Book I
That graces and holy dispositions wrought in the soul are the springs and
principles of evangelical obedience. The first streams which flow from hence are inward actions of our souls in holy thoughts, and a lively sense and per
ception of spiritual things, and a due approbation and judgment of them as most excellent. That our holiness ought to be sincere and blameless. That our obedience ought to abound in all fruits of righteousness, and to continue
until the day of Christ.
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge,
and in all judgment ; that ye may approve things that are excellent ; that ye may be sincere, and without offence, till the day of Christ ; beingfilled with
the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
praise of God. PHILIP. I. 9-11.
CHAPTER I.
The words of the text explained ; what the apostle means by abounding in all
knowledge, and sense, or judgment.
THIS is one of Paul s prayers, several whereof we find dispersed up and down in his epistles, and they are put up to God for those he wrote to. The prayers of holy men are usually the utmost and choicest expressions of their graces the drawings forth, or pourings forth rather, of their deep est affections and desires, for things which the light of the Spirit in them
judgeth to be most excellent. And the words of the text are the prayer of the apostle Paul, who was filled with the Holy Ghost ; and you see it is
for holiness, and the increase of it.
This I pray, &c. ; so he begins. You that have very holy hearts, if God should from heaven bid you ask some one thing, as David speaks, This one thing have I asked, it should be TOUTO, this thing, Paul prays
132 OF GOSPEL HOLINESS [BOOK I.
for here, to be holy before him in love. That which concerning holiness he prays for may be reduced to three heads :
I. Such graces and dispositions as are the inward springs, or primary essential principles, of holiness, which are three : 1. Love ; 2. Knowledge ; 8. Sense.
II. The next immediate consequents of these ; the next streams from
these in their inward man are, that in their judgments (which is ro rr/e/^ovtxov of all both holy affections and actions) they might, 1. Approve of
things most excellent ; 2. * Discern things different : the words import either ; 3. That in their hearts they might be sincere. These are inward.
III. The third thing which the apostle prays for is, that holiness be
perfectly, and all sorts of ways, held forth in their lives: 1. Negatively, blameless, or without offence, or without accusation, as the word is
used, 1 Thes. v. 23. 2. Positively, that they might be filled with the
fruits of righteousness. And yet, 3. Because it is not the outward appear ance of fruit, bigness, colour, fairness, but the kind, the constitution, and
relish of it that commends it, he therefore describes these fruits he prays for in the highest spirituamess of them. (1.) That they are such as are
by Jesus Christ, which grow on that tree, and on hearts engrafted on that
root. Paradise, no, nor the tree of life, knew none such ; that is, these
are a more excellent kind of fruit than ever did or should have grown on Adam s heart. (2.) He describes them to be such fruit, which are imme
diately and eminently directed to the glory and praise of God, that have
Christ and union with him for their efficient, and God s glory for their end. And as the end makes the means lovely and desirable, so this great end of God s glory gives the relish to all the fruit that comes from us, since none
other is fruit to God, as the apostle speaks, Bom. vii. 4, that is, for God s
taste and acceptation.
IV. The fourth and last thing is, the extent and continuance of this holi ness for the time of it. It is to be found in them, in the day of Christ, or until the day of Christ. These are the main branches that the bulk and body of this tree divides
itself into ; and this is a gross view of what grows thereon. Let us but shake a little, and gather up what will easily and naturally fall.
The 9th verse is such, that in it (as the psalmist says) all our springs are found, namely, the inward springs of true holiness. I may call them
springs, not without the apostle s allusion here : the word is wsgiffaevp, that
it may abundantly flow, as from a spring ; so Musculus. In ver. 11 he useth the metaphor of fruit and a tree ; but here, of streams and of a
spring. The principles of holiness in us are in Scripture compared to
both, to a root from whence fruit grows (Gal. v. 22, 23, the fruits of the
Spirit ), and to a fountain : John iv. 14, There shall be a well of water
in him that believes, springing up into everlasting life.
