Chapter XV
The actual performance of those promises of perfecting, stablishing, strengthen
ing, settling us. The manner and means whereby God preserves us, and carries us on to persevere unto the end. His particular care over us, how expressed in the Scripture by the vigilancy of his eye in all our ways, by ac companying us continually with his presence, by his guarding us in safety, by his having us always in remembrance. What it is concerning us that his care is m.ost exercised about. His principal care is of our souls. How
it is that he preserves them in life.
Casting all gour care upon him, for he careth for you. But the God of all
grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1 PETER V., verses 7 and 10 compared.
When I handled those words, The God of all grace, I shewed how the purposing grace of God (which takes up the principal part of the meaning of
that clause) had before all worlds ordered and contrived all things about us, both temptations and sins that should befall us after calling, and the issues out of them by repentances and returnings back again unto God ; and that
all these were so fore-laid and disposed, as all was thereby made sure, as David expresseth it in his own person for us all, A covenant ordered in all
things, and sure, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Now, then (as the counterpane unto
this), I am to shew how after calling, executive grace (the other was the legis lative or dispositive grace), or as the seventh verse, God s caring grace doth, according to his former purposes laid, perform this all along. And unto the
fuller carrying on of this, I shall call in the suffrage of the seventh verse, Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, as being in the
general most fitly expressive of this point in hand ; for to a steady eye, that
exactly observeth the series of one speech after the other, the words in the seventh verse do pour forth their stream into the channel of the tenth verse, and both streams there meet in this one scope, namely, to comfort believers
against all temptations of sin, or from Satan, &c., the apostle first sending out that promise there in the seventh verse, as in the fore-front ; and then
follows this other in the tenth verse, as in the rear and conclusion.
1 Cast all your care upon him ; that is, your cares of all sorts, your burden, says the psalmist, Ps. Iv. 22, whence the words are taken, for he
that is the mighty God (says Peter, ver. 6) careth for you, ver. 7 ; which words are at no hand to be limited unto outward afflictions only, but do more
specially concern our cares and burdens about temptations ; for what doth
immediately follow, namely, Be sober : for your adversary the devil walks
up and down, &c. It is his temptations, and the insobriety of our own
hearts, and inordiuancy of our own lusts, that afford the sorest burdens, and most hearteating cares of any other sufferings ; but our hearts being
supported by these two strong pillars of consolation, may have full stedfastness
of faith, to which he exhorts them, ver. 9. And whilst thus you view the words in this coherence, you may behold
Satan, and all your spiritual adversaries, as in a toil, surrounded and every way encompassed with a God that careth for you in all your cares, that on
the one part he is before Satan ; and a God of all grace, that will perfect you on the other part, behind him. What then should we fear ? The general observation I single out of all is,
410 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
That as you have a God of all grace that called you, and engaged to pre serve you, so you have, after your calling, the same God of all grace, a mighty God, that careth for you, to perform it, and to make it good. God s care in the execution is the point in hand. In prosecuting of which my chief design shall be to draw forth into view the particulars of God s care herein ; and therein not barely relating to ex
periences, but as we find scriptures withal confirming them. All which
particulars put together will arise to as effectual and comfortable a satisfac tion in the point of the perseverance of the saints as any other way of argu ing it that is used.
