Of Our Union and Communion with Christ

AND OUR SPIRITUAL BENEFITS BY HIM, AND SOME SPECIAL GRACES

From A System or Body of Divinity: Consisting of Ten Books

Wherein the FUNDAMENTALS and main Grounds of RELIGION are OPENED: The Contrary ERRORS REFUTED: Most of the CONTROVERSIES Between US, the PAPISTS, ARMINIANS, and SOCINIANS Discussed and handled.

SEVERAL SCRIPTURES Explained and vindicated from corrupt Glosses.

A Work seasonable for these times, wherein so many Articles of our Faith are questioned, and so many gross Errors daily published.

By EDWARD LEIGH

Esquire, and Master of Arts of Magdalene Hall in OXFORD.

Quisquis bonus verusque Christianus est, Domini sui esse intelligat, ubicunque invenerit Veritatem.

August. de Doctrina Christiana l. 2.

LONDON, Printed by A. M. for William Lee at the Sign of the Turk's Head in Fleet Street over against Fetter Lane, M.DC.LIV.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chap. 1. Of our Union with Christ.

Chap. 2. Of Effectual Vocation.

Chap. 3. Of Conversion and Free-will.

Chap. 4. Of Saving Faith.

Chap. 5. Of the Communion and Fellowship Believers have with Christ, and their Benefits by him, & specially of Adoption.

Chap. 6. Of Justification.

Chap. 7. Of the parts and terms of Justification, Remission of sins, and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness.

Chap. 8. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness.

Chap. 9. Whether one may be certain of his Justification.

Chap. 10. Whether Faith alone doth justify.

Chap. 11. Of Sanctification.

Chap. 12. The parts of Sanctification are two, Mortification and Vivification. I. Mortification.

Chap. 13. II. Of Vivification.

Chap. 14. The Sanctification of the Whole Soul and Body.

Chap. 15. Of the Sanctification of the Will.

Chap. 16. Of the Sanctification of the Conscience.

Chap. 17. Sanctification of the Memory.

Chap. 18. Sanctification of the Affections.

Chap. 19. Of the particular Affections.

Chap. 20. I. Of the Simple Affections.

Chap. 21. II. Of Love and Hatred.

Chap. 22. II. Desire and Flight.

Chap. 23. Joy and Sorrow.

Chap. 24. Of Sorrow.

Chap. 25. Of Hope and Fear. I. Of Hope.

Chap. 26. II. Of Fear, and some mixed affections.

Chap. 27. Of the sensitive Appetite.

Chap. 28. Of the Sanctification of man's body, and all the external Actions.

Chap. 29. Some special Graces deciphered.

CHAPTER I:

Of our Union with Christ

Having handled the work of Redemption in its nature and person, now I shall speak of the application of it by the Holy Ghost. This is a special part of God's providence whereby those things which Jesus Christ has purchased are made effectual to all those for whom they were appointed by the operation of the Holy Ghost.

Four things are considerable in it:

1. The foundation of it.

2. The efficient cause or worker of it.

3. The persons who shall be made partakers of it.

4. The parts of this work:

1. Union and conjunction with Christ.

2. Communion with him.

The groundwork of it lies in three things:

1. The donation of God the Father, John 6:39: "All that my Father hath given me shall come to me."

2. The intention of Christ in all the work he wrought, John 17:19: "For their sakes do I sanctify myself," that is, separate myself to the work I undertook.

3. The Father’s acceptance of it done for them as heartily as if they had done it in their own persons, 2 Corinthians 5:19.

The efficient cause of it is the Holy Ghost, that is, the third person in the Trinity, who is equal to the Father and the Son. The making of man was in some respect appropriated to the Father, redeeming him to the Son, and the making it effectual and applying it was the work of the Holy Ghost. John chapters 14, 15, and 16 say, "I will send the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, he shall lead you into all truth, convince you of sin, righteousness, and judgment." There is no one branch of our partaking of Christ that is not totally ascribed to the Holy Ghost. The sending of the Gospel is by the Holy Ghost; they are the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost. Faith, union with Christ, and communion with him in all his offices are from the Holy Ghost; the Spirit teaches, governs, and comforts.

The reason is because no inferior person could effect it, Ephesians 1:19, 20.

Thirdly, the persons to whom this work of application belongs, or who shall be made partakers of Christ, but the decree of election and reprobation has been handled already. There are a certain number whom God has appointed to come to life by Christ; the Spirit of God will make the means effectual to all his.

Fourthly, the parts of this work:

1. Union and conjunction with Christ.

2. Communion with him, 1 John 5:12.

I shall first speak of our union with Christ. Christ is said to dwell and abide in us, and we are said to be Christ’s, to be partakers of Christ, to be clothed with Christ, and abide in him.

The Spirit of God sets it out in five similitudes:

1. Of food made one with the body, John 6:5, 6.

2. Of head and members, Ephesians 1:22, 23.

3. Of the foundation and building, Ephesians 2:20, 21, 22; 1 Peter 2:4, 5, 6.

4. Of the stock and branches, John 15:4, 5, 6, 7.

5. Of the husband and wife, Ephesians 5:31, 32.

We must be one with Christ as we were one with the first Adam in two ways:

1. Naturally, as we bore his image.

2. Voluntarily, as we consented to his covenant; so with the second Adam:

1. Naturally by receiving of his Spirit.

2. Voluntarily consenting to his covenant. Though it is not easy to conceive how we can be said to have consented to his covenant, but as being in him, and so his consent included ours.

The union begins on Christ’s part; he lays hold on me by his Spirit, Romans 8:9; Philippians 3:12; Galatians 4:5, 6; 1 John 4:13. This Spirit works a principle of faith in us that lays hold on Christ and accepts him for our head and husband forever, John 1:12; Ephesians 3:17. He will take Christ:

1. With all his offices, for a Lord as well as a Saviour.

2. With all his graces.

3. With all his inconveniences, Christ with poverty, with disgrace, with the stake.

There is a threefold union between Christ and a believer:

1. Mystical with Christ as a head; the fruit of that is intimacy.

2. Moral with Christ as a pattern or example.

3. Judicial with Christ as a surety, whereby we are concerned in every act of Christ’s mediation; the fruit of this is interest.

This union between Christ and us is wrought by the Spirit, Ephesians 4:4. He unites God and us, and us one with another. He works it by the ministry of the Word, 1 Corinthians 1:9; John 6:44, 45; and a religious use of the seals, 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 6:3, 5; 1 Corinthians 10:16.

Some make our union with Christ to be only a relative union, others an essential personal union, as if we were deified with God and Christed with Christ.

I would not be too bold with those expressions of Nazianzen because I see they are abused.

First, there is more than a relative union, as that place 1 Corinthians 6:17 forcibly proves. These reasons:

1. This union is set forth by similitudes which show a real union, John 15:1; 1 Corinthians 12: head and body.

2. Our union with Christ is compared to the mystery of the Trinity, and is like to the union of the persons in the divine nature, John 6:57; 14:20; 17:21, 22, 23. We are one, not in the same kind or degree of union, nor in so high and glorious a manner.

3. It is not a union founded only in terms of Scripture, but really wrought by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 12:13.

4. There are real, effectual comforts and graces derived to us from hence, Romans 6:4; Philippians 3:10.

Secondly, it is not an essential union:

1. Because the union is mystical, not personal; the two natures in Christ are essentially united because they are made one person; it is a union of persons. Our persons are united to Christ, yet not a personal union. We make not one person but one body with Christ, and not one body natural but mystical, 1 Corinthians 6:17.

2. Those that mingle and confound the persons make the mystical union higher than the personal. The personal union did not confound the natures, nor make the man God.

Objection: The whole Church is called Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:12, and we are made partakers of the Divine Nature.

Answer: We must not apply that to union which is proper to communion. Communion is the common union of all the members with Christ. It is folly to apply that to one part which is proper to the whole body. The head and members form Christ mystical; the parts are of the body, but not the body itself. There is a great deal of difference between the Divine Nature as it was in Christ and as it is in us, Colossians 2:6 compared with 2 Peter 1:4. He had the fullness of the Godhead; we are only partakers of the Divine Nature. The Godhead dwells in him personally, in us spiritually, 1 John 4:16. There is a likeness wrought in us to the Divine Nature.

This union between Christ and us is:

1. Real, though he be in Heaven and we on earth, because the same Spirit that dwells in him dwells in us. It is not only notional nor moral as between friends.

2. Mutual: "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine;" and total: whole Christ, God and man, is ours, and the whole man, soul and body, must be his, Psalm 45:10. Therefore, we are said to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

3. Spiritual: Christ's Spirit is communicated to us and abides in us.

4. Operative: Where Christ dwells by his Spirit, he casts out Satan, takes possession of the soul, furnishes it with his graces, repairs his image in us, communicates his life to us, and gives us strength to bear crosses.

5. Intimate: John 17:21; Canticles 8:12. It was not enough to say, "My vineyard," but "My vineyard, which is mine."

6. Strong and inseparable: Death dissolves marriage, but not this union, Romans 8:34-39. It brings us nearer Christ. By virtue of this mystical union with Christ, the dead bodies of the saints are raised up at the last day.

This union with Christ is one of the deep things of God, one of the great mysteries of the Gospel, Ephesians 5:30-32. Our Saviour, in his preaching, began with the doctrine of repentance, Matthew 4:17. He then moved to the doctrine of sanctification in general in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew. He then proceeds to the doctrine of faith in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of John, and lastly to his union with the saints in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John.

There are three mystical unions not to be understood by a creature:

1. The mystery of the Trinity, wherein three distinct persons make but one God, Deuteronomy 6:4.

2. The union wherein two distinct natures make one particular person; so there is one Christ, 1 Corinthians 8:6.

3. The union wherein two distinct natures and persons are united by one Spirit; so there is one Church, Canticles 6:8.

How to know whether I am united to Christ:

I have then received the Spirit of Christ, 1 John 3:24; Romans 8:26. He walks in the Spirit, lives by the Spirit, and is led by the Spirit.

Two rules to know that:

Christ is then, first, a Spirit of mortification. He:

1. Helps thee to subdue thy darling sins, 1 John 3:8.

2. Helps thee to overcome thy secret spiritual sins. The power of natural conscience may keep under gross sins, but what power have you to subdue contempt of God, impenitence, hardness of heart, pride, envy?

Secondly, Christ is also a Spirit of sanctification, 1 Peter 1:2.

1. In renewing the inward man: "That which is of the Spirit is spirit."

2. In transforming the outward man:

1. He is willingly ignorant of no truth.

2. He lets it break forth into practice.

3. He lays out whatever is dear to him for Christ, as Nehemiah and Esther.

Benefits which flow from our union with Christ:

1. Reconciliation: God looks not upon us as enemies, Luke 2:14.

2. Union with the Holy Trinity: God the Father, Christ dwells in God, and God in him, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2. The Spirit is said to abide in them, and they in him.

3. Interest in all Christ's relations: John 17: "I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God." This gives boldness and access to the throne of grace.

4. The promises become yours by your union with Christ: 2 Corinthians 1:20. They are made with Christ and with you in him. He is Primus foederatus, say some; yet others say, Christ is the mediator of the covenant, but not a party with whom the covenant is made. "I will forgive their iniquities," etc. This they say is not made with Christ, who knew no sin. Besides, they urge that it is expressly said, "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel," etc. And all spiritual privileges, 1 John 5:12. This is the ground of all imputation of righteousness.

5. We are presented to the Father through Christ: He not only presents your services but your persons, Exodus 12:29; Hebrews 7:24, 28; Ephesians 1:6; Philippians 3:9.

The end or intent of this union:

1. To be the highest exaltation to his people that their persons are capable of. The angels are not so united to Christ as the saints; they are his servants, not his members.

2. That this might be the foundation of all communion between Christ and the soul. He is the head; we are the members. By virtue of the hands’ union with the head, all living operations occur. He is the foundation; we are the building. He is the stock; we are the branches. He is the husband; we are the spouse. By virtue of this conjunction, he looks for duties from us. There is a living in him, a bearing fruit in him. We partake with him in his righteousness, victories, graces, and inheritance.

Directions to preserve our union or conjunction with Christ:

He is united to us by the indwelling virtue of his Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 John 3:24; 4:13, and by faith, John 1:12.

1. Do not grieve God's Spirit, Ephesians 4:23. "Delicatus est Spiritus Sanctus" (The Holy Spirit is delicate), says Tertullian. If he counsels, do not rebel.

2. Maintain thy faith; believe strongly against all doubts and apprehensions of thy own unworthiness. The Spirit comes by faith, Galatians 3, and it is kept by it. Faith is the bond of union on our part, as the Spirit is on God's.

3. Use the ordinances, Job 22:21. In every duty and act of worship, look to enjoy God. Get some excitements to grace, resolutions of obedience, and displeasure against sin. Use a holy boldness in thy address to God, Hebrews 10:9; Ephesians 3:12. We come not to a tribunal of justice as malefactors, but as friends and favourites to a throne of grace, Job 22:26. Use:

1. Prayer, Psalm 86:11.

2. Attend on the Gospel; read it, meditate on it daily.

3. The sacraments; make use of thy baptism. We were baptized into Christ, and frequently use the Lord's Supper. We should praise God when he meets with us in duties and repent for his withdrawing himself, Lamentations 3:44.

4. We should be one with all believers because we are one with Christ. Christ seldom speaks of his people's union with him but speaks of their conjunction with one another. He seldom presses them to brotherly love without referencing this union with Christ, 1 Corinthians 12; 1:10; Ephesians 4.

CHAPTER II:

Of Effectual Vocation

Our union with Christ by the Spirit is wrought in our effectual calling.

This is the first work which God works upon the soul; it is temporalis electio, 1 John 5:19. It is the act of God the Father, John 6:44, 45; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 1:17, 19: "He hath called us with a holy calling."

It is the act of God's free grace and almighty power, whereby souls are gathered out of the world into the kingdom of Christ to be made one with him, and holy and happy by him.

It is an act:

1. Of God's free grace, called according to God's free purpose, Romans 8:28. See verses 30, 31.

2. Of his almighty power: a moral persuasion will not do it, Ephesians 1:19; John 6:44. This grace works powerfully, therefore God is said to draw, yet sweetly and secretly, therefore man is said to come. This power of God is put forth on the understanding by enlightening it, Jeremiah 37:33; John 6:45. It apprehends the guilt of sin, the horror of God's wrath, and the sweetness of communion with him.

3. On the will, effectually inclining it, Jeremiah 31:33; Psalm 110:3, to embrace and follow those glorious objects the understanding represents.

4. Whereby souls are gathered out of the world into the kingdom of Christ.

All mankind are brought into two ranks: either they are men of the world or called out of it, John 15:19. The elect themselves, while they are in their natural condition, are men of the world, Ephesians 3:5. Fiunt non nascuntur Christiani (they are made, not born, Christians), Colossians 1:13.

The Scripture expressly witnesses that God works in us both to will and to do, Philippians 2:13. Faith and repentance are the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:25.

The end of vocation is to be made one with Christ, John 16:44, and holy and happy by him, 2 Peter 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Romans 8:30. Regeneration, says Dr Twisse, is to be preferred before salvation. The one is a translation from the state of nature into the state of grace; the other is only a translation from the state of grace into the state of glory. By the one, we are made the sons of God; by the other, we only obtain the inheritance of the sons of God.

First, the Causes of Vocation:

1. The principal efficient cause is the Holy Ghost; man is not the author of his own conversion.

2. Instrumental, the ministry of the Word.

Secondly, the Subjects or Persons on whom it is wrought:

All the elect, John 10: "Other sheep have I that shall hear my voice."

Thirdly, the Manner how this Vocation is wrought:

The Spirit of God works after such a mighty manner that it is irresistible (though the word be grounded on Acts 7:51, yet some dislike it). The Lord brings them not in violently against their wills; he takes away prevailing obstinacy. He never made any creature too hard for himself. He calls them once for all. There is more in it than a moral suasion, John 6:44, a real efficacy. God circumcises our hearts, quickens us, raises us from the dead, and gives us a new heart.

Fourthly, the Parts of this Work of Vocation wherein it stands:

1. The Lord makes a gracious offer of Christ to the soul.

2. The soul accepts Christ when and as he is tendered.

Christ is offered in the Gospel:

First, Externally, Matthew 20:16: This is a declaration or publication of the great goodness of God to a poor lost sinner, willing to be reconciled to him in Christ.

It stands in four particulars:

1. God hath sent his Son Christ, who by his own obedience hath paid a sufficient ransom for the most miserable wretches.

2. God is willing to make this good to all poor sinners who will take him on the terms he is offered.

3. The terms on which Christ is offered in the Gospel are most free, and nothing required but only freely to receive him.

4. Because the humble and broken sinner is most ready to be discouraged, he declares that those who are vilest in their own eyes are most welcome to him.

Secondly, Internally, Romans 8:30: Which is the work only of the Spirit of God, Acts 10:44.

Marks of an Effectual Calling:

First: God breaks the heart by some preparatory conviction to make the soul fit to receive the grace of God. The proper call is by the Gospel, 1 Thessalonians 2:14, but the previous work of the Law is conviction of sin, and the evil of it, Hosea 2:14; Galatians 3:1; see John 16:8. This conviction does not have the same effects in all: in some, anxiousness; in others, horror. All see themselves in a wretched condition.

The second note may be taken from the instrument or means of conversion, 2 Thessalonians 2:14. Most usually, it is by the Word preached, though it may not work always at the time of hearing, Canticles 5:3, 6; Matthew 26:8; John 10:3.

Thirdly: When the heart is over-poured and prevailed upon to obey the call, when we answer his call, John 20:16. God's call is the offer of grace; our answer is the receiving of it, John 12:3; Jeremiah 22:29. The direct answer to a call is the consent and full purpose of heart to take Christ upon his own terms.

Fourthly: The disposition of the soul in making this return and in answering this call of God: godly sorrow, Jeremiah 31:18; holy wonders, 1 Peter 2:9; free resolution and confidence—come what may, they will obey God, Luke 5:5.

Fifthly: The fruits and effects of a call: it infers a change from the former state in heart, the whole heart. It now finds comfort and satisfaction in God and hates sin, Hosea 4:8; Ephesians 4:12.

I know there is little difference between effectual calling, conversion, and regeneration. Yet, because some of our divines handle the work of grace under the notion of conversion and effectual calling too, I shall speak of conversion in the next place.

CHAPTER III:

Of Conversion and Free Will

I. Of Conversion

Conversion is a coming back to God from whom one has departed by sin (Hosea 14:1).

Turning is a word borrowed from travellers who, being out of the way, get into it again by turning; that is, by leaving the way in which they did walk and taking another different and contrary way, if one has gone completely the wrong way.

There is, first, habitual conversion, the first infusion of life and habits of grace, conversion from a state of sin (Acts 3:19).

Secondly, actual conversion, the soul's beginning to act from that life and those habits, a conversion from some particular gross acts of sin (Luke 22:32). It is so called because of the great breach gross sins make on one's justification:

1. It puts a damp on all his graces (Psalm 51:10).

2. There is a suspension of all the comforts of grace (verse 12), so that one may be said to quodammodo excidere (in some way fall away) in respect of the use and comfort (Isaiah 63:10, 17).

Man's aversion from God by sin, and conversion to God by grace, is the sum of all divinity.

A sinner departs from God in two ways:

1. As the chief good.

2. As the ultimate end. Therefore, conversion is a change of these two: when one makes God his chiefest good and his glory his ultimate end.

A man in turning to God first makes God the chief good:

1. If he makes Him the chief object of his contemplation (Psalm 139:17). Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also.

2. If he chooses Him as his portion (Joshua 24:22; Psalm 119:57).

3. If he desires all things else in subordination to Him (Proverbs 30:8). Sine summo bono, nil bonum (Without the highest good, nothing is good).

4. He judges all times or persons according to whether they have this good or are serviceable for it.

5. He fears sin above all things which will separate between God and him.

Secondly, he makes God's glory his chiefest end. This is God's end (Proverbs 16:4). He makes God the ultimate end of his being (Romans 14:8) and acting (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 11:36). From Him as the first cause, to Him as the last end. God is our chiefest good, therefore must be our ultimate end (Psalm 73:25-26). It is the first question in the Assembly's Catechism: What ought to be the chief and highest end of every man in this life?

The Properties and Qualities which ought to be found in true Conversion

It must be:

1. Present and seasonable: While it is called today, call upon the Lord while He is near, and seek Him while He may be found. The present time is the only time of converting, not the future. Now, at this instant, God offers mercy, exhorts, and calls. Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. The future time is uncertain; we cannot assure ourselves of another hour. We have many examples daily of the falsehood of late repentance. The longer we defer it, the more difficult it will be, as a sore without a plaster is more hardly healed.

2. Universal or general: We must turn from all sin without exception or reservation of any, and chiefly from our own sins. Grace is called light and leaven. The law of God forbids all sin, God hates all sin, Christ died for all sin, the conscience condemns all sin, and in our covenant with God, we renounced all sin. Cast away all your transgressions; hate every false way.

3. Hearty, sincere, unfeigned: God complains of some that turned to Him feignedly.

4. Constant, persevering to the end: A continuing still more and more to convert, a daily renewing of these acts, and reforming our faults. We must cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart.

The Order and Manner of this Work, How and in What Measure It Is Wrought in the Saints

First, the doctrine of the Gospel is propounded and made known in both its parts: that which concerns man's misery in himself, and the perfect and only remedy in Christ to all penitent sinners.

Secondly, the soul is enlightened and enabled to assent to this doctrine.

Thirdly, it is yet further stirred up to consider this doctrine so believed, and to give heed to it, as Lydia's mind was wrought upon when Paul preached.

Fourthly, it begins to apply that doctrine to itself so far as to be affected with the sense of its misery, but so that there is also wrought a hope of getting out of this misery, and a persuasion that he shall be accepted. Hereupon follows conversion. For he that sees himself in an ill state, and sees also a certain way out of it, being persuaded that he may by such and such means escape and avoid, will undoubtedly apply himself to seek his own good. The Spirit of God, by working this persuasion, converts the soul. We may plainly see this order in David's renewing of his conversion after his sin, and in the hearers of Peter's sermon (Acts 2), where first they heard and marked Peter, then were pricked in heart, then asked what they must do to be saved. Being instructed by Peter to convert, they did so and were saved.

Marks or Signs of Conversion:

1. Such a one has had experience of the discovery of sin as the greatest evil and of misery to himself by sin. "Sin revived and I died."

2. The Lord has wrought in him a glorious discovery of Christ and an instinct after union with him, which is faith (Philippians 3:10).

3. He is brought under the guidance and power of the Spirit (John 3:6; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Matthew 11:5). Gospelized, brought under the power of it, he has a spiritual bent in his soul, a new principle, new ends (2 Corinthians 5:17). He sees things with another eye. He has a new law planted within him, which will make all duties easy and sweet to him (Jeremiah 31:33).

4. He is made like God; every saint is a living image of God. He will love persons the more he sees of God in them and ordinances the more pure they are.

5. Where there is life, there will be growth (1 Peter 2:3). They will grow up as willows, as calves of the stall (Malachi 4:2).

True Conversion differs from False Conversion:

1. In the efficient cause. First, the true spring comes from the Spirit of God by means of faith in the Gospel, stirring up a desire for God's favour and freedom from sin to attain that favour. The false spring comes from a natural desire for one's welfare, to escape the punishment of sin.

2. In the formal or manner of doing. True conversion is a willing and deliberate act out of choice; false conversion is a forcible act done out of compulsion.

3. Final cause. The true seeks to please God; the false seeks to ease itself.

Motives to, and Means of Conversion:

By motives, I mean certain considerations and arguments that in all reason should prevail to make men resolve upon the work.

By means, I mean some things tending to enable men the better to do it, once they have resolved upon it.

1. Motives to Conversion:

They may be taken from every place: Heaven, Earth, and Hell.

From Heaven:

Look to God, His angels, and saints.

From Earth:

Look to yourselves, the godly, the ungodly, even the beasts.

From Hell:

Look to the devils and damned ghosts.

From Heaven:

First, look to God: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Is it not a most desirable thing to turn to Him, seeing He is so rightful a Lord, so great a Prince, and so gracious a Father, so willing to accept us, and has given us means, time, and commandments, and encouraged us with promises of acceptance, and threatened us if we do not, and complains that they have not turned to Him who smote them? God has sent His Son into the world that converts might be graciously received.

Secondly, Christ Himself is a weighty argument for conversion. For if we refuse to turn, then we do what in us lies to frustrate His death and to make Him shed His blood in vain, seeing it is intended for the benefit only of those who turn. In Christ, you may see the hatefulness of sin from which you are to turn and the graciousness of God to whom you are to turn.

Thirdly, the Holy Ghost strives to bring you to this turning in His ordinances (Genesis 6:3). Will you suffer Him to prevail?

Secondly, the blessed angels will rejoice at the conversion of a sinner. All the saints in Heaven have given you examples of converting and are now glad of their efforts bestowed in that way.

From Earth:

First, consider yourselves:

1. That you are out of the way (Psalms 14, 53, 119) and know that you are so.

2. That you have bound yourselves by covenant to convert when you were baptised, and as often as you come to the Supper.

3. You have and do daily make a profession of converting.

4. You can by no means save yourselves out of the hands of God's justice if you do not submit and convert to Him.

Secondly, consider the duty itself:

1. It is most reasonable and just because the ways are evil from which, and good to which, we are urged to turn.

2. It is most necessary; without it, we cannot escape the greatest misery.

3. It is most profitable: "Turn and live;" by continuing in our evil ways we may get a little perishing profit, vanishing pleasure, and bewitching credit; by turning from them we shall gain pardon of past sins, peace and joy of soul for the present, and eternal life hereafter. "When the sinner turneth, I will blot out all his sins out of my remembrance."

4. It is likely to succeed if we set to it in earnest (Proverbs 1:24). Let us labour to grieve for our sins by seriously applying the threats of God, humbly confessing them, and resolving by God's help to leave them. "You will not come to me that you may have life."

Secondly, look to the godly in the world:

They pray for it, they will further it, rejoice in our conversion, and will love and esteem us when converted.

Thirdly, look to the ungodly:

By this means, we may perhaps win them, or shall leave them without excuse. Even look to other creatures: in the bad, we hate incorrigibleness in evil; we dislike the creatures which have gotten an evil quality and will not leave it. We like and praise obedience in the good.

From Hell:

1. Look to the devil: he seeks to hinder your conversion, will be vexed at it, and is most loathsome because obstinate in evil. The devil's worst property is that he is now so hardened in evil that there is no possibility of change in him. Will you be like the devil in that which is the worst thing in him? Besides, you abuse and neglect grace offered, and he does not.

2. Look to the damned ghosts: because they did not convert, they are damned and blame themselves for not turning when they had time, and now it is too late.

2. Means of Conversion:

First, take notice of your own strayings and unconvertedness, and your peril thereby.

Secondly, acknowledge your utter inability to convert yourselves, and therefore cry earnestly to God to convert you, as the Church does: "Turn me and I shall be turned." Turn presently, and begin with that sin which has most drawn you away from God.

3. Remove Hindrances:

Outward:

1. Ill company.

2. The occasions of sin; Solomon advises the young man not to come near the corner of the harlot's house and the drunkard not to look on the wine.

Inward:

1. Love of earthly things.

2. Presumptuous and despairful fancies.

3. Hardness of heart and wilfulness in sinning.

4. Use all Helps and Furtherances:

Outward:

1. Good company.

2. Attend on all God's ordinances: hearing, reading (Psalm 19), and conference.

Inward:

1. Cherish and practise good motions.

2. Ponder on the Law and Gospel.

3. Think often and seriously on those quatuor novissima: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

Of Free Will

The word itself is Terminus Ecclesiasticus, not Biblicus, not a Scripture term, but one that godly men in the Church adopted for more convenient expression, as they have done with the names Trinity and Sacrament.

To render Liberum arbitrium into English is not proper, for arbitrari and arbitrium is an act of the understanding, but usage has applied it to the will.

"A mixed power of understanding and will," says Mr. Perkins. It can be only in an intelligent nature, as Bellarmine proves (lib. 3. de Grat. & Lib. Arb. c. 15.), and the understanding, though it is not formally free, yet it is radically, and the liberty of the will arises from the indifferency of the judgment. The liberty of the will properly consists in choosing that which the understanding judges best. Radix libertatis constituta est in libero rationis judicio (Aquinas).

There is in the will a double freedom:

1. Natural, a power that a man has to choose or refuse as it seems good to himself, and this is so annexed to, or dependent on, his reasonableness, that they cannot be separated. This he has not nor could lose by corruption.

2. Sanctified, an inclination to use the former liberty well by choosing what he ought to choose, and this he has lost, so now he will choose and refuse what he ought not.

Or thus:

Free will may be considered either in the essence and being of it as it is an immediate faculty of the soul, and the same with the will. We have this free will, for Adam by his fall has no more lost this than he has lost his very nature. It is therefore a great calumny of the Papists when they say that we deny free will and make man no better than a beast. For take free will thus, as it is a natural power in a man, so it remains still.

The free will of man after the fall is not so corrupted that it is not capable of the grace of regeneration. Tolle liberum arbitrium, non erit quod salvetur; tolle gratiam non erit unde salvetur (Bernard).

There is a threefold power:

1. Activa, an ability to concur to the operation of the Spirit in a man's self. So those that are for free will, Agimus nos, sed acti; volumus, sed ipse facit ut velimus.

2. Passiva, able to receive. Man in conversion is merely passive to grace, but has in him a principle of resistance.

3. Obediential, as in the unreasonable creature.

Secondly, free will may be considered in its operation and working about some objects. Then we distinguish about the objects which it may will.

First, they are either such as belong to our animal life, such as to walk, eat, shut or open our eyes, and here we have the exercise of free will.

Secondly, our outward civil conversation and obedience to the laws required by a magistrate. Here again we have free will.

Thirdly, they are holy actions, and they again are either:

1. Externally holy, which concern the outward exercise of religion, such as to come to church, to hear and read, and here still a man has free will.

Or,

2. Internally and spiritually, such as to know God, to believe in Him and love Him, and so we must distinguish the states of men. Man in the state of innocence had an excellent power and strength of free will to serve God and love Him, but in the state of corruption, though his liberty remains not only in the nature but in the use of it about natural, civil, and external religious actions, yet for internal and spiritual actions, he has wholly lost his free will (John 15:5; Matthew 7:18; John 8:36). Therefore Augustine (lib. 2. contra Julianum) calls it servum arbitrium. And Luther called it not a free but an enthralled and enslaved will to sin, and wrote a book De servo Arbitrio. Homo libero arbitrio male utens, et se perdidit et ipsum (Augustine ad Laurentium).

Thirdly, man in his state of renovation has again some power and free will, being first freed by the grace of God from the power of sin (John 8:13). Voluntas in tantum est libera in quantum est liberata (Augustine in John. Tract. 53). Yet this freedom is not perfect but wonderfully opposed and hindered (Galatians 5:17).

"The free will must be as the understanding and will are," says Chamier, "but the understanding and will are both corrupted in a natural man." (Vide Chamierum contractum per Spanhem. Tom. 3. l. 4. c. 3. & 4.)

There are several kinds of freedom or liberty:

1. From compulsion, when no external principle can compel to work, but there must be an inward inclination to work. From such coaction, not only men but beasts are free.

2. From obligation or debt to another, and so no creature can be free, because all that we have is God's.

3. From sin, when the flesh is subdued so that the Spirit can and does prevail over it.

4. From misery, which the Apostle speaks of in Romans 8.

5. From necessity, when the agent is determined from an inward principle of nature to one object, as fire to burn. Immutability and liberty may stand together, as God does most freely will the creation of the world, yet unchangeably. The angels and saints in heaven are so confirmed in good, that what they will, they will unchangeably but freely. Every man naturally cannot but sin, yet he sins freely in regard to freedom from coaction and natural necessity, though not in regard to freedom from immutability. And as for the other liberties from obedience, sin, and misery, he is obedient to God and under sin and misery. The will has no freedom to spiritual things.

The Papists, though they say that the grace of God is requisite, yet as a partial cause, and that we are workers with the grace of God in our conversion, as appears by their analogies of two men carrying a great burden, and the man half wounded. Against this opinion, these arguments may be alleged:

1. The slavery and servitude of our wills to anything that is good. Those who are so defiled that they are nothing but flesh, they cannot possibly have any power to what is good, but so are all by nature (Genesis 6:5; John 3:6; Romans 8:6). To will is of nature, to will ill is of corrupted nature, but to will well is of sanctified nature (Bernard).

2. Those who can do nothing but sin have no freedom to what is good. Every unregenerate man does nothing but sin (Matthew 7:17). An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. To the unclean, all things are defiled. A man by nature non potest non peccare etiam damnabiliter (Peter Lombard).

3. A man cannot turn himself to God (John 6:44; 1 Corinthians 12:3). Therefore, nature has no power to dispose and prepare itself for grace, nor can there be merits of congruity or condignity.

4. Regeneration and conversion are attributed only to God (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 32:39; see Ezekiel 11:19; Ephesians 2:10; 1:19). A stone cannot soften itself, no more can our nature (see Deuteronomy 29:4).

5. A man has not the least thing to glory in (1 Corinthians 1). That place (1 Corinthians 4:7) moved Augustine much. But if I had power of my own to do that which is good, or to receive grace when it is offered, then I might glory in my own strength.

6. Conversion and power to do good is prayed for. "Turn us, O Lord," therefore not in our own power. It would be vain to pray to God to convert or change me if I will, if I have this of my own. What need have I to go and pray for it, or pray for others' conversion? They might convert themselves (Psalm 80:3).

Before Pelagius' time, the Fathers spoke too liberally of man's free will. Nondum nato Pelagio securius loquebantur Patres (Augustine Epist. 103), which after, upon his heresy, they reformed, and by Scripture abundantly confuted the Pelagians, especially Augustine, Jerome, Prosper, Fulgentius, Hilary, and others.

The first presumptuous advancer of free will, contrary to the doctrine anciently received in the Church, is noted by Vincentius Lyrinensis to be Pelagius the heretic.

In the ancient Church, there were two sorts of heretics concerning the point of free will. The Manichees denied free will; the Pelagian heretics affirmed it, and both were condemned by the Catholic Church. The Manichees denied free will in sin and in the committing of evil. The Pelagians affirmed a power and ability of free will for the performance of righteousness and doing of good.

In the meaning wherein the Manichees denied free will, we affirm and teach it, and in that meaning did St. Augustine write his books of free will purposely against the Manichees. We deny free will only in that meaning wherein first the Pelagians and since the Papists have affirmed it, in which meaning St. Augustine notably wrote against it.

The sum of the controversy is whether the grace which first moves and excites the will unto good motions does work the consent alone, or whether the will has in itself any power freely to consent and resist every such motion. The Romanists plead for the power of man's will, but Protestants for the efficacy of God's grace.

If the question is asked, whether free will may resist grace, it is apparent that naturally in the unregenerate, it may resist, according to Acts 7:51. But if the question is asked of those that are called according to God's purpose, whether they resist the grace of their calling, then, removing the humour of contention, the truth will easily appear. The question is whether nature in this case resists the omnipotent power of God. Deo volenti salvum facere, nullum resistit hominis arbitrium (To God willing to save, no will of man resists).

There is a twofold resistance of the will, say the Schoolmen:

1. Connata, born with it. There is a possibility to sin in the best creatures, as creatures.

2. Actualis, the Spirit of God by an almighty power overcomes this (Psalm 110:3).

The Arminians have revived the old Pelagian heresy. They say they magnify God's free grace, and it was free grace for God to give Christ to be a Saviour and to send the Gospel to a place. But then ask them about gratia discriminans, why Simon Peter receives the Gospel rather than Simon Magus. They say God determines no man's will, but because Peter receives it, and the other rejects it, it arises wholly from his determining himself. Then Christ should do no more in His own and Father's intention for a saved person than a damned person. No man has power to receive Christ when He is offered unless it is given to him from above.

Objection: Why then does the Lord exhort us to receive Him, or complain of us, and threaten damnation if we do not receive Him?

Answer: The Lord uses these reproofs and exhortations as a means to work upon those whom He purposes to save.

1. To show that some work is to be done on our part, though not by our own strength. It must be done à nobis (by us), though not ex nobis (from us).

The Papists argue from God's commands: God would not command us to do good works if we did not have the power to do them. When our Saviour says, "Make the tree good, and then the fruit will be good," He does not imply that it is in our power to do so, but only shows what our duty and obligation are. (See Romans 7:15; Galatians 5:17).

God gave the Law for these ends:

1. To show man his duty, the obligation that lies on him. I may remind my debtor of his debt though he has become bankrupt.

2. To show him his disability.

3. To show him the misery he would be in if God urged this debt on him to discharge it himself.

4. To show the riches of His grace in providing a means to satisfy His justice, and also the exceeding love of Christ in fulfilling the Law for him.

Objection: The Arminians say, How can the will be free when it is determined? How can omnipotent grace and free will stand together? Some talk of a Libertas contrarietatis, when one can will good or evil. This is a great controversy, as it is between the Jesuits and Dominicans, so it is between us and the Arminians.

Answer: The freedom of the will does not consist in this, that it is free and indifferent to choose either good or evil. For so God and the good angels would not be free, seeing they cannot will anything but that which is good. There is no true liberty but unto that which is good, because it is a perfection. To be able to sin is an imperfection (2 Corinthians 3:11). Ubi non est Spiritus Domini non est libertas arbitrii (Augustine). A power to stand or fall was not a part of Adam's liberty; his power to fall came from his mutability, not liberty.

It is a question: An facienti totum quod in se est ex naturae viribus, dentur infallibiliter auxilia ad salutem supernaturalia? Whether God will give supernatural grace to him that uses well his natural abilities?

Let any man use the power that God gives him, and he shall have more. There is not such an infallibilis nexus, that God has bound Himself in the use of our natural abilities to add supernatural graces. Mr. Fenner on Ezekiel 18:31, 32.

A man in his natural condition can do nothing but what is offensive to God.

No man ever yet, by the right use of naturals, obtained evangelical grace; that is a vain power which is never reduced into act.

It is a question: An naturae viribus possit aliqua vera tentatio superari? Whether a man by strength of nature is able to conquer corruption or resist temptation?

Before conversion, we cannot resist sin as sin, but exchange one sin for another. We cannot discern good from evil; sin is connatural to us (Jeremiah 8:6). No more are we able to resist temptation without grace. All temptations are to draw us to the enjoyment of some temporal good, or to decline some temporal evil by leaving God. Until a man is persuaded that God promises a greater good and threatens a greater evil than the world can do, he cannot resist such temptations. We are saved by faith, and stand by faith. We all need to pray, "Lord, lead us not into temptation, and keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins" (See Ephesians 6:10).

Some speak of reconciling free will with God's decree, grace, and sin.

Others of the concord of it and God's prescience and providence.

Tully thought prescience and free will could not stand together, and therefore, that he might assert the freedom of man's will, he denied the prescience of future things. Atque ita dum vult facere liberos, facit sacrilegos.

CHAPTER IV:

Of Saving Faith

Faith in the New Testament is taken:

1. For the doctrine of faith (Jude 3). Those who are sound in the faith are orthodox. This is the Catholic faith.

2. For the habit or grace of faith whereby we receive Christ and accept Him as our Saviour. This usage is frequent in Scripture.

Faith in its general nature is any assent to some truth upon the authority of the one who speaks it, and the general nature of divine faith is to assent to the truth because God says it.

Our assent and persuasion of the truth in matters of religion may be either human, merely because of custom, education, and the authority of the Church; or divine, being inclined and moved thereto because of divine authority. Many Protestants have no more than a human faith. It is the religion of their fathers and of the place where they live.

In the grace of faith, there are three things:

1. An act of the understanding, an assent to the truths of Christ, that He is such a one in respect of His natures, offices, and works, as the Scripture reveals Him.