1. Grace and love to God should flow naturally ; springs do so. Trees must be watered (that metaphor is not enough expressive of the natural ness of the workings of grace), but springs flow readily; 1 Thes. iv. 9, I need not to write to you to love ; ye are taught that of God. Out of his
belly, says Christ, shall these waters flow. The inwards he calls the
belly, which should have love in them, as the earth hath water in the bowels of it.
2. In a fountain, as you take away, still more comes, and the faster it comes ; and thus as a spring retains not its water to itself, so love keeps nothing to itself, but it flows to the use and benefit of God and men.
CHAP. I.] IN THE HEA.RT AND LIFE. 133
3. As fountains have their rise in hills, so this of love is first in God s
* We love God, because he loved us first, 1 John iv. 10.
heart in heaven :
It springeth up, says Christ, to eternal life, i. e., its original. Aqua in tantum ascendit, &c.
I have done with the metaphor ; I come to the naked sense intended, en
paXXov Kai f^aXXov vsziffffz-jT), may abound yet more and more. It had abounded already ; the love of the primitive times it abounded, as you read,
1 Thess. iv. 9, 10. One rivulet remains of the former metaphor to convey this to us, which we have, John vii. 38, 39, He that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this, says John, he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that
Jesus was not yet glorified. When Christ was now glorified, the graces of the Spirit were not brooks, but rivers ; he poured, not dropped, down his
Spirit, and love made the greatest channel. Ecce qui diligunt, was the common observation of the heathens, See how they love one another,
speaking of Christians. It held till Tertullian s time. Were there a cause concerned the common good of saints ? Their principle was, they would lay down their lives for the brethren, 1 John iii. 6. Was it the cause of God?
They loved not [their lives to the death. It is the character of Hhose
Christians, Rev. xii. 11. Our springs are not only dried up, but turned
back, as Jordan was ; the hatred among the saints abounds yet more and
more, and is like to swell higher yet. Oh, my brethren, is not Christ yet
glorified ?
The apostle adds these words, yet more and more. To have said that
it may abound, had an emphasis with it ; but he adds in, yet, and adds to
that {Aa\\ov, more, and xai /o/aXXov, more still. God can never have enough of your love, nor you of grace. Paul that knew him thought so, and there
fore prayed so. Seest thou a spark of fire ; lay straw to it, and then add more fuel, it abounds more and more according to its fuel. This whole
inferior world will not be a sufficient prey for the fire one day ; it will
melt the elements, as Peter says, yea, the heavens that now are it will con sume. Such a thing is grace and love : all the excellencies in God are
ordained to be the object, the fuel of it ; yet it can neither consume, nor be consumed, but abounds still yet more and more. But why is love first ? Doth not faith and knowledge in order of nature
go before ? You must remember (as I told you) he speaks here of the
principles of obedience, and so love is the more immediate, for faith works
by love. It is love (says the apostle, 1 John v. 3) makes all the com mands not grievous.
* Provoke one another, says the apostle Paul, Heb.
x. 24, to love and to good works. Enkindle, stir up that principle, and
then good works, as the flame, will arise. When Christ would move Peter
to take pains for him and feed his lambs, and in doing so run through all
the difficulties that attended an apostle s work and calling, what says he to him ? Peter, lovest thou me ? He says no more. And what says Peter ? Lord, I love thee. It was enough between them two, to put him on to anything. Faith is indeed the only principle by which we deal
with God and Christ for justification and communion with them ; but love
is that which incites us to holiness and obedience. We are ordained to
be holy before him in love ; holiness riseth from love. Oh, therefore, get
your hearts inflamed with the love of God ! The apostle farther adds these words, that your love may abound in