First, let us consider how the Scriptures represent the strictness of his care over us ; as, 1. By the vigilancy of his eye in all our ways. Our Peter, out of many places in the Old Testament, where that saying is found, hath inserted it once for all in the New, in this epistle, chap. iii. ver. 12,
* The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. It is spoken in respect of an eminent care had to them ; for otherwise we find elsewhere, that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good ; so Prov. xxv. 3. But
yet so, and in so special a manner over the righteous, as if he minded none
else : Isa. Ixvi. 2, All these things have my hands made : but to him will I look, who is of a contrite spirit. He professeth (as it were) to overlook
all the other works of his hand, fixing the acies of his eye on such a man ; that is, so to look on him, as to look to him ; and as if he had none else to look to in the world. In Jeremiah, chap. xxiv. 6, 7, you have it thus, I
will set mine eyes upon them for good, to take care of them, and bring them back again
: to build them, and to give them an heart to know me ; and to return to me with their whole heart. Yea, whereas we here in the
text, ver. 8, are exhorted to watch, who, poor creatures, fall asleep often, the
very same is said of God, always to watch over us. So in the same Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. 28, And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict ; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord ; as a nurse-keeper, whose eye and wakeful attention is upon a child. There is a whole psalm on purpose made to express this : Ps. cxxi.,
* The Lord is my keeper, ver. 5
; that is the burden of it. It is three times
repeated, to infix the security of it on our souls ; and with a behold the second time, to awaken our drowsiness to the observation of it : ver. 3, He that keepeth thee will not slumber; ver. 4, Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; ver. 5, The Lord is my keeper. Poor
wandering soul, thou hast a keeper takes care of thee, and that, keeper of thine is the Lord, who also takes this as a peculiar style and office to him
self, in a special manner, to be the keeper of all the Israel of God ; and if that be too indefinite, he particularly brings it home unto every saint for their comfort twice, The Lord is thy keeper ; that is, of the whole Israel of God in general, and of every soul of that number, and so their keeper, as of none else in the world
; a keeper so vigilant continually that he never so much as slumbers, or shuts an eye, much less sleepeth. The strength of which attention is spent on this, to keep thy soul from evil
; so ver. 7, The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul; that is, from such evils as would be destructive thereof, and of that state of
grace thou art in, that is his chiefest charge. And with this attention thus to preserve thee, he hath an eye upon thy goings out and thy comings in. So, ver. 8, go whither thou wilt, yea, and he adds, from this time
1 forth, for evermore
; that is, either from the first of that time, when he took
CHAP. XV.] OF ELECTION. 411
charge of thee, and thou didst begin to give thyself up to his care, ever after, even for ever
; or rather, do thou begin to reckon at any time since thy call
ing, even from this now, this present time ; and so for ever. Now when thou art so old, and he hath kept thee so long, and thou hast (as to thy thoughts) so often forfeited his protection of thee, yet he renews the guard over thee
; his care sets his watch continually as strict as ever, even from this time, &c., and that for ever. If indeed, as it is said in the Gospel, Whilst the husbandman slept, &c., so that there were but one moment, the twinkling of an eye, in which his eye might be off from thee, or careless of thee, there might be supposition that this our adversary the devil might have an advantage to devour thee, to chop thy soul up in a moment ; but God never slumbers :
< I the Lord keep it day and night, Isa. xxvii. 3
; and if that be not enough, he adds, every moment.
^ Nor, 2, is it his eye only that is intent upon them, as at a distance, but his presence continually accompanies them ; yea, it is further expressed, as by a continual attendance on us : Ps. xxiii. 4, Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Sheep wandering in dark places, to which that whole psalm alludes, are obnoxious to be preys unto wild beasts ; but if the shepherd be with them, there is no danger to be sure. If God, my shepherd, ver. 1, that is greater than all, be with us, none need be feared. Yea, so watchful is he, as wherever we go, he is said to follow us, even as one whose place, or duty, it is to attend a person committed to him, Thus verse the last of that psalm, Surely mercy and goodness shall follow me all the days of my life, to see to me, and look after me. And if mercy and goodness itself undertake this task and charge, we shall be as surely kept. Thus Paul also : Not I, but the grace of God that is with me. He so speaks of it, as his guardian assistant that accompanied him. The phrase is first used of the patriarchs ; and indeed, next to that fundamental of the covenant, I will be your God, the usual promise to the patriarchs was, that God was and would be with them. An heathen observed it of Abraham, Gen. xxi. 22, And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, spake unto Abra ham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. After that, he was the same to Isaac ; I will be with thee, and bless thee, Gen. xxvi. 3, 24.
