Page images
PDF
EPUB

him to centre in the wisdom of Christ; and the love the soul hath from Christ, leads it to centre in the love of Christ; and the righteousness the soul hath from Christ, leads it to rest and centre in the righteousness of Christ.* True grace is a beam of Christ, and where it is, it will naturally lead the soul to rest in Christ. The stream doth not more naturally lead to the fountain, nor the effect to the cause, than true grace leads the soul to Christ. But mere

restraining grace, leaves the soul to centre and rest in things below Christ. Sometimes it leads it to centre in the praises of the creature; sometimes to rest in creature-rewards; Verily they have their reward,' Mat. vi. 1, 2. saith Christ; and so in an hundred other things, &c.

10. True grace will enable a soul to sit down satisfied and contented with the naked enjoyment of Christ. The enjoyment of Christ without honour, without riches, without pleasures, and without the smiles of creatures, will content and satisfy the soul. It is enough Joseph is alive.' So saith a gracious soul, though honour is not, and riches are not, and health is not, and friends are not, &c. it is enough that

John vi. 68. Cant. v. 10. and iii. 4. Grace is that star that leads to Christ; it is that cloud and pillar of fire that leads the soul to the heavenly Canaan, where Christ sits chief. 1 Cor. i. 30. Phil. iii. 9.

"A contented man cannot be a poor man," saith Seneca.

[ocr errors]

Christ is, THAT HE REIGNS, CONQUERS, AND TRIUMPHS.* Christ is the pot of manna, the cruise of oil, a bottomless ocean of all comfort, content, and satisfaction: he that hath him wants nothing; he that wants him enjoys nothing; "Having nothing, (saith Paul,) and yet possessing all things.' Oh! but a man that hath but restraining grace, cannot sit down satisfied and contented, under the want of outward comforts. Christ is good, saith such a soul, with honours, riches, pleasures, and outward comforts. I must have Christ and the world, or else with the young man in the gospel, (in spite of my soul) I shall forsake him to follow the world. Ah! how mamy shining professors are there in the world, who cannot be satisfied and contented, for want of some supposed outward comfort, but are fretting, raging, and roaring, as if there were no God, no heaven, and no Christ to make up all such outward wants to them. But a soul truly gracious can say, In having nothing I have all things, because I have Christ;† having therefore

[ocr errors]

• The motto of Charles the Great was, "May Christ reign, conquer, and triumph." And so it is the saints.' 2 Cor. vi. 10. St. Austin, upon Ps. xii. brings in God rebuking a discontented Christian thus: "What is thy faith? Have I promised thee these things? What, wert thou made a Christian that thou should flourish here in this world?"

† Content is the deputy of outward felicity, and supplies the place where it is absent. As the Jews throw the book of Esther to the ground before they read it, because the

all things in him, I seek no other reward, for he is the universal reward. Nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it; neither honours, riches, nor the smiles of creatures are sweet to me, any farther than I see and taste Christ in them. The confluence of all outward good cannot make a heaven of glory in my soul, if Christ, who is the top of my glory be absent;' as Absalom said, 'What is all this to me, so long as I cannot see the king's face?' So saith a gracious soul, 'Why do you tell me of outward comforts, when I cannot see his face whom my soul loveth? Why honour, and riches, and the favour of the creature, are not Christ; let me have him, and let the men of this world take the world, and divide it amongst themselves. I prize my Christ above all, I would enjoy my Christ before all other things in the world, his presence* will make up the absence of all other comforts; and his absence will embitter all my comforts; so that my comforts will neither taste nor look like comforts, when he that should comfort my soul stands afar off,' &c. Christ is all, and in all to souls truly gracious; we have all things in Christ, and Christ is all things to a Christian; if we are

name of God is not in it, as the Rabbins have observed; so do saints in some sense, those mercies wherein they do not read Christ's name, and see Christ's heart.

* Luther said, he had rather be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without him.

sick, he is a physician; if we thirst, he is a fountain; if we stand in need of help, he is mighty to save; if we fear death, he is life; if we are in darkness, he is light; if we are weak, he is strength; if we are in poverty, he is plenty; if we desire heaven, he is the way. The soul cannot say, this I would have, and that I would have; but saith Christ, "IT IS IN ME, it is in me EMINENTLY, PERFECTLY, ETERNALLY.*

CHAPTER V.

The fifth Device that Satan hath to keep souls in a sad, doubting, and questioning condition, is,

BY suggesting to them, that the conflict that is in them, is not a conflict peculiar to saints, but may be found in hypocrites, and profane souls also; when the truth is, there is as much difference between the conflict in them, and that which is in wicked men, as there is between

"None but Christ, none but Christ, said Lambert, lifting up his hands, and his fingers' ends flaming.

† John viii. 44. The devil is a liar, and the father of it. "The devil's breasts, saith Luther, are very fruitful with fres."

light and darkness, or heaven and hell; the truth of which I shall evidence to you in the following particulars:

1. The whole frame of a believer's soul is against sin; his understanding, will and affections, yea, all the powers and faculties of the soul, are in arms against sin.* A covetous man may condemn covetousness, and yet the frame and bent of his heart may be to it; a proud person may condemn pride, and yet the frame of his spirit may be to it; and the drunkard may condemn drunkenness, and yet the frame of his spirit may be to it; a man may condemn stealing and lying, and yet the frame of his heart may be to them. Rom. ii. 21, 22, 23. Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the Law, through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God?' But a saint's will is against it. The evil that I would not, that I do;' and his affections are against it. • What I hate, that do I,' Rom. vii. 19.

2. A saint fights against sin universally, the least as well as the greatest; the most profitable

* It was a good saying of him that said, "Lord deliver me from an evil man myself." Austin complains, "That men do not tame the beasts in their own bosoms,"

« PreviousContinue »