Hl I LIN O I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2009. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 208 h77 v.2 THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND EZEKIEL HOPKINS, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF DERRY. WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, AND COPIOUS INDEXES. VOLUME SECOND. LONDON: HENRY G. BORN, YORK STREET 155, ',COVENT GARDEN. CONTENTS OF VOL. IL PAGIE THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES,.1 PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY RECOMMENDED, URGED, AND ENCOURAGED, IN WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION, . . 22 -THE -ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION, A POWERFUL MOTIVE TO IERVE GOD WITH FEAR, . . . . . . 67 ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES, . . . . 85 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED, . . . . 142 A DISCOURSE ON THE NATURE, CORRUPTION, AND RENEWING OF THE CONSCIENCE,.. 167 A DISCOURSE ON THE GREAT DUTY OF MORTIFICATION-IRnm viii. 13, 179 DEATH DISARMED OF ITS STING ; FROM SEVERAL CONSIDERATIONS -viz. 1. OF PATIENCE UNDER AFFLICTIONS - James, i. 4, . . . 219 2. OF THE CONSIDERATION OF OUR FUTURE STATE, AS THE BEST REMEDY AGAINST AFFLICTIONS -2 Core iv. 18, . . . . e . . . . 244 3. THE CHRISTIAN'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH - I Cor. xv. 55, 56, . 250 4. OF THE RESURRECTION - John, xx. 26, 27, . 257 5. OF THE LAST JUDGMENT - 2 Cor. v. 10,. . . . . . 266 MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS - viz. 1. THE USE OF THE HOLY SCRIFTURES-COI. iii. 16, . . . 298 2. ON PROVIDENCE- Matth. x. 29, 30,. . . . . . 310 3. THE OMNIFRESENCE OF GOD - Psalm cxxxix. 7-10, . . . 320 4. THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST : preached on Christmas Day - Luke, ii. 13, 14, . 327 5. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST : preached on Easter Day - Acts, ii. 24, . .341 6. THE STATE AND WAY oF SALVATION - Heb. vi. 9,. . . 347 7. THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS - Prov. iii. 17, . . . . . .361 8. THE VIRTUES WHICH ADORN RELIGION - Titus, ii. 10, . . . . 369 9. ON WITHDRAWING FROM SUCH AS WALK DISORDERLY -2 Thess. iii. 6, . .386 10. SUBMISSION TO RULERS : preached at Christ's Church in Dublin, Jan. 31, 1669--1 Pet. ii. THE ,EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither mooth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."--MATTHEw, vi. 20, 21. THERE is not a soul in the world so desti- tute and beggarly, but it hath somewhat that it may call, and doth esteem, its treasure. Not only he that hath, as the Psalmist speaks, all that his heart can wish, who grasps in possession whatever his covetousness and unbounded desires grasp in imagination ; but he also that possesseth nothing but his own poverty, that hath no abundance but want and misery, such a one, whom you would never suspect to be a hoarder, yet hath he that, the hopes and enjoyment of which he counts precious, and his soul's treasure. In dangerous and difficult times, what is the first and chief care of every man, but so to dispose of this his treasure, that, whatever losses he may sustain in other accessary good things, that are but lumber and utensils to the soul, yet his treasure may be secured both from corruption and violence? Our Saviour here throws open before our view two repositories, or common treasuries : vast ones they are, wherein all the good things that ever any man in the world enjoyed, are laid up : and they are earth and heaven. If you have any treasure, as cer- tainly every one of you has, it must belong to one of these two places : you must deposit it either on earth or in heaven. "Look now," says Christ, "take a view of earth's exchequer; and what see you there? There, indeed, is the world's treasure: all that many millions of men have been gathering together, and hoarding up for several ages." If you would have an inventory of all this store, Saint John hath exactly cast it up, (1 John, ii. 16,) and it amounts to this sum, "All that is in the world," saith he, is "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ;" that is, there are pleasures suiting the propension of the flesh; there are riches for the greediness of the eye, for, saith the wise man, "What is laid up for the owners thereof, save the beholding of them with their eyes ?" and there are honour and dignity, that planetary, airy, good thing, that puffs up ; that is "the pride of life :" and this is the world's all, and that which many thousands make their treasure. Yea, but, saith Christ, do not you see how rusty and worm-eaten these things are? do you not see what a bustle there is among the men of the world to get them ? one pulls and hales them from another, and they are never certain in any man's posses- sion ; " moth and rust corrupt" them, "and thieves break through and steal;" and there- fore, "lay not up" your treasure here : there is another treasury for you to store up your good things in, and that is heaven; a sure and safe place, where no corruption doth infect, nor any violence intrude; therefore, lay up your treasure there; lay up your treasure in heaven. And thus you have the scope of our Saviour in these words. In the words themselves you have, I. A command or exhortation; and that is, " to lay up treasure in heaven." II. You have the enforcement of this com- mand. And that is from a double reason :- 1st, From the security of that treasure that is laid up in heaven. It is there safe and free from all danger ; which it could not be were it any where else deposited. All hurt and danger that can befal a man's treasure, pro- ceeds either, 1. From inward principles of corruption, that do of themselves cause decay in it. And thus it is with all earthly treasures. They are, of themselves, fading and perishing. Riches perish with the using: they rot out and wear away, while we are using them. All earthly manna, the sweet and luscious things of this world, breed worms, that eat upon and devour them. All tihe riches and treasures of the world have rust, that attends on them, and consumes both them and their beauty and substance. But spiritual manna never turns into worms : treasure laid up in heaven is never eaten with rust. No, saith Christ, there rust doth not corrupt; that is, they are free and safe from all inward decays and perishing, from their own inward prin- ciple and nature. And, 2. Treasure may be unsafe, as from an inward principle that may corrupt, so also VOL. II. A r . ._., _______-_T_, _ 2 WORKS OF BIS from outward accidents, that may consume them. And thus we see oftentimes it comes to pass. Sometimes, (1.) Insensibly, through a secret blasting curse of God, wasting them by little and little, and unperceived decays; so that, while we hold them in our hands and look upon them, then they perish. And this is here compared to the eating of a moth. A moth ,makes not a suddeV rent in a garment, but spoils it by unseen degrees : so fares it often- times with the things of this world ; if they be not torn and rent from us, yet are they moth-eaten comforts: the moth is got into them, and destroys them unperceivably. And, sometimes, (2.) By sudden violence; compared here to thieves breaking through, and stealing good things and treasure away. An unexpected turn of providence doth at once, many times, snatch away all that men here prize and set their hearts on ; and then, where is their trea- sure ? In Hosea, (chap. v.) we find God threat- ening both these ways to destroy Ephraim. In ver.,12, " I will be unto Ephraim," saith God, " as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness ;" that is, the Lord would con- sume them silently and unperceivably, as a moth eats out in the spots of a garment. And, (ver. 14,) " I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah : and I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue ;" that is, I will destroy him by a violent and sudden destruction. But treasures laid up in heaven are secured, both from insensible decays, and also from sudden violence; secured, both from the cor- ruption of the moth, and from the stealing of the thief. It is rich and sure treasure that is laid up there. And now is the time of your laying up : some few years hence, and it can- not be long first, but you shall have these treasures opened to you, and you let in, to see how rich you are. And you will find them augmented above what you could believe : there is not the least of all that you have laid up lost or diminished. And then you will wonder and question with yourselves, who laid up this and that part of your treasure: you will then ask, "Is this glory mine, and that glory mine ? this throne and that brightness, this diamond and those stars, this robe and that sunbeam, all this precious and inconceivable treasure, is it mine ? I can- not remember that ever I laid up so much and such precious treasure: my faith some- times pried through a crevice into this trea- sure, and it told me that there were great and glorious things stored up, and it told ine also that they did belong to me; but, 0 my dim-sighted grace, that could not discover to me the one-half of that glory, wherein I am now lost and swallowed up !" Thus a Chris- HOP HOPKINS. tian will then admire how he came by so much treasure, when he comes to the posses- sion and enjoyment of it. There is a saying recorded in Plutarch, of a rich Roman, Croesus, that he did not think that man rich that knew all that he had: truly, in this man's account, a Christian is truly rich: he hath laid up more treasure than himself knows of. But, though a Christian knows not how much he hath, yet he shall lose none : it is safe, being laid up in heaven : every star is as a seal set upon the treasure-door, that none may break in and violate it. And that is the first argument: Lay up treasure in heaven, because there only it is safe; there only the moth doth not corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal. 2d, And then, secondly, another enforcing reason you find in the next verse; and that is, because, by laying up treasure in heaven, you lay up your hearts also in heaven : "for where your treasure is," says Christ, "there will your hearts be also;" and where your hearts are, there are you. What an argument is this, 0 Christians! Would you yourselves be laid up safely in heaven, before you come to be laid down in your graves? would you pre-occupy your own immortality and glory? would you send all your thoughts and all your desires, as spies into the land of promise, to discover the riches and beauty of it? Then lay up your treasure there: this will centre all your thoughts, this will fix all your affections on itself ; and though now you are on earth, and walk on earth, yet this will make your conversation to be in heaven, if your treasure be there. It is impossible that you and your treasure should be at a distance. If your treasure be on earth, your minds will be there also; you will grovel here below : the serpent's curse will be upon you, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." But if your treasure be laid up in heaven, it will attract and draw up your hearts unto it, and make them heavenly hearts, as itself is a heavenly treasure. Now, all this is backed with another con- sideration, in the beginning of the words; and that is, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." You may, indeed, lay up treasure on earth, but it is a hazard whether it be for yourselves. Here men sweat and toil to get estates, and heap up treasures; but they know not who shall enjoy and possess them : they labour all their days to purchase a few uncertain riches ; while, usually, by that time they purpose to reap the fruit of them, death comes and snatches away their souls; and the greatest use they can make of them, is only to bequeath them unto others. He only that "is rich towards God, layeth up treasure for himself," and lays up those riches that he needs no legacy to dispose of. A Christian is - ,1 It . r n tlee, .nl n wlct~c ~~?! o o THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. 3 his own heir; and what himself hath gotten, he himself shall eternally enjoy and possess. And thus you have the parts of the text, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." There is nothing in the words that needs much explication : I shall, therefore, only in brief inquire into two things :- 1. What is here meant by treasure. 2. What is meant by laying up this trea- sure in heaven. 1. What is here meant by treasure. I answer,--It is a metaphorical expression, and denotes to us that which we set the highest rate and value upon ; that, the getting of which we most endeavour, the enjoyment of which we most prize, the loss of which we most bemoan: in a word, that which we account as our greatest and best good, that is our treasure, be it what it will. 2. The next inquiry is, what is meant by laying up this treasure in heaven. I answer, It is nothing else but to esteem heaven, and .the things of heaven thus to be our treasure; to rate and value them above all things else, and to look upon them as our chiefest good, and accordingly to seek and labour after them. I might now propound many observations to you, as, indeed, every word of this precious Scripture is pregnant with them: but I shall only mention one, intending only to insist upon that ; and it is this Doctrine,--" That heavenly and spiritual things are, and ought to be, of the greatest value with every true Christian." Or thus, - " A true Christian doth esteem, and he ought to esteem, heavenly things above all things." Now, what are these heavenly things, but God and Christ, grace and glory, spiritual and eternal concernments ? These are the choice things of a Christian : whatever else he may possess, yet these are his treasure. See how Abraham stings Dives with a sad item of what he made his treasure on earth, (Luke, xvi. 25,) "Son," says he, "remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." But did not Abraham himself, in his lifetime, receive good things also ? Might not Dives have retorted back again, "Wert not thou, Father Abraham, rich and potent on earth? Hadst not thou great power, and great possessions in the world ? And must I be tormented and thou glorified, when thou hadst a greater portion of them than myself?" No, the emphasis cuts off this exception: "Thou, in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good things." "I received good things; but not my good things; not the chiefest that I valued. Comforts they were; but not trea- sures: anal, while I possessed these good things, I sought after better; and therefore I now possess and enjoy them also." So holy Asaph views this treasure that here he had got in a divine rapture, (Psal. lxxiii. 