by the word bought. Where Christ's redemption is spoken of, the price is usually mentioned, or some circumstance or another, which plainly determines the sense ; besides, if such as Christ has bought with his blood should be left so to deny him as to bring upon themselves eternal destruction, Christ's purchase would be in vain, and the ransom-price be paid for nought, which can never be true. The buying spoken of in the text respects temporal deliverance, particularly the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, who are therefore called a purchased people, Exod. xv. 16; the phrase is borrowed from Deut. xxxii. 6, where, to aggravate the ingratitude of the people of Israel, it is said, Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee ? And this is not the only place Peter refers to in this chapter, see verses 12 and 13, compared with Deut. xxxii. 5. Now the persons the apostle writes unto were Jews, scat

TO FAVOUR UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION. 31 tered about in divers places ; a people that in all ages valued them selves upon and boasted of their being the Lord's peculiar people, bought and purchased by him ; wherefore the phrase is used here as by Moses, to aggravate the ingratitude and impiety of the false teachers among the Jews ; that they should deny, in works at least, if not in words, that mighty Jehovah who had of old redeemed their fathers out of Egypt, and had distinguished them with peculiar favours f. From what has been observed concerning redemption, the nature and properties of it may be learnt. 1. That it is agreeable to all the perfections of God; it springs from his love, grace, and mercy, and glorifies them ; it is planned and conducted by his infinite wisdom, which is illustriously displayed in it; and it is wrought out to declare his justice and honour ; that all the perfections of God meet in it, mercy and truth, peace and righteous ness : the glory of all his attributes is great in the redemption and salvation of his people. 2. It is what a creature never could obtain ; none but the Son of God ; no man could have redeemed himself or any other, nor given to God a ransom for either ; a creature could never have redeemed him self, neither by power nor by price ; not by power, he could not have loosed the fetters of sin with which he was held, nor delivered himself out of the hands of Satan, the jailor, stronger than he ; nor by price, for the infinite justice of God being offended by sin required an infinite satisfaction, an infinite price to be paid into its hands, for redemption and deliverance, and to which no price was adequate but the precious blood of Christ. 3. The redemption obtained by Christ resides in him, as the subject of it, who is the author of it, In him we have redemption, through his blood, Eph. i. 7 ; and the benefits of it are communicated from him by the Father, through his gracious imputation and application of it and of them to his people, 1 Cor. i. 30. 4. It is special and particular ; they are many, and not all, that are ransomed and redeemed ; they that are redeemed are redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation ; they are the elect of God, and sheep of Christ ; a peculiar people. 5. It is a plenteous one, full and complete ; by it men are brought not into a mere salvable state, but are actually, and to all intents and purposes, saved by it : God, through it, is not made merely reconcileable to them, but the redeemed are actually reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Salvation is obtained for them, not conditionally, but absolutely ; Christ came to seek and save what was lost, even the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and he has found them in redemption, and saved them. Redemption includes the several blessings of grace, as justification, pardon of sin, adoption, and eternal life, and secures all to the redeemed ones. 6. It is eternal, Heb. ix. 12; so called, in distinction from the typical and temporary expiations, by the blood of slain beasts, which could not take away sin, but there was an annual remembrance of ' For a more particular investigation of these texts, see Cause of God and Truth, part 1 and 2.

32 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. them ; but by the blood of Christ, men are eternally redeemed from all iniquity : and in distinction from temporary redemption and salva tion ; as of the people of Israel out of Egypt and Babylon, which were types of this : and because it extends, as to ages past, and was a redemption of transgressions and of transgressors that wero under the first testament ; so to ages to come, the benefits and blessings of which reach to the saints in all generations : the blessings of it are eternal ; an everlasting righteousness for justification; pardon of sin is once and for ever ; and once a child of God, always so, and the inheritance secured by it : redemption is eternal ; and the redeemed ones shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation ; none of them shall ever perish, but have everlasting life. OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. Though the doctrine of satisfaction is not only closely connected with, but even included in, the doctrine of redemption, made by paying a satisfactory price into the hands of justice, and is a part of it ; yet it is of such importance, that it requires it should be distinctly and separately treated of : it is the glory of the Christian religion, which distinguishes it from others ; what gives it the preference to all others ; and without which it would be of no value itself: and though the word satisfaction is not syllabically expressed in Scripture, as used in the doctrine under consideration, the thing is abundantly declared in it ; which yet Socinus6 denies ; though he himself owns\ that a thing is not to be rejected, because not expressly found in Scripture ; for he says, it is enough with all lovers of truth, that the thing in question is confirmed by reason and testimony ; though the words which are used in explaining the question, are not found expressly written. What Christ has done and suffered, in the room and stead of sinners, with content, well-pleasedness, and acceptance in the sight of God, is what may, with propriety, be called satisfaction ; and this is plentifully spoken of in the word of God ; as when God is said to be well-pleased for Christ's righteousness' sake, and with it, it being answerable to the demands of law and justice ; and is an honouring and magnifying of it ; and when the sacrifice of Christ, and such his sufferings arc, is said to be of a sweet-smelling savour to God ; because it has expiated sin, atoned for it ; that is, made satisfaction for it, and taken it away ; which the sacrifices under the law could not do ; hence there was a remembrance of it every year, and there are terms and phrases which are used of Christ, and of his work ; as propitiation, reconciliation, atonement, &c which are equivalent and synonymous to satisfaction for sin, and expressive of it ; concerning which may be observed the following things. I. The necessity of satisfaction to be made for sin, in order to the salvation of sinners ; for without satisfaction for sin, there can bo no a Prelection. Theolog. c. 15, t. 1, Oper. p. 5C5. h Dc Adorat. Christ. Disp. inter Opera ejus, tom. 2, p. 978.

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 33 salvation from it ; for it became him in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings ; that is, it became the all-wise and all-powerful Former and Maker of all things for himself; it was agreeable to his nature and perfections ; it was fitting, and so necessary, that it should be done ; that whereas it was his pleasure to bring many of the sons of men, even as many as are made the sons of God, to eternal glory and happiness by Christ ; that the author of their salvation should perfectly and completely suffer, in their room and stead, all that the law and justice of God could require ; without which not a sinner could be saved, nor a son brought to glory. If two things are granted, which surely must bo easily granted, satis faction for sin will appear necessary :—1. That men are sinners ; and this must be owned, unless any can work themselves up into such a fancy, that they are an innocent sort of beings, whose natures are not depraved, nor their actions wrong ; neither offensive to God, nor inju rious to their fellow-creatures ; and if so indeed, then a satisfaction for sin would be unnecessary : and one would think the opposers of Christ's satisfaction, must have entertained such a conceit of themselves ; but if they have, Scripture, all experience, the consciences of men, and facts, are against them ; all which declare men are sinners, are trans gressors of the law, and pronounced guilty by it before God ; and arc subject to its curse, condemnation, and death, the sanction of it ; and every transgression of it, and disobedience to it, has received, does receive, or will receive, a just recompense of reward ; that is, righteous judgment and punishment, either in the sinner himself, or in a surety for liim, Heb. ii. 2. God never relaxes the sanction of the law ; that is, the punishment for sin it threatens ; though he favourably admits one to suffer it for the delinquent. By sin men are alienated from God, set at a distance from him, with respect to communion ; and without reconciliation or satisfaction for sin, they never can be admitted to it ; a sinner, not reconciled to God, can never enjoy nearness to him, and fellowship with him ; and this, whenever had, is the fruit of Christ's sufferings and death ; he suffered, in the room and stead of the unjust, to bring them to God ; and it is by his blood making peace for them, that they that were afar off, with respect to communion, are made nigh, and favoured with it, Eph. ii. 13, 14; the satisfaction of Christ does not procure the love of God, being the effect of it ; yet it opens the way to the embraces of his arms, stopped by sin. Moreover, men by sin, are declared rebels against God, and enemies to him ; hence reconciliation, atonement, or satisfaction, -became necessary ; as they are enemies in their minds, by wicked works ; yea, their carnal mind is enmity itself against God. And, on the other hand, on the part of God, there is a law-enmity, which must be slain, and was slain, through the sufferings of Christ on the cross ; having slain the enmity thereby, Eph. ii. 16, and so made peace and reconciliation ; for this designs not any internal disposition in the mind of God's people, before conversion, which is overcome in it, by the love of God implanted in them ; but the declared enmity of the moral law against them, broken by them ; of which the ceremonial law was a symbol, in the slain sacrifices of it, vol. u. D

34 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHKIST. and stood as a hand-writing against them, all which were necessary to be removed. — 2. The other thing to be taken for granted is, that it is the will of God to save sinners, at least some of them ; for if it was not his will to save any from sin, there would be no need of a satisfac tion for it. Now it is certain, that it is the will and resolution of God to save some ; whom he appointed not to the wrath they deserve, but to salvation by Christ ; whom he has ordained to eternal life, and are vessels of mercy, afore prepared for glory ; and for whose salvation a provision is made in the council and covenant of grace, in which it was consulted, contrived, and settled, and Christ appointed to be the author of it ; and who, in the fulness of time, was sent and came about it, and has obtained it ; and which is ascribed to his blood, his suffer ings and death, which were necessary for the accomplishment of it. Some have affirmed, that God could forgive sin, and save sinners without a satisfaction ; and this is said, not only by Socinians, but by some others, as Twisse, Dr. Goodwin, Rutherford, &c, who own that a satisfaction is made, and the fitness and expedience of it : but then this is giving up the point ; for if it is fitting and expedient to be done, it is necessary ; for whatever is fitting to be done in the affair of salva tion, God cannot but do it, or will it to be done. Besides, such a way of talking, as it tends to undermine and weaken the doctrine of satis faction ; so to encourage and strengthen the hands of the Socinians, the opposers of it ; much the same arguments being used by the one, as by the other. It is not indeed proper to limit .the Holy One of Israel, or lay a restraint on his power, which is unlimited, boundless, and infinite ; with whom nothing is impossible, and who is able to do more than we can . conceive of ; yet it is no ways derogatory to the glory of his power, nor is it any impeachment of it, nor argues any imperfection or weakness in him, to say there are some things he cannot do ; for not to be able to do them is his glory : as that he cannot commit iniquity, which is contrary to the purity and holiness of his nature ; he cannot do an act of injustice to any of his creatures, that is contrary to his justice and righteousness ; he cannot lie, that is contrary to his veracity and truth ; lie cannot deny himself, for that is against his nature and perfections ; and for the same reason he cannot forgive sin without a satisfaction, because so to do, does not agree with the perfections of his nature. It is a vain thing to dispute about the power of God ; what he can do, or what he cannot do, in any case where it is plain, what it is his will to do, as it is in the casebefore us ; at the same time he declared himself a God gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ; he has,- in the strongest terms, affirmed, that he will by no means clear the guilty ; or let him go unpunished ; that is, without a satisfaction. Besides, if any other method could have been taken, consistent with the will of God, the prayer of Christ would have brought it out ; Father, if it be possible, let this cup, of suffering death, pass from me : and then adds, Not my will, but thine be done! what that will was, is notorious; see Heb. x. 5—10. It may be said, this is to make God weaker than man, and to represent him as not able to do what man can do ; one

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 35 man can forgive another the debts that are owing to him ; and in some cases he should, and is to be commended for it ; and one may forgive another an offence committed against himself, and ought to do it; especially when the offender expresses repentance. But it should be observed, that sins are not pecuniary debts, and to be remitted as they are : they are not properly debts, only so called allusively : if they were proper debts, they might be paid in their kind, one sin by committing another, which is absurd ; but they are called debts, because as debts oblige to payment, these oblige to punishment ; which debt of punish ment must be paid, either by the debtor, the sinner, or by a surety for him ; sins are criminal debts, and can be remitted no other way. God, therefore, in this affair, is to be considered not merely as a creditor, but as the Judge of all the earth, who will do right ; and as the Rector and Governor of the world ; that great Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy ; who will secure his own authority as such, do justice to himself, and honour to his law, and show a proper concern for the good of the community, or universe, of which he is the moral Governor. So though one man may forgive another a private offence, committed against himself, as it is an injury to him, yet he cannot forgive one as it is an injury to the commonwealth, of which he is a part ; a private person, as he cannot execute vengeance and wrath, or inflict punishment on an offender ; so neither can he, of right, let go unpunished, one that has offended against the peace and good of the commonwealth ; these are things that belong to the civil magistrate, to one in power and authority ; and a judge that acts under another, and according to a law which he is obliged to regard, can neither inflict punishment, nor remit it, especially the latter, without the order of his superior. God indeed is not under another ; he is of himself, and can do what he pleases ; he is the Maker and Judge of the law, but then he is a law to himself ; his nature is his law, and he cannot act contrary to that ; wherefore, as Joshua says, he is an holy God ; he is a jealous God : he will notforgive your transgressions, nor your sins ; that is, without a satisfaction ; and which comports with his own honour and glory; of which he is a jealous God. Sin is crimen lasa? Majestatis ; a crime committed against the majesty of God ; it disturbs the universe, of which he is Governor, and tends to shake and over throw his moral government of the world ; to introduce atheism into it, and bring it into disorder and confusion, and to withdraw creatures from their dependence on God, and obedience to him, as the moral Governor of it ; and therefore requires satisfaction, and an infinite one, as the object of it is ; and cannot be made but by an infinite Person, as Christ is : such a satisfaction the honour of the divine Being, and of his righteous law, transgressed by sin, requires. Which leads to observe, that to forgive sin, without a satisfaction, does not accord with the perfections of God. i. Not with his justice and holiness ; God is naturally and essentially just and holy ; all his ways and works proclaim him to be so ; and his creatures own it, angels and men, good and bad; as he is righteous, he naturally loves righteousness ; and naturallv hates evil, and cannot but d2

36 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. show his hatred of it ; and which is shown by punishing it. God is a consuming fire ; and as fire naturally burns combustible matter, so it is natural to God to punish sin. Wherefore, punitive justice, though denied ', in order to subvert the satisfaction of Christ, is natural and essential to him ; he cannot but punish sin ; it is a righteous thing with him to do it ; the justice of God requires it ; and there is no sal vation without bearing it ; and he is praised and applauded for it, by saints and holy angels ; and to do otherwise, or not to punish sin, would be acting against himself and his own glory. ii. To forgive sin, without satisfaction for it, does not agree with his veracity, truth, and faithfulness, with respect to his holy and righteous law : it became him, as the Governor of the universe, to give a law to his creatures : for where there is no law, there is no trans gression ; men may sin with impunity, no charge can be brought against them ; sin is not imputed, where there is no law ; but God has given a law, which is holy, just, and good ; and which shows what is his good and perfect will ; and this law has a sanction annexed to it, as every law should have, or it will be of no force to oblige to an observance of it, and deter from disobedience to it ; and the sanction of the law of God, is nothing less than death, than death eternal ; which is the just wages and proper demerit of sin, and which God has declared he will inflict upon the transgessor ; In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die : now the veracity, truth, and faithfulness of God, are engaged to see this sanction established, and threatening executed ; either upon the transgressor himself, or upon a surety for him ; for the judgment of God is, that such a person is worthy of death ; and his judgment is according to truth ; and will and does most certainly take place. in. The wisdom of God makes it necessary that sin should not be forgiven, without a satisfaction ; for it is not the wisdom of any legis lature, to suffer the law not to take place in a delinquent ; it is always through weakness that it is admitted, either through fear, or through favour and affection ; and this may be called tenderness, lenity, and clemency ; but it is not justice : and it tends to weaken the authority of the legislator, to bring government under contempt, and to em bolden transgressors of the law, in hope of impunity. The all-wise Lawgiver can never bo thought to act such a part : besides, the scheme of men's peace and reconciliation by Christ, is represented as the highest act of wisdom, known to be wrought by God ; for herein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence : but where is the consummate wisdom of it, if it could havo been in an easier way, at less expense, without the sufferings and death of his Son ? had there been another and a better way, infinite wisdom would have found it out, and divine grace and mercy would have pursued it. iv. Nor does it seem so well to comport with the great love and affection of God to his Son Jesus Christ, said to be his beloved Son, the dear Son of his love ; to send him into this world in the likeness of sinful flesh—to be vilified and abused by the worst of men—to be buffeted, lashed, and tortured, by a set of miscreants—and to put him 1 Socin. Prelection. ut supra, c. 1G ; Hacov. Cateches. c. 8, qu. 20.

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 37 to the most cruel and shameful death, to make reconciliation for sin, if sin could have been forgiven, and the sinner saved, without all this, by a hint, a nod, a word speaking ; Thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be saved ! Nor does it so fully express the love of God to his saved ones ; but tends to lessen and lower that love. God giving his Son to suffer and die, in the room and stead of sinners, and to be the propitiation for their sins, is always ascribed to the love of God, and represented as the strongest expression of it ! But where is the greatness of this love, if salvation could have been done at an easier rate i and, indeed, if it could have been done in another way : the greatness of it appears, in that either the sinner must die, or Christ die for him : such was the love of God, that he chose the latter ! To all this may be added, as evincing tho necessity of a satisfaction for sin, that there is something of it appears by tho very light of nature, in the heathens, who have nothing else to direct them ; they are sen sible by it, when sin is committed, Deity is offended ; else what mean those accusations of conscience upon sinning, and dreadful horrors and terrors of mind ? witness also, the various, though foolish and fruitless methods they have taken, to appeaso the anger of God ; as even to give their first-born for their transgression, and the fruit of their body for the sin of their souls ; which shows their sense of a necessity of making some sort of satisfaction for offences committed ; and of ap peasing justice, or vengeance, as they call their deity, Acts xxviii. 4. The several sacrifices of the Jews they were directed to under the former dispensation, plainly show the necessity of a satisfaction for si'n ; and plainly point out forgiveness of sin, as proceeding upon it ; though they themselves could not really, only typically, expiate sin, make atonement and satisfaction for it. But if God could forgive sin without any satisfaction at all, why not forgive it upon the foot of those sacrifices? the reason is plain, because he could not, consistent with himself, do it without the sacrifice of his Son, typified by them. Wherefore it may bo strongly concluded, that a plenary satisfaction for sin, by what Christ has done and suffered, was absolutely necessary to the forgiveness of .sin ; without shedding of blood is no remission, neither typical nor real ; without it there never was, never will bo, nor never could be, any forgiveness of sin. II. Tho ground and foundation of satisfaction for sin by Christ, and the cause and spring of it. First, The ground and foundation on which it is laid, and upon which it proceeds, are the council and covenant of grace, and the suretyship-engagements of Christ therein. i. The scheme of making peace with God, or of appeasing divine justice, and of making reconciliation for sin, that is, satisfaction for it, was planned in the everlasting council; which from thence is called the council of peace, Zech. vi. 13. God was then in Christ, or with Christ, reconciling the world, the whole number of the elect, to him self; that is, they were consulting together to form the plan of their reconciliation and salvation ; and the method they pitched upon was, not imputing their trespasses to them ; not to reckon and place to s

38 OP THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. their account, their sins and iniquities, and insist upon a satisfaction for them from themselves ; for God knew, that if he made a demand of satisfaction for them on them, they could not answer him, one man of a thousand, no, not one at all ; nor for one sin of a thousand, no, not for a single one ; and that if he brought a charge of sin against them, they must be condemned ; for they would not be able to give one reason, or say any thing on their own behalf, why judgment should not proceed against them ; wherefore, who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? since God will not, whoever does, it will be of no avail against them ; for it is God that justifies them ; and happy are the persons interested in this glorious scheme, to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity : and it was also farther devised in this council, tc impute the transgressions of the said persons to Christ, the Son of God, which, though not expressed in the text referred to, 2 Cor. v. 19, yet it is implied and understood, and in clear and full terms signified, in the verse following but one, in which the account of the scheme of reconciliation is continued ; for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no si?i : that is, the sinless Jesus, who was made sin, not inhe rently, by a transfusion of sin into him, which his holy nature would not admit of; but imputatively, by a transfer of the guilt of sin unto him, by placing it to his account, and making him answerable for it ; which was done, not merely at the time of his sufferings and death, though then God openly and manifestly laid upon him, or made to meet on him, the iniquity of us all, of all the Lord's people, when the chastisement of their peace was on him ; or the punishment of their sin was inflicted on him, to make peace for them ; but as early as the council of peace was held, and the above method was concerted and agreed to, or Christ became a Surety for his people, so early were their sins imputed to him, and he became responsible for them ; and this laid the foundation of his making satisfaction for sin. For, ii. The scheme drawn in council, was settled in covenant ; which, on that account, is called the covenant of peace, Isa. liv. 10, Mal. ii. 6; in which covenant Christ was called to be a Priest ; for Christ glorified not himself to be called one ; but his Father bestowed this honour on him, and consecrated, constituted, and ordained him a Priest with an oath, Psalm ex. 4. Now the principal business of a priest, was to make reconciliation and atonement for sin ; for the sake of this Christ was called to this office ; and it was signified to him in covenant, that he should not offer such sacrifices and offerings as were offered up under the law, which could not take away sin, or atone for it ; and though God would have these offered, as typical of Christ's atoning sacrifice, from the beginning, throughout the former dispensation, to the coming of Christ ; yet it was not his will that any of this sort should be offered by him ; Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldst not : and therefore, though Christ was a Priest, he never offered any legal sacrifice ; but when any thing of this kind was necessary to be done for persons he was concerned with, he always sent them to carry their offerings to a priest ; as in the case of cleansing lepers, a sacrifice of another kind, and to answer a greater purpose, was to be offered by him, and which

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 39 in covenant was provided ; A body hast thou prepared me, which is put for the whole human nature ; for not the body of Christ only, but his soul also, were made an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10 ; and this offering for sin, was made by Christ's suffering and dying in the room and stead of sinners, when he was wounded for their transgressions, and bruised for their sins, and stricken for their iniquities ; that is, to make satis faction for them ; this was what was enjoined in covenant ; this commandment he received from his Father, and he was obedient to it, even to die the death of the cross ; and this work was proposed and appointed to him in covenant, and declared in prophecy, in order to finish transgression, make an end of sin, and make reconciliation for iniquity ; and this he did by the sacrifice of himself. Now as this whole scheme was drawn in council, and settled in covenant, it was proposed to Christ, and he readily agreed to it, and became the surety of the covenant, the better testament ; and engaged to assume human nature, to do and suffer in it all that the law and justice of God could require and should demand of him, in the room and stead of sinners, in order to make full satisfaction for their sins, of which the above things are the ground and foundation. Now, m. There is nothing in this whole transaction that is injurious to any person or thing, or that is chargeable with any unrighteousness, but all is agreeable to the rules of justice and judgment. 1. No injury is done to Christ by his voluntary substitution in the room and stead of sinners, to make satisfaction for their sins ; for as he was able, so he was willing to make it ; he assumed human nature, was qualified to obey and suffer, he had somewhat to offer as a sacrifice ; as man, he had blood to shed for the remission of sin, and a life to lay down for the ransom of sinners ; and as God, he could support the human nature in union with him under the weight of sin laid on it ; and bear the whole of the punishment due unto it with cheerfulness, courage, and strength : and as he was able, so he was willing ; he said in cove nant, when it was proposed to him, Lo, I come to do thy will ; and at the fulness of time he readily came to do it, went about it as soon as possible, counted it his meat and drink to perform it, and was constant at it ; and what was most distressing and disagreeable to flesh and blood he most earnestly wished for, even his bloody baptism, sufferings, and death ; and volenti non sit injuria. Besides, he had a right to dispose of his own life ; and therefore inlaying it down did no injustice to any : the civil law will not admit that one man should die for another; the reason is, because no man has a right to dispose of his own life ; but Christ had ; I have power, says he, to lay it down ; that is, his life ; hence he is called, the Prince of life, both with respect to his own life, and the life of others, Acts iii. 15 ; and accordingly it was in his power to give it as a redemption-price for his people ; wherefore he came to give his life a ransom for many, and which he did give ; and he also had a power to take it up again : were a good man admitted by the civil law to die for a bad man, it would be a loss to the commonwealth, and is another reason why it is not allowed of ; but Christ, as he laid down his life for sinners, so he could and did take it up again, and that

40 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHBIST. quickly ; he was delivered to death for the offences of men, to satisfy justice for them ; and then he rose again for the justification of them ; he died once, and continued a little while under the power of death, but it was not possible for him to be held long by it ; when through it he had made satisfaction for sin, he rose from the dead, and will die no more, but will live for ever for the good of his people. Nor is the human nature of Christ a loser but a gainer by his sufferings and death ; for having finished his work, he is glorified with the glory promised him in covenant before the world was ; is crowned with glory and honour, highly exalted above every creature, has a place at the right-hand of God, where angels have not ; angels, authorities, and powers, being subject to him ; nor has the human nature any reason to complain, nor did it ever complain of any loss sustained by suffering in the room and stead of sinners, and by working out their salvation. 2. Nor is there any unjust thing done by God throughout this whole transaction ; there is no unrighteousness in him, in his nature, nor in any of his ways and works ; nor in this affair, which was done to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, appear to be just, and be tho justifier of him that believes in Jesus ; upon the foot of a perfect righteousness, and full satisfaction made for sin. The person sent to do this work, and who was given up into the hands of justice, and not spared, was one God had a property in, he was his own Son, his only begotten Son ; and it was with his own consent he delivered him up for all his people ; and who being their surety, and having engaged to pay their debts, and to answer for any hurt, damage, or wrong, done by them ; and having voluntarily taken their sins upon him, and these being found on him by the justice of God ; it could bo no unrighteous thing to make a demand or satisfaction for them ; and accordingly it was exacted, and he answered, as the former part of Isa. liii. 7 may be rendered ; that is, satisfaction was required of him, and he answered to the demand made upon him ; and where is the unrighteousness of this I Christ's name was in the obligation, and that only ; and there fore he was tho only person that justice could lay hold upon, and get satisfaction from: besides, there was a conjunction, an union, a relation between Christ and his people, previous to his making satisfaction for them ; which lay at the bottom of it, and showed a reason for it ; as in all such cases where the sins of one have been punished on another ; as when God has visited the iniquities of fathers upon the children, there is the relation of fathers and children, and the fathers are punished in the children, as being parts of them ; thus Ham, the son of Noah, was the transgressor, but the curse was denounced and fell on Canaan his son, and Ham was punished in him ; when David numbered the people, and so many thousands suffered for it, here was a relation of king and subjects, who were one in a civil sense, and the one were punished for the other. Thus Christ and his people are one, both in a natural sense, being of the same nature, and partakers of tho same flesh and blood ; and so satisfaction for sin was made in the same nature that sinned, as it was fit it should ; and in a law-sense, as a surety and debtor are one, so that if one pay the debt it is the same as if the other

OP THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 41 did it ; and in a mystical sense, as head and members are one, as Christ and his people be head and members of the same body, so that if one suffer, the rest suffer with it ; nor is it any unjust thing, if one part of the body sins another suffers for it ; as, if the head commits the offence, and the back is punished : Christ and his people are one, as husband and wife are, who are one flesh ; and therefore there can bo no impro- Sriety, much less injustice, in Christ's giving himself a ransom-price for is church, to redeem her from slavery; or an offering and sacrifice for her, to make atonement for her transgressions : and as there appears to be no unrighteousness in God through this whole affair, so far as he was concerned in it, so there is no injury done him through a satisfac tion being made by another ; for hereby all the divine perfections are glorified. 3. Nor is there any injury done to the law of God ; it has the whole of its demands, no part remaining unsatisfied ; for it is neither abro gated nor relaxed ; there is a change of the person making satisfaction to it, which is favourably allowed by the lawgiver ; but there is no change of the sanction of the law, of the punishment it requires ; that is not abated. The law is so far from being a loser by the change of persons in giving it satisfaction, that it is a great gainer ; the law is magnified and made honourable ; more honourable by Christ's obedience to it, than by the obedience of the saints and angels in heaven ; and is made more honourable by the sufferings of Christ, it bearing the penal sanction of it, than by all the sufferings of the damned in hell to all eternity, Isa..xliii. 21. Secondly, The causes, spring, and source of satisfaction. i. So far as God the Father was concerned in it, he may be said to be an efficient cause of it, and his love the moving cause ; he was at the first of it, he began it, made the first motion, set it a work ; All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v. 18 ; he called a council upon it, he contrived the schemo of it, he sot forth Christ in his eternal purposes^and decrees to be the propitiation for sin, to make satisfaction for it ; and he sent him in the fulness of time for that purpose ; he laid on him the iniquities of his people, and made him sin for them by imputation ; he bruised him, and put him to grief, and made his soul an offering for sin ; he spared him not, but delivered him into the hands of justice and death : and what moved him to this, was his great love to his people. ii. In like manner Christ may be considered as an efficient cause, and his love as a moving cause in this affair ; he came into the world to die for sinners, and redeem them to God by his blood : he laid down his life for them ; he gave himself for them an offering and a sacrifice unto God, a propitiatory, expiatory one ; and what moved him to it, was his great love to them, and kindness for them ; Hereby perceive we tine love of God, that is, of God the Son, because he laid down his life for us, 1 John iii. 16; and the love of Christ is frequently premised to his giving himself to die in the room of his people. III. The matter of satisfaction, or what that is which gives satis faction to the justice of God ; so that a sinner upon it, or in con

42 OP THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. sideration of it, is acquitted and discharged ; and this is no other than Christ's fulfilling the whole law, in the room and stead of sinners ; this was what he undertook in covenant ; hence he said, Thy law is within my heart ; he was willing and ready to fulfil it ; and when he came into the world, hy his incarnation he was made under it voluntarily, and became subject to it, for he came not to destroy it, but to fulfil it ; and he is become the end of the law, the fulfilling end of it, to every one that believes : he has fulfilled it, i. By obeying the precepts of it, and answering all that it requires. Does it require a holy nature ? it has it in him, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled ; does it require perfect and sinless obedience ? it is found in him, who did no sin, never transgressed the law in one instance, but always did the things which pleased his Father ; and who has declared himself well pleased for his righteousness' sake, and with it ; and that as wrought out for his people by his active obedience to the law, which is so approved of by God, that he imputes it without works for the justifi cation of them, Rom. iv. 6. Nor is it any objection to tins doctrine that Christ, a man, was obliged to yield obedience to the law for him self, which is true ; but then it should be observed, that as he assumed human nature, or became man, for the sake of his people, to us, or for us, a child is born ; so it was for their sake he yielded obedience to the law. Besides, though he was obliged to it as man, yet he was not obliged to yield it in such a state and condition as he did ; in a state of humiliation, in a course of sorrow and affliction, in a suffering state throughout the whole of his life, even unto death ; for the human nature of Christ, from the moment of its union to the Son of God, was entitled to glory and happiness ; so that its obedience to the law in such a low estate was quite voluntary, and what he was not obliged unto : nor is it to be argued from Christ's yielding obedience for his people, that then they are exempted from it ; they are not ; they are under the law to Christ, and under greater obligation to obey it-; they are not obliged to obey it in like manner, or for such purposes that Christ obeyed it, even to justify them before God, and entitle them to eternal life. ii. Christ has fulfilled the law and satisfied it, by bearing the penalty of it in the room and stead of his people, which is death of every kind, Rom. vi. 23 : corporal death, which includes all afflictions, griefs, sorrows, poverty, and disgrace, which Christ endured throughout his state of humiliation ; for he took our infirmities, and bare our sick nesses ; and was a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs all his days ; and all that he suffered in his body, when he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ; when he was buffeted and smitten with the palms of the hand in the palace of the high-priest ; and was whipped and scourged by the order of Pilate ; his head crowned with thorns, and his hands and feet pierced with nails on the cross, where he hung for the space of three hours in great agonies and distress ; and some have confined his satisfactory sufferings to what he underwent during that time, which though very great indeed, and none can tell what he endured in soul and body, in that space of time j yet these, exclusive of what he endured before and

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 43 after, must not be considered as the only punishment he endured by way of satisfaction for the sins of men ; the finishing and closing part of which was death, and what the law required ; and hence making peace and reconciliation are ascribed to the bloodshed and death of Christ on the cross, Col. i. 20, Rom. v. 10; which death was a bloody, cruel, and painful one, as the thing itself speaks, and the description of it shows, and was also a very shameful and ignominious one, the death of slaves, and of the worst of malefactors ; and was likewise an accursed one, and showed, that as Christ was made sin for his people, and had their sins charged upon him, so he was made a curse for them, and bore the whole curse of the law that was due unto them. Moreover, Christ not only endured a corporal death, and all that was contained in it, and connected with it, or suffered in his body ; but in his soul also, through the violent temptations of Satan, he suffered, being tempted ; and through the reproaches that were cast upon him, which entered into his soul, and broke his heart ; and through his agonies in the garden, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ; and especially through his sufferings on the cross, when his soul, as well as his body, was made an offering for sin ; and when he sustained what was tantamount to an eternal death, which lies in a separation from God, and a sense of divine wrath ; both which Christ endured, when God deserted him, and hid his face from him; which made him eay, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ! and he had a dreadful sense of divine wrath on the account of the sins of his people laid upon him, the' punishment of which he bore, when he said, Thou hast cast off" and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed, thy Messiah, Psalm lxxxix. 38 ; and thus by doing and suffering all that the law and justice of God could require, he made full and complete satis faction thereunto for his people ; it was not barely some thing, some little matter, which Christ gave, and with which God was content, and what is called acceptilation : but a proper, full, and adequate satisfac tion, which he gave, so that nothing more, in point of justice, could bo required of him. IV. The form or manner in which satisfaction was made by Christ ; which was by bearing the sins of his people, under an imputation of them to him, and by dying for their sins, and for sinners ; that is, in their room and stead, as their substitute ; these are the phrases by which it is expressed in Scripture. i. By bearing the sms of his people, which we first read of in Isa. liii. 11, 12, where two words are made use of, both alike translated: And he bare the sin of many, Mtw he took, he lifted them up, ho took them off his people, and took them upon himself; and again, He shall bear their imquities, b20'' as a man bears and carries a burden upon his shoulders ; and from hence is the use of the phrase in the New Testa ment : the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. ix. 28, observes that Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; pointing at the time when he bore the sins of many ; it was when he was offered up a sacrifice to make atonement for them ; and the apostle Peter observes where he bore them ; who his own self bare our sins in his own body on

44 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. the tree ! 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; He bare them in his own body, in the body of his flesh ; when that was offered once for all ; and on the tree, upon the cross, when he was crucified on it. Now his bearing sin, supposes it was upon him ; there was no sin in him, inherently, in his nature and life ; had there been any, he would not have been a fit person to take away sin, to expiate it, and make satisfaction for it ; he was manifested to take away our sins ; that is, by the sacrifice of himself ; and in him is no sin, 1 John iii. 5, and so a fit sacrifice for it : but sin was upon him, it was put upon him, as the sins of Israel were put upon the scape goat, by Aaron. Sin was put upon Christ by his divine Father ; no creature could have done it, neither angel nor men ; but the Lord hath laid on him, or made to meet on him, the iniquity of us all, Isa. liii. 6; not a single iniquity, but a whole mass and lump of sins collected together, and laid, as a common burden, upon him ; even of us all, of all the elect of God, both Jews and Gentiles ; for Christ became the propitiation, or made satisfaction, for the sins of both, 1 John ii. 2. This phrase, of laying sin on Christ, is expressive of the imputation of it to him ; for as it was the will of God, not to impute the trespasses of his elect to themselves ; it was his pleasure they should be imputed to Christ, which was done by an act of his own ; for he hath made him to be sin for us ; that is, by imputation, in which way we are made the righteousness of God in him ; that being imputed to us by him, as our sins were to Christ : the sense is, a charge of sin was brought against him, as the surety of his people; he was numbered with the transgressors; bearing the sins of many, he was reckoned as if he had been one, sin being imputed to him ; and was dealt with, by the justice of God, as such ; sin being found on him, through imputation, a demand of satis faction for sin was made ; and he answered it to the full. All this was with his own consent ; he agreed to have sin laid on him, and imputed to him, and a charge of it brought against him, to which he engaged to be responsible ; yea, he himself took the sins of his people on him ; so the evangelist Matthew has it ; Himself took our iiifirmities, and bare our sicknesses, chap. viii. 17; as he took their nature, so lie took their sins, which made his flesh to have the likeness of sinful flesh, though it really was not sinful. What Christ bore, being laid on him, and imputed to him, were sins, all sorts of sin, original and actual ; sins of every kind, open and secret, of heart, lip, and life ; all acts of sin committed by his people ; for he has redeemed them from all their iniquities ; and God, for Christ's sake, forgives all trespasses ; his blood cleanses from all sin, and his righteousness justifies from all ; all being imputed to him, as that is to them : all that is in sin, and belongs to sin, were borne by him ; the turpitude and filth of sin, without being defiled by it, which cannot be separated from it ; and the guilt of sin, which was trans ferred to him, and obliged to punishment ; and particularly the punish ment itself, sin is often put for tho punishment of sin, Gen. iv. 13, Lam. v. 7 ; and is greatly meant, and always included, when Christ is said to bear it ; even all the punishment due to tho sins of his people ; and which is called the chastisement if our peace, said to be upon him,

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 43 Isa. liii 5 ; that is, the punishment inflicted on him, in order to make peace, reconciliation, and atonement for sin. Bearing sin, supposes it to be a burden ; and, indoed, it is a burden too heavy to bear by a sensible sinner : when sin is charged home upon the conscience, and a saint groans, being burdened with it, what must that burden be, and how heavy the load Christ bore, consisting of all the sins of all the elect, from the beginning of the world to the end of it ! and yet he sunk not, but stood up under it, failed not, nor was he discouraged, being the mighty God, and the Man of God's right hand, made strong for himself ; and he himself bore it ; not any with him, to take any part with him, to help and assist him ; his shoulders alone bore it ; on which it was laid ; and his own arm alone brought salvation to him. And he bore it, and bore it away ; he removed the iniquity of his people in one day ; and that as far as the east is from the west : and in this he was typified by the scape-goat, on whom were put all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins, of all the. children of Israel, on the day of atonement, and which were all borne by the scape-goat to a land not inhabited, Lev. xvi. 21, 22. Aaron was also a type of Christ, in bearing the sins of the holy things of the people of Israel, when ho went into the holy place, Exod. xxviii. 38. And the sin offering was typical of the sacrifice of Christ, which is said to bear the iniquities of the congregation, and to make atonement for them, Lev. x. 17. ii. The form and manner in which Christ made satisfaction for sin, is expressed by dying for sin, that is, to make atonement for it ; and for sinners, that is, in their room and stead, as their substitute. 1 . By dyingfor the sins of his people ; this the apostle represents as the first and principal article of the Christian faith, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; according to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which speak of Christ being cut off, in a judicial way, by death, but not for himself, for any sin of his own ; and of his being wounded, bruised, and stricken, but not for his own transgressions and iniquities ; but as wounded for our transgressions, bruisedfor our iniquities, and strickenfor the transgressions of his people, Dan. ix. 2G, Isa. liii. 5 — 8 ; that is, wounded and bruised unto death, and stricken with death ; which death was inflicted on him as a punish ment for the sins of his people, to expiate them, and make atonement for them ; being laid on him, and borne by him : the meaning of the phrases is, that the sins of his people were the procuring and meritorious causes of his death ; just as when the apostle says, for which things, sake ; that is, for sins before mentioned ; the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, Col. iii. 6 ; the sense is, that sins are the pro curing, meritorious causes of the wrath of God, being stirred up and poured down upon disobedient sinners : so, in like manner, when Christ is said to be delivered into the hands of justice and death, for our offences ; the sense is, that our offences were the meritorious cause why he was put to death, he bearing them, and standing in our room and stead ; as his resurrection from the dead, having mado satisfaction for sins, was the meritorious and procuring cause of our justification from them ; as follows, and was raised againfor ourjustification, Rom. iv. 25.

46 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. The Socinians urge, and insist upon it, that the particle for, used in' the above phrases, signifies not the procuring, meritorious cause, but the final cause of Christ's death ; which they say was this, to confirm the doctrines and practices he taught, that men, by obedience to them, might have the forgiveness of their sins : which is a doctrine very false ; for though Christ did, both by the example of his life, and by his suf ferings and death, confirm the truths he taught, which is but what a martyr does ; and that though, through the grace of God, his people do obey from the heart the doctrines and ordinances delivered to them ; yet it is not by their obedience of faith and duty,, that they obtain the forgiveness of their sins ; but through the blood of Christ, shed for many, for the remission of sins. 2. By dying for sinners, as their substitute, in their room ; so the several Greek particles, aim, virtp, irept, used in this phrase, and others equivalent to it, signify a surrogation, a substitute of one for another ; as in divers passages in the New Testament ; see Matt. ii. 21, and v. 38, and in various writers, as has been observed by many, with full proof and evidence, and most clearly in the Scriptures, where Christ's sufferings and death are spoken of as for others ; thus Christ gave his life a ransom for many, in the room and stead of many, Matt. xx. 28 ; so he himself is said to be aimXvrpov, a ransom for all, in the room and stead of all his people, Jews and Gentiles. The prophecy of Caiaphas was, that one man should die for the people, in the room and stead of them, John xi. 50. Christ died for the ungodly, in the room and stead of the ungodly ; while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, in our room and stead, Rom. v. 6—8. Again, Christ also hath once suf feredfur sins, thejustfor the unjust, in the room and stead of the unjust, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Some observe that these phrases only mean, Christ died for the good of men : that Christ became a surety for good to his people, and has obtained good for them, by performing his suretyshipengagements, is certain ; yet this good he has obtained by obeying, suffering, and dying, in their room and stead ; that thus the blessings of Abraham, even all the spiritual blessings of the everlasting covenant, might come upon the Gentiles, through Christ, he was made a curse for them, in their room ; he bore the whole curse of the law for them, as their substitute, and so opened a way for their enjoyment of the bless ings, or good things, in the covenant of grace ; and that sinners might be made the righteousness of God in him, or have his righteousness imputed to them for their justification ; he was made sin for them, had their sins laid on him, and imputed to him, as their substitute ; and was made a sacrifice for sin in their room and stead, to make atone ment for it; see Gal. iii. 13, 14, 2 Cor. v. 21. This is the greatest instance of love among men, that a man lay down his life v-aep,for, in the room and stead of, hisfriend, John xv. 13 ; and such was the love of Christ to his church, that he gave, delivered himself, to death wrep avrns,for her, in her room and stead, Eph. v. 25. V. The effects of satisfaction made by Christ, or the ends that were to be and have been answered by it. i. The finishing and making an entire end of sin ; this was Chrisfs

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 47 work assigned him in covenant, and asserted in prophecy ; and which was done when he made reconciliation or atonement for sin, Dan. ix. 24 ; not that the being of sin was removed thereby ; for that remains in all the justified and sanctified ones, in this life, but the damning power of it ; such for whom Christ has made satisfaction, shall never come into condemnation, nor be hurt of the second death, that shall have no power over them ; sin is so done, and put away, and abolished, by the sacrifice of Christ for it, that no charge can ever be brought against his people for it ; the curse of the law cannot reach them, nor light upon them ; nor any sentence of condemnation and death can be executed on them ; nor any punishment inflicted on them ; they are secure from wrath to come. Sin is so finished and made an end of, by Christ's satisfaction for it, that it will be seen no more by the eye of avenging Justice; it is so put away, and out of sight, that when it is sought for, it shall not be found ; God, for Christ's sake, has cast it behind his back, and into the depths of the sea. ii. In virtue of Christ's satisfaction for sin, his people are brought into an open state of reconciliation with God ; atonement being made for their sins, their persons are reconciled to God, and they are admitted into open favour with him ; and he declares himself pacified towards them, for all that they have done, Ezek. xvi. 63. in. Sin being atoned for, and made an end of, an everlasting righteousness is brought in, with which God is well pleased ; because by it his law is magnified and made honourable : all its demands being fully answered, by Christ's obeying its precepts, and bearing its penalty ; which righteousness God so approves of, that he imputes it to his people, without worke ; and so it is unto all, and upon all, them that believe, as their justifying righteousness ; which acquits them from sin, and entitles them to eternal life. iv. Immunity from all evil ; that is, from all penal evil, both in this life, and in that to come, is an effect of Christ's satisfaction for sin ; since sin being removed by it, no evil can come nigh them ; no curse attends their blessings ; no wrath is in their afflictions; all things work together for their good ; it is always well with them in life, in all the circumstances of it ; at death, they die in the Lord, in union to him, in faith, and hope of being for ever with him ; and at judgment, the Judge will be their Friend and Saviour, and it will be well with them to all eternity ; they will be eternally delivered from wrath to come. v. With respect to God, the effect of Christ's satisfaction is the glorifying of his justice ; for that end was Christ setforth to be the pro pitiation, or to make atonement for sin ; to declare the righteousness of God, to show it in all its strictness, that he might bejust, and thejustifier ofhim that believes in Jesus ; appear to be just in so doing ; yea, all the divine perfections are glorified hereby ; Rom. iii. 25, 26. There are many objections made to this important doctrine, and article of faith ; some of the principal of which are as follow. 1 . It is suggested, as if the doctrine of satisfaction for sin to the justice of God, is inconsistent with the mercy of God, and leaves no room for that. But the attributes of mercy and justice, are not

48 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. contrary to each other. They subsist and accord together, in the same divine nature ; Gracious is the Lord, and righteous ; yea, our God is merciful, Psalm cxvi. 5 ; merciful, though righteous ; and righteous, though gracious and merciful ; see Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7 ; and as they agree as perfections in the divine Being ; so in the exercise of them they do not clash with one another, no, not in this affair of satisfac tion ; justice being satisfied, a way is opened for mercy to display her stores. 2. It is objected, that pardon of sin, upon the foot of a full satis faction for it, cannot be said to be free ; but eclipses the glory of God's free grace in it : it is certain, that remission of sin is through the tender mercy of God, and is owing to the multitude of it ; it is accord ing to the riches of free grace, and yet through the blood of Christ : and both are expressed in one verse, as entirely agreeing together ; In whom, Christ, we have redemption through his blood, theforgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, Eph. i. 7 ; the free grace of God is so far from being eclipsed, in the forgiveness of sin, through the satisfaction of Christ, that it shines the brighter for it ; for consider, that it was the free grace of God which provided Christ to be a sacrifice for sin, to atone for it ; as Abraham said to Isaac, when he asked, Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? My son, says he, God will pro vide himself a lambfor the burnt-offering ; so God of his rich grace and mercy has provided Christ to be an offering for sin ; and his grace appears more, in that it is his own Son, his only begotten Son, he providod to be the atoning sacrifice ; it was grace that set forth Christ in purpose, proposed him in council and covenant, and sent him forth in time to be the propitiation for sin ; it was grace to us that he spared him not, but delivered him up for us all ; and it was grace in God to accept of the satisfaction made by Christ ; for though it was so full and complete, as nothing could be more so, yet it would have been a refusable one, had he not allowed Christ's name to be put in the obli gation; had it not been for the compact and covenant agreed to between them, God might have marked in strict justice our iniquities, and insisted on a satisfaction at our own hands; he might have declared, and stood by it, that the soul that sinned that should die; it was therefore owing to the free grace and favour of God, to admit of a surety in our room, to make satisfaction for us, and to accept of that satisfaction, as if made by ourselves. Moreover, though it cost Christ much, his blood, his life, and the sufferings of death, to make the satis faction for sin, and to procure forgiveness by it ; it cost us nothing ; it is all of free grace to us. Besides, grace in Scripture is only opposed to the works of men, and satisfaction by them ; and not to the works of Christ, and to his satisfaction. 3. It is pretended that this scheme of pardon, upon the foot of satisfaction, makes the love of Christ to men to be greater than the love of the Father; it represents the one as tenderly affectionate, compassionate and kind to sinners ; and the other as inexorable, not to be appeased, nor his wrath turned away without satisfaction to his justice ; and so men are more beholden to the one than to the other : X

OP THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 49 But the love of both is most strongly expressed in this business of Christ's satisfaction ; and he must be a daring man that will take upon him to say, who of them showed the greatest love, the Father in giving his Son, or the Son in giving himself, to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin ; for as it is said of Christ, that he loved the people, and gave himself for them, an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God, so it is said of the Father, that he so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to suffer and die for men ; and that herein his love was manifested, and that he commended it towards us in sending Christ to be the propitiation for sin, John iii. 16. Can there be a greater love than this expressed by both ? and which is greatest is not for us to say. 4. It is. said, that if Christ is a divine Person, he must be a party offended by sin ; and if he has made satisfaction for it, he must have made satisfaction to himself, which is represented as an absurdity. All this will be allowed, that Christ is God, and, as such, equally offended as his Father; and that he made satisfaction to the offended, and that, in some sense, to himself too ; and yet no absurdity in it. Indeed, in case of private satisfaction, for a private loss, it would be quite absurd for one to make satisfaction to himself; but in case of public satisfaction, for a public offence to a community, of which he is a part, he may be said, by making satisfaction to the whole body, to make satisfaction to himself, without any absurdity. A member of parlia ment, having violated the rules and laws of the house, when he makes satisfaction for the same to it, may be said to make satisfaction to himself, being a member of it. It is possible for a lawgiver to make satisfaction to his own law broken, and so to himself, as the lawgiver ; thus Zaleucus, a famous legislator, made a law which punished adultery with the loss of both eyes ; his own son first broke this law, and in order that the law might have full satisfaction, and yet mercy be shown to his son, he ordered one of his son's eyes and one of his own to be put out ; and so he might be said to satisfy his own law, and to make satisfaction to himself, the lawgiver. But in the case before us, the satisfaction made by Christ is made to the justice of God, subsisting in the divine nature, common to all the three Persons ; this perfection subsisting in the divine nature, as possessed by the first Person, is offended with sin, resents it, requires satisfaction for it ; and it is given it by the second Person, in human nature, as God-man : the same divine perfection subsisting in the divino nature, as possessed by the second Person, shows itself in like manner, loving righteousness, and hating iniquities ; affronted by sin, and demanding satisfaction for it, it is given to it by him, as the God-man and Mediator ; who, though a Person offended, can mediate for the offender, and make satisfaction for him. And the same may be observed concerning the justice of God, as a perfection of the divine nature, possessed by the third Person, the Spirit of God ; the satisfaction is made to the justice of God, as subsisting in the divine nature, common to the three Persons, and is not made to one Person only, singly and separately, and per sonally; but to God, essentially considered in all his Persons; and to VOL. II. E

50 OF PROPITIATION. his justice, as equally possessed by them; and that as the Lord, Judge, and Governor of the whole world ; who ought to maintain, and must and does maintain, the honour of his Majesty, and of his law. 5. Once more, it is said that this doctrine of Christ's satisfaction for sin, weakens men's obligation to duty, and opens a door to licentious ness. But this is so far from being true, that, on the contrary, it strengthens the obligation, and excites a greater regard to duty, in those who have reason to believe that Christ has made satisfaction for their sins ; for the love of Christ in dying for them—in being made sin and a curse for them, to satisfy for their sins, constrains them, in the most pressing manner, to live to him, according to his will, and to his glory ; being bought with the price of Christ s blood, and redeemed from a vain conversation by it ; they are moved the more strongly to glorify God with their bodies and spirits, which are his, and to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear ; the grace of God, which has appeared in God's gift of his Son, and in Christ's gift of himself to be their Redeemer and Saviour, to be their atoning sacrifice ; teaches them most effectually to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this evil world. E OF PROPITIATION, ATONEMENT, AND RECONCILIATION. Having observed, that though the word satisfaction is not syllabically used in Scripture, when the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction is spoken of ; yet that there are words and terms equivalent to it, and synonymous with it ; as propitiation, atonement, and reconciliation : it may be proper to explain these terms, and give the sense of them ; which may serve the more to clear and confirm the doctrine of satis faction ; I. Propitiation. The first time we meet with this word, as applied to Christ, is in Rom. iii. 25, Whom God hath setforth to be a propitiation ; either to be the author of propitiation ; for whose sake, and on account of what he was to do and suffer, God would be propitious to men—his justice be appeased—and he be at peace with them ; laying aside all marks of displeasure, anger, and resentment against them : for this was Christ's work as Mediator; ho drew nigh to God, and treated with him about terms of peace, and entered into measures of peace with him ; interposed between justice and them, became a Mediator between God and man, to bring them together ; hence he has the names of Shiloh, the Prince of peace, the Man the Peace, and Jesus our peace, who has made both one : or else to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin ; such hilastic, propitiatory, and expiatory sacrifices there were under the law ; typical of the expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ ; and as God in them smelled a sweet savour of rest, as types of Christ ; so his sacrifice was an offering of a sweet-smelling savour to him ; he was well pleased with it, it gave him content and satisfaction, because his justice was appeased by it, and the demands of his law were answered, yea, it was magnified and made honourable ; the word used

* OF ATONEMENT. 51 in the above text iXaorqpiop, is the same which the Greek version of Exod. xxv. 21, and which the apostle, in Heb. ix. 5, uses of the mercyscat ; which, with the cherubim upon it, and the ark, with the law therein under it, to which it was a lid or cover, formed a seat for the divine Majesty ; and which was an emblem of his mercy and justice shining in the atonement made by Christ, which this exhibited to view ; and gave encouragement to draw nigh to this mercy-seat, or throne of grace, in hope of finding grace and mercy, and enjoying communion with God : a glimpse of this the poor publican had, when he said, God be merciful, <Xa6r\Ti, propitious, to me a sinner ! or be merciful to me, through the propitiation of the Messiah. Now Christ was set forth to be the propitiation in the purposes and decrees of God, irpoeflero, God foreordained him, as he was foreordained to be the Lamb slain, as the ransom-price and propitiatory sacrifice ; whose sufferings and death, which were the sacrifice, were according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, 1 Pet. i. 19, Acts ii. 23 andiv. 28 ; and he was set forth in the promises and prophecies spoken of by all the holy prophets that were from the beginning of the world ; as the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, destroy him and his works, among which this is a principal one, making an end of sin, by a complete atonement for it ; and he was set forth as such in the types and shadows of the law, the trespass-offerings, and sin-offerings, which are said to bear the sins of the congregation, and to make atonement for them ; which were typical of Christ, who was made an offering for sin, bore the sins of many, and made atonement for them, Lev. x. 17 ; and he has been set forth, in the fulness of time, in the exhibition of him, in human nature, in which he was manifested to take away sin ; and he has put it away, and even abolished it, by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself; and he is still set forth in the gospel, as the sinbearing, and sin-atoning Saviour, who has satisfied law and justice, and made peace by the blood of his cross ; and therefore it is called the word of reconciliation, the gospel of peace, and the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. There are two other places where Christ is spoken of as iAao>ios, the propitiation ; and these are in the first epistle of the apostle John ; in one of them, chap. iv. 10, it is said, God sent his Son to be the propitia tion for our sins ; that is, sent him in human nature, to offer up soul and body as a sacrifice, and thereby make expiation of sin, and full atonement for it ; and in the other it is said, chap. ii. 2, And he is the propitiationfor our sins, the sins both of Jews and Gentiles ; for which he is become a propitiatory sacrifice ; upon which God is merciful, lAeojj, propitious to his people, notwithstanding all their unrighteousness, sins, and transgressions, or it pacified towards them for all that have been done, Heb. viii. 12, Ezek. xvi. 63. II. The word atonement, though often used in the Old Testament, of typical sacrifices, making expiation of sin, where the word -Q5 is used, which signifies to cover ; and Christ, by his sacrifice, the antitype of these, is a covering to his people, from the curses of the law they have broken—from the wrath of God they have deserved—and from avenging b2

52 OF RECONCILIATION. justice their sins exposed them to. Yet it is but once used in the New Testament, Rom. v. 11, By whom we have received the atonemmt, made for them by Christ their surety, head, and representative ; that is, the benefit of it, the application of it by the Spirit of God, who takes the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, and applies to his people, and shows them their interest therein ; the effect of which is joy, peace, and comfort. The word used properly signifies reconciliation ; and so it is elsewhere translated ; and the Hebrew word ")M is some times rendered to reconcile, Lev. vi. 30 ; atonement and reconciliation for sin, design the same thing, and both satisfaction for it. Which leads to observe, III. The word reconciliation is frequently used with respect to this doctrine. Reconciliation began with God himself ; all things are of God, originally, in nature, providence, and grace ; particularly this, Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v. 1 8. It began in the thoughts of his heart, which were thoughts of peace ; it was brought into council and settled in covenant, called the council and covenant of peace. It was carried into execution by Christ, who is frequently represented as the author of it, by his death, and the blood of his cross, Col. i. 20— 22 ; and it was made unto God, against whom sin is committed, whose law is broken, and his justice offended ; and who is the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, and it is a reconciliation for sin, to make atonement for it, and of sinners and enemies in their minds to God, which may be further illustrated, i. By observing the character of the persons reconciled ; which will show the cause, reason, and necessity of a reconciliation to be made ; they are enemies ; and in one of the texts referred to, they are said to be enemies in their minds by wicked works : which is expressive, 1 . Of the internal enmity there is in their minds and hearts ; the carnal mind, as every man's mind is naturally carnal, is not only an enemy, but enmity itself, against God, Rom. viii. 7 ; to the Being of God, wishing thero was no God—to the nature and perfections of God, denying some of them, misrepresenting others, and framing him in their minds, as altogether such an one as themselves—to the purposes and decrees of God, which they cannot bear, and to which they inso lently reply ; and to the providences of God, they charge with inequality and unrighteousness : and they are inwardly and secretly enemies to Christ, to his person and offices ; particularly his kingly office, being unwilling that he should reign over them ; and to his gospel, and the special doctrines of it ; and to his ordinances, they care not to be subject unto : and so they are to the Spirit, to his Person, whom they know not, nor can receive ; to his operations, which they deride and ridicule ; the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to them : and they are enemies to the people of God, there is an old and implacable enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent ; the saints are hated by the world, because chosen and called out of the world ; God's elect themselves, whilst in a state of nature, are hateful, and hating one another ; Paul, a chosen vessel of salvation, was, whilst unregenerate, exceeding mad against the saints.

OF RECONCILIATION. 53 2. There is an external enmity, which appears by wicked works and sinful actions openly committed ; which are acts of hostility against God, are contrary to his nature and will, are abominable in his sight ; provoke the eyes of his glory, excite his wrath, and cause it to be revealed from heaven, and for which it comes on the children of dis obedience ; and all are deserving of it : sins are breaches of the law of God, render men liable to the curses of it, and to death itself, the sanction of it ; they not only fill with enmity to God, and show it to him, but set men at a distance from him ; so that they have no com munion with him, are afar off, are without him, and separate from him. 3. Men are not only enemies internally and externally to God, but there is an enmity on the part of God to them ; there is a law-enmity, or an enmity declared in the law against them ; they are declared by the law of God as enemies, traitors, and rebels to him ; and such God's elect were considered, when Christ died to make reconciliation for them ; for it is said, while they were sinners Christ died for them, and when they were enemies they were reconciled to God, by the death of his Son, Rom. v. 8—10. Now the far greater part of those for whom Christ died, were not then in an actual sinful state, nor in actual rebellion and enmity against God ; for then they were not in actual being ; but they were considered as in their apostate head, as sinners in him, and so as rebels and traitors ; as such they were deemed by the law, and proceeded against, proclaimed guilty, judgment came upon them to condemnation ; they were, in the eve of the law, and in the sight of justice, viewed as enemies, and declared such : and this lawenmity is what was slain by Christ, and removed at his death ; and not that enmity that was in their minds ; that was not removed by and at the death of Christ ; that is removed at conversion, when the arrows of the word become shaq> in these enemies, which bring them to fall under and be subject to Christ ; when they are made willing in the day of his power, to be saved by him, to submit to his righteousness, and to have him to reign over them : this is the work of the Spirit of Christ : there is a two-fold reconciliation, one of which is the work of Christ, and was made at his death : the other the work of his Spirit, at conversion ; when, by his grace, men are reconciled to the way of salvation by Christ ; and both may be seen in one text, Rom. v. 10. If there had been no other enmity than what is in the hearts of men against God, there would have been no need of tho sufferings and death of Christ to make reconciliation ; but there was a law-enmity on the part of God, and his justice, which required the death of Christ to take it away. Not that there was enmity in the heart of God to his elect ; that would be inconsistent with his everlasting and unchangeable love, which appeared strongly towards them at the time Christ died for them, reconciled them, and became the propitiation for their sins, Rom. v. 8, 10, Tit. 3, 4, 1 John iv. 10. But they were, according to the law, and in the view of justice, deemed and declared as the enemies of God. So when the subjects of a king rise up in rebellion against him, there may be no enmity in his heart to them ; yet they are,

54 OP RECONCILIATION. according to law, proclaimed rebels, and enemies to him, and may be treated as such, and proceeded against in due form of law : and yet, after all, be pardoned by him. There was, in some sense, a reciprocal enmity between God and men, which made a reconciliation necessary ; and which was brought about by the bloodshed, sufferings, and death of Christ, when he slew the enmity of the law, and blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that were against sinners, so making peace. Which will further appear, ii. By observing what reconciliation signifies and imports : there is somethmg similar and analogous in a case when it is made between man and man, though not altogether the same ; and some caution must be taken, lest we go into mistakes : Reconciliation between man and man, supposes a former state of friendship subsisting between them, a breach of that friendship, and a renewing and restoration of it : and there is something like it in reconciliation between God and man ; man, in his primeval state, was in strict friendship with God, not only Adam personally being made after the image and in the likeness of God, having dominion over all the creatures made for his use, and which were brought to him, to be named by him ; and having a habita tion in a most delightful garden, where he was allowed to eat of all kind of fruit in it but one ; and where he enjoyed communion with God ; in all this honour he was ; and not he only, but all his posterity, considered in him, as their head and representative, were in a state of friendship with God ; hence the covenant made with him in which he was their federal head, is rightly called by divines, fcedus amicitice, a covenant of friendship : but man abode not long in this state ; sin, that whisperer and make-bate, soon separated chief friends ; alienated man from the life of God, caused him to apostatize from him, and to become a traitor to him ; filled him with enmity to him, and set him at a distance from him ; and in this state of alienation and enmity, all his posterity naturally are ; with respect to the elect of God among them, Christ has interposed, appeased justice, satisfied the law, and made reconciliation for them, and brought them into an open state of friendship with God ; so that they are considered, in consequence of this, as Abraham was, the friends of God, and are treated as such, have the blessings of divine favour bestowed upon them, and rich com munications of grace made unto them. But here we must proceed warily, and observe some things, to prevent mistakes and misrepresentations ; for perhaps there is not one thing in the whole scheme of evangelical truths more difficult rightly to fix than this. It should be considered, that properly speaking there are no passions nor perturbations of mind in God, who is a spirit, simple and uncompounded, and not capable of such things ; when therefore displeasure, anger, provocation, resentment, &c are ascribed to him, it must be understood after the manner of men ; that he says something in his word, and does something in his providence, and the outward dispensations of it, which is somewhat similar to what men say and do, when the above is the case with them ; otherwise we are not to conceive that God is in a passion, and is ruffled, and his mind

OP RECONCILIATION, 55 disturbed, as they are. Nor are we to imagine there is any change in God, as in men, who are sometimes friends, then enemies, and then friends again ; he changes not, there is no variableness nor shadow of turning m him ; he may change his voice to his people, and speak comfortably to them in his gospel, who before spake terribly to them in his law ; he may change his outward conduct and behaviour towards them, and carry it friendly to them, whenbeforo as at a distance : but he never changes his mind, counsel, and affections to them ; his love is everlasting and invariable ; he ever rested in it, and nothing can separate from it ; his love is never changed to enmity, and from enmity to love again ; his special secret favour, as it is never lost, needed no recovery ; nor did Christ, by making satisfaction and reconciliation for sin, procure the love and favour of God to his people ; for Christ's being sent to be the propitiation, his sufferings and death, sacrifice and satisfaction, were the fruit and effect of the love of God, and not the cause of it, John iii. 16, Rom. v. 8, 1 John iv. 10. The reconciliation made by Christ was not to the love of God, which was never lost, but to the justice of God, offended by sin ; the flaming sword, which turned every way and threatened vengeance, was plunged into the heart of Christ, the surety of his people, which was done to declare the righte ousness and satisfy the justice of God ; and to open a way for mercy to display itself, and turn its hand upon the little ones ; and thus justice and mercy happily met together, and were reconciled to one another in their different pleas and demands, Zech. xiii. 7, Rom. iii. 25, 26, Psalm lxxxv. 10. The reconciliation made by Christ is for . sin, to make satisfaction for it, Dan. ix. 24, Heb. ii. 17 ; and on that account it is a reconciliation of sinners to God, he being thereby pacified towards them for all that they have done ; being well pleased with what Christ has done and suffered for them ; he is well pleased with him, and with all that are considered in him, who are accepted in him the beloved, and are admitted into an open state of favour ; which is meant by their having access through Christ into the grace wherein they stand, Rom. v. 2 ; for though the love of God to his elect is invariable and unchangeable in itself, yet the manifestation of it is different : and it may be distinguished into secret and open love ; there are obstructions by sin thrown in the way of love, which must be removed, in order to enjoy open favour and the blessings of it, and which are removed by Christ ; thus Christ was mado under the law, to redeem his people, that they might receive the adoption of children ; and was made a curse for them, that the blessings of grace love had provided in covenant for them, might come upon them ; and he was made sin, and a sin-offering for them, that they might bo made the righteousness of God in him ; and be brought into a state of open fellowship and communion with him, who before were kept at a distance. Thus David, though he most affectionately loved his son Absalom, and longed for him, when for an offence he fled ; and though through the mediation of Joab he was allowed to return to Jerusalem, yet the king would not suffer him to see his face for the space of full two years ; when by the mediation of the same person he was admitted

56 OF THE PARDON OF SIN. into the king's presence, taken into open favour, and kissed by him, 2 Sam. xiv. 1—S3. in. The means by which this reconciliation is made, are the blood shed and death of Christ ; he only is the reconciler and peace-maker ; a sinner cannot make peace with God or reconciliation, that is, satis faction for his sins ; not by his works of righteousness, which are impure and imperfect ; nor by repentance, which the law does not admit of, nor is it any satisfaction to it ; nor by faith, for that does not make, only receives the atonement made by Christ ; there is nothing a sinner can do, will make peace and reconciliation for him; and what ho will, he cannot do ; which is no less than fulfilling the whole law, and answering all the demands of law and justice, Rom. viii. 3, 4 ; death being the sanction of the law, and the wages of sin, there is no recon ciliation to be made but by death ; not by the death of slain beasts, which could not take away sin : nor by the death of the sinner himself: the Jews having lost the true notion of the atonement by the Messiah, fancy that a man's death atones for his sins ; but it is a false notion, there is no other way of peace, reconciliation, and atonement being made, but by the death of the Son of God ; who being God as well as man, could and did give virtue and efficacy to bis blood, sufferings and death in human nature united to his person, as to make them adequate to the said purposes. OF THE PARDON OP SIN. 1 he doctrine of pardon, properly follows the doctrine of satisfaction ; for pardon of sin proceeds upon satisfaction made for it. Forgiveness of sin, under the law, followed upon typical atonement for it ; four times, in one chapter, it is said, the priest shall make atonement for sin, and it shall be forgiven ; and as often in the next chapter ; Lev. iv. 5, and in other places. This doctrine is of pure revelation ; it is not to be known by the light of nature ; As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without late, Rom. ii. 12, for any thing the light of nature suggests concerning the pardon of it ; men may fancy, from the goodness and mercy of God, that he will forgive their sins ; but they cannot be certain of it that he will, since he is just as well as merciful ; and how to reconcile justice and mercy in the pardon of sin, the light of nature leaves men in the dark ; they may conjecture, that because one man forgives another upon repentance, God will do the same ; but they cannot be sure of it : besides, grace must be given to a man to repent, as well as remission of sins, or else ho never will repent. Nor is this a doctrine of the law, which gives not the least hint of pardon, nor any encouragement to expect it ; As many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the late, condemned without any. hope of pardon, Rom. ii. 12. Every transgression and disobedience of the law, or word spoken by angels, received a just recompence of reward ; that is, proper righteous punishment, Heb. ii. 2. Nor docs the law regard a man's repentance, nor admit of any ; lie that despised Moses's law, died

OF THE PARDOJf OF SIN. 57 without mercy ! Heb. x. 28. But the doctrino of pardon is a pure doctrine of the gospel, which Christ gave in commission to his disciples to preach, and which they preached in his name, and to which all the evangelic prophets bore witness, Luke xxiv. 47, Acts x. 43. Concern ing which may be observed, I. The proof may be given of it, that there is such a thing as pardon for sin : this is asserted in express words by David, There is forgiveness with thee, Psalm cxxx. 4 ; and by Daniel, To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, full and free pardon of sin, Dan. ix. 9. It is a blessing provided and promised in the covenant of grace, ordered in all things, which, without this, it would not be ; this is a principal blessing in it ; the promise of which runs thus ; / will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more, Heb. viii. 12 ; it is in the gracious proclamation the Lord has made of his name, and makes a considerable part of it ; as the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ! Exod. xxxiv. 7. Christ was set forth, in the purposes of God, to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins ; and he was sent forth, in the fulness of time, to shed his blood for it ; and his blood has been shed for many, for the remission of sins ; and it is procured by it ; or otherwise his blood-shed and death would be in vain, and it is in his hands to bestow it ; having ascended on high, he has received gifts for men, even for the rebellious ; and among the gifts for them, pardon of sin is one ; Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, andforgiveness ofsins, Acts v. 31 ; and it is, by his orders, published in the gospel, as before observed ; to which may be added, the numerous instances of it, both under the Old and under the New Testament ; as of the Israelites, who, as they often sinned, God had compassion on them, and forgave their iniquities ; even [though he took vengeance on their inventions, and of David, Manasseh, and others, and of Saul the blas phemer, the persecutor, and injurious person ; and of other notorious sinners. It is in this way God would have his people comforted, when burdened and distressed with the guilt of sin, Isa. xl. 1, 2, Matt. ix. 2 ; and they are, at times, favoured with a comfortable experience of it, and peace of soul from it, Psalm lxxxv. 1 — 3, Rom. v. 11 ; they are directed to pray for it, and do pray for it ; to which there would be no encouragement, if there was no such thing, Psalm xxxii. 5, Matt. vi. 12. To add no more, forgiveness of sin is included in complete salvation, and is a part of it, and without which it would not be complete ; nay, without it, thero could be no salvation ; forgiveness of sin is a branch of redemption by the blood of Christ, which is explained by it, Eph. i. 7. II. The phrases by which the pardon of sin is expressed, and which will serve to lead into the nature of it. i. By lifting it up, and taking it away : Blessed is he whose transgres sion isforgiven, itw is lifted up, taken off from him, and carried away, Psalm xxxii. 1. Sin lies upon the sinner, and lays him under obliga tion to punishment, unless it is taken off; and the sins of God's elect

58 OP THE PARDON OP SIN. are taken off of them, and laid on Christ, and borne by him, and removed from them, as far as the east is from the west ; so that when sought for they shall not be found, God having pardoned those he has reserved for himself; and sin lies upon the conscience of an awakened sinner, as a burden too heavy for him to bear ; which is taken away by the application of the blood of Christ ; and who gives orders to take away the filthy garments of his people, and clothe them with change of raiment, and puts away their sins, that they shall not die. n. By the covering of it ; Blessed is he whose sin is covered, Psalm xxxii. 1. TIiou hastforgiven the iniquity of thy people ; thou hast covered all their sin ! Psalm lxxxv. 2. Sin is something impure, nauseous, and abominable, in the sight of God, and provokmg to the eyes of his glory, and must be covered out of sight ; and this cannot be done by any thing of man's ; not by his righteousness, which is but rags, a covering too narrow to be wrapped in, and can no more hide his naked ness, than Adam's fig-leaves could hide his ; nay, it is no better than a spider's web ; and of which it may be said, Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works, Isa. lix. 6 ; sin is only covered by Christ, who is the antitype of the mercy-seat which was a lid or cover to the ark, of the same dimensions with it, in which was the law, and prefigured Christ, as the covering of the trans gressions of it by his people, from the sight of avenging justice ; and whose blood is the purple covering in the chariot of the covenant of grace, under which his people ride safe to glory ; all their iniquities being out of sight ; and whose righteousness is unto and upon all that believe ; a garment that reaches to the feet, that white raiment with which being clothed, the shame of their nakedness does not appear ; yea, being clothed with this robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, are as ornamented as the bridegroom and bride on the wedding-day ; hereby their sins are covered, so as not to be seen any more, and they appear unblamable and irreproveable in the sight of God. in. By a non-imputation of it ; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity J Psalm xxxii. 2 ; does not reckon it, or place it to his account, or bring any charge against him for it, or punishes for it ; but acquits him from it, having imputed it to Christ, placed it to his account, charged him with it, laid the chastisement of it on him, or the punishment of it on him, and received satisfaction from him for it. iv. By a blotting of it out : In such language David prays for the forgiveness of sin ; Blot out my transgressions — and blot aut all mine iniquities! Psalm li. 1—9 ; and in the same way God declares his will to forgive the sins of his people ; /, even I am he, that blotteth out thy transgressions ! Isa. xliii. 25 ; which language is used, either in allusion to the crossing of debt-books, drawing a line over them ; or to the blotting out a man's hand-writing to a bond or note, obliging to payment of money ; hence the phrase of blotting out the hand-writing ofordinances that was against us, Col. ii. 14. Sins are debts, and these are numerous, and sinners poor, and unable to pay them ; wherefore God, for Christ's sake, freely forgives, and draws the line of Christ's blood over them,

OP THE PARDON OP SIN. 59 and cancels the obligation to payment : or else to the dissipation of a cloud, by the sun rising or breaking forth through it ; / have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions ; and as a cloud thy sins ! Isa. xliv. 22. Sins may be compared to clouds, for their quantity, their number being many ; for their quality, being exhaled out of the earth, and sea, and mount up to heaven, cause darkness, and intercept light ; sin rises out of the earthly minds of men, who mind earthly things, and who are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest ; and the sins of some, like those of Babylon, reach up to heaven, and call for wrath and vengeance to. come down from thence ; sin causes the darkness of unregeneracy, and is often the reason of darkness to such who have been made light in the Lord ; it intercepts the light of his countenance, and of Christ, the Sun of righteousness : now as a cloud is dispersed and dissipated by the breaking forth of the sun, which, overcoming the cloud, scatters it, so as it is seen no more ; in like manner, through the rising of the Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings, an application of pardoning grace is made for his sake ; upon which, darkness is dispersed, light and joy introduced, a serene heaven of peace and comfort follow ; and as a cloud is so dispersed, that it is seen no more, so sin is pardoned, in such sort as not to be seen any more ; or to be set in the light of God's countenance unto condemnation ; and though as fresh clouds may arise, so new sins may be committed, which yet are removed and cleansed from by the blood of Christ, and the efficacy of it, for the continual pardon of it, through the repeated application of that blood, v. By a non-remembrance of it ; And their iniquities will I remember no more ! Heb. viii. 12, Isa. xliii. 25. God forgives and forgets ; haying once forgiven them, he thinks of them no more ; they are out of sight and out of mind ; his thoughts are thoughts of peace, and not of evil ; he remembers not former iniquities, but his tender mercies, which have been ever of old. vi. By making sin, or rather sinners, white as snow : so David prays, Wash me, and 1 shall be whiter than snow, Psalm li. 7. So the Lord promises ; Thy sins shall be as white as snow, Isa. i. 18. Her Nazarites are purer than snow, Lam. iv. 7. Being justified by the righteousness of Christ, clothed with that fine linen, clean and white, washed in his blood, and their garments made white therein, and all their sins forgiven for his sake, and so all fair without spot or blemish. III. What sins are pardoned ; sins both with respect to quality and quantity. i. For quality; they are called trespasses. Sin is a walking on forbidden ground, for which a man must suffer, unless forgiven : and transgressions of the law of God ; a passing over and going beyond the bounds and limits prescribed by it : and iniquities, which are contrary to the rules of justice and equity : and sins, errors, aberrations, strayings from the rule of God's word : when God is said to forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, it takes in every kind and sort of sin ; every sin is against God, though some are more immediately against him than others ; they are contrary to his nature, which is pure and holy ; whereas, nothing is more impure and unholy than sin is ; and therefore

60 OF THE PARDON OF SIN. it is abominable to him, and hated by him ; and hence sins are called abominations ; not that they are so to sinners, for they delight in them ; but to God, to whom they are so very disagreeable ; there is an enmity in sin, and in every sinner's heart, to God ; every sin is an act of hostility against him, it is a stretching out the hand against God, and a strengthening a man's self against the Almighty ; it strikes at his Deity, and is a contempt of his authority ; and yet he forgives it : it being committed against him, an infinite Being, it is objectively infinite, and requires an infinite satisfaction ; and without it, is punished ad infinitum. Sin is defined, a transgression of the law, 1 John iii. 4 ; a breach, a violation of it ; which accuses of it, pronounces guilty for it, and curses and condemns ; and is only forgiven by the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Sins are sometimes represented as debts ; because, being committed, they oblige to the debt of punish ment, which God remits ; the sinner owing more than ten thousand talents, and not able to pay, he frankly forgives all for Christ's sake ; of which, the year of release from debts under the law was typical : sins, with respect to men, are called diseases, and they are incurable, but by the grace of God, and blood of Christ ; and pardon of Bin is expressed by healing them ; Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, Psalm ciii. 3. n. For quantity ; all trespasses, sins, and transgressions are forgiven, Col. ii. 13, Psalm ciii. 3. Original sin, the sin of the first man, and the sin of all men in him, by which all are made, constituted, and accounted sinners ; which is the source and fountain of all sin, and is the iniquity of us all, which was laid on Christ, and he satisfied for, and is forgiven for his sake ; of all sin, it cannot be thought this should be left unforgiven : all actual sins, which spring from thence ; the works of the flesh, which are many and manifest ; some are more secret, some more open, some lesser, others greater, more daring and presumptuous ; some sins of commission, others sins of omission ; but all are forgiven ; and not only daily failings and infirmities, but all backslidings, revoltings, and partial apostacies, and, indeed, every sin, excepting the sin of the Holy Ghost, Matt. xii. 31, 32 ; and why that is unpardonable, has been observed, vol. i., b. iii., p. 485. IV. The causes of the pardon of sin. i. The efficient Cause is God, and not any creature, angels, or men. 1. It is not in the power of men to forgive sin : one man may forgive another an offence, as committed against himself ; but not as committed against God ; saints ought to forgive one another's offences that arise among them ; as God, for Christ's sake, lias forgiven them, Eph. iv. 32, Col. ii. 13. Ministers can remit sin ministerially and declaratively, but not authoritatively ; no man that goes under the name of a priest, or a minister of the word, has a power of absolution, or has authority to absolve men from their sins : all that a true and faithful preacher of the gospel can do, is to preach remission of sins in tho namo of Christ ; and to declare, that whoever repent of their sins, and believe in Christ, shall receive tho forgiveness of them ; and which declaration

OF THE PARDON OF SIN. 61 of theirs God abides by and confirms ; and whoso sins, in this sense, they remit, they are remitted, John xx. 23. To assume a power to forgive sin, and to absolve from it, is the height of antichristianism ; it is with respect to this, that antichrist is said to sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, by taking that to himself which belongs to God only ; namely, to forgive sin ; this is one of the blas phemies, and a principal one, which his mouth is opened to utter, to dispense with sin, grant indulgences of it, and pardons for it, 1 These. ii. 4, Rev. xiii. 5, 6 ; the highest angel in heaven cannot forgive, nor procure the forgiveness, of one sin ; they could not for those of their own kind that sinned ; nor can they for any of the sons of men. 2. There is nothing a man has, or can do, by which he can procure the pardon of sin, either for himself, or for others : no man, by his riches, and the multitude of his wealth, can give to God a ransom for himself, or for his brother, make atonement and satisfaction for sin, and obtain the pardon of it ; Riches profit not in the day of wrath : when God comes to deal with men for their sins, and pour out his wrath upon them for them, bags of gold and silver will be of no avail. Nor is pardon of sin to be obtained by works of righteousness ; could it, it would not be of grace ; for grace and works are opposed to each other ; men would be saved by works, contrary to the Scriptures, since pardon is included in salvation, and that is by grace, and not works : besides, the blood of Christ would be shed in vain ; for as if righteousness, or justification, came by the law, then Christ died in vain ; so if pardon of sin came by the works of the law, and obedience to it ; in like manner Christ must have died in vain. Once more, the best works of men are due to God ; he has a prior right unto them, and therefore cannot be meritorious of pardon ; nor is there any just proportion between them and pardon, and eternal life ; one debt cannot be paid by another ; or the debt of punishment be remitted by the debt of obedience. Nor is pardon procured by repentance ; they are both gifts of grace ; and though given to the same persons, the one is not the cause of the other ; at least, repentance is not the cause of remission ; for true, evangelical repentance, flows from, and in the exercise of it, is influenced by the discovery and application of pardoning grace ; see Ezek. xvi. 63 ; brinish tears will not wash away sin ; notwithstanding these, it will remain marked before God ; the tears the woman, a sinner, shed, and with which she washed Christ's feet, were not shed to procure the pardon of her sins ; but flowed from a sense of pardoning love mani fested to her, Luke vii. 37—47. Nor is pardon procured by faith, as the cause of it ; faith does not obtain it by any virtue of its own ; but receives it as obtained by the blood of Christ, Acts x. 43. Nor is it procured by a submission to the ordinance of water-baptism ; baptism neither takes away original sin, nor actual sin ; not as to the guilt thereof, as the case of Simon Magus shows ; for though the three thousand are directed to be baptized in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins ; and Saul was advised by Ananias, to arise, and bo baptized, and wash away his sins, yet the meaning is not, as if remission of sins was to be obtained by baptism, or sinners to be cleansed from

62 OF THE PARDON OF SIN. them by it ; but that by means of this ordinance, they might be led to the sufferings, death, and bloodshed of Christ, represented in it ; for whose name's sake remission of sins is granted, and whose blood was shed for it, and cleanses from it. 3. God only can forgive sin : it is his sole prerogative ; it belongs to him and to no other, Mark ii. 7. And this appears from the nature of sin itself ; it is committed against God ; and none but he against whom it is committed, can forgive it ; it is a breach of his righteous law ; and none but the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, can remit it, or free from obligation to punishment for it. Besides, if there was any other that could forgive sin, then there would be one equal to God ; whereas, Who is a God like unto Him, that pardoneth iniquity ? Mic vii. 18 ; and it may be observed, that saints in all ages, under the Old and under the New Testament, never made their appli cation to any other but to God for the forgiveness of sin ; nor are they ever directed to any other for it. 4. Yet all the three Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, have a concern in it. God the Father made an early provision of this blessing of pardon in his heart, in his purposes, in his council and covenant ; and sent his Son to be the propitiation for it, and for the remission of it, through faith in his blood : and does bestow it for his sake ; in which he shows, not only his grace, but his justice and faith fulness ; for upon the bloodshed of his Son for it, he lsjiist andfaithful toforgive sin ; just, in that the blood of Christ is a sufficient atonement for it ; and faithful to his counsels, covenant, and promises, concerning it. Christ as God, and,the Son of God, has power to forgive sin, even as Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, and when he was hero on earth ; of which he gave proof, by another act of his divine power, bidding a lame man take up his bed and walk, Matt. ix. 2—6. As God-man and Mediator, his blood was shed for the remission of sin ; and by it, it was obtained ; as the Advocate of his people, he calls for it, and demands and requires the application of it, when it is wanted ; and as the exalted Saviour, he gives it, and in his name it is preached, according to his orders, by the ministers of the gospel. The holy Spirit of God has also a concern in it : he convinces men of sin, and of their need of the pardon of it ; he makes it manifest ; he takes the blood of Christ, and applies it to the conscience, which speaks peaco and pardon ; he pronounces the sentence of it, in the conscience of a sinner ; he is the holy Spirit of promise, and he seals up the pardon of sin in a promise ; and witnesses to the spirits of God's people, that they are pardoned ones. n. The impulsive moving cause of pardon, is neither man's misery nor his merits ; not any works of righteousness done by him ; nor even any of the graces of the Spirit in him ; but the sovereign grace and mercy of God, through Christ, Eph. i. 7, Luke i. 77, 78. in. The meritorious cause of it, is the blood of Christ, which was shed for it, has obtained it, and for the sake of which God forgives sins ; which virtue it has from the human nature being in union with the divine Person of the Son of God, Heb. ix. 14, 1 John i. 7

OF THE PARD0N OP SIN. 63 V. The effects of pardon, that is, when applied ; for the effects of it are not sensibly perceived, unless applied ; which are, i. Peace of conscience ; when sin is charged upon the conscience, and there is no sight and sense of pardon, there is no peace ; but no sooner is there a view of interest in justification, by the righteousness of Christ, and pardon by his blood, but there is peace, which that blood speaks and gives ; and which the world cannot take away ; a peace that passeth all understanding, arid is better experienced than expressed. it. Cheerfulness of spirit : when sin lies as a heavy burden, without a view of pardon, the mind is depressed ; it is filled with gloominess, and melancholy apprehensions of things, if not with despair, as in the case of Cain : a spirit, wounded with a sense of sin, and without a view of pardon, who can bear ? But when the Lord says, Be ofgood cheer, thy sin isforgiven thee ! cheerfulness takes place ; the spirits that were sunk, are raised ; the head that was bowed down is lifted up ; that countenance, that looked dejected, smiles ; the soul is caused to hear joy and gladness ; and the bones that were broken, are made to rejoice. in. Comfort of soul : whilst a gracious soul, under a sense of sin, apprehends that God is angry with him, he has no comfort ; but when he manifests his pardoning grace, then he concludes his anger is turned away, and he is comforted, and this is one of the ways and means in which God would have his people comforted by his ministers ; Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem ; cry unto her, that her iniquity is pardoned f Isa. xl. 1, 2 ; and when their ministry is accompanied by the Spirit of God, comfort is enjoyed. iv. Access to God with boldness and confidence : a soul under the weight and pressure of the guilt of sin, moves heavily to the throne of grace ; and when it comes there, cannot lift up his eyes, but looking downward, and smiting on his breast, says, God, be merciful, or pro pitious, to me a sinner ! but when it has a view of the blood, righteous ness, and sacrifice of Christ, it comes with liberty, boldness, and confidence ; particularly when it has a clear and comfortable sight of the pardon of sin, through the blood of Jesus, it has a boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and come up to the seat of God, and claims interest in him. v. Attendance on divine worship with pleasure and delight : this flows from a sense of forgiveness of sin, and is one end of it ; There is forgiveness with Thee, that thou mayest be feared, that is, worshipped ; for fear is put for worship, both inward and outward ; and especially denotes, serving the Lord with reverence and godly fear. And to have their conscience purged from dead works, by the blood of Christ, both puts a soul into the best capacity, and into the most suitable frame, to serve the living God, Heb. ix. 14. vi. Love to God and Christ is raised, promoted, and increased, by an application of pardon; which, as it is an evidence of the love of God to a sinner, it produces love again ; the poor woman in the Gospel, the notorious sinner as she had been, loved much, many sins having been forgiven her, Luke vii. 47-

64 OP THE PARDON OF SIN. vii. Evangelical repentance, and the exercise of it, are much influenced by pardon of sin being applied : the tears of repentance, shed by the poor woman, before-mentioned, flowed from a sense of pardoning grace and mercy ; sin never appears more odious than in the glass of forgiving love ; shame, confusion of face, and silence, are never more manifest, than when a soul knows that God is pacified towards it for all that it has done ; this produces a godly sorrow, a sorrow after a godly sort, for sin committed against a God of love, grace, and mercy; faith first looks to Christ, and beholds pardon through him ; and then evangelical mourning and repentance follow upon it, Zech. xii. 10. vin. Thankfulness of soul for such a mercy ; than which there cannot be a greater : if a man is truly impressed with a sense of it, he will call upon his soul, and all within him, to bless and praise the Lord for all his benefits ; and particularly for this, who forgiveth all thine iniquities ! Psalm ciii. 2, 3. Think with what gratitude and thankful ness, a condemned malefactor, and just ready to be executed, receives his pardon from the king ! with that, and much more, souls, sensible of sin, the demerit and danger of it, receive pardon of all their sins, through the blood of Christ, from the King of kings. VI. The properties of pardon. i. It is an act of God's free grace ; it is according to the riches of it ; that is, the plenty of it, which is abundantly displayed in it ; and according to the multitude of his tender mercies, mercy being richly shown forth in it, Psalm li. i. It is an act of the Father's grace, who has found the ransom ; and, upon it, delivered mon from going down to the pit of corruption ; has set forth Christ to be the propitia tion, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins, and does for his sake freely forgive them : and it is an act of the Son's grace, in shedding his blood for the remission of it : and it is an act of the Spirit's grace, to lead to the blood of Jesus, which speaks peace and pardon ; to that fountain opened to wash in for sin and uncleanness ; to take of the things of Christ, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, and show interest in them, and make application of them. Pardon of sin is one of the things freely given of God, which the Spirit gives knowledge of; and it is an act of sovereign, unmerited, and distin guishing grace. God bestows it on whom he pleases, according to his sovereign will, and on persons altogether undeserving of it, who have been guilty of all manner of sin, of sins of omission and commission ; and yet to such he says, I,- even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgres sions, for my own sake ! Isa. xliii. 25 ; and it is bestowed on some, and not others, who are equally as bad as the others ; and on men, and not angels ; for to the angels that sinned, no sparing, pardoning mercy is extended ; only to rebellious, sinful men. ii. It is a point of justice ; God is just, whilst he pardons those that repent of their sins, confess them, and believo in Christ ; If we confess our sins, he isfaithful andjust to forgive us our sins, 1 John i. 9 ; just on account of the blood of his Son being shed for the remission of sin, and faithful to his counsel, covenant, and promises, to grant it upon

OP THE PARIXhV OF SIN. 65 that footing ; and henco also Christ, as an advocate, calls for it, and demands it in right of justice : that it be applied to his people, for whom he shed his blood ; and became the propitiatory sacrifice for their sins, which he powerfully and effectually pleads on their behalf. in. It is a complete act ; it is a forgiveness of all the sins and tres passes of God's people, not one is left unforgiven ; and it is done simul and semel, together and at once ; though the manifestation and applica tion may be made at different times, as wanted by believers ; yet in the mind of God it passed at once; even a full, as well as free forgive ness of all sins past, present, and to come. Nor is it any objection to this, that then sins must be forgiven before they are committed, so they are, in virtue of Christ's suretyship-engagements, and the perform ance of them. iv. It is an act that will never bo repealed ; it is one of those gifts of grace which are without repentance, and will never be revoked ; it is a blessing God has given in covenant, and in and with his Son Jesus Christ, and it is irreversible ; it is one of those things which God does, which are for ever ; sins once pardoned, are always so ; when sought for they shall not be found ; they are removed from the pardoned sinner as far as the east is from the west ; God has cast them behind his back, and will never sot them more in the light of his countenance ; he has cast them into the depths of the sea, and will never fetch them up again. v. It is one of the chief articles of faith, and blessings of grace ; it stands the first of those benefits, on account of which the Psalmist called upon his soul to bless God for, Psalm ciii. 2, 3 ; next to eternal election, it is reckoned among the spiritual blessings saints are blessed with in Christ ; being a branch of redemption through his blood, Eph. i. 3—7 ; and happy is the man that has an interest in it ; he has peaco ahd comfort now, and may rejoice in hope of the glory of God hereafter ! VII. Answer some questions, relating to pardon of sin ; which do not so naturally fall under any of the above heads. i. Whether any sin is venial or pardonable in its own nature, and does not deserve eternal death 1 The reason of this question is, tho distinction the Papists make between venial and mortal sins ; somo sins, they say, are in their own nature venial, pardonable, or not deserving of eternal death, only some lesser chastisement, whilst others are mortal, and deserving of death : but there is no room nor reason for such a distinction; no sin is venial or pardonable in itself, but mortal, and deserving of death ; though every kind of sin is venial or pardonable, or rather is pardoned, through the grace of God and blood of Christ, excepting one. There is a difference in sins, some are greater, others lesser; see John xix. 11 ; some are breaches of the more weightier matters, or precepts of the law, as those against the first table of it ; others of the lesser matters, or precepts of it, as those against the second table ; somo are attended with more aggravated circumstances than others, being committed against light and knowlodge, and under the enjoyment of great blessings aud privileges, whilst others are done ignorantly, without knowledge of the Lord's will, and vol. n. p

66 OP THE PABDON OF SIN. not favoured with means that others have ; yet every sin is mortal, or deserving of death : death was threatened to sin before it was com mitted, in case it should : and the first sin brought death into the world with it, and the end of all other sins is death ; death is the wages and just demerit of sin ; every sin is committed against God, and is objectively infinite, and deserving of infinite and everlasting punishment ; it is a breach of his law, and every disobedience to that has a just recompense of reward annexed to it ; righteous punishment, or the wrath of God it reveals and works ; the breach of the least of the commands of it is liable to divine resentment ; and he that offends in one point, is guilty of all ; the least sin leaves a stain which what is done or used by the sinner cannot remove ; and such pollution excludes from the kingdom of God ; the least sin, even every sin of thought, word and deed, will be brought into judgment, and must be accounted for : though all maimer of sin is venial, or pardonable, or is pardoned, through the grace of God and blood of Christ ; God forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, which include all sorts of sin ; sins of the greatest magnitude, and of the deepest dye, are blotted out for Christ s sake ; such as are like crimson and scarlet, become through him as white as wool, as white as snow ; his blood cleanses "from sin ; every sin is for given, but the sin against the Holy Ghost, Matt. xii. 31, 32. ii. Whether any sin will be forgiven in the world to come ? The reason of this question is, because it is said of the sin against the Holy Ghost, that it shall not beforgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come ; which seems to imply, that though that sin shall not then be forgiven, others may : but the meaning of the expression is, that it shall never be forgiven ; it is a phrase expressive of endless duration, that that sin shall always remain unpardonable, and does not suppose any thing concerning other sins ; and therefore the answer to be returned to the question is, that there will be no forgiveness of any sin at all in the other world. As for the sins of God's people, the remission of them is perfect ; all of them have been laid on Christ, and borne by him ; and he has finished and made an end of them all ; and has made perfect reconciliation and satisfaction for them ; and God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven all trespasses, and no new sins will be committed by them ; the will of God will be done by them, with the same perfection as by the angels ; there will be no sin in them, and done by them, to be pardoned ; there will be indeed a general declara tion of pardon, and of their being blessed with that and all other blessings comprehended in Christ's address to them, Come, ye blessed of my Father ; and they will live under a continual sense of pardoning grace, and in admiration of it, and thankfulness for it ; but no par ticular act of pardon will be passed by God, nor applied to them for any particular sin : and as for others, the door will be shut upon them at the day of judgment ; the door of the ministry of the word ; repent ance and remission of sins will be no more preached in the name of Christ ; after this there will be no repentance of sin in sinners, nor faith to believe in Christ for the remission of sins ; these graces will not be bestowed on any in the other world, tho door of mercv will be shut, and never opened to men any more.

OP THE PARDON OP SIN. 67 in. Whether the sins of pardoned ones will be made known and exposed to others in the day of judgment ? I think not ; my reasons are, because none but their good works are taken notice of in Matt. xxv., because it does not seem consistent with the nature of pardon ; pardon of sin is expressed by a covering of it ; when God forgives sins he covers them, and he will never uncover them, or take off the blood and righteousness of his Son ; and if he does not uncover them, who can ? neither angels nor men, nor devils : it is a blotting them as a cloud ; and when a cloud is broken to pieces and scattered, it can never be collected together any more ; sins are cast behind the back of God, and into the depths of the sea ; and are removed as far as the east is from the west, and can never, though sought for, be found more. Nor does it consist with the state and condition of the pardoned ones, that their sins should be exposed ; Christ, who has taken so much pains to sanctify and cleanse his church, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, will never suffer their sins ever more to appear ; the church will now descend from heaven as a bride adorned and prepared for her husband, hating the glory of God upon her, and clothed with the shining robes of immortality and glory, as well as with the fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of her Lord ; it will now be her open and consum mate marriage with the Lamb ; and it seems quite out of all character, that he should suffer her faults, failings, sins, and transgressions, to be exposed on her wedding-day ; and which would, one would think, cause shame and blushing, which seems not consistent with that state of happiness. iv. Whether it is now the duty of saints to pray for the pardon of sin ? Prayer itself is a moral duty, and incumbent on all ; and the light of nature will direct persons in distress to pray to God for relief; and when they suppose they have offended Deity by sin, and he is angry with them, and his judgments are, or they fear will come upon them ; it is natural to them to pray unto him to forgive them, and deliver them out of present troubles, or what they fear are coming upon them; as may be observed in Jonah's mariners, who were heathens; and the apostle directed Simon Magus, an unregenerate man, and known by him to be so, to pray to God, if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him, Acts viii. 22. But this comes not up to the question, .which is, whether pardoned sinners should pray for the pardon of sin I to which it may be answered, that either these pardoned ones have a comfortable sense and perception of the pardon of their sins, or they have not ; if they have, they have no need, at present at least, to pray even for the manifestation of it to them, since they have it already ; if they have not a comfortable view of it, which is sometimes the case of pardoned ones, as it was of the church when she said, We have transgressed and rebelled, thou hast not pardoned, Lam. iii, 42, they will then see it both their duty and privi lege, and interest, to pray for a comfortable view and fresh manifesta tion of it : and whereas saints are daily sinning in thought, word, or deed, Christ has directed to make a daily petition of it, that when wo f2 S

G8 OF JUSTIFICATION. pray that God would give us day by day our daily bread, that he would a\m forgive us our sins, Luke xi. 3, 4 ; and it appears to have been the practice of saints in all ages to pray for the pardon of sin in some sense, and as it seems in the sense suggested ; so Moses prayed when the people of Israel had sinned at Sinai, Pardon our iniquity and our sin, Exod. xxxiv. 9 ; so David prayed, For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great, Psalm xxv. 11 ;—a strange plea this ! a reason, one would think, why it should not bo pardoned, than why it should be pardoned ; and it was so great in his apprehension, that, if he had not a discovery and application of pardon made to him, he could not bear up under it ; and as he prayed thus, and with success, he observes it for the encouragement of other saints to do so likewise ; / said, I will confess my transgressions unto tlie Lord, and so he did ; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin ; for this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time wken thou mayest be found, Psalm xxxii. 5, 6 ; that is, for the pardon of their sins, and the evidence of it, when they stood in need thereof; so Daniel prayed for himself and others, O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, Dan. ix. 19; and so New Testament saints are directed by Christ to pray, as has been observed. But then it must be understood in an explained sense, consistent with the nature of pardon as procured by Christ, and passed by God ; it cannot be supposed that saints should pray that Christ's blood may bo shed again to procure fresh pardon for them ; nor that any fresh act of pardon should be passed in the divino mind, since God has forgiven all trespasses through the blood of his Son, shed once for all ; but that they might have fresh manifestations, discoveries, and application of pardon, as they stand in need of them, being continually sinning against God. In no other sense can I understand that pardon of sin can be prayed for by the saints. There are several other questions that might be put, but they are superseded by what has been already said concerning them ; as, why tho sin against the Holy Ghost is said to be unpardonable ? the reason of which is given, vol. i. b. iii. p. 48;>. And whether ono man can forgive another ? and in what sense I to which the answer is, he may, and in some cases ought ; as it is an injury and offence to himself. And whether sins against God can be forgiven by himself, without a satisfaction to his justice I and whether if, upon a satisfaction, how can pardon be free, or of free grace ? The answer to these questions may be found in a preceding chapter. OF JUSTIFICATION. Pardon of sin, and justification from it, are very closely connected ; the one follows upon the other ; according to the position of them in some passages of Scripture, pardon is first and justification next, as in Acts xiii. 38, 39, and xxvi. 18 ; though they aro not tho ono in reality prior to the other ; they are both together in the divine mind, and in the application of them to the conscience of a sinner ; indeed, according

OF JUSTIFICATION. 69 to the order of causes, justification by the righteousness of Christ imputed may be considered as before pardon ; since God forgives sin for Christ's sake, that is, for the sake of his righteousness imputed. Now that for the sake of which a thing is, must be before that for which it is, as the cause is before the effect. Some take them to be the same, and that justification lies solely in the remission of sins ; and others more rightly make the imputation of Christ's righteousness and forgiveness of sins, the two parts of justification, distinct ones ; whilst others think they are not two integral parts, really distinct, but only one act, respecting two terms, a quo et ad quern ; just as by one and the same act, darkness is expelled from the air, and light is introduced ; so by one and the same act of justification, the sinner is absolved from guilt, and pronounced righteous ; henco they suppose such express the whole of justification, who say it consists in the remission of sins, and those that say it consists in the imputation of righteousness ; because when God forgives men their sins, he pronounces them righteous, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them ; and when he pronounces them righteous, by that he forgives them their sins ; remission of sin supposes the imputation of Christ's righteousness ; and the imputation of Christ's righteousness infers the remission of sins. But though these are not to be separated, yet they are to be distin guished ; and I should choose to consider them not as distinct parts of the same thing, but as distinct blessings of grace ; for though pardon and justification agree in some things, in others they differ. In some things they agree. i. In their efficient cause, God. As God only can and does forgive sin, it is his prerogative, it is peculiar to him ; so it is God that justifies the sinner, and he only : There is one God, whojustifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision throuqh faith ; that is, that justifies both Jews and Gentiles, who believe in Christ, Mark ii. 7, Rom. iii. 30. ii. In their moving cause, the free grace of God. Pardon of sin is owing to the riches of God's grace, and the multitude of his tender mercy ; and justification is ascribed to tho grace of God, and is said to be freely by his grace, Eph. i. 7. in. In their procuring cause, the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ was shed to procure the remission of sins, and it is by it ; and so likewise justification is by the same blood. iv. In the objects of it. The same persons that are pardoned arc justified, and the same that are justified arc pardoned ; to whom God imputes the righteousness of Christ to their justification, to them he gives the remission of sin ; and to whom he does not impute sin, but forgives it, he imputes righteousness without works, Rom. iv. 6— 8. v. In their commencement and completion. Pardon and justification commence together, and both are finished at once, simul and scmel ; and are not carried on in a gradual and progressive way, as sanctification is, Acts xiii. 39. vi. In the manner of actual enjoying them, which is in a way of receiving, and that by faith. It is by faith men receive the forgiveness of sins ; and by it they receive abundance of grace, and the gift of y

70 OP JUSTIFICATION. righteousness to justification of life ; and this is what the Scriptures call justification by faith, Rom. v. 1 —18. But though they agree in these things, in others they differ. i. Pardon is of men that are sinners, and who remain such, and may be called so, though pardoned sinners ; but justification is a pro nouncing persons righteous, as if they had never sinned ; it is one thing for a man to be arraigned at the bar as a criminal, and be tried, cast, and condemned, and after that be pardoned ; and another thing for a man to be tried by law, and to be found and declared righteous by it, as though he had not transgressed it. ii. Pardon takes away sin from the sinner, but does not give him a righteousness, as justification does; pardon takes away the filthy garments ; but it is justification that clothes with change of raiment, with the robe of Christ's righteousness ; these are two distinct things, Zech. iii. 4. in. Pardon frees from punishment, and an obligation to it, as it takes away guilt ; The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die, 2 Sam. xii. 13 ; but does not entitle to everlasting life, happiness, and f'lory : that justification does, and therefore is called justification of ife ; and in consequence of which, men are made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. iii. 7. When a king pardons. a criminal, he does not, by that act, entitle him to an estate, much less to his crown and kmgdom ; but if he will, when he has pardoned him, take him to court, and make him his son and heir, it must be by another distinct act of royal favour. iv. More is required for justification than for pardon : the blood of Christ was sufficient to procure pardon, and did procure it ; but to the justification of a sinner, the holiness of the human nature of Christ, the perfect obedience of his life, and his bloodshed and sufferings of death, are and must be imputed. v. The righteousness of Christ, by which men are justified, is the fulfilling of the law. Christ came to fulfil it in the room of his people, and he is the fulfilling end of it to them for righteousness, which is inherent in him, the author of it : not so pardon ; that does not fulfil the law, gives no righteousness, nor does it reside in Christ, as righteousness does, Rom. x. 4. vi. Pardon lies in the non-imputation of sin ; justification in the imputation of righteousness ; righteousness is imputed, but pardon is not, Rom. iv. 6, 7. vu. Justification passed on Christ, as the head and representative of his people ; but not pardon. Christ having had the sins of liis people imputed to him, and having made satisfaction to the justice of God for them, he was acquitted, discharged, and justified, but not pardoned : we may truly say Christ was justified, and that God justified him, because the Scriptures say so ; but not that he was pardoned, such an expression would sound harsh, and be very unwarrantable, 1 Tim. iii. 16. vin. An innocent person, falsely charged, may be acquitted and justified, when he cannot be said to be pardoned ; yea, such who need

OP JUSTIFICATION. 71 no pardon, as Adam did not in his state of innocence, and the elect angels in heaven, yet may be said to be justified, that is, declared to be just and righteous : so men in the present state, could they per fectly fulfil the law, as they cannot, would be justified by it, for the doers ofthe law are justified—he that does these things shall live by them, Rom. ii. 1.3, and x. 5. Moreover, if justification and pardon are to be con sidered as cause and effect, as before observed, they must be distinct, and are not to be confounded. The doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, is a doctrine of great importance ; the apostle speaks of it as if the essence of the gospel lay in it ; and calls the opposite to it, justification by the works of the law, another gospel, Gal. i. 6, 7 ; it is a fundamental article of the gospel ; some have called it the basis of Christianity ; it was the great doctrine of the reformation ; what our first reformers made their chief study ; and by it cut the sinews of popery, the antichristian doctrines of penance and purgatory, of pardons and indulfences, of the merit of good works, works of supererogation, &c ■uther used to call it, articulus stands vel cadentis ecclesia, the article of the church, by which it stands or falls ; as this is, the church is ; if this obtains, the church is in a well-settled and prosperous state ; but if this loses ground, and is rejected, it is in a rumous one : if this is a rule to judge by, it may be easily discerned, in what case the church, and interest of religion, now are. This doctrine is the ground and foundation of all solid joy, peace, and comfort in this life, and hope of eternal glory hereafter. I have, in a former part of this work, vol. i., b. ii., page 292, treated of justification, as an immanent and eternal act in God ; and so it may be said to be from eternity, and before faith ; and in what sense it is so, with a removal of objections, has been shown in the place referred to ; and therefore shall only now discourse concerning justification, as it terminates in the conscience of a believer ; and which the Scriptures style justification by faith. I. I shall consider the act of justification, and in what sense the word is to be taken. i. It is not to be understood of instructing men in the scheme and method of justification, whether in a legal or evangelical way. — 2. Nor is it to be understood of making men righteous, by infusing righteous ness into them ; for this is to confound justification and sanctification together, which are two distinct things, 1 Cor. i. 30 ; this is sanctifi cation : the righteousness by which men are justified, is imputed to them ; but the righteousnesss of sanctification is inherent in them ; that by which men are justified, are the obedience and blood of Christ ; but infused holiness is neither of these. The word justify is never used in a physical sense, for producing any real internal change in men ; but in a forensic sense, and stands opposed, not to a state of impurity and unholiness, but to a state of condemnation ; it is a law-term, and used of judicial affairs, transacted in a court of judicature ; Deut. xxv. 1, Prov. xvii. 15, Isa. v. 22, Matt. xii. 37, where justification stands opposed to condemnation ; and this is the sense of the word whenever

72 OF JUSTIFICATION, it is used in the doctrine under consideration ; so in Job ix. 2, 3, and xxv. 4; so by David, Psalm cxliii. 2; and in all Paul's epistles, where the doctrine of justification is treated of, respect is had to courts of judicature, and to a judicial process in them ; men are represented as sinners, charged with sin, and pronounced guilty before God, and subject to condemnation and death ; when, according to this evan gelical doctrine, they are justified by the obedience and blood of Christ, cleared of all charges, acquitted and absolved, and freed from condem nation and death, and adjudged to eternal life. — 3. Justification is to be understood in this doctrine, not of justification before men, before whom men may appear righteous, Matt. xxiii. 28 ; but in the sight of God, in whose sight they cannot be justified by the works of the law, Rom. iii. 20. Nor of the justification of a man's cause ; or of his vin dication from the calumnies of men. Nor of the justification of a man's faith by his works, thereby proving the genuineness and sincerity of it : so the faith of Abraham, and of Rahab, was justified by their works ; or their faith in the promises made unto them, was proved to be genuine and sincere ; the one by offering up his son ; and the other by hiding the spies, James ii. 21—25. But of the justification of the {»ersons of men before God ; and this is either legal or evangelical : egal, on condition of a person's fulfilling the whole law, or yielding perfect obedience to it; which, in man's present state and circum stances, is impossible, Rom. ii. 13, and viii. 3, 4. Evangelical ; winch is an act of God's grace, accounting and pronouncing a person righteous, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and received by faith ; so by the obedience of one many are made righteous : and, Christ is of God, made righteousness to them ; and they are made the righteousness of God in him ; are reckoned perfectly righteous through him, and so stand justified and accepted, in the sight of GodT 1 Cor. i. 30, 2 Cor. v. 21, and this is the justification we are treating of; concerning which farther observe, II. The causes of it. The moving cause, is the grace of God ; it was the sovereign grace, favour, and good-will of God, which put him upon forming the scheme and method of justification ; which moved him to appoint and send his Son, to work out and bring in a righte ousness for the justification of his people ; and then to accept of it as their justifying righteousness, and to impute it freely to them, without works : the procuring, meritorious, or material cause of justification, is the righteousness of Christ imputed, which will be treated of more largely, when wc come to consider the matter of justification; or what that is, for the sake of which any of the sons of men are justified before God. At present I shall only attend to the efficient cause of justification, who is God ; It is God that justifies, Rom. viii. 33, which is marvellous ; since, i. He is the Judge of all the earth, who will do right, and will by no means clear the guilty. Judges among men, by his orders and instructions, and as they would forfeit his disploasure, were not to justify the wicked ; and yet he, who is Judge himself in the earth, justifies the ungodly: but then it should be observed, that he does not

OF JUSTIFICATION. 73 justify them without a righteousness, but upon the foot of Christ's righteousness; so that though he justifies the ungodly, yet not as ungodly, but as righteous, through the righteousness of his Son : hence it is, that it is one of the privileges of such persons, that they can come to God, the Judge of all, without fear and dread, appearing before him perfectly righteous in Christ the Mediator, Heb. xii. 23, 24. ii. Whose law is the rule by which he judges, and that law broken by men, and yet he justifies them. The law is holy, just, and good, and requires perfect, sinless obedience of men, but is broken by them in ten thousand instances ; and he that offends in one point, is guilty of all, and the law pronounces him guilty, and curses and condemns him ; and yet God, who judges according to this law, justifies them, Rom. ii. 12 ; but then it should be observed, that Christ has fulfilled the law, in the room and stead of these persons ; so that the righte ousness of the law is said to be fulfilled in them ; and it is considered as if it was fulfilled by them ; and on this account they are legally acquitted, discharged, and justified, according to this law ; its demands being fully satisfied by Christ. in. Sin, the breach of the law of God, is committed against him, and is hateful to him, and yet he justifies from it ; every sin, being a transgression of the law, is against God, the Lawgiver, and cannot but be resented by him, and be an abomination to him ; he hates it, and the workers of it ; well then might Bildad say, How then can man be justified with God ? Job xxv. 4, and yet he is. iv. It is that God that justifies, who will not admit of an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one: man's righteousness is imperfect, and cannot be reckoned as a perfect ono by him, whose judgment is according to truth ; nor will it stand in judgment, nor answer for the sinner at the bar of God, and justify in his sight ; and yet God justifies ; but then it is through the perfect righteousness of Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes, Rom. x. 4. v. That God, who is the Lawgiver, and is able to save and to destroy, who has power to destroy both body and soul in hell, and would be just in so doing, and into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall, yet ho justifies. Now this act of justification, as ascribed to God, belongs to all the three persons in the Godhead ; they are all concerned in it, Father, Son, and Spirit. First, God the Father ; who, in many places where he is spoken of as a justifier, is distinguished from Christ ; as where it is said, It is God thatjttstifieth—who shall condemn ? It is Christ that died ! Again, God is said to be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, Rom. viii. 35; the same that justifies the head, justifies the members; now it is the Father that justified Christ, the head of his elect, of whom Christ says, He is near thatjustifieth me, Isa. l. 8. 1. God the Father contrived the scheme and method of justification ; it would have been a puzzling question to angels and men, had not he resolved it; How should man, sinful man, be just with God? But God, in his infinite wisdom, found a ransom, a Ransomcr, a Redeemer

74 OF JUSTIFICATION. of his people, to bring in everlasting righteousness for them, and thereby acquit and discharge them, and deliver them from going down to the pit of ruin and destruction ; God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; was, with him, forming the scheme of their peace and reconciliation, of their redemption, justification, and salvation; not imputing their trespasses, but the righteousness of his Son unto them, 2 Cor. v. 19. 2. He sent his Son, in the fulness of time, to execute this scheme ; he sent him in human nature, made under the law, subject to it, in the room and stead of his people, and to yield a perfect obedience to it ; and he sent him in the likeness ofsinfulflesh, with their sins imputed to him ; and by making him a sacrifice for sin, through his sufferings and death, he bore the penalty of the law, that so the whole righteousness of the law, or all it could demand, both with respect to precept and penalty, might be fulfilled in them; they being represented by him, Gal. iv. 4. 3. A perfect righteousness being wrought out by Christ, agreeable to the requirements of law and justice, by which the law is magnified and made honourable, and justice satisfied ; God the Father approves of it, is well pleased with it, and accepts of it as the justifying right eousness of them that believe in Christ. 4. He imputes this righteousness to believers as their own : this is the Father's act of grace, Rom. iv. 6. Of Him, that is, of God the Father, are ye in Christ Jesus, chosen in him, and united to him ; who of God (the Father) is made unto us righteousness ; which is done by his act of imputation, 1 Cor. i. 30. Secondly, God the Son, the second Person, is concerned in the justi fication of men ; By his knowledge, says Jehovah the Father, sliall my righteous Servantjustify many, Isa. liii. 11. 1. Christ, as a divine Person, as he has power to forgive sin, so to absolve and justify from it ; of which we have some instances, even when he was hero on earth, in human nature, as to the man sick of the palsy he said, Thy sins areforgiven thee ! and to the woman taken in adultery, Neither do I condemn thee ! which was a full acquittance and discharge ; and to his apostles ho said, Ye are clean, every whit clean, free from sin, and fully absolved from it, through the word I Iiave spoken to you ; the sentence of justification by his blood and righteous ness he had pronounced upon them, Matt. ix. 2, John viii. 11, and xiii. 10, and xv. 3. 2. As Mediator, Christ is the author of that righteousness by which sinners are justified ; as he was to bring in an everlasting righteous* ness, he has brought in one; hence he is called, The Lord our Righteousness, the Sun of righteousness, and the end of the law for righteousness ; and men are made righteous by his obedience, and justified by his blood, Jer. xxiii. 6, Mai. iv. 2, Rom. x. 4, and v. 9. 3. As the head and representative of his people, they are justified in him ; as Adam's natural posterity, sinning in him, were condemned in him, judgment came upon them all unto condemnation : so all Christ's spiritual seed and offspring are justified in him ; for in the V

OF JUSTIFICATION. 75 Lord shall the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory ; as he was delivered into the hands of justice and death for their offences, to make satisfaction for them, so was raised again for their justification ; and when he was raised, he was justified, acquitted, and discharged him self from all the sins of his people, imputed to him, having satisfied for them ; and then they were justified in him, Isa. xlv. 25, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 4. As Christ has wrought out a righteousness for his people, so he actually puts it upon them, clothes them with it : says the church, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness : he is that Angel of the Lord before whom Joshua was brought and accused by Satan ; and to whom he himself said, I will clothe thee with change ofraiment, Zech. iii. 4. 5. As it is to faith the righteousness of Christ is revealed, and by faith it is received, hence believers are said to be justified by faith ; so this faith, as well as righteousness, is of Christ, as he is the object of it, Ye believe in God, believe also in me ; so he is the author and finisher of it, John xiv. 1, Heb. xii. 2. Thirdly, The holy Spirit of God, the third Person, has also a concern in the justification of sinners. 1. He convinces men of righteousness, of their want of righteousness ; of the weakness, imperfection, and insufficiency of their own righteous ness, that they have none that can be called a righteousness ; and that unless they have a better righteousness than that, they will never enter into the kingdom of heaven, John xvi. 8. 2. He brings near the righteousness of Christ ; not only externally, in the ministry of the word ; but internally, by the illumination of his grace ; this is one of the things of Christ he takes and shows to souls enlightened by him ; he shows them the fulness, glory, and suitable ness of the righteousness of Christ, how perfect it is, how adequate to all the demands of law and justice, and how suitable to them; to cover their naked souls, to secure them from condemnation and death, to justify them before God, and render them acceptable in his sight, and entitle them to eternal life. 3. He works faith in convinced and enlightened persons, to look at the righteousness of Christ, and take a view of its glories and excel lences ; to approve of it, desire it, and to lay hold on it, and receive it as their justifying righteousness. Such a faith is of the operation of God, of the Spirit of God ; it is what he works in the saints, and enables them to exercise it ; hence he is called the Spirit of Faith, Col. ii. 13. 4. He bears witness to their spirits, that they are interested in the righteousness of Christ, and are justified by it ; and he pronounces the sentence of justification in their consciences, or declares them justified in the name of Christ, and on account of his righteousness ; and which is the meaning of their being justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1 Cor. vi. 11. III. The objects of justification; and they are the elect ; Who shall lay any thing to the charge ofGod's elect ? It is God thatjustifieth ! that is, the elect, Rom. viii. 33 ; for who else can be meant 2

76 OF JUSTIFICATION. i. Elect men, and not elect angels ; for though there are elect angels, and these arc holy, just, and righteous; and so may be declared to be what they are, just and righteous, and in that sense justified ; yet since they never laboured under the suspicion of a crime, nor were ever chargeable with any, they cannot, in a strict sense, be said to be justified. But elect men, who are sinners in Adam, as chosen in Christ their Head, are reckoned righteous ; for justification is a branch of election, in which the elect are reckoned as righteous, through the righteousness of Christ : and these being the objects of justification, show the eternity of that act, since election was from tho beginning, and before the foundation of the world ; and the specialty of it, since the elect are a special and peculiar people ; and the security of it, for it is certain, being closely connected with predestination, whom God predestinates he calls and justifies: and its being a security from wrath and condemnation ; for whom he justifies he glorifies, Rom. viii. 30. 11. Redeemed ones are the objects of justification ; all that are chosen are redeemed ; and all that are redeemed are justified ; justifica tion proceeds upon redemption ; Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Rom. iii. 24 ; by which they are redeemed from all their iniquities, and from all tho curses of the law due unto them, and so are acquitted and discharged. in. Pardoned ones ; for all that are chosen and redeemed are par doned, and those are justified : the chosen arc pardoned ; for the Lord says, I will pardon them whoin I reserve, Jer. l. 20; that is, whom he has reserved for himself by the act of election : and the redeemed are pardoned ; for forgiveness of sin is a branch of redemption ; In wluom tce have redemption, through his Mood, the forgiveness of sin, Eph. i. 7 ; and whoso sins are forgiven, they are justified, Rom. iv. 6, 7. iv. Hence it appears, that the objects of justification aro not all men ; for all men are not chosen ; they are only a remnant, according to tho election of grace : nor aro all men redeemed ; for those that are redeemed, are redeemed from among men, and out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation : nor arc all pardoned ; for there arc some whose sins go beforehand to judgment, and are never forgiven : nor do all men believe ; faith is peculiar to God's elect : nor are all men saved from wrath, as they would be, if justified by the blood of Christ; some will go into everlasting punishment, when the righteous shall go into everlasting life : and so all arc not justified ; though there is an all that are justified, even all the seed and offspring of Christ, the seed of Israel, on whom the gift of righteousness comes to justification of life, Rom. v. 18. v. Yet they aro many, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom ; and whose blood was shed for tho remission of their sins, Matt. xx. 28, and xxvi. 28. vi. The objects ofjustification, are described as sinners, and ungodly : sinners, Gal. ii. 17 ; ungodly, Rom. iv. 5. So they are, in their unregencrate state : but when converted, they are described as believers in Christ ; for the righteousness of Christ, is unto all, and upon all them V

OF JUSTIFICATION. U tliat believe ; it is applied unto them, and put upon them ; and they have a comfortable senso and perception of their justification by it ; they believe in Jesus Christ, that they might be justified by thefaith of Christ ; by Christ, the object of faith, and through believing in him, have a comfortable view of their justification before God, and acceptance with him ; hence it is said, that by him all that believe arejustified, openly and manifestatively, and have the testimony and comfort of it within them selves ; and these may be said to bejustified by faith ; by Christ, and his righteousness received by faith, Rom. v. 1, Acts xiii. 39 ; and such are not nominal believers, who only have a notional, historical faith, or who only profess to believe, as Simon Magus did ; but who, with the heart, believe unto righteousness ; who truly and heartily believe in the righteousness of Christ for their justification before God ; and such shall never come into condemnation, John v. 24. IV. Tho charges, or sins, such are justified from. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? it is God that justifieth, from all charges, all that may bo truly brought against them, all criminal charges they are chargeable with. i. They are chargeable with original sin, the sin of the first man ; they were, seminally, in his loins, when he ate the forbidden fruit ; as Levi was in the loins of Abraham, when he paid tithes to Melchizedek : they were federally in him, as their covenant head and representative, and sinning in him, they became chargeable therewith ; and judgment so far proceeded against them, as to bring them under the sentence of condemnation and death : but God justifies and acquits them from that offence, through the gift of his Son's righteousness, which comes unto them to justification of life ; and he frees them from the charge of that disobedience by which they wero made sinners, through the imputation of Christ's obedience to them, Rom. v. 12—19. ii. They are chargeablo with impurity of nature, and a want of original righteousness ; which Adam, by sinning, lost, and all his pos terity are without it ; they are conceived in sin, and bring an impure nature into tho world with them ; which is the case of all, even of God's elect. The law requires purity and holiness of nature, and charges with the want of it ; but God justifies from this charge, through tho imputation of the holiness of Christ's human nature to them, which is a branch of their justification ; and is thought, by some divines, to be the law of the Spirit of life in him, which frees from the law of sin and death ; and who is made, to his people, sanctification and righteous ness ; and was typified by the high priest, having an inscription on his forehead, Holiness to the Lord. in. They are chargeable with actual sins, before conversion, and those many, and some very heinous ; and yet God justifies from them all ; as Saul was chargeable with blasphemy, persecution, and doing injury to others ; but obtained pardoning mercy, and a justifying righteousness: the Corinthians were guilty of some of the blackest crimes, and most enormous sins ; yet were justified, in the name of tho Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God : tho apostles and others, before conversion, were disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures ;

78 OF JUSTIFICATION. and yet were justified, by the grace of God, and made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life, 1 Cor. vi. 9—11. iv. They are chargeable with a multitude of sins, after conversion ; with many revoltings, and sometimes with great backslidings ; their failings and infirmities, errors and mistakes, are innumerable ; yet all are forgiven, and they are cleansed and justified from them, James iii. 2, Hos. xiv. 4. v. They are justified from all their sins, of whatsover kind, that they can be charged with ; for they that believe in Christ, arejustified from all things, from all sins, from all criminal charges ; God forgives all their trespasses, for Christ's sake, and his blood cleanses from all sin, 1 John i. 7. vi. They are justified by the righteousness of Christ, from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses ; for there were some sins which the law made no provision of sacrifice for, as adultery and murder ; such therefore that despised Moses's law, by breaking it in such instances, died, without mercy ; but God justifies from all such sins, as well as others, through the righteousness of Christ, Acts xiii. 39. vii. God justifies his elect from all charges brought against them, from what quarter soever, and whether true or false : do they bring charges against themselves, as they often do I conscience, which is as a thousand witnesses, accuses and condemns them; but though their hearts and consciences condemn them, God is greater than their hearts, and knows all things ; what provisions he has made for them in cove nant, what a righteousness his Son has wrought out for their justifica tion ; and though as on one hand, if a good man knows nothing by himself, yet he is not hereby justified ; so on the other, though he knows much by himself and against himself, yet God clears him from all. Do saints bring charges one against another, sometimes rightly, and sometimes wrongly, whether privately or publicly ; and do not forgive one another, as they should do, since God, for Christ's sake, forgives them ? yet God forgives all, and clears from all charges, true or false. Does the world bring charges against them, as they fre quently do, even speak all manner of evil of them falsely, for Christ's sake, as Tertullus the orator, against the apostle Paul ? yet every tongue that riseth up in judgment against them God will condemn ; for their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord ; plainly suggesting, that he would justify and acquit them from all, Isa. liv. 17. Does Satan go about the earth to pick up charges against the people of God, and then accuse them to him, as he did Job, whence he is called, The accuser of the brethren ? Jehovah repels his charges, and rebukes him for them ; an instance of this we have in the vision of Zechariah, chap. iii. 1—4. In a word, whatever charges the law of God brings against the elect, which is broken by them, and for which it accuses, pro nounces guilty, curses and condemns, and whatever charges the justice of God can produce against them, the mouth of the one, and of the other, is stopped by the righteousness of Christ ; by which the one is honoured and magnified ; and the other is satisfied and well pleased ;

OF JUSTIFICATION. 79 and so a full justification from all charges takes place, and God is just while he is the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. V. The matter and form of justification, the righteousness of Christ imputed : the matter of justification, or that for the sake of which a sinner is justified, is the righteousness of Christ ; the form and manner in which it is made over to such an one, and becomes his, is by impu tation. First, The matter of justification, the righteousness of Christ ; and every thing else must be removed from it, and denied of it. As, i. A man's own righteousness, or his obedience to the law ; this is expressly denied to be that by which a sinner can be justified ; By the deeds of the law there shall nojlesh bejustified in his sight, in the sight of God ; that is, by works done in obedience to the law ; and which is meant, not of the ceremonial but the moral law ; that law by which is the knowledge of sin, and which pronounces a man guilty of it beforo God, and stops his mouth, as the context shows ; and is opposed to grace, which the ceremonial law is not, being of grace, given to relieve, under a sense of sin, by pointing to the Saviour, and his propitiatory sacrifice; and hence this conclusion is drawn, Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith ; by Christ and his righteousness, the object of faith; without the works of the law; being joined to Christ and his righteousness, or considered as any part of a justifying righteous ness, Rom. iii. 20, 28. And to the same purpose are the words of tho apostle, in Gal. ii. 16. The reasons why a man's own righteousness cannot be the matter of his justification before God are, 1 . Because it is imperfect, and the law will not admit of an imperfect righteousness for justification; it requires perfect, sinless obedience; and not any thing short of that will it allow to be a righteousness. It shall be our righteousness, says Moses, if we observe to do all these commandments, &c, Deut. vi. 25; so that if there is any failure, either in the matter or manner of obedience, it is no righteousness ; and such obedience and righteousness, men, since the fall, were never capable of. The people of Israel in general followed after the law of righteousness, but did not attain to it, seeking it not by faith in Christ, in whom it is only found ; but, as it were, by the works of the law, in which there is a deficiency, and so no righteousness : and those among them who made the largest pretensions to righteousness, fell short of it, as the scribes and Phari sees ; insomuch, that if a man's righteousness does not exceed theirs, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven ; nay, even the works of the truly just and good are not perfect ; There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not, Eccles. vii. 20 ; hence good men, sensible of the insufficiency of their own righteousness, declino and deprecate entering into judgment with God upon that foot, acknow ledging the impurity and imperfection of their obedience ; on account of which, they know they could not be just with God, Job ix. 2, &c, Psalm cxliii. 2, Isa. lxiv. 6. — 2. If justification was by the works of men, it could not be by grace ; for graco and works are opposed, and cannot consist together m tho business of justification ; for if it is of grace, then not of works ; but justification is by grace, and thereforo

80 OF JUSTIFICATION. not by works ; Beingjustified freely by his grace, Rom. iii. 24; not only by grace, but freely by it, or by graco that is altogether free ; and indeed, as Austin says, it would not be grace if it was not so, or was any ways clogged with the works of men.—3. If justification was by man's obedience, it would not be by a righteousness without works, and that imputed, as it is ; if it is by a man's own righteousness, then not by a righteousness without works, for that consists entirely of works ; and if a man's own, then not imputed ; whereas tho blessed ness of justification lies in the imputation of a righteousness without works, Rom. iv. 6. — 4. If justification could be by men's obedience to the law, then there would have been no need of the righteousness of Christ, nor of his coming into the world to work out one ; it would have been an unnecessary thing for God to send his Son, that tho righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, by him, if we could have fulfilled it ourselves ; and not only his life, and the obedience of it, would have been useless, but his death also; for, as the apostle argues, If righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain, Gal. ii. 21. — 5. If justification was by the works of men, boasting would be encouraged ; whereas God's design in the whole scheme of salvation, and so in this branch of it, is to prevent it, lest any man should boast, Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? of works ? nay, but by the law offaith ; that is, not by the doctrine of justification, by tho works of men, that would establish boasting ; but by the doctrine of justification by faith in tho righteousness of Christ, which leaves no room for it, Rom. iii. 27. n. Nor is man's obedience to tho gospel, as to a new and milder law, the matter of his justification before God. It was a notion, that some years ago obtained, that a relaxation of the law, and the severi ties of it, has been obtained by Christ ; and a new law, a remedial law, a law of milder terms, has been introduced by him, which is the gospel, the terms of which are, faith, repentance, and new obedience ; and though these are imperfect, yet being sincere, they are accepted of by God, in the room of a perfect righteousness. But every article of this scheme is wrong ; for, —1 . The law is not relaxed, nor any of its severities abated; there is no alteration made in it, neither with respect to its precepts, nor its penalty ; it requires the same holy, just, and good things it ever did ; Christ came not to destroy it, but to fulfil it; nor is the sanction of it removed, though it is not made for or does not lie against a righteous man ; yet it is mado for and lies against the sinner and transgressor ; and as it has the same commanding, so the same condemning power, to them that are under it ; it accuses, pronounces guilty, condemns, and curses, even such who continue not in all things to observe it.—2.- Nor is the gospel a new law ; there is nothing in it that looks like a law ; it has no commands in it, but all promises ; it is a pure declaration of grace and salvation by Christ ; therefore called the gospel of the grace of God, and tho gospel of our salvation. —3. Nor are faith, repentance, and new obedience, the terms of it, or required by it, as conditions of men's acceptance with God ; faith and repentance, as doctrines, are gospel doctrines, and parts of

OF JUSTIFICATION. 81 the gospel ministry; and as graces, arc not terms and conditions required in it, to be performed by men of themselves ; they are bless ings of grace, declared in it, and are gifts of grace bestowed on men ; faith is the gift of God, and repentance is a grant from him ; and both they and new and spiritual obedience are provided for in the covenant of grace, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. — 4. If these were terms and conditions required of men, in the gospel, to be performed by them, in order to their acceptance with God, the gospel would not be a remedial law ; nor these milder terms than those of the old law ; for it was easier for Adam, in a state of innocence, to have kept the whole law, than it is for man, in his fallen state, to repent and believe in Christ, and perform new and spiritual obedience of himself. Till God takes away the stony heart, and gives a heart of flesh, and gives grace as well as time and space to repent, men never will nor can repent of their sins : and faith is not of a man's self; no man can come to Christ, that is, believe in him, unless it be given to him, and the Father draws him ; and with out Christ, his Spirit and grace, a man cannot do any good thing.— 5. Nor is it true, that God will accept of an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one ; nor can any thing more highly reflect upon the justice and truth of God, who is the Judge of all the earth, and will do right, and whose judgment is according to truth, and can never account that a righteousness which is not one. in. Nor is a profession of religion, even of the Christian religion, the matter of justification before God ; men may have a form of godli ness without the power of it ; they may submit to the ordinances of Christ, baptism, and the Lord's supper, and attend every duty of religion, and yet be far from righteousness : and even if a profession of religion was taken up upon right principles, on a good foundation, and held and maintained in an honourable manner, and even though a man may be ever so sincere in it, it is not the matter of his justifica tion. For, iv. Sincerity itself, in any religion, is not a justifying righteousness. There may be sincerity in a bad religion, as well as in a good one ; a man may be sincerely wrong, as well as sincerely right ; may be a sincere Pagan, a sincere Papist, and a sincere Mahometan, as well as a sincere Christian ; yea, a man may be a sincere blasphemer of Christ, and a sincere persecutor of his followers, as the apostle Paul was before conversion, and as the persecutors of Christ's disciples, Acts xxvi. 9. But taJring sincerity in the best sense, as a grace of the Spirit of God, which accompanies all other graces, and denominates faith unfeigned, hope without hypocrisy, and love without dissimulation ; it belongs to sanctification, and not justification ; and is not the whole nor any part of justifying righteousness. v. Nor faith, the to credere, or act of believing ; this is by some said to be imputed for righteousness; but is not so, for,—1. Faith, as a man's act, is his own ; and is called his faith, thy faith, and my faith, Hab. ii. 5, Matt. ix. 22, James ii. 18 ; whereas, the righteousness by which a man is justified is not his own, but another's, and therefore not faith.—2. Faith is imperfect; it is so in the greatest believers ; the voi.. ii. o

82 OF JUSTIFICATION. disciples of Christ saw need to pray, Lord, increase our faith ! whereas, a righteousness to justify must be perfect ; nothing else can be accounted a righteousness.—3. Faith is not everlasting, as to its use ; is only for the present life ; it will be changed into vision : but the righteousness by which sinners are justified before God, and which was brought in by Christ for that purpose, is everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. — 4. Faith and righteousness are manifestly distinguished; The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, and therefore faith cannot be. that righteousness. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and therefore righteousness must be a distinct thing from faith; which righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe; and therefore must be different from that faith with which they believe, Rom. i. 17, and x. 10, and iii. 22. — 5. Something else, and not faith, is said to be that by which men are made righteous, and justified ; as the obedience of one, Jesus Christ, by which many are made righteous, and tho blood of Christ, being justified by his blood, Rom. v. 9, 19. Now faith is neither the one nor the other ; and though men are said to be justified by faith, yet not as an act of men, for then they would be justified by works, contrary to express scripture ; nor by it as a grace of the Spirit in men, for this would confound justification and sanctification together; but, by the object of it, Christ, and his righteousness, apprehended, received, and embraced by faith. And though believers are said to be justified by faith, yet faith is never said to justify them.— 6. The passages produced to establish this notion, that faith is a man's righteousness, are insufficient : Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, Rom. iv. 3 ; and again, verse 5, Hisfaith is counted for righteousness ; and in the 9th, We say, that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Now this cannot be understood of the act of Abraham's faith, but of the object of it, or that which he believed in, the righteousness of Christ, which God imputes, without works, verso 6 ; and that this must bo the sense is clear, from this one single consideration, that the same it which was imputed to Abraham for righteousness is imputed to all those who believe in God, who raised up Christ from the dead, verses 22—24. Now, supposing Abraham's faith was imputed to him for a justifying righteousness, it cannot reasonably be thought that it should be imputed also for righteousness to all that believe in all succeeding ages. vi. Nor is the wholo of sanctification the matter of justification ; these two are distinct things, and not to be confounded ; the one is a work of grace within men, the other an act of God's grace towards and upon men ; the one is imperfect, the other perfect ; the one is carried on gradually, the other done at once. But the solo matter of justification, or that for the sake of which a sinner is justified before God, is the righteousness of Christ ; and which is, 1. Not his essential righteousness, as God; the righteousness by which men are justified is the righteousness of God, which was wrought out by Christ, who is God as well as man ; but it is not that righteous ness which is essential to him as God ; he that is their righteousness

OF JUSTIFICATION. 83 is Jehovah, but the righteousness by which he is Jehovah, or which belongs to him as such, is not their righteousness, as Osiander dreamed ; for this would be to deify them. 2. Nor his righteousness, integrity and fidelity, which he exercised in the discharge of his mediatorial office; that was personal and respected himself, and not relative to others ; he was faithful to him that appointed him to that office, and he did his work in so upright a manner, that he obtained the character of God's righteous servant, but though it is a righteousness he wrought out as mediator, which is imputed for justification, yet it is not his mediatorial righteousness, or the righteousness of his office, or that by which he showed the discharge of it. 3. Nor does it consist of all the actions and works he did here on earth, nor of what he is doing in heaven ; it wholly consists of those he wrought in his state of humiliation here on earth, yet not all of these ; not his extraordinary and miraculous works, these were proofs of his Deity, and of his Messiahship ; they were done and recorded to engage men to believe in him, and in his righteousness ; but were no ingredients in that righteousness on which they were to believe. Nor is his work in heaven, appearing for his people there, interceding for them, and preparing mansions of glory for them, any part of the righteousness wrought out for them and imputed to them. But, 4. What he did and suffered in their nature on earth, and in their room and stead, and as their substitute and representative, commonly called his active and passive obedience ; to which may be added the purity and holiness of his nature, and which altogether made up the SiKcuayia re vo/iov, the righteousness of the law, which was fulfilled by him, as their head and representative, Rom. viii. 4 ; for whatever the law required is necessary to a sinner's justification before God ; and that requires of sinners more than it did of man in innocence. Man was created with a pure and holy nature, conformable to the pure and holy law of God ; and it was incumbent on him to continue so, and to yield in it perfect and sinless obedience ; and in failure thereof he was threatened with death ; and now having sinned, whereby his nature is vitiated and corrupted, and his obedience become faulty and imperfect, suffering the penalty of the law is required ; and all this is requisite to the justification of a sinner, purity of nature, perfection of obedience, and sufferings of death ; all which meet in Christ, the representative of his people, in whom they are justified. — 1. Holiness of nature: some consider this only as a qualification for his office, and the due performance of it in human nature ; whereby he was capable of yield ing sinless obedience to the law, and was qualified as a high-priest to oner himself a spotless sacrifice, and to be a proper advocate for sinners, being Jesus Christ the righteous ; but this not only fitted him for his work, but made him suitable to us, Such a high-priest became us, who is holy, harmless ; the law required a holy nature in con formity to it ; it is wanting in us, it is found in Christ, who is of God made to us sanctification ; see more of this under the fourth head.— 2. The obedience of Christ's life, commonly called his active obedience, <

84 OF JUSTIFICATION. which was sinless and perfect ; his whole life was in perfect conformity to the law, and was a continued series of holiness and obedience ; the holiness of his nature appeared in all his actions, throughout his whole state of humiliation, from his birth to his death ; in all which he was the representative of his people ; what he did he did in their room and stead, and therefore was reckoned as if done by them, and is imputed to them as their righteousness : there are some who exclude the active obedience of Christ from being any part of the righteousness by which men are justified ; they allow it is a condition requisite in him as mediator, qualifying him for his office ; but deny that it is the matter of justification, or that it is imputed and reckoned for righteousness to men. They suppose that Christ was obliged to this obedience for himself as a creature, and that it is unnecessary to his people, because his sufferings and death are sufficient for their justification. But,— 1. Though the human nature of Christ being a creature, and so con sidered, was subject to a law, and obliged to obedience ; yet it was not obliged to a course of obedience in such a low, mean and suffering state, being entitled to glory and happiness from the moment of its union to the Son of God ; this was voluntary : besides, the human nature being taken into personal union with the Son of God, the person of Christ, who was not subject to the law, but was above it, and Lord of it ; it was an act of his will to submit to it, and a wonderful instanco of his condescension it was ; moreover, as Christ being made of a woman, and was made under the law, he was made both for the sake of his people ; he became man for their sake, to us or for us a child is born, and for their sake he became subject to the law, that he might yield obedienco to it in their room and stead, and that he might redeem them from the curse of it ; and this was the kind and gracious design of his divine Father in sending him in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he might both obey and suffer for them, that so the whole righteous ness of the law might be fulfilled in them, Gal. iv, 4. — 2. Without the active obedience of Christ the law would not be satisfied, the language of which is Do and live ; and unless its precepts are obeyed, as well as its penalty endured, it cannot be satisfied ; and unless it is satisfied, there can be no justification by it; Christ, as a surety, in the room and stead of his people, must both obey the precepts of the law and bear its penalty; his submitting to the one, without conforming to the other, is not sufficient ; one debt is not paid by another ; his paying off the debt of punishment did not exempt from obedience, as the paying off the debt of obedience did not exempt from punishment : Christ did not satisfy the whole law by either of them separately, but by both conjunctly; by his sufferings and death he satisfied the thrcatenings, the sanction of the law, but not the precepts of it thereby ; and by his active obedience he satisfied the preceptive part of the law, but not the penal part ; but by both he satisfied the whole of the law, and made it honourable. — 3. It is by a righteousness that men are justified, and that is the righteousness of Christ ; now righteousness, strictly speak ing, lies in doing, in actual obedience to the commands of the law, This shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do, S,c. Deut. vi. 25.

OF JUSTIFICATION. 85 Christ's righteousness lay in doing, not in suffering ; all righteousness, is either a habit or an act ; but sufferings are neither, and therefore not righteousness; no man is righteous because he is punished; if so, the devils and damned in hell would be righteous in proportion to their punishment ; the more severe their punishment, and the more grievous their torments, the greater their righteousness must be ; if thero is any righteousness in punishment, it must be in the punisher, and not in the punished. If therefore men are justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, it must be by his active obedience, and not merely by his sufferings and death ; because these, though they free from death, yet, strictly speaking, do not make men righteous.—4. It is expressly said, that by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous, Rom. v. 19, which cannot be meant of the sufferings and death of Christ ; because, properly speaking, they are not his obedience, but the effect of it ; besides, the antithesis in the text determines the sense of the words ; for if by one man's actual disobedience, which was the case, many were made sinners, so by the rule of opposition, by one man's actual obedience, which is Christ's, many are made righteous, or justified. — 5. The reward of life is not promised to suffermg, but to doing ; the law says, Do this and live ; it promises life, not to him that suffers the penalty, but to him that obeys the precept ; " There never was a law," as Dr. Goodwin observes, " even among men, either promising or declaring a reward due to the criminal, because he had undergone the punishment of his crimes." Christ's sufferings and death being satisfactory to the comminatory or threatening part of the law, are reckoned to us for justification, that so we may be freed and discharged from the curse of it, and from hell and wrath to come ; but as they do not constitute us righteous, they do not entitle us to eternal life ; but the active obedience or righteousness of Christ being imputed to us, is unto justification of life, or is what gives the title to eternal life.— 3. Nevertheless the sufferings and death of Christ, or what is com monly called his passive obedience, are requisite to our justification before God. Passive obedience is a phrase that may be objected to as not accurate, being a seeming contradiction in terms ; suffering and obedience convey different ideas, and belong to different classes ; suf fering belongs to the predicament or class of passion, obedience to that of action ; yet as Christ's sufferings flow from his obedience, and were the effect of his submission to his Father's will, with respect to which he said, Not my will, but thine be done : and as he was obedient throughout his life, in all the actions and in all the sufferings of it, even to the moment of his death ; and was also obedient in death, laying down his life at the command received from his Father ; For though a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered ; and was even active in his sufferings ; he laid down his life of himself, he poured out his soul unto death, and gave himself an offering, and a sacrifice for sin ; considering these things, the phrase, passive obedi ence, may be admitted of; especially as it is well known what is meant by it, the voluntary sufferings and death of Christ, which aro most certainly ingredients in the justification of a sinner.

86 OP JUSTIFICATION. It may be asked, if Christ was the representative of his people m his active obedience, which constitutes them just or righteous, and is their justification of life, or what entitles to eternal life, what need was there of his sufferings and death ? to which it may be answered, that it was necessary that Christ, as the surety and representative of his people, should satisfy the law in every thing it could require of them, both as creatures, and as sinful creatures. As creatures, the law could require of them purity of nature, and perfect obedience to it, which were in their first parents, but were lost by them, and are want ing in them; as sinful creatures, it could require of them to endure the penalty of it. Christ now as the surety of his people, represented them as creatures, in the purity of his nature and in the perfection ot his life, or in his active obedience ; and presented that to the law for them which it could require of them as creatures : and as it is certam he represented them in his sufferings and death, hence he is said to die for them, that is, in their room and stead, and they to bo crucified and buried with him ; in these he represented them as sinful creatures, and bore the penalty or curse of the law ; and in both obedience he satis fied the whole of it ; and as by the one they are freed from death the sanction of the law, so by the other they are entitled to life, and by both Christ is the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness unto them. For that the sufferings and death of Christ, as well as his active obedience, are requisite to the complete justification of a smner, appears, — 1. That without these the law would not be satisfied, and all its demands answered ; and unless it is satisfied, there can be no justification by it ; and it cannot be satisfied unless its penalty is endured ; for,—2. The law, in case of disobedience to it, threatened with death, and death is the just wages and due demerit of sin ; ancl therefore this must be endured, either by the sinner, or a surety jot him, or else he cannot be discharged by the law. —3. The justification of a sinner is expressly ascribed to be the blood of Christ, which is pu' for the whole of his sufferings and death, Rom. v. 9. — 4. Justification proceeds upon redemption, beingjustifiedfreely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Rom. iii. 24; now redemption is by the blood of Christ, and through his sufferings and death, 1 Pet. i»- 1 8, 19. — 5. It is upon the foot of Christ's satisfaction that justification takes place, and satisfaction is made by Christ's doing and suffermg all the law requires ; and so as by his obedience, likewise by his blood and death, to which it is more frequently ascribed, peace is made by his blood, reconciliation by his death, atonement and expiation by his sacrifice, which is of a sweet-smelling savour to God, Col. i- *" ' Rom. v. 10. — 6. The complete justification of a sinner, does not seem to bo finished by Christ until his resurrection, after his obedience and sufferings of death ; for he was delivered for our offences, and was raise" again for our justification, Rom. iv. 25. In short, the righteousness by which we are justified, as Dr. Ames1 says, is not to be sought for in different operations of Christ, but arises from his whole obedience, both active and passive ; which is both satisfactory and meritorious, &nd 1 Medulla Theolog. 1. 1, c. 20, a. 13 ; et c. 27, e. 27.

OF JUSTIFICATION. 87 frees from condemnation and death, and adjudges and entitles to eternal life ; even as one and the same disobedience of Adam, stripped us of original righteousness, and rendered us obnoxious to condemna tion. So much for the matter of justification. Secondly, The form of it, is imputation ; or the manner in which the righteousness of Christ is made over to a sinner, and it becomes his, is by imputing it to him ; unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Rom. iv. 6. The words used both in Hebrew and Greek, attfn and Xoyi(ofxai, eXAoyeto, &c, signify, to reckon, repute, estimate, attribute, and place something to the account of another"1 ; as when the apostle said to Philemon, concerning Onesimus, If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account, tovto e/xot tXXoyei, let it be reckoned, or imputed to me. So when God is said to impute the righteousness of Christ to any, the sense is, that he reckons it as theirs, being wrought out for them, and accounts them righteous by it, as though they had performed it in their own persons : and that it is by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to his people, that they are justified, is clear, when it is observed, — 1 . That those whom God justifies, are, in themselves, ungodly ; for God justifieth the ungodly, Rom. iv. 5 ; if ungodly, then without a righteousness ; and if without a righteousness, then, if they are justified, it must be by a righteousness imputed to them, or placed to their account ; which can be no other than the righteousness of Christ. — 2. They that are justified, are justified either by an inherent, or by an imputed righteousness : not by an inherent one, for that is imperfect, and so not justifying ; and if not by an inherent righteousness, then it must be by one imputed to them, for there remains no other. — 3. The righteousness by which any are justified, is the righteousness of another and not their own, even the righteousness of Christ : Not having on mine own righteousness, says the apostle, Phil. iii. 9. Now the righteousness of another, cannot be made a man's, or he be justified by it, any other way than by an impu tation of it to him. — 4. The same way that Adam's sin, became the sin of his posterity, or they were made sinners by it, the same way Christ's righteousness becomes his people's, or they are made righteous by it. Now the former is by imputation ; and so the latter ; As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; that is, by the imputation of it to them ; so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous ; that is, by placing it to their account, Rom. v. 19. — 5. The same way that the sins of Christ's people became his, his righteousness becomes theirs. Now their sins became Christ's by imputation only ; the Father laid them on him, or made them to meet upon him, imputed them on him, placed them to his account ; and he took them upon him, and looked upon himself as answerable to justice for them ; and so, in the same way, his righteousness is made over to, and put upon his people ; For he who knew no sin, was made sinfor us,hy imputation, thai we might be made the rigliteousness of'God in him; accounted righteous in him, through his righteousness imputed, 2 Cor. v. 21. Now there are several things a iU?n, putavit, imputavit, reputavit, xsiimavit.—Buxtorf. Acyfafiai, testiuio, reputo, item impute ; et alicujut vcluti ratiouibus infero, tribuo.—Scapula.

88 OF JUSTIFICATION, which are said of this imputed righteousness of Christ, which serve greatly to recommend it, and set forth the excellency of it ; as,—That it is called the righteousness of God, Rom. i. 17, and iii. 22 ; being wrought by Christ, who is God as well as man ; approved and accepted of by God, and freely imputed by him to believers, as their justifyingrighteousness. — It is called, the righteousness of One, Rom. v. 18; of one of the Persons in the Trinity, the Son of God ; of him, who, though he has two natures united in him, is but one Person, and who is the one common Head to all his seed ; and though his obedience, or righteousness, serves for many, it is the obedience of One, Rom. v. 19, and therefore they are justified, not partly by their own obedience, and partly by Christ's, but by his only.—It is called the righteousness of the law, Rom, viii. 3, being wrought by Christ in conformity to the law ; so that this righteousness is a legal righteousness, as performed by Christ, being every way commensurate to the demands of it ; though evangelical, as made over to his people, and revealed in the gospel ; for it is manifested without the law, though witnessed to by law and prophets.—It is called, the righteousness offaith, Rom. iv. 13 ; not that faith is righteousness, or imputed for it, or is the matter of a justifying righteousness, or any part of it ; but because the righteousness of Christ is revealed to faith, and that lays hold on it, receives it, rejoices in it, and boasts of it.— It is called, the gift of righteousness, and thefree gift, and the gift by grace, Rom. v. 15 — 17; because freely wrought out by- Christ, and freely imputed by God the Father ; and faith is freelygiven to receive and embrace it.—It is called, a robe of righteousness, a. garment down to the feet, which covers the whole mystical body of Christ, Isa. lxi. 10, Rev. i. 13 ; it is signified by gold of Ophir, clothmg of wrought gold, and raiment of needlework ; setting forth the preciousness of it, Psalm xlv. 9, &c It is said to be change of raiment, and the wedding-garment, Zech. iii. 4, Matt. xxii. 12 ; yea, the best robe, Luke xv. 22 ; a better robe than Adam had in Eden, or the angels in heaven ; theirs, at best, being but the righteousness of a creature, and that loseable, as the event showed ; but Christ's right eousness is the righteousness of God, and an everlasting one ; it may be rendered, the first robe ", being first in designation, and in the provision of the covenant of grace ; though Adam's robe of righteous ness was first in wear and use. VI. The effects of justification by the righteousness of Christ may be next considered, which are as follow. —1. An entire freedom from all penal evils, in this life and in that which is to come. Justified ones are not freed from all evils ; they have their evil things now, as Lazarus had, but they are not brought upon them by way of punishment ; afflictions are evils in themselves, being not joyous but grievous ; but then they are not penal ones ; they are fatherly chastisements, they are fruits and evidences of the love of God to them, and not of his vindictive wrath, 1 Cor. xi. 32 ; death was threatened as a punishment for sin, and is the just demerit of it, and as such inflicted on righteous ones, but is no penal evil to justified ones, it is their privilege and not L Ttjf <rraAt;> tv.w vpuirrtv, stolam priuiam.— Vulg. I.;it. Alius Montanus.

OF JUSTIFICATION. 89 their punishment, 1 Cor. iii. 22; and therefore their death is desirable, even by wicked men, as it was by Balaam : nor will any penal evil befall the justified ones after death ; for being now justified by his (Christ's) blood, they shall be saved from wrath through him ; from wrath to come, the vengeance of eternal fire : should any penal evil be inflicted on them here or hereafter, it would highly reflect upon the justice of God, in punishing twice for the same offences, once in their surety, and again in themselves ; since the chastisement, or punishment of their sins, has been laid on Christ, and he has endured it ; and therefore it would be a lessening of the value of Christ's satisfaction, as if it was not made to full content, should punishment be inflicted in any degree upon those for whom it is made : and it would be contrary to the gospel-declaration, that they that believe in Christ are justified, and shall not enter into condemnation. — 2. Peace with God is another fruit and effect of justification ; being justified by faith, we have peace with God, Rom. v. 1 ; peace with God is made by the blood of Christ, and reconciliation by his death ; and besides that, there is a peace of conscience which is had in a way of believing, and through a comfortable sense and perception of an interest in the righteousness of Christ, tho effect of which is peace and quietness. — 3. Access to God through Christ ; for having a comfortable view by faith of interest in the righteousness of Christ unto justification, it follows, we have boldness and access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, access to God as the God of grace, to him as on a throne of grace, to all tho blessings of grace which come from God through Christ ; and through the blood and righteousness of Christ justified ones have great freedom, boldness and confidence, to go to God, and present their supplication to him for what they want ; not for their righteousness' sake, but in their requests making mention of the righteousness of Christ, and only pleading the worth and virtue of that. — 4. Acceptance with God through Christ follows upon justification by his righteousness ; there can be no acceptance with God upon the foot of a man's own righteousness, which cannot render him acceptable to God ; but through the righteousness of Christ there is an acceptance both of persons and services ; first of persons and then services ; as God had respect to Abel, and so to his offering, and accepted it ; so he has respect to tho persons of his justified ones, as considered in Christ ; he has respect to him, and is well pleased with him, and with all that are in him ; they are accepted of God in the Beloved, being clothed with the robe of his righteousness, and the garments of his salvation ; and their services being done in the strength of Christ, and through faith in him, and to tho glory of God by him, and their spiritual sacrifices being offered up by him their great high-priest, they become acceptable to God through him.— 5. The well-being of God's people here and hereafter depends upon their justification, and is a consequent of it ; Say ye to t/ie righteous, one that is justified by the righteousness of Christ, that it shall be well with him, Isa. iii. 10 ; it is well with the justified ones in life ; bo it with them as it may, all is well with them and for tho best ; all things work together for their good, adversity .and prosperity; what they have of worldly

90 OF JUSTIFICATION. things, though perhaps but little, are blessings to them : it is well with such an one at death, he has] hope in it, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God ; peace is the end of the perfect and upright man, who is perfectly righteous through the righteousness of Christ imputed to him ; and it is well with him at judgment' he has a righteousness that will answer for him in that time to come : he shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and it will be well with him to all eternity ; he that is righteous will then be righteous still, and ever continue so, and shall go into everlasting life. — 6. Glorying, or boasting, is another effect of justification ; not in a man's self, in his own righteousness; not of his duties, services, and performances ; nor of blessings of goodness enjoyed through his own merit ; nor of heaven and happiness, as his own acquisition ; all such boasting is excluded, by the doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ ; but such as are justified in Christ glory of him, in whom they are justified ; and glory in this, that he is of God, made to them righteousness, 1 Cor. i. 30. — 7. Justified ones have an undoubted title to eternal life ; hence justification by Christ's right eousness is called, justification of life, because it entitles to it ; and such aro made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life ; are heirs of the inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and reserved in the heavens, and shall be possessed of it, Rom. v. 18, Tit. iii. 7. For, — 8. Certainty of salvation may be concluded from justification ; such as are justified, shall most assuredly be saved from wrath ; there is an inseparable connexion between justification' and glorification ; Whom he justified, them he also glorified, Rom. viii. 30. VII.—The properties of justification. —1. It is an act of God's grace, of pure grace, without any consideration of merit, worthiness, and works of men ; grace is the moving cause of it, as has been already observed ; it was according to the purpose and grace of God, that he resolved upon the justification of any of the sons of men ; The scrip ture foreseeing that God wouldjustify the heathen through faith, Gal. iii. 8 ; the Scripture foresaw, or predicted, the justification of them ; because God, of his sovereign grace and good-will, determined on it ; grace set wisdom at work to find out a proper way and method of making men just with God, which could never have been found out by men or angels ; and having found out a way to impute their sins, not to them selves, but to Christ, and to impute his righteousness to them ; ho was gracious, and said, Deliver themfrom going down to the pit. Grace put him on calling Christ to be their surety, to bring in an everlastmg righteousness for them ; and it was grace in Christ to accept the call, and say, Lo, I come to do thy will! one part of which was, to work out a righteousness for his people ; and it was grace in God to send his Son to obey, suffer, and die for them, in their nature, that the righte ousness of the law might be fulfilled in them ; and it was grace in him to accept of that righteousness as if done by them, and to impute it to them freely without works, and to give them faith to lay hold upon it for themselves ; and it appears the more to be an act of grace, in that they are ungodly whom God justifies, sinners, even some, the chief of

OF JUSTIFICATION. 91 sinners, Rom. iv. 5. — 2. It is an act of justice, as well as of grace : God is righteous in all his ways and works, and so in this ; the law being perfectly fulfilled by Christ, the surety, both with respect to precept and penalty ; justice is fully satisfied, and so God is just, and thejustifier ofhim that believeth in Jesus, Rom.iii.26. —3. It is universal, as to persons, sins and punishment : as to persons, all the seed of Israel are justified ; that is, all the elect of God and seed of Christ ; as there was an all on whom judgment came to condemnation, through tho offence of the first Adam, even all his natural posterity ; so there is an all on whom the free gift by the righteousness of Christ comes, to the justification of life ; even all the children of God, and offspring of Christ, the second Adam, whoso righteousness is unto all, and upon all them that believe, Isa. xlv. 25, Rom. v. 18. And, with respect to sins, they that are justified, are justified from all sins whatever ; Christ has redeemed his people from all their iniquities ; all are forgiven for his sake ; his blood cleanses from all, and his righteousness clears and acquits them of all : and as to punishment, they are entirely secure from it, even to the least degree ; they are saved from wrath ; they are secure from all condemnation ; they are delivered from the curse of the law ; nor shall they be hurt by the second death, the" wages of sin ; it shall not have any power at all over them : the whole righte ousness of Christ is imputed to them ; a whole Christ is made to them righteousness ; and in such a manner, that they are made the righte ousness of God in him ; and they are complete in him, are perfectly comely through his comeliness put upon them, a perfection of beauty, all fair, and without spot. — 4. It is an individual act, done at once, and admits of no degrees ; the sins of God's elect were all toge ther and at once laid on Christ, and satisfaction for them was made by him at once ; he removed the iniquity of his people in one day, and by one sacrifice put away sin for ever ; all sins were pardoned at once, upon this sacrifice offered, and satisfaction made ; and the righteous ness of Christ was accepted of and imputed to his people at once. The sense of justification, indeed, admits of degrees. Tho righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith ; from one degree of faith to another ; from a lesser, and lower degree of it, to a higher ; it is gradually that faith rises to a full assurance of interest in it, so that a man knows with certainty, that he is and shall be justified : the manifes tations of it are various and different, at different times ; but the act itself, as in God, is always the same, perfect and complete. Indeed, there are fresh declarations and repetitions of it ; the sentence of it was first conceived in the divine mind from all eternity ; it was virtually pronounced on the elect in Christ, their representative, at his resur rection from the dead ; and it is afresh pronounced in the conscience of a believer, by the Spirit, and he bearing testimony to it ; and it will be again notified at the general judgment, before angels and men ; but justification, as an act of God, is but one, and done at once, and admits of no degrees ; and is not carried on in a gradual, progressive way, as sanctification is. — 5. It is equal to all, or all are alike justified, that are justified ; the price of redemption, on which justification pro

92 Of JUSTIFICATION. ceeds, is the same, the precious blood of Christ ; even as the ransomprice, and atonement-money paid for the children of Israel, was the same, a half-shekel for the rich and for the poor : and it is the same righteousness of Christ that is imputed to one as to another ; it is a garment down to the feet, and covers the whole mystical body, the lowest and meanest members of it, as well as the more principal ; it is unto all, and upon all them that believe ; there is no difference, they have all the same righteousness, and the same precious faith, though not to the same degree ; yet the weakest believer is as much justified, as the strongest believer ; and so the greatest, as well as the smallest sinner, though one may be justified from more sins than another, hav ing committed more ; yet one is not more justified than the other ; though one man may have more faith, and more sanctifying grace than another, yet no man has more righteousness, or a more justifying righteousness, than another. — 6. It is irreversible, and an unalterable act ; it is according to the immutable purposo and grace of God, which can never be frustrated ; it is part of that grace given, and one of those spiritual blessings wherewith the elect were blessed in Christ before the world began ; it is one of those things which God does, and are for ever. Neither the righteousness by which they are justified, nor the faith by which they receive the justifying righteousness from the Lord, ever fails. The righteousness is an everlasting righteousness ; and faith fails not ; Christ is the author and finisher of it. Though a righteous man falls, he never falls from his righteousness : a man that is only seemingly and outwardly righteous, may turn away from his own righteousness, and go into a course of sin, and die ; but one that is truly righteous, through the righteousness of Christ, can never turn and fall from that, nor shall ever enter into condemnation ; but shall be eternally saved and glorified. — 7. Though by the act of justifica tion, persons are freed from sin, and from obligation to punishment for it, sin is not thereby taken out of them. They are, indeed, so freed from it, that God sees no iniquity in them, to condemn them for it ; he sees all the sins of his people in the article of providence, and chastises for them ; but in the article of justification he sees none in them ; they are acquitted, discharged, and justified from all ; yet sin dwells in them, as it did in the apostle Paul, who, undoubtedly, was a justified person ; yea, There is not a just man upon earth ;. one that is truly righteous, in an evangelical sense, that doeth good and sinneth not, Eccles. vii. 20. — 8. Through justification by the righteousness of Christ, neither the law is made void and of none effect, nor is the performance of good works discouraged. The Law is not made void ; Do we make void the law through faith ? that is, through the doctrine of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ ; God forbid! yea, we establish the law ; by presenting to it a righteousness every way commensurate to its demands, by which it is magnified and made honourable : nor does this doctrine discourage duty, but animates to it; and is to be constantly preached for this end, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good worfts, Tit. iii. 7, 8.

93 OF ADOPTION. Some think that adoption is a part and branch of justification, and included in it ; since that part of justification which lies in the imputa tion of the righteousness of Christ, entitles to eternal life, hence called the justification of life, as adoption does ; so that the children of God may be said to have a two-fold title to eternal life ; the one by the free grace of God making them sons, which entitles them to it ; the other by justification in a legal way, and confirms the former, and opens a way for it ; or that it may appear to be founded on justice, as well as grace : the learned Dr. Ames seems to have a respect to both these. And such that are justified by the grace of God, through the righteous ness of Christ, are heirs of it, as adopted ones be ; If children, then heirs, Rom. v. 18, Tit. iii. 7, Rom. viii. 17. Some consider adoption as the effect of justification ; and Junius calls it, via adoptionis, the way to adoption : it is certain, they have a close connexion with each other, and agree in their author, causes, and objects ; the white stone of absolution, or justification, and the new name of adoption, go together in the gift of Christ to the overcomer, Rev. ii. 17. Though I am of opinion they are distinct blessings of grace, and so to be considered : adoption is a distinct thing from either justification or pardon. A subject may be acquitted by his sovereign from charges laid against him ; and a criminal, convicted and condemned, may be pardoned, yet he does not become his son ; if adopted, and taken into his family, it must be by a distinct and fresh act of royal favour. I have treated already, vol. i. b. ii. page 288, of adoption as an immanent act of the divine will, which was in God from eternity ; hence the elect of God were not only predestinated to the adoption of children, to the blessing itself, openly and actually to enjoy it in time, and to the inheritance adopted to ; but this blessing itself was provided and bestowed in the everlasting covenant of grace, in which the elect of God had not only the promise of this relation, but were in it given to Christ under this relation and character, Eph. i. 5, 2 Cor. vi. 18 ; hence they are spoken of as the children of God and Christ, previous to the incarnation of Christ, and to his sufferings and death ; as well as to the mission of the Spirit into their hearts, as the Spirit of rege neration and adoption, John xi. 52, Gal. iv. 6. I shall therefore now consider it as openly bestowed upon believing in Christ, and as mani fested, applied, and evidenced by the Spirit of God. I. I shall consider, in what sense believers are the sons of God ; which is by adoption, and the nature of that : they are not the sons of God in so high a sense as Christ is, who is God's own Son, his proper Son, his only begotten Son ; which cannot be said either of angels or men ; for as to which of the angels, so to which of the sons of men said 0 Hinc omnes fidcles duplici quasi titulo vitam fftcniam expectant, titulo nempe redemptions quem hahent ex justificatione, et titulo quasi fiiiationis, quem habent ex adoptione. — Ames. Medulla, Theol. 1. 1, c. 28, i. 7.

94 OF ADOPTION'. God at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have 1 begotten thee ? Nor in the sense that their fellow-creatures are, whether angels or men, who are the sons of God by creation, as the former, so the latter ; for they are all his offspring : nor in the sense that magistrates be, who are so by office, and on that account called the children of the Most High, being his representatives : nor as professors of religion, who are called the sons of God, in distinction from the children of men; but by adoption ; hence we read of the adoption of children these are pre destinated unto, and which they receive, through redemption by Christ, and of which the Spirit of God is the witness ; hence called the Spirit of adoption : and even the inheritance to which they are entitled bears the name of adoption, Eph. i. 5, Gal. iv. 5. There is a civil and a religious adoption. A civil adoption, and which obtained among all nations ; among the Egyptians, so Moses was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter ; and among the Hebrews, so Esther by Mordecai ; and it obtained much among the Romans, to which, as used by them, the allusion is in the New Testament, in a religious sense ; it is sometimes used of the whole people of the Jews, to whom belonged the adoption, Rom. ix. 4; and at other times, of some special and particular persons, both among Jews and Gentiles ; for of the former, all were not the children of God ; and of the latter, if they were believers in Christ, they were Abraham's spiritual seed, and heirs according to the promise, Gal. iii. 26—29. Between civil and spiritual adoption, in some things there is an agreement, and in some things a difference. i. In some things they agree. — 1. In the name and thing, vlo6e<na a putting among the children ; so spiritual adoption is called, Jer. iii. 19 ; or putting, or taking, one for a son, who was not so by nature and birth ; which is the case of adoption by special grace ; it is of such who are, by nature, children of wrath, and aliens from the common wealth of Israel ; and taking these from the family of the world, to which they originally belonged, into the family of God, and household of faith, Eph. ii. 3, 12, 19. — 2. As civil adoption is of one to an inheritance, who has no legal right to it ; so is special and spiritual adoption. None, in a civil sense, are adoption, but to an inheritance of which they are made heirs ; and so such who are adopted in a spiritual sense, are adopted to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and eternal ; and as the one are adopted to an inheritance they had no natural right unto, nor any legal claim upon ; so the other are such who have sinned, and come short of the eternal inheritance, and can make no legal pretension to it by works of the law, Rom. iv. 14.— 3. Civil adoption is the voluntary act of the adopter. Among the Romans, when a man adopted one for his son, they both appeared before a proper magistrate, and the adopter declared his will and pleasure to adopt the person presented, if he consented to it. Special and spiritual adoption, is an act of the sovereign good-will and pleasure of God, who has predestinated his to the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will ; it is a pure act of his grace to make them his sons and heirs, and to give them the kingdom, the inheritance, even eternal life, which is the free

OF ADOPTION. 95 gift of God, through Christ, Rom. vi. 23. — 4. In civil adoption, the adopted took and bore the name of the adopter ; so the adopted sons of God have a new name, which the mouth of the Lord their God names, a new, famous, and excellent name, which no man knoweth, saving he that receives it; a name better than that of sons and daughters of the greatest earthly potentate ; a name by which they are called the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty, Isa. lvi. 5, 1 John iii. 1. — 5. Such who are adopted in a civil sense, are taken into the family of the adopter, and make a part of it ; and stand in the relation, not of servants, but sons : so those who are adopted of God, are taken into that family, which is named of him in heaven and in earth, and are of his household ; in which they are not as servants, nor merely as friends, but as the children of God, and household of faith, Eph. iii. 15, 19, John xv. 15, 16. — 6. Persons adopted in a civil sense, as they are considered as children, they are provided for as such ; pro vision is made for their education, their food, their clothing, their pro tection, and attendance, and for an inheritance and portion for them : all the children of God, his adopted ones, they are taught of God, by his Spirit, his ministers, his word, and ordinances ; they are trained up in the school of the church, and under the ministry of the word, and are instructed by the preaching of the gospel, and by precepts, promises, and providences ; as for food, they are continually supplied with what is suitable for them, the sincere milk of the word for babes, and meat for strong men ; they are fed with hidden manna, with marrow and fatness, with the finest of the wheat, with the richest dainties of the gospel-feast ; as for their clothing, it is chango of rai ment, clothing of wrought gold, raiment of needlework, a robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation ; fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints : for their protection, they have angels to wait upon them and guard them, who encamp about them, to preserve them from their enemies, and have the care and charge of them, to keep them in their ways ; yea, they are kept by the Lord himself, as the apple of his eye, being his dear sons and pleasant children ; and the inheritance he has prepared for them, of which they are heirs, is among the saints in light ; is incorruptible, undefiled, never fading, and eternal, and is even a kingdom and glory. —7. Such as are adopted by men, come under the power and are at the command of the adopter, and are under obligation to perform all the duties of a son to a parent ; as to honour, reverence, and obey, and be subject to his will in all things. All which are due from the adopted sons of God, to him, their heavenly Father ; honour is what God claims as his due from his children; A son honoureth Ms father—If I then be a Father, where is mine honour ? Mal. i. 6 ; obedience to all his com mands, highly becomes, and is obligatory on them ; they ought to be obedient children, and imitate God in all his imitable perfections, particularly in holiness, benevolence, kindness and goodness, and even should be subject to his corrections and chastisements, which are not merely for his pleasure, but for their profit and good, Heb. xii.9, 10. n. In some things civil and spiritual adoption differ. — 1. Civil

96 OF ADOPTION. adoption could not be done without the consent of the adopted, his will was necessary to it. Among the Romans the adopter, and the person to be adopted, came before a proper magistrate, and in his presence the adopter asked the person to be adopted, whether he was willing to be his son ; and he answered, I am willing ; and so the thing was agreed and finished. But in spiritual adoption, though the be liever, when he comes to be acquainted with the privilege of adoption he is favoured with, and is highly delighted and pleased with it, and admires and adores the grace that has brought him into the relation ; yet his will and consent were not necessary to the constitution of the act of adoption ; it may be said of that as of every other blessing of grace, that it is not of him that willeth ; such was the grace of God that he did not wait for the will of the creature to complete this act, but previous to it put him among the children ; and such is his sove reign power, that ho had an uncontrollable right to take whom he would, and make Ins sons and daughters ; and such the influence and efficacy of his grace, as to make them willing in the day of his power to acknowledge the relation with the greatest wonder and thankfulness, and to behave according to it. — 2. Civil adoption was allowed of, and provided for the relief and comfort of such who had no children, and to supply that defect in nature ; but in spiritual adoption this reason does not appear ; God did not adopt any of the sons of men for want of a son and heir ; he had one, and in a higher class of sonship than creatures can be ; more excellent and divine, and suitable to the divine nature ; his own proper son, begotten of him, was as one brought "up with him, and his daily delight ; the dear son of his love, in whom he was well pleased ; and who always did the things that were pleasing to him ; and who inherited all his perfections and glory. — 3. In civil adoption there are generally some causes and reasons in the adopted, which influence and move the adopter to take the step he does. There are two instances of adoption in Scripture, the one of Moses, the other of Esther ; in both there were some things that WTought upon tho adopters to do what they did. Moses was a goodly child, exceeding fair and lovely to look upon, which, with other things, moved the daughter of Pharaoh to take him up out of the water, to take care of him, and adopt him for her son ; Esther was also a fair and beautiful maid, and besides was related to Mordecai, which were the reasons why he took her to be his daughter : but in divine adoption, there is nothing in the adopted that could move the adopter to bestow such a favour ; no worth nor worthiness, no love nor loveliness, nothing attracting in them ; children of wrath by nature, as others ; trans gressors from the womb, and rebels against God. There were so many objections to their adoption, and so many arguments against it, and none for it in themselves, that the Lord is represented as making a difficulty of it, and saying, How shall I put them among the children ? Jer. iii. 19 ; such blackmoors and Ethiopians as these are? so abomina ble and so disobedient, enemies in their minds by wicked works, hateful and hating one another I — 4. In civil adoption, the adopter, though he takes one into his family, and makes him his son and heir,

OF ADOPTION. 97 and gives him the name and title of a son, and a right to an inherit ance designed for him ; he cannot give him the nature of a son, nor qualifications fitting him for the use and enjoyment of the estate he is adopted to ; he cannot give him a suitable disposition and temper of mind, nor communicate goodness, wisdom and prudence for the manage ment of it; he may turn out a fool, or a prodigal; but the divine Adopter makes his sons partakers of the divine nature, and makes them meet for the inheritance with the saints in light. — 5. Persons adopted in a civil sense cannot enjoy the inheritance whilst the adoptive father is living, not till after his death : but in spiritual adoption the adopted enjoy the inheritance, though their father is the everlasting and everliving God ; and Christ, the first-born, lives for ever, with whom they are joint-heirs. — 6. In some cases civil adoption might be made null and void ; as among the Romans, when against the right of the pontifex, and without the decree of the college ; but spiritual adoption is never made void on any account. There is a difference also between adoption and regeneration, though divines usually confound these two together. They both have the same author ; the same God and Father adopts and regenerates ; they flow from the same love and grace ; and the same persons that are adopted are regenerated ; and they are adopted and begotten again unto the same inheritance : but adoption is before regeneration ; the one is an act of God's will in eternity, the other is an act and work of his grace in time ; the one is the cause, the other the effect ; men are not adopted because regenerated, which would seem unnecessary : but they are regenerated because adopted; because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts : to regenerate, to sanctify, and testify their adoption, Gal. iv. 6 ; regeneration is the fruit and effect of adoption, and the evidence of it, John i. 12, 13 ; adoption gives the name of sons, and a title to the inheritance ; and regeneration gives the nature of sons, and a meetness for the inheritance. II. The causes of Adoption. i. The efficient cause, God ; none can adopt any into the family of God but God himself: none can put any among the children of God but he himself ; none but he can do it who says, / will be his God, and he sliall be my son, Rev. xxi. 7. God, Father, Son, and Spirit, are concerned in the affair of adoption. — 1. God the Father ; What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us ; the Father of Christ, the one God and Father of us all ; that we should be called the sons of God, 1 John iii. 2. The God and leather of Christ, who blessed and chose his people in him, he predestinated them to the adoption of children by him ; both to the grace of adoption, and to the inheritance they are adopted to, and obtain in Christ, in virtue thereof, Eph. i. 11 ; he also predestinated them to be conformed to the image of his Son, &c He set him up as the pattern of their sonship, that as he partook of their nature, they should be partakers of the divine nature ; and that as he was a Son and Heir of all things, they should be likewise ; and which will more manifestly bs seen when they shall appear to be what they are, as sons, and be like unto him, Rom. viii. 29. Besides, God the VOL. II. II

98 OF ADOPTION. Father has not only determined upon their adoption, and all things relative to it ; hut he has provided this Messing in covenant for them, and secured it there ; this is one of the all things in which it is ordered and sure ; it is one of the spiritual blessings of the covenant, which he has blessed his people with in Christ ; which covenant runs thus ; I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty ! 2 Cor. vi. 18 ; yea, the act of adoption itself, or putting among the children, is his act ; for though he says, How shall I put thee among the children ? there being no difference between them and others by nature, they are as bad and as black as others ; yet he did do it. — 2. The Son of God has a concern in adoption ; and there are several connexions and relations he stands in to his people, which serve greatly to illustrate and confirm it. There is an union between them, a very near and mysterious one, John xvii. 21, and from this union flow all the blessings of grace to the saints ; they are first of God in Christ, and then he is every thing to them, and they have every thing through him, to make them comfortable and happy; and particularly, he and they being one, his God is their God, and his Father is their Father ; he is a Son, and they are sons ; he is an heir, and they are J'oint-heirs with him. There is a marriage-relation between Christ and is people ; he has betrothed them to himself in righteousness, and that for ever ; he is their husband, and they are his spouse and bride ; and as when a man marries a king's daughter, he is his son-in-law, as David was to Saul ; so one that marries a king's son becomes his daughter : and thus the church being married to Christ, the Son of God, becomes the King's daughter, Psalm xlv. 13 ; through the incarnation of Christ, he not only became the Goel, the near kinsman, but even a brother to those whose flesh and blood he partook of; and because he and they are of one, of one and the same nature, He is not ashamed to call them brethren ; and if his brethren, then, as he is the Son of God, they must be sons of God too : and through the redemption wrought out by him, they come to receive the adoption of children, the blessing before prepared for them, in the purpose and covenant of God ; yea, the actual donation of the blessing of adoption is bestowed by Christ ; for as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, John i. 12. It is the Son who makes free; that is, by making them children ; for the children only are free ; not servants, John viii. 36. — 3. The Spirit of God has also a concern in adoption ; he is the author of regeneration ; which, though it is not adoption, it is the evidence of it; the sons of God are described as born of God, John i. 13 ; and this spiritual birth, which makes men appear to be the sons of God, is owing to the Spirit of God ; for except a man be born of leater and of the Spirit, that is, of the grace of the Spirit, comparable to water, he cannot enter into the kingdom ofGod, John iii. 5. It is by faith in Christ that men receive the adoption of children ; hence believers are said to be the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus ; this receives and claims the privilege and blessing ; which faith is of the operation of the Spirit of God, who is therefore called the Spirit offaith, Gal. iii. 26, 2 Cor. iv. 13. Moreover, it is the Spirit -

OF ADOPTION. 99 who witnesses the truth of adoption ; he bears witness to the spirits of believers, that they are the children of God ; they receiving him as the Spirit of adoption, who is sent into their hearts for that purpose : for because ye are sons, God hath sentforth the Spirit ofhis Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Rom. viii. 15, 16, Gal. iv. 6 ; to all which may be added, that the several operations of the Spirit on the souls of men, such as his leadings and teachings, confirm unto them the truth of their sonship ; for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, who are led out of themselves, and off of themselves, to Christ, and his righteousness ; who are led into all truth, as it is in Jesus, and to the fulness of Christ ; and who are led through him, the Mediator, by the Spirit, unto God, as their Father ; and which Spirit is given, and abides, as an earnest in their hearts ; even the earnest of t/ie inheritance they are adopted to, until the redemption of the purchased possession, Eph. i. 14. ii. The moving cause of adoption, is the love, grace, free favour, and good will of God. There was nothing in the creature that could move him to it ; no agreeable disposition m them, no amiableness in their persons, nor anything engaging in their conduct and behaviour ; but all the reverse, as before observed : wherefore, considering these things, the apostle breaks forth in this pathetic expression, JVhat manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! 1 John iii. 1 ; in which he points out the source and spirit of this blessing of grace, the amazing love of God. III. The objects of adoption. And they are such who are the objects of the love of God ; for since adoption flows from the love of God, such who are the children of God must be interested in it ; and they are dear children, strongly interested in his affections, like Ephraim, dear sons and pleasant children, whom God loves dearly, and loves with a love of complacency and delight ; they are the chosen of God; for such that are chosen of God in Christ, they are predestinated to the adoption of children by him ; hence sons before calling. They are also redeemed from among men, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, being the children of God scattered abroad Christ came to gather together ; and who, through redemption by him, receive the adoption of children, previously provided for them ; though, in their nature-state, they are rebellious children, children that are corrupt and that are corrupters; children of wrath, by nature, as others, and in no wise better than others; but are only openly and manifestly the children of God when they commence believers in Christ : till then they cannot be called the children of God by themselves, or by others ; till then they have no claim to the blessing, nor have they the power, the privilege, the dignity, and honour, to become the sons of God. These are the characters of the adopted ones, both secretly and openly. IV. The nature and excellency of this privilege.—1. It is an act of surprising and distinguishing grace ; it is an act of God's free grace to predestinate to the adoption of children ; it is part of the grace of the covenant, and of the grace given in Christ before the world began ; it s n 2

100 OF ADOPTION. is owing to the grace of God that Christ was sent to redeem any of the sons of men, that they might receive the adoption of children : it is an instance of grace in God to send his Spirit to manifest it, and bear witness of it ; and every one that has seen his own sinfulness and vileness by nature, must say, that if he is a child of God, it is by the grace of God : and it is an act of marvellous grace, 1 John iii. 1 , considering all things ; and it will appear so, when the Adopter and the adopted are put in a contrast ; the adopter is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the most high God ; hence these his children are called, the children of the Highest ; and they are, by nature, in the lowest and meanest circumstances that can be imagmed ; lost and undone, poor and miserable, beggars and bankrupts, the foolish things of this world, and things that are not ; and yet such God is pleased to adopt, and take into his family : and it is an act of distinguishing grace, both with respect to angels and men ; for they are men, the posterity of fallen Adam, that become the sons of God; and not angels, who are ministering spirits, or servants, but not sons ; and of men, not all, only some, are the children of God ; who are distinguished from the world who are not so, and who know not them that are the children of God, 1 John iii. 1 . — 2. It is a blessing of grace, which exceeds other blessings ; as redemption, pardon, justification, and sanctification ; a man may be redeemed out of a state of slavery by a king's ransom, may be pardoned by his prince, though he has been a rebel and traitor to him, and may be acquitted from high crimes laid to his charge, and yet not be a king's son ; if adopted, and taken into his family, it must be by another and distinct act of royal favour ; and it is more to be a son than to be a saint, as Zanchy in his Comment on Ephesians observes, who thinks, that to be predestinated to the adoption of children, is something over and above, and what exceeds being chosen to be holy, and without blame : to which may be added, that angels are saints, or holy ones, even perfectly holy ; He came with ten thousands of his saints, Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; but they are not sons, at least in the sense that some of the sons of men are. — 3. It is a blessing of grace, which makes men exceeding honourable. David observed, that it was no light thing to be a king's son-in-law ; it certainly cannot be, to be a son of the Kmg of kings; the name of a son of God is a new name, a renowned and excellent one ; a name which no man knows the grandeur and dignity of but he that receives it ; it makes a man more honourable than Adam was in his state of honour, and than the angels are in their high estate in heaven ; since, though these are sons, yet only by creation, not by adoption, as saints are. — 4. It brings men into the highest connexions, alliances, relations, and offices ; such are not only the soils and daughters of the Lord God Almighty ; but they are the brethren of Christ, the Son of God, are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God ; yea, they become kings and priests unto God. — 5. The inheritance they are adopted to exceeds all others ; it is a most comprehensive one, it includes all things. He that overcometh, shall inherit all things ; the ground and foundation of which, lies in the relation between God and such persons, as follow; And I will be his

OF ADOPTION. 101 God, and he shall be my son ! Rev. xxi. 7 ; all things are theirs, civil, ecclesiastic, spiritual, and eternal ; they are heirs of the grace of life, and possess the blessings of it ; and they are heirs of everlasting salvation, and shall certainly enjoy it, 1 Pet. iii. 7 ; yea, they are heirs of God himself; he is their portion and their exceeding great reward, both in this life and that to come ; they, in some sort or other, enjoy the benefit of all the perfections of God, and of his purposes, promises, and providences ; the heavenly state particularly is their inheritance, which is sometimes called glory, substance, and the inheritance of the saints in light, Prov. iii. 35, Col. i. 12 ; and has such epithets given it as show it to be superior to all other inheritances, 1 Pet. i. 4. — 6. All other inheritances are subject to corruption, and have pollution written upon them, are fading things, and liable to be lost, and often are ; but this is an incorruptible crown, a crown of glory, that fadeth not away ; a crown of righteousness laid up in heaven, in the covenant of grace, and in the hands of Christ, the Surety of it ; and who is the saints' feoffee in trust, and so it is sure to all the seed. — 7. Adoption is a blessing and privilege that always continues. The love of God, which is the source of it, always remains ; predestination, which gives birth to it, is the purpose of God, that stands sure, which is never revoked nor repented of; and therefore adoption is one of those gifts of grace of his which are without repentance ; the covenant of grace, in which it is secured, is sure, can never be broken, nor will ever be removed : union with Christ is indissoluble, the bond of which is everlasting love : the marriage-knot can never be untied ; saints are members of his body, and one spirit with him ; and the relation between them as husband and wife, as children and brethren, will ever remain. The Spirit, as a Spirit of adoption, abides for ever ; and he is the never-failing earnest of the heavenly inheritance, and by whom the saints are sealed up to the day of redemption : the children of God may be corrected for their faults, and chastised by their heavenly Father ; but never turned out of doors, nor disinherited, much less unchilded, which is impossible ; the son abides in the house for ever ; and such that are sons, are never more servants ; once a child of God, and always so, John viii. 35, Gal. iv. 7 ; such who are the sons of God, may judge themselves unworthy of the relation, as the prodigal did ; and who proposed within himself to desire his father to make him one of his hired servants ; but he was not suffered to ask it, because it was what could not be done, Luke xv. 19, 21 ; yea, they may conclude they are not the sons of God ; because they may imagine their spots are not the spots of God's children, and yet they are in such a relation in which they shall always continue. V. The effects of adoption. — 1. A share in the pity, compassion, and care of God, their heavenly Father ; who, as a father pities his children, so he pities them that fear him, and reverence him as their Father : in all their afflictions he is afflicted, and sympathizes with them, and delivers them out of all their troubles : when they are in want of whatsoever kind, and particularly of food, he supplies them, and for which they are encouraged to ask it of him, as children of tlisir ^»a*«»ts. ;

102 OF THE LIBERTY OP THE SONS OP GOD. so our Lord reasons, If a son, &c, Luke xi. 11—13. — 2. Access to God with boldness ; they can come to him as children to a father, use freedom with him, tell him all their complaints and wants, and come boldly to the throne of grace, and ask grace and mercy to help them in their times of need. — 3. Conformity to the image of Christ, the first-born among many brethren ; which is begun in this life, and will be perfected in that to come ; when the sons of God shall be like him, and see him as he is. — 4. The Spirit of adoption, given to testify their sonship to them ; for because they are sons, God sendsforth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Gal. iv. 6. — 5. Heirship ; for if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 17 ; heirs of the grace of life, heirs of a kingdom, of an inheritance most glorious, to which they are entitled, and for which they are made meet by the grace of God. OF THE LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD. Among the several effects or privileges of adoption, liberty is one, and a principal one ; and requires to be treated of particularly and distinctly. Then are the children free, as our Lord says in another case ; such are so who are made free by him ; If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, John viii. 36. And as it is the Son that makes free, they are sons only who are made free. Freedom is the fruit and effect of sonship, follows upon it ; Wlierefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ, Gal. iv. 6, 7 ; sonship and servitude, a son and a servant, are opposed to each other, and a spirit of adoption and a spirit of bondage ; where the one is, the other is not, John viii. 35, Rom. viii. 15 ; hence this liberty is called, the glorious liberty of the children of God, Rom. viii. 21 ; being proper and peculiar to them ; and is twofold, a liberty of grace, and a liberty of glory ; the one is enjoyed in this life, and the other in that to come. I. The liberty of grace ; which lies,—1 . In a freedom from sin, Satan, and the law.—1. From sin ; it is a liberty not to sin, but from it : liberty to sin is licentiousness, and cannot be that liberty where with Christ makes free ; for it is contrary to his nature, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity; to his gospel, the truth of which makes free, for that is a doctrine according to godliness ; and contrary to the Spirit of Christ, who, as he is a free Spirit, so he is the Spirit of holiness ; and contrary to the principle of grace in the saints, and is confuted and condemned by the holy lives of the children of God in all ages : but it is a freedom from sin ; not from the being of it ; for the most eminent saints that have been in the world, have not been free from the indwelling of sin, and acts of it ; but from the guilt of it, through the blood and righteousness of Christ applied to them ; and from condemnation by it, as well as from the dominion of it, through the grace of God in conversion ; when, though sin had reigned in them, in a very powerful and tyrannical manner ; yet shall no more have

OF THE LIBERTY OP THE SONS OP GOD. 103 dominion over them, because not under the law, but under grace, Rom. vi. 14—18. — 2. From the power of Satan, who has usurped a dominion over the sons of men, and leads them captive at his will, until the Spirit of God comes and dispossesses him, and turns men from the power of Satan to God, and translates them from the power of dark ness, into the kingdom of his dear Son ; when they are no more slaves and vassals to him, nor do his works and lusts; but the will of their heavenly Father : though they are not freed from his temptations, which the best of men have been beset with ; yet they are not over come by them, nor shall be destroyed through them. —3. From the law, and the bondage of it. From the moral law, as a covenant of works, obliging to work for life; but not from it as a rule, walk, and conversation : from it as the ministration of Moses ; but not from it as in the hands of Christ : from it, so as not to be obliged to seek for justification by it, which is not to be had by the works of it, and from the curses and condemnation of it, Christ being made a curso for them ; and from the rigorous exaction of it, requiring perfect and sinless obedience ; and from that bondage of spirit, which, for want of it, it leads into : and from the ceremonial law, as a sign of guilt, that hand writing of ordinances being taken away, and nailed' to the cross of Christ ; and as a type of Christ, and its ordinances, as shadows of good things to come ; which are all done away : Christ, the substance, being come ; and as a severe, rigid schoolmaster as it was, till Christ the object of faith, came ; and as a partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, which is now broken down, and all are one in Christ: and from the judicial law, so far as any of the statutes of it were peculiar to the Jewish nation ; but such as are .founded on nature, reason, justice, and equity, are still binding. Nor are the sons of God, by their Christian liberty, freed from the laws of nations, which are not contrary to religion and conscience ; subjection to civil magistrates is not inconsistent with Christian liberty ; and which is inculcated by the apostles, in their epistles to the churches, and others. — 2. Christian liberty, consists in a freedom from all traditions of men ; such as those of the Pharisees, among the Jews, which were before the times of Christ, and were risen to a great bulk in his time, and which were im posed as a heavy burden on the consciences of men, and by which the word and commandments of God were transgressed, and made of none effect, Matt. xv. 1—6 ; and such as among heathens, heretics, and false teachers, which the apostle exhorts to beware of, and not con form unto, which he calls philosophy and vain deceit, tho tradition of men, the rudiments of the world, ordinances and commandments of men, which forbid the touching, tasting, and handling of some things, Col. ii. 8, 20—23 ; and such as the unwritten traditions of the Papists, respecting their hierarchy, doctrines and practices, which have no foundation in the word of God ; as the several orders, offices, and sacraments, not to be found in Scripture, the doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, &c, rites and customs, as the observance of fasts and festivals, on certain days, and at certain times of the year ; baptism of infants, signing with the sign of the cross, &c ; such-like things

104 OF THE LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD. Christian liberty sets us free from, and our consciences are not bound to pay any regard to them. — 3. Christian liberty lies in the free use of the creatures which God has provided for food and nourishment, and which were granted to men originally without any distinction; for though there was very early a distinction of creatures into clean and unclean, with respect to sacrifice, yet not with respect to food, until the Levitical law took place, which made the use of some creatures unlawful ; but now, under the gospel-dispensation, we are at full liberty to eat of every kind, that is fit, proper, and convenient food : as Peter, by the vision, was taught to call nothing common and unclean ; so we may be persuaded, with the apostle Paul, that there is nothing common and unclean of itself ; but that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanks giving; and provided it is used with moderation, and not indulged to excess, to luxury and intemperance; or used as an occasion to the flesh, to pamper that, and fulfil the lusts of it, Acts x. 14, 15, 1 Tim. iv. 3, 4. The injunction by the synod at Jerusalem, to abstain from blood, and things strangled, was only fro tempore, for the peace of the churches, till things could be settled in them, between Jews and Gentiles, to mutual satisfaction.— 4. Another part of Christian liberty, respects things indifferent : things which are neither commanded nor forbidden of God, and which may bo used and abstained from at pleasure ; and which, in the first times of the gospel, chiefly concerned the eating, or not eating, some certain things, which might be made use of by those who thought fit to use them, provided they did it in faith ; for if they made use of them, doubting whether they should or no, they sinned, Rom. xiv. 22, 23 ; and that they did not lay a stumbling-block in the way of weak Christians, and so offend, grieve, and wound them, and destroy their peace, Rom. xiv. 13 —21 ; 1 Cor. viii. 9 — 13 ; and such that abstained from the use of them, were not to reckon it as a point of merit, thereby obtaining the favour of God, and the remission of their sins, and becoming more holy and more perfect ; nor as a part of religious worship, and as necessary for the peace of conscience, and continuance in the divine favour ; for the kingdom of God, true, real religion, and godliness, is not meat and drink ; it does not lie in what a man eats, or drinks, or wears, provided moderation, decency, and cir cumstances, are attended to, Rom. xiv. 17 ; and care should be taken on the one hand, lest such things should be reckoned indifferent which aro not indifferent, and so any precept, or ordinance of God, be neglected ; and on the other hand, such as are indifferent, should not be imposed as necessary, which may lead to superstition and willworship. — 5. Christian liberty lies in the use of gospel ordinances, which God has enjoined ; it is a priviloge to come to mount Zion, the city of the living God ; to have a place and a name in the church of Christ ; to be of the family and household of God, and partake of the provisions which aro there made for spiritual refreshment. Subjection to gospel-ordinances is not contrary to Christian liberty ; but accords with it, and indeed is a part of it ; but to be subject to the ordinances and commandments of men, is contrary to it; but not subjection

OF THE LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF GOD. 105 to the ordinances of God. Carnal men may reckon them bonds and cords, and be for breaking and casting them away; but spiritual men account them their privileges, and receive Christ's yoke as easy, and his burden as light ; and they yield subjection to them, not with a merce nary and servile spirit, but under the influence, and by the assistance, of the Spirit of God, who is a free Spirit ; they act from a principle of love ; they love the house and worship of God, his word and ordinances, and in love observe them, John xiv. 15—23. Christian liberty does not lie in a neglect of gospel-ordinances, or in an attendance on them at will and pleasure ; men are not to come into a church, and go out when they please, or attend an ordinance now and then, or when they think well : this is not liberty, but licentiousness. The ordinances of Christ, particularly the supper, are perpetual things, to be observed frequently and constantly, unto the second coming of Christ ; and it is both well-pleasing to God, to keep the ordinances, as they were de livered ; and it is profitable to the saints ; since these are for the per fecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till they come to be perfect men, and arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. — 6. Christian liberty lies in worshipping God according to his word, and the dictates of conscience, without the fear of men, which indulged to, brings a snare, and leads to idolatry, super stition, and will-worship : though Christians are obliged to regard the laws of men, respecting civil matters, yet not what regard religion and conscience, and are contrary thereunto ; by such they are not bound, but should serve God rather than men ; as the cases of the three com panions of Daniel, of Daniel himself, and of the apostles, martyrs and confessors in all ages, show ; who chose rather to suffer imprisonment, confiscation of goods, and death itself, than part with this branch of christian liberty, to serve God, according to his word, and that light which they had in it. Nor does it become rulers and governors to in fringe this liberty of theirs. — 7. Another glorious part of Christian liberty, is freedom of access to God, through Christ the Mediator, under the influence of the blessed Spirit, Eph. ii. 18 ; this is a great privilege the sons of God have, that they can come to God as their Father ; not as on a throne of justice, requiring at their hands satis faction for their sins ; but as on a throne of grace, communicating pardoning grace and mercy, and all supplies of grace to them, as the God of all grace; and this access they have through Christ, the Mediator between God and man, through his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice ; and by the Spirit, who is a Spirit of grace and supplication, under whose influence saints can pour out their souls to God with great freedom, and make known their requests to him with thankful ness. — 8. It also lies in a freedom from the fear of death, both corporal and eternal ; Christ, through his incarnation, sufferings, and death, has delivered them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage : death, as formidable as it is, is no king of terrors to them ; in a view of interest in Christ, and in the exercise of faith, and hope of being for ever with him, they choose to depart ; knowing, that to die is gain ; and in a prospect of death and eternity, can sit S'

106 OP THE LIBERTY OP THE SONS OF GOD. and sing, and say, O death, where is thy sting ! O grave, where is thy victory ! And as to an eternal death, they are comfortably assured, they shall not be hurt by it ; that shall have no power over them, though it is the just desert of sin ; yet being justified by Christ, and having access through him into a state of grace, they rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; and being made spiritually alive, they believe they shall never die, neither a spiritual nor an eternal death. II. The liberty of glory, or that which the sons of God will be pos sessed of in the world to come ; and this will be entirely perfect ; the soul, in its separate state, will be perfectly free from sin, be with the spirits of just men made perfect ; free from all corruption and defile ment, from the very being of sin, and any consequences of it ; from all unbelief, doubts, fears, and distresses of mind ; from all evil thoughts and vain desires ; and from all the temptations of Satan : and at the resurrection their bodies will be no more subject to pains, griefs, dis orders, and diseases of any kind ; but be entirely free from corruption, and mortality and death ; and be, both in soul and body, perfectly pure and holy, and live for ever in the enjoyment of God, and in the company of angels and saints ; and be in no danger of ever being brought into bondage in any sense : and as this state is called the adoption, so it may be said to be, the glorious liberty of the children of God. The author, or efficient cause, of this liberty, is Christ ; it is a liberty with which Christ has made his people free, Gal. v. 1 ; it is of his procuring, he has obtained it with the price of his blood, by which he has redeemed them from sin, Satan, and the law : and it is of his proclaiming; for he was anointed with the Holy Spirit, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; and it is by his Spirit that they are put into the possession of it, who is a Spirit of liberty, being the Spirit of adoption, and so opposed to the Spirit of bondage ; and Christ is the author and finisher of faith, by which they receive this privilege ; so that it may be truly called, as it sometimes is, by divines, Christian liberty ; both from Christ, the author of it, and from the subjects of it, Christians, such as truly believe in Christ. The instrumental cause, or the means by which liberty is conveyed to the sons of God, is the word of God, the truth of the gospel ; which is not only a proclamation of this liberty, made by Christ, the great Prophet, in the church, and by his apostles, and mmistering servants ; and was prefigured by the jubilee-trumpet, which proclaimed liberty throughout the land ; but is the means, attended with the Spirit and power of God, of freeing souls from the bondage they are in by nature, and when first under a work of the law ; Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, John viii. 32 ; and the clearer knowledge men have of the gospel, and the truths of it ; and the more they are evangelized, or cast into a gospel-mould by it, the farther off they are from a spirit of bondage again to fear. So that this liberty may be rightly called, a gospel-liberty ; which, though not restrained entirely to the gospel-dispensation, yet is more peculiar to that; since the

OP REGENERATION. 107 saints under the former dispensation, were as children in bondage, under the elements of the world, the law, which gendered to bondage, and brought upon them that servile bondage-spirit which prevailed in them. Both from the nature of this liberty, and from the influence the Spirit of God has in it, it may be, with great propriety, called spiritual liberty ; as well as from its having its seat in the spirits or souls of men ; and may be distinguished from corporal liberty, and from civil liberty. Nor does it at all interfere with the latter ; it does not dis solve the ties, obligations, connexions, and dependences of men, one with, and on, another ; nor free from subjection to parents, masters, and civil magistrates. It is in its nature, pure, holy, and spiritual ; it is not a liberty to sin, as has been observed ; but a liberty from sin. It is a real liberty, and not a shadow, an appearance of one ; If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed : and it is perpetual ; such who are once made free, shall never more be servants, or come into a state of bondage ; they shall never be disfranchised, or lose their free dom ; and the fruits and effects of it are, peace, joy, and comfort, and a capacity and disposition of worshipping and serving the Lord in the most spiritual, evangelical, and acceptable manner ! OF REGENERATION. Regeneration follows adoption, being the evidence of it ; regenera tion describes the persons who have received the power to become the sons of God, John i. 12, 13 ; and though these are distinct things, yet they are closely connected together ; where the one is, the other is also, as to enjoyment and experience ; and they bear a similarity to each other. Regeneration may be considered either more largely, and then it includes with it effectual calling, conversion, and sanctification : or more strictly, and then it designs the first principle of grace infused into the soul ; which makes it a fit object of effectual vocation, a pro per subject of conversion, and is the source and spring of that holiness which is gradually carried on in sanctification, and perfected in heaven. Concerning regeneration, the following things may be inquired into. I. What regeneration is, or what is meant by it, the nature of it ; which is so mysterious, unknown and unaccountable to a natural man, as it was to Nicodemus, though a master in Israel ; now it may be the better understood by observing the phrases and terms by which it is expressed. — 1. It is expressed by being born again, which regenera tion properly signifies ; see John iii. 3, 7 ; and this supposes a prior birth, a first birth, to which regeneration is the second ; and which may receive some light by observing the contrast between the two births, they being the reverse of each other : the first birth is of sinful parents, and in their image ; the second birth is of God, and in his image ; the first birth is of corruptible, the second birth of incorrupt ible seed ; the first birth is in sin, the second birth is in holiness and righteousness ; by the first birth men are polluted and unclean, by the

108 OF REGENERATION. second birth they become holy and commence saints ; the first birth is of the flesh, and is carnal, the second birth is of the Spirit and is spiritual, and makes men spiritual men ; by the first birth men are foolish and unwise, being born like a wild ass's colt ; by the second birth they become knowing and wise unto salvation : by the first birth they are slaves to sin and the lusts of the flesh, are home-born slaves ; by the second birth they become Christ's free men : from their first birth they are transgressors, and go on in a course of sin, till stopped by grace ; in the second birth they cease to commit sin, to go on in a course of sinning, but live a life of holiness, yea, he that is born of God cannot sin ; by the first birth men are children of wrath, and under tokens of divine displeasuro ; at the second birth they appear to be the objects of the love of God ; regeneration being the fruit and effect of it, and gives evidence of it ; a time of life is a time of open love. — 2. It is called a being born from above, for so the phrase in John iii. 3, 7, may be rendered ; the apostle James says in general, that every good and every perfect gift is from above ; and regeneration being such a gift, must be from above ; and indeed he particularly instances in it, for it follows, ofhis own will begat he us with the word of truth, James i. 17, 18. The author of this birth is from above ; those that are born again are born of God their Father,, who is in heaven ; the grace given in regeneration is from above, John iii. 27 ; truth in the mward part, and wisdom in the hidden part, or the grace of God in the heart produced in regeneration, is that wisdom that is from above, Jam. iii. 17 ; such that are born again, as they are of high and noble birth, they are partakers of the heavenly and high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and shall most certainly possess it, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. — 3. It is commonly called the new birth, and with great propriety ; since the washing of regeneration and the renewing of tho Holy Ghost, are joined together as meaning the same thing ; and what is produced in regeneration is called the new creature, and the new man ; and those who are born again are said to be new-born babes, Tit. iii. 5, Eph.iv. 24 ; it is a new man, in distinction from the old man, or the principle of corrupt nature, which is as old as a man is ; but the principle of grace infused in regeneration is quite new ; it is something de novo, anew implanted in the heart, which never was before in human nature, no not in Adam in his state of innocence ; it is not a working upon the old principles of nature, nor a working them up to a higher pitch : it is not an improvement of them, nor a repairing of the broken, ruined image of God in man. But it is altogether a new work ; it is called a creature, being a work of almighty power ; and a new creature, and a new man, consisting of various parts, and these all new : there are in it a new heart, and a new spirit, a new understanding, to know and understand things never known nor understood before : a new heart, to know God ; not as the God of nature and providence ; but as the God of grace, God in Christ, God in a Mediator ; the love of God in him, the covenant of grace, and the blessings of it made with him ; Christ, and the fulness of grace in him, pardon of sin through his blood, justification by his righteousness, atonement by his sacrifice,

Or REGENERATION. 109 and acceptance with God through him, and complete salvation by him ; things which Adam knew nothing of in Paradise : in this new heart are new desires after these objects, to know more of them, new affec tions, which are placed upon them, new delights in them, and new joys, which arise from them, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 1 Cor. ii. 9. In this new man, are new eyes to see with ; to some God does not give eyes to see divine and spiritual things ; but to regenerated ones he does ; they have a seeing eye, made by the Lord, Deut. xxix. 4 ; by which they see their lost state and condition by nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, their own inability to make atonement by any thing that can be done by them ; the insufficiency of their own righteousness ; their impotence to every good work, and want of strength to help themselves out of the state and condition in which they are, and the need they are in of the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, and of salvation by him. They have the eye of faith, by which they behold the glories of Christ's person, the fulness of his grace, the excellency of his righte ousness, the virtue of his blood and sacrifice, and the suitableness and completeness of his salvation ; and regeneration, in this view of it, is no other than spiritual light in the understanding. Moreover, in the new man are new ears to hear with ; all have not ears to hear ; some have, and they have them from the Lord, and blessed arc they ! Matt. xiii. 16, 17 ; they hear the word in a manner they never heard before; they hear it so as to understand it, and receive the love of it ; so as to distinguish the voice of Christ in it, from the voice of a stranger ; so as to feel it work effectually in them, and become tho power of God unto salvation to them ; they know the joyful sound, and rejoice to hear it. The new man has also now hands, to handle and to work with ; the hand of faith, to receive Christ as the Saviour and Redeemer, to lay hold on him for life and salvation, to embrace him, hold him fast, and not let him go ; to handle him, tho Word of life, and receive from him grace for grace : and they have hands to work with, and do work from better principles and to better purposes than before. And they have new feet to walk with, to floe to Christ, the city of refuge ; to walk by faith in him ; and to walk on in him, as they have received him ; to run with cheerfulness the ways of his com mandments ; to follow hard after him, and to follow on to know him ; and even to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint. — 4. Re generation is expressed by being quickened. As there is a quickening time in natural generation ; so there is in regeneration ; You hath he quickened, Eph. ii. 1. Previous to regeneration, men arc dead whilst they live ; though corporally alive, are morally dead, dead in a moral sense, as to spiritual things, m all the powers and faculties of their souls ; they have no more knowledge of them, affection for them, will to them, or power to perform them, than a dead man has to things natural ; but in regeneration, a principle of spiritual life is infused ; that is a time of life when the Lord speaks life into them, and produces it in them. Christ is the resurrection and life unto them, or raises them from a death of sin to a life of grace ; and the spirit of life, from Christ, enters into them. Regeneration is a passing from death to life, it is a principle

110 OP REGENERATION. of spiritual life implanted in the heart ; in consequence of which, a man breathes, in a spiritual sense ; where there is breath, there is life. God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul, or a living person, and breathed again : so the Spirit of God breathes on dry bones, and they live, and breathe again. Prayer is the spiritual breath of a regenerate man ; Behold, he prayeth ! is observed of Saul, when regenerated ; who, just before, had been breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of Christ. A regenerate man breathes in prayer to God, and pants after him ; after more knowledge of him in Christ, after communion with him, after the discoveries of his love, particularly after pardoning grace and mercy : and sometimes these breathings and desires are only expressed by sighs and groans, yet these are a sign of life ; if a man groans, it is plain he is alive. There are, in a regenerated man, which shows that he is made alive, cravings after spiritual food : as soon as an infant is born, it shows motions for its mother's milk, after the breast : so new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. They have their spiritual senses exercised about spiritual objects ; they have what answer to the senses in animal life, their seeing and hearing, as before observed, and also their feeling ; they feel the burden of sin on their consciences ; the workings of the Spirit of God in their hearts ; as well as handle Christ, the Word of life ; which makes it a plain case that they are alive ; a dead man feels nothing. They have a spiritual taste, a gust for spiritual things ; the word of Christ is sweeter to their taste than honey, or the honey-comb ; they sit under his shadow with pleasure, and his fruit, the blessings of his grace, are sweet unto their taste; they taste that the Lord is gracious, and invite others to taste and see also how good he is ; they savour the things which be of God, and not of men ; Christ, and his grace, are savoury to them : his robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, smell delightfully as myrrh, &c Cant. i. 3, Psalm xlv. 8 ; and these spiritual senses, and the exercise of them in them, show them to be alive, or born again ; such persons live a life of faith ; they live by faith ; not upon it, but on Christ, the object of it ; and they grow up into him their Head, from whom they receive nourishment ; and so increase with the increase of God, which is an evidence of life. In a word, they live a new and another life than they did before ; not to themselves, nor to the lusts of men ; but to God, and to Christ who died for them, and rose again ; they walk in newness of life. — 5. Regene ration is signified by Ck?-ist being formed in the heart, Gal. iv. 12; his image is enstamped in regeneration ; not the image of the first Adam, but of the second Adam ; for the new man is after the image of him who has anew created it, which is the image of Christ : to be conformed to which God's elect are predestinated, and which takes place in regeneration, Rom. viii. 29, Col. iii. 10. The graces of Christ, as faith, and hope, and love, are wrought in the hearts of regenerate persons, and soon appear there ; yea, Christ himself lives in them ; Not 7, says the apostle, but Christ lives in me ; he dwells by faith there ; Christ, and the believer, mutually dwell in each other. — 6.Regenera-

OF REGENERATION. Ill tion is said to be a partaking of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4 ; not of the nature of God essentially considered : a creature cannot partake of the divine essence, or have that communicated to it ; this would be to deify men : the divine perfections, many of them, are utterly incom municable, as eternity, immensity, &c nor of the divine nature, or of it in such sense as Christ is a partaker of it, by the personal, or hypo8tatical union of the two natures in him ; so that the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him. But in regeneration there is that wrought in the soul, which bears a resemblance to the divine nature, in spirituality, holiness, goodness, kindness, &c, and therefore is so called. — 7. There are also several terms, or words, by which the grace of regeneration is expressed : as by grace itself ; not as that signifies the love and favour of God towards his people, or the blessings of grace bestowed upon them ; but internal grace, the work of grace m the heart ; and which consists of the various graces of the Spirit implanted there ; as faith, hope, and love : such as are begotten again, are begotten to a lively hope, and have it, and believe in the Son of God ; and love him that begot, and him that is begotten, 1 Pet. i. 3, 1 John v. 1. It is called spirit, John iii. 6 ; from its author, the Spirit of God ; and from its seat, the spirit of man ; and from its nature, which is spiritual, and denominates men spiritual men. It is also signified by seed, 1 John iii. 9, Wliosoever is born of God — his seed remaineth in him ; which is the principle of grace infused in regenera tion ; and as seed contains in it virtually all that after proceeds from it, the blade, stalk, ear, and full corn in the ear ; so the first principle of grace implanted in the heart, seminally contains all the grace which afterwards appears, and all the fruits, effects, acts, and exercises of it. II. The springs and causes of regeneration ; efficient, moving, meri torious, and instrumental. First, The efficient cause of it ; who is not man, but God. i. Not man; he cannot regenerate himself; his case, and the nature of the thing itself, show it ; and it is indeed denied of him. — 1. The case in which men before regeneration are, plainly shows that it is not, and cannot be of themselves ; they are quite ignorant of the thing itself. Regeneration is one, and a principal one, of the things of the Spirit of God, and which a natural man cannot discern and understand, let him have what share he may of natural knowledge ; as Nicodemus, a master in Israel, and yet said, How can these things be ? and a man cannot be the author of that of which he has no know ledge : nor do men, previous to regeneration, see any need of it ; as those who think themselves whole, see no need of a physician, nor make use of any ; and who reckon themselves rich, and stand in need of nothing ; as not of righteousness, so not of repentance ; and if not of repentance, then not of regeneration. And whatsoever notion they may have of it, from what others say concerning it, they have no inclination, nor desire, nor will to it, till God works in them both to will and to do ; the bias of their minds is another way ; yea, their carnal minds are enmity to it : they mock at it, and count it all dream and enthusiasm. And had they any disposition of mind to it, which

112 OP REGENERATION. they have not, they have no power to effect it ; they can do nothing, not the least thing of a spiritual kind ; and much less perform such a work as this : this is not by might or power of men, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts ; to all which may be added, and which makes it impracticable, is, that men are dead in trespasses and sins, and can no more quicken themselves than a dead man can ; as soon might Lazarus have raised himself from the dead, and the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision have quickened themselves and lived. — 2. The nature of the work clearly shows that it is not in the power of men to do it ; it is represented as a creation ; it is called a new creature, the workman ship of God created in Christ, the new man after God, created in righteousness. Now, creation is a work of almighty Power ; a creature cannot create the least thing, not a fly ; as soon might he create a world ; as soon might a man create a world out of nothing, as create a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him. It is spoken of as a resurrection from the dead ; and as soon might dead bodies quicken themselves, as men, dead in sin, raise themselves up to a spiritual life ; this requires a power equal to that which raised Christ from the dead, and is done by the same. Its very name, regeneration, shows the nature of it, and clearly suggests that it is out of the power of man to effect it : as men contribute nothing to their first birth, so neither to the second ; as no man generates himself, so neither can he regenerate himself ; as an infant is passive in its natural generation, and has no concern in it ; so passive is a man in his spiritual generation, and is no more assisting in it. It is an implantation of that grace in the hearts of men which was not there before ; faith is one part of it, said to be not of ourselves, but the gift of God ; and hope is another, with out which men are, whilst in a state of unregeneracy ; and love is of such a nature, that if a man would give all he has for it, it would utterly be contemned ; it is a maxim that will hold, Nil dat quod non habet, nothing can give that which it has not : a man destitute of grace, neither to himself nor to another. This work lies in taking away the heart of stone, and giving a heart of flesh, even a new heart and a new spirit : and none can do this but He who sits upon the throne, and says, Behold, I make all things new. To say no more, it is a transforming of men by the renewing of their minds, making them other men than they were before, as Saul was, and more so; the change of an Ethiopian's skin, and of the leopard's spots, is not greater, nor so great, as the change of a man's heart, and nature, and which, indeed, is not a change of the old man or corruption of nature, which remains the same ; but the production of the new man, or of a new principle, which was not before. — 3. Regeneration is expressly denied to be of men ; it is said to be not of blood, the blood of circumcision, which availeth not any thing ; but a new creature is of avail, when that is not ; nor of the blood of ancestors, of the best of men, the most holy and most eminent for grace : the blood of such may run in the veins of men, and yet they may be destitute of regenerating grace ; as was tho case of the Jews, of multitudes of them, who boasted of being of Abraham's seed, and of his blood : none need value themselves

OF REGENERATION. 113 npon their blood on any account, and much less on a religious one ; since all nations of the earth are made of one man's blood, and that is tainted with sin, and conveys corruption ; sin is propagated that way, but not grace : nor are men born of the will of the flesh, which is carnal and corrupt, impotent to that which is good, and enmity to it : regeneration is not of him that willeth ; God, of his own will, begets men again, and not of theirs : nor are they born of the will of men, of the greatest and best of men, who are regenerated persons them selves ; these, of their will, cannot convey regenerating grace to others; if they could, a good master would regenerate every servant in his family ; a good parent woidd regenerate evory child of his ; and a minister of the gospel would regenerate all that sit under his ministry ; they only can pray and uso the means ; God only can do the work. Wherefore, ii. The efficient cause of regeneration is God only ; hence we so often read, which were born of God, and whosoever and whatsoever is born of God, John i. 13 ; 1 John iii. 9, and v. 1, 4 ; and this is true of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, who have each a concern in regeneration. — 1. God the Father, who is the Father of Christ ; he as such begets men again according to his abundant mercy, 1 Pet. i. 3 ; and as the Father of Lights, of his own sovereign will and pleasure, regenerates with the word of truth ; and as light was one of the first things in the old creation, so in the new creation, or regeneration, light is the first thing sprung in the heart by the Father and Fountain of Light, James i. 17, 18; and as the Father of men by adoption he rege nerates ; it is of him they are born again, who is their covenant-God and Father in Christ ; he has chosen them into holiness, of which regeneration is the root, seed and principle ; he has predestinated them to be conformed to the image of his Son, which is done in regeneration ; and it is by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he sheds abundantly through Christ the Saviour, that he saves his elect ones. — 2. The Son has also a concern in regeneration, and so great a concern, that they who are born again are said to be born of him, that is, Christ ; for no other is spoken of in the context, 1 John ii. 29 ; he is the resurrection and the life ; the author of the spiritual resurrection to a spiritual life, which is no other than regeneration ; he quickens whom he will, as the Father does ; and it is through his powerful voice in the gospel that the dead in sin hear and live ; it is his Spirit which is sent down into the hearts of his people, as to bear witness to their adoption, so to regenerate them ; his grace is given to them, yea he himself is formed in them; his image is enstamped upon them ; and it is by virtuo of his resurrection that they are begotten to a lively hope of the heavenly inheritance, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. — 3. The Holy Spirit of God is the author of regenera tion, and to him it is ascribed by our Lord ; Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, John iii. 5 ; by water, is not meant the ordi nance of water baptism, that is never expressed by water only, without some other word with it in the text or context which determines the sense ; nor is regeneration by it ; Simon Magus was baptized, but not VOL. II. I

114 OF REGENERATION. regenerated : regeneration ought to precede baptism ; faith and repentance, which are graces given in regeneration, are required previous to baptism ; nor is water-baptism absolutely necessary to salvation ; whereas, without regeneration, no man can either see or enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but the grace of the Spirit is meant by water, so called from its cleansing and purifying use, as it has to do with the blood of Jesus, hence called the washing of regene ration ; of this grace the Spirit is the author, whence it bears his name, is called Spirit ; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost, or the new creature is his workmanship ; quickening grace is from him ; it is the Spirit that quickens and gives life, and frees from the law of sin and death, John iii. 6, and vi. 63. Secondly, The impulsive, or moving cause, is the free grace, love, and mercy of God ; God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love where with he loved us, hath quickened us, Eph. ii. 4, 5. Regeneration, as it is a time of life when men are quickened, it is a time of love, of open love ; it springs from love, which moves mercy to exert itself in this way ; it is according to his abundant mercy God hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, 1 Pet. i. 3 ; and this was sovereign grace and mercy, not excited by any motives or conditions in men, or by any prepara tory works in them ; what were there in the three thousand, some of whem had been concerned in the death of Christ, converted under Peter's sermon ? what were in the jailor, who had just before used the apostles in a cruel manner ? what were there in Saul, the blasphemer, persecutor and injurious person, between these- characters and his obtaining mercy ? no, it is not according to the will and works of men that they are regenerated, but God, of his own will begat he us, James i. 18, his own sovereign will and pleasure ; and this grace and mercy is abundant ; it is richly and plentifully displayed ; it is exceeding abun dant, it flows and overflows ; there is a pleonasm, a redundancy of it, 1 Tim. i. 14; and to this, as a moving cause, regeneration is owing. Thirdly, The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the virtual or procuring cause of it ; there is a power or virtue in Christ's resurrec tion which has an influence on many things ; as on our justification, for which he rdse again, so on our regeneration ; for men are said to be begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and which also may be considered as the exemplary cause of it ; for as there is a planting together in the likeness of his death, so in the likeness of his resurrection ; as Christ's resurrection was a decla ration of his being the Son of God, so regeneration is an evidence of interest in the adoption of children ; and as the resurrection of Christ was by the mighty power of God, so is the regeneration and quickening of a dead sinner ; and as Christ's resurrection was his first step to his glorification, so is regeneration to seeing and entering into the kingdom of God. Fourthly, The instrumental cause of regeneration, if it may be so called, are the word of God, and the ministers of it ; hence regenerate persons are said to be born again by the word of God, &c, 1 Pet. i. 23 ; and again, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, Jam. i. 18 ;

OF REGENERATION. 115 unless by the Word in these passages should be meant the Eternal Logos, or essential Word of God, Christ Jesus, since Aoyos is used in both places ; though ministers of the gospel are not only represented as ministers and instruments by whom others believe, but as spiritual fathers ; Though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, says the apostle to the Corinthians, yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel ; so he speaks of his son Onesimus, whom he had begotten in his bonds, Philem. 10; yet this instrumentality of the word in regeneration seems not so agreeable to the principle of grace implanted in the soul in regeneration, and to be understood with respect to that ; since that is done by immediate infusion, and is represented as a creation ; and now as God made no use of any instrument in the first and old creation, so neither does it seem so agreeable that he should use any in the new creation : where fore this is rather to be understood of the exertion of the principle of grace, and the drawing it forth into act and exercise ; which is excited and encouraged by the ministry of the word, by which it appears that a man is born again ; so the three thousand first converts, and the jailor, were first regenerated, or had the principle of grace wrought in their souls by the Spirit of God, and then were directed and encou raged by the ministry of the apostles to repent and believe in Christ ; whereby it became manifest that they were born again. Though after all it seems plain, that the ministry of the word is the vehicle in which the Spirit of God conveys himself and his grace into the hearts of men ; which is done when the word comes not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost ; and works effectually, and is the power of God unto salvation ; then faith comes by hearing, and ministers are instru ments by whom, at least, men aro encouraged to believe: Received ye the Spirit, says the apostle, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ? Gal. iii. 2 ; that is, by the preaching of the law, or by the preach ing of the gospel ? by the latter, no doubt. III. The subjects of regeneration are next to be inquired into, or who they are God is pleased to bestow this grace upon. These are men, and not angels ; good angels have no need of regeneration ; they are holy angels, and continue in that state of holiness in which they were created, and are confirmed therein ; they have no need of it to make them meet for heaven, they are there already ; they are the angels of heaven, and always behold the face of their heavenly Father there : as for the evil angels, none of them ever had, nor ever will have any share in regenerating grace ; they believe indeed, but they have not the faith of regenerate ones, or that faith which worketh by love ; they believe there is a God, but they do not, nor can they love him ; they believe he is, and tremble at his wrath ; they have no hope as regene rate ones have, but live in black despair, and ever will. They are men God regenerates, and not brutes, nor stocks nor stones ; these are not subjects capable of regeneration ; God could raise up children out of these, but it is not his way and work ; they are rational creatures ho thus operates upon, and he treats them as such in the ministry of his word ; though he is represented as dealing otherwise by the adversaries i2

116 OF RKGENEBATION. of the grace of God ; but though they arc men, and men only, whom God regenerates, yet not all men ; all men have not faith, and hope, and love ; they are a kind of first fruits of his creatures, whom of his own will he begets with his word of truth ; they are such who are called out and separated from the rest of the world ; they are such who are the peculiar objects of his love ; for regeneration is the fruit and effect of love, and the evidence of it ; they are such whom God has predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, in which image they are created in regeneration ; those whom the apostle speaks of as begotten again unto a lively hope, are first described as elect according to theforeknowledge, 1 Pet. i. 2, 3 ; and they are such who are redeemed by Christ, for they that are chosen in him, have redemption through his blood ; and those are quickened by his Spirit and grace, when dead in trespasses and sins, for such is their state and condition before they are born again ; they are such who are the sons of God by adopting grace, who because they are sons the Spirit of God is sent into them, as to witness their adoption, so to regenerate them, which gives evi dence of it ; and thus they become openly the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Let it be further observed, that though the chief and principal seat of regeneration is the spirit or soul of man, yet it extends its influence to the body and the members thereof ; whereby they are so restrained from the lusts of the flesh, as to yield a ready, constant, and universal obedience to them ; or so as to yield their members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ; but on the con trary, are so under the power of the reigning .principle of grace, im planted in them in regeneration, that they, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, and live, Rom. vi. 12, 13. IV. The effects of regeneration, or the ends to be answered, and which are answered by it, and which show the importance and neces sity of it. — 1 . A principal effect of it ; or, if you will, a concomitant of it, is a participation of every grace of the Spirit. Regenerate ones have not only the promise of life made to them, but they have tho grace of life given them ; they live a new life, and walk in newness of life : they partake of the grace of spiritual light ; before, their under standings were darkened ; but now they are enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of divine things ; they were before, darkness itself; but now are made light in the Lord. In regeneration is laid the beginning of sanctification, which is carried on till completed, without which no man shall see the Lord ; for the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness ; the principle of holiness is then formed, from whence holy actions spring. The grace of repentance then appears ; the stony, hard, obdurate, and impenitent heart being taken away, and a heart of flesh, susceptible of divine im pressions, being given ; on which follow, a sense of sin, sorrow for it after a godly sort, and repentance unto life and unto salvation, which is not to be repented of : faith in Christ, which is not of a man's self, but the gift of God, and the operation of the Spirit of God, is now given and brought into exercise ; which being an effect, is an evidence of regeneration ; for whosever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, and

OF REGENERATION. 117 especially that believes in Christ, as his Saviour and Redeemer, is born of God, 1 John v. 1 ; and such have hope of eternal life by Christ ; whilst unregenerate, men are without hope, without a true, solid, and well-grounded hope ; but in regeneration, they are begotten to a lively hope, and have it ; a good hope, through grace, founded upon the per son, blood, and righteousness of Christ, which is of use to them both in life and death. Regenerated persons have their hearts circumcised, which is but another phrase for regenerating graoe, to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul, Deut. xxx. 6 ; and though before, their carnal minds were enmity to God, and all that is good ; now they love him, and all that belong to him, his word, worship, ordinances, and people ; and by this it is known, that they have passedfrom death to life, which is no other than regeneration, because they love the brethren, 1 John iii. 14. In short, regenerate persons are partakers of all the fruits of the Spirit ; of all other graces, besides those mentioned ; as humility, patience, self-denial, and resignation to the will of God. And they are blessed with such measures of grace and spiritual strength, as to be able to resist sin and Satan, and to overcome the world, and every spiritual enemy; For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, the god of it, the men in it, and the lusts thereof ; Whosoever is born of God, sinneth not, does not live in sin, nor is he overcome by it ; but he that is begotten of Godkeepeth himself horn Satan, and his temptations, from being overcome with them ; and that wicked one toucheth him not : being clothed with the whole armour of God, which he has skill to wield, he keeps him off, and at bay, so that he cannot come in with him ; he holds up the shield of faith to him, whereby he quenches all his fiery darts, 1 John v. 4, 18. — 2. Know ledge, and actual enjoyment of the several blessings of grace, follow upon regeneration. The covenant of grace is ordered in all things, and is full of all spiritual blessings ; and a grant of all the blessings of grace was made to Christ, and to the elect in him, before the world began, and they were secretly blessed with them in him as early ; but then till the Spirit of God is sent down into the hearts in regeneration, to make known unto them the things which God has freely given them, they are strangers to them, and have no knowledge of them, cannot claim their interest in them, nor are they actually possessed of them. They are loved of God with an everlasting love ; but then the first open display of it to them is in regeneration, when God draws them with loving kindness to himself, as a fruit and effect, and so an evidence of his ancient love to them. They are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, but this is not known by them till the gospel comes, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost ; work ing powerfully in them, regenerating, quickening, and sanctifying them ; when that holiness to which they are chosen, is implanted, and that image of Christ, to which they are predestinated, is enstomped : there is an union with Christ, which election in him gives ; and there is a legal union between him and the elect, as between a surety and debtor, in virtue of suretyship-engagements for them ; and there is a mystical union, as between head and members ; and a conjugal one, as between

118 OF REGENERATION. man and wife ; but before regeneration there is a vital union, or such an union as between vine and branches, by which they actually receive life, and grace, and nourishment, and bear, and bring forth fruit. They are the sons of God by predestination ; and in covenant, the adoption of children belongs to them ; but this does not appear till regeneration takes place, when they receive in person the power and privilege of it, and are manifestatively the sons of God by faith in Christ. Justification was a sentence conceived in the mind of God from eternity ; was pronounced on Christ, and his people in him, when he rose from the dead ; but is not known to those interested in it, till the Spirit of God reveals the righteousness of Christ from faith to faith, and pronounces upon it the sentence of justification in the con science of the believer ; until he is born again, he has no knowledge of this blessing, no comfortable perception of it ; nor can he claim his interest in it, nor have that peace and joy which flow from it. And now it is that an awakened sinner has the application of pardoning grace and mercy ; for though pardon of sin is provided in covenant, and the blood of Christ is shed for it, and he is exalted to give it ; yet it is not actually given, applied, and enjoyed until repentance is given also ; for they are both in Christ's gift together ; and when also it is that God blesses his people with peace, with peace of conscience, flowing from the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ. — 3. An other effect of regeneration is, a fitness and capacity for the perform ance of good works. In regeneration men are created in Christ Jesus unto good works ; and by their new creation, become fit for, and capable of, performing them ; the new man is formed in them unto righteousness and true holiness, to the acts and exercises of righteousness and holiness, Eph. ii. 10, and iv. 24 ; such who are born again, are sanctified and meet for the Master's use, are prepared unto every good work, 2 Tim. ii. 21 ; whereas, an unregenerate man is to every good work reprobate; he has neither will nor power to perform that which is good, till God works in him both to will and to do. The principal ingredients in good works are wanting in them, wherefore they cannot be acceptable to God ; and, indeed, withoutfaith, as these are without it, it is impos sible to please God; nor can they that are in the flesh, who are carnal and unregenerate, please God ; that is, do those things that are pleas ing to him, Heb. xi. 6, Rom. viii. 8 ; without the Spirit of God, and the grace and strength of Christ, nothing of this kind can be performed ; wherefore God has promised to put his Spirit in his people, which he does in regeneration, to cause them to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments, and do them : so though they can do nothing of themselves, yet, through the Spirit, grace, and strength of Christ, they can do all things, Ezek. xxxvi. 27, Phil. iv. 18, to which they must be referred; even a very heathen could say, " Whatever good thing thou dost, ascribe it to God?." — 4. Regeneration gives a meetness for the king dom of God : without this, no man can see, nor enter into it, John iii. 3, 5 ; whether by the kingdom of God is meant, a gospel-church-state, and a participation of the privileges and ordinances of it, or the ultimate ' Ti w ayaBoy irpaTTTjj eii @(ovs ware/or*. —Bias spud Laert. 1. 1, in vita ejus.

