in The Complete Works of the Late Rev. Thomas Boston, Ettrick, 12 vols (Wheaton, Ill.: Roberts, 1980
The Gospel According to Historic Christianity
spares it, and forsakes it not, it is sweet in his mouth; and therefore till he confess it, and mourn for it, it is a sign it is not bitter to him, and so he will not forsake it. A man will never leave sin till he find bitterness in it; and, if so, then he will be in bitterness for it, Zech. xii. 10; and "godly sorrow works repentance," 2 Cor. vii. 10.28
Commentator Matthew Henry, writing at the beginning of the 1700s, said:
We are too apt to rest in a bare profession of faith, and to think that this will save us; it is a cheap and easy religion to say, "We believe the articles of the Chris tian faith;" but it is a great delusion to imagine that this is enough to bring us to heaven. Th ose who argue thus wrong God, and put a cheat upon their own souls; a mock-faith is as hateful as mock-charity, and both show a heart dead to all real godliness. You may as soon take pleasure in a dead body, void of soul, or sense, or action, as God take pleasure in a dead faith, where there are no works. . . . Th ose works which evidence true faith must be works of self-denial, and such as God himself commands. . . . Th e most plausible profession of faith, without works, is dead. . . . We must not think that either, without the other, will justify and save us. Th is is the grace of God wherein we stand, and we should stand to it.29
Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, wrote:
We are to receive Christ as our King, renouncing the dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be ruled by him as our head: Isa. xxvi. 13, "O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name." Psalm ii. ult., "Kiss ye the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in him." We are to make use of him as our King, daily applying and trusting to him, for life, strength, and defence, and victory over our enemies: 2 Tim. ii. 1, "Th ou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Cor. i. 10, "God delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will deliver us."30
28. Th omas Goodwin, Th e Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Salvation (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1979), 129. 29. Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Old Tappan, N.J., Revell, n.d.), 981 – 83. 30. Th omas Boston, "A Brief Explication of the First Part of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism," in Th e Complete Works of the Late Rev. Th omas Boston, Ettrick, 12 vols (Wheaton, Ill.: Roberts, 1980 reprint), 7:67 – 68.