25,) "Whom have I in heavenbut thee ? and there is none upon earth that I can desire besides thee." He was so far from desiring any thing above God, that he desires nothing besides God. What is there on earth that I can " desire besides thee ?" See Saint Paul also, (1 Cor. ii. 2,) "I deter- mined not to know any thing among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified: " but especially, (Phil. iii. 8,) " Doubtless," says he, " I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom I suffer the loss of all things; and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Observe how the apostle doth there contemn all that the world counts its trea- sure : he reckons it but dung, in which a man may rake long enough before he finds any true treasure: nay, not only dung, but loss, in comparison of Christ. "And, what tell you me of losing all things for him? It is true, I have done so; but, in doing so, I have but' lost a loss, I am but rid of a damage. I count all things but loss, and I suffer the loss of all things, for Christ." This is the low and vilifying account that a child of God makes of every thing that is not his treasure. God and Christ, and the things of eternity, are his chief and choice good; and whatever he hath besides, is but dung, but loss, but a damage. In the heart of a carnal man, all things lie in a confused order ; heaven below, and earth a-top ; earth seems to him to be vast and infinite, but heaven a little inconsiderable spot. But, in the heart of a child of God, every thing keeps its natural posture: there earth sinks, as being the dregs of his thoughts and cares; but heaven shines above, very bright and glorious; earth, to him, seems to be but a little spot, as indeed it is, which is seldom seen or noted by him; but heaven is as an infinite boundless sea of mercy, which he is still looking into and admiring. Thus things keep their natural posture in the heart of a child of God; but they are all disordered in the heart of a wicked man. I. To prosecute this farther, I shall endea- your to open to you the riches of this hea- venly treasure, that it may appear how rationally the children of God act, iii valuing this above all things, and in making it their choice good and chief treasure. And, 1st, It is an evident demonstration of the preciousness of this treasure, in that it makes those things precious also that are but con- versant about it ; and therefore, certainly, it is mighty precious itself. It bestows a lustre, excellency, and beauty upon every thing that lies near it, or that hath any relation to it. I will mention but two things: 1. The deeds of conveyance, whereby this treasure is made over to us and becomes ours, I! eternal ~concernments'C 'I'hese are the choice I eartll, to nl 4R O S HK are therefore precious, because the such' a treasure. And what are the. promises ? Every promise is a tici us by God, to take up mansions of t heaven ; it is vocal glory ; it is hap words and syllables it is eternity, c a sentence. And therefore, no wo the apostle speaks so magnificently "whereby," says he, "are given un ceeding great and precious promises. Tell me, therefore, 0 soul ! didst see the glory and riches that there promise?1 Wert thou ever ravished infinite sweetness and deliciousness suckest from them? Didst thou eve amazed at the free and boundless lo in them; that spake good to thy sot great while to come," as David speal thou ever find the excellency and pr of these things? Think, then, how that glory itself is, that fils these If a star be so bright and spark shines only in a borrowed bright transcendently bright then is the lends so much light to it! If th pipe be ready to burst, through the a of streams that flow from it, how in ble is the fountain and spring-head, plies this treasure! If the gleani rich and full, what will the vintage glory and happiness of heaven is so boundless, that it overflows and s abroad in promises; and, if the ov drops be so sweet, what then will itself be? What says the apostle ii. 7, ) " Unto you that believe, precious :" how is he now prec believers, but as he is held forth in a that is all the way in which he precious to us now. And will he n more precious to us when we shall stand at the distance of a promise f when we shall no more need th faith, but shall clasp and cling abo the immediate fruition of him ? WV be more precious to us, when all shall be made good to us in actu possession ? And therefore, if the be so exceeding great and precious, certainly, that that treasure that m promises to be so, is wonderfully and glorious and precious. 2. As the deeds of conveyance, so eye that sees and views this treasur precious by the sight of it. And w eye, but the eye of faith? and the but weak, yet it is that with whic help of a promise, as by a prospec we look into heaven itself, to see and those heaps of treasure laid up the soul. The eye of faith sees t hand of faith tells them out: and Saint Peter calls it precious faith, i. 1,) "To them that have obt S4 r__ ... _ _._.__.,-.we sn ir no mo e scn Istn y convey precious faith with us." You may look upon y, but the earthly treasure till your eyes be dazzled, yea, ket, given possibly, till they be weakened and wearied reasure in by it ; but never will they be made more rich piness, in and precious by it : but, by looking upon this ouched in heavenly treasure, the eye that sees it becomes nder that a jewel itself ; more precious, saith the same of them : apostle, "than the gold that perisheth," to us ex- (1 Pet. i. 7.) ." And that is the first excellency of this thou ever heavenly treasure : it is precious treasure, in are in a that it makes those things precious that are with that but conversant about it, precious faith, and that thou precious promises. r sit down 2d, Heavenly treasure is soul treasure, ve of God suited to the soul. ul, " for a And, therefore, look how much more noble ks ? Didst and excellent the soul is than the body, so eciousness much more excellent is heavenly treasure than precious earthly treasure. For what serve these things promises. on earth, but to clothe and feed the body ; ling, that and yet, for all this, the soul may be naked, ness, how and miserable, and want suitable provision. sun, that Truly, we may lament the condition of the e conduit- richest sinners on earth, and say over them, abundance in compassion, 0 poor souls, what husks and exhausti- swine's-meat do you give your souls, while that sup- you set the whole world before them ! for, all ngs be so in the world is no better. There is nothing be ? The in it, whence you can pick out suitable nour- great and ishment for them: and therefore, Christ pills itself justly brands the rich man in the Gospel for verflowing an arrant fool, who, when he had filled his the ocean barns with corn, said to his soul, "Soul, thou ? (1 Pet. hast much goods laid up for many years, eat, Christ is drink, and be merry." A fool, indeed! to ious unto reckon his soul's goods by barns'-full!he promise ? might as wisely have boasted, that he had becomes provided barns full of thoughts for his body, ot be far as barns full of corn for his soul. And yet, no more such is the provision, that most men make for rom him? their precious souls. Tell Ine, sirs, do you e hand of really believe that this is such provision as ut him in your souls can live upon ? or, do you think ill he not your souls need no provision? What ! must our hopes your bodies, that at first were kneaded out of al present the dust, and must ere long be crumbled into promises dust again, must these bodies engross all your it argues, care, how to provide for them, and to please akes these them; and shall your spiritual and everlasting [infinitely souls be wholly neglected by you? It is not long hence, before your bodies shall never the very more know a difference between treasure and e, is made poverty, between fulness and hunger ; and hat is that then, what serve all these things for, that, ugh it be with so much pains and industry, you have h, by the laid up? Truly it is a long journey into the etive-glass, other world; and gold, and silver, and that mass earthly treasure are too heavy a portage to be there for carried with you thither. Those that now hem; the make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience therefore, to get them, will, ere it be long, make ship- (2 Peter, wreck of them also. When you come to ained like lanch out into eternity, you shall carry WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. 5 nothing with you of your earthly treasure into the other world ; unless it be the rust of it, to witness against you: nothing of your gold; unless it be the guilt of it, to condemn you. These are unfit things, therefore, to be laid up by you as your soul's treasure. But heavenly treasure is suitable treasure; suitable to your souls, and that in a twofold respect,--1. Heavenly treasures are suitable to the nature of your souls. And, 2. They are suitable to the necessities of your souls. 1. Heavenly treasures are suitable to the nature of your souls. And that in these two respects,-(1.) They are spiritual treasures, for an immaterial soul. And, (2.) They are durable treasures, for an immortal soul. And therefore, they are suitable treasu es. (1.) IHeaveny treasures are spiritual; and therefore suited to a soul, that is of a spiritual and immaterial substance. Hence the apostle, (Eph. i. 3,) blesseth God, "who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus" Truly, heavenly things are these spiritual blessings, refined from all dull and earthly mixtures. God himself, who is the total sum of all the trea- sures of all the saints on earth, is a spirit himself: his love and favour, interest in him, communion and fellowship with him, are all spiritual things, that a carnal eye cannot see, neither can a carnal judgment value. The most suitable are they, therefore, to a soul, that is a spirit. Of all things belonging to a man, the breath of a man is the most subtle, invisible, and spiritual : but the soul is called the breath of God metaphorically, (Gen. ii. 7,) and, therefore, is of a very high degree of spiritualness. Now, bring spiritual things to spiritual: debase not thy spiritual and high born soul, by matching it to the low and inferior things of the world : let not thy pure and spiritual soul be unequally yoked with the dregs and dross of any worldly enjoyment. God,and Christ, and the things of eternity, are suitable to the soul; they are spiritual, like thy spiritual and better part; and though to a carnal heart these seem but empty and notional things, yet a child of God tastes more sweetness and comfort in these things, than in whatever the world can present unto him. The love of God, the consolations of his Spirit, actings of grace, hopes of glory, these invisible things, these are the true riches. And then, (2.) Heavenly treasure is the only durable treasure, and therefore suited to an immortal soul. The things of this world will not go one step with you beyond this present life. And, what a sad parting hour will that be to the soul, to go into another world, and to leave all its treasure behind in this world ? How will it protract and linger; and how loth will It be to enter upon so great a journey, without a treasure to defray the charges of it ! How ghastly will the soul look back upon those things that it made its treasure ! " What !" will it say, " must not I carry this estate and that treasure out of the world with me ? Must we thus part for ever ?" Yes, 0 soul, for ever: for none of these things canst thou carry with thee. And, oh, what a sad thing will it be for the poor soul to be set ashore upon the vast ocean of eternity, and to have nothing at all to relieve and support it, all its treasure being in another world ! But heavenly treasure is durable treasure. It is current not only in this, but in the other world which is to come. In Prov. viii. 18, says Wisdom, "riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness." Indeed, righteousness is this durable riches. When all things in the world stare on thee, and thou on them, and so take leave of one another eternally; yet then the love of God, interest in Jesus Christ, his divine and hea- venly graces, these will then stand by thee and keep thee company, yea, and enter into heaven, and there abide with thee to all eter- nity. It is true, thy faith, that is now a busy and active grace, that like Moses doth here get up to Mount Pisgah, and there take a view of the land of Canaan, must itself die before it comes there : yet this is no lessening of thy treasure, though thou dost lose thy faith; for, indeed, it is not so much the loss of thy faith, as the swallowing of it up, a changing of it into sight and vision: faith and fruition are inconsistent one with another. But all thy other graces, love, joy, and delight, which are now often eclipsed and faint, and languish in their actings, shall then keep an eternal jubi- lee. Never fear the failing of thy happiness. It is true, here the waters do only bubble, and they may and often do fail; but, there thou shalt bathe thyself in an infinite ocean of delight; there thou shalt lie at an ever- bubbling fountain of sweetness : God shall be eternally there, and thou shalt be eternally there; he will be eternally glancing and smiling on thee, and thou shalt be eternally warming and cheering thyself in that sun- shine. Therefore, think with thyself, if indeed God can be exhausted, if heaven itself can be impoverished, if infinite riches of glory can be all spent and consumed, then, and niot till then, can thy treasure fail thee : never shall one star of thy crown twinkle, much less shall it ever be eclipsed. (1 Pet. v. 4,) "We shall receive a crown of glory, that fadeth not away :" it shall be for ever as glo- rious, orient, and flourishing, as it was at its first putting on. Indeed, eternity will be the perpetual beginning of thy happiness. And thus you see how suitable this treasure is to the nature of the soul; in that it is spiritual treasure, for a soul that is a spirit; and it is durable treasure, for a soul that is immortal. ii _ __________________________________ _ _ ___._ ________ ___ .