Chapter X
ion : a reproof of those that pray, but look not after the return of
their prayers. The causes of this neglect.
THE use of all is to reprove those who put up prayers, and are earnest in begging, but look not after them when they have done, no more than if they had not prayed ; who still venture, and have a great stock of prayers going, but look not after the returns that are made, cast not up their comings m and gainings by prayers ; and when they have prayed, sit down discouraged, as not making account in earnest that ever they shall hear of their prayers again, even as if they had been but as words cast away, as beating the air/ as bread cast upon the waters, which they think sinks or is carried away, and they shall find it no more. But herein you despise God s ordinance and err, not knowing the power of prayers ; and ye contemn the Lord. But you will say as they in the prophet said,
* Wherein do we contemn him ? If you asked a man a question, and when you had done did turn your back upon him, as scoffing Pilate asked in scorn of Christ,
< What is truth V but would not stay for an answer, did you not contemn him ? As not to answer when a question is asked you is contempt, so not to regard the answer made, when you have been earnest in begging, is no less contempt also. If you had written letters to a very friend about important business, and had earnestly solicited him for an answer, and he were careful in due time to send one, if you should make account to hear of him no more, should you not wrong him in your thoughts ? Or if he did write, if you should not vouch safe to read over his answer, were it not a contempt of him ? So is it here, when you have been earnest with God for blessings, and regard not the an swer. And because verily this is a fault among us, I will therefore endeavour to discover to you the causes and discouragements, which, though they keep you not from praying, yet from this earnest expectation, and real and true making account to hear of answers of your prayers. Only my scope is not to shew you so much the reasons why God denies you many requests, as why even in your own hearts you are discouraged after you have prayed, as if they would not be answered, although God doth answer them. These dis couragements are partly temptations, partly sinful impediments, wherein we are more faulty.
1. Because your assurance that your persons are accepted is weak, there fore your confidence that your prayers are heard is weak also. For as God doth first accept the person, and then our prayers ; so the belief that God doth accept our persons is that which also upholds our hearts in confidence that our prayers shall be granted. This you may find in 1 John v. 13-15 : in the 13th verse he says, These things have I written to you, that ye may know you have eternal life ; and upon that assurance this will follow, ver. 14, 15, And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any-
CHAP. X.] THE KE.TURX OP PEAYEES. 399
thing according to his will, he hears us, &c. ; and if we know he hears us, we know we have the petitions we desired of him. Mark how he links these three together, as effects and consequences each of other. (1.) These things I write unto you, that you may be assured that life and heaven is yours, as in the 12th and 13th verses. And upon that, (2.) this confidence will follow
in your hearts, that God hears you, that is, that you have his ears open to you, and his heart enlarged towards you. And then, (3.) if you be assured that God hears you, then from this will follow an assurance that you shall have anything granted you desire. Yea, and he makes this one of the main and immediate effects of assurance of justification ; therefore he says, this
is the confidence that we have in him, that is, this effect there is of this
confidence. For whereas they might say, What benefit will accrue to us by this assurance 1 Why this, says he, which is one of the great and main privi
leges of a Christian, even assurance that God will hear him ; and not only
so, but grant him all Ms prayers. For when a man is assured God hath
given him his Son, he will then easily be induced to believe and expect, How shall he not with him give me all things ? Kom. viii. 32. If once he looks upon God as a father, he will then easily conceive that which Christ
says, If fathers that are evil can give good things to their children, how much more shall not your Father give his Spirit and all good things to them
that ask them ? And if he gave his Son when we did not pray to him, how much more shall he not with him give us all things we pray for 1 If a man comes to sue to any man whose mind he knew not, whether he loved him or
not, he would have small hope or expectation of having his suit granted, though he came again and again ; but if he be assured he is in favour with
him, according to that degree of favour he supposeth himself to stand in with
him, he is assured and confident of obtaining his request.
2. Discouragement is the weakness of their prayers. Though a man thinks
his person is accepted^ yet, Alas ! says he, my prayers are so poor and weak, as surely God will never regard them.
(1.) To remove which, let me first ask thee this question, Dost thou pray with all thy might ? Then though that thy might be weak in itself, and in
thine own apprehension such, yet because it is all the might which thou
c For God accepts according to what a man hath, and not according to that he hath not, 2 Cor.
hast, and which grace hath in thee, it shall be accepted.
viii. 12.
(2.) Thou art to consider that God doth not hear thee for thy prayers sake, though not without them, but for his name s sake, and his Son s sake, and because thou art his child; as the mother when her child cries, suppose it be a weak child, doth not neglect to hear and relieve it, but tenders it, not because it doth cry more loud, but because it cries, and pities it the more
the weaker it is.
(3.) Again, though the performance in itself be weak, yet considered as a
prayer, it may be strong, because a weak prayer may set the strong God
a-work. As faith for the act of it, as produced by us, may be weak, yet because
: so is it in prayer ; it prevails, not
its object is Christ, therefore it justifies
because of the performance itself, but because of the name which it is put up in, even Christ s name. And therefore, as a weak faith justifies, so a weak prayer prevails as well as a stronger ; and both for the like reason
in both, for faith attributes all to God, and so doth prayer
: for as faith is
merely a receiving grace, so prayer a begging grace. And therefore dost thou think thy prayers are accepted at all, notwithstanding their weakness ]
If that they are accepted, then they must be accepted as prayers. Now if
400 THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. [CHAP. X.
they be accepted as prayers, then as effectual motives to prevail with God to
grant the thing you ask; for if he should not accept them to that end for which they were ordained, it is as if he accepted them not at all. As, therefore, when he approves of any man s faith as true and sincere, he ap proves and accepts of it to that purpose for which it was ordained, which is to save and justify, and to this end doth as fully accept the weakest act of faith as the strongest ; so is it with their prayers, which being ordained as a means to obtain mercies from him, if he accepts them at all, it is with rela tion to the accomplishment of them, which is their end.