2. An act of the will, consenting that Christ should do for me what the Lord sent Him to do for poor sinners.

3. A fiducial assurance and dependence on Him.

The Socinians by faith in Christ understand nothing but an acknowledgment of the veracity of His sayings and promises, which ought to be believed not because Christ is true God with the Father, but because God, after His death, raised Him from the dead, which He also foretold before, and for this reason, He was worthy to be believed in what He commanded or promised. This is their doctrine of justifying faith and justification, as if Christ had come into the world and suffered such things for no other cause but to persuade us that an eternal reward is propounded to the obedient, that being allured with the hope of reward we might obey Him.

Bellarmine says justifying faith is not so much knowledge as assent, and it is not a confidence in God's mercy, but an assent to all things contained in the Word of God.

Faith is more than a bare assent to the truth. There is in it a fiducial acquiescence and a resting upon Jehovah, as expressed in the Hebrew. He rolled himself upon God, as a man, being weary of a burden, casts himself and that upon something that sustains him (Proverbs 3:5; Isaiah 10:20; 28:16; 50:10).

The chief act of the soul in true faith, wherein the essence of it mainly consists, is a resting and relying upon Christ and Him alone for obtaining favour and eternal life. In respect of this property, faith is often called a believing in or on Christ and His name (John 3:16, 18, 36; John 6:1; 5:10), a trusting in Christ (Ephesians 1:12), a resting upon God (2 Chronicles 14:11), a resting upon His promise (2 Chronicles 32:8), a relying upon God (2 Chronicles 16:8), a cleaving and sticking close unto Him (Acts 11:23) (Mr. Hildersham on Psalm 51:6, Lect. 83).

There is in faith:

First, an act of acceptation, one is willing to receive Christ on His own terms.

Secondly, of resignation, it gives up the whole man unto Christ.

The proper object of justifying faith (says Dr. Ames) is not some axiom, viz. God is favourable to me, or my sins are pardoned; but Ens incomplexum, as they speak, viz. Christ, or the mercy of God in Christ, and so the proper act of justifying faith is incumbere or acquiescere Christo.

Not merely the promises but the person of Christ is the object of faith. We are not to rest in the promises alone but to close with Christ in those promises (Acts 16:31). The saints take comfort in Christ and prize His person above all His benefits.

First, because that is the greatest gift in which God shows most love (John 4:10).

Secondly, He is the person in whom all good things are deposited (Canticles 4:10; 1 John 5:10).

Thirdly, the great thing the soul falls in love with is the person of Christ (Canticles 5; Philippians 1:23).

It is a great dispute among divines, what is the proper object of saving faith? Some say the evangelical promise which holds out Christ, others Christ Himself. In a strict sense, only Christ Himself is the object of saving faith (John 7:37). No proposition nor promise saves me, only Christ.

The common object of faith is every revealed truth, but of justifying faith, as it justifies, that is, in the act of justification, reconciliation in Christ, with a certain confidence.

There is Fides quae, faith which saves the soul, which closes with every divine revelation, promise, threatening, story; and Fides qua, as it saves me, closes only with Christ. Faith which saves the soul has for its object the whole Word of God, but as it saves the soul, it closes only with Christ.

There is nothing in Scripture but it has a relation to Christ. The types and old sacrifices were shadows of Him, the moral law is preparative for Christ, and there is something of Him in every story and miracle.

Faith is an instinct after union with Christ (John 5:12). He lives in me by faith (John 11:26; Galatians 2:20). This receives Christ (John 1:11); it is the condition of the covenant, and so the qualification of those who shall have interest in Christ and His benefits (John 3:16; Acts 8:37; 16:31). Faith carries the consent of the whole man (2 Chronicles 30:8). Quid est credere nisi consentire? (What is it to believe but to consent?)

He that would receive Christ must:

1. Know that Christ is designated by God and offered as a Saviour to him in the Gospel.

2. Consider the reality and fullness of the promise, and give consent to this offer; this is the very act of faith.

3. None can thus receive Christ, but those whose hearts the Lord has opened to close with Christ (John 6:36-37; Acts 16).

4. Man fell by self-exalting and rises by self-abasing, which is achieved by believing.

5. Faith is the only way to dissolve the plots of the devil. We fell by believing the devil rather than God, and rise by renouncing him and by believing in the grace of God in Christ.

What is the act the soul performs when it believes?

There are three acts of faith: Notitia, Assensus, Fiducia.

Mr. Hildersham says the essence and being of justifying faith consist in four acts of the soul, whereof the first two are acts of the understanding, the other two of the will.

1. I must know Christ aright, and what the Gospel reveals to us concerning Him.

2. The assent of the mind to this (1 Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 11:13).

3. The consent of the will (John 1:12).

4. A resting and relying upon Christ and Him alone for the favour of God and eternal life.

Knowledge comes three ways:

1. By sense.

2. By reason, as in understanding that the part is less than the whole.

3. By testimony, which is faith, and relies wholly on witness. Faith is weak when it relates to human testimony, yet there is no such knowledge as that of faith when it relates to the testimony of God, which is more certain than sense or reason. God is so wise He cannot be deceived Himself, and so good He will not deceive others.

Knowledge and faith are ordinarily all one in Scripture and joined together as things inseparable (Isaiah 53:11; John 10:38; John 6:69; John 17:3; 1 John 3:2, 4; 5:13, 19). A believer is described by the terms of an enlightened man and wise man (Ephesians 1:18-19). "I know whom I have believed." Bellarmine says faith is better defined by ignorance than knowledge: Fides melius per ignorantiam quam per notitiam desinitur. It captivates reason unto the Word of God; that is, carnal and rebellious reason, but the true light of reason is increased and augmented by it. This knowledge which faith works in the heart is distinct and certain.

2. Assent: They believed God and the prophets, that is, they gave assent and credit to it because of the authority of God who is most true and cannot deceive, not for human motives. This assent is:

1. Firm, therefore called the riches of assurance of understanding, and so opposite to doubting.

2. Absolute and unlimited, believing precepts, promises, and threats.

Some expressions of Scripture seem to lay much upon assent, as in 1 John 4:2; 5:1; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Matthew 16:17. The truths of God at first suffering under so many prejudices, the Gospel was a novel doctrine, contrary to the ordinary and received principles of reason, persecuted in the world, no friend to natural and carnal affections, and therefore apt to be suspected. Assent now is nothing so much as it was then.

3. There is a consent to the goodness as well as an assent to the truth: The one is the act of the understanding, the other of the will. The soul, upon the information that God's Spirit gives of the excellency of Christ and His suitability to me, assents to the truth of it, and consents to the goodness of it, and makes choice of Him for its portion. Faith is the consent of the whole soul to receive and accept Christ as God the Father has offered Him in the Gospel.

4. A resting and relying upon Christ alone for grace and salvation (Psalm 23:1, 2, 6; Psalm 27:1; Job 19:25-27; Romans 8:31). The soul leans on Christ as a feeble man on a staff (2 Chronicles 16:7-8; Proverbs 3:5; Psalm 22:8). What the Old Testament calls trusting, the New Testament calls believing.

This confidence of special mercy is the form and essence of faith, without which faith is not faith, nor justifies the sinner. The Papists and Arminians cannot endure this, that faith should be such a special confidence of the remission of sins. They say it is a confidence that God may remit, and a good hope that He will, or it is a conditional confidence that God will remit if we shall be constant in piety to the end of our life.

The Doctrine of Faith consists of three things:

1. There is a necessity of relying on Christ alone.

2. There is an all-sufficiency of ability in Him, being God and man, to be a High Priest, to make intercession for us.

3. Of His willingness that we should have pardon, grace, comfort, and salvation by Him.

There are promises:

1. Of free grace, that God will justify the ungodly and pardon sin for His own name's sake.

2. Of grace, that God will give faith, repentance, love, and a new heart.

3. Unto grace, that if we believe and repent we shall be saved. These promises are all we have to build our faith on for our eternal salvation.

In all recumbency, it is not enough to regard the strength of the act and rightness of the object; carnal men will say, "I place my hope in Jesus Christ for salvation" (Micah 3:11), but there are other circumstances to be observed:

First, the method and order of this recumbency: the resolution of a humbled sinner to cast himself upon Christ. The main end and use of faith is to comfort those who are cast down. Faith is expressed by taking hold of Christ or the Covenant (Isaiah 56:4), by staying ourselves upon, or leaning upon God, which supposes a sense of misery.

Secondly, the warrant and ground of it: we must go to work considerately, understand what we do (2 Timothy 1:12; Psalm 119:49). Natural conscience may pretend fairly to trust in Christ but have no ground for it (Jeremiah 7:4).

Thirdly, the effects and fruits: it cannot stand with a purpose to sin (John 13:10; Hebrews 10:23).

We are said to be justified by faith, to live by it, to be saved by it, to have it imputed unto us for righteousness. All this is to be understood not principally, immediately, or meritoriously in regard to any worth or dignity of it, or efficaciously in regard to any power or efficacy in itself, but mediately, subserviently, and organically, as it is a means to apprehend Christ's satisfaction and sufferings, by the price and merit of which we are justified and saved, and stand as righteous in God's sight, and as it has a special respect and relation thereto.

There are diverse degrees of faith: Little faith (Matthew 8:26), Great faith (Matthew 15:28), and Full assurance of faith (Romans 4:21).

First, there is some unbelief in all the servants of God because there is not in any man in this world a perfection of faith. Faith is mixed with unbelief.

Secondly, many have true faith, yet very weak faith. Christ will not break the bruised reed. Christ chides His disciples for their weak faith, and Peter, "O you of little faith" (Matthew 14:31), "And how is it that you have no faith?" (Luke 8:25). See also John 4:48 and Matthew 9:28. Moses, David, Abraham, and Isaac were subject to great weakness of faith.

Reasons:

1. Sense and reason contradict the conclusions of faith in many things, such as believing in the mercy of God when we have so much sin.

2. The knowledge of God in the best of God's people (which is the pillar and foundation of their faith) is but imperfect.

3. Satan opposes the faith of God's saints above all things because he knows that in this their very strength lies (Ephesians 6:14; 1 Timothy 6:12), and they resist him by their faith (1 Peter 5:9; 1 John 5:4).

In two things the weakness of faith most discovers itself:

First, in thinking that we shall not find the good things which God promises to give.

Secondly, in thinking that we shall not be delivered from the evil things which He has undertaken to deliver us from. Faith in God's threats must be confirmed as a principal means of beating back sinful temptations. Faith in God's promises must be confirmed as a principal means of keeping us in comfort and obedience.

All holy exercises serve to strengthen faith, especially two:

First, prayer with the apostles to the Lord to increase our faith and to fill us with joy and peace through believing.

Second, meditations specially directed to that end, on the omnipotence of God, His perfect truth, and His fulfillment of His Word formerly to ourselves and others.

There is a twofold state of faith: a state of adherence and a state of assurance.

First, a state of adherence, affiance, and recumbence: the act of the soul accepting Christ and giving itself to Him (Isaiah 50:10; Luke 18:13).

There is great peace in a faith of adherence (Hebrews 4:3):

1. In respect of the guilt of sin, it shows the Lord Jesus as a sacrifice for sin.

2. In reference to God, "I have heard," says such a one, "that the Lord is a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin." There is tranquillity when one casts his sin on Christ and ventures his soul on the free grace of God (Isaiah 50:10).

Secondly, a state of assurance (1 John 4:16), when one has obtained the witness and sealing of the Spirit.

1. One may have the faith of adherence (roll his soul on Christ and be willing to accept Him) without having the faith of evidence, as Heman in Psalm 88. The fearing of God and obeying His voice cannot be without faith, yet one may walk in darkness, as in that place of Isaiah before quoted.

2. The soul which has the faith of adherence and lacks that of evidence is in a justified condition; many things have a real being that have no visible appearance to us. If one could not be justified but by the faith of assurance, then if one loses his assurance, he loses his justification.

3. When the faith of adherence attains to the faith of assurance, yet many times the assurance is lost (Psalm 32:3-4; Psalm 51:12). Christ on the cross had the faith of adherence, "My God, my God," not the clearness of evidence.

4. When the soul has lost the faith of evidence, it cannot lose the faith of adherence. The fire may be so smothered in ashes that there is no light, yet it always has heat if there is fire (Job 15:30; Psalm 44:17).

5. The faith of adherence always abides and brings the soul to heaven. That soul (though it lacks assurance) is bound to praise God. If you would be more thankful for the faith of adherence, the Lord would bring in strong consolation.

6. The faith of adherence will certainly end in the faith of evidence. If your soul has chosen Christ and you wait for Him, you shall at last meet with Him.

Faith lays hold on the promise as being true; affiance or hope expects the thing promised as being good. (Bishop Downham on Justification, l. 6, c. 4).

We believe things past, present, and to come: but hope for things to come only. We believe both promises and threatenings, both rewards and punishments, in the order set by God: but hope only for things desirable (Robinson's Essays, Observ. 10).

The end and great privilege of faith is to bring us to everlasting life (Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 1:9; John 20:31).

Reasons:

1. By faith we are made sons and children (1 John 3:2), and so may expect a child's portion. Faith makes us sons:

1. In a juridical sense (John 1:12).

2. In a moral and real sense (1 Peter 1:3).

Secondly, these are the terms of the eternal covenant between God and Christ (John 3:16; 6:40; Hebrews 9:15).

Thirdly, faith is the mother of obedience. The way to be made happy is to be made holy.

Fourthly, faith begins the life which is perfected in glory (1 John 5:12). It anticipates heaven (Romans 5:2; 8:11).

We should act in faith in order to attain everlasting life:

First, accept Christ in the offers of the Gospel (Acts 16:31; Mark 16:16; Colossians 1:21).

Secondly, believe the great promises of heaven (Hebrews 11:6). Consider:

1. The riches of God's mercy, He will give like Himself, an infinite and eternal reward (2 Corinthians 4:17).

2. The sufficient merits of Christ (Romans 8:32).

Thirdly, get your own title confirmed (1 Timothy 6:20).

Fourthly, often renew your hope by serious and distinct thoughts (Hebrews 11:1; Colossians 3:1; Philippians 3:20).

Fifthly, earnestly desire and long for a full accomplishment (Romans 8:23).

Faith is wrought by the Word (Romans 10:14, 15, 17; Ephesians 1:13; Acts 2:41, 47; 15:7; 1 Peter 1:23). But besides the outward preaching, there must be the Spirit within, Intimus magister, as Augustine calls Him.

The Word is but a moral cause or instrument whereby the Spirit works, not necessarily but at pleasure (1 Corinthians 3:5). Faith is called the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:29), the work of God (John 6:29). See also John 6:44; Ephesians 1:19-20. The Word can do nothing without the Spirit; the Spirit can work without means, as in children and those who cannot hear.

God convinces a man of his sin and misery and need of mercy (John 16:9-11; Romans 3:20), and then shows him that there is mercy and salvation to be had in Christ, that He is a mighty Saviour, able to free him from all evil, and that He is offered to him in the Gospel (Isaiah 55:1-2; Matthew 11:28; John 6:37; John 7:37; Acts 3:26, 38-39). He discovers the infinite love of Christ, His excellencies, and the benefits we shall enjoy by Him.

The Anabaptists say that faith is given not by means of the Word, but by illumination and the immediate working of the Spirit.

The Arminians say that the preaching of the Word is able to beget faith in a man and to turn him to God without the inward working and teaching of the Holy Ghost. Usually, the Word and Spirit go together (2 Corinthians 6:1). The preaching of the Gospel is called the rod of His power (Psalm 110:2). Some pretend to magnify the Spirit above others and to be all for the Spirit, yet vilify the Word, which is the means whereby to obtain the Spirit. Cornelius and those who were with him received the Spirit by the Word (Acts 10:44; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20; Galatians 3:2). The ministry of the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit. Manasseh's conversion (2 Chronicles 33:11-12) was wrought by means of affliction setting home upon his conscience that Word of God mentioned in the verse immediately preceding. Affliction does not convert without the Word either going before or accompanying it (Psalm 94:12; Job 9:10-11).

Faith is an excellent grace (2 Peter 1:1). It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), the gift of God, the work of God by an excellency (John 6:29), an effect of God's almighty power (Ephesians 1:19), a sign of God's electing love (Acts 13:48), called the faith of God's elect (Titus 1:1).

Justifying, saving faith:

First, it is the only condition of the covenant of grace and life. "Believe and thou shalt be saved."

Secondly, it is the grace that matches us to Christ (Ephesians 3:17). Christ is the great remedium, and faith the great medium.

Thirdly, it brings us into a near relationship with God (John 1:12).

Fourthly, it is the instrument of justification (Romans 3:22, 25-26, 28; 5:1). By it, the righteousness of Christ is imputed (Romans 4:3-5, 16, 22, 24), and our sins discharged (Acts 13:38).

Fifthly, it is the grace which pleads with God and challenges Him on His Word (Genesis 32:12), "in which Thou hast caused me to trust," and gives God in Christ all the glory in the great work of salvation by a Mediator.

1. Faith quickens the soul (Galatians 2:20).

2. It sanctifies it (Acts 15:9). By it we conquer sin (Romans 8:17; 15:1), the devil (Ephesians 6:16), and the world (1 John 5:4).

3. By it we obtain whatever good we stand in need of and God has promised. "Be it unto thee according to thy faith."

4. It carries away the good of all ordinances. In the Supper, by it we have communion with God; the Word profited not because it was not mixed with faith.

5. It comforts in all troubles (Habakkuk 2:4), in desertions when God hides His face (Isaiah 8:17; Job 13:15).

By faith we stand, by faith we live, by faith we walk, by faith we die, by faith we are saved.

Faith is an infused, not an acquired habit.

Grevinchovius says that habitual faith is begotten in us by frequent acts of faith proceeding from the special grace of God, as by frequent acts of justice and liberality the habits of justice and liberality are produced in us.

This opinion of his is not only contrary to the doctrine of the Schoolmen and modern divines, both Papists and Protestants, who unanimously call theological virtues infused habits, but also is subject to various inconveniences. That place in Hebrews 11:6 must be understood of the habit of faith, for if it is to be understood of the act of faith, it would follow that the regenerate, when they sleep and do not actually believe, displease God and are not in a state of grace.

The Apostle teaches that faith is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:29; 2:13). See John 6:44. To come to Christ is to believe in Christ, as Christ Himself witnesses (John 6:35).

Whether actual or habitual faith is in infants:

Some call it efficacious faith, some a principle, others an inclination. Some dislike the word "habit," which is more proper to faith grown and ripe; the word "seed" or "principle" is better (1 John 3:9).

Some think the question about infants believing is unnecessary and curious, and that they must be left to the free grace of God (Mark 16:16). Such passages do not only concern grown persons. The Lord promises grace to infants (Isaiah 44:3) and glory (Matthew 19:14; 18:6, compared with Mark 9:36). See 1 Corinthians 7:14.

Pelagians say infants are saved by God's foresight of those good works which they would have done if they had lived; Augustine refutes this opinion (2 Corinthians 5:10), as everyone is to be saved according to what they have done.

The Lutherans would have them saved by an actual faith, though it be inexpressible.

Beza says the faith of the parents is imputed to them by virtue of the covenant of grace.

Mr. Down has a treatise on the faith of infants and how they are justified and saved, and goes much that way but denies that they have habitual or actual faith.

Whether faith remains in the saints when they are translated into heaven and see God face to face:

Some say there is a kind of faith in the blessed saints, since they both believe things past, all things which Christ has done for our sake, and things to come, such as the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the flesh, the last judgment, and the perfection of the Church. This knowledge of things past and to come depends upon the authority of God.

The office and employment of faith shall cease, though the nature of it does not.

It is a great question, An fides justificans in decalogo praecipiatur (whether justifying faith is commanded in the Decalogue):

Adam had the power to believe what God propounded as an object of faith. The righteousness of Christ was not propounded to him; it is therefore not directly commanded because it was not revealed to Adam, but reductively.

It was not consistent with Adam's covenant; he was to be righteous himself, not to look for the righteousness of another. Adam, in the state of innocence, had the power for many things, which in that state could not be reduced to act. He had the affection of sorrow but could not mourn for want of an object. So the angels had the power to believe in Christ for their confirmation, though Christ was not made known till the second covenant. There was a power then given not only to obey God in the duties of the first covenant but to submit to God for the change of the covenant when the will of the Lord should be. Not to submit to the change of the covenant in fallen man is a sin (Galatians 4:21); therefore Adam had the power to submit to it.

Whether faith or repentance precedes:

To repent is prefixed before believing (Mark 1:15). In the order of things, repentance must necessarily be first in respect of the act of contrition, acknowledgment, and grief for sin. The law precedes the Gospel, and one is not to be raised before he knows himself to be cast down. And although saving repentance, considered completely according to all its acts, is not without faith, yet it precedes it according to some act.

Christians should endeavor to live the life of faith:

First, the necessity of it.

It is a question, An sine speciali revelatione possumus credere mysteria fidei (whether without a special revelation we can believe the mysteries of faith).

The Arminians cry down faith, calling it Scripturarum tyrannidem (the tyranny of Scriptures) and Theologorum ludibrium (the jest of theologians), and reject all infused habits, advocating only acquired ones.

There is a necessity of faith in respect of diverse truths of Scripture that are to be believed:

1. The resurrection of the body—none of the heathens believed this (Acts 23:8; Matthew 22:23, 29). Some who professed the Christian religion perverted this doctrine of the resurrection (2 Timothy 2:18). Even the disciples themselves were slow to believe it (Luke 24:11; John 20:25).

2. The depravity of the soul and the enmity of natural reason to the things of God. The philosophers saw clearly the common principles of justice and injustice but not the corruption of nature (Romans 7:7). The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God.

3. The necessity of renovation of the soul and body, the great doctrine of regeneration (John 3:3). When our Saviour had brought arguments to prove this doctrine and answered objections against it, how blind still is Nicodemus (John 3:9).

4. The necessity of a mediator, and that Christ is this mediator (1 Timothy 3:16).

The Devils and the damned believe these truths with a common faith. But we need faith to believe these truths savingly.

2. We need faith also to bring us unto God (Romans 5:2). We cannot come to God but by Christ, nor to Christ but by faith.

3. To conform us to God's image (Acts 15:9).

4. Without the life of faith, we cannot abide with God (Matthew 11:6; Hebrews 3:12-13).

5. We cannot take full delight and complacency in God but by faith (Hebrews 11:6). We cannot please God, nor He us, until we believe. The life of a Christian is to please God and to be well pleased with Him.

Secondly, what it is to live by faith:

1. It is to believe the goodness of all that which God commands, as well as that which He promises, and the real evil of all that He forbids as well as threatens.

The precepts of God are good and for our good, as well as His promises (Deuteronomy 10:12; Psalm 73:28). The Devils tremble at God's threatenings, but they do not believe in the evil of sin which He forbids, for then they would not rebel against God.

2. To look after those things principally that are future rather than the things that are present (Luke 15:12; 6:24; Psalm 17:14-15). An unbeliever will venture upon future evils to be freed from present evils. A godly man fears two things chiefly: sin in this world and wrath in another (2 Corinthians 5:10).

3. To live more to things invisible than visible (Hebrews 11:1; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Hebrews 11:7). The invisible things are the great things: Angels, men's souls; the great glory God promises His people is invisible (1 Corinthians 2:9).

4. To believe those things to be certain which are incredible to nature (Romans 4:18; Psalm 73:1). The Saints are happy in all their miseries, and the wicked miserable in all their happiness.

5. To keep to the word of faith in all our conversation (Isaiah 8:20; Galatians 6:16; Psalm 119:92-93; Psalm 17:4).

6. To believe that all the providences of God are subservient to His promises, even when they seem to be against them (Hebrews 11:13).

7. To believe so strongly in the fulfillment of God's promises that we do not make haste, but wait for God's time for their fulfillment (Isaiah 28:16). Since God will:

1. Certainly perform whatever He has promised.

2. Fulfill it in His own season (Luke 1:20).

3. His season is the fittest. Therefore, it is most reasonable we should wait for God's time and not make haste.

Two things make faith strong: knowledge and affiance. When these are strong, faith is strong, though there may not be assurance.

From the woman of Canaan (Matthew 15:25) and the Centurion (Matthew 8:10), it appears that four things show what a strong faith is:

1. The more it relies on a naked word, the less it has of sense (Hebrews 11:13).

2. When it bears up the soul against great opposition (Romans 4:21). The woman of Canaan would take no denial, still she cries, "Lord, help me." "Though He kills me," says Job, "I will trust in Him."

3. When it finds out arguments to support the soul. "The Son of David," says the woman of Canaan, "is sent to Gentiles as well as Jews, and the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table."

4. When it draws out the heart to earnest and incessant prayers, and perseveres therein (Psalm 88:13; Genesis 49:24). It is a common mistake that where there is no joy of the Holy Ghost, no assurance, there can be no strong faith. God usually proportions men's afflictions according to the greatness of their faith: afflictions are therefore called the trial of faith (1 Peter 1:7). See Isaiah 27:8; Jeremiah 30:11. Spiritual desertion is the greatest affliction that can befall a godly man; it befell Christ when He cried out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Therefore, those who have the greatest strength are most exercised with afflictions. This is the way the Lord often takes with His people, to try them after assurance by hiding His face from them. Men's graces are ripened not only by communion but by desertion. Therefore, there may be strong faith and more grace where there is no assurance.

Motives to get faith:

First, this grace brings God most glory. It does that to God in a way of duty, which God does to the creature in a way of grace. God justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.

Faith first justifies God (Isaiah 18:13; Luke 7:29) against the accusations of the world and the fond surmises of our own hearts (Hebrews 10:29).

2. It sanctifies Him.

3. It glorifies God (Romans 4:20).

Secondly, it does us the most good:

1. Our life stands upon it (Galatians 2:20).

2. It brings peace (Romans 5:1).

3. It brings glory (1 Peter 1:9).

Helps to Faith:

Consider your condition. While you remain an unbeliever, you lie under the guilt of all your sins and the wrath of God. Whatever you do is displeasing to Him.

Secondly, labor to lay hold of the promise of God (John 3:16). Be convinced:

1. Of its truth.

2. Of its goodness.

Seek earnestly for God to work this grace within you.

CHAPTER V:

Of the Communion and Fellowship Believers Have with Christ, and Their Benefits by Him, Especially of Adoption.

This is the highest intimacy between Christ and His people: a fellowship (1 John 1:3), a friendship (John 15:15). The Church is called the Lamb's bride. Husband and wife become one flesh; Christ and a believer become one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Communion with God through Christ by the Spirit is the great duty and privilege of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 1:3). It is begun by faith, carried on by fear and love, and perfected in heaven. Consider:

First, the honor of this communion: Christ has our nature, our sins, our wrath, and shame; we have His titles, nature, Spirit, and privileges. He is one with God, and we are one with Him. He is God's fellow (Zechariah 13:7); we are His fellows (Psalm 45:7). God is Christ's God and our God, His Father and our Father.

Secondly, the comfort of it (John 15:11). This joy differs from the joys in heaven, not in kind but in measure (Psalm 16:11; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Hosea 2:11-12).

Thirdly, the privileges you enjoy by this communion:

1. Liberty of access to God (Romans 8:15; Hebrews 4:16). We come to Him sitting on a throne of grace.

2. An interest in God's particular providence and a sanctified use of the creatures (1 Corinthians 3:21).

3. The influences of grace (1 Corinthians 1:30; John 14:6).

Evidences of this communion:

1. Holiness (1 John 1:6-7; 4:13; John 14:17; Romans 8:9).

2. Heavenliness (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1).

3. Delight in God (Deuteronomy 4:7; Psalm 84:12).

4. Reverence toward God and humility toward men.

5. A constant dependence on God for direction, comfort, and strength (John 15:5).

6. Living to His glory and consecrating all we have to Him. Whole Christ is ours, and we are all His (Song of Solomon 2:16). He is ours by His own grant, and we are His by our consent.

The Benefits Which Believers Partake of Through Christ, Either in This Life or in the Life to Come:

In this life:

1. Relative, which make a change of our state.

2. Moral, which concern the change of our persons.

First, relative benefits, which concern the change of our state and condition:

1. Adoption.

2. Justification.

Secondly, moral benefits, which concern the change of our persons: sanctification.

Some say adoption is the first of all the privileges communicated to us; others say justification.

Of Adoption

As soon as a soul is by faith united to Christ, it is made a child of God in the sonship of Christ (1 John 3:1).

God is said to have three sorts of sons:

1. By nature or generation, so Christ.

2. By creation, the angels.

3. Voluntarily, made His son, His adopted child.

Adoption is little mentioned in the Old Testament, but frequently in the New Testament. This is because the Romans, who then ruled the world and had subdued the Jews, communicated their customs to them. It was an ordinary custom among the Romans.

Adoption is a gracious sentence of God the Father on a believer, whereby for Christ's sake He calls believers His children and really admits them into the state and condition of children.

He calls us sons (Galatians 3:26; 4:4-5) and admits us into the state and condition of sons: "I will be their Father, and they shall be My children."

Among men, adoption is a remedy found out for the solace of a father who has no child, by taking one to the right of inheritance who by nature has no claim to it.

1. There is the election of him who would be adopted.

2. The consent of the adopted.

3. He calls him son in the court. When the Lord makes believers His children, He thus adopts them.

There is a difference between divine and human adoption:

1. Man does not put a new nature into the party adopted; God, when He adopts, makes them new creatures.

2. Man is often moved to this by some perfection or apprehended excellence in the party. So Pharaoh's daughter, because she saw Moses was a fair child, took him for hers. But it is not so with God; there is no good but what He works (Ezekiel 16:6).

3. Men adopt for their comfort and because they have no sons on whom to bestow their inheritance. But God infinitely delighted in His own natural Son, and He needed not us; He has His angels to glorify Him.

How This Adoption is Wrought

It is done by applying Christ's sonship to them. The applying of Christ's righteousness to us makes us righteous, and the applying of His sonship to us makes us the sons and daughters of God. Christ, being the firstborn, is heir, and all God's people are co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:16-17).

What Benefits Have We by It?

The whole work of our redemption is sometimes expressed by it (John 1:11). The glory of heaven is laid down in this one word (Romans 8:15): "We groan that we might receive the adoption of sons."

The benefits thereof are brought to two heads:

1. We are really cut off from the family from which we sprung—old Adam, sin, and hell. We are now no more in a sinful condition.

2. We are engrafted into God's family and have all the privileges of a natural son. By the law of the Romans, one might do nothing to his adopted child but what he might do to his own begotten son.

By this means:

1. They receive the Spirit of sanctification (Romans 8:15).

2. They have the honor of sons (John 8:35).

3. They have the boldness and access of sons. They may cry, "Abba, Father"; they may come to God with open face, as men freed from condemnation (Ephesians 3:12).

4. They have the inheritance of sons (Romans 8:17). They have a double right to heaven: by title of redemption and adoption.

Three Things Will Show Our Adoption:

1. Likeness to the Spirit of Christ—you will be holy as He is.

2. You will bear an awful respect to God—the child honors the Father.

3. There is the spirit of prayer—the child comes to the Father to supply his wants.

CHAPTER VI:

Of Justification

This word is used in Scripture sometimes to celebrate with praise, as in Luke 7:29: "When they heard this, they justified God."

2. To commend oneself, being puffed up with the thoughts of our righteousness, as with the lawyer who, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbour?"

3. To be freed, as he that is dead is justified from sin.

4. It is taken for the declaration of our justification, as some expound that, "Was not Abraham justified by works?"

Justification, or to justify in Scripture, is not to infuse in a man righteousness by which God will pronounce him righteous, but is taken for God's absolving of him in the court of free grace, not laying his sins to his charge, and, withal, giving him the right to eternal life because of the obedience of Christ made his.

It is a judicial act (Psalm 143:2). It is opposed to condemnation, a law term (Proverbs 17:15; Romans 8:33-34), taken from the courts of judicature when the party accused and impleaded by adversaries is acquitted.

There is a great difference between vocation and justification: vocation precedes, justification follows. Justification presupposes something, namely faith and repentance; effectual calling posits these but does not presuppose them.

The doctrine of predestination is handled in the ninth chapter of Romans and the first of Ephesians; of justification in the third and fourth chapters of Romans; of the first sin of Adam in the third of Genesis and the fifth of Romans; of the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11; of the office of ministers in 1 Timothy 3; of excommunication in 1 Corinthians 5; of assurance in 1 John.

Some say justification has a twofold notion: sometimes to justify us is to make us just. Thus, God did make Adam just and justified him by making him a perfect, holy, good creature; this is called the justification of infusion. But properly it is a law term, and to justify is to declare one just and righteous. Thus, we are said to justify God, that "thou mayest be justified when thou judgest," we do not make but pronounce Him just.

Justification is a judicial act of God the Father upon a believing sinner, whereby his sins, being imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness to him, he is acquitted from sin and death, and accepted as righteous to eternal life.

In this description, there are four things:

1. The Author: Who it is that justifies. God the Father (Romans 3:29-30; 8:33). It is God that justifies, and it is done by God as a judge of the quick and the dead.

2. The Object: Who it is that is justified. A believing sinner (Romans 3:16-17; John 8:21).

3. The Matter: The righteousness of Christ imputed to him, the righteousness of Immanuel, of God made man (1 Corinthians 1:30). He is the Lord our righteousness.

4. The Form: It is a sentence pronouncing or declaring us free from sin and death and accepted by God.

There is an imputation which arises from inherent guilt; so our sins were not imputed to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

2. Imputation founded in a natural union; so Adam's sin is imputed to us: but neither the filth nor guilt of Adam's sin was conveyed to Christ. He came of Adam in a singular dispensation by virtue of that promise, "The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head."

3. By way of voluntary susception, Christ submitted to our punishment. He was made sin by covenant, by treating with His Father.

The debt of a believing sinner is reckoned to Christ, and the obedience of Jesus Christ is really reckoned to a believing sinner. The result of this exchange is the acquitting of a sinner from sin and death. All the punishments due to us for our sins are reckoned to Christ by virtue of those transactions between God and Him. Christ became our Surety, and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became sin for us, and His righteousness is imputed to us. That phrase is repeated eleven times regarding God's imputing Christ's righteousness to us.

Faith is said to be imputed for righteousness, but not as a grace or quality in us, for faith is but one grace. The Law requires universal righteousness, even an entire conformity to the Law of God. By faith in Christ's blood, we obtain justification.

To justify is to absolve or pronounce righteous. We cannot be righteous from our own righteousness, which is imperfect. The Scripture calls Christ our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 5:18). Just as Adam's sin was made ours by imputation, we being in his loins, so Christ's righteousness is made ours, we being in Him, the second Adam.

Piscator and Mr. Wotton make justification to be nothing but the remission of sins, and they argue that the imputation of righteousness and the remission of sins are the same thing. A man is therefore accounted righteous because his sins are not imputed to him. They deny that the Scripture ever says Christ's righteousness is imputed to us.

Mr. Baxter, in his Aphorisms (p. 186), confesses that the difference between justification and remission of sins is very small.

Mr. Gataker, in Mr. Wotton's Defense (p. 58) and also in his Animadversions upon the disputes between Piscator and Lucius, and in his answer to Gomarus, seems to distinguish between justification broadly taken and remission of sins.

The righteousness by which we are justified and stand righteous before God is not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ (Philippians 3:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21). It is not the righteousness of Christ as God, the second Person in the Trinity, but as Mediator, God-man. In this righteousness, there are two things:

1. The perfect holiness of His human nature (Hebrews 7:26).

2. The perfect righteousness which He performed in doing and suffering according to the Law. This is imputed to us.

Christ's active obedience, His good works, and His holy life could never have been meritorious for us, nor brought us to heaven if He had not died for us. Therefore, our justification and obtaining of heaven are ascribed to His blood, as if that alone had done both (Romans 5:9; Hebrews 10:19; Revelation 5:6, 9, 11). His intercession and prayers would not have been meritorious for us if He had not died for us.

The Parts of Justification:

First, Imputation of Christ's righteousness, that is, God accounting His righteousness ours, as if we had in our own persons performed it (Romans 4:6, 9, 23). As there is a true and real union between us and Christ, so there is a real imputation of Christ's righteousness to us (Song of Solomon 6:10; Revelation 12:1). A soul triumphs more in the righteousness of Christ imputed than if he could have stood in the righteousness in which he was created. The imputation of Christ's righteousness was first rejected by the Jesuits (Carl. Consens. Eccles. Cathol. contra Trid. de gratia c. 5).

Secondly, From this follows the forgiveness of sins (2 Corinthians 5:19; Psalm 32). This is called hiding one's sins, blotting them out, and burying them in the sea (Daniel 9:24).

Some say not imputing sin and imputing righteousness are not two parts but one single act; there is the term from which and to which. There are two sorts of contraries: such which have both a real being, like white and black in colors.

2. Privatively, like light and darkness; darkness has no being but the absence of light. So sin and righteousness are two contraries, but sin has no being, for then God would be the author of it. The introduction of light is the expulsion of darkness; not imputing sin and imputing righteousness is one thing. Otherwise, the apostle's argument would not hold (Romans 4:6), where he cites Psalm 32. He brings that place which speaks of not imputing sin to prove that we are justified by Christ's righteousness imputed.

This they consider their argumentum palmarium, says Gomarus. Thus, they argue, Paul here proves by the testimony of David that justification is an imputation of righteousness, either by his words or by words that are equipollent. Not by his own words; therefore, he proves it per verborum aequipollentiam, and consequently those speeches, to impute righteousness and forgive sins, are equipollent. But a thing may be proved also, says Gomarus, by force of consequence, and Mr. Gataker says the argument is weak.

Christ's death is the deserving and satisfactory cause to God's justice, whereby we obtain justification and remission of sins.

Some heretics hold that God was never angry with man, only that men were made enemies by their own sins. They therefore conclude that satisfaction by Christ's blood, as by way of a price, is falsehood. They argue that all Christ did by dying and suffering was only as an example to teach us in what way we are to obtain the remission of sins. Therefore, according to them, justification is a pardoning of sin without Christ as a mediator.

Arguments to the contrary:

1. Christ is called a Redeemer (Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30) and in Job, "I know that my Redeemer lives." He is a Redeemer, and we obtain our justification by this redemption; therefore, He is the meritorious and deserving cause of it. He has redeemed us by His blood, and we are bought with a price.

2. He is a Mediator (1 Timothy 2) and the Mediator of the New Testament. These things are implied in that:

1. God and men were equally disagreeing; God was alienated from men, and men from God.

2. Christ came to pacify God, who was angry with us, and to convert our hearts, which were rebellious against Him.

3. The means by which this was done was the death of this Mediator, as shown in Hebrews 9:15-16.

3. From those places where Christ is called a Propitiation (1 John 2:1) in allusion to the Mercy Seat (Exodus 25:17; Numbers 7:89). Two things are implied here:

1. That God was exceedingly angry with us for our sins.

2. That Christ pacified Him by His blood. The Mercy Seat was also called the Oracle because God answered by it; and the covering because it covered the Ark, in which were laid the Tables. Christ is compared to this both in regard to His Prophetical Office, because God declares His will through Him, and His Priestly Office, because by this, God is pleased.

4. From the places where Christ is said to be a Sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2). He gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice; and in Hebrews, Christ was once offered. Hence note:

1. That Christ's death is a true offering and sacrifice.

2. It was done in the days of His flesh for the destruction of sin.

5. All those places must needs prove Christ to be the meritorious cause where Christ is said to take away our sins and the punishment from us (Isaiah 53: He bore our iniquities; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

When were we justified, seeing justification is a change not of our quality but of our state?

Some say it was an eternal transaction before all time, only manifested to us by the Spirit.

There are four set periods of justification:

First, in God's purpose, which reaches as far as the eternal transactions between God and Christ, such as were set down in the Lamb's book.

Secondly, when Christ, in the name and stead of sinners, performed that which was the matter of their justification. But in neither of these periods was the soul translated out of the state of nature into the state of grace.

Thirdly, actually, at the moment when we come to own Christ as a Savior by believing.

Fourthly, when the Spirit, which translates the soul out of the state of nature into the state of grace, makes it known to the soul.

Others say there are five (as it were) periods or degrees of justification:

1. When the Lord passes a sentence of absolution on men at their first conversion, immediately upon their union with Christ (Acts 13:38-39).

2. He who is justified falls into daily transgressions, therefore there must be a daily imputation and application of the death of Christ (John 13:10).