OF BEGENERATIOJf. 119 8tate of glory and happiness : the former may be meant, into which publicans and harlots went before the Pharisees; and which they would neither enter into themselves, nor suffer others to go in who were entering ; and a removal of which from them Christ threatens them with, Matt. xxiii. 13, and xxi. 31, 43. Unregenerate men may indeed, in a sense, see and enter into this kingdom of God ; they may attend the word, and embrace the truths of it, make a profession of faith, submit to gospel-ordinances, and become members of a gospelchurch ; this they may do in fact, but not of right ; they are such as do not come in at the right door, Christ, and true faith in him ; but climb up another way, and are thieves and robbers ; hypocrites in Zion, tares in Christ's field, and foolish virgins among the wise ; to whom the kingdom of God is compared. Unregenerate men have not the proper qualifications for the church of God and the ordinance of it, these particularly, are faith and repentance ; these are required to a person's admission to baptism, Matt. iii. 2—8, Acts ii. 38, and viii. 12 —37; and so to the ordinance of the Lord's supper, Let a man examine himself, and so let. him eat, 1 Cor. xi. 28 ; whether he has true repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; and if such a man, devoid of theso, which attend or flow from regeneration, gets admitted to these ordinances, and into a church-state, of what avail is it to him here or hereafter ? what does it signify now to have the form of godliness, without the power ? a name to live, and yet be dead? or hereafter; for what is the hope of the hypocrite? of what use is it to him ? though he had gained the name of a professor, of a religious man, and a place in the house of God, when God takes away his soul, these will be of no service to him ? Though it may be the ultimate stato of glory may be meant by the kingdom of God, in the above passages ; as in 1 Cor. vi. 9, Luke xii. 32, Matt. xxv. 34. An unrefenerate man has no apparent right unto it; nor meetness for it. 'he proper right unto it lies in adoption ; If children, then heirs. But this right, so founded, does not appear till a man is born again, which is the evidence of adoption ; nor can he be meet and fit for it, without this grace of God regenerating, quickening, and sanctifying ; for with out holiness no man shall see the Lord ; and nothing shall enter into the heavenly state that defiles or makes an abomination ; but when men are born again, they are heirs apparent to the heavenly inherit ance ; they are rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom ; and are meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the saints in light. V. The properties of regeneration ; and which may serve to throw more light on the nature of it. — 1. Regeneration is a passive work, or rather, men are passive in it ; as they must needs be, in the first infu sion and implantation of grace, and the quickening of them ; even as passive as the first matter created was, out of which all things were made ; and as a dead man, when raised from the dead, is ; or as the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision were, while the Spirit of God breathed upon them, and then they became active ; and as infants are in the natural generation of them: for men no more contribute to their spiritual birth, than infants do to their natural birth ; all this appears

120 OF REGENERATION. from regeneration being a creation, a resurrection from the dead, and a being begotten and born again. — 2. It is an irresistible act of God's grace ; no more resistance can be made unto it, than there could be in the first matter to its creation ; or in a dead man to his resurrection ; or in an infant to its generation. Regeneration is of the will of God, which cannot be resisted ; the Spirit, m regeneration, is like the wind, which bloweth where it listeth, and none can hinder it ; so is every one that is born ofthe Spirit, John iii. 8 ; it is done by the power of God, which is uncontrollable; whatever aversion, contrariety, and opposi tion there may be in the corrupt nature of men unto it, that is soon and easily overcome by the power of divine grace ; when the stony heart is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given. When God works nothing can let ; an unwilling people are made wiling in the day of his power; high thoughts, reasonings, and imaginations of the carnal mind, are cast down by him. — 3. It is an act that is instantaneously done, at once ; it is not like sanctification it gives rise to ; which is but a begun work, and is carried on gradually ; faith grows, hope and love abound more and more, and spiritual light and knowledge increase by degrees, till they come to the perfect day : but regeneration is at once ; as an infant in nature is generated at once, and is also born at once, and not by degrees; so it is in spiritual generation; one man cannot be said to be more regenerated than another, though he may bo more sanctified ; and the same man cannot be said to be more regenerated at one time than at another.—4. As it is done at once, so it is perfect; some persons speak of a regenerate and an unregenerate part in men ; and that they are partly regenerate and partly unregenerate. I must confess I do not understand this ; since regeneration is a new creature, and perfect in its kind. There are, indeed, two principles in a man that is born again ; a principle of corrupt nature, and a principle of grace ; the one is called the old man, and the other tho new ; the whole old man is unregenerate, no part in him is regenerated ; he remains untouched, and is just the same he was, only deprived of his power and dominion ; and the new man is wholly regenerate, no unre generate part in him ; there is no sin in him, nor done by him, he cannot commit sin ; The king's daughter is all glorious within ; a man child, as soon as born, having all its limbs, is a perfect man, as to parts, though these are not at their full growth and bigness, as they will be, if it lives ; so the new man is a perfect man at once, as to parts, though as yet not arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. — 5. The grace of regeneration can never be lost ; once regene rated and always so ; one that is born in a spiritual sense can never be unborn again ; for he cannot die a spiritual death ; he is born of in corruptible and immortal seed ; he is born of water and of the Spirit, or of the grace of the Spirit, which is as a well of living water in him, springing up unto everlasting life : and all such who are begotten again unto a lively hope, a glorious inheritance, are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, 1 Pet. i. 3 — 5, 23. To which may be added, — 6. An adjunct which always accompanies regeneration, a spiritual warfare between the old and the new man, the principle of

OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 121 sin, and the principle of grace ; the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; the law in the members, warring against the law of the mind ; which are, as it were, a company of two armies engaged in war with each other, which always issues in a victory on the side of the new creature ; for whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world, and sin and Satan, and every enemy, and is more than a conqueror over all, through Christ ! OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. Though Effectual Calling may be distinguished from Regeneration, taken more strictly, for the first infusion and implantation of grace in the heart ; yet it is closely connected with it, and the consideration of it naturally follows upon it. It is, with great propriety, said to be effectual calling, to distinguish it from another calling, which is not effectual ; at least, which is not attended with any salutary effect to the persons called with it ; of which, more hereafter. Concerning effectual calling, the following things may be observed. I. What it is, and the nature of it. It is not of a civil kind, of which there are various sorts ; as a call to an office in state ; so Saul and David were chosen and called to take upon them the government of the people of Israel : likewise a call to do some particular service, which (rod has appointed men to do ; so Bezalecl was called and qua lified to devise and do some curious work for the tabernacle, and to teach and direct others in it: so the Medes and Persians were sancti fied, or set apart by the Lord, and called by him to the destruction of Babylon : and Cyrus was raised up, and called from a far country, to let the captive Jews go free. Indeed, every ordinary occupation, em ployment, and business of life, men are brought up in, and exercise, is a calling, and a calling of God ; hence the apostle says, Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called, 1 Cor. vii. 20, 24. But the calling now to be treated of, is of a religious kind ; and of which also there are various sorts ; as a call to an ecclesiastical office, whether extraordinary or ordinary; so Aaron and his sons were called to officiate in the priesthood ; for no man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, Heb. v. 4 ; so the twelve dis ciples of Christ were called to apostleship ; and Paul, a servant of Christ, is said to be called to be an apostle ; and ordinary ministers of the word are set apart and called by the Lord, and by his churches, to the work of the ministry they are put into. There is likewise an universal call of all men, to serve and worship the one true and living God ; this call is made by the light of nature, displayed in the works of creation, which demonstrate the Being of God ; and by the law of nature, written on the hearts of all men ; and by the works of provi dence, and the bounties of it, which all have a share in, and in which God leaves not himself without a witness ; and by all which men are called upon and directed to seek after God, to worship him, and glorify him as God. And besides this, there is a more special and

122 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. particular call of men, and not so general, and is either external or internal : the external call is by the ministry of the word ; by the ministry of the prophets under the Old Testament ; and of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and of Christ himself in human nature, and of his apostles under the New ; and of all succeeding ministers in all ages. The internal call is by the Spirit and grace of God to the hearts and consciences of men ; these two sometimes go together, but not always ; some are externally called, and not inter nally called ; and of those that are internally called, some are called by and through the ministry of the word, and some without it ; though for the most part men are called by it, and because it is usually so, and this external call is a matter of moment and importance, it is necessary to be a little more large and explicit upon it. i. This may be considered either as a call to saints, to such who have a work of grace already begun in them ; and to such it is a call, not only to the means of grace, but to partake of the blessings of grace ; to come as thirsty persons, eagerly desirous of spiritual things, to the waters, the ordinances, and drink at them ; to buy wine and milk, spiritual blessings, signified hereby, without money, and without price, these being to be had freely: and these are also called as labour ing under a sense of sin, and under a spirit of bondage, to come to Christ for rest, peace, pardon, life, and salvation, Matt. xi. 28 ; and these in and by the ministry of the word, are called, excited, and encouraged to the exercise of evangelical graces, wrought in them, and bestowed upon them; as repentance, faith, hope, love, and every other; such were the three thousand converts under Peter's sermon, and the jailor, who were under a previous work of the Spirit of God, when they were called and encouraged to repent and believe in Christ ; and these are also called, and urged, and pressed, in and by the ministry of the word, to a constant attendance in ordinances, and not to forsake the assembly of the saints, and to a diligent performance ef every religious duty, and to be ready to every good work in general : or this external call may be considered, as a call of sinners in a state of nature and unregeneracy ; but then it is not a call to them to regenerate and convert themselves, of which there is no instance ; and which is the pure work of the Spirit of God : nor to make their peace with God, which they cannot make by any thing they can do ; and which is only made by the blood of Christ : nor to get an interest in Christ, which is not got, but given : nor to the exercise of evangelical grace, which they have not, and therefore can never exercise : nor to any spiritual vital acts, which they are incapable of, being natural men and dead in trespasses and sins. Nor is the gospel ministry an offer of Christ, and of his grace and salvation by him, which are not in the power of the ministers of it to give, nor of carnal men to receive ; the gospel is not an offer, but a preaching of Christ crucified, a proclamation of the unsearchable riches of his grace, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and life, and salvation, by him. Yet there is something in whicli the ministry of the word, and the call by it, have to do with unregenerate sinners : they may be, and should be called upon, to perform the

OP EFFECTUAL CALLING. 123 natural duties of religion ; to a natural faith, to give credit to divine revelation, to believe the external report of the gospel, which not to do, is the sin of the deists ; to repent of sin committed, which even the light of nature dictates : and God, in his word, commands all men every where to repent; to pray to God for forgiveness, as Simon Magus was directed by the apostle : and to pray to God for daily mercies that are needed, is a natural and moral duty ; as well as to give him praise, and return thanks for mercies received, which all men that have breath are under obligation to do. They may, and should be called upon to attend the outward means of grace, and to make use of them ; to read the holy Scriptures, which have been the means of the conversion of some ; to hear the word, and wait on the ministry of it, which may be blessed unto them, for the effectual calling of them. And it is a part of the ministry of the word to lay before men their fallen, miserable, lost, and undone estate by nature ; to open to them the nature of sin, its pollution and guilt, and the sad consequences of it ; to inform them of their incapacity to make atonement for it ; and of their impotence and inability to do what is spiritually good ; and of the insufficiency of their own righteousness to justify them in the sight of God : and they are to be made acquainted, that salvation is alone by Christ, and not otherways ; and the fulness, freeness, and suitable ness of this salvation, are to be preached before them ; and the whole to be left to the Spirit of God, to make application of it as he shall think fit. ii. This external call by the ministry, is not universal, nor ever was : under the former dispensation, God sent his word unto Jacob, and his statutes unto Israel : as for other nations, they knew him not; God overlooked the heathens in their times of ignorance for hundreds of years together, and sent no prophet nor minister unto them, to acquaint them with his mind and will, and lead them into the know ledge of divine things. When the gospel-dispensation took place, the apostles of Christ were forbid, by their first commission, to go to the Gentiles, or to any of the cities of the Samaritans ; and though, upon Christ's resurrection from the dead, their commission was enlarged, and they were sent to preach to all nations of the world ; yet before they could reach to the extent of their commission, multitudes must bo dead, to whom the gospel-call, or the sound of it, never reached. To say nothing of the new world, or America, supposed not then to be discovered ; in succeeding ages, many parts of the world have been without the preaching of the word, and are at this day; and, indeed, it is confined to a very small part of it ; and where it is, though many may be externally called by it, yet few are chosen, and internally called by the Spirit and grace of God : and as this call is of many who are not chosen, so of many who are not sanctified, or that are not called with a holy calling ; and so of many who are not saved ; for it is to some the savour of death unto death. in. The external call is frequently rejected, and for the most part, and by the greater numbers,, of those that hear it ; I have called, and ye have refused—I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebel

124 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. lious people ; and to these it must be useless, as to any salutary effects ; many that are called and invited to attend the gospel-ministry, refuse to come, such were they that were bidden and called to the marriagefeast ; but they made light of it, and some went to their farms, and others to their merchandise ; such were the scribes and Pharisees, who would neither go into the kingdom of heaven themselves, nor suffer others that were entering to go in, but shut it up against them ; that is, would neither attend the mmistry of Christ, and his apostles, themselves, nor suffer others, but discouraged them from it, by their reproaches, Uireats, and persecutions, as our Lord complains, Matt. xxiii. 13—37. Others that attend the ministry of the word, do it in a careless and negligent manner, not minding what they hear, but like leaking vessels, let it slip, or run out ; or stop their ears to the voice of the charmer, charming ever so wisely; many that hear, have an aversion to what they hear ; the gospel is a hard saying to them, fool ishness to some, and a stumbling-block to others ; some mock and scoff at it, as the Athenians did ; and others, as the Jews, contradict and blaspheme it, putting it away from them, judging themselves unworthy of eternal life ; and therefore it is no wonder it becomes of no saving effect to either of these sort of persons : and, indeed, it is always insufficient and ineffectual of itself, unto real conversion, without the powerful and efficacious grace of God ; when God goes forth with his ministers, working with them, then work is done, but not otherwise ; when the hand of the Lord is upon them, or his power attends their ministry, many believe, and turn to the Lord ; but unless his arm is revealed, the report of the gospel will not be believed, nor the call of it attended to. iv. The external ministry of the word, or the outward call by it, is not in vain ; it has its usefulness, and various ends are answered by it. All things are for the elect's sake, and particularly the ministration of the gospel, which to them is the savour of life unto life ; as it is the will of God that his chosen people and others should promiscuously dwell together, so he sends his gospel to them in general, and by it takes out a people for his name ; calls them by his grace effectually out of the world, and separates them from the men of it, to be a peculiar people to himself ; and the rest are thereby left inexcusable ; for if the light of nature leaves men so, much more the light of the gospel ; the condemnation of men is aggravated by it, inasmuch as, though they are surrounded with light, they love darkness rather than light. Moreover, by the external ministry of the word, many, though not effectually called, become more civilised, and more moral in their conversation, are reformed, as to their outward manners ; and through a speculative knowledge of the gospel, escape the grosser pollutions of the world ; and others are brought by it to a temporary faith, to believe for a while, to embrace the gospel notionally, to submit to the ordinances of it, make a profession of religion, by which means they become serviceable to support the interest of it. So that it comports with the wisdom of God that there should be such an outward call of many who are not internally called : nor is he to be charged for it with

OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 125 dissimulation and insincerity ; since by it he declares what is his good, perfect, and acceptable will, and what would bo grateful and wellpleasing t« him, was it complied with and done. Should it be said, that that is called for and required, which man has not power to per form ; be it so, which yet may be questioned, it should be observed, that though man by sin has lost his power to comply with the will of God, by an obedience to it, God has not lost his power, right, and authority, to command. Wherefore, when the ministry of the word is slighted, and the gospel-call rejected, it is most righteously resented by the Lord ; and such are justly punished with everlasting destruction by him, 1 Pet. iv. 17, 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. The internal call is next to be considered, which is sometimes imme diately, and without the ministry of the word ; as seems to be the case of the disciples of Christ, of the apostle Paul, and of Zaccheus, and others. And sometimes mediately by the word ; for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word ; so the three thousand under Peter's sermon, and those in the family of Cornelius, on whom the Holy Spirit fell while the apostle was preaching ; and this is the ordinary way in which God calls men by his grace, and which call is—1 . Out of great and gross darkness, into marvellous and surprising light, 1 Pot. ii. 9. God's elect, whilst in a state of nature, are in a state of darkness and ignorance ; they are in the dark about God, his perfections, purposes, counsels, and methods of grace ; about themselves, the state and con dition they are in; about sin, the nature of it, and its sad consequences; about the Person of Christ, his offices, and the way of salvation by him ; about the Spirit, his work and operations on the souls of men ; and about the Scriptures, and the doctrines of the gospel contained in them. But in effectual calling, the eyes of their understandings are opened and enlightened, and they are made light in the Lord. When the apostle Paul was called by grace, a light surrounded him, as an emblem of that internal light which was sprung in him ; and after that there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, as a token of the removal of his former darkness and ignorance. As God, in the first creation, commanded light to shine out darkness ; so in the new creation, and at effectual calling, he irradiates the minds of his called ones with a divine light, in which they see light; see what sin is, what an evil thing it is, and the exceeding sinfulness of it ; see themselves lost and undone by it, and just ready to perish ; see their incapacity to save themselves, and the insufficiency of their own righteousness to justify them before God ; see the glory, fulness, and grace of Christ, the completeness and suitableness of him as a Saviour ; and see the truths and promises of the gospel, the great doctrines of it, in another light than they did before ; so as to understand them, receive the love of them, believe them with the heart, and distinguish them from those that differ, and rejoice at them, as being good news and glad tidings of good things. — 2. The internal call is a call of men out of bondage, out of worse than Egyptian bondage, into liberty, even the glorious liberty of the children of God ; Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, Gal. v. 1 3 ; whilst in a state of nature, they are, as they were by nature

. 126 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. home-born slaves, slaves to their sinful lusts and pleasures, and are brought into bondage by them, and held under the power of them, as in a prison ; but in effectual vocation, the fetters and shackles of sin are broken off, and the prison-doors opened, and they are bid to go forth and show themselves ; they become free from the tyranny of sin, and sin has no more dominion over them. In their state before calling, they are under the power and influence of Satan, the strong man armed, who keeps possession of them, by whom they are kept in bondage, and led captive by him at his will ; but when effectually called, they are taken out of his hands, and are turned from the power of Satan unto God, and are delivered from the power of darkness, and are translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, where they are Christ's freemen. Whilst they are seeking righteousness and life by the works of the law, they are brought into bondage, for that genders to bondage, and brings on a spirit of bondage upon those that are under it ; but in effectual calling they are delivered from it, by the Spirit of God, as a free Spirit ; and are called to stand fast" in the liberty with which Christ has made them free, and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. They are called and allowed to make use of a liberty of access to God, through Christ, by one Spirit, and to enjoy all the privileges of the gospel, and the immunities of a gospel-church state, bemg fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. — 3. The mternal call is a call of persons from fellowship with the men of the world, to fellowship with Christ ; God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord, 1 Cor. i. 9 ; it is like that of the call of Christ to his church, Cant. iv. 8, Come with me from Lebanon, &c ; a call to forsake the vanities, pleasures, and profits of the world, and the company of the men of it, and go along with him, and enjoy communion with him ; as Abraham was called out of his country, from his kindred, and his father's house ; so saints are called to forsake their own people, and their father's house ; to relinquish the society of their former companions, and to have no fellowship with ungodly men ; not that they are to have no civil correspondence, commerce, and society with the men of the werld ; for then, as the apostle says, they must needs go out of it ; but not to join with them in superstitious worship, in acts of idolatry, in a false religion, and in the observance of the commandments of men ; nor in any sinful, profane, and immoral practices ; and as much as may be, should shun and avoid all unneces sary company and conversation with them, for evil communications corrupt good manners ; and it is a grief to the people of God, to be obliged to dwell among them, and with them, as it was to Lot, to Isaac, and Rebekah, to David, Isaiah, and others. The people of God, in effectual vocation, are called to better company, to communion with God, Father, Son, and Spirit; to fellowship with one another; to converse with "saints, the excellent in the earth, in whom is all their delight. — 4. Such as are effectually called by the Spirit and grace of God are called to peace ; God hath called us to peace, 1 Cor. vii. 15 ; to internal peace, to peace of mind and conscience ; which men, in a state of nature, are strangers to, for there is no peace to the wicked. But God

OP EFFECTUAL CALLING. 127" calls his people to it, and blesses them with it ; with a peace which passes all understanding ; with peace in the midst of the tribulations of the world ; with a peace which the world can neither give nor take away ; and which arises from the blood and righteousness of Christ, and is part of that kingdom of God which is within them, into which they are brought at effectual vocation. They are likewise called to peace among themselves, and with all men as much as possible ; Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the ichich also ye are called in one body, Col. iii. 15. — 5. They are called out of a state of unholiness and sinfulness, into a state of holiness and righteousness ; for being created anew in righteousness and true holiness, and created in Christ Jesus to good works, they are called to the exercise of them ; to live holilv, soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world ; God hath not called us unto unclcanness, but unto holiness, 1 Thess. iv. 7 ; and hath called us to glory and virtue, 2 Pet. i. 3 ; to glorious acts of virtue and goodness, becoming the nature of their call, and of him that has called them ; As he which hath called you is holy, &c, 1 Pet. i. 15. — 6. The internal call is a call of persons into the grace of Christ, Gal. i. 6 ; into the gospel of the grace of Christ, as appears by what follows ; to receive it, embrace it, profess it, and stand fast in it ; and into the fulness of grace in Christ, to receive out of it, to be strong in it, to exercise faith on it ; and to the blessings of grace in his hands, and which are given forth b)' him ; to lay hold upon them, take them to themselves, and claim their interest in them ; all being theirs, they being Christ's, his chosen, redeemed, and called ones ; and by whom they have access into the state of grace in which they stand. — 7. It is a call of them to a state of happiness and bliss in another world ; Who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory, 1 Thess. ii. 12 ; to a glory, which is a king dom ; to possess a kingdom of grace now, which cannot be removed ; and to inherit the kingdom of glory hereafter, which is an everlasting one ; to a glory which is given to Christ ; the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thess. ii. 14 ; and to eternal glory by Christ Jesus, 1 Pet. v. 10; and to lay hold on eternal life, 1 Tim. vi. 12; and to an eternal inheritance ; and they which are called receive the promise of it, and shall certainly enjoy it ; having a meetness for it, through the grace of God, and a right unto it, through the righteousness of Christ, and they are all called in one hope of their calling, Eph. iv. 4, to partake of the same inheritance with the saints in light, and to enjoy the same blessed hope laid up for them in heaven ; and for which hope of righteousness they wait by faith, through the Holy Spirit. II. The author and causes of effectual calling, efficient, impulsive, instrumental, and final. — 1. The efficient cause is God ; Walk worthy of God, who hath called you ; God hath not called us, fyc. Sometimes it is ascribed to God personally, to the three divine Persons in the God head, to Father, Son, and Spirit ; to the Father, as when he is said to call by his grace, and. reveal his Son ; and to call unto the fellowship of his Son ; and to call men by Jesus Christ, Gal. i. 15, 16, 1 Cor. i. 9, 1 Pet. v. 10 ; in which places, God that calls is distinguished from his Son Jesus Christ. Sometimes calling is ascribed to the Son ; so

128 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. Wisdom, the eternal Logos, Word, and Son of God, is represented as calling both externally and internally, Prov. i. 23, &c ; and saints are said to be the called ofJesus Christ, whom he has a property in, as called ones, being efficiently called by him. And sometimes it is ascribed to the Holy Spirit : There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called hi one hope of your calling ; that is, by the one Spirit, the holy Spirit of God ; and to him are owing that illumination, and that freedom from bondage, and that fellowship with Christ, which make a principal part of what men in effectual vocation are called into ; and it is he that leads to peace and holiness, and into the grace of Christ, and encou rages to hope and wait for glory : so that effectual calling is a divine work, and not human. — 2. The impulsive, or moving cause of effectual calling, are not the works of men, but the sovereign will, pleasure, purpose, and grace of God ; as in 2 Tim. i. 9. — 1. The works of men are not the moving or impulsive cause of their being called of God ; for those must be either such as are done before calling, or after it : not before calling ; for works done then are not properly good works ; they are not subjectively good ; the doers of them are not good men ; and a man must be a good man, before he can perform good works ; and though some works done by bad men, may have the show and appearance of good, and be materially, or as to matter of them, good actions ; yet are not such circumstantially : the requisites and circum stances of a good work being wanting in them; as not being done according to the will of God, and in obedience to it ; nor in faith, and so sin ; nor proceeding from a principle of love to God, nor directed to his glory : and such works can never be moving causes of men's being called. Nor can good works after calling be such ; for they are fruits and effects of effectual vocation ; and therefore cannot be ranked among the causes of it. Men, in and by effectual calling, are sanctified, and become meet for their Master's use, and ready to every good work. —2. The sovereign will, pleasure, and purpose of God, is what moves and determines him to call, by his grace, any of the sons of men : not their wills ; for it is not of him that willeth, but of his own good-will and pleasure : they that are called, are called according to his purpose, Rom. viii. 28 ; he has, in his eternal purpose, fixed upon the particular per sons whom he will call, and the time when he will call them ; for there is a time for every purpose, and so for this, called the time of life and of love ; and the place where they shall be called ; in this and that place ; as at Corinth, Philippi, &c ; the means and occasion of their calling, with the several circumstances thereof, are all according to a divine purpose ; and show that the whole is owing to the sovereign will and pleasure of God, who does all things after the counsel of his own will. — 3. The free grace of God, in a sovereign distinguishing way and manner, may truly be said to be, the grand, impulsive, moving cause of effectual vocation ; to this the apostle ascribed his own ; And called by his grace ; that is, of his pure grace, and according to it. God, as the God of all grace, calls men to grace and glory by Christ; and an abun dance of grace is displayed in vocation ; yea, the first open display of grace, and discovery of love, to a sinner himself, is then made ; then is

OF KFFECTUAL CALLING. 129 he drawn with loving kindness, as a fruit and evidence of everlasting love ; and therefore the time of calling, is called a time of love, Ezek. xvi. 8 ; and it being of some particular persons, and not of all, shows it to be the effect of distinguishing grace, and of sovereign good-will ; and, indeed, nothing out of God could move him to such an act as this; and as his grace is his own, he may call by it, and to it, and bestow it on whom he pleases. — 3. The instrumental cause, or rather means of effect ual vocation, is the ministry of the word. Sometimes, indeed, it is brought about by some remarkable providence, and without the word ; but generally it is by it ; Faith comes by hearing, and hearing hy the word of God. Christ stands in the gospel-ministry, at the door of men's hearts, and having the key of the house of David, he opens the heart by his power and grace, and lets himself in ; and in this way, and by this means, the Spirit, and his graces, are received ; men are called both to grace and glory by the gospel, Gal. i. 6, 2 Thess. ii. 14.— 4. The final causes, or rather the ends of effectual vocation, which are subordinate and ultimate : the subordinate end, is the salvation of God's elect, that they may possess the blessings of grace, and eternal glory ; to both of which they are called. And the ultimate end is the glory of the grace of God ; for this end God forms his people in regene ration and effectual vocation ; namely, to show forth his praise : and this end is answered, in part, in this life, they ascribing all they have, and expect to have, solely to the free grace of God, and it will be con summately answered in the world to come, when all their work will bo praise ; attributing the whole of their salvation, to the sovereign will and pleasure, grace and goodness of God. III. The subjects of effectual vocation, or who they are whom God calls by his grace. — 1. They are such whom God has chosen to grace and glory ; Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, Rom. viii. 30. Election and vocation are of equal extent ; the objects are the same, neither more nor fewer; they that were chosen from eternity, aro called in time ; and they that are called in time, were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world ; the vessels of mercy, afore prepared unto glory, are explained and described by such whom God hath called; not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, Rom. ix. 23, 24. — 2. They are such who are in Christ, and secured in him ; for they aro called according to grace given them in Christ Jesus before the world began ; and as grace was given them in him so early, they themselves, in some sense, must then have a being in him ; which they have through being chosen in him, and thereby coming into his hands, they are secured and preserved in him, in consequence of which they arc called by grace ; thus stands the order of things, as put by the apostle Jude, 1, To them that are sanctified by God the Father ; that is, set apart by him in eternal election ; and preserved in Christ Jesus, being put into his hands by that act of grace ; and called, in virtue of the foregoing acts of grace. — 3. They are such who are redeemed by Christ ; voca tion follows redemption, and is the certain consequent of it; I have redeemed thee ; I have called thee by thy name ; thou art mine, Isa. xliii. 1 . Election, redemption, and vocation, are of the same persons ; those VOL. II. K

130 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. .whom God has chosen in Christ, are redeemed by Christ ; and who are chosen and redeemed, are, sooner or later, called ; and the reason of their being called, is because they are redeemed ; I will hiss for them, and gather them ;for I have redeemed them, Zech. x. 8. — 4. Those that are called, are, for the most part, either the meanest or the vilest among men ; the meanest, as to their outward circumstances ; Not many mighty, not many noble, are called : and the meanest as to their internal capacities ; Not many wise men after theflesh ; the things of the gospel, and of the grace of God, are hidfrom the wise andprudent, and revealed to babes, 1 Cor. i. 26, James ii. 5, Matt. xi. 25 ; and oftentimes some of the worst and vilest of sinners are called by grace ; publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of God, when scribes and Pharisees did not ; attended the ministry of the word, and were called by it, when they were not ; and Christ came, as he himself says, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. IV. The properties of effectual calling ; which may lead more clearly and fully into the nature of it ; though they may be, in general, col lected from what has been observed. — 1. It is a fruit of the love of God ; because he has loved them with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness he draws them to himself, and to his Son, in effect ual vocation, Jer. xxxi. 3 ; and as it is only of as many as the Lord our God thinks fit to call, it appears to be an act of special and dis tinguishing grace ; it is of special and particular persons, by special grace, and to the special blessings of it. — 2. It is an act of efficacious and irresistible grace. The external call may be, and often is, resisted and rejected ; but when God calls internally by his Spirit and grace, it is always effectual, and can never be resisted, so as to be ineffectual ; for when God works, none can let or hinder ; men, dead in trespasses and sins, rise out of their graves of sin, and live, at his all-command ing voice ; even as Lazarus came forth out of his grave at the call of Christ ; nor could that call be resisted ; and even the same power that was exerted in raising Christ himself from the dead, is displayed in the effectual vocation of a sinner, Eph. i. 18—20. — 3. This call is a holy calling, 2 Tim. i. 9 ; the author of it is the holy God ; holy in his nature, and in all his ways and works, and so in this ; As he that has called you is holy, 1 Pet. i. 15 ; and the means by which they are called are holy ; whether by reading the Scriptures, which has been sometimes the case, they are styled the holy Scriptures ; or whether the first awakenings to a serious concern about divine things, are by the law ; that commandment is holy, just, and good ; or whether by the pure gospel of Christ ; that is a doctrine according to godliness, and teaches to live a holy life and conversation : and as in effectual vocation, it appears that principles of grace and holiness are wrought in men ; so by it they are called to the exercise of holiness and virtue, and of the performance of every good work ; they are called into a state of holiness here, and to enjoy an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance hereafter, 2 Pet. i. 3. — 4. It is a high calling, Phil, iii. 14 ; he that calls is the high and lofty One, who dwells in the high and holy place ; and in and by calling grace, he raises men from the

OF CONVERSION. 131 dunghill, and sets them among princes, that they may inherit the throne of glory ; however poor they may be with respect to the things of this world, yet by effectual calling they become rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom, and of an inheritance reserved for them in the highest heavens, to which they will be admitted. Wherefore, — 5. This call is styled a heavenly calling, Hcb. iii. 1 ; it is a call out of this earthly country, to seek a better country, even a heavenly one ; and those that are called, have their citizenship in heaven, and are free denizens of it ; and shall enjoy the hope, the hoped for blessedness laid up for them there. For,—6. This is one of the gifts of God's special grace, and that calling of his which is without repentance, Rom. xi. 29 ; it is unchangeable, irreversible, and irrevocable; such shall be preserved safe to the kingdom and glory of God, to which they are called, and shall most certainly enjoy it ; for faithful is he that has called them, who also will do it, 1 Thess. v. 23, 24 ; wherefore such are most happy persons ; for they may be comfortably assured of their election ; for whom he did predestinate, them he also called : election and vocation are put together ; the one as the fruit, effect, and evidence, of the other, 2 Pet. i. 10 ; and election is to be known by the internal call of the Spirit, through the ministry of the word, 1 Thess. i. 4, 5 ; and they may also be comfortably assured of their justification ; for whom he called, them he also justified ; and such may conclude themselves safe from all charges, from all condemnation, and from wrath to come ; and they may most certainly expect eternal glory ; for whom God calls and justifies, them he also glorifies : between calling-grace and eternal happiness, there is a sure and an inseparable connexion. OF CONVERSION. Conversion, though it may seem, in some respects, to fall in with Regeneration, and Effectual Vocation, yet may be distinguished from them both. Regeneration is the sole act of God ; conversion consists both of God's act upon men, in turning them, and of acts done by men, under the influence of converting grace ; they turned, being turned. Regeneration is the motion of God towards and upon the heart of a sinner; conversion is the motion of a sinner towards God. In regene ration men are wholly passive, as they also are in the first moment of conversion ; but by it become active : it is therefore sometimes expressed passively ; Ye are returned, or converted, 1 Pet. ii. 25 ; and sometimes actively; A great number believed, and turned to the Lord, Acts xi. 21 ; and when it, the body of the people of the Jews, shall turn to the Lord, which has respect to their conversion in their latter day, 2 Cor. iii. 1 6. Effectual vocation, is the call of men out of darkness to light ; and conversion answers to that call, and is the actual turning of men from the one to the other ; so that, with propriety, conversion may be con sidered as distinct from regeneration and effectual vocation. Concern ing which may be observed, I. What conversion is, and wherein it lies. The conversion to k 2

132 OF CONVERSION. be treated of is not, — 1 . An external one, or what lies only ill an outward reformation of life and manners, such as that of the Ninevites; for this may be where internal conversion is not, as inthe scribes and Pharisees; and is what persons may depart from, and return to their former course of life again; and where it is right and genuine, it is the fruit and effect of true conversion, but not that itself. — 2. Nor is it a mere doctrinal one, or a conversion from false notions before imbibed to a set of doctrines and truths which are according to the Scriptures; so men of old were converted from Judaism and heathenism to Christianity : but not all that were so con verted in a doctrinal sense were true and real converts ; some had the form of godliness without the power of it, had a name to live, and be called Christians, but were dead, and so not converted ; thus the recovery of professors of religion from errors fallen into, to the acknow ledgment of the truth, is called a conversion of them, James v. 19, 20. — 3. Nor the restoration of the people of God from backslidings to which they are subject, when they arc in a very affecting and im portant manner called upon to return to the Lord, Jer. iii. 12, &c Hos. xiv. 1 —4 ; so Peter, when he fell through temptation, and denied his Lord, and was recovered from it by a look from Christ, it is called his conversion, Luke xxii. 32. But,— 4. The conversion under consideration, is a true, real, internal work of God upon the souls of men ; there is a counterfeit of it, or there is that in some men who are not really converted which is somewhat similar to that which is always found in those that are truly converted ; as, a sense of sin, and an acknowledgment of it ; an apprehension of the divine displeasure at it, great distress about it, a sorrow for it, humiliation on account of it, and an abstinence from it ; and something that bears a resemblance to each of these may be found in unconverted persons : though their concern about sin is chiefly for the evil that comes by it, or like to come by it, and not for the evil that is in it ; so in converted persons there is sooner or later light into the gospel and the doctrines of it ; particularly the doctrine of salvation by Christ, which yield relief and comfort to them under a sense of sin, and encourage faith and hope in God ; and there is something like this to be observed in some who are not truly converted, who are said to be enlightened, that is, in a notional and doctrinal way ; and to taste the good word of God, though it is only in a superficial manner ; and to receive it with joy, with a flash of natural affection, which lasts for a while ; and to believe it with a temporary faith, historically, and become subject to the ordinances ; but yet in all this there is no heart work, whereas truo genuine con version lies,—In the turn of the heart to God, of the thoughts of the heart ; which are only evil, and that continually, and about evil things, not about God, and the things of God; God is not in all their thoughts, nor in any of the thoughts of wicked men ; but when converted, their thoughts are about their state and condition by nature, about their souls, and the eternal welfare of them; and about God, and the methods of his grace in the salvation of men : it is a turn of the desires of the heart, which before were after vain, carnal, worldly,

OF CONVERSION. 133 sinful lusts" and pleasures; but now after God and communion with him, after Christ and salvation by him, after the Spirit and the things of the Spirit : it is a turn of the affections of the heart, which before were inordinate, and ran in a wrong channel ; before they were fleshly, after the things of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life : but now they are checked, and turned towards God, their hearts being circumcised to love him ; and whom they love with their whole hearts and souls, because he first loved them ; though before their carnal minds were enmity to him ; and towards Christ, whom they now love affectionately, fervently, superlatively, and sin cerely ; and towards the saints, who are now the excellent in the earth, in whose conversation is all their delight, though before hateful to them ; and towards the word, worship, and ordinances of God, which they take pleasure in attending on, though before a weariness to them. Conversion is a turn of the mind from carnal things to spiritual ones, and from earthly things to heavenly ones ; yea, it is a turn of the will, which before conversion is in a very bad state, is stubborn and inflexible, biassed to and bent upon that which is evil, and averse to all that is good ; but in conversion God works in men both to will and to do of his good pleasure ; he gives them another will, or however a turn to their will, so that of an unwilling people they are made a willing people in the day of his power on them ; whereas they were unwilling to come to Christ for salvation, and take him alone to bo their Saviour ; Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life, says Christ, John v. 40 ; that is, ye have no will to come to me at all for life and salvation ; they chose rather to go any where than to him for it ; but now they are willing to be saved by him, and resolve to have no other Saviour but him ; yea, though lie slay them they will trust in him, and say he shall be our salvation ; and though before they went about to establish their own righteousness, and did not and would not submit to the righteousness of Christ ; now their stout hearts, which were far from righteousness, are brought down, and they become willing to be found in Christ, and in his righteousness only ; and inasmuch as before they would not have Christ to reign over them, and chose not to be subject to his laws and ordinances, now they are ready to acknowledge him as their king and governor, and turn their feet to his testimonies, and esteem his pre cepts concerning all things to be right. — Conversion lies in a man's being turned from darkness to light ; the apostle says, he was sent by Clirist to the Gentiles, as a minister of the gospel, to turn them from darkness to light, Acts xxvi. 18 ; that is, to be the instrument or means of conversion, by preaching the gospel to them. In this, conversion may seem to coincide with effectual vocation ; but it may be observed, that effectual vocation is a call to, but conversion is a turning of, men from darkness to light ; God not only calls unto light, but turns them to light in every sense ; to God who is light itself, and in whom is no darkness at all ; to Christ, who is the light of the world : to the gospel, which is tl\e great light that shines on men who sit in darkness ; and to the light of grace, which is a shining light, that shines more and

134 OP CONVERSION. more unto the perfect day. — Conversion lies in the turning of men from the power of Satan to God, as in the above place, Acts xxvi. 18. Satan has great power over men in an unconverted state, his seat is in their hearts, which are the palace in which he rules ; he works effect ually with great power and energy in the children of disobedience, by stirring up their lusts and corruption, suggesting evil things to their minds, and tempting them to them ; he does all he can to keep them in their native blindness and ignorance, and to increase it, and to provent them from hearing the gospel, and from its being beneficial to them, lest the light of it should shine into their minds ; he captivates them, and leads them captive at his will ; and they are willingly led by him, the lusts of their father they will do ; but now in conversion they are turned from his power, he is dispossessed of them, and his armour taken from him in which he trusted ; the prey is taken out of the hands of the mighty, and the lawful captive is delivered ; men are translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son ; and though they are not freed from his temptations, yet they have grace sufficient given them to bear up under them, till it is the pleasure of God to save them from them, who will shortly bruise him under them ; and as they are in conversion turned from him, they are turned to God ; who before were without him, and alienated from the life of him, and strangers to him ; but now they are turned to the knowledge of him, to love to him, to faith in him, and to communion with him. — Con version lies in turning men from idols to serve the living God ; not merely from idols of silver and gold, of wood and stone, as formerly, but from the idols of a man's own heart, his lusts and corruptions ; with respect to which the language of a converted sinner is, What have I to do any more with idols ? this is a blessing bestowed in conversion, Unto you first, God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you, turning away every one of you from his iniquities. In Redemption, Christ turns away iniquities from his people, by bearing them, and making satisfaction for them ; and in conversion, he by his Spirit and grace turns them from their iniquities ; he turns them from the love of them to a hatred of them, even of vain thoughts, as well as of sinful actions ; from the service and drudgery of them, to the service of righteousness ; from the power and dominion of them, and subjec tion to them, and from a course of living in them, to a life of holiness ; and from the paths of sin, to the paths of truth and uprightness. — Conversion lies in turning men from their own righteousness to the righteousness of Christ ; not from doing works of righteousness, for such converted persons are most fit for, and most capable of, and are under the greatest obligations to perform ; but from depending upon them for justification before God, and acceptance with him ; in order to which they must be convinced by the Spirit of God of the insuffici ency of their own righteousness to justify them, being imperfect ; and of the necessity, perfection, and fulness of Christ's righteousness, which being turned unto, they receive, embrace, lay hold on, and plead as their justifying righteousness before God ; and this requires more than human teachings : for though ministers are said to turn many to

OP CONVERSION. 135 righteousness, that is, to the righteousness of Christ, yet only instrumentally, and as the means of it, through preaching the gospel, in which there is a revelation of it ; for God is the efficient cause of the turn of them to it ; for though the gospel is the ministration of it, yet it is the Lord that must brmg it near to the stout-hearted ones far from righteousness, and make them willing to submit unto it, and to be desirous of being found in it ; for men naturally do not care to part with their own righteousness ; it is their own, and what they have been a long time and with great labour rearing up, and to have it demolished they cannot bear it : they would fain hold it fast, and lean upon it, though it shall not stand ; it is their idol, in which they place their trust and confidence, and to take this away from them is to take away their god ; as Micah said, when his idol was stolen from him, Ye have taken away my gods, and what have I more ? wherefore the conversion of a self-righteous person is more rare and difficult than the conversion of a profligate sinner ; hence our Lord says to the scribes and Pharisees, that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before them ; and that he himself came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. xxi. 31. Conversion lies in a man's turning to the Lord actively, under the influence of divine grace ; and by this phrase it is often expressed in Scripture, as in 2 Cor. iii. 16; men being thoroughly convinced that there is salvation in no other but in Christ, that it is in vain to expect it elsewhere ; after they have made many inquiries and searches to no purpose, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and look to him alone for salvation ; being apprised of their danger, they turn as they are directed, encouraged and enabled, to Christ the strong-hold, where they are safe from all danger, and from every enemy ; being made sensible of the insufficiency of their own righteousness, and of the suitableness of the righteousness of Christ for them, they turn to him as the Lord their righteousness, in whom all the seed of Israel are justified, and shall glory ; and being fully satisfied with the equity of the laws, rules, and ordinances of Christ, they turn to him as their Lord and lawgiver, and submit to his com mands, renouncing all other lords, and their dominion over them; and though in their nature-state they are like sheep going astray, in conversion they are returned to Christ, as the great shepherd and bishop of souls : the parable of seeking and finding, and bringing home the lost sheep, is a fit representation of the conversion of a sinner : Christ's people are his sheep before conversion, but they are lost sheep, straying in the wilderness ; and as sheep never return to the fold, shepherd, and pasture of themselves, unless looked up and are returned; so neither do they till they are sought for and found, and brought home by Christ, the proprietor of them, with joy : and the parables following represent the same thing ; as that of the lost piece of silver, for finding which the woman lights a candle and sweeps the house, and searches every corner till she finds it, which gives her joy ; this sets forth the high esteem and value the elect are in with Christ, compara ble to silver, yea to fine gold and precious stones ; and the passiveness of men in first conversion, who no more contribute to it than the piece

136 OF CONVERSION. of silver to its being found ; and the means and methods made use of in conversion, the light of the gospel-ministry, and the stir and bustle on that occasion : so the parable of the prodigal son, and his return to his father, is expressive of the same ; his manner of living before his return, is a lively picture of the state of unconverted men, living in lusts, and pursuing the desires of the flesh, and of the mind ; in his return there are all the symptoms of a true and real conversion ; as a sense of his starving, famishing and perishing state by nature ; his coming to his right mind, his sense of sin, confession of it, and repent ance for it ; his faith and hope of meeting with a favourable reception by his father, which encouraged him to return, and which he met with. II. The causes of conversion, efficient, moving and instrumental. i. The efficient cause, which is not man but God. Not man, it is neither by the power nor will of man.— 1. Not by the power of man ; what is said of the conversion of turning of the Jews from their captivity, is true of the conversion of a sinner, that it is not by might nor by power, that is, not of man, but by my Spirit, as saith the Lord of hosts, Zcch. iv. 6. Men are dead in a moral sense whilst unconverted, they are dead in trespasses and sins, which are the cause of their death ; and their very living in them is no other than a moral death ; nor can they quicken themselves, and unless they are quickened they cannot be converted ; and being in a moral sense dead they are strengthless ; they are not only weak through the flesh, in corruption of nature, but they are without strength ; without any strength at all to perform that which is good, and much less a work of so great importance as their own conversion ; they have not the command of themselves, nor any power over their hearts, the thoughts, desires and affections of them ; they cannot check them and control them at pleasure ; they cannot think any thing as of themselves, much less think a good thought ; they cannot turn the streams of their desires and affections to proper objects ; they cannot move their minds, nor bend their wills, even to that which is to their own advantage. Conversion is such an alteration in a man, as is not in his power to effect ; it is like that of an Ethiopian changing his skin, and a leopard his spots ; such things are never heard of, as a blackmoor becoming white, and a leopard becoming clear of his spots ; and as unlikely is it, that a man should convert himself, Jer. xiii. 23 ; a tree must first be made good so as to bring forth good fruit ; Make the tree good, says our Lord : but the tree cannot make itself good ; another hand must be employed about it, to engraft it, cultivate and improve it : a thorn-bush cannot turn itself into a vinetree, and so bring forth grapes ; nor a thistle into a fig-tree, to bring forth figs ; but as soon may these things be done, as a man to convert himself, and bring forth the good fruits of righteousness, Matt. vii. lo' — 18. Conversion is the motion of the soul towards God ; but as this cannot be in a dead man, and unless he is quickened, so not unless he is drawn by efficacious grace ; wherefore God, in conversion, draws men with loving-kindness to himself: and, with the cords of love, to his Son ; for no man, says Christ, can come unto me, except the Father,

OF CONVEKSION. 137 which hath sent me, draw him, John vi. 44; and even converted persons themselves are so sensible of this, that they pray, as the church did, Draw me, we will run after thee, Cant. i. 4 ; the thing speaks for itself, and shows that it cannot be done by the power of man ; for it is no other than a creation, which requires creation power to effect it, which a creature has not ; for if the restoration, or conversion, of a back slidden saint, is a creation, and requires tbe power of the Creator to do it ; of which David when backslidden was sensible, and therefore prayed Create in me a clean heart, O God ! then much more is tho first conversion of a sinner, and requires like power ; it is a resurrection from the dead, and is not to be effected but by the exceeding greatness of God's power, even such as was put forth in raising Christ from the dead, Eph. i. 19. — 2. Nor is conversion owing to the will of men ; the will of man, before conversion, is in a bad state, it chooses its own ways, and delights in its abominations ; it is in high pursuit after the desires of the flesh, and of the mind ; it is resolved to go after its lovers, its lusts, which feed its appetite, and furnish with things agreeable to the carnal mind ; the will is become a slave to carnal lusts and pleasures ; though the natural liberty of the will is not lost by sin, it can freely will natural things, as to eat or drink, sit or stand, or walk at pleasure ; yet its moral liberty is lost, it is shackled with the fetters of sinful lusts, by which it is overcome, and brought into bondage ; and not withstanding its boasted liberty, it is a home-born slave ; and therefore Luther rightly called it servum arlitrium : man has no will to that which is good till God works it in him, and of unwilling, makes him willing, in the day of his power : he has no will to come to Christ, to be saved by him ; nor to submit to"his righteousness ; nor to be subject to his laws and ordinances, until such a will is worked in him by efficacious grace. Conversion is denied to be of the will of men ; as the whole of salvation is not of him that willeth ; so this part of it in particular, regeneration, with which conversion in the first moment of it agrees, is not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of inan, but of God, John i. 13. But it may be said, if conversion is not in the power and will of men, to what purpose arc such exhortations as these ; llepent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions—turn yourselves, and live ? and again, Repentye therefore, and be converted? Ezek. xviii. 30, 32, Acts iii. 19 ; to which may be replied, that these passages have no respect to spiritual and internal conversion ; but to an external reformation of life and manners. In tho first instance tho Jews were then in a state of captivity, which was a kind of death, as sometimes sore afflictions are said to be, 2 Cor. i. 10 ; and into which they were brought through their sins ; now the Lord declares, that he took no pleasure in this their uncomfortable state and condition ; it was more desirable to him, and therefore he exhorts them to it, to reform from their evil practices ; then they would be returned from their captivity, and live comfortably in their own land, as they had formerly done. But what has this to do with the spiritual and internal conversion of a sinner unto God i with respect to the latter case, the Jews were threatened the destruction

138 OP CONVERSION. of their city and nation, for their rejection of Jesus the Messiah, and other sins they were guilty of ; and now the apostle advises those to whom he directs his discourse, to relinquish their wrong notions of Christ, and repent of their ill usage of him, and his followers, and of their other sins, in an external way, that so they might escape the calamities coming upon their nation and people. But supposing these and such-like exhortations respected internal conversion of the heart to God, such exhortations may be only designed to show men the necessity of such conversion in order to salvation ; as our Lord said, Except ye be converted, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and when men are convinced of this, they will soon be sensible of their impotence to convert themselves, and will pray, as Ephraim did, Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, immediately and effectually ; for,—2. God only is the author and efficient cause of conversion. He that made man's heart, and formed the spirit of man within him, he only can turn their hearts, and frame and mould their spirits, as he pleases ; the heart of a king, and so of every other man, is in the hand of the Lord, and he can turn them as the rivers of water are turned ; he and he only, can give a check unto, and turn the thoughts, desires, and affections of the heart into another channel, and the mind and will to other objects ; he can remove the stubbornness of the will, and bend it at his pleasure, and make it pliable and conformable to his own will ; he can take away the hardness of the heart though it is like an adamant stone, he can make it soft, and susceptible of the best impressions ; he can break the rocky heart in pieces ; yea, take away the stony heart, and give a heart of flesh ; as ho can take what he pleases out of it, so he can put into it what he will, as he does in conversion, his laws, the fear of him, and his Spirit ; he can and does draw them, by the powerful influence of his grace upon them, to himself and to his jj}on ; and this he does without forcing their wills ; he sweetly allures, by his 5race, to come to Christ, and his ordinances ; he powerfully persuades aphet to dwell in the tents of Shem : he makes his people willing, in the day of his power, to do what they had before no will nor inclination to ; and yet they act most freely ; the manslayer did not more willingly flee to a city of refuge, to shelter him from the avenger of blood, than a sinner, sensible of his danger, flees to Christ for refuge, and lays hold on the hope set before him. The power of divine grace put forth in conversion is irresistible ; that is, so irresistible, as that a stop cannot be put to the work, and that become of no effect, through opposition made unto it from within and from without. Conversion is according to the will of God, his will of purpose, which can never be frustrated ; WJio hath resisted his will ? his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure ; it is wrought by his almighty power ; the work of faith, which is a principal part of the work of conversion, is begun, carried on, and performed with power ; nor can a sinner any more resist, so as to make of none effect the power of God in conversion, than Lazarus could resist the power of Christ in calling him out of his grave. If it was in the power of the will of men to hinder the work of conversion, so as that it should not \

OF CONVERSION. 139 take place, when it is the design of God it should, then God might be disappointed of his end, which must not be said ; for there is no counsel nor might against him ; whatever devices may be in a man's heart, the counsels of God can never be disappointed ; when God has purposed to convert a sinner, who can disannul it I and when his mighty hand of grace is stretched out, to put that purpose into execution, who can turn it back ? when he works in any way, and so in this, there is none can let. Besides, if conversion was to stand or fall according to the will of men ; or if that had the turning point in man's conversion, it would rather be ascribed to the will of men, than to the will of God ; and it would not be true what is said, It is not of him that wiUeth : yea, as the will of men then would have the greatest stroke in conversion, in answer to that question, Who maketh thee to differfrom another ? it might be said, as it has been said by a proud and haughty free-wilier, Grevinchovius, I have made myself to differ. To all this may be objected the words of Christ, How often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not ! Matt. xxiii. 37 ; but it should be observed, that this gathering is not to be understood of conversion ; but of attendance on the ministry of the word under John the Baptist, Christ himself, and his apostles ; to which Christ had affectionately and importunately exhorted them ; which, had it been regarded, would have preserved them from the vengeance coming upon Jerusalem : and it should also be observed, that they are not the same persons whom Christ would have gathered, and those of whom he says, and ye would not ; by whom are meant, the rulers and governors of the people, who would not suffer them to attend the gospel-ministry, but threatened them with putting them out of the synagogue if they did. n- The moving, or impulsive cause of conversion, is the love, grace, mercy, favour, and good-will of God ; the same as is the moving cause of regeneration and effectual calling, and not the merits of men ; for what is there in men before conversion, to move God to take such a step in their favour ? in. The instrumental cause, or means of conversion, is usually the ministry of the word ; sometimes, indeed, it is wrought without the word, by some remarkable awakening providence or another, and sometimes by reading the Scriptures ; but, for the most part, it is through the preaching of the word ; hence ministers are said to turn many to righteousness ; and the apostle Paul says, he was sent by Christ into the Gentile world, to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God ; and this is done both by the preaching of the law and of the gospel ; The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, Psalm xix. 7 ; though, perhaps, not the law, strictly taken, but the whole doctrine of the word is there meant ; however, the preaching of the law is made use of by the Spirit of God to convince of sin ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin ; and by means of it, when it enters into the heart and conscience, under his influence, sin is made to appear exceeding sinful, and the soul is filled with great distress on account of it ; for the law worketh wrath ; though some take this to be rather

140 OF CONVERSION. preparatory to conversion, than conversion itself, which may be better ascribed to the gospel ; and, indeed, the receiving of the Spirit, and his graces, and particularly faith, are attributed to the preaching of the gospel, and not to the law, as the means thereof; Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law ? that is, by preaching the doctrine of obedience to it ; or by the hearing offaith ? that is, by the doctrine of the gospel, preaching faith in Christ ; which is therefore called, the word offaith, and by which it comes ; for faith comes by hearing, &c Gal. iii. 2. Rom.x. 8, 17 ; but then the preaching of the word of the gospel is not sufficient of itself to produce the work of conversion in the heart ; men may hear it, and not be converted by it ; nor receive any benefit, profit, and advantage through it ; if it comes in word only, and not with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; and when it is accompanied with the power of God ; or is made the power of God unto salvation, even then it is only an instrument, and not an efficient ; for who is Paul, or who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom ye believed. III. The subjects of conversion; these are not all men, for all in fact are not converted ; nor does it appear to be the design and pur pose of God to convert all men ; nor does he give sufficient grace to all men to convert themselves if they will ; for he does not so much as give to all men the means of grace, the outward ministry of the word ; this was not vouchsafed to the Gentiles for hundreds of years before the coming of Christ ; and since, millions have never been favoured with it: nor are multitudes at this day; and those who have the Scriptures to read, to many it is a sealed book, and to all, unless opened by the Spirit of God; and to whom the gospel is preached, it is hid unless it is given them to know the mysteries of the kingdom, which is not the case of all ; the persons converted are the elect of God, both among Jews and Gentiles : in the first ages of the gospel, many among the Gentiles were converted, and churches formed of them ; and ever since there have been conversions among them, and even to this day, and in the latter day an abundance of them will be converted ; and when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, then the Jews, of whom only now and then one is converted, they will be all as a nation, born again, converted and saved. They are redeemed ones who are converted ; and the reason why they are converted is, because they are redeemed ; / will hiss for them, by the ministry of the word, and gather them, which is another phrase for conversion, because I have redeemed them, Zech. x. 8 ; they whom God converts, are the same persons for whom he has provided forgiveness of sins in the covenant of his grace, and an eternal inheritance in his divine purpose ; for the apostle says, he was sent by Christ to turn men unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ, Acts xxvi. 18. In a word, they are described as sinners ; Sinners shall be converted unto thee, Psalm li. 13 ; sinners by nature and by practice, and some of them the worst and chief of sinners; and therefore the wonderful grace of God is the more displayed in their conversion, 1 Tim. i. 3, 14, 15. "%.

IH OP SANCTIFICATION. The foundation of Sanctification is laid in regeneration ; as it is a holy principle, it is first formed in that ; the new creature, or new man, is created in righteousness and true holiness ; and it appears in effect ual vocation, which is a holy calling ; and is to be seen in conversion, which is a turning of men from their iniquities : and that holiness which is begun in regeneration, and is manifest in effectual calling and conversion, is carried on in sanctification, which is a gradual and pro gressive work, and issues, and is finished in glorification ; so that it may, with propriety, be distinguished from regeneration, effectual calling, and conversion, and be separately treated of. There is a sanctification which is more peculiarly ascribed to God the Father ; and which is no other than his eternal election of men to it ; under the law, persons and things separated and devoted to holy uses, are said to be sanctified ; hence those who arc set apart by God for his use and service, and are chosen by him to holiness here and here after, are said to be sanctified by God the Father, Jude 1. There is a sanctification also that is more peculiar to Christ the Son of God ; not only as he is the representative of his people, and is holiness to the Lord for them ; which is what the high-priest had upon his forehead, who was a type of him, and the representative of Israel ; and as he has the whole stock of grace and holiness in his hands, which is communicated to the saints as is necessary ; and as the holiness of his human nature is, with his active and passive obedience, imputed to their justification, and so makes a part of that ; hence he is said to be made to them sanctification, 1 Cor. i. 30; but as the expiation of their sins is made by his blood and sacrifice, this is called a sanctification; Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his blood, &c Heb. xiii. 12. But there is another sanctification, which is more peculiar to the holy Spirit of God, and is called the sanctification of the Spirit, 2 Thess. ii. 13, 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; and this is the sanctification to be treated of. Concerning which may be inquired, I. What it is, and the nature of it. It is something that is holy, both in its principle and in its actings ; and is superior to any thing that can come from man, or be performed by him of himself. It does not lie in a conformity to the light of nature, and the dictates of it ; nor is it what may go by the name of moral virtue, which are exercised by some of the heathen philosophers, to a very great degree, and yet they had not a grain of holiness in them ; but were full of the lusts of envy, ambition, pride, revenge, &c ; nor does it lie in a bare, external conformity to the law of God, or in an outward reformation of life and manners ; this appeared in the Pharisees to a great degree, who were pure in their own eyes, and thought themselves holier than others, and disdained them, and yet their hearts were full of all manner of impurity. Nor is what is called restraining grace, sanctification ; persons may be restrained by the injunctions of parents and masters,

142 OF SANCTIFICATION. by the laws of magistrates, and by the ministry of the word, from the grosser sins of life ; and be preserved by the providence of God, from the pollutions of the world, and yet not be sanctified. Nor are gifts ordinary or extraordinary, sanctifying grace ; Judas Iscariot, no doubt, hath both, the ordinary gifts of a preacher, and the extraordinary gifts of an apostle, and yet not a holy man. Gifts are not grace ; a man may have all gifts, and all knowledge, and speak with the tongue of men and angels, and not have grace ; there may be a silver tongue where there is an unsanctified heart ! Nor is sanctification a restora tion of the lost image of Adam, or a reparation and an amendment of that image marred by the sin of man ; or a new vamping upon the old principles of nature : but it is something entirely new ; a new creature, a new man, a new heart, and a new spirit ; and the conformity of a man to another image, even to the image of the second Adam, the Son of God. Some make sanctification to lie in the deposition, or putting off, of the old man, and in the putting on of the new man. This has a foundation in the word of God, and belongs to sanctification, and may be admitted, if understood of the actings of it, as these are, which suppose a previous principle from which they arise. By the old man, is meant corrupt nature ; which is as old as a man is in whom it is, and which he brings into the world with him ; and by the putting of it off, is not meant the removal of it from him ; for it continues with him, even with a sanctified person, as long as he is in the world ; nor any change in the nature of it, which always remains the same, much less a destruction of it, which will not be till this earthly house is dis solved : but a dispossession of its power, a displacing it from its throne, so as not to yield obedience to the lusts of it ; nor walking according to the dictates of it ; nor have the conversation according to it. By the new man, is meant the new principle of grace and holiness, wrought in the soul in regeneration; and by the putting on of that, the exercise of the several graces of which it consists; see Col. iii. 12, 13. Others distinguish sanctification, into vivification and mortification: and both these are to be observed in sanctification. Sanctification, as a principle, is a holy, living principle, infused ; by which a man that was dead in trespasses and sins, is quickened ; and from whence flow living acts ; such as living by faith on Christ ; walking in newness of life ; living soberly, righteously, and godly: all which belong to sanc tification. And there is such a thing as mortification ; not in a literal and natural sense, of the body, by fasting, scourging, &c Nor is it the abolition of the body of sin, by the sacrifice of Christ ; nor the destruction of the principle and being of sin in regenerate and sancti fied persons ; for though they do not live in sin, yet sin lives in them, and is sometimes very active and powerful : but the weakening of the power of sin, and a mortification of the deeds of the body, and of the members on earth ; so that a course of sin is not lived in, but men are dead unto it; and to which the Spirit of God, and his grace, aro necessary, Rom. viii. 13. But leaving these things, I shall more par

OF SANCTIFICATION. 143 ticularly consider sanctification as a holy principle, and the holy actings of it. i. As a holy principle. The first rise of which is in regeneration ; there it is first formed, as before observed. And this is no other than the good work of grace begun in the hearts of regenerate ones. It is a work, not of men ; for as regeneration is not of the will of men ; nor conversion by might or power of men ; so neither is sanctification ; none can say, I have made my heart clean, or have sanctified myself; it is the work of God ; We are his workmanship, and a curious piece of workmanship sanctification is ; too curious for a creature to perform ; it is done in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, It is a good work ; the efficient cause is good, God himself; the moving cause good, his love, grace, kindness, and good-will ; the matter good, some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel ; the instrumental cause or means, the good word of God : and it is good in its effects ; it makes a man a good man, and fits him for the performance of good works, and is the source of them. It is commonly called, a work of grace, and with great propriety ; since it flows from the free, sovereign, and abundant grace of God in Christ ; and is an implantation of all grace in the heart. And in Scripture it is called, the work of faith, because faith is a principal part of it ; and in the exercise of which sanctification much lies ; hence saints are said to bo sanctified by faith, which is in Christ, Acts xxvi. 18. It is an internal work ; it is a work begun in the soul, which the Spirit of God works in the hearts of his people, by putting the fear of God, and every other grace, there ; hence it goes by various names, which show it to be something within a man, and not any thing external ; it is called, the inward man, and the hidden man of the heart, which has its place there, and is not obvious to every one, Rom. vii. 22, 1 Pet. iii. 4; and not only from the author of it, the Spirit of God ; and from the nature of it, being spiritual, and conversant with spiritual things ; but from the seat and subject of it, the spirit or soul of man ; it is called spirit, being wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God, John iii. 6. It has also the name of seed, which sometimes signifies the word; which being cast into the heart, and taking place there, becomes the engrafted word ; and sometimes grace itself, which is like seed sown in the earth, which lies hid in it awhile, and then springs and grows up, a man knows not how ; and this is that seed which remains in the heart of believers, and is never lost, 1 John iii. 9. Sometimes it is compared to a root, which lies under ground, is not seen, and is the cause of fruit being brought forth upwards; and may be what Job calls, the root of the matter in him ; and which the stony-ground hearers being without, withered, and came to nothing. It is called, truth in the inward parts; which is expressive . of the inte grity and uprightness of the heart, of a true and right spirit created there, and of the truth and reality of grace and holiness, or true holiness, in which the new man is created, Psalm l. 6, 10, Eph. iv. 24. Once more, it is signified by oil in the vessel of the heart, had with tho lamp of an external profession, Matt. xxv. 4 ; by oil is meant grace, so called for its illuminating nature, grace is spiritual light in the under

Hi OF SANCTIFICATION. standing; and for its suppling, softening nature, it takes off the hardness of the heart, and the stubbornness of the will ; and because it will not mix with other liquids, as grace will not mix with sin ; and which is had, held, and retained in the heart, as in a vessel : and from which the lamp of profession is distinct, which is- more visible. I proceed, ii. To consider sanctification in its holy actings. With respect to God ; which appear in the disposition of the mind, the motions of the heart Godwards, and in the behaviour and conduct of a saint before him, and with regard unto him ; and which become manifest,—1. In a holy reverence of him, on account of his nature, perfections, works, and blessings of goodness. In an unsanctifiod man, there is no fear of God before his eyes ; but where a principle of grace and holiness is wrought, the fear of God soon appears ; it is the begin ning of wisdom ; and is one of the first things that appear in a rege nerate man ; he cannot do what he before did, and others do ; so did not I because of thefear of God : Nehem. v. 15 ; such an one will serve the Lord with reverence and godly fear. — 2. Sanctification shows itself in love to God, and delight in him. An unsanctified man cannot love God, who is pure and holy; nor take any delight in him, in his word, his ways, and worship ; the carnal mind is enmity to God, and desires him to depart from him, and chooses not the knowledge of his ways ; nay, one that has taken on him the mask of religion, and is not sincere, can have no true affection for God, nor pleasure in the things of God. Job says of the hypocrite, Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? will he always call upon God? No, he will not. But in regeneration and sanctification, the Lord circumcises the heart, or regenerates and sanctifies it, to love the Lord with all the heart, &c, that is, sincerely and cordially. — 3. It appears in submission to the will of God in all things, even in the most adverse dispensations of providence ; as the instances of Aaron, Eli, David, and others show ; who murmured not, nor complained, but were' still and quiet, and resigned to the divine will, under some severe rebukes of providence. Much of sanctification lies in the conformity of our wills to the will of God. That holy man Bishop Usher said of it, " Sanctification is nothing less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his will to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love, and as a whole burnt-offering to Christ."—4. It is to be seen in religious exercises, and in acts of devotion to God, and in the oxerciso of grace in them ; as in an affectionate attendance on the ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances ; and in fervent prayer, which is the breath of a sanctified soul towards God. Holiness only appears in these things, or is real, when grace is in exercise in them ; for otherwise, there may be an outward performance of them, and yet not true holiness. — 5. The holy actings of sanctification, may be dis cerned in the earnest pantings, and eager desires of the soul after communion with God, both in private and public ; when a soul cannot be content with ordinances without enjoying God in them ; when it pants after him, as the hart pants after the water-brooks ; and when

OP SANCTIFICATION. 145 without him, seeks everywhere for him, till it finds him, and then exults in its fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ. — 6. A soul that is sanctified by the Spirit of God, seeks the glory of God in all it does, whether in things civil or religious : one that is unsanctified, and only makes a show of religion, and of good works, he does all to be seen of men, and seeks his own glory therein ; whatever show of devotion and holiness may be made by such persons, there is not a grain of holiness in them. Whereas he that seeks the glory of God in all, the same is true, hearty and sincere, a real saint, and no unrighteousness is in him, no insincerity and dissimulation. 2. Sanctification discovers itself in its holy actings, with respect to Christ.—1 . In applying to him for cleansing ; as in a view of its guilt, it applies to his blood for pardon ; and to his righteousness for justi fication ; so under a sight and senso of its pollution, and of the spread ing leprosy of sin all over it ; it goes to him as the leper did, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make mo clean ! and such deal with his blood for the purification of their souls, as well as for the remission of their sins ; and have their hearts purified by faith in it.—2. In sub jection to him, as King of saints ; they not only receive him as their Prophet, to teach and instruct them, and embrace his doctrines ; and as their Priest, by whose sacrifice their sins are expiated ; but as their King, to whose laws and ordinances they cheerfully submit; esteeming his precepts-, concerning all things, to be right, none of his command ments grievous ; but, from a principle of love to him, keep and observe them.—3. In setting him always before them, as an example to copy after ; being desirous of walking even as ho walked ; both in the exercise of the graces of faith, love, patience, humility, &c, and in the discharge of duty. — 4. Inadesireof a greater degree of conformity to the image of Christ, which is what they are predestinated unto ; which first appears in regeneration, and is increased by every believing view of Christ and his glory, and will be completed, in the future state ; hence sanctified souls desire to bo with Christ, that they might be per fectly like him, as well as see him as he is. 3. Sanctification is discovered in its actings, with respect to the Holy Spirit. — 1. In minding, savouring, and relishing, the things of the Spirit of God. They that are after the flesh, carnal, unregenerate, unsanctified ones, mind the things of theflesh, carnal and sensual lusts and pleasures : but they that are after tlie Spirit, who are regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God, mind the things of the Spirit, which he reveals, recommends, and directs to ; these they savour, relish, highly value, and esteem, Rom. viii. 5. — 2. In walking after the dictates and teachings of the Spirit ; so sanctified persons are described as such who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom. viii. 1.— 3. In a desire and carefulness not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom they have their present grace and experience, joy and comfort, and by whom they are sealed to the day of redemption, by any disagreeable behaviour to him, to ono another, and in the world, Eph. iv. 30.;—4. In a desire to live and walk in the Spirit ; to live in a spiritual manner,'under his influence, to exercise every grace, and VOL. II. I. s

146 OF SANCTIFICATION. abound therein, through his power ; to perform every duty by his assist ance ; and to wait, through him, for the hope of righteousness by faith. 4. The actings of sanctification are apparent, with respect to sin. — 1. In approving, loving, and delighting in the law of God, which forbids it, and condemns for it. An unsanctified man cannot brook the law of God on this account ; he is not subjected to it ; nor can ho be, without efficacious grace exerted on him ; he despises it, and casts it behind his back : whereas, a man sanctified by the Spirit of God, approves of the law of God, as holy, just, and good, -and loves it exceedingly ; How love I thy law ! says David ; and he delights in it, after the inward man, and serves it with his mind and spirit, Rom. vii. 12—25.—2. In a dislike of sin, and a displicency at it ; it is displeas ing to him, as it is contrary to the holy nature of God, a breach of his righteous law, and is in its own nature exceeding sinful, as well as disagreeable in its effects and consequences.—3. In a loathing sin, and in abhorrence of it. An unsanctified man chooses his own ways, and delights in his abominations; he takes pleasure in committing sin himself, and in those that do it ; sin is a sweet morsel, which he rolls in his mouth, and keeps under his tongue ; but one that has the prin ciple and grace of holiness, loathes his sin, and himself for it ; and, with Job, abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. — 4. In a hatred of sin ; unholy persons, hate the good and love the evil ; but a holy man, loves righteousness and hates iniquity: such that love the Lord, cannot but hate evil ; it being so extremoly opposite to him : he hates, not only sinful actions, and even what he himself does, though he would not do them, but vain thoughts also, Psalm cxix. 113.—5. In an opposition to sin : a sanctified man, not only does not make pro vision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it ; does not regard it in his heart, so as to encourage, nourish, and cherish it : but he acts tho part of an antagonist to it, striving against sin ; the spirit lusteth against the flesh ; grace opposes sin, upon the first motion of it, and temptation to it ; he has that principle within him that argues thus, How can I do this great wickedness, &c—6. In an abstinence from it, even from every appearance of it, a passing by the ways of it, and avoiding every avenue that leads to it, as being what wars against the soul, and is dangerous and hurtful to it. The grace of God im planted in the heart, as well as displayed in the word, teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.—7. Sanctification appears in lamenting sin, in deploring the corruption of nature, bewailing indwelling-sin, as well as all sinful actions, of thought, word, and deed ; sanctified persons are like doves of the valley, every one mourning for his own iniquities, and for thoso of others, and the sad effects of them. — 8. In earnest desires to be wholly freed from sin ; uneasy that vain thoughts should so long lodge within them, weary of a body of sin and death, they groan under the burden of it, and cry, O wretched men that we are ! who shall deliver us from it ? they long to be with Christ, and to be in heaven ; for this reason greatly, among others, that they may be entirely free from sin, and be perfectly holy. Now can such actings in the mind, and in life, sp*ring from nature ?

OF SANCTIFICATION. 147 must they not arise from a principle of holiness in the heart ? can there be such reverence of God, love to him, resignation to his will, affectionate and fervent devotion to him, desires of communion with him, and a concern in all things for his glory, without a supernatural principle of grace and holiness in the soul ? Is it possible, that an unsanctified man should ever apply to Christ for cleansing, be subject to him as King, be desirous of walking as he walked, and of being wrought up to a conformity to him ? or be concerned to mind the things of the Spirit, and to walk after the Spirit, and to live in him, and be careful not to grieve him? can there be such actings in the mind concerning sin, as to love the law, which forbids it ; to dislike sin, abhor it, and hate it ; engage in an opposition to it, abstain from it, lament it, and earnestly desire to be rid of it ; can these be the produce of nature ? or be without being internally sanctified by tho Spirit of God ? II. The subjects of sanctification are next to bo enquired into ; who they are that are sanctified, and what of them. i. Who are sanctified ?—not all men ; all men are unholy, and need sanctification ; but all are not made holy; somo are filthy, and remain filthy still.—1. Then they are the elect of God; and all of them, whom God chose in eternity, he sanctifies in time ; those who are a chosen generation, become a holy people ; whom God chose, he chose to holiness, as an end which is always answered, and ho chose them through sanctification, as a means in order to a further end, salvation; conformity to the imago of the Son of God, in which sanctification lies, is what the chosen are predestinated unto ; and in consequence of their predestination, are made partakers of it. Faith, which is a part of sanctification, flows from electing grace, and is insured by it ; as many as are ordained to eternal life believe, and are evorlastingly glorified, which is their perfect sanctification.—2. They are the redeemed ones; the subjects of election, redemption, and sanctification, are the same persons. In order, they are first chosen, then redeemed, and then sanctified ; those who aro chosen by the Father, and redeemed by the Son, are sanctified by the Spirit. One end of Christ's redemption of them, was to sanctify and purify them, a peculiar people to himself, zealous of good works ; and that they being dead to sin, and that to them, through his sacrifice for sin, they might live unto righteousness ; hence of the same persons it is said, They shall call them the holy people, the redeemed ofthe Lord! Isa. lxii. 12. ii. What of those persons are sanctified ? The whole of them ; the God of peace sanctify you wholly; that is, as next explained, in soul, body, and spirit, 1 Thess. v. 23. — 1. The soul or spirit is the principal seat or subject of sanctification, in all tho powers and faculties of it ; Be renewed in the spirit ofyour minds, Eph. iv. 23. It is the heart into which tho fear of God is put, and which is circumcised to love the Lord, and which is purified by faith : it is the understanding that is enlightened, to discern holy and spiritual things ; and so to mind them, approve of them, and gaze at them, with wonder and delight : the will is bow.ed to the will of God, and mado willing in the day of l2

148 OP SANCTIFICATION. his power, to serve him, as well as to be saved by him ; and which is resigned to all the dispensations of divine providence : the affections are made spiritual, holy, and heavenly ; from whence springs a cheerful obedience to the commands of God and Christ : and the mind and conscience, which were defiled with sin, are purged from dead works to serve the living God.—2. The body also is influenced by sanctifying grace. As, though the heart is tho principal seat of sin, out of which all manner of wickedness flows, and spreads itself, not -only over the powers and faculties of the soul, but also over the members of the body ; so that there is no part nor place clean : thus, though the soul is the principal seat of sanctification, yet it diffuses its influence, as over all the powers of the soul, so over all the members of the body ; its sensual appetite and carnal lusts are checked and restrained by sanctifying grace ; so that sin reigns not in our mortal bodies, as to obey the lusts thereof, and to yield our members, as instruments of unrighteousness, unto sin, Rom. vi. 12, 13. III. The causes of sanctification, by whom it is effected, from whence it springs, and by what means it is carried on, and at last finished.— 1. The efficient cause is God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Sometimes it is ascribed to the Father, the God of all grace, who will make us" perfect, perfectly holy ; the very God of peace, with whom we have peace, through Christ, will sanctify us wholly ; the Father, on whom we call, the Father of Christ, and of us, says, Be ye holy, as lam holy, and who only can make us so, 1 Pet. i. 16. And Christ is not only our sanctification, but our sanctifier ; He that sanctifieth is Christ, and they who are sanctified are his chosen and redeemed ones ; and these are all of one, Heb. ii. 11 ; of one and of tho same nature,*he partakes of their nature, and they are made partakers of his ; all that holiness which they have, they have from him ; from that fulness of it which is in him. Though this work of sanctification is more commonly ascribed to the Holy Spirit, who is therefore called, the Spirit of holiness; not only from his own nature, but from his being the author of holiness in the hearts of God's people, and which is therefore called, the sanctifi cation of the Spirit ; it is he that begins, and carries on, and finishes this work ; every grace is from him, faith, hope, and love, and every other ; and which are supported and maintained, and drawn forth into exercise, and brought to perfection by him. — 2. The moving cause, is the grace and good-will of God, the same grace which moved God to choose any to holiness, moves him to work it in them ; the same grace which moved him to send his Son into the world to redeem men, moves him to send his Spirit into their hearts to sanctify them : the same great love, and abundant mercy, that moves him to regenerate and quicken them, moves him to sanctify them : as of his own good-will he begets them again, it is of his own good-will that he sanctifies them ; Tnis is the will of God, not only his will of precept, and his approving will ; but the purpose and counsel of his will, what flows from his sovereign will ; even your sanctification, 1 Thess. iv. 3. The state and condition of the people of God, before their sanctification, clearly shows that it must arise, not from anv merit or motive in them ; but N

OF SANCTIFICATION. 149 from the free-favour and good-will of God, 1 Cor. vi. 9—11.—3. The instrumental cause, or means, is the word of God ; both the written word, the scriptures, which are holy scriptures ; the author holy, the matter holy, and, when attended with a divine power and influence, are the means of making men holy, and of fitting and furnishing them for every good work ; and also the word preached, when accompanied with the same power ; Faith comes by hearing, and is increased thereby : the doctrines of the gospel are according to godliness ; and with a divine blessing, influence both the heart and life to godliness and holiness ; the ordinances are made and continued, for the perfecting of the saints, for the carrying on, and perfecting the work of holiness in them ; and various providences of God, even afflictive ones, are designed of God, and are means, in his hand, of making his people moro and more partakers of his holiness, Heb. xii. 10 ; of this use afflictions were to holy David, Psalm cxix. 67, 71. IV. The adjuncts or properties of sanctification. i. It is imperfect in the present state, though it will most certainly be made perfect ; where the work is begun it will be performed : sanctification in Christ is perfect, but sanctification in the saints them selves is imperfect ; it is perfect with respect to parts, but not with respect to degrees. Sanctification, as a principle, which is the new creature, or new man, has all his parts ; though these are not grown up to the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ, as they will do ; where there is one grace, thero is every grace, though none perfect; there is a comparative perfection in the samts, when compared with what they themselves onco were, and others are ; and when com pared even with other saints, for one saint may have a greater degree of grace and holiness than another ; let us therefore, as many as be perfect ; and yet the greatest of those was not absolutely perfect, even the apostle himself, who so said, Phil. iii. 12, 17; all the saints may be said to be perfect, as perfection denotes sincerity and truth ; so their faith, though imperfect, is unfeigned ; their hope is without hypocrisy, and their love without dissimulation ; but otherwise sanctification in the best of men is imperfect; this appears,— 1. From the continual wants of the saints ; they are always poor and needy, as David says of himself ; which could not bo true of him as to things temporal, but as to things spiritual : the best of saints continually stand in need of more grace to oppose sin, resist temptations, perform duty, and persevere in faith and holiness ; the grace of God is sufficient for them, but then that must be daily communicated to them ; God has promised to supply, and he does supply all their need, as it returns upon them : but then it cannot be said that they are perfect and entire, wanting nothing ; since they are continually in want of more grace.—2. This appears from their disclaiming perfection in themselves, and their desires after it. Job, David, the apostle Paul, and others, have in express words declared they were not perfect, nor thought themselves so, but far from it ; and yet expressed strong desires after it which showed they had it not ; the apostle Paul has fully set forth both in those words of his, Not as though I had already attained, Sfc. Phil. iii. y

150 OP SANCTIFICATION. 12—14.—3. That Sanctification is imperfect, is abundantly manifest from indwelling sin in the saints, and the sad effects of it ; the apostle Paul speaks of sin dwelling in him, Rom. vii. 18 ; and John says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 1 John i. 8 ; and the experience of the saints in all ages testifies the same : this is clear from their ingenuous confessions of sin, such as made by Jacob, David, Isaiah, Daniel, and others ; from their groans and complaints under the weight of sin, as a heavy burden, too heavy to bear ; from the con tinual war in them between flesh and the spirit, the law in their members and the law in their minds ; from their prayers for the manifestation of the pardon of their sins, and for cleansing from them, and to be kept from the commission of them ; from the many slips and falls which the best are subject to in one way or another ; and from backwardness to duty, remissness in it, and that coldness and lukewarmness which too often attend it.—4. This is also evident from the several parts of sanctification, and the several graces of which it consists, being imperfect. Faith is imperfect ; there are deficiencies in faith to be made up ; the best of saints have had them, and their failings in the exercise of that grace have been manifest, as in Abraham, Peter, and others ; and they have been sensiblo of their imperfection in it, as the apostles of Christ were when they said, Lord increase our faith, or add to it, Luke xvii. 5 ; hope sometimes is so low as that it seems to be perished from the Lord, and only the mouth is put in the dust with an if so be there may be hope, Lam. iii. 18. Love, however warm and fervent at first, remits and abates ; its ardour is left, though that is not lost ; the love of many waxes cold. Spiritual, experimental, sanctified knowledge is but in part, and will remain so until that which is perfect is come. ii. Though sanctification is imperfect, it is progressive, it is going on gradually till it comes to perfection ; this is clear from the charac ters of the saints, who are first as little children, infants new-born ; are in a state of childhood, and by degrees come to be young men, strong and robust, and overcome the evil one, and at length are fathers in Christ, 1 John ii. 13, 14; and from the similes by which the work of grace is illustrated ; as that in general by seed sown in the earth, which springs up first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear ; and faith in particular by a grain of mustard-seed, which when first sown is small, the least of all seeds, but when it grows up, it becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out great branches ; so spiritual light and knowledge at first is very dim and obscure, like the sight that the man had whose eyes Christ opened ; first he saw men like trees walking, and after that all things clearly ; so the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, Prov. iv. 18 ; there is such a thing as growing in grace, in the grace of faith, and abounding in hope and love, and increasing in the knowledge of divine things ; which there would be no room for, if sanctification was perfect. Yet, in. Though it is imperfect, it will certainly be perfected ; grace in the soul is a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life : it

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. 151 is always running to, and will issue in eternal life : it is certain, from election and redemption, the ends whereof would not be answered, if this was not completed ; and from its being the work of the holy Spirit, who having begun it, will finish it ; he is a rock, and his work is perfect : having undertaken it, he will not leave it till it is done ; and when he works, none can let ; he will perfect that which concerneth his saints, and will fulfil the good pleasure of his will in them, and the work of faith, with power. iv. Sanctification is absolutely necessary to salvation. It is neces sary to the saints, as an evidence of their election and redemption ; this is the closing work of grace, and is the evidence of all that goes before. It is necessary to church-fellowship, to the communion of saints in a social manner. Members of churches are described as holy brethren, saints, and faithful in Christ Jesus, and none are meet to be admitted among them but such who are so ; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? &c, 2 Cor. vi. 14—16. Sanctifica tion is necessary as a meetness for heaven ; for the inheritance of the saints in light ; without regeneration, in which sanctification is begun, no man shall see, nor enter, into the kingdom of God. It is absolutely necessary for the beatific vision of God in a future state; Without holiness no man shall see the Lord ; but being possessed of that, they shall see him, and enjoy uninterrupted communion with him for ever. To say no more, it is necessary for the work of heaven, which is singing songs of praise ; songs of electing, redeeming, regenerating, calling, and persevering grace ; how can unholy persons join with the saints in such work and service as this ? yea, it would be irksome and disagreeable to themselves, could they be admitted to it, and were capable of it ; neither of which can be allowed. OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. The doctrine of the saints' final perseverance in grace to glory, is next to be considered ; which is, that those who are truly regenerated, effectually called, and really converted, and internally sanctified by the Spirit and grace of God, shall persevere in grace to the end, and shall be everlastingly saved ; or shall never finally and totally fall, so as to perish everlastingly. This truth may be confirmed. I. From various passages of scripture, which clearly hold it forth and assert it; it is written as with a sunbeam in the sacred writings; and to give the whole compass of the proof of it, which they will admit, would be to transcribe great part of the Bible. I shall only therefore select some passages, both out of the Old and New Testament, which fully express it. i. Job. chap. xvii. 9 ; The righteous also shall hold on his way ; and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger ! By the righteous man is meant one that is made truly righteous, by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and which he receives by faith ; in consequence of which he lives soberly and righteously: and by his way is meant,

152 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. Christ the way ; in whom he walks as he has received him, as the Lord his righteousness. And it is promised, he shall hold on in this his way ; which is opposed to going back, turning aside, and standing still ; if he went back, or apostatized, or turned either to the right hand or the left, or was at a full stop, he could not be said to go on ; and if he goes on, he must persevere ; and though he meets with discourage ments in the way, from sin, and Satan, and the world, yet he goes on ; and though he may slip and slide, and stumble, and even fall ; yet as the traveller, when this is his case, gets up again and pursues his journey ; so the believer rises again in the strength of Christ in whom he walks, and in the exercise of faith and repentance ; and still goes on his way, rejoicing in Christ his righteousness and strength ; to which his going on is owing, and not to his own conduct, power, and strength. As hands are an emblem of action, by clean hands are meant a holy, upright walk and conversation, arising from an inward principle of grace in the heart; as appears by comparing Psalm xv. 1, 2, with Psalm xxiv. 3, 4 ; and such a man who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, though he may have but little strength, yet he has some, which is here supposed ; and as ho wants more, to resist temptations, oppose corruptions, exercise grace, and perform duty, he shall have more, be stronger and stronger, as here promised : God will, and does, give power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength, and renews their strength, so that they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint, and consequently persevere to the end ; yea, the way of the Lord itself is strength unto them ; as they walk in it, they become stronger and stronger, and go from strength to strength, till they appear before God in Zion above, Psalm lxxxiv. 5 —7. Now if the righteous shall hold on his way, he must persevere ; and if the good man shall be stronger and stronger, he must endure to the end, and be saved ; or otherwise, he would become weaker and weaker, until he had no strength at all ; and then how would this promise be fulfilled ? ii. Another passage of scripture proving the saints' final persever ance, is Psalm xciv. 14, For the Lord will not cast off his people, Ssc, the Lord's peoplo arc his special and peculiar people, whom he has loved, chosen, redeemed, and called, his fore-known people ; these ho never casts off, casts out, nor casts away, Rom. xi. 2, though he may seem to do so ; and they may think he has, when he does not imme diately arise for their help in distress ; and when he withdraws his presence, or afflicts them, or suffers them to be afflicted by others, which seems to be their case in this Psalm ; and for their comfort these words are said, God does not cast off, at least for ever, as unbelief sometimes suggests ; he never casts them off, nor casts them out from being in his sight ; for they arc engraven on the palms of his hands ; nor from being on his heart, for they are set as a seal there ; nor from a place in his house, for being sons they always abide there ; and who ever casts them off, or casts out their names as evil, he never will ; so far from it, that he takes the utmost delight and complacency in them ; grants them nearness to himself, and expresses the strongest affection

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 153 for them, and takes the greatest care of them, even as the apple of his eye : and these are his inheritance, which he will never forsake, though he may seem to forsake them for a little while, yet he never does, finally and totally ; he has promised he will not, and is faithful who has promised ; he never forsakes their persons, neither in youth nor in old age ; nor the work of his hands on them, but fulfils the good pleasure of his goodness in them, and the work of faith with power ; and for this reason he will not forsake them, because they aro his inheritance which he has chosen, his jewels, and his peculiar treasure ; and therefore will never lose them : if, therefore, he will not cast off his people for ever, nor utterly forsake them, then they shall persevere to the end, and be saved, and not everlastingly perish. m. This doctrine may be concluded from Psalm exxv. 1, 2, the persons described are such who trust in the Lord, and not in the crea ture, nor in creature-services ; that trust in him at all times, and for all things ; for temporal and spiritual blessings ; for grace and glory : these are like mount Zion, for many things, but especially for its immoveableness ; for those, like that, cannot be removed, not from the love of God, in which they aro rooted and grounded ; nor from the covenant of grace, which is as immoveable as hills and mountains, yea, more so ; they may be removed, but that cannot bo removed ; nor the Lord's covenant-people out of it ; nor out of the hands of Christ, out of whose hands none can pluck ; nor off of him, the foundation, on which they are laid, which is a sure and everlasting one ; nor out of a state of grace, in which they stand ; neither of sanctification, which is con nected with life everlasting ; nor of justification, for those who have passed from death to life, shall never enter into condemnation. These, like mount Zion, abide for ever ; they abide on the heart of God, in the hands of Christ, on him the sure-foundation laid in Zion ; in the house of God, and in the family of his people. And what makes their safety and security appear still the greater, is, that as Jerusalem was encompassed with mountains, which were a natural and strong fortifi cation to it ; so the Lord is round about his people, even for ever ; he surrounds them with his love, encompasses them with his favours, as with a shield, guards them by his special providence, and watches over them night and day, lest any hurt them ; and keeps thom by his power as in a garrison, through faith unto salvation. And if all theso things are true of them, as they most certainly are, then they shall finally persevere in grace, and be eternally saved. iv. This truth will receive further proof from Jer. xxxii. 40, And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, &c In which words are more proofs than one of the saints' final perseverance. This may be concluded, — 1. From the perpetuity of the covenant made with them ; which is not a covenant of works, promising life on doing ; then their perseverance would be precarious ; but of grace, sovereign and free ; and so is a better covenant, and established on better promises, which are absolute and unconditional, not depending on any thing to be per formed by them ; but which runs thus, l will, and they shall ; a cove nant ordered in all things, not one thing wanting in it, conducive to

154 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. the welfare and happiness of the saints ; in all spiritual blessings, for time and eternity, in both grace and glory, which are eternally secured in it, and therefore said to be sure ; its blessings are the sure mercies of David, its promises yea, and amen, in Christ ; and the whole is ratified and confirmed by the blood of Christ, and sure to all the spiritual seed, to all interested in it ; a covenant not made with them as considered by themselves, but with Christ, as their head, and with them in him ; and is kept, and stands fast with him for evermore. It is an everlasting covenant, flows from everlasting love, and founded on an everlasting purpose ; consists of promises, which God that cannot lie, made before the world began ; and of grace, and blessings of grace, given in Christ so early, who was set up as the Mediator of it from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was ; and the cove nant-ones, with all their grace, were put into his hands ; all which show the certainty of their perseverance ; for as God knew so early, when he took them into covenant, and provided for them, what they would be, even transgressors from the womb, and do as evil as they could ; and yet this hmdered not his taking them into covenant ; then it may be depended upon, that none of these things shall ever throw them out of it, for it abides to everlasting ; God that made it, has com manded it for ever ; he will never break it ; it shall never be antiquated and made void, by another covenant succeeding it ; its blessings are irreversible, and its promises are always fulfilled ; its grace is sufficient for the saints under all their temptations, trials, and exercises, to bear them up, and bear them through time to eternity: covenant interest always continues ; he that is their covenant-God, will be their God and guide even unto death, and through it, to the world beyond the grave ; and therefore they shall most certainly persevere, and be saved. — 2. This may be confirmed from the promise made in the covenant, that God will not turn away from them to do them good ! he may withdraw his gracious presence, and return again, which shows that he does not turn away from them for ever ; he never turns from his affections to them, which are unalterably fixed on them ; nor from his kind purposes concerning them ; for he is in one mind, and none can turn him : nor from his gracious promises to them ; for he is not a man, that he should lie or repent ; but what he has said, he will do, and not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips ; nor from his gifts bestowed on them, which are without repentance, and which he never revokes, or calls in again : and he continues to do them good, both in things temporal and spiritual, as they stand in need of them ; he has laid up much good for them in covenant, and in the hands of his Son ; and he has bestowed much good upon them, given himself to them to be their portion and exceedmg great reward ; his Son, and all things with him ; the holy Spirit, and his graces : and continues the supplies of his grace, and carries on his good work in them, and makes all things to work together for their good. — 3. This is further strengthened by what follows ; I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me; not that they shall cease to sin ; every sin being, in a sense, a departure from his precepts, and his judgments ; nor that

OF THE PERSEVEKAIsXE OP THE SAINTS. 155 they shall not revolt and backslide from God, to which they are prone ; and which backslidings are partial departures from him ; but then these do not break the relation between God and them, as of father and children, of husband and wife : and besides, he heals their back slidings, and still loves them freely, Hos. xiv. 4 ; but they do not wickedly depart from him ; as David says, Psalm xviii. 22, purposely, obstinately, and with an evil intent, and finally and totally. They do not depart from the word of faith they have received ; this, when it has once a place in their hearts, and becomes the engrafted word, and they have a true experience of, can never be utterly departed from, through the sleight of them who lie in wait to deceive : nor from the worship, ordinances, and people of God ; having set their hand to the plough, they neither turn back nor look back, so as entirely to leave the good ways and good people of God ; and this the fear of God, put into their hearts, guards them against, and influences them to the contrary, Neh. v. 15. Now if God will not turn away from his people, and will continue to do them good ; if he so influences their hearts with his fear that they shall not depart from him, then they shall certainly persevere to the end, and be saved. v. Another passage of scripture, which clearly expresses this truth, is in John x. 28. / give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand ! These words are spoken of the sheep of Christ, which he has a property in, whom the Father has given to him, and he has laid down his life for ; whom he knows and calls by name, and they follow him in paths he directs them to : now to these he gives eternal life, which he has in his hands, and a right to bestow ; and which he does give to all his chosen, redeemed, and called ones ; and if he gives them eternal life, they must live for ever, or it would not be an eternal life he gives them ; they can never die the second death, or be hurt by it ; but must persevere in a life of grace, till they come to a life of glory ; and if Christ says, they shall neverperish, who dare say they may or shall perish ? though they were lost in Adam, with the rest of mankind, yet they were preserved in Christ, and saved by him, who came to seek and to save that .which was lost ; and though in their nature-state they seem ready to perish, and see themselves to be in such a condition, and therefore apply to Christ, and say, Lord, save us, we perish ! yet they never shall really perish ; for he is able and willing to save all that come to him ; nor will he cast out any that are given him, as the sheep in the text are : and though, when called by grace, they are liable to many slips and falls ; to spiritual decays and declensions ; to loss of comfort and peace, and in that sense to perishings, 1 Cor. viii. 1 1 ; and to fears of perishing finally ; and to faintings and sinkings of spirit ; yet they shall never fail and sink under their burdens, and be lost ; and though they die as other men, in which sense the righteous are said to perish, yet they shall not perish eternally, as the wicked will go into everlasting punish ment, when these shall go into eternal life. Besides, they are in the hands of Christ, and can never be plucked from thence ; being put there by his Father, through his act of choosing them in him, as an

156 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. instance of his love to them, and care of them, and for their security : and which is expressive of their being in his possession, at his disposal, under his guidance, care, and protection, and therefore must be safe ; nor is it in the power of any man, either by force to pluck them, or by fraud to draw them, out of Christ's hands; not the most violent persecutor, by the -most cruel methods he can practise : nor the most cunning and artful false teacher, by all the wiles and sophistry he is master of; nor rtj, any one, man or devil; Satan, with all his princi palities and powers, can never force any one from Christ ; nor with all his stratagems, can draw any ono from him : and if they are in his hands, who is not only the mighty Saviour, and mighty Mediator, who has all power in heaven and in earth, but is the Lord God Almighty ; are in his hands, which made the heavens and the earth ; and which hold and uphold all things in being, and who is the Governor of the universe ; then they shall never totally and finally fall away, or perish everlastingly. vi. The words of Christ in his prayer to his Father, are another proof of the preservation of his people by him ; and of their final perseverance through that, John xvii. 12. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, &c the persons spoken of, though primarily and more immediately the apostles of Christ, yet not they only ; they were not the only persons given to Christ out of the world, and who stand opposed to the world, as these do, 6 — 9 ; nor are the words spoken of them as apostles, but as given to him by an act of special grace, as united to him, members of him, and believers in him ; and as such, preserved by him : and if the preserv ation of them as such was secured to them, by being thus given to him ; why may not the preservation of all other true believers in him be equally as sure and certain ? nor is this said of their preservation from a temporal death ; and that this might be fulfilled, he requested what he did, chap, xviii. 8, 9 ; but as the other things Christ speaks of, and prays for in this chapter, are all of a spiritual kind ; such as sanctification, union, eternal glory ; it is most reasonable to suppose, that this was of the same kind. Besides, if preservation from temporal death is meant, the sense would be, Those that thou gavest me I have kept from a temporal death, and none of them is lost, by a temporal death, but the son ofperdition, he is lost by a temporal death : which last was not true ; Judas was not, at this time, lost in such sense ; he had not yet betrayed Christ, and it was after his condemnation that he went and destroyed himself. To which may be added, that as Christ had kept those that were given him, he prays his Father would keep them in like manner, 11 ; now if he prayed they might be kept from a temporal death, he was not heard, and yet he is always heard ; for as for his disciples, they all died a violent death, suffered martyrdom for his sake ; though they were all, in a spiritual sense, preserved to his kingdom and glory, as all true believers will be. Moreover, as it was from evil that he desires his Father would keep them, it was the same which he kept them from, namely, from the evil of the world ; not from suffering reproaches, afflictions, and persecutions in it ; for such he has given

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 1&7 all his followers reason to expect ; but from sinking under them, and being overcome by them, so as to drop their profession of him ; and from the evil one, Satan, under whose influence the world is ; and from the evil of sin in the world. The time of Christ keeping those that were given him, while I was with them in the world ; the expression does not imply, that he was not then in the world when he said these words, for he was, though the time of his departure was at hand ; nor that he should be no longer with them when removed out of it ; for though he would not be with them, as to his bodily presence, yet with respect to his spiritual, powerful, and all-preserving presence, he would be with them still, and with all his people, to the end of the world : nor does the expression imply, that Christ's keeping those that were given him, was confined to the time ho was in the world as to the flesh ; for at his death he did not deliver up the kingdom to the Father, or the care and charge of his elect ; this will not be done till his second coming ; when he will say, Lo, I, and the children, even all the children, thou hast given me ; till then, all the elect remain under the care and keeping of Christ. The manner in which he keeps them is in his Father's name, in the name of the Majesty of his God ; in which he stands and feeds them, as Mediator, through a delegated power and authority committed to him as such ; and in his gospel, and the doctrines of it, called his name, verse 6 ; in the faith of the gospel, and in the profession of it, so as not to relinquish either; and, indeed, so as to be lost, no, not one of them, that is, to be eternally lost ; for it is both his own will, and the will of his Father, that not one of those who truly believe in him, no not the least of them, should ever perish, John vi. 39, 40 ; and whereas it may be said, there is an instance in the text of one that was given to Christ who perished, Judas. The answer is, that though Judas was given to Christ, and chosen by him as an apostle, yet was not given to him by an act of his Father's special grace : nor was he chosen in him, and by him, and united to him, and a member of him, as the rest were : nor does it appear, from all accounts of him, that he ever was a partaker of the true grace of God ; and so no instance of the apostacy of a real saint. Judas stands distinguished from the rest of the apostles, in the choice of Christ ; / speak not ofyou all; I know whom I have chosen, that is, to eternal life ; for otherwise, Judas was chosen as an apostle with the rest ; Have I not chosen ye twelve, and one ofyou is a devil? and vi. 70 ; and as here, a son of perdition: and was never considered as an object of his, or his Father's love, and so was left to that perdition to which he was appointed, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which foretold it ; and the particle but is not exceptive, but adversative ; and does not imply, that he was one of those given to Christ to be kept, but the contrary. vn. When the apostle says of God, 1 Cor. i. 8, 9, Who shall confirm you to the end, he—faithful is God, &c to do it ; with other passages of the same kind, these are so many proofs of the saints' final persever ance. The blessing itself promised and assured, is confirmation, or establishment, in Christ ; in faith in Christ, in the grace of faith, and in the doctrine of faith, and in holiness : the author of it is God ;

158 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. though ministers may bo instruments of establishing the saints ; God is the efficient : he has promised it ; and he, as the God of all grace, is able to do it, and will ; He which establisheth us with you in Christ— is God, 2 Cor. i. 21 ; and the duration of it is to the end ; not for a short time, but to the end of life ; so that such shall endure to tho end, or finally persevere ; yea, so confirmed are they, that they shall be unblameable at, and be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus ; though not in themselves, yet in him, who will then present them to himself glorious, and without spot ; and to his Father faultless, before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy. And to do all this, the faithfulness of God is engaged, which is observed in the several passages ; and which faithfulness of his he will never suffer to fail ; and therefore the confirmation, and the preservation of the saints to the end, even to the coming of Christ, are sure and certain ; and their final perseverance in grace to glory, out of all doubt. viii. It is said of those who are elect, and are begotten again, that they are kept by the power of God, throughfaith, unto salvation, 1 Pet. i. 5 ; they are kept in the love of God, in the covenant ofgrace, in the hands of Christ, and on his heart ; in him, the strong hold, and on him, the foundation ; in a state of grace both of sanctification and of justifica tion ; and in the paths of truth and holiness they are kept from Satan, not from his temptations, but from destruction by him ; and from false teachers, and their errors, from being carried away with them, and finally deceived by them : and from sin, not from the indwelling of it in the hearts of believers ; nor from all acts of sin in their con versation; but from the dominion, power, and tyranny of it ; and from a final and total falling away through it. The means by which they are kept is, the power of God, which is as a fortress to them, inexpugna ble ; where they aro <ppovpovfxevoi, kept, as in a garrison, as the word signifies, and so are safe and secure ; there being no might or power of men or devils, that can withstand, break through, or weaken the power of God. Likewise they are kept, through faith, in tho power of God, and in the person and grace of Christ ; through faith lookmg to Christ, living upon him, and leaning on him ; through that faith which overcomes the world, and every spiritual enemy; and through the views it has of eternal glory ; and so the believer endures, as seeing what is invisible ; and what they are kept unto, is salvation ; the full possession of that salvation which Christ is the author of, and they are heirs of ; and which shall be completely enjoyed in a future state ; to which, and till they come into it, their perseverance is certain. There aro many other passages of scripture, which might be produced in proof of this doctrine; but these arc sufficient. I pass on, II. To observe those arguments in proof of the saints' final perse verance, taken from various sacred and divine things. i. From the perfections of God ; whatever is agreeable to them and made necessary by them, must be true ; and whatever is contrary to them, and reflects dishonour on them, must be false. The doctrine of the saints' final perseverance is agreeable to, and becomes necessary by them, and therefore must bo true; but the X

OF THE FER8EVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 15!) contrary to it, that of the apostacy of real saints, so as to perish ever lastingly, is repugnant to them, and reflects dishonour on them, and therefore must be false. The perfections of God, which are manifestly displayed in the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance, and by which it is confirmed, aro the following.— 1. The immutability of God. God is unchangeable ; this is asserted by himself, I am the Lord; I change not : and he himself drew this inference from it, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed ; ye that are Israelites indeed perish not, nor ever shall ; and aftor God himself, we may safely draw the same con clusion : if they are consumed, or perish everlastingly, he must change in his love to them, he never dtoes, but rests in it ; and his purposes and designs concerning them. And those whom he has appointed to salvation, he must consign over to damnation ; and his promises of grace made to them, and his blessings of grace bestowed on them, must be reversed ; and yet he will not alter the thing that is gone out of his lips, nor change his mind ; for he is of one mind, andwlio can turn him ? The doctrine of the saints' final perseverance asserts the unchangeabloness of God, and does honour to it ; but the contrary doctrine makes him changeable in his nature, will, and grace, and reflects dishonour on him, with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning.—2. The wisdom of God appears in this doctrine ; and whose wisdom is seen in all his works of nature, providence and grace ; and is very conspicuous in the salvation of his people ; which it would not be, should they perish. No wise man, who has an end in view, but will devise and make use of proper means ; and will, if in his power, make those means effectual to attain the end, or he will not act a wise part. The end which God has in view, and has fixed, with respect to his people, is the salvation of them ; and it can never be consistent with his wisdom to appoint insufficient means, or not make those means effectual, which it is in his power to do ; which must bo the case, if any of those he has appointed to salvation should perish. Now as he has fixed the end, salvation, he has provided his Son to be the author of it, by his obedience, sufferings, and death ; and has appointed as means to the enjoyment of this salvation, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth ; for which purpose ho sends his Spirit to sanctify them,'and work faith in them, whereby these means become effectual, and the end is answered : and so the wisdom of God is highly displayed and glorified. But where would be his wisdom to appoint men to salvation, and not save them at last ? to send his Son to redeem them, and they be never the better for it ? and to send his Spirit into them, to begin a good work of grace, and not finish it ? But this is not the case, he has put the work of redemption into the hands of his Son, who has completed it ; and assigned the work of sanctification, in its beginning, progress, and issue, to the divine Spirit, who is equal to it, and will perform it ; and throughout the whole, God abounds towards his people in all wisdom and prudence. — 3. The power of God is greatly concerned in this affair. Such who are elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, and are regenerated by his grace, are kept by his power to salvation, so that they shall never

1 CO OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. perish, but be everlastingly saved. Not only salvation is appointed as walls and bulwarks to them, which is a sufficient security ; but God himself is a wall of fire about them ; and no enemy can possibly break through such walls, bulwarks, and fortifications, to destroy them. God is all powerful, his power is irresistible, nothing can withstand it, nor overcome it ; nothing in earth and hell is a match for it. And this power of his can never be weakened, nor his hand shortened, that he cannot save ; which must be the case, if any of those kept by his power perish. — 4. The goodness, grace, and mercy of God, confirm this truth. The mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting, &c which it would not be, should any of those that truly fear him perish ; His compassions fail not : which they would, should any of his be consumed ; but because of his tender mercies they are not consumed ; nor can it be thought that that God, who is gracious and merciful, abundant in goodness and truth ; who has, of his abundant mercy, begotten again his elect ; and because he is rich in mercy, and for his great love to them, has quickened them when dead in trespasses and sins ; will, after all this, suffer them to fall, so as to perish everlastingly ; no, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth them, his work of grace upon them, and the whole salvation of them : the reason is, Thy mercy, O Lord, endures for ever ! and then follows a prayer of faith ; Forsake not the works of thine own hands! which God never will, Psalm exxxviii. 8.—5. The justice of God makes the perseverance of the saints necessary. God is righteous in all his ways and works, and so in the work of salvation. He is a just God, and a Saviour ; his justice is, and must be glorified, in the salvation of men, as the other attributes of his ; and it is through Christ's making satisfaction for sin, and bringing in everlasting right eousness. And can it be imagined that God should accept of the right eousness of his Son, and express a well-pleasedness in it, because by it his law is magnified and made honourable ; that he should impute it to his people, and give them faith to receive it, and plead it as their justifying righteousness ; and yet, after all, suffer them to perish ? Nay, where could be his justice, to punish those for whose sins Christ has made satisfaction, and God himself has discharged upon it ? It is not consistent with the justice of God to punish sin twice ; once in the surety, and again in those he has redeemed ; which must bo the case, if any for whom Christ suffered should perish eternally ; for to perish eternally, is the same as to be punished with everlasting destruction. — 6. The faithfulness of God secures the final perseverance of the saints; God is faithful to his counsels, to his covenant, and to his promises concerning their salvation, and will never suffer his faithful ness to fail, which must fail if they perish. But God is faithful, who has called them by his grace, and will confirm them to the end ; will not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear; will establish them, and keep them from evil; and will preserve them blameless to the coming of Christ. Faithful is he who has promised, who also will do it. ii. The final perseverance of the saints may be concluded from the purposes and decrees of God ; which are infrustrable, and are always

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 161 accomplished : The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannid it, or make it void, and of no effect? and his hand is stretched out, to execute his purposes, and who shall turn it bach from doing the thing he is resolved on ? as he has thought, so shall it come to pass ; and as he has purposed, it shall stand, Isa. xiv. 24, 27 ; though there may he a thou sand devices in the hearts of men and devils, they can never counteract nor undermine the decrees of God. His counsel shall stand, every purpose of his, and particularly his purpose according to election ; which stands not upon the foot of works, but upon the will of him that calls, which is unalterable and irreversible. The election hath obtained, or the elect, in all ages, have obtained righteousness, life, and salva tion ; it is not possible they should be deceived ; nor can any charge be laid against them by law or justice, and therefore must be saved. Election is an ordination of men to eternal life, and therefore they shall never die the second death; it is an appointment of them to salvation, and therefore they shall be saved ; they are chosen to obtain the glory of Christ, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth ; and accordingly they are sanctified by the Spirit, and do believe in Christ, who is the truth, and shall be glorified ; for between their predestination and glorification, thero is an inseparable connec tion ; whom he did predestinate, them he also glorified, Rom. ix. 12, 13. hi. The argument in favour of the saints' final perseverance, receives great strength from the promises of God, which are sure, and are all yea and amen in Christ, and are always fulfilled ; not one of the good things God has promised has ever failed ; and many are his promises, as has been observed, concerning the perseverance of his people ; as that they shall hold on their way, and be stronger and stronger ; that he will not turn away from them, and they shall never depart from him ; with a multitude of others ; and, in general, he has promised, he will never "leave nor forsake them : and therefore it is impossible they should perish ; for then his promises and his faithfulness in them would be of none effect ; which ought not to be said. iv. This truth may be farther confirmed from the gracious acts of God, flowing from his everlasting and unchangeable love. The love of God to his people is an everlasting love, which it would not be should they perish ; for none can perish and remain the objects of his love : but his love always remains, it is never taken away, nor does it ever depart, nor can there be any separation from it ; and consequently those interested in it can never be finally and totally lost : and thero are many acts of grace arising from this love, which show it; not to take notice of the act of election before observed, which secures their salvation ; nor the covenant of grace, from the perpetuity of which this Eoint has been argued ; nor the act of putting the elect into Christ's ands, from whence they can never be plucked ; there are several others which ascertain the same thing ; two or three of which I shall mention. — 1. The adoption of the children of God into his family ; by which he takes them for his sons and daughters ; which is a won derful instance of his love, 1 John iii. 1 ; now to this they are predes tinated according to the good pleasure of his will ; and this prcdestina- VOL. II. M

T62 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. tion and appointment of them to adoption, is his will to adopt them ; and his will to adopt them, is the adoption of them ; this is what is ealled a putting them among the children, and whom God puts among the children, and accounts as such, it is not in the power of men or devils to put them out ; nor can they put out themselves, should they even desire it, or express their contentment to be no longer sons but servants ; it is impracticable and not to be admitted, as the case of the prodigal shows, Luke xv. 19, 21 ; the blessing is bestowed in the cove nant of grace, and is irreversible ; Christ by his redemption has made way for the reception of it, which makes his redemption a plenteous one, this, with other blessings of grace, being included in it ; and to them that receive him, and believe in him, he gives a power to become the sons of God ; his Spirit witnesses to theirs, that they are so ; and by faith it becomes manifest. Now between sonship and heirship there is a close connection : if a son, no more a servant of sin and Satan, and the world, but an heir of God through Christ; if children then heirs, heirs of God, andjoint-heirs with Christ, Gal. iv. 7 ; and can a child of God become a child of the devil ? shall an heir of heaven be seen in the flames of hell ? or shall one that is a joint-heir with Christ, come short of the incorruptible inheritance ? no, that is reserved for them, and they are kept to that by the power of God. — 2. Justification is another act of God's free grace, and the fruit of his ancient love, Rom. iii. 24, and v. 17 ; the sentence is pronounced in the mind of God by himself, and none can reverse it ; it is God that justifies, and who shall condemn ? such as are justified by him can never come into con demnation, and everlastingly perish ; otherwise how could he be just, and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus ; if after all, notwith standing his imputation of the righteousness of his Son to them, and the justification of them by it, and their reception of it by faith, they should be condemned ? or how would Christ's righteousness be an ever lasting righteousness, and answer for his people in a time to come, should they be condemned with the world, and excluded from the king dom of heaven ? or how would this righteousness of his be unto justifi cation of life 1 or what would signify their being made heirs of eternal life through it ? or of what avail would their title to it by it be unto them, if after all they perish eternally ? But the connection between justification and glorification is inseparable ; Whom hejustified, them he also glorified, Rom. viii. 30 ; and most certain it is, that the righteous, who are justified by Christ's righteousness, shall go into everlasting life, when the wicked will go into eternal punishment, Matt. xxv. 46. — 3. Pardon of sin is another act of the riches of divine grace, and flows from unmerited and distinguished love. Those whom God for gives for Christ's sake, on account of his blood shed for the remission of their sins, and upon the foot of satisfaction made for them by him, he forgives all their iniquities ; not one sin is left unforgiven ; and if so, how can they be destroyed or perish everlastingly ? is it possible that a man should go to hell with a full and free pardon of all his sins in his hands ? was ever any man executed, having received the king's pardon ? and especially can it be thought that any whom the King of

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. 163 kings has pardoned, whose acts can never be made void, should yet suffer everlasting punishment for sin ? no, when the iniquities of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, to be laid to their charge, being cleared of all ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, nor any bill on account of them be found against them, and that for this reason ; for I will pardon them whom I reserve, that is, for himself ; and if reserved for himself, being fully pardoned by his grace, they shall be preserved from everlasting destruction. v. The saints' final perseverance in grace to glory, and security from ruin and destruction, may be concluded from the love of Christ to them, his interest in them and theirs in him. Christ's love to them was from everlasting, his delights were with those sons of men before the world was, and from it nothing can separate them : Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loves them to the end, John xiii. 1, to the end of their lives, and to all eternity ; and therefore they can never perish. And they are not only the objects of his love, dear unto him, but they are his caro and charge, who are committed to him to be kept by him ; and he has undertaken the care of them, has eternal life to give them, and does give it to them, and they shall never perish, but have it ; yea they have it already, a right unto it and earnest of it ; and as they are his Father's gift to him, to be preserved by him, so they are the purchaso of his blood, tho flock he has purchased with it, and he will not lose one of them : should he, so far his blood would be shed for nought, and his death be in vain. They are members of his body, and can never be separated from it ; should they, even the least member of them, his body, the church, would not be the fulness of him that filleth all in all ; if any one member in a natural body should be wanting, even the least, it would not be a complete body ; and this would be the case of Christ's mystical body, should any member in it perish ; but as sure as Christ the head lives, so sure shall every mem ber of his body live also, and never die. They are his children, his spiritual seed and offspring, to whom he stands in the relation of an everlasting Father ; these are a seed that it is promised he shall see, and enjoy for ever, and that they shall endure for ever ; nor shall any one of them be missing at the great day ; but Christ will present them to his Father complete and safe, who gave them to him, saying, Lo, I, and the children thou hast given me ! They are his spouse and bride, whom he has betrothed to himself in loving-kindness, and that for ever, to whom he stands in the relation of a husband ; and between whom there is a conjugal and indissoluble union ; whom he has so loved as to give himself for, to sanctify and cleanse, and make them spotless and glorious in his sight ; and after all the cost and pains he has been at to make her so, can it be thought, he will suffer this choice one, and beloved spouse of his, or any of them that make up this spiritual body, to perish eternally I They are his portion, and the lot of his inheritance, his Father has given him, and he is wellpleased with ; they are his jewels, and he will never lose any of them ; they are a crown of glory, and a royal diadem in his hand ; his Hephzibah, in whom he delights ; his Beulah, to whom he is married ; and m2

164 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINT*, he will employ all his power in the preservation and security of theiri. They are on him the foundation laid in Zion, which is sure and ever lasting ; on which all those who are laid are safe, and from whence they can never be removed, by all the winds and waves, storms and tempests, raised by sin, Satan, and the world ; they are built upon a rock immoveable, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. They are interested in the intercession of Christ, which is always prevalent ; for he is always heard ; and he ever lives to make intercession for them ; not only for all the necessary supplies of grace, for grace to help them in time of need ; but for their eternal glorification, John xvii. 24. Lastly, Christ is making preparations in heaven for them ; he is gone beforehand, and entered into heaven as their forerunner, and in their name, to take possession for them ; he is gono to prepare a place, and fit up mansions of glory for them ; and has promised to come and take them to himself, that where he is, they may be also, John xiv. 2, 3. And are theso mansions preparing in vain ? and shall these seats and dwelling places be empty of those for whom they are designed, or any of them I this would be the case, should any perish for whom Christ is gone to prepare a place. vi. A further proof of this doctrine may be taken from the work of grace, and the nature of it ; and from the Spirit's concern in it, as the author of it, in those in whom it is wrought. Grace is an incor ruptible seed, that never dies ; it always remains, and is the reason why those in whom it is shall not sin unto death, or so sin as to die eternally : it is a well of living water, springing up unto eternal life : grace and glory are inseparably connected ; to whom God gives the one, ho assuredly gives the other. The several particular graces of which the work consists, are abiding ones, as faith, hope, and love, 1 Cor. xiii. 13. Faith ever remains; it is more precious than gold that perisheth ; and for that reason among others, because it perishes not, when gold does : Christ, who is the author, is the finisher of it ; though it may sometimes seem as if it would fail, it shall not fail, through his powerful and prevalent mediation ; ho that truly believes in Christ, shall be most certainly saved by him, if there is any truth in the gospel of Christ. Hope, though a lowly grace, is a lively one ; however, is always a living one ; and is an anchor sure and stedfast ; and is of great use to the saint under all his trials and afflictions in life, and will continuo with him till- death : For the righteous hath hope in his death ; nor will it ever make ashamed, because it never disappoints, nor is disappointed. Lovo, though it sometimes waxes cold, and the first love may be left, though not lost ; it is of such a nature, that all the floods of afflictions, persecution, and temptations, can never quench. The church in darkness, and without the presence of Christ, and sight of him, could even then describe him as the Per son whom her soul loved. Peter, though he fell so grievously, through the temptations of Satan, yet did not lose his love to Christ : but upon first meeting with him, when asked the question, and that repeated again and again, declared he did love him ; yea, he appeals to him, as the omniscient God, that he knew he loved him. The Spirit of God

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 165 is the author of this work of grace ; it is he who begins it, and will perform it, till the day of Christ, and finish what he has begun. He has his residenco in the hearts of the Lord's people, and dwells in them, as in his temple ; nor does he ever utterly depart from them ; he is given to abide with them, and he does. Yea he is given as the earnest and pledge of their glorious inheritance ; and having such an earnest, can they doubt, or have any reason to doubt, of their full enjoyment of it, since by him, they are sealed unto the day of redemp tion I In a word, the glory of the three divine Persons is concerned in the final perseverance of the saints, for 'should they, or any of them perish, where would be the glory of the Father in choosing them to salvation ? and the glory of the Son in redeeming them ? and the glory of the Spirit in the sanctification of them 1 respecting them, their glory would be lost, should they come short of heaven and happiness ; but since the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance is bound together with this tlireefold-cord, which cannot bo broken, the certainty of it may be depended upon. I proceed, III. To answer to, and remove the objections made, to this doctrine. First, From some passages of scripture which may seem to be contrary unto it ; or, however, are brought to disprovo it. i. The first passage of scripture, and which is usually set in tho front of those that are brought against the saints' final perseverance, is Ezek. xviii. 24, But when the righteous turneth awayfrom his righteous ness, &c ; from whence it is concluded, that a man may be truly just and good, and yet become a very wicked man, and die in his sins, and perish everlastingly. —1 . The scope of the chapter should be attended to ; which is to vindicate the justice of God, in tho dispensations of his providence towards the people of Israel. They had a proverb much in use among them, Thefathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children s teeth are set on edge; the meaning of which was, their fathers had sinned, and they, their children, were punished for their sins ; upon which, they charged the ways of God with inequality and injustice. In answer to which, the Lord says, that whereas all souls were his, as the soul of the father, so the soul of tho son, it was the soul that sinned that should die, or be punished with one temporal calamity or another: that if a man was a just man, and behaved well, he should live comfortably and happily in the land ; if not, he should die, as to civil enjoyment in it, and be removed from it ; for—2. This chapter, and the context of it, only relate to the land of Israel, and to the house of Israel, the inhabitants of it ; who, when first put into the possession of it, had a law given them ; and according to their obedi ence or disobedience to it, they were to live in the land, or be driven out of it ; for they held their tenure by their obedience. If they were willing to serve the Lord, and keep his statutes, and be obedient to them, then they should eat the good of tho land, and enjoy the benefits of it, Isa. i. 19 ; but if they were disobedient, they were to be exiled from it, and be captives in another land ; which was now their case, and of which they complained.—3. By tho righteous man in the text, is not meant one truly righteous ; no man is truly righteous by the

166 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. works of the law in the eight of God, these being imperfect ; but he that is made righteous by the perfect obedience and righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and received by faith. But there is not a word in the text, nor context, of the obedience and righteousness of Christ, which is an everlasting righteousness ; from which no man that has it can turn, so as to die and perish eternally, for then it would not be everlasting : nor can a man that has true faith in this righteousness, or that lives by faith upon it, commit iniquity ; that is, live a sinful course of life, make a trade of sinning, addict himself wholly to it ; for such a man is a servant of sin, a slave to it, and of the devil ; which can never be said of a truly just and good man ; for though there is not a just man that doth good and sinneth not, yet he doth not sin at such a rate as this ; the seed of grace remains in him, and he cannot sin, as to do all the abominations the wicked man does. Nor can he die spiritually and eternally ; the just man lives by faith upon that righteousness, by which he becomes just ; he lives by the faith of the Son of God ; and he that lives and believes in Christ shall never die spiritually ; and the righteousness of Christ is upon him unto justification of life, and entitles him to eternal life, and therefore he shall never be hurt by the second death ; he shall never come into condemnation ; but being righteous, shall be righteous still, and ever more so. But this is to bo understood of one that only seemed to bo a righteous man, was so in the sight of others, and in his own account, but not really so ; one that reckoned himself righteous by his own righteousness, and trusted in that, chap, xxxiii. 13 ; a righteousness that consisted of a few external, moral performances, as appears from verses 5—9 ; and from such a righteousness, or course of living, a man may turn, and give up himself to all manner of wickedness, and become like the dog and the swine in the proverb, when it would have been better if such a man had not known the way of righteousness, than after to have turned from the holy commandment delivered to him.— 4. The death here spoken of, and in other passages in this chapter, is not an eternal death, or the death of the soul and body in hell ; for this was now upon them, of which they were complaining, imagining it was for their fathers' sins ; but of some severe judgment, or sore calamity, or some groat affliction, which is called a death ; as in Exod. x. 17; so here the exile of the Jews from their native country, and captivity in a foreign land, which was a civil death, is here so called ; wherefore no argument can be formed from hence to prove the saints' perishing eternally.—5. After all, the words are only a supposition : when or if, a righteous man turn from his righteousness ; and a suppo sition puts nothing in being, proves nothing, is no instance of matter of fact ; and all that can be concluded from the whole is, that a just man may sin, and be afflicted for sin, which he may, and yet be ever lastingly saved. n. Another passage of scripture brought against the saints' final perseverance, and to prove their falling from grace, is the case of the stony-ground hearer, who is said to hear the word, and anon with joy rcceiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for awhile; for

OP THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 167 when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended, Matt. xiii. 20, 21 ; or as in Luke viii. 13, tehich for awhile believe, and in time of temptation fall away. But it should be observed, —1. That those persons thus described, were not truly good and gra cious persons ; for though the seed, or word fell upon them, they were a rock, stony-ground still ; they were yet in a state of nature, no change or alteration in them ; their hearts were as hard as an adamant stone ; the stony heart was not taken away from them, nor a heart of flesh given them ; otherwise the word would have had a place in them, taken root in them, would have sprung up, and brought forth fruit. — 2. And though they received the word with joy, this is what a wicked man, a very wicked man, may do ; and Herod did, who heard John gladly, though he afterwards took off his head ; such a man may receive the word with a flash of natural affection, and be pleased with it; being so far enlightened, as to see the truth and harmony of it, and some interesting things in it, ho may flatter himself he shall share in ; so that this joy arises only from a principle of self-love. Such do not receive it as the Thessalonians did, in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost; having been either in great distress of soul, on account of sin, when the gospel of peace and pardon coming to them was joyfully received as good news and glad tidings ; or though they were reproached and persecuted for hearing, receiving, and professing the gospel, they rejoiced at it, and abode by it ; but so did not these stony-ground hearers; for when tribulation or persecution arose because of the word, they were offended and gone ; their joy was the joy of the hypocrite, which is but for a moment.—3. The faith they had was but for a while, as it is expressed, Luke viii. 13; it was a temporary faith, like that of Simon Magus, who, though he professed to believe, was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity ; their faith was not the faith of God's elect ; for that stands sure, upon the same footing as electing grace itself does, from whence it springs ; it was not that faith which is the gift of God; for his gifts of grace are without repent ance, and are never revoked, but always abide : not that faith which is the operation of God ; for that is maintained and performed with power : not that faith of which Christ is the author ; for of that he is the fmisher ; and though it is sometimes low and languid, he prays for it that it fail not. — 4. Those persons had no root in themselves, and therefore withered ; they had not the root of the matter in them, as Job calls it, the truth of grace ; they were not rooted in the love of God, nor in Christ, and had not the graco of God rooted in them : otherwise they would have been fruitful and established ; for the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit, and is not moved, Prov. xii. 3, 12. — 5. Those persons are manifestly distinguished from the good ground, into which the seed was received, and from an honest and good heart, in which they that heard the word kept it, and so were not truly good and gracious persons, on whom the good work of graco was begun ; were not trees made good, and so they brought forth no good fruit : wherefore the withering and falling away of those are no proofs and instances of the saints so falling as to perish everlastingly.

168 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. in. Another passage of scripture produced to invalidate the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance, is in John xv. 2, 6 : Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, fie taketh away.—If a man abide not in me, he is castforth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. From whence it is inferred, that men may be branches in Christ, the true vine, and yet so fall as to perish everlastingly. Now it should be observed, that there is a two-fold being in Christ, and two sorts of branches in him. — 1. There are some who are truly and really in him, through the grace of God ; not only secretly by electing grace, being chosen in him ; but by powerful and efficacious grace in effectual calling; who are created in Christ, and aro new creatures in him, and have a vital union with him, and become fruitful by him. These are rooted and built up in him, and are established in the faith of him ; and shall never be rooted up, but always have an abiding in him; and these are fruit-bearing branches in him ; all their fruit is from him, and they are filled with it by him, and continue so even in old age, to the end of life ; being under the constant care and culture of Christ's Father, the Husband man, who purges and prunes them by his word, and by his Spirit, so that they bring forth much fruit, whereby he is glorified. — 2. There are others who are in him only by profession ; which must be supposed of many of the members of external visible churches, which are said to be in Christ, Gal. i. 21, 1 Thcss. i. 1 ; who, in a judgment of charity, are said to be so ; though it cannot be thought that every individual member of them wero really in Christ, only by profession ; and such as these not being truly engrafted into him, though they have a place in his churches, being destitute of the true grace of God, aro fruitful, and wither in their profession, and fall into immoral practices, or unsound principles, and are cast out of the churches ; and at last, like withered branches, or chaff, aro burnt with unquenchable fire. But what is this to real sainte, or true believers in Christ 'i or what proof of their falling and perishing everlastingly ? iv. Another instance of saints falling from grace is, that of the broken branches from tho olive tree ; and threatening of such who aro grafted into it with being cut off, if they continue not in goodness, Rom. xi. 17—22. From whence it is observed, that such who are grafted in tho good olive tree, the spiritual and invisible church, may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish everlastingly. But,—1. By the good olive tree is not meant the spiritual and invisible church, that general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names aro written in heaven ; which consists only of elect men, and whose num ber will neither be increased nor diminished ; that church which Christ gave himself for to sanctity, and does sanctify ; and whom he will pre sent to himself a glorious church, not ono missing; that church of which he is the head, and that his body, and the fullness of him, which it would not be, should any member thereof perish. But—2. This olive tree is to be understood of the outward gospel-church state, or the outward visible church, under the gospel dispensation ; the national church of the Jews, which is compared to an olive tree, Jer. xi. l<j,

OF THE PEKSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 169 being abolished, and its branches broken off and scattered, a gospelchurch state was set up in Judea, and therefore called their own olive tree. Now out of this, the broken branches, or the unbelieving Jews, were left ; not admitted into the church at Jerusalem, nor elsewhere in Judea ; and when there was a coalition of believing Jews and Gentiles, which were first made at Antioch, these were left out.— 3. Those who are signified by the broken branches were never true believers in Christ ; but because of their unbelief in him and rejection of him, were broken off, and were never engrafted into, but left out of tho gospel-church ; these were such who did not belong to the election of grace among the Jews, but were the rest, that were blinded ; and so no instances of the falling away of true believers. — 4. Though those who are grafted in are threatened to be cut off, in case they continued not in goodness, meaning, not the goodness, grace, and love of God ; but the goodness of the good olive, the gospel-church ; not abiding in tho ordinances of it, and walking worthy of them, in which they were, then they should be cut off, not from the grace and favour of God, not from an interest in Christ ; but from the church, and the privileges of it ; and who might be grafted in again, being restored by repentance, which is sometimes the case, and will be the case of the natural branches, tho Jews, who, when they are converted, and brought to believe in Christ, will be grafted into their own good olive, and then all Israel shall be saved, verses 25, 26. v. Tho passage of the apostle Paul concerning himself, is wrested to such a purpose : / keep under my body, and bring it into subjection ; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-auay, 1 Cor. ix. 27. The word aSoxt/xos, is not to be rendered reprobate as it sometimes is ; nor to bo understood of such an one as opposed to an elect person : for an elect person, as the apostle was, for he includes himself among such, can never be a reprobate in such a sense ; for elect persons always obtain righteousness, life, and eternal salvation ; though the faith of nominal professors may be subverted, theirs cannot ; tho foundation stands sure on which they are ; and those who are predestinated, or ordained unto eternal life, as they believe, so, they shall be glorified, and never be treated as non-elect. The apostle could never fear that he should be a cast-away in such a sense as to perish everlastingly ; he knew Christ, in whom he had believed, to be an able and complete Saviour, and that he was his Saviour, and would keep what he had committed to him ; ho knew his interest in the everlasting lovo of God, and was persuaded nothing should separate him from it : he instances in himself, as a proof that God had not cast away his people, whom he foreknew, Rom. xi. 1, 2. But as the Greek word used, signifies disapproved, tho sense of the apostle seems to be this, that ho was careful not to indulge in sensual gratifications ; but to keep his body under a decorum, and in subjec tion to proper rules ; and not yield the members of it as instruments of unrighteousness ; lest whilst he preached the gospel of the grace of God to others, he might stand reproved himself, and be disapproved by men, and his ministry become contemptible and useless. And the

170 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. fears and jealousies of the saints over themselves, are not inconsistent with their perseverance in grace, much less disprove it ; but are means of their perseverance in it. vi. When the apostle says, Whosoever ofyou arejustified by the law, ye arefallen from grace, Gal. v. 4. It is not meant of falling from the grace, favour, and love of God in his heart ; for that is everlasting and unchangeable, as immoveable as hills and mountains, and more so : they may depart, but the loving-kindness of God to his people never will depart ; there is nothing in heaven or earth, or hell, that can sepa rate from that ; and consequently there can be no falling from it : nor of falling from the grace of God wrought in their hearts ; for that is an incorruptible seed, which never dies, is never lost, but always remains : but of falling from the doctrines of grace ; and particularly that glorious doctrine of free justification by the righteousness of Christ, without the deeds of the law; which some oftheGalatianswho had formerly embraced it, fell from, seeking for justification by the works of the law. And in like sense are we to understand other similar passages ; as when the apostle beseeches, not to receive the grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. vi. 1, the love and favour of God cannot be received in vain, being shed abroad in the heart by the Spirit of God ; nor the grace of God implanted in the heart, which is an abiding seed there ; but the doctrine of grace, when it is either dropped, or denied, or turned into lasciviousness, and men walk unbecoming their profes sion of it : and so in Heb. xii. 15, Looking diligently, lest any manfail of the grace of God ; depart from the gospel, and drop his profession of it, or walk as docs not become it. vii. What the apostle says of Hymeneus and Alexander, is pro duced as a proof of tho apostacy of real saints : Holding faith and a good conscience ; which some having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwrech ; of whom is Hymcneus and Alexander, 1 Tim. i. 19. But,— 1. It does not appear that these men were ever truly good men ; of Hymeneus it is said, that he was a vain babbler, and increased to more and more ungodliness : and of Alexander, who is supposed to be the same with Alexander the copper-smith, that he did the apostle much evil, by reproaching and persecuting him ; by hindering him in his ministry, as much as in him lay, and withstanding and contradicting his doctrines ; and so can be no instances of true believers falling from grace. — 2. Nor is it manifest that they ever had a good conscience ; putting it away does not suppose it : persons may put away that with disdain and contempt, as the word here used signifies, which they never received and had, though presented to them ; so the Jews put away the gospel from them, which they never embraced but despised, con tradicted, and blasphemed, Acts xiii. 45, 46, where tho same word is used as here : and so here, when these found the gospel required men should exercise a good conscience, void of offence to God and men ; they disliked it and put it away, and chose rather to relinquish the gospel, than to be obliged by it to exercise such a conscience. Besides, —3. Persons may have a conscience good in somo sense, in an external show, and as it may appear by their outward behaviour among men, in

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 171 general, and with respect to some particular facts : or in comparison of what they may afterwards appear to have : and yet not have a con science purged by the blood of Christ ; or have their evil hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and so have a pure conscience. It is said, even of the heathens, that their consciences bore them witness of their actions, accusing of some, and excusing others ; and the apostle Paul, before conversion, is said to live in allgood conscience; when, as yet, he had not the grace of God, Rom. ii. 14, 15, Acts xxiii. 1. — 4. The faith these men made shipwreck of, was not the grace of faith they never had, but the doctrine of faith which they had professed ; for this phrase, concerning the faith, is only used of the doctrines of faith, Acts xxiv. 24 ; and the particular doctrine made shipwreck of, and which particularly Hymeneus erred concerning, was the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which, he said, was past already, 2 Tim. ii. 18. — 5. Supposing the grace of faith was meant, tho phrase of making shipwreck of it, is not strong enough to express the entire loss of it ; since a person may be shipwrecked and not lost ; the apostle Paul thrice suffered shipwreck, and yet was saved each time. Besides, as there is a true and unfeigned faith ; so there is a feigned and coun terfeit faith, which may be in men who have no true grace and may be shipwrecked, so as to be lost, and such an instance is no proof of the saints falling from grace. viii. Another passage usually brought to prove tho apostacy of real saints, and against their final perseverance, is Heb. vi. 4—6. But,— 1. The persons hero spoken of, are distinguished from the believing Hebrews, who are compared to the earth that drinks in the rain that comes frequently on it, and brings forth herbs fit for use, and receives the blessing of God ; when these are compared to the earth that bears thorns and briers, is rejected, is nigh unto cursing, and its end is to be burnt, 7, 8 ; and the apostle adds, with respect to the saints he writes to, But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak, 9, and he goes on to take notice of their work and labour of love ; and to excite them to dili gence and industry : and encourages them, by the promises made unto them, and the immutability of them, and by the firm hope that God has given them ; and by the glorious forerunner, who was entered into heaven for them. — 2. Admitting true believers are meant, the words are only conditional ; If they fall away ; and are but a supposition of it, and prove no matter of fact, that ever any did fall away ; and at most, only express the danger of their falling; as there may be, through the power of indwelling sin, the force of temptations, and the frowns and flatteries of the world, and the difficulty of restoring them from a partial fall ; a total and final one being prevented by the power and grace of God. — 3. Tho words are, in some versions, so rendered, as to assert the impossibility of their falling ; so the Syriac version, It is impossible they should sin again ; as to die spiritually, and lose the grace of God, and stand in need of a new work of grace upon them : which would require the crucifying of Christ again, and a re-exposing him to open shame ; things impossible to be done, and so the former ; which sense agrees with the words of the apostle, 1 John iii. 9, And he

172 OF THE PKHSEVEHANCE OF THE SAINTS. cannot sin, because he is born of God : and this is confirmed by the Arabic version ; and according to these versions, the several other things mentioned, are connected with the word impossible ; as that they should be renewed again to repentance; and that they should crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. — 4. There is nothing said of them that is peculiar to believers ; not a word of their faith in Christ ; nor of their being begotten again to a lively hope : nor of their being sanctified by the Spirit of God ; nor of their being justified by the righteousness of Christ ; nor of their being the sons of God by faith in Christ ; nor of their being sealed by the holy Spirit of God ; nor of their being made meet to be partakers of the heavenly inheritance.— 5. What is said-of them, are what may be found in persons destitute of the grace of God. As, — 1. That they were enlightened; the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it baptized ; and it will not be denied, that some such, as Simon Magus, may totally and finally fall away ; but not to insist on this sense, there are two sorts of enlightened persons : some are savingly enlightened by the Spirit of God, to see their lost state and condition, and salvation by Christ, and their interest in it, and who shall never perish : others are only enlightened into the doctrines of the gospel ; though some to such a degree, as to be able to preach them to others ; and yet be strangers to the true grace of God. And when such fall away, they are no proofs nor instances of the apostacy of real saints. — 2. That they tasted of the heavenly gift ; whether by it is meant the gift of a justifying righteousness, or of remission of sins, or of eternal life ; men destitute of the grace of God, may have some speculative notions about them, and desires after them, arising from a principle of self-love : or if Christ the gift of God himself, is meant, tasting may stand opposed to eating his flesh and drinking his blood ; which is proper to true believers, who feed upon him, and are nourished by him, while hypocrites, and formal professors, only taste of him, havo a superficial knowledge of him, and gust for him. — 3. That they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost ; not of the Person of the Spirit, and of his indwelling in their hearts, as in his temple, and as the earnest of the heavenly inheritance ; nor of his grace, as implanted in them, which are connected with eternal life : but of his gifts, whether ordinary or extraordinary, both of which Judas was madea partaker of, and yet devoid of true grace. — 4. That they tasted the good word of God ; had a superficial knowledge of it, had the bare form, without the power of it ; were pleased with it for a while, as Herod was with the ministry of John the Baptist ; and Christ's hearers were with his doctrines at first, though they presently sought to kill him. — 5. That they tasted also the powers of the world to come ; meaning either the miracles and mighty works done in the former part of the gospel dispensation ; which some were ablo to perform, who wero not true believers in Christ, as Judas and others ; or the joys and glories of heaven ; which natural men may have some self-pleasing notions of, and desires after, as Balaam had, Numb, xxiii. 10. Now whon such persons as these fall away from a profes sion of religion, and into sin, they are no instances of true believers falling from real grace.

OF THE rERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 173 ix. Another scripture brought as a proof of falling from grace, is Heb. x. 26, 29, For if we sin wilfully, &c From whence it is mferred that one that has the knowledge of the truth, may in such sort sin, as that there remains no sacrifice for it ; and one that is sanctified by the blood of the covenant, may so fall away as to perish everlastingly : but, these words are not said of true believers ; for though the persons described are such who, — 1. Had knowledge of the truth; yet whether we understand this of Christ, who is the truth ; or of the gospel, the word of truth, and of the several truths in it ; as salvation by Christ, justification by his righteousness, &c, persons may have a notional, and not a saving knowledge of these things ; the devils know much of Christ, and so do many natural men ; yea the apostle says, men may have all knowledge, or knowledge of all truths, that which is notional and speculative ; and allfaith, which is historical, and yet be without grace, 1 Cor. xiii. 2. — 2. Though said to be sanctified by the blood of the covenant, this is not to be understood of the expiation of their sins ; and of their justification from them by the blood of Christ ; for such are most certainly saved from wrath to come, and shall never enter into condemnation, or perish eternally ; but of their profession of their being thus sanctified ; they were thought to be so by themselves and others, when they really were not ; and by their profession of religion, were externally sanctified and separated from others, sub mitting to baptism, and partaking of the Lord's-supper ; when they outwardly eat the bread, and drunk of the cup, the external symbol of the blood of the New Testament, or Covenant, though they did not spiritually discern the body and blood of Christ, but counted these symbols as common things. Though after all, it is the Son of God himself that is intended, and not the apostate; for the immediato antecedent to the relative he, is the Son of God ; who was sanctified, or set apart, by the blood and sacrifice of himself, for the discharge of the other part of his priestly office, his intercession for his people in heaven ; which is mentioned as an aggravation of the sin of such a person, who counted his blood an unholy thing. The sins ascribed to the persons spoken of are such as are never committed by true believers; such as,—1. To sin wilfully, after the knowledge of the truth is received ; for this is not to be understood of common infirmities, or of grosser sins, which may be voluntarily com mitted by tho saints after regeneration, as were by Lot, David, and others ; but of a denial of that great and fundamental truth of the gospel, the atonement of sin by the blood, sacrifice, and death of Christ, after a man has known it, and professed it ; this is never done by one that has tasted that the Lord is gracious, and to whom his blood is Erecious ; nor can it be. Peter denied his Master, and that he knew im ; but he did not deny him to be his Saviour, nor deny the virtue of his blood and sacrifice for the atonement of sin ; when, and by whom, this is done knowingly and wilfully, there remains no more, there is no other sacrifice for sin ; and therefore such a man must be eternally lost. — 2. To tread under foot the Son of God, doing as much as in them lies to strip him of his equality with God, and to reduce him to the class of a mere creature, and deny him to be the eternal Son of

174 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. God; this can never be done by such who have once believed, and are sure that he is the Son of the living God; for whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father ; he denies both the one and the other, and in effect says, that there are neither, 1 John ii. 22, 23 ; he is anti christ. — 3. To count the blood of the covenant an unholy or common thing, as if it was the blood of a mere man, when it is the blood ofJesus Christ his Son, the Son of God, which cleanses from all sin ; that blood with which the church of God is purchased ; that blood by which it is redeemed from sin, Satan, and the law; that blood by which the covenant of grace is ratified and confirmed, and by virtue of which the covenant ones are delivered from their captive state. — 4. To do despite unto the Spirit of grace, who has been a Spirit of grace and supplication to them ; such wlio have had such an experience of him can never do despite unto him, treat him with malice, scorn, and contempt ; deny his divine Person, and his special operations of grace ; nor deny him to be the Spirit of grace, and reproach him as such ; true believers in Christ, who have been sanctified and sealed by him, can never do such things as these. Truly sanctified persons are distinguished from the apos tates, whose custom had been to forsake the assemblies of the saints, verse 25 ; and the apostle declares for himself and other true believers, who were just men, and lived by faith, that they were not of the num ber of such men, and to be ranked with them. So that these apostates are no instances of true believers falling from grace. x. The following passage, though it makes clearly for the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance, is brought as an objection to it, Heb. x. 38 : Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soid shall have no pleasure in him. From whence it is inferred, that those who live by faith, and are justified persons, may not endure to the end, may draw back to perdition, and everlastingly perish. But— 1. He that is truly a just man can never die spiritually and eternally : Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, says Christ, John xi. 26, shall never die ! If such shall never die, they cannot perish everlastingly ; a be liever in Christ, and justified by him, can never be condemned ; He hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; and therefore shall be eternally saved and glorified, John v. 24. — 2. The just man and he that draws back are not the same, as is clear from the next verse : But we are not of them that draw bach unto perdition ; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. There are two sorts of persons mentioned ; one that were inortoos, of faith, that had true faith in Christ, and lived by faith on him, and did not draw back to perdition, but went on believing till saved ; of this number were the apostle and every truly just and righteous man included in the word we; the other were wootoAjj?, of the withdrawing, or separation, who forsook the assembly of the saints, verse 25, withdrew from their society and com munion, and apostatized from the ways and worship of God ; by which distinction it appears, that those that truly believe do not draw back to perdition; but continue in the faith of Christ, and in the true worship of God, and are everlastingly saved : and that those that drew back to perdition were not of the faith, or true believers in Christ, nor ever just ones that lived by faith ; and so their apostacy is no proof of

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. 175 the falling away of true believers, as to perish everlastingly. — 3. The passage in Hab. ii. 4, which is referred to, plainly shows who the man is that draws back, as opposed to the just man that lives by faith ; he is one whose soul is lifted up, and is not upright in him ; one that is proud and haughty, and is lifted up with a vain conceit of his own righteousness, in which he trusts ; to which he betakes himself as to a tower and fortified place, as the word used signifies, and imagines himself safe ; and whose heart is not right with God, nor humble before God ; and that such a man should withdraw himself from the com munion of the saints, and apostatize, is not to be wondered at.— 4. God's taking no pleasure in him that draws back, does not intimate that he took pleasure in him before his drawing back, sinco it is not said, my soul shall have no more or no further pleasure in him ; but shall have no pleasure in him, which does not necessarily suppose that he had any pleasure in him before, but that he should have in him hereafter. Besides, such who are the objects of God's delight and pleasure are always so; he rests in his love towards them, &c, Zeph. iii. 17. xi. To the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance is objected the passage in 2 Pet. ii. 20—22. But there is nothing said in those words which show that the persons spoken of were true believers, but the reverse. — 1. The knowledge they had of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was not a spiritual, experimental, saving knowledge of him ; for then they would have followed on to have known him, and to have known more of him, and it would have issued in eternal life ; but it was only a speculative, notional knowledge of him. such as devils and Christless persons may have. — 2. Escaping the pollutions of the world through it, designs no other than an external reformation of life and manners, joined with an outward conformity to the commands and ordinances of Christ, and an outward walk for a time in the ways of religion, they professed a knowledge and liking of. — 3. Nor does it appear that they ever were any other than dogs and swine ; and there fore when they apostatized, it was only a returning to their former state, and they only appeared to be what they always were; their case seems to be the same that is observed by Christ, Matt. xii. 43. xn. The falling away of real believers is argued, and their perse verance objected to, from various exhortations, cautions, &c, given unto them. As,—1. When he that thinks he stands is exhorted to take heed lest hefall, 1 Cor. x. 12 ; but supposing a true believer is here meant, which yet is not clear and certain, since it is one, o hoKitw, who seemeth to himself and others to stand ; but admitting it, the exhorta tion is not superfluous ; since, though he cannot finally and totally fall away, yet inasmuch as he may so fall as that God may be dishonoured by it, the doctrines and ways of Christ spoken evil of, the Spirit of God grieved, weak believers stumbled, and the hands of the wicked strengthened, and a man's own peace and comfort broken, there is good reason why he should take care of falling ; for, though there is no danger of his perishing eternally, yet if he falls to the breaking of his bones, and wounding his own soul, it behoves him to tako heed lest he fall. — 2. When believers are cautioned to take heed, lest there be in them an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God, Heb. iii.

170 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. 1 2, it shows that believers ought to be upon their guard against the sin of unbelief, to expose which is the design of the words, since it is a sin which easily besets good men, bereaves their souls of much com fort, and God of much glory ; and therefore believers should be careful of giving way to it, and encouraging it, since it leads to a partial departure from Christ, the living God, though God has put his fear into the hearts of such persons that they shall not depart from him finally and totally. — 3. When the apostle Peter exhorts those he wrote to, who had obtained like precious faith with him, to beware, lest being led away with the error of the wicked, they should fall from their own stedfastness, 1 Pet. iii. 17 ; his meaning is not as though there was a possibility of their falling from the precious grace of faith they had obtained, but from some degree of the steady exercise of it, or rather from their stedfast adherence to the doctrine of faith, through the sleight and cunning of men, who lay in wait to deceive ; who might be able to stagger them, though they could not finally and totally deceive them ; and therefore it became them to bo upon their guard against them. — 4. When the apostle John exhorts, saying, Look to yourselves, that ye lose not those things which we have wrought, 2 John 8, he speaks not of what the Spirit of God had wrought in them, as if that could be lost ; nor even of what they themselves had wrought, under the influence of divine grace ; but what we, the ministers of the gospel, had wrought, by teaching and instructing them, lest their labour in the ministry among them should be in vain, they giving heed to the doctrines of deceivers, mentioned both before and after. — 5. And when the apostle Jude says, keep yourselves in the love of God, 21, it is not to be understood of the love which God has in his heart towards his people, an interest in which can never be lost, and from which there is no separation ; but rather of the love which they bear to him, the fervour of which sometimes abates ; and therefore they should make use of all means to maintain, increase, and inflame it, in them selves and others; keep eavrovs, one another in it, by the means directed to in the preceding verse : or it may chiefly respect love, peace, and concord among themselves ; called the love of God, as it is the peace of God, Col. iii. 15 ; which is of him, taught by him, and he calls unto ; and so is of the same import with Eph. iv. 3. Or, admit ting that the love of God in the first sense is meant, it may design exercise of faith on it, meditation upon it, a constant keeping of it in view, in order to preserve themselves by the love of God from Satan's temptations, the snares of the world, and the lusts of the flesh; against complying with which, the love of God, shown in what he has done for his people, is a strong argument, Gen. xxxix. .9 ; and that the apostle could have no thought of the possibility of the saints falling totally and finally, appears from what he says of Christ with respect to them, Jude 24 : Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, &c And in like manner other cautions and exhortations, similar to these, may be understood; and it should be observed, that such cautions and exhortations as these are used and blessed as means of the perseverance of the saints, and are not to bo improved against the doctrine of it. Secondly, objections are raised against the doctrine of the saints

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. 177 final perseverance, from the sins and falls of persons eminent for faith and holiness, as Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, Peter, and others. But these are no proofs of their final and total falling away. As to Noah and Lot, though guilty of great sins, they have after this the character of truly good and righteous men. As for David, though by his fall his bones were broken, and the joy of his salvation was taken from him, and grace lay some time unexercised by him, yet the Spirit of God was not taken from him, as appears from his own words, when most sensible of his case, Psalm li. 11, 12. As for Solomom though his backsliding was great, attended with aggravated circumstances, yet not total, see 1 Kings xi. 4, 6 ; nor final, as to perish everlastingly, ' which would have been contrary to the promise of God, that his mercy should not depart from him, 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15. Besides, he was restored by repentance, and the book of Ecclesiastes was penned by him in his old age, as an acknowledgment and retraction of his former follies; and some persons, after his death, are spoken of with com mendation, for walking in the way of SoJbmon, as well as in the way of David, 2 Chron. xi. 17. As for Peter, his fall was not total ; Christ prayed for him, that his faith failed not ; nor final, for he was quickly restored by repentance. And these several instances are recorded in Scripture, not as instances of final and total apostacy, but of the weakness of the best of men in themselves ; and for our caution and instruction, to take heed lest we fall. Demas is sometimes mentioned as an instance of apostacy ; who very probably was a good man, since he is mentioned with such who were so, Col. iv. 14 ; and what the apostle says of him, that he had forsaken him, having loved this present world, is not sufficient to prove him an apostate, any more than Mark's departure from the apostle Paul, and others at Pamphylia ; nor is too much love of the world, which is to be observed in many, otherwise good and valuable men, would prove them to be so. As for Hymeneus, Alexander, and Philetus, they do not appear to have been good men, as before observed ; and so no instances of the apostacy of real saints. Thirdly, some ill consequences, supposed to follow the doctrine of the saints' final perseverance, are urged against it. As—1. That it tends to make persons secure and indifferent, as to the use of means to preserve them from sin and apostacy. But this is not true in fact, any more than in other cases similar to it ; but is rather an encourage ment to the use of them. Joshua, though he was assured that not a man should be able to stand before him, but all his enemies should be conquered by him; this did not make him secure, nor hinder him from taking all the proper precautions against his enemies, and of making use of all means to obtain victory over them. Hezekiah, though he was assured of his restoration from his disorder, yet this did not hinder him, nor the prophet who assured him of it, from making use of proper means for the cure of it ; and though the apostle Paul had a certainty of the saving of the lives of all that were in the ship, yet he directed. them to the proper means of their preservation ; and told them, that except they abode in the ship, they could not be saved ; and taking this his advice, though shipwrecked, they all came VOL. II. N

178 OP THE PERSEVERANCE OP THE SAINTS. safe to shore. — 2. It is said, that this doctrine gives encouragement to indulge in sin, and to commit such gross sins as Lot, David, and others, upon an opinion that they are the children of God, and upon a presumption that they cannot so fall as to perish everlastingly. To which it may be replied, that such sins mentioned, committed without repentance towards God and faith in the blood and sacrifice of Christ, those who are guilty of them shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; but according to the law, die without mercy; and even those good men who did commit such sins, though they had true faith and genuine repentance, their sins were so displeasing to God, and resented by him, that he visited their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes, though his loving-kindness was not taken away from them. And the above instances of sin are recorded not to encourage sin, but to caution against it, and to show the weakness of the best of men, and to set forth the pardoning grace and mercy of God to such offenders, in order to relieve souls distressed with sin, and to give them hope of the pardon of it. And whatsoever ill use such persons may make of these instances who have only an opinion of their being the children of God, such who are really so by faith in Christ neither can nor will make such a use of them. — 3. It is objected, that this doc trine lessens the force of the prohibitions of sin, and of exhortations to avoid it, and of motives offered to persevere in righteousness and holiness. But these prohibitions of sin and motives to holiness are used by the Spirit of God as means of perseverance, and so they are considered by good men. And it would be absurd and irrational to judge otherwise ; for can a man believe he shall persevere to the end, and yet indulge liimself in sin, as if he was resolved not to persevere ? and nothing can be stronger motives to holiness and righteous ness, than the absolute and unconditional promises of God to his people, and the firm assurance given them of their being the children of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb. — 4. Whereas wo argue, that the doctrine of the saints' apostacy obstructs the peaco and comfort of believers; .it is objected to that of their perseverance, that it is not therefore true because it is comfortable to carnal minds, which are opposite to the doctrine according to godliness. To which it may be answered, that our argument does not proceed upon the comfortable ness of the doctrine we plead for, but upon the uncomfortableness of the opposite to it ; for though a doctrine may not be true which is seemingly comfortable to a carnal mind, yet that doctrine is certainly not true which is really uncomfortable to a sanctified heart ; or which manifestly breaks in upon the true peace and comfort of a believer, as the doctrine of the saints' apostacy does ; since the whole Scripture, and all the doctrines of it, arc calculated for the comfort as well as for the instruction and edification of the saints : and though their per severance does not depend upon their comfort, for if they believe not, and are without comfort, God is faithful to his counsel, covenant, and promises, and will preserve and save them. However, this is certain, that the doctrine of the saints falling away from grace finally and totally is a very uncomfortable one, and therefore to be rejected.

BOOK II. OF THE FINAL STATE OF MEN. OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY. The death to be treated of, is not the death of the soul, which dies not, as will be seen hereafter ; nor the moral or spiritual death, which has been discoursed of elsewhere ; nor the death of the soul and body in hell, the second and eternal death ; but the death of the body, in a strict and proper sense. The things to be enquired into, are, What death is ? who the subjects of it ? what the causes of it, and its pro perties ? I. What death is. To say what it is, is difficult ; we know nothing of it practically and experimentally, though there are continual instances of it before our eyes ; our friends and relations, who have gone through this dark passage, have not returned to us to tell us what they met with in it ; nor what they felt when the parting stroke was given ; nor what they were surprised into at once. We know nothing of death but in theory ; it is denned by some a cessation of the motion of the heart, and of the circulation of the blood, and of the flow of the animal spirits, occasioned by some defects in the organs and fluids of the body : no doubt such a cessation follows upon death, and such the effects of it ; but what it is, is chiefly to be known from the Scripture, by which we learn, — 1. That it is a disunion of the soul and body, the two consti tuent parts of man ; the one consists of flesh, blood and bones, of arteries, veins, nerves, &c and goes by the general name of flesh ; and the other is a spiritual substance, immaterial and immortal, and consists of several powers and faculties, as the understanding, will, and affections, and goes by the name of spirit : between these two there is a nexus, or bond which unites them together ; though what that is none can tell ; this puzzles all philosophy, to say by what bands and ligaments things of such a different nature as matter and spirit be, should be coupled and fastened together. Now death is a dissolution of this union, a separa tion of those two parts in man. The body without the spirit x^P's separate from it, is dead, James ii. 26; when that is removed, the body is left a lifeless lump of clay. — 2. It is a dissolving this earthly house of our tabernacle, 2 Cor. v. 1 ; the body is compared to a tabernacle, n2

180 OP THE DEATH OP THE BODY. 2 Cor. v. 4 ; in allusion either to military tents or tabernacles, pitched by soldiers when they encamp ; or to those of shepherds, which were removed from place to place for the sake of pasturage for their flocks, by which the brevity of human life is expressed, Isa. xxxviii. 12 ; such tents or tabernacles were commonly made of hair-cloth, stretched upon and fastened to stakes with cords or pins, and the body and its several parts are fastened together with various cords : we read of a silver cord, which is loosed at death, Eccl. xii. 6 ; which whether it means the bond of union between the soul and body in general, or some particular part and ligament of the body about which interpreters are not agreed, is not easy to say. However, besides what compacts the joints together, there are certain fibres or small cords, like threads, by which those parts are fastened, on which life mostly depends ; there are certain valves of the veins through which the blood is discharged into the heart, which are fastened to the sides of the ventricles of it with many tendinous fibres to secure them when they are shut; which fibres are fastened to some protuberances or pins of the sides of the heart ; now in case one of these valves should be out of order, and unfit to perform its function ; yea if one of these little fibres which are fastened to them should break, or be either too short or too long to do their service, the tabernacle would fall down at once : on such slender things hangs the life of every man '. Now death is a pulling up the stakes of this tabernacle, the body ; a loosening and breaking its cords ; an unpinning it, a taking it down as it were by parts, and laying it aside for a time.—3. It is signified by a departure out of this world to another ; so the death of Christ and some others is expressed in such language, John xiii. 1 , 2 Tim. iv. 7 ; it is like going from one house to another : with the saints, it is a departure from their earthly house to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ; from houses of clay which have their foundation in the dust, to everlasting habitations, to mansions in Christ's Father's house. It is like loosing from the port, as the sailor's phrase is ; and launching into the ocean, and sailing to another port ; the port loosed or departed from, at death, is this world, which some loose from willingly, others not so ; the port or haven to which saints are bound, is heaven, the heavenly and better country, to which desired haven they arrive at death, and by death. Death is the ship or boat which wafts them over to the shores of eternity. The heathens had by tradition notions some what similar to these, though more coarse ; for who has not heard of the Elysian fields, the Stygian lake, and old Charon's boat? by which are represented death's wafting men over the black lake to fields of pleasure. But these images stand in a more beautiful light in the sacred pages ; where the samts are represented as quietly wafted over the swellings of Jordan to the land of Canaan, a land of rest and pleasure. — 4. Death is expressed by going the way of all the earth ; go said Joshua when about to die, behold this day I am going the lcay of all the earth, Josh, xxiii. 14, and so said David, 1 Kings ii. 2 ; it is a going ; so Christ describes his death, Luke xxii. 22 ; it is a going a journey, to a man's long home ; it is a going from hence, from this 1 &ce Nicuwentyt's Religious Philosopher, vol. i. eontempl. 6, s. 7, 8, p. 77—79.

OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY. 181 world, and a going whither we shall not return any more to this world to be and live in it as formerly ; it is going to an invisible state, to the world of spirits, of which we have now but little knowledge, and very imperfect conceptions ; the way lies through a dark valley, but God is the guide of his people through it ; he is not only their gtlide unto death, but through it safe to glory ; and this is the way all men go and must go ; it is a common track, a beaten path, and yet unknown by us ; all must tread it, none can avoid it.—5. Death is called, a returning to the dust and earth of which the body is formed, Eccl. xii. 7 : the body is originally made of earth and dust ; and whilst it is in life, it is nothing but dust and ashes, as Abraham confessed he was ; and when it dies it turns to dust, Gen. iii. 19 ; the body at death is turned into corruption, rottenness and dust ; it is interred in the earth, and mixes with it, and becomes that; which is an humbling consideration to proud man, who if he looks back to his original, it is dust ; if he considers himself in the present life, he is no other than a heap of dust ; and if he looks forward to this last end, it will be the dust of death ; his honour, in every view of himself, is laid in the dust ; and this shows the knowledge and power of God in raising the dead, who knows where their dust lies, and will collect it together, and raise it up at the last day.— 6. Death is frequently expressed by sleeping, Dan. xxii. 2, John xi. 11 ; and is so called because sleep is an image and representation of death ; in sleep the senses are locked up and are useless for a time, as in death a man is wholly deprived of them ; sleep is but for a short time, and so is death ; after sleep a man rises, and being refreshed by it is more fit for labour ; so is death to the saints ; it is a rest unto them ; and they will rise in the morning of the resurrection, fresh, lively and active, and more fit for divine and spiritual exercises. II. Who are the subjects of death. Not angels, for they being simple, uncompounded, incorporeal and immaterial, are incapable of death ; they die not, Luke xx. 36 ; but men, even all men, a few only excepted, as Enoch and Elijah, under the Old Testament ; the one was translated that he should not see death, the other was taken up to heaven soul and body in a chariot and horses of fire ; and those saints that will be found alive at Christ's second coming, who will not die but be changed : otherwise all men die ; all flesh is grass, every man is withering, mortal, dying, and dies ; all have sinned, and so death comes upon all men.—1. Persons of every sex, male and female ; of every age, young and old, small and great; some die in infancy, who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression; some inehildhood, others in youth ; some in the prime of their days and in their full strength ; and some in old age, and those that live the longest yet die, as Methu selah, the oldest man did. Look over the account of the antediluvian Patriarchs, Gen. v ; there it may be observed, that at the close of the account of each it is said, he died ; and such an one lived eight hundred years and odd and he died ; and such an one lived nine hundred years and odd, and he died. — 2. Of every rank and class and condition in life, high and low, rich and poor ; kings die as well as their subjects : Job wishes he had died as soon as born, then he had been with kings

182 OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY. and counsellors of the earth, and with princes whose houses had been filled with gold and silver : riches cannot keep off nor buy off the stroke of death, nor deliver from it ; the rich ana the poor meet together in the grave, where they aro upon an equal foot. — 3. Persons of every character among men ; it may be seen and observed in instances without number, that wise men die, and also the fool and brutish person ; yea, often so it is, that a wise man dies as a fool dies ; Solomon, the wisest of men, died. Learning, in all its branches and in its highest pitch, cannot 'secure from dying ; men learned and unlearned die. — 4. Persons of every character in the sight of God, wicked men and good men ; the wickedness of the wicked, of those who are the most addicted and abandoned to it, such as have made a covenant with death and with hell, are at an agreement, as they imagine ; such covenant and agreement will not stand, nor be of any avail unto them to protect them from death ; though they put away the evil day far from them, it will come upon them suddenly, whilst they are crying peace, peace, and promise themselves a long life of prosperity : and good men, they die also, The prophets do they live for ever ? they do not, Zech. i. 5 ; merciful and righteous men are often taken away in mercy from the evil to come ; true believers in Christ, such who live and believe in him, or have a living faith on him, shall never die a spiritual death, nor the second death : but they die a corporal one ; even though Christ has died for them, and by dying has satisfied for sin, and abolished death. Yet, — 5. Their death is different from that of wicked men ; they die in Christ, in union to him, and so are secure from condemnation; they die in faith of being for evor with him ; they die in hope of eternal fife, and their end is different from others : the end of a perfect and upright man is peace ; he departs in peace, he enters into peace, he receives the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul ; when the wicked man goes into everlasting punishment, he goes into everlasting life.— 6. The reason of which is, death is abolished as a penal evil, though it was threatened as such for sin, and is inflicted as such on some ; yet being borne by Christ as a penalty, in the room and stead of his people, it ceases to be so to them ; the sting of it, which is sin, is taken away by Christ, the curse of it is removed, Christ being made a curse for them ; death is become a blessing to them, for blessed aro they that die in Christ ; and hence it is desirable by them, and there is good reason for it ; since it puts an end to sin and sorrow, enters into the joy of the Lord, and fulfils it. III. The causes of death, on what account it comes upon men, and to whom and what it is to bo ascribed. i. The efficient cause is God, who is the sovereign disposer of life and death ; it is he that gives fife and breath, and all things to his creatures; life is a favour granted by him to men, and he upholds their souls in life ; and since he is the author, giver and supporter of life, he may with propriety be called the God of their lives ; and he that gives life has only a right to take it away ; and he is a sovereign being and may do it at his pleasure ; and he has particularly expressed his sovereignty in this instance, saying, / kill, and I make alive, Deut. xxxii. 39 ; he is

OF THE DEATH OP THE BODY. 183 God the Lord, to whom belong the issues from death ; or rather, the issues to it, the ways which lead to it, and issue in it ; for it has a thousand ways to come upon men, attack and dispatch them. — 1. No man has a right to take away his own life, nor the life of another ; Christ, the Prince of life, who had the human nature united to his divine person, had power to dispose of his human life, to lay it down, and take it up again ; which none besides has ; suicide, of all the kinds of murder, is the most unnatural and execrable ; it has been committed by wicked men ; as Saul, Judas, &c Samson is no instance of it ; what he did, was not with an intention to destroy his own life, but the lives of the enemies of God and of his people, in doing which his own life fell a sacrifice ; and was done in a devout and pious manner, praying unto God : and besides, he acted not as a private man, but as a civil magistrate, and judge in Israel; and whatever may be charitably hoped of some persons, who have been left to destroy themselves, care should be taken not to encourage, nor give any countenance to so sinful a practice. Nor ought any man to take away the life of another ; since the life of man was neither to be taken away by another, in the heat of passion and wrath, or for sordid and sinister ends, to obtain their property ; God made a law, and it was one of the first he made after the flood, that he that shed man's blood, by man should his blood be shed, Gen. ix. 6 : that is, by the order of the civil magistrate ; and a person convicted of this capital crime, ought not to be pardoned ; the law is express and peremptory. And though this sin may be ever so privately committed, yet, generally speaking, it is discovered, and is punished in this life ; and it is sure to meet with its reward in the world to come ; such sinners are always reckoned among those who shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; but shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire, which is the second death ; unless the grace of God is displayed in giving them repentance and remission of sin.—. 2. Satan, though he is said to have the power of death, Heb. ii. 14 ; yet this is not to be understood as if he had a power and right to inflict death at pleasure on men ; for if so, such is his malice and rooted enmity to men, that the race of mankind would have been extinct long ago. The case of Job shows that he lies under the restraint of God in this matter : he may have been, by divine permission, in some instances the executioner of death to the enemies of God, and to such who have given up themselves to him, and sold themselves to work wicked ness. He was the introducer of sin into the world, the cause of death ; and both are the works of the devil, which Christ came to destroy, and has destroyed ; and Satan, because of his concern in the ruin of our first parents, by his temptations, and so of all mankind, he is said to be a murderer from the beginning, John viii. 44. — 3. Death of right is of God only; it is he who threatened with it in case of sin ; and made it the sanction of his law. Death, whenever he comes and attacks men, it is by a commission from God. He is sometimes represented as a person coming up at our windows, and into our palaces and houses, like a bailiff to arrest men ; and sometimes as on horseback and armed, and power given him to kill men with various sorts of judgments, as

184 OP THE DEATH OF THE BODY. famine, pestilence, sword, and wild beasts ; and whatever are the means of the death of men, whether extraordinary or ordinary, they are all of God, and under his direction ; every disorder, disease, and sickness, are servants sent by him to execute his pleasure ; insomuch that death is frequently spoken of as his act, and as inflicted, by him ; it is ex pressed by taking men away ; by taking away their life or soul ; by gathering the breath and Spirit of men to himself; by prevailing against man, and causing him to pass away ; and by changing his countenance, and sending him away. — 4. Death is, by his appointment ; it is the statute-law of heaven. The grave is the house appointed for all men living, Job xxx. 23. All things leading to death, and which issue in it, are under a divine appointment. All afflictions, diseases, and disorders, are of God ; these are not fortuitous events, that come by chance, or spring out of the dust ; but come by the appointment of God, to bring about the dissolution by death : all the circumstances of it are according to the determinate counsel and will of God : as what death, and by what event, a man shall die ; and the manner of his death, and the place where ; for though we are told where we were born, and know where we now live ; yet no man knows where he shall die : none but God knows this, who has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of men's habitations, where they shall live ; and where they shall die. The time of a man's death is appointed by God ; for there is a time for every purpose of God, for the execution of it : A time to be born, and a time to die, Eccles. iii. 1, 2 ; there is an appointed time for man on earth, when he shall come into the world, how long he shall continue in it, and when he shall go out of it : and before this time no man dies. The Jews sought to lay hold on Christ, to take away his life, but they could not, because his hour was not come ; and the same holds good of every man. Nor can any live longer than the appointed time ; The time drew nigh that Israel must die, Gen. xlvii. 29 ; there was a time fixed for it, and that was at hand, when he must die. and there was no going beyond it. Says Job, of man, his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee ; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass, Job xiv. 5 ; a man cannot lengthen out his days, nor another for him ; no man can add one cubit unto his stature, or rather, to his age, Matt. vi. 27- The days of men are compared to a hand's-breath, Psalm xxxix. 5 ; and to this handVbreadth, a cubit, nor indeed, any measure at all, can be added, with all tho thought, care, and means, that can be made use of; physicians, in this respect, are physicians of no value ; they cannot prolong tho life of men ; they may make life a little more easy and comfortable while it lasts ; but they cannot protract it one moment : nor can men that abound with wealth and riches, give to God a ransom for themselves and others, that they should stiff live for ever, and see no corruption. There are several things objected to this ; but are what have been mostly answered already ; as that Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his days; and some men not living out half their days, and dying before their time, Psalm lv. 23, Eccles. vii, 17. As for the objection taken from the insignificancy, and useleesness of means, and temptations to

OP THE DEATH OF THK BODY. 185 lay them aside, if things are so, that no man can live longer, nor die sooner, than the appointed time : it should be known, that in general, with respect to things civil or sacred, the means are equally appointed as the end, and to be used in order to it ; this appears in the case of Hezekiah though the decree was express and peremptory, that fifteen years should be certainly added to his days ; yet the prophet that brought the message from the Lord, and the King that received it, both agreed to have a plaster of figs laid upon his boil, for the recovery of his health, and the continuance of his life, Isa. xxxviii. 21. li. The procuring or meritorious cause of death, is sin ; it was threatened in case of sin ; and when sin entered the world, death came in by it ; it is the wages and demerit of sin ; The body is dead because ofsin; it is become mortal, and dies on account of it, Rom. v. 12. Man was originally made an immortal creature ; the soul, in its own nature, is such, being immaterial; and though the body is composed of matter, and such as was capable of being reduced and resolved into the elements of which it was made, for sin ; yet it was gifted by God with immortality ; and had man continued in his state of innocence, this gift would have remained with him ; for the death of the body is not the fruit and effect of nature, as say the Socinians ; but of sin, for if man would have died, according to the course of nature, whether he had sinned or no ; to what purpose was the threatening, In the day that thou eatest thereofthou shalt surely die, if he would and must have died, whether he eat or no I But it was through sinning that he became mortal, like the beasts, and perish, or die, as they do. Otherwise man would have continued immortal ; and, by means directed to, would have been sup ported in his present life, without dying, or any fears of it ; or would have been translated to a higher kind of life, for evermore. in. The instrumental causes, or means of death, are various ; or which, and who, are employed in the execution of it. Angels are sometimes made use of to inflict it; thus an angel in one night slew, in the Assyrian camp, a hundred four-score and five thousand, 2 Kings xix. 35. Multitudes are cut off by the sword of justice, in the hand of the civil magistrate, and that by the order and appointment of God. God has his four judgments, sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, by which sometimes great havoc is made among men ; the ordinary means by which death is instrumentally brought about, are disorders and distempers of the body, which operate sometimes in a quicker, and sometimes in a slower way ; yet sooner or later they are the cause of men's drawing to the grave, and their life to the destroyers. iv. The properties of death, which serve to lead into the nature, power, and use of death. — 1 . It is but once ! It is appointed unto men once to die, Heb. iii. 27. Ordinarily men die but once; they do not soon return to life again, and then die again ; they go by death whither they shall not return to their houses, and families, and friends again, and to their business in life, as before ; when they die, they lie down in the grave, and rise not till the heavens be no more ; that is, until the second coming of Christ, when the heavens shall pass away ; or until the resurrection-morn, which will be when Christ himself shall descend

186 OF THE DEATH OP THE BODY. from heaven to judge the world, from whose face the heaven and earth shall flee away. There have been some instances in which men have died, and have been raised again to a mortal life, as it should seem, and then have died again ; otherwise it is not easy to say, how Christ could be called the first-born from the dead, if any were raised before him to an immortal life, never to die more ; since some were raised before ; as the son of the widow of Sarepta, by Elijah ; and the son of the Shunamite, by Elisha ; and the man that revived upon touching the prophet's bones : and also others by Christ himself ; as Jairus's daughter, the widow of Nam's son, and Lazarus ; of whom it is parti cularly observed, that after his resurrection he sat at table, as a guest at supper time, to eat and drink; which supposes the life he was raised to was a mortal one, and that he was supported in the manner mortals are, and died again, John xii. 2. But commonly men die but once, as Christ the Saviour did. — 2. Death is certain ; it is certain by the appointment of God, which cannot be frustrated ; Israel must die, and so must every man ; though the time when, is very uncertain ; the Son of man comes in an hour men know not of; therefore they should be ready, and watching, and waiting for him. Nothing is more certain than death, as all experience in all ages testify ; and yet nothing more uncertain than the time when a man shall die. — 3. Death is mighty, powerful, and irresistible ; what is stronger than death ? No man has power over his spirit, to retain the spirit one moment, when it is called for : when God says, This night thy soul is required of thee, it must be given up : there is no resisting nor withstanding ; when it is said, The master is come, and calleth for thee, thou must go ; when death comes and calls for a man, he must go with him ; stragglings and entreaties are to no purpose. — 4. Death is insatiable ; it is one of those things that is never satisfied ; and the grave which follows it is another, though it has been glutting itself from the beginning of the world, it is as greedy of its prey as ever ; and though it sometimes makes such a carnage of men, as in a battle, that thousands are slain in one day, and freat numbers in a short time, by famine and pestilence, yet it never as enough. — 5. Death is necessary ; not only by the appointment of God, which must be accomplished ; but for the truth of God, in his threatening with it, in case of sin ; and for the justice of God on sin ners, which requires it : and besides, it is also necessary to the saints, for their good ; that they may be free from indwelling sin and corrup tion, which they cannot be as long as they are in this tabernacle ; this earthly house, in which the spreading leprosy of sin is, must be pulled down, ere a thorough riddance can be made of it ; it is necessary to deliver the saints from all the troubles of this life, and to introduce them into the joy of their Lord. — 6. Though death is formidable to nature, and to natural men : yet it is desirable by good men ; they seek their dismission from hence by it ; they choose rather to depart and to bo with Christ, which is much better than a continuance in a life of sin and sorrow ; they are willing rather to be absent from the body, that they might be present with the Lord.

187 OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. Though the body dies, and when it dies, the soul dies not ; it survives the body, and not only lives after it, but lives for ever, it never dies : though the body without the soul is dead, yet the soul without the body is not dead ; when the body returns to the earth and dust, from whence it sprung, the soul returns to God, the immediate author and fiver of it : the body may be killed by men, but not the soul ; no man as any power over that, none but God that made it: the soul is immortal, it is not capable of death, that is, in a natural and proper sense ; it is capable of dying, in a figurative sense, a moral or spiritual death ; which is brought on by sin ; but this lies not in a deprivation of the powers and faculties of it ; but of its moral rectitude, righteous ness and holiness ; and it is capable of an eternal death, which is the destruction of it in hell ; that is, not a destruction of its substance, but of its peace, joy, and happiness for ever. When it is said, the soul is immortal, it must be understood, that it is so in its nature ; and is not liable to death, either from any thing within itself or without it ; but not that it has such an immortality as God himself has, who only hath immortality ; he has it of himself : angels, and the souls of men, have their immortality of him, who has made them immaterial and immortal spirits ; his immortality is with out beginning, and any prior cause of it ; theirs has a beginning from God, the first cause of them : his is independent ; theirs depend on him, in whom they live, and move, and have their being. That the soul of man is immortal may be proved, I. From the consideration of the soul itself, its original, nature, powers, and faculties. i. From the original of it ; it is not of men ; it is not ex traduce, or by generation from parents, as has been proved elsewhere ; what is born of the flesh, is flesh ; and is not only carnal and sinful, but frail and mortal ; all flesh is grass, withering, decaying, and corruptible, as that is : but the spirit, or soul, is of God ; it is the very breath of God : and has a similarity to him, particularly in immortality ; God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul, immortal and never dying, Gen. ii. 7 ; Elihu says, Job xxxiii. 4, The breath of the Almighty hath given me life, a life that will never end : as the first man was made, so are his posterity; his body was formed out of the dust; and then a living, immortal soul was breathed into it : so the body of every man is first formed, and then the soul is created in it ; hence God is described, as he that formeth the spirit of man within him, Zech. xii. 1, and as God is the former of the souls of men, so he is the supporter of them ; he upholds their souls in life ; as they have their being and their life from him, it is maintained by him ; the souls of men are not dependent on their bodies, and therefore die not when they do : as they are independent of them in their operations, can think, reason, discourse, will, and nill without them ; so they are in their being, and

188 OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. can exist and subsist without them. The most malicious and cruel persecutors can only kill the body : and after that they liave no more that they can do ; they cannot kill the soul, Luke xii. 4 ; they cannot pursue that any further : that returns to God that gave it ; he could mdeed, annihilate it, if he would ; but that he does not do, neither the souls of good men, who, after death, are under the altar, calling for vengeance on their persecutors ; nor the souls of bad men, who are in perpetual torment ; their worm of conscience never dies, but is always torturing them, and the fire of divine wrath in them is never quenched, of which they are always sensible, and therefore must be immortal, and never die ; or else that fire, and its burnings, would not be everlasting, as they are said to be. ii. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the nature of the soul; which is, — 1. Spiritual, of the same nature with angels, who are made spirits, spiritual substances, and so die not ; and such are the souls of men, Hcb. xii. 9, 23. Now as the souls of men are of the same nature with angels, and they die not, it may be concluded that the souls of men are immortal, and die not. — 2. The soul of man is simple, unmixed, and uncompounded ; it is not composed of flesh, and blood, and bones, arteries, veins, &c as the body; a spirit has none of these : not flesh, which may be torn to pieces ; nor blood, which may be let out and shed, and life expire ; nor bones, which may be broken, and be the occasion of death ; nor arteries and veins, which may be cut through, and life cease : nor is it, as the body, made up of the four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, and capable of being resolved into the same again. — 3. It is immaterial, it is not composed of matter and form ; nor is it a material form, educed out of the power of matter, as the souls of brutes, which die, go downward and return to the earth ; matter is destitute of motion, and cannot move itself; whereas the soul of man, being moved, can move itself; as it appears by its thoughts, reasonings, and discourses ; this was Plato's argument* for the immortality of the soul, that it can move the body at pleasure, or influence to any action, as to walk, sit, &c Matter is incapable of thought, reasoning, and discoursing, willing and nilling as the soul is. Matter is divisible, discerptible, may be cut to pieces : not so the soul ; it is out of the reach of every slaughtering weapon ; the sharp arrow cannot penetrate into it, nor the glittering spear pierce it, nor the two-edged sword divide it ; none of these, nor any other of the same nature, can touch it. — 4. The soul has no contrary qualities, which, when one is predominant, threatens with destruction ; it is neither hot nor cold ; neither moist nor dry ; neither hard nor tender : it has no heat in it, which may, as in the body, be increased to such a degree, as in burning fevers, to dry it up like a potsherd, and consume it : nor such moisture, which may rise, abound, and overflow it, as in a dropsy, and drown the fabric : nor has it any such tender part which will not bear a blow, but be fatal to it : nor so hard as not to bend and become pliable to proper uses, and endanger the machine. —5. The soul of man is made after the image, and in the likeness of " Vide Phidro, p. 1221.

OP THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 189 God, which chiefly consists in that ; it bears a resemblance to the divine nature, being the breath of God ; it has a likeness to him, and particularly in its immortality ; and this is given by Alcmaeon1 as an argument of it ; and so Plato"1, the soul is most like to that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and always the same. III. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the powers and faculties of it, its understanding and will. i. Its understanding. There is a spirit or soul, in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding, Job xxxii. 8 ; an intellective power and faculty of understanding things, which distinfuishes men from brutes that perish, the horse, the mule, &c, which ave no understanding ; it is by this God teaches men more than the beasts of the earth, and makes them wiser than the fowls of heaven, Psalm xxxii. 9. — 1. The understanding of man can take in, and has knowledge, of things spiritual, and incorporeal, immaterial, incor ruptible, and eternal ; which it would not be capable of, if it was not of the same nature itself ; the images of these things would not be impressed on it, nor would it be susceptible of them : it can reflect on its own thoughts and reasonings, and knows the things within itself, which none but God and it can know ; it has knowledge .of angels, their nature, offices, and services ; it has knowledge of God himself", of his nature, perfections, ways, and works : nor is it any objection to it, that it has knowledge of corporeal things, and therefore must be cor poreal too, since these are things below it, and therefore within its reach ; whereas spiritual, incorporeal, and immaterial substances, would be above it, and not within its compass, unless it was a spiritual, immortal, and immaterial substance also ; thus God and angels know corporeal and material things, though they are incorporeal and immaterial. — 2. The soul of man has knowledge of eternity itself; though it may be observed, there is great difference in its apprehen sion of an eternity past, and of that which is to come : when it con siders the former, it is soon at a loss, and at a full stop, is obliged to return, and cannot go on ; it is like a bird that attempts to soar aloft, and take flights it is not used nor equal to, it flutters and hangs its wing, and is forced to descend. But when the soul fixes its thoughts on an eternity to come, how readily does it apprehend how that shall proceed without end ? with what pleasure does it roll over millions of ages in it ? The reason of this difference is, because the soul itself is not from eternity, but has a beginning ; whereas it will endure to eternity, and have no end ; there is Cicero says", though he knows not how it is, inherent in the minds of men, a sort of an augurim, sooth saying, divination, or foresight of future ages ; and which chiefly and most easily appears in the greatest minds, and in the most exalted geniuses. There is in men a natural notion of futurity, a desire aftnr it, and an expectation of it ; which arc things not in vain implanted in 1 Apud Aristot. do Anima, 1 1, c.2j vide Laert. 1. 8, in vita ejus. ■" In Phoedone, p. 60, 61. " This is used as an argument of thc soul's immortality by Sallustius.—De Diia, c. 8 ; and so by Lactantius, Divin. Institut. Epitome, r. 10. • Tuscul. Quaest. 1. I.

190 OP THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. it ; and would not appear if the soul was not immortal ; it has know ledge of things past, present and future ; which proves its immortality. —3. The knowledge which the mind and understanding of man has of things in the present state, is very imperfect, through the brevity of life ; and therefore it may be reasonably concluded, that there is a future state, in which the soul will exist, and its knowledge of things be more perfect : it has been a constant and continual complaint of the sons of learning and science, ars hnga, vita brevis ; art is long, and life is short ; man has not time enough to cultivate the knowledge he is capable of. It has been said?, that it would require a man's whole life-time, and that not sufficient, to get a thorough knowledge of that single mineral antimony : let a man employ all his time and studies in any one branch of literature, any particular art or science, or language, yet would his knowledge be imperfect, and room would be left for those that come after him to improve upon him : arts and sciences have been cultivating many thousands of years, and in some ages great improvements have been made, and especially later ones ; and yet there is room for further improvements still : the knowledge of the best things, which good men have, as of God, of Christ, and of the mys teries of grace, is now very imperfect ; those that know most, know but in part, and see through a glass darkly : but there is a state in which their souls will exist, when they shall see God face to face, see him as he is, and know as they are known ; when their minds will be employed on more noble and interesting subjects than now, and have perfect knowledge of them. — 4. The knowledge the mind of man has of things now, is not in proportion to the powers that he is possessed of. How many are there that die in infancy, and as soon as they are born, whose reasoning powers are never called forth into act and exer cise ? and how many die in childhood and youth, before these powers ripen, and are brought to any maturity ? and how many are there that even live a long life, and yet, either through want of education, or through their situation, circumstances, and employment in life, have not their faculties exercised in proportion to the capacities they are endowed with ? Now can it be thought these powers are bestowed upon them in vain ? There must be then an after-state, in which the soul exists, when its powers will be employed in greater things, and to nobler ends and uses. — 5. Let a man know ever so much in this present life, he is desirous of knowing more : let his acquisitions of knowledge be ever so large, after a life of studious search and enquiry, he is not satisfied, he still wants to know more ; and what he has arrived unto, is only to know this, that he knows but little : Now this desire of knowledge, is not implanted in man, by the author of nature, in vain ; wherefore the soul must remain after death, when it will arrive to a more perfect knowledge of things ; this was the argument Socrates used, to prove to his scholars the immortality of the soul. But with respect to truly good men, tho argument receives farther strength ; they that know most of God, of Christ and of divine things ; they desire to know more, they follow on to know, they make use of P Basiling Yak Minus apud Boyle's Nat. Hist. p. 13.

OP THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 191 all means to increase their spiritual knowledge, and after all, find it imperfect ; and therefore are unsatisfied, and long after a future-state, when all darkness and imperfection will be removed, and they shall see all things clearly. Now these gracious and earnest desires are not implanted in vain by the God of all grace, as they would be, if the soul was not immortal. ii. The will of man is another faculty of the soul, the object and actings of which show it to be immortal. — 1. The will has for its object universal good. It naturally desires complete happiness, which some place in one thing and some in another, but it is not perfectly enjoyed by any ; some place it in riches, but find themselves mistaken in them, nor do they give the satisfaction expected from them ; some in the gratification of carnal pleasures, but these soon pall and perish with the using, and new ones are sought after ; some in enjoying posts of honour, and in the applause of men ; but these depend, the one on the pleasure of princes, by whom they are set in high places, and which become slippery ones ; the other on popular breath, which is as variable as the wind ; some place it in wisdom, knowledge, learning and science ; which, as they are not only imperfect, but attract the envy of others, and, as Solomon says, are vexation of spirit, and cause grief and sorrow ; now there must be a future state, in which true happmess will be attained, at least by some, or else the actings of the will about it will be in vain. — 2. God is the summum bonum, the chief good, the will of man rightly pitches upon, nor can it be satisfied with any thing less ; good men choose him as their portion ; and which is the founda tion of their faith, hope, love, peace and joy ; but then he is not per fectly enjoyed as such in this life : their faith and expectations are, that he will be their portion for ever ; nor will they be fully satisfied until they enjoy him as such in another world ; wherefore in order to this the soul must remain after death, and be immortal. — 3. The will has its desires, and which desires, even the best, are not satisfied in this life ; whatever it has it is desirous of more, it is never satisfied ; its desires of knowledge, as we have seen, are not gratified to the full ; nor its desires after happiness in general, nor even after God himself, the chief good, of whom the truly good man says, Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee, Psalm lxxiii. 25 ; which desires, unless there is a future state in which the soul exists after death and is immortal, are not fully satisfied, and so far in vain. — 4. The actions of the will are free, not forced by any creature ; no creature has any power over it to force it, nor destroy it ; its acts are independent of the body, it can operate without it in willing, nilling, choosing and refusing; and it can subsist and live without it, and when that is dead. — 5. The will is not weakened, nor indeed any of the powers and faculties of the soul, impaired by sickness and approaching death ; though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day ; how clear is the understanding, how active and vigorous the will, when on the verge of eternity ? as appears by its willingness or unwillingness to die, to be freed from present pains and agonies, either by a restoration to health, or by a removal by

192 OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. death ; particularly by a good man's choosing rather to depart and be with Christ, and even by his longing to be gone, saying, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ; yea, when the body is become speechless and near expiring, the faculties of the soul are in exercise ; a man under stands clearly what his friends about him say, and can by a sign, by the lifting up of his hand, signify his faith, hope, joy and comfort ; all which show that the soul sickens not with the body, nor becomes languid as the body does, nor dies with it, though it may be cramped by it. II. The immortality of the soul maybe proved from the light of nature and reason, — 1 . From the consent of all nations. Cicero says,q that as we know by nature that there is a God, so we judge by the consent of all nations, that souls remain after death, and are immortal ; and in every thing, he says,r the consent of all nations is to be reckoned the law of nature: so Seneca' calls it, a public persuasion, or belief; and observes, that the consent of men, either fearing hell, or worshipping God, is of no small moment to persuade unto it. This was, no doubt, the origi nal belief of men, discoverable by the light of nature ; but as that became more dim, and men more degenerate, they lost sight of truths, and of this among the rest. Thalcs the Milesian, who lived about six hundred years before Christ,' is said to be the first who taught it ; though others say" Phcrecydes was the first who asserted it, who was contemporary with him ; some ascribe the first knowledge of it to the Chaldeans and Indian-Magi ; w and others to the Egyptians;" who, it may be, received it from Abraham ; and from them Plato had it. However, it has been embraced by the wisest among the heathens ; by the best of their philosophers, as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Cicero, and others ; and by the best of their poets, as Homer, Phocylides, Virgil, Ovid, &c ; and though denied by some, these were such that were of the worst sect of them ; and though by some among the Jews, as by the Sadducees, yet these were but few, and the most irre ligious sect among them. Indeed, this doctrine has been received, not only among the more religious sects of the heathens; as the Brachmans" among the Indians, and the Druids2 with us, and among the more civilized nations ; but among the more savage and ignorant, even the wild Greenlanders ; a as appears by the accounts lately published, con cerning them. — 2. This may be concluded from an extinction of man, soul and body, being abhorrent to man, as it is said to be to the people last mentioned : the death of the body, though nature is reluctant to it ; yet, in many instances there has been a voluntary and cheerful submission to it ; many good men have not loved their lives unto death, to serve their country; others have not counted their lives dear to themselves, but have freely parted with them for the sake of religion and truth ; and others have chosen rather to depart this life, and to be with Christ ; doath to them has been more eligible than life ; but a ' Tuscul. tjuacst. I. 1. ' Ibid. • Ep. 11". l Lnert. in vita Thaletis; Suidas in voce, &a\i>s. u Cicero. Tusc. Qu;rst. 1. 1. w Pauaaniaa in Messenicis, p. 277. 1 Herodot. Euterpe, 1. 2, c. 123. >' Stvabo. Geogrnpli. I. 15, p. 490. « Ibid. 1. 4, p. 136 ; C«sar. 1. 6, s. 13. x Crnntz's History of Greenland, vol. I, b. 3, c. 5, p. 201.

OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 193 total extinction, to have no being at all, nature starts at it ! which must be the case if the soul dies with the body. — 3. It may be argued, from the natural desire in men to be religious, in some way or another ; this is so natural to men that some have chosen rather to define man a religious, than a rational animal. All nations have had their gods they worshipped ; professed some religion or another, and have kept up some kind of worship ; even the most blind and ignorant, barbarous and savage ; but why are they concerned to worship God, and be soli citous about religion, if there is no future state, and the soul remains not after death, but as it perishes with the body ? there is nothing can be a greater damp to religion and morality, than the disbelief of the immortality of the soul ; for then one may encourage another in all vicious practices ; and say, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die, and it will be all over with us ; nothing more discourages virtue, and encourages vice. Yet, — 4. There is a consciousness of sinning in men ; guilt arises in their consciences, on account of sin : even in the very heathens there is a conscience bearing witness to their actions, good or bad ; and their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another, on account of them ; from whence arise, fears of the displeasure and wrath of incensed deity, and of divine judgment ; all which show that there is a future state, in which souls remain immortal ; and are accountable to God for their actions. And which still more appears, — 5. Not only from the stings of conscience, but from the horrors and terrors, dread, trembling, and panic fears, wicked men are sometimes seized with, as Felix was on hearing of judgment to come : and if these fears, as some say, were the effect of education, which could not be the case of Felix, and many others, it is strange that these fears should be so general and extensive as they are ; and more strange, that none have been able to shake them off entirely; and stranger still, that those who have run the greatest lengths in infidelity and atheism, should not be able to free themselves from them. These things not only show that there is a divine Being, to whom men are accountable for their actions : but that there is a future state after death, in which men exist, when they shall be either in happiness or in misery. — 6. The belief of this may be farther argued, from the provi dence of God concerned in the distribution and disposal of things in this life, which is oftentimes very unequal ; wicked men prosper, and enjoy a large portion of ease and plenty ; and good men are greatly afflicted with a variety of troubles, which has been sometimes a sore temptation to good men, and difficult to them to account for; which difficulty can only be solved by the supposition of a future state, the immortality of the soul, and its existing after death ; when such who have been wicked, and in their life-time received good things, and good men evil things, the latter will have their comforts, and the former the torments ; otherwise good men, if they were to have hope in this life only, they would be of all men the most miserable, 1 Cor. xv. 19. — 7. The immortality of the soul may be concluded from the justice of God ; who is the judge of all the earth who will do right ; for righteous is the Lord, though his judgments are not so manifest in VOL. II. o /

194: OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. this life : it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble his people, and to fulfil the promises he makes to his saints ; at present, the justice, faithfulness, and veracity of God, are not so clearly seen in bestowing favours.and blessings on good men, according to his promises ; and in punishing wicked men, according to his threatenings : it seems therefore reasonable to believe, that the souls of men are immortal, and that their bodies shall rise from the dead ; and that there shall be a future state, in which good' men will be happy, and wicked men miserable. — 8. It seems not agreeable to the wisdom of God, to create man in his image and likeness, and give him dominion over the whole brutal creation, and constitute him lord over all : make the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, for his sake and use, and yet he and they should have the same exit ; the one die and perish, and be totally extinct as the other : this does not comport with the wisdom of God. — 9. Between the spirits of men, and those of brutes, there is a difference ; the one at death go upwards to God that made them, and gave them to men, and live for ever, either in a state of bliss or woe ; and the other go downward to the earth, and die, and live no more, .Eccles. iii. 21. — 10. If the soul is not immortal, but dies with the body, the brutes, in many things, have the advantage of men ; and their state and condition in this life, is, in many respects, superior to theirs ; they are not so weak and helpless at first coming into the world as men are, and who are so for a long time ; nor subject to so many diseases as they are ; in some the senses are quicker than in men, and they have more pleasure in the exercise of them ; as in their sight, hearing, taste, and smell ; some animals excel men in one or other of these : the brutes have no fearful apprehensions of danger beforehand ; and when in any, their only concern is for the present, to get clear of it : and when it is over, they are in no dread of its return : they know nothing of death, are in no expectation of it, nor fear about it, but men know that they must die, and expect it ; and through fear of it, are subject to bondage, and attended with great anxieties, and therefore if the soul dies with the body, their present condition is worse than that of brutes. III. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the Sacred Scriptures ; both from plain and express passages of scripture ; as from Eccles. xii. 7, where, when the body returns to the dust, the soul, or spirit, is said to return to God. that yave it. And likewise from Matt. x. 28. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, which is incapable of being put to death ; otherwise, such is the malice of the persecutors of good men, that they would not spare it any more than the body ; but having killed the body, after that, as Luke says, have no more that they can do, the soul being out of their reach, Luke xii. 4. This is to be proved from scripture-doctrines, and from scripture-instances. i. From scripture-doctrines ; as from the doctrine of God's love to his people, which is everlasting, Jer. xxxi. 3. But this would not be true of it, if the souls of God's beloved died ; then there would be no

OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 195 objects of this love, and so, not everlasting ; hence it would follow, that death can, and does, separate from the love of God, contrary to the apostle's firm persuasion, Rom. viii. 38. And from the doctrine of eternal election ; which is of the persons of God's people both with respect to soul and body ; and by it they are ordained to eternal life, Acts xiii. 48. But if the soul dies with the body, and is not immortal, how will God's elect possess eternal life, and eternal glory, they are chosen to ? and consequently if they do not, the purpose of God, according to election, does not stand sure. Also from the covenant of grace, which is said to be an everlasting covenant. But it is well known, that as in all covenants there are confederates, and if one of the parties covenanting dies, the covenant is at an end ; and if God's elect, with whom the covenant of grace is made, should become extinct, soul and body, the covenant would not be an* everlasting one. The argument used by Christ, to prove the resurrection of the dead, from covenant-interest, Matt. xxii. 31, 32, Luke xx. 38, equally, or rather more clearly, proves the immortality of the soul. And particularly the immortality of the soul may be concluded from the grand promise of eternal life, in the covenant made before the world began, Tit. i. 2. But how can this promise be fulfilled, if the souls of those to whom it is made are not immortal ? It may be argued from the doctrine of adoption, another blessing in the covenant ; by virtue of which saints are heirs of an eternal inheritance ; but how can the relation of sons subsist, which adoption gives, and the inheritance adopted to be enjoyed, if the soul dies with the body ? And the same may be evinced from the doctrine of regeneration : in virtue of which men are begotten again to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance ; which yet can never be possessed, if the soul is not immortal. The same may be concluded from the doctrine of sanctification, every branch of which has eternal life connected with it ; as knowledge of God in Christ, faith in Christ, and hope of eternal glory ; but if the soul is not immortal, in which these graces are, they will not only fail themselves, but the glory and happiness annexed unto them will not be attained. Likewise it may be argued from the doctrine of Christ respecting his work, the blessings of grace by him, and the services and benefits further to be expected from him ; as the redemption of the soul by the blood of Christ, which must be shed in vain : nor can it be called eternal redemption, if the soul is not immortal ; nor will the saints' union to Christ be an indis soluble one ; nor they enjoy that life which justification by his right eousness entitles to ; nor his intercession and preparations for them in heaven be of any service to them : the second coming of Christ, with all his saints, and the resurrection of their bodies, at his coming, show that their souls live in a separate state before the resurrection, or they could not be said to come with him ; and that they will be alive at the resurrection, or to what purpose will their bodies be raised ? The doctrine of the judgment, whether particular or general, is a proof of the soul's immortality ; for if that dies with the body, there is nothing remains after death on which judgment can pass. Moreover, the doctrine of future rewards and pumshments, confirms this truth ; for o2

196 OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. if the soul is not immortal, a good man cannot be rewarded in a way of grace, or enjoy happiness in consequence of his piety, since there will be no subject of it remaining ; nor a wicked man be punished for his sins, for the same reason ; yea, it will lie in the power of a wicked man, both to prevent the happiness of the one, and the punishment of the other ; since it is in his power to take away his own animal life, and so put himself out of the power of God to inflict punishment upon him, if his soul survives not ; and so likewise to take away the life of a good man, and deprive him of any farther and future happiness ; all which does not comport with the wisdom, justice, and goodness of God ; and therefore it may be concluded the soul survives, that it may be the subject of reward or punishment,1'. It is an observation of Hierocles', that a wicked man would not have the soul to be immortal, that he may not endure punishment, and therefore prevents the judge decree ing it, by inflicting death on himself; and so Plato d observes, that if death is the dissolution of the whole, soul and body, it would be gain to the wicked to die, since they would be free from all evil, soul and body. ii. The immortality of the soul may be proved from scriptureinstances ; as from the cases of Enoch and Elijah, who were translated, soul and body, that they should not see death ; as not in their bodies, so not in their souls, which must be immortal, and so the souls of others : for of what different nature can their souls be supposed to be ? and from the instances of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who died, and yet after death were living, even in the times of Christ, as he argues in a place before referred to ; and this was the case of all the Old Testament saints, who died in the faith of the heavenly city and country, and now possess it ; and also from the spirits in prison, in the times of the apostle Peter, who were disobedient to the warnings of Noah : and from the resurrection of some particular persons ; who, after death, were raised and lived again, their souls, which died not, being returned to them, and from the souls under the altar, whose bodies were killed, but their souls were not, but were expostulating with God about taking vengeance on their persecutors, Rev. vi. 9 ; and from the instances of persons committing their spirits or souls to God at death ; which shows that they believed their souls would survive their bodies, and therefore they committed them to the care of God, Psalm xxxi. 5, Luke xxiii. 46, Acts vii. 59, 1 Peter iv. 19. Lastly, all such scriptures which speak of the joys of heaven, and of the torments of hell, as to be enjoyed or endured by men after death, prove the immortality of the soul : as, that good men, when they die, are received into everlasting habitations, and the souls of wicked men go into everlasting punishment, and therefore must remain immortal, or they could not be subjects either of joy or misery; and this the parable of the rich man and beggar plainly declares; for though a parable, yet as every parable has its scope, which ought to be attended to, so b This Dr. Watts calls a moral argument for the immortality of the soul.—See Miscellaneous Thoughts, vol. 4, No. 74, p. 495. • In Carmln. Pvthagor, p. 165. J In Pluedone. p. 80, ed. Ficin.

OF THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 197 has this ; which is to represent the different state and condition of the souls of good men and wicked men after death, when the one are happy and the other miserable, and therefore the souls of both must be immortal. But, There are some objections made to the immortality of the soul ; taken from reason. As, — 1. That what has a beginning has an end. But this is not always true : angels have a beginning, but not an end, they die not ; and since the souls of men are spiritual, immaterial substances, as they are, it may be concluded, as before observed, that they die not also. — 2. The powers of the soul are said to decay, as the body decays ; but this is only true of the powers of the sensitive soul, or part of man, not of the rational soul ; not of the faculties of the understanding and will : for these, as we have seen, are clear, active, and vigorous, in the article of death. — 3. When a man dies, nothing is seen to go out of him but his breath, which vanishes away : but it is no wonder the soul should not be seen at its departure, since being a spirit, incorporeal and immaterial, it is invisible ; and as for the breath that goes out of a man, that cannot be the soul, which cannot be imagined to be the subject of thought, understanding, and will. — 4. Some will have it, that this is only a contrivance of men in power, a piece of state-policy to keep men in awe, and to their duty. But those men who contrived it, were either bad men or good men : bad men would be unconcerned about ways and means to serve the cause of religion and virtue, they have an aversion to : and good men would never make use of a known lie, and of hypocrisy, to serve such purposes. Besides, if this was the case, how comes it to be such a general belief in which all nations agree, and is so manifest by the light of nature ? I There are other objections, which are taken from scripture. As, — 1 . From such scriptures which threaten the soul with death in case of sin ; so the first man was threatened with death of soul and body, should he eat of the forbidden fruit ; and it is expressly said, The soul that sins, that shall die, Ezek. xviii. 4. To which may be replied : That there are various sorts of death ; there is a spiritual or moral death, which took place in Adam as soon as he sinned ; and is in all his posterity by nature ; in which sense they are dead in their souls, while alive in their bodies ; it is a being dead in trespasses and sins ; and lies, not in the substance of the soul, but in the qualities of it ; in the loss of the image of God, as consisting of righteousness and holiness. And there is an eternal death, the destruction of both body and soul in hell : but this lies not in the destruction of the being of either, but in the misery of both : and there is a natural death, such as of the body, which the soul is not capable of; and if it was, it would put an end to the second death, called an eternal one ; for then it would not exist, so as to be sent into everlasting fire, and to endure the vengeance of it, or undergo eternal punishment. — 2. From what is said of man, Psalm lxxviii. 39, that he is but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again : but this is said of man with respect to his body, which is flesh, frail and mortal ; and of the breath of his

198 OP THE SEPARATE STATE OP THE SOUL. body, which is in his nostrils ; a wind, a vapour, which appears for a little time, and then vanishes away ; all expressive of the brevity of the bodily life of man. — 3. From Psalm cxlvi. 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth : which signifies the same as before, and relates to the body, which returns to the earth, from whence it came : but it follows, in which the strength of the objection lies, in that very day, in which the breath of his body ceases, and the body returns to the dust, that is, dies, his thoughts perish ; and now, since the soul is, by some, defined a thinking substance, and the thoughts of it perish at death, then that must cease to be. But the meaning is, not that at the death of the body the soul ceaseth to think ; but that all its former thoughts, schemes, projects, and purposes, concerning either civil or religious things, are then at an end, and cannot be carried into execu tion ; as Job says, having death in view, as just at hand, My days are past ; my purposes are broken off; even the thoughts of my heart ! so that he could not perform what he had thought of, demised, and determined on, Job xvii. 11.— 4. From the likeness of the spirits of brutes and of men, Eccles. iii. 19, 20. But then Solomon either, in these words, personates an atheistical man ; or, if he speaks his own sense, he must be understood of the sensitive part of man, which he has in common with other animals ; and it is plain he speaks of that part of man which is of the dust, and returns to it again, that is, the body, and of the breath of that ; and in the next verse, clearly observes the difference between the spirits of brutes, and the rational souls of men, the one going upward to God, and the other downward to the earth, at death. — 5. The immortality of the soul is objected to, from such passages which speak of man's going at death whence he shall not return ; and as if it was not known where he was, Job x. 21, and xiv. 10. But these are to be understood, of his returning to his house, and former manner of living and employment of life, chap. vii. 10. And when it is asked, Where is he, when he dies ? it is easily answered, His body is returned to the dust, and is laid in the grave ; and his soul is gone to God, and is either in bliss or woe. — 6. From those places which speak of the dead as not; Rachael was weeping for her children, because they were not, Jer. xxxi. 15. But this cannot be meant of non existence, either of soul or body; for the body, though reduced to dust, yet is, and is something ; and the soul, that is either in heaven or in hell. STATE OF THE SOUL UNTIL THE RESURRECTION, AND ITS EMPLOYMENT. That the soul exists in a future state, after the death of the body, has been abundantly proved in the preceding chapter ; and the business of this is to show, that the soul, immediately after death, enters into a state of happiness or woe ; in which it continues until the resurrection of the body : and that during that interval, it is not in a state of insensibility and inactivity ; but that it is employed in various exercises ; and what its employment is, will be pointed at.

OF THE SEPARATE STATE OP THE SOUL. 199 I. That as soon as the body is dead, the soul immediately enters into a separate state of happiness or misery. The wise man, after a description of death, and the symptoms of it, in a most beautiful and striking manner adds, Then shall the dust return to the earth ; the body, composed of dust and earth, at death returns to its original dust and earth, and is interred in it, where it sleeps until the resur rection ; and the spirit, or soul, which is a spiritual, immaterial, and immortal substance, shall return, even immediately, as soon as the body is become a lifeless lump of clay, unto God that gave it ; the former of the spirit of man within him, the giver of it to the sons of men, to whom it returns as soon as it leaves the body, as to the original proprietor of it ; and to whom it is accountable for all actions done in the body ; being summoned and gathered by him, or carried by angels to him ; when a particular, personal judgment passes upon it ; for after this, that is, death, comes judgment ; that at once takes place ; though the general judgment will not be until the resurrection of the dead ; and according to the sentence passed on the soul, at its particular judgment, it is disposed of. The souls of the wicked are sent down to hell, and cast into it ; to this prison they are committed, there to remain to the judgment of the great day : this has been the case from the beginning of the world, witness the spirits in prison, who were disobedient in the times of Noah ; the wicked of all nations in the world, in all ages, as asserted by David ; and that without respect to persons, rich or poor ; the rich wicked man died, and in hell lift up his eyes, according to the parable of our Lord, Luke xvi. 22. And the souls of good men return to God at death, are retained by him, into whose hands, at death, they commit them : and are immediately admitted into his presence, and fulness of joy there ; and so remain until the second coming of Christ, when he will bring them with him, raise their bodies and re-unite souls and bodies ; and when in both, they shall be for ever with him : and whereas the immediate state of the wicked after death, is but sparingly spoken of in scripture ; but that of good men more plentifully, the proof of the latter will be chiefly attended to, and which may be taken. i. From Eccles. iv. 2, where the saints dead are preferred to living ones. 1 . By the dead are meant the righteous dead ; for though the righteousness of Christ, from which they are denominated righteous, delivers them from eternal death, yet not from a corporeal one ; the righteous man perishes, or dies, as others do; though his death is different from the death of others, and is attended with happy circum stances ; hence Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous, Numbers xxiii. 10. — 2. By the living are meant, saints in the present state, who are distressed with a body of sin and death, and groan, being burthened with it ; are harassed by the temptations of Satan, with which they are sorely grieved ; are exercised with a variety of afflictions, from different quarters, and on different accounts ; meet with various tribulations in the world, and are greatly oppressed with the persecutions of men, as in verse 1, which makes their present state uncomfortable at times. Now, —3. The righteous dead are delivered

200 OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. from all these ; they are freed from sin, and are out of the reach of Satan's temptations, and of the persecutions and oppressions of men. And, — 4. Are in a state of fellowship with God, and Christ, and with angels and glorified saints in heaven, and so happy, and in a state preferable to living saints. But — 5. If this was not the case, if they were in a state of insensibility, and without the enjoyment of the divine presence, they would not be happier then, nor so happy, as living saints, with all their sorrows, arising from within and from without ; for they have their intervals of joy, peace, and comfort ; have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, by the Spirit, at times ; and are indulged with fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ ; and besides, they have comfortable fellowship with the saints, in the word and ordinances ; with whom they go to the house of God in company, and are there greatly delighted and refreshed : the tabernacles of the Lord are amiable and lovely ; a day in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace ; and there fore they are happier than the righteous dead, if they are not in the Divine Presence, and sensibly enjoying that, until the resurrection. ii. From Isa. lvii. 1, 2, The righteous perisheth, &c—By the righteous and merciful, are meant such as are truly made so by the righteousness of Christ, and live righteously under a sense of such grace, and who have obtained pardoning mercy of God, and show mercy to others, the same with the good man, the godly, and the faithful, elsewhere, Mic vii. 2, Psalm xii. 1.—The death of such is meant by their perishing, and being taken away ; for persons so described can never perish eternally, only as to the outward man, and the transitory things of this world ; out of which they are taken by death, and to God himself. And as soon as they are taken from hence, they are at once in a state of happiness ; being not only taken from evil to come, from public judgments and calamities coming upon a nation ; or from the evil of sin, and of error, by which they might have been ensnared and distressed; all which is a kind of negative happiness ; but they have, besides this, at death, a real and positive happiness, which they are at once possessed of; signified by the following things, — 1. They enter into peace : are not only freed from sorrow, disturbance, and distress, on any account whatever ; but they are put into the possession of a peace which passeth all understanding, and can never be inter rupted ; they enter into it as into a house, where they are to dwell ; and upon a land where there is no pricking brier nor grieving thorn. — 2. They rest in their beds; not only their bodies rest m their graves, where their rest together is in the dust ; but their souls in the bosom of Abraham, in the arms of Jesus ; where they rest from all their toil and labour ; and have continual and never-ceasing commu nion with all the heavenly inhabitants. — 3. They walk in their upright ness ; they walk, and so are not in a state of insensibility and inactivity ; they have places given thum to walk among those that stand by, to take their turns, and converse with angels and glorified saints; and with them they walk clothed in white, because worthy, through

OF THE SEPARATE .STATE OV THE SOUL. 201 the worthiness of Christ ; in the righteousness of Christ, the fine linen, clean and white ; and in spotless purity and holiness ; and in the shining robes of bliss and glory. in. From Luke xvi. 22, 23. And it came to pass that the beggar died, &c The scope of this parable, as observed in the preceding chapter, is to be attended to : which is to set forth the immediate state of men after death, whether good men or bad men ; for though it may have a principal respect to Christ, and to the Pharisees of his times, yet holds true of all good men, the members of Christ ; and of all wicked men, whether under a guise of religion, or openly profane. — 1 . The beggar, the good man, upon his death, is represented as under the care and convoy of angels, and by them seated in Abraham's bosom, a phrase used by the Jews, expressive of the heavenly happi ness ; in allusion to a feast, at which, according to the custom of the Jews, the guests lay upon beds or couches, about the table ; so that he who lay below another, and next to him, leaned, as it were, on his breast, and lay in his bosom ; and this denotes the intimate com munion of the saints with each other, in the enjoyment of God. — 2. The rich and wicked man, he is said, upon his death, to be in hell, where he lift up his eyes, and saw the poor good man in great felicity and comfort, whom ho had treated with neglect and contempt ; which served to aggravate his misery ; and where he found himself surrounded with the flames of hell, and filled with inward torments and horrors of mind. — 3. The state of both these is summed up in a few words, 25, But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented ; even now, immediately after the death of both. And, — 4. That this respects the interme diate state between the death of the body, and the resurrection of it, is clear, from what the wicked man petitioned, on the behalf of his brethren in his father's house, in the state of the living, and having the means the law and the prophets ; only he thought, if one were sent from the dead to them, it would strike them with greater conviction ; when he was told, they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead ; which shows the parable respects the state of men before the resurrection, and as taking place immediately upon death. iv. From Luke xxiii. 43. And Jesus said unto him, the penitent thief, then suffering death ; verily I say unto thee, which being thus solemnly affirmed might be depended on, to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise, in heaven! for, — 1. By paradise is meant the third heaven, into which the apostle Paul was caught, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4 ; the seat of the divine Majesty, and the dwelling-place of angels and glorified saints ; so called in allusion to the garden of Eden, that earthly paradise, for the delight, pleasure, and happiness, of it. — 2. Hither Christ himself, as soon as he expired on the cross, went ; not in limbus patrum, to deliver the Old Testament-saints from thence ; nor into the prison of hell, to preach to, and convert the spirits there, as say some, upon the mistaken sense of 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; but into heaven itself, having commended his spirit, or soul, into the hands of his divine Father, by whom it was received. — 3. The happiness promised the thief, upon his request to him, to remember him in his kingdom, is, that he should

202 OP THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. be with him in paradise ; should enjoy all the happiness of that place, and his presence in it, in which the happiness of it lay. — 4. He assures him, that this happiness he should enjoy immediately, that very day ; This day thou shalt be with me, fyc to put the stop after to-day, and read it as connected with what goes before, / say unto thee to-day, is a mere shift, and gives a most trifling and jejune sense of the words. v. From 2 Cor. v. 1—8. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. In which may be observed, — 1. That death is signified by a dissolution of the earthly body ; that is called a tabernacle, or tent, set up for a while, and then taken down ; and an earthly house, a house of clay, formed out of the earth, which has its foundation in the dust ; and death is an analysis, or resolution of it, into earth and dust again. —2. Heaven is represented as another house of a different nature, not made with the hands of men ; but what God is the maker and builder of ; and it is not on earth, but in heaven ; is eternal, will continue for ever ; it consists of many man sions and apartments, prepared by Christ for his people. — 3. Into which they are at once removed, when dislodged from their earthly house, the body ; We know, that if, or when, our earthly house, &c when we are warned out of that, we have another house immediately to be admitted into ; saints are not, at death, turned adrift, as Adam, when driven out of Eden ; nor are they without any certain dwellingplace, as sometimes the apostles were ; they have a house ready for them to go into ; as soon as they are ordered out of one, there is another prepared to receive them. — 4. This is no conjecture, but a certain thing ; we know, from the provision God has made of it, from the preparations of Christ for it, from the right and title Christ's righteousness gives unto it, from the security of it in him, and from the testimony of the Spirit. — 5. After which there are strong desires in the saints ; they groan in the present tabernacle, being burthened, longing for a deliverance from it, and an admittance into their other house in heaven ; being willing to quit the body, that they might enjoy the presence of God ; which they would not be so pressingly desirous of, if they knew they should not be introduced into it immediately. — 6. But of this they have an earnest, even the Spirit of God ; and therefore are quite confident, being wrought up by him for this self-same thing, by his power and grace, that when they are removed from hence they shall be with the Lord. — 7. And this will be as soon as they are absent from the body, as they are at death, they shall be present with the Lord, and enjoy communion with him. vi. From Phil. l. 21, 23. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain—for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better! From whence it appears, — 1. That the apostle believed, that upon his departure out of this world, by death, he should be immediately with Christ, and enjoy communion with him ; which would be a real gain unto him, and be preferable to his continuance in this life, there being nothing here that could be a

OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. 203 counterbalance to it. Or otherwise, — 2. If he had not believed this, his immediate admission into the presence of Christ, and enjoyment of eternal happiness, he could never have considered death as gain unto him : for he must have been a loser by it ; since in his present state, notwithstanding all his fatigue and labour, his sorrows and his suf ferings, yet he had communion with God, the presence of Christ, the teachings and leadings of the Divine Spirit, much pleasure and success in his work, being the happy instrument of converting sinners, and comforting saints ; all which he would be deprived of, if at death he entered into a state of insensibility and inactivity. Nor, — 3. Would he have been at a loss what choice to have made, whether to live or die ; whether to depart out of the world, or to continue in it : he could have easily discerned, that it was his interest to abide in the flesh, or in the present state, in which he received much good for himself, and did much for others ; whereas, if he was not to enter upon a state of happiness until the resurrection, but remain inactive and useless : it certainly was much more eligible to continue as he was. For, — 4. Most certain it is, that it would have been better for the churches of Christ, for the interest of religion, and for the glory of God, if he had remained on earth to this day, and so on to the second coming of Christ, than to be sleeping in his grave, receiving no benefit to himself, nor being of any use to others. vn. From Rev. xiv. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, &c By these dead, are not meant merely, or only, the martyrs of Jesus, who die for the sake of Christ, and his gospel ; but all the saints who die in union with Christ, in faith in him, as the only Saviour and Redeemer ; in hope of eternal life by him ; and in the expectation of being for ever with him ; and whose faith, hope and expectation, will not fail, nor be disappointed. —. 2. Truly good men are blessed now ; they are blessed who trust in the Lord, and make him their hope ; they are happy who dwell in his house, enjoy his ordinances, and are employed in his service ; who walk in his ways, and keep his com mandments : but they are much more blessed at death ; which would not be their case, if they did not immediately enter into the presence of Christ, and into the joy of the Lord. — 3. This is the blessedness intended here ; for it commences from henceforth, from the instant of their death ; and which is confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit ; Yea, saith the Spirit ; he says, they are blessed from that time ; which blessedness, — 4. Lies in a rest from their labours ; not merely in a rest from the labours of their bodies, much less in a cessation from the spiritual exercises of their souls ; but in inward everlasting peace, joy and comfort ; and in their works following them, not only what they had done as witnesses of the truth of grace, but what they were to do, and be employed in, until the coming of Christ : which leads to consider the proof that may be given, II. That the souls of men, when separated from their bodies by death, are not in a state of insensibility and inactivity. There are some, who, though they do not deny the immortality of the soul, yet think it sleeps with the body until the resurrection ; and this was the firm

204 OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. opinion of Socinus, as he himself says ', that" the soul of man, after this life, does not so subsist of itself, as to be sensible either of rewards or punishments ; or, indeed, as to be capable of perceiving those things; and the same is held by some Arminian writers'. But in opposition to this notion, i. I shall endeavour to prove, that the soul is operative, and in a state of action, when separate from the body ; and that insensibility is not to be concluded from the absence of the body. For, — 1. The soul can and does operate without the use of bodily organs in its pre sent state, and in many things stands in no need of them ; the rational soul thinks, discourses, and reasons without the use of them; its powers and faculties, the understanding and will, need them not ; the will is directed and guided by the understanding ; and the under standing has to do with objects in the consideration of which bodily organs are no ways assisting ; as in the consideration of God, his nature and perfections : of angels and spirits, and their nature ; and of a man's own spirit, and the things of it, which it penetrates into without the help of any of the instruments of the body : it can consider of things past long ago, and of things very remote and at a great distance ; and such objects as are presented to it by the senses, it reasons about them without making any use of any of the organs of the body ; and if it can operate without the body, it can exist without it ; for since it is independent of it in its operations, it is independent of it in its being ; and as it can exist without it, it can act in that separate state of existence without it : wherefore since it dies not with the body, it is not affected as to its operations by the absence of it, nor at death becomes insensible as that is. — 2. The case of persons in raptures, ecstacies and trances, when the body is senseless and inactive, and as if it was dead, and yet the soul is active and attentive, and capable of receiving things communicated to it, shows most clearly the soul can operate without the body ; and if in this state, much more in a more perfect one. The apostle John was in the spirit, in an ecstacy, when he saw and heard the various things recorded in the Book of the Revelation ; the case of the apostlo Paul is very remark able, a particular account of which he gives, though not knowing whether m the body or out of iti 2 Cor. xii. 2—4 ; now though the apostle was not certain whether his soul was in his body or not, during his rapture ; yet this appears most certain, that it was his sentiment that a soul out of the body is capable of seeing such things as he did ; or otherwise it would have been no difficulty with him to have determined whether he was in or out of the body ; for if he could not hear and see such things as he did out of the body, then he must without all doubt be in the body when he heard and saw them : but his way of speaking clearly shows that he thought his soul was capable of attend ing to these things, though it might be out of it : and if this is the same with the trance recorded in Acts xxii. 17—21, as some think, it appears that while he was in it, and his body lay senseless and * Socin. Epist. 5, ad Volkelium inter opera ejus, tom. I, p. 454. ' Vide Pcltii Hamuli. Remonstrant, ct Socin. art. 22, paragraph. 2, p. 258.

OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. 205 inactive, his soul had a sight of Christ, and a conversation with him, and received a mission from him to the Gentiles. Now if the soul is not in a state of insensibility when the body sometimes now is, there is no reason to believe it is in such a state when the body is dead and separated from it ; since the body in an ecstacy is of no more use to it, nor the organs of it, than if it was dead. — 3. The soul freed from the body, must be more capable of exercising its powers and faculties, and be more active than when in it ; especially as it is corrupted with sin, and encumbered with it, which is a clog and hinderance in the performance of spiritual duties ; it cannot attend to it as it would ; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak ; but when it is separated from the body, and is joined to the spirits ofjust men made perfect, it must be much more capable of serving God with greater activity, spirituality, joy and pleasure. — 4. The soul separate from the body is most like unto the angels, and its state, condition and employment, greatly resemble theirs. Now nothing is more foreign to angels than insen sibility and inactivity, who always behold the face of God, stand ready to do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word ; and no sooner do they receive orders from him, but they do his pleasure ; they are continually before the throne of God, praising his name, and celebrating his perfections. — 5. If the souls of believers after death are in a state of insensibility and inactivity, their case would be much worse than that of the living, as has been observed ; since in the present state, amidst all their evil things, they enjoy much good, receive much from God, and have much spiritual peace and joy in the exercise of grace ; whereas there is a stop put to all this, and an entire cessation from it, if upon death they enter into a state of insensibility and inactivity ; particularly it would have been much more happy for the apostle Paul to have stayed on earth, and continued here till Christ came again ; and more to the advantage of the churches of Christ, than to be where he is, if insensible and inactive ; here he might have made use of his great talents, exercised his graces, had much communion with God, and been of great service in the interest of Christ, in which he would have found a real pleasure, but now deprived of all, if the above is his case. — 6. If the souls of truly gracious persons are, upon their departure from hence, insensible and inactive, what is become of the work of grace upon their souls ? in what condition is it, and must that be ? there must be a full stop to it, and to the exercise of it, and that for a long season ; where is growth in grace, where no grace is to be seen ? and when it might have been expected it would be in its full perfection, does not appear at all ? How does this well of water spring up into everlasting life, when it does not spring at all, but the streams of it cease to flow 1 what a chasm must there be between grace and glory, when the scriptures represent them as closely and inseparably connected together ? grace is the beginning of glory, and glory is the finishing and perfecting of grace, and in which there is no interruption. — 7. The proof that has been given of souls separate from the body entering immediately into a state of happiness or misery, is also an abundant proof of their sensibility ;

206 OP THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. when either they enter into the presence of God, are with Christ, and feel unutterahle pleasure and delight ; or are in inexpressible torments under the lighting down of the arm of God's wrath and indignation upon them. I proceed, ii. To take notice of what is urged in favour of the insensibility of souls upon their departure. First, All such passages of scripture are urged which speak of persons sleeping when they die ; as of sleeping with their fathers, and of sleeping in the dust of the earth, phrases frequently to be met with in the Old Testament ; and of Christ being the first-fruits of those that slept ; and of sleeping in Jesus ; and of some not sleeping, which are used in the New Testament, but, — 1. By sleep in all these passages death itself is meant. It was a way of speaking much used in the Eastern countries, and is expressive of the death of the body, and of that only ; so to sleep with the fathers, is to die as they did, and to be buried with them ; and to sleep in the dust, is, being dead, to be laid in the grave, to be interred in the dust of the earth ; and to sleep in Jesus, is to die in the Lord. When Christ said, our friend Laza rus sleepeth, he meant that he was dead ; and when the apostle Paul says, we shall not all sleep, he designs nothing else but that we shall not all die ; for those who are alive at Christ's coming will be changed ; the reason why death is expressed by sleep is, because sleep is the image of death, it locks up the senses, gives rest to the weary body, is but for a time, and then it awakes again. — 2. Death being designed by those expressions, if they prove any thing in this controversy they prove too much ; for if they prove that the soul sleeps with the body, they would prove that the soul dies with it, since by sleep is meant no other than death. — 3. No mention is made of the soul in any of these passages ; it is not said of that neither that_it sleeps nor dies ; the pas sages only respect the body ; it is that only which at death is gathered to the fathers, and buried in the graves of ancestors ; and which sleeps in the dust, or is buried in the dust of the earth ; the sleep of which stands opposed to the change that will pass on the bodies of living saints at the coming of Christ. — 4. Sleep is only of the body, and is a passion that belongs to the sensitive part, a kind of a band and immoveableness of it, so that it cannot operate ; it only belongs to animals that have a brain,'or something analogous to itg ; it is defined "a cessation of the external senses from operation, the vapours filling the nerves and the sensory passages, and so hinder the influx of the rnimal spiritsh.', But what is all this to the soul, an immaterial and incorporeal substance, which has no brain, nor nerves, nor sensory passages, nor animal spirits ? and therefore sleep has no place in it, and cannot be predicated of it. — 5. When the body is asleep the soul is awake and active, as appears in abundance of instances, in dreams and visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, and is capa ble of attending to what is suggested to it, and of receiving instruc tion ; it understands and perceives, devises and contrives, reasons and a Arietot. de Somno, c. 1, ct c. 7 ; ot dc part, animal. 1. 2, c. 7. ii Conimblicenses apnd Burgcradicii Philosop. Natural, disp. 22, a. 13.

OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. 207 discourses, chooses and refuses, grieves and rejoices, hopes and fears, loves, and hates, and the like ; it can take in hints, admonitions, advices and directions from God, or angels sent by him ; as in some not good men, as Abimelech, Laban, Balaam, &c, and others truly good men, as Jacob, Daniel, Joseph, &c, whose souls, when their bodies were asleep, were capable of attendmg to them, and receiving them, and acted according to them. Secondly, The advocates for the insensibility and inactivity of the soul after death, urge such scriptures which represent the happiness of the saints, and the misery of the wicked, as not taking place until the last day, the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead, and the day of judgment, when the wicked shall go into everlasting punish ment, and the righteous into life eternal ; to which may be replied, that though they are represented as then happy or miserable, it is no where said that they are not happy nor miserable before that time ; nor that they are insensible of any happiness or misery, but the con trary. Besides there is a twofold state of the righteous and the wicked after death, respecting their happiness and their misery ; the one is inchoate, or but begun at death ; the other is full, consummate and perfect, at the resurrection and judgment ; now it is of the latter these scriptures speak, and not of the former ; and it is allowed, the righteous will not be in the full possession of happiness until the last day, when their bodies will be raised and united to their souls, and both together enter into the full joy of their Lord ; nor will the wicked receive the full measure of their punishment until the resurrection and judgment are over, when both soul and body shall be cast into hell ; just as it is with the devils, they are not yet in full torment, though cast down to hell, and are reserved to the judgment of the great day ; but then they are not in a state of insensibility, they feel distress and anguish now, and tremble at their future doom ; so the wicked, they are not insen sible of their misery now, and of what they are to endure ; and both righteous and wicked upon death enter immediately into a state of happiness or misery ; the righteous are happy from the time of their death, and as soon as absent from the body are present with the Lord ; and the wicked are no sooner dead, but in hell they lift up their eyes ; though neither the one is in complete happiness, nor the other in full misery, yet both sensible of their present case, and what they shall be in hereafter. Thirdly, They improve all such places to their advantage, which speak of those in the grave, and in the state of the dead, as incapable of praising God ; to which it may be answered, — 1. These scriptures speak only of the body, which is dust originally, and returns to dust at death, and is buried in the dust, and whilst in such a state cannot praise God, Shall the dust praise thee? it is the body which only dies, and goes down to the pit, and is laid in the grave, and which whilst there, cannot be employed in praising God, Shall the dead arise and praise thee ? &c, but then this hinders not but that their souls may and do praise God, in the manner as angels do, with whom they are sometimes joined in the Book of the Revelation ; and are represented

208 OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL. as, with them, glorifying God, praising his name, singing hallelujahs, ascribing salvation to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever, Rev. vii. 9—12. — 2. These passages only respect praising God before men, and in the church militant, as is done by saints now in the land of the living ; but then notwithstanding, the souls of departed saints may and do praise the Lord in the church triumphant, and with the hundred and forty-four thousand in mount Zion, and before an innumerable company of angels and spirits of just men made perfect to whom they are come ; and therefore such passages are no proof of the insensibility and inactivity of separate souls. Fourthly, They argue from souls being deprived of thought and memory at death, that therefore they must be in a state of insensibility. As for thought, that passage is urged in Psalm cxlvi. 4, In tliat very day that is, in which man returns to his earth, or dies, his thoughts perish ; but these, as has been observed, do not design thoughts in general, but purposes, schemes, and plans, the effect of thought, which come to nothing at death, and are never carried into execution ; and though the thoughts, particularly of good men, are not employed about the same things as when on earth, about worldly things, yet they are employed about spiritual and heavenly ones ; and can, with pleasure and gratitude, remember the great and good things God did for them in life ; yea, even the memories of wicked men are rubbed up after death ; Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, &c Luke xvi. 25. And that worm that dies not, is no other than con sciousness of guilt contracted, and the memory of past sins committed in life, which torture the separate soul after death, Mark ix. 44. Should it be urged, that a person, when asleep is destitute of thought, especially when in a deep sleep ; who, upon awaking, cannot remember any thing he has thought of : this doth not carry in it sufficient con viction, that the mind is then destitute of thought ; for how often is it that a man, when awake, cannot remember what he thought of the last minute ? it is owned, that in dreams the soul thinks, but then the man is asleep, and shows that sleep and thought are not incompatible : besides, when deep sleep falls upon man, the soul is capable of attend ing to what is suggested to it, and receiving instruction thereby ; as some passages in Job, before mentioned, show. And after all, it should be proved, that the soul is asleep when the body is ; and particularly, when separate from it, ere any argument from hence can be brought to prove the soul is deprived of thought by it; and is in a state of insensibility. Fifthly, It is observed, that it is said of the dead, that they know not any thing, Eccles. iv. 5. But this is to be understood of the things of this world ; they do not know the affairs of it, what is done, or doing in it, no, not the condition and circumstances of their own families they have left behind ; they do not know whether their sons come to honour or to disgrace ; whether they are in prosperous or in adverse circumstances, Job xiv. 21. But then they know the things of the other world, in which they are ; they know God, and Christ, and the holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and the happi

OF THE SEPARATE STATE OP THE SOUL. 203 riess of these, and of themselves ; they know even as they are known : yea, wicked men know and feel the lashes of an accusing, torturing conscience, the pains of hell, and the wrath of God, the fire that is not quenched ; and so are not in a state of insensibility. I go on, III. To point out the work and employment of separate souls, especially of good men, after the death of the body, until the resurrec tion of it : and here I shall not give a scope to fancy and conjecture, which may lead persons to say many things doubtful and uncertain ; and since the scriptures are sparing in the account they give of this matter, I shall content myself with just observing some few things which may be gathered from thence ; and which may suggest unto us the work they are employed in ; for it cannot be thought that they are idle and unemployed in the happy state in which they are. i. It need not be doubted, but that they are employed in celebrating and adoring the perfections of God ; since this is the work of their kindred spirits, the angels, with whom they are now associated ; they are constantly employed, in ascribing glory to God, Rev. v. 11, 12, and vii. 11, 12 ; so holy souls adore the perfections of God?s holiness, to which they bear some resemblance, and are thankful at the remem brance of it ; and the almighty power of God, of which they have had experience in this life, and in bringing them to the happy state they are now in ; the wisdom of God, displayed in the works of nature, pro vidence, and grace, of which they have now a clearer understanding ; and the grace, mercy, and love of God, which appear in every branch of their salvation ; and the faithfulness of God to his counsels, cove nant and promises ; to dwell on these subjects, will be no inconsiderable part of their employment. ii. They are also employed in beholding God in Christ, and the glory of Christ ; being pure in heart, and perfect in holiness, they see God, with the eyes of their understanding ; behold him for themselves, and not another, as their covenant God and Father in Christ ; and his glory as displayed in the Person of Christ ; and have as much knowledge of him as creatures are capable of ; and solace and delight themselves in the views of him, and in communion with him, and though they see not Christ with the eyes of their bodies, as they will after the resurrec tion ; yet with the eyes of their minds they gaze upon, and wonder at those glories and excellencies they see in him ; and this is the end of Christ s intercession for them, that they be with him where he is, and behold his glory, John xxii. 24. m. They are likewise employed in the exercise of various graces : it is commonly said of faith, hope, and love, that they are travelling graces which accompany saints in this life ; but cease, as to their exercise, at death, especially the two former ; the latter is indeed allowed to con tinue after death ; but faith is usually said to be changed for sight, and hope for fruition : which, in some respects, and in part, is tine ; yet I see not why faith and hope may not be thought to have their use, and to be in exercise after death, and especially m the separate state, until the resurrection : it can scarcely be doubted, that separate souls firmly believe the resurrection of their bodies, that they will be raised VOL. II. p

210 OP THE SEPARATE STATE OP THE SOUL. again, and reunited to their souls ; and as that will add to their happi ness, it cannot but be desired by them ; andas it is what is at present unseen, unenjoyed, and is future, it is brought to pass ; and thus as Christ rested in hope of the resurrection of his body, Psalm xvi. 9 ; so the souls of saints in heaven rest, in hope of the resurrection of theirs ; and may be truly said to wait for the redemption of the body. Some think Job has respect to this, when he says, All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come ; meaning, not his change by death, though that is a truth, but his change at the resurrection, when Christ will change the vile bodies of his people, and fashion them like to his glorious one. Yea, patience, rest, and quietness, are to be, and are exercised by souls in their separate state : to the souls under the altar it is said, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren that should be killed, as they were, should befulfilled; that is, be easy, quiet, and patient, till that time comes, and this is done, Rev. vi. 11. And as for love, there is no doubt but it will be in its highest act and exercise. 4 iv. They are also employed in serving God ; so those come out of great tribulation, are said to be before the throne of God, and to serve him day and night in his temple, Rev. vii. 14, 15; not by preaching, and hearing and attending on the word and ordinances ; yet there are duties which are performed in this state ; if not prayer yet most cer tainly praise, in the highest perfection : I see not why prayer may not be allowed to the church triumphant, and its members, though not for themselves, yet for the church militant, and its members, that they may be delivered from their present evils ; and that the justice of God might be glorified in taking vengeance on their enemies ; and that they may shortly join their general assembly ; something like this is ascribed to the souls under the altar, who are represented as expostu lating with God after this manner, And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou notjudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? Rev. vi. 10 ; and, indeed, what is the earnest wish and desire of separate souls, after the resur rection of their bodies, and their re-union to them, but prayer, that so it might be ? however, praise is their grand employment, their principal business, in which they are continually engaged ; these ransomed ones come to Zion with songs, and there they sing them ; the songs of elect ing, redeeming, calling, and persevering grace, ascribing glory to the Father, that has chosen them in Christ ; cand to the Son, who has redeemed them to God by his blood ; and to tho Spirit, who has rege nerated, sanctified, and called them; and to all Three, for the pre servation of them to the kingdom and glory of God. v. Much of tho employment of souls in this separate state, lies in converse with angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. Angels have some way or other of conversing with each other ; we read of the tongue of angels ; not that they speak any particular language, and with an articulate voice ; but they have speech among themselves, which they understand ; they can communicate their thoughts to one another, and be happy in their mutual converse; see Dan. viii. 13,

OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. 211 and xii. 5 — 7 ; and angels can convey their sense to the spirits of men ; and the spirits of men can communicate theirs to them ; such an inter course between angels, and the souls of men, has been carried on in dreams and visions, even in this imperfect state ; and much more are they capable of conversing together in a more perfect one. The souls of men m the separate state, are distinguishable one from another ; and there are ways and means, no doubt, of knowing one from another ; thus the soul of Abraham may be known from the soul of Isaac ; and the soul of Isaac from the soul of Abraham ; and the soul of Jacob from both : and as the saints will know one another in heaven ', one part "of their happiness will lie in conversing together about divine and heavenly things ; and, indeed, about what they have had experience of, both in providence and grace, whilst they dwelt in their bodies on earth. OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. Though the immortality of the soul may be known by the light of nature, yet not the resurrection of the body ; the one arises from the nature of the soul itself ; but the other doth not arise from the constitu tion of the body ; but depends upon the sovereign will and power of God : now the will and purpose of God, or what he has determined to do, is secret, and cannot be discovered by the light of nature, and is only known bydivine revelation. It might be known by thelight ofnature, that God can raise the dead if he will, because he is Almighty, and nothing is impossible to him ; though it has been asserted by some heathen writers that it cannot bo done by God himself; one saysk, it is not in the power of God to raise the dead ; and says another ', it seems to mo, that no one can make one that is dead to live again : which is false ; since by the light of nature, and the works of nature, are known the eternal power and Godhead, or that God is eternal, and infinitely powerful. Indeed it cannot be known by the light of nature, that God will raise the dead ; this is of pure revelation : hence heathens, destitute of it, had no knowledge of the resurrection of the body : that that was mortal, they all agreed ; and that the soul was immortal, the wiser part of them especially, affirmed : but that the body, when dead, should be raised to life again, this, Tertullian says ra, was denied by every sect of the philosophers. Those, the most refined among them, and who pretended to a greater degree of knowledge than others, as the philoso phers of Athens, were so ignorant of this doctrine, that as some think, they took Jesus, and avaoratns, the word used by the apostle Paul for the resurrection, when preaching to them, to be the names of some strange deities they had never heard of before ; and therefore said, he seemeth to be a setterforth of strange gods, Acts xvii. 18. The heathens had no faith in this doctrine, or hope of it ; and therefore are sometimes de scribed as without hope, Eph. ii. 12 ; that is, of the resurrection of the body, neither of their own nor of their deceased relations ; and this 1 See a Sermon of Dr. Gill's, entitled, " The Glorious State of tho Saints in Heaven," p. 34, 35. k Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 2, c. 7. l Palaephat. de Inercdib. p. 56. 01 Do Preseript. Ho:ret. c. 2. p2

212 OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. may be rather thought to be, at least part of the sense of the apostle in these passages ; since in his defence before Felix and Agrippa, he represents the resurrection of the dead as the object of the hope of the Jewish fathers, Acts xxiv. 15, and xxvi. 6 —8. Yea, the Gentiles, not content with barely denying this doctrine, have treated it with the utmost scorn, calling it a dream, fancy, and madness, an old-wife's fable : as abominable and detestable ; and of all the tenets of the christians, it was treated with the most contempt ; the abettors of it were always accounted by the heathens vain, trifling, babbling fellows ", as the apostle Paul was by the Athenian philosophers, of the Epicurean and Stoic sects °, Acts xvii. 18, 32 ; it was so contrary to the reason ings of the unenlightened Gentiles, that they judged it quite incredible, and pronounced it beyond all belief of rational creatures ; hence says the Apostle Paul, when before Festus the Uoman governor, and king Agrippa, a Sadducce, why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead ! as it seems it was, Acts xxvi. 8. Some have thought the Gentiles had knowledge of the resurrection of the dead, which they conclude from some notions of theirs, which seem to bear some semblance to it, as is thought ; as that the soul after death has a perfect human shape, and all the same parts, external and internal, the body has ; that they both have an equal duration after death ; that there is a transmigration of souls into other bodies, especially human ; that man may be translated, soul and body, to heaven, of which they give instances : which, perhaps, take rise from the translations of Enoch and Elijah, communicated by some tradition or another ; and particularly that after certain periods and revolutions, when the stars and planets arc in the same configuration and aspect to one another, they formerly had, the same men shall appear in the world, and the same things in succession be done in it as formerly have been p. But I must confess, I cannot see any likeness between any of these notions, and the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead ; and at most and best, they are only hints borrowed from the Jews, and their writings; or are the broken remains of some tradition, received from their ancestors, originally founded on divine revelation ; so Plato q seems to speak of it, as an ancient tradition, that the dead shall live again. Likewise the belief of this doctrine among the pagans, is argued from their account of future punishments ; as of Aridaeus, and other tyrants, having corporal punishments inflicted on them ; of Sysiphus, Ixion, Tantalus, and others; which may arise from the above notion, of the soul having the same parts with the body. Some passages are also produced out of the heathen writers in favour of this doctrine ; as some Greek verses of Phocylides, whose poem, perhaps, is the work of a Christian, or of some Jewish writer ; and the opinion of the Persian magi, that men shall live again ; which they doubtless " Tatian contr. Gracos Oral. p. 146. 0 Antoninus the Emperor, of this sect, says, " when men ore dead they exist no more, but are entirely extinct."— De Seipso, c. 12, c. 5. • f Sec Hody's Resurrection of the same Body, p. 3, &c. ; and Gale's Court of the Gentiles, par. 1, b. 3, c. 7, p. ill, 82, and par. 2, b. 2, c. 8, p. 189. i In Phiedono, p. 53 —oj ; and in Fhilebo, p. 53G.

OF THB RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 213 had from Zoroastres, their founder, said to be originally a Jew, and a servant of one of the prophets. Some particular persons are mentioned as raised from the dead to life ; the most remarkable of which is the case of one Er Pamphilius, who, after he had been dead twelve days, revived on the funeral pile ; and which seems to be credited by Plato : but if such stories as these can be believed, why should the doctrine of the resurrection be judged incredible I But though the doctrine of the resurrection is above . reason, it is not contrary to it ; though it is out of the reach of the light of nature to discover it, yet being revealed, it is not repugnant to it ; it is entirely agreeable to the perfections of God, knowable by it, and is no contra diction to them ; for, considering the omnipotence of God, with whom nothing is impossible, it is what may be : and though there arc some things which argue imperfection and weakness, and imply a contradic tion, which God cannot do ; yet the resurrection of the dead is not an instance of either ; it is no contradiction, that dust formed out of nothing, and of it a body made, and this reduced to dust again, that this dust should again form the body it once constituted : and this can be no instance of imperfection and weakness ; but a most glorious instance of Almighty power: and if God could, out of the dust of the earth, form the body of man at first, and infuse into it a living and reasonable soul ; then much more must he be able to raise a dead body, the matter and substance of which now is, though in different forms and shapes ; and re-unite it to its soul, which still has a real existence : and considering the omniscience of God, who knows all things, it is not im possible nor improbable that the dead should be raised ; since he knows all the particles of matter bodies are composed of; and when dissolved and transmuted into ten thousand forms, knows where they are all lodged, whether in the earth, air, or sea ; and his all-discerning eye can distinguish those which belong to one body, from those of another, and his almighty hand can gather and unite them, what are necessary, and range them in their due place and order. Nor is it beneath or unworthy of God to raise the dead ; for if it was not unworthy of him to make a body out of the dust of the earth, which became subject to infirmities, corruption and death ; it cannot be unworthy of him to raise weak, inglorious, corruptible bodies, as they are when laid in the grave, powerful, glorious, and incorruptible. Nor is it inconsistent with the goodness of God, for by this he does no injury to any of his creatures ; neither to those that are raised, nor to others, rational or irrational. Not to the angels ; for the children of the resurrection will be like unto them : nor to the brute creation, who will not be ; and who, if they were, would not suffer by it : nor will any injury be done to those that are raised, neither to the righteous nor to the wicked, since both will then receive a recompense for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. Some such-like reasonings as these are used by that ancient, learned apologist ; Athenagoras r. Besides, tho justice of God seems to make it necessary, that the bodies both of the righteous and the wicked, should be raised ; that being united to their r Dc Restmcctionc, p. 49. 5.

214 OP THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. souls, they may partake with them of the glory and happiness provided for the one, and they are made meet for ; and of the punishment justly inflicted on the other ; having been partners together either in suffer ings or in sins. However, the doctrine of the resurrection is most certainly a doc trine of pure revelation ; the Jews were first peculiarly favoured with it ; having the oracles of God committed to them, in which this doctrine is clearly revealed ; and yet there were some among them who disbelieved it ; as the Sadducees, who erred, not knowing the scriptures, which assert it ; nor the power of God, which can effect it : and of the same sentiment were the Hemerobaptists5, and the Essenes' : also the Pharisees, at least some of them, held the Pytha gorean notion, of the transmigration of souls into other bodies" : but it is more surprising, that since Christ has abolished death, by his own resurrection from the dead, and by the gospel brought to clearer light this doctrine of the resurrection ; that some very early who bore the christian name, should deny it ; as some in the church at Corinth, and Hymenaeus, and Philetus, 1 Cor. xv. 12, 2 Tim. ii. 18; who were followed by Simon Magus, and Saturninus, Basilides, Corpocrates, Valentinus, and others, too numerous to recite ; and of late is rejected by Socinians, and Quakers. Nevertheless, since it is a doctrine of such great importance, on which all other doctrines of the gospel depend, as well as the faith, hope, and comfort of the saints, 1 Cor. xv. IS— 19, it should be held fast, abode by, and defended to the uttermost. The resurrection to be treated of, is not a figurative one ; neither civil, like that of the Jews' restoration from captivity, represented by a resurrection, Ezek. xxxvii. ; nor spiritual, as the resurrection of the soul from the death of sin to a life of grace : but the resurrection of the body, in a literal sense, the quickening of mortal bodies ; and not a particular resurrection, or a resurrection of particular persons ; of which there are instances both in the Old and New Testament ; but the universal resurrection ; the resurrection of men, both just and unjust; of which, I. I shall give the proof from the sacred writings. It appears to have been the faith of the saints in all ages, according to the scripture account of them. It was the faith of Abraham, the father of the faithful, Heb. xi. 19, Rom. iv. 17—20; and of Joseph, as appears by the orders he gave concerning his bones, and his carefulness about the interment of them, Heb. xi. 22 ; and of Moses, in celebrating the divine perfections in his song, Deut. xxxii. 39 ; with which words the mother of the seven brethren, who suffered martyrdom in the times of the Maccabees, animated them while suffering ; and of Hannah, in her song expressed in much the same language, and more explicit, 1 Sam. ii. 6. This was the faith of Job, which he expresses, not only in the famous text hereafter to be considered, chap. xix. 25—27 ; but also in chap. xiv. 12 —15. And likewise of David, who not only speaks of the resurrection of Christ, when personating him, Psalm xvi. 10 ; but in ■ Epist. contr. Hanei. 1. 1, hacrcs. 17. ' Joseph do Bello Jud. 1.2, c.8, s. 1 1. u Ibid. s. 14 ; ct Antifc 1. 18, c. 1, s. 3.

OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. 215 his last words, whero he expresses his strong faith of his complete sal vation, of soul and body, in the everlasting covenant, 2 Sam. xxv. 1, 5. And also of Isaiah, and other prophets, who speak of the resurrection of Christ, and his people with him ; which they either expressly make mention of, or allude unto, when they foretel figurative resurrections, Isa. xxvi. 19 ; Hos. vi. 1, 2 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 11—14 ; Dan. xii. 2. This was the faith of those who suffered martyrdom in the times of the . Maccabees, who refused deliverance, that they might obtain a bettor resurrection, even the resurrection of the just, Hob. xi. 34. And this was the faith of the Jewish fathers, and of all the Old Testament saints, Acts xxvi. 6—8, Heb. xi. 13. This was the faith of Christ and his apostles, as declared in the writings of the New Testament ; to give the whole compass of the proof of this, would be to transcribe a very considerable part of them. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, will admit of proof from scripture types ; as tho deliverance of Isaac from death ; from whence Abraham received him in a figure : the budding and blossoming of Aaron's dry rod, thought by some to be an emblem of it : the reviving of the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision ; but especially Jonah's lying three days and three nights in the whale's belly, and his deliverance from it. However, if God could save Isaac when so near death ; cause a dry rod to bud, blossom, and bring forth almonds ; make dry bones to live ; and deliver Jonah out of the whale's belly, it need not be questioned that God can raise tho dead. To which may be added, the several instances of particular persons raised from the dead ; as the widow of Sarepta's son, by Elijah ; the child of the Shunamite, by Elisha ; and the man cast into his sepulchre, on the touch of his bones ; those who came out of their grave at our Lord's resurrection, and who were raised by him in his life-time ; as the daughter of Jairus, the widow of Nain's son, and Lazarus ; Dorcas, by Peter ; and Eutychus, by tho apostle Paul : and if these particular resurrections are to be credited, as doubtless they are, the resurrec tion of all the dead need not be thought incredible. But this doctrine may be further proved, i. From express passages of scripture. As, — 1. From Gen. iii. 15, which gives the first intimation of the Messiah, and his work, which was to bruise the serpent's head, to destroy the devil and all his works ; among which, death, the effect of sin, is a principal one. This Christ has abolished in himself, by raising himself from the dead ; and will abolish it in his members, and even in all men, by the resurrection of them at the last day ; when, and not before, all that is meant in tho above passage, will be accomplished, 1 Cor. xv. 21—54. — 2. From Exod. iii. 6 ; produced by Christ himself, in proof of this doctrine ; As touching the resurrection of the dead, says he, have you not read that which teas spoken to you by God ; saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God ofIsaac, and the God of Jacob ; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living? Matt. xxii. 31, 32. Let it bo observed, that it is not said, / was, or will be ; but I am the God of Abraham, &e., which, as it relates to covenant interest, respects a covenant in being, and an abid ing one, even the covenant of grace ; which is concerned, not only with

216 OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. the souls of men, but their bodies also, their whole persons ; wherefore, as the souls of the above patriarchs now live with God, who is the God of the living only, in the enjoyment of the promised good ; it is necessary their bodies should be raised from the dead, that, with *heir souls, they may enjoy the everlasting glory and happiness promised in the covenant ; or otherwise, it would not appear to be ordered in all , things, and sure. — 3. From Job xix. 25, &c, I know tliat my Redeemer liveth, &c None of the Jewish writers, indeed, understood these words of a real, but of a figurative resurrection ; and suppose, a deli verance from his afflicted state, and a restoration of him to his former health, honour, and happiness, is meant; in which sense they have been followed by some learned Christian interpreters ; but Job's resto ration is not expressed by such phrases as here used ; see chap. xlii. 10— 12 ; and against this sense may be observed, that Job was so far from any faith, nope, and expectation of such a restoration, that he utterly despaired of it; see chap. xvi. 22, and xvii. 1, 14, 15; and even he expresses the same in this very chapter, verse 10, 12. Besides something of greater moment seems to be meant, as the solemn preface shows : O that my words were now written ! &c ; and what he had in view appears to be future, at a great distance, after death, the con sumption of his body by worms, and was his comfort under his afflic tions; and was an answer to what Bildad said, chap, xviii. 12—14; and the vision, with the eyes of his body he expected, is not suited to any state in this life ; but rather to the state after the resurrection, when the saints shall see God in Christ, and Christ in the flesh, with the eyes of the body. To which may be added, Job speaks of the awful judgment, between which and death, there must be a resurrec tion from the dead, verse 29. Upon the whole, it is an observation of an ancient writer", "No one since Christ, speaks so plainly of the resurrection as this man did before Christ." Though Spinosay says, the sense of the text is confused, disturbed, and obscure.—4. From Isa. xxvi. 19, Thy dead men shalllive, &c ; which words are an answer to the prophet's complaint, verse 14. They are dead, they shall not live, &c ; and which answer is made by the Messiah, to whom the charac ters given, verse 4, 12, 13, agree ; assuring the prophet, that his people, though dead, should live again, either at the time of his resurrection, or in virtue of it ; for the words are literally true of Christ's resurrec tion, and of theirs by him ; with my dead body shall they arise, as many of the saints did, at his resurrection ; or, as my dead body, after the exemplar of it ; or, as sure as my dead body ; Christ's resurrec tion being the pledge of his people's ; and the following phrases con firm this sense ; Awake, ye that dwell in the dust, &c — The earth shall cast forth her dead; see Rev. xx. 13. The Jews2 refer this prophecy to the resurrection of the dead.—5. From Dan. xii. 2 ; And many of them that sleep in the dust of the eartli shall awake ; which is generally understood of the resurrection of the dead, both by Jewish and Chris tian interpreters ; only Grotius, after Porphyry the heathen, interprets » Hieron. ad Pammach. tom. 2, p. 59. 1. r Pliilosoph. S. S. Script, c. 8, p. 102. * Aben Ezra ct Kimchi in loc. T. Bub. Sanhedriu, fol, 90. 2.

OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODT. 217 the passage of the return of some of the Jews to their cities and habita tions, after the generals of Antiochus were cut off: but surely this return was not of any of them to everlasting shame and contempt, but the reverse ; nor of any of them to everlasting life, seeing they are all since dead : nor is it true, that the Jewish doctors, from that time, shone illustriously ; but, on the contrary, their light in divine things became dim ; and they taught not the doctrines of the scriptures, but the traditions of men. On the other hand, the whole agrees with the resurrection of the dead, as described by our Lord, John v. 28, 29. And when the bodies of the saints will be raised in incorruption, power, and glory, they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Besides these, there are other passages of scripture referred to by the apostle, in 1 Cor. xv. 54, So, as proofs of this doctrine ; as Isa. xxv. 8, Hos. xiii. 14; which will have their full accomplishment at the general resurrection. The passages out of the New Testament are too numerous to recite ; and so plain, as to need no explanation ; and many of them will be made use of in other parts of this subject. u. This truth may be proved from various doctrines contained in the Scripture ; as from the doctrine of election, which is of the person of men, souls and bodies, unto everlasting happiness ; and therefore their bodies must be raised, that they, united to their souls, may enjoy that happiness, or the end will not be attained : from the gift of the same to Christ, and who was charged, when given to him, to lose none, but raise them up again at the last day ; which must be done, or his trust not discharged ; nor his Father's will be fulfilled : from their union to Christ, whose bodies are members of him, and a part of his mystical body, by virtue of which union they will be raised ; or else he must lose a constituent part of those who are his mystical body, and his fulness : from the redemption of them by Christ, which is both of soul and body ; both are bought with the price of Christ's blood, and therefore their bodies must be raised from the dead ; or Christ must lose part of his purchase : also from the sanctification of the same persons, in soul and body, by the Spirit of God, in whose bodies he dwells, as in his temple ; and therefore, unless raised, he will lose that which he has taken possession of, as his dwelling-place ; and a consi derable , part of his glory, as a sanctifier. Moreover, the general judgment, which is a most certain thing, requires the resurrection of the dead, as necessary to it : nor will the happiness of the saints bo complete ; nor the misery of the wicked proportionate to their crime, without the resurrection of their bodies : but the grand and principal argument used by the apostle, 1 Cor. xv., in proof of this doctrine, with so much strength, is the resurrection of Christ. To which may be added, that there will be need of, and uses for, some of the members of the body in heaven ; as the eye, to see Christ in the flesh, and one another; and the ear to hear the everlasting songs of praise; and the tongue, to sing them : as well as we read of men being cast into hell, with two eyes, two hands, and two feet : yea, even the whole body. Nor may it be improper to observe, the translations of Enoch and Elijah, soul and body, to heaven ; and the saints that rose at our

218 OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. Lord's resurrection, and went to heaven in their risen bodies ; and the saints who will be alive at Christ's coming, and be caught up in the air to meet him, and be for ever with him. Now it is not probable, that some saints should be in heaven with their bodies and others without them, and therefore a general resurrection must be asserted and allowed. I proceed, II. To consider tho subjects of the resurrection, who they are, and what that is of them that shall be raised. i. Who they arc that shall be raised ; not the angels, who die not, and therefore cannot be the subjects of the resurrection ; nor the brute creatures, as say the Mahometans*, and some Jewish doctorsb; sinco they have no immortal spirits, for their bodies to be raised and united to : nor would they be of any use, nor is there any service for them, in a future state. Only men shall rise from the dead ; and not all of them ; some have been translated, that they should not see death, and so cannot be said to riso from the dead ; and others will be alive at Christ's coming, and will be changed, but not die ; which chango cannot be called a resurrection. But all the dead, all that are in their graves, whether in the earth or sea, shall rise and come forth : and those whether righteous or wicked ; the resurrection of both is strongly asserted by Christ, John v. 29, and by the apostlo Paul, Acts xxiv. 15. The distribution of the persons to be raised, are of these two sorts, the just and tho unjust ; that the just, or righteous ones, will be raised from the dead, there can be no doubt ; since tho resurrection of tho saints is called tlie resurrection of the just from them, Luke xiv. 1 4 j it being peculiar to them ; and the first resurrection, Rev. xx. 6, because they will rise first ; and the better resurrection, Heb. xi. 35, being better than that of the wicked ; and of which only some are counted worthy, Luke xx. 35, and is what the apostlo Paul desired to attain unto, Phil. iii. 11, called ZgavAorao-is, a resurrection out from the dead, tho wicked dead. The arguments before used to prove the resurrection in general, being such as chiefly regard the resurrection of the just, the proof of this need not be further enlarged on. But the resurrection of the wicked, being denied by some of the Jewish writers ; in which they have been followed by the Socinians, though they care not to speak out their minds fully; and to which the Remonstrants and Arminians have shown a good liking ; it will be necessary to confirm this. The arguments of the one and the other, against the resurrec tion of tho wicked, are taken, 1. From reason : they reason from the mercy of God, that if ho will not eternally savo them, yet surely it cannot be thought, that he will raise them from the dead merely to torment them : it will be enough to be deprived of happiness in heaven. The answer to which is, That though God is naturally and essentially merciful, yet the displays of his mercy to his creatures, are according to his sovereign will and pleasure, Rom. ix. 15. Besides, he is just as well as merciful; and it is necessary from the justice of God, as will bo observed hereafter, • Pococlt, Special. Hist. Arab, p. 145 ; Roland, dc Rclig. Mobam. 1. 1, p. 53, 54. b Drue. Observ. 1. 4, c. 6.

OF THE RESURRECTION OF TIIE BODY. 219 that the bodies of the wicked be raised, not merely to be tormented : but that his justice might be glorified in the righteous punishment of them. They further argue, that Christ is the meritorious cause of the resurrection; and since he has merited nothing for the wicked, or reprobate, they shall not be raised. The answer to which is, That Christ is the meritorious cause of the resurrection of life ; but not of the resurrection of damnation ; the saints will rise to life by virtue of union to Christ, through his merit, and the power of his resurrection : not so the wicked ; they will rise, not through his merit, and by virtue of union to him, but by his almighty power. They also urge, at least some, that the wicked die an eternal death, and therefore rise not from the dead ; which they think is a contradiction : but it should be observed, that eternal death, which is the second death, in distinction from the death of the body, and is a casting of both body and soul into hell, is not inconsistent with the resurrection of the body ; yea, it requires that : and though corporal death is one part of the punish ment of sin, which punishment is perpetual ; nor is it removed by the resurrection of the wicked, since their bodies will be raised in such a state as to bear eternal punishment. 2. There are other arguments and objections against the resurrec tion of the wicked, taken from various passages of Scripture, as from Psalm i. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment ; which words are rendered in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, shall not rise again in judgment ; but admitting these versions were agreeable to the Hebrew text, as they are not ; it will not follow that the wicked shall not rise again from the dead, but shall not rise again so as to appear in the congregation of the righteous at the day of judgment, as in the next clause ; for they will not rise when the right eous do, at the first resurrection, tho resurrection of the just ; besides, the word used does not intend the resurrection of the wicked, but their standing before God in a judicial sense, when raised ; and the meaning is, they shall not stand before him with confidence, nor be able to justify themselves, and vindicate their cause, and so must fall and not stand in judgment. Another scripture made use of is in Isa. xxvi. 14. They are deceased, they shall not rise ; which must be understood either of those wicked lords who had formerly dominion over tho people of Israel, but now dead, and should not rise again and live on this earth to tyrannize over them ; or of the people of Israel themselves, and of the death of great numbers of them ; and express tho prophet's complaint of their present state, and of his distrust of their revival and restoration from it ; and it may be also of their future resurrcction, to which there is an answer, verse 19, as has been observed ; and considered either way, cannot support an argument against the resur rection of the wicked. The words of the prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 2, before observed, though a plain proof of the resurrection of the dead, both righteous and wicked, yet are improved by some against tho resurrection of the wicked ; sinco not all but many are said to awake, and thoso many are only a few, and those only the righteous Israelites : to which may be replied, the many may be understood universally, as

220 OF THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. in Rom. v. 19, and in other places1; or in a comparative sense with respect to the few that shall be alive when the dead are raised ; or rather distributively, many shall awake to everlasting life, and many to everlasting shame and contempt; and besides may respect the different times of rising, many at the first resurrection to the former, and the rest a thousand years after the latter. Many can never design a few ; as the Israelites were the fewest of all people, especially the righteous among them ; and even the righteous of all nations are but few in comparison of the rest ; besides the prophet speaks of some awaking to everlasting shame and contempt, which can only be under stood of the wicked ; so that the prophecy is a clear proof of their resurrection. Others object that passage in Eccl. vii. 1 ; Better is the day of death, than the day of one's birth ; since if the wicked rise again, it must be worse with them at death than at their birth ; but the words are not spoken of the wicked or reprobate who, it would have been better if they never had been born, or had died upon their birth, than to have lived to aggravate their condemnation by a continuance in sin, and with whom it will be worse at death ; but of the righteous, who die in the Lord, and are blessed in their death, being freed from sin and sorrow, and are with Christ ; which is far better than coming into, and continuing in a troublesome world. Even the words of the apostle, in 1 Thess. iv. 1 6, 27«e dead in Christ sJiall risefirst, are urged by some against the resurrection of the wicked ; since such that die in Christ are only believers in him, and therefore they, and not the wicked, shall rise : the answer is, that though the apostle is speaking only of those that die in Christ, true believers in him ; yet not here, nor any where else, is it said, that these only rise. Besides, the apostle says of these, that they shall rise first ; which supposes, that others shall rise afterwards who have no claim to this character ; a first resurrec tion of believers in Christ, supposes a second resurrection of those who are not such. But that the wicked shall rise, is not only to be proved from express passages of Scripture, before observed, Dan. xii. 2. John v. 28, 29, but also from reason ; as from the justice of God, which requires, that sins committed in and by the body, as most sins are, should be punished in the body ; that being not only an accessary, but a partner with the soul in sinning, and an instrument by which the sin is committed, and so deserving of punishment : and whereas the wicked do not receive in this life the full reward of punishment in their bodies ; it seems necessary from the justice of God, that their bodies should be raised, that with their souls they may receive their full recompense of reward. Besides, it may be concluded from the general judgment ; when some will be cast into the lake offire, Rev. xx. 12, 15, which must be understood of the wicked ; and if all must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive for what has been done in the body, then the wicked must appear there, that they may receive for the bad things they have done in the body ; to which appearance and reception, there must be a resurrection of them from the dead. The scriptural account of tho punishments and torments of the wicked, c Vide Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. 20, c. 23, who instances in Gen. xvii. 5, compared with Gen. xxii. 18.

OP THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 221 manifestly supposes a resurrection of their bodies, signified by outer darkness, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ; by a furnace and lake of fire and brimstone, and by being cast into it, with two eyes, hands, and feet ; and be these metaphorical and proverbial speeches, there must be something literally true, to which they refer. Besides, Christ exhorts his disciples, to fear him who is able to destroy body and soid in hell, Matt. x. 28. To which may be added, that this notion that the wicked rise not, must have a tendency to licentiousness, to take off all restraints from wicked men, and embolden them in a vicious course of life, according to 1 Cor. xv. 32. From all which it may be concluded, there will be a resurrection of the wicked, as well as of the righteous ; indeed, there will be a difference between the resurrection of the one and of the other; the righteous will rise first, at the appearance of Christ ; the wicked not till a thousand years after : saints will rise by virtue of union to Christ ; the wicked merely by his power : their resurrection will differ in their adjuncts ; though the bodies of the wicked will be raised immortal, and in such a state as to bear perpetual punishment, yet will not be clothed with glory ; whereas the bodies of the saints will not only be raised immortal and incorrupt ible, but powerful, spiritual, and glorious, even fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ. The end will be different also ; the one will rise to everlasting life ; the other to everlasting shame and contempt; hence the one is called the resurrection of life, and the other the resurrection of damnation. ii. To inquire, what of men shall be raised ? Man consists of two parts, soul and body. It is not the soul that is raised, for that dies not. There were some Christians in Arabia*1, who held, that the soul dies with the body, and at the resurrection revives, and returns to its own body ; but that is an immaterial and immortal substance, as has been proved in a former chapter ; but it is the body which dies, that shall be raised from the dead ; it is that only that is mortal, and shall be quickened ; it is that only which is laid in the grave, and shall come forth from thence ; it is that which sleeps in the dust of the earth, and shall be awakened from thence ; for, 1 . The body is not annihilated, or reduced to nothing at death, .which is contrary to reason and Scripture ; at death there is a disunion of soul and body; but neither are reduced to nothing; the body returns to the earth, and the soul to God that gave it ; and though the body after death passes under many changes and alterations ; yet the matter and substance of it will remain in some form or another : death is sometimes expressed by returning to dust ; but then dust is something : and by seeing corruption ; but that supposes something in being, which is corrupted, matter and substance still remaining ; but annihilation leaves nothing : and by sowing seed in the earth, which rots ; by pulling down a house ; and putting off a tabernacle. But seed sown, though it dies and rot, it does not lose its being, nor its nature ; but being quickened, in duo time, it buds, and puts forth its * Eascb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 6, c. 37 ; Aug. de Hieres. c. 83 j Isidor. Orig. 1. 8, c. 5 ; so Hobbes's Leviathan, c. 39, 44.

222 OP THE RESURRKCTION OF THE BODY. seminal virtue : and so a house pulled down, and a tabernacle unpinned, the matter and substance, and the several parts of them, remain. And if the body was reduced to nothing at death, Christ would lose part of his purchase, and the Spirit his dwelling-place, 1 Cor. vi. 15, 19, 20. To which may be added, if this was the case, the resurrection would not be a resurrection, but the creation of a new body. As for those scriptures which speak of the dead body as not, Jer. xxxi. 15, the meaning is, not that they do not exist ; but they arc not where they formerly dwelt, having their former possessions and friends ; but they are somewhere ; their souls are either in heaven or in hell ; and their bodies in the grave : and when the apostle says, Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats : but God shall destroy both it and them : the sense is, not that the body, or any part of it, as the belly, should be destroyed, as to its substance, but as to its use, in receiving food to supply the natural wants of the body, as now ; though it will be necessary as a constituent part, and for the ornament of it. 2. The body, at the resurrection, will not be a new, aerial, and celestial body, as Origen and others thought ; or a spiritual one, as to its nature and substance. It will be different from what it is now, as to its qualities, but not as to its substance : when the apostle compares it to seed sown in the earth, which is not the body that shall be, 1 Cor. xv. 37, 38, he designs not a difference of substance, but of qualities ; such as is between the seed sown, and the plant that springs from it ; which differ not in their specific nature, but in some circumstances and accidents ; as the difference in the risen body lies in incorruption, glory, power, and spirituality. The same comparison is made of Christ's body, John xii. 24, and yet it was not a spiritual body, when raised, as to substance, but consisted of flesh and bones, as before, Luke xxiv. 39 ; and such will be the bodies of the saints ; and though the body will be raised a spiritual one, as the apostle affirms, yet it will not be changed into a spirit, and lose its former nature ; but will be subject and subservient to the soul, or spirit : be employed in spiritual services, and delight in spiritual objects ; and will not be supported in a natural way, and by natural means, but be like the angels, Luke xx. 36 ; and though it will consist of flesh and blood, yet be neither sinful, nor frail and mortal ; which is the sense of 1 Cor. xv. 50 ; but pure and holy, incorruptible and immortal, verse 53. If the body was a new, aerial, celestial body, different in substance from what it is, it would not be a resurrection, but a creation ; nor would it be consistent with the justice of God, that such new, created bodies, which never sinned, should be everlastingly punished ; nor can such be said to be truly human bodies, that are without flesh and blood ; nor such to be men, who are incorporeal ; nor can the same persons who have sinned, be said to be punished ; nor the same who are redeemed be glorified, unless the same body is raised. 3. It may be proved, that the same body that now is, will bo raised from the dead; this is fully expressed by Job, chap. xix. 26, 27, who firmly believed, that this body of his, which would be destroyed by worms, should be raised again ; and in that very flesh of his he should

OP THE RESURRECTION OP THE BODY. 223 see God incarnate, and that with the self-same eyes he had, and not another's ; and which is as strongly asserted by the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. l^his mortal must put on immortality ; this corruption must put on incorruption ; pointing to the present mortal and corrupt ible body he then had ; and which is confirmed by what follows ; So when this corruption, &c which would not be true if another, and not the same body was raised : and elsewhere he says, that Christ will change our vile body; but if not the same body, but another, it will not be our vile body that will be fashioned like to the body of Christ. For the further confirmation of this, let the following things be observed, — 1. The notation of the word resurrection : which signifies a raising up again that which is fallen6 ; by death the body falls, 2 Bam. iii. 38, John xii. 24 ; now if another, and not the same body, is raised, which fell, it will not be a resurrection, but a creation. — 1. The figurative phrases by which it is expressed, show it ; as by quickening seed sown, and by awakening out of sleep. Now as it is the same seed that is sown and dies, which springs up, and appears in stalk, blade, and ear, as to nature and substance, though with some additional circumstances, so it is the same body that dies, is quickened and raised, though with additional glories and excellencies ; the same it that is sown in cor ruption ; the same it that is sown in dishonour ; the same it that is sown in weakness ; the same it that is sown in a natural body, is raised in incorruption, in glory, in power, and a spiritual body : or there is no meaning in the apostle's words, 1 Cor. xv. 42 — 44 : and as it is the same body that sleeps that is awakened out of it in a literal sense, it is the same body that falls asleep by death which will be awakened and rise at the resurrection. — 3. The places from whence the dead will be raised, and be summoned to deliver them, prove the same; our Lord says, all that are in the graves shall come forth. Now what of men are laid in the graves but their bodies ? and what else can bo thought to come forth from thence ? and what but the same bodies that were laid there ? the sea, death, and the grave, are said to deliver up the dead in them, which must be the same that are buried in the earth and sea ; for what else can such expressions design ? — 4. The translations of Enoch and Elijah were in the very same bodies they had when on earth ; the bodies of the saints which rose out of their graves, when opened at Christ's resurrection, were the same that were laid in them ; the bodies of the living saints, at Christ's coming, which will then be changed, will be the same they had before that change : now it is not reasonable to suppose, that some of the saints in heaven should have the same bodies they had on earth, and others not. — 5. The resurrection of Christ's body is a proof of this truth ; since he rose from the dead with the same body he suffered on the cross and was laid in the grave, as appears from the print of the nails in his hands and feet, seen by Thomas after his resurrection ; nor was it an aerial nor spiritual body, as to its substance, since it consisted of flesh and bones, which a spirit does not, and might be felt and handled, * Sic et resurrectionis vocabulum non aliam rem vindicat, quam quae cccidit.—Tortull. adv. Marc. 1. 5, c. 9.

OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE IIODY. JTohn xx. 25, 27. Now Christ's resurrection is the exemplar of the saints', according to which their vile bodies, and so surely not new, spiritual, and celestial ones, will be fashioned. Nor can it be reason ably thought that Christ, who partook of the same flesh and blood with the children, should be raised and glorified in the same body, and not they in theirs, for whose sake he assumed his. — 6. It seems quite necessary from the justice of God that not others, but the same bodies Christ has purchased, the Spirit has sanctified, and which have suffered for the sake of Christ. should be glorified ; and that those, and not others, should be punished, that have sinned against God, blasphemed the name of Christ, and persecuted his saints. — 7. This may be concluded from the veracity of God, in his purposes, promises, and threatenings ; for if the good things he has appointed for and promised to his people are not bestowed upon the same persons, and the punish ment threatened is not inflicted on the same persons, where is his veracity ? and how they can be the same persons without having the same bodies, is not easy to understand. — 8. It would be a disappoint ment to the saints, who are waiting for the redemption of their bodies, if not the same, but others, should be given them. — 9. If the same bodies are not raised, the ends of the resurrection will not appear clearly to be answered ; as the glorifying the grace of God in the salvation of his people, and of his justice in the damnation of the wicked ; or how shall every one receive in his body for what he has done, either good or evil, if the same bodies are not raised which have done those things ? — 10. If the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is not of the same body, it seems to be no other nor better than the old Pythagorean notion of the transmigration of souls into other bodies. The objections to the identity of the risen body will be considered hereafter. I go on, III. To observe the causes of this stupendous affair. — 1. The efficient cause is God : a creature is not equal to it ; it is always ascribed to God, Rom. iv. 17, 2 Cor. i. 9 ; it is a work of almighty power ; and being a work ad extra, is common to the three divine Persons. As the resurrection of Christ is frequently attributed to God the Father, so is the resurrection of the saints, 1 Cor. vi. 14, 2 Cor. iv. 14. Christ, as God, is a co-efficient cause of it ; both of his own and of, theirs, John v. 22; of his own, John ii. 19, Rom. i. 4 ; and of theirs : he has the keys of the grave, and can open it at his pleasure ; and at his commanding voice the dead shall come forth ; and he will change the vile bodies of his saints, and fashion them like his own, Rev. i. 18, John v. 28. The Spirit of God also will have a concern in this affair, Rom. viii. 11. — 2. Christ as the Mediator, is the meritori ous cause of it ; it will be in virtue of his death and resurrection, which is the earnest and pledge of it ; as sure as he is risen, so sure shall his people rise ; he is the first-fruits of those that sleep : and, as man, he is the exemplar of it ; the bodies of the saints will be raised like his, incorruptible, immortal, powerful, and glorious. — 3. The instrumental cause, or means, the voice of Christ, and the sound of the trumpet ; the same with the ,voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, ~\

OP THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 225 John v. 23. But whether this voice will be an articulate voice, like that at the grave of Lazarus ; or be a violent clap of thunder, called the voice of God, Psalm xxix., and whether this trumpet will be blown by angels, and the shout made, be the shout of all the angels, is not easy to say. — 4. The final cause, is the glory of the grace and mercy of God, in the complete salvation of his people, soul and body ; and of his justice, in the punishment of the wicked, soul and body. As to the time of the resurrection, it cannot be exactly fixed ; nor does it become us curiously to inquire into it, any more than into the time of the kingdom, and the hour of judgment ; in general, it is said to be at the last day, John vi. 39 —54 ; at the last day of the present world : at the coming of Christ, they that are his will arise ; when he shall descend from heaven, the dead in him will rise first ; when the present earth shall be burnt up, and a new one formed, in which the saints will reign with Christ a thousand years ; at tho close of which the wicked dead will be raised, 1 Cor. xv. 23, 2 Thees. iv. 1 6, Rev. xx. 5. IV. There are many objections made to this great and glorious doctrine ; the principal of which will be attended to. i. That maxim, or aphorism, is sometimes alleged; a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus ; from a total destruction of any being, there is no restoration of it to its former state and condition : This may be true of things according to the common course of nature, and by the power of nature ; yet will not hold good of what may be done in an uncommon and extraordinary way, and by the power of God. Besides, the bodies of men at death are not totally destroyed, in any way whatever, with respect to their matter or substance ; whether reduced to ashes by fire ; or cast into the sea, and devoured by fishes, or interred in the earth, and crumbled into dust ; yet they are in being, and are something ; out of which, it is not impossible, they may be raised by the power of God. ii. It is objected, that the body is dissolved into so many, and such small particles, and these scattered about, and at a great distance, and united to other bodies ; that these should be distinguished, and sepa rated from those to which they are united ; and be gathered together, and replaced in their proper order ; and that they should meet in their proper places in the body, as if it was with choice and judgment, seems incredible, if not impossible. But, as it has been already observed, considering the omnipotence and omniscience of God, who knows where every particle of matter lies, and can collect and range them together in proper order, the resurrection cannot be thought neither incredible nor impossible. Besides, it has been observed by some, that particles as numerous and more minute, as those of light be, are governed by, and subject to, certain fixed laws, when they seem to be in the greatest disorder ; and may be separated from others, and be collected in camera obscura, in a dark chamber, into the exact image of a man ; and then what impossibility is there, that the parts of a body, though dispersed, and mmgled among others, should be brought together again, and compose the same body ; any more than tho particles of light do the figure of it, after so many mixtures with, and percussions VOL. II. Q

226 OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. against other particles ? And it is further observed, that the parts of which the visible body is composed, were as much scattered over the whole earth, more than five thousand years ago, as they will be many years after death, or at the end of the world ; and so not more impos sible in this case, than at first to collect the parts so dispersed, and to bring them into order. And moreover, let the bones of a skeleton, or the wheels and parts of a watch, be jumbled and thrown together in the utmost disorder ; yet a good anatomist can put all tho bones of a skeleton, and a good watchmaker all the wheels and pieces of a watch, into the same structure again, so as to compose the very same skeleton and watch ; and of infinitely more wisdom and power is the great Artificer of all possessed, to put the human body, though its parts lie ever so dispersed, and in disorder, into the same structure again. And as to the union of the particles of the body, with other bodies, and the difficulty of the separation of them, those that are well versed in chemistry, are able to produce innumerable examples of things that adhere and unite closely with one another, which are yet easily sepa rated, by the addition of a third. And as to the distance of the parts of the body, and the unlikelihood of their meeting at the same places of the body to which they belong, as if they acted with choice and judgment ; it is observed, that the loadstone will draw iron when at a distance from it ; and that the heavenly bodies, which are at a great, and almost immeasurable distance, are subject to a law that brings them towards each other ; and such is the virtue of the loadstone, that let iron, lead, salt, and stone, be reduced to powder, and mixed together, and hold the loadstone to it, it will draw the iron only, and as it were by free choice out of this composition, leaving all the rest of the bodies untouched. And surely then, the great Alchymist of the world, and he who is the Author of the loadstone, and has given it the virtue it has, is capable of doing as great, and greater things, than these; he can gather together the particles of the dissolved body, though ever so distant and dispersed, and separate and distinguish them from other bodies they have been united to, and put them in their proper place, in their own body. in. The various changes and alterations the body undergoes, are objected to the same body being raised ; it is observed, that in the space of seven years all the particles of the body are changed ; some lost, and others got ; and it seems impracticable that the same body should be raised, since its particles are not the same in youth as in old age ; nor when emaciated as in better circumstances ; and therefore being raised according to which it may, it cannot bo the same. It may be observed, that though the body has not always the same fleeting particles, which are continually changing, as the fluids are, yet it always has the same solid and constituent parts ; and so a man may always be said to have the same body, and to be the same man ; it is the same body that is born that dies ; and the same that dies that shall rise again ; the several alterations and changes it undergoes, with respect to tallness and largeness, fatness or leanness, do not destroy the identity of the body. Moreover, it is not requisite that all the

OP THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 227 particles of matter of which the body of a man has been composed, throughout his life-time, should be collected, to constitute the risen body ; it is enough that all the necessary ones should be collected and united together ; otherwise, it must rise in a gigantic form. It is a good distmction made by a learned writer"1, of an own or proper body, and of a visible one ; the visible body consists both of fluids and of solids ; the former of which change and alter, according to difference of years, of constitutions, and other circumstances ; but the latter con tinue the same : an own or proper body, consists almost only of solids ; as of skin, bones, nerves, tendons, cartilages, arteries, and veins ; which continue the same from infancy to the age of maturity, and so on, excepting the strength and size of them ; and so sufficient to denominate the same body, notwithstanding the change of the fluids, and of the flying off, and accession, of the fleeting particles. And as every animal, so man, has a first principle, or stamen, which contains the whole own body ; and which, in growth, is expanded or unfolded, and clothed, as it were, and filled up with other particles continually ; so that it is enough if this stamen is preserved, and at the resurrection, unfolded and filled up, either with the same matter that belonged to it before, or with such other matter as it shall please God to constitute the same body ; let one die, as it may, when a child, or full grown, or with a loss of a leg or an arm, or with any defect ; since all will be filled up in the expanded stamen, as observed. iv. The grossness and gravity of bodies, are objected, as rendering them unfit to dwell in such a place as heaven, all fluid, and purely ethereal. As for the grossness of raised bodies, they will not be so gross as may be imagined, or as they now are ; though they will not be changed into spirits, as to substance ; they will be spiritual bodies, in the sense before explained ; they will be greatly refined and spirit ualized ; and will not be supported in such a gross manner as with food, drink, &c as now ; and will be light, agile, and powerful, and capable of breathing in a purer air. As to the gravity of them, a learned man observes', " There is no such thing as gravity in regions purely ethereal, which are above the reach and activity of particular orbs ; there is no high and low in such places; our bodies will be there sustained, as the globe of the earth, and the several celestial orbs, are now sustained in the air and ether." And he further observes, that perhaps, after all, our heaven will be nothing but a heaven upon earth; or some glorious solid orb, created on purpose for us, in those immense regions which we call heaven ; and he says, this is no new opinion, but embraced by many of the ancients ; and certain it is, that the raised saints will, quickly after their resurrection, inhabit a new earth for a thousand years, prepared for them. As for the objection, taken from the impurity of bodies, and their unworthiness and unfitness to be united to souls ; and their being a prison and a burden to them ; and so would make the condition of souls worse : these are only * Nieuwentyt's Religious Philosopher, vol. 3, contcmpl. 28, s. 20—23, p. 1058, &c. ' Hody's Resurrection of the same Body assorted, p. 205. q2

228 OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. heathenish notions, and cannot affect the minds of Christians, and require no answer. But, v. There is another objection, of more importance, which must be removed ; which is taken from human bodies being eaten by men, either through necessity, as in distressed cases ; or of choice, as by cannibals, or man-eaters ; whereby the flesh of one man is turned into the flesh of another ; and one human body becomes a part of another; and so there cannot be a distinct resurrection of each of these bodies, with the proper parts belonging to them. In answer to which, there is no need to say, as an ancient learned apologistf, seems to do, that the substance of one man's body, when eaten by another, does not turn to nourishment, nor become the flesh of the other that eats it ; it being not designed by Provi dence for food ; since it is certain, men have been nourished by it, as when in distress, as well as otherwise; let it be observed, that it is a very small part of the food a man takes into his body, which turns to nourishment : not above the fiftieth part of it, according to the accurate Sanctorius6 ; and daily experience teaches, that what we use for food, belongs only to the visible body of an animal, and the fluids and juices thereof; and not its solid parts, its bones and nerves: nor is a cannibal, or man-eater, nourished with withered and dried bones, and with nerves and membranes, divested of their juices'1 ; and so is nourished, not with the own proper body ; but only with the visible one, and the fluids thereof. Besides, the nourishment of the bodies of men, is without their will and knowledge, and entirely depends upon the will and pleasure of God ; in whose power it is to hinder that no one essential particle of a body should belong to another, through nourishment by it, and that even after a natural manner ; there is no impossibility in it, since by numberless chemical experi ments, as further observed, it will appear, that though a body has the property of uniting itself to another, yet it can be hindered by the addition of a third, and by other ways too, from doing the same : and God, who has promised to raise the bodies of all men, will tako care that nothing relating to nourishment, should hinder the perform ance of it ; and that the particles of one man's body, shall never so become the particles of another, as that the resurrection of either should thereby be rendered impossible. And it is observed by a learned writer, that if even a cannibal, during his whole life, had fed upon nothing but the matter of the visible bodies of men, and it had only pleased God to hinder the stamina of all those whom he had devoured from being converted into food ; but that they should have passed through his body, with other excrementitious matter ; what impossibi lity is there that the particular stamen of each person should be sepa rated from thence, and be filled up again by other proper matter. Thus likewise, may the stamen of the cannibal himself remain alone, without any of its expanding fluids, and be filled up with others at the resur rection : and he accordingly may rise likewise in his own body. To ' Atlienagoms de Reaurrectione, p. ii, 48. K In Hody, p. 186. b Nieuwentyt ut supra, s. 33, p. 1072, 1073.

OP THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 229 conclude, adds, he, since the own body must be considered abstractly from any humours and juices ; and since all that serves for the food and nourishment of a man-eater, must only be divided from the visible body of the person devoured ; it is plain, that although a cannibal had devoured hundreds of visible bodies of other men ; it would like wise happen, according to the common course of nature, that the solid particles, divested of all their juices, or the own bodies of the devoured persons, would be discharged, or cast out and unmingled with those of the devourer : and consequently, that each of them might appear separate and entire, at the time of its resurrection. So that upon the whole, there can be nothing in the above objections, to a rational man, who believes the power, promise, and providence of God. To conclude, this doctrine appears to be of great importance and use fulness, and therefore to be abode by. It is one of the articles of the creed of the ancient Jews ; it is reckoned among the first principles of the doctrine of Christ : it is a fundamental article of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Christ stands and falls with it ; the whole gospel is connected with it ; and depends on it, 1 Cor. xv. 13 — 17 : without this, there is no expectation of a future and better state, 18, 19 ; practical religion greatly depends on the truth and belief of it. It has been ob served', that the opposers of it have always been bad livers : it is a natu ral consequence, what the apostle observes of the denial of it, verse 32. Whereas, a firm belief of it, promotes a studious concern of a holy life and conversation, as may be observed in the experience and prac tice of the apostle Paul, Acts xxiv. 15, 1.6. It is very useful to instruct in various things. It serves to enlargo our views of the divine perfec tions ; as of the omnipotence and omniscience of God. of his holiness and justice, of his immutability in his counsels and purposes, and of his faithfulness in his promises and threatenings. It teaches us to think highly of Clirist, as God over all, and as possessed of all divine perfection, since he has so great a concern in it ; and serves to endear the Spirit of God, and teach us not to grieve him, by whom we are sealed to the day of the redemption of our bodies. And it may be a means of encouraging our faith and trust in God, in the greatest straits and difficulties, as being able to deliver out of them. And it may direct us to'a due and proper care of our bodies, whilst living, that they are not abused through avarice or intemperance ; and to provide or give orders for the decent interment of them after death. This doctrine affords much comfort ; hence in the Syriac version of John xi. 24, it is called the consolation of the last day. It may be of great use to support saints under the loss of near relations, and under their various trials and afflictions, and under present diseases and disorders of the body ; from all which they will be freed at the resurrection ; and in the views of death, and of the changes the body will undergo after death ; and yet, after all rise again, and see God, and enjoy tho company of angels and saints. ' Nemo enim tam carnaliter vivit, quam qui ncgant caniis resurrcctionem.—Tertull. de Resurrcctionc, c. 1 1 . { ThtVrG.'i-,.

230 OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, AND HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. The personal appearance of Christ will be before the resurrection of the just, which is the first resurrection ; that will be at the coming of Christ, which might properly have been treated of before that resurrection ; but that I chose to lay before the reader, in one con nected view, the separate state of the soul after the death of the body, until tho resurrection, and the resurrection of it ; and for the same reason I have treated of tho doctrine of the resurrection in both its branches together, of the just, and of the unjust ; though the one will be a thousand years before the other, and many events will intervene between them ; as the conflagration of the world, the making of the new heavens and the new earth, and the dwelling and reigning of Christ with his saints therein, and the binding of Satan durmg that time ; all which will follow the personal appearance of Christ, and will be treated of after that, in their order. There have been various appearances of Christ already ; many in a human form before his incarnation, as a presage and pledge of it ; but his principal appearance, and what may be called his first appear ance and coming, was at his incarnation ; there were several appear ances of him to his disciples, after his resurrection, and to Stephen, and to the Apostle Paul, after his ascension ; and there was a coming of him in his kingdom and power sometime after to take vengeance on the Jewish nation for their rejection of him, and the persecution of his followers. There is now an appearance of Christ in heaven as an advocate of his people ; and there is a spiritual appearance of him at conversion, and in after-visits of his love, and communion with him ; and in the latter day there will be a great appearance of Christ in a spiritual manner, or a coming of him by the effusion of his Spirit upon his people, when his spiritual reign will take place, elsewhere treated of ; after which will be the personal appearance of Christ to reign in a still more glorious manner. Hence his appearance and kingdom are joined together, when he will judge both quick and dead, and this will be attended with great glory, and is called his glorious appearing, Tit. ii. 13; and in distinction from his first coming and appearance at his incarnation, it is called his second, Heb. ix. 28, which will now be treated of. I. By giving the proof of the certainty of it, that Christ will most surely appear personally to judge the world, and reign with his people ; which may bo most firmly believed, depended upon, and looked for ; and this will appear. i. From what the patriarchs before and after the flood have said of it ; for so early has it been spoken of, as may be observed from the prophecy of Enoch, tho seventh from Adam, recorded by the apostle Judo, verse 14, 15, Saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all ; which prophecy, whether it

OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 231 was written or not is not certain, nor how the apostle came by it, whether by tradition, as the apostle Paul had the names of the magi cians of Egypt, or by divine revelation ; however, it is made authentic by the Spirit of God, and is to be depended on as fact ; and is to be understood, not of the first, but of the second coming of Christ, as appears by his attendants, ten thousands of his saints ; such 'and such a number of them were not with him when he came in the flesh, but his second coming will be with all his saints, 1 Thess. iii. 13 ; and by the work he is to do, to execute judgment on all, and to convince of, and punish wicked men for their words and works ; Job also declared his faith, that Christ, his living Redeemer, should stand at the latter day on the earth, that is, the latter or last day of the present world, since it was connected with the resurrection of the dead he believed in, and the future judgment, Job xix. 2,5. Also David speaks of the coming of Christ to judge the earth and world, and the people of it with right eousness ; and which is repeated, to denote the certainty of it, Psalm xcvi. 13, and xcviii. 9. ii. The certainty of Christ's second coming and personal appear ance may be confirmed from what the prophets have said concerning it ; for it has been spoken of by the mouth of them all, Acts iii. 21 ; and though the prophecies greatly respect his spiritual reign, yet are intermixed with many things concerning his personal coming and appearance ; and it requires skill and care, being attended with some difficulty, to distinguish and separate the one from the other ; and besides these, there are some which chiefly and plainly respect his personal appearance and kingdom ; as — 1. The prophecy in Dan. vii. 13, 14 ; where, after the destruction of Antichrist and the Antichristian states in the spiritual reign, signified by the slaying and burning of the fourth beast, follows in a natural order the coming of the Son of man to take possession of his kingdom ; Christ said to be like one, either in conformity to the language of the former visions, his kingdom being humane, gentle, just, and wise, as well as powerful, and not beastly, as the others ; or because he was not yet become man ; or rather the as or like is not an as of similitude but of certainty, as in Matt. xiv. 5, John i. 14, Phil. ii. 7; and being described as coming with the clouds of heaven, fixes it to his second and personal coming, which is always so described. The Ancient of days he is said to come to, is God the Father, the eternal God ; they that brought him near him are either the saints, who hasten his coming by their prayers ; or the angels : or it may be impersonally read, and he was brought ; which denotes the august and magnificent manner in which he will be per sonally and visibly put into the possession of his kingdom and dominion; which will have a glory beyond all expression, and will be everlasting ; it will never be succeeded by another ; and though Christ's personal reign on earth will be but a thousand years, yet his whole reign, personal and spiritual, will be of a long duration, and which in Scripture is called everlasting. Besides, this kingdom, when delivered up, will not cease, but will be connected with, and issue in the ultimate glory, in which Christ will reign with his saints for ever. — 2. Another

232 OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. prophecy in Dan. xii. 1 —3, respects the second and personal coming of Christ ; for he is meant by Michael, who is as God, as his name signifies, equal to him ; the great prince, the prince of the kings of the earth, and the head of all principalities and powers, who standeth for the children of Daniel's people ; meaning the election of grace among the Jews, on whose behalf Christ will stand at the time of their conversion in the latter day ; previous to which it will bo a time of great trouble ; both to the saints, when will be the slaying of the witnesses; and to the antichristian states, when the vials of wrath will be poured out upon them, which will bring on the spiritual reign ; after which will be the personal coming of Christ, here implied, since the resurrection of the dead will follow, and when such will be re warded in the kingdom of Christ, who have been eminently serviceable in his interest ; and the rest of the chapter is taken up about the time when these things shall be. — 3. The prophecy in Zech. xiv. 4, 5, respects the second or personal coming of Christ ; since all the saints will come with him, and descend with him on earth ; when his feet shall stand on the mount of Olives, and when Christ will be king over all the earth, verse 10 ; and the saints will be in a sinless state, verse 20, 21 ; though there are some things which respect the spiritual reign of Christ, and a time of distress previous to it. — 4. The prophecy in Mal. iv. 1 — 3, respects not the first but the second coming of Christ, when the day of the Lord shall burn like an oven ; the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all that therein is shall be burnt up ; and all the wicked shall perish in the conflagration ; be burnt up like stubble, and be properly ashes under the soles of thefeet of them that fear the Lord ; to whom it will be a glorious day, on whom the sun of righteousness shall arise. in. The certainty of Chrises second and personal coming to reign on earth, may be evinced from several sayings and parables delivered by him. Not to omit the petition directed to in the prayer commonly called the Lord's Prayer ; Thy kingdom come, connected with another, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, the sense of which is, that the kingdom of God might come, and so come, that the will of God might be done by men on earth as it is done by angels in heaven ; which petition, though it has been put up thousands of times has never yet been fulfilled, nor never can be but in a perfect state ; and there will be no such on earth till the resurrection-state takes place, and Christ personally appears in his kingdom and glory. 1 . The answer of Christ to the question of his [disciples, What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ? Matt. xxiv. 3 ; given in the following part of the chapter, seems to respect the second and personal coming of Christ ; for though it is so expressed as that it may be applied to his coming in his kingdom and power to destroy the Jewish nation, and so to be to the end of their world, church and state; yet what is said of that, and of the signs of it, may be considered as types symbols, and emblems of, and to have a further accomplishment in the second coming of Christ, and the end of the present world ; whose coming will be like lightning, swift, sudden, at an unawares, and local

OP THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 233 and visible ; for then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, 27, 30 ; that is, the Son of man himself, as the sign of Jonas is Jonas himself ; who will personally appear in the lower heaven, so as to be seen by all the tribes of the earth, who shall mourn on that account : and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven ; which, as has been before observed, is a distinguishing and peculiar character istic of the second coming of Christ ; which will be with power, seen in raising the dead, burning the world, binding Satan, making new heavens and a new earth, and setting up his glorious kingdom m it ; and so with great glory, his own, his Father's, and that of the holy angels ; and then he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, verse 31 ; and with such an one, and with his angels, shall he descend in person from heaven, 1 Thess. iv. 16, 2 Thess. i. 7 ; and those he will employ to gather together his electfrom the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other ; that is, the raised saints, who will rise at this time in the several parts of the world where they died and were buried ; and whom the angels shall collect together, and bring with the living saints changed, to Christ in the air, where he will be seen. But of the day and hour of Christ's coming knoweth no man, no not the angels in heaven, verse 36. Moreover the coming of the Son of man will be like the days of Noah for carnality, sensuality and security, verse 37, &c, which agrees with the accounts other scriptures give ; as that it will be like that of a thief in the night, sudden and at unawares ; and that when persons are crying peace, peace, great pleasure and happiness, sudden destruction comes upon them ; and therefore, since the Son of man comes in an hour unthought of, persons ought to be ready for it, verse 44 ; for nothing is more certain than death, the coming of Christ, and the judgment-day. 2. The parables in Matt. xxv ; all respect the second coming of Christ. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins, describes the state of the church under the gospel-dispensation, as consisting of true believers, and formal professors, and their different behaviour, until the coming of Christ ; when the door will be shut, the door of the word and ordinances ; for after the spiritual reign, and in the millen nium-state, they will be no more administered, and Christ, and his fospel, will be no more preached ; and so no more a door of faith and ope for sinners. Before the personal coming of Christ, all the virgins, both wise and foolish, will be asleep, unconcerned about his coming, off of their watch and guard, and in no expectation of it ; and, having little faith about it, When the Son of man cometh, shall he findfaith on the earth ? To this state answers the Laodicean church-state, lukewarm, indifferent, and regardless of divine things ; which will bring on, and issue in the last judgment of the people, as its name signifies. Christ, in this parable, is all along represented as a bridegroom, and as such he shall come, when the church, his bride, will be made ready, and come down from God out ofheaven, as a bride adorned for her husband ; when she, the bride, the Lamb's wife, having the glory of God upon her, shall dwell with him in the new Jerusalem state ; which is the marriage-chamber they that are ready shall enter into with him.

234 OP TOE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. The parable of the talents, in the samo chapter, respects the same time, and describes our Lord's giving gifts to men, upon his ascension to heaven, and since ; to some more, and others less, of which they make a different improvement ; and also his coming again, after a long time, and reckoning with them ; which will be done when he personally appears ; and who will in the resurrection-state distribute honours and rewards to his servants, according as they have made use of the talents committed to them. The chapter is closed with an account of the Son of man coming in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, and sitting on the throne of his glory, summoning all nations before him, and separating the good from the bad, and passing the definitive sentence on each, and executing it. 3. The parable of the nobleman, in Luke xix. 12, &c is similar to that of the talents. By the nobleman is meant Christ, who is of noble extract indeed ; as the Son of God, he is the only begotten of the Father ; as man, he sprang from the Jewish ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and from a race of kings of the line of David. By the far country he went into, heaven is designed ; which is the better country, a land afar off, from whence Christ came at his incarnation, and whither he went after his ascension, and where he will remain till his second coming. His end in going thither, was to receive for himself a kingdom ; to take open possession of a kingdom that was appointed for him; and which he did, in some sort, at his ascension, when he was made, or declared, Lord and Christ ; and more fully will, in the spiritual reign, when the kingdoms of this world shall become his ; but most openly, clearly, and plainly, at his personal appearing and kingdom ; which will be the time of his return, when he will appear manifestly instated in it, and possessed of it ; and then will he call his servants to an account for the monies he committed to them, to make use of in his absence ; and according to the use it shall appear they have made of them, they will be rewarded in the millennium-state, signified by giving them authority over more or fewer cities. 4. The words of Christ in John xiv. 2, 3, cannot well be neglected ; In my Father's house are many mansions ; Igo to prepare a place for you, and I will come again, and receive you unto myself. By Christ's Father's house, is meant heaven, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ; in which there are many mansions, dwelling, resting-places for the many sons he, the great Captain of their salvation, must and will bring to glory ; and thither Christ is gone, as the forerunner, both to take possession of heaven for them, and to prepare it for their reception of it ; for though it is a kingdom prepared from the founda tion of the world, in the purpose, council, and covenant of God ; yet Christ is further preparing and fitting it for them, by his personal pre sence, and powerful mediation, whilst they are preparing and working up for the self-same thing, by his Spirit within them ; and when they are all gathered in, and made ready, he will come again in person, and raise their bodies, and re-unite their souls to them, and take them, soul and body, to himself, to be with him where he is, first in the millenniumstate, and then in the ultimate glory.

OP THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. 235 rv. That Christ will come personally on earth a second time, may be most certainly concluded from the words of the angels, in Acts i. 1 1 ; at the ascension of Christ to heaven ; This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The angels reproved the apostles, that they stood gazing at Jesus, as he went up to heaven, being desirous of seeing the last of him, as if they were never to see him any more ; whereas he would come again from heaven, in like manner as they saw him go thither : as he ascended in person, in his human nature, united to his divine person, as the Son of God ; so he should descend in person, in the same thuman nature thus united ; the Lord himself shall descend from heaven : and as his ascension to heaven was visible, he was seen of angels, and by the apostles ; so his descent from thence will be visible ; every eye shall see him ; not a few only, as then, but all : and as a cloud received him out of their sight, when he went to heaven ; so when he comes again, he will come in the clouds of heaven : and as he was attended by angels, who escorted him through the regions of the air ; so he will be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels ; and though no mention is made in this narrative, of his ascension with a shout, and the sound of a trumpet attending it ; yet, as it was foretold in prophecy and type, no doubt is to be made of it ; God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet ! Psalm xlvii. 5 ; and certain it is, he will descend in such manner ; the Lord himselfshall descendfrom heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel, and with the trump of God ! 1 Thess. iv. 16 ; and as his ascent was from the mount of Olives, it is very probable his descent will be on that very spot : sinco it is said, that when the Lord shall come with all his saints, hisfeet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, Zech. xiv. 4, 5. v. The second coming and appearance of Christ, may be confirmed from various passages in the sermons, discourses, and epistles of the apostles. And, — 1. From the words of Peter, Acts iii. 19 — 21. From whence it appears, that there was then to come, and still is to come, a time of the restitution of all things ; which cannot be under stood of the gospel-dispensation, called the time of reformation ; for that had taken place already ; nor of the restitution of the brute creatures to their paradisiacal estate, of which some interpret Isa. xi. 6 — 9, Rom. viii. 19 — 23 ; for which I can see no need nor use of, in a perfect state, as these times will be ; nor of the restitution of gospeldoctrines, ordinances, discipline, and worship, to their former purity and perfection, which will be accomplished in the spiritual reign ; but of the restitution of all the bodies of the saints, a resurrection of them from the dead, and a restoration of them to their souls ; and of the renovation of the world, which will be at the second coming of Christ : and when the time fixed for it is come, then will God send Jesus Christ from heaven, where he now is, and where he will be retained till that time, and then he will descend from thence, when the saints in their resurrection-state shall be judged ; and though their sins are already blotted out by the blood of Christ, and for his sake ; and a comfortable application of it is made to the consciences of all penitent and converted

236 OP THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. persons ; yet there will be then a public blotting of them out, or a declaration that they are blotted out, never to be seen nor read more ; which will be done before angels and men ; and then it will be a time of refreshing indeed, from the presence of the Lord ; for the tabernacle of God will now be with men, and he will dwell with them ; and there shall be no more sorrow and weeping, crying and pain, Rev. xxi. 3, 4. — 2. There are various passages, in which express mention is made of the coming of Christ : of his appearing a second time, unto the salva tion of his people ; of their waiting for his coming, looking for, and hastening unto it, and loving it, and of what the saints shall be, and shall have then; that they shall appear in glory with Christ, and shall be like him, and shall have grace given them, and a crown of glory likewise ; and shall be the joy and crown of rejoicing of Christ's mimsters, and also of what shall then be done by Christ ; all the saints shall be brought with him ; the dead in him shall be raised, and both quick and dead be judged ; and the counsels of all hearts shall be made manifest, 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16, 1 Cor. iv,. 5. —-3. In all those places in which mention is made of that day, that famous, that well-known day, so much spoken of and expected, 2 Tim. i. 12, 18 ; and of the day of the Lord, 2 Pet. iii. 10 ; and of the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. i. 8 ; and of the day of redemption, Eph. iv. 30 ; the time of Christ's second coming, and personal appearance, is meant ; which will be sudden, and at an unawares, like a thief in the night ; till which time the saints commit themselves into his hands ; and when the work of grace, in its utmost extent and influence on soul and body, will be completed, and they will be unblameable before him, and their bodies redeemed from mortality, corruption, and death. vi. In the book of the Revelation, frequent mention is made of the visible, quick, and speedy coming of Christ, and of what shall be then done by him ; as in chap. i. 7, &c, and in particular of his descent from heaven, for the binding of Satan the space of a thousand years, chap. xx. 1 — 3 ; where he is described by his office, an Angel, not a created, but the uncreated one ; nor is it unusual for Christ to be called an Angel ; he is that Angel who appeared to Moses in the bush ; and who went before the children of Israel in the wilderness ; and who is called the Angel of God's presence, and the Angel, or Messenger, of the covenant : and he is described by his descent from heaven, whither he went at his ascension, and where he is now retained, and from whence he will come at the last day ; and by what he had in his hand, a key and a great chain ; a key to open the bottomless pit, to put Satan into it, and shut him up therein : and who so proper to have this key, as he who has the keys of hell and death ? chap. i. 18 ; and a great chain to bind him therewith ; and which will be greater, though shorter, than what he is now held with ; and with which he will be bound faster and closer, and laid under greater restraints than he now is : so that he shall not be able to do the hurt and mischief, and practice the deceit among the nations he now does, by instilling evil principles into them, and stirring them up to evil practices ; and so will he remain bound, shut up and sealed, for the space of a thousand years.

OP THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. 237 II. The locality of Christ's second coming, and personal appearance; or the place from whence he will come, and where he will appear.— 1 . The place from whence he will come ; heaven, the third heaven, where he is now in human nature, into which he was received at his ascension ; and where he will continue till his second coming, and from thence he will then be revealed ; he will descend from heaven to earth ; he came down from heaven to earth at his incarnation ; but that his coming was not local, not by change of place, which cannot agree with him as the omnipresent God ; but by the assumption of nature : but as his ascent to heaven in human nature, having assumed it, and done his work in it, which he came about, was local, by change of place from earth to heaven ; so when he comes again from heaven to earth, it will be local, by change of place, which his human nature is capable of. — 2. The place whither he shall come, is the earth : for, as Job says, he shall stand on the earth in the latter day ; though he shall not descend upon it at once ; when he appears from the third heaven, he shall descend into the air, and there stay some time, until the dead saints are raised, and the living ones changed ; and both are brought unto him there ; and till the new earth is made and prepared for him and them ; when he and they will come down from heaven to earth, and they shall reign with him on it a thousand years ; and he shall reign before his ancients gloriously. III. The visibility of Christ's personal appearance ; he will appear in human nature, visible to all ; the sign of the Son of man, that is, the Son of man himself, shall appear in heaven, in the air ; and every j J eye shall see him, all the inhabitants of the earth : such will be the agility of his glorious body, that he will swiftly move from one end of the heaven to the other, like lightning, to which his coming is com pared, Matt. xxiv. 27 ; so that he will be seen by all the tribes, kindreds, and nations of the earth : he will be seen by all good men, by the living saints, that will be changed ; by the dead, who will be raised, and both caught up together to meet him in the air ; when he appears, they shall appear with him, and see him as he is ; and he will be seen by them in the millennium-state, and throughout the whole of it ; for he will reign before his ancients, in the sight of them, in a glorious manner ; and then, as Job says, when they shall both stand together upon the earth, in their flesh, and with their fleshly eyes shall they see God in human nature, and that for themselves, and not another : and he will be seen by bad men ; by all the wicked living on earth, at his first appearance, who will wail and mourn because of him, fearing his wrath and vengeance they justly deserve ; and when they, even the greatest personages among them, shall flee, and call for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from his face, terrible to them. And at the end of a thousand years, when they will be all raised, they will see him as their Judge on a throne of glory, and stand before him, small and great, and tremble at the sight of him, as the devils also will. IV. The glory of Christ's second coming. His first coming was m a low, mean, and abject maimer, without observation, pomp, or splen

238 OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. dour ; but his second coming will be in great glory, Matt. xxiv. 30 ; and therefore is, with propriety, called, The glorious appearing of the great God ! Tit. ii. 13. i. Christ will come in the glory of his Father ; this is sometimes said alone, and when no mention is made of his own glory with it, Matt. xvi. 27 ; the glory of the Father, and the glory of Christ, as the only begotten of the Father, are the same ; the same is the glory of him that begot, and the glory of him that is begotten ; Christ is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person ; having the same nature and perfections, and so the same glory, with which he shall now appear : or by his Father's glory may be meant, the glory he promised him in covenant, on doing the work of redemp tion and salvation of men, proposed to him, and to which he agreed ; wherefore when he came the first time, when he had finished his work, he pleaded the promised reward, John xvii. 4, 5 ; and which promised glory took place, first upon the resurrection of Christ from the dead ; for God raised him from the dead, and gave him glory ; and at his ascension he highly exalted him, and gave him a name above every name ; and now by faith we see him crowned with glory and honour ! and thus glorified, exalted, and crowned, will he come a second time. Besides, he will come as a Judge, to which office he is appointed by his Father ; under whom, as such he will act ; and will therefore come with a commission from him, and clothed with authority by him ; for he hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man ; that Son of man whom the Father has appointed to judge the world in righteousness ; and so will come with the power, pomp, and majesty of a judge ; and shall sit on a throne of glory, with thousands and ten thousands ministering unto him, called a great white throne ; great, suitable to the greatness of his person and office ; and white, to denote the purity, uprightness, and righteousness of his proceedings. ii. He will come in his own glory : this is sometimes also spoken of singly; and no mention made of his Father's glory, Matt. xxv. 31. And this his own glory, in which he will come, is twofold.—1. He will come in the glory of his divine nature, and the perfections of it, as a divine Person, as God over all. At first he came as n, man ; and because he appeared so mean, was taken by the Jews to be a mere man, as he still is by many ; but when he comes a second time, his appearing will be the appearing of the great God, the most high God ; and so his coming is called the coming of the day of God, 2 Pet. iii. 12 ; his divine perfections will be very illustriously displayed, particularly his omnipotence ; upon his coming, voices will be heard in heaven, the church, loud proclamations made ; The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! Rev. xix. 6 ; he will come with power, with almighty power ; which will appear by raising his dead saints, and changing his living ones ; by burning the world, the heavens and the earth, and making all things new ; by summoning all nations before him, setting them in their proper posture and distance, passing the decisive sentence, and carry ing it into execution ; especially on the wicked, who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the

OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. . 239 glory of his power, 2 Thess. i. 9. Also his omniscience will be clearly discerned ; he will let all the churches, and all the world know, that he is he who searcheth the reins and hearts, and who needs no testimony from men ; for he knows what is in men, and is done by them ; for he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and every secret thing into judgment ; and neither men nor things shall escape his all-seeing eye. Likewise the glory of his holiness and justice will be very con spicuous ; he will appear as the Judge of the whole earth, who will do right, and will truly claim the character of a righteous Judge ; and his judgment be righteous judgment ; and, as in all his other offices, bo in the execution of this, righteousness will be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. There will be also large displays of grace and mercy, made at the appearance of Christ ; hence saints are exhorted, to hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto them, at the revelation ofJesus Christ, &c, 1 Pet. i. 13. —2. Christ will come in the glory of his human nature. The apostle takes notice of this remarkable circumstance, which will attend the second coming and appearance of Christ, that it will be without sin, the disgrace of human nature, Heb. ix. 28. The human nature of Christ, when first assumed by him was without sin, without original sin, the taint and contagion of corrupt nature which is in all the ordinary descendants of Adam ; hence it is called the holy thing ; and throughout his whole life it was free from all actual transgressions ; no act of sin was ever committed by him : but then he was not without the appearance of sin ; though his flesh was not sinful flesh, yet he was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh ; being born of a sinful woman, brought up among sinful men, and conversed with some of the chief of them in life, and was numbered among transgressors at his death : and moreover, he had all the sins of his people imputed to him ; he was made sin by imputation, who knew none : he bore all the sins of his people, and the punishment due to them, in his body on the tree ; but having thereby made satisfaction for them, upon his resurrection from the dead, he was discharged, acquitted, and justified : so that when he comes a second time, he will appear as without sin inherent in him he never had, and without sin done by him he never did ; so without sin imputed to him, this being satisfied for by him, and he discharged from it. Likewise, whereas he bore our sorrows, and carried our griefs, and was attended with the sinless infirmities of our nature, and was at last crucified through weakness ; now he will appear without any such ; as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain : and whereas, what with one thing and another, his visage was more marred than any man's, and his form than the sons of men ; now his body is become a glorious ono ; of the glory of which his transfiguration on the mount was an emblem, when his face did shine as the sun : and if the righteous, whose bodies will bo fashioned like to Christ's glorious body, shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, with what lustre and splendour will Christ appear in his glorified body I in. Christ will come in the glory of his holy angels; this circum stance is always observed in the account of his glorioug coming. This

240 Ob' THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. will add to the glory and solemnity of the day. So kings, when they go abroad, are attended by their guards, not only for their safety, but for the glory of their majesty ; and thus, when God descended on mount Sinai, to give the law to Israel, he came with ten thousand of his saints, his holy ones, the holy angels : and when Christ ascended on high, his chariots were twenty thousand, even thousands of angels ; and when he shall descend from heaven, he will be revealed from thence with his mighty angels : nor will they be only used for the glory of his Majesty ; but they will be employed by him in certain services ; as to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, to bind the tares in bundles, and cast them into the furnace of fire ; and to collect together from the four winds, the saints raised from the dead, in the several parts of the world, and bring them to Christ, to meet him in the air, and come along with him. V. The time of Christ's second coming and personal appearance, may next be inquired into. But to put a stop to inquiries of this kind, at least a boundary to them, it should be observed what our Lord says ; Of that day and hour knowetk no man, not the angels ; but my Father only, Matt. xxiv. 36. Another evangelist has it ; Neither the Son, that is, as man ; the human nature of Christ not being possessed of divine per fections, and so not of omniscience : to know the times and seasons of Christ's personal appearance and kingdom, is not for us ; these the Father has put in his own power, and keeps them secret there. Some , good men, in the last age, fixed the time of Christ's second coming, of / his personal reign, and the millennium ; in which being mistaken, it has brought the doctrine into disgrace, and great neglect : their mistake arose greatly from their confounding the spiritual and personal reign of Christ, as if they commenced together ; namely, upon the destruc tion of antichrist, Pope, and Turk ; the calling of the Jews, and the large conversions of the Gentiles ; whereas there is a distant space between the one and the other, and which is entirely unknown ; the spiritual reign, indeed, will take place upon the above events, and there are dates given of them ; namely, of the reign of antichrist, the wit nesses prophesying in sackcloth, the holy city being given to the Gentiles to be trodden under foot, and the church in the wilderness ; and the dates of these are the same ; forty-two months, or" one thou sand two hundred and sixty days, which are alike; for forty-two months, reckoning thirty days in a month, as was the usual reckoning, are just one thousand two hundred and sixty days, and which design so many years ; so that these things took place, go on, and will end together ; now these dates are given to exercise the minds, the study, and diligence of men : and though men good and learned, have hitherto been mistaken in fixing the end of these dates, arising from the diffi culty of knowing the time of their commencement, this should not discourage a modest and humble inquiry into them ; for for what end else are these dates given ? could we find out the time when antichrist began his reign, the end of it could easily be fixed to a year. There is a hint given of his first appearance, in 2 Thess. ii. 6—8 ; Now ye knoio what withholdeth that he (antichrist before described) might be revealed

OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 241 in his time ; for ike mystery of iniquity doth already work; it was not only in embryo, but was got to some bigness, and was busy and opera tive, though secret and hidden ; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked one be revealed, the man of sin or antichrist : now that which let, seems to be rightly interpreted by many, of the Roman emperor, who stood in the way of the bishop of Rome, appearing in that pomp and power he was thirsting after ; and which seemed to bid fair to be fulfilling, when Augustulus, the last of the emperors, delivered up the empire to Odoacer, a king of the V Goths; and the seat of the empire was removed from Rome to Ravenna, whereby way was made for the bishop of Rome to take his seat, and appear in the grandeur he was aiming at. Now this seemed to be a probable aera to begin the reign of antichrist ; and as this was in the year four hundred and seventy-six, if one thousand two hundred and sixty years are added thereunto, the fall of antichrist must have happened in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six ; this some learned men were very confident of, particularly Lloydd, Bishop of Worcester, a great calculator of time, affirmed, that all the devils in hell could not support the pope of Rome, longer than one thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. But we have lived to see him mistaken ; more than thirty years have since passed, yet the popish antichrist is still in his seat ; though his civil power has been weakening, and still is weakening ; so that it might be hoped, he will, ere long, come to his end. Nor should we be altogether discouraged from searching into the date of his reign : there is another aera which bids fair to be the begin ning of it ; and that is, when the emperor Phocas gave the grant of universal bishop to the pope of Rome ; and this was done in the year six hundred and six : and the rather this date should be attended to, since within a little time after, Mahomet, the Eastern antichrist, arose ; so that as they appeared about the same time, and go on together, they will end together. Now if to the above date are added one thousand two hundred and sixty years, the end of antichrist's reign will fall in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six ; according to this computation, antichrist has almost a hundred years more to reign : and if the date of his reign is to be taken from his arriving to a greater degree of pride and power, or from the year six hundred and sixty-six, which is the number of the beast, Rev. xiii. 18, it will be protracted still longer. It may be observed, that the dates in Daniel xii. 11, 12, and in the Revelation, somewhat differ ; they are larger in the former ; instead of one thousand two hundred and sixty days, as in the latter, it is one thousand two hundred and ninety days ; thirty days, that is, thirty years, more ; which, after the fall of antichrist, may be taken up in the conversion of the Jews, and the settlement of them in their own land : and the date is still further increased in the next text ; Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days ; which make forty-five days, or years, more ; and which may be employed in the destruction of the Ottoman empire ; and in the spread of the gospel through the whole world ; and therefore happy will he be that comes to this date ; these will be happy, halcyon days indeed ! VOL. II. R

242 OP THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. But now supposing these dates could be settled with any precision, as they cannot, until more light is thrown upon them, which perhaps may be, when nearer their accomplishment ; yet the time of the second coming, and personal appearance of Christ, and of the millennium, or thousand years' reign upon it, cannot be known hereby ; because the spiritual reign of Christ will only take place upon the above events ; and how long that will last, none can say : nor have we any chronolo gical dates, nor hints, concerning the duration of it ; only the Philadelphian church-state, in which it will be ; but as that is not yet begun, so neither do we know when it will ; nor when it will end : and after that, there will be another state of lukewarmness, drowsiness, and carnal security ; which the Laodicean church state will bring on, and will continue till Christ's personal appearance ; for such will be the state of things when the Son of man comes ; which will be like the times of Noah and Lot ; and how long this state will last cannot be said ; unless the seven months, allowed for the burial of Gog and his multitude, Ezek. xxxix. 12, can bo thought to be the duration of this state ' ; which, if understood of prophetic time, takes in a compass of two hundred and ten years ; but this is uncertain. So that it seems impracticable and impossible to know the time of the second coming of Christ ; and therefore it must be vain and needless, if not criminal, to inquire into it. However, it is known to God, who has appointed a day in which he will judge the world by Christ ; and as there was a set time for his first coming into the world, so there is for his second coming ; and God in his own appointed time, will send him, show him, and set him forth. And it is often said by our Lord in the book of the Revelation, that he would come quickly, as in chap. iii. 11, to quicken saints to an expectation of it ; and yet it is seemingly deferred, to try the faith and patience of saints, and to render the wicked inexcusable : but the chief reason is what the apostle gives, 2 Pet. iii. 9, that the Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, the beloved of the Lord, 8 ; the elect of God he wrote unto ; not willing that any of those his beloved and chosen ones should perish, but that all should come to repentance ; and when they are brought to repentance towards God, and to faith in Christ, he will stay no longer, but the day of the Lord will come immediately. VI. The signs of Christ's appearance and kingdom. The more remote ones are such as Christ gives in answer to the question of the apostles to him; What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ? whether they meant his second coming, or his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and the end of the Jewish world, church, and state, Christ gave them signs which answer to both ; the destruction of Jeruralem being a presage and emblem of the destruction of the world, at the second coming of Christ ; such as wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes ; persecutions of good men, false teachers, the preaching of the gospel throughout the world, all which had an accomplishment before the coming of Christ to destroy Jeru salem : and they have been fulfilling again and again, in all ages since ; 1 Sec RuuNTs Essay oa the Millennium, p. 16, 363.

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 243 and perhaps will be more frequent before the destruction of the world, at the second coming of Christ. The more near signs, or what will more nearly precede Christ's second and personal coming, are the spiritual reign, and what will introduce that ; the destruction of antichrist, the call of the Jews, and numerous conversions of Gentiles, through the general spread of the gospel ; and after that, great cool ness and indifference in religion, and great defection in faith and practice. But after all, it seems as if there would be an uncertainty of it until the sign of the Son of man, which is himself, as before observed, appears in the heavens ; for the Son of man will come in an hour unthought of by good men ; and as a thief in the night to wicked men ; suddenly and at an unawares ; and to both wise and foolish, whilst they are slumbering and sleeping. VII. The ends to be answered by the second and personal coming of Christ. — 1. The putting of the saints into the full possession of salvation, Heb. ix. 28 ; Christ's first coming into the world, was to work out the salvation of his people ; this he has obtained, he is become the author of it, and which is published in the gospel ; and an application of it is made to particular persons, by the Spirit of God, at conversion : but the full enjoyment of it is yet to come, Rom. xiii. 11 ; to which saints are kept by the power of God ; and of which they are now heirs, and when Christ shall appear, he will put them into the possession of their inheritance, Matt. xxv. 34. — 2. The destruction of all his and our enemies ; all wicked men, the beast and false prophet, and Satan, who will be cast by Christ into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone ; even all those who would not have him to reign over them ; and by all this, the ultimate end of all, the glory of God, will be answered ; the glory of his divine perfections, in the salvation of his people, and in the destruction of the wicked ; and the glorifica tion of Christ in all them that believe, 2 Thess. i. 10. OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. The effects of Christ's second coming, and personal appearance, are many ; as the resurrection of the just, of which we have treated at large already ; and the burning of the world, and making new heavens i /' and a new earth, and the reign of Christ there with his saints a thou sand years ; and then the general judgment : of all which in their order. And to begin with the universal conflagration ; which is strongly and fully expressed by the apostle Peter, 2 epist. iii. 10, 12 ; where he says, The elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up : which is to be understood of the burning of the whole sublunary and visible world ; signified by the heavens and the earth, taken in a literal, and not in a figurative sense. I. Not figuratively, as some interpret them, of the Jewish church, and of the Mosaic elements, the ceremonial laws, and the abolition of them ; and who suppose, that the new heavens and the new earth, in a following verse, design the evangelical church state, or gospel dispensa r 2

244 OP THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. tion, which took place upon the removal of the former. But, — 1. Though the civil state of the Jews, is sometimes expressed, by the heavens and the earth ; and the removing of it, by the shaking of them, Heb. xii. 26, 27 ; and sometimes by the world, at the end of which Christ came, and upon whose apostles the ends of it were, Heb. ix. 26, 1 Cor. x. 11 ; yet the Jewish church is never called the world ; for, in opposition to that, the Gentiles are called the world ; the name of church the Jews took to themselves ; that of the world they gave to the Gentiles, Rom. xi. 12, 15 ; hence the love of Christ in dying for the Gentiles, is expressed by this phrase, 1 John ii. 2. — 2. Though the commandments of the ceremonial law, are called elements, or rudi ments, in allusion to the elements, or rudiments of a language, to which children are put to learn ; under which the Jews were whilst children ; and whilst under the law, as a schoolmaster, Gal. iv. 3, 9, Col. ii. 20 ; yet they are never so called, in allusion to the elements, which belong to the system of the natural world, such as air and earth, which are only capable of being burnt ; for surely the burning of a few papers or parchments of the law, cannot be meant here. — 3. The abrogation of the ceremonial law, is expressed by other phrases usually ; as by the fleeing away of shadows, the breaking down the middle wall of parti tion, the abolishing the law of commandments, and a disannulling of it ; but never by burning, melting, and dissolving. — 4. The Mosaic elements, or the ceremonial law and its precepts, were already abolished, when Peter wrote this epistle ; these had their end in Christ, and were done away at his death ; signified by the rending of the temple-vail asunder ; and Peter knew this, who was the first to whom it was made known, by letting down before him a sheet, in a visionary way, with all kind of creatures in it, which he was bid to slay and eat ; and from whence he learnt, that now nothing was to be reckoned common and unclean, that law which made the distinction, being abrogated ; whereas the melting of the elements, was a future thing in his time, and is yet so. And likewise, — 5. The new heavens and the new earth, if by them are meant the evangelical state, or gospel-church state ; that also had already taken place, and Peter was an instrument in the forming of it ; he had the keys of the kingdom of heaven given him, and opened the door of faith, by preaching the gospel to Jews and Gentiles ; and on the day of Pentecost three thousand were converted and baptized, and added to the church, which was the first gospel church in Jerusalem ; and therefore this was not a state to be looked for, as to be in future time. But, II. The words are to be understood literally ; yet not of a par tial burning of some particular place or city ; not of the burning of Jerusalem, the city and temple, and inhabitants of it ; which is the sense some put upon them ; and which some take into the former sense, and so make a motley sense of them, partly figurative and partly literal ; but such a sense of the words cannot be admitted ; for, — 1 . This would not afford a sufficient answer to the objection to the promise of Christ's coming, taken from the continuation of all things m the same situation as they were from the creation, verse 4, for what ..•

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVEBSE. 245 change in the system of the universe, would the burning of a single city and of a temple in it make ? Changes and revolutions in single states, kingdoms, and cities, had been frequent, and these objectors could not be ignorant of them : but nothing less than such a change as was made by the flood, could strengthen the answer to the objection, and serve to remove it. Wherefore, — 2. The destruction here spoken of, is of equal extent with the destruction of the world by the flood ; as the world, the whole world that then was, was overflowed by the flood, and perished ; so the heavens and the earth which are now, will be dissolved and burnt by fire ; and nothing short of such a dissolution of the whole frame of nature, can answer such a description. But, it may be further observed, — 3. That the apostle's quoting a passage in verse 8, from Psalm xc 4, seems to suppose, that the time of Christ's coming might be then a thousand years off, as in fact it was, and much more, and yet be a short time with God, and might be spoken of as such ; but to make mention of a thousand years must seem very improper, with respect to an event that was not twenty years to come : and which Christ had assured would be in that generation, Matt. xxiv. 3, 34. —4. No such events as here mentioned happened at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the burning of the temple ; as the passing away of the heavens with a great noise, a fervent heat in them, to the lique faction of the elements ; with the burning of the earth, and all works in it ; for even the land of Judea itself, was not thus burnt up with the cities, towns, villages, and inhabitants of them, and all things in them. — 5. Nor was this destruction so desirable a thing as to be looked for with pleasure, and the coming of Christ to effect it, to be hastened to, as in verse 12 ; whereas Christ's coming to judge the quick and dead, at his appearing and kingdom, will be glorious, and is to be looked for and loved. To say no more, — 6. The destruction here prophesied of, is expressly said to be at the day of judgment, against which day the heavens and the earth are reserved unto fire, verse 7 ; so that, upon the whole, nothing else can be meant, but the general conflagration of the world by fire, in a literal sense. The nature and extent of this burning, will be more particularly considered, after we have proved that such a conflagration is possible, and probable, yea, certain ; as will appear, 1. From partial burnings ; which may be considered as types, emblems and presages of the universal burning, as, — 1 . The burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain ; which were set forth for an example of suffering the vengeance of eternal fire ; and why not then be considered as an emblem of the burning of the world at the last day ? these cities were destroyed by fire which came down from heaven ; and on a day, when in the morning there was no appear ance nor likelihood of it, a fine, bright, sun-shine morning, Gen. xix. 23, 24 ; and when the inhabitants of it were thoughtless and secure, and indulging themselves in pleasures ; and thus, says our Lord, shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed, that is, in flaming fire to take vengeance on the wicked, Luke xvii. 28—30 ; and if God could destroy these cities, and all in them, by fire from heaven, what

246 OP THE CONFLAGRATION OP THE UNIVERSE. should hindor but that he can destroy the whole world in like manner I — 2. The destruction of Jerusalem, and the burning of the temple, were emblems of the destruction of the world by fire : hence in answer to the question, put by the disciples of Christ unto him ; What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Matt. xxiv. 3 ; our Lord gives such as were common, both to the destruction of Jerusalem, near at hand, and of the whole world, at tho end of it, the one being typical of the other : and so these signs had a double accomplishment ; first in the destruction of Jerusalem, and then in the final dissolution of tho world. And so tho destruction of the Jews is sometimes expressed in such language as suits with the destruction of the whole world ; particularly in Deut. xxxii. 22 ; For a fire is kindled in my anger, &c And indeed, this conflagration here spoken of, may be thought to reach further than the land of Judea, though that seems principally designed ; even other parts of the earth, and to terminate in the destruction of tho whole world ; and so Justin Martyr11 inter prets it of the general conflagration. And though Jerusalem and the temple were not burnt by fire from heaven, yet the hand of God was so manifest therein, that Titus, the heathen emperor himself, could observe it ; who strove, by all possible means, to prevent the burning of the temple, but could not do it ; for God, as the historian observes, had adjuged it to tho fire ° ; as indeed, it was : our Lord foretold the burning of the city by the Romans, Matt. xxii. 6 ; and the burning of the temple is prophesied of in Zech. xi. 1 ; there called Lebanon, because built of the cedars of Lebanon. — 3. The burning of the beast, of antichrist, and of the antichristian states. The judgment which will issue in that, is described in such a manner, as if the last and the great day of judgment was intended, and the dissolution of all things at hand ; yet nothing else follows upon it, but the body of the beast being destroyed, and committed to the burning flame, Dan. vii. 9—11 ; and the destruction of Idumea, which seems to be a type of Rome, and of the antichristian states, is expressed in such language as agrees very well with the dissolution and burning of the whole world, Isa. xxxiv. 4 — 10 ; of the burning of Rome, see Rev. xviii. 8—18. — 4. The destruction of Gog and Magog, or the Turk, will be by fire ; which will be at the beginning of the spiritual reign of Christ ; and when the Jews are converted, and returned to their own land, which will irritate the Turk to bring his armies against them, the Lord will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone, Ezek. xxxviii. 22 ; this is said of Gog ; and the liko is said of Magog, chap, xxxix. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog : theso are different from the Gog and Magog in Rev. xx. 8, 9 ; who are no other than all the wicked dead raised ; whereas these are the Turks : and they will appear at a different timo ; the one at the beginning of tho spiritual reign of Christ, as before observed ; and the other at the end of the personal reign of Christ, or the millennium ; and so the fire that comes down from heaven on the one, is of a different nature from that which comes on the other ; the one is a material fire ; the other the wrath of God. ■ Apolog. 2, p. 93. » Josephus do Bollo Jud. 1. 6, c. 4, i. 5, 6.

OP THE CONFLAGRATION OP THE UNIVERSE. 247 Now these several partial burnings, as they are types and presages of the universal burning of the world, so they at least make that possible and probable. 11. The probability of the universal conflagration may bo argued from the preparations in nature, which are made, and making for it ; for the apostle says, that the heavens and the earth which are now, which are now in being, are by the same word, the word of God, kept in store, as a treasure, and are treasured up among the stores of vengeance, reserved unto fire, for which preparations are making in them, against the day ofjudgment, and perdition of ungodly men, when it will break forth and destroy the universe, and all things in it. Preparations are making in the earth for this general burning. Not to take notice of the central fire, supposed by some to be in the midst of the earth, since it is doubtful whether there is such a thing or not ; it is certain, there are various volcanoes or burning mountains in different parts of the world ; besides Mount jEtna, in Sicily, which has been burning for many ages ; as also has Vesuvius, near Naples, and the island of Stromboli, m the sea, which lies between them both, and is thought to have a communication with them under the bottom of the sea ; and Lipara, near Sicily: and so far north as Iceland, there are three burning mountains ; one of them called Hecla, which oftentimes rages no less than Mtna,, vomiting out prodigious stones, with a terrible noise ; besides hot springs in abundance. In the East Indies, in the island of Java, not far from the town Panacura, a mountain broke out in 1586, for the first time, discharging such quantities of burning brimstone, that above ten thousand persons in the country round about were destroyed. The Mount Gonnapi, in one of the islands of Banda, in the same year, which had been burning seventeen years, broke from the rest, throwing out a most dreadful quantity of burning matter, and great red-hot stones, &c There is another mountain on the island of Sumatra, which smokes and flames just like ^Etna. The earth, in the Molucca islands, casts out fire in several places ; as in Sorea and Celebes ; especially a mountain in Ternata. In one of the Moorish islands, sixty leagues from those of the Molucca, there happen very often earthquakes, with eruptions of fire and ashes. In Japan, and the islands about it, there are many little, and one great burning mountain ; nay, it is said °, there are eight volcanoes in Japan, besides many hot springs. In Tandaja, one of the Philippine islands, are found many small fire-mountains ; and one in the island of Marindica, not far from them. The like are found in North America, in the province of Nicaragua. And in South America, in Peru, among those mountains that make the ridge of the Cordillera, near the city Arequipa, thero flames a mountain continually. There is likewise one near the valley Mullahalo, which being opened by fire, casts out great stones. There are also several burning mountains in the district that lies on the east side of the river Jeniscea, in the country of the Tongesi, some weeks' journey from the river Oby, according to the relation of the Muscovites ; as also near another water, called Besida. Near ° Tbilosoph. Transact, abridged, vol. 3, p. 621.

248 OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. the island Santorini, no longer ago than the year 1707a sprang up a new island from the bottom of the sea ; in which, about the end of August that year, the subterraneous fires, after a terrible rumbling, burst out with such violent noise as if six or seven pieces of cannon were discharged at once ; and frequently a great quantity of ashes, glowing stones, and huge pieces of burning rocks, have been tossed into the air with such a force, that they have been carried seven miles before they have dropped into the sea p ! Strabo q reports somewhat similar to this, as done near this place, some hundreds of years ago. Nor is our island free from symptoms and appearances of subterra neous fires ; for by what are the hot waters at Bath and Bristol occa sioned, but by them by which they are heated I Besides, there are eruptions of fire in some places, in other parts of the land. And by the above accounts it appears, that not only there have been burning mountains in ages past, m some places, even thousands of years ago, but that new ones, m later times, have broken out ; so that the prepa ration for the general burning of the world is still carried on, and is increasing, and which may seem to portend its being near. And there is not only a preparation making in the earth, but in the heavens also, where there is a great store of materials fit for this purpose provided ; witness the fiery meteors in them, the blazing comets, which sometimes appear, and are always in being, though not always seen by us ; and those vast bodies of light and fire, the sun and stars, to be made use of on occasion ; and the vast quantities of matter which occasion such dreadful thunders and lightnings, which in some parts of the world are almost continual, and from which they are scarce ever free. Now when these things are considered, the general conflagration of tho world will seem neither impossible nor improbable ; but rather it may be wondered at, and thought a miracle, that the earth has not been destroyed by fire long ago. Let the atheist, the infidel, the profane and careless sinner, tremble at this. Pliny r, the heathen, observing the many fires in the earth and in the heavens, and how easily fire is kindled, by holding concave glasses to the sun, says, " It exceeds all miracles, that one day should pass and all things not put into a con flagration ! " in. What may make the doctrine of the universal conflagration probable is, that it has been believed in all ages, and by all sorts of persons. Josephus • says, that Adam foretold the destruction of all things, at one time by the force of fire ; and at another time, by the violence and multitude of water ; and thereforo the posterity of Seth built two pillars, the one of brick, and the other of stone, on which they inscribed their inventions ; that if that of brick was destroyed by the force of showers of rain, that of stone remaining, would show to men what was written on the brick ; from hence, or, however, from an early tradition, this notion of the burning of the world, has been v Sec Nicuwentyt's Religious Philosopher, vol.2, contempl. 21, s. 18, p. 621, 622; Philosoph. Transact, abridged, vol. 2, p. 391—394, and vol. 5, part 2, p. 196, &c. 'i Geograph. 1. 1, p. 39; vide Justin. c Trogo, 1. 30, c. 4. ' It supra, c. 107. ■ Antio,. 1. 1, c. 2, e. 3.

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 249 received and embraced by various nations, both Jews and Gentiles : as for the Jews, they might have it, not only from tradition, but might conclude it from the word of God, as they do ; who say, that though God has sworn he will not bring a flood of water on the world, yet he will bring a flood of fire ; as it is said, Isai. lxvi. 16, For byfire will the Lord plead, or judge ; hence they speak of the wicked being judged with two sorts of judgment, by water and by fire ' ; and this same tradition got among the Gentiles, and was received by them ; as by the Indians", the inhabitants of Siam and Pegu, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the ancient Gauls and Britons, and the Druids among them". And it has been embraced by poets and philosophers, Greek and Latin. Lactantius* quotes a prophecy of one of the sybils, that as God formerly destroyed the world with a flood, so he would hereafter destroy mankind for their wickedness by burning. Justin Martyry observes, that the sybil Hystaspes (the Persian) and the Stoics, assort that corruptible things shall be destroyed by fire. Or pheus, that very ancient poet, as quoted by Platoz, affirmed, that in the sixth generation, the world, Karanavo-trai (so it should be read), shall be burnt ; and Sophocles, as quoted by Justin", and Clemens of Alexan dria1', speak of this burning. The verses of Ovid,c concerning this matter, and so of Lucand, are well known. The philosophers make frequent mention of it ; Empedocles" says, there shall be sometime a change of the world into the substance of fire. And Heraclitus taughtf, that as all things are of fire, all shall be resolved into it again ; and that as the world was generated out of fire, in a course of years the whole world shall be burnt again ; and so say Hippasus" and Phurnutusg ; and Zeno' expresses himself also almost in the words of Peter, that the elements shall be destroyed, or corrupted, by a fiery eruption ; and Platok, in so many words, says, in length of time, or as some read it, in a short time, there will be a destruction of the things on the earth by much fire. And it is the observation of many writers, that the Stoic philosophers held an ennrvpaxrt?, or conflagration of the world by fire ; Epictetus1 speaks of it ; and so does Seneca™, who says that fire is the exitus of the world; nay, Minutius Felix" asserts, that this was not only the constant opinion of the Stoics ; but that the same was the sentiment of the Epicureans, concerning the conflagration of the elements, and the ruin of the world ; and it has been ob served that of all the heretics under the Christian name, none have risen up who have denied the dissolution of the world by fire.— Now that men of different nations, and ages, and sentiments, should agree in this, makes it probable that so it may be ; but we have a 1 Zohar in Gen. fol. 50. 4, et 5L, 1. ■ Ross's View of all Religions, p. SI, 52. - Strabo, 1. 4, p. 136. * De Ira Dei, c. 23. ' Apol 2, p. 66. * In Philebo. p. 406 j vide Plutarch, de Oracul. Defect, p. 415. • De Monarchia, p. 105. b Stromat. 1. 5, p. 606. • Esse, quoque in fatis, &c.—Metamorph. 1. 1, fab. 7. * Pharsalia, 1. 7, v. 812. &c. • Apud. Clem. Alex. Stromat. 1. 5, p. 599. ' Laert. 1. 9, in vita Heracliti ; vide Hesychium de Philosoph. p. 35. » Plutarch, de Placit. Philosoph. 1. 1, p. 877. h De Natura Deorum, p. 39. Laert. 1. 7, in vita Zenonis. k In Tima-o, p. 1043. ' Arrian. Epictot. 1. 3, c. 13. m Nat. Quaest. 1. 3, c. 13 ; vide Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 26. » Octav. p. 37.

250 OP THE CONFLAGRATION OP THE UNIVERSE. more sure word of prophecy, which makes this matter certain to us Christians. iv. That the world, and all things in it, shall at last he consumed by fire, may be concluded from the sacred Scriptures. 1. From Psalm i. 3. Our God shall come, &c By our Godis meant Christ, Immanuel, God with us; called the mighty God, verse 1, and is one of his names, Isai. ix. 6, who, at his first coming, came out of Zion, verse 2, so he will when he comes again, Joel iii. 16, of which second coming these words are to be understood ; as appears by his order to gather his saints to him, verse 5, when order will be given to his angels, to gather his elect from the four winds, when raised from the dead, at his coming, Matt. xxiv. 30 ; and by his appearing under the character of a Judge, verse 6, to judge his people, verse 4, and even all the inhabitants of the earth, who will be called from one end of it to the other, verse 1 , and be judged in righteousness ; and so the Targum applies the text, to the judgment of the great day°, when he will not keep silence. His descent from heaven will be with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God ; when his voice will bo heard from the rising of the sun to the going down of it ; and reach the dead in their graves, who will hear it and come forth ; and then a,fire shall devour before him, and consume all in the way, dissolve the heavens, melt the elements, and burn the earth, and all in it, and be tempestuous round about him ; which agrees with Peter's account of the conflagration, that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, poiCnhbv, like that of a storm and tempest ; and now, in a literal sense, will the Lord rain upon the wicked fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest ! Psalm xi. 6. 2. From Psalm xcvii. 3 —5. A fire goeth before him, to make way for him, by destroying everything combustible ; and burneth up his enemies round about, who would not have him to reign over them, reject him as a Saviour, despise his gospel, and submit not to his ordinances ; so the fire with which the world shall be burnt, is for the perdition of ungodly men, all the wicked inhabitants of the earth ; it will leave none : His lightnings lightened the world ; such dreadful thunder and lightning will be in the heavens, that the coruscations thereof will blaze all over the world ; the sight of which will be so awful and tremendous, that the earth, and inhabitants of it, will see and tremble, fearing tho flashes of it will consume them : The hills melted like wax before the fire, at the presence of the Lord, who will now come to judge the world with righteousness, and tho people with equity ; as at the close of the preceding Psalm, with which this is connected ; when righteousness and judgment will be the habitation of his throne, and he shall sit on his throne judging righteously ; when he will come in the clouds of heaven, and be surrounded with them, verse 2 ; and when he will take to himself his great power and reign, which will cause joy and gladness to his people, verse 1 ; for his judg ing of quick and dead, will be at his appearing and kingdom, 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; for all these things go together ; Christ's appearance in the • So Austin. ilt Civ. Dei, 1. 20, c. 24.

OP THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 251 clouds, taking possession of his kingdom, the judgment of quick and dead, and the burning of his enemies. 3. From Isa. xxiv. which is a prophecy, not of the destruction of a single state and kingdom, but of the whole world ; as appears from verse 1 —20 ; and which is expressed by a dissolution of it, and by burning the inhabitants thereof, and is spoken of as what will immediately precede the glorious and personal reign of Christ. 4. From Isa. lxvi. 15, 16, For behold the Lord will come with fire, &c, which perfectly agrees with the account of Christ's coming to burn the world, and take vengeance on the wicked, given in the New Testa ment, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 2 Pet. iii. 10. For byfire andby hissword, which proceeds out of his mouth, will the Lord plead with all fiesh, with all mankind, or judge them ; for of Christ's coming to judgment must this be understood, for the judgment is universal. In the former part of the chapter, arc various prophecies concerning the spiritual reign of Christ, the conversion of the Jews, and a large addition to tho church from among the Gentiles, and of the great peace and prospe rity of it, verse 7—13 ; a hint is given of the resurrection of the dead, verse 14, your bones shall flourish like an herb; which will be at Christ's second coming ; and after this mention is made of the nete heavens and the neio earth, verse 22, which will succeed the old heavens and earth that will perish in the conflagration of the universe. 5. From the various passages in the minor prophets ; particularly in Nahum i. 3—5, for though the prophecy is concerning the destruction of Nineveh, yet God is described as what he will appear to be ; and by what he will do at the dissolution of all things ; The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm ; and in such an one the heavens will pass away, according to the apostle Peter : And the clouds are the dust of hisfeet ; in these the Lord of the whole earth, the Son of man, will come to judgment ; He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers ; which yet was never done ; but will be done at the conflagration of the world ; hence John says, The first heaven, and the first earth, were passed away, and there was no more sea, Rev. xxi. 1, being dried up at the general burning. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and theflower of Lebanon languished; the trees, herbs, and flowers, which covered and adorned these mountains, being all con sumed by the fire ; And the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence; yea, the world and all that dwell therein ! than which, nothing can more fitly agree with the description the apostle Peter gives of the dissolution of all things, 2 Pet. iii. 10. Some passages in Zeph. i. seem to look this way ; for though tho destruction of the land of Judea is particularly threatened ; yet they seem to have a farther view, even to all the nations and kingdoms of the whole world, and to all the earth, which shall be devoured with the fire of God's jealousy, chap. iii. 8 ; and the time of it is called, The great day of the Lord, verse 14, the day of judgment, the judgment of the great day, as that is called in the New Testament ; against which, the fire that shall burn the world is reserved, Jude 6, 2 Pet. iii. 7, but especially the prophecy in Mal. iv. 1 —3 ; in the ultimate com

252 OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. pletion of it, may be thought to respect the general conflagration ; for though it may be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jews in it, and to Christ's coming to take vengeance on them, yet only as a type and emblem of this ; For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven ; the day of the Lord, as Peter expresses it, which will burn like an oven indeed, with great fury and fierceness ; so that the heavens shall pass away, the elements melt, and the earth, and all therein, be burnt up ; and all the proud, the despisers of Christ and his gospel, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble ; fit for such an oven, and which the fire will soon and easily consume ; and shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch ; not one wicked man will escape the conflagration, all will be burnt in it, yet the wicked only ; for the righteous dead, who will then be raised, and the living saints, who will be changed, will be caught up together into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and will be carried up far enough to be out of the reach of the devouring flames ; and these are they who are meant by such as fear the Lord, to whom the sun of righteousness shall arise ; Christ shall appear to them as bright and as glorious, as comfortable and delightful, as the sun ; and arise on them with heal ing in his wings ; so that they, the inhabitants of the new heaven and the new earth, which will now be formed, shall not say, I am sick ; these will be the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord ; and the wicked shall be as ashes under the soles of theirfeet : which words will be literally fulfilled ; for the wicked being burnt, and their ashes mixed with that matter that shall form the new earth, and bo interred in it, the saints that dwell on it, will, in a literal sense, tread on them ; and they will be, not as ashes, but really ashes, under the soles of their feet. It will be needless to take notice of passages in the New Testament; since the famous one in Peter, which so fully asserts, and so clearly describes the conflagration, has been thoroughly considered, and its sense established : and the text in 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, has been often quoted, or referred to ; only it may be proper to take notice of what our Lord says shall be at the end of the world, at the dissolution of it, and which plainly suggests it shall be by fire ; that as the tares are gathered and burnt in thefre, so shall it be at the end of the world ; the wicked shall bo gathered and separated from the righteous, and be cast into a furnace of fire ; and such the world will be when destroyed by fire, and all the wicked in it, Matt. xiii. 40—50. Proof being thus given of the general conflagration, I proceed, v. To answer some queries relative to it ; as with what sort of fire the world will be burnt ? what the extent of this burning I and whether the earth will be destroyed by it as to its substance, or only as to its qualities 1 1 . With what sort of fire the world will be burnt ? Not with fire taken in a figurative, but in a literal sense ; not with metaphorical, but material fire. Fire is somotimes taken figuratively for the wrath of God, whose fury is said to be poured forth like fire. But though the burning of the world will be the effect of God's wrath against smners

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 253 for their sins, yet that will be executed by means of material fire : the world will be burnt by such fire as will come from heaven, and break forth out of the earth ; with such fire from heaven by which Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain, were destroyed ; with which Aaron^ two sons were consumed ; with which the two hundred and fifty men of Koran's company were destroyed ; with which the two captains, and their fifties, perished, who came to take the prophet Elijah ; of the same sort with that which fell on Job's sheep and the servants that kept them, and killed them ; and such as very often flashes from heaven, and destroys houses, buildings, men and cattle : and such fire as breaks out of the earth, of which various instances have been given, in volcanoes, and other eruptions ; and like that which many hundreds of years ago broke out of the earth in Germany, and burnt towns, villages, and fields, everywhere, and was with great difficulty extinguished p. So that the world will be destroyed by fire much in the same manner as it was by water : the flood was brought upon it partly by the windows of heaven being opened above, which let down rain ; and. partly by the fountains of the great deep being broke up below, which sent forth great quantities of water ; and both meetingtogether, drowned the world : so the stores of fire in the heavens being opened, and great quantities issuing out of the bowels of the earth, these joining together will set the whole world on fire, heavens and earth, and bring on their speedy dissolution. Some have thought the stars will have a great influence in this affair. Berosus, an ancient writer, says q, that it will be according to the course of the stars ; and that all earthly things will be burnt up, when all the stars shall meet in Cancer : and one Serarius r, in the last century, because of the con junction of all the planets in Sagittarius, a fiery sign, conjectured that the burning of the world was near ; and Mr. Whiston5, of the present age, fancied the world will be burnt by the near approach of a comet to it ; so the Brahmins '. But for such conjectures there is no foundation ; the manner seems to be as before described. This fire will be but temporary, it will last but for a time ; how long the world will be burning cannot be known ; fire usually makes quick dispatch, and con sumes presently ; and so it is to be distinguished from that fire in which the wicked will be tormented, that is called everlasting fire, fire which cannot be quenched, the smoke of which ascends for ever and ever. 2. What will bo the extent of this burning ? or how far, and to what will it reach? To the heavens, the elements, the earth, and all the works in it. — To the heavens ; not to the third heaven, into which the apostle Paul was caught up, and heard and saw what it was not lawful to utter ; for this is the throne of God, the habitation of angels and florified saints, and now the residence of the glorious body of Christ ; ut the fire will not reach the palace of Jehovah ; nor at all annoy any of his courtiers and friends ; it is a question, whether it will reach the ' Tacit. Annal. I. 13, c. 57. 1 Apud Senecas, Nat. Quest. I. 3, c. 29. ' Apud Heidegger. Dissert. 24 ; de Signis Ccelest. s. 8. • New Theory of the Earth, b. 4, e. 5. 1 Bedaog. ch. 1, apud Dow's Hist, of Hiudostan.

254 OP THE CONFLAGRATION OP THE UNIVERSE. starry heaven, or at all affect the luminaries of the sun, moon and stars ; forthoughthe city of the perfect saints, the inhabitants of the new heavens and earth, will stand in no need of the sun and moon to enlighten them, it does not follow that these then will not be ; but rather it is implied, that they will be, though the saints will not need them. Things that are durable, are said sometimes to endure, as the sun, and moon, and stars, for ever and ever ; and it seems as if these will be always con tinued, as monuments of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God. But it will be the airy heaven u, that will be the subject of the confla gration, the atmosphere about us, the surrounding air, and the meteors m it. Some have thought this burning will reach no farther than the waters of the flood did, which covered the highest hills, and it may be, reached fifteen cubits higher ; but that is no certain rule to go by : however, as the fowls of the heaven or air, were destroyed by that, so they will by this, Gen. vii. 23, Zeph. i. 3. — To the earth, and all the works that are in it ; to the whole terraqueous globe, both land and sea : it may seem a difficulty, how that part of the globe which contains such vast quantities of water, as are in the main ocean, in other seas, .and in the rivers, should be consumed hereby ; yet this will bo none, when the omnipotence of God is considered, and what the prophet says of him with respect to this affair ; He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers, Nah. i. 4 ; which will be the case, as represented to John, in a vision, who saw the first heaven and earth pass away, and new ones succeed ; and there was no more sea, that being dried up, Amos vii., x. This fire will reach to all the living creatures in the earth, land, and sea, the works of God's hands : as the fowls of the air, so the fishes of the sea, and " the cattle on a thousand hills ;" all the beasts of the field, and all men found on the earth ; all the wicked of the earth, who will be all burnt up root and branch, not one will escape. This fire is reserved for the perdition of ungodly men. It will extend to all the works of nature, mountains, hills, and rocks, metals and minerals in the bowels of them, and all that cover and ornament them, trees, herbs, plants, and flowers ; for, as the prophet says in the above place, Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and theflower of Lebanon languisheth, being stripped of all their glory ; the same will be true of all other mountains and hills : it will consume all the works of art, towers, palaces, and stately buildings, which it was thought would have continued for ever; all the utensils and instruments of various manufactories; and all the curious things wrought by the hands of men. Likewise all literary works, the archives and records of kingdoms, states, and cities ; the treaties, covenants, and agreements of princes ; compacts between men ; bonds, bills, deeds of conveyance of right to estates, lands, possessions, and inheritances; all the writings of men, good and bad : all that good men have written for the use of the church, which will be continued to this time, will now be destroyed, there being no further need of them, and use for them. Some think that moral works and actions are included, and that these are the works that will be burnt up, and this the fire the ■ So Augurtin. de Civ. Dei, 1. 20, c. 18, 24.

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 255 apostle speaks of in 1 Cor. iii. 13 — 15 ; but such works are not the subjects of fire : nor is it such fire the world will be destroyed with that is here meant : the day that shall declare every man's work, is the bright day of the gospel, in the spiritual reign of Christ ; the light of which will be as the light of seven days, when the people of God, ministers and others, will see eye to eye ; every truth will be seen in its true light, and be easily distinguished from error : and the fire designs the gospel, which will then burn bright and clear, and burn up every thing contrary to it ; and by works are meant doctrines, some comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones, which will bear the test of this day, and the fire ; and others like wood, hay, and stubble, which will not be able to stand before them : and it should be observed, that the apostle is speaking of good men and ministers, who were on the foundation themselves, and laid the foundation, Christ, ministerially ; but laid different things on this foundation, some very good, others good for nothing, and a mixture of both ; which, when the day, the time comes spoken of, will be declared and distinguished ; such as will abide the scrutiny and test, shall be rewarded in the kingdom-state ; but such as will not, will be condemned, as not agreeable to the word, though the ministers of them, as to their persons, shall be saved, being on the foundation, Christ. Here let it be observed, for the comfort of the saints, that there are many things which will escape the general conflagration ; as the Book of life, in which the names of God's elect are written ; the covenant of grace, which contains the magna charta of their salvation ; the Word of God, as it is the engrafted word in their hearts ; the title to the heavenly inheritance ; the inheritance itself, which is incorruptible, and reserved in the heavens : nor shall they themselves bo destroyed in it ; the wicked will be all burnt in it, not one shall escape that will then be found on the earth ; but as for the saints, the dead bodies of all who have died from the beginning of the world will be raised, and y their souls being brought by Christ along with him, will be reunited to them ; and they, with the living saints then on earth, who will be changed, shall be caught up, together into the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and shall be carried up high enough, and be with him out of the reach of this fire ; so that it may be said of them, as of Daniel's three companions in the furnace, that not a hair of their heads shall be singed, nor the smell of fire pass upon their garments. 3. The next query is, whether the earth shall be dissolved by fire, as to its substance, or only as to its qualities ? There are persons of great note on both sides of the question ; and the arguments of each are not despicable : but I rather incline to the latter, that the world will only be destroyed with respect to its qualities ; those who are for the destruction of the world as to the substance of it, argue both from reason and scripture. — From reason : they argue, that as the world was made out of nothing, it shall be reduced to nothing again. But this reasoning will not hold good ; for there are some beings which are produced out of nothing, which shall not be annihilated; as angels, and the souls of men, neither of which are formed out of any pre

256 OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. existent matter, but out of nothing ; and so being immaterial, aro immortal, and shall never die, nor be reduced to nothmg. They argue also, that there will be no farther use of the world hereafter, and of the things of it ; and as God does nothing in vain, therefore it will not be contmued any longer, as to its substance, men ceasing to be upon it, for whose use it was made. But it is more than we are able to say, that it will be of no use hereafter ; there are some things that will be in a future state, that we are not able to assign the uses of ; as some parts of the human body, when that shall be raised, as no doubt it will be, with all its parts, some of which are not suited to a state in which there will be no eating nor drinking, nor marrying, nor giving in marriage ; yet be raised with the rest, both for the perfection of the body and the ornament of it : and besides, if for nothing else, this world, as to the substance, may be continued as a standing monument of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God ; to which may be added, that there will be men to inhabit it, even all the righteous ones, at least for the space of a thousand years. It is farther observed, that God usually proceeds from things less perfect, to things more perfect ; and so from things temporal to things spiritual and eternal. To which may be replied, that this will be the case, by renewing the earth as to its qualities ; it will become more perfect, and be suitable to men in a perfect state, and whose bodies will be raised spiritual and immortal. —They also argue from Scripture ; as even'from the text in 2 Pet. iii. 10 ; and observe, that the heavens are said to pass away, the elements to melt, the earth, and all therein, burnt up ; which they judge, can intend no other than a substantial destruction of the world. But the phrases are not strong enough to support this ; the heavens may pass away into another state and form, as the fashion of the world will, and yet not be dissolved as to their substance : things may be melted, as wax, and other things ; which, though they lose their form, do not lose their being ; and thmgs being burnt, may be reduced to ashes, yet not annihilated ; ashes are something. They urge the text in Psalm cii. 26, They, the heavens, shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; they all shall wax old as a garment, as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. But those on the other side of the question, urge the same text in favour of their sentiment ; since the perishing of the heavens is explained by changing them ; and all change does not suppose a de struction of substance ; and a garment that is waxed old, may be refitted, and put into a new form, and be for more and after use ; and besides the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, interprets this change by a folding up a vesture, which is done in order to be laid up, and made use of hereafter. A similar place is produced by them, in Isa. li. 6. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke ; but then smoke is something, and that vanishes into air, and that air is something ; And t/ie earth shall wax old like a garment ; but that, as before observed, may be fitted up in another manner, and be for the better ; And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner : but if the heavens and the earth perish in like manner as men do, they do not perish as to their substance, neither with respect to body nor soul ; the body, at death, returns to the

OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 2">7 earth and dust, from whence it was, and the soul to God that gave it. They instance also in Isa. lxv. 17. Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth ; and therefore the old heavens and earth must be destroyed, as to their substance, since the new ones are not formed out of them, but are created; and creation is a production of things out of nothing. But it may be observed, that the word create does not always so signify ; but sometimes only the renovation of what already is ; as in Psalm, li. 10. They likewise make use of all those scriptures which speak of the heavens, and the earth, and the world, passing away ; in what sense they may be said to pass away, as in 2 Pet. iii. 10, has been observed already. The first of those scriptures only says, till heaven and earth pass, which will never be ; and so not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass till all be fulfilled : the other indeed asserts, that heaven and earth shall pass away ; but then the sense may be only comparatively, that sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, as they never shall, than that Christ's words shall pass away : the last of them refers to the fashion of the world, and the lusts in it, which shall pass away, and have no place in the new earth ; in which, not worldly and sinful lusts, only righteousness, shall dwell. All such passages of Scrip ture, likewise, which speak of the end of the world, are brought into this argument : but these, some of them, have only reference to the end of the Jewish state ; as 1 Cor. x. 11, Heb. ix. 26; and others only refer to the present state of things in the world; but not to tho destruc tion of it ; as Matt. xxviii. 20; and such passages, which only respect the mutability of the things of this world, and the temporary enjoyment of them, can be of no use in this controversy; as Heb. xiii. 14, 2 Cor. iv. 18. So likewise, when the Angel swore that time shall be no more, it can be understood only of antichristian time, or of the time of the reign of antichrist ; of the holy city being trodden under foot by the Gentiles ; of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth ; and of the church being in the wilderness ; which will bo finished at the period referred to : but then all time, in every sense, is not then to be no longer ; for not only after that, but after the first resurrection, and the general conflagra tion, there will be a time of a thousand years at least, ill which the saints will dwell with Christ on earth. Those who suppose that the world will be only destroyed, as to the qualities of it, argue also from reason and Scripture. 1. From reason : they observe that the old world which perished by the flood, was not destroyed as to its substance ; for after the waters were removed from off the earth, Noah, with his family, and all the creatures with him in the ark, went out of it upon the earth ; and he built an altar on it, and sacrificed ; and he and his sons repeopled the earth. And in like manner, the earth will not be destroyed by fire, as to its substance ; but renewed, so as to be inhabited again. They farther observe, that man, who is a microcosm, a little world, a world in miniature, when he perishes by death, it is not a destruction of him as to his substance, neither of soul nor body, as before observed. Besides, if God meant to annihilate the world, he would not make use of fire ; for fire, though it divides and separates the parts of matter, VOL. II. s

258 OP THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. it does not destroy it : it purges, purifies, and refines; but does not reduce the substance of anything to nothing. Besides, bodies raised must have a place to be in, to stand before God in, at judgment ; and to be either in a state of happiness or misery afterwards ; for which there would be no place found, if the world, as to the substance of it, was dissolved. ii. They likewise produce passages of Scripture, and argue from them, against the substantial destruction of the world, and for the change of it only ; as to qualities. That the earth, as to the matter and sub stance of it, shall always abide, they urge Psalm civ. 5, and Eccles. i. 4. They argue from some of the places brought by others for the utter de struction of the world : as Psalm cii. 26, Isa. Ii. 6 ; on the former of which they observe, with Jerom on the place, that the words do not express the utter destruction of the world, but a change of it for the better : and on the latter, that the words suggest, that the heavens and the earth will perish in like manner as men do at death ; which is not a destruction of their being, but a change of them into another form and state. They reason from all those scriptures which speak of a new heaven and a new earth ; that these signify renewed ones, not new as to substance, but quality : as a new heart, and a new spirit, do not design a new soul of man, new powers and faculties ; but a renew ing of the same as to qualities. They observe what the apostle says, T/iefashion of this worldpasseth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31 ; the scheme, the figure, and form of it, in its present situation ; not the matter and substance of it. And they farther observe, that the state of the world at this time, is expressed by a regeneration of it, Matt. xix. 28 ; and by a restitution of all things, Acts lii. 21 ; which signify a forming and restoring them to a more pure and glorious state. I take no notice of Rom. viii. 19, &c, commonly made use of on this subject, because I think it belongs to something else, and to another time ; and from the whole, those on this side the question conclude, that the dissolution of the world by fire, will be only a purging, purifying, and refining it, as to its form and quality, and a removing from it everything included in the curse, which the sin of man brought upon it ; and so will become a habitation fit for the second Adam, and his holy, spiritual, and perfect offspring. But of this more in the following chapter. OF THE NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH, AND THE INHABITANTS OF THEM. We have seen the world laid in ashes ; and now we shall take a view of it as rising out of them. The eastern people had a tale, or fable, concerning a bird, called the phcenix : which many writers, both Heathen, Jewish, and Christian, have taken notice of; concerning which they say, there is but one of them in the world at a time ; that it is very long-lived, according to some it lives a thousand years ; and when its end draws near, it makes itself a bed of spices, and seats

OP THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. 259 itself on it, and by some means or other fire takes it, and it is burnt to ashes in it ; from whence springs a worm, or egg, and from thence another phoenix : this some take to be an emblem of the resurrection ; but it rather seems to be a fable, devised by the Indians, or Arabians, to transmit to posterity their traditional doctrine of the conflagration, and renovation of the world. The heathens had some notion of good men dwelling in pure and beautiful habitations on earth ; so Plato saysw; it was also the opinion of the Stoics", that at a certain deter mined time the whole world would be burnt ; so that it would imme diately be beautified and adorned again, and exist as it was before, perfectly beautiful. This is more clearly revealed in the Sacred Scriptures ; and as the apostle Peter fully expresses the former, as we have seen, so he strongly asserts the latter, and his faith, hope, and expectation of it; nevertheless, though the heavens and the earth shall be burnt up, we believors, we Christians, favoured with a divine revelation, look for, believe and expect, new heavens and a new earth, in the room of the former, consumed by fire, wherein dwelleth righteousness, righteous persons, and they only, 2 Pet. iii. 13. The promise of this referred to, is in Isa. Ixv. 1 7, which is introduced with a Behold, as being something extraordinary and wonderful, and worthy of attention ; For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, fyc, which being obscure in itself, is explained by the apostle : and what makes prophe cies respecting the last times, so difficult of interpretation, is, their being mixed ; some things in the context belonging to the spiritual, and others to the personal reign of Christ, which is the case here : however, the passage itself, most certainly belongs to a perfect state, in which righteousness will dwell, as Peter says : and entirely agrees with John's account of the inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth ; who represents the new Jerusalem as coming down from heaven, to dwell on the new earth, where the tabernacle of God will be with men ; and he will show himself to be their God, and them to be his people ; and so it will be a time of great joy and gladness : and in Isaiah it is said, Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy ! John says, in this state there shall be no more sorrow nor crying : which entirely agrees with the prophet, who says, The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying ! which cannot be said of any state of the church in the present earth ; and is only true of its perfect state in the new heavens and the new earth. The things to be inquired into are, what these new heavens and earth be, and who the inhabitants of them. I. What are meant by the new heavens and the new earth in the above passages ; these are to be understood not in a figurative, but in a literal sense. i. Not in a figurative sense ; — 1 . Not of the gospel-church state, or the gospel dispensation, in which indeed old thmgs passed away, and all things became new ; the former covenant waxed old and vanished w In Phadonc, p. 84. x Aristot. apud. Euscb. Evangel. Prsepar. 1. 15, c. 14 ; Numenim In ibid. c. 18 J Pbilo, quod mundua sit incorrupt, p. 940. s2

260 OF THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. away ; the old Jewish-church state was abolished, and a new churchstate set up ; the ordinances of the former dispensation were removed, and new ones appointed : but then, as observed in the preceding chapter, this state had taken place before the apostle Peter wrote his epistle ; and therefore he could never speak of the new heavens and new earth in this sense as future ; nor say, that he and others were looking for them when they were already in being ; and so likewise before the apostle John had his vision of them. John the Baptist and Christ began their ministry with saying, The kingdom of heaven was at hand, the gospel dispensation was just ushering in ; yea our Lord afterwards says, the kingdom of God was among the Jews, though it came not with observation, and was weak and obscure ; but after his death and resurrection, when he gave his disciples a commission to preach the gospel to all the world, and furnished them with gifts and abilities for it, and they accordingly preached it everywhere with success ; then it plainly appeared that the gospel- church state had commenced: besides, the gospel-church state, even in the first and purest ages of it, was not so perfect as the state of things will be in the new heavens and new earth, in which none but righteous persons, and such as are perfectly righteous, will dwell ; for into the new Jerusalem, the seat of which will be the new heavens and new earth, none shall enter that defiles or makes an abomination or a lie : whereas in the gospel-church state there always was, is, and will be, a mixture of true believers and carnal professors ; look into the first churches at Jerusalem, Antioch, Galatia, Corinth, &c, and you will find persons either of bad principles or of bad practices, complained of. Moreover, in the new-Jerusalem state whicli will have its seat in the new heavens and new earth, there will be no temple, no worship, in the manner that now is in the gospel-church state ; no ministry of the word, nor administration of ordinances ; the Lamb will be the temple, and the light thereof ; to which may be added, that in that state there will be no more death, sorrow and crying : but death did not cease when the gospel-church state took place, it has continued ever since, and is the last enemy that shall be destroyed; the putting men to death for the sake of Christ and his gospel began very early, in the first times of the gospel, both in Judea and in the Gentile world ; and continued under Rome pagan and papal, and more or less to this day. Other things might be observed which show that the new heavens and the new earth cannot be understood of this state ; and for the same reasons they cannot be understood of the times of Constantino and following ones, at least for some of the above reasons. — 2. Nor of the state of the Jews at the time of their conversion ; for though there will be a new face of things then with respect to them ; they will quit their old notions of the Messiah, and relinquish their old laws, customs and modes of worship ; and embrace the gospel, and submit to the ordinances of it, and join themselves to gospelc hurches, or be formed upon the same plan with them ; and be called by a new name, whicli the mouth of the Lord shall name. But then this will be before the new heavens and the new earth are formed : the conversion of the Jews is designed in Rev. xix.

OF THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. 261 7, 8, and is what will introduce, or be a part of the spiritual reign ; but the vision of the new heavens and the new earth is in chap, xxi., which respects a more glorious state of the church, and the personal reign of Christ in it. — 3. Nor of the spiritual reign of Christ, which will be in the present earth and not in the new one ; and in which will be the ministry of the word and ordinances ; the everlasting gospel will be preached to all nations, by means of which the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and gospel churches be planted everywhere, and gospel worship be carried on as now, only with greater purity ; but in the new-Jerusalem state, the seat of which will be the new heavens and the new earth, there will be nothing of this kind, as before observed ; and though there will be then a great degree of spirituality and holiness, yet it will not be so perfect a state as that will be in the new heavens and the new earth ; in which there will bo only righteous persons, nothing that defileth, only the holy city, having the glory of God upon her, will dwell in them. But in the spiritual reign, the church will not be quite clear of hypocrites and nominal professors, and will sink into lukewarmness and indifference, into spiritual pride and carnality, even into a Laodicean state. — 4. Nor of the heavenly state, or the ultimate glory ; for these new heavens and earth are distinct from the third heaven, the seat of that. The New Jerusalem, the inhabitants of it, are said to come down out of heaven to reside upon the new earth ; where the tabernacle of God will be with them, which denotes a moveable state, as a tabernacle is a moveable thing, and so distinct from the fixed state of the saints in the ultimate glory. The camp of the saints, and the holy and beloved city, are re presented as on earth, even at the end of a thousand years, Rev. xx. 9. ii. The new heavens and the new earth are to be understood in a literal sense of the natural heavens and earth. It is a rule to bo observed, that a literal sense is not to be departed from without necessity. Now there is no necessity, nothing that obliges to depart from such a sense here ; it does not contradict any other passage of Scripture ; it is not con trary to the perfections of God, his wisdom, power and goodness, yea these are displayed therein ; nor is it to the disadvantage but to the advantage of his people, to have such new heavens and earth made for them to dwell in in their raised state ; and as there is no necessity to depart from the literal sense, there seems to be a necessity to abide by it ; since the phrase, heaven and earth, are used by the apostle Peter, frequently, and always literally of the sublunary world, the natural heavens and earth ; as when ho says, the heavens and the earth that were of old, that were created in the beginning, are that world that was overflowed with a flood and perished ; and that the same heavens and earth are reserved to fire against tho day of judgment, when tho one will pass away and be dissolved, and the other be burnt up ; now as these can be understood in no other than a literal sense, so the new heavens and the earth he speaks of in the room of these, can be meant of no other, to keep up the sense of the apostle uniform and of a piece ; only these renewed, not as to their substance, or made entirely new, but as to their qualities.

262 OP THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OP IT. 1 . The new heavens must be interpreted of the airy heavens, and of a now air in them : we have seen that the heavens that shall be set on fire, and be liquefied and dissolved by it, are not the starry heavens, but tho airy heavens only ; which will be purged, purified, and refined by fire, and become a new air ; and Aben Ezra interprets the new heavens in Isa. lxv. 17, of a good air, a healthful and salubrious one ; and such will the new heavens be when purged by fire ; they will be clear of all noxious vapours and exhalations, be free from all unhealthful fogs, mists and meteors, watery and fiery. God has his treasures of hail, snow, &c in the air, but the new heavens will be clear of all these : no storms of hail, no stores of snow, no blustering storms and tempests, no coruscations and flashes of lightning, nor peals of thunder; nothing of this kind will be heard or seen, but a pure, serene and tranquil air, quite suited to the bodies of raised saints ; for none else will inhabit the new earth, whose bodies will be incorruptible and spiritual. Moreover the air will now be cleared of devils, which have their residence in it : the devil is called the prince ofthe power of the air, of the posse of devils which dwell in the air ; and he and his princi palities and powers, are spiritual wickednesses in high or lieavenly places in the air above us, Eph. ii. 2, and vi. 12 ; and it has been the senti ment both of Jews and heathens, that the air is full of demons ; and which is not at all improbable ; for when they were cast out of the third heaven, their first habitation, they fell into the air ; where they are, at least at times, until their full torment ; and here they are hovering over our heads, watching all opportunities to tempt, disturb, and distress the sons of men : but when Christ shall come in the clouds, and be met by his saints in the air, he will clear the air of all the devils in it ; he will lay hold of Satan, the prince of them, and of the whole body of them under him, and bind them, and cast them into the abyss, the bottomless pit ; so that they shall not be able to stir, nor give the least molestation to the saints for the space of a thousand years ; and then, instead of being over their heads, they will be bruised under their feet. 2. The new earth will be an earth refined and renewed, and restored to its paradisiacal estate ; or as it was before the fall, free from the curse which came upon it on that account. But now the curse will be removed, and it shall no more bring forth thorns and thistles, nor require labour and pains to cultivate it ; nor will there be any diffi culty about a livelihood from it, which will not be wanted ; it shall be as before the fall, when tho whole of it was a paradise, and one part of it more especially so : and hence in that state, of which tho new heavens and new earth will be the seat, figures are taken from thence to describe that ; as a river of water of life, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb ; and a tree of life in the midst of the new Jeru salem, bearing all manner of fruit every month, and its leaves for the healing of the nations, Rev. xxii. 1, 2 ; and as the earth, before the fall, was subject to the first man, and all things in it, Psalm viii. 6—8 ; so this new earth will be to the second Adam ; at his first coming, though Lord of all, yet in the present earth he had not where to lay

OF THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OP IT. 263 his head ; and now he is crowned with glory and honour, yet we see not all things put under him ; but the world to come, or the habitable earth, which is future, and is not put in subjection to angels, will be put in subjection to him ; so that where he was once in the form of a servant, and suffered much, he will now reign as a King, and a tri umphant Conqueror. And it must be but reasonable, that since he hath redeemed his people from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them, that every degree of that curse should be removed, which, as yet is not, from the earth : and particularly, it is but reason able, that when the second Adam, and his seed, come to enjoy the earth alone, that it should be free from the curse, the redemption from which he is the author of, and that for them ; and accordingly so it will be in that state ; There will be no more curse, Rev. xxii. 3. II. The inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth are next to be considered. When God had made the first earth, and which was made by him to be inhabited, there were at first but two whom he created to dwell upon it ; and when it was destroyed by the flood, and recovered from that deluge, there were but eight persons preserved in the ark, to repeople it. But when the new heavens and the new earth are formed, there will be enough to stock them at once. It may be asked, from whence will they be had, since the air will be cleared of devils, and all wicked men will be burnt up with the earth ; so that there will not be a devil in the air, nor a wicked man upon the earth ; and who shall then inhabit them I Let it be observed, that Christ will bring with him the souls of all his saints, of all the chosen people that have been from the beginning of the world, whose bodies he will then raise, and reunite them to their souls ; and the living saints that will be found on earth when he shall come, will be changed and caught up with the raised ones, to meet the Lord in the air, where they will abide till the earth is fit for them ; and then they will be let down millions and millions of them, even the whole general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, and will fill the earth at once. And these are described, i. By the name of righteoicsness itself ; wherein, in the new heavens and earth, dwellelh rigliteousness, 2 Pet. iii. 13 ; that is, righteous persons, the abstract for the concrete ; and designs such to whom Christ is made righteousness, and they are made the righteousness of God in him ; as Christ, the husband of the church, is called, The Lord our Righteousness ; so she, by virtue of a marriage-union to him, is called by the same name, Jer. xxiii. 6, and xxxiii. 16 ; and this denotes such persons as are truly righteous ; not in appearance only, but really; and not in the sight of men, but in the sight of God ; and who are thoroughly righteous in every sense ; who have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and are created in righteousness and true holiness : are inherently holy and righteous, and that perfectly : and it designs such only ; not a sinner, nor a wicked man, nor a hypocrite, will be among them ; and this is confirmed by other scriptures ; par ticularly Isai. Ix. 21, Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the landfor ever ; and though the former part of this prophecy

26-t OF THE NEW WOULD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. respects the spiritual reign of Christ in the present earth ; yet the latter part of it belongs to the perfect state of the church, the new, Jerusalem state, in the new earth ; as appears by comparing 19, with Rev. xxi. 23. Again in Psalm xxxvii. 29, The righteous shall inherit the land-, and dwell therein for ever ; not the present earth, which the saints have not by inheritance, and much less for ever ; and it is but a small part of it they enjoy in any sense. Besides, this respects something future ; it is not said they do, but shall inherit it. There are other characters in the same Psalm, descriptive of the inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth ; as in 9, Those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth, when the wicked shall be cut off, as they will be at the general conflagration ; and thoso who wait on the Lord, are the same with the apostle Peter, and others, who looked for new heavens and a new earth, and waited on the Lord for the fulfilment of his promise; and in 11, The meek shall inherit the earth: the same is asserted by Christ, Matt. v. 5, these are opposed to proud and haughty sinners, and design the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, who havo but a very small share in the present earth ; it is your proud, bold, blustering sort of men who share the earth among them ; as for the meek-spirited saints, it is as much as they can do to get a livelihood in it ; but they shall inherit the new heavens and the new earth. n. The inhabitants of which are the palm-bearing company in Rev. vn. 9 ; for this vision is synchronal, or cotemporary, with that of the ^1 new heavens and the new earth, the seat of the new Jerusalem, the church of God, consisting of all the elect, and respects the same time and things ; the same persons are described by their number, 9, which no man could number ; who, though but a few, in comparison of others, are a great number considered by themselves ; and though numbered by God and Christ, cannot be numbered by men : and by their origin and descent, being of all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues ; chosen, re deemed, and called out of all ; and will be collected together at the com mg of Christ : and by their position, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb ; the throne of the Lamb, placed in the new Jerusalem, before which they will stand without fault, behold his glory, and enjoy his presence : and by their habit and gesture, clothed with white robes, j and palms in their hands ; appearing now as kings and priests ; who, as such, shall reign with Christ on the new earth, being now, not only clothed with the robe of righteousness, but with the shining robes of immortality and bliss : and the palms in their hands, is not so much expressive of their past uprightness and integrity, and of their having borne up under all their pressures and afflictions ; but chiefly of their now victory over all their enemies ; also they are described by their ascription of salvation to God and the Lamb, even their temporal salvation and especially their spiritual and eternal salvation ; to God, as the contriver of it, and to Christ the Lamb, as the procuring cause and author of it ; in which they will be joined by all the angels around them, as guardians of them, ministering spirits to them, and fellowworshippers with them ; who will then ascribe a sevenfold praise to

OE THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. 26'5 God. And some discourse passing between one of the elders about the throne and John, occasioned a farther description of the same persons, 13, 14, by their being come out ofgreat tribulation ; which may signify, not only the afflictions of every individual of this great number ; but more especially the public troubles of the saints, as a body, in the several periods of time ; both of the Old Testament saints, and particu larly of the New Testament saints, under Rome pagan and papal, to the end of the reign of antichrist ; and may have special respect to the last struggle of the beast, and the slaying of the witnesses. But now all will be at an end, and their robes washed, and made white in the blood of the Lamb, and so pure, without spot or blemish : and they are farther described, by their constant service of God, day and night, that is, continually ; for there will be no night in this state ; and their service will lie, not in an attendance on the word and ordinances ; but in praising God, adoring his perfections, admiring his works of pro vidence and grace, and ascribing the glory of salvation to him : and he that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them, the taber nacle of God being now with men on earth ; and they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither, in a literal sense, which is sometimes the case now ; nor, in a mystical sense, after the word and ordinances, they will have no need. of; nor have any uneasy desires after spiritual things, which will now be enjoyed in plenty ; nor shall the sun light on them, nor any heat ; neither the sun of persecution, nor the heat of Satan's fiery darts, nor of any fiery affliction : the reason of all this happiness is, the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them ; not by his ministers, word, and ordinances, as now ; but with the discoveries of his love, will feast them at his table, and cause them to drink new wine in his kingdom ; and shall lead them to living fountains of water, to the river of the water of life, the everlasting love of the three Persons ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more tears on account of indwelling sin, Satan's temptations, divine desertions, and any trou ble and affliction ; but being come to the new Jerusalem, everlasting joy shall be upon them, sorrow and sighing shall flee away. These are the persons, and this will be the happy case of the inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth. in. A farther account is given of those inhabitants in Rev. xxi. 1, 2, &c, after John had a vision of the new heavens and the new earth, the former being passed away ; he had a sight of those that were to dwell in them ; and by the account, they appear to be persons not in a mortal and sinful state, but in an immortal and perfect one. They called the holy city, the new Jerusalem, by which the earth is meant ; but not as in any state on this present earth, and in the present circumstances of things ; a state so glorious, pure, and holy, as this is represented, can never be expected here. Mortal men, dwelling in houses of clay, would never be able to bear such glory as the church is said to have on her, verse 1 1 and following ; not be so pure and holy as this new Jerusalem, so as to have nothing defiling, nor that commits iniquity in it, verse 27 ; and yet it cannot be meant of it as in heaven :

266 OF THE NEW WORLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. since it is said to descend from thence, verses 2, 10 ; nor can the kings of the earth, in any sense, be said to bring their honour and glory, and that of the nations, into heaven, verse 24, 26. But it designs a state in the new earth, and under the new heavens, where the taber nacle of God will be ; and we find the camp of the saints, the beloved city, the same with the holy city here upon the earth, that is, the new earth, chap. xx. 9 ; even after the first resurrection, and even after the millennium. Now this church, called the holy city, is no other than the church of the first-born, the whole body of the elect, and the same with the palm-bearing company, and the church consist ing of them. The inhabitants of the new heavens and the new earth, are here described under the names of the holy city and new Jerusalem ; a city, as consisting of the whole family of God, who are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God ; a holy one, as made up of persons perfectly holy, in spirit, soul, and body, and entirely free from sin ; called Jerusalem, though in a state superior to the church under the gospel dispensation, called by that name ; and even to it in the Philadelphian state, in the spiritual reign ; since it is promised to the overcomer in that state, as something greater, and yet to come, that he should be a pillar, and have the name of the new Jerusalem writ ten on him, Rev. iii. 12, which signifies the vision of peace, and fitly expresses that state, in which peace of every kind, in its utmost per fection, shall be enjoyed, the Prince of Peace, Christ, being with his people ; and called new, because the seat of this church will bo the new heavens and new earth : all which shows, that the inhabitants will be in a state of perfect holiness and peace. And they are farther de scribed, by their descent from heaven ; which designs, not their original, as regenerate persons : but their local descent with Christ ; when he comes, the souls of all his saints will come with him ; their bodies will be raised, and united to them ; and with the living saints, be caught up to meet him in the air, from whence they will descend with him on the new earth, and dwell on it with him, their head and husband ; hence said to be the bride, the Lamb's wife ; which intend not indi viduals, nor particular churches of Jews or Gentiles ; but the whole body of the elect, given to Christ, and espoused by him ; who will now be prepared and adorned for her husband, being all gathered in, and their number completed ; and adorned, not only with the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ, but with the glorious robes of immor tality and bliss ; and so fit for Christ their head. And it will be the church and her members, thus prepared and ornamented, who will, with Christ, inhabit the new earth ; for now the tabernacle of God will be with men on the now earth ; which being for a determinate time, a thousand years, his being with them is signified by a taber nacle, which is moveable ; which is further explained ; he will dwell with them; in person, for the space of time mentioned. God himself will be with them ; Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature ; and they shall bo his peoplo, owned by him as such ; and he be their God : which covenant interest may be claimed, as being out of all question.

OP THE NEW W0BLD, AND THE INHABITANTS OF IT. 267 The inhabitants of the new earth are moreover described by their freedom from all evils, verse 4, God sliall wipe away all tears from their eyes; which is said of the palm-bearing company, chap. vii. 17, .which show them to be the same with those ; the words are taken from, Isai. xxv. 8, and refer to the resurrection-state, when death shall be swallowed up in -victory ; and there shall be no more death, not even corporeal death ; for this is said of risen saints ; neither sorrow nor crying, on account of disorders and diseases of body, loss of friends, &c, which will be at an end ; neither shall there be any more pain ; of body, or mind ; for the former things are passed away; the old world, its lusts, temptations, and snares ; all troubles from within and from without ; from persecutors and false friends ; which shows that those inhabitants will not be in a sinful and mortal state : yea, they are described, as having the glory of God upon them, verse 11 , upon their bodies being raised, and fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, and upon their souls being perfect in grace, righteousness, and holiness: and the light, glory, lustre, and splendour of this church and her members, the inhabitants of the new earth, are expressed in such language, in the following part of the chapter, that no adequate ideas can be formed thereof; and describe such a state as can never be imagined will be in the present world : and those inhabitants are again described by their holiness and purity, verse 27, in such a man ner, as show them to be in a sinless state. To which may be added, the provision to regale those inhabitants, suitable to their state, is described in chap. xxii. 1, 2, as in the paradisiacal earth, particularly in that spot of it, the garden of Eden, there was a river for delight and use, and a tree of life in the midst of it, for the preservation of health, and the continuance of life ; so in this city in the new earth, will be a river and tree of life, and, for aught I see to the contrary, in a literal sense ; only they will be emblematical, as the other might be in Eden; for here will be no need of corporeal food, only of entertainment for the mind. Here will be a river, an emblem of the everlasting love of God, clear and free from all motives and conditions in men, aris ing purely from the sovereignty of God ; which, for its abundance, will be a river to swim in, and not to be passed over ; and will yield inexpressible pleasure to this city and its inhabitants ; and there will be a tree of life in the midst of the street of this city, bearing monthly all kinds of fruit, and its leaves of a healing nature ; an emblem of Christ, tho tree of lifo, Prov. iii. 18, Rev. ii. 7, and of all spiritual blessings to be continually enjoyed from him, in great variety, and with great pleasure. And though there will be no diseases of body and mind in that state ; yet as the tree of life in Eden, was for the pre servation of the life and health of Adam, had he continued in his state of innocence ; so the healing leaves of this tree, may denote that every thing in Christ will contribute to the comfort, health and happiness of the saints. Moreover, the happiness of those inhabitants, is ex pressed by a variety, which shows it to be an accumulated happiness, a perfect one ; there shall be no more curse : none upon the earth, and its inhabitants ; nor any accursed person or thing in it ; but the

268 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, the seat of his glorious Majesty, who will reign as King here ; and his servants shall serve him ; both the ministering angels and his saints, especially the latter ; and his name shall be in their foreheads ; by which it will appear they are his people and servants, as if his name was written there ; and there shall be no more night ; either in a literal sense, or rather figurative, meaning no night of ignorance and error, of darkness and desertion, and of affliction of any kind ; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; neither artificial nor natural light ; for the Lord God giveth them light, what vastly exceeds either ; and they shall reign for ever and ever ; first with Christ on the new earth, for a thousand years, next to be considered, and then in heaven to all eternity. OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. I have treated already of the kingly office of Christ, as executed by him in various dispensations, particularly under the gospel dispensation, vol. 1, b. v. page 623, and have observe, there are two branches of it yet to come ; ^pne called the spiritual, the other the personal reign : the former has been considered, and this is a proper place to treat of the latter ; which I shall do by showing, I. That Christ will have a special, peculiar, glorious, and visible kingdom, in which he will reign personally on earth. — 1. I call it a special, peculiar kingdom, different from other kingdoms of Christ ; from the kingdom of nature and providence, which lies in the govern ment of this world ; which he, as God, has an equal right to with his Father ; but when this kingdom will take place this present world will be at an end ; and from his spiritual kingdom, which belongs to him as Mediator; which rule he has exercised in the hearts of his people from the beginning of the world ; and which has been, under the gospel ' 'dispensation, more large and manifest ; and will be more so in the j latter day, when his spiritual reign will take place ; but this is different from that. — 2. It will be very glorious and visible; Christ's kingdom in the spiritual reign, will be very glorious, when all the glorious things spoken of it, will be fulfilled ; and it will be very visible, when exalted above all the mountains and hills, the kingdoms of this world : but this will be more so, since Christ will be in it ; not only by his Spirit, and the effusions of his grace ; but he will personally appear in all his glory, and reign gloriously before his ancients ; hence his appearing and kingdom, are put together, as cotemporary, 2 Tim. iv. 1, he in person will appear and his tabernacle with men on earth. — 3. This kingdom will be after all the enemies of Christ, and of his people, are removed out of the way. In his spiritual reign antichrist will be destroyed, with the Spirit, or breath of Christ, his gospel ; and with the brightness of his coming, that clear light which will attend his coming, by the effusion of his Spirit ; which will be with such spiritual efficacy, as to dispel all darkness, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan ; and cause a universal reception of the gospel ; which will open the way for the Christian princes, to carry their victorious amis everywhere,

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 269 and seize upon, and possess all the antichristian states ; and in this order things lie in the prophecy of Daniel, chap, vii, where, after the vision of the fourth beast, of the judgment of it, of the slaying it, and burning its body, the Roman empire, and the remains of it, in anti christ, and the antichristian states ; Daniel had a vision of Christ, the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, and having a univer sal kingdom given him, which will not be succeeded by any other. And in the same order things lie in the Book of the Revelation, chap, xix., where the beast, antichrist, and the kings of the earth, the antichristian princes, are represented as gathering together, to make war with Christ, described as an illustrious Warrior ; when the beast and false prophet, antichrist, in both his civil and ecclesiastic charac ters, are taken and destroyed, and the rest slain, by the sword of Christ's mouth : all which will be done, with the ruin of the Turk, the Eastern antichrist, at the beginning of the spiritual reign : but still there will remain a most potent enemy, Satan, with his principalities and powers, wherefore, in chap, xx., an angel descends from heaven, who is no other than Christ, who will then personally descend from \J thence ; described as having a great chain, and a key in his hand; the one to bind Satan and all his angels ; the other to open the bottomless pit, and cast them into it, and lock it up ; that they may neither deceive the nations, nor disturb the saints, for the space of a thousand years. — And all enemies being thus out of the way, follows the account of the Millennium, or personal reign of Christ. — This glorious and visible kingdom of Christ, will not take place till after the resur rection of the just, and the renovation of the world". As soon as Christ personally appears, the dead in him will rise first ; this is the first resurrection, which they that have a part in, shall reign in Christ a thousand years ; as appears from the above place in the Revelation referred unto. These children of the resurrection, as Christ calls them, and who will be worthy of that world, the new world, in which Christ and they will reign, will be like the angels, die no more ; nor will they eat and drink in a corporeal sense ; nor marry and be given in marriage ; carnal appetites will not be indulged ; nor carnal pleasures enjoyed ; in this state nothing but pure, refined, spiritual pleasures, will be had, suited to the bodies and souls of men, united in the resurrection state. Our Lord, indeed, speaks of his disciples eating and drinking at his table, in his kingdom ; and of his drinking new wine in his Father's kingdom, which is the same, Luke xxii. 30, Matt. xxvi. 29 ; but then all this is to be understood of divine repasts, of spiritual joys and pleasures, they shall then partake of. The Jews, it seems, had very carnal notions of the kingdom of God, of a great affluence of meats and drinks in it, and of rich and delicious living ; hence a certain person * This is the sense of the ancient writers concerning the millennium ; as of Papias, a hearer of the apostle John, and a companion of Polycarp— teuscb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 3, c. 39 ; and of Justin Martyr, and the orthodox Christians in his time— Dialog, cum Trvpo, p. 307: and of Ireuauia, / \/ adv. Hares. 1. 5, c. 20 32 ; and of Apollinarius. Hieron. Catalog. Seript. Eccles. c. 28 ; and of Tertullian, contr. Marcion. 1. 3, c. 24 ; and of Lactantius, Institut. 1. 7, c. 14, 24 ; and of Victorinus Pictaviensis, vide Hieron. ut supra ; and of Sulpicius Severus, Hieron. in Ezck. 36, fol. 235, 1. ,

270 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. said Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God ! Luke xiv. 15, meaning, that shall live deliciously there. And such gross and carnal conceptions, some that have borne the christian name, have entertained of the millennium, as well ancient as modern writers, at least, as represented by their adversaries ; and therefore it has been objected to them, as if their notion savoured more of a Turkish paradise, than vi of a kingdom of Christ ; and which has brought disgrace upon the doctrine of the kingdom, and given disgust to pious and spiritual minds. All the prophecies of temporal blessings in the latter day, as length of life, a numerous offspring of the people of God, plenty of corporeal food, an affluence of wealth and riches, will have their accomplishment in the spiritual reign, or latter-day glory ; when there will be such an effusion of the Spirit of God, as will be a counterbalance to such terrene enjoyments, that they will not do the hurt they would in the present circumstances of things ; and even then, when the influences of the Spirit shall go off, and bo withdrawn, that state will gradually sink into lukewarmness, pride, self-conceit, and car nality, Rev. iii. 15, 16, 17; but nothing of this kind will appear in the millennium. — 5. This kingdom of Christ will be bounded by two resurrections ; by the first resurrection, or the resurrection of the just, at which it will begin ; and by the second resurrection, or the resur rection of the wicked, at which it will end, or nearly; for it is expressly said, that the rest of the dead, that is, the wicked, lived not again until the thousand years were finished ; now in the interval between the resurrection of the one, and the resurrection of the other, will be the millennium, or thousand years' reign of Christ and his people together. — 6. This kingdom will be before the general judgment, especially of the wicked. There is a particular judgment that passes on every man at death ; After death, judgment ! and there will be a virtual judgment immediately upon the appearance of Christ. who will come to judge both quick and dead. Dead saints will be raised, and living saints changed, and both be with Christ ; which will be virtually pronouncing them righteous ; and as for the wicked, their bodies will be burnt in the conflagration of the earth, and their souls will be shut up with Satan and his angels in the bottomless pit ; which will be virtually pronouncing them guilty : but the formal judgment will proceed afterwards. Indeed m the thousand years' reign, will be the judgment of the saints, as will be seen hereafter ; and some time after the close of the millennium, will come on the general judgment of the wicked ; for John, after he had given an account of the former, Rev. xx, relates a vision of the latter. — 7. This glorious, visible kingdom of Christ, will be on earth, and not in heaven ; and so is distinct from the kingdom of heaven, or the ultimate glory : the souls of the martyrs, and others, said to reign with Christ a thousand years, cannot be understood of their reigning with him in heaven ; for so they had reigned with him from the time of the death of their bodies ; and was their reigning with him in heaven meant, there would have been no need of binding Satan and his angels, and shutting them up in the bottomless pit ; as not to deceive the nations, so not to molest them ;

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. 271 since being in heaven, they were out of their reach, and could not be disturbed by them : but it is on earth they are to reign with Christ ; of which the living creatures, and four-and-twenty elders, the repre sentatives of gospel churches, and the redeemed of the Lamb, express their strong faith ; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth ; meaning, no doubt, in the millennium; for they speak of it as future, saying, not we do, but we shall reign on earth ; and that the millennium reign will be there, is clear, since the Gog and Magog army, at the end of the thousand years, are said to go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; the same which the saints before described as reigning with Christ, which therefore must be on the earth ; and the same with the holy city John saw descending from God out of heaven, that is, on earth, with whom his tabernacle is said to be, and he to dwell with them. But then this kingdom will not be upon this present earth, or upon this earth in its present circumstances ; the present heavens and earth will be burnt up before this kingdom takes place ; this world is not good enough for the second Adam, and his saints, to dwell in ; the curse must be removed from it, and it 1 must be refined, and new fitted up, for such inhabitants ; and all the wicked of it be no more in it, as unfit to dwell where such persons do. Christ's kingdom is not of this world, nor never will be. This has been the mistake of many, fancying that the millennium will be in the present earth ; which have given the adversaries of this doctrine an - ^ occasion to object unto it, as subversive of civil government, and as encouraging sedition and rebellion in commonwealths, and as giving j umbrage to the kings and princes of the earth, and to civil magistrates. And, indeed, in the last century, in this nation, there were a set of men, called fifth-monarchy men, and who were levellers, and riotous persons, were for pulling down civil magistracy, and all order of civil government, and setting up what they called a kingdom of Christ ; which brought the doctrine of the millennium into great contempt, \J and under which it has much lain ever since. But putting it upon tho . footing I have, that this kingdom will not be in the present earth, tho kings of it have nothing to fear from it ; it will not interfere with theirs ; civil government will not be hurt by it ; for it will not be till that is no more, and the world itself at an end ; and so can give no encouragement and counterbalance to persons of a riotous and seditious disposition. Indeed, in the spiritual reign, the dominion under the whole heaven, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, which will last to the end of the world : but then there will be no alteration made in the order of civil government, much less will that be destroyed ; it will only bo translated into other hands ; only Christian princes shall possess it ; there will be no more pagan princes, nor papal kings, nor Mahometan emperors ; only such who aro not only nominal, but truly Christian princes. But as for the personal reign of Christ with his saints, that will be on the new earth, wherein will dwell righteousness, and that only; that is, Christ, who is tho Lord, the Righteousness of his people ; and they who are made right-

272 OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. eous by him, so the new heavens and new earth John had a vision of, are, according to that vision, the seat of the new Jerusalem, or Church of God, and of Christ who will there tabernacle with them, Rev. xxi. 1.—3; and then the Lord will be King over all the earth ; there will be no other ; there will be one Lord, and his name one. II. Having explained the nature of Christ's kingdom, I shall proceed to give the proof that there will be such a glorious, visible kingdom of Christ on earth : this proof, as it depends on prophecies of future things, cannot be expected to be so full and clear in all respects, as a proof may be of things past or present ; the prophecies respecting the first coming of Christ, doubtless, did not appear so clear and plain before their fulfilment, as since : so the prophecies of the second coming of Christ, and of his kingdom, may not be so evident as they will be, the nearer is the approach of it ; or as when it will be. Besides, the prophecies of the Old Testament, are delivered in very general, concise, and comprehensive terms; and sometimes include both his first and second coming, and things that intervene between them ; and therefore it should be no objection to a proof of Christ's second coming and kingdom, that there are some things in the context which respect his first coming ; and others which respect the spiritual reign : but these are to be separated, and distinctly considered ; and what belongs to the one, should be applied to that ; and what belongs to another, should be appropriated to that. Now the proof of this ?oint, may be taken from various passages in the Psalms, in the 'rophets, and in the Books of the New Testament. i. From some passages in the Psalms ; and to begin with the xlvth Psalm, which was made concerning the King, the King Messiah, who is called the King, by way of eminence, the famous King ; and who is described a divine Person, as God, whose throne is for ever and ever ; and as graceful, and full of grace, as Man and Mediator; and as a most potent Prince, riding in great majesty, and as a triumphant conqueror. And though some things said of him may agree with the conquests of his grace, in the first and after ages of christianity ; yet they will have their full accomplishment at his second coming, when all his enemies shall be subdued by him. His court is represented in the Psalm as a very brilliant one ; some in it have the name of queen, others are called honourable women, or maids of honour; and among those, kings' daughters, and others the rich among the people; which may respect the different degrees of honour among the saints, in the resurrection and kingdom state, which will only obtain then ; not in the ultimate glory. The glory and purity of the church are strongly expressed ; the queen is said to be at the King's right hand, in gold of Ophir, her clothing of massy gold ; which agrees with the new Jerusalem, on the new earth, a city of pure gold. The King's daughter, the same, is said to be all glorious within, being perfectly pure and holy ; such as the new Jerusalem will be, into which nothing sinful, defiling, and abo minable, shall enter. The church is also, in the Psalm, represented as introduced into the King's presence, in a magnificent manner, in raiment of needle-work, as well as in clothing of wrought gold ; which

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 273 fitly agrees with the kingdom state, in which Christ will present his church to himself a glorious church, being as a bride adorned for her husband ; not only having on the robe of his righteousness, but the shining garments of immortality and bliss. Moreover, at this time he will make his people princes in all the earth ; which shows that this his kingdom will be on earth, and agrees with the faith and expectation of the saints, that as they are made by him kings and priests unto God, they shall reign on earth. I take no notice of Psalm lxxii., for though it relates to Christ and his kingdom, yet to that branch of it, his spiritual reign, and expresses the prosperity, peace, glory, extensiveness, and duration of it. But Psalm xcvi. must not be overlooked ; which begins, 'Hie Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ! which shows that the Psalm respects the kingdom of Christ on earth ; and which will take place at his coming to judge the world, as appears by its connexion with the last verse of the preceding Psalm, and which coming of his, as hereafter described, will be in the clouds of heaven, and with flames of fire, as has been observed in a preceding chapter. The cxlvth Psalm treats of the kingdom of Christ, and the glory of it, and represents the saints as speaking to one another of it ; of its glory, majesty, and duration, which can suit no state so well as this ; in which the saints will be employed in con verse with each other, about the glory of their King, the glory of his coming to his kingdom, of his glorious acts done by lum in it, and of the glorious things they enjoy therein. n. From various passages in the prophets: and, —1. From Isa.xxiv. 23, Then the moon shall be confounded, fyc, this glorious reign will take place after the punishment of the kings of the earth upon the earth, verse 21, by whom may be meant the beast and the false prophet, with the kings of the earth, the anti-christian kings ; who will make war with the Lamb, and be overcome and slain by him, Rev. xvii. 14, and whose army may be called the host of the high ones that are on high ; being in high places, and in great power and dignity ; and may bo also very well applied to Satan, and his principalities and powers, those spiritual wichednesses in high places ; and what is said in verse 22, of the shutting of them up and confining them as in a prison, and then after many days visiting them, very aptly agrees with the binding of Satan and his angels, and the shutting of them up in the bottomless pit ; and then after a thousand years letting them loose for a short time, which will issue in their everlasting pumshment ; see Rev. xx. 2, 3. More over this reign will not take place until the utter dissolution of the earth, when it shall fall and not rise again in the form it now is, verse 19, 20, the person reigning is the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies of the heavens, the angels, and of the inhabitants of the earth, the greatest among them ; who is King of kings, and Lord of lords ; all which is true of Christ, who reigns now in the kingdom of pro vidence as God, and the Creator of all things ; and in the kingdom of grace, as Mediator in the hearts of his people ; and in his churches, where he will reign more illustriously in the latter day ; but this is still a more glorious reign that is here spoken of : the VOL. II. T

274 OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. filace where he will reign is in Zion and Jerusalem, which may be iterally understood of that spot of ground where these cities were, which may be the chief residence of Christ in this his kingdom ; or mystically of that Zion where he and the one hundred and forty four thousand, having his Father's name on their foreheads, stood ; and the new Jerusalem, that will come down from heaven, among whom his tabernacle will be, Rev. xiv. 1. The persons before whom, and in whose sight ho will reign, for this kmgdom will be visible, are his ancients ; not his ancient people the Jews only, but all his elect that have been from the beginning of the world ; Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New ; and the four-and-twenty elders, the representatives of gospel churches ; and even all those ancient ones whom God has loved with an everlasting love, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, called the ancient people, Isa. xliv. 7, with these Christ will reign glorious, or in glory ; he will appear in glory in the glory of his deity, and in the glory of his human nature, and in the glory, of his kingly office ; and such will bo his lustre and splendour, that the sun and moon will be ashamed and confounded ; they will blush and withdraw their light, as it were, or that will not be comparable to his ; and that city, the new Jerusalem, where he will reign, will stand in no need of their light, for the Lamb will be the light of it, Rev. xxi. 23. — 2. With this agrees another prophecy in Isa. xxx. 26. Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, fyc, this prophecy will not be fulfilled until the day of the great slaughter is over, the great slaughter of the antichristian kings, captains, and mighty men ; which carnage of them is called the supper of the great God, to which the fowls of the air are invited to prey upon, Rev. xix. 17, 18, when the towersfall, when the city of Babylon or Rome, with its towers and the cities of the nations, of the antichristian nations, with their towers, will fall, Rev. xix. 19 ; nor will it be fully accomplished until tlie name of the Lord, or the Lord himself, comes with the flame of a devouring fire, to burn up the world, and all things in it, verse 27, 30, and so must respect the second coming of Christ, which will be from heaven with flames of fire ; and another criterion of the fulfilment of this prophecy is, that it will be when the Lord will bind up and heal the wounds of his people ; that is, forgive their iniquities, which in the kingdom state will be publicly and completely done ; the sins of God's people will be so fully blotted out, that they shall not be seen by them selves nor by others any more; see Acts iii. 19—21, and though great will be the light and knowledge of men in the spiritual reign, the first branch of Christ's kingdom ; yet this sevenfold light, which is expres sive of a perfection of it, best agrees with that state, the light whereof exceeds that of the sun and moon ; and when the Lord shall be the everlasting light of his people, and their God their glory, Isa. xl. 19, 20, a prophecy which respects the same thing. — 3. There is another prophecy which seems to belong to this glorious kingdom of Christ on earth, in Jcr. xxiii. 5, 6. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, fyc, there can be no doubt but Christ is here meant, who is the Lord our righteousness, the author of

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 275 righteousness to his people ; he is the man whose name is the Branch, and is raised up to David as such, and a righteous one he is ; a King that shall reign in righteousness, and so prosper as to be king over all the earth ; and on the earth this his reign will bo, since it is in the earth he will execute judgment and justice: and though his saints, who are meant by Judah and Israel, are always safe under his protection, being in his hands, and kept by his power ; yet what state or period can be named wherein they will dwell in more safety, and in such freedom from the oppression and molestation of their enemies, as in the millennium ? when all their enemies will be no more, and even Satan and his angels will be bound and shut up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and so during that time can give them no disturbance. — 4. There are some passages in Ezekiel which seem to have respect to this kingdom state; as in chap. xxi. 27, I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more until he come, whose right it is, and I will give it him ; which may be understood not only of the overturnings in the Jewish state before the first coming of Christ, but also of the overturnings of empires before his second coming ; and being expressed three times, may denote the overturning of the Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan empires, which when overturned will be no more ; and after Christ will come, who is heir of all things, and by the designation of his Father, will be king over all the earth. In chap, xlviii. there is a prophecy of a city, the dimensions of which are such as cannot agree with any city on earth literally taken ; but must be understood either of the gospel-church state ; or it may be rather of the city of the new Jerusalem, described in Rev. xxi, in which Christ will reign, and his saints with him, in a most glorious manner ; and the rather this may be meant, since the name of the city is Jehovah shammah, the Lord is there, Ezek. xlviii. 35, and in the new Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of Christ with men on earth, where he is said to be with his saints, and dwell with them, Rev. xxi. 3. — 5. There are some prophecies in Daniel which respect the kingdom of Christ, as in chap, ii., the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream is explained by Daniel as an emblem of the four monarchies, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman ; and in verse 44 it is said, In the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, fyc, that is, after these kings have reigned, and their kingdoms are ended, as Juniusy interprets it ; for this king dom could not be set up in the days of them all, since their kingdoms were successive. Nebuchadnezzar also saw in his dream, a stone cut out without hands, which smote the image, and became a great mountain, andfilled the whole earth ; which must be understood of Christ, both in his human nature, which is a tabernacle not made with hands ; and which God pitched, and not man ; and in his kingdom, which was very small in its first beginning, but by degrees increased, and will still more increase, and become a great mountain, a mighty kingdom, and fill tho whole earth, and so jostle out all other kingdoms: this will be, in part, fulfilled in the spiritual reign of Christ, when tho kingdoms of this woild shall become his; but most completely in tho millennium, when y So the Hebrew particle - sometimes signifies ; sec Noldius. t2

276 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. he shall be King over all the earth. There is a prophecy of the same kind in chap, vii., where Daniel had a vision of four beasts coming up out of the sea ; which design the same four monarchies rising up successively in the world ; and after this, he had a vision of a judicial process, issuing in the slaying of the fourth beast, the destruction of the Roman monarchy ; and the burning of the body of the beast, the remains of that monarchy, antichrist, and the antichristian-states : after which he has a vision of Christ, the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven ; and so it must respect the second coming of Christ, and of his then having a dominion, and glorious kingdom given him, which is an everlasting one, that is, which shall not be left to another people, as in chap, ii., nor be succeeded by another kingdom ; but shall continue until the kingdom of heaven, or the ultimate glory, takes place : and this kingdom will not be in heaven, but under the whole heaven ; as in verse 27. — 6. There is a passage which has been fre quently referred to, and belongs to this kingdom-state, in Zech. xiv. 9, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth : in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. This kingdom will be on earth ; and will be when there is no other ; and when the homage and worship paid to Christ, this King, will be universally the same. And though there may be some passages in this chapter which belong to the spiritual reign, the first branch of Chrises kingdom ; yet there are others, as well as this, which can only agree with his personal reign, upon his second coming ; for it is expressly said, The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee; which will be fulfilled, and not before, when Christ shall descend from heaven, and bring all his saints with him. And this reign of Christ over all the earth, will be when the saints are in a perfect state; and so not before his second coming, and the resur rection of the just. Holiness will now be so universal, that proverbially speaking, it will be written on the bells of the horses; and every member in the new-Jerusalem-church state, into which nothing defiling shall enter, meant by every pot in Jerusalem and Judah, shall be holiness,to the Lord, or be completely holy ; and there shall be no Canaanite, neither a profane sinner, nor a carnal professor, in the house and church of God ; nor any sinful lusts in any of its inhabitants. in. The proof of this glorious kingdom of Christ, may be given from various passages in the New Testament; and,—1. From Matt. vi. 10, TJiy kingdom come ; thy trill be done in earth, as it is inheaven. To this, as a proof, it may be objected, at first sight, that this is the kingdom of the Father ; since it is Our Father which art in heaven, the petitions are directed to. To which it may be replied, that the same kingdom may be called, the kingdom of the Father, and the kingdom of Christ, as it is certain this kingdom we are treating of is so called ; as appears by comparing Matt. xxvi. 29, with Luke xxii. 30 ; and there is a good reason to be given for it ; because this kingdom is a kingdom which the Father had appointed to Christ, and which will be given him by him, Luke xxii. 29 ; and for the same reason the Father calls him his King, because appointed and set by him as King over his holy hill of Zion, Psalm ii. 6 ; this kingdom may be called his. Now this is a kingdom yet

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 277 to come, and is prayed for as being future ; and so cannot design neither the kingdom of providence, nor the kingdom of grace, nor the gospel dispensation ; and though it may include the spiritual reign, the first branch of Christ's kingdom, yet will not be fulfilled in that ; since it respects a perfect state, when the will of God will be done on earth by men, as it is in heaven by the angels ; the saints, in the king dom state, will serve Christ their King constantly and incessantly, and so perfectly ; and this will be a kingdom on earth, where the will of God will be perfectly done, as it is in heaven, and so is a distinct state from that. To all which may be added, that the coming of this king dom is to be prayed for ; not only the first branch of it, m the spiritual reign, as in Isa. lxii. 6, 7, but the second coming of Christ, to take pos session of his kingdom personally, saying, Come, LordJcsus, come quickly! and this may, and should be a prayer of faith ; for since he has directed his people to pray daily for the coming of this kingdom, it may be assured that it certainly will come ; for Christ will not direct his saints to pray for that which never will be. — 2. From Matt. xx. 21—23 ; Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, desiring that her two sons may sit the one on Christ's right hand, and the other on the left, in his kingdom. The same request is made by the two sons themselves, Mark x. 35—40. Now though these petitioners were tinctured with the national notion of the Messiah setting up a temporal kingdom on earth, at the time of his first coming ; and with which all the apostles seem, more or less, tinctured, until the Spirit was poured down upon them on the day of Pentecost ; yet our Lord does not deny, but rather owns, there would be a kingdom of his, in which distinctions of honour would be made, and peculiar privileges, and marks of respect, bestowed on some ; but that these would only be given to such for whom they were prepared by his Father : he blames them for their pride and ambition, m affecting to have pre-eminence above their brethren ; and suggests, that their petition was an unseasonable one ; it was not a time to think of, and expect honours and preferments, they being now in a suffering state, and must expect sufferings for his sake ; yea, that he himself must drink of a bitter cup, and be baptized with a bloody baptism, before he entered into his kingdom and glory ; and this would also be their case : this glorious kingdom of Christ, and honours in it, are not to be expected in a militant suffering state ; the saints must suffer with Christ first, before they reign and are glorified together with him ; tho crown of righteousness will not be given, till the good fight of faith is fought ; and not before the glorious appearing of Christ, and only to them that love that : this cannot be understood of the kingdom of heaven, or a kingdom there, because there is no sitting at Christ's right hand there ; he is set down indeed in his Father's throne, and sits at his right hand, where no creatures, angels nor men, are admitted : but in the kmgdom state, he will have a throne distinct from his Father, in which his saints will sit with him, Rev. iii. 21, on his right and left ; and in which state will be thrones, whereon some will sit, being distin guished from others, with some marks of honour and esteem ; for such there will be in this kingdom of Christ, though what they will be is not

278 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. easy to say ; they are signified by one being a ruler over ten cities, and another a ruler over five cities ; which is not to be understood literally, but of some posts of honour, and distinctive marks of respect some will have ; for as one star differs from another star in glory, so will be the resurrection of the dead ; or such a distinction be in the resurrection state,—in this glorious kingdom of Christ. In Mark x. 37, instead of, In thy kingdom, it is, In thy glory.—3. From Luke i. 32, 33, The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of hisfather David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end! These words were spoken by the angel to the virgin, concerning her Son, who should be great, and be called, the Son of the Highest ; and which respects him, not in his incarnate state on earth, for then he appeared not great, but mean ; and his kingdom was not with obser vation : but hereafter, in the latter day, when his name should be great among the Gentiles, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, Mal. i. 1 1 ; and especially at his second coming, which will be with power and great glory ; and he will appear, as the Son of the Highest, as the great God, and our Saviour ; and whereas he was the Son of David, according to the flesh, it is foretold, that he should have the throne of his father David, not literally but mystically ; which will have its accomplishment, in part, (at tho conversion of the Jews in tho last day, when they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, the truo Messiah, and yield subjection to him : but more fully when all the elect of God are gathered in, both Jews and Gentiles, over whom he will reign, even over the house of Jacob, that Jacob, the Lord has chosen for himself ; and this his kingdom will be for ever and ever ; it will not givo way to, nor be succeeded by another : in the same senso as in tho prophecy of Daniel, it is said to be an everlasting king dom ; there will be no end of it ; for when Christ has reigned with his pcoplo on earth a thousand years, he will reign with thom, and they with him, in heaven, to all eternity ; Mic iv. 7. — 4. From Luke xxii. 29, As my Father hath appointed unto me a kingdom, &c Here is a special and peculiar kingdom of Christ, which he calls, my kingdom ; and which he has by the designation and appointment of his Father ; and which was yet to come, as well as that he appointed to his followers ; in which kingdom there will be a table, at which all Christ's people will sit, and eat and drink ; not corporeally, but spiritually, and shall feed upon a divine repast, suited to their resurrection-state ; for at this table shall sit Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and multitudes from divers parts, and who have lived in the several periods of time ; and here will be thrones placed, on which tho saints will sit ; for they will now be kings and priests unto God, and shall reign as such, and have judgment given them, and on some distinct honours will be conferred. — 5. From Luke xxiii. 42, 43, And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me whrn thou comest into thy kingdom 1 The light and faith the peni tent thief had in the kingdom of Christ, and in his future coming to it, were very great : for though Christ appeared now very mean and despicable, suffering a shameful death, and lying under the greatest reproach and ignominy ; yet he believed that he would como again, and

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 279 take possession of a kingdom that belonged to him ; and desires that he might be remembered by him at his appearing and kingdom : to which an answer is returned ; And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise : signifying, that he should not stay so long without partaking of his favours ; for that day ho should be with him in the third heaven, and continue with him till his second coming ; and then he, with all his saints, should come with him, and share in the glories of his kingdom.—6. From Acts i. 6 ; Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ? The sceptre, accord ing to ancient prophecy, was now departed from Judah, and Judea was become a province to the Roman empire ; now the Jews had a notion, that when the Messiah came, he would restore the kingdom, and redeem them from the Roman yoke, and make them a happy people, as to temporal things ; and with this notion, the disciples themselves were tinctured ; and as they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, they had raised expectations of this matter ; but when he was dead, their hopes seem to be almost quite gone, Luke xxiv. 21 ; but Christ being raised from the dead, their hopes revived; and it was a notion that prevailed with the Jews, and does to this day, that the coming of the King Messiah, to deliver them, and the resurrection of the dead, will be at the same time : and, indeed, Christ's personal reign will take place after the resurrection of the just. And now there having been a resur rection of many of the saints, Matt. xxvii. 52, 53, and especially Christ himself being risen, and also had spoken to his disciples of things per taining to the kingdom of God, verse 3, they might hope that this was the time the kingdom would be restored. Now though they had very obscure and carnal notions of the kingdom ; yet Christ does not deny that there would be a kingdom hereafter he should enjoy, and which should be restored to Israel ; only blames them for their curiosity in inquiring into the time of it, verse 7 ; and which shows that this king dom will not be till Christ comes to judge the quick and dead, which time none knows but the Father only, Matt. xxiv. 36 ; and exactly agrees with this passage.—7. From 2 Tim. iv. 1, / charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shalljudge the quick and dead at his appearing, and his kingdom. This appearing of Christ cannot bo meant of his first appearing in human nature; that was past, this future ; that was not to judge the world, this will be : nor did his kingdom then appear, now it will : but of his appearing a second time to those that look for him, Heb. ik. 38 ; and then his personal reign, and glorious kingdom will take place, he now personally appearing in his glory ; and when he will judge both quick and dead, will virtually judge, as has been before observed, the dead and living saints, by raising the one and the changing the other, when he shall descend from heaven, and thus appear ; and the wicked also, by burning their bodies in the general conflagration which now will be, and by shutting up their souls with Satan, in the bottomless pit. And moreover, the actual judgment, both of the righteous and tho wicked, will follow on this appearing of his kingdom ; the judgment of the saints will be at tho beginning of it, and in it, and the judgment of the wicked at the

278 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST, end of it.—8. From Heb. ii. 5 ; For unto the angels hath he not put in subjectwn the world to come, whereof'we speak ; though the world to come, may be understood of the gospel dispensation the apostle had been speaking of in the preceding verses, in distinction from the legal, or Jewish dispensation, angels had a concern in ; whereas they have none in the ministry of the gospel. And the Jewish dispensation is some times called the world, the end of which fell upon the times of Christ and his apostles, Heb ix. 26 ; and with respect to which, the gospel dispensation may be called the world to come, it being usual with the Jews, to call the days of the Messiah by this name ; which may take in the whole time between the first and second coming of Christ. But though the apostle may have respect to what he was speaking of in the preceding verses, yet so as to include what he was going on to speak of m the following verses, concerning the second Adam's world ; for the proof of which he refers to the eighth Psalm ; which is spoken, not of the first Adam, not even in his state of innocence ; the name of the Lord was not then so excellent in all the earth as it has been since, and especially will be ; nor were there then babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth strength, or praise, could be ordained ; nor was Satan, the enemy and avenger, stilled, he soon got the advantage over Adam ; nor could Adam bo called then Enosh, a frail mortal man, as that word is thought to signify ; nor was he a son of man ; nor were the works of God's hands so universally put under him as is said, not the angels : but Christ, the second Adam, is meant, with whom every thing agrees ; though, as yet, all things, in the fullest sense, arc not in subjection to him, nor will be, till his second coming, till after the binding of Satan, and the resurrection of the dead ; and then the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, and his glorious kingdom take place, which angels will have no concern in ; they will be employed at the beginning of it, in gathering together the risen saints ; and at the end of it, m casting the wicked into hell; but not in the kingdom itself; nor will they be needed. Moreover, this world to come, seems to include the new world, the new heavens and the new earth, the apostle Peter speaks of; for his beloved brother Paul, he says, had written and spoken of those to the same persons the apostle Peter wrote unto ; now he wrote to the converted Jews, scattered abroad in divers places, and therefore must refer to the epistle to the Hebrews, written by the apostle Paul ; and where, in that epistle, can he be thought to speak of this new world, the heavens and the earth, but in this passage under consideration I and which may be very well rendered, as it is by Dr. Bumet z, the habi table earth to come : which will be the seat of Christ's personal reign. I take no notice now of the proof from the passages Ilev. v. 10, and xx. 4 — 6 ; which are very express, because I have already made men tion of them, and shall have occasion to make more use of them ; though Socinus a, thinks this kingdom cannot be proved from chap. xx. ; sinco the whole place, he says, must be taken and explained in an allegorical way ; but he owns, that should he be asked, what is the alle ' Theory of the Earth, vol. 2, b. 4, ch. 2, p. 198. ■ Opera, tom. 2, contra Chiliastas, p. 458, 460.

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REItiN OF CHRIST. 281 gorieal interpretation of it, he is not ashamed to confess his ignorance of it. But that it is to be taken in a literal sense, will appear here after. II. In this glorious, visible, and personal reign of Christ, all the saints will have a share, they will reign with him, Rev. xx. 4, 6. I shall not dwell long on the proof of this ; because those scriptures which speak of Christ's kingdom, give plain and clear hints of the reign of his saints in it. i. There are various passages of Scripture, which give plain intima tions of the reign of the saints with Christ in his kingdom ; these are they which he will then make princes in all the earth, Psalm xlv. 16; these, however mean in their original, are, through his grace, set among princes, and shall inherit the throne of glory ; and these princes are altogether kings ; and being such, shall reign with Christ on earth ; for when he, tho King, shall reign in righteousness, these are the princes that shall rule in judgment, Isa. xxxii. 1. In the same prophecy of Daniel, which speaks of the kingdom that shall be given to Christ, upon his coming in the clouds of heaven, chap. vii. 14, it is also said, 27, and the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom ; all which is expressive of a glorious kingdom, under the whole lieaven ; and so not a kingdom in heaven, but under it, on earth, and which will extend to all the earth. Such a kingdom shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High : to the people and saints of Christ, who is Jehovah, the most High in all the earth ; such a kingdom they never had yet, nor never will have, till the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven ; Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him : which shows, that this kingdom is of the same nature, extent, and duration, with Christ's, 14 ; and in which the saints will share with him. Brenius b thinks, that by one like the Son of man, 13, is not meant Christ personally, but his glorious king dom in the latter day ; that as the four preceding monarchies are represented by beasts, for their fierceness, cruelty, and tyranny ; his by a man, for the mildness, gentleness, lenity, and humanity of it : and that coming in the clouds of heaven, denotes the divine and heavenly original of it ; not risen out of the sea, or earth, as the other kingdoms : and he supposes the Son of man, and the people of the saints of the most High, verse 27, to be the same to whom the dominion will be given. There is a passage in Micah, chap. iv. 7, 8, which plainly intimates, that when Christ reigns, his church and people shall reign also ; The Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth even for ever ; to which reference seems to be had by the angel, in Luke i. 32 ; and then it follows ; And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion ; which may be understood of Christ, the tower and strong-hold of his people : Unto thee shall it come, even thefirst dominion ; he shall have the first, the chief, the principal share in this reign ; yet also, the kingdom shall come to the daughter ofJerusalem, the church of God, the new Jerusalem, the holy city of the saints. Our Lord tells his disciples, That ye which have b Not. in Dun. vii. 13 ; ct dc regno Keel, glorioto, c. 2, fol. 11.

282 OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. followed me, who had embraced him as the Messiah, and received his doctrines, and submitted to his ordinances : here should be a stop and then another clause begin : in the regeneration ; meaning, not the grace of regeneration, or the new birth; but a new state of things, the resurrection state, the word iraMyyeveo-la, is used by Greek writers, both philosophers and the Christian fathers0, for the renovation of the world ; and the Syriac version of it here is, in the new world, that is, the new heavens and the new earth, the apostle Peter speaks of; in which new state, the Son of man shall sit on the throne ofhis glory, reign in it before his ancients gloriously ; and then also, adds he, ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes ofIsrael : should have posts and places of honour in the church of God, Matt. xix. 28 ; similar to this, is what Christ says to them in Luke xxii. 29, 30 ; that as his Father had appointed him a kingdom, so he appointed one to them, in which they should eat and drink at his table, and sit on thrones, &c, which is expressive of great nearness to him, communion with him in his kingdom, and of great honour conferred upon them. The saying of Christ, in Luke xx. 35, refers to this state, where he speaks of some that shall be counted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrrection from the dead ; by which is meant the world to come, in distinc tion from this present world, verse 34 ; even the new world, the apostle Peter's new heavens and new earth, which will take place upon the resurrection of the dead ; and they that are worthy of the first resurrection, through the grace of Christ, those shall obtain, possess, inherit, and dwell in the new world, and reign with Christ in it. The kingdom to be restored to Israel, Acts i. 6, which Christ seems to allow will be, is what will be restored and given to the mystical Israel, even the whole Israel of God, all his elect, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. When the apostle Paul speaks of saints that suffer with Christ, being glorified together, Rom. viii. 17 ; he elsewhere expresses the same, by their reigning with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12 ; and to this reigning together with Christ, he may well be thought to have respect in 1 Cor. iv. 8. Ye have reigned as kings without us ; treating him, and his fellow-ministers, with some degree of contempt, as if they were below them, and they stood in no need of them : and adds, I rcould to God that you did reign, in the best sense, and in the highest degree, even with Christ, in his personal reign ; that we also might reign with you ; in which state the saints will all reign together. Once more, Christ promises, Rev. iii. 21, To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me on my throne ; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne : this promise will be made good to every overcomer ; to every one that is made more than a conqueror through Christ ; and will be fulfilled in the kingdom state, when he will have a throne of his own ; now he sits on his Father's throne with him ; then he will sit on his own throne, and this will be large enough for all his saints to sit upon with him ; which is as strongly expressive of reigning with him, as words can possibly be. To all which may be added, the c Antoninus do Scipso, 1. 11, g. 1 ; Euscb. Pnepar. Evangel. 1. l5, c. 19; Basil, de Croat. Orat. 1 ; Epiphan. contr. Hceres. 1. 1, tom. 3, hair. 37.

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CIIRIST. 283 relations and characters the saints bear in Scripture, which will strengthen the proof of their sharing with Christ in the glories of his kingdom. They are, and will then appear to be, the children of God, being the children of the resurrection, Luke xx. 36 ; as Christ was de clared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead ; so they will be declared also to be tho sons of God, by their resurrection from the dead ; And ifchildren, then heirs ; heirs ofGod, andjoint-heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 17. Christ is heir of all things, and they are joint-heirs with him ; he is heir of the world, and the world is theirs, Christ being theirs ; not the present world, in which they have but a small share ; but the world to come, the new world, the world that Abraham was heir of, through the righteousness of faith : as are also all his spiritual seed, even they that are Christ's; and these are heirs according to the promise, and shall inherit the new earth, and reign with Christ in it. The church and people of God, stand in the relation of a bride to Christ, being espoused to him ; hence as he is King, the church is queen ; and not only stands at his right hand in gold of Ophir, but sits on the same throne with him ; and as she bears the same name with him, she shares in his honour, dignity, and glory. The saints have the character of kings, being made so by Christ to God ; and they have the regalia of kings, have thrones to sit on, crowns on their heads, and shall not want a kingdom ; being kings, they shall reign on earth, and reign with Christ there, Rev. iv. 4, and v. 10, and xx. 4. ii. All the saints will share in the glories of Christ's kingdom ; though some will have distinguished honours, yet all will reign with Christ. Some think only the martyrs will rise first, and reign ; and ; according to the opinion of some, not on earth neither ; but shall ascend to heaven, and reign there, whilst the other saints during tho millen nium, are on earth ; and which is grounded on a passage in Rev. xx. 4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, andjudgment was given unto them, those next described ; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God—and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand, years. That these were martyrs, no doubt is to be made ; they suffered death for the testimony they bore to Jesus and his gospel ; and by the manner of their death, beheading, it appears that such are designed who suffered under the persecutions of the Roman pagan emperors, this being a Roman punishment ; hence the axe used to be carried before the Roman magistrates ; and this one sort of death is put for all others that Christians, in those times, were put to : and these souls seem to be the same with those in Rev. vi. 9, 10 ; such, indeed, who have been slain in the cause of Christ, shall live, that is, live again ; their bodies shall be raised and united to their souls, and reign with Christ in their whole person, body and soul : but not a word is here said, or elsewhere, of their ascension to heaven, and reigning there ; but, on the contrary, those who are said to dwell with Christ, and he with them, are said to come down from God out of heaven, Rev. xxi. 2, 3 ; and that there should bo two sorts of persons in the millennium, one in heaven and the other on earth ; or, as others imagine, that there shall be on earth, some in an immortal, perfect

284 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. state, and others in a mortal and imperfect one ; some having the word and ordinances among them, and others not, are mere chimeras, for which there is no foundation : and what communion can saints have with each other, who are either at such a distance from one another, or in such different circumstances 1 and as to the martyrs, it is certain, there are others besides them who shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years : and who are montioned in the same text ; for it follows, and which had not worshipped the beaBt, neither his image : neither had received his mark upon theirforeheads, or in their hands ; and they, as well as the martyrs before described, lived and reigned with Chaist a thousand years ; these are not represented as sufferers for Christ, only as confessors and possesses of his name; who bore their testimony against the papacy, in every shape of it, and did not yield unto it, neither by word nor deed ; and may include all such persons, who in every age and period of time, abstain from all corrupt worship, false doctrines, and ordinances of men. The reason why such who suffered under Rome pagan, and those who submitted not to Rome papal, are particularly pointed at and described, is, because the Book of the Revelation is chiefly concerned with the state of the church, from the resurrection oT Christ to his second coming. Otherwise, all the Old Testament saints, as well as new, will have a part in the first resurrec tion, and share in the millennium reign ; even all the saints that have been from the beginning of the world, now are, or shall be, to the end of it; for, — 1. All the saints will come with Christ, who have de parted this life, when he comes a second time ; this is asserted both in the Old and New Testament, Zech. xiv. 5, 1 Thess. iii. 13.—2. All that are Christ's shall rise from the dead at his coming, 1 Cor. xv. 23 ; and, in consequence of their resurrection, shall reign with him. Now all the people of God, from the beginning of the world to the end of it, all true believers in Christ, are his, belong to him ; he has an interest in them, and they in him ; and when he comes a second time, they will rise first ; and having a part in the first resurrection, shall reign with Christ a thousand years. — 3. All the elect of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb, are kings and priests ; and being such, shall reign on earth, those that are a chosen generation, or who are elect according to the fore-knowledge of God, are a royalpriesthood, or are kings and priests, 1 Pet. i. 2 ; and all that are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, are made unto God kings and priests, and shall reign on earth, on the new earth, with Christ, a thousand years ; even all of them, all that are chosen, all that are redeemed. — 4. The whole church of God, and the members of it, in every dispensation, shall have a share in the kingdom of Christ. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, will have a seat in it, and multitudes from all parts of the world, and who have lived in different ages, shall come and sit down with them, Matt. viii. 11. The four-and-twenty elders, the representatives of the gospel church, under the New Testament dispensation, being redeemed out of every nation, and being kings and priests, declare their strong faith that they shall reign on earth ; and accordingly, are sometimes represented as having

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. 285 on their heads crowns of gold, as well as clothed in white, the raiment of priests and princes, Rev. iv. 4, and v. 9, 10. In a word, the whole body of the elect, and redeemed of the Lamb, the church universal, consisting of all its members, not one wanting ; and so a bride, com pletely prepared and adorned for her husband ; even the holy city and new Jerusalem, will descend from God, out of heaven, on earth ; and the tabernacle of God, of Immanuel, will be with them ; and he will dwell and reign with them, and they with him. m. In what sense the saints, even all the saints, will reign with Christ, may be next considered. This will not be after the manner of his spiritual reign among his saints ; that is a reign in them, this is a reigning with them, and of them with him. His reign of grace takes place at the conversion of men, when, as King, he sets up his throne in their hearts, and reigns there ; and such a reign has been from the / beginning of the world, as soon as the first man was called by grace ; a and has continued ever since, more or less, in every dispensation, and will continue until the last man is converted. Nor does this reign we are treating of take place in the separate state of the soul in heaven, before the resurrection ; that state is expressed by a being with Christ, 2 Cor. v. 8, Phil. i. 23 ; but never, as I remember, by reigning with him. This reign will not be until the resurrection, till soul and body are reunited ; for there can be no proper reigning whilo the body is under the power of death and the grave, at least not fully and com- Eletely. The saints will first live, that is, live again in their bodies, ave a part in the first resurrection, and then reign with Christ, soul and body, a thousand years, Rev. xx. 4, 6. — 1. This will be a reign with Christ personally and visibly ; he will appear in person, and be visible by them ; and they shall appear with him, in a most glorious manner, in soul and body ; and will be like him, being glorified, and reigning together with him ; and shall see him as he is, personally and visibly, in the glory of his person, as God-man, reigning before his ancients gloriously. — 2. This reigning with Christ implies some kind of share with him in the glories of his kingdom ; hence thrones are said to be set for them to sit upon ; and judgment given them, which denotes regal power to be exercised by them ; yea, they are said to sit on the same throne with Christ, on his throne, and to eat and drink at his table, in his kingdom ; all which expresses a great share of honour and dignity, and of large enjoyments. — 3. This supposes dominion over all their enemies ; as Christ will now have all enemies put under his feet, being subdued by him ; so all enemies will be put under the feet of the saints, and they will have dominion over them. Sin will now be no more troublesome to them. Their power over sin, in the present state, is expressed rather negatively, by sin not having dominion over them, than affirmatively, by their having dominion over sin ; nay, they are sometimes so far from it, that they are brought into captivity by it : but now the struggle for dominion will be over, the warfare will be accomplished, and an entire victory obtained over sin, which will be no more. Satan and his principalities and powers, though spoiled and bruised by Christ, and triumphed over by him, yet

286 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. there is a wrestling and combat between the saints and them in the present life ; and though the devil cannot devour and destroy them, yet he greatly disturbs and distresses them ; but now he will be bruised under their feet also ; when he, and his angels, shall be shut up in the bottomless pit, where they will remain during the thousand years Christ and his saints shall reign together in the world, in which the saints have now so much tribulation; and the wicked men of it, from whom they meet with so much persecution, in one shape or another, shall be trodden down by them, and be ashes under the soles of their feet, their bodies being burnt up in the general conflagration; and their souls in no capacity to hurt or molest them, being shut up with Satan in the bottomless pit. The last enemy, death, will now be destroyed, being swallowed up in victory, by the resurrection of the dead ; so that the risen saints, reigning with Christ, may say, O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? and indeed of this, and every other enemy, they may say, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ ! III. The description of tho persons that shall thus reign with Christ, as given, Rev. xx. 6. One, They are such who have part in the first resurrection ; which, what that is, must be inquired into. i. This cannot be understood of a spiritual resurrection, or of a resurrection from the death of sin to a-life of grace, which men are made partakers of at regeneration ; such a resurrection cannot be intended here; for, — 1. As this was a vision of something future, that John saw, be it afterwards when it may, it could never be tho first resurrection of this sort ; since there had been thousands of instances of this, from the beginning of the world to the times of John; and therefore could bo nothing uncommon, rare, and wonderful, to be shown him, if this was tho case. — 2. This can never be tho first resurrection, with respect to the persons themselves raised ; for they are such who had been raised in this sense before ; since they are the souls of such who had suffered for Christ and his gospel, and had borne a testimony against antichrist in every shape ; and had refused obedi ence to him by word or deed: and can it be thought, that such persons had not been quickened by the grace of God ; or were not raised from the death of sin, before they suffered for the sake of Christ, or professed his name ? — 3. Persons once raised in this sense, never die again ; nor stand in need of being raised a second time ; he that lives, and believes in Christ, never dies a spiritual death ; grace in him is immortal and incorruptible : and could this possibly be their case, it would not be the first, but a second resurrection. — 4. There is no such resurrection after death. Those persons are represented in the vision, as having been slain for the faithful testimony ; or as having departed this life, either under Rome pagan or papal ; and as they stood in no need of such a resurrection, so if they had, they could not have had it ; if a man dies in his sins, ho remains in them ; if he dies impenitent, and an unbeliever, so he continues; neither faith nor repentance, nor any grace, are given after death. — 5. Persons who

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. 287 have been quickened in this sense, or have been spiritually raised from the death of sin, and have lived, never lived corporeally a thousand years : not any of the saints in the patriarchal state, partakers of a spiritual resurrection, even those that lived the longest, not Adam, not Methuselah, lived to such an age ; nor any afterwards to the times of John ; nor any since : nor is there any reason to expect that any will in the present state. — 6. There will be none to be raised in this sense at the coming of Christ in the last day ; the Jews will have been converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; all that God meant should come to repentance, will now have been brought to it ; and when every one of them is effectually called, or, in other words, raised from a death of sin to a life of grace, then will the day of the Lord come, and the general conflagration take place, in which all the wicked of the earth will be burnt up ; and the whole election of grace being gathered in, and the whole Church of God completely prepared for Christ her husband, there will remain none to be subjects of a spiritual resurrection. — 7. If this living again before the reign, or at the beginning of the reign of the thousand years, is to be under stood of a spiritual resurrection, then the living of the rest of the dead, that is of the wicked, at the end of the thousand years, must be under stood in the same sense, that they shall live a life of grace, being raised from the death of sin ; for it is expressly said, The rest of tho dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished ; which supposes they will live when they are finished, and live in the same sense as they will who will live at the beginning of them ; that is, a corporeal life, being raised from the dead; not, surely, a spiritual one. n. Nor is this first resurrection to be understood in a civil sense, of the resurrection of the martyrs, not in their own persons, but in their successors ; or of a revival of the cause for which they suffered ; which it is supposed will be when in the latter day the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in ; the conversion of the Jews being represented by a resurrection, by opening their graves, and bringing them out of them, and causing them to live, Ezek. xxxvii. 13, 14, and of which some understand Dan. xii. 2, and the apostle Paul, Rom. xi. 15. But, — 1. Though this may be called a resurrec tion, in a figurative sense, yet it is never called the first resurrection ; nor can it be called so, with any propriety ; because there have been already, revivals of the cause of the martyrs : there was a revival of the cause of them who suffered in the persecution of the pagan emperors, in the times of Constantine, when paganism was demolished throughout the Roman empire, and Christianity got ground, and flourished everywhere ; and there was a revival of the cause of the martyrs and confessors under Rome papal, at tho time of the Refor mation : when whole nations, even many of the European nations, fell off from popery, and embraced tho truths of the gospel; so that, admitting the time referred to may be called tho revival of the cause of the martyrs, it cannot be the first, but rather the third resurrection. Besides, a first resurrection supposes a second, of the same kind.

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL W2IGN OF CIini8T. Now after the conversion of the Jews, and the great spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, what further reviving of the cause of Christ is there to be expected in the present state, that can be called a second resurrection ? — 2. Those that shall have part in the first resurrection, are expressly the same persons who really existed in the time of Rome pagan, and Rome papal, and not any successors of theirs, of whom the same things cannot be said as are of them ; nor in the times referred to, will there be any persons similar, and answerable to the martyrs and confessors described ; since there will be no antichrist to suffer from, nor to bear a testimony against ; for the kingdoms of this world, both Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, will now become the kingdoms of Christ, and serve him. — 3. The time of the conversion of the Jews, and of the Gentiles, will be over before this first resurrec tion takes place ; and an account is given of those events in the Book of the Revelation, before this resurrection or millennium state. They are signified, partly, by the ascension of the witnesses to heaven ; and partly by the kingdoms of this world becoming Christ's, chap. xi. 12—15, and particularly, the conversion of the Jews, by the marriage of the Lamb being come, chap. xix. 7—9- — 4. The resurrection of the cause of Christ, as in the conversion of the Jews, and the accession of the Gentiles, and this first resurrection, are assigned and belong to two different periods ; the events relating to the Jews and Gentiles, will be upon the destruction of the Pope and Turk, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the pouring out of the sixth and seventh vials, and when all the antichristian kings and states will be destroyed ; but the events of the first resurrection, and the millennium, will bo not only after the destruction of antichrist, but after the binding and shutting up of Satan and his angels, with the wicked in the bottomless pit, and after the burning of the world; and not before. — 5. If the first resurrection could be understood of the revival of the cause of the martyrs, at the beginning of the millennium, it would follow, that there will also be a revival of it among the rest of the dead, or the wicked, at the end of it ; since it is suggested, that they shall then live ; but this is not only altogether improbable, but the reverse is the truth ; for they will gather together in a body, and encompass the camp of the saints, the beloved city, with an intention to destroy it ; it remains, therefore, in. That this first resurrection, is to be understood literally and properly, of a corporeal one ; for,—1 . This resurrection is of such who died a corporal death; either a violent one, being slain for their testi mony for Christ and the gospel ; or in a natural way, not having given into antichristian principles and practices ; and therefore their living again, or their resurrection, which is called the first, must be a corporeal resurrection ; for as is their death, so must be their resurrec tion from the dead. The souls slain, cannot be understood of such, distinctly considered ; for they die not, and cannot be said to be raised again ; but of the persons of men with respect to their bodies, which only die, and are the proper subjects of a resurrection ; and which being raised, are united to their souls, and live ; and so the

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 289 whole person lives. — 2. Of such a resurrection is the living again of the wicked dead, at the end of the millennium ; for as their living then, cannot be interpreted, neither of a spiritual resurrection, nor of a civil one, it must be of a corporal one ; and if theirs, who are the rest of the dead, is a corporal one, then those who lived before them, being raised from the dead, must be a corporal one likewise ; for that one part of the dead should be raised, and live in one sense, and the rest be raised and live in another sense, is not reasonable to suppose. — 3. It is a resurrection, which, by way of emphasis, is called the resurrection, which some persons are worthy of, and others are not ; or, the resurrection which is out of, or from among the dead ; the wicked dead, leaving them to continue under the power of death for a longer time ; and this is the resurrection the apostle was so desirous of attaining to, Phil. iii. 11, where he uses a different word than what is commonly used of the resurrection ; it being a better resurrection, Heb. xi. 35, the resurrection of the just, which is better than that of the wicked, being unto life, and through Jesus, Acts iv. 2, through union to him ; and of which he is the example and first-fruits. — 4. The resurrection in the text has a double article, which makes it the more emphatical, and points at what resurrection is meant, the resurrection the first ; that which is the first, with respect to the wicked, whose resurrection can be no other than corporal, and there fore this must be so too. And this may be confirmed by other passages of Scripture ; as by Psalm xlix. 14, The upright shall have dominion over them, the wicked ; they rising first in the morning of the day of the resurrection ; and the wicked in the evening, or at the end of that day: and especially by 1 Thess. iv. 16, The dead in Christ shall rise first ; this can be understood of no other than a corporal resurrection, which will be at the second coming of Christ ; nor of any other but of the saints who die in Christ, in union with him ; and of their rising before the wicked, who die not in him, but in their sins ; and not of their rising before the change of the living saints, as some think ; for the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the change of the living saints, will both be together, in a moment, in the twin/ding of an eye, 1 Cor. xv. 52, and so not one before another. Nor are the several particular resurrections mentioned in Scripture any objection to the resurrection of the saints first ; since these were not a resurrection to an immortal life ; and besides, would lie as strongly against Christ being the first that rose from the dead. Nor is tho resurrection of the saints at the resurrection of Christ any objection to it, for whether or no they rose to an immortal life, is a question ; and if they did, which is not improbable, theirs was only a presage and pledge of the general resurrection of the just, which is the first ; and that of the wicked, the second. — 5. Nor are the passages in Dan. xii. 2, and John v. 28, 29, to be objected to a first and second corporal resurrec tion, and to such a distance of time between them as that of a thousand years ; the resurrection of good and evil men being mentioned together, as if they were the events that took place at the same time ; since, in prophecies especially, as these are, things are often laid together, VOL. II. u ,

290 OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL KEIGN OF CHRIST. .which are fulfilled separately, and at a distance from each other ; as some concerning the first and second coming of Christ ; and also con cerning his spiritual and personal reign. Besides, these passages may be considered as perfectly agreeing with, and as expressive of the two fold resurrection, as to the time thereof; thus the prophet Daniel says, Many shall awake, or rise from the dead ; that is, all ; but not at the same time, nor to the same end ; some of these shall awake, or arise, at the beginning of the thousand years, to everlasting life ; and some, at the end of them, to shame and everlasting contempt : and so our Lord says in the other passage, The hour is coming ; the word apa does not always signify that part of time which is sometimes called an hour ; but time in general, and a very long time too ; see 1 John ii. 18, Rev. xvii. 12, and so here ; The time is coming, the time of the millen nium ; within the compass of which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and come forth : they that liave done good, unto the resurrection of life, at the beginning of the said hour or time ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation, at the end of it. — 6. The apostle John, when, in the context, speaking of the resurrection of the dead, says, they lived, that is, rose from the dead ; but the rest of the dead lived not again, did not rise again from the dead till afterwards ; speaks in tho language of his nation; nothing is more common with the Jews, than to call a corporal resurrection n«nn emon the quickening of the deadd, or causing them to live ; and is agreeable to the sacred Scrip tures, Isa. xxvi. 19, Hos. vi. 2, Rom. iv. 17. Now since only such who have part in the first resurrection, and which is a corporal one, will reign with Christ a thousand years ; the millennium reign will be a reign only of risen saints, in a perfect state, and who will not be in a mortal and sinful one; so that here will be no conversion-work, and so no need of the word and ordinances ; and much less will there be an indulgence to carnal pleasures. Secondly. Another part of the description of those that shall reign with Christ in the millennium, and which shows their happiness, is, On such the second death hath no power ; the phrase, the second death, is only used in the Book of tho Revelation, and was common with the Jews, and what John was well acquainted with, and is frequently to bo met with in their writings" ; what is meant by it, may be seen in Rev. xx. 14 and xxi. 8, and is no other than the punishment of body and soul in hell ; an eternal separation of both from God ; and is called the second death, in distinction from the death of the body, which is the first death, and lies in a separation of the soul from the body : now to be free and secure from such a death, must be a great happiness ; and this all in the millennium-state will enjoy, and for evermore. Thirdly, Those that will share in the millennium-reign with Christ, will be priests of God and of Christ ; that is, made priests to God by Christ ; shall serve the Lord as tho priests in the temple did ; draw ■i T. B. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2 ; Sotali, fol. 48. 2 ; ct Sanhedrin, fol. 92. 1 ; Targum Hicros. i» Gen. xix. 26, ct in Gen. xxv. 34. • Tars. Hieros. in Deut. xxxiii. 6 ; ct Ton in Tea. xxii. 14, ct Ixv. 0,15; ct in Jer. Ii, 39, 57. Actirepus Banaros is a phrase in Plutarck. dc facie in luna, p. 942.

OF THE MILLENNIUM, Oil PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 2.91 nigh to him, and offer up the sacrifices of praise continually ; they will be a royal priesthood, both kings and priests ; as in Rev. i. 6, and v. 10, like Christ their head, who is a Priest on his throne ; and as his type, Melchizedek, who was king of Salem, and priest of the most high God : nor has it been unusual, m the nations of the earth, for men to be both kings and priests ; and certain it is, that those in the millen nium are priests, that shall reign as kings ; and the same word, in the Hebrew language, signifies both priests and princes. Fourthly, Upon the whole, it is no wonder that they are pronounced blessed and holy : they must needs be blessed, since they will be always before the throne, and serve the Lord day and night, and hunger and thirst no more ; shall be free from evils of every kind, and from death in every shape, and of every sort ; and shall be in the perfect enjoy ment of the presence of Christ. And they will be holy in body, being raised in purity, in incorruption, and in glory, like the glorious body of Christ ; and in soul, being perfectly sanctified, and entirely free from sin, from tho being of it, and all defilement by it. IV. The continuance and duration of the reign of Christ and tho saints together, which will be a thousand years. The things to bo inquired mto are, whether theso years are to be understood definitively, or indefinitively ; and whether they are past, or yet to come. First, Whether they are to be taken indefinitely, for an uncertain number ; or definitely, for an exact, precise, determinate time literally. — 1. One ancient writer', understands the words indefinitely, for a long time, even from the first coming of Christ to the end of the world ; a long time indeed ! longer than the thousand years themselves ; for \ more than seven hundred years above a thousand have run out already. Another8, indeed, interprets them of the ages of eternity, for which Psalm cv. 8 is quoted ; but whatever may be the sense of that text, it cannot be the sense of the millennium-reign, for that will have an end ; it is expressly said, The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished, Rev. xx. 5 ; and of Christ's reign and kingdom in them, there will be an end, when he will deliver up the kingdom to the Father, 1 Cor. xv. 24; or else, as the same ancient writer thinks, the latter part of the last thousandth year of the world may be meant, a part being put for the whole. But however indefinitely this phrase may be sometimes understood, as in 1 Sam. xviii. 7, Psalm xci. 7, it cannot be so taken in the passages relating to the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ and his saints : but must,—2. Be mterpreted definitely and literally, of a precise, determinate space of time ; better reasons for which cannot be well given than are by a writerh in the last century, though not in the scheme of the personal reign of Christ a thousand years ; which are as follow, — 1 . Because when there is no necessity to take a scripture in a figurative sense, we are to receive it in the letter ; but neither the scope of tho place, nor the analogy of faith, nor other scripture, lays any such necessity upon us, so to take it. — 2. Because this same space is so often repeated by the Spirit, to ' Ambros. in Apocalyps. c. 20, col. 473. * Aug. do Civ. Dei., 1. 20, c. 7. ~"""~ h Tho Author of Theopolis, p. 43, 44. U2

292 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. which wo should take the more earnest heed, or matter of instruction and information (and to fix it on the mind the more strongly), for thrice is said, Satan was bound a thousand years, and afterwards loosed, verses 2, 3, 7 ; twice it is said, the saints shall reign a thousand years, verses 4, 6 ; once, that the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished; verso 5, in all six times. — 3. The emphasis put upon the phrase. Pareus well observes, that in verses 2, 6, the thou sand years are without an article, \iXta er?j, a thousand years ; but in the other places, four times, with an article, ra x'^ta trq, these thou sand years ; these emphatically, these precise thousand years. As if he should say, Satan's imprisonment shall continue a thousand year* ; the martyrs shall live and reign with Christ during these thousand years, and afterwards he shall be loosed. — 4. The parts to which this number is applied, are so cemented together, as cause and effect, distinction and opposition, that they very much strengthen and prove that just account of a thousand years ; namely, Satan is bound a thousand years, that he should not deceivo the nations till the same thousand years bo fulfilled ; then the saints lived and reigned a thou sand years with Christ, that same thousand years : but the rest of the dead lived not again until these thousand years were finished ; whilst the holy ones, as their happiness, made priests of God and of Christ, reign with Christ a thousand years: to which may be added, that these thousand years are bounded both at the beginning and end ; they are bounded by the binding of Satan at the beginning of them, and by loosing of him at the end of them, verse 27 ; and they are bounded by two resurrections ; by the first resurrection of the saints, and the reign of them with Christ upon it ; and by the second resurrection, or the resurrection of the wicked, at the close thereof. The next inquiry is, Secondly, Whether these thousand years are past or to come ? To the solution of which, this observation is necessary, that the binding of Satan, and the reign of Christ, are contemporary : that the same thousand years Satan is bound, Christ and his saints reign together ; the thousand years of the one, and the thousand years of the other, run parallel with each other : and it is further to be observed, and what will contribute greatly to the settling of this point, and even to the decision of it, by the binding of Satan is meant, an entire and absolute confinement of him, and of all his angels in the bottomless pit ; so that he and they, will not be able to deceive the nations any more, till the thousand years are ended ; that is, not be able to draw them into idolatry, to fill them with bad principles, and lead them into bad practices, and to stir them up to make war with the saints, and persecute them ; and so by any, and all of these ways, deceive ; during which time, the church and people of God must be m a state of purity and peace. Now if any such time can be shown, in which the nations of the world, not any of them, were not so far under the influence and deception of Satan, as not to be drawn into idolatry ; nor to embrace false doctrine, and go into evil practices ; nor to bo excited to perse cute the saints, for the space of a thousand years ; and that the church of Christ, during such a time, has been in a state of perfect purity and

Of THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 293 peace ; free from being disturbed and distressed by idolaters, heretics, and persecutors ; then may these thousand years be said to be past ; but if this cannot be made to appear, then most certainly they are yet to come. Let us put this to the trial ; which will be best done by con sidering the several epochas, or periods, from whence these thousand years have been dated. i. From the birth of Christ, who came to destroy the works of the devil, and before whom Satan fell as lightning from heaven ; yet this falls short of the binding and casting him into the bottomless pit : whoever considers the state of the Gentile world when Christ came, being under the power of the god of this world, the nations thereof being left to walk in their own ways ; nay, Christ forbad his disciples going into any of the cities of the Gentiles ; nor had they a commission to preach the gospel to all nations, till after his resurrection from the dead ; who, I say, that considers these things, can ever imagine that Satan was now bound ? And if we look into the state of the Jewish nation and church, how sadly corrupted in their morals, being a wicked and an adulterous generation, and depraved in their religious senti ments; neglecting the word of God, and preferring the traditions of the elders to it ; rejecting Christ, when he came to them with all the marks and characters of the true Messiah, and treating him with the utmost indignation and contempt ; and were, as our Lord says, of their father the devil, and his lusts they would do ; there can be no reason to believe that Satan was now bound. His many attacks on the person and life of Christ show the contrary ; as his putting Herod on seeking the young child's life to destroy it, in his infancy ; and to make that car nage of the infants in and about Bethlehem, he did; his tempting him in the wilderness, in the manner he did, which was bold, daring, and insolent ; instigating the scribes and Pharisees to lay hands on him, and kill him ; marching towards him as the prince of the world, and combating with him in the garden; and, putting it into the heart of Judas to betray him ; and stirring up the people of all sorts to be pressing to the Roman governor, for the crucifixion of him, and by which means he was brought to the dust of death. And though, indeed, Satan was dispossessed of the bodies of men, which possession shows he was not bound ; yet when dispossessed he was not bound, and cast into the bottomless pit, but was suffered to go and rove about where he pleased ; and though Christ, by his death, destroyed Satan, who had the power of death, and spoiled his principalities and powers, and ruined his works; yet all this did not amount to a bindmg and con finement of his person in prison. ii. Others date these thousand years of Satan's binding, from the resurrection of Christ ; when it is true, Christ ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and poured down his Spirit upon his apostles, on the day of Pentecost, whereby they were wonderfully fitted to preach his gospel ; and accordingly preached it with great success, both in Judea and in the Gentile world ; but still Satan was not bound. Not in Judea ; for in the first and purest christian church, he filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie against the Holy Ghost. He

294 OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. stirred up the Jews to lay hold on the apostles, and put them in prison ; and to stone Stephen, the proto-martyr ; he raised a violent persecu tion against tho church at Jerusalem, and havoc was made of it, and men and women hauled to prison ; he put Herod upon killing James the brother of John, and committing Peter to prison. And whereas the ministers of tho word went into other countries, preaching the gospel, the Jews, under the instigation of Satan, stirred up the people against them wherevcr they came ; as at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, and at other places ; and what the christian Hebrews suffered from them, may bo seen in Heb. x. 32, 33. Nor was Safcm bound in the Gentilo world ; for though the gospel made its way into divers countries and cities, to tho conversion of many souls, and the forming of many churches; yot heathenism, under tho influence of tho god of this world, was the prevailing religion everywhere ; and the sect of the christians was everywhere spoken against; and tho apostles and ministers of the word, wero everywhere persecuted, bonds and impri sonment waited for them in all places ; and all tho apostles suffered death for the sake of tho gospel. in. Others begin these thousandyearsof Satan's bindingatthe destruc tion of Jerusalem, which was very dreadful ; in the siege of it eleven hundred thousand men perished ' ; and when such insurrections, intes tine quarrels, seditions, murders, and scenes of iniquity, were among the Jews themselves, Satan could never be thought to be bound then ; and after it, though things took a different turn with the Jews, and in favour of tho christians, in Judea and elsewhere ; tho Jews, though they had the same ill will to them, had not the same power against them ; yet they themselves manifestly appeared to be under the decep tion of Satan, by their giving heed to false prophets, and false christs, which our Lord foretold would arise; witness Bar Cochab, a false messiah, who rose up in the times of Trajan, whom the Jews embrac ing, rebelled against the empire, which brought a war upon them in which fifty-eight thousand were slain k ; and under the same deception by false messiahs, and under thesame blindness and hardness of heart, and malice against Christ and his gospel, have continued to this day. And as for tho Gentile world, though the gospel got ground every where, and multitudes of souls were converted, and the Gentilo oracles were struck dumb1 ; the temples almost desolate, and worship in them was intermitted"1 ; yet Gentilism continued to be the prevailing religion throughout tho Itoman empire, till the times of Constantino, at the beginning of the fourth century ; as appears by the persecutions of the christians by tho Roman emperors : the first persecution was under Nero ; this was indeed a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. The occasion of it was this : he himself set firo to the city of Rome, and then, under the instigation of Satan, charged it upon tho Christians, whom lie most inhumanly racked and tortured, and put to the most cruel deaths that could bo invented. The tenth and last persecution ' Josi'pli. dc Bdlo Jml. 1.6, c.0, s. 3. k Lampc Syuops. Hist. Soer. ct Ecclesiast. 1. 2, c. 3, p. 110. 1 —Dclphis Oracula cessant. Juvcual. Satir. 6, v. 054. «' l'lin. Epbt. 1. 10, «P- $.

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 295 was under Dioclesian, a little before the times of Constantine ; his aera was called by the Egyptians the aera of the martyrs ; the whole world was imbrued with their blood ; and the world was more exhausted of men thereby than by any war, as the historian says" ; it was tho longest and most severe, it lasted ten years ; and perhaps, in allusion to the ten persecutions, or to the ten years of the last persecution, it is said in Rev. ii. 10, The devil shall cast some of you into prison, and ye shall have tribulation ten days ; and if the devil cast the saints into prison, he himself could not be bound and cast into prison ; nor could this be their reigning time ; nay, Dioclesian thought he had got an entire victory over tho christians, and therefore set up pillars0 in some parts of the empire, signifying that the christian name was blotted out, and the superstition of Christ everywhere destroyed, as he called it ; and the worship of tho gods propagated ; so far was Satan from being bound, that he triumphed over Christ and his cause : and that ho could not be bound in this period of time, appears by the multitude of heathen deities worshipped; the number not only of heathen philo sophers among the Greeks and Romans, but of the Magi in the east, and of the Druids in tho west, and of the Brahmins among the Indians ; also from the vilo and false charges brought by the heathens under tho influence of Satan against the christians, of idolatries, murders, incests, impurities, and unheard of crimes ; which obliged their writers, as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, &c, to write apologies in tho defence of them ; to which may bo added, the scoffs and flouts, the malice and blasphemy of the heathen writers against Christ and tho christian religion, as Crescens, Lucian, Celsus, and Porphyry : and if we look into the christian church in the three first centuries, how it was harassed and distressed with heretics and heresies, we shall soon bo con vinced that Satan was not bound, nor Christ's reign begun ; to reckon up only the names of them from Simon Magus to Sabellius, would fill up a page ; some denying the doctrine of the Trinity ; some tho distinct personality in tho Deity ; some the person of Christ, cither his real humanity or his proper Doity, or Divine Sonship ; as vilo a set of men now were, for corruption in doctrino and practice, as perhaps ever was, and may truly bo called a synagogue of Satan, as they seem to be in Rev. ii. 9 ; in the times of these men therefore the devil could never be said to be bound, when he had a synagogue of them. iv. Others begin the date of Satan's bmding, and Christ's reigning, from the times££Constantine ; and reckoning the thousand years from hence, they will reach to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Those who go this way suppose the vision in Rev. xii. and that in chap xx. to be the same, which cannot be ; that in the former respects the imperial dragon, or the papal empire under the influence of Satan ; the latter the person of the devil himself, with his angels; the former respects a battle in heaven, the latter a combat on earth ; the former represents Satan as cast oiit of heaven on earth, the latter as cast ouo of the earth into the bottomless pit ; tho former says nothing of the n Su1piciu?,ut supra, p. 99, 100. 0 Gruter. Inseript. p. 280, apud Falricii Salutar. Lux Evangel, p. 157,

296 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OK PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. binding and shutting up of Satan, the latter does ; the former speaks of him after his casting down, as at liberty to go about in the earth and distress the nations, and annoy the church ; but the latter as in such confinement as to be able to do neither : but that Satan could not be bound, nor the reign of Christ take place in the above period of time, is manifest ; for though upon Constantino's coming to the throne and declaring himself a christian, the christian religion lift up its head, and flourished greatly with respect to numbers, [wealth, riches and grandeur, yet all its outward greatness in the issue ended in its ruin ; and though heathenism was demolished throughout the empire, and pagan temples shut up, yet pagan rites and ceremonies were introduced into the church, and gradually prevailed ; and especially when the man of sin was revealed, so that the followers of antichrist go by the name of Gentiles, Rev. xi. 2. That the devil was not now bound, appears by the flood he cast out of his mouth to destroy the woman, the church, who was obliged to disappear and flee into the wilderness, the remnant of whose seed he persecuted, Rev. xii. 13—17 ; by which flood is meant either a flood of heresies, as those of the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, Macedonians, and Pelagians, which sadly infested and disturbed the churches ; or a flood of persecution, particularly by the Arians, which was begun by Constantine himself; who, exercised vim persecutionis, towards the latter end of his lifp, being imposed upon ; and this was carried on with great violence by his sons, Constantius and Valens, who embraced that heresy ; and in after times by some of the northern nations, who broke into the empire, and became Arians. In the reign of Julian, in which, though but short, heathenism was in a groat measure restored, and many diabolical arts were used by him to revive paganism, and extirpate christianity ; the schools of the christians forbid, their temples shut up, and those of the heathens opened. These, with his attempt, in favour of the Jews, to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, in spite of prophecy, and his outrageous blasphemies against the Galilean, as he used to call our Lord, plainly show that Satan was not bound. The irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and other northern nations, into the empire, and the destructions they made in church and state, is a full proof of this. Within this interval of time antichrist rose up, and manifestly appeared; whoso coming was after the working of Satan, with all powers and signs, and lying wonders ; whose followers give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of thedevil ; and who worship devils, and idols of gold and silver, and whose reign is to continue one thousand two hundred and sixty days or years, and so not yet at an end : and whilst antichrist reigns, Christ's reign cannot take place, nor Satan bo bound. Also much about the same time, that vile impostor Mahomet, under the instigation of the devil arose ; when the bottom less pit was opened, and then Satan surely could not lie bound in it ; out of which camo the smoke of the absurd Alkoran, which darkened the sun and moon, the light of great part of the world ; and from whence came his locusts, the Saracens, which, for some centuries, greatly afflicted the Christian empire, whoso king was called Abaddon and Apollyon, Rev. ix. 11 ; as did the Turks after them, whose empire

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OP CHRIST. 297 was set up in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and continued to distress Europe till the latter end of the last. And now, so long as Mahometanism prevails over so large a part of the world as it does, the thousand years reign, and the binding of Satan, cannot be expected. To which may be added, the persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, by the papal antichrist, and which have been exercised on them, even in the last century, in the valleys of Piedmont1', show that Satan cannot be bound. And as to the state of heathenism, itwill appear by consultingthe Magdeburgensian centuriators, that it has subsisted in various parts of the world, through out all the centuries, from Constantine to the fourteenth century ; and about the end of the fifteenth, when America was first discovered, in what state were the inhabitants of it ? Idolaters : yea, they worshipped the devil in some places in the West-Indies'' ; as the inhabitants of the East- Indies r, and others in North and South America : and how many nations and kingdoms, both in America and in the East-Indies, are, at this day, under the power of heathenism ? And it was a calculation made by some in the last century, that if the whole known world, was divided into thirty equal parts, nineteen of them would be found idola trous Gentiles5. Surely then Satan cannot be bound, so as not to deceive the nations. v. Some begin the thousand years' reign, and the binding of Satan, at the reformation from popery ; but whether the date is from Wickliff, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, or from Luther ; they all of them either suffered death, or met with great inhuihanity and ill treat ment, from the instruments of Satan, and therefore he could not be bound ; and great numbers of their followers were persecuted unto death. Since the reformation, were the massacre in Paris, when ten thousand protestants were murdered in one night, and seventy thou sand in seven days' time : and the many martyrs burnt here in England, in queen Mary'sreign ; and the massacre in Ireland, in which two hundred thousand perished : all under a hellish influence, are clear demonstra tions that Satan was not bound. Besides, though several nations, at the reformation, fell from popery, yet all did not, and some have revolted to it since; and whoever considers the great decline of religion in our day, the increase of popery, and the spread of errors and heresy among us, and the great profaneness and immorality that prevail, can never think that Satan is bound, or that the millennium is begun. Upon the whole, it must clearly appear, that there never as yet has been such a time, in which it could be said, that Satan had no power to deceive the nations, either by drawing them into idolatry, and other bad principles, or into persecuting practices ; nor any time in which the church of Christ has been in a state of purity and peace, free from idolatry, heresy, and persecution; wherefore it may be strongly concluded, that Satan is not yet bound ; and that Christ's * See Perrin's History of tbo Waldenses, and Norland's History of tbo Evangelical Churchci in the valley of Piedmont. 1 P. Martyr de Angleria, Dccad. 1 , 1.9; Oviedo de Ind. Occident, c. 5. ' Vartomanni Navigat. 1. 5, c. 2, 23, et 16, 27 ; Ross's View of all Religions, p. 59 ; aoe p. 77, 79, 80, 88, 89. ■ Schmid. Gompend. Hist. Ecclesiast. tec. 17, p. 500.

298 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. kingdom is not yet come ; nor are these things to be expected in the present, state. The spiritual reign in the latter day bids fairest for it ; and which, indeed, is a branch of Christ's kingdom, when both Pope and Turk will be destroyed ; but then Satan will only be destroyed in his instru ments ; but not in his person bound. Besides, the spiritual and personal reign of Christ, though branches of his kingdom, belong to different periods ; and will not both take place in the present state ; the spiritual reign will be in the present earth, and of saints in a sinful, mortal state, and in the use of ordinances : but the millennium-reign will bo on the new earth, and of saints in a risen, perfect state, stand ing in no need of ordinances, as now. The millennium-reign will not be till after tho first resurrection ; and the first resurrection will not be till tho second coming of Christ, when the dead in him shall rise first. The personal reign of Christ will not be till the new heavens and the new earth are made, which will be the seat of it ; and these will not be till the present heavens and earth are dissolved and burnt up ; and this conflagration will not bo till Christ comes a second time. The reign of Christ with his saints, will not be till Satan is bound, as well as antichrist destroyed ; and Satan will not be bound, till Christ tho mighty Angel, descends from heaven to earth, which will not be till the end of the world. V. I close all, with an answer to a few of the principal objections to the abovo scheme ; and to two or three questions relative to tho same. i. To objections.—1. It may be objected, to what purpose will Satan be bound a thousand years to prevent his deception of the nations, when there will be no nations to be deceived by him during that time, since the wicked will be all" destroyed in the general con flagration ; and the saints will be with Christ, out of the reach of temptation and seduction ? I answer, this will not be the case at the binding of Satan, which is tho first thing Christ will do when ho descends from heaven; first bind Satan, then raise the rightoous dead, and change the living saints, and take both to himself; and then burn tho world : but as the timo between the binding of Satan, and the burning of the world, may bo but short, I lay no stress on this. Let it be observed, that the samo nations, Satan, by being bound, is prevented from deceiving any more, till the thousand years are ended, are those that will be deceived by him after his being loosed ; as appears by comparing Rev. xx. 3, with verse 8 ; and to prevent their being deceived by him, and put upon schemes to the disturbance of tho saints, in their reign with Christ, he and they, that is, their sepa rate spirits, will bo shut up together in tho bottomless pit ; so that tho ono will be in a state of inactivity, and incapablo of tempting and deceiving ; and the other in a case and condition not susceptible of temptation and seduction ; and both will have enough to do to grapple with their dreadful torments in this confined state : the ono will not be at leisure to propose a mischievous scheme, nor tho other to hearken

OP THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 299 to it ; and Satan will full well know, that should ho form a scheme, it would be impossible to put it into execution in their present circum stances. That the wicked, in an immortal state, are capable of being tempted and deceived by Satan, appears by a fact, after the loosing of him ; for which reason it was necessary he should be bound during the thousand years : and that the saints, in an immortal state, aro not exempt from attempts upon them, by him and his emissaries, only when he is under absolute confinement, which made it necessary, dur ing the said term of time ; and which will be his case after this affair is over, to all eternity. — 2. That though the saints are said to reign with Christ a thousand years, Rev. xx. 4— 6, yet they are not there said to reign on earth. Hut it is elsewhere said, the meek shall inherit the earth ; and righteousness, or righteous men, shall dwell in the new earth ; and the redeemed of the Lamb, who are made kings and priests unto God, shall reign on earth ; and they are the same with the priests of God and Christ, that shall reign with him a thousand years. Be sides, it appears from the context, that this reign will be on earth ; the angel that descends from heaven to bind Satan, descends on earth ; the binding of Satan will be on earth ; for there he deceived the nations before, and will after his loosing : the resurrection, and living again of tho dead, will be on earth ; and so, in course, their reign with Christ there. Besides, they are manifestly tho camp of the saints, tho beloved city, the Gog and Magog army will encompass, who will come up on the breadth of the earth ; and therefore the saints, the beloved city, must be on earth ; and who are no other than the holy city John saw come down from God out of heaven, that is, on earth, where the tabernacle of God will be with them, Rev. xxi. 2, 3. — 3. Jt is objected to the personal reign of Christ with tho saints on earth, that they, by reason of tho frailty of nature, will be unfit to converso with Christ, in his glorious liftman nature ; but liko the apostles Paul and John, who, when he appeared to them, fell down at his feet, cither trembling, or as dead. But this objection proceeds upon a supposition, that tho saints will then be in a sinful, mortal state ; which will not be the case ; but as their souls will be perfectly sancti fied, so their bodies will be raised in incorruption, power, and glory, and fashioned liko to the glorious body of Christ, and so fit to converse with him in it ; yea, more so than separate souls in heaven. — 4. It is suggested, that for tho saints to come down from heaven, and leavo their happy state there, and dwell on earth, must be a diminishing of their happiness, and greatly detract from it. No such thing ; for Christ will come with them ; all the saints will come with him, and dwell and reign with him ; and where he is, heaven is, happiness is. Did Moses and Elias lose any of their happiness when they came down from heaven, and conversed with Christ on the mount, at his transfi guration? None at all. No more will the saints, by being and reign ing with Christ on earth, in a more glorified state than ho was then in : yea, so far from being lessened hereby, that the happiness of the saints will be increased ; their bodies will bo raised, and united to their souls, they had been in expectation of, to completo their happis

300 OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. ness : and this being now done, they will be more like to Christ, and more fit to converse with him. At the death of Christ, he committed his human spirit, or soul, to his Father, and it was that day in para dise ; on the third day when he rose, his soul returned, re-entered, and was re-united to his body ; and after his resurrection, he continued on cartli forty days, showing himself to, and conversing with his disci ples. During this time, was his soul less happy than before his resurrection J yea, was it not more so ? — 5. The bodies of the wicked lying in the earth till the thousand years are ended, may be objected to the purity of the new earth, and to the glory of the state of the saints upon it. The purification of it by fire, will, indeed, only affect the surrounding air, and the surface of the earth, or little more, and the figure of it, and its external qualities and circumstances ; and not the matter and substance of it, which will remain the same. And as for the bodies of the wicked, that will have been interred in it from the beginning of the world to the end of it, those will be long reduced to their original earth, and will be neither morally impure, nor naturally offensive ; and if anything of the latter could be conceived of, the purifying fire may reach so far as entirely to remove that ; and as for the bodies of the wicked, which will be burnt to ashes at the conflafration, how those ashes, and the ruins of the old world after the urning, will be disposed of, by the almighty power, and all-wise pro vidence of God, it is not easy to say ; it is very probable they will be disposed of under ground : and this will be so far from detracting from the glorious inhabitation, and reigning of the saints with Christ upon it, that it will greatly add to the glory of that triumphant reign ; for now all the wicked that ever were in the world, will be under the feet of the saints in the most literal sense ; now they will not only tread upon the wicked as ashes, but tread upon the very ashes of the wicked ; and so the prophecy in Mal. iv. 3, wiH be literally fulfilled, which respects this very case. ii. To questions. — 1. What will become of the new earth, after the thousand years of the reign of Christ and his saints on it are ended I whether it will be annihilated or not ? My mind has been at an uncertainty about this matter ; sometimes inclining one way, and sometimes another ; because of the seeming different accounts of it in Isa. lxvi. 22, where it is said to remain before the Lord, and in Rev. xx. 11, where it is said to flee away from the face of the Judge ; as may be seen by my notes on both places, and by a correction at the end of the fourth volume on the Old Testament ; but my last and present thoughts are, that it will continue for ever : and that the passage in Rev. xx. 11, is a rhetorical exaggeration of the glory and greatness of the Judge, which appeared such to John in the vision, that the heavens and earth could not bear it, and therefore seemed to disappear ; the phrase from whose face, which is unusual, seems to suggest and confirm it. I am of opinion, therefore, that the new earth will be a sort of an apartment to heaven, whither the saints will pass and repass at their pleasure ; and which agrees with other scriptures, which speak of the saints dwelling on, and inheriting the earth for

OF THE MILLENNIUM, OR PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST. 301 ever.1— 2. Who the Gog and Magog army are, that shall encompass the camp of the saints, when the thousand years are ended I What makes an answer to this the more difficult is that at the general conflagra tion of the present earth, all the wicked in it will be burnt up, and none but righteous persons will dwell in the new earth ; it is to no purpose, therefore, to think of Turks, Tartarians, Scythians, and other barbarous nations, types of these ; nor of any remains of the wicked who escaped the general destruction, as supposed ; nor of such frightened at the first appearance of Christ, who fled to the remotest parts, and nowresume their courage, and come forth ; it is a strange absurd notion of Dr. Burnet", that these will be men born of the earth, generated from / the slime of the ground, and the heat ofthe sun ; and increasing and mul- V tiplying after the manner of men, by carnal propagation, after a thousand years will become very numerous, as the sand of the sea, and make the attack they are said to do. But there is no need to have recourse to so gross an expedient as this : the persons are at hand, and easy to be met with ; they are the rest of the dead, the wicked, who live not till the thousand years are ended ; and then will live, being raised from the dead, even all the wicked that have been from the beginning of the world ; which accounts for their number being as the sand of the sea : and these rising where they died, and were buried, will be in and come from the four quarters of the world ; and as they died ene mies to Christ, and his saints, they will rise such ; hell and the grave will make no change in them : and as they lay down with the weapons of war, their swords under their heads, they will be in readiness, and rise with the same malicious and revengeful spirit ; and though it will be a mad enterprise, to attack saints in an immortal state, who cannot die ; and Christ, the King of kings, at the head of them ; yet when it is considered, that they will rise as weak and feeble, as unable to resist temptation, and as capable of deception as ever ; and what with being buoyed up with their own number, and the posse of devils at the head of them ; and especially considering the desperateness of their case, and this their last struggle to deliver themselves from eter nal ruin ; it may not so much bo wondered at, that they should engage in this strange undertaking. —3. What the fire will be, which shall come down from heaven, and destroy the Gog and Magog army 2 Not material fire ; but the wrath and indignation of God, which will be let down into their consciences ; and which will so terrify and dispirit them, that they will at once desist from their undertaking ; like the builders of the tower of Babel, when the Lord not only confounded their language, but smote their consciences for their impiety. The issue of all this will be, the casting of the devil and his angels into the lake of fire, where the beast and falso prophet are ; and the everlasting destruction of the wicked, soul and body, in the same, after the general judgment is over ; which is the next thing to be considered. ' The Stoic philosophers speak of the final resolution of all things into fire, into a liquid flame, or pure ether. Dr. Burnet was of opinion that the earth, after the last day of judgment, will bo changed into the nature of a sun, or a fixed star, and shine like them in the firmament.—Theory of the Earth, b. 4, ch. 10, p. 317. Mr. Whislon thinks it will no longer be found among the pla netary chorus, but probably become again a comet for tho future ages of the world. —New Theory, b. 4, ch. 5, p. 451. ■ Theory of the Earth, b. 4, ch. 10, p. 313.

302 OF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. With respect to the last and general judgment, the things to be considered are, I. The proof of a general judgment : and it may be observed, that there will be a judgment of men m a future state, which is two-fold.— 1 . A particular one, and which passes upon particular persons imme diately after death, and to which it is generally thought the apostle has respect in Heb. ix. 27a But after this, that is death, the judgment ; though, if the words are to be connected with what follows, they may respect the judgment that will be at the second coming of Christ. Howevor, it seems probable enough, if not certain, that whereas at doath the body returns to the earth, and the spirit or soul to God who gave it, Eccles. xii. 7, that then it passes under a judgment, and is adjudged either to happiness or woe. — 2. A general one, after the resurrection of the dead at tho last day ; and this is the judgment that proof is to be given of ; and which may be given, i. From reason: and it maybe observed—1. That the heathens, destitute of divine revelation, and who have had only the light of nature to guide them, havo entertained notions of a future judgment ; or, however, when suggested to them, have readily assented to it, and embraced it. When the apostle Paul preached to the wise philoso phers at Athens, upon his discoursing about the resurrection, some mocked, and others more serious, said, they would hear him again of that matter, not being satisfied with what he had said concerning it : but though he had most plainly and fully expressed tho doctrine of God's judging the world in righteousness, they did not in tho least contradict that, nor make any objection to it. The heathen writers sometimes speak of righteous judges in the infernal regions; as .<Eacus, Uhadamanthus, and Minos, who judge the souls of tho departed brought before them. Sometimes they represent them as sitting in a meadow, where more ways than one meet, two of which lead, the one to Tartarus, or hell, and the other to the island of tho blessed, or the Elysian fields ; which, though but fables, have some truth couched in them. So it is storied of Er Pamphilius, what he related after he was restored to life, having been twelve days dead ; that he saw two chasms above, and two below, answering ono another, between which the judges sat and judged men ; and when they had judged them, the righteous on the right hand they ordered to go upwards to heaven, and tho wicked on the left hand to go downward w ; which is somewhat similar to the account in Matt. xxv. ; and it may be, that some of those things said by them, are only some broken remains of a tradition received from their ancestors ; or what some got by travelling into tho Eastern countries from the Jews, and their writings : and pretty re markable is that expression of Plato"; " We ought always to believe tho ancient and sacred words which declare unto us that the soul is w Plato do Republies, 1. 10, p. 761: a Epiat. 7, p. 1203, cd. Ficin.

OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 303 immortal, and has its judges, and will undergo very great judgments or punishments, when any one is separated from the body." — 2. That there is a judgment to come, appears from the accusations of a natural conscience for sin, and from the fears and terrors men are possessed of, and cannot free themselves from ; as witness the consternation and dread Belshazzar was thrown into on sight of the hand-writing upon the wall, which could not arise from tho fear of any temporal evil coming upon him from men, but from a guilty conscience, and tho apprehension he had of being called to an account by the divine Being for his impiety and wickedness ; so Felix trembled when he heard the apostle Paul discpurso of judgment to come ; for the doctrine met with the light and conviction of his own conscience, which caused dis tress and terror. — 3. The truth of a future judgment may be argued from the justice of God, which requires it ; for it is easy to observe, that the justice of God is not clearly displayed in the dispensation of things in the present state. Good men are afflicted and evil men prosper, which has been a stumbling of saints, and a hardening of sin ners. It seems reasonable to believe, that there will be a future state, when justice will take place, and the tables will be turned ; and such who have had their evil things now will have their good things ; and such who have had their good things here will have their evil ones hereafter ; for it is a righteous thing with God, to render tribulation to them that trouble his people, and to reward his saints according to his gracious promises. — 4. This may bo concluded from tho relation men stand in to God, as creatures to a Creator. As God is their Creator, he has a right to give them a law; which he has, cither written or unwritten, for the breach of which they are accountable to him : so that whether they have sinned without the written law, or in it, they will be judged accordingly; for every one must give an account of himself to God. — 5. This may be reasoned from the judgments of God in this present life ; and especially from the chastisements of good men, sometimes called a judging them, 1 Cor. xi. 32 ; from whence an argument may be framed in the words of the apostle, Ifjudgment begin at the house of God, &c, 1 Pet. iv. 17 ; if the one are judged, most certainly the other will be. — 6. The desires of the saints after it, implanted in their hearts by the Spirit of God, furnish out an argu ment in favour of it ; for, however dreadful tho thought of it is to Christless sinners, saints can look upon it, and for it, with pleasure ; it is now their privilege that they can come to God, the judge of all, in the righteousness of Christ ; as he is, through that, the justifier of him that believes in Jesus; and they know that the Lord, the righteous Judge, when he comes, will be their advocate and friend, and give them the crown of righteousness laid up for them ; aud therefore, in the view of this, most earnestly desire his coming to judgment, and importunately pray, saying, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! Now such desires are not implanted in vain. it. Tho truth of this doctrine will more fully appear from divine revelation. In Gen. iv. 8, in the Hebrew text, after these words, And Cain talked with Abel his brother, there is a mark for a pause, as

30-t OF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. if something was wanting, and to be supplied ; and which some ancient versions have supplied thus, I^et us go into the field. But the Chaldee paraphrases add more, and give us an account of the conversation that passed between them in the field ; how that Cain said to his brother, " there is no judgment, and thero is no Judge, nor another world," &c. ; but Abel said, " there is a judgment, and there is a Judge, and another wovld," &c ; upon which Cain rose up and slew him. Now, though this is not to be depended on, nor do I lay any stress upon it, and only observe it to show the sense of the ancient synagogue concerning this article, we have a more sure word of pro phecy to take heed unto, for our direction in this matter, and where this doctrine clearly appears, as— 1. In the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, recorded in Judc, which, as it is to be understood of the second coming of Christ, since it will be with all his saints, so of his coming to judgment, which will be general ; for he will then execute judgment upon all ; and will judge men, both for their ungodly deeds and for their hard speeches. — 2. The character Abraham gives of Jehovah, as the Judge of all the earth, who will do right, Gen. xviii. 25, shows that there is a Judge, and that there will be a righteous judgment ; and which is committed to the Son of God, who at this time appeared to Abraham in a human form, and was known by him. —3. It may be concluded from the faith of Job in his living Redeemer, who believed he would stand on the earth in the latter day, and raise the dead, and himself among the rest ; and would have his friends know that thero was a judgment, which would then take place, Job xix. 25, 26, 29. — 4. Also from the declaration of Moses, in his song, the Lord shall judge his people, Deut. xxxii. 3b', vindicate their cause, render tribulation to them who have troubled them, judge their per sons, and introduce them into his glory. — 5. Likewise from the song of Hannah, the Lord shalljudge the ends of the earth, 1 Sam. ii. 10, even all the inhabitants of it, who have lived in the uttermost parts of it ; and that by the Messiah, as is suggested, since it is added, He shall give strength to his King, and exalt the horn of his anointed! — 6. From some passages in the Psalms, in which God calls to the heavens and earth to be witnesses of his judging his people ; which will be when he comes with a fire devouring before him, and he himself will be Judge, when he will come to judge the world with righteousness, and the people with equity, Psalm l. 3—6, xcvii. 13, and xcviii. 9. — 7. From others in the book of Ecclesiastes, where it is said, God \\\\\ judge the righteous and the wicked; and that though young men may indulge themselves in youthful follies and vanities, yet for those things they should be brought to judgment ; and into which every work shall be brought, whether good or evil. — 8. From various sayings of Christ, recorded by the evangelist : as that whosoever should kill would be in danger of judgment ; and he also that was angry with his brother without a cause ; and when he exhorts men not to judge, lost they be judged ; and upbraids some cities where his mighty works were done, and they repentod not, telling them it would be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment than for them ;

OF THE LA8T AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 305 and when he declares that every idle word must be given an account of in the day of judgment ; and affirms that the men of Nineveh, and the queen of the south, will rise up in judgment against the wicked generation of the Jews, Matt. v. 21, 22, and vii. 1, and xi. 22, 24, and xii. 36—42. — 9. From the sermons and epistles of the apostles, par ticularly the apostles Peter and Paul : the apostle Peter in Acts x. 42, 1 Pet. iv. 9, 2 Pet. ii. 9 ; the apostle Paul in Acts xvii. 31, and xxiv. 25, Rom. ii. 3—16, and xiv. 10, 2 Cor. v. 10, 2 Tim. iv. 1, 8. — 10. From Heb. vi. 2, where eternal judgment is mentioned as an article of a creed ; either of a Christian creed, as is commonly thought, or of a Jewish creed, to which I most incline ; but understood either way, it is a proof of its being an article of faith to be embraced and professed. To all which may be added, the partial descriptions of the judgment which are separately given, and which, when laid together, give a complete view of the whole, and show the judgment to be general. Thus, for instance, the calling to account, the examination, trial, and judgment of persons in public work ; ministers of the word are apart made mention of in the parable of the talents ; who, when reckoned with by the Lord at his coming, he that had received five talents and had gained five more, and he that had received two and had gained other two, are commended as good and faithful servants, and rewarded with a rule over many things ; in a similar parable it is with a rule over cities, in proportion to their gain: but he that received one talent and made no use of it, is condemned as an unprofitable servant, Matt. xxv. 14—30. The description of the judgment in Matt. xxv. 31—46, I take it, that it only refers to members of churches, professors of religion, good and bad ; for this account is only an explanation of the two preceding parables ; what is there delivered by way of parable is here declared without one ; which, in other places, is sometimes done by Christ. The first of the parables only concerns the wise and foolish virgins', professors of both characters in the kingdom of heaven, or gospel-church state ; and the other only respects persons in a publio character, in the same church-state, whether good or bad ; and this account is of such who have belonged to the same flock, and have been folded together in the same church-state ; only one were goats and the other sheep, but not known what they were, but now at the judgment it will be known, when the Lord shall judge between cattle and cattle, the sheep and the goats, and divide them from one another. Besides, what the wicked are upbraided with, show that they were such who had dwelt among christians, and had been asso ciates with them, and saw them in distress, and did not relieve them ; but this cannot be said of multitudes who never heard of Christ, nor ever saw any of his people in distressed circumstances, and showed them no pity ; and moreover, the sentence pronounced upon them, is the same which elsewhere it is said will be pronounced on such that have borne the christian name, yet bad men, either preachers of the word, or members of churches, Luke xiii. 26, 27. I am aware what will be objected to all this, that it is said, that all nations shall be VOL. II. x

306 OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. gathered before the Judge : but then it should be observed, that the word all is frequently to be restrained, and taken in a limited sense, according to the subject treated of; as it must be here ; for if what has been said is sufficient to prove, that only professors of religion aro spoken of, then the sense must be, that professors in all nations of the world shall be summoned and brought before the Judge. Likewise the text in Rev. xx. 12, seems only to respect the wicked ; the dead said to stand before God, are the wicked dead, the rest of the dead, who lived not till the thousand years were ended, verse 5, and are the same, who, being raised, shall encompass the camp of the saints, the beloved city ; but being defeated in their enterprise, shall bo brought, and stand as criminals before God, the Judge of all, and be judged out of the books opened, according to their works : and what may further strengthen this sense, no other use, as appears, is made of the book of life ; only that those whose names were not found in it, were cast into the lake of fire, which must be the wicked. However, putting all these descriptions together, they are a full proof of the general judgment, both of good and bad men, of men under every character and class, and of every age. II. The next inquiry is, who the person is that shall be the Judge, preside in judgment, and carry on the judicial process to the end ? God is, and will be Judge, and he only ; hence we read of God the Judge of all, Heb. xii. 23, and of the judgment of God; and of the righteous judgment of God, Rom. ii. 3, 5 ; and John saw in a vision, the dead, small and great, stand before God, Rev. xx. 12 ; but not God the Father ; For the Father judgeth no man, John v. 22, that is, no man separate and apart from his Son ; nor in a visible form, for he never assumed any : but then he will judge the world by his Son, as he is expressly said to do, Rom ii. 16, so that he is not excluded from a concern in the judgment ; nor the Holy Spirit. The trine-une God will be the Judge, as to original authority, power, and right of judgment; but according to the economy settled between the three divine Persons among themselves, the work is assigned unto the Son ; and is appro priate to him : hence we read of appearing and standing before the judgment-seat of Christ, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and kingdom, Rom. xiv. 1 ; this work belongs to him as Mediator, and is a part of his office as such ; it is what is committed to him by the Father ; and which he has an authority from him to execute, John v. 22, 27 ; it is what he was appointed to in the council and covenant of God, it is a branch of his kingly office, and therefore in the administration of it he is spoken of as a King ; Tlien shall the King say to them on his right-hand, Come ye blessed, fyc, and when they shall say, Lord, when saw we thee so and so ; The King shall answer and say, fyc. Matt. xxv. 34, 40. Yea, Christ by his death and resurrection, has obtained a right of dominion over all, as to be tho Judge of them ; For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and living, Rom. xiv. 9, that is, so as to judge both quick and dead, as the follow ing verses show. And accordingly, upon his resurrection from the

OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 307 dead, all power in heaven and earth were given to him as Mediator ; and upon his ascension to heaven, he was made, or declared, Lord and Christ; and at his second coming, he will come as the Lord, the righteous judge, with an acquired as well as an allowed right to judge the world ; and this office he will execute as God-man, in both his natures, human and divine ; which are both necessary to the execution of it. i. It is highly proper that the Judge of all the earth, should be God. The work requires divine omniscience, infinite wisdom, almighty power, and strict justice and faithfulness ; all which are to be found in Christ the Son of God. Omniscience is necessary to this work, which is proper to God; for all the works, words, and thoughts of men, must be known by him in order to judgo them ; to know all the works, words, and thoughts, of only one man, for the space of sixty, seventy, or eighty years, is more than any mere creature can know, but what is even this knowledge, to that of all the individuals throughout a kingdom and nation ? and what is that to the knowledge of all the works, words, and thoughts, of the millions of individuals in all kingdoms and nations? and of those in every age of the world, from the beginning of the world to the end of it ? Such knowledge is too wonderful for us to conceive of; yet this is in Christ, as God ; who knows all persons and things, before whom every creature and all things, are manifest, naked, and open ; even before him with whom we have to do ; or to whom we must give an account, as the words may be rendered. He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ; and needs not to be told any thing of man, for he knows all that is in him, and done by him. "Wisdom and sagacity are necessary to a judgo. Solomon, by his judgment between the two harlots, became very famous and respectablo among his people ; but a greater than Solomon is here : One who is the all-wise God, the wisdom of God, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and on whom the Spirit of knowledge and wisdom rests ; a Judge whose head, and whose hairs, are white as wool, as white as snow, denoting his great gravity and wisdom ; who is able, as it is necessary he should be, to distinguish between man and man ; between that which has only the appearance of a good action, and that which is really such. Almighty power is likewise requisite in the Judge of the world, to do what must and will be done by him ; as to raiso the dead, summon all before him, and not only pronounce the decisive sentences on them, but carry them into execution ; for which purpose, he is said to come with power, as well as with great glory : and such an one is Christ, who is tho mighty God, styled most mighty, yea, the Almighty. Strict justice and faithfulness, are qualifications in a tem poral judge, who is to execute true judgment ; is not to be bribed, nor to respect persons ; nor to pass sentence in a causo through favour and affection ; and such a Judge, and one infinitely more so, is necessary to judge the world in righteousness, and the people with equity ; and such an one is Jesus Christ the righteous ; and who will appear to be the Lord the righteous Judge, and his judgment to be just and true ; for he will not judge according to the sight of his eyes, and the hearing of x 2 V

308 OF THE LAST AND GENKRAL JUDGMEVT. Lis cars ; but with righteousness shall he judge, and reprove with equity ; righteousness will be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. it. That Christ should appear in human nature, when he comes to judge the world, is highly necessary ; for God has appointed to judge the world by that Man whom he has ordained ; so that Christ, as man, must be concerned in the judgment of the world ; yea, the Father has given him authority to execute it, because he is the Son of man, Acts xvii. 31, John v. 27, because he has assumed human nature, and so can appear visibly in it, as it is proper a judge should be visible. The sight of a judge is very striking ; it commands awe and reverence in all; it fills the criminal with terror, and the just man with pleasure : so Christ, tho Judge, will come in such a visible manner, that every eye shall sec him ; he will appear to the joy of some, and to the shame and confusion of others. A judge usually appears, and it is proper he should, in some external pomp and splendour, in his habit, in his retinue, and attendants ; and as placed on a seat, or throne, a bench of justice, with a court set around him : Christ, the judge of all, will come in great splendour and glory, in the glory of his human nature visible, the rays of his divine nature beaming through it ; attended by his mighty angels, and with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God ; a glorious great white throne will be prepared for him, on which he will be visibly placed, and thousands, and ten thousands standing about him, and ministering unto him ; it is proper he should appear m human nature, to deliver out, with an articulate voice to be heard, the sentences, both the one and tho other ; Come ye blessed, and Go ye cursed ! Moreover, since he, as man, was arraigned at the bar of man, and stood before a judge, and was unjustly condemned by him, and dealt with injuriously by men ; it seems highly proper, that when he comes as a Judge, he should come as man, and the tables be turned ; and ho that was his Judge stand before him, and see the very man he used so ill, and receive his sentence from him ; as well as all such who have spoken against him, his person, doctrines, and ordi nances, and mal-treated his people, and who will be obliged to confess, that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. As for the concern of others in tho judgment, angels or men, nothing is to be admitted, that derogates from the glory of the office of Christ, as Judge of tho world. Angels will be no otherwise concerned, than as they will be attendants on him at his coming ; be employed by him in gathering and bringing to him the elect, raised from the dead, in the several parts of the world, at tho first resurrection ; and in the binding up of the tares, the wicked, and casting them into hell, after the second resurrection, and final judgment : approvers of the righteous judgment, no doubt they will be ; but as assisting and advising in it, as there will be no need of it, there is no reason to believe it : how far they may be evidences and witnesses in some cases, I will not say ; since they are frequently in religious assemblies, and have been employed in many things in this lower world, and must be privy to many things done in it. As for the saints, there seems to be more

OF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 309 that is said of them ; as that thrones will be set for them, and judg ment be given to them ; the apostles are said to sit on twelve thrones, in the kingdom of Christ, and to judge men ; arid the apostle Paul says, that the saints shall judge the world ; yea, judge angels, Luke xxii. 36, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3 ; not that the saints will be co-judges with Christ, and assistants to him in judgment ; whatever may be said for them, as sitters by, and approvers of it, as no doubt they will be"; and besides this, it is generally allowed, that they, as members of Christ, and as considered in him, their head, will judge the world ; and also that their holy lives and conversation, will rise up in judgment against their wicked neighbours, and condemn them ; as that of righteous Lot will rise up against the inhabitants of Sodom. III. The persons that will be judged ; angels and men : as to good angels, nothing is said of the judgment of them in scripture ; nor does it seem probable, since they never sinned, were confirmed in their original state, by the grace of Christ, and have always been in a fixed state of happiness, always beholding the face of God in heaven : how far their perfect obedience to God, and the faithful services they have performed to men, at his command, may be brought into judgment, to receive their just praise and commendation, I will not say. But as to the case of the evil angels, it is notorious that they will be judged ; for if the saints shall judge angels, that is, evil ones, much more will Christ ; these, indeed, as soon as they sinned, were cast down to hell, as into a prison ; and as criminals are committed to prison, and laid in chains, until the assize, or session, comes ; so these are laid in chains of darkness, and reserved to the judgment of the great day, when they will receive their final sentence, and enter into full punishment ; in which it seems they are not as yet, 2 Pet. i. 4, Jude 6. But the judgment spoken of in scripture, chiefly concerns men, good and bad ; for as the wise man says, God shalljudye the righteous and the wicked. i. The righteous : and these shall be judged first alone ; for the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment with them, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, and they will be first judged ; not only according to the order of the words in Ecclesiastes, before mentioned, on which no stress is to be laid ; but their judgment will be dispatched first, as represented in Matt. xxv. Besides, they will be raised first; The dead in Christ will rise first ; even a thousand years before the rest ; and it is not reasonable to suppose, that their judgment will not proceed ; but be deferred until the rest are raised. Besides, Christ will judge the quick and the dead, the living saints changed, and the dead ones raised, at his appearing and kingdom ; their judgment will be at the beginning of his kmgdom, and be continued m it ; and it will be proper that they should be judged first, that they may receive the distribution of rewards, made in the kingdom-state; though indeed, they may at once be put into the possession of distin guished favours, and have marks of respect, immediately, as soon as that state begins, and their judgment be brought on, to show the justness of the distribution made to them. Moreover, since they are to judge the world, and to judge angels, it is necessary they should bo n"«t judged themselves.

310 OF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. Here would have been the proper place to consider the question whether the sins of the righteous will bo brought into judgment? but that I have given my thoughts of this in another place. Thus much for the judgment of the righteous. Some have thought that Enoch and Elias, and those who rose after the resurrection of Christ, and of whom it may bo supposed, that they went with him at his ascension to heaven ; that those will not come into judgment, since they have been so long in a state of perfection, both in soul and body, which will not be the case of the other righteous at the coming of Christ ; but this I will not take upon me to determine. ii. The wicked will be judged ; such who have indulged themselves in tho gratification of sinful pleasures, and may have been so hardened in sin as to imagine they shall escape the judgment of God ; yet they shall not, Rom. ii. 3—5 ; even all the wicked shall be judged. These are the dead John saw stand before God, small and great ; all tho wicked dead from the beginning of tho world, to the end of it ; who will not livo again, or be raised from the dead, till after the thousand years are ended, Rev. xx. 5, 12; so that the judgment of those will not be till after the thousand years' reign of Christ and his saints, and after the second resurrection ; after which, all the wicked being raised, shall bo brought to judgment. small and great ; that is, such as were so when they died, being either children, or grown persons ; though now as they will rise as persons in manhood, will so stand before God ; or as high and low, rich and poor, kings and peasants : for now shall the rich and poor meet together, though not now distinguished as such ; but having been such in their mortal state, shall not be exempted from the judgment of God : or as greater and lesser sinners, and accord ingly, shall receive their just punishment ; for however it may be a question, whether there will be degrees in the ultimato glory ; there is none concerning degrees of punishment ; since it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for some cities where Christ preached and wrought his miracles ; yet repented not, nor believed in him. I am aware, that there are some objections to be made to what has been said concerning the judgment of the righteous before the wicked ; as,—1. That it seems to contradict the account given of the judgment of both, Matt, xxv., as appearing together, then separated and placed, the one at the right, and the other at the left hand of Christ. To which it will be sufficient to answer, that in descriptions taken from men, and delivered after the manner of men, and in allusion to what is done among men, it is not to be expected, that there should be an exact correspondence in every circumstance of them ; the general design'of them is what is to be attended to ; and if that is answered, it is enough. Now the general design of this description is, to show that both good and bad men will be judged ; that they will be distinguished in judg ment, and one will not be taken for the other ; the nominal professor will be unmasked : and as for the position of them, at the right and left hand of Christ, it cannot be understood of a natural position to the right and left ; any more than in the petition of the two sons of Zebedce, to sit, tho ono at tho right hand, and the other at tho left hand of

OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 311 Christ, in his kingdom. The allusion is to a sanhedrim, or court of judicature with the Jews ; when, whom the judgo absolved, he placed at his right hand ; and whom he condemned, he placed at his left. So that the whole of what is intended by this description is, that both sorts of persons shall bo judged : that they shall be distinguished, and appear to be what they really are ; that the ono will be acquitted, and the other condemned. All which may as well be done by supposing the judgment of the one to precede the judgment of the other, as if toge ther ; and according to the description itself, the judgment of the righteous will be first dispatched.—2. It is objected, that this account of the judgment seems to make two days of judgment. Not at all : there will be but one day of judgment, though it will be a long one. We are not to imagine, that the day of judgment will bo only a natural day, consisting of twenty-four hours ; surely it cannot be thought, that all the affairs of kingdoms, states, and churches, and particular persons, from the beginning of the world to the end of it, which will be brought into judgment, and laid open there, will be huddled over in so short a space of time ; when this judgment may well be supposed to be with the utmost precision and exactness. No, this day of the Lord will be a thousand years ; and for which reason it may bo called a great day, because of its great and long duration ; as well as because of the great things done in it, and by a great Person ; and may be also one reason why it is called eternal judgment ; the word eternal, or everlasting, being sometimes used for a long time only, as this will bo : the judg ment of the righteous, will proceed at the beginning of tho thousand years, and continue in them ; and during this time, things will be pre paring for the judgment of the wicked, at the closo of them ; and so things will go on successively, till the wholo is finished : as the resur rection of the just will be on the morning of this day, so will their judgment begin then ; and as the resurrection of tho wicked will be at the evening of this day, so likewise their judgment : and as the even ing and morning make but one day, so it will bo in this case ; there will bo but ono day of judgment.—3. Should it be further objected, that there seems no necessity for such a length of time to judge tho world in, seeing Christ, tho Judgo, is omniscient, and knows all men, and their works ; and therefore can pass judgment upon them at once. I answer, if there is any thing in this objection, it lies as strongly against any formal judgment at all ; whether of a shorter or longer space. Besides, the length of time is not taken, and the strict and accurate examination of things entered into for the sake of the informa tion of the Judge, but that all things might be made clear and plain to every man's conscience ; and that it might be evidently seen, that the distribution of favours by the Judge, in the kingdom-state, is made to every one according to his works. God could have made the world at once, in a moment, but ho thought fit to take six days in doing it, to show the greatness of the work, his wisdom, and the counsel of his will in it ; so when tho affairs of the world, for six thousand years, and how much longer we know not, shall be called over, the Lord is pleased to take a thousand years for it, to show his exactness and accuracy,

312 QF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. strict justice and equity, with which all things shall be managed ; and the rather, since the determination is for an eternity to come, in the final issue of things. — 4. It may seem inconsistent to some, that the time of the saints reigning with Christ, and their being judged by him, should be together. That so it will be, seems most certain, since Christ will judge the quick and the dead, the living saints changed, and the dead saints raised, at his appearing and kingdom ; when he shall appear and enter on his visible and glorious kingdom, and take his saints to reign with him : nor can I see any inconsistence in this ; since the saints, while they are judging, will be in a sinless, perfect state, be like to Christ, both in soul and body, and shall enjoy his personal presence ; so that their judgment will not in the least break in upon their felicity in reigning. Besides, they will not stand before the Judge as criminals, but as the favourites of heaven : and this judgment will not be of their persons, on which their final state depends ; but of their works ; and that it might appear, that the distribution of favours to them, in this kingdom-state, is just and equitable. Before this head is dismissed, it may be proper briefly to observe, what of men will be brought into judgment.—1. All their works and actions, whether good or evil, Eccles. xii. 14.—2. All the words of men, every hard speech against Christ and his people ; yea, every idle word, and much more every profane and blasphemous expression, Matt. xii. 35—37. — 3. Every thought, good or bad ; for there is a book of remem brance written, for those that thought on the name of the Lord, which are registered there, in order to be observed and taken notice of here after, Mal. iii. 16 ; God willjudge the secrets of men, not only their secret works, but their secret thoughts, by Jesus Christ, according to the gospel ; and the Lord the Judge, bring to light the hidden things of darkness, &c, Rom. ii. 16. IV. The rule of judgment, according to which it will proceed, and from whence the evidence will be taken, are certain books opened, Rev. xx. 12 ; the same is observed, Dan. vii. 10, where the judgment of anti christ, the emblem of this judgment, is described ; only there is no mention made of the other book, the book of life ; because that only respected what will be done in this present life ; but this respects the life to come, and the state of men in it.— 1. The book of divine omni science will be opened ; Christ, the Judge, who is God over all, knows all persons ; the eyes of his omniscienco are everywhere, throughout the whole world, beholding the evil and the good ; evil men and good men ; evil actions and good actions ; his eyes are upon all the ways of men, and he observes every step they take, and none can hide himself from him, who fills heaven and earth with his presence ; and when he comes to judge the world, this book of his omniscience will be opened ; he will let aD the churches, and all the world know, that he it is who searches the hearts, and tries the reins of the children of men. What is unusual in human courts of judicature, for the judge upon the bench to become an evidence, and be a witness against the prisoner at the bar, will be the case now ; I will come near to you to judgment, saith the Lord, and I will be a swift witne'ss against the sorcerers, &c, Mal. iii. 5.

OF THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 313 — 2. This book seems to be the same with the book of remembrance, not that God needs any thing to assist and refresh his memory ; he has a strong memory, to remember the sins which are written by him in his book, with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ; and what is written with an iron pen, or cut with a diamond, is not easily erased ; great Babylon will come up in remembrance before God, with all her sins ; and so will the sins of wioked men be remembered, be brought into judgment, and meet with their deserved punishment. Though the above book' seems to be written for them only that fear the Lord, whose sins he remembers no more ; but then he is not forgetful of their good works, which flow from his own grace ; and even when they have been forgotten by them, they will be remembered by him, as appears from Matt. xxv. 37. — 3. The book of the creatures, or creation, will be opened. Every creature of God is good and useful to men ; but those which are given for use, are often abused to gratify one carnal, sensual lust or another ; and which will be produced as witnesses against the sinner.—4. The book of providence will bo opened : the providential goodness of God extends to all his creatures : and such who have despised the riches of his goodness bestowed upon them, which should have led them to repentance, and have abused the forbearance and long-suffering of God towards them, in his providence, will find that by the hardness and impenitence of their hearts, they have treasured up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judg ment of God ; when the providential dealings of God with them, shall be brought as an evidence against them, Rom. ii. 4, 5. — 5. The book of the scriptures will be opened, both of law and gospel ; the law of Moses will accuse those who have lived under the law, and been violaters of it, and pronounce them guilty before God; they that have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law ; nay, the Gentiles will judge them who by the letter and circumcision transgress the law ; that is, will rise up in judgment against them, and condemn them. Such who have lived under the gospel-dispensation, and have neglected, despised, and rejected the gospel of Christ, will be judged according to it, and by it ; The word, says Christ, that I have spoken, the same shall judge him that rejects it ; in the last day, John xii. 48. God, says the apostle, shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel, Rom. ii. 16 ; and the grand rule in it, according to which judg ment will proceed, is that in Mark xvi. 16 ; nay, even the law and light of nature will be a rule of judgment respecting those who have only had the benefit of that ; For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law, Rom. ii. 12. — 6. The book of conscience : in this are recorded the actions of men ; and from thenoe are they to be brought forth upon occasion ; and which either accuses or excuses for them, when it does its office ; unless cauterized and seared, as it were, with a red-hot iron ; and even such, in the day of judgment, will have their consciences awaked, and which will be as a thousand witnesses against them. — 7. There is another book that will be opened ', and that is the book of life ; in which the names of some are written, which is the same as to be written in heaven ; and means no other than the s

314 OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. ordination and appointment of them to eternal life in heaven : this is the Lamb's book of life, the book of eternal election, in which all the names of all the elect are written ; and the use of this book in the day of judgment will be, that such whose names are found written in it, will be admitted into the new Jerusalem, the holy city, and partako of the privileges thereof, Rev. xxi. 27 ; and that such whose names are not found written in it ; or, as it is expressed in Jude, 4, who axeforewritten to this condemnation, those shall be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 15. Now the dead will hejudged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works, Rev. xx. 12, which must be understood of the wicked dead, when raised and brought to stand before God ; who will have sentence pronounced upon them according to their wicked works ; between which, and the punishment adjudged to, will be a just proportion ; The wages of sin is death ; eternal death is the just demerit of it : but as there is a difference in the sins of the wicked ; somo more, others fewer ; some greater, others less ; some more, and others less aggravated ; their punishment will be proportioned to them, as will be seen in the next chapter : and so every one will be judged according to his works, in the most just and equitable manner. Indeed, good men also will be judged according to their works ; but not adjudged to eternal lifo according to them ; for therets no pro portion between the best works of men and eternal lifo ; Eternal life is thefree gift of God, through Christ : but upon the judgment of them, the distribution of rewards, or of peculiar and distinguished favours, more or less, in the kingdom-state, will be according to every man's works. This judgment out of the books, and according to works, is designed to show with what accuracy and exactness, with what justice and equity, it will be executed, in allusion to statute-books in courts of judicature, to be referred unto in any case of difficulty. V . The circumstances of the judgment, as to time and place. i. The time of it ; the particular judgment of men, or of particular persons in their souls, will be immediately after death ; according to Heb. ix 27 ; the general judgment, or the judgment of all men, in soul and body, will be after the resurrection : the judgment of the righteous, after the first resurrection; and the judgment of the wicked, after the second resurrection. It is often spoken of in scripture as though it would be quickly, particularly in Rev. xxii. 7—20, to alarm men, and keep up a constant expectation of it. There is a day appointed for it, as may be reasonably thought ; for if thero is a time to every purpose, a time appointed to every thing done under the heavens, then certainly for a business of such moment, and of so great importance, as the general judgment is ; and indeed, this is expressly affirmed ; He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, Aots xvii. 31 ; the time of it indeed is unknown to men ; hence the Judge is represented as coming at an unawares, as a thief in the night, at an hour unthought of; and therefore men should watch and pray, and be ready to meet him. ii. The place This is also uncertain. Some, because of certain

OP THE LAST AND GENERAL JUDGMENT. 315 passages in Joel iii. 2, 12, have thought of the valley of Jehoshaphat ; but no valley can be supposed large enough to hold all that will be judged at the day of judgment ; nor does it appear from scripture, that there ever was such a valley of such a name ; nor does this seem to be the proper name of the valley, whatever valley is intended ; in verse 14, it is called, the valley of decision ; it properly signifies, tho judgment of the Lord, and so is applicable to any place where tho Lord should judge the enemies of his people, and bring destruction upon them : and to me it seems to refer to the battle at Armageddon, where will be a great slaughter of the kings of the earth ; which will make way for the latter-day-glory. The two more probable opinions are, that the judgment will be either in the air or in the earth. Some think it will be in the air, because the judge will come in the clouds of heaven, and the living saints will then be changed, and the dead saints raised ; and both will be caught up together unto the clouds, to meet the Lord hi the air. But I rather think it will be on earth ; the judgment of the saints will be on the new earth, on which they will descend from the air with Christ ; and which will be the seat of his .reign with the saints, and of theirs with him; and which will be tho time of their judging ; and as for the wicked dead, who will live again after the thousand year* are ended, they will come upon the breadth of the earth, where will be a camp of the saints, the beloved city, and encompass that ; and being defeated in their design, they will be at once brought to judgment, and stand before God, the Judgo of all, and receive their sentence. VI. The properties of this judgment, as may be gathered from what has been said about it, and from express passages of scripture. — 1 . It is future, yet to come : the apostle Paul reasoned before Felix, among other things ofjudgment to come, Acts xxiv. 25. But because it seems to be deferred, and does not immediately take place, somo have their hearts set in them to do evil, and put away this evil day far from them, as they reckon it, and put it very far away indeed, and fancy it will never be. But, — 2. It is certain ; purpose and prophecy make it so: God has, in his purposes, appointed a day for it, and ho will keep it; and his purpose is never disannulled; Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of it, as well as others ; and the word of pro phecy is a sure one, and will certainly be fulfilled : therefore lot young and old know, that for the things they have committed, God will bring them into judgment, Eccles. xi. 9. — 3. It will be universal, both as to persons and things. All men will be judged sooner or later ; in the morning, or in the evening of that day ; none shall escape it : and all works will be brought into it, good or bad. — 4. It will be a righteous judgment ; so it is called, Rom. ii. 5. The world will be judged in righteousness ; the Judge of all the earth will do right ; Christ the Lord will be a righteous Judge, and his judgment just. — 5. It will be the last judgment : it will be whon tho last trumpet shall sound, that the dead shall rise, in order to be judged ; and it will be at the last day, when the word of Christ, and Christ according to it, shall judge men, 1 Cor. xv. 52. — 6. It is called eternal judgment, Heb. vi. 2, not

316 OF THB FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. only because it will be a long time about, as has been observed ; but because it will issue in the final state of men ; either in their everlast ing destruction, or in everlasting happiness, which are next to be considered. OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. When the judgment is finished, and the sentence pronounced, the wicked will go into everlasting punishment, Matt. xxv. 46. What that punishment will be, and the duration of it, are the things to be con sidered. With respect to the punishment itself, I shall, I. Prove that there will be a state of punishment of wicked men in the future world. There is a punishment of the wicked in their souls, which takes place at death ; as appears from the parable of the rich man, Luke xvi. 23, and there is a punishment of them in soul and body, after the resurrection, and the last judgment, see Rev. xx. 12, 15, which latter is the continuation and perfection of the former. And this will appear, — 1. From the light of nature among the heathens ; being owned and spoken of, not only by their poets, but by their philo sophers, and those the more wise, grave, and serious among them. The poets, indeed, say many fabulous things of Pluto, the king of hell; of Rhadamanthus, and others, as judges there ; of Charon the ferry man, and of the infernal rivers ; yet under these fables some truth lies disguised : nay, Tertullian charges the heathens with borrowing these things from the sacred writings ; " When we speak of God as a Judge, and threaten men with hell-fire, we are laughed at ; but, says he, the poets and the philosophers erect a tribunal in hell, and speak of a river of fire there : from whence, says he, I beseech you, have they such like things, but from our mysteries?1" But not the poets only, but the more serious and wiser sort of the heathens, believed these things. Csssar was reproved by Cato, for deriding punishments after death ; as if there were neither joys nor torments beyond it, but that that puts an end to allb. Many of the philosophers wrote of things done in hades, or hell; and Plato0 denies that death is the last thing; but that the punishments of hell are the last ; and says all the same things the poets do ; yea, declares them to be rational, and not fables'1 : hence Arnobius", an ancient defender of the Christians against the heathens, says, " Dare ye deride us when we speak of hell, and of unquenchable fire, into which we know souls are cast? Does not your Plato say the same, in his book of the immortality of the soul ? Does he not make mention of the rivers Acheron, Styx, Cocytus, and Pyriphlegeton, in which he asserts souls are rolled, plunged and burnt?" Epicurus thought the punishment of hell to be a poetical figment. So Horace, who was an Epicurean, saysf, Mors ultima linea rerum est, death is the last line of things. But Zeno the Stoic believed, and taught, that the godly and ungodly will have different habitations ; the one delightful, » Apolog. c. 47. b Sallust. de Bell. Catilin. p. 28, 31. • Dc Lcgibm. 1. 9, p. 943; ct 1. 12, p. 994. d In Gorgia, p. 353. • Adv. Genua, 1. 2, p. 67. ' Epist. 1. 1, ep. 16, v. 79.

OP THE F1NAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 317 and the other uncomfortable8. Indeed, some of the Stoic philoso phers h derided these things ; but then it is thought they only meant the fables of the poets about them, since their founder, as now observed, believed and taught them. Hierocles, a Pythagorean and Platonic philosopher, speaks of ev abov KoXaorripiq, punishments in hell'. — 2. A state of punishment hereafter, appears from the impressions of guilt and wrath on the consciences of men now, for sins committed, being struck with the fear of a future judgment, and of punishment that shall follow ; and which are observable in heathens themselves whose consciences accuse, or excuse, one another ; hence as Cicero k says, " Every man's sins distress him ; their evil thoughts and con sciences terrify them ; these, to the ungodly, are their daily and domestic furies, which haunt them day and night." Such may be observed in Cain, Pharaoh, Judas, and other wicked persons ; in whom there was nothing but a fearful looking for of fiery indignation, which shall consume them in hell. And theso are emblems, earnests, presages, and pledges of wrath to come. Yea, there is sometimes, something in good men which bears a resemblance to this ; and whilst they are under the sense of them, apprehend themselves as in a con dition similar to it ; as David, Heman the Ezrahite, and Jonah, Psalm cxvi. 3, and lxxxviii. 6—16, Jonah ii. 2. — 3. This may be argued from the justice of God. If there is a God, he must be believed to bo just ; and if there is a just God, there must be a future state of funishment ; and, indeed, the disbelief of these commonly go together: t is certain there is a God ; and it is as certain that God is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works ; and will render to ever}' man according to his works. Now it is certain, that justice does not take place, or is not so manifestly displayed in this world ; it seems, therefore, but just and reasonable, that there should be a change of things in a future state, when the saints will be comforted, and the wicked tormented : it is but a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to wicked men hereafter, who have had their flow of worldly happiness, and abused it. God is a God of vengeance, and he will show it, and it is proper he sheuld. — 4. This is abundantly evident from divine revelation, from the books both of the Old and the New Testament. David says, 2'he wicked shall be turned into hell, Psalm ix. 17. And our Lord speaks of some sins which make men in danger of hell-fire, and of the whole body being cast into hell for them ; and of both body and soul being destroyed in hell, Matt. v. 22—30. But these, and such like passages, will be considered hereafter. — 5. This may be farther confirmed, from the examples of persons that already endure the punishment, at least in part ; as the fallen angels, who, when they had sinned, were cast down from heaven, where was tho first abode of them, to Tartarus, or hell, a place of darkness, where they are delivered into chains of darkness, and held by them ; and though they may not be in full torments, yet they are not without f Lactant. Institut. 1. 7, e. 7. h Seaecae Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 19; Arrian. Epictet. 1. 3, c. 13. 1 In Carmin. Pythagor. p. 165. k Oral. 2, pro Rutrio.

318 OF THE PINAL STATE OP THE WICKED. them, and are reserved urito judgment, which, when over, they will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, Rev. xx. 10. Another instance is, the men of the old world, who, by their sins, brought a flood upon it ; and not only their bodies were destroyed by the flood, but the spirits, or souls of these men, who were disobedient in the times of Noah, were laid up in prison, that is, in the prison of hell, where they were when the apostle Peter wrote his epistle, 1 Peter iii. 1 9, 20. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah, had not only their bodies and their substance burnt, in the conflagration of their cities : but their souls also are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude, verse 7. So Korah and his company, not only went down alive into the pit of the earth, that opening and closing upon them, but perished in their souls ; since wicked men are said to perish, in the gainsaying of Korah, for the same sins, and in like manner, though not temporally and corporally; but in soul, and eternally, Jude, verse 11. The case of the wicked rich man, who lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment there, though it be a parable, relates to a fact, and ascertains the truth of it, and which yet some take to be an historical fact. II. I shall now consider the names, words, and phrases, by which the place and state of future punishment are expressed ; which will still give a further proof of it, and lead more into the nature of it. i. The names of the place ; I call it a place and not a state only ; though some speak of it only as such ; but the scriptures make men tion of it as a place of torment, Luke xvi. 28 ; and Judas is said to go to his own place, to which ho was appointed, being the Son of perdition : and a place seems necessary, especially for bodies, as after the resur rection ; though where it is, or will be, is hard to say : some make it to be in the air ; others the body of the sun ; some the fixed stars ; others the earth, either the centre, or the cavities of it, or under it ; since the heaven is represented as high, and this as low; and sometimes called hell beneath. But it should not be so much our concern to know where it is, as how to escape it, and that we come not into this place of torment. — 1. It is called destruction, or Abaddon, which is the name of the king of the bottomless pit, Rev. ix. 11, which signifies a destroyer, and is rendered destruction in Job xxvi. 6, Prov. xxvii. 20, where hell and destruction are mentioned together, as signifying the same thing, the one being explanative of the other. Indeed the grave, which the word used for hell sometimes signifies, is called the pit of destruction and corruption, because bodies laid in it corrupt and waste away ; but here it seems to signify the place of the punishment of tlio wicked, where body and soul are destroyed with an everlasting destruc tion ; which is not to be understood of an extinction of soul and body ; for this is contrary both to the immortality of the soul, which cannot be killed, and to the resurrection of the body, which, though it rises to damnation, and everlasting contempt, yet dies not again ; and to what purpose should it be raised, if it becomes immediately extinct ? hell, or a state of punishment, follows upon death, and the resurrection, and is connected with them ; it follows upon the death of the body ; the rich man died, with respect to his body, and in hell he lift up his eyes; that

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 319 is, he found bis soul in torment, and therefore not extinct. And when the body is raised and united to the soul, and has passed the general judgment, and received its sentence, both will go into everlasting punishment ; and therefore neither of them extinct. Besides, there would otherwise be no meaning in those words of Christ, It had been goodfor that man if he had never been born, Matt. xxvi. 24, since for a man to be extinct, or to be in a state of non-existence, and not to be born, are the same ; at least, if a man is extinct, it is as if he had never been born ; and therefore no comparison can be made between them ; nor better nor worse be said of them. But when hell, or the punishment of the wicked in it, is called destruction, it does not moan a destruction of the being of a person, but of all happiness to him ; he is deprived of all, both in soul and body ; no light of joy ; but darkness, horror, and distress ; nothing but indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. — 2. Another name or word by which it is expressed, is Sheol, which is often rendered the grave ; as in Gen. xlii. 38, and should be where it is sometimes translated hell, as in Psalm xvi. 10; yet in some places it seems as if it could not be understood of that, but of the state or place of punishment of the wicked ; as in Psalm ix. 17, The wicked shall be turned into hell: now to be turned into the earth, or to be laid in the grave, is not peculiar to wicked men ; it is the common lot of all, good and bad ; it is the house appointed for all living, but to be enveloped with all darkness, and consumed in a fire, not blown, and a horrible tempest rained on them, is the peculiar portion of wicked men from God. Besides, the phrase being turned into it, denotes indignation, contempt, and shame ; and is the same with the New Testament-phrase, so often used, of being cast into hell, Matt. v. 29, 30: so when this word is used of the adulterous woman, and her ways, that her steps take hold of hell, and her house is the way to it ; and that her guests are in the depths of it, Prov. v. 5, and vii. 27, to understand it of the grave, seems not to be strong enough, and to give too low a sense of it ; and does not sufficiently express the danger persons are in through her ; and into which they are brought : as well as it is not ascribing enough to the way of life, above to the wise, that it secures a person from the grave beneath ; and which yet it does not ; but rather that it delivers him from the punishmont of hell, Prov. xv. 24, in like manner, when it is said of hardened and desperate sinners, that they with hell are at an agreement ; they seem to out-brave, deride, and bid defiance to more than death and the frave ; even to mock at hell, and its torments they give no credit to. t has its name, Sheol, from bxw, because it asks and has, and is never satisfied ; and applied, whether to the grave or hell, denotes the insatiableness thereof. — 3. Another name for hell is, Tophet ; which was a place in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where the Israelites burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire, sacrificing them to Molech ; and that the cries of the infants might not be heard to affect their parents, drums, or tabrcts, were beat upon during the time ; and from hence the place had the name of Tophet, Toph signifying a drum, or tabret; Jer. vii. 31, 32, and this seems to be used of the place and

320 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. state of the punishment of the wicked : Tophet is ordained of old, Src, Isa. xxx. 33, which the Targum interprets of hell, prepared from ages past for the sins of men ; and which words, Calvin on the text, understands of the miserable condition, and extreme torments and punishments of the wicked ; and, indeed, they seem fitly to describe them : Tophet was ordained of old, as hell is from eternity ; and is that condemnation wicked men were of old ordained unto : it was prepared for the king ; so everlasting fire is prepared for the devil and his angels, for the prince of devils, and all his subjects: it is made deep and large ; so hell is the bottomless pit, large enough to hold the whole posse of devils, and all the wicked from the beginning to the end of the world. The pile, the fuel, for the fire, is much wood, wicked men, comparable to thorns and briers, straw and stubble, withered branches of vines, and dry trees ; a fire kindled, and blown up by the breath of the Lord, at whose blast, and the breath of his nostrils, men perish and are consumed ; a fire, not blown by men, but by the breath of the Almighty ; like a stream of brimstone, such as destroyed the cities of the plain. — 4. From Gehinnom, the valley of Hinnom, where Tophet was, is the word used in the Now Testament, yeewa, Matt. v. 22—30, Mark ix. 43—47, for the fire of hell ; there, as just observed, children were burnt with fire, and sacrificed to Molech ; which horrid custom the Israelites borrowed from their neighbours the Canaanites, or Phoenicians ; and who carried it into their several colonies, and particularly to Carthage ; where, as Diodorus Siculus relates ', the mhabitants had a statue of Saturn, the same with Molech, whose hands were put in such a position, that when children were put into them, they rolled down, and fell into a chasm, or ditch, full of fire ; a fit emblem of the fire of hell, often called in scripture a lake of fire. — 5. Sometimes this place is called the deep abyss, or bottomless pit : the devils, when they came out of the man, in whom was a legion, besought Christ that he would not order them to go into the deep, which seems to be their place of full torment, since they deprecated going into it, Luke viii. 31, and is the same with the bottomless pit Abaddon is king of, and into which, Satan, when bound, will be cast, Rev. ix. 1, 11, and xx. 3. — 6. Another name it has in the New Testament, is Hades, which signifies an invisible state, a state of darkness. Some derive it from the word Adamah, earth, from whence the first Adam ; so that to go down to Hades, is no other than to return to the earth, from whence man was ; and the word may signify the grave, in Rev. i. 18, and xx. 13, 14, but it cannot be understood, in Luke xvi. 23, when the rich man died, was buried, and his body laid in the earth, it is said, in Hades, in hell he lift up his eyes ; which can never be meant of the grave ; it is spoken of as distinct from that ; and as elsewhere, it is said to be a place of torment ; whereas the grave is a place of ease and rest ; between this, and where Abraham and Lazarus were, was a gulf, that divided them from one another; whereas in the grave all lie promiscuously : so the gates of hell, in Matt. xvi. 18, must mean ' Biblioth. 1/20, p. 756.