(4.) Men are mistaken in judging of the weakness of their prayers. They judge of the weakness of their prayers by their expressions, and gifts in per
forming them, or by the stirring and overflow of affections ; whereas the
strength and vigour of prayer should be estimated from the faith, the since
rity, the obedience, the desires expressed in it. As it is not the loudness of a preacher s voice, but the weight and holiness of the matter, and spirit of the
preacher, that move a wise and an intelligent hearer ; so not gifts, but graces in prayers are they that move the Lord. The strength of prayer lies not in
words, but in that it is fitted to prevail with God. One prayer is not more
strong than another, further than it is so framed as it hath power with God more or less ; as of Jacob it is said, He had power "with God, Hos. xii. Now prayers move God, not as an orator moves his hearers, but as a child moves his father. Two words of a child humbled, and crying at his father s
feet, will prevail more than penned orations, Rom. viii. : it is the meaning of the spirit that God looks unto, more than the expression ; for the groans there are said to be unutterable. Hezekiah s expressions were so rude and
broken, that he says, Isa. xxxviii. 14, that he did but chatter, he being then sick, even as a crane; yet God heard them.
3. A third discouragement is failings of answers : I have prayed often and
long, and I have been seldom or never answered, and therefore I make little account of my prayers that they are heard ; others have the revenues of their prayers coming in, but I do miss whatsoever almost I stand for. There
fore say they as those, Why have we fasted and thou regardedst it not 1
Isa. Iviii. 3. To remove this, consider
(1.) That thou hast the more reason to wait, for thou hast the more an swers to come ; for as wicked men treasure up wrath, so do godly men mercy, and especially by their prayers
: and therefore mercies and answers do often come thick together, even as afflictions also do.
(2.) Suppose thou shouldest have few answers concerning the things thou seekest for here, either in praying for thyself or others, yet thy reward is with the Lord. It is in praying as in preaching, a man may preach faith
fully many a year, and yet not convert a soul, and yet a man is not to give over waiting, but to observe after every sermon what good is done, and whe ther God will give men repentance, as it is, 2 Tim. ii. 25. And if none be
* Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour, 1 Cor. iii. 8 ; and not according to the success of his labour only. So it is in praying
converted, yet, as Isa. xlix. 4, a man s reward is with the Lord.
though thou missest again and again, and nothing succeeds thou prayest for.
yet be not discouraged, for thy reward is with the Lord, which will come in one day.
(3.) God doth it, not that he hears thee not, but to try thee. For a man to say as David says, Ps. cxvi. 1, 2, God hath heard my prayer, therefore I
CHAR X.] THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. 401
will call upon him as long as I live; that is nothing so much as to be able to say, Well, I have prayed thus long, and for these many things, and never sped, and yet I will call upon him whilst I live, though I find no answer in this life. To find comings in in a trade, and yet to hold out trading still, argues not so much faithfulness in a man s calling, as when a man hath losses, and castings behindhand, and yet to follow it.
(4.) God usually stays so long that we have clone expecting
: Luke xviii
* The elect cry day and night, but God stays so long, ver. 7, that when he comes he finds not faith, they have done expecting, have forgot their prayers, and then he doth things they looked not for, Isa. Ixiv. 3. Other discouragements there are wherein we ourselves are more faulty, and which are our sins more than our temptations, which yet weaken the expectation of having our prayers answered : as
1. Slothfulness in prayer, when we do not put to all our might in pray ing ; ^and then no wonder we do not only not obtain, but that our own hearts misgive us, that we look for little success and issue of such prayers
: gui frigide rogat, docet negare, he that shews himself cold in a suit, teaches him he sues to deny him. If we see one seeking to us faintly and slightly, we are not then solicitous to deny him, but think he will be easily put off, and not think much ; so accordingly when we shall observe so much by our
selves, and see ourselves slothful in praying, and praying as if we prayed not, no wonder if by reason of that consciousness we look not after the success of such prayers, which in the performance we slighted, when we pray as if we were willing to be denied, we knowing that the Scripture says that the fervent prayer only prevails, that prayer which is svegyovpivj), that sets all the faculties on work, James v. 1 6. How should we then expect that God should grant any good thing to us 1 For though God sells nothing to us for our prayers, but gives freely, yet he would have his gifts accepted ; now without large desires and longings they would not be accepted. And what is fervent prayer but the expression of such fervent desires ? Jacob wrestled when he obtained. Many seek to enter, says Christ, but you must strive.
Now when we know these things and yet are slothful, how can we expect any answers at all ? Will not the consciousness of it quell all our expecta tions ? And hence it comes to pass that God, proportioning his dealings with us to our prayers, because we seem to pray, and yet pray not to pur pose; therefore God sometimes seems like one asleep, and then sometimes to wake, and make fair offers to help, and yet falls as it were asleep again, because we were thus drowsy in our prayers. Those prayers that awaken God must awaken us ; those prayers that stir God must stir us to lay hold on God, as Isaiah speaks. As obedience strengthens faith and assurance, so fervency in prayer begets confidence of being heard. In all other things slothfulness doth discourage and weaken expectation. Doth any man expect that riches should come upon him when he doth his business negligently ? For it is the diligent hand that maketh rich. Doth any man expect a crop and a harvest if he take not pains to plough and sow his corn 1 No more, if you do not take pains with your hearts in prayer, can you expect an an swer, or indeed will you.
2. A second cause, or sinful discouragement herein, is looking at prayer only as a duty to be performed, and so performing it as a task, and not so much out of desires stirred up after the things to be obtained, nor out of faith that we shall obtain them ; which is as if a physician having a sick VOL. in. 2 c ,
402 THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. [CHAP. X.
servant, to whom he prescribeth, and conimandeth to take some physic to
cure him, and his man should take it indeed because it is commanded and
prescribed by his master, looking at it as an act of duty, as he obeys him in
other businesses, but not as looking at it as a medicine or means that will have any work upon him to cure him, and therefore orders himself as if he had taken no such thing. Thus do most in the world pray to God ; take
prayer as a prescription only, but not as a means. They come to God daily, but as to a master only in this performance, not as to a father ; and thus
doing, no wonder if they look for little effect of prayers, for our expectation never exceeds nor reaches further than our end and intention which we had
in any business. If I perform any ordinance but as a duty, then I rest
therein and expect no further; as if a man preacheth for filthy lucre only, he performs his duty and then looks for his hire, but looks not after any other effect of his sermons : so nor will men do after their prayers for an
swers to them, when they perform them as duties only. Now, to help you in this, you are to look to two things in prayer
: first, to a command from God ; secondly, to the promise of God ; and so to consider it in a double
relation, first, as a duty, in respect to the command ; secondly, as a means
to obtain or procure blessings at God s hand, in relation to his promises.