3. There is a high act of justification after great and eminent falls. Though there is not an intercision, there is a sequestration. Such a person cannot then plead their right. David's sin of adultery and murder made a great breach upon his justification, therefore he prays God in Psalm 51 to purge him with hyssop and apply anew the blood of Christ.

4. There follows a certification, a sentence passed in the soul concerning man's estate (1 John 5:9; Romans 8:33-34).

5. Justification is never perfected until the day of judgment (Acts 3:19). Then sentence is passed in open court before men and angels.

Of Preparatory Works to Justification

The 13th Article of the Church of England states, "Works done before the grace of Christ or Justification, because they are not done as God has commanded them, we doubt not but they are sins." Matthew 7: A corrupt tree brings forth corrupt fruit. Hebrews 11: Without faith it is impossible to please God. Titus 2: To the defiled, all things are defiled.

Whether these Works without Faith Merit Ex Congruo

Bellarmine argues that a person not yet reconciled can, through works of penance, impetrate and merit ex congruo the grace of justification. The Papists claim that one must dispose and fit himself by alms and repentance to partake of Christ, calling this Meritum ex congruo. They assert that by doing so, one receives primam gratiam.

Refer to 2 Corinthians 3:5 and Romans 9:15-16. We acknowledge that God typically infuses saving grace into hearts that are fitted and prepared, but He works these preparations by His own Spirit.

Whether Works with Faith Deserve Grace Ex Condigno

We do not claim, as Bellarmine charges, that the works of the regenerate are simply sins, but they are imperfect in a certain respect. The Papists argue that after becoming new creatures, individuals can perform works that have intrinsic merit. They believe these good works can satisfy for smaller offenses and have such worth that God is obligated, either by justice or gratitude, to bestow everlasting glory. Some say these works deserve merit ex natura operis; others say they are tinted with the blood of Christ. This doctrine is dangerous, as it shifts the focus from holding justification by works to relying on Christ.

Our good works, as they flow from the grace of God's Spirit in us, do not merit Heaven.

1. From the condition of the worker: Although we may be greatly enabled, we are still bound to do more than we can, as shown in Luke 17:7. We cannot enter Heaven unless we are made sons, and the more the Spirit enables us to do good, the more we should be thankful rather than glory in ourselves. Additionally, as sinners, we cannot merit.

2. From the condition of the work: Works that merit Heaven must be equal and commensurate as a just price to the thing bought. However, our works are not sufficient, as stated in Romans 8:18. Paul did not consider his sufferings, even when whipped and imprisoned, to be significant in comparison to Heaven.

The Papists argue that Protestants emphasize justification by grace to the detriment of good works. However, we affirm that there is a reward of mercy, as stated in Psalm 62. Augustine wrote, "Good works do not precede justification but follow it." Bernard also said, "Good works are signs of hidden predestination and foretastes of future happiness."

Luther stated, "Outside the state of justification, no one can truly commend good works highly enough." More has been given in this land within these sixty years to the building and increase of hospitals, colleges, schools of good learning, and other truly charitable works than in any hundred-year period during the reign of Popery.

Dr. Willet refutes the Romanists' charge that our doctrine of justification by faith alone opposes good works. He demonstrates that in the sixty years since the Gospel was preached, £1,000,000 has been bestowed on acts of piety and charity.

Whether We Are Justified by Inherent or Imputed Righteousness

We do not deny (as the Papists falsely accuse us) all inherent righteousness, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:17, nor all justification before God by inherent righteousness, as in 1 Kings 8:32. However, we teach that this inherent righteousness is not the righteousness by which any poor sinner in this life can be justified before God's tribunal, pronounced innocent, absolved from death and condemnation, and adjudged to eternal life.

The Church of Rome does not uphold the foundational doctrine of justification by Christ, as stated in 1 Corinthians 3:11.

1. They deny justification by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, scornfully calling it a putative righteousness.

2. They hold justification by inherent righteousness, which is by the works of the Law (Galatians 5:4).

The Papists place the formal cause of justification in the infusion of inherent righteousness. This opinion is based on another flawed opinion, namely the perfection of inherent righteousness. Since inherent righteousness will always be imperfect in this life, the credibility of their opinion is lost, even by their own principles, which teach that in justification men are made completely righteous.

2 Corinthians 5:21 indicates that our sin was in Christ not inherently but by imputation. Therefore, his righteousness is likewise imputed to us (Acts 13:38-39; Philippians 3:9).

The Papists acknowledge grace in the same way we do, but when it comes to the particular explanation, there is a vast difference. They mean grace inherent in us, whereas we mean grace without us, that is, the love and favor of God.

Arguments Against Papist Doctrine

1. The grace by which we are justified is called the love of God (Romans 5:8). This is not the love whereby we love God, but the love whereby we are loved by Him (Romans 9:15). All our salvation is ascribed to the mercy of God, which is not something in us, but we are the objects of it (Titus 3:4). To be justified or saved by the grace of God is no more than to be saved by the love, mercy, and philanthropy of God, all of which indicate that it is not anything in us but all in God.

2. Grace cannot be explained as a gracious habit or work because it is opposed to these (Romans 11:4; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8). Grace means not by works, not of ourselves.

3. It is evident by the condition we are described to be in when justified, which is detailed in Romans 4. Justification is described as not imputing sin, justifying the ungodly. The Apostle mentions Abraham, who had much inward grace, yet was considered in justification as unholy, justified by God not imputing his imperfections.

For the imputation of Christ's righteousness, it is the justitia mediatoris (mediator's righteousness) that is imputed, not the justitia mediatoria (mediatorial righteousness). The righteousness by which the just are justified before God is the justitia legis (righteousness of the law), though not legalis (legal), as stated in Isaiah 53. He bore our sins in his body on the tree; He was made sin for us (Romans 3:25).

To speak properly, the will or grace of God is the efficient cause of justification, the material cause is Christ's righteousness, the formal cause is the imputation of this righteousness to us, and the final cause is the praise and glory of God. There is no formal cause to be sought in us.

Some falsely claim that the righteousness by which we are formally justified before God is not the righteousness of Christ but of faith, accepted in the righteousness of the Law, "Fides tincta sanguine Christi" (faith dyed with the blood of Christ).

Whether Inherent Justice is Actual or Habitual

Bishop Davenant (cap. 3 de habituali justitia) says that a certain habitual or inherent justice is infused into all that are justified (John 1:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 6:11, 19; 2 Peter 1:4).

All those that are justified do supernatural works, therefore it is certain they are endowed with supernatural grace and holiness. We are said to be righteous from this inherent justice. We are called just by God himself (Genesis 6:9; Hebrews 11:4; Luke 1:61; 2:25; 1 Peter 4:18).

Bellarmine (lib. 5 de Justification, cap. 7, prop. 3) states, "Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae, et periculum inanis gloriae, tutissimum est fiduciam in sola Dei misericordia et benignitate reponere." By this statement, he overthrows all his former disputes about inherent righteousness.

Whether We Are Justified by the Passive Obedience of Christ Alone or Also by His Active Obedience

Many learned divines differ among themselves on this issue, and it does not seem to be as crucial as some other matters concerning justification.

We are justified in part by Christ's active obedience, for by it we obtain the imputation of that perfect righteousness which gives us the title to the Kingdom of Heaven. Seeing it was impossible for us to enter into life until we had kept the Commandments of God (Matthew 19:17), and we were not able to keep them ourselves, it was necessary for our Surety to keep them for us (Daniel 9:24; Romans 10:4; Romans 3:21).

Scripture often attributes our redemption to Christ's bodily death and the blood He shed for us (Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 5:9). In these places, the Holy Ghost uses a synecdoche, putting one part of Christ's passion for the whole:

1. Because the shedding of his blood was a visible sign and evidence that he died for us.

2. This declared him to be the true propitiatory sacrifice prefigured by all the sacrifices under the Law.

Some argue that by Christ's active obedience imputed to them, the faithful are made perfectly righteous. Therefore, what need is there of his passive righteousness? What more is needed than to be made righteous?

Christ fulfilled the duty of the Law and underwent the penalty. The latter was a satisfaction for the trespass, which was like a forfeiture, and the fulfilling of the Law was the principal (Psalm 40:4; Jeremiah 31:3; Galatians 4:4).

Some, to avoid Christ's active obedience, question whether Christ as man was bound to fulfill the Law for himself. All creatures are subject to God's authority. Yet this does not detract from his active obedience, partly from his own free condescension, and partly because his whole person, God and man, obeyed.

CHAPTER VII:

Of the Parts and Terms of Justification, Remission of Sins, and Imputation of Christ's Righteousness

Justification is used broadly in Scripture to encompass the remission of sins. However, if we speak accurately, there is a difference between the remission of sin and the justification of the sinner.

The justification of a sinner, properly and strictly, is the cleansing and purging of a sinner from the guilt of his sins through the gift and imputation of the righteousness of his Surety, Jesus Christ. For this reason, his sins are pardoned, the sinner is freed from the punishment of sin, and received into the favour of God.

Remission, or forgiveness of sins, can be described as a blessing of God upon His Church, procured by the death and passion of Christ, whereby God regards sin as no sin, or as not committed. Or thus, it is an act of grace acquitting the sinner from the guilt and entire punishment of sin.

Every subject of Christ's Kingdom has his sins pardoned (Isaiah 33:24). This is one of the privileges of the Church in the Apostles' Creed (Acts 2:38-39), and all his sins are totally pardoned (Exodus 34:6-7; Micah 7:18-19). This is a great privilege (Psalm 32:1; Exodus 31:34). It is found only in the Church, because it is purchased by Christ's blood and is a fruit of God's eternal love. Remission of sins is the principal part of redemption (Colossians 1:14; Ephesians 1:7) and one of the chief elements in the Covenant (Jeremiah 31; Hebrews 8). The Holy Ghost seldom names it without some high expression (Psalm 51; Ephesians 1).

Remission of Sins

This remission is both free and full (Isaiah 1:43; Ezekiel 25:18, 22; Hebrews 8:12). Manasseh, Solomon, Paul, and Mary Magdalene were great sinners, yet pardoned. God forgives us our sins out of His own free grace and mercy (Psalm 51:1; Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 2:12).

The word "remitting" or "forgiving" implies that sin is a debt or offense, as Christ calls it in His form of prayer. God is said to forgive when He takes away the guilt and frees us from condemnation (Isaiah 44:22).

Causes of Remission

1. Inward Cause in God: The inward cause in God which moves Him to forgive is His grace. God might have left all mankind under the power of their sins, as He has done the devils.

2. Outward Meritorious Cause: The outward meritorious cause is the blood of Christ. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, shows that it was the blood of Christ, typified by the sacrifices, that purges us from our sins. Through Christ's merits, God's grace is obtained.

3. Instrumental Cause: The instrumental cause is faith (Romans 3:25; 5:1), not considered as a work, but as an act of the soul receiving and applying Christ to us, not going out to Him as love does, for then it would be a work.

4. Immediate Effect: The immediate effect of remission is sanctification and the healing of our nature (Romans 8:1). To be cleansed or washed from sin implies both the removal of guilt and the empowerment against our corruptions.

For these six thousand years, God has been multiplying pardons, and yet free grace is not tired or weary.

Our sins are covered (Psalm 32:1) as a loathsome sore, cast into the sea (Micah 7:19) as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were, blotted out as a debt in a book (Isaiah 44:22; Psalm 55:1).

Objection: We have forgiveness of sins upon a price; therefore, we are not freely forgiven.

Answer: Forgiveness of sins and Christ's satisfaction can coexist. Whatever it cost Christ, it costs us nothing.

1. It was infinite grace that God should ever intend to pardon a wretched sinner (Ephesians 1:6).

2. That He should give His Son for this, and that this sinner should be pardoned, and not another.

Objection: God will not forgive unless we repent and believe (Acts 2:19; 10:42).

Answer: God promises forgiveness only to those who repent and believe, but they have forgiveness merely from the grace of God, not from the worthiness of their believing or repenting (Hosea 14:4).

2. These graces are freely given to them: "To you it is given to believe," and "God has given repentance to the Gentiles."

To Whom It Pertains to Remit Sins

The power of remitting sins belongs only to God: "I, even I, blot out your transgressions" (Isaiah 43:25). This is true in the Gospel, though not well applied: "Who can forgive sins but God only?" because it is an offence against Him. "That you may know who has power," says Christ, "to forgive sins, I say unto you, Walk." Only He who can remove any judgment, the effect of sin, by His own power can forgive it.

Ministers are said to remit sins (John 20:23), but that is because they have a special office to apply the promises of pardon to broken hearts (see Luke 24:47; Acts 13:38). The Ministry of Reconciliation is committed to them as to the Ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

Is Auricular Confession Necessary for the Remission of Sins?

The Church of Rome asserts it is necessary for everyone to confess unto a priest all their deadly sins (and indeed all are deadly without the mercy of God in Christ, Romans 6:23; Galatians 3:10), which by diligent examination can be found out, together with the several circumstances whereby they are aggravated.

Nothing will suffice to procure remission of sins for one who is baptized without this confession, either in re, or in voto, as Bellarmine expounds it. This is no small task imposed upon the people of Christ. "What is more troublesome, what more burdensome?" says Bellarmine; therefore, they need good warrant for it, especially being so peremptory as to anathematize all who refuse to subscribe to it.

No general council until that of Lateran under Innocent III (about twelve hundred years after Christ) decreed the necessity of auricular confession. Erasmus (ad Acts 19) affirms that it was neither ordained by God nor practiced in the ancient Church after Christ.

The hinge of the question is not concerning the confession of sins in general to a minister, but of particular sins; neither whether we may, but whether we ought necessarily to purpose a manifestation of every known mortal sin and the grievous circumstances thereof, or otherwise stand hopeless of all remission of our sins (B. Mort. Appeal, l. 13, c. 12, s. 1).

There is no scriptural ground for it, but much against it, as Scripture in many places shows it sufficient, except in some cases, to confess unto God only. Besides, the particular enumeration of all mortal sins with their several aggravating circumstances, as required by the Papists, is not possible and therefore not of divine institution.

Cardinal Cajetan on James 5 acknowledges: "Non agi de sacramentali confessione."

That confession in Matthew 3:6:

1. Was not made by everyone apart, of every particular fault they had committed, and secretly in St. John's ear.

2. The Greek word signifies confession of known faults and overthrows the recital of secret sins required by auricular confession.

3. It is contrary to the nature of the meeting, which was public.

4. To the nature of a sacrament administered, which being public, required a public confession of man's corruption.

5. This was but once and before baptism, and not as the Papists have it here, and before the Lord's Supper (Cartwright in loc.).

The Apprehension of the Pardon of Sin Will Sweeten Every Condition:

1. Sickness (Matthew 9:2).

2. Reproach (2 Corinthians 1:12).

3. Imprisonment (Romans 8:34).

4. It will comfort one in the remnants of corruption (Romans 8:1).

5. Deadly dangers: "The Angel of God," says Paul, "stood by me this night, whose I am, and whom I serve."

6. It will support us at the day of judgment (Acts 3:19).

Reasons

1. Sin's Guilt Embitters Every Condition: Sin, in its guilt, embitters every condition, even death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26). Then one looks upon every cross as coming from God as an avenger (Jeremiah 30:14), and upon mercies as given to fatten him for destruction.

2. Afflictions from a Father's Hand: This makes a man look upon every affliction as coming from a Father's hand when he can see his sin as pardoned (Hebrews 12:9). There is a paternal anger.

3. Boldness at the Throne of Grace: Remission of sins gives one boldness at the throne of grace (Ephesians 3:12, 1 John 3:21).

How to Know Whether Our Sins Are Pardoned

1. Repentance: Did you ever repent for sin? That is a necessary condition (though not a cause) of its forgiveness (Acts 3:19).

2. Faith in Christ: Examine your faith in Christ (Romans 4:3). Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

3. Sanctification: Remission and sanctification go together (Hebrews 9:14).

4. Witness of Blood: There is a witness of blood (1 John 5:8). The Spirit of God gives testimony of our justification as well as sanctification.

Do Forgiven Sins Return?

Those whom God justifies (Romans 8:30), that is, forgives their sins, He glorifies.

The remission of sins is perfect; it makes as if the sin had never been. It is called blotting out and throwing into the bottom of the sea, taking them away. There is much difference between taking away the guilt and power of sin. The latter is taken away by degrees and in part, but the guilt of sin is entirely discharged. He will remember them no more. The godly, who have their sins fully remitted, do feel the sting and terror of it in their consciences, as David did (Psalm 51). Yet it is not because it is not forgiven, but to make us humble and taste the bitterness of sin. You may still take as much comfort in the pardon of all your offences as if they had never been committed.

When God has pardoned the fault, not all punishment is necessarily taken away, but only punishment which is satisfactory to God's justice. "By His stripes, we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). How are we healed if, notwithstanding Christ's passion and satisfaction, we are still tormented for our sins with bitter torments?

God is fully reconciled by Christ's satisfaction with the truly penitent (Romans 5:1, 10). The chastisements of God's people come from a loving Father and are medicinal, not penal.

This Overthrows

1. Popish Indulgences: These are relaxations from satisfactory pains in Purgatory flames after this life, which Rivet aptly terms "Emulgences."

2. Prayers for the Dead: These practices are also nullified.

Are Sins Forgiven Only in This World?

The parable in Matthew 18 is sometimes used to argue that sins are not only forgiven here. This man who was forgiven, because he did not do as he should, therefore had all his former debts laid to his charge. However, nothing is truly argumentative from a parable, except what is derived from its scope and intention.

This is the only time when sin may be forgiven. The foolish virgins sought oil when it was too late, running up and down to no purpose. Similarly, after death, it is too late for repentance. Then comes judgment. Today is the time for repentance and reconciliation; it is too late to cry out in hell that you will be drunk or unclean no more.

CHAP. VIII. II.

Imputation of Christ's Righteousness

To impute, in general, is to acknowledge something to be another's which is not indeed his, and it is used either in a good or bad sense; so that it is no more than to account or reckon. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and accepted for us by which we are judged righteous. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works," and again, "that justifieth the ungodly."

There is no appearing before God without the righteousness of Christ (Revelation 19:8). If we are sinners by the imputation of Adam's sin, then we are also righteous by the imputation of Christ's righteousness (Romans 5:12, 19). Just as Adam's disobedience is imputed to us, "Peccatum Adami ita posteris omnibus imputatur, ac si omnes idem peccatum patravissent."

There is some difference between the imputation of our sins to Christ and His righteousness to us. Though our sin was by imputation His, just as His righteousness by imputation is ours, yet the manner of this imputation is not to be pressed as Bellarmine would stretch it. By our tenets, as by Christ's righteousness imputed to us, we are truly righteous, though not inherently. However, Christ, by our sins, cannot be truly called a sinner. He was reckoned among sinners, and God laid our sins upon Him, yet He cannot be called a sinner because He took our sins upon Him not to abide but to vanquish them. He so took them on Himself that He took them away. His righteousness is so made ours that it is to abide in us.

Object. The righteousness of Christ, as it flows from Him being God and man, is infinite, but we need no infinite righteousness, for we are not bound to do more than Adam was. Adam was not bound to be infinitely righteous. Answer. Christ must needs have infinite righteousness to be a Mediator and to satisfy the justice of God. But for that righteousness which is communicated to us, it is given so far as we need it; therefore some partake of it more, some less.

Three Things to Judge Whether We Have Christ's Righteousness

1. If you lay hold upon Christ by faith, choose Him to be your Lord, and adhere to Him with all your heart.

2. If you loathe yourself in your approaches to God, as the Publican did (Luke 18).

3. Wherever Christ puts on the soul imputed righteousness, He does not fail to give inherent righteousness (1 Corinthians 5:11, Titus 3:5-6).

Means to Obtain the Righteousness of Christ

1. Labour to be thoroughly convinced of your own miserable condition and what a vile sinner you are (Revelation 3: end).

2. Study much the holiness and purity of God's nature (Job 42).

3. Study much Christ's righteousness. See Mr Burr on Matthew 5:6:

1. How beautiful a garment is the righteousness of God.

2. Christ's willingness to have you put it on by faith.

4. Put it on by faith, rely on Christ, venture your soul on Him.

Whether God Sees Sin in Justified Persons

God is not so affected with the sins of His people (to whom He is reconciled) as to be an enemy to them for their sins. However, He is angry with them for their sins (Exodus 4:14, Deuteronomy 9:20), reproves them (Numbers 12:8), and often punishes them for their sins (2 Kings 12:10-11, 14, 1 Corinthians 11:30-32). They are said to be committed in His sight (Psalm 51:4).

That text Numbers 23:21 is sufficiently vindicated from the Antinomians by Mr. Gataker in his treatise on the text and elsewhere. That place Habakkuk 1:3, 13 agrees with that in Numbers: "Videt vision contemplationis, non vision comprobationis." He sees it because He beholds it, but not without displeasure and detestation, although He bears it for a time.

God could bestow such a measure of grace on His people and guide them with His Spirit so that they should not sin, but He does not dispense His grace and Spirit in such a measure as to keep His people free from sin. Otherwise, they would have no use for the Lord's Prayer to beg remission of sins. The priests in the Old Testament offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of others. Christ taught the apostles in the New Testament to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

CHAPTER IX:

Whether One May Be Certain of His Justification

The Scripture holds out assurance in reference to:

1. Faith (Hebrews 10:22)

2. Hope (Hebrews 6:11)

3. Love (1 John 4:17, 18)

Our knowing our justification is called the first fruits of the Spirit (Romans 8:23), the witness of the Spirit (Romans 8:16), the sealing of the Spirit (Ephesians 1:14), and the earnest of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:5).

One may be certain of:

1. His justification (Isaiah 45:24)

2. His adoption (Isaiah 63:16)

3. His perseverance in God's favor unto the end (Psalm 23:6)

4. That after this life he shall inherit eternal glory (2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 John 3:14)

There is a three-fold certainty:

1. Moral: This consists in opinion and probability and admits of fear.

2. Of evidence: Either external, of things particular and obvious which come by the senses, or internal, by the understanding and energy of principles.

3. Of faith: This certainty is the greatest and exceeds the evidence of the outward senses or the knowledge and understanding of all principles, because that full assurance of faith relies on the Divine promises. Faith is called "πληροφορία" (Hebrews 11:1), "παρρησία" (Ephesians 3:12), and "πληροφορία" (Hebrews 10:22), words that signify a sure and certain establishment.

Assurance of God's grace and favor to save a man's self in particular is wrought in the hearts of those that have it in truth, in three degrees:

1. Apprehending a possibility: When the heart is convinced of sin and wounded with sin, when the Law comes in such power, the sin revives, and a man dies, that is, finds himself dead or in a damnable estate. Even then, the promises of the Gospel being believed and acknowledged as true, cause the dejected spirit to support itself with this thought: The Lord can forgive, can accept me, be a Savior to me. There are mercies enough in Him, merits enough in Christ. It is not impossible that I, even I, also may be taken into grace. So the leper came to our Savior, saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean"; and the blind men, being asked by Christ, "Believe you that I can do this for you?" said, "Yea, Lord"; to which He replied, "Be it unto you according to your faith."

2. Apprehending a probability: Not only can God save me, but it may also be that He will. "Who can tell but God will have mercy upon us that we perish not?" as did the Ninevites. Hezekiah wished that Isaiah would cry mightily, if so be that the Lord of Heaven would hearken to the words of Sennacherib and deliver them. When Bartimaeus the blind man came crying after Christ, at first he was persuaded that Christ could cure him, but then when He called him, and the people told him so, he cast off his cloak and came running with more life. He began to be persuaded then that Christ might indeed mean him some good and would restore his sight.

3. Apprehending a certainty: A man's soul concludes, "The Lord will pardon, will save, is reconciled, will deliver: God is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Thus does assurance grow in the saints from weak beginnings. First, he says, "I am sure God can save, and therefore I will run to Him," then hopes God will help, and therefore continues seeking; lastly, "I am sure God will save, therefore I will most confidently rely upon Him."

There is a three-fold assurance:

1. Of evidence: It is the duty of every Christian to attain this.

2. Of affiance: Which God does accept of.

3. Of obsignation: Which God vouchsafes to some in bounty, whereby God does so firmly seal the faith of some, as if He had told them that He did die in particular for them. This assurance really excludes doubtings and is given to men after long and fiery trials, when they have stood in an eminent way for Christ, as did the apostles and martyrs. Some have been so swallowed up with joy that they have cried out, "Lord, humble me." One to whom God revealed his election could neither eat, drink, nor sleep for three days' space but cried out, "Laudetur Dominus, laudetur Dominus."

God's people may have an infallible and settled assurance of their being in the state of grace and their continuance therein. This may be proved:

1. From Scripture:

There is an express promise to this purpose (Isaiah 60:16). See also 2 Corinthians 13:5, Hebrews 8:11, 1 John 3:2-15, 1 John 2:3, 1 John 5:13, and 2 John 14.

2. From Reason:

1. From the nature of this estate: The state of grace is called life, translated from death to life and light. Life and light cannot be long hidden. A man is brought into this condition by a great change and alteration, often sudden. Great changes, especially sudden ones, will be easily perceived. It is a passing from death to life, a translation from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. The state of grace always brings with it an earnest combat and conflict between two things extremely contrary to one another: flesh and Spirit. This battle cannot be fought in the heart without the man feeling it. In the state of grace, Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and by His Spirit, and the Word dwells there. The inhabiting of such guests is evident; a king does not go in secret with his train, nor the King of Glory.

2. From the helps God provides: The Lord has afforded such helps to His servants as may bring them to the knowledge of their own estate and their certain continuance therein. The Word of God lays down the general proposition: all that turn shall live, all that believe shall be saved. The sacraments bring the general promises home to each particular soul, being a particular Word, as much as if God should come and say to the child, "If you are not careless to seek regeneration and come to Me for it, I will surely regenerate and wash you." The Lord's Supper is also an actual word, as if God had said, "If you have confessed your sins with sorrow and strive to be persuaded of My will to pardon them in Christ, be they pardoned, be they healed." The Spirit of God works with the Word and sacraments to make both effectual, to establish, strengthen, and settle the soul so that it shall not be moved. It seals them up to the day of redemption, not only marking them as God's own but as an earnest of their inheritance, assuring them that by the power of the Spirit they shall continue so.

3. From the Duties Required:
God requires of them such duties as it would be vain or impossible to do if they might not be assured of their estate and its perpetuity. See 2 Corinthians 13:5 and 2 Peter 1:10. To what purpose is proving or trying if the matter by no means could be brought to any infallible evidence? How can our calling and election be made sure unless a man may be assured that he is in the state of grace and shall continue therein forever? We are bound to love and desire the last coming of Christ, which we cannot do until we are certain of His love.

Lastly, we are bound to rejoice in God always, even in tribulation (Romans 14:17, 1 Peter 1:8), and when we are persecuted for well-doing, which no understanding can conceive to be possible unless the soul is assured of life eternal—that is to say, that he both is and shall continue a true Christian. Can one be glad to suffer the hardest things for Christ if he does not know whether Christ intends to save or destroy him?

We should have confidence in prayer (1 John 5:14), cry "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15) with confidence and courage. There should be perfect love for God (1 John 4:17, 18) and the triumph of faith (Romans 8:35).

It is the proper work of the Spirit to settle the heart of a believer in the assurance of eternal happiness (2 Corinthians 1:22, Romans 8:16, 1 Corinthians 2:12). There is a three-fold work of the Spirit:

1. To reveal unto us the things of Christ, to enlighten the mind in the knowledge of them (John 16:15).

2. To draw the image of these upon the soul, conforming our hearts to the whole tenor of the Gospel in the work of regeneration and the progress of sanctification.

3. To bring evidence to our souls of our interest in these things (Galatians 1:15, 16, Romans 8:18).

It is difficult to attain assurance:

1. From our own corrupt nature, which inclines us to both extremes contrary to this: to presume or despair (Proverbs 30:12, Psalm 36:2, Revelation 3:17).

2. From the world: our friends flatter us, and others load us with slanders and discourage us, as Job's friends did him.

3. From Satan, whose chief engine, next to hindering our conversion, is to keep us from assurance and delude us with false assurance. He joins with our unbelief to make us despair (Ephesians 6:16).

4. The nature of the thing itself is very difficult because it is a matter of great largeness. One must forsake all sins and creatures. True and false graces are very similar; lukewarmness and the smoky flax; there is a variability of mind even in the converted (Galatians 5:17).

There are three means of difference whereby presumption and the true sense of God's love are distinguished:

1. Presumption grows from a carelessness of one's estate in that he examines it not by the Word; true assurance follows the most serious examination of one's estate.

2. Presumption goes without book; true assurance rests itself upon the evidence of God's Word.

3. Presumption emboldens to sin and makes one careless of good duties; true assurance encourages all goodness and withdraws the heart from sin.

The proper and natural fruits of assurance:

1. An undervaluing of all things here below (Psalm 16:6, 7). It is spoken of Christ, who lived on the alms of His servants.

2. It will comfort us under all afflictions (Psalm 46:4).

3. Our love will be the more abundant to God (Song of Solomon 6:3).

4. It will make a man prepare for glory (1 John 3:3).

5. One will desire daily to be dissolved that he may be with Christ.

Motives to Get Assurance

First, every wise person will strive to secure a good thing as surely as they can. Many will question our title to eternal life; Satan follows believers with many objections and temptations, and our hearts will join with him.

Secondly, once assurance is attained, the soul possesses the most invaluable treasure of this world. To walk in the light of God's countenance is a privilege of honor and comfort (1 John 3:20). Assurance is useful in life and death, for both doing and suffering.

Thirdly, the Devil most opposes it and labors to keep men in the dark, that is, in an uncomfortable and doubtful condition (Isaiah 50:11).

Fourthly, it may be attained in God's ordinary dispensation. Under the Gospel, the whole Church had it (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Means to Get and Keep It

I. To Get It:

First, as doubts arise, get them satisfied, and as soon as sins are committed, get them pardoned (1 John 2:1). Be frequent in proving yourself. The Word is the rule of this trial and examination. Proving is comparing ourselves with the rule, the precepts, and promises of God's Word, to see whether we are such as they require or not. David says, "Commune with your own hearts upon your beds" (1 Corinthians 11:28). The necessity and utility of it will prove it right to be done.

1. The necessity of it arises from our exceeding aptness to deceive ourselves and mistake, and Satan's diligence to beguile us. Otherwise, if we are false, we shall flatter ourselves in vain; if true, we shall lack the comfort of it. But often proving will chase out hypocrisy.

2. An humble, patient, self-renouncing heart is the frame of spirit from which this assurance will never long be absent. Never did God reveal himself more to anyone than Paul, who was vile in his own eyes, the least of sinners and greatest of saints.

3. Labor to get a high esteem of this privilege. Think how happy you would be if God were yours in Christ (Matthew 6:21, Psalms 4:6, 63:3, 80:3) and beg this assurance at God's hands.

4. Labor to know faith above all other graces. All assurance comes into the soul by faith; know the nature and object of faith, the promises the Lord has made to embolden you. Say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed." Renew acts of faith, and treasure up experiences. Frequently meditate on God's commandments to believe and on his faithfulness.

II. To Keep It:

By what means assurance may be held fast and confirmed more and more.

1. For the Judgment:

First, it must be concluded as a truth that a person may be the true child of God and have true faith and holiness in them, and yet not enjoy this assurance (1 John 5:13). To believe in the name of the Son of God and to know one has life are not one and the same thing.

Secondly, one must know that such doubts and objections, which are raised against their being the child of God without ground from the Word, are to be rejected and slighted.

Thirdly, one must be rightly informed of the difference between the obedience which the Law and the Gospel require. Both require obedience (faith establishes the Law and makes a person become a servant of righteousness), but the difference is exceedingly great. The Law exacts complete obedience; the Gospel expects upright obedience.

2. For Practice:

First, renew repentance often. God often clothes such with garments of joy as tumble themselves in ashes. Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be comforted.

Secondly, study sanctification. He must follow after holiness who will see God (Psalm 50:23). Constantly exercise grace (1 John 4:16).

Thirdly, renounce all confidence in your own righteousness and labor to be found in Christ, having His righteousness (Romans 4:5).

Fourthly, often and earnestly beg for the Spirit of adoption to seal you up to the day of redemption and to reveal unto you the things that are freely given to you by God.

Fifthly, communicate your fears and doubts to your brethren who are of understanding and can consider and observe the consolations of God given to them.

CHAPTER X:

Whether Faith Alone Doth Justify

God justifies judicially, Christ's blood meritoriously, Faith instrumentally, and Works declaratively (Romans 3:24, 28; Romans 4:5; Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; Acts 13:39).

The Papists, Socinians, and Remonstrants all acknowledge that Faith justifies, but by it, they mean obedience to God's commandments and thus make it a work, rather than considering it as an instrument receiving Christ and His promise.

A Papist, a Socinian, and a Protestant say, "We are justified by faith." However, the Papist means dispositive, the Socinian means conditionaliter, and the Protestant means applicative.

Faith justifies not as a quality or habit in us, as the Papists teach ("ipsa fides censetur esse justitia"), for in this way it is a part of sanctification, but as it is the instrument and hand to receive Christ, who is our righteousness. Much less is it as an act, as Socinus and his followers teach, as though "ipsum credere" did properly justify. If we were justified by it as it is an act, then we would be justified by our works, and we would be no longer justified actually than we do actually believe, leading to an interruption of justification whenever there is an intermission of the act of faith. However, justification is a continued act.

We are justified only by faith. What else in Scripture do those many negatives mean: not by works (Romans 9:11; Galatians 2:16; Titus 3:5), not of works (Romans 11:6; Ephesians 2:9), not according to works (2 Timothy 1:19), without works (Romans 4:6), not through the Law (Romans 4:13), not by the works of the Law (Romans 3:20), without the Law (Romans 3:27), but by faith (Galatians 2:16)?

How can a man be justified by his works when he himself must be just before the works can be (Genesis 4:4)? Good works do not make a man good, but a good man makes a work good. Shall the work which a man made good return again and make the man good?

When we say, "Faith alone justifies," we do not mean "fidem solitariam," that is, faith which is alone; neither do we in construction join "sola" with "fides" (the subject), but with "justification" (the predicate), meaning that true faith, though it is not alone, yet it justifies alone. Even as the eye, though in respect of being it is not alone, yet in respect of seeing, unto which no other member concurs with it, it being the only instrument of that faculty, it is truly said to see alone. So faith, though in respect of its being it is not alone, yet in respect of justifying, unto which act no other grace concurs with it, it being the only instrument of apprehending and receiving Christ, is truly said to justify alone.

When we say "by faith only," this opposes all other graces of the same order, but not the merits of Christ or the efficacy of God's grace. The Apostle in Romans 4 makes it all one, to prove a man justified by grace, Christ, and by faith. It is to be considered as alone in the act of justification, but not in the subject justified. Therefore, it is a reproach cast on Protestants to call them Solifidians. Bishop Carlton proves out of Contarenus what the judgment of the Catholics before the Council of Trent was in this matter of justification.

We are said to be justified by faith, to live by it, to be saved by it, to have it imputed unto us for righteousness. All of this is to be understood not principally, immediately, or meritoriously in regard to any worth or dignity of it, nor efficaciously in regard to any power or efficacy in itself, but mediately, subserviently, organically, as it is a means to apprehend Christ, His satisfaction, and His sufferings, by the price and merit of which we are justified, saved, and stand as righteous in God's sight, and as it has a special respect and relation thereto. Mr. Gataker against Saltmarsh, Shadows without Substance, p. 56.

In the Covenant of Works, works are considered as in themselves performed by the parties to be justified and in reference to anything done or to be done for them by any other. In the Covenant of Grace, faith is required and considered not as a work merely done by us, but as an instrument or means by which Christ is apprehended and received. In Christ is found, and by Christ is done, that which satisfies God's justice and meritoriously procures eternal life for us. This is what carries the power and efficacy of all home to Christ.

Object. Faith is a work; therefore if we are justified by faith, then by works.

Answer. With faith, we must join the object of it, namely, Christ. Fides justificat non absolute, sed relative sc. cum objecto, non efficiendo sed afficiendo & applicando. The Scripture says we are justified by faith and through faith, but never for faith or because of our faith: per fidem, ex fide, non propter fidem. We can only be justified by that righteousness which is universal and complete; faith is a partial righteousness (Philippians 3:9) and as imperfect as other graces.

Object. Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ."

Answer. "But" is adversative, meaning "by faith alone." Secondly, only faith receives Christ and a promise.

Faith justifies by the mere ordination of God, that on the receiving of Christ, or resting on him, we shall be justified. The proper act of faith which justifies is the relying on Christ for the pardon of sin.

To justify does not flow from any act of grace because of the dignity and excellency of that act, but because of the peculiar nature that it receives and applies. Therefore, to receive Christ and to believe in him is all one, and faith is always opposed to works.

Bellarmine objects that to apply is a work or action. It is true, it is a grammatical action, but a predicamental passion. But, says Bellarmine, love lays hold on Christ, and by love we are made one. Yet there is a difference: love makes us one with Christ extrinsically, faith intrinsically. Besides, love joins us to Christ after we are made one by faith, so that it cannot justify us.

Paul and James do not contradict one another. Paul shows what is that which justifies, and James shows what kind of faith justifies, namely, a lively, effectual faith. James shows that faith justifies quae viva, while Paul shows that it does not justify qua viva, which is a significant difference, although the Remonstrants scoff at such a distinction. "Who would give a lemon-peeling for the difference?"

Whether Sanctification Precedes Justification

Bishop Downame in his appendix to the Covenant of Grace opposes my worthy tutor Mr. Pemble for holding this opinion, but perhaps a distinction may resolve all.

As sanctification is taken for the act of the Holy Ghost working holiness into us, so it goes before faith and justification. Thus, the Apostle puts it before justifying, saying (1 Corinthians 16:21), "But you are sanctified, justified." However, as it is taken for the exercise of holiness in regard to the amendment of heart and life, it follows justification in nature but is joined with it in time. The Apostle in Romans 8:30 places vocation before justification, which vocation is the same thing as the first sanctification or regeneration (see Acts 26:18).

CHAPTER XI:

Of Sanctification

Having spoken of the relative change in our state through adoption and justification, I shall now address the moral change in our persons and qualities through sanctification.

Although we distinguish between justification and sanctification, we acknowledge that they are inseparable, and that one necessarily follows the other.

Definitions and Distinctions of Sanctification

To sanctify sometimes signifies:

1. To Acknowledge the Holiness of a Thing: God is said to sanctify himself and his own name, or to use it according to its holiness. Similarly, we are said to sanctify the Lord and the Sabbath day, meaning to use it in a holy manner.

2. To Make Holy: A person or thing may be made holy in three ways:

1. When it is separated from common use.

2. When it is devoted to God, made peculiar to him, such as when one might sanctify a house or a beast.

3. When it is cleansed and purged from all filthiness and naughtiness.

In the first two senses, it is opposed to common and profane; in the last, to unclean, as in Scripture, such as goods, houses, and the temple.

What Sanctification Is

Some describe it thus:

Sanctification is the grace of God dwelling in us, enabling us to live a holy life.

It is a supernatural work of God's Spirit, whereby the soul and body of a believer are turned to God, devoted to him, and the image of God is repaired in all the powers and faculties of the soul.

It is a resolution of will and endeavour of life to please God in all things, springing from the consideration of God's love in Christ to mankind revealed in the Gospel.

Sanctification is a continued work of the Spirit flowing from Christ as the head, purging a man from the image of Adam, and by degrees conforming us to the image of Christ.

The Nature of Sanctification

1. An Act of the Spirit: The special work of the Father is creation, of the Son redemption, and of the Holy Ghost sanctification. The Father proposed and plotted the work of reconciliation, Christ undertook the service, but the Spirit is the unction that removes all enmity within us. The Spirit dwells in the saints virtually and operatively by his gifts, graces, comforts, and by exciting them. Some may dislike Luther's passage, "Habitat ergo verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantum per dona, sed quoad substantiam," though others of our divines follow him. The Spirit of God is the efficient cause of sanctification. The sanctified are called those who are in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. If we mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, we shall live. If any are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God; and if anyone does not have the Spirit, they are none of his (Ezek. 36:27). The Holy Ghost uses the Word of God, the doctrine of the Gospel, as its immediate instrument to work this holiness of heart and life. Christ sends his Spirit that by the Word works faith and all graces. It is an act of the Spirit flowing from Christ as the head; common works of the Spirit do not flow from Christ as the head (John 1:16, Col. 1:19). Christ is the common treasury of all the grace God ever intended to bestow (1 John 2:20). The intent of union is communication.