knowledge. Ordinarily men had need pray that their love might grow up
134 OF GOSPEL HOLINESS [BOOK I.
to their knowledge ; but Paul here prays that their knowledge might grow up with, and to, their love. Usually men s knowledge is larger than their
affections. It was, it seems, otherwise with these Philippians. There are
usually extant these two sorts of Christians : affectionate, fond souls of
Christ, but less knowing ; others more knowing, yet less passionate, though true Christians both. The primitive times give instances of both. The Corinthians were knowing Christians : 1 Cor. i. 4, 5, I thank God that in
every thing ye are enriched in all knowledge and utterance ; but they were short in love. 1 Cor. viii. 2, 3, If any man thinks that he knoweth any
thing, he speaks home to them he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him. And
* But yet shew I unto you a more excel
chap. xii. 31, they were for gifts
lent way. And what was that ? LOVE. So in chap. xiii. 1, Though I
speak with tongues of men and angels, and have not love, &c., through out. But to return to that chap. viii. 3, If any man love God, the same
is known of him. The speech carries the highest reproof with it; it is as
if he had said, You take care to get more knowledge, but God knows enough for you, if he knows you to be his. Take care to get more love, for if
any man love God, the same is known of him. And conform yourselves to God herein. God s loving of you is termed his knowing of you ; they are adequate, let them be so in you to him.
But the Philippians and the Thessalonians were a more" plain, sincere, affectionate sort of Christians, whose affections had been hitherto more than their knowledge ; he therefore prays that their distinct knowledge might grow up with their love That their love might abound in know
* Grow in grace, and in
ledge and both grow together. As 2 Pet. iii. 18,
the knowledge of Jesus Christ ; not in blind affections, but such which
spiritual knowledge may stir up. What is grace ? It is but knowledge concocted into the affections, to have suitable impressions, dispositions on the affections to the things known. 2 Cor. iii. 18, We are changed (by beholding)
* into the same image. 3. The apostle adds these words, and in all sense, xai vr&ey aiff^ffu. It is translated judgment, but in the Greek, sense, and so in your mar
* in all sense as the main, for it is such knowledge as hath sense added to. We are to
gins varied. The apostle puts the emphasis here, saying,
inquire what is meant by sense, and why it is added to knowledge. It is
all sense, let us therefore take in all senses may be given of it.
(1.) Sense is here added to knowledge, to express the true nature of
spiritual faith in two words, added the one to the other, which is elsewhere
expressed by one single word. Faith, what is it ? A spiritual sense of
spiritual things, or things excellent (as it follows in the text, Philip, i. 10). And the same apostle speaking of grown Christians, says, that they have
their senses exercised, ra a/(ri)jnjg/a, Heb. v. 14. Though he speaks this indeed of grown Christians, that they have their senses exercised, yet he supposeth that as Christians they have the senses themselves, that is, the faculties
of them ; and he says not sense only in the singular, as here (Philip, i. 9), but senses, making an allusion of the new creation of the spiritual man to
the outward man ; for as the outward man hath divers organs and instru ments of sense, so hath the new creation. That look as God made an out ward world, in which are all sorts of objects, beauty, colours, sweet smells,
pleasant fruits, so he placed in man s body a/rf^n^/a, senses suited to these, to take in the real comfort from these ; and there is no creature outward, but there is a sense suited to it. So he hath made an invisible world, with
CHAP. I.j IN THE HEAKT AND LIFE. 135
variety of things spiritual, and that variety is but the several appearances of himself; and in the new creature there are suitable spiritual senses made
to entertain them, and take them into the soul. In the Scripture you find that there is no particular sense, but faith is expressed by it ; you have
seeing and tasting in one verse : Ps. xxxiv. 9, Taste and see that the Lord
is good ; and both put to express faith, for it follows, Blessed is the man
that trusts in him. To see God in his beauty and goodness, and in the heart and affection, and to taste of that goodness (to which Peter alludes, 1 Peter ii. 2), are the acts of faith. Then, for hearing, I need not enlarge upon it. He that hath an ear, let him hear with an inward ear, Eev. ii. 7. For men may naturally hear and see God s wonders, and yet not with a
* The great signs and miracles which
spiritual ear ; for, Deut. xxix. 3, 4,
thine eyes have seen, yet the Lord hath not given you eyes to see, and
ears to hear, to this day. But Christ gives another character of believers, when he says, John x. 3, My sheep hear my voice ; that is, discern and