Therefore, in prayer, first an act of obedience, secondly an act of faith, is to be
exercised : Ask in faith, nothing wavering, James i. Now the most in the
world perform it as an act of obedience only, and so rest in the present per formance and acceptation of it ; but if a man pray in faith, he will pray with an eye to the promises, and look on prayer as a means, for time to come, to
obtain such or such a mercy at God s hands : and if so, then he is not satis
fied till he hath an answer of his prayers, and till then will wait, as the church
says, she would wait till he did arise and plead her cause.
3. A third sinful discouragement is returning to sins after prayers. When a man hath prayed for some mercy, and riseth full of much confidence
that his prayers are heard, and so a while he walks, yet falling into a sin, that sin doth dash all his hopes, undoes his prayers, as he thinks, and calls them back again meets, as it w
ere, with the answer, which is God s mes
senger, and causeth it to return to heaven again. How often when God had
even granted a petition, and the decree was a-coming forth, and the grant newly written, and the seal a-setting to it, but an act of treason coming be
tween, stops it in the seal and defers it, blots and blurreth all, both prayer and grant, when newly written, and leaves a guilt in the mind which quells our hopes, and then we look no more after our prayers. And this especially
if, when we were a-sinning, such a thought came in, (as often it doth to re
strain us,) Are you not in dependence upon God for such a mercy, and have
prayed for it, and are fair for it? how then dare you do this, and sin against him 2 When in this case the heart goes on, this blots all the prayer, and
discourageth a man ; for, saith the conscience, will God hear sinners ? as he
said.
And thus far it is true that sinning thus between interrupts and hinders
: that answerably as we do thus dash and betray and undo our prayers, so in a proportion we find, in the way to our obtain
the obtaining our petitions
ing the thing we prayed for, so many rubs and difficulties do arise ; for as we
lay blocks in God s way coming towards us to do us good, so he in ours ;
therefore, often when a business goes prosperously on, and we think we shall
carry it, comes some accident between the cup and the lip, that casts all be
hindhand again, because answerably we dealt with God. For when we had
CHAP. X.] THE RETURN OF PRAYERS. 403
prayed, and were encouraged and in good hopes, then by some sin or other we spoiled all, and bereaved ourselves of our expectation. But yet this you are to consider, that as in the end praying useth to overcome sin in God s children, so also God in the end overcomes difficulties, and brings the matter to pass. And know it is not sins past so much that hinder the prayers of God s people, as the present unfitness and indisposition of their hearts for IT) fiTY.V_
TIDINGS OF PEACE,
TO BE SPOKEN TO CONSCIENCES DISTRESSED.
God iv ill speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, &c.
PSALM LXXXV. 8.
THE main thing intended to be insisted upon out of these words is despatched;
yet, that I may not leave so fair and fruitful a crop still standing upon the
ground unreaped, I will go on more briefly to have in the rest of that harvest
the text affords.
This psalm, as was said, was penned as a prophecy of, and prayer for, the
return of God s people out of the captivity of Babylon, and the settling and
establishment of that church and state upon its former basis; yet so as therein
there is a further and more especial aim had to the peace and glory to be
brought in by Christ, till when this prophecy otherwise had but a poor and
slender accomplishment, in regard of much outward glory or peace that that
church enjoyed.
And therefore the peace here spoken of and promised for the present is
to be extended largelier than to outward prosperity, or a happy issue out of
that calamity; even to speaking peace to drooping and weather-beaten con
sciences. And accordingly we find this kind of peace to have been specially
promised by the prophet Isaiah to the people at their return out of the cap
tivity, both in chap, xlviii. 20-22, and chap. Ivii. 14-21 ; there being many broken hearts that had wanted the light of God s countenance long, having been during the captivity banished from the ordinances of the temple, hanging up their harps mourning, whose thoughts were as if God had meant to de
stroy them, as appears Jer. xxix. 11, who afterwards were refreshed with
inward peace at the restoration of those ordinances, as well as with outward,
as by those places doth appear. Therefore in relation to this kind of peace
only I will at this time handle the words.
In the words you have a discovery of God s proceedings in treating of
peace or proclaiming war with his people and subjects.
1. You see that sometimes God doth not speak peace to his own children.
: He will
This was their state for the present, when this psalm was penned
speak peace; therefore, at present he did not. Yea, it may incline us to
think that God at present spake the contrary; for the prophet speaks this
: he believes God in-
by faith, as contrary to sense and present experience
406 TIDINGS OF PEACE. [PSALM LXXXV. 8.
tends to come again to a treaty of peace, though now he seems to have
nothing but anger, and blood, and war in his looks, speeches, and actions ; and to threaten and proclaim war and take up arms against them. And thus God often deals with his own children, whether a people or a particular man: so with a nation, Isa. Ixiii. 10, They rebelled, and he fought against them/ so with a particular man, God frowned upon and rated his child Ephraim, and spake bitter things against him, it is the phrase used, Jer. xxxi. 20, though yet Ephraim is my pleasant child, says he. David had not a good word from him a long time : Ps. li. 8,
* Make me to hear again of joy and gladness; and, Ps. 1. 7, Hear, O my people, and I will speak; (but not against them, they might hope, because he owns them for his
people ;) Hear, O Israel, and I will testify against thee ; and yet it follows, I am the Lord thy God. Job says he did not speak only against them, but also wrote bitter things ; he wrote, as it were, books against him, chap,
xiii. 2G, he writing over in his conscience the sins of his youth in letters of
blood, and wrath and terrors for them.
2. There must needs be some great reason for this, they being his people ; which is the second thing that is intimated, and may be observed out of these words: namely, the reason or moving cause provoking God thus to
interrupt the peace of his people. They had fallen into some gross folly or
other; some sinful, inordinate dispositions had been indulged unto and nour ished in them; which is usually, though not always, the cause of this his
dealing. This is evident by this, that the conclusion of their peace, when
it is made up again, hath this clause, as the only article of reconciliation between them, that they return no more to folly; implying they had
formerly run out into some inorclinacy, which to reduce them from, God had took up arms against them, and thereby taught them wisdom to take heed of losing, and then buying peace at so dear a rate again. And, indeed, all the quarrels that God hath against a nation, a particular place or person that belongs to him, do begin there : They rebelled, and he fought against them, Isa. Ixiii. 10; For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, Isa.
Ivii. 17.