___ _____ _______ 11 I ii 6 WORKS OF BIS 2. As ,heavenly treasure is suited to the nature of the soul, so also to the necessities of the soul. What is it that the soul can stand in need of, that it cannot be supplied withal from hence ? Doth it need a price to redeem it? here is laid up the precious blood of Christ, that was shed for the sins of many. Is it pardon and forgiveness that it needs ? here is abundant mercy. Is it sanctification and holiness? here are riches of grace. Is it joy and comfort ? here are abundant consolations. Is the soul wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked? here is gold to make it rich: here is white raiment to clothe it, and eye-salve to recover its sight. Indeed, there is nothing that the soul can want or desire, but you may have supplies for it from your own treasure; from that treasure that you have laid up in heaven. See that rich place, (Phil. iv. 19,)" My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus :" all your needs; not only your corporal needs and necessities, but also your spiritual necessities. Here, all earthly treasures fall short ; the exigencies of the out- ward man they may relieve, but the greatest abundance of them cannot quiet a troubled conscience, nor appease an angry God, nor take off the guilt of sin; nor can they redeem the soul from eternal'wrath : no, "the redemp- tion of the soul is precious," yea, too precious to be purchased by all these things, "and it ceaseth for ever." When God frowns upon the soul, and conscience lours, and hell-fire flashes in the face of a sinner, how truly poor and miserable is that man, that hath no better support and comfort than these unsuitable things! All the world, as great as now it seems to be, will be judged too vile.a price to procure one minute's ease. What would the soul then give for a Saviour, for a slighted and despised Sayiour, to interpose betwixt it and justice? Believe it, then you will have other thoughts of the favour of God, of an interest in Christ, and of this heavenly and spiritual treasure, than now you have. Now, in your peace and prosperity, possibly these appear to you to be no better than fancied treasures and airy riches: but when the days of sorrow and darkness overtake you and come upon you, when God shall drop into your souls a little of his wrath and displeasure, then it will be in vain to seek ease from the world: all your pleasures, treasures, and enjoyments here below, will all tell you it is not in them to relieve you : you may as well seek to cure a wound in your flesh, by laying a plaster to your clothes; no ; it is grace that can then stand you in stead; it is that only that can reach the necessities of the soul; and without this, all your riches and treasures are but dear vanities, precious vexatious, that will stand by and see you perish, yea, and perish eter- nally, but cannot supply and help you. HOP HOPKINS. 3d, I come now to a third thing, wherein the excellency and the riches of this heavenly treasure do appear; and that is, because they are satisfying treasures; and so are not the treasures of the world. Solomon himself, when he had reckoned Up many items for honours, and pleasures, and riches ; yet, at the bottom of the bill, at the foot of the account, he casts up the total sum by two great ciphers: "All is vanity and vexation," saith he : vanity, in themselves and vexation also, in the use and enjoyment of them: they that make more reckoning of this treasure, will be mistaken in their account. And is this the price of thy sweat and care ? Is this the price of thy early and late endeavours? Nay, is this the price of thy sins, for which thou destroyest thy soul and foregoest eternity ? What ! to hoard up vanity and emptiness, to grow rich in vexation! Wilt thou stretch thy conscience for that, which will never fill, but torment thee? Are these the great stately nothings, that the whole world admires, and rulis mad after? Alas ! you may as soon grasp your arms full of dreams, and hug your own shadows, as fill up the vast and boundless desires of your souls with these earthly things, that have scarce any proof of their reality, besides the vexa- tion and torment that they bring with them. These things are to the soul but as wind to the stomach; gripe it they may, but they can never fill nor satisfy it. It is true, indeed, that you will find Esau, (Gen. xxxiii. 9,) seemingly satisfied with his present condition, when he tells Jacob, "I have enough, my brother :" but this was rather because he was ashamed to acknowledge his want, by receiving from a fugitive, than any real satisfaction that drew this speech from him. No; there is such a paradox in an earthly mind, that makes it true, that though often- times they have too much, yet they never think they have enough. But heavenly trea- sures are filling and satisfying treasures; though riches are empty, though honours and dignities are flatulent and windy, and crowns are lined with troubles, and sceptres are made massy with cares set on them; yet heavenly riches are substantial : the crown of glory and immortality is lined throughout with the down of eternal contentment and satisfaction. Now these heavenly treasures are satisfac- tory in two respects:-1. They are satisfactory in themselves. And, 2. They put satisfacto- riness into earthly enjoyments. So that the soul that possesseth heavenly treasure, finds contentment and satisfaction in every condi- tion. 1. Heavenly treasures are satisfactory in themselves. He that enjoys them, needs look out no where else for happiness and content- ment. (1.) The treasures of grace are thus satisfac- STHE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. 7 tory, where there is the light and evidence of assurance to tell the soul how rich it is. Grace, indeed, is this treasure, that may sometimes lie deep hid in the heart. When the soul is in the dark, under some gloomy fears, or in a state of desertion, it doth not then know that it hath such a treasure ; and, therefore, it cannot receive contentment and satisfaction from it. But when the Spirit of God darts in a beam of evidencing light into the dark vault, this rich treasure discovers itself by its own shining. Now, this shine of heavenly treasure is assurance; and when the Spirit darts in a beam of light to discover it in the heart, when it sees how rich it is in love, in faith, in hope, and in all other pre- cious graces of the Spirit, it cannot sufficiently prize and value its own estate. It is true, indeed, that a gracious heart never thinks it hath enough: still it is craving and labour- ing after more; still it complains, that its graces are too weak, and those weak ones too few. Yet this holy covetousness carries no tormenting, perplexing anxiety and vexa- tion with it : while it complains of the poverty of its graces, yet it prizeth them above all the world; and thinks its estate to be infinitely blessed and happy, if it hath but any degrees of assurance : and though the man be but poor and despicable in the world, yet ask him, whether he would change conditions with the greatest and the richest sinner on earth, he will tell you no: he values his present estate above ,ten thousand worlds; nay, he would not lose the least degree nor the least filing of his graces, for whatever enjoyments a poor world could proffer him. Such satis- factoriness there is in the treasures of grace ; and well may it be so, for grace with assurance is no less than heaven let down into the soul. And, therefore, it is remarkable in Heb. x. 84, " Knowing in yourselves," saith the apostle, "that ye have in heaven a better and a more enduring substance :" so our transla- tion renders it; but, in the original, it is, "know that in yourselves you have a better and a more enduring substance in heaven ;" those that are assured of the truth of their own graces, have a heaven in themselves, a better and a more enduring substance in themselves; such discoveriesof God, such sweet peace and tranquility of soul, such overflowing joys of the Holy Ghost, that heaven itself is never able to bestow other kind of happiness than this is, though there they shall have it in fuller degrees and measure. (2.) The treasures of glory are infinitely satisfactory. If there be so much in grace, that is but the earnest, how much more abundant satisfaction is there in glory, that is the inheritance itself! (Psal. xvii. 15,) "When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness." "When I awake," that is, when I awake in glory, after the short slumber of death, then I shall be satisfied with the like- ness and similitude of God. Consider, here, (1.) The true reason of the vanity and unsatisfactoriness of all earthly things. It is, because none of them are so good as the soul is; nor are any of them so great, as to be able to fill up the vast capacity of the soul. The soul is like a wide gulf; throw in pleasures, and profits, and honours, nay, the whole world; yet there is a vast hollowness in the soul still, that can never be filled up by these things. Your souls are of a noble and excellent being; and, excepting angels, they are the top and flower of the creation : and therefore it is a debasement of them to cleave to any thing here that is worse than themselves. Now, so long as all things here below are less than the soul, and worse than the soul, the soul cannot possibly receive satisfaction and contentment in them. But God is infinitely great; and therefore he can fill the soul: and God is also infinitely good; and therefore he can satisfy the soul, so that it shall not desire any thing above or besides him. Consider, (2.) The soul is to be made happy with the same happiness wherewith God himself is to be for ever blessed. And must not this be infinitely satisfac- tory ? Wherein doth God's infinite blessedness consist? Is it not in the close, near, intimate, and immediate enjoyment and fruition of himself? Is not God himself his own happi- ness? Why this also is the happiness of the saints; a close, intimate, and immediate enjoyment of God. Enlarge, then, 0 soul : spread forth thyself wide: make room for thine own glory : thou art to be made happy with the same happiness that God himself is blessed with. He is blessed in the eternal enjoyment of himself; and thou shalt be blessed with the eternal enjoyment of God also. Enlarge, then, 0 soul: spread forth thyself wide : stretch out thy desires as wide as heaven itself ; for the God of heaven will fill them. And is not here enough to satisfy? Certainly, that soul must be very necessitous, that an infinite God and an infinite good can- not fill up and satisfy. And thus you see that heavenly treasures are satisfactory in themselves. 2.. As they are satisfactory in themselves, so they make earthly comforts and enjoy- ments to be satisfactory also. That soul, that hath laid up and made sure of heavenly treasure, finds satisfaction and contentment in every outward condition. He that enjoys most of heaven, enjoys most of earth, though others may possess more than he ; and what he hath not, contentment makes him not to want. What says the apostle? (Phil. iv. 11,) "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." And what can any man have more ? If the Lord afford him but II ~Clnlll~ unn r.nPrcrr\rc~ rr.lc!rnmn.run:nrp In Hpn I Pnl~'TTTnBllt 8 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. a little of these things, he is content ; and, if he increaseth them too much, he can be but content. 0 what a blessed condition is this, that exempts a man from a possibility of being under affliction as to outward things! Thus it will be with you, if you have laid up your treasure in heaven. It will satisfy you, and make every outward condition satisfac- tory also ; and that for two reasons :- (1.) It will beget in you mean and light thoughts of all things here below. You will rate them no higher than the apostledoth ; but "loss and dung :" and will any man be dis- contented or troubled what befals such things ; what becomes of his loss, and of his dung and dross? Suppose a sweeping shower should upon a sudden fall, and wash away the loose dust that lies upon your ground, would you count this a loss of your land? would any of you be troubled at this, as being bereaved of part of your estate ? Truly, to a child of God all the things of the world are no other; and if a tempest of providence suddenly sweeps them away, he is not troubled at it : he counts it no loss of his inheritance; the dust only is washed away, but the land is safe still. Truly, none in the world abound more with super- fluities, than a saint doth. Take a wicked man, upon whom all the store and abundance of the world do empty themselves : upon whom riches, and honours, and pleasures flow in, in a full tide, and all unburden themselves into his bosom; yet, poor man ! he hath no more than he needs : and it is no wonder that he calls them by great names-this thing a crown, and that thing a kingdom and treasure : alas ! these poor deceits are all that he hath to please himself with, to call little things by great and swelling names. But to a saint, that hath nothing but food and raiment, even they are superfluities, whilst God and Christ is his: and if God casts in more to him, he values them as mercies, but not as his trea- sure; or if God calls them back again, he looks upou them not as a loss, but as a rid- dance. If you make a thousand ciphers, yet they amount to nothing; and add a figure of one to these, still they stand but for one : such are the things of the world to a child of God: all worldly enjoyments are but as so many ciphers in his account : he reckons only upon one God; and therefore he is at a point how God deals with him as to these things; if he gives or if he takes away, 'he says, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Thus, beloved, if you have laid up your treasure in heaven, you will have but mean and slight thoughts of all other things besides. (2,) Treasure laid up in heaven will make all things satisfactory to you, because every condition that you are in will be to your advantage. Nay, you will look upon any condition that you are in, as a condition of love. Every mercy that is bestowed upon you, is a love-token sent you by a gracious Father : the soul that once can say, " God is mine," will be able to say, "This comfort and that mercy were given me from the love of God ; I have his heart with it; I observed the countenance of my Father; and I saw hiii smile upon my soul when be gave it me." Nay, are you deprived of these enjoyments ? it is from love, and it shall be for your advan- tage: God saw that they lay too near your heart, and jostled him farther from his seat and throne; and he would not suffer you to make so bad an exchange as to quit heavenly things for earthly : he takes these from thee, that so he may take thee off them, and wean thy heart from them, and that he may strengthen thy faith and dependence on him- self, that he may inflame thy affections after him, and that he may exercise thy patience and humility in the want of them : nay, he then gives in the clearest, and brightest, and fullest discoveries of himself, and of his love in Christ to the soul : what advantageous losses, therefore, 0 Christian, dost thou sus- tain ? yea, to use the apostle's phrase, thou hast "but gained in this harm and loss." And therefore, in every state and condition, a Christian that bath laid up his treasure in heaven, may well be content and satisfied; for all is to his advantage and gain, whatever it be. And so much for the third particular. 