2. A Continued Work of the Spirit: This distinguishes it from vocation, conversion, and regeneration. It is styled vocation because it is wrought by a heavenly call; conversion because it is the change of a man's utmost end; regeneration because one receives a new nature and new principles of action. The carrying on of this work in blotting out the image of old Adam, and by degrees introducing the image of Christ, is sanctification (2 Cor. 7:1). Therefore, we must have supplies of the Spirit (Psal. 92:10).

Sanctification is meant to be as extensive as original corruption, intended by the Lord to be a plaster as broad as the sore. Original sin was not a single sin but a sin encompassing all sin. Similarly, sanctification is not one distinct grace but a grace that comprehends all grace.

It is called the "new man" in opposition to the "old man" because it makes us new, changing us from the natural filthiness of sin to the righteousness and holiness from which we were deprived by the fall of Adam. It signifies the author of it, which is the Spirit of God working in us, called the Holy Spirit because he is holy in himself and works holiness in us, the Divine Nature because it is a resemblance of God's perfection, and the image of God because it makes us in some degree like unto him.

The moving cause is the consideration of the love of Christ to mankind revealed in the Gospel. The matter of it is a resolution and constant endeavor to know and do the whole will of God revealed in his Word, Psalm 119:30, 73:10. The form is a conformity to God's Law or whole will so revealed, Psalm 119. The principal end is to glorify and please God, with the secondary end being to attain his favor and eternal happiness. Its extent must be in all things, and its subject is the whole person—soul and body. Sanctification reaches the frame of the heart; David hid the Law of God in his heart, the inward man, therefore called a new creature, and outward conversation, therefore called a living to God, 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

The parts of sanctification are two: mortifying and crucifying the old man with its lusts and affections, and quickening the new man, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Properties of Sanctification

1. Sincerity: Sanctification must be genuine.

2. Constancy: It is a continuous process, hence called a walking in the way of the Lord.

3. Imperfect Here: Sanctification is never complete in this life.

4. Growth: It progresses toward perfection.

A Godly Life

A godly life is distinguished:

1. From the false goodness of the hypocrite, who may sometimes do God's will but not with a settled will to endeavor it, and willing in some things but not in all things. The motive for the hypocrite is self-love or some outward advantage.

2. From the perfect goodness required in Adam under the Covenant of Works, which required not only a will and endeavor to know and do but an actual knowing and doing. These differ as much as aiming at the mark and hitting it.

Purity

Purity consists in freedom from mixture with anything of a baser nature. When silver is mixed with lead or dross, it is impure. All godly men must be pure, Titus 1:15. The Apostle Paul describes godly men by this epithet. Our Savior tells his apostles, "Now are you clean, or pure, by the word which I have spoken unto you," John 15:3, Matthew 5:8, Psalm 24:4, 2 Corinthians 7:1. "He that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure."

Reasons for Purity

1. God’s Pure Nature: Because God has pure eyes and can abide no iniquity or unclean thing, one must be pure to be accepted by him and to have his services favorably entertained.

2. Indwelling of Christ: The Lord Jesus, by his Spirit and Word, and by faith, dwells in the hearts of his people. Faith, the Word, and the Spirit are clean and pure things of a cleansing and purging nature; therefore, the person in whom they dwell must be pure.

Freedom from Sin

There is a double freedom from sin:

1. When sin is not at all in the soul, with no spots or stain of it, and thus no man is pure.

2. When no uncleanness is allowed to remain but is washed off and purged away by the application of the blood of Christ and the water of true repentance, so that no stain of sin is allowed to rest upon the soul. This is the purity meant in 2 Samuel 22:27, when a person is careful to observe, lament, confess, resist, crave pardon of, and strive against all the sinful and corrupt fruits of his evil and corrupt nature which cannot be altogether repressed.

How Far This Purity Must Extend

1. To the Heart: Solomon advises a person to keep their heart with all diligence, and the Apostle states that faith purifies the heart because God searches the heart, and His pure eyes primarily look at the inside.

2. To the Tongue: Solomon says of the pure, "His words are pure."

3. To the Actions: As stated in Psalm 24:4.

A pure person is one who diligently opposes and resists the sinfulness of their nature so that it does not break forth into sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. If it does, they strive to purge themselves by confessing and bewailing their sins before God, humbly begging for pardon, renewing their purposes and resolutions of amendment, and relying on the blood and merits of Christ for forgiveness. Such a person is considered by God to be as free from sin as if they had not sinned, as God esteems them in Christ.

The Excellency of the Work of Sanctification

Christians regard the grace of Adoption, Justification, and spiritual Wisdom as high privileges. However, through the devil's deception, they often view sanctification as drudgery, whereas it is one of the greatest privileges and highest favours. All subjects of Christ's Kingdom are holy, as stated in Isaiah 4:3 and Chapter 35. They have God's image restored in them, which consists of righteousness and true holiness. Holiness is a conformity of the heart's frame to the will of God. Christ's life is communicated to them, enabling them to die to their corruptions and strive to live according to the rules of the Gospel. Being a saint is a great privilege.

Reasons for Sanctification

1. God's Excellency: Holiness is the Lord's own excellence, His great attribute. He is glorious in holiness. The Cherubim (Isaiah 6) sing "holy," and the Church sings similarly in Revelation.

2. Image of God: Holiness is the image of God in which He created man, intending to make him a beautiful creature (Ephesians 4:24).

3. Eternal Happiness: Holiness is a significant part of the happiness God's people will enjoy in heaven for all eternity (Ephesians 5:27).

4. God’s Displeasure: A soul devoid of holiness is abominable in God's sight (Psalm 5:5; Habakkuk 1:13). Only angels and men are capable of holiness. The angels who sinned were cast out of heaven immediately, and man was cast out of Paradise when he sinned.

5. Blessings and Promises: God pronounces the holy blessed everywhere and makes great promises to them. This privilege is granted to everyone under the dominion of Christ's grace (Isaiah 11:1-12; 1 Peter 2:8-9) but to none else. The world is Satan's kingdom.

Comfort and Assurance of Sanctification

Sanctification serves to comfort and cheer the soul. Whatever God does for anyone, He never gives a greater pledge of His love than to sanctify them. Holiness is the only great standing evidence of His favour. It evidences one's election, calling, justification, and adoption. While justification and adoption have comforts that sanctification does not, sanctification clarifies them to the individual.

The Imperfection of Sanctification

The work of sanctification is imperfect in all of God's servants while they are in this world (Romans 6, 7, 8; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 4:18 to the end).

1. Feeble Qualities: The gracious qualities wrought by the Spirit of God in the soul are feeble and initial (1 Corinthians 13). We know, love, and believe only in part.

2. Remaining Corruption: There remains a body of corruption, a depravity of all the soul's faculties, which consists of averseness to good and proneness to evil. Therefore, sanctification involves mortifying these remnants of corruption (Colossians 3:5; Romans 7; 1 John 1).

3. Imperfect Good Works: While God's people are in this world, no good work they do is perfect; all are tainted with corruption (Isaiah 64:10).

God could as easily make sanctification perfect as He could justification. He hates the stain of sin as much as the guilt, and the Law requires a pure nature as well as a pure life. Yet, God allows sanctification to be imperfect and for the remnants of the old nature to remain for several reasons:

1. Dependence on Christ: He wants His people to derive their life from their relationship with Christ and the exercise of faith. If sanctification were perfect, Christ would have nothing to give.

2. Exercise in Prayer: He wants His people to exercise prayer and confession, asking for the destruction of corruption and the perfection of grace.

3. Humility: He loves for His people to be nothing in themselves, mirroring Christ's abasement on earth. God wants His people to be lowly and humble.

4. Life as Warfare: This life is meant to be a warfare for God's people (Job 14:14). Their great conflict is with their own lusts.

5. Longing for Heaven: He wants His people to long for heaven (2 Corinthians 5:2).

6. Magnifying Grace: This magnifies the grace of the new covenant above all that He gave in the old. God gave perfect grace to angels and to Adam and his posterity, but that grace vanished. Now, a spark of grace lives in a sea of corruption.

7. Exalting Patience: It exalts God's patience and forbearance to His people (Numbers 14:17-18).

Therefore it is hard to discern whether the work of Sanctification be wrought in us or no, because of the relics of corruption.

Evidences of Sanctification

1. Reverence for the Word: A truly sanctified heart stands in awe of the Word. Sanctification is the law written in the heart, a principle instilled in the soul that aligns with the duties the law requires (John 14:22-23).

2. Burden of Corruption: The remnants of corruption and the imperfection of grace will be a continual burden (Romans 7:24; 2 Corinthians 11:23).

3. Continuous Combat: There is a continual combat maintained between sin and grace.

4. Growth in Grace: True sanctification is of a growing nature; living things will grow (2 Peter 3:18; Malachi 3:3-4).

5. Grace in Trials: True grace is especially evident when God calls you to great trials (Natura vexata seipsum prodit, Genesis 22:20).

Means to Achieve Holiness

1. Spirit of Christ: Only the Spirit of Christ, bestowed upon you by faith, can sanctify (John 7:38). The apostles' arguments for holiness are based on their interest in Christ.

2. Faith in Christ's Blood: Faith in the blood of Christ purifies (Hebrews 9:14; Acts 15:9).

3. The Word: The Word read, heard, and meditated upon transforms the soul into its likeness (John 17:17; 1 Peter 1:22).

4. The Sacrament: The Sacrament is a sanctifying ordinance, presenting the death and merits of Christ before us.

5. Prayer: Pray more for God's sanctifying Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

CHAPTER XII:

The Parts of Sanctification: Mortification and Vivification

I. Mortification

Where grace is truly wrought, it will be the daily study and practice of those who are sanctified to subdue the body of corruption. This is called dying to sin, putting off the old man, crucifying the flesh, and most commonly, mortifying it.

The Schoolmen describe a twofold Mortification and Vivification:

1. Habitual and Internal: The work of God's Spirit in our first regeneration (Galatians 5:24), whereby the dominion of sin is subdued and brought under the power of God's Spirit. This and internal vivification are the two parts of our conversion.

2. Actual, Practical, and External: Our own work, the daily practice of a child of God while he lives on earth. This flows from the other.

Every godly man, walking according to Christianity, daily mortifies the body of corruption that dwells in him (Romans 4:8-9; Ephesians 4:20-22; Colossians 3:5; Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:6). To "mortify" (or make dead) is a metaphor taken from surgeons whose practice is, when they would cut off a member, to apply such things as will eat out the life of it. So our care must be to make the living body of corruption like a cadaver.

Practical Mortification

Practical mortification is the faithful endeavour of the soul to subdue all the lusts and motions which are prone to spring from our sinful flesh. It consists of three things:

1. A full purpose or bent of the heart (the mind and will) against sin, when my will does not desire sin, though it may be active.

2. Shunning all occasions that serve as fuel to sin.

3. Applying all means that may subdue one's corruptions.

The Practice of Mortification

1. A necessary duty.

2. One of the most spiritual duties in all Christianity.

3. The hardest duty.

The Popish exercises of mortification, consisting of their kind of fasting, whipping, pilgrimage, and wearing hair-cloth next to their skin, will never work true mortification in the heart. Yet Baal's priests exceeded them in cruelty to themselves (1 Kings 18:28). See Romans 8:13, Colossians 2:23, 1 Timothy 4:8.

Instances Where Mortification Is Absent

1. Such a one who lives in the voluntary practice of his sins (Romans 6).

2. The body of corruption may be wholly unmortified even if it does not break out in the ordinary and constant practice of any gross sin. The seat and throne of sin are in the soul; the slavish fear of shame and punishment from men or eternal damnation from God may keep a man from gross sins.

Motives and Means for Mortification

1. Motives: Several meditations to quicken us to the study of this work every day.

2. Means: God will bless one who is willing to have his lusts subdued.

I. Motives

Consider:

1. This is the great thing God requires of us as our gratitude for all the goodness He bestows on us, that for His sake we should leave those ways that are abominable in His sight (Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:21-22; 1 Peter 2:1; Deuteronomy 32:6).

2. How deeply we have obliged our hearts to it by vow, oath, and covenant in Baptism. We have covenanted there to die to sin, put off the old man, and so in the Lord's Supper, we show forth the Lord's death, and when we have been in danger.

3. The manifold evils of unmortified lusts abiding in the heart.

What makes your soul loathsome and unclean in the eyes of God and Angels but sin? What grieves God, pierces His Son, and fights against Him but sin? What brings any evil upon you but sin? What is the sting of any affliction but only your sins? What strengthens death but sin? It is only your sins that keep good things from you, your unmortified sins.

4. The absolute necessity of this work if we mean to escape hell and everlasting damnation (Romans 8:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9). Grave Maurice at Newport battle sent away the boats and said to his men, "Either drink up this sea or eat the Spaniards."

5. The wonderful gain that will come to your soul if the Lord teaches you this duty.

1. In mortifying and destroying your beloved lusts, you destroy all other enemies with them; they all receive their weapons from your sins.

2. All other mercies flow in a constant current if you mortify your corruptions: God's favour, the whole stream of the Covenant of Grace.

II. Means of Mortification

Some use moral motives from the inconvenience of sin, death, the fear of hell and judgment; some carnal motives such as esteem and advantage in the world; others natural, moderate in things indifferent, and shunning the occasions of sin. However, meditating on the death of Christ is the purest and most effective way of mortifying sin (1 Peter 4:1). Look upon Christ's death not only as a pattern but as a cause of Mortification (John 3:14; Hebrews 12:2).

1. Look upon sin as the cause of Christ's sufferings (Zechariah 12:10; Acts 2:37).

2. Consider the greatness and dreadfulness of His sufferings (Romans 8:32).

3. Consider the fruit of His sufferings (Colossians 2:15).

4. Reason must argue from the end of Christ's sufferings, which was Mortification as well as comfort and pardon (1 John 3:6; Ephesians 5:27).

Improve the Death of Christ

1. By faith (Romans 6:6; 7:25).

2. By prayer (Hebrews 10:19).

3. A preparation for this duty: Labour daily to find out your sins. We are naturally very prone to entertain a good opinion of ourselves and discern not many evils in us.

1. Study the Law (Romans 7). "I was alive without the Law, but when I saw the inward motions of sin were abominable to God, I died"; compare your own soul with it.

2. Study your own ways. When you are crossed, how are you troubled? Say, "Is not this anger?" When others reproach you, how are you troubled? Say, "Is not this pride and self-love?"

3. Have an ear open to the admonition of faithful friends; do not leave your heart until it pleads guilty.

4. Make use of ordinances: the Word read and heard, prayer, the Sacrament. After he had commanded them to put off the old man (Colossians 3), he says, "Let the Word dwell plentifully in you." David begs God to strengthen him.

5. Take heed and shun all the occasions that foment and cherish your corruptions:

1. Inwardly, your own thoughts; we cure the itch by cleansing the blood (Job 31:1). "Why should I think on a maid?"

2. Outwardly, there are two of all sins: idleness, the devil's cushion, and evil company.

6. Upon special occasions, there must be the solemn exercise of fasting and humiliation, because we must mortify the inclinations of sin (James 4:9).

CHAP. XIII. II.

Of Vivification

There are two parts of a Christian's duty: dying to sin and living to God.

It is called living to God (Romans 14:8; Galatians 2:19), living to holiness, the life of righteousness, rising to Christ.

It is first habitual when the Spirit of God infuses such principles by which we are able to live unto God.

Secondly, practical vivification is the constant endeavour of a believer to exercise all those graces which the Spirit of God has planted in him. The life of a thing is the acting according to the principle of it, so something daily draws out the exercise of those holy graces the Spirit of God has wrought in him (Proverbs 4:23).

Practical vivification reaches to all things which concern Christianity, but consists in two things:

1. The active bent and propenseness of the inward man to the things of God's Kingdom.

2. Strength and ability to act according to the rule.

The school divines make this spiritual bent to stand in five things:

1. In oppugnatione vitiorum, the same as practical mortification.

2. In contemptu terrenorum.

3. In repulsion tentationum.

4. In tolerantia afflictionum.

5. In aggression bonorum operum quamvis arduorum.

This strength comes:

1. From the principle within, the life of the habits.

2. From the Spirit of God who dwells in them and stirs them up to act.

This new life is Christ's rather than our own. He is the root and author of the life of grace (John 8:12). The Gospel is the ministration of life (Colossians 3:4; 1 John 5:11-12; 2 Timothy 1:10).

There is a threefold life:

1. Natural or personal.

2. Political.

3. Divine or spiritual.

4. The natural life flows from the union of soul and body.

5. The political life comprehends all those things which people perform for one another by virtue of their relations and associations of people together by laws.

6. Spiritual life arises from the intercourse between God and the soul.

There is a great similarity and dissimilarity between the natural and spiritual life.

They agree in these things:

1. Natural life supposes some generation, so does spiritual life; therefore, it is called regeneration (1 John 2:27).

2. What the soul is to the body in the natural life, God is to the soul in a spiritual life. As the soul is the principle of all actions and operations in the body, so in the spiritual life, Christ works all by the person.

3. As long as the soul is in the body, one is a living being; when the soul is gone, the body is but a corpse. Similarly, as long as God is with the soul, it is in good condition.

4. Where there is life, there is sense and feeling. Spiritual life is seen by the tenderness of the heart (Ephesians 4:18-19); it is sensitive to injuries caused by sin (Romans 7:24) or to its decline due to God's absence.

5. Where there is life, there is a nutritive appetite, an instinct to preserve life (1 Peter 2:2). This life is nourished by the ordinances and constant influences of the Spirit.

6. Where there is life, there will be growth; God's people grow more wise and solid.

They differ thus:

1. The union between the soul and body is natural, whereas the union between God and the soul comes from free grace.

2. In natural life, there is a need until the soul and body are joined, but there is no want on God's part, even if He is not united to the soul.

3. The soul and body united make one person; so do not God and the soul.

4. Natural life comes wholly from corrupt principles and is a fading life (James 4:14), but the one who lives this spiritual life once lives it forever (John 6:5).

This divine spiritual life stands in two things:

First, by our apostasy, we have fallen away from God. When God restores us to life, He restores us to His favour (Ephesians 2:11-22), removing sin and the curse.

Secondly, there is wrought in the soul a suitable frame of spirit to do things agreeable to the will of God, an inward principle of holiness, the repairing of God's image in us (Ephesians 1:2), quickened by Him.

Christ is our life and the fountain of this spiritual life in three ways:

1. He is the meritorious cause of it. He has purchased all this for us by His blood, bearing the wrath of God for us through His active and passive obedience. He has merited that all this life should be communicated to us.

2. He is the efficient cause of it, working all this in and for us. He sends His Holy Spirit into the souls of all those He intends to save, applying to them their peace and pardon, and quickening them.

3. He is the exemplar, rule, and copy of how our life should be led.

The preaching of the Gospel is the ministration of this life thus:

1. In the letter of it, though delivered by the most faithful ministers, it can do nothing by itself. Therefore, these things are often preached, and people are not bettered; when the Spirit accompanies it, it is efficacious (Romans 1:16; Philippians 2:15).

The preaching of the Gospel is:

1. The only means of the revelation of this life (2 Timothy 1:10).

2. The divine seed by which the Lord conveys this life and begets it in the soul (1 Peter 1:23-25).

This work of the Gospel consists in five things:

1. The preaching of the Gospel opens the understanding, making us see the misery of sin, the excellence of Christ, and the things of God (Ephesians 1; 2 Corinthians 5).

2. It makes the will and affections relish Christ's sweetness, persuading the heart to choose Him and consent that God and the individual may be united in a league of friendship; this is the work of faith.

3. It turns the heart from all evil ways it walked in; people are said to be pulled out of the power of Satan.

4. It creates in the soul and stamps upon it all the graces wherein God's image stands.

5. By administration of the promise and instruction, it fortifies the soul and enables one to do all things belonging to this life.

Arminians give too much to man and too little to Christ. Antinomians and Familists give too much to Christ and too little to man. They give so much to Christ that they abolish the nature and act of the creature; they say Christ must do all, and we can do nothing. They dream of an insensible motion without us, place grace in a naked apprehension; there must be not only a work for us, but in and by us. The work of the Father is in heaven, of Christ on the cross, and of the Spirit within us (Colossians 1:29). They deny not only man's work but the Spirit's work in us (Romans 16:20).

Secondly, they say Christ must do all, and we, after we have received grace, do nothing. There is not a coordination but subordination of our wills to his grace. Though at our first conversion we were merely passive, yet when grace is received we may act; motion follows life (Colossians 2:4).

The Familists deny all inherent graces in the saints because it is said we do not live, but Christ lives in us. They say He believes, repents, as if we lived not at all, and He is formally all habits and graces; but the Scripture grants habits and graces to be in a person (John 19:28; Matthew 12:33; 1 John 3:9).

Secondly, the sins of our actions then could not be charged on ourselves, but on the faint operations of His grace.

Marks and Evidences of Spiritual Life:

First, every creature which lives values life. A living dog is better than a dead lion. If one values his life, he will prize:

1. Pabulum vitae: Attend to the ordinances, the word, sacraments, prayer, and communion of saints (1 Peter 2:2; Song of Solomon 4:16).

2. He will avoid what is destructive to life: Beware of grieving and quenching the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19) by neglecting its motions or indulging in noisome lusts.

3. He will endure any evil and part with any good rather than part with life.

Secondly, this new life always brings a great change along with it. When a child quickens in the mother's womb, she feels a great change. Similarly, when Paul, Manasseh, and the blind man (John 9) were converted, unless they were religiously trained up like Timothy from their youth, they experienced significant change.

Thirdly, sense: a spiritual sense in the soul. Senses are exercised, savouring the things of God (Romans 8).

Fourthly, every life has some kind of motions and actions that are suitable to it, as in this spiritual life:

1. The inward work of adhering to Christ as their chief portion, the fountain of all their good—a true faith.

2. Repentance: labouring to cast out corruption and to turn to God.

3. The Spirit of Prayer: "You have received the Spirit of adoption whereby you cry, 'Abba, Father.'" Our law judges a child alive that was heard to cry.

4. The minding of heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-2).

5. Life has a sympathy, a fellowship with those who are members of the body. The same quickening Spirit lives in all Christians. We weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

6. If we are regenerated, we do to God what children do to their father:

1. Honour him and stand in awe of him.

2. Rely on him as the fountain of all our good, as children rely on their parents for a supply of all their needs.

3. Are obedient to him.

Motives to Live to God:

1. It is a dishonour to God when the creature seeks to exalt itself. That which I make my utmost end, I make my God (Philippians 3:10).

2. Consider the self-denial of Christ; he came from heaven to do the will of Him that sent Him (Romans 15:3).

Means of Spiritual Life:

1. Labour to get your miserable condition by nature set close upon your spirit—how you are dead in sin.

2. Study to get into Christ (1 John 5:12). Only He can quicken; He is never got but by faith. Luke 15—the prodigal is the pattern of a converted soul (see verse 31).

CHAPTER XIV:

The Sanctification of the Whole Man: Soul and Body

We should live more to the soul than the body (Psalm 119:175; 141:8; 142:7; 143:11).

1. The soul is distinct from the body, as its operations show.

2. It lives when the body dies (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 10:28).

3. It is far better than the body.

4. The concerns of the soul are higher than those of the body (1 Peter 3:1).

5. The sickness and death of the soul are worse than those of the body (1 Kings 8:38; John 8:21, 23).

6. We never live to any purpose but when the soul lives.

Of the Faculties of the Soul

Grace spreads itself through all the faculties. A faculty is an ability to produce some effect or operation agreeable to our nature and for our good, implanted in man by nature.

There are three reasonable faculties proper to men alone:

1. The Understanding: by which we know truth.

2. The Will: by which we desire good.

3. Conscience: a power of ordering ourselves to and with God.

I. Of the Understanding

The understanding is that power which God has given man to acquaint himself with the being, properties, and differences of all things by discourse. It is the faculty by which we can inform ourselves of the general natures of things. Sense alone perceives particulars; the understanding abstracts things and forms in itself the general natures of things. For instance, I see this or that man, but I understand the nature of man.

The object of the understanding is omne intelligibile—truth in general in its utmost latitude and universality. Truth in general is the object of the understanding; good in general in the universality of its nature is the object of the will. Therefore, until it comes to enjoy God, who eminently contains all good in Himself, it can never find full satisfaction.

Light was the first thing in the creation, and so it is in the new creature (Ephesians 4:23). He has a new judgment, both speculative and practical.

1. Speculative: He apprehends and discerns reasons and arguments against sin and for grace more than ever before. He is amazed to consider the darkness and folly he lived in before (1 Corinthians 2:15).

2. Practical: He applies the things he knows for his humiliation and exercise. He knows truths in such a way that he loves them and delights in them; he knows them experientially.

The conversion of a man is a divine teaching (Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:44; John 6:45).

The Properties of This Teaching:

1. It is necessary. Without this, all other teaching is in vain. David often prays that God would teach him His statutes and open his eyes. Ministers teach the ear, but God teaches the heart.

2. It is efficacious (Job 36:22).

3. It is clear and distinct. Hence, God's word is called a light and the riches of the assurance of understanding.

4. It is practical. It is an acknowledgment after godliness. As Luther said, Verba Scripturae non sunt verba legenda, sed vivenda (The words of Scripture are not to be read but to be lived).

5. It is abundant under the gospel. "All shall know me, from the greatest to the least." Knowledge shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

A great part of conversion lies in the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 1:17-18; Philippians 1:4).

This renewing consists:

Knowledge

1. Doctrinal Knowledge: The truths to be believed form the very foundation, known as historical faith. This is a knowledge with an assent to the truths recorded in Scripture. Many may possess this knowledge and more, yet remain unconverted. However, where conversion is present, this knowledge must necessarily precede it (1 Corinthians 2:2). Whom God converts, He enlightens (John 6:45; 1 Corinthians 8:2). Man's whole conversion is called a teaching.

2. Practical Knowledge: This includes knowledge of our own filthiness, as was necessary for Nicodemus (John 3). Partly, it involves understanding one's natural filthiness and, partly, knowledge of Christ. Without this, sin will overwhelm the soul (Romans 7:24-25; Ephesians 1:19-20). One must know their own poverty and Christ's riches, their own guilt and His satisfaction.

3. Belief and Assent: It makes the heart believe and assent to these truths. The understanding needs converting grace not only to turn but also to firmly adhere to the truths revealed and the promises manifested. The heart does not turn to God merely by knowing the promises but by firmly relying on them, which is often called trusting, especially in the Psalms.

4. Judgment: The judgment is inclined to approve of God's Word, His precepts, and promises as the best. The converted person esteems God's favour and freedom from corruption more than all the glory and riches of the world.

5. Sanctified Thoughts: The mind is partly sanctified in regard to thoughts. Previously roving, distracted, impertinent, and frivolous, the mind is now renewed, having more holy, composed, and profitable thoughts. It has more low thoughts of oneself and high thoughts of Christ.

6. Focus on God's Word: It looks solely to God's Word: "My sheep hear my voice" and "To the law and the testimony."

7. Consultations: The mind is renewed in respect to consultations. Paul consulted not with flesh and blood; he subjects all to the glory of God and His Word.

8. Holy Purposes: It invents holy purposes, means, and ways to propagate God's glory.

9. Discernment: It discerns things that differ (Romans 12:7).

CHAPTER XV:

Of the Sanctification of the Will

God's great work in conversion is in the will (Isaiah 1:19; Revelation 22:17; Psalm 110:3; Ephesians 1:19). Whenever He converts the soul, He subdues the will (1 Chronicles 28:9; Philippians 2:13). Grace is a resignation of ourselves to the will of God (Romans 6:17; 2 Corinthians 8:10). Though the will of man is subdued in conversion and made free, it is not perfectly made free. As there is a degree of blindness that remains in the understanding, so there is a degree of bondage in the will. The work of conversion is never perfected until the will is gained. It begins in the mind (Ephesians 4:23) but ends in the will (Deuteronomy 30:6). All liberty must proceed from liberum judicium, a judgment of the understanding not misled by sensitive objects (Aquinas).

The will is renewed in a godly person in these particulars:

1. Flexibility: When Paul was converted, he said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Psalm 40:8; 143:10). This will is broken, which before was contumacious and stubborn (Isaiah 11:6).

2. Tenderness: It was hardened before. This is implied in having a "fat heart" that has no sense or feeling of either God's displeasure or the fearful state it is in. The converted person has a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), which is opposed to a stony heart that is senseless and stupid.

3. Pure Motives: It is moved by pure motives for the holiness of the precepts. David prizes God's word above thousands of gold and silver for its spiritual profit; it would quicken and enlarge his heart and support him in afflictions.

4. Stability: It is established and settled in a good way. The honest heart holds fast the word of God and cleaves to the Lord with full purpose of heart.

5. Efficacy and Fervency: It is made efficacious and fervent in holy things. Their services are free-will offerings (1 Chronicles 29:14; Romans 7:18).

6. Acts:

1. Election and Choice: The will is sanctified, preferring holy and eternal things before sin and temporal matters (Hebrews 11). Moses chose the reproaches of Christ before the treasures of Egypt. Election is an act of the will about the means and corresponds to consultation in the understanding.

2. Consent: It consents to God and Christ (Isaiah 1:19; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Romans 7:16).

3. Power over Other Faculties: It commands the other powers of the soul, such as the understanding, to make it think and reason about this or that (2 Peter 3:5). It sets the understanding on searching the truth and finding it out, and the will delights itself in good things.

7. Adorned with Habitual Graces:

1. Fiducial Recumbency and Trusting in God: The renewed will rolls itself upon Jesus Christ and has confidence and boldness.

2. Love for God Above All Other Things: Therefore, He says, "I will circumcise you, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart."

3. Divine Hope: This keeps up the soul in all difficulties (Lamentations 3:13).

Obedience is the virtue of the will by which it is flexible to God's will in all things and for His sake. Here, coeca obedientia, blind absolute obedience, is as necessary and commendable as it is foolish and unreasonable in friars to their superiors (Vide Daven. Determ. Quaest. 6).

Twofold Obedience

1. Legal: This is to keep God's ways and do all that the Ten Commandments require at all times, in all fullness, without any failing in matter or manner. This was the bargain made with our first parents, Adam and Eve, and it naturally lies on us: "Do this and live." Such perfect obedience is utterly impossible, for Paul says, "That which the law could not do inasmuch as it was weak through the flesh." The law cannot bring us to heaven because our flesh, in breaking it, disables it from giving us the reward promised to absolute perfection. By the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. If we could perform such obedience, we would not need any mediator.

2. Evangelical: This is a true striving to perform the former obedience. It is an upright and hearty endeavour after the perfect obedience named above. The Gospel does not abolish the law from being the rule of our life but only from being the means of our justification, thus preventing the law's curse upon us. It establishes the law as a rule of good life, tying and enabling us to labour with uprightness and sincerity to perform all things written in the law in all perfection. The obedience of the law excludes all defects; that of the Gospel excludes all wilful defects and allowed sins.

Types of Obedience

1. Counterfeit: False and feigned, when the will yields to God's will in some things, not because it is His will, but because His will does not much cross their own motions. This is the obedience of hypocrites.

2. True and Hearty: When for God's own sake principally, the will frames itself in all things to stoop unto Him.

Of This There Are Two Degrees

1. Perfect Obedience: This occurs when the will is wholly aligned with God's will without any opposition, carried entirely by its full force. This state was only in Adam.

2. Imperfect Obedience: This occurs when the will opposes its own disobedient inclinations, consents to obey, and is displeased with its own disobedience.

We must all strive to yield true obedience to God. How often and earnestly does Moses emphasize this (Deuteronomy 4:1; 5:1)? Christ said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Peter says we must yield ourselves to God as those who are risen from the dead, meaning quickened in soul by virtue of Christ's resurrection (1 Kings 2:3-4).

Reasons

From God

1. His Right to Rule: He is the author of our being and continuance. He has also redeemed us. Therefore, it was pressed upon the people of Israel that they ought to obey God above all people because He redeemed them from the hand of Pharaoh.

2. His Fitness to Rule:

1. He is most wise and just, making good, righteous, and equal laws.

2. He is most careful to observe the conduct of men.

3. He is most bountiful to reward obedience.

4. He is most severe in punishing disobedience.

3. His Goodness: He has already done us so much good and laden us with so many benefits that we are engaged to Him.

4. His Holy Nature: His nature is excellent in wisdom and goodness.

From Ourselves

1. Our Relationship to Him: We are subject to Him as His children, servants, and subjects.

2. Our Weakness: We are foolish and weak in ourselves, subject to many enemies and dangers.

From the Commandments

1. Justice: They are most just, holding perfect agreement with right reason and equity, teaching us to give God and man what is due.

2. Goodness: They are fitted to our good as well as to God's glory. Confusion would follow if everyone could hate and kill as they wished.

3. Necessity: Obedience is most necessary, acceptable, profitable, and possible—praying, hearing, knowledge of God, and faith.

The rule of it must be the word of God, the extent the whole law in every point (Deuteronomy 28:58; Leviticus 19:37; Psalm 119:6; Acts 13:22; Colossians 4:12). The whole will of God, the form of it is conformity to the word and will of God. The principal end is that we may honour and please God (Matthew 5:16). "As you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God," says Paul.

The Properties of Obedience

1. Generality or Universality: It must be entire (Luke 1:6).

2. Constancy: "I will incline my heart to thy testimonies always to the end."

3. Sincerity: It must be grounded on God's authority and aim at His glory.

Motives to Obedience

1. The Majesty and Excellency of God: Consider the majesty and excellency of Him whose servants you are. He is the King of Kings. Constantine, Valentinian, and Theodosius, three emperors, called themselves Vasallos Christi. Moses was called "My servant," and Peter and Paul referred to themselves as servants of Christ.

2. The Honourableness of the Work: His service is perfect freedom.

3. The Great Privileges and Reward: There are great privileges and rewards for this service.

Means

1. Acknowledge Our Disobedience: Take notice of and be humbled by the sense of our own disobedience.

2. Pray for the Spirit: Pray to God to give His Spirit to incline our hearts to His testimonies.

3. Consider the Necessity, Fruit, Excellency, and Equity of Obedience: Reflect on these aspects to foster a heart inclined towards obedience.

CHAPTER XVI:

Of the Sanctification of the Conscience

Conscience is taken:

1. More strictly and properly: when it is joined with other faculties of the soul (Titus 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:5). In the first, it is differentiated from the mind; in the latter, from the will.

2. More largely: when it stands alone, representing the whole heart, soul, and spirit, working inwardly upon itself by way of reflection (Acts 24:16).

It is a distinct faculty. The Apostle seems to indicate this when he says of unbelievers that their minds and consciences are defiled. Conscience is sometimes called the whole heart (1 Samuel 24:5; 1 John 3:10), and it exercises a general and universal command over all other faculties. Its proper work is to dispose a person rightly to God's word and to activate all other powers for that purpose.

Conscience is an ability in a person to judge their state and actions according to a rule prescribed by God. Liberty of conscience is no more than licentiousness unless regulated by the Word, for conscience is regula regulata. Bernard of Clairvaux said, "The soul is free for which all books are written to correct." What conscience is can be hard to define, as in human dealings some make it a distinct faculty from the understanding, some a habit, some an act. It is the understanding reflecting upon itself in its acts regarding their goodness or badness. Or, it is the judgment that a person gives of themselves in reference to the judgment of God. There is a kind of syllogism: He who believes in Christ shall be saved; but I believe in Christ. He who loves the brethren is passed from death to life; but I love the brethren.

Converting Grace Renews a Person's Conscience

1. Tenderness and Activity: Whereas it is naturally cauterized (1 Timothy 4:2), grace puts feeling and apprehension into us. This is the first work of grace converting the soul when it begins to be tender (Acts 24:16) and unable to endure the heavy burdens of sin, which, though mountains, it never felt before. It becomes active rather than silent (Daniel 9:8; Ezra 9:6).

2. Self-Accusation: Whereas naturally it is self-flattering, it will accuse when it ought. Naturally, it stirs in a false way, promising heaven and salvation when there is no such matter (Deuteronomy 29:19). David's heart soon smote him, and in Psalm 51, he acknowledged his sin and bewailed it. Again, he said, "I and my house have sinned." Conscience speaks the truth, often making the godly lie low in their humiliation.

3. Correctness: The erroneousness of it is taken away. The mischief of an erroneous conscience is seen in Popery and other heresies, leading people to worship idols or feel wounded for eating meat on a fasting day. This erroneous conscience has brought in all the superstition in the world, but the godly obtain a sound judgment, making conscience a guide.

4. Comprehensiveness: The partial working of it about some works but not others is taken away. As Herod and those in Psalm 50, who abhorred idols but committed sacrilege, neglect duties of one of the tables. A civil person's conscience is defective, avoiding drunkenness and injustice but neglecting duties to God, such as family prayer. Hypocritical Jews and Pharisees would offer sacrifices but not show mercy.

5. Inward Motions: Inward motions and thoughts of sin, as well as outward acts, deeply smite and humble the converted person. This is something only God knows, which no civil or worldly person notices. Paul's tender conscience is troubled by every motion of sin more than any gross sin to the worldling (Romans 7). Hezekiah humbled himself for his pride of heart (Matthew 5).

6. Imperfections and Defects: In doing duties, the godly person notices all imperfections and defects, such as unbelief, laziness, and wandering thoughts. "I believe, Lord, help my unbelief." "All our righteousness is as filthy rags." A godly person rises from their duties bewailing themselves.

7. Witnessing Good and Evil: Conscience witnesses the good things of God in us as well as the evil that is of ourselves. It is broken and humbled for sin, yet this very mourning is from God.

8. Sins of Omission and Commission: Conscience troubles the wicked if they are drunk or steal, but not if they omit Christian duties (Matthew 25:36).

9. Balanced Extremity: In its extremity, it is rectified from one extreme to another. From neglect of the sacrament, they fall to adoring it. Grace rectifies this, inclining one to repent and believe, to be humble yet courageous.

Converting Grace Also Removes:

1. Slavishness and Security: It puts in us a spirit of adoption (Romans 8). No one could persuade Cain that his sins could be pardoned.

2. Self-Reliance for Comfort: People think if they are not their own saviours, they cannot be saved at all (Philippians 3). Paul desired to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified, counting all things as dung for His righteousness.

3. Unsubduedness to Scripture: Conscience is wonderfully resistant to the precepts and holiness of God's law, contradicting the Scripture way of justification in its troubles.

CHAPTER XVII.

Sanctification of the Memory

Memory is a faculty of the mind whereby it preserves the impressions of what it once knew (1 Chronicles 16:15). It is the great keeper or master of the rolls of the soul, the soul's Exchequer.

Sense and understanding concern things present, hope concerns things to come, and memory concerns things past (Memoria rerum praeteritarum).

A sanctified memory is one that can steadfastly retain and seasonably recall the works of the living God.

A Sanctified Memory Consists of Three Things:

1. Laying Up Good Things: Concerning God, Christ, God's word, His works, and experiences. Mary laid up these things in her heart.

2. For a Good End: To be sorry and ashamed of sin. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee"; "Remember the Sabbath to sanctify it."

3. Seasonably Recalling Them: Your personal sins on a day of humiliation, God's mercies on a day of thanksgiving, and good instructions when there is an occasion to practice them.

A sanctified memory is a practical memory. As the Lord says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" (Psalm 109:16).

A countrywoman, after hearing a sermon, met the minister on her way home. He asked her where she had been. She told him she had attended a good sermon. When he asked her the minister's name and the text, she answered that she did not know either, her memory was so bad, but she would go home and mend her life. Another person complained that he could remember little of the expressions and other things delivered in the sermon, but he had learned by it to hate sin and love Christ more.

CHAPTER XVIII:

Sanctification of the Affections

The affections were called by Cicero perturbations, by some affections, or affectus, and by others passions.

The affections are different from the virtues that share their names. They are certain powers of the soul by which it works and moves itself, along with the body, towards good and away from evil.