Reason. The reason is, for anger is out of love, as well as hatred; which therefore he expresseth, though with grief, he should be put to quarrel with those he hath set himself to love. And as wicked men, whom he always
hates, may out of his patience have a truce ; so, on the contrary, with his
own, God may take up a quarrel; yet he loves them, and remembers them with everlasting kindness.
The uses of both are these : Use 1. As peace with God is dear to you, so to take heed of turning unto folly. Only take this advertisement, that they are not mere follies or
ignorances that do interrupt or break the peace. As it is not simply the
outrage of some pirates that will cause two states at peace to enter into a
war, unless that state consent to their act, and maintain them in their rapine ; so it is not simply the rising of lusts that war in our members against the law of the mind, that breaks the peace between God and us, unless they be
approved of and consented unto, nourished and maintained with some pre sumption. Whilst we maintain and take up a constant fight against God s enemies in us, and disavow* the outrageous risings of our lusts, the peace may
hold, and often doth; for whilst we are not at peace with sin, God may be
at peace with us and our spirits; but so much peace as we give them, so much war God takes up.
Use 2. The second use is : Doth God take up quarrels against his own 1
PSALM LXXXV. 8.] TIDINGS OF PEACE. 407
Then, upon any breach made, go forth to meet him. It is St Paul s exhor
tation, not to let the sun go down upon thy wrath, but to reconcile thyself ere night with thy offended brother ; but I turn the exhortation, Let not
the sun go down upon God s wrath towards thee ; but every day make and renew thy peace with God, ere thou sleepest, that, as David says, thou
mayest lie down and sleep in peace, Ps. iv. 8. Use 3. The third use : If the peace of God s own people be thus often
interrupted, who yet are the sons of peace, Luke x. G, what wrath is re served for the children of disobedience, Eph. ii. 2, and open rebels, that
are children of wrath because of disobedience ? There is no peace to the
wicked, says my God, Isa. Ivii. God is a-preparing against thee, whoever thou art, that goest on in sin, if thou turn not, Ps. vii. 1 2 thou art pressed for hell, and art thither bound, to encounter with the wrath of the great God, thither where no truce is to be had : There is no discharge in that war, as Solomon says, Eccles. viii. 8. Think of this, you that sin, and will sin ; whose
peace is not struck up between God and you, who never yet so much as
entered into any treaty of peace with God, who never apprehended God and
yourselves at odds.
3. The third thing to be observed out of the text is this : That when the
rants peace, he can have no peace till God speak it. God must speak peace if ever his people have it ; therefore, says he here, I will hear what God will speak. He speaks in opposition to the voice of man and the help of second causes, and of all means whatever, which in time of
child of God w
distress of themselves can do no good.
Reason 1. Because God is the king of all the world, the sovereign Lord
of all. Now treaties of Mrar and peace are the prerogative of kings, and of them alone : they may consult with their subjects about establishing good
laws, as they use to do, &c. ; but the proclaiming war and peace with foreign states they have ever held in their own hands ; and so doth God, w
rho is the
King of kings.
Reason 2. Because God is the judge of all the world, and the party
offended, at whose suit all the arrests and controversies do come. Now when
a condemned man stands at the bar, let all the standers-by say what they
will, bid him be of good comfort, and tell him that his cause will go well,
yet till he hear the judge himself speak as much, he cannot be at rest in his mind ; the judge only can acquit him and absolve him. The king alone
speaks pardons ; and so doth God peace. All afflictions are his arrests ; thou must therefore make thy peace with him, if thou wilt be at peace.
Reason 3. Peace, especially of conscience, is a thing must be created, for
our hearts of themselves are full of nothing but turmoil, as the raging sea, which cannot rest. I create the fruits of the lips, Peace, Isa. Ivii. 1 9 ; men may speak it, but I must create it. A word of power, such as went forth when light was created, must go forth from God, or else there is no peace ;
for otherwise our hearts are as the sea, that rests not.
Reason 4. The wounds of conscience which are in God s people are of
that quality that none but God can cure them ; for the chief thing that wounds them is the loss of God s favour, not simply his wrath. For it is
the glory of God and his favour, not self-love only, that makes them seek Mm ; therefore nothing gives peajje but the restoring of his favour and the
light of his countenance ; the same dart that wounded must heal again
: Isa.
( I smote him, and I will heal him. And as one that is sick with love, when love is the disease, no physic, no persuasion of friends can cure it,
Ivii.,
nothing but only the love of the party beloved ; so when a soul is wounded
408 TIDINGS OF PEACE. [PSALM LXXXV. 8.
for the loss of God s love, not all the things in the world can cure the heart ; but one word from him, one good look, one promise from him that we are
his, stills all, and only can give peace. Like to a poor child that cries for
its mother ; let who will dandle it, and play with it, and use it never so kindly, yet it will not be stilled till the mother comes ; so it is with a poor soul that
cries after God day and night.
Use 1. In case thou art in distress, especially of spirit, and want of peace of conscience, wait upon God in the use of means for peace. Friends may come to thee, and say, Why shouldest thou be troubled ? Thou hast no such cause to be cast down. But all these are
* miserable comforters, as Job said, unless God speaks peace. David heard by the prophet Nathan that his sin was pardoned, but yet his soul was not at quiet till God would second it im
mediately by his Spirit ; therefore, says he, when Nathan had been with
him, Ps. li. 8, Make me to hear of joy and gladness. Art thou baited with hellish blasphemies cast into thy soul ? God must speak peace, and rebuke Satan for thee, and take him off thee ; all thy friends, all the men in the world cannot do it ; they can only say, as the archangel said, The Lord re buke thee. And he can as easily do it as he did rebuke Laban, and forbade him speaking roughly to Jacob ; the same charge he can give in an instant to Satan : therefore wait upon God, and look up to him. Use 2. Consider this against the time you come to die : all your desire
is to die in peace ; and, Oh, let thy servant depart in peace
! is the speech and desire of all. But who is it that must speak peace to you then ? God
only. At death you will send for a good minister, or a good friend, to give you some comfort, as you call it ; but if God will not speak it, how can
they ? If you could call all the angels out of heaven, and all the saints both in earth and heaven, and so could have all that whole college of physicians about you, and they should desire to comfort you with all their cordials ; yet if God will not speak it, who is able to do it 1 Job xxxiv. 29, If he hides his face, who can behold him ? None can shew his face, as the op position in the next words shews. False daubers may come to you, and say Peace, peace, as they in the prophet said ; but listen what God will speak, he only must and can do it ; and be sure you make sure of him before you come to die. Would any wise prince defer the treaty of peace with his enemy till he come into the field, and when the battle is begun 1 How fool ish then are those .who neglect seeking after God till the assault of death
comes, and the king of fears, with all his terrors, hath encompassed them round !