After that, to Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 15, Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest ; and I will not leave thee. To men
tion no more.
3. Not by his presence only, but taking us unto sure and safe custody, which Peter mentions here also ; speaking of the mighty hand, ver. 6, of
that God that cares for us, ver. 7.
: see Ps. Ixxiii. 28, I am continually with thee ; thou hast holden me by my right hand ; nay, and it is his right hand too, that holds thee by thy right hand : so Ps.
(1.) Holding us by the hand, and that continually
cxxxix. 10, Ps. xviii. 35, and that to save thee, Ps. cxxxviii. 7.
(2.) And to be yet more sure ; he is said to take us into his hand, grasp
ing us therewith : Deut. xxxiii. 3, He loved the people (or, is the lover of
the peoples, the great lover*), all his saints are in thy hand ; as Christ
also, John x. 28.
(3.) And not in one, but in both. This speech in Deuteronomy is not of
a shepherd holding his sheep, but of a loving husband embracing his spouse,
holding her not in one arm only, but in both. So twice in the Canticles,
* Ainsworth.
412 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Cant. ii. 6, and chap. viii. 3, His left hand under my head, his right hand doth embrace me.
(8.) The Scripture expresseth this his care by the attentiveness of his memory
* Therefore is ever mindful of his covenant, His
: Ps. cxi. 5,
covenant, that of grace, which he had from everlasting ordered in all things concerning us, that whereas it might be thought or feared, though he took sure order for all things aforehand, yet in process of time may he not forget something or other of necessary concernment to us ? No ; he hath all those
things continually afore him punctually ; forgets not one tittle ; but performs all in that manner as he did forelay them. He is ever mindful of his cove nant. The Lord will perfect (says David), or make complete, that concern
ing me, Ps. cxxxviii. 8, which he speaks in relation to that covenant ordered in all things as to his peculiar, which he now believed would be all punctually performed, as hitherto it had been, as when he had finished his course, and was to die, he professeth.
If it be objected, Do not the saints run into evils, and go astray? how then is God s eye and care, &c., so continually over them, every moment, as you have spoken of?
The answer is, 1, During all such times even of going astray, his eye and care is over them, yea, and over them most then, to moderate the temp tations, and to take care that they themselves exceed not the bounds of the
state of grace in sinning, and be swallowed up and devoured of them. Our Peter himself, Christ s care was most about him then, when he was to be
foiled by Satan : I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, Luke
xxii. 32. So aforehand ; and in the temptation his heart ached for him ; and
at last his eye was upon him to purpose. He looked back, and you know what followed. In Isa. Ivii. 17, 18, when he went on frowardly, says God, in the way of his heart, I have seen his ways. He saw him all the timeof it, and took care not to let things go on eo long as they should be past cure arid remedy according to his rules :
* I have seen his ways, and I will heal him. There is another clear scripture for this : Ps. Ixxiii. 2, But as for me
(says he, and you may wonder at me for it, who might be judged to have been better instructed), my feet were almost gone, and my steps had well
nigh slipped ; ver. 3, For I was envious at the foolish ; that is, at the pros perity of the wicked : I even wished myself one of them ; yea, and was
greatly tempted to throw off all religion upon it, and turn atheist ; yea, and the
temptation therein rose up to a verily, to a conclusion in his own heart : ver. 13, Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain ; and again, he fretted and had boiling thoughts, and angry litigations with God himself, as Calvin comments on the words, ver. 21, Thus my heart was leavened, as the ori
ginal, totus in fermento, filled with an angry sourness ; and I was pricked in my reins ! Such motions and affections of heart impetuously rose up and inflamed me : ver. 22, So foolish was I and ignorant, and as a beast, with
thee, or afore thee, in my carriage towards thee. But where was God, in respect of the eye and presence you speak of, all
this while ? In view, he seemed to have as little eye to or care of this good man this while ; even as in governing the world, whilst he suffered the wicked to prosper, which was his temptation.