OP THB FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 321 something else, and not the gates of the grave. — 7. Another word by which it is expressed, is Tartarus ; and this also but in one place, and comprehended in a verb there used, 2 Pet. ii. 4, God spared not the angels that sinned ; but rapTapcouis, cast them down to tartarus, or hell ; which word, though only used in this place, yet that, with others, belonging to it, is to be met with frequently in heathen writers, who speak of the Titans, and others, that rebelled against the gods, much in the same language as the apostle does of the angels, as bound and cast down to Tartarus ; which they describe as a dark place, and as distant from the earth, as the earth is from the heaven"1 : and, indeed, the story of the Titans seems to be hammered out of the scriptural account of the fallen angels ; and so Platon speaks of wicked men, guilty of capital crimes, as cast into Tartarus, or hell ; and also of a place where three ways met, two of which leads, the one to the islands of the blessed, the others to Tartarus". Some derive this word from a Greek word, which signifies to trouble, it being a place of tribula tion and anguish : and others from a Chaldean word, which signifies to fall, to subside, to go to the bottom, as being a low, inferior place ; hence called hell from beneath. ii. There are words and phrases by which the future punishment of the wicked is expressed ; and which may serve to give a further account of the nature of it. — 1 . It is represented as a prison ; so the fallen angels are said to be cast into hell, as into a prison, and where they lie in chains, and are reserved to the judgment of the great day. And the spirits that were disobedient in the days of Noah, are expressly said to be in prison, 2 Pet. i. 4. Wicked men are not only criminals, but debtors ; and whereas they have not with which to pay their debts, and no surety to pay them for them, to prison they must go till the uttermost farthing is paid, which never will be^ Matt. v. 26. So Plato p speaks of Tartarus as a prison of just punishment ; for those who have lived unrighteously and ungodly. — 2. It is spoken of as a state of darkness, of blackness of darkness, Jude, verse 13, of the grossest, thickest darkness that can be conceived of; of outer darkness, Matt. viii. 12, those in it being without, shut out of the kingdom of light, the inheritance of the samts in light ; and so like the darkness of the Egyptians, and such as might be felt ; when the Israelites had light in all their dwellings : or, like the kingdom of the beast, said to be full of darkness : all which sets forth the very uncomfortable condition of the wicked being without the light of God's countenance, and the joys of heaven. — 3. It is set forth by fire, Matt. v. 21, than which nothing gives more pain, nor is more excruciating ; by & furnace of fire, Matt. xiii. 42, 50, like that which Nebuchadnezzar caused to be heated seven times hotter than usual, for Daniel's three companions m Apollodorus de Dcor. Orig. 1. 1, p. 2, 4; Phurnutns de Nat Door. p. 11, 39; Pi^o « raprapon vepotfra, Homer. Iliad. 8, v. 13 ; Tartaro lenebricoso llvgin. tab. 146, vide fab. 150. ° In Pluedone, p. 84. * In Gorgia, p. 357; vide Virgil. iEncid. 6, v. 540, See.; Soerates apud Plutarch, de Consol. ad Apoll. p. 121. f In Gorgia, p. 356 ; et Socrates apud Plutarch, de Consol. ad Apoll. p. 121. vol. n. Y

322 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. to be cast into, who refused to worship his image, than which nothing can be conceived of more dreadful; and by a lake of fire, and of brim stone also, which enrages the fire, and mcreases the strength of it, Rev. xx. 10, 15, in allusion to the sulphureous lake Asphaltites, where Sodom and Gomorrah stood : all which serve to give an idea of the wrath of God, poured out on the wicked like fire, and the quick sense they will have of it. — 4. It is expressed by a worm that never dies, Mark ix. 44—48 ; to die such a death as Herod did, to be eaten of worms, to have a man's flesh gnawed off his bones by them till he dies, must be very dreadful, but what is this to the continual gnawings of a guilty conscience. This continued consciousness of guilt, and feeling of divine wrath for sin, are but faintly expressed by the heathens, by vultures feeding on the heart of Tytius in hell ; or by a serpent eating out his liver, which grew again q as fast as eaten. — 5. This is what is called the second death, Rev. xxi. 8, of which good men shall not be hurt, and on whom it shall have no power, but wicked men will ever abide under it, shall not become extinct, neither in soul nor body, though they may wish for it. This is death eternal, so called, not from a defect of life; nor from the quality of living, being always dying, yet never die. — 6. A variety of phrases is used, to signify the terribleness of the future punishment of the wicked ; as by tearing them in pieces, as a lion tears his prey ; by cutting them asunder, in allusion to punishment* of this kind, as Agag was hewed to pieces by Samuel ; or to sacrifices, cut up when offered as victims ; and by drowning men in perdition, which denotes the utter destruction of them ; and by weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, through grief, malice, and envy. — 7. By the wrath of God, which comes upon the children of disobedience; by wrath to come, men are warned to flee from ; and from which Christ only can deliver them ; and by indignation and wrath on every soul of man that does evil. And this is what is chiefly intended by the several words and phrases before observed ; and in a sense of which the future punishment of the wicked will greatly lie ; as will appear by considering, 1I1. The species and sorts of that punishment; or the parts of which it consists, and wherein it lies : it is usually distinguished into poena damna, punishment of loss ; and poena sensus, punishment of sense ; nor is the distinction amiss, provided they are considered as together, and meeting in the same subject, as they do in the fallen angels ; who sinning, were cast out of heaven, were driven from the presence of God, and so lost their original happiness; and were cast down to hell, and so punished with a sense of divine wrath : and both may be observed together in the sentence pronounced on tho wicked at tho general judgment; Depart from me, there is the punishment of loss ; ye cursed, into everlasting fire, there is the punishment of sense ; the one is the loss of the divine presence ; the other a feeling of the curse of the law, and the wrath of God ; and there cannot be the one with out the other : some have thought, that only the punishment of loss, but not of sense, will bo sustained by devils, and wicked men, before ' Ajiollodorus de Dcor. Orig. p. 10, Hvgin. fab. 55.

OP THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 323 the day of judgment ; but though the devils may not be in full torment till then, yet not exempt from any, since they are cast down to hell : and as for wicked men, they are immediately after death in a state of pain, and under a sense of it, as the rich man in hell, being in torment; and others are of opinion, that such as die without actual sin, and are only guilty of original sin, shall only suffer the former, but not the latter. But as the Scriptures say little of the case of such, it becomes us to say little also, and leave it to the wise and just Disposer of all things : yet if eternal death is the demerit of original sin, it is not easy to say how there can be one sort of punishment without the other ; where there is a loss, there will be a sense of it, or else it is no punishment ; and a sense of it will give pain ; though as there are degrees of punishment of sin as will be seen anon, it is reasonable to beheve, the punishment of such will be comparatively a milder one, as Augustin expresses it ; no doubt there were many such among the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, when those cities were destroyed; and yet the apostle says of them in general, that they were suffering the vengeance of eternalfire, Jude, verse 7. But to proceed, i. There is the punishment of loss, which will consist of a privation of all good things. — 1 . Of God the chiefest good ; as the enjoyment of God, is man's chief happiness, so a privation of that enjoyment is his greatest infelicity ; the angels, when they sinned, and so Adam, when he sinned, were driven from the presence of God. And though wicked men desire not the presence of God, but say, depart from us, that is, this is the language of their lives and actions ; yet when they come to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ; a great part of that destruction will lie in an eternal sepa ration from it ; it will be dreadful to them, as it was an aggravation of the punishment of Cain, and made it intolerable to him, though a wicked man : From thy face shall I be hid ! so to be everlastingly banished from God, without any hope of his favour, will be dreadful : the words of an ancient writer r are, " Many men only fear hell-fire ; but I say the loss of that glory (the glory of God and of heaven) is much greater than hell, or the punishment of sense : if it cannot be proved by word, it is not to be wondered at ; for we do not know the happiness of good things, till we clearly know the misery of evil things, from the privation of those good things." — 2. Of Christ, the light and life of men, the light of grace, and the light of glory, in whom all salvation is ; as death is the privation of life in a natural sense, eternal death is a privation of eternal life in Christ ; as blindness is a priva tion of sight, and darkness of light ; so the judicial blindness and darkness of the infernal state, is a privation of the sight of Christ, and of light, life, and salvation by him ; as the happiness of glorified saints, will lie in beholding Christ, and seeing his glory ; the miserable state of the wicked will lie in being eternally deprived of such a sight ; and therefore this is always m the awful sentence pronounced on them by Christ ; Depart from me, ye cursed ; or depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, Matt. vii. 23. — 3. Of the grace, peace and joy of * ClirvsoFtom. Ilouiil. 47, ad pop. Antioch. y2

324 OF THK FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. the Holy Ghost, of which they are destitute now, and will for ever bo deprived of it ; which will be in perfection in the kingdom of heaven ; and instead of that, nothing but distress, anguish, and horror of mind; having no rest, no ease, nor peace, day and mght, Rev. xiv. 11. — 4. Of the company of angels and saints : they will be tormented in the pre sence of the angels, without receiving any benefit by them, or relief from them : they will be sensible of the happiness of the. saints, which will aggravate their misery ; they will not be able to come at them, and share with them in their bliss ; nor have the least degree of conso lation from them ; the rich man saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, but could not obtain one dip of the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue. This seems to be the Tantalus of the heathens, or what they mean by Tantalus ; a man athirst and hungry, standing in water np to his chin, and pleasant fruits just at his lips, and yet he not able to quench his thirst with the one, nor to satisfy his hunger with the other s ; yea, they will not have the least pity shown them by God, angels, or men ; God will mock at their destruction ; angels will ap plaud his righteous judgment, and the holy apostles and prophets, and all the saints, will rejoice over them, as they will over Babylon, and at her destruction, because of the justice of God being glorified by it. — 5. Of the kingdom of heaven, from whence they will be excluded, and of the glories and joys of it, of which they will be for ever deprived, they will see the patriarchs and prophets, and all the saints, in the kingdom of God, and they themselves thrust out ; the door will be shut upon them, and no entrance allowed them ; they will be obliged to stand without, where dogs are ; and will be cast into outer darkness, for ever deprived of the light of joy and comfort. n. There is the punishment of sense, and which will lie both in body and soul ; for both will be destroyed in hell, and bo sensible of the fire of it. — 1. The body ; hence we often read of the whole body, and of the several members of it with it, being cast into hell, Mark ix. 43—47 ; now though these are proverbial, or parabolical phrases, yet they have a meaning in them, and have respect to corporeal punishment, which will be endured in the body, some way or another. The body is sub servient to the soul in the commission of sin ; its members are yielded as instruments of unrighteousness ; that little member, the tongue, is a world of iniquity, defiles the whole body, and is productive of many evils ; and it is but just therefore, that the body should have its share in the punishment of sin ; and for this purpose is the resurrection of the body, that sinful men may receive the just demerit of their sinful actions done in their bodies. It is a question moved, whether the fire of hell is a material fire ? No doubt that it is not the only thing meant by it, nor the chief, which is the fire of divine wrath, in which figura tive sense it is often taken ; though it seems to be sometimes taken in a proper sense, since it has those things ascribed to it winch belong to fire properly so called, as smoke, flame, heat, &c ; and, indeed, how the body can be affected with any other, is not easy to say, unless by • Qurcrit aqua* in aquia et poma fugacia captat Tantalus ; hoc illi gamila lingna dedit.—Ovid. Amor. eleg. 1, v. 43, Hygin. fab. 82.

.OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 325 sympathy with the soul, sustaining the fire of divine wrath ; nor is it any objection, that the bodies of the wicked will be raised immortal, as never more to die ; whereas they would be liable to be consumed, if cast into material fire. To which it may be answered, they may be preserved, by the power of God, from being consumed by it ; as the three men in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace were preserved in the midst of it for their safety, so may wicked men be preserved in the furnace of fire for their punishment. And there are such things in nature which are not consumed by fire ; as a sort of flax, and cloth made of it, cleansed by burning it ; and a precious stone, set on fire, which is not to be quenched ; for which reason both have the namo of asbestos', unquenchable : and there is a sort of fly, called pyrausta, or the fire fly, which lives in the fire. Besides, this fire may not be, as doubtless it is not, the same with our culinary fire ; it may be, like that, excru ciating, but not consuming ; as we see with respect to lightning, or fire from heaven, which sometimes will scorch and burn, and yet not consume and destroy bodies, or reduce them to ashes; as in the case of Nadab and Abihu : but this is not very material to determine ; since, — 2. The soul will be filled with a sense of wrath, which will be poured forth on the wicked, and burn like fire, Psalm lxxix. 5 ; this is the fiery indignation which shall consume the adversaries of God and Christ in hell, that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, which will come upon every soul of man that does evil, Rom. ii. 8, 9 ; that fire which the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, wiH kindle, Isai. xxxi. 30 ; and which the body, by its near conjunction with the soul, will feel the effects of. IV. The degrees of this punishment ; for it seems such there will be, since wicked men will be judged, and so punished, according to their evil works, whether more or fewer, greater or lesser. But then these cannot be understood of the punishment of loss ; one cannot lose more or less than another ; all are equally excluded from the presence and communion of God and of Christ, and of the Spirit ; and from the company of angels and saints, and from the kingdom of heaven and the glories of it : but can only be said of the punishment of sense ; some are lesser sinners, and others greater ; some are only guilty of original sin, and not of actual trangressions, at least of very few, and so are deserving of a milder punishment only, as before observed ; and of actual transgressions, some are guilty of more, and of more heinous ones; see John xix. 11; and their guilt and punishment are in propor tion to them ; some are attended with greater aggravations, and so are deserving of a greater punishment; some are done in ignorance, and others against light and knowledge ; one knows his master's will and does it not, and so deserves to be beaten with many stripes ; and anotherknows it not, and yet does things worthy of stripes, and therefore to be beaten with few stripes, Luke xii. 47. Some have had the advantage, of a written ' Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 19, c 1 ; et 1. 37, c. 10 ; Sttabo, 1. 10, p. 307 ; Pancirol. rer. memorab. et Salmuth. in ibid. p. 16 ; vido Philosoph. Transact, abridged, vol. 2, p. 552, &c. et vol. 4, par. 2, p. 282.

326 OP THE FINAL STATE OP THE WICKED. law, the law of Moses, as the Jews had, and this explained with the sanctions of it ; when others, as the Gentiles, had only the light of nature and the law of it to guide them ; and as both will be judged according to their different laws, so will they be punished in a different manner, Rom. ii. 12. Some have had the advantage of a preached gospel, and have despised it, and have been disobedient to it, which is an aggravation of their condemnation ; so that it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for them, Matt. xi. 20, 21. The scribes and Pharisees who, against the clearest evidence, and the conviction of their own consciences, denied that Jesus was the Messiah, and blasphemed his miracles, which were proofs of it ; and under a pretence of religion devoured widows' houses, justly receive the greater damnation, Matt. xii. 25 — 32 ; and those who have treated contumeliously the great doctrines of the gospel, respecting the person and blood of Christ, and the grace of the Spirit of Christ ; of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy, than those who have only broken the law of Moses ? Heb. x. 28, 29. Some have been favoured with greater mercies in providence than others, and have abused them, and despised the goodness of God extended to them, and so have treasured up more wrath against the day of wrath : and having their good things here, will have their evil ones hereafter, with redoubled vengeance, Rom. ii. 4, 5, Luke xxi. 25. What remains to be considered is, the duration of the punishment of the wicked in hell. It will always continue and never have an end, and is therefore called everlasting punishment, and everlasting destruction, Matt. xxv. 46, 2 Thess. i. 9 ; and this will admit of proof both from reason and revelation, from the light of nature, and from the sure word of prophecy. The heathens had not only knowledge of the future punishment of the wicked in hell, but of the eternal duration of it. Lucretius, the Epicurean philosopher, though he disbelieved it, bears a full testimony to the truth of it, even whilst he derides it ; he wrote many years before the coming of Christ, so that what he says could not be derived from the writings of the New Testament, but from a more ancient tradition handed down among the Gentiles time imme morial ; he says w, that the fears of eternal punishment after death, and as what would never have an end, were the cause of all the troubles and miseries of human" life ; under the bondage of which men lay oppressed, until Epicurus, a man of Greece, rose up, and delivered men from those fears and fancies ; so that, according to him, till the times of Epicurus, who lived more than two hundred years before Christ, this sentiment had always obtained among the heathens. And from the sacred Scriptures the eternity of future punishment is abundantly evident : as, — 1. From the punishment of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were made an ensample to those that after should live ungodly ; the destruction of those cities was an emblem of eternal punishment : they agree in the efficient cause of them, God ; in the instruments, angels ; in the matter and manner of the destruction, by " .SSternaa quoniam poenas in morte timendum Lucret. dc Rerum Nntura, 1. 1.

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. 327 fire and brimstone ; in circumstances, suddenly, at an unawares ; and in the nature of it, irreparable, and in a sense eternal ; for those cities were reduced to such a state, as that they will not, nor can be restored again, and so a fit type of the everlasting punishment of sinners in hell ; but more than this, the inhabitants of those cities are now suffering the vengeance ofeternalfire, Jude, 7 ; they are not only now suffermg the vengeance, but the vengeance is eternal, and expressed by fire that is everlasting.—2. From the sense and fears of sinners in Zion, expressed in Isa. xxxiii. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid; who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? the Targum interprets this of everlast ing burnings of hell ; and many Christian interpreters, of the wrath of God, and the tortures of a guilty conscience there; whicli are represented as what will endure for ever, and as intolerable, the desert which those sinners were conscious of, and that the outward form of religion would not deliver them from. — 3. From the resurrection of the dead, and the issue of it, as described in Dan. xii. 2. Some of whom awake to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt : this two-fold resurrection is called, the one the resurrection of life ; the other the resurrection of damnation, John v. 29 ; and as the life some are raised to is everlasting life, the damnation that follows the resurrection of the other, must be everlasting damnation ; here called, everlasting contempt ; for such will be had in contempt for ever, by God, the holy angels, and good men : the word everlasting must have the same sense, and denote the same duration, with respect to the one as to the other. .—4. From the sentence pronounced on the wicked, Matt. xxv. 41 ; to depart into everlasting fire, preparedfor the devil and his angels : if the punishment of the devil and his angels, will endure for ever, and have no end, then the punishment of the wicked will also endure for ever, without end, since the same punishment is prepared for the one as for the other ; and which is here expressed by everlasting fire ; and as elsewhere by unquenchablefire, byfire that shall never be quenched, Matt. iii. 12, Mark ix. 45 ; by smoke offire and torments, that ascendeth up for ever and ever, Rev. xiv. 11 ; and by blackness of darkness reservedfor ever, Jude 13. — 5. From the execution of the sentence, Matt. xxv. 46, These shall go away into everlasting punishment ; as the happiness of the saints in heaven is everlasting, and there is no reason to believe it ever will have an end ; so the punishment of the wicked in hell will be ever lasting, and without end : the same word hero rendered everlasting, is frequently used of the future life and happiness of the saints, John vi. 40, 47, 54 ; yea, it is used of it in this passage ; for it follows, but the righteous into life eternal : now no reason can be given why the word in the one clause, which is the same, should be understood of an eternal duration, and in the other of a limited one. Besides, the opposition of the two states of the respective persons requires, that it should be understood in the same sense, and as of equal extent. — 6. From the immortality of the soul. The soul of man, of every man, is immortal, and cannot die, or become extinct, as has been abundantly proved ; if therefore it is immortal, and lives for ever, it must be for ever either happy or miserable ; the souls of the righteous being immortal, shall

328 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE WICKED. be for ever happy ; and the souls of the wicked, being so likewise, shall be always miserable : he that is unjust and filthy now, will be after death unjust and filthy still, and ever remain so, and therefore always unhappy and miserable, Rev. xxii. 21 . — 7. From the parts of future punishment ; the punishment of loss, and the punishment of sense. The loss of all good sustained will be irretrievable ; and the sense of pain and torment will be constant, and without intermission ; there will be no rest day nor night ; the soul being immortal, the worm of conscience dieth not, but will be always gnawing, stinging, accusing and upbraiding, and therefore the punishment will always endure. — 8. From an incapacity of ever being relieved, through the use of means, the ministry of the word ; or by a being brought to repentance ; or by having sm pardoned, and satisfaction made for it ; all which will be out of the question : the ministry of the word of peace and reconcilia tion will be no more ; the door of the gospel will be shut ; no place will be found for repentance ; men will blaspheme God because of their pains, but not repent of their sins ; there will be no remission of sin in the world to come, nor satisfaction to be made for sins ; sinners cannot satisfy for them themselves by all that they endure ; and there will be none to satisfy for them, for there will be no more offering for sin.— 9. From the impossibility of an escape, or a remove out of it. The place of torment is bounded by a great gulf, so that there is no passing from that to a state of happiness ; which gulf is no other than the eternal and immutable decree of God, which can never be disannulled, but will remain fixed and unalterable. The heathens themselves repre sent Hades and Tartarus, by which they mean the same as hell, as so closely locked and shut up, that there is no return from thence *, and as strongly fortified with iron towers and gates, with walls and adaman tine pillars5, as impregnable, and neverto be broken through.—10. From the perfections of God : The veracity of God makes eternal punish ment for sin necessary. He has threatened sin, the breach of his law, with eternal death ; for such is the demerit of it ; and his truth and faithfulness are engaged to fulfil the threatening, unless a compensation is made for sin committed. Let God be true, and every man a liar ! The justice of God also requires it ; not to punish sin, would not be doing justice to himself, and to the glory of his Majesty ; it would be a denying himself, a concealing his perfections, and suffering his supreme authority over his creatures to be subject to contempt ; his justice, and the honour of it, make it necessary that sin should be punished, either in the sinner, or in a surety for him ; wherefore no satisfaction being made to justice, nor can there be any made in a future state, the punishment must continue for ever. It is pretended by some, as if it was contrary to the justice of God, that a transient, temporary action, as sin is, should be everlastingly punished. To which it may be replied, that though sin, as an action, is a transient one, yet the evil, the guilt, the demerit of sin continue, unless purged by the blood of Christ, and atoned for by his sacrifice. Besides, sin is continued to be committed ' Pauaaniie Eliac. «ive 1. 5, p. 325 ; Plato in Phadone, p. 84. y Homer. Iliad, 8, v. IS ; Virgil. jEncid. 6, v. 548, &c.

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. 329 in a future state, though not the same sorts of sins, some of them, as murders, adulteries, &c, yet blasphemy, malice, envy, and the like ; and therefore as they continue to be committed, it is but just that the wrath of God should remain upon them : moreover, though sin is a finite action, as an action, for nothing else can bo done by a finite creature ; yet it is, objectively, infinite, as committed against an infinite Being ; and therefore is justly punished with the loss of an infinite good. And as the demerit of sin, as to the punishment of sense, cannot be inflicted intensively on a finite creature, that not being able to bear it ; it is inflicted extensively ; or is continued, ad infinitum, for ever. Nor is this contrary to the mercy and goodness of God ; God is just, as well as merciful and good : and these attributes are not to be opposed to another ; justice must be satisfied, as well as grace, mercy, and goodness displayed ; and besides, the displays of those, or the actings thereof, are according to the sovereign will and pleasure of God ; and when men have despised his goodness in providence, and his grace and mercy held forth in the gospel, and in salvation by Christ ; it can be no reproach to his mercy and goodness thus despised, to punish such with everlasting destruction, 2 Thess. i. 9- OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. Thebe is a state of happiness, which the spirits, or souls, of just men enter into immediately after the separation of them from the body ; of which we have treated in a preceding chapter. But after the resur rection, which is of the saints unto everlasting life, and therefore is called the resurrection of life ; and when the general judgment is over, and the invitation is given, Come ye blessed, fyc, then the righteous shall go into life eternal, soul and body, Matt. xxv. 34, 46, which is the state now to be considered. And, first, the state of happiness itself, and then the eternity of it. The state of happiness the saints are possessed of after the resurrec tion, and general judgment, in soul and body, is expressed in the passage above quoted, by eternal life, and very frequently elsewhere. But it is not animal life, which lies in the conjunction of soul and body, and a continuance of that for ever, which is meant by eternal life ; for the wicked will live such a life upon the resurrection ; for as there will be a resurrection of the just, so of the unjust ; they will live again, and live for evermore ; though their living will be no other than the second and eternal death ; for they will be destroyed, both body and soul, in hell ; not as to the substance of eithor, but as to the comfort and happiness of both : for it is not barely living, but living well, comfortably and happily, that is properly life ; in which sense the word is used, Psalm xxii. 26, and such is the life the saints will live in heaven, in soul and body, in the enjoyment of God, as their covenant-God ; and thrice happy are they that are in such a case ; and in being with Christ ! which is far better than to live in this world : and in having the communion of the holy Spirit, than which nothing can be more

330 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. comfortable ; and in the society of angels and saints : all which is most eligible -and desirable. In treating on this state, I shall take much the same method as in the preceding chapter. I shall, I. Prove that there will be a state of happiness of good men in the world to come ; for godliness has the promise of that life which is to come ; that is, of happiness in it. And this may be made to appear, in some respect, i. From the light of nature and reason ; for though the kind of happi ness is not to be discovered and demonstrated by it ; yet some general notion of future happiness may be evinced from it.—1 . A general notion of happiness after death has obtained among the wiser sort of heathens, who have had only the light of nature to guide them ; unless some general traditions transmitted to them, especially among those who have given any credit to the immortality of the soul. Hence they speak of the Elysian2 fields, and islands of the blessed, as the seat and habita tion of pious persons after death; and which they describe after a carnal and earthly manner ; as grassy plains, and flowery meads ; and as abounding with all manner of delicious fruits; and as in a most temperate climate, free of all wintry weather and blustering storms, and of scorching heat ; and where they are fanned with gentle zephyrs, and delighted with flowing fountains and purple streams; and are continually regaling themselves with nectar and ambrosia. Though even their images of those things, Tertullian" thinks they have borrowed from the sacred writings and the description of the heavenly state therein : " If," says he, " we speak of paradise as a place of divine pleasantness, appointed for the reception of holy spirits—the Elysian fields seize' Upon and engross their faith." But those things arc not only said by their poets, but by their wise and grave philosophers ; as Platob, Plu tarch0, Senecad, and others. — 2. From a natural desire in mankind after happiness, and which is universal ; and yet it is certain it is not attained in this present life, though eagerly sought for, in one way or another. Some seek for it in natural wisdom and knowledge ; some in wealth and riches ; others in the honours of the world, in fame, and in popular applause ; and others in the gratification of sensual appetites and lusts ; but is never found to satisfaction in either ; and as abundantly appears from the first and second chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes. This is only found in God, the chiefest good ; and that not to perfection in this life. Now either this desire of happiness is implanted in vain, which is not reasonable to suppose ; or there must be a future state, in which this happiness will be enjoyed, at least by some of the individuals of human nature, even by all good men ; who, at the resurrection, and not before, will bo completely happy, to full satisfaction, even when they shall awake in the likeness of God. — 3. From the unequal distribution of things in the present state ; which makes the providences of God very intricate and per- 1 These have their name from D?i>, lo rejoice, hence called lata arva ct laeti loci, in Virgil.— Bocbart. Canaan, 1. 1, c. 34, col. 600. » Tertull. Apolog. c. 47. * In Gorgia, p. 350,357; ct in Axiocbo, p. 1308. c Do facie in ore lunoe, p. 942. * Consol. ad Polybium.c. 28.

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. 331 plexed, with difficulties not easy to be solved ; and which cannot bo solved without supposing a future estate ; here wicked men have a large portion of good things ; and good men have a large share of evil things, afflictions, and distresses ; and if their hope of happiness was bounded by this life, they would be of all men most miserable ; espe cially such who are called to endure sharp and severo sufferings : but their hope extends beyond it ; as it is reasonable it should ; when, as they have suffered in the cause of goodness, truth, and righteousness, that they should be glorified together ; and that their present mo mentary afflictions should work for them, as they do, an eternal weight of glory. But this more abundantly appears, ii. From divine revelation; by which life and immortality are brought to light ; or an immortal life of happiness is set in the clear est light ; and which may be strongly concluded, — 1 . From the promise of God concerning it. This is the promise, the grand and principal promise ; and which includes and secures all the rest ; He, that is, God, hath promised us, in the covenant of grace, and which bee in his word, even eternal life, 1 John ii. 25, which gives hope and assurance of it, and in which it issues ; and this promise was made very early, even before the world began, and by God that cannot lie, and therefore to be depended on as sure and certain ; and besides, it is in Christ ; and not the promise only, but the thing itself, Tit. i. 2, 1 John v. 11 ; and in this lies the happiness of the saints, James i. 12. — 2. From the predestination of men unto it ; there are vessels of mercy afore prepared in the mind, and by the will of God, for this future glory and happiness ; who are chosen to the obtaining, or to the enjoy ment, of the glory of Christ ; to behold his glory, and appear with him in glory : who are ordained to eternal life, and therefore believe to tho savmg of their souls ; and which act of the grace, and will of God, can never be frustrated and made void ; for whom he did predestinate—them he also glorified, Rom. viii. 30. — 3. From the preparation of this hap piness for them ; this consists of things unseen and unheard of, and not to be conceived of by carnal minds, which God has prepared for them that love him, fear him, and wait for him ; and which prepara tion was made in eternity ; for it is a kingdom prepared from the foun dation of the world ; and which will only be given to, and will most certainly be given to, those for whom it is prepared of God. — 4. From Christ's actual possession of it for his people, in their name ; and from the preparation he is making of it for them ; he is entered into heaven as the forerunner for them, and has taken possession of it in their name, as their head and representative ; and in whom, as so considered, they are already set down in heavenly places, and shall bo in person, most certainly, ere long ; for he is gone before to prepare a place for them, in his Father's house in heaven, where are many mansions, by his intercession for them, which is always prevalent ; and therefore he assures them, he will come again, and receive them to himself, that where he is, they may be also, partakers of his glory and happiness, John xiv. 2, 3. — 5. From the effectual vocation of men to eternal life and happiness : Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also

332 OF THE FINAL BTATB OF THE SAINTS. called, says the apostle Paul to Timothy; and to which happiness every man is called, who is called by grace : hence we read of the saints being called of God to his kingdom and glory ; and of their being called unto his eternal glory, by Jesus Christ. Now between vocation, and glorification, there is an inseparable connexion ; Whom he called—them he also glorified, Rom. viii. 30. — 6. From the grace of God implanted in the heart, and the earnest of the Spirit there. The grace of God, which is wrought in the heart in regeneration, is a well of living water, springing up into everlasting life, and issues in it ; and the Spirit of God, in his operations on the souls of men, works them up for that self-same thing, eternal glory and happiness ; and of which his indwelling also in them, is the earnest and pledge ; for he is said to be given as an earnest, and to be the earnest of the inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession ; that is, until the pur chased ones are redeemed from mortality, death, and the grave ; and, therefore, as sure as they have the earnest, they shall enjoy the inherit ance, which is eternal life, John iv. 14, 2. Cor. v. 5, Eph. ii. 14. — 7. From the present experiences of the saints, from those foretastes they sometimes have of future glory and happiness ; like the Israelites, they have some clusters of Canaan's grapes, some of the fruits of the good land by the way, as a specimen and pledge of what they shall enjoy when they come into that better country ; they now receive the first fruits of the Spirit, which encourage them to hope for the glorious harvest of the adoption of children : they now, at times, have commu nion with God in private, and also in public, in his house and ordi nances, when they are as the gate and suburbs of heaven to them ; and so, by inward felt experience know, from what they find in them selves, that there is something better, and more excellent for them in heaven. — 8. From the desires of the saints after future happiness. They choose to be with Christ, as more eligible than to be here ; they desire to be clothed upon, with their house from heaven, and are will ing rather to be absent from the body, that they may be present with the Lord, and press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ, Phil. i. 23, and iii. 14, 2. Cor. v. 2. And now those desires in the hearts of the saints, are not formed by the Spirit of God in vain. — 9. From the assurance of it some of the saints have had, both of the Old and of the New Testament ; the patriarchs, Abra ham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others, all died in the faith of the better country they were seeking, and were desirous of : the psalmist, Asaph, expresses his strong faith of it, that God would receive him to glory ; and the apostle Paul, in his own name, and in the name of other Christians, says, we know, we are well assured, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the lieavens, Psalm lxxiii. 24, 2 Cor. v. 1. — 10. This happiness is begun already in this life ; in regeneration men pass from the death of sin, into a life of grace ; and a life of grace, is the life of glory begun ; he that believes m Christ hath everlasting life ; is possessed of it in part, and has the earnest and the beginning of it ; eternal life is founded in, and begins with the knowledge of God and Christ, John v. 24. — Lastly, There

OP THE FINAL STATE OP THE SAINTS. are instances of saints already in heaven, and some in their bodies, as well as in their souls, as Enoch and Elijah ; and, as it is highly pro bable, the saints that arose at Christ's resurrection, and went with him to heaven : and as sure as they are there, all the rest of the saints will. I go on to consider, II. The names, phrases, and epithets, used of this happiness ; which may serve to convey to us some ideas of the nature of it. 1 . The names by which it is called ; both as a place and as a state. As a place, — 1. It is called heaven ; for there this happiness lies, which is called the reward in heaven, the hope laid up in heaven, the inheritance reserved in heaven, and often the kingdom of heaven ; and which is no other than the third heaven, where is the throne of God, whither Christ in human nature is gone, and there received, and is the habitation of the holy angels. — 2. It goes by the name of paradise, in allusion to the garden of Eden, a place of pleasure and delight, Luke xxiii. 43 ; in the midst of which, Christ, the tree of life, stands, laden with all manner of precious fruit, for the solace and delight of the blessed inhabitants ; and where are fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, Rev. ii. 7. — 3. It is represented as a place of light ; it is called the light of life ; the inheritance of the saints in light ; and needs no natural nor artificial light to illuminate it ; where God and the Lamb are the light of it, and the angels of light dwell, Rev. xxi. 23. — 4. It is signified by a house to dwell in; a house not made with the hands of men, but is a building of God ; in which there are many mansions, room enough for the many sons the great Captain of salvation will bring to glory, who is gone before them, to prepare them for them ; even in his Father's house, John xiv. 2. — 5. It is said to be a city, a city of God's preparing, of which he is the builder and maker, and which has foundations firm and strong, and so is a continuing and lasting one, Heb. xi. 10, 16 ; and of this city the saints are now citizens ; Our conversation, fifuov to iroXiTtvfxa,our citizenship is in heaven, Phil. Hi. 20. — 6. It is called, the better country, Heb. xi. 16; better than this world, or any country in it ; better than the good land beyond Jordan, Canaan, the type of it : it is the land that is veryJar off, even in the highest heavens ; the land of uprightness, where there is nothing but perfect purity and integrity, and where only upright persons dwell, lsa. xxxiii. 17 ; And as a state, it is sometimes called, — 1. An inheritance, Acts xx. 32 ; and elsewhere, in allusion to the land of Canaan, distributed by lot for an inheritance to the children of Israel ; or in allusion to inheritances among men, which are not acquired and purchased by them ; but are bequeathed, or come to them by relations, and are transmitted from father to son : and so the heavenly glory is not obtained by the works of men, or is a purchase of theirs ; but is bequeathed to them by their heavenly Father, and comes to them by his will and testament, upon, by, and through the death of the testator, Jesus Christ, Heb. ix. 15, 16, — 2. A kingdom, often called the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven, of which the saints are heirs ; and they are now styled kings and princes, being possessed of the kingdom of grace, as they will be of the kingdom of

334 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. glory ; to which they are called, and which is prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and which it is their Father's good pleasuro to givo them, Mark xxv. 34. — 3. A crown ; a crown of righteousness and life, a crown of glory, that fades not away, an incor ruptible one; which serves to set forth the grandeur of this state, 2 Tim. iv. 8, 1 Cor. ix. 25. — 4. It is expressed by glory itself, Psalm Ixxxiv. 11 ; as being exceeding glorious, beyond all conception and expression ; it is said to be a weight ofglory, 2 Cor. iv. 17 ; in allusion to the ponderous crowns of princes ; it will lie in beholding the glory of Christ, and in having a glory revealed in the saints, and in having a glory upon them, both in soul and body. — 5. It has the name of peace, into which good men enter at death, there being nothing in this state to ruffle and disturb, but all tranquil, serene, and calm ; no sin within, nor sinful men without : no sorrow and affliction ; no pricking brier, nor grieving thorn, throughout the land. — 6. It is signified by a rest, which remains for the people of God, after this toilsome life is over, Heb. iv. 9 ; in allusion to the land of Canaan, a land of rest to the Israelites, after their weary travels in the wilderness ; or to the Sabbath, the day of rest, this state being all day, and all Sabbath ; a complete rest of body and soul, from all labours, troubles, and enemies whatever. — 7. It is called the joy of the Lord, into which Christ's faithful servants will be invited to enter, Matt. xxv. 21, 23 ; a joy that can never be taken away from them, a fulness of joy, a joy unspeakable and full of glory. ii. There are various phrases also by which this happy state is expressed, and epithets used of it, which show the happiness of it ; as by being in Abraham's bosom ; and sitting down as at a table and a feast, with him and others, expressive of the blessed communion of tho saints, Luke xvi. 22; but more especially by being with Christ, and sitting with him on his throne, Phil. i. 23, Rev. iii. 21 ; and by being fed, and led by him, to fountains of living waters, Rev. vii. 17. The various epithets of this state, besides what have been given, are worthy of notice. It is, as yet, an unseen happiness ; it consists of things not scon at present ; and which faith and hope are only concerned with ; and saints have only some glimpse of it, which encourages to wait for it, 2 Cor. iv. 18, Heb. xi. 1. It is future, it is yet to come; a glory that shall be revealed ; grace that is to bo brought at the revelation of Christ, and does not yet appear what it shall be : it is beyond all compare ; the wealth and riches, the glories and grandeur of this world, :ue trifles to it ; yea, the sufferings of the saints, their purest services, are not worthy to be compared with it, Rom. viii. 18 ; it is an enduring substance, a never-fading inheritance ; a crown of glory that fades not away ; the glory of this world passeth away, but this glory will never pass away : but of the eternity of it more hereafter. I proceed to show, III. The parts of this happiness, or wherein it will consist. i. In a freedom from all evils, both of soul and body ; from all evils that affect the soul. — From the evil of evils, sin, which is exceeding evil in itself, and the cause of all evil : but in this happy state there

OF THE FTNAL STATE OP THE SAINTS. 335 will be an entire deliverance from it ; even, — 1. From all temptations to it, either from within or from without ; glorified saints will have nothing within and about themselves, no sinful lust in their hearts to tempt, entice and draw them away, as now ; their souls being the spirits of just men made perfect ; nothing in or about their bodies to incline and lead to sin, which are now vile, and have a world of iniquity in them ; but then made like the glorious body of Christ : nor will they have any from without to solicit them to sin : not Satan, for he is cast out of heaven, and has not, nor never will have, place there any more ; nor wicked men, whose evil communications now are very ensnaring and corrupting ; but these will have no standing in the con gregation of the righteous. — 2. From tho dominion of sin ; it has not an entire dominion over the saints now, much less will it have any in heaven ; nor will any attempts be made to bring them into captivity to it ; nor will they be in any danger of it. — 3. From the commission of it, and so from guilt through it : now none live without it, and daily need to have their garments washed in the blood of the Lamb ; fresh guilt arises in their consciences, which must be removed the same way : but the saints will now be impeccable, not capable of sinning, as Adam was in innocence, and the angels before their confirmation ; since the former sinned, and so did many of the latter. Yea, — 4. The saints in heaven will be free from tho very being of sin ; now it has a place, and dwells and operates in them ; but then the Canaanite will be no more in the land. — 5. They will be rid of an evil heart of unbelief, and be no more distressed with doubts and fears : now unbelief is a sin that easily besets them ; and without are fightings, and within are fears ; but then, as there will bo no occasion to say to themselves, Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? so neither will they hear such a rebuke, Wherefore didst thou doubt, O thou of littlo faith ! — From the evil one, Satan, and his temptations. Adam was not free from him in tho garden of Eden ; but saints will be in the paradise above ; now ho goes about like a roaring lion, terrifying and distressing ; but then they will be out of the reach of his hideous noise, and where his fiery darts will never penetrate : he will be bound, and cast into the bottom less pit, during the saints' reign with Christ a thousand years ; and though when they are ended he will be let loose for a littlo while, yet he will be taken up again, and cast into the lako of fire and brimstone, where he will remain for ever, and never more be able to give the least molestation and disturbance. — From evil men ; whether profane sinners with whose ungodly conversation they shall be no more vexed ; as Lot, David, Isaiah, and other saints have been here : or violent persecutors, who here oppress them, and distress them, in person, in name, in body and estate ; but now will cease from troubling them, not being able to do them the least hurt nor give them the least uneasiness : or hypo crites in Zion ; there will be no more tares among the wheat, nor goats among the sheep, nor foolish virgins among the wise ; they that offend, and do iniquity, will be gathered out of the kingdom of Christ. This happiness will consist in a freedom from all bodily evils ; or which affect the outward circumstances. No more penury, nor strait

336 OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. ness, as to external things ; no more want of food, of drink, and of clothing, which is sometimes now the lot of saints ; they will hunger and thirst no more ! there will be no more racking pains, nor loath some diseases, no more sickness ; no more death : nor will they be any more subject to disappointments from friends or others ; nor to losses in the business of life ; nor to loss of friends and relations by death ; nor to any thing that may mar their joy and pleasure. ii. This happy state will consist in the enjoyment of all that is good. — 1. In the enjoyment of God himself, who is the chief good, who is the portion of his people now, and will be their portion for evermore ; in enjoying communion with him, Father, Son, and Spirit, in the highest perfection, and without any interruption, and to all eternity ; in the beatific vision of him, in beholding him as he is ; not his nature and essence, so as to comprehend it ; but they shall see him so as to have clearer, fuller, and more distinct apprehensions of his perfections and glory ; especially as shining in and through Christ, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. — 2. In being with Christ, and beholding his glory, the glory of his divine Person, with the eyes of their understanding, being more opened and enlarged ; and the glory of his human nature with the eyes of their body ; they shall see him in the flesh crowned with glory and honour, who was crowned with thorns, spit upon, buffeted, crucified, pierced, and wounded for them. — 3. In having the company and society of angels, and of one another. They will now be come, in the fullest sense, to an innume rable company of angels; and will converse with them, and join them in adoring the divine perfections, and blessing and praising God and the Lamb ; they will then sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and other patriarchs, with the prophets, apostles, and all the saints in the kingdom of heaven ; they will have communion with each other, though not in the same way and manner as now, in the use of ordi nances, of which there will be then no need ; yet there will bo a social worship, in which they will be jointly concerned ; in singing hallelu jahs, and in ascriptions of blessings, glory, and praise, to the sacred and eternal Three. They will converse and discourse with each other about divine, spiritual, and heavenly things ; in what language it is not easy to say ; though tongues will cease, the multiplicity of languages now used, that jargon introduced at Babel or since; though some think every one will speak in his own language the wonderful things of God ; but this is not probable, since then mutual converse would not be general ; yet it is reasonable to suppose, some one language will be used to employ the tongue : some have thought of the Hebrew lan guage spoken in paradise, and by patriarchs, prophets, &c ; but perhaps it may be a language more pure, more perfect, more elegant, and more refined, than ever was spoken by men on earth. It is also highly probable the saints will know one another personally; which seems necessary to their perfect happiness, though they will know no man after the flesh : all natural relations and civil connexions will now cease ; and whether it will give any peculiar and superior pleasure to see a relation or friend in this happy state, more than to see another

OF THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. 337 saint, is a question not now to bo resolved ; as it will give no uneasi ness that any relation or friend is missing there, which would mar their happiness. To all which may be added, the communion of the saints will be with the utmost peace and concord ; they will dwell together in unity, in the highest perfection ; there will be no jars nor discord among them; no envy and vexation among brethren; love will be arrived at its greatest pitch of vigour and glory, and continue so for ever. — 4. This happiness will consist in perfect holiness. Sanctification will now be completed in soul and body : the soul, as before observed, will be entirely free from the very being of sin, as well as from any act of it, and from guilt and pollution arising from it : and the body, though vile when laid in the grave, will, being raised, be like to the glorious body of Christ ; and saints, both in soul and body, will be without fault before the throne, without any spot or stain of sin, or wrinkle or deformity, or any such thing ; and so be perfectly fit for communion with God, with angels, and one another. — 5. It will con sist in the enjoyment of the greatest glory, both in soul and body, beyond all present conception and expression. There will be a glory revealed in the saints, which is beyond all comparison ; and a glory put upon them that is inconceivable ; a glory upon their souls, which will lie in perfect purity in them, in having the righteousness of Christ upon them, and the shining robes of light and bliss ; a glory upon their bodies, which will be raised glorious, powerful, spiritual, and incorruptible, and ever continue ; as Christ will appear in glory, they will appear in glory with him, and be made like unto him. — 6. From all which will arise the greatest joy and felicity ; fulness of joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory ! the redeemed of the Lord shall now be come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, Isa. xxxv. 10. IV. It may be considered, whether there will be any degrees in the final happiness of the saints ; or whether one saint will have a greater share of happiness than another. It appears, there will be degrees in the punishment of the wicked in hell ; and some think there will be degrees in the happiness of the saints in heaven ; and others not : and there are some things advanced on both sides not to be despised. Those who are for degrees of glory, do not think there will be any want of happiness in any, nor any uneasy desires after more ; nor any envyings of others ; nor do they suppose, with the papists, that the distribution will be made according to the proper merit of men ; but that the reward will be a reward of grace, and not of debt : yet, as it seems to incline to the popish notion, and to have a look that way, it is not so agreeable ; and besides, those passages of Scripture which are usually brought to support it, as Dan. xii. 2, Matt. xxv. 14, &c, 1 Cor. xv. 40—42, belong to the kingdom state, as we have seen, and not to the ultimate glory. The arguments against degrees in glory are, i. That all the'people of God are loved by him with the same love ; they are not loved one sooner than another, for they are all loved with an everlasting love ; nor one more than another : there are no degrees VOL. II. 7,

338 OP THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. in the love of God, as in himself, though the manifestations of it may be more or less ; yet the favour he bears to his own peculiar people is the same, and so always continues to the end, and to all eternity. ii. They are all chosen together in Christ, as not one before another, their election being together in Christ, before the foundation of the world ; so not one more than another : the election of one may be manifested before another, and be «nore clearly manifested to one than to another ; but the act is the same ; so is the glory they are chosen to. in. They are equally interested in the same covenant of grace, which is an everlasting one ; and the one were as early in it as the others ; and are all alike blessed with the same spiritual blessings of it ; and have the same grace given them in Christ before the world began, one as another ; and have all the same right to the exceeding great and precious promises of it. iv. They are all equally redeemed with the same price, which is the precious blood of Christ ! 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; and though they are redeemed out of every kindred, tongue," people, and nation, yet it is by the same blood, Rev. v. 9 ; as the half-shekel for the ransom of the souls of the Israelites, was the same for one as another, the rich did not give more, nor the poor less, Exod. xxx. 12 —15 ; so the ransom price for Christ's people is the same, which is himself. v. They are all justified by the same righteousness ; it is unto all, and upon all them that believe ; there is no difference between greater and lesser believers ; though one may have more faith than another, that is, as to exercise ; yet no man has more righteousness than another : and in every one it is the same precious faith as to its nature and object ; it is by one and the same righteousness that all the seed of Israel, the spiritual seed of Christ, are justified ; Christ's righteous ness is a garment that reaches down to the feet, and covers the meanest member of his body, as well as the greatest. vi. All are equally the sons of God, are predestinated to the same adoption of children ; and which they receive through the redemption that is by Christ ; and from whom they receive the same power, autho rity, and privilege to become the children of God, one as another ; they are all the children of God by faith in Christ, and are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God ; and being children, they are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; all alike so, they are all first-born ones, Heb. xii. 23. vii. They are all kings and priests unto God, made so by Christ ; their office and dignity are alike ; they are alike raised by his grace and favour, from a low estate, to sit among princes, and to inherit the same throne of glory. vni. The future glory and happiness of the saints is frequently expressed by words of the singular number ; showing, that though it belongs to more, it is the same to all, or that all have an equal right to, and share in it ; thus it is called, the inheritance of the saints in light ; the inheritance reserved in heaven ; a kingdom it is their Father's good pleasure to give them ; a crown of righteousness laid up for them ;

OP THE FINAL STATE OF THE SAINTS. 339 and is signified by a penny given to the labourers alike, who came into the vineyard at different parts of the day. It is a question moved by some, whether there will not be an increase of the happiness of the saints in a future state, or some addition made unto it, and improvement of it, by fresh discoveries of the mysteries of grace and of providence, that may be gradually made, which may afford new pleasure and delight. This is not easy to determine ; some are inclined to think there will be an increase, as in the angels, who desire to look more into the mysteries of grace, 1 Pet. i. 12 ; and have a greater knowledge of them, which may be an addition to their happi ness. But it is not so certain, that angels by naturo are meant in the text referred to ; but angels by office, ministers of the gospel : besides, the happiness of the good angels may not be as yet complete, until all the elect men are gathered in ; as the punishment of the evil angels will not be full until the day of judgment : and if any addition is gradu ally made to the happiness of the saints in heaven, it must be imperfect until that addition is made, and must continue so till the last is made ; which does not seem consistent with the perfection of their state. However, much may be said for the growing happiness of the saints onward in eternity ; but the determination of this question must be left till we come into that state, when we shall know even as also we are known. The eternity of this happiness is the next and the last thing to be considered, and which is essential to it ; for let the happiness of men be what it may, yet if it is to have an end, though at a great distance, the thought of that will greatly spoil the pleasure of it ; but this happi ness will never have an end ; as appears by its names.— 1 . By its being frequently called eternal life, everlasting life, a life that will never end : the present life has an end ; let a man live ever so long, he dies at last ; it is said of Methuselah, the oldest man, that he lived so many years, and he died ; but he that lives and believes in Christ, shall never die ; though he may die corporally, he shall not die spiritually and eternally, and therefore must be everlastingly happy.—2. It is a glory, and it is called eternal glory, an eternal weight of glory, a crown of glory that fadeth not away : the glory of kings and kingdoms, continues not long, but passes away, and so their happiness is temporal and transitory ; but that of the saints endures for ever, 1 Pet. v. 10. — 3. It is a house eternal in the heavens ; it consists of many rooms ; there are many mansions, dwelling, abiding places for the saints in it; and those habitations are everlasting habitations, Luke xvi. 8; houses on oarth may be consumed by fire, or be pulled down by violence, or decay through length of time ; or a man may be turned out of house and home ; but nothing of this kind can befal the dwelling-place of the saints in heaven, and them in that.—4. It is an inheritance, and an eternal one ; an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. v. 4. An inheritance on earth, a man may be dispossessed of by force or fraud ; but an inheritance in heaven is reserved there, and so safe and secure ; and is out of the reach of any to disturb the saints in their possession of it.—5. It is a city, and a z2

340 OP THE FINAL STATE OP THE SAINTS. continued one ; here the saints have none ; but they seek one to come ; a city which has foundations firm and sure, and can never be subverted, Heb. xi. 10 ; here cities of great antiquity and fame, of great strength and glory, are destroyed, and come to nothing, and their memorial perishes with them ; but this is a city that will endure to all eternity. —6. It is a kingdom, and an everlasting one, 2 Pet. i. 1 1 ; it is the kingdom of Christ, of which there will be no end ; in it the saints will reign with him for ever and ever ; his spiritual and mediatorial king dom, when the end cometh, will be delivered up to the Father; the millennium kingdom will be at an end when the thousand years are expired ; but the kingdom of heaven, or the ultimate state of glory, will never end.—7. It is a country in which the saints are not sojourners, as here, where they continue but for a while; and so a better country than this ; for there they will for ever dwell as in their own native land, being born from above, and partakers of the heavenly calling.—8. It is expressed by being with Christ, and which will be for ever ; and with which words the saints are directed to comfort them selves now, that they shall be ever with the Lord ! Eternity infinitely adds to the happiness of this state.—9. The eternal purpose of God, which first gave birth to this state of happiness ; the everlasting cove nant of grace, in which it is secured ; and the promise of it, made before the world began, confirm and ensure the everlasting continuance of it.—10. Were there any fears of its ever ending, it would not be perfect happiness ; but as perfect love casteth out fear, so the full evidence that is given of the eternity of the saints' happiness, casts out all fear of its ever coming to an end ; which, as it cannot be admitted, can never be an alloy unto it.

BOOK III. OF THE WORSHIP OF GOD, OR PRACTICAL RELIGION. OF THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP. I have, in the former part of this work, proved there is a God, from the light of nature and reason, from the works of creation, &c ; and now my business is to show that this God is to be worshipped. I have treated of the nature, perfections, and attributes of God, which are the foundation of the worship of him ; and now I shall treat of worship itself. I have considered the various works of God, the works of crea tion, providence, and grace ; and these may be used as so many argu ments to engage us to divine worship, or as so many reasons why we should glorify God with our bodies and spirits, which are his ; or in other words, worship him both internally and externally : and I shall begin with the object of worship, for which we have a plain direction, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only skalt thou serve, Matt. ix. 10. Two things are to be observed and considered—that the Lord God is the object of worship—that he alone is the object of worship, to the exclusion of all others. I. 1 ho object of worship is the Lord God, God essentially and per sonally considered. 1. God essentially considered, or as considered in his nature and essence, which is the foundation of worship. The Lord is to be wor shipped ; the Lord who is the one Jehovah, and whose name alone is Jehovah, Deut. vi. 4, Psalm lxxxiii. 18. The word Lord in the New Testament answers to Jehovah in the Old, a name expressive of the existence or being of God, and of him as the fountain of being, and the author of being to all others ; who is the everlasting / am, which is, and which was, and which is to come ; these words of John are a proper decypherine of the word Jehovah, or the / am that I am in Exod. iii. 14. Now he whose essence is simple, uncompounded, immutable, infinite, eternal, &c, is to be worshipped, even the Lord thy God, thy Creator, thy Benefactor, thy Supporter and Preserver. Thus the apostle describes the proper object of worship unknown to the Athenians, as he who made the world, and all things in it; and gives life, and breath, and all things to his creatures; s

342 OF THE OBJECT OP WORSHIP. and in whom they live, move, and have their being, Acts xvii. 23—28. Thus Jacob invoked God, which to do is a part of religious worship, who had fed him all his life long to that day, Gen. xlviii. 15. David says, his prayer, which is a part of worship, should be to the God of his life, who had given him life and upheld him in it, Psalm xlii. 8 ; he who is the true God, the living God, and the everlasting King, is the object of worship : the true God, in distinction from nominal gods, from such who are falsely so called; the living God, in distinction from idols of gold and silver, the work of men's hands, lifeless statues, in whom there is no breath ; but the true God, and who is to be worshipped, has life in and of himself, originally and underivatively, and is the fountain and giver of life to others, and from everlasting to everlasting he is God. He is by nature God ; there are some who are not so, and therefore not to be served and worshipped,. Gal. iv. 8 ; but God is a spirit, is of spiritual nature, and to be worshipped in spirit and in truth : his nature is most perfect, has all perfections in it, though there is no finding him out unto perfection : his nature is infi nite and incomprehensible, beyond all conception and thought, beyond all words and expressions, exalted above all blessing and praise. The name of God, the very first name by which he is called m Scripture, Elohim, Gen. i. 1, implies worship, and that he is to be worshipped who created the heavens and the earth, for it comes from a word which signifies to worship. And to this the apostle seems to allude, when he says that Antichrist exalts himself above that is called God, or that is worshipped, intimating that the name of God signifies ere/3a<rf*o, the object of worship, 2 Thess. ii. 4. ii. God personally considered, or God considered in the three per sons, is the object of worship. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, are one God, and so equally the object of divine worship. 1. The Father, of whom Christ expressly says, that men shall wor ship the Father, John iv. 21, 23 ; and of the propriety of this there can be no doubt, since his Deity is not denied by any ; and was it, they would easily be confronted ; he is expressly called God the Father, Phil. ii. 11, and sometimes God even the Father, 1 Cor. xv. 23, 2 Cor. i. 3 ; all the perfections of Deity are attributed to him, as immuta bility, eternity, &c, and the works of creation, providence, and grace; and he has undoubtedly a proper claim of worship from his creatures, and accordingly worship is given to him, and acts of it are exercised on him. Baptism, which is a solemn act of religious worship under the New Testament dispensation, is administered in his name ; and his name stands first in the form of it, " Baptizing in the name of the Father," &c, which signifies not only its being done by his authority and command, but the persons, by submission to it, devote themselves to him, profess to be his, and lay themselves hereby under an obliga tion to serve him ; and because to do this in the name of a creature would be idolatry and irreligion, the apostle Paul was thankful that he had baptised no more of the Corinthians than he had, when he found they were for setting him up as the head of a party among them, lest

OF THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP. 343 they should think they were baptized in his name. Prayer is another part of divine and religious worship, which is made to the Father, and mdeed is generally made to him ; the access and address are most frequently to him, not but that they may be equally made to the other two persons as will be presently seen, but the reason why they are usually made to him, is because he bears no office, whereas the others do, and an office which is concerned in the business of prayer. Christ is the mediator through whom the access is, and in whose name the petitionis put up ; and the Spirit is the spirit of supplication, by whose aid and assistance prayer is made : the whole of this may be observed in one passage ; for through him, through Christ the mediator, we both, Jews and Gentiles, have an access at the throne of grace by one spirit, who helps and assists us in our supplications, unto the Father, the Father of Christ, and of us, Eph. ii. 18 ; and it is easy to observe, that at the beginning of many of the epistles such a prayer or wish is made, as Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, as distinguished from the Lord Jesus Christ ; which is a petition for grace, an increase of grace, and all necessary supplies of it, and for all spiritual prosperity and happiness. Thanksgiving, another act of religious worship, which is sometimes included in prayer, and sometimes performed as a dis tinct part of worship, is made to the Father. Giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father, the Father of Christ and of us in him, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Eph. v. 20. Acts of faith, hope, and love, which are acts of worship, are exercised on him ; Ye believe in God, that is, in God the Father, John xiv. 1, who raised Christ from the dead ; that thefaith and hope of saints miglit be in God the Father, who raised him from thence, 1 Pet. i. 21, and where those f'aces are, love is, and is exercised on the same object ; and as the ather was the object of Christ's love as man and mediator, so he is the object of the love of those that believe in him, John xiv. 31. 2. The Word, or Son of God, is also the object of worship ; He is thy Lord, and worship thou him, Psalm xiv. 11 ; yea he is to be wor shipped with the same sort of worship, and to be honoured with the same degree of honour the Father is, John v. 23 ; for he is the Lord, the Jehovah thy God, as Thomas said, My Lord, and my God ; the mighty God, the great God, God over all, the true God and eternal life ; who has the same perfections his Father has ; and the same works his Father does are done by him, Col. ii. 9, John v. 19 ; and therefore to be worshipped with the same worship, and so he is. Bap tism is administered in his name equally as in the Father's, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, &c, and sometimes his name only is mentioned, Acts x. 48, and xix. 5. Prayer, which is an act of worship, is made to him; it is said, Prayer shall be madefor him continually ; it may as well be rendered, as some think, Prayer shall be made to him continually, Psalm lxxii. 15. Invocation of his name, which is a part of religious worship, is spoken of him ; his dis ciples and followers are sometimes described by those that called upon his name, Acts ix. 14, 1 Cor. i. 2, and it may be observed, that in the beginning of many epistles before referred to, the same prayer or wish

344 OF THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP. for grace and peace to the samts, is made to Christ as to God the Father ; Stephen, the proto-martyr, when expiring, called upon God, saying, Lord Jesjis, receive my spirit, Acts vii. 59, to which may be added the doxologies or ascriptions of glory, which are high acts of worship, are sometimes made to Christ separately, 2 Pet. iii. 18, Jude 25, Rev. i. 5, 6. Also the acts of faith, hope, and love, are exercised on him as on God the Father ; Ye believe in God the Father, says Christ, believe also in me, John xiv. 1. Trust and confidence are not to bo put in a creature, for Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, Jer. xvii. 5. Christ is the object of the hope and love of his people, and as such is often represented, 1 Tim. i. 1, 1 Pet. i. 8; in whom they hope for happiness, and who have an affectionate devotion for him. And it is easy to give instances of adoration which have been made unto him ; thus he was worshipped by Jacob, when he invoked him to bless the sons of Joseph, saying, The angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads, Gen. xlviii. 16 ; by the angel cannot be meant God the Father, for he is never called an angel ; nor 'any created angel, whom Jacob would never have invoked ; but the uncreated angel, Christ, the Angel of the covenant, his Redeemer from all evil. He was also worshipped by Joshua, who appeared to him, and made himself known to him as the captain of the host of the Lord, who is the leader and commander ofthe people, the captain of our salvation ; upon which notice, Joshua fell on hisface to tlie earth, and did worship, for which he was not reproved, nay encouraged, yea, was farther ordered to loose his shoefrom off hiafoot, for it is said the place whereon thou standest is holy, and Joshua did so ; which was never ordered to be done, but where God himself was, whose presence gave a relative holiness to the place where he appeared, Josh, v. 13 — 15. Christ was also worshipped by the wise men who came from the east to seek him and see him ; and so by others in the days of his flesh, and by his disciples when he parted from them and went up to heaven ; yea he has been worshipped not only by men but by angels, and that by a divine order ; Let all the angels ofGod worship him, Heb. i. 6. The first begotten ; the same with the only begotten Son of God, who is God; or otherwise it would be a piece of idolatry to worship him, and we have an instance of many angels with others paying their adoration to him, Rev. v. 12, 13. 3. The holy Spirit is also the object of worship, equally with the Father and the Son. He is with them the one God. He is possessed of all divine perfections, such as eternity, omniscience, omnipresence, &c, he was concerned in creation, and is in the government of the world, and in the operations of grace, Psalm xxxiii. 6, Isa. xl. 13, 14, 1 Cor. xij. 4 — 11; and so worthy of worship, and it is given unto him. Baptism is administered in his name, equally as in the name of the Father and of the Son, Matt. xxviii. 19. Prayer is made unto him ; not only is ho the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and who helps the saints under their infirmities in prayer, but he is prayed unto ; The Lord, that is, the Lord the Spirit, direct your hearts, &c, where all the threo persons are mentioned as distinct, 2 Thess. iii. 5 ; so grace and peace, as they are wished and prayed for from God and

OF THK OBJECT OP WORSHIP. 345 Christ, so from the seven Spirits which are before the throne ; by which are meant the one Spirit of God so called, because of the fulness of divine perfections in him, and because of the perfection of his gifts and graces, Rev. i. 4, 5. Moreover his graces wrought in the saints, as they come from him, they are exercised on him, as faith, trust, and a holy confidence in him, that he who has begun the good work in them will finish it ; and there is also the love of the Spirit, a cordial love of him, and a carefulness not to grieve him by whom they are sealed unto the day of redemption. II. God only is the object of worship, to tho exclusion of all others. i. All idols of whatsoever kind are excluded, not only images of things in heaven or in earth, or in the sea, and the idols of gold and silver, the work of men's hands, forbidden by the second command ; but also the idols set up in a man's heart, to which such respect is paid as is due to God only ; of such may be read in Ezek. xiv. 4, and which God promises to cleanse his people from, by his Spirit and grace, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, and which when converted they declare they will have no more to do with, in the manner they have, who before conversion served divers lusts and pleasures, Tit. iii. 3, and these perhaps are the idols the apostle John warns the children of God to keep themselves from, 1 John v. 21. The idol the worldling is enamoured with, and in which he places his trust and confidence, is gold and silver ; hence covetousness is called idolatry, and such a man is said to be an idolater, Eph. v. 5, Col. iii. 5 ; nor can the true God and this idol mammon be served and worshipped by the same, Matt. vi. 24. The epicure, or voluptuous person, his god is his belly, which he serves, and in which he places all his happiness, and cannot be said to serve the Lord and worship him, Rom, xvi. 18. The self-righteous man makes an idol of his righteousness, he sets it up and endeavours to make it stand, and to establish it, and then falls down to it and worships it, putting his trust and confidence in it, Luke xviii. 9. ii. Every creature in the heavens, or on the earth, are excluded from divine worship. As the sun, moon, and stars ; these seem to be the first objects of worship among the idolatrous heathens : and indeed when men departed from the true God, what could they think of to place in his room but those glorious creatures so visible to them, from whom they received light and heat, and many blessings I hence the Israelites were cautioned against lifting up their eyes unto them and gazing on them, lest they should be ensnared into the worship of them, Deut. iv. 19. The next objects of idolatrous worship were men, heroes and mighty kings, famous for their exploits ; these are the gods many and the lords many, the Baalim often spoken of in Scripture, as Baal- Peor, Baal-Berith, &c Neither good nor bad men are to be wor shipped ; when an attempt was made to sacrifice to the 'apostles, they rejected it with the greatest vehemence and abhorrence, Acts xiv, and it is the height of iniquity and blasphemy in Antichrist to suffer himself to be worshipped, yea to commend it; and a* damnable sin in his followers to do it, Rev. xiii. 4, 8, 15, and xiv. 8 — 11. Yea, angels are excluded from divine worship ; this sort of idolatry was introduced

346 OF INTERNAL WORSHIP. in the times of the apostles, but condemned, Col. ii. 18 ; and rejected by angels themselves, Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 9. And much less are devils to be worshipped ; and yet the worship of such has obtained among the blind and ignorant heathens, as in the East and West Indies ; and even the sacrifices of the Jews to new gods their fathers knew not, and the sacrifices of the heathens are said to be offered to devils, and not to God ; yea the worship of departed saints by the Papists, as the doctrine of it is called the doctrine of devils, so the practice is represented as if it was no other than worshipping of devils ; it being contrary to the worship of the true God, who only is to be worshipped. OP INTERNAL WORSHIP. Having considered the object of worship, worship itself is next to be treated of ; and which is either internal or external : internal worship requires our first attention, it being of the greatest moment and import ance ; external worship profits little in comparison of that ; if the heart is not engaged in worship bodily exercise is of little advantage, that being only the form without the power of godliness ; yea vain is such worship where the [heart is far removed from God. God is a spirit, and must be worshipped with our spirits, the better and more noble part of man ; if we serve his law, it should be with our minds the inward man delighteth in it ; obedience to it should flow from a principle of love to God in the heart, and with a view to his glory ; and if we serve him in the gospel of his Son, it should be with our spirits, with a fervent affection for it ; if we pray to him it should bo with the spirit and the understanding also ; if we sing his praise, it should be with melody in our hearts to the Lord ; herein lies powerful godliness ; and godliness is the ground-work of internal worship, and without which there can be no worshipping God aright, and therefore it deserves our first consideration. Godlmess is sometimes used for evangelic doctrine, the doctrine that is according to godliness, and productive of it ; the whole mystery ofgodliness, respecting the person, office, and grace of Christ, and salvation by him, which the apostle exhorts Timothy to exercise himself in, in opposition to fables, and vain and trifling things, of no moment. Sometimes it signifies a holy life and conversation, under the influence and power of the grace of God, as in 2 Pet. iii. 11. WlwJt manner ofpersons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness ? Sometimes it intends some particular duty of religion, or rather some particular grace, Add—to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly love, that is, exercise these. But in the subject 1 am upon I consider it as an assemblage of graces, as containing the whole of grace in the heart, the exercise of which is necessary to serve and worship God with reverence and godly fear, Heb. xii. 28, and without this there can be no internal worship of God. This is no other than the inward devotion of the mind, a fervency of spirit in serving the Lord ; it is a holy disposition of the soul towards God This is Oeoo-e'fta.a, the true worship of God, 1 Tim. ii. 10 ; the

OF INTERNAL WOR8HIP. 347 ground and foundation of it, without which there can be none. This is life and godliness, or vital powerful godliness, 2. Pet. i. 3, and the things pertaining to it are faith, hope, love, and every other grace, of which it consists, and in the exercise of which it lies, and in this is all internal religion and worship. I. Such a gracious disposition God-ward is not to be found in unregenerate men, only in such who are truly partakers of the grace of God. It is godliness which distinguishes between one who truly serves and worships God, and one that serves and worships him not. The one as he is denominated from it a godly man, so likewise Otoo-t/3ris, a true worshipper of God, John ix. 31 ; the other, as from the want of it, he is called an ungodly man, so ao-t/3ris, one that is without the worship of God, 1 Pet. iv. 18. i. Such a gracious disposition of the mind towards God, which is requisite to the service and worship of him, is not to be found in unregenerate men ; their character is this, that they are after the flesh, or are carnal men ; and only mind the things of the flesh, carnal things, fleshly lusts, &c, Rom. viii. 5, there is no disposition in their minds towards God and his worship ; they savour not the things of God, but the things which be of men ; and therefore having no inward disposi tion God-ward, they are truly reckoned ungodly men, and destitute of the worship of him. ii. Such a gracious disposition towards God and his service, which is rightly called godliness, is only to be found in such who are parta kers of the grace of God in truth ; for, — 1. Their character is, that they are after the Spirit, or are spiritual men ; they are born of the Spirit and his grace, and so are spirit or spiritual, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and in whom grace is the governing principle ; though they are not without flesh, and have much carnally in them, yet being renewed in their minds, their conversation is spiritual; they walk after and live in the Spirit.—Hence, — 2. They mind the things of tho Spirit, they love spiritual doctrines, desire spiritual gifts, especially an increase of spiritual grace, and a clearer view of interest in all spirit ual blessings: they savour the things of God, and of the Spirit of God; they have a gust for them, a relish of them, they are sweet unto them, their taste being changed. Wherefore. — 3. Ihe disposition of their souls is God-ward, and to his service ; they have an understanding of him, and desire to know more of him, and follow on to know him in the use of means ; their thoughts are employed about him, they think on his name, his nature, and perfections, and loving-kindness, as dis played in Christ ; their affections are set upon him, and they love him cordially and sincerely ; their desires are after him, and to the remem brance of his name; they pant after more communion with him, and the manifestation of his love unto them ; they have their spiritual sense exercised upon him ; they see him with the eyes of their under standings opened, his beauty, his power, and his glory, in the sanctuary; they hear his gospel with pleasure, it is a joyful sound unto them, and they can distinguish his voice from that of a stranger ; they taste that the Lord is gracious ; his word and the doctrines of it, his fruit and

348 OF INTERNAL WORSHIP. the blessings of his grace are sweet to their taste, these are savoury things which their souls love ; they handle Christ the word of life, and feel the power of his gospel on them ; that effectually working in them through the demonstration of the Spirit. Now, — 4. These are truly godly persons, evo-e^is, persons well-disposed to the worship of God, and who rightly perform it; these have their minds powerfully impressed with the doctrine that is according to godliness, under the influence of which they live soberly, righteously and godly ; these have all things given them pertaining to life and godliness, every grace, and every needful supply and increase of it ; in the exercise of which lies internal worship, or inward, spiritual, experimental, and practical religion ; which is called tvo-efieia, or godliness, and stands opposed to bodily exercise, or external worship. II. Godliness not in name and profession only, but godliness in the life and power of it, an inward fervent devotion of the mind, a gracious disposition of the heart towards God, as has been explained, is the ground-work of true religion ; and without this there can be no inter nal worship, nor indeed any external worship rightly performed : for, — 1. Without the knowledge of God there can be no true worship of him ; the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what, and so their worship was not right. Whom the Athenians ignorantly worshipped, him the apostle declared unto them ; nor is a natural knowledge of God by the creatures sufficient to teach men the worship of God and engage them in it ; the wise philosophers, who, by the light of nature, by the works of creation, knew there was a God, yet they glorified him not as God. True, spiritual, experimental, and evangelical knowledge of God, is the knowledge of God in Christ ; and as our worship of him is in and by Christ, there can be no true worship of him without such knowledge of him, even of him as our covenant God in Christ ; and as this will direct us to the right object of worship, and the true manner of worship, so it will influence and engage unto it ; whose I am, and whom I serve. — 2. Without faith in God, which is another branch of powerful godliness, there can be no true worship of God ; for whatso ever is not of faith is sin ; and without it it is impossible to please God in any part of worship and service ; all worship performed to God under the Old Testament dispensation which was agreeable to him, was by faith, as the instances of Abel and Jacob, of Moses and the children of Israel show. And under the gospel dispensation, whenever we draw nigh to God in any part of worship, it must be in faith ; whoever comes to God, and is a worshipper of him, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him ; and if we come to the throne of grace and there ask any thing of God, it must be asked in faith ; and if wo attend upon him in the ministry of the word, it must be in the exercise of faith, for the word only profits as it is mixed with faith by them that hear it, Heb. x. 22, and iv. 12 ; now faith is one of the things pertaining to life and godliness, and is a part of it ; and therefore without godliness, or a gracious disposition of the soul towards God, there can be no true worship of him. — 3. Without the fear of God, another branch of vital godlinoss, there

OF INTERNAL WORSHIP, 349 can be no worship of him. The fear of God is sometimes put for the whole of worship, both internal and external, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him ; and fear and reverence are so necessary to the service and worship of God that the Psalmist exhorts men to servo the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ; and as for himself he says, in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Where there is no fear of God before the eyes and upon the hearts of men, there is no worship of him ; grace in the heart, and that in exercise, or inward powerful godliness which is the same thing, is absolutely necessary to worship God in an acceptable manner, Heb. xii. 28. — 4. Spiritual internal worship cannot be performed without love to God, another branch of real godliness. Charity, or love, is the internal principle from whence obedience to God, and the worship of him should spring ; hence love to God with all the heart and soul, as well as fear, is Eremised unto it, Deut. x. 12; for such affectionate, cordial, and earty service is only acceptable to him, and can never be where the heart is destitute of godliness. — 5. And as they are spiritual worship- Sers that God seeks, and spiritual worship that is only acceptable to im, it being suitable to his nature who is a spirit ; none but a spiritual man can perform it, or that is possessed of true grace, or vital godliness ; they that are in the flesh, in a state of nature, carnal men, who have no disposition God-ward, cannot please God, or do that which is acceptable in his sight, Rom. viii. 8. — 6. Nor can a man worship God sincerely, if he has only the form and not the power of godliness ; if he only draws nigh to God with his mouth, and honours him with his lips, and his heart is removed far from him, and his fear towards him taught by the precept of men, his worship will be in vain and unacceptable to him, Isa. xxix. 13; from all which it appears how necessary godliness is to the worship of God, and that it may well be reckoned the ground-work and foundation of it. Now this gracious disposition of the mind God-ward, which may therefore be truly called godliness, and which is so necessary to the worship of God, that it cannot be performed without it, is not of a man's self, it is not naturally in man ; yea as has been seen, the bias and disposition of the minds of men are naturally the reverse ; where fore this disposition must be owing to the grace of God, and must bo a gift of his ; it is he that gives godliness itself, and all things apper taming to it ; and indeed as it is an assemblage of all the graces of the Spirit, and every grace is a gift, that must be such. Knowledge of God is a gift of his ; faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Hope that is good, is a good hope through grace ; love cannot bo pur chased at any rate ; the fear of God is what is implanted in the heart by the grace of God, and so all others ; and even all supplies of grace to maintain, encourage, increase, and support such a disposition, are freely given of God ; and all grace, as it comes from God, it points to God again, and disposes the heart God-ward. III. Groat is the profit and many the advantages that accrue from godliness to the possessors of it.

350 OP INTERNAL WORSHIP. I. That itself is said to be gain to the persons that have it; Godliness with contentment is great gain, 1 Tim. vi. 6; there were some indeed who supposed that gain is godliness, verse o ; either who thought that godliness was to be gained with money, as Simon Magus thought the gifts of the Holy Ghost were ; but as not they, so neither the graces of the Spirit are to be obtained in such a way : or they were such who took up a profession of godliness, and made an outward show of it, for the sake of present or future gain ; to gain a name in a Church of Christ, to get a reputation among godly neighbours and acquaintance, and for the sake of worldly interest in godly wealthy relations, or to obtain the favour of God now, and heaven hereafter ; but after all, what will be the hope and gain of such a person when God takes away his soul ? Job xxvii. 8 ; or they are such who think, or at least act as if they thought, that all religion lay in gain, in getting money ; since their serving God and Christ, and all they do in a religious way, is for filthy lucre's sake, every one looking for his gain from his quarter. But real godliness is itself true gain ; it may be said of it as it is of wisdom, The merchandize ofit is better tlian the merchan dize of silver, and the gain thereof thanfine gold. Such who, whilst in a state of ungodliness, were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, being possessed of godliness, come into good circumstances ; who before were in debt, owed ten thousand talents, and had nothing to pay, and were liable to a prison, all their debts are freely forgiven them, and the whole score of them cleared ; who before were in rags, and had nothing to cover their naked souls before God, are now clothed with change of raiment, with a robe of righteousness and garments of salvation ; who before were starving, and would have been glad of husks which swine do eat, are now fed with the finest of the wheat, with angels' food, at Christ's table, as with marrow and fatness ; these are come into very affluent circumstances, to great riches, durable and unsearchable ; and to great honour also, being raised as beggars from the dunghill to sit among princes, and to inherit the throne of glory ; yea are made kings and priests unto God, have a kingdom of grace now, and are heirs of the kingdom of glory ; they who lived without God in the world, and were aliens from the common wealth of Israel, are now in a good family, fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God ; and being children of God, are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, possessed of the riches of grace and entitled to the riches of glory ; their gain is great indeed, and sufficient to give them full contentment. ii. Godliness is said to be profitable unto all things, 1 Tim. iv. 8, whereas bodily exercise, or a presentation of the body only in an attendance on public worship, profiteth little, or for a little time ; for sometimes such sort of religion and worship lasts but for a little while, as in temporary believers, and in the stony-ground hearers, and where it continues, it profits not in matters of the greatest importance ; it may be profitable to others, by way of example, as to children and servants in a man's family, and to a community with whom he attends for the secular support of it ; and it may be profitable to himself, to

OF INTERNAL WORSHIP. 351 keep him from being elsewhere, in bad company, which might lead into many snares and temptations, and hurtful lusts ; but is of no profit to obtain eternal life, since a man may constantly hear the word, and attend on and submit unto all ordinances, and yet Christ may say to him at the last day, Depart from me, I know you not ; for there may be such bodily exercise or external worship, where there is no true graco nor vital religion : but godliness, powerful vital godliness, internal religion, is profitable unto all things ; it is even profitable to the health of a man's body, for the fear of the Lord, which is the same thing, is health to the navel, and marrow to the bones ; whereas by an ungodly course of life men bring upon themselves diseases painful and incurable ; but more especially godliness is profitable to promote the welfare of the soul : for by means of that, and in the exercise of it, the soul of a good man, as of Gaius, prospers and is in good health ; he finds it always good for him to draw nigh unto God, where he has much communion with him, and receives much from him : and such a man is profitable to others, for godly men are made a blessing to all about them, they are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth; though indeed no man can be profitable to God by all his external and internal religion, as he that is wise and good may be profitable to himself and others ; for when he has done all he can, or by the grace of God is assisted to do, he is but an unprofitable servant. in. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim. iv. 1. — 1. Of the present life, both temporal and spiritual. A godly man has the promise of temporal life, of the bless ings of it, of good things in it, yea that he shall want no good thing that is needful for him ; and of a continuance of this life, when an ungodly man does not live out half his days ; God satisfies the godly man with long life, and shows him his salvation, and of the present spiritual life, of all things pertaining to it, of all needful supplies of grace to maintain and support it, and of the continuance of it, and of its springing up into and issuing in everlasting life. — 2. Of the future life of happiness and glory. It is most certam that there is a future life, and that there is a promise of eternal life in it, made by God, who cannot lie; this promise is made to the godly man, James i. 12, not to be enjoyed by him through any merit of his, for that is the gift of God through Christ ; and a promise being made of it, and ite bemg by promise, show that it is not of the works of men, but of the grace of God ; and when godliness is said to have the promise of it, it is a promise God has made to his own grace, and not to the merits of men. However, it is a plain case, that real godliness is of great avail to men, both with respect to time and eternity. Now as inward powerful godliness is, as has been seen, a disposition of the soul God-ward, from whom all grace comes and to whom it tends, and as it is an assemblage of every grace, in the exercise of which all internal worship and experimental religion lies, I therefore begin with it, and shall in the following chapters consider the branches of it in which it opens ; as the knowledge of God, repentance towards God, the fear of him, faith and trust in him, the hope of good things

352 OF .THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. from him, loVe to him, joy in him, humility, self-denial, patience, sub mission and resignation to the will of God, thankfulness for every mercy, with every other grace necessary to the worship of God, and which belongs to experimental religion and godliness. OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Since the knowledge of God, and of divine things is a part and branch of true godliness, or of experimental religion, and a very essen tial one too, it is first to be considered : for without it tjhere can be no good disposition in the mind towards God ; for ignoti nulla cupido, there are no affections for nor desires after an unknown object. And as we have seen there can be no true worship of God where there is no knowledge of God, as the cases of the Samaritans among the Jews, the Athenians among the Gentiles, and their wise philosophers show ; there can be no cordial obedience to him by those who are ignorant of him ; the language of such persons will be like that of Pharaoh, Exod. v. 2. It is a false maxim of the Papists, that " ignorance is the mother of devotion ;" it is so far from being true, that it is the parent of irreligion, will-worship, superstition, and idolatry. Godli ness, as has been observed, is an assemblage of the graces of the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people, in the exercise of which, experi mental religion, or internal worship, lies ; now there can be no grace without knowledge, no faith without it ; the object must be known, or it cannot be rightly believed in. The blind man's answer to Christ's question is a wise one, John ix. 35, 36. The Gentiles who are de scribed as such who know not God, aro also said to be without hope, without hope and without God in the world ; without hope in God and of good things from him now, and without hope of the resurrection of the dead, a future state, and enjoyment of happiness in it, 1 Thess. iv. 5, 13 ; an unknown object cannot be the object of love ; an unseen person may, Whom liaving not seen, we love ; but an unknown person cannot be truly and cordially loved ; God must be known, or he cannot be loved with all the heart and with all the soul. The wise man says, Prov. xix. 2, That the soul be without knowledge is not good, or rather, it may be rendered, without knowledge the soul is disposed to that which is not good; it cannot be well-disposed towards God, nor be fit for any good work, or for the right performance of any religious exercise, but is disposed to that which is evil ; where ignorance reigns no good thing dwells. Now, I. Let it be observed, that while men are in a natural, unregenerate, and unrenewed state, they are destitute of divine knowledge ; the time before conversion is a time of ignorance ; this was not only the case of the Gentile world in general, before the gospel came unto them, but is of every particular person, Jew or Gentile, Acts xvii. 30 ; all the sons and daughters of Adam are in the same circumstances, for the illus tration of which it may be noted,

OP THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 353 i. That Adam was created a very knowing creature, being made after the image and in the likeness of God, which greatly lay in his understanding and knowledge of things ; and whilst he continued in a state of innocence his knowledge was very great ; it is not easy to say nor to conceive how great it was ; as he knew much of things natural and civil, so of things moral and divine ; as he knew much of the creatures and their nature, so as to give suitable names to them, he knew much of God, of his nature, perfections, and persons, and of his mind and will, and of all necessary truths and duties of religion ; for what by the light of nature and the works of it, and by the exercise of his own rational powers, which were in their full force and vigour, and by that nearness to God and communion with him he had, and by those revelations which were made to him by God, his knowledge must be very great. ii. Our first parents not being content with the knowledge they had, but listening to the temptation of Satan, who suggested to them that if they eat of the forbidden fruit they should be wise and knowing as God, they sinned and fell in with it, and fell by it, and so lost in a great measure that knowledgo they had ; for man being in honour, as he was whilst in a state of innocence, and understandeth not, so he became by sinning, is like the beasts that perish ; not only like to them, being through sin become mortal as they are, but because of want of understanding ; yet vain man would bo wise, would be thought to be a wise and very knowing creature, though man be born like a wild ass's colt, which of all animals is the mo&t dull and stupid. in. Adam being driven from the presence of God, and deprived of communion with him because of sin, by which his nature was corrupted, darkness seized his understanding, and overspread it, and greatly dis pelled that light which before shone so brightly in him ; and this is the case of all his posterity, Eph. iv. 18. The darkness of sin has blinded the eyes of their understanding that they cannot see and under stand divine things ; it has left an ignorance of God in them, to which are owing their want of a disposition to God, an alienation from him, and an aversion to a life agreeable to him ; and this is the state and case of all men, even of God's elect before conversion, who are not only dark but darkness itself, till they are made light in the Lord ; and when the true light of grace shines, the darkness passes away. iv. This darkness and ignorance are increased by a course of sinning. Naturally man is in darkness ; he is born in darkness, and continues in it, and walketh in darkness ; and by a habit and custom in sinning increases the darkness of his mind ; for notwithstanding the fall, there are some remains of the light of nature in man ; some general notions of good and evil, according to which the natural conscience accuses or excuses ; but sometimes through a course of sin conscience is cauterized, seared as with a red-hot iron, so that it is become past feeling, and insensible to the distinction of good and evil. v. There is in many an affected ignorance, which is very criminal; they are willingly ignorant, as the apostle says of the scoffers who shall arise in the last time, or rather they are unwilling to understand what they VOL. II. A A

354 OP THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. might, they know not, nor will they understand, they walk on in dark ness ; they do not choose to make use of but shun the means of know ledge, and shut their eyes against all light and conviction ; they do not care to come to the light, and love darkness rather than light ; they do not desire to know God and his ways, hut rather that he would depart from them ; with such as these wisdom expostulates, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ?— and fools hate knowledge I vi. Some because of their sinful lusts they indulge themselves in, and their contempt of the means of light and knowledge, and the stubborn ehoice they make of error and falsehood, are given up to judicial blind ness and hardness of heart ; as many among the heathens, who because they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, were given up to a reprobate mind, or to a mind void of judgment, and so imbibed notions and performed actions not convenient, Rom. i. 28 ; and the Jews, who rejected Jesus the Messiah against all light and evidence, had a spirit of slumber given them, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, nor understand with their hearts, Rom. xi. 8 : and the followers of antichrist, who received not the love of the truth, had a strong delusion sent them to believe a lie ; 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11 ; others have been left under the power of Satan, the same with the power of darkness, who is the God of this world, and who is suffered to blind the eyes of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Now whilst men are in an unrenewed state, and in such a state of darkness and blindness, they are ignorant, — 1. Of God, of his nature and perfections ; for though they may by the light of nature, and from the works of creation, know that there is a God, and some of his per fections, as his wisdom, power, and goodness, which manifestly appear m them ; yet not so as to glorify him as God, nor so as to preserve them from the worship of other gods besides him ; indeed their know ledge of him is so dim and obscure, that after all they are said by their wisdom not to know God, the true God, this was the case of the Gentiles ; and as for the Jews who had a revelation, yet they were ignorant of the righteousness of God, which was the ground of their capital mistake in going about to establish their own righteous ness and reject the righteousness of Christ. And carnal men are very apt to think that God is such an one as themselves, and they measure him by themselves, and fancy that what is agreeable to the reasonings of their minds is approved of by him ; or that he takes no notice of men and their actions, but leaves them to act as they please ; that the Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not, Ezek. ix. 9 ; and thus they live without God, or as atheists in the world ; or they think that God is a God of mercy and will have mercy on them at last, but never think of his justice and holiness. — 2. They are ignorant of Christ, of his person and offices, and of the way of life and salvation by him ; as they know neither the Father nor the Son, nor the dis tinction between them, so not the concern that each have in the salvation of men. The way of peace they know not, how God was in Christ

OP THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. 355 reconciling the world to himself, forming the plan and scheme of recon ciliation, and how Christ has made peace by the blood of his cross. — 3. They are ignorant of the Spirit of God ; The world seeth him not, neither knoweth him, John xiv. 17 ; neither his person nor his office, as a eanctifier and comforter ; not the operations of his grace on the souls of men; Nicodemus, a master in Israel, could not conceive how it should be that a man should be born again of water and of the Spirit, John iii. 8, 9. Nor can a natural man either receive or know the things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned, and he has not a spiritual visive faculty to discern them, 1 Cor. ii. 14. — 4. They are ignorant of themselves, and of their state and condition by nature ; they think themselves rich and increased with goods, when they are wretched, miserable, poor and blind, and naked ; they fancy themselves whole, sound and healthful, and need not a physician for their souls, when they are sadly diseased and distempered with sin ; they reckon themselves alive without the law, in a good condition, and in a fair way for life, heaven, and happiness, till the law enters them and cuts off all their hopes of salvation by the works of it. They are upon the brink of ruin, like a man on the top of the mast of a ship asleep, or in the midst of the sea, insensible of their danger ; they rush into sin like the horse into the battle, and hasten like a bird to the snare, which knows not it is for its life. — 5. They are ignorant of sin and the sad effects of it ; if they have any notion of the grosser sins of life, and the evil of them, they do not know that lust in the heart is sin ; not the evil of indwelling sin and corrupt nature ; nor consider that the wages of sin is death, eternal death ; they are not sensible of their own insufficiency and inability to make atonement for their sins, nor to work out a righteousness that will justify them from their sins. — 6. They are ignorant of the sacred Scriptures, and the truths contained in them ; though they are plain to them that under stand, and right to them that find knowledge, Prov. viii. 9 ; yet they are like a sealed book to carnal men, whether learned or unlearned ; the one cannot read them because sealed, and the other because he is not learned. The mysteries of the kingdom are delivered to them in parables, and they are riddles, enigmas, and dark sayings to them ; the gbspel, and the doctrines of it, are hid from the wise and prudent ; they cannot understand them, they are foolishness to them, and they pronounce them such. II. In every renewed person there is a knowledge of God and of divine things ; the new creature or new man is renewed in knowledge, &c. Col. iii. 10. Spiritual and divine knowledge is a part of the new man, which is no other than an assemblage of graco consisting of various members, of which this is one ; it is a part of the image of God and Christ enstamped upon the soul in regeneration, and which gives it a disposition God-ward ; concerning which may be observed, i. The object of it, God ; before conversion men know not God, but after that they know him, or rather are known of him, Gal. iv. 8, 9 ; there is a three-fold knowledge of God, or a knowledge of God that is come at in a three-fold way. ,a a 2

356 OF THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. 1. There is a knowledge of God by the light of nature through the works of creation, which show his eternal power and godhead, declare his glory, and display his wisdom and goodness ; and through the works of Providence, by which he has not left himself without a wit ness of his being and beneficence ; and though these ways and works are past finding out, and a small portion of them is known by men, yet something of God is to be known by them, and that he is, as Jothro said, greater than all gods ; but then such knowledge was always insuf ficient to teach men the true worship of God, and influence them to it, notwithstanding this, either they did not worship him at all, or ignorantly worshipped him ; that is, not in a right way and manner ; the wise philosophers of the heathens, though they in some sort knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor serve him only, but worshipped and served the creature more and beside the Creator ; nor was such knowledge effectual to make the hearts of men better, nor to mend their lives ; those to whom God left not himself without a wit ness, by the works of creation and providence, still walked on in their own ways, and those very bad ones, walking in lasciviousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelling, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, even committing abominable lewdness in their religious services. What a character does the apostle give of them, Rom. i., even of those who professed themselves to be wise, both as to their hearts and actions I their foolish heart was darkened and their imagination vain, and they were given up to the lusts of their hearts and to the uncleanness of them, . to vile affections and a reprobate mind, being filled with all unright eousness and wickedness ; what a dreadful portrait does the apostle draw of them, verse 29 — 31. Nor was this light and knowledge suf ficient to point out to them the true way, how incensed Deity may be appeased, or sinners be reconciled to God ; or by what means atonement for sin could be made, and therefore put such questions as in Mic vi. 6, 7; not the least hint did it give of a sin-bearing and sin-atoning Saviour, and of the blood of Christ which makes peace with God, and cleanses from all sin ; nor could it give men any good ground to hope for pardon of sin on any account whatever ; though they might presume on the mercy of God, and conjecture that he would forgive their sins upon their repentance, this they could not be sure of ; at most it was but an who can tell if God will repent and turn from his fierce anger, as said the Ninevites, Jonah iii. 9. Nor was it sufficient to assure them of a future state of happiness, and describe what that is ; as for the immortality of the soul, they had some faint views of it, and rather wished it to be true than believed it ; of the resurrection of the dead they had no hope ; and what that happiness of man hereafter they sometimes speak of, they had gross notions of, such as had any ; and could not assure themselves by all their virtue that they should enjoy it. Life and immortality are only truly brought to light by the gospel. 2. There is a knowledge of God by the law, the Taw of Moses, the moral law ; though this came by Moses, it was of God, and shows what is his good and perfect will ; it is a transcript of his nature, his justice, and holiness ; but then it only gives knowledge of him as a

Of the knowledge of goo. 357 law-giver, who is able to save and to destroy, and as an incensed God threatening wrath to the breakers of it, without any hope of mercy, not even on the foot of repentance ; it accuses of sin, the breach of it; pro nounces guilty for it, and is the ministration of condemnation and death; by it is the knowledge of sin, but not of a saviour from it. The cere monial law was indeed a shadow of good things to come by Christ ; its sacrifices prefigured the sacrifice of Christ ; it was the Jews' school master that taught them Christ, and directed them to him. 3. There is a knowledge of God which comes by the gospel, the doctrine of grace and truth, that is by Christ, who lay in the bosom of his Father, and has declared him, his person, his nature, his grace, his mind and will to men ; God has spoken by his Son, and made the largest discovery of himself by him ; and makes use of the ministers of the gospel to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face or person of Christ, who is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person : and it is of this kind of know ledge of God in Christ, that souls are made partakers, when they aro renewed in the spirit of their minds ; this is not a mere notional and speculative knowledge, such as the carnal Jews had, who had a form of knowledge in the law, and by breaking it dishonoured God; and which some who call themselves Christians may have, who profess in words to know God, but in works deny him ; who say, Lord, Lord, but do not the will of our Father in heaven : but this is a spiritual and experi mental knowledgo of God, such a spiritual man has, and that from the Spirit of God as a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ; and which leads men to mind and savour spiritual things. This is a knowledge which is attended with faith in God as a covenant God in Christ ; it is a fiducial knowledge, such as know his name put their trust in him, in whom is everlasting strength, and from whom they expect all supplies of grace ; and having knowledge of him as their portion and exceeding great reward, they hope in him for what they want in time, and for happiness with him hereafter ; and such know ledgo always includes in it love to God, and the most cordial affection for him ; he who loveth not, knoweth not God, 1 John iv. 1 ; for if he knew him he could not but love him, and say of him, Whom have I in heaven but thee ; and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. Such knowledge is accompanied with a filial fear and reverence of God ; where there is no knowledge of God there is no fear of God ; but where there is knowledge of God, of his grace and goodness, and of his par doning mercy in Christ, men fear the Lord and his goodness ; for there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared ; not with a slavish but a child-like fear ; and where it is known he is so feared. And such a knowledge is practical, and it is known to be right by being so ; hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments, 1 John ii. 3 ; for such only may be said to hefilled with the knowledge of his will, &c, in a true spiritual and evangelical manner, when the end for which they have it, and for which they desire it, is, to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing ; that is, to do the will of God in the most acceptable manner, Col. i. 9, 10 ; and a knowledgo attended with such graces and

358 OF THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. fruits of righteousness may be called saving knowledge ; that is, salva tion is annexed unto it and follows upon it ; for this is life eternal, the beginning of it, and in which it issues, John xvii. 3. Now this knowledge of God may be considered as respecting the three divine persons in the godhead distinctly, Father, Son, and Spirit ; and that acquaintance and fellowship with each which such knowledge leads into. For there is a fellowship and communion which believers have with each divine person, which arises from their distinct know ledge of them, 1 John i. 3. i. Every renewed soul has knowledge of God the Father. / write unto you, little children, says the apostle John, 1 Epist. ii. 13, because ye have known the Father, the Father of Christ, and their Father in Christ ; for he that is Christ's Father is their Father, though they are not in the same class of sonship with him, I ascend to my Father and your Father, John xx. 17, and this relation is made known to them, as children are taught to know their father ; and this the saints know by the spirit of adoption sent down into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father ; and witnessing to their spirits that they are the children of God ; and this leads into communion with him, and into the enjoyment of many privileges with pleasure. They have knowledge of the love of the Father which is bestowed on them, and is in them, and which appears in their election, in the gift of Christ to them, and in their adoption, and in other blessings of grace ; and this is shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, and they are led by him into the heights and depths, and lengths and breadths of it ; they are warmed by it, and comforted with it ; it is a source of joy, peace, and comfort to them; and the knowledge of it is what they glory in and should do, and in that only, Jer. ix. 23, 24. They have also knowledge of God the Father as having chosen them in Christ, and blessed them with all spiritual blessings in him ; for though their election is so early as before the foundation of the world, and so secret as it is in Christ, yet it may be known by them ; Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God ; how and by what means ? by the powerful influence of the gospel upon their hearts, for our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power, 1 Thess. i. 4 ; they have knowledge of him as their covenant God in Christ, who has blessed them with all covenant blessings, with the sure mercies of David ; with justification by the righteousness of Christ, pardon of sin for his sake, reconciliation and atonement, adoption, and every other blessing ; the knowledge of all which draws out their hearts in thankfulness to the Father of Christ, in love to him, and praise of him, Eph. i. 3. 4. They have knowledge of him as in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, plan ning the scheme of their peace, reconciliation and atonement by Christ, not imputing their trespasses to them but to their Surety and Saviour ; which scheme he has executed by him, and has by him reconciled them to himself, of which they have knowledge, and hence reason in the strong and comfortable manner as the apostle does, Rom. v. 11. Moreover they have knowledge of God the Father as having proclaimed his name m Christ, a God gracious and merciful, pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin ; as a God that does abundantly pardon, and which engages

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 359 their souls to turn unto him, and fills them with wonder and amaze ment ; so that they say, Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoned iniquity ? and this raises in them the highest gratitude and thankful ness to God ; they call upon their souls, and all within them, to bless his holy name, and notforget his benefits, whoforgiveth all their iniquities, Psalm, ciii. 1 — 3. To observe no more ; they know him as the God of all grace, who has called them to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus his Son; that is, that he is the author and giver of every grace unto them ; that their faith is not of themselves, it is the gift of God ; that their good hope through grace is of him, and therefore he is called the God of hope, because not only the object but the author and giver of it; for the same reason he is called the God of love, the God of patience, &c, and this knowledge of God the Father leads to deal with him for fresh supplies of grace, and that he would make all grace to abound towards them ; this draws them to the throne of grace to seek grace and mercy of him to help them in their time of need. ii. Every renewed soul has knowledge of Christ the Son of God, John xvii. 3, where the only true God, designs God the Father, yet not to the exclusion of Christ the Son of God, for he is expresslv called the true God also, 1 John v. 20, and eternal life is made to depend equally upon the knowledge of the one as upon the knowledge of the other ; now would Christ ever have ranked himself in this manner with tho only true God, if he was not equal with him ? and such an interpretation of the passage as would exclude him from being the one only true God with the Father, would exclude the Father from being the one only Lord with the Son, 1 Cor. viii. 6. Now truly gracious souls have knowledge of the person of Christ, as being truly God and truly man ; as being true God, and therefore they venture their souls on him, commit their all unto him, and look unto him for salvation, and trust in him for it, because he is God and there is none else ; and as being truly man, partaker of the same flesh and blood with them, and in all things made like unto them, and so their near kinsman, and who cannot but have sympathy with them ; and thus being both God and man, he is fit to be the mediator between both, and to take care of things belonging to God, and to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. They have knowledge of him in all his offices, and deal with him as such ; with him as their prophet to teach and instruct them by his word, his ministers, and his Spirit : with him as their priest, who by his sacrifice has made atonement for their sins, and by his intercession pleads for every blessing for them ; and with him as their king, to rule over them, protect and defend them ; and they become willingly subject to his commands and ordinances, and esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right ; they know him as their living Redeemer, as Job did ; and their souls rejoice in God their Saviour, as Mary the mother of our Lord did ; they know him in the various relations he stands in to them, as their everlasting Father, who bears an everlasting love to them, takes an everlasting care of them, and makes everlasting provision for them ; as their head of eminence over them, and influence to them ; as their husband, who has betrothed

3(J0 Of THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. them to himself in righteousness and loving kindness ; as their brother, and one that sticks closer than a brother ; and as their friend that loves at all times, and of whom they say as the church did, This is my beloved, and this is my friend. And this knowledge which such souls have of Christ is, — 1 . Not merely notional and speculative, such a knowledge the devils have : they know Christ, to be the holy one of God, and that he is the Son of God, and the Messiah, Luke iv. 34, 41 ; and men destitute of the grace of God may know and give their assents to those truths, that Christ is truly God, and existed as the Son of God from all eternity ; that he assumed human nature in the fulness of time, that he lived a life of sorrow and trouble, died the death of tho cross, was buried and rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is set down at the right hand of God, and will come a second time to judge the world in righteousness ; but this spiritual special knowledge gracious souls have is, — 2. An affectionate know ledge, or a knowledge joined with love and affection to Christ ; he is in their esteem the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely ; he is precious to them, and there is none in heaven nor in earth so desired by them as he is. — 3. Their knowledge is a knowledge of approbation, they approve of him above all other lovers, and above all other saviours ; they reject all others and say Ashur shall not save us ; we will have no regard to our works, duties and services, as saviours ; but they say of him as Job did, Though he slay me yet will I trust in him— he also shall be my salvation, I will have no other, Job xiii. 15, 16. — 4. Their knowledge of him is fiducial ; they know his name, his nature, his abilities, his fulness, and suitableness, and therefore they put their trust in him, give up themselves to him, rely and lean upon him, and trust him with all they have, and for all they want, for grace here and glory hereafter. — 5. Their knowledge of him is experimental, they have their spiritual senses exercised on him ; they see the Son and believe on him, see the glories of his person, the riches of his grace, the fulness of his righteousness, the efficacy of his blood, and the virtue of his atoning sacrifice; they hear his voice with pleasure and delight, tho voice of his gospel, so as to understand it, approve of it, and distinguish it from tho voice of a stranger ; they feel, they handle him the word of life by faith, lay hold on him and retain him ; they taste that the Lord is gracious, and savour the things which be of Christ and not of men. — 6. Their knowledge of Christ is appropriating : it docs not lie in general but in particulars, they know him themselves and for them selves ; they do not only say as the Samaritans did, We know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world, John iv. 42, but that he is their Saviour and Redeemer ; and say with Thomas, My Lord, and my God; and with the apostle Paul, Who loved me, and gave himselffor me; and with the church, My beloved is mine, and I am his, John xx. 28. in. Every renewed soul has knowledge of the Spirit of God, the world does not know him, but truly gracious souls do ; our Lord speak ing of him says, Wlwm the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, neither his person, nor his office, nor his opera tions : But ye know him, meaning his apostles and followers ; and gives

OF THB KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 361 a very good reason for iUfor he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you ; and therefore they must have a feeling and experimental knowledge of him, John xiv. 17. Such as are renewed in the spirit of their minds, have a knowledge of him as a Spirit of conviction and illumination, he having convinced them of sin, the evil nature and sad consequences of it ; of righteousness, of the insufficiency of their own righteousness to justify them before God, and of the fulness and suitableness of Christ's righteousness for that purpose ; and having had the eyes of their un derstandings' enlightened by him as a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, as an able, willing, and complete Saviour ; and having received him as the Spirit which is of God, whereby are made known to them the things that are freely given to them of God ; the free-grace gifts of righteousness, peace, pardon, and eternal life. They have knowledge of him as the Comforter, who comforts them by shedding abroad in their hearts the love of the Father and of the Son ; by opening and applying the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel, and by takmg the things of Christ and showing them to them, and their interest in them ; and these comforts they have a feeling experience of, for they delight their souls amidst the multitude of their thoughts within them ; yea, they walk in the comforts of tho Holy Ghost, and are edified by them. They have knowledge of him also as the Spirit of adoption, who manifests to them their interest in this blessing ; and not only from his witnessing do they know their relation to God as children, but also from their being led by him out of themselves to Christ, and into the truth as it is in Jesus, for such are tlie sons of God, Rom. vii. 14— 16. Moreover they have knowledge of the Spirit as a Spirit of grace and of supplication, who first works grace in the soul, and then draws it forth into act and exercise ; and perhaps there is no season in the christian life in which this grace is more drawn forth into exercise than when in prayer public and private, under the influence of the Spirit of supplication ; who helps saints under all their infirmities in prayer, and makes intercession in them according to the will of God, impresses a sense of their wants upon them, puts strength into them, and fills their mouths with arguments to plead with God in the exercise of grace ; once more, such souls have knowledge of him as tho Spirit of truth, that guides into all truth necessary to be known by them, and powerfully applies it to them ; who teaches them all things they should know, and brings to their remembrance truths or promises, at proper seasons for their relief and comfort ; and who is the unction they have received from tho Holy One, the anointing which teacheth all things, and from which they are denominated Christians ; to say no more, they have knowledge of him as an inhabitant in them, for he dwells in them as in his temple ; of whose indwelling they are sensible by the operations of his grace upon them ; they find he is in them as the earnest of their inheritance, and as the sealer of them unto the day of redemption. Now in this distinct, special, and peculiar knowledge of Father, Son, and Spirit, and in that communion with them, which arises from hence, inward experimental religion greatly lies.

362 OF THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. To this head of the object of knowledge all divine things may be reduced that are knowable, that are to be known or should be known by the Christian ; there are some things that are not to be known, and which will never be known, neither in this life nor in that to come ; there are some things that angels know not, yea which the human soul of Christ knew not in his state of humiliation ; this is not to be called ignorance but nescience, or non-knowledge, Secret things belong unto the Lord our God ; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, Deut. xxix. 29. The former we should not curiously search into, as not belonging to us, nor should we exercise ourselves in things too high for us, and which are out of our reach, nor should we seek to be wise above what is written ; the latter we should study the knowledge of, and to improve therein, even the knowledge of the several truths and doctrines of the gospel, so as to try and know the things that differ, and to approve the more excellent ; and also of the will ofGod, or duties of religion, which are to be observed, that so we may walk worthy of God in all well-pleasing. The next thing to be considered is, ii. The causes of this knowledge, and from whence it springs. It is not to be attained to by the light of nature, or what light the works of nature give ; for it may be said of this knowledge what Job says of wisdom and understanding, when he asks, Where shall wisdom befound ? and Where is the place ofunderstanding ? to which he answers, it is not known by man, nor is it hero nor there, nor can any estimation bo made of it, only God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof; what place it is to be found in, and in what way, and from whence it cometh, Job xxviii. 12, 23. Nor is it to be found in the law of Moses ; by that God may be known to be holy, just, and righteous, but not as a God gracious and merciful ; by it is the know ledge of sin, but not the knowledge of Christ as a Saviour from sin ; by it may be known what is the will of God with respect to what should be done and what should be avoided, but no knowledge does it give of the Spirit of God to help in the performance of duty, or in the exercise of grace. Nor is it to be acquired by carnal reason ; the deep things of God, the mysteries of his grace, are what the carnal eye of man has not seen, nor his ear heard, nor has it entered into his heart to conceive of. When Peter made that excellent confession of the Deity, Sonship and Messiahship of Christ, our Lord said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee ; but my Father which is in heaven, Matt. xvi. 17. This is not to be had of men ; the knowledge the apostle Paul had of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, and of the glorious doctrines of the gospel, he had them not at the feet of Gamaliel, nor from his mouth, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, Gal. i. 11, 12. — 1. The efficient cause of this knowledge is God ; it is God that teacheth men knowledge, and none teaches like him ; and this he teaches persons the most unlikely to learn, even such as are weanedfrom milk, and drawn from the breasts ; that is, just weaned, who were but the other day babes and sucklings ; this knowledge is from God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Such as have

OP THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 363 I lteardand learned ofthe Father, come to Christ; that is, believe on him, John vi. 45. It is the Father who knows the Son, and reveals him as he did to Peter, and who reveals the things he hides from the wise and prudent, even unto babes ; and no man knows the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him, Matt. xi. 27 ; he who lay in his bosom declares him, his mind and will, his love and grace ; and he gives an understanding to know himself, who is the true God and eternal life, 1 John v. 20; and the Spirit, he is the Spirit of wisdom and revela tion in the knowledge of God and Christ ; he searches the deep things of God, and reveals them to men ; and by him they know the things that are freely given them of God. — 2. The impulsive cause is the sovereign will and pleasure of God. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, Matt. xi. 25, 26, it being solely owing to his good will and pleasure to make known to whom he would make known the mysteries of his grace and gospel concerning himself, his Son and Spirit. —3. The instrumental cause or means is the word of God. Faith, which sometimes goes by the name of knowledge, comes by hearing, and. hearing by the word of God, Rom. x. 17; that is, by the external minis tration of the word, the Lord owning and blessing it. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was appointed, commissioned,jand sent of God to give knowledge of salvation to his people ; and the apostles and ministers of the gospel had the treasures of evangelical truths put into their earthen vessels, to give the light of the knowledge of God in tho face of Jesus Christ. The ministry of the word is appomted as a stand ing ordinance in the church, till we all come in the unity of thefaith, and ofthe knowledge ofthe Son of God, Eph. iv. 13. III. The nature and properties of this knowledge deserve notice : — 1. This knowledge is practical; the mere theory of any science, unless reduced to practice, is of little avail ; men may have all knowledge that is notional and speculative, and yet be nothing ; a profession to know God and Christ, and in works to deny them, is far from being saving knowledge ; such who walk as other Gentiles do, have not truly learned Christ ; the gospel of the grace of God, when it comes with power, teaches men to deny ungodliness, and to live a sober, righteous, and godly conversation.—2. It is of a soul-humbling nature ; as the instances of Job, Isaiah, and the apostle Paul show, whereas other knowledge puffs up, makes men conceited, proud, haughty, and over bearing.—3. It is pleasant, savoury, and satisfying ; he that increaseth natural knowledge, increaseth sorrow, for the more he knows, he finds he knows less than he thought he did ; and this gives him pain, that his knowledge is so small ; and his larger knowledge attracts the envy of others, and raises an opposition to him ; but an increase of spiritual knowledge yields him joy, peace, and comfort : hence we read of the savour of the knowledge of Christ, and of the savour of his good oint ment ; and of his name being as ointment poured forth, which emits a most fragrant and delightful smell.—4. This knowledge is excellent, yea super-excellent ; the apostle Paul counted all things but loss for the excellency of it, Phil. iii. 8 ; it is to be preferred to gold and silver, to jewels and precious stones, and all desirable things ; it far excels all s

364- OF HEPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. other kind of knowledge. What if a man had knowledge of all the heavenly bodies, and of whatsoever is in the bowels of the earth, or dwells upon it, or grows out of it, so that he could with Solomon speak of trees and their nature, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall ; it would be nothing in comparison of the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, since to know them is life eternal.—5. This knowledge indeed is but imperfect in this life; those that know most, only know in part, yet it is progressive ; there is such a thing as growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ ; the light of saints is an increasing one, the path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day ; they that know the Lord shall follow on to know him, and shall know more of him, for so the words in Hos. vi. 3, should be rendered ; and we shall know, we shall follow on to know the Lord, the if ought to be left out, not being in the original. — 6. There are various means which should be made use of for the increase of this knowledge ; such as reading the scriptures, which are profitable for doctrine, and for instruction in righteousness ; constantly and diligently searching into them, since they testify of Christ, of his person, and office, and grace ; likewise attendance upon the ministry of the word, waiting at wisdom's gates, and watching at the posts of her door, which is the way to find wisdom and get understanding ; also frequent and fervent prayer ; if thou criest after knowledge, thou shalt find the knowledge of God, Prov. ii. 3, 5 ; great is the encouragement given to make use of such a method. Con versation with wise and good men, and such as fear the Lord, who by conferring together find the advantage of it ; they build up one another on their most holy faith, establish each other in it, and increase in know ledge ; for he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, grow wiser and wiser. OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. Repentance is anothor part of internal worship ; it is a branch of godliness, which lies in tho disposition of the soul God-wards ; for in the exercise of this the sensible sinner has much to do with God ; he has a special respect to him against whom he has sinned, and there fore it is with great propriety called Repentance towards God, Acts xx. 21. Concerning which may be observed, I. Its name, and tho words and phrases by which it is expressed, both in the Old and in the New Testament, and by Jews, Greeks, and Latins, which may give some light into the thing itself. i. Tho Jews commonly express it by rown a turning, or returning ; and it is frequently signified in the Old Testament, by a man's turning from his evil ways, and returning to tho Lord ; the term from which he turns is sin, the term to which he turns is the Lord, against whom he has sinned; and what most powerfully moves, encourages, and induces him to turn, is the pardoning grace and mercy of God through Christ, Isa. lv. 7; and so in tho New Testament, repentance and turning are mentioned together, and the latter as explanative of the former.

OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 365 There is another word in Hebrew used for repentance, DM'i Hos. xi. 8, and xiii. 14, which also signifies comfort ; because such who sincerely repent of sin, and are truly humbled for it, should be comforted, lest, as the apostle says, they should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow ; and it is God's usual way to bring his people into the wilderness, into a distressed state, to lead them into a sense of sin, and humiliation for it, and then to speak comfortably to them, Hos. ii. 14 ; and the Spirit of God is first a reprover for sin, and a convincer of it, and then a com forter ; he first shows men the evil nature of sin, and the just desert of it, and gives them the grace of repentance for it, and then comforts them with the application of pardon through the blood of Jesus, John xvi. 7, 8, 14; and blessed are they that mourn for sin in an evangelical manner, for they shall be comforted, Matt. v. 4. ii. The Greek word more frequently used in the New Testament for repentance is ixtravoia, which signifies an after-understanding, or afterwit ; as when a man takes into serious consideration a fact after it is committed, and thinks otherwise of it, and wishes he had not done it, is sorry for it, and resolves, through the grace of God, to forsake such practices ; this is a proof of a man's wisdom and understanding ; now he begins to be wise, and to show himself an understanding man ; even a heathen* could say, " Repentance is the beginning of wisdom, and an avoiding of foolish works and words, and the first preparation to a life not to be repented of." It is a change of the mind for the better, and which produces change of action and conduct : this, as it is expres sive of true repentance, flows from the understanding being enlightened by the Spirit of God, when the sinner beholds sin in another light than he did, even as exceeding sinful ; and loaths it, and abhors it and himself for it. There is another word the Greeks use for repentance, ^lerofxeXeta, and though the noun is not used in the New Testament, the verb is, Matt. xxi. 29, 32; and signifies a care and anxiety of mind after a fact is committed, a concern with sorrow that it should be done, and a care for the future not to do it again : hence the apostle, among the genuine fruits of godly sorrow for sin, mentions this in the first place, What carefulness it wrought in you, not to offend more, 2 Cor. vii. 11. It also signifies a change of mind and conduct, as appears from Matt. xxi. 29 ; a penitent sinner has another notion of sin than he had ; before, it was a sweet morsel, now a bitter and evil thing ; before, his heart was bent upon it ; now, determined through divine grace to forsake it, and cleavo to the Lord with full purpose of heart. in. The Latins generally express repentance by poenitentia, from poena punishment: hence our English word penitence, and the Popish penance, which is a sort of corporal punishment for sin, inflicted on the body by fastings, scourgings, pilgrimages, &c ; but truo penitence lies not in these things, but is rather an inward punishment of the mind, when a man is so displeased with himself for what he has done, and so severely reflects upon himself for it, that he takes as it were a kind of vengeance on himself within himself, which are the lashes of conscience ; so the apostle observes of godly sorrow, What indignation, yea what revenge it ■ H fitTayoia aim) <pi\oo cjt/uas apx"t) yivrraij &c Hierocles in Carmin. Pythagor. p. 1 6fi.

366 OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. wrought in you ; and this inward revenge is sometimes expressed by outward gestures, as by smiting upon the thigh, and upon the breast, Jer. xxxi. 12, Luke xviii. 13. There is another word which the Latins use for repentance, resipiscentia, which signifies a man's being wise again, a coming to his wits, to his senses again. Lactantius explains it of the recovery of a man's mind from a state of insanity ; a man, whilst he is in an unconverted and impenitent state, is not himself, he is not in his right mind ; not only his foolish heart is darkened, and he is without understanding, and to do good has no knowledge, but madness is in his heart while ho lives in such a state ; every act of sin is not only folly, but madness, as all acts of hostility committed against God, which sins are, must needs be ; the man that dwelt among the tombs, Mark v., is a fit emblem of such persons : now when an impenitent sinner becomes penitent, he may be said to come to himself, as the prodigal did, Luke xv. 17 ; so the apostle Paul before conversion was exceeding mad against the saints, and thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus; but when he was converted, he was recovered from his insanity, and appeared sober and in his right mind, and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? when a sinner is truly convinced of sin, and thoroughly humbled for it, and has repentance unto life given him, and a comfortable application of the blood and righteousness of Christ unto him for his pardon and justification, and his mind is become sedate, serene, and quiet, the man who before was mad, is an emblem of him, when he was seen sitting clothed, and in his right mind, Mark v. 15. iv. The word contrition, or brokenness of mind, is sometimes used for repentance, and there is some foundation for it in the word of God ; we often read of a contrite heart and spirit ; David says he wasfeeble and sore broken, Psalm xxxviii. 8 ; which seems to be under a sense of sin : a man's heart is naturally hard, as hard as the nether millstone, and therefore called a stony heart, and such an one is an impenitent one ; hence hardness, and an impenitent heart, are put together, as designing the same thing, Rom. ii. 5. The word of God is made use of to break it in pieces, is not my word—like a hammer to break the rock in pieces ? that is, to make the heart contrite, which is like to a rock, and whereby it becomes soft and tender, as Josiah's was, like a heart of flesh, susceptible of serious impressions, and of a true senso of things ; and though this contrition of heart seems to be a work of the law, by which is the knowledge of sin, and which works wrath in the conscience on account of it, smites and cuts and wounds it ; yet hereby it is pre pared to receive the benefit of the gospel, by which the Lord heals the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds, Psalm cxlvii. 3. However, great notice is taken of men of contrite hearts and spirits ; the sacri fices of such hearts are acceptable to God ; he looks unto, is nigh unto, and dwells with those who are of such a spirit, and saves them ; besides, the heart may be broken, may soften and melt down as much or more under a sense of pardoning grace displayed in the gospel, than under a sense of wrath through the threatenings and terrors of the law.

OP REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 367 v. Repentance is expressed by sorrow for sin. My sorrow is continu ally before me, says David ; / will be sorry for my sin, Psalm xxxviii. 17, 18 ; and which is signified not by outward gestures, not by rending garments, but by rending the heart, Joel ii. 13 ; it is a felt pain and inward sorrow of the heart for sin, and what the apostle calls a sorrow after a godly sort, Kara ®eov, after God, which is according to the mind and will of God ; and because of sin committed against God, a God of love, grace, and mercy, and which springs from love to God and hatred of sin, and is attended with faith in God, as a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and Bin for Christ's sake ; but of this more hereafter. II. The nature and kinds of repentance. Not to take notice of the penance of the Papists, which lies in punishing their bodies, as before observed ; and in men's making themselves, or in others making them public examples in such a way ; which though it may be called repent ance before men, it is not repentance towards God, nor does it answer the end vainly intended by it, making satisfaction for sin ; nor is an external reformation of life and manners, repentance in the sight of God. Men may be outwardly reformed, as the Pharisees were, and yet not repent of their sins, as they did not ; and after such an external reformation, men may return to their former sinful course of life, and their last end be worse than tho beginning ; besides, there may be true repentance for sin, where there is no time and opportunity for reform ation, or showing forth a reformation of life and manners, as in the thief upon the cross, and others, who are brought to repentance on their death-beds ; and reformation of life and manners, when it is best and- most genuine, is the fruit and effect of repentance, and a bringing forth fruits meet for it, as evidences of it, and so distinct from that itself. i. There is a natural repentance, or what is directed to by the light of nature, and the dictates of a natural conscience ; for as there was in the heathens, and so is in every natural man, a knowledge of good and evil, of the difference in some respects between moral good and evil, and a conscience which, when it does its office, approves of what is well done, and accuses for that which is ill ; so when conscience charges a man with doing an ill thing, and he is convinced of it, the light of nature and conscience direct him to wish he had not done it, and to repent of it, and to endeavour for the future to avoid it ; as may be seen in the case of the Ninevites, who being threatened with the destruction of their city for their sins, proclaimed a fast, and issued out an order that every one should turn from his evil ways, in hopes that tho wrath of God would be averted from them, though they could not be fully assured of it. The Gentiles laid great stress upon their repentance to conciliate the favour of God unto them ; for they thought this made complete satisfaction for their sins, and wiped them clean, so that they imagined they were almost, if not altogether pure and inno cent b : there is a repentance which the goodness of God in providence might or should lead men unto, which yet it does not, but after their k Quem panitct pcccasso pcne est innocens.—Senecae Agamemnon. act. 2, t. 241.

368 OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. hardness and impenitent heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and righteous judgment of God. ii. There is a national repentance, such as the Jews in Babylon were called unto, to which temporal blessings were promised, and a deliver ance from temporal calamities ; as on the one hand, a living in their own land, and a comfortable enjoyment of good things in it ; and on the other hand, captivity, and all the distresses of it threatened ; Repent, and turn yourselvesfrom your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your rum, Ezek. viii. 30—32 ; and which has no connexion with the special grace of God, and with spiritual and everlasting things. The same people were called to repent of their pharisaism, of their disbelief of the Messiah, and other evil works ; and were told that the men of Nineveh would rise up in judgment and condemn them, who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and yet a greater than Jonah, even Christ himself, called them to repentance, Matt. xii. 41. The same people were called upon by the apostles of Christ, to repent of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, and to turn unto him, and to save themselves from temporal ruin, which for their impenitence and unbelief came upon their nation, city and temple, Acts iii. 19. m. There is an external repentance, or an outward humiliation for sin, such as was in Ahab, which, though nothing more, it was taken notice of by the Lord, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me ? and though it lay only in rending his clothes, and putting on sack cloth, and in fasting, and in a mournful way, yet the Lord was pleased to promise that the evil threatened should not come in his days, 1 Kings xxi. 29. And such is the repentance Tyre and Sidon would have exercised, had they had the advantages and privileges that some cities had, where Christ taught his doctrmes, and wrought miracles ; and of this kind was the repentance of the Ninevites, which was also regarded of God, Matt. xi. 21. iv. There is a hypocriticafrepentance, such as was in the people of Israel in the wilderness, who when the wrath of God broke out against them for their sins, returned unto him, or repented, but their heart was not right with him, Psalm lxxviii. 34—37 ; so it is said of Judah, she hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord; and of Ephraim, or the ten tribes, they return, but not to the Most High, they are like a deceitful bow, Hos. vii. 16, who turned asido and dealt unfaithfully. v. There is a legal and there is an evangelical repentance.—A legal one, which is a mere work of the law, and the effect of convictions of sin by it, which in time wear off and come to nothing ; for, — 1. There may be a sense of sin and an acknowledgment of it, and yet no truo repentance for it, as in the cases of Pharaoh and of Judas, who both said, I have sinned ; yet they had no true sense of the exceeding sin fulness of sin, nor godly sorrow for it. — 2. There may be a kind of sorrow for it, not for the evil of fault that is in sin, but on account of the evil of punishment for it, as appears in some cases, and in Cain's. — 3. There may be a groat deal of terror of mind because of sin, a great outcry about it, a fearful looking for of judgment for it, abundance of

OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 369 tears shed on the account of it, as by Esau for the blessing, without success ; the devils believe and tremble, but do not repent ; there are weeping and wailing in hell, but no repentance. — 4. Such a repent ance, if no more than a mere legal one, issues in despair, as in Cain, whose words may be rendered, My sin is greater than that it may be forgiven; it is a repentance that may be repented of, and is not unto life, but ends in death, as it did in Judas ; it is the sorrow of the world which worketh death, 2 Cor. vii. 10. There is an evangelical repentance which lies. — 1. In a true sight and sense of sin ; in a sight of it, as in itself considered as exceeding sinful in its own nature, and not merely as in its effects and conse quences ruinous and destructive ; not only in a sight of it in the glass of the divine law, but as that is held in the hand, and seen in the light of the blessed Spirit : and in a sight of it as contrary to the pure and holy nature of God, as well as repugnant to his will, and a breach of his law ; and in a view of it as it appears in the glass of pardoning love and grace. — 2. In a hearty and unfeigned sorrow for it ; this sorrow for it is the rather because it is against God, and that not only as a holy and righteous Being, but as good, and gracious, and merciful, of whose goodness, both in providence and grace, the sinner is sensible; the consideration of which increases his sorrow, and makes it the more intense and hearty. — 3. It is attended with shame and confusion of face, as in Ezra, ix. 6—10 ; this shame increases the more, tho more a sinner is sensible that God is pacified towards him for all that he has done, Ezek. xvi. 63. — 4. Such a repentance is accompanied with a loathing, detestation, and abhorrence of sin as the worst of evils ; to truly penitent sinners, sin appears most odious and loathsome ; nay, they not only loath their sins, but themselves for them, and the rather when most sensible of the goodness of God in bestowing both temporal and spiritual blessings on them, and especially the latter ; yea, they abhor it as of all things the most detestable, when they are in the exercise of this grace ; so it was with Job, when favoured with a special sight of the greatness and goodness of God, Job xlii. 6. — 5. Where this repentance is, there is an ingenuous acknowledgment of sin, as may be seen in David, Psalm li. 3, in Daniel ix. 4, 5, and in the apostle Paul, 1 Tim. 1, 13 —15 ; so the prodigal, as soon as he came to him self, and was made sensible of his sin, and repented of it, went to his father, and said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight ; and to encourage such a sincere repentance and ingenuous con fession, the apostle John says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just toforgive us our sins, and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness, 1 John i. 9. — 6. It is followed with a resolution, through the grace of God, to forsake sin ; this the sinner is encouraged unto, as before observed, by the abundance of pardon through tho mercy of God in Christ, Isa. lv. 7 : and, indeed, it is only such who can expect to share in it ; Whoso confesseth (sins) and forsaketh them, shall have mercy, Prov. xxviii. 13. Now such a repentance appears to be evangelical; inas much as, — 1 . It is from the Spirit of God, who reproves for sin and convinces of it, enlightens the eyes of the understanding to see the VOL. II. B B

370 OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. exceeding smfulness of sin ; and as a Spirit of grace and supplication works this grace in the heart, and draws it forth into exercise, to mourn over ein in a gospel manner at the throne of grace, Zech. xii. 10. — 2. Such repentance, in the exercise of it, follows upon real conversion and divine instruction, Surely after that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh, Jer. xxxi. 19 ; upon such a turn as is made by powerful and efficacious grace, and upon such instruction as leads into the true nature of sin, the effect of which is blushing, shame, and confusion. — 3. Is what is encouraged and influenced by gospel promises, such as these in Isa. lv. 7, Jer. iii. xii. 13 ; now when repentance proceeds not upon the terrors of the law, but upon such gracious promises as these, it may be called evangelical. — 4. It is that which is attended with faith and hope : repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, go together as doctrines, and so they do as graces ; which is first in exercise is not easy to say ; our Lord says of the Pharisees, that they repented not, that they might believe, which looks as if repentance was before and in order to believing, Matt. xx. 32 ; and elsewhere faith is represented as first looking to Christ, and then repentance or mourning for sin ; repentance, as some have expressed it, is a tear that drops from faith's eye, Zech. xii. 10. However, that is truly evan gelical repentance which has with it faith in the blood of Christ for the remission of sins ; for repentance and remission of sins, as they go together as doctrines, so also as blessings of grace, Luke xxiv. 4/, Acts v. 31 ; for where true repentance for sin is, there must be faith in Christ for the remission of it, at least hope of pardon by his blood, or else such repentance would issue in despair, and appear to be no other than the sorrow of the world which worketh depth. — 5. It is such a repentance which flows not from dread of punishment, and from fear of the wrath of God, but from love to God, and of righteousness and holiness, and from a hatred of sin ; they that love the Lord hate evil, and they love righteousness and Mate evil because he does ; and when tempted to sin reason after this manner, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God, so holy, just, and good, and who has shown such love and kindness to me ? Gen. xxxix. 9 ; it was love to Christ, flowing from a sense of pardoning grace and mercy, that fetched such a flood of tears from the eyes of the penitent woman at Christ's feet, with which she washed them, and wiped them with the hairs of her head ; and which caused Peter under a sense of sin to go out and weep bitterly. III. The object and subjects of repentance : the object is sin, the subjects are sinners. i. The object of repentance is sin, hence called repentance from dead works, which sins be ; and from which the blood of Christ purges the conscience of a penitent sinner, and speaks peace and pardon to it, Heb. vi. 2, and ix. 14. And—1. Not only grosser sins, but sins of a lesser magnitude, are to be repented of; there is a difference in sins, some are greater, others lesser, John xix. 11 ; both are to be repented of; sins against the first and second tables of the law, sins more im

OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 371 mediately agamst God, and sins against men : and some against men are more heinous and enormous than others, as well as those against God ; as not only worshipping of devils, and idols of gold and silver, &c, hut murders, sorceries, fornications, and thefts, which ought to he repented of, but by some were not, though they had deliverances from plagues, which was an aggravation of their impenitence, Rev. ix. 20, 21 ; and not only those, but also sins of a lesser kind, are to be repented of; and even sinful thoughts, for the theught of foolishness is sin, and to be repented of; for the unrighteous man is to repent of and forsake his thoughts, as well as the wicked man his ways, and turn to the Lord ; and not only unclean, proud, malicious, envious, and revengeful thoughts are to be repented of, but even thoughts of seeking for justification before God by a man's own righteousness, which may be intended in the text referred to, Isa. lv. 7. — 2. Not only public but private sins are to be repented of. There are some sins which are committed in a very public manner, in the face of the sun, and are known to all; and there are others that are more secret; and a truly sensible sinner, as he desires to be cleansed from secret faults, or to have those forgiven him, so he heartily repents of them, even of sins known to none but God and his own soul ; and this is a proof of the genuineness of his repentance. — 3. There are sins both of omission and commission, which are to be repented of ; when a man omits those duties of religion which ought to be done, or commits those sins which ought to be avoided by him ; or omits the weightier matters of religion, and only attends to lesser ones, when he ought to have done the one, and not to have left the other undone ; and as God forgives both, Isa. xliii. 22—25, so both sorts of sins are to be repented of; and a sense of pardoning grace will engage the sensible sinner to it. — 4. There are sins which are committed in the most solemn, serious, religious, and holy performances of God's people, which are to be repented of; for there is not a just man that does good and sinneth not in that good he does : there is not only an imperfection, but an impurity in the best righteousness of the saints of their own working out, and therefore called filthy rags ; and as there was provision made under the law for the bearing and removing the sins of holy things, as by Aaron the high-priest, so there is a provision made for the atone ment of these as well as all other sins, by Christ our high-priest ; and therefore these are to be confessed and mourned over the head of him our antitypical scape goat. — 5. The daily sins of life are to be repented of : no man lives without sin, it is daily committed by the best of men, in many things we all offend, and even in all things ; and as we have need to pray, and are directed to pray daily for the forgiveness of sin, so we are to repent of it daily ; repentance is not only to be exercised upon the first conviction and conversion of a sinner, nor only on account of some grievous sin, or great backsliding he may after fall into, but it is contmually to be exercised by believers, since they are continually sinning against God in thought, word, and deed. — 6. Not only actual sins and transgressions in thought, word, and deed, are to be repented of, but original and indwelling sin. Thus David when he fell into bb2

372 OP REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. some grievous sins, and was brought to a true sense of them, and a sincere repentance for them, he not only made a confession of them in the penitential psalm he wrote on that occasion, but he was led to take notice of, and acknowledge and mourn over the original corrup tion of his nature, from whence all his sinful actions flowed, saying, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, Psalm li. 5 : so the apostle Paul, though he lived a life unstained, and in all good conscience, free from any public, external, notorious sin, yet owned and lamented the sin that dwelt in him, and the force, power, and prevalence of it, as that it hindered him from doing the good he would, and put him on doing the evil he would not, Rom. vii. 18—24. Now when a sensible sinner confesses, laments, and mourns over the original corruption of his nature, and the sin that dwells in him, it is a clear case his repentance is genuine and sincere, since it is what he himself is only sensible of. Now all this is with respect to God ; the sinner repents of sin with regard to God, and as it concerns him, and therefore is called, repent ance towards God, and a sorrow for it after a godly sort, Acts xx. 21, 2 Cor. vii. 11 ; and he repents of sin because sin is committed against him. All sin is against God in a sense, as it is against his will, yet there is a distinction between sins against God and against men, 1 Sam. ii. 25 : now sin committed against God, and considered as such, is a cutting consideration to a sensible sinner, sensible of the greatness and goodness of God, and causes his sorrow and repentance for sin to rise higher, as it was to David, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, &c, Psalm li. 4. Sin is a breach of the law of God, 1 John iii. 4 ; of that law which is itself holy, just, and good ; of that law of which God is the giver, and who is that lawgiver that is able to save and to destroy, and on whose legislative power and authority a con tempt is cast by sin, and which therefore gives pain and distress of mind to the penitent sinner. Sin is contrary to the nature of God, as well as to his law ; he is of purer eyes than to behold it with approba tion ; ho is not a God that takes pleasure in it, but is displeased with it ; it is tho abominable thing his righteous soul hates, and therefore they that love the Lord must hate it, and it cannot but give them a concern and cause sorrow when they commit it. By sinnmg a slight is cast on his goodness, grace, and love, and which occasions severe reflections on themselves, and much shame and blushing that they should sin against so much goodness, and against God, who has shown them so much favour, loved them so greatly, and bestowed such bless ings of grace upon them. It also appears that the sinner in repentance has to do with God, by confessing his sin and his sorrow for it ; and also others glorify God for granting repentance to him as the Christian Jews did on the behalf of the Gentiles, Acts xi. 1 8 ; and even there is joy in heaven, and God is glorified by the angels there, on account even of one sinner that repents, Luke xv. 7, 10. u. The subjects of repentance are sinners, and only such. Adam, in a state of innocence, was not a subject of repentance ; for not having sinned, he had no sin to repent of; and such who fancy themselves to be perfectly righteous, and without sin in their own apprehensions,

OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 373 stand in no need of repentance, and therefore Christ says, / am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. ix. 13. — 1. All men are sinners, all descending from Adam by ordinary generation ; all his posterity being seminally in him, and represented by him when he sinned, sinned in him, and they both have his sin imputed to them, and a corrupt nature derived from him ; and so are transgressors from the womb, and are all guilty of actual sins and transgressions ; and so all stand in need of repentance, even such who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others as less holy than themselves, and think they need no repentance ; yet they do, and not only they, but such who are in the best sense righteous need daily repentance, since they are continually sinning in all they do. — 2. Men of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, are the subjects of repentance ; for all aro under sin, under the power of it, involved in the guilt of it, and liable to punishment for it, and God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. During the time of John the Baptist, and of our Lord's being on earth, the doctrine of repentance was only preached to the Jews ; but after the resurrection of Christ, he gave his apostles an instruction and order that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem ; in consequence of which, the apostles first exhorted the Jews, and then the Gentiles, to repent ; and particularly the apostle Paul testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God, as well as faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts xx. 21. — 3. Men are only subjects of repentance in the present life : when this life is ended, and the gospel dispensation is over, and Christ is come a second time, the door of repentance as well as of faith will be shut, and there will be no place found for it ; no opportunity nor means of it ; nor any subjects capable of it : as for the saints in heaven, they need it not, being entirely without sin ; and as for the wicked in hell, they are in utter despair, and not capable of repentance unto life, and unto salvation not to be repented of, and though there is weeping and wailing there, yet no repentance; hence the rich man in hell was so solicitous to have Lazarus sent to his brethren living, hoping that by means of one that came to them from the dead, to warn them of the place of torment, they would repent, as well knowing they never would if not in the present life, and before they came mto the place where he was ; and therefore repentance is not to be procrastinated. IV. The Author, and cause, and means of repentance. — 1. The Author and efficient cause of it is not man himself, but God, Then hath God also granted repentance to the Gentiles, Acts xi. 1 8 ; it is not in the power of man to repent of himself, for he is by nature blind, and has no sight and sense of sin ; his understanding is darkened with respect unto it, and he is darkness itself till made light in the Lord ; and until he has a sight and sense of sin he can never truly repent of it ; his heart is hard and obdurate, his heart is a heart of stone, and he cannot really repent of sin until that stony heart is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given ; and whenever he becomes sensible of his need of repentance, he prays to God for it, saying, Turn thou me, and I shall

374 OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. be turned; nor do exhortations to repentance suppose it in the power of man to repent of himself; since these are only designed to bring him to a sense of his need of it, and of his obligation to it, and of his impotence to it of himself through the hardness of his heart, and to direct him to seek it of God, who only can give it ; for — 2. Though God may give men space to repent, yet if he does not give the grace of repentance, they never will repent. Thus he gave space to the old world, threatened with a flood which some think is meant by the one hundred and twenty years allowed them, when the long-suffering of God waited in the times of Noah, while the ark was preparing, but without effect ; so Jezebel, or antichrist, is said to have space given her to repent of her fornication, and she repented not, Rev. ii. 21 ; and this God sometimes gives to the children of men to show his sovereignty, that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and give repent ance to whom he pleases ; and for the sake of his elect, not willing that any of them should perish, but that they should all come to repentance, and therefore his long-suffering towards them is salva tion ; and this also he sometimes gives to show his forbearance of the vessels of wrath, and to leave them inexcusable. — 3. Though some men have the means of repentance, yet grace not being given them of God they repent not ; the word, unless attended with power, is ineffectual; the most severe judgments inflicted on men are insufficient, as the plagues on Pharaoh, whose heart was the worse and more hardened under them, Exod. xi. 10; and though the children of Israel were smitten with famine, with the pestilence, and with the sword, yet they repented not, nor returned unto the Lord, Amos iv. 6—11 ; so the fourth and fifth vials poured forth on men, which will scorch and fill them with pains and sores, instead of repenting of their deeds they will blaspheme the God of heaven, and his name, Rev. xvi. 8—11. And on the other hand, the great est instances of mercy and goodness to men, and singular deliver ances wrought for them, which should, and one would think would, lead men to repentance, and yet they do not, Rom. ii. 4, 5, Rev. ix. 20. 21 ; yea the most powerful and awakening ministry that a man can sit under, has no influence on the minds of men to bring them to repentance, without the power and grace of God; such as was the ministry of John the Baptist, who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preaching in a loud, vehement, and powerful manner the baptism of repentance ; and yet though some publicans and harlots believed, the Pharisees repented not afterwards that they might believe, Matt. xxi. 32 ; our Lord spake as one having authority, yet few believed ; and many cities where he preached, and mighty works were done by him, yet repented not ; and if one was to rise from the dead, and describe all the happiness of the blissful state of the saints in heaven he was capable of, or paint all the horrors of the damned in hell, it would have no effect, neither to allure nor frighten to repent ance, or bring men to it, without the exertion of powerful and effica cious grace, Luke xvi. 31. — 4. The sole efficient cause and author of repentance is God, Father, Son, and Spirit. God the Father, if God

OP REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD. 375 peradventure will give them repentance, 2 Tim. ii. 25 ; Christ, the Son of God, as mediator, is exalted to give repentance unto Israel, andforgiveness ofsins, Acts v. 31 ; and the Spirit of God reproves for sin, convinces of it, and works repentance for it, John xvi. 8. — 5. The moving cause of it is the free grace of God ; it is a grant and favour from him, a gift of Christ, which he, as a prince and a saviour, bestows, Acts xi. 18, and v. 31 ; and an operation of the power and grace of the Spirit of God, and entirely flows from the sovereign will and mercy of God, who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth, Rom. ix. 18, not giving grace to repent. — 6. The usual means and instruments of repentance are the word, and the ministers of it ; as faith, so repentance, comes by hearing the word ; the three thousand were pricked to the heart, and were brought to repentance, through the ministry of the apostle Peter ; and as all the apostles were ordered by Christ to preach repentance in his name among all nations, so they went forth everywhere, and God in and by their ministry commanded all men everywhere to repent; and when and where the command was attended with power it produced the effect ; and so the apostle Paul declared to the Jews and Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meetfor repentance ; and the hand of the Lord being with him, great numbers everywhere believed and turned to the Lord. V. The effects and consequences of repentance ; such effects as are evidences of it, and show it to be genuine ; and such consequences which are salutary, and show the blessings of grace are connected with it. i. The effects of it, which prove it to be genuine; such as the apostle mentions as fruits of godly sorrow, 2 Cor. vii. 11. — 1. Care fulness to exercise repentance in a proper way, and to bring forth fruits meet for it ; carefulness not to sin any more in a like manner, or to live a sinful course of life, but to abstain from all appearance of evil ; and carefulness not to offend God again, who had been so good and gracious to them. — 2. Clearing of themselves ; not by denying the fact, as Gehazi, nor by extenuatmg and palliating it as Adam, but by an ingenuous confession of it, praying it might be forgiven, and that they might be cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus ; so clearing themselves from the charges of hardness of heart, impenitence, and ingratitude, and of neglect of repentance when sin was discovered to them. — 3. Indignation ; against sin, expressing their abhorrence of it, and of themselves for it, as Job did, saying, what have we to do with it for the future ? being filled with a loathing of it, and with shame and confusion for it ; see Hos. xiv. 8. — 4. Fear ; not of the punishment of sin, of the wrath of God, and of hell and damnation, which is the fruit of legal and not evangelical repentance ; but a fear of offending God, and of his grace and goodness in forgiving their sins, and of him for his goodness sake, Hosea iii. 5. — 5. Vehement desire ; to be kept from sm, that they may not dishonour God, grieve their own souls, offend and stumble God's people, and bring reproach on his ways, doctrines, and ordinances ; and that they might be indulged

376 OP REPENTANCE TOWARDS QOD. with nearness to God, communion with him and fresh discoveries of his love to them. — 6. Zeal ; for God and his glory, for his doctrines and ordinances, for the discipline of his house, and for the performance of all good works. — 7. Revenge ; not on others, but on themselves, and on their sinful lusts and corruptions, and on all disobedience, that their obedience might be fulfilled ; striving against sin, acting the part of an antagonist to it, resisting even unto blood, not sparing but morti fying the deeds of the body, that they may live a holy life and con versation. But though these things are in a more peculiar manner applicable to the case of the Corinthians, yet they do more or less and in a great measure appear in every repenting sinner. u. The consequences of repentanoe, even blessings of grace, which follow upon it, and are connected with it, being promised unto it, and what it issues in ; by which it appears to be salutary, and answers some valuable ends, and is of the greatest importance ; as, — 1. The pardon of sin ; for though this is not procured by tears of repentance, by humiliation for sm, and confession of it, but by the blood of Christ only ; yet to those who repent of sin sincerely, and are truly humbled for it, a manifestation and application of pardoning grace and mercy is made ; and these two, repentance and remission of sins, are joined together in the ministry of the word, to encourage repenting sinners to hope in Christ for the forgiveness of their sin, who as he gives the one gives also the other, Acts v. 31 ; none that ever truly repented of sin and confessed it, but had his sins pardoned ; such as forsake their sinful ways and. turn to the Lord, he pardons and abundantly pardons ; his justice to the blood and sacrifice of his Son, and his truth and faithfulness to his word and promises, leave no room to doubt of it.— 2. True evangelical repentance, which is God's gift, and a grant of his grace, is repentance unto life, Acts xi. 18. It is not by repentance indeed by which men live spiritually, that is, by faith in Christ ; yet then men begin to live spiritually when they are quickened by tlie Spirit of God, and have repentance from dead works given unto them ; and though men by repentance do not procure eternal life, that is, tho free gift of God through Christ, yet true, special, spiritual and evange lical repentance issues in eternal life, and is inseparably connected with it ; though all impenitent sinners shall certainly perish, who by their hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and righteous judgment of God; yet all that come to true repentance, none of them shall ever perish, but shall have everlasting life. — 3. Evangelical repentance, the work of godly sorrow, is repent ance to salvation not to be repented of, 2 Cor. vii. 10 ; it is not the cause of salvation; Christ is the captain, cause, and author of salvation; but the means through and by which God saves Ins people ; as they are saved through faith, so through repentance, and through both as the gift of God, flowing from his sovereign grace, Eph. ii. 8 ; as he that believes with the heart unto righteousness, so he that truly repents of sin shall bo saved.

377 OF THE FEAR OF GOD. The Fear of God has so great a concern in divine worship, that it is sometimes put for the whole of it, and a worshipper of God is fre quently described in Scripture by one that fears him ; and particularly internal worship, or experimental religion, as distinguished from an external observance of the divine commands, is expressed by it ; for, according to the wise man, the whole of religion, experimental and practical religion, lies in these two things, tofear God and keep his commandments, Eccl. xii. 13; and as worship itself is expressed by the fear of God, so the manner in which it is to be performed is directed to be in it and with it, for God is to be served with reverence andgodly fear, Heb. xii. 28, concerning which may be observed, I. The object of fear, not the creature, but God. There is a fear due to men, fear to whom fear ; that is, it should be rendered to whom it is due, there is a fear and reverence due to parents, from their chil dren, which is shown by the honour and respect paid unto them, and the obedience yielded them, Eph. vi. 1, 2; and the argument from hence is strong to the fear and reverence of God the Father of spirits, Heb. xii. 9, 1 Pet. i. 14, 17"; there is a fear and reverence in the con jugal state, due from wives to their husbands, 1 Pet. iii. 5, 6 ; and this relation affords a reason and argument why the church should fear and servo the Lord her God, because he is her husband, Psalm xlv. 11 ; there is a fear and reverence which servants should show to their masters, Eph. vi. 6 ; and if such masters are to be obeyed with fear, much more our Master which is in heaven ; and this is the argu ment the Lord himself uses, If I be a master, where is myfear ? Mai. i. 6 ; there is a fear and reverence which ministers of the word should be had in by those to whom they minister, 1 Sam. xii. 18 ; this is one part of that double honour they are worthy of, to be esteemed very highly for the work sake. Herod, though a wicked man, feared Jokn, that is, not dreaded him, but respected him, for he heard him gladly, Mark vi. 20. There is a fear and reverence to be rendered to magis trates, Rom. xiii. 7 ; and if earthly magistrates are to be feared and reverenced, much more the King of kings and Lord of lords. But then men are not so to be feared by the people of God, let them be in what character, relation, and station soever, as to be deterred by them from the service of God ; the fear of man too often brings a snare in this respect. God is to be hearkened to, served, and obeyed rather than men of the highest class and rank ; they are not to be afraid of losing their favour and esteem, and of gaining their ill will thereby, as the Pharisees, who, though convinced that Jesus was the Christ, confessed him not, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, loving the praise of men more than the praise of God : nor should they be afraid of the revilings and reproaches of men, and be intimidated by them from serving the Lord their God, but with Moses should esteem reproach for the Lord's sake greater riches than the treasures

378 OF THE FEAR OF GOD. of Egypt ; nor should they he frightened from a profession of religion, and from an attention to it, by the threats and menaces of men, and by all the persecution they may endure from them. They are not to be feared who can kill the body, but God is to be feared who can destroy both body and soul in hell ; and such who fear men, so as to neglect the worship of God, are the fearful ones, who shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone, Matt. x. 28, Rev. xxi. 8, if God is on the side of his people, as he most certainly is, they have no reason to fear what man can do unto them. God only is the object of fear, Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, that is, him only, this is the principal thing God requires of his people, and they are bound in duty to render to him ; Now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God I this is the first thing, hence because he is so much the object of the fear of good men, he is called fear itself; so thenar of Isaac is used for the God of Isaac, Gen. xxxi. 42 ; and by whom Jacob swore, who could be no other than the God of his father Isaac In the Chaldee paraphrase0 the word vbmfear is sometimes put for the true God, as well as used of idols ; and with some Otos, the Greek word for God, is by them derived from deos feard ; and by the Lacedemonians fear was worshipped as a deity, and had a temple for it e ; as Pavor and Pallor, fearfulness and paleness, were by Tullus Hostilius among the Romans f ; but none but the true God is the object of fear. i. He is to be feared because of his name and nature ; Holy and reverend is his name, particularly his name Jehovah, expressive of his essence and nature ; that thou mayestfear thisfearful and glorious name, The Lord thy God, Psalm cxii. 9, Deut. xxviii. 58; a name peculiar to him ; there is no name of God but is to be revered ; and that by which he is commonly spoken of ought always to be used in a reverend man ner, and not upon slight and trivial occasions, and with great irreve rence, as it too often is, and when at every turn men are apt to say, O Lord! O God ! good God ! &c, especially men professing the fear of God should be careful of such language, for it is no other than taking the name of God in vain. n. God not only essentially but personally considered is to be feared, God, Father, Son, and Spirit ; it is said of the Jews in the latter day, that they shall seek the Lord their God, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days, Hos. iii. 5. So in Mal. iv. 2, Unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings ; even the Son of God, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, and so is distinguished from him whose name is feared. Jehovah the Son is also the object of divine fear and reverence, Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread ; that is, the object of your fear and reverence ; and what follows shows which of the divine persons is meant ; and he shall befor a sanc tuary to worship in, and a place of refuge for his people m times of « Targum Jerus. in Deut. xxxii. 15; ct Targ. Jon. in v. 18. d Dictum volunt 6tov alia nomine Stos, i. c. mctus.—Scapula. * Plutarch in Cleomone. p. 808, vol. 1. < Lactam. Iustitut. 1. 1, c. 20.

OP THE FEAR OP GOD. 379 distress ; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, Isa. viii. 13, 14 ; which phrases are applied to Christ, and can only be said of him, Rom. ix. 32, 33, 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. Jehovah the Father, the lord of the vineyard, after sending many of his servants who had been ill used, says, I will send my beloved Son, meaning Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, it may be, they will reverente him when they see him, Luke xx. 13; they ought to have done it: reverence should be given to him, the heir of the vineyard, his church, the son in his own house, whose house believers are, and therefore should reve rence him. Jehovah the Spirit also is and should be the object of fear ; the Israelites in the wilderness rebelled against him, and vexed him, and they smarted for it, for he turned to be their enemy, and/ought against tliem, Isa. lxiii. 10 ; lying to the holy Ghost, which was a most irreverent treatment of him, was punished with death in Ananias and Sapphira ; and saints should be careful that they grieve not the holy Spirit by their unbecoming carriage to him, from whom they receive many blessings and favours. hi. God, in his perfections, and because of them, is the object of fear ; as his majesty and greatness in general ; God is clothed with majesty, and majesty and honour are before him, and with him is terrible majesty, such as is sufficient to command an awe of him ; particularly his omnipotence, for he is excellent in power ; as also his omniscience, for nothmg can be hid from his sight : the most enormous actions committed in the dark are seen by him, with whom the dark ness and the light are alike ; and his omnipresence, from whence there is no fleeing, for he fills heaven and earth with it ; to which may be added, the justice and holiness of God, which make his majesty the more terrible and to be revered, since he is not only excellent in power, but also in judgment, and in plenty of justice, and a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of a just and sin-avenging God, the living God, the everlasting King, at whose wrath the nations tremble, and are not able to bear his indignation. iv. The works of God make him appear to be a proper object of fear and reverence ; his works of creation, the Psalmist on mention of them says, Psalm xxxiii. 5 — 8 ; Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him ; who has made such a display of his greatness and goodness in them, as show him worthy of fear and reverence. The prophet instances in what may seem small, yet a most wonderful thing, and enough of itself to command an awe of the divine Being ; Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? will ye not tremble at my presence ? which hath placed the sandfor the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it ; and at the same time the stupidity of the people is observed, who, notwithstanding the goodness of God in his works of providence towards them, yet were wanting in the fear and reverence of him : Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, &c, Jer. v. 22, 24 ; which, though common providential blessings, yet are what should engage men to fear the Lord and his goodness ; and especially God's works of grace should have such an effect upon the hearts of his people, as they have when

380 * OF THE FEAR OP GOD. they como with a divine power ; particularly the pardoning grace and mercy of God ; There isforgiveness with thee tliat thou mayest be feared, Psalm cxxx. 4. v. The judgments of God which he threatens, and sometimes inflicts, and the promises of grace he makes and always fulfils, render him an object of fear and reverence. The judgments of God on sinners aro awful to the saints themselves, and strike their minds with fear of God ; says David, Myflesh trembleth forfear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments, Psalm cxix. 120 ; not as coming upon himself, but as terrible to behold on others ; and these are dreadful and formidable to sinners, when they see them near approaching, who go into the holes and clefts of rocks, and into the caves for fear of the Lord, and the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth, Isa. ii. 19, 21 ; and nothing has a greater influence on a filial and godly fear in the saints, and to stir them up to the exercise of it, than the free, absolute, and unconditional promises of grace in the covenant ; thus after the apostle had observed such promises, he strongly urges to perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2 Cor. vi. 16, 18, and vii. 1. II. The nature and kind of fear. There is a fear which is not good nor commendable, and it is of different sorts ; there is an idolatrous and superstitious fear, which is called oeio-ibaiixovia, a fear of daemons, which the city of Athens was greatly addicted to, observed to them by the apostle when there, to their disgrace ; / perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious, or given to the fear and worship of false deities ; such is all will-worship, worship not founded in the word of God, which brings on a spirit of bondage unto fear ; and all such false and vain imaginations which inject dread and terrors into the minds of men, and cause them to fear where no fear is, or where there is no reason for it ; such as the pains of purgatory after death, invented by the Papists to extort money from men ; and the beating of the body in the grave, a figment of the Jews. There is an external fear of God, an outward show and profession of it, which is taught by the frecept of men, as in the men of Samaria, who pretended to fear the iord, as the priest instructed them, and yet served their own gods ; and such an external fear of the true God Job's friends supposed was all that he had, and that even he had cast off that. There is a hypo critical fear, when men draw nigh to God with their mouths and honour him with their lips, and their hearts are removed far from him ; and when they fear and serve him for some sinister end and selfish view, which Satan insinuated was Job's case, Doth Job fear Godfor nought ? and perhaps the same is suggested by Eliphaz, is not this thyfear ? Job i. 9, and iv. 6. And there is a servile fear, such as that of some servants, who serve their masters, not from love but from fear of punishment ; and such a spirit of bondage to fear, the Jews were much subject to under the legal dispensation ; but now sainte being delivered out of the hands of sin, Satan, and the law, they serve the Lord without fear, without slavish fear, and with a filial one. And this sort of fear arises, — 1. From a sense of sin, and the guilt of it on the conscience, without a view of pardon ; thus no sooner were

OF THE FEAB OF GOD. 881 Adam and Evo sensible of their sin and their nakedness by it, but they fled through fear from the presence of God, and hid themselves among the trees of the garden, as yet having no discovery of pardoning grace made to them ; for, said Adam to God calling for him, / heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, &c Thus a wicked man, conscious of his guilt, flees when no man pursues, and is like Pashur, a Magormissabib, fear round about, a terror to himself and others. — 2. From the law entering the conscience of a sinner, having broken it and working wrath in it ; for the law, when it comes with powerful convictions of sin, and with menaces of punishment for it, it worketh f>resent wrath, or a sense of it in the conscience, and leaves a fearful ooking for of judgment to come, and of fiery indignation which shall consume the adversaries of God ; when persons m such a condition and circumstances would be glad of rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of God, which appears to them intolerable. — 3. From the curse of the law, and the weight of it on the conscience. The voice of the law is terrible, it is a voice of words which they that heard intreated they might hear no more. It accuses of sin, pronounces guilty for it, is a ministration of condemnation, and a killing letter : its language is, Cursed is every one thai continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them, Gal. Jii. 10, which to hear is dreadful when the conscience of a sinner is awak ened ; but how much more terrible is it, when a sinner feels as it were in his own apprehension all the curses of the law upon him, as he does when the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, smoke against him, and all the curses written in the law lie upon him, Deut. xxix. 20, with what slavish fear must he be then filled ? — 4. From a view of death as the demerit of sin ; The wages of sin is death, the just desert of it ; sin is the sting of death, gives it its venom and fatal influence, and makes it that terrible thing it is ; and some through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage, and are under a continual servile fear of it. — 5. From a dread of hell and everlasting damnation. This fear is of the same kind with that of devils, who beheve there is one God and tremble : tremble at present wrath and future torment. So wicked men, who have a fearful apprehension of everlasting punishment, it appears to them greater than they can bear, as it did to Cain. But there is a fear of God different from this and opposite to it, and may be called a filial fear, such as that of a son to a father ; the Scriptures call it euXo/3eia, and which is rendered godlyfear, Heb. xii. 28 ; and the same word is used of the fear and reverenco of Christ to his divine Father, who was heard in that he feared, or because offear, Heb. v. 7, his filial fear of his Father which lay in honouring nim, in obedience to him, and in submission to his will, even when with sup plications he deprecated death ; and now a fear like this in the saints arises, — 1. From the spirit of adoption, which delivers the people of God from a servile fear, and gives them a filial one, by witnessing their sonship to them ; Ye have not received, says the apostle, the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye havo received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, and so are freed from a spirit of

382 OP THE FEAE OP GOD. bondage which induces a servile fear. They that fear the Lord are in the relation of children to him : wherefore their fear of him, which he takes notice of and regards, must be a child-like one, arising from their being put among the children, and their senso of it ; and which seems to be implied in Psalm ciii. 13, Like as a fatherpitieth his child ren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, where they that fear the Lord in the latter clause answer to children in the former. — 2. From the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Spirit, which produces love to God again ; there is no fear, no slavish fear, in love, but per fect love ; a sense of the perfect, everlasting and unchangeable love of God casts out such kind of fear : for the true fear of God is no other than a reverential affection for God flowing from a sense of his love ; such do not dread his wrath, but desire his presence and communion with him, and say, Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee, Psalm lxxiii. 25. — 3. This filial fear is attended with faith and trust in God ; it is a fiducial fear ; hence they that fear the Lord and who trust in him, are characters put together, and which describe the same persons ; and they that fear the Lord are exhorted and encouraged to trust in him, Psalm xxxi. 19, and cxvi. 11. Job was a man that feared God, and yet such was his faith and con fidence in him, that ho could say, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. — 4. It is a fear that is consistent with great joy in the Lord ; Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling, Psalm ii. 11, and with the utmost courage and magnanimity of mind ; it is a fearless fear ; a man that fears the Lord has no reason to fear anything, or what any man or devil can do unto him ; he may say as David did, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? &c Psalm xxvii. 1, 3. — 5. Such a fear is opposed to pride and self-confidence ; it is a humble fear, a diffidence of a man's self, placing his trust and hope alone in God ; Be not high-minded, butfear, Rom. xi. 20, that is, that fear and trembling, or that modesty and humility with which the saints are exhorted to work about or employ themselves in things that accompany salvation ; as knowing that both to will and to do, the dis position and ability to perform any duty aright, are owing to the efficacious operation of the Spirit of God, and that it is by the grace of God they are what they are, and do what they do ; they that fear the Lord are such who rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, declaring that when they have done all they can they are but unprofitable servants. III. Wherein the fear of God appears, and by what it is manifested. — 1 . In a hatred of sin. Thefear of the Lord is to hate evil, Prov. viii. 13 ; as nothing is more opposite to good than evil, nothing is more to be abhorred ; it is to be hated with a Stygian hatred, as hell itself airocTTvyovvTts, abhor that which is evil, Rom. xii. 9 ; and a man that fears God, who has a reverential affection for him, will hate it as being con trary to him, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, Psalm xcvii. 10 ; every thing that is evil is hated by such a man ; as evil thoughts, which are only evil and that continually ; the heart is full of evil thoughts, and out of it they daily proceed, and these are the object of a good man's .

OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 383 hatred, J hate vain thoughts, says David, Psalm cxix. 113 ; and now as no one but a man himself is conscious of them and privy to them, to hate them shows that the fear of God is in his heart. Evil words are also hated by him ; not only cursing, swearing, blasphemy, and all obscene and filthy language, but every vain and idle word, foolish and frothy expression, which comes out of his mouth when not on his guard, gives him uneasiness, as being displeasing to God, grieving to his Spirit, and what must be accounted for in the day of judgment ; as in many words there are divers vanities, the wise man opposes the fear of God unto them, Eccl. v. 7 ; and if evil thoughts and evil words are hated by such, then most certainly evil actions ; and not only those of others, as the deeds of the Nicolaitans, the garment, the outward conversation-garment spotted with the flesh, the filthy conversation of the wicked, but his own actions springing from corrupt nature, done by him contrary to the law of his mind, What I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that I do, Rom. vii. 15 ; evil men and their company are abhorrent to those that fear the Lord, and are shunned and avoided by them : they choose not to have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and the workers of them ; society with them is a grief and burden to them, and as it was to Lot, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, nay hateful to them : Do not I hate them that hate thee? I hate them with perfect hatred, Psalm cxxxix. 21, 22. All evil and false ways, not only of immorality, but of superstition and will-worship, are rejected with abhorrence by men that fear the Lord, and make his word the rule of their faith and practice. Wisdom her self, or Christ, has set an example, proving the truth of the assertion in Prov. viii. 13, Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and thefroward mouth, do I hate ; and wisdom is justified of her children ; says David, who was one of them, I hate every false way, Psalm cxix. 128 ; yea, all evil doctrines, which reflect on the divine persons in the Godhead, on the free grace of God in man's salvation, on the person and offices of Christ, and the operations of the Spirit, are the object of the hatred and aversion of one that fears God : he cannot bear them that are evil, neither receive them into his house nor wish them God speed. In short, everything that is evil in its nature, as sin is in every shape exceeding sinful, a breach of the law of God, contrary to his nature, that abominable thing his righteous soul hates, is also hateful to a food man, to a man that fears the Lord, and hereby the fear of the jord is manifested by him. — 2. It shows itself by departing from evil ; By thefear of the Lord men departfrom evil, Prov. xvi. 6, not only from open and public sins, but from private and secret ones ; Job was a man that feared God and eschewed evil, avoided and departed from it, as every wise man does ; yea, to depart from evil is understanding, this shows a man both to be a wise man and one that fears the Lord, Prov. xiv. 16; yea. such an one will abstain from all appearance of evil, from everything that looks like it or leads unto it ; will shun every avenue, every by-path, that has a tendency to ensnare into it, taking the wise man's advice, Enter not into the path of the wicked, &c — 3. The fear of God appears in men in not allowing themselves to do

384 OF THE FEAR OF GOD. what others do, and what they themselves formerly did ; so Nehemiah, speaking of some ill things done by former governors, says, So did not I, because of thefear ofGod, Neh. v. 15. Not that such who fear God are without sin ; Job feared God, but was not free from sin, he was sensible of it, acknowledged it, and implored the pardon of it ; but they cannot give themselves that liberty to sin that others do, and walk as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, and in a sinful course of life ; they have not so learned Christ, and the grace of God teaches them other things. — 4. The fear of God manifests itself by a carefulness not to offend God nor man, such study to exercise a conscience void of offence to both, and would willingly give no offence to Jew nor Gentile, nor to the church of God ; and next to God they are careful that they offend not against the generation of his children, either by word or deed, and even to put no stumbling-block before any, but fear the Lord their God, for to do otherwise would be contrary to it, Lev. xix. 14. Nay, such are not only on their guard to avoid sin and give no offence by it, but they are in an opposition to it ; the spi ritual part in them Iusteth against the carnal part ; there are as it were a company of two armies in them fighting one against another ; they strive agamst sin, acting the part of an antagonist to it, take to themselves the whole armour of God and make use of it against it. — 5. The fear of God in men is seen by a constant attendance on the worship of God, and by a strict regard to his will and the observation of it ; the fear of God has so great a share and concern in divine wor ship, as has been observed, that it is sometimes put for the whole of it, both internal and external ; such who fear the Lord cannot be easy in the neglect of the worship of God, but as they desire to be filled with the knowledge of his will, so to be found in the practice of it ; and like Zacharias and Elizabeth, to walk in all the ordinances and commands of the Lord blameless ; and to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the wholo required of man ; and such who make a custom of it to forsake the assembling of themselves together to wor ship God, do interpretatively cast off the fear of God. — 6. The fear of God is seen and known in men by their withholding nothing from God, though ever so dear unto them, whenever he requires it of them ; so Abraham when he so readily offered up his son at the command of God, received this testimony from him, Now know I, saith the Lord, that tjioufearest God, Gen. xxii. 12 ; on the contrary, when men keep back a part from God of what he expects from them, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, it is a proof that tho fear of God is not before their eyes and in their hearts. IV. The springs and causes of the fear of God, or from whence it flows. — 1. It is not from nature, nor is it in natural men ; the want of it is a part of the description of corrupt nature, and of men in a natural state ; there is no fear of God before their eyes, it may be said of the heart of every natural man, what Abraham said of Gerar, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and which may be concluded from the wickedness that is in it, and that by what comes out of it ; the transgression of the wicked, discovered by his words and works, x

OF THE FEAIl OF GOD. 385 his life and actions, saith within ray heart, suggests this to my mind, speaks as plainly as well can be, it is an observation of David, that there is nofear me of God before his eyes, Psalm xxxvi. 1. — 2. It arises from the grace of God, it is a gift and grant of grace ; O that there were such a heart in them that they wouldfear me, or who will give such a heart ? Deut. v. 29 ; none but God can give it, and he has promised it in covenant ; it is a blessing of his grace, which he has provided in it : I will give them one heart and one way, that they mayfear mefor ever. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart,from me, Jer. xxxii. 39, 40. In consequence of which promise and covenant, — 3. It is implanted in the heart in regeneration ; it is put there by the Spirit of God, where it was not before, and where it never could have been, had he not put it there, and it appears as soon in a regenerate man as any grace whatever: upon first conversion there is quickly found a tenderness of conscience with respect to sin, and a carefulness not to offend God ; and indeed the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. No man is truly wise until he fears God, and as soon as he fears the Lord he begins to be wise, and not before ; yea, the fear of the Lord is wisdom itself ; . it is that wisdom and truth which God desires and puts into the inward and hidden parts of the heart.— 4. The word and prayer are the means of attaining it ; the fear of the Lord, as it is a duty, and expressive of worship, is to be learned ; Come, ye children, hearken unto me, says David, I will teach you thefear of the Lord, Psalm xxxiv. 11. The law of God, and especially the whole of doctrine both legal and evangelical, is the means of learning it, and therefore is called the fear of the Lord, Psalm xix. 7, 9 ; but as a grace, it is diligently sought after and earnestly importuned of God ; the heart must not only be instructed but united to fear the Lord, and which is to bo prayed for, Psalm lxxxvi. 11. — 5. It is encouraged, promoted, and increased by fresh discoveries of the grace and goodness of God, They shall fear the Lord and his goodness ; the goodness of God made known, bestowed and applied, greatly influences the fear of him, Hos. iii. 5, especially an application of his pardoning grace and mercy, There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared, Psalm cxxx. 4. V. The happiness of those that fear the Lord. There is scarce any one character by which the people of God are described, under which more promises of good things are made unto them, than this. i.» With respect to things temporal. Godliness in genoral, and this part of it, the fear of the Lord, in particular, has the promise of this life, as well as of that which is to come. — 1. It is promised they shall have no w-ant, not of temporal good things, O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him, Psalm xxxiv. 9, 10, not of any good thing ; that is, which is suitable and convenient for them, and God in his wisdom sees fit and proper for them ; and rather than they shall want, he will do wonders for them, and open sources of relief they never thought of, Isa. xli. 17, IS, and xliii. 1H, 2(K.— 2. Though they may have but little of the good thing* of thw'world, vol. ii. c c -" -. _- ,- .

386 OP THE FEAR OF GOD. yet better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures and trouble therewith, this with the fear of God and with righteousness is better than great revenues without right, and better than the riches of many wicked. — 3. Even wealth and riches are promised to be in the house of that man that fears the Lord, and that by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life, Psalm cxii. 1, 3, Prov. xxii. 4, which can only be understood of some, not of all that fear the Lord ; unless spiritual wealth, riches, honour, and life, are intended, since the fear of the Lord itself is the good man's treasure, Isa. xxxiii. 6 ; it is a treasure of itself.—4. It is said that the man that fears the Lord shall eat of the labour of his hands, and he shall not only be happy, and it shall be well with him in his person, but in his family ; his wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of his house, and his children shall be as olive plants round about his table. — 5. They that fear the Lord are in the utmost safety ; in his fear is strong confidence, and they have no reason to be afraid of anything ; they shall not be visited with evil, yea, the angel of the Lord encamps round about them and protects, defends, and delivers them from all dangers and from all enemies, Psalm xxxiv. 7. — 6. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, or adds unto them, Prov. x. 27, which was always reckoned a great temporal blessing ; the wise man says of a sinner, though his days be prolonged, as they may be, and he not happy, yet surety, nays he, 1 know that it shall be well with them that fear God, whichfear before him, Eccl. viii. 12, be their days more or fewer. ii. With respect to things spiritual, much is promised to them that fear the Lord, and they are spoken of as most happy persons. — 1 . The Lord is said to take pleasure in them that fear him, as having the utmost complacency and delight in them, being his special and peculiar people, his Hephzibah in whom he delights, his Beulah to whom he is married, Psalm cxlvii. 11. — 2. They are accepted of him, and are acceptable to him ; Of a truth, says Peter, / perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him, Acts^x. 34, 35 ; his person is accepted with him in Christ the beloved, and his sacrifices of prayer and praise are acceptable to him through Jesus Christ. — 3. The heart of God is towards them ; he has a sympathy and fellow-feeling with them in all their distresses, trials, and exercises ; in all their afflictions he is afflicted, and he comforts and supports them ; Like as a fatherpitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them thatfear him, Psalm ciii. 13. — 4. The eye of the Lord is upon them for good ; The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, Psalm xxxiii. 1 8 ; not only his eye of providence, which runs to and fro throughout the earth to show himself strong on their behalf, to protect and defend them, and to avenge himself on their enemies ; but his eye of special love, grace, and mercy, is upon them, and is never withdrawn from them, but is ever delighting in them and caring for them, Psalm ciii. 11, 17, Luke i. 50. — 5. His hand is open and ready to communicate to them ; he gives meat to them that fear him, spiritual food, the blessings of his covenant, of which he is ever mindful ; the comforts of his Spirit in which they walk,

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 387 who walk in the fear of the Lord ; he gives them grace, fresh and rich supplies of it, and at last gives them glory ; and in the meanwhile withholds no good thing from them, to support their faith, encourage their hope, and engage their trust in him and dependance on him. — 6. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ; the secrets of his heart's love to them, and of his gracious designs towards them, are disclosed unto them, by which he uses them as his most intimate and bosom friends ; and he will show them his covenant, the blessings and promises of it, and their interest in them, Psalm xxv. 14; what is said of Christ the head of the covenant, is true of all the covenantones in their measure, Mal. ii. 5 ; to which may be added, that the Lord grants the requests and fulfils the desires of them that fear him, hears their cries and saves them. — 7. They are remembered by him with the favour he bears to his own people, with his tender mercies and loving kindness, which have been ever of old; he remembers them when in a low estate, and brings them out of it ; he remembers his promises to them, and fulfils them ; a book of remembrance is said to be written before him, for them thatfeared the Lord, Mal. iii. 16. — 8. It is promised to them that fear the name of the Lord that unto them the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. Christ the Saviour shall come and show himself with a discovery and application of pardoning grace and mercy ; nay, one that fears the Lord, though he walks in darkness and hath no light, yet he is encouraged to trust in the name ofthe Lord, and stay upon his God, Isa. l. 10. — 9. Salvation, a fresh view of interest in it, a renewed application of it, as well as the full enjoyment of it, is nigh them thatfear the Lord, Psalm lxxxv. 9, for that is nearer to them^than when they first believed, and had the fear of God first implanted in them, and were set a seeking after it, and had first hope of interest in it. — 10. Great and good things are laid up for such persons in the heart of God, in the covenant of grace, and in the hands of Christ, and in heaven ; even a blessed hope, a crown of righteousness, and things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard of, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of; O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! Psalm xxxi. 19. OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. Faith is another branch of inward experimental religion and godli ness, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and of internal worship, and without which external worship cannot bo performed in a manner acceptable to God, for without faith it is impossible to please him ; there is no drawing nigh to God in any part of worship without it ; if a man prays to God he must ask in faith, nothing doubting ; for it is the prayer of faith that is availing and saving ; if a man hears the gospel, unless the word is mixed with faith by them that hear it, it is not profitable ; and both a profession of faith and the exercise of it, are necessary to a due subjection to the ordinances of the gospel. As to baptism, if thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest, said cc2

.388 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHBIST. Philip to the eunuch desiring baptism ; and so for the ordinance of the supper, a previous examination whether a man has faith, and the exercise of it, are requisite to eating of it ; and without this a man cannot discern the Lord's body, nor answer the ends and design of that ordinance ; concerning which may be observed, I. The kind of faith to be treated of; for faith is a word of different use and signification, and there are divers kinds of faith. — 1. It some times signifies the veracity and faithfulness of God ; as when the apostle says, Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect ? Rom. iii. 3, 4; yea, faith sometimes signifies veracity and fidelity among men, and is no other than a virtue belonging to the moral law, and is one of the weightier matters of it, Matt. xxiii. 23.— 2. It is sometimes used for the doctrine of the gospel, the word of faith, which the apostle preached, though he once destroyed it as much as in him lay, Gal. i. 23, and is the faith once delivered to the saints, which they should earnestly contend for, and build up one another in, Jude 3, 20, so called, because it contains things to be believed upon the credit and testimony of God ; and because it directs to the great object of faith in salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ ; and because it is the means of ingenerating and increasing faith in men, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Rom, x. 8, 17. — 3. There is a divine and a human faith ; a divine faith proceeds upon a divine testimony, upon the authority and veracity of God the testifier ; a human faith proceeds upon the testimony of man, and upon the authen ticity and truth of the witness borne by him ; concerning both which the apostle John says, If we receive the witness of men, the witness ofGod is greater, by how much the greater is his veracity and faithfulness ; for this is the witness ofGod, which he hath testified of his Son, 1 John v. 9, namely, that life and salvation are in him and by him ; and to believe this witness, and to receive it within a man's self, is what is commonly called saving faith. — 4. There is a faith of miracles which proceeds upon a revelation some way or other made by God to a man, which he believes ; either that a miracle should be wrought by him, or should be wrought for him, for his benefit and advantage ; of the former sort, and which is calledfaith in God, Mark xi. 22, 23, the apostle is to be understood, when he says, Though I have allfaith, so that I could remove mountains, 1 Cor. xiii. 2 ; of the latter sort was the faith of the centurion, of the woman having an issue, of Jairus, and of the Canaanitish woman, and of the lame man at Lystra. Tho one is called active, the other passive faith ; and this faith of miracles, in the first times ofthe gospel, was common to good and bad men, to the true disciples of Christ, Matt. x. 1, Mark, xvi, 17—20 ; and to Judas, and .to false teachers, Matt. x. 1, 4, andvii. 22, 23. — 5. There is what is called a historical faith, not because it is only giving credit to tho historical part of the Scrip ture, which is to be believed as well as other parts ; nor because the Scripture is read, and attention paid to it only as a common history or human testimony ; for men, with this faith, believe it to be a divine testimony, and regard it as such ; it may rather be called a theoretic faith, a speculative one, receiving all things in the theory but reducing

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 389 nothing to practice; or a bare naked assent to the truth of what is con tained in the word concerning God and Christ, and divine things ; it is a faith common to good men and bad men ; it must be and is where true faith is, and there can be no true faith without it ; but if a man stops here and goes no further, it falls short of spiritual, special faith, or the faith of God's elect, and is no other than the faith of devils, and of bad men. -i— 6. There is also a temporary faith, which continues only for a time in some persons, as in the stony-ground hearers, Whofor a while believe, and in time oftemptationfall away, Luke viii. 13 ; this sort of faith differs from the former, in that it is not a mere assent to truth, but it is attended with affection, joy, and gladness, as in Herod, who heard John gladly and did many outward things, and in those the apostle speaks of, who tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, Heb. vi. 5 ; all of a natural and superficial kind, arising from a principle of self-love, and from the novelty, harmony, and connexion of truths, and from a fake presumptuous hope of future happiness in con sequence of their assent unto them ; and so is different likewise from the faith of devils, who believe and tremble, but have no joy ; and it differs also from true faith, because it is without the root of grace in the heart, and is loseable, is only for a time, for when trouble and per secution arise because of the word, such who have it, drop their pro fession of it ; whereas where there is true faith, such do not draw back, but continue to believe to the saving of the soul.— 7. There is a special faith, which is peculiar to God's elect, and is by some called saving faith, though, strictly speaking, salvation is not in faith, nor in any other grace, nor in any duty, only in Christ ; there is no other name but his under heaven, whereby we must be saved; he only is the author of eternal salvation ; and yet there are some things in Scripture which seem to countenance such a phrase ; as when Christ said to the woman who repented of her sins, and had the forgiveness of them, loved Christ, and believed in him, Tliyfaith liath saved thee, go in peace, Luke vii. 50, unless the object of faith should be meant ; and certain it is that salva tion is promised to faith, and connected with it, He that believes shall be saved, and is what faith issues in ; true believers receive the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls. II. The objects of it, and acts of it on those objects. The objects of it are not bare axioms or propositions ; for, the act of the believer does not terminate at an axiom but at the thing ; for axioms are not formed, but that by them knowledge may be had of things ; the prin cipal term to which the act of a believer tends is the thing itself, which is chiefly regarded in the axiom ; and so promises are not to be consi dered as objects unless in a tropical and metonymical sense, being put for the things promised; so the Old Testament saints, not having received the promises, the things promised, but having seen them afar off, that is, by faith, were persuaded ofthem, and embraced them, Heb, xi. 12; nor even the benefits of Christ, or the blessings of his grace, no other wise than as they are the end faith has in view in receiving him ; he is viewed and dealt with as the object of faith in order to enjoy the good things which conie by him ; or they may be considered as motives

390 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. encouragmg to acts of faith on him, and are the fruits and effects of it received thereby from him. The proper and formal object of faith is twofold, God and Christ ; God as the first primary and ultimate object of faith, and Christ as mediator is the mediate object of it, Ye believe in God, believe also in me, John xiv. 1. God is the principal object of faith, which act of faith on him is not barely to believe there is a God, and but one ; which is credere Deum, and which the devils themselves believe ; nor is it merely to believe whatever he delivers in his word, as prophecies, promises, doctrines, &c, this is credere Deo, to give credit to God, believe what he says ; but credere in Deum, by believing to cleave to God, lean upon him, and acquiesce in him as our all- sufficient life and salvation, Deut. xxx. 20; and so it is not merely to believe there are three persons in the God head, but to go forth in acts of faith and confidence on them, in things relative to our welfare and happiness here and hereafter. i. On God the Father, Ye believe in God, that is, in God the Father, the God of Israel, as distinct from Christ, for it follows, in my Father's house are many mansions, John xiv. 1,2; and so our Lord further says, He that believeth on me, that is, on him only, nor does his faith stop and terminate there, but on him that sent me, that is, on the Father of Christ, John xii. 44; and it is also observed that Christ was raised from the dead and had glory given him, that the faith and hope of his people might be in God, in God his Father, who raised him. 1. On him as the creator, though not only on him as such ; so runs the first article in the creed commonly called the apostles' creed, " I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth ;" to believe the creation of all things out of nothing by the word, even out of things which did not appear, is an act of that faith in God which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1, 3; besides, a true believer in God fetches arguments to strengthen his faith in God, for relief, help, support, and supply from him with respect to things spiritual, as well as temporal, from his being the maker and creator of all things ; My help, says David, comethfrom the Lord, who made heaven and earth, Psalm cxxi. 1, 2, and it is a special act of faith, believers are directed to under sufferings, to commit the keeping oftheir souls to God in well-doing, as unto afaithful creator, 1 Pet. iv. 19, and so likewise on him as the preserver and saviour of men, for he is the Saviour of all men, especially ofthose that believe ; and therefore saints put their trust in him, the living God, as such, 1 Tim. iv. 10.— 2. Faith is exercised on God the Father as having loved his people in Christ before the foundation of the world ; that the Father, as distinct from Christ, has loved his people with a free, sovereign, unchangeable, and everlastinglove, is certain; Now God, even our Father, which hath loved us, &c 2 Thess. ii. 16, of which they may be most comfortably assured, and may most firmly believe ; by his appearing to them as he did to his church of old, saying, Ihave loved thee, with an everlasting love ; by his spirit witnessing it to their spirits, and by shedding it abroad in their hearts, and giving them some feeling sensations of it, so as to comprehend with other saints, the height and depth, the length and

OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 391 breadth of it ; by remembering to them his former loving kindness, the favour he bears to his own people ; and by acts of love done in eternity, as choosing them in Christ, &c, and by giving him for them in time, and by commending his love towards them through Christ's dying for them, while they were yet sinners ; and by quickening them by his Spirit and grace when dead in trespasses and sins, and all because of the great love wherewith he hath loved them ; and by drawing them with loving-kindness to himself, as well as by his word and oath, the two immutable things in which he cannot lie. So that there is good and sufficient reason for the acting and exercise of faith, on the ever lasting love of the Father ; and what a strong act and expression of faith is that of the apostle with respect unto it ; I am persuaded, I firmly believe it, that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ? Rom. viii. 38, 39 ; this is to be rooted and grounded in love.—3. Faith is exercised on God the Father, as having chosen his people in Christ to grace and glory from the beginning, from everlasting, before the world began, Eph. i. 3, 4 ; this is the act of the Father of Christ, Elect, according to the foreknoioledge of God the Father, 1 Pet. i. 2; and this election of God is to be known by the gospel coming not in word only but in power, by being effectually called, for whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and by their having the faith of God's elect, for as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, Acts xiii. 48 ; wherefore this may be most firmly believed, as it was by the apostle Paul, both with respect to himself and others, for which he blessed God, and gave thanks to him, and our Lord exhorts and encourages his disciples to rejoice because their names were written in heaven, Luke x. 20, which supposes knowledge of it, and faith in it.— 4. God, as the covenant God of his people, is the object of their faith ; the covenant runs thus, I will be their God, and they shall be my people ; and this is made to appear in effectual calling, when they who were not the people of God, not known to be so, are openly such ; then it is God makes good his promise, / will say, It is my people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my God, Zech. xiii. 9 ; and so may every believer say, and be assured, that this God is their God, and will be their God and guide unto death, for covenant-interest always continues ; it was a noble act of faith in the sweet singer of Israel a little before his death, Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlast ing covenant, ordered in all things and sure, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. — 5. God, as he is the Father of Christ, so he is the Father of all that believe in him ; / ascend, says Christ, to my Father and your Father, John xx. 17. So God, in the covenant of his grace, has declared himself, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, and as such faith is to be exercised on him with joy and wonder, saying, Behold, what manner of love the Father liath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, 1 John iii. 1 ; of the truth of which the leadings and witnessings of the Spirit are an evident proof, from whence he is called the Spirit of adoption ; for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, off of themselves to Christ, and by him to the Father, they arc the sons of God ; and who also receive the Spirit of adoption, whereby they

392 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. cry, Abba, Father ; the Spirit itself beareth witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God, so that their faith is grounded on good authority, on a divine testimony, true, sure and firm ; this bless ing of adoption is revealed to faith, the witness of it is received by it, and so believers become openly and manifestly the children of God by faith in Christ Jems ; for to as many as receive him, to them gives he power, authority, right, privilege, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, John i. 12, and henceforward it is enjoined them that in the exercise of faith they call God their father, and not turn away from him, by giving way to an evil heart of unbelief, but say to him, Doubtless thou art our Father, Isa. lxiii. 16, and they are directed in all their addresses to God at the throne of grace to say, Our Father which art in heaven, Matt. vi. 9. — 6. God is the object of faith as a God forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin for Christ's sake ; and in him he has proclaimed his name as such, and there is none like him on that account ; he has promised pardon in covenant, saying, Iwill be mer ciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and tlieir iniquities will I remem ber no more, Heb. viii. 12. He has set forth Christ in his purposes to be a propitiation through faith in his blood for- the remission of sin ; and he has sent him to shod his blood to obtain it, and has exalted him as a Saviour to give it, and to him give all the prophets witness, that who soever believes in him shall receive it ; and he applies it to them, saying, Son or daughter, be ofgood cheer, thy sins beforgiven thee ; I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins, Matt. ix. 2, Isa. xliii. 25. Hence upon such acts and declarations as these the believer has sufficient ground to make God, as a forgiving God, the object of his faith, and to call upon his soul and all within him to bless his holy name ; such an act of faith David put forth on God as a forgiving God, when, having acknowledged his sin, and confessed it before the Lord, he added, And thouforgavest the iniquity of my sin, Psalm xxxii. 5. — 7. Faith deals with God as a justifier, its language is, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God"s elect ? it is God that justifieth, Hom. viii. 33 ; and faith is exercised on him as he that justifieth the ungodly ; and therefore not by works, nor on account of any good dispositions and qualifications in men ; and they come to him not as workers, but as ungodly and sinners, and believe on him as justifying them without works, and that by imputing the righteousness of his Son unto them; even as David, also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Christ of God is made to them rightoousness ; and they are made the righteousness of God in him ; that is, by his gracious impu tation of Christ's righteousness to them ; and thus God appears to be a just God and a Saviour ; just, whilst he is the justifier of him that believes in Jesus ; and as such he is the object of faith ; what Christ the federal Head of his people, in whom they are all justified, said, his believing member, may say, He is near that justifieth me, who will con tend with me ? Isa. l. 8. — 8. The God and Father of Christ is the God ofall grace ; it has pleased him, the Father, that all fulness of it should dwell in Christ as Mediator ; he has made large provisions of it, and

OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 393 stored the covenant of grace with it ; and is the author, giver, and implanter of all grace in the hearts of his people by his Spirit : and as he is able to make all grace to abound towards them, so he grants them a supply of it from time to time : now as such he is the object of faith ; faith deals with him as such, and the believer applies to the throne of his grace, that he may obtain mercy, and find grace to help him in time of need. — Lastly, God, as a promising God, is the object of faith, he has made many exceeding great and precious promises, and these are all yea and amen in Christ, and God is faithful who has promised, and is able also to perform ; and though promises themselves are not, strictly speaking, the object, rather the things promised, yet especially a promising God is the object faith is concerned with. ii. God the Son is the object of faith ; which faith lies not merely in believing that he is the Son of God, which is most certainly to be believed; it was not only the confession of the faith of Peter, T/iouart Christ the Son ofthe living God ; which faith, or rather the Object of it, is the Rock on which the church of Christ is built, and against which the gates of hell shall never prevail ; but it was the faith of all the disciples, and which they express with the strongest assurance : We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God, Matt. xvi. 16, 1 8 ; and it was with respect to this article that the eunuch expressed his faith in Christ previous to his baptism ; I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Acts viii. 37 ; and all things relating to Christ, his doctrines and his miracles, were written ; by the evangelists, that men might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. and that believing, they might have life through his name, John xx. 31 ; but true faith is not barely a believing that Christ is the Son of God, but a believing in him as such ; according to the question put by Christ to the blind man ; Dost thou believe on the Son of God? John ix. 35. And this is his com mandment, that we should believe on the name ofhis Son Jesus Christ. And again, He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, 1 John iii. 23, and v. 10. Believing in him is a going forth in acts of faith and confidence, and is called faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts xx. 28. Christ, as the Son of God, is the true God and eternal life ; he is God equal with the Father, and as such is equally the primary object of faith ; which is strongly expressed by Thomas ; My Lord and my God! and therefore our Lord says, Ye believe in God, in God the Father, believe also in me equally as in him, he being equal with him in nature, perfections, power, and glory. But Christ as Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour, is the mediate Object of faith, or in and through whom men believe in God ; thus the apostle Peter, speak ing of Christ as Mediator, being foreordained before the foundation of the world ; but made manifest in human nature in these last times for the sake of his people, described by him as such, Who by him do believe in God, 1 Pet. i. 21. As Christ is the Mediator through wnom all grace is communicated to his people, so it is through him that all grace is exercised on God, and particularly faith ; Such trust have we through Christ to Godward, says the apostle, 2 Cor. iii. 4. So believers reckon themselves alive unto God through Jesus Christ. Now faith in Christ

394 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. as the Redeemer and Saviour includes in it the following things, and is expressed by a variety of acts, which show the nature of it. 1st, I shall consider the several parts of faith in Christ, or what is requisite to constitute it. — 1. Knowledge of Christ is necessary to the exercise of faith on him, for How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and if they have not so much as heard of him, they cannot know him, and consequently cannot exercise faith upon him ; and How shall they hear without a preacher to make him known unto them? Rom. x. 14. When our Lord put the question to the man who had been blind, Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? he answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? upon which Christ made himself known unto him, Jesus said unto him, Thou hast seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee ; his eyes had been opened to see him, and his ears now heard him, and both being true in a spiritual sense he immediately expressed his faith in him, saying, Lord, I believe, and as a proof and evidence of it, worshipped him, John ix. 35 — 38. Previous to faith in Christ, as a Saviour, there must be knowledge of the want of him ; as such a man must be made sensible of the sinfulness of his nature, and of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of the just demerit of it, and of the miserable state and condition it has brought him into, out of which none but Christ the Saviour can deliver him ; and therefore he then applies to him as the apostles in distress did, saying, Lord, save us, we perish ! he must be made acquainted with his impotency to save himself ; that his own right hand, his works and services, cannot save him ; that if ever he is saved it must be by the grace of God, through the blood and righteousness of Christ, and not by them ; he must have knowledge of the fulness and abilities of Christ as a Saviour ; he must have seen him full of grace and truth, as having all the fullness of the blessings of grace in him suitable to his wants, whose redemption is plenteous, his salvation complete, he being made everything to his people they want, and able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him ; and he being just such a Saviour they need, and his salvation so suitable to them, they that know his name, Jesus the Saviour, put their trust in him ; and the more ready they are to do this, as they are fully convinced there is no other Saviour ; that salvation is in him, and in none else ; that it is in vain to expect it from any other quarter, from the works and services of the creature, and therefore determine upon it they shall not be their saviours ; but say, with Job, Though he slay me,yet will I trust in him. Hence knowledge being so requisite to faith, and included in it, faith is sometimes expressed by it, Isa. liii. 11, Johnxvii. 3 ; both in spiritual knowledge and special faith, eternal life is begun, and with which it is connected ; and so knowledge and faith are joined together as inseparable companions, and as expressive of tho same thing ; And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, are firmly persuaded of it, 1 John iv. 16 ; and some of the strongest acts of faith in tho saints have been expressed by words of knowledge ; / knoio that my Redeemer liveth, &c, / know in whom I have believed, &c, Job xix. 25, 1 Tim. i. 12.—2. An assent unto Christ as a Saviour, enters

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 395 into the true nature of faith ; not a bare naked assent of the mind to the truth of the person and offices of Christ ; that he is the Son of God, the Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King, such as has been yielded to him by men destitute of true faith in him, as by Simon Magus, and others, yea, by the devils themselves, Luke iv. 34, 41. " Of all the poison, says Dr. Owen, which at this day is diffused in the minds of men, corrupting them from the mystery of the gospel, there is no part that is more pernicious than this one perverse imagination, that to believe in Christ is nothing at all but to believe the doctrine of the gospel ! which yet we grant is included therein." Such a proposition, that Christ is the Saviour of the chief of sinners, or that salvation is alone by him, is not presented merely under the notion of its being true, and assented to as such, but under the notion of its being good, a suit able, acceptable, and preferable good, and to be chosen as the good part was by Mary ; as being both a faithful saying to be believed as true, and as worthy of all acceptation, to be received and embraced as the chiefest good. Faith is an assent to Christ as a Saviour, not upon a human, but a divine testimony, upon the record which God has given of his Son, and of eternal life in him. Some of the Samaritans believed on Christ, because of the saying of the woman ; but others because of his own word, having heard him themselves, and knew that he was indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world : true faith, in sensible sinners, assents to Christ, and embraces him not merely as a Saviour of men in general ; but as a special, suitable Saviour for them in particular : it proceeds upon Christ's being revealed in them, as well as to them, by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of him as a Saviour that becomes them ; it comes not merely through external teachings, by the hearing of the word from men ; but having heard and learned of the Father, such souls come to Christ, that is, believe in him, John vi. 45 ; not the doctrine of him only, but in him himself. — 3. Knowledge of Christ as a Saviour, and an assent unto him as such, is attended with love and affection to him ; faith works by love, love always accompanies faith, at least follows it ; Christ is precious to them that believe ; they love him, value him, prefer him to all others as a Saviour ; and every truth respecting Christ is not barely assented to, but as they receive Christ, they receive the love of truth with him.—4. True, spiritual, special faith in Christ, includes in it a dependence on him, trust and confidence in him alone for everlasting life and salvation ; it is a soul's venturing on Christ, resolving, if it perishes, it will perish at his feet ; it is a resignation of itself to Christ, a committing its soul, and the import ant welfare and salvation of it, into Christ's hands, trusting him with all, looking to him, relying on him, and acquiescing in him as the alone Saviour. All which will more fully appear by considering, 2ndly, The various acts of faith on Christ, as described in the sacred Scriptures. 1. It is expressed by seeing tho Son ; this is one of the first and one of the lowest acts of faith, and yet eternal life is annexed unto it ; This is the will of him that sent me, says Christ, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, John vi. 40 ; it is a sight of the glories and excellences of Christ's person,

396 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. of tho fulness of his grace and righteousness, and of the completeness and suitableness of his salvation. It is a looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, a view of him as altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousand. Faith is a light struck into the heart of a sinner whose understanding was darkened, yea, darkness itself, till God com manded light to shine in darkness ; by which, though first but glimmer ing, he sees himself a sinner, miserable and undone, without a Saviour, when Christ is held forth in the gospel to be looked at by him ; that is a glass in which he is to be beheld, and where he is evidently set forth crucified and slain for sinners ; and so is the hope set before them, both to be looked at and to be laid hold on by them, who was typified by the brazen serpent sot upon a pole by Moses, for the Israelites bitten by the serpents to look at and live, John iii. 14. And not only sen sible sinners are directed to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, as John's hearers were by him ; and are encouraged by the ministers of the word, who show unto men the way of salvation, to look to and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and bo saved ; but they are encouraged by Christ himself; who says, Behold me, behold me, to a nation not called by his name, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else ! Isa. lxv. 1, and xlv. 22 ; which sight of him fills their souls with lovo to him, as tho most lovely and amiable one, with eager desires after him, and an interest in him, signified by hungering and thirsting after his righteousness, and panting after his salvation. And this sight of Christ by faith is nigh, and not afar off, now, and not hereafter ; and for a man's self, and not another ; he looks to him not merely as a Saviour of others, but to him as a Saviour and Redeemer suitable for him.—2. Faith is a motion of the soul unto Christ ; having looked and gazed at him with wonder and pleasure, it moves towards him ; this is expressed by coming unto him ; He that cometh to me, says Christ, shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me, which explains what is meant by coming, shall never thirst, John vi. 25 ; which coming to Christ is upon an invitation given, encouraging to it ; not only by others, by the Spirit and the bride, who say come, Rev. xxii. 17 ; and by the mmisters of the word ; Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money, come ! and who, through the gospeltrumpet being blown with power, and the sound of it attended with efficacious grace, they that are ready to perish come, Isa. lv. 1, and xxvii. 13 ; but also by Christ himself, who says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ! Matt. xi. 28 ; such souls come, being influenced and powerfully wrought upon by the grace of God ; All that the Father giveth me, says Christ, shall come to me; effica cious grace will cause them to come, will bring them to him, through all discouragements, difficulties, and objections, and which are all removed by what follows ; And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, John vi. 37. This coming to Christ as a Saviour, or believing in him, is owing to the Father's teachings, instructions, and drawing ; No man can come to me, says Christ, that is, believe in him, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him, draw him with his loving-kind

OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 397 ness, and through the power of his grace, and of his divine teachings ; Every man therefore that hath lieard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me ; yea, this is a pure gift of his grace, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father, verses 44, 45, 65 ; and such come to Christ in a view of the blessings of grace, of righteousness, and strength, peace and pardon, salvation and eternal life ; these are the goodness of the Lord they flow unto him for with great eagerness, swiftness, and cheerfulness.—3. This motion of faith towards Christ is expressed by fleeing to him ; and such souls that believe in him are described as havingftedfor refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, Heb. vi. 18 ; and by turning to the strong hold as prisoners of hope, that is, to Christ, whose name is a strong tower, whither the righteous run, and are safe : fleeing supposes danger, and a sense of it ; Christ is the city of refuge, the strong hold and tower, they are directed to ; whither coming, they find shelter and safety from avenging justice and every enemy, a supply of wants, and ground of hope of eternal life and happiness ; and thus being come to Christ, various acts of faith are put forth upon him ; such as the fol lowing,—A venturing act of their souls, and of their whole salvation on him, like Esther, who ventured into "the presence of king Ahasuerus, saying, If I perish, I perish ! faith at first is such a venture of the soul on Christ, not knowing as yet how it will fare with it ; yea, a peradventure, perhaps there may be salvation in Christ for it ; as Benhadad's servants said to him ; Peradventure he will save thy life ; reasoning in like manner as the four lepers did when ready to perish with famine ; Let us fall intb the host of the Syrians ; if they save us alive we shall live ; and if they kill us, we shall but die : so sensible sinners, seeing their perishing condition, resolve to venture themselves on Christ ; if he saves them, it is well ; if not, they can but die, as they must without him.— A casting or throwing themselves into the arms of Christ, to be borne and carried by him as a nursing father bears and carries in his bosom a sucking child ; so Christ carries the lambs in his arms, weak believers, who cast themselves and all their burdens, the whole care of their souls upon him ; this sense pun has Numb. xi. 12 ; from whence comes a word which in many places signifies to believe ; Isa. lxvi. 12. —A laying hold on Christ, who is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon him, from which tree they may pluck and eat all the fruits of grace and life. Christ is the hope of Israel, and the Saviour of his people ; and there is great encouragement for sensible sinners to hope in him, because there are mercy and plenteous redemption with him ; and he is in the gospel set forth before them as the ground of hope to lay hold upon, Heb. vi. 18 ; he is that Jew who sprung from the seed of David and from the tribe of Judah ; and his righteousness the skirt ten men are said to take hold of, Zech. viii. 23 ; even the robe of his righteous ness ; which being revealed and brought near to faith, it lays hold upon and puts it on, as its justifying righteousness, seeing the insufficiency of its own, and the excellency of this. Some treat such an apprehen sion of Christ by faith for justification, as a mere human invention, and a most empty dream ; but the true believer finds abundance of solid

398 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. peace and comfort in it. As Adonijah and Joab fled and laid hold on the horns of the altar for safety, and under a consciousness of guilt ; so a sinner, sensible of its sin and guilt, and of its own incapacity to make atonement for it, flees to Christ, and lays hold on his sacrifice, and brings this offering in the arms of his faith, and pleads with God that he would be propitious to him through it, and take away his sin from him. Faith lays hold on the covenant of grace, and upon Christ the Mediator of it, and upon the promises in it, which are yea and amen in Christ, and on the blessings of it, the sure mercies of David, redemp tion, justification, pardon, peace, reconciliation, and salvation, and claims interest in them. It lays hold on Christ for strength as well as righteousness ; Let him take hold of my strength, to enable him to exer cise every graco, perform every duty, bear the cross of Christ, and persevere in faith and holiness to the end, Isa. xxvii. 5, 6.—Faith is a retaining Christ, and a holding him fast ; the soul being come to Christ, and having laid hold upon him, keeps its hold of him : it is said of Wisdom, or Christ, Happy is every one that retaineth her, Prov. iii. 18 ; so the church having lost her beloved, and upon search found him, she held him, and woirfd not let him go, as Jacob the angel that wrestled with him. until he blessed him, Cant. iii. 4 ; which denotes not only a holding fast the profession of the faith of Christ, but a continuance of the exercise of the grace of faith on him ; a holding to him, the Head, and deriving nourishment from him, a walking on in him as he has been received, a being strong in the grace that is in him, firmly believing its interest in him. It is expressive of strength of faith in Christ, and of great affection to him ; for it is sometimes with difficulty it keeps its hold of him when things go contrary, and Christ has withdrawn him self, and is out of sight.—-Faith is sometimes expressed by leaning on the Lord, and staying upon him, The holy One of Israel in truth ; and even those who walk in darkness and have no light, are directed and encouraged to trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God, Isa. x. 20, and l. 10 ; where trusting in the Lord, and staying on him, are manifestly the same ; faith or trust in the Lord, is a staying or leaning on him for all supports and every supply ; so the church is said to be leaning on her beloved, while coming up out of the wilderness, Cant. viii. 5 ;. which shows consciousness of her own weakness, a dependence on his mighty arm, and an expectation of all supplies of grace and strength from him. But,—The grand and principal act of faith, or that by which it is more frequently expressed, is, receiving Christ ; As many as received him, even that believe on his name, John i. 12 ; where receiving Christ is interpreted of believing on him. Christ is received, not into the head ; for not all that say Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but into the heart ; for it is with the heart man believes in the Son of God unto righteousness ; and in it Christ dwells by faith. A soul made sensible of its need of Christ and his righteousness, and of salvation by him, comes down from self-exalta tion and self-confidence, and receives Christ joyfully, as Zaccheus did. Faith receives a whole Christ, not in part only, but m whole, he is alto gether lovely ; the whole of him is amiable in the sight of a believer,

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 399 and acceptable to him. As the Passover lamb was to be eaten wholly by the Israelites, no part of it to be left, so faith feeds upon a whole Christ, Christ in his person, offices, grace, and righteousness. Is Christ divided ? He is not : not in his person ; he is but one, God manifest in the flesh ; nor in his doctrines ; nor from his ministers ; nor from his ordinances ; where Christ is received, all are received.— 1. Christ in all his offices. Christ is received as the great Prophet in the church whom God promised to raise up, and has raised up, and sent to instruct his people ; and by whom grace and truth, the doc trines of grace and truth, are come, and he is to be attended to ; Hear ye Him, not Moses, nor Elias, but God's well-beloved Son, by whom he has spoken his whole mind and will in these last days ; and who himself says, Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than fine gold ; that is, his gospel published by him ; and such who are spiritually enlightened in the knowledge of him by the Spirit of God, these receive the love of the truth ; truth, with a cordial affection for it ; receive the word gladly, with all readiness and meekness ; they receive the ministers of Christ, and the doctrines preached and mes sages sent by them ; which is interpretatively receivmg Christ himself; He that receiveth you, receiveth me, &c, Matt. x. 40. And faith receives Christ also as a Priest, and the atonement which he has made ; it views him as a merciful, faithful, and suitable one, who has made reconcilia tion for sin, put it away by the sacrifice of himself, and made full satis faction for it, and by his one offering has perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Faith regards him and receives him as the advocate with the Father, as ever living to make intercession ; as always at the golden altar, ready to offer up the prayers of all saints with his much mcense ; and by whom, as their great High Priest, saints offer their spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, which become acceptable to God through him. And faith also receives him as King in Zion ; As ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, Col. ii. 6 ; there seems to be an emphasis on that clause tov Kvpiov, the Lord ; one that receives Christ, a true believer in him, acknowledges Christ as his Lord and Head, and gives homage to him as such, saying, as the Church did, 77ie Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, he will save us, Isa. xxxiii. 22 ; Christ is received and owned by such, not only as a Priest, but as a Prince ; not only as a Saviour, but as a Lawgiver ; they take upon them his yoke, submit to his ordinances, and observe his commands, and walk as Zacharias and Elizabeth did, in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.— 2. Christ, and all the blessings of grace along with him, are received by faith ; such as adoption ; as Christ gives a power to them that believe in him, to become the children of God, they by faith receive this power, right, and privilege from him ; and hence we read of receiving the adoption of children, through the redemption that is by Christ, Gal. iv. 5 ; and because faith receives it, believers in Christ become manifestatively the children of God. They likewise receive the blessing from the Lord, even a justifying righteousness from the God of their salvation. They receive abundance of grace, and the gift

400 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHTH8T. of righteousness, by and from Christ, by which they are justified from all things, and put it on as their robe of righteousness, and glory in it. By faith they receive the pardon of their sms ; as Christ is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins, so whosoever believes in him shall receive remission ofsins, Acts v. 31, and x. 43 ; and that upon the foot of atonement made by him; hence they are said to receive the atonement ; by faith they receive, out of the fulness of Christ, grace for grace, all supplies of grace need ful for them ; as they want more grace, and God has promised it to them, and provided it for them in Christ ; so they apply to him for it, and receive it at his hands ; and as he gives both grace and glory, they receive both ; grace as a meetness for, and as the earnest of glory : not only do they receive the forgiveness of their sins ; but also an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith, Acts xxvi. 18; they receive frace from God the Father, to make them meet for it ; and as the pirit is given as an earnest of it, they receive him as the earnest of the inheritance until they are put into the full possession of it.— 3. Christ is received as a free gift ; he is the gift of God ; If thou knewest the gift of God, John iv. 10 ; and an unspeakable gift of his love he is, a gift freely given and unmerited ; God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, John iii. 16 ; and he is received and owned as such ; and all blessings of grace are given, and freely given, along with him, and received as such, Rom. viii. 32. — 4. Faith receives Christ in preference to all others ; it receives him, and him only, as the one Lord and Head, as the one Mediator between God and man, and as the one and only Saviour of sinners ; it chooses Christ, the good part that shall never be taken away, above all others : faith works by love to Christ in a stronger manner than to any creature object whatever ; than to the dearest and nearest relation and friend whatever ; than to father, mother, brethren and sisters, houses and lands ; yea, he that loves any of these more than Christ, is not worthy of him. Nay, faith prefers the worst things belonging to Christ to the best in creatures ; the believer is willing to do and suffer any thing and every thing for Christ; none of these things, as afflictions, bonds, and imprisonment for Christ's sake, move the believer from Christ, and its faith and hope in him ; he esteems reproach for Christ's sake, greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt, and takes pleasure in persecutions and distresses endured on his account ; and even reckons his own best things, his highest attainments in knowledge and righteousness, but loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and of his righteousness, in which, and in which only, he desires to be found. in. God the holy Spirit is also the object of faith ; though we read and hear but little of faith in him, yet as he is God equal with the Father and the Son, he is equally the object of faith as they are ; not only his being, perfections, deity, and personality, his offices, as a sanctifier and comforter, and his operations of grace on the souls of men, are to be believed ; but there are particular acts of faith, trust, and confidence to be exercised upon him ; as he is truly God, he is the

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 401 object of religious worship, and this cannot be performed aright with out faith. Baptism is administered in his name, as in the name of the other two persons, and this is to be done and submitted to by faith in him ; he is particularly to be prayed unto, and there is no praying to him, nor in him, without faith in him ; yea, a true believer trusts in him for his help and assistance in prayer, as indeed he does in the exercise of every religious duty, and of every grace ; and besides all this, there is a special act of faith put forth upon him, with respect to salvation, as upon the other two persons ; for as we are to trust in God the Father to keep us by his power through faith unto salvation, and to trust in Christ for the salvation of our souls, so we are to trust in the holy Spirit for carrying on and finishing the work of grace in us, who is equal to it ; we are to trust the whole of it with him, and be confi dent of this very thing, as we may, as of any one thing in the' world, that he, the Spirit of God, who hath begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Phil, i, 6. III. The subjects of the grace of faith, on whom this grace is bestowed, and in whom it is, in some more, in others less, in all like precious faith. i. The subjects of faith are not angels, neither good nor bad. Not the good angels ; they live not by faith on God and Christ, as believing men do, but by sight ; they are possessed of the beatific vision of God, and are always beholding the face of our Father in heaven, and are con tinually in his presence, waiting upon him and worshipping him, and enjoy complete and inexpressible happiness in their access unto him, and communion with him, and in the service of him. They are minis tering spirits to Christ, always attend him, ever behold the glories of his person and the fulness of his grace ; one part of the great mystery of godliness respecting Christ is, that he is seen of angels, and being received up into glory, is the object of their vision continually, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; much loss are the evil angels the subjects of this grace. There is a kind of faith that is ascribed to them, the belief of a God, and that there is but one ; Thou believest there is one God, thou dost well, the devils also believe and tremble, James ii. 19 ; but then they have no faith on or towards God ; no trust in him, and dependence on him ; they have cast off allegiance to him, and have rebelled against him ; and much less have they any faith in Christ ; for though they know him, and cannot but assent to the truth of things concerning him, yet can have no faith in him as their Redeemer and Saviour : and therefore they themselves very justly observed, What have we to do with thee i they had nothing to do with him as Jesus a Saviour, and could wish they had nothing to do with him as the Son of God, to whom all judg ment is committed, and theirs also, and therefore dread him ; but faith in him as a Saviour they could not exercise, for he was not provided as such for them ; ho took not on him their nature ; he was not sent, nor did he come, to seek and save them, nor to dio for them ; when they sinned, God spared them not, made no provision of grace for them, nor promise of it to them, but cast them down from heaven to hell, and has reserved them in chains of darkness to the judgment of the VOL. II. D D s

402 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. great day, to everlasting wrath and damnation ; so that there is not the least ground for faith and hope in Christ concerning their salvation. ii. Men only are the subjects of the grace of faith ; and not all men ; For all men have notfaith, that is, special faith in God and Christ ; there are but fow who have it ; there are many who never heard of Christ, of his gospel, and of the way of life and salvation by him ; And how shall they believe in him ofwhom they have not heard ? And those that have heard of him, and of the good news of salvation by him, have not all obeyed the gospel ; Rom. x. 14, 16. There are some who do not belong to Christ, are none of his ; and which is a reason why they do not believe in him ; and is a reason which Christ himself gives, and a better cannot be given ; Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep ; they that are the sheep of Christ hear his voice, by which faith comes ; they know him spiritually and savingly ; they follow him, and yield the obedience of faith unto him, John x. 26, 27. There are some of whom it is said, they could not believe, because they were left of God to the blindness and hardness of their hearts ; and whose minds, by permission, the god of this world blinds, lest the gospel should shine into them, and so they believe not. In short, none but the elect of God become true believers in Christ, and all these do in God's duo time, and through the efficacy of his grace ; so it has been, and so it ever will be, until they are all brought to believe in Christ ; As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed, Acts xiii. 48; for, the belief of the truth, of Christ, who is the truth, and of the gospel of truth, that comes by him, is the means through which God has chosen men to salvation; and which is as certain to them thereby as the thing itself ; for faith is given in consequence of this choice, and is peculiar to the objects of it ; hence called the faith of God's elect, 2 Thess. ii. 13, Tit. i. 1 ; such only are the partakers and subjects of this grace, who are regenerated, called, and sanctified. Such that receive Christ and believe in him are described as born of God ; yea, it is asserted, that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, John i. 12, 13 ; whomsoever God calls by his grace with a holy calling, he bestows faith upon them ; whoever are converted and turned to the Lord, believe in him ; faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit in sanctification, Gal. v. 22; none but such who are made spiritually alive believe in Christ ; whilst men are dead in trespasses and sins they are in unbelief, in a state of unbelief, as the apostle was before conversion, shut up in it till mercy is displayed in quickening and relieving them : there must be first spiritual life before there can be faith : hence says Christ, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, John xi. 26. As well may a dead carcass fly, as a dead sinner believe in Christ, or have any will and desire to it. Such only who are alive see and hear in a spiritual sense, and believe in Christ, with a special faith, and shall never perish, but have everlasting life. hi. Those who are the subjects of this grace of faith, it is different in them as to the degree and exercise of it, though it is in all alike precious faith as to its nature, objects, and acts ; and in such is the common faith, common to all truo believers, of which they have a

OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 403 mutual experience ; hence the apostle calls his faith, and the faith of the believing Romans, the mutual faith of both you and me ; yet as to the measure and degree of it, it is in some more, in others less. — 1. In some it is great faith ; instances of which we have in the centurion, and in the woman of Canaan, Matt. viii. 10 ; and many great and heroic actions are ascribed unto it, Heb. xi. ; though all its greatness, power and efficacy, are to be ascribed to the object of it. — 2. In some it is but small or little faith ; in God, and in his providence, for the supply of their temporal wants ; in Christ, as to his presence with and powerful preservation and salvation of them. — 3. In others it is very little, least of all ; it is like a grain of mustard seed, which is the least of all seeds, Matt. xvii. 20; and as the apostle Paul calls himself less than the least of all sainta, these are the least of all believers; the little ones, as Christ calls them, who believe in him ; the lambs he carries in his arms ; the smoking flax and bruised reed, the day of small things, he does not despise. — 4. In these it seems to be next to none, and as if there was none at all ; hence these words of Christ to his apostles, How isit that you have no faith? and again, Where isyour'faith? Mark iv.40, Luke viii. 25; that is, in act and exercise; otherwise they had faith as a principle of grace in them, though so little exercised by them as scarcely to be discerned ; yet little faith, even that which is the least, differs from no faith. Where there is no faith there is no desire after God, nor after Christ, nor after salvation by him, and communion with him ; such neither desire him nor the knowledge of his ways ; but where there is ever so small a degree of faith there is panting after God, a desire to see Jesus, and to have fellowship with him, and a view of interest in him : where there is no faith there is no sense of the want of it, nor complaint of it, nor desire of it, and an increase ; but where there is faith, though of the least degree, the soul is sensible of the deficiency of it, and complains of its unbelief and prays for an increase of faith ; as the poor man did, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark ix. 24. — 5. In some faith is weak ; in others strong : of Abraham it is said, that he was strong in faith, and staggered not at the promise through unbelief; but believed in hope against hope ; these circumstances showed the strength of his faith. But of others it is said, Him that is weak in the faith receive ye ; but not to doubtful dispu tations. — 6. Faith, as to its exercise, differs in the same individuals at different times ; as in Abraham, the father of all them that believe, and who was so eminent for his faith, and yet what unbelief and distrust of the power and providence of God did he discover, as to the preser vation of him in Egypt and in Gerar, which put him on undue methods for his security ? and in David, who sometimes in the strongest manner expresses his faith of interest in God, and in his favour, and at other times was strangely disquieted in his soul, and ready to imagine that he was cut off from the sight of God : and in Peter, who not only strongly asserted his faith in Christ as the Son of 'God, but so confident was he, that though all men forsook him he would not ; and yet, that night denied him thrice, intimidated by a servant maid and others ! — 7. In some it arises to a plerophory, a full assurance of dd2

404 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. faith ; as it is expressed in Heb. x. 22 ; which signifies going with a full sail, in allusion to ships when they sail with a prosperous gale ; so souls, when they are full of faith, as Stephen was, move on towards God and Christ in the exercise of it with great spirit and vigour, bearing all before them that stand in the way ; being fully persuaded of the love of God to them, and that nothing can separate them from it, and of their interest in Christ, as having loved them and given himself for them ; and therefore can say with Thomas, My Lord and my God! and with the church, My beloved is mine and I am his ; but this is not to be found in all believers ; and where it is, it is not always in the same plerophory, without any doubt, hesitation, and mixture of unbelief. iv. The seat of this grace, in the subjects of it, is the whole soul of man ; it is with the heart man believes in Christ for righteousness, life, and salvation ; says Philip to the eunuch, if thou believest with all thine heart, &c It has been a dispute among divines, whether faith has its seat in the understanding, or in the will, or in the affections ; it seems to possess the whole soul, or the whole soul is in the posses sion of it, and according to its various actings faith has a concern in each faculty ; as it lies in the knowledge of divine things, and presents truth to the mind, and is the evidence of things unseen, it has to do with the understanding ; and the apostle says of it as such, byfaith we understand, &c, Heb. xi. 1, 3 ; and sometimes the strongest act of faith, even assurance of interest in Christ as the Redeemer and Saviour, is expressed by knowledge of him ; / know that my Redeemer livelh, Job xix. 25 ; as it is an act of choice, preferring Christ, as a Saviour, to all others ; and of affiance, trust, and dependence on him, it is an act of the will ; Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him : and neither of these acts can be without love to Christ, and a strong motion of the affections towards him, saying, Whom have I in heaven but thee, &c. Faith works by love. IV. The causes of faith, from whence it springs, and how it conies to pass that any who are naturally in a state of unbelief, and shut up in it, should be possessed of this grace. i. The efficient cause is God ; hence it is called, the work of God, John vi. 2.9 ; which he works by his power and grace in the hearts of men ; it is expressly said to be of the operation of God, Col. ii. 12; it is a very considerable part of the good work of grace, which is begun, carried on, and performed by the Spirit of Christ ; and from it the whole is denominated, the work offaith which is wrought and finished with the power of God, 2 Thess. i. 11 ; and it is also called the gift of God, who deals forth to every man the measure of faith as he pleases, Eph. ii. 8. The Father, Son, and Spirit, are concerned in it. — 1. God the Father ; as he is the God of all grace, so of this : No man, says Christ, can come unto me, that is, believe on him, as it is explained verse 35, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him ; and except it were given unto him of my Father. — 2. The Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, has a concern in it, it is prayed and wished for, as from God the Father, so from the Lord Jesus Christ ; and is obtained through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; nay, Christ is

OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 405 expressly called, the Author and Finisher of Faith, Heb. xii. 2. — 3. The holy Spirit is, with the Father and the Son, the co-efficient cause of faith ; not only faith is given by the Spirit, as it intends the faith of miracles, but the special grace of faith is reckoned among the fruits of the Spirit ; and from hence he is called the Spirit offaith, because it is his gift, and of his operation. ii. The moving cause of faith is, the free grace of God ; it is not of men themselves, the produce of their free will and power ; but it is the gift of God ; a gift of his pure grace, unmerited, and unmoved to it by any thing in the creature ; hence those that believe are said to have believed through grace ; it is a fruit of electing grace, and flows from that ; the same grace that moved God to ordain any of the sons of men to eternal life, bestows the grace of faith upon them in conse quence of it, Acts xviii. 27 ; and this is owing to sovereign and dis tinguishing grace, according to which it is bestowed on some and not on others, as it seems good in the sight of God, Matt. xi. 25, 26. in. The word and ministers of it are the usual means and instru ments of faith in the hand of God, and are used by him ; the end of the word being written is, that menmight believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, John xx. 31 ; and the word preached is, the word of faith; and so called, with other reasons, because faith comes by it, Rom. x. 8, 17 ; this has often been the effect and consequence of hear ing the word preached, Acts xvii. 4 ; and the ministers of it are the instruments by whom and through whose word, doctrine and ministry, others believe, but this is only when it is attended with the power and Spirit of God, 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. V. The effects of it, on the various things which are ascribed untr, it in some sense or another, which show the usefulness and importance of this grace. i. Several blessings of grace are attributed to it ; and with which it is, on some account or another, connected ; by it access is had unto them, and an enjoyment of them, and comfort from them. — 1. Justi fication ; hence we read of beingjustified byfaith, Rom. v. 1 ; not by it, or through it, as a work of righteousness done by men, for then they would be justified and saved by works, contrary to the Scriptures, Tit. iii. 5. Nor as a grace of the Spirit of God wrought in men ; for that is a part and branch of sanctification ; and would tend to confound justification and sanctification, which are two distinct things ; the one an act of God's grace towards men, the other a work of his grace in them : not as a cause of it ; for it is God, and not faith, that justifies, Rom. viii. 33 ; for though men are said to be justified by faith, yet faith is never said to justify them : nor as a condition of justification, for God justifies the ungodly, Rom. iv. 5 ; nor as a motive ; for that is the free grace of God ; Beingjustifedfreely by his grace, Rom. iii. 24 ; nor as the matter of it ; that is, the righteousness of Christ : faith and righteousness are two different things and are frequently distinguished ; that by which men are justified are the obedience and blood of Christ, Rom. v. 9, 19 ; but faith is neither of them ; faith is a man's own, but justifying righteousness is another's ; Not having on my own righteous

406 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN .CHRIST. ness, Phil. iii. 9 ; faith is imperfect ; hut the righteousness by which men are justified is perfect, or it cannot be reckoned righteousness, Deut. vi. 25 ; it is not the to credere, or act of faith, but the object who, or what, is believed in, that is imputed for righteousness ; it is Christ and his righteousness, the object of faith, by which men are justified; faith objectively, or the object of faith, Christ, who is sometimes called faith, Gal. iii. 23 ; he is made righteousness unto them ; faith only relatively considered as it relates to Christ, receives the blessing of his justifying righteousness from him, being revealed from faith to faith, and given to it, and put into his hands ; which faith puts on as a robe of righte ousness, and rejoices and glories in it. — 2. Adoption ; faith, as before observed, receives the adoption of children from Christ, the power he gives to become the children of God ; and therefore said to be, the chil dren of God byfaith in Christ Jesus, Gal. iii. 26 ; that is, manifestatively; faith does not make them the children of God, but makes them appear to be such. — 3. The remission of sins ; God has setforth Christ to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins, Rom. iii. 25 ; not that faith has any virtue or merit in it to procure it : nor is it for the sake of faith that God forgives sins ; but for his own name's sake, for Christ's sake, whose blood was shed for it ; but faith receives the remission of sins, as flowing from the grace of God through the blood of Christ. — 4. Sanctification and purification are ascribed to faith. So it is said of such that receive the forgiveness of sins, that they also receive an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith ; and again, purifying their hearts byfaith, Acts xv. 9 ; not that faith has such virtue m it as to sanctify and purify from sin ; but as it has to do with the blood of Christ which cleanses from all sin.— 5. Eternal life and salvation are connected with faith; yea, it is life eternal to know Christ, that is, to believe in him ; nay, he that believes in him has everlasting life, John xvii. 3 ; not that faith is the procuring and meritorious cause of it ; for eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, and faith looks unto the mercy of Christ for it. ii. By faith souls have communion with God, with Christ, and with his people in his word and ordinances. — 1. They have access to God at the throne of grace, and can use freedom, boldness, and confidence with him, in asking of him what they stand in need of; In whom, says the apostle, we have boldness and access with confidence by thefaith ofhim; that is, by faith in Christ, Eph. iii. 12 ; Christ is the way of access to God ; there is no coming to him but by Christ the Mediator, and by faith in him ; faith gives freedom and boldness to speak to God ; faith presents Christ's righteousness, pleads his blood, and brings his sacri fice in its arms, and boldly enters into the holiest of all thereby ; and goes to God, even up to his seat, and lays hold on him, and claims mterest in him, and will not go without a blessing. — 2. The inhabita tion of Christ in the hearts of his people, is through faith ; the apostle prayed for the Ephesians that, says he, Christ may dwell in your hearts byfaith, Eph. iii. 17 ; not in their heads by fancy and notion ; but in their hearts by faith : there is a mutual indwelling of Christ and believers in each other ; he dwells in them by faith : and they dwell in

OP FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. 407 him by faith ; He that eateth myflesh and drinketh my blood, dioelleth in me and I in him, John vi. 56 ; that is, who feeds by faith upon him ; Christ and believers are not only inmates in the same house, and dwell under the same roof, but they mutually dwell in each other by faith, which is expressive of great nearness, intimacy, and communion. — 3. Believers feed and live upon Christ by faith ; He, says Christ, that eateth me, his flesh and blood by faith, even he shall live by me, a life of grace, which will issue in eternal life ; yea, such as thus feed on Christ, have eternal life, John vi. 54, 57 ; and a most comfortable life this is, which a believer lives by faith on Christ, and so a very desirable one ; the life which I now live in the flesh, says the apostle, / live by the faith of the Son ofGod, Gal. ii. 20 ; nor did he desire any other ; a better and a more comfortable life cannot be lived in this world ; The just shall live byfaith ; not upon his faith ; but by faith on Christ, Rom. i. 17. —. 4. It is by faith that believers stand, and walk, and go on comfortably in their Christian race; Thou standestby faith, in a gospel-church state, in a profession of Christ, and in the enjoyment of his word and ordi nances : by faith ye stand ; keep your ground ; turn not back, nor be moved from the hope of the gospel, We walk by faith, and not by sight ; so did the apostle, so he directs others ; As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, 2 Cor. v. 7 ; go on believing in him till ye roceive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. —5. Faith makes Christ precious to souls ; To them that believe he is precious, 1 Pet. ii. 7. Faith beholds the glories of Christ's person ; the .riches of his grace ; the treasures and wonders of his love ; which render him altogether lovely and the chiefest among ten thousand. — 6. Faith works by love, by love to Christ and by love to his people ; the clearer views a soul has of Christ by faith, the more it loves him ; and the more closely it cleaves unto him, leans upon him, and embraces him by faith, the more its affections are drawn out to him ; and the more it feeds on him by faith, and the more tastes it has of him that he is gracious, the more are its desires to him, and to the remembrance of him ; and it cannot but love all that bear his image, and partake of his grace ; these precious sons of Zion are precious to whom Christ is precious, and are the excellent in the earth, in whom is the delight of such, even such who are Christ's Hephzibah and his jewels. — 7. It is faith which makes the word useful and the ordinances pleasant and delightful. Where faith is wanting the word is of no use ; The word preaching did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it, Heb. iv. 2 ; the word is compared to food, which though notionally received, yet, if not heartily digested by faith, does not nourish; it is only when Christ is held forth, and seen in tho galleries, and shows himself through the lattices to faith, that the ordinances are amiable and lovely, or when he is fed upon by faith in them ; as the Israelites by faith kept the passover, a type of Christ our passover, sacrificed for us ; so believers keep the feast of the Lord's supper in commemoration of that sacrifice, and when they do it in faith, it is with joy and comfort, and to great usefulness. m. There are various other useful things ascribed to faith, as the S

408 OF FAITH IN GOD AND IN CHRIST. effects of it : — 1. It makes not ashamed. It is said, He that believeth shall not make haste, Isa. xxviii. 16; after another Saviour, or to lay another foundation, being satisfied with Christ. In some places in the New Testament the phrase is rendered, shall not be ashamed, and shall not be confounded, Rom. ix. 33, and x. 11, 1 Pet. ii. 6 ; such who believe shall not be ashamed of their faith and hope in Christ ; nor of their profession of him ; nor of the reproaches, sufferings, and per secutions they endure for his sake ; nor shall they be confounded by any of their enemies ; nor meet with a disappointment in their expect ations here or hereafter. — 2. It fills the soul with joy on hearing the word, the good news of salvation by Christ ; so the jailor, on hearing the word of salvation preached, rejoiced, believing in God, and indeed, a sight of Christ by faith will fill a soul with a joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Pet. i. 8 ; hence we read of thejoy offaith; for as faith increases joy does ; wherefore the apostle prays that the Romans might be filled with all joy and peace in believing. — 3. It is by faith that saints get the victory over Satan, and the world, and every enemy; faith holds up Christ, the shield, whereby it keeps off every fiery dart of Satan, yea, quenches them ; though he, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour; yet the true believer so resists him, being stedfast in faith, that he cannot get an advantage over him, but is obliged to flee from him, Eph. vi. 16, 1 Pet. v. 9 ; and though the world is a very powerful enemy, yet this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith : for who is he that onercometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? 1 John v. 4, 5. — 4. It is by faith that saints are kept unto salvation, and are saved by grace through it. Salvation is the end of their faith, and what it issues in ; and they are kept by the power of God through faith ; the power of God supporting their faith that it fail not, until they are brought unto salvation, to the full enjoyment of it, 1 Pet. i. 5, 9 ; nor does this at all detract from the grace of God ; since faith itself is a gift of grace, and gives all the glory to it. VI. The properties or adjuncts of faith, which may lead more into the nature and excellency of it, and serve to confirm what has been said concerning it. — 1. It is the first and principal grace, it stands first in order, and takes the precedence of other graces ; Now abideth faith, hope, charity, which last, though the greatest, yet not as to quality and use, but as to quantity or duration; faith is not only of the greatest importance in duty, service, and worship, without which it is impossible to please God ; but it has the greatest influence on other graces, it sets them all at work, and as that is in exercise so are they more or less. — 2. It is a grace exceeding precious, even the least degree of it ; as \t is in the least believer, it is like precious faith, as to its objects, nature and acts, with that in the greatest ; it is more precious than gold that perisheth, for richness, brightness, splendour, and glory ; it makes poor men rich, and is more bright and glorious than pearls and rubies, and all desirable things ; it is more valuable than gold, because that perishes, but this does not ; and it makes Christ precious, or shows him to be so, to them that believe. — 3. It is

OP TRUBT AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 409 but one ; as there is but one Lord to be believed in, and to be sub ject to, so but one faith ; as but one doctrine of faith, that faith once delivered to the saints, so but one grace of faith ; though there are divers sorts of faith, there is but one that is special, spiritual, and saving, the faith of God's elect ; though there are many subjects of it in whom it is, and many are the acts of it, and there are different degrees, as to the exercise of it, yet the grace itself is but one, and alike in all. — 4. Though faith is called common faith, common to all God's elect, yet every man has his own faith ; the just shall live by his faith, and not another's, Hab. ii. 4. The faith of one man is of no service to another in the business of salvation ; and no further useful to another, than for imitation and encou ragement to believe also ; hence we read of thy faith, and myfaith, as distinct from one another, James ii. 18. Christ said to Peter, I have prayedfor thee that thy faith fail not, meaning his particular, personal faith ; not but that Christ has the same regard to all his people, and equally intercedes for them on the same account. — 5. It is true, real, and unfeigned. There is a hypocritical faith, which lies only in pro fession, in saying that a man believes, when he does not, as Simon Magus ; and there is a believing with the heart, even with all the heart, as the eunuch did. — 6. It is a grace that cannot be lost ; it flows from, and is secured by, the firm and immutable decree and purpose of election ; it is given in consequence of that, and remains sure by it ; it is a gift of God, and one of those gifts of his which are without repentance, is irreversible and irrevocable ; it is confirmed by the prevalent intercession of Christ, and which ho himself is the Author and Finisher of. — 7. It is indeed but imperfect ; yet may be in creased ; as knowledge is imperfect : We know but in part ; so faith is imperfect ; it has its ra v<rrep»jjuaro, its deficiencies, or some thing lackmg in it, to be perfected by prayer to God, saying, Lord, increase our faith ; by the ministry of the word, and by a constant attendance on ordinances ; and sometimes faith grows exceedingly. — 8. According to the apostle's account of it, it is the substance of things hopedfor, the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1 ; it realizes things, and gives them a subsistence, and makes them appear solid and sub stantial ; it brings distant things near, and future things presont : it makes difficult things plain and easy, and unseen things visible, and gives a certainty to them all. OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. Trust and confidence signify the same thing, whether with respect to God or men : to trust in men, is to confide or put confidence in them ; and so to trust in God is to place confidence in him ; and generally in all places where to trust in God is mentioned, the Latin versions are to confide in him ; and this being so near akin to faith, if not a part, yet at least a fruit of it, deserves next to be considered. I. What confidence signifies, and the sense in which it is sometimes taken ; and to be treated of here.

410 OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. i. It is sometimes used for a profession of religion, taken up in the name and strength of Christ, and with a holy resolution to continue it, and a holding it fast with courage and intrepidity ; which, if sup ported and maintained, will issue well ; hence it is advised not to cast it away, Heb. iii. 6, 14 ; a profession of religion is not to be taken up hastily, without due consideration of the nature and importance of it, and of the difficulties that attend it, and of the expense a man must be at to support it ; and it is to be taken up, not in a man's own strength, but in the strength of Christ, on whom there ought to be a constant trust and dependance for supplies of grace to maintain it ; and it should be made openly before many witnesses, without shame and fear ; without being ashamed of Christ and his gospel ; and with out fear of men : and when it is taken up, should be held fast with a holy courage and confidence ; to which many things induce ; as the consideration of Christ, the great High Priest of our profession ; and the faithfulness of God in his promises. ii. It sometimes signifies that alacrity in which men engage in any branch of religious service, and continue in it with boldness and intre pidity, exercising faith and hope in God, that he will be with them in it, and carry them through it ; as particularly in preaching the gospel of Christ boldly, as it ought to be spoken ; thus says the apostle, Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear, Phil. i. 14 ; boldness in the ministry of the word is a necessary qualification for a preacher of it ; this the apostle Paul was so sensible of, that he desires the Ephesians to pray for him that he might have utterance given, and that he might open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel; and this he did wherever he went, at Thessalonica, and other places. Peter and John, though unlearned men, were taken notice of for their boldness and courage ; who, notwithstanding the threats of the rulers, spoke the words of life to the people ; declaring, that they ought to obey God rather than men, Acts iv. 13 —20 ; and so private Christians, in every branch of religious service, should exercise a humble boldness, a holy confidence, and a stedfastness in all the duties of religion, know ing that though they can do nothing of themselves, yet, through Christ strengthening them they can do all things ; trusting and placing their confidence in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength, and not fearing a lion in the way or in the streets ; nor solicitous what will be the issue and consequence of their persisting in the way of their duty ; of which trust and confidence Daniel and his companions were examples. in. Sometimes confidence with respect to God in prayer is designed. In whom, that is, in Christ, we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, Eph. iii. 12 ; through Christ the Mediator, and faith in him, souls may come to God with great freedom and liberty, tell him all their mind, pour out their souls before him ; especially they can do that when they are under the influences, and have the assistance of his Spirit ; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty ; otherwise there is a straitness of soul, and saints are shut up

OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 411 that they cannot come forth in the lively exercise of grace ; but they may come with boldness and intrepidity to the throne of grace, and ask such things of God they stand in need of, may look up and lift up their face, and show their countenance, as they are allowed, and indeed desired to do ; nay, they may have this confidence in God, that if they ask anything according to his will he heareth them, 1 John v. 14 ; all which arise from faith in the person, blood and righteousness of Christ ; it is through the blood of Christ saints have boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and in his righteousness to stand before God with acceptance, and wait in faith for success ; and which holy boldness and confidence is consistent with reverence of God and sub mission to his will. iv. Trust or confidence in God may be considered, as it has a con nexion with the grace of faith ; faith is sometimes expressed by it ; Such trust or confidence have we through Christ to God-ward, 2 Cor; iii. 4 ; it is at least a fruit and effect of it, what follows upon it ; for when the grace of faith is wrought in the soul, it shows itself in trust and confidence in God, even when it has not a full persuasion of inte rest in him ; Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him : some make it to be the form of faith, and of the essence of it ; and that faith in Christ consists of these three parts, knowledge of him as a Saviour, assent unto him as such, and trust in him, or a fiducial application and appropriation of him as a man's own Saviour ; hence it is commonly Baid by some, fides estfiducia ; faith is confidence ; it seems to be faith greatly strengthened ; a strong exercise of it ; such as in 2 Tim. i. 12, I know whom I have believed or trusted; if not a plerophory, and full assurance of it ; and such a trust or confidence, which is so near akin to faith, and as it should seem a strong act of it, is what is to be treated of ; and since it is so much spoken of in Scripture, and so much recommended, and such instances of it, and so many happy consequences and effects of it, that it deserves a distinct consideration. Particularly, II. The objects of it. First, Negatively ; what are not the objects of it, and are dehorted from in Scripture. — 1. Idols ; trust in which, and in things belonging to them, may be called idolatrous and superstitious confidence ; to have other gods besides the Lord, as idols, to worship them, and yield religious service to them, is contrary to the first and second commands ; and to trust in them is the height of folly and vanity. Such pray unto, serve, and worship, and trust in what can neither see them, nor hear them, nor help them, nor save them. And as vain and super stitious is the trust and confidence of such, who place it in religious buildings, in temples made with hands ; as the Jews, in the temple at Jerusalem ; who, because it was called by the name of the Lord, trusted in it, it being the place where they met and worshipped, and in which they confided for present safety and future happiness, Jer. vii. 4, 14. So the Gentiles gloried in their temples ; as in the temple of Diana, at Ephesus ; and of other idols in other places. Likewise all superstitious rights and ceremonies, which, though they have been

412 OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. in use, are now abrogated ; yet, if exercised, and especially trusted in, are condemned, as trusting in the flesh ; as circumcision, &c, among the Jews ; as well as a multitude of carnal and worldly ordinances among the Gentiles, which had a show of wisdom and will-worship. — 2. Men ; trust in whom may be called human confidence ; and which is not to be placed, no, not in the greatest of men, even not in whole nations, strong and mighty. This was the sin of the Israelites, that they trusted in the shadow of Egypt to shelter and screen them from their enemies, and which was vain and unprofitable unto them ; therefore, says the Lord, Trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your confusion, Isa. xxx. 2, 3 ; all outward means for safety in times of trouble and danger are of no avail, and are false things to be trusted in ; some trust in chariots, and some in horses ; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God ; that is a strong tower, where is safety and security ; horses and armies, castles and fortresses, are vain things for safety ; nor are they to be trusted in, and in some cases the most intimate friends are not to be confided in for secrecy ; Trust ye not in a friend ; put ye not confidence in a guide, Mic vii. 5. Neither are men to be trusted in for the health of the body, any more than for the protection of lives and properties ; physicians may be made use of, but not to be confided in ; Asa's sin was, that he sought not to the Lord for the cure of his bodily disease, but to the physicians : only, in them he put his confidence, to the neglect of the great Physician of soul and body, 2 Chron. xvi. 12. — 3. Self is another object not to be trusted in, on more accounts than one ; and trust in which may be called selfconfidence ; as when men trust in their wealth, and make gold their hope, and say to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence ; trust in uncer tain riches, and not in the living God ; have no regard to Divine Providence, and a dependence on that ; but foolishly fancy they have goods laid up for many years, and promise themselves great ease and pleasure ; when that very night their souls may be required of them ; and so very true is that of the wise man ; He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, Proverbs xi. 18. Nor should a man trust in his wisdom ; since the way of man is not in himself ; not even in civil, as well as not in religious things ; nor is it in man that walketh to direct his steps ; good is the advice of Solomon, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding, Prov. iii. 5. Nor should a man trust in his strength ; not in his natural strength, as Samson ; nor in his moral strength, to perform that which is morally good, to do which he wants both knowledge and strength of himself ; nor even the good man should not trust in his spiritual strength ; since without Christ he can do nothing : nor should a man trust in his own heart ; since he that trusts in it is a fool, Prov. xxviii. 26 ; that being so de ceitful and desperately wicked, and Out of which so much wickedness comes. Nor should men trust in their own works of righteousness done in obedience to the law of Moses ; this is trusting in Moses ; . and resting in the law, as the Jews did ; by the deeds of which there is no justification and salvation ; such trust in themselves that they are righteous ; but such a man's trust is no other than a spider's web.

OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 413 Second, Positively, the true and proper objects of trust and confidence are Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, the true God, the God of our salvation ; who is, or ought to be, the confidence, that is, the object of the confidence, of all the ends of the earth, Psalm lxv. 5. i. Jehovah the Father ; both as the God of nature and providence, and as the God of all grace : as the former, men are to trust in him to uphold them in their beings, to give them all the necessaries of life, to preserve them in life, and to protect them from all enemies and dangers, and to enable them to do the work of their generation according to his will. And as the latter, to supply them with his grace, to give them more grace to help them in every time of need, to be their God and guide in life even unto death, and through it, and bring them safe to his everlasting kingdom and glory ; and being satisfied of their interest in him as their covenant-God and Father in Christ, they may be confident ; — 1. Of his love to them, and of the continuance of it ; as God has graciously appeared to them, and told them that he has loved them with an everlasting love, and assured them that his loving-kindness shall not depart from them ; they may trust in a promising God, and be confident that he will rest in his love towards them ; and be persuaded, as the apostle Paul was, or have a strong confidence as he had, that nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God ; since he has given his word and oath for it, that though he afflicts and chastises them for their transgressions, nevertheless his loving-kindness he will not utterly hold from them. — 2. Of the faithfulness of God in the fulfilment of his promises ; he is faithful that has promised, and will never suffer his faithfulness to fail ; nor any of the good things to fail of performance which he has !>romised ; and this they may be confident of, since they flow from his ove and grace, are made in a covenant ordered in all things and sure, and which he will never break ; and since they are all yea and amen in Christ, most certainly performed in and by him, and for his sake ; and since the performance of them does not depend on the faith of men, but on the faithfulness of God ; the unbelief of men does not make the faith, that is, the faithfulness of God, of none effect ; for though they believe not, he abides faithful. — 3. Of the grace of God to supply all their wants ; of which they may be confident ; since he is the God of all grace, the author and giver of it, the fountain and source of it, and of every supply of it ; and since he is able to cause all grace to abound towards them, and his grace is sufficient for them ; and since he has promised more grace unto them as they need ; and has set up a throne of grace to come unto for it ; and since it has pleased him the Father of Christ, and our Father in him, that all fulness of grace should dwell in him, that from thence grace for grace might be received ; and who is a sun and shield, and gives both grace and glory. — 4. Of his power to keep and preserve them to eternal glory and happiness : and of this they may be confident, since he is able to keep them from falling ; and his hand is not, shortened that he cannot save ; his strength is everlasting, and never is any decay

414 OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. of it ; and since it is certain that regenerated persons are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ; to which salvation, glory, and happiness, they are called, and therefore may be assured that they shall enjoy it ; faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. ii. Jehovah the Son is the object of the saints' trust and confidence : it is said, Kiss the Son, the Son of God, the begotten Son of God ; to whom it is said in the context, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ; to whom worship, honour, and homage are to be given by the kings and judges of the earth; and it is added, Blessed are all they that put their trust in him, the Son of God, the object of the worship and adoration of angels and men ; he gives grace and glory to his people, and no good thmg will he withhold from them that walk uprightly; and then it follows as before, Blessed is the man that trusteth in thee : the Targums or Chaldee paraphrase of which is, Who trust in his Word, or m the Word of the Lord, his essential Word. Now trust and confidence are to be exercised on Christ, not merely as the second and instrumental cause of happiness, but as the first and sole cause of it, he being the Author, Cause, and Captain of eternal salvation ; trust is to be put, — 1. In the salvation of Christ, or in him for salvation : it is said of the Israelites, that they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation, but true believers in Christ trust in him as a Saviour, and his salvation, he being an able and willing Saviour, and his salvation suitable, complete, and perfect ; nor is there salvation in any other ; and therefore they say, as Job did, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him : — he also shall be my salvation. — 2. In his righteousness : a strong act of trust and confidence in Christ and his righteousness is exercised by the Church in these words; Surely shall one sat/, verily, or only, in the Lord have I righteotisness and strength, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. Christ is, with great confidence and strength of faith, called, the Lord our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and the apostle Paul, disclaiming all confidence in the flesh, and trust in his own right eousness, desired to be found in Christ and in his righteousness ; the righteousness which is of God byfaith ; that is, the righteousness which Christ has wrought out, and which God imputes without works, and reveals from faith to faith, Phil. iii. 4—9. — 3. In the grace of Christ, and the fulness of it in him, for the supply of all wants ; all grace, and the fulness of it, dwell in him ; out of which saints in all ages have received an abundance of grace ; and yet there is an over-flowing fulness of it in him ; and they may be confident that their God will supply all their need from thence ; and to exercise such confidence is to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. ii. 1. — 4. In the power, might, and strength of Christ. Believers in Christ are ready to acknowledge their own weakness ; yea, even to glory in it, that the power of Christ may rest upon them, overshadow and protect them ; for when they are weak, as they are in themselves, and are sensible of it, then are they strong, that is, in the Lord, and in the power of his might; and trust in him that he will enable them to stand thenground, and to get the victory over all their enemies; they are

OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GODi 415 encouraged, as they are directed, to trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength ; to help them in the exercise of every grace, and in the performance of every duty ; to bear the cross of Christ, to fight his battles, and to persevere in faith and holiness to the end. in. Jehovah the Spirit, is also the object of the trust and confidence of believers ; as he is the Spirit of grace and of supplication : as the Spirit of grace, they trust in him to communicate more grace to them, to increase what is in them, and to draw it forth into lively exercise : and as the Spirit of supplication, in whom they confide for his help and assistance in prayer, and for his prevalent intercession for them, according to the will of God : and as the Spirit of counsel and might, to direct and guide them, and to strengthen them with all might in the inward man : and faith and trust in the Spirit of God, for the carrying on and finishing his own work of grace in the hearts of his people, is expressed by confidence of it. III. The encouragement there is to trust in the Lord, and that for all things and at all times. First, There is encouragement to trust in God for all things. — 1. All things are of him ; that is, all good things in nature, providence, and grace : all good things in nature ; He gives to all life, and breath, and all things, Acts xvii. 25 ; all things in providence are at his disposal, for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, Rom. xi. 36. And all things in grace ; all the blessings of grace ; as recon ciliation, peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation ; All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himselfby Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v. 18, and all the gifts of grace, even every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father oflights ; as regeneration, with all the graces of the Spirit, included in it, as faith, hope, love, &c, James i. 17, 18. — 2. All good things are promised by God to his people ; the covenant of grace is ordered in all things, and is full of exceeding great and precious promises, suited to the cases and circum stances of good men ; godliness and godly men have the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come ; and not one of the good things which God has promised ever fail ; they are always fulfilled ; the promises are yea and amen in Christ ; they, and the blessings in them, are the sure mercies of David. — 3. God keeps back no good things he has promised, and which his people need, and which he knows is for their welfare ; No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly ; therefore it follows, O Lord ofhosts, blessed is the man that irusteth in thee ! that is, for all good things, Psalm lxxxiv. 11,12; they are bid to ask, and it is promised it shall be given ; God is nigh to all that call upon him, and willfulfil the desire of them that fear him; he will hear their cry, and save them, Psalm cxlv. 16—19. — 4. God gives all things freely to his people ; they cannot merit any thing of him ; Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again ? No man can be beforehand with God ; he has nothing but what he has received from him ; nor are any worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truths shewn unto them ; whatever they have,

416 OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. God gives them liberally, without any regard to any merit or desert of theirs ; whether temporal or spiritual, and especially the latter ; since with Christ he freely gives all things, Rom. viii. 32. — 5. God gives all things plenteously, even with a profusion of goodness ; so that the saint, with Jacob, can say, / have enough, or I have all things ; for God, the living God, gives richly all things to enjoy ; that is, in a large and liberal manner ; for he is rich or plenteous in his goodness, unto all that call upon him, 1 Tim. vi. 17. So that there is abundant encouragement to trust in the Lord for all things. i. For things temporal, the outward mercies of life. — 1. For food: the promise is, Trust in the Lord and do good— and verily thou shalt be fed, Psalm xxxvii. 3, with food convenient, and sufficient ; though not with delicacies, yet with necessaries ; Take no thought therefore, says our Lord, no anxious and perplexing thoughts, for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink—is not the life more than meat? And he that has given life, the great favour, will give meat to support that life, to them who trust in him, and wait for it in a dependence on him, Matt. vi. 25. — 2. For raiment : and this and food are both from the Lord ; and necessary for the support and comfort of life ; Jacob vowed a vow and promised, that if God would give him bread to eat, and raiment to put on—then, says he, shall the Lord be my God, Gen. xxviii. 20, 21, and, indeed, having these, a saint has enough, and should be therewith content, and for this God should be confided in ; for if he so clothe the grass of the field, in the manner he does, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Matt. vi. 30. — 3. For the preservation of life ; from every accident, as usually so called ; from every danger ; and from every enemy : and because God not only gives life, but preserves it, he is peculiarly the Saviour and Preserver of them that believe, and put their trust in him ; he is their keeper night and day ; with the utmost confidence they may commit themselves to God, and trust in his protection from every evil, Psalm cxxii. 5, 8. — 4. For these things may believers pray to God with a holy confidence, believ ing they shall have the petitions they ask of him ; who has promised, When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue failethfor thirst, I the Lord will hear them, their cries and prayers, and supply their wants ; yea, if need be, will rather go out of the common course of nature and providence than that they shall want, Isa. xli. 17, 18, and xliii. 19, 20; and if earthly parents, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to their children, who ask them of them, our Lord has taught believers in him to reason after this manner, hoio much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? And if he will give to them the Spirit, and spiritual things, then much more may they expect earthly and temporal things from him they stand in need of, Luke xi. 13. — 5. To trust and confidence in God with respect to those things, they may be encouraged by the experience of themselves and others. Good old Jacob in his dying moments expressed, in very strong language, his experience of the divine goodness throughout the whole of his life ; The God which fed me all my life long unto this day, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16. David frequently

OF TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 417 takes notice of the goodness of God to him, in providence, to encourage his own faith in him, and that of others ; Thou art my hope, O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth ! and from what he had expe rienced in time past, even from the very dawn of life, he strongly thus concluded ; Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my life, Psalm lxxi. 5 ; and every believer may look back on the past goodness of God unto him, and encourage himself in the Lord his God, m expectation and confidence of future favours ; for their heavenly Father knows they have need of these things, and therefore wiil bestow them on them. ii. There is great encouragement to trust in the Lord for spiritual things ; that is, for after-supplies of grace ; for faith respects present blessings of grace enjoyed, but trust and confidence future ones ; and which may be depended on ; since God is the God of all grace, whose grace is sufficient for his people now and hereafter ; who has promised to give more grace as they want it ; and has set up a throne of grace, to which they are encouraged to come with boldness, that they may find grace and mercy to help them in time of need. The covenant of grace is filled with all spiritual blessings, and promises of them, which are sure to all the spiritual seed of Christ ; Christ has them all in his hands for his people, and will give them all things pertaining to life and godliness. in. There is encouragement to trust in the Lord for eternal things; for, — 1. God has chosen his in Christ to the enjoyment of them; they are ordained unto eternal life ; appointed unto salvation ; chosen through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth unto it ; and the purpose of God, according to election, stands sure, not upon the foot of works, but upon the will of him that calls ; his purposes can never be frustrated and disappointed ; and therefore the chosen ones may be confident of eternal glory and happiness. — 2. God has made promises of eternal things to his people ; to whom the promise of the life that is to come is made, as well as of that which now is ; God, that cannot lie, has promised eternal life before the world began, which promise can never be made void by any thing that comes to pass in time ; wherefore the heirs of promise have reason to trust in God for the performance of the eternal good he has promised. — 3. God has prepared and provided everlastmg happiness for his people ; it is inconceivable what God has prepared for them that love him; it cannot be said how great is the goodness which he has laid up in covenant for them that fear him ; a crown of glory, life, and immor tality is laid up safe and secure in the hands of Christ, with whom their life is hid ; an inheritance, eternal, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, is reserved in heaven for them, and therefore confidently to be depended on. — 4. God has called them to his kingdom and glory, even to eternal glory by Jesus Christ ; and his callmg is without repentance ; whom he calls he glorifies ; them he preserves safe to the coming of Christ ; for faithful is he iliat calleth you, who also will do it, 1 Thess. v. 24. — 5. Eternal things are freely given of God ; as grace is freely given, so is glory ; eternal life is the VOL. II. E E

41 8 OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. free gift of God through Christ ; and therefore there is encouragement to trust in him for it ; since it is not owing to the merit of the saints, but it is their Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. Christ, as Mediator, has power to give eternal life, and he gives it to all his sheep ; This is the record, that God has given unto us eternal lift; and this life is in his Son, 1 John v. 11. Secondly, There is encouragement to trust in the Lord always, Trust in him at all times, ye people, Psalm lxii. 8. — 1. In times of darkness and desertion ; it is said to a saint walking in darkness, and has no light, Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God, Isa. l. 10, and wait upon the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob ; since light is sown for the righteous, in the purposes and decrees, counsel and covenant of God, and gladness for the upright in heart, in the gospel, and doctrines of it ; and sooner or later it will arise ; hence the trust and confidence of the church ; When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me, Mic vii. 8, 9. — 2. In times of temptation, saints may trust in the Lord, and be confident that his grace will be sufficient for them ; and that his strength will be made perfect in their weakness ; that he will bear them up, and not suffer them to sink under the weight of them ; but will in due time make a way for their escape out of them, and deliver them from them ; and as Christ has suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted ; and whereas he has a sympathy with them being in all things tempted as they, so he prays for them that their faith fail not ; and therefore they have great reason to trust in him. — 3. In times of adversity and affliction. God leaves in the midst of his church, an afflicted and poor people ; and it is said of them, And they shall trust in the name of the Lord, Zeph. iii. 12, believing, that when they pass through the waters of adversity, and fiery trials, the Lord will be with them and preserve them, and carry them through them, and not suffer them to be overwhelmed by them ; will make all things work together for their good, and deliver them out of all their afflictions. — 4. In the hour of death, they are encouraged to trust in the Lord, and believe, that when strength and heart fail, the Lord will be the strength of their heart and their portion for ever ; that he will be, not only their God and Guide unto death, but through it ; and that even when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they shall fear no ill ; God will be with them, and his rod and staff shall comfort them. Thirdly, What that is in the Lord which gives encouragement to trust in him ; and that is every thing in God, and belonging to him ; his nature, and the excellencies of it ; all his perfections and attributes; the several names by which he has made himself known : his covenant and promises ; his word and oath ; his gospel, and the doctrines of it; the methods of his grace ; and the dispensations of his providence : m particular. — 1 . He is El-Shaddai : God all sufficient ; and therefore to be trusted in for every thing that is wanted for soul and body, for time and eternity. Creatures are insufficient, and therefore not to be depended on ; friends oftentimes would help, assist, and supply, but

OP TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 419 cannot; but God is a help in every time of need, and is a neverfailing supply, an inexhaustible fountain of all goodness ; he has a sufficiency in himself and for himself, and for all his creatures, who all wait on him, and whom he satisfies with his good things ; and his grace is sufficient for his people at all times, in all places, and in all ages ; and therefore they have always encouragement to trust in him. 2. — He is Jehovah, the rock of ages, the everlasting strength of those that put their trust in him ; Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, Isa. xxvi. 4, to support his people under all their trials and exercises ; to carry them through all their difficulties and distresses ; to bear them up under all their temptations and afflictions ; to enable them to do and suffer what is his will and pleasure ; to bring them on in their journey through the wilderness of this world, and out of it : he has promised, that as their day is, their strength shall be ; and which is continually experienced by them ; and therefore they have reason to trust in him 3. The loving-kindness, grace, mercy, and pity of God, give great encouragement to trust in him ; How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God ! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings, Psalm xxxvi, 7 ; the proclamation the Lord has made of himself, as gracious and mer ciful, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, is sufficient to engage trust and confidence in him ; says David, I trust in the mercy of Godfor ever and ever, Psalm lii. 8. — 4. His truth and faithfulness in his covenant and promises, strongly induce to trust in him ; he will not suffer hisfaithfulness to fail, nor break his covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips ; to which he has added his oath for the confir mation thereof, Psalm lxxxix. 38— 35. — 5. The experience of the saints in all ages, and a man's own, animate him to put his trust in God ; our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them; they cried unto thee, and were delivered ; they trusted in thee, and were not confounded! Psalm xxii. 4, 5, and having such a cloud of witnesses before them ; and such gracious experiences of their own in times past of the goodness of God unto them, they encourage themselves in the Lord their God. IV. The happiness of those that trust in the Lord. i. They are in great peace, and will be in greater still; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee ; because he trusteth in thee, Isa. xxvi. 3, they have peace with God through Christ ; they have peace in him, when in the world they have tribulation ; a peace which the world cannot take away ; great peace have they which love the Lord and trust in him ; even perfect peace, at least hereafter ; for the end of such a man is peace, everlasting peace. — 2. They are in great safety ; They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, they are like mount Zion, well fortified with the towers, walls, and bulwarks of salvation ; and are as immoveable as that, fixed in the love of God, settled in the covenant of grace and peace, and secured in the hands of Christ, and can never be removed from either ; but will abide in the state of grace until they come into the unalterable state of glory ; the Lord is round about them, as the E E 2

420 OF THE GRACE OP HOPE. mountains about Jerusalem ; a wall of fire about them, and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. — 3. They need be in no fear of any enemy whatever : Behold God is my salvation, says the church, / will trust and, not be afraid, Isa. xii. 2 ; not of men, the greatest, most powerful and numerous ; nor of devils, Satan, and all other enemies, are conquered ones by Christ ; he has destroyed him that had the power of death, the devil, and spoiled his principali ties and powers ; he has abolished death, and made an end of sin ; he has ransomed his people from death and hell, so that they shall not be hurt of the second death, and has saved them from wrath to come ; and therefore they have nothing to fear now nor hereafter; happy men that trust in the Lord. — 4. They want no good thing, nor ever shall; O taste and see that the Lord is good, says the Psalmist; Blessed is the man that trusteth in him ! they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing, no good thing is withheld now from them that trust in the Lord ; and great goodness, inconceivable and unspeakable, is laid up for them to be enjoyed hereafter. OF THE GRACE OF HOPE. Having treated of Faith in God, and of Trust and Confidence in him, the next in course to be considered is the Grace of Hope ; for in this order they stand, faith, hope : — Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and therefore go together ; and the same word is rendered sometimes trust, and sometimes hope, so near akin are these graces : thus in Eph. i. 12, what we translate, Whofirst trusted in Christ, is in the Greek text, and so in the margin, Who first hoped in Christ. Concerning which grace, the following things may be observed : I. The object, ground, and foundation of it, Jehovah, God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Not any creature whatever, angel or man ; not the virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord, as the Papists impiously and blasphemously address her, Salve, regina, spes nostra : Save us, 0 queen, our hope ! Nor any creature enjoyment ; if I have made gold my hope, the object of it, says Job, meaning, he had not ; though some have, placing their hope of future good m it, in this life, to the neglect of a dependence on divine providence, and indeed, have carried it so far, as to hope and imagine, that they are the persons whom God will delight in to honour in the world to come with happiness and bliss, who have had so great a share of it in this ; forgetting, or not knowing, that not many noble are called. Nor creature-merits ; of which there are none : a creature cannot merit any thing at the hand of God : he is not deserving of the least temporal mercy from him, having sinned against him ; nor can he give him any thing which may lay him under an obligation to him, or which God has not a prior right unto ; much less can he merit eternal happiness of him, and so have any hope of it on that account ; for that is the free gift of God through Christ. Nor any creature-righteousness, which is the hope of the moralist and legalist, who fancy they have kept all the precepts of the law from

OF THE GRACE OF HOPE. 421 their youth, and that touching the righteousness of the law they are blameless, and are not as other men are ; and therefore hope for eternal life and happiness ; but such hope is like a spider's web, spun out of their own bowels, and which has no strength, solidity and sub stance in it ; which, if they lean upon, it shall not stand ; and if they attempt to hold it fast, it shall not endure, nor any supposed privileges of birth and education, and of profession of religion ; as being born of religious parents, educated in the Christian religion, and havmg somo notions of the principles of Christianity; and going yet further, making a profession of faith in Christ, subjecting to the ordinances of Christ, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and continuing in a round of religious exercises, and yet destitute of the grace of God in truth. What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained a place and a name in the Church of God, when God taketh away his soul? Job xxvii. 8. But Jehovah, the creator and Lord of all, and the covenant God of his people, is the principal object of hope, and the only solid sufficient ground and foundation of it ; as David said, Thou art my hope, O Lord God; thou art my trust from my youth! Psalm lxxv. 5. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is ! i. God, essentially considered, is the object of hope ; Hope in God, says the Psalmist, for I shall yet praise him, Psalm xlii. 11. So the church speaks of him ; O the hope of Israel, fyc. Jer. xiv. 8. The frounds of which hope in God are his grace, and mercy, and goodness ; e has proclaimed his name, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, abundant in goodness, and it is the abundance of his mercy, grace, and goodness, which lays a solid foundation for hope in him, and encourages to it ; Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy ! he is plenteous in it, rich in mercy, there is a multitude of tender mercies with him ; he takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy, and his eye is upon them to do them good ; and therefore there is great encouragement to make the Lord God the object of their hope. H. God personally considered is the object of hope, God, Father, Son, and Spirit : God the Father, who is called, The God ofhope ; not only because he is the author and giver of that grace ; but because he is the object of it, Rom. xv. 13 ; by whom Christ is said to be raised from the dead, that faith and hope might be in God, that is, in God the Father, 1 Peter i. 21 ; and Christ the Son of God is called, our hope, and Christ in you the hope of glory ; that is, the object, and ground, and foundation of it ; which are his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice. The Spirit of God also is equally the object of hope, as of faith and confidence ; that he will assist in the exercise of every grace, and the performance of every duty ; and particularly, that he will carry on and finish the work of grace upon the soul. in. The less prmcipal objects of hope, connected with the divine Eersons, are the promises of God, and the things therein promised ; ence the word of God, the word of promise, is represented as the object of hope ; says the Psalmist, In his word do I hope, Psal. cxxx. 5 ; the ground and foundation of which hope is in the faithfulness and power

422 OF THE GRACE OF HOPE. of God. The faithfulness of God ; for he is faithful that has promised ; nor will he suffer his faithfulness to fail ; and therefore the performance of his promises may be hoped for ; besides, he is able also to perform ; and upon this footing Abraham believed in hope against hope : the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save ; he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think ; and therefore may hope, yea, believe, there will be a performance of whatsoever is spoken and promised by him. Things to be hoped for are represented, — 1. As things unseen, of which faith is the evidence ; and gives encouragement to the exercise of hope upon them ; Hope that is seen, is not hope ;for what a man seetk, why doth he yet hopefor ? Rom. viii. 24, 25; the glories of another world are things not seen, so as thoroughly to understand and comprehend, yet hope of enjoying them, upon the divine promise, is conversant with them, which enters into that within the vail, Heb. vi. 19. — 2. They are things future, yet to come, and therefore hoped for ; hence saints are exhorted, to hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto them, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, when he shall be revealed from heaven, and appear a second time ; and therefore are directed, to look for that blessed hope, the hope laid up in heaven, the hope of happiness to be enjoyed, at the glorious appearing ofthe great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. i. 13. — 3. Things hoped for are difficult to come at and possess ; many tribulations lie in the way to the kingdom, through which men must enter into it; the righteous, by reason of many afflictions, trials, and temptations, are scarcely saved, though at last certainly saved ; and since the gate is strait and the way narrow, which lead to eternal life ; hence there must be a labouring and striving to enter in ; of which there is hope : and therefore, — 4. Hope is of things possible, or otherwise it would turn to despair, as in Cain, and those who said, there is no hope, Jer. xviii. 12; but there is hope in Israel concerning this thing, eternal life and happiness, as well as concerning all things leading on to it ; and which will certainly issue in it ; and therefore it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, Ezra x. 2 ; at least he has encouragement to put his mouth in the dust, seeing hope of salvation is to be entertained. Things, the objects of hope, are more particularly salvation by Christ, J>ardon of sin through him, all blessings of grace, and the supplies of it or the present life ; and things after death, as the resurrection of the body and eternal life. I. Salvation by Christ : as soon as ever a soul is made sensible of its lost state and condition by nature, its enquiry is, What must I do to be saved ? and being shown the way of salvation by Christ, and directed to him for it, in whom it is complete, perfect, and every way suitable, it is encouraged to hope in him for it, and say, as David did, Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation. Salvation, though wrought out, yet the full possession of it is to come ; and the difficulties in the way of enjoymg it many ; and yet it is possible to be had, and therefore hope is conversant about it. — 1. It has been thought of, contrived, and fixed ; the thoughts of God were employed about it in eternity ; he

OF THE GRACE OP HOPE. 423 resolved upon the salvation of some of the sons of men ; he appointed them to salvation, and chose them to it through certain means; he contrived the scheme of it in the wisest manner, and settled and established it in the covenant of grace : all which serve to encourage hope of it. — 2. And as God appointed some to salvation, he appointed one to be the Saviour of them, and a great one, even his own Son, his equal and his fellow, every way and on all accounts capable of such a work ; he promised him, he sent him, and he came to seek and save lost sinners ; and he is become the author of eternal salvation, and his name is called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins, and therefore have they reason to hope in him. — 3. Salvation is actually wrought out by Christ ; it is entirely finished, the work is done and completely done ; it is a full salvation, nothing wanting to make it perfect ; wherefore, Let Israel hope in the Lord,for with him is plenteous redemption, Psal. cxxx. 7; which includes in it, and secures, all the blessings of grace; as justification, forgiveness of sin, adoption, and eternal life. — 4. Salvation being wrought out by Christ, it is in him, and to be had by him, and by no other ; so said the apostle Peter, Neither is there salvation in any other, Acts iv. 12; but inasmuch as there is salvation in him, it may be hoped for from him ; though there is no hope of it elsewhere ; Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills andfrom the multitude of mountains ; Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel, Jer. iii. 23, and in him only ; and therefore such who are acquainted herewith, hope in him only, and will have no other Saviour. — 5. Great encouragement is given by Christ to sensible sinners to hope for and expect salvation from him ; Look unto me, says he, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, men in every quarter of it, and in the uttermost parts thereof, of whatsoever rank, quality and character ; For I am God, and there is none else ; and so able to save to the uttermost, Isai. xlv. 22; all labouring and heavy-laden sinners, burdened with a sense of sin, and the guilt of it, he invites to come to him, and promises them to give them rest for their souls, Matt. xi. 28, 29 ; and assures them, that he will, in no wise, upon any account, reject, and cast them out, but receive them in the most kind and tender manner ; and for their encouragement to come to him, and exercise faith and hope on him, it may be observed, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them, Luke xv. 2. — 6. Salvation in and by Christ is to be had freely ; it is wholly of free grace, and not of works ; God saves and calls men according to his grace, and they are saved by grace, and not of works ; not by works of righteousness done by them ; but according to the abundant mercy and rich grace of God in Christ: were any conditions required on the part of sinners, qualifying them for, and intitling them unto salvation, they might despair of it ; but since it is all of free grace they may be encouraged to hope for it. — 7. Salvation by Christ is for sinners, even for the chief of sinners ; as Christ came to call sinners to repentance, so to die for them, and by dying to save them : in this lies the high commendation of the love of God to us ; that while we were yet sinners, Christ diedfor us, Rom. v. 8 ; and this is no small encouragement to such who see themselves polluted,

424 OF THE GRACE OP HOPE. guilty sinners, to hope for salvation by a dying Saviour; and the rather, since he came into the world to save sinners, even the chief, 1 Tim. i. 15. — 8. The gospel-declaration gives great encouragement to sinners to hope in Christ for salvation ; that he that believes shall be saved; that he that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life : to a soul inquiring after salvation the gospel thus directs, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou skalt be saved! Acts xvi. 31. n. Pardon of sin through the blood of Christ : this is what is immediately sought after and prayed for by a soul convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment ; with David it says, for thy names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity ;for it is great ! Psal. xxv. 11; so great that a sinner cannot bear the weight of its guilt ; so great that none but God can forgive it ; and if he should mark iniquity, and insist on satisfaction for it, there would be no standing before him ; but there is forgiveness with him, pardoning grace and mercy with him ; and therefore there is encouragement to hope in him, and to come before him, though in the manner the publican did ; saying, God be merciful tome a sinner! Luke xviii. 13; or propitious; and there is ground and reason to hope for pardoning mercy, through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. — 1. Because God is a sin-forgiving God ; he can forgive sin, and none can do it but him ; and he does abundantly pardon ! pardons both abundance of sins and abundance of sinners ; and all freely ; sins of omission and commission, gross and grievous ones, Isa. xliii. 25; and there is none like him on this account, Mic vii. 18. Jehovah has in covenant promised the forgiveness of sins : I willforgive their iniquity ; and I will remember their sin no more ! Jer. xxxi. 34 ; and he has proclaimed his name, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, even sins of every sort and size, Exod. xxxiv. 7 ; wherefore the greatest sinners may hope in him for pardon. — 2. The blood of Christ has been shed on aocount of sin, and the pardon of it. God set him forth in his purposes and decrees, in his council and covenant, to be the propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the remission ofsins ; to make reconciliation and atonement for sin by his blood, that men believing in it might have the pardon of it ; and God has sent him forth in the fulness of time to shed his blood for this Eurpose ; And his blood is shedfor many, for the remission of sins; and ence satisfaction for sin being made by it, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness, 1 John i. 9- — 3. Christ's blood being shed, and forgiveness of sin through it obtained, Christ is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, andforgiveness ofsins, Acts v. 31 ; and to whomsoever he gives the one he gives the other ; so that penitent sinners have great reason to hope in him for pardon, and which they may expect to have of hnn freely ; he gives, and he gives it freely ; pardon of sin is according to tho riches of grace, and is owing to the tender mercy of God, and the multitude of it. — 4. The declaration of it made in the gospel giyes great encouragement to hope for it. Christ gave orders to his apostles, before his ascension to heaven, that repentance and remission of sins

OF THE GRACE OF HOPE. 425 should be preached in his name, among all nations; to all sorts of men in them, beginning at Jerusalem, where some of the chief and greatest of sinners lived ; even such who had been lately concerned in the shedding of his blood, Luke xxiv. 47; and according to this commission given them, wherever they came they made it known to men, that through Christ was preached unto them the forgiveness of sins ; and in this both they and the prophets agreed and bore witness, that through his name, the name of Christ, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. — 5. The instances of pardon recorded in Scriptnre, and of some notorious sinners, serve much to encourage hope of pardon likewise ; as a Manasseh, guilty of the grossest of crimes ; a Mary Magdalene, out of whom Christ cast seven devils ; the woman a sinner, who washed Christ's feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and loved much because much was forgiven her ; Saul the blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious person, who obtained mercy ; and many of the Corinthians described as the worst of sinners, and yet were pardoned and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. hi. The blessings of grace, and supplies of it in the present life, and through it, are the objects of hope, and about which that is conversant, and in the exercise of which there is much encouragement; for as long as there is a throne of grace standing, and the God of all grace sittmg on it, inviting souls to come to it for grace and mercy to help them in every time of need, bidding them ask, and it shall be given, there is good and sufficient ground and reason to hope in him for it ; and so long as there is a fulness of grace in Christ, and the communi cation of it not cut off, as it never will be from his people, they may most comfortably hope, yea, be assured, that their God in Christ will supply all their need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ, Phil. iv. 19. And seeing there are such exceeding great and precious promises of grace and strength from the Lord, that their strength shall be renewed, that they shall go from strength to strength, and that as their day is their strength shall be, there is abundant reason to hope in his word for the fulfilment of it. iv. There are blessings to be enjoyed after death, which are the objects of hope, not only of soul, of its being with Christ immediately, and in a state of happiness and bliss ; but of the resurrection of the body also, and of eternal life in soul and body for evermore. i. The resurrection of the body is an object of hope, and is often so represented : Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, that is, of the hope of it, / am called in question, says the apostle ; and again, and have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection ofthe dead, both ofthejust and of the unjust : once more, And now Istand and amjudgedfor the hope ofthe promise made of God unto ourfathers, for which hope's sake, king Agrippa, lam accused of'the Jews ; and then adds, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Acts xxiii. 6: and the description of the object of hope entirely agrees with it, it being future, yet to come, what is unseen to carnal sense and reason, and difficult how it should

426 OP THE GRACE OP HOPE. be; and yet possible, considering the omniscience and omnipotence of God, and not to be reckoned incredible; it maybe hoped for, and there is good ground and reason for it from Scripture testimo nies of it ; from the resurrection of Christ, and from the union of his people to him ; and they are represented as waitingfor the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, Rom. vii. 23, which they have reason to expect, and is worth waiting for, and the happiness that will follow upon it. 2. Eternal life to be enjoyed both in soul and body is a grand object of hope ; and which is therefore called the hope of eternal life, and hope of glory, the blessed hope, and hope laid up in heaven; all intending the happiness hoped for, and for which there is good ground and reason. — 1. From its being a free gift ; not to be obtained by the merits of men, or the works of the creature ; but is entirely owing to the free grace of God, The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. vi. 23 ; if it was to be acquired by doing, it might be despaired of; but since it is the good pleasure of our heavenly Father to give us the kingdom, it may be hoped for. — 2. It is in the hands of Christ to give it ; he has power to give it to as many as the Father has given him, and he does give it to all his sheep ; he is a sun and shield, and gives both grace and glory ; and therefore it may be hoped for from him ; yea, he himself is the ground of it, and is there fore called our hope, and Christ in us the hope of glory, 1 Tim. i. 1, Col. i. 27, whose righteousness entitles to it, and his grace makes meet for it. — 3. From the promise of it in Christ, called, the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. i. 1 ; and which was put into his hands as soon as made, whero it is safe and secure, firm and stable ; and which was very early made, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began ; who is faithful that has pro mised, and therefore it may be hoped for, expected, and depended on; and this is the declared will of God, that whosoever seeth the Son, ana believeth on him, may have everlasting life, John vi. 40 ; hence all such persons may steadily hope and wait for it. — 4. From the preparations and prayers of Christ for it ; he is gone to prepare heaven and happi ness for his people, by his presence and mediation ; and has promised to come again and take them to himself, that they may be with him, where he is ; and for this he prays and makes intercession, and which is always prevalent, and he is always heard, John xiv. 2, 3, and xvii. 2i. — 5. From the Spirit's work in the hearts of men, who works them for that self-same thing, eternal glory, whose grace is a well of living water, springing up into eternal life ; and between grace and glory is an inseparable connexion, and to whom grace is given glory is also : whom God calls, justifies, and sanctifies, he also glorifies ; therefore those who are partakers of the one may hope for the other. II. The subjects of the grace of hope, or who they are that are partakers of it. i. Not angels, good or bad. Not good angels, they are in the full enjoyment of God and of all felicity, they see God, and what is seen is not hope ; they are in the present possession of happiness ; and so

OP THE GRACE OF HOPE. 427 that is not future; nor is there any thing about them, or attends them, to make their happiness difficult or doubtful. Nor evil angels, the devils ; there is a kind of faith ascribed to them, the belief of a God, of one God, at whom they tremble, but have no hope ; there is not the least ground and reason for them to hope for a recovery out of their apostate state, or of their being ever restored to the favour of God ; for as soon as they fell they were cast out of heaven, and cast down to hell, and laid up in chains of darkness, reserved for the great and last judgment, when they will receive their final sentence and full punishment, which they expect, and have no hope of escaping ; hence they said to Christ, in the days of his flesh, Art thou come hither to torment us before the time ? Matt. viii. 29 : they have no foundation of hope of salvation by Christ ; he took not on him the nature of angels, nor obeyed nor suffered for them, nor redeemed any of them by his blood ; these were only men, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation : nor was the gospel, the good tidings of salvation by Christ, nor any messages of grace sent to them ; nor any repentance given them ; and so no remission of sins to be hoped for by them. — 2. Only men, and these not all men; some are described as those without hope, and who live and die without it ; and all men are without hope whilst in a state of nature and unregeneracy, for, however they may feed themselves with a vain hope, they have no solid, well-grounded hope ; and dying in such a state, they die without hope ; and some, through the force of their own corruptions, and the power of Satan's temptations, give into despair, and abandon themselves to a vicious course of living, saying, There is no hope. — 3. Only regenerate men are subjects of the grace of hope. In regeneration, every grace is implanted in the soul, and this with the rest; yea, to this, and the exercise of it, they are particularly regenerated ; for, according to the abundant mercy of God, souls are by him begotten again unto a lively hope ; hence when first quickened by the Spirit and grace of God, and see themselves lost and undone, in a captive state, and as it were prisoners to sin, Satan, and the law, they are yet prisoners of hope, and are enabled to hope for deliverance ; and are directed to turn to the stronghold, Christ, where they find salvation, safety, and comfort. — 4. Believers in Christ are partakers of this grace, and they only; faith and hope always go together ; they are implanted at the same time, and grow up and thrive together, though one may be in exercise before the other, and one may be more in exercise at one time than the other, yet they are always together, and assist each other; Abraham believed in hope against hope ; and the experience of faith works or exercises hope ; hence we read of them together,—that your faith and hope might be in God—now abideth faith, hope, charity, or love ; faith is the ground-work of hope, lies at the bottom of it, and is its support; Faith is the substance of things hoped for, Heb. xi. 1. — 6. They are the Israel of the Lord, whose hope the Lord is ; and who are encouraged to hope in him, and do, even the whole Israel of God; his spiritual Israel, Jews and Gentiles, sooner or later, hepe in the Lord ; the Israel whom God has chosen for his peculiar treasure, and

428 OP THE GRACE OP HOPE. whom he has redeemed from all iniquity, and effectually calls by bis grace, and who appear in due time to be Israelites indeed ; and even all sensible sinners, who are quickened and born again, come under this character, and are encouraged to hope in the Lord for mercy and salvation ; Let Israel hope in the Lord, Psalm cxxx. 7 ; hence he is called, The hope ofIsrael, Jer. xiv. 8. — 6. The separate souls of saints, after death, in heaven, seem to be possessed of, and to be in the exercise of, the grace of hope, particularly with respect to the resurrection of their bodies ; as the flesh of Christ, by a figure, is said to rest in hope of its resurrection ; that is, his soul rested or waited in hope of the resurrection of his body, whilst in the grave, being confident of it, Psalm xvi. 9 ; so the souls of the saints, whilst in a separate state in heaven, and during the abode of their bodies in the grave, rest, wait, and hope for the resurrection of them ; and this may be what Job has a reference to when he says, If a man die, shall he live again ? He shall, in the resurrection-morn. All the days of my appointed time of lying in the grave will I wait till my change come, until Christ changes the vile bodies of his people, and makes them like his glorious one, Job xiv. 14 ; and something of this kind may be observed in the answer to the souls under the altar, crying, How long, O Lord ! &c, to whom it was said, that they should rest yet for a little season, be still and quiet, hope and wait, until their fellow-servants and brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. III. The causes of the grace of hope, or from whence it springs; and the rather this should be inquired into, because all men in a state of nature are without it. — 1. The efficient cause of it is God ; hence he is called, The God ofhope, Rom. xv. 13 ; not only because he is the object of it, but because he is the author of it ; even God, Father, Son, and Spirit. It is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who begets men again to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance ; and this is owing to the virtue of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, 1 Pet. i. 3 ; and indeed it is the gift both of the Father and of Christ ; Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who hath given us good hope through grace, 2 Thess. ii. 16; and as it is, through the power of the Holy Ghost that saints abound in hope, in the exercise of the grace of hope; it may well be thought that it is by this same power that it is first produced in them, Rom. xv. 13. — 2. The moving cause of it is the grace and mercy of God, hence it is called, good hope through grace ; it is not of nature ; for it is not naturally in men ; but is owing to the grace of God ; it is not through the merits of men, nor any motives in them ; but entirely through the grace of God, it is given; it is a gift of free grace, and is sometimes ascribed to the abundant mercy of God, as the spring of it, 1 Pet. i. 3; it is owing to mercy, and to the aboundings of mercy. — 3. The gospel is the means of it, by which it is wrought, encouraged, and confirmed, and therefore called, the hope of the gospel, Col. i. 23 : the doctrines of it greatly animate to it, the good news and glad tidings the gospel brings of free and com plete salvation by Christ, of full pardon of sin by his blood, of peace, reconciliation, and atonement by his sacrifice, and of the fulness of

OF THE GRACE OF HOPE. . 429 grace that is in him, give great encouragement to hope in the Lord, as do the many exceeding great and precious promises in it ; by means of which the heirs of the promise have strong consolation, Heb. vi. 18 ; these are that, on which God causes his people to hope, what are the ground and foundation of it, support it, and encourage to the exercise of it. — 4. There are many things which serve to promote and increase it ; the whole Scripture has a tendency thereunto, which is written that men through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope, Rom. xv. 4 ; particularly the promises contained in it ; and the goodness, power, and faithfulness of God displayed both in making and fulfilling them ; and especially when opened and applied by the holy Spirit of promise, serve greatly to cherish the grace of hope ; the things said concerning the person, offices, and grace of Christ, his resurrection from the dead, ascension to heaven, session at the right hand of God, intercession for his people, and the glorification of him in heaven, are all subservient to this end, that our faith and hope might be in God, 1 Pet. i. 21 ; the experience of the saints in all ages, of the grace, goodness, &c of God, and particularly the saints' own experience of the same in times past, greatly strengthen the grace of hope, and encourage to the exercise of it ; experience, hope ; that is, works it, exercises it, and tends to increase it, Rom. v. 4. IV. The effects of hope ; which are produced through it, and follow upon it. — 1. It is said of it, that it maketh not ashamed, Rom. v. 5 ; the reason given of which is, because the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of such who have it, which supports it and gives it life and vigour ; so that a soul possessed of it is not ashamed to appear before God and men : is not ashamed in his present circumstances ; nor will be ashamed at the coming of Christ : this grace makes not ashamed, because it does not disappoint those 'that have it, who will most cer tainly enjoy the things that are heped for : and as this grace makes not ashamed, those who have it, need not be ashamed of it; as David prays, Let me not be ashamed of my hope, Psalm cxix. 116 ; when hope is a good one, he that has it, has no reason to be ashamed of it ; nor will he. — 2. It weans from the world, and the things of it, and makes a man sit loose unto them, when he knows that he has in heaven a better and more enduring substance, and can rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; when he seeks those things that are above, and has hope of enjoying them, his affections are drawn off of things on earth, and are set on things in heaven ; and he longs to be unclothed, that he might be clothed upon with his house from heaven, and chooses rather to be absent from the body, that he might be present with the Lord. — 3. It carries cheerfully through all the difficulties of this life, and makes hard things sit easy ; whereas, if in this life only saints had hope, they would be of all men the most miserable ; but hope of a future state of happiness beyond the grave, bears them up under all the troubles of the present state, and carries them comfortably through them, so that they glory in tribulation. — 4. It yields support in death ; for the righteous hath hope in his death, Prov. xiv. 32 ; not founded on his own righteousness, but on the righteousness of Christ ;

430 OP THE GRACE OP HOPE. a hope of being with Christ for ever, and of enjoying eternal life and happiness with him ; and which gives him peace and joy in his last moments, and causes him to exult in the view of death and the grave. There are many other fruits and effects of a good hope, some of which may be gathered from what follows under the next head. V. The properties and epithets of the grace of hope ; which will more fully show the nature, excellency, and usefulness of it. i. It is called a good hope ; And hath given us—good hope through grace, 2 Thess. ii. 16. — 1. In distinction from, and in opposition to, a bad one. A bad one is that which is the hope of the moralist and legalist, which is founded on their own works of righteousness and deeds, done in obedience to the law ; and is but a sandy foundation to build a hope of eternal salvation upon; and such is the hope of a carnal and external professor of religion, which is laid on birth-privi leges, education-principles, a bare profession of religion, subjection to external ordinances, and a performance of a round of duties ; and the hope of a profane sinner, formed upon the absolute mercy of God, without any regard to the merits, blood, and righteousness of Christ. —2. A good hope is that which has God, his grace and promises, for its object, Christ and his righteousness for its foundation, the Spirit of grace for its author, and is a part of the good work of grace begun upon the soul, and is a hope of good things to come, of which Christ is the high-priest : in this, hope differs from expectation ; hope is an expectation of good things ; and he that fears, expects, but he does not expect good things, for fear is an expectation of evil things ; but hope is of good things ; wicked men expect things which have no sub stance and solidity in them, and their hope perishes. — 3. A good hope is that which is of great use both in life and death ; it is the Christian sailor's anchor, and the Christian soldier's helmet ; it carries through all the troubles in life, as before observed, and supports in the hour of death ; whilst the hope of the hypocrite is like the giving up of the ghost, and expires with him ; this continues, and the man that has it is saved eternally ; for we are saved by hope, Rom. viii. 24. n. It is also a lively or livittg one, 1 Pet. i. 3. So called, — 1. Because the subject of it is a living man, one spiritually alive: a man dead in trespasses and sins is without hope ; but a man regenerated and quickened by the Spirit of God, is begotten again to a lively hope. —2. Because it has for its object eternal life : one that is justified by the grace of God, is made an heir according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. iii. 7. — 3. Has for its ground and foundation a living Christ, and not dead works ; as faith lives upon a crucified Christ, hope receives its virtue and vigour from the resurrection of Christ ; Christ, as risen, and at the right-hand of God, greatly encourages to seek and hope for things above, where he is. — 4. It is of a cheering and enlivening nature ; Hope deferred maketh the heart sick ; but when the desire cometk it is a tree of life, Prov. xiii. 12; it causes gladness and joy ; hence we read of the rejoicing of the hope, and of rejoicing in hope, Heb. iii. 6, Rom. v. 2. — 5. It is an abiding, ever-living grace, and is always more or less in exercise ; as water that is always flowing and running is called,

OP THE GRACE OF HOPE. 431 living water ; this grace is lively or living, when others seem to be ready to die ; and though it is sometimes in a low state itself, and a man puts his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope, yet still there is hope ; and when he is in the worst case, a saint cannot give up his hope ; nor will he part with it for all the world. hi. It is represented as of a purifying nature; Every man that hath this hope in him, of appearing with Christ, and being like him, and seeing him as he is, purifieth himself even as he is pure, 1 John iii. 3, that is, as Christ is pure: all men are by nature and through sin impure; no man can purify himself by anything that he can do; it is peculiar to the blood of Jesus to cleanse from sin. Neither faith, nor hope, nor any other grace, have such virtue in them as to make a man pure from his sin ; no otherwise can they purify from it but as they deal with the blood of Christ; and he that has hope in the blood and righteousness of Christ for justification and salvation, and expresses it, does thereby declare that he is righteous, as Christ is righteous, verse 7, being made the righteousness of God in him. iv. Hope is sometimes compared to an anchor, because of its great usefulness to the Christian in this life ; Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, Heb. vi. 19 ; this world is a sea ; the church, and so every believer, is like a ship sailing on it ; Christ is the pilot that guides it ; hope is the anchor of it ; and a good hope is like an anchor cast on a good foundation, where remaining fixed, it is sure and stedfast ; and as the ground on which an anchor is cast is out of sight ; so Christ, on which hope is fixed, is unseen ; as are also the glories of a future state, it is concerned with; and as an anchor is of no service without a cable ; so not hope without faith ; which is the sub stance and support of it ; a ship when at anchor is kept steady by it ; so a soul by hope : none of the things it meets with, afflictions, troubles, and temptations, can move it from the hope of the gospel, from the service and cause of Christ ; but it remains stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. In some things hope and an anchor disagree ; an anchor is not of so much use in storms and tempests at sea as when in a calm, or in danger near rocks and shores; but hope is of use when the soul is in a storm sadly ruffled, discomposed, disquieted, and tossed about with sin, temptation, and trouble ; hence David, in such a spiritual storm, cast out the anchor of hope ; Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God! Psalm xlii. 11 ; and says the prophet Jeremy, chap, xvii. 17, Thou art my hope in the day of evil ! A cable may be cut or broke, and so the anchor useless ; but faith, which is that to hope as the cable is to the anchor, will never fail, can never be destroyed ; an anchor is cast on what is below, on ground underneath ; but hope has for its objects things above where Jesus is ; when a vessel is at anchor, it continues where it is, it moves not forward; but a soul, when it abounds in the exercise of the grace of hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost, it is moving upwards, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and enters into that withm the vail ; and what gives it the preference is, that it is the anchor of the soul, and its epithets, sure and stedfast,

432 OF THE GRACB OP LOVE. serve to recommend it ; and which certainty and steadfastness of it arise from the author, object, ground, and foundation of it. v. Hope of salvation by Christ is compared to a helmet ; And for a helmet the hope of salvation, 1 Thess. v. 8; this is a piece of armour that is a defence of the head, a cover of it in the day of battle, and an erecter of it : of such use is hope of salvation by Christ; it serves to defend the head from false doctrines ; a man whose hope of salvation is fixed on Christ, cannot give into errors contrary to the proper Deity and eter nal Sonship of Christ, to justification by his righteousness, and atone ment, and satisfaction by his sacrifice ; for these take away the found ation of his hope ; and therefore he whose hope is sure and steadfast, cannot easily be carried away with divers and strange doctrines, nor with every wind of doctrine. Hope of salvation by Christ, is like a helmet which covers the head in the day of battle ; it makes a man courageous to fight the Lord's battles, and fear no enemy ; to engage even with principalities and powers, having on the whole armour of God, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, and particularly having such a helmet, an enemy cannot hurt his head, or give him a mortal wound on it. Hope, like a helmet, is an erecter or lifter up of the head; in the midst of difficulties hope keeps" the head above water, above the fear of danger ; so that the hoping, believing soul can even glory in tribulation, Kom. v. 3. OF THE GRACE OF LOVE. After Faith and Hope follows Love ; for in this order they stand, Now abidefaith, hope, charity, or love, these three, 1 Cor. xiii. 13, but the greatest of these is charity, or love ; not that it is of greater use than the other ; faith is of more use to the believer himself, and such things are ascribed to it, as cannot be ascribed to love ; but love is more diffusive of its benefits to others, and is of a longer duration. Love, in order of nature, follows faith and hope, as the effect its own cause, for because by faith and hope we taste how good the Lord is, therefore we love him. Faith receives and embraces the promises of eternal life ; and hope, on that, is entertained of enjoying it, and waits for it ; hence flows love to God, who has promised it, and gives hope of it ; faith spies it in the promise, and hope rejoices in it ; and both attract the affections to God, the giver of it. Of which grace of love, there are these three principal branches, and to be treated of, Love to God, Love to Christ, and Love to the Saints. I. Love to God, Jehovah, our God, the one Lord; and thou shaltlove the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soid, and with all thy might : This is what God requires of his people, and enjoins as a command to be obeyed ; and it is but reasonable service ; What doth the Lord thy God require of thee — but to love him ? and says Moses, m his name, I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, Deut. vi. 4, 5, and x. 12, and xxx. 16 ; and this is the chief and principal, the first

OF TOE GRACE OP LOVE. 433 and greatest command, and entirely agreeable to the law and light of nature and reason. In answer to the lawyer's question; Master, which is the great commandment in the law ? said our Lord, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the Jirst and great commandment, Matt. xxii. 36—38; hence the apostle says Love is thefulfilling of the Zau>,Rom. xiii. 10. Concerning which love as a grace, for though it is a command to love, it is of grace to keep it, may be observed, i. On what account God is to be loved, and is loved by his saints. 1. For himself; because of his own nature, and the perfections of it, which render him amiable and lovely, and worthy of our strongest love, and affection ; as these are displayed in the works of creation and providence, and especially of grace, redemption, and salvation; to all which the Psalmist has respect when he says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name, nature, and perfections, in all the earth ! Psalm viii. 1 ; as God is great in himself, and greatly to be praised ! great, and greatly to be feared ; so great, and greatly to be loved, for what he is m himself; and this is the purest and most perfect love of a creature towards God ; for if we love him only for his goodness to us, it is loving ourselves rather than him; at least, a loving him for ourselves; and so a loving ourselves more than him : indeed, such is our weakness and imper fection, that we cannot come at a view of the divine perfections, but by these means, through which they, and particularly his goodness and kindness, are made known unto us, and with which we are first and chiefly affected ; yet hereby we are led into a view of his nature and perfections, and to love him for the sake of himself; which love, though it is not first in order, it is chief and ultimate, and comes nearest to the love which the divine Persons bear to each other, and to that with which God loves his people; which arises, not from any goodness shown to him, or received by him.—2. God is to be loved by his saints as their ummum bonum, their chief good ; yea, their only good,their all in all; and so only to be loved : There is none good but one, that is, God; God, Father, Son, and Spirit, tho one Lord God, the object of his people's love; concerning whom they say, Whom have I in heaven but thee 7 Psalm lxxiii. 25 ; and he may be loved by them as their portion now and here after, and as their shield and exceeding great reward ; and yet their love to him not be mercenary. — 3. God is to be loved by his people for the blessings of his goodness communicated to them ; he is the fountain of goodness to them ; he is good, and does good, and therefore to be praised and loved, even for the bounties of his providence ; he follows with his goodness, and daily loads with his benefits ; but espe cially for the blessings of his grace, with which he blesses his chosen in Christ Jesus ; as electing grace in him; predestination to the adop tion of children by him ; acceptance with God, in him, the beloved ; redemption through his blood ; forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ; regenerating, quickening, calling, and sanctifying grace, and all things pertaining to life and godliness. Which benefits bestowed, though they are not in quality the chief motives to love God, as before observed ; yet they are in order first, and chiefly strike the- VOL. II. F F

434 OF THE GRACE OP LOVE. affection, and stir them up towards the Lord. — 4. The various relations God stands in to his people, do and should engage their affections to him ; for he is not only their faithful Creator and kind Benefactor in nature and providence; but in grace their covenant God and Father ; and the direction to love him is usually, Thou shalt lovt the Lord thy God ; and David heaps up a variety of titles and charac ters, under which, and on account of which, he professed to love the Lord ; / will love thee, O Lord my strength ! &c Psalm xviii. 1 — 3. — 5. What greatly influences the love of the Lord's people to him, and lays them under obligation to love him, is his great love to them, 1 John iv. 19 ; which love appeared in choosing them in Christ to eternal hap piness, of his own free favour and good-will ; in the provision of Christ to be the propitiation for their sins; in the mission of him into the world for that purpose ; in the free and full forgiveness of all their sins, for his sake ; in drawing them to himself, in effectual calling, with his lov ing kindness, having, for the great love wherewith he loved them, quick ened them when dead in trespasses and sins ; and in openly espousing them to himself in conversion, called, the love of their espousals; with all after manifestations of his love unto them. — 6. The examples of the saints in all ages, might be urged as motives to love the Lord ; as of Enoch, Noah, and others before the flood; of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac,Jacob, and Joseph afterit; withJoshua, Samuel, David, and others; but especially our Lord Jesus Christ, in human nature,who, in the exer cise of this grace, as in others, is an example to us, John xiv. 31. ii. The subjects of this grace of love, in whom it is, by whom the Lord is loved, and how they come by this grace. 1. It is not of men, nor is it in men naturally; it is not in any natu ral man, who is in a state of nature and unregeneracy ; such are lovers of pleasures, sinful lusts and pleasures, more than lovers of God ; yea, some of them are described as haters of God ; and, indeed, the carnal mind, in every man, is enmity against God, not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself; which denotes how great and mtense, and what a rooted and implacable enmity there is in a carnal man to God, and all that is good : nor is there any love in the people of God themselves before conversion ; they are without God, without any knowledge of God, and love to him ; they are alienated from God, and from the hie of God, and have no desire after him, nor of communion with him; hut are enemies in their minds, in the temper and disposition of them; and which is shown by their wicked works ; and in this state they were when Christ died and shed his blood for them, to make peace and recon ciliation for them, which circumstance greatly illustrates the love of God in the gift of his Son to them, 1 John iv. 10. — 2. The grace of love is of God : he is the efficient cause and author of it, as he is of every grace; the apostle John expressly says, Love is of God, of God, Father, on, and Spirit ; it is of God the Father, who is the God of all grace, and so of this, 1 John iv. 7; and love with faith, are wished forfrom God the Father, and Ihe Lord Jesus Christ, Eph. vi. 23 ; and it stands in the first place among the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22; it is wrought in the soul in regeneration, when other graces are, and is an evidence of « S

OF THE GRACE OF LOVE. 435 for every one that hveth is born of God, 1 John iv. 7 ; and a man cannot love God until he is regenerated, and renewed in the spirit of his mind, and is made a partaker of the spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is necessary to it, and which is promised, Deut. xxx. 6 ; this grace only appears with other graces, and when they do ; there can be no love to God where there is no knowledge of him ; according to that known phrase, ignoti nulla cupido ; where there is knowledge of him, especially of him in Christ,as graciousand merciful, there will beloveto him, 1 John iv. 7, 8; where ignorance is there is no love; but it appears where know ledge is, and it accompanies faith: both spring from the same abundant grace, 1 Tim. i. 14; faith, hope, and love, go together, 1 Cor. xiii. 13; as the subject of love is a regenerate man, the seat of it is the heart, not the head, nor the tongue, but the heart ; it lies not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth ; and true love to God, is a love of him with all the heart, soul, and strength. hi. How, in what way and manner, love to God manifests itself. 1. In a desire to be like him ; one that loves another, endeavours to imitate him ; and such that love the Lord are followers of him, as dear children, beloved ones, and walk in love, and are obedient ones, and desirous of being holy, as he is holy, in all manner of conversation ; nor can they be thoroughly satisfied and contented until they awake in his likeness.—2. In making his glory the supreme end of all their actions ; as this is God's end in all he does in providence, who makes all things for himself, his own glory ; so in all things in grace, they are all directed to the glory of it, nor will he give, nor suffer to be given, his glory to another ; wherefore, in imitation of him, they that love the Lord, do all they do, whether in a natural and civil sense, or of a religious and spiritual kind, whether praying, or reading, or hearing, or preaching, their end is, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. x. 31. — 3. In desiring of, and delighting in, communion with God ; longing to appear before God, and enjoy his presence in his courts, thirst for nim as in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is, that they may see his power and his glory in his sanctuary ; this is the one thing uppermost in their minds, and which they seek most importunately for, that they may behold the beauty of the Lord in his temple ; if God lifts but up the light of his countenance on them, this puts joy and gladness into their hearts, more than the affluence of all earthly things can ; and if they are indulged with communion with him, they exult and glory, say ing, Truly, ourfellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 John i. 3. — 4. In a carefulness not to offend him, by sinning against him, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, Psalm xcvii. 10 ; and they will show their hatred of it, and endeavour to avoid it, and even to abstain from all appearance of it ; and when opportunity offers, and they are solicited by temptations to sin, argue, as Joseph ; How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God ? against God, who has loved me, and I am under such great obligations to love him again ! — 5. In grief, when he has withdrawn himself, and in a diligent seeking after him until he is found ; when he hides his face, and withdraws his gracious presence, a soul that loves God is troubled at it, and complains of it, as f i- 2

436 OF THIS GRACE OF LOVE. the Church did ; Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me! and therefore such a soul, with Job, expresses its concern to know where it could find him, and takes for it a course like his, goes forward and backward, to the right and left, where he used to work, and was wont to be seen. — 6. In parting with and bearing all for his sake, leaving their own people and father's house, country, and kindred, as Abraham did, to go where he directs ; saying, as Ruth said to Naomi, Whither thou goost I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God : and such that love God are willing to endure all hardships for his sake, to suffer reproach, persecution, and distress of every kind, rather than forego their profession and enjoyment of him. — 7. Jn a regard to his house, wor ship, and ordinances ; they that love the Lord, love the habitation of his house, tho place where his honour dwells ; his tabernacles are amiable and lovely ; a day in his houso is better than a thousand else where ; it is no other, in their esteem, than the gate of heaven ; and, like the disciples on the mount, think it good for them to be here, and are for making tabernacles to abide in. — 8. By a value for his word, his gospel, and tho truths of it. They that love tho Lord, receive the love of the truth ; not only the truth, but a love of it, an affection for it ; it is more to be desired by them than gold, and is more to them than thousands of gold and silver ; it is more esteemed by them than their necessary food ; they find it, and cat it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts ; the feet of them that bring the good tidings of it are beautiful unto them. — 9. In love and affection to the people of God ; who are, with those that love the Lord, the excellent in the earth, in whom is all their delight ; as they love him that begets, they love those who are begotten of him, and bear his image ; and they are taught of him to do this in their regeneration, and which is an evidence that they have passed from death to life, and are born again.— 10. By a disestecm of all things in comparison of God : to love tho world, and the things of it, in an immoderate manner, is not consistent with the love of the Father, or with profession of love to him ; for the friend ship of the world is enmity with God ; and a man cannot be a friend of the world and a lover of God ; no man can serve two masters, God and mammon ; for either he will hate the one and love tho other, or hold to the one and despise the other. iv. Tho nature and properties of the love of God ; what it is, or should be. 1. It is, or ought to be, universal ; a love of all that is in God, and belongs unto him; of all his attributes and perfections, of one as another ; not of his goodness, grace, and mercy, and of him for them only ; but of his holiness, justice, and truth ; and of all his command ments, which are all to be respected, attended unto, and obeyed ; and it is a love of all the truths and doctrines of the gospel, of whatsoever is contained in the Scripture ; every word of God is pure to them that love the Lord ; and all the words of his mouth are plain and right, and nothing froward, or perverso in them. And this love extends to all the people of God, of whatsoever class, rank, degree, or denomination.—

Of THE GRACE OF LOVE. 437 2. It is, or ought to be, superlative ; what exceeds all other love, or love to all other persons and things ; as there is none like the Lord for great ness and goodness, so there is none to be loved like him, none in heaven nor in earth, neither angels nor men ; not the greatest personages, and those of the most amiable qualities and characters ; nor those in the nearest relation, as father, mother, husband, wife, &c—3. It is, or ought to be, hearty and sincere ; a love without dissimulation ; not in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth ; it is required to be with all the heart, in the most cordial manner ; and with all the soul, the powers and faculties of it, the affections being wholly engrossed and swallowed up in love to God ; and with all the might, or strength, with all the strength of grace, or spiritual strength a man is possessed of.— 4. Should be constant ; such is the Jove of God to his people, he rests in his love towards them ; such is the love of Christ to them ; who, having loved his own which are in the world, he loves them to the end, immutably and invariably : the love of God's people falls short of this ; it is variable and inconstant in its acts and exercises, though its prin ciple remains.—5. It is imperfect in the present state, as every grace is : knowledge is imperfect ; We know but in part ; and faith is imper fect, and hence an increase of it is desired ; and so is love, it sometimes waxes cold, through the prevalence of corruption, the force of tempta tion, and the snares of the world ; and lukewarmness and indifference takes place, until there is a reviving of it through a fresh stream of love from God.—6. It may be increased, and sometimes is ; the apostle prays for an increase of it, and he thanks God for it, that it did abound, 1 Thess. v. 12, 2 Thess. i. 3; which, though it refers to love to the saints, is equally true of love to God, which increases the one as the other.—7- This grace of love, like others, can never be lost ; though it may wax cold, it does not sink to nothing ; and though it may be less, and abated, and grow weak, as to the ardency and fervency of it, it is not lost ; yea, will abide when other graces have dropped their exercise, which is one reason why it is said to be the greatest. v. The happiness of such that lovo the Lord. 1 . They are loved by him ; I love them that love me ; not that their love is the cause of the love of God to them ; his love is prior to theirs, and is the cause of that ; but such that love the Lord, greater manifesta tions of his love are made to them, and more instances of it shown ; the secrets of his heart's love are disclosed unto them, that is shed abroad in their heartsby the Spirit, and they are directed into it, and led more largely into a view of interest in it ; which to enjoy is a groat blessing ; for his loving-kindness is better than life, Psalm lxiii. 3. — 2. They are known of God ; Ifany man love God, the same is known ofhim, 1 Cor. viii. 3 ; is taken notice of by him, owned and acknowledged as his ; and to whom ho makes himself known, uses him familiarly, and favours him with com munion with himself, and knows his soul in adversity, supports him in it, and delivers out of it ; the knowledge he has of him is special, pecu liar, and distinct, and is joined with love and affection to him ; The Lord hnoineth tliem that are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19. — 3. They are preserved by him ; The Lord preserveth all them that love him, Psalm cxlv. 20 ; and the same >

438 OP THE GRACE OF LOVE. is made use of as an argument to love him, Psalm xxxi. 23 ; since the Lord takes them under his special care, and preserves them from every enemy, from hurts and dangers, from sin, Satan, and the world, and from a final and total falling away from him, by means of any of them ; he preserves them in Christ, and preserves them safe to the coming of Christ, and to his kingdom and glory.—4. They have many instances of mercy, kindness, and respect shown them ; for the Lord is a God showing mercy unto thousands of them that love him, Exod. xx. 6 ; hence David thus prays for himself ; Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou used to do unto those that love thy name ! Psalm cxix. 132.—5. All things that occur unto them in the present life, are for their good, and work toge ther for it, Rom. viii. 28 ; even all afflictions and adverse dispensations of providence, as well as more prosperous ones ; either for their tem poral good, as in the case of Jacob, who thought all things were going against him, when they were all working for him ; or for spiritual good, for the trial and increase of grace, of faith, patience, &c, and always for their eternal good, 2 Cor. iv. 17. — 6. Great things are laid up and reserved for them that love the Lord, to be enjoyed hereafter, even things inconceivable, and which are expressed by the highest enjoy ments in this life, and which vastly exceed them ; by a crown, and kingdom they are now made heirs of. ft. Love to Christ is another eminent branch of the grace of love; for he is not only a distinct divine Person in the Godhead, but stands in an office-capacity, as Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour of his f>eople ; and has given various surprising proofs and instances of his ove to them: and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that he should be represented in the Scriptures in so distinguished a manner as the object of their love ; and he being so well known to be the object of the love of saints, and so deserving of it, the church only describes him by this periphrasis, Him whom my soul loveth ; without naming his name ; supposing that every one she conversed with, knew who she meant ; and very frequently she calls him, My beloved, with out any other description of him. So the apostle Peter, after having made mention of the appearing of Jesus Christ, adds, Wliom having not seen, ye love, 1 Pet. i. 8 ; and for himself, he could appeal to Christ, as the omniscient God, and say, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou hnoaest that I love thee, John xxi. 17. Concerning which love to Christ, the following things may be considered, i. On what accounts Christ is to be loved, and is loved, by them that know him and believe in him : and there are many things in him and belonging to him which engage their love and affections to him- And he is to be loved, 1. Because of the excellencies of his person: as the Son of God, his glory is the glory of the only begotten of the Father : he is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person ; is equal to God, and in the glorious and lovely form of God ; the whole fulness of the Godhead dwells in him ; every perfection in Deity is to be found in him ; and therefore has everything to attract the love of his peoplfl to him ; hence one of the ancients said, est aliquid in Christo forniosi^

OP THE GRACE OF LOVE. 439 salvalore ; there is something in Christ more amiable, more lovely, and more beautiful than the Saviour. — 2. Because he is the beloved of his Father, his dear Son, the Son of his love, the darling and delight of his soul, always by him, near to him, as one brought up with him, carried in his bosom, in which he lay, and was daily his delight, rejoic ing always before him ; all which is expressive of his tender affection for him, and the inexpressible pleasure he took in him before the world began : and which he further declared by putting all things into his hands, and showing him all he did ; which instances our Lord makes mention of himself, as proofs of his Father's love to him, John iii. 35, and v. 20 ; and when he was here on earth, in human nature, both at his baptism and at his transfiguration on the mount, he declared, by a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 5leased ! yea, he loved him because he laid down his life for his sheep, ohn x. 17 ; all which most strongly move and excite the saints to love him. — 3. Because of the fulness of grace in him for the supply of their wante ; it is a very considerable branch of the glory of Christ, as Mediator, and which recommends him as such, that he is fill of grace and truth ; as the fulness of Deity in him renders him an object worthy of the highest love, as a divine Person ; so the fulness of grace it pleased the Father should dwell in him, as man and Mediator, cannot fail of recommending him as suitable to indigent sinners, and of raising in them a high esteem of him, as a most lovely Person, and of attract ing their affections to him. — 4. Because of his precious names and titles : his name in general, is as ointment poured forth, which diffuses a most sweet savour, alluding to his name, Messiah, which signifies anointed ; and from whom the saints receive the anointing, the graces of the Spirit, which are his ointments good and savoury, and therefore do the virgins love him, who receive all their grace and beauty from him, which makes them amiable and lovely to him. His name Jesus, a Saviour, so called because he saves his people from their sins, is a delightful sound in their ears ; as is also, The Lord our Righteousness, by whose righteousness they are justified before God, and become per fectly comely in his sight, and every other name and title of his in Isa. ix. 6. — 5. Because of the offices he bears, so useful and beneficial to his people ; he is the Mediator between God and men, the days man between them both, who has brought them together, and reconciled them ; the Surety of the better Testament, who engaged to be a ransom for them, to pay their debts, to bear their sins, and make satisfaction for them, and to bring them to God, and set them before him ; their Prophet, to teach and instruct them, and enlighten in the knowledge of saving truths ; their Priest, to make atonement for their sins, and to intercede for their persons ; and their King, to rule over them, protect and defend them; and who would not fear and love one so great and respectable ? — 6. Because of the relations he stands in to them : he is their everlasting Father, who has the most affec tionate concern for their welfare ; he is the most tender Husband, who nourishes the church as his own flesh, and for whom he gave himself a sacrifice ; he is the most kind and loving Brother, was born for the

HO OP THE GRACE OF LOVE. adversity of his brethren, and to bring them out of it, and is not ashamed of his relation to them ; he is a most faithful Friend, a friend that loves at all times, that sticks closer than a brother ; no wonder that the church, after she had described him at large, should break forth in such an exulting and affectionate strain ; This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem ! Cant. v. 16. — 7. Because he has all blessings in his hands for them ; peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal life ; and God has blessed his people in him with all spiritual blessings ; has given them grace in nim, even all the blessings of grace, before the world began ; and has made him to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption ; so that he is their all in all, and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that he should be the object of their highest love. — 8. Particularly, because he is their Saviour and Redeemer, who assumed their nature, in order to die in their room and stead, and became the author of eternal salvation to them, and who saved them, and gave himself for them, to redeem them from all iniquity, and out of the bj,nd of every enemy, and has by his blood obtained eternal redemption for them, and who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his blood, and has procured the remission of them, as well as cleansing from them ; and on all accounts they have reason to love him, and sing his new song of redeeming grace, Worthy is the Lamb ! &c — 9. Nor does his love cease here, nor the obligations on his people to love him ; for he appears in the presence of God for them, and ever lives to make intercession for them, and is their advocate with the Father, in con sequence of which various blessings of grace descend upon them. — 1 0. He will appear a second time, without sin, to the salvation of them that look for him ; and his appearance is to be looked for, it being a glorious one ; and is itself to be loved ; and much more the Person, who shall appear in so much glory, and so much to the advantage of those that love him ; for a crown of righteousness is laid up and will be given to them that love his appearing, 2 Tim. iv. 8. ii. The springs and causes of love to Christ. 1 . It does not arise from nature ; men in a state of nature are without Christ, without any knowledge of him, and affeotion for him ; they see no form, nor comeliness, nor beauty in him, wherefore lie should be desired by them : and this is not only the case of openly profane and carnal sinners, but even of some who have some notion of religion and sacred things ; and yet ask, What is thy beloved, more than another beloved ? what peculiar charms, excellencies, and beauty are there in him, which give him a preference to all others ? But this betrays their ignorance of Christ, and want of true affection for him, Cant. v. 9. — 2. But it is owing to the abundant grace of God in regeneration ; an unregenerate man is destitute of it ; If God was your Father, says Christ to the Jews, their Father by adoption, of which regeneration is the evidence, ye would love me ; for every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him ; whoever loves God, who has, of his own good will and abundant mercy, begotten him agajn to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance, loves

OF THE GRACE OF LOVE. 441 Christ also, who is begotten of him, though in a higher sense, and who is the first-born among many brethren. Faith in Christ, and love to him, commence together ; and both flow from the same grace and favour, 1 Tim. i. 14 ; none but true believers in Christ sincerely love him ; faith works by love ; to them that believe, he is precious, and none but such who by an eye of faith have seen his glory, fulness, and suitableness, truly love him ; for, — 3. Love to him is owing to a spe cial revelation of him, in effectual vocation ; when God calls a man by his grace, lie reveals his Son in him, and to him, in the glories of his person, and the riches of his grace ; when he sees the King in his beauty, and is enamoured with him, he appears to him white and ruddy, a perfection of beauty, the chiefest among a thousand thousand, none like him among all the men on earth, nor among all the angels in heaven ; he is, in his esteem, altogether lovely, beyond all compare, beyond all expression ; all things are reckoned loss in comparison of the knowledge of him. — 4. Love to Christ arises, not only from a view of his loveliness ; but also from a sense of his love, which passes knowledge, from a feeling sensation of it, shed abroad in the heart, which causes love again. This was the case of the sinful woman mentioned in the gospel, who loved much because much love was shown her, in the forgiveness of her sins, through the blood of Jesus ; and this is the experience of all the saints ; welove him because he first loved us, in taking the care and charge of us, in assuming our nature, and in dying in our room and stead. — 5. This love is more and more heightened and increased through knowledge of union to him, and through communion with him ; the church, sitting under the shadow of Christ with great delight, and his fruit sweet to her taste, and being brought by him into his banqueting-house, with his banner of love displayed over her, served much to draw forth her love to him, and make her even sick with it ; and especially being brought into his chamber by him, filled her with joy and gladness, and caused her to remember his love more than wine ; and she observed this as the effect of it, The upright love thee. Thus John, the beloved disciple, being indulged with leaning on tho bosom of Jesus, not only had a greater manifestation of Christ's love, but more strongly expressed his love to Christ. in. How, in what way and manner, or in what instances, love to Christ shows itself. 1. In a regard to all that are his, and belong to him ; His mouth is most sweet to such, and he is altogether, or all of him, lovely, in his person, in his offices, and in his people ; his promises are like apples of gold in pictures of silver ; the words of his mouth, the doctrines of his grace, are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb ; the ministers of the gospel, who bring the glad tidings of salvation, are beautiful and lovely ; his saints are the precious sons of Zion, and comparable to fine gold ; his ways are ways of pleasantness, his tabernacles amiable, and his ordinances delightful. — 2. In keeping his commandments ; If ye love me, says Christ, keep my commandments : this is the strongest and clearest proof of love ; he that, from a principle of love, keepeth them, he

442 OP THE GRACE OF LOVE. it is, says Christ, that loveth me ; others may talk of their love to Christ ; but he is the man that truly loves him, John xiv. 15. 21. — 3. In a carefulness not to offend him, and cause him to depart from them ; thus solicitous was the church and therefore fearful lest any offence should be given, and occasion his removal from her, Cant. ii. 17. — 4. In a jealousy of his love, lest he should not love them at all ; or should not love them so much as another, or another more than they ; Jealousy is cruel as the grave, fearful, distressing, and insatiable, Cant. viii. 6. — 5. In a desire of and delight in, his company; this delight is very great ; / sat down under his shadow, under the shadow of his ordinances, enjoying his presence in them, with great delight, Cant. ii. 3 ; and this desire is very vehement, strongly expressed with great ardour and fervency, and the presence of Christ is importunately sought after, Isa. xxvi. 9. — 6. In grief and concern, when he has withdrawn his presence. In his favour, in his gracious presence, and under the smiles of his countenance, is life, a soul is alive and comfortable ; but if he withdraws himself, and the manifestations of his favour, it is death, it kills, it is intolerable ; My soul failed, swooned away when lie spake, or at the parting word, Cant. v. 8. So Mary, at our Lord's sepulchre not? finding him there, with a heart full of grief, and ready to break, burst out in a passionate manner, with tears, They have taken away my Lord! John xx. 13. — 7. In a strict search and inquiry after him until found ; so the church, when she had lost her beloved, sought him first on her bed, in her chamber, and private retirement ; then in the city, the assembly of the saints, in the streets and broad places, in the public ministry of the word and ordinances ; and then of the watch men, the ministers of the gospel personally ; and throughout the whole of the search the inquiry was, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth ? and in an after similar case ; when, through her sleepiness, slothfulness, and ingratitude, he withdrew from her ; which, when she perceived, she sought him, but could not find him ; she called to him, but received no answer; she met with ill usage from the watchmen, but this did not deter her from going in quest of him ; she lighted upon the daughters of Jeru salem, in her search of him, whom she charged, that if they found her Be loved, that they would tell him, that she was sick of love for him, Cant. iii. 1—3, and v. 6—8. — 8. In expressions ofjoy upon finding him; as the church in the above case; It was but little, says she, that Ipassedfrom them, but Ifound him whom my soul loveth ; I held, him, and would not let him go : and in the other case how does she exult in the close of her account, upon finding him ; This is my beloved, and this is my friend ! Cant. iii. 4, and v. 16. So, after our Lord's absence by death, from his disciples, when he rose again, and showed himself to them, it is said, Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, John xx. 20; and so it is when Christ has withdrawn himself from his people, and they see him again by faith, they are filled with a joy unspeakable and full of glory ! and there is great reason for such joy on finding him ; for he that finds him, finds life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord, Prov. viii. 35. — 9. In pushing through all difficulties to enjoy him, as the church did ; who, in search of Christ, exposed herself to the insults, blows, wounds, and

OP THE GRACE OF LOVE. 443 depredations of the watchmen : so souls at first conversion, when their first love, the love of their espousals to Christ, is warm and ardent, like Israel of old, go after him in a wilderness, in a land not sown, in very discouraging circumstances, through much reproach, tribulation, and affliction, from the world and others. — 10. In parting with and bearing all for Christ's sake ; in leaving relations, friends, and former companions, houses, lands, and every thing dear and valuable, standing in competition with him, in denying themselves in every view, sinful self, righteous self, and civil self ; taking up the cross cheerfully, and following him ; and even loving not their lives unto death for his sake ; Christ is the pearl of great price in their esteem, and they are willing to part with all things, and suffer the loss of all, that they may enjoy him. iv. The nature of this love. 1. Universal ; all of Christ, as before observed ; for he is all lovely ; his person, his people, his word and ordinances, his precepts, and his promises. — 2. Superlative ; He that lovesfather or mother more than me, says Christ, is not worthy of me, &c Matt. x. 37; and the same holds good of any other person or thing ; there is none in heaven nor in earth to be loved like him ; he is the chiefest among ten thousand. — 3. Hearty and sincere ; such who truly love Christ, love him insincerity, or in incorruption, Eph. vi. 24 ; with a love that cannot be corrupted, with a love unfeigned, and without dissimulation ; such was Peter's love to Christ, who could appeal to him as omniscient for the truth of it. — 4. Warm and fervent ; such as many waters of sin, temptation, and affliction, cannot quench ;floods of the same, more forcibly, cannot drown ; and from which, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, naked ness, peril, and sword, cannot separate, Cant. viii. 7, Rom. viii. 35. — 5. It should be constant, as Christ's is to us, who loves at all times, and to the end : but, alas ! other objects present, and other lovers are followed after for a time ; yet true love is not totally and finally lost ; first love, though left for a while, is revived and restored ; and the first husband is returned unto and abode by. — 6. It is very grateful and well-pleasing to Christ ; Howfair is thy love, says he, my sister, my spouse; how much better is thy love than wine! Cant. iv. 10 ; he remembers the first love of his people, the love of their espousals, the kindness of their youth, when forgotten by them : what made him put the question so often to Peter, Lovest thou me ? One reason, among others, might be, because it was pleasing to him to hear him say, and so strongly aver it, that he loved him. v. The happiness of those that love Christ. 1. They are loved by him ; I love them that love me, says Wisdom, or Christ, Prov. viii. 17; that is, he continues to love them, and makes freater manifestations of himself, and of his love to them; and so he imself explains it, when speaking of those that show their love to him, by keeping his commandments ; he says, I will love him, and manifest myself unto him ; and this he shows by his frequent love visits to them, and by his prayers and preparations for them, that they may be with him where he is, and behold his glory. — 2. They are blessed who love

444 OF THE GRACE OF LOVE. Christ ; as a curse, anathema, maranatha, is wished to those who love him not ; so grace, the best of blessings, is desired for those who love him in sincerity. — 3. It is expressed prayer-wise, that it might be, and it is a prayer of faith, that it shall be ; Let them that love him, be as the sun when he goethforth in his might, Judg. v. 31 ; for light, splendour, and glory, as they are when clothed with the sun, and when tho Sun of righteousness arises upon them with healing in his wings, and as they will bo when they shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. — 4. Those that love Christ, he, as he has promised, Will cause to inherit substance, Prov. viii. 21 ; even a better and a more enduring substance, than is to enjoyed in this world, riches of grace, and riches of glory, durable riches and righteousness. III. Another branch of the grace of love is, love to men. i. The objects of it ; — Angels are indeed objects of love ; not the evil angels, because of their wickedness and apostacy from God, and because of their mischievous nature, continually seeking to do hurt to the persons of men, their souls and bodies, their properties and estates, as much as in them lies, and as far as they have leave ; but good angels, who are very amiable, because of the excellencies of their nature, their holiness, wisdom, and strength, in which they excel ; they belong to the family in heaven, and are of great use to saints on earth ; are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation ; though they are not to be worshipped by good men, being their fellow-servants ; yet they arc to be loved, being friendly to them, and wish their welfare, and rejoice at it : they expressed their joy at the good will of God to men, shown in the incarnation of Christ for them ; and there is joy among them whenever a sinner is converted and repents ; besides, the saints will be like them in the resurrection, and will join them in the worship of God, and in communion with him for ever. But, — It is with men, the branch of love under consideration is concerned ; and indeed, all men are to be loved ; for this is the second great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and all mankind are neighbours ; they are all the offspring of God, and near akin to one another, being all of one man's blood; nay, not only those that are kind and neighbourly, are to be loved, but even our very enemies ; so Christ has taught us by his precept ; I say unto you, love your enemies ; and by his example, in praying to his Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they do ! nay, we are directed to show kindness to them, and heap favours upon them, and thereby overcome their evil with good. —The peculiar objects of this branch of love now to be treated of are good men, the saints and people of God; who are — 1. Called brethren ; not in a natural but spiritual relation, the brethren of Christ, and brethren one of another; who are brethren and partakers of the same heavenly calling, or are in the same church-state, and are called the brotherhood, and therefore should love as brethren. Hence this love has the name of Philadelphia, or brotherly love, Rom. xii. 10, Heb. xiii. 1 . — 2. Disciples and followers of Christ ; such who have learned Christ, and have learned to deny themselves, and to take up the cross and follow him ; these, as they should love Christ, so likewise

OF THE GBACE OP LOVE. 445 one another, John xiii. 35 ; and the least instance of love and kindness shown to such on account of what they are, is exceeding pleasing to Christ, Matt. x. 42. — 3. Believers in Christ, who are called the household of faith, partakers of the grace of faith, and embrace and profess the same doctrine of faith, theso are to be loved, and special kindness shown unto them, Gal. vi. 10, Tit. iii. 15 ; the little ones who believe in Christ he is so tender of, and has such a special regard unto, that he would have no offence given unto them ; but signifies, it would fare ill with those who should give it, Matt. xviii. 6. — 4. Children of God, who are such by adoption, to which they are predestinated, and which they receive through and from Christ, and of which regeneration is the evidence, and the Spirit of God the witness ; and who become apparently so by faith in Christ Jesus, and being children of the same Father, ought to love one another, 1 John v. 1, 2. — 5. They are described as saints, who are the objects of this grace of love ; who arc called to be saints, and are called with a holy calling, or sanctified by the Spirit of God, and have principles of grace and holiness wrought in them, and live holy lives and conversations ; and frequently does the apostle speak in commendation of the churches for their love unto all the saints, Eph. i. 1 5 ; Col. i. 4. ii. The nature of this grace of love, as exercised towards the saints. 1. It is wrought in regeneration. Men in a state of unrogeneracy are destitute of it ; the world hates those that are chosen out of it, and called; and that because they are so ; yea, one part of the character of God's elect beforo conversion is, hateful, and hating one another ; in regeneration, and not before, men are taught of God to love one another ; and this is an evidence of their regeneration, 1 John iii. 14. — 2. This grace is very largely described 1 Cor. xiii., for though our translators have rendered the word charity throughout, for what reason it does not appear, it should be love ; for it is manifestly distinguished from alms-deeds, or relieving the poor and distressed, which the apostle supposes, may be, and yet this grace be wanting ; by which he seems to understand love to the saints ; without which, he suggests, the greatest gifts of knowledge are nothing, and all pretensions to, and }>rofessions of, religion are in vain : those who are possessed of it, suffer ong, bear and forbear much, are kind to their fellow-creatures and fellow-christians ; envy not the superior gifts and graces of others ; vaunt not over those supposed inferior to them ; and are not puffed up with their own attainments ; do not behave unseemly, in a haughty, supercilious, and contemptuous manner to those in connexion with them ; seek not their own things, pleasures, profits, honours, and to exalt themselves above others ; are not easily provoked to wrath against those that offend them ; think no evil of others, give not way to ground less jealousies and surmises ; rejoice not in iniquity, in committing it themselves, nor in seeing it done by others ; not in lies, nor in any false representations of things ; but rejoice in the truth, in hearing and telling truth of others ; bear all things, all reproaches, insults, and indignities, with patience and meekness; believe all things of good report in fellow-christians, not giving credit to evil spoken of them,

446 OF THE GRACE OP LOVE. without sufficient reason ; hope all things, the best concerning them, and that what is of ill report is not true of them ; endure all things, the ill treatment and ill manners of others, with much mildness and gentleness. — 3. It should be universal ; love to all saints ; for which some churches are commended, before observed ; whether they be weak or strong believers, more or less knowing Christians, they are to be cordially received into the love and affections of the saints ; and be they of whatsoever name and denomination in religion they may, pro vided they appear to be Christ's, and bear his image ; and let their worldly circumstances be what they will, no respect, as to affection, is to be had to persons ; one in a Christian assembly with a gold ring, and in goodly apparel, is not to be preferred to a poor brother in mean raiment, as James directs, chap. ii. 1, 2, 3. — 4. It should be fervent, and every method should be taken and means used to blow up the flame of love, and to keep it alive ; it is a sign of bad times, and of things going ill in religion, when the love of many waxes cold. — 5. It should be, and where it is right it will be, unfeigned and sincere ; so the apostle calls that love which springs from a heart purified under the influence of divine truths, by the Spirit, unfeigned love of the brethren, it is love without dissimulation, real and cordial ; not in word and in tongue only, but in deed and in truth, 1 John iii. 18. — 6. It is an active and laborious grace, by which the saints serve one another, both in things temporal and spiritual, Gal. v. 13 ; hence we read of the work and labour of love, it not only works and is busy, and continually exercises itself in doing good, but it labours at it, and yet is not weary of well doing. — 7- The manner in which, or the exemplar according to which, it is to be exercised is, as Christ has loved his people ; this is what he himself has enjoined, that is the argument and motive inducing to an observance of it, John xiii. 34, and xv. 12 ; yea, the apostle John, carries this pattern of love to such a degree, that as Christ has shown his love to his people in laying down his life for them ; they are to show theirs in laying down their lives for the brethren, 1 John iii. 16. — 8. It is a very excellent grace ; after the apostle had exhorted, to covet earnestly the best gifts, he &dds yet show I unto gou a more excellent way, 1 Cor. xii. 31 ; something more excel lent than the best external gifts, both ordinary and extraordinary, he had before been speaking of; and by the connexion of the words with the following chapter, it appears to be the grace of love, which,—Is the greatest of all the graces, 1 Cor. xiii. 13 ; because it is more dif fusive of goodness and kindness, and so more beneficial to others, though the other graces may be more useful to a man's self; and because of its long duration, even as to the exercise of it, which will be throughout an endless eternity ; for charity or love never faileth, 1 Cor. xiii. 8. — It is an evidence of a man's being born agam ; Every one that lovetk is born of God, 1 John iv. 7 ; and this is the grand criterion of a true disciple of Christ. In Tertullian's time the neathens knew the Christians by their loving carriage to one another m public, and would point unto them and say, " See how they love one another ! rt such times are now to be wished for. — It is called the bond ofperfect

OF THE GRACE OP LOVE. 447 ness, Col. in. 14 ; which perfectly knits and unites the saints together, and keeps the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace ; it is the perfect bond of the church and its members ; of the saints to one another, and of their several graces. — Without this, a profession of religion is an empty and useless thing ; and the strongest expressions of regard unto it, speculative notions about it, and boastings of it, are insignificant. How super-excellent therefore must this grace be ! It is in vain to talk of love to God and love to Christ, where this is wanting, 1 John iv. 20. — It is the exercise of this grace which makes the communion of the saints with one another delightful ; Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity ! the Psalmist com pares it, for its cheering and refreshing nature, to the dew of Hermon, and that which fell on the mountains of Zion, Psalm cxxxiii., and it also tends greatly to their edification in church-fellowship ; Charity or love, edifieth ; the body, the church, being united to Christ the head, and the members of it fitly joined together maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love, 1 Cor. viii. 1. — It is one part of the saints' spiritual armour ; The breast-plate offaith and love is a good defence against the enemy, who cannot easily get an advantage where this piece of armour is carefully and constantly made use of; it makes the church of Christ as terrible as an army with banners ; the love and union of saints to one another, is their great security against the com mon adversary ; like the bundle of sticks in the fable, which whilst bound together, could not be broken, but when separated were easily snapped asunder. in. How, in what manner, and wherein this grace of love to one another manifests itself. 1. By praying with and for one another ; hence when our Lord taught his disciples to pray, he directed them to pray to God as their common Father ; saying, Our Father, which art in heaven ; thereby teaching them, that they were to pray for one another, even for all saints, and that constantly and fervently, Eph. vi. 18 ; which availeth much, and tends to godly edification. — 2. By bearing one another's burdens, Gal. vi. 2 ; and this is done by assisting and relieving each other in distress, as much as in us lies, by sympathizing with each other in trouble, as the members of a natural body do, rejoicing with them that rejoice, and weeping with them that weep. — 3. By forbearing and forgiving one another ; as God, for Christ's sake, and as Christ also, has forgiven them, Col. ill. 13. — 4. By rebuking and admonishing one another in love. Sin known, should not be suffered to lie upon a brother, without reproving for it ; this is not kindness to him : Open rebuke is better than secret love, Prov. xxvii. 5, 6 ; but then such rebuke should be given in love, and with much tenderness; which -is most likely to be kindly received and to succeed ; Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, &c, when such who are overtaken in a fault are restored in the spirit of meekness, this shows tenderness and brotherly love. — 5. By endeavouring to establish one another in the doctrines of the gospel, and of increasing light and knowledge ; which is called, building up themselves in their most holy faith ; which is done by praying and conversing together, often speakmg one to another

448 OP THE GBACE OF LOVE. about divine things ; not disdaining to receive instruction even from inferiors ; thus Aquila and Priscilla expounded in a private manner the way of God more perfectly to Apollos, a public teacher ; which he attended to. — 6. By exhorting and stirring up one another to the several duties of religion, both public and private. iv. There are various arguments and motives which may be made use of to excite to the exercise of this grace of love. 1. It is Christ's new commandment ; so he says, A new command ment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; which yet, as the apostle John says, was both old and new, an old commandment, being founded upon the original law of God ; a new commandment, being not only an excellent one, especially as now delivered out, since excellent things in Scripture are often called new ones, as a new song, &c, but because of the new edition of it under the gospel-dispensation, and being given forth anew by Christ the lawgiver, in his house, called therefore, The law of Christ, which is the law of love ; and having a new pattern and exemplar of it, and a new motive and argument added to it, mentioned by Christ himself : As I have loved you, that ye also love one another, John xiii. 34, and xv. 12. — 2. The love of God and Christ should engage unto it ; the love of God in the mission and gift of his Son to die for us, and become the propitiation for our sins ; Beloved, says the apostle, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, 1 John iv. 11 ; and the love of Christ in giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, to atone for our sins ; Walk in love, as Christ hath loved us, &o. Eph. v. 2. — 3. The relation the saints stand in one to another, is a reason why they should love one another ; they are members of the same body, and should have an affection and sympathy for one another ; as the members in a natural, so they in a spiritual way ; they are children of the same Father, and belong to the same family, and are all brethren ; this is the argument Moees used with the Israelites at variance, Acts vii. 26. — 4. The comfort and joy of ministers should be an argument with saints to mutual love ; it is with the greater pleasure they pursue their studies and labour in their ministrations, for the good of souls, when peace and love are cultivated among them ; but when it is otherwise, it is greatly discouraging and distressing to them, and they go on heavily in their work ; for where envying and strife are, there is confusion, and every evil work ; which is very disagreeable, and makes uncomfortable ; yea, the comfort of the saints themselves, and their edification, are hereby greatly hurt ; wherefore both with respect to ministers and people, the apostle exhorts to love and unity, Phil. ii. 1, 2, and 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; and that brotherly love continue; for the love of God and Christ continues; nothing can separate from it; they love to the end; the relation of saints continues ; being once the children of God, and brethren of Christ and of one another, they always remain such, and in the family, in the house of God, where they abide, and from whence they are never removed ; and if brotherly love continues not, churches cannot continue ong ; a house divided against itself cannot stand : the church at Epheus was threatened with a removal of the candlestick, or church-state, unless they repented, because they had left their first love. *v

419 OF SPIRITUAL JOY. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which follows love ; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, Gal. v. 22 ; it attends faith and hope ; and as these graces are in exercise, and increase, so does spiritual joy ; hence we read of thejoy offaith and the rejoicing ofhope, Phil. i. 25, Heb. iii. 6 ; it enters very much into the Clnnstian's character and experience, and is peculiar to saints and believers in Christ. I. The objects of it. i. Not a creature, nor creature-enjoyment, nor outward privilege, nor duty; but Jehovah himself, the Lord and God of all ; therefore called by David, God, his exceedingjoy ; that is, the object of his great joy and gladness, Psalm xliii. 4. To glory in riches, wisdom, and strength, and to boast of them, is not right ; and to rejoice in such boastmgs, all such rejoicing is evil, James iv. 16; to rejoice in any thing of this kind, is to rejoice in a thing of nought, in a nonentity, and in what is of no account, and so to rejoice in youthful pleasures and vanities, and indulge in them in the highest degree ; such joy is not spiritual, or the fruit of the Spirit ; but is carnal and sensual, and but for a season ; and to glory, and boast of, and trust in fleshly descent, in birth-privileges, and in the duties of religion, and in a man's own righteousness, and please himself with such things, is only the joy of an unregenerate man, and of a hypocrite, which is but for a moment ; but the Lord himself is the proper object of joy : to rejoice in him is what is exhorted to, both in the Old and New Testaments. So the prophet Habakkukdid, and resolved to do, in the worst of times, when all creature-mercies failed ; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord ; I willjoy in the. God of my salvation ! Hab. iii. 17, 18 ; not in him merely as the Creator, from whom are had being, life, and breath, and all things, which yet is matter of joy, nor in him merely as the God of providence, and a kind benefactor, the preserver of men, and gives them all things richly to enjoy, so that they have reason to rejoice in every good thing, which the Lord in his providence gives unto them ; but more especially saints. rejoice in him as their covenant-God ; I will yreatly rejoice in the Lord, says the church ; My soul shall be joyful in my God ! Isa. lxi. 10 ; as her covenant-God, which is the sum and substance of the covenant, and includes and secures every bleseing of it, and always continues ; who, as such, is the God of all grace, and blesses witn all spiritual blessings, and gives both grace and glory, supplies all the wants of his people out of his riches in glory, by Christ ; and causes all grace to abound towards them, and will never suffer them to want any good thing ; he is their portion now, and will be for ever ; and as such they rejoice in him ; and particularly, 1 . In the attributes of God ; which are all on the side of his people, and are exercised for their good, and they receive benefit and advan tage from ; and not only his power, wisdom, truth, and faithfulness, his goodness, grace, and mercy, are mattor of joy ; but even his justice vol. n. g g

450 OF SPIRITUAL JOY. and holiness, in which he is so glorious ; Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and (five thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, Psalm xcvii. 12. — 2. The everlasting love of God is matter of joy to the saints ; as the Lord rests in his love, and rejoices over them with joy, so they rejoice in his love to them ; it is that river the streams whereof, the blessings which flow from it, make glad their hearts ; a view of interest in it puts more joy and gladness into the hearts of the Lord's people than the largest increase of worldly things ; it makes what they do enjoy blessings indeed ; for there is no curse in their blessings ; a little, with the favour of God, is better than the riches of many wicked ; mean fare, a dinner of herbs, where the love of God is enjoyed, is preferable to the most delicious dainties without it ; and greater reason there is for a man to boast of and rejoice in this, that he knows the Lord as exercising loving-kindness in the earth, and delighting therein, than to rejoice and glory in the greatest outward attainments of body, mind, and estate ; a sense of the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Spirit, supports under all the trials and exercises of this life ; and even causes to glory in tribulations, and to rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; since neither tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, nor sword, can separate from it ; yea, the loving-kindness of God is better than life itself, than which nothing is dearer to a man; yea, when men are influenced by this love, they love not their lives unto the death ; it is death to them when they are without a sense of this love ; but, m thefavour of God, and the enjoyment of it, is life, it revives and comforts, Psalm xxx. 5 ; and what makes the love of God greater cause of joy is, that it is everlasting and unchangeable ; though God may be displeased with his people, and chastise them because of their sins, yet he never takes away his loving-kindness from them ; and though he hides his face from them for a moment, yet with ever lasting kindness he has mercy on them ; nor shall it ever depart from them; it is more immoveable than hills and mountains, and is established both by the promise and oath of God ; and there is nothing in heaven, earth, and hell, that shall ever separate from it : every thought concern ing it, meditation upon it, and discovery of it, fills with joy unspeak able : a thought of it is with the greatest pleasure and delight ; medi tation on it is sweet ; and whilst musing upon it, the fire of divine love is inflamed, and burns within, and breaks forth in expressions of joy and gladness ; and nothing can yield greater satisfaction than to be remembered with the favour God bears to his own people ; and the love of God is to be remembered more, and is more exhilarating to the soul, than wine is to the animal spirits, Cant. i. 2, 4. — 3. The saints' election of God is matter of joy unto them ; that their names are written in heaven, Luke x. 20 ; in the Lamb's book of life, in the book of divine predestination to the adoption of children, and to eternal life ; and therefore it cannot be such a gloomy and melancholy thing, as some who are strangers to it, and ignorant of it, represent it ; but is, as the xviith article of the church of England expresses it, "full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons." It serves to comfort afflicted consciences. It is the foundation blessing

OF SPIRITUAL JOY. 451 of grace, and the standard according to which all others are dispensed ; God blesses his people with all spiritual blessings in Christ, according as he hath chosen them in him before the foundation of the world ; this stands at the head of them, it is the first link of the chain of sal vation, to which the rest are fastened, and by it secured ; Whom he did predestinate— them he also glorified ; it always obtains ; or those who are chosen certainly enjoy every blessing of grace, life, righteousness, and salvation, Eph. i. 3, 4, Rom. viii. 30, and xi. 7 ; from hence springs all the grace of the Spirit dispensed by him in regeneration and sanctification ; sanctification of the Spirit is fixed and established in the decree of election as a mean, and is as certain as the end, salvation ; holiness of heart and life is what men are chosen to, and what certainly follows upon their election of God ; and so belief of the truth, or faith in Christ ; and as many as are ordained unto eternal life believe ; hence true faith is called, the faith of God's elect : eternal glory and happi ness is secured by it ; they that aro chosen, are chosen to the obtaining of the glory of Christ ; and which, in consequence, they most assuredly enjoy ; they cannot finally and totally be deceived, and come short of that glory, no charge can be brought against them ; and should any, it would not issue in their condemnation ; they that are written in the Lamb's book of life enter into the new Jerusalem ; and those who are predestinated are glorified. This is the foundation which stands sure ; the seal of which is, The Lord knows them that are his ; men are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, and that foreknowledge never fails ; and therefore the purpose of God, according to election, stands sure ; not upon the will -and works of men, but upon the sovereign will, certain knowledge, and everlasting love of God ; all which lay a solid foundation for joy and gladness. — 4. The covenant of grace God has made with his chosen in Christ, is another thing which yields abundance of joy to the believer, both in life and in death ; in a view of which, with what joy and exultation does the sweet singer of Israel express himself among the last words he uttered ! 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 : what makes this covenant so desirable, pleasant, and joyful is, that it is everlasting ; from everlasting to everlasting : from everlasting, for so early was Christ set up as the Mediator of it ; blessings of grace were given, and grants of grace made, to the elect in Christ, before the foundation of the world ; and eternal life was promised before the world began ; nor will it ever be broken, made null and void ; nor be antiquated, and suc ceeded by another covenant ; but will always remain in full force ; and so administer constant and perpetual joy to the covenant-ones. It is also ordered in all things, to secure the glory of the divine persons ; and for the display of the divine perfections ; and for the good and happiness of those who are interested in it ; it is full of blessings of grace, mercy, and goodness, called, the sure mercies of David, which are sure to all the seed ; and of exceeding great and precious promises, which are all yea and amen in Christ, and suitable to the cases and circumstances of the Lord's people ; which, fitly spoken and applied, are as pleasant and delightful as apples of gold in pictures of silver, and give inexpressible joy and delight ; / rejoice at thy word, says David,

452 OF SPIRITUAL JOY. a word of promise, as one that findeth qreat spoil, Psalm cxix. 162; which suggest"! a great degree of joy. To which may be added, that this covenant is free, absolute, and unconditional : its promises do not depend on conditions to be performed by men ; but run thus, I will, and they shall ; I will be their God, and they shall be my people ; I will put my fear into, their hearts, and they shall not departfrom me, &c. This covenant is also said to be sure, its matter, its blessings, and its promises ; it is confirmed of God in Christ ; it is established by the oath of God, and ratified by tlio blood of Christ, the blood of the everlast ing covenant ; it is as immoveable as hills and mountains, and more eo ; they may be removed, but the covenant of peace shall never be re moved ; it is what God has commanded for ever ; so that there is no fear of its ever failing ; and affords an indeficient source of joy : all, or the whole of salvation is contained in it, and secured by it, salvation spiritual and eternal ; in it Christ is appointed and settled as the author of it ; the blessings of salvation are provided, and the persons for whom they are designed, given to Christ in it, tho Israel that shall be saved by him with an everlasting salvation. So that David had great reason to say, litis is all my desire ; as containing in it all that was desirable by him, delightful to him, and that could afford him joy and pleasure. ii. Christ, and things relating to him, are the objects of the spiritual joy of saints ; this enters into the very character of true Christians and believers in Christ, who are described as such who rejoice in Christ Jesus, even with joy unspeakable and full of glory, Phil. hi. 3, 1 Pot. i. 8. The things relating to him, which aro matter and ground of joy, aro such as relate both to his person and to his work. First, That relate to his person, as the Word and Son of God, equally a divine person with his Father, the brightness of hisglory, and the express image of his person, Heb. i. 3. As, — 1. The greatness of his person ; the great God, God over all blessed for ever, who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, having all the perfections of deity, the consideration of which yields joy to believers in him ; hence they know and may conclude that all he did and suffered in human nature united to his person, answered the ends for which they were done and suffered ; his righteousness is the righteousness of God, and so unto and upon all them that believe ; his blood the blood of the Son of God, and as such has a virtue to cleanse from all sin ; his sacrifice the sacrifice of himself, and so of a sweet-smelling savour to God, and of efficacy to atone for sin ; and his salvation a great salvation, plenteous and com plete, he being the great God and our Saviour ; hence also they are satisfied that they must be safe in his hands, out of which none can pluck them ; that he is able to keep what they have committed to him, and that he is able to keep them from falling, and to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. — 2. The fitness of his person ; having taken the human nature into union with his divine person, he is very proper to be the Mediator between God and man, and to be a dayVman to lay his hands on both, to take care of things pertaining to the law and justice of God, and the honour of them ; and to make reconciliation for the sins of the people ; a work which neither

OF SPIRITUAL ;ov. 453 angels nor men were fit for and capable of; but God in his infinite wisdom found Christ to be a proper person to give himself a ransom for his people, and deliver them from destruction ; which is great joy unto them. — 3. The fulness of his person ; both the fulness of the godhead, which dwells substantially in him, and the fulness of grace which it has pleased the Father should dwell in him, for the supply of the wants of his people ; in which grace they are strong, and out of which they receive grace for grace, and with joy draw water out of the wells ofsalvation in him, Isa. xii. 3. — 4. The beauty of his person; who is fairer than the children of men, white and ruddy, a complete beauty, the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely; to see him, the King, in his beauty, is a ravishing sight, and which fills with joy unspeakable and full of glory ; this, says the church, after she had described him at large with an air of joy and pleasure, this, this ami able lovely person, is my beloved and myfriend, Cant. v. 10—16. I take no notice of the offices of Christ, of prophet, and priest, and king ; nor of the relations he stands in to his people, of father, husband, brother, friend, though they are a fund of joy to true believers. Secondly, There are other things, which relate to the work of Christ, which are matter of joy to gracious souls : as salvation by him in gene ral, everlasting righteousness wrought out by him in particular, and atonement of sin by his sacrifice. 1. Salvation in general ; this is the work Christ was appointed to, which was given him, and which was with him when he came into the world, and which he came to do, and is become the author of ; the church is called upon to rejoice in a view of his being about to come to effect it ; and it is prophetically said of those who should be upon the spot when he came about this work, that they should say, We will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation, Zech. ix. 9 ; and both Old and New Testament saints have rejoiced in it, in a view of its certain accom plishment, of its fulness and suitableness to them, and of the glory of God displayed in it ; We will rejoice in thy salvation, says David, Psalm xx. 7 ; and in such a frame of soul was Mary, the mother of our Lord, when she said, My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, and great reason there is for the exercise of spiritual joy on this account, since, — 1 . It is a salvation of the souls of men, not of their bodies from temporal evils, but of their souls from everlasting destruc tion ; it is a salvation of the soul, the more noble part of man, which is of more worth than a world, the redemption of which is precious, requires a great price to ransom, and must have ceased for ever, with out any hopes of attaining it, had not Christ undertook it. — 2. It is for sinners, for the chief of sinners, which makes it a joyful sound ; and he has the name of Jesus for this reason, because he saves his people from their sins, than which nothing can be matter of greater joy to sensible sinners 3. It is a salvation of them from sin, even from all sin, original and actual ; and from the guilt of it, and from punishment for it, and from all wrath to come it is deserving of; for Christ has delivered them from that, having sustained it in their room ;

454 OP SPIRITUAL JOY. and being justified by his blood they shall be saved from wrath through him ; and indeed they are saved by him from every enemy, and from whatsoever they may fear any hurt to come to them, sin, Satan, law, hell, and death. — 4. This salvation is entirely free ; it is by grace and not of works ; according to abundant mercy, and not by works of righteousness done by men. The blessings of salvation, signified by gold, fine linen, &c, are indeed to be bought, but without money and without price ; that is, they are to be had freely ; they are all of free grace ; every part and branch of salvation is free ; it is only looking to Christ and being saved ; Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, Isa. xlv. 22. — 5. It is a great salvation, plenteous and complete ; it is great, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva tion ? wrought out by a great saviour, for great sinners ; obtained at a great expense, the blood of Christ ; and expressive of the greatest love ; it is large and plenteous, it includes all the blessings of grace and glory : it is complete, it is from all sin and sorrow, and from every enemy ; those that are saved, are saved to the uttermost, and for ever. — 6. It is eternal ; the Israel of God, all the chosen, redeemed, and called ones, are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation ; Christ is the author of eternal salvation to his people ; and he has, by his blood, obtained for them eternal redemption ; wherefore the ran somed of the Lord shall come to Zion with songs, and with everlasting joy upon their heads. — 7. It is exceeding suitable to the case and circumstances of sinners, and makes for the glory of God ; such a Saviour as Christ is, becomes men lost and undone in themselves; and such a salvation he has wrought out, exactly answers their neces sities, and therefore cannot but be joyful to them ; and the rather do they rejoice at it because of the glory of God, of all the divine perfections which are great in it; if the angels rejoiced at the good-will of God to men in it, and sung glory to God on account of it, how much more reason have men to do so, who have hope of interest in it ! ii. A branch of Christ's work in particular, which he had to work, and has wrought out, is everlasting righteousness ; this, as a surety of his people, he was under obligation to fulfil, even all righteousness ; he was sent, and came into the world, and was made under the law, that the righteousness of it might be fulfilled by him ; and he is become the fulfilling end of it to them that believe ; and such who are made to see their need of his righteousness, and are enabled to look unto it, and lay hold on it, as their righteousness before God, rejoice in it as the church did, Isa. lxi. 10 ; and there are many things respecting this righteousness which are matter and ground of joy to a believing soul. — 1. It is the righteousness of God which is revealed from faith to faith in the gospel ; a righteousness wrought out by one' that is God as well as man ; which is approved by God, and well-pleasing to him ; and which he imputes without works : and being the righteousness of God, and not a creature's, it is unto all and upon all them that believe, and has a sufficient virtue in it to justify all the Lord's people, all the seed of Israel, Isa. xlv. 25. — 2. It is satisfactory to the law and justice of God ; it is commensurate to all the demands of the law ; that com- .-.

OF SPIRITUAL JOY. 455 viandmeat is indeed exceeding broad : it is very extensive, and reaches to every duty, respecting God and man ; but the righteousness of Christ is as large and as broad as that, and exactly answers to it ; and so secures from all condemnation by it ; and being so complete, justice is well pleased and fully satisfied with it, spying no fault nor blemish in it ; wherefore the Lord's people are presented by Christ in it to his Father, unblameable and unreproveable in his sight, Col. i. 22.— 3. It acquits and absolves from all sin ; by it those who believe in Christ are justified from all things, from all sins ; from which there is no justification by the law of Moses, there being some sins for which no sacrifice was provided by that law ; but when a soul is clothed with this change of raiment, the robe of Christ's righteousness, all his filthy garments arc taken from him, and all his iniquities caused to pass from him, and he stands without fault before the throne, before God, the Judge of all. — 4. It renders acceptable in the sight of God ; such as have on the righteousness of Christ are accepted m the beloved ; God is well pleased with him, and with them m him, and that for his righteousness' sake ; they are perfectly comely through his comeliness put upon them ; they are all fair, and no spot in them ; a perfection of beauty. — 5. This righteousness of Christ is entirely free ; it was freely wrought out by Christ, and is freely imputed to men ; it is a free gift bestowed upon them, and as such is received by them ; yea, faith, which receives it, is the gift of God ; and therefore the justified ones are said to be justifiedfreely by the grace of God, Rom. iii. 24. — 6. It affords much peace and comfort to those who see their interest in it ; This work of righteousness is peace : the kingdom of God, or reign ing grace in the hearts of his people, lies in righteousness and peace ; in the righteousness of Christ revealed unto them, and received by faith ; the consequence of which is, peace of soul, and tranquillity of mind. — 7. This righteousness is an everlasting one ; it always con tinues to justify, and to be a constant ground of peace and joy ; it can never be lost : the righteousness of Adam was lost, and so was that of the angels that sinned ; but this will always remain, and be in sight before God, as the justifying righteousness of his people ; My righteousness, says the Lord, shall be for ever. — 8. It entitles to eternal life ; without a righteousness none can inherit the kingdom of God ; and it must be a better righteousness than a man's own that can give a man entrance into the kingdom of heaven; but being justi fied by that, men are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life ; hence justification by the righteousness of Christ is called, the justifi cation of life, Tit. iii. 7. in. Another part of Christ's work, and a very principal one, was to make atonement for sin ; this was the work appointed for him in council and covenant, and declared in prophecy ; namely, to make recon ciliationfor iniquity, Dan. ix. 24 ; and for this purpose he became man, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people ; and in the end of the world appeared in human nature, to put away sin by the sacrifice of him self, Heb. ii. 17 ; and by that one sacrifice he has made perfect expiation of the sins of his people, and which is matter of exceeding great joy

456 OF SPIRITUAL JOY. unto them ; Wejoy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom ice liave now received, the atonement, being reconciled to God by the death of his Son, Rom. v. 10, 11 ; and great reason there is for it, since full and complete pardon of sin proceeds upon it ; God, for Christ's sake, and upon the foot of his atoning sacrifice, forgives all trespasses ; an application of which forgiveness causes joy and gladness, and makes the bones which were broken to rejoice ; a sense of pardoning grace fills the soul with thankfulness to God, and yields abundance of spiritual consolation ; and in this way God would have his people comforted by his ministers, Isa. xl. 1, 2. .hi. Besides the person and work of Christ, there are other things either antecedent to it, or consequent on it ; which are matter of joy to believers in him. As, 1. His incarnation, in order to do his work ; this is spoken of by the evangelic prophet, as if it was over in his days, it being so certain to him and other believers ; To us a child is born ; and this he represents as occasion of great joy, that men would rejoice on account of it, according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil, times of as great rejoicing as can be well named ; and when it actually came to pass, the angel who brought the tidings of it to the shepherds, said, Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy ! Lukeii. 10, 11 ; and the disciples who first had knowledge of the incarnate Saviour, how did they exult and rejoice, saying, We have found the Messiah ! they describe their joy as such who had found a great spoil ; as the prophet Isaiah foretold, John i. 41, 45. — 2. The sufferings and death of Christ, by which he accomplished the work of redemption and salvation ; for though they were painful to Christ, and in some respects occasion mourning to saints, whose sins were the cause of them ; yet they make up a great part of the gospel of salvation ; a crucified Christ is indeed the sum and substance of it ; which, though foolishness to some, and stumbling to others, is to them that are saved the wisdom and power of God ; this is the first and grand article of it, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures ; and makes it the good news it is, and the saying worthy of acceptation ; it affords matter of exultation and even of glorying and boasting, Gal. vi. 14. — 3. The resurrection of Christ from the dead, after ho had finished his work, is another source and spring of joy ; as an angel brought the good news of the incarnation of Christ, so likewise of his resurrection from the dead; to the women who attended the sepulchre of Christ, the angel who rolled back the stone from it said, He is not here ; for he is risen ; the tidings of which they brought with joy to the disciples, Matt, xxviii. 6, 8 ; and what joy did the disciples express on this account ; IVie Lord is risen indeed, say they, and has appeared to Simon ! and still more when they saw him themselves ; Then were the disciples glad, Luke xxiv. 34, John xx. 20 ; and such and so many are the benefits arising from the resurrection of Christ, as well as from his sufferings and death, that believers can take courage and say, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? not only because Christ lias died, but rather because he is risen again, risen again for their justification. — 4. The

OP SPIRITUAL JOY. 457 ascension of Christ to heaven, and his exaltation there, give joy to his saints ; it did to his disciples, who were present at his ascension ; for when he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, instead of sorrowing for it, they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and all true believers by faith see Jesus crowned with glory and honour sitting at the right-hand of God, highly exalted above every name, angels, authorities, principalities, and powers, being sub jected to him ; and he having received gifts for men, which he bestows upon them, even unworthy and rebellious ones ; all which affords them the greatest joy and pleasure ; The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, Psalm xcvii. 1. — 5. The intercession of Christ ; his appearing in the Eresence of God for his people, his advocacy with the Father ; nis ever ving to make intercession for them, is matter of great joy ; and from which they receive much benefit; this brings up the rear of those things which lay the foundation of the triumph of faith ; Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? this is supported not only by the death of Christ, and by his resurrection from the dead, and by his session at the right hand of God ; but by his intercession there ; who also maketh intercession for us, and answers to and removes all charges brought against them. And whereas to them that look for him ho will appear a second time without sin unto salvation, the fore-thoughts and fore-views and firm belief saints have of it, cause them to exult in their present state ; to look up, and lift up their heads, since their redemption draweth nigh, Luke xxi. 28. iv. Some things under the gospel dispensation, and respecting that, are the objects of the joy of gracious souls. 1. The ministration of the gospel ; this is matter of joy to all sen sible and awakened sinners ; the three thousand pricked to the heart under Peter's sermon gladly received the word, preaching pardon and salvation by Christ ? when Christ was preached in Samaria there was great joy in that city, in such who believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God ; when the jailer, who said to the apostles, Sirs, what must 1 do to be saved ? had the word of the Lord spoken to him, and to them in his house, he rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house : and there is great reason for it ; it is the gospel of salvation, which publishes the good tidings of it ; and when accompa nied with the Spirit of God, it is the power of God unto salvation ; it is the voice of Christ, the bridegroom, and every one that hears and knows that voice rejoiceth greatly because of it ; it is a joyful sound of love, grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation ; it is food to hungry souls; the sincere milk of the word, by which new-born babes are nourished and grow ; and by those of riper age it is esteemed more than their necessary food ; they find the word and eat it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts. — 2. The administration of ordinances, baptism and the Lord's supper ; which give such views of Christ in his sufferings and death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, and of the benefits arising from them, as yield delight to believ ing souls ; the eunuch, upon his baptism, went on his way rejoicing ; the supper of the Lord is a feast of fat things, a rich entertainment,

458 OP SPIRITUAL JOY. where the flesh of Christ, as meat indeed, and the blood of Christ, as drink indeed, are presented to faith to feed upon ; these ordinanoes are breasts of consolation, at which saints may suck and be satisfied, and milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of the glory in them ; these are the lattices through which Christ shows himself, and these the galleries in which he is beheld, to the great joy and satisfaction of those who are favoured with a sight of him. — 3. The prosperity of the interest of Christ ; whether it be through the numerous conversions of men, and additions of them to the church, gives joy ; as when Paul and Barnabas, as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, in their way from Antioch to Jerusalem, declared the conversion of the Gentiles, it caused great joy to the brethren, Acts xv. 3 ; or whether through peace, love, and unity, prevailing and subsisting among the saints, which give pleasure to all the well-wishers to Zion's prosperity ; as it did to David, who prayed earnestly for it, Psalm cxxii. 6—9. — 4. The reign of Christ, both spiritual and personal, will cause great joy in the saints. His spiritual reign, and the more glorious appearances of that, when the kingdoms of this world shall become his ; upon which the four-andtwenty ciders, the representatives of gospel churches, will, with the greatest solemnity and reverence, give thanks to him, because he has taken to himself his great power and reigned, Rev. xi. 15 —17; and when antichrist, and the antichristian states, shall be destroyed, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and the Jews converted, these voices shall be heard in heaven, the church, Let us be glad and rejoice, andgive honour to him, for the marriage ofthe Lamb is come, Rev. xix. 1—7 ; and especially when Christ himself shall appear, and his tabernacle shall be with men : and an anticipation of all this by faith, gives to believers a joy and pleasure now ; that things will not always be in the state they now are, but in a much more happy one, even on the earth. v. The heavenly glory and happiness of a future state to all eternity, is the object of the saints' present joy; when they shall actually possess it, they will then enter into thejog of their Lord ; into the place of the celestial feast, to partake of it, where will be fulness of joy ; see Matt, xxv. 10 ; and even now they can rejoice in hope of the glory of God ; believing, that whereas they suffer with Christ, they shall be glorified together; and that when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, they shall appear with him in glory ! and in the faith and hope of this they rejoico and are glad. II. The author and cause of this spiritual joy. — 1. The efficient cause is God ; he who is the object is the author of it, God, Father, Son, and Spirit ; and which is therefore called, The joy of the Lord, Nehem. viii. 10. It is the God of hope, the object, author, and giver of that grace, who fills with joy and peace in believing in Christ, Rom. xv. 13 ; who is God the Father : Christ himself is the author of this joy ; and he calls it, my joy ; as it is both objectively and efficiently; it is he that gives beautyfor ashes, the oil ofjoy for mourning, and the garment of praisefor the spirit of heaviness, John xv. 11, Isa. lxi. 3. And the Spirit of God is concerned in it ; it is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and is ranked with the first of them, Gal. v. 22, and is called ./oy in the

OF SPIRITUAL JOY. 459 Holy Ghost ; because produced by him, Rom. xiv. 17. — 2. The instru ments or means of it are, the ministers of the gospel, through the ministration of the word, and the administration of ordinances ; they are the bringers of good tidings of good, the publishers of peace and salvation, and the means of spreading much joy among the saints, Isa. lii. 7 ; they do not pretend to have dominion over the faith of believers, but to be helpers of their joy. III. The natures and properties of this joy. — 1. It should be con stant ; the exhortations to it are, Rejoice evermore, and rejoice in the Lord always! 1 Thess. v. 16, Phil. iv. 4 ; and there is great encouragement from the Lord always to rejoice in him; and the character of the saints and people of God in this present state of things is, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, 2 Cor. vi. 10 ; yea, the apostle James exhorts believers, to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations, or afflictions, since these all work for good ; are for the trial, brightening, and increasing the graces of the saints, and for the glory of God, James i. 2, 3. Yet, — 2. It is imperfect in the present state, and often interrupted ; sometimes, through the prevalence of indwelling sin, and the breakings forth of the corruptions of the heart ; so that saints have no rest in their bones, no joy in their hearts because of their sin; and cry out with the apostle, O wretched men that they are ! this was sometimes the case of David, Isaiah, and the apostle Paul, Psalm xxxviii. 3, Isa. vi. 5, Rom. vii. 23, 24 ; sometimes through the temptations of Satan, who throws his fiery darts, which give pain, and sorely grieve ; and when he has leave, sifts as wheat is sifted, which occasions great disquietude and distress; and beats and buffets, which causes great trouble and uneasiness ; and he goes about like a roaring lion to affright and terrify when he cannot devour. And also through divine desertions, for when God hides his face from his people, they are troubled ; nay, left in such darkness and distress, as even to be dis tracted with terrors, and ready to die ; as was the case with David, Heman, and others. Yet, — 3. This joy may come again, be restored, and greatly increase : joy sometimes comes in the morning, after a nighi| of darkness ; and the joys of salvation have been restored after the bones have been broken, through backslidings and falls into sin ; yea, there may be an increase and overflow of joy ; and it is promised, The meek shall increase theirjoy in the Lord, Isa. xxix. 19 ; this is done by enlarged discoveries of the love of God, directions into it, and a fresh shedding abroad of it in the heart ; by Christ, the Sun of righteousness, arising with healing in his wings ; by some renewed sights of Christ, and appropriating views of him ; and by an increase of faith in him ; for as that grace grows, there is a furtherance of joy, called, The furtherance and the joy of faith ; it is in a way of believing souls are filled with joy and peace, and through a sight by faith of an unseen Jesus. Meditation on the love of God, and person of Christ, contributes much unto it ; and prayer is often a means of it ; God makes his people joyful in the house of prayer : the preaching of the gospel is frequently blessed to this purpose : it has a tendency to promote spiritual joy ; and, indeed, the end and design of it is, that joy might be full. —

460 OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OF MIND. 4. It is a joy that is unknown to the men of the world ; a stranger, one that is a stranger to God and godliness, to Christ and the things of Christ, to the Spirit and to the gospel, intermeddles not with it, has no experience of it, nor share in it, it passes the understanding of a natural man ; it is an enigma, not to be unriddled by him, that the saints should be sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing ! — 5. It is unspeak able ; not to be fully expressed by those who experience it ; it is better experienced than expressed ; it is something like what the apostle Paul felt when caught up to the third heaven ; and it is full of glory, being concerned with eternal glory and happiness ; it is a rejoicing in hope ofthe glory of God, Rom. v. 2. — 6. It is a joy that cannot be utterly lost or taken away in the present life ; the principle of it always remains, though it is not always in exercise ; the groundwork and foundation of it always continues, the unalterable love of God, and the person and grace of Christ ; your joy no man taketh from you ; and in the future state it will be full and complete. OF PEA.CE AND TRANQUILLITY OF MIND. Next to Love and Joy, in order, stands Peace ; The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, Peace, Gal. v. 22. Charity, or love, and peace, are sometimes mentioned together, 2 Tim. ii. 22 ; and where the one is, there is the other ; especially if joy is in company with love, peace must be an attendant. Concerning which may be considered, I. What peace is meant.—Not an external peace ; such as is some times enjoyed by whole bodies of men ; as in nations, when free from wars and rumours of wars ; and in churches, when at rest from perse cution, and clear of animosities and contentions among themselves: and in good men, when at peace with their neighbours ; which they are to follow after, and cultivate as much as in them lies ; and when God sometimes makes their enemies to be at peace with them : and in individuals, when every man sits under his vine and fig-tree, none making him afraid ; and enjoying much prosperity and hapujness. But it is an internal, spiritual peace of soul, which is an ease of mind from distress through sin, and a sense of wrath. i. Sin, upon conviction, is made exceeding sinful, and is very dis tressing ; this is usually through the law ; By the law is the knowledge of sin ; not only of external acts of sin in life ; but of the inward lusts of it in the heart ; I had not known lust, says the apostle ; that is, that it was sin, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet ; and when such knowledge is had of sin, it appears exceeding sinful, very odious, and gives great uneasiness. When the guilt of sin lies heavy upon the conscience, it is a burden too heavy for a guilty sinner to bear ; as it was to David, Psalm xxxviii. 3, 4 ; and especially where there is not a glimpse of pardoning grace and mercy ; as in Cain. There is a conscience in every man ; and when it does its office, it causes great anxiety, grief, and trouble, more or less ; when the mind is opened by conviction, under a work of the law, wrath is let into tho

OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OF MIND. 461 conscience ; The law worketh wrath ; along with the knowledge of sin by the law, wrath from heaven is revealed in it against all unrighteous ness and ungodliness ; and it leaves a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation against it ; which wrath sometimes lies so hard and heavy as to cause terror, and even distraction ; as in Heman, Psalm lxxxviii. 7, 15, 16. So that sin convicted of, makes dreadful work in the heart of an awakened sinner ; such are pricked and pained at their very hearts ; and in their compunction cry out, What shall we do to be saved I they are wounded with a sense of sin, and the arrows of divine wrath stick fast in them ; the hand of God presses them sore ; their wounds are grievous and intolerable ; for a wounded spirit who can bear ? This inward distress is sometimes expressed by outward gestures and words ; as by smiting upon the breast, not daring to look up to heaven ; as in the publican, crying out, God, be merciful to me, a sinner ! and by smiting upon the thigh; as in Ephraim, saying he was ashamed and confounded, because he bore the reproach of his youth, Jer. xxxi. 19 ; such usually express themselves as the three thousand did, convinced under Peter's sermon, inquiring the way of salvation ; What shall we do ? or more explicitly, with the jailer, What shall we do to be saved I lamenting their lost and undone state, in the words of Isaiah, Woe is me, I am undone ! ii. Spiritual peace is a deliverance and freedom from this distress ; which in general is wrought by the Spirit of God, being the comforter of convinced sinners ; for that is his particular and peculiar work ; he first convinces men of sin, righteousness, and judgment ; and then he comforts them, by taking of the things of Christ, and showing them to them : he does by them as God did with the people of Israel of old, allured them, and brought them into the wilderness, and then spake comfortably unto them ; he causes them to see their sicknesses and their wounds, as he did Ephraim and Judah, and the inability of themselves and others to cure them, and then ho heals and binds them up. 1. By leading them to the blood of Christ, by which their wounds are healed ; With his stripes we are healed : that is, with the blood flow ing from them, Isa. liii. 6; the blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead, the panacea that cures every wound, and he is the physician there ; he is the Sun of righteousness that arises on distressed souls in beams of light, and joy, and love, and with healing in his wings ; which healing is no other than pardon of sin, and the application of it ; the conse quence of which must be, joy, peace, and tranquillity of soul ; Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee ! Matt. ix. 2 ; for what can make a soul more cheerful, and give it more peace and pleasure, than a view of pardon by the blood of Jesus, and this given by Jesus him self? through an application of pardon, guilt is removed from the conscience, tho burden is taken off. The blood of Christ applied, cleanses from all sin, takes away the guilt, of every sin, and leaves none behind ; the heart sprinkled by it from an evil conscience, is purged from dead works, which lay as a heavy incumbrance upon it; Blessed therefore is ho whose transgression is forgiven, or is lifted up, as the

462 OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OP MIND. word -signifies ; which is lifted up from the sinner, and taken off from his conscience, as a burden on it, and he is eased of it. It is in this way that peace is spoken to a guilty sinner ; hence the blood of Jesus is said to speak better things than that of Abel ; the blood of Abel called aloud for vengeance on the shedder of it ;. but the blood of Christ speaks pardon and peace to condemned criminals. Peace is made for enemies and rebels by the blood of Christ ; and this blood, by the Spirit of God, applied to such consciences who have been awakened by him, produces peace and quietness there ; let a soul be as it were in a storm and tempest, if pardon by the blood of Christ is pronounced, all is hueh and quiet in a moment. — 2. By leading to the righteousness of Christ ; a man's own righteousness will not yield him any solid peace ; for there is no justification nor salvation by it ; and it must at best be very variable, unstable, and inconstant ; since man's righteousness is very imperfect, he sins in all, and in the best he does ; and it is at most but while he is doing, or thinks he is doing, something good, that he has any peace ; but when there is any interruption in doing, or he ceases from it, his peace is broken. But the righteousness of Christ, which is perfect, pure, and spotless, by which a man is justified from all his sins, lays a solid foundation for peace. " Every religion,'' says Bezac, which opposes any thing to the wrath of God, than the alone innocence, righteousness, and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, apprehended by faith, robs God both of his perfect justice and mercy ; and therefore is false, and formed to deceive men." This being revealed and applied to a sinner, and faith wrought in him to receive it, as his justifying righteousness before God ; and the sentence of justification by it pro nounced in his conscience by the Spirit of God, produce peace in it ; hence righteousness and peace are mentioned together, the one as the fruit of the other, Rom. v. 1. — 3. By leading mto the truths of the gospel ; which is the Spirit's work, and in doing which he acts the part of a Comforter ; When he, the Spirit of 1 ruth, is come, before spoken of as a Comforter, he will guide you into all truth, John xvi. 13 ; it is not by the law that peace is had, that was delivered in a storm, in the midst of blackness, darkness, and tempest ; and they that heard it, were terrified with it, and entreated it might not be spoken to them any more ; and surely they that desire to be under it, do not hear it, so as to understand the voice of it ; for it pronounces the whole world guilty before God ; it curses in case of a breach of any of its commands ; it is the killing letter, the ministration of condemnation and death. But it is by the gospel, and the truths of it, which the Spirit of God enlightens the minds of men into, and makes application of, that peace is enjoyed ; that is called, The gospel of peace, not only because it proclaims peace made by the blood of Christ, is the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and the ministers of it, the publishers of that peace ; but because it speaks peace to the conscience of a sinner, when Christ comes by his Spirit, and preaches peace unto them, and makes the word effectual to such a purpose ; the several truths of the gospel have a tendency to speak comfort to them, and to free them from that ' Confessio Fidei, c. 3, *rt. 26, p. 16.

OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OP MIND. 463 spirit of bondage, the law has brought them into, and holds them in, for that genders to bondage, encourages and increases it ; but they that know the truth, the truth of the gospel, spiritually and experi mentally, especially that great truth, free and full salvation by Christ -for sinners, the truth shall make them free, set them at liberty, and fill them with joy and peace, John viii. 32. — 4. By leading them into the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises ; which, as it is a cove nant of life, so of peace ; and is a covenant of peace which cannot be removed; and is so called, not only in relation to the article in it, con cerning peace to be made by Christ, the Mediator of it ; but because it lays a lasting foundation for peace and comfort ; its blessings are the sure mercies of David, spiritual, solid, and substantial ones, and which last for ever, which are founded in the free sovereign grace and will of God, and come to men through Christ being made a curse for them. The promises of it are exceeding great and precious ; great in them selves, their origin, matter, and use ; and precious to them that believe, and see their interest in them ; these, fitly and seasonably spoken, are like apples of gold in pictures of silver ; and being opened and applied by the holy Spirit of promise, afford strong consolation to the heirs of promise ; what peace did a view of covenant-interest in its blessings and promises yield to David, amidst his sinful infirmities, and the troubles of his family ! 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. — 5. By leading them into the love of God ; for this is the Spirit's work ; by whom not only the love of God is shed abroad into the hearts of his people, which occasions peace and joy, and even glorying in the midst of tribulations ; but they are directed and guided by him into it ; The Lord, that is, the Lord the Spirit, as he stands distinguished from the other Persons in the text, direct your hearts into the love of God, KarevOvvai direct, as in and by a straight line, immediately into it, not in a round-about way, in a long train and course of duties, and from thence to fetch the evidence of interest in the love of God ; which, at best, makes it very precarious, and leaves great disquietude and uneasiness : but when the Spirit leads directly into a view of interest in it, and bears witness to it, and grants a delightful sensation of it, the effect of this is solid, permanent peace ; There is nofear in love ; the love of God the Spirit leads into ; But perfect love casteth outfear, slavish, distressing, tormenting fear ; where that has a place, the other removes, and instead of it, or the effect of it, is tranquillity and peace of mind, 1 John iv. 18. Now this peace is enjoyed through faith in Christ ; the God of hope fills with all joy and peace in believing ; in believing in the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ ; they that trust in him are kept in perfect peace ; as their faith is, so is their peace ; if their faith is stead fast, their peace is permanent : and it is much enjoyed also in the use of gospel-ordinances ; gospel-churches, under the power and influence of a gospel spirit, are peaceable habitations, and quiet resting-places ; gospel-ordinances are ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace; these are the still waters, or waters of quietness, or rest, beside which the saints are led ; and the green pastures, where they are made to lie down and take their ease and rest.

404 OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OP MIND. II. I go on to inquire, who are the subjects of this peace. I. Not sinful men, or unregenerate sinners ; There is no peace, saitli my God, to the wicked, Isa. Ivii. 21 ; whatever outward peace and prosperity they may enjoy, they have no inward spiritual peace ; though they are not in trouble, as other men, in outward trouble, as to body or estate ; nor in soul-trouble, or in a concern about their immortal souls, and the welfare of them ; yet this ease is no other than stupidity, and a carnal, dangerous security and indolence ; and is owing to the igno rance of themselves, and of their state ; The way ofpeace they know not, the way to true peace with God, and peace of conscience ; for whilst they cry, Peace and safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them, Rom. iii. 17. — 2. Nor self-righteous persons, who' trust in themselves that they are righteous, and fetch their peace from thence ; but their trust is a spider's web, and such webs shall not become garments ; nor shall they cover themselves with their works ; and so shall not have peace and comfort ; and of them it is said, the way ofpeace they know not, Isa. lix. G, 8, and to such self-righteous persons Jehovah says, I will declare thy righteousness, what a vain, useless thing it is in the business of jus tification before God, and with respect to peace to a man's self ; aid thy works, for they shall not profit thee, in the affair of salvation, and to give peace and comfort, Isa. Ivii. 12, 13. — 3. Only justified and pardoned sinners have true, solid peace in themselves ; those who are justified by Christ's righteousness have peace with God through him, and whose sins are pardoned through his blood, they are blessed, and blessed with peace ; for with such righteous and happy ones it will be well at death, and to all eternity ; when they die they enter into peace, and rest in their beds ; the end of the perfect and upright man is peaco ; ho enjoys much now, and shall be perfectly possessed of it hereafter. — 4. Believers in Christ, and who trust in the Lord, enjoy true peace of soul, Isa. xxvi. 3.'; such whose hearts are fixed, trusting in the Lord, are not afraid of evil tidings; these do not disturb their peace, let them come from what quarter they will ; from the suggestions of their own hearts, from the temptations of Satan, or from the world and wicked men in it; the falsehood of which they are soon able to detect ; and their faith and trust in God fortifies them against them.— 5. Spiritually-minded persons have a large share of inward peace of soul ; To be spiritually minded is life and peace, Rom. viii. 6 ; they who mind carnal and earthly things, though they seek peace to themselves in this way, do not find it ; for a mans life, the peace, comfort, and happiness of it, consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth; for though he promises himself much peace, and that lasting, in the goods he has accumulated and laid up ; yet these may be soon taken away from him, or he from them. — 6. They that love the law of God, his doctrines, ordinances, ways, and worship, usually enjoy much peace of soul ; this the Psalmist attests by his own know ledge and experience ; Great peace have tliey which love thy law, Psalm cxix. 165, or thy doctrine, especially the doctrine of peace, pardon, and salvation by Christ ; such who have drunk into this doctrine experi mentally, find peace in their souls ; nor are they easily offended with

OP PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY OF MIND. 4G5 what they meet with in themselves or from others : they are sons of peace, who receive the gospel of peace ; and they enjoy much who walk in wisdom's paths, which are paths of peace ; and such who worship God according to the rule of his word, peace is upon them, and upon the Israel of God. — 7. They are the people and children of God who are the subjects of this peace ; The Lord will bless his people with peace, Psalm xxix. 11 ; his covenant-people, the people given to Christ, and saved by him, and who are effectually called by his Spirit and grace, and who are the children of God, the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Great shall be the peace of thy children, Isa. liv. 13 ; the children of the church, the children of Christ, and the children of God, all to whom the Spirit of adoption is given, crying, Abba, Father. Now the seat of this grace m these subjects, is the heart and mind ; for it is an internal frame of mind, it rules in the heart, and keeps and guards the heart and mind, Col. iii. 15, Phil. iv. 7; it lies in the breast of a saint; and what protects, preserves, and keeps it there, is the breast-plate offaith and love, of faith in Christ and love to him. III. The author and causes of this peace.—1. The efficient cause is God, hence called the peace of God, because it comes from him ; and he the God of peace, because he is the author of it, even God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Sometimes the Father is meant, The God. of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus ; that is, the Father of Christ, who raised him from the dead, to whom his resurrection is often ascribed, Heb. xiii. 20 ; and peace is often wished from him, as in most of the Epistles ; and also from Christ the Son of God, who is not only the peace-maker, but the peace-giver, in whom and from whom the saints have peace, when in the world tribulation, My peace I give unto you, &c, John xvi. 33, and xiv. 27; and peace is expressly called a fruit or grace of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22, and is prayed for as such. — 2. The moving cause of it is the grace and good-will of God : grace is always wished for along with it, and is usually set before it, as being the spring of it ; and the angels in their song sung, Peace on earth, and good-will towards men, signifying that the peace men had on earth was owing to the good-will of God towards them, Luke ii. 14.— 3. The instruments of it are the word, and the ministers of it : the gospel is the word not only preaching peace by Christ, but the means of administering peace to distressed minds ; and the ministers of it, by publishing peace, are the instruments by whom the Lord speaks peace to wounded consciences. IV. The nature and properties of it. It is a gift of God, and which none can give but himself, and an excellent one it is, worth praying for, and worth having; Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means, 2 Thess. iii. 16 : it is a free gift, unmerited, and springs from grace, and is what the world cannot give, John xiv. 27. — 2. It is a blessing : the Jews, when they wished happiness to any, it was usually in this form, Peace be to you, that including all prosperity in it ; and when the Lord blesses his people, it is with peace, Psalm xxix. 11. — 3. This is called great peace, Psalm cxix. 165 ; it is great in quality, and sometimes great in quantity, abundance of it, peace VOL. II. H H

466 OP CONTENTMENT OF MIND. like a flowing river. — 4. It is said to be perfect, Isa. xxvi. 3, though sometimes saints for peace have great bitterness, as Hezekiah had, yet the ground and foundation of their peace is perfect, solid, and sub stantial ; as the love of God, which is unchangeable, the covenant of peace which can never be removed, the person, blood, and righteous ness of Christ, which have always the same virtue and efficacy. — 5. It is a peace which passcth all understanding, Phil. iv. 7, of a natural and unregenerate man, who is a stranger to it, has no experience of it, intermeddles not with it, and can form no judgment about it. — 6. It is what cannot be taken away ; When God giveth quietness, who then can make trouble ? Job xxxiv. 29 ; not at that time at least; and though it may be interrupted, it cannot be destroyed ; not by the world's tribulations, nor by Satan's temptations, nor by man's own corruption. OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. Contentment of mind naturally follows upon joy and peace : where joy abounds and peace rules in the heart, contentment is : it is no where to be found but in a godly man ; in Christians of the first rank and class : the heathens talked much of it, but were not found in the practice of it ; and indeed few men are ; it is rara avis in terris ; an ungodly man is an utter stranger to it ; the ungodly are like a troubled sea, never at rest. Contentment is a branch of truo godliness, or rather a super-addition to it, which makes it greatly ornamental and profitable ; for godliness with contentment is great gain, 1 Tim. vi. 6. It will be proper to inquire, I. What it is; and it is no other than an entire acquiescence of a man's mind in his lot and portion, in his state and condition in the present life, be it what it may, prosperous or adverse. i. As contraries servo to illustrate each other, this may be known by what is contrary to it, or by what it is contrary unto ; as, — 1. Contentment and envy are contrary to one another ; envying and strife go together, and where there is strife and contention there is no contentment, but confusion and every evil werk ; a man that envies the superior or equal happiness of another, neither of which he can bear, inwardly pines and frets at it. Envying and fretting meet in the same persons, and are equally dehorted from ; and are evils to be found in good men, when they observe the prosperity of the wicked, and dwell upon their own afflictions, and are contrary to that charity which envieth not ; to rest and acquiesco in the will of God, which becometh saints ; and where the sin of envy is predominant, a man can have no true contentment of mind ; envy is rottenness of the bones, it gnaws upon a man, torments him, eats out his very vitals ; Wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. — 2. Content ment is opposite to avarice, and avarice to that ; and therefore the one must be quitted in order to possess the other. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have, Heb. xiii. 5 ; a covetous man cannot be a truly contented man ; he cannot

OF CONTENTMENT OP MIND. 4G7 be content with what he has, he always wants more. The Greek word for covetousness is irAecwefia, a having or a desire to have more ; not but that there may be a lawful desire of having more in some cases and for some good ends and purposes, and in submission to the will of God ; but it is an anxious, immoderate, and unbounded desire of more which is criminal; and especially to have it in an unlawful way, and when a person has much already ; it is often usual with men to fix upon the pitch of wealth and riches they are desirous of attaining to, and think if they could attain to that they should be content ; now such persons, until they arrive at such a pitch, must be all the while in a state of discontent ; and should they arrive to it they are not sure of content ; nay they seldom have it, but then enlarge their desires and extend their limits : in short they never have enough, but are like the horse leech, crying, Give, give, more and more ; and in other things persons ' of this complexion are like that creature, of which naturalists'1 observe it has no passage through, it takes in all it can but lets out nothing ; as a covetous man grasps at all he can, but will part with nothing ; and like the said creature, which breaks and bursts with its own fulness. —3. Contentment is opposite to pride and ambition. A proud am bitious man cannot bear that any should be above him, or upon a footing with him ; and when he observes this, it gives him uneasiness, and fills him with disquietude and discontent ; yea, let his pride and ambition be ever so much gratified, he is not content, he still wants more; for the proud man enlarges his desires as hell, or the grave and like that cannot be satisfied, which, how full soever, never says It is enough, Prov. xxx. 16 ; for though the world is set in their hearts, and they have all that is in it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they are not content ; as it is reported of Alexander, when he had conquered the whole world as he thought, sat down and cried because there was not another world to conquer, so boundless were his pride and ambition, and so little contentment had he in his acquisitions. — 4. Anxiety of mind, or a distressing care about worldly things ; as about food, drink, and raiment, is contrary to true con tentment of mind ; and therefore our Lord dissuades from it by a variety of arguments ; which may be read in Matt. vi. 25—34 ; Take no thoughtfor your life, &c, to do this is to act below the creatures ; they might learn better things from them : besides, such anxious care is needless, and of no avail, nothing is to be got by it ; God will take care of his people ; the grand point is, to seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and leave all other things with him ; which is the best way to have contentment and happiness. — 5. Murmurings and repinings under adverse dispensations of providence, are the reverse of contentment of mind ; such as are frequently to be observed in the Israelites in the wilderness, who were a discontented people, often murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and repining at afflictive pro vidences ; and from which Christians are dehorted by their example ; Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured ; and murmurers and complainers are joined together, and both must be reckoned i Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 11, c.34. hh2

4G8 OF CONTENTMENT OP MIND. among discontented persons ; for which murmurs and complaints there is no reason, not even under afflictive providences : not with the people of God ; for their afflictions are fatherly chastisements, nor with wicked men, though they are punishments ; for wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins ? since it is less than he deserves, Lam. iii. 39. ii. What contentment of mind is, may be learned from the several phrases by which it is expressed in Scripture. As, First, By being contented with what a man has ; Be content with such things as ye liave, Heb. xiii. 5, rots trapovo-iv, with present things ; things future aro not the object of contentment ; a man is not to look to things to come for it ; which he may never have ; and if he should have them, cannot promise himself contentment in them, as before observed ; but they aro present things, things he is now in possession of he should be content with. — 1. Be they more or less, whether a man has a larger or a lesser share of the things of this world, whether riches or poverty, a man should bo content ; it was a wise petition of Agur, Give me neither riches nor poverty ; feed me with food convenient for me, Prov. xxx. 8 ; but be it either, a man should be satisfied with what God gives ; if God gives him riches, ho should be thankful, knowing that these come of God ; and if they increase, he should not set his heart upon them, considering they are uncertain things, fleeting ones, make themselves wings and fly away ; and therefore should be prepared for the loss of them, and be content when so it is ; and the way to be content with what a man has at present, is rather to magnify it in his own mind than to lessen it ; and to think, that God has given him all things richly to enjoy ; so said the apostle when he had but little, 1 Tim. vi. 17. It may be said, a man may very well be content with present riches ; but how- can he be content with present poverty ? Ho may ; for poverty is no disgrace to a man, when it does not come through negligence and sloth ; many a good man and an honourable Christian have been poor ; God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom ; Lazarus was once a beggar ; and our Lord himself became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. The advice of the apostlo James a, Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted ; exalted in Christ, and made a partaker of the riches of grace, and has a right to the riches of glory through him. — 2. Men should be content, as with present advantages and growing profit, so with present losses, which might have been greater ; as Job was with the loss of his substance, his children, and his health, and perhaps all in one day ; saying, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord! Job i. 21 ; for let the saint lose what he may, he cannot lose his God, his portion, and his all, his Redeemer and Saviour, his better and more enduring substance, his inheritance reserved in the heavens ; and therefore takes joyfully the spoiling of his goods, and is content with the loss of earthly things — 3. With present reproaches, indignities, and ill-usage from men, on account of religion ; like Moses, esteeming reproach for Christ's sake greater riches than all the treasures in

OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. 469 Egypt ; yea, our Lord pleased not himself, but was content to bear all the reproaches of the people on him ; and who, for the encouragement of his followers, pronounces them blessed when reviled and reproached. — 4. With present afflictions of whatsoever kind, whether from God or men ; for in whatsoever way, they rise not out of the dust, nor come by chance ; but according to the will and appointment of God ; and though not joyous, but grievous, yet sanctified, yield good fruit, and work together for good ; and are the means of making men more partakers of divine holiness ; and those light present afflictions, which are but for a moment, work a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Particularly, — 5. Having food and raiment ; food for the present day, and raiment for present use, o-Kcnao-ixara, coverings from the inclemencies of weather, among which houses to dwell in are included ; Let us, says the apostle, therewith be content ; this was all that Jacob desired to have ; and which sometimes good men have been without, and yet contented. But are saints to be content with present grace, present knowledge, present experience? &c They may desire more grace, an increase of faith, and every other grace, as the apostles did ; they may earnestly covet the best gifts, and yet not envy nor repine at the superior gifts and graces of others ; they may forget things behind, and press towards those before, and yet be thankful for past experiences, and for present ones ; and bless God for the measure of spiritual light and knowledge they havo, and yet humbly desire an increase, and make use of proper means for that purpose ; though the apostle, in the text referred to, seems to have respect only to temporal things. Secondly, This contentment of mind is expressed by the apostle from his own experience ; / have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, Phil. iv. 11. — 1. The apostle means not his state of unregeneracy ; he says not, in whatsoever state I have been ; but, in whatsoever state I am ; an unregenerate man is content to be in such a state, .like Moab of old, at ease from his youth, and settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vesser to vessel, but remains quiet and undisturbed ; repents not of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? is in no apprehension of any danger, but like a man asleep and secure in the midst of the sea, and on the top of a mast ; and, indeed, it is the business and policy of Satan, the strong man armed, to keep the goods in peace : a state of unregeneracy is a state of ignorance of God, and of his righteous law, and a state of unbelief, in which state the apostle had been, 1 Tim. i. 1 3 ; and while in it, he thought he ought to do many things contrary to tho name of Christ ; and imagined himself to be in a good state and condition, and alive without the law ; it was not only a sinful state, but a stato of selfrighteousness ; when the apostle thought himself, touching the righteous ness of the law, blameless, and so safe and secure, and greatly contented with it ; but this is not here meant. But, — 2. His state after conver sion, his spiritual state, it may be ; believing his covenant-interest in God ; My God shall supply all your need, &c, and being persuaded of his interest in the love of God, and that nothing should separate him

470 OF CONTENTMENT OP MIND. from it ; knowing Christ in whom he had believed, and being satisfied of his ability and faithfulness to keep what he had committed to him, and of his being found in him, not having on his own righteousness, but his ; and in this the apostle was content ; yea, with the worst part of his spiritual state, even when in temptation, when buffeted by Satan ; since he was assured, that the grace of Christ was sufficient for him ; and since Christ is able to succour them that are tempted, and prays for his tempted ones, that their faith fail not ; knows how to deliver them that are tempted, and that in the best manner, and in the most seasonable time ; therefore they are contented ; as they are also even in times of desertion and darkness, when they are directed and encouraged to trust in the Lord, and stay themselves on the mighty God of Jacob, and to wait for him that hides his face from them, as the church was determined to do, Mic vii. 7—9 ; and there is great reason for this contentment, faith, and expectation; since light is sown for the righteous, and to the upright it arises in darkness. Psalm xcvii. 11, and cxii. 4. But, — 3. The apostle chiefly means his outward state after conversion ; with which he was content : and which lay,—In his afflictions, reproaches, and persecutions ; these attended him wherever he came, and he expected them, and not only bore them patiently, but endured them with pleasure ; I take pleasure, says he, in reproaches, in necessities, &c, yea, he gloried in them, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.—In his bonds and imprisonment ; in such a state he was when he expressed his contentment in whatsoever state he was, and so in that ; for he was in bonds, a prisoner at Rome, when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians; and he scoms to show a sort of pride in his title and character as the Lord's prisoner, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ, Eph, iii. 1 ; and reckoned himself so happy a man on all other accounts, that he wished king Agrippa, and all in court, were altogether as he was, excepting his bonds ; and though he did not wish them to others, he was content with them himself. — The phrase, in whatsoever state, includes both prosperity and adversity ; an abundance and a scarcity of the necessaries of life ; a fulness, and want of them, as explained in the next verse ;- the wise man says, Eccles. vii. 14, J* the day ofprosperity bejoyful ; that is no hard lesson to learn : But in the day of adversity consider from whence it comes, and for what end, and be content with your portion ; this is not so easily learnt ; the apostle had however learned it : as also, — To be content both to live and to die; since he was persuaded Clirist would be magnified in lus bedy, whether by life or death ; and though he knew it would be much better for him to depart and be with Christ, which was desir able by him ; yet it would be more to the advantage of the interest ol Christ, and the good of the churches, to continue longer on earth ; this put him into a strait ; however, he left it with Cod, and was content to depart or stay, as he thought fit : some good men, in a nt of discontent, have wished to die, and have expressed an uneasiness at life, by reason of their troubles and afflictions ; as Job, and the Erophets Elijah and Jonah, which was their infirmity; but one that as learned the lesson of divine contentment, and is under the infln

OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. 471 ence of that grace, he is content to live whilst God has any thing to do by him, and he is content to die, when he thinks fit to dismiss hirn from service. Now such a disposition of mind, as to be content in every state of life, appears in a Tnan's thankfulness for all he enjoys ; when, as advised in every thing, in every state, and for every thing, be it what it may, he gives thanks ; when he makes known his requests to God with thanksgivings, for what he has had, and asks for what he wants in submission to his will ; thus Job blessed God for what he gave him, and when he took it away from him. This grace shows itself much in a quiet resignation of the will to the will of God, in what condition soever a man is, especially in adverse dispensations of providence ; instances of which we have in Aaron, in Eli, in David, and others ; as also in bearing cheerfully all things which are disagree able to flesh and blood ; as in the apostles, who departed from the -council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ ; and in the believing Hebrews, who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods; and in trie apostle Paul, who took pleasure in reproaches and distress for Christ's sake. — 4. The word used by the apostle in the place under consideration for content, aurapxr/y, properly signifies self-sufficient, or being sufficient of one's self ; which, strictly speaking, and in the highest sense, is only true of God, who is El- Shaddai, God all-sufficient, who stands in need of nothing, nor does the goodness of any extend to him, nor is it of any avail unto him ; he is blessed in himself, and can have no addition to his happiness from a creature ; but in a lower sense is true of some men ; who, though they have not an inderivativo sufficiency of themselves, yet receive a suffici ency in themselves from God ; a sufficiency of spiritual things ; his grace is sufficient for them, and they have a sufficiency of it to bear them up under temptations, trials, and exercises of life, and to carry them through them ; the God of all grace, as he is able to make, so he does make all grace to abound towards them, that they always having all-sufficiency of grace thus received from him, may abound in the performance of every good work ; a sufficiency of strength is given, so that they can do all things required of them through Christ strength ening them ; and which is the reason the apostle gives of his being able to conduct in every state of life as he did, and a sufficiency of temporal things is given to the Lord's people, at least so as to answer to their exigencies, and ,even to give them content ; and especially when they have Agur's wish, neither riches nor poverty, but food con venient for them; or which is sufficient, as some versions have it, Prov. xxx. 8. — 5. This lesson of contentment is explained by what the apostle says in the following verse ; I know both how to bo abased, and I know how to abound ; both to be full and to be hungry; that is, he knew by experience what these things meant, and how to behave in such circumstances. — As, to be abased, or humbled, treated with contempt by men, and to be in low and mean circumstances ; as when he was obliged to work with his own hands, and these ministered to his own and to the necessities of others ; and when in very distressed circumstances, in voyages and journeys, shipwrecked, and in perils on

.172 OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. various accounts, in pain and weariness, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness ; and he had learned to bear all these things patiently, and with submission to the will of God, and to be content with them. Also, he knew how to abound, or wffat it was to be high in the esteem of men, and to have an affluence of the things of life, an abundance, a fulness of them, at least, as he judged it ; and he knew how to behave in the midst of plenty, as not to be elated with it, and carry it haughtily to others ; he learned not to abuse it, but to make a good use of it, for the relief of the necessitous, and for the interest of religion.—He knew also what it was*both to be full and to be hungry, to have a full meal and to want one ; to be at a good table, and to be almost starved and famished ; and he was instructed of God, how to conduct in such different circumstances, as neither to abuse his fulness, nor repine at his wants ; and for confirmation, and to show hew deeply his mmd was impressed with these things, he repeats them, both to abound and to suffer need, to have an overflow of things, and to be entirely deprived of them; and yet in all to be content. To be stripped of every thing, to have nothing, and yet be content, is won derful I if a man has something, though but little, there is reason for contentment ; but for a man to have nothing and be content, this is extraordinary ; and yet this was the case of the apostle and his brethren, who were sometimes hungry, and had nothing to eat ; thirsty, and nothing to drink ; naked and no clothes to put on ; and had no dwelling-place to shelter them from inclemencies ; and yet content : the truth of these words, and the riddle in them, the apostles knew, and knew how to solve ; As having nothing, and yet possessing all things ; and this made them contented. Thirdly, This contentment of mind is expressed by a man's having enough. Esau, who was a worldly man, and Jacob, who was a spi ritual, upright, and plain-hearted man, both said they had enough, Gen. xxxiii. 9, 11, but in a different sense ; and, indeed, they use different phrases ; for though they are the same in our version, yet not in the original : Esau at first refused the present of his brother Jacob, say ing, / have enough, an >b ur' which may be rendered, I have much ; now a man may have much, and yet not have enough in his own account ; ho may have much, and yet may want more, and so not be content ; but Jacob urged his brother to tako his present, saying also, / have enough; or rather, as it should be rendered » h w I have all things, or every thing ; and a man that has everything, has enough indeed, and has reason to bo content ; and this is the case of every gracious man, and these the circumstances of every true believer m Christ, and such therefore ought to be content. Fourthly, This contentment is expressed by a man's being satisfied with what he has : earthly riches are not satisfying things, especially to such who are greedy of them, or have an immoderate love for them ; one that knew human nature full well says, he that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver, Eccles. v. 10 ; but riches of grace are satis fying ; the unsearchable riches of Christ, all spiritual things, are of a satisfying nature to spiritual men * the Lord satisfies their mouth with

OF CONTENTMENT OP MIND. 473 good things; with the provisions, the goodness, and fatness of his house ; the poor of Zion he satisfies with spiritual bread ; he satiates the weary soul, and replenishes every sorrowful soul, Psalm ciii. 5 ; especially the love of God is exceeding satisfying to a gracious soul ; O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord, even to contentment ; such as are favoured after this manner, are satisfied as with marrow and fatness, Deut. xxxiii. 23 ; and, indeed, a little of the good things of this life, and the love of God with them, are more satisfying, and give more contentment, than all the riches of the world can without it, Prov. xv. 17. I proceed to inquire, II. How any come by true contentment of mind. 1. It is not natural to man ; man is naturally a discontented crea ture, especially since the fall ; nay, it was discontent which was the cause of that ; our first parents not being content with the state of happiness in which they were, abode not in it, but fell from it ; such was their ambition, prompted to it by the tempter, that they affected to be as God ; or, however, perceiving there was a class of creatures superior to them, more wise and knowing, they could not be con tent with their present case and circumstances ; but wanted to be upon an equality with them ; and being told, that by eating the for bidden fruit they would attain to it, took and ate of it, and thus by coveting an evil covetousness, lost the happiness which they had ; hence it is most truly said of man, that he is, at his best estate, altogether vanity, Psalm xxxix. 5. — 2. It is not to be found in a natural or unregenerate man ; such a man is always uneasy and disquieted ; as restless as the troubled sea, and the waves thereof ; let him be in pur suit of what he may, he never arrives to it to satisfaction ; is it wisdom and knowledge he seeks after, as his first parents did? he gets no content ; but finds, that in much wisdom is much grief and vexation of spirit : and that, by an increase of knowledge sorrow is increased. Is it pleasure in the gratification of the senses ? these are soon palled with it, and new pleasures are wanting ; and these, when had, like the former, issue in bitter reflections, and remorse of conscience. Is it worldly honour, fame, and applause of men ? these are fickle, tran sitory things, not to be depended on, and seldom last long ; and amidst them there is something that mars the pride and ambition of men ; as Mordecai's not bowing to Haman made the latter uneasy and dis contented, notwithstanding the profusion of honours conferred upon him. Or is it wealth and riches ? these are very uncertain and unsa tisfying things, as has been observed. There is nothing can satisfy the mind of man but God himself ; and if a man lives without God in the world, let him have what he will, he lives a discontented life ; nono but a godly man is a contented man ; there may be content with god liness, but without it there is none. — 3. Contentment is a thing that is to be learned, but not in the school of nature, and by the help of carnal reason ; the philosophers among the heathens talked of it, but did not enjoy it ; they neither learnt it themselves, nor could they teach it others ; by all their wisdom and knowledge they knew not

474 OP CONTENTMENT OF MIND. God truly, and therefore could have no solid satisfaction in what they did know ; and even by what they knew of God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ; and if not thankful, then not con tented. The apostle Paul says, he learnt it ; but he learnt this not at the feet of Gamaliel, where he was brought up ; nor among the traditions of the elders, where it is not to be found ; for though he was taught after the perfect manner of the fathers of tradition, he was left ignorant of God, and of his law, and of Christ and his righteous ness, and of salvation by him ; without which there can be no true contentment : but he learnt it, being taught it of God ; he had it as he had the gospel ; and, indeed, he learnt it by that ; which, he says, he neither received of men, neither was taught it, but by the reve lation of Jesus Christ ; he was instructed in it by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ; so that he learnt it of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. — 4. This is learnt, not as a theory ; but practically and experimentally ; and by a train of experiences, and generally through a series of afflictive providences ; so that it is learned in quite a different way than a carnal man can conceive of; for these very things which breed discontent in others, are the means of pro ducing true contentment in gracious souls. The apostle Paul learned to be content, not only in, but by, the adverse providences which attended him ; by his dangers at sea and by land ; by his distresses, afflictions, and persecutions for Christ's sake ; and so other saints have been instructed in some measure, in the same way, and have found it true, what the apostle says, Rom. v. 4, Tribulation works patience, &c, in such afflicted and experienced souls ; and from all this flows contentment. III. The arguments moving to such a disposition of mind, and exciting, under a divine influence, to the exercise of this grace, are, i. The consideration of what we had when we came into the world ; and what we shall have when we go out of it ; which is just nothing at all : this is the argument the apostle uses to promote contentment in himself and others : For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain, we can carry nothing out ; and therefore upon it reasons thus ; And having food and raiment, let ns be therewith content, 1 Tim. vi. 7, 8 ; and that is enough for the present state, and is more than we shall carry with us, or shall hereafter have any need of ; and this was what made Job contented with the loss of all he had ; Naked came I out ofmy mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither ; and now, as if he should say, I am stripped of all, I am but as I was when I was born, and shall be again when I die ; and therefore I am content ; the Lord gave all that I have had from my birth, and the Lord has taken away, and he has taken only what he gave, and to which he had a right ; blessed be the name of the Lord, Job i. 21 ; and the like argument the wise man makes use of to show how fruitless and unprofitable it is for a man to be anxious to get perishing riches, and which his son, . begotten by him, may not enjoy ; but come into the world naked, and go out in like manner, Eccles. v. 14— 16 ; and this is a reason urged by the Psalmist, why it should give no pain and uneasiness to persons

OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. 475 at the increase of the riches of others ; since when he dies he shall carry nothing away ; so that as it will be no longer his, it will remain to be enjoyed by others, Psalm xlix. 16, 17. ii. The unalterable will of God is an argument exciting content ment : who does according to his will, as in the armies of the heavens, so among the inhabitants of the earth ; he gives to every one their portion m this life as he thinks fit. What they have, is not to be attributed to their wisdom and sagacity, and to their diligence and industry, however commendable these may be ; but is to be ascribed to the sovereign will and pleasure of God, who does all things after the counsel of his will, in the wisest and best manner ; and, therefore, men should be content ; and after all, they cannot make things otherwise than they are ; for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? Eccles. ix. 11; nor can any man, with all his care and thought, add one cubit to his stature ; or make any change in his condition and circumstances, thari what is according to the will of God. in. Unworthiness to enjoy the least favour and mercy at the hand of God, should engage us to be content with what we have : we have reason to say, as Jacob did, I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, not of the bread we eat, nor of the clothes we wear ; yea, if God was to deal with us according to our deserts, we should be strip ped of all ; and, indeed, it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed; and, therefore, have great reason to be content ; since we merit nothing, have forfeited all, and cannot claim anything as our duo ; what is enjoyed is pure favour. iv. A consideration of the great things which God has done for us ; a dwelling in our thoughts, and meditation on what may excite thank fulness in us ; a recollection of the benefits of every kind which God has conferred upon us, may tend very much to make us contented with what we have, giving thanks unto his name ; where there is a proper sense of favours, there will be thankfulness ; and where there is thank fulness there will be content. v. The great promises God has made to his people of good things, here and hereafter, on the fulfilment of which they may depend, are sufficient to make them easy and contented ; this is an argument used by the apostle to engage to contentment, Heb. xiii. 5, where he says, I well never leave thee, nor forsake thee ! which promise itself, con taining every favour and blessing, and securing everything that can be needful for comfort and happiness, is of itself enough to excite to contentment. But besides this, there are many other exceeding great and precious promises ; as, they that fear the Lord shall lack no good thing ; that God will supply all their need ; that his grace will be sufficient for them ; that as their day is, their strength shall be ; yea, godliness has the promise of this life, and of that which is to come ; and therefore that, with contentment, is great gain. vi. Eternal glory and happiness ; which is promised, prepared, and laid up for the saints, and which they will most certainly enjoy, may serve to make them content with present things, and even with some

476 OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND. things that are not agreeable to the flesh ; thus Moses, having respect unto the recompense of reward, and a view of invisible things, cheer fully suffered affliction with the people of God, and esteemed reproach for Christ's sake greater riches than the treasures in Egypt ; the suf ferings of this present life are not to be compared with the glory of another ; and though the saints now may have their evil things, they will hereafter have their good things, and shall be fully satisfied when they awake in the divine likeness ; and, therefore, for the present should be content with their lot and portion. vii. The saints and people of God have all things in hand, or in pro mise, or in sure and certain hope ; All things are yours ; and, there fore, they may say, as Jacob did, I have enough, or I have all things ; I am content. God has given us all things richly to enjoy ; all things pertaining to life and godliness, both grace and glory ; and what more can be desired? 1 . God is theirs, Father, Son, and Spirit ; all the perfections of God are on their side, and exercised for their good ! and all the divine Persons are theirs, and they have an interest in them ; and what can they have more ?—God the Father is theirs ; he is their covenant-God ; he says, I will be their God, and they shall be my people ! and he not only avouches them to be his peculiar people ; but they say, The Lord is my God ! and avouch him, profess him, and claim their interest in him as such : he is their Father, and has declared himself in covenant to be so ; has predestinated them to the adoption of children ; sent his Son to redeem them, that they might receive it ; and his Spirit, to witness it unto them. He is their shield and exceeding great reward, as he promised to Abraham ; he is their portion now and for ever ; and what, not con tent !—Christ the Son of God is theirs ; the gift of his Father's love, an unspeakable one he is ; given as a head unto them ; as a head of government, to rule over them and protect them ; and a head of influ ence, to supply them ; he is their husband, to love, nourish, and cherish them, as his own flesh, and to all whoso goods they have a common right; he is their Saviour and Redeemer from sin, Satan, the curse of the law, and wrath to come ; he is their Mediator and Peace-maker, their Prophot, Priest, and King. All that belong to him are theirs ; his right eousness is theirs, for justification ; his blood is theirs, to cleanso and pardon them; his flesh is theirs, to feed upon by faith; his fulness theirs, to supply their wants ; he is alf, in ai-l unto them ; and what, not content ! —The Spirit of God is theirs ; a gift which their heavenly Father has given them ; and is given them to make known unto them the things which are freely given to them of God ; ho is the convincer of them of sin, righteousness and judgment ; the illuminator of them in the knowledge of divine things; their quickener and sanctifier, their comforter, and the spirit of adoption to them ; the earnest and seal of their future glory ; theirs to begin, to carry on, and perfect the work of grace in them ; and what, not content ! — 2. The covenant of grace is theirs ; made with them, and made for them ; all the stores of it theirs ; tho blessings of it, the sure mercies of David ; the blessings of grace and of glory, provided and laid up in it ; the promises of it,

OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. 477 both respecting this life and that which is to come ; and what, not content ! — 3. The gospel, and the ordinances of it, and the ministers of it, are theirs; All things arc yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22; the whole Scripture is written for their use, for their learning and instruction, for their comfort and edification ; the gospel is ordained for their glory ; and is sent into and published in the world for their good ; and the ministers of it are their servants for Jesus'" sake; they are gifts to the churches, to be their pastors and teachers ; and have gifts given them to feed and instruct them ; they are stewards of the mysteries of grace, and are appointed in the house of God, to give to every one their portion of meat m due season ; and which surely must add to divine contentment. — 4. Temporal things are theirs ; Or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, 1 Cor. iii. 22; the world, and the fulness of it, belongs to Christ, who is heir of all things; and saints being joint-heirs with him, are as Abra ham was, heirs of the world ; and all things in it are theirs, and work together, and Contribute to their good ; and they at last shall inhabit the new earth. Life is theirs in every sense, corporal, spiritual, and eternal. And death is theirs, a blessing to them whenever it comes ; which will deliver them from the troubles of this life, and enter them into the glories of another. Things present are theirs ; present mer cies, no good thing is withheld from them needful for them, food to eat, and raiment to put on : and things to come ; the unseen glories of a future state ; an inheritance incorruptible, reserved in heaven, a king dom prepared from the foundation of the world. And surely all this is enough to give contentment ! OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. Thankfulness follows contentment ; a discontented man is not thankful for anything; but a contented man is thankful for everything. Thankfulness is a branch of godliness ; none but a godly man is truly a thankful man : there are some things not to be named among saints, and aro not becoming them ; but this is ; and rather becoming them than many other things : an unthankful saint is a very odd sound, if not a contradiction ; unthankful and unholy, are characters joined together, and agree, 2 Tim. iii. 2 ; and so unthankful and evil, Luke vi. 36 ; and particularly none but a holy man can give thanks at the remembrance of the holiness of God, Psalm xcvii. 12. Concerning this gracious dis position of mind, thankfulness, may be observed, I. The things for which thanks are to be given ; and they are all things ; the rule, according to the will of God, is giving thanks always for all things ; and again, In every thing, or for every thing, give thanks, Eph. v. 20, 1 Thess. v. 18. i. For temporal mercies ; for God is the Father of mercies, even of all such mercies ; the author and giver of them, and therefore thanks

478 OP THANKFULNESS TO GOD. should be returned to him for them. — 1. For our beings; to be, is better than not to be ; and none could give us existence but God, tho fountain of being ; In him we live, and move, and have our being ; that is, we have it from him, as well as arc supported in it by him ; It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves : — be thankful unto him and bless his name, Acts xvii. 28, Psalm c 3, 4; the wonderful formation of man, the structure of his body, the symmetry and perfection of its ;>arts, as well as soundness of limbs, are matter of praise and thankulness. — 2, For our life, which is from God ; he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Acts xvii. 25 ; some creatures have a being, and yet not life, as inanimate ones ; some have life, yet only a vegetative one, as plants ; and others only an animal one, as brutes ; but God has given to man a soul, both living and rational ; Adam's body was made out of the dust of the earth, and then God breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul ; and such a life every man has, which is a grant and favour from God, and therefore thanks should be given to him for it, and for all the mercies of life, and "for that more than for them ; since the life is more than meat, or drink, or raiment, and every thing by which life is nourished, supported, and made com fortable ; and mdeed, is preferable to all a man has besides. — 3. For the preservation of our being and life by God ; his visitation, which is every day, every morning, preserves our spirits ; ho upholds our souls in life; he is therefore truly called, the preserver of men, and is worthy of praise and thanksgiving on that account ; the reason given is, not only because he has made the heaven, earth, and seas, and all therein ; but because he preserveth them all, Nchem. ix. 5, 6. — 4. For our health, and for the continuance of it, and for restoration to it when it has been interrupted ; health is a very valuable mercy, and without which the outward blessings of life cannot be comfortably enjoyed ; and therefore is greatlv to be desired, both by ourselves and for our friends; thus the apostle John wished for Gaius, that he might prosper and be in health, even as his soul prospered, 3 John, verso 2 ; and persons favoured with such a mercy havo reason to be thankful; as also when it has been lost and restored again ; thus Hezekiah, when recovered from his sickness, said, The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day, Isa. xxxviii. 9, 19 ; and a contrary behaviour, as it is very unbecoming, is justly resented; as in the case of the ten lepers, Luke xvii. 15—18. — 5. For every mercy enjoyed, be it what it may ; not only for life and health, for food and raiment, which are the principal mercies; but for every other, the least that can be thought of, Gen. xxxii. 10. Everg creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving ; so that it seems the goodness of any creature-mercy to a man, depends upon his thankfulness for it; and this is the difference between a thank ful and an unthankful man ; an unthankful man thinks nothing good ; and a thankful man thinks everything good, and blesses God for it, 2 Tim. iv, 4 ; and this he does every day ; mercies are returned every day, and are new every morning ; and therefore men sensible of them will say, Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits !

OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. 479 ii. For spiritual mercies, of every kind. First, For the means of grace, the gospel, and the ministry of it ; and a great mercy it is to be under the sound of it ; Blessed is the man that heareth me, the voice of wisdom, the gospel of Christ, though only externally, Prov. viii. 34 ; it is a happiness to be born in a land where the gospel is preached, and not among Pagans, Mahometans, and Papists, where there is a famine ; not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord, Amos viii. 11 ; and a dreadful judgment it is on a people when the Lord commands the clouds, the ministers of the word, that they rain no rain upon them, that is, preach not the gospel to them. The gospel was first restrained to the Jewish people, and forbid to be preached to the Gentiles ; but afterwards the apostles had a commission to preach it to all nations ; the Gentiles embraced it gladly, glorified it, or were greatly thankful for it ; and when this is blessed to the conversion of sinners, it is matter of thankfulness ; not only to them, but to all true believers, and to the ministers of the word : when the Jewish Christians perceived that God had given repentance to the Gentiles also, they glorified God, or were thankful to him, and blessed his name ; and when the apostles declared the conversion of the Gentiles by the ministry of the word, it caused great joy among the brethren ; and when they were success ful in all parts, in making conquests of souls to Christ, they could not but express their thankfulness to God, saying, Now thanks be unto God, which ahcays causeth us to triumph in Christ, 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; and when it is food to believers, and is sweet to their taste, as the honey and tho honey-comb, and they esteem it more than their necessary food, then are they truly thankful for it. It is in itself glad tidings, and a joyful sound ; and when it is experimentally heard and known, it causes praise and thankfulness, even among personages of the highest class ; All the rulers of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth; the doctrines of the gospel, so as to understand them, as they will in the latter-day glory, Psalm exxxviii. 4 : when the gospel ministry will bo the means of enlarging the interest of Christ, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover tho sea ; and when the kingdoms of this world shall become the Lord's and his Christ's, then the four and twenty elders, tho representatives of gospel-churches, will worship God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned, by making the gospel-ministry effectual to the enlarge ment of his kingdom and interest, Rev. xi. 15 — 17. To which may be added, as means of grace, tho ordinances of tho gospel, called the goodness and fatness of the house of God, the provisions of Zion ; which, when saints are blessed with, and especially when blessed unto them, and made useful and beneficial, they shout aloud for joy, or are exceeding thankful for them : and witlr these may be mentioned, the ministers of the gospel, who are the gifts of God to his churches ; and he gave some pastors and teachers ; gifts to qualify them for such offices ; and he gives them themselves to his churches, to officiate as such among them ; And I willgive you pastors, Eph. iv. 11, Jcr. iii. 15 ;

480 OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. these are reckoned among the blessings and privileges of churches, and of all true believers ; All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apolloe, or Cephas ; and therefore they have reason to be thankful for them ; and especially when, though their teachers have been removed into a corner, yet not so any more, but their eyes see their teachers, and their oars hear the joyful sound from them. Secondly, Thanks are to be given particularly for the blessings of grace themselves, the things which are freely given of God. And in order to thankfulness for these, in men there must be knowledge of them ; which is had by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation ; and there must be an application of them, a view of special interest in them ; the Spirit of God must witness to their spirits that they belong unto them ; he must take of the things of Christ, and show them unto them ; which will cause exultation and thankfulness. 1. For electing grace ; this may be known without any special and extraordinary revelation ; even from the grace in effectual vocation ; For whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and the vessels of mercy afore prepared unto glory, are explained of those whom God has called, Rom. viii. 30, and ix. 23, 24 ; so that those who are called by grace, may comfortably conclude, that they are predestinated unto life, and are in the Lamb's book of life, and are fore-ordained unto eternal glory ; and this may bo known, as the apostle observes, from the efficacy of tho gospel on the hearts of men, 1 Thess. i. 4, 5 ; and such therefore will call upon themselves and others, to praise and thank fulness, saying, Praise the Lord, for tho Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. And the rather this is matter of great thankfulness, because,—The choice God has made of men to everlasting life is of grace, and not of works ; even of free, unmerited grace, and without any motive to it from them ; hence called, The election ofgrace, Rom. xi. 5, 6. Something similar to this, was the national election of the people of Israel, which was not because of their quality or quantity ; but because of the Lord's pure love unto them.—This choice is an act of distinguishing grace ; it is not a choice of all, only of some ; or it would be no choice ; / speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen, John xiii. 18 ; all Christ's disciples were chosen to office, but not all to grace and glory ; such so chosen are vessels of mercy, in distinction from others, called vessels of wrath ; it is a choice of us, and not of others ; of us, who are in no wise better than others, as undeserving of the favour of God as others, being chil dren of wrath, even as others.—It is a choice, which is the source, foundation, and security both of grace and glory. Sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, which include all grace, are fixed and secured in eternal election, and flow from it ; men are chosen to faith and holiness before the foundation of the world, and these are in time bestowed upon them ; As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed ; hence true faith is called, Tho faith of God's elect, being peculiar to them, in consequence of their election, and with which their eternal happiness is connected ; For whom he did predestinate —them he also glorified. Now if tho apostle thought himself bound

OP THANKFULNESS TO OOD. 481 to give thanks for the election of others, then much more for his own ; and so is every chosen vessel of salvation. 2. Thanks are to be given for redeeming grace. This was one of the benefits and blessings of grace, which lay uppermost on the mind of the Psalmist, when he called upon his soul, and all within him, to bless the name of the Lord, and not forget his benefits ; Who, says ho, redeemeth thy life from destruction, Psalm ciii. 1, 2, 4 ; having in view, no doubt, the redemption of it by Christ, from everlasting ruin ; thus Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, began his prophecy, Blessed be tlw Lord God of Israel, for he hath, visited and redeemed his people, and raised up a mighty Saviour and Redeemer from David's family ; this he said when the day-spring from on high had visited them ; the Saviour was conceived, and become incarnate, though as yet not born, who was to be the Redeemer of his people, Luke i. 68, 69, 78 ; and great reason there is for praise and thankfulness on this account. — 1 . Because this redemption is special and particular. They are a pecu liar people whom Christ has redeemed from all iniquity ; they are redeem edfrom among men, and so not all men ; they are redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and not every kindred, every tongue, all people, and each nation ; and therefore have the greater reason to be thankful that they are redeemed. — 2. It is altogether free on their parts ; though they are bought with a price, are redeemed from a vain conversation, with the precious blood of Christ, to which redemption is frequently ascribed ; yet they are redeemed without money, without any price or money of their own paid by them for it ; it is wholly of free cost to them ; they are let go, not for price nor reward, which they have given, their redemption is indeed through the blood of Christ, and yet it is according to the riches of the grace of God, who of his infinite wisdom and grace has found a ransom. — 3. It is a plen teous one ; With the Lord, is plenteous redemption, Psalm exxx. 7 ; a redemption from all iniquity, original and actual ; from all sins of every kind, of heart, lip, and life, before and after conversion ; from Satan, stronger than they who held them captivo ; from all the curses of the law, to which they were subject by sin ; and from hell and wrath, and from every enemy of their souls. — 4. It is an eternal one ; Having obtained eternal redemption for us, Hob. ix. 12, which will always continuo ; the redeemed will never more return to a captive state, or be brought into subjection to what they are redeemed from ; but will always enjoy the benefits arising from this grace ; and if there fore Moses and the children of Israel had reason to sing unto tho Lord, who in his mercy had redeemed them out of Egypt, which was but a temporal redemption ; much more reason have wo to praise the Lord, and give thanks unto him for eternal redemption by Christ. 3. Thanks are to bo given for pardoning grace and mercy. This is the first thing the Psalmist mentions after stirring up himself to bless and praise the Lord for all his benefits ; whoforgiveth all thine iniquities, Psalm ciii. 1 — 3 ; and indeed pardon of sin is a groat blessing ; and he is a happy man whose transgression is forgiven, and his sin covered VOL. II. I I

482 OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. and to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity ! and therefore should express his thankfulness for it. — 1. Because it is entirely free, with respect to the persons who partake of it. It proceeds, indeed, upon a satisfaction made by another ; for God, though he for gives sin, will by no means clear the guilty, without a full satisfaction to his justice ; Without shedding of blood there is no remission ; but though Christ's blood has been shed for the remission of sins, yet that is according to the riches of divine grace ; it is free to men, though it cost Christ dear, his blood and life ; some, their debts are more, and others less numerous ; one owes five hundred pence, and another fifty ; but whereas neither the one nor the other have anything to pay, God, the creditor, frankly forgives them both, Luke vii. 41, 42. — 2. Pardon of sin, is not only free, but full and complete ; and therefore sinful men should be thankful for it ; God not only forgives all manner ofsin, signified by iniquity, transgression, and sin ; greater or lesser sins, such as are more or less aggravated ; but all acts of sin committed by his people ; God, for Christ's sake, forgives all ; Having forgiven all trespasses, Col. ii. 13 ; no one sin is left unforgiven ; the Lord's name be praised ! 4. Thanks are to be given for adopting grace ; this is one of the spiritual blessings with which the Lord's people are blessed in Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, there is such a display of grace in the blessing of adoption, as ravished the apostle John, and caused him to break forth in a rapture, and say, Behold, what manner of lcve the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ! Two things serve to excite thankfulness for this grace : — 1. That it is bestowed on persons very unworthy ; such who are by nature children of wrath, as others ; and yet by this grace, children of God ; such of whom God himself says, How shall I put them among the children ? and yet of his grace puts them there ; such who are like the wretched infant, cast out into the open field, in the day it was born, to the loathing of its person, and yet taken into the family of God; who have nothing lovely in them, to recommend them, as Moses to Pharaoh's daughter, and Esther to Mordecai had ; but all the reverse. — 2. The various blessings annexed to this grace ; such have the glorious liberty of the children of God ; liberty of access to God, as children to a father ; and a right to all privileges and immunities, which fellow-citizens with the saints, and those of the household of God have ; these are never more servants, but heirs, and have a right to the heavenly inheritance. 5. Thanks are to be given to God for regenerating grace, 1 P^- '. 3, 4. This is wholly owing to the free grace and rich mercy of God; it is denied to be of blood, or of the will of men, or of the will ofthe flesh ; but of God, of his sovereign grace and favour ; who, of n'j own will, begat us with the word of truth ; and the rather should we be thankful for this grace, since without it there can be no enjoy ment of eternal life ; Except a man be born again, ho cannot see the kingdom of God. 6. Thanks are to be given as for a right to eternal life; which Ik*

OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. 483 not in the righteousness of men, but in the righteousness of Christ ; so for a meetness for it which is all of grace, Col. i. 1 2. 7. Thanks are to be given for victory over all spiritual enemies ; and so for persevering grace in faith and holiness to glory, notwith standing them all ; nothing more distressing than a body of sin and death, and nothing more desirable than a deliverance from it; and yet no hope of it but through Christ ; and having hope of it in this way, such a soul may say with the apostle, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord ! that is, that there will be a deliverance from it ; and not from that only, but from every enemy, sin, law, and death ; and therefore can say, Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory ; over death, and the grave ; over sin, the sting of death ; and over the law, the strength of sin ; so that nothing shall hinder an abundant entrance into the kingdom and glory of God. in. For Christ, the great blessing of grace and gift of God ; Thanks be unto Godfor his unspeakable gift, 2 Cor. ix. 15 ; the donor of this gift is God, of whom are all things ; hence Christ is called the gift of God, by way of eminence, John iv. 10, who is a sovereign Being, and dis poses of all his gifts, and so this, to whomsoever he pleases ; it is his own he gives, and he may do with that what he will ; and this is a gift like himself, suitable to the greatness of his Majesty, as King of kings ; the gift is the Son of God ; To us a Son is given ; the only begotten Son of God ; him he has given to be for a covenant of the people, the Mediator and Surety of it, and with whom he has entrusted all the blessings and promises of it ; and to be a head over all things to the church ; and to be the Saviour of the body, the church ; even to be God's salvation unto the ends of the earth ; for which purpose he has not spared him, but has delivered him up into the hands of men, justice, and death; and for which those to and for whom he is given, have reason to be thankful ; when, besides these things, the nature of the gift is observed. — 1. It is entirely a free gift ; it is one of those things, and the chief of them, which are freely given unto us of God, 1. Cor. ii. 12; unmerited and undeserved; wholly of free grace, and flowing from the pure love of God, to persons the most unworthy, John iii. 16. — 2. It is a suitable one ; nothing could have been given us more suitable to our case and circumstances ; Such a High-priest became us ; Such a Prophet, such a King, such a Mediator between God and men, such a Redeemer and Saviour, such an Advo cate and Intercessor, one so full of grace and truth, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, who is indeed all in all ; all that we want, all that we can desire ; for, — 3. It is a very large and comprehensive gift ; God, with Christ, freely gives us all things ; and blesses, with all spiritual blessings in him, the blessings of grace and of glory. Christ being ours, all things are ours ; and therefore we have reason to be thankful, 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. — 4. It is an unchangeable and irreversible gift ; it comes from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning ; and not only the giver, but the gift itself is unchangeable ; who is Jesus, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ; and is one of the gifts of ii 2

48-1- OF THANKFULNESS TO GOD. God which are without repentance ; to which may be added, that it is unspeakable ; nono can say how great it is, what is contained in it, and what the benefits arising from it in time and to eternity. iv. For the Spirit of God, and his gifts and graces. The Spirit himself is the gift of God, Luke xi. 13, and a great and glorious gift he is, for which we have reason to be thankful ; especially when we consider to what ends and purposes ho is given, as to be a Comforter of his people, He shall give you another Comforter, John xiv. 16; and to be a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge- of Christ, and to strengthen the saints with all might in the inward man, and to bo the earnest and pledge of their future glory and happiness. Tho several graces of the Spirit aro gifts and free grace-gifts, and very valuable ones ; faith, which is of the operation of the Spirit, is not of ourselves, it is tho gift of God, which no man has nor can exercise unless it be given him of God ; and all men have it not, and therefore it is distinguishing grace to those who have it, and should be thankful for it ; a good hope is through grace, and is given both by God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thess. ii. 16, and so love is from grace, 1 Tim. i. 14. These aro now all the things for which wo should be thankful. II. When, in what cases and circumstances, and for whom thanks are to be given. — 1. When ; always, this is the rule, giving thanka always for all things ; every day, night and day, constantly, continu ally, all the days of a man's life ; for there aro ever new mercies, they are returning every day and every morning ; hence says the Psalmist, Every duy will I bless thee, Psalm cxlv. 2. — 2. In wliat cases and cir cumstances, in what state and condition, aro we to be thankful? m every one, in every thing, that is, in every state, give thanks, 1 Thess. v. 18.—Not in prosperity only, when we aro to be joyful, cheerful, and thankful; and when we are not to attribute our prosperity to ourselves, nor to second causes, but to God, and be thankful ; otherwise we shall only sacrifice to our own net, and burn incense, to our own drag, Hab. i. 16. — But in adversity also ; as Job blessed God, or was thankful, when he was stripped of all ; and the people of God have reason to bo thankful under afflictions, when the Lord puts underneath his everlast ing arms, and supports them under them ; when ho strengthens them on a bed of languishing, and makes their bed in their sickness ; when he chooses them in tho furnace of affliction, and knows their souls m adversity ; when he manifests his love and favour ; when he is with them passing through tho fire and water, so that the one shall not kindle upon them, nor the other overflow them ; in short, since he makes all things work together for their good here and hereafter, they should be thankful. And also,—In times of temptation; since the temptation might have been suffered to have been greater and heavier than it is ; and sinco the grace of God is sufficient to support under it, and carry through it, and the faithfulness of God will not suffer hffl peoplo to bo tempted above what they aro able to bear ; and since Christ is able to succour them that are tempted, and sympathizes with them, and prays for them that their faith fail not.— When in very

OF THANKFULNESS TO COP. 485 uncomfortablo frames ; at least bettor might be wished for, since these might have been worse and havo issued in despair, or bordering on it; and in the midst of all it should bo considered, that though frames are changeable things, Jehovah changes not, Christ is tho same always, the covenant of grace is sure, and the gifts and calling of God without repentance ; and the Lord knows them that are his, and they shall never perish.—Amidst all the reproaches and persecutions of men ; so the apostles were thankful that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ ; the apostle Peter says such are happy, 1 Pet. iv. 14; and such who are persecuted for righteousness-sake are pronounced blessed by Christ, and are exhorted to rejoice, and be exceeding glad. — 3. For whom ? for all men, for kings and all in authority, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, since these are powers ordained of God, and are ministers for tho good of men, are terrors to evil doors, and a praise to them that do well ; if they aro good kings and worthy magistrates, such are to be honoured and obeyed, and thanks to be given for them, which is good and acceptable in the sight of God. Wo are to be thankful for our relations and friends, and for the con tinuance of them ; children are the gifts of God to parents, and as such to be owned with gratitude, as they were by Jacob and Joseph ; and likewise for the churches of Christ, and all the saints in them ; for their prosperity, for their grace and the increase of it ; for their faith, both as a doctrine and a grace, and for their love to one another ; these are what tho apostle expresses his thankfulness for in almost all his epistles; and so. for the ministers of the gospel, saints should be thankful, who are the gifts of God to the churches, and aro promised as such, Jer. iii. 15. These are the servants of the most high God which show unto men the way of salvation, and who are the churches' servants for Jesus' sake, faithful stewards in the heuse of God, to give to every one their portion of meat in duo season ; and being thus useful, thanks should be given for them ; and which likewise should be done for an increaso of converts through tho ministry of the word, when there are additions made to churches of such as shall be saved ; when the gospel is succeeded for the gathering in of others to Christ and into his churches, besides those who are already gathered, 2 Cor. ii. 14. III. To whom arc thanks to be given on the above account ? to God, of whom arc all things, and to whom the glory of all belongs ; he is tho proper and primary object of thanksgiving; / thank my God, through Jesus Christ for you all, Hom. i. 8. — 1 . Thanks are to be given to the Father, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, Eph. v. 20 ; and hence the same apostle blesses or gives thanks unto him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for blessing the saints in him with all spiritual blessings, and the apostle Peter blesses or gives thanks to him as such for regenerating grace particularly, 1 Pet. i. 3 ; and he is to be considered in such an act of thanksgiving as Christ's God and our God, and as Christ's Father and our Father ; for as we arc directed to pray to him, saying, Our Father, which art in heaven, so we should give thanks to hiui as such, saying,

486 OP THANKFULNESS TO GOD. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. —2. Thanks .are to be given to the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ ; and these are sometimes given to him particularly and alone, / thank Christ Jesus the Lord, says the apostle, 1 Tim. i. 12 ; and if thanks are to be given him on such an account as there, then certainly for other favours received from him ; as for his suretyship-engagements, for his assump tion of human nature, for suffering and dying in the room and stead of his people, and for many other acts of grace done by him, and blessings of grace received from him. Besides, it is in the name of Christ, and through him, we are directed to give thanks to God, Eph. v. 20, Rom. i. 8, as it is proper we should, since all our mercies come to us through him; it is in him We are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and it is out of his fulness we receive, and grace for grace ; and all the grace that is wrought in us in regeneration, and in carry ing on the work of sanctification, is all through Christ ; nor can we come to God in any other way with our thanksgivings but by him ; he is the only way to the Father, the way of access to him with boldness and confidence ; and therefore by him we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, thefruit of our lips, giving thanks unto his name, Heb. xiii. 15. Nor are our spiritual sacrifices, either of prayer or praise, acceptable to God, but through Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom our persons are accepted, even in him the beloved. — 3. Thanks are to be given to the blessed Spirit ; for, as he is the object of prayer with the Father and the Son, so the object of praise and thanksgiving ; and great reason there is, that as we should be careful not to vex and grieve the good Spirit of God with our ingratitude ; so that we should be thankful to him for all that he has done for us, in quickening and regenerating us ; in beginning and carrying on the good work of grace in us, and in sealing us up to the day of redemp tion. Besides many other acts of-grace which might be mentioned. Now this work of thanksgiving, is to be performed towards God with a celebration of the divine perfections, which are to be displayed in his acts of kindness to us ; as we are to give thanks at the remem brance of his holiness, so at the remembrance of every other attribute of his ; it is in this way the living creatures are said to give glory, and honour, and thanks unto God, Rev. iv. 8, 9. This is also to be done by a recollection of the benefits of God, bestowed upon us ; which, though so many that we are not able to reckon them up in order before him ; yet, as much as in us lies, we are to call upon our souls to call to mind, and not forget, if possible, any of his benefits ; and to inquire, what shall we render to him for them ; and this is to be per formed with all our hearts, with all that is within us, with all the powers and faculties of our souls, and to the utmost of our abilities ; as we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our strength ; we are to give thanks to him in like manner, in the most intense way we are capable of ; as we are to serve him with grace in our hearts in every branch of duty ; so in this, even in the exercise of every grace. IV. The reasons or arguments for giving thanks are. — 1. It is the 'V

OF HUMILITY. 487 will of God ; and that is reason sufficient why it should be attended to, 1 Thess. v. 18 ; it is that good, perfect, and acceptable will of God made known in his word, which he has commanded and directed ; to offer unto God thanksgiving, this is a sacrifice acceptable to him, and well pleasing in his sight, and the contrary is resented by him. — 2. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus, which is made known by him ; who, lying in the bosom of the Father, has declared his whole mind and will to the sons of men ; and this among the rest ; and it is also to be given unto God in and through Christ, as before observed. — 3. It is enforced by the example of Christ, who himself gave thanks to God, and that for the distinguishing blessings of his grace bestowed upon his people, according to his sovereign will and pleasure ; I thank thee, O Father, &c, Matt. xi. 25, 26. To which may be added, — 4. The examples of saints in all ages, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles ; the book of Psalms in particular is full of instances of this kind. OP HUMILITY. After love, joy, peace, mentioned as fruits of the Spirit, longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness, in which humility is included, are observed as fruit of the same Spirit also, Gal. v. 22, 23, and this natu rally follows or accompanies thankfulness, last treated of ; an humble man is always a thankful man ; whereas proud, boasters, are joined with the unthankful, unholy, 2 Tim. iii. 2. The proud philosophers would not allow of thankfulness to God for virtue and goodness: " That we live, is the gift of God, says Seneca" ; but that we live well, is owing to philosophy ; and, adds he, by so much we owe the more to this than to God, by how much the greater a good lifo is than life itself." And says Cicero \ " No man refers virtue to God ; if it was a gift of his, we should have no praise nor glorying : did ever any man give thanks to God that he was a good man ?" How contrary to this is that of the humble apostle, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Humility, or a meek and quiet spirit, is a branch of internal worship, or of experimental religion and godliness ; it is called, the hidden man of the heart, and is very necessary in the performance of every part of external worship and service; serving the Lord with all humility of mind. In considering which I shall, I. Show wherein it lies, and in what manner it appears and manifests itself. i. In a man's thinking meanly and the worst of himself, and well and the best of others ; observing that rule of the apostle's, In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves, Phil. ii. 3 ; such an humble saint was the apostle himself, who reckoned himself less than the least of all saints, and the chief of sinners : such an humble soul thinks no good man has such a sinful corrupt heart as he has ; or has so much sin dwelling in it ; one reason is, because his own sins and corruptions are more known to himself ; whilst those of others lie • Ep. 90. ' Do Nature Dcorum.

488 OF HUMILITY. more out of sight ; he thinks every saint has more grace and holiness, more spiritual knowledge and experience than he has, and says with Agur, that he has not Hie understanding of a man, that is, of a good man, Prov. xxx. 2 ; whereas, on the contrary, a proud Pharisee thanks God he is not as other mon are, such a great sinner as others, and says, Stand by thyself, lam holier than thou, Luko xviii. 11. — 2. In not envying, but rejoicing at the 'gifts and graces of others. Humility is like charity, it envioth not ; Moses was a very meek man, above all men which were upon the face of the earth, and he said to Joshua, Enviest thou for my sake ? that is, the gifts bestowed on Eldad and Medad ; would God, that all the Lord's people were prophets. When David related his experiences of divine grace, his triumph of faith, and glorying in the Lord, he observes ; The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad ; so John the Baptist, when he takes notice of the vastly supe rior gifts, grace, usefulness, and success of Christ, says he, in a very humble and modest manner, He must increase, but I must decrease, John iii. 30, 31. — 3. In ascribing all he is and has to the grace of God : confessing that he has nothmg but what he has received ; and therefore would not glory, as though ho had received it not ; but savs, with the apostle, By the grace of God I am what I am, 1 Cor. iv. 7 ; and he frankly acknowledges, that it is of the free grace of God alone, that he is elected, redeemed, justified, pardoned, regenerated, and shall be saved ; and not through any works of righteousness done by him ; and therefore gives all the glory to it. — 4>. In disclaiming his own righteousness, and submitting to the righteousness of Christ ; the Spirit of God having convinced him of his want of righteousness, of the insufficiency of his own to justify him before God, and that after having done all he can he is but an unprofitable servant ; and that through pride in himself, and ignorance of God's righteousness, ho theretofore submitted not to the righteousness of Christ, yet now he desires to be found in it, Phil. iii. 9. — 5. In a willingness to receive instruction from the meanest saint ; Give instruction to a wise man, if he is an humble man, and not a scorner, he will be thankful for it, and will be wiser : teach a just man, not one that is righteous in his own eyes, and despises others, and he will increase in learning ; so Apollos, though an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, did not disdain to receive instruction from Aquila, and Priscilla, tentmakers, who took him and taught him the way of God moro perfectly. — 6. In kindly receiving admonitions given ; and, indeed, it is only to such that they are of any advantage, and meet with success ; a proud, haughty scorner rejects them with contempt, an humble man will take the reproof well and consider it as an instance of love to him, and will love the reprover more and better for it, as David says he should, Psalm cxli. 5. — 7- In bearing patiently all injuries done to him, and putting up with all affronts offered to him. Humility, like charity, is not easily provoked, and beareth all things : humble saints will bear, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love ; such who put on kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, will not only bear with aud forbear one another, but

OF HUMILITY. 489 will forgivo one another, even as Christ forgave them. When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, who is observed to be the meekest man on earth ; as an instanco of it, he was so far from resenting the affront, that he prayed for Miriam that she might be healed of the leprosy with which she was stricken for it. — 8. In submitting quietly to the afflicting hand of God ; humble souls are still under the rod, hearken to the voice of it, are obedient to it, patiently bear it without murmuring, humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, and resign their wills to his ; as Aaron, Eli, David, and others have done. — 9. In not seeking great things for a man's self, and after things too high for him. It is good advice given to Baruch ; Seekest thou great thingsfor tftyself? seek them not, Jcr. xlv. 5 ; an humble man will not : it is a sign of a proud, ambitious man so to do ; to aspire after things out of a man's reach, and beyond his capacity ; Lord, says David, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, &c, Psalm exxxi. 1 ; especially it argues great pride and vanity, when a man seeks to bo wise above what is written ; an humble man will not pry into things secret, but will be content with what is revealed : And therefore, — 10. Humility appears in subjecting a man's reason to divine revelation ; then is a man humble when every imagination, reasoning, and all high thoughts are cast down, and brought to the obedience of Christ in his werd ; when men have recourse to the law and to the testimony, to the Sacred Scriptures, and mako them the standard of their faith ; and, like the noble, diligent, and humble Bcraeans, search into them, whether things be so or no ; for ifany man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, the doctrines of Christ contained in the Scriptures, he is proud, knowing nothing, 1 Tim. vi. 3. This pride in men is tho chief causo of all controversies and quarrels about religious things. II. Let us next consider from whence this grace of humility, or such a disposition of mind, arises. 1 . Not from nature ; but from the grace of God : man is naturally a proud creature, though he has nothing really to be proud of ; not of his wisdom, which is but folly ; nor of his wealth, which is uncertain and transitory ; nor of his beauty, which is vain, and may be made to consume away like a moth ; nor of his outward goodness and righteous ness, which pass away like a morning cloud and early dew. Pride is ' one of those things which are within a man, in his heart, and proceeds from thence, and defiles him ; but true humility is from God, from his Spirit and grace; and therefore meekness, or humility, is reckoned among the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22, 23. — 2. From a true sight and sense of sin, and the evil nature of it, under the illumination and conviction of the Spirit of God ; when sin appears to be exceeding sinful, and such a sight is humbling ; whilst a man is insensible of tho inward corruption of his nature, and of the sin that dwells in his heart, and is so inattentive to tho sins of lifo that he thinks himself in a man ner blameless ; he will, like tho proud and haughty Pharisoo, thank God he is not as other men are : but when a man comes to sco tho vileness of his nature, the swarms of sin within him, as well as the iniquity of his life, like the humble publican, not daring to lift up his

490 OF HUMILITY. eyes to heaven, will smite upon his breast and say, God be merciful to me a sinner ! and very often so it is that a sin which a man has been guilty of, though the guilt of it is removed from him, yet he retains such a sense of it, as that it keeps him humblo all his days ; this was the case of the apostle Paul, who, having been a persecutor of the church of God, though he obtained mercy, and knew his sin was par doned, yet a sense of that sin always abode with him, and was an humbling consideration to him, 1 Cor. xv. 9 ; and if a man has not any particular sin that thus affects him, yet the consideration of indwelling sin, and the daily infirmities of life, a sense of them will keep him humble continually. — 3. From a view of the insufficiency of a man's own righteousness to justify him before God ; while a man trusts in himself that he is righteous, he will be proud of himself, and despise others ; whilst he fancies that, touching the righteousness of the law, he is blameless, he will be stout-hearted, and not submit to the righteousness of Christ ; whilst a Pharisee has a few husks to fill his belly, and some rags of outward righteousness to his back, he will be as proud as Lucifer : nor will any man be truly humble until he finds himself wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked : which, when it was the case of the apostle Paul, and not before, then he desired to hefound in Christ, and in his righteousness, Phil. iii. 9. — 4. From a sight of the loveliness and glory of Christ ; a sight of which will put a man out of conceit with himself, and make him look little and mean in his own eyes ; as it did Isaiah, when he saw the glory of Christ in a very exalted and resplendent manner, Isa. vi. 5 ; Christ is the Sun of righteousness ; and, as with respect to the natural sun, it is in its own light we see it, and in a ray or beam of it behold innumer able motes, otherwise not discerned by us ; so when Christ, the Sun of righteousness, shines forth in his light, we see his glories and excellencies in their lustre and splendour ; and our own sins, failings, and infirmi ties ; all which tend to humiliation. When that supernatural light shone about Saul the Pharisee, he became at once as humble and sub missive as may be, and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? a sight of Christ, and of the glory of his person, though seen but through a glass, is transforming, and changes into the same image ; one part of which image lies in meekness, or humility of mind. — 5. From a view of the greatness and majesty of God, and of the frailty and vileness of man compared together : this was what humbled Job, and brought him to a right sense of things, and to a suitable behaviour under the provi dence of God towards him ; when^Jiaving contended with God, he is called upon by him out of the whirlwind to answer ; and, being confounded with a sense of God's greatness and his own viloness, replied, Behold, I am vile ; What shall I answer thee ? and still more plainly and fully, having observed the omnipotence and omniscience of God, thus humbly expresses himself, I have heard of thee, by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes ! — 6. From a spiritual knowledge of divine things ; natural knowledge puffeth up ; the wise philosophers among the heathens, with all their boasted morality, were as full of pride as

OF HUMILITY. 491 men could well be ; their characters are, proud, boasters, a Pharisee, with all his knowledge of the law and of righteousness, is a vain empty man, and is proud of what he does not truly understand ; and so he will remain, till ho comes to know Christ and him crucified ; and then he will count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, whom he only then will determine to know, and in whom he will glory ; no man is truly humble till he learns that morti fying lesson, If any among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. iii. 18. — 7. From an expe rimental knowledge of the gospel scheme ; the tendency of which is, to stain the pride of man, to abase the creature, and exalt the riches of divine grace ; to prevent men from glorying in any thing of themselves, and to exclude all boasting in them : it places salvation entirely on the graoe of God, to the exclusion of works, as the cause of it ; the Spirit of God, in the Gospel, blows a blast upon all the godliness of men ; and such who are evangelized by it, or cast into a gospel mould, that form of doctrine into which they are experimentally delivered, are always humble, meek, and lowly-minded. I say experimentally, because men may have notions of evangelical doctrine, and be proud of these notions, not having true experience of them. III. The excellency and usefulness of this grace. 1. It is well pleasing to God ; A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight oj God ofgreat price, 1 Pet. iii. 4 ; the Lord takes pleasure in such, and therefore beautifies them, and puts an honour upon them ; he looks at him that is poor, of a contrite and humble spirit, with delight and" complacency ; and to such modest souls he says, Let me see thy counte nance—for thy countenance is comely ; when a proud look, and one proud in heart, are an abomination to him, Cant. ii. 14, Prov. vi. 16, 17. — 2. It makes a man most like to Christ, who was prophesied of as lowly, meek, and humble ; and who says of himself, and proposes himself for imitation, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly ; and the apostle beseeches the saints, by the meekness of Christ ; and which appeared throughout his whole state of humiliation on earth. — 3. It is the saint's clothing and ornament ; pride is the devil's livery ; but humility is the clothing of the servants of Christ, the badge by which they are known ; so some observe the word signifies a servant's garment in 1 Pet. v. 5. Be ye clothed with humility ; not that it is the samt's robe of righteousness, and garment of salvation, or his justifying righteousness before God ; rather his inward garment of sanctification, at least a part of it, which makes all glorious within ; and it makes a great show in a man's out ward conversation ; both in his walk before God, with whom he is required to walk humbly ; and in his conversation before men, humility makes him to shine, and greatly recommends him ; it is very ornamental to him ; the word translated clothed, in the above text, has the signifi cation of ornamental knots, as some think, and a meek spirit is called an ornament ; it is thought there is an allusion to the ornaments of women, and to knots of ribands worn by them in ono part or another, as on their breasts ; and it is as if the apostle should say, let others adorn themselves with knots as they wiU, but let your breast-knot be

492 OF HUMILITY. humility. — 4. It is of groat use in various duties and exercises of religion ; it is of use in prayer, to behave before God with a proper awe and reverence of him ; considering, that lie is in heaven and they on earth ; that lie is the great God, and a holy Being, and they dust and ashes, sinful dust and ashes, who take upon them to speak unto him ; and such humble souls God regards ; He forgetteth not the cry of the humble, Psalm ix. 12; the prayer of the humble publican was heard, and he preferred to the proud Pharisee, Luke xviii. 14. It is of use in preaching the word ; which should be done, not in an ostentatious way, to show a man's parts and abilities, and with great swelling words of vanity ; but the Lord is to be served in the gospel of his Son, with all humility of mind, and with a subjection to the word of God, as the rule. And it is of use in hearing and receiving the word ; Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls- And it is of use in giving a reason of hope, and making a confession of faith before men ; Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason ofthe hope that is in you, with meekness andfear, 1 Pet. iii. 15 ; which may have respect both to him that asks the reason, which should be asked, not in a haughty, insolent, and imperious manner, and with an intention to expose and deride, such deserve no answer ; for pearls are not to be cast before swine, nor what is holy to be given to dogs ; and with respect to him that gives the reason, which should be done with the fear of God, and with a view to his glory, and not to display a man's own gift and knowledge. Likewise it is of use in restoring backsliders, who are to be used in a spirit of meekness, gently and ten derly, Gal. vi. 1 ; and so in instructing such who oppose the gospel, and contradict themselves, 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. Also it may be made use of in a man's conversation to great advantage, and recommend him, and the religion ho professes, unto others, James iii. 13 ; not in a way of pride and boasting, but with humility and lowliness of mind. IV. The arguments, reasons, and motives encouraging to such a disposition of mind. . 1. The displeasure of God at a contrary behaviour and conduct ; Be clothed willh humility ; for God resisteth the proud, 1 Pet. v. 5; he sets himself against them, and it is a dreadful thing to have God an oppo nent ; there is no standing against him, and contending with him ; of all men the proud are an abomination to him, theso are a smoke in his nose ; those who exalt themselves and despise others are sure to be abased ; he scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts, con founds their schemes, and brings them themselves to destruction.— 2. God gives more grace to the humble; for that is the meaning of the phrase, He giveth grace unto the lowly, Prov. iii. 34, which is referred to in 1 Pet. v. 5, and so explained in James iv. 6, that is, more grace ; for a man must first have grace ere he can be humble, or to make him humble; and then more grace is promised and given to him as such. — 3. The Lord dwells with humblo persons ; they are a fit and proper habitation for God, Isa. Ivii. 15, see chap. Ixvi, 1, 2. — 4. When such arc disconsolate and sorrowful, the Lord comforts them, and fills them with joy and gladness ; for this end the gospel is proached, and was

OF SELF-DENIAL. 493 preached by Christ himself, to be good tidings to the meek ; and when these aro cast down, through the prevalence of sin, the force of tempta tion and divino desertions, whereby they aro humbled, tho Lord raises them up again ; The Lord lifteth up the meek, Psalm cxlvii. 6, and there is a gracious promise, that The meek shall increase theirjoy in the Lord, Isa. xxix. 19. — 5. When they are hungry and in want of food, the Lord feeds them to satisfaction ; 'The meek shall eat and be satisfied, yea, when they are in distress God will work miracles for them, rather than they shall want. — 6. When they want direction and instruction he will guide and teach -them ; The meek will he guide in judgment ; the meek will he teach his way, Psalm xxv. 9 ; guide them into all truth as it is in Jesus ; and teach them the ways and methods of his grace towards them; and the ways of duty, in which he would have them to walk. — 7. Humility is the way to preferment, to honour, grandeur, and hap piness ; Before lumour is humility ; yea, by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life, Prov. xvi. 18: and this is God's usual way, to abase those that exalt themselves, and to exalt them that aro humble, Luke xviii. 14. — 8. An inheritance is promised to the meek and humble ; The meek shall inherit the earih, Psalm xxxvii. 1 1 ; the same is promised by Christ, Matt. v. 5 ; not tho present earth and the things of it, though good men have the promise of tho life that now is, and are heirs of tho world, and the world is theirs; but tho new earth, in which none but righteous men will dwell with Christ a thousand years, 2 Pet. iii. 13. — 9. Such are and shall be saved ; And God shall save the humble person, both temporally and eternally, Job xxii. 29 : he saves such in time, in a time of temporal judgments on the earth, God then arises to save all the meek of the earth ; and when Christ comes to judgment with righteousness, he will judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth, Isa. xi. 4, and he will save them eternally ; for they aro tho same with tho poor in spirit, whose is tho kingdom of heaven. OF SELF-DENIAL. Self-denial accompanies humility ; where tho one is, the other is : a self-denying man is a humble man, and a humble man is a self-denying man. Proud boasters are lovers of their own selves, and cannot by any means deny themselves ; but the meek and humble, the followers of the lowly Jesus, deny themselves, and go after him : If any man will come after me, says Christ, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, andfollow me, Matt. xvi. 24 ; this is one of tho hardest lessons to bo learnt by his disciples, and no man can be a disciple of Christ without learning it. . I. It will be proper to inquire what self-denial is, or what it is for a man to deny himself. i. It is not to deny what a man is or has ; what he truly is, and what ho really has ; for that would be a falsehood ; in this sense God cannot deny himself not his nature, and tho perfection* of it ; or do, or affirm any thing contrary thereunto. So a man ought not to deny

494 OP SELF-DENIAt. himself as a man, nor the rational powers which he is possessed of; one may indeed, speaking in the language of another, and as expressing the meanness and contempt in which he is held by such, say, / am a worm and no man, as David the type, and Christ his antitype, did ; a man may also, in a comparative sense, with respect to others, and as exaggerating his own folly, ignorance, and stupidity, say, as Asaph did, So foolish teas I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee; and so Agur, Surely, I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding cf a man, in comparison of others, and having a very low share of it, in his own opinion, Psalm lxxiii. 22, Prov. xxx. 2 ; "in these senses such phrases may be admitted ; otherwise it would not be true of a man, nor doing justice to himself, to say that he was no other than a horse and a mule, which have no understanding. Nor should a man deny what he has of the external benefits and blessings of providence ; if God bestows riches and honour upon a man, as he did on David, he should own them as coming to him from God, as David did, and bless God for such benefits, and make use of them for the glory of God, and the good of his interest ; and if God has bestowed internal endowments on men, gifts and talents, qualifying for public service and usefulness, some way or another, they are to own them, and use them, and not wrap them up in a napkin, or hide them in the earth, which is interpretatively to deny that they have them. Nor should a truly good and gracious man deny what he is and has ; but acknowledge it, and how by grace he came by it ; and say with the apostle, By the grace of God I am what I am ; if a man is a believer in Christ, he should confess his faith in him, Rom. x. 1 0 ; there were some among the Jews in the times of Christ, who believed he was the Messiah, and yet con fessed him not, because they loved the praise of men, were lovers of themselves, and could not deny themselves of praise from men ; yet such non-confession of Christ is tacitly a denial of him, and is so inter preted by Christ, Matt. x. 31, 32 ; but especially when a man has true faith in Christ, has spiritual knowledge of him, and is a real disciple of his, to deny this is very criminal; this was the sin of Peter, when challenged with being acquainted with Jesus, and being a disciple of his, denied that he knew him, and that he was one of them that belonged to him. And so if a man has faith in Christ, and good hope through grace, and the grace of God has been exceeding abundant, with faith and love, which is in Christ, he ought to be careful that he does not deny these things. There is in some weaker Christians, I do not know well what name to call it by, it is an over-modesty, a think ing and speaking over meanly of themselves ; and which they affect to do, and carry things to too great a length very much this way, as if they had no faith, nor love, and scarce any hope ; and are ready to express themselves in such sort as seems to border, at least, upon a denial of the work of grace upon their souls ; and is like a tearing up by the roots, as much as in them lies, the very principles of grace in them, which should never be encouraged, but discountenanced ; the least measure of grace should be owned, and men should be thankful for it, and pray for an increase of it.

OF SELF-DENIAL. 495 ii. To deny a man's self, is not to refuse favours conferred on him in a course of providence, nor to neglect a lawful use of them, nor to take no care of himself and of his affairs. — 1. Self-denial does not require that a man should refuse temporal honours and riches bestowed on him in a providential way ; so Joseph, though a self-denying man, did not refuse the honours and the tokens of them Pharaoh gave him, when he made him ruler over the land of Egypt ; nor David, when the tribes made him king over all Israel ; nor Daniel, when he was advanced in Nebuchadnezzar's court, and was honoured by Belshazzar, and prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus ; but these good men improved them all to the glory of God and the good of others. — 2. Nor are the creatures of God, and the use of them, to be rejected ; Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, 1 Tim. iv. 4 ; nor ought a man to debar himself of the free and lawful use of them : we are told there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy the fruit of his labour, and that it is his portion and the gift of God ; and that to withhold it from himself is a sore evil under the sun, vanity, and an evil disease, Eccles. ii. 24, and v. 19, and vi. 1, 2 ; only care should be taken in using the world and worldly things, that they are not abused, this is all with respect to worldly things that self-denial requires, even a non-gratification of the carnal and sensual appetite to excess, which branch of self-denial the wise man expresses by putting a knife to the throat. — 3. Nor should a man be careless of his life, and health, and family, though he should not be anxiously careful for life, for food, and raiment, to support and secure it ; yet he may be lawfully careful for life, which is better than them ; and so likewise for his health, to preserve it by proper means, as the apostle Paul advised the mariners with him to take meat for their health's sake ; and Timothy to the use of wine for his often infirmities, 1 Tim. v. 23 ; and in like manner a man should be careful for his family ; which should he not', it would be so far from being reckoned self-denial, in a good sense, that it might be justly treated as a denial of the faith, 1 Tim. v. 8. — 4. There is a self-love which is not criminal, nor contrary to the grace of self-denial, For no man ever yet hated his oini flesh, Eph. v. 29, himself; which he is not obliged to by, yea, would be contrary to, the law of nature, and the law of God ; to take care of a man's self, and to preserve his life, is the first principle and law of nature ; and it is commanded by the law of God that a man should love himself, for, according to that, he is to love his neighbour as himself, and therefore must first love him self to love his neighbour as himself: there is a ipiXavna, an inordinate love of man's self, which is the source of all sin, of covetousness, pride, blasphemy, disobedience to parents, ingratitude, &c, which is care fully to be avoided, 2 Tim. iii. 2—4. — 5. Nor is it self-denial, or any part of it, to abuse the body in any respect, and even on religious accounts, by cutting it with knives and lances, as Baal's priests ; or by lashing it with whips and scourges, as the papists, for penance ; or by severe fastings and abstinence, by neglecting it, not in any honour to Hie satisfying of theflesh, as some ancient heretics in the apostle's days, Col. ii. 23; nor should anything be done that endangers life, and

496 OP SELF-DENIAL. much less should any, under whatsoever pretence, lay violent hands on themselves, to which somotimes the temptations of Satan load. in. Self-denial lies in a man's renouncing, foregoing, and postponing all his pleasures, profits, relations, interest, and whatever he enjoys, which may be in competition with Christ, from love to him, and to bo given up at his command : a self-denying man seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leaves all other things with God to bestow upon him as he thinks fit ; and what ho has given him, he is ready to give back again when called for, preferring Christ to all things in heaven and earth ; he is ready at command to bring all he has and lay it at his feet, as the first Christians brought all they had and laid at the feet of the apostles. This is self-denial. The common distribu tion of it is not amiss, into natural or civil self, sinful self, and righteous self, all which a self-denying Christian is made willing to part with. First, With natural and civil self, with things relative both to soul and body, of which a man's self consists. i. The soul, with its powers and faculties of understanding, will, and affections ; and there arc self-denying acts, which respect each of these. — 1. The understanding; and it is a self-denying act in a man, to loan not to his own understanding, which is natural to him, but give it up to God, to be instructed, guided, and directed by him in all religious matters, according to his word and the influences of his grace and Spirit ; thus Saul, when called by grace, conferred not with flesh and blood, with the carnal reasonings of his mind, whether ho should profess and preach Christ the Son of God, or no ; but immediately set about it, following the divine light and supernatural instructions given him; and this is the case of all self-denying Christians, when their reason is brought to stoop to divine revelation : and their carnal rea sonings, and vain imaginations, and their high towering and exalted thoughts of themselves, and of their own understandings, are cast down, and brought into the obedience of Christ. — 2. The will ; and then does a man deny himself, when his will becomes subject to tho will of God ; when, with good old Eli, he says, It is the Lord, lot him do what seemeth him good, though ever so disagreeable to himself, and the interests of his family ; and so tho friends of the apostle Paul, when they were so desirous of his continuance, and found that all intreatics prevailed not, said, The will of tho Lord be done ! and when, in all cases, the will of a man is brought to this, then may he be said to deny himself, of which Christ is a pattern to him, Not my will, but thine be done ! — 3. The affections; these aro sometimes called inor dinate affections, Col. iii. 5, as when they aro out of duo course and order; when the world, and the things of it, are loved with an immo derate love, in a manner inconsistent with the love of God ; and when friends and relations aro loved more than Christ. Now self-denial checks and restrains the affections, and reduces them to proper order, and forbids such a love of the world, and the things of it ; and will not suffer a man to love father or mother, son or daughter, more than Christ ; but will declare such unworthy of him. ii. The body, and its members, and things relative to that, and all

OF SRLF-DENIAI.. 497 external things : about these self-denial is exercised ;—1 . When the members of the body are restrained from the service of sin ; when sin is not suffered to reign in the mortal body, and the members thereof are not yielded as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ; but the deeds of'it are mortified, and no provision is made for thefiesh tofulfil the lusts thereof Rom. vi. 12, 13. — 2. When external honours from men are not sought for, only the honour which comes from God ; when a man is content to suffer the loss of fame, name, and credit among men for Christ's sake; to be defamed, made the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things ; to pass through honour and dishonour, good report and bad report, and suffer all indignities for the sake of religion. This is selfdenial ; an instance of this we have in Moses, who for forty years lived in the court of Pharaoh, and enjoyed the honours, pleasures, and riches of that court; yet denied himself of them all, chose to visit and rank him self among his brethren the Israelites, then in a low and despicable condition, and refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and reproach for Christ's sake, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin and the riches of Egypt. — 3. When worldly profits and emoluments are left for the sake of Christ, and the interest of religion; this is self-denial: as when the disciples, one and another of them, left their fishing nets and boats, and worldly employments, and followed Christ ; yea, Peter, in the name of them all, could say, Behold, we haveforsaken all, andfollowed thee, Matt. iv. 20, 22. So Matthew, at the receipt of custom, which, perhaps, was a lucrative and profitable employment ; yet, called by Christ, left it and followed him, Matt. ix. 9. And so many a gospel minister has given up himself to the ministry of the word, when worldly offers and views have directed him another way; and many private Christians have joyfully suffered the confiscation of goods and even imprisonment of the body, for the sake of religion and a good conscience; this is selfdenial. An instance to the contrary of all this we have in a young man, who could not part with his worldly substance and follow Christ, of whom he asked, what good thing he must do to have eternal life ; and was answered, Keep the commandments ; these he thought an easy task, and what he had been always used to, and seemed highly delighted with it ; All these things I have keptfrom my youth ; what lack Iyet ? a hard lesson is then set him to learn ; Sell that thou luxst, and give to thepoor ; and though he was promised treasure in heaven, it did not countervail; He went away sorroieful, for he had great possessions, which he could not part with, and deny himself of, Matt.xix. 1 6—22. — 4. The nearest and dearest friends and relations, which are a part of a man's self, these are to be left, when God calls for it ; so Abraham was commanded to come out from his country and kindred, and his father's house, which, though a self-denying order, he was obedient to ; and so the people of God, when called bygrace, are directed to forsake their own people, and their father's house, and when these attempt to obstruct them in the ways of God, they are not to be obeyed, but resisted; yea, even to be hated, compara tively, that is, less love and respect are to be shown them than to Christ, Luke xiv. 26 ; a great instance of self-denial of this kind we have in Abraham, who was called to part with his son, his only son, his beloved VOL. II. K K

498 OF SELF-DENIAL. son, the son of the promise, from whom the Messiah was to spring, to offer him upon a mount he should be shown ; this was a great trial of faith, a hard lesson of self-denial to learn, and yet he withheld not his son from God ; by which he gave evidence of a self-denying spirit, of his love to God, his fear of him, and obedience to his command.— 5. Health and hazard of life ; as when men risk their health in the ser vice of God and Christ, and true religion ; so Epaphroditus, for the work of Christ, was nigh unto death ; and many, like the apostle Paul, have spent and been spent in the cause of God, by hard studies and frequent ministrations; so Paul and Barnabas hazarded their lives, through the rage of men, for the name of our Lord Jesus, preaching the gospel ; and Aquila and Priscilla were ready to lay down their own necks for the apostle, that is, to risk their lives for his sake. — 6. Life itself is to be laM down when called for, the apostle Paul did not count his life dear to himself, but was ready to part with it for the sake of the gospel ; and of others we read, that they loved not their lives unto death ; and this is tho great instance of self-denial Christ gives, Matt. xvi. 24, 25. • Secondly, Another branch of self-denial lies in denying sinful self; this lesson, not nature but grace teaches, even to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, which include all kinds of sin ; internal lusts and exter nal actions of sin ; sins of heart, lip, and life ; every thing that is con trary to God and his righteous law. This is a hard lesson to learn; to part with sinful self is not an easy task, sin is so natural to men, they are conceived and born in it, are trangressors from the womb, and have lived in sin from their youth upward ; sin and the soul have been long companions, and are loath to part ; sin is as natural to the sinner as black ness to the Ethiopian, and spots to the leopard ; it is as grateful to him as cold water to a thirsty soul ; and is like a sweet morsel in his mouth, and he hides and spares it, and cares not to forsake it ; it pro mises him much pleasure, though short-lived, vain and fallacious; some sins are right-hand and right-eye sins, as dear as the right hand and right eye be ; and to cut off and pluck out such and cast them away is a great piece of self-denial ; and is hard work, until the Spirit of God thoroughly convinces a man of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, what an evil and bitter thing it is, and how pernicious in its effects and conse quences ; and then being called and required to forsake it, does and says with Ephraim, What have I to do any more with idols ? and this self-denial appears by loathing it, and themselves for it ; by detesting and abhorring it, and themselves on account of it ; and by repenting of it in deep humiliation for it, by lamenting the indwelling and prevalence of it, and by praying against it ; by abstaining from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and from all appearance of sin ; by malting no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it j by opposing them, resisting unto blood, striving against sin ; and by declaring to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness : so persons and things are said to be denied, when there is an aversion to them, a rejection of them, a disowning them as belonging to them, and as having any connexion with them ; so Moses was denied by the Israel ites, and Christ by the Jews. A branch of this part of self-denial lies

OP SELF-DENIAL. 499 in partmg with sinful companions, which are a sort of second self ; and especially sinful relations, whom to part with is difficult work, as to withstand their solicitations, earnest entreaties, enticing language, and fair promises of pleasure and profit ; as also to bear their reproaches, revilings and censures, on refusing to associate with them ; for he that departs from evil, maketh himself a prey, Isa. lix. 15; but being called, by divine grace, to come out from among them, and to be separate from them ; and being convinced of the folly and danger of keeping com pany with them, and having better companions, and more preferable communion and fellowship, they are called into ; and having had too long an abode with them to their great grief and loss, determine through the grace of God to leave them, and to have nothing more to do with them ; which is self-denial. Thirdly, Another branch of self-denial is to deny righteous self, which is not to refuse to do works of righteousness for necessary uses, to glo rify God, to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and a profession of it ; to show the genuineness and truth of faith, and to do good to others; this the grace of God teaches and obliges unto ; but to deny righteous self, is to renounce all trust in and dependence on a man's own righteous ness for justification before God, and,acceptance with him; and to sub mit to the righteousness of Christ, and depend upon that for such pur poses. Now this is a hard lesson to learn, for a man to quit all trust in himself that he is righteous, and to depend upon the righteousness of another; to live out of himself upon another; to be beholden entirely to the free grace of God, and to the righteousness of Christ, disclaiming all works done by himself for his justification and whole sal vation, is disagreeable to self: it is against the grain; a man's right eousness is his own, and. he does not care to part with it, he would fain hold it fast ; it is the effect of great toil and labour, and which he has endeavoured to establish and settle fast, and to have it all pulled down at once he cannot bear it ; it is matter of glorying and boasting, and to have this excluded, and to be stripped of all his feathers, is not plead ing to flesh and blood ; it is his idol he has bowed unto, and to take this away from him is as cutting as it was to Micah, when his images were stolen from him, and he said, Ye have taken away my gods, and what have I more ? but when the Spirit of God convinces a man of the insufficiency of his own righteousness to justify him before God, and of the excellency of the righteousness of Christ for such a purpose, then he quits his own, and lays hold on that ; an instance of this kind of self-denial we have in the apostle Paul, who was at first a self-righteous man, who thought that touching the righteousness of the law he was blameless; he counted it gain unto him, and trusted in it, and expected to be justified and saved by it; but when he came to see the imperfec tion of it, and was convinced of its unprofitableness to God, he counted it loss and dung, and rejected it as such, desiring to he found in Christ, and in his righteousness, and not his own, Phil. iii. 6—9. II. There are various arguments or motives which may be made use of to excite truly gracious souls to the exercise of this grace of selfdenial in the several branches of it. KK2

500 OF RESIGNATION TO GOD. 1. It is required of them ; it is an injunction of Christ on his disci ples, even all of them, and therefore to be strictly regarded, complied with, and exercised ; If any man will come after me, is desirous of being a disciple and follower of Christ, let him deny himself, Matt. xvi. 24; nay this is necessary to a man's being a disciple of Christ, he cannot be one without it; see Luke xiv. 26, 27. — 2. Christ has not only commanded it, but he has sot an example of it himself ; he denied himself for our sakes ; came forth from his Father, and came down from heaven to serve us ; though he was rich, for our eakes he became poor, that we through his poverty, might be made rich ; though he was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet he so far humbled and demed himself as to be found in fashion as a man, and in the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, the death of the cross ; he pleased not himself, but patiently bore the reproaches of men, which could not but be very disagreeable to him; and he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself ; and in all which and more he was an example of self-denial, Phil. ii. 5—8. — 3. The examples of saints in all ages may serve to excite and encourage to it ; as of Abra ham, in leaving his country and father's house, and especially in offer ing up his son at the command of God ; in Moses, refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; in the Old Testament samts and mar tyrs, who suffered bonds, imprisonment, trial of cruel mockings, and death itself, in various shapes ; and so in others since : in the apostles of Christ, who left all and followed him : an instance of denial of sinful self may be obseved in Zaccheus and others; and of righteous self m the apostle Paul. — 4. If a man does not deny himself, as required of God, he sets up himself for God, makes a god of himself, and is guilty of idolatry; such live to themselves, and not unto God and Christ, which the love of Christ constrains unto, namely, that they who live, should not live to themselves, but to him who died for them and rose agam; yea, that they should none of them neither live to themselves, nor die to themselves, but to the Lord ; that both living and dying they may appear to be his, and not their own. — 5. The loss and gain of not deny ing and of denying self, should be considered. Such who think to save themselves by not denying themselves, lose themselves and their own souls ; lose Christ and his righteousness, heaven and eternal life ; wh°n those who deny themselves for Christ's sake, find the life of their souls, gain Christ and his righteousness, have treasure in heaven, the recom pense of reward, the moro enduring substance. OF RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF GOD. Submission, or Resignation of the will of man to the will of God, is a part of self-denial, as has been observed in the preceding chapter and therefore properly next requires a distinct consideration. It J.s n0 other than an entire acquiescence in the will of God in all things, and especially in adverse dispensations of providence, which is a tri of it ; as in Eli, when he was told of the distresses that should come upon his family, said, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good .

OF RESIGNATION TO GOD. 501 1 Sam. iii. 18 ; and in much the same temper and disposition of mind was David, when he ordered the ark to be carried back to Jerusalem, which he was obliged to leave, 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. This is no other than for a man to have his will swallowed up in the will of God, and to have no will of his own, but what is the Lord's ; or only to will what he wills, and is pleasing to him ; this, in its highest perfection, was in Christ in the midst of his agonies ; Not my will, but thine be done ! Something of this kind may be expected from a follower of Christ ; but that anything similar to it should drop from the lips of a heathen, is somewhat extraordinary ; and yet Epictetus gives this advico, " Will nothing but what God wills g;" there is indeed a difference between giving advice and acting up to it, and between theory and practice ; yet this same heathen says", " I yield my appetite to God ; does he will that I should have a fever ' I will it also. Does he will that I should attempt any thing ! I likewise will it. Would he have me desire any thing ? I also will it. Would ho have me enjoy any thing ? The same is my will. Does he nill I I also nill. Would he havo me die ? I am willing to die." How far he said this with truth, and acted according to it, 1 will not say ; but to have the will so resigned to the will of God highly becomes a Christian. But, I. There must be much done to the will of man, and much manage ment of it, under the power of divine grace, to bring the will of man to be subject to the will of God. For, 1. The will of man is very stubborn and inflexible; we often read of the hardness of tho heart, and of its being hardened through the deceitfulnessof sin ; and of the stony heart, a heart as hard as a stone, yea, as an adamant stone, on which no impressions can be made, nor becomes pliable and flexible by any methods made use of; and such is the obstinacy of the will of man. — 2. It is averse to all that is good ; it hates the good and loves the evil ; it hates the good law of God, and is not subject to it ; nor can it be, without the power of divine grace ; it hates good men, and all their good instructions ; as men to do good have no knowledge, so neither will they understand ; they have no will nor desire to understand what is good, and still less to practise it.— 3. The will of man is biassed to and bent upon that which is evil ; their hearts are fully set in them to do evil, Eccles. viii. 1 1 ; their language is, we will walk after our own devices, &c — 4. The will of man is opposite to the will of God in all things ; yea, in things that are most for his good ; even for his everlasting welfaro and happiness. The will of God is, that men should bo saved, or have everlasting life and salva tion only by Christ ; but the will of men is averse to this way of salvation ; Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life, John v. 40 ; tho will of God is, that men should be justified in his sight, not by the works of the law, but by the righteousness of Christ ; but, on the contrary, so stout-hearted, and far from this way of righteousness, are men, that they seek justification, not by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law, and go about to establish their own righteousness, and will not submit to tho righteousness of Christ. God has set up Christ as king « MijSevaAAo 6t\t,i\ a i e«oj 0«A'i.— Airinn. Epict. ot 1. 2, c. 17. h lb. 1.8, c 26,

502 OP RESIGNATION TO GOD. over Zion, and requires obedience to his word and ordinances; but such is the perverseness of men's wills, that they declare, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us ; and therefore break the bands, and cast away the cords of his laws and ordinances from them : and if they are so averse to the methods of his grace and kingdom, then much more so to the dispensation of his providence. — 5. The carnal nirod and will of man is enmity itself against God, his law and gospel, his purposes and providences ; it is full of rebellion to him ; it rebels against the light of nature and against the law of God ; the Israelites were always a rebellious people, though favoured with the knowledge of the will of God above all people; and so the elect of God, whilst in a state of nature, are styled rebellious. — 6. It is one of the characters of sin ful men, that they are self-willed, 2 Pet. ii. 10 ; men naturally desire to have their own wills and ways; they do not care to be contradicted and gainsayed ; even God's elect, before conversion, are studiously fulfilling the desires of the flesh, or the wills of the flesh, their carnal wills, and choose to live to the lusts of the flesh, and not to the will of God. In such a bad and depraved state is the will of man naturally; so that much must be done with it to bring it into subjection to the will of God. Now the various steps which God takes, and the various things he does to the will of man, in order to work it up, and bring it to a sub mission to his will, are these : — 1. He breaks the wills of men, he crosses them, by one afflictivo providence after another ; and brings them by degrees to give up their wills to his ; he will not let them have their own wills and ways ; but thwarts them, and denies them those things their wills are set upon ; until at length they are content that his will should be done ; as creatures not used to a yoke, at first are very reluctant, and wriggle and toss about, and will not easily submit, until some rough methods are taken to break them. Graceless men are sons of Belial, children without a yoke ; such are the people of God before conversion ; but then they are called to take a yoke upon them, not only of Christ's commands and ordinances, but of afflictions and reproaches for Christ's sake ; when they are, at first, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, and it sits uneasy upon them ; but afterwards, when they are more used to it, they become more patient and quiet under it ; hence it is said to be good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth ; for thereby he is inured to it, and bears it more quietly and patiently, Lam. iii. 27; it not being perceived so heavy as at first. — 2. The Lord exerts his mighty power upon the wills of men, and of unwilling makes them willing ; when the power of God is put forth upon them, then they are made willing, as to serve the Low, and to be saved by him in his own way ; so to part with every thmg he calls for, and to bear and suffer whatever is his will and pleasure ; but such a willing disposition is not by might and power of men; a man cannot make himself willing, or work himself to such a submissive frame ; but it is effected by the Spirit of God, and the power of his efficacious grace ; and this is not done by forco and compulsion ; God does not force the will, but allures and attracts it ; works upon it, as Austin says, with an omnipotent sweetness, and a sweet omnipotence.

OP RESIGNATION TO GOD. 503 —3. The Lord takes away the obduracy and hardness, the stubborn ness and stiffness of the will, and makes it flexible to his will ; he takes away the stony heart, and gives a heart of flesh, a soft heart, suscep tible of impressions, by which it may be wrought upon to a compliance to the will of God ; this he sometimes does by his word, which is a hammer to break the rock in pieces ; and sometimes by afflictive pro vidences, by which God sometimes makes the heart soft, as he did Job's ; though perhaps he may mean it in a somewhat different sense, Job xxiii. 16 ; men, in a state of nature, their neck is an iron sinew, or the sinew of their neck is like a bar of iron, which will not bend ; but such a bar, when put into the fire, and made soft, it may be bent at pleasure : so men, called by grace, and put into the furnace of affliction, they become soft and pliable to the will of God. — 4. The will of man is made free by the power of divine grace in conversion, which before was a slave to sin and Satan, and brought into bondage ; and whilst it so continues it is not, and cannot be obedient to the will of God ; whilst it is a servant to divers lusts and pleasures, it cannot willingly submit to adverse dispensations of Providence ; but if the Son makes it free, it is free indeed, to take up the cross and follow him ; when men are made free from sin, from the dominion, bondage, and slavery of it, they become the servants of righteousness, and servants to God, and submissive to his will, both to do and suffer whatever is his plea sure to call them to. — 5. God effectually works in his people, both to will and to do of his good pleasure ; he does not create a new faculty of the will, but he frees it from what hinders its operations in a right way, and influences it by his grace to act according to his own will and pleasure ; when to will is present with them, though sometimes they find want of power to perform as they would ; the spirit is will ing, both to do and suffer what is the will of God ; but tho flesh is weak, and has not strength to act, but throws clogs and difficulties in the way ; however, the will is so powerfully wrought upon as to say, Lord, what wilt thou have me todo? I am willing to do any thing, and bear any thing, thou art pleased to call mo to, Acts ix. 6. So submis sive is the will under a divine influence. I proceed to consider, II. The various phrases by which submission to the will of God, especially under adverse dispensations of Providence, is expressed. i. To be still, and quiet and easy; Be still, and know that I am God, Psalm xlvi. 10, which is directed to amidst the commotions, stirs, and tumults in the world, and the desolations made in tho earth, as the context shows; and is to be understood,—1. Not of insensibility and stupidity ; that men should be as still as a stone, or be like stocks and stones, senseless and unconcerned ; they should be sensible of the hand of God in his providences, and own it as directed to in the exhortation, Know that I am God ; own and acknowledge my hand in all these things ; so Eli said, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good ! and so Job ; The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away ! they should be sensible of the cause of these things ; for, as David said, Is there not a cause ? There is ; and that is sin ; If his children forsake my law, &c, then will I visit their transgressions with

504 OF RESIGNATION TO GOD. a rod : and they should be sensible of the afflictions itself; not only feel the rod, but bear it, take notieo of it, and learn by it ; indeed, somotimes so stupid are men, that God speaketh once, yea, twice, by an afflictive providence, one after another, yet man perceiveth it not, takes no notice of it ; it has no effect upon him ; though he is stricken and beaten, he feels it not : there are two extremes often in men under the afflicting hand of God ; either they are apt to faint, and sink under an affliction, or to neglect it, overlook it, oAtycopet, make little or nothing of it ; both which are guarded against in the exhortation in Heb. xii. 5. Nor,— 2. Of a stoical apathy is the phrase to be understood ; as if a man should be quite unaffected with an afflictive providence ; though the affections are to be checked when they become inordinate, yet there may be a due use of them ; they are not indeed to be set on earth, and earthly things, but upon things in heaven ; and such a disposition of them will make a man more quiet and easy under the loss of things temporal ; yet he is not wholly divested of his affections under such losses ; when Job lost all his sub stance, as well as his children, and was all submission to the will of God, yet he gave manifest tokens of his affections being moved by the providence ; as by rending his mantle, shaving his head, and" falling down upon the ground : and though Christians are not to sorrow for the loss of relations and friends, as the heathens, without hope, and in that immoderate and barbarous manner they did, yet may with mode ration ; Abraham went to Hebron to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her, when dead ; and Joseph made a mourning for his father seven days; devout men carried Stephen to his grave, and made great lamentation over him; and Christ himself wept over the grave of Lazarus. — 3. Nor is the phrase expressive of inactivity. The strength of men in such cases is not to sit still and do nothing ; there is much to be done under afflictive providences; as various graces to be exercised ; when men are chastened by the Lord, they aro called upon to bo zealous, and repent ; and they have need of faith and confidence in the divine promises to support them, which should not be cast away, but exercised ; and of patience, that when they have done tho will of God, by suffering afflictions, they may receive the promises. And there aro duties to be performed, as both prayer and praise ; If any be afflicted, let him pray, for support under the affliction, and that it may be sanc tified to him, and he may be delivered from it in due time : and praise too, so Job blessed the Lord when he was stripped of all he had ; the cross is to be taken up, in which saints are active, and bear it patiently, and through many tribulations follow Christ, and enter into the king dom. But, — 4. It is opposed to the fretting of the mind at the prosperity of others, and at their own adversity ; which is dehorted from,y"re* not thyself, &c, Psalm xxxvii. 1, 7, 8 ; and to all impatience, restlessness, and disquietude under the hand of God ; a good man should not act like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, and much less like a wild bull in a net : but the phrase signifies composure of mind, sodateness, a quiet submission to the will of God, and patience under his mighty hand.

OP RESIGNATION TO GOD. 505 u. Submission to the will of God, is expressed by a man's holding his peace, and being dumb and silent ; thus Aaron, when he lost his two sons in an awful manner, by fire from heaven, held his peace, Lev. x. 2 ; said not one word against what was done, or as complaining of the providence ; so David was dumb when under a sore affliction, Psalm xxxix. 9 ; and of a good man under the yoke of affliction it is said, He sitteth alone, and kecpeth silence, Lam. iii. 28. . Now,—1. All this is to be understood, not as though there was nothing to be said under an afflictive providence ; for it should be owned that it is of God, that it is of his appointing, in his secret purposes and decrees ; He performeth the thing that is appointedfor me, Job xxiii. 14 : Job is there speaking chiefly of his afflictions, and has respect to them ; and as they are appointed in God's purposes, they are brought on by his overruling providence ; there is no evil, of such a kind, in a city, but the Lord has done it ; he makes peace, and creates evil ; adversity and prosper ity are from him, and he sets tho one against the other. It should also be acknowledged by the saints, that they are deserving of such afflictions. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil I it may be expected. Nor should the people of God be silent in prayer under such providences; God expects to hear from them then ; In their affliction they will seek me early, for help, support, and deliverance. Nor should they be silent in praise to God, but bless his name ; since it might have been worse with them than it is ; especially when they are taught of God under their afflictions, and by them, and when they evidently see that they work together for their good ; and they should not fail to speak to others of the goodness of God to them ; of their gracious experiences in their afflictions, how that everlasting arms are underneath them, their bed is made in their sickness, God is with them when they pass through the fire and through the waters, and he chooses them in the furnace of affliction. But,— 2. Such silence is opposed to murmuring against God, and complain ing of his providence, as the Israelites in the wilderness did ; and to charging his ways with inequality, as the Jews in the time of Ezekiel : but it denotes such behaviour as Job's under such providences, who sinned not, nor charged God foolishly, Job i. 22. in. Submission to the will of God is expressed by bearing the rod, and him who has appointed it, Mic vi. 9 ; by the rod is meant the rod of correction, with which God, as a father, scourges and chastises his children, called, the rod of God, because of his appointing, and which he makes use of in a fatherly way ; and tho rod of man, because it is no other than what is common to men, and is used in a kind and tender way, after the manner of men. In which rod there is the voice of the Lord, which cries unto men in a way of reproof for sin, and by com manding them to return from iniquity ; which calls for humiliation, and instructs in the way of duty; and then it is heard and hearkened to, when men are obedient and submit to the will of God, signified by it ; when their ears are opened to discipline, and they attend to it, and instruction is sealed unto them, and they aro impressed by it. iv. The same is signified by men humbling themselves under the mighty

506 OP RESIGNATION TO GOD. hand of God, according to the exhortation in 1 Pet. v. 6 ; by the hand of God is meant his correcting and chastising hand, which sometimes is heavy and presses sore ; and which Job felt, and therefore cried to his friends to have pity on him, because the hand of the Lord was upon him ; and strong is his hand, and high is his right hand ; and which, though it is laid on in mercy, yet sometimes is veryheavy and distressing : and the end and use of it is to humble men ; as all the Lord's dealings with the Israelites in the wilderness were to humble them, and to prove them ; so are all the Lord's dispensations of providence towards his people, to hide pride from them, and to bring them to his feet, and to own his sovereignty over them ; and this is the way to be exalted. In short, all these phrases are expressive of submission to the will of God ; the language of them is, The will ofthe Lord be done ! Actsxxi. 14; and, indeed, this should be submitted to in all things ; and it should be the constant language of tho saints, with respect to every thing in which they are concerned ; If the Lord will, we shall live and do this and that, James iv. 15. It is a phrase often used by Socrates, as may be seen in the writings of Plato, eav ©eos e6eXri, If God will ; and which well becomes themouth of a Christian at all times, who oughtto be allsubmission to God, and to be wholly absorbed in the will of God ; for which, III. Tho following reasons may be given among many. i. Whatever is done in providence is done by the Lord ; his will and his hand are in it ; and this should reconcile the will of man to it, be it what it may; so said Eli, It is the Lord, who has said it and will do it, let him do what seemeth him good ! It was the consideration of this, that the Lord was concerned in all Job's losses, that it was he who gave and took away, which made them sit so easy on his mind ; and even to say, Blessed be the name of the Lord ! and this is what makes and keeps quiet and still, under the most afflictive providences, to know that it is the Lord who wills them. As, 1. That he is a sovereign Being, who does according to his will in heaven and in earth, who has the disposal of the whole world, and of all creatures and things in it ; he has a sovereign right to all, and may do what he will with his own ; give and take away at pleasure ; and therefore to be submitted to. — 2. That he is immutable, and his will is irresistible ; his mind is invariable, and his purpose unalterable ; who shall disannul it ? make it void and of none effect ? And his hand is stretched out in providence, to execute his purpose, and who shall turn it back ? as it would be impious, so in vain to attempt it ; for who hath resisted his will ? his counsel shall stand, and ho will do all his pleasure ; and therefore his will is to be submitted to. — 3. He is not accountable to his creatures ; nor is it fitting and reasonable that he should ; they are accountable to him, but not he to them ; therefore hegiveth no account ofany ofhis matters, Job xxxii. 13 ; as none can stay his hand, or stop the course of his providence ; so none ought to say to him, What doest thou ? but a silent submission should be yielded to him. — 4. That he is the wise, and the only wise God, and does all his works in wisdom ; though he does all things according to his will, in a sovereign way, yet, after the counsel of his own will ; in

OF PATIENCK. 507 the best and wisest manner, as such things are usually done,"when done with consultation ; as all his works in nature and in grace are made in wisdom, so his works of providence ; in which there is a bathos, a depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. What is said of Christ with respect to his miracles, he hath done all things well, is true of God in the dispensations of his providence, and therefore to be submitted to. — 5. That he is holy and righteous in all his ways and works, and there is no unrighteousness in him ; he cannot be charged with an unjust action, and with any inequality in his ways, and there fore not to be complained of in any respect. — 6. That he is a faithful God, and it is in faithfulness he afflicts his people ; and while they are under the affliction he will not suffer them to be tempted, or afflicted, above what they are able to bear ; nor will he take away his kindness from them, nor break his covenant with them ; all which displays his faithfulness, Psalm kcxxix. 33, 34. — 7. That all his ways are mercy and love to his people; when he hides his face he loves, when he chides he loves, and when he chastises he loves ; the rod is in a Father's hand, and should be submissively attended to. ii. What is done by the Lord seems good to him ; and what seems good to him must be good ; Let him do what seemeth him good : he is good originally and underivatively, the fountain of all goodness ; there is nothing but goodness in him, and nothing else comes from him, or is done by him ; Thou art good, and doest good, says David, Psalm cxix. 68 ; all he did in creation was very good, and all he does in providence is very good, even in the adverse dispensations of it: when Isaiah, from the Lord, told Hezekiah what evil things should befall his posterity, he replied, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken, Isa. xxxix. 6—8. What God does, it is his pleasure to do, and he will do all his pleasure ; he sits in the heavens, and does whatsoever he pleases ; and what pleases him should please us. It was a flattering speech of a courtier to king Astyages, " All is pleasing that the king does'," even when he had treated him in a shocking and barbarous manner : but without any flattery, and with a laudable submission of will to the will of God, every saint may say, whatever the Lord does is pleasing, is all well done ; being for his own glory and the good of his people. OF PATIENCE. Without patience there can be no real self-denial, nor true submis sion to the will of God in adversity ; nor contentment in every state ; nor thankfulness for every mercy ; it is what accompanies every grace, as faith, hope, and love, hence we read of the work offaith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, as together in the same persons, remem bered by the apostle, 1 Thess. i. 3 ; and to the exercise of every graco this of patience is to be added, 2 Pet. i. 5, 6 ; and this, with other graces, is to be eagerly pursued, closely followed after, and constantly exercised, 1 Tim. vi. 11 ; it is so necessary in the things of God, that 1 Aptaroy aval xav to av f}curi\tvs tptrj.—HeroJut. Clio, me 1. 1, c. 119. S

508 OP PATIENCE. one a stranger to this grace, cannot undertake to perform any com mand, nor do any work that is acceptable to the Lord. Concerning which may be inquired, I. In what it lies, or wherein is the exercise of it. i. In patiently bearing afflictions, of whatsoever kind it pleases God to exercise with ; hence the exhortation to be patient in tribulation, Rom. xii. 12 ; afflictions are the lot of the children of God, who are described as a poor and afflicted people ; these are what they aro appointed unto, what Christ has given them reason to expect in this world, and of which all the children of God aro partakers ; for if without them, they are bastards, and not sons ; and therefore should be patiently borne : every follower of Christ has a cross, his own pecu liar cross ; which he is to take up willingly and bear cheerfully ; Christiatins est crucianus ; A Christian is a cross-bearer, as Luther used to say, nor should we be impatient under it. Afflictions lie in the way to the heavenly glory, which is a narrow way, TtOXinnevri obos, an afflicted way, strewed with afflictions ; and through this rough way all Christian pilgrims and travellers pass, and enter the kingdom ; so did Christ himself ; and ere long they will come to the end of it, and out of great tribulations, and therefore should patiently endure them. They are no other than fatherly chastisements, given in love, and for good ; and sooner or later issue in good, either here or hereafter, and therefore to be yielded to with filial reverence and subjection ; and though in themselves not joyous, but grievous ; yet since peaceable fruits of righteousness follow them, those who are exercised with them should be content to bear them. Now to the exercise of patience under afflictions, murmurings, and repinings at them, and complainings of them, are opposite. Nor should saints be in haste to be rid of them, but wait the Lord's time ; nor make use of any unlawful methods to get out of them ; but should be willing they should take their course, and should let patience havo its perfect work. n. The exercise of patience lies in bearing reproach and persecution for the sake of Christ and his gospel ; they that will live godly in Christ must expect these things ; they are not to be thought new and strange, as if they were never before known or heard of ; nor should saints be impatient under them. Moses esteemed reproach for Christ's sake greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ; and the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ ; yea more than this the followers of Christ have been called unto in all ages, especially in the first ages of Christianity, under Rome pagan, and since under Rome j>apal, even to endure the most cruel persecutions and severe deaths ; after an account of which this obser vation is made, Here is the patience and faith of the saints ; that is, the trial of their patience and faith ; and we aro not yet out of antichristian times ; the reign of antichrist is not yet at an end : and whatsoever saints are called to suffer for the sake of Christ is cheer fully to be submitted to and patiently endured ; nor should they desert their station, nor withdraw themselves from their duty, nor drop their profession, nor forsake the fellowship of tho saints, and be like the

OF PATIENCE. 509 etony-ground-hearer, who by-and-by is offended, withdraws himself, and is gone. in. Patience is tried and exercised in and by the temptation of Satan ; our Lord suffered much himself, being tempted; and with what patience did he endure his sufferings by them, repelling every temptatation only by saying, It is written so and so ; though at the last temptation, and which was the most insolent and audacious, he added, Get thee hence, Satan. Saints have reason to bear them all patiently; since Christ their High Priest not only sympathizes with them, but succours them when tempted, and prays for them, that their faith fail not ; and still the more, since he assures them his grace is sufficient for them, to bear them up under -temptations, and carry through them, and that his strength shall be made perfect in their weakness, to deliver out of them. iv. Patience is exercised by divine desertions, and lies in quietly waiting for the Lord's gracious manifestations of himself unto his people again. Sometimes they are impatient on this account, and inquire the reason of it, and say, Why hidest thou thyself? and complain of the length of time, and ask, How long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? Psalm x. 1, and xiii. 1 ; thinking the time of desertion so long as to be a sort of eternity ; and indeed unbelief sometimes suggests, that God has cast off for ever, and will be favourable no more ; but at other times we find the saints more patient, and. in more quiet and waiting postures; as the prophet Isaiah, chap, viii, 17; and more especially the church, under the hidings of God's face, Mic vii. 7—10. v. Patience is exercised when answers of prayer are deferred, and it lies in a quiet waiting for them. Sometimes the Lord's people are very uneasy and impatient because they are not immediately answered, and imagine that God has covered himself with a cloud, that their prayer cannot pass through ; or that he has turned a deaf ear to them, and will never regard them ; though the vision is for an appointed time, and therefore should be waited for till that time comes, when it will not tarry ; and so it has been found by experience, as by David, Psalm xl. 1, 2. vi. This grace appears and shows itself in a patient waiting for the heavenly glory ; sometimes the saints are impatient, and want to depart, and be in the enjoyment of it before God's time, because of the afflictions, trials, and exercises they meet with in life ; which does not become them ; instances of which were Elijah, Job, Jonah, and others ; but afflictions are to be endured patiently, in expectation of glory ; since it is but a short time they will last ; a little while and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry ; and therefore they have need of and should exercise patienco in doing . the will of God, that they may receive the promises ; and should considor that their afflic tions are but for a moment, as well as light, when compared with the eternal weight of glory that will shortly follow ; and therefore should hope and quietly wait for it. II. I shall next consider the causes of this grace. i. The efficient cause is God, from whom every good and perfect v

510 OP PATIENCE. gift comes ; and as this is a gift, as every grace is, and a good one in its nature, use, and consequences; and is a perfect one, when it has its perfect work and effect, it must come from God; and hence he is called The God ofpatience, because he is the author of it, as well as requires it, and it"is exercised towards him ; by whom seems to be meant God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom xv. 5, 6. We read also of the patience of Christ, and of being directed into it, as well as into the love of God, 2 Thess. iii. 5 ; and which may signify, not only the patience exercised by Christ in his human nature, amidst all his afflictions and sufferings ; but what he works in the hearts of his people, and encourages them to exercise ; for as he is the author and finisher of faith, so of patience ; and the saints are companions of one another in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ : and even his patience as man is the exemplar and pattern of theirs ; for he has left an example of it, that they may tread in his steps ; and certain it is, that long-suffering, or patience, which is the same, is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22 ; so that all the three Persons are concerned in it. — 2. The instrumental causes of it are the Scriptures, and word of God and Christ ; which are written, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope ; which, as they are the means of instruction and consolation, so of patience. The word of God encou rages to it, furnishes with arguments for the exercise of it, and gives instances and examples of it, exciting thereunto ; hence Christ calls it, the word of his patience ; Because thou hast kept the word ofmypatience, Rev. iii. 10 ; and this word, accompanied with a divine power, and received into a good heart, made so by the Spirit of God, brings forth fruit with patience, and patience is one of its fruits, Lukeviii. 13. — 3. Afflictions themselves are a means of increasing it, for afflictions try faith ; and the trying offaith works patience, ana brings that into exercise, and inures unto it ; yea, it is expressly said, that tribulation works patience, that is, when sanctified ; otherwise it produces impa tience and murmurings, James i. 3, Rom. v. 3. 1 proceed to observe, III. The usefulness of this grace, and the exercise of it. 1. It makes a man comfortable and happy in himself; without this a man cannot enjoy himself, his mercies and his friends ; hence the advice of Christ to his disciples, In your patience possess ye your souls, Luke xxi. 19 ; an impatient man can have no enjoyment of himself, nor of any thing he has ; he is always restless and uneasy, and has no peace in himself; whereas a man possessed of patience, and in the exercise of it, has a peace which the world can neither give nor take away, a peace in the midst of tribulation.—2. It is of great use in running the Christian race ; Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Heb. xii. 1 : by the race is meant the Christian's course of life in this world, and what still remains of it to be run out ; the prize run for, is the prize of the high calling, the heavenly glory, the crown of life, glory, and righteousness, laid up in heaven ; this race is set before us, the way is marked out in which we are to run ; the rubs, the troubles, the impediments to be met with in the way, are appointed ; the mark to direct and steer the course by, and which is always to be

OF PATIENCE. 511 had in view, is Christ, who is the hope set before us in the gospel ; the length of the course to be run is fixed, the whole time of life, every year, month, day, and moment : and it requires patience to run it, partly through the length of the race, which sometimes appears tedious ; and partly because of the troubles, difficulties, and discou ragements in the way ; and likewise because of the prize saints long to be in the enjoyment of.—3. There is need of it, and of its exercise, in doing the will of God, in order to receive the promise,- Heb. x. 36 ; by doing the will of God, is not so much meant obeying the preceptive will of God, as to submit to the will of God respecting afflictions and sufferings for his sake ; for it is given, and it is the will of God, not only that men should believe in Christ, and follow him, but that they should suffer for his sake ; and to do this requires patience, and a quiet submission to the will of God ; which is the way to be quiet, patient, and humble under his mighty hand, whilst suffering accord ing to his will, 1 Pet. iv. 19 ; and so patience is necessary to receive the promise, the promised glory, after the will of God is done in a way of suffering; for the promise is made to him that endures patiently ; Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, afflictions with Eatience ; lie shall receive the crown of life ; obtain the promise, as A braam did, and through faith and patience inherit it, Heb. vi. 12, 15. — 4. Another use of the grace of patience is, that when it has its perfect work, saints become perfect also, James i. 4 ; this grace is imperfect, as all others are ; faith, hope, love, knowledge, &c ; and even in tho best, and in such who have been most eminent for it, as Job particu larly ; and yet what impatience was he guilty of at times ! though it may be increased, as every other grace ; for as there is such a thing as growing in grace in general, so in any grace in particular, and in this also : when it is said, that tribulation works patience, the meaning is, that it is the means and occasion of increasing it. And it may be said to be perfect, when it appears to be sincere and genuine, as it does by its being tried by afflictions ; and it has its perfect work when it is constant in its exercise, and continues to the end, and then will the saints be perfect, which they are not now in themselves, only in Christ their head ; but when this grace, and every other, shall bo perfect, then will they be perfect in holiness and happiness, as they will be at the resurrection in soul and body, and be entire, complete, and want nothing. IV. The motives to the exercise of this grace may be considered. 1 . It is what God calls his people to ; as to suffer for well-doing, so to take suffering for well-doing patiently ; for even hereunto were ye called, that is, to take it patiently, 1 Pet. ii. 21 ; hence these frequent exhortations to it ; Be patient in tribulation ; be patient towards all men ; be patient, brethren ; and again, be ye also patient ; and which is enforced and exemplified in the case of the husbandman, patiently waiting for the fruits of the earth, after much trouble, toil, and labour. —2. The exercise of this grace is taken notice of, approved of, and commended by God, 1 Pet. ii. 20 ; hence, in the epistles to the churches, it is frequently observed, with commendation, among other X

512 OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. things; / know thy patience, Rev. ii. 2, 3, 19, and iii. 10. — 3. It is commendable in the sight of good men ; Solomon extols it, Eccles. vii. 8 ; and the apostle Paul glories in the Thessalonians for it, 1 Thess. i. 3, 2 Thess. i. 4 ; a meek and patient Christian is not only in the sight of God of great price, but is very amiable in the sight of good men.— 4. The patience of God exercised towards his people may be improved into an argument exciting to it. The Lord is patient and long-suffer ing towards his people before conversion, whilst they are doing those things which might justly provoke the eyes of his glory ; fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, being by nature children of wrath, as others ; yet he is patient, and bears long with them, waiting to be gracious to them, and to have mercy on them, Isa. xxx. 18 ; and after conversion, he bears with their many provocations, backslidings, and revoltings from him ; and indeed, his patience with a wicked world, in not destroying it sooner, is for the sake of his chosen ones, waiting until they are called and brought to repentance ; the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation to them, 2 Pet. iii. 9, 15. — 5. The example of Christ, and of his patience, is very strong and forcible, and engaging to it ; Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps in the exercise of this grace, and learn patience of him, as well as meekness and lowliness of mind, 1 Pet. ii. 22, 23 ; we should consider him who endured the cross with so much patience, and the contradiction of sinners against himself with so much mildness and meekness ; lest we be wearied, and faint in our minds, and grow impa tient ; this may animate to patience and long-suffering. — 6. The examples of the saints in all ages, may serve to encourage to the exercise of patience ; of the prophets of the Old Testament ; of tho apostles of Christ ; and of the martyrs of Jesus ; and of other saints ; and particularly Job ; Ye have heard of the patience of Job, who was remarkable for it, when his afflictions came so thick, and fast, and heavy upon him ; and have seen the end of the Lord, in his afflictions, and how they issued, James v. 10, 11 ; and those examples are on record to encourage the saints to be followers of them, Heb. vi. 12.— 7. The near coming of Christ is made use of to stir up to patience ; it is but a littlo while, and he will come that shall come ; and then there will be an end of all afflictions and sufferings ; Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord ;—again, Be ye also patient, for the coming of the Lord drawcth nigh, James v. 7, 8 ; redemption draws near, suffering times will soon be over ; the summer is at hand, halcyon days will come ; peace will be like a river, and the glory of the church like a flowing stream ! OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. TuouGn saints are to be humble, self-denying, submissive to the will of God, and patient towards all men, and in all things ; yet they are not to indulge to pusillanimity and to a meanness of spirit ; but to show firmness of mind, resolution, an undaunted courage, and fortitude of soul, a manly spirit, which is not at all unbecoming the Christian ; for

OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. 513 God Imtli not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Tim. i. 7 ; they should play the man, act the manly part, show themselves to be men, as of wisdom so of courage, Quit you like men, and be strong ; which respects not strength of body, but forti tude of mind, 1 Cor. xvi. 13, and is the subject to be treated of. Concerning which may be observed, I. The nature and necessity of it. It is not a natural fortitude which is meant, and which may be in brutes as well as in men ; as in the lion, which is the strongest among beasts, and turneth not away from any, Prov. xxx. 30 ; its courage is equal to its strength ; but such natural animosity, or greatness of mind, found among men, is not pro perly virtue, much less grace, as Christian fortitude is ; and which also does not lio in bold and daring enterprizes, as when a man attempts things arduous and difficult, and encounters dangers ; either of which he has no call unto, but rushes into them unnecessarily and unwarily, without any consultation and deliberation, and without having any good end in view to be answered. This is no other than audacious ness, or rather temerity, or rashness ; and not true fortitude. Also true Christian fortitude is to be distinguished from civil fortitude, or what is exercised in war, in a military way ; though the one may bear some resemblance to the other : and even civil fortitude is often but a false appearance ; men will make a show of courage, through fear of disgrace, rebukes of their superiors, and military discipline, or of being taken prisoners, and becoming captives ; or it may arise from their confidence in their bodily strength, and in the strength and safety of their armour, and in their military skill, and through ignorance of the strength of the enemy ; and it is usually through hope of honour and the applause of men, and sometimes of the spoil : and at most and best, it is exercised for their own good, and the good of their country, which is commendable : but Christian fortitude is concerned about things which are apparently the will of God, and is exercised in obedi ence to it ; for the sake of a man's doing his duty, and with a pure view to the honour and glory of God ; trusting in and depending upon his power, strength, and grace, to carry him through whatever he is called to do or suffer in the performance of it ; and from which he is not to be deterred by any difficulties that occur, or dangers he may bo exposed unto therein : this is fortitude becoming Christians. Now of such fortitude there is a necessity in the Christian life. When we consider the many duties of religion to bo performed by us, and that with constancy and perseverance, both public and private, relative, social, and personal, in which we are to be steadfast and immovable ; and when our own weakness is considered, that without Christ we can do nothing, but all things, through Christ strengthening us, it requires groat boldness of faith, and confidence in Christ for grace and strength : and since the Christian has so many difficulties and dangers to encounter with ; so many discouragements in the way ; so many trials, temptations, tribulations, and afflictions from various quarters, he must be a man of fortitude not to be moved with these things ; bearing all with an invincible courage and constancy. To VOL. II. n *"~

514 OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. which may bo added, tho numerous enemies he lias to grapple with ; enemies mightier than he, who aro lively and strong ; some not flesh and blood, as he is, but above his match; even principalities and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places. Good men dwell in a sinful world, called, this present evil world: and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in it ; to bear the vexation arising from the filthy conversation of the wicked, as was the case of Lot ; and to bear a testimony against them, and to suffer their mockings, insults, and injuries, who are for war when they aro for peace, requires great forti tude of mind ; their souls are sometimes among lions, men comparable to them, as David's soul was; and they had need to be as bold as lions, as the righteous man is. Now this being the case, and these tho circumstances of the Christian, he has need of great fortitude of mind and of strength, and grace from above to support under them ; he has need to bo strong in the Lord, and in the grace that is in Christ Jesus ; to bo fortified with the love of God, with the promises of the fospel, and with fresh supplies of grace and strength from Christ. Jut these things will more largely appear in what will be farther sug gested in considering, II. Wherein this fortitude consists, and whereby it shows itself. i. It appears in the performance of religious exercises, as — 1. In family worship ; which undoubtedly is incumbent on the people of God: but now for a man to distinguish himself in a neighbourhood from all about him, and to say in his practice, with Joshua, Asfor me, and my house, we will serve the Lord, Josh. xxiv. 15, let others do what they will ; this shows religious fortitude of mind : and in particular when a man first sets up family prayer in his house ; suppose the master of a family is the only one in it called by grace, and at a time when he has an irreligious yoke-fellow, irreligious children and servants, ho sees it his duty, at least onco a day, to call them together, and to pray with them ; now for this man to fall down on his knees and pray to his God, and his wife, children, and servants sneering at him and laughing, at least secretly, to one another, requires a fortitude of mind : and if this is not the case, yet it may be he lives alone among wicked neighbours, and so contiguous to them that he cannot pray, nor read the Scriptures, nor sing the praises of God, which is the usage of some Christians in their families, without being overheard by them, and exposed to their ridicule and contempt ; to bear which constantly is an instance and evidence of fortitude. — 2. In a man's giving up himself to a church of Christ, to walk with it in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. For a man to attend public worship on Lord's-days is no great trial of his fortitude, because it is what his neighbours in common do ; but let him separate himself from the world, and stand out from among them, and give himself up to the Lord in a public manner, and to his people in a church-state ; and this will try it and show it ; for this is practically saying, he is not of the world, and belongs to another company ; and this will unavoidably draw tho hatred of tho world upon him ; and he will be liable to be challenged in a reproachful way, Thou art also one of them ; as Peter was by a man in the high priest's hall, and who had not then courage enough to

OF CIIRlfriAN FORTITUDE. 515 own it, but denied it. — 3. Especially if such a man comes into a church in a regular manner, by previously submitting to the ordinances of baptism, and to that as it was first delivered and practised ; if he declares against the sprinkling of infants, as an innovation, and openly avows the true doctrine of baptism, as to be administered only to such who profess faith in Christ, and that by immersion ; and if he will proceed accordingly, and follow Christ in this now despised ordinance of his, he must be content to be nicknamed, and to have reproach plentifully poured upon him ; not only by the profane world, but by the generality of the professors of religion. But when a man is satisfied that what he is called to do is his duty ; that it is a command of God, and ought to be obeyed, though attended with some things disagreeable to flesh and blood, he will take courage, and be strong, and do it ; as David advised his son Solomon, with respect to building the temple ; and when he is encouraged with the divine presence, as Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the Jews were, to be strong and work ; for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts ; and as the apostles were, when ordered by Christ to preach his gospel, administer his ordinances, and teach men to observe all that he commanded ; and added, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world ! this will inspire a good man with courage and resolution to do his duty ; nor will he be deterred from it by the edicts of men, though urged with the severest menaces ; as the three companions of Daniel bravely refused to worship Nebuchadnezzar's image, though threatened to be cast into a fiery furnace, as they were ; and Daniel, when an edict was obtained from the king, that no man should pray to his God for such a time, under the penalty of being cast into the den of lions ; he boldly went on in the performance of his duty ; opened his windows, and prayed to the God of heaven, as he had been wont to do in times past; and as the apostles, when strictly charged by the rulers to preach no more in the name of Jesus, and were severely threatened if they did, with great firmness of mind and intrepidity answered, We ought to obey God rather than man. Promises of grace and strength will animate sainte to a cheerful obedience to the will of God, and to the discharge of their duty, amidst all discouragements and difficulties ; if God says, as their day is, their strength shall be ; and that his strength shall bo made perfect in their weakness, and his grace bo sufficient for them ; and bids them, Fear not, I am with thee ; I will strengthen thee ! &c ; this will give them a fortitude of mind which will overcome all their fears ; and they will say, with David, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid ? Psalm xxvii. 1 —4; this is now active fortitude, and shows itselfin doing the duties of religion. ii. Christian fortitude shows itself in bearing afflictions with con stancy, and enduring sufferings with a firmness of mind, whether from the hands of God or men ; and which may be called passive fortitude. 1. From the hands of God, from whom Job was sensible he received his, *ven his loss of substance, children, and health, and bore it all with an invincible fortitude of mind : this appears when a man's spirits do ll2

516 OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. not sink under the weight of an affliction ; but has strength of mind, a fortitude of soul under adversity ; The spirit of a man, of a saint, animated with Christian courage, will sustain his infirmity, his bodily infirmity, a tedious consumption, or racking pains ; or go through any severe operation he may be called unto, with a becoming resolution and manliness. — 2. From the hands of men ; and especially for the sake of the gospel, the truths and ordinances of it ; as when saints are called to suffer shame and reproach for the sake of Christ, they, in imitation of him, despise the shame, and account it an honour to bear reproach for his sake ; of suffering as a Christian, they are not ashamed, but rather glorify God on that behalf, the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon them ; and when they endure cruel mockings, as some of the Old Testament saints did, bear them patiently, and with an invincible firmness of mind ; as Christ did on the cross ; and as the apostles, when made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and men ; when made the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things ; when reviled, and persecuted, and defamed, they bore all with a temper of mind which showed them to be possessed of Christian fortitude. Others have suffered confiscation of substance, and took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, as the believing Hebrews did ; and as our forefathers m the last century ; and others, scourging, bonds, and imprisonment ; as did the apostles of Christ, as well as the Old Testament saints ; and particularly the apostle Paul, who received of the Jews five times the scourging of forty stripes save one, and was thrice beaten with rods ; which perhaps left those marks on him which he calls, the marks of the Lord Jesus he bore in his body ; and who was in prisons frequent ; and who seems to take a pleasure, and even to glory, in his being a prisoner of Christ, and in chains for his sake ; of such an heroic spirit and with such fortitude was he endued, that none of these things moved him from the gospel of the grace of God. Death itself, in its most formidable shapes, has been endured by the saints with an invincible courage ; as by the martyrs in the ten pagan persecutions, and by the witnesses of Jesus against the papal hierarchy ; and particularly by our reformers in queen Mary's days, such as Lati mer, Ridley, Bradford, and others ; who, surrounded with fagots, and these in flames about them, expressed their undaunted courage, firm ness, and fortitude of mind to the last. These, with multitudes of others, loved not their lives unto death. in. Christian fortitude appears in the spiritual warfare of the saints. There is a warfare for men on earth, and especially for good men, who are soldiers, and must endure hardness, as good soldiers of Christ, and to which Christian fortitude is necossary ; and therefore should be, as Joshua was exhorted to be, strong and of a good courage, when he was called to fight the Lord's battles ; and against the enemies of the people of Israel ; and as Joab said to Abishai his brother ; Be ofgood courage, and let us play the man, for our people, and for the cities of our God, 2 Sam. x. 12. And Christian fortitude will show itself, 1 . In the defence of the cause of God and truth, in appearing for and on the behalf of the church of God : the bed which is Solomon s, which

OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. 517 seems to design the church of Christ, threescore valiant men are said to be about it of the valiant of Israel, Cant. iii. 7 ; who are valiant for the truth on earth, who are concerned for the welfare of the church, and for the protection of it from errors and heresies ; and will not give way, no not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel may continue with the church, and its ordinances remain pure and incorrupt ; and these are not only the ministers of the word, who are set for the defence of the gospel, and who war a good warfare, and fight the good fight of faith, and speak with the enemy in the gate, and are bold in their God to preach the gospel of Christ, as it ought to be spoken ; but all professors of religion, and members of the churches of Christ, should stand fast in one Spirit, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and should contend earnestly, even to an agony, for the faith once delivered to the saints ; and in so doing they show a fortitude of mind. — 2. This also appears in fighting against spiritual enemies ; as sin, and the lusts of it, which war against the soul ; the law in tho members warring against the law of the mind ; the flesh lusting against the Spirit ; which are, as it were, a company of two armies. Now one of Christian fortitude will strive against sin, be an antagonist to it, and act the manly part against it ; and will wrestle against Satan, and his principalities and powers, and give no place to tho devil, but by faith resist him, who, when resisted, will flee, for he is an arrant coward, and does not care to be handled with the armour of Christians ; and those young men who are strong, possessed of Christian fortitude, and in whom the word of God dwells, overcome the wicked one: the world also, with all its flattering lusts and frowning fury, is overcome by the saints in the exercise of faith, 1 John v. 4, 5. — 8. The saints have great reason, in their militant state, to be of good courage ; since more are they that are for them, than they that are against them ; and if God be for them, as he is, who can be against them? and through God they shall do valiantly : tho Christian has a good cause, in which he is engaged ; he wars a good warfare, and fights the good fight of faith ; he has a good Captain, under whose banner he fights, the great Captain of salvation : saints have good weapons, with which they are accoutred ; the shield of faith, the nelmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit ; which weapons are not carnal, but spiritual and mighty, through God, and are such as are proved, and may, with confidence, be made use of ; and they are sure of victory beforehand ; for all their enemies are conquered, sin is made an end of, Satan, who had the power of death, is destroyed, the world is overcome by Christ, the warfare is accomplished, and believers are made more than conquerors, through him that has loved them ; and therefore may be sure of the crown of life, righteousness and glory, laid up for all that love the appearing of Christ. All which may servo to fill them with a holy fortitude in their spiritual warfare. iv. Christian fortitude manifests itself in the hour of death. Death is very terrible to nature, and to natural men ; the philosopher11 calls it " the most terrible of all terribles ;" and no wonder he should call it so, since he adds, according to his opinion, it is " the end of all k Tail/ 4>o/3«parTa to* b Savaros.—Aristot. Ethic. 1. 3. r. 9.