Alternatively, they are powers of the soul subordinate to the will, by which they are carried to pursue and follow after what is good, and to shun and avoid what is evil. They are the forcible and sensible motions of the will, according to how an object is presented to them as good or evil.

1. Motions (Romans 7:5): Anger, love, and joy are expressions of the will moving this or that way. The Scripture calls them the feet of the soul (Psalm 119:59, 101; Ecclesiastes 5:1).

2. Motions of the Will: Some philosophers place them in the sensitive soul, but angels and the souls of men, separate from the body, have these affections (1 Peter 1:12; James 2:19).

3. Sensible: Because they operate chiefly on the sensitive part of man, manifesting themselves there, and are forcible because they move with force (1 Chronicles 29:3).

4. According to the Object Propounded: Affections are the shaping or forming of the will in various motions according to the object presented.

Their use is to shun evil and pursue good. The manner of doing this is through certain stirrings, motions, and workings of the blood and spirit around the heart.

They are commonly called passions (James 5:17) because they imprint some passion on the body by working. In infancy, they are affections; in youth and age, they are passions. When they overrule reason, they are perturbations.

Passions, abstractly considered, are neither good nor bad morally, but they are determined by their object. As they are in man, who is wholly flesh and dead in sin, his affections and passions are defiled with sin, as are the understanding and the will. The Papists, though they say the superior faculties of the soul, like the upper regions, are altogether clear and undefiled, yet the inferior faculty, viz., the sensitive appetite in which the affections are lodged, they say is vitiated with sin.

Their Sinfulness Appears

1. Incorrect Objects: The object of love should be God and His law, and the object of hatred should be sin. Now these passions are completely contrary.

2. Inordinate to the Right Object: If directed to the right object, they are inordinate; they cannot joy without overjoying, nor love without overloving (Ephesians 4:26).

3. Contrariety: This is implied in Philippians 4:6, "Be careful for nothing"; the word implies a tearing and torturing of the heart.

4. Distraction: This differs from contrariety. Contrariety is when one passion sets against another, while distraction is when one passion is too inordinately set upon its object, hindering the other from performing its proper function. The heart is finite; the Apostle would have us hear and pray without wrath since wrath distracts the heart from attending.

5. Importunity of Passion: Ahab fell sick because of Naboth's vineyard; Quicquid volunt valde volunt.

6. Tyranny Over the Will and Understanding: As in James 1:14.

7. Incertainty and Inconstancy: As in Amnon's loathing of Tamar after his desire was fulfilled, even more than he liked her before.

To be above passions will be our happiness in heaven; rightly to order them should be our great care here.

First, the Scripture bids us not cast off but rectify our affections (Colossians 3:1; 1 John 2:15).

Secondly, they are natural faculties planted in the soul by God Himself, and so in themselves good. Christ, who was free from all sin, was not without affections. He was angry, grieved, and rejoiced. We must not dare to abuse any power which He did sanctify.

Thirdly, affections rightly ordered greatly further and help our course in godliness. If we do not find joy in prayer and delight in obedience, the work is tedious; but good affections make the work delightful. They are spurs in our sides; whoever lacks them goes on in a dull and slow pace.

Fourthly, manifold are the evils that come from disordered passions.

1. They Blind the Judgment: Perit omne judicium cum res transit ad affectum.

Impedit ira animum ne possit cernere verum.

If the spectacles are of green or red glass, all things seen through them seem to be of the same color.

2. They Seduce the Will: The will is sometimes guided by reason, but it is often carried away by passion.

3. They Fill the Heart with Inward Unquietness: They interrupt prayers (1 Peter 5:7) and hinder the working of the Word (1 Peter 2:1). They disturb reason and hinder meditation, which quiets the heart. When fear, anger, and jealousy begin to stir, judgment is disturbed and hindered. These passions fight one with another: fear with anger, anger with fear, joy with sadness, and sadness with joy. One passion carries a person one way and another, another way. Passion can never be satisfied.

4. They Often Hurt the Body When Excessive: Some, by immoderate joy, have ended their days because the spirits fly out too suddenly to the object and leave the heart destitute of them; more, by grief and fear, because the blood and spirits so hastily fly to the heart that they choke it. Anger has stopped many a man's breath; envy is the rottenness of the bones.

The regenerate man is renewed in all his passions, as we may see in David's love (Psalm 119:9), in his hatred (Psalm 130:22), in his desire (Psalm 35:9), in his fear (Psalm 119:120), in his delight (Psalm 119:6; Psalm 16:2), and in his sorrow (Psalm 119:138).

Some consider zeal to be sanctified anger. In repentance, there are melting affections and sorrow for sin (Zechariah 12:10-12), shame before God (Ezra 9:6; Lamentations 3:29), and fear of offending Him (Proverbs 28:14).

Marks of Sanctified Affections

1. Universality: They must be carried to all good and against all evil. Some love to hear the Word, some to read, some to pray, but they are not as careful to subdue passion. They will be angry, petulant, discontented, and will give way to doubting. Affections are regular when set on their right objects, enlarged when they take in the whole object. He that loves God, loves the whole God, loving Him not only as gracious and merciful but also as just, holy, and faithful. He that hates sin, hates all the evil of it (Ephesians 3:18).

2. Subjection to Grace: They are subjected to grace in their rise, measure, and continuance. They must rise and fall, ebb and flow at the command of faith, according to the nature of the thing presented. Faith will make us affect things as the Lord does. In cases concerning His glory, affections must be raised to the highest pitch. Adam's passions were subject to reason:

1. In their rise, they were commanded by him.

2. In their measure.

3. In their continuance.

3. Immediate Discovery: Sanctified affections constantly and most immediately discover themselves in meditations, projects, inward desires, and endeavors of the soul. If your thoughts of sin are pleasant, you do not hate it.

4. Sincerity and Zeal: The true metal of sanctification is sincerity, and the edge of it is zeal in every faculty.

Motives to Get the Affections Sanctified

1. True Nature: All Christians are truly as their affections are, and God judges them by their affections. A man who is carnal in his affections is judged a carnal man. One who has his affections set on heavenly things is judged a spiritual man. "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine." He does not say, "I am Christ's and Christ is mine."

2. Essential for Christianity: Without sanctified affections, one is no Christian at all (Deuteronomy 5:29).

3. Gospel Promises: Most of the Gospel promises are made to the affections (Matthew 4:6), to love, fear, delight, and confidence in God.

4. Preventing Backsliding: Holy and enlarged affections from God are among the greatest means to prevent backsliding. Ephesus bore with the bad but lost her first love.

The Right Means to Sanctify the Affections

1. New Nature: Sanctified affections are not found in any unregenerate man (Deuteronomy 5:29). Pray much for a new nature.

2. Conversing with Christ: Conversing much with Christ and pondering Him will keep your affections right.

3. Worldly Detachment: Do not let your affections dwell much on anything in the world (Colossians 3:3).

4. Knowledge: Affections are not only ordered but much quickened by knowledge (John 4:10; Psalm 9:9). Ignoti nulla cupido (There is no desire for the unknown).

5. Constant Prayer: Pray constantly to God, saying, "Lord, unite my heart to thee that I may fear thy name and love thee."

CHAPTER XIX:

Of the Particular Affections

Some affections are cheering and comforting, such as love, joy, and hope; others are disquieting and afflicting, like anger, sorrow, fear, and despair. To afflict the soul during a fast is to awaken some or all of these afflicting passions. The soul is only afflicted by itself. In heaven, all afflicting affections cease in their acting; in hell, they are all exercised.

According to their subject, affections are divided into those of the concupiscible and irascible appetite.

Concupiscible Appetite

Concupiscible, whereby the soul is carried to that which is good. When the object is good, the desiring faculty draws the heart toward it:

- If it is a present good, it is joy.

- If the present good is near at hand, it is called love.

- If it is easy to obtain, it is desire.

- If difficult, it is hope.

- If impossible, it is despair.

Irascible Appetite

Irascible or shunning faculty from evil:

- If the evil is present, it is grief.

- If it makes an attempt on the heart:

- If it is vincible, it is courage.

- If invincible, it is horror.

Man's affections are linked together in their working. Love is the chief, followed by the desire to attain the thing loved. Joy comes if one possesses it; grief if one does not; anger against those who obstruct it; kindness toward those who further it; fear of losing it; courage to keep it; shame if one does not have it; boldness if one does.

The Chief Affections

Simple Affections

1. On Good:

- Simply in itself: Love, a motion of being united to it, of complacency and liking.

- Respectively to its Presence: Joy, a motion of enjoying it, an enlargement of the heart to receive good.

- Respectively to its Absence:

- The good itself: Desire, a stirring of the heart to use means to get it.

- The likelihood of attaining or not attaining it:

- Hope, a moving and lifting up of the mind toward it.

- Despair, a falling from the future good.

2. On Evil:

- Simply: Hatred, a motion of separating from that which is counted evil, as when we see a toad.

- Respectively to its Presence: Sadness, a pulling together of the heart in the sense of a present evil.

- Respectively to its Absence:

- In itself: Flight, detestation if it comes, a motion of fleeing from it.

- In its likelihood of being shunned or suffered:

- If we conceive it avoidable: Courage, a motion of rising against it, and making resistance.

- If it is likely not to be escaped but suffered: Fear, a kind of perplexity or shrinking from it.

Compound Affections

These are the diverse workings of two or more of these together, and they respect other things for good or evil:

1. The Possessors Thereof:

- Ourselves:

- Shame for evil or turpitude, in regard to evil, working by motions of fear, hatred, and grief.

- Boldness for good we have done or obtained, in regard to the good esteem of it, motions of the contrary affections.

- Others:

- For good we think we see in them: Reverence, differing from simple fear, looking to a thing conceived as excellent, a joint working of fear, love, desire, and joy.

- For evil: Contempt, a motion of vilifying and abasing, disdaining one by the joint working of contrary passions to those named above.

2. The Furtherances or Hindrances Thereof:

- The things which further good and hinder evil:

- Kindness, well-pleasedness, a melting of the heart toward the thing or person which has done us good, or kept us from evil by the joint motions of love, desire, and joy.

- Confidence, staying of the heart upon anything or person for good, or deliverance from evil, by a mixed work of love, courage, and desire supporting hope.

- The things which further evil and hinder good:

- Anger, a motion of punishing or hurting that thing so as to remove it, or put it away in hatred, grief, and desire.

- Diffidence, a shaking and wavering of the soul from anything which should, but cannot, help against evil, mixed with fear, abomination, and hatred, overthrowing hope and pulling away the heart from them.

All these affections which respect good, and the furtherances to it, and possessors of it, should be exercised on God. One should also consider evil because God, considered as angry, is the creature's greatest evil of misery.

Handling the Simple Affections

Among the simple affections, I shall rank three pairs under the concupiscible appetite:

1. Love and Hatred.

2. Desire and Flight.

3. Joy and Sorrow.

CHAPTER XX. I.

Of the Simple Affections

The two first and fundamental passions of all the rest are love and hatred.

1. Love: This is the master bee which carries all the swarm with it, a cardinal affection (John 11:35-36). It is the opening or letting out of the heart after some good proportionate to itself. Or, it is an affection by which the soul settles itself in the liking of what is esteemed good, as it is good.

The Schoolmen say it is not only vinculum ligans, but pondus inclinans. As weight inclines bodies, so love inclines spirits. "Amor meus pondus meum" (Augustine in Confessions). It should be an equal weight, greatest to the greatest good; our love to all other things should be subordinate to that. "Fecerunt itaque civitates duas amores duo, terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei, coelestem vero amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui" (Augustine, De Civitate Dei, Book 14, Chapter 28).

The image of God in this affection was the placing of it on its proper object for measure, weight, intention, order, and degree. God is the great and proper object of it, from the knowledge of His excellencies and the sense of His ravishing goodness. Adam's heart was wholly carried to Him as his chief good.

1. The love of concupiscence or desire reached out to the possession of God.

2. The love of complacency took wonderful pleasure in Him.

3. The love of friendship was willing to do what God would have him do.

4. The love of dependence expected good from no other.

The soul did this:

1. Freely, without violence.

2. Superlatively.

The second object of man's love in his pure condition was himself. All his love for himself was to take delight in that in himself which was most lovely—God's image in himself.

Thirdly, all the rest of the creatures, save the Devil, were loved as they set out God's glory or were a means to bring man to the fruition of the chief good. All creatures were loved in sweet order and subordination to God.

2. The Image of the Devil in Our Love

Firstly, the love of God is wholly rooted out of the heart. Naturally, men are haters of God.

1. We have no desire to enjoy Him; we do not like to walk in the ways that may bring us near God.

2. For complacency, we would not have God be such a one as He is.

3. For friendship, a natural man abhors to do what should please God.

4. For dependence, though we are upheld by Him, we will rather trust in anything than God.

Secondly, we have fallen from that love God would have us bear to ourselves for being like Him.

Thirdly, we hate the creatures as they are like God, the saints, and God's ordinances. Our depraved love is beastly or devilish; it is bestowed on things which we and the beasts love alike—sensual delights or spiritual wickedness.

The Work of God's Grace in Sanctifying This Affection

1. Turning the Bent of the Affection: It turns the affection toward those things which God initially made its proper object.

2. Guiding and Directing: It guides and directs it proportionately to every object—to God, the creatures, and self, in due measure, method, order, and degree.

It carries the affection of love to God in the first place:

1. In a love of union.

2. In a love of complacency.

3. In a love of friendship.

4. In a love of dependence.

Secondly, love carries itself next to God, to love ourselves and to love that in ourselves which God would have us love—the regenerate part.

Thirdly, it extends to the creature, those to which we have any relation, insofar as there is of God in them.

How to Know Whether Our Love is Sanctified and Directed to God as It Ought

All men will profess they love God. It is the first and great commandment to love God above all, the first in order of time and eminence of nature. It comprehends all the other commandments (Romans 13:10).

Marks of This Love:

1. Superlative Love: When we love Him with all our heart, soul, and strength—a love so great that, in comparison, all other love seems like hatred. When something is less loved, it is said to be hated in Scripture (Jacob hated Leah). We do not love God perfectly, as we know and believe only in part. A true child of God loves Him with a fervent and unfeigned love, even if this is not always felt in times of temptation.

2. Comprehensive Love: The soul loves Him with all kinds of love it is capable of:

- Love of Union (Philippians 3:8): In other contexts, this is called the love of desire or concupiscence. Four things characterize such love:

1. The soul earnestly desires all means that bring God and it closer, and avoids all things that separate it from God, such as sin.

2. It is troubled by any absence from Him.

3. The soul longs for the full fruition of Him in Heaven (Hebrews 9:27).

4. It desires the nearest conjunction with the people of God (1 John 3:14).

- Love of Complacency and Delight: We may know whether we make God our chief delight and love Him with contentment and sweetness:

1. We desire to be presently possessed by Him; His presence is life, and His absence is death.

2. Next to God Himself, we delight in those things that are love-tokens from Him (Song of Solomon 1:2) and in those most like Him, His saints (Psalm 16:3).

3. The tongue will delight in talking about Him and recounting all His wondrous works.

- Love of Friendship: The whole Covenant of Grace between God and us is a league of friendship. All that God does for us, from His election to glorification, are fruits of His love, and what we do to God after knowing Him is from the law of love. Six things reveal whether we love the Lord with a love of friendship:

1. Friends take great delight in being together, sharing a unity of soul. Thus, there is none so constantly in your thoughts and words as God.

2. This love will make you endure great trials for the sake of friendship (2 Corinthians 5:14).

3. The love of friendship is bountiful. David called all to contribute toward the Temple, giving three hundred cartloads of silver himself, saying he did it from his poverty.

4. This love makes a person sympathize with their friend’s condition. Moses was much provoked when God was dishonored. "Rivers of tears run down my eyes because men do not keep Your law."

5. This love is the fountain of all obedience to God; one will be careful to please God and fearful to offend Him. "If you love me, keep my commandments."

6. It can be satisfied with no recompense but love for love. "Your love is better than wine" (Song of Solomon 1). "Your loving-kindness is better than life" (Psalm 63:3).

- Love of Dependency: Every creature capable of an affection of love is drawn to that from whom it receives its good. So, the heart is carried with delight to God, from whom it expects all good. This is the sweetness of faith. We know this love by these signs:

1. No other creature can provide any subsistence or satisfaction. In our fall, we lost God and turned to the creature. We never think of returning to God until He has taught us the vanity of all other things. There must be satisfaction in the judgment that in the Lord Christ, there is whatever will serve our turn and fully content all our faculties.

2. The heart finds sweetness, joy, and comfort in its portion. God is all-sufficient.

3. The heart is taken off from depending on anything else.

Next to God (though He is to be loved transcendently and supereminently), there is a holy self-love. No man ever hated his own flesh; our love for ourselves is the rule and measure of our love for our neighbour—we must love him as ourselves. Inordinate self-love is a significant part of our original corruption: "Men shall be lovers of themselves." If anyone will be Christ's disciple, he must hate and reject himself. All the arguments God uses to win men to love and fear Him and walk with Him are drawn from self-love, that it may be well with them.

How to Know Whether the Love for Oneself is Sanctified

1. Regenerate Self: Whoever loves himself aright, it is the regenerate self which he considers himself. Adam, while he stood, had but one self, as do all unregenerate men. In one renewed by grace, there is a double self—flesh and spirit. The corrupt self is regarded as an enemy (Romans 7:25). "I delight in the law of God in the inward man," and he concludes, "but I myself (that is, his sanctified self) serve the Lord." Consider what it is that you esteem in yourself. Is it grace, God's image? And what you dislike and strive to destroy, is it the body of sin?

2. Subordinate to the Love of God: To every sanctified man, God is the summum bonum and ultimus finis. Therefore, all other things are but media subordinata. None of us must live for himself.

3. Ends God Allows:

1. That he may be happy forever. God urges us to duty with the argument that we may have eternal life.

2. That he may gain more knowledge, grace, and experience, so he may be more serviceable here.

Love for Neighbour

The third object of our love is our neighbour.

Marks to Know Whether Love for Neighbour is Sanctified:

1. Subordinate to the Love of God: When love for our neighbour is under God, we must love our neighbour in God and for God.

2. Preference for God's Loved Ones: We must especially love those whom God loves, those who have most of God in them. "All my delight is in the saints"; Christ calls this a new commandment.

3. Second Table Duties: There will be a performance of all second table duties. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." We will give respect due to our neighbour's place, strive to preserve his life, chastity, estate, and good name, be content with our own, and rejoice in his welfare. It is the nature of love to seek the preservation of the beloved.

Love for God's Creatures

The fourth object of our love is the rest of God's creatures which He has given to us.

Marks to Know Whether Love for the Creature is Right:

1. Beholding God in the Creature: When beholding God in the creature draws the heart out, delighting to see the wisdom and power of God in the creature.

2. Purpose of Love: Consider why you love the creature. Every creature must be delighted in as it brings us nearer to God or serves as an instrument to honour Him. You love the creatures because they are a means to keep you in a better frame for duty.

CHAPTER XXI. II.

Of Hatred

The affection opposite to love is hatred.

1. The nature of hatred.

2. The image of God in it.

3. The extreme depravation of it by sin.

4. The work of grace sanctifying it.

The Nature of Hatred

Hatred in a reasonable soul is a motion of the will whereby it flies from that which it apprehends to be evil and opposes it, endeavouring to harm it. It arises from a discord and disconformity of the object.

Twofold Hatred

1. Odium Abominationis: A mere fleeing from a thing.

2. Odium Inimicitiae: Actively pursuing what is evil.

There was little use of this affection in our primitive pure state, as there was nothing evil to man or in himself—a concord in all.

Diverse Causes of Hatred

1. Antipathy.

2. What Hinders Us from Attaining Good: Envy, jealousy. There was nothing then to provoke this except the sin of the devil, which man may or may not have known. Yet, this affection was in man and sanctified.

The Depravation of Hatred

Much of our original corruption is found in this affection. The greatness of the depravation of hatred appears in three things:

1. The Object of It: Only sin is the proper object of hatred, but now our hatred is wholly removed from sin; it abhors nothing that is evil. The second object of it now is that which is truly and properly good:

1. God Himself primarily—all wicked men hate Him (Psalm 81:15; Romans 1:30) in all His glorious perfections: justice, holiness.

2. Christ (John 7:7; 15:18).

3. All good men—"You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."

4. All God's ways and ordinances—"Fools hate instruction" (Proverbs 1).

2. The Quality of This Affection:

1. A causeless hatred—Christ says, "They hate me without a cause," and so the saints may say.

2. Perfect, entire without any mixture of love.

3. Violent (Psalm 55:3).

4. Cruel (Psalm 25:19).

5. Durable and irreconcilable.

3. The Effects of It:

1. All sins of omission.

2. Abundance of actual wickedness, contempt, and distrust of God, His ways, and His children.

The Sanctification of Hatred

The work of grace in every faculty is to destroy the power of corruption and create principles of grace that turn it in the right direction.

1. Redirection: Hatred is taken off from those objects to which it was undeservedly directed before.

2. Order: It is ordered aright in measure.

3. Fruitfulness: It brings forth the fruit which God requires.

First, What the Work of God's Grace Carries the Affection of Hatred To

1. It makes all our opposition to God and His ordinances cease; it ceases to hate good and hates that which is evil.

2. It is directed to the right object, which is everything that is truly evil to us. The will shuns and opposes it.

Two sorts of things are truly evil:

1. Whatever is opposed to our natural being—our life, peace, wealth, name, such as sickness, affliction, and death.

2. Whatever is contrary to our spiritual being—such as sin.

All evils of the first nature come from God. God's will is the rule of all holiness; therefore, we should submit our will to God to do what He pleases. That which is the greatest evil is against the greatest good—God. Sin and wicked men oppose Him. The greatest evil must have the greatest opposition: "I hate every false way." Sin strikes at the being and excellency of God. We must dislike wicked men for sin's sake.

The Work of Grace in the Degree and Measure of Hatred

When it sanctifies any affection, the work of grace appears in the degree and measure of working. It is according to the light of understanding guided by God's counsel. Of evils, sin is to be more hated than punishment, and the greater the sin, the greater should be the opposition.

The Work of God's Grace in Sanctifying Hatred

The work of God's grace in sanctifying this affection is much seen in the fruits of hatred. This stands in two things:

1. Sentinel to the Soul: Hatred is a sentinel to the soul to keep out evil. It makes the soul warily shun and avoid those things which are truly evil to it. It is a deep and severe passion, not sudden like anger.

2. Quickens the Soul: It quickens the soul to the destruction of the thing hated, making it endeavour its ruin.

Signs of Hatred

I. Signs of Hatred

1. Speaking against a thing constantly and disgracing it.

2. Being displeased at its company and unable to endure its presence.

II. Signs of Sanctified Hatred

1. If it is sanctified, you cease to be a hater of God. This makes a creature so like the devil that no one will believe he hates God. Hatred is opposition to love. The love of God makes us endeavour union with Him. If you do not care for the knowledge of God or being near Him, it is a sign of hatred.

2. A desire that another may not be as excellent as he is. Wicked men would not have God exist or be as excellent as He is. They would not have Him be so holy, pure, and just.

3. A great sign of hatred is contrariety or opposition of wills. God's will is revealed in His Word. When there is opposition to it, we sin against Him (Exodus 20:6): "Those that love me and keep my commandments." Those who do not keep His commandments hate God. God chooses holiness; you choose filthiness. If your will is contrary to His choice, you hate Him.

4. That which is feared, unless it is with a reverential fear, is hated. To stand in awe of God as the Indians do of the devil, who dare not but offer sacrifices lest the devil should hurt them, is a sign of hatred.

Secondly, For the Evil of Punishment: How Far Sanctified Hatred May Be Carried Against Crosses

We may use all lawful means to have the crosses removed, but with a quiet resignation to the will of God, if He wills it so.

If our hatred is sanctified, it is primarily and properly directed against sin, because it is God's great enemy and ours, and the great evil in itself.

How to Know Whether Our Heart is Rightly Directed Against Sin

This is a significant part of repentance. Repentance is the turning of affections, especially those two great affections of love and hatred. In our lost condition, our hatred was against God, and our love was set on sin. Now, contrarily:

1. Wherever this affection of hatred is rightly directed against sin, the mind judges sin as God's Word does. It counts it the greatest abomination and dislikes it not only because it brings damnation but because of its nature. Scripture calls it our deformity, uncleanness, nakedness, and a running issue.

2. Sin is grieved for as the greatest evil. If one has an antipathy against a creature, yet if that creature is far enough away, there is no great trouble (Romans 7: "Wretched man that I am"). It is the greatest spiritual, though not sensitive, grief. We are most troubled by those evils which most affect the body and cause the greatest sense of grief, like cramp, gout, or kidney stones. But here, the intellectual nature is most offended with sin, chooses more to be rid of it than of trouble, and judges itself more abominable for it.

3. A constant hatred of sin.

4. It endeavours to ruin and destroy it. Scripture often expresses this by the killing of sin, mortifying our members.

5. It hates sin on the same grounds that God hates it—because it is rebellion against God, crucifies Christ, grieves the Spirit, and is at enmity with the grace of God in us. We hate it on such spiritual grounds.

6. Wherever sin is truly hated, we hate it most in those who are nearest to ourselves. Hatred of sin is one half of repentance. Sin is a hatred of God and a loving of sin. In repentance, our love is turned to God, and hatred is directed toward sin.

Means to Get Our Hatred of Sin Sanctified

1. Study to Get a Right Understanding of Sin: Whatever can be the object of hatred is found in sin in the highest degree. In crosses, there is something evil, but in sin, there is nothing good. It is not only evil but has in it all kinds of evil:

- A defiling evil.

- It deprives us of all other good, robs us of God, peace, and comfort.

2. Fill Your Heart with the Love of God and His Ways: "You who love the Lord, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). "I love all your commandments; therefore, I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128). Love the Holy Spirit, and you will hate filthiness.

CHAPTER XXII. II:

Desire and Flight

The next affection is that of desire. It differs no more from love than the act from the habit, it being the exercise of love. The surest character you can make of a man is by his desires, as much as a physician can judge of his patient's condition by his appetite.

In this affection, four things are considerable:

1. The nature of it.

2. The image of God in it before the Fall.

3. How extremely depraved our desires are in their natural condition.

4. The work of grace in sanctifying it.

Desire is the going out of the will, endeavouring after that which we love—a good thing not yet enjoyed or not perfectly enjoyed—the soul's pursuit for the fruition of that good.

There are three affections conversant about good, say some: love about good in general, present or absent; desire about good absent; joy about good present. Descartes says not only the presence of good absent but also the conservation of a good present is desired.

God gave the soul of man, when He created it, a twofold appetite:

1. Sensitive or natural, whereby the desires are carried violently after their own preservation.

2. Rational, or the will, these rational desires are exercised about spiritual things, in the fruition of which one places his happiness.

The Image of God in Our Desires in Our Innocent Condition

The understanding then looked on God as its only absolute good, and the will of man did adhere to Him and find satisfaction in Him.

He desired:

1. A more perfect fruition of God and that he might dedicate himself more fully to Him. Natural desires were few, moderate, and subordinate to this, serving as helps and furtherances to the perfect enjoyment of God.

The Depravation of This Affection

A great deal of our original corruption is expressed through this way. The corruption of the understanding, will, love, hatred, and thoughts all fall here.

1. The Object of Desire: Whereas God should be the only object of desire, in our sinful condition we have no true desire after Him, only faint wishings. Though the soul is full of desires, they are directed away from God and wholly toward some poor empty creature.

2. The Qualities or Properties of These Sinful Desires:

1. Vanity:

1. There is no reason given for our corrupt desires, as with Samson: "Give me her, for she pleases me."

2. The things we desire are mere trifles.

3. The innumerable nature of them.

2. Intensity and Violence: The soul pursues such things.

3. Insatiability: They are never satisfied.

The Woeful Effects and Fruits of These Sinful Desires

1. These corrupt desires have taken over the soul, enslaving reason, its most noble faculty.

2. They destroy all hope of profiting, consuming our time and study. The soul is ever occupied with these unworthy desires.

3. They make the soul extremely unthankful for the mercies already received and degrade the soul and spirit of a man.

The Work of God's Grace in Renewing or Sanctifying Our Desires

1. Correcting the Object of Desire: Redirecting desires to God, their rightful object.

2. Purifying the Qualities: Making desires rational, moderate, and aligned with God's will.

3. Producing Good Fruits: Leading to thankfulness, contentment, and a closer walk with God.

Through the sanctification of our desires, we learn to seek God above all else, to find satisfaction in Him alone, and to align our will with His, thus transforming our natural inclinations into holy pursuits.

The Activity of Grace

The activity of grace appears chiefly in our love and desire, for the good things of Christians are not yet enjoyed, and therefore this affection is so much exercised.

1. In General: The work of grace is to renew what our original corruption spoiled in the affections, or to repair the image of God once stamped there. It takes the desire off the creature and turns it to its proper object in due order, method, and measure.

2. Particularly:

1. The True Object of a Sanctified Desire: The primary and ultimate object is God, Christ, and all the graces of His Spirit, the means of grace, the ordinances, and, in due place, moderately the creature, and whatever is helpful to me.

We ought to desire:

1. For Ourselves: Only good things (Proverbs 11:23), chiefly God (Psalm 42:2; Revelation 3).

2. Christ's Righteousness: The virtues of the Spirit, the means and helps to grace, such as the sincere milk of the Word, the company of the saints, and similar helps, as Paul desired to see Timothy. We should desire places and occasions of doing good if we find ourselves furnished for them (1 Timothy 3:1), as well as natural benefits and good things like health and liberty.

We ought to desire for others:

1. Their conversion (Romans 10:1) and growth in grace and salvation, and the welfare of the Church.

The Act or Measure of Desire

The measure of desire, when directed to its proper object, should be:

1. Greatest Intensiveness: Toward God and Christ, called hungering and thirsting. "As the hart pants after the water brook," and moderately carried to the things of this world. Grace acts as a spur to our desires for spiritual things and a bridle to them for earthly things.

2. Order of Desire:

1. Desire spiritual things more than temporal (Matthew 5:6).

2. Among spiritual things, desire those most which may do us the most good, as Paul bids us covet spiritual gifts, chiefly that we may prophesy.

3. Desire the public good more than our own.

There is no evidence of grace so constantly found in a gracious heart as the holiness of its desires (Nehemiah 1:11). "The desire of our hearts is toward thee" (Romans 7; Song of Solomon 1:4: "Draw me, and we will run after thee").

Reasons for Holy Desires

1. Absence of Good: Because their good is absent from them, the heart which cannot say, "I pray and believe," can say, "I desire to pray and believe." The true desire for grace is grace itself in a degree.

2. Evidence of Interest in God: The saints of God have ever pleaded their desires as evidence of their interest in God when they could plead nothing else. "My soul longeth for thy salvation."

Marks to Try Whether Our Desires Are Sanctified

1. Object of Desire: Is it directed toward God, Christ, and spiritual things primarily?

2. Intensity and Order: Are spiritual things desired more intensely than temporal things? Are the most beneficial spiritual gifts desired most?

3. Public Good: Is the public good desired more than personal benefit?

4. Holiness of Desires: Are the desires in line with the holiness of a gracious heart?

By examining these marks and understanding the nature of sanctified desire, we can discern the sanctifying work of grace in our affections.

First, Desire for All That Is Good

When you desire all that is good—Christ, grace, the ordinances—the Gospel presents Christ as good to you. Therefore, one may somewhat desire this and not be sanctified. One must desire Him to be both King and Lord as well as Savior.

Properties of Sanctified Desire

Sanctified desire has five properties:

1. Greatest and Strongest Desire: It is the greatest and strongest of the soul's rational desires, not merely sensitive desires. Therefore, it is described as hunger and thirst, panting after God: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And on earth, there is none I desire besides Thee." Desires rooted in election and counsel are most strongly directed towards these things.

2. Accompanied by Sadness and Languishing: When the desired thing is not attained, it brings sadness and languishing: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick."

3. Immediate Fulfillment: True desires seek immediate fulfillment. Balaam could desire something in the end; if one desires a thing as an end, they cannot but desire it presently.

4. Consistency: These desires are constant until the thing is fully enjoyed (John 4:14).

5. Operative Nature: Such desires are operative. If they do not drive us to use the means to achieve them, they are not right. Such a person will spare no cost to exalt and adorn that thing. Whatever a person's happiness, end, or glory is, they desire to make it as excellent as possible. Whoever truly desires spiritual things, desires them as their glory. They will give all for the glory of Christ and the beauty of the Gospel.

How to Know Whether Our Desires for the Things of This Life Are Sanctified

1. Subordination: Desires for earthly things should be subordinate to the great things desired for God's Kingdom. As far as these outward things may be useful and helpful to the things of God's Kingdom. As David said, "One thing have I desired" (Psalm 27:4). Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

2. Moderation of Spirit: You can test the sanctity of your desires by the moderation of your spirit. If you desire these things as inferior goods (1 Corinthians 7:27).

Means or Directions to Keep Your Desires Strong and Vigorous After Spiritual Things, and to Moderate Your Desires After Earthly Things

Keeping Desires Strong for Spiritual Things

1. Labor for Thorough Knowledge: Develop a thorough knowledge and acquaintance with spiritual things. Knowledge of something stirs up the appetite. Two men who vehemently desired spiritual communion with God were Moses and Paul; none knew more of Christ than these. Study the things of God, Christ, and God's Kingdom—not only speculative knowledge but also a practical taste of God. Do not rest until you have some experience of this supernatural object. Other truths quickly lose their appeal, but the knowledge of spiritual things quickens the appetite and enlarges the soul.

2. Recognize Your Own Emptiness: Become acquainted with your own emptiness—how devoid of all grace and full of corruptions you are. Reflect on yourself and labour to get a sense of these things: what a great evil a hard heart is, and what it means to be deprived of God. The Lord counsels the angel of Laodicea in this manner.

3. Hope of Attaining: The hope of attaining is the whetstone of desire. Study those promises: "He will satisfy the hungry soul" and "Those who thirst after the well of life, open your mouth, and He will fill it."

Sanctifying Desires After Earthly Things

In general, the sanctification of these desires stands in their moderation. We must ensure that they are not inordinate.

1. Labor for a Contented Mind: Labour in general for a contented mind (Hebrews 13:5). Be without covetousness. Cultivate a contented spirit, which may stand in indifference to these things.

2. Fully Desire Heavenly Things: Let your desires be fully directed toward the things of heaven. This will moderate all other desires because they will satisfy them.

3. Rightly Inform Yourself About Worldly Things: Understand what all these worldly things are, and your soul will be moderate toward them. Know these six things about them:

1. None of the things of this life have any good in them beyond their usefulness. There is a necessity for food and clothing to uphold our natural being, but otherwise, all these things are only useful in a subordinate way, not inherently good.

2. They are of no use at all for saving your soul. As one martyr said, "I am going to a place where money is nothing worth; the thing I am to look after is the saving of my soul."

3. By God's appointment, they are most inconstant and fading things. Riches take themselves wings; they are but flowers. These three considerations limit the good in them.

4. They are all vain and empty—not simply, but in terms of their proper substance. A well is empty even if full of air if it has no water in it. Solomon challenged the world to find more in learning and pleasures than he did: "What can the man do who comes after the king?" (Ecclesiastes 2:12).

5. They are a vexation of spirit, either in acquiring, keeping, fearing loss, or actual parting.

6. They beguile, bewitch, and make us worse:

1. They blind the judgment with erroneous principles, causing one to think amiss of God and His ways.

2. They draw the heart from God. He, who is the great disposer of all earthly blessings, will, out of His fatherly love, measure out the best portion of these mercies to you. Therefore, be careful for nothing but let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6).

The Affection Opposite to Desire: Flight

The affection opposite to desire is flight. This was Moses' fault (Exodus 4:13).

Flight is the stirring of the soul to get away from evil before it comes too near and surprises a person. We have an example of it in a man who owes another money; knowing or thinking that he will come to a certain place, he feels a kind of reluctance to meet him and is moved to go out of his way or absent himself to avoid the encounter.

Proper Exercise of Flight

Flight must be exercised on things that are fit to be loathed and shunned:

1. Things Harmful to Us:

1. All manner of sinful actions (Luke 12:1, 15; 2 Timothy 2:22-23; 1 Peter 3:11; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 6:18).

2. All manner of occasions and solicitations to sin (1 John 5:21): "Babes, keep yourselves from idols" (Proverbs 5:8). Joseph fled from his mistress.

3. The familiarity and friendly society of sinners, especially those who solicit us to sin (Proverbs 1:15; 4:14): "Away from me, you wicked," says David (2 Timothy 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; Romans 16:17).

4. Natural evils when we are not compelled by the necessity of our calling: poverty, disgrace, danger of limb or life, loss of liberty, and the like, and such things as may be hurtful to others.

5. Things unprofitable, vain, and useless (Titus 3:9).

Measure of Working

We ought:

1. To Loathe and Shun Spiritual Evils More Than Temporal: Sin should be loathed more than danger.

2. To Loathe and Shun Public Evils More Than Private: The harm to the commonwealth or church should be considered more significant than personal loss or danger, as David did when he went against Goliath.

3. To Shun Natural Evils That Hinder Goodness: Those that most hinder goodness, virtue, and the discharge of the duties of our place should be avoided—such as the loss of life more than goods, and the loss of a good name more than liberty.

CHAPTER XXIII:

III. Joy and Sorrow

The next pair of affections are joy and sorrow. Philosophers consider these two the foundation of all our virtues and endeavours.

Of Joy

Four things are to be considered in joy:

1. The nature of the affection.

2. The image of God in this affection in our primitive condition.

3. The corruption of it in our apostate condition.

4. What the Spirit of God does to repair this in our conversion.

The Nature of Joy

Joy is the acquiescence of the will in the presence of a suitable good (acquiescentia cordis in bono sibi congruenti).

Joy can be either:

1. Bodily: The content the soul takes in bodily pleasure is called voluptas (pleasure).

2. Spiritual: The content the soul takes in spiritual pleasure is called gaudium (joy).

To make up this affection, the following are required:

1. Suitable Good: It must be a suitable good that provides satisfaction.

2. Proper Interest: One must have an interest in and a title to it.

3. Present: The desire accomplished is the joy of the soul.

Secondly, Man's Joy in His Primitive Condition

In man's primitive condition, joy was his happiness. In that pure estate, man was not only free from all evils that might molest him but was also surrounded by all good things suitable to him. He enjoyed God Himself and all things that might contribute to his happiness.

The Holiness of This Joy

The image of God in this affection lay in the suitability and proportion between all the good man enjoyed and this affection. The rectitude of any faculty is when the faculty and the object meet. God is the only absolute, adequate, and supreme good; therefore, the greatest joy of the soul of man was placed in enjoying God. He found suitable joy in all other good things, yet he prized God above them all, using them to rise up more and more in the service of God.

Man's Joy in His Fallen Condition

The Object of Fallen Joy

1. Privatively: It is not in God.

2. Positively: It is much placed in:

1. The deeds of darkness (Romans 1:32). They take pleasure in unrighteousness.

2. All things wherein brute beasts and man agree.

3. Mere fictions, chimeras, fancies, and imaginations.

4. The comforts that the rest of the creatures may give the soul, it is irregular in all.

Properties of Sinful Joy

1. Unlimited: We place all our happiness in these things (Psalm 49:18). The rich glutton said, "Soul, take thy ease."

2. Vain: An immortal soul cannot find real satisfaction in an imaginary object.

3. Various: The soul does not rest in any one of these comforts but shifts from one thing to another.

The Woeful Effects of These Depraved Joys

1. They wholly keep the soul from seeking or accepting the only good that may give it rest. All ordinances, the motions of the Spirit, the thoughts of God and goodness are in vain proposed to the soul (Ecclesiastes 11:9). Like the ivy that seems to adorn the tree but eats away all the sap of it.

2. They leave a sting and venom of sorrow afterward (Proverbs 14:13; Job 20:5). The end of that joy is sorrow.

Fourthly, What is the Work of Grace in Sanctifying This Affection?