Well, but when the prophet was come to himself, and the enchantment was dissolved, he now clearly saw that God had as strict and waking an
eye over him all along as ever ; yea, and the care which God shewed him, even during this temptation, as in the issue appeared, became the
greatest pawn and pledge to him, assuring him, that God would preserve him
for ever. Read from the 23d verse (where the stream begins to turn into
CHAP. XV. J OF ELECTION. 413
another channel) unto the end of the psalm: ver. 28, Nevertheless, thon art continually with me, thou hast holden me by my right hand. That nevertheless comes in upon the narration of, and in relation unto all that mis carriage of his mentioned, so foolish was I, &c., nevertheless (which is the wonder of it, says he), or notwithstanding this, yet I am continually with thee. What ! as to his own sense and apprehension, as if that he had held and kept up entire communion with God all that while ? No ; for what he had said afore of the evil frame of his heart is a contradiction thereunto. It is spoken, then, in respect of the eye and presence on God s part, that*God had towards him, which is evident by what follows : Thou hast holden me by my right hand ; and so thereby had pulled him forth of that horrible temptation. And the experience he had learned of God s care and preser vation, out of these passages towards him, assured him that God would pre serve him for ever ; ver. 24, Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel alfmv life long ; and afterwards receive me to glory. This is an inference as to the future from that experiment.
Yea, farther, this place shews that at such times and seasons wherein our hearts seem most loose and left to themselves, God hath then the more stedfast eye ; as the mother of the child when sick, or as a manner hath most care and solicitude of his ship in a storm ; a father the most wary re gard to a little child he hath let go, to see what way of itself it will take. And therefore, this acknowledgment is brought in by way of thankfulness and
blessing God, as Calvin observes, for his presence with him and support of him then ; that he was not wholly overturned or fallen headlong, as off from a precipice, as those words, ver. 2, My steps well nigh were poured out, import.
The second branch I make of handling this his care in the general is, What is the principal subject of his care ? What it is taken up about.
1. First, His principal care is over our souls : Ps. cxxi. 7, The Lord shall
preserve thee from evil ; the Lord shall preserve thy soul. The latter is by way of emphasis and notoriety added, so that he that keeps thy bones, thy body the sheath, will be sure to look to thy soul. And therefore God
regards not so much to what he gives thy name, thy body, thy estate up unto, what detriments and diminutions in thy outward man befall thee there
in, if they subserve to renew thy inward man. Our Peter here, 1 Pet. ii.
25, telleth us for our comfort, that when we are converted to God, we are
* returned to the shepherd and bishop (or overseer) of our souls. His eye is
specially upon them, they are his charge and flock.
2. His care is principally exercised about preserving you, that no sin have dominion over you. When grace first takes hold of us and calls us, it sets up a dominion over us. Grace reigns to eternal life, Rom. v. 21, even
till then, and then we begin first to give up ourselves to the government of
it, which Peter here exhorts them to renew and continue to do. Humbling ourselves under his sovereign hand or power, which we no sooner begin to
do, but from thenceforward the sovereignty of grace takes us into its protec tion and conduct. And the fundamental principle by which that dominion
of grace stands and is continued over us is, that sin never comes again to have
that dominion which once it had. So Rom vi. 14, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are under grace. And the reason of it is clear and plain ; for sin and grace have and seek two opposite dominions, and the dominions
of each are destructive of the dominion of the other (and what an interest dominion is, we all have seen and know), so as if ever sin should come to have its ancient dominion and rule, as once the grace of God, that now hath
taken the dominion, were dethroned, or to use Paul s word, Gal. ii. 21,
414 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
frustrated. But this the interest of grace itself, as it is contrary to sin, but
specially in that it is an interest of dominion, will never suffer or endure ; and in this sense are the promises of keeping us from all evil, and preserv ing us blameless, and the like, to be understood (that is, blameless according to the rules and principles of the state of grace) and so as in the end, to
bring forth judgment unto victory.