518 OF CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE. things, and that to one that is dead there is neither good nor evil ;3' such a notion of death, as being an extinction, must be terrible ; and the wise man, when he suggests what is most grieving, distressing, and intolerable, says, it is more bitter than death ; as if besides there was nothing more grievous than that, Eccl. vii. 26. To Christless sinners death is the king of terrors, and even some gracious persons have been all their lifetime through fear of death subject to bondage ; but as formidable as it is, there are some things which fortify the Christian against the fears of it. As,—1. That Christ has abolished death as a penal evil, so that it will never be inflicted on the believer by way of punishment. The sting of death is taken away by Christ, which is sin, and a very venomous stmg it is, and death thus armed is to be feared ; but when its sting is taken out of it, it is not to be dreaded. Any insect with a sting we are naturally afraid of, but if its sting is removed we have no fear of it, though it flies and buzzes about us ; so in a view of death being unstung,'the believer may sing and say, Death, where is thy sting I and be fearless of it. —2. Death to believers is a privilege and blessing ; it has a place in their inventory of goods that belong unto them, death is yours ; it is a happiness to them, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ; since they are by it delivered from all evils, from all outward afflictions and inward troubles ; from a body of sin and death, under which they now groan being burdened ; from the world and its snares, and from Satan and his temptations ; and therefore are more happy than living saints ; besides, they are with Christ, enjoying com munion with him, and beholding his glory, which is much better than to be in the present state. — 3. Death, though it separates soul and bedy, and one friend from another, it does not separate from the love of God, but lets in to the more glorious discoveries and enjoyment of it. ^It is precious in the sight of the Lord, and therefore saints should not shrink at it themselves. — 4. It is but once, it is appointed for men once to die, and no more ; and it will soon be over, and issue in a happy endless eternity ; and when the body dies the soul does not, but immediately enters into a state of glory ; death is the inlet into it, and the begmning of it ; the birth-day of an eternal world of bliss : besides, there will be a resurrection of the bedy, when it will be fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, and will be raised in incorruption, in power, in glory, and a spiritual body ; so tho saints will be no losers but gainers by death, and therefore need not fear it : the resurrection of the body yields comfort in the view of death, and amidst present afflictions, as it did to Job, chap. xix. 25—27. — 5. Be it that death is an enemy, as it is contrary to nature, it is the last enemy that shall be destroyed ; and when that is conquered, the victory wiD be complete over every enemy, sin, Satan, the world, death, and the grave. — 6. Besides these things which may serve to promote a fortitude of mind against the fear of death ; it may be proper frequently to medi tate upon it, to think of it as near at hand, and to make it familiar to us by saying as Job did, chap. xvii. 14 ; by considering it as going to our God and Father, to our homo, to our Father's house ; by going to bod and resting in it ; and by sloeping, and that in tho arms of Jesus. I V. From whence this fortitude flows, and what the causes of it,

OF ZEAL. . 519 may be next considered. It is not from nature but from grace, it is a gift of God ; it is he that gives strength and power to his people, not bodily strength only, but spiritual strength ; it is he that girds them with strength, with a holy fortitude, and fills them with spiritual courage, and strengthens their hearts, and fortifies them against their spiritual enemies. — 1. The efficient cause of Christian fortitude of mind is God, Father, Son, and Spirit. God the Father is prayed unto for it, and he which stablishes saints in Christ, gives them stability and firmness of mind, is God, that is, God the Father : and it is Christ who bids them be of good cheer, to be strong and of good courage in the midst of tribulation, since he has overcome the world ; and it is through him who strengthens them that they can do and suffer all things for his sake ; and the Spirit of the Lord, as he rests as a Spirit of counsel and might on Christ the head, so on his members likewise ; and it is a grant of God, a free grace gift of his, that his people be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, Isa. xi. 2, Eph. iii. 16. — 2. The word of God is the means of producing and increasing Christian fortitude ; it is not only a part of the spiritual armour, called the sword of the Spirit, but having a place and abiding in the heart, fortifies it against spiritual enemies, and by it victory is gained over them, 1 Johnii. 14, Rev. xii. 11 ; tho precious promises contained in it, before hinted at, serve greatly to animate the saints, and to inspire them with fortitude amidst all surrounding evils. — 3. Such a temper and disposition of mind is attainable by faith, prayer, and waiting upon God. By faith men so eminent for fortitude of mind performed those heroic exploits we read of in Heb. xi. ; who by faith sub dued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, and endured with such greatness of mind the many evils they did ; and through constant prayer saints obtain a spirit of boldness both with God and before men ; and by waiting upon the Lord in religious exercises their spiritual strength and fortitude is renewed ; hence tho exhortation, Wait on the Lord, Psalm xxvii. 14. — 4. The patterns of courage, the examples of fortitude, in the saints who have gone beforo us, of the prophets, apostles, primitive Christians and martyrs in all ages, may be a means of promoting a like disposition, particularly that cloud of heroes before referred to ; and above all Christ himself, tho pattern of courage set before us, whom we are directed to look unto and consider, lest we be weary and faint in our minds, Heb. xii. 1 —3. — 5. The love of God, and a sense of that, a persuasion of interest in it, and that nothing shall separato from it, casts out fear, and inspires with fortitude against every enemy, Rom. viii. 35, 38, 39, 1 Johniv. 18. OF ZEAL. Zeal is an ardour of mind, a fervent affection for some person or thing; with an indignation against every thing supposed to be pernicious and hurtful to it. As it is a divine grace, it is a vehement affection for God and his glory ; an earnest study, by all proper means, to promote it ; with a resentment of every thing that tends to obscure, let, and

520 . OF ZEAL. hinder it ; it is hot, burning, flaming love, which cannot be quenched by water, nor drowned by floods, nor abated, restrained, and stopped, by any difficulties in the way. It is sometimes used for that strong affection God bears to his people, expressed by his earnest care of them, and indignation against their enemies, called, the zeal of the Lord of hosts, and his great jealousy, Isa. ix. 7, Zech. i. 14, and viii. 2. And sometimes for a gracious disposition in man, which has God for its object, and is called, zeal towards God, an eager desire after hie glory ; and of which God is the author, and is called, a zeal of God, or a godlyjealousy, 2 Cor. xi. 2. In treating of which I shall consider, I. The various sorts and kinds of zeal ; that it may be the better known, what is right and genuine. And, i. There is a zeal of God, which is not according to knowledge, which the Jews had, as the apostle testifies, Rom. x. 2, and which lay in a zealous concern for the performance of legal duties, and in a studious attempt to set them up, and establish them as a justifying righteous ness before God ; to the entire neglect and rejection of the righteousness of Christ. Which zeal of theirs, in this attempt, arose, 1. From ignorance of the perfection of God's righteousness, which is displayed in all his ways and works, who is the Judge of the whole earth, and will do right; and will not clear the guilty without full satis faction to his justice, nor justify any without a perfect righteousness ; and his judgment of things is according to truth ; and he cannot reckon an imperfect righteousness a perfect one ; nor account that for righteousness which is none : to secure his honour and glory in this point, he has set forth Christ to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin, thereby making satisfaction for it ; To declare his righteousness : but of this the legal zealot is ignorant, and therefore takes a wrong course. — 2. It arises from ignorance of the righteousness which God in the law requires ; the law is holy, just, and good, and requires a perfect righteousness ; both as to the matter of it, and the manner of its performance ; all that the law has commanded must be done, and as it is commanded, or it is no righteousness, Deut. vi. 25 ; and the law is spiritual, and reaches to and is concerned with the heart, the spirit, and the soul of man ; it forbids sinful thoughts, inward lusts, and irregular affections, as well as the outward and grosser sins of life ; it allows of no peccadilloes, or little sins, but condemns all ; so extensive is the law, and such the spirituality of it ; which the Pharisee being ignorant of, sets up his own righteousness as sufficient, and zealously endeavours to establish it; but it will be of no service, Matt. v. 19, 20. — 3. This ignorant zeal arises from a want of know ledge of the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel ; which is no other than the righteousness of Christ, who is God as well as man : being ignorant of this, its excellency, fulness, and suitableness, men submit not unto it, but reject it, stumbling at the stumbling stone and rock of offence. — 4. It arises from ignorance of their own righteousness ; the Spirit of God not having convinced them of it, how imperfect and polluted it is ; how it is not answerable to tho law of God ; and how short it comes of its demands and requirements ;

OF ZEAL. . 521 and how insufficient it is to justify them before God ; and whilst this is the case they are warmly attached to it, and zealous to establish it : but when they come to be made sensible of the imperfection and unprofitableness of it, they desire to be found in Christ, and in his righteousness, and not their own, Phil. iii. 9. — 5. It arises from want of faith in Christ ; being destitute of that, the zealots follow eagerly after righteousness, but do not attain it ; because they seek it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law ; now, what is not of faith is sin, and therefore zeal without faith cannot be right ; zeal without faith in Christ, must be without knowledge, must be without the knowledge of Christ, and without the knowledge of God in Christ ; and therefore cannot be well-pleasing and acceptable to God ; nor is such a righteousness they are following after and endeavouring to establish. Wherefore, — 6. Such a zealot goes contrary to the will and way of God, in the justification of a smner ; and therefore his zeal must be a false one : the declared will of God is, that a man is not, and cannot be, justified in the sight of God by the deeds of the law; but that a man is justified by faith in the righteousness of Christ, without the deeds of the law ; the way and method God takes to justify men, is by grace, freely imputing righteousness, without works, unto them ; by making and accounting them righteous, through the obedience and righteousness of his Son. And therefore it must be a blind, ignorant zeal, which sets up a man's post by God's post, and advances his own righteousness above that of Christ's. ii. There is a mistaken zeal of the glory of God; and for it. 1. When that is opposed which is right, under a false notion of its being contrary to the glory of God ; as when Joshua requested of Moses to forbid the young men prophesying in the camp ; as being neither, as he thought, for the glory of God, nor to the honour of Moses ; and when the priests and scribes were sore displeased at the children in the temple, crying Hosanna to the Son of David ; and when they exclaimed against the works of Christ done on the Sabbathday, as if contrary to the honour of the Sabbath, and the sanctification of it, and so to the glory of God in it ; and such was the indiscreet zeal of Peter, in chiding Christ for saying he must suffer many things, as if it was injurious to his honour and glory ; when all these things were right. — 2. When that which is not for the glory of God, is WTongly thought to be so, and is zealously pursued as such : this is a mistaken zeal; as was the zeal of the idolatrous Gentiles for their idols, and idol-worship; and of the Papists, for their worship of images, angels, and saints departed, and for many other things ; and of the Jews, for the traditions of the elders, of which the apostle Paul was very zealous, before conversion ; and of the believing Jews, who were zealous for continuing the ceremonies of the law, though abrogated, Gal. i. 14; Acts xxi. 20. — 3. When ways and methods improper are taken to defend and promote the glory of God ; as when the disciples, in their zeal for the honour of Christ, were for having fire come down from heaven upon those who had shown some disrespect to Christ; and when Peter, in his preposterous zeal, dptnThie asword in. T"' ?r " .. :. L0.'\;iw,'.. [.;.

522 OF ZEAL. defence of his Master, and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant ; for which both the one and the other were rebuked by Christ. in. There is a superstitious zeal, such as was in Baal's worshippers, who cut themselves with knives and lancets, whilst calling upon him ; and in all idolaters using a multitude of superstitious rites, of which they are extremely zealous ; particularly in the Athenians, who were wholly given to idolatry, and whose city was full of idols ; of whom the apostle says, that he perceived that they were in all things too super stitious ; and therefore, lest they should bo at all defectivo in the objects of their worship, they erected an altar to an unknown God, that they might be sure to comprehend all ; and in the Jews, who were zealous of the traditions of the fathers, and were superstitiously careful that they did not eat with unwashen hands, and of the washing of their cups and pots, &c iv. There is a persecuting zeal under a pretence of the glory of God ; so Saul, before his conversion, says of himself; Concernmg zeal, per secuting the church ; that is, he showed his zeal, as he thought, for the glory of God, when he persecuted the church of Christ, and made havock of it ; and he seems to have respect to this when he tells the Jews that he was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day ; so the devout and honourable women, whom the Jews stirred up to persecute the apostles, were, no doubt, under the influence of such a false zeal ; imagining, that what they did was for the glory of God, and the honour of religion. v. There is a hypocritical zeal for God ; as in Jehu, when he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord ; when, at the same time he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, nor did he depart from the sins of Jeroboam ; for though he destroyed the images of Baal, he worshipped the calves at Dan and Bethel ; and in the scribes and Pharisees, who brought the woman taken in adultery to Christ, under a pretence of a great regard to the law ; and yet were guilty of like sins and others ; and in Judas, who pretended regard to the poor when he only sought to gratify his covotousness ; and in the Pharisees, who made a show of great zeal for piety, by their long prayers, when they only sought to devour widows' houses by that means. vi. There is a contentious zeal ; which often gives great trouble to Christian communities : of men of such a spirit the apostle speaks when ho says, If any man seem to be contentious, about trivial matters, things indifferent, and of no moment, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God ; nor should such be indulged : this sort of zeal is oftentimes no other than a mere logomachy, a striving about words to no profit ; it is a contention about foolish and unlearned questions, which gender strifes ; and at best about things curious and useless ; whereas true zeal is always employed about the more, solid and sub stantial doctrines of the gospel, and the ordinances of Christ. vii. Sometimes it is only a temporary passion ; a flash of zeal, and continues not; so Joash, whilst Johoiada the priest lived, did what was right, and showed zeal in repairing the house of God ; but after his death, left the house of the Lord God of his fathers, and served

OF ZEAL. 523 groves and idols. John the Baptist was a burning and shining light, and his hearers and disciples burned with zeal for him, his ministry and baptism, and envied, on his account, the increasing interest of Christ ; but it was but for a season they rejoiced in his Tight : so the Galatians were zealously affected towards the apostle Paul, to such a degree, that they would have been willing to have plucked out their eyes and given them to him ; whom they first received as an angel of God, even as Jesus Christ, so acceptable was his ministry ; and yet he became their enemy, because of his preaching the same truths. vin. True zeal is no other than a fervent ardent love to God and Christ, and a warm concern for their honour and glory ; such who are truly zealous for the Lord of hosts, love him with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength ; they love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, as well as one another fervently ; it is accom panied with a saving knowledge of God and Christ ; of God in Christ, and of Christ and him crucified ; and such prefer the excellency of the knowledge of Christ above all things else, and prefer him to all created beings, they have faith in God, and also in Christ ; a faith which works by love, and this love constrains them, inspires them with zeal to seek their honour and glory ; whatever they do, whether in things civil or religious, they do all to the glory of God. To true zeal there must be spiritual knowledge, unfeigned faith, and undissembled love ; and this stands opposed,—1. To a neutral spirit in religion, to a halting between two opinions, condemned by Elijah in the Jews, 1 Kings xviii. 21. There can be no true zeal to the truth of worship, doc trines, and ordinances, where there is no stability ; but a continual wavering and inconstancy. — 2. To carelessness and indifference about religious matters ; when men, like the Jews of old, regard their own ceiled houses, and not the house of God ; when they mind their secu lar affairs more than the interest of religion ; when, as to the church of God, the truths of the gospel, and the ordinances of Christ, Gallio like, they care for none of these things. — 3. To lukewarmness, with respect to divine and spiritual things ; which the Laodicean church is charged with, and resented by Christ, Rev. iii. 15, 16. I proceed to consider. II. The objects of zeal. i. The object of it is God ; even a false zeal is called, a zeal towards God ; and that which is not according to knowledge, is said to be a zeal of God ; Jehu called his hypocritical zeal, a zeal for the Lord ; true zeal most deservedly bears this name ; so Phinehas had the cove nant of an everlasting priesthood given him, because he was zealous for his God, Numb. xxv. 13 ; which springs from a principle of love to God, and its end is his glory ; and it has for its objects the worship of God, the word of God, and the truths contained in it. 1. The worship of God ; who must be known, or he cannot be wor shipped aright : the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what ; and the Athenians erected an altar to an unknown God ; and therefore, though they wero both zealous of worship, their zeal was not according to knowledge ; but truo believers worship God in the Spirit, whom

524 OP ZEAL. they know in a spiritual way ; through faith in Christ, and with a zealous concern for his glory : and they worship him in truth, and keep close to the pattern of worship shown them ; to which they are zeal ously attached, and will not depart from it. Wherefore, — 2. The word of God is the object of their zeal ; to the law and to the testi mony they appeal for the truth of all they say and do ; they make that the standard of their faith and practice, and the rule of their worship ; they earnestly contend for the perfection and integrity of it ; and endeavour, with all their might and main, to preserve it pure and incorrupt, 2 Cor. ii. 17. — 3. The truths contained in the word; they who have a true zeal are valiant for the truth ; and can do nothing against it, but every thing for it, in defence of it, and for the continuance of it ; they will buy the truth, give a great price for it, and highly value it ; but will not sell it, nor part with it at any rate. ii. The cause of Christ is another object of zeal, and which is a good one, and the apostle says, It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, Gal. iv. 18; and those who are possessed of this zealous affection seek not their own things, but the things of Christ ; they have a sort of natural care, as Timothy had, for the state of the churches, and interest of Christ, and of true religion, and for the support of it ; not only in that branch of it to which they more peculiarly belong, but in others; as the Corinthian church, who was not only zealously concerned for their own welfare, but for that of others ; and the apostle testifies that their zeal in their liberal ministration to the saints had provoked very many, 2 Cor. ix. 2. True zeal for the cause of Christ is concerned about the gospel of Christ, the ordinances of Christ, and the discipline of his house. 1 . The gospel of Christ : great reason there is to be zealous for that ; since it is the gospel of the grace of God, which displays the free grace of God in every part of our salvation ; and therefore the apostle was so zealously concerned for it, as not to count his life dear to himself, so that he might finish his course with joy, by bearing a testimony to it : and because it is the gospel of salvation, which publishes salvation by Christ, and declares, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved : and because it is the gospel of peace, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and by the blood of his cross ; and because in it forgiveness of sin is preached in the name of Christ, and justification by his righteous ness. — 2. The ordinances of Christ, which every true Christian should be zealous for, that they be kept as they were first delivered, without any innovation or corruption ; that the mode of administration of both baptism and the Lord's Supper should be strictly adhered to ; and that none be admitted to them but believers in Christ, or such who profess faith in him. — 3. The discipline of Christ's house should be the object of our zeal, as it was of his, who said, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up ; and this is shown when the rules of discipline are strictly observed, both with respect to private and public offenees: when churches and the members of them, like the church at Ephesus, cannot bear them which are evil, to continue them in fellowship with them ; whether men of immoral lives, or have imbibed false doctrines ; but

OF ZEAL. 525 withdraw from them that walk disorderly, and reject such who are not sound in the faith. in. Every thing that is evil is the object of zeal, or against which true zeal should be expressed. As, 1. Against all false worship, particularly idolatry, or the having more and other gods than one, whether found among the heathens, or any that bear the Christian name ; as was by Moses, when his anger, zeal, and indignation waxed hot against the Israelites for their idolatrous worship of the calf, and he broke the tables of the law which were in his hands, and ordered the Levites to put their swords by their side, and slay every man his brother, companion, and neighbour : and so Elijah, who was jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because Israel had forsaken the covenant of the Lord, had thrown down his altar, and slain his prophets ; and where there is true love for God, and zeal for his worship, there will be a hatred of every false way, be it in what shape it may. — 2. Against all errors in doctrine, especially such as affect the persons in Deity, Father, Son, and Spirit, with all others which are the fundamental doctrines of religion ; such as deny them are to be rebuked sharply, warmly, vehemently with a becoming zeal, that they may be sound in the faith ; such who bring not the doctrino of Christ, respecting his person, office, and grace, are not to be re ceived into the houses of saints, nor to be bid God speed. — 3. Against all immorality in practice ; true zeal will bo as much levelled against a man's own sins as against the sins of others ; he will bo concerned to remove the beam out of his own eye, as well as the mote out of his brother's; he will be severe against right-hand and right-eye sins, such as are dear to the flesh as these be ; and real godly sorrow for sin, and true repentance unto salvation, is always productive of zeal. What zeal it wrought in you ? against a man's own sins more especially, as against others ; and that which is against the sins of others, is tempered with commiseration and pity to the sinner, 2 Cor. vii. 1 1, and xii. 21. iv. True zeal is concerned in all the duties of religion, and shows itself in them ; in the service of God in general, we should be fervent in spirit, warm, hot, zealous, serving the Lord, in such a manner, and not in a cold indifferent way, and in the ministration of the gospel ; it is said of Apollos, that being fervent in spirit he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, the doctrines of the gospel, so far as he was then acquamted with them, Acts xviii. 25. It is also very requisite in prayer to God ; it is said of Epaphras, that he was always labouring fervently in prayers for the church at Colosse; and it is the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man that availeth much, Col. iv. 12, James v. 16'. And it should be shown in the love of the saints to one another, 1 Pet. i. 22, and iv. b. In short, believers in Christ ought to be zealous of good works, careful to maintain them, diligent in the performance of them, especially of those which are the greater and weightier duties of religion, though they are not to neglect and omit the lesser ones. To say no more, good men are the objects of true zeal ; the apostle Paul was informed of the fervent mind or zeal of the Corinthians towards him, of the warm love and ardent affection they

526 op zeal. had for him ; and he advises them to covet earnestly, to desire the best gifts, spiritual ones, fitting for public service, even prophecy or preaching, 2 Cor. vii. 7, 1 Cor. xii. 31. III. Motives or arguments exciting to the exercise of true zeal. i. The example of Christ, whom David in prophetic language personated, saying, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, consumed his spirits, his strength, and life ; so much did he exert liimself in his public administrations: he showed his zeal for the doctrines of the gospel by his warm and constant preaching them, even with power and authority, as the scribes and Pharisees did not ; in the indefatigable pains he took, travelling from place to place to do it, running the risk of his life, and exposing himself to frequent dangers on that account : and for the worship of the house of God, as appears by inveighing so severely against the traditions of men ; by asserting the purity of worship in spirit and in truth ; by expressing his resent ment at the profanation of the house of God, driving out the buyers and sellers from it, which brought the above passage to the mind of the disciples, who clearly discerned the fulfilment of it : the zeal of Christ against immorality was seen also in his sharp reproofs of the vices of the age, both in professors and profane, and in all he is a pattern worthy of our imitation. — 2. True zeal answers a principal end of redemption by Christ, Tit. ii. 14; and where there is no zeal for God, and for that which he requires an observance of, the claim to redemption seems very precarious. The love of Christ in redeeming his people will constrain them to show a zeal for his glory, both with respect to doctrine and practice. — 3. It is good, the apostle says, to be zealously affected in and for that which is good; and it is approved and commended by Christ, as the church at Ephesus was for it; because she could not bear them that were evil; and a contrary disposition, that of lukewarmness, is disapproved of and resented ; as in the church of Laodicea, threatened to be unchurched for it, and therefore strongly exhorted to be zealous and repent, Rev. iii. 15, 16, 19, 20. — 4. A lukewarm temper, which is the opposite to zeal, seems not consistent with true religion, which has always life and heat in it ; to be neither cold nor hot is condemned as having no religion at all. — 5. The zeal of persons shown in a false way, should stimulate the professors of the truo religion to show at least an equal zeal ; for that all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and appear zealous for his worship, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, at least we ought to do so, and determine upon it. The Pharisees showed great zeal, and took groat pains, compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, though made worse than he was, and worse than themselves ; and should not we Christians exert ourselves to the utter most for the interest of the Redeemer, this must bo a becoming zeal. And in order to keep up and promote such zeal, it will be proper frequently to meditate on the love of God and Christ, the blessings of the gospel of the grace of God, the excellency of the Christian religion, the benefits and privileges of the house of God, and to converse often with warm and lively Christians, and to sit under a savoury and fervent ministry.

527 OP WISDOM OR PRUDENCE. Zeal without wisdom or prudence, and unless tempered with it, will be either ignorant, and not according to knowledge, or be rash and precipitant. I say wisdom or prudence, because they are much the same thing, and go together ; / wisdom dwell with prudence ; henco wisdom and prudence, and the characters of wise and prudent, are often mentioned together. Prudence lies in wisely fixing upon a right end of all actions, and in wisely choosing the best means conducive to that end, and in using them at the best time and in the properest manner ; The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his waif, Prov. xiv. 8 ; in divine and spiritual things, to understand the way of salvation and the way of his duty, and how to glorify God. Concerning which may be inquired, I. What spiritual wisdom is, as it is an internal grace, or inward disposition of the mind respecting divine things; a man's duty, the salvation of his soul, and the glory of God. And, i. It is in general, grace in the heart ; which is called wisdom in the hidden part, Psalm li. 6; in the hidden man of the heart, where it lies hiil, and is only seen in a hearty and sincere profession of religion, and in outward actions becoming such a profession; hence those who are truly wise, are said to be wise in heart ; and these are the prudent ones ; The wise in Iieart shall be called prudent, Prov. xvi. 21 ; and such is a man when wisdom entereth into his heart ; for it is not originally there; it is not of himself, it comes elsewhere, from without, from above, from God, who gives it entrance, and puts it there. The heart of man is naturally foolish ; as it is desperately wicked, it is extremely foolish ; their foolish heart was darkened, and yet this is said of some thought to be very wiso ; and man is such by nature, by birth ; vain man would be wiso, would be thought to be so, though man bo born like a wild ass's colt, as stupid as that creature is ; foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, in the heart of every child of Adam, and it is only the power of divine grace that can drive it far from him : this is the case of every man ; there is none that understandcth divine and spiritual things, or things pertaining to salvation ; not even so as to know God, and to glorify him as God, and to be thankful for mercies received from him : and this is not only true of a few illiterate men, or of such who have not the advantage of a good education, but even of the wisest philosophers that ever were in this world ; for of them these things are said, who, professing themselves to be wise, became fools, Rom. i. 21, 22; yea, this is the case, and this the character of God's elect, whilst unrcgenerate, and until the grace of God takes place in their hearts ; We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, &c There is enough of carnal wisdom, of that which is earthly, sensual, and devilish, of wicked subtlety, and too much ; men are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge ; but in that respect are foolish, sottish, and without understanding, Jer. iv. 22 ; they have a quick and fruitful

528 OP WISDOM OR PRUDENCE. invention as to evil things, and got the character of inventors of evil things, but cannot think a good thought : men have no true spiritual wisdom but what God gives them, and puts into them ; it is he that makes them to know wisdom in the heart experimentally ; for the Lord giveth wisdom, Prov. ii. 6. ii. Spiritual wisdom in particular, is a right knowledge of a man's self ; Nosce teipsum, Know thyself, was a maxim much talked of among the philosophers, but attained unto by none of them ; witness the pride, the vanity, the self-conceit, they were "swelled with ; no man that is wise in his own eyes, and prudent in his own sight, knows himself; for one that was wiser than any of them says, there is more hope of a fool than of such ; whoever in his own conceit is wise and good, holy and righteous in himself, does not know himself ; or who fancies that touch ing the righteousness of the law he is blameless, as said the apostle before he knew himself: a man that rightly knows himself, and is possessed of true wisdom, has knowledge of the sinfulness of his nature ; of internal lust, as sinful ; of indwelling sin, and the exceed ing sinfulness of it ; of the plague of his own heart, and therefore will not trust in it, or to the goodness of it, which he that does is a fool ; he knows his own inability to perform that which is good, and that without Christ and his grace he can do nothing, and therefore will not presume upon nor attempt any thing in his own strength ; he knows the imperfection of his own righteousness, and therefore will not depend upon it, nor plead it as his justifying righteousness before God ; he knows his soul-sickness, his spiritual maladies and diseases, incurable by himself and others, excepting tho great physician Christ, to whom he only applies for healing ; he knows his own poverty, and therefore seeks for true riches in Christ ; gold to make him rich, white raiment to be clothed with, and Christ himself, the Pearl of great price ; for which he is willing to part with all, with sinful and righteous self ; and, in a word, he knows his own folly, and is ready to acknowledge what a foolish and ignorant creature ho is ; and until a man has learned this lesson, he does not know himself. hi. True spiritual wisdom is no other than the light of the know ledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, which God commands to shine in the hearts of men ; whilst men are destitute of grace, or true spiritual wisdom, they are without God, without the knowledge of him, his nature and perfections ; they conceive of him as altogether like themselves, and fancy that he is pleased with what they arc pleased with, and that he judges of things as they do ; they are unacquainted with the purity and holiness of his nature, who cannot take pleasure in sin ; they are ignorant of his righteousness, and there fore go about to establish their own ; and are even strangers to the grace and mercy of God, as channelled in Christ, and conveyed through him, and therefore depend upon the absolute mercy of God, without any consideration of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ ; whereas tho true light of the saving knowledge of God is in Christ, and as he has displayed his mercy and grace in him, and proclaimed his name in him, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7 ; all the divine perfections shine most illustri

OF WISDOM OR PRUDENCE. 529 ously in Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person ; and in the great work of redemption and salva tion by him ; and true wisdom lies in the knowledgo of this. iv. True spiritual wisdom is no other than the fear of the Lord ; both David and Solomon say, that thefear of the Lord is the beginning ofwisdom, Psalm cxi. 10, Prov. ix. 10 ; there is no wisdom in a man before the fear of the Lord is put into him, and then he begins to be wise, and not before : but Job, earlier than them both, says, Thefear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding, Job xxviii. 28 ; this includes the whole worship of God, internal and external, flowing from a principle of grace ; it takes in the whole duty of man, which it is his wisdom to practise, internally and externally. v. It is being wise unto salvation, or in things respecting that. The Scriptures are said to be able to make a man wise unto salvation, 2 Tim. iii. 15 ; and he is a wise man indeed who is thus made wise ; and he is one who sees himself lost and undone, and inquires the way of salvation, and says, as the jailor did, What shall I do to be saved i and being made acquainted that the way of salvation is by Christ, that there is salvation in him, and in no other, applies unto him, says, as the disciples did, Lord, save us, we perish ! and, as ready to perish, such come to Christ, and venture upon him, and commit themselves to him, and say, as the leper did, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, or save me ! such build their souls, and the faith and hope of the salva tion of them, on Christ, the good, the sure, and only foundation ; and as he is a wise master-builder who lays this foundation, such are wise unto salvation who build upon this Rock, where their house stands safe against every storm, and against which the gates of hell can never prevail ; they give up themselves to him, to be saved alone by him ; they prize and value him, and love him above all others ; they rejoice in him as God their Saviour, and give him the- glory of their salvation ; I proceed to observe, II. Wherein this wisdom practically shows itself, i. In doing good things in general ; such who are wickedly wise, are wise to do evil ; but such who are spiritually wise, are wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil, Rom. xvi. 19 ; and these are capable of doing things both for their own good and for the good of others. They may do good for themselves ; He that is wise may be profitable to himself, Job xxii. see Prov. ix. 12 ; he may be profitable, though not to God, yet to himself ; for his present good, and the ( present peace and tranquillity of his mind ; for though not for, yet in keeping the commands of God there is great reward ; and great peace of mind such have, who love and observe the law of God, without trust in and dependence on the observation of it for eternal life : and such wise persons may, by what they do, be useful to others ; and therefore believers in God are exhorted to maintain good works ; because they are good and profitablo to men ; both because of example and because of real benefit to them. Besides, what a wise man does, and in doing which he shows his wisdom, may be for the honour of religion, to stop the mouths of gainsayers, and put such to the blush who speak ill of VOL. II. M M

530 OF WISDOM OR PRUDENCE. religion, and of the professors of it, falsely ; they may and do adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and recommend it to others, and by their works shining before men, be the means of glorifying God, and even of winning souls to God by their good conversation ; and then do they show their spiritual wisdom, when what they do, they do from right principles, and to a right end ; when what they do is from lovo to God, in the faith and strength of Christ, and with a view to the glory of God. And being thus done, they are to be shown in meek ness of wisdom, without trusting to them, or boasting of them ; acknowledging, that when they have done all they can, they are but unprofitable servants ; and that it is by the grace of God they are what they are, and do what they do. ii. This spiritual wisdom shows itself in particular in a profession of religion. The kingdom of heaven, or the outward gospel-church state, is compared to ten virgins ; Five of them were wise, and five were foolish ; the foolish virgins, or professors of religion, took the lamp of an outward profession, as the rest did, and were careful to trim it, and keep it bright and shining ; but were not concerned for the oil of grace, that it might be a burning lamp ; but the wise virgins not only took the lamp of profession, but they were concerned to have the oil of grace in the vessels of their hearts,, with their lamps, and so continued burning till the bridegroom's coming ; and in this they showed their wisdom ; as also in holding fast their profession without wavering. Such are wise professors, who, as they take up their pro fession on principles of grace, and upon a mature consideration of the cost and charges, difficulties and discouragements, trials and tribula tions, they must expect to meet with, so continue steadfast in it ; having put their hand to the plough, neither turn back nor look back, but go on believing to the saving of their souls; and yet do not depend upon their profession, do not make it a house to lean upon, nor a plea for eternal life ; as some at the last day will plead, that they have professed the name of Christ, embraced his gospel, and sub jected themselves to his ordinances ; to whom he will say, Depart from me ; I know you not. in. This spiritual wisdom shows itself in a becoming walk and con versation ; in a conversation that is ordered aright, according to the rule of the word of God, and is becoming and ornamental to the gospel of Christ ; it appears w hen a man walks circumspectly, with his eyes about him, with his eyes in his head, as the wise man's are, looking well to his going, to his steps, as the prudent man does ; his eyes looking right on, and his eyelids right before him, pondering the path of his feet, and neither turning to the right hand nor to the left; when ho walks in wisdom towards them that are without, as well as in peace and love towards them that are within ; and is careful to give no offence to Jew nor Gentile, nor to the church of God. This wisdom is seen when professors walk not as fools, in a vain, careless, and sinful manner, but as wise : and this they do when they walk as the word of God directs them, and when they walk uprightly, accord ing to the gospel ; when they walk as they have Christ for an example

OF WISDOM OR PRUDENCE. ' 531 and when they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ; and one special and particular instance of their walking wisely is, redeeming the time, because the days are evil ; and which is done when they lose no opportunity of doing good to others, nor of receiving good for themselves ; considering the days they live in are evil, and subject them to many temptations ; and the days of old age, called evil, are hasting on, when they will be incapable of doing or receiving good. iv. This wisdom shows itself in observing the providence of God in the world, and the dispensations of it ; in making useful remarks upon it, and in learning useful lessons from it ; whoso is wise, and will observe these things, things in providence, before related, even they shall under stand the loving kindness of the Lord, Psalm cvii. 43 ; and it shows wisdom to understand both the ways of God in his providence, and the ways and methods of God in his grace, and the ways he has prescribed his people to walk in, Hos. xiv. 9. v. This spiritual wisdom shows itself in a man's concern about his last end and future state, how it will be with him at last, and how it will go with him in another world, Deut. xxxii. 29 ; how near it is — what that may issue in ; — that they be ready for death come when it will, and for an eternal world ! The next thing to be inquired into is, III. From whence this spiritual wisdom comes. It is a question put by Job, Whence cometh wisdom ? and where is the place of under standing? the answer to it is, God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof, Job xxviii. 20, 23 ; for it is with him originally, and in full perfection, yea, it is in him infinite and unsearchable ; it is in his gift to bestow, and is to be asked of him, that giveth to all men liberally, freely, richly, and bountifully, as they need, and upbraideth not with former folly, ingratitude, and mis-improvement of what they have received, James i. 5. i. God is the efficient cause of it ; God, Father, Son, and Spirit ; it is a good and perfect gift, which is from above, and comes from the Father of lights, from the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, the fountain of all wisdom, who makes men in common wiser than the fowls of the heaven, and his saints wiser in spiritual things than the rest of mankind. It comes from Christ, who is the only wise God and our Saviour; the wisdom of God, whose is counsel and sound wisdom, and who is made to us wisdom, on whom the Spirit of wisdom rests, and in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; and it is by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. — 2. The means of this wisdom, and of promoting and increas ing it, are, the word of God, the ministers of it, and good men con versed with ; the Scriptures read and explained, when under a divine influence, and accompanied with a divine power, are able to make wise unto salvation ; they are written for our learning ; and the ministers of the gospel, who show unto men the way of salvation, and win souls to Christ, are wise, and make wise ; and conversation with wise and good men, is a means of increasing wisdom ; He that walketh with wise men, shall be wise. S m m 2

532 OF WISDOM OR PRUDKNCE. IV. The nature and properties of this wisdom ; a full account of which is given, James iii. 17. 1 . It is from above ; from God, Father, Son, and Spirit, as before observed ; it is conversant about heavenly things ; it is celestial wisdom, and stands opposed to earthly wisdom in a preceding verse, wisdom about earthly things, the wisdom of this world, and the princes of it, that come to nought.—2. It is pure in itself, and in its effects ; it is productive of purity of heart, life, and conversation ; the effect of it is pure and undefiled religion, and the observance of it ; those who have it, hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, and are obedient to the divine precepts, out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned ; it is opposed to that wisdom which is sensual, and employed in sensual gratifications, and to carnal wisdom, the wisdom of the flesh, or carnal mind, said to be enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7. — 3. It is peaceable ; it influences the professors of it to be at peace among themselves, and with one another ; and to live peaceably, as much as possible, with all men ; to cultivate peace in families, among neighbours, and even with enemies. — 4. It is said to be gentle ; it makes those who have it to be gentle towards all men, moderate and humane, to bear and forbear, to bear the infirmities of the weak, to forbear and forgive one another injuries done ; and for the sake of peace and love to recede from their just right, and not bear hard on others for their failings, but cover them with the mantle of love. — 5. It is easy 'to be entreated, or persuaded, to put up with affronts, to condescend to men of low estate, and not mind high things ; for with the lowly is wisdom ; to yield easily to the superior judgment and stronger reasonings of others; to be readily inclined and induced to hope and believe the best of all men ; and to entertain a good opinion of good men and their conduct. — 6. It is full of mercy and good fruits ; it fills men with compassion on those in distress, and puts them upon acts of beneficence to the poor, according to their ability ; to feed and clothe them, to visit the widow and fatherless in .their affliction, and comfort them ; and to do other duties and good works, as fruits of righteousness, of the grace of God, and of the Spirit. — 7. It is without partiality ; without partiality to them selves, esteeming each other better than themselves ; and to others, showing no respect of persons, making no difference in Christian fellowship between rich and poor, and giving to the poor and needy without distinction, favour, or affection. — 8. It is without hypocrisy, to God and man ; not making a show of what they have not, and intend not to do ; as it is a grace, it has a close connexion with faith unfeigned, with hope which is without hypocrisy, and with love which is without dissimulation. All which shows how useful and desirable such wisdom is, and how necessary throughout the conduct of a Christian life to do his duty, to avoid the snares and temptations he is liable to, to seek his own good, and the good of others ; and, above all, the glory of God.

533 OF GODLY SINCERITY. Sincerity stands opposed to hypocrisy ; than which nothing is more detestable to God ; and nothing is more agreeable to him than uprightness and integrity : this is called godly sincerity, eiXiKpweia Bern, sincerity of God, 2 Cor. 1. 12, which God requires, approves of, and is a grace he bestows upon his people. What is sincere is pure and unmixed, and what retains its native colour, especialy white, as milk, pure and unmixed, hence we read of the sincere milk of the word, and fine flour without any bran, or any leaven in it ; hence the phrase of un leavened bread of sincerity and truth, 1 Cor. v. 8 ; the Latin word sincerus, from whence our English word sincere, is composed of sine et cera ' ; and signifies without wax; as pure honey, which is not mixed with any wax. The Greek word eiXiKpiveia, signifies properly, a judgment made of things by the light and splendour of the sun ; as in traffic men hold up goods they are buying to the light of the sun, to see if they can discover any defect in them : some think there is an allusion in it to the eagle, who holds up her young as soon as fledged to the sun, and if they can bear the light of it without winking, she retains as her own ; but if not, she rejects them as a spurious brood. Light makes every thing manifest ; and such who are truly gracious and sincere, their principles and practices will bear the test of light, for the day declares them what they arc ; nor do they shun it : but they whose doctrines and deeds are evil do not care to come to it, lest they should be discovered : and herein lies a principal difference between sincerity and insincerity. I. I shall consider this grace of sincerity as it is truth in the heart ; as it regards the truth of particular graces there ; as it is concerned in doctrine professed or preached ; as it has to do with divine worship; and as it appears in the walk and conversation of the saints. i. As it is truth in the heart ; for that seems to be meant in Psalm li. 6, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, sincerity, integrity, and uprightness of soul ; hence we read of a true heart, which is sincere and upright in all its concerns with God ; which is the same with a clean heart, and a right spirit renewed in a man ; which David prays for, Psalm li. 10 ; and such who are possessed of the grace of sincerity in their hearts, are described as such who, — 1. Are pure in heart. The apostle Peter wrote his second epistle to the saints, to stir up their pure minds by way ofremembrance, 2 Pet. iii. 1 ; it is in the Greek text their sincere mind m ; a sincere mind and a pure heart are the same ; not that any man's heart is so pure as to be free from sinful thoughts, inclinations, desires, and affections ; yet, though not perfect, may be sincere ; and none are more ready than they, ingenuously to confess and lament the impurity of their hearts ; nor any that more love pureness of heart, and desire it, which shows their sincerity ; and that there are 1 So Donatus apud Valium ; but Valla himself thiuks it is rather of aw et cera ; quasi cum cera, mcl quod integrum est et solidum ct nulla sui parte fraudatur.—Elegant. 1. 6, c. 31. m Tr)V tihucpiin) Sicuoiav.

634 OP GODLY SINCERITY. such it is certain, since our Lord pronounces them blessed ; Blessed are the pure in heart ; who, though not perfect, are yet sincere, and their hearts are right with God. — 2. They are said to be sound in heart, in doctrine and practice ; sound in the faith, in the doctrine of faith ; using sound speech, and embracing things which become sound doctrine, such are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ : and sound in practice, who have a sincere regard to the ways and worship, ordinances and commands of God ; have a cordial affection for them, and observe them in reality, and truth, and heartily, as to the Lord ; for this David prays, Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, Psalm cxix. 80; that is, sincere in the observance of them. — 3. The same are described as single-hearted, having a single eye to the glory of God in all they do ; and stand opposed to a double-minded man, who is unstable in all his ways ; and to those who have a double heart, a heart and a heart, as it were two hearts ; or at least, whose hearts, words, and actions, do not agree ; they are not sincere in what they say or do ; speak one thing and mean another ; so do not sincere persons, James i. 8. — 4. Sincere persons, who have truth in their hearts, are the same with the upright in heart, who are hated and persecuted by wicked men ; but loved by the Lord, and to whom he is good, and does good to them, Psalm cxxv. 4 ; who have right spirits renewed in them, new hearts and new spirits given them ; whose intentions, desires, and views, are upright. — 5. Who like Jacob, are plain men, or plain-hearted ; such a man as Job was, chap. i. 1 ; where the same word" is used of him as of Jacob ; and is the character of all true Israelites ; as of Nathanael, said to be an Israelite indeed, one of Jacob's genuine sons, in whom was no guile. — 6. Such may be said to have truth or sincerity in the heart, the desires and affections of whose hearts are after God, as the church's, Isa. xxvi. 9 ; and who, as David, pant after the Lord, after more communion with him, and conformity to him ; and express their strong and hearty affections for God, as Asaph did. Psalm xlii. 1. — 7. Who approve themselves unto God, and are desirous to be searched and tried by him, if sincere or not. ii. Sincerity may be considered as it regards the truth of particular graces in the heart, which it is connected with, and concerned about. Sincere is an adjective, and must have something put to it to explain it ; there must be a sincere something, and that something may be bad as well as good, wrong as well as right. Saul was a sincere Pharisee, and really thought that touching the righteousness of the law he was blameless ; yea, a sincere persecutor, for he thought verily he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus ; as many others, who thought they should do God good service in killing the disciples of Christ. So that sincerity is to be judged according to what it is applied ; and it seems not to be a distinct grace of itself, but to go through, and be an ingredient in every grace ; which proves the genuineness of it. 1. Repentance ; for there is a feigned repentance ; as in Judah, " on.

OP GODLY SINCERITY. 535 Jer. iii. 10 ; such was the external humiliation of Ahab, which was not in reality, only in outward show and appearance ; yea, many tears may be shed, and yet no true and sincere repentance ; as in Esau, Heb. xii. 17 ; and in others who pretend to repentance ; their tears may be only what are called crocodile tears. But when repentance is from the heart, and sorrow is after a godly sort and sincere, it produces such-like effects the apostle mentions in 2 Cor. vii. 11. — 2. Faith is a grace also which is distinguished by its sincerity; for there is a faith that is feigned, as was that of Simon Magus, who professed to believe, but truly did not ; that is a sincere faith which is with the heart unto righteousness ; or is a believing with all the heart, as was required of the eunuch, previous to his baptism ; and is called faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. i. 5, 2 Tim. i. 5. — 3. Hope, by the sincerity of it, is distin guished from the hope of the hypocrite, which is as the spider's web, and is of no avail at death ; but a hope that is sincere is fixed on a good foundation ; not on man's riches or righteousness ; but upon the Eerson, blood, and righteousness of Christ ; and is lively, and he that as it purifies himself as he is pure. — 4. Love, both to God, if true and genuine, is with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the strength ; and love to Christ is from the heart, and in sincerity, Eph, vi. 24. The church always describes Christ her beloved, even when she was in a disagreeable frame and posture, Him whom my soul loveth ! And love to the saints, when right, is not in word and in tongue, but in deed and truth, that is, hearty and sincere, 1 John iii. 18; and is called unfeigned love of the brethren, 1 Pet. i. 22. in. Sincerity may be considered as it regards doctrine professed or preached. The sincere milk of the word, unmixed and unadulterated, as desired by truly new-born babes ; and by all such who have tasted that the Lord is gracious ; they desire, as it is promised them, to be fed with the finest of the wheat, with the pure bread of the gospel, without the bran of human mixture, without the chaff of man's inventions ; for what is the chaff to the wheat ? they cannot live on husks, which swine do eat, but upon the kernel of divine truths, and cannot be satisfied, but with honey out of the rock, pure and unmixed ; hence the church's lips, expressive of her profession, are said to drop as the honey-comb, pure virgin-honey, sincere and without wax, and honey and milk are said to be under her tongue, pure and sincere doctrine, received, retained, and spoken by her, Cant. iv. 12 ; for with the same sincerity the mouth confesses as the heart believes ; whereas, an insincere man will not openly profess Christ and his truth, loving the praise of men more than the praise of God ', as the Pharisees did. So the faithful and sincere ministers of the word do not corrupt the word of God, adulterate it, mix it with the doctrines of men; as hucksters mix their wine with water, or other liquors, to which the allusion is, 2 Cor. ii. 17, Renouncing the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth, in the most upright manner, commending themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God : and then do they appear to be sincere, when their word, their doctrine, is not yea

536 OF GODLY SINCERITY. and nay, contradictory, and inconstant. but uniform, and all of a piece ; and when the gospel-trumpet, as blown by them, does not give an uncertain sound, 2 Cor. iv. 2. iv. Sincerity may be considered with respect to worship, which ought always to be performed in a sincere and upright manner, as Joshua said to the people of Israel ; Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth, Josh.'xxiv. 14. 1. Worship in general is sincere, when it is performed in spirit and in truth ; in a spiritual manner, with the whole heart and spirit, and under the direction and influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God, and according to the truth of the divine word, and with truth in the heart ; for God is a spirit, and must be worshipped in such a manner ; and such worshippers, and such only, are agreeable to liim ; but as for those who draw nigh to him with their mouth, and have removed their heart far from him, or are insincere worshippers of him, he despises and rejects. — 2. Prayer in particular is to be put up to God with a true heart, that is, with a sincere one, with which men should draw nigh to God ; for he is nigh to them that call upon him in truth, that is, in sincerity ; it is the prayer which comes, not out of feigned lips, that God hears ; it is the prayer of the upright, that is, the sincere man, that is his delight : when such who, as the hypocrites, pray in synagogues and in corners of the streets, to be seen of men, are treated with contempt and abhorrence. — 3. And then sincerity appears in the observance of ordinances, when men, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, walk in all the commandments and ordinances of tho Lord blameless, and keep the ordinances, as they were delivered, without any innovation and corruption ; and when they keep the feast, particularly that of the Lord's supper, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, 1 Col. v. 8. v. Sincerity may be considered with respect to the walk and conver sation of the saints; Blessed are the undefiled, or the perfect and sincere in the way; in the way of God's commandments, walking according to the rule of the divine word, and as becomes the gospel of Christ, and it is with respect to such an external walk before men that the apostle says, that in simplicity, in the singleness of his heart, and godly sincerity, such as God requires and approves of, we liave had our conversation in the world, 2 Cor. i. 12 ; and they act the sincere and upright part, who,— 1 . Desire not so much to be seen by men, as to be approved of God. The Pharisees, hypocrites, did all they did to bo seen of men ; they gave alms, they prayed, and zealously observed the traditions of the elders, and all to get applause of men : but the sincere believer labours, that whether present or absent he may be accepted of God, and approved by him ; for not he that commends himself, and seeks the praise of men, is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth, 2 Cor. v. 9. — 2. Who have respect to all the commandments of God, and esteem all his precepts, concerning all things, to be right, Psalm cxix. 6, 28 ; and are careful not to break the least of his commandments ; who omit not the weightier matters of the law, or the more important duties of religion, and yet neglect not lighter and lesser ones. — 3. Who make

OP GODLY SINCERITY. 537 conscience of committing lesser as well as greater sins, but abstain from all appearance of evil, who desire to be cleansed, and to bo preserved from secret sins, as well as to be kept back from presump tuous ones ; who are as severe upon their own sins as on those of others, and even spare not right-eye and right-hand sins, those they are the most inclined unto, and are as careful to remove the beam out of their own eyes, as to observe the mote in the eyes of others. — 4. Who do not seek to cover, palliate, and extenuato their sins ; as Job savs, If I covered my transgressions as Adam, and sought excuses for them as he did, such do not act sincerely; He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, Prov. xxviii. 13. — 5. The man who walks according to the rule of the word makes that the standard of his practice, and walks uprightly according to the gospel, and walks as he has Christ for an example, as in the exercise of every grace, so in the performance of every duty, and walks, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. — 6. Who has the glory of God and the good of others in his eye, in all that he is concerned ; who does whatever he does in things civil and religious with a view to promote the glory of God, and the interest of true religion, and the good of immortal souls ; who naturally cares for the spiritual and eternal state of men, and whose concern throughout the whole of his own conversation is, that others, beholding his good works, may receive some benefit to themselves by his example, and glorify his heavenly Father. I go on to observe, II. From whence this grace of sincerity springs. 1. Not from nature ; it is not from descent and by birth ; indeed, our parents, previous to their fall, were in a state of simplicity, not as that signifies folly, but singleness of heart, integrity, and uprightness ; such was the case of Eve before she was beguiled, and corrupted from her simplicity by the serpent. God made man upright, innocent, holy, and harmless ; but he sinned, and lost his integrity, and sought out many inventions and excuses to palliate and cover his sin ; what an insincere and disingenuous part did Adam act, when he would have thrown off the blame of eating the forbidden fruit from himself, and cast it upon his wife ! and of the same disposition are all his sons and daughters naturally; there is none upright among men; the most upright are sharper than a thorn hedge ; and this is true, not of some particular nation only, and of somo particular persons in it, and in some certain age and period of time, but of all the descendants of Adam, who, be they good or bad in the event, are transgressors from the womb, and go astray from thence, speaking lies ; there is no truth in their inward part ; yea. their inward part is very wickedness ; not only wicked, but wickedness ; yea, very wickedness, extremely wicked ; the same is meant when the heart is said to be desperately wicked, irrecoverably such, but by the grace of God; hence flow all that dissimulation, deceit, hypocrisy, and falsehood, which are in the world. 2. But sincerity is from the grace of God ; though it is not a distinct grace of itself, as before observed, yet belongs to and is an ingredient in every grace, and is what distinguishes true grace from that which is counterfeit ; it is tho grace of God in truth, in sincerity ; it is every

538 OF GODLY SINCERITY. grace with that ; and it is by the grace of God alone that men become sincere and upright; without this men are double-hearted, doubletongued, and deceitful : there may be a show, an appearance of sincerity and uprightness, where there is none in reality ; as in the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who appeared outwardly righteous to men, but within were full of hypocrisy and iniquity. — 3. Whereever true sincerity is, it is of God, and is therefore called godly sincerity, or sincerity of God, that which has God for its author, who is the God of all grace ; he that is the maker of the heart," the searcher of it, and sees what is in it, cau only make it sincere and upright ; who made a profane Esau, and a plain-hearted Jacob to differ, but God by his Spirit and grace I and these fruits of the Spirit, grace, uprightness, and sincerity, are only found in regenerate persons, new creatures, who have put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness, that which is in sincerity and reality, and not dissembled and feigned, Eph. v. 9. Wherefore,—4. Since it i* of God, and him only, it is to be asked of him ; he desires truth in the inward parts ; he requires it, saying, Thou shalt be perfect, or upright, or sincere lcith the Ix>rd thy God, before him, in his sight, Deut. xviii. 13. It is he only that can give a new heart and a new spirit, and create it in the new man, therefore to be prayed to for it by all sensible of their need of it ; hence these petitions of David, Renew a right spirit within me, and let my heart be sound in thy statutes, Psalm li. 10, and cxix. 80. And so the apostle prays for the Philippians, that they might be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, Phil. i. 10. And the rather,—5. This should be sought for, since it is so much approved of by God, who sees and searches the heart ; / know also, my God, says David, that thou triest the heart, and liast pleasure in uprightness, 1 Chron. xxix. 18. His countenance doth behold the upright, Psalm xi. 7; he smiles upon him, and takes delight in him. What an approbation of Job does he express ! and what a testimony does he give to him, because of his sincerity and uprightness, and his perseverance therein ! Job i. 1, 8, and ii. 3. Which will still more fully appear by considering, III. The happiness of such who are possessed of this grace. 1 . The light of spiritual joy and gladness is provided for such persons ; and is in this life, at least at times, bestowed upon them, Psalm xcvii. 11 and cxii. 4. — 2. All the blessings of grace and goodness are not only wished for, but given unto them : Grace, the blessings of grace, are described to be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; and both grace and glory are given to, and no good thing will be withheldfrom them that walk uprightly, that is fit and proper for them, Eph. vi. 24, Psalm lxxxiv. 11. — 3. Such are protected and defended from all evil, and from every enemy ; the Lord himself is a buckler to them that walk uprightly ; yea, his eyes ?-un to andfro through out the zchole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect, or sincere, toicards him, Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16. — 4. Such who walk uprightly, walk surely, on good ground, in a good path, and by a good rule, and shall be saved ; the way of the Lord, in which

OF SPIRITDAL-MINDEDNESS. 539 they walk, is strength unto the upright, they grow stronger and stronger, Prov. x. 9, 29, and xxviii. 18. — 5. Those enjoy the presence of God now ; The upright shall dwell in thy presence, Psalm cxl. 13 ; The pure in heart shall see God, and be with him for ever ; the upright shall have the dominion over the wicked, in the morning of the resurrection ; and as for the sincere and perfect man, his end is peace. OF SPIRITUAL-MINDEDNESS. The contrast between a carnal man and a spiritual man, and between carnal-mindedness and spiritual-mindedness, is very strongly expressed by the apostle in Rom. viii. 5, 6, They that are after the flesh, carnal men, sinful, and corrupt, who are as they were born, having nothing but flesh, sin, and corruption in them, without the Spirit, and his grace, who walk after the flesh, and fulfil the desires of it ; these mind the things of the flesh, their minds are fleshly minds ; they seek nothing but the gratification of the lusts of the flesh, and employ themselves in doing the works of it, which are called, The sins of the flesh, the consequence of which is death ; for to be carnally-minded is death, eternal death, the just wages of sin ; as it must needs be, since such carnality is sin and sinful, and enmity against God, as in the following verse : now the spiritual man, and spiritual-mindedness, and the conse quence of that, are the reverse of all this ; as will appear by considering, I. Who are the men who mind spiritual things, and are spiritual men. They are described as they that are after the Spirit. Not all that think they are spiritual men, and would be thought such, are so ; If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, as a man may, and yet be neither ; and therefore every spirit, or every one that professes himself to have the Spirit, and to be a spiritual man, is not to be believed ; but the spirits, or such who call themselves spiritual men, are to be tried by the word of God, whether they are such or not ; they may seem so to others, and yet not be such ; and if only outwardly righteous, or externally reformed in their lives, they may be at most but moral men, not spiritual men ; yea, men may have a form of godliness, a show of spirituality, yet not have the truth and power of it ; they may look like virgins, and appear as spiritually wise, and yet be foolish. Nor are all truly spiritual men, who have spiritual gifts, as they may be called, distinct from special grace ; for the apostle, after having discoursed of spiritual gifts, speaks of a more excellent way ; and observes, that men may have various gifts, extraordinary and ordinary, and yet be destitute of true grace, 1 Cor. xii. 1, 31, and xiii. 1, 3. Nor are such only intended who have a greater degree of spiritual knowledge, and of real grace than others ; for though these are most certainly spiritual men, and of the highest class, 1 Cor. iii. 1, Gal. iv. 1, yet they are not the only ones ; others, who have less know ledge, and a lesser degree of grace, are also entitled to this character. Much less such are meant who have no flesh or sin in them ; for there

540 OF SPIRIT!' AL-W1NDKDNESS. are no such spiritual men on earth ; none but the saints in heaven, the spirits of just men made perfect ; and who, at the resurrection, will have spiritual bodies. 1. They are such who are regenerated, renewed, and quickened by the Spirit of God ; they are such as our Lord describes as born ofwater and of the Spirit, or of the Spirit of God compared to water ; and who and whatsoever is so born, is spirit, or spiritual, John iii. 5, 6 ; such are born of God, and made partakers of the divine nature ; not of blood, by carnal generation and descent, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed; begotten again of God to a lively hope of a glorious inheritance, according to his abundant mercy, and of his own sovereign will and pleasure ; and are a kind of first fruits of his crea tures ; yea, they are new creatures ; for the grace bestowed on them is, the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost ; they are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and have new hearts and new spirits given them, and the Spirit of God put into them, by which they are quickened, who before were dead in trespasses and sins ; but now the Spirit of life from God enters into them ; and like the dead witnesses, and Ezekiel's dry bones, stand on their feet and live : and being thus made alive, they breathe in a spiritual manner, after salva tion, and the way of it, and the knowledge of it ; and after Christ, when directed to him ; after God, and communion with him ; after a discovery and application of pardoning grace and mercy : all which, and more things of a spiritual nature, they vehemently desire, with their whole souls and spirits ; and may be truly said to be spirituallyminded. — 2. They are such who have their spiritual senses, and that in exercise, to discern both good and evil, to choose and mind the one, and to refuse and shun the other ; they have a spiritual sight, a discerning of things, even of spiritual things, which are only spiritually discerned ; and which spiritual discernment the natural man has not ; but the spiritual man has, and can make a judgment of them ; try things that differ, approve the more excellent, and prefer them ; they have the seeing eye given them ; the eyes of their understandings are enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of themselves and of Christ : this one thing they can say, whereas they were blind, they now see ; see themselves lost and undone, and Jesus as their only Saviour ; and they behold his glory, fulness, excel lency, and suitableness as a Saviour : they now hear the gospel with pleasure ; it is a joyful sound to them, good news and glad tidings of peace, pardon, righteousness, eternal life, and salvation by Christ; they hear the voice of Christ, and are charmed with it, and their affections are drawn out to him ; they hear it so as to understand it, and be delighted with it, and to distinguish it from the voice of a stranger, and therefore follow him, and not a stranger : they taste, and have a gust for spiritual things; they taste that the Lord is gracious, and invite others to come and taste, and see how good he is ; the words of Christ, the doctrines of the gospel, are sweeter to their taste than the honey or the honey-comb ; the fruits that drop from Christ, whilst sitting under his shadow, the blessings of grace, which

OF SPIRITUAI.-M1NDEDNESS. 541 are from him, are also sweet and pleasant to their palate : they savour the things which be of God and Christ, and which are of a spiritual nature ; because of the savour of his good ointment, his rich graces, their love is drawn forth to him ; they smell a sweet savour in his person, righteousness, and sacrifice ; all his garments, his garment of salvation and robe of righteousness smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia : they handle the word of life, lay hold on Christ, the tree of life, and pluck, and take, and eat of the fruit that grows upon it ; and when they have lost sight of Christ, their beloved, and have found him again, thoy embrace him in their arms, hold him fast, and will not let him go. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto them ; they receive it cordially, and the love of it, and feel it powerfully working in them, and find themselves strongly influenced by it to love and serve him. — 3. They are capable of spiritual acts and exercises, and do perform them ; spiritual men, and they only, worship God in the Spirit, in a spiritual manner, with their spirits, and under the influence of his Spirit ; and such worship, as it becomes their character, is only accept able to God ; when the worship of carnal and formal professors is very disagreeable to him : they can talk and converse with each other about spiritual things ; the Lord turns unto them, or bestows upon them a pure language, the language of Canaan, which they speak, and in which they speak one to another, so as to understand and be under stood by each other ; as they are favoured with abundance of rich inward experience, out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak, in Christian conference with one another ; and their speech in common conversation bewrays them, and shows to what company they belong, and that they are not carnal, but spiritual men : and they are capable of walking, and they do walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ; which distinguishes them from carnal men, and entitles them to the character of spiritual men ; yea, they walk in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit, and are led by him, out and off of themselves, to Christ, and the fulness of grace in him, and into all truth as it is in Jesus ; and such who are under his leadings and teachings, as they are the sons of God, they must be spiritual men, and mind spiritual things. — 4. They have much of the Spirit of God in them, the several graces of the Spirit of God ; as faith, hope, love, and all other fruits of the Spirit. The good work of grace, of which he is the author, the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, is begun in them by him, and will be carried on, performed and perfected ; he works in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure, and whatsoever is well-pleasing in the sight of God, and strengthens them to do the will and work of God ; under his influence they exercise every grace, and grace is the governing principle in their souls ; they are not under the law, but under grace, and therefore sin has not the dominion over them ; but grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord ; yea, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, frees them from the law of sin and death, from the tyrannical power of it ; so that they appear to be spiritual men, and to be spiritually alive. And even the Spirit of God himself dwells in them, and is the

542 OF SPIRITUAL-MINDEDNESS. criterion which distinguishes them from carnal men ; Ye are not in the flesh, that is, ye are not carnal men ; but in the Spirit, spiritual men, ifso be that the Spirit of God dwell in you ; and therefore called the temple of God and of the Holy Ghost ; the world, carnal men, cannot receive him, nor know him ; but the true disciples of Christ know him ; for he dwells with them, and shall be in them, Rom. viii. 9, John xiv. 17 ; though even in these spiritual men there is much carnal-mindedness, carnal affections, and lusts, and desires ; The fiesh lusteth against the Spirit ; and they are ready to say, with the apostle, / am carnal ; with theflesh I serve the law of sin, Rom. vii. 14, 24, 25. II. What the spiritual things are, spiritual men mind; from which they are denominated spiritually-minded men. 1. They mind their own souls, and the spiritual and eternal welfare of them ; not only when they were first awakened to a sense of their sinful state and danger, and cried out, What shall we do to be saved ? and when they first asked the way to Zion, with their faces thither wards, and first gave up themselves to the Lord, and to a church of Christ, by the will of God ; but afterwards, by making use of all opportunities, public and private, for their profit and edification, to promote the prosperity of their souls, which spiritual men are more mindful of than of their bodies. — 2. The law of God is spiritual, Rom. vii. 14 ; and this is minded by a spiritual man. This has great things in it worthy of consideration, and to be minded, respecting the good of men and the glory of God ; and yet many are unmindful of it, yea, cast it away and despise it, and count it as a strange thing, Hos. viii. 12 ; unworthy of any notice and regard ; but the spiritual man, whose eyes are spiritually enlightened, and the vail taken off from them, beholds wondrous things out of it, especially as in the hand of Christ, and fulfilled by him ; and they may be said to mind it, and to be spiritually-minded towards it, when they meditate upon it, the author, nature, and usefulness of it. It is the character of a good and happy man, that in his law (the law of God) doth he medi tate day and night ; not in it as a terrifying, cursing, and condemning law; but as instructing, and informing into the nature of sin and duty, and as magnified and made honourable by Christ, who has fulfilled both the preceptive and penal part of it ; and of which David says, O how love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day! Psalm i. 2, and cxix. 97 ; yea, spiritual men not only love it, and great peace have they which love thy law ; but they delight in it, as did that spiritual man the apostle Paul ; / delight in the law of God after the inner man ; see Psalm i. 2, Rom. vii. 22; and they are willingly subject to it, and serve it with pleasure. The carnal mind, ippovvixa rns o-apKos, the wisdom of the flesh ; or the man who is under the influence of it, and is carnally-minded, is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be : but the wisdom of the Spirit, or he who is under the influence of that, and is spiritually-minded, is subject to it, and with his mind serves the law of God. — 3. The gospel, and the truths of it, which are spiritual things ; If says the apostle, we have sown unto you spiritual things, the seed of the word,

OP SPIRITUAL-MINDEDNESS. 543 and the precious truths of the gospel, is it a great thing if we should reap your carnal things? partake of somewhat of your worldly sub stance, 1 Cor. ix. 11 ; these are the things of the Spirit of God, or the spiritual things which the natural man receives not, because foolish ness to him ; as the doctrine of the cross, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Christ is ; nor does he know it, value and esteem it, it being only spiritually discerned ; which spiritual discernment he has not ; but the spiritual man judges spiritual truths, and discerns the difference of them from others, and the true value of them ; his taste discerns perverse things, and distinguishes good and bad ; and he esteems the words of truth more than his necessary food, and counts them savoury food, such as his soul loves ; he finds the word of salvation by Christ, and he eats it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of his heart ; it is like Ezekiel's roll, which was in his mouth as honey for sweetness ; it is the sincere milk of the word which new-born babes desire ; and is meat for strong men, to which spiritual men have their minds well-inclined : and on divine and evangelical truths they dwell in their thoughts and meditations ; as on the doctrines of everlasting love, of the covenant of grace, and the transactions of it ; We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple! and on the doctrines relating to the person, offices, grace, and right eousness of Christ ; to which may be applied the words of the Psalmist, My meditation of him shall be sweet! Psalm xlviii. 9. — 4. Spiritual blessings are minded by spiritual men ; such as the elect of God are blessed with in heavenly places in Christ, Eph. i. 3 ; as election in Christ, acceptance with God in him, redemption, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life ; these are things spirituallyminded men have their hearts set upon, and are often revolving in their minds ; these are blessings indeed, which they are importunately desirous of ; they seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteous ness, and such-like spiritual and heavenly things ; "believing, that all other things of a worldly kind shall be given unto them, needful for them, about which they are not anxiously solicitous, not minding them in comparison of others. — 5. Being built up a spiritual house, and being a holy spiritual priesthood ; they are concerned to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, even the sacri fices of prayer and praise, which they offer up by their great Highpriest, and which become sweet odours, being perfumed with the incense of his mediation ; and they themselves are made joyful in the house of prayer, their offerings being accepted with God upon his altar ; which draw their spiritual minds hither, and make them intent upon such sacrifices. — 6. Spiritually-minded men employ themselves in spiritual services: they present their bodies a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice, which is but their reasonable service; and con cerned they are to serve the Lord in every religious duty acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and* in righteousness and holiness all the days of their lives. Moreover, — 7. They exercise themselves in the several graces of the Spirit of God ; their minds are very intent upon, and very desirous of a growth in every grace, that their faith

544 OF 8P1RITUAL-MINDEDNES8. may be increased and grow exceedingly ; that they may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost ; and that their love also might abound yet more and more. To all which may be added, — 8. That spiritually-minded men have their hearts, affections, and conversations in heaven ; their hearts are where their treasure is, and that is in heaven ; their affections are set on things above, where Jesus is ; and their conversation is in heaven, from whence they expect Jesus their Saviour. III. It may next be inquired, how any of the sons of men come to be spiritual men, and to be spiritually-minded. They are not so natu rally, or by their first birth ; they are born of the flesh, and are flesh, carnal, sinful, and corrupt ; their minds are fleshly, or they are car nally-minded ; their minds and consciences are defiled with sin, and. from thence nothing proceeds but what is sinful ; their minds are vain and empty, and they walk in the vanity of their minds ; they are without God, any true knowledge of him, love to him, and fear of him ; they have not learned Christ, and think nothing about him ; they are sensual, not having the Spirit, nor any of his graces : they mind earth, and earthly things, these engross all their thoughts, affections, and desires ; all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are the principal entertainments of their minds, and what they are chiefly conversant with ; their natural bias is to that which is evil ; the imagination of the thought of their heart is evil, and that continually ; yea, their hearts are fully set in them to do evil ; and such is the disposition of their minds, that they cannot think any thing of themselves, especially that which is spiritually good. This being then the case of the minds of men naturally, there must be a renewing of the mind, or it must be cast into a different mould : ere a man can be spiritually-minded, he must have a new heart and a new spirit put within him ; the Spirit of God must work in him to will, must give him an inclination and disposition to that which is spiritually good ; he must enlighten his mind, and fill it with the knowledge of spiritual things ; must put the laws of God into the minds of men, and write them in their hearts ; he must influence and attract their affec tions to spiritual things, and make them in love with them, and thoroughly convince them of the evil of carnal-mindedness, and the sad effect of it, death ; and of the advantages of spiritual-mindedness, next to be considered. IV. The effects and consequences, and so the evidence of being spiritually-minded. i. Life : To be spiritually-minded is life : they must be alive who are spiritually-minded, and they must be alive in a spiritual sense ; their spiritual-mindedness is an evidence of their spiritual life, and makes it plainly appear that they are in such sense alive. This is manifest, — I. From the exercise of their senses, before observed; they have their spiritual senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling ; and therefore must have life, without which there can be no senses, and the exercise of them ; as he who has his natural senses must be naturally alive, so he that has his spiritual senses must be

OF SPIRITUAL-MINDEDNESS. 545 spiritually alive. — 2. From acts of spiritual life performed by them ; they breathe after spiritual things ; prayer is the breath of every spiritually-minded man ; Behold, he prays ! and this shows life ; he discourses of spiritual things, which discovers the temper and dispo sition of his mind ; his walk and conversation is spiritual, he walks and lives by faith on Christ, and walks on in him as he has received him. — 3. From the lively exercise of grace in him, and fervent dis charge of duty. His faith is a living, and not a dead faith ; his hope is lively, and his love is as strong as death, and cannot be destroyed by it : all which evidence his spiritual life ; and the exercise of these graces evidences his spiritual-mindedness; and hence follow a fervency of spirit in serving the Lord, and a running in his ways without weariness, and a walking without fainting. — 4. Such who are spiritually-minded are not only alive themselves, but they are the means of enlivening others by their spiritual conversation ; by their spiritual counsel and advice ; by their spiritual consolation they administer, and by their spiritual exhortations stirring up to love and good works. — 5. Spiritualmindedness issues in everlasting life; which is the gift of God, and flows from his grace ; which all that are spiritually-minded partake of, and shall have it ; this is certain from the promise, that whosoever seeth the Son, and believes in him, should not perish, but have ever lasting life ; and from the grace of God in them, which is a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life ; and from the Spirit of God in them, the earnest of it, and who makes meet for eternal life, and introduces into it, because of the righteousness of Christ, which entitles to it. ii. Another effect and consequent of spiritual-mindedness is peace ; To be spiritually-minded is peace ; inward peace of soul, which is a fruit of the Spirit, and is had in a way of believing in Christ ; it flows from the righteousness of Christ received by faith, and from his peace speaking blood in the conscience : and the spiritual things their minds are conversant with, are productive of internal peace, and serve to maintain and increase it. Spiritually-minded persons are of peaceable dispositions ; they are desirous to lead a quiet and peaceable life, under whatsoever government they be ; and as much as lieth in them, they endeavour to live peaceably with all men, in the neighbourhoods in which they are ; to promote peace in their families, and among their friends ; and study to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, among the saints m a church-state, in which they are ; to do otherwise would be to act the carnal part, and walk as men, 1 Cor. iii. 3. And to close all, spiritual-mindedness issues in everlasting peace, the end of such a man is peace, he departs in peace, he enters into it ; and this is his everlasting portion and happiness. vol. n. N N

546 OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. The exercise of a good conscience is a branch of internal religion, and is concerned with the worship of God ; God is to be served with a pure conscience, 2 Tim. i. 3. And it has to do not only with things natural and legal, accusing or excusing, as the law of nature directs ; and with things civil, with obedience to civil magistrates, to whom we are to be subject ; not only for wrath, or fear of punishment, but also for conscience1 sake ; their office being of God, and an ordinance of his, Rom. ii. 14, 15, and xiii. 5 ; but likewise with things religious, spiritual and evangelical ; things respecting both doctrine and practice ; The mystery of the faith, or the peculiar and sublime doctrines of tho gospel, are to be held in a pure conscience ; and the ministry of the word is to be exercised, holding faith, the doctrine of faith, and a good conscience with it, 1 Tim. iii. 9; yea, every good work, rightly per formed, springs from hence, 1 Tim. i. 5. A good conscience has God for its object, it respects his word, will, and worship ; and therefore is called, conscience towards God, 1 Pet. ii. 19 ; as repentance is repent ance towards God, and faith is faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ; or <rwei5jjo-is ©eon, conscience of God, which is of God, has God for its author, being implanted in tho mind of man by him ; it is God's vicersrent, which acts for him, and under him, and is accountable to him. shall consider, I. What conscience is, and its office. i. What it is. It is a power or faculty of the rational soul of man ; by which it knows its own actions, and judges of them according to tho light it has ; some take it to be a habit of the mind ; others an act of the practical judgment, flowing from the faculty of the understanding by the force of some certain habit. 1. It is a science, or knowledge, as its name shows ; a knowledge of the will of God, and of a man's actions, as being agreeable or disagree able to it ; it is a common science or knowledge, and therefore called con-science, common with other men, and also with God ; by which it knows what is true, just, and right with God, and so what is fit to be done or not done ; it is that by which a man is conscious to himself of his secret thoughts, as well as of his actions ; it is the spirit of a man, which only knows the things of a man within him, and knows those things which only God and himself knows. — 2. From this knowledge arises a judgment which conscience forms of itself and actions, and accordingly approves or disapproves of them, and excuses or accuses for them ; to which judgment the apostle refers when he says, If we wouldjudge ourselves, we should not be judged, 1 Cor. xi. 31 ; and this is made in the view of the judgment of God, and is submitted to that, and has that joined with it, it is a joint testimony ; and even some times God himself appeals to the judgment of conscience, as well as conscience appeals to God ; Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vine yard, Isa. v. 3. — 3. It is the will of God revealed, which is the rule of

OF X GOOD CONSCIENCE. 547 conscience, its knowledge and judgment ; either revealed by the law and light of nature, which was the rule to the Gentiles, who had not the written law, Rom. ii. 14, 15 ; or by the moral law written, which contains that good, perfect, and acceptable will of God, concerning things to be done or not done ; or by the gospel, which instructs in the doctrines of grace, and enforces the duties of religion by them, and is a rule to walk by, Gal. vi. 16. — 4. Hence nothing can bind the con science but the law and will of God; it is God's vicegerent, acts for and under him, and receives its authority and instructions from him, and is accountable to him, and to no other ; it is a debtor to him, and owes obedience to his will ; it is constrained by it, laid under a necessity to observe it, and cannot do otherwise : let men say what they will to the contrary, or be clothed with what authority they may, parents, masters, magistrates, have no power over children, servants, and subjects, to oblige them to what is contrary to the dictates of con science, according to the will of God ; no laws of men are binding on conscience, which are not according to, or are contrary to the law and will of God ; IVe ought to obey God, rather than men, is the determina tion of the apostles of Christ, Acts iv. 19, 20. ii. The office of conscience, what it does and ought to perform, when it does its duty. 1. It is a light to enlighten men in the knowledge of the will of God ; it is that light which lightens every man that comes into the world ; which is had from Christ the Creator of men ; and shows unto men what is their duty to God and man, it informs them both what they are to do, and what to avoid ; The spirit of man, which is his natural conscience, is the candle of the Lord, which he lights up in the soul of man, searching the inmost recesses of the heart ; especially if enlight ened by tho word and Spirit of God. — 2. It takes cognizance of a man's actions ; it keeps a good look-out, and watches over them ; it has a sort of an omniscience belonging to it ; it sees all his goings, yea, it sees his heart, and what passes through that, marks his ways and works, and numbers his steps. — 3. It takes an account of them, and registers them ; it is a book in which all are written ; and though it may be shut up for the present and little looked into, there is a judg ment to come, when the books will be opened, and the book of con science among the rest; according to which men will be judged. — 4. It acts the part of a witness for or against men, as even in the heathens ; their conscience bearing witness to their actions, good or evil ; and so their thoughts excused or accused one another. So the conscience of a good man bears witness for him, and is a co -witness with the Holy Ghost, to which he can appeal, as the apostle did, Rom. ix. 1 ; so the consciences of Joseph's brethren witnessed against them, when they said, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, Gen. xlii. 21. —5. Conscience is a judge, acquitting or condemning. So the con science of Samuel acquitted him of all charges that could be brought against him, as did God and his people also, 1 Sam. xii. 5. Such a clear conscienco had Job ; My heart, says he, that is, my conscience, shall not reproach, or condemn me, so long as I live, chap, xxvii. 6. In n n 2

548 OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. this sense the apostle uses the phrase, and points at the office of con science, 1 John iii. 20, 21. — 6. In wicked men it has the office of a punisher, or tormenter ; and a greater punishment, and a more severe torment, cannot well be endured than the stings and lashes of a man's own conscience ; this is what the Scripture calls the worm that never dies ; and the heathens meant by a vulture feeding on men's hearts or livers. II. The various sorts of conscience ; which may be reduced to these two, an evil conscience, Heb. x. 22 ; and a good conscience, 1 Tim. i. 19. i. An evil conscience ; the consequences of which are guilt, terror, distress and sorrow, sooner or later, unless the heart is purged from it by the blood of Christ ; of which there are different sorts.— 1. Which is blind and ignorant, arising from an understanding dark ened and alienated from the life of God, through ignorance ; when in some it comes to that pass, as to have lost the distinction between good and evil, and between darkness and light ; and some do not care to come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved ; and others, like corrupt judges, are bribed with a gift, which blinds the eyes of the wise ; and others are so sottishly superstitious, that they think they do God good service when they take away the lives of his people, and such a conscience was Saul's, when he thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, and therefore made havoc of the church. — 2. A dull, heavy, stupid conscience, which is no more affected than a man that is asleep ; and though in danger, as a man asleep in the midst of the sea, and on the top of the mast, yet careless, unconcerned, and secure ; and though stricken and beaten feels it not, and is quite stupified ; and like a man in a lethargy, unless a great noise is made, is not easily roused ; as Pharaoh, whose conscience was alarmed with the thunder and lightnings, and then he owned he had sinned ; but when these were over, he returned to his former hardness and stupidity : and even in good men, conscience may be lulled asleep, and continue stupid for a considerable time ; as in the case of David, till Nathan was sent to him, and charged his conscience, saying, Thou art the man. — 3. A partial one, when it overlooks greater sins, and is very severe on lesser ones ; as Saul bore hard on the Israelites for the breach of a ceremonial law, in eating flesh with the blood, when he made no scruple of slaying fourscore and five priests of the Lord at once : and as the chief priests, who pretended it was not lawful to put the money into the treasury where with Christ was betrayed, because it was the price of blood, and yet it was the same money these wicked men had given to Judas to betray him : and likewise it is partial, when it suffers a man to neglect duties and services of the greatest importance, and puts him upon lesser ones ; as Saul in his conscience thought, he did well when he killed the lean kine, and spared the best of the flock and herd ; and so the Pharisees, who omitted the weightier matters of the law, and were strict to observe the traditions of the elders, which were no part of the law. — 4. A bribed one ; as Herod's conscience was bribed with his oath, and pleaded that for the cutting off of the head of John the

OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 549 Baptist : and the Jews endeavoured to make their conscience easy, in pleading for the taking away the life of Christ, that they had a law, that he who made himself the Son of God should die. — 5. An impure one, as the conscience of every unregenerate man is ; Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled, Tit. i. 15 ; and so the conscience of a weak brother may be defiled through the imprudent use of a liberty, by a stronger one, 1 Cor. viii. 7. — 6. A seared one, one cauterized, seared, as it were, with a red-hot iron, 1 Tim. iv. 2, and so becomes insensible of sin and danger, and past feeling any remorse for sin ; it is without any consciousness of it, and repentance for it, Jer. viii. 6. — 7. A desperate one, or one filled with despair ; as Cain's was, when he said, My punishment is greater than I can bear ; and Judas's, who said, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood ! and went and destroyed himself : and especially such will be the consciences of the damned in hell, whose worm dieth not, but they will be ever in black despair. ii. A good conscience. There may be in unregenerate men, a con science in its kind good ; it may be naturally good, when it is not morally, spiritually, evangelically good. Conscience, when it does its office according to its light, is a natural good conscience ; as in the heathens, though they were guilty of sins their conscience did not charge them with ; so the apostle Paul, before his conversion, lived in all good conscience, Acts xxiii. 1, though a blasphemer and a persecutor. And there may be in good men a conscience not commendable, and which, in a sense, cannot be called good. As, 1. There may be in them a mistaken and erring conscience ; Some with coiiscience of the idol, thinking it to be something, when it is nothing, eat it as a thing offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled, 1 Cor. viii. 7. — 2. A doubting conscience. The apostle Paul had no doubt, but was firmly persuaded, that there is nothing unclean of itself; yet observes, that he that doubtetk whether it is unclean or not, and to be eaten or not, is damned, that is, he is condemned by himself, Rom. xiv. 14, 23. — 3. A weak conscience; which arises from weakness of faith about things lawful and pure, Rom. xiv. 1, 14, Cor. viii. 7 ; which is soon and easily quieted, grieved and troubled, at seeing others do that which it doth not approve of, Rom. xiv. 15 ; and which at once judges and condemns another man's liberty, Rom. xiv. 3, 1 Cor. x. 29 ; or which, by the example of others, is easily drawn to the doing of that by which it is defiled, wounded, and destroyed, as to its peace and comfort, 1 Cor. viii. 7—12. — 4. A conscience smitten and wounded, which, though not sinful, maybe said to be evil, and not good, because distressed ; thus David's heart, or conscience, smote him when he had numbered the people, and made him very uneasy, dis quieted and uncomfortable ; and sometimes it is so smitten, pricked, and wounded, and so loaded with guilt, that it is intolerable ; a wounded spirit, or conscience, who can bear ? Prov. xviii. 14. — 5. There is a conscience enlightened and awakened with a sense of sin and danger; which, though for the present distressing, issues well ; as in the three

550 OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. thousand pricked in their hearts, who said to the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do ? and in the jailer, who came trembling before Paul and Silas, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ! which, though attended with great agonies in both instances, issued well, in repentance unto life and salvation, not to be repented of; the immediate effects of a truly awakened conscience, are shame and con fusion of face for sin ; as in our first parents, who attempted to cover their nakedness, and hide themselves ; see Rom. vi. 22 ; dread of the divine Being, fear of punishment, and wrath to come, Rom. iv. 15 ; an ingenuous confession of sin, and sorrow for it, 1 Tim. i. 13 ; from which shame, fear, and sorrow, it is relieved by a discovery and appli cation for pardon through the blood of Christ, which, and which only, makes the conscience a good one. The epithets of a good conscience, are — A tender one; as in Josiah, humble under a sense of sin, affected with a godly sorrow for it, one that cannot easily comply with a temptation to commit sin ; as in Joseph, who said to his mistress, tempting him, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God I and having the fear of God before its eyes, and on its heart, cannot do what others do ; as Nehemiah, Neh. v. 15. — A conscience void of offence ; such as the apostle Paul was studiously concerned to exercise, Acts xxiv. 16 ; careful not to offend, by sinning against God, and to give no offence to Jew nor Gentile, nor to the church of God ; and this he studied to have always ; not at one time only, but conti nually ; and not in some things only, but in all things, Heb. xiii. 18. — A pure conscience, 1 Tim. iii. 9, 2 Tim. i. 3. Conscience is denied with sin, as all the powers and faculties of the soul are : a pure or purified conscience, is a conscience purged from the dead works of sin by the blood of Christ ; a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience by the same; that is the fountain to wash in for sin and for uncleanness, that only cleanses from all sin, Heb. ix. 14, and x. 22 ; such a conscience is only a good one. III. The effects of a good and pure conscience ; which must make it very desirable and valuable. 1. Freedom from the guilt of sin. This the priests, under the law, could not remove with their sacrifices, and so could not make the comers to them perfect ; could not make their consciences perfect, nor ease them of the burden of sin, and purge them from the guilt of it ; then they would have had no more conscience of sin, whereas there was an annual remembrance of them, notwithstanding these sacrifices. From whence it appears, that such who have a truly purged and puri fied conscience, by the precious blood and better sacrifice of Christ, have no more conscience of sins they are purged from : not but that they mako conscience, and are careful to avoid committing sin ; but the guilt of sins being removed by the blood of Christ, their consciences do not condemn them for sins that have been committed by them, and from which they are purged, Heb. x. 1, 2. — 2. Peace of soul and tranquillity of mind. The blood of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel ; the blood of Abel, in the conscience of his brother, the murderer, spoke terror, wrath .and damnation ; but the blood of Christ,

OP COMMUNION WITH GOD. 551 in the conscience of a sinner, purified by it, speaks peace, pardon, and salvation ; one that is justified by faith in the blood and righteousness of Christ, has peace with God, and peace in himself; the effect of this is, quietness and assurance for ever.— S. Joy, as well as peace, is another effect of a good and pure conscience ; especially when atone ment for sin by the sacrifice of Christ is applied and received into it, Rom. v. 11 ; yea, the testimony of conscience, with respect to integrity and uprightness in conversation, under the influence of divine grace, yields joy and pleasure to a good man, 2 Cor. i. 12 ; as an evil con science troubles and distresses, and gives sorrow ; a good conscience exhilarates, and makes joyful and cheerful; the wise man says, A merry heart, which some interpret of a good conscience, makes a cheer ful countenance, and hath a continualfeast, Prov. xv. 13, 15. — 4. Bold ness, confidence, and glorying in the midst of calumnies, reproaches, and persecutions from the world, is another effect of it; a man of a good conscience can defy all his enemies, and put them on proof of making good their calumnies, and can easily refute them ; as Samuel said, 1 Sam. xii. 3 ; and such a man, for conscience towards God, can endure grief, suffering wrongfully; not as an evil-doer, but as a Christian ; and therefore is not ashamed, but glorifi'< God on this behalf 1 Pet. ii. 19 ; yea, if a man's heart and cons3ience does not condemn him, then has he confidence towards God, 1 John iii. 21, as well as towards men. — 5. The effect of a good conscience, purified by the blood of Jesus, is a deliverance from the fears of death and judg ment to come ; such a man is not afraid of evil tidings now, of evil times approaching, and of judgments coming upon the earth ; nor is he terrified at the alarms of death, but meets it with a composed mind, and has confidence that he shall not be ashamed before the Judge of all at his coming. And these are so many arguments why, Such a conscience is to be held, and held fast ; a good man should exercise himself to have it, and to exercise it, and himself in it, and be careful to do nothing contrary to it ; but make use of all means to pre serve it, by frequently communing with his own heart, by taking heed to his ways, and by having respect to all the commandments of God ; and especially should deal with the blood of Christ continually for the purifying of his heart by faith in it, and for cleansing him from all sin. OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. Communion with God is the top of the saints' experience in this life) it is the height of experimental religion and powerful godliness. This? of all the enjoyments of God's people on earth, is the nearest to the heavenly bliss; and could entire perfection and endless duration be added to it, it would be that. I shall consider, I. Communion with God in general, which appears chiefly in a large communication of grace, and the blessings of it from him conveyed through Christ, and applied by the blessed Spirit ; and in a free exer

552 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. cise of grace upon him, under a divine influence : in all which is enjoyed much of the divine presence. i. Communion is founded in union,"and arises from it. There is an union between God and his people ; for the more open manifestation and evidence of which our Lord prays, John xvii. 21, That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ! This original union is a federal union between God and them, taking them into a covenant-relation to himself ; by virtue of which he becomes their God, and they become his people ; it is a conjugal union between them, as between husband and wife ; Thy Maker is thine Husband, Isa. liv. 5. The evidence of which union is the gift of the Spirit to them in regeneration and conversion ; when there appears to be a vital union and a mutual inhabitation of God in them, and of them in God ; Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he liath given us of his Spirit, 1 John iv. 13. The bond of this union is the everlasting love of God to them. As it is the love of one friend to another whicli knits their souls together; as the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul ; and as the saints, in a spiritual relation, are knit toge ther in love, and by it ; love is the cement which unites them : so it is the love of God in his heart towards his people which attracts them to him, and unites them with him ; and which bond is indissoluble ; for nothing shall be able to separate from the love of God, nor to separate them from him, who are interested in his love ; and in the manifesta tion of this love unto them, lies much of their sensible communion with God ; as an effect and evidence of this his everlasting lovo to them, he with loving-kindness draws them to himself in effectual calling, when large displays are mado of it to them, and at times they have some by the Spirit that of it ; the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, !>lentiful effusions is given them, and their hearts are directed into the ove of God ; insomuch that they are rooted and grounded in it, and are persuaded of their interest in it ; and comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of it ; they are made to drink largely of this river of pleasure, the river the streams whereof make glad the city of God ; in the participation of which they have much solace ahd refreshment, and enjoy much com munion with God. ii. The grand blessing of grace flowing from this union, is covenantinterest in God ; than which there cannot be a greater blessing ; Happy is that people whose God is the Lord ! and this covenantinterest always continues, it can never be destroyed ; This God is our God for ever and ever ! and this is the foundation-blessing, from whence all others take their rise ; He that is our God, is the God of salvation ! of all the blessings of it, of all the spiritual blessings saints are blessed with in Christ, and of all grace from him, and all the sup plies of it ; My God, my covenant-God, shall supply all your need ! Eph. i. 3, Phil. iv. 19. Now in the perception and enjoyment of this grand blessing, covenant-interest in God, communion with him greatly Bee ; God sometimes says to his people, even when they are fearing

OP COMMUNION WITH GOD. 553 and doubting, Be not dismayed, for I am thy God ! and they in the exercise of faith say, as David, / trusted in thee, O Lord, I said unto thee, Thou art my God ! Psalm xxxi. 14 ; they avouch the Lord to be their God, and he avouches them to be his peculiar people ; / will say, says the Lord, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God! Zech. xiii. 9 ; and when this is the case, sensible communion with God must be enjoyed : the Lord is the portion of his people ; and when lie says to them, as he did to Abraham, / am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward ; and they in return say, The Lord is my por tion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him, Gen. xv. 1, Lam. iii. 24 ; their portion now in tho land of the living, and their portion for ever more; under such a discovery, and in such a view of things, there must be communion with God : they have a mutual interest in each other ; the Lord's people is his portion, and he himself is the portion of Jacob ; and therefore with great propriety may they be said to bo heirs of God ; an amazing phrase ! expressive of property, interest, and fellowship. Hence, in. There is a mutual intercourse between God and his people, which is variously expressed in Scripture. — 1. By their mutual indwelling in each other, and which follows upon covenant-interest, and is an evidence of it, as was the Lord's dwelling among the people of Israel; I will dwell, says Jehovah, among the children of Israel, and will be their God, make it manifest to them thereby, as follows, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God ; hence he ordered a sanctuary to be made, that he might dwell among them ; and in this sanctuary or tabernacle an ark was put, and over the ark a mercy-seat, and on that the cherubim, between which Jehovah dwelt, and from whence he promised to commune with Moses concerning all things relative to the people of Israel : an emblem this of saints' communion with God through Christ, at the throne of grace. And God not only dwells in particular congregated churches of Christ, who are built up a habitation for God, through the Spirit, such as were the churches at Corinth and at Ephesus, 2 Cor. vi. 16, Eph. ii. 22; but in particular persons, who love Christ, and keep his commandments ; of whom he says, We will come unto him, and make our abode with him ! a phrase expressive of constant and continued communion at least for a while, John xiv. 23 ; and on the other hand, such dwell in God, who has been the dwelling-place of his people in all generations, and is their strong habitation, whereunto they may continually resort, Psalm xc 1 ; and such dwell in God, who live in the continual exercise of grace upon him, and particularly of the grace of love towards him and towards his people ; He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him, 1 John iv. 1 6, this is communion. — 2. By a mutual walking together, which shows agreement, and is expressive of fellowship ; Can two walk together, except they be agreed I God and his people are agreed, reconciliation to God is made for them by the death of Christ, and reconciliation is made in them by the Spirit of Christ ; and both are signified in Rom. v. 10; and being thus agreed, they walk together; God walked with the ohildren of Israel in a tent and. in a tabernacle, which moved from

554 OP COMMUNION WITH GOD. place to place; and he walks in the midst of his golden candlesticks, particular churches, as he has promised ; I will dwell in them, and wa k m them; and so in individual believers, 2 Cor. vi. 16; and they walk with him ; thus Enoch walked with God, as did Noah and others, as do all believers, they walk by faith on God as their covenant-God, and walk humbly before him, and in all his commandments and ordmances blameless, m which they have much communion with him. — 3. By a mutual converse together; they talk together, God speaks to them and they speak to him ; such familiar fellowship had Abraham with God about the affair of Sodom ; which, when over, it is said, he left communmg with him, and such had Moses also, with whom God is said to commune, to talk with him, and to speak to him face to face, and somethmg similar to this is the experience of all the saints, when the Lord appears unto them, and talks with them, and tells them that he has loved them with an everlasting love, and has drawn them to himself with the cords of it ; when he visits them, and discloses the secrets of his heart unto them, and they talk with him, and speak to him m prayer; they have access to him through Christ, and that with freedom and boldness, through his blood and righteousness, and come up even to his seat, and tell him all their mind, make known their requests unto him, and pour out their souls before him; much of commumon with God lies in prayer, private, family, and public— 4 Uy a mutual sittmg down and feasting together ; the table on which the show-bread or bread of faces, was set, was typical of the saints' commumon with God, and the enjoyment of his presence, through the mediation of Christ; so was the meat offering, part of which was burnt for a savour, a memorial of it to the Lord, and the rest was eaten by Aaron and his sons. God has spread a table for his people, and made a feast of fat things for them on his holy mountain, where they least with him, and he with them ; more particularly in the ordmance of the Lord's supper, in which much spiritual communion is enjoyed ; of which more hereafter. nMYh° the Pereons are who have communion with God. i. JNot unregenerate men, such who are in a state of nature, for they are m a state of alienation from the life of God ; they are at a distance from him, their sins separate between God and them. Adam, m his state of mnocence, had nearness to and communion with God; trod frequently conversed with him. made known his mind and will to him, and bestowed very special favours upon him ; but that whisperer sm, soon separated chief friends ; and man falling into sin was banished from the divme presence; So he drove out the man from the garden of ±,den as an emblem of the estrangement of him and his posterity trom God ; which is the case of them all. n. Not any who are in the native darkness and blindness of their understandmgs, and walk therein ; which is the condition all men are m by nature ; every one walks in darkness : and now what communion ™1 ? nl da,;kness? as persons enlightened by the Spirit and &AM^W ?° 8plritual comm™on with such who are altogether m the dark about spiritual things; much less can there

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. 555 be any communion with God, who is light, and such who walk in darkness. in. Such who are dead in sin, as all men naturally are, can have no communion with God ; for as what agreement hath the temple of God (the temple of the living God) with idols ? lifeless creatures : so what agreement can there be between the living God and dead sinners? such must be quite strangers to a life of communion with God ; when it is a time of life, and so of open love, then, and not before, does God spread his skirt over such persons, as a token of their conjugal relation to him, and enters into covenant with them, or manifests to them their covenant-interest in him; and so they openly become his, and are admitted to fellowship with him, Ezek. xvi. 8. iv. No unholy and unrighteous persons have communion with God ; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness I as not righteous men with unrighteous men in a church-state ; so not a pure, holy, and righteous God, with impure and unsanctified sinners ; even with none but such who are created in righteousness and true holiness; who are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. — 5. Not any in whom sin is the governing principle ; in whom it reigns, and who commit it with as much boldness and impudence as if they had a law for it, Psalm xciv. 20 ; but God is of such unspotted purity and holiness that he cannot take pleasure in sin, neither shall evil men dwell with him, not now nor hereafter ; but shall be bid to depart from him as workers of iniquity. But,—1. Such only have communion with God, or are admitted to fellowship with him, who are loved and chosen by him ; such whom for the great love wherewith he has loved them, he has quickened them by his Spirit and grace, and with loving-kindness has drawn them to himself; those whom he has chosen to be holy, and without blame before him in love, he causes to approach to him now, and gives them nearness to him, and fellowship with him. — 2. Such who are redeemed and reconciled by Christ, through his sufferings and death ; by which he has made satisfaction for sin, and so removed that which lay in the way of sinners' communion with God : Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, into a state of open communion with him; and such who are sometimes afar off, with respect to communion, are made nigh by the blood of Christ ; by which means obstructions in a way of fellowship are removed, and only such persons are admitted to it. — 3. Such chosen and redeemed ones, who are regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God ; for his work is necessarv to communion with God ; Without holiness no man shall see the Lord, enjoy him, and have fellowship with him, neither now nor hereafter. The gift of the Spirit, as a Spirit of sanctification, and the operation of his grace on the hearts of men, are the great evidence of union to God, from whence flows communion with him. I go on to consider, III. The special fellowship which such persons have with Father, Son, and Spirit distinctly ; the apostle John says, it is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 John i. 3; to which may be added, Phil.

556 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. ii. 1, If any fellowship of the Spirit; and also 2 Cor. xiii. 14, The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. All which put together, show that the saints have a communion with each person in the God head. i. With God the Father, as he is the Father of Christ, who, as such, has blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and as such, has chosen them in him to holiness and happiness, and as such, regenerates them according to his abundant mercy, and is the Father of mercies, and the God of all grace and comfort to them ; and as he is their covenant-God and Father in Christ, through whom they have access to him as their Father, and address him as their Father in heaven, and call upon him for what they want, and under the witnessings of the Spirit of adoption, cry Abba, Father ; and say, doubtless, Thou art our Father : and then they may be said to have communion with him as such, when their faith and hope are exercised on him ; and they are affected with his wondrous love in taking them into his family, and putting them among the children, and encouraging them to call him their Father, and not turn away from him ; which obliges them to say, What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! 1 John iii. 1 ; and when they are sensible of the feelings of his heart for them, his sympathy with them, pity and compassion on them, under all their afflictions, temptations, trials, and exercises, Isa. lxiii. 9, Psalm ciii. 13, then have they fellowship with the Father. n. With Christ : fellowship with him is what the Lord's people in effectual vocation are particularly called unto, 1 Cor. i. 9 ; and what Christ himself invites them to, Cant. iv. 8; and which lies,—1. On his part, in a communication of grace unto them, which they receive at his hands ; he is full of grace, all fulness of it dwells in him, and out of his fulness they receive, and grace for grace, an abundance of it, especially at first conversion, when the grace of Christ is exceeding abundant, flows and overflows ; and afterwards they have a sufficiency of it to help them in all their times of need, a constant supply of it as they want ; Christ has been, in all ages, the fountain of gardens, the well of living waters, and as streams from Lebanon to all his churches and people ; and with joy do they draw water out of the full wells of salvation in him, and become strong in the grace that is in him, to which they are allowed and encouraged to have recourse at all times. — 2. On their part this fellowship lies in the exercise of grace upon Christ ; in the goings forth of their souls to him in acts of faith, love, joy, &c.— Upon his Person, as the Son of God, beholding his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and the express image of his person ; when he appears to them altogether lovely, and the chiefest among ton thousands, and the only and all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him ; and vyhen they are encouraged to look to him, and be saved, and live by faith on him, the Son of God, who hath loved them and given himself for them ; and when their love is attracted to him, the unseen Saviour, and the desires of their souls are to his name, and to the

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. 557 remembrance of him; and they have hope of eternal life, and an expectation of it, as the free gift of God through him, and rejoice in him, having no confidence in the flesh, then have they fellowship with him.—Upon him as considered in the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. They have communion with him as their Prophet, who teaches them by his Spirit, word, and ordinances, and from whom they receive that anointing which teacheth all things ; to him they hearken as the great Prophet of the church, embrace the doctrines of his gospel, and pay a regard to all the instructions of his lips, and in whose hearts the word of Christ dwells richly, and works effectually.: they deal with Christ, and have fellowship with him in his priestly office ; they have to do with his blood, for the remission of their sins, and the cleansing of their souls ; and with his righteousness for their justification before God, and acceptance with him ; and with his sacrifice, for the atone ment and expiation of their iniquities ; and on account of all this have much peace, joy, and comfort, in. a way of believing. They consider him as the High Priest over the house of God, who transacts all affairs for them ; they make use of him as their advocate and inter cessor with the Father, and put their petitions into his hands to be offered up by him, perfumed with the much incense of his mediation ; they acknowledge him as their King, submit to his government, yield obedience to his commands, and esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right. Saints have such communion and fellowship with Christ in his offices, that they have in some sense a share in them, that is, they are made by him prophets, priests, and kings ; prophets to teach and instruct others, having received the anointing from him ; and kings and priests unto God and his Father, 1 John i. 27. Rev. i. 6.— Much of fellowship with Christ is enjoyed in the use of, and by the means of the ordinances of his house, especially the ordinance of the supper. The church is a banqueting-house, into which Christ brings his people, where they sit under his shadow, and in his presence, with delight, and his banner over them is his love displayed ; here he has a table spread, and at it ho himself sits, and welcomes his guests, saying, Eat, O friends ! drink abundantly, O beloved ! which encourages them, and causes their spikenard to send forth the sweet smell thereof, or their graces to go forth in exercise on him ; so that the communion is mutual; he sups with them, and they with him. Now this communion with Christ greatly arises from the saints' rela tion to him ; he is the Husband of his church and people, and they are his spouse and bride ; hence a communion both of name and goods ; they have the same common name, The Lord our Iiitjkteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and all that Christ has is theirs, they being Christ's and he theirs ; he is made to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. i. 30 ; Christ is the head, to which his body, the church, is joined, and the saints are members of him, and one Spirit with him ; from whom they receive life and nourishment, and increase with the increase of God : he is the vine, they the branches ; and by virtue of union to him, a communication of the fruits of grace, holiness, and perseverance therein is made to them from him.

558 OP COMMUNION WITH OOD. in. Saints have also a special and particular communion with the Holy Ghost, in the gifts of his grace unto them, and which they exer cise under his influence ; as the grace of faith, which is of his operation, and from whence he is called, the Spirit of faith ; and a good hope through grace, in the exercise of which believers abound, through the power of the Holy Ghost ; and love is a fruit of the Spirit, and which is under his cultivation. Moreover, this fellowship of the Spirit appears in the offices of grace, which he performs towards them ; as the guide, teacher, and comforter of them; as a Spirit of grace and supplication, making intercession in them ; as a Spirit of adoption, witnessing to their spirits, that they are the children of God ; and as the earnest of the heavenly inheritance to them, and the sealer of them up unto the day of redemption ; in whom he dwells, as in his temple, enabling them to exercise every grace and perform every duty, working them up for that self-same thing, etornal glory and happiness. IV. The properties of it ; showing the excellency of this communion and fellowship. 1. It is a wonderful instance of condescension in God ; that ho who is tho high and lofty One, who dwells in heaven, the high and holy place, and yet with such also who are of a contrite and humble spirit ; that he whose throne tho heaven is, and the earth his footstool, and yet condescends to dwell with men on earth ; that Wisdom, or the Son of God, should build a house, furnish a table, and invite sinful unworthy creatures to partake of the entertainments of it ; that Father, Son, and Spirit, should come and make their abode with sinful men, and admit them to the greatest intimacy with them. — 2. It is very honourable to the sons of men to be favoured with such communion : if it was an honour to Mephibosheth to sit at the table of king David, as one of the king's sons ; or for a Haman to be invited to a banquet with the king and queen ; how infinitely more honourable is it to be admitted to sit with the King of kings at his table, and be entertained by him as royal guests ! — 3. This is a privilege very desirable, nothing more so ; this is tho one thing saints are desirous of in public worship, to behold the beauty of the Lord ; to see his power and his glory in his sanctuary ; to sit under his shadow, and taste his pleasant fruits. This is no other than the gate of heaven. — 4. It is exceeding valua ble ; it is beyond all the enjoyments of life, preferable to every thing that can be had on earth ; the light of God's countenance, his gracious presence, communion with him, put more joy and gladness into the hearts of his people, than the greatest increase of worldly things ; it is this which makes wisdom's ways, ways of pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace ; it is this which makes the tabernacles of God amiable and lovely, and a day in his house better than a thousand elsewhere ; and because so valuable, hence the apostle John in an exulting man ner says, Truly, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ !

BOOK IV. OF EXTERNAL WORSHIP, AS PUBLIC. OF THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH, THE SEAT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. Having treated of the object of Worship, and distinguished Wor ship into Internal and External ; and having considered Internal Wor ship as it lies in the exercise of various graces ; I now proceed to consider External Worship, both Public and Private ; and first Publio Worship ; and as Public Worship is carried on socially in a churchstate, I shall begin with considering the nature of a Gospel Church, tho seat of it. The word Church has various significations, which it may be proper to take notice of, in order to settle the true sense of it, as now to be discoursed of. I. Some take it for a place of worship, and call such a place by that name ; but wrongly, at least very improperly : it is a remarkable saying of one of the ancients, even of the second century, Not the place, but the congregation of the elect, I call the church. Indeed, any place of worship was formerly called a house of God ; so the place where Jacob and his family worshipped, having built an altar for God, was called Bethel, or the house of God, so the tabernacle of Moses is called, the house of God in Shiloh, Judg. xviii. 31 ; and the temple built by Solomon, tho house of the Lord. But neither of them is ever called a church. Tho papists, indeed, call an edifice built for religious worship, a church ; and so do some protestants, I might add, some dissenting protestants too ; who call going to a place of pubUc worship, going to church ; though with great impropriety. It must be owned, that some of the ancient fathers used the word in this metonymical and improper sense, for the place where the church met for worship ; and some passages of Scripture are pleaded for this use of it ; which yet do not seem to be plain and sufficient : not Acts xix. 37 ; for the word UpoavXovs should not be rendered robbers of churches, but robbers of temples ; and design not edifices built for Christian wor ship ; but the temples of the heathens, as that of Diana, at Ephesus : but what may seem more plausible and pertinent, are some passages in 1 Cor. xi. 18 —22 : When ye come together in the church I hear, &c,

560 OF THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH. which is thought to be after explained, When ye come together into one place :—have ye not houses to eat and drink in ? or despise ye the church of God ? All this, indeed, supposes a place to meet in ; though rather not the place, but the assembly that met in it, is called the church ; and their coming together in the church may intend no other than some of the members coming and meeting together with the rest of the church ; and em to avro which we render into one place, may design, not the unity of the place, but the unanimity of the people in it ; nor is the opposition between their own houses and the place of meeting ; and this is only mentioned to show that it would have been much more suitable and decent in them to have ate and drunk in their own houses, than in the presence of the assembly and church of God, which was to their scandal, reproach, and contempt ; for not the place, but the people that met in it, were properly the object of contempt : however, it is certain, that there are numerous places of Scripture which cannot be understood of any material edifice or building ; whether of stone, brick, or wood ; as when it is said, tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church, Acts xi. 22 ; it would be absurd to under stand it in such a sense ; and so many others. II. The word tKKXri<na, always used for church, signifies an assem bly called and met together, and sometimes it is used for an assembly, whether lawfully or unlawfully convened ; so the people who got together, upon the uproar made by the craftsmen at Ephcsus, is called a confused assembly, and suggested to be an unlawful one ; since the town-clerk told them the matter should be determined in a lawful assembly; and when he had thus spoken, dismissed the assembly, Acts xix. 32—41 ; in which passages the same word is used which commonly is for a churcli ; and which may be considered either as a general, or as a particular assembly of persons. i. As a general assembly, called, The general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, Heb. xii. 23; and which include all the elect of God, that have been, are, or shall be in tho world ; and who will form the pure, holy, and undefiled Jerasalemchurch-state, in which none will be but those who are written in the Lamb's book of life ; and this consists of the redeemed of the Lamb, and is the church which Christ has purchased with his blood; and who make up his spouse, the church he has loved, and given himself for, to wash, and cleanse, and present to himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle ; this is the body, the church of which Christ is the head ; and in which he is the sole officer, being Prophet, Priest, and King of it ; it being not the seat of human government, as a particular church is ; and this church is but one, though particular churches are many : to this may be applied the words of Christ ; My dove, my undefiled, is but one, Cant. vi. 9 ; and this is what sometimes is called by divines, the invisible church ; not but that the whole number of God's elect is visible to him, and known by him ; The Lord knows them that are his ; and the election of particular persons may be known by themselves, by the grace bestowed upon them ; and, in a judgment of charity, may be concluded of others, that they are the chosen of

OP THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH. 561 God, and written in the book of life : but all the particular persons' and the number of them, were never yet seen and known ; John had a sight of them in a visionary way, and they will be all really and actually seen, when the new Jerusalem shall descend from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband ; which will be at the second coming of Christ, and not before ; till that time comes, this church will be invisible. It is sometimes distinguished into the church triumphant and militant, the whole family named of God in heaven and earth. The church triumphant consists of the saints in glory, whom Christ has taken to himself, to be with him where he is ; and this is continually increasing. The church militant consists of persons in the present state, which is said to be, as an army with banners, Cant. vi. I ; this is made up of such who become volunteers in the day of Christ's power ; who put on the whole armour of God, and fight the good fight of faith ; and in this state it will continue to the end of the world. There is another in which the church may be said to be catholic, or general, as it may consist of such in any age, and in the several parts of the world, who have true faith in Christ, and hold to him the head, and are baptized by one Spirit into one body ; have one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, and are called in one hope of their calling ; and this takes in, not only such who make a visible profession of Christ, but all sucli who are truly partakers of his grace ; though they have not made an open profession of him in a formal manner ; and this is the church which Polycarp called, the whole catholic church throughout the world0 : and Irenaeus0, The church scattered throughout the whole world to the ends of the earth : and Origenq, The church of God under heaven : and this is the church built on Christ the rock, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail ; such a church Christ has always had and will have; and which may be, when there is no visible particular congregated church, or a particular church gathered according to gospel-order ; and of this the apostle seems to speak, when he says, Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end, Eph. iii. 21. n. The church may be considered as a particular assembly of saints meeting together in one place for religious worship. Such was the first church at Jerusalem, which is called the whole church, that met together in one place at the same time; and the church at Antioch, convened by the apostles, to whom they rehearsed what God had done with them, Acts xiv. 27 ; and these churches, in after times, continued to meet in one place ; the whole church of Jerusalem, at the destruction of the city, removed to Pella, a town beyond Jordan, which was sufficient to receive the Christians that belonged to if ; and two hundred and fifty years after Christ the church at Antioch met in one house*. And so the church at Corinth, 1 Cor. xiv. 23 ; and the church of the disciples at Troas, who came together on the first day of the week to break bread, Acts xx. 7; of these there were many in one a Apud Euscb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 4, c. 15. ' Adv. Hiree. 1. 1, c. 2 ct 3. i Apud Euwb. 1. 6, c. 25. ' Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 3, c. 5. ' lb. 1. 7, e. 32. VOL. II. O O

562 OF THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHDRCH. province ; as the churches of Judea, besides that at Jerusalem, and the churches of Galatia, Gal. i. 2, 23 ; and the seven churches of Asia, Rev. i. 4 ; and the churches of Macedonia, 2 Cor. viii. 1 ; the church at Cenehrea, a port of Corinth, and distinct from the church there, as were all these churches distinct from one another ; so that he that was of one church, was not of another ; as Epaphras is said to be one of you, of the church at Colosse, a peculiar member and minister of that church, and not of another, Col. iv. 12. And this is the chureh the nature of which is to be treated of ; and may be considered essentially, as to the matter and form of it ; and organically, as to its order and power ; or as a body corporate, having its proper officers. I. Essentially considered, as to its matter and form, of which it consists. i. As to the matter of it, both as to quantity and quality. As to number, Tertullian thought that three persons were sufficient to constitute a church ; which may seem to be confirmed by Matt. xviii. 20, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, &c who may be sufficient to meet and pray together, and edify one another ; but a judicial process in a church way, in case of offence, as directed to in some preceding verses, seems to require more ; seeing, if the offending and offended parties cannot compromise things among themselves, one or two more are to be taken, which if two make four ; if reconciliation cannot be made, the matter must be brought before the church, which must consist of a greater number than the parties before concerned ; and which it should seem cannot be less than six more, and in all ten ; which was the number of a congregation with the Jews : and a church organically considered, or as having proper officers, seems to require more ; the church at Ephesus was begun with twelve men, or thereabouts, Acts xix. 7 ; yet a church should consist of no more than can meet together in one place, where all may hear, and all may be edified ; and if it should be so increased that this cannot be, then it should be divided into lesser communities ; as a hive of bees, when too many, swarms ; and which seems to be the case of the church at Jerusalem ; which, upon the departure of those who were converted at Pentecost, and on the scattering of the church by persecution, formed several churches in Judea, and accounts for the early mention of them. But not to dwell on this, the quality of the materials of a gospel church more especially deserves attention. In general, it may be observed, that all such who are of immoral lives and conversations, and of unsound principles, as to the doctrines of the gospel, are not proper persons to be members of a gospel church ; no unclean persons, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, have, or should have any inheritance, part or portion in the kingdom of God, as that may signify, as it sometimes does, a gospel-church state ; and though there may be such secretly, who creep in unawares, yet when discovered are to be excluded ; and such persons, therefore, who are to bo put away from a church, as wicked men, and such as walk disorderly, are to be withdrawn from, and such as have imbibed false doctrines, are to be rejected ; then most certainly such are not knowingly to be

OP TI1E NATURE OP A GOSPEL CHURCH. 5G3 admitted into the original constitution of a church of Christ, or be at first received into the fellowship of one. The persons who are fit materials of a visible gospel church, are described, 1 . As regenerate persons ; Except a man bo born again of water and of the Spirit, of the grace of the Spirit of God, he cannot enter, of right he ought not to enter, and, if known, ought not to be allowed to enter, into the kingdom of God, into a gospel-church state ; none but such who are begotten again to a lively hope of the heavenly inheritance, and who, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word and ordinances, that they may grow thereby, having tasted that the Lord is gracious ; or, in other words, of whom it is meet to think, and, in a judgment of charity and discretion, to hope and con clude that God hath begun a good work in them ; such were the members of the church at Philippi, Phil. i. 6, 7. — 2. As called ones ; a church is a congregation of such who are called out from among others, by the grace of God ; both the Hebrew and Greek words rbnp and tkkAtjo-io, signify an assembly of persons called and convened together ; so the members of the church at Rome are styled, the called of Jesus Christ, Rom. i. 6 ; such who are called out of the world, and from fellowship with the men of it, into the fellowship of Jesus Christ : such who are proper materials of a gospel church, are such who are called out of a state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, into the liberty of the gospel ; and out of darkness into marvellous light ; and are called with a holy calling, and called to be saints, not merely by the external ministry of the word, to outward holiness of life and con versation, who are never effectually called by the grace of God, nor have any appearance of it, and so unfit to be members of churches ; for-,— 3. Such are not only called to be saints, but in and by effectual vocation become really saints, at least are judged to be so, by a cha ritable discretion of them ; so the members of the churches at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colosse, are described as saints, and sanctified persons, and as holy temples, built for habitations of a holy God ; hence they are called churches of the saints, because they consist of such ; and Christ, who is King and head of the church, is called King of saints. — 4. They are described as the faithful in Christ Jesus, or believers in him : so in the article of the church of England a church is defined, " A congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered ." For only faithful men, or believers in Christ, can have fellowship with the saints in a church-state ; and none but such can have communion with Christ ; for he dwells in the hearts of men by faith, and they live by faith upon him : and only such have a right to the ordinances of Christ, and can receive benefit by them ; unless they believe with all the heart, they have no right to baptism ; and unless they have faith in Christ, they cannot discern the Lord's body in the supper ; nor is the gospel preached of any profit to them, not being mixed with faith; so that they are on all accounts unfit for church-membership ; and hence we read, that those who were joined to the first church at Jerusalem, were believers, Acts iv. 14. Hence, oo2

564 OF THE NATURE OP A GOSPEL CHURCH. —5. Those that were added to the church at Jerusalem, are said to be, such as should be saved ; as all those who believe and are baptized shall be saved ; according to Mark xvi. 16. And besides, these were added by the Lord himself, as well as to him, and therefore should be saved by him with an everlasting salvation: and such who are admitted to church-fellowship, should be such, who, in a judgment of charity or in charitable discretion, may be hoped, that they are the chosen of God, the redeemed of Christ, are called, sanctified, and justified, and so shall be everlastingly saved. — 6. They should be persons of some competent knowledge of divine and spiritual things, and of judging of them ; who have not only knowledge of themselves, and of their Tost estate by nature, and of the way of salvation by Christ ; but who have some degree of knowledge of God in his nature, perfections, and works ; and of Christ, in his Person as the Son of God ; of his proper Deity ; of his incarnation ; of his offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King ; of justification by his righteousness ; pardon by his blood ; satisfaction by his sacrifice ; and of his prevalent intercession ; and also of the Spirit of God ; his person, offices, and operations ; and of the important truths of the gospel, and doctrines of grace ; or how otherwise should the church be the pillar and ground of truth ?— 7. The materials of a gospel church should be men of holy lives and conversations ; holiness both of heart and life becomes the house of God, and those who are of it ; none should have a place in it but such. — 8. Such who are admitted into fellowship with a particular church of Christ, should be truly baptized in water, that is, by immer sion, upon a profession of their faith ; so the three thousand penitents, after they had gladly received the word, were baptized ; and then, and not before, were added to the church : so the first church at Samaria consisted of men and women baptized by Philip, they believing what he said concerning the kingdom of God : and Lydia, and her house hold, and the jailer and his, being baptized upon their faith, laid the foundation of the church at Philippi : and the church at Corinth was begun with persons who, hearing the word, believed, and were bap tized ; and the church at Ephesus was first formed by some disciples baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Acts ii. 41 ; so the members of the churches at Rome, Galatia, and Colosse, were baptized persons, Rom. vi. 3,~4, Gal. iii. 27, Col. ii. 12. But,—9. Not their infants with them ; who were neither baptized nor admitted to membership in the churches ; no one instance of either can be produced in Scrip ture : they are not members by birth ; for that which is born of the flesh, is flesh, carnal and corrupt, and unfit for church-fellowship : nor do they become such by the faith of their parents; for even their faith does not make them themselves church-members, without a profession of it, and giving up themselves to a church, and received by it into it : men must be believers before they are baptized ; and they must be baptized before they become members ; and they cannot be members till they make application to a church, and are admitted into it. Infants, as they are born, are not meet for membership, being unregenerate, unholy, and impure by their first birth, and must '

OF THE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH. 565 be born again ere they are fit for the kingdom of God, or a gpspelchurch-stato ; their federal holiness, talked of, is a mere chimera, and is unsupported by 1 Cor. vii. 14; they are not capable of understand ing and of answering questions put unto them ; nor of giving up themselves to a church ; nor of consent and agreement to walk with it, the nature of which they are unacquainted with, and of what belongs to a member of it, either as to duty or privilege ; nor are they capable of answering the ends of church-communion, the mutual edification of members and the glory of God : and such who plead for their membership make a poor business of it ; not treating them as members, neither by admitting them to the ordinance of the supper, nor by watching over them, reproving, admonishing, and laying them under censures, when grown up, and require them, were they members. n. A particular church may be considered as to the form of it ; which lies in mutual consent and agreement, in their covenant and consideration with each other. 1. There must be an union, a coalition of a certain number of persons to form a church-state ; one cannot make a church ; and these must be united, as the similes of a tabernacle, temple, house, body, and a flock of sheep, to which a church is sometimes compared, show ; the tabernacle was made with ten curtains, typical of the church of God ; but one curtain did not make a tabernacle, nor all the ten singly and separately taken ; but there were certain loops and taches, with which they were coupled together ; and being thus joined, they composed the tabernacle. So the temple of Solomon, which was another type of the gospel church : and which was made of great and costly stone ; these stones, not as in the quarry, nor even when hewed and squared, lying singly by themselves, made the temple, until they were put and cemented together, and the head-stone brought in and laid on ; thus truly gracious souls, though they are by grace separated from the common quarry of mankind, and are hewn by the Spirit of God, and by the ministry of the word, and are fit materials for the church of God, yet do not constitute one, until fitly framed together, and so grow unto a holy temple of the Lord. A church is called the house of God, a spiritual house, built up of lively stones, living saints ; but these, be they ever so lively and living, they do not form a church, unless they are buildcd together, for a habitation of God. A church of Christ is often compared to a human body, which is not one member, but many ; and these not as separate, but members one of ' another, who are fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth : and sometimes it is called a flock, the flock of God ; and though a little flock, yet one sheep does not make a flock, nor two or three straggling ones ; but a number of them collected together, feeding in one pasture, under the care of a shepherd. 2. This union of saints in a church-state is signified by their being joined, and as it were glued together ; it is an union of spirits so close, as if they were but one spirit ; so the members of the first Christian church were of one heart and one soul, being knit together in love ;

566 OP THE NATURE OP A GOSPEL CHURCH. and it becomes members to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace, Acts iv. 32, Col. ii. 2, Eph. iv. 3. 3. This union between them is made by voluntary consent and agreement ; a Christian society, or a church of Christ, is, like all civil societies, founded on agreement and by consent ; thus it is with societies from the highest to the lowest ; kingdoms and states were originally formed on this plan ; every body corporate, as a city, is founded upon the same plan, in which there are privileges to be enjoyed, and duties to be performed ; and no man has a right to the one without consenting to the other : and in lower societies, no man can be admitted into them, nor receive any benefit from them, unless he assents to the rules and articles on which the society is founded. All civil relations, except the natural relation of parents and children, which arises from the law of nature, are by consent and covenant ; as that of magistrates and subjects, and of masters and servants, and of husband and wife ; which latter, as it is by compact and agreement, may serve to illustrate the relation between a church and its members added to it, and the manner in which they be, by consent ; see Isa. lxii. 5. 4. As the original constitution of churches is by consent and confe deration, so the admission of new members to them is upon the same footing : the primitive churches, in the times of the apostles, first gave their own selves to the Lord, as a body, agreeing and promising to walk in all his commandments and ordinances, and be obedient to his laws, as King of saints ; and to us, the apostles, pastors, guides, and governors, to be taught, fed, guided, and directed by them, according to the word of God ; and to one another also, by the will of God, engaging to do whatever in them lay to promote each other's edifica tion and the glory of God : and so all such who were added to them, it was done by mutual consent, as it always should be ; as no man is to be forced into a church, or by any compulsory methods brought into it, so neither can he force himself into one ; he has no right to come into a church and depart from it when he pleases ; both the one and the other, his coming into it and departure from it, must be with consent : a man may propose himself to be a member of a church, but it is at the option of the church whether they will receive him ; so Saul assayed to join himself to the disciples, that is, he proposed to be a member with them, but they at first refused him, fearing he was not a true disciple, because of his former conduct ; but when they had a testimony of him from Barnabas, and perceived that he was a partaker of the grace of God, and was sound in the faith of Christ, -they admit ted him, and he was with them going out and coming in : and it is but reasonable a church should be satisfied in these points as to the persons received into their communion ; not only by a testimony of their becoming lives, but by giving an account of what God has done for their souls, and a reason of the hope that is in them ; as well as by expressing their agreement with them in their articles of faith. 5. Something of this kind may be observed in all religious societies, from the beginning, that they were by agreement and confederation ;

OF THE NATURE OP A GOSPEL CHURCH. 567 so the first religious societies in families, and under the patriarchal dispensation, it was by the agreement of families, and the common consent of them, that they met and joined together for public worship, to call on the name of the Lord, Gen. iv. 26 ; so the Jewish church, though national in some sense, yet was constituted by confederation ; God prescribed to them laws in the wilderness, and they covenanted and consented to obey them, Exod. xxiv. 7 ; he avouched them to be his people, and they avouched him to be their God ; and then, and not before, were they called a church, Aots vii. 38 ; and so the gospel church was spoken of in prophecy, as what should be constituted and increased by agreement and covenant, Isa. xliv. 5 and Ivi. 6, Jer. l. 5 ; all which agrees with New Testament language; from whence it appears to bo a fact, that it was by consent and agreement that the first churches were formed, as before observed, and not otherwise ; and nothing else but mutual consent can make a man a church-member : not faith in the heart, for that cannot be known until a man declares and professes it ; nor a bare profession of faith, which, though necessary to membership, does not declare a man a member of one church more than of another, nor entitle more to one than to another; unless he gives up himself to a church, and professes his desire to walk with it in subjection to the gospel of Christ : nor bapt'sm, though a pre-requisite to church-fellowship, does not make a man a member of a church, as it did not the eunuch ; nor hearing the word ; for men ignorant and unbelievers may come into an assembly and hear the word, 1 Cor. xiv. 24 ; yea, persons may hear the word aright, have faith, and profess it, and be baptized, and yet not be church-members ; it is only mutual consent that makes them such : persons must propose themselves to a church, and give up themselves to it, to walk in it, in an observance of the ordinances of Christ, and duties of religion ; and the church must voluntarily receive them in the Lord. And, 6. Such a mutual agreement is but reasonable ; for how should two walk together except they be agreed ? Amos iii. 3 ; and unless persons voluntarily give up themselves to a church and its pastor, they can exercise no power over them, in a church way ; they have nothing to do with them that are without ; they have no concern with the watch and care of them ; nor are they entitled thereunto, unless they submit themselves to one another in the fear of God ; they have no power to reprove, admonish and censure them in a church way ; nor can the pastor exercise any pastoral authority over them, except byagreement they consent to yield to it ; nor can they ex-pect he should watch over their souls as he that must give an account, having no charge of them by any act of theirs. 7. It is this confederacy, consent, and agreement, that is the formal cause of a church ; it is this which not only distinguishes a church from the world, and from all professors that walk at large, the one being within and the other without, but from all other particular churches ; so the church at Cenchrea was not the same with the church at Corinth, though but at a little distance from it, because it consisted of persons

568 OP THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OF A CHURCH. who had given up themselves to it, and not to the church at Corinth ; and so were members of the one and not of the other ; one of you, as Onesimus and Epaphras were of the church of Colosse, and not of another, Col. iv. 9, 12. From all which it follows, 8. That a church of Christ is not parochial, or men do not become church-members by habitation in a parish ; for Turks and Jews may dwell in the same parish : nor is it diocesan ; for we never read of more churches under one bishop or pastor, though there may have been, where churches were large, more bishops or pastors in one church, Phil. i. 1 ; nor provincial, for we read of churches in one province ; as of the churches of Judea, and of Galatia, and of Mace donia : nor national ; nay, so far from it, that we not only read of more churches in a nation, but even of churches in houses, Rom. xvi. 5, 1 Cor. xvi. 19, Col. iv. 15, Philem. verse 2; nor presbyterian ; for we never read of a church of presbyters or elders, though of elders ordained in churches ; by which it appears there were churches before there were any presbyters or elders in them, Acts xiv. 23. But a particular visible gospel church is congregational ; and even the church of England, which is national itself, defines a " visible church to be a congregation of faithful men ; " and, indeed, the national church of the Jews was in some sense congregational ; it is sometimes called the congregation, Lev. iv. 13—15 ; they were a people separated from other nations, and peculiarly holy to the Lord ; they met in one place, called the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered their sacrifices at one altar, Lev. i. 3, 4, and xvii. 4, 5 ; and three times in the year all their males appeared together at Jerusalem ; and besides, there were stationary men at Jerusalem, who were representatives of the whole congregation, and were at the sacrifices for them : the syna gogues also, though not of divine institution, were countenanced by the Lord, and bore a verygreat resemblance to congregational societies ; and is the word which answers to congregation in the Septuagint version, and is used for a Christian assembly in the New Testament, James ii. 2 ; to which may be added, that such congregations and assemblies as gospel churches be, are prophesied of as what should be in gospel times, see Eccles. xii. 11, Isa. iv. 5. A church of saints thus essentially constituted, as to matter and form, have a power in this state to admit and reject members, as all societies have ; and also to choose their own officers ; which, whert done, they become a complete organized church, as to order and power ; of which more hereafter. OF THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OF A CHURCH TO EACH OTHER." A Church thus confederated and united by consent and agreement, there are several duties incumbent on its members ; which, both for their own comfort, credit, and edification, and for the glory of God, it is highly necessary to observe. As, I. And which is a principal one, to love one another ; Owe no man .

OP THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OP A CHURCH. 569 any thing, but to love one another, is an apostolical advice, and good advice ; this is a debt which every man owes to another, and should be always paying, especially Christians and members of churches. I. This is the great law of Christ, as King in his church, his royal commandment, which he enjoins on all his subjects, and frequently repeats, John xiii. 34, and xv. 12, 17. — 2. The example of Christ should influence and engage unto it, John xiii. 34, and xv. 12, 1 John iii. 16. — 3. The relations that members of churches stand in to each other oblige to love ; being fellow-citizens of the same family, are brethren to each other, and make one fraternity, or brotherhood which they should love, 1 Pet. ii. 17, and iii. 8; and are members one of another, 1 Cor. xii. 13—27. — 4. Mutual love is an evidence of being the disciples of Christ, John xiii. 35. — 5. It is this which makes communion in a church-state delightful and comfortable, as well as honourable ; Behold, how good and how pleasant it isfor brethren to dwell together in unity! it is as pleasing and refreshing as the fragrant oil poured on Aaron's head, and as the dew that fell on mount Hermon, Psalm cxxxiii., when, on the contrary, nothing is more uncomfortable and dishonourable, as well as nothing is more pernicious and ruinous to a church-state, than want of love, Gal. v. 15. This love of members one to another ought to be fervent, and it should be unfeigned, and without dissimulation, 1 Pet. iv. 8, and i. 22 ; and it should be universal, love to all the saints, weaker as well as stronger, poor as well as rich. II. It is incumbent on church-members, as much as in them lies, to endeavour to keep the unit// of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace ; to press to which the apostle uses various arguments in Eph. iv. 3—6. 1. Care should be taken to promote and preserve unity of affection; so as to be of one heart and of one soul, having the same love, as the apostle advises to, Phil. ii. 2. But this falls in much with the first duty, before inculcated. — 2. There should be, as much as may be, a unity of mind and judgment in the doctrines of the gospel ; being, as the capostle in the above place directs, of one accord and of one mind : or as he elsewhere says, that all speak the same thing ; and that they be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, or otherwise there is danger of schism, divisions, and contentions, 1 Cor. i. 10, 11. — 3. And which is much the same as unity of faith ; for there is but one faith, Eph. iv. 5, 13; one doctrine of faith, or scheme and system of divine truths to be believed ; and churchmembers should stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, Phil. i. 27. — 4. There should be a zealous concern for unity of wisdom, and that nothing be introduced into it contrary to the pattern showed and directed to in the word of God ; and that they serve the Lord with one consent, and with one mind, and. with one mouth glorify God, Zech. iii. 9, Rom. xv. 6 ; and to prevent discord in affection, judgment, and worship, and to secure peace, all strife should be avoided, and even checked at the beginning of it ; the advice of the wise man is good, Prov. xvii. 14 ; and equally good is the advice of the apostle, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, ' s

570 OP THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OP A CHURCH. Phil. ii. 3. Proud and contentious men, who seek to promote strife and division, are not to be encouraged in Christian communities, 1 Cor. xi. 16; the peace of a church is to be laboured after by its members, and by all means to be pursued ; the comfort of saints in fellowship with each other is a strong argument for peace and unity, Phil. ii. 1,2; and above all, as saints would be desirous of having the presence of God with them, they should be concerned to be of one mind, and live in peace ; and then may they expect, and not otherwise, that the God of love and peace shall be with them, 2 Cor. xiii. 11. III. It is the duty of members of churches to sympathize with each other in all-eonditions and ciroumstances they come into, Rom. xii. 15, and upon this their membership with one another cannot but have a considerable influence, 1 Cor. xii. 26 ; this sympathy should be with respect to things outward and temporal ; any calamity, affliction, and distress, of whatsoever kind ; they that are in bonds, especially for the sake of religion, should be remembered as bound with them, as if in the same circumstances, and should pity and relieve them as much as may be ; and them that suffer adversity in body, family, or estate, as being themselves in the body, and liable to the same adversities, Heb. xii. 3, and therefore should visit, comfort, and assist them ; so Job's three friends, when they heard of his afflictions in his person, family, and substance, though they lived at a distance from him, by appointment met together, to come, to mourn with him, a?id to comfort Mm, Job ii. 11 ; and much more should members of churches act such a part to one another. Likewise when in inward trouble and distress of soul, through the hidings of God's face, the temptations of Satan, the weakness of grace, ana the strength of corruptions ; it becomes fellow-members to comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, and bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil tlie law of Christ, which is the law of love and sympathy, 1 Thess. v. 14, Gal. vi. 2 ; and the sympathy of God with his people in their afflictions, and also of Christ, who is touched with the feeling of the infirmities of his people, should direct to such a temper and carriage. IV. It is the duty of church-members to communicate to each other in such circumstances. 1. In outward things, to such as are in want of them, Rom. xii. 13, Gal. vi. 10 ; hence in the times of the apostles, the churches had orders to make collections on the first day of the week for the poor saints, that thereby they might be relieved who were in necessitous circum stances, 1 Cor. xvi. 1 , 2 ; brotherly love demands such a conduct in church-members to their brethren in distress ; for, how dwelleth the love of God in such, who, having a portion of worldly things, shut up their bowels of compassion from their brethren in need \ 1 John iii. 17 ; besides, to communicate to such persons is well-pleasing in the sight of God, and will be taken notice of in the great day of account when forgotten by the saints. — 2. It is their duty to communicate in spiritual things, to mutual comfort and edification ; to speak often one to another about divine things ; to impart spiritual experiences, and to declare to each other what God has done for their souls ; to com

OP THE DUTIES OP THE MEMBERS OF A CHURCH. 571 municate spiritual light and knowledge in the mysteries of grace ; and according to the gift ono has received, be it more or less, to minister it to one another, and to build up one another in their most holy faith, by Christian conference and praying together ; and through the word dwelling richly in them, to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs ; and care should be taken that no commu mcation proceeds out of the mouth but what is for edification, and ministers grace to the hearers. V. It is the duty of church-members to watch over one another ; that they do not indulge any sinful lusts and pleasures, and make provi sion for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof; and so bring a reproach on the good ways of God, and the doctrines of Christ ; and to warn them that are unruly, or err from the rule of the word, and recover them from any evil way they seem to be going into ; as also to watch over them, lest they receive any notion contrary to the gospel of Christ ; for not only pastors of churches are to watch over them for this purpose, but members of churches are to look diligently, or act the part of a bishop or overseer in some respect, lest any man fail of the grace of God, or fall from the doctrine of grace, Heb. xii. 15 ; they should not suffer sin to lie upon a brother ; but rebuke and admonish him for it, according to the gospel rule, first alone, and then, if such rebuke suceeds not, to do it with and before others ; and such rebukes and admonitions should be in love, and with much tenderness, as well as faithfulness ; for such only are like to be kindly received, and to be successful ; such that are fallen, whether into immorality or error, should be endeavoured to be restored by those who are spiritual, in ihe spirit of meekness. VI. It is incumbent on members of churches to bear with one another ; the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak ; and to bear one another's burdens, and to forbear with each other, and not bear hard on one another, considering the patience, forbearance, and longsuffering of God to them ; and it becomes them to forgive one another, as Christ, and God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven them ; and especially when repentance is declared and discovered, then forgiveness should be extended, not only to seven times, but to seventy times seven ; for if we forgive not, neither will our heavenly Father forgive our tres passes, Rom. xv. 1. VII. It is the duty of members of churches to pray for one another ; as they have all one common Father, who is attentive to their suppli cations, and is able and willing to help them in their times of need, they are directed to address him in this manner, saying, Our Father, which art in heaven ; and are thereby instructed to pray for others as for themselves, to whom he stands in the same relation as to them selves, even for all saints, as the apostle intimates, Eph. vi. 12 ; and especially for such who are in the same church-state ; and particularly when they are in any distress, inward or outward ; and not for minis ters of the gospel only ; though members should never be forgetful of their own pastors, who are set over them in the Lord, that they may be fitted for tlieir work, be assisted in it, and be made useful to their

572 OF THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OP A CHURCH. souls ; but for the several members of the church, that they may have their several wants supplied ; that they may grow in grace and spiritual knowledge ; be kept faithful, and preserved blameless, to the coming of Christ ; it becomes them in general to pray for the peace of Jeru salem, and in particular for the hill of Zion, to which they belong, that peace may be within its walls, and prosperity in its dwellings. VIII. It becomes church-members to separate themselves from the men of the world, and not touch things which are defiling ; they are in a church-state, which is as a garden enclosed ; they are a separated people, and should dwell alone, and not to be reckoned among the nations, or the people of a vain and carnal world ; they are called out of the world, and therefore should not be unequally yoked with the men of it ; with men unrighteous, ignorant, lawless, disobedient, dead, and profane sinners, with whom they can have no profitable communion ; and, indeed, from all such in their own societies who walk disorderly they are directed to withdraw themselves. — 1. In conversation they are to abstain from sinful men ; not that they are to have no commerce nor correspondence with them in civil things, for then, as the apostle says, they must needs go out of the world ; but that they are not to join with them in their sinful practices, but bear a testimony against them ; they are not to walk, as other Gentiles do, in the vanity of their minds ; nor to walk with them in the same paths of sin and folly ; nor to keep up any intimate and familiar converse with them ; know ing, that evil communications corrupt good manners. — 2. Nor should they keep company with erroneous persons, with men of unsound principles ; for such, who cause divisions and offences, contrary to the gospel of Christ, are to be avoided, and their conversation shunned; and such who cavil at, and consent not unto the wholesome words of Christ, and the doctrine according to godliness, are to be withdrawn from ; and such who have imbibed heretical notions, are to be rejected ; and such who bring not the doctrine of Christ with them, are not to be bid Godspeed, nor received into the houses of God's people. IX. Church-members should be constant in assembling together for religious worship ; it is remarked of the members of the first Christian church, to their honour, that they continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrines and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer, Acts ii. 42 ; that is, they constantly attended on hearing the doctrines of the apostles, which they gladly received and persevered in, and kept up their communion with them and one another, and were not missing at the Lord's supper, and at times of public prayer; though in aftertimes an evil manner, a bad custom prevailed among some of those Christian Hebrews, as to forsake the assembling of themselves together, which the apostle takes notice of to their dishonour, Heb. x. 25 ; a custom of bad consequence, both to communities and particular persons; for what one may do, every one may do, and in course public worship cease, and churches break up ; and such a practice is very prejudicial and hurtful to individuals; it is not known what may be lost by missing an opportunity or an ordinance, and what trouble and distress of soul may follow upon it, as the case of Thomas shows, who was not

OP THE DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS OF A CHDRCH. 573 with the rest of the disciples when Christ first appeared to them ; it is dangerous to indulge in an indifference to, and any degree of neglect of the service of God in his house ; the evil may grow, and at last issue in apostacy, as in the stony-ground hearers. X. There should be no respect of persons among members of churches in their assemblies, and when met together on church-affairs, with regard to rich or poor, greater or lesser gifts; there should be no over-bearing, no brow-beating, nor any supercilious airs used; no affectation of superiority one over another, they being on an equal foot, in the same relation to one another, abating the difference of offices, Matt. xx. 26, 27; all the strife should be in honour to prefer one another ; and such who are highest, with respect to spiritual gifts or worldly riches, should condescend to men of low estates, Rom. xii. 10, 16. XI. It behoves them to strive together for the faith of the gospel, and earnestly to contend for it, and not part with any of the truths of Christ and doctrines of grace ; and should bo careful to keep the ordinances, as they were delivered, and not suffer any innovation in them, neither as to the matter and substance of them, nor as to the manner in which they are to be observed ; and they should walk in them all with great unanimity and constancy, and should stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, and not be entangled with any yoke of bondage, nor suffer any human inventions and unwarranted practices to be imposed upon them. XII. It becomes them to be examples to each other in a holy walk and conversation, and in an observance of all the duties of religion. Holiness becomes the house of God, and the members in it ; their light should shine both in the church and in the world, that others beholding their good works may imitate them, and glorify God : they that name the name of Christ, and profess to be his, should depart from all iniquity, doctrinal and practical ; they should be concerned to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, and show out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdom; they should endeavour to fill up in a becoming manner, all stations and relations in life, civil or economical, in the world and family; as of magistrates and subjects, of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants ; as well as in the church, as pastors, deacons, and private members, and be careful to perform all duties relative to them ; that so their fellow-members may not be grieved nor stumbled, nor the good ways of God be evil spoken of, nor the name of God and his doctrine be blasphemed, nor any occasion given to the adversary to speak reproachfully; and by a strict attention to these several duties of religion, they will show that they behave themselves in the house of God as they ought to do. V

674 OF THE OFFICERS OF A CHURCH, PARTICULARLY PASTORS. Having treated of a church, as essentially considered, with respect to its matter and form, I shall now proceed to consider it organically, or as an organized church, a corporate body, having its proper officers. In the first churches there were officers both extraordinary and ordinary; the extraordinary officers were apostles, prophets, and evangelists. I. Apostles, 1 Cor. xii. 28. These had the first and chief place in the church, and the signs of the apostles were found with them : they had their call and mission from Christ, and were not of men, nor by men, but by Jesus Christ; and as they had their mission and commission im mediately from Christ, so their doctrine ; they neither received it from men, nor were taught it, but had it by the revelation of Christ ; they were infallibly guided into all truth by the inspiration of the Spirit, and had the power of working miracles, in confirmation of all this ; they went out by authority every where, preaching the gospel, to the conversion of multitudes, and were the first planters of churches, which others watered ; they were not limited to any particular church, but had the care of and presided in all the churches wherever they came. This office is now ceased ; tho apostles have no successors in it : not such who are called lord bishops ; for as the apostles had not their pompous titles, nor their grandeur, nor their wealth, so neither have these lordly bishops their gifts, power, and authority ; they have neither mission nor commission, nor work similar to theirs. II. There were set in the churches, secondarily, prophets, 1 Cor. xii. 28, Eph. iv. 11, who had extraordinary gifts for explaining the word of God ; for instruction and confirmation in the truths of it ; and had the gift of tongues, to preach in them to all nations ; such were in the church at Antioch, and such were Silas and Judas, Acts xiii. 1, and xv. 22 ; and who also had the gift of foretelling future events, as Agabus and others, who were of great use to the churches in those times, Acts xi. 28 and xxi. 10. This office is also no more; only tho ordinary gift of interpreting the Scriptures is sometimes called prophe sying, and those who have it prophets. III. Evangelists : This name is sometimes given to the writers of th3 four Gospels ; two of which were apostles, Matthew and John ; the other two, evangelists, Mark and Luke : evangelists were com panions of the apostles in their travels, assistants to them in their work, and who were sent by them hero and there, with messages from them to the churches, where they had been, and to finish what they had begun ; for which purpose they were sometimes left in certain places, but not to reside and continue there. This office is now extinct ; only that every truly gospel-preacher may be called an evangelist, or cvangelizer. The ordinary officers of the church arc pastors and deacons, and these only ; though antichrist has introduced a rabble of other officers, the Scripture knows nothing of.

OF THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. 675 I. Pastors : these are shepherds under Christ, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, who take the care of the flock, and feed it, as their name signifies ; such were promised to be given under the gospel dispensation, and such Christ has given to his churches, Jer. iii. 15, Eph. iv. 11, and still gives ; to whom he says, as he did to Peter, Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, John xxi. 15, 16. These are the same with teachers, according to Eph. iv. 11, Some pastors and teachers ; not some pastors and some teachers, as if they were different ; but and teachers, the Kot, or arid, being exegetioal, explaining what is meant by pastors, even such who are teachers, to instruct in the knowledge of divine things, which is the pastor's work, to feed men with knowledge and understanding : and it may be observed, that in 1 Cor. xii. 28, where the several officers of the church are enumerated, mention is made of teachers, but pastors omitted, because they are the same ; for they are not to be distinguished with respect to the place where they perform their work, as if the office of pastors was in the church, the flock they are to feed, but teachers or doctors in the school ; whereas, it ill certain that a teacher is an officer in the church, as well as pastor, 1 Cor. xii. 28 ; nor are they to be distinguished as two distinct officors in the church, because of the subject of their ministry ; the one, the pastor, attending to exhortation, to things practical, and the teacher to things doctrinal, asserting, explaining, and defending the doctrines of the gospel, and refuting errors; since both belong to one and the same: if these were distinct, it should seem rather that teachers design gifted brethren, called to minister the word, but not to officepower, and are only assistants to pastors in preaching, but not in the administration of the ordinances ; yet, it is pretty plain, that those who have a commission to teach, have also a commission to baptize, and to attend to whatsoever Christ has commanded ; yea, it may be observed, that even extraordinary officers are called teachers, as apostles and prophets.—These pastors and teachers are the same with bishops, or overseers, whose business it is to feed the flock ; they have the episcopacy or oversight of, which is the work pastors are to do ; which office of a bishop is a good work, and is the only office in the church distinct from that of deacon.—And these bishops are the same with elders. When the apostle Paul had called together at Miletus the elders of the church at Ephesus, he addressed them as overseers, rnio-KOirovs, bishops, Acts xx. 17, 28 ; and when he says he left Titus in Crete, to ordain elders in every city, he proceeds to give the qualifications of an elder, under the name of a bishop ; A bishop must be blameless, &c, plainly suggesting that an elder and a bishop are the same, Tit. i. 5—7 ; and the apostle Peter exhorts the elders to feed the flock of God, taking the oversight, tmo-Koirris, acting the part of a bishop, or performing the office of one, 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. — These pastors, teachers, bishops, and elders, aro called rulers, guides, and governors. A pastor, or shepherd, is the governor and guide of his flock ; a teacher and a ruling elder are the same, 1 Tim. v. 17. One qualifica tion of a bishop is, that he know how to rule his own house ; or how shall he take care of the church of God, to rule that well, which is a

576 OF THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. considerable branch of his office? 1 Tim. iii. 1 —5 ; these, indeed, are not to lord it over God's heritage, or rule according to their own wills, in an arbitrary manner ; but according to the laws of Christ, as King of saints ; and then they are to be respected and obeyed ; Remember them that have the rule over you, and obey them ; for they are over the churches in the Lord, and under him as the great Lawgiver in his house ; and though they are described as such who have the rule over churches, and are guides to them, Heb. xiii. 7, 17, yet they are the churches' servants, for Jesus' sake, 2 Cor. iv. 5. — These are sometimes called the angels of the churches ; so the pastors, elders, bishops, or overseers of the seven churches of Asia, are called the angels of the seven churches; and the pastor, elder, bishop, or overseer of the church at Ephesus, the angel of the church at Ephesus, Rev. i. 20, and ii. 1 ; so called because of their "office, being sent of God, and employed by him in carrying messages of grace to the churches, and publishing {the | good tidings of salvation. — They are said to be ministers of Christ, or his under-rowers, as the word \nn)pera.s signifies, 1 Cor. iv. 1, the church is the ship or boat, which they work; Christ is the pilot, who is at the helm, under whom and by whose direction they row ; and the oars they row with are the word, ordinances, and discipline they administer. And in the same place they are called stewards of the mysteries of God, and sometimes good stewards of the manifold grace of God; that is, of the more sublime truths of the gospel, and the various doctrines of divine grace, 1 Pet. iv. 10 ; so a bishop or elder is called a steward of God, Tit. i. 7, a steward in his house or family, to give to every one in it their portion of meat in due season ; and which office requires wisdom and faithfulness to execute it aright, Luke xii. 42, 1 Cor. iv. 2. Concerning these persons may be observed, I. The qualifications of them for their office ; which, as it is a good office, the necessary qualifications should be found in those who are put into it, and which the apostle directs to, 1 Tim. iii. 1, &c Some of which, i. Respect the internal and spiritual character and accomplishments of a bishop or elder. As, — 1. He must not be a novice; which does not mean a young man ; for such an one was Timothy himself, to whom the apostle writes, who was more than an ordinary officer, even an evangelist; hence he says, Let no man despise thy youth, 1 Tim. iv. 12; but the word veo<j>vros, translated novice, signifies, one newly planted ', that is, in the church of God ; there must be time, after such a plant is planted, to observe whether it hath taken good root, and how it grows and thrives, and whether a plant of Christ's heavenly Father's planting. A bishop or elder should be first of some standing in the church, before he is called to such an office, that his gifts, grace, and conduct may be known, lest being lifted up with pride, elated with the high station he is advanced to, and with the gifts he is supposed to have, he fall into the condemnation of the devil ; fall by pride as 1 Novam plantam.—Grctim. Niiper baptiziimm et ster'm'.iim in immerum Christianorum.—. Viitablns.

OP THE PA8T0BS OF CHURCHES. 577 he did, and under the same sentence, and be degraded from his office. —2. He must have a competency of knowledge and understanding in divine things ; for a pastor is to feed men with knowledge and under standing ; and therefore must have a good share of it himself, that so he may be able to teach others also, 2 Tim. ii. 2 ; this is a principal part of his work, to teach and instruct men in the knowledge of evange lical truths ; in which he should be assiduous ; He that teacheth, on teaching, Rom. xii. 7 ; and for this he must have a ministerial gift ; which is not natural parts, nor human learning, nor grace in common with other Christians ; which, though all needful and useful, yet neither of them separately, nor all together, will qualify a man to be a public teacher of the word. He must have a special and peculiar gift from Christ ; such as he received at his ascension, and gives to men, to ordinary ministers of the word ; and it was according to the measure of such a gift, though a large one, the apostle Paul himself was made a minister of the gospel, and to such a gift he ascribes his being one, Eph. iii. 7, 8, and iv. 7, 8. — 3. He must not only be able to teach, but he must be apt to teach ; which aptitude lies in a good degree of elocution, and a free utterance of speech ; for it is of little avail what is a man's capacity, what tho furniture of his mind, and what stock of knowledge he has, unless he can clothe his ideas with proper words to convey the understanding of them to others ; the royal preacher sought to find out acceptable words ; such as were suitable to express his meaning, and to give delight and pleasure, as well as yield profit to them that heard him ; and especially the taught words of the Holy Ghost are to be made use of. Apollos was an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, well versed in them, and which greatly improved his gift of elocution ; a good textuary makes a good preacher ; a free and ready utterance is necessary ; such an one is like the scribe and householder, Matt. xiii. 52. The apostle Paul himself desired the Ephesians to pray for him, that utterance might be given him, Eph. vi. 19. ii. There are other qualifications of a bishop or pastor, which respect his domestic character. He must be the husband of one wife : this does not oblige a bishop or elder to be a married man ; nor restrain from a second marriage after the decease of his wife ; only that he should have but one wife at a time. Polygamy having been much in use among Jews and Gentiles, the first Christians were not easily brought off of that practice ; however, the apostle thought fit to enjoin that a bishop or pastor should not practise it, that he might not set an example of it, which might serve to countenance and continue it ; there were some peculiar laws respecting the marriage of the high priest among the Jews, and by which it seems he was to have but one wife, Lev. xxi. 13, 14 ; and much the same laws are directed to for priests or ministers of the word, under the gospel dispensation, Ezek. xliv. 22 ; also a bishop or elder must be one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity, or reverence of him ; obedient to his commands, and who behave respectably to him; and especially he should be careful to lay his VOL. II. p p

678 .OF THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. commands, upon them to keep the ways of the Lord, and to restrain them from vioes, and severely reprove them for them ; in which good old Eli was deficient, and therefore blamed and corrected for it ; the apostle gives a good and strong reason why a bishop or elder should have this qualification ; For, says he, if a man know not how to rule his own house, or family, how shall he take care of the house of God? in. There are other qualifications, which respect his personal cha racter, conduct, and behaviour. As,—1 . That he must be blameless 'in his conversation. So the priests under the law were to have no blemish on them, nor any natural defect in them, Lev. xxi. 17—23 ; though they were men encompassed with moral infirmities. And this rule, respecting a bishop or pastor of a church, does not imply that he must be perfect and without sin, only that he should not be guilty of any scandalous sin, and especially should not live in any known sin; otherwise there is no man, not the best of men, without sin ; no, not in the highest office ; the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New, were men of like passions with others. — 2. Such an one must be of good behaviour, and must have a good report of them that are without ; he should have a good report of all men, as Deme trius had ; not only of the church and its members, of those that are within, to whom he is to be an example in word, m conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; but of those without the church, the men of the world ; that the ministry be not blamed and had in contempt, the ways of God, and doctrines of Christ, evil spoken of, and the minister's usefulness to the souls of men hindered. — 3. He must not be given to any vice ; Not given to wine, that is, to excessive drinking of it ; otherwise it is no more criminal to drink that than to drink water ; and Timothy is advised by the apostle to refrain from drinking water, and to make use of wine, for his health's sake, chap. v. 23 ; nor given to quarrels ; ho must be no striker, neither with his fist nor with his tongue ; no calumniator, no brawler, not litigious and contentious ; but patient, and bear all reproaches, indignities, and insults ; not greedy of nor given to filthy lucre, should not enter on his work and take upon him such an "office, with a lucrative view ; nor be covetous, but given to hospitality ; not insatiably desirous of wealth and riches, and making use of any unlawful way to obtain them ; but should, according to his abilities, be liberal in relieving the poor and necessitous ; and in entertaining Christian strangers and travellers, when well recommended, and by all this set a good example to others ; and for which he should be supplied by the church to whom he ministers. — 4. A bishop, elder, or pastor, should be vigilant ; watch over himself and his flock, and take heed to both : to himself ; to his doctrine, that it bo sound, pure, and incorrupt, and according to the word of God ; and to his conversation, that it be as becomes the gospel of Christ ; to his flock, to feed them with wholesome food, to lead and direct them to good pastures, and to preserve them from wolves, from false teachers, that lie in wait to deceive ; he is to watch for the souls of men, for their spiritual good

OP THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. 579 and welfare, as one that must give an account with joy, and not with grief; and he should be sober and modest, wise and prudent, and think soberly of himself, Rom. xii. 3. I proceed to consider, II. How any come into such an office, and are instated into it. i. There must be a call to the ministry of the word, both inward and outward, previous to this office ; no man, under the law, took to himself the honour of the priest's office, but he that was called of God, as was Aaron, Heb. v. 4, 5 ; nor ought any man to take upon him the office of a prophet, or minister of the word, without a call ; there were some in the times of Jeremiah complained of by the Lord, who were not sent nor spoken to by him, and yet prophesied, Jer. xxiii. 21. 1 . An internal call ; which lies in gifts bestowed, and in the furni ture of a man's mind, and in the disposition of it to make use of them in the service of God ; for God never calls a man to any service but he gives him abilities for it ; which, when a man is sensible of, and is satisfied God has bestowed a gfft upon him, he cannot be easy to wrap up his talent in a napkin, but is desirous of making use of it in a public manner ; not by a mere impulse, through vanity of mind, and with ambitious views, and sordid ends ; but from a principle of love to the souls of men, and to the glory of God ; this is the internal call, of which a man's gifts are an evidence -to himself and others. — 2. The outward call is not immediately by Christ, as the twelve disciples were called, and sent forth by him to preach the gospel : and particularly, as the apostle Paul was called to be an apostle ; not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, but mediately by the church ; it being by some means or another made known to the church, that such an one is thought to have a gift for public usefulness, the church calls him to exercise it before them, and submit it to their examination and trial ; and having sufficiently tried it and being satisfied of it, the church calls and sends him forth in the name of Christ, to preach the gospel, where he may be directed in providence to do it; and being thus called and sent forth, he is eligible to the office of a pastor of a church who shall think fit to choose him. n. The procedure of instating him into the office of a pastor, or the ordination of him, is in this manner. 1. Ho must be a member of a church, to whom he is to be ordained as a pastor. So an extraordinary officer, an apostle, was chosen and ordained to be one, in the room of Judas, from among the disciples who had accompanied Christ and his apostles from the baptism of John ; and so inferior officers, deacons, were selected out of the church, and appointed to that office, Acts i. 21 —23 ; so Epaphras, a faithful minister of Christ for the church at Colosse, is said to be one of you, a member of that church, Col. i. 7, and iv. 12 ; one that is not a member of the church, cannot be a pastor of it. — 2. His qualifica tions, such as before observed, must be known by the members of a church, and must be proved and approved of by them ; yea, they must bo satisfied that he has gifts for their edification ; for a man may have gifts for the edification of one church, which are not for the edification of another ; and this should be known, previous to their choice and pp2

580 OF THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. call of him. — 3. After sufficient trial and due consideration of his gifts, to satisfaction, and after seeking the Lord by prayer, for every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer, the church proceeds to the choice and call of him to be their pastor ; for every church has a right and power to choose its own officers, pastors, and deacons.— 4. This choice and call being signified to him, he taking proper time, and seeking the Lord also, accepts thereof, and shows a readiness and willingness to take the oversight of them, 1 Pet. v. 2, for there must be a mutual consent and agreement in this affair. — 5. To the public instating of him into his office, it is necessary there should be a recog nition and repetition both of the church's choice and call of him, and of his acceptance of it, for the confirmation thereof, and for the satis faction of ministers and churches in communion ; who meet to see their order, and to assist, especially the former, by prayer for them, and by giving a word of exhortation to them, if desired. — 6. As every civil society has a right to choose, appoint, and ordain their own officers ; as all cities and towns corporate, their mayors or provosts, aldermen, burgesses, Sic. ; so churches, which are religious societies, have a right to choose and ordain their own officers, and which are ordained, avrois, for them, and for them only ; .that is, for each parti cular church, and not another, Acts xiv. 23. — 7. The election and call of them, with their acceptance, is ordination. The essence of ordination lies in the voluntary choice and call of the people, and in the voluntary acceptance of that call by the person chosen and called; for this affair must be by mutual consent and agreement, which joins them together as pastor and people. And this is done among them selves ; and public ordination, so called, is no other than a declaration of that. Election and ordination are spoken of as the same ; the latter is expressed and explained by the former. It is said of Christ, that he ordained twelve, Mark iii. 14, that is, he chose them to the office of apostleship, as he himself explains it, John vi. 70. Paul and Barnabas are said to ordain elders in every church, Acts xiv. 23, or to choose them" ; that is, they gave orders and directions to every church, as to the choice of elders over them ; for sometimes persons are said to do that which they give orders and directions for doing, as Moses and Solomon, with respect to building the tabernacle and temple, though done by others; and Moses particularly is said to choose the judges, Exod. xviii. 25 ; the choice being made under his direction and guidance. The word that is used in Acts xiv. 23 is translated chosen, 2 Cor. yiii. 19, where the apostle speaks of a brother, \eipoTovri6eis, ivho was chosen of the churches to travel with us ; and is so rendered when ascribed to God, Acts x. 41. — 8. This choice and ordination in primitive times was made two ways*' ; by casting lots and by giving votes, signified by stretching out of hands. Matthias was chosen and ordained to be an apostlo in the room of Judas, by ■ Xupororuv, hie simplicitcr vertauius per cligerc, decernerc, designare, ordinate per elcctionem. —Vitringa dc Svnagog. vet. 1. 3, par. 1, c. 14, p. 821. w Of these two ways of choosing officers with the Jews Thilo «pcaka, De Judice, p. 718. in nitio.

OP THE PA8TOR8 OF CHURCHES. 581 casting lots ; that being an extraordinary office, required an imme diate interposition of the divine Being ; a lot being nothing more nor less than an appeal to God for the decision of an affair. But ordinary officers, as elders and pastors of churches, were chosen and ordained by the votes of the people, expressed by stretching out their hands ; thus it is said of the apostles, Acts xiv. 23, When they had ordained them elders in every church, xa-poTovrio-avTes, by taking the suffrages and votes of the members of the churches, shown by the stretching out of their hands, as the word signifies x ; and which they directed them to, and upon it declared the elders duly elected and ordained. So Clemens Romanus, who . lived at the latter end of the apostolic age, saysy, the apostles appointed proper persons to the office of the ministry, with the consent or choice of the whole church ; and this practice continued to the third century ; in which century Cyprian2 was chosen bishop of Carthage, by the suffrage of the people ; and so he says" was Cornelius, bishop of Rome, in the same age ; as was Fabianus, before himb : the council of Nice, in the beginning of the fourth century, in their synodical epistle", to the churches in Egypt, ordered, that when any were removed by death, their places should be filled up by others, provided they were worthy, and such as the people chose ; the bishop of Alexandria agreeing to and confirming the choice : in the same century Martin was chosen bishop of Tours, by a vast concourse of the people*1 : indeed, the council at Laodicea, can. xiii., in this century, ordered, that from thenceforward the people should not be allowed to choose their own ministers ; which shows it had been practised before : yea, after, in the fifth century, Austin, in his old age, recommended to the people Eradius", to be his successor; which they showed their approbation of by their loud and repeated acclamations '. But,— 9. Though there was x^LP0T0viai a stretching out of the hands ; yet there was no xapoOto-ia, imposition of hands, used at the ordination ; neither of extraordinary officers, as apostles ; nor of ordinary pastors or elders of churches, in the times of Christ and his apostles. 1. Christ ordained the twelve apostles himself; but we read not a word of his laying his hands upon them, when he ordained them ; nor 1 X«ipoTonjiriu'Tes, per suffragia delcgissent, ercassent : so Beza, Erasmus, Valablus, H. Stephanus. Ortum est hoc verbum ex Greecorum consuetudine, qui porrectis manibus suffragia ferebant Bcza in Act. 14, 23. r Ep. 1, ad Corinih. p. 100. * Pontii vita Cyprian. p. 2 ; ct Cyprian. ep. 40, p. 75 ; ct ep. 55, p. 115, 1 16. ■ lb. ep. 52, p. 97 ; ct ep. 67, p. 163. b Euscb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 6, c. 29. c Apud Theodoret. Eccl. Hist. 1. 1, c. 9. d Vide Sulpicii Scveri vit. Martin, p. 224. • Inter opera ejus, tom. 2, ep. 110. ' Electionis formula de episcopis et prcefectis ecclesise per suffragia populi constituendis, ea sem per mihi visa est optima, quam legimus apud Augustinum de ercationc Eradii. — Aonii Palcarii Testimonium, c. 16, p. 367. This learned Italian was a glorious confessor and martyr of Jesus ; who, for the noble witness he boro against popish innovations, and particularly against the popish inquisition, which he said was a sword drawn to cut the throats of learned men *, was taken up at Milan, bound, and sent to Rome, where he was adjudged to the flames, and was burnt alive, after he had made a bold confession of his faith, about the year 1566, some say 1570, under pope PiusV. The above Testimonium referred to was written by him, and designed to be sent to the emperor, the Christian kings and princes, and the presidents of a general council then deliberating, to be held at Trent ; which, when written, was very worthy of their regard, and now to be read by every Protestant. • Vide- Lampc, Synops. Hist. Saer. ct Ecclesiastic, 1. 2, c, 13, e. 29, p. 453.

582 OF THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. on the seventy disciples, when he appointed them, and sent them forth into every city. Matthias was chosen and ordained an apostle in the room of Judas, upon a lot being cast by the church, which fell upon him ; and upon counting the lots he was numbered, o-vyKaTe\j/ri<]>i<rOi), chosen, or by the number of lots declared to be chosen, and so took his place, and was reckoned with the apostles ; but no mention is made of any hands being laid on him ; see Acts i. 22—26. — 2. The apostles are said to ordain elders in every church, not by laying their hands upon them, but by taking the votes of the people, on the stretching out of their hands ; when they declared the elders duly elected and ordained, as before observed. The apostle Paul directed Titus, chap, i. 5, to ordain elders in every city ; that is, in such sort and manner as he and Barnabas had done in the above instance; but gave him no orders and instructions to lay hands upon them ; which he would not have omitted, had it been material, and so essential to ordination as some make it to be : and if he was to ordain elders by the laying on of his hands, then not by the hands of a presbytery, since he was a single person ; and if this was to be done by him as a bishop, which some say he was, though the subscription of the epistle to him not being genuine, which asserts it, is no proof of it, it would justify ordination by a diocesan bishop. — 3. No instance can be given of hands being laid on any ordinary minister, pastor, or elder, at his ordination ; nor, indeed, of hands being laid on any, upon whatsoever account, but by extraordinary persons ; nor by them upon any ministers, but extraordinary ones ; and even then not at and for the ordination of them. The instance in Acts xiii. 1 —3 is no proof of laying on of hands at the ordination of a pastor or elder of a church ; Paul and Barnabas were extraordinary persons, apostolical men, and were never ordained pastors or elders to any particular church ; nor is there the least hint given of any such ordination of them at that time ; nor was this the first time of the separation of them to the sacred office of the ministry : they had been in it, and had exercised it long before, and in as public a manner as afterwards : and what they were now separated to was some peculiar and extraordinary work and service the Holy Ghost had for them to do in foreign parts, whither they travelled ; and the persons who were directed by him to separate them to it, were extraordinary ones also ; and their prayers for them, with the rite- of imposition of hands, seem only to express their good wishes for a prosperous success in their work : and it may be observed, that this rite was used, not at, but after the separation of them to the work and service unto which they were appointed, and after fasting and prayer for them : this was the last act done, just when upon their departure ; for so it is said, And when they had fasted and prayed, nai tmOevrts ray X«pay avrois, then .putting hands upon them, they sent them away, or dismissed them with this token, or sign of their good, wishes for them. The apostle Paul, indeed, speaks of the hands of the presbytery being laid upon Timothy, 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; but "it should be observed, that Timothy was an extraordinary officer in the church, an evangelist, and was not chosen or ordained a pastor of any particular church ; nor

OF THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. 583 did he reside in any one place for any length of time ; the subscription of the second epistle to him being not to be depended upon as genuine, no more than of that to Titus g ; and therefore he can be no instance of imposition of hands at the ordination of any ordinary elder, or pastor of a church ; and who the presbytery were who laid hands on him, be it upon what account it may, they must be extraordinary persons through whose handB an extraordinary gift was conveyed : we are sure the apostle Paul was one, since he expressly speaks of a gift which Timothy had by the putting on of his hands ; and it can scaroely be thought that any other should join with him herein but an apostolical man ; very probably Silas. However, upon the whole, it appears to be an extraordinary affair, transacted by extraordinary persons, on an extra ordinary one, and by it an extraordinary gift was conveyed ; which no man of modesty will assume to himself a power of conveying. And let it be observed, it was not an office, but a gift, which was conveyed this way. — 4. The hands of ministers being now empty, and they having no gifts to convey through the use of this rite, of course it ought to cease, and should ; it not appearing to have been used but by extraordinary persons on any account ; upon which, at least for the most part, if not always, extraordinary things followed. — 5. To say that this rite is now used at the ordination of a pastor to point him out to the assembly, is exceeding trifling : the church needs it not, having before chosen and called him, and he having accepted their call in a more private way: and it is needless to others met together publicly to observe the order of the procedure ; since usually the members of the church are desired to recognise their choice and call of their pastor, and he is desired to renew his acceptance, and frequently he makes a confession of his faith ; and after all this, to use this rite to point him out to the people, is such a piece of weakness for which no excuse can be made. Should it be urged, that imposition of hands was used at the ordina tion of deacons, and then why not at the ordination of elders or pastors of churches, which is a higher office ? it may be answered, that the church, as directed, chose out from among them seven men, so and so qualified, Acts vi. ; in which choice the essence of ordination lay ; whom they presented to the apostles, who, approving their choice, confirmed it, and constituted and settled them in their office, as they proposed, verse 3 ; and the rite of imposition of hands was used after this, and even after prayer for them ; for it is said, When they had prayed, not while they were praying, as the custom is now, they laid their hands on them ; which, done for what end soever, was done by extraordinary persons, the apostles, and it may be for extraordinary service ; and so no rule to ordinary ministers in the ordination of persons to an ordinary office ; aud it may be it was done by way of benediction, wishing them happiness and success in their office, for which this rite was used among the Jews, and for the confirmation of this office, it not being the immediate institution of Christ, but of the apostles, and the use of it seems to be temporary, since we have no * Seo Lord Brook's Discourse of the Nature of Episcopacy, p. 76, 77.

584< OF THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. other instance of it on such an account ; nor any injunction of it ; nor any direction for it ; nor is it made mention of by the apostle, when he treats of the office of deacons, their qualifications, the proving, and instalment of them into their office, and their use of it, 1 Tim. iii. 10; nor does it appear that there was afterwards any ordination of deacons, by imposition of hands, until the fourth century, when church-offices and church-officers were both magnified and multiplied. Besides, if the seven persons spoken of in Acts vi. were extraordinarily and pro tempore appointed to take care of the poor and of the widows in the first church at Jerusalem, and particularly of the Grecian widows in it, to answer their present exigency ; and were different from the ordinary deacons of the churches, afterwards spoken of in Paul's epistles, which is the sense of Vitringa ; who observes, that these men are never called deacons, only described by their number, the seven, as in Acts xxi. 8 ; that their work was not similar to that of ordinary deacons, their ministration being not monthly, nor weekly, but daily, and of an extraordinary kind ; for they succeeded the apostles in the care of the secular affairs of the church ; they had all the estates, and the whole substance of the community, which was made one common stock in their hands, to dispose of to them as they needed ; which was a very extraordinary and uncommon piece of service ; though their destination was more peculiar to the care of the Grecian widows ; and these seven men appear by their names to be all of them Greeks, or Jewish proselytes from the Greeks, as one of them most certainly was ; and had it not been for the murmuring of the Greeks, no such appointment would have been made ; nor does it appear that they continued in their office, but when this was over, it ceased ; and some of them, at least, were afterwards employed in other ministerial services, and elsewhere : now, if this was the case, which is not easy to be disproved, we have no scripture- instance of the imposition of hands at the ordination of ordinary deacons ; nor any instruction and direction for it. I go on to consider, III. The work of such persons, who are instated into the office of pastors of churches. First, The chief and principal of their work is to feed the church of God committed to their care ; they have the name of pastors, apascendo, from feeding; Christ, the chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls, feeds his flock like a shepherd ; and so it is the business of all under-shepherds to feed their respective flocks, 1 Pet. v. 2. i. Whom they are to feed. — 1. Not dogs that worry the flock ; but the flock itself. The children's bread, that which is fit and suitable food for them, is not to be taken and cast to dogs ; that which is holy s not to be given to them ; the holy word of God, its precious truths and promises, do not belong to them ; nor are the holy ordinances to be administered to them; without are dogs, they are without the church, out of the flock, and so do not belong to the care and feeding of the pastors or shepherds. — 2. Nor swine ; such who for the impurity of their hearts and lives, wallowing in the filth of sin, are comparable to these creatures ; and which are creatures that never look upward

OF THE PASTORS Ot CHURCHES. 585 but downwards to the earth, and so fit emblems of those who mind earth and earthly things, and feed on them. The prodigal was sent by the citizen of the country, the legal preacher, to whom he joined himself, into his fields to feed swine ; but pastors of churches are not swineherds, but shepherds. — 3. Nor the world's goats ; the Lord judges and distinguishes between cattle and cattle, the sheep and the goats ; though these are sometimes folded together, he threatens to punish the goats, which will be done at the second coming of Christ, when he will divide the sheep from the goats, and set the one on his right hand and the other on his left ; when the latter shall go into everlasting punishment, and tho former into life eternal. — 4. They are Christ's sheep and lambs, that pastors of churches are to feed, according to the directions give by Christ to Peter ; Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, such whom Christ has an interest and property in, through the Father's gift of them to him, and through his laying down his life for them, John x. 15, 29 ; and which is an argument why pastors should be careful and diligent to feed them, because they are Christ's ; My lambs, my sheep ; both are to be fed ; tho tender lambs, otherwise new-born babes, little children, as well as the grown sheep, otherwise young men and fathers. Christ, the great Shepherd, has set an example of diligence and tenderness. — 5. All the flock, the whole flock, is to be taken heed unto, and taken care of by pastors and shepherds, over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers, or bishops ; and for which reason they should be careful of them ; and another follows, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood ; and therefore of great value, and great care should be taken of it to feed it. ii. What they are to feed the church or flock of God with. 1. Not with chaff and husks, or what is comparable to them, Jer. xxiii. 28 ; chaff is light, has no substance in it, and yields no nourish ment, and is not fit for food ; as bread made of wheat is, and denotes the solid and substantial doctrines of the gospel, with which tho souls of men are to be fed. Husks are food for swine, but not for sheep ; the externals of religion satisfy some minds, but not truly gracious souls, they cannot live upon these. — 2. Pastors of churches are to feed their flocks with such food as is suitable to lambs and sheep ; milk is for tender lambs, for now-born babes, who desire the sincere milk of the word. Milk designs the more plain and easy truths of the gospel, which are suited to tender minds ; strong meat, the more sublime doctrines of it, fitter for those of full age, more grown Christians, who have a better exercise of their spiritual senses, and can discern things that differ, 1 Pet. ii. 2, 1 Cor. iiiJ 2, Heb. v. 14. — 3. Sound doctrine, salutary truths, the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus, are what pastors are to teach and feed souls with ; these are nourishing, when unsound doctrines, the unwholesome words of false teachers, eat as do a canker. — 4. The word of God in general, and especially the gospel part of it, is food for souls, and is esteemed by them more than their necessary food ; being that to their souls, what tho richest and choicest food is to their bodies ; they find it and eat it, and it is the

586 OP THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. joy and rejoicing of their hearts ; it is sweeter to their taste than the honey or the honey-comb. — 5. Pastors are promised and given to the churches, to feed them with knowledge and understanding, Jer. iii. 15; which may denote both the matter they are to feed them with, and the manner in which they are to do it. ii. The matter or things they are to feed souls with, are things worthy to be known, not trifling things, matters of curiosity, and of no importance, which are vain and unprofitable, and serve to gender strife, and tend not to godly edification : not philosophy and vain deceit, or science falsely so called ; nor mere human knowledge, or knowledge of natural things; but divine knowledge, knowledge of divine things ; which, though a minister cannot give, he may teach and instruct ; for it is the Lord that gives understanding in all things ; it is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation who leads men into the knowledge of Christ ; and it is the Son of God himself who gives men an understanding to know him that is true ; yet ministers are instru ments of bringing men into an acquaintance with divine things, and of their improvement in the knowledge of them ; the light of divme truths shines in their hearts, that they may be able to communicate, in a ministerial way, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, of the glory of his divine perfections, displayed in the face or person, and in the work and office of Jesus Christ. Their work is to preach Christ, and him crucified ; and they determine to know, that is, to make known, none but him, as the Saviour of lost sinners ; and they are the servants of the most high God, which show unto men the way of salvation by Christ ; and direct souls to him, who inquire, What shall we do to be saved? yea, they may be said to give knowledge of salvation, as John the Baptist is said to do, being instruments of conveying the knowledge of it to men ; so likewise they feed men with the knowledge and understanding of gospel truths ; as they have knowledge of the mysteries of Christ themselves, they impart it to others ; as they have freely received, they freely give, and keep back nothing that may be profitable, but declare the whole counsel of God ; and such knowledge is food to the mind as bread is to the body. — 2. This phrase, with knowledge and understanding, may signify the manner m which pastors are to feed the souls of men, wisely and prudently ; which they do when, as wise and faithful stewards, they give to every one their portion of meat in due season, and feed them m proportion to their age and capacity ; give milk to babes, and meat to strong men. in. By what means they are to feed and do feed the churches of Christ, over which they are set. i. By the ministry of the word, or by the preaching of the gospel ; which is the means appointed of God for the gathering in his elect ones, for the perfecting the number of them in conversion, and for the edification of the body, the church, and all its members ; for their growth in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, and of all divine things : an unpreaching pastor, bishop, or elder, is a contradiction in terms ; and such are like those described by the prophet as blind and

OF THE PASTORS OP CHURCHES. 587 ignorant watchmen, dumb dogs that cannot bark, shepherds that cannot understand ; who every one look for their gain from their quarter, though they do not the duty of their office. But,—1. Such feed the flock, who do their work aright ; give themselves up to the ministry of the word, neglect all other services, at least as much as may be, that they may not be entangled with them, and be diverted by them, from their grand employment : to which they have devoted themselves, for the glory of God and the good of souls. Such give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine ; and meditate on these things, and give themselves wholly to them, that their profiting may appear to all, and their usefulness to many. — 2. They addict themselves to the study of the sacred Scriptures more particularly ; and endeavour to bring forth from thence things new and old, which may be for the use of edifying ; they study to show themselves approved of God, skilful workmen, who need not be ashamed of their ministra tions, rightly dividing the word, which will not fail of feeding, more or less, the souls of men ; as they have the word of God, the knowledge and experience of it, they are faithful to dispense it as stewards of the mysteries of God ; of whoni it is required, that they be both faithful and wise. — 3. They arc assiduous and constant in this work ; they, as the apostles of Christ, give themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word ; do not preach a sermon only now and then, but preach the word constantly, and are instant in season and out of season ; and take every opportunity of feeding and of doing good to the souls of men ; they are constant and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord ; knowing that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. — 4. They not only give themselves up to this work, and are studious and constant in it, but labour therein ; they are not loiterers, but labourers in the Lord's vineyard ; and are labourers together with him, and are approved by him ; and their labours are blessed and suc ceeded among men, and they receive honour from them, of which they are worthy, 1 Tim. v. 17. — 5. They are careful to preach the pure and whole gospel of Christ ; they study a consistence in their ministry, that it be not yea and nay, and contradict itself; they arc not of them who corrupt the word with human doctrines and the inventions of men ; but speak it with all sincerity, renouncing all arts of dishonesty, commending themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God ; keeping back no part of divine truths, but declaring the whole of what is revealed in the word of God, so far as they have knowledge of it ; and such are more or less blessed for the feeding the flock and church of God. 2. Pastors of churches feed souls by the administration of ordinances ; these are the goodness and fatness of the house of God, with which the saints are richly fed, and abundantly filled and satisfied ; these are the provisions of Zion, which the Lord blesses ; these are breasts of con solation, out of which gracious souls suck, and are delighted and refreshed ; these are green pastures into which the shepherds of Israel lead their flocks and feed them. 3. This act of feeding includes the whole work, and every part of

58S OP THE PASTORS OP CHUIICHES. the work of a shepherd or pastor to his flock, doing all good offices to them, and all the service they can for them ; such as seeking the lost sheep, bringing again that which was driven away, binding up that which was broken, and strengthening the sick, Ezek. xxxiv. 1 6 ; pre serving them from the lion and the bear, and from grievous wolves, false teachers, who will not spare the flock ; watching over them even in the night-seasons, when needful ; watching for their souls, the good and welfare of them, as those who must give an account of them ; being diligent to know the state of the flock, and ready to administer all relief to them in their power, by comforting the feeble-minded and supporting the weak. 4. A concern for the spiritual good of the flock the pastor has the care of, appears by his -constant, fervent, and earnest prayers for it ; for this is one part of the work they give themselves up unto, along with the ministry of the word, namely, prayer ; particularly for those to whom they minister, that the word preached by them might be blessed unto them, and be food for their souls ; thus we find the apostle Paul, in all his epistles, makes mention of his prayers for all the churches, and the members of them, he having the care of all the churches on him. 5. Pastors may feed the souls of men under their care, not only by their public ministrations, but by their private visits, counsels, instruc tions, and conversation ; so the apostle Paul taught from house to house, as well as publicly, Acts xx. 20. 6. To all which, love to Christ and to his people is requisite ; such only who have a true affection for both, will naturally care for the good of immortal souls, will be willing to spend and be spent for them, and to bear the reproach and go through the fatigue and trouble which attend such service ; hence said Christ to Peter, once, twice, and thrice, Lovest thou me ? and at each answer given to the question, enjoined him to feed his lambs and his sheep ; suggesting, that only such who loved him were proper persons to take care of them. Second, Another part of the work of pastors, is to rule the church they take the oversight of; the same word in the Greek language which signifies to feed, signifies to rule also ; see Matt. ii. 6 ; and kings are sometimes called shepherds ; as Cyrus and others ; so Agamemnon in Homerh, is called iroiixev Xaaiv, the shepherd of the people. The church of Christ is a kingdom ; it is frequently called so in the New Testament ; Christ is King of it, set as King of Zion by his divine Father, and is owned as King of Saints by his church and people ; and ministers of the word, and pastors of churches, are over them in the Lord ; they are under Christ, and subject to him, but are over the churches by his appointment ; hence they are represented as guides, governors, and rulers, as before observed; and obedience to them is required; Obey them that have the rule over you, Heb. xiii. 17. And their pre-eminence in the church appears,—1. In giving the lead in divine worship; they go before the congregation in acts of divine service, in public prayer and thanksgiving, and in the ministry of the word, Rev. iv. 9, 10, and v. 14; b Iliad. 2, ver. 243, 254.

OP THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. 589 and this they do in an authoritative way ; they are the mouth of the people to God, and present their prayers and thanksgivings as repre senting them ; and they are the mouth of God to the people, and speak in his name, and are ambassadors in Christ's stead. — 2. In presiding at church-meetings ; where they have the conducting of all affairs with order and decency, directing in all acts of discipline, according to the word of God ; putting up the votes of the church, giving admonitions, and passing censures, as they may be necessary, by the agreement and con sent of the church. — 3. In receiving and rejecting members ; the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the gospel church, as usually understood, are committed to them, to open and shut the doors of the church according to its direction ; for though the power of admission and rejection of members is originally in the church, it is executively in the pastors, in the name of the church. — 4. In taking care of the whole discipline of the church of God, that it is observed, and that the rules respecting it are put into execution ; which they are to explain, enforce, and see they are attended to ; they are to show to the house, the church of God, the form of the house, and the fashion of it ; the nature of it, as to matter, form, power, and order ; and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof; the rules respecting the reception of members, and the excom munication of them ; and all the ordinances, and all the laws thereof, even every thing Christ has commanded and appointed to be observed, Ezek. xliii. 10, 11. Now the rule and government of pastors of churches is not to be exercised in an arbitrary way ; they are not to rule with force and cruelty, as the shepherds of Israel are complained of; they are not to lord it over God's heritage ; they have not dominion over their faith, nor the command of their practice at their wills ; they cannot oblige them to receive a doctrine, nor to follow a practice, that is of their own or of human invention : but they are to govern according to the word of God, and tho laws and rules which Christ, as King and Head of the church, has given : and when they rule according to these, they may be said to rule well, and should be respected and obeyed, and counted worthy of henour. And this ruling, as well as feeding, should be with knowledge and understanding, in a wise, prudent, and discreet manner ; as David, who fed the people of Israel according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with the skilfulness of his hands. I proceed to answer, IV. Some queries relative to the office of pastors. i. Whether a pastor of one church can officiate as such in another church ; or whether he can administer the Lord's supper, which is a pastoral act, in and to a church of which he is no pastor. I answer, he cannot ; that is, it is not lawful for him to do it. As well may it be asked, whether the lord mayor of London, whose power as such may be thought to be as extensive as any other mayor whatever, can exercise his power, in any branch of his office, in the jurisdiction of the mayor of York or of Bristol, or any other ; no officer in a corporation, can exer cise his office in another corporation ; this holds good of every officer in it, from the highest to the lowest. A church of Christ is a body corpo rate, in a spiritual sense ; and its officers can only act as such within it, and within no other.

590 OP THE PASTORS OP CHURCIIES. 1. A man never can act as a pastor, where he is not so much as a member ; a man must bo a member of a church before he can be a pastor of it, as we have seen. Epaphras, the minister and pastor of the church at Colosse, the apostle Paul writing to them says, who is one ofyou, that is, one of their society, a member of theirs, Col. iv. 12. But where a man is not a momber of such a society, he is not one of them ; he cannot act as pastor among them, nay he cannot put forth any act or operation, or join in any act as a private member may, and much less act as a pastor; for membership is the foundation, not only of every office, but of every act and operation in a church. All members, the apostle says, have not the same office, Rom. xii. 4 ; but let the office bo what it may, they must be members that have it, and they only ; they have not all the same function or ministry ; as they were not all apostles who were in the primitive churches, so not all pastors, and all deacons who were in thom, and in succeeding churches; yet all who are pastors or deacons, must or should be members ; and members have not all the same act or action, and operation, as the word may be rendered', in an office way ; though there are some acts indeed which are common to all members, yet they are such which only belong to members, and which pastors of other churches cannot act and exercise, as private members may and do : for instance, they have no vote or suffrage in other churches for the admission of a member, or for the exclusion of any ; or in the choice and call of any officer, pastor or deacon : and if they cannot aot, or cannot exercise an act, a private member can ; then surely they can never act as a pastor, where they have not the power and privilege of a private member. — 2. As one that is not a member of a church cannot be an officer in it, as a pastor of another church cannot be ; then he has no office relation to it, nor has he any office power in it, and therefore cannot exercise in it any act of office power; and, in consequence, cannot administer the Lord's supper in it, which is an act of office power. — 3. As well may he exercise, other branches of his pastoral office as this ; as well may he be a ruling elder in other churches, and preside at their church meetings, and exercise every part of discipline, and the power of the keys, as by some called, and let in and shut out, receive and exclude members, give admonitions, lay on censures, and take them off, as a pastor, in the name of the church ; and if he can act as a pastor in two churches, he may in ten, and twenty, and more, and so become a diocesan bishop; yea, an univorsal bishop or pastor, as the pope at Rome pretends to be ; and popery stopped not until it came to that, to establish an universal pastor ; and to which such an antichristian practice leads and paves the way : and it is an affectation in some to be thought of more moment and importance than they are ; and to grasp at power and authority, and to appear in a character and figure which do not belong to them, if not something else ; which tempts them to give into such an unwar rantable practice. For,—4. Should it be asked, as it may be reasonably asked, by what authority they do this thing? who or what gives them this authority ? what answer can be returned i will they say they have their authority from Christ ? this must be had, either immediately from him, 1 Ttjc outtiv irpa{i», cunJeru actum, vcl cumlcm actionem.— Vatablus.

OF THE rABTORS OF CHURCHE8. 591 M the apostles had for what they did ; and then they must be called upon to work miracles in confirmation of it, as they did : or from tho word of God and Christ ; and then it lies upon them to give proof of it from thence. Neither can a pastor derive his authority from his own church, of which he is properly pastor ; nor from the other, to whom, at their request, he administers the ordinance : neither the consent of the one, nor the desire of the other, can give him sufficient authority so to act : as for his own church, they invested him with office power over themselves, and, not over others ; further they could not and cannot go : and as for the other church, that has no power to call in the elder or pastor of another church so to act ; and if they have no power to call him, he can have no authority to act, as not from his own church, so neither from that : nor will the communion of churches warrant it ; for communion of churches does not enlarge the office power of a pastor, limited by the word of God to his own congregation only ; this no more subjects the officers of one church to another, than it subjects the particular members of one church to another ; in either of which oases there would bo nothing but confusion and disorder ; one church, by virtue of the communion of churches, might as well censure and cast out the members of another church ; as the pastor of one church, by virtue of such communion, act as an officer in another church. Neither his grace nor his gifts can authorize him so to act ; for then one that is no officer, only a private brother, might do it ; nor will his being an ordained minister m one church give him authority so to act in another church ; for elders are only ordained to particular churches, and not to others ; the elders ordained by the apostles in every church where such ordinations were, were avrots, for them, and not others, Acts xiv. 23. Epaphras was a faithful ministerfor you, for the church at Colosse; not for another church, Col. i. 7 ; tho elders of Ephesus were ordered to feed all the flock over which the Holy Ghost made them overseers ; but not all the flocks over which they were not overseers : so other elders are directed to feed the flock that was amongst them, not flocks, Acts xx. 28, 1 Pet. v. 2 ; the angel of the church at Ephesus, was not angel of the church at Smyrna, and so vice versa : ordination fixes a man to a particular church or congregation ; and does not make him an uni versal pastor, which he must be, if there was no boundary to his office. And therefore,—5. Such who take upon them to act in such a manner, may be truly called busy-bodies in other mens matters, 1 Pet. iv. 15; tho word there translated, a busy-body, is aXXoTpiotTn<TKOTTOik, a bishop in another parish or diocese, which were originally the same, or a pastor in a church which is not his own ; and truly describes such a person we are speaking of, who meddles with a business he has nothing to do with. — 6. As well may a deacon of one church officiate as such in another, as a pastor of one church officiate in another ; for they are both alike chosen by, and ordained to particular churches, and not to others. — 7. No instance can be given of such a practice in the word of God : there may be instances of members of one church communicating with another church occasionally ; so Phoebe, a member of tho church k Qui fines alieni officii invadit. — Gerliardus npud Stockimii in voce.

592 OF THE PASTORS OF CHURCHES. at Cenchrea, was to be admitted to communicate with the church at Rome ; but then partaking of an ordinance is a privilege arising from the communion of churches ; and is only a kind of spiritual hospitality, giving a meal to a traveller ; and that by a pastor discharging his office in his own proper place, in his own church : but the administration of an ordinance is an act of office power, which one church cannot give to another, nor a pastor exercise it in another church, Rom. xvi. 1, 2. — 8. The instance of the apostle Paul's breaking bread to the disciples at Troas, supposing it to be understood of the ordinance of the supper, as a proof and example of such a practice ; since he was an apostle, and had the care of all the churches upon him, and could administer all ordinances unto them ; but to urge and follow his example, is to usurp what is peculiar to apostles, and to confound ordinary and extraor dinary ministers together as one ; whereas, Are all apostles 2 They are not. Upon the whole, it may justly create a scruple in the minds of such who receive the ordinance in a church where the administrator is not a pastor : either such an one is not clear in it, or he is, that it is his duty to receive it from such hands : if he is not clear in it, but doubts, he is self-condemned ; and be it, he is clear in it, he is culpable, smce hereby ho approves and abets the pastor's unlawful power to administer it, and encourages him in it, and draws upon himself the guilt of his unlawful administration, and of a compliance with an authority assumed by him, but not legally given. Second, Another question may be put upon the former, Whether a brother or private member of a church, may bo deputed by the church to administer the ordinance of the Lord's supper 1 This may seem to carry in it a better face than the former ; since, though he is a nonofficer, he is upon a par with a pastor of another church, who is .no more an officer in such a church the brother belongs to than he is ; and besides, he is a member of the church, which the pastor of another church is not. But the ordinance of the supper cannot be administered authoritatively but by an officer, since it is an act of office-power, and must be administered in the name of Christ, by one as a substitute of him ; and if the church may delegate and substitute others for the dis charge of all ordinances whatsoever, without elders or pastors, then it may perfect the saints, and complete the work of the ministry, with out them; which is contrary to Eph. iv. 11, 12; and, as Dr. Owen1 further observes, it would render the ministry only convenient, and not absolutely necessary to the church, which is contrary to the institution of it ; and such a practice would tend to make a church content with out a pastor, and careless and negligent of seeking after one when without one. Third, Another question is, Whether a pastor may remove from one congregation to another ? The answer is, if it is for worldly advantage, and he has a sufficient provision where he is, He ought not. There are some cases in which it may be lawful for him to remove ; as when it appears to be for the good of the interest of religion, and of the church of Christ in general ; but this should not 1 True Nature of a Gospel Church, ch. 5, p. 94,

DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. 5i»3 be without the consent of the church of which he is pastor ; nor with out the advice of other churches and ministers ; and when a church, of which he is pastor, indulges immoralities, or has imbibed erroneous doctrines, from which they cannot be reclaimed ; and if there are such divisions in the church as are not to be cured ; and especially if the pastor has such a concern in them, that there is no probability of their being healed but by his removal ; also when a competent provision is not made for him and his family, but they are not only exposed to want, but the gospel also to the reproach and contempt of the world. Fourth, It may be asked, Whether on account of bodily weakness, or a decay of intellectual abilities, a pastor may resign his office, or be desired to desist from his work ? the answer is, He may voluntarily lay down his office, with the consent of the church ; or he may be desired to drop it, provided, if his case requires it, a provision is made for his temporal subsistence. Fifth, If it is a question, Whether a pastor of a church may bo deposed from his office, and be cast out of the church for immorality or heresy, it may be answered in the affirmative; for he may be admonished and reproved for negligence in the discharge of his office, and be stirred up to it, Col. iv. 17 ; a charge of sin may be brought against him, under proper witnesses, according to the rule, 1 Tim. v. 19 ; an elder or pastor is a brother, and to bo dealt with as such, according to Matt. xviii. 15. Indeed, if the sole power of excom munication lies in the pastor, he cannot be dealt with in such a man ner ; but that is not the case ; it lies in the church, as will be seen hereafter ; to which power a pastor of a church is equally subject as a private member. OF THE DUTIES OF CHURCHES TO THEIR PASTORS. As pastors of churches have a work to do, which is both honourable and useful ; so there are duties incumbent on those who are under their care, with respect to them, for their work's sake. Though they are nothing, with respect to God, to whom they owe all they have, 1 Cor. iii. 7 ; and with respect to the churches, they are theirs, for their use and service ; yet they are not to be reckoned as nothing by them, and to be treated with contempt ; Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ ; made such and put into the ministry by him, being furnished from him with gifts and graces for it, and as such, to be highly accounted of; and though they are not lords and masters in the family of God, yet they are stewards in it, the highest officers in the house of God ; and therefore are to be accounted of as stewards of the mysteries of God, having the secret and hidden things of God intrusted with them; the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the sublime as well as plainer doctrines of the gospel, which they are to minister : and since it is given them of God to know them and make them known to others, they are worthy of respect on that account, 1 Cor. iv. 1. The several duties which members of churches are under VOL. II. Q Q

594 DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. obligation to perform to their respective ministers, pastors, and elders, will be considered farther, as they lie in various passages of Scripture. I. In 1 Thess. v. 12, 13, We beseech you, brethren, to know them, &c. i. It is the duty of church-members to know their pastors ; which is not to be understood of a bare knowledge of their persons ; for it can not be supposed, that there can be such a relation between pastors and members, and yet the members not know their pastors ; the sheep know their shepherd and his voice. — 1 . To know them is to be acquainted with them ; to make themselves and their cases known unto them ; for sometimes to know signifies to make known ; as in 1 Cor. ii. 2. Members of churches should freely converse with their pastors, and make known the state and condition of their souls ; and especially when they have any matter of difficulty and cases of con science to be resolved, or are in ' any soul-trouble and distress ; they should open their minds to them, and declare their case, that they may speak a word in season to them ; for though their cases may sometimes be hit upon and reached in the general ministry of the word, yet this is owing to an extraordinary direction of providence, - and cannot in common be expected by all ; at least it cannot be assured of unless persons unbosom themselves to their ministers, and tell them their case. — 2. To know them is to acknowledge them as their ministers and pastors. Not to know, is not to own and acknowledge ; as in Luke xiii. 27. It is for members so to know their pastors, as to own them as such ; as theirs in a peculiar sense, in which other ministew are not ; as in a special relation to them, and under their particular care ; and this acknowledgment of them should be testified by their submission to them in their ministerial services and pastoral acts ; of ' which more hereafter. — 3. To know them, is to take notice of them, to show respect to them, to hold such in reputation, as the apostle advises, Phil. ii. 29 ; to give them the honour that is due to them ; not to know Christ, his ministers, and his people, is to despise them, and to treat them in a disrespectful manner, 1 John iii. 1, Luke x. 16. — 4. To know them, is to love them ; for words of knowledge oftentimes connotate love and affection, 2 Tim. ii. 19 ; and so the apostle explains this of members knowing their pastors, by esteeming them very highly in love, verse 1 3 ; such as the Galatians expressed to the apostle Paul, though they afterwards became cool and indifferent to him ; yea, the reverse of their former love. — 5. To know them, is to show a concern for their comfort and welfare, their safety and protection, Psalm cxlii. 4 ; people should be concerned for the safety of their minister in the discharge of his office ; to protect him from the insolent attempts of wicked men, that he may be with them without fear, while he ministers to them ; as the apostle exhorted the Corinthians, with respect to Timothy, 1 Cor. xvi. 10 ; and they should be careful to preserve his credit and reputation, and defend his character from the false aspersions of .men, and not suffer, even among themselves, any thing to be whispered to his discredit, and to the hurt of his usefulness ; nor any accusation to be brought in public against him, without suffi cient evidence, 1 Tim. v. 19.

DUTIES OP MEMDF.HS TO PASTORS. 595 Now the arguments and reasons made use of to enforce this dutyare,—1 . Because such persons laboured among them ; they were not non-residents, but were upon the spot where the people were they had the care of; as the flock was among them they were to feed, so they were among the flock, resided in the midst of them, or near them ; for where should pastors be, but with their flocks, to feed them they have the oversight of ? 1 Pet. v. 2 ; and faithful ministers are not only among their people, and continue with them, but they labour among them ; they are not loiterers, slothful servants, who hide their talents in a napkin, and may be called idle shepherds, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber, who serve not the Lord Jesus, nor the souls of men, but their own bellies : but faithful ministers are labourers, labour in the word and doctrine, and so are worthy of double honour. —2. Because they are over the churches to whom they minister ; they are set in' the first and most eminent place in the church, and have the rule over the members of it ; and this superiority over them is in the Lord, in things pertaining to his interest and glory ; not in civil, but spiritual things ; and though they are over the churches, yet under Christ the Lord, as Head of the church and King of saints ; and they are governors in and by his appointment, and therefore are to be regarded. — 3. They admonish the saints, with whom they are con cerned, or put them in mind, as the word signifies m ; of their former experiences, which are delightful and refreshing to them ; and of the doctrines of the gospel they have been instructed in, and have received, and are food to their souls ; and of the duties of religion, which are incumbent upon them, the observance of which makes for their peace and good, and for the glory of God : and they admonish, warn, rebuke, and reprove ; they warn of approaching danger from their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world ; and rebuke and reprove for errors and immoralities they may fall into, for the recovery of them. On all which accounts they are deserving of respect. n. It is the duty of church-members not only to know their pastors, but to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, or super abundantly n, as the word signifies ; over and above common esteem and affection, and above common Christians, in honour preferring them to others ; they are to think highly of them, and entertain a high opinion of them, of their grace, gifts, and abilities for their work ; for if they think meanly, and entertain a contemptible opinion of them, their ministry is not likely to be of much use unto them : and they should speak very highly and very honourably of them ; for if members of churches do not speak well of their own pastors, it can hardly be thought they should have much respect and esteem from others ; and they should speak respectfully to them, with a becoming decency, con sidering the character they bear, and the high office they are in, in the church : and this esteem must be cordial and affectionate, it must be in love ; not through fear, nor in dissimulation and hypocrisy, but in sincerity and truth ; and that, for their work's sake, which is laborious, attended .with weariness of body ; and sometimes, through it, aro nigh m NoudeTOWTor. * "Cirtp «k ire maaov. qq2

596 DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. unto death, as Epaphroditus was, Phil. ii. 30 ; and which also exposes to the reproach and contempt of the world. To which may be added, that it is, notwithstanding, a good work and honourable, and very beneficial to the souls of men ; and therefore those employed in it should be esteemed for the sake of it ; for the work that they have done, in which they have been useful to men for conversion, or for comfort and edification ; and for as much as they have continued in it, and may be more useful in their day and generation, both for good of souls and the glory of God. II. Other branches of the duties of members to their pastors are expressed in Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 18. i. In verso 7; Remember them, &c — 1. They should remember them, be mindful of them at the throne of grace, as is after exhorted to ; should remember the doctrines preached by them, and treasure them up in their minds; which may be of after-use to them; these they should carefully retain in their memories, and not let them slip from them ; they should remember to give them the honour and respect that is due unto them, and to make a suitable provision for the outward supplv of life. The reasons enforcing this exhortation are, because they have the rule over them ; being appointed by Christ, the Head and King of the church, to govern them under him ; not in a lordly manner, according to their own wills ; but according to the laws and rules which Christ has given ; and when they rule according to these, they rule well, and are worthy of double honour : the words may be rendered, who are your guides or leaders". Now such are the minis ters of the gospel ; they are tho happy instruments of guiding men into the understanding of the Scriptures ; and of leading, under a divine direction and blessing, into the truths of the gospel ; and of pointing out to them the way of life, peace, and salvation by Christ ; and of directing them into the paths of faith and holiness, and are examples to them, and therefore deserve to be remembered by them. And, moreover, they arc said to have spoken to them the word of God, the Scriptures, given by inspiration of God, which contain his mind and will, and the doctrines which declare his grace and favour to the sons of men : these they explain truly and faithfully, according to the best light and knowledge they have ; and deliver out the doctrines of them with great freedom, boldness, and fidelity: and their memory, on these accounts, is and should be blessed to truly gracious souls. — 2. Their faith is to be followed, or imitated; either their faithfulness in the several parts of their ministrations ; or the grace of faith, their strong exercise of it, and the fruits and effects of it ; or their profession of faitli they hold fast without wavering ; or the doctrine of faith they preach, by embracing it, abiding by it, standing fast in it, and persevering therein to the end ; tho motive to it is, considering the end of their conversation ; either the drift and scope of it, which, as in connexion with the following verse, is Christ, his honour and glory, who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever ; or the whole of their conduct in the discharge of tho 0 Tuv riyovfieyuv v^wi'.

DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. 597 various duties of their office, and the manner of it ; or else the issue of it in death ; or the good end which, through the grace of God they make ; and which is to be considered for imitation and encouragement. ii. What is further observed in verse 17, Obey them that have the rule over you, &c This respects duties to be performed to the same per sons who are described as before, as their leaders, guides, and gover nors ; to whom obedience is to be yielded ; Obey them : which obedience, in members of churches, to their pastors, lies,—1. In a due regard to the ministry of the word by them ; which regard to it is seen in a diligent and constant attendance on it ; for if their pastors are to be diligent and constant in their work, they are to be as diligent and constant in attending upon them in it ; if ministers are to preach the word in season and out of season, or as often as they have opportunity for it, then members should as frequently assemble to hear it : they show their obedience to the word, and to ministers in dispensing it, by their receiving it in faith and love ; which they do when they receive it, not as the word of man, but as of God and Christ ; when they mix it with faith as they hear it, and receive the love of it. Indeed, none are obliged to receive and obey their word or doctrine, but as it appears to be agreeable to the sacred Scriptures, which are to be searched diligently, as our Lord directs, and as the noble Bereans did, to see whether these things be so or no ; every spirit is not to be believed, but to be tried, whether of God or no ; and, indeed, every thing delivered by pastors of churches is not binding on churches ; nor are they obliged to receive it, but as it accords with the word of God. — 2. Obedience of members to their pastors lies in attendance on the ordinances of the gospel, as administered by them, and in joining with them constantly in tho administration of them ; not the ordinances of men ; for they are not to be subject to ordinances of men's invention, or which are after the commandments and doc trines of men ; for then they would be the servants of men, and not of Christ ; but they are the ordinances of Christ, as they are faith fully administeredjby his servants, saints are to be subject to : the min isters of Christ are to teach all things Christ has commanded, and to urge the observance of them : and in this they are to be obeyed by those who are under their care, who, from a principle of love to Christ, should keep his commands, and constantly observe and attend his ordinances ; but no farther are they obliged to follow their ministers, than as they are followers of Christ. — 3. Obedience of members of churches to their guides and governers, lies in regarding their admo nitions, reproofs, and rebukes, whether in case of error or immorality, and whether in private or in public ; and as their business is to admonish when needful, their admonitions should be well taken ; as they are to speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority, their autho rity should not be despised, but be submitted to : likewise their coun sels and advice should be observed, and taken, and acted up to ; espe cially if it appears to be founded on the word of God, and is consonant to it. — 4. Another branch of the duty of church-members to their pastors, is to submit themselves to them; that is, to the laws of

598 DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. Christ's house, as directed to and put into execution by them ; and to their admonitions, reproofs, and censures, which are according to them ; even though they may not only be public and before all, but sharp and severe, as the case may require. The reason given for such obedience and submission to them, is because they watch for their souls ; not for the preservation of their bodies, and outward affairs ; though if such who watch over these, to preserve them from hurt and damage in the night-season, are to be regarded and valued, and obedience to be yielded to their alarms and directions, then much more those who watch for the good and welfare of immortal souls, which are of more worth than a world ; their ministrations, in what soever way, are for comfort or edification, and are the instrumental means of saving souls : and what engages them to such watchfulness to preserve from error and heresy, from vice and immorality, is, that they must give account : to their own consciences, that they have discharged their work aright ; to the church of God, to whom they are accountable if negligent ; and especially to Christ, the Judge of all, to whom they must give an account of their ministry, and of the use of their talents, and of the souls put under their care, how they have discharged their duty towards them ; and how such souls have behaved towards them under the ministry of the word and ordinances : and this they are desirous of doing with joy, and not with grief; either at the throne of grace, where they either rejoice or complain ; or at the great day, when they will be witnesses either for or against those who have been committed to them ; which latter would be unprofitable to them, and to the disadvantage of such who occasion grief and sorrow. in. Another branch of duty in church-members to their pastors, is suggested in verso 18, Pray for us, for us ministers ; this is often inculcated in the sacred writings, as being «of great moment and importance ; and members of churches should be solicitous at the throne of grace for their ministers. — 1. With respect to their private studies and preparation for their work ; that they may be led to suitable subjects, and be furnished with suitable matter ; that their understandings may be opened to understand the word; that they may be led into the depths and mysteries of the gospel ; that their gifts may be increased ; and that they may be diligent, industrious, and laborious in their work. — 2. With respect to their public minis trations ; that they may come forth richly fraught with gospel truths ; that they may have freedom and utterance in the delivery of them ; that they may speak them boldly, faithfully, and fully, as they ought to be spoken ; and that their labours may be blessed to saints and sinners ; and unless members of churches are observant of this their duty, they cannot expect the word will be blessed to them. — 3. With respect to the world, and their conduct in it ; that they may be kept from the evil of the world, that the ministry be not blamed ; and from the temptations of Satan, who has a peculiar spite against them ; and that they may be delivered from evil and unreasonable men, who, as much as can be, endeavour to discourage them, and hinder them in

DUTIES OF MEMBERS TO PASTORS. 599 their work ; and they should pray for them, that they may neither bo intimidated hy the frowns of the world, nor allured by the flatteries of it, and they should pray for their temporal good, for their bodily health, and for the sparing of their lives for farther usefulness, and for every thing needful for them. This part of duty is enforced with the follow ing reason ; For we trust we have a good conscience, exercised in an upright discharge of the ministerial work ; in all things willing to live honestly ; not only as men, but as ministers, faithfully dispensing tho word of truth ; tho temptations to the contrary being many, prayer is desired by them. III. The duty of church-members to their pastors is held forth in various passages respecting their maintenance, or a provision for the subsistence of themselves and families ; which is part of that doublo honour a ruling elder and a laborious minister is worthy of, since the labourer is worth;/ ofhis reward, 1 Tim. v. 17, 18 ; and he that is taught in the word, and instructed by it to his comfort and edification, should communicate to him Ihut teacheth in all good things, temporal good things he stands in need of, Gal. vi. 6. This duty the apostle urges and presses with a variety of arguments in 1 Cor. ix. 7—1 4 ; he argues from the law of nature and nations, exemplified in the cases of soldiers, planters of vineyards, and keepers of flocks, who, by virtue of their calling and service, have a right to a livelihood ; between whom, and ministers of the gospel, there is a resemblance : also he argues from the law of Moses, particularly the law respecting the ox, not to bo muzzled when it treads out the corn ; which he interprets of ministers of the word, and applies it to them ; he argues the right of tho main tenance of the ministers of the gospel from the justice and equity of the thing ; that since they minister spiritual things, it is but reason able they should receive temporal ones : he makes this clear from the case of the priests and Levites under the legal dispensation, who, ministering in holy things, had a provision made for them : and lastly, from the constitution and appointment of Christ himself, whose ordi nance it is, that they that preach the gospel, should live by the gospel. IV. It is the duty of members of churches to adhere to their pastors, and abide by them in every condition and state, and in all cases and circumstances they come into ; to support them under all their difficulties ; to encourage them under all their discouragements ; to sympathize with them in all their trials and troubles ; to assist them all they can in their arduous work, against gainsayers, false teachers, and such as may rise up among themselves, speaking perverse things, and doing evil ones ; the apostle Paul complains, that all men forsook him in his troubles, and commends particularly Onesiphorus for his attachment to him and concern for him. Now as there are duties belonging to the office of pastors, to be performed by them, and duties incumbent on members of churches towards them ; on the performance of these mutual duties, the order, peace, good, and welfare of communities depend ; and therefore should be strictly attended to, and religiously observed.

600 OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. The other officers in a gospel-church are deacons ; and the things to be treated of respecting this office are the nature and original of it ; the work to be performed by those who are appointed to it ; their qualifications for it, and the encouragement to the diligent performance of it ; with the duties of a church respecting them. I. The nature and original of it : It is not a political, but an eccle siastical office ; sometimes, indeed, the word is used in a political sense, for the civil magistrate, who is said to be 0eov SiaKovos, the deacon of God ; we render it the minister of God, Rom. xiii. 4, one appointed by him, and who serves under him, for the public good : but it is commonly used in an ecclesiastical sense, sometimes for extra ordinary ministers, as apostles, whoso ministry is called StaKovia., a deaconship, and is joined with apostleship, Acts i. 17, 25 ; and the apostle Paul calls himself and Apollos, biaKovoi, deacons, or ministers, by whom ye believed, 1 Cor. iii. 6 ; and even our Lord Jesus Christ has this name and title, as the prophet of the church, and a preacher of the everlasting gospel ; Now I say that Jesus Christ was biaKovos, a deacon or minister of the circumcision, or to the circumcised Jews, Rom. xv. 8 ; not to take notice, that the ministry of angels is called SiaKovia, a deaconship, Heb. i. 14. To proceed, it is oftener given to ordinary preachers and ministers of the word ; as to Tychicus, Epaphras, and others, Eph. vi. 21, Col. i. 7, and iv. 7 ; but elsewhere a deacon is spoken of as a distinct officer from either ministers extraordinary or ordinary ; so the apostle speaks of the office of au elder, bishop, or overseer, and of the office of a deacon, as two distinct offices ; and after ho had given the qualifications of the one, he gives the qualifications of the other, 1 Tim. iii. ; and the officers of the church at Philippi are distinguished into bishops and deacons, Phil. i. 2. Now, the original of the institution of this office we have an account of, as is commonly thought, in Acts vi. 1—5, by which it seems to have been originally a branch of the ministerial office, as executed by the apostles ; and, indeed, the whole of the ecclesiastic ministry was in their hands, the management of the secular, as well as of the spiritual affairs of the church : the first Christians, the members of the church at Jerusalem, sold their possessions, and had all things common, and parted them to all, as every man had need ; and the apostles had the disposal and distribution of them ; for they were brought and laid at their feet for that purpose, this church becoming: very numerous, which at first consisted of about a hundred and twenty, increased to some thousands ; and their poor likewise increased ; for the poor from the first had the gospel preached to them, and received it; and these were chosen, called, and brought into the church ; and this being the case, there was a murmuring of the Grecians, of the Hellenistic Jews, who were born and lived in Greece;

OP THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. 601 but coming to Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost, were converted, and joined themselves to the church at Jerusalem : now a complaint was lodged by these against the Hebrews, who were natives of Judea, and particularly of Jerusalem, that their poor widows were neglected in the daily ministration, suggesting there was some partiality used ; that the widows of the natives of Jerusalem were more favoured than the widows of such who had lived in foreign parts ; this greatly affected the apostles, and embarrassed them in the spiritual part of their ministry, in which they were hindered by their attention and applica tion to the secular affairs of the church ; and therefore called the church together, and thus argued with them : It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables ; as it is not proper that any ordinary minister of the word should be entangled with the affairs of this life, if possible ; that he may give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, and meditate upon them, and give himself wholly to them. Wherefore the apostles proposed to the church, thus called together, to look out and choose from among themselves seven men, of such qualifications they mentioned, to attend this service : and as for themselves, they would give up themselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the word ; and this proposal being accept able to the people, they chose men so qualified, and presented them to the apostles for their approbation ; and so they were installed into their office. This seems to be the original of the institution of this office. By which it appears, 1 . That those who are chosen to this office must be members of the church, or they are not eligible, and that they are to be chosen by the vote and suffrage of the church ; and their destination is only to that church to which they belong ; they cannot officiate in another, nor have any concern with the poor of another church ; the collections of that church to whose peculiar service they are appointed are to bo received by them, and to be distributed to the members of that church, and of that only. Extraordinary collections from other churches, wo may observe, were sent to the elders, to be disposed of by them, Acts xi. 30. Wherefore, — 2. The apostles, though they gave up themselves more especially to prayer, and the ministry of the word, yet they did not divest themselves wholly of this service ; see Acts xii. 25 ; and deacons now have a connexion and concern with elders and pastors of churches in the discharge of their office ; they are to acquaint them with the state of the church, and the cases of the poor, and to take their advice in any matters of moment and importance, and to bo assisting to them in the outward affairs of the church, and may be what the apostle calls helps, in 1 Cor. xii. 28, being helpful to the minister, church, and poor. — 3. This office was instituted when the church was numerous ; wherefore the number of seven in the first church is not a rule and example binding on all future churches!"; Dut f Though the council at Ncocatsarca ordered, that there should bo seven deacons, according to tho rule in Acts, can. xiv., apud Magdeburg, cent. 4, col. 319. And in the Roman church there were seven, and no more ; but in other churches the number was indifferent, or indeterminate, as the historian says.—Sozomen. Eecl. Hist. 1, 7, c. 19.

602 OP THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. such a number are to be chosen, and may be increased, as the exigency of churches requires ; and some have thought, that where a church is very small, a pastor may perform the whole work, with a little assist ance from the church ; but I cannot but be of opinion, that one deacon at least, if not two, are necessary to form an organized church. — 4. The objects of this office are the poor of the church, which were in all churches in all ages ; The poor ye have always with you, John xii. 8, and to be taken care of; so that the reason of its first institution continues, namely, to ease the ministers of the gospel from too much concern in the secular affairs of the church, Acts vi. 2 ; and such officers were appointed not only in the first church at Jerusalem, though extraordinary ones, as some think, but in other churches of the Gentiles, at least ordinary ones, as at Philippi, Phil. i. 1 ; and the particular qualifications are given of these officers, which seem to be given as a direction to the churches in. future ages for the choice of them, 1 Tim. iii. 8, &c II. The work and business to be performed by them who are appointed to this office, i. Not to preach the gospel and administer ordinances, as baptism and the Lord's supper ; and therefore ministerial qualifications are not required of them ; Philip, indeed, one of the seven, did both preach and baptize, Acts vi. 5, and viii. 5, 38; but then he did both by virtue of his office as an evangelist, Acts xxi. 8. In Tertullian's time deacons were allowed to baptize ; he says, the first right belongs to the bishop, then to the presbyters, then to the deacons, but not without the authority of the bishop ; but this appears to be an entire innovation. — 2. Nor is their work and business to rule in the church ; we read of ruling elders, but never of ruling deacons ; if they were, women might not be deaconesses, as Phebe was, for they are not to rule : deacons may and should be assisting to pastors or elders in the care of the church, as to watch over the walk and conversation of the members of the church, and to observe that they keep their places in it ; and to exhort, admonish, and reprove, as ' they may find it necessary ; and to visit the sick, and such that are in distress of any kind ; and to report the state of tho church to the elder or pastor ; and to reconcile differences between one member and another, and to prepare matters to be laid before the church at church-meetings, when needful. — 3. But their principal business is to serve tables, which the apostles relinquished and gave up to the seven, at the first institution of them, Acts vi. 2. As, — 1 . The Lord's table, as it is called, 1 Cor. x. 21 ; that is, at tho administration of the ordinance of the supper, their business is to provide every thing necessary for it ; as the bread and the wine, and all kind of furniture needful on that occasion ; and when the elements are blessed, and the bread broken, and wine poured out, and these given into their hands by the pastor or elder, they are to deliver out to the members ; so in Justin Martyr's time they that were called deacons, he says, gave to every one that were present, that they might partake of the bread and the wine, for which thanks were given by the president. — 2. The minister's table ; to take care that a proper

OP THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. 603 provision is made for the subsistence of himself and family; that whereas Christ has ordained, that those who preach the gospel should live of it, and that he that is taught in the word should communicate to him that teacheth in all good things ; the business of deacons is to see to it, that every member contributes according to his ability, and that there be an equality, that some are not eased and others burdened ; and it lies upon them to collect what the members give, for it is not proper the minister should collect for himself; this would be to prevent the design of the institution, which was, that those who are employed in the sacred office of the ministry of the word, should not be hindered in it. Besides, such a practice would not comport with the ease and character of a' minister, who would be obliged to receive what the people gave him, without making any remonstrance against it, as failing in their duty to him ; and he might also be exposed to tho charge of avarice ; to which may be added, that a church would not be able to judge whether their pastor was sufficiently provided for or not. — 3. The poor man's table ; it was an apostolical order given to the churches, that they should make a collection for the poor saints on the first day of the week ; and it seems as if it was designed to be every first day, to which every one was to give, having laid by him a store for it, as God had prospered him, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2; which collec tions, and those made at the Lord's supper, are to be received by the deacons, with whatsoever gifts may come into their hands, and bo distributed to tho necessities of the saints ; and they arc, both by their own example, and by their exhortations, to stir up the members of churches to contribute liberally to the relief of the poor : and what they receive they are to communicate,—1 . Impartially, that is, as the apostle expresses it, with simplicity, without partiality, and without favour and affection; showing no respect to persons, taking more notice of and giving more liberally to one than to another, which was the original complaint in the first church, and made the office necessary; and therefore the deacon should be careful to avoid any cause of it : the principal rule he should go by is, to give as every one needeth ; to some more, and others less, as their case requires. — 2. This should be done with cheerfttlness, Rom. xii. 8, without any frowns in the counte nance, and without any hard and rough words, which the tender minds of the poor, broken with distress, cannot well bear; when what is given cheerfully and pleasantly does them double good ; nor should they be upbraided with misconduct in former life, which may have brought them into low circumstances. God loves a cheerful giver, and ho himself gives liberally, and upbraids not. — 3. This should be done with compassion and tenderness. The work of a deacon is expressed by his shoiting mercy, Rom. xii. 8, and he should exercise it in a pitiful and merciful manner, as sympathizing with them in their poor and low circumstances ; in imitation of tho great High Priest of our profession, who is touched with the feeling of the infirmities of his people. — 4. This office should be executed with great faithfulness ; deacons aro the church's stewards, and are intrusted with the church's stock ; and it is required of stewards, that they distribute with fidelity what is put

604 OP THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. into their hands, and for the uses for which it is given. The next thing to be inquired into, III. Are the qualifications of persons for such an office ; some of which may be taken from Acts vi. 3. 1 . That they are to be of honest report ; of whom a testimony can be given of their honesty, integrity, and good conversation ; who have a good report of them that are without, of all men, of the men of the world, and of them that are within ; and who are well reported of by the brethren, by the members of other churches, especially by the members of the church to which they belong.—2. Full of the Holy Ghost, of his gifts and graces ; though they may not be so eminently endowed with them as Stephen and Philip were, which is not to be expected ; yet- that they should appear to be partakers of the grace of the Spirit, and to have such gifts as to comfort the feeble-minded, sup port the weak, and speak a word in season to those who are in distress. —3. Men of wisdom ; for as they are stewards, wisdom, as well as faithfulness, is required of them ; to give to every one of the poor a portion of the church's moneys, as they need ; and to distinguish cases and circumstances, requires wisdom ; besides, persons in such an office are sometimes called upon to make up differences between member and member ; which is often a difficult task, and calls for all the pru dence a man is possessed of; and to these, or such as these, the apostle refers, when he says, Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you 2 no, not one, that shall be able to judge between his brethren, without going to law before unbelievers. There are other qualifications of a deacon observed in 1 Tim. iii. 1—12. — 1. As to his personal character; he must be grave in his speech and gesture, and not light, frothy, and vain ; and not only modest, chaste, and honest, and of good behaviour, but as the word may signify also, one that has some weight and influence, who is venerable q and respectable, and has some degree of reverence and esteem with the people : Not double-tongued ; so as to express pity to the poor, yet show no concern to relievo them ; and to say one thing to them, and another to the church and minister ; or to say one thing to one member, and another to another, which may tend to alienate the affections of one from another. Not given to much wine ; which, though lawful to be used, yet not to excess; which would both destroy his character in the church and in the world, and render him unfit for the business of his office. Not greedy of filthy lucre, or covetous : such may be tempted to make a wrong application of the church's money ; and besides, persons in such an office, should be liberal them selves, according to their abilities, and set a good example to others ; or otherwise they cannot, with a good grace, stir up others to liberality, which is one part of their office.—2. Others concern his domestic cha racter ; he should be the husband of one wife ; it is not necessary that he should be a married man ; but if married, he should havo but one wife, that is, at the same time ; polygamy had been much in use among the Jews and Gentiles ; and the first Christians were not soon 1 Zr/iyov*.

OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. 605 and easily brought to the disuse of that practice ; but the apostle, by divine inspiration, judged it necessary that no officer of a church, bishop or deacon, should have more wives than one ; since it would serve to continue and encourage the practice, set an example of it, and expose to reproach and censure : the apostle adds, Ruling their children and their own houses well ; both wife, children, and servants ; such ought to keep a good decorum in their families ; or how else can it be expected that the affairs of the house of God, so far as they are concerned therein, should be despatched with honour, faith fulness, and diligence ? The apostle has also thought lit to give the qualifications of their wives, who must be grave in their speech, gesture, and dress ; as well as modest, chaste, and of good deport ment : not slanderers, or accusers ; false accusers, acting the part of the devil, as the word signifies r ; for such may do a great deal of mis chief in the church, through their influence on their husbands : they must be sober, temperate, not given to excessive drinking, which would be scandalous ; faithful in all things, respecting their husbands and family ; and this is the rather mentioned, since otherwise they might have opportunities of embezzling the church's money, and which, in some cases, they might be intrusted with to dispose of to the poor, in the absence of their husbands. — 3. With respect to the spiritual and evangelical character of deacons, they should be such who hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience ; are sound in the gospel, and the doctrines of it ; for by faith is meant the gospel, the faith once delivered to the saints ; and by the mystery of it, the more sublime and mysterious doctrines of the gospel, especially the doctrine of the Trinity ; which, with the Jews, was commonly called the mys tery of the faith ; and is the same the apostle calls the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, Col. ii. 2 ; such doctrines which relate to the distinction of Persons in the Godhead ; the divine Sonship, proper Deity, and distinct personality of Christ ; the Deity, person ality, and operations of the Spirit ; the incarnation of Christ, and the union of the two natures in him ; the resurrection of the dead ; with others : these things deacons are to hold, with a conscience purified by the blood of Christ, and with a holy, becoming life and conversa tion : this qualification is necessary in them, that they may bo able to instruct and establish others in the faith, and to confute the erroneous ; for should their principles be bad, their influence on others might be pernicious and fatal. Now these must first be proved, and then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless : not that they are to exercise any part of this office first, that it might be known how capable they are of it ; but that it should appear that they are men of the above characters and qualifications ; are of some standing in the church, and are well known and approved of for their soundness in the faith and purity of conversation. There is but one sort of deacons of this kind mentioned in Scripture ; unless it can be thought there were women-deacons, or deaconesses ; and, indeed, Phebe is called oianovos, a deacon, or deaconess, of the church of Cenchrea ; we render the word ' Aut$o\ovs.