4th, Treasure laid up in heaven will secure to you the enjoyment of all earthly comforts, so far as they shall be for your good. This depends upon the latter part of the former particular. Our Saviour hath passed his word for it, (Matt. vi. 33,) " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness there of ; and all these things shall be added unto you." First, seek the kingdom of heaven that is, lay up first your treasure in heaven, make sure of heavenly riches first; and then all these things shall be added to you. When the great bargain is concluded in heaven, betwixt God and the soul, God never stands upon these petty things of earth, but throws them in, as vantage and overplus, into the bargain. Yea, and as Christ hath passed his word, so God hath given you a pawn that so it shall be, (Rom. viii. 32,) " He that spared not his own Son, but hath given him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?" Is the "Heir of all things" ours; and can there be any thing that shall not be ours also? Hath God freely given you his Son; and will he think much to give you other things, which are of no value and esteem, in comparison of that great gift, Jesus Christ ? Hath he given thee "hidden manna," angels' food; hath he clothed thee with the robes of Christ's righteousness ; and shalt thou want food and raiment? Are not these things convenient for thee ? Or doth God prize worldly things at a higher rate than II CILt~V art: Slll)t~Zllllllrlt~!S, WIILISlr ~TCI(L illl(l \IllrlSb I LLIW~lr IS- I~,V THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. 9 the things of heaven ? thou canst not think God doth so, for thou thyself dost not prize them so. Or doth God so much disregard them, as to take no regard to supply your outward concernments? " No," says Christ, " your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." God doth take spe- cial notice and regard of all your wants : he knows you have need of these things. Thou needest not, O Christian, therefore, envy the grandees and potentates of the earth, that rustle and make a noise with their greatness : believe it, were it for thy good, thou shouldst be exalted up to their pitch, and they should be brought down to lick the dust of thy feet. Consider but these two things:- 1. All earthly things are to be accounted good or evil, only as they concern our eternal state and condition. You will greatly be deceived, if you look upon things as they appear in themselves. Then you will call prosperity, and riches, and worldly abundance, good things; and want, and poverty, and affliction, evil things; if you account and esteem them as they appear in themselves. But consider these things as they relate to eternity, and then poverty may be a mercy, and riches a judgment : God may bless thee by afflictions, and curse thee by prosperity : he may bestow more upon thee in suffering thee to want these things, than if he did give all the world's abundance to thee. It may be, prosperity may puff up thy soul, and make it grow more estranged from God; adversity may humble thee, and bring thy soul the nearer unto God, and so conduce more to the eternal good of thy soul : adver- sity, in this case, is good ; and not prosperity. This present life is nothing but a preparation for, and a tendency to, eternity : all that we here do, or receive, or suffer, is in order to eter- nity; and therefore all must be measured by it. That is good that tends to our everlasting happiness, be it want or misery. Whatever it be that increases our grace, that augments the stock of our heavenly treasure, that pro- motes the everlasting salvation of our souls, that alone is to be esteemed by us as good. What dull folly is it, for men to roll and wallow in the profits and pleasures of this world, and hug them as good things, when, indeed, they are only snares and traps to their souls, and are only given to fat them for the day of slaughter, and may every moment deliver them up to an eternity of torments, which will fearfully be heightened and.enraged by the enjoyment of these things that they account good things! Abraham tells Dives, that, in his lifetime, he received good things, and Lazarus evil things : a strange dispensa- tion of God, to bestow good things upon a hated Dives, and to inflict evil things upon a oeloved Lazarus ! but yet read on, (Luke, xvi 25,) "But now he is comforted and thou art tormented." Oh, never call Dives' purple and delicious fare good things ; for these end in torment: never call Lazarus's sores and rags evil things; for these end in everlasting comfort : " No," might Dives have replied with horror : "when I was clothed in purple and fine linen, I then received evil things : 0 cursed be all my pomp and bravery! I see now the end of my purple, it was but to wrap me up in redder flames : my sumptuous fare served only to make the never-dying worm the more to feed on me: Oh, happy was the poverty of Lazarus, for he awaked in ease and happiness.: then was he truly happy, and not I, though I thought myself so; for though I received an abundant measure of worldly things, yet received I no good things." This, within a while, will be the judgment of all of you, when you come to be stated in an unalterable condition to all eternity : oh, therefore, be persuaded to pass the same judg- ment upon them now. 2. Consider,-If God deny any comfort or enjoyment to his people, he therefore denies it, because it is not good for them ; because it will not conduce to their eternal happiness, which is the only rule and measure of earthly things. (Psal. lxxxiv. 11,) "The Lord will give grace and glory; and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." " No good thing;" if any thing be withheld, you may conclude on it that it is no good thing, but that it would be either prejudicial or inconsistent to grace or glory, had God bestowed it upon thee : and wilt thou thyself be content to abate the least degree of grace or glory, for the greatest accumulation of worldly enjoyments? if thou wouldst, thou never yet madest grace or glory thy treasure. Says the Psalmist, (Psal. lxviii. 19,) speaking of God's mercies, "Blessed be God, that daily loadeth us with his benefits :" the people of God are still complaining, that they are loaded with miseries and afflictions; there is as much of these laid on them, as possibly they can bear : but how few are there, that take notice how God loads them with his benefits ! (Exod. xvi. 18,) " He that gathered much, had nothing over; and he that gathered little, had no lack :" so is it with the children of God : he that hath more of these outward comforts, hath but his load ; and he that hath less, hath his load too; every one as much as he can bear: and what he hath not, God withholds, lest it should hurt him ; lest it should break him, instead of adorning him. Every vessel cannot bear up with so much sail as another ; and therefore God will keep it from toppling over. There is nothing that a child of God hath not, but, if he had it, for the present it would be worse with him than now it is; and, therefore, so much as you do now wish were added to your present condi- tion, so much you do virtually wish were taken ii nPF~ rln r\r ~o~nrltra rrr ollftnr ra ~n rrrrlo~ +~ n+nr_ I rrt I~~r(~c? rvr a WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. 10 off from your present grace and "from your future glory ; because God doth most wisely and exactly proportion these things here, so as that they may be most conducible and service- able to your true happiness hereafter. II. I,come now to inquire, whence it is that the children of God make heaven and heavenly things their treasure and chief good? We see that our Saviour doth here distinguish them from earthly and ungodly men by this character,-one lays up on earth, and the other in heaven. He that lays up his treasure on earth, is an earthly, ungodly man : he that lays up his treasure in heaven, is the true Christian. 1st, Here first take notice, that that which makes any thing dear and precious, that which makes any thing to be a treasure to the soul, is the suitableness and subserviency of it to that self that is in a man. Self is the great rater of all our treasure: the value of it is reckoned according to this standard : when heaven, and earth, and all things are laid before a man, self comes in, and views them all, and sees what is useful for it, and accordingly sets a price upon it; and all things are slighted, and nothing is current with the soul, but.as self has stamped and printed its own image upon it. And therefore, (Luke, xii. 21,) you find this expres- sion, ' So is he that layeth up treasure for himself :" if any man lays up treasure, he lays it up for himself. Whatever may preserve self, whatever may answer the propensions and inclinations of self, whatever may pro- mote the cause and interest of self, that is a man's treasure, and nothing else. 2d, Carnal and unregenerate self rates earth and earthly things as its treasure, because there is a suitableness and proportion in the one to the other. Earthly treasure for an earthly self. And, therefore, the apostle tells us, (1 Cor. vi. 13,) " meat is for the belly, and the belly for meat :" that is, they are suited each to other. So are earthly things suited to carnal self ; the things of this world to a worldly mind; and a worldly mind to the things of this world. Carnal self relishes no other things: bring spiritual things to him, he tastes no sweetness in them: you may as well please a brute beast by whispering into his ears the deep discourses of reason, as you can a carnal man by the discoveries of God and Christ : talk to him of the world and of carnal concernments, his ear tastes and relishes such discourse as this is ; and the reason is, because these things are accommodated and suited to that carnal and unregenerate self that is in man. The apostle tells us, "All that is in the world, is the list of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life :" that is, pleasure, profit, and honour, these three are the trinity of a wicked man, and carnal and unregenerate self is this trinity in unity; all centre in this, to please and maintain carnal self, as all its interest, and all its concernments; therefore, this is made by wicked men their treasure. 3d, In the soul's conversion unto God, upon that great change that is made in a man's self, there will also be another rate and value set upon things than formerly there was. Conversion is the great shipwreck of the old inan, and all his goods. 1. In conversion, there is a great change made in self. The apostle, (Rom. vii. 17,) tells us it was no more he, but sin that dwelt in him. For- merly, before his conversion, "It was I that breathed out threatenings : I persecuted the Church ; I raged and was mad against them; still, it was I myself, that acted then. But, since my great change, it is not I that am guilty; no, not so much as of infirmities : no, it is not I, that fail in the performance of what is good ; not I, but sin that dwelleth in me." So that in conversion, there is a mighty change passeth upon self : so that a man may say, it is not he, but sin; that body of corrup- tion that dwelleth in him. It is true, in a regenerate man there remains much of corrup- tion, and of the old self: but yet, grace being the supreme prevailing principle, it will be that that gives the self to a man ; and then that which before was a man's self and was loved, now is become a traitor, and rebel, and enemy to that new self that is wrought in a Christian by regeneration. 2. Man's self being changed, his treasure must also necessarily be changed. The new regenerate self cannot subsist and live upon its old treasure: all is but husks and swine's meat to the soul, now that it is begotten anew, and born of God : the seed of God dwelleth in it; and, therefore, now it looks after that that is conformable to its divine original and constitution. What the apostle presseth the Colossians to, (Col. iii. 1.) "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above," is truly the necessary practice of every heaven-born soul : whoever is born again, whoever is risen with Christ, will infallibly seek the things that are above. He will do it : there is a natural instinct in the new creature, that carries it out naturally to spiritual and heavenly objects: as the infant, that is new-born, doth by instinct seek after the breast, though it never before re- ceived nourishment that way; so the new- born Christian, that hath imprinted upon it the divine nature, hath such an impulse and instinct in it, that naturally moves it to spiritual objects, as the only suitable nourish- ment and good for the soul : and, therefore, to intimate the tenderness of this new infancy, the apostle tells us, "as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word :" the new-born babe receives nourishment no longer from the II ill +hp nnp fn +hp n+har I (~rrrl rlwpllr I THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. navel; and so the new-born Christian no longer creeps upon his belly, and licks the dust of the earth, but feeds upon and desires the sincere milk of the word. "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit," and therefore will long and breathe after that which is spiritual, because it is spiritual, and bears a proportion to its own being. Christ says, (John, vi. 63,) " The words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life :" that is, they are able to maintain you in life, that you may live upon them as sustenance. Why so? because they are spirit and life : they are spiritual-words suited to a spiritual soul, to a soul that is born again of the Spirit; and therefore fit to nourish you, and such as will keep you alive. Look, as the angels live, so lives a Christian's spiritual part: it is the same good that is common to both, and that which they both desire, embrace, and twine about. Can you bribe an angel by all the profits of the world ? can you effeminate him by all the pleasures of the world? can you elevate and puff him up by all the honours and dignities of the world? No; all these things are below his nature, and he cannot descend to them : they are not suitable to him :he lives in his God, and eternally suns himself in the light of the beams of his coun- tenance. So lives the new creature also: it is spiritual; and therefore clasps only about spiritual things. The world bears no more affinity and proportion to the spiritual part of a Christian, than it doth to angels : but bring God, the Father of spirits, and here both angels and it cling about the divine essence, and nestle themselves about him for ever, and fill and satisfy themselves in him : here is meat suitable to their natures; a spiritual God, for spiritual things. Indeed, sometimes the carnal part may throw in so much earth and rubbish, that may for a time bury the new creature under it; but when it is in its own element, it never ceaseth heaving and working, till it hath got above earth, and got into the enjoyment of its God again. So, then, because the soul is not self-suffi- cient, because it is an indigent creature, there- fore it must have the addition of some other good to it, to eke out and supply its defects. And because the indigent and necessitated soul hath, in regeneration, a supernatural principle implanted in it, therefore spiritual and heavenly objects only comply and suit with it. These therefore are the treasure of the soul; and you see whence it is that the soul doth account heavenly and spiritual things to be its treasure; because suited to that heavenly and spiritual principle that is implanted in the soul in conversion. Now, these things are its treasure:-- (1.) God himself. So God tells out, and gives himself unto Abraham, (Gen. xv. 1,) " I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." So David reckons up to you what a large and great estate he had in the posses- sion and enjoyment of God, (Psal. xvi. 5,) " The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup : thou maintainest my lot." (2.) Jesus Christ is its treasure also. "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich," (Rev. iii. 18.) His blood, his righ- teousness, his merit, are an inexhaustible treasure; and all becomes ours, upon which we may live and subsist. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." But what is this to us ? yes, these treasures of wis- dom, that are hid in him, are made over unto us also, (1 Cor. i. 30,) "He of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanc- tification, and redemption." Oh, how rich is a true Christian, that hath such a treasury; and such a treasure as Christ is, to be his treasure! You find, (Heb. xi. 26,) that Moses esteemed " the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt :" cer- tainly, if the reproach of Christ be such a treasure, what then is Christ himself; and all those glorious benefits that do accrue unto the soul in and by him ? (3.) The promises also are a Christian's treasure. They are the veins wherein this gold runs ; the mines wherein this unsearch- able treasure is: and the work of faith upon the promises is, to stamp this golden ore into ready money, for the present necessity of the soul : so faith lives on the promises. (4.) A Christian's graces also are his treasure. Yea, though we have this treasure in earthen vessels, yet is it heavenly and precious treasure. Yea, though there be much dross mixed with this gold, yet still it is precious faith, rich love, firm hope, tried patience. Yea, every grace that shines in a Christian, is glorious: the crown of grace, as well as the crown of glory, hath not a sparkle in it, but what is more precious than the world itself. These are a Christian's treasure. III. I come now to make some improve- ment of this; to bring down what hath been said to some practical use. Use 1. Hast thou so rich a treasure laid up in heaven? Then, 0 Christian, be conscious of thine own worth. Henceforth know thy- self to be no contemptible person. Shall worldly men ruffle and brave it, and think none comparable to them, only because their heap of dung is bigger than another's? And shalt thou be low and abject-spirited, that hast God himself for thy portion, and Christ for thy husband ? Indeed, if you will value yourselves according to the world's esti- mation of you, then you are no better than the dross and dung of the world, and the off- scouring of all things. But see how the Scripture accounts of poor, persecuted, despised Christians, (Heb. xi. 37,) "They wandered up and down in sheep-skins and goat-skins; ,,, , - -_ - - - - - r Ii ,f II t.h~ cr.R.rnR.I nR.rt. ma.v t.hl~rrw in nn mllch a~.rt.h I thA cr~wn 11 12 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS, being destitute, afflicted, tormented :" a strange generation of despicable persons! but, says the Holy Ghost, " of whom the world was not worthy." And how doth David prize them, and call them the excellent ones of the earth: (Psal. xvi. 3,) " My delight is in the saints, and in the excellent ones of the earth !" Therefore, O Christian, begin to know thyself. Know what great relations thou hast : thou art no less than the son of a great King. Know thy great possessions: thou hast no less, at present, than the love and favour of God ; and every thing thou hast, thou hast it with a blessing : yea, though thou hast nothing in the world besides afflictions, yet thou hast that nothing with a blessing; and thou rather enjoyest, than sufferest, those afflictions that lie upon thee. Know thy great reversions also : thou art an heir of glory, a co-heir with Jesus Christ; and what he hath purchased for himself, he hath also purchased for thee : and thou, in due time, shalt be instated into that inheritance, whereof Jesus Christ is heir, and thou also shalt be co-heir. Wilt thou now, who hast so vast a treasure as this amounts to, go drooping and disconsolate, as a helpless and hopeless person, when thou wantest nothing less than to pity those that scorn thee? Let the world know, that a Christian hath self-sufficiency, and that at all times; and that he can live plentifully and splendidly upon his own stock : let the world know and see this by thy conversion. It was a noble and gallant speech of Saint Paul, when he stood in bonds and fetters before king Agrippa, who sat upon the judgment-seat to sentence him : "Would to God," says he, "that thou wert such a one as I am !" What! such a prisoner as thou art? a strange compliment for a prisoner to use to a judge ! yet you see how he values himself: he was not dazzled with Agrippa's crown and pomp, and all that fancy that he came with into the judgment- hall ; for he said not, "Would I were as thou art !" but, "Would to God thou wert such a one as I am, and then thou wouldst be truly happy." This is the value that every true Christian should set upon himself, when he is assured of the truth of his graces. He should not count any man in the world better than him- self. This is to honour grace. Use 2. Let the world hence learn, also, to beware how they despise the meanest of God's children. Men are apt to esteem of others, according to their visible estate in the things of this world; and if here they be low and poor, they trample upon them as vile and incon- siderable. But let such know, that every one of these slighted and despised ones is a great and rich person : they are rich towards God; they are God's jewels and peculiar treasure; and God also is their treasure and portion for evermore. It is wealth, I confess, that makes all the noise and bustle in the world, and challenges all honour as due to itself alone. Says Solomon, " The rich man hath many friends :" well, let respect go by wealth ; we are content to go and stand by this trial. Solomon tells us, "The heart of the wicked is little worth :" it is of no price nor value; and shall his estate be of worth and value, when his heart is not? The poorest Christian may vie estates with all the world : let the world drop down millions of gold and silver, bound- less revenues, and crowns and sceptres : a poor contemptible Christian comes and lays down one God against all these, and beggars them. And shall this great and mighty Christian be contemned and slighted? You do not know him now; but hereafter you shall see him sitting on a throne, clothed with robes of glory and awful majesty ; daunting the grandees of the world, who shall then stand shivering before him, while he boldly sets his -hand to the sentence of their damnation, and sends them to hell with a shout. How will they with horror then cry out, " Is this that poor and despicable creature, that we mocked and despised? Behold, now he is exalted, and we are thrown down to hell." Certainly, you will have other esteem and opinions of men at the last and great day, than now you have : those that are honourable now, will be despicable; and those that are despicable now, will be truly honourable, if they belong to Christ. Use 3. This might also serve to discharge thunder in the faces of all those, who are so far from laying up treasure in heaven, that they lay up treasure in hell. Suich treasures as these are, the apostle speaks of in Rom. ii. 5, "who, after the hard- ness and impenitency of their hearts, treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Such, who sin as though the ephah of their iniquities would never be full enough, and the heap of their sins never great enough: let these know, that when they have done treasuring up sin, then God will begin to empty the treasures of his wrath and indignation upon them. For every sin they commit, God sets down so much wrath upon their scores; and he will be sure to pay them all at the last day, to the full. Use 4. Which is the use I principally intend; and that is for examination. Let us now put it to the inquiry, "What is it that we make our treasure? What is it that we account our good things ?" Our Saviour, I told you, hereby distinguishes between wicked men and the children of God,- the one lays up his treasure in heaven; the other, on earth: and, therefore, the query is, What is thy treasure? It is of great weight and mo- ment. II ~rr~~ nnaCJI1LCZ hmant np w~ nr rarlrrnr I napr an r3 12, WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. Now, because usually a man's treasure is kept hid and secret, therefore we must the more inquisitively enter into the search of it; and, before the ransack be thoroughly made, few men, I fear, will be found rich and sub- stantial men ; but, more especially those that glitter most in the world, will be found to be but poor and despicable creatures. 1st, Thei'efore, take that character that our Saviour gives in the text: " Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Put it now to the question,-Where are your hearts ? Truly, man's heart is not in his own keeping: no; but it will go along with his treasure ; and where that is, this will be also. And therefore, says the prophet, speaking of them that made worldly things their treasure, " their hearts run after their covetousness." Worldly possessions were their treasure ; and their hearts did run after them, in covetous desires of them. The worldling seals up his heart in the same bag with his treasure : and a child of God sends his heart to heaven before him, where it lies as a precious depositum among all the rest of his treasure; and when he comes to heaven, there he finds his heart among all those precious things that he shall enjoy. That which thy heart is most busied about and most taken up with, is thy treasure. Dive down now into the bottom of thy heart, and see how the musings and imaginations thereof do work : are they chained only to the things of this world? do they trudge to and fro, every one of them loaden only with bur- dens of earth ? and when they come thronging about thee, do they buzz nothing in thine ears but intelligence, either from some base lust or some worldly profit? If this be the constant and only employments of thy thoughts, assure thyself thy treasure is not laid up in heaven : no, nor on earth; but, which is worse, it is laid up in hell. The thoughts of a child of God are still taking wing, and flying upward towards heaven; and every one of them carries up his heart, richly fraught with divine grace: one thought is laden with the actings of faith; another with the actings of hope; another with the actings of love : and they never leave ascending, till they are got into the presence of God, and lay their rich treasure in his bosom; and God again fills them with heavenly trea- sure; and bids one thought carry a smile to the soul, and tell the soul how dear it is to him; by another thought, he conveys strength; and by another, comfort; and sends all away laden with precious treasure to the soul. If your thoughts traffic only in the world, your treasure is there; if in heaven, then your trea- sure is in heaven. But you will say, " How can we judge of our treasure by our thoughts? Is not the far greater swarm of every man's thoughts vain and sinful ?" I answer,-It is true they are so. Some are vain and sinful; some are idle and impertinent; some are worldly ; and some are wicked; and few, comparatively, are the holy and spiritual thoughts, that any man sends up to heaven. We must not, therefore, judge by the crowd or numerousness of our thoughts; but by the entertainment which they find in our affec- tions, by the stay and abode which they make in our hearts. (Jer. iv. 14,) "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" It is not, what the sudden flashings of our thoughts are, though that indeed should deeply humble us ; but mark what it is that thy heart fixes and dwells upon, what flowers these intellec- tual bees, thy thoughts, suck most sweetness and honey from : when thy thoughts have been foraging abroad, and bring home some sin, and present it before thee, doth thy heart rise against it, and shut it out of doors, and dost thou shut thy heart upon it? but when thy thoughts bring home God and Christ, and the things of heaven and eternity in their arms, do thy affections clasp and twine about them? doth thy heart enlarge and expatiate to en- tertain them? dost thou give up thyself, in full strength and 'latitude, to such heavenly thoughts as these are? This is a good sign that thy treasure is laid up in heaven, because thou art so much there thyself. But others, again, will say, "My thoughts are necessarily taken up with the world : my calling devours them; so that I have no opportunity to sequester myself for heavenly meditation: must I, therefore, be excluded from having my treasure in heaven, because my thoughts are necessarily employed in the world ?" I answer, (1.) Thoughts, of all things in the world, are most free. There is no man's calling doth so confine him, but, were his heart and affections heavenly and spiritual, his thoughts would force a passage through the crowd of worldly businesses, to heaven. Ejaculations are swift messengers, that need not much time to deliver their errand, nor much time to return again to the soul. You may point your earthly employments with heavenly meditations, as men do their writings with stops; ever now and then sending up a thought unto heaven: and such pauses are no hinderance to our earthly affairs. (2.) It is the property of grace and holiness, when there are no actual explicit thoughts of God, then to be habitually in the fear of God; possessing the heart and overawing it, that it shall not do any thing that is sinful, or mis- becoming a Christian. And therefore, says the wise man excellently, (Prov. xxiii. 17,) "Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." Whatever business you have, the fear of the Lord may constantly abide, overawe, and possess your heart. (3.) Observe how your thoughts work, when you have vacancy and remission from 13 I 14 WORKS OF BI your employments. Are they spiritual then? Do they betake themselves to God? Do they lock up themselves in their heavenly treasure? Dost thou spiritually improve the times of thy leisure ? David called to mind his "songs in the night, and his spirit made diligent search ;" when he awaked, he was ever with God : he slept -with God in his thoughts ; and he awaked with God again in his thoughts. Whatever employments a man hath, he hath some time of leisure. When thou hast been drudging in the world, and hast gotten a little vacancy and freedom from it, dost thou spend that little time in the thoughts of God, and of the things of eternity ? or do the world and the things of the world, interpose and take up thy thoughts ? If so, how canst thou say thy treasure is there, when thy thoughts and thy heart are never there ? as Delilah said unto Sampson, " How canst thou say that thou lovest ne, when thy heart is not towards me ?" so, -how canst thou say that thy treasure is in heaven, when thy heart and thy thoughts are not there-? 