Although God's people may not fully enjoy the benefits of this affection due to the weakness of grace, a great part of our happiness lies in it. The Spirit of God turns this affection from the corrupt to the right object and helps it act in the measure and order that the object deserves. He redirects the joy from rejoicing in sensual and imaginary things (1 Corinthians 13:6) to rejoicing in righteousness. The joy is turned to God in Christ, with interest and communion in Christ. "We are the circumcision who rejoice in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:3). David said, "I will go to God who is my exceeding joy" (Psalm 43:4). God in Christ is the full object of a regenerate soul. Although God in Christ is not enjoyed immediately here, He is enjoyed through the ordinances, and the more of God in them, the greater the joy.

Commands to Rejoice in God

There are various commands to rejoice in God: "Let the righteous be glad" (Psalm 68:3), "Glory in His holy name" (Psalm 105:3), and "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4). It is for the honor of God that His servants rejoice. It was unlawful to be sad before the Persian kings as it was considered a disparagement to their graciousness and honor. Similarly, it honors God for His servants to rejoice (Colossians 1:10-11).

Joy in God is Both a Duty and a Privilege

We are as much bound to make God our joy as we are to make sin our grief. We cannot love God with all our strength unless we rejoice in Him. Joy in God is not only a duty but also a privilege, reflecting our happiness in heaven, which begins on earth.

1. A Privilege for the Justified: This joy is peculiar to justified persons (Romans 5:5). After Adam's fall, he heard the voice of God and was afraid (Genesis 3:10), whereas the justified person rejoices in God's presence (Psalm 106:4-5).

2. The Highest Privilege: Joy in God is the highest privilege that saints can enjoy on this side of heaven. God is the chief object for this joy, making it the greatest of all joys (Psalm 4:6).

The Spirit's Role in Joy

The Spirit of God enables the soul to align its joy with the measure and proportion that the object (God) deserves. Joy in God and Christ is thus the most transcendent, described as "joy unspeakable and glorious" (1 Peter 1:8). It is often referred to as the "joy of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17), meaning not only joy suitable to the Spirit of God but also joy that the Holy Spirit works within us.

Reasons for Rejoicing Abundantly

Despite tribulation, every child of God has received seven things that give them abundant cause for joy:

1. Pardoned Sins: All their sins are forgiven and washed away in the blood of Christ (Isaiah 40:1-2). Jesus said to the man sick with palsy, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you" (Matthew 9:2).

2. Righteousness of Christ: They are covered with the perfect robes of Christ's righteousness before the Lord (Isaiah 61:10). They may rejoice in their inherent righteousness, their sorrow for sin, love for the Lord and His people, and much more in the imputed righteousness of Christ.

3. Reconciliation with God: They are reconciled to the Lord, and their services are accepted despite their mixture of corruption.

4. Removal of Evil: All evil is removed from them. Sorrow arises from the heart's perception of some evil, but "no evil shall befall you" (Psalm 91:10).

5. Provision of All Good: The Lord has undertaken in His covenant to supply them with all good and provide for all their needs while they live in this world.

6. Glorious Future in Heaven: When this life ends, a glorious condition in heaven awaits them. Angels will carry them there, and Christ will receive them. "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:12).

7. Secure in Christ: All these things are kept for them by Christ. Thus, they are more blessed than Adam in Paradise or the angels before they fell. They had the image of God's grace, yet it was in their power to lose it, and they did lose it.

The Properties of This Joy:

1. Spiritual: Its working is in the inward and most spiritual faculty of the soul, the intellectual nature, of the same nature that the joy of God and Christ is.

2. For Times of Affliction: It is given especially during times of affliction and trial. "Rejoice in tribulation" (2 Corinthians 7:4); "exceedingly rejoice in all our troubles."

3. Built on Unfailing Foundations: It is built on things that will never fail—pardon, free favour, and unchangeable promises.

4. Everlasting: "Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads" (Isaiah 35:10).

Motives to Sanctified Joy:

1. God's Command: The Lord calls for the exercise of this affection as frequently and earnestly as any other. We are as frequently exhorted to fear God, to love Him, to desire and seek after Him, as we are to rejoice in Him.

2. God's Displeasure: God is offended if His people do not rejoice in His service (Deuteronomy 28:47).

3. Breeds Thankfulness: The Psalmist often joins joyfulness with singing Psalms.

4. Strength: "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

5. Honour to Religion: This is a great honour to the profession of religion and glory to Christianity. It will satisfy others that there is some secret excellence in that way.

6. Example of Others: Consider how others rejoice in vanity; should not we then rejoice in Christ?

Marks and Evidences of Spiritual and Sanctified Joy

First, by the Antecedents of It:

1. Promised to Mourners: It is promised to the mourners in Zion (Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 5:4). Until sin becomes our sorrow, we shall never have this joy (John 16:9). The first work of the Comforter is to convince the soul of sin and thus bring about sorrow.

2. Faith in Christ: One is not capable of Gospel joy until they believe in Christ (Romans 15:13, 1 Peter 1:8, Philippians 1:25).

Secondly, by the Object of It:

The object of this joy is Christ and the blessings He brings. The joy arises from the suitability between these and our souls. In proportion to how any creature brings Christ with it, we rejoice, as seen in the joy of David, Jeremiah, and Job in the Word. There is an abundance of Christ in preaching, which makes the Sabbath Christ's visiting day and therefore a delight. Prayer is joyful because it allows for intercourse between God and the soul, as does the Communion of Saints.

Thirdly, by the Companions of It:

The companions of sanctified joy are the other fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). They come in clusters, including love, meekness, patience, and temperance. Sanctified joy is also jealous and fearful lest it be mistaken, as seen in the two disciples who believed not for joy.

Fourthly, by the Fruits of It:

1. Fortification Against Sinning: Joy fortifies us against sinning.

2. Willingness to Sacrifice for Christ: It makes one readily part with anything for Christ's sake. "Endured with joy the spoiling of their goods" (Hebrews 10:34, Psalm 51:12). Ignatius said, "Bring the lions; I shall make brave bread when I am ground."

Means to Get Our Joy Sanctified and to Keep It

It is obtained in the new birth; all affections are sanctified at once.

How we may come to make God in Christ our supreme joy:

1. Know God and Jesus Christ: Labour to know God and Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:44). When one finds the treasure and sees its worth, they rejoice. Know how good, merciful, and gracious the Lord is.

2. Strengthen Faith and Hope: Faith produces joy; strengthen faith and strengthen joy (1 Peter 1:6-7, Romans 13:15). Hope also produces joy (Romans 12:12).

3. Pray for Joy: Beg much for it at God's hand. Pray that you may rejoice (John 16:24). Say, "Lord, in mercy, fill my soul with the light of Thy countenance."

4. Meditate on Christ's Blessings: Meditate on the things you have heard and learned concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Ponder on the good things given to you by God in Christ. Consider how excellent it is to be a pardoned person, accepted by God's Son, and to have the promises of the Gospel belonging to you.

5. Preserve Uprightness of Spirit: Labour to preserve uprightness of spirit within you. No one can rejoice in God without walking with Him. True righteousness may exist without joy, but true joy cannot exist without righteousness.

6. Renew Godly Sorrow Frequently: Frequently renew godly sorrow. Carnal mirth ends in sorrow, but godly sorrow ends in joy. This will keep you humble in your own eyes.

7. Care for Your Body: For maintaining your joy, be careful of your body. Next to sin, nothing is more to be shunned than to be under the power of melancholy.

How our joy may be sanctified with respect to the outward mercies and good things of this life.

God allows His children to take joy and comfort in all the things of this life, such as wine, music, and living joyfully with the wife of thy youth.

This joy is sanctified:

1. When we take joy in every creature, finding God in it and seeing His love towards us.

2. When any creature bears God's image. For instance, David loved Solomon because he was a Jedediah.

3. By being moderate in all the joy you take in them, as stated in 1 Corinthians 7.

4. By not letting your heart be drawn away from God.

5. By ensuring all the joy you take in the creatures is in the proper season as well as in the proper degree, not during times of mourning. Rejoice always in the Lord.

See Mr. Wheatly's "Oil of Gladness."

CHAPTER XXIV.

Of Sorrow

The opposite passion to Joy or Delight is Grief and Sorrow.

It is a passion that ties up, binds, and straightens the heart through the apprehension of present evil. Grief, in itself, is a good affection planted by God in man's nature at the first to be a means of causing him to avoid things that were evil for him and would procure his hurt.

It is procured by the gathering of the worst and grossest blood around the heart, which causes a dullness in the spirits, and consequently, an unliveliness in all the other parts. The blood and spirits are the instruments of all affections.

To grieve is natural; to grieve for sin is a strain above nature. Grace does not destroy but corrects nature. Contrition of spirit is called the Sacrifice of God, Psal. 51. 17: "He will not despise it," that is, He will most favourably accept it. See Isa. 57. 17. This was signified by the meat offering of fine flour mixed with oil, which was to be joined with their burnt offerings. That fine flour typifies this contrition, by which the heart is, as it were, ground to powder, that it may, by the Holy Ghost, be offered up unto God, Lev. 2. 1. Isaiah speaks of this in Chap. 66. 2.

Contrition of heart is that grace whereby a man's soul is truly humbled in the sight of his sins, Matth. 5. 4. It differs somewhat from the grace of humility. Humility was in Adam during his innocence and should have been in all of us if we had never sinned, and (as some think) is in the angels. For all creatures that are truly good cast down themselves before God and make no account of themselves in regard of Him, which is to be humble. But contrition of spirit necessarily presupposes sin. When the soul so apprehends the nature of sin and its own sinfulness that it is thereby cast down, abased, and afflicted, this is brokenness of heart. It also differs from terror of conscience, styled attrition by the Schoolmen, which looks to the punishment of sin. Contrition looks chiefly to the evil of sin as it is sin, and to the very fountain of all sin, the corruption of nature from which all actual sins arise.

Few affections or graces contribute more to a Christian's welfare than this; a great part of God's image and the practice of holiness lies in it.

There is a twofold sorrow:

1. Sensitive sorrow, expressed in a sensible manner.

2. Intellectual sorrow. The sorrow of the will or rational sorrow is a displeasure with a thing, having the heart distasted and disliked with it, a feeling of sin as evil with an averseness of the will. Passionate sensible sorrow is such a stirring of the heart as brings forth tears, which follows the bodily temper. Not so much the greatness of the sorrow as the efficacy of it must be looked unto, and the motive of it: that it be the consideration of the spiritual mischief of sin in provoking God and causing His displeasure. The smallest measure of sorrow thus grounded and working is repentant.

The work of God's grace in sanctifying it:

1. The Author of it.

2. The true Object.

3. The gracious Effects.

The opposite passion to Joy or Delight is Grief and Sorrow.

It is a passion that binds and constrains the heart through the apprehension of present evil. Grief, in itself, is a good affection planted by God in man's nature from the beginning, intended to help avoid things that are harmful.

Grief is caused by the gathering of the worst and grossest blood around the heart, leading to dullness in the spirits and consequently an unliveliness in all other parts. The blood and spirits are the instruments of all affections.

To grieve is natural; to grieve for sin is a strain above nature. Grace does not destroy but corrects nature. Contrition of spirit is called the Sacrifice of God, Psal. 51. 17: "He will not despise it," meaning He will most favourably accept it. See Isa. 57. 17. This was symbolised by the meat offering of fine flour mixed with oil, which was to be joined with their burnt offerings. That fine flour typifies this contrition, by which the heart is, as it were, ground to powder, that it may, by the Holy Ghost, be offered up to God, Lev. 2. 1. Isaiah speaks of this in Chap. 66. 2.

Contrition of heart is that grace whereby a man's soul is truly humbled in the sight of his sins, Matth. 5. 4. It differs somewhat from the grace of humility. Humility was in Adam during his innocence and should have been in all of us if we had never sinned, and (as some think) is in the angels. For all creatures that are truly good cast themselves down before God and make no account of themselves in regard to Him, which is to be humble. But contrition of spirit necessarily presupposes sin. When the soul so apprehends the nature of sin and its own sinfulness that it is thereby cast down, abased, and afflicted, this is brokenness of heart. It also differs from terror of conscience, styled attrition by the Schoolmen, which looks to the punishment of sin. Contrition looks chiefly to the evil of sin as it is sin, and to the very fountain of all sin, the corruption of nature from which all actual sins arise.

Few affections or graces contribute more to a Christian's welfare than this; a great part of God's image and the practice of holiness lies in it.

There is a twofold sorrow:

1. Sensitive Sorrow: Expressed in a sensible manner.

2. Intellectual Sorrow: The sorrow of the will or rational sorrow is a displeasure with a thing, having the heart distasted and disliked with it, feeling sin as evil with an averseness of the will. Passionate sensible sorrow is such a stirring of the heart as brings forth tears, which follows the bodily temper. Not so much the greatness of the sorrow as the efficacy of it must be considered, and the motive of it: that it be the consideration of the spiritual mischief of sin in provoking God and causing His displeasure. The smallest measure of sorrow thus grounded and working is repentant.

The work of God's grace in sanctifying it:

1. The Author of It: It is the Holy Spirit that works all godly sorrow. It infuses such a principle that it turns from all evil objects and sets it on the right objects in the measure and proportion that the thing requires.

2. The True Object of It: We must grieve,

- For the sins of others, both individual and public sins. Psa. 119. 136: "David saith in another place, He beheld the transgressors and was sorrowful;" Jeremiah saith, "He would weep in secret for their pride," Jerem. 13. 17. 2 Pet. 2. 7.

- For the miseries and calamities of others, which is pity, especially the public calamities of the Church and State, as Nehemiah and Mordecai.

- For our own crosses and afflictions that befall us and others. Job mourned when evils befell him, David when his child was threatened with death, and Paul was sorrowful for the sickness of Epaphroditus.

- For our own sins and offenses for which we are called to afflict ourselves and mourn, and to turn unto the Lord with tears and lamentations.

3. The Measure of Our Sorrow:

- Simply, all our sorrows must be proportionate to their cause.

- Moderately, not as people without hope, neither for friends nor crosses, nor continuing overlong.

- Comparatively, we ought to grieve more for our sins than crosses, more for the faults of others than their afflictions. We should grieve most for sin appreciatively, if not intensively. It should be a Christian's best sorrow for quality, if not the greatest for quantity. Sorrow for sin is more intellectual and durable; semper dolet & de dolore gaudet. The matter of this sorrow still continues, yet a Christian is to testify his godly sorrow, sometimes more than another, 1 Sam. 7. 6. Zechariah 12. 10, 11.

The Objects of it are:

- The absence of that wherein their real goodness lies, or the presence of a real evil.

- The want of God's presence in His favour and grace, the want of His image and ordinances.

- The presence of what is really evil, God's wrath and displeasure. David and Heman could have no peace because God was angry. To lie under the guilt of sin, Psal. 51; to be under the power of corruption, Rom. 7; when God's name is dishonoured, Psalm. 119: "Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy Law," Rom. 9: "I have great heaviness of heart, because my brethren are cast off."

The Gracious Effects or Fruits of Godly Sorrow

Eccles. 7. 3: "By the sadness of the heart expressed in the countenance, the heart is made better," 2 Cor. 7. 10, 11.

1. In General: It is a marvelous help to repentance, bringing forth repentance never to be repented of. There are two comprehensive duties: faith and repentance. Repentance is the turning of the soul from evil to good; it stands chiefly in our affections, consisting in turning them from evil. Godly sorrow and hatred do this.

2. More Particularly: It works great care and fear of being overtaken with sin, indignation, and zeal, making the soul very humble.

3. It Is an Excellent Help to Patience and Meek Subjection to the Hand of God: "I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him."

Some think it a crime to mourn for their own sins, and those who would be counted Christians of the higher form say that ministers who press this duty are legal. The Gospel does not take away the conscience of sin, though it does take away the fear of damnation. To scoff at mourning and humiliation was once a badge of profanity. Those who say justified persons must not mourn for sins may as well say they must not have a heart of flesh.

Marks of Godly Sorrow

1. When We Mourn: Whether we grieve for sin when we are free from crosses, when our sin is hidden from the world, and when we have no terrors of conscience. Then our sorrow for sin is because we have offended God. Sin is made grievous indeed by the other effects, and when they come, the sorrow is made more and more troublesome.

2. For What Sins We Mourn: If we grieve for sins that will not bring discredit in the world, yet if they offend God more, we grieve more. This is a good sign.

3. How We Behave in Mourning: If we go to God, complain against ourselves to Him, confess to Him, lament before Him, seek to reconcile ourselves to Him. Judas ran crying to the high priest; Peter wept to God in secret.

Motives to Godly Sorrow

1. It Is a Great Evidence of Your Love to God: Ezekiel 16, the latter end. The Church mourns when He is pacified to her, thinking how she has grieved Him.

2. Meditate Often on the Wonderful Fruit Godly Sorrow Brings Forth in the Soul of Man: The mournful Christians who grieve when God calls for sorrow are the most fruitful in afflictions.

Means or Helps to Godly Sorrow

1. Meditation:

- On the necessity and profit of it: If we do not bewail our sins, we cannot attain pardon for them, for Christ is sent to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort mourners, and to refresh and give rest to the weary soul (Zech. 12. 10, 12; James 4. 8, 9). Voluntary sorrow or remorse of heart, which the soul strives to work within itself through earnest effort, is exceedingly medicinal. It has a purging power and a healing virtue; God's Spirit works with and through it to cleanse the heart and hands. Godly sorrow breeds repentance, leading to reformation of heart and life. Only the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse from the guilt of sin and merit the remission of its punishment, but the tears of penitent sorrow help to wash away the stain and filth of sin, break its dominion over the soul, and confirm the heart against it. One must grieve for their sins here or howl for them hereafter, and by this, they shall prevent many chastisements, be armed against carnal sorrow, and be made capable of sound consolation.

2. Prayer: Pray to God that He would perform His promise of taking away the stony heart and giving a fleshy heart instead.

3. Self-Reflection: A good person must represent their sins to their own soul as exceedingly grievous, dangerous, and loathsome. They must aggravate sin to themselves and make their understanding perceive it as a very vile thing, worthy to be lamented and wept for more than anything else in the world. To that end, they must consider:

- The multitude of their sins: How exceedingly many and innumerable their sins are.

- The greatness of some sins: Considering the aggravating circumstances, gross and palpable nature, presumptuous manner, and sins committed against plain and evident light, conscience, reproofs, purposes, vows, and all helps, even making a trade of them. "I know your great sins," says the Prophet; "This people has committed a great sin," says Moses; and David says, "Forgive my iniquity, for it is great."

- The hatefulness of sin in its effects:

- Against God: It wrongs and offends God in His sovereign authority, wisdom, and right over His creatures, who is so excellent and great.

- On all creation: Sin has brought much misery upon all creatures—the earth is barren, the sea troubled, the air infected, and everything out of order because of sin. We have lost the state of innocence, are cast out of Paradise, deprived of God's favor, His image, the dominion over creatures, our right to heavenly glory, and our knowledge of God and His excellent creatures. The soul of man is dead in sins, the body mortal, and both subject to eternal death. We are cursed in all we undertake because we have transgressed the Law of God.

- In Christ’s sufferings: We see the odiousness of sin in Christ’s sufferings.

- In the torments of hell: The damned suffer because they did not bewail their transgressions in time, and we shall endure the same if we do not grieve.

- Examples of mourners: Reflect on the examples of those who mourned for sins—David, Peter, Mary Magdalene.

The Affections of the Irascible Appetite

These affections respect their object with the difficulty of attaining or avoiding it. They are essential in understanding the nature of grief and sorrow as they relate to our spiritual journey and relationship with God.

CHAPTER XXV.

Hope and Fear

I. Of Hope

1. The Nature of this Affection:

Philosophers call it "Extensio appetitus naturalis."

It is an earnest and strong inclination and expectation of some great good apprehended as possible to be obtained, though not without difficulty.

It is a great question whether it is more difficult to trust in God for spiritual or temporal blessings. The promises for temporal things are not as explicit, and they are not fulfilled literally. On the other hand, there are more natural prejudices against the pardon of sin than against daily bread. We do not easily believe in God's provision of temporal blessings because bodily needs are more urgent. He who will not trust in Christ for provision for his body will not trust in Him for the salvation of his soul.

First, the object about which hope deals is some great and suitable good, especially salvation (Gal. 5:5; Col. 1:3).

The good is thus qualified:

1. Futurum: Hope is of good things to come. Joy is in a present good; fear is of evils to come.

2. Possibile: Otherwise, we would never expect it; herein it differs from despair.

3. Difficile: Because it always looks at the good it waits for as not to be obtained by its own strength.

Secondly, the act of what the soul does in reference to this object is an expectation. This the Scripture expresses by waiting, patient abiding.

All hope is either:

- Human: The expectation which the rational creature has from some second cause. This the Scripture calls a vain hope, a spider's web, a lie.

- Divine: The expectation of the will to receive good from the hand of God. The ground of such a hope must be the Word of God, by which alone His power and truth stand engaged to us, and to hope for anything else is vain. We must either have a general or particular promise of the thing hoped for, or it is idle to expect it. Therefore, David repeats more than once that he hoped in God's Word (Psalm 130:5; Psalm 119:49, 81). So Abraham had God's promise for a son in his old age before he expected one.

The measure of hope must be strong and firm without wavering, holding out even against hope and all likelihood.

The continuance of it must hold out against all delaying and procrastination (1 Pet. 1:13). This is waiting on God, which is commanded.

2. The Image of God in this Affection:

There will be no use of hope at all in glory. There was little use of it in the primitive condition of man. The object of his happiness was present and enjoyed—God, His favour and communion, and all things in Him. But this did not continue.

3. The Corruption of this Affection:

4. The corrupt object of our hope when we are depraved.

5. The woeful effects and cursed fruits it brings forth.

Firstly, the object: That which is the only excellent object of hope is wholly lost by a wicked man—God, His image, favour, and grace (Eph. 2:14; 1:11). That object, though suitable, is not looked on by him under that notion.

Secondly, there is no declaration of the will of God to extend this unto him. Although there is no real hope, there is a spurious hope which the Scripture calls presumption. The hope and vain expectation of the wicked will be cut off. It is an ungrounded confidence whereby a sinner without warrant will promise himself all good.

The Woeful Effects which this False Hope Produces in the Soul of Man:

4. It is a great means to draw them violently into the ways of sin. Young men are easily beguiled because they are full of hope.

5. This corrupt hope wraps the soul in a cursed carnal security (Job 18:13, 14).

6. When this hope is cut down, it usually ends in bitter despair, because the confidence it had to uphold itself was a mere figment.

7. The Sanctification of this Affection:

Because the greatest part of a Christian's good is unseen and unenjoyed in this world, hope must have a significant influence on a believer's life to comfort, sustain, and refresh him (Rom. 8:24, 25).

The Work of God's Spirit in Sanctifying this Affection

1. Turning it to its Right Object and upon a Right Ground:

2. Producing the Right, Proper, and Natural Effects of it: Hope thus rectified is the establishment of the soul in all storms. It looks at two things: the good to be enjoyed and the means by which it is to be enjoyed.

God in Christ and the Spirit is the principal object that hope closes with (Jer. 14:8, Rom. 15:13, Col. 1:27, 1 Pet. 1:21).

The less principal are the promises concerning this life and the life to come (Heb. 11), or rather the things promised.

Secondly, the means, the goodwill of God, the intercession of Christ, and the ordinances.

The ground of hope is faith in the Word; the act of hope is expectation—the putting out of the rational appetite in the expectation of a future good which is difficult. It is not a vain, uncertain expectation but a sure expectation of it. The object is sure if I believe it. This makes the soul possess itself in patience (Rom. 8:24, 25; Heb. 11:1). Faith looks at the truth as present; hope closes with it as future.

There is a certainty:

1. Of the Object: When the thing I believe or hope for is infallible.

2. Of the Subject: When the thing is made sure to my soul.

Two things are contrary to hope: despair and presumption.

Despair is a falling of the heart from the future good conceived as unattainable, at least to the individual. It is a soul racking itself with what is and what will be (Job 13:14).

We must despair of attaining any good thing by our own industry without God's special help. We must not despair of attaining any good thing by God's gracious blessing, favour, and mercy, such as power against sin, pardon of it, deliverance out of crosses, and life eternal. It is not a mere absence or privation of hope but a passion contrary to hope, like love to hatred. Francis Spira, in the despair of his soul, cried out, "Verily desperation is hell itself," and said, "My sin is greater than God's mercy."

Presumption, the excess of hope, is when the Papists expect heaven as a reward of their obedience. It is taking things beforehand or looking for what God has not promised.

The Proper Use of this Holy Affection for

God's People While They Live in this World

1. To be a stay and safeguard to their souls in all times of difficulty (Heb. 6:19, the anchor of the soul).

2. It is, while we are in this world, all the possession we have of the other world (Rom. 8:24, we are saved by hope).

Marks of a Sanctified Hope

1. The holy Scripture breeds it (Rom. 15:4, Col. 1:23); it reveals your desperate condition in yourself (Lam. 3:24, 25).

2. It is grounded upon true faith in Christ (Rom. 15:13, Col. 1:27).

3. Such a person minds heavenly things more than earthly things (Heb. 11:15, 16).

4. He who has true hope to go to heaven will be careful to prepare and fit himself for it (2 Cor. 5:9, 1 John 3:3, Psalm 37:3). Because the soul expects good from God, it labours to walk acceptably with Him.

5. It carries the soul cheerfully on in the use of all the means which the Lord has appointed for attaining that end (Heb. 10:23).

6. The principal use of it appears when storms and difficulties arise. The real use of it is to stay the soul; when troubles come, it quiets the soul and makes it patient and content under pressures (1 Tim. 4:10).

Motives to Hope:

First, there is a necessity for it; we cannot live without it. It is an expectation of an absent good, and we shall be dashed on the rocks continually if we do not have this anchor of our lives (Prov. 10:28, 1 Pet. 1:13).

Secondly, when this grace is wrought in the soul, it will keep it in a quiet, calm condition.

Thirdly, it will be a great help to holiness. He who has this hope will purify himself as he is pure. One cannot have a Gospel-hope and lead a wicked life.

Fourthly, this hope will never deceive you or make the soul ashamed (Rom. 5:5). The hope of the wicked is like a spider's web and the giving up of the ghost.

Means to Get a Sanctified Hope:

In general, you must labour to be new creatures; the Spirit of God must work it.

1. Let your hope never rest on anything but the word of God (Rom. 15:4); there is no bottom for this anchor but that.

2. Meditate on the all-sufficiency of God who has given you that word (Rom. 4:18, 19; Psalm 9:10).

1. On God's almighty power, how infinitely able He is to help.

2. On His free grace; of His own accord He makes and keeps the promise.

3. His mercy, goodness, and faithfulness.

3. Experience of God's dealings with others (James 5:11) and ourselves (Psalm 42:8). Rachel, when she had one son, called him Joseph, saying, "God will add another" (Psalm 77:10, 11). The servants of God of old would write a special name on their deliverance or name the place so as to remember it, both to help them praise God for mercies received and to strengthen them to hope in God for the future, as in Eben-ezer ("The stone of help"), Jehovah-jireh, and The Valley of Berachah (Psalm 78:9, 10).

4. The examples of His mercy and favour to others (Psalm 22:4, 44:1, 2).

5. Such a one must be careful to walk in holiness and righteousness before God (1 John 3:3, 29; Job 31:24).

CHAP. XXVI.

II. Fear

Fear is that passion which makes the heart shrink and withdraw from an imminent evil it perceives itself unable to escape or endure.

First, It Must Be Exercised Alone upon Fit Objects

The things we may and must fear are real evils.

1. Natural Evils: These include poverty, shame, danger, and death, especially when God or our lawful Governor threatens them against us. We must fear God's threats and tremble at His Word. For instance, when we hear of the punishment of sinners, it must make us fear. Jacob feared Esau, and David feared reproach, meaning just and due reproach.

2. Spiritual Evils: These should be feared at all times, such as sin, God's anger, and eternal damnation. We must fear to sin, to incur God's anger, and to bring ourselves to death. For example, Joseph feared committing a great evil, and Paul mentioned, "Having this terror, we persuade men." Job feared the judgment of God and dared not wrong his servant. We should fear eternal punishment of sin until we are freed from it by Christ, and then we must fear it no more.

Secondly, The Measure of Our Fear

1. Moderation: All our fears, regardless of their nature, should be moderate, serving to awaken wit, courage, and care to avoid peril, and no further. All human affections were planted to further our welfare and must be fitted to that end in their measure of working. For example, consider Jacob's fear of Esau and Christ's fear in the Garden. Even our fear of God's anger and eternal death should be moderate enough only to move us to use the right means of escape, by submitting ourselves to God. Excessive fear is not a sin in one case alone: when God shows Himself extraordinarily in terrible signs, or when an angel appears.

2. Priority: We must fear spiritual evils more than natural ones, sin more than man's displeasure or any loss, and damnation above all other evils. The Saints of God and Martyrs in former times exemplified this. David said, "I will not fear what man can do unto me," and "I will not fear though I walk in the valley of death."

We Must Not Fear

1. Causeless Anger or Reproach of Men: Nor should we fear imaginary evils. "The wicked flee when no one pursues" (Prov. 28:1). "The noise of a leaf shall chase them" (Lev. 26:36). "The shadows of the mountains seem like men to them" (Judges 4:).

2. Real Evils Opposing Duty: Fear not those who kill the body. "Fear not any of these things you shall suffer" (Rev. 2:10).

3. Evils Against Which God Has Secured Us: Such as the Lord's command to Joshua not to fear, and the command to the people not to fear when they see a great army. David said, "God is my light and shield; I will not fear what man can do unto me." A Christian reconciled to God should not fear any outward danger, for he has God engaged to save and deliver him in all extremity. "The fearful must go to hell," referring to those who fear when and what they should not.

Rectifying This Passion

To rectify this passion, one must have faith in God, a true fear of God, and a good conscience toward God. Pray to Him to sanctify it.

The Affection of Fear vs. the Grace of Fear

The affection of fear must be distinguished from the grace and virtue of fear. While the virtue will rightly order the affection, they are distinct. The affection of fear is natural to all men, even to the very devils, but the grace of the fear of God is a part of sanctification, found only in the elect child of God.

The Fear of God Defined

The fear of God is a grace whereby a man is so overawed with the apprehension of God's greatness and presence that he dares not offend Him (Deut. 23:12-14, Eccles. 8:12, Prov. 23:17).

The Excellence of the Fear of God

The fear of God is an excellent grace (1 Sam. 12:14-15, Mal. 1:6, Jer. 5:22). Christ said, "I will show you whom you shall fear: Him who can cast soul and body into hellfire."

There is no virtue more frequently commanded or abundantly commended in Scripture. It is the first and chiefest point of wisdom (Prov. 1:7, 9:10, Psalm 111:10).

Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is understood in two main senses:

1. Generally: It encompasses all graces and gracious dispositions, as seen in Ecclesiastes 12:13. Just as faith in the New Testament embodies all graces, fear does so in the Old Testament. Compare Proverbs 13:14 with 14:27.

2. Specifically: It refers to the affection whereby the soul, in a filial manner, is overawed with the greatness and goodness of God, as expressed in Hosea 3:4.

Reasons for the Fear of the Lord

1. From God: He is surpassingly excellent, embodying a perfect mixture of greatness and goodness. He is able to destroy and willing to save and help. In relation to us, He possesses infinite and unlimited sovereignty as our Creator, holding full and absolute power to dispose of His creation. He can save and destroy and has authority to command and reason to be displeased if we act contrary to His will.

2. From Ourselves: We are mean and vile in comparison to God, utterly unable to resist Him, flee from Him, or deliver ourselves from His hand. We are worthy of being subject to Him in the lowest degree.

3. Effects of This Fear:

- It entitles the one who possesses it to all the gracious promises of God for this life and the next. It clearly proves a person to be regenerate, sanctified, a true child of God, and a faithful servant.

- It brings great tranquility of mind and settled quietness of heart. It arms the heart against all carnal and inordinate fears and strengthens it against all temptations (Exodus 1:17; Isaiah 8:12-13; Luke 12:4-5).

Types of Fear

1. Fear of Reverence: A reverent respect for God, maintained by considering God's attributes revealed in the Word (Psalm 16:8; Job 31:1; Isaiah 6:3; Exodus 23:11; Habakkuk 3:16).

2. Fear of Caution or Circumspection in Our Conduct:

- This is stirred by considering the strictness of the Law, which condemns not only acts but also sinful lusts and motions (Psalm 19:9; 1 Corinthians 2:3).

- It is also prompted by the sad falls of the saints when they neglected the fear of God, such as Peter's fall due to a damsel's question.

Servile vs. Filial Fear

There is a servile fear of God as a Judge and a filial fear of Him as a Father. The former is fear of punishment (ne puniat), while the latter is fear of desertion (ne deserat), as expressed by Augustine.

Courage or Boldness

Courage, or boldness, is a passion entirely contrary to fear, which stirs up and quickens the mind against evil to repel or bear it without dejection.

Saul, David, and David's worthies, Jonathan, Caleb, and Joshua were courageous. A godly man is bold as a young lion. "Be of good courage, be strong," says God to Joshua. Caleb and Joshua would have gone up to possess the land notwithstanding the strength of the Canaanites.

Types of Resolution

1. In sin and iniquity: As mentioned in Jeremiah 18:12, the devils are confirmed in wickedness.

2. In the truths and ways of God: As seen in Daniel 3:18, this is an almighty work of God's Spirit, whereby a Christian can do and suffer glorious things for God and His cause (e.g., Daniel 1:8; Acts 21). Nehemiah, Esther, Athanasius, Luther, and others were thus courageous.

There is boldness with God that flows from innocence (Job 11:15) and from flattery, a boldness that arises from a seared conscience (Deuteronomy 29:19) and from a reprobate conscience (Hebrews 6:1; John 14:17).

Proper Ordering of Courage

1. For the Object of It: Courage must be exercised against all sorts of evils, particularly those that come upon us in the way of our calling and duty. For example, David used courage against Goliath (1 Samuel 17:34), Jonathan against the Philistines, and Esther against the danger of death. The judges of Israel were courageous, as was Paul in his sufferings, and chiefly Christ Jesus when He set Himself to go up to Jerusalem and to bear the curse of the law. Courage must be withdrawn from unfit objects; we must not be courageous against God's threats, natural phenomena like thunder, our betters, or the evil of sin and damnation. To be bold in doing evil and to despise God's threats is hardness of heart. This was the sin of the old world, the Philistines when the Ark came against them, and of Pharaoh.

2. For the Measure of Our Courage: It must always be moderate, so as to resist and bear such evils as necessarily present themselves to be resisted and borne, without provoking danger. Courage should be used more against public enemies and evils than private, and more against spiritual evils than natural; we must resist Satan, strong in the faith.

Motives to True Christian Courage

1. It is both munimentum: the armour of a Christian, and ornamentum: the honour of a Christian.

2. Consider the examples in Scripture: Moses (Exodus 10:26), Joshua, Daniel, Esther, Peter, and Paul.

Means of Cultivating Courage

1. Recognize and grieve over your fearfulness, confessing it to God with sorrow, for in acknowledging the lack of grace begins the supply thereof.

2. Consider the necessity, worth, and excellence of this grace.

3. Pray to God for the spirit of courage.

4. Beware of self-confidence (Hebrews 11:34). As Bernard of Clairvaux said, "In vain strives he who does not rely." Remember Peter and Dr. Pendleton.

In conclusion, I shall address some compound affections: anger, reverence, and zeal. It aligns well with God's attributes and His dispensations that we should love, rejoice, be confident, and yet fear (Psalm 11; Matthew 8:8). God reveals different attributes of mercy and justice, on which we are to exercise different affections. His dispensations are also varied; as there is fatherly love, so there is ira paterna (fatherly wrath) (Deuteronomy 26:11; Jude 11). See Philippians 2:13.

Of Anger

Anger is a powerful passion and has, by its nature, engrossed the general name of passion unto itself.

The most usual Hebrew word for anger is "Aph," which also signifies the nose and, by a synecdoche, the whole face. This is either because, in anger, breath issues more vehemently from the nose—akin to smoke from a flame kindled about the heart—or because anger is most quickly discerned in the face. The Greeks used two names to express this affection, "θυμός" (thumos) and "ὀργή" (orgē). In Latin, it is called "ira," suggesting a man quasi ex se ire, as it were, to go out of himself. "Ira furor brevis" (anger is a brief madness). Anger is the rising of a man's heart against one who behaves amiss, to punish him.

Anger is a mixed affection, compounded of three affections: hatred, desire, and grief.

1. Hatred: In pure, just, and innocent anger, there is hatred of the sin and fault principally, and a little, for the present, of the faulty person. In corrupt anger, there is little or no hatred of the fault, but most of all of the person.

2. Grief: In pure anger, grief is for the dishonor done to God. In corrupt anger, it is for the wrong done to oneself or one's friend.

3. Desire: In pure anger, there is a desire to use means according to one's vocation to bring the party to repentance and hinder the infection of the sin. In unjust anger, there is a desire to revenge oneself upon the party and delight in their suffering.

Anger is a violent passion because it is composed of these three fiery affections. It is easy to perceive all three in every angry person. Those in love, pain, sorrow, or hunger, in deep studies, are very touchy and soon moved to anger, for in all these there is an excessiveness of one or two of these passions, of which anger is made. Thus, anger is soon provoked, as wood and fire will cause a flame with a little blowing.

The formal cause of anger is when something highly esteemed by us is contemned by another.

The Rectitude of Anger

In the state of innocence, there was little use for anger. While man did not offend God, nothing offended him. Christ was perfectly holy and yet angry at the hardness of men's hearts and the pollution of the Temple. Similarly, man might have been angry at the sin of the devils when he knew it. Then, it would have been no perturbation to his spirit nor blinding of his mind.

The Corruption of Anger

1. The Object: This corrupt anger is conversant about the wrong object and the wrong measure.

2. The Causes: Various causes produce it.

3. The Effects: Many cursed effects are produced in men's lives.

The Object of Corrupt Anger

The right object is dishonor done to God's name; sin alone displeases God.

Anger is mistaken when:

1. Anger with God: God is exempt from anger due to His excellency and spotless holiness. Jonah was faulty in this way, and Solomon notes that men who pervert their ways fret against God.

2. Anger with Superiors: Anger, being the passion of correcting and punishing, should not be directed at superiors. Their faults should grieve us, not anger us. Therefore, Jonathan was not entirely blameless for being angry against his father Saul on behalf of David.

3. Anger with Innocent Parties: Where there is no fault, there should be no displeasure.

On Anger (Continued)

Lastly, it is generally unreasonable to be angry with creatures too insignificant to warrant such a reaction. For example, Balaam was wrathful with his ass. Similarly, it is foolish to be angry with a horse for stumbling or starting unless they deviate greatly from their natural behavior, such as when a lion or bear attacks a sheep.

Excess in Anger

Secondly, one errs in the measure or quantity of anger when it exceeds what is appropriate. The proper end of anger is to awaken courage and set it to work to chastise evil or to resist and overcome it so that the mind is not overwhelmed. Such a moderate stirring of this passion, which serves to set the mind to work to resist and oppose a fault or evil, is permissible. However, if it escalates to a greater intensity or flame, it becomes excessive and harmful. If anger is more vehement than the offense warrants, it is excessive. There can also be a fault in the defect when we are not moved by a just cause for anger, such as when we should admonish, reprove, or correct.

Causes of Anger

Since the fall, the natural humours of the body contribute to anger. The immediate cause is pride and arrogance, the fruits of self-love. "Proud and haughty scorner is his name that deals in fierce wrath." Should such a one as I be thus treated?

1. Our low esteem of others compared to ourselves.

2. Those things which should cause us to be meek and quiet, such as learning and wisdom, can provoke anger when our perceived excellency is affronted. Our weakness, which should make us meek, instead puts us into passion. Simple and sickly people are often the most passionate.

Cursed Effects and Fruits of Anger

1. Anger produces a great deal of sorrow and woe in this world. The angry man never lacks woe; who has more reproaches and enemies?

2. It disarms the soul of its strength and leaves it vulnerable to the enemy. "In patience possess your souls" (Prov. 25:28).