And to that end, 3, he takes special care of our feet, our steps, and go
: 1 Sam. ii. 9, He will keep the feet of his saints ; and whoever will undertake to keep himself (as it follows) by his own strength, he shall not
ings
prevail.
Our Saviour Christ, when he was to go out of this world, John xiii. 1 (and then at death we shew what our cares towards those we love are most upon), he shewed his greatest care to be of this. He would needs make that one
of his last deeds, to wash his disciples feet, ver 5. The mystery whereof he
gives, ver. 10, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, for
being justified by the blood of Christ (which is termed a washing, 1 Cor. vi.
11, and is total and at once), all the need and care that now remains is to
preserve and keep a man s steps and walkings, to keep him holy.
And again, Christ in his last prayer, John xvii. 15, shews this was his
* keep them from the evil of the
care. It is one of his great requests, to
world, namely (as the words afore shew), from sinning as they of the world do sin.
Likewise Ps. xxxvii. 23, it is said (which shews God s eminent care here
l the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ; and the Lord
in) that
delighteth in his way. The latter is a reason of the former, that because God loves their persons, and so desires to please himself in their ways (and one we love, we desire should please us), therefore God doth studiously and with avisement order all his steps.
Which ordering of our steps is in a special manner so to be understood as
to see to us and our steps, so as at least sin may not have dominion over
us. For which you may observe that joining together of these two, Ps.
cxix. 133, Order my steps in thy word, and let not sin have dominion over me.
Or if you will take another expression of David, which since I met with
it hath much pleased me as to the point in hand, and therefore I will somewhat
enlarge upon it : Ps. Ixvi. 9, 10, 16, Which holdeth our soul in life, and
suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, God, hast proved us ; thou has tried us, as silver is tried. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I
will declare what he hath done for my soul.
There are two eminent benefits or blessings spiritual, and but two, that comprehend all other that take and fill up the whole space of a Christian s
life, from his first conversion to his death : 1, the work of conversion, or
estating him into life at first ; 2, the preservation of that life and conduct of him unto glory, through all the passages of his pilgrimage ; and each of these in their kinds wonderful and great. And if a controversy and debate were admitted, which of them should be the greatest, it would be found that no jury of mankind could determine on either side, but must return, and leave it to God s free grace itself, which is
* the author and finisher of our faith, to decide. And perhaps both will be found alike redounding unto the glory of that grace. For look as the works of creation at first, and up holding all by his power and providence, are yoked together as works of a
like wonder, vouchsafed the creation in common, Heb. i. 2, 3, so just in the like manner we find regeneration and perseverance joined, as the sum
of all other works in this life. Thus, begotten again, and kept by the
CHAP. XV.] OF ELECTION. 415
power of God to salvation, are joined by the apostle, 1 Pet. i. 8 and 5,
called and preserved in Christ Jesus ; so in Jude, ver. 1. And Paul the
same, 1 Thes. v. 23, 24, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. And in the Old Testament, I have made, or formed
: Isa. xlvi. 4, and I have made, and
you, and I will bear and support you
stablished you, [Dent, xxxii. 6, by both of which he shews himself a Father,
as in the words afore. And accordingly the saints are called upon to bless God more eminently for these two grand and comprehensive benefits.
* who, according to his abundant
Blessed be God, says Peter, 1 Pet. i. 3,
* Oh, bless our God, ye people, which holdeth our souls in life ; so the psalmist here. Yea, if we do nar
mercy, hath begotten us again unto life. And
rowly eye the words in either, both Peter and the psalmist do bless God for
both at once. Blessed be God for begetting us ; who are also kept by the power of God ; so it follows in Peter. In the psalmist, both are com
prehended in this one word : 1, which putteth our souls in life (so the
margin, out of the Hebrew), that is, who puts life into your souls at the
first, as he did into Adam when he made him a living soul ; 2, and then
which holdeth, that is, continueth our souls in that life. So the trans
lators render it also, according to the psalmist s scope, and Oh, bless the
Lord, saith the psalmist there, for these and both these.
