danger than the latter, by fo much as the foul is more valuable than the body. If our Father is pleased to furnish us with our daily bread, how fhall he then deny us our daily and hourly fupplies of his grace 1? Especially fince our intereft therein is founded upon the covenant made in the blood of Chrift: My grace is fufficient for thee 2.' 7. A favourable acceptation of our duties, fince they are the performances of children; and therefore not meafured according to their own worth, but according to the relation and affection from whence they proceed. 8. A gentle and merciful pardoning of our failings, even as a father pitieth and pardoneth the infirmities of a child; and though he does not dispense with prefump. tuous offences, yet he either obferves not, or forgives their many infirmities. infirmities. And it is a privilege of high concernment to us, that as in our first converfion, the blood of Chrift washeth away a whole life of fins at once, so after our converfion, the fame fountain ftands open; whereunto we may and muft refort, to cleanse our daily failings. Chrift received by faith in the heart, is a continual facrifice, which I may present unto the Father, for my fins committed after my converfion. creatures. 9. A comfortable reftitution of a juft intereft in the When man forfook the allegiance he owed to his Maker, the intereft he had in the creature, did, as it were, efcheat to the Lord: and though his goodness after permitted him the use of them, yet it was ftill, as it were, upon account: and as the fons of men have a great account to give unto God for their fins, fo they have for his creatures. Chrift hath restored unto us a better propriety 4 in that, which civil right hath made ours, than what we had before. 3 4 'Rom. viii. 18. 22 Cor. xii. 9. was forfeited. a'stronger right of property. 10. A 10. A comfortable and fanctified ufe of all conditions in profperity, moderation; in adverfity, contentedness; in all, fobriety. For as our Lord hath purchased for us grace, to ufe all things aright, fo he hath obtained for us an inheritance that renders the beft the world can give us, unworthy to be valued, and the worst it can give us, unworthy to be feared. in refpect of the bleffedness which he hath fettled upon us. 11. Confequently contempt of the world, because higher matters are in my eye, fuch as the beft the world can yield, cannot equal; nor the worst it can inflict, cannot take away. All this upon, 12. A lively hope: a hope that maketh not afhamed; even of that glory which my Saviour came down from heaven to purchase by his blood; and the affurance whereof he hath fealed with his blood. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive 'you unto myself, that where I am, ye may be also 1.' A hope of a bleffed refurrection after death; a hope of that bleffed appearance of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift; a hope of that glorious fentence, in the presence of men and angels, Come, ye bleffed;' and an hope of an everlasting eftate of bleffednefs and glory in the presence of the Great God, and glorified faints and angels, unto all eternity. And the efficacy of this hope, dipped in the blood of Chrift, brings us victory : 1. Victory over fin. Sin fhall not have dominion 'over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace 2. 'He that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure 3.' 2. Victory over the world, in the beft it can afford us; its flatteries and favours: thefe are too fall and inconfiderable, when compared with this hope; they shine like a candle in the fun, and are ineffectual to win over a foul that is fixed upon this hope, and vic Jcha ii. 3. 2 Rom. vi. 14. 1 John iii. 3. tory tory over the worft the world can inflict. Our Lord hath conquered the world in this respect for us: Be not afraid, I have overcome the world,' and conquered it in us; This is the victory that overcometh 'the world, even your faith .' 3. Victory over death; which now, by means of this bleffed hope is ftripped, as well of her terror as her power; Thus thanks be unto God, who giveth ' us the victory through our Lord Jefus Chrift 3. And now though the nature of this argument hath carried my meditation to a great height, yet, to avoid mistakes, fome things I must fubjoin. 1. That when I thus aggravate the fufferings of our Lord under the imputed guilt of the fins of mankind; yet we must not think that his fufferings were the fame with the damned in duration, fo neither in kind nor in degree; for this could neither confift with the purity of his nature, nor innocence, nor dignity of his perfon, nor the hypoftatical union of both natures in him but he fuffered as much as was confiftent with thefe confiderations; and, as confi lering the dignity of his perfon, was equivalent to the fin and demerits of all mankind. 2. That his righteoufnefs imputed to us, doth not exempt us from acquiring a righteoufnefs inherent in us. This were to difappoint the end of his fuffering, which was to redeem us from our vain conversation, and make us a peculiar people zealous of good works. 3. That this purchase of falvation by Chrift for believers, is not to render them idle, or fecure, or prefumptuous; where there is fuch a difpofition of foul, it is an evident indication, that it is not yet truly united unto Chrift by rue faith and love; his grace is fufficient to preserve us, and always ready to do it, if we do not wil.ully neglect or reject it. 1 John xvi. 33. 21 John v. 4. 1 Cor. xv. 57. THE THE VICTORY OF FAITH OVER THE WORLD. 1 JOHN, V. 4. FOR WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD, OVERCOMETH THE WORLD; AND THIS IS THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH THE WORLD, EVEN YOUR FAITH. THESE 1. The at which is here declared, Victory or Overcoming. 2. The perfon that exercifeth this act, or concerning whom this is affirmed, defcribed by this defcription, a perfon that is born of God. 3. The thing upon which this act of victory is exercifed, viz. the World. 4. The inftrument or means by which this act is exercifed, viz. Faith. 5. The method or order, or former reafon whereby faith overcometh this world. Some few obfervations I fhall deliver touching all thefe in the order propofed. I. Victory or overcoming is a fubjugation or bringing under an oppofing party to the power and will of another. And this victory is of two kinds, complete and perfect, or incomplete or imperfect. 1. The notion of a complete victory is, when either the oppofing party is totally deftroyed, or at leaft when defpoiled of any poffibility of future refiftance. Thus the Son of God, the Captain of our falvation, over VOL. I. H came came the word. 'Be of good cheer, I have over'come the world 1.' And thus when we are delivered from this body of death, we shall overcome the world. This complete victory will be the portion of the Church and Chriftian triumphant. Again, 2. There is a victory, but incomplete, fuch as the victory of the children of Ifrael was over the Canaanites, which though they were fubdued, as to any poffibility of a total re-acquiring of a fuperiority or equality of power, yet they were not fubdued from a poffibility of annoying, difquieting and rebelling; they remained fiill thorns to vex and disturb, though not to subdue their conquerors; there was ftill an over-balance of power in the victors, though not wholly to extirpate them and this is the condition of the Chriftian militant in this world: he keeps the world in fubjection, and every day gets ground upon it; but he cannot expect to obtain a perfect, complete and univerfal conqueft of it, till he can truly fay with our bleffed Lord, The Prince of this world hath nothing in me 2. Which cannot be till our change comes; for till then we carry about with us our lufts, and paffions, and corruptions: which, though with all vigilancy and feverity, kept under, and daily impaired in their power and malignity, will hold a correfpondence with the world and prince thereof, and be ready to deceive and betray us, though never to regain their empire and fovereignty; and the reafon is fignificantly given by the fame apoftle, For his feed abideth in him, and he cannot fin, because ' he is born of God 3. Indeed he may, and fhall have fin as long as he hath flesh about him. 'If we fay 'we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us 4.' But although we have fin ftill abiding in us, and like the bias in a bowl, warping us to the world, yet that vital feminal principle of the grace of God, in Chrift, always keeps its ground, its life, and ten 6 John xvi. 83. 2 John xiv. 30. 9 1 John iii. 9. 1 John i. 8. dency |