606 OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONS. servant, Rom. xvi. 1 ; and some render the wives of deacons, their women, 1 Tim. iii. 11 ; and by them understand deaconesses ; and if the same with the widows, as some think, their qualifications, as to age, character, and conduct, are described, 1 Tim. v. 9, 10 ; and it seems certain there were such in the second century, whether virgins or widows ; such seem to be the two servant-maids Pliny ■ speaks of, whom he examined on the rack, concerning the Christians, and by whom he says they were called ministry, ministresses, or deaconesses ; and Clemens of Alexandria, in the second century, makes mention expressly of women-deacons, as spoken of by the apostle in his epistle to Timothy ' ; so Jerome u, in the fourth century, speaks of them as in the eastern churches : and, indeed, something of this kind seems not at all unnecessary, but of service and usefulness ; as to attend at the baptism of women, and to visit the sisters of the church, when sick, and to assist them. In the third century, an officer was introduced, called a sub-deacon, an under-deacon, who seems to have been an assistant to the deacon, when the churches became large, and their poor numerous, and the deacons required assistance ; though it would have been much more proper to have increased their number of deacons ; but as for that meteor, as Dr. Owen w calls him, an arch-deacon, he was not heard of until the fourth or fifth centuries ; and then not as the creature which now exists under that name. IV. The encouragement given to the diligent and faithful perform ance of the office of a deacon. i. Such purchase, or get, to themselves a good degree. The con jecture of Dr. Owen's" is very trifling, which I should not have expected from so great a man, as that it signifies a place of some eminence, a seat more highly raised up to sit in, in church-assemblies ; something like the chief seats in a Jewish synagogue : nor by it is meant a higher degree in his own office ; for there are no degrees of higher and lower in the office of a deacon ; no sub-deacon nor arch deacon, as beforo observed : nor is it preparatory to a higher order ; as of presbytery or eldership ; since the office of a deacon lies chiefly in the management of temporal things ; and not in study and medi tation of spiritual things. In after times, in tho third century, such a practice began to take place, as to go through all ecclesiastical offices, to the office of a bishop, as Cypriany says Cornelius bishop of Rome did ; and it is said to be ordered by Caius, bishop of the same place, in the same century, that the degrees to a bishopric, through which men should pass to it, were a door-keeper, a reader, an exorcist, an acolyte, a sub-deacon, a deacon, a presbyter, and then a bishop z ; but this is all of mere human and antichristian appointment : nor is a greater degree in glory meant, which is questionable whether there will be any ; but rather an increase of gifts and graces is designed ; which, under a divine blessing, may be attained, through a deacon's more intimate conversation with the pastor and the members of the church, and even ■ Ep. 1. 10, ep. 97 ; vide Pignorium dc Servij, p. 109. ' Stromat. 1. 3, p. 448. " Comment, in 1 Tim. iii. 11. » True Nature of a Gospel Church, ch. 9, p. 184. « lb. p. 187. i Ep. 52, p. m. * Platimc vit. Funtis. p. 34,

OP THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHRIST. 607 the poor of it ; though it seems chiefly to intend a good degree of honour in the faithful discharge of his office, from both mmister, church, and poor. — 2. Such obtain boldness in the faith ; in the exercise of faith at the throne of grace ; and in asserting the doctrine of faith ; and in vindicating their own character before men ; and in reproving for immorality or error. V . The duties belonging to a church and its members to persons in such an office. i. To supply them with what is sufficient to relieve the wants of the poor . for they are not to supply them out of their own purses ; but to distribute faithfully what is put into their hands by the church. — 2. They should be applied unto for direction and counsel in any private matters, and especially which relate unto the church ; since they are supposed to be men of wisdom, and capable of judging of things, with respect to particular persons, and between one member and another. — 3. They are to be esteemed highly for their work's sake ; their office being a very useful one to the church, when diligently and faithfully performed. — 4. To be prayed for ; for if we are to pray for all civil magistrates and officers, then certainly for all ecclesiastical officers ; not only pastors of churches, but deacons also ; that they may be supported under all discouragements and difficulties ; and that they may be able to discharge their office with reputation and useful ness.' OF THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHRIST. Though the light of nature, and the laws and rules of civil society, may be very assisting in the affair of church-discipline ; and may m many things serve to illustrate and confirm it ; yet it does not stand upon human, but divine authority. By the light of nature it may be known, man being a sociablo creature, that men may form themselves into societies for mutual good ; that they have a right to make laws and rules binding on each other, which are not contrary to justice and truth ; to admit such into their societies who have a right to dispose of themselves, and assent to the rules of the society, and to keep out or expel such who refuse to be subject to them ; and to choose and appoint whom they think fit to preside over them, to see that their laws and rules are put into execution ; with other things of like nature. But Christ is solo Head, King, and Lawgiver in his house and kingdom; and no man, nor set of men, have a power to set up a church-society, but what is by direction and according to the rule of his word, and the pattern of his houso ; nor to make laws and rules, but what ho has made ; nor to appoint any other sort of officers in his house, but.whom he has appointed and directed to, and described the qualifications of; to whom he gives gifts and abilities, office-power and authority to rule under him in his church : nor are any to be admitted into it, nor excluded from it, but according to his directions and orders; hence Ezekiel, after he had described the gospel church in its purity, as it will be in the latter day, is ordered to show the house to the house of

608 OF THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHRIST. Israel; the form, fashion, laws, and ordinances of it, to be copied after, and observed by them, chap, xliii. 10, 11. Now whereas there are various passages 6f Scripture, which are taken for rules of churchdiscipline, which are misunderstood and misapplied, it will be proper to mark them, that none may be misled by them, as, I. The words of our Lord to Peter, after he had made such a noble confession of his faith in him, as the Son of God ; and Christ had declared, that upon that rock he professed faith in, he would build his church, against which the gates of hell should not prevail ; he adds, And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom ofheaven, &c, Matt. xvi. 19, which are usually understood of the admission of members into a church, and the exclusion of them ; and of laying on of censures, and of taking them off. But they have respect, not at all to discipline, but to doctrine. The keys have made a great noise and rattling in the world, and many contests have been raised about them, what they are, and the power of them, in whose hands they are lodged, and who has the right to the use and exercise of them ; when, after all, they relate not to church-discipline, but to gospel-doctrine. By the kingdom of heaven is not meant, either the church in heaven, or the gospelchurch-state on earth ; nor do the keys signify any lordly power and domination in it, which Christ never gave to Peter, nor to any of the apostles, and much less to ordinary ministers and elders of churches, who are not allowed to lord it over God's heritage ; Christ keeps the key in his own hand, the key of the house of David : but the gospel itself is meant ; hence wo read of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven ; that is, of the doctrines of the gospel : this kingdom of heaven was shut up against men in the Jewish world, through the wickedness or ignorance of the scribes and Pharisees, who took away the hey of knowledge from the people, Matt. xxiii. 1 3, Luke xi. 52 ; and in the Gentile world, through the blindness, and ignorance, and want of divine revelation, they were left unto, Acts xvii. 30. Now a mission and commission to preach the gospel, and gifts and abilities for the same, are the keys by which the treasures of grace are unlocked, the stores of it opened and displayed, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven explained, and clearly held forth to the view of others ; now, though these were given, not to Peter alone, but to all the apostles at the same time, yet Peter was the first who had the use and exercise of them ; and with these he opened the door of faith, that is, the gospel ; first to the Jews, on the day of Pentecost, which was the first sermon after the commission was given, and proved the conversion of three thousand souls : and he was the first who preached the gospel to the Gentiles, to Cornelius and his family, to which first ministration of his to them both he and James have a respect in the synod at Jerusalem, Acts xv. 7, 14 ; and that these keys, and the use of them, belonged to all the apostles, as well as to Peter, appears from hence, that to whom soever the keys, and the use of them, belonged, the same had the power of binding and loosing conferred upon them ; and that all the apostles had the latter, is manifest from Matt. xviii. 18; which words are also misunderstood of, and misapplied to, binding men with

OF THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHBIST. 609 censures laid upon them, till they repent, and of loosing them from them when they do ; but the words are spoken, not of persons, but of things ; it is not said, whomsoever ye bind ; but, whatsoever ye bind, &c, and signify no other than declarations of what is unlawful or lawful ; of what is forbidden or free of use ; in which sense the words binding and loosing are used in thousands of instances in Jewish writings ; and our Lord expresses himself in a manner which the Jews thoroughly understood, and his apostles must ; and his meaning is, that whatsoever they bound, prohibited, declared as unlawful to be used, was so, though before lawful ; and whatsoever they loosed, declared to be lawful, and free of use, was so ; though before the death of Christ, and their commission, was unlawful : thus for instance, they bound, prohibited circumcision, and declared it unlawful ; though it was of the fathers, and was enjoined by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their male seed, to the coming of the Messiah ; but since his death, and their commission to preach the gospel, they declared it to be nothing at all, no more to be used and practised ; yea, that it was pernicious and hurtful ; that Christ profited them nothing who used it, and was of no effect to them, Gal. v. 1—6 ; they bound, or forbid, the observance of days, and months, and times, and years, and declared them weak and beggarly elements, and that no man was to be judged or condemned for the disuse of them, though they had been for ages past used in the Jewish church ; as the first day of the year, and of every month, the feasts of passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, the jubilee-year, the sabbatical-year, and the seventh-day-sabbath, Gal. iv. 9—11, Col. ii. 16, 17. On the other hand, they loosed, or declared lawful and free of use, civil correspondence between Jews and Gentiles, which before had been unlawful, at least according to the traditions of the Jews ; and Peter was the first who had light into it, by the vision of .the four-footed beasts, which was given him ; for before he thought it was an unlawful thing for a man that was a Jew to keep into or keep company with one of another nation ; but by that vision God showed him that he was not to call any man common or unclean ; and so they all afterwards understood, that under the gospel dispensation there was neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, nor male nor female ; but they were all one in Christ Jesus, Gal. iii. 28 ; likewise they loosed, or declared lawful and free of use, the eating of any sort of food, of which there was a distinction under the old law, and was forbid ; but now they saw, from the words of Christ, Matt. xv. 11, and Peter, by the above vision, and Paul, by Christ, that there was nothing common and unclean of itself; and that the kingdom of God did not lie in meat and drink, but that every creature of God was good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving. And this power of binding and loosing reached not only to practices, but to doctrines; for as the apostles were infallibly guided into all truth, whatever they bound or forbid, and declared as false doctrine, was so ; and whatever they loosed, or declared to be truth, was so to be accounted ; hence the anathema of the apostle Paul, Gal. i. 8. They had the whole counsel of God, the whole system of gospel truths made vol. u. R R S

610 OF THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHRIST. known to them, and which they have declared in their writings, and are to be observed as the rule of faith to the end of the world, being delivered under divine inspiration ; of which our Lord's breathing upon them after his resurrection, and their commission from him, was an emblem, when the following words were delivered by him, Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained, John xx. 23 ; which respect not any discipline of the apostles in laying on, binding, and retaining censures on persons, and of loosing, remitting, and taking them off, according to their behaviour ; but of the doctrine of remission of sins, preached by them : for this cannot be meant of remission of sins by them in an absolute and authoritative way ; for none can forgive sins but God, and Christ, who is God ; and who yet never gave any such power to his apostles ; nor did they ever assume this to themselves ; this is the mark of anti christ, who sits in the temple of God, and shows himself to be God, or to assume such a character, by taking upon him to dispense pardons and indulgences: but this is to be understood of the apostles, as ministerially and doctrinally preaching the forgiveness of sins ; declar ing, that such who repent of their sms, and believe in Christ, shall receive the remission of them ; but that whoever do not repent of their sins, and do not believe in him, shall perish eternally, according to Mark xvi. 16; and by this doctrine of the apostles God and Christ will stand; and sooner or later will appear the validity, truth, and certainty of their declarations. II. There aro various passages of Scripture, which are thought to respect excommunication, or exclusion from church-commission ; whioh seem to have nothing to do with it, and are not to be considered as rules to proceed by, with respect unto it. i. The words in Matt. xviii. 17, Let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican ; which was no form of excommunication, neither with Jews nor with Christians. Not with Jews, for that with them was oxpressed by casting out of the synagogue, especially in the times of Christ : nor with Christians, with whom it was after signified by putting away wicked men from among them ; between an excommu nicated person, and a heathen man and publican, there was no agree ment; for a heathen man and a publican, however considered by the Jews, were very familiarly conversed with by Christ and his apostles ; with whom they frequently ate and drank, and Christ is called a friend of such ; whereas, with an excommunicate person, it was not allowed to eat, nor indeed to have any familiar conversation with them, as little as possible. Moreover, the words are not a rule to the church, how that was to proceed towards a person who behaved in the manner described ; for it is not said, If he neglect to hear the church, let him be to the church as a heathen man and a publican ; but it is a rule to the offended person how he should behave to the offender under such circumstances ; Let him be to thee, &c. ; and the design of the whole is to justify the offended party, that when he has taken all the steps directed to ; as to reprove the offending party privately, and then with two or more, who would bo witnesses

OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OF CHRIST. 611 of his obstinacy, and then lay the whole affair before the church or congregation, which, with the Jews, never consisted of less than ten persons ; so that he would be abundantly vindicated in behaving towards such a man as nina lan, a worthless neighbour, as the Jews used to call such, and to look upon himself as freed from all brotherly and neighbourly offices towards him. n. Nor is excommunication expressed by the delivery of a man to Satan ; for though that sometimes accompanied excommunication, yet they are very different and distinct things ; the delivery of the incestuous person to Satan was tho apostle's own act and deed ; I verily, says the apostle, as absent in body, but present in spirit, havejudged, or determined within myself, already, concerning him that hath done this deed, committed the incest before mentioned, to deliver such an one unto Satan, 1 Cor. v. 3, 5 ; for the fourth verse is to be read in a parenthesis, and the third and fifth connected together ; which shows it to be a pure act of tho apostle ; as the like is elsewhere asserted by him, concerning Hymeneus and Alexander ; whom, says he, I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme, 1 Tim. i. 20 ; whereas excommunication is called a punishment, or censure inflicted by many, on the incestuous person ; whom the church at Corinth were directed to purge them selves from, and to put away from among them that wicked person ; by which the excommunication of him from them as a church is expressed, verse 7, 13, see 2 Cor. ii. 6, as a distinct thing from the delivery of him to Satan ; which was a miraculous action, as appears from verse 4, included in a parenthesis ; in the name of our Lord Jesus : a way of speaking when a miracle was performing ; see Acts iii. 6 ; wheti ye are gathered together, not to perform this miraculous action, but to be wit nesses of it, and my spirit ; for though in body he was absent from them, yet his spirit would be with them, to perform the miraculous operation ; as the heart or spirit of Elisha was with Gehazi in a won derful manner, when the man turned again to him from his chariot to meet him, 2 Kings v. 26 ; the apostle adds, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which all miraculous operations are to be ascribed, and so this ; for it never was used, nor never ought to be, as a form of excommunication ; it was not in the primitive churches ; nay, it was cautioned against by the ancients, in one of their synods ; nor never was, until excommunication was used as an engine of the church's, or rather of the priest's power to terrify and distress ; this was only used in the apostles' time, and then ceased ; it was the apostolic rod, with which they sometimes smote wicked persons with death ; as Ananias and Sapphira were smitten by Peter ; and Elymas the sorcerer with blindness by the apostle Paul ; and others with diseases of bedy, and with violent agitations of it, and with terrors of mind ; and it is remarkable that the words of the Lord concerning Job, Behold, he is in thine hand, are rendered in the Septuagint. version, Behold, I deliver him unto thee ; that is, to smite him with boils, Job ii. 6 ; and such a corporal punishment, or temporal chastisement, cannot be reckoned a severity, as inflicted on the incestuous person ; for excommunication was too mild a punishment for him, who had been guilty of a crime not s bb 2

612 OF THE DISCIPLINE OF A CHURCH OF CHRIST. to be named among the Gentiles ; as to have his father's wife ! which was death, or cutting off by the hand of Heaven, according to the law of Moses, Lev. xviii. ; and so the blasphemy of Hymeneus and Alex ander, by the same law, was deserving of death. It is commonly said, that this delivery of a man to Satan, is only a re-delivery of him into the kingdom of Satan, the world out of which he was taken ; and so is only a putting him in statu quo ; but this is to allow the world to be the kingdom of Satan ; whereas he has no true and proper right to it ; it is only his by usurpation ; the world is the Lord's : nor is it fact, that when a man is received into a church, he is received out of the world ; for it is supposed by the church, that he is previously called by the grace of God out of it ; and is by faith a partaker of Christ, and of the blessings of his grace, and is a member of the invisible church ; and very often so it is, that when a person is dealt with by a church for sin, which, for the honour of Christ and his gospel, they are obliged to do, yet at the same time they cannot but hope, that he is not a man of the world, but a partaker of the grace of God ; and therefore do not account him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. in. The passage in Tit. iii. 10, A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject ; is usually thought, and so has been by myself, to be a rule for the ejection or casting out of churchcommunion a person so described ; but not only the word used, is never used of excommunication, nor indeed any other word in the singular number; it is not said, reject ye, but reject thou (irapairov) ; and so is no direction to a church, but to a single person : now let Titus be who he may, an extraordinary person, an evangelist, as he seems to be, or a bishop of Crete, as the subscription of the epistle suggests, which is not to be depended upon, or an ordinaaypastor and elder of a church, which is not probable ; but be he what he may, an extraordinary or ordinary minister, he had no power nor right of himself to reject or eject any person from church-communion; this would be to act the part of Diotrephes, who cast out the brethren, condemned by the apostle John ; and the apostle Paul would never have advised Titus to act a part so unjustifiable ; besides, could such a sense of the text be established, it would prove what the papists prelates, and presbyterians produce it for, namely, that the power of excommunication lies in the hands of a bishop, or prelate, or presbyter, elder or pastor of a church, and not in the church itself; and it would not be easy to rescue such a proof out of their hands ; whereas, not single persons, but churches, are always addressed and exhorted to perform the act of excommunication on persons deserving of it. Nor were admonitions ever directed to be given to persons deserving of excommunication ; in cases of private offences, admonitions were to be given ; and so long as an affair lies between a person and a church, respecting either doctrine or practice, and is not known to the world and other churches, admonitions may be given and repeated as long as there are any hopes of good being done by them ; but in case of atro cious public crimes, and notorious heresies, subversive of the funda mental doctrines of Christianity, no time should be lost, or trifled away

OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OP CHRIST. 613 with admonitions ; but for the honour of Christ, the credit of religion, and for the removal of the odium brought on Christianity, such a person should be removed from communion at once ; nay, even, as some think, though he may seem to have some sense of his evil, and repent ance for it. We have but one instance of excommunication from a Christian church in the whole New Testament, and that is of the incestuous person ; and we are sure he had no admonitions from the church before the apostle had heard of the affair; so far were they from it, that they were puffed up, when they should rather have mourned, that he that had done the deed might be taken away from them ; and we are sure he had none afterwards, for the apostle immediately orders the excommunication of him. And though there are orders given to several of the churches, as before observed, for the excommunication of such and such persons, yet no directions given for the admonition of any of them, previous to their ejection : sometimes admonition is directed to be given after a person is withdrawn from, when it is not on account of any notorious crime of a public and scandalous nature ; but idleness, an unwillingness to work ; and such an one cannot be looked upon as an enemy to Christ and his gospel, and may be admonished as one who had been a brother, and it may be hoped will be restored again, 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15. The case of Titus was a personal one, and respects a man he had been in connexion with, or supposed to have been, and now fallen into heresy ; when having reproved him again and again, and endeavoured to convince him of his error, but to no purpose ; he is then directed to have nothing more to say unto him or to do with him, to have no society with him, nor admit him to a familiar conversation with him, lest he should be hardened in his error, and weak Christians should be stumbled. Much such advice is given by the apostle John to private Christians, not to receive such persons into their houses, nor wish them God speed, 2 John verse 10. But though the above passages are not proper and pertinent to church discipline ; yet there are rules and directions which do belong to it, and are to be observed with respect unto it : and as I have consi dered the materials, the form and fashion of the house or church of God, both as essential and as organized ; I shall now proceed to con sider the rules of admission into it, or the comings in thereof, and the laws and ordinances to be observed by those who are in it, and the rules concerning the goings out of it, whether by dismission or excom munication. I. The rules concerning the comings in, or admission of members into a gospel church. 1 . The doors of it are not to be set wide open for any one to come in at pleasure ; but porters were set at the gates of the house of the Lord, that no unclean person should enter in; and in Ezekiel's temple, a figure of the gospel church in the latter day, orders are given, that no stranger uncircumcised in heart and flesh, should enter into the sanctuary of the Lord ; no materials were admitted to be laid in Solomon's temple, but what were hewn and squared before brought thither. — 2. Persons should voluntarily propose themselves to the church for communion

614 OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHUECH OF CHRIST. with it ; for this should be a free act of their own, and not by the force of persuasion of others ; or they should be proposed by the minister or elder, with whom a previous conversation should be had, and an inquiry made of their experience and knowledge of divine things ; so Saul, when converted, essayed to join himself to the disciples, that is, he tried, he attempted, he proposed himself to them, to become a member of them, and to have communion with them, as one of them, Acts ix. 26.—■ 3. In order to admission to communion, satisfaction must be given as to a work of grace upon the soul ; when Saul desired communion with the church, they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple ; a real converted person, a true believer in Christ, because he had been so lately a persecutor of the saints ; until it was declared to them, how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how boldly he had preached in his name ; and then he was admitted, and was with them coming in and going out : and it is but fit and proper that such should give a reason of the hope that is in them, to the satisfaction of those with whom they desire to walk in fellowship ; it was an early practice of the saints, who tell one another what God hath done for their souls ; the poor man whom Christ had dispossessed of a legion of devils, was bid to go home to his friends, and tell them how great things the Lord had done for him, and had had compassion on him ; and this is better done by a man himself, than by the report of others ; and better by a verbal declaration than by writ ing ; for though the former may be made in a broken manner, yet it may best discover the true affection of the heart, and the savouriness of a man's spirit, and tend more to knit and unite the hearts of the Lord's people to him. — 4. The way of entrance into a church is by a profession of faith in Christ ; for as with the heart man believes unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ; the church is the sheopfold, and Christ is the door into it ; and whoever climbs up another way than by faith in him, and profession of it, is a thief and a robber. The three thousand converts first professed repent ance of their sins, faith in Christ for the remission of them, and their joyful reception of the gospel, and then were baptized and added to the church. — 5. It is necessary that such who enter into a church-state, should have a knowledge of the truths of the gospel, and confess them, and not be ashamed of Christ, and his words, before men ; their sound ness in the doctrine of faith should be inquired into, and this be testified by their assent to the articles of faith held and maintained by the church ; Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in, Isa. xxvi. 1. — 6. Allowances should be made for weaknesses and infirmities of men, both in their gracious experiences, and in their gospel light and knowledge ; the day of small things is not to be despised ; the bruised reed is not to be broken, nor the smoking flax to be quenched ; the tender Iambs are gathered into Christ's arms, and carried in his bosom ; the weak in faith are to be received, and not to doubtful disputations. — 7. Testimony should be given of their becom ing life and conversation ; when the disciples demurred upon receiving Saul, because of his former conduct and behaviour, Barnabas informed

OF THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OF CHRIST. 615 them of the change that was in him, that of a violent persecutor, he was become a bold and zealous preacher of the gospel, and they gladly received him.—8. The reception of a member into church-communion must be by mutual consent ; the person received must give up him or herself to walk with the church in holy fellowship ; and the church must readily receive such in the Lord ; it must be a voluntary act on both sides ; and if there is a pastor, the person must be received by him, in the name and with the consent of the church ; and if not, by a brother appointed by the church for that purpose, the token of which is by giving the right hand of fellowship, Gal. ii. 9. I proceed, II. To consider the ordinances, laws, and rules, to be kept and observed by those who are admitted into the church. 1. There are ordinances they are directed to the observation of. Show them all the ordinances of the house, that they may do them ; so Christ ordered his disciples to teach those they baptized to observe all things whatsoever he commanded them. Besides the ordinance of baptism, which is preparatory to church-communion, there are the ordinances of public prayer and praise, and the public ministry of the word, which are constantly to be attended on ; and it is very unbe coming members of churches to forsake the assembling of themselves together for public worship ; it is observed, to the honour of the primi tive Christians, that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in a constant attendance on the ministration of it ; and in holy fellow ship with one another ; and in prayer, in public prayers put up to God by the minister, as the mouth of the church ; and particularly in break ing of bread, or in the ordinance of the Lord's supper, which is to bo frequently administered ; As often as ye eat this bread, &c, which shows it is to be often done ; and as often as it is, it should be attended on. But of these ordinances more hereafter, in their proper course. — 2. There are also the laws of the house, which are to be shown to members of churches, and to be observed by them ; Christ is Lawgiver in it, and his commands are to be kept from a principle of love to him, even all that he has commanded. There is the moral law, which is still in force, and binding upon Christians ; for Christ came not to destroy it, but to fulfil it : and his people are under the law to him, and should be obedient to it : such who are regardless of morality, are not fit to be members of churches, and are not to be continued in them. There is likewise the law of Christ, which is the law of love, the new commandment Christ has given to his disciples, by the observance of which it is known that they are his disciples. There are, moreover, various duties to be performed by members of churches, mutually towards each other ; they are to submit themselves to one another in the fear of the Lord : to have the same love one for another, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual, and to watch over one another in the Lord ; but these, with other incumbent duties, have been treated of in a preceding chapter. — 3. There are certain rules respecting private admonitions of church-members, which deserve special regard ; both such as are given by ministers and elders of churches, who have not only power of admonishing those they have the rule over, and of

616 OF THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OP CHRIST. rebuking publicly and with authority ; but also in a private manner, as they go from house to house, and as they see occasion for it ; which private admonitions are not to be slighted ; and also those given by members, who are to admonish and rebuke one another, in a private manner, as there may be a necessity for it. The rule in Matt. xviii. 15—17, If thy brother shall trespass against thee, &c, is an excellent good one, and may be accommodated to all cases in differ ence between two persons ; whether between one neighbour and another, or between one member of a church and another ; the former seems to be the original foundation of this rule, for neighbour and brother are synonymous; the passage which the rule seems to have respect unto, and is the rise of it, is in Lev. xix. 17, Thou shall not hate thy brother in thine heart ; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neigh bour ; where a brother is explained by a neighbour : and when there is a difference between one neighbour and another, this rule should be observed ; the neighbour offended, against whom the trespass is com mitted, and to whom the injury is done, is to go privately to the offender, lay the evil before him, and reprove him for it, in a gentle manner ; if he pays a proper regard to it, takes the reproof kindly, acknowledges the offence, and declares repentance for it, it is all very well ; he is to be forgiven, no mention hereafter is to be made of the matter ; but if not, if he denies the fact, or extenuates or defends it, and shows no repentance, then the offended party is to take one or two neighbours, and lay the case before him in their presence, who will be witnesses of the charge, and of the proof of it, and join in the admonition ; but if he still remains incorrigible, then it must be told to the church, rfj tKKX.T]<rta, the same with mj? the congregation, which consisted at least of ten personsa ; and when such a number were made acquainted with the whole affair, and the offender would make no acknowledgment, the offended person would be justified by all men, in treating him for the future as a worthless friend or neighbour, as the Jews used to call such an one, and take no more notice of him than of a heathen man and a publican. The rule also may be accom modated to any difference between one member of a church and another: between a brother and a brother, who are in the same spiritual relation ; and this rule must be observed in case of a private trespass only known to them, a secret fault which they are only privy to ; and not a public sin, known to the whole church and to the world ; for then another method must be taken : and it must be a trespass, a sin, that the offender is guilty of ; yet not a sin of infirmity, common to human nature, and which all are encompassed with ; a man is not to be made an offender for a word, a small trifling thing ; and yet it must not be a very atrocious and public one, which requires more than admonition, even excommunication at once ; such as was the sin of the incestuous person ; but a sin of a lesser nature, yet a fault, and which gives just cause of offence ; and in such a case the offended brother must give the offending one private reproof, tell him his fault, between themselves alone ; and if he can bring him to an acknowledgment of • Vide Rhenferd. observ. select, ad loc. Heb. Nov. Test, inter ejus opera, p. 729, &c.

OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OP CHRIST. 617 his fault, and he declares his sorrow for it, then the brother is gained, is restored from the error ho has been guilty of ; and it is to be buried in oblivion, and no more said of it to any one; but if not, he must take another brother or two with him, and admonish him again ; and if he pays no regard to it, as strengthened by the conjunction of the brethren with him, then the direction is, tell the church : but what is meant by it is not easy to say, whether the Jewish sanhedrim or Jewish syna gogue ; since at that time there was no congregational church in being, unless the twelve disciples may be so called ; wherefore this can only at most respect a church in future time, when such a rule should take place ; however, so far as it concerns a private admonition, it is clear and manifest, and deserves attention; for which reason only it is produced. III. The next thing to be inquired into is, what concerns the goingsout of the house or church of God, and what may be meant by them. There are but two ways of going out of a church ; either by a dismis sion from it, or by an excommunication out of it. There are, indeed, letters of recommendation, which are wanting in some cases, though the apostle needed them not, 2 Cor. iii. 1 ; such as were given to Apollos, Acts xviii. 27 ; to Phebe, Rom. xvi. 1, 2 ; and to Marcus, Col. iv. 10. But these do not give membership ; only transient communion ; the person recommended still remains a member from whence he is recom mended ; the design of such letters is only to certify, that the person whose name is mentioned in them, is a member in full communion with the church which recommends him, and may be safely admitted to transient communion with the church to which he is recommended : but such letters ought not to continue long ; for if a person takes up his residence in a place where he is in providence brought, he should send for his dismission, and be received upon it into full communion ; a letter of dismission, when approved of and the person dismissed is received, he is in all respects a member, and then his membership ceases in the church by which he is dismissed, and not before : there are cases in which a man may desire his dismission to another church, as distance of habitation, non-edification, and when a church is become corrupt in doctrine and practice, that he cannot conscientiously abide with them. The other way of going out of a church is excommunica tion, concerning which it will be necessary to consider various things. i. What excommunication is. — 1. It is not a being reckoned as a heathen man and a publican ; nor a delivery of one to Satan, as has been shown. — 2. Nor does it affect the temporal estate and civil affairs of a man ; it does not subject him to fines, imprisonment, or death ; it does not interfere with the business of the civil magistrate ; nor does it break in upon the natural and civil relations between man and wife, parents and children, masters and servants; nor forbid attendance on the external ministry of the word. — 3. Nor does it admit, of degrees ; the Jews had three sorts of excommunication, which proceeded gradually ; but there is but one among Christians. Some talk indeed of a lesser and a greater excommunication, but without any foundation from the word of God. Some think a sus

618 OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OF CHRIST. pension from the Lord's table is in some cases necessary ; when a case is dubious, and there is not time thoroughly to inquire into it, and yet offence and scandal arises upon it : a person, indeed, may be desired to abstain from the Lord's table, and a man that seeks the peace of the church will consent to it ; but he cannot be obliged to abstain ; if he is obstinate and refractory, there is no other way but to expel him ; for a man is either in communion with a church or he is not ; there is no middle state ; to withdraw from a disorderly person, or to withdraw and separate him from communion, are the same thing. —4. Excommunication is no other than a removal of a man from the communion of the church, and from all privileges dependent upon it ; it is a disfranchising him from all the immunities of a fellow-citizen with the saints, and taking from him a place and a name in the house of God ; for a church can take no more from him than what it first gave him. — 5. This act is expressed by various phrases; as by avoiding familiar conversation with such ; by not keeping company with them ; and by not eating with them at the Lord's table ; by purging out from them the old leaven ; and by putting away the wicked from among them ; by withdrawing from disorderly persons, and cutting them off from fellowship with them. ii. Who they are that are to be excommunicated. — 1 . Such who are disturbers of the church's peace, who cause divisions and offences, who are litigious and quarrelsome, 1 Cor. xi. 16. Such who are troublers of God's Israel, ought to be cut off from his people, Gal. v. 12. — 2. Who do not keep their places in the church, do not attend when the church assembles together for religious worship, but forsake the assembling of themselves together, and m a sense forsake the church ; whose places are empty, as David's was at supper-time, and who do in a sort cut off themselves from the communion of the church, Jude, verse 19. — 3. All such who walk disorderly, as the above persons do, are irregular in their lives and conversations, guilty of immoralities, though it may be thought of a lesser kind, which they continue and indulge themselves in ; as sloth and idleness, not working at all, busybodies, going from house to house, doing mischief, and living upon others ; from such the apostle commands us to withdraw ourselves, 2 Thess. iii. 6—14. — 4. All such who commit atrocious crimes, unrepented of, and continued in ; as fornicators, covetous, idolaters, railers, drunkards, extortioners, &c, with such we are bid not to eat, especially at the Lord's table ; for such ought to have no inheritance in the king dom of Christ and of God, that is, in the church of God, 1 Cor. v. 11, Eph. v. 5. — 5. All erroneous and heretical persons, who hold and propagate doctrines contrary to what has been learnt from the word of God, and in the churches of Christ : such are to be avoided and declined from, Rom. xvi. 17 ; all such who bring in damnable heresies, as the apostle calls them ; denying the Trinity of Persons in the God head, the Deity of Christ, &c, 2 Pet. ii. 1; who bring not with them, but oppose the doctrine of Christ, concerning his person and grace : these, as they are not to have a place in the private houses of the saints, ought to have none in the church of God ; which is commended

OF THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OP CHRIST. 619 for not bearing them that are evil, either unsound in principle, or immoral in life. in. By whom excommunication is to be performed. 1 . Not by a member himself ; no man has a right to cut off him self ; such a man is a felo de se ; as a man cannot come into a church without the consent of it, so neither can he go out of it, without its consent ; for a man to depart of himself, is not standing fast in one spirit, but is a cowardly running away from a church ; and to go without giving a reason, without asking leave, or desiring a dismission, to say the least of it, is a rude and unmannerly way of departure ; and such churches who receive such persons, do not as they would be done by : yea, such men are covenant-breakers with a church, which is a great evil, and breakers up of churches, as much as in them lies ; for what one member may, do, others may ; yea, if a member may leave a church at pleasure, a pastor may do the same : in a word, notwith standing such departure, such persons may be proceeded against by direct excommunication ; or, which amounts to much the same, should be declared by a vote of the church, non-members, and no longer under its watch and care : which is by some called indirect excommunication. —2. Nor is it to be performed by any single person of himself, whether an ordinary or an extraordinary minister, it never was done by an apostle, an evangelist, or any other one man ; for it is a punishment inflicted by many. — 3. Nor is it to be done by the elders of a church separately ; much less by the elders of other churches ; but by the elders of churches, with the consent of the members of them ; for they have a right to do this, previous to their having elders, and when they have none, as to receive members, so to expel them ; the power of it originally lies in the church ; the authority of executing it lies in the elders with the consent and by the order of the church ; as the directions to the churches concerning this matter testify. iv. What are the ends of excommunication. 1. The glory of God, which is the ultimate end of it; for as his name is dishonoured by the evil practices or principles of churchmembers, so this is the most open and most effectual way of removing that dishonour that is brought upon it ; this ought to be always the chief aim and the sincere view in the administration of it ; though sometimes this is only pretence, and under the cover of it churches gratify sinful passions and resentments ; as the Jews of old, in a similar case, Isaiah lxvi. 5. — 2. Another end is to purge the church, and preserve it from infection ; a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and therefore the old leaven must be purged out, that a church may become a new lump ; evil communications corrupt good manners, and therefore evil men must be put away from among the saints, 1 Cor. v. 7, 13 ; lepers were to be put out of the camp, that they might not infect others ; and erroneous persons, whose words do eat as a canker, must be removed from the communion of churches. — 3. A church of Christ is like a garden, or vineyard, which, if not taken care of, and this ordinance of excommunication not made use of, will be like the vineyard of the slothful, overrun with thorns and nettles and other weeds ; but

620 OP THE DISCIPLINE OP A CHURCH OF CHRIST. by means of this it is cleared of the weeds of immoralities, and the bitter roots of false doctrines are plucked up and eradicated, and withered branches are gathered and cast out. — 4. The good of persons excommunicated is another end, and is sometimes effected by it, God blessing his own institution when rightly performed, which is for edifi cation, and not destruction ; for the saving of the souls of men ; and who are hereby brought to shame and repentance for their sins, and an acknowledgment of them ; when they are to be received again with all love and tenderness, and to be comforted, that they might not be swallowed up with over-much sorrow.

BOOK V. OF THE PUBLIC ORDINANCES OF DIVINE WORSHIP. OF BAPTISM. As the first Covenant, or Testament, had ordinances of divine service, which are shaken, removed, and abolished ; so the New Testa ment, or gospel dispensation, has ordinances of divine worship, which cannot be shaken, but will remain until the second coming of Christ : these are few, and easy to be observed, and of a very expressive signification. Among which, Baptism must be reckoned one, and is proper to be treated of in the first place ; for though it is not a church ordinance, it is an ordinance of God, and a part and branch of public worship. When I say it is not a church ordinance, I mean it is not an ordinance administered in the church, but out of it, and in order to admission into it, and communion with it ; it is preparatory to it, and a qualification for it ; it does not make a person a member of a church, or admit him into a visiblo church ; persons must first be baptized, and then added to the church, as the three thousand converts were ; a church has nothing to do with the baptism of any, but to be satisfied they are baptized before they are admitted into communion with it. Admission to baptism lies solely in the breast of the administrator, who is the only judge of qualifications for it, and has the sole power of receiving to it, and of rejecting from it ; if not satisfied, he may reject a person thought fit by a church, and admit a person to baptism not thought fit by a church ; but a disagreement is not desirable nor advisable : the orderly, regular, scriptural ruleof proceeding seems to be this : a person inclined to submit to baptism, and to join in communion with a church, should first apply to an administrator ; and, upon giving him satisfaction, be baptized by him ; and then should propose to the church for communion ; when he would be able to answer all proper questions : if asked to give a reason of the hope that is in him, he is ready to do it ; if a testimony of his life and conversation is required, if none present can give it, he can direct where it is to be had ; and if a question is put to him, whether he is a baptized person or no, he can answer in the affirmative, and

622 OF BAPTISM. give proof of it, and so the way is clear for his admission into churchfellowship. So Saul, when converted, was immediately baptized by Ananias, without any previous knowledge and consent of the church ; and it was many days after this that he proposed to join himself to the disciples, and was received, Acts ix. 18—28; and as it is water-baptism which is meant, I shall, I. Prove that this is peculiar to the gospel dispensation, is a stand ing ordinance in it, and will be continued to the second coming of Christ. This is opposed to the sentiments of such who say baptism was in use before the times of John, of Christ and his apostles ; and of such who restrain water-baptism to the interval between the beginning of John's ministry and the death of Christ, when they supposed this, with other external rites, ceased ; and of such, who think that only the first converts to Christianity in a nation are to be baptized, and their children, but not their after-posterity. There were indeed divers washings, bathings, or baptisms, under the legal dispensation, for the purification of persons and things unclean, by the ceremonial law ; which had a doctrine in them, called the doctrine of baptisms, which taught the cleansing of sin by the blood of Christ ; but there was nothing similar in them to the ordinance of water-bap tism, but immersion only. The Jews pretend, their ancestors were received into covenant by baptism, or dipping, as well as by circumci sion and sacrifice ; and that proselytes from heathenism were received the same way ; and this is greedily catched at by the advocates for infant-baptism ; who fancy that John, Christ, and his apostles, took up this custom as they found it, and continued it ; and which they imagine accounts for the silence about it in the New Testament, and why there is neither precept for it, nor example of it ; but surely if it was in such common use as pretended, though no new precept had been given, there would have been precedents enough of it ; but no proof is to be given of any such practice obtaining in those times, neither from the Old nor New Testament ; nor from the apocryphal books written by Jews between them ; nor from Josephus and Philo the Jew, who wrote a little after the times of John and Christ ; nor from the Jewish Misnah, or book of traditions : only from later writings of theirs, too late for the proof of it before those times ». John was the first administrator of the ordinance of baptism, and therefore is called the Baptist, Matt. iii. 1, by way of emphasis ; whereas, had it been in common use, there must have been many baptizers before him, who had a like claim to this title ; and why should the- people be so alarmed with it, as to come from all parts to see it administered, and to hear it preached, when, had it been in frequent use, they must have often seen it ? and why should the Jewish sanhedrim send priests and Levites from Jerusalem to John, to know who he was, whether the Messiah, or his forerunner Elias, or that prophet spoken of and expected ? and when he confessed, and denied that he was either of them, they say to him, Why baptizest thou then ? by which it appears it was a new thing, and which they expected when the Messiah came, i> Sec the Dissertation concerning the Baptism of Jewish Proselytes, at the end of this work.

OF BAPTISM. 623 \ but not before ; and then it would be performed by some great per sonage, one or other of the before-mentioned ; whereas, had it been performed by an ordinary teacher, common rabbi or doctor, priest or Levite, in ages immemorial, there could have been no room for such a question ; and had this been the case, there would have been no difficulty with the Jews to answer the question of our Lord ; The baptism of John, whence was it, from heaven or of men I they could have answered, It was a tradition of theirs, a custom in use among them time out of mind, had this been the known case ; nor would they have been subject to any dilemma : but John's baptism was not a device of men ; but the counsel of God, according to his will and wise determination, Luke vii. 30. John had a mission and commission from God, he was a man sent of God, and sent to baptize, John i. 6, 33 ; and his baptism was water-baptism, this he affirms, and the places he made use of for that purpose show it, and none will deny it. Now his baptism, and that of Christ and his apostles, were the same. Christ was baptized by John, and his baptism was surely Christian baptism; of this no one can doubt, Matt. iii. 13—17; and his disciples also were baptized by him ; for by whom else could they be baptized I not by Christ himself, for he baptized none, John iv. 2. And it is observable, that the baptism of John, and the baptism of Christ and his apostles, were at the same time ; they were contempo rary, and did not the one succeed the other : now it is not reasonable to suppose there should be two sorts of baptism administered at the same time ; but one and the same by both. The baptism of John, and that which was practised by the apostles of Christ, even after his death and resurrection from the dead, agreed, —1. In the subjects thereof. Those whom John baptized were sensi ble penitent sinners, who were convinced of their sins, and made an ingenuous confession of them ; and of whom he required fruits meet for repentance, and which showed it to be genuine ; and hence his bap tism is called the baptism of repentance, because he required it previous to it, Matt. iii. 6— 8, Mark i. 4. So the apostles of Christ exhorted men to repent, to profess their repentance, and give evidence of it, previous to their baptism, Acts ii. 38. John said to the people that came to his baptism, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus, upon which they were baptized in his name, Acts xix. 4, 5 ; and faith in Christ was made a pre-requisite to baptism by Christ -and his apostles, Mark xvi. 16, Acts viii. 36, 37. — 2. In the way and manner of the administration of both. John's baptism was by immersion, as the places chosen by him for it show ; and the baptism of Christ by him is a proof of it, Matt. iii. 6, 16, John iii. 23 ; and in like manner was baptism performed by the apostles, as of the eunuch by Philip, Acts viii. 38, 39. — 3. In the form of their administration. John was sent of God to baptize ; and in whose name should he baptize, but in the name of the one true God, who sent him, even in the name of God, Father, Son, and Spirit I The doctrine of the Trinity was known to John, as it was to the Jews

J24 OP BAPTISM. in common ; it is said of John's hearers and disciples, that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Acts xix. 5. The same form is used of the baptism of those baptized by the apostles of Christ, Acts viii. 16, and x. 48 ; which is only a part of the form put for the whole, and is sufficiently expressive of Christian baptism, which is to be performed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Matt. xxviii. 19. — 4. In the end and use of baptism. John's baptism and so the apostles' was, upon repentance for the remission of sins, Mark i. 4, Acts viii. 38 ; not that either repentance or baptism procures the pardon of sin ; that is only obtained by the blood of Christ ; but baptism is a means of leading to the blood of Christ ; and repent ance gives encouragement to hope for it, through it. Now since there is such an agreement between the baptism of John, as adminis tered before the death of Christ ; and between the baptism of the apostles, after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ ; it is a plain case, it was not limited to the interval of time from the beginning of John's ministry to the death of Christ ; but was after wards continued ; which farther appears from the commission of Christ, Matt. xxviii. 19, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, bap tizing them ; and though water is not expressed, it is always implied, when the act of baptizing is ascribed to men ; for it is peculiar to Christ to baptize with the Holy Spirit, Matt. iii. 11, Acts i. 5 ; nor did he give to his apostles, nor to any man, or set of men, a commission and power to baptize with the Spirit : besides, an increase of the graces of the Spirit, and a largo donation of his gifts, are promised to persons after baptism, and as distinct from it, Acts ii. 38. The apostles doubtless understood the commission of their Lord and Master to baptize in water, since they practised it upon it : such was the baptism administered by Philip, who having taught the eunuch the doctrine of it, when they came to a certain water, he said to him, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized ? that is, in water ; and when Philip had observed unto him the grand requisite of it, even faith in Christ, which he at once professed ; and the chariot in which they rode being ordered to stand, they went down both into the water, and he baptized him ; this was most certainly water-bap tism ; and so was that which Peter ordered to be administered to Cornelius and his friends upon their receiving of the Holy Ghost, and so a baptism different from that ; Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized ? Acts viii. 36—39, and x. 47, 48. And this was designed to be continued unto the end of the world, to the second coming of Christ ; as the ordinance of the supper is to be kept to that time, the ordinance of water-baptism is to be continued as long ; hence says Christ, to encourage his ministers to preach his gos pel, and to baptize in his name, Lo, I am with you always, in the ministry of the word, and in the administration of baptism, even unto the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. II. I shall next consider the author of it ; and show, that it is not a device of men, but an ordinance of God ; it is a solemn part of divine worship, being performed in the name of the Three divine Persons in

OF BAPTISM. 625 Deity, Father, Son, and Spirit, and by their authority ; in which' the name of God is invoked, faith in him expressed, and a man gives up himself to God, obliges himself to yield obedience to him, expecting all good things from him. Now, for an act of religious worship there must be a command of God. God is a jealous God, and will not suffer any thing to be admitted into the worship of him, but what is according to his word and will ; if not commanded by him he may justly say, Who hath required this at your hands I and will resent it : a command from men is not sufficient ; no man on earth is to be called master ; one is our master in heaven, and him only we are to obey : if the commandments of men are taught for doctrines, in vain is the Lord worshipped ; what is done according to them is superstition and willworship. Indeed, as it is now commonly practised, it is a mere invention of men, the whole of it corrupted and changed ; instead of rational spiritual men the subjects of it, infants, who have neither the use of reason, nor the exercise of grace, are admitted to it ; and instead of immersion in water, and emersion out of it, a very expressive emblem of the sufferings of Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection from the dead ; sprinkling a few drops of water on the face is introduced ; with a number of foolish rites and ceremonies used by the papists, and some of their usages are retained by some protestants ; as sponsors, or sureties for infants, and the signing them with the sign of the cross. In short, the face of the ordinance is so altered, that if the apostles were to rise from the dead, and see it as now performed, they would neither know nor own it to be the ordinance commanded them by Christ, and practised by them. But as it is administered according to the pattern, and as first delivered, it appears to be of a heavenly original ; the counsel of God, a wise appointment of his, and in which all the Three Persons have a concern ; they all appeared at the bap tism of Christ, and gave a sanction to the ordinance by their presence ; the Father by a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ! as in his person so in this act of his, in submitting to the ordinance of baptism ; the Son in human nature, yielding obedience to it ; and the Spirit descending on him as a dove ; and it is ordered to be administered in the name of all Three, Father, Son, and Spirit. Which, among other things, is expressive of divine authority, under which it is performed. Christ received from God the Father honour and glory, as at his transfiguration, so at his baptism,' by the voice from heaven, owning his relation to him, as his Son, and expressing his well-pleasedness in him, as obedient to his will ; the Son of God, in human nature, not only left an example of it, that we should tread in his steps ; though he himself baptized none, yet he counte nanced it in his disciples, and gave them orders to do it ; which orders were repeated, and a fresh commission given for the same after his resurrection from the dead : and the Spirit of God showed his appro bation of it, by his descent on Christ at his baptism ; and his authority for it is to be seen in the administration of it in his name, as in the name of the other Two Persons ; so that it is to be regarded, not as an institution of men, but as an ordinance of God ; as a part of right- VOL. II. s s

626 OP BAPTISM. eousness to be fulfilled, a branch of the righteous will of God, to be observed in obedience to it. III. The subjects of baptism are next to be inquired into; or who they are to whom it is to be administered, and according to the Scripture-instances and examples, they are such who,—1. Are enlightr ened by the Spirit of God to see their lost state by nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and Christ as the only Saviour of sinners, who look to him and are saved ; and such only can see to the end of the ordinance, which is to represent the sufferings and death, burial and resurrection of Christ ; hence baptism was by the ancients called <paiTio-nos, illumination ; and baptized persons 4>a)n6tyier<H, enlightened ones ; and the Syriac and Ethiopio versions of Heb. vi. 4 translate the word enlightened by baptized; an emblem of this was the falling off from the eyes of Saul, as it had been scales, signifying his former blindness, and ignorance, and unbelief, now removed ; upon which he arose and was baptized, Acts ix. 18. — 2. Penitent persons ; such who having seen the evil nature of sin, repent of it, and acknowledge it, such were the first who were baptized by John that we read of; they were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins, Matt. iii. 6 ; being made sensible of them, they ingenuously confessed them ; and such were the first who were baptized alter Christ had renewed the commission to his disciples, upon his resurrection, to teach and baptize ; such as were pricked to the heart, wore exhorted to profess repentance and, give evidence of it, and then be baptized, as they were, Acts ii. 37, 38, 41; and it is pity that these first examples of baptism were not strictly followed. — 3. Faith in Christ is pre-required to baptism, Mark xvi. 16; this is clear from the case of the eunuch desiring baptism, to whom Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest ; by which it seems, that if he did not believo, he had no right to the ordinance ; but if he did, he had ; upon which he professed his faith in Christ, and upon that profession was .baptized, Acts viii. 36 ; and the various instances of baptism recorded in Scripture confirm the same ; as of the inhabitants of Samaria, who, upon believing in Christ, were baptized both men and women ; so the Corinthians hearing the word preached by the apostlo Paul, believed in Christ, whom he preached, and were baptized, upon their faith in him, Acts viii. 12 and xviii. 8; and with out faith it is impossible to please God in any ordinance or part of worship ; and what is not of faith is sin ; and without it no one can see to the end of the ordinance of baptism, as before observed.— 4. Such who are taught and made disciples by teaching, are the proper subjects of baptism, agreeable both to tho practice of Christ and his commission ; it is said, that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than Jokn, John iv. 1 ; he first made them disciples, and then baptized them, that is, ordered his apostles to baptize them; and so runs his commission to them, Go teach all nations, baptizing them, that is, those that are taught, and so made disciples ; and they are the disciples of Christ, who have learnt to know him, and are taught to deny sinful, righteous, and civil self, for his sako, and to take up the cross and follow him. — 5. Such who have received the Spirit of God, as a Spirit of illumination and

"of baptism. 627 conviction, of sanctification and faith, as the persons before desciibed may well be thought to have, should be admitted to baptism, Acts x. 47 ; from all which it appears, that such who are ignorant of divine things, impenitent, unbelievers, not disciplos and followers of Christ, and who are destitute of the Spirit, are not proper subjects of baptism, let their pretences to birthright be what they may; and so not the infants of any, be they born of whom they may, and to whom the above characters, descriptive of the subjects of baptism, do by no means belong: with respect to their first birth, though born of believing parents, they are carnal and corrupt, and children of wrath, as others ; That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and they must be born again, or they cannot see, possess, and enjoy the kingdom of God, or have a right to be admitted into the church of God now, nor will they enter into the kingdom of God, into heaven hereafter, unless born again ; their first and carnal birth neither entitles them to the king dom of God on earth, nor to the kingdom of God in heaven, be it taken in either sense ; for the baptism of such there is neither precept nor precedent in the word of God. i. There is no precept for it ; not the words of Christ in Matt. xix. 14, But Jesus said, Suffer little children, &c. For, 1. Let the words be said to or of whom they may, they are not in the form of a precept, but of a permission or grant, and signify not what was enjoined as necessary, but what was allowed of, or which might be ; Suffer little children, &c — 2. These children do not appear to be new-born babes. The words used by the evangelists, neither iraibia nor fipe<pri, do not always signify such, but are sometimes used of such who are capable of going alone, and of being instructed, and of understanding the Scriptures, and even of one of twelve years of age, Matt. xviii. 2, 2 Tim. iii. 15, Mark v. 39, 42. Nor is it probable that children just born should be had abroad ; besides, these were such as Christ called unto him, Luke xviii. 16, and were capable of coming to him of themselves, as is supposed in the words themselves ; nor is tneir being brought unto him, nor is taking them in his arms, any objection to this, since the same are said of such who could walk of themselves, Matt. xii. 22 and xvii. 16, Mark ix. 36. — 3. It cannot be said whose children these were; whether they belonged to those who brought them, or to other; and whether the children of believers, and of baptized persons, or not; and if of unbelievers, and of unbaptized persons, the paedobaptists themselves will not allow such children to be baptized. — 4. It is certain they were not brought to Christ to be baptized by him, but for other purposes ; the evangelist Matthew, verse 13, 15, says, they were brought to him that he should put his hands upon them and pray, as he did, that is, for a blessing on them, as it was usual with the Jews to do, Gen. xlviii. 14, 15. The evangelists Mark and Luke say, they were brought to him, that he would touch them, as he did when he healed persons of diseases ; and probably these children were diseased, and were brought to him to be cured ; however, they were not brought to be baptized by Christ ; for Christ baptized none at all, adult or infants ; had they that brought se2

628 OF BAPTISM. them this in view, they would have brought them to the disciples of Christ, and not to Christ, whom they might have seen administering the ordinance of baptism, but not Christ : however, it is certain they were not baptized by Christ, since he never baptized any. — 5. This passage rather concludes against paedobaptism than for it, and shows that this practice had not obtained among the Jews, and had not been used by John, by Christ, and his disciples ; for then the apostles would scarcely have forbid the bringing' of these children, since they might readily suppose they were brought to be baptized ; but knowing of no such usage in the nation, whether of them that did or did not believe in Christ, they forbade them ; and Christ's silence about this matter, . when he had such an opportunity of speaking of it to his disciples, and enjoining it, had it been his will, does not look very favourable upon this practice. — 6. The reason given for suffering little children to come to Christ, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, is to be understood in a figurative and metaphorical sense ; of such who are comparable to children for modesty, meekness, and humility, and for freedom from rancour, malice, ambition, and pride ; see Matt. xviii. 2; and which sense is given into by Origen, among the ancients, and by Calvin and Brugensis, among the moderns. Nor does the commission in Matt. xxviii. 19, contain in it any precept for infant baptism ; Go, teach all nations, baptizing them, &c For, 1. The baptism of all nations is not here commanded; but the baptism only of such who are taught ; for the antecedent to the relative them, cannot be all nations ; since the words -navra ra eOvy, all nations, are of the neuter gender; whereas avrovs, them, is of the masculine ; but ixaOtvras, disciples, is supposed and understood in the word naO-qTtvo-aTt, teach, or make disciples ; now the command is, that such who are first taught or made disciples by teaching under the ministry of the word, by the Spirit of God succeeding it, should be baptized. — 2. If infants, as a part of all nations, and because they are such, are to be baptized, then the infants of Heathens, Turks, and Jews, ought to be baptized, since they are a part, and a large part, of all nations ; as well as the children of Christians, or believers, which are but a small part ; yea, every individual person in the world ought to be baptized, all adult persons, heathens as well as Christians ; even the most profligate and abandoned of mankind, since they are a part of all nations. — 3. Disciples of Christ, and such who have learned to know Christ, and the way of salvation by him, and to know themselves, and their need of him, are characters that cannot agree with infants ; and if disciples and learners are the same, as is said, they must be learners or they cannot be disciples ; and they cannot be learners of Christ unless they have learnt something of him ; and according to this notion of disciples and learners, they ought to learn something of him before they are baptized in his name ; but what can an infant be taught to learn of Christ I to prove infants disciples that text is usually brought, Acts xv. 10, which falls greatly short of proving it; for infants are not designed in that place, nor included in the character ; for though the Judaizing teachers would have had the Gentiles, and

OF BAPTISM. 629 their infants too, circumcised ; yet it was not circumcision, the thing itself, which is meant by the intolerable yoke ; for that was what the Jewish fathers, and their children, were able to bear, and had borne in ages past ; but it was the doctrine of the necessity of that, and other rites of Moses, to salvation ; and which obliged to the keeping of the whole law, and was intolerable ; and which doctrine could not be im posed upon infants, but upon adult persons only. — 4. These two acts, teaching, or making disciples, and baptizing, are not to be confounded, but are two distinct acts, and the one is previous and absolutely necessary to the other : men must first be made disciples, and then baptized ; so Jerome long ago understood the commission ; on which he observes, " First they teach all nations, then dip those that are taught in water ; for it cannot be that the body should receive the sacrament of baptism, unless the soul has before received the truth of faith." And so says Athanasiusc, " Wherefore the Saviour does not simply command, baptize ; but first says, teach, and then baptize thus, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; that faith might come of teaching, and baptism be perfected." n. There is no precedent for the baptism of infants in the word of God. Among the vast numbers who flocked to John's baptism from all parts, we read of no infants that were brought with them for that purpose, or that were baptized by him. And though more were baptized by Christ than by John, that is, by the apostles of Christ, at his order, yet no mention is made of any infant baptized by them ; and though three thousand persons were baptized at once, yet not an infant among them : and in all the accounts of baptism in the acts of the apostles in different parts of the world, not a single instance of infant baptism is given. There is, indeed, mention made of households, or families baptized ; and which the paedobaptists endeavour to avail themselves of; but they ought to be sure there were infants in these families, and that they were baptized, or else they must baptize them on a very precarious foundation ; since there are families who have no infants in them, and how can they be suro there were any in these the Scriptures speak of ? and it lies upon them to prove there were infants in them, and that these infants were baptized ; or the allegation of these instances is to no purpose. We are able to prove there are many things in the account of these families which are inconsistent with infants, and which make it at least probable there were none in them, and which also make it certain that those who were baptized were adult persons and believers in Christ. There are but three families, if so many, who are usually instanced in : the first is that of Lydia and her household, Acts xvi. 14, 15 ; but in what state of life she was is not certain, whether single or married, whether matd, widow, or wife ; and if married, whether she then had any children, or ever had any ; and if she had, and they living, whether they wero infants or adult ; and if infants, it does not seem probable that she should bring them along with her from her native place, Thyatira, to Philippi, where she seems to have been upon business, and so had • Contr. Arian. orat. 3, p. 209.

630 OF BAPTISM. hired a house during her stay there ; wherefore her household seems to have consisted of menial servants she brought along with her, to assist her in her business : and certain it is, that those the apostles found in her house, when they entered into it, after they came out of prison, were such as are called brethren, and were capable of being comforted by them ; which supposes them to have been in some distress and trouble, and needed comfort. The second instance is of the jailer and his household, which consisted of adult persons, and of such only ; for the apostles spoke the word of the Lord to all that were in his house, which they were capable of hearing, and it seems of understanding; for not only he rejoiced at the good news of salvation by Christ, but all in his house hearing it, rejoiced likewise ; which joy of theirs was the joy of faith ; for he and they were believers in God, Father, Son, and Spirit ; for it is expressly said, that he rejoiced, believing in God with all his house ; so that they were not only hearers of the word, but rejoiced at it, and believed in it, and in God the Saviour, revealed in it to them, verse 32—34 ; all which shows them to be adult persons, and not infants. Tho third instance, if distinct from the household of the jailor, which some take to be the same, is that of Stephanas ; but be it a different one, it is certain it consisted of adult persons, believers in Christ, and very useful in the service of religion ; they were the first-fruits of Achaia, the first converts in those parts, and who addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, 1 Cor. xvi. 15 ; which, whether understood of the ministry of the word to the saints, which they gave themselves up unto ; or of the ministration of their substance to the poor, which they cheerfully communicated, they must be adult persons, and not infants. There being then neither precept nor precedent in the word of God for infant baptism, it may be justly condemned as unscriptural and unwarrantable. in. Nor is infant baptism to be concluded from any things or passages recorded either in the Old or in the New Testament. Baptism being an ordinance peculiar to the New Testament, it cannot be expected there should be any directions about the observance of it in the Old Testa ment ; and whatever may be gathered relative to it, from typical and figurative baptisms, under the former dispensation, there is nothing from thence in favour of infant baptism, and to countenance that; and yet we are often referred thereunto for the original and foundation of it, but to no purpose. * 1. It is not fact, as has been asserted, that the infants of believers have, with their parents, been taken into covenant with God in the former ages of the church, if by it is meantthe covenant of grace ; the first covenant made with man was that of works, made with Adam, and which indeed included all his posterity, to whom he stood as a federal head, as no one ever since did to his natural offspring; in whom they all sinned, were condemned, and died ; which surely cannot be pleaded in favour of the infants of believers ! after tho fall, tho covenant of grace, and the way of life and salvation by Christ, were revealed to Adam and Eve, personally, as interested therein ; but not to their natural seed and posterity, and as interested therein ; for then

OP BAPTISM. 631 all mankind must be taken into the covenant of grace, and so nothing peculiar to the infants of believers ; of which not the least syllable is mentioned throughout the whole ago of the church, reaching from Adam to Noah. The next covenant we read of is that made with Noah, which was not made with him and his immediate offspring only ; nor were any taken into it as infants of believers, nor had they any Bacrament or rite as a token of it, and of God being their God in a peculiar relation. Surely this will not be said of Ham, one of the immediate sons of Noah. That covenant was made with Noah, and with all man kind to the end of the world, and even with every living creature, the beasts of the field, promising security from a universal deluge, as long as the world should stand ; and so had nothing in it peculiar to the infants of believers. The next covenant is that made with Abraham and his seed, on which great stress is laid, Gen. xvii. 10—14 ; and this is said to bo the grand turning point on which the issue of the controversy very much depends ; and that if Abraham's covenant, which included his infant children, and gave them a right to circum cision, was not the covenant of grace ; then it is confessed, that the main ground is taken away, on which the right of infants to baptism is asserted ; and consequently the principal arguments in support of the doctrine are overturned. Now, that this covenant was not tho pure covenant of grace, in distinction from the covenant of works, but rather a covenant of works, will soon be proved ; and if so, then the main ground of infants' baptism is taken away, and its principal argu ments in support of it overturned : and that it is not the covenant of grace is clear,—1. From its being never so called, nor by any name which shows it to be such ; but the covenant ofcircumcision, Acts vii. 8. Now, nothing is more opposite to one another than circum cision and grace ; circumcision is a work of the law, which they that sought to be justified by fell from grace, Gal. v. 2—4. Nor can this covenant bo the same we are now under, which is a new covenant, or a new administration of the covenant of grace, since it is abolished, and no more in being and force. — 2. It appears to be a covenant of works, and not of grace ; since it was to be kept by men, under a severe penalty. Abraham was to keep it, and his seed after him; something was to be done by them, their flesh to be circumcised, and a penalty was annexed, in case of disobedience or neglect ; such a soul was to be cut off from his people : all which shows it to be, not a cove nant of grace, but of works. — 3. It is plain, it was a covenant that might be broken ; of the uncircumcised it is said, He hath broken my covenant, Gen. xvii. 14; whereas the covenant of grace cannot be broken ; God will not break it, and men cannot ; it is ordered in all things, and sure, and is more immoveable than hills and mountains, Psalm lxxxix. 34. — 4. It is certain it had things in it of a civil and temporal nature ; as a multiplication of Abraham's natural seed, and a race of kings from him ; a promise of his being tlie father of many nations, and a [possession of the land of Canaan by his seed : things that can have no place in the pure covenant of grace, and have nothing to do with that, any more than the change of his name from Abram

632 OP BAPTISM. to Abraham. — 5. There were some persons included in it who cannot be thought to belong to the covenant of grace ; as Ishmael, not in the same covenant with Isaac, and a profane Esau : and on the other hand, there were some who were living when this covenant of circum cision was made, and yet were left out of it ; who, nevertheless, undoubtedly, were in the covenant of grace ; as Shem, Arphaxad, Melchizedek, Lot, and others ; wherefore this can never be the pure cove nant of grace. — 6. Nor is this covenant the same with what is referred to in Gal. iii. 17, said to be confirmed of God in Christ, which could not be disannulled by the law four hundred and thirty years after ; the distance of time between them does not agree, but falls short of the apostle's date twenty-four years ; and therefore must not refer to the covenant of circumcision, but to some other covenant and time of making it ; even to an exhibition and manifestation of the covenant of grace to Abraham, about the time of his call out of Chaldea, Gen. xii. 3. — 7. The covenant of grace was made with Christ, as the federal head of the elect in him, and that"from everlasting, and who is the only head of that covenant, and of the covenant-ones : if the covenant of grace was made with Abraham, as the head of his natural and spiritual seed, Jews and Gentiles ; there must be two heads of the covenant of grace, contrary to the nature of such a covenant, and the whole current of Scripture ; yea, the covenant of grace, as it concerns the spiritual seed of Abraham, and spiritual blessings for them ; it, and the promises of it, were made to Christ, Gal. iii. 16. No mere man is capable of covenanting with God ; the covenant of grace is not made with any single man ; and much less with him on the behalf of others : when ever we read of it as made with a particular person or persons, it is always to be understood of the manifestation and application of it, and of its blessings and promises to them. — 8. Allowing Abraham's cove nant to be a peculiar one, and of a mixed kind, containing promises of temporal things to him, and his natural seed, and of spiritual things to his spiritual seed ; or rather, that there was at the same time when the covenant of circumcision was given to Abraham and his natural seed, a fresh manifestation of the covenant of grace made with him and his spiritual seed in Christ. That the temporal blessings of it belonged to his natural seed, is no question ; but that the spiritual blessings belong to all Abraham's seed, after the flesh, and to all the natural seed of believing Gentiles, must be denied : if the covenant of grace was made with all Abraham's seed according to the flesh, then it was made with his more immediate offspring, with a mocking, per secuting Ishmael, and with a profane Esau, and with all his remote posterity ; with them who believed not, and whose carcases fell in the wilderness ; with the ten tribes who revolted from the pure worship of God ; with the Jews in Isaiah's time, a seed of evil-doers, whose rulers are called the rulers of Sodom, and the people, the people of Gomorrah ; with the scribes and Pharisees, that wicked and adul terous generation in the times of Christ : but what serious, thoughtful man, who knows anything of the covenant of grace, can admit of this, see Rom. ix. 6. 7. It is only a remnant, according to the election of

OF BAPTISM. 633 grace, who are in this covenant ; and if all the natural seed of Abraham are not in this covenant, it can scarcely be thought that all the natural seed of believing Gentiles are ; it is only some of the one and some of the other, who are in the covenant of grace ; and this cannot be known until they believe, when they appear to be Abraham's spiritual seed ; and it must be right to put off their claim to any supposed privilege arising from covenant-interest, until it is plain they have one ; if all the natural seed of Abraham, as such, and all the natural seed of believing Gentiles, as such, are in the covenant of grace ; since all they that are in it, and none but they are in it, who are the chosen of God, the redeemed of the Lamb, and will be called by grace, and sanctified, and persevere in faith and holiness, and be eternally glori fied ; then the natural seed of Abraham, and of believing Gentiles, must be all chosen to grace and glory, and be redeemed by the blood of Christ from sin, law, hell, and death ; they must all have new hearts and spirits given them, and the fear of God put into their hearts ; must be effectually called, their sins forgiven them, their persons justified by the righteousness of Christ, and they persevere in graco to the end, and be for ever glorified ; see Jer. xxxi. 33, 34, and xxxii. 40. But who will venture to assert all this of the one or of the other ? And after all,— 9. If their covenant-interest could be ascertained, that gives no right to an ordinance, without a positive order and direction from God. It gave no right to circumcision formerly ; for on the one hand there were persons living when that ordinance was appointed, who had an undoubted interest in the covenant of grace ; as Shem, Arphaxad, Lot, and others, on whom circumcision was not enjoined, and they had no right to use it ; on the other hand, there have been many of whom it cannot be said they were in the covenant of grace, and yet were obliged to it. And so covenant-interest gives no right to baptism ; could it be proved, as it cannot, that all the infant seed of believers, as such, are in the covenant of grace, it would give them no right to baptism, without a command for it ; the reason is, because a person may be in covenant, and as yet not have the pre-requisite to an ordinance, even faith in Christ, and a profession of it, which are neces sary both to baptism and the Lord's supper ; and if covenant-interest gives a right to the one, it would to the other. — 10. Notwithstanding all this pother made about Abraham's covenant, Gen. xvii., it was not made with him and his infant seed ; but with him and his adult offspring ; it was they in all after ages to the coming of Christ, whe ther believers or unbelievers, who were enjoined to circumcise their infant seed, and not all of them, only their males : it was not made with Abraham's infant seed, who could not circumcise themselves, but their parents were by this covenant obliged to circumcise them ; yea, others, who were not Abraham's natural seed, were obliged to it ; He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, which is not of thy seed, Gen. xvii. 12. Which leads on to observe, n. That nothing can be concluded from the circumcision of Jewish infants, to the baptism of the infants of believing Gentiles : had there been a like command for the baptism of the infants of believing

634 OF BAPTISM. Gentiles, under the New Testament, as there was for the circumcision of Jewish infants under the Old, the thing would not have admitted of any dispute ; but nothing of this kind appears. For, — 1. It is not clear that even Jewish infants were admitted into covenant by the rite of circumcision ; from whence it is pleaded, that the infants of believers are admitted into it by baptism; for Abraham's female seed were taken into the covenant made with him, as well as his male seed, but not by any visible rite or ceremony ; nor were his male seed admitted by any such rite ; not by circumcision, for they were not to be circum cised until the eighth day ; to have circumcised them sooner would have been criminal; and that they were in covenant from their birth, I presume, will not be denied ; as it was a national covenant, so early they were in it ; the Israelites, with their infants at Horeb, had not been circumcised ; nor were they then when they entered into cove nant with the Lord their God, Deut. xxix. 10—15. — 2. Circumcision was no seal of the covenant of grace under the former dispensation ; nor is baptism a seal of it under the present : had circumcision been a seal of it, the covenant of grace must have been without one from Adam to Abraham : it is called a sign or token, but not a seal; it was a sign or mark in the flesh of Abraham's natural seed, a typical sign of the pollution of human nature, and of the inward circumcision of tho heart; but no seal, confirming any spiritual blessing of tho covenant of grace to those who had this mark or sign ; it is indeed called a seal of the righteousness offaith, Rom. iv. 11, but not a seal to Abraham's natural seed of their interest in that righteousness, but only to Abraham himself; it was a seal to him, a confirming sign, assuring him, that the righteousness of faith, which he had before he was circumcised, should como upon the uncircumcised believing Gentiles ; and therefore it was continued on his natural offspring, until that righteousness was preached unto, received by, and imputed to believing Gentiles. — 3. Nor did baptism succeed circumcision ; there is no agree ment between one and the other ; not in the subjects, to whom they were administered; tho use of the one and the other is not the same, and the manner of administering them different ; baptism being adminis tered to Jews and Gentiles, to male and female, and to adult persons only ; not so circumcision ; the use of circumcision was to distinguish the natural seed of Abraham from others ; baptism is the badge of the spiritual seed of Christ, and the answer of a good conscience towards God ; and represents the sufferings, burial, and rosurrection of Christ ; the one is by blood, the other by water ; and the ordinances so much differing in their subjects, use, and administration ; one can never be thought to come in tho room and place of the other. Besides, baptism was m use and force before circumcision was abolished, which was not until the death of Christ ; whereas, tho doctrine of baptism was preached, and the ordinance itself administered, some years before that; now that which was in force before another is out of date, can never with any propriety be said to succeed, or come in room of that other. Besides, if this was the case as circumcision gave a right to the pass-over, so would baptism to the Lord's supper ; which yet is not admitted.

OF BAPTISM. 635 Now, as there is nothmg to be gathered out of the Old Testament to countenance infant baptism, so neither are there any passages in the New which can be supported in favour of it. i. Not the text in Acts ii. 39, The promise is unto you and to your children, &c It is pretended that this refers to the covenant made with Abraham, and to a covenant promise made to him, giving his infant children a right to the ordinance of circumcision ; and is urged as a reason with the Jews, why they and their children ought to be baptized ; and with the Gentiles, why they and theirs should be also, when called into a church-state. But,—1. There is not the least mention made in the text of Abraham's covenant, or of any promise made to him, giving this infant seed a right to circumcision, and still less to baptism ; nor is there the least syllable of infant baptism, nor any hint of it, from whence it can be concluded ; nor by children aro infants designed, but the posterity of the Jews, who are frequently so called in Scripture, though grown up ; and unless it be so understood in many places, strange interpretations must be given of them; wherefore the argument from hence for paedobaptism is given up by some learned men, as Dr. Hammond and others, as inconclusive. — 2. The promise here, be it what it may, is not observed as giving a right or claim to any ordinance ; but as an encouraging motive to persons in distress, under a sense of sin, to repent of it, and declare their repentance, and yield a voluntary subjection to the ordinance of baptism, when they might hope that remission of sins would be applied to them, and they should receive a larger measure of the grace of the Spirit ; wherefore repentance and baptism are urged in order to the enjoyment of the promise ; and consequently must be understood of adult persons, who only are capable of repentance, and of a voluntary subjection to baptism. — 3. The promise is no other than the promise of life and salvation by Christ, and of remission of sins by his blood, and of an increase of grace from his Spirit ; and whereas the persons addressed had imprecated the guilt of the blood of Christ, they had shed, upon their posterity, as well as on themselves, which distressed them ; they are told, for their relief, that the same promise would be made good to their posterity also, provided they did as they were directed to do ; and even to all the Jews afar off, in distant countries and future ages, who should look on Christ and mourn, repent, and believe, and be baptized : and seeing the Gentiles aro sometimes described as those afar off, the promise may be thought to reach to them who should be called by grace, repent, believe, and be baptized also ; but no mention is made of their children ; and had they been mentioned, the limiting clause, Even as many as the Lord our God shall call, plainly points at and describes the persons intended, whether Jews or Gentiles, effectually called by grace, who are encouraged by the motive in the promise to profess repentance, and submit to baptism ; which can only be understood of adult persons, and not of infants. ii. Nor Rom. xi. 16, &c, If thefirst-fruits be holy, &c For,—1. By the first-fruits, and lump, and by the root and branches, are not meant Abraham and his posterity, or natural seed, as such ; but the first

OF BAPTISM. among the Jews who believed in Christ, and laid the first foundation of a gospel church-state, and were first incorporated into it ; who being holy, were a pledge of the future conversion and holiness of that people in tho latter day. — 2. Nor by the good olive-tree, after mentioned, is meant the Jewish church-state ; which was abolished by Christ, with all the peculiar ordinances of it ; and the believing Gentiles were never ingrafted into it ; the axe has been laid to the root of that old Jewish stock, and it is entirely cut down, and no ingrafture is made upon it. But,—3. By it is meant the gospel church-state, in its first founda tion, consisting of Jews that believed, out of which were left the Jews who believed not in Christ, and who are the branches broken off; into which church-state the Gentiles were received and ingrafted, which ingrafture or coalition was first made at Antioch, when and hereafter the Gentiles partook of the root and fatness of the olive-tree, enjoyed the same privileges, communicated in the same ordinances, and were satisfied with the goodness and fatness of the house of God ; and this gospel church may be truly called, by the converted Jews in the latter day, their own olive-tree, into which they will be ingrafted ; since the first gospel church was set up at Jerusalem, and gathered out of the J ews ; and so in other places, the first gospel churches consisted of Jews, the first-fruits of those converted ones. From the wholo it appears, that there is not the least syllable about baptism, much less of infant baptism, in the passage ; nor can any thing be concluded from hence in favour of it. in. Nor from 1 Cor. vii. 14, For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband ; else were your children unclean, but now are they holy ; which is by some under stood of a federal holiness, giving a claim to covenant-privileges, and so to baptism. But,—1. It should be told what these covenant-privi leges are ; since, as we have seen, covenant-interest gives no right to any ordinance, without divine direction ; nor is baptism a seal of the covenant : it should be told what this covenant-holiness is, whether imaginary or real ; by some it is called reputed, and is distinguished from internal holiness, which is rejected from being the sense of the text ; but such holiness can never qualify persons for a New Testa ment ordinance ; nor has the covenant of grace any such holiness belonging to it ; that provides, by way of promise, real holiness, signified by putting the laws of God in the heart, by giving new hearts and new spirits, and by cleansing from all impurity, and designs real, internal holiness, shown in a holy conversation ; and such who appear to have that, have an undoubted right to the ordinance of baptism, since they have received the Spirit as a Spirit of sanctification, Acts x. 47. But this cannot be meant in the text, seeing, —2. It is such a holiness as heathens may have ; unbelieving husbands and wives are said to have it, in virtue of their relation to believing wives and husbands, and which is prior to the holiness of their children, and on which theirs depends ; but surely such will not bo allowed to have federal holiness, and yet it must be of the same kind with their children's ; if the holi ness of the children is a federal holiness, that of the unbelieving parent

OF BAPTISM. 637 must be so too, from whenco is the holiness of the children. — 3. If children, by virtue of this holiness, have a claim to baptism, then much more their unbelieving parents, since they are sanctified before them, by their believing yokefellows, and are as near to them as their children; and if the holiness of the one gives a right to baptism, why not the holiness of the other? and yet the one are baptized, and the other not, though sanctified, and whose holiness is the more near ; for the holi ness spoken of, be it what it may, is derived from both parents, believing and unbelieving ; yea, the holiness of the children depends upon the sanctification of the unbelieving parent ; for if the unbeliever is not sanctified, the children are unclean, and not holy. But,— 4. These words are to be understood of matrimonial holiness, even of the very act of marriage, which, in the language of the Jews, is fre quently expressed by being sanctified; the word unp to sanctify, is used in innumerable places in the Jewish writings, to espouse; and in the same sense the apostle used the word ayiafa here, and the words may be rendered, the unbelieving husband is espoused, or married, to the wife ; or rather, has been espoused, for it relates to the act of marriage past, as valid; and the unbelieving wife has been espoused to the husband; the preposition ev, translated by, should be rendered to, as it is in the very next verse ; God hath called us tv eiptfin], to peace ; the apostle's infer ence from it is, else were your children unclean, illegitimate, if their parents were not lawfully espoused and married to each other ; but now are they holy, a holy and legitimate seed, as in Ezra ix. 2, see Mal. ii. 15 ; and no other sense can be put upon the words, than of a legitimate marriage and offspring ; nothing else will suit with the case proposed to the apostle, and with his answer to it, and reasoning about it : and which sense has been allowed by many learned interpreters, ancient and modem ; as Jerome, Ambrose, Erasmus, Camerarius, Musculus, and others. There are some objections made to the practice of adult baptism, which are of little force, and to which an answer may easily be returned. 1 . That though it may be allowed, that adult persons, such as repent and believe, are the subjects of baptism, yet it is no where said, that they are the only ones : but if no others can be named as baptized, and the descriptive characters given in Scripture of baptized persons are such as can only agree with adult, and not with infants ; then it may be rea sonably concluded, that the former only are the proper subjects of baptism. — 2. It is objected to our practice of baptizing the adult offspring of Christians, that no scriptural instance of such a practice can be given ; and it is demanded of us to givo an instance agreeable to our practice ; since the first persons baptized were such as were converted either from Judaism or from Heathenism, and about the baptism of such adult, they say, there is no controversy. But our practice is not at all concerned with the parents of the persons baptized by us, whether they be Christians, Jews, Turks, or Pagans ; but with the persons themselves, whether they are believers in Christ or no ; if they are the adult offspring of Christians, yet unbaptized, it

638 OP BAPTISM. is no objection to us ; and if they are not, it is no bar in the way of admitting them to baptism, if they themselves are believers; many, and it may be the greater part of such baptized by us, are the adult offspring of those who, without breach of charity, cannot bo considered as Christians. As for the first persons that were baptized, they were neither proselytes from Judaism nor from Heathenism; but the offspring of Christians, of such that believed in the Messiah ; the saints before the coming of Christ, and at his coming, were as good Christians as any that have lived since ; so that those good men who lived before Abraham, as far back as to the first man, and those that lived after him, even to the coming of Christ, Eusebius d observes, that if any should affirm them to be Christians, though not in name, yet in reality, ho would not say amiss. Judaism, at the time of Christ's coming, was the same with Christianity, and not in opposition to it ; so that there was no such thing as conversion from Judaism to Christianity. Zachariah and Elizabeth, whose offspring John the first baptizer was, and Mary, the mother of our Lord, who was baptized by John, when adult, were as good Christians, and as strong believers in Jesus, as the Messiah, as soon as born, and even when in the womb of the virgin, as have been since ; and these surely must be allowed to be the adult offspring of Christians ; such were the apostles of Christ, and the first followers of him, who were the adult offspring of such who believed in the Messiah, and embraced him upon the first notice of him, and cannot be said to be converted from Judaism to Christianity ; Judaism not existing until the opposition to Jesus being the Messiah became general and national ; after that, indeed, those of the Jewish nation who believed in Christ, may be said to be proselytes from from Judaism to Christianity, as the apostle Paul and others : and so converts made by the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles, were proselytes from Heathenism to Christianity; but then it is unreasonable to demand of us instances of the adult offspring of such being baptized, and added to the churches ; since the Scripture history of the first churches, contained in the Acts of the Apostles, only gives an account of the first planting of these churches, and of the baptism of those of which they first consisted ; but not of the additions of members to them in after-times ; wherefore to give instances of those who were born of them, and brought up by them, as baptized in adult years, cannot reasonably be required of us : but on the other hand, if infant children wero admitted to baptism in these times, upon the faith and baptism of their parents, and their becoming Christians ; it is strange, exceeding strange, that among the many thousands baptized in Jerusalem, Samaria, Corinth, and other places, that there should be no one instance of any of them bringing their children with them to be baptized, and claiming the privilege of baptism for them upon their own faith ; nor of their doing this in any short time after. This is a caso that required no length of time, and yet not a single instance can be produced. — 3. It is objected, that no time can be assigned when infants were cast out of covenant, or cut off from the seal of it. # by " Eccles. Hist. 1.1, c. 4.

OP BAPTISM. 639 the covenant is meant the covenant of grace, it should be first proved that they are in it, as tho natural seed of believers, which cannot 'be done ; and when that is, it is time enough to talk of their being cast out, when and how. If by it is meant Abraham's covenant, the cove nant of circumcision, the answer is, the cutting off was when circum cision ceased to be an ordinanco of God, which was at the death of Christ : if by it is meant the national covenant of tho Jews, the ejection of Jewish parents with their children, was when God wrote a Lo-ammi upon that people, as a body politic and ecclesiastic ; when he broke his covenant with them, signified by breaking his two staffs, beauty and bands. — 4. A clamorous outcry is made against us, as abridging the privileges of infants, by denying baptism to them; making them to be lesser under tho gospel dispensation than under the law, and the gospel dispensation less glorious. But as to the gospel dispensation, it is the more glorious for infants being left out of its church-state : that is, for its being not national and carnal, as before ; but congregational and spiritual ; consisting not of infants, without understanding, but of rational and spiritual men, believers in Christ ; and these not of a single country, as Judea, but in all parts of the world : and as for infants, their privileges now are many and better, who are eased from the painful rite of circumcision ; it is a rich mercy, and a glorious privilege of the gospel, that tho believing Jews and their children are delivered from it ; and that the Gentiles and theirs are not obliged to it ; which would have bound them over to fulfil the whole law: to which may be added, that being born of Christian parents, and having a Christian education, and of having opportunities of hearing the gospel as they grow up ; and that not in one country only, but in many ; are greater privileges than the Jewish children had under the former dispensation. — 5. It is objected, that there arc no more express commands in Scripture for keeping the first day of the week as a Sabbath ; nor for women's partaking of the Lord's supper, and other things, than for the baptism of infants. As for the first, though there is no express precept for the observance of it, yet there are precedents of its being observed for religious services, Acts xx. 7, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 ; and though we have no example of infant baptism, yet if there were scriptural precedents of it, we should think ourselves obliged to follow them. As for women's right to partake of tho Lord's supper, we havo sufficient proof of it ; since these were baptized as well as men ; and having a right to one ordinance, had to another, and were members of the first church, communicated with it, and women, as well as men, were added to it, Acts viii. 12, and i. 14, and v. 1, 14 ; we have a precept for it ; Let a man, avOpawos, a word com mon to both genders, and equally signifies man and woman, examine him or herself, and so let him or her eat, 1 Cor. xi. 29 ; and we have also examples of it in Mary, tho mother of our Lord, and other women, who, with the disciples, constituted the gospel church at Jeru salem ; and as they continued with ono accord in the apostles' doctrine and in prayer, so in fellowship and in breaking of bread ; let the same proof be given of tho baptism of infants, and it will be admitted. —

640 OF BAPTISM. 6. Antiquity is urged in favour of infant baptism ; it is pretended that this is a tradition of the church received from the apostles ; though of this no other proof is given but the testimony of Origen, none before that ; and this is taken, not from any of his genuine Greek writings, only from some Latin translations, confessedly interpolated, and so corrupted, that it is owned, one is at a loss to find Origen in Origen. No mention is made of this practice in the first two centuries, no instance given of it until the third, when Tertullian is the first who spoke of it, and at the same time spoke against it. And could it be carried up higher, it would be of no force, unless it could be proved from the sacred Scriptures, to which only we appeal, and by which the thing in debate is to be judged and determined. We know that innovations and corruptions very early obtained, and even in the times of the apostles ; and what is pretended to be near those times, is the more to be suspected as the traditions of the false apostles * ; the anti quity of a custom is no proof of the truth and genuineness of it f ; Tlie customs of the people are vain, Jer. x. 3. I proceed to consider, IV. The way and manner of baptizing ; and to prove that it is by immersion, plunging the body in water, and covering it with it. Cus tom, and the common use of writing in this controversy, have so far prevailed, that for the most part immersion is usually called the mode of baptism ; whereas it is properly baptism itself ; to say that immer sion or dipping is the mode of baptism, is the same thing as to say, that dipping is the mode of dipping ; for as Sir John Floyer6 observes, " Immersion is no circumstance, but the vory act of baptism used by our Saviour and his disciples, in the institution of baptism." And Calvinh expressly says, " The word baptizing signifies to plunge; and it is certain that the rite of plunging was used by the ancient churches." And as for sprinkling, that cannot, with any propriety, be called a mode of baptism ; for it would be just such good sense as to say, sprinkling is the mode of dipping, since baptism and dipping are the same; hence the learned Selden', who in the former part of his life might have seen infants dipped in fonts, but lived to see immersion much disused, had reason to say, " In England, of late years, I ever thought the parson baptized his own fingers rather then the child," because he dipped the one, and sprinkled the other. That baptism is immersion, or the dip ping of a person in water, and covering him with it, is to be proved, j. From the proper and primary signification of the word /3aim(a>, baptize, which in its first and primary sense signifies, to dip or plunge into; and so it is rendered by our best lexicographers, mergo, immergo, dip or plunge into. And in a secondary consequential sense, abluo, lavo, wash, because what is dipped is washed, there being no proper washing but by dipping; but never perfundo or aspergo, pour or sprinkle; so the lexicon published by Constantino, Budjeus, &c, and those of * Quod longinquitas temporis objicitur, co major suspicio inesse debet, cmanassc illas tniditionci a pscudo apostolis ; qui mirandum in modum conturbaverunt sanctos apostolos ., quo magis cavendum est, viri Christiani.— Aonii Polcarii Testimonium, c. '2, p. 238. ' Consuctudo sine veritatc vetustas erroris est.— Cyprian. epist. 74, p. 195. e Essay to Restore the Dipping of Infants in Baptism, p. 44. h Instituu 1. 4, c. 15, s. 19. i Opera, vol. 6, col.2008.

OP BAPTISM. 641 Hadrian, Junius, Plautinus, Scapula, Stephens, Schrevelius, Stockius, and others ; besides a great number of critics ; as Beza, Casaubon, Witsius, &c, which might be produced. By whose united testimonies the thing is out of question. Had our translators, instead of adopting the Greek word baptize in all places where the ordinance of baptism is made mention of, truly translated it, and not have left it untranslated, as they have, the controversy about the manner of baptizing would have been at an end, or rather prevented ; had they used the word dip, instead of baptize, as they should have done, there would have been no room for a question about it. ii. That baptism was performed by immersion, appears by the places chosen for the administration of it ; as the river Jordan by John, where he baptized many, and where our Lord himself was baptized by him, Matt. iii. 6, 13, 16; but why should he choose the river to bap tize in, and baptize in it, if he did not administer the ordinance by immersion ? had it been any other way,' there was no occasion for any confluence of water, much less a river k ; a bason of water would have sufficed. John also, it is said, was baptizing in Enon, near Salim, because there was much water, John iii. 23, which was convenient for baptism, for which this reason is given ; and not for conveniency for drink for men and their cattle, which is not expressed nor implied ; from whence we may gather, as Calvin on the text does, " that baptism was performed by John and Christ, by plunging the whole body under water ;" and so Piscator, Aretius, Grotius, and others on the same passage. m. That this was the way in which it was anciently administered, is clear from several instances of baptism recorded in Scripture, and the circumstances attending them ; as that of our Lord, of whom it is said, that when he baptized he went up straightway out of the water, which supposes he had been in it ; and so Piscator infers from his going up out of it, that therefore he went down into it, and was baptized in the river itself; of which going down there would have been no need, had the ordinance been administered to him in another way, as by sprinkling or pouring a little water on his head, he and John standing in the midst of the river, as the painter and engraver ridiculously describe it: and certain it is, he was then baptized in Jordan ; the evangelist Mark says into Jordan, Mark i. 9, not at the banks of Jordan, but into the waters of it ; for which reason he went into it, and when baptized, came up out of it ; not from it, but out of it ; aito and e£ signifying the same, as in Luke iv. 35, 41. So the prepo sition is used in the Septuagint version of Psalm xl. 2 ; ef and airo aro equipollent as several lexicographers from Xenophon observe. The baptism of the eunuch is another instance of baptism by immersion ; k Some represent the river Jordan, from Sandys's account of it, as if it was a shallow river, and insufficient for immersion ; but what Sandys says of it is only that it was not navigably deep, not nbovo eight fathoms broad, nor, except by accident, heady.—Travels, b. 3, p. 110, ed. 5. But Mr. Maundrcl says, for its breadth, it might be about twenty yards over, and in depth it far exceeds his height. —Journey from Aleppo, &e., p. 83, cd. 7 ; vide Keland. do Palcstina, 1. 1, p. 278 ; et Adamnan. in ib. And therefore must be sufficient for immersion. And Strabo speaks of ships of burden sailing through Jordan. Gcograph. 1. 16, p. 509. And that it was a river to swim in, and navigable, according to the Jewish writers, sec Dr. Gill's exposition of Matt. iii. 6. VOL. II. T T

642 OF BAPTISM. when he and Philip were come into a certain water, to the water-side, which destroys a little piece of criticism, as if their going into the water, after expressed, was no other than going to the brink of the water, to the water-side, whereas they were come to that before ; and baptism being agreed upon, they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him ; and when they were come up out of the water, &c Now we do not reason merely from the circumstances of going down into and coming up out of the water ; we know that persons may go down into water, and come up out of it, and never be immersed in it ; but when it is expressly said, upon these persons going down into the water, that Philip baptized, or dipped, the eunuch ; and when this was done, that both came up out of it, these circumstances strongly corroborate, without the explanation of the word baptized, that it was performed by immersion ; for these circumstances cannot agree with any other way of administering it but that ; for a man can hardly be thought to be in his senses who can imagine that Philip went down with the eunuch into the water to sprinkle or pour a little water on him, and then gravely come out of it ; hence, as the above learned commentator, Calvin, on the text says, " Here we plainly see what was the manner of baptizing with the ancients, for they plunged the whole body into the water ; now custom obtaining, that the minister only sprinkles the body or the head," so Barnabas , an apostolic writer of the first century, and who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, as a companion of the apostle Paul, describes baptism by going down into and coming up out of the water ; " We descend," says he, " into the water, full of sin and filth ; and we ascend, bringing forth fruit in the heart, having fear and hope in Jesus, through the Spirit." iv. The end of baptism, which is to represent the burial of Christ, cannot be answered in any other way than by immersion, or covering the body in water ; that baptism is an emblem of the burial of Christ, is clear from Rom. vi. 4, Col. ii. 12. It would be endless to quote the great number, even of paedobaptist writers, who ingenuously acknow ledge that the allusion in these passages is to the ancient rite of baptism by immersion : as none but such who are dead are buried, so none but such who are dead to sin, and to the law, by the body of Christ, or who profess to be so, are to be buried in and by baptism, or to be baptized ; and as none can be properly said to bo buried, unless put under ground, and covered with earth ; so none can be said to be baptized, but such who are put under water, and covered with it ; and nothing short of this can be a representation of the burial of Christ, and of ours with him ; not sprinkling, or pouring a little water on the face ; for a corpse cannot be said to be buried when only-a little earth or dust is sprinkled or poured on it. v. This may be concluded from the various figurative and typical baptisms spoken of in Scripture. As, —1. From the waters of the flood, which Tertullian calls the baptism of the world, and of which tho apostle Peter' makes baptism the antitype, 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. The ark in which Noah and his family were saved by water, was God's ordinance; it was made according to the pattern he gave to Noah, as ' Ep. c. 9, p. 235, ed. Yobs.

OF BAPTISM. 643 baptism is ; and as that was the object of the scorn of men, bo is the ordinance of baptism, rightly administered ; and as it represented a burial, when Noah and his family wero shut up in it, so baptism ; and when the fountains of the great deep were broken up below, and the windows of heaven were opened above, the ark, with those in it, were as it were covered with and immersed in water ; and bo was a figuro of baptism by immersion : and as there were none but adult persons in the ark, who were saved by water in it, so none but adult persons are the proper subjects of water baptism ; and though there were few who were in the ark, it was attended with a salutary effect to them ; they were saved by water ; so such who truly believe in Christ and are baptized, shall be saved, and that by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; which was typified by the coming of Noah and his family out of the ark, to which baptism, as the antitype, corresponds, being an emblem of the same, Rom. vi. 4, 5, Col. ii. 12. — 2. From the passage of the Israelites under the cloud and through the sea, when they were said to be baptized unto Moses, in the cloud and in t/ie sea, 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. There are several things in this account which agree with baptism ; this was following Moses, who directed them into the sea, and went before them ; so baptism is a following Christ, who has set an example to tread in his steps ; and as the Israelites were baptized into Moses, so believers are baptized into Christ, and put him on ; and this passage of theirs was after their coming out of Egypt, and at the beginning of their journey through the wilderness to Canaan; so baptism is administered to bolievers, at their first coming out of darkness and bondage worse than Egyptian, and when they first enter on their Christian pilgrimage ; and as joy followed upon the former, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel, &c, so it often follows upon the latter; the eunuch, after baptism, went on his way rejoicing ; but chiefly this passage was a figure of baptism by immersion ; as the Israelites were under the cloud, and so under water, and covered with it, as persons baptized by immersion are ; and passed through the sea, that standing up as a wall on both sides of them, with the cloud over them; thus surrounded they were as persons immersed in water, and so said to be baptized ; and thus Grotius remarks upon the passage. — 3. From the divers washings, bathings, or baptisms of the Jews, called divers, because of the different persons and things washed or dipped, as the same Grotius observes, and not because of different sorts of washing, for there is but one way of washing, and this is by dipping ; what has a little water only sprinkled or poured on it, cannot be said to be washed; the Jews had their sprmklings, which were distinct from washings or bathings, which were always performed by immersion ; it is a rule with them, that " wherever in the law washing of the flesh or of the clothes is mentioned, it means nothing else than f]Mti b? r/rxo the dipping of the whole body in a laver ; for if any man dips himself all over except the tip of his little finger, he is still in his uncleannessra," according to them. — 4. From ihe sufferings of Christ being called a baptism ; / have a baptism to be baptized with, &c, Luke xii. m Maimou. Hikhot Mikvaot, c. 1, s. 2. — . T T 2

644 OF BAPTISM. 50, not water baptism, nor the baptism of the Spirit, with both which he had been baptized ; but the baptism of his sufferings, yet to come, he was desirous of ; these are called so in allusion to baptism, as it is an immersion, and is expressive of the abundance of them, sometimes signified by deep waters, and floods of waters ; and Christ is repre sented as plunged into them, covered and overwhelmed with them, Psalm lxii. 7 and lxix. 1, 2. — 5. From the extraordinary donation of the Holy Spirit, and his gifts unto and his descent upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, which is called baptizing, Acts i. 5 and ii. 1, 2, expressive of the very great abundance of them, in allusion to baptism or dipping, in a proper sense, as the learned Casaubon" observes, " Regard is had in this place to the proper signification of the word fiairTi(tiv, to immerse or dip ; and in this sense the apostles are truly said to be baptized, for the house in which this was done was filled with the Holy Ghost, so that the apostles seemed to be plunged into it, as into some pool." All which typical and figurative baptisms servo to strengthen the proper sense of the word, as it signifies an immersion and dipping the body into and covering it in water, which only can support the figure used. Nor is this sense of the word to be set aside or weakened by the use of it in Mark vii. 4, and Luke xi. 38; in the former, it is said, Except they wash, /3oirrtfa>jTai, baptize, or dip themselves, they eat not ; and in it mention is made of /3ottkt^iq)i', wash ings or dippings of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables or beds; and in the latter, the Pharisee is said to marvel at Christ, that he had not first e/3aimo-(?jj, washed, or dipped, before dinner ; all which agrees with the superstitious traditions of the elders here referred to, which enjoined dipping in all the cases and instances spoken of, and so serve but the more to confirm the sense of the word contended for ; for the Pharisees, upon touching the common people or their clothes, as they returned from market, or from any court of judicature, were obliged to immerse themselves in water before they ate ; and so the Samaritan Jews0. " If the Pharisees," says JVtaimonidesf, " touched but the garments of the common people, they were defiled all one as if they had touched a profluvious person, and needed immersion," or were obliged to it : and Scaliger'', from the Jews, observes, " that the more superstitious part of them, every day before they sat down to meat, dipped the whole body ; hence the Pharisees' admiration at Christ," Luke xi. 38. And not only cups and pots and brazen vessels were washed by dipping, or putting them into water, in which way unclean vessels were washed according to the law, Lev. xi. 32; but even beds, pillows, and bolsters, unclean in a ceremonial sense, were washed in this way, according to the traditions of the elders referred to; for they sayr, " A bed that is wholly defiled, if a man dips it part by part, it is pure." Again5, " If he dips the bed in it (a pool of water), though its feet are plunged into the thick clay (at the bottom of the pool), it is clean." And as for pillows and bolsters, thus they say1, "In Act. i. 5. » Epiph. contra Hotes. 1. 1, Iieres. 9. r In Misn. Chagigah, c. 2, a. 7. « Do Emend. Temp. 1. 6, p. 771. ' Maimon. Hilchot Cclim, c. 26, a. 14. • Mi»n. Mikvaot, c. 7, a. 7. « Misn. Mikvaot, c. 7, I. 6.

OP BAPTISM. 645 " A pillow or a bolster of skin, when a man lifts up the mouth of them out of the water, the water which is in them will be drawn ; what must be done ? He must dip them, and lift them up by their fringes." Thus, according to these traditions, the several things mentioned were washed by immersion ; and instead of weakening, strengthen the sense of the word pleaded for. The objections against baptism, as immersion, taken from some instances of baptism recorded in Scripture, are of no force ; as that of the hree thousand, in Acts ii. Not with respect to their number ; it may be observed, that though these were added to the church in one and the same day, it does not follow, that they were baptized in one day ; but be it that they were, there were twelve apostles to administer the ordinance, and it was but two hundred and fifty persons apiece ; and besides, there were seventy disciples, administrators of it, and supposing them employed, it will reduce the number to six or seven and thirty persons each ; and the difference between dipping and sprinkling is very inconsiderable, since the same form of words is used in the one way as in the other ; and therefore it might be done in one day, and in a small part of it too". Nor with respect to convenience for the administration of it ; as water and places of it sufficient to baptize in : here can be no objection, when it is observed, what num bers of private baths were in Jerusalem for ceremonial uncleanness ; the many pools in the city, and the various apartments and things in the temple fit for such a use; as the dipping room for the high priest, the molten sea for the common priests, and the ten brazen lavers, each of which held forty baths of water, sufficient for the immersion of the whole body ; all which they might be allowed the use of, as they were of the temple ; they havmg favour with all the people ; nor with respect to clothes, and change of garments ; it was only every one's providing and bringing change of raiment for himself. Another instance objected to is, that of the baptism of Saul, Acts ix. 18, supposed to be done in the house where he was ; but that does not necessarily follow, but rather the contrary ; since he arose from the place where he was, in order to be baptized ; and admitting it was done in the house, it is highly probable there was a bath in the house, in which it might be performed ; since it was the house of a Jew, with whom it was usual to have baths to wash their whole bodies in on certain occasions ; and had it been performed by sprinkling or pouring a little water on him, he needed not to have rose for that purpose. Besides, he was not only bid to arise aud be baptized, which would sound very oddly if rendered, be sprinkled or poured, Acts xxii. 16 ; but he himself says, that he, with others, were buried by or in baptism, " Ten thousand were baptized in ono day by Austin the monk, in the river Swale, if our histo rians are to be eredited.—Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. 1, p. 154 ; Ranulph. Polychron, 1. 5, c. 10. The twelve sons of Wolodomir, grand prince of Russia, with twenty thousand Russians, in cent. 10, were baptized in one dny by a missionary of Photius, the patriarch ; and the ancient Russians would allow no person to be a Christian, unless he had been dipped quite under water. — Strahlenberg. Histor. Geograph. Descript. of the Northern and Eastern Part of Europe and Asia, ch. 8, p. 283, 286 ; vide Fabricii Lux Evangel, p. 475. No doubt assistance was had in both instances ; but these show what numbers may be baptized in a day. r

646 OF BAPTISM. Rom. vi. 4. Another instance is that of the jailer and his household. Acts xvi. 33 ; in which account there is nothing that makes it im probable that it was done by immersion ; for it seems to be a clear case, that the jailer, upon his conversion, took the apostles out of prison into his own house, where they preached to him and his family, verse 32 ; and after this they went out of the house, and he and his were baptized, very probably in the river without the city, where the oratory was, verse 13 ; for it is certain, that after the baptism of him and his family ; he brought the apostles into his house again, and set meat before them, verse 33, 34 ; upon the whole, these instances pro duced, fail of showing the improbability of baptism by immersion ; which must appear clear and manifest to every attentive reader of his Bible, notwithstanding all that has been opposed unto it. The next thing to be considered is, V. The form in which this ordinance is to be administered ; which is in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holt/ Ghost, Matt, xxviii. 19 ; which contains in it a proof of a Trinity of Persons in the unity of the divine essence, of the Deity of each Person, and of their equality to, and distinction from each other; and shows, that this ordinance is performed under the authority of all Three ; in which a person submitting to it, expresses his faith in them, and invocation of them, and gives up himself to them ; obliging himself to yield obedionce to what they require of him, as well as putting himself under their care and protection. This form is sometimes a little varied and otherwise expressed ; as sometimes only in the name ofthe Lord Jesus, Acts viii. 16 ; which is a part of the form for the whole ; and includes in it the substance of it, and of Christian baptism ; and every thing relating to the person and offices of Christ, and this relation to and connexion with the other Two persons. Cornelius and his family were ordered to be baptized, in the name of the Lord, Acts x. 48 ; that is, in the name of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit ; for Kvpios, Lord, in the New Testament, answers to Jehovah in the Old. The form of bap tism in Matt, xxviii. 19 is in the name of the Father, &c, which single name denotes the one Deity, power, and substance of Father, Son, and Spirit ; the equal dignity, coeternal kingdom, and govern ment in the three perfect Persons ; as it is expressed in the synodical epistle of the general council at Constantinople". VI. The ends and uses for which baptism is appointed, and which are answered by it. 1 . One end of it, and a principal one, as has been frequently hinted, is, to represent the sufferings, burial, and resurrection of Christ ; which is plainly and fully suggested in Rom. vi. 4, 5, Col. ii. 12 ; his suffer ings are represented by going into the water, and being overwhelmed in it, his burial by a short continuance under it, and being covered w Apud Thcodoret. Eccl. Hist. 1. S, c. 9. This form was first changed aud corrupted by M«k the heretic, nnd his followers, in tho second century ; who baptized into the name of the unknown Father of all; into truth the mother of all ; into him who descended on Jesus j into union so" redemption, and communion of powers; the same also first changed and corrupted the mod's; taking a mixture of oil and water, poured it on the head, and then anointed with balsam.—VM4 IrenKum adv. Hreres. 1. 1, c. 18.

op the lord's supper. 647 with it, and his resurrection by an emersion out of it. — 2. It was practised both by John and by the apostles of Christ, for the remis sion of sins, Mark i. 4, Acts ii. 38 ; not that that is the procuring and meritorious cause of it, which only is the blood of Christ ; but they who submit unto it, may, by means of it, be led, directed, and encouraged to expect it from Christ. And so, — 3. In like manner it is for the washing away of sin, and cleansing from it ; Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, Acts xxii. 16 ; this only is really done by the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin ; baptism neither washes away original nor actual sin, it has no such virtue in itx ; but it is a means of directing to Christ the Lamb of God, who by his aton ing blood and sacrifice has purged and continues to take away the sins of men.' — 4. A salutary or saving use and effect is ascribed unto it ; The likefigure whereunto baptism doth also now save us ; should it be asked how, and by what means ? the answer follows, By the resurrec tion of Jems Christ, 1 Pet. iii. 21 ; that is, by leading the faith of the person baptized to Christ, as delivered for his offences, and as risen again for his justification. — 5. In the same passage it is said to be of this use, and to serve this purpose, The answer of a good conscience towards God ; a man who believes baptism to be an ordinance of God, and submits to it as such, discharges a good conscience, the conse quence of which is joy and peace ; for though for keeping the oommands of God there is no reward, yet there is in keeping them ; and this is their reward, the testimony of a good conscience : for great peace have they which love God and keep his commandments. — 6. Yielding obedience to this ordinance of Christ, is an evidence of love to God and Christ, 1 John v. 8 ; and such who from a principle of love to Christ keep his commandments, may expect, according to his promise, to have fresh manifestations of his and his Father's love, and to have communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, John xiv. 15, 21, 23. This is an end to be had in view, in obedience to it, and a very encouraging one. OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. After the ordinance of Baptism follows the ordinance of the Lord's supper ; the one is preparatory to the other ; and he that has a right to the one has a right to the other ; and none but such as have sub mitted to the former, ought to be admitted to the latter. Baptism is to be administered but once, when we first make a profession of Christ, and of faith in him ; but the ordinance of the supper is to be frequently administered, and continued throughout the stage of life, it bemg our spiritual food, for the support and maintenance of our spiritual life. It goes by various names in Scripture ; it is called the body and blood of Christ, from the subject-matter of it, and that by Christ himself, This is my body, and this is my blood, Matt. xxvi. 26, 28 ; which in this ordinance are symbolically represented to the faith of the Lord's peo- " Non enim aqua lavat animaiu, sed ipin jirius lavatur a Spiritu.—Aonii Palcarii Testimonium, c. 2, p. 24.

648 of the lord's supper. pie : and sometimes It is called, The communion of the body and blood of Christ, 1 Cor. x. 19, because the saints have in it communion with Christ, he sups with them and they with him ; and particularly enjoy the fellowship of his sufferings, or partake of the blessings of grace which flow from the sufferings of Christ, from the offering up of his body, and the shedding of his blood. Sometimes it is called, This bread, and this cup of the Lord, 1 Cor. xi. 27, because the bread repre sents Christ himself, the bread of life, and the cup signifies the New Testament in his blood. Sometimes it is expressed by breaking of bread, Acts ii. 42 and xx. 7, a part for the whole, so denominated from a particular action used in the administration of it. And it is called, The Lord's Table, 1 Cor. x. 21, by a metonymy, for the food and enter tainment upon it ; a table which the Lord has prepared and furnished, at which he himself sits and welcomes his guests : and with great pro priety may it be called a feast, because of the richness and plenty of the provision in it ; as it seems to be in 1 Cor. v. 8, Let us keep the feast ; not the feast of the pass-over, now abolished, but the feast of the Lord's supper, which exhibits Christ, the true pass-over, sacrificed for us. But its most significant and expressive name, and which is com monly in use, is The Lord's supper, 1 Cor. xi. 20, a supper, being insti tuted after the pass-over, which was killed between the two evenings, and eaten in the night ; and was first performed by Christ the evening in which he was betrayed ; nor does this detract from the grandeur of the entertainment, since not only with the Romans their principal meal was a supper, but with the Jews also, especially their nuptial feasts were kept in the evening. And it is called the Lord's supper because it is by his appointment ; it is made by him and for him ; he is the sum and substance of it, and when rightly performed, it is according to his will ; he is the maker and master of the feast, and is the feast itself. There are divers other names which are given to this ordinance by the ancients ; to recite which is to little purpose ; the chief and principal, and the most ancient is, that of the eucharist, by which name it was called in the 'times of Justin Martyr, and by Ignatius and Irenaeus before him, from a part of it, thanksgiving, and because the whole of it gives just occasion for thanksgiving, for the many blessings of grace it exhibits to the view of faith. In treating of it, I shall consider, I. The author of it, and show it to be an ordinance of Christ pecu liar to the gospel dispensation, a standing ordinance in it, and which is to continue until the second coming of Christ. i. It was instituted by Christ himself ; who not only has given an example to do as he has done, which has great force and authority in it ; he not only practised and celebrated it himself, which was giving a sufficient sanction to it ; but he has, by precept, enjoined it on his apostles and disciples, and all succeeding ministers, and on all his fol lowers, to the end of the world ; which is contained in these precep tive words of his used by him at the first institution of the ordinance ; Take, eat, this is my body ; drink ye all of this, for this is my blood; this do in remembrance of me, Matt. xxvi. 2,6, 27, Luke xxii. 19 ; and par

of the lord's supper. 649 ticularly the apostle Paul expressly declares, that what he delivered concerning this ordinance, he receivedfrom the Lord, 1 Cor. xi. 23 ; so that this is not a device, and an invention of his, nor did he receive it of men, nor was taught it, but he had it by the revelation of Christ ; and this being instituted by Christ, and celebrated by him the same night in which he was betrayed, shows the very great love of Christ to his church and people, and his affectionate concern for them, and care of them ; that at a time his sufferings were coming upon him to an amazing degree, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, when he that was to betray him was at hand, when he was just about to be delivered into the hands of sinful men, who would put him to death, and when he was just ready to suffer and die for his people ; that he should then, amidst all his sorrows, and the near approach of his most dreadful sufferings, think of his people, and provide for them a divine repast, spiritual food for their entertainment to the end of the world. ii. This ordinance is peculiar to the gospel-dispensation. It was indeed typified by what Melchezidek did, who was himself a type of Christ, as king of righteousness and of peace, and as the priest of the most high God, who brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his weary troops returning from the slaughter of the kings ; so saints, who are in a warfare state, and are good soldiers of Christ, and are engaged in a war with potent and spiritual enemies, are regaled by Christ with bread and wine, and with what is signified by them ; and what is better than these. This ordinance was also pointed at in prophecy, respecting gospel times, as what should be in use when those times came. So in Prov. ix. there is a prophetic representation of the church of Christ in gospel times, and of the provisions in it, and of guests invited to partake of them by the ministers of the gospel, who m Christ's name are bid to say, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. And in Isa. xxv. 6, this feast is hinted at, which is a prophecy respecting gospel times ; which, among other things, may include and have respect unto the ordinance of the supper ; but that itself was not instituted nor practised till the night in which Christ was betrayed. in. This is a standing ordinance in the church of Christ. It was not only kept the first night it was instituted and observed ; but in after-times, after the death and resurrection of Christ ; it was observed by the first church at Jerusalam, the members of which are commended for continuing in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, meaning, the ordinance of the supper ; the disciples at Troas met together on the first day of the week to break bread, that is, to celebrate this ordinance of Christ ; and though there were disorders in the church at Corinth, in the celebration of it, yet the thing itself was not denied nor neglected by them, though they were disorderly in their attendance on it. Justin Martyr gives us a very particular account of the cele bration of it in his time, which was in the second century, and so it has been continued in the churches of Christ ever since to this day. iv. It is to continue to the end of the world ; it is one of those

650 OP THE LORD'S StJPPER. ordinances that oannot be shaken and removed, but will remain ; it is among those all things, and a principal one of them, Christ ordered his apostles, and succeeding ministers, to teach his followers to observe ; promising to be with them, so doing, to the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 20 ; and this is plainly suggested by the apostle Paul, when he says, As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death, till he come, 1 Cor. xi. 26 ; which cannot be understood of his coming by the effusion of his Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost ; for in this sense he was come when this instruction was given ; nor is it an objection of any force, that types, figures, shadows, and cere monies, are now ceased ; for though the shadows of the ceremonial law, which were figures of good things to come, are ceased, Christ, the body and substance, being come ; yet there may be and are figures and representations of him as come, and commemorative of him, and of the good things come by him ; baptism is said to be a figure, that is, of the burial and resurrection of Christ, 1 Pet. iii. 21 ; and so the Lord's supper is a figure of his broken body and blood shed, as will be seen hereafter. I proceed to consider, II. The matter of the ordinance, or the outward elements of it, the bread and wine, which are the symbols of the body and blood of Christ. i. Bread; whether the bread was leavened or unleavened bread, has been a matter of warm dispute between the Greek and Latin churches ; the latter insisting on the use of unleavened bread, since that was what was used by our Lord at the first institution of this ordinance, it being at the time of the passover, the feast of unleavened bread, when no other was to be had ; and the apostle directs to keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth : that the bread Christ used in this ordinance was unleavened bread, is not to be doubted ; but that it was designed as a rule in after administration, is a question ; since Christ seems to have taken it without respect to its being leavened or unleavened, but as being at hand, and at that time in common use ; nor does it seem so agreeable to retain and continue a Jewish ceremony at the passover in a gospel ordinance ; and though the apostle, in the exhortation referred to, alludes to the bread of the pass-over, yet by this figurative expression he cannot be thought to design the use of unleavened bread in the Lord's supper ; but that every ordinance of God, and so this, should be observed with a sincere affection to 'Christ and one another. It seems to be quite an indifferent thing what broad is used in the ordinance, be it what it may, which is used in any country for common food ; such was the bread the disciples used at Troas, when they met to break bread, which was several days after the Jewish feast of unleavened bread was over, and so that sort of bread was not then in use. However, the round wafers of the papists cannot be allowed of, they being not properly bread, nor so made as to be broken and dis tributed in pieces, nor palatable, nor fit for nourishment; and so improper emblems of what is spiritually nutritive. Now the bread in the ordinance of the supper is a symbol of the

OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 651 body and flesh of Christ ; The bread, says Christ, that I will give, is my flesh, John vi. 51, 55; which words, though not spoken of the Lord's supper, which was not then instituted, yet might be said with respect to it, by way of anticipation, and, however, serve to illustrate and explain what our Lord said in it ; This is my body, that is, a symbol and sign of it, when he took the bread, blessed it, and brake it ; and so says the apostle ; The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Cor. x. 16 ; not his mystical body, the church, but his natural body, which was formed in the womb of tho virgin by the Holy Spirit, and which Christ took into union with his divine Person, and which he offered up upon the cross. And the bread in the supper is a symbol of this body, not as living either on earth or in heaven, but as dead, the life of it being laid down by Christ, and given for the life of his people ; though now raised and alive, and lives for evermore : nor as glorified, the form of which was marred by his sufferings and death, but raised, has a glory given it, and is become a glorious body ; but as such the bread broken in the ordinance is not a symbol of it ; but as crucified, suffering, slain, and dead : for in it Christ is evidently set forth before the eyo of faith, as crucified ; and to him as such believers are directed to look, whom they have pierced, and mourn ; and as he is to be beheld in the midst of the throne, so particularly in this ordinance ; A Lamb as it had been slain ! Christ's body broken by sufferings and death, is signified by the bread broken in it ; for these words, This is my body, 1. Are not to be understood in a proper sense, as if the bread was transubstantiated into the real body of Christ ; this is contradicted by the testimony of the senses, of seeing, tasting, and smelling ; by all which the bread appears to be the same after its separation to the use of the ordinance it was before : it is contrary to reason, that accidents should be without a subject ; that the qualities and properties of bread should remain, and not the bread itself; that a body should be in more places at one and the same time, and Christ have as many bodies as there are conseorated wafers ; which is most absurd ; it is contrary to the nature of Christ's body, which was like ours when on earth, and at the time of the institution ; and after his resurrection was visible and palpable, and consisting of flesh and blood ; and is now ascended to heaven, where it will be retained until the time of the restitution of all things ; and is not everywhere, as it must be, if its real pre sence is in the ordinance in all places, and at all times, where and when it is administered : it is contrary to Scripture, which declares the bread to be bread when blessed and broken ; The bread which we break ; and this bread that ye eat ; and this cup that ye drink ; and as the bread is still called bread, so the wine in the cup, the fruit of the vine ; no real change is made in the one nor in the other : it is contrary to the very nature and design of the ordinance ; it confounds the sign and the thing signified : if the bread is no more bread, it ceases to be a sign, and the body of Christ cannot be signified by it ; the analogy between both is taken away ; to say no more, it is impious and blasphemous for a priest to take upon him, by muttering over a

652 of the lord's SUPPEH. few words, to make the body and blood of Christ, and then eat them ! The folly, or rather madness of such, is reproved by Cicero the heathen, who thought no man could be so mad as to believe what he ate to be a God *. 2. The phrase, This is my body, is to be understood in a figurative sense ; the bread is a figure, symbol, and representation of the body of Christ ; many scriptural phrases are so to be understood ; as when Joseph said to Pharaoh, The seven good kine are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years ; so seven kine and ears signified, or were symbols of seven years of plenty ; and the- lean kine and thin ears, so many years of famine. Again, in the parable of the sower, the seed and tares, signified such and such persons, and were emblems of them. Also, That rock was Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4 ; that is, was a figure and representation of him ; so the bread is the body of Christ, a figure, sign, and symbol of it. Christ compares himself to a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, and reviving and bringing forth fruit, expressive of his sufferings and death, and of the blessed conse quences thereof, John xii. 24. Bread-corn is a figure of Christ, as prepared for food, which is beaten out, winnowed, ground, kneaded, and baked, ere it becomes proper food for men ; so Christ, by his various sufferings, being bruised, broken, crucified, and sacrificed for us, becomes proper food for faith ; and as such is he represented, viewed, and received in the ordinance of the supper. Bread is the main sustenance of men, and is called the staff of bread, being the staff of life ; which is of a very strengthening and nourishing nature, and is the principal means of maintaining and preserving life ; of all which use is a crucified Christ, as he is held forth to faith, both in the preaching of the gospel and in the administration of this ordinance. ii. The wine is another part of this ordinance, and of the matter of it, and one of the outward elements of it, a symbol of the blood of Christ. It is a question, whether the wine used at the first institution of the ordinance was red or white ; at the pass-over that which was the best, whether red or white, was ordered to be used ; the red was generally so accounted ; it is reckoned by some a matter of indiffer ence ; and therefore some, to show their sense of it as such, and to assert their Christian liberty, have sometimes used the one, and some times the other ; though it may not be essentially necessary, I cannot but be of opinion, that the red, called the blood of the grape, is most expressive of, and bears a greater resemblance to the blood of Christ, of which it is a symbol. It is also a question, whether the wine used was mixed or pure ; since it was usual with the Jews, whose wines were generous, to mix them, Prov. ix. 2 ; but there is no need to dilute them in our climates ; and as the quantity is so small drunk at the ordinance, there is no danger of intoxication in those who are least used to it ; though it is certain, mixing wine and water very early obtained, even in Justin's time ; but that there should be a mystery in it, signifying, the blood and water which sprung from the 7 Ecquam tam amentem cue putas, qui illud quo vescatur, Dcum eredat esse?—Cicero de Natura Dcorum, 1. 3, «. 19.

OF THE LORDS SUPPER. 653 side of Christ when pierced, and the union of the two natures in him, seems too fanciful. However,—1. The wine is a symbol of the blood of Christ ; for Christ says of it, This is my blood, that is, a figure and representation of it ; not that it was really changed into the blood of Christ, for it is called, the fruit of tho vine, as before observed, after it was poured into the cup and blessed, Matt. xxvi. 28, 29 ; and the apostle Paul says, The cup of blessing ichich we bless, is it not the com munion of the blood of Christ ? 1 Cor. iv. 6 ; and it is a symbol of it, not as in his veins, but as shed from tho various parts of his body, particularly his hands, feet, and side, when pierced; and as wine is squeezed out of the grape in the wine-press, so the blood of Christ was pressed from him, when it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and when he trod the wine-press of divine wrath ; and as wine cheers the heart of man, so the blood of Christ, applied by tho Spirit, speaks peace and pardon to guilty minds, and puts joy and gladness into broken hearts and wounded spirits. The wine in the supper is called, The blood of the New Testament ; and the cup, The New Testament in Christ's blood ; by which is meant, the covenant of grace, sometimes called a testament or will, which became of force by the death of Christ, the testator, and which was ratified, its blessings and promises, by the blood of Christ ; which is therefore called, The blood of the everlasting cove nant, Heb. xiii. 20. — 2. The wine in the supper is a symbol of tho love of Christ, shown in the shedding of his blood to obtain the remis sion of the sins of his people ; which love is better than wine, than the most ancient, the most generous, the most pure and refined ; and therefore the church determines to remember it more than that ; We will remember thy love more than wine, and which is particularly done in the ordinance of the supper, Cant. i. 2, 4. Now the bread and the wine being two separate articles, may denote and show forth the death of Christ ; the body or flesh being separated from the blood, and the blood from that, in which the life is, death . follows ; and these being distinctly attended to, is expressive of, that separation ; and yet both together make a feast, and afford nourish ment, refreshment, and delight : with food there must be drink, and when with bread wine, both make a banquet ; Christ's church is a ban queting house, and the banquet in it, like Esther's, is a banquet of wine ; such is the ordinance of the supper, a feast of fat things, of wjne on the lees well refined. III. The next to be considered are the significant and expressive actions used by the administrator and the receiver ; both with respect to the bread and the wine. i. With respect to the bread. — By the administrator; Christ, in his own person, at the first institution of the ordinance, and by his minis ters, under his direction, and by his orders and example, in all succeeding ones. 1. Christ took the bread, an emblem of his body, which he took, being actually formed ; and consisting of flesh and blood, he partook of it in the fulness of time ; he took' upon him, not tho nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham ; he took the human nature, consisting of soul

654; OP the lord's supper. and body, into union with his divine person ; and he took this body which he assumed, and offered it without spot to God, an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour ; and of this body, his taking the bread in the supper was an emblem, and of his voluntary oblation of it. 2. He blessed it; or as another ovangelist has it, he gave thanks, Matt. xxvi. 26, Luke xxii. 19 ; such an action was sometimes used by him at other meals. This designs a separation of the bread from a common to a sacred use, as every thing is sanctified by the word and prayer ; by this action the bread was set apart from common use, and appropriated to this solemnity. This is what is sometimes called the consecration of it ; but is no other than its destination to this peculiar service. Blessing it, was asking a blessing on it, as spiritual food, that it might be nourishing and refreshing to those who partook of it ; and giving thanks, is expressing thankfulness for what is signified by it, for Christ is the true bread the Father gives ; for him, the unspeakable gift of his love, and for all the blessings of grace that come by him. 3. He brake it. From this action the whole ordinance is denomi nated breaking of bread, Acts ii. 42, and xx. 7 ; and it was not only used by Christ at first as an example to be followed ; but by ministers in the churches, in all succeeding ages ; in the first church at Jeru salem, and by the disciples at Troas, as the passages referred to show ; and was practised by the apostle at Corinth, and in other places, the bread which we break, &c 1 Cor. x. 16. So Clemens of Alexandria', in the second century, says, "As some divide the eucharist, they suffer every one of the people to take a part :" and Irenaeus", before him, calls it, the broken bread: and even Ignatius* speaks of the bishop and presbytery breaking the one bread. And nothing is more common with the ancients than to speak of the parts and broken pieces in the supper ; yea, to call the supper itself by these names : and this is a very expressive and significant action, and by no means to be omitted ; and was used by Christ, not purely for the sake of dividing and distributing the bread ; but for the sake of representing his death ; it is an emblem of his sufferings, how his body was broken for us, 1 Cor. xi. 24 ; how it was torn by the scourges and lashes of the Roman soldiers, at the order of Pilate ; how his head and temples were torn by the crown of thorns platted about them ; how his hands and feet were pierced with nails, and his side with a spear ; and how body and soul by death were torn and parted asunder ; and he was brought to the dust of death, and liable to be crumbled into innumerable particles ; but that his body was preserved from seeing corruption. Moreover, it is an emblem of the communion of the many partakers of the one bread and of the one body of Christ ; For we, being many, are one bread, for we are all par takers of that one bread, 1 Cor. x. 17. 4. Ho gave it to the disciples, Matt. xxvi. 26. So the minister now gives the bread to the deacons, and they distribute it to the people ; and thus they did in the time of Justin Martyr0 : that every one may have his part and portion. So at the extraordinary and miraculous » Stromit. 1. 1, p. 271. • Adv. Hseres. 1. 5, c. 2. <> Epist. ad Ephes. p. 29. c Apolog. 2, p. 97.

op the lord's supper. 655 meals of the loaves and fishes, Christ, after looking up to heaven, and having blessed and broke, he gave the loaves (broken) to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude; and they did all eat and were filled. There are other significant and expressive actions respecting the bread used by the receiver, or communicant ; as to take and eat. 1. He is to take the bread, or receive it, according to our Lord's direction to his disciples, take : at the Jewish pass-over, every one had a piece of the bread broken set before him, by him that broke it, and he took it in his hand ; and, as before observed from Clemens, it was the usage of the church at Alexandria, for every one of the people to take his part of the eucharist when divided ; and so Dionysiusd, bishop of the same place, speaks of one at the Lord's table, stretching out his hand to receive the sacred food ; and Cyril of Jerusalem says, it was received in the hollow of the right hand, the left hand being underneath it ; for as yet it was not put into the mouth by the admi nistrator, as now the wafer is, by a popish priest. This action of taking the bread, is an emblem of the saints receiving Christ by the hand of faith, and all the blessings of grace with him, John i. 12. 2. The receiver is to eat the bread, being taken ; not as common bread, and as at a common meal ; but in an ordinance way, being separated from common to holy use, and as a symbol of the body of Christ ; and he eats it in such a way worthily, when he discerns the Lord's body in it, as represented by it, and can distinguish that from it, and by faith feed on it ; for this is not to be understood of an oral manducation, or a corporal eating of the flesh and body of Christ, which the Capernaite Jews stumbled at, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ? but of a spiritual eating it by faith ; Socinus ' says, that nothing but bread and wine are received in the Lord's supper, either by believers or unbelievers, neither corporally nor spiritually. It is by faith believers eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ ; it is by faith Christ dwells in their hearts ; and it is by faith they live upon him, and by him ; He that mteth me, even he shall live by me, John vi. 57 ; it denotes a participation of Christ, and of the blessings of grace by him ; to eat of this bread spiritually, is no other than the communion of the body of Christ, or a having fellowship with him while feeding on it, and an appropriation and enjoyment of spiritual blessings in him : as bread taken into the mouth and chewed, is received into the stomach, and digested there ; and becomes incorporated into the very substance of a man, and by which he is nourished and refreshed ; so Christ being received and fed upon by faith, believers are one body and spirit with him, have union to him and communion with him ; there is a mutual indwelling of Christ and them, they are one bread. And having spiritual appetites, hungering and thirsting after Christ, they feed upon him, and grow up in him : the encouragement to eat this bread, as a symbol of Christ's body, and the argument enforcing it is, This is my * Apud Euaeb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 7, c. 9 ; Thcodoret. Hiat. Eccl. 1. 5, c. 18. * Catecli. Mjstagog. 1. 5, s. 18. ' De Cttua Domini Tract. Brcv. p. 754, inter opera ejus, tom. 1.

656 op the lord's supper. body which is given for you, Luke xxii. 19 ; a token of the body of Christ given for them : as their daily bread is the gift of God, and prayed for as such, so Christ, the true bread from heaven, is the gift of his Father, a free-grace gift, and may be freely fed upon ; and his body, which is signified by the bread, is given by himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for, in the room and stead of, his people ; the phrase denotes the voluntary substitution of Christ in their stead, to make atonement for their sins, being delivered for their offences into the hands of justice and death, on account of them ; and therefore they may be encouraged to lay hold upon him by faith, and take him to themselves, as their Saviour and Redeemer ; it is thus expressed by the apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. xi. 24, This is my body which is brokenJar you ; a sign of Christ's broken body, and so fit food for faith to feed upon ; and by it is signified, that the sufferings Christ endured in his body, were in the room and stead of his people, to make satisfaction to divine justice for their sins; and since he, the Pass-over Lamb, is sacrificed for them, they have great encouragement to keep the feast, to eat the broken bread, and to do this, as they are directed, in remembrance of Christ's body being given a sacrifice for them ; and of its being broken, by the hand of divine justice, in their room and stead, Luke xxii. 19, 1 Cor. xi. 24. ii. There are also very significant and expressive actions to be performed, both by the admmistrator and receiver, with respect to the wine. 1. By the administrator ; after the example of Christ, who took the SO, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, the disciples, Matt. xxvi. 27. e took the cup, wine being first poured into it, which, though not expressed, is implied, and the thing signified by it, is the shedding or pouring out of the blood of Christ, after mentioned, verse 28, or the pouring out his soul unto death. Christ's taking it, shows his readiness and willingness to drink of it himself, John xviii. 1 1 ; and then he gave thanks, for the blessings of grace, which came through his blood, of which this was the symbol ; such as justification by his blood, remission of sins, for which it was shed, redemption through it, and peace by the blood of his cross : and having given thanks, he gave it to them, his disciples, to drink of it ; his immediate disciples drank of the cup of sufferings, as well as partook of the blessings of his grace ; here not the former, but the latter is meant. ; 2. Other actions were to be performed by the receiver ; particularly one, every one was to drink of the cup ; Drink ye all of it : this shows that the ordinance was to be administered under both species ; as the bread was to be eaten, the wine was to be drunk ; which is confirmed by the apostle's account of it, 1 Cor. ix. 25—29, and all were to drink of it ; the cup is not to be denied to the common people, and restrained to the minister, as by the church of Rome, both clergy and laity partook of it, from the earliest ages, as appears by innumerable instances in the writings of the ancients, quite down to the council of Constance, in the fifteenth century, when it was ordered not to be given to the common people ; hoc non obstante, the institution of Christ, and the

op the lord's supper. 657 practice of the primitive church, as the edict of the council expresses it g. But according to the first institution of the ordinance and the explanation of it by the apostle Paul, any and every man who examined himself aright, might drink of the cup, as well as eat of the bread : which drinking is to be understood in a spiritual sense, as eating before ; and both are done by close meditation on the sufferings of Christ, and by a special application and appropriation of the blessings of grace by faith ; the wine is not to be drunk as common wine, but as a symbol of the blood of Christ ; and the encouraging motive is, This is my blood of the New Testament, a token of it, by which the New Testament, or the dispensation of the covenant of grace, under the gospel, is ratified and confirmed ; which is shed freely and abundantly ; as it was in the garden, in the hall, and especially on the cross ; for many, for as many as are ordained to eternal life ; for as many as Christ has given himself a ransom for ; for as many as are made righteous by Christ's obedience ; and for the many sons the great Captain of salva tion will bring to glory : and this is shed for them ; it was shed for the remission of sins ; by which it is procured in a way consistent with the holiness and justice of God ; and in this ordinance the faith of the Lord's people is directed to the blood of Christ to look for it. I V. The subjects of this ordinance, or who are the proper persons to be admitted to it, as communicants. i. Not infants : in a literal and natural sense, bread and wine are not food for them, but milk ; and in a spiritual sense, they are not capable of eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ by faith ; nor of examining themselves, previous to such eating and drinking ; nor of recollecting, remembering, and showing forth the death of Christ. In the third century infant communion was admitted of, on a mis taken sense of John vi. 53. Indeed, infants have as good a right to this, as to the ordinance of baptism, which they were admitted to in the same century, on a like mistaken sense of John iii. 5 ; and which practice of infant communion continued in the Latin church six hun dred years after, and still does in the Greek church. ii. Adult persons, who have the use of reason, and know what they do, are the proper subjects of this ordinance ; yet only regenerate persons, who are quickened by the Spirit of God ; for such only have spiritual life in them, and are only capable of receiving spiritual food, for the maintenance of it ; such only can discern spiritual things, and so the Lord's body, which they that discern not eat unworthily ; such only have their taste changed, and can relish divine things ; such only hunger and thirst after Christ, and can be satisfied with feeding on him by faith, and be nourished thereby : to others it must be a dry breast, and of no use. in. Ignorant persons are unfit for this ordinance. Such who par take of it, ought to know themselves, the sinfulness of their state by nature, and the guilt of sin ; that they may see their need of, and be affected with the grace of God in the remission of their sins, through : * Qua: hacc est in verbis Pharisaieis audacia? quo: uno edicto nntichristi impictas ct truculentia ' —Aonii Pnlearii Testimonium, c. 14, p. 344. VOL. II. U U

658 OP the lord's supper. the sufferings, death, and blood-shed of Christ : they ought to have knowledge of Christ, of his person and offices, and especially of him as crucified, and as being the propitiatory sacrifice for sm : they ought to have knowledge of God as their covenant God, whose cove nant, testament, and will, is ratified and confirmed by the blood of Christ : and they ought to be acquainted with the various doctrines of the gospel, which this ordinance has a connexion with ; as justification, pardon of sin, reconciliation, atonement, &o. iv. Persons scandalous in their lives and conversation, are by no means to be allowed subjects of this ordinance ; with such we ought not to eat described 1 Cor. v. 11 ; that is, at the Lord's table. v. None but penitent sinners, and true believers, and those bap tized, upon a profession of their repentance and faith, are to be allowed communicants at this ordinance ; for such only can look to Christ whom they have pierced, and mourn, and exercise godly sor row and evangelical repentance ; such only can eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ in a spiritual sense by faith ; to such only Christ's flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed ; such only can by faith discern the Lord's body, and please him in this ordi nance ; for without faith it is impossible to please God ; wherefore a man, before he eats, should examine himself, whether he has true repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; whether he is truly sensible of sin, and humbled for it, and believes in Christ for the remission of it, 1 Cor. xi. 28, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. V. The ends of this ordinance ; which are to be answered by it. 1. To show forth the death of Christ ; to declare his death, that he did die for the sins of his people ; to set forth the manner of his death, by crucifixion, by his being pierced, wounded, bruised, and broken ; and to express the blessings and benefits of his death, and the faith of his people in them, and thankfulness for them ; for in this ordinanoe Christ is evidently set forth as crucified and slain.— 2. To commemorate the sacrifice of Christ ; Christ was once offered, and needs not to be offered up again ; he has by one offering made perfect atonement for sin ; but because Christ the pass-over is sacri ficed for us, we should keep this feast as a memorial of his sacrifice, and through it look to Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of men. — 3. To remember the love of Christ in dying for us, and in becoming a sacrifice for sin ; hence he directed his disciples both to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him, of his body being broken and of his blood being shed for them ; that is, to remember his love to them, which he expressed thereby, 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. — 4. To show our love to Christ, and thankfulness to him, for the blessings of his grace, by an attendance on this ordinance ; we should call upon our souls, and all within us, to bless his name, and not forget his benefits, especially the great benefit of the redemption of our lives from destruction, by his blood, sufferings, and death.— 5. Another end of it is to maintain love and unity with each other; for by joining together in holy fellowship in this ordinance, we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. But by no means is this

op the lord's supper. 659 ordinance to be used to qualify personB to bear any office under any government, and in any city or corporation. This is a vile and scandalous prostitution of it, which is only intended for sacred uses. VI. The adjuncts of this ordinance, the circumstances attending it, and the concomitants and consequences of it. 1. The time of administering it is to be considered ; not the time of day, morning, noon, or evening, which latter was the time of the first celebration of it, and is most suitable to a supper ; but what day of the week or year, which in ancient times was variously observed ; some were for keeping it every day in the week, and considered it as daily food ; others were for observing it four times in the week; and others every Lord's day, which Dr. Goodwin h thinks is the stated fixed time for it in Scripture ; and so others. The disciples at Troas met together on the first day to break bread ; but whether they did so for that purpose every first day, is not clear and certain. Some kept it once a month, as many churches do now ; at length it came to be observed only three times in the year, at the three grand festivals ; and even to once a year. But though the precise time seems not to be ascertained in Scripture, yet it is plain that it ought to be often practised, as may be concluded from the apostle's words, As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, &c And from the nature of the ordinance, it being in memory of Christ, which ought to be frequent ; and a spiritual repast for souls, which ought to be often repeated.—. 2. The gesture of the body to be used at it, whether kneeling, standing, or sitting ; the former of these looks too much like the adoration of the host the papists plead for ; standing is more eligible, being the gesture of servants, ready to do the will of their masters ; but sitting is to be preferred, being a table-gesture, and conformable to the practice of Christ and his disciples, at the first institution of the ordinance. — 3. The place where celebrated; not in private houses, unless when the churches were obliged to meet there in time of persecution ; but in the public place of worship, where and when the church convened ; so the disciples at Troas came together to break break bread ; and the church at Corinth came together in one place to eat the Lord's supper, Acts xx. 7, 1 Cor. xi. 18, 20, 33 ; for this being a church-ordinance, is not to be administered privately to single persons ; but to the church in a bedy, assembled for that purpose.— 4. When the supper was ended, a hymn was sung by Christ and his apostles, Matt. xxiv. 30, which fulfilled what was prophetically spoken of Christ, and by him, Psalm xxii. 22 ; and to this Pliny may be thought to have respect when he says, that Christians at their meetings sang a hymn together to Christ, as to a God ; and by a sacrament, bound themselves not to commit such and such sins'. — 5. A collection was made for the poor, and distributed to them, which, perhaps, the apostle may havo some respect unto, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2; and so Justin says k, " When prayer and thanksgiving were finished, the richer sort, and as many as would, freely contributed what they thought fit ; and what was collected was deposited with the president, out of which were h Government of Churches, b. 7, ch. 5, p. 329, &c. l Epiat. 1. 10, ep. 97. k Ut supra. U u2

660 OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. relieved the fatherless and widows, the sick, and those in bonds, and strangers ;" and a very fit season this to make a collection for the poor, when the hearts of believers are regaled with the love of, Christ, and enlarged by it. — 6. The continuance of this ordinance is to the second coming of Christ, 1 Cor. xi. 26; and so, as it shows forth the end of his first coming to die for his people, it assures them of his second coming ; and it is not to be made a question of, that this ordinance, and all other public ordinances of the present dispensation, and the ministers of them, will continue to the end of the world, to the second coming of Christ, and then all will cease. OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. Next to the ordinance of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, is the Public Ministration of the Word, which is an ordinance of Christ under the gospel dispensation, to be continued in the church unto the end of the world : Christ, as tho ascended Lord and King, having received gifts for men, gives them to men, qualifying them for the work of the ministry ; which work is to be exercised by them until all the elect of God are gathered in, the members of Christ's body, the church, completed, and the number of the saints perfected, and all brought to a state of maturity in grace, and to everlasting glory and happmess ; all which and more may be observed in Eph. iv. 1 1 —13. I. The public ministry of the word is an ordinance of Christ in the New Testament, and to be continued till his second coming ; it is not, indeed, confined to the New Testament, nor peculiar to it, though most eminent in it. i. There was something similar to it from the beginning, during the Old Testament dispensation. 1. In the patriarchal state ; tho gospel was first preached by the Son of God to Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden; the great salvation first began to be spoken by him, who revealed himself as the Seed of the woman, that should bruise the head of the serpent, Gen. iii. 15, which was the grand text the patriarchs preached from; the truths and doctrines contained in which, as handed down to them, they opened and explained to their posterity, according to the revela tion of the mind and will of God made to them. In the times of Enos, the grandson of Adam, social worship was set up, and men began to perform the public exercises of religion, Gen. iv. 26. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied or preached of the second coming of Christ to judge the world; and no doubt, as he prophesied or preached of that, so of the first coming of Christ, to save men. Nosh was the eighth preacher of righteousness ; for so the words in 2 Pet. ii- 5 may be rendered ' ; though they will admit of another sense, " Even a preacher of the righteousness of faith," of which he was an heir, Heb. xi. 7 ; and Christ, by his Spirit in him, preached to a disobedient multitude with much long-suffering and patience, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. 1 Vido Poli Synopsin in loc. et alio» eriticos, Zegeruro, Drushim, &c.

OP THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. 661 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was one ; who the other six preachers were, is not said. The first Adam, no doubt, was one, whom God made for this end, that he might be a witness, a preacher, and a praiser of his virtues and works, and, as the common master of mankind, might admonish and instruct his children and grand children what they might hope for, or fear, in this life and after it. And righteous Abel was another, who not only preached while alive, but being dead, yet speaketh : and perhaps it may not be very difficult to find out the other four. The distinction of the sons of God, professors of religion, and the sons of men, profane persons, obtained in the times of Noah, and before, Gen. vi. 2. Maimonides m observes, that their wise men say of the prophets that went before them, of the house of the judgment of Eber, and the school of Methuselah, that they were all prophets, and taught men as preachers, doctors, and preceptors do. As Abraham had the gospel preached to him, so he preached it to others, as he had opportunity ; the three hundred and eighteen servants born in his house, were trained up, or instructed D by him in religious things, as the word used signifies, Gen. xiv. 14 ; and a testimony of this is borne of Mm by the Lord himself, Gen. xviii. 19. In the times of Job, who seems to have lived before the giving of the law, the sons of God, professors of religion, met together on a certain stated day, to present themselves, soul and body, to the Lord, in the performance of religious duties, which was but their reasonable service ; and though then they had no written word to read or explain, yet they had a revelation of the mind and will of God to them, by one means or another ; as in visions, by dreams, &c, which they kept not from, but made known to one another, Job vi. 10. 2. Under the Mosaic dispensation there was a tabernacle pitched, called, the tabernacle of the congregation ; and by Onkelos, the taber nacle of the house of doctrine ; where the people resorted and sought doctrine. Priests and Levites were appointed, among other things, to instruct the people of Israel ; they were interpreters and expounders of the law of Moses to them ; the tribe of Levi in general, Deut. xxxiii. 10; and the priests, the sons of Aaron particularly, Lev. x. 11 ; hence we read of a teaching priest, and that the priests lips should keep know ledge, and publish it, 2 Chron. xv. 3, Mal. ii. 7. And the Levites also, who were dispersed among the tribes, were employed in this way ; in the times of Jehoshaphat they taught the people the law of the Lord throughout all the cities of Judah ; and in the times of Josiah they are described as those who taught all Israel what was holy to the Lord, and in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah they read the booh of the law, in the hearing of all the people ; and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading, Neh. viii. 8. 3. Under the first and second temples were prophets, who also were interpreters and expounders of the law, and instructors of the people ; some of which were trained up for that purpose ; hence we read of companies, colleges, or schools of the prophets, and of the sons or disciples of the prophets, at Naioth, Bethel, and Jericho : some were m Moreh Ncvochim, par. 2, c. 39. " VS^Mj Cutechumenot suos, Dnisius.

662 OP THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. more immediately raised up and inspired by God. And these prophets had certain places and stated times, weekly and monthly, where and when the people resorted to them, for counsel, direction, and instruc tion ; as appears from 2 Kings iv. 23 ; the note of Gersom on the place is, " It seems, that in those days, they used to come before great men, to hear their words ; and they taught them in the way in which they should walk, and the work they should do ;" see 2 Kings iv. 38, and vi. 32. The prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, were delivered as the word of the Lord, and published separately and singly, as sermons and discourses to the people ; and particularly it is observed of Ezekiel, that the people came in a body and sat before him, and heard him, and seemingly with great attention, and with much pleasure and delight ; but it is complained of them, that they only heard his words, but did them not. 4. Some time after the Babylonish captivity, synagogues were erected, and synagogue-worship set up ; one part of which lay in public reading and preaching the law in them every Sabbath day : and this was a practice which had obtained of old time, long before the times of Christ and his apostles; a!s appears from Acts xv. 21. In these synagogues our Lord himself taught, and it was a custom with him so to do, and which he was allowed ; and we read of his going into the synagogue at Nazareth on a Sabbath day, where he stood up to read, and had the book of the prophet Isaiah delivered to him, which he opened, and out of it read his text, and then explained and applied it, Luke iv. 15—21. And so the apostles of Christ preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews ; and which they were not onlyallowed, but were called upon by the rulers of the synagogue at a certain place, to give a word of exhortation to the people, if they had any ; by which it appears, that it was not only usual to read the law. but to preach or deliver out a discourse to the people ; and accordingly, we have an account of a sermon the apostle Paul preached in the syna gogue, at their invitation, Acts xiii. 5, 15, 16, &o. ; and this custom of the synagogue is confirmed by Philo the Jew °, who says, that when " they came to the holy places, called synagogues, according to their age in order, the young men sat under the elders (at their feet), and with a deoent composure attended to hearing ; when one taking the book, read ; and another, one of the most skilful, explained what was not known," or was obscure. n. The public ministry of the word more clearly and generally obtained under the New Testament, or gospel dispensation, according to the prophecy of it. The first publio preacher of this kind, and under this dispensation, was John the Baptist ; The law and the prophets were until Jokn, Luke xvi. 16 ; he came first preaching in the wilderness of Judea, in a very loud and clamorous way ; he was the voice of one crying, /So&htos, of one bellowing like an ox, as the word signifies. The doctrine ho preached was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ; which, though rejeeted by the scribes and Pharisees, was received by publicans and harlots ; and this was called, his course, the 0 Quod omnia probus, p. 877.

OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. 663 course of his ministry, which he fulfilled in a very public manner, to all the people of Israel, Acts xiii. 24, 25. Our Lord Jesus Christ, whoso forerunner John was, was the minister of the circumcision, the minister of the word to the circumcised Jews ; he was sent of God to preach the gospel to them, and was anointed with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, without measure, for that purpose ; at whose doctrine his audience was astonished ; he spoke such words of grace and wisdom as never man spoke, to the amazement of those that heard him ; and this he did in the most public manner, in the synagogues and in the temple. The apostles of Christ were called and sent forth by him to be public ministers of the word ; they were called by him from their nets to be fishers of men ; they were sent forth by him at first to preach the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; but after his resurrection he enlarged their commission, and sent them into all the world, to teach all nations, and preach the gospel to every crea ture ; and since there has been a succession of ordinary ministers of the word, more or less, in all ages, whom Christ, by bestowing gifts upon them, has made pastors and teachers, able ministers of the New Testament, and faithful dispensers of the mysteries of grace. in. The public ministry of the word is an ordinance of Christ ; there are private teachings, which are not only commendable, but are obli gatory on men ; as on the heads of families, parents and masters ; parents are to teach their children, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and masters are to instruct their servants, and command their household to keep the way of the Lord; and even women, particularly aged women, are to be teachers of good things ; and every man who has received a gift, though only for private use, should minister it one to another in private conference and conversa tion ; but it is the public ministry of the word which is the special ordinance of Christ for public good and for general usefulness. This is not a device of men, for sinister ends, and with selfish and lucrative views ; but is by the appointment of Christ, who ordered his disciples, that what they heard in the ear they should preach upon the house tops ; that is, in the most public manner ; and therefore sent them into all the world, to preach the gospel to every creature under heaven ; and accordingly the apostle Paul, that eminent minister of the word, preached it publicly, as well as from house to house, and even from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum. It is Christ that appears to men, and calls them, and makes them able and faithful ministers of the New Testament ; hence such are called ministers of God, of his making, and not man's; and good ministers of Jesus Christ; educated, not at schools and academies, but nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine. The gifts qualifying them for such service are from Christ ; the apostle Paul himself was made a minister of the gospel, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto him ; and it is he who gives gifts to ordinary ministers of the word, and makes them pastors and teachers in his churches; the apostles had their mission and commission from him, John xx. 21 ; and so all ministers of the word in successive ages ; for how shall they preach, except they be

664 OP THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. sent ? Rom. x. 15 ; arid they have their doctrines from him, which they are to preach ; the words of the wise are from one Shepherd, who is Christ ; and it is with words and doctrines from him they, as undershepherds, are to feed the flock, even the doctrines of the gospel ; which are not of man, nor taught by man, but are by the revelation of Christ ; particularly such as pardon by his blood, justification by his righteousness, and atonement by his sacrifice ; which he has ordered to be published in his name, to all nations, and which accord ingly bas been. iv. The public ministry of the word is a standing ordinance, to be continued to the second coming of Christ ; there will be ministers, and so a ministry, unto the end of the world, and this will not be until all the elect of God are gathered in : the world, and the continuance of, is for their sake : the reason why the coming of Christ to destroy the world is seemingly deferred, is, because God is not willing that any of his beloved ones should perish, but that all should come to repentance; and when they are all brought in, he will then come and burn the world : hence the work of the ministry, Christ has given gifts to men to qualify them for, will be continued, I. Until all the elect of God come to the unity of the faith, until all and every one of them believe in Christ ; for as many as are ordained unto eternal life, do and shall believe in him ; and as faith comes by hearing the word, the ministration of it will be continued until they all believe. — 2. Until they all and every one come to the knowledge of the Son of God, whom to know is life eternal ; and this knowledge is by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and which Christ himself gives, and that by means of the word, called the word of know ledge ; which must be continued till all know him from the least to the greatest ; and their knowledge, which is now in part, is perfect.— 3. Until they come to a perfect man; that is, until the church of Christ, which like a man consists of various members, is complete, and all the members joined into one body, and set in their proper place, and become as one man; and till every individual is perfect; not only as to parts, but as to degrees, and that in faith, in knowledge, in holiness, and in every grace. And,—4. Until they come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ; that is, the mystical body of Christ, his church, which is his fulness, and will appear so ; when al the elect are gathered in, and are filled with the graces of the Spirit, and these are their full growth, and they have arrived to their just proportion in the body, and to the measure of their stature in it they are appointed to ; and till all this is accomplished, the gospel ministry will continue. I proceed to show, II. That the ministry of the word is a work ; it is called the work of the ministry, Eph. iv. 13 ; it is a ministering work, a service, and not a dominion ; such who are employed in it have not the dominion, neither over the faith nor over tho practice of men, no farther than enjoined by the word of God : the ministry is a service, as the word imports, and not a sine-cure ; there is business to be done, and a great deal of it ; enough to employ all the time and talents of ministers, and

OP THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. 665 no room nor leisure to indulge to sleepiness, to laziness and slothfulness : and it is a laborious work ; the ministers of the gospel are not to be loiterers, but labourers in Christ's vineyard ; they labour in the word and doctrine, which requires much reading of the Scriptures, frequent prayer and constant meditation and study, in preparing for their work, which is a great weariness to the flesh ; and much zeal, fervour, and affection in the performance of it, which is attended with much fatigue, and an expense of the animal spirits ; to which the apostle may have some respect, 2 Cor. xii. 15 ; and the ministers of the gospel are not only fellow-labourers with one another, but with the Lord himself, in his church ; the manuring, cultivation, planting, and watering his vineyard, and the building up of his people in a church-state, are laborious services ; so that if the Lord did not go forth working with them, it would be to no purpose ; Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, which are both parts of the gospel ministry, but God that giveth the increase, success to their minis trations ; and except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it, 1 Cor. iii. 7, 9, Psalm cxxvii. 1 ; but the presence of the Lord with them, and the operation of his hands seen in their ministry, are an encouragement to them : and besides, their work is a good work, 1 Tim. iii. 1. A work pleasantly, profitably, and honourably good ; pleasant to a minister, whose heart is in it ; profitable to them that sit under it, when attended with a divine blessing ; and honourable in itself; what more so than to be the servants of the most high God, and to be employed in such service, as to show unto men the way of salvation ? than to be the ambassadors of Christ, and to stand in his stead ? than to be stewards of the mysteries of Christ, and of the manifold grace of God ? than to be the lights of the world, stars in Christ's right hand, the messengers or angels of the churches, and the glory of Christ ? And it is a work worthy of honour from men ; such who labour in it, are worthy of double honour ; of an honourable maintenance, and of an honourable respect ; they are to be received with gladness, to be had in reputation, to be known, owned, and acknowledged by those over whom they are, as their fathers, guides, and governors ; and to be highly esteemed for their work's sake ; and it is the work of the Lord and of Christ, 1 Cor. xvi. 10, Phil. ii. 30 ; to which they are called by Christ, qualified for it by him, and assisted in it ; of which he is the sum and substance, and when rightly done, makes for his glory : and in this they should be constant, steadfast, and immoveable, always abounding in it, since their labour is not in vain in the Lord ; though no man is sufficient for it of himself; his ability is of God, and his dependence must be upon him both for assistance and success. I go on to inquire, III. Who are fit and proper persons to be employed in this work. 1. They must be of a good moral character; an immoral man is not fit to be a member of a church, much less a minister of the word : among the qualifications of a bishop, overseer, or pastor of a church, several moral characters are observed ; as, that such must be blameless, of good behaviour, and have a good report of them that are without ;

666 OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. inoffensive in life and conversation, lest the ministry should be blamed, and lie under reproach : but then he must be more than a moral man, both in theory and practice ; a mere moralist is not capable of doing the work of an evangelist, or of a gospel preacher. — 2. They must be such who are partakers of the grace of God in truth, or otherwise they will not be able to speak of divine things feelingly and experimentally ; of which they cannot say they have heard, and seen, and felt them, and therefore cannot speak of them ; in some cases they must be dumb, and not able to speak to them ; nor can they have a fellow-feeling with souls tempted and deserted ; nor have compassion on the ignorant ; nor speak a word in season to weary souls : but then, they must have more grace, have more than in common other Christians have ; or else, as Moses wished, all the Lord's people would be fit to be prophets and ministers of the word. But,—3. They must be endowed by Christ with ministerial gifts, such as Christ received for men, and gives unto them, whereby they are made and fitted by him to be pastors and teachers ; it is not grace, nor human learning, nor natural parts, which qualify for the ministry of themselves, though they are all meet and useful ; but a gift from Christ ; the apostle Paul had all the above things, but he ascribes his being a minister of the gospel to neither of them, but to a gift he had received, fitting and qualifying him for this important work, Eph. iii. 7, 8 ; and this gift is in some greater, in others less ; but in all where it is, it more or less qualifies for the work of the" ministry, Rom. xii. 6. — 4. They must be studious in the Scrip tures, and have a competent knowledge of things contained in them ; whereby the man of God, the minister of Christ, may be perfect, tho roughlyfurnished unto all good works, and particularly unto the work of the ministry, 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. They should make the Bible their chief study, and attend to the diligent and constant reading of it, and meditate upon the things in it ; and give themselves up wholly to them, that their profiting in the knowledge of the mystery of Christ might be manifest ; for as they are to feed the churches with knowledge and understanding, it is necessary they themselves should have a good share of such knowledge ; and such who are like Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures, are as scribes, well instructed unto the kingdom of God, Matt. xiii. 52— 5. They must have a call both from God and men to this work ; no man takes this honour to himself, but he that is called of God ; which is the inward call, and is known by the furniture of gifts bestowed upon a man, fitting for such service ; and by the providence of God, inclining and directing the church to separate him to the work to which he has called him ; and the outward call is by the church itself, upon trial of his gifts. And,— 6. They must be sent forth, they must have a mission from Christ, and that by the church, Rom. x. 1 5 ; the apostles of Christ were sent forth by him, as he was by his Father, John xx. 21 ; there were some in Jeremy's time who ran, and were not sent ; prophesied, though not spoken to ; but these were not true pro phets and ministers of God. — 7. They must be such who are counted faithful, and put into the ministry by the Lord himself; as the apostle Paul was, 1 Tim. i. 12 ; not who thrust themselves, who intrude into

OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. 667 this office, and take it to themselves, without the leave of God or men. — 8. They are only the proper persons to exercise this ministry, to whom it is given, and who have received it of the Lord, and have given themselves up to it : the apostle speaks of the ministry of the word as what he had received of the Lord Jesus ; as a gift bestowed on him, a trust committed to him, and therefore was concerned to fulfil it ; and directs to it as an argument to be used with Archippus, to fulfil it, Acts xx. 24, Col. iv. 17 ; and therefore such should give themselves up wholly to it, and employ their time and talents in it ; addict themselves to the ministration of the saints, as the house of Stephanas did ; and as little as possible entangle themselves with the affairs of life, but give themselves to the ministry of the word and prayer, as the apostles chose, Acts vi. 4. — 9. They should be both able and apt to teach, have abilities from Christ, for this work, who only makes men able ministers of the New Testament ; and also have utterance of speech, a gift of elocution, so as to be able to clothe their ideas with proper words, conveying in an easy manner the sense of them to the understanding of others; and should seek to find out acceptable and suitable words, as the royal preacher is said to do, Eccles. xii. 1 0 ; giving pleasure and profit to those that hear them, 2 Tim. ii. 2, 1 Tim. iii. 2. — 10. They must be such who study to show themselves workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth ; giving the true sense of it, searching into the deep things in it, and imparting to every one their portion, agreeable to their age, of children, young men, and fathers ; to children, the sincere milk of the word ; to those more grown, strong meat : also should distinguish between saints and sin ners, the precious and the vile, giving the children their bread, and not holy things to dogsi IV. The subject-matter of the work of the ministry is next to be inquired into. This, in the whole compass of it, takes in the ministra tion of the word, the administration of ordinances, the exercise of church-discipline, and the whole care of the flock ; but that branch of it under consideration is, the ministration of the gospel : and what that is may be learnt, i. From the names by which it is called. — 1. The ministry of the word, in general, the apostles proposed to give themselves up to, Acts vi. 4 ; which is not the word of men, but of God ; and which is spoken by the ministers of it as such, and received by the hearers of it, in whom it works effectually, Heb. xiii. 7, 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; and it is called the word of faith, the word of truth, the word of reconciliation, and the word of life and of salvation. — 2. The ministration of the Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 8 ; so called, because it is to be spoken in words which the Holy Ghost teacheth ; and it makes known the things of the Spirit of God, spiritual truths and doctrines, which the natural man receiveth not ; and by means of it the Spirit of God, and his grace, are com municated and received ; hence a minister of the gospel is described as ono that ministers the Spirit to men ; that is, is the instrument of their receiving the grace and gifts of the Spirit, Gal. iii. 2, 5. — 3. The ministration of righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 9 ; which is the word ofright

668 OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. eousness ; so called, because therein is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith, Rom. i. 17 ; the grand and principal doctrine of it, "is justification by the righteousness of Christ, Acts xiii. 39. — 4. The ministry of reconciliation, which is no other than the gospel of peace ; the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, Eph. vi. 15, Acts x. 36 ; which does not propose to men to make their peace with God ; but declares that peace is made by the blood of Christ, and that reconciliation, atonement, and satisfaction for sin, are made by the sufferings, death, and sacrifice of Christ. ii. What this ministry is may be learnt from what the ministers of Christ are directed to preach, and which they make the subject of their ministrations. As, 1. The gospel : of the gospel they are ministers ; their commission is to preach the gospel ; it is the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which is committed to their trust ; and there is a woe upon them if they preach not the gospel. Which is called,—The gospel of the grace of God, Acts xx. 24 ; it being a declaration of the grace and favour of God in Christ ; that salvation is entirely of grace, and not of works, from first to last ; that the first step to it, election, is the election of grace ; that justification is, freely by the grace of God ; that forgive ness of sins, is according to the riches of grace ; that adoption is owing to the amazing love of God ; and that eternal life is the gift, the freegraco gift of God through Christ : all which are the subjects of the gospel ministry.—It is often called the gospel of Christ, the word of Christ, and the doctrine of Christ ; which treats of his person, as the Son of God ; of his offices, as Mediator, Prophet, Priest, and King ; and of the grace that is in him ; and of the blessings of grace that come by him : and whoever brings not this doctrine, is not to be received and encouraged, 2 John 9, 10.—The gospel of salvation, the word of salvation, and salvation itself; it is a publication of salvation by Christ ; it is the faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners ; it declares, that there is salvation in him, and in no other ; and that whoever believes in him shall be saved : this is the gospel every faithful minister preaches, and every sensible sinner desires to hear. 2. Christ and him crucified is the subject-matter, the sum and sub stance of the gospel ministry ; We preach Christ crucified ; this is the preaching of the doctrine of the cross ; the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Christ ; of peace by the blood of his cross ; of the reconcilia tion of God's elect in one body, by the cross ; of the atonement and expiation of their sins by his sufferings and death upon it ; this the apoatle Paul determined to make the subject, and the alone subject, of his ministrations. in. The ministry of the word takes in every thing respecting doc trine ; and in general it is required, that it be sound ; the words of faith and sound doctrine, the form of sound words, sound speech, which cannot be condemned ; and things which become sound doctrine, which are healthful and salutary, the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus ; and which are opposed to unsound, unhealthful doctrines, false

OP THE PUBLIC MINISTRY. 669 doctrines, which eat as do a canker : and sound doctrine is such as is according to the Scriptures, which are profitable for doctrine ; from whence every doctrine is to be fetched, and thereby proved and con firmed, according to which every minister of the word is to preach, Isa. viii. 20 ; and it is by this rule every hearer is to judge of the soundness or unsoundness of it, as the Bereans did, Acts xvii. 11 ; the doctrine delivered in the ministry of the word should be the same that was preached by Christ and his apostles ; the first Christians con tinued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine ; and indeed if any other doctrine is preached, it is not to be received, Gal. i. 8, 9 ; and this is the doctrine which is according to godliness ; which teaches it, encou rages, promotes, and enforces it ; such as the doctrines of election, of free justification by Christ's righteousness, of full pardon of sin by his blood, and of the final perseverance of the saints ; which are no licen tious doctrines, though slanderously so charged ; but constrain men to live to Christ, who died for them and rose again ; and to which every minister of the gospel should take heed ; this is the apostle's advice to Timothy, Take heed to thyself, and to thy doctrine, 1 Tim. iv. 16; that it be pure and incorrupt, agreeable to the Scriptures, the same with the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and which promotes holiness of life and conversation. iv. The ministry of the word takes in the several duties of religion, which are to be insisted on in their course; and saints are to be exhorted to the exercise of them upon evangelical principles and motives; they are to be taught to observe whatsoever Christ has commanded, every ordinance of his, and every duty both with respect to God and men ; they are to be put in mind to be ready to every good work, and to be careful to maintain them for necessary uses; every duty, public and private, personal, relative, and domestic, as well as every doctrine, are to be inculcated throughout the course of the gospel ministry. V. The manner in which the work of the ministry is to be performed may be next observed. 1 . It should be done diligently and constantly, with great sedulity and perseverance, in season and out of season, 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; and the apostle having mentioned several important doctrines of the gospel, thus charges Titus ; These things I will, that thou affirm constantly, publicly, and privately, and from house to house, as he did, Tit. iii. 8. — 2. With great plainness and perspicuity, 2 Cor. iii. 12 and iv. 2, delivering out truth in a clear and open manner, without disguise; not using ambiguous expressions, phrases of a doubtful or double meaning, and an unintelligible jargon of words ; but language plain and easy to be understood by those of the meanest capacity; yet not base and sordid, but above contempt ; should speak, not m words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in the words of the Holy Ghost, in Scripture language, or what is agreeable to it. — 3. Fully and completely; which is done when every truth is preached, and none concealed, and no duty omitted ; when nothing that is profitable is kept back, and the whole counsel of God is declared ; and when it is preached fully, as it was

670 OP THE PITBLIC MINISTRY. by the apostle Paul ; and full proof of the ministry is made, which he directs to ; and the ministry received of the Lord Jesus is fulfilled, in the several parts and branches of it, 2 Tim. iv. 5, Col. iv. 17. — 4. Faithfully ; ministers are stewards of the mysteries of God, and of his grace, and it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful, as well as wise, 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2 ; a more honourable eharaoter cannot well be had, than what is given of Tychicus, that he was a beloved brother, and faithful minister in the Lord; and nothing can be more desirable, or confer a greater degree of honour, than at last to hear from Christ, Well done, good and faithful servant ! Eph. vi. 21, Matt. xxv. 21, 23. — 5. Sincerely, delivermg out the sincere milk of the word; not corrupting it ; not using any artful methods to colour things, and put a false gloss upon them, but exposing truth to public view m its native simplicity, without any sinister ends and selfish views ; without any strife and contention, but of good will, to the glory of Christ, and the welfare of immortal souls, 2 Cor. ii. 17 andiv. 2, Phil. i. 15, 16. — 6. Fervently; it is said of Apollos, that beingfervent in the Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, Acts xviii. 26 ; and the apostle Paul served God with his Spirit in the gospel of his Son; that is, his whole heart and soul were engaged in the ministration of it, Rom. i. 9. — 7. The gospel, and the truths of it, should be ministered with certainty, and not with doubtfulness ; there is such a thing as the full assurance of understanding in private Christians, Col. ii. 2, and much more should be in ministers of the word; who should not be afraid of being reckoned dogmatical ; they should be so, that is, they ought to be at a point about, and be assured of, the truths they deliver to others ; We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God, said the apostles of Christ ; and so with respect to every other truth ; We believe, and therefore speak, with certainty and confidence, 2 Tim. iii. 14. — 8. And so they may, as they should, speak boldly, as they ought to speak, without the fear of men, which brings a snare; and not seeking to please them, for then they would not be the servants of Christ : thus the apostle, not intimidated with the threats and menaces of men, the persecutions of wicked men, and the opposition of false teachers, was bold in his God to speak the gospel of God with much contention. — 9. The gospel should be preached consistently ; it should be uniform, and all of a piece ; no contradiction, no yea and nay in it; the trumpet should not give an uncertain sound, otherwise it will occasion great confusion in the minds of thoso that hear it, and throw them into the utmost perplexity, not knowing what to believe. —10. The word should be dispensed wisely; the ministers of it should be wise, as well as faithful, to give to every one their portion, and that in due season ; they should study to be skilful workmen, rightly dividing the word of truth ; it requires that they should have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to him that is weary ; he that winneth souls is wise; and being crafty, the apostle says, he caught the Corinthians with guile, not with a sinful, but a laudable and commendable one. VI. The utility of the public ministry of the word may be next con sidered.

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. 671 1. In general ; its use is for the enlargement of the interest of Christ in the world ; and it is by means of the gospel being preached to all nations in all the world, that the kingdom of Christ has been spread everywhere ; not only in Judea, where the gospel was first preached, but throughout the Gentile world, multitudes were converted, and churches were set up everywhere, Christianity triumphed, and heathen ism everywhere abolished. Julian observing this, in imitation of the Christians, and thinking thereby to increase and establish heathenism, appointed lectures and expositions of heathenish dogmas, respecting morality and things more abstruse, and public prayers, and singing at stated hours, in pagan temples. — 2. The ministry of the word is for the conversion of sinners ; without which churches would not be increased nor supported, and must in course fail, and come to nothing ; but the hand of the Lord being with his ministers, many in every age believe and turn to the Lord, and are added to the churches ; by which means they are kept up and preserved : and hence it is neoessary in the ministers of the word, to set forth the lost and miserable estate and condition of men by nature, the danger they are in, the necessity of regeneration and repentance, and of a better righteousness than their own, and of faith in Christ ; which things are blessed for the turning of men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. — 3. Another use of it is, For the perfecting of the saints ; for the completing of the number of the elect, in effectual vocation, even of those who are sanctified, or sot apart by God the Father, by that eternal act of his, choosing them in Christ ; or for the jointing in of the saints, as it may be rendered ; who were disjointed and scattered abroad by the fall of Adam ; these are gathered in by the ministry of the word ; so that none shall perish, but all come to repentance ; and be inserted into the body of the church, and pre sented perfect in Christ Jesus : hence, after this, and previous to what follows, the phrase, for the work of the ministry, is placed; pointing out this two-fold use of it ; as for the perfecting of the saints, so,—4. For the edifying of the body of Christ, Eph. iv. 12 ; that is, his church ; for it is by means of the word, it maketh increase unto the edifying of itself in love, verse 16 ; and thus the churches in Judea, Samaria, and Gafilee, having rest, and peace, and blessed with the ministration of the gospel, were edified, and built up in their most holy faith, as individuals are.— 5. The principal end and use of it, to which all the others tend, is the glory of God, and which ought to be chiefly in view in the performance of it, 1 Pet. iv. 11. OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. The Public Hearing of the Word is another ordinance of divine service under the gospel dispensation. Public reading of the Scrip tures was a part of synagogue-worship, Acts xiii. 15 and xv. 21 ; and reading the Scriptures publicly obtained in the primitive times of Christianity; as appears from Justin Martyr p and lertullian'1; and in p Apolog. 2, p. 98. i De Anima, c. 9.

672 OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WOB.D. after-times there was a particular officer appointed to this service, called the Lector, or reader. Public hearing is connected with the public ministry of the word ; they go together, and suppose each other, and the one cannot be without the other : under the former dispensa tion, there was a public hearing of the law, or word of the Lord, at certain stated times and seasons at the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, the law was to be read before all Israel in their hearing ; men, women, and chil dren, were to be gathered together, that they might hear and learn to fear the Lord their God, Deut. xxxi. 10—13 ; at certain times, as at new moons and Sabbaths, the people used to come and sit before the prophets, and hear the word of the Lord from their mouths ; and even in the Babylonish captivity, it is said to Ezekiel, of the people of the Jews, they come unto thee as the people cometh ; whence it appears it was a custom, and usual so to do. When that people were returned from their captivity, in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, the book of the law was brought forth publicly and read, in the open street, from morning till noon, before men and women, and those that could under stand ; and the ears of all the people were attentive to it, Neh. viii. 2, 3. In some periods of time, under the former dispensation, there was a great scarcity of hearing the word ; in the times of Eh", and when Samuel was young, the word of the Lord was precious ; that is, scarce and rare, as such usually be that are so ; for there was no open vision ; no public prophet, to whom the Lord spoke in vision, and to whom the people could have recourse, to hear and learn, and know the word and will of God. In the times of Asa, the people of Israel had been for a long season without a teaching priest ; and so without hearing the law, or word of the Lord from his mouth ; they had, as it was sometimes threatened, a famine, not a famine of bread, nor of thirstfor water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, 1 Sam. iii. 1 , 2 Chron. xv. 3, Amos viii. 11. Under the gospel dispensation, opportunities of hearing the word have been more frequent, and of hearing it more clearly, plainly, and fully ; of hearing what kings and prophets desired to hear, but heard not ; and that by all sorts of people, and oftentimes in great numbers ; the law and the prophets were, until John, read, explamed, and heard publicly ; Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached, the gospel of the kingdom, in a clearer manner, and every man presseth into it, to hear it, Luke xvi. 16 ; there were great flockings to hear John when he came preaching in the wilderness of Judea ; and multitudes attended the ministry of Christ and his apostles ; in pro cess of time, the Jews indeed put away the word of God from them, and showed themselves unworthy of it, and even of everlasting life ; when the apostles, as they were ordered, turned to the Gentiles, and they gladly received it, Acts xxviii. 28 ; and it is both the duty and privilege of all, who have the opportunity of hearing it, to hear it ;fir faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Rom. x. 17; and this is what is to be treated of ; concerning which may be observed the following things. I. The object of hearing, or what is to bo heard ; this is a matter

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. ' 673 of moment, and about which mep should be cautious; our Lord's advice is, Take heed what you hear, Mark iv. 24 ; not the cunningly devised fables and illusory dreams of men are to be attended to, and heard ; but the word of God ; between which there is as much difference as between chaff and wheat, Jer. xxiii. 28 ; that word, which comes from God, relates his mind and will, especially concerning salva tion by Christ, is to be hearkened unto ; and whatsoever is delivered by the ministers of the gosped, agreeable to the word of God, which is fetched out of it, and confirmed by it, is to be heard and received, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God : not lies, spoken in hypocrisy, as all false doctrines are ; for no lie is of the truth ; not these, but the word oftruth, is to be heard and embraced, Eph. i. 13 ; which comes from the God of truth ; the substance of which is Christ, the truth, and which the Spirit of truth leads into the knowledge of, and contains in it nothing but truths : not the law, as in the hands of Moses; that voice of words, which they that heard entreated they might hear no more, they were so terrible ; but the gospel of salvation, which brings the good news and glad tidings of salvation by Christ. When Moses and Elias were with Christ on the mount, the voice there from the excellent glory directed to hear, not Moses and Elias, but the beloved Son of God, saying, Hear ye him : the sheep of Christ will not hear the voice of a stranger, which they know not, but the voice of Christ, the great and good Shepherd, in the gospel and in his ministers ; which is a voice of love, grace, and mercy ; a voice of peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation by Christ ; a soul-quickening voice ; a very powerful one, a soul-charming, a soul-alluring voice ; a com forting and rejoicing one, and therefore very desirable to be heard, and very useful and profitable to attend unto ; blessed are the people that hear and know this joyful sound. II. The act of hearing, which is two-fold, internal and external ; there may be one, the latter, without the other, the former ; sometimes they go together ; and then hearing is not only a duty, but grace, benefit, and blessing. i. There is an internal hearing of the word ; when it is so heard as to be understood, and when men know it to be the word of the Lord, as the flock of Christ do, even the poor of the flock, and can distinguish the voice of Christ from the voice of a stranger ; when it is heard so as to approve of it, like it, love it, and receive the love of the truth, and that from love to it ; when men feel the power of it, enlightening their minds in the knowledge of divine things, attracting their affec tions to Christ, bowing their wills to him ; it coming not in word only, but in power, works effectually in them ; when they taste the sweetness of it, and eat it, and it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts ; and they esteem the words of Christ's mouth more than their necessary food ; when they hear it so as to believe it, not with a bare temporary faith, but with a spiritual saving faith in God and Christ revealed in it, John v. 24 ; and when they hear so as to receive the word into their hearts, and it becomes the ingrafted word, and springs up, and brings forth fruit in heart and life. VOL. 11. x x

674 OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. Should it be asked, how any come by such hearing of the word, since men are naturally and wilfully deaf unto it, are like the deaf adder, which stops her ear to the voice of the charmer, charming ever so wisely ; they refuse to hearken, pull away the shoulder, stop their ears, that they should not hear ; the answer is, that it is not of themselves, but of the Lord ; as the seeing eye, so the hearing ear, both in a natural and a spiritual sense, is from the Lord, Prov. xx. 12 ; it is he that gives them ears to hear, which he does not give to all, only to some ; when he gives them new hearts and new spirits, then he gives them new ears to hear, what they never heard before, at least in such a manner ; he opens their ears and hearts, as he did Lydia's, to attend to the things spoken in the ministry of the word ; he circumcises their uncircumcised hearts and ears, as to love him, so to hear his word with delight and pleasure ; all which is done in regeneration ; He that is of Cod, who is born of God, heareth God's words, internally and spiritually ; ye therefore, says Christ to the Jews, hear them not, because ye are not of God, are unregenerate persons, John viii. 47. ii. There is an external hearing of the word, which is both a duty and a privilege, since it is the word of God that is heard, and often times much profit arises from it; and it is therefore to be heard.— 1. Constantly, and with great assiduity, Prov. viii. 34; the public places of worship, meant by wisdom's gates and doors, where the word is to be heard, are daily or frequently to be attended ; if the word is to be preached in season and out of season, it is to be heard as often ; or otherwise preaching is to no purpose : much may be lost by a nonattendance on and a neglect of public worship, as the case of Thomas shows ; and much advantage may be got by a perseverant waiting on the means of grace, as the case of the man having an infirmity eightand-thirty years, after long waiting at the pool, may encourage to hope for and expect. — 2. The word of God should be heard early and eagerly. It is said of Christ's hearers, that all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him, Luke xxi. 88 ; these were such who were swift to hear, and their earliness to hear showed eagerness to it : an instance of eagerness to hoar we have in Cornelius and his family, who having sent to Joppa for Simon Peter, who was to tell him what he ought to do, prepared to receive him, and therefore when he came, thus addressed him : Here we are all present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God, Acts x. 33 ; they were ready waiting for the preacher, to hear what he had in commis sion to say unto them ; and not the preacher for them, as the custom now is ; so the Gentiles at Antioch, having heard the word of the Lord, desired that the same words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath, when almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God, so eager and intent were they upon it, Acts xiii. 42, 44.— 3. The word of God should be heard attentively ; it is observed of Christ's auditory, that all the people were very attentive to hear him, they pressed to him, got close about him, and hung as it were upon his lips, to catch every word that dropped from him ; as Benhadad's servants, when they waited upon the king of Israel, on account of

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. 675 their master, diligently observed whether any thing would comefrom him, and did hastily catch it, to improve it in their master's favour, 1 Kings xx. 33. When our Lord entered into the synagogue of Nazareth, and had the book of Isaiah given him, out of which he read a passage, and explained it, the eyes of all the synagogue were fastened on him, looked wistly at him, they attentively heard him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, Luke iv. 20, 22 ; when the eyes of a fool, while hearing the word, are in the ends of the earth, roving and wandering here and there, and he inattentive to it. —4. The word of God should be heard with reverence ; all irreverent looks and gestures should be avoided in hearing it ; men should con sider in whose presence they are, and whose word they are hearing ; not the word of man, but the word of God ; Where the word of a king is, there is power, and it commands awe and reverence ; and much more the word of the King of kings : God is to bo feared, and had in reverence, in tho assembly of the saints ; in every part of religious worship there performed, and particularly in hearing his word ; we read of some that tremble at his word, which I understand not of a slavish fear, and legal terror at it, but of a reverential affection for it, and behaviour under it. — 5. The word of God is to be heard with faith, since without it it is unprofitable, Heb. iv. 2 ; as food not being mixed with a liquid, an agreeable humour in the 6tomach, is not digested, and becomes unprofitable ; so the word, not being mixed with faith, is not concocted, and yields no nourishment. — 6. 1 he word of God heard, should be carefully retained, and not let slip, Heb. ii. 1 ; like leaking vessels, which let out the liquor put into them, or like strainers which immediately let through what is poured into them ; such are the forgetful hearers of the word, which ought to be laid up in the mind and memory, as a jewel in a cabinet ; and which, when beard, should be kept in an honest and good heart, not only for present use, but for future good, Psalm exix. 11. I proceed to consider, III. The various hearers of the word ; for all men do not hear alike, and to like profit and advantage. Some writers distribute hearer* into four sorts, whom they compare to the following things ; some are like sponges, which attract and suck in all, both good and bad ; such are those hearers who receive and like all they hear ; be it a sound, evangelical discourse, they will express their approbation of it ; and be it the very reverse, they will commend it as a good discourse, not being able to distinguish between truth and error, sound and unsound doctrine ; the best in those hearers is, they are not difficult, but are easily pleased. Others are compared to hour-glasses, in which the sand runs quick out of one glass into another ; so some hearers, what they hear with one ear, they let out at the other, as is usually said. A third sort are compared to strainers, cloth-strainers, which let all the good liquor pass through, and retain the dregs and lees ; so these let pass, and take no notice of what is valuable which they hear ; but if there is any thing in a discourse that is weak and impertinent, foolish and vain, that they are sure to observe. A fourth sort are xx2

676 OP PUBLIC HEARING THE WOHD. compared to a sort of sieves, which let pass every thing that is good for nothing, and only retain the good ; these are the best of hearers, and who are fed with the finest of the wheat. But our Lord, with much greater propriety, has divided hearers of the word into four sorts also ; one he compares to seed that falls on the way-side, which the fowls of the air pick up and devour : another sort, to seed that falls on stony ground, or on a rock, which springing up hastily, soon withers and comes to nothing : a third sort, to seed that falls among thorns, which growing up with it, choke it, and it becomes unfruitful : and a fourth sort, to seed that falls on good ground, and brings forth fruit of various degrees, Matt. xiii. i. One sort is comparable to seed that falls by the way-side ; by which seem to be meant casual and accidental hearers, who passing by a place of worship, stop and step in : not with an intention to hear, but to gratify some curiosity or another ; and therefore hear in a very careless and indifferent manner, and forget what they hear as soon as they hear it : these are compared to a way by the side of corn fields, left for persons to walk on between them, and so a common path, a beaten road ; to which their hearts are like, every sin, lust, and evil thought, passing and re-passing in them, and become desperately wicked; and as a path thus frequently trodden becomes hard and unsusceptible of seed that falls upon it ; so the hearts of men become hard through the deceitfulness of sin, and uncapable of receiving any impressions upon them by the word they hear ; and as such a way side must be ploughed, broken up, and opened, ere seed can be received into it ; so such hearts of men must be opened, as Lydia's was, to attend to the things spoken in the ministry of the word. These hearers are such who hear, but understand not what they hear, as a natural man does not, and so it is lost unto them. Our Lord interprets, the fowls of the air catching away what was sown, and devouring it, of the wicked one, Satan, the devil ; and it being in the plural number in the parable, fowls of the air, may denote the wicked one with the spiritual wickednesses in high places, Satan and his principalities and powers, the devil and his angels, compared to fowls of the air, because of their habitation in it ; Satan being the prince of the power or posse of devils that dwell in the air ; and because of their voraciousness, seeking whom and what they may devour; and as where seed is sowing, birds flock about to pick up what they can ; so where there is a ministration and hearing of the word, Satan is sure to be there, to hinder the benefit of it as much as in him lies ; and who may be said to catch away that which was sown in the heart ; not grace, which was not sown there, and which where it is it cannot be taken away, but remains ; but as Mark and Luke have it, the word, that was sown in their hearts ; not in their understandings, for such hearers understand it not ; nor in their affections, these being distin guished from the stony-ground hearers, who receive the word with joy ; but in their memories, and that very slightly, the heart being put for the memory, as in Luke ii. 51, out of which it is suddenly and secretly catched, being made to forget it immediately, by diverting the mind

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. 677 to other objects, and fixing the attention elsewhere, so that the word to such a hearer is entirely useless. ii. Another sort is like to seed that falls on stony ground, or on a rock, as Luke has it ; by which such hearers are meant, who are constant and attentive, understand what they hear in some sort, and assent to it, believe it, at least for a while, and make a profession of it, yea, receive it with joy, with a flash of natural affection, like Herod, and others of John's hearers, Mark iv. 20, John v. 35 ; yet but stony ground still ; their hearts are as hard as a rock, unbroken by the word, without any true sense of sin, and repentance for it, and destitute of any spiritual life and motion, stubborn, inflexible, stout-hearted, and far from righteousness. Now it is said of this seed, that it withered away, for want of depth of earth ; and as Luke has it, because it lacked moisture, and through the scorching heat of the sun, and because it had no root ; so hearers, comparable to such ground, and the seed on it, wither in their profession ; the leaves of profession drop from them like leaves from the trees in autumn, and leave them bare and naked ; and because of the trouble they meet with in their pro fession, they are offended and stumble, and in a time of temptation, as a time of persecution is, they fall away ; not from grace they never had, but from the doctrine of grace they professed : which is owing, partly to the word not being sown deeply in their hearts ; for as the seed to which they are compared soon sprang up, because it had little depth of earth to get through, for the same reason it soon withered away ; and so in those hearers ; there being only some slight convic tions, and superficial knowledge, and a temporary historical faith ; but no solid, substantial truth and wisdom in the inward parts, they soon decline in their profession: and partly to their not being watered continually with the rain of heavenly doctrine, and the dews of divine grace, and also to the sun of persecution beating upon them they cannot bear, and to their having no root, neither in the love of God, nor in Christ, nor in themselves ; the root of the matter not being in them, in process of time they come to nothing. in. A third sort is like to seed that falls among thorns, which choke it ; these design such who having heard the word, go forth, as Luke says, not in acts of growth and fruitfulness, as in Mai. iv. 2 ; rather in the course of an external profession, as the virgins, wise and foolish, took their lamps of profession, and went forth to meet the bridegroom : or it may be, those hearers may be said to go forth, not to hear the word, but from it ; neglecting and forsaking it, as Demas forsook the apostle Paul, having loved this world; of which complexion these hearers seem to be, and so went forth to their worldly business ; like those invited to the wedding, who made light of it, and went their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. Our Lord interprets the thorns which choked the seed, of worldly cares, deceitful riches, the lusts of other things-, and the pleasures of this life, which all are of a surfeiting and suffocating nature. By the care of the world, is not meant a laudable care of a man to provide for himself and family, and that he may have to give to them that need ; but an anxious, immode

678 OF PUBLIC HEAR1NO THE WORD. rate one, which is, like thorns, distressing, afflictive, and perplexing : and which is in vain and fruitless, since by all a man's care and thought he cannot add a cubit to his stature ; and yet so much engross his thoughts, as to hinder the usefulness of the word : riches are deceitful things, they do not give the satisfaction they promise, nor continue as long as may be expected ; and are sometimes the means of leading out of the right way, and cause men to err from the faith, and drop the profession of it ; or prevent their going into the right way, and following Christ, as the young man in the gospel : and like thorns, they are pricking, and pierce men through with many sorrows, who covet after them, 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10 ; and are injurious to others ; the prince, the judge, and the great man, the best of them is as a brier, and the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge, who oppress and crush the poor; and they are unprofitable, as to another world, cannot profit in the day of wrath, nor give to God a ransom for the eoul : and other lusts, worldly and fleshly ones, as they are contrary to the word, they war against the soul, and so are hurtful ; and the pleasures of life are but for a season, and short lived, and though they are sweet and pleasant for a while, they are bitterness in the end, and are found to be vanity and vexation of spirit, and lead to destruction ; such hearers, in whom these things prevail, are like the earth, described Heb. vi. 8. Now it is said of the thorns, that they sprang up, that is, of themselves, as thorns do, and are not sown and planted ; and the lusts signified by them, are the works of the flesh, and spring from corrupt nature ; and these enter into the heart, and overspread the powers and faculties of the soul, and so choke the word, as the thorns the seed, by overtopping it, and it becomes unfruitful, brings forth no fruit, at least none to perfection. iv. A fourth sort of hearers is like to seed that falls on good ground, and brings forth fruit of various degrees ; by whom are meant such who hear, and understand what they hear ; not merely notionally, but experimentally ; into whose hearts the word enters, accompanied with a divine power ; the entrance of which gives light into the knowledge of divine things ; by which such know the worth of it, and prize it above thousands of gold and silver, and can discern things that differ, and approve what is excellent : can distinguish between truth and error, and receive the one and reject the other ; these are such hearers who hear the word, and receive it, as Mark has it ; not into their heads only, but into their hearts, where it has a place, and dwells richly ; who receive it not as the word of man, but as the word of God ; as his witness and record which ho bears of his Son, of his person and divine Sonship, and of eternal life and salvation by him ; and receive it gladly, as did the three thousand pricked to the heart ; and with all readiness, like the noble Bercans, having searched and exa mined what they heard ; and also receive the ingrafted word with meekness, subjecting their reason to divine revelation ; not exercising themselves in things too high for them, rejecting every vain imagina tion, carnal reasonings, and all high thoughts exalted against the know ledge of Christ : these are such hearers, as it is expressed in Luke,

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. 679 who, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it; where the good ground is explained of a good heart, made so by the Spirit and grace of God ; otherwise the heart of man is wicked, yea desperately wicked ; nor is it in the power of man to make his heart good ; it is God only that can create a clean and good heart in him ; give him a heart of flesh, soft and tender, susoeptible of the word, on which, through divine grace, it makes good impressions ; and here it is laid up as a rich jewel in a cabinet, and kept and preserved for future use : here what is committed is kept and held fast, such will not part with it, nor depart from it, but keep it without wavering, being established in it, and with it ; and stand fast in it, in the profession of it : and these bring forth fruit with patience ; which fruit they have from Christ, the green fir-tree ; and through an ingrafture into him, and abiding in him, as branches in the vine ; and which is produced under the influence of the Spirit of God, and makes much for the glory of God ; and which appears in the exercise of grace, and in the per formance of good works : and this is brought forth with patience under sufferings, and is increased thereby, and continues until it is brought to perfection ; and is in some more, in others le.s-i, and in all good fruit, of the same quality, though not of the same qu mtity. I go on to observe, I V. What is requisite to the right hearing of the word, both before it, at it, and after it. i. What is necessary previous to hearing the word, and in order to it. 1. Prayer should go before it. Such who are desirous of hearing the word to profit and advantage, should pray for the minister, that he may be directed to what may be suitable to their cases, be assisted in this work, and be greatly blessed to their souls' good : and for themselves, that they might have their minds disposed to hear the word, and be kept from wanderings under it, and that they may under stand what they hear, and receive it in the love of it : otherwise how can a blessing on Zion's provisions be expected, when it has not been asked ? and how unreasonable is it to blame the preacher, when reflect ing on their own conduct, they should take the blame to themselves.-— 2. There should be a previous consideration of the nature, use, and end of this service ; that it is intended for the good and edification of the souls of men, and the glory of God ; it should be considered of what importance it is to themselves, and how grateful to God when rightly performed, 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; men should consider into whose presence they are entering, whose word they are about to hear ; what attention should be given to it, and what reverence of it ! the advice of the wise man should be regarded, Eccles. v. 1 ; they should consider the advantages which may arise from hearing the word, which they should propose to themselves for their encouragement, and consider what need they stand in of instruction, and what to be instructed in ; for if they are wise in their own conceits, and fancy themselves to be wiser than their teachers, there is no hope nor expectation of the word heard being of any advantage to them ; it is the meek and humble God will teach his way, and instruct by his word. — 3. An appetite to

OF PUBLIC HEARING THE WOBD. the word is necessary to hearing it ; the word is food, hearing and receiving it in faith is feeding on it ; this cannot be comfortably done without a spiritual appetite ; there must be a desire after the sincere milk of the word ; the church desired and sat down, as the words r may be rendered, Cant. ii. 3 ; desired to sit down under the shadow of Christ, his word and ordinances, and did sit down with delight ; and it follows, His fruit was sweet to her taste ; she had a gust for it, a relish for it ; Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, the word of righteousness, they shall be filled, satisfied with it, as with marrow and fatness : to hear the word without an appetite, is like a man sitting down at a table well furnished with provision, with delicious food, and well dressed and served up, but has no appetite to feed upon it. n. There are some things necessary whilst hearing the word. 1. A man should try what he hears, and whilst hearing ; for the ear tries words ; not that persons should sit as critics upon the words, phrases, and expressions of the preacher, to judge of the justness of his style, the propriety of his diction, and the cadency of his words ; hearing the word to profit requires no such critical art : but men should try the things that are said, the doctrines that are delivered, by their own experience, whether agreeable to it ; and by the word of God, whether according to it ; and this they are' to do whilst hearing it, so far as their judgment will reach, and they can recollect the sense of the sacred Scriptures.— 2. A man should take to himself what he hears, and whilst hearing it. Some hear not for themselves, but for others ; when such and such expressions drop from the preacher, they presently conceive in their minds, that they are suitable to such a man, and hit such a man's case, and have no regard to themselves ; whereas, in hearing, they should observe what is for doctrine ; whether it is for the illummation of their minds in it, and for the establishment of them in the present truth ; and if for reproof for sin, that it is for their own ; and if for correction of conduct and conversation, that it is of their own ; and if for instruction in righteousness, in any branch of duty, that it concerns them : so when they hear of Christ as a Saviour, and of the great salvation by him, and of the blessings and promises of grace, they are to take these to themselves by faith, as belonging to them ; To you is- the word of this salvation sent, Acts xiii. 26. — 3. Faith is to be mixed with the word whilst hearing it ; men should make faith of what they hear, or believe it for themselves, digest it as food, and so will it be profitable unto them, Heb. iv. 2. m. After hearing the word some things are to be done, which may be of use and service. — 1. There should be a recollection of what has been heard, as much as may be ; persons should retire privately, and meditate upon what they have heard ; the beasts that were accounted clean under the law, were such as chewed the cud ; hearers of the word should endeavour to fetch back and call over again what they have heard, when their meditation on it is often as sweet or sweeter than at the first hearing it. — 2. When two or more meet together after ' votm man.

OP PUBLIC HEARING THE WORD. 681 hearing the word, and converse together about what they have heard, this may tend to much profit and advantage, to refresh one another's memories ; what one has forgotten, another may remember ; or what has appeared difficult to one, may be explained by another ; and thus by speaking to and conferring with one another, it is a means of build ing up each other in their most holy faith. — 3. It is proper to consi der how it has been with them whilst hearing the word ; if they have been careless, inattentive, wandering, cold, and indifferent under it ; they will see reason for humiliation and lamentation that so it should be with them, whilst hearing such evangelic truths, and such excellent doctrines delivered to them ; or if their souls have been enlarged, their hearts warmed, their affections raised, their judgments informed, their knowledge increased, and their souls established in the present truth, they will be led to praise and thankfulness ; and upon the whole, there should be a concern that what they hear is put in practice, that they are doers of the ioord, and not hearers only, deceiving their ovm souls, James i. 22. V. The utility of hearing the word, or the advantages which under a divine blessing arise from it, are next to be considered ; and which may be regarded as so many encouraging reasons and arguments to attend to this duty ; and which will be only just enumerated ; as, — 1. Conviction of sin, and of a lost and undone state and condition by nature, oftentimes comes by hearing the word ; as the three thousand under Peter's sermon, so sometimes an unbeliever comes into a congrefation, where the word is preached, and he is convinced of all, of all is sins and iniquities, and he is judged of all, condemned for them in his own conscience, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. — 2. Conversion also is by means of it ; the end of the word being preached and heard, is to turn men from the darkness of sin and error to the light of grace and truth ; from the power, dominion, and slavery of Satan, to serve the living God, from the ways of sin and folly to the paths of righteousness and holiness ; from a dependence on a man's own righteousness, to trust in the righteousness of Christ ; hence one of the epithets of the law, or doc trine of the Lord, from its effect, is, converting the soul, Psalm xix. 7. — 3. In this way, or by hearing the word, the Spirit of God, his gifts and graces, are conveyed into the hearts of men, Gal. iii. 2. — 4. Particu larly faith usually comes this way, Rom. x. 17. — 5. The joy of faith, and an increase of that, and of every other grace, are by means of it, Phil, i. 25. — 6. Comfort is had by it ; he that prophesieth, or preacheth, speaketh to comfort, 1 Cor. xiv. 3 ; the end and use of the gospel minis try is to comfort those that mourn ; the commission given by Christ to his ministers, is to speak comfortably to his people, Isa. xl. 1, 2. — 7. The knowledge of Christ, and an increase of it, are the fruits and effects of hearing the word, when blessed, 2 Cor. ii. 14. —8. Love to Christ is drawn forth, and glowing affection to him raised by means of it, Luke xxiv. 32. — 9. Food and nourishment, in a spiritual sense, are by the word ; it is found and eaten, when heard,and souls are nourished with the words of faith and good doctrine, even with the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ. — J 0. Hearing seasons are sometimes

682 OP PUBLIC PRAYER. sealing ones, Eph. i. 13. Besides public hearing the word, there should be a private reading of the Scriptures, which should be searched to see whether what is heard be true or not, John v. 39, Acts xvii. 11; and they should be read in families, for the instruction of them in righteousness ; and hereby even children may come to know the Scrip tures betimes, 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16; Eph. vi. 4. OF PUBLIC PRAYER. Prayer is one part of the saints' spiritual armour, and a principal one, though mentioned last, Eph. vi. 18 ; it has been often of use against temporal enemies, and for obtaining victory over them ; as the prayers of Asa, Johoshaphat, and others, show. It is reported of Mary queen of Scots that she dreaded the prayer of John Knox, an eminent minister, more than an army of twenty thousand men. And it is of use against the spiritual enemies of God's people, and for the vanquishing of them. Satan has often felt the force of this weapon ; resist the devil, by faith in prayer, and he will flee from you. When the apostle Paul was buffeted and distressed by him, he had recourse to it ; he besought the Lord thrice that the temptation might depart from him ; and had for answer, My grace is sufficient for thee ! and, indeed, as this part of the Christian armour is managed, so it goes with the saint, for or against him. In the war between Israel and Amalek, when Moses held up his hands, an emblem of vigorous prayer, then Israel prevailed ; but when he let down his hands, a token of remiss ness in prayer, Amalek prevailed. Prayer has great power and pre valence with God, for the removal or prevention of evil things, and for the obtaining of blessings. Jacob had the name of Israel given him, because, as a prince, he had power with God, and prevailed, that is, by prayer and supplication, Gen. xxxii. 26, 28. Elijah prayed earnestly, and his prayer was availing and effectual, James v. 16—18. Prayer is the breath of a regenerate soul ; as soon as a child is born into the world it cries, as soon as a soul is born again it prays ; it is observed of Saul upon his conversion, Behold he prayeth ! where there is life there is breath ; where there is spiritual life, there are spiritual breathings ; such souls breathe after God, pant after him as the hart panteth after the water-brooks. Prayer is the speech of the soul to God ; a talking to him, a converse with him, in which much of its communion with God lies. Prayer is an address to God in the name of Christ, and through him as the Mediator, under the influence and by the assistance of the Spirit of God, in faith, and in the sincerity of our souls, for such things we stand in need of, and which are consistent with the will of God, and are for his glory to bestow, and therefore to be asked with submission. Now though it is public prayer, or prayer as a public ordinance in the church of God, I am in course to consider, yet I shall, I. Take notice of the various sorts of prayer, which will lead on to that ; for there is a praying with all prayer, which denotes many sorts and kinds of prayer.

OF PUBLIC PRAYER. 683 1 . There is mental prayer, or prayer in the heart ; and indeed here prayer should first begin : so David found in his heart to pray, 2 Sam. vii. 27 ; and it is the effectualfervent, or tvepyovnevri, the imcrought prayer ofthe righteous man that availeth much ; which is wrought and formed in the heart by the Spirit of God, James v. 16. Such sort of prayer was that of Moses, at the Red Sea, when the Lord said to him, Wherefore criest thou unto me ? and yet we read not of a word that was spoken by him ; and of this kind was the prayer of Hannah ; She spake in her heart, 1 Sam. i. 13; and this may be performed even without the motion of the lips, and is what we call an ejaculatory prayer, from the suddenness and swiftness of its being put up to God, like a dart shot from a bow ; and which may be done in the midst of business the most public, and in the midst of public company, and not discerned ; as was the prayer of Nehemiah in the presence of the king, Neh. ii. 4, 5 ; and such prayer God takes notice of, and hears ; and, though we whisper, not opening our lips, but pray in silence, cry inwardly, God incessantly hears that inward discourse, or prayer to him, conceived in the mind. — 2. There is prayer which is audible and vocal. Some prayer is audible, yet not articulate and intelligible, or it is expressed by inarti culate sounds; as, with groanings which cannot be uttered; but God knows and understands perfectly the language of a groan, and hears and answers. But there is vocal prayer, expressed by articulate words, in language to be heard and understood by men, as well as by the Lord; I cried unto the Lord with my voice, &c, Psalm iii. 4, and v. 2, 3 ; and to this kind of prayer the church is directed by the Lord himself, Hos. xiv. 2. — 3. There is private prayor, in which a man is alone by himself; to which our Lord directs, Matt. vi. 6 ; an instance and example of this we have in Christ, Matt. xiv. 23 ; see also an instance of this in Peter, Acts x. 9. — 4. There is social prayer, in which few or more join together, concerning which, and to encourage it, our Lord says, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, Matt. xviii. 19, 20; an instance of this social prayer with men is in Acts xx. 36 ; and it is this social prayer with fewer or more the apostle Jude has respect unto, verse 20. — 5. There is family prayer, performed by the head and master of the family in it, and with it. Joshua set a noble example of family worship, Josh. xxiv. 15 ; and an instance we have in David, 2 Sam. vi. 20 ; and even Cornelius, the Roman centurion, before he was acquainted with Christianity, was in the practice of it, Acts x. 2, 30 ; and the contrary behaviour is resented, and the wrath and fury of God may be expected to fall upon the families that call not on his name, Jer. x. 25 ; and it is but reason-' able service, since family mercies are daily needed, and therefore should be prayed for ; and family mercies are daily received, and therefore thanks should be every day returned for them. — 6. There is public prayer, which is performed in bodies and communities of men, who meet in public, unite and join together in divine worship, and particu larly in this branch of it ; for prayer always was made a part of public worship. i. This part of divine worship was set up in the days of Enos, for then

684 OF PUBLIC PRAYER. began men to call upon the name of the Lord ; that is, to pray in the name of the Lord, as is paraphrased in the Targum, of Gen. iv. 26 ; not but that good men before this time prayed personally, and in their fami lies ; but now families becoming more numerous and larger, they met and joined together, in carrying on public worship, and this part of it particularly ; and so it continued during the patriarchal state. n. Under the Mosaic dispensation, whilst the tabernacle was stand ing, this practice was used ; for the tabernacle was called, the tabernacle of tlie congregation ; because, as Munster observes, there the congrega tion of Israel met to pray and to sacrifice, Exod. xxvii. 21. Moreover, there was another tabernacle which Moses pitched without the camp, which seems to be a temporary one, and which he called by the same name, Exod. xxxiii. 7; and which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was not only a place for instruction in doctrine, but where every one who truly repented went and confessed his sins, and asked pardon for them, and had it. m. In the temple, both first and second, public prayer made a part of divine worship ; here at the dedication of the first temple, Solomon prayed in public, all Israel present ; and where the people, in after times, were to pray and make supplication; and here Jehoshaphat stood and prayed, and all the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem with him : and hence the temple was called the house of prayer, Isa. lvi. 7. Likewise in the second temple, prayer was wont to be made in it ; we read of two men going up to the temple to pray, and what they prayed, Luke xviii. 10, see Acts iii. 1. It was usual with the people to be employed in prayer at the time the incense was offered; so while Zechariah was burning incense in the temple, the people were praying without ; hence prayer is compared to incense, and tho prayers of the saints are called odours, and said to be offered with much incense, Rev. viii. 3, 4 ; and Agatharoidess, a heathen writer, bears this testi mony to the Jews, while the temple was standing, that they kept the seventh day as a rest from labour, and did no work in it, but continued in the temple, stretching out their hands in prayer unto the evening ; and it should be observed, that there was a set of men at Jerusalem called stationary-men, who were the representatives of the people in the country, who, because they could not appear in the temple at the time of sacrifice, tho reading of the law, and prayer, these attended for them and represented them. iv. Public prayer was a part of synagogue worship, and which may be learned from what our Lord says of the hypocrites, who loved to .pray standing in the synagogues, where they might be seen and heard of men, Matt. vi. 5 ; the Jows in general have a great notion of public prayer, as being always heard, and that therefore men should always join with the congregation, and not pray alone ; but should always attend morning and evening in the synagogue : since no prayer is heard but what is put up in the synagogue ; and they say, in whatever place are ten Israelites, they are obliged to fit up a house where they meet for prayer, at every time of prayer, and this place is called a ■ Apud Joseph, contra Apion, 1. 1, c. 22.

OF PUBLIC PRATER. 685 synagogue ; and which some take to be the same with, though others think they differ from, the proseucha, oratory, or place where prayer was wont to be made, into which Paul and Silas went, near Philippi, and spoke to those who resorted thither ; and in one of these it is thought our Lord continued a whole night praying, Luke vi. 12 ; in which the Jews met for instruction, as well as for prayer, especially on Sabbath days. v. Under the New Testament dispensation, prayer was always a part of public worship in the several churches ; as in that at Jerusalem, the first Christian church. When the disciples returned thither after our Lord's ascension, they continued in prayer and supplication, with the women and others, who constituted that first church ; and it is observed, in commendation of those that were added to it, that they continued steadfastly in prayer, in the public prayers of the church, whenever they met together; and where there was sometimes a remarkable appearance of the divine presence; and it was to this part of service, as well as to the ministry of the word, the apostles gave themselves continually. Such was the prayer made by this church, without ceasing, for Peter, when in prison, and was remarkably heard, Acts xii. 5 ; so in the church at Corinth, public prayer was a part of divine worship ; for it is with respect to that the apostle gives directions to men and women praying, that is, attending that part of public service, the one with their head uncovered, the other with their heads covered, 1 Cor. xi. 4, 5 ; and it is with respect to his own practice in public that he says, / will pray with the Spirit, &c, 1 Cor. xiv. 15—19. The several directions and exhortations to the churches to attend to the duty of prayer, does not regard them merely as individuals, but as bodies and communities, joining together in that service, and public prayer seems to be chiefly intended by the apostle, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, 8; and this was foretold of gospel times, Mal. i. 11. Now this practice obtained in the earliest times of Christianity, and is still continued in Christian assemblies ; so Justin Martyr says ', that after reading the Scriptures, and preaching, we all rise up in common, and send up prayers ; and after the administration of the supper,' he observes, the president or pastor of the church, according to his ability, pours out prayers and thanksgivings, and all the people aloud cry Amen ; and so Tertullian u, " We come together in the congregation to God, and as it were with our hands by prayer compass him about ; this force is grateful to God : we also pray for emperors, for their ministers," &c And from Justin, as well as from Origen, Cyprian, and others, we learn, that the gesture of the ancients in public prayer was standing ; nay, Tertullian says", " We reckon it unlawful to fast on the Lord's day, or to worship on the knees ;" and it was ordered by the council of Nice, " that whereas there were some who bent their knees, it seemed right to the synod that they should perform their prayers standing." Now, though my object is public prayer, yet, as all prayer agrees in the object of it, and in the main as to the matter and manner of ' Apolog. 2, p. 98. ■ Apologet. c. 30. w De Corona Mil. c. 3.

686 OP PUBLIC PRA.YER. it, and . in persons and things to be prayed for, I shall proceed to consider, II. The object of prayer ; which is not a mere creature, animate or inanimate ; it is the grossest absurdity to set up the wood of a graven image, and pray unto it, which cannot save ; to pray to idols of gold and silver, the work of men's hands, which cannot speak, see, nor hear; are unable to give any help, or bestow any favour upon their votaries: nor to saints departed ; for the dead know not any thing of the affairs of men in this world ; nor can they assist them in them ; their sons come to honour, and they know it not ; they are brought low, but not perceived by them : Abraham is ignorant of his sons, and Israel acknowledges them not ; it is in vain to turn to any of the saints, or direct prayers unto them : nor to angels, who have always refused worship from men, of which prayer is a considerable part ; the angel invoked by Jacob was not a created, but the uncreated one, Gen. xlviii. 16. God only is and ought to be the object of prayer; My prayer, says David, shall be unto the God of my life, who gives life and breath to all ; he upholds their souls in life, and in him they lire, move, and have their bemg ; he is the Father of mercies, and the God of all grace, who only can supply with temporal mercies and spiritual blessings, and from whom every good and perfect gift comes ; he only can hear the prayers of his people ; he only knows men and their wants, and he only is able to help and relieve them ; he is God allsufficient, needs nothing for himself, and has enough for all his creatures ; he is a God at hand and afar off, and is nigh to all that call upon him, and is a present help in time of need ; he is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works ; he is gracious and merciful, abundant in goodness and truth. All which, as it makes him to be a proper object of prayer, and recommends him as such, so serves greatly to encourage men in their addresses to him. God in his Three Persons is the proper object of prayer ; Father, Son, and Spirit ; who are the one true God ; and it is lawful to address either of them in prayer, though not ono to the exclusion of the others. Sometimes the Father is prayed unto singly, and as distinct from the Son and Spirit; If ye call upon the Father, 1 Pet. i. 17; as he may be called upon as a distinct divine Person in the Godhead, of which we have instances in Eph. i. 16, 17, and iii. 14—16; the second Person, the Son of God, is said to be invoked by all the saints in every place, Acts ix. 14, 1 Cor. i. 2; he is sometimes singly prayed unto, as by Stephen at his death ; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ! and by the apostle John, for his second coming ; Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! Acts vii. 59, Rev. xxii. 20; and sometimes conjunctly with the Father; as when grace and peace are prayed for, as in almost all the epistles, From God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. i. 7, &c ; and sometimes in prayer he is set before the Father, and sometimes the Father before him, to show their equality, 1 Thess. iii. 11, 2 Thess. ii. 16; the third Person, the Spirit of God, is also sometimes singly prayed to, and as distinct from the Father and Son, 2 Thess. iii. 5 ; and the blessings of grace are prayed for from all three together, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, Rev. i. 4, 5.

OP PUBLIC PRATER. 687 The first Person in the Godhead is usually addressed in prayer under the character of a Father; so Christ taught his disciples to pray; Our Father, which art in heaven, &c, as he is the Creator and the Father of spirits, and the author of their beings ; so the church in the times of Isaiah, Isa. lxiv. 8; and also as he is tho Father of Christ, and our Father in Christ ; as such he is frequently addressed, 2 Cor. i. 3, Eph. i. 3. Now the reason why the address in prayer is generally made to him, though it may be made equally to either of the other two persons, is, because of the priority of order he has, though not of nature, in the Deity, and because he bears no office ; whereas the other two persons do bear an office, and an office which is concerned in the business of prayer. Christ is the Mediator between God and men, by whom we approach to God, and offer up our prayers to him ; there is no approaching to God in any other way; God is a consuming fire ; the flaming sword of justice stands between God and sinners ; there is no day's man between them to lay his hands on both, but Christ ; none can come to the Father but by him ; he has opened a way to him through the vail of his flesh, and through his precious blood, which gives boldness to enter into the holiest of all ; through him there is an access by one Spirit unto the Father ; he is the way of acceptance with God, as well as of access unto him ; it is by him we offer up the sacrifice of prayer and praise, which becomes acceptable to God through the incense of his mediation. The encouragement to prayer is taken chiefly from him ; and the pleas at the throne of grace for blessings of grace are founded on his person, blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and intercession ; from his being an advocate with the Father for us, and the propitiation for our sins, and from our having such and so great a High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, and is over the house of God ; we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace, to draw near with true hearts, and even in full assurance of faith, believing, that whatso ever we ask in his name the Father will give it to us ; yea, that Christ himself will do it; which shows his equality with his Father, and that he has the same power of doing what he does, John xiv. 13, 14, and xvi. 23, 24. The Spirit of God has also a great concern in prayer ; he is the author and inditer of it ; he is the Spirit of grace and of supplication, who forms it in the heart ; and therefore it is called inwrought prayer; he creates divine breathings and holy desires after spiritual things in men ; yea, puts words into their mouths, and bids them take them with them; he impresses their minds with a feeling sense of their wants, and fills their mouths with arguments, and puts strength into them to plead with God ; he helps them under their infirmities, when they know not what to pray for, nor how, and makes intercession for them according to tho will of God ; he gives freedom to them when they are so shut up that they cannot come forth ; where he is there is liberty; he is the Spirit of adoption, witnessing to their spirits that they are the children of God ; enables them to go to God as their Father, and to cry, Abba, Father; and as the Spirit of faith,

OF PUBLIC PRAYER. encourages them to pray in faith and with fervency. Moses, when he prayed for Israel, when engaged in battle with Amalek, represented a praying saint in its conflict with spiritual enemies ; a stone was put under him, on which he sat, whilst lifting up his hands, an emblem of Christ, the Eben-Ezer, the stone of help in time of need ; Aaron and Hur, the one on one side, and the other on the other, held up his hands, and stayed them ; Aaron, who could speak well, was a type of Christ, the advocate and spokes-man of his people, by whose mediation they are encouraged and supported in prayer; and Hur is a name which has the signification of liberty, and may point to the Spirit of God, who is a free Spirit, and as such upholds and supports the saints in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty. The next to be considered are, III. The parts of prayer, of which it consists; the apostle, in Phil, iv. 6, uses four words to express it by, and which are commonly thought to design distinct species or parts of prayer, which are comprehended under the general name of requests or petitions, as prayer and suppli cation with thanksgiving : and he also uses four words for itx, with somo little difference, in 1 Tim. ii. 1, supplications, prayers, interces sions, and giving of thanks ; by which one and the same thing may be signified in different words, according to the different respects which it has ; but if these have different senses, and are different species or parts of prayer, OrigenV account of them seems as good as any; that supplication is for some good we stand in need of; prayer for greater thmgs, when in great danger, that is, deliverance from it ; intercession is expressed with more freedom, familiarity, and faith, with greater confidence of having what is asked of God ; and thanksgiving is an acknowledgment of good things obtained of God by prayer. But to proceed, and more particularly consider the parts of prayer, of what t consists ; and I mean not to prescribe any form of prayer, but to direct to the matter and method. And, 1. In prayer there should be a celebration of the divine perfections ; and it is proper to begin with this ; we should declare the name of the Lord to whom we pray, and ascribe greatness to our God ; we should begin with some one or other of his names and titles, expressive of his nature, and of the relation he stands in to us as creatures, and new creatures ; and make mention of some one or more of his perfections, which may serve to command an awe and reverence of him ; to engage our affections to him ; to strengthen our faith and confidence in him, and raise our expectations of being heard and answered by him, as before observed ; as of his purity, holiness, and righteousness ; of his omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence ; and of his immutability and faithfulness, love, grace, and mercy. — 2. There should be an acknowledgment of our vileness and sinfulness, of our meanness and unworthiness in ourselves: we should come before a pure and holy God under a sense of the depravity and pollution of our nature ; and x Thcy teem to answer to four words used by the Jews, of prayer, Hinn i"7?Bfi IlUPpi fWlS. —Vide Vitringa dc Synagog. vet. par. 2, 1. 3, c. 13, p. 1025, &c; 19, p. 1103. 7 Tltpt tvxns, c. 44, ed. Oion.

OF PUBLIC PRAYER. 68!) of our unworthiness to be admitted into his presence, and to worship at his footstool ; when we take upon us to speak unto the Lord, wo should own, with Abraham, that we are but dust and ashes ; not only frail and mortal creatures,lbut sinful and impure ; and with Jacob, that we are not worthy of the least of all the mercies showed us, nor of receiving any favour from God ; and therefore do not present our supplications to him for our righteousness, but for his great mercies. —3. There should be a confession of sin ; of tho sin of our nature, of original sin, indwelling sin ; of the sins of our lives and actions ; of our daily transgressions of the law of God in thought, word, and deed : this has been the practice of saints in all ages ; of David, Daniel, and others, and which is encouraged, 1 John i. 9. — 4. There should be a deprecation of all evil things, which our sins deserve ; so our Lord taught his disciples to pray, Deliver us from all evil ; and this seems to be tho meaning of the saints oftentimes, when they pray for the for giveness of their own sins and those of others ; that God would deliver them out of present distress, of what kind soever, remove his afflicting hand, which lies heavy upon them, and avert those evils which seem to threaten them, and prevent their coming upon them ; in which sense we are to understand many of the petitions of Moses, Job, Solomon, and others. — 5. Another part or branch of prayer is a petition for good things, which are needed ; for temporal mercies, such as regard the sustenance of our bodies, the comfort, support, and preservation of life : so our Lord has taught us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread ; which includes all the necessaries of life. Agur's prayer with respect to this is a very wise one, and to be copied after, Prov. xxx. 7—9. Spiritual blessings are to be prayed for ; which though laid up in covenant, and are sure to all the covenant-ones, what God has promised, and will bo performed ; and we may have this confidenco in him, that whatsoever we ask, according to his will, we shall have ; but then they must be asked for ; seeing, for what he has promised, and will do, he will yetfor this be inquired of by the house ofIsrael, to do itfor them, Ezek. xxxvi. 37. — 6. Prayer should always be accompanied with thanksgiving ; this should always be a part of it ; since, as wo have always mercies to pray for, we have always mercies to be thank ful for, Eph. vi. 18, Phil. iv. 6. — 7. At the close of this work it is proper to make use of doxologies or ascriptions of glory to God ; of which wo have many instances, either of which may bo made use of, Matt. vi. 13, Eph. iii. 21, 1 Tim. i. 17, Jude, verses 24, 25, Rev. i. 5, 6 ; which serve to show forth the praises of God, to express our gratitude to him, and our dependence on him, and expectation of receiving from him what we have been praying for ; and the whole may be concluded with the word Amen, as expressing our assent to what has been prayed for, our wishes and desires for the accom- [>lishment of it, and our full and firm persuasion and belief of our laving what we have been asking for, according to the will of God. IV. The persons to be prayed for may be next considered. Not devils ; for as God had not spared them, nor provided a Saviour for vol. ti. Y Y

690 OP PUBLIC PRAYER. them, nor is any mercy promised to them, so none can be asked for them. But men ; yet only the living, not the dead ; for after death is the judgment, when the final state of men is inevitably fixed ; and there is no passing out of one state into another : nor those who have sinned the sin unto death, the unpardonable sin, 1 John v. 16 ; yet those who are dead in sins, unconverted sinners, may be prayed for, Rom. x. 1 ; we may pray for unconverted friends and relations, for our children in a state of nature, as Abraham did for Ishmael ; and espe cially we may pray in faith for the conversion of God's elect, as our Lord himself did, John xvii. 20 ; and it is an incumbent duty, to pray for all saints ; of every country, of whatsoever denomination they may be, and in whatsoever circumstances ; and therefore we are to pray to God as our Father and theirs, as the Father of us all ; and for all that are his children, that love the Lord Jesus, bear his image, are called by his name, and call on his name ; particularly for the ministers of the gospel, that they may speak the word boldly and faithfully, as they ought to speak it ; that the word of the Lord, ministered by them, might have a free course, and be glorified, and be blessed for conver sion, comfort, and edification, and that the Lord would raise up and send forth other labourers into his vineyard : yea, we are to pray for all men ; for all sorts of men, for kings and all in authority, for civij magistrates, that they may be terrors to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well ; and that the time may hasten on when kings shall be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers to the church and people of God : we are to pray for the peace and welfare of the inha bitants of any city or country in which we dwell, since in the peace thereof we have peace. Nay, we are to pray for our enemies, who despitefully use and persecute us ; this is enjoined us by Christ, and of which he has set us an example, Matt. v. 44, Luke xxiii. 44 ; and so Stephen prayed for those that stoned him, Acts vii. 60. V. The manner in which prayer is to be performed is worthy of attention. 1 . It must be done with or in the Spirit ; .7 will pray witli the Spirit, says the apostle, 1 Cor. xiv. 15 ; by which he either means the extra ordinary gift which he and other apostles had, of speaking with divers tongues, which he determined to make use of, yet only when he could be understood by others ; or the ordinary gift of the Spirit, his grace, influence, and assistance, which are necessary in prayer ; and is the same which the apostle Jude calls, praying in the Holy Ghost ; and the apostle Paul, supplication in the Spirit, Jude, verse 20, Eph. vi. 18. The concern the Spirit of God has in prayer, and the need there is of his grace and assistance in it, and the use thereof, have been observed already ; but it does not follow from hence that men ought not to pray but when they have the Spirit, and are under his influences ; for prayer is a natural duty, and binding on all men, who are to pray as well as they can, though none but spiritual men can pray in a spiritual manner ; and yet oven such are not always under the gracious influ ences of the Spirit, and such, when destitute of them, should pray for them ; for our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that

OF PUBLIC PRAYER. 691 ask him ; and when men are in darkness and distress, without the sight of God's countenance, the communications of his grace, and the influences of his Spirit, they stand in the more need of prayer, and should be more constant at it. — 2. It should be performed with the understanding also, as in the fore-mentioned place ; with an under standing of the object of prayer, God in Christ ; or otherwise men will pray unto and worship they know not what, an unknown God ; and with an understanding of the way of access unto him, Christ, the Mediator between God and man ; and with a spiritual understanding of the things prayed for, having their understandings enlightened by the Spirit of God ; by whom they are taught what to pray for, and how to pray as they ought, and know that what they ask according to the will of God, that they have the petition they desire of him. — 3. It must be done in faith, without which it is impossible to please God in this or in anv other duty ; what we ask we should ask in faith, nothing wavering ; it is the prayer of faith that is effectual ; for our Lord assures us, all things whatsoeverye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive, Matt. xxi. 22. — 4. Fervency in Spirit is requisite to prayer ; we should be fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord in every branch of duty, and so in this of prayer ; for it is the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man which availeth much, James v. 1 6. Prayer, which is compared to incense, like that, burns sweetly, when kindled by the fire of the Spirit, and the flame of love ; such earnest, fervent, and importunate prayer was made by the church for Peter incessantly; and we have an instance of earnest, intense, and fervent prayer in our Lord, whose prayers and 'supplications were with strong crying and tears ; and being in agony, prayed the more earnestly and fervently, Luke xxii. 44, Heb. v. 7. — 5. Prayer should be put up to God in sincerity ; it should go forth, not out of feigned lips, but from the heart ; men should draw nigh to God with true hearts, and call upon him in truth ; that is, in the sincerity of their souls ; for when they cry not to him with their hearts, it is reckoned no other than howling on their beds, Hos. vii. 14. — 6. It should always be made with sub mission to the will of God, as our Lord^ was when he prayed so earnestly : so when we want to have a favour conferred, or an afflic tion removed, it becomes us to say, The will of the Lord be done, Luke xxii. 42, Acts xxi. 14. — 7. It should be performed with assi duity and watchfulness ; there should be a watching thereunto with all perseverance, Eph. vi. 18 ; for a fit opportunity of doing it, and for the proper and suitable time of need, and when the Lord is nigh to be found : and there should be a watching in the same with thanksgiving, Col. iv. 2 ; for the aid and assistance of the Spirit ; that the heart be lift up with the hands ; that it does not wander in it, nor enter into temptation : and there should be a watching after it, for an answer to it, and a return of it ; In the morning, says David, will I direct my prayer unto thee, and look up for the blessing or mercy prayed for ; and again, / will hear what God the Lord will speak, Psalm v. 3, and lxxxv. 8. VI. The time of prayer, with the continuance in it; and duration v t 2

692 OF PUBLIC PRAYEK. of it: it should be always ; Praying always with all prayer, Eph. vi. 18; hence these exhortations ; Continue in prayer ; Pray without ceasing, Col. iv. 2, 1 Thess. y. 17. Not that men are to be always on their knees, and ever formally praying z ; for there are many civil duties of a man's calling in life which are to, be attended to ; and other reli gious duties, besides prayer, which are not to be neglected : one duty is not to shut out another, whether on a civil or sacred account : but it is desirable to be always in praying frames, and the heart to be ready for it on all occasions ; it should be daily, since there is daily need of it, daily cases call for it ; we want daily bread for our bodies, and the inward man needs to be renewed day by day. Temptations are daily; our adversary, the devil, goes about continually like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour ; and therefore we should pray daily that we enter not into temptation. The above exhorta tions are opposed unto and strike at such who either pray not at all, judging it to be vain and fruitless, Job xxi. 15 ; or who have prayed, but have left off praying, which Job was charged with, though wrongly, Job xv. 4 ; or who discontinue it because they have not an immediate answer; our Lord spoke a parable to this end, That men ought always to pray, and not to faint; to continue praying, and not be discouraged, because their prayers seem not to be heard at once ; and gives an instance of the success of the importunate widow with the unjust judge, Luke xviii. 1, &c; or who pray only when in distress; it is right to pray at such a time, James v. 13, Psalm l. 15 ; but this is what graceless persons, who are in a state of distance and aliena tion from God, and what carnal professors and careless souls, will do, Isa. xxvi. 16, Hos. v. 15. The Jews had stated times in the day for prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day ; and what these times were we learn from David ; evening, and morning, and at noon, Psalm lv. 17. The prayer in the morning, according to Maimonides, was from sun-rising to the end of the fourth hour, or ten o'clock, which is the third part of the day. The prayer at noon was at the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock, at which time Peter went up to the house-top to pray, Acts x. 9. The evening prayer was at the ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon, about the time of the evening sacrifice ; at which time, which was the hour of prayer, Peter and John went up to the temple to pray ; at this time we find Cornelius at prayer, Acts iii. 1, and x. 3 ; and this practice obtained among Christians in early times. Jerome R speaks of it as a tradition of the church, that the third, sixth, and ninth hours are times for prayer ; and it is a practice laudable enough, where there is leisure from other lawful exercises ; and when no stress is laid on the punctual performance of it at these precise times ; and is not made a term and condition of acceptance with God ; which would bring us back to the covenant of works, ensnare our bouIs, and entangle us with 1 There were some in the fourth century, ralled Euchctm and Mcssalians ; who, neglecting all business, pretended to pray continually, aseribing their whole salvation to it.—Aug. dc Uarrcs. c. 57 ; et Dananis in ib. •^Comment in Dan. fol. 270, M.

OP PUBLIC PRAYER. 693 a yoke of bondage. What Clemens of Alexandria " observes, is worthy of notice ; Some, says he, appoint stated hours for prayer, the third, and sixth, and ninth hours ; but " the Gnostic, who is endued with the true knowledge of God and divine things, prays throughout his whole life ; his whole life is a holy convocation, a sacred festival :" yea, it is said of Socrates, a heathen philosopher, " the life of Socrates was full of prayer." From the whole of this we learn, that at least a day should not pass over without prayer. I proceed to observe, VII. The encouragement to prayer, and the advantages arising from it. Saints may be encouraged to it, 1 . From the concern which God, Father, Son, and Spirit, have in it ; which has been taken notice of already. God the Father, as the God of all grace, sits on the throne of grace, holding forth the sceptre of grace ; inviting men to come thither, where they may find grace and mercy to help them in their time of need : Christ is the Mediator, through whom they have access to God, audience of him, and accept ance with him ; Christ is their Advocate with the Father, who pleads their cause, and makes intercession for them ; he introduces them into the presence of God, and as the Angel of his presence presents their prayers to God, perfumed with his much incense. And the Spirit of God is the Spirit of grace and supplication, who supplies them with grace, and assists them in their supplications to God ; and by whom, through Christ, they have access to God as their Father. — 2. From the interest saints have in God, to whom they pray, they have encou ragement to it ; he is their Father by adopting grace, whose heart is full of love, pity, and compassion ; his heart is towards them, his eyes are upon them, and his ears are open to their cries ; he is their cove nant God and Father, who has provided blessings in covenant for them, and is ready to distribute them upon their application to him by prayer, Phil. iv. 19. — 3. From the call of God in providence, and by his Spirit, to it, and his delight in it, saints may take encouragement to be found in the performance of it, Psalm xxvii. 8 ; he delights to see the face and hear the prayers of his people, Prov. xv. 8, Psalm cii. 17. — 4. Many promises are made to praying souls ; as of deliverance from trouble, &c, Psalm l. 15, and xci. 15. For their encouragement it is said, Ask, and it shall be given, &c, Matt. vii. 7 ; yea, God has never said to the seed ofJacob, Seek ye me in vain, Isa. xlv. 19. — 5. The experience tho people of God, in all ages, have had of answers of prayers, either to themselves or others, serve greatly to animate them to this duty : this was the experience of David, and he observed it in others, Psalm xl. 1, and xxxiv. 6 ; and this was not the case only of a single, and of a private person, but of good men in times past, in all ages, Psalm xxii. 4, 5. — 6. It is good for saints to draw nigh to God; it is not only good, because it is their duty ; but it is a pleasant good, when they have the presence of God in it, and their souls are drawn out towards him ; and it is a profitable good to them, when God owns it as an ordinance, for the quickening the graces of his Spirit, subduing b Stromat. 1. 7, p. 722, 728 ; Maximus Tjrius apud Witaium ia Orat. Domin. Exercitat. 2, i. 19, p. 43.

69i OF THE LORD'S PBAYER. the corruptions of their hearts, and bringing them into nearer commu nion and fellowship with himself. Praying souls are profitable in families, in churches, in neighbourhoods, and commonwealths ; when prayerless ones are useless, and obtain nothing, neither for themselves nor others. Of all the fruits which faith produces in Christians, genu ine prayer is the principal one. OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. The whole Scripture directs to and furnishes with matter for prayer ; but more particularly the prayer which is commonly called the Lord's prayer may be considered as a directory to it ; and so it seems to be designed by our Lord, when he says, After this manner therefore pray ye, in such a brief and concise manner, in a few comprehensive expressions, in words to this purpose, or to the sense following ; which he directed to in opposition to the many words, much speaking, and vain repetitions of the scribes and Pharisees ; indeed, the evan gelist Luke has it, He said unto them, When ye pray, say the following words, that is, after this manner, or to this sense, as it is explained in Matthew, where both the introduction to the prayer, and the prayer itself, are more fully expressed ; for that it was not intended as a prescribed set form, in so many words, is clear ; since then it would not have been varied, as it is by the two evangelists, by whom it is recorded; for though they both agree in the main, as to the sense, yet not in the express words : the fourth petition is in Matthew, Give us this day our daily bread, which is a petition for present supply ; in Luke it is, Give us day by day our daily bread, which is a prayer for a continued supply, for the future as it may be needed, as well as for tho present : the fifth petition is expressed in Matthew, Forgive us our debts ; and in Luke, Forgive us our sins ; in Matthew it is, as we forgive ; in Luke, for we also forgive : and tho doxology, which Matthew gives at large, is wholly left out in Luke ; For thine is tho kingdom, &o. And that it was not understood by the disciples as a form of prayer to bo used by them as such, seems evident ; since we do not find that they ever so used it ; but a most excellent summary of prayer it is, for its brevity, order, and matter, and a pattern of it worthy to be followed ; and it is very lawful and laudable to make use of any single petition in it, either in the express words of it, or to the sense of it ; and even the whole of it, provided a formal and super stitious observance of it is avoided, as used by the papists. The matter of it is very full and comprehensive ; by one of the ancients0 it is said to be, " a breviary of the whole gospel ;" and by another*1, " a compendium of heavenly doctrine." It may justly be preferred to all other prayers, because of tho author, order, and matter of it ; though not to the slight and neglect of other petitions tho Scriptures furnish us with : there were a set of men in the twelfth century, called Bogomiles, who, among other odd notions, had this, that only the Lord's ' Tertulliin. dc Oratione, c. 1. * Cyprian. dc Oral. Domin. p. 265.

OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 695 prayer was to be reckoned prayer; and that all other was to be rejected as vain clamour' : the Socinians say ', this prayer is an addition to the first command of the law; and which with other things, add to the perfection of the law, which they suppose to be imperfect until Christ came, and as if such prayer was unknown to the Old Testament saints ; but though this prayer is not formally, and in so many words, expressed in the Old Testament, yet it is materially, or the matter of it is to be found there ; is especially in the Psalms of David, of which this prayer may be said to be the epitome, as the Psalms may be considered and made use of as a commentary on that ; it is, indeed, the summary of the prayers and petitions used by good men, in and before the times of Christ, selected and put together, and inserted in this prayer, by him in this manner, as a directory to his disciples ; in which may be observed, a preface, petitions, and a conclusion, with a doxology. I. A preface, Our Father which art in heaven ; in which the object of prayer is described, by his relation to us, Our Father, and by the place of his habitation, which art in heaven. i. By the relation he stands in to us, Our Father ; which may be understood of God, essentially considered ; of the Three Persons in the Godhead, who are the one God, the Creator, and so the Father of all ; in which respect this term, Father, is not peculiar to any one person in the Deity, but common to all three, being equally Creators, Eccles. xii. 1, as in the original ; and so are addressed as the one God, Creator, and Father of all, Isa. lxiv. 8, Mal. ii. 10 ; and in this sense every man, good and bad, regenerate and unregenerate, may use this prayer, and say, Our Father : or else this is to be understood of God personally, that is, of one Person in the Godhead, even of God the Father, the first Person, who stands in tho relation of a Father in a special sense, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who, as such, is the object of prayer, Eph. iii. 14 ; and our Father in Christ; Igo to my Father and your Father, says Christ, John xx. 17 ; my Father by nature, yours by grace ; mine by natural filiation, yours by special adoption ; our sonship is founded on our conjugal union and relation to Christ, the Son of God, and on our relation to him, as the first born among many brethren. God, as the Father of Christ, has not only predestinated us to the adoption of children by him, and to be conformed to his image ; but has actually put us among the children, and taken us into his family, by an act of special love and favour, 1 John iii. 1 ; of which adoption an evidence is given in regeneration ; for such who have power to become the sons of God, are those who are born of God ; whom he, as tho God and Father of Christ has begotten again of abundant mercy, of free grace and favour, of his own good will, John i. 12, 13, 1 Pet. i. 3 ; so that the Father of Christ is our Father, both by adoption and regeneration ; and as such may be addressed by us as here directed ; which shows the true order and manner of prayer, which is to be made to the Father, the first Person, not because of * Haimenopulus apud Witsii Exercitat. 6, dc Orat. Domin. s. 28. 1 Catcchis. Racov. qu. 19 ft 20.

696 of the lord's prayer. priority of nature, but of order in the Deity ; and through the Son. who is the Mediator ; and by the Spirit, the Spirit of grace and adoption; and which are all laid together in one text, Eph. ii. 18; no man can come to the Father but by Christ ; and as no man calls Jesus Lord but by the Spirit, so no man can call God Father, in this special relation, but under the testimony of the Spirit of adoption. Now the consideration of God as our Father, in our addresses to him, is of great use : 1 . To command in us a reverence of God ; a son honours and reve rences a father, or ought to do ; and if God is our Father, he expects honour and reverence ; and when we approach him, it should be with reverence and godly fear ; not with slavish fear, as a servant, but with filial fear, as a son. — 2. It tends to encourage us to use freedom with him ; as children with a father ; to pour out our souls before him, and tell him all our mind and all our wants ; and where the Spirit is, as a Spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father, there is liberty.— 3. It will serve to give us boldness at the throne of grace, and a fiducial confidence that we shall have what we ask of him, Luke xi. 13.— 4. The idea of God as our Father, excites in us and inspires us with sentiments of the tenderness of his heart, of his pity and compassion, and of the great love and affection he bears towards us, and therefore cannot deny us any good thing needful for us. — 5. It cannot but fill us with gratitude for the many favours which he, as a kind indulgent Father, has bestowed on us ; having nourished and brought us up, fed us all our lives long, clothed us, ana provided every thing for us, and protected us from all evils and enemies ; and we may say, with David, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever ! 1 Chron. xxix. 10. — 6. This may teach us subjection to him, the Father of Spirits, and submission to his will, in all things we ask of him, Luke xxii. 42. — 7. Addressing him as our Father, instructs us to pray for others as well as for ourselves, even for all saints ; for all the children of God, to whom he stands in the same relation, being the Father of us all, Eph. iv. 6. ii. Tho object of prayer is described by the place of his habitation and residence ; which art in heaven. Not that God is limited, included, and circumscribed in any place, for he is every where, and fills heaven and earth with his presence ; but as such is the weakness of our mind that we cannot conceive of him but as somewhere, in condescen sion thereunto he is represented as in the highest place, in the height of heaven ; for as he is the high and lofty One, he dwells in the high and lofty place ; heaven is his throne, the habitation of his glory, where is his palace, where he keeps his court, and has his attendants ; and so is expressive of the greatness of his Majesty, and therefore he ought to be approached with the highest reverence ; and such a view of him will lead us to some of the divine perfections, which greatly encourage in tho work of prayer ; as the omniscience and omnipresence of God, and since God is in heaven, and we upon earth, our words should he few, but full, and be expressed with great lowliness and humility,

OF TTIE LORD'S PRAYRR. 697 with great modesty and self-abasement, as being but dust and atlies who speak unto him, Eccles. v. 2, Gen. xviii. 27 ; and the consideration of his being in heaven, should draw off our minds from the earth, and all terrene, things, and from asking them, and teach us to look upwards, to God in heaven, and seek those things which are above, from whence comes every good and perfect gift ; and since our Father is in heaven we are directed to pray unto, we should look upon heaven, and not this world, as our native place ; if we are born again, we are born from above, are partakers of a heavenly birth, and of a heavenly calling, and should seek the better country, the heavenly one ; our conversation should be in heaven, and our hearts be where our trea sure is ; our Father is in heaven, and our Father's house and mansions of bliss in it are there ; there is our portion, patrimony, and inherit ance. From the preface I pass to consider, II. The petitions in this prayer, which are six, some make them seven ; the first three respect the glory of God ; the other our good, temporal and spiritual. The first petition is, Hallowed be thy name ; which teaches to begin our prayers with the celebration of the name of God, and with a con cern for his glory, and as the end for which he has made all things ; nor will he give it, nor suffer it to be given to another ; this we should have in view in all we do, and in whatsoever we ask of him ; this should be uppermost in our minds, that his great name may be glorified, Josh, vii. 9. By his name may be meant God himself, as when sainte are said to trust in his name, to fear his name, to love his name, and the like : or his nature and perfections ; as when it is said, What is his name ? that is, his nature, if thou canst tell ; and How excellent is thy name in all the earth ! that is, what a glorious display is there of thy perfections in all the earth ! or any of the great names and titles of God, by which he has made himself known ; as the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, &c, Exod. vi. 3 ; and, indeed, every thing by which he has manifested himself, particularly his word, his gospel, which is called his name, and which he has magnified above all and every of his names, and in which the greatest discovery is made of himself, his perfections and glory, John xvii. 6, Psalm exxxviii. 2. Now, when we pray that this name may be hallowed, or sanctified ; for hallowed is an old English word, now in little use, and is the same as sanctified ; the meaning is, not that God can be made holy, or be made more holy than he is, for he is originally, underivatively, immutably, and perfectly holy ; there is none holy as the Lord : not the holy angels ; The heavens, that is, the inhabitants of the heavens, are not clean in his"sight, when compared with him : but the meaning is, that he be declared, owned, and acknowledged to be holy ; as he is by the seraphs in Isaiah's vision, and by the four living creatures around the throne, who conti nually say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ! and when the glory due to his holy name is given him, and particularly when thanks aro given at the remembrance of his holiness : and he may be said to be hallowed, or sanctified, both by himself and by others, and both may bo prayed for in this petition. He is sanctified by himself when ho

698 op the lord's prayer. makes a display of his perfections, as he does in all his works ; in the works of creation, of providence, and redemption, and particularly of his holiness and justice, Psalm cxlv. 17 ; and when he shows his resent ment against sin, takes vengeance on it, and inflicts punishment for it ; thus he says of Zidon and of Gog, that he shall be known that he is the Lord when he shall have executed his judgments on them, and shall be sanctified in them : he may be said to sanctify his name, by giving his holy word and holy ordinances to men, which direct them m the paths of holiness and righteousness ; and especially by making his people a holy people ; he has not only chosen them to be holy, and called them with a holy calling, and unto holiness, but he implants principles of grace and holiness in them, and at last brings them to a state of perfect and unblemished holiness and purity : and his name may be sanctified by others ; by civil magistrates, when they act for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well ; and by ministers of the word, when they speak according to the oracles of God, that he in all things may be glorified ; and by common saints, when they sanctify the name of the Lord, 1 Pet. ii. 14; and this they do when they exercise the grace of faith, fear, and love ; when they believe him, to sanctify his name, the not doing which was resented in Moses and Aaron ; and they sanctify him when they make him their fear and dread, and love his name, and when they show a regard to his word, worship, and Ordinances ; which is but our reasonable service, Rom. xii. 1 ; and when they study to promote holiness of life in themselves and others, and are careful that the name of God may not be blasphemed . through them, or on their account : and whereas nothing is more con trary to the sanctification of the name of God, than the profanation of it, by taking it in vain, by swearing falsely by it, and by the horrid oaths and cursings of wicked men ; it is sanctified when magistrates punish for these things, ministers inveigh against them, and every good man discountenances and discourages them : and in the use of this petition we pray that the glory of God may be more and more displayed and advanced in the world, in the course of his providence, and the dispensations of it ; that his word may run and be glorified, in the conversion and sanctification of sinners ; and that there may be an increase of holiness in all his people ; and that all profanation of the name of God among men may be prevented and removed. The second petition is, Thy kingdom come ; the Jews have a saying, that prayer, in which is no mention of the kingdom, that is, of God, is no prayer. It may be inquired, 1 . Whose kingdom this is ; by the connexion of tho petition with the preface, it seems to be the Father's kingdom ; Our Father—thy kingdom come ; but as the Father and the Son are one in nature and power, their kingdom is the same ; and so it appears to be on one account or another in every sense of it. There is the kingdom of providence, in which both are jointly concerned ; My Father worketh hitherto, in the government of tho world, and the disposition of all things in it, and I work with him, says Christ, John v. 17 ; so that this kingdom is also his : the mediatorial kingdom, which seems more

of the lord's prayer. 699 peculiarly Christ's, is in some sense the Father's, since he is the Father's King, whom ho has set over his church ; and the kingdom he has is by his appointment, for which he is accountable to him, and at the end will deliver it up to the Father, Psalm ii. 6, Luke xxii. 29. The kingdom of grace, set up in the hearts of tho Lord's people, is the kingdom of God, which lies in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; this also is the kingdom of God's dear Son, into which men at conversion are translated. Both the spiritual and personal reign of Christ, the Father has and will have a concern in. When the kingdoms of this world arc converted to Christ, they will become the kingdoms of our Lord, of our Lord God the Father, and of his Christ, the Son of God. Christ speaks of drinking wine in his Fathers kingdom, Matt. xxvi. 29, meaning either in the personal reign, or in the ultimate glory, which is a kingdom prepared by the Father, and is in his gift ; and yet is called, the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. i. 11. n. It may be further inquired, which of these kingdoms it is, the coming of which is to be prayed for, as future. It seems not to be the kingdom of providence, smce that took place from the beginning of the world ; though it may be prayed for, that it might more fully appear, and that there may be a greater display of the power and providence of God in the government of the world ; that men may know, as Nebuchadnezzar did, that the Most High ruleth in it, to the terror of the wicked inhabitants of it, and to the joy of the righteous, Psalm xcvii. 1, and xcix. 1. But rather the gospel dispensation, often called the kingdom of God, and of heaven, may be meant, which when this petition was directed to, was not yet come, though near. John and Christ began their ministry with saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand ; and which soon came, though not with observation, with pomp and splendour : upon our Lord's resurrection, and especially at his ascension to heaven, it appeared more manifest, when ne was made and declared Lord and Christ, and multitudes in the land of Judea became obedient to the faith of him ; it had a further advance when the gospel was carried into the Gentile world, and the apostles were caused to triumph every where ; and still there was a greater appearance of it when the Son of man came in his kingdom, and that came with power, seen in the destruction of the Jews for their unbelief and rejection of him, those enemies of his who would not have him to reign over them, Matt. xvi. 28, Mark ix. 1 ; and still more when paganism was abolished, and Christianity established in the Roman empire ; on occasion of which it is said, Now is come the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ, Rev. xii. 10 ; but this kingdom will come in greater glory, and which is yet to come, and so to be prayed for, at the destruction of antichrist, and when the spiritual reign of Christ will take place ; and this voice will be heard m heaven, The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! Rev. xix. 1—6 ; and still more glori ously, when Christ shall appear a second time in person, and take to himself his great power and roign, called, his appearing and his kingdom, 2 Tim. iv. 1 ; when he will come in person, and the dead in him shall

700 op the lord's prayer. riso first ; which happy dead will be made kings and priests, and shall reign with Christ a thousand years, during which time Satan shall be beund, as to give them no disturbance. This is yet to come ; no such binding of Satan, and reign of Christ with his saints, as described Rev. xx., have as yet been ; the personal coming of Christ, and reign with his saints, are still future, and to be prayed for ; as by John, Rev. xxii. 20, and seems to be chiefly intended in this petition, since it is so closely connected with, The third petition ; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven ; which as yet has never been done in the full sense of it, by any man on earth, excepting our Lord Jesus Christ, but will be done by all the saints in the personal reign of Chriet. The will of God is either secret or revealed ; the secret will of God is the rule of his own actions, in creation, providence, and grace, Eph. i. 11. This is unknown to men, until it appears either by prophecies of things future, or by facte and events that are come to pass ; it is always fulfilled ; Who hath resisted his will ? it cannot be resisted, so as to be null and void. There is no counteracting the will of God ; whatever schemes con trary to it, formed by men, are of no avail ; the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, Isa. xlvi. 10. The providen tial will of God, or what appears in the dispensations of his providence, arc a guide to us in our actions ; we should say, as James directs us, we will go here and there, do this or that, if the Lord will, James iv. 14, 15 ; and even as this will of God appears in adverse dispensa tions, it should be acquiesced in and submitted to, without murmuring and repining ; with respect to every event it should be said, The will of the Lord be done, Acts xxi. 14, in imitation of Eli, Job, David, Hezekiah, and others, and even of our Lord himself. The revealed will of God is either what is made known in the gospel, and which expresses the good will of God, his grace and favour, declared in the way and method of saving sinners by Christ, or what is signified in the law, which is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God ; the matter of it is good, and when a right use is made of it, and when rightly and truly obeyed, is acceptable to God, through Christ, and is a perfect rule of life and conversation to men. To the doing of which will the knowledge of it is requisite, Col. i. 10. Faith in God ; without which it is impossible to please him, Titus iii. 8. The grace and spirit of Christ ; without which nothing can be done to any purpose ; this may be expected, since it is promised, and may in faith be prayed for, Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ; and when it is done aright, it is done with a view to the glory of God, and without any dependence on it ; acknowledging, that when we have done all we can, we are unpro fitable servants. The rule of doing the will of God, as expressed in this petition, is, as it is done in heaven ; meaning not the starry airy heavens, though the inhabitants of them do the will of God, in their way, in a perfect manner ; the sun knows, and punctually observes, its rising and setting, and the moon its appointed seasons of change and full, of increase and decrease ; the planetary orbs keep their stated courses ; sun,

OP THE LORD'S PRAYER. 701 and moon, and stars, praise the Lord, as they are called upon to do, and even the meteors m the air, Psalm cxlviii. 3, 8. But rather the third heavens are meant, the inhabitants of which are glorified saints, the spirits of just men made perfect, and are perfect in their obedi ence, and the holy angels, who may be chiefly designed ; these readily, cheerfully, and voluntarily do the commandments of God, hearkening to the voice of his word, at once to fulfil it ; so in this petition it is desired, that saints do the will of God, not by constraint, but willingly ; at least not by any other constraint but that of love; angels are thought by some to be called seraphim from their flaming love and burning zeal for the glory of God ; saints are desirous of bemg fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, and that in sincerity, in singleness of heart ; angels do the will of God speedily, and without delay, hence wings are ascribed unto them, and Gabriel is said to fly with the Lord's message to Daniel ; so saints desire, with David, to make haste, and not delay to keep the commandments of God ; and not some of them only, but all ; not a part, but the whole will of God, angels do the will of God constantly, they always behold the face of our Father in heaven, and serve him incessantly, day and night; and saints would, as they should, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord ; and though they cannot, in the present state, do it perfectly, as the angels do, yet they are desirous of it, and reach towards perfection ; and when the kingdom of Christ comes on earth at his appearing, then will this petition be fulfilled. The fourth petition is, Give us this day our daily bread ; by which is meant, either spiritual or corporal food : some understand it of spiritual food ; as the word read, preached, and heard, which is that to the soul as bread is to the body, refreshing, nourishing, and strength ening; and the ordinances, called the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house, particularly the Lord's supper, the bread of the eucharist ; but that was not instituted when this directory was given ; and when it was, was not to be administered daily ; rather Christ, the bread of life, with respect to which the disciples made a request to Christ similar to this petition ; Lord, evermore give us this bread ! but it seems best of all to understand it of corporal food, which sense the order of the prayer directs to ; and which, if not intended, would be imperfect ; since then there would be no petition in it for temporal mercies, which yet is necessary. Bread, with the Hebrews, includes all the necessaries and conveniences of life ; see Gen. iii. 19, andxxviii. 20 ; the epithets of it are, our bread and daily bread : ours, not by desert, for we are not worthy of the least mercy ; not what we have a natural right to, and a claim upon ; Adam had a grant of all good things, sinning, all were forfeited ; men in common now enjoy them, through the indulgence of providence ; only believers in Christ have a real and proper right unto them ; which they have through interest in him, and by being co-heirs with him : ours, what we have in a lawful way, by inheritance from our parents, by legacies from our friends, by our own labour and industry, and in a way of lawful trade and com merce : ours, and not another's, not what is got from others, neither

702 op the lord's prayer. by fraud, and is the bread of deceit ; nor by force and rapine, and is the bread of violence and oppression ; nor by theft, and is the bread of wickedness ; nor enjoyed in sloth, and is the bread of idleness ; auch bread is not ours, but another's ; and. indeed, to live upon alms, is to live on another's bread ; and though lawful, is not desirable, but to be deprecated ; Give me neither poverty, &c, and when we are directed to pray, give us our bread, we are taught to pray for others as well as for ourselves ; that our fellow-creatures and fellow-Christians might have bread as well as ourselves ; even the congregation of the Lords poor, Psalm lxxiv. 19 ; the other epithet, daily bread, the word used for it is only in this place, and differently rendered ; in the Syriac version, The bread of our necessity, or indigence, what is necessary for the day, as the Persic version ; and seems to be the same Job calls his necessary food, what is necessary for the support of life, and what our heavenly Father knows we have need of; food that is fit to eat, such as a father will give to a son ; not a stone, nor a scorpion, but proper food ; as every creature of God, designed for that purpose, is good ; so tmov<nos may signify, that which is fit for our nature, substance, and, being, as a learned lexicographer8 interprets it ; what is fit for the bodily sustentation of our bodily substance, and the preservation of our life and being ; and is what Agur calls food con venient, suitable to our nature, condition, and circumstances ; and as much of it as is sufficient. The manna of the Israelites might with great propriety be called their daily bread ; since it was rained about their tents every morning, and was gathered by them every day, and that by every one, according to his eating ; that is, as much as ho could eat, or was proper for him to eat. The petition is, Give us our daily bread ; which shows it is to be prayed for, and to be expected as the gift of God, from whom even' good gift comes ; and it may be expected, because promised ; Bread shall be given him : and though it is our bread, gotten by our labour and industry, yet it is to be ascribed to the bounty and blessing of God, and acknowledged a gift of his ; for it is the blessing of the Lord upon the diligent hand that- maketh rich, Prov. x. 4, 22 ; and when we pray that this may be given, we pray for other things to be given with it, or it will be of no avail ; as that God would give us health and appetite ; for if our bones are chastened with strong pain, and our bodies filled with diseases, we shall be like the sick man, whose lire abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat ; and likewise that God would give nourishment with it ; for this is not from food itself alone, nor at the option and will of men, but is of God ; and therefore a blessing is to be asked upon our food, or otherwise how can we expect it should be nourishing to us I see Deut. viii. 3, 1 Tim. iv. 5 ; yea, a power to eat of what we havo is to" be asked of God ; for some are so unnatural and cruel to themselves, as to withhold from themselves what is meet, as well as from others ; for a man to eat of the fruit of his labours in a sober way, is the gift of God, Eccles. v. 18, 19 ; and what we ask, and God gives us, is for our use, and not to be abused by ' O «iri tij owna ij/ni' apfiofay.—Suidas in voce, ciriowrio?.

OF THK LORD'S PRAYER. 703 us ; which is neither for true pleasure, nor profit, nor honour ; and since what we have is by gift, we should be content with such things as we have, and be thankful for them : and this petition teaches us, that we should be daily dependent on God, and his providence, and not trust in the gift, but in the Giver ; and not think to set our nest on high, out of the reach of providence, and as if delivered from the power of evil ; but remember, that he that gives can take away, 1 Tim. vi. 17, Hab. ii. 9. The time when food is to be prayed for is, this day ; which may teach us the brevity and uncertainty of life, since we cannot boast, promise, and assure ourselves of a to-morrow ; and may instruct us to depress all anxious and immoderate care of what we shall eat, and drink, and wear on the morrow, since we know not what a day may bring forth ; and sufficient for the day is both the evil and good of it ; and we may learn by it, that our wants may be expected to return on us daily ; the food of yesterday will not suffice for this day, nor the food of this day for the morrow ; it must be asked for every day : and from hence it appears, that we should pray daily, always, and without ceasing, as the word of God directs. The fifth petition is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ; by debts are meant sins, as appears from Luke xi. 4, where the same petition is, Forgive us our sins ; these are called debts, not as owing to God ; it is obedience we owe to God, and in case of sin, satisfaction to his law ; and in failure of obedience, and not making satisfaction, we owe a debt of punishment, and become liable to tho curse of the law, to eternal death, which is the wages and demerit of sin ; and these debts are numerous ; we owe ten thousand talents or more, and cannot answer to one debt of a thousand : men are incapable of paying their debts themselves, nor can any creature pay them for them ; and so are liable to a prison. Christ only is the surety of his people ; he has undertook to pay their debts, and has blotted out the hand-writing against them. And when we are directed to pray for the forgiveness of these debts, or sins, it supposes a sense of sin, and of the guilt of it, chargeable upon us ; and likewise an acknowledgment of it, which God requires, and we are encouraged to give ; since if we confess our sins, God is just and faithful to forgive them ; also a sense of our inability to pay our debts, and of others paying them for us : and by application to God for the forgiveness of sins, it shows that we believe that God can forgive sin ; and he only, as indeed none can but himself ; and he forgives sin freely and fully ; we not being able to pay, he frankly forgives, and even all trespasses, and that for Christ's sake, on account of his blood shed, and satisfaction made : and there fore there is encouragement to pray for the forgiveness of sin, as David, Daniel, and other saints did, and as Christ's disciples and followers aro directed to ; that is, for the manifestation and appli cation of pardoning grace, which is all that can be meant, and we want ; it is not a request that Christ may be sent again to pay our debts for us, and his blood be shed again for the remission of sins, or a new act of pardon pass in the mind of God ; but that we may have a fresh application of pardon, already procured and passed ; and this we

704 OF THE LOIU/S PRAYEK. are to pray for daily, since we arc daily sinning, in thought, word, and deed ; and therefore forgiveness is to bo prayed for, as frequently as we pray for our daily bread, with which petition this is joined. The reason or argument made use of to enforce this petition is, as we forgive our debtors ; or, as Luke has it, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us ; pecuniary debts are to be forgiven when the debtor is unable to pay ; and criminal debts or sins, and injuries committed by one Christian against another, are to be forgiven, as Christ has forgiven them : not that our forgiveness of others is the cause of God's forgiveness of us ; for the moving cause of God's forgiveness is his free favour, grace, and mercy ; it is according to the multitude of his tender mercies, and accordmg to the riches of his grace, and not the deserts of men : the meritorious cause of it is the blood of Christ, shed for the remission of sins ; and the satisfaction of Christ, for the sake of which they are forgiven. Nor is our forgive ness of fellow-creatures the model of God's forgiveness of us ; there is no perfect comparison between them, much less an equality. God forgives as Lord of all, and who has an absolute power so to do ; but men forgive those who are their equals, and sinners like themselves ; God forgives for Christ's sake, and upon a satisfaction made ; but men without, and at most upon repentanco ; God forgives great sins, and, indeed, all manner of sin ; but what man forgives aro trivial offences, injuries to their persons or properties, but not sins committed against God. But this is an argument taken from God's own grace, in the hearts of his people, and as an evidence of it ; that if he has given them such grace as to forgive their fellow-creatures and Christians, then they may hope and expect, that he who is the God of all grace, and from whom they have received theirs, will forgive their sins, of his rich grace, and for Christ's sake ; the reasoning is much the same with that in Luke xi. 13. Nor is it to be expected that God should forgive us our sins without our forgiving the sins of others ; nor can we put up such a petition without forgiving others. The sixth petition is, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, which some make to be a sixth and seventh ; but they seem to be two parts and branches of the same. i. Lead us not into temptation. There are various sorts of tempta tion. — 1. Some are of God, as, by enjoining things hard, difficult, and trying ; so God tempted Abraham, by ordering him to take and offer up his son, on one of the mountains he should show him, whereby he tried his faith in him, his love and obedience to him, and his fear and reverence of him, Gen. xxii. 1 —12; and sometimes by laying afflictions upon his people ; which though they cause heaviness, should bo accounted joy; because they try and prove faith and patience, whereby they become more illustrious and precious, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7, James i. 2, 3 ; but not by soliciting any to sin, James i. 13 ; yet there is a sense in which God may be said to lead into temptation, or there would be no occasion to deprecate it ; and that either providentially, as Christ himself was led up by the Spirit into tho wilderness, to be tempted of the devil, Matt. iv. 1 ; and as when things occur in pro

OF THE r.01U»"S PRAYER. 705 vidence, and objects are presented, which, though good and lawful in themselves, yet meeting with the" corruptions of nature, are incentives to and occasions of sin ; as the Babylonish garment, the shekels of silver and wedge of gold spied and found by Achan, were to him ; and as a train of circumstances, by meeting together in providence, which led on to David's sin with Bathsheba, or however permissively ; so Satan was suffered to tempt and beguile Eve, and to move and to provoke David to number the people, and to sift Peter, and put him on denying his Lord and Master, for which he desired to have him ; and God may be said to lead into temptation, when lie withdraws the influence of his grace, which only can keep from it ; leaves men to the corruptions of their own hearts, as he did Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31 . — 2. Others are more immediately from Satan himself; hence he is called the tempter, Matt. iv. 3, 1 Thess. iii. 5 ; he solicits to sin, as he did our first parents, and does all men, both good and bad ; he tempts by suggesting evil things into the mind, as he did into Judas, and Ananias and Sapphira ; in the ono to betray his Lord, and in the other to lie against the Holy Ghost ; and by filling good men with doubts and fears, with unbelieving and desponding thoughts about their interest in the love, favour, and graces of God, and even with things blasphemous and atheistical, contrary to the dictates and sentimenfas of their own minds ; all which are very distressing and afflictive, and therefore expressed by bufferings, siftings, and fiery darts ; and his temptations with all sorts of persons are managed with great art and cunning, and are suited to the age, circumstances, conditions, con stitutions, and tempers of men. — 3. There are other temptations, which are from the world ; some from the better things in it, as from riches, which are deceitful, and draw men to set their hearts upon them, and to trust in them, and to covet after them, and to seek to gain them in an illicit way ; by which they fall into temptation and a snare, and into foolish and hurtful lusts, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows : and from the honours of it ; socking great things for themselves, honour from men, and not that honour which comes from God ; and so are diverted from Christ, his gospel and interest, loving the praise of men more than the praise of God : and from the pleasures of it ; the love of which detracts from the love of God ; not only the pleasures of sin, to which few have the courage of Moses, to prefer afflictions with the people of God ; but even lawful recreations men are tempted to carry to an excess ; nay, the very necessaries of life, table-mercies, prove a snare ; the good things of life are abused in their using. Some temptations arise from what may be called the evil things of the vvorld ; as poverty, which may be a temptation to steal, or to do things unwarrantable, either to prevent it, or to relieve under it. And afflictions of various sorts, under which even good men may be tempted either to neglect, overlook, and slight them ; or to faint under them, and to murmur and repine at the hand of God upon them. The customs of the world, which are usually vain and sinful, are very ensnaring; and therefore the apostolical advice is, Be not vol.. II. z z

706 op the lord's prayer. conformed to this world, but- bo transformed; and it is no wonder that worldly and fleshly lusts, or that the sinful things in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, should be enticing and ensnaring, and which, by promising liberty, make men the servants of corruption. There are temptations to good men from the men of the world ; by whom they are enticed to join them in things sinful, and whose conversation and evil communications corrupt good manners. Joseph, by being among Pharaoh's courtiers, learnt to swear by the life of Pharaoh. And the reproaches, menaces, and persecu tions of the world, are temptations to men, either to make no profes sion of religion, or when made, to drop it ; such a time is called, the time of temptation, Luke viii. 13, Rev. iii. 10. — 4. There are temp tations from the flesh, from indwelling sin, from the corruption of nature, which of all are the worst and most powerful ; Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed, James i. 14 ; there is a deceitfulness in sin, in internal lust, which sadly entangles, ensnares, and captivates ; the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. Now in this petition, Lead us not into temptation, we pray to be kept from every occasion of sinning, and inclination to it, and appearance of it, and from every object which may allure to it ; and that we might be kept from the sin which most easily besets us, or we arc most inclined to ; and that God would not leave us to Satan and our own corruptions, but hold us up by his power, when only we shall be safe ; and that he would not suffer us either to enter into or to fall by a temptation ; and especially that we may not sink under it, and be overcome by it ; but that we may be able to resist every temptation, and be victorious over all. ii. The other branch of the petition is, But deliver us from evil ; either from the evil of afflictions, called evil things, because the effects of sin, and disagreeable to men, Luko xvi. 25 ; from these God has promised to deliver, and does deliver, and therefore may be prayed for in faith ; or from the evil of sin, from committing it ; this was the prayer of Jabez, 1 Chron. iv. 10 ; and from the guilt of it on the conscience, by the blood of Christ, the same with the forgiveness of it ; and from the dominion of it, that it might not reign in us ; and from the being of it, and the sad effects of it; or from evil men, unreasonable and cruel; from falling into their hands, and being ill-used by them, 2 Thess. iii. 2 ; and especially from the evil one, Satan, and from his temptations ; and agrees with tho former part of the petition. III. This prayer is concluded with a doxology, or ascription of glory to God ; For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever ; and these may be considered as so many reasons, pleas, and arguments for obtaining the things requested, and to encourage faith therein ; For thine is the kingdom, of nature, providence, grace, and glory ; and so all things appertaining thereunto, are at the dispose of God : And the power ; to give daily bread, to forgive sin, to preserve from temptation, to support under it, and deliver out of it : And the

OF SI\"GING PSALMS. 707 glory ; arising from all this, to whom alone it is due ; and to be for ever given : Amen, a note of asseveration of the truth herein contained ; and used as an assent to the petitions made, and as a wish for the ful filment of them ; and as expressive of faith and confidence, that they would be answered. OF SINGING PSALMS, AS A PART OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. Next to prayer may be considered, singing the praises of God, as a religious duty : this may be done in a private manner, by a person singly and alone, James v. 13; and between two or more ; so Paul and Silas sang aloud praises to God in the prison, Acts xvi. 25 ; and in the family, between a man and his wife, with his children and servants : of this private singing of psalms in the family Tertullian h speaks, and makes use of this as an argument with Christians to marry among themselves, that this duty may be the better and more harmoniously performed ; but I shall treat of it as an ordinance of divine and public service ; and endeavour, I. To show what singing is, according to the common idea we have of it, as a natural act of the voice ; and as a religious duty distinct from other acts of religion. Singing may be considered either in a proper or in an improper sense. When used improperly, it is ascribed to inanimate creatures ; the heavens, earth, mountains, hills, forests, trees of the wood, the pastures clothed with flocks, and the valleys covered with corn, are said to sing and shout for joy, or are exhorted to it. Singing, taken in a strict and proper sense, and as a natural act, is an act of the tongue or voice ; though not every action of the tongue, or sound of the voice, is to be called singing. Speech is an action of the tongue ; but all kind of speaking is not singing ; singing is speaking melodiously, musically, or with the modulation of the voice. These two sounds, speaking or saying, and singing, have not the same idea annexed to them ; should we be told that such a man, as com monly expressed, said grace before and after meat, wo should at once understand what is meant, that he asked of God a blessing upon his food, before eating, and returned thanks after it, according to tho common use of speech, in prayer to God, and in conversation with men : but if it should be said, he sang grace before and after meat, we should not be able to form any other idea of it, but that he did it in a tonical, musical way, with a modulation of the voice. It is not any clamour of the tongue, or sound of the voice, that can be called singing ; otherwiso why should the tuneful voice and warbling notes of birds be called singing, Cant. ii. 12; any more than the sound of the voice of other animals ; as the roaring of the lion, the bellowing of the ox, the bleating of the sheep, the neighing of the horse, the braying of the ass, the barking of the dog, or the grunting of the hog i The clamorous noisy shouts of conquerors, and the querulous notes, shrieks and cries of the conquered, are very different from the voice of singing : when Moses and Joshua came down from tho mount, says Joshua, h Ad nxoicm, 1. 2,c. 6, p. 190; c. 8, j>. 191. jiz 2

708 OF SINGING PSAI.MS. There is a noise of war in the camp ; and he (Moses) said, It is not the voico of them that shout for mastery ; neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome ; but the noise of them that sing do I hear ; that sang and danced about the calf. And singing musically with the voice, as a religious action, is distinct from all other religious acts and exorcises. I. From prayer : James speaks of them as two distinct things in the place before quoted ; and so the apostle Paul, when he says, I will pray with the Spirit, and I will sing with the Spirit also ; or if lie means the same, he must be guilty of a very tautology, 1 Cor. xiv. 15. Paul and Silas in prison, both prayed and sang praises, which are evidently two distinct exercises, Acts xvi. 25. — 2. It is distinct from giving thanks ; Christ, in the institution of the supper, gave thanks, this he did as his own act and deed, singly and alone ; but after supper he and his dis ciples sang a hymn or psalm together ; and the apostle having directed the church at Ephesus to sing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, makes mention afterwards of giving thanks to God in the name of Christ, as a distinct duty incumbent on them, Matt. xxvi. 26— 30, Eph. v. 19, 20. — 3. It is distinct from praising God; for though wo do praise him in singing, yet all praising is not singing. Singing is only one way of praising God ; there are others ; as when we celebrate the adorable perfections of God, or speak well of them in preaching, or in common discourse : when we return thanks to him for temporal and spiritual mercies in prayer ; when we show forth his praise, and glorify him by our lives and conversations ; in neither of which senses can we be said to sin? ; if praising is singing, what then is singing of praise ! — 4. It is different from inward spiritual joy, which is wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God, and arises from views of interest in the love of God, in the covenant of grace, in the person, blood, right eousness, and sacrifice of Christ ; and this indeed fits a person for singing the praises of God, but is distinct from it. Is any merry I tvQvnet rts, is any of a good mind, or in a good frame of soul, let him sing psalms : but then the frame and the duty are different things ; spiritual joy is not singing ; but the cause and reason of it, and makes a man capable of performmg it in the best manner. — 3. Though there is sucli a thing as mental prayer, there is no such thing as mental singing, or singing in the heart, without the voice. Speaking or preaching without the tongue or voice, are not greater contradictions, or rather impossibilities, than singing without a voico or tongue is. Such an hypothesis is suited for no scheme but Quakerism ; and we may as well have our silent meetings, dumb preaching, and mute prayer, as silent singing ; singing and making melody in the heart, is no other than singing with or from the heart or heartily ; or, as else where expressed, with grace in the heart, that is, in the exercise of it; it does not exclude the voice in singing, but hypocrisy in the heart, and requires sincerity in it. I go on, II. To prove, that singing the praises of God has always been a branch of natural or revealed religion, in all ages and periods of time, and ever will be.