distinguish his voice by an inward sense; for it follows, ver. 5, The voice of a stranger they will not follow. As the ear tries words, says Job, so
they by an instinct know the mind of Christ, 1 Cor. ii. 15, 16. Thus
likewise as to smelling: 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16, We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish
: to the one we
are the savour of death unto death ; and to the other the savour of life unto life. We are, thaHs, our ministry; he compares the effect of it to that of vapours or smells". There are some vapours and smells that, as soon as they come into the nostrils, suffocate the spirits, strike dead, as in those famous caverns in Italy. Such are the threatenings of the gospel to a man that will not leave his lusts and believe, they are the savour of
death, the occasion of his ruin ; and not only so, but his conscience (which is a principle suited to the threatening, as smell is to savour) smells the savour of fire and brimstone of hell in them, and he goes away with sense of condemnation unto him, for those courses he is resolved to go on in. But it is contrary to those that believe and obey, for unto them this ministry is the savour of life unto life. Some smells recover men when in a swoon ; so do the promises quicken and revive men s souls by their scent from them. They send forth the perfume of heaven, of God s love and free grace ; it is the savour of life unto life. And as to feeling, which is another sense, what says the apostle? 1 John i. 1, What our hands have handled of the word of faith. He speaks not of outward conversion, but inward, as ver. 3, that which we have seen and heard, &c., of that fellowship their souls had had with him, as seals on that of their senses.
(2.) By sense is meant experience, as it is a distinct thing from faith ; for the apostle, Eom. v., after he had said, by faith a Christian hath peace with God, shews how faith is improved and added unto, through God s
* tribulation worketh patience, and submission to God ;
dealings with us :
* and patience, experience. So in such and such afflictions, after we had submitted to God, God came in and delivered or upheld with comforts, and
thereby faith was strengthened against the next ; for experience breeds
hope, or confidence of God s carrying us on to life and glory, when we have found God faithful in relieving us, and sticking close to us in all sorts of trials, and so it grows up to assurance (as hope is there, and 1 John
iii. 1, taken in that sense). Now experience is an acquired knowledge in matters spiritual, founded on sense a collection of conclusions from what we have the sense of, as all artists gather conclusions from experiments made. A man at first sets out to believe with faith barely founded on the
136 OF GOSPEL HOLINESS [BOOK I.
promise ; as suppose he relies on this, that God favours him and loves him, and will do him good, and that God is faithful in such and such promises, afore ever he sees any performance, a man believes this with spiritual faith, and a faith that hath sense in it. Take seeing for the reality of the things, as
they lie in the promise, and that God is the promiser. But afterwards look
as God performeth in process of time any promises of his, there is then a
sense of experience superadded, and a collection from thence of the truth
of the promise. Ps. xli. 11, By this I know that thou favourest me, because my enemies do not triumph over me ; especially when withal I
* as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity. A man believes that there is a God, who is the rewarder of them that seek
find, as it follows, that
him, Heb. xi. ; a God that judgeth the earth, and therefore comes to him
as a God that suffers not the wicked always to prosper, but in the end heareth the prayers of his poor people. And the man hath learned this,
first (as the psalmist says, Ps. Ixxiii. 17, 18) in the sanctuary, that is, out
of the bare word. But having now believed this, he afterwards sees with
* The righteous shall
his eyes a vengeance executed, as in Ps. Iviii. 10,
rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He sees the vengeance by experi ence, and so from experience collects and strengthens faith anew, namely, in this great point of faith which follows there :
* A man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous : verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth. Thus also David, Ps. xxxvii. 34, * Wait on the Lord, and
keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land : when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it, that is, have experience of it. And David confirms this by his own instance, ver. 35, 36,
* I have seen the wicked in
great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree : yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not ; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Thus promises brought home in trials and temptations breed experience : Ps. cxix. 50, This is my comfort in my affliction, says he, for thy word hath quickened me. Here is a conclusion, a trial of a receipt in time of