This psalm is supposed to have been penned by some holy prophet, upon
occasion of God s preservation of his people under the great trials they under
went from the Babylonians, and under that captivity.
And this holding their souls in life may be understood in two respects
1. As respecting bodily life and the concernments of it, continued all
along from great .dangers that might have come upon them from so cruel an
enemy.
2. In relation unto the spiritual life of grace in their souls, which is,
and was to them, the infinitely far greater mercy of the two, and this
life, as preserved in the want of ordinances, and living in the midst of an
heathen idolatrous nation, and a wicked generation ruling over them.
And the hazard of the extinction of either, and their trials and temptations
in both respects, is represented here to have been very great. For (1.) he
compares them unto the trial whereby silver is tried, which phrase is used
< As silver is melted m the
to express the sorest of trials : Ezek. xxii. 22,
midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye
shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you. Yea, when
our trials are of a lesser sort and degree, and more tolerable, they are said
to be, not as silver or with silver, Isa. xlviii. 10. (2.) They are/urther set
out in ver. 11, Thou hast brought us into the net, thou hast laid affliction
upon our loins ; that is, the affliction God laid on their loins, was as a net,
that encompassed them round, wherein they had lain tossing and tumbling,
like bulls in a net, as the prophet s phrase is, Isa. li. 20, and found no way
out whereby to escape. (3.) He caused men to ride over their heads, ver
12, that is, they were in a manner perfect slaves, at the will and pleasure ot
wicked and cruel men, their enemies ; for by that very phrase is slavery ex
pressed. For the manner was to use slaves thus, to carry them on then-
necks and backs as riders on them, resting themselves.meanwhile over their
heads : Isa. li. 23, But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict
thee ; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over ;
and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that
went over (4.) There was a great variety of such penis, and not only of
416 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
several, but of contrary sorts : ver. 12, we went through fire and water, either of which single and alone, when but one of these befall men, note out
* Save me, God, for the waters are come upon my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there
extremity of evils. Thus through water : Ps. Ixix. 1, 2,
is no standing ; I am come into the deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Or through fire : Ezek. xv. 7,
* And I will set my face against them, that they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them, and
ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. But when through both successively, one after the other, this notes out an accu mulation of miseries or trials indeed ; as we read Isa. xliii. 2, with God s
* When thou passest through the
promise to his people in such conditions,
water, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not over
flow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Which promise is here, you see, acknowledged by the psalmist to have been performed. God was with the
three children when they walked through the fire, in the very letter of
Isaiah s speech ; and with the children of Israel when they went through the water of the Red Sea : and now they were delivered and were returned
* brought into a wealthy
into their own land ; they were, as it is expressed,
place, out of those straits and pressures ; that is, into a roomy, open, and enlarged condition, in outward respects. And in the view and sense
of all these various dealings of God with them, he blesseth God, that God had as yet kept them alive, which was the promise made the church, as in
itself alone mercy sufficient in such a sense, and restored to them the com
forts of life.