2d, A second mark, whereby you may know where your treasure is, is this,-That which bears the chief sway and command in a man's affections, is a man's treasure. Affections are the wings of the soul, that carry it forth to its several objects ; and these move to nothing more swiftly, strongly, and constantly, than to what is the soul's treasure. When your souls take these wings and fly abroad, follow them, and see what it is upon which they light : as the eagle will hover over the carcass, so the affections will be still hover- ing over the soul's treasure. See now, whither it is your desire and love, your joy and delight, do carry you forth. Is it only to the things of this world? certainly, if these wings be clotted only with mire and dirt, if they only flutter up and down the surface of the earth, and mount up no higher, your treasure is not a heavenly treasure. The affections of the children of God still ascend upwards, and bear up their hearts with them, till they lodge in that divine bosom, where first they were enkindled. I need not tell those happy ones, what it is to have their hearts so extended in love to God, and the things of God, as to cause a kind of loss, pain, and torture ; what it is to have that joy springing up in the soul, that is unutterable; yea, such insupportable joys, as have melted them into ecstasies. How infi- nitely would they now disdain, that any soul should be so grossly foolish, as to prefer the world before, or equalize it with, God! ten thousand worlds are not so much to them, as one momentary glimpse of God, in commu- nion with him : nay, they think their happi- ness so great, that, though they do believe, yet they cannot conceive how it should be more and greater in heaven itself. Then the soul claps its wings, and fain would take its flight SHOP HOPKINS. and-.be gone: it breathes, and breaks, and pants after God. See what an agony holy David was in, (Psal. xlii. 1, 2,) "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth for God, for- the living God : when shall I come and appear before God ?" Indeed, the whole psalm is the most mournful and pathetical composure in all the Scripture, of a heart that beats and throbs after God, with vehement love and desire after the enjoying of him : and whence was this, but because God was the portion and treasure of his soul? he was " the health of his countenance and his God," (ver. 11.) Wheresoever God and the things of God are made the soul's treasure, there will be proportionable affections drawn out to these things. Never was it known that a treasure wanted affections. " But, alas !" may some say, "I fear, then, that I have no share in this heavenly treasure. Never was I so strongly affected with the dis- coveries of God and Christ, and the things of heaven ; never was I so taken and ravished, as with some temporal mercies and enjoyments. I could never feel such transportations of spirit in communion with God, as you speak of: no such ravishments of love, nor such meltings and vehemency of desires to the things of heaven, as I have often found to the concernments and in the enjoyments of the' world. Never do I remember that I rejoiced so vehemently in God, as in some new unex- pected mercy; or that ever I mourned so bitterly for sinning against God, or for the hiding of the light of God's countenance from me, as I have done for some cross outward providence. And how, then, can I say my treasure is laid up in heaven, since earth and the things of earth have the sway and pre- eminency in my affections ?" This may, possibly, trouble some. To this, therefore, I answer, that there are two things by which the predominancy and sway of a man's affections may be judged :- 1. By their violent passionateness. 2. By their judicious valuation and esteem. Thou complainest, that earth and earthly things have the predominancy and sway in thy affections. But look what sort of affec- tions they are: are they only thy fondlings, thy violent and passionate affections? this may be so, and yet heavenly things be thy treasure. Many times so it is, that what is superior in these, may be inferior, nay, almost contemptible, in thy rational and judicious affections, Men may be fond of those persons, for whom they have not such solid and judi- cious affections as they have for others. So is it here; a Christian's fondness may be more to the things of this world, when yet his judicious affections may be far more to the things of heaven. "But how shall we try this ?" --lt~~ nvwth lc ,nnr. tthvnlv I~ltn~ THE EXCELLENCY OF I (1.) Obseve, as you must not judge of your value and esteem of earthly things by your passionate affections to them ; so neither must you judge of your valuing heavenly things, by your speculative judgment of them. It is not enough, when you compare heavenly things with earthly, barely to pronounce heavenly things to be infinitely better and more desirable than earthly. Truly, every man's conscience tells him thus much. There is no man, whoever he be, that thinks of heaven, but is withal verily persuaded, that it is infinitely more glorious than earth is; and that the enjoyment of God, a crown of life and immortality, is infinitely more to be preferred than all the trash and trifles here below. And there is no worldling, when his conscience beckons him aside, and whispers these things in his ears, but is convinced, and assents unto these things as truths : and yet this man's treasure is not therefore laid up in heaven, because he judges, in his speculative judgment, that heavenly things are better than earthly: this is to say they are better, and to judge them so; but not to esteem and value them so. And therefore, (2.) The true valuation of heavenly things as the soul's treasure, lies in the practical part of the soul. Valuation is a practical thing. I cannot be said to value an object, unless that esteem hath.some influence upon my actions, as relating to that object : either it will put me upon endeavours to obtain it, or stir up care in me to keep it. Mark that place, (1 Pet. ii. 7,) " Unto you which believe, he is precious ; but unto them who are disobedient, he is a rock of offence." In the 6th verse, he tells us, Christ was precious in himself, "I lay in Zion a corner-stone, elect and precious :" in the 4th verse, he tells us, he was precious to God, "chosen of God and precious :" and in the 7th verse, he comes to shew what esteem men had of him: to believers, saith he, "he is also precious; but unto them who are disobedient, he is a rock of offence." What is the reason, when he opposes wicked men to believers, that he calls them disobedient per- sons, acd not rather unbelievers? the reason is, because we must not look to men's outward, acknowledgment, whereby they judge what is precious to them ; for all will so pronounce God, and Christ, and the things of heaven in their speculative judgment: they will pass this sentence; but you must look to their practice, and see what influence this valuation hath there. And thus, Christ is not precious to unbelievers, because that esteem they have of him doth not enforce them to obedience to him. Examine, therefore, which hath most in- fluence into your life and practice : whether your passionate affections for the things of this life, or your judicious and deliberate affections for the things of heaven ; for thereby you may, in part, guess what is your treasure. HEAVENLY TREASURES. 15 A small torrent runs very violently, and makes a loud noise; yet hath not that strength in it that a river hath, though it move silently. So it is with the affections of a child of God: though they may run out violently towards the things of the world, yet have they nut that strength in them, which there is in his sober affections for the things of heaven. How violent soever your affections be to temporal mercies,-suppose friends, children, estate, or the like; yet if you do value and esteem heavenly things as your treasure, this valuation and esteem will have the sway and pre-eminency in two things especially :--- 1. It will enforce the soul to use more dili- gence and care to increase its spiritual treasure, than to increase any temporal good thing whatever. That is a man's treasure, to which he is still adding and throwing one precious thing after another ; nor will he ever think it can be too full, and too rich. And therefore you have that expression, (2 Pet. i. 5-7,) " Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godli- ness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." See here how the apostle strings up these pearls. Now, what is it you are most careful and industrious to add unto? Truly, that which most men make their business, is to add house to house, and land to land, that their names may dwell alone upon the earth. Suppose we had lived in Solomon's time, when silver and gold were as common as stones in the street, if one should spend all his time in gathering up straws and feathers, could you in reason think, that he made God his treasure'? yet this is the foolish and busy care of worldly men, that, though they might gather up that which is far more precious than gold and silver; yet they rather employ themselves in picking up straws and feathers, and think with them to build their own nest. But there is a holy covetousness in a child of God, that makes him still to be gathering up heavenly riches: still he is adding grace to grace; and though he thinks to be the mean- est Christian in the world is more worth than the world, yet he would not be content to be the meanest. As to outward respects, he is well content to keep the station wherein Providence hath set him; if he stand at a stay in worldly enjoyments, it is no great trouble to him. But he cannot bear a standing at a stay in grace : there he must be growing and thriving, and going forward : let his affections be set never so eagerly upon his outward com- forts, yet he is not so eager to increase them as he is his heavenly treasure. And, that it is so, appears in two things :- (1.) In that he sets a higher price upon opportunities for the increasing of his heavenly CC ~hnnAn rrf (;nrl u.nrl:.nrpnlnns i" ~.nrl. I m~n' _ ' , t 1 16 WORKS OF BI treasure, than upon any other seasons and opportunities whatever. Oh, what gain and enriching doth he make on a market-day for his soul ! Sabbaths to him are precious: ordinances to him are precious : why? but because in them he sees the glory of Christ displayed, and the fulness of the promises unfolded? because by them his faith is strengthened, his love is inflamed, his hope confirmed ? He goes far more wealthy from them, than he came to them; and therefore it is an argument that he labours to increase his heavenly treasure, because he sets a higher price and value upon opportunities to increase that treasure, than he doth upon any other whatever. (2.) It appears, in that he is willing to stand at a stint in outward enjoyments, but he cannot bear a stint in grace. He cannot live upon a set allowance there. Let God deal how he pleaseth with him in outward things, let him reduce him to a morsel of bread and to a cup of water, it is enough; so he gives him but a Benjamin's portion in himself: let him seize upon all his temporals and take them away, if so be he doth but instate him in a great possession of spirituals, he is content. "My body," says he, "can subsist with a little; but my soul cannot. My spiritual charges and expenses are great, and multiply upon me daily: I have many strong temptations to be resisted, and many prevailing corruptions to be mortified, and many holy and spiritual duties to be per- formed; and how shall I be able to defray all this with no better a supply? my present stock is not able to maintain it." Still he is coniplaining, that he hath too little to main.. tain him in his work, that he may be such a Christian as he aims at and would be: and therefore he cries out, "Lord, though I thank thee for what I do possess ;" yet hlie still craves more of himself: "Thou art infinite, and what is it to enjoy a little of an infinite God? More of thy Son: hlie is all-sufficient; and what is it to have an insufficient portion in an all-sufficient Saviour? More of thy grace: that is free, and what is it to'enjoy a limited portion of unlimited and boundless grace ?" This is the property of heavenly riches, that they make them that have them still to be covetous after more : the worldling adds heap to heap ; and the Christian adds grace to grace, and one degree of grace to another; and thinks he hath attained to nothing, till he hath attained so far, as that there is nothing farther to be attained; and therefore he goes on labouring after more, till he doth insensibly ripen into glory, and hath nothing more for him to desire. If you value heavenly things now as your treasure, you will still be adding to this treasure; growing every day richer than other towards God. 2. And then, if you do practically value SHOP HOPKINS. and esteem heavenly things as your soul's treasure, you will sooner part with all other comforts and enjoyments than with this. It may be, you cannot say that ever you felt such pangs of joy and delight in the enjoyment of God, as you have done in some outward mercy; you never felt such comfort in spiritual mercies, as you have in some outward comforts, that providentially were bestowed upon you: and therefore you have cause to fear, that your treasure is here below, and not above. But this is still to judge by the passionateness of your affections, that is as a disturbed water that cannot reflect your face aright. If you would judge truly, then- put this question to your soul : "Soul, now that thou dost so vehemently delight in this comfort and in that enjoyment, which wouldst thou rather part with, - this delightful comfort, or thy God ?" Certainly, a child of God would have a holy indignation against himself, should he but debate the question. "Oh," will he say, " though God take every thing from me but himself, yet he leaves me enough to make me happy; and in the enjoyment of other things, I were truly miserable, could I be made so by their loss." A saint's rational affections, consisting in the due valuation and esteem of heavenly things, will triumph over his more eager and passionate affections to the things of the world. Think with thyself now, what is dearest to thee in the world, and then set God, and heaven in the balance against them; and then thou shalt see, though earthly com- forts may engross too much of thy affec- tions, and lie near thy heart, yet that God and heavenly things still have the greatest sway and predominancy in thy affections if thou dost truly value them. And so for the commission of a sin : it may be, some outward affliction may cost thee more passion- ate grief and tears, than the commission of sin hath done: thou never mournedst, it may be, so bitterly for thy offending of God, as thou hast done for God's afflicting of thee; and this thou lookest upon as a bad sign that thy affections are not so much to the honour of God, as to outward comforts and prosperity. Yea, but let me ask thee,-Wouldst thou rather fall into the same affliction, or commit the same sin again? certainly, if thou art a saint, thou wilt soon resolve the question : " No misery or plague is so great as sin ; and though it be my folly thus passionately to lament under this cross and affliction, yet I would rather bear it, yea, I would rather bear whatever God can lay on me, than knowingly to commit the least sin against my God." This is the judgment of a child of God: and, therefore, Job makes it the character of a hypocrite, that he chooseth iniquity rather than affliction. And so much for the second mark or cha- racter. II IrL1Cill;lVl~t; lit; ~Tlt;S UUL. YVICLI ~ILVUtLLI L LllitllK I VULWiLI~I i~J THE EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. 