4. The fourth observation is : That let God s people be in never so great
distress, yet it is an easy thing for God to give peace to them. Mark the
( speaking peace ; that is, it is as easy for him to give peace as it is for you to speak a word ; it is no more to him. Then our comfort is, that as he only must do it, so he easily can do it, even with a word.
expression here used : it is but
Reason 1. Because his speaking is creating ; if he speaks, he makes things to be, even with a word. As at first he did but say, Let there be light, and there was light ; so still, if he but say, Let there be peace, there is peace ; he made all, and upholds all by the word of his power. As therefore, when the storm was at its height, and the wafes most raging, yet at one word of Christ s they were all still, The sea and the winds obey him, so when
temptations are most fierce, and the doubts of thine own mind most tumul tuous and raging, a word from him can still them.
Reason 2. Secondly, because the light which God gives to a man s spirit
PSALM LXXXV. 8.] TIDINGS OF PEACE. 409
when lie speaks peace is a sure and infallible light, and therefore a satisfying
light,, so as when it comes it must needs give peace, arid no objection, no
i If he give quietness, who can trouble V says he, in Job xxxiv. 29. No creature is able to separate from his love, or the assurance of it.
temptation can darken or obscure it when it shines.
(1.) It is a certain and infallible light which God gives when he speaks
peace. The anointing from above, which enlighteneth a man s eyes, is truth, and is no lie/ 1 John ii. 27 ; that is, in teaching a man, of which he there
speaks, not only what he is in himself, but what he is in teaching us, he doth
it so as a man is not deluded by it, and therefore it is added, None else need teach him : for did the Spirit, when he did speak peace, speak so as
that that man to whom it is spoken did not infallibly apprehend it, he should
speak in vain ; for so the Apostle reasons in case of unknown tongues, that
if a trumpet give an uncertain sound, or a man speak so as it shall not be known what he speaks, he beats the air, 1 Cor. xiv. 9. Now therefore,
surely God, when he speaks peace, speaks it so infallibly and distinctly that
the soul knows the meaning of it ; it is not a voice else, for, says the Apostle
there, ver. 10, The end of all voices is to signify ; and therefore, If I know
not the meaning of the voice, he shall be as a barbarian that speaks to me,
ver. 11, especially when the speaker undertakes to be a witness, as the Holy
Ghost, in speaking peace, is, 1 John v. 6. Now to witness is such a testi mony as is taken for infallible, for the end of it is to put an end to the con
troversy, and it ends the strife between man and man ; now the Holy Ghost, when he speaks, speaks as a witness, and therefore puts an end to a man s
doubts : he speaks infallibly.
(2.) And therefore, in the second place, it is a satisfying light also ; it is
such a light as dispels darkness, as answers all abjections, and so speaks
peace home. As in a question and controversy in divinity or logic, when some one bottom truth is understood, a man hath a light which goes through
all the objections, and answers them all ; such a light doth the Spirit give to
a poor distressed soul, about the great controversy of his own salvation, when he doth speak peace
: he gives such a light as satisfies the mind, as lets him
see that in God s free grace, and in Christ, which doth answer to all he or
all the devils can say against him, from what wants or objections are in him
self. He openeth, and no man nor devil is able to shut. And therefore, when he doth speak peace, his testimony is taken and believed : If we
receive the witness of men, and rest in it, 1 John v. 9, the witness of God
is greater; that is, of more power and efficacy to persuade and satisfy the
soul.
Use 1. The first use is a use of comfort to poor souls that are in distress, and in such distress sometimes, as they think and say their case is desperate and past recovery ; so far are their souls sometimes shot into despair. Con
sider how easy it is for you to have your condition altered and changed, even in a moment. I tell thee, though, it may be, thou hast been cast down
this twenty years, and thy soul is battered, broken, hardened, settled, fixed
in serious thoughts of thy ruin and reprobation, yet one good look, one good word from God, shall in an instant dispel all, alter thy conceit and appre hension clean. God can and doth often more with one word, in one moment, than Satan could do in many years, with all the objections he could muster
up. The truth of this, in experience, we often find and observe in ourselves
and others. Yea, and sometimes when he doth speak peace, he gives such
satisfaction to a man s soul in that particular, that he would be content to
be as many years more in his spiritual conflicts to enjoy but the like light
410 TIDINGS OF PEACE. PSA^M LXXXV. 8.
one half hour. Thus easy is it for God to speak peace. Though thou thinkest thyself never so far off from peace, yet he can speak peace to them that are afar off, as well as those who are near ; as himself says, Isa. Ivii.
19, for, says he, it is I that speak it. And when he doth it, then all thy doubts and distresses will be forgotten, as the pains of a woman in travail are when a man-child is born.
Use 2. Secondly, is the church in any distress ? (as the church here at this time was,) he can redeem it out of all with a word. A word spoken to Cyrus s heart did set them in their own land again ; so you have it expressed, Isa. xliv. 26-28, The God that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shaltbe inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built. You see his manner of doing-
i he says to Jerusalem, Be built. And though there be never so great impediments in the way, he will say to the
it, it is but with a word speaking ;
deep, Be dry, that his people may pass over; he dried up a whole nation, a sea of people, namely, the Babylonians, to make way for this deliverance. And when they are conquered, and Cyrus, a new king, comes to have the sway of things, God speaks to his heart also : That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and causeth him to say to Jerusalem, Be thou built. Therefore go to him, and trust in him in all the distresses of the church, as the church
also did, Ps. xliv. 4, Thou art my King, command deliverances; a mandamus from God doth it, and will do it at any time.
5. Let God be never so angry, and his people s distress never so great, yet he will speak peace in the end to his people. You heard before, that if we have peace, he only must give it ; and then, that he could and was able with ease to do it : and now you shall hear that he will certainly do it in the end.