3. It blinds the eye of our reason. "Ira furor brevis" (anger is a brief madness), as Ecclesiastes 7:9 states: "Anger rests in the bosom of fools."

Impedit ira animum, ne possit cernere verum. Anger hinders the mind so that it cannot perceive the truth.

Jonah said to God, "I do well to be angry to death."

4. Anger hurries all the other passions of the soul its own way.

5. It is destructive to one of the principal ends of man's being, which is human society (Prov. 22:24).

6. It sets the tongue on fire, leading to reviling and raging. When Moses was angry, he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.

7. It produces an abundance of wicked actions: swearing, cursing, quarrelling, hurting, rude behaviour, crying, stamping, and staring.

8. It hinders a man from any communion with God:

1. From hearing, as we are to receive the engrafted word with meekness.

2. From prayer (1 Tim. 2:8). Unbelief and anger hinder our prayers.

3. From the sacrament, which is a feast of love.

9. It quenches all the motions of God's Spirit and closes with the devil, allowing him to possess the very soul (Eph. 4:26-27).

Man's nature is inclined to causeless, ungrounded, and excessive anger (1 Sam. 20:30-31). Eliab was angry with David when he spoke valiantly. Nebuchadnezzar raged against the three children for not worshipping his golden image, and against the wise men of Babel for not being able to declare his dream. Herod was also wroth against the wise men because they returned another way and did not bring him word concerning the child Jesus whom they came to inquire of and worship. A godly man may fall into passionate fits and be over-choleric, as David and Jonah did.

Reasons Why Man is Prone to This Unreasonable Distemper

1. The abundance of those vices in everyone which contribute to the working of unjust anger:

1. Self-love makes one prone to anger because it is so wakeful, jealous, and observant.

2. Folly: "Anger rests in the bosom of fools"; "A fool in the day of his wrath is known"; "An angry man exalts folly," giving it a high room in his heart and making it a great ruler within him. All men, in the corruption of nature, are fools and have that title given them by the Holy Ghost.

3. Pride: "By pride alone comes contention," says Solomon.

2. Anger is a common fault, therefore Solomon says, "Make no friendship with an angry man, lest you learn his ways."

3. People make small account of it, referring to it as a little passion or choler.

4. The bodily temper in the greater number furthers it. The fiery choler in a man's body is the instrument of this hot vice.

With a soul defiled by vices that beget anger and a body consisting of humours that set anger to work, finding many examples of it and making little account of it, no wonder man proves to be a wrathful creature.

This anger is greatly disgraced in Scripture: Prov. 12:16, 14:17, 14:29, 21:24, 19:19, 22:24, and 29:22. It is a fruit of the flesh.

The Work of Grace in Sanctifying Anger

1. The Efficient Cause of Holy Anger:

- The principal cause is the Spirit of God, which plants a new nature in the soul and in this affection. Moral philosophy can significantly moderate anger, but only the Spirit of God can make it holy.

- Sanctified reason is the immediate caller of it out and the orderer of it: if it is holy anger, it is a grace and therefore must be called out by reason.

2. The Motive or Occasion of It:

- We are angry for what we should be: gross and presumptuous sins done willfully and openly, as Christ was angry with the Pharisees and Peter. These are sins that are gross in matter, presumptuous in manner, and mischievous in effect, not common imperfections or weaknesses.

- Insolences against the Church and Commonwealth.

- Wrongs offered to us in a public place or a place of authority, as with Moses.

3. The Object About Which It is Conversant:

- Only sin. The persons with whom we may be angry are our inferiors or near equals, not our eminent superiors, even if they do us some wrong (Eccles. 8:3). Anger is an affection of punishing, and we may punish no others, least of all must we be angry with God (Prov. 19:3).

4. The Quickness of It:

- We must be slow to anger (Eccles. 7:9, Prov. 14:17, 29; Matt. 5:22). Anger should not be without cause or unadvisedly.

5. The Measure of It:

- It must always be temperate, sufficient to quicken spirits but not to darken reason.

- It must not exceed the proportion of the evil. When God is much dishonored, it must be more, as with Moses.

6. The Continuance:

- It must never be long-lasting; the sun must not go down upon our wrath. It must not be a bedfellow. There must not be more anger than is requisite for the true and proper end of anger.

The corrupt end of corrupt anger is revenge. But the true and proper end for which God planted it in the heart was twofold:

1. That it might serve as a means to enable the body and mind to procure just defense against any evil or hurt that should be offered, especially against any sinful temptation. Christ was angry with the Devil when he tempted Him to worship him; Jacob with Rachel (Gen. 30:2).

2. To stir us up when needed to use earnestness for the reforming of sin in others who have committed it. Thus, Christ was angry against those who bought and sold in the Temple and often against the hypocritical Pharisees, which made Him so sharp with them often.

Marks of Sanctified Anger

1. What stirs this passion? Is it because God is dishonoured? Moses' spirit was stirred above twice in his own cause, but he was impatient when the Israelites worshipped the golden calf. The zeal of God's house consumed Christ.

2. Anger with oneself: Such a one is most of all angry with himself because he knows no one commits more injuries against that which is dear to himself—God's glory, his own peace, against his own wanderings and failings.

3. Observes the rule: "Be angry and sin not," because it is against sin.

4. Provokes duty: Holy anger will provoke him to his duty. Nehemiah was troubled when the Sabbath was profaned.

5. Measure: It does not exceed in measure.

Means

1. To provoke this affection against sin.

2. To bridle our inordinate passion about things for which we should not be angry.

Of the First

1. Consider the value of godly impatience: A great part of our holy zeal (which is the edge of the soul) is anger against sin. It is an intense degree of pure affection; zeal is a composition of love and anger.

2. God's own anger: God himself is extremely angry with sin and the workers of iniquity. He is jealous and wrathful; he drowned all the world, burned five cities, made his Son drink the cup of his wrath. He was never angry for anything but sin.

3. Understand the nature of sin: Whatever may call out anger meets only in sin. It is an injury against God, a contempt, an ingratitude against Him who is the holiest, wisest, and most excellent in heaven and earth. And who are they that do this? Base creatures, worms, potsherds, that receive everything good from Him.

How to Bridle Our Inordinate Passions

1. Avoid pride and overestimating oneself: Proverbs 11:2 & 21:24. David was much provoked at Nabal, but he suffered Shimei to rail at him. Nothing is to be esteemed but the glory of God, His favour, and communion with Him.

2. Avoid suspicion: Love, which is opposite to anger, is said not to be suspicious.

3. Abstain from occasions of anger: Take heed of tale-bearers, resist anger in the beginning.

4. Consider the excellency of meekness and longsuffering: Understand the hand from which every injury comes, real or supposed. Shimei cannot curse David, but God bids him, He orders it.

5. Control your thoughts: Pass the thing over, do not dwell on it (Matthew 15:19).

6. Reflect on glorious examples: Consider the examples of Moses, David, and Christ Himself.

7. Disgrace this vice to yourself: Call to mind how earnestly God has condemned it, how He has vilified it, and those that give themselves to it. "Anger rests in the bosom of fools." The Holy Ghost bids us put away anger and wrath, bitterness, crying, and evil speaking. He bids us, "Walk not with an angry man, nor have fellowship with a furious man." He says, "An angry man abounds in transgression." It is opposite to love, the best of virtues, a very drunkenness, and disgraceful to oneself.

Reverence

Reverence is an affection by which the soul is stirred to regard and entertain the good that appears to be of some worth or excellence, according to its worth. It must be exercised upon appropriate objects, both things and persons that are reverend.

Objects of Reverence

- Holy Things of God: His sanctuary, Sabbath, Word, sacraments, and other ordinances in which men draw near unto Him (Leviticus 26:2).

- The Image of God: Consisting in righteousness and holiness. Solomon states that wisdom shall give a comely ornament.

Persons to be Honoured

1. The godly and virtuous: Respect them for the sake of the image of God that is in them.

2. Governors and rulers of all sorts: As per the Fifth Commandment.

3. Ministers of the Gospel.

4. Aged persons: Bearing a stamp of God's eternity.

Reverence is properly exercised upon a person esteemed excellent and eminent in grace and virtue, especially if also joined with sovereign authority. If authority is separated from virtue, yet in well-considering men, it will beget reverence, for the place will be respected, though not the individual. If virtue is separated from authority, that will still beget a great measure of reverence in a well-judging soul.

Measure of Reverence

We must honour and reverence things and persons more or less, as they are more or less reverend, each according to its degree.

Improper Objects of Reverence

1. Idols and false gods: The image of any Godhead set up for worship or any conceited imaginary god. Kissing the calves (a sign of reverence) was a sin.

2. Vile and base men of sinful and wicked conduct: In regard to wealth, wit, beauty, and other superficial qualities. Masters, parents, and kings must be revered for their authority, but not for other vain things.

Zeal

Zeal is defined as the heat and intensity of all affections, similar to how varnish is not a colour itself but gives gloss and lustre to all. Acts 26:7 describes it as a holy warmth wrought by the Spirit of God, whereby all affections are drawn out unto the utmost for the Lord and His glory.

It is described as spiritual heat wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, improving good affections of love, joy, and hope for the best furtherance of God's glory and using contrary affections of hatred, anger, and grief against God's enemies.

Requirements of Zeal

- For Ministers: Acts 18:25.

- For Hearers: Luke 24:32.

- For those who would pray with comfort: James 5:16.

- In every part of service to God: Romans 12:11.

- In our whole profession and practice of religion: Titus 2:14.

Reasons for Zeal

1. God's Nature: God is a Spirit, a pure act with whom we have to do, hence we must be spiritual.

2. Matters of Religion: These are of highest concernment in the world, requiring all heart, soul, and strength.

3. Excellence of Zeal:

- Best evidence of a Christian.

- Great means to draw out the soul to service for Christ (Isaiah 6).

- Saves a sinking Church (Numbers 25:10; Jeremiah 5:1).

- Adds glory and beauty to all our services, as varnish adds lustre to colours.

Cautions

1. Guided by Knowledge: Romans 10:2. Zeal without knowledge is like mettlesome behaviour in a blind horse. Knowledge without zeal is like a precious stone in an old toad's head.

2. Managed by Wisdom: We must not exceed our calling.

Signs of Holy Zeal

1. Impatient for Injuries Done Against God: As Moses in Exodus 32.

2. Ready for Any Service That May Advance God: As Isaiah in Isaiah 6.

3. Courageous Actions: A zealous person is bold for God, like Nehemiah who said, "Shall such a man as I flee?"

4. No Cost Spared for God: As expressed in Song of Solomon 8:7.

5. Continuous Striving: Whatever it has done for God, it never thinks it has done enough (Philippians 3:12-13).

6. Internal and External Manifestation: This heavenly fire shines abroad but burns most within.

7. Pleasure in Others' Zeal: As Moses said, "I would all the Lord's people were prophets."

CHAPTER XXVII:

Of the Sensitive Appetite

Thus I have done with sanctifying the intellectual nature—the understanding, will, conscience, memory, and the affections. Now I come to the Appetitus Sensitivus, the sensitive appetite.

It is an inclination of the soul to embrace those things which are perceived as good or evil according to the judgment of the senses.

There are five external senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting, and three internal senses: memory, fancy, and common sense. In these, men and brute beasts are alike.

In man, this sensitive appetite differs from that in a brute beast in three ways:

1. In a brute beast, it constitutes all the soul he possesses, but in man, it is not a distinct soul, rather an inferior faculty of the rational soul.

2. The motions of a brute beast according to sense are not guided by reason.

3. In a brute beast, sense is the sole guide for making judgments; man's rule is reason guided by God.

All the motions of the will which the soul adopts based on the representation of the senses constitute the brute part.

1. The Rectitude of It Before the Fall or the Image of God in It

It was wholly under the command of reason; it was to be a servant to the soul, merely bringing intelligence and representing all things observed externally. A man in his pure condition had no desire for a thing until reason had judged it.

Since man's fall, much of our depravation lies in this low, brutish faculty. The Scripture states, "Every man is a beast." The Apostle ten times in Romans 6, 7, and 8 calls concupiscence sin. Some think he refers to the depravation of this faculty.

Man, falling away from God and making himself his portion, turns to the creature and makes it his portion.

1. The Power Which This Brute Part Has Over Reason

2. Over the Will and Affections

3. The Abominable Fruits Which Flow from Both

Of the First

Whereas reason should impartially take all things without prejudice and weigh them in the right balance, it often puts out the eye or deludes it.

1. It Takes Up the Will

It takes up the will before anything is propounded to reason, often ravishing the will, which the Scripture describes as madness.

2. The Woeful Fruits of This

As a result, man, who was made in God's image and most like Him, becomes carnal, earthly, and brutish. The spiritual part is drowned, as noted in Jude 10. His joy is found in music, wine, horses, gardens, and clothes. Though he possesses an intellectual nature, his reason invents ways and means to pursue some sensual good and avoid some sensual evil. This is the state of all natural men. Corruption first entered the soul through the sensual appetite: Eve, by seeing the fruit, hearing the serpent, touching and tasting the fruit, and by imagining the good that might come to her from it, was deceived. Scholars and wise men, when corrupt, are often more preoccupied with things that appeal to the senses than with what appeals to reason. Many among the Arabians are learned in languages and mathematics, yet their happiness and all their religion from Mahomet are based on what pleases the senses. Popery is a mere pompous, sensual religion. People often perform virtuous deeds to receive the rewards of virtue and hate punishments because they are sensual.

The Work of God's Grace in Sanctifying This Part

The proper office of the sensitive appetite was to present the intellectual nature with what of God may be found in the creature. The sanctification of it stands in two things:

1. Spoiling the Relish: God, by His grace, spoils the relish of the good presented to us by the senses. He reveals to the soul better good to feed upon, the taste of spiritual things, and the consolations of Christ.

2. Trouble at Evil: The soul is not much troubled by the evil presented by the senses, such as sickness and reproach. Though grace does not fully subdue the appetite to the point where it will not meddle, it does stay the will. In a gracious person, the dictates of reason and conscience conclude the matter. As with Samson’s love for an uncircumcised Philistine, if grace had prevailed, it would have soon ceased.

Directions on How to Get This Faculty Sanctified

1. Satisfaction in Better Things: We shall never get it under control until we can get the soul to find satisfaction in better things, such as communion with God. Paul could abound and want. All the philosophy in the world cannot take the soul off until grace does. Philosophical rules did not detach their hearts because they did not have better things to satisfy them.

2. Diligent Watch Over Senses: Watch diligently over your senses, Satan’s ports of entry. What undid Achan? "I saw a fine garment, and then I coveted." The harlot in Proverbs allured the young man by inveigling most of his senses. "I made a covenant with my eyes," says Job.

3. Care for Inward Senses: We must be careful of our inward senses and our thoughts about earthly things.

4. Prayer: Pray much to the Lord that He would keep us in His holy fear.

The Vegetative Soul

The vegetative soul is a power of attracting, concocting, and expelling what is superfluous. It was not gracious in innocence, nor sinful by the fall; the perverseness of it was brought in by sin, but under the aspect of punishment.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Of the Sanctification of Man's Body and All External Actions

The body, as well as the soul, was redeemed by the price of Christ's blood, taken into union with Him, and shall be glorious to all eternity.

I shall here handle four things:

1. The Nature of the Body.

2. The Image of God in it before the Fall.

3. Its Corruption.

4. Its Sanctification by the Spirit.

1. The Nature of the Body

It is one of the most curious pieces of all God's workmanship (Psalm 139:14-15).

The operation of the soul much depends on the temper or distemper of the body.

2. The Image of God in Man's Body Before the Fall

God is a Spirit; how can the body be His image?

The Schoolmen say it stood in three things:

1. In the admirable frame and composure of it; this is not probable.

2. In its majesty, which carried a beam of God in it; brute beasts did stoop to him as their lord.

3. It bore God's image significatively; it was the vessel wherein the soul did act that holiness which was God's image. The comeliness of any man's body depends not on outward decking but on its employment in the works of holiness.

3. The Depravation of the Body Since Man's Fall

It is a great question: wherein does the sinfulness of the body lie? There is no sin in it till the soul comes, nor when it is gone. Yet that there is sin in it appears in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Its sinfulness consists in three things:

1. In its fitness to sin (Romans 6:13).

2. In its readiness to sin; there is not only a passive fitness but an active readiness in the members to sin (Acts 13:10). The feet are swift to shed blood.

3. In its greediness for the service of sin (Deuteronomy 29:19).

The whole body of original corruption dwells in our bodies (Romans 6:12). Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. This corruption defiles the body within and issues out likewise; sometimes it will inwardly burn with lust and anger.

The Members of Our Bodies as Instruments of Sin

The tongue was given to man to be an instrument of God's glory; therefore, David calls it his glory. However, since our fall, the Spirit of God says it is a world of wickedness. One author has written a large treatise on the sins of the tongue. With it, we curse God and rail against men. Much uncleanness is acted by it. Another reckons up twenty-four different sins of the tongue, including lying, swearing, ribaldry, scoffing, flattering, quarrelling, deceiving, boasting, and tattling. It is compared to a sharp two-edged sword, a razor, sharp arrows, an adder's sting, the poison of an asp, fiery coals, and the fire of hell.

Eyes: Eyes full of adultery (1 Peter 2), an evil eye, a covetous eye.

Ears: A deaf ear to what is good, itching ears.

Hands: Full of violence, oppressing.

Feet: Swift to shed blood.

The Work of Grace in Sanctifying Man's Body

When the whole work of sanctification is intended, God sometimes names only the sanctifying of man's body (Romans 12:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, Romans 6:12-13, 1 Corinthians 6:13, 19).

The work of grace in sanctifying the body does not mean making it the immediate and proper subject of grace, as that being spiritual cannot have its seat in the physical body. Rather, it involves the following:

1. The body shall no longer be at the command of the devil or a lust (1 Corinthians 6:15, Job 31:1, Psalm 141:3).

2. It is consecrated to the Lord (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is made the temple of the Holy Ghost. Where the Holy Ghost resides, He will spiritually adorn it so that it is no longer enslaved to sin.

3. It is taken into a real and indissoluble union with God Himself (1 Corinthians 6). Your bodies are the members of Christ.

4. Our bodies are the instruments by which the Spirit of God and our souls work sanctification (Romans 6). Give up your members as instruments of righteousness (1 Corinthians 6:20). David often calls on his tongue to bless God, naming it his glory. It exalts God's praises and ministers grace to the hearers (Psalm 141:3).

The Bridling of the Tongue

The bridling of the tongue involves:

1. Forbearing words:

- Sinful words:

- Impious against God's:

- Being, authority, and greatness.

- Worship and Word.

- Name and honour.

- Sabbath and rest.

- Injurious words:

- Against those we have a relation to:

- Betters: irreverent.

- Equals: comparing and disgracing.

- Inferiors: vilifying, contemning.

- Against all men:

- Unkind, passionate, provoking, and bitter words (against the sixth commandment).

- Impure, unclean words (against the seventh commandment).

- Fraudulent and deceitful words (against the eighth commandment).

- Whispering, slandering, flattering, bragging, backbiting (against the ninth commandment).

- Superfluous words: too many (Proverbs 10:8, 10; 1 Timothy 5:11).

- Impertinent words: not to the purpose, not concerning oneself (Psalm 73:9).

- Idle words: to no purpose (Matthew 13:36).

- Unseasonable words: uttered out of time and place, such as applying the comforts of the Gospel to one who is not humbled at all, or denouncing the terrors of the Law against one who is already too much pressed with the sense of his sins.

2. Using speech that is:

- Always gracious:

- Discreet.

- Gentle.

- Lowly.

- True.

- Often religious.

Motives to Preserve Our Bodies in Purity

Consider:

First, what an excellent piece the body of man is in the Lord's creation of it, wherein the power, wisdom, and goodness of God appear.

Secondly, rather than it should be lost, Christ has bought it with his precious blood (1 Corinthians 6).

Thirdly, your body is joined to Christ, and all the members are made members of his body.

Fourthly, the Holy Ghost dwells in it. God has two thrones: the highest heavens and the body and soul of a believer. God would not allow any natural filthiness among them while he was present with them.

Fifthly, your body shall be raised out of the dust and made like the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sixthly, consider your body in relation to your soul; it is to be the vessel your soul should use. By defiling it and regarding it more than enough, you make the soul a slave to it.

Seventhly, our bodies, without a great deal of attention and vigilance, will never be kept clean; original sin has overspread them.

Eighthly, a small temptation prevails over our bodies; they are more subject to spiritual than bodily evils.

Ninthly, Satan well knows that although God most looks at the grace and corruption which act in the inward man, for judging of inward goodness or badness, yet when grace breaks out in the body it is of greater glory, and when corruption appears there it is of greater infamy and disgrace.

Tenthly, in the judgment of God, the greatest beauty and comeliness to be found in our bodies is to have them thus devoted and consecrated to God, and thus employed. The bravery of our clothes, washing, and trimming is to set out our bodies because we would not appear deformed in the eyes of others (Proverbs 3:22-23).

Means to Possess Our Bodies in Purity

1. Take heed of over-loving or over-valuing the body, for then you will not put your body to any duty of mortification. The body is but a scabbard, the soul is the tool.

2. Above all, look to your heart within; keep that in a right frame, and the body will easily be kept. Jerome said, "I left the city and went into the wilderness, but I took my wicked heart with me."

3. Guard the senses. Sin entered the world through our senses: the devil spoke flattering words to the ear, showed the fruit to the eye, she touched it and tasted it, and perhaps smelled it (Proverbs 7). The harlot kissed him for his touch, she had the attire of a harlot for his eye, perfumed her bed for his smell, her words dropped as the honeycomb for his ear.

4. Keep the body, as well as the soul, in frequent communion with God; exercise your hands, eyes, and ears in prayer.

5. Since our bodies are filthy vessels ever since the fall and prone to be defiled, our care must be to wash them in clean water (2 Corinthians 7:1, Hebrews 10:22-23). We must daily renew our faith and repentance (Psalm 51). "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

For Our External Actions

1. Sinful actions are removed. The gross sinful actions are gone; old things are passed away. "You were sometimes like this, but you are washed, cleansed." Hence, they are called saints, called from the world: "Let him who stole steal no more."

2. Common infirmities are much subdued, and what remains is much bewailed (Galatians 6:24). You shall not see the same anger and love as before. He who was a very Nabal before is turned into a meek Moses, and he who was a tiger before is changed into a lamb.

Natural and Civil Actions

They are altered in several ways:

1. They are directed towards a right end: "Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God." As God made all things for himself, so we desire to live for him. Naturally, a man does all these actions for himself as the utmost end. We now eat, drink, and do everything to the glory of God, either immediately by giving him the glory and acknowledging him as the author of these mercies we partake of, or mediately by employing and laying out the strength, comfort, and profit we gain in the way God requires of us.

2. They become accessory, while heavenly things are the principal: "Seek first the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 6). "Labour not for the meat which perisheth" (John 6). What will it profit a man to gain the whole world? Naturally, a man is so focused on the world that he is consumed by it. If there were no heaven, no soul, no better things to look after, it would be another matter. But the conversation of the godly is in heaven, and their affections are set upon things above.

3. In the use of all these, they live by faith: "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 3), repeated three times in the New Testament. A man depends upon God's promise in the most troublesome straits, believing in God as a Father (Matthew 6) who will provide for him. Care and distractions about what to do and how to live oppose the work of converting grace. Paul knew how to abound and how to want; he said he had all things because he who has God by faith has all things of God: his wisdom, power, etc.

Their Religious Actions

They are altered in the following ways:

1. These are done with the inward man, with inward sorrow and delight. People often think that praying and doing other duties constitute godliness itself, but here, if anywhere, grace makes a significant change. Whereas before, these duties were done out of custom and more verbally, now they are performed with a greater sense of unworthiness, with the Spirit making groans unutterable and removing the stoniness of our hearts. Now, they are earnest and fervent in prayer, and they hear the Word diligently.

2. They are effects of faith reconciling us to God. Before conversion, all duties were abominable, yet highly esteemed by the person. Now they are accepted, with converting grace working faith in them, which, laying hold upon Christ, covers them all with his worth and excellency. Before, they were merely the desires of nature, like those any heathen would make, and they did not prevail. If God heard them, it was in a common way of providence, like his care for the ravens when they cry to him. But now, they are the prayers and duties of those in Christ, in whom God is well pleased. There is as much difference between a believer's prayer and a natural man's prayer as between Lazarus dead and risen again.

3. They are done effectively to make us grow and gain more strength. This is the purpose of prayer, hearing the Word, and the Sacraments: partly to cleanse us and partly to further us in the way of salvation. The godly man, faithfully using these ordinances, finds them to be like bread that gives him strength to live and grow. But the natural man is never reformed by these, even if he lives under the ministry. He retains the same old lusts and sins.

4. They are done in a way that leads us to rely on Christ alone. This is a significant change in the godly man's heart. He comes out of all his prayers, recognizing that "all our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth." Naturally, a man relies on these actions, but when God reveals the spiritual purity of his Law and the inward filth of our hearts, it spoils all our duties. It becomes impossible to depend on Christ without abandoning all else.

General Rules for Sanctifying Meats and Drinks, Apparel, Sports, and Labour

1. All these things, being in themselves neither morally good nor evil but indifferent, can be desired and used either too much or too little. Therefore, we should be moderate in their use.

2. They should be sanctified by the Word and Prayer (1 Timothy 4). The Word shows us the warrantable use of them and teaches us how to use them. Prayer obtains a blessing upon them (1 Corinthians 10:31).

3. Our liberty in their use must not be a stumbling block to our brethren.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Some Special Graces Deciphered: I. Bounty

Bounty or Liberality is the virtue of spending riches well. It is an inclination to give good things abundantly and freely. The object of it is riches, and the proper act of it is to spend them well.

It is a very commendable thing. "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed," says Solomon. See 1 Chronicles 22:14 and 29:13, 17; Matthew 26:7, 9. Paul commends the Church of Macedonia for it in the Thessalonians and Philippians.

Reasons

1. It shows that a man rightly understands the nature and end of wealth, namely, that it is but an instrument of well-doing, and all its good lies in using it well.

2. It is a useful virtue among men, therefore praise-worthy. It brings forth many good effects; it feeds and clothes people.

The occasions for this Bounty are these:

1. To a superior in times of some solemnities, or when we have occasion to deal with them to show our subjection to them. Thus, the people gave presents to Saul; those who came to Solomon brought gifts, and those who came to David did likewise.

2. To an enraged enemy to pacify him, as Jacob did to Esau, for a gift in secret pacifies great wrath.

3. To a wronged friend or neighbor, to make satisfaction, as Abimelech restored Abraham's wife with gifts.

4. To an acquaintance to nourish love and kindness, especially in times of solemnity, as they sent gifts to each other in celebrating the days of Purim.

5. To anyone who has shown themselves careful of us and done us much good, to requite them, as Saul brought a present to Samuel.

6. To such as we have occasion to use or employ for our good, that they may more willingly help us, as in 1 Samuel 17:16.

The goods of this world are well spent and bestowed:

1. When the object is good, in good works, chiefly Mercy and Religion. It is not about spending much but spending on things that are good, useful, and profitable: we must learn to maintain good works, 1 Timothy 6:17, 18.

2. The quantity or measure of it should be as much as the nature of the thing and the ability of the person can bear.

3. The manner of giving must be free and willing, prompt and ready, Romans 12:8.

Cautions

1. A gift must not be a bribe to pervert justice.

2. One must not rob the poor to give to the rich, nor refuse to pay debts to be able to give. This is not liberality but robbery. The matter of bounty must be goods honestly and justly obtained.

3. A man must not overcharge himself with gifts.

4. The motive and end must not be vain-glory, applause, or conceit of merit (Matthew 6).

The offering of our hands, giving part of our goods to God to maintain His worship and service, is required, for He will not be served alone with the tongue and ear, but also with the hand. We must give to Him as well as receive from Him to declare our homage unto God (Proverbs 3:9). "The chief of all thy increase" shows it undeniably that it means not common honoring Him by right employment of them in thrift and liberality, but by a special honoring Him in devotion, for the chief of one's increase denotes a gift to the God of his life, the chief Lord of all (Psalm 76:11). Bringing gifts is required to truly testify our fear of God as well as vowing and performing our vows.

We have clear examples of this. The princes and people offered to the building of the Tabernacle and at its dedication. David, his princes, and people offered to the building of the Temple. Also, the Wise Men (Matthew 2:11) offered gifts and presents to Christ as a real acknowledgment of their faith in Him. Acts 24:17 shows Paul thought that something was to be offered to God as well as given to the poor. It is not meant of his offering for his vow, for he did not come to Jerusalem for that purpose but agreed to do it by the advice of the Apostles after he arrived. The purpose of his coming, as he stated, was to bring alms and offerings. This means such things as various Gentiles had given to maintain the worship of God at Jerusalem, as well as alms to maintain the poor. A voluntary occasional offering and giving of what we see fit from what God has blessed us with, either for a special occasion of using cost for God's service to maintain it, as David did for the building of the Temple, or for acknowledgment of some special blessing, as seen after great victories.

Rich men must chiefly be bountiful but not solely. A cup of cold water from one who has no greater gift promises a very great reward; the widow's mite outweighed all the rich gifts of the wealthier persons.

Motives to Bounty

1. From God, who has commanded it, promised to reward it, and punish the contrary.

2. All creatures invite us to it—the Sun, the Sea, the earth, the flowers, all creatures, and especially the Creator who gives us all things abundantly to enjoy. Christ poured out His heart-blood for thee.

3. From wealth, which is fickle and uncertain, and which we must all part with and which will give no comfort nor bring any credit itself. There is no comfort in having but in well-bestowing a large estate.

4. From ourselves, who must part with all at last. Why should we not use our goods well? We are but stewards and must give an account of the use of them. All that we have is God's, and of thine own have we given thee.

5. Consider the cost we have incurred for our lusts.

6. We expect that Christ should be at cost with us every day; we look for a full table, a great deal of God's Spirit and love.

7. Consider the cost that the Jews incurred in all their services, and that many Papists and Mohammedans are at.

Means to Acquire This Virtue

1. Chase away the hindrances of it, such as covetousness and love of money, as such a one will be unwilling to part with it for good purposes. Frugality cuts off sinful and superfluous expenses in clothes and fare.

2. Engage in prayer and practice, lay out on Christ, His saints, ordinances, truths, and relieve the poor.

It is a question among learned men: Which of the two extremes of liberality is worse—prodigality in the excess or covetousness in the defect? Covetousness is worse because:

1. It is the root of all evil; Judas sold Christ for it.

2. The covetous person does good to none, nor to himself; the prodigal does good to many.

3. Age is some remedy against other vices and against prodigality, but covetousness grows young.

II. Humility

Humility is that grace whereby a man makes little or no account of himself (Job 42:6; Ezek. 20:43). It is a grace of the Spirit of God, whereby a man, out of true knowledge of himself, his state, and condition, accounts himself vile and walks accordingly before God and man. Every good man is humble (Prov. 30:2; Luke 18:13). Poverty of spirit is the first step to heaven (Matt. 5:3). "High in worth and humble in heart," said Nazianzen of Athanasius. All the stars, the higher they are, the lesser they appear; so must all the saints.

"Humilitas virtus Christianorum, prima, secunda, tertia." - Augustine

Augustine, when asked what virtue was most to be desired, answered, "Humility." When asked what was the second, he answered, "Humility." When asked what was next, he said again, "Humility."

Primislaus, the first King of Bohemia, kept his shoes by him to remind him from whence he rose. We read of Agathocles, that King who was at first but a potter's son and later advanced to the Kingdom of Sicily, who would, together with his plate of gold and silver, have earthen vessels on his cupboard to remind him of his former condition. Jacob said, "I am less than the least of all thy mercies." Abraham called himself "dust and ashes." David termed himself a "dead dog" (1 Sam. 2:4), a flea, that is, a poor, mean, base, worthless person. Paul termed himself "the least of all saints" and "the chiefest of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). "Though I be nothing," said he, "and I am the least of all the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle."

God often calls for this grace (Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:12; Phil. 2:3). God teaches the humble and exalts the humble. He has two thrones: one in the highest heavens and the other in the lowest heart.

Humility has the promise of both temporal benefits (Prov. 22:4) and spiritual benefits: grace (Prov. 3:34), wisdom (Prov. 11:4), the fear of God, and finally blessedness (Matt. 5:3).

Reasons

1. A godly man knows God's excellency, the foulness of sin, and his own littleness and sinfulness, therefore he must needs be mean in his own eyes (Job 42:6; Isa. 6:6).

2. There is no way to exalt mercy but by abasing self. Mercy will not be prized unless self is abased (Deut. 26:5). The whole have no need of the Physician, but the sick.

Marks of This Excellent Grace

1. We may judge of it by the efficient cause. The Spirit of God must be the worker of it. When God converts a man, He shows him his own misery and the excellency of Christ.

2. The effects of humility. It reveals itself in its carriage to God upon His dispensations toward us. If His ways are ways of mercy and enlargement, humility admires free grace in them all (1 Chron. 29). "That I should enjoy such blessings." If God sends afflictions, the humble acquit His severity and say, "The Lord is righteous," and submit to Him.

3. The humble reject themselves as vile and abominable in the sight of God. Paul, after his conversion, said, "I know that in me dwells no good."

4. The humble willingly embrace every service belonging to their relation. Christ washed His disciples' feet. Queen Bathsheba taught Solomon, her son.

5. The humble are far from censuring and undervaluing others. "Be not many masters" (James 3:1).

The whole design of the Gospel lies in two things:

1. To make the creature nothing.

2. To make the grace of God in Christ all things.

Quickening Motives to Provoke Us to Get Humility

Meditate on three things:

1. The absolute necessity of it.

2. The difficulty of it.

3. The excellence of it.

1. The Necessity of It

God takes no pleasure in men until He has brought them into such a frame. Humility is necessary for every condition of life. If God sends crosses, you will never bear them until He has humbled your spirit.

2. The Difficulty of It

It is hard to get the heart into such a temper; everything within you is against it. The Greeks and philosophers thought humility was not a virtue but a despondency of spirit. All your corruptions are against it, your excellencies, wit, authority, and even your graces. Grace will be against grace; you will be proud because you are humble.

3. The Excellence of It

Your heart shall be God's temple; a broken spirit is instead of all sacrifices. It will nourish all graces in you. A humble man seems to creep, but he flies to heaven, says Parisiensis. Not one administration of God will pass without doing you good if you have a humble spirit.

Means to Get It

First, See Your Pride

All sin is resolved into pride (Jer. 13:17).

Secondly, Meditate

1. On the baseness of your beginning and original: You come immediately from the slime of your parents' loins and mediately from the dust of the earth, and are just nothing.

2. On your extreme sinfulness: How little do we know in comparison to what we should know? How little do we love, serve, and obey God in comparison to what our duty requires of us? What a deal of atheism, blindness, and vanity is in our minds? How forgetful are we of God and our later end, how foolish and sensual?

3. On our death and later end: We must shortly rot, putrefy, stink, and crawl with worms. We must return to the dust, lie down in the grave, and be without wealth, honour, beauty, strength, wit, learning, and knowledge. Celebrate your own funerals.

4. On the torments and woeful condition we have deserved: If we are not humbled in the sense of having deserved it, we cannot escape.

Thirdly, Add to These Meditations Hearty Prayers to God

Pray to God to humble you, to convict you of sin, and to open your eyes to know yourselves and Him. The knowledge of God's holiness, excellency, majesty, and glory will also abase us (Isa. 6:5; Job 42:5-6).

The worst pride is an overweening of ourselves because of our graces. Consider:

1. That this holiness is received from God (1 Cor. 4:7).

2. It is imperfect.

3. It is in its own nature defective, being a creature: Grace is depositum as well as donum, a talent or pledge that the Lord has left with you, as well as a gift.

Justice

Justinian defines justice as "a constant and perpetual will to render to each one their due." He begins his Institutions with this definition. Dr. Ames, in De Consc., book 5, chapter 2, says it is a virtue that inclines us to perform all due offices to our neighbour. Dr. Hall states, "Justice comprises all virtue, as peace all blessings."

Antiochus of Asia sent letters to his provinces, declaring that if they received any dispatch in his name not agreeable to justice, they should consider them as written by an unknown person and thus not obey them. See Speed in the reign of Henry V regarding his justice, page 625.

Sceptres borne by kings and the maces of all magistrates are straight, serving as emblems of justice (Dr. Clarke).

The Rules Which Must Be Observed in Executing Justice

1. Authority: The doer must have a calling and authority to it. Peter had none when the high priest's servants came to arrest Christ, and he cut off the ear of Malchus.

2. Hearing Both Parties: He must hear both parties impartially. Philip always kept an ear for the defendant. Suetonius justly charged Claudius with injustice for precipitating his sentence before giving a full hearing to both parties, sometimes to neither, often pronouncing judgment with only one side heard or neither.

3. Balanced Consideration: He must weigh all he hears evenly and consider them together: res cum re, causa cum causa, ratio cum ratione concertet.

4. Deliberation: He must maturely advise and seriously consider the matter before passing sentence (Judges 19:30).

5. Guilt: The person punished must indeed be an offender or guilty person, not made to appear so by forged cavillation, as Naboth, nor out of the punisher's rage, as the priests of Nob in Saul's conceit. They must be duly convicted of having done something worthy of punishment, for to strike the innocent is abominable to God.

6. Proportionate Punishment: The punishment must be proportionate to the sin, like a plaster to a sore. A lesser punishment must be inflicted for a lesser sin and a greater for a greater, with the proviso that the severity of the sin is measured by the nature of the act and its circumstances, particularly the mischiefs ensuing from it. Thus, capital punishments should be reserved for crimes either inherently enormous or significantly harmful in their consequences.

7. Motivation: The motive and end in punishing must be a single eye to stopping and preventing sin so that God is not dishonoured, not any self-regard.

Severity means executing punishment fully without sparing any part of it and speedily without deferring it too long (Deut. 13:8; 19:21; Ezek. 8:18). Solomon tells us that a wise king turns the wheel over the wicked, meaning he is severe with them (Psalm 101:8). A parent must correct their child and not spare for their much crying. God often says, "I will not spare, nor shall my eyes pity." We must be just as our heavenly Father is, as well as merciful as He is.

Reasons for Justice

1. Respect for God: We ought to show love to God and conformity to His judgment, detest what He detests, and care to please Him by doing what He commands.

2. Correction: It is beneficial for the sinner's soul, whose welfare is to be preferred over ease. Punishment to a fault is like medicine to a disease or a plaster to a sore.

3. Example: This is necessary for the good of others, as the Scripture notes, so others may hear and fear and not commit such wickedness.

4. Public Safety: It is necessary for public safety, for sins not duly punished will grow frequent, ordinary, and general.

5. Law and Order: It upholds the honour and credit of the laws and lawmakers. If the law was good in appointing such correction, why is it not observed and enforced? If not, why was the law made?

6. Accountability: The governor is guilty of the sin if they forbear to punish without just cause. David and Eli were sharply punished for failing in this regard.

Knowledge or Wisdom

Wisdom is:

1. Intellectual: This consists in the knowledge of languages, the liberal arts, and sciences.

2. Moral: This involves a graceful, comely, and discreet carriage of ourselves (Ephesians 5:15; Colossians 4:5).

3. Civil: This is seen in the orderly governance of corporations and societies committed to our charge.

4. Spiritual: This encompasses the knowledge of the true God and serving Him in a true manner (Proverbs 1:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9).

The knowledge of God and Christ is the foundation of all our good (2 Peter 1:3; Colossians 2:2). Conversion itself is wrought through conviction and illumination (John 16:8-10); thus, it is called illumination (Hebrews 10:32). Vocation comes through knowledge (Ephesians 1:8-9), justification (Isaiah 53:11), and glorification (John 17:3).

There is a twofold knowledge:

1. Speculative: This involves assenting to the truth revealed. This type of knowledge is found in devils as much as in saints, as they, being knowing spirits, know and assent to the truth of every proposition that a child of God knows.

2. Experimental: This means not only knowing that it is so, but tasting and seeing it to be so (Hebrews 5:14; Philippians 1:9). Where this knowledge is, there must also be faith.