OF SINGING PSALMS. 709 »rl;«r «Tn ^ Pa.Ft °5 tHe Y°r8hi^ of God with the heathens ; as SI men bv K"r^ "^^ ^ S° '"8 "W the Praises of God : as men by the light of nature are directed to pray to God when in tl «Z' 7" °r T" they Want' Jonah J- 6' 8° theV are di«oS by learned wSf^ ?" P""8? °f G°d f°r mercieS rece»'ed- A ™<^rn hfveoh^H ' e-Ve8) that "thou?h religions the most different that thev «h U ?rloUf na^1onS and a^8' yet in this ^y all agree, PMn S£ i be.«olenmized in hymns and songs:" according to which were ,°an hT^ ^^ ^0et^ ^ in those devotions to God ZtwiZtn^ KymnS I thG Gredit and aPPlau8e which Homer got, vorks is fti 1Vv 6 ^T he cOm?°8ed for th0 deities ' and among his ZedTvmnstn t. a hyn>n to Apollo; as Orpheus before him comname Th. i h SeVeral deit,C8' Which are yet in being ^der his r16; .lh? whole, .8cience of music was employed by the ancient the rehl^ ""^ °l th,eir *od8> " Plutar^ .fcertJ One partof deitiefteVT I? °u the EgyPtian« insisted of hymns to their and\SJZt t to the h?°Ur °f them- and which t^y sang morning Pornhvrv fl + n°on', and !un"eetting, as Clemens of Alexandria and day ami nilt ? ^ the I5dI,ans aIs° 8Pent the greate8t P«t of the rL™ T PuayerS ,and h^vmns to t^ gods,lU the last of these Sit,"18,; Remarkable is the sayin| of Arrianus the Stoic S ould we L' K If . 8ayS,hv ' We are intelligent creatures, what else IWv? T? i' H ,n.Puubh« and private, than to sing a hymn to the «Sn «T» L ^k n'?htln?a,e' ! would do M a nightingale, and if a God n^ I T\bUt 8lncV am a rational "-eature, I ought to praise I HveToin6 Krt y°U t2 th° 8eIf-same «ong:-this is my work whilst From th 8 a /"Ito God' both by myself and before one or many." cVnTnV ^' ??u °rher .:nstances which might be produced, we may by thet'w nf +e Ge^,leS W6re ^ the hght of nature directed, and that ft ; nature obllged, to this part of worship ; and consequently people o VJ11 of natural religion. -2. It was practised by the SlL/i^ , °re thG ?mn« of the law by M««e« ? the lxxxviiith writin.fi S PS T? \re.t,1oUght by some'" to be the oldest pieces of L Hefn„n 7rld; bc,'lg loDZ be,'ore the birth of Moses, composed in » ,ZZ^ , tHa!/' tr S°nS °f Zerah> t^ son of Judah; the one L n r . n gy depI°reS the miserable state of Israel in Egypt; the other joyfully smgs prophetically their deliverance out of it. 1'ho xctn psalm was written by Moses himself, at what time it is not said ; iTIf;ifeua,n lfc ,8' th;lt Moscs and f^ children of Israel sang a song at the Red sea, after their passage through it, and the destruction o tne Egyptians m it ; which is still on record, and it seems will be sung agam when the antichristian Pharaoh and the antichrist ian powers are destroyed by the Christian conquerors, standing on a sea of glass with the harps of God in their hands, Exod. xv. 1, Rev. xv. Zl A T . ! bemS before t,,e law of Mose8. when first sung, it was not done by virtue of that law ; nor was it of ceremonious institution, nor a part ol worship peculiar to the Levitical dispensation ; nor was ". fcp,ctt'"". 1. I. <.. lt-1 el 1. y, c.26. -» Lightfoot, vol. 1, p. 699, 700.

710 OF SINGING PSALMS. it by any positive law of God to the sons of men, that we know of; but was sung by the Israelites according to the dictates of their con sciences, and the examples of others before them, by which they were influenced, as to cry to the Lord when in distress, so to sing his praiseswhen they were delivered. — 3. It was not a part of divine service peculiar to Israel under the law ; but when psalmody was in the most flourishing condition, under the direction and influence of David their king, he in many of his psalms, called upon and exhorted the nations of the earth to sing the praises of God ; Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands, or all the earth ; let the people, even all the people, praise thee ; let the nations be glad and sing Jor joy, sing unto the Lord all the earth! &c Psalm Ixvi. 1, 2. Now if singing was not a part of moral worship, but of a ceremonious kind, the nations of the earth would have had no concern in it, nor would it have been obligatory upon them. — 4. When the ceremonial law was in its greatest glory, and legal sacrifices in highest esteem, singing of psalms and spiritual songs was preferred unto them, as more acceptable to God than the offering of an ox or bullock, Psalm lxix. 30, 31* Now no other reason of this preference can be given, but that the sacrifice of an ox was of ceremonial institution, whereas singing the praises of God was a part of moral worship, whicli might be performed in a spiritual and evangelic manner. — 5. When the ceremonial law, with all its rites, was abolished, this duty of singing the praises of God remained in full force ; at the same time the apostle tells the churches, that the law of command ments was abolished, and they wore no more to be judged with respect to meats, and drinks, and holy days, these shadows being gone ; he exhorts them most strongly to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Eph. ii. 14, 15, &c. Now it is not reasonable to suppose that the apostle, in the same epistles, written to the same persons, should declare them disengaged from the one, and under obligation to regard the other, if they equally belonged to the same ceremonial law. — fi. That the churches of Christ under the gospel dispensation were to sing, have sung, and ought to sing the praises of God vocally, appears, —From the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning it. In many of the psalms respecting the times of the Messiah, the churches of God in them are invited to sing the praises of God ; as in Psalm xlvii, xlviii, and xcv, and in many of the prophecies of Isaiah it is declared, that not only the watchmen, the ministers of the word, shoidd lift up the voice, and with the voice together sing ; but that churches should break forth into joy, and sing together, Isa. lii. 7—9; blessed be God these predictions are in a great measure fulfilled ; gospel churches among the Gentiles, as well as in Judea, have lift up their voices and sung the praises of God, according to these prophecies.— This also is evident from express precepts and directions given to gospel churches concern ing it ; it is not only prophesied of in the Old Testament, but is com manded in the New ; particularly the churches at Ephesus and Colosse are expressly enjoined to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16 ; and directions are given them in what manner they are to sing them, which will be observed hereafter. —This is clear from

OK SINGING PSALMS. 711 New Testament instances and examples. Christ and his disciples sang a hymn or psalm together at the celebration of the Lord's supper ; which they did as a church in the midst of which Christ sang a hymn, and they with him, Matt. xxvi. 30 ; the church at Corinth sang psalms in the times of the apostles ; there were indeed disorders among them in the performance of this ordinance, as of others, which the apostle rectifies, and blames them, but not for that itself, provided they observed the rules he gave them, 1 Cor. xiv. 26.—This practice obtained in the earliest times of Christianity, and has continued to the present time. Pliny n in his letter to Trajan, the emperor, written at the latter end of the first, or beginning of the second century, acquaints him, that the sum of the charge against the Christians was, that " they met together on a stated day, before it was light, and sang a song among themselves to Christ, as to God." And Tertullian0, in the beginning of the third century, speaks of reading the Scriptures, singing psalms, preaching, and prayer, as parts of public worship. And Origen, a little later in the same century, observes p, the need of the Spirit of God to assist in singing psalms and hymns to the Father in Christ, tvpvBytu>s, e/x/*eAa>c, *nntpu>s mat o-uji<£a>i>coy, in good rhyme, melody and metre, and in vocal concert. The proofs would be too numerous, and indeed endless, to give of its continuance and use in after ages ; it will be sufficient to observe, that the book of Revelation is a representation of the service of the churches of Christ on earth, as well as of their state, condition, and sufferings, and their deliverance from them, in the several periods of time until his second coming ; in which we frequently have an account of their being concerned in this work of singing, particularly at the time of the reformation from popery, and at the fall of Babylon, or antichrist, when the spiritual reign of Christ will take place; at which time, from the uttermost parts of the earth will be heard songs, even glory to the righteous, Isa. xxiv. 1 6 ; and in the millennium, upon the first resurrection, when the personal reign of Christ will begin, the raised ones will sing, as they will be exhorted, and will have reason so to do ; Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, Isa. xxvi. 19 ; in short, when all other ordinances will cease, this of singing the praises of God will be in its highest glory and perfection, Isa. xxxv. 10. I shall next inquire, III. What that is which is to be sung, or the subject-matter of singing; and the direction is to theso three, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16. 1. By psalms may be meant the Book of Psalms, composed by David, Asaph, and others, but chiefly by David ; hence he is called the sweet Psalmist of Israel, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1 ; this is the only sense in which the word is used throughout the whole New Testament ; nor is there any reason to believe the apostle Paul designs any other in the places referred to ; nor the apostle James, in chap. v. 13. Thoso who are of a different mind ought to show in what other sense the word is used, and where ; and what those psalms are we are to sing, if not the * Epist. 1. 10, ep. 97 : vide Tertull. Apologet. c. 2; ct Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 3, c. 33. " Dc Anima, c. 9. ' Xltfi «uxis> c- ", p. 7, I'd. Oxon. I(i86.

712 OF SINGING PSALMS. Psalms of David, &c, since it is certain there are psalms which are to be sung under the gospel dispensation. — 2. By hymns are intended, not any mere human compositions ; since I can hardly think the apostle would place such between psalms and spiritual songs, made by men inspired by the Holy Ghost, and put them upon a level with them, to be sung ; but rather this is only another name for the Book of Psalms, the running title of which may as well be the book of hymns, as it is rendered by Ainsworth q. The cxlvth psalm is called a hymn of David ; and the psalm our Lord sang with his disciples after the supper, is said to be a hymn ; and so the psalms of David in general are called vpvoi, hymns, both by Josephus and Philo. — 3. By spiritual sSngs may also be meant the same psalms of David, Asaph, &c, the titles of some of which are songs ; as sometimes a psalm and song, a ■song and psalm, a song of degrees, and the like ; together with all other spiritual songs written by men inspired of God ; called spiritual, because of the author of them, the Spirit of God ; the penmen of them, such as were moved by the same Spirit ; and the matter of them spiritual, useful for spiritual edification ; and are opposed to all loose, profane, and wanton songs. And as these three words, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, answer to emmo O^nn and tDTty the titles of David's Psalms, and are by the Septuagint rendered by the Greek words used by the apostle, it may be reasonably concluded, that it was his intention that the ehurches he writes to should sing them ; but inasmuch as the word of God and Christ in general furnishes out matter for singing his praises, I deny not, but that such hymns and spiritual songs composed by good men, uninspired, may be made use of: provided care is taken that they be agreeable to the sacred writings, and to the analogy of faith, and are expressed as much as may be in Scripture language ; of such sort were those Tertullian r speaks of, used in his time, as were either out of the holy Scripture, or de proprio ingenio, of a man's own composure. IV. The manner in which psalms, &c, are to be sung, may be next considered. 1 . Socially, and with united voices ; so Moses and the children of Israel sang at the Red sea ; so Christ and his disciples sang after the Lord's supper ; so the watchmen will sing in the latter day, even with their voice together ; so did Paul and Silas in prison ; and thus the churches are directed in Eph. v. 19, Col. iii. 16. — 2. With the heart along with the mouth, as heartily as well as vocally, which is making melody in the heart, Eph. v. 19, or performing the duty in sincerity and truth ; and not as the Israelites, who flattered God with their lips, sang the praises of God, but soon forgot his works. — 3. With grace in the heart, Col. iii. 16, with the several graces; not one note, but a mixture of notes, makes melody ; many voices, yet one sound, make a chorus : so singing must be with various graces ; with faith in God, without which it is impossible to please him ; and with strong love and affection for him ; and also with reverence and godly fear ; for God is i Vox tifivoi, cum llcbrieo titulo, D'Tnn, multo melius congruit.—Lowth. de Sacr. P0cs. Heb. Tra-lcct. 29, p. 376. ' Apolog. c. 39.

OF SINGING PSALMS. 713 fearful in praises vr,M, reverend in them, to be praised with great fear and reverence of his Majesty. — 4. With the Spirit, as the apostle Paul determined to do, 1 Cor. xiv. 15 ; with the Spirit of God, whose assistance is necessary in this as in prayor; and with our spirits, sincerely, fervently, and affectionately, and in a spiritual manner, suitable to the nature of God, who is a Spirit. — 5. With the under standing also ; with the understanding of what is sung ; and in such a manner, and in such language, as may be understood by others ; for one end of the duty is, not only to speak to ourselves in it, but to teach and admonish others ; and perhaps the apostle may have some regard to one of the titles of David's psalms ?ou;d Maschil, which signifies a psalm giving instruction, and causing to understand. In a word, besides our mutual edification, — 6. We should have in view the glory of God ; for we are to sing unto the Lord ; not to ourselves, merely to raise our natural affections, to gain applause from others, by the fineness of our voice, and by observing an exact conformity to the tune ; but to the glory of Father, Son, and Spirit, the one God, who condescends to inhabit the praises of Israel. What remains now is ouly, V. To answer to some of the principal objections made to this duty; these are chiefly made against the matter and manner of singing, and the persons, at least some of them, who join in this service. i. The matter and manner of singing, particularly David's psalms ; to which are objected, 1. That they were not written originally in metre, and therefore are not to be sung in such manner ; nor to be translated into metre for such a purpose. The contrary to this is universally allowed by the Jews, and appears from the different accentuation of them from that of other books, and is asserted by such who are best skilled in the Hebrew language, both ancients and moderns. Josephus' says, " David, in a time of peace, composed divine songs and hymns, of various metre, and some tri-metre, that is, of three feet ; and others of penta-metre, that is, of five feet." And Jerome', who, of all the fathers, best understood the Hebrew tongue, takes the Psalms to be of the lyric kind, and therefore compares David to Pindar, Horace, and others ; and for the metre of them appeals to Philo, Josephus, Origen, Eusebius, and others. Gomarus u has given hundreds of verses out of the Psalms, which agree with Pindar and Sophocles ; and the word commonly used throughout that book, in the judgment of learned men, signifies metre w ; and since then the Psalms were originally written in metre, it is lawful to translate them into it, in order to be sung in the churches of Christ. — It is doubted whether the Book of Psalms is suitable to the gospel dispensation, and proper to be sung in gospel churches. Nothing more suitable to it, nor moro proper to be sung in it ; since it abounds with prophecies concerning the person • Aatiq. 1. 7, c. 12. ' Ep. ad Paulin. tom. 3, fol. 3, 2 ; pmfat. in lib. Job, fol. 8, 2. 11 Davidis Lyra inter opera ejus, t. 2, p. 317, &c. w "T10TD mctruirj, vcl numeros, sivc quam Graci pvOfiov vocant, signiticat.— Lowtb. dc Suer. Poci. H'b. Prelect. 3. p. 40, in marg. ; et Prelect. 4, p. 44: vide Oejerum, ct Micbaelem, in l'.-alm iii. I .

714 OF SINGING PSALMS. and offices of the Messiah, his suffering and death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God, now more clearly understood, and more capable of being sung in an evangelic manner; and also is full of precious promises ; is a large fund of experience, a rich mine of gospel grace and truth, and so is greatly suited to every case and condition the church of Christ, or a particular believer may be in, and at any time ; a little care and prudence in the choice of proper psalms, on particular occasions, would fully discover the truth of this. — 3. It is objected, that cases are often met with in this book we cannot make our own : and to sing them, it is suggested, would be lying to God ; and that some are quite shocking, as curses and imprecations on wicked men, and seem to show a want of that charity which is recommended in the gospel. To which it may be replied, that singing cases not our own, are no more lying to God than reading them is, singing being but a slower way of pronunciation, in a musical manner. Besides, when we sing the cases of others, we sing them as such, and not our own ; which yet may be useful by way of example, advice, comfort, or instruction ; and being sung in public, may be suitable to some in the community, though not to others ; and so the end of singing be answered : and the same objection will lie equally against public prayer, and joining in that, since it cannot be thought that every petition is suitable to all : and as for curses and imprecations on wicked men, these may be avoided ; we are not obliged to sing all that are in the Psalms ; besides, these may be considered only as prophetic hints of what may be expected will befall such persons, and may be sung to the glory of God, and with instruc tion to ourselves ; since herein may be observed the justice and holiness of God, the vile nature of sin, the indignation of God against it, and abhorrence of it, and in which it is to be had with all good men. — 4. It is urged, that to sing David's psalms, and others, is to sing by a form, and then why not pray by one I I answer, the case is different ; the one may be done without a form, the other not ; the Spirit is promised as a Spirit of supplication, but not as a Spirit of poetry ; and if a man had an extraordinary gift of delivering out an extempore psalm or hymn, that would be a form to others who joined him ; add to this, that we have a Book of Psalms, but not a book of prayers. David's Psalms were composed to be sung by form, and in the express words of them, and were so sung ; hence the people of God are bid, not to make a psalm, but to take a psalm, ready-made to their hands, Psalm lxxxi. 1, 2. — 5. It is observed, that Davids Psalms were sung formerly with musical instruments, as the harp, timbrel, and cymbal, and organs ; and why not with these now ? » these are to be disused, why not singing itself ? I answer, these are not essential to singing, and so may be laid aside, and that continue ; it was usual to burn incense at the time of prayer, typical of Christ s mediation, and of the acceptance of prayer through it ; that is now disused ; but prayer being a moral duty, still remains : the above instruments were used only when the church was in its infant state; and what is showy, gaudy, and pompous, are pleasing to children;

OF SINGING PSALMS. 715 and as an ancient writer * observes, " these were fit for babes, but in the churches (under the gospel dispensation, which is more manly) the use of these, fit for babes, is taken away, and bare or plain singing is left." As for organs, of which mention is made in Psalm clth, the word there used signifies another kind of instruments than those now in use, which are of a later date, device, and use, and were first intro duced by a Pope of Rome, Vitalianus, and that in the seventh century, and not before7. ii. There are other objections, which lie against some persons singing ; as, — 1. Women, because they are ordered to keep silence in the churches ; and are not permitted to speak, 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35 ; but this is to be understood only of speaking and teaching in public, in an authoritative way, 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12 ; otherwise it would not be lawful for them to give an account of the work of grace upon their hearts ; not to give evidence in any case, and the like : as for singing the praises of God, it is a moral duty, and equally binding as prayer on both sexes ; and the God of nature and grace has given women faculties capable of performing it ; and having a voice suited for it, to join in harmonious concert, ought to be exhorted to it, and encouraged, and not discouraged and discountenanced. Miriam, and the women with her, sang at the Red sea ; and Deborah sang with Barak ; and it is' a prophecy of gospel times, that women should come and sing in the height ofZion, Jer. xxxi. 8—12 ; and, indeed, what else is the woman's prophesying, but singing, allowed by the apostle, with her head covered ; smce prophesymg is explained by singing, as well as by praying and preaching, 1 Cor. xi. 5. — 2. The singing of unbelievers, and singing with them, are objected to by some ; but then this sup poses that it is the duty of believers, and is allowed of; or otherwise the objection is impertinent. Now let it be observed, that singing the praises of God, as well as prayer, is a moral duty, and so binding on all men, believers and unbelievers ; and though none but the former can sing in a spiritual and evangelical manner; yet the latter are obliged to do it, in the best way they can ; and it may be as well objected to their admission to public prayer, as to public singing; and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to know who are such in public assemblies ; and supposing they ought not to sing, how can this affect believers ? it is not their sin ; nor should they neglect their duty on this account; but rather blush to see such so forward to it, to whom it is thought it does not belong, and they so backward to it. Besides, it has been the practice of the saints in all ages, to sing in mixed assem blies ; there was a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the Israelites, in whose presence they sang at the Red sea, and who very probably joined them in it, since they shared in the common deliver ance. It was the resolution and practice of David, to sing the praises of God among the heathens, Psalm xviii. 49, and li. 9 ; and, indeed, some ends of this ordinance cannot be otherwise answered ; which are to declare the Lord's doings, his winders, and his glory among them, Psalm ix. 11, and xcvi. 3 ; and this has been an ordinance for conver 1 Autor Qu. ct Resps. intci opera Justin. p. 462. 7 Flatinn dc vitis Pontif. p. 86'.

716 OF THE PLACE OF l'UBLIC WORSHIP. sion ; it was of great use in forwarding the reformation from popery, as Burnet', in his history of it, relates ; and it has been made very useful to souls under their first awakenings. Austin" speaks of it from his own experience : " How much," says he, " have I wept at thy hymns and songs, being exceedingly moved at the voices of thy church sweetly sounding. These voices pierced into my ears ; thy truth melted into my heart, and from thence pious affections were raised, and the tears ran, and it was well with me." — 3. It is urged, that singing is not proper for persons in any distress, only when in good and comfortable frames ; and which is very much grounded on James v. 13 ; the sense of which is, not that such are the only persons that are to sing psalms, or this the only time of doing it ; any more than that afflicted persons are the only ones to pray, and the time of affliction the only time of prayer ; but as affliction more especially calls for prayer, so a good and joyful frame on account of good things, for singing of psalms. What more distressed condition could a man well be in, than that in which Heman the Ezrahite was when he penned and sang the lxxxviiith psalm I as the church sang in the wilderness in the days of her youth, when she came out of Egypt ; so it is prophesied that she should hereafter sing there as then ; and as the church is now in the wilderness, where she is nourished with the word and ordinances, for a time, and times, and a half time, she has reason to sing on that account, Hos. ii. 14, 15; Rev. xii. 14. OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP, AS TO PLACE AND TIME. The circumstances of place and time of public worship deserve con sideration ; since for public worship there must be some certain place to meet and worship in, and some stated time to worship at. As to the first of these, it may soon be despatched ; since there does not appear to be any place appointed for it until the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness. It is probable that there was some certam place where our first parents worshipped, after their expulsion from the garden of Eden ; whither Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices, and offered them ; but where it was is not easy to say ; perhaps the cherubim and flaming sword, at the east of the garden of Eden, were the symbols of the divine presence, since the Lord is frequently repre sented as dwelling between the cherubim ; which may have respect, as to the cherubim in the tabernacle and temple, so to these ; and there might be a stream of light, splendour, and glory, an emblem of th« Shekinah, or divine Majesty, which had then appeared in the form of a flaming sword ; and now near to this, or however in sight of it* might be the place of public worship ; and hence when Cain was driven from these parte, he is said to be hid from the face of God, and to go out from the presence of the Lord. As for the patriarchs m succeeding times, before the flood, it does not appear that they had • Hist, of the Reformation, vol. 2, p. 9 I. " Confession. 1. '>, r. 6.

OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 717 any other places to worship in but their own houses, where families might agree to meet, and worship in them in turn and course. And the patriarchs after the flood, as they were strangers, sojourners, and travellers in the earth ; they built altars here and there for their con venience, and where they worshipped. Abraham in his travels came to a place near Bethel, as it was afterwards called, and built an altar, and worshipped ; and on his return from Egypt he came to the same place again, and there worshipped as before, Gen. xii. 8, and xiii. 3, 4. Jacob, in his travels, came to a place called Luz, and where he remarkably enjoyed the divine presence, and thought it no other than the house of God, and therefore set up a stone for a pillar, and said it should be the house of God ; and called the name of the place Bethel ; and which God so honoured as to call himself by the name of the God of Bethel ; and hither, with his family, he came many years after, and erected an altar unto God. There does not seem to be any settled place of worship until the tabernacle was built in the wilderness ; and then every man was to bring his offering to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and there offer it, before- the tabernacle of the Lord, Lev. xvii. 4, 5 ; and this tabernacle was moveable from place to place ; not only while in the wilderness, but when the Israelites were come into the land of Canaan : it was first at Gilgal, then at Shiloh, after that at Nob and Gibeon ; hence the Lord says, he had not dwelt in a house, in any fixed place, from the time the Israelites came out of Egypt ; as if he had before ; but had walked in a tent, in a taber nacle, 2 Sam. vii. 6. It had been said by the Lord, that when the Israelites came into the land that was given them, there would be a place chosen of God to dwell in, and where all offerings were to be brought, and feasts kept, Deut. xii. 10, 11 ; the name of the place was not mentioned, but it eventually appeared, that the city of Jerusalem, and the temple there, were meant ; and the place where the temple was to be built was first discovered by David, and shown to Solomon ; and which was confirmed to him by the Lord himself, to be the place he had chosen for a house of sacrifice, 1 Chron. xxii. 1 ; 2 Chron. vii. 12 ; and this continued a place of worship until destroyed by Nebuchad nezzar ; and after the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity it was rebuilt, and remained to the times of Christ. Indeed, after the captivity, there were synagogues erected in various parts of the land of Judea, which were a sort of chapels of ease, where praver was made, and Moses and the prophets read and expounded on Sabbath days ; but no sacrifices were offered in them, nor any of the yearly feasts kept there : and whereas there had been, before the times of Christ, there still was a controversy between the Jews and Samaritans, whether the temple at Jerusalem or mount Gerizim, were the place of worship ; this was decided by our Lord, who declared that the time was coming, that neither at the one place nor at the other should God be worshipped ; but every where, John iv. 20, 21 ; as the apostle also says, 1 Tim. ii. 8 ; and, indeed, since, under the gospel dispensation, as was foretold, the name of the Lord should be great among the Gentiles, from the rising of the sun to the going down of it ; and

718 OP THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. offerings of prayer and praise should bo offered to him in every place, Mal. i. 11. No one place could be fixed on for all the nations of the earth to meet and worship in ; and saints are now therefore at liberty to build places of worship for their convenience wherever they please, as the first Christians did, and continued to do. But the circumstances of time, or a stated day of worship, requires more particular consideration ; it having been a matter of controversy which has exercised the minds of good and learned men, for a century or two past, and not yet decided to the satisfaction of all parties ; and in order to obtain what satisfaction we can, it will be proper to inquire, I. What day has been, or is observed, as a stated time of public worship ; with the reasons thereof. First, It has been thought and asserted, that the seventh day from the creation was enjoined Adam in a state of innocence, as a day of public and religious worship, and so to be observed by his posterity in after-times ; but if it was enjoined Adam in his state of innocence, it must be either by the law of nature written on his heart, or by a posi tive law given him. i. It does not seem to be the law of nature written on his heart ; for then,—1. He must be bound to keep a Sabbath before the institution of it ; he was created on the sixth day, after the image of God ; one part of which was the law of nature, written on his heart ; but the institution of the Sabbath-day was not until the seventh day, if it was then ; for it is yet a matter of question. — 2. There would have been some remains of it in his posterity after the fall ; and even among the Gentiles, for these have the late written in their hearts, Rom. ii. 14; but now it does not appear that they were ever directed by the law and light of nature to observe the seventh day of the week as a holy Sab bath ; what has been alleged in favour of it will be considered here after. — 3- Was this the case, it would have been re-inscribed with other laws in more legible characters on the hearts of God's people m regeneration, according to the promise in the covenant of grace, Heb. viii. 10 ; and had the law of the seventh-day Sabbath been one of them, it must easily have been discerned by them ; and the observance of it would have been out of question. Nor, ii. Does it seem to be enjoined Adam, by any positive law ; and indeed, if it had been written on his heart, as a branch of the law of nature, there would have been no need of any such law to have directed and instructed him ; and to have a positive law given him, to keep a seventh day Sabbath, without any positive rules and directions what worship should be observed by him on that day, which do not appear, the law would have been useless ; we have no account of any positive law given to Adam in a state of innocence, but that which forbade the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ; which tree, and its fruit, we know nothing of; and did we, that law would not be bindmg upon us. The proof of such a law, with respect to the Sabbath, is founded principally on Gen. ii. 2, 3 ; where it is said, that God havmg ended his work, rested on the seventh day, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. But, — 1 . No mention is made of a Sabbath,

OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 719 and of tho sanctification of that, as in the fourth command, Exod. xx. 11 ; only of the seventh day, and not of that as a Sabbath.— 2. The words are a narrative of what God did himself; but do not contain a precept of what Adam should do ; they only declare what God did, that he blessed and sanctified the seventh day ; but do not enjoin Adam to keep it holy, as a Sabbath. — 3. At most they seem only to design a destination of that day to holy service hereafter ; God blessed it, that is, pronounced it a happy day ; all his works being finished, and man, a holy creature, the crown and glory of all, made after his image : on a survey of which, God rested, and took delight, pleasure,, and refreshment in them, on the seventh day ; which he sanc tified, not by keeping it holy himself, nor by imparting any holiness to it, which a day is not capable of; but he separated, or set it apart for holy use in after-time, which is a very common sense of this word : so Jeremiah was sanctified before he was born ; that is, appointed and ordained to be a holy prophet ; which purpose was not carried into execution until some time after ; and so God might be said to sanctify or set apart in his mind and purpose the seventh day to be a holy Sabbath in future time ; though it was not actually executed, as it should seem by what will bo hereafter observed, until many hundred years after the creation. Besides, — 4. The words in Gen. ii. are understood by many learned men proleptically, or by way of anticipa tion ; as other things are in this same chapter ; so some places aro called by the names they bore in the times of Moses, which they had not from the beginning ; or tho words may bo considered as in a paren thesis ; and the rather, since had they been read, or to be read, in common with the preceding, the word God, and the phrase the seventh day, would have been omitted ; and have been read, and he blessed and sanctified it ; and the reason for it, which follows, seems manifestly from the fourth command, as given on mount Sinai, Exod. xx. 11 ; and Moses writing his history of the creation, after this pre cept was given, took the opportunity of inserting this whole passage, to give the greater sanction to it with the Israelites. — 5. After all, be it that the text in Genesis enjoins the keeping the seventh day from the creation as a Sabbath, which seventh day now cannot be known by any people or persons whatever, it could never be the same with the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath ; for that was to be observed after six days' labour of man ; Six days shalt thou labour, &c whereas this could be only after the six days' labour of God, who rested from his work on the seventh ; but it was Adam's first day, and could not with any pro priety be called a rest from labour to him, when as yet he had not laboured at all : such a Sabbath was not suitable to him in a state of innocence, which supposes imperfection and sin ; the creature would not have been in bondage had he not sinned, this was the effect of the fall ; Adam, in innocence, had no man-servant nor maid-servant, nor any cattle in a state of bondage, groaning under burdens, to rest from their labours. This is a law merely calculated for sinful man. Another proof of such a law so early is taken from Heb. iv. 3, 4, where no mention is made of a seventh-day Sabbath ; and in which

720 OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. the apostle takes notice of the several rests which had been under the former dispensation, and shows, that neither of them was the rest promised, and had, under the gospel dispensation : not the seventhday rest from the creation, for that was God's rest ; not the rest of tho Israelites in the land of Canaan, which Joshua gave them ; for then David, a long time after, would not have spoken of another day of rest, the gospel dispensation, into which believers now enter. Upon the whole, it must appear at least very dubious and uncertain, that there was any institution of a seventh-day Sabbath from the creation ; and especially when it is considered, Second, That there is no proof of the patriarchs from Adam to tbe times of Moses observing such a day. For, 1. We nowhere read of any law being given them for the observa tion of the seventh-day Sabbath ; Adam and Eve had a law which forbade the eating of tho fruit of the tree of knowledge ; which Tertullian calls the primordial law ; Abel was taught the law of sacrifices ; Noah had the laws which forbade eating the blood with the flesh o( a beast alive, and the shedding of human blood ; and Abraham the law of circumcision ; but neither of them had any law, as we know of, which enjoined them to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. The Jews pre tend that there were seven laws given to the sons of Noah ; but this of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is not among them. — 2. Many of the religious actions of the patriarchs are taken notice of and com mended, both ceremonial and moral ; as their offering of sacrifice, calling on the name of the Lord, prayer to God, and meditation on him and his works ; their piety, fear of God, and eschewing evil ; but not a word of their observance of a seventh-day Sabbath. — 3. The sins of men, both before and after the flood, are observed, but Sabbathbreaking does not appear among them. The old world was full of violence, rapine, and oppression ; and in the new world, intemperance, incest, idolatry, and other sins, men were chargeable with ; but not with this : it does not appear among the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah ; nor is it to be found among the abominations for which the old inha bitants of Canaan were cast out of it. But no sooner was the law of the Sabbath given to the Israelites in the wilderness, but we hear of the breach of it, and of a severe punishment of it. — 4. It was the general opinion of the ancient fathers of the Christian church, that tho patriarchs did not observe a Sabbath, nor were obliged to it ; but were righteous men, and saved without it ; not Adam, nor Abel, nor Enoch, nor Noah, nor Melchizedek, nor Lot, not Abraham, nor Job, nor any before Moses ; so say Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius ; by whom are mentioned particularly all the above persons, as good men, and non-observers of a Sabbath. Some have fancied that they have found instances of a seventh-day Sabbath observed in the time of the patriarchs ; as the offerings of Cain and Abel, which are said to be in process of time, or at the end of days, Gen. iv. 3 ; but this phrase seems to design, not the end of a week, or seven days, no number being expressed, but rather the end of a year, days being sometimes put for a year ; and so refers to the harvest, and the end of

OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 721 the year, when the fruits of the earth were gathered in ; and therefore Cain might think his sacrifice, at that time, would have been the more acceptable. And some conjecture a Sabbath was observed by Noah, in the ark, Gen. viii. 10, 12 ; since he is said to send out the dove again after seven days ; but this number seven has respect, not to the first day of the week, from whence the days were numbered ; but to the first sending out of the dove, be it on what day it may. And besides, Noah might have respect to the known course of the moon, which puts on another face every seven days ; and which, in its increase and wane, might have an influence upon the water, which he was careful to observe and make trial of this way. Moreover, it is observed, that in Job's time there was a day when the sons of God met together, Job i. 6, and ii. 1 ; but who these sons of God were, whether angels or men, is not certain ; nor where nor on what day they met ; no men tion is made of a seventh day, much less of a Sabbath; nor of a certain rotation of this day every week ; nor of the distance between the first and second meeting. Arguments from this, and the above instances, must be very far fetched, and are very slight and slender grounds to build such an hypothesis upon, as the observation of a seventh-day Sabbath. Third, There is no mention of a Sabbath before the descent of the manna in the wilderness of Sin : some of the Jewish writers speak of it as given at Marah, a few weeks before, which they suppose is included in the word statute, Exod. xv. 25 ; but this is said without any foundation ; but the seventh day from the descent of the manna is expressly called a Sabbath, Exod. xvi. 23—26, and is the first we hear of, and which appears to be quite a new thing ; for had the Israelites been used to a seventh-day Sabbath, the rulers of the people might easily have conjectured, that the reason of twice as much bread being gathered on the sixth day, was on the account of the Sabbath being the day following, as a provision for that, had that been the case, without coming to tell Moses of it, who gave this as a reason of it to them ; To-morrow is, or rather it should be supplied, shall be, the rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord ; for a to-morrow cannot be spoken of with propriety in the present tense, is ; but as future, shall be ; and therefore on the seventh day, when the manna ceased, which was a confirmation of it, he says to them, See, take notice of it, as something new and wonderful, and a sufficient reason of the institution of the Sabbath, and why that day was given unto them for a Sabbath ; and when the fourth command was given in a month after, it is introduced with a memento, as the other commands are not ; Remember, what had been lately enjoined them ; and that appears to be a new law ; for when a man was found guilty of the breach of it, no penalty being as yet declared, the people brought him to Moses, and he was put into the ward, until the mind of God was known concerning it, Numb. xv. 31—36. Moreover, if there had been a Sabbath before the giving of the manna, the Sabbath preceding the seventh day from the descent of that must have been the fifteenth of the month, on which day it is certain the Jews had a vol. ii. , 3 a

722 OP THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. wearisomo journey, by divine appointment, the cloud going before them, Exod. xvi. 1 ; and was concluded with gathering quails ; so that it was not a day of rest to them, nor the rest of the holy Sabbath to the Lord. Fourth, The seventh-day Sabbath, as it was declared on the descent of the manna, that it was peculiar to the Jews, The Lord hath given you the Sabbath ; —so the people rested the seventh day, Exod. xvi. 29, 30. So it was when it received a further sanction from the fourth precept of the decalogue. For,—1 . The whole decalogue, or ten commands of the law of Mosos, as such, were given to the Jews onlyb ; as a covenant, it was mado with the Israelites in the wilder ness, and not even with their fathers which were before them ; and in which respect they had the preference to all other nations on earth, as Moses affirms, Deut. v. 2—21 ; and as is affirmed by David, Psalm cxlix. 19, 20 ; and by the apostle Paul, Rom. ix. 4 ; and which appears from the preface to the decalogue ; I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt ; which cannot be said of any other nation. — 2. The fourth command is particularly and expressly declared as peculiar to them ; My Sabbath shall ye keep, saith the Lord ; for it is a sign between me and you, and not others, Exod. xxxi. 13 ; that is, of the national covenant between them. The same is repeated verse 16, 17; where the children of Israel, as distinct from all other nations to whom it was no sign, are directed to keep the Sabbath. So Nehemiah says, that when God spoke to the Israelites in the wilderness, he made known to them his holy Sabbath ; which it seems had not been made known unto them before ; but now was made known to them, and not to others ; and is mentioned along with peculiar precepts, statutes, and laws commanded them, Neh. ix. 14 ; and the prophet Ezekiel, from the Lord, tells the Jews, that the Lord had given, to their fathers in the wilderness, his Sabbaths, to be a sign between him and them; it is not said he restored them, but gave them, denoting a new institution, and as peculiarly belonging to them : and this is the sense of the Jewish nation in general0, that the Sabbath only belongs to them, and that the Gentiles are not obliged to keep it ; for though a Gentile prose lyte or stranger within the gate, for the sake of national decorum, and to avoid offence and scandal, was to do no work on it for an Israelite, yet he might for himself, as the Jews interpret itd ; but then this supposes, that a stranger not within the gate, was not obliged to observe it. Besides, some of the Jewish writers understand this stranger, or proselyte, of a proselyte of righteousness, who was under equal obligation to the commands of the law as a Jew.— 3. The time and place when and where this precept was given, with the reason of it, show that it was peculiar to the Jews ; it was given them in the wilderness, after they were come out of Egypt ; and their 6 Vide Zauchii Oper. tom. 4, 1. 1, c 11, p. 222,223. c Zohar in Exod. fol. 2G, 4 ; T. Bab. Sonhcdrin, fol. 59, 1 ; Bartenora in Misn. Sabbat. c. 24, s. 1. '' T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 9, 1 ; Piske Tosephot Ycbamot, art. 84 ; Maimon. Ililchot Sabbat, c. 20, s. 14.

OP THE PLACE OP PUBLIC WORSHIP. 723 deliverance from thence is expressly observed, as the reason why it was commanded them, Deut. v. 15. The Lord's resting on the seventh day from his works of creation, is used as an argument to enforce the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath, now enjoined ; but not as a reason of the institution of it. — 5. None but Jews were ever charged with the breach of the seventh-day Sabbath ; the children of Israel were charged with it in the wilderness, soon after it was enjoined them, Ezek. xx. 20—24 ; so in Nehemiah's time, though the Tyrians, who sold fish to the Jews on Sabbath days, were threatened, and shut out of the city, and forbid to come there with their goods ; yet it was the Jews who bought them, who are charged with the pro fanation of the Sabbath, Nehem. xiii. 15—20 ; and it was the sense of the Jews, that the Gentiles are not to be punished for the breach of it ; yea, rather, that they are punishable for keeping ite; they having no other laws binding upon them, but the seven laws they speak of, as fiven to the sons of Noah. — 5. The law of observing the seventh-day abbath is not of a moral nature ; was it, it would be binding on all mankind, Jews and Gentiles ; and could not have been dispensed with, nor abolished, as it is, Matt. xi. 1—12, Col. ii. 16, 17 ; and if such, as lias been observed, it must have been written on the heart of Adam, when created; and would be, not only re-inscribed on the hearts of regenerate men, but even the work of it would appear to be written on the hearts of Gentiles, as their consciences would bear witness ; whereas it does not appear. Some, indeed, pretend to say, that the seventh day of the week was reckoned holy with the Gentiles ; but of all the instances produced from Clemens and Eusebius, there is but one now extant among the poets, and that is in Hesiod ; and the seventh day he speaks of as holy, is not the seventh day of the week, but the seventh day of the month, the birth-day of Apollo, as the poet himself suggests, and the Scholiasts ' on him ; which was the seventh day of the month Thargelion, kept sacred at Athens on that account ; hence Apollo was called Ebdomegena8. As for the Jews' seventh-day Sabbath, the Heathen writers'1 speak of it as having its origin from Moses, and as peculiar to the Jews' ; and the day itself was held by them in the utmost contempt ; see Lam. i. 7 ; there is scarce a poet of theirs k but has a lash at it, and at the Jews on account of it ; and represent them as a parcel of idle people, who keep that day to indulge themselves in sloth; the principal day of the week sacred with the Gentiles, was the first day of the week, dedicated to the sun, and thence called Sunday : so that if any argument can be drawn from the observation of the heathens, it is in favour of the Christian, and not of the Jewish Sabbath. — 6. It is impracticable and impossible, that a seventh-day Sabbath should be kept by all people, « T. Bab. Betza, fol. 16, 1 ; et Sanhedrin, fol. 58, 2, et 59, 1 j Bemigdbar Rabb. fol. 234, 4 ; Mnimon. Hilchot, Melachim, c. 10, s. 9. ' Proelus et Moschepulus in ibid. t Plutarch. Synvpos. 1. 8, c. 1. h Justine Trogo, 1. 36, c. 2 ; Tacit. Hist. 1. 5, e. 4. i Cultaque Jud;ro septima saera viro. —Ovid de Arte Amandi, 1. 1. k Jnvenal. Satyr. 6, v. 158 ; Satyr. 14, v. 105, 106; Pers. Satyr. 5, v. 184 ; Martial. 1. 4, ep. 4 ; vide Seneca apud Aug. do Civ. Dei, 1. 6. c. 11. 3 a2

72 t OF THE PLACE OP PUBLIC WORSHIP. in all nations of the world, at the same time exactly and precisely It was and could only be observed by the Jews themselves, when they were together under a certain meridian ; it oannot be kept now by them, as they are scattered about in distant parts of the world, with any precision, at the same time ; such an hypothesis proceeds upon a false notion that the earth is plane, and has everywhere the same horizon, and is not globular, nor having horizons, and meridians, and degrees of longitude different in every place and country ; which latter is most certainly true. If the earth is a globe, consisting of two hemispheres, when it is day on one side of the globe, it is night on the other ; so that let tho Sabbath begin at what time you pleaste ; if from sun-setting, as the Jews begin theirs, and continue it to sunsetting the next day ; when it is sun-setting with us, it is sun-rising with those in the other hemisphere ; and so vice versa ; and if it is begun at midnight, and continued to midnight, as with us ; when it is midnight on one side the globe, it will be midday, or noon, on the other : so in each case there must be half a day's difference in the exact time of the Sabbath ; and according to the variations in hori-" zons, meridians, and longitudes, will the day differ. If therefore the earth is a globe, as it is certain it is ; and as horizons, meridians, and longitudes differ, as they most certainly do ; then it is impossible that the same exact precise time should be everywhere kept ; and God has never commanded that which is impossible. Besides, it may be observed, that in Greenland, and other northern countries, for several months together, there is no sun-rising nor sun-setting, and so no days to be distinguished that way, the sun being at such a time always above the horizon ; so that a Sabbath day, consisting of twenty-four hours, or of a day and a night, cannot be observed in such parts of the world ; nay,: it has been made to appear, that one and the same day, at one and the same place, may be Friday, Saturday, and what is called Sunday. Supposing a Turk, whose Sabbath is Friday, and a Jew, whose Sabbath is Saturday, and » a Christian whose Sabbath is the first day of the week, dwell together ; the Turk and Christian set out on their travels at the same time, leaving the Jew where lie was- ; the Turk by travelling westward loses a day, and the Christian travelling eastward gets one ; so that both com passing the world, and meeting together again at the same place, the Jew continuing where he was, the same day will be Friday to the Turk, a Saturday to the Jew, and Sunday to the Christian ; so Dr. Heylin1. Those that travel round the world westward, it is observed by others m, as this makes their days longer, so they find fewer in compassing the globe, losing one day in tale, though they lose no time ; so that if the Sabbath of their nation was the seventh, they would find it their sixth on their return : and those that travel east ward, as their days are shorter, are more in number, and gain one in tale ; and on their return, would find their eighth, or first day of the week, to be tho nation's Sabbath. So there would be three Sabbaths kept in a nation, and all exactly observing time. It may be said, the » History of the Sabbath, pnr. 1, p. 48. °> See Dr. Wntts's Holiness of Times, &c. p. 55.

OF- TUB PLACK OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. "25 same objection will lie against the first day as the seventh. It is granted ; but then we observe that on another footing, as will be seen presently. Fifth, The first day of the week, or Lord's day, is now the day of worship observed by the generality of Christians : upon what account, and by what authority, must be our next inquiry. Not by virtue of any positive precept, or express command of Christ, for which there is none : wherefore some great and good men, as Calvin, Boza, Zanchius, and others, have been of opinion that it was a matter of pure choice, in the first churches, and a branch of their Christian liberty ; who were left free, as to choose a place where, so the time when to worship ; and therefore fixed on this day, and substituted it in room of the Jewish Sabbath, antiquated, as being most proper and suitable, and having the sanction of an apostolic practice ; to which I have been inclined to agree ; only cannot but bo of opinion, that the practice and examples of the apostles of Christ, men inspired by the Holy Spirit, who wrote, taught, and practised no other than agreeable to the commandments of the Lord, Matt. xxviii. 20, 1 Cor. xiv. 37 ; carry in them the nature, force, and- obligation of a precept. So though there is no express command for infant baptism, yet had it been countenanced, as it has not been, by the like practice and examples of the apostles, we should have judged it our duty to have followed sucli a practice and such examples ; it is upon this footing we observe the first day of the week, as bemg,—1. The most proper and suitable day for divine worship ; as the change of the day of worship was necessary, there being a new dispensation, and new ordinances of divine service ; and to testify to the world our faith of Christ's coming, death, and resurrection from the dead ; no day was so proper as the first day of the week, which immediately followed upon, and was the next remove from the seventhday Sabbath, now abrogated ; so that the Christian church was never without a day of worship, pointed at so early by the practice of the apostles, who met that very first day of the week on which Christ rose from the dead ; and which further shows the propriety and suitable ness of this day as a day of rest ; Christ had now finished the great work of our redemption and salvation ; and so ceased from his work, as God did from his ; and it may be further observed, that after our Lord's resurrection from the dead, we never read, throughout the whole New Testament, that ever the Jews' seventh-day Sabbath was kept by any Christian assembly ; only the first day of the week. So that,—2. The observation of this day is confirmed by the practice and examples of the disciples of Christ, and of the first churches ; for,—On the very day Christ rose from the dead, which was the firtt day of the week, the disciples assembled together, and Christ appeared in the midst of them, and by his gracious presence and divine instruc tions showed his approbation of their thus meeting together, and encouraged them to it ; and on that day sennight they met again, and Christ again stood in the midst of them ; now though there had been a seventh day preceding this, the disciples did not assemble on that day, but on this, and Christ with them, John xx. 19, 29. — The

726 OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. apostles met together on the day of Pentecost, which was the first day of the week, as has been proved by many learned writers. Just before our Lord's ascension, he ordered his disciples to wait at Jeru salem for the promise of the Spirit ; and though there were two Jewish seventh-day Sabbaths before Pentecost, from the time of his ascension, yet it does not appear that they met together on either of them ; but on this day they did ; and it looks as if they had an order from Christ to meet on it, and a promise from Christ that they should then have the Spirit descend upon them ; and therefore it seems they were waiting for that day, in expectation of having the promise ful filled on it ; and hence it is said, When the day of Pentecost was filly come, they were all with one accord in one place, Acts ii. 1 ; and this day was honoured and confirmed by the miraculous effusion of the Spirit, by preaching the gospel to men of all nations, and by the conversion and baptism of three thousand persons.—It was on the first day of the week that the disciples at Troas met together to break bread, when Paul preached unto them, Acts xx. 7. Now he had been there seven days before, so that there must have been in that time a seventhday Sabbath of the Jews ; but it does not appear that he and they assembled on that day ; but only on the first, and that for religious worship, he, to break bread, to celebrate the supper of the Lord, and they, to hear him preach.— The apostle Paul gave orders to the church at Corinth, as he had to the churches at Galatia, to make a collection for the poor saints on the first day of the week, when met together, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 ; which shows that it was usual to meet on that day; yea, it implies an order, or the renewal and confirmation of an order, to meet on that day, or otherwise how should the collection be made on it ; and what day so proper as when the saints meet for divine worship, and their hearts are warmed and refreshed with the word and ordinances? In an ancient copy, mentioned by Bcza on the place, after the first day of the week, it is added by way of explanation, the Lord's day ; and also in others " ; and so Jerome ° explains it.—This is the day John means by the Lord's day, when ho says, / was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, Rev. i. 10 ; he speaks of it as then a wellknown name of it ; so called because Christ rose from the dead on it; in commemoration of which it was kept, and in which his gospel was preached and ordinanoes administered ; for it was now upwards of sixty years from the resurrection of Christ to John's being an exile in Patmos, where he wrote his Revelation ; and this day was observed as a day of religious worship in the earliest ages of Christianity. Ign4" tius p, who died but eight or ten years after the apostle John, says, " Let us keep the Lord's day, on which our Life arose." And Justin Martyr q, a few years after him, says, on the day commonly called Sunday by the heathens, meaning the first day of the week, all met together in city and country for divine worship. Dionysius of Corinth speaks of the Lord's day as a holy dayr; and Clemens of Alexandria % in the same century, observes, that he that truly keeps " Vide Mill, in loc. ° Adv. Vigilanlium Oper. tom. 2, fol. 42. i> Ad Magnci. p. 33. 'i Apolog. 2, p. 98, <J9. ' Apud Euscb. 1. 4, c. 23 ; Irciwua, 1. 5, c. 24. " Sliomat. I. 7, p. 741.

OF THE PLACE OP PUBLIC WORSHIP. 7-7 the Lord's day, glorifies the resurrection of the Lord. Tertullian ', in the beginning of the third century, speaks of the acts of public worship, as LordVday solemnities. And in the same century Origen" and Cyprian" make mention of the first day as the Lord's day, and the time of worship ; and so it has been in all ages to the present time. Now upon the whole, since it does not appear that a seventh-day Sabbath was enjoined A dam in innocence ; nor that the patriarchs ever observed it ; and that the first mention of it was at the giving of the manna ; and that it was ordered to bo observed by the Jews, and them only, by the fourth precept of tho decalogue, since abrogated; and that the first day of the week, or Lord's day, is substituted in its room, as the day of worship, by the practice and example of the apostles ; there surely can remain no scruple about the observance of the latter : but if, after aH, the fourth command, with the morality of it, hangs upon the minds of any ; be it that that command is still in force, though not granting it, which would bring us back to Judaism, and into a state of bondage ; and allow it all the morality that can be ascribed to a day ; according to the letter of it, it requires no more nor other than this, a rest on the seventh day, after six days' labour ; it does not direct to any epocha from whence it is to begm, as from the creation of the world, the seventh day from which the greatest mathematician in the world cannot assure us which it is, nor even the year of the creation ; it only directs to, and regards the seventh day from whence a man begins to labour in whatsoever place or country he lives ; nor does it direct to any set time or hour when to begin these seven days, or by what names to call the days of the week ; the rule is only, Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, or thou mayest if thou wilt, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; and such an account of time as is made in whatsoever place a man lives, is to be taken, and of which every man is capable ; it does not require he should be a skilful mathematician ; a man that uses the spade, or follows the plough, is capable of counting six days, on which he has wrought, and when he comes to the seventh, he must know it is not his own, but the Lord's ; and such an account a man may keep, let him live on what side of the globe he will ; in Europe or m America, north or south ; in Great Britain, or in the East and West Indies : nor is the observation of the first day any objection to this rule, since that is after six days' labour ; the very first day on which Christ rose, kept by his disciples, was after six days' labour; for the Jews' Sabbath being between that and the six days' labour, can bo no objection, since that was a day of rest, and not of labour ; so that for that time there were two successive days of rest, after the six days of labour; when, upon tho next return of the first, which was imme diately after, it proceeded regularly, as it does now. In short, the only safe rule to go by is, that of the apostles, be the day what it may; He that regardeth the day, regurdeth it unto the Lord, Rom. xiv. 1 6 ; or ho ought so to do. Which leads me to observe, 1 Dc Aninja, c. 9. " Homil. 5, in Euiato, fol. 101, 3, ut alibi. " Ep..'t3, p. 666; et Eu. SB, p. 138.

728 OF THE PLACE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. II. In what manner the Lord's day is to be regarded or observed; not to ourselves, to our own profit and pleasure ; but to the Lord, to his service and glory. 1 . Not as a Jewish Sabbath ; with such strictness and severity as not to kindle a fire, dress any manner of food, and travel no further than what is called a Sabbath-day's journey ; though perhaps these were not enjoined with the strictness some have imagined. But,— 2. We are not to do our own work; that is, to follow any trade, business, or occupation, employed in on other days ; otherwise there are works of piety, mercy, and charity to be done ; and also of neces sity, for the preservation of life, the comfort and health of it, our own or others. — 3. It is to be employed more especially in acts of public worship, in assembling together for that purpose, in preaching, and hearing the word preached, in prayer and singing praises. — 4. In privato acts of devotion, both belore and after public worship ; such as has been already observed, when the duty of public hearing the word was considered. — 5. The whole of the day should be observed, from morning to evening ; the early part should not be indulged in sleep, nor any part spent in doing a man's own business, in casting up his accounts, and setting right his shop-books ; nor in carnal pleasures and recreations, in games and sports ; nor in walking in the fields ; nor in taking needless journeys. But besides public worship, men should attend to reading the Scriptures, prayer, and meditation, and Christian conferences ; and in such pious exercises should they spend the whole day.

BOOK VI. OF PRIVATE WORSHIP, OR OF VARIOUS DUTIES, PERSONAL, RELATIVE, DOMESTIC, AND CIVIL. OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP HUSBAND AND WIFE. Having considered Public Worship in all its branches, I now proceed to treat of Private Worship ; by which I mean, not merely the private teachings and instructions of a master of a family, to those who are under his care ; nor private conferences of the saints, by which they may edify one another ; nor private reading of the Scriptures, which are to be searched whether the things heard in the ministry of the word are true, and which are to be read in the family for instruction ; nor private prayer, in the closet or in the family ; nor private singing the praises of God, which may be performed in like manner : which are all branches of private worship, and have been touched on in the preceding book. But what I mean by private worship, and intend to treat of, are the personal, relative, domestic, and civil duties incumbent on particular persons, in their different relations to one another ; and so every other duty and good work: which all come under the name of cultus, or worship; being all to be performed with a respect to God, under his authority, according to his will and command, and in obedience to it, and with a view to his glory. In this manner all relative and mutual duties are to be performed; the subjection of wives to their husbands is to be made as unto the Lord, the Head of the man, and in obedience to him ; and husbands are to love their wives, as Christ loved the church, according to his pattern and example, and as influenced by his love, Eph. v. 21, 29. Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, as being what he requires, and has encouraged by his promise ; and parents, as an act of religion, are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the. Lord, Eph. vi. 1, 4. Servante are to be obedient to their masters, as unto the Lord as his servants, and doing the will of God from the heart ; and with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men, fearing God. And masters are to do their duty to their servants, knowing that they also have a Master in heaven, to whom they are accountable,

730 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE. Eph. vi. 5—9, Col. iii. 22—24 and iv. 1 ; and subjects are to obey magistrates, as being the powers ordained of God, and magistracy an ordmance of God ; and magistrates are to protect their subjects, and to be terrors, not to good works, but for the encouragement and praise of them, and for the discouragement and punishment of those that are evil, Rom. xiii. 1—4, 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. God has a concern in all these, and men have a concern with him in them. These I shall briefly treat of in their order ; and begin with the respective duties of husband and wife, which are summed up in these two general comprehensive ones ; love on the one part, and reverence on the other, Eph. v. 33; and these arise from a conjugal union and marriage relation between the said parties ; marriage is an union of male and female, of one man and of one woman in lawful wedlock, agreeable to the original creation of man, Gen. i. 27, Mal. ii. 15; and agreeable to the course of providence, which has been kept to ever since in all ages and nations ; there being continually nearly the same number of males and females born into the world, at most as thirteen to twelve, or fourteen to thirteen; the surplusage on the side of the males, being a provision by the wise Orderer of all things for a supply for war, for the seas, &c; and by this conjugal union, male and female become one, even one flesh, Gen. ii. 24, Matt. xix. 6; which union is therefore very near and strict, and, indeed, indissoluble but by death, excepting in one case, unfaithfulness in the one to the other, by adultery or fornication, Rom. vii. 2, Matt, v. 32; and this state is to be entered into with mutual consent ; indeed, with the consent of all parties who have a concern in it ; with the consent of parents and guardians, under whose care single persons may be ; and especially with their own consent, for none are to be forced into it against their wills ; no, not by their superiors ; it must be their own voluntary act and deed : and being thus entered into, it is a very honourable state ; Marriage is honourable in all, Heb. xiii. 4, it being an institution of God, and that of God in paradise ; by whom our first parents were directed to it, in a state of purity and innocence ; God made the woman for a helpmeet, and brought her to the man, proposed her to him, whom ho approved and accepted of, and she became his wife, Gen. ii. 18—24 ; it was the Lord's act and deed, and to him Christ ascribes the act of marriage, Matt. xix. 6. Christ honoured it by his presence, and at such a solemnity wrought his first miracle, and manifested forth the glory of his Deity, John ii. 1, 2, 11 ; and what makes this state yet more honourable is, that the marriage of Adam and Eve was a type and emblem of the conjugal union of Christ and the church, Eph. v. 32. Adam was a figure or type of Christ, and among other things in his marriage ; and Eve, the mother of all living, was a type of the church ; Adam was first formed, and then Eve ; Christ was before the church, and, indeed, before all things ; Eve was formed from Adam, from a rib taken out of his side ; the church has her original from Christ, and her subsistence by him ; all her grace, blessings, and happiness are from him ; her justification and sanctification are from him, signified by the blood and water which sprung from his pierced side. Eve was brought by the Lord to Adam,

OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE. 731 not against her will, but with it, and by him presented as a proper match for him, which he approved and accepted of; and the church was brought to Christ, and given to him by his Father, to be his spouse and bride, whom he liked, accepted of, and betrothed to himself; and her consent is obtained by the drawings and influences of his Father's grace : and though tins is no direct proof of, yet it has a favourable aspect upon, and may serve to illustrate the supralapsarian scheme ; that Christ had an mterest in his church, and she in him, and was espoused unto him before she fell in Adam ; this marriage transaction between Adam and Eve being before the fall. Moreover, marriage is honourable with respect to the ends of it ; which even before the fall, and supposing Adam had stood, hereby he would have had a help meet ; and the first law of creation would have been carried into execution, Increase and multiply ; a godly seed, a legitimate offspring would have sprung from hence ; families formed and built up, and the world peopled with inhabitants ; and since the fall the ends and uses of it are to preserve chastity, to prevent incontinence, and to avoid fornication, as well as to answer the other ends : and particularly this state appears honourable, when the duties of it are observed by both parties; as, I. Love on the part of the husband. Husbands, love your wives, Eph. v. 25 ; instances of which are in Isaac, Jacob, Elkanah, and others. The nature and manner of showing it, and the reasons of it, might be observed. i. The nature of it. — 1. It is superior to any shown to any other creature whatever ; as to the neighbour, who, though to be loved by a man as himself, yet a man's wife is himself, and loving her is loving himself, the other part of himself, Eph. v. 28 ; parents are to be loved, but a wife before them ; for a man is to leave father and mother, and to cleave to his wife; children are to be loved, but the wife before them ; as well as the husband by the wife ; Am not I better to thee than ten sons? 1 Sam. i. 8; and Christ is to be loved before any relations, Matt. x. 37, Luke xiv. 26. — 2. It should be a love of complacency and delight, taking pleasure and delight in her person, company, and conversation, Prov. v. 18, 19; as is the love of Christ to the church, who is his Hephzibah, in whom is all his delight. — 3. Should be chaste and single, as the love of Christ is, and for this reason a man should not have more wives than one, whereby his love would be divided or alienated, and hate the one and love the other, as is commonly the case ; and on account of which the law provided for the first-born, of whichsoever it might be. — 4. It should be mutual ; the wife is to love the husband, as the husband the wife, Tit. ii. 4; and generally her love is the most strong and affectionate, 2 Sam. i. 26 ; and the reason why the husband is more frequently exhorted to it, it may be is, because most wanting in the performance of it. ii. The manner, or how, and in what way it is to be expressed ; not in words only, but in deed and in truth ; by real facts, which speak louder than words. 1. In making all proper provision for her temporal good, signified

732 OF THK RESPKf.TJVK DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE. by nourishing and cherishing her, Eph. v. 29, which include food and raiment, and all the necessaries of life ; he is to provide things honest, decent, convenient, and suitable, to his rank, state, condition, circum stances, and abilities ; and he that provideth not for his own, especially for his own wife, his own children and family, is worse than an infidel, Rom. xii. 17, 1 Tim. v. 3. — 2. In protecting her from all abuse and injuries ; as she is the weaker vessel, she is to be taken under his wing and shelter ; he is to be a covering to her, as Abraham was to Sarah ; which may be signified by the ceremony used at marriage, or by which that act is expressed, a man's spreading his skirt over the woman, Gen. xx. 16, Ruth iii. 9; he is to expose himself to danger, and even risk his life in her defence and for her rescue, 1 Sam. xxx. 5, 18. — 3. In doing every thing that may contribute to her pleasure, peace, comfort, and happiness ; he that is married is to care how he may please his wife ; nor does the apostle blame him for it, but rather commends him for it, or recommends it unto him, 1 Cor. vii. 33. Hatred stirreth up strifes, contentions, quarrels, the consequence of which is confusion, and every evil work ; but love covereth all sins, conceals faults, and hides failings and infirmities, Prov. x. 12. — 4. In seeking her spiritual welfare ; her conversion, if unconverted, and her spiritual peace, comfort, and edification, she being an heir with him of the grace of life ; by joining with her in all religious exercises, in family worship, in reading, in prayer, in praise, in Christian conference and conversation ; by instructing her in every thing relating to doctrine, duty, and churchdiscipline ; in answer to questions she may and has a right to ask him at home, 1 Cor. xiv. 35. To all which are opposed hatred and bitter ness ; Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them ; not fiving bitter language, threatening words, sour looks, and especially itter blows ; which is cruel, churlish, barbarous, and brutish, unbe coming the man<md the Christian. in. fhe reasons or arguments enforcing this duty of the love of a man to his wife are such as follow. 1 . The nearness between them, she is his own flesh ; and no man ever yet hated liis own flesh, which would bo monstrously unnatural ; she is himself, the other part of himself, and to be loved as his own body, which to love is a principle" in nature, Eph. v. 28, 29, 33. — 2. The help, advantage, and profit he receives by her ; she is provided as a help-meet for him, and becomes such to him in the affairs of the family, Gen. ii. 18; she is his companion, and which is used as a reason why he should not deal treacherously with the wife of his youth, Mal. ii. 14; she is his companion in prosperity and adversity; shares with him in his cares and troubles, in his joys and sorrows ; sympathizes with him in all conditions, weeps when he weeps, and rejoices when he rejoices ; she is a partner with him in the blessings of grace now, and will be a partner with him in eternal glory. — 3. The glory and honour she is unto him; the woman is the glory of the man, in whom are seen his power and authority, 1 Cor. xi. 7 ; one who is loving and chaste to him, and is careful of her family affairs, does him honour. x Fmtcor intitam nobU c«se corporit uostii charitateni.—Seucca, Ep. 14.

OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP HUSBAND AND WIFE. 733 and is a credit and crown to him, and makes him respectable among men ; his heart safely trusts in her, and through her conduct he is known and respected in the gates, Prov. xii. 4. — 4. The strongest and most forcible argument of all to a good man, is the love of Christ to his church ; which is the pattern and exemplar of a man's love to his wife, and most strongly enforces it, Eph. v. 25 —28. II. The duties on the part of the wife, are reverence, subjection, obedience, &c. 1. Reverence ; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband, Eph. v. 33 ; which reverence is both internal and external ; she ought to think well, and even highly of him, and not despise him in her heart, as Michal, Saul's daughter, did David her husband, 2 Sam. vi. 16 ; and she should speak of him and to him in a respectable manner, as Sarah did to Abraham, calling him Lord, 1 Pet. iii. 6, Gen. xviii. 12.— 2. Subjection and submission to him ; Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, not to others ; as unto the Lord, the Lord Christ, the head of every man, and so of the church ; and as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing ; that is, in things relating to family affairs ; not in any thing that is contrary to the laws of God and Christ ; for God is to be obeyed rather than men, than any man, than husbands themselves, Eph. v. 22, 24 ; and this subjection and submission is not a servile one ; not like that of servants to their masters, or handmaids to mistresses, and much less like that of slaves to tyrants, or who have taken them and hold them captives ; but as the body, and members of it, are subject to the head by which they are governed, guided, and directed to what is for their food ; and that in a wise, tender, and gentle manner. — 3. Obedience, 'he apostle directs, that wives be obedient to their own husbands, Tit. ii. 5. Sarah is an example of this ; and an instance we have of her immediate and quick obedience to the orders of Abraham, Gen. xviii. 6. — 4. Assistance and help in family affairs, agreeable to the original end of her creation ; guiding the houso with discretion, keeping her children and servants m good order and decorum ; abiding at home, and managing all domestic business with wisdom and prudence, 1 Tim. ii. 14, Tit. ii. 5. — 5. Assuming no authority over her husband, as not in ecclesiastical, so not in domestic matters ; seeking to please him in all things, doing nothing without his will and consent, and never contrary to it ; not intermeddling with his worldly business and con cerns, but leaving them to him, 1 Tim. v. 11, 12, 1 Cor. vii. 34.— 6. Continuance with him in every state and c.ircumstance of life, going with him wherever Cod in his providence and his business in life call him ; as Sarah with Abraham m the land of promise, in Egypt, and elsewhere ; he should do as Ruth proposed to Naomi, Ruth i. 16. There are reasons why the wife should be found in the performance of these duties — 1. Taken from her creation, time, manner, and end of it ; Adam was formed first, and then Eve ; and therefore in point of time had the superiority; the man was not made of and for the woman ; but the woman was made of and for the man, and to bo a help-meet and assistant to him, 1 Tim. ii. 13, 1 Cor. xi. 8, 9, Gen. ii. 18.

734 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP PARENTS AND CHILDREN. — 2. From the consideration of the fall, and her concern in it ; Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, was in tho trans gression at least first, and the means of drawing her husband into it ; and therefore it is part of the sentence denounced upon her for her transgression, Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee, Gen. iii. 16. — 3. From the man being the head of the woman, and therefore Bhe should be in subjection to him as such, 1 Cor. xi. 3, Eph. v. 23. — 4. From her being the weaker vessel, and therefore standing in need of his shelter and protection. — 5. From her own credit and honour concerned herein ; as it would be to her discredit and dishonour to behave irreverently, and to be disobedient ; to submit to him, as is fit in the Lord, is decent and becoming. Col. iii. 18 ; and so to be is ornamental to women, and the best ornament they can deck themselves with ; Being in subjection to tlieir own husbands, 1 Pet. iii. 3—5. — 6. The chief argument of all is taken from the subjection of the church to Christ, Eph. v. 22—24. In short, both parties should consult each other's pleasure, peace, comfort, and happiness, and especially the glory of God; that his word, ways, and worship, may not be reproached and evil spoken of through any conduct of theirs, Tit. ii. 5. OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. These duties arise from a relation founded in nature. There is a natu ral instinct in all creatures, even in the brutal creation, and in the more brutish part of that, to love their young, take care of them, provide for them, supply them, protect and defend them ; Even the sea-monsters give suck to their young ones, Lam. iv. 3 ; much more such an affection appears in human and rational beings ; Can a woman forget her sucking child? &c, Isa. xlix. 15; on the other hand, as they are among the most wicked and abandoned of mankind who are disobedient to parents ; they are in the same description of them represented as without natural affection, Rom. i. 30, 31, 2 Tim. iii. 2, 3 ; as such must be, as well as guilty of gross ingratitude, who requite not their parents with filial love and duty for all the care and trouble, pains and expenses, they have been at m bringing them up in the world. Their performance of these duties is one part of natural religion. The apostle calls it showing piety, or godliness, 1 Tim. v. 4. The heathens by the light of nature 2 taught these things; Solon", Phocylidesb, Pythagoras", Isocratesd, Plutarch*, and others, coupled and ranked them together, and exhorted first to honour God, and then to honour parents', and, indeed, parents in the exercise of their love, power, and care, greatly resemble the divine Being, as the Creator, Sustainer, Protector, and Governor of his creatures ; since children receive their being from their parents, under God; who are the instruments of introducing them into the 1 Diligerc parentes prima naturae lex.—lb. a. 7, et extern. s. 5. » Laert. vit. Solon, p. 46. b Poem. Admoh. v. 6. c Aurea Carmin. v. 1, 2. d Panenes. ad Demonic. Orat. 1. * Tlepi tpi\aSc\<pias, p. 479. vol. 2. ' Tlpaira ®tov ripa, percn-«ira T« <r«o yoyr/as.—Phocyl. Pythag. &c. ut supra.

OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OK PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 735 world, and of their sustentation, support, and protection in it ; henco Philo observes, that the " fifth command concerning honouring parents, is placed between the two tables of the law ; which seems to be dono because the nature of parents is ixtOopiov, a middle border, or term between immortal and mortal ; being mortal with respect to cognation to men, and other animals, and the corruptible body ; immortal as it resembles in generation God, the parent of all. " And children are therefore under great obligation to various duties with respect unto them ; with which I shall begin, and the rather, as they stand first in order, in the directions the apostle gives to both parents and children. I. The duties of children to their parents are included and compre hended in that general exhortation. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, Eph. vi. 1. The persons of whom this duty is required, are children ; and the persons to whom it is to be performed, are parents; by the former are meant children of each sex, male and female, sons and daughters, being in an equal relation, and in equal obligation to obedience to parents ; and of every age, from infancy to manhood ; and though the power of parents over children is less when grown up, the duty of observance, gratitude, and filial reverence, does not cease ; yea, may be the more increased, since it may be then better known; and children of every class, state, and condition of life, though they may be superior to parents in worldly honour, wealth, and riches, are to obey them, as the cases of Joseph and Solomon show. And though such who are the true and genuine offspring of parents, or who are so in a proper sense, may be chiefly meant, yet in them are included spurious ones, and such who are children by adoption, as Moses and Esther ; or by the law of marriage, sons and daughters-inlaw, as Moses to Jethro, and Ruth to Naomi, who were all obsequious to those to whom they stood thus related. By parents are meant, though chiefly immediate ones, yet include all in the ascending line, as a father's father and mother, a mother's father and mother, or grand fathers and grandmothers, or if any higher are living, they are entitled to obedience ; and, indeed, all who stand in the room and stead of parents, as adoptive ones, step-fathers and step-mothers, tutors, guardians, governors, nurses, &c, whilst under their care, and in a state of minority, obedience is to be yielded unto them ; but particu larly both parents are meant, father and mother, as it is explained in the next verse ; Honour thy father and mother ; father is put first, on account of order, of precedence and dignity ; sometimes the order is inverted, to show the equal respect that should be had to both, Lev. xix. 3. The duty enjoined is obedience, which includes love, honour, reve rence, gratitude, and subjection. 1 . Love ; from whence all true obedience to God, to Christ, and to creatures, flow ; disobedience is owing to a want of love ; such who are disobedient to parents, are without natural affections, as before observed ; parents are greatly to be loved, but not more than God and Christ ; He that loveth father or mother more than me, says Christ, is not worthy of me, Matt. x. 37. —'. 2. Honour : obedience is explained by

736 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP PARENTS AND CHILDREN. honour, Eph. vi. 1, 2 ; which honour lies, — In thought and estimation : children are to think highly, and to entertain an honourable esteem of their parents ; to which is opposed, a setting light by them, Deut. xxvii. 16 ; a ntean and contemptible opinion of them leads to disobe dience to them.—Is expressed by words ; by speaking honourably of them and to them ; / go, sir, was language which earned it in honour and respect, though it was not attended with obedience, Matt. xxi. 30. Cursing father or mother with the mouth and lips, is shocking, and was punishable with death by the Levitical law, and followed with the judgments of God, Lev. xx. 9.—In gesture and behaviour ; as by rising up to them, and bowing before them ; instances of which are in Joseph and Solomon, Gen. xlvi. 29, 1 Kings ii. 19. — 3. Obedience to parents, includes fear and reverence of them, Lev. xix. 3 ; which is shown by a patient bearing their reproofs, and by a submission to their corrections, Heb. xii. 2 ; by an acknowledgment of offences committed, and asking forgiveness of them ; by concealing their infirmities, natural and moral, whether through old age or otherwise ; an instance of this we have in Shem and Japhet, Gen. ix. 21 —24. — 4. Gratitude ; a requital of them for all their kindness ; by taking care of them when in want and distress, and in old age ; so Joseph nourished his father and his family in a time of famine ; so Ruth gleaned for Naomi, though only her mother-in-law; and her son Obed was by prophecy to be a nourisher of her in her old age ; and David, though in a state of exile himself, provided for his father and his mother, to be with the king of Moab, till he knew how it would be with him. The Pharisees are charged with a breach of this duty, by a tradition of theirs, which wickedly excused persons from relieving their indigent parents, Matt. xv. 4—6. The heathens teach better things : Solon * pronounces such ignoble and dishonourable, who neglect the care of their parents : in JCneash may be seen a specimen of filial piety to an aged parent, whom he carried on his back at the destruction of Troy. The storks in the heavens may teach men their duty, who are careful of their dams in old age, which Aristophanes wittily calls an ancient law in the tables of the storks'. — 5. Subjection and submission to their commands, advice, reproofs, and corrections. The rule is, Children, obey your parents in all things, Col. iii. 20 ; not in things sinful, contrary to the laws of God, and ordinances of Christ ; if parents command their children to worship another God, or a graven image ; or do any thing forbidden in the first and second tables of the law ; or enjoin them not to profess the name of Christ, nor submit to his ordinances ; thoy are to be rejected, and, in a comparative sense, hated, Luke xiv. 26 ; for God is to be obeyed, and not man, not even parents, in such cases ; but in things that are lawful and right, agreeable to the will of God, revealed in his word, and even in things indifferent, which are neither * Laert. vit. Solon, 1. 1. h Ergo ago, chare pater, cervici imponero nostra- : Ipse subibo humeri*, nee mc labor ibtc gravabit. Virgil. .flSneid, 1. 2, propc finem. Nofios iraAcuos, tv rots tw irtKapyotv Kvpfitav, —Ares, p. 604.

OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 737 forbidden nor commanded, yet if enjoined by parents aro to be observed ; an instance of this we have in the Rechabites, and whose filial observance was approved of by the Lord, Jer. xxxv. 6—19 ; yea, also in things difficult and disagreeable to flesh and blood ; as the cases of Isaac in submitting to be sacrificed by his father, and in Jephtha's daughter, to be done unto by him according to his vow, show. The manner in which this obedience is to be yielded is, in the Lord, Eph. vi. 1, which may be considered as a limitation of the above rule ; that it must be in things pertaining to the Lord, which are wellpleasing in his sight, which make for his glory, and are done for his sake, according to his command and will, and in obedience to it ; and also in imitation of the Lord Christ, who, in his human nature, was subject to his earthly parents, and thereby left an example of filial obedience to tread in his steps, Luke ii. 51. The reason enforcing such obedience is, for it is right ; it is agreeable to the law and light of nature, as has been before observed ; it is agreeable to reason, and to the law of equity ; gratitude demands it, that children who have received so many favours from their parents, should make some suitable returns in a way of filial love, honour, reverence, and obedi ence : it is agreeable to the law of God ; it stands among the precepts of the decalogue, it is the fifth in order there ; but, as the apostle says, it is the first commandment with promise, with a promise of long life ; which was always reckoned a great blessing, which disobedience to parents often deprives of, as in the case of Absalom. II. There are duties incumbent on parents with respect to their children, which are, i. Negatively expressed ; Ye fatlvers, provoke not your children to wrath, Eph. vi. 4 ; which may be done, — 1 . By words ; by laying upon them unjust and unreasonable commands, by frequent, public, and severe chidings, by indiscreet and passionate expressions, and by con tumelious and reproachful language ; such as that of Saul to Jonathan, 1 Sam. xx. 30. — 2. By deeds ; as by showing more love to one than to another ; as Jacob did to Joseph, which so incensed his brethren that they hated Joseph, and could not speak peaceably to him, Gen. xxxvii. 8 ; by not allowing them proper food, and a sufficiency of it, Matt. vii. 9, 10, 1 Tim. v. 8; by not indulging them with innocent recreation, which children should have, Zech. viii. 5 ; and when at a proper age for marriage, by disposing of them to persons not agreeable to their mclinations ; and by restraining them from those that would be, without any just reason ; and by squandering away their substance in riotous living, when they should have preserved it, and laid it up for the present use, or future good of their children ; and especially by any cruel and inhuman treatment ; as that of Saul to Jonathan, when he made an attempt on his life, 1 Sam. xx. 33, 34. Such provocation should be carefully avoided ; since it renders all commands, counsel, and corrections ineffectual, alienating the affections of their children from them ; the reason to dissuade from it, given by the apostle, is lest they be discouraged, Col. iii. 21 ; be overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, and thereby their spirits be broken, become pusillanimous, VOL. II. 3 B

738 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP PARENTS AND CHILDREN. disheartened and dispirited ; and despairing of pleasing their parents, and sharing in their affections, become careless of duty, and mdolent to business. Parents, no doubt, have a right to rebuke and reprove their children when they do amiss ; it was Eli's fault that he was too soft and lenient, and his reproofs too easy, when he should have restrained his sons from actmg the vile part ; should have frowned upon them, put on stern looks, and laid his commands on them, and severely threatened them, and punished them if refractory, 1 Sam. ii. 23, 24, and iii. 13. And they may use the rod of correction, which they should do betimes, and whilst there is hope ; but always with moderation, and in love ; and should take some pains with their children to convince them that they do love them ; and that it is in love to them, and for their good, that they chastise them. Fathers are particularly mentioned, because they are apt to be most severe, and mothers most indulgent. ii. The duty of parents to their children is expressed positively ; But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Eph. vi. 4, which may relate, 1. To things civil, respecting them, that they should bring them up; that is, provide for their sustentation and support, food and raiment suitable and convenient for them, and what is honest in the sight of all men, Rom. xii. 17. 1 Tim. v. 8, take care of their education, suitable to their birth, to their capacity, and to what they are designed for in life ; to put them to some trade and business at a proper time ; the Jewsh have a saying, " that he that does not teach his son, or cause him to be taught, some trade or business, it is all one as if he taught him to be a thief, to steal privately or rob publicly ; " and when of age, to dispose of them in marriage, to take wives for their sons, and to give their daughters to husbands ; and to give them portions, and part with some of their substance, to set them up in the world, according to their abilities ; for all which purposes, to lay up for their children is their duty, as well as to leave something behmd them for their future good. — 2. And this exhortation may have respect to the training of them up in a religious way ; in the external ways of God, and paths of godliness, in which they should walk; from whence they will not easily and ordinarily depart, Prov. xxii. 6. It becomes them to set good examples to them, of sobriety, temperance, prudence, &c, and to keep them from the company of such from whom they may learn what is evil ; for evil communications corrupt good manners ; and whereas the seeds of all sins are in children, which soon appear, they should check them betimes, and nip them in the bud, and expose the sinfulness of those vices they are most inclined unto ; as using naughty words, and telling lies, &c ; they should frequently pray with and for them, as Abraham for Ishmael ; whereby they will be sensible, that they have not only their temporal good, but their spiritual and eternal welfare, at heart ; and they should bring them under the means of grace, the ministry of the word ; and teach them to read the Scriptures as soon v T. Bab. Kidduahin. foL 30. 2.

OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS. 739 as may be ; and instruct them in the knowledge of divine things, as they are able to receive it ; which seems to be meant by iraibeia, the nurture of the Lord. Though I cannot say I truly approve of the method of education used by some good people ; as by teaching them the Creed, a form of belief, saying, I believe, so and so, before they have any knowledge of and faith in divine truths ; and to babble over the Lord's Prayer, as it is commonly called, and other forms of prayer ; which seems to have a tendency to direct them to rest in an outward form, and to trust in an outward show of righteousness ; which they need not be taught to do, it is natural unto them ; and whenever they receive the grace of God, all this must be untaught and undone again. It is proper to instruct them in the necessity of faith in God and in Christ, and of the use of prayer ; and to lay before them the sinfulness of sin, and show them what an evil thing it is, and what are the sad effects of it ; to teach them their miserable estate by nature, and the way of recovery and salvation by Christ ; and to learn them from childhood to read and know the holy Scriptures, according to their capacity ; and by these to be admonished of sin, and of their duty, to fear God and keep his commandments ; which may be meant by the admonition of the Lord ; and the proper opportunity should be taken to instil these things into their minds, when their minds begin to open, and they are inquisitive into the meaning of things ; see Deut. vi. 20 ; and these several respective duties are to be carefully attended to ; since the peace and order of families, the good of the commonwealth, and the prosperity of the church, and increase of the interest of Christ, greatly depend upon them. OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS. These duties arise not from a relation founded in nature, as those of parents and children ; but from a relation founded in contract, compact, covenant, and agreement. Men are by nature, or as to their origmal make, alike and equal ; there is no difference, of bond and free ' ; God has made of one blood all men, all spring from the same original, whether that be traced up to Noah or to Adam ; and, indeed, we hear nothing of a servant before the times of the former ; and that threatened as a curse for sin, Gen. ix. 25 ; for as Austin says"1, it is sin and not nature, that deserves this name ; it is from the lust of the flesh that wars come, and from these captivity, servitude, and bondage, which is through force, and not will ; no man has a legal power to make another man his servant against his will, nor has he any right to his service without his consent : that servitude which arises from contract, compact, and covenant, which almost only obtains among Christians, is of all the most just, lawful, and defensible, because with it best consists the natural liberty of mankind ; such as an apprentice ship, which a man enters into of his own will, or with the advice and 1 *cijei 5' ovZtp Siatptpdv, aliqui npud Aristot. Politic 1. I, c. 3. m Nomcu iatud culpa meruit, non natuni, August, de Civitate Dei, 1. 19, c. 15. 3 b2

740 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS. consent of those under whose care he is ; when, by an indenture or covenant, he agrees to serve a master for a certain term of years, on certain conditions, mutually agreed unto ; or as when one is hired for certain service, by the year, or by the month, or by the day ; of which hired servants the prodigal in the parable speaks; How many hired servants of my father, &c, and were as early as in the times of Job, chap. vii. 1,2; and it is of the duties of such towards their masters, and of the duties incumbent on masters towards them, that I shall now treat. I. Of the duties of servants to their masters. These aro more largely and frequently spoken of in the epistles of the apostles ; because that Christian servants were impatient of the yoke of heathen masters, and had it insinuated into them, by some licentious persons and false teachers, that civil servitude was inconsistent with Christian liberty ; from whence great scandal was like to rise to the name and doctrine of Christ, and the Christian religion, which were liable to be blas phemed, and spoken evil of on that account, 1 Cor. vii. 21, 1 Tim. vi. 1, Tit. ii. 10. And it may be proper to consider, i. Of whom duty is required, and to whom it is to be performed ; Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, Eph. vi. 5. By servants are meant such of this character, male and female, menservants and maid-servants, whose relation to them that are over them, their duty to them, and obligation to it, are the same ; as also they share alike in privileges and benefits belonging to them, Exod. xx. 10, Job xxxi. 13, 15 ; and masters also include mistresses, as well as masters, who are to be submitted to, one as another, Gen. xvi. 8, 9 ; and those of whatsoever temper and disposition, whether good or illnatured, kind and gentle, or churlish, morose, and perverse, and froward, 1 Pet. ii. 18; and whether truly gracious and religious, or not ; Masters according to the fiesk ; or though carnal, and in a state of nature, and things belonging to the flesh, outward and temporal things, are to be submitted to, Eph. vi. 5 ; and especially such who have believing masters should not despise them, and disobey their com mands, because they are brethren, in the same spiritual relation, and of the same Christian community ; but on the contrary, should rather do them service, with all constancy, cheerfulness, and readiness, because they are faithful, true believers in Christ, and beloved of God, and of his people ; and partakers of the benefit, of the same grace, and of the same redemption and salvation by Christ, 1 Tim. vi. 2 ; and they are their own masters they are to be obedient to, and not others, who have no right to their service, Tit. ii. 9. n. The duties to be performed by servants to their masters ; which are comprehended in these general terms of subjection to them, and obedience to their lawful commands, Eph. vi. 5, Col. iii. 22, Tit. ii. 9, 1 Pet. ii. 18 ; and which include honour, that is to be given them ; for they are to be counted worthy of all honour, in mind and thought, and to be expressed by words and gesture. They are to be had in honour and esteem, and to be spoken honourably of, and respectfully to, 1 Tim. vi. 1. Fear, or reverence, which is to be given to all to whom

OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP MASTERS AND SERVANT8. 741 it ifl due, to all superiors, and so to masters ; If I be a master, where is myfear ? Mal. i. 6. Strict and close attention to orders given ; the words of their mouth are to be hearkened to, and the motions of their hands, pointing and directing to business they are to do, are to be observed, Psalm cxxiii. 2 ; and a ready and cheerful compliance to execute their commands ; I say to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it immediately, at once, Matt. viii. 9. Seeking to please them in all things, that they may obtain their affection and good will, Tit. ii. 9. Showing all fidelity m what they are intrusted with ; not mispending their time, embezzling their master's goods, and wasting his substance, Tit. ii. 10. Acting the same faithful part as Jacob to Laban, and Joseph to Potiphar, and to the keeper of the prison. in. The manner in which this duty of obedience, in its several branches, is to be performed ; it must be universal ; in all things, Col. iii. 22, Tit. ii. 9 ; not in things sinful; but in all things lawful, which are not contrary to the law of God and gospel of Christ, and to the interest of true religion, and the dictates of conscience ; over which masters have no power. Obedience should be yielded with all fear, 1 Pet. ii. 18 ; with the fear of masters, of offending them, and incurring their just displeasure ; with fear of their frowns, rebukes, and correc tions, and especially as fearing God, Col. iii. 22. Servants that fear the Lord will say and act as Nehemiah did ; So did not I, because of the fear of the Lord, Nehem. v. 15. In singleness of heart ; with simpli city and sincerity ; not with duplicity of mind, dissimulation, fraud, deceit, and lying ; as Gehazi behaved to his master Elisha, 2 Kings v. 25, 26. Not with eye-service ; that is, doing his master's business only whilst under his eye, and in his presence ; but in his absence, and while they imagine it will continue, do as the wicked servant in Matt. xxiv. 48, 49 ; their obedience should be cordial and hearty ; what they do, they should do it heartily as to the Lord, and not to man ; not as pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service ; not grudgingly, nor murmur ing, nor by force and constraint, but willingly, and of a ready mind. iv. The arguments enforcing such obedience are,—1. The authority and command of God ; it is by the authority of God that the exhor tations to" obedience are given ; and it is to be yielded in conformity to his will, as if done to him rather than to men.—2. The honour and flory of God, and of Christ, and of his gospel, is concerned herein, that is name and doctrine be not blasphemed, by a contrary behaviour ; but that the gospel, and a profession of it, be adorned by a suitable conduct, 1 Tim. vi. 1, Tit. ii. 10. — 3. The example of Christ must be of great weight with the true lovers of him ; who, though equal with God, took on him the form of a servant, and condescended to do the duty of one, was faithful and righteous, always did the things that pleased God, delighted in doing his Father's will and work, and was constant and assiduous in it ; in all which he set an example to tread in his steps. — 4. The benefit arising to servants from their obedience, in general, what good thing they do, the same they shall receive of the Lord ; for God is not unrighteous, to forget their service ; but will

742 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MASTERS AND SERVANTS. recompense it either now or hereafter, with a reward of grace, Eph. vi. 8 ; and particularly with the reward of the inheritance, which they know they shall receive of the Lord, Col. iii. 24 ; by which is meant, the heavenly glory, called an inheritance, because their Father's bequest unto them ; and a reward, not of works, but of grace ; and so have the strongest motive and greatest encouragement to obedience that can be had. II. There are duties incumbent on masters, with respect to their servants; And ye masters, do the same things unto them, Eph. vi. 9 ; not the same duties ; but what belong to them, they should do in the same manner, in obedience to the will of God, in the fear of God, and with a view to his glory. i. There are some things they are to do, with respect to the moral, spiritual, and eternal good of their servants.—1. They are to set good examples to them, of temperance, sobriety, prudence, virtue, and reli gion ; examples have great force in them ; as a man is, so will his servants be, Prov. xxix. 12 ; David determined to walk within his house, before his children and servants, with a perfect heart, with all integrity and uprightness, thereby setting an example to them, Psalm ci. 2.— 2. They are to teach and instruct them in the knowledge of divine things ; as Abraham taught his servants, who were trained up in his house, as in civil things, so in matters of religion, Gen. xiv. 14, and xviii. 19. — 3. They are to pray with them, and for them ; for prayer is to be made for all men, as for superiors, for kings, and all in authority ; so for inferiors, and for servants ; which is a part of family worship, Jer. x. 25, Josh. xxiv. 15. — 4. Should allow time and leisure for reli gious services, to read and hear the word of God, to pray and praise, and to meditate, according to the provision made for rest and cessa tion from labour, in the fourth precept of the Decalogue ; and they should be put upon as little service as may be on whatsoever day for worship is observed. ii. There are other duties, which relate to their temporal good. As, —1. They are to teach them the business they are put apprentices to them for, and learn them the whole mystery of their art, so far as they are capable of receiving it ; or otherwise they will not act the faithful f>art. — 2. To give them that which is just and equal, according to the aws of God and men, of justice and equity ; food convenient for them, what is fit to be eaten, and a sufficiency of it ; so in the house of the prodigal's father there was bread enough and to spare for the hired servants ; raiment also is to be provided for them, if in the agreement, and what is suitable to their relation and circumstances ; and when they are sick should take care of them, and be concerned for their health, and recovery of it ; as the centurion was, who applied to Christ on the behalf of his servant, Matt. viii. 5 —10. A contrary behaviour in the Amalekite towards his servant, was barbarous and cruel, 1 Sam. xxx. 13.—3. They should pay them their just wages, and that in due time, aocording as agreed upon ; the law of God directs to the payment of them immediately, and not let them abide all night, till the morn ing, Lev. xix. 13, Deut. xxiv. 15 ; if they are detained, and they cry

OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. 743 unto the Lord, he will avenge them, James v. 4. — 4. Obedient servants are to be encouraged, and used kindly, and with respect ; according to the law of God, enjoined the Jews, when a servant had served out his time, he was not only to be let go free, but he was not to be sent away empty ; but to be liberally supplied from the flock, from the floor, and from the wine-press, Deut. xv. 12—14. Disobedient ones are to be corrected ; and if they will not be corrected by words, then with stripes ; yet to be given with moderation" ; servants are not to be used in a cruel and inhuman manner, as if they were beasts, and not men. Seneca0 complains of some masters in his time, who used them worse than beasts, and speaks of them as most proud, most cruel, and most contumelious ; the apostle advises, to forbear threatening, Eph. vi. 9, that is, not to threaten too much and too often, and with too great severity ; nor should they be forward to carry it into execution ; and especially when they repent and amend, they should be forgiven. Now the argument to enforce these duties on masters, is taken from their having a Master in heaven ; who is no other than Christ, who is a good Master, and where he is his servants shall be ; he grants them his presence now, and will enter them into his joy hereafter, and who is the Master of masters, as well as of servants, and to whom they are accountable, and with him is no respect of persons, bond or free, Eph. vi. 8, 9, Col. iii. 25 ; and he is in heaven, from whence he looks down and beholds all that is done on earth, by masters as well as servants, and who is able to plead the cause of the injured, and to avenge them. Happy it is when love and harmony, freedom and fami liarity, subsist between masters and servants, so far as is consistent with the relation ; an instance of which we have in Boaz, who went to his reapers in the field, and thus saluted them, The Lord be with you .' To whom they replied, Tlie Lord bless thee ! Ruth ii. 4 ; a good master and good servants, mutually happy in each other. OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. The duties of subjection and obedience to magistrates, supreme and subordinate, are frequently inculcated in the sacred writings ; and the reason why the apostles so often and so strongly urge them, is because of the scandal to the Christian religion which was like to arise from a contrary behaviour, of which there was danger; since in the first churches were many Jews, who were impatient of the Roman yoke, and Christians in general were called Jews by the Heathens ; and it was enough to fix the charge of sedition on any to say they were Jews, who were troublers of the state, Acts xvi. 20, 21 ; and of all the Jews the Galileans were reckoned the most turbulent and factious, and the most averse to payment of taxes to the Roman governors, Acts v. 37, Luke xiii. 1 ; and Christ and his followers were commonly called Gali leans, and so liable to the same imputation; besides, the first Christians might not be so willingly subject to heathen magistrates, " Servis imperare moderate, laus est.—Seneca de dementia, 1. 2, c. 18. ° Epist. 47.

744 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. because they were such, and many of them very wicked men, called spiritual wickednesses in high places ; and Nero, the t hen reigning emperor, when the apostle Paul wrote many of his epistles, was a monster of wickedness ; and they might also imagine, that subjection to men was inconsistent with Christian liberty. To all which may be added, that there were many false teachers, men of bad principles and practices, who despised dominion, and spoke evil of dignities ; where fore the apostles thought it necessary to put in mind the saints they wrote to, of their duties of subjection and obedience to civil govern ment, that the gospel, and the religion of Christ, might not be evil spoken of; and for the same reason we, who are called Baptists, and by way of reproach Anabaptists, should bo careful to observe these duties ; since it seems there were some of the same name formerly, in foreign countries, who held, if not misrepresented by many writers, that it was not lawful for a Christian man to bear the office of a magistrate ; and from thence inferred, that the laws of such were not to be obeyed : and nothing is more common with every puny writer against us, than to upbraid us with the riots and tumults at Minister, in Germany ; which though begun by Paedobaptists, yet, because some called Anabaptists joined them, men of bad principles and scandalous characters, the whole blame was laid upon them. But be these things as they may, what is all this to us here in England, who disavow and declare against all such principles and practices ; as our general beha viour, our writings and public confessions of faith, printed at different times, manifestly show ? and yet the calumny is continued ; wherefore, it becomes us to wipe off the foul aspersion, both by our declared abhorrence of it, and by our conduct and deportment towards our superiors ; that those who falsely accuse our good conversation in things civil, may blush, and be ashamed. Now, as the respective duties before treated of arise from relations of a different nature ; those of husbands and wives from a relation founded in marriage ; and those of parents and children from a relation founded in nature ; and those of masters and servants from a relation founded in contract and compact ; so those of magistrates and subjects arise from a relation founded in consent, agreement, and covenant : a coalition of men, and bodies of men, in a political sense, whether it arose from mutual fear, as Hobbes p says ; or rather from a propensity in human nature to society, man being a sociable animal, as Aristotle q, and other politicians, think ; yet it most certainly was by agreement and consent ; and men being thus united together, agreed to choose some from among themselves to preside over them, to keep the better decorum and order among them ; with these they entered into covenant, on certain conditions and fundamental laws made ; when they agreed, the one to govern according to those laws, and to defend the lives, liberties, and properties of men, from lawless persons ; and the other swore fidelity to them, and promised a cheerful subjection and obedience to their lawful commands, and to support their government : and this is the original of free and wellp Dc Ciye, c. 1. «.2. i Politic. 1. 1, c. 2.

OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OF MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. 745 regulated states; from whom certain respective duties, both of magistrates and subjects, arise ; now to be treated of. I. It will be proper to consider, of whom the duties of subjection and obedience are required, and to whom they are to be yielded. i. Of whom they are required : of every one that belongs to the commonwealth ; Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, Rom. xiii. 1, that is, every man ; every man that has a soul, every rational man ; and to be subject to and obey civil magistrates, is but his reasonable service ; every one of each sex, male and female, men and women ; of every age, young and old ; and of every state and condi tion, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, ecclesiastics not excepted ; the clergy of the church of Rome plead for an exemption of them, but without any reason. The priests under the law were subject to civil government ; as Abiathar to Solomon, 1 Kings ii. 26, 27; and so the ministers of Christ under the gospel ; Christ and his apostles paid tribute to Caesar, and even Peter, whose successor the Pope pretends to be, Matth. xvii. 24—27. The apostle Paul appealed to Caesar, owned his authority, and claimed his protection, Acts xxv. 10, 11. The same doctrine was inculcated by the successors of the apostles in the age following, who professed their subjection to the civil magistrate, and taught it ; says Polycarp r, we are commanded to honour magis trates, and the powers that are ordained of God ; the same doctrine was taught by Ignatius5, Irenaeus', and Justin"; and Pliny the heathen oears witness to the Christians of the second century, that they did all things in conformity to the civil laws w. ii. To whom these duties are to be performed. These are the higher powers ; called powers, because they are invested with the power of government, and have a right to exercise it ; higher powers, because they aro set in high places, and have a supereminence over others, Rom. xiii. 1 ; sometimes they are called principalities and poicers, Tit. iii. 1 ; by whom are meant, not angels, to whom men are not put in subjection, on civil accounts ; nor ecclesiastical officers, as elders and pastors of churches, whose government is not of a civil, but spiritual nature ; they do not bear the temporal sword, nor are they to make any use of that ; but civil magistrates, as the words aro explained in the same verse, obey magistrates, rulers or governors, and these include supreme and subordinate ones ; kings, and all that are in authority under them, and derive their authority from them, for whom prayer is to be made, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. Every ordinance of man, or every creature of man; this is, every magistrate, who is of man's creating, is to be submitted to, whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent and appointed by him, 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14; and as heathen magistrates were to be submitted unto, for such were they designed in the above passages, then certainly Christian magistrates ; for it is no ways inconsistent with the grace of God, nor for a good man, to be a magistrate ; the better man, the better magi ' Apud EuKb. 1. 4, c. 15. • Ep. ad Philndelpl>. ' Adv. Hares. 1. S, c. 24. Apolog. 2, p. 64. " Apud Euseb. 1. 3, c. 33.

746 OF THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. strate ; such there were under the former dispensation ; as Moses, the judges in Israel, David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others. And under the gospel dispensation, when the Roman empire became Christian, there was a Constantine, the first Christian emperor, thought to be a very good man ; and there have been such in after-times, though it must be owned they have been rare and few ; but there are prophecies of more, and there may be an expectation of more in the latter-day glory, when all kings shall fall down before Christ : when kings shall come to the brightness of Zion, or to the church's rising, and when her gates shall stand open continually for kings to enter in, and become church members ; and when kings shall be nursing fathers, and queens nursing mothers ; and these are most certainly to be submitted to, and their laws obeyed. I go on, II. lo consider the duties both of magistrates and subjects. i. Of magistrates ; for though the duties of subjection and obedience are incompetent to them ; yet there are duties incumbent on them, arising from their relation to their people, and covenant with them. 1. They are to make and pass such laws as are for the good of their subjects. The government of the people of Israel was very peculiar ; it was a Theocracy ; God was their King in a civil sense, and made laws for them, which he delivered to them by the hands of Moses ; and their kings had no power to make any new ones ; nor did they, not the best and wisest of them, as David, Solomon, &c, but governed according to the laws made to their hands. Our kings have a concern in the making of laws ; that is, they have a negative voice, and can put a check upon any laws, and refuse to sign them made by the other branches of the legislature ; and it is their duty to refuse to sign such laws as are not salutary to their subjects, or are contrary to the laws of God, and to the fundamental laws of the state. — 2. They are to govern according to such righteous and salutary laws, and to execute judgment and justice, as David did, and other good kings do ; and then magistrates do their duty, when the king reigns in righteous ness, and princes decree judgment, Isa. xxxii. 1. — 3. They are to discountenance and suppress impiety and irreligion ; and to counte nance and encourage religion and virtue ; even Aristotle * observes in his book of Politics, that the first care of government should be the care of divine things, or what relate to religion. Civil magistrates are appointed for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well ; they are to discourage vice, and vicious persons ; a king, by his eye, the sternness of his looks, and the frowns of his countenance, should scatter away evil, and evil men ; and these being removed from him, his throne will be established in righteousness, Prov. xx. 8, and xxv. 5. Kings are the guardians of the laws of God and man ; and Christian kings have a peculiar concern with the laws of the two tables, that they are observed, and the violators of them punished ; as sins against the first table, idolatry, worshipping of more gods than one, and of graven images, blaspheming the name of God, perjury, and false swearing, and profanation of the day of worship : 1 Tlpanov, T7jf mpi to 0uot < n t/itAt mc, xa\ow7!i> iipaatuw.—Aristot. Politic. 1. 7, c. 8.

OF THB RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. 747 and those against the second table, as disobedience to parents, murder, adultery, theft, bearing false witness, &c, most of which, under the former dispensation, were capital crimes, and punishable with death ; and though the punishment of them, at least not all of them, may not be inflicted with that rigour now as then ; yet they are punishable in some way or another ; which it is the duty of magistrates to take care of. — 4. The principal care and concern of a king is the welfare and safety of his people, that they are secured in their lives, liberties, and properties; that they live peaceable and quiet lives, unmolested by any ; that they dwell safely, every man under his vine and fig-tree, as Israel did in the times of Solomon ; the maxim of the Roman orator is a very good one—Salus populi suprema lex esto y—Let the safety and welfare of the people be the supreme law of government ; the safety of a king and his people is closely connected together, and the one is included in the other: it is an observation of a heathen moralist, that " he is mistaken, who thinks that a king is safe, where there is no safety from him ; for (adds he) security is by compact and covenant, to be established and confirmed through mutual security2." Justice, prudence, and clemency, are virtues highly becoming kings \ ii. There are duties to be performed by subjects to magistrates. 1. To honour them, and show reverence to them, Rom. xiii. 7, 1 Pet. ii, 17. Next to the fear of God, is the honour of the king ; yea, the fear or reverence of God and the king is joined together, Prov. xxiv. 21. There is a semblance of divine Majesty in a king, which makes him the object of fear and reverence. Kings are called gods, because they are in God's stead, his vicegerents, and personate him; / said, Ye are gods, Psalm lxxxii. 1, 6. — 2. As subjects are to think honourably, they are to speak respectfully of rulers ; Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people ; no, not in thought, nor in the bed-chamber, in the most secret place, since, sooner or later, it may be discovered, and the person be brought to condign punishment, Exod. xxii. 28, Eccles. x. 20 ; they are reckoned as the vilest and most abandoned among men, and as such described, who despise government, and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, 2 Pet. ii. 10, Jude, verse 8 ; we should speak evil of no man, particularly of magistrates, and more especially of the king, as supreme ; not of his person, nor of his admimstration ; there are arcana imperii, secrets of government, which we know nothing of, and it is not proper we should; were they to be known in common, the good designs of government would be defeated by the enemy. The springs of action m government we are not acquainted with, and only judge of them by the success of them, which is a fallacious way of judging. A thing may be well planned, and wisely concerted, at the time it was, all circumstances considered, nothing better ; and yet, by one unforeseen accident or another, the design of it is defeated ; and because it met ' Cicero do Legibus, 1. 3, c. 11. 1 Emit enim siquis exlstimct tutum esse ibi regem, ubi nihil a rcge tutum est. Securitas sccuritate mutua paciscenda est.—Seneca do dementia, 1. 1. c. 19. * Nullum tamen dementia ex omnibus magis quam regem aut principem decet.—Seneca de dementia, 1. 1. c. 3.

748 OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. not with success, is condemned as a piece of bad policy. — 3. Subjects ehould speak to a king with great reverence and respect ; is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked ? Job xxxiv. 18 ; it is not decent and becoming ; no, not to a wicked king. But if a king does wickedly, must he not be told of it, and reproved for it ? He may, but not by every impertinent and impudent fellow ; only by persons of eminence, in things sacred and civil, and that in a respectful manner; and perhaps no instance can be given from the word of God of a king being reproved by any but a prophet, or one sent of God. Herod, a wicked prince, was reproved by John the Baptist, and a reason given for it. David, a good prince, was reproved by Nathan the prophet, sent of God to him ; which reproof he delivered in a decent manner, wrapt up in a parable, and he took the proper opportunity to apply it; which had the desired effect. But such language Shimei used to David was not fit to be used to a king, 2 Sam. xvi. 7. — 4. Civil magistrates, supreme and subordinate, are to be prayed for, 1 Tim. ii. 1 , 2, for their health, happiness, and prosperity, and the peace of their government, and the continuance of it ; for in their peace is the peace of subjects, Jer. xxix. 10. — 5. They are to be submitted to and obeyed in all things, Which are not contrary to the laws of God, and the fundamental laws of the kingdom ; for otherwise God is to be obeyed, and not men, Acts iv. 19. — 6. They are to be supported in their government by a payment of lawful tribute, tax, and custom ; Render to all their dues ; tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, Rom. xiii. 7. This is a doctrine taught not only by the apostle, but by Christ himself, and confirmed by his own example and practice, Matt. xxii. 21, and xvii. 27. Government cannot be supported without such methods ; and without government there is no safety of a man's life and property ; but he must be exposed to a banditti of robbers, plunderers, and levellers, and who would strip him at once of all he has: would not any wise man part with some of his substance to secure the rest? without government, as the Roman orator b says, " not a family, nor a city, nor a nation, nor all mankind, nor the whole nature of things, nor the world itself, tsan stand." And government cannot be maintained without defraying the expenses of it, which are many and large, by the payment of tribute and taxes, which ought to be done cheerfully ; nor should any illicit methods be taken to defeat the payment of them, which is foolishly called cheating the king, and that is said to be no sin ; whereas men hereby cheat themselves, cheat the public, of which they are a part ; some individuals may avail them selves by such unlawful practices, but the public suffers, and so does . every honest man ; and it is the very means of the multiplicity of taxes complained of; for if a duty is laid on one commodity, and it is defeated by such iniquitous practices, either it must be increased on that commodity, or laid upon another. III. There are various reasons to be given, why subjection and obe dience should be yielded by subjects to magistrates. i. Because that magistracy is by the ordmation and appointment of b Cicero dc Legibus, 1. 3, c. 9.

OP THE RESPECTIVE DUTIES OP MAGISTRATES AND SUBJECTS. 749 God ; The powers that be, are ordained of Ood, Rom. xiii. 1 ; it is he that sets up one and puts down another, Psalm lxxv. 6, 7, Dan. ii. 21 ; By me kings reign, says Wisdom, and princes decree justice, Prov. viii. 15 ; not that it may be that any particular form of government is of God ; there are divers forms ; as monarchy, which is the government of one man ; aristocracy, which is the government of the chief and principal persons in a nation ; and democracy, which lies in the people : which is the best sort of government I will not take upon me to say ; but this I will venture to say, that the worst government is better than none at all ; perhaps a mixed government may be best, made up of all three ; as ours is : there is an appearance of monarchy in the king, of aristocracy in the nobles, and of democracy in the com mons, chosen by the suffrages of the people. Moreover, it is not this or that particular man in government that is of God ; he may assume that to himself which does not belong to him, and so is not of God, but of himself; or he may abuse the power he is possessed of, which though by divine permission, and may be for a scourge to a people ; yet not of God's approbation : it is not therefore this or that form of government, or this or that particular person, but government itself that is of God ; for there is no power but of him ; what Adam had over the creatures, the husband has over the wife, parents over their children, and masters over their servants, it is of God ; and so is the power magistrates have over subjects, John xix. 1 1 ; and therefore are to be obeyed. — 2. -To resist them, is to resist the ordinance of God, Rom. xiii. 2. Not that magistrates are above the laws ; but are to subject to them, and are liable to the penalty of them, when broken by them ; they are under the laws, but over men ; so says Cicero c ; " the laws preside over magistrates, and magistrates over the people ; and,'" adds he, " the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law a mute magistrate." So that these have a close connexion with each other ; the laws are binding on magistrates, and they are to govern according to them ; and when they do that which is wrong, or attempt it, they may be resisted ; as Saul, when he would have put his son to death, for the breach of an arbitrary law of his own, and which his son was ignorant of; but the people would not suffer him ; and they were in the right : so Uzziah, when he went into the temple to offer incense, which to do was a breach of the law of God, then in being ; Azariah, and fourscore priests more, followed him, and withstood him, and they had the approbation of God ; for before the king could got out of the temple, he was smitten with a leprosy. But a king, or a civil magi strate, is not to be resisted in the execution of lawful power and autho rity. — 3. Such who resist, shall receive to themselves damnation, or judgment ; either temporal judgment from men or from God ; as did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; or eternal judgment ; for those who despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities, the blackness of darkness is reserved for ever and ever ; Jude, verses 7, 8, 11, 13. There are other reasons to be gathered from Rom. xii. enforcing obedience to civ il magistrates ; taken from their being the ministers of God for • De Legibua, 1. 3, c. 9.

750 OF GOOD WORKS. good, for civil good ; the protection of men in their lives, liberties, and properties : and for moral good, for the restraint of vice ; for if the fence of magistracy was plucked up, vice would issue in like an inundation, and carry all before it ; see Judg. xxi. 25 ; and from their being encouragers of good works, and the executors of the wrath of God on evil men ; and by good men are to be obeyed, not for wrath's sake, or for fear of punishment, but for conscience' sake ; and a good conscience cannot be exercised without obedience to them. OF GOOD WORKS IN GENERAL. Good works, or actions, are of various sorts. There are natural actions, which respect the animal life ; such as eating, drinking, Sec, which, when done in moderation, and not to excess, are good, and are necessary for the preservation of health and life. And there are civil employments, trades, businesses, and occupations of life, men are called to ; and it is good to attend them ; and they are necessary for the support of a man and his family, and that he may do good to others, and are for the credit of religion. These, by some, are thought to be meant by good works, in Tit. iii. 14. There are relative duties, or good works, to be performed by husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, magistrates and subjects, before treated of. And there are acts- of beneficence and charity to fellow-creatures and Christians ; which are called doing good, and are acceptable and well-pleasing to God, Heb. xiii. 16, Gal. vi. 10. There are some good works to be done to men, as men, and are comprehended in that general rule of Christ's, Matt. vi. 12 ; and others to believers in Christ, who are by love to serve one another. Some are of a positive kind, in obedience to a positive law of God, the effect of his sovereign will and pleasure ; such were the institutions and ordinances of divine service observed under the former dispensa tion, and baptism and the Lord's supper under the present. Others are of a moral nature, done in agreement to the moral law, and to the law and light of nature, binding upon all, in all ages. And of good works some are materially, or as to the substance of them, and in appearance good, when they are not circumstantially good ; or as to the circumstances of them ; nor radically, and as to the principle of them : such were the virtues of the heathens Austin calls splendida peccata, shining sins, and such the works done by Herod, on hearing John ; and by the Pharisees, who were and did things outwardly righteous before men, but at heart wicked ; it is not barely doing bonum, a good thing; but doing that good thing bene, well. The circumstances requisite to a good work, are, 1. That it be according to the command and will of God ; as every evil work or sin is a transgression of the law of God, and a want of conformity to that ; so every good work is in agreement with it, and a conformity to it. By this rule many works are cut off from being good works, done by the Pharisees of old, and by Papists now, though

OP GOOD WORKS. 751 they may have a great show of religion and holiness, because they are done according to the precepts and traditions of men, and not accord ing to the commands of God. — 2. That it spring from love to God, and not be influenced by any sinister and selfish motive ; The end of the commandment is charity, or love ; love to God, is the root and spring of obedience to it, and is the motive induced to it, 1 Tim. i. 5, John xiv. 15. — 3. It must be done in faith ; for what is not offaith is sin, and so no good work ; without faith it is impossible to please God ; herein lay the difference between Abel's work and Cain's ; the one was done in faith, the other not, Rom. xiv. 23, Heb. xi. 4, 6 ■ 4. It must be done to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x. 31. The Pharisees prayed, and fasted, and did alms ; but all to be seen of men, and to get glory from them, but sought not the glory of God ; and so were not good works ; good works are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God, Phil. i. 11. Now concerning these may be observed, I. The springs and causes of them. I. The efficient cause is God, who works in his people, both to will and to do ; gives the inclination to a good work, and power to perform it. Every action, as an action, is of God, by whom we move ; and a good work is not only of God, as an action, but as a good action, who is the fountain of all goodness ; the beginning, progress, and perfec tion of a good work are of God, and so prayed for, Heb. xiii. 21.— 2. The influential cause is the grace of God ; it was by that the apostle Paul did works more abundantly than others, and to that he ascribes them ; and through that had his conversation in the world, in simplicity and godly sincerity. The grace of God, both as a principle and as a doctrine, teaches influentially to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, Tit. ii. 11, 12. — 3. Good works, that are truly such, are owing to union to Christ ; men are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, Eph. ii. 10 ; they are first in Christ, as branches in the vine, and then bring forth the fruit of good works ; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it is in and abides in the vine, so neither can any except they are in and abide in Christ, who is the green fig-tree, from whom all their fruit is found. — 4. Faith in Christ is productive of them ; the heart is purified by faith in the blood of Jesus, which purges the conscience from dead works, whereby men are better fitted to do good works, or to serve the living God ; faith without works is dead ; and works without faith are dead works; a living faith produces living works; not that the life of faith lies in works; but, as Dr. Amesd observes, works are second acts, necessarily flowing from the life of faith. Faith, some call ite the internal, instrumental cause of works; the external instrumental cause of works is, —5. The word of God; as faith comes by hearing it, so the obedience of faith ; the word, written and read, preached and heard, is a means of making the man of God, whether in a public or private character, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Tim. iii. 16, Luke viii. 15. II. The nature and properties of good works. * Medulla Theolog. 1. 2, c. 7, a. 85. • Synops. Purior. Tlieolog. Disp. 34, a. 9.

752 OF GOOD WORKS. i. The best of works, which are done by the best of men, and in the best manner, are but imperfect ; there is sin in them all ; there are none found perfect in the sight of God, however they may appear before men, Eccles. vii. 20, Rev. iii. 2 ; knowledge of the will of God, the rule of them, is imperfect ; and so are faith and love, from whence they spring ; and there is indwelling sin, that hinders saints from doing the good they would, and in the manner they are desirous of, and which pollutes their best actions. ii. They are not meritorious of any thing at the hand of God ; the requisites of merit are wanting in them. — 1 . To merit, they must be profitable to God ; but such they are not ; they are no gain to him : men, by their works, give him nothing, nor does he receive any thing from them, and therelore he is under no obligation to them for them, Job xxii. 2, and xxxv. 7, Psalm xvi. 2. — 2. They are due to God ; whereas they should not, if expected to merit by them ; but in doing them men do but what is their duty ; for the doing of which they are debtors, and under obligation to perform them. God has a prior right unto them ; could these be given him first, a recompense might be expected ; but this is not the case, Luke xvii. 10. — 3. They must be done by men in their own strength, and not in the strength and by the assistance of God, of whom it is expected to merit ; whereas without the grace and strength of Christ man can do nothing ; but all things through him strengthening them ; his strength is made perfect in their weakness, and by his grace they do what they do, and there fore can merit nothing. — 4. There is no proportion between the works of men, and any mercy and favour of God ; they are not worthy of the least of the temporal mercies they enjoy, and still less of spiritual ones, and especially of eternal life and happiness ; between which, and the best works of men, there is no manner of proportion ; there is between sin and the wages of it, death ; but none between works of righteousness and eternal life ; that is the free gift of God, Rom. vi. 23. III. The subjects of them, in whom they are found, and by whom performed. Every man is not capable of performing good works ; there is an inaptitude, and an impotence to that which is good ; men are naturally to every good work reprobate or unfit ; to do good they have no knowledge, and have no inclination nor disposition unto it ; have neither will nor power ; the bias of their minds is another way ; they mind tho things of the flesh, and their carnal minds are enmity to God, and to all that is good ; and hence the truth of that observation, There is none doth good, no, not one! Rom. iii. 12. Such only are capable of doing good works who, 1 . Are made good men ; Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good ; let a man be made a good man, and he will do good works ; but it is God that must make him good, none else can ; he cannot make himself good ; the good work of grace must first be begun in him by the Spirit and grace of God ; and then, and not before, will he perform good works ; he must be made a new creature in Christ, in order to do good works, Eph. ii. 10. — 2. They must be purified

OF GOOD WORKS. 753 f and sanctified ; Christ gave himself, his life and blood, for the redemp tion of his people ; that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous ofgood works, Tit. ii. 14; and a man must be sanctified by the Spirit and grace of God, that he may be meet for the Masters use, and prepared unto every good work, 2 Tim. ii. 21. — 3. They must have the Spirit of Christ, and be strengthened by him, with all might in the inward man, in order to perform them; and for this end. is he pro mised, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. — 4. They must have faith in God, and strength from Christ; they that have believed in God, in his Son, and in his promises, and in his covenant, ought to be careful to maintain good works ; as they are the only persons capable of them, since faith is requisite to them ; and such are under the greatest obligations to perform them : and strength from Christ is necessary ; in whom are both righteousness to render them acceptable to God, and strength to perform duties incumbent on them, Tit. iii. 8. — 5. The apostle says, Let ours learn to maintain good works, Tit. iii. 14. Such who aro the chosen generation, a peculiar people, the redeemed of the Lord, and who have drunk into the same Spirit, have obtained like precious faith, and are heirs together of the grace of life. IV. The necessary uses for which good works are to be performed. i. Not to procure salvation, in whole or in part ; not to make peace with God, which they cannot effect ; nor to make atonement for sin, for which they cannot answer one of a thousand ; nor to obtain the pardon of it, which is only by the blood of Christ ; nor to justify in the sight of God, for by the deeds of the law no flesh living can be justified. Rom. iii. 20, 28 ; the best works being impure and imper fect. Salvation in general is denied to be of works; this is the current language of Scripture. They are not in any rank and class of causes respecting salvation ; they are neither efficient, nor moving, nor meri torious, nor adjuvant causes of salvation ; nor even conditions of it ; they do not go before any part of salvation, but are fruits and effects of it ; not of election, which was before the children had done either good or evil ; nor of redemption, in consequence of which the redeemed are a peculiar people, zealous of good works ; nor of vocation, works before calling are not good works, and those that follow after are fruits and effects of calling grace ; Who hath saved us and called us, not according to our works, &c, 2 Tim. i. 9 ; nor do they go before, to make and prepare the way to consummate happiness, but they follow after, Rev. xiv. 13. Yet, ii. There are uses for which they are necessary. As,—1. With respect to God, they being of his ordination, that his people should walk in them, and according to his command and will, in obedience to which it is necessary to perform them, Eph. ii. 10; as well as to testify our gratitude for mercies temporal and spiritual we receive from him ; and they are to be done with a view to his glory ; for hereby is our heavenly Father glorified ; and we not only glorify him ourselves, but are the means of others glorifying him also, John xv. 8. — 2. With respect to ourselves ; as for the ornament of ourselves, to adorn our profession, and the doctrine of God our Saviour, 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10, VOL. ii. 3 c

754 A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. Tit. ii. 10 ; and to testify and show forth our faith to others, and to make our calling and election sure ; not surer than they are in them selves, nor surer to ourselves, being certified to us by the Spirit and grace of God ; but sure to others, by our good works and holy conver sation, as fruits of them ; which is all the evidence we are capable of giving to the world, or they are capable of receiving from us, James ii. 18. — 3. With respect to others, to whom they are good and profit able, and therefore to be done, Tit. iii. 8 ; both by way of example, and by real benefit received through them, either in a temporal or in a spiritual way; and because they serve to recommend religion to others ; and may be, without the word, a means of winning them to a liking of it ; or, however, may serve to stop the mouth of gainsayers, and make them ashamed who falsely accuse the good conversation of the saints ; and so prevent any just offence being given to Jew or Gentile, or to the church of God. A COMPENDIUM OB SUMMARY OF THE DECALOGUE. The commandments of the law are reduced by Christ to two capital ones ; Love to God, and love to the neighbour, Matt. xxii. 36—40 ; and the apostle Paul says, Ml the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Gal. v. 14 ; he means the commandments of the second table of the law ; and, indeed, love, as it includes both branches of it, love to God and to men, briefly compre hends every other command ; and therefore with propriety it is said by him, Love is the fulfilling of the law, Rom. xiii. 9, 10 ; and what may serve to epitomize the decalogue, and to sum up the contents of each command, is a rule or two that may be observed ; as, that the prohibi tion of any sin includes in it a command of the contrary virtue or duty ; and so vice versa; and that the prohibition of any sin, and the command of any duty, include in them all sins and duties of the same kind or kindred, with all causes, means, and occasions thereof, as may be exemplified in our Lord's exposition of the sixth and seventh com mands, Matt. v. 21 —28 ; by which it appears, that the law is spiritual, and reaches not only to external actions, done in the body, but to inward thoughts, affections, and lusts of the mind. The preface to the decalogue, contains arguments or motives unto obedience to the commandments in it. As, 1 . That it is the Lord Jehovah, the author of our beings, the God of our lives and mercies, the sovereign Lord and Governor of the world, who enjoins it ; who has a right to command his creatures what he pleases, and it becomes them to obey him. — 2. He that enjoins these precepts is the Lord thy God ; not only thy Creator, thy Pre server, and Benefactor, but thy covenant God ; as he was peculiar to the Jews in a national sense, which laid them under great obligation to him ; and if he is our God in a special sense, according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, the obligation is still the greater. — 3. He is farther described, as he which have brought thee out of the land of

A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. 1 0-t Egypt, out of the house of bondage, which was only literally true of the people of Israel ; which shows that the decalogue, as to the form of it, and as delivered through the hand and ministry of Moses, only con cerned that people, and was calculated for their use ; though, as to the matter of it, and so far as it is of a moral nature, and agrees with the law and light of nature, it is equally binding on Gentiles ; and if the redemption mentioned is considered as typical of spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ, from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law, the obligation to serve the Lord, and obey him, is still more strong and forcible ; see Tit. ii. 14, 1 Cor. vi. 20. The decalogue itself follows. I. The first command is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The things required in this precept are, — 1 . That we should know, own, and acknowledge God, the one only true God, and none else, Mark xii. 29. — 2. lhat we should worship him, and him only; not any creature with him ; nor any more than he, nor, indeed, any besides him, Matt. iv. 10, Rom. i. 25. — 3. That we should exercise faith and trust in him, hope in him, and love him, John xiv. 1. The,things forbidden by it are, — 1. Atheism ; denying there is a God, or any of the perfections essential to Deity, as his omniscience, omnipotence, &c, and his providence in and government of the world. — 2. Poly theism, or the worshipping of many gods, or more than one : as the sun, moon, and stars, the host of heaven, and a multitude of things on earth ; either by Jews or Gentiles, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. — 3. Whatever is trusted in, and loved as God, as wealth and riches, which to do is idolatry, Eph. v. 5 ; or fleshly lusts, as the epicure, whose god is his belly, Phil. iii. 19 ; or any other lust or idol set up in a man's heart, as self-righteousness, or be it what may, Ezek. xiv. 4, and xxxvi. 25. The phrase before me, is not to be overlooked ; which may either point at the omniscience of God, in whose sight such idolatry must very displeasing ; or the placing of any object of worship by him, which is setting up man's post by his, as Manasseh placed a graven image in the temple itself, 2 Kings xxi. 7 ; or it may be rendered, Besides me, and so excludes all other objects of worship, there being no God but him, Isa. xliv. 8. I would just propose it, whether the words ':a by may not be rendered, Besides my persons, besides the Three persons in the Trinity, who are the one God ; by frequently signifies besides, Gen. xxxi. 50, Lev. xviii. 18, Deut. xix. 9, and Kto may be interpreted, my faces, or persons. II. The second command is, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, or any likeness—thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, &c, which respects the mode of worship. And, —1. Requires, that it should be spiritual, suitable to the nature of God, without any carnal imaginations, and external representations of him, John iv. 23, 24, Phil. iii. 3 ; and that the parts of divine worship ; as prayer, praise, preaching, hearing the word, and administration of ordmances; be observed just as delivered, without any addition to them, corruption and alteration of them, Deut. iv. 2, 1 Cor. xi. 2. — 2. It forbids all superstition and will-worship, human traditions, pre cepts, arid ordinances of men ; and the introduction of any thing into 3 c 2

756 A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. the worship of God, which he has not commanded, Isa. xxix. 13, Matt xv. 8, Col. ii. 20, 22, 23; and all images, figures, and representations of the divine Being, and of any of the persons in the Godhead ; and, indeed, making the likeness of any creature, in heaven, earth, or sea, in order to be worshipped, and used for that purpose, and not only images of heathen deities, which were to be broken and burnt, but those of Christ, as a man crucified, of the virgin Mary, of angels and saints departed, worshipped by papists. Though all pictures, paint ings, and sculptures, are not forbidden hereby, only such as are made for, and used in, divine worship ; but not which are for ornament, or for the use of history ; and to perpetuate to posterity the memory of men, and their actions ; otherwise there were images of things, of lions, and oxen, and the cherubim, in the tabernacle and temple, by the express order of God, Exod. xxv. 18, 1 Kings vi. 32, and vii. 29. — 3. The motives inducing to obey this command, are taken from God's being a jealous God, who will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images ; and from his severe punishment of the breakers of it, and of their posterity, who tread in their steps ; and from his mercy shown to those who, from a principle of love to him, observe it. III. The Third command is, Thou shult not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Which,—1. Requires a holy and reverend use of the name of God ; of his titles, perfections, attributes, word, and works, even in common conversation, and especially in religious worship ; expressed by walking in his name, invocation of his name, and giving thanks unto it.— 2. It forbids a vain use of the name of God, and of any of his titles, in common conversation, using them in a light way and manner ; all profane swearing and cursing by them, James iii. 9, 1 0 ; perjury, or s\vearing falsely by Ills name ; for though an oath may be taken lawfully, and always by the name of God, and not a creature ; yet never to be taken falsely. So likewise blaspheming the name of God is a breach of this precept, Lev. xxiv. 14. — 3. The argument moving to the observation of it, is taken from the guilt incurred by it, and the punishment inflicted for it ; T/ie Lord will not hold such guilt less, Zech. v. 4, Mal. iii. 5. IV. The Fourth command respects the time of worship; the keep ing a day holy to the Lord ; and requires that it should be after six days' labour, Exod. xx. 9 ; that it should be observed in religious exercises, Isa. Iviii. 13, Rom. xiv. 6 ; and as a rest from bodily labour, from all secular business and worldly employment, excepting works of necessity and mercy; the example urging to it is taken from God's resting from his works of creation. V. The Fifth command requires honour, reverence, and obedience to be given by inferiors to superiors ; as by children to parents, so by scholars to tutors and preceptors, by servants to masters, and by subjects to magistrates ; and forbids all disrespect, contempt, irreve rence, and disobedience of thein ; which also has been treated of in some former chapters. VI. The Sixth command is, Thou shalt not kill. Which,—1. Requires all due care in the use of proper moans for the preservation of our lives,

A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. 757 and the lives of others ; life is and ought to be dear to a man ; selfpreservation is a first principle in nature ; and every lawful method should be used to preserve life ; as food, physic, sleep, &c ; with all just and lawful defence of it; avoiding every thing that tends to impair health and endanger life, Job ii. 4, 1 Tim. v. 23. — 2. It forbids the taking away of life, or murder of every sort ; as parricide, fratri cide, homicide, and suicide ; for this law is against murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, and manslayers, and destroyers of them selves, 1 Tim. i. 1 ; no man has a right to take away his own life, nor the life of another; it is contrary to the authority of God, the sove reign disposer of life, Deut. xxxii. 39 ; to the law of nature, Acts xvi. 28; to the goodness of God, who gives it, Job x. 12, Acts xvii. 28 ; contrary to the love a man owes to himself, and his neighbour, and is a prejudice to the commonwealth, or public good, thereby deprived of a member, and the king of a subject. Not but that life may be taken away ; as in lawful war, which is sometimes of God, who makes peace and creates evil, the evil of war ; and by the hands of the civil magis trate, who bears the sword of justice, and uses it for the punishment of capital crimes ; and it is lawful in self-defence.— 3. All intemper ance, immoderate eating and drinking, which tend to destroy life ; all sinful anger, undue wrath, inordinate passions, quarrels, blows, conten tions, duellings, &c, which often issue in it, are breaches of this law, Matt. v. 21, 22. VII. The Seventh command is, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Which,— 1. Requires chastity, and a preservation of it in ourselves and others, in or out of a state of wedlock ; and to abstain from all impurity of flesh and spirit ; and to make use of all means to preserve it ; as lawful marriage, conjugal love, and cohabitation : it requires to keep the body, and the members of it, in subjection ; to mortify inor dinate affection ; and to avoid every thing that tends to unchastity ; as intemperance, in the case of Lot ; sloth and idleness, as in Sodom ; immodest apparel and ornament, as in Jezebel ; keeping ill company, and frequentmg places of diversion, which are nurseries of vice ; and also reading impure books. — 2. It forbids all the species of uucleanness; not only adultery, but simple fornication, rape, incest, and all unnatural lusts, 1 Cor. vi. 18, 1 Thess. iv. 3, Lev. xviii. 6, 20. — 3. All unchaste thoughts and desires, all adulterous looks, obscene words, and filthy actions, rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, are violations of this command, Matt. v. 27, 28. VIII. The Eighth command is, Thou shalt not steal. Which,— 1. Requires that we should seek to get, preserve, and increase our own wealth, and that of others, in a lawful way ; that we should be diligent in our callings, careful to provide for our families ; and even things convenient, honest, and reputable in the sight of all ; and that we may have somewhat to give to those in need ; and that of our own, and not be tempted to steal from others ; for God hates robbery for burnt-offering, Isa. Ixi. 8. — 2. It requires justice, truth, and faithfulness in all dealings with men ; to owe no man any thing, but to give to all their dues ; to have and use just weights and measures ; to be true to

758 A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. all -engagements, promises, and contracts ; and to be faithful in what soever is committed to our care and trust,' Rom. xiii. 7, 8. — 3. It forbids all unjust ways of increasing our own, and hurting our neigh bour's substance, by using false balances, weights, and measures ; by overreaching and circumventing in trade and commerce; by taking away by force or fraud the goods, properties, and persons of men ; by borrowmg and not paying again ; and by oppression, extortion, and unlawful usury ; for not all usury is unlawful, only what is exorbitant, and oppressive of the poor; for it is but reasonable, that what one man gains by another man's money, that the other man should have a proportionate share in that gain. Nor was the Israelites' borrowing of the Egyptians, without payment, any breach of this law, since it was by the order of God, whose all things are ; and the words used may bo rendered, the one asked' and the other gave8 ; and besides, it was but repaying them what was due to them for their past services. IX. The Ninth command is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Which,—1. Requires to be careful of our own good name, and that of our neighbour, which is better than precious ointment ; and that we should speak every man truth to his neighbour in private conversation, and especially in public judgment, Eccles. vii. 1, Zech. viii. 16, Eph. iv. 25. — 2. It forbids all lying, which is speaking contrary to a man's mind and conscience, and with a design to deceive ; and so condemns all sorts of lies, whether jocose, officious, or more plainly pernicious, and all equivocations, and mental reservations, perjury, and every false oath, bearing a false witness, and subornation of false witnesses in a court of judicature, Matt. xxvi. 59, 60, Acts vi. 11, 12 ; against all which God will be a swift witness, Mal. iii. 5 ; it also forbids all slandering, tale-bearing, raising, receiving, spreading and encouraging an ill report of others, which is contrary to charity, 1 Cor. xiii. 7. X. The Tenth command is, Thou shalt not covet, &c Which requires,—1 . Contentment in every state and condition of life ; a lesson the apostle Paul had learnt, and every man should, Phil. iv. 11, Heb. xiii. 5, 1 Tim. vi. 6, 8; as also love, joy, pleasure, and delight in the happiness of others, Psalm xxxv. 27. — 2. It forbids all uneasiness and discontent in our present circumstances, and all fretting and envying at the prosperity of others, Psalm xxxvii. 7; and condemns covetousness as an evil thing, and which is idolatry, and unbecoming saints, Col. iii. 8, Eph. v. 3. — 3. It mentions the particular objects not to be coveted ; not a neighbour's house, and take it away by force, as some did, Mic ii. 2; nor a neghbour's wife, as David coveted Bathsheba, 2 Sam. xi. 3; nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, which a king would do, take at his will, and put to his work, as Samuel suggested, 1 Sam. viii. 16; nor his ox nor his ass; from which evil Samuel exculpated himself, and which was admitted, 1 Sam. xii. 3 ; nor any thing that is thy neighbour's, his gold, silver, apparel, or any goods of his ; of which sin the apostle Paul declares himself free, Acts 17NU71 Postiilaverunt, Vatillus ; Pcticnint, Drusius. s CJlljNUn et dcderunt illis, Cu-twright.

A COMPENDIUM OF THE DECALOGUE. 759 xx. 33. — 4. It strikes at the root of all sin, evil concupiscence, internal lust, indwelling sin, James i. 13, 14. By this law lust is known to be sin, and is condemned by it as such, Rom. vii. 7. From this view of the law, in all its precepts, it appears how large and extensive it is ; that David might well say, Thy commandment is exceeding broad! Psalm cxix. 96. So that it cannot be perfectly fulfilled by man in this his sinful and fallen state ; and therefore he cannot be justified before God by the deeds of it, since it requires a perfect righteousness : and happy for man it is that there is such a righteousness revealed in the gospel, manifested without the law, though witnessed to by law and prophets, even the righteousness of Christ, consisting of his active and passive obedience ; who is the end, the fulfilling end, of the law for righteousness, to every one that believes. END OF THE BODY OF DIVINITY.

A DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF JEWISH PROSELYTES. OF THE VARIOUS SORTS OF PROSELYTES AMONG THE JEWS. Intending to treat of the admission of Proselytes into the Jewish church by baptism, or dipping ; it may be proper to consider the different sorts of proselytes among the Jews, and which of them were thus admitted, as is said. The word proselyte is originally Greek, and is derived, as Philoh observes, airo tov -npoo-tkqXvOtvai, from coming to, that is, from one sect or religion to another, as from heathenism to to the Jewish religion; and so Suidas1 says, proselytes are they 01 TTpoo-(XriXvOoTts, who come from the Gentiles, and live according to the laws of God; and such an one is called by the Septuagint interpreters of Exod. xii. 19, Isa. xiv. 1, and by the Greek writers following them, ydwpas, which is rightly interpreted by Hesychius, such of another nation who are called proselytes to Israel ; and which word comes near to the Hebrew word *D and nearer to the Chaldee word WTM used for a proselyte ; and is, by Eusebius, interpreted tttlimktovs*1, such as were mixed with Israelites. There were two sorts of proselytes with the Jews, some say three ; a proselyto of the gate ; a mercenary proselyte ; and a proselyte of righteousness ; the first and last are most usually observed. First, One sort was called IJJttf "U a proselyte of the gate ; and in Scripture, the stranger that is in thy gates, Deut. xiv. 21 and xxiv. 14, being a sojourner, and permitted to dwell there ; hence such an one had also the name of awn 1J a proselyte-inliabitant ; see Exod. xii. 15, Lev. xxv. 45, 47; one who was allowed to dwell among the Jews on certain conditions ; and is generally distinguished from another sort, called a proselyte of righteousness, of whom more hereafter. Though the Jews, not always consistent with themselves, and so not in this matter, sometimes interpret the stranger in the gate, of a proselyteinhabitant, or a proselyte by inhabitation, and sometimes of a proselyte of righteousness. So Nachmanides1, having explained the stranger in b Pe Monarchia, I. 1. p. 8. 8. ' In voce trpoaiXuroi. k Eccl. Hist. 1. 1, c. 7. 1 Apud Frischmuth. Dissert, do 7 Noacli. Pitecept. s. 20, 21,

OP THE VARIOUS SORTS OF JEWISH PROSELYTES. 761 the gate of the proselyto-inhabitant, or one who obliged himself to keep the seven precepts of Noah, according to the usual interpretation of it, observes : " Our doctors interpret it differently, for they say, thy stranger within thy gate, simply denotes, a proselyte of righteous ness.'' So that according to them, such a stranger may be taken both for the one and for the other, in different respects ; but commonly the proselyte-inhabitant is only understood ; who in general was obliged to promise, that he would not be guilty of idolatry, or worship any idol m; this he was to promise before three witnesses, for it is asked, " Who is Ger Toshab; that is, a proselyte allowed to dwell in Israel? (the answer is) Whoever takes upon him, in the presence of three neigh bours, that he will not commit idolatry." It follows, It. Moir and the wise men say, " whoever takes upon him the seven precepts which the sons of Noah obliged themselves to observe." Others say, " these do not come into the general rule of such a proselyte. Who then is one ? He is a proselyte who eats what dies of itself ; (or) who takes upon him to keep all the commandments in the law, except that which forbids the eating of things which die of themselves";" but the usual account of such a proselyte is, that he agrees to observe the seven precepts enjoined the sons of Noah0; six of which were given to Adam, the first man, and the seventh was added to them, and given to Noah, and are as follow0: 1. Concerning idolatry; by this a son of Noah was forbid to worship the sun, moon, and stars, and images of any sort ; nor might he erect a statue, nor plant a grove, nor make any image. — 2. Concerning blaspheming the name of God. Such an one might not blaspheme, neither the proper name of God, Jehovah ; nor any of his surnames, titles, and epithets. — 3. Concerning shedding of blood, or murder, the breach of which command he was guilty of, if he slew one, though an embryo in his mother's womb ; and one who pursued another, when he could have escaped from him with the loss of one of his members, &c — 4. Concerning uncleanness, or impure copulations; of which there were six sorts forbidden a son of Noah ; as, with an own mother, with a father's wife (or step-mother), with another man's wife, with his sister by the mother's side, with a male, or with mankind, and with a beast. — 5. Concerning rapine, or robbery and theft ; of which such were guilty, whether they robbed a Gentile or an Israelite, or stole money, or men, or suppressed the wages of an hireling ; and the like. — 6. Concerning the member of a livmg creature, taken from it whilst alive, and eating it : this is the command, it is said, which was added to Noah and his sons, and of which the Jews interpret, Gen. ix. 4.— 7. Concerning judgments or punishments to be inflicted on those who broke the above laws: this command obliged them to regard tho directions, judgment, and sentence of the judges appointed to see the said laws put into execution, and to punish delinquents. ■ R. Nathan, Sepher Aruch, R. D. Kimchi, Seplier Shorash, et Elias Levitt, Seplier Tishhi in voce y\}. " T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 64. 2. ° Philip. Aquinat. Maaric in voce |YU. P Maimon. Hilchot Mclacim, c. 9, f. 1, &c.

762 OF THE VARIOUS SORTS OP JEWISH PROSELYTES. Now such Gentiles, who laid thernselves under obligation to observe these commands, had leave to dwell among the Israelites, though not in every one of their cities ; not in Jerusalem particu larly'' ; wherefore those devout men and proselytes, said to dwell in Jerusalem, Acts ii. 5, 10, were not proselytes of the gate, but prose lytes of righteousness. Nor are such sort of proselytes now received, only whilst the Jews lived in their own land, and were not under the jurisdiction of another people ; or as they express it, while jubilees were in use and observed r. This sort of proselytes, though they did not enjoy the privileges the proselytes of righteousness did, yet some they had ; they might worship and pray in the court of the Gentiles, though not in the temple ; they might offer burnt-offerings, though not other sacrifices ; their poor were fed with the poor of Israel, their sick were visited by Israelites, and their dead were buried with them *. Such proselytes as these, as they were not obliged to circumcision, nor to other commands peculiar to the Jews ; none but those before observed ; so neither were they baptized, or dipped, when made pro selytes, which is said of others. Maimonides ' affirms of such a proselyte, that he is neither circumcised nor dipped. Bishop Kidder u is therefore mistaken in saying, that proselytes of the gate were bap tized, but not circumcised. Second. There was another sort of proselytes, which are taken notice of, at least, by some as such ; who were called tD^5tt> mercenary ones, and are reckoned as between proselytes of the gate and Gentiles. In Exod. xii. 44, 45, a mercenary, or hired servant, is distinguished from a servant bought with money ; he being hired only for a certain time, as for six years ; and also from a foreigner, a stranger in the gate, a proselyte in the gate ; and both of them are distinguished from the servant bought with money, who was circumcised, and might eat of the Passover, when neither of the others might, being both uncircumcised ; and therefore R. Levi Barzelonita w is thought to be mistaken, when he says, " a mercenary is a proselyte, who is circum cised, but not dipped ; for so the wise men explain it : " but if a stranger or proselyte of the gate was not circumcised, much less a mercenary, who was far below him ; besides, if he was circumcised, he might eat of the Passover ; which is denied him : and so Ben Melech observes" of these two, the foreigner and the hired servant; they are Gentiles, and uncircumcised : and Abendana, in his notes upon him, from the rabbins, says, the former is a proselyte inhabitant, or a proselyte of the gate, who takes upon him the seven precepts of the sons of Noah ; the latter is a servant whose body is not possessed, that is, is not in the possession of his master, not being bought with his money, is only a hired servant, and so not circumcised. But per haps Jarchi's note will reconcile this to what Barzeonlita says; " Toshab, a foreigner, this is a proselyte-inhabitant ; and Shacir, or 1 Maimon. Hilchot Beth Habechirah,c. 7, s. 14. ' T. Bab. Eracin, fol. 29. 1 ; Maimon. Obcde Cochabim, c. 10, s, 6 ; Milah, c. 1,s. 6. ■ Maimon. Melacim, c 10, a. 12. ' Isur. Biah, c. 14, s. 7. " Demonstration of the Messiah, 1>art 2, p. 17<>. » Chinnuch, p. 17. 1 .Mil l"l Yophi in loc.

OF THE VARIOUS SORTS OF JEWISH PROSELYTES. 763 hired servant, this is a Gentile ; hut what is the meaning ? are they not uncircumcised ? (that is, both of them) ; and it is said, No uncircumcised person shall eat thereof; but they are as a circumcised Ara bian, and a circumcised Gabnunite, or Gabonite y, though circumcised, yet not by Israelites, but by Gentiles, which gave no right to the Passover." Hottinger " thinks these mercenary proselytes, and with him Leusden a seems to agree, were mechanic strangers, who left their own country, and came among the Jews for the sake of learning some mechanic art ; and who, conforming to certain laws and conditions, prescribed by the Jews, wero permitted to sojourn with them until they had learnt the art. There are but few writers who speak of this sort of proselytes. However, it seems agreed on all hands, that whe ther circumcised or not, they were not baptized, or dipped. Third. There was another sort of proselyte, called pnv "\i a proselyte of righteousness b ; sec Deut. xvi. 20 ; a stranger circumcised, and who is so called when he is circumcised ; and sometimes rmn n 12 a prose lyte, the son of the covenant r, the same as an Israelite ; see Acts iii. 25. This sort of proselytes were the highest, and had in greatest esteem ; who not only submitted to circumcision, but embraced all the laws, religion, and worship of the Jews ; and were in all respects as they, and enjoyed equally all privileges and immunities, civil and reli gious, as they did ; except being made a king, though one might if his mother was of Israel '' ; and being members of the great Sanhedrim, yet might be of the lesser, provided they were born of an Israelitish woman * ; nay, even such have been in the great Sanhedrim, as Shemaiah and Abtalion, who were of the posterity of Sennacherib f ; but their mothers being Israelites, it was lawful for them to judge, that is, in the great Sanhedrim, for one was the prince, and the other the father of that court g. So the Jews say h, the posterity of Jethro sat in Lishcat Gazith, that is, in the great Sanhedrim, which sat in that room ; and for which they quote 1 Chron. ii. 55 ; yet it has been a question, whether a proselyte should be made a public minister, or president of the congregation, called Tiar rvbttf ; but the common opinion was, that he might be one ' of this sort of proselytes, of whom they boast, some were persons of note for learning, or wealth, or worldly grandeur k ; but without sufficient ground. Some, they own, ' Vide T. Ii.ib. Avodah Zarah, c. 2, fol. 27. 1 ; & Edzard. not. in ib. p. 292. ■ Thesaur. Philolog. 1. I, p. 18. ■ Philolog. Hcb. Mist. Dissert. 21 ; vide Carpzov. not. ad Shickard. Jus Regium, p.323. *> Zohar in Kxod. fol. 36- 1 ; 8c in num. fol. 69. 4. • R. Levi Ben Gersom. in Exod. xxii. 21, fol. 95. 2. d Maiiuon. Mclacim, r. 1, a. 4. ' Ibid. Sanhedrim c. 2, s. 1, 9. ' T. Bab. Sanhcdrin, fol. 96. 2. * Juchasin, fol. 17. 2, & 18. 1. i■ T. Bab. Sanhcdiin, fol. 104. 1, & 106. 1. & Sotah, fol. 11. 1. ' Vide Vitringa do Synagoga vet. par. 2, 1. 3, c. 6, p. 943. k As Aristotle, Meor Euayiro, c. 22, fol. 91. 2; Izates and Monbaz, the sons of Queen Helena, both Wings, ibid. e. 51, fol. 161. 2, ct c. 52, fol. 164. 2, 166, 167; Tzemach David, par. 1, fol. 26. 1, et par. 2, fol. 15. 2; Nebuzaradan, the general of Nebuchadnezzar. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 96. 2; Antoninus Pius, the Roman emperor, T. Hieros. Mcgilluh, fol. 72. 1, et 74. 1 ; Ketinh, a prince in Csesar's court, Avodah Zarah, fol. 10. 2 ; Juchasin, fol. 66. 2 ; Nero, a general of Cwsar's army, from whom sprang R. Mcir, T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 56. 1 ; Juchasin, fol. 41, 1, et 63, 2 ; Tzemach David, par. 2, fol. 16. 1, 2. Of the circumcision of theso tbo Jcwi speak, but say nothing of their baptism.

7(5-1 OF THE VARIOUS SORTS OF JEWISH PROSELYTES. were not sincere, who became proselytes, either through fear, or to gratify some sensual lust, or for some sinister end or another. Some were called proselytes of lions ', who became so through fear ; as the Samaritans, because of the lions sent among them, and that they might be freed from them, embraced the worship of God, though they retained also the worship of their idols. Others were called proselytes of dreams ; who were directed and encouraged to become proselytes by such who pretended to skill in dreams, as being omens of good things to them. Though some, in the place referred to, instead of rrnbn dreams, read nuwi windows, and render the words proselytes of win dows; so Alting™, meaning the windows of their eyes, who, to gratify the lust of the eyes, became proselytes ; as Shechem, being taken with the sight of Dinah, submitted to circumcision for the sake of her ; and others were called proselytes of Mordecai and Esther, who were like those who became Jews in their times, Esther viii. 17, through fear of. the Jews, as there expressed. Others were true and sincere prose lytes, who cordially embraced the Jewish religion, and from the heart submitted to the laws and rules of it; these were called o*vru Dl) drawn proselytes n, who were moved of themselves, and of their own good-will, without any sinister bias, and out of real love and affection to the Jewish religion, embraced it. Compare the phrase with John vi. 44. And such, they say", all proselytes will be in the time to eome, or in the days of the Messiah ; and yet sometimes they say, that then none will be received p : and when persons propose to be prose lytes, the Jews are very careful to ask many questions, in order to try whether they are sincere or no ; and such as they take to be sincere, they speak very highly of; " Greater," say they ■>, " are the proselytes at this time, than the Israelites when they stood on mount Sinai ; because they saw the lightning, heard the thunder, and the sound of the trum pet ; but these saw and heard none of these things, and yet have taken upon them the yoke of the kingdom, and are come under the wings of the Shechinah;" though else\yhcrc, and in common, they speak but slightly of them ; and say, " They are as grievous to Israel as a scab in the skin, or as a razor to if, because they often turn back again, and seduce the Israelites, and carry them off with them ; yea, they say they stop the coming of the Messiah5." However, they have a say ing ' which shows some regard to them; "A proselyte, even to the tenth generation, does not despise a Syrian, or a heathen before him, he being present, or to his face ; because till that time their minds are supposed to incline towards their own people ; " and so it is said u, the daughter of a proselyte may not be married to a priest, unless her mother is an Israelitess, even unto the tenth generation. And there is another saying w of theirs, Do not trust a proselyte until the twenty- 1 R. Nchcmiah in T. Bab. Ycbamot, fol. 24. 2. ■ Heptaa. Dissertat. par. 2 ; diss. 7, ele Prosclytis, s. 20. ■ T. Bap. Avodah Zarah, fol. 3. 2. • Ibid. fol. 34. 1. » Zohar in Gen. fol. 33, 1 , ct 40, 2. 1 Medrash apiid Buxtorf. Lexic. Talmud. Col. 4 1 1 . r T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 47. 2, et 109. 2 ; Kidduihin, fol. 70, 2. ■ Niddah, fol. 13. 2. ' T. Bab. S;inlicdiin, fol. 94. 1 ; Jarchi in Exod. xviii. 9. " Alisnah Iliccurim, c. 1 , s. 5. w Yalknt in Ruth, fol. 103. 4.

THE OCCASION OF THIS DISSERTATION. 7G5 fourth generation, that is, never; not only priests, Levites, and Israelites, but even bastards, and the Nethinim, or Gibeonites, were preferred to proselytes ". Some of these sayings do not seem so well to agree with the words of Christ, Matt. xxiii. 15 ; to reconcile which, it is thought y, that while the temple was standing, the desire of making proselytes was stronger than after it was destroyed by the Romans ; resenting that, they became indifferent about making proselytes, and were unconcerned about the salvation of the Gentiles, and contented them selves with receiving such only who freely came over to them. It never was deemed so honourable to bo the descendants of proselytes, as of original Hebrews. Hence the apostle Paul gloried that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, both his parents being Hebrews. A rabbi of note among the Jews, whose parents were both proselytes, or Gen tiles, is called not by his proper name, Jochanan, but Ben Bag-Bag ; that is, the son of a Gentile man, and the son of a Gentile woman ; and for the same reason he is called, in a following paragraph, Ben He-He, numerically He being the same with Bag ; though it is said, these abbreviations were used from reverence to him, and a regard for him z ; and, indeed, the Jews were not to reproach and upbraid prose lytes with what they and their ancestors had been, or had done ; they were not to say to a proselyte, Remember thy former works ; nor were they to say to the sons of proselytes, Remember the works of your fathers " ; for this is the affliction and oppression of them ; as they understand it, they are cautioned against, Exod. xxii. 21, Lev. xix. 33 ; nay, they were to love them as themselves, because the Lord God loved the stranger, Lev. xix. 34, Deut. x. 18 ; for of proselytes of righteousness they interpret these passages b. Now, it is of this sort of proselytes, proselytes of righteousness, that it is said, they were admitted into covenant, and into the Jewish church, as the Israelites were ; the males by circumcision, by n^lo, baptism, or dipping, and by sacrifice ; and the females by baptism, or dipping, and by sacrifice ; and it is the baptism or dipping of these proselytes that will be inquired into, and bo the subject of the following dissertation. THE OCCASION OF THIS DISSERTATION. Sevkhal learned men, and some of our own nation, whom I shall chiefly take notice of, have assorted, that it was a custom or rite used by the Jews before the times of John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, to receive proselytes into their church by baptism, or dipping, as well as by circumcision ; and these both adult and infants-* and that John and Christ took up the rite of baptizing from thence, and practised, and directed to the practice of it, as they found it ; and " T. Hieros. Horaiot. fol. 48. 2. a Vide Wagenseil. not. in SoUh, p. 754. * Pirko Abot, c. 5, 6. 22, 23; vide Fagiutn ct Lcusdeu. in ibid. • Vide R. David Kimchi, Sepher Shorash, rad. »T3\ b R. Levi Ben C.ersom in Lev. xiv. 33, 34, fol. 163. 3; Ez Hgchavim MS. apud Wagenseil. not. in Sotah, p. 205.

766 THK OCCASION OF THIS DISSERTATION. which, they think, accounts for the silence about infant baptism in the New Testament, it being no new nor strange practice. The writers among us of most note who make mention of it are, Broughton, Ainsworth, Selden, Hammond, and Lightfoot ; men justly esteemed for their learning and knowledge in Jewish affairs. Mr. Hugh Broughton is the first of our nation I have met with who speaks of it. " The Babylonian Talmud, and Rambam (Maimonides)," he says0, " record, that in the days of David and Solomon, when many thousands of heathens became proselytes, they were admitted only by baptism, with out circumcision. So now, when the Now Testament was to be made for the many, that is, for all nations, baptism was not strange ; neither is John an astonishment for that ; but demanded whether he be Elias or Christ, or that special prophet named in Deuteronomy.'' A little after he observes, that " Christ from baptism used of them (the Jews) without commandment, and of small authority, authorized a seal of entering into the rest of Christ, using the Jews' weakness as an allure ment thither." Where, by the way, he makes this usage to be with out commandment, that is, of God, and to be but of small authority, even from men, and a piece of weakness of the Jews, and yet author ized by Christ ; which seems incredible. Mr. Henry Ainsworth is the next I shall mention, who takes notice of tliis custom. His words ared, " That we may the better know how they (the Jews) were wont to receive heathens into the church of Israel, I will note from the Hebrew doctors :" and then gives a large quotation from Maimonides ; the substance of which is, that as by threo things Israel entered into the covenant, by circumcision, and baptism, and sacrifice ; in like manner heathen proselytes were admitted ; on which he makes this remark : " whereupon baptism was nothing strange unto the Jews when John the Baptist began his ministry, Matt. iii. 5, 6 ; they made a question of his person that did it, but not of the thing itself, John i. 25." Dr. Hammond, another learned man, speaks of the same custom or rite with the Jews : ho says" that " proselytes born of heathen parents, and become proselytes of justice, were admitted by the Jews, not only by circumcision (and while the temple stood), by sacrifice ; but also with the ceremony or solemnity of washing, that is, ablution of the wholo body, done solemnly in a river, or other such great place or receptacle of water." So he says, Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, was made a proselyte in this way ; and that this ceremony of initiation belonging not only to those, which being of years, came over from heathenism to the Jews' religion, but also to their children-infants, if their parents, or the coricessus (the sanhedrim), under which they were, did in tho behalf of their children desire it ; and on condition that the children, when they came to age, should not renounce the Jewish reli gion ; nay, he says, the native Jews themselves were thus baptized ; for all which he refers to the Talmud, Tr. Repud., by which I suppose he means the tract Gittin, concerning divorces. But I have not met with any thing relating thereunto in that treatise. For the same purposes it is quoted by Dr. Wall, who, I suppose, goes upon the ■ AVorks, p. 201, 203. ■' Annotat. on Gen. xvii. 12. ' Annotat. in Matt. iii. I.

THE OCCASION OF^TIIIS DISSERTATION. 7()7 authority of Dr. Hammond, since he acknowledges ho was not so well acquainted with the books to be searched for such quotations. Now, Dr. Hammond observes, that " having said thus much of the custom among the Jews, it is now most easy to apply it to the practice of John, and after of Christ, who certainly took this ceremony from them ;" and further observes, that by this it appears, how little needful it will be to defend the baptism of Christian infants from the law of circum cising the infants among the Jews ; the foundation being far more fitly laid in that other of Jewish baptism.'" Yea, in another of his works, he suggests that this custom is the true basis of infant baptism'. The very learned Mr. Selden is more large in his quotations in divers parts of his works s, from both Talmuds and other Jewish writers, con cerning this rite and custom ; which authorities produced by him, and others, will be given and considered hereafter. At the closo of which he makes these remarks h ; that the Jewish baptism was as it were a transition into Christianity, or however, a shadow of a transition, not to be passed over in silence ; and that it should be adverted to, that the rite or sacrament of baptism, used at the beginning of Christianity, and of the gospel by John, and by the apostles, was not introduced as a new action, and as not hoard before of, even as a religious action, but as well known to the Hebrews, as a rite of initiation, from the use and discipline of their ancestors, and as joined with circumcision. Dr. Lightfoot, who must bo allowed to be well versed in Jewish literature, has produced the same authorities Selden has, if not more, in support of the said rite or custom, as in early use with the Jews, and exults and triumphs abundantly over the Antipaedobaptists in favour of infantbaptism, on account thereof: he asserts, that "baptism had been in long and common use among them (the Jews) many generations before John the Baptist came ; they using this for admission of proselytes into the church, and baptizing men, women, and children for that end : hence a ready reason may be given why there is so little mention (no mention at all) of baptizing infants in the New Testament ; and that there is neither plain precept nor example- for it, as some ordinarily Elead ; tho reason is, because there needed none, baptizing infants aving been as ordinarily used in the church of the Jews, as ever it hath been in the Christian church : that baptism was no strango thing when John came baptizing ; but the rite was known so well by every one, that nothing was better known what baptism was, and therefore there needed not such punctual and exact rules about the manner and object of it, as there had needed, if it had never been seen before : that Christ took up baptism as it was in common and known use, and in ordinary and familiar practice among that nation ; and therefore gave no rules for the manner of baptizing, nor for the age and sex of persons to be baptized, which was well enough known already, and needed no rule to be prescribed : observing how very known and fre quent the use of baptism was among the Jews, the reason appears very ' Six Queries, p. 191, 195. t De Success, ad Ixg. Ebr. c. 26; do Jure Natur. ct Gent. 1. 2, c. 2. • Pc Synedriis, !. 1, c. 2, p. 27, 31. s

768 THE PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF easy, why the Sanhedrim, by their messengers, inquired not of John, concerning the reason of baptism, but concerning the authority of the baptizer ; not what baptism meant, but whence he had a license so to baptize, John i. 25. Hence also the reason appears why the New Testament does not prescribe, by some more accurate rule, who the persons are to be baptized : the whole nation knew well enough that little children used to be baptized ; there was no need for a precept for that, which had ever by common use prevailed '." Dr. Wall, upon these authorities, has thought fit to premise an account of this Jewish baptism to his history of infant baptism, as serving greatly the cause of it, and as throwing light upon the words of Christ and his apostles con cerning it, and the primitive practice of it ; and, animated by such authorities, every puny writer, who does not know his right hand from his left in this matter, takes it up, and swaggers with it. And, indeed, scarce any will now venture in the defence of infant-baptism without it. This is the last refuge and dernier ressort of the Paedobaptist ; and, indeed, a learned baronet k of our nation says, he knows not of any stronger argument in proof of infant baptism than this is. Now since so great a stress is laid upon it, and it is made a matter of such great importance, as to be a transition into Christianity, and to be closely connected with Christian baptism ; that from whence itis taken, and is the rule to direct how to proceed, both with respect to the manner and objects of it ; yea, is the basis and foundation of infant-baptism ; and the strongest argument in proof of it ; and which makes other arguments, heretofore thought of great weight, now unnecessary : it is highly proper to inquire what proof can be given of such a rito and custom bemg in use among the Jews, before the times of John Baptist, Christ, and his apostles ; and if so, what force and influence such a custom can and ought to have on the faith and practice of Christians. The proof of which will next be considered. THE PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO; WHETHER THERE IS ANY PROOF OF IT BEFORE, AT, OR QUICKLY AFTER THE TIMES OF JOHN AND CHRIST. The inquiry to be made is, Whether there are any writings or records before the times of John, Christ, and his apostles, or at or near those times, or in the third and forth century from the birth of Christ, or before the Talmuds were written ; which make any mention of, or refer to any such rite and custom in use among the Jews, as to admit proselytes to their religion by baptism, or dipping, along with other things. Now upon search it will be found, First, That nothing of this kind appears in the writings of the Old Testament, which chiefly concern the Jewish nation. We read of many who either were, or are supposed and said to be made proselytes, as the Shechemitcs in Jacob's time, the multitude that came out of 1 Lightfoot's Works, vol. 1. Harmony and Chronicle of the New Testament, p. 9,10,17. Harmony of the Four Evangelists, part 1, p. 465, 466; part 2, p. 526, 527 ; and part 3, p. 583, 584. Vol. 2, Hor. Hch. iu Matt. iii. 6. k Sir Richard Ellys, Fortuita Saera, p. 67.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED' INTO. 769 Egypt with the Israelites', Jethro, Moses's father in law™, Shuah", Tamar", Rahabp, and Ruthq, and many in the times of Mordecai, and Esther, who became Jewsr, Esther viii. 17; but not a word of their being admitted proselytes by baptism. Dr. Lightfoot indeed says', that Jacob admitted the proselytes of Schechem and Syria into his religion by baptism, but offers no proof of it ; the Jews' pretend, that Pharaoh's daughter was a proselytees, and the Babyloman Talmud", quoting the passage in Exod. ii. 5, And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself; R. Jochanan says, she came down to wash her self from the idols of her father's house, and the Gloss on the place is, " to dip on account of proselytism," but then the Gloss is the work of Jarchi, a writer in the twelfth century; and was it so said in the Talmud itself, it would be no sufficient proof of the fact. Dr. Ham mond says, that Jethro was made a proselyte this way ; but produces no scripture for it ; but refers to the Talmud, Tr. Repud ; but there it is not to be found, as before observed : and Schindler" asserts the same, as said by the Jews, and seems to refer to the same Tract in feneral, without directing to any particular place : and from him lammond seems to have taken it upon trust, and some other writers also, without examination ; since no such passage is to be found in that Tract. Pfeiffer*, in proof of it, refers to a book called Zennorenna, a commentary on the law, written in Hebrew-German, in the last century, by R. Jacob Ben Isaac, a German-Jewy. Indeed, in tho Talmud2, Jethro is said to become a proselyte, but no mention is made in what manner he was made one ; and elsewhere* explaining these words, im and Jethro rejoiced, says Rab, he made a sharp sword to pass over his flesh ; that is, according to the Gloss, he circumcised himself, and became a proselyte ; but not a word of his baptism, or dipping ; and so the Targum on Exod. xviii. 6, 7 ; is, " And he said to Moses, I Jethro, thy father-in-law, am come unto thee to be made a proselyte ; but if thou wilt not receive me for myself, receive me for the sake of thy wife, and her two children, who are with her ; and Moses went out from under the clouds . of glory to meet his father-in-law, and bowing himself, kissed him, and he made him a proselyte ; but nothing is said of the manner of doing it." Mr. Broughton also, as before quoted, says, that the Babyloman Talmud, and Rambam record, that in the days of David and Solomon, many thousands of heathens were made proselytes, and admitted by baptism only ; but this instance is not to be met with in the Babylonian Talmud ; yea, that expressly denies it in two different places b; and in which it is asserted, that they did not receive proselytes neither in the days of David, nor in 1 Targum Jon. in Numb. xi. 4. ■ Ibid, in Exod. xviii. 6. 7. » Ibid in Gen. xxxviii. 20. • T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1. t Ibid. MepHan. fol. 14. 2. ' Targum in Ruth i. 16. ' Targum iu Esther. ■ Chronicle, p. 18. ' Targum in 1 Chron. iv. 18. " F. Megillah, fol. 23, 1 Sotah, fol. 12. I. * Lexic. in voce }jq co1. 686; vide De Dieu, append, ad. Matt, xxiii. 15. » Antiqu. Ebr. c. 1. a. 5. ' Wolfii Bibliothec. Heb. p. 698. « Zebachim, fol. 16. 1 ; vide Shcmot Rabba, a. 27. fol. 30. 2, 3. • T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. l T. Bab. Ycbamot, fol. 76. 1 ; Avodah Zaran. fol. 3. 2. VOL. II. 3d

770 THE PROOF OP THE BAPTISM OF the days of Solomon ; Solomon's wife, Pharaoh's daughter, is indeed excepted ; because the reason for which they say, proselytes were not then received ; namely, because they might be desirous of being made proselytes, that they might be admitted to the king's table, could have no influence on her, since she was the daughter of a mighty king ; and yet it is saidc by some, that though it was Solomon's intention to make her a proselyte, yet he was not able to do it ; and she became one of his troublers ; and by what is said of her, in 2 Chron. viii. 1 1 ; it looks as if she did not become a proselyte ; Rambam, or Maimonides, indeed, to reconcile what later writers have said, with those words of the Talmudists, have contrived a distinction between the Sanhedrim and private persons ; as if proselytes, though not received in those times by the former, were by the latter. He saysd, there were many proselytes in those times who were made so before private persons, but not before the Sanhedrim ; he owns, the Sanhedrim did not receive them, and though they were dipped, yet not by their order, and with their consent ; but he produces no passage of scripture to support this private dipping; nor do the Scriptures anywhere speak of such numbers of proselytes in those days, and much less of their baptism ; and the strangers, who in the Greek version are called proselytes, whom Solomon numbered and employed at the building of the temple, 2 Chron. ii. 17, at most could only by proselytes of the gate, not of righteousness, and so there can be no pretence for their admission by baptism, or dipping ; nor is there any thing of this kind with respect to any persons to be found in the writings of the Old Testament. There is a plain and express law for the admission of proselytes to the Jewish religion, and for what, as a qualification, to partake of the ordinances and privileges of it ; particularly to eat of the passover ; and that is the circumcision of them, with all their males ; and on this condition, and on this only, they and theirs were admitted without any other rite annexed unto it, they were obliged unto ; nor does it appear that ever any other was used ; no, not this of baptism ; there was but one law to the stranger or proselyte, and to the home-born Israelite ; see Exod. xii. 48, 49. There were proselytes in the times of Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxx. 25, who came out of the land of Israel, to eat the passover at Jerusalem, who therefore must be circumcised, according to the said law ; but there is no reason to believe that they were baptized. There was a law concerning the marriage of a captive-woman, taken in war, Deut. xxi. 10 — 14 ; previous to which she must become a proselytess ; and the law enjoins various particular rites to be observed in order to it, as shaving her head, paring her nails, and putting off the raiment of her captivity ; but not a word of her baptism ; which one would think could never be omitted, had such a custom prevailed as early as the times of Moses and Jacob, as is pretended. There were divers bathings, baptisms, or dippings, incumbent on the Israelites, and so upon such proselytes who were upon an equal foot with them, and equally under obligation to obey the ceremonial law ; which con- ' Yaikut Chadasha tit. de David, n. 89 ; Apud, Beckii, not. in Targ. 2 Chron. vii. 11. * Issure Biah, c. 13. s. 15.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO. 771 sisted of divers washings, baptisms, or dippings, yet none of them for proselytism ; but for purification from one uncleanness or another, in a ceremonial sense : these seem to be what a learned writere calls Aquilustria, lustrations by water; which he thinks it is clear the captive Jews in Babylon observed, from having their solemn meetings by rivers, Ezek. iii. 15, Ezra viii. 15, 21 ; but it is not so clear they had their abode in such places, whether for a longer or shorter time, on account of them ; and it is still less clear what he further says, that these lustrations had a promise of grace annexed to them, were sacra ments of the Old Testament, and a type of our baptism. However, though he supposes the returning Jews and proselytes were circumcised, he does not pretend they were baptized ; nor does he attempt to prove proselyte-baptism from hence. Among the ten families said f by the Jews to come out of Babylon, the proselytes are one sort ; but they say nothing of their baptism ; see Ezra vi. 21. As for those Scriptures of the Old Testament the Rabbins make use of to justify this custom of theirs, they will be considered hereafter. Second, Whereas there are several books called Apocrypha, sup posed to bo written between the writing of the books of the Old Tes tament and those of the New, and are generally thought to be written by Jews, and to contain things which chiefly have respect to them; and though there is sometimes mention made in them of proselytes to the Jewish religion, yet not a syllable of any such rite or custom, as of baptism or dipping at the admission of them ; particularly of Achior the Ammonite, in the times of Judith ; upon her cutting oft" the head of Holofernes it is said, that " he, seeing all that the God of Israel did, strongly believed in God, and circumcised the flesh of his fore-skin, and was added to the house of Israel unto this day ; " that is, he and his posterity continued in the Jewish religion. Now here is mention made of his being circumcised, previous to his addition, or his being proselyted to the Jewish church ; but not a word of baptism, or dipping, in order to it ; see Judith xiv. 6. Third, Mention is made of proselytes in the New Testament, Matt. xxiii. 15, Acts ii. 10, and vi. 5, and xiii. 43 ; but nothing is said con cerning their admission, and the manner of it. Indeed, m the Ethiopic version of Matt. xxiii. 15, the words are rendered, They baptize one proselyte ; which seems to have respect to the custom under con sideration ; but then this is but a translation, and not a just one. The Ethiopic version is not only reckoned not very good, but of no great antiquity. Ernestus Gerhard says8 of the antiquity of it, he dare not affirm any thing certain. And Ludolph, in his history of Ethiopia relates'1, that he could find nothing certain concerning the author and time of this version ; but thinks it probable it was made at the time of the conversion of the Habessines, or a little after, but not in the times of the apostles, as some have affirmed ; and in the margin, a little after, he observes that in an Ethiopic martyrology, St. Frumentius, * Eric PhaletraR. de ablations Sceptr. Jud. c. 9. p. 431. ' Misnah, Kiddushin. c. 4. «. 1. 8 niiToi Positionum ex Ling. Heb. Chald. Syr. Ar. & Ethiopic. Pos. 5. k Hist. Ethiop. 1. 3. c. 4. 3d2

772 THE PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF called abbot of Salama, is said to be author of it ; who, according to another place in the eaid history ', seems to have lived in the fourth century, in the times of Athanasius, and is thought to be the first founder of the Christian religion in Ethiopia, and the first bishop in it. Scaliger takes the Ethiopic version to be a recent one ; and De Dieu k, from what the author or authors of the version of the evangelist Mat thew, add at the end of it, suspects that they were of the Maronites, who became subject to the pope of Rome a. d. 1182; and so this version is too late a testimony for the antiquity of such a custom ; and the closing the translation of some of the epistles with desiring the prayers of Peter and others, shows what sort of persons they were who translated them, and in what times they lived. The title of the book of the Revelation in this version is, " The vision of John, which John was bishop of the metropolis of Constantinople, when he suffered per secution ;" by which it appears not to be ancient. Hence Dr. Owen1 calls it a novel endeavour of an illiterate person ; and the translation of the clause itself in Matt. xxiii. 15, is censured by Ludolphus"1 as ridiculous ; the word by which it is rendered being used in the Ethiopic language to convert a man to Christianity, or to make a man a Chris tian ; which is by it absurdly attributed to the Scribes and Pharisees. Fourth, As there are no traces of this custom in the writings before, at, or about the times of John, Christ, and his apostles ; so neither are there any in those which were written in any short time after ; as, not in Philo the Jew, who lived in the first century ; who, though he is said by some to be ignorant of Jewish customs, yet one would think he could not be ignorant of such as were used at the admission of pro selytes ; since he lived at Alexandria, where it may be supposed many proselytes were, more than in Judea, and of the manner of their admission he could not but have knowledge both then and in former times ; and he makes mention of proselytes, and of them as equally partakers of the same privileges, and to be treated with the same honour and respect as home-born citizens", and as they were admitted by Moses ; but is altogether silent about this custom of baptizing, or dipping them ; nor is there the least trace or hint of this custom in any Rabbinical books, said by the Jews to be written a little before or after ; such as the books of Bahir, Zohar, the Targums of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, and of Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the prophets. Fifth, Josephus, the Jewish historian, lived in the same age, a little after Philo, was well versed in the affairs of the Jews, even in their religious rites and ceremonies, having been a priest among them. He not only observes, that many of the Gentiles came over to their religion0, but even speaks of whole nations who became Jews, and that they were made so by circumcision ; as of the Idumaeans, whom Hyrcanus conquered, and suffered to remain in their own land, on condition that they would be circumcised, and conform to the laws of the Jews ; 1 Hist. Ethiop. 1. 3. e. 2. k In Append, ad. Matt. p. 584. Of the divine Original, &c., of the Seriptures, p. 343 ; vide Theologoumen. 1. 1. c. 1. p. 4. ■" Lexic. Ethiop. Col. 414. a De Vita Mosi«, 1. 1. p. 625 ; De Monarchia, 1. 1. p. 818 ; De Legat. ad. Caium, p. 1022. • Contra Apion. 1.2. a. 10.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO. 773 and who, out of love to their country, did comply with circumcision, and so became Jewsp : and of the Ituraeans, whom Aristobulus fought against, and added part of their country to Judaea, and obliged the inhabitants, if they would remain in their country, to be circumcised, and live after the laws of the Jews, and quotes Strabo, who upon the authority ofTimogenes, says, that he enlarged the country of the Jews, and made part of the country of Ituraea theirs, joining them to them by the bond of circumcision q. By which accounts it appears, that both these people were made Jews, or were proselyted to them by cir cumcision ; but not a word is said of their baptism, or dipping ; which, according to this custom, as is said, must have been of men, women, and children, which, had it been practised, could not have been well omitted by the historian. He also speaks r of Helena, queen of Adiabene, and of her son Izates, embracing the Jewish religion ; and relates how desirous Izates was of being circumcised, that he might be a perfect Jew, without which he could not ; but for a time he was dis suaded from it by his mother, and a Jew merchant, who instructed them ; but afterwards, being exhorted to perfect the work by one Eleazer, who was more skilful in Jewish affairs, he submitted to cir cumcision : but neither Josephus nor Eleazer say a word about his baptism, or dipping ; which yet, according to the pretended custom as then prevailing, was necessary, as well as circumcision, to make him a complete proselyte. Nor is any mention made of the baptism or dip ping of Helena ; which, had it been used at this time, would not have been omitted by the historian ; since it was by that only, according to this notion, that females were then made proselytes. He also speaks* of another son of Helena, Monbaz, embracing the Jewish religion ; but says nothing of his baptism. Sixth, It may be inquired whether or no any mention is made of this custom of receiving proselytes among the Jews by baptism, or dipping, in the Targums or Chaldee paraphrases. The most ancient ones extant are those of Jonathan Ben Uzziel of the prophets, and ot Onkelos of the pentateuch; the one at the beginning, the other toward the end of the first century; in which nothing is met with concerning the admission of Jewish proselytes by dipping. The other paraphrases are by uncertain authors, and of an uncertain age. The Targum of the Megillot, or five books of Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Lamentations, and Esther, is written by an unknown author : it is the latest of all the Targums. In that of Esther only the phrase became Jews, chap. viii. 12, is rendered became proselytes ; but nothing is said of their manner of becoming such. In that of Ruth, chap. i. 16, the requisites of a proselyte are particularly observed ; where Ruth is introduced, saying, that she desired to be made a proselyte ; when Naomi informs her what commands the Jews were obliged to observe ; ■ Antiqu. 1. 13. c 9. a. 1 ; So Josippon Ben Gorion, Hist. Hcb. 1. 2. c. 9, & 1. 4. c. 4, &1. 5. c. 23, & 1. 6. e. 13. ' Antiqu. ib. c. 11. a. 3, ao Josippon ; ibid. 1. 4.c. 9. ' Antiqu. ibid. 1. 20. c. 2. a. 1. 5. • Antiqu. c. 3. a. 1. These became pnwelytea in the timea of Claudius Csesar, Gam Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 15.2, & Juchaain, fol. 141. 1. Of king Izates, ace Tacit. Acnnal. 1. 12. c. 13. 14.

774 THE PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF as to keep the Sabbaths and festivals, and not to walk beyond two thousand cubits (on the Sabbath-day) ; not to lodge with Gentiles ; to observe the three hundred and thirteen commands ; not to worship an idol, &c, to all which Ruth is made to agree ; but not a syllable is said about baptism, or dipping ; whereas, that, with a sacrifice along with it, before the building of the temple, and while the temple stood, and since, without it, is the only thing, according to this notion, by which females were admitted proselytes. In the Targum of Jonathan of Gen. ix. 27, the sons of Japhet are said to be made proselytes, and to dwell in the school of Shem. In the Jerusalem-Targum, and in that of Pseudo-Jonathan, the souls that Abraham and Sarah got in Haran, Gen. xii. 5, are said to be the souls who were made proselytes by them ; and in the same Targum of Gen. xxi. 33, at Beersheba, where Abraham planted a grove, he is said to make proselytes, and teach them the way of the world, of the world to come ; but nothing more is said of the way and manner in which they were made such. In the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan of Gen. xxxviii. 2, Judah is said to make the daughter of a Canaanite a proselytess, and then married her ; and in the same Targum of Numb. xi. 4, the mixed multitude who came with the Israelites out of Egypt, aro interpreted proselytes ; and no doubt but many of them were such ; and Jarchi thinks the son of the Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, was a proselyte, since he was among the children of Israel, Lev. xxiv. 10. And Africanus affirms', that the Jews had genealogical tables, in which an account was kept both of original Jews and of proselytes ; as of Achior the Ammonite, and Ruth the Moabitess, and those who came out of Egypt mixed with the Israelites ; and which continued to the times of Herod, who burnt them, that his family might not be known. But to return to the Targums : in the Pseudo-Jonathan's of Exod. xviii. 6, 7, Jethro is made to say to Moses, as before observed, that he was come to be made a proselyte ; and Moses is said to make him one ; but in what manner it is not said ; and so the rest before men tioned ; indeed, the same Targum of Exod. xii. 44, is, " And every stranger who is sold for a servant to an Israelite, bought with money, then thou shalt circumcise him, and thou shalt dip him, and so shall he eat of it," the pass-over. Now in this Targum of Exod. xxvi. 9, not only mention is made of the Misnah, but it abounds with Talmudic fables and traditions, and so must be written after both the Misnah and Talmud ; and in the Targum of Numb. xxiv. 19, mention is made of the city of Constantinople, which shows it to be not ancient, and that it is not the work of the true Jonathan. And besides all this, the case of the servant refers not to a proselyte, who became so of choice, but to a bought servant, who, according to the original law in Gen. xvii. 12, 13, was obliged to be circumcised ; and so, according to the Rabbinic custom, to be dipped ; but then, according to these writers, baptism, or dipping for servitude, was a different thing from baptism, or dipping for proselytism ; the one was on a civil, the other on a religious account ; the one was repeated when a servant was made ■ Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 1 . c. 7.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO. 775 a free man, and the other never". The same Pseudo-Jonathan, in his Targum of Deut. xxi. 13, to the conditions required of a beautiful captive in order to be married to an Israelite, this is added, that she should dip herself, and become a proselytess in his house ; but the text has nothing of it, nor the Targum of Onkelos ; nor is this custom to be met with in the paraphrases of the true Jonathan ; only in this, which was written after tho Talmud, and does not come within the time under consideration. Seventh, Nor is there any mention of such a custom in the Jews' Misna.li, or Book of Traditions ; which is a collection of all the tradi tions among the Jews, which had been handed down from age to age, and were collected together from all parts, and written in a book of this name, in order to be preserved. This was written by R. Judah Hakkadosh, in the middle of the second century, a.d. 150 ; or as others, in the beginning of the third century, reckoning the date of it 150 years from the destruction of the temple ; which brings it to the year 220 ; and here, if any where, one might expect to meet with this rite or custom ; but no mention is made of it. Dr. Gale" seems to allow it upon what Dr. Wall has transcribed from Selden, which he granted without examination. The doctor says", it is not only mentioned in the Gemara, but in the text of the Misnah itself; which, as he sug gests, speaks of a child becoming a proselyte by baptism, or dipping ; but the passage he has from Seldeny says no such thing ; which runs thus :2 " A she stranger, a captive, and a maiden, who are redeemed and become proselytes, and are made free, being under (or as in the following section above) three years and one day old, are allowed the matrimonial dowry ; " that is, when they come to age, and are mar ried ; but not a word is here of being made proselytes by baptism, or dipping ; indeed, the tradition shows, that minors may be proselyted, and that a man's sons and daughters may become proselytes with him ; but there is no need to have recourse to a tradition for this ; the law is express, that a stranger who desires to be a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and to eat of the passover, must be circumcised, and all his males, and then he and all his children, males and females, may be admit ted to eat of it, Exod. xii. 48, 49 ; only the circumcision of the males is required, but no baptism, or dipping of any. There is a passage in the Misnah", which perhaps some may think countenances this custom ; which is this, " a stranger who is made a proselyte, on the evening of the passover, the house of Shammai say, he dips and eats his passover in the evening ; but the house of Hillell say, he that separates from uncircumcision, is as he that separates from a grave." Now it should be observed, — 1. That here is a division about this matter, be it what it may ; Shammai, and his party, assert, that a proselyte newly made might dip and eat his passover that evening ; but Hillell, and his party, dissent, for a reason given ; and the determination, in all cases, was ■ Vid Maimon. Issuro Biah, c. 13. n. 11, 12, & Schulchau Amch, par. 2, c. 267. e. 9. w Reflections on Wall's History of Infiint Baptism, p. 327. » History, Introduction, p. 49. r De Synedriis, 1. 1. c. 3. » Misn. Cetubut, c. 1. s. 2. 4. * lb. Peaachim, c. 8. s. 8; the same in Misn. Ediot, c. 5. s. 2.

776' THE PROOF OF THE BAPTISM OF generally according to Hillell, as it was in this ; so we learn from Maimonides b. — 2. This baptism, or dipping, was not on account of proselytism, but for ceremonial uncleanness ; for it goes along with cases of that kind instanced in before. The Canon begins thus, " A mourner (whowas unclean according to the ceremonial law) dips and eats his passover in the evening ; but eats not of. the holy things : he that hears tidings of the death of his (friend or relation) and who gathers to him bones, dips, and eats of the holy things ;" and then it follows, " A stranger who is made a proselyte," &c — 3. This rule, according to Shammai, was concerning one already made a proselyte, and therefore the dipping, or baptism, he prescribes to him, in order to his eating the passover that evening, was not to make him a proselyte ; but for some other reason. Wherefore, — 4. This strongly makes against admission of proselytes by baptism, or dipping, at that time ; for if he had been made a proselyte that way, there would have been no reason for a second dipping to qualify him for the passover. — 5. The case of such an one, according to Hillell, is, that being just come out of hea thenism, he was unclean, as one that touched a dead man, a bone, or a grave ; and therefore could not eat of the passover that evening, but must wait seven days, until he has purified according to the law in Numb. xix. 11 —19. — 6. After all, the view of Hillell, in putting such a person off from eating the passover the evening he became a prose lyte for the reason given, was with respect to the next year, and by way of caution ; fearing that should he be then in any uncleanness, which required purification, he would say, last year I did not dip, or purify myself from any uncleanness, and yet I eat, and now I must dip and eat ; not considering that the last year he was an heathen, and uncapable of uncleanness, according to the law, but now he was an Israelite, and capable of it ; and so it is explained in the Gemara0 and Gloss on it, and by other interpreters6. Besides, this baptism or dipping, was not on account of proselytism, but was common to, and obligatory upon, a circumcised Israelite, in order to eat of the passover, as is acknowledged by all. There were several in the times of the Misnio doctors, and before the Misnah was compiled, who were persons of eminence, and said to become proselytes ; as Onkelos the Targumist, who, it is said, was made a proselyte in the days of Hillell and Sham mai', hence he is called Onkelos the proselyte'; some say8 he was a sister's son of Titus the emperor, and by whom three Roman troops, sent one after another, to take him, were made proselytes also", and Aquila, the author of the Greek version of the Bible, became, as is said', a proselyte in the times of Adrian ; and so the emperor Antoni nus Pius, and Ketiah, a nobleman in Caesar's court, as before observed: yea, the famous R. Akiba, a Misnic doctor, was a proselyte k ; and so b Hilchot Korban Pesach, c. 6. s. 7. c T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 92. 1. d Maimon. & Bartenora in Mian. ut supra. ■ Meor Enayim, c. 45 ; Ganz Tzemach David par. i, fol. 28. 2. ' T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 99. i. Megillah, fol. 3. 1, & Avodah Zarah, fol. 11. I. « Juchasin, fol. 52. 2 ; T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 5(i, 2. h Avodah Zarah, ut supra. ' Shemot Rabba, s. 30, fol. 131, 3. k Zohar in Gen. fol. 28. 4 ; Tzemach David, ut supra, fol. 28, 1.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO. 777 was R. Meir1. And of the circumcision of most of these we read ; but nothing of their baptism ; neither in the Misnah, nor in any other Jewish writings. Not to take notice of those very early masters of tradition Shemaia and Abtalion, before observed, who were proselytes of righteousness m, there were also women of note within this time, who became proselytes; as queen Helena", with her two sons, of whom mention is made in the Misnah ° ; and Beluria, the proselytess, who had a discourse with R. Gamaliel? ; and the wife of Turnus Rufus, whom R. Akiba married, after she was proselytedq. Now though fpmale proselytes were admitted by baptism only, as is pretended, yet nothing is said of the baptism of these women. And as there is no mention of this custom in the Misnah, so neither have I observed any notice taken of it in the Rabbot, which are commentaries on the Pentateuch and five Megillot, before named ; and which were written by R. Bar Nachmoni, about A.D. 300, according to Buxtorfr, in one of which the text in Gen. xii. 5, is commented on : And the souls they had gotten in Haran ; which the Targums of Pseudo-Jonathan and Jerusalem, interpret of the souls they proselyted, before observed ; and here it is said3, " These are the proselytes which they made :— R. Hona said, Abraham proselyted the men, and Sarah proselyted the women ; " but not a word is said about the baptism or dipping of either. Yea, Abraham and Sarah are said to be proselytes * them selves ; but it is not suggested that they were baptized. In these commentaries mention is made of the circumcision of proselytes, par ticularly of king Monbaz, and his brother, said to be the sons of king Ptolemy"; and of Aquila, the Greek translator*; but nothing is said of their baptism. Eighth, Nor is this rite or custom of receiving Jewish proselytes by baptism or dipping, once spoken of by any of the Christian fathers of the first three or four centuries ; which they could not be ignorant of, if from hence Christian baptism was taken, and especially such who were Jews, or had any connexion with them, or were acquainted with them, and with their affairs, as some of them were. Barnabas was a Jew, and an apostolic man, cotemporary with the apostles ; there is an epistle of his still extant, in which he treats chiefly of Jewish rites, and of their being typical of evangelic things, and of their having their fulfilment in them ; and yet says not a word of this initiating baptism, which he could not have failed making mention of had he known any thing of it ; yea, he sets himself to find out what was beforehand said concerning the ordinance of baptism : " Let us inquire," says he," " whether the Lord has taken any care to make mani fest beforehand any thing concerning the water ;" that is, concerning baptism ; and then he adds, " Concerning the water, it is written to ' Jnchasin, fol. 41, 1 ; Ganz. fol. 29, 1. m Juchasin, fol. 18, 1. " Juchasin, fol. 141, 1. ° Yoma, c. 3, s. 10. ' Roshashanali, fol. 17, 2. 1 T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 50,2, & Gloea in ibid. ; Tzemacb David, par. l,fol. 28, 1. ' Biblioth, Rab. p. 326. * Bereshit Rabba, s. 39, fol. 35, 1. 1 Bemidbar Rabba, «. 8. fol. 190, 4. " Bereshit Rabba s. 46, fol. 41, 3. w Shcmot Rabba, ut supra. * Barnalue Eplit. c. 9, ed. Vosa.

778 THE PROOF OP THE BAPTISM OF Israel, how the baptism that leads to the remission of sins, they would not ; but appointed for themselves ;" meaning their supersti tious worship, our Lord inveighs against ; but says not a word here, nor elsewhere, of the baptism of proselytes, for which he had a fair opportunity, had he known any thing of it. Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century, was a Samaritan, and had knowledge of Jewish affairs ; and had a dispute with Trypho the Jew, the same with Tarphon, a Jewish doctor, frequently mentioned in the Misnah ; yet neither he nor Trypho say any thing of this custom. In answer to a question put by Justin, what was necessary to be observed ; Trypho replies y, "To keep the Sabbath; to be circumcised; to observe the new moons ; to be baptized, or dipped, whoever touches any of those things forbidden by Moses ;" meaning that such should be baptized, or dipped, who touched a dead body, or bone, or grave, &c but not a syllable is here of the baptism, or dipping of proselytes. And Justin himself makes mention of Jewish proselytes, and calls them circumcised proselytes", but not baptized ; by which it seems he knew nothing of any such custom, as to baptize them ; yea, he does, in effect, deny there was any such custom of baptizing any, that uni versally obtamed among the Jews, since he speaks of a certain sect, whom he will not allow to be. truly Jews, called by him Baptists*. Whereas, if it was the practice of the whole nation to receive prose lytes by baptism, or dipping, a particular sect among them, would not be stigmatized with such a name, since they must be all Baptists, both original Jews and proselytes, if they were all admitted into the Jewish church by baptism, as is affirmed. Origen, who lived in the beginning of the third century, in the city of Alexandria, where were great numbers of Jews, with whom he was acquainted, and must know their customs, says of Heracleon, a heretic, he opposesb, " That he was not able to show that ever any prophet baptized ;" meaning, a, common and ordinary one ; and if none of these ever baptized, what foundation could there be for the baptism of proselytes before the times of Christ ? Epiphanius, in the fourth century, was born in Pales tine, lived some time in Egypt, had great knowledge of the Jews, and of their affairs ; but seems to know nothing of this custom, as used neither in former nor in latter times ; he saysc, Neither had Abraham baptism, nor Isaac, nor Elias, nor Moses, nor any before Noah and Enoch, nor the prophet Isaiah nor those who were after him : and he speaks of the Samaritans, that when they came over to the Jews, they were circumcised again ; and gives an instance in Symmachus, who when he became a proselyte, was circumcised again. So likewise he speaks of Theodotion being proselyted to Judaism"* and of his being circumcised ; but not a word of the baptism, or dipping, of either of them. Ho also speaks of Antipater", the father of Herod the King, that when he became procurator of Judaea, he was made a 1 Dialog, cum Tryph. p. 264. ' Dialog, ibid. p. 350, 351. ■ Ibid. p. 307. b Comment, in Joanncm, p. 117. c Contr. HiCTes. 1.3; Ha;r. 70. * Do Menaur. & Ponder. ' Contr. Hajres. 1. 1 ; Hasr. 20.

JEWISH PROSELYTES INQUIRED INTO. 779 proselyte, and was circumcised, both he and Herod his son ; but says nothing of their baptism or dipping ; so Herod is called by the Jews a proselyte' ; and his reign and that of his posterity, onjn rmbn the reign of the proselyte*, who became so by circumcision, and that only for aught appears. And of him, as a proselyte, but not of his bap tism, speaks Jeromh ; he lived in the same century, and great part of his time in Judaea, was acquainted with several Jews he had for his teachers, and with their traditions, of many of which he makes men tion, but never of this of admitting proselytes by baptism, or dipping. He speaks of proselytes, and of their circumcision; and says', that " if strangers received by the law of the Lord, and were circumcised, and were eunuchs, as was he of the queen of Candace, they are not foreign from the salvation of God ;" but not a word of their baptism or dipping. The instances given by Dr. Wallk, from Tertullian, Cyprian, Gregory Nazienzen, and Basil, only respect either the figu rative baptism of the Israelites at the Red Sea ; or their baptisms and bathings by immersion, for their purification from ceremonial uncleanness, but not for proselytism. So when the same writer1 quotes Arrianus, a heathen Stoic philosopher of the second century, as speaking of tov fttfiamxlvov, a baptized Jewm or one that was dipped ; by whom tho doctor thinks is meant one made a proselyte by baptism ; no other may be designed than either a Jew who bathed his whole body, to purify himself from legal pollutions ; or an Hemerobaptist, a sect of the Jews, who bathed themselves every day ; or rather a Christian, as many learned men are of opinion" ; since it was not unusual with heathen writers to call Christians, who were baptized, Jews ; because the first Christians were Jews,~and came from Judaea, into other parts of the world, and were reckoned by the heathens a sect of the Jews", and were often confounded with them. Now since it appears there is no mention made of any such rite or custom of admitting Jewish proselytes by baptism, or dipping, to the Jewish religion, in any writings or records before the times of John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles ; nor in any age after them, for the first three or four hundred years ; or, however, before the writing of the Talmuds ; it may be safely concluded there was no such custom, which had obtained in that interval of time. It remains therefore to be considered, what is the true ground and foundation of such a notion, and from whence it sprung, which will be done in tho follow ing chapter. ' Juchaain, fol. 18, 1. it Seder Olam Zuta, p. Ill, cd. Meyer. u Comment, in Matt. xxii. fol. 30, 1. ' Comment, in Esaiam, c. 56, fol. 96. B. k History, at supra, p. 47. ■ Ibid. p. 45. m Epictet. 1. 2, c. 9. " Quem locum frustra quidam adducunt, ut probent Judaos ritu baptismi uti solitos fuisso, cum apertissimc de christianis loquatur philosophusOweni.—Theologoumen. 1. l,c. 9, p. 109. And with Dr. Owen agrees Dr. Jennings ; It is most likely, says he, that Arrian meant Christians in the place alleged ; because in his time many persons became proselytes to Christianity, but few or none to Judaism. — Besides, if he had spoke of proselytes to Judaism, it is highly probable he would have mentioned their circumcision, for which the heathens derided them, rather than their baptism, which wns not so very foreign to somo of the heathen rites of purification. Jewish Antiquities, vol. i. c. p. 138. 0 See Gale's Reflections on Wall's History, Letter 10, p. 355—362.

780 THE PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM IS ONLY FROM THE TALMUDS AND TALMUDICAL WRITERS. Seeing the rite of receiving proselytes by baptism, or dipping, among the Jews, is nowhere mentioned in any writing before the times of John and Christ, nor in any after, nearer than the third and fourth centuries ; it is next to be inquired, when and where we first hear of it ; and upon inquiry it will be found, that the first mention of it, for aught as yet appears, is in the Jewish Talmuds. The testimonies from thence concerning it, and the whole evidence, as there given of it, will now be laid before the reader. There are two Talmuds, the one called Jerusalem, the other Babylonian ; the one written for the Jews at Jerusalem, and in Judaea, after the destruction of the city and temple, and in the Jerusalem dialect. The other for the use of the Jews in Babylon, and in those parts, and in their style. The former is the most ancient, and therefore I shall begin with it, being finished, as generally supposed, in the year 230 ; but if the Misnah was not com piled till the year 220, being one hundred and fifty from the destruc tion of Jerusalem, there must be a longer space of time than that of ten years between the one and the other. David Nieto, lately belong ing to a Jewish synagogue here in London, saysp, the Jerusalem Talmud was written near a hundred years after the Misnah ; but other Jews make it later still, and make a difference of two hundred and thirty-three years between the finishing of the one and the other ; the one being finished in 189, and the other in 422q, which is much more probable ; and so this Talmud was not earlier than the beginning of the fifth century ; nay sometimes they place it in the year 469, in the latter end of that century r. Scaliger places5 it in the year 370, Mr. Whiston* in 369. And so Elias Levita" writes, that R. Jochanan compiled 300 years after the destruction of Jerusalem ; but Morinus" will have it to be after the year 600, which is carrying it down too low. The passages I have met with in it any way relatmg to the case under consideration,—for it will be allowed there are some ; and there fore it will be owned, that Mr. Rees" was mistaken in saying it was not pretended to be found in it;—the passages are as follow: In one placey, a certain Rabbi is represented as saying to another, " Wait, and we will dip this proselytess to-morrow. R. Zera asked R. Isaac Bar Nachman, Wherefore ? because of the glory of that old man, or because they do not dip a proselyte in the mght. He replied to him, Why don't they dip a proselyte in' the night ? Ubda came before R. Jose (and said) What is the meaning then of not dipping a proselyte in the night ? " And a little after, in the same column, a saying of R. r Metteh Dan, sive Cosri, par. 2, fol. 18, 1. ' Vide Wolfii Prafat. ad Bibliothcc. Heb. p. 28. ' Fabricii Bibliograph. Antiquar. c. 1. «. 2, p. 3. • De F.mend. Temp. 1. 7, p. 323. ' Chrouolog. Tables, Cent. 19. u Prafat. ad Melhurgeman. fol. 2. w De Sinceritate Hob. Text. 1. 2; Exer. 2, c. 2. • Infant Baptism no Institution of Christ, p. 23. a T. Hieros. Yebamot, fol. 8. 4.

PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUD8. 781 Hezekiah is reported ; " A man finds an infant cast out (an exposed infant) and he dips it in the name of a servant ; " or for a servant, on account of servitude ; but then dipping for servitude, and dipping for proselytism, were two different things with the Jews, as before observed, and yet this is the only clause produced by Dr. Lightfoot out of this Talmud for the above purpose ; or by any other that I have seen. However, there are others which speak of the dipping of adult prose lytes ; which became a matter of controversy. In- another treatise, in the same Talmud2, mention is made of a proselyte circumcised, but not dipped ; and it is (added) all goes after circumcision ; that is, that denominates a proselyte. " R. Joshua says, yea, dipping stays (or retards) it ; and Bar Kaphra teaches, that he who is not dipped, this is right (a true proselyte) ; for there is no proselyte but dips for acci dents;" that is, for accidental and nocturnal pollutions; and it seems such a dipping sufficed for proselytism. Of so little account did these Rabbins make of dipping for proselytism, who first mention it, not only make it insignificant, but as a delay of it, and what was an obstruction and hinderance of it : and farther on it is said*, " A proselytess less than three years of age and one day, she has no knowledge for dipping (or when she is dipped) ; and afterwards returns and is dipped for the name of the holy One of Israel ; every one is a proselytess, and she is a proselytess.'' This looks like Anabaptism, or rebaptization for want of knowledge when first dipped. And a little further still b, " A stranger or a proselyte who has children, and says, I am circum cised, but I am not dipped ; he is to be believed, and they dip him on the Sabbath." In another treatise0, mention is made of a proselyte who dipped after the illumination of the East, that is, after sun-rising. These are all the places I have met with in the Jerusalem Talmud any way relating to this custom. Dr. Walld refers to two or three other passages in this Talmud, through mistake for the Babylonian Talmud ; m which he may be excused, because, as he himself says, he was not well acquainted with these books ; but he cannot be excused of inad vertency in transcribing from his authors, unless they have led him wrong. The Babylonian Talmud is next to be considered ; from whence testimonies may be brought relating to the custom under consideration. This Talmud was finished, as is usually said, about a.d. 500 ; accord ing to the account of the Jews, it was finished three hundred and sixteen years after the Misnah, and eighty-three after the Jerusalem Talmud ". Though Morinus thinks it did not appear until the seventh or eighth century. According to the Jewish doctors, as related in this Talmud, the Israelites, and the proselytes, were admitted into covenant in the same way and manner ; and which they conclude from Numb. xv. 15. As ye are, so shall the stranger be, before the Lord : on which they thus descant ', " As your fathers'enterea not into covenant but by circumcision ana dipping, and acceptance of blood or sacrifice ; • Kiddushin, fol. 64, 4. * Ibid. fol. 65. 2. b Kiddushin, fol. 66. 1. c Eruvin, fol. 22, 1. d History of Infant Baptism, Introduct. p. 44. • Vide Wolfium, ut supra. ' T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 9, 1.

782 PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUD8. so they (the proselytes) enter not into covenant, but by circumcision, and dipping, and through acceptance of blood," or sprinkling of blood, as the Gloss is ; or by sacrifice, as it is sometimes expressed, which is favourably accepted of God ; and without both circumcision and dipping, none were reckoned proper proselytes ; this is said two or three times in one leafg; "A man is not a proselyte unless both circumcised and dipped.'' R. Chiyah Bar Abba went to Gabla, it is said, and he saw the daughters of Israel pregnant by proselytes, who were circumcised but not dipped ; ho went and told R. J ochanan, who declared their issue bastards, and not children of the law, or legiti mate: about this a controversy was raised, related in the same place : " A stranger that is circumcised and not dipped, R. Eliezer says, lo, this is a proselyte ; for so we find by our fathers, that they were circumcised, but not dipped ; one that is dipped, and not circum cised, R. Joshua says, lo, this is a proselyte ; for so we find by our mothers {not maids, or maid-servants, as Dr. Lightfoot1' translates it), that they were dipped and not circumcised." Had the account stopped here, the decision must have been against dipping ; for it is a rule with the Jews, that when R. Eliezer and R. Joshua dissent, the decision is according to R. Eliezer ', whom they often call Eliezer the Great k, and say many extravagant things of him ; particularly, that if all the wise of Israel were put into one scale, and Eliezer, the son of Hyrcanus, into the other, he would weigh them all down ' ; yet here the wise men interpose, and say, " He that is dipped and not circum cised, circumcised and not dipped, is no proselyte, until he is both circumcised and dipped ; for R. Joshua may learn from the fathers, and R. Eliezer from tho mothers." And so in this way they reconciled both ; but R. Eliezer continued in the same sentiments, which he afterwards declared for, and affirms, that a proselyte that is circum cised, and not dipped Min N'hm ~\i he is an honourable proselytem; so that, according to him, dipping was not necessary to one's being a proselyte ; and R. Barzelonita n says, of a sort of proselytes which have been taken notice of, he is a proselyte who is circumcised and not dipped ; so that the Jews are not agreed among themselves about this point. The manner of receiving a proselyte, and dipping him, when circumcised and healed of his wound, and of the dipping of women also, is related in the same treatise of the Babylonian Talmud ° ; " A stranger, when he comes to be made a proselyte, at this time, they say unto him, What dost thou see, to become a proselyte ? dost thou not know that the Israelites at this time are in distress, and in sorrow ful circumstances, driven about and scattered, and are reproached, and chastisements come upon them ? If he says, I know this, and I am not worthy (to be joined with them), they receive him immediately, and make known unto him some of the light, and some of the heavy commands (the particulars of which follow) ; if he receives them, they ■ Yebamot, fol 46. 1 , 2 ; vide Beracot, fol. 47, 2 ; Avodah Zarah, fol. 57, 2, & 59, 1. k Works, vol. i. p. 526; vol. ii. p. 117. ' Halicot Olam, p. 201. k T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 54, 1 ; Megillah, fol. 16, 2 ; Kiddushin, fol. 39, I. 1 Pirke Abot, c. 2, s. 8. m T. Bob. Yebamot/fol. 71, 1. " Chinnuch, p. 17. • T. Bab. Yebamot, fol.' 46. 1, 2,

PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUD8. 783 immediately circumcise him ; and if there be any thing remains, which hinders circumcision, they return and circumcise him a second time ; and when he is healed, they dip him immediately, and two disciples of the wise men stand by him, and make known to him some of the light and some of the heavy commands ; then he dips, and goes up, and he is an Israelite. If a woman, the women set her in water up to her neck, and two disciples of the wise men stand by her without, and make known some of the light and some of the heavy commands.'" Mairnonides p adds, " After that she dips herself before them, and they turn away their faces, and go out, so that they do not see her when she goes up out of tho water." Of a woman big with child, when she is dipped, they have this rule 9, " A stranger pregnant, who is made a proselytess, her child has no need of dipping, that is, for proselytism, as the Gloss is, because sufficient for it is the dipping of its mother ; and a woman that is dipped as unclean, according to tho doctors, that is sufficient to make her a proselytess." Says R. Chiyah Bar Ame, " I'll dip this heathen woman, in the name or on account of a woman ; " that is, as the Gloss is, for the dipping of uncleanness, she being a menstruous woman, and not for the dipping of proselytism. Says R. Joseph, " I'll make it right ; " that is, pronounce that she is a perfect proselytess ; for though she is not dipped for proselytism, yet, being dipped for uncleanness, it serves for proselytism ; for a stranger or a heathen is not dipped for uncleanness r. There are various circumstances observed in the same treatiso concerning the dipping of proselytes; as the place where they are dipped; "In a place, it is said5, where a menstruous woman dips, there a proselyte and a freed servant dip ; " that is, as the Gloss is, in a quantity of forty seahs of water : the time of its being done is also signified ; as that they do not dip in the night ; and is disputed whether it should be done on the Sabbath-day : three witnesses also were required to be present; and where there are three, he (the proselyte) dips and goes up, and lo, he is an Israelite \ It is said u, " It happened in tho house of R. Chiya Bar Rabbi, where were present R. Oschaia Bar Rabbi, and R. Oschaia Bar Chiya, that there came a proselyte before him who was circumcised, but not dipped ; he said unto him, Wait here till to-morrow, and we will dip thee. Three things are to be learned from hence.—1. That three persons are required (at the dipping of a proselyte).—2. That he is not a proselyte unless he is circumcised and dipped.—3. That they do not dip a proselyte in the night;" to which may be added, — 4. That there must be three Rabbins who are promoted, that is, are famous and eminent ones, who are witnesses, as it seems these three were. There is but one instance in this Talmud, that I have met with, of the dipping of a child, or a minor, made a proselyte ; and a male is so called until he is thirteen years of age and one day ; of such a one it is saidw, " A proselyte, a little one (a minor), they dip him by the P Issure Biah, c. 14, s. 6. 1 T. Bab. Ycbamot, fol. 78. 1. ' T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 45. 2, & Gloss in ibid. • Ibid, fol.' 46. 2, & Gloss in ibid. 'Ibid. "Ibid. » T. Bab. Cetnbot, fol. II. 1.

784 PROOF OP THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUDS. decree of the Sanhedrim ; " that is, as the Gloss is, one that has no father, and his mother brings him to the Sanhedrim, to be made a proselyte, and there are three at his dipping ; and they are a father to him, and by their means he is made a proselyte. And in the same place, it is observed of a stranger, whose sons and daughters are made proselytes with him, and acquiesce in what their father has done, when they are grown up, they make it void. There is another instance of the dipping of a minor, but not for proselytism, but for eating the Trumah, or the oblation of the fruits of the earth. So a certain one says x, " I remember, when I was a child, and was carried on my father's shoulders, that they took me from school, and stripped me of my coat, and dipped me, that I might eat of the Trumah in the evening ; " but this was not a proselyte, but an Israelite, the son of a priest, who, it seems, was not qualified to eat of the oblation without dipping. This was one of their divers baptisms, or dippings. This now is the whole compass of the evidence from the Talmuds for the rite of admitting proselytes among the Jews by baptism, or dipping. I have not omitted anything relating to it in them that has fallen under my observation. As for the quotations usually made from Maimonides, who lived in the twelfth century, in proof of this custom : whatever may be said for him as an industrious and judicious compiler of things, out of the Talmud, which he has expressed in purer language, and digested in better order ; he cannot be thought to be of greater and higher authority than those writings from whence he has derived them ; for his work is only a stream from the Talmudic fountain. And as for later writers, as the authors of Lebush, Schulchan Aruch, and others, they derive from him. So that the Talmuds appear to be the spring and source of what is said of this custom, and from whence the proof and evidence of it is to be fetched, but whether the reasonings, deci sions, and determinations therein concerning it, can be judged a suffi cient proof of it, without better testimonies, especially from the Scriptures, deserves consideration. It must not be concealed, that it is pretended there is proof of it from Scripture, which I shall attend unto. The proof of the Jewish fathers entering into covenant by baptism, or dipping, is fetched from Exod. xix. 10, where, two or three days before the giving of the law, the Israelites were ordered to wash their clothes ; hence it is said in the Talmud y, to prove that dipping was used at the entrance of the Israelites into covenant, according to which the baptism, or dipping of proselytes, is said to be : —" From whence is it (or a proof of it ?) From what is written, Exod. xix. 10, where there is an obligation to wash clothes, there is an obligation to dip." And again, chap. xxiv. 8, " Moses took it (the blood) and sprinkled it on the people ; and there is no sprinkling without dipping." And in another place2, " Sprinkling of blood (or sacrifice, it by which also the Israelites, it is said, were admitted into covenant) of it is written, And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, &c But dipping, from whence is it ? From what is written ; And Moses took half of ■ Ceti W, fol. 26. 1. i T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 9. 1. « T. Bab. Yebamot.'fol. 46. 2.

PROOF OF THIS CUSTOM ONLY FROM THE TALMUDS. 785 the blood and sprinkled it on the people ; and there is no sprinkling without dipping/' This is the proof, which surely cannot be satisfac tory to a judicious mind ; dipping is inferred from sprinkling ;. but though the blood was sprinkled upon the people, they were not dipped into it surely ; nor even into water, from what appears ; and though dipping and sprinkling are sometimes used together, as in the cleansing of the leper, and in the purification of one unclean, by the touch of an unclean bone, &c, Lev. xiv. 7, Num. xix. 19, yet the one was not the other. From washing of clothes, dipping is also inferred, without any reason ; for these two, in the above places, and in others, are spoken of as two distinct acts, and are expressed by different words ; and yet it is upon this single circumstance the proof depends. Now, as Dr. Owen a observes, " This washing of clothes served that single occasion only of shewing reverence of the divine presence, at the peculiar giving of the law ; nor did it belong to the stated worship of God ; so that the necessity of the baptism of bodies, by a stated and solemn rite for ever, should arise from the single washing of garments, and that depending upon a reason, that would never more recur ; of the obser vation of which no mention is made, nor any trace is extant in the whole Old Testament, and which is not confirmed by any divine com mand, institution, or direction, seems altogether improbable." And he elsewhereb says, " From this latter temporary occasional institution (ceremonial washing at Sinai) such as they (the Jews) had many granted to them, whilst they were in the wilderness, before the giving of the law, the Rabbins have framed a baptism for those who enter into their synagogue ; a fancy too greedily embraced by some Christian writers, who would have the holy ordinance of the church's baptism to be derived from thence. But this washing of their clothes, not of their bodies, was temporary, never repeated ; neither is there anything of any such baptism or washing required in any proselytes, either men or women, where the laws of their admission are strictly set down." And it may be farther observed, that the Talmudists give this only as a proof of the admission of Israelites into covenant ; whereas, the solemn admission of them into it, even of the whole body of them, men, women, and children, and also of the proselytes who were in their camp, as all the Targums and the Greek version have it, when on the plains of Moab, at Horeb, beforo their entrance into the land of Canaan, Deut. xxix. 10—12, was not by any of the three things they say the admission was, that is, by circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice ; of the two latter, not the least hint is given, and the former was not practised whilst the Israelites were in the wilderness, not till Joshua had intro duced them into the land of Canaan. The Jews seem to be consoious themselves that the baptism or dipping of proselytes, is no command of God ; since at the circumcision of them, in the form of blessing they then use, they take no notice of it, which runs thusc : Blessed art thou, O Lord God, the King of the world, who has sanctified us by his pre cepts, and has commanded us to circumcise proselytes, and to fetch out * Tlicologoumen. 1. 5 ; Digress, i. p. 446. b On Heb'. Vol. 1. F.xerciUt, 19, p. 272. ' Maimon. Hilchot Milan, c. 3, a. 4. VOL. II. 3 K

786 PROOF OP THIS CUSTOM ONLY FIIOM THE TALMUDS. of them the blood of the covenant, for if it was not for the blood of the covenant the heaven and earth would not be established ; as it is said, If my covenant with day and night, fyc, Jer. xxxiii. 25. Dr. Lightfootd carries this custom of admitting proselytes by baptism, or dipping, higher than the Jews themselves do. He ascribes the first institution and use of it to Jacob, when he was going to Bethel to worship, after the murder of the Shechemites by his sons; when, the doctor says, he chose into his family and church, some of the Shechemites and other heathens. But some learned men of the Paedobaptist persuasion, have thought the notion is indefensible, and judged it most prudent to leave it to himself to defend it, or whom soever may choose to undertake it* ; and he himself was in doubt about the first institution of this sort of baptism ; for he afterwards says, " We acknowledge that circumcision was of divine institution ; but by whom baptism, that was inseparable from it, was instituted, is doubtful.'" Certain it is, it has no foundation in what Jacob did or ordered to be done, when he was about to go to Bethel, and worship there ; previous to which he ordered his family to put away the strange gods that were among them, which they had brought with them from Shechem ; and he likewise ordered them to be clean, and change their garments ; which cleanness, whether to be understood of abstain ing from their wives, as some interpret it ; or of washing of their bodies, as Aben Ezra, as a purification of them from the pollutions of the slain, as the Targum paraphrases it, and after that Jarchi ; and which change of garments, whether understood of the garments of idolaters, which the sons of Jacob had taken and put on, when they stripped them ; or of their own garments, defiled with the blood of the slain ; or of their meaner and more sordid garments, for more pure and splendid ones. All that can be concluded from hence is, and is by the Jews concluded, that when men come before God, they should come with clean bodies, and with clean garments ; as an emblem of the more inward purity of their minds, which is necessary to every religious service and act of devotion, such as Jacob and his family were now about to perform, and which the very heathens themselves had a notion of; Casta placent superis, pura cum veste venito'. But not a word is here of any covenant Jacob and his family entered into, and much less of any proselytes from Shechem and Syria being brought into it with them, by baptism, or dipping, as is pretended. I have met with another learned man8, who carries up this custom higher still ; and asserts, that Jacob did not feign out of bis own brain this practice of washing the body, and of change of garments ; but took it from the history of Adam, and from his example ; and he sup poses that Adam, at the solemn making the covenant with him, was d Chronicle of the Old Testament, p. J 8 : Harmony of the Evangelists, p. 465 ; Hor. Heb. in Matt. iii. 6. * Pfeiffer. Antiqu. Ebr. c. I, s. 5, & addit ; uti ct ejusdem collationem ; quam inter hune proselytorum baptismum & Baeramentum initiations christianorum instituit cum magno grano salis accipiendam putamus. ' Tibullus, 1. 2, cleg. 1. * Rhenferd. Oral, do Antiqu. Baptism, p. 954 j ad Calcem Oper. Philolog.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 787 washed in water, before "he put on the garments given him of God ; and that as he was the first who sacrificed, he was the first who was baptized by the command of God ; and so baptism was the most ancient of all the sacred rites. But let the history of Adam be carefully read over by any man, and he will never find the least hint of this, nor observe the least shadow or appearance of it ; but what is it that the imagination of man will not admit and receive, when once a loose is given to it ? Pray, who baptized Adam, if he was baptized ? Did God baptize him ? Or did an angel baptize him ? Or did Eve baptize him ? Or did he baptize himself? Since then this rite or custom of admitting into covenant, whether Israelites or proselytes, by baptism or dipping, has no foundation but in the Talmuds ; and the proof of it there so miserably supported from Scripture, surely it can never be thought that Christian baptism was borrowed from thence; or that it is no other which is continued in the Christian church, being taken up as it was found by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles ; the folly and falsehood of which will be evinced in the following chapter. THE REASONS WHY CHRISTIAN BAPTISM IS NOT FOUNDED ON, AND TAKEN FROM, THE PRETENDED JEWISH BAPTISM OF ISRAELITES AND PROSELYTES. Having traced the admission of the Jewish proselytes by baptism, or dipping, to the spring-head of it, the Jewish Talmuds ; I shall now proceed to give reasons, why Christian baptism cannot be thought to lie taken from such a custom ; nor that to be a rule according to which it is to be practised. First, The Talmuds are of too late a date to prove that such a custom obtained before the times of John and Christ, since they were written some centuries after those times, as lias been shown ; and besides, there is in them a plain chronological mark, or character, which shows that this custom took place among the Jews since they were driven out of their own land, and scattered among the nations, and suffered reproach and persecution ; for amotig the interrogatories put to persons who came to them to be made proselytes, this question was asked h," What dost thou see to become a proselyte? dost thou not know, or consider, that the Israelites are now mn pn at this time, in sorrowful circumstances, driven about and scattered, and loaded with reproaches and afflictions ? If he says, I know this ; and I am not worthy (that is, to be joined to them) they receive him imme diately." Many are the surmises and conjectures of learned men concerning the original and rise of this custom. It is scarce worth while, to take notice of the notion of Grotius ', that this custom was taken up on account of the flood, and in commemoration of the world's being purified by it : nor of Sir John Marsham's k, that it was taken * T. Bub. Yelmmot, fol. 47, 1. ' Aonot. in Matt. iii. 6. k Chronic, aecul. 9, p. 200. 3e2

788 CHR1STFAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED' ON PROSELYTK BAPTISM. up by the Israelites, in imitation of the Egyptians' manner of ini tiating persons into the mysteries of their goddess Isis, by washing them, for which lie cites Apuleius. A goodly pattern of Christian baptism this ! it is much it never entered into the thoughts of these learned men, or others, that the Jews took up this rite of dipping their proselytes, as they found it among the Medes and Persians, when they lived in their countries, and so brought it into Judaea, some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, and his forerunner John the Baptist ; since of the eighty rites the Persians used in the initiation of men into the mysteries of Mithras, their chief deity, the first and principal was baptism. They dipped them in a bath, and signed them in their foreheads, and had a sort of a Eucharist, a oblation of bread, as Tertullian has it, and an image of the resurrection (that is, in their baptism) ; promising the expiation of sins by the laver ; and also had an imitation of martyrdom '. Some say '", this custom of the Jews was taken up by them out of hatred to the Samaritans, and was added to circumcision, to distinguish them from them : but if so, it is very much that Symmachus the Samaritan, when he came over to the Jews, was not only circumcised again, as he was, but also baptized, or dipped ; of which Epiphanius, who gives an account of his becoming a proselyte to them, and of his being circumcised, but not of His being baptized, as before observed. Dr. Owen thinks " this custom was taken up by some Antemishnical Rabbins, in imitation of John the Baptist ; which it is not very probable, though more so than any thing before advanced. To me it seems a clear case, that this custom was framed upon a general notion of the uncleanness of heathens, in their state of heathen ism, before their embracing the Jewish religion ; and therefore devised this baptism, or dipping, as a symbol of that purity, which was, or ought to be, in them, when they became Jews, of whom they might hope to gain some, they being now dispersed among the nations ; and of some they boast, even of some note : and this was first introduced when they digested the traditions of the elders into a body, or pandect of laws : and were finishing their decisions and determinations upon them, to be observed by their people in future time. Since I wrote the preceding chapters, I have met with a quotation ; for I will not conceal any thing that has occurred to me in reading, relative to this custom of dipping Jewish proselytes; I say, I have met with a quotation by Maimonides °, out of a book called Siphri, an ancient commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy, which has these words : "As the Israelites did not enter into covenant but by three things, by circumcision, dipping, and acceptation of sacrifice ; so neither proselytes likewise." Now if this is the ancient book of Siphri, from whence this passage is taken, as may seem, which is a book of an uncertain author and age ; and is allowed to be written after the Misnah p ; yet if it is the same that is referred to in the Babylonian ' Witsii JEgyptiaca, 1. 2. c. 16, «. 10 ; vide Tertullian. de Praseript. User. c. 40. "l Schickard. & Maverua, apud Pfeilfer. Antiqu. Ebr. c. 1, s. 5; vide Selden. de Svned. 1. 1. c. 3. " L'l supra, & Thcologoumen. p. 447. ° Prsefat. ad Seller Kodathim. * Mubo Hngcmara ad Caleciu Halicot Olam, p. 223.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 780 Talmud q, it must be written before that was published, though it might be while it was compiling, and it may be, by some concerned in it ; since the rite referred to is expressed in the same words in the one as in the other r ; and is founded upon and argued from the same passage of Scripture, Numb. xv. 15 ; and seems to be the language and reasoning of the same persons. However, if the passage quoted by Maimonides stands in that book, which is a book I never saw, though printed ; if, I say, these several things can be made plain ; it is indeed the earliest testimony we have of this custom ; especially if the book was written before the Jerusalem Talmud, which yet is not certain ; but be it as it may, it is a testimony of the same sort of persons, and of no better authority than what has been before pro duced, and serves to confirm, that this custom is a pure device of the Jewish doctors, and is merely Rabbinical ; and besides, at most, it can only carry up this custom into the fifth century, which is too late for John the Baptist and Christ to take up the ordinance from jt ; and on account of these testimonies not being early enough for such a purpose, the late Dr. Jennings s has given up the argument from them, in favour of infant-baptism, as insufficient. His words are, "After all, it remains to be proved, not only that Christian baptism was instituted in the room of proselyte-baptism ; but that the Jews had any such baptism in our Saviours time : the earliest accounts we have of it, are in the Mishna (but in that we have none at all) and Gemara." And again he says, " There wants more evidence of its being as ancient as our Saviour's time, than I apprehend can be produced to ground an argu ment upon it, in relation to Christian baptism." Second, this custom, though observed as a religious action, yet has scarce any appearance of religion and devotion in it ; but looks rather like a civil affair, it being in some cases under the cognizance and by the direction of the Sanhedrim, or court of judicature. There was no divine solemnity in the performance of it. It was not administered in the name of the God of Israel, whom the Jews professed ; nor in the name of the Messiah to come, expected by them, as was the baptism of John : nor in the name of the Three Divine Persons in the Trinity, which yet the ancient Jews believed. They dipped their proselytes indeed, according to their account OtM in the name of a proselyte, or as one ; and a servant, in the name of a servant, or on account of servitude ; and a freeman, in the name of a freeman ; but neither of them in the name of any divine Person, or with the invocation of the name of God ; so that it had no appearance of a religious solemnity in it. To which may be added, that this custom gave a license to things the most impure and abominable, things contrary to the light of nature, and not to be named among the Gentiles, and which must make it detestable to all serious persons. According to the Jews, it dissolved all the ties of natural relations, which before subsisted among men ; for according to them, " As soon as a man is made a proselyte, a soul flies out of a (celestial) palace, and gets under the wings of the 1 T. Bali. Kiddmhiu, ful. 49. 2 ; Bcracot, lb1. 47. 2. ' T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 9. 1. • .Tewish Antiqu. vol. 1, p. 13fi, 138.

790 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. Shechinah (or divine Majesty), which kisses it, because it is the fruit of the righteous, and sends it into the body of a proselyte, where it abides ; and from that time he is called a proselyte of righteousness' ; so that now he has a new soul, and is a new man, another man than he was before ;" not a better man, but, to use our Lord's words, he is made two-fold more the child of hell. For, according to them, all his former connections with men are broken, and all obligations to natural relations are dissolved ; and he may, without any imputation of crime, be guilty of the most shocking incest, as to marry his own mother or his own sister. But hear their own words, " When a Gentile is made a proselyte, and a servant made frco, they are both as a new-born babe ; and all the relations they had when a Gentile or a servant, are no more relations to them ;" or their kindred and relation by blood is no more ; as brother, sister, father, mother, and children, these are no more to be so accounted ; insomuch, that, " when one becomes a proselyte, he and they (his quondam kindred) are not guilty, by reason thereof, on account of incest, at all ; so that it is according to law (the civil law of the Jews) that a Gentile may marry his own mother, or his sister, by his mother's side (his own sister) when they become proselytes." But though they allow it to be lawful, they have so much modesty and regard to decency, or rather to their own character, that it is added ; "But the wise men forbid this, that they (the proselytes) may not say, we are come from a greater degree of holiness to a lesser one ; and what is forbidden to-day is free to morrow; and so a proselyte who lies with his mother or his sister, and they are in Gentilism, it is no other than if he lay with a stranger"." Now can any man, soberly thinking, judgo that the New Testament ordinance of baptism was taken up by John and Christ from such a wretched custom, which gave license to such shocking immorality and uncleanness; or that Christian baptism is built on such a basis as this ? Third, To suppose that John took up the practice of baptizing as he found it among the Jews, and from a tradition and custom of theirs, greatly detracts from the character of John, his divine mission, and the credit of baptism, as administered by him, and is contrary to what the Scriptures say concerning him. They represent him as the first administrator of baptism, and, for a while, the sole administrator of it ; for, for what other reason do they call him the Baptist, and distinguish him by this title, if it was then a common thing and had been usual in time past, to baptize persons ? The Scriptures say he was a man sent of God, and sont by him to baptize with water, John i. 6, 33. But what need was there of a mission and commission to what was in common use, and had been so time out of mind ? The Jews hearing of John's baptizing persons, sent messengers to him, to know who he was that took upon him to baptize ; who asked, Why baptizest thou, if thou art not that Christ, nor Elias nor that prophet? 1 Zoh:ir in Numb. fol. 69. 4 ; cd. Sultzbach. " Maimon. Inure Biah. c. 14, r. 11, 12 ; Schulchan Aruch, par. 2 ; Yoie Dea Hilchot CSi'rim, Art. 269, 1.1.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 791 As if it was a new thine ; and that it was expected he should be some extraordinary person who baptized. But why should such questions be put to him, if this was in common use, and if any ordinary person, however, any common doctor or Rabbi, had then, and in former times, been used to baptize persons w? The Scriptures speak of John's baptism as the counsel of God ; but according to this notion, it was a device and tradition of men; and had this been the case, the Jews would not have been at a loss, nor under any difficulty, to answer the question Christ put to them, nor indeed, would he ever have put such a one. The baptism of John, whence was it ? from heaven or from men ? for his putting the question thus, supposes the contrary, that it was not from men, but from God : and if it was not of God, but a tradition of men, they could have readily said, Of men, without being confuted by him, or exposed to the people : but being thrown into a dilemma, they took the wisest way for themselves, and answered, We cannot tell ! Dr. Wall" says, If John had been baptizing proselytes, and not natural Jews, the Pharisees would not have wondered at it, it being so well known to them ; and he suggests, that the wonder was, that natural Jews should be baptized : but why so? for according to this notion, the original natural Jews were received into covenant by baptism ; they as the proselytes, and the proselytes as they; the case, according to them, was similar. But let us examine this affair, and see how the fact stands. When John first appeared baptizing, the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were natural Jews, came to his baptism, and were not admitted to it, but rejected from it, as unfit and improper persons, and others of the same nation and profession, in their turn, rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being bap tized by Jokn, Matt. iii. 7, Luke vii. 30. On the other hand, publicans, the Roman tax-gatherers, of whom some indeed were Jews, others heathens, both equally odious, and therefore joined together, these justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John ; and these went into the kingdom of God, into the gospel-state, before the Pharisees, and embraced its doctrines, and submitted to its ordinances, Luke vii. 29 and iii. 12, Matt. xxi. 31, and even soldiers, Roman soldiers, for no other soldiers were then in Judea, were among the multitude who came to be baptized by him, to whom he gave good instructions, but did not refuse to baptize them, Luke iii. 7, 14; and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose forerunner John was in his ministry and baptism, gave orders to his disciples to baptize indiscriminately persons of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, who believed in him, and who accordingly did baptize them : so that baptism, in those early times of John, Christ, and his apostles, was not confined to natural Jews ; the wonder and the question upon it, as above, were not about the persons baptized, whether Jews or Gentiles, but about baptism itself, and the administrator of it, as being .altogether new. The account which " AmioD plane innuunt (verba Joan. i. 25.) nullum fuisse baptiami mum, & receptam fuisso opinionem inter ipsos (Judseos), nullum debero esse, usqucdum veniret Chriitui, vel Elias, vel propheta ille ? Knatclibul in 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Introduction to hit History, p. 64, ed. 2. 4to.

792 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. Josephusy, the Jewish historian, who lived soon after the times of John, gives of him and his baptism, agrees with the sacred Scriptures ; and which testimony stands not only in the common editions of that historian, but is preserved by Eusebius2, as a choice piece of history; in which he not only says John was a religious and good man, but, with the Scriptures, that he was surnamed the Baptist, to distinguish him from othors ; and that he ordered the Jews who lived righteous and godly lives to come to baptism, and such only did John admit of; and that baptizing was acceptable to God, when used not for removing some sins (by which his baptism is distinguished from Jewish baptisms, which were used to purge from sin in a ceremonial sense) but for the purity of the bedy, the soul being before purified by righteousness. Also he observes, with the Scriptures, that multitudes flocked to him ; and that Herod, fearing that by this means his subjects would be drawn into a revolt, put him to death. But why such flockings to him, if baptism had been a common thing ? And what had Herod to fear from that ? He might reasonably conclude, that if this was no other than what had been usually practised, the people would soon cease from following him. Nay, Josippon Ben Gorion", the Jews' Josephus, the historian whom they value and prefer to the true Josephus, says of John, that nVoto ntw> he made, instituted, and performed baptism, as if it was a new thing, set on foot by him, and for which later Jews express their resentment at him. ' One of their virulent writers says', " Who commanded John to institute this baptism ? in what law did he find it ? neither in the old nor in the new." Now this would not be said by the Jews, if John had taken up his baptism from a custom of theirs ; nor would they speak of the ordinance of baptism in such a scandalous and blasphemous manner, as they do, and in language too shocking to transcribe ". Fourth, the Jews will not allow that any proof of baptism can be produced out of the writings of the Old Testament, nor out of their Talmuds. Such passages in the Old Testament which speak of wash ing, and in which men are exhorted to wash and be clean, as Isa. i. 16, it is said, are to be understood of men's cleansing themselves from their Bins, and not of plunging in water ; " To plunge a man in water, is no where written ; why therefore did Jesus command such baptism," or dipping'1? and whereas the passage in Ezek. xvi. 9, Then washed I thee with water, is by some interpreted of baptism; the Jew observes*, the words are not in the future tense ; / will wash thee : but in the past tense ; / have washed thee ; and so cannot refer, to baptism. And whereas the promise in Ezek. xxxvi. 25, / will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, &c, is brought by some, I suppose he means some popish writers, as another proof of baptism: the Jew replies', " What sin and uncleanness does baptism take away? and what sin and uncleanness are there in new-born babes? a Aniiqn.l. 18, c. 6, s. 2. • Eccl. Hist. 1. 1, c. 11. * Hist. Heb. I. 5,c. 45. <> Vet. Nizznchon, p. 195; ed. Wagense.il. ' Vet. Nizzachon. p. 62, 64, 70, 74, 77, 150, 191, &c. ; vide Maji Svnops. Thcolog. Jud. loc. 18, a. 2, p. 266 ; Edzordi not. in Avodah Zarah, c. 2, p. 266 ; Wagemcif. in Sotah, p. 959. * Nizzachon, p. 53. ■ Ibid. p. 74. ' Ibid. p. 192.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 793 Besides, says he, you do not do so ; you do not sprinkle, but you are plunged into water ;" which, by the way, shows that sprinkling was not used in baptism when this Jew wrote, which was in the twelfth century, as Wagenseil, the editor of his work, supposes. The same Jewish writer8 asks, " If the law of Jesus, and his coming, were known ' to the prophets, why did not they observe this law ? and why did not they baptize themselves, according to the law of Jesus?'' And he representsh David was praying (it must be supposed, under a prophetic spirit) for those who should, m this captivity of the Jews, be forced, against their wills, to baptism, and that they might be delivered from it, Psalm lxix. 1, 15, and cxliv. 7. Nor does this writer take any notice of receiving proselytes by baptism, though he makes mention of receiving men-proselytes' yet by circumcision only; and also of womenproselytes, but not a word of baptism of either ; and had he thought the baptism their Talmud speaks of had any affinity with our baptism, and was the ground of it, he would not have been so gravelled with an objection of the Christians, as he was; which is put thusk: " We baptize male and female, and hereby receive them mto our religion ; but you circumcise men only, and not women:" to which he appears to be at an entire loss to answer ; whereas he might have readily answered, had the case been as suggested, that we baptize women as well as men, when they are received proselytes among us. But that the Jews had no notion that Christian baptism was founded upon any prior baptism of proselytes, or others, among them, as related m their Talmud, is manifest from a disputation had between Nachmanides, a famous Jew. and one brother Paul, a Christian, in the year 1263 '. Brother Paul affirmed, that the Talmudists believed in Jesus, that he was the Messiah, and was both God and man : the Jew replied, after observing some other things, " How can brother Paul say so, that they believed m him ; for they and their disciples died in our religion ? and why were they not baptized according to the. command of Jesus, as brother Paul was? And I would be glad to hear, says he, how he learned baptism from them (the Talmudists) and in what place (of the Talmud)? did not they teach us all our laws which we now observe? and the rites and customs they gathered together for us, as they were used when the temple was standing, from the mouths of the prophets, and from the mouth of Moses, our master, on whom be peace ? and if they believed in Jesus, and in his law, they would have done as brother Paul has; does he understand their words better than they them selves?" Fifth, To say, as Dr. Lightfoot does, that Christ took baptism into his hands as he found it, that is, as practised by the Jews, is greatly to derogate from the character and authority of Christ ; it makes him, who came a Teacher from God, to teach for doctrines the command ments of men, which he himself condemns. It makes that all power in heaven and in earth, said to be given him, in consequence of which he gave his apostles a commission to teach all nations, baptizing * Nizzachon, p. 99. h Vet. Nizzachon, p. 193. ' Ibid. p. 542, 243. v Ibid. p. 251. 1 Apud Vageneei). Tela Ignea. vol. II. p. 25, 26.

794 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. them in the name of tho Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; I say, it makes it to dwindle into this only, a power to esta blish a tradition and commandment of men long in use before he came. Again, who can believe that Christ, who so severely inveighed against the traditions of the Jews, could ever establish any one of them, and make it an ordinance of his ; and particularly, should inveigh against those, respecting the baptisms or dippings of the Jews then in use among them; and especially without excepting that of their baptism of proselytes from the rest, and without declaring it his will that it should be continued and observed ; neither of which he has done. Sixth, Such a notion as this highly reflects dishonour on the ordi nance of baptism ; that one of the principal ordinances of the New Testament, as that is, should be founded on a human tradition, an invention of men ; it must greatly weaken the authority of it, as well as disparage the wisdom of the Lawgiver ; and must have a tendency to bring both the author and the ordinance into contempt. Nothing can make an ordinance a Christian ordinance, but its bemg instituted by Christ. If baptism is an institution of men, and received and retained from men, and regulated according to their device, it is no Christian ordinance ; and, as Witsins says'", " Whatever may be said of the antiquity of that rite (proselyte-baptism, which yet with him was dubious and uncertain), there can be no divine institution of it (of baptism) before John, the forerunner of Christ, was sent of God to baptize ; for to him that was expressly commanded ; The word of God came unto John,'' Luke iii. 2, John i. 33, &c. Seventh, If it was the custom of the Jews before the times of John and Christ, to receive young children as proselytes by baptism, or dipping, and this was to be as a rule according to which Christian baptism was to be practised ; then most surely we should have had some instances of children being baptized by John, or by the apostles of Christ, if " baptizing infants had been as ordinarily used in the church of the Jews, as ever it hath been in the Christian church," as Dr. Lightfoot says ; and yet wo have not one instance of this kind ; we nowhere read of any children being brought to John to be bap tized, nor of any that were baptized by him ; nor of any being brought to the apostles of Christ to be baptized, nor of their being baptized by them ; from whence it may be concluded, there was no such custom before their times ; or if there was, it never was intended that it should be observed by Christians in after times ; or otherwise there would have been some precedents of it, directing to and encouraging such a practice : many things would follow on such a supposition, that Chris tian baptism is borrowed from, and founded on proselyte baptism, and the latter the rule directing the practice of the former ; for then, Eighth, Se-baptizing, or persons baptizing themselves, without making use of an administrator, might be encouraged and established ; which is what the Pfedobaptists charge, though wrongly, some of the first roformors of the abuses of baptism with ; since it is plain, from the "' Oeconom. Focder. 1. 4, c. 16, t. 8, p. 875, cd. 3.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 795 <juotations before made, that though it is sometimes said, they, that is, the doctors or wise men, baptize, or dip, yet it is also said, both of men and women, that they dipped themselves ; as of a man, ioto win, he dipped himself, and went up from the water ; and of a woman, being placed by women in the water, ioD, she dipped, that is, herself ; and so Leo of Modena says", of a Jew-proselyte, that after he is circumcised, and well of his sore, he is to wash himself all over in water, in the presence of three rabbins, or other persons in authority, and from thenceforth he becomes as a natural Jew ; and, indeed, all the Jewish baptisms, or bathings, commanded in the law, were done by persons themselves ; see Lev. xiv. 8, 9, Numb. xix. 7, 8. And Dr. Lightfoot0 thinks that John's baptism was so administered ; he supposes, that men, women, and children came unto it ; and that they standing in Jordan, were taught by John, that they were baptized into the name of the Messiah, ready to come, and into the profession of the gospel, about faith and repentance ; and that they plunged themselves into the river, and so came out. Ninth, If this Jewish custom is to be regarded as a rule of Christian baptism, it will tend to establish the Socinian notion, that only the first converts to Christianity in a nation, they and their children are to be baptized, but not their posterity in after ages ; for so both Lightfoot and Selden, with others, say, who were sticklers for Christian baptism being taken from the custom of baptizing, or dipping Jewish proselytes, and their children ; that only the children of proselytes, born before their parents became such, were baptized, or dipped, but not those born afterwards : baptism was never repeated in their pos terity ; the sons of proselytes, in following generations, were circum cised, but not baptized? ; and, as Dr. Jennings'i rightly observes, " It was a maxim with the rabbins, Natus baptizati, habetur pro bapiizato. This restriction of baptism to children born before their parents' proselytism, rests on the same authority as the oustom of baptizing any children of proselytes." So that if the one is to be admitted, the other is also ; and so the children of Christian parents are not to be baptized, only the converts from another religion ; and these the first, and their then posterity, but not afterwards. Tenth, if this custom, said to be practised before the times of John and Christ, is the rule to direct us in Christian baptism, there were several circumstances attending that, which should be observed in Christian baptism, to make it regular ; it must be done before three witnesses, and these men of eminence ; but who, of such a number and character, were present at the baptism of the apostle Paul I Acts xxii. 16, and ix. 18. Nor was it to be performed in the night ; what then must be said of the baptism of the jailer and his family I Acts xvi. 33 ; nor on a Sabbath day ; nor on a feast day ; yet Lydia, and her house hold, were baptized^on a Sabbath day, Acts xvi. 13, 15 ; and the threo " History of the Customs of the Jews, par. 5, c. 2. • Hor. Heb. in Matt, iii.6, vol. II. p. 122. P See Wall's History of Infant Baptism, Introdur.t. p. 50, 55. 1 Jewish Antiquities, ut supra, p. I 35, Marg.

79»" CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON" PROSKLYTK BAPTISM. thousand Christian converts were baptized on the day of Pentecost, and which was also the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath, Acts ii. 1, 41. Wherefore, if this Jewish custom was the rule of bap tism, and from whence it was taken, and by which it should proceed ; (for if in one case, why not in others () these instances of Christian baptism were not rightly performed. Eleventh, If the Ethiopian eunuch Philip baptized, was a proselyte, as Grotius and others say, he must be either a proselyte of the gate, a proselyte-inhabitant, or a proselyte of righteousness ; not the former, for he was no inhabitant in any part of Judea ; but most probably he was the latter, since he was a very devout and religious man, had a high opinion of the worship of God among the Jews, and had travelled from a far country to worship at Jerusalem ; and so Dr. Jennings'" justly observes, that " he seems to be rather a proselyte of the cove nant, or completely a Jew ; not only from his reading the Scripture, but because he had taken so long a journey to worship at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost, one of the three grand festivals ; when all the Jewish males, who were able, were, according to the law, to attend the worship of God at the national altar.'" He appears to have thoroughly embraced the religion of the Jews, even their whole law, and was conversant with their sacred writings ; he was reading in one of their prophets when Philip joined his chariot, and was taken up into it by him : whereas a son of Noah, as the Jews called a proselyte of the gate, might not study in the law, according to their canons', which they say he had nothing to do with ; only with the seven precepts of Noah ; and, indeed, no Gentile or uncircumcised person.' And if the eunuch was a proselyte of righteousness, according to the pretended custom of dipping such, he must have been baptized, or dipped, when he became a proselyte ; and since, according to this notion, he must have been baptized with a baptism which John and Christ took up as they found it among the Jews, and which is the basis and foundation of Christian baptism, and the rule to direct in the performance of it, it is much he should desire baptism again ! and that Philip, who is thought to be a proselyte also, Acts vi. 5, and must know the custom of making proselytes, should administer it to him : and if he had been baptized before, must he not then be an Anabaptist 2 And so the proselytes in Acts ii. 10 were, as Drusius and others think, proselytes of righteousness, who had embraced the Jewish religion, and were circumcised, and, according to this notion, baptized. Besides, none but proselytes of righteousness might dwell in Jerusalem ; as has been observed, page 762. And also proselytes of the gate were never called Jews, as these were ; only proselytes of righteousness : and if any of these were among the three thousand converted and baptized by the apostles, which is not improbable, must not they be also Anabaptists? The Grecians, or Hellenists, whose widows wore neglected in the daily ministration, arc thought by Reza, and others, to be widows of Jewish proselytes, and therefore it is highly probable that their husbands had r Jewish Antiqn. p. 159, 160. • Muimoii. Melacim. c. 1«, s. '.I. ' T. Bab. Sanhcdiin, fol. j9, 1 ; Shaaic Oiah, fol. 18, 2.

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM -NOT KOUNDKD ON PROSELYTE HAPTFSM. 797 l»een members of the Christian church at Jerusalem, and so must have been re-baptized ; and most certain it is that Nicholas of Antioch, who was one of the seven appointed to take care of these widows, was a proselyte, and as Grotius truly thinks, a proselyte of righteousness ; and so, as he must have been baptized according to this notion, when he became a proselyte, ho must have been re-baptized when he became a member of the Christian church at Jerusalem, of which he most certainly was, being chosen out of it, and appointed to an office in it, Acts vi. 1, 5. Twelfth, It may be observed, in a quotation before made, that if a proselytess big with child was baptized, or dipped, her child needed not baptism, or dipping, the mother's baptism, or dipping, was suffi cient for it ; but this is not attended to by Paedobaptists ; it seems, in the beginning of the fourth century, there were some of the same opinion with the Jews ; but a canon in the council of Neoraesarea was made against it ; which, as explained, declared that the child of such a person needed baptism, when it came to be capable of choosing for itself" ; which canon should not have been made, if this Jewish custom is to be regarded as a rule. Last, As an argument ad honiinem, it may be observed, that if this custom is to be considered as a rule of Christian baptism, then sprink ling ought not to be used in it ; for the baptism of Jewish proselytes, men, women, and children, was performed by dipping ; as all the above quotations show. To which may be added, that one of their rules respecting proselyte-baptism is, that a proselyte must dip in such a place (or confluence of water) as a menstruous woman dips herself in", or which is sufficient for such a one ; and that, as the Gloss is, was what held forty seahs of water ; and to this agrees the account Maimonides" gives of such a confluence of water, that it must be " sufficient for the dipping of the whole body of a man at once ; and such the wise men reckon to be a cubit square, and three cubits in depth ; and this measure holds forty seahs of water." And he further saysy, and wherever washing of the flesh, and washing of clothes from uncleanness, are mentioned in the law, nothing else is meant but the dipping of the whole body in a confluence of water— and that if he dips his whole body, except the top of his little finger, he is still in his uncleanness : —and that all unclean persons, who are dipped in their clothes, their dipping is right, because the waters come into them, (or penetrate through them) and do not divide, or separate ; that is, the clothes do not divide, or separate between the water and their bodies, so as to hinder its coming to them ; so the menstruous woman dipped herself in her clothes ; and in like manner the proselyte. Let such observe this, who object to the baptism of persons with their clothes on. Again, As an argument of the same kind, if baptism was common in all ages, foregoing the times of John, Christ, and his apostles, as is said, then it could not succeed circumcision, since it must be cotempo ■ See Stennct against Ruwen, p. 103, 104. w T. Bab. Ycbamot, fol. 47, 2. * Hilchot Mikvnot, c. 4, a. 1 ; T. Bab. Eruvim. fol. 14, 2. r Mikvaot,c. 1, s. 2,7.

798 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. rary with it. Upon the whole, what Dr. Lightfoot', and others after him, have urged in favour of infant-baptism from hence, is quite impertinent ; that " there was need of a plain and open prohibition, that infants and little children should not be baptized, if our Saviour would not have had them baptized ; for since it was most common in all ages foregoing, that little children should be baptized, if Christ had been minded to have had that custom abolished, he would have openly forbidden it, therefore his silence, and the silence of the Scripture in this matter, confirms Paedobaptism, and continues it unto all ages." But first, it does not appear that any such custom was ever practised before the times of John, Christ, and his apostles, as to admit into the Jewish church by baptism, proselytes, whether adult or minors. No testimony has been, and I believe none can be given of it. And, as some very learned men have truly observed", and as Dr. Owenb affirms, there are not the least footsteps of any such usage among the Jews, until after the days of John the Baptist, in imitation of whom, he thinks, it was taken up by some Ante-Mishnical Rabbins ; and, as he elsewhere saysc, " The institution of the rite of baptism is no where mentioned in the Old Testament ; no example is extant ; nor during the Jewish church, was it ever used in the admission of proselytes ; no mention of it is to be met with in Philo, Josephus, nor in Jesus the son of Syrach ; nor in the evangelic history." What testimony has been given of this custom, falls greatly short of proving it ; wherefore Christ could have no concern about abolishing a custom which had not obtained in his time ; nor was there any room nor reason for it, since it had never been practised, for aught appears ; his silence about what never existed, can give no existence to it, nor to that which is founded on it, Paedobaptism ; and which is neither warranted and confirmed by any such custom, nor by the word of God, in which there is a high silence about both. This custom of baptizing little children was so far from being common in all ages foregoing the times of John, Christ, and his apostles, that not a single instance can be given of any one that ever was baptized ; if there can, let it be produced ; if not, what comes of all this bluster and harangue ? With much more propriety and strength of reasoning might it be retorted : that since it is plain the children of the Jews, both male and female, did eat of the passover, which was not a human custom and tradition ; but an ordinance of God, common in all ages foregoing the times of John, &c, and since, according to the hypothesis of the Paedobaptists, the Lord's supper came in the room of the passover ; for which there is much more reason in analogy than for baptism coming in the room of circumcision ; it should seem, if our Saviour would not have had children eat of the Lord's supper, as they did of the passover, he would have openly for bidden it. A plain and open prohibition of this was more needful than a prohibition of the baptism of infants, if not his will, had there been » Hor. Hcb. in Matt. Hi. 6, vol. II. p. 119. » Prosclvtorum baptismnm ante Johanncm extitisse nullo tcetimonio certe constat. Fabricii BiLliograph. Antiqu. c. 11, p. 392; ita Deylingius in Ibid. p. 586. ' On Hob. vol. 1. Exercitat. 19, p. 272. c Thcologoumen. 1. 5 j Digress. 1, p. 447.

CHRISTIAN- BAPTISM NOT FOUNDED ON PROSELYTE BAPTISM. 7.99 such a custom before prevailing, as there was not ; since that could only be a custom and tradition of men ; and it was enough that Christ inveighed against those of the Jews in general, which obtained before, and in his time ; and against their baptisms and dippings in particular. And after all, it is amazing that Christian baptism should be founded upon a tradition, of which there is no evidence but from the Rabbins, and that very intricate, perplexed, and contradictory, and not as in being in the times referred to ; upon a tradition of a set of men blinded and besotted, and enemies to Christianity, its doctrines and ordinances ; and who, at other times, reckoned by these very men, who so warmly urge this custom of theirs, the most stupid, sottish, and despicable, of all men upon the face of the earth ! If this is the basis of infantbaptism, it is built upon the sand, and will, ere long, fall, and be no more. I conclude this Dissertation in the words of Dr. Owend, " That the opinion of some learned men concerning transferring the rite of Jewish baptism, by the Lord Jesus, which, indeed, did not then exist, for the use of his disciples, is destitute of all probability." And after all, perhaps, the Paedobaptists will find their account better in consulting the baptism of the ancient heathens, and its rites, than that of the Jews ; said* to be in use before the times of Moses, and in ages since, and that among all nations ; and being more ancient than Christian baptism, a learned writer referred to, says, it is as -a sort of preamble to it. And from whom the Paedobaptists may be supplied with materials for their purpose. * Omni ideoprobabilitate caret Kutentia ista doctor um quorundam virorum <lc (ranslatione ritus baptiimatis Judaici, qui revera co tempore nullus ci-.it, in usum discipulorum sunriim per Dominum Jesum facienda. Theologoum. ibid. • Sperlingius de Baptismo veteran) Ethnicornm, p. 116, 117, 120, 129, 210. THK END. I.ONDON : BRADlll'RY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, W HI IUFHUK.I.