The reasons the text suggests are these : Reason 1. If we consider but who this God is that is to speak peace, I
will hear what God the Lord will speak ; he is the Lord, and therefore able
to speak what pleasetli him ; he is peculiarly the God of peace, and there
fore willing to speak peace. Now, (1.) when it is said he is the God of
peace, and the God of comfort, the meaning is, he is full of it, infinitely full of it, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Thoughts of peace and love to his do boil within him, as hatred or malice doth in a malicious man towards his enemy, so as he cannot contain and forbear ex
pressing it towards him : that as David says his thoughts did burn within
* I know the thoughts I think to wards you, says he to them of the captivity, Jer. xxix. 11, they are
him, and at last break forth ; so in God,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil. And, (2.) besides that these his thoughts of peace are taken up of himself, his Son also hath bespoken peace for us ; and therefore God will speak it : even as Joseph, though he spake roughly a while to his brethren, yet could not in the end contain, Gen. xiv. 1 ; so nor God.
Reason 2. Secondly, let us consider who they are to whom he is to speak
it. They are his people, as the text hath it ; and to them there is no ques tion but he will speak peace, though he seems angry for a while. They are
his people, that is the reason given, 1 Sam. xii. 22, He will not cast off his
people ; as also Isa. Ixiii. 8, 10, When they rebelled, he was wroth; yet he
said, Surely they are my people
: so I was .their Saviour. They ? why they are the sons of peace/ Luke x. 6, ordained for peace, and therefore shall be sure to have it ; and although some differences may arise betwixt God and
them, yet there is a natural crooyr^ in the Lord, that moves him to speak peace in the end to them. As the dumb son of Croesus, when he saw his
PSALM LXXXV. 8.] TIDINGS OF PEACE. 411
father like to be killed, though he had never spake before, yet then, out of an
impetus of spirit, the strings of his tongue were unloosed, and he cried out
to the murderer, Kill not King Croesus ; so, when the enemies of his church are ready to devour his people, and Satan is ready to swallow his child up in despair, then God s bowels work within him, and he can hold no longer, but cries, Save my child, save my church. Is Ephraim my pleasant child ? says God, Jer. xxxi. 20. Well, says God, though I spake against him, and took him up, and chid him soundly, yet I cannot forget my child,
says he, nor my fatherly affection to him, but my bowels arc stirred, and I
will surely have mercy on him.
Reason 3. Thirdly, otherwise if God did not in the end speak peace, they would indeed return to folly, which is the third thing in the text. For his end of speaking peace is, that they might not return to folly
: Ps. cxxv. 3,
* The rod of the wicked shall not always lie upon the righteous, lest they put forth their hand to iniquity ; therefore, at the last verse,
* peace shall be upon Israel. As for this cause he speaks outward peace, so also inward, and suffers not the rod of Satan, and of his own heavy displeasure, to lie
up<*n their hearts, for else they would return to the pleasures of sin ; for
every creature must have some delight
: their spirits would fail, and be tired out else, and wearied in good duties, if God should not in the end speak
peace, Isa. Ivii., The spirit would fail before me. When the child swounds
in the whipping, God lets fall the rod, and falls a-kissing it, to fetch life
into it again. As it is a rule in physic still to maintain nature, and there
fore when that shall be in hazard to be destroyed, they leave giving purging
physic, and give cordials ; so doth God with his people
: though with purging
physic he often brings their spirits very weak and low, yet he will uphold and maintain their spirits, so as they shall not fail and be extinguished, but then he will give cordials to raise them up again.
Use 3. What good heart that bears a childlike affection to God would
offend such a God, that be thy distresses what they will be, will certainly speak peace 1 Then do not put him to it, spend not upon that precious stock
of his free grace and love. It is true he is married to thee, and therefore
though thou hast gone a-whoring after many lovers, Jer. in. 1, 2, 14, still he says, Return, for I am married to thee. As, therefore, when man and
wife are fallen out, they consider, We must live together, and therefore they reconcile themselves again ; so consider it must be between God and thee, and make it a means and motive to recover thee, as Samuel did to the Israel
ites, 1 Sam. xii. 22, You have committed this great sin ; yet turn not aside from following the Lord, for God will not cast you off, you are his people. Go home to him again, he will speak peace. Think thus, The time will come wherein God will be friends again with me, he and I cannot be strange long; though I would, he will not; Isa. Ivii. 18, 19, though he went on
stubbornly, yet God healed him, and would not lose his child, therefore I
will return of myself.
THE FOLLY OF BELAPSING
AFTEK PEACE SPOKEN.
But let them turn no more to folly. PSALM LXXXV. 8.
6. THE sixth observation is, That peace being spoken to their hearts by
God, they should return no more to folly. See this, Ezra ix. 13, 14, Thou
having punished us less than we deserve, and given us such a deliverance as
this, should we again break thy commandments, wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us?
Reason 1. Because it will be a greater aggravation in sinning. It is made
the aggravation of Solomon s sin, 1 Kings xi. 9, that God had appeared to him twice. They were especial appearances and manifestations of mercy ; and though such do now cease, yet we read of such as are analogical to them :
as, John xiv. 21, Christ promiseth to manifest himself, which is by shedding abroad his love and his Father s love into the heart, which is evident by the
former words, he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
after he saith, We will come to him, and make our abode with him, ver. 23, and ver. 27, My peace I will give unto you. Now such appearances will be
set upon the score of every sin many years after, as they were upon Solomon s. And the reason is, because nothing wounds an ingenuous, loving nature more
than matter of unkindness : If it had been my enemy, says David, I could
have borne it, Ps. Iv. 12, 14 ; but it was thou, O man, mine acquaintance; we took sweet counsel together
: a bosom friend, to whom I had committed my secrets, opened my heart. Thus, when God hath unbosomed himself, as
it were, to a man, and told him what was in his heart towards him, this goes
nigh him if he lifts up the heel against him. And the reason of that further
also is (l.) Because of all things else, a man cannot endure to have his love
abused ; you come nigh him when you do so, for Ms love is himself, and commands all in him; so that abuse his love, and you strike at his heart. It
is less to abuse any excellency in a man, to reproach and extenuate his parts,
learning, <fec., though these are dear to him; but his love is his bowels. And therefore, when God hath opened his heart to a man, and set his love
upon him, and revealed it to him, and he carries himself unworthily, it pains him at the heart. Besides, (2.) it is against the law of nature and of nations
to seek out for a peace, and get it concluded, and then secretly to prepare
for and enter into a war : nothing more hateful, or can exasperate two
414 THE FOLLY OF RELAPSING. [PSALM LXXXV. 8.
nations one against another more than this. It was the aggravation of Absalom s sin that, being newly reconciled with his father, and taken into favour again, after two years discountenance, he then began to rebel more
closely.