malady, with a probation est from experience. And such was the experi ence of a dying Christian: Is there ^not (said he) such a promise I will be with thee in the fire and in the water? Yes, said they that stood by. Kead, I pray (replied he) ; which done, Bear witness (said he) that I
die, testifying that God is true in that promise to my soul, which is the similar to that of David s, This is my comfort in my affliction, &c. Thus
in hearing a man s prayer, what a world of experiments hath an experienced Christian. The whole 116th Psalm is a record of it, and so likewise the 18th Psalm : In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God : he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. And how it doth set heaven and earth on work, the
rest of that psalm shews; and therefore, as David learnt himself by experi
ence, so he teacheth others : Ps. Ixvi. 16, 17, 19, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. But verily God hath heard me ; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Thus
by experience we know our own graces, and things given us of God, as 1 Cor. ii. and the 119th Psalm throughout shews. And Oh how good is
it to draw near to God ! says David, upon a taste and experiment of it, Ps. Ixxiii. 28. Of grown Christians we say, they are experimental Chris
tians ; and those that were babes, the apostle describes such to be ami^oi, such that have no experience ; whereas a grown Christian hath his senses
exercised to discern both good and evil. Such an one discerns the differ-
CHAP. I.] IN THE HEART AND LIFE. 137
ence of things readily, not from reason, but skill that hath been contracted from the sense of experience. Thus of Christ it is said, that he learned obedience by the things he suffered, Heb. v. 8. Take a man that hath
naturally a wise head, and the grain, the current of his understanding lies and runs that way ; yet if such a man hath been further versed in the
world, and hath been tumbled and tossed up and down therein, and hath been used to business or affairs of state, &c., he will have an experimental acquired wisdom added, if not to increase, yet to confirm all those principles
naturally engrafted in him ; and through both these a man proves a wise man indeed, as Solomon throughout did.
Thus Christ our Lord, though his manhood was furnished with all sorts of abilities, principles of faith and knowledge spiritual, yet God did put this
great scholar to school, to learn (says the apostle, Heb. v. 8) knowledge of
this other kind. And the schoolmaster he sets him to was patience, which breeds up experience, as the same apostle saith, Kom. v. 4. The school was obedience, that so he might have sense added to his faith and know
ledge. The heart of Christ had an ocean of love naturally flowing in it, and yet he must learn mercy and pity to us, in a way of sense, as it is
said, inasmuch as he also was tempted, Heb. ii. 18. And this is the
meaning of that passage in the 10th verse of that chapter, He was made
perfect through sufferings. God would have his eldest Son educated in
all sorts of faculties and learnings (whose type was Moses), that so he might be perfect ; and therefore he ran through all courses as we mortals run
through, that he might be perfect in all sorts of experimental knowledge ; and especially because sufferings teach most compendiously, he was there
fore made perfect through sufferings. And as use, we say, makes perfect, so did experience him ; and thus as to us (as the apostle says, Heb. xii. 11),
* Afflictions bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, to them that
are exercised therein. The word exercised is the same that is used in that forementioned Heb. v. 14, concerning our senses being exercised ; and it
is a metaphor taken from the knowledge that is obtained in schools, whether
either of arts and sciences, through exercising themselves therein, as
fencing, grammar, &c., by performing such exercises whereby youths grow up to such a perfection. The same word we have again, 1 Tim. iv. 7,
* Exercise (yv^vugs) thyself to godliness ; that is, get such a skill by per forming the exercises of it as scholars at school do ; run through all sorts
of duties, as scholars do through all sorts of forms (which seeing the Holy Ghost so often alludes unto, to express the practical part of godliness hereby, it is unsavoury to call, as some do, the set performance of such
holy duties, forms, and tasks) ; but, says the apostle in direct opposition to these, they diligently run through all parts of piety, which will procure an exquisite knowledge by experience, which is equivalent to sense here
in the text. So then when the apostle here prays they might abound in
all sense, his meaning is, they might run through all courses of godliness, and be carried through all the varieties of God s dealings and dispensations, all sorts of trial of graces on their part, and performance of promises on God s; that so, having tried all conclusions, they might be perfect Chris
tians in experimental knowledge, even in all sense.