We should labor not only to know God as God in the creatures by the light of nature and reason but to know Him in the Gospel by the light of revelation. We should know Christ in the excellency of His person, as God-man, and the sufficiency that is in Him—the riches of His grace and satisfaction, and our communion with Him (Matthew 16:16-17). We should know God and Christ as calling and converting us (Ephesians 1:17-19; Colossians 1:27).

Such knowledge of God and Christ will fill us with high thoughts of them, and these high apprehensions will breed strong affections for them and increase all graces (Exodus 33:19; Isaiah 6:5-8; Colossians 3:16).

The devil much opposes this knowledge (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 6:12). Whenever God intends good for any soul, He brings it to the means.

The Excellency of Wisdom

Wisdom is an excellent endowment, a principal, and one of the cardinal virtues, much to be desired and esteemed. "Wisdom is the chiefest," says Solomon. He speaks of spiritual wisdom, but the proportion holds fittingly; as spiritual wisdom is principal among spiritual graces, so natural wisdom is among natural virtues. "The excellency of a thing," says Solomon, "is wisdom, and who is as the wise man?" and also, "Wisdom makes the face shine." As light is better than darkness, so is wisdom better than folly. A poor wise child is preferred before an old foolish king.

Wisdom is one of the principal attributes of God for which He is most exalted by His saints: "To the only wise God be glory forever and ever." "To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever."

Wisdom is a principal part of the excellency of the holy angels; as they excel in power, so they do in wisdom. The woman said to David, "My Lord is wise as an angel of God," intimating that wisdom is an angelic attribute. Solomon, being put to his choice, asked wisdom from God, and God Himself approved and commended his choice, rewarding it with an addition of other things—advantages and appendices to it—giving him, as a wise heart, also store of riches and honor.

Reasons for the Value of Wisdom

1. It perfects the best faculty of the best part of the best creature: Among all that God has made in this inferior world, wisdom is a gift peculiar to humans. Beasts may have strength, swiftness, and beauty, but wisdom pertains to the best part of man—his soul. Wisdom perfects reason, the understanding, and the will, enabling one to judge rightly, discern rightly, choose rightly, see the best things, and persist in using the best means to attain the best things. Wisdom stands in these two abilities: discerning what is most beneficial and good, and knowing what helps most conduce to obtaining it, thus swaying the soul to readily choose and rightly use those means for gaining those benefits.

By wisdom, the Holy Ghost does not so much mean speculative wisdom—often called learning, the universal knowledge of all things human and divine, and the understanding of great and wonderful things—as what is termed prudence. This is the ability to manage affairs discreetly and the virtue of acquiring things necessary for our welfare.

Two Sorts of Wisdom

The Scripture tells us of two sorts of wisdom: good wisdom and bad wisdom.

1. Good Wisdom:

- Spiritual Wisdom: This enables the mind to see and attain its highest and most noble end—fellowship with God and eternal welfare and happiness, called being wise to salvation.

- Natural Wisdom: This is the ability to see and obtain natural goods, the benefits God has provided for men to enjoy in this world.

2. Evil Wisdom: St. James calls this earthly, sensual, and devilish, named for the objects it works upon—earthly, sensual, and devilish things.

The Excellence of Wisdom

Wisdom is an excellent gift for these reasons:

1. Rarity: Wisdom is rare, as Ecclesiastes 8:1 indicates.

2. Difficulty: It is difficult to obtain, so the Holy Ghost advises us to dig for it, cry for it, and search for it as for hidden treasure.

3. Usefulness and Profit: Wisdom is beneficial both to the person who possesses it and to others.

Benefits of Wisdom

1. Personal Comfort and Prosperity: He who has wisdom gains comfort, good success, and constant prosperity.

2. Honor: Wisdom brings honor before all men. "The wise shall inherit glory"; it makes the face shine like ointment. Solomon's wisdom commended him to all the world. Dr. Hall calls him the Oracle, the Miracle of Wisdom. Pharaoh remarked of Joseph, "Where shall we find a wise man like this?"

3. Benefit to Others: A wise person can greatly benefit others. For example, a poor wise man delivered a city that was besieged by a mighty man. Wisdom is the skill to perform things well and fitly. Bezaleel was filled with wisdom, and Paul spoke of a wise master builder. Wisdom is the knowledge of things that enable a man to order his actions and whole life aright.

Wisdom

Wisdom, whether natural or spiritual, is a gift from God. The inspiration of the Most High gives wisdom, and out of His mouth comes understanding.

The chief foundation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. A good understanding and obedience have all those who do His precepts. This is the basis of both spiritual and true natural wisdom. Without it, a man may have wit and craft, but not wisdom, except for the wicked wisdom described by St. James.

The virtues of fearing God and obeying Him are both main parts of wisdom and the foundation of it.

Common Means for Attaining Wisdom

First, we must see our own lack of wisdom and recognize its worth, so that we may earnestly desire it. For spiritual wisdom, Paul says, "If any would be wise, he must become a fool that he may be wise." His meaning is that one must acknowledge their own folly (1 Kings 3:9).

Secondly, we must pray earnestly for wisdom (James 1:5). Spiritual wisdom is never obtained without prayer, and other forms of wisdom are not sanctified without it.

Thirdly, we should converse with the wise (Proverbs 13:20).

Fourthly, we must oppose those things which are contrary to wisdom:

1. Strong Passions: Especially wrath and anger, which dwell in the bosom of fools and exalt folly.

2. Self-conceit: There is more hope for a fool than for one who is wise in his own conceit.

3. Rashness: Doing things hastily and on a sudden, and of one's own accord, without deliberation and consulting with others.

4. Voluptuousness: He who follows idleness is destitute of heart.

The Special Means of Acquiring Spiritual Wisdom

1. Be constant and diligent in reading and pondering on the Scriptures, God's oracles (Proverbs 1:4, Psalms 119:98-100). These writings will make us wise to salvation and teach us how to be wise in the world and order all our affairs with judgment. To this, add prayer and practice.

Manifest Signs and Fruits of Wisdom

The Scripture provides some general rules of discretion:

First, take the due time and fit season for things. As the ant labours in summer against winter, so Solomon says, the wise man will labour in harvest.

Secondly, be wary and deliberate, walking by advice and counsel, and not following one's own head. A wise man is of a cool spirit. In the multitude of counsellors is peace.

Thirdly, use due secrecy, knowing how to keep things to oneself that should be reserved.

Fourthly, be somewhat sceptical. A fool believes everything, but a wise man will inquire into matters.

Fifthly, know and prefer the most needful things in the first place.

Sixthly, take reproof well. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

Great natural wisdom, when separated from holiness, makes a man more wicked and mischievous. For example, Ahitophel's wisdom (2 Samuel 16:22-23) enabled him to do more mischief

. The Apostle says, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God"; and St. James tells us that this wisdom is earthly, sensual, and devilish. We see this evident in the Devil, who, though of great understanding, is utterly unholy and therefore the worst of all God's creatures.

Reasons

1. This wisdom focuses only on inferior and false goods, carrying a man further from God, the highest good.

2. Such wisdom enables a man to better devise and contrive sinful enterprises, finding means apt to bring any evil design or intention to fruition.

3. It knows how, if need be, to hide and conceal sin, covering it with fair pretences and excuses.

4. It causes the person to be more regarded by others; they listen to his counsel and are ready to follow it.

The understanding of divine truths revealed in Scripture may be found in greater measure in some hypocrites than in some true Saints, because of their greater natural abilities, more ample instruction, and better education. "We know," saith Paul, "that all men have knowledge." He that knows his master's will and does it not, saith our Saviour. To him that knows how to do well, and does it not, saith James. Thus, the Pharisees bragged of their knowledge of the Law, upbraiding the people with ignorance. Those who allege prophesying in the name of Christ had a large measure of knowledge. St. Paul yielded to the Jews that they had a form of knowledge out of the Law. But the difference between the knowledge of a godly and a wicked man stands chiefly in these things:

1. In the matter of this knowledge: the true Christian is ready to know all truths that God offers to his knowledge, submitting his reason and understanding wholly to God, and not detaining any part of the truth in unrighteousness, not willingly winking or refusing to know. But the hypocrite refuses knowledge in some things and will wink with his eyes, as the Pharisees would not understand that Christ was the Messiah. Of the mockers, Peter says, "Of this they are willingly ignorant."

2. The hypocrite is most studious and inquisitive into the niceties of the Scripture and of Religion, as I may term them, matters of doubtful disputation, speculative points. But the true Christian is solid in his knowledge, caring to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, the substantial and essential points of Christian Religion, concerning Faith, Love, and a good Conscience, which tend to practice.

Secondly, in the manner, the knowledge of the hypocrite is confused, while that of the true Christian is distinct. The knowledge of the one is only literal; the other's is spiritual knowledge. A wicked man may have apprehensions of the truths of the Gospel as great and good; the other has an application of them as good to him.

Thirdly, in the Effects of it:

1. The Christian applies his knowledge to himself, to discover his own ways and to rectify and teach himself, but the hypocrite only to teach and instruct others, to censure, or only to talk and discourse with applause.

2. The Christian man falls to practice his knowledge; he hears and does, while the hypocrite only talks, and though he knows how to do well, does it not, building upon the sand. Lastly, the hypocrite's knowledge puffs him up (1 Cor. 8.2) and makes him despise those who know less than himself. "These people who know not the Law are accursed, thou art altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us?" But the true knowledge of the sanctified man humbles him.

Motives to Gospel-Knowledge:

First, consider the necessity of it: no knowledge, no grace (John 6:44-45; Ephes. 4:24; Col. 3:12).

1. Humility comes by it (Isa. 31:18).

2. Strength to bear afflictions (Heb. 10:36). No knowledge, no duty; our service must be reasonable. God regards not blind obedience (1 Chron. 8:9; John 4:22). Without knowledge, the heart is not good.

Secondly, the possibility of it: God has appointed the Ministry for this very end (Acts 26:18). Observe how the promises run (Psal. 19:7; Jer. 31:34; Isa. 35:18).

The Dignity of It

It is a noble study, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. It is the highest wisdom to know God in Christ (1 Cor. 1:20).

1. In the matter of it: Only the Bible teaches this knowledge.

2. The way God alone must teach you: You must see God by His own light. The Jews were honoured above all other nations for their knowledge of the true God.

3. It is very profitable:

1. It has a healing virtue, healing the understanding.

2. It makes everyone spiritually wise who has it.

3. It will keep the man's soul from every evil way (Prov. 2).

The Devil much opposes it; he would have the Bible burnt or corrupted.

Mercy

A godly man must be a merciful man, as stated in 2 Samuel 22:25-26. Our Savior, alluding to these words of David, says in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the merciful." St. Paul instructs the Colossians, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, to put on humbleness of mind and bowels of mercy. You see what apparel we must wear if we will approve ourselves to be chosen and beloved of God. That is, what virtues we must get and practice as constantly as we put on our clothes to keep our bodies warm and decent. One of these virtues is bowels of mercy, tender mercies (Micah 6:8). "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." God prefers it before all sacrifices (Isaiah 32:8; see 2 Corinthians 8:2, 3, 7).

Queen Anne of Boleyn, besides her regular giving of a hundred crowns and other apparel weekly for a year before she was crowned, gave a large amount of alms to widows and other poor householders continually until she was apprehended. She sent her sub-almoner to the towns around where she stayed, instructing the parishioners to make a list of all the poor householders in the parish. Some towns received seven, eight, or ten pounds to buy cows with, according to the number of poor in the towns. She also maintained many learned men in Cambridge. She always carried a small purse from which she scattered alms to the needy daily, believing no day well spent unless someone benefited from her.

Mr. Fox himself was so zealous in his love for the poor that he would give the very clothes off his back rather than see the naked unclothed.

Lord Harrington gave a tenth of his allowance to the poor and other good uses, his allowance being 1,000 pounds per annum. Master Whateley did the same, as Master Schudder relates in his life. He was both very bountiful himself and urged others to be charitable in his preaching. Mr. John Underwood of All-Hallows in Bread Street did likewise. Every year when he made up his books and summed up his debts and gains, he would reserve a tenth and write, "So much debtor to God." The better tenth of his estate he also gave to God in his last will.

Reasons:

1. To be like God: God is good in himself and does good to others.

2. Stewardship: God has given to us so that, like good stewards, we may give to others.

3. Proof of Faith: Faith without charity is dead and counterfeit; it works by love. This grace is a necessary, proper, and inseparable fruit of true Christian charity.

4. Genuine Worship: All devotion and religious worship of God are feigned and hypocritical if lacking mercy (James 1:27). Religion must be tested by mercy, and our worship of God by our mercifulness to our neighbour. Fasting is only acceptable to God when joined with mercy (Isaiah 58:7-10). Christ has joined alms, prayer, and fasting together (Matthew 6), and so must we (Acts 10:30-35).

5. Attaining Mercy: We cannot attain mercy from God without showing mercy to others. God's mercy is limited to merciful men (2 Samuel 22:25). Those who show no mercy will find none; judgment without mercy will be to those who show no mercy (James 2:13).

We should be merciful:

1. In all our relations: Christ was a merciful and faithful high priest.

2. To the poor and needy: Hebrews 13:2.

3. To our enemies: Matthew 5:44-45.

4. To animals: Exodus 23:5; Proverbs 12:16.

5. To ourselves: To our own souls, and to the people of God, Galatians 6:10, their names, states, lives, liberties, bodies, and souls.

We should show mercy:

1. In giving: Ministering to the necessities of the saints.

2. In forbearing one another: Ephesians 4.

3. In forgiving one another: Ephesians 4.

4. In forgetting injuries: As God does with our offenses.

5. In pitying and praying for one another: Hebrews 13:3; 2 Corinthians 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:14; Hebrews 12:15.

Mercy is a virtue by which men rightly order themselves towards the miserable for their help and comfort. The object of mercy is a person in misery, and the end of mercy is to help and comfort such a person. The proper act of mercy is to cause a person to order themselves correctly for that end. Misery is the state of being subject to some evil of pain or any evil that makes one unhappy. A person is miserable either in deserving or in act: in deserving when they have done something that makes them subject to misery or binds them to it, for it is a misery to be open to punishment and to be in a state where they may and must suffer it. In act, a person is miserable when they currently suffer any kind of evil. Mercy acts either to prevent this misery from occurring, as far as is agreeable with justice and equity, or to mitigate and ease it when it lies upon them, or to remove it as soon as is fitting.

There are two types of alms, one for outward, and the other for spiritual needs. The first type of alms consists of:

1. Visiting the sick,

2. Giving drink to the thirsty,

3. Feeding the hungry,

4. Redeeming captives,

5. Clothing the naked,

6. Sheltering the homeless,

7. Burying the dead.

The other type of alms consists of:

1. Advising the doubtful,

2. Instructing the ignorant,

3. Comforting the sorrowful,

4. Forgiving injuries,

5. Bearing wrongs patiently,

6. Praying for the living and the dead.

There are seven works of corporal alms and six of spiritual.

The Fathers and Schoolmen hold that spiritual alms, all other things being equal, are more excellent and acceptable than corporal, because:

1. The gift is more noble in its own nature.

2. The object is more illustrious, man's immortal soul.

3. The charity is more heavenly, aiming at our brother's endless salvation.

The poor are those who do not have enough of their own to maintain life or to maintain it with any cheerfulness and plenty.

There are three sorts of poor:

1. The Devil's poor,

2. The World's poor,

3. Christ's poor.

And there are three degrees of necessity:

1. Extreme, when there is nothing left, and they will starve if not supplied; in such a case, even the most wicked should be helped.

2. Grievous, when something is left, but they are in great want; in this necessity, the world's poor should be relieved.

3. Common and ordinary, in which case Christ's poor should be relieved.

Aquinas raises the question, "Utrum ille qui est in potestate alicujus constitutus, possit eleemosynam facere?" (Whether one who is under the power of another may give alms?) and resolves it negatively because inferiors must be regulated by their superiors. However, he states that if a wife has anything besides her dowry, gains anything herself, or acquires it in any other lawful way, she may give moderate alms of that without requiring her husband's consent. Otherwise, she ought not to give alms without her husband's consent, either express or presumed, unless in a case of necessity.

Dr. Gouge in his "Domestic Duties" resolves this question in a similar manner.

Motives to Mercy

First, consider the exceeding plainness and frequency of the commandments, which cut off all excuse of ignorance. The exercise of this grace is so commanded that other commandments must give place to it (Matthew 12:7).

Secondly, we can do no service that the Spirit of God more delights in next to the snatching of souls out of hell than this (Isaiah 1, 58; Micah 6:7-8; Hebrews 13). This shows love to Christ by relieving his members. It discovers and adorns all our graces (Colossians 3:12; Isaiah 28:4; 62).

Thirdly, God rewards no work more than this when done in a spiritual manner and to a right end (Psalms 18:25; Matthew 5:7). He that gives to the poor lends unto the Lord.

I. In this world:

1. To their own persons while they live (Ecclesiastes 11; Psalms 41:1).

2. To their posterity (Psalms 112:1; Isaiah 58:12).

II. At the last day, we shall meet with all in heaven whatever we do in this kind: "I was naked, and ye clothed me" (Luke 14:13-15; 16:8-9).

Fourthly, those who abound in alms are often commended in Scripture, such as Tabitha (Acts 9:36) and Cornelius (Acts 10).

Fifthly, God has threatened judgment without mercy to the unmerciful (James 2:13).

Sixthly, you desire to find mercy both with God and man when you are in any distress. We should do as we would be done unto (Matthew 7:12). We ourselves may be as miserable and afflicted as any. God promises to forgive us as we forgive others.

Means to Make One Merciful

First, meditate and ponder upon the motives until they bring you to sorrow and repentance for not having been merciful. The plaster must be applied so that it may cure the sore. The word must be pondered upon so that the soul may receive its impression and be made obedient to it. Take some time to call to mind God's commandments, promises, and threats.

Secondly, you must add prayer to meditation. Confess to God your unmercifulness and beseech him to pardon the fault for Christ's sake and to make you merciful like himself hereafter. To beg pardon of a fault and help against it from God is the way to mend it.

Thirdly, we must add resolutions and purposes of our own, saying, "By God's help, I will be more merciful. I will stir up myself to show mercy. Is it not my duty? Will it not be my profit? Shall I not have the benefit of it? Must I not obey God's commandments? Away with objections, away with fleshly reason. I must be merciful, and by God's help, I will be merciful. I can be no further a true Christian than I am merciful."

Lastly, this must be followed by practice. A man must consider some present occasion that requires the exercise of mercy. If he finds none, he must open his purse and lay aside some pence, shillings, or pounds, as his estate will afford, saying, "This I will sequester from myself and lay aside for the performance of the next work of mercy I meet with occasion to perform." If one has not done so already, he must begin now and put aside such a sum as his present abundance may well spare, saying, "This shall be by me until the next opportunity of a merciful deed, and then I will bestow some or all of it as need requires."

Ways to Cultivate Mercy: Meditate, Pray, Resolve, Practice

These four actions will nurture and increase any grace, including mercy.

Chief Impediments to Mercy Removed

1. From ourselves

2. From those to whom we should show mercy

3. From others

First, Impediments from Ourselves

One common excuse is: "I have little enough for myself and my own. I have such responsibilities and only a modest estate. What would you have me do? If I keep giving, I might soon give all away."

Response:

1. Do you think you will have more for yourself and your family by withholding from works of mercy? Has not God said in His word that saving more than enough leads to poverty? Saving from works of mercy may cause God to afflict you with sickness, bad debtors, loss of cattle, unfaithful servants, riotous children, or some other loss in your body or estate. But if you give to the poor, you shall be blessed and have abundance.

2. This is a self-loving heart. You may have enough for yourself and your family; haven't you some surplus too, if you consider what is enough for yourself and your loved ones?

Another objection is: "I do not have enough to be merciful in great quantity."

Response:

If you have enough to live well and dress well, and to accomplish any other thing you desire, you have enough to show mercy if you have the will. When you need something for yourself, you find a way to supply it. But when God calls for works of mercy, you claim not to have enough. This is to add lying to unmercifulness and to mock God as well as disobey Him.

Second, Impediments from Others

"I am as merciful as others."

Response:

1. You cannot know what others do in secret.

2. God has not given the liberality or mercy of others as your pattern and precedent, but His own: "Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful."

3. What harm is there if you surpass others in mercy and gain a greater blessing for yourself than they seek?

Third, Impediments from the Persons to Whom We Should Show Mercy

"They are at fault and unworthy due to their general ill conduct or their behavior towards me."

Response:

"They are idle, unthrifty, and careless."

1. Are you sure of this, or do you just think so or have heard so? Take heed of following your own conceit and believing others' slanders, lest you add slander to your unmercifulness. Have you ever admonished them and tried to help them amend their ways? If not, it is not hatred of sin that makes you withhold mercy, but unwillingness to show mercy that makes you pretend to hate sin. This is hypocrisy as well as unmercifulness. If you have admonished them and they have not amended, then admonish and help them too, as God does for you, or else you must perish.

If you cite particular injuries against yourself or their unthankfulness, know that of all people to whom you should show mercy, none should be preferred before such a person. This most closely resembles God's mercy, who does good to those who rebel against Him. If your mercy does not extend to your enemies, it is not spiritual. The perfection of a Christian's goodness is to do good to those who do evil to him.

Patience

Patientia est malorum, quae aut inferuntur aut accidunt, cum aequanimitate perlatio. — Lactantius, De Iustitia, Book 5

Patience is a grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God, whereby the soul silently and freely submits to the will of God in bearing its own burden without inordinate sorrow or fretting discontent.

1. A grace of the sanctifying Spirit: It is not a natural or moral patience but wrought by God's Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The foundation of it is laid in regeneration.

2. Silent submission to the will of God: David had a great trial by his son's treason and his subjects' rebellion, yet he submitted to God's appointment (2 Samuel 15:26, Leviticus 10:3).

3. Free submission: Paul looked on his sufferings as a sacrifice (Acts 21:13, Philippians 1:27), therefore it was voluntary.

4. Submission in bearing one's own burden: The object of it is malum triste (a grievous evil). A person must take up their cross (Ezekiel 24:16, Lamentations 1:10).

5. Bearing without inordinate sorrow or anger

Marks of Patience

1. Such a person will find reasons to bless God even in the greatest evils they endure. "It should seem strange to no one if we are often chastised by God for our sins. Nay, truly, when we are vexed and oppressed, we must give the greatest thanks to our most indulgent Father for not allowing our corruption to proceed further but amending it with stripes and blows. From this, we understand that we are of concern to God; because we sin, He is angry with us." — Lactantius, De Iustitia, Book 5.

2. Such a person desires more to make right use of the cross they bear than to be freed from it.

3. Such a person will not cease serving God, loving, and fearing Him for any evil they endure.

4. They will seek deliverance only in God's way (Hebrews 11:35). If God will not help Saul, he seeks a witch: Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

5. A patient heart will wait for God's time as well as follow His way (Habakkuk 2, Psalm 27:14).

6. Until deliverance comes, they can find joy and comfort in God amidst all pressures (Habakkuk 2:17). Paul and Silas sang while in the stocks.

Motives or Arguments to Persuade the Heart to Patient Bearing of Afflictions

I. From God: Consider

1. His Absolute Sovereignty: He has complete authority over us and all creatures. He can cast both soul and body into hell if He wills (Psalm 39).

2. His Infinite Wisdom: God does nothing rashly but knows how to order all things for the best. His will is wise and holy, the rule itself. "Good is the word of the Lord," said Hezekiah when ill tidings came.

3. His Good Will Toward You: All the ways of God are mercy and truth. He aims at the good of His people, even when He corrects them.

4. His Providential Goodness: The same God who has laid this affliction upon you also provides all the good things you enjoy. You may have one cross but perhaps ten thousand mercies, all from the same hand (Job 2:10).

5. His Forbearance: God bears with you every day. Without His forbearance, what would become of you?

II. From Ourselves:

We have reason to submit to God's will, especially when He corrects us, because:

1. Our Provocation of God: We have provoked Him by our sins and deserve far more evil than we suffer.

2. The Futility of Murmuring: Murmuring will not ease or deliver us from our misery.

This is:

1. A Worthy Service: A child who quietly bears the stripes his father lays upon him pleases his father as much as the child who readily obeys his commands. Christ Himself learned obedience through suffering. The principal part of His merit was in His submission to be made of no reputation and to become obedient to the death of the cross.

2. A Most Profitable Duty: It turns evil into good, makes evils easier to bear, and procures a safe and speedy issue out of evil.

III. From the Grace of Patience Itself:

1. The Necessity of Patience: You cannot live without it. We cannot perform a duty, mortify a lust, or bring forth fruit without patience. The good ground brings forth fruit with patience.

2. The Excellence of This Grace: It makes you most like God, a significant part of His image, and like Christ, who was patient unto death (1 Peter 3:3-4). It allows you to enjoy yourself even in the worst times (Luke 21:19). It will be helpful to all graces and duties, making you an amiable Christian. It will strengthen your faith, subdue your flesh, and bridle your tongue.

"Magna et praecipua virtus est patientia, quam pariter et vulgi voces publicae, et philosophi, et oratores summis laudibus celebrant." — Lactantius, De Iustitia, Book 5.

IV. From the Nature of Afflictions:

1. Afflictions Are Not Evidences of God's Displeasure: Whether upon the soul, state, friends, or name, they are the lot of all God's people, His dearest servants (Proverbs 3:12, Job 7:17-18, Hebrews 8:6-8).

2. God Intends Good Through Afflictions: He does His people a great deal of good by afflictions (Hebrews 12:6-7).

1. Conformity to Christ: Christ makes all His people conformable to Himself (Romans 8:28).

2. Purging Corruption: He purges out the remnants of corruption, diminishes pride, self-love, and love of the world.

3. Exercising Grace: He exercises an abundance of grace in His people (1 Peter 1:7).

4. Growth in Grace: Afflictions make them grow in grace and become more heavenly-minded.

3. God's Sustenance in Afflictions: God will uphold you in afflictions (1 Corinthians 10:13).

4. Seasonable and Merciful Deliverance: We shall receive a timely and merciful deliverance from afflictions (Psalm 34:19). God will do His people good according to their afflictions, leaving them with an excellent frame of spirit. Job and David became rare men after afflictions; God makes the hearts of His people more holy and cheerful afterward. Most of all, they will find the fruit of their afflictions in heaven. Though heaven is given by free grace, God rewards proportionally to their good services and afflictions (2 Corinthians 4:17). If we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with Him.

Means to Gain Patience

First, frequently meditate on the previously mentioned motives. Study those arguments diligently.

Secondly, develop your faith and strive to understand your interest in Christ:

1. Understand the nature of the Covenant and how fully and freely Christ offers grace to you.

2. Give your consent for Christ to be your Savior, allowing Him to sanctify you as well as pardon your sins. Faith is both an assent to the truth and a consent to its goodness, acknowledging that Christ should be your Savior (Psalm 112:7).

By engaging in these practices, you will cultivate the grace of patience in your heart and life.

Peace

Peace, in its general notion and nature, is the harmony of one thing with another, working in its proper place for the common good of the whole. It is a kind of sweet, divine, and heavenly consent, harmony, or beauty of things subordinate one to another (D. Gauden).

If the world is a ring, peace is its diamond. The Hebrews often use it to signify all prosperity of soul and body, frequently using "Shalom" in their letters and saying, "Peace be to this house," meaning, "All happiness attend you." It was Henry VII’s usual preface in his treaties, noting that when Christ came into the world, peace was sung, and when he went out of the world, peace was bequeathed (Sir Francis Bacon). The apostolic benediction is "Grace and Peace." More properly, it signifies concord, unity, and reconciliation.

Firm and stable peace is, and must be, the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 7:1, 2). First, King of Righteousness, then King of Peace (Isaiah 48:18, James 3:18). Righteousness qualifies the person to whom God will grant peace; it removes all that provokes God's wrath. No peace is to be had without Christ (Isaiah 48:22), all peace comes through Him.

1. With God (Romans 5:1).

2. In our own consciences.

3. With all creatures (Ezekiel 34:25, Hosea 2).

Perseverance

All agree that perseverance is necessary for salvation (Matthew 10:22). The negative can be inferred from the affirmative: no man shall be saved who does not continue to the end (Hebrews 3:14). However, there is not universal agreement on the grounds of perseverance and to whom it belongs.

Reasons and Grounds for the Perseverance of God's People

1. The eternal love of God: Psalm 103:17, John 13:1. He loves His people with an everlasting love (Romans 8:38-39). See John 10:28-30, John 11:29.

2. The Covenant: The covenant between God and His people is stable and everlasting (Jeremiah 31:31, 32:40; Hosea 2:19; 2 Samuel 23:5). The covenant made with the angels and Adam might be broken, but this cannot, as Christ is its surety.

3. The indissoluble union with Christ: John 14:19, 1 John 5:11.

4. The intercession of Christ: Hebrews 7:25, Luke 22:31, John 17:11, 20. God the Father always hears Him (John 11:42).

Objection: Though Christ has purchased the Spirit and bestowed it upon us, we may still cast off the Spirit.

Answer: We have the witness of the Father (Isaiah 59:21) and of Christ (John 14:16) that the Holy Ghost shall never depart from us. St. Augustine observed, from Cyprian's exposition of the Lord's Prayer, that almost every petition includes a prayer for perseverance (B. Carlet. against Mount. c. 7).

5. The perpetual inhabitation of the Spirit of God: John 14:16. He is Christ's Deputy.

Objection: Christ prayed conditionally, asking to keep them if they will, if they are not wanting in themselves, and He prays for the Apostles.

Answer: There is no condition, and He prays for all those whom His Father has given Him (John 17:20).

6. The Lord's omnipotency: The Lord has engaged His omnipotency to uphold them against all difficulties (John 10:28-29). It is a mistaken notion that none can take them away while they remain sheep, but they may cease to be sheep, for that cannot happen unless they are snatched out of Christ's hand, whose sheep they are. See 1 Peter 1:5.

Self-Denial

All Christ's disciples must deny themselves (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 18:26).

There is a threefold self:

1. Natural self: A man's being and well-being, life, learning, parts, riches, possessions, relations—these must be denied if the glory of God and the good of the Church call for it (Acts 21:13).

2. Sinful self: All sinful desires, temptations (James 1:14)—these must be absolutely and utterly denied without any reservation or limitation, especially a man's darling sin (Hosea 14:8; Romans 6:2, 6; 8:10, 13).

3. Renewed self: This consists of habits infused by God, such as faith, hope, and love, or in the acting and improving of these. All these must be denied when they come in competition with the righteousness of Christ, whether it be expecting acceptance based on one's own righteousness or looking upon oneself as the source of life.

The Extent of This Duty

1. In regard to the object and thing to be denied: We must especially deny ourselves where the wisdom of the flesh works.

I. In our understanding or wits, in three areas:

1. In the mysteries of salvation which are above our reason.

2. In the means of grace which are against them, the foolishness of preaching.

3. In the dispensations of Providence which are beyond them.

II. In our wills:

1. In what we do by self-resignation, as Abraham did.

2. In what we suffer (James 5:11).

3. In what we have and are, exemplified by Paul's pattern of contentment (Philippians 4:12).

III. In our affections:

1. In principling them.

2. In right ordering them.

2. Our excellencies of parts and outward privileges.

3. Our own comforts and carnal interests.

In Regard to the Subject

Self-denial applies to all callings, sexes, ages, and degrees.

1. Magistrates: Joseph had no great possessions in Egypt. Joshua, when dividing the land of Canaan, took his own lot last (Joshua 19:49).

2. Ministers: Of all people, ministers must deny their own ends, in their learning and parts.

3. Private Men: They must be content to suffer loss for public and pious reasons (Luke 19:8; Acts 19:24).

4. Women: They must deny themselves the delicacies of life, so that they do not become wanton against Christ.

God will try every Christian in this duty at some time or another (Genesis 22:1; Matthew 19:22).

Prayer and praise are practices of self-denial: prayer is an humble appeal to mercy, and praise is setting the crown on Christ's head.

This is difficult work. It's hard to conquer the world and Satan, but even harder to resist and conquer oneself; self-love is natural, "Proximus egomet mihi" (I am nearest to myself).

1. Self-Love is Universal: All men agree in seeking themselves.

2. Self is Subtle and Deceitful: It even infiltrates religion (Genesis 34:23; Acts 9:9, 13, 21, 22; 20:29; Matthew 6:1).

Reasons for Self-Denial

1. Discipleship Requires It: No man can be a disciple of Christ without entering through the strait gate of conversion; the great thing God deals with in regeneration is self.

2. Faith Necessitates It: To be a disciple of Christ, one must embrace faith. There is no benefit from Christ unless we are united with him (1 John 5:12). Faith is the instrument of union, receiving all from another, and thus presupposing emptiness in oneself (Isaiah 55:1). One must go out of oneself for righteousness (Song of Solomon 4:15; Philippians 3:8-9). Denying self-righteousness is denying the highest part of self (Romans 10:3).

1. It is hard to convert hypocrites and temporary believers because they see themselves as needing no repentance (Philippians 3:9).

2. Faith returns all to another; upon Christ, all our fruit is found, and he works all our works for us.

3. Following Christ's Example: To be Christ's disciple, one must follow him (1 John 2:6). Everything he did in moral obedience was for our example (1 Peter 2:21). Whatever he did, he did in a way of self-denial, and so must we (Philippians 2:7). He was obedient to his parents, subjected himself to the creatures, denied his own glory (John 1:14), and ease.

4. The Path of the Saints: All the saints went to heaven by self-denial—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents (Numbers 32:32; Romans 9:3).

5. Belonging to Christ: Christ's disciples are not their own (Romans 14:6-7). We are servants, and servants are not sui juris (independent in their own right); we are children under government and the spouse of Christ (1 Timothy 2:12).

Rules to Know Whether We Deny Ourselves

1. Such a person is motivated purely by respect for God and the community, even if there is nothing for self.

2. He excludes private interests when the good of the community is at stake.

3. He is content to be nothing in service (1 Kings 3:17).

4. He is content that others be exalted, even if he is abased (1 Samuel 23:17).

5. He is meek towards all men (Romans 12:16).

6. He is willing to do to the utmost that service which others refuse (Philippians 2:30).

Motives to Self-Denial

First, Your condition both as creatures and saints calls for it.

1. As Creatures: God has absolute sovereignty over you; He is the first cause and therefore should be the last end (Romans 11:36).

2. As Saints: You were created for Him (Psalm 102:18).

Secondly, Self-opposition to God makes us like the devil (1 Timothy 3:6). Pride is an overestimation of oneself (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Thirdly, Self supports Satan's kingdom (Revelation 12:9). Cast down self, and you cast out Satan.

Fourthly, The spirituality of religion chiefly consists in self-denial. Abraham and John the Baptist denied themselves, and Christ himself did so for you.

Fifthly, This is a general or universal grace, not a particular grace, such as faith, love, hope, or joy. There are three universal or general graces which influence all the rest: sincerity, zeal, and self-denial. It fits a man to do or bear anything from God. God only honors those who deny themselves (Luke 12:34-35).

Sincerity

Sincerity is the grace of the will, whereby it refuses evil and chooses good for God's sake, when one labours to walk well out of this intention and purpose to please God (1 Thess. 4:1). When the thing moving us to be good is God's command, and the end at which we aim is the glorifying and pleasing of God, then we serve him in truth.

Josiah pulled down the images of Baal and broke his altar, as did Jehu. However, Jehu did so for his own sake, to establish his kingdom by pulling down the religion which Ahab had set up. Josiah was upright because he did it to please God and for God's sake. This grace is much commended in the scriptures (Psalms 51:6; 45:18; John 1:47; Isaiah 38:3; 1 Corinthians 5:8; Ephesians 6:14).

David, being an upright man, is entitled, "A man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), such a one as God would have him to be. All the promises are made to such: "Blessed are the upright in heart," "Lord, do good to those which are upright in heart," "It becometh upright men to rejoice," "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

It is a defense:

1. At the time of death, as with Hezekiah: "Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart" (Isaiah 38:3). The devil will tell you all your holy duties were done in hypocrisy. The devil laboured to persuade Job that all was false.

2. In calumnies and reproaches of men, as Paul was slandered by false apostles, but he said, "We have the testimony of a good conscience that we did it in sincerity."

Signs of sincerity:

1. He is fearful of himself, working out his salvation with fear and trembling.

2. Such a one will press God's commandments and threatenings upon himself in secret, lament before God, confess, and resist the secret evils of his heart and life.

3. He extends his desire and endeavour of doing good and shunning evil to all kinds and degrees of evil and good, to all times and places (Psalms 18:22), desiring in all things to live honestly.

4. He is still humbled for his imperfections and failings.

5. He gives the praise of the goodness he has attained to God alone.

6. It makes him easy to see and confess a fault in himself.

7. He rejoices to see others exceeding him in good and pities those who are bad.

8. He loves those who plainly admonish him and is thankful for the admonition.

9. He is at peace with those who differ from him in judgment.

10. He suffers wrongs patiently.

There are three main signs of sincerity:

1. Such a one is set against every known sin, especially his darling sin (Psalms 18:23).

2. He has universal respect for all the commandments (Psalms 119:6).

3. He is much in examination of himself and jealous of his own heart (Psalms 26:2).

The Right Causes of It

The right causes of sincerity are the Spirit, the Word, Faith, and Love. The right ends are the pleasing and glorifying of God and obtaining His favour. The right subject includes both the inward and outward man, with the will being chiefly the seat of it. The Apostle states, "We are persuaded that we have a good conscience," which is never separated from this uprightness, "willing in all things to live honestly."

Characteristics of True Sincerity

Sincerity is a firm purpose of the will, not a slight, weak, and sudden qualm or motion, such as was sometimes seen in Saul when he decided to stop persecuting David, and in Pharaoh when he resolved to let Israel go. It is a well-grounded, stable, settled, lasting, and durable purpose, rooted in the heart. David exemplifies this when he says, "I have sworn and will perform it, to keep thy righteous judgments."

Motives for Sincerity

1. The Lord takes pleasure in uprightness (1 Chronicles 29:17, Job 14:15, Isaiah 26:3-4, Psalms 147:10).

2. God will be upright with you if you are upright with Him (Psalms 18:25). If you are upright in the ways of obedience, He will be upright in His rewards (Psalms 11:7).

Means to Achieve Truth or Sincerity

1. Recognize one's lack of it.

2. Understand the great danger of lacking it.

3. Desire it and pray to God for it.

4. Contemplate and meditate on the goodness of God and His great worthiness. Accustom yourself to direct your thoughts and intentions to Him in the particular deeds you do.

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MONERGISM BOOKS

Of Our Union and Communion with Christ, by Edward Leigh, Copyright © 2024

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Table of Contents

Chap. 1. Of our Union with Christ.

Chap. 2. Of Effectual Vocation.

Chap. 3. Of Conversion and Free-will.

Chap. 4. Of Saving Faith.

Chap. 5. Of the Communion and Fellowship Believers have with Christ, and their Benefits by him, & sp

Chap. 6. Of Justification.

Chap. 7. Of the parts and terms of Justification, Remission of sins, and Imputation of Christ's Righ

Chap. 8. Of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness.

Chap. 9. Whether one may be certain of his Justification.

Chap. 10. Whether Faith alone doth justify.

Chap. 11. Of Sanctification.

Chap. 12. The parts of Sanctification are two, Mortification and Vivification. I. Mortification.

Chap. 13. II. Of Vivification.

Chap. 14. The Sanctification of the Whole Soul and Body.

Chap. 15. Of the Sanctification of the Will.

Chap. 16. Of the Sanctification of the Conscience.

Chap. 17. Sanctification of the Memory.

Chap. 18. Sanctification of the Affections

Chap. 19. Of the particular Affections.

Chap. 20. I. Of the Simple Affections.

Chap. 21. II. Of Love and Hatred.

Chap. 22. II. Desire and Flight.

Chap. 23. Joy and Sorrow.

Chap. 24. Of Sorrow.

Chap. 25. Of Hope and Fear. I. Of Hope.

Chap. 26. II. Of Fear, and some mixed affections.

Chap. 27. Of the sensitive Appetite.

Chap. 28. Of the Sanctification of man's body, and all the external Actions.

Chap. 29. Some special Graces deciphered.