Iteason 2. The second reason is intimated in the word folly: as if the Lord should have said, Set aside the unkindness and wrong you do to me, yet therein you befool yourselves ; you will have the worst of it. And
indeed, when God doth afterwards draw nigh to a man again, upon that his
recovery of his peace, it appears to be folly, even in that man s own appre hension. When he hath tasted how sweet God is, then come and ask him, What, will ye return to sin again ? he will then say, Ask me if I will wound or cut my flesh. It is impossible, thinks he, I should any more be so be sotted j if there were no other motives, he thinks it the greatest folly in the
world. And therefore God on purpose chooseth out that expression, and
placeth it here in this case, because it is indeed the greatest folly in God s
sight, and is so apprehended by ourselves, looking upon sin after peace is
spoken to us. It is folly to sin against God at any time, but especially then, and that will appear by these particulars
(1.) Because, before a man had that peace he felt the bitterness of sin, for God never speaks peace till that be felt. Now, that is an argument even to
sense never to return to it again, which a fool will be warned by
: a burnt
child dreads the fire ; even a child will take heed, being taught by sense. When a man shall be in great distress, and his conscience shall suggest to
him, as Jer. iv. 1 8, Thy ways and thy doings have procured these things to thee : this is thy wickedness, a speech like that when you say to your chil
dren, when they have gotten any harm, or cold, or sickness, This is your play
ing, and gadding, and going in the snow, and your eating of fruit, tfcc., so doth God speak there to them when they were in distress, This is your wicked
ness, for it is bitter, it reacheth to the heart ; it woundeth the conscience, the
wounding of which, of all else, is the greatest misery. When once a man
after this hath peace restored to him, and he comes newly out of such a dis
tress, ask him then how he likes turning to such a sin again, and he will tell
you it is the greatest folly in the world : ask David if he will murder any more after his bones have been broken and set again.
(2.) Thou wilt easily acknowledge it is folly to return to sin again if thou
considerest the terms upon which thou didst obtain thy peace. Keckon what pains it cost thee to wash out the guilt and stain which sin had made, what vows and resolutions thou madest, what bonds thou didst seal unto, what promises never to return, what prayers and tears, what raps and knocks
at heaven s gates ere thou couldest get an answer, or God to speak one word, he making as if he had not been within : why, is it not folly now to lose that
in an instant thou hast been a-getting so long, haply many years, and with
so much pains and cost ? You use it as an excuse to prodigals to say things
lightly come by are lightly gone ; and yet you count them and call them
: how much more folly
fools for it, as not knowing what it is to earn a penny
is it when a man having before mortgaged his peace, and God restored it
again after much suit, and waiting many a term, then to come home and
venture to cast all away at one throw at dice ? Such a fool art thou when thou returnest to sin. To drink that at one draught which thou hast been
getting many a year, what madness is it ! When thou hast taken much
pains to wash thyself, then to wallow in the mire again, and make thyself new work, what folly is it ! Who but children and fools will do thus ? That
PSALM LXXXV. 8.] THE FOLLY OF RELAPSING. 415
which the church said in another case may well be alluded to in this : Cant
v. 3, I have washed my feet ; how shall I defile them ?
(3.) Consider what it is thou dost hazard to lose by returning to folly thy*peace, (David lost it, as appears Ps. li. 12 ; therefore, says he,
* Eestore to me the joy of thy salvation/) in losing of which thou wilt be so much a
loser, that if the sin thou choosest were able to give thee all the world, it could not recompense thee ; no, not the loss of one hour s communion with
God, which in a moment will bring thee in more sweetness than all thy sins can do to eternity. If all the pleasures of sin were contracted, and the quint essence of them strained into one cup, they would not afford so much as one
drop of true peace with God doth, being let fall into the heart. It is peace which passeth understanding. Few pleasures here do exceed the senses ;
nay, the senses are capable of more than the things can give ; but this passeth understanding.
* God s loving-kindness is better than life. If it were pro pounded to thee, thou must lose thy life next moment if thou shouldest commit such a sin, wouldest thou venture, if thou didst believe it ? Now
1 the loving-kindness of God is better than life, and wilt thou lose the enjoy ing of it, though but for a moment ?
(4.) It is folly to return again, because the pleasures of sin will be much
less to thee after thou hast had peace spoken. Take them at the best, when
they are freshest, and when thy palate was most in relish and taste with
them, when thou wert carnal, and ere thou knewest what sweetness was in
God, and they then were but poor sorry pleasures. But now they will prove far more empty than before : they are empty vain pleasures even to him that hath them in their flower, and in his season of sinning ; and therefore all wicked men are weaiy, and do inwardly complain of their condition, only they cannot find sweetness in God, and so are fain to keep themselves to
their husks ; but, alas ! to thee they are far less worth than to another man, who knows not God, and therefore thou art like to have a worse bargain of
it. Another man can make more money of a sin, and get more pleasure out
of it, than thou art able to do.
For, first, thy conscience having been scorched with sin, as scalded flesli adheres more, and is more sensible in coming to the fire, than other parts of the body, is become of a quicker sense ; whereas wicked men s is seared, and
so they commit all uncleanness with greediness ; but thine is tender and
galled in the act, which allays much of the pleasure of thy sin, and mingleth the more bitterness with it. And, secondly, besides this galling of conscience, which is common to thee with many an unregenerate man, thou hast a principle of grace, an inner
man, which is dead to such pleasures, that tastes them not, that is like Bar-
zillai, who, through age, 2 Sam. xix. 35, conId not taste either what he ate
or drank, as young men do ; no more can that new man in thee, and there
fore it can be but half as pleasant to thee as to another man. If one side of a man be taken all with a numb palsy, what pleasure is it to that man to
exercise his limbs in the actions of life 1 He is but half a man, and lives but half a life. So it is with thee when thou hast grace in thy heart : but half
thy heart can take pleasure in sinning ; that new man, the other half, reluc
tates, grieves for it, hates what thou doest ; and all this must needs strike
off much of the pleasure.