But the second mercy I mentioned is, of holding the souls of his saints
in spiritual life. This, as it was the mercy of mercies, so I take it, is the
mercy chiefly and above all intended, for which he thus blesseth God ; and my reasons are,
1. The dangers they had run through, are not here simply considered as
perils to the outward man alone, but further as trials and probations of their
faith. This the words shew, For thou, Lord, hast proved us, and tried us, as silver is tried, Ps. Ixvi. 10. Now take them as trials from God, and so
they must be understood to relate to the inner man, as temptations arid
probations thereof, even as when they are called chastenings of the Lord
they likewise do. Now look what life it was which these dangers, considered
as trials, did respect and endanger. That life, and the preservation of it, was
it which he chiefly aims at to bless God for. And it is our spiritual life, the life of our souls, which trials and such probations, considered as such, do wholly respect, and the enduring of which it is makes the mercy so
great, to have that life which God and the saints do most respect maintained
in the midst of them, for in themselves they do endanger that life. The
* Blessed,
rich carnal professor fadeth and withereth when the sun is up
therefore, is the man that endureth temptation, James i. 12. And it is our faith, which is the principle of spiritual life, which is said to be the sub
ject of such trials and temptations, considered as such : so Peter, 1st
* The trial of your faith is much more precious than of
Epist. chap, i, 7,
gold, says he there ; even as here the trial of silver. And again, in the Old Testament, the spiritual profit that accrueth thereby in spiritual
refmings, is that which the trial of the soul as silver is compared unto : Zech. xiii. 9, I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried : they shall call on my name, and I will hear them : I will say, It is my people ; and they
,-shall say, The Lord is my God. The issue of their trial is made not a
CHAP. XV.] OF ELECTION. 417
refinement only, in respect of corruptions purged out, which Peter also speaks of, ver. 21, but a rising up to an assurance, through experience in those trials that God was their God, even as here he calls upon them as they were saints, and tried saints : Bless our God, says he, ye people, Ps. Ixvi. 8. The like you have in Malachi iii. 3, And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver : and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and
purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. So that this scripture of the psalmist is for substance
parallel, though under other allusions, unto that you read the profession of those saints to be in their acknowledgments of God therein, in the like case: Ps. xliv. 17, 18, All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant : our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way ; which is in effect and sub stance the same with the preserving of their souls in life, and of their feet kept from being moved from out of the ways of God, as you find here in the text.
2. The life here intended, is eminently the life of the soul; in his saying, Oh, bless God that holdeth our soul in life, which Peter also in the same
chap i. ver. 9, in like manner expresseth. And though I know the word
soul is taken for the person sometimes, yet comparing this with the use of the word, ver. 16 of this psalm (of which in the next following reason), and
observing the parallel and correspondency these words of blessing God have with the special care of God, as it is set out in keeping our souls, in Ps.
cxxi., The Lord is thy keeper, ver. 5 ; and ver. 7, The Lord shall pre serve thy soul, as the subject of his care : and then taking in ver. 8, He
will not suffer thy foot to be moved ; and all this there being spoken in rela
tion to their souls, and how withal the very same individual phrases are here
used, Holds our souls in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved ;
this induceth me to judge that the aim, as to the spiritual life of the soul,
is in this passage intended, as well as in that Psalm cxxi.
3. He that penned this psalm, having blessed God thus in the behalf of
all other saints, and invited them thereby to do the same, at last offers to
cast in the experiments of God s dealings with his own soul as a provoca tion and a pattern unto other saints, to recollect with themselves the like
dealings of God with them to the same end and purpose: thus, ver. 16,
* Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done
for my soul. Where the words, for my soul, do certainly respect the spirit ual dealings of God with his soul, in distinction from such outward mercies
as concerned his bodily life ; and so doth clearly expound what he had meant
by keeping our souls in life, in this verse 8. Now this passage of his, being the conclusion of the psalm, and as it were the summary of it, I therefore
take to look backward to these foregone passages, and to be as his setting
his seal to the truth of them in his own experience
: having this coherence
with the former, as if he had said, Come and hear, I will declare what God
hath done for my soul, namely, in keeping, and holding my soul in life, during
all this long tract of trials I have passed over and gone through together with you, all the rest of my fellowsufferers ; for which I in my particular do