3d, See what it is that you most trust unto and live upon, when all other things fail you. That, certainly, is your treasure. Men usually reserve their treasure to be their support at the last pinch and extremity. See the case of Asaph, (Psalm lxxiii. 26,) "My flesh and my heart faileth :" and must not he therefore fail? hath he any thing else to support him? Yes: now comes in relief from his treasure: " But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever :" he is my treasure; a treasure that will never fail me, and that never can be spent : he is my portion for ever. And thus, every child of God, when other things fail him, when other props are taken from under him, will then support himself from his God, that is his por- tion for ever. Micah had a true notion of Gdd, though falsely applied to idols: "Ye have taken away my gods, and what have I more ?" ' Take from a saint all worldly com- forts and all earthly enjoyments; and if you ask him what he hath more, he can truly say, " Yes : still I have more than I have lost : I have my God left me still." But were it possible that his God should be taken from him, then, indeed, what hath he more? he hath nothing then left him to support him and to live upon. Can you, therefore, in all your distresses, find relief and comfort in your God? can you, when all props fail you, betake yourselves to him, and find enough in him to support and bear up yourselves, when you have nothing in the world to depend upon ? can you then find enough in him, to live comfortably and splendidly ? If so, itis a sign God is your treasure. When all other things fail, God comes in as the relief and support of that soul, that makes him to be his treasure. 4th, Look, not only what it is which you value in itself ; but that by which, and accor- ding to which, you value both yourselves and others; that is your treasure. And here I shall lay down two things : - (1.) If the soul hath assurance, and knows beyond all doubt and fallibility, that heavenly treasure is his, he will value himself according to that treasure. "Would to God," says the apostle to King Agrippa, "that thou wert such a one as I am." And so, (1 Cor. xv.) when he had spoken of himself in the 9th verse, "I am the least of all the apostles, not meet and worthy to be called an apostle ;" there he values himself as in himself : but yet, in the 10th verse, "By the grace of God I am what I am :" and what was that? why, says he, this grace received I "not in vain, for I laboured more abundantly than they all." Low was his esteem of himself, considered in himself, "less than the least of all the apostles:" but, considering himself in respect of grace, "By grace," says he, "I am what I am :" and I am such a one also, as have received grace to labour more than all of them. And so, (Jer. ix. 23, 24,) "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches :" he excludes all boasting from them- selves, "But, let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he knoweth me, that I am the Lord;" let him value and esteem of himself according to that. Now, do you not prize yourselves by some outward privileges or worldly advantages? do you not think your- selves somebody, because you have riches and estates, or the like? do you account your- selves nothing worth, more than what you are in respect of grace, more than what you are in respect of your interest in God, and in that heavenly treasure and riches? This is a sign that you do indeed make heavenly things to be your treasure, when you rate yourselves so much worth as you have of that treasure. (2.) If the soul want assurance, and so can- not value itself according to its interest in that heavenly treasure; if it cannot see its right and title to this heavenly treasure, then it values others according to their interest in that treasure. It is not according to their estates or honour in the world, but according to what they have of Christ, and God, and heavenly things. A child of God, that values heavenly things as his treasure, will value the men that have this treasure and these riches. Use 5. Several characters have been laid before you, for the examination of yourselves, whether you do value heaven and heavenly things as your treasure. If now by those characters you have taken an account of your estate, you either find yourselves rich in this heavenly treasure, or not. If you cannot say, God and Christ, and the great and glorious things of eternity are yours; if you doubt that heaven is your exchequer, and of all that rich and precious treasure it contains there is any thing that you can call yours; let me then direct you to a twofold word of exhorta- tion :- 1. That, above all gettings, you would chiefly labour to get a portion in this heavenly treasure. And, 2. That you would never rest satisfied, till you have got a full assurance that this treasure is yours, and that you are enriched by it. The one is to them that are indeed poor, but think themselves rich and increased in goods, and to stand in need of nothing. The other, is to them that are indeed rich, but yet think themselves poor and miserable. 1st, To them that have no share in this heavenly treasure. Is there such an infinite mass of riches exposed, not to sale, but to gift; riches inestimable, invaluable, and unsearch- able; such riches, that he who would worthily describe them, must first suffer a translation, and learn the tongue of an angel to speak whole God at every word? and shall not this YO'. IT, I _ 17 ' 18 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. stir up and quicken your desires to get these riches? What! sirs, is there not a covetous person among you all ? Is there not one that cares how to be rich? Is wealth grown such , a vile and contemptible thing with you, as to stand in need of other exhortations and motives besides itself, to commend it to your acceptance? No, certainly, riches have not lost their allurements, nor have men lost their covetousness. If I should tell you this day, of rich purchases and large donations, of gainful bargains and the speediest and easiest way to grow great in the world, and of invaluable treasures that you might have for fetching; how would most men's ears drink in such golden eloquence as this is! "Oh, where, and how ?" would be the question of all of you. What, then, is the reason that, when we set before you the glorious excellencies of this heavenly treasure, the least dust and filings of which is enough to bankrupt all that the world calls precious,-since it gives no less than crowns, robes, and sceptres, God, and Christ, and glory, and immortality,-what is the reason that men's hearts generally are so frozen and cold towards these things? Why are they not covetous and earnest in seeking after these things ? Truly, the grand comprehensive reason is flt atheism. So many as are careless of this heavenly treasure, so many atheists are there in the world. Saint Paul hath told us, that he that is covetous of earthly things, is an idola- ter : I may tell you, he that is not covetous after heavenly things, he is a flat atheist. But, more particularly, - (1.) Men are not thoroughly convinced that there is indeed such a treasure ; or that this treasure is so rich, and so precious and glorious, as it is described. And why is this, but because it is hidden treasure? Here, they see what pomp and advantages earthly riches bring with them ; but they never saw the state that an angel keeps: they never saw the glory of "the spirits of just men made perfect :" they never saw the court and attendance of the eternal King. They have heard, indeed, mighty and strange things concerning all these; but what shall they do, if they prove but dreams and fancies? and why, then, should they trouble themselves about uncertainties ? possibly they are such as are described; possibly, they are not. Truly, these are men's atheistical principles; and though they dare not own and profess it, yet this is at the bottom of all that deadness and indifferency, that is in most men to the things of heaven. Now, although the bare possibility of the truth of these glorious things, and the little danger there is in attempting to obtain them, might prevail with rational men to put them upon earnest endeavours after them; yet carnal desires and earthly affections striking in with these loose atheistical and carnal opinions concern- ing the certainty of these glorious discoveries, they sway them so powerfully to earthly things, that all their thoughts and care and contrivances are laid out upon them, to the neglect, yea, to the contempt of heavenly and spiritual things. (Psalm xiv. 1,) "The foQl hath said in his heart, There is no God : " it was but in his heart; it was but a thin film of a thought, that scarce arrived at the form of a conception ; yet see liow this hath influ- ence into his life : "They are corrupt ; they have done abominable works ; there is none that doeth good." Oh beware, therefore, that you never entertain a thought in the leastwise derbgatory to the infinite glory of heaven : doubting or unworthy thoughts of heaven will insensibly make you careless in your endeavours after it: be, therefore, firm and unshaken in this belief, that heavenly glory is unsearchable, that heavenly riches are invaluable : yea, believe that whatever belongs to heaven is before and beyond all that is here below : the more the eye, though but of a historical faith, discovers and sees of these things, the more will the hand labour and be diligent in the obtaining of them. (2.) Another reason why men do not labour after this heavenly treasure, is, because they are not thoroughly convinced that they stand in need of this heavenly treasure. They say, with the Church, (Rev. iii. 17,) that they are "rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." They know not, and therefore they care not for looking after, this heavenly treasure. They do not see their need of grace to sanctify them, their need of mercy to justify them, their need of the promises to support them, and their need of Christ to save them. Who is it that cries out, they are undone, eternally undone, without these things? Who is it that is sensible of these things? They think a little of these things will go far, and what they have already is enough : and it is altogether as hard to make these men discontented with the poverty of their spiritual condition, as it is to make them contented with the abun- dance and fulness of their temporal condition. Oh, that men were but once awakened to see the necessity that they stand in of this hea- venly treasure ! But how should they be awakened? 1. Consider, - The great cost and expense which you must be at, if you will be saved. It is true, if you resolve to perish, as poor as now you are, yet you are too rich a prey for the devil :.but if you intend happiness and your own salvation, you must have a large and rich stock to trade withal. A poor and beggarly professor will never set up in Chris- I . TH EXCELLENCY OF HEAVENLY TREASURES. tianity. No, alvation is a costly thing: many powerful corruptions must be subdued; many divine graces must be acted; many holy duties must be performed: and what have you to bear out all this charge with? See that expression, (Titus, iii. 8,) that they "be careful to maintain good works :" such good works, he means, as are conducible to salvation. To maintain such good works is so great a charge, as will beggar all the ability of nature, if you, have not a heavenly treasure to defray it: you cannot, by the power of nature and all natural endowments, maintain good works : are they able to act faith, and love, and patience, and humility, and self- denial ? I know it is both easy and pleasant, to think and hope that you shall be saved: but, sit down first, and consider what it will cost you. Can your present stock carry you through good and evil report, through re- proaches and afflictions ? Will it carry you through all? If not, will you yet say, you are "rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing ?" Be convinced, therefore, that you are poor and insufficient creatures; and that you stand in need of abundance of supply from this heavenly treasure, to dis- charge this cost and expense that you must be at, if ever you will be saved. 2. Consider the desperate debts you have contracted with the justice of God, and the deep arrears you are run into with the wrath and vengeance of God ; and how do you think to clear your account, without a vast and infi- nite treasure to defray it ? Suppose God should take every sinner this day before him by the throat, and say to him, "Wretch! pay me what thou owest me ; I will give thee no longer time." "Pay thee, Lord! why, what is that I owe thee ?" 