(3.) By sense he means deep and glorious impressions on the soul, over and above the light of faith or knowledge by ordinary experiences ; and such impressions are truly rather sense than knowledge, as all find that
enjoy them; and they are therefore said to pass knowledge, Eph. iii. 19, and are entitled, the peace of God which passeth understanding, Phil. iv. 7.
138 OF GOSPEL HOLINESS [BOOK I.
* Patience hreedeth experience, and
And the same is hinted Bom. v. 5, 6,
: and hope maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God
experience hope
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. A man had before by faith peace with God (thus ver. 1), but now he comes
to have experience with hope or assurance from the love of God shed, not
manifested or apprehended by knowledge so much as shed, whereof the
subject is said to be the heart rather than the understanding ; and this is
that which Christ prorniseth, John xiv. 21. And this the primitive Chris
: 1 Peter i. 8, Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
tians more generally enjoyed
joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Thus were those Peter wrote to, and so were the Philippians and Romans, as you heard ; as for the
Thessalonians, the word came unto them in much assurance, and joy in
the Holy Ghost, 1 Thes. i. 5. And this high and heavenly sense and
enjoyment the apostles used to pray for in behalf of those they wrote to. Thus Paul for the Romans, Rom. xv. 13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. And Peter exhorts those Christians he wrote unto to maintain and not to lose this ; for having said, 1 Peter i. 8, 9, that they had been filled (as at conversion, or soon after ordinarily) with
joy unspeakable and glorious, he exhorts them (chap. ii. 2, 3) that they would keep up that sense and taste, even as new-born babes ; he would have them, though men in understanding, yet always to be as babes in
their appetites and tastings of the love and goodness of God, and if they wanted it, to cry for it. Use 1. Hath faith and the new creature these senses joined to and
implanted in them ? Then may a Christian, if it be not his fault, lead the most sensual life (pardon the expression) of any creature. For as God hath made a world for sense, so God hath prepared Christ, and all things
spiritual to the new creature. You see what pleasures are in the visible
world, which the senses let in ; but the soul is able to drink in more at one
draught in a moment than all the senses can let in, or the world afford us in
ages. Now, what the world is to the body, that God and Christ are to the
soul. Of this sense the Psalmist speaks, Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9, They shall be
abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of
life : in thy light shall we see light. He instanceth in those senses of
sight, and taste, and the objects thereof, which bring in so much pleasure to the body.
Use 2. See the reason why the same truth meditated on, or conferred
on, or heard again and again, to hearts prepared to relish spirituals, still
affects with a new and fresh sweetness. If our souls only entertained, and took them in by bare knowledge, it would not be so ; but faith, containing
all the senses in it, hence, if we receive them by faith, a fresh and rich
pleasure springs out of them.
Use 3. See the reason why faith hath the greatest certainty of know
ledge about its objects of any other knowledge. The philosopher says, Sensus non fallitur circa proprium objectum : the senses are not deceived about then: proper objects (due circumstances and proportions of distance,
&c., being observed), and that the speech of Christ confirms it. When
the disciples thought Christ to be but a spirit, he appeals for the final
determination to two senses, seeing and feeling ; for, says he, Hath a
spirit flesh and bones as I have ? Now, faith hath not one only, but all
CHAP. II.] IN THE HEART AND LIFE. 139
the senses conjunct with it, and implanted in the nature of it ; so far,
therefore, as we believe, we are certain of the object, the reality, the exist ence of it, though of our interest therein we may be doubtful.