But, thirdly, if we add to this, that this new man in him, having once tasted what sweetness is in God, and how good the Lord is, is then like a man that hath eaten sweetmeats, other things are out of taste with him, and therefore
416 THE FOLLY OF RELAPSING. [PsALM LXXXV. 8.
also it is folly to return. No man, says Christ, Luke v. 39, having drunk old wine desireth new, for he saith the old is better ; a man used to high fare cannot agree so well with thin diet : so the soul having been used to
taste of great pleasures in God, the impression and remembrance of them leaves his soul less satisfied than another man s. A stomach that hath been
enlarged to full diet, looks for it, and riseth more hungry from a slender meal ; now communion with God enlarges the faculties, and widens them, and makes them more capable of greater joys than other men have, and therefore the creature is less able to fill them ; still he remembers with much grief, whilst he is eating his husks, what fare he had in his father s house ; and oh, then
it was better with me than now. Call me not Naomi, but call me Marah, as she said, for I went out full, and am come home empty; so doth he say when he comes from the act of sinning, he went with his heart full of peace, and meeting with a bargain of sinning, thought to eke out his joy, and make
it fuller, but he comes home empty.
Use 1. The first use is to those who have had peace spoken to them : Let them at such times fear themselves and God most, for then comes in this, as you see here, as the most seasonable admonition that can be given, to return no more to folly.
(1.) Fear God then most ; for of all times else then sins provoke him most. To come and call him father, and the guide of your youth, and yet to fall to sin, this is to do as evil as you can, you cannot do worse, Jer. iii.
* After such an escaping should we again break thy commandments, wouldest thou not be angry till thou hadst consumed us? In times of affliction it is the property of a good child to love God most : in times of speaking peace, to fear God most and his goodness, and to fear to
4, 5. So Ezra ix. 13, 14,
offend him for his goodness sake. Did I only say that God is provoked most then, if you return to folly? Nay, I add further, he is grieved, which
is more than to be provoked ; and therefore you shall mark that expression and admonition not to grieve God s Spirit, then comes in when the Spirit hath sealed us up to the day of redemption, Eph. iv. 30. Then by sinning we are said more properly to grieve him than before, when he hath so far
engaged himself to love a man, and expressed himself to him, and set his
seal upon him for his. God is angry with wicked men s sins, but he is
grieved for yours. To grieve him is more than to anger him. Mere anger is an affection can ease itself by revenge, and by coming even again with the
party; and when we can or intend to do so, our minds are not so much ag
grieved, but please themselves rather to think of the revenge which we mean
to execute : so when wicked men sin whom God means to meet with, he is
said to be angry rather than grieved ; and says, I will ease myself of mine
adversaries, Isa. i. 24, and avenge myself of mine enemies. But here, as when a man s wife that lies in his bosom, or his child, shall wrong him ; so
is it when one sins whom God hath set himself to love, and done much for, and made known his everlasting kindness unto, and sealed to the day of
redemption. This goes to his heart, grieves him rather than angers him ; and such are the truest and deepest griefs. What should he do with you in this case ? If afflict you, and by that means go about to turn you from your iniquity, therein he shall but afflict himself as it were ; for
though they rebelled, yet when they were afflicted he was afflicted, Isa. Ixiii.
9, 10. As when a father that is a magistrate, or as one that maintains a student in a college, if either punisheth a child or pupil in his purse, he
punisheth himself ; so must God afflict himself to afflict you. Put not the Lord into these straits if you have any love in you. And
PSALM LXXXV. 8.] THE FOLLY or EELAPSING. 417
(2.) As thou art therefore to fear God most then, so thyself most, and to be more watchful over thy own heart ; thou art then apt to return to folly, if thou takest not heed ; as when a man hath been very hot, or sweat much, he is apt to take the greatest cold. Hezekiah, after God sealed peace to him and answered his prayers, and renewed the lease of his life, his heart got cold, he did return to folly. The reason is, because then the heart is apt to grow less watchful, and to think itself fortified enough against any tentation. As St Peter, having seen Christ transfigured in the mount, grew con fident in his own strength. And know that the devil watcheth such an op portunity most, for he gets a great victory if he can foil thee then, after he hath been foiled himself, and when thou art most triumphing over him. How many battles have been lost through security of victory and recoiling of the enemy
! And besides, our corrupt nature, so far as unrenewed, is apt to gather heart to itself, to slight sin, as thinking its pardon easily gotten.
Therefore when thou art tempted, labour often to renew those thoughts which thou hadst of thy sin at that time when thou wert suing for peace,
before thy peace was gotten ; when thou wouldest have given a world for God s favour ; and also what thoughts thou hadst of it when God spake peace, how thou didst abhor it, yea, thyself. And look what sin was most bitter to thee and an enemy to thy peace, as if uncleanness, idleness, neglect of prayer, ill company, &c., and preserve in thy heart those bitter
apprehensions of it, and say of it, Thou hast been a bloody sin to me, (as Moses s wife said of her husband :) and though I have got peace and my life
saved, yet it was a bloody sin to Christ, his blood was shed to purchase this my peace ; and shall I return to it 1 And when tempted to it again, have recourse to the kindness God shewed thee in pardoning, and say, How shall I do this, and sin against God ? say as he said, Is this thy kindness to thy friend f 2 Sam. xvi. 17 ; and what ! shall I, Absalom-like, now I am new reconciled to my Father, fall a-plotting treason again 1 What ! shall I make more work for prayer, more work for God, break my bones again, and lie roaring again ? Think thus, I was burned in the hand before, I shall be racked surely now. Sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.
Use 2. The doctrine of assurance, if not abused, and of God speaking peace to men, is no dangerous doctrine to make men secure and presump tuous in sinning. When peace is preached in any man s heart, this use na
turally flows from that doctrine, Return no more to folly. The very scope of the whole epistle of St John is to help all believers to assurance, as appears by 1 John i. 4, v. 13, These things I write you, that ye might have com munion with God, and that your joy might be full. But this will open a way to all licentiousness. JSTo, says St John, chap. ii. 1, These things I write unto you, that ye sin not. Nothing guards the heart more against tentations than the peace of God : it is said to guard the heart, Phil. iv. 7. Yea, and
if you do sin, the assurance of God s love is the speediest way to recover you ; so it follows, If any one doth sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, &c. And he that hath this hope in him/ that is, to live with
( knows what manner of love the Father bears us/ purifies him
Christ, and
self as he is pure, 1 John iii. 1-3. If there were no more but self-love in a man, it were then no wonder if he doth abuse it. For self-love, where the love of God is wanting, is unthankful and ungratefu], willing to take all the love and kindness which is afforded, and abuse it, and work upon it for its own advantage. And it is true also that because we have too much of this principle umnortified in us, therefore