bless God, and for which you in your particulars have cause to praise God
also. And thus, that which follows to the end of the psalm, I understand
to respect what exercises, and gracious issues of spirit by prayer, and self-
examination of spirit, had befallen him, under those common trials fore-
mentioned that he had found ; the chief whereof were, I cried to him with
my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue ; and so to the end of the
psalm ; and so his scope in ver. 16 issues in this, as if he had said, Lo,
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418 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
here I, who am but one among you all that fear God in the world (and per haps in his own eye he was the least), come, and behold the course I have run through, from the time of God his first putting life into my soul unto this
day ; and if I did but tell you, or could rehearse all the experiments which my life since affords, and give so large and ample a declaration, as his own word is, as I could from experience make, interwoven with so many varieties
of rich dispensations, of God s having preserved me still in grace, and kept life
in use in me, especially by prayer, ver. 17, and not having regarded iniquity in my heart, ver. 18, from time to time, in the midst of all the temptations and changes that have passed, you would stand aghast at them, as I myself do. And I would do this to the end that you would all be provoked thereby, to view and remind the several courses of dealings which God hath taken with each of you, to the upholding and carrying each of your souls through with spiritual life still continued in them. And that you would set down, and tell the like stories too, at which we shall all be astonished one at
another, and fall down afore God in all, and ever and anon adore him, and
cry out, Oh, bless our God, all ye people of God, which hath thus wonder
fully and miraculously held our souls in life for these ten, twenty, thirty,
forty, fifty years ; and if my own single experience would, yea, and doth
afford so much (and oh how little of God s grace am I able to declare !), what would all and each of yours, when fully told, rise up unto, as at the
day of judgment it will?
This, I take it, is the prophet s intimate scope, whoever he was that wrote it, from the experience of what himself had found, and observation of
other saints, his companions, all along that captivity out of Babylon, which, when come forth of it, he writes.
My brethren, you have often heard, perhaps with much delight and sym
pathy, the strange relations of one another s conversions ; strange in the
variety of dealings God taketh with each soul, and in some unto a wonder ment ; and which enhanceth the wonder of it, that in all it ariseth to the same substantial work of humiliation, faith, and godliness. Well, but let me again tell you, that if you could but recall and dilate upon the whole or
principal passages of your perseverance in grace, and the dangerous rocks, the strange meanders and labyrinths, the tossings and tempests you have run through in the courses of your lives, your dangers of falling off from God thereby ; together with God s dissolving the charms and machinations
of Satan laid therein against you, shewn in his recoverings of you after fall
ings long continued, backslidings, and revivings from dead frames of heart, and so strange preventings of you from fallings ; what by providences, what
by his grace inwardly working, and thereby preserving of you ; and then his
gracious supports and comforts vouchsafed your souls, and renewals of your inward man day by day ; his mighty breakings in upon you in communion with himself and his Son ; his chastisements and sore afflictings of you, to
the issue of them ; the changes of condition, and emptyings from vessel to
vessel he hath made, still sanctifying them, to leave none of your dregs behind ; his leading you through great and terrible wildernesses, and then
again though variety of green pastures ; and further, discoveries by all, of
your own hearts to him, and of his to you, when you make such reflections on the several passages and experiences of your lives ; you will find that it
is matter and cause of the saints their greatest blessing of God, the keeping or preserving their soul in spiritual life.
I shall set the unspeakableness thereof out in no other consideration than
this, by which Austin so magnifies this grace, above what Adam s in his
best and perfect estate was, that considering the infinite variety and number
CHAP. XVI.] OF ELECTION. 419
of trials, temptations, the body, and strength of corruptions still remaining, damping, opposing the power and life of grace by corruption and the law of the members, it is a wonder of wonders that grace should be continued and not driven out ; as great a wonder as to see a small cock-boat kept alive, as mariners speak, in the midst of so many seas, and storms, and waves of
corruption that overwhelm it ; or to carry a small candle lighted, yea in
itself but as yet a smoking wick, as Christ calls it, ready of itself to die and
expire, when snuffed every minute, in a rainy and stormy night, through Newmarket heath. But Christ and his power is the lantern it is preserved in :
* Preserved in Christ, as Jude 1.