1. "Thou owest me huge and vast sums for all the temporal mercies thou enjoyest. Thou vauntest it in the world, as though none were so great as thou art: yea, but thou hast paid for nothing that thou hast. Here is so much upon the account for thy estate; and so much for credit and reputation : so much for protection and preservation ; yea, for thy life and soul : yea, thou owest me for all. Pay me now for all these; yea, and the utmost farthing too for all these debts : or else lie for ever in hell." Oh, that worldly-minded men would but seriously consider, that none of the good things which they now enjoy are upon free- cost; there must and will certainly come an after-reckoning : and then, perhaps, they will say, it is one of the worst bargains they made in their whole lives, when they were content to grow rich, when this after-reckoning comes, and God shall call them to pay for all the mercies and enjoyments that he lent them. 2. Thou owest God for many thousands of sins and provocations against him, which thou must make recompense and satisfaction for. And therefore sins are called debts : "Forgive us our debts." And how many thousand talents art thou thus indebted to God ! Every sin is a talent of lead, for its weight, to sink the soul deep into hell; but it is a talent of gold, for its price and satisfaction. God's law is transgressed; and how canst thou recompense it ? his wrath is provoked; and how canst thou atone it ? thy soul is forfeited to endless torments ; and how canst thou re- deem it? '"The redemption of the soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." Tell me now, 0 sinner, art thou rich enough in thyself to discharge all these debts ? Caust thou pay God to the full, for every mercy thou hast received? Canst thou satisfy him to the full, for every sin thou hast committed ? Dost thou think still, that thou hast no need of a treasure to discharge all these ? Possibly, by this time, thou art convinced that thou standest in need of a treasure: but, it may be, thou thinkest there is none rich enough to do all this. Truly, there is none, but the treasure of the infinite merit of Christ, who, for those that believe on him, bath paid off all their score : so that neither God's mercies, nor yet their own sins, shall ever be charged'upon them to their condemnation. They can plead, "Lord, here is a full price, the precious blood of thine own Son. It was, indeed, thine own free grace that bestowed him upon us, who is such a boundless treasure: but, being instated in that, we do no longer desire to deal with thee upon terms of grace; but upon most severe, rigorous, and strict justice. What mercies we have had were purchased for us by this price : what sins we have coinm- mitted were satisfied for us by this expiation; and, therefore, we stand acquitted in law." Thus may those, that have a part in this heavenly treasure, make up their accounts with a great deal of confidence; when others, that have nothing to discharge their debts withal, shall be cast into prison, whence they shall never return. Be convinced, therefore, of the absolute need and necessity that you stand in of this heavenly treasure. (3.) Another reason why no more labour after this heavenly treasure is, because there are so few mnien that are willing to*go upon trust. Truly, the riches of a child of God are in believing, in trusting: and therefore we have that expression, (James, ii. 5,) "The poor of this world, rich in faith." Now to be rich in faith only, the world counts a fantastic kind of riches : they would rather be rich in present possessions : they know not the mystery of growing rich, by believing, and having nothing. Now the people of God go on trust for their treasure: and that two ways,- } _' II t.h~c~z" : I ana, tneretl 19 ~2O WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. 1. Their treasures are invisible. (2 Cor. iv. 18,) "We look not at the things which are seen ; but at the things which are not seen." The greatest part of what a Christian doth enjoy lies in invisibles : in the love of God ; in interest in him ; in communion and fellowship with him ; in the actings of faith and dependence upon him. Tell an earthly carnal man of such a treasure as this, he wonders where lies the glory and excellency of it : he sees not God, nor Christ: he sees not that sweet communion and intercourse that there is betwixt God and the soul. The things of the world he sees: the pomp, and glory, and splendour of the earth, these are objects of his sense; they are sensible things, and therefore these are things that do affect him ; but he prizes not invisible things, be- cause " out of sight, out of mind." 2. Their treasure is not only invisible, but future : it is to come. It is but little that a saint enjoys for the present : his great estate lies in hope and in reversion. Now he lives, it may be, upon glimpses and half smiles, and very restricted communications of God unto his soul; he hath only enough to make him to know what that inheritance is that he expects; and, were it not that his faith tells him some- times how rich and glorious it is, truly he could not live and subsist upon his present incomes. Now there is a body of sin and death, that keeps him low and mean in his actual enjoyments ; this keeps him in non-' age, and bars him from the possession of his estate : yea, but when this old man dies, then there falls to him a large and glorious inheri- tance; then he is instated into the present possession of all his hopes, and then he can live as much by sight and sense as the men of the world now do. Now this doth not affect earthly men : they have somewhat for the present, and they care not for the future : the world is in their hands, but heaven is afar off: As eternity is that which shall never end, so it shall never begin with them; and so, foolish creatures! while they are pleasing themselves with empty enjoyments here below, eternity comes upon them unexpected, and they unprovided for it. And that is a third reason. (4.) Few men are willing to come up to the price of this heavenly treasure. "Why, what is the price ?" you will say. Truly, it is nothing less than all; (Matt. xiii. 46,) our Saviour, speaking of the wise mer- chant, says, that " when he had found the pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." Now, though hereby is not required actual renouncing of all, but only a disposition of heart to part with all, when they stand either in competition with or opposition to these heavenly things yet men's affections are so glued to the world, and the follies and vanities here below, that they count this a hard bargain, and they would rather forego God, and Christ, and the great and glorious things of eternity, than buy them at so dear a rate, as to be willing to part with them all for heavenly things. You see, then, what hinders men from making heavenly things their treasure. Be- ware that these things be not charged upon you, as your practical error, at the last day. Let me tell you, it will be sad and dreadful for you, to see poor despicable saints let in to the full possession of this treasure, which here they believed, and hoped, and longed for; and you yourselves, for cleaving to these vain and worldly enjoyments, to be shut out in eternal torments : what horror and dread will this cause within you ? Thus much for the first branch of this exhortation,-Labour to get these heavenly things to be your treasure. 2d, The other branch is, Never rest satisfied without a full assurance that this heavenly treasure is yours; that you have a share in it, and a right to it. (1.) Consider,-Without this assurance you can never live comfortably. For, though it be sufficient for your eternal safety and security, that God is your treasure and your exceeding great reward; yet it will not be sufficient for your present comfort, unless you know and apprehend him so to be. (2.) Without this assurance you can never live generously, and as it becomes a Christian. That is, you cannot live above the world without it : not above the fears and flatteries, above the frowns and fawnings, of the world; unless you have assurance that God is your treasure. A Christian, that knows God is his portion, can do thus: he can rejoice in tribu- lation, and triumph in afflictions, and live splendidly upon his God, though all the things of this world fail him. (Habak. iii. 17, 18,) "Although the fig-tree should not blossom, neither fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive should fail ; though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stalls :" what then? must not he languish and perish with other men ? no : "Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation." What is the reason there is so much base compliance, and cringing, and servileness to every humour of men, but only because men have no assur- ance of any treasure but what may be taken from them by men ? I need not tell you what times we are now fallen into : they are perilous times, wherein nothing is worth the making sure; nay, indeed, nothing can possibly be made sure. We see changes and vicissitudes upon every thing; and therefore make that sure, that alone can be made sure; and that is God, and heavenly and spiritual things: and then, "Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be hurled into the __ --- -- iIernvne ~~ w~~m~h., trth? Inl~ri-l I 20 I WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. I' -,' THE EXCELLENCY OF HTEAVENLY TREASURE. midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar, andthe mountains shake, yet God will be our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble," (Psalm xlvi. 1-3.) To those that have had this full assurance, I shall only speak two words briefly. 1. Live upon your treasure : by faith fetch in supplies from it for all your exigencies and necessities. Yea, live at a far higher rate than what the men of the world can do, that so they may be convinced that the poorest Christian hath greater sufficiency in himself than all the world besides; that the world may be convinced that a Christian hath more in God than the greatest worldling can have in all his worldly possessions. 2. Take heed of wasting and spending this treasure. Indeed, the main stock cannot nor shall not be spent; yet take heed of diminish- ing the heap. Be still adding to it, rather than wasting it. Truly, sin will both waste your treasure, and blot your evidences, and darken that knowledge and assurance that you have that this treasure is yours. I have but one word more; and that is, to exhort you to lay up your earthly treasures in heaven: you cannot lay them up in a safer place. But you will say, "How may that be done ?" Why, if you lay them out for the honour and glory of God, and in his service, you shall thereby lay them up in heaven : this is the way to carry earth to heaven; yea, to make earthly comforts and enjoyments to tend upon you farther than the grave. We say com- monly, "These things will go no farther than the grave with us ; there we must part with them." No, lay up these earthly things in heaven, by employing them for the honour and glory of God, and they shall and will go farther with you than the grave; and though you brought nothing with you into the world, yet you shall carry them out of the world with you. See Rev. xiv. 13, "Their works do follow them ;" they enter into heaven with them. And (Luke, xvi. 9,) "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of un- righteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations." " Mammon of unrighteousness;" that is, earthly enjoyments ; so called, because usually abused to unrighteousness. "Make you friends of them ;" that is, so lay them out for the glory of God and the good of others, "that, when ye fail," that is, when you die, you may be received into "everlasting habi- tations," that is, into everlasting glory. And thus I have finished this subject of laying up treasure in heaven. The Lord make what hath been spoken profitable to your souls! 21 L ____ i PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY, RECOMMENDED, URGED, AND ENCOURAGED, IN WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION. " Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which worketh in you, both to will an< to do of his good pleasure." PHIL. ii. 12, 13. THE whole sum of Christianity is compre- hended in two points,-in knowledge, and in' obedience. The one is conversant about things supernaturally revealed, and the other about duties supernaturally performed. Now, although there be so wide a difference between these two, yet, where they are suf- fered to run on in a course, they will one fall into the other, and Gospel revelations will make way for and lead unto Gospel obedience. Indeed, there is no divine truth, how ab- stracted, how sublime and speculative soever it may seem to be, but, by the help of one or two consequences, may be handed down along to clear and direct our practice. And therefore the apostle, speaking of the whole of Christian religion, calls it " the mystery of godliiess," (1 Tim. iii. 16,) and " the truth according to godliness," (Titus, i. 1.) He calls it not a mystery and godliness, or truth and godliness; but he knits and joins them bothtogether,-the mystery and truth of godliness : a truth, yea, and truth wrapt up in a mystery, because discovered only by a divine light; and yet a mystery of godliness, because it is a truth that tends to incline the will and raise the affections, and so direct the conver- sations of men unto godliness and obedience. And thus also, in this chapter, after the apostle had soared up very high in those transcendent mysteries of Christ's Godhead, in the 6th verse; of his incarnation, in the 7th verse; of his humiliation, obedience, and passion, in the 8th verse; of his glory, and exaltation above every thing both in heaven, and in the earth, and in hell, 9th, 10th, and 11th verses; after he had thus soared aloft in these transcendent mysteries, hlie nake$ a sud- den descent to the exhortation in the text, "Wherefore, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." This illative particle, wkerefore, looks bachk as far as to the 5th verse, where the apostle exhorts them, that the same mind should be in them that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was essentially equal with God, yet mediatorially became subject unto God; though he was in the form of God, yet he took upon him the form of a servant, laid aside his glory, emptied and humbled himself, and became obedient even to the lowest duties and to the vilest sufferings : he was obedient unto the death ; that is, he was obedient to God's law till death, by fulfilling of it, and he was obedient unto God's will in death, by suffer- ing of it. For which exinanition and obe- dience, "God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Now, says the apostle, be you also of the same mind with Christ. Wherefore, as he was obedient, so be you also: do you work, that is, do you obey. As he was humble and emptied himself, be you also humble and lowly: "work, with fear and trembling ;" that is, obey with humility and reverence, as the phrase imports, and is often used in Scripture. That so, as Christ ob- tained glory and exaltation, you also may be exalted and glorified with him : " work out your own salvation." For these words come in as a parallel with Christ: As he was obe- dient, so be you; as he was humble and emptied himself, so be you also humble ; that so, when he is glorified, you may be saved. "Wherefore, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' And this I judge to be the apostle's scope in drawing this conclusion. In the words you have three parts,-1. A duty pressed upon us by a most serious and rational exhortation, " Wherefore, work out your own salvation." 2. An express way and manner how it is to be performed : and that is, "with fear and trembling." 3. Here is the reason of this exhortation ; "For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 1. Here is a duty pressed upon us; and that is, to "work out our own salvation." To explain the words a little : - 1st, For salvation, you may take it for the whole ii ()1' 1.r111~11 nll111 KVULILI~S~TD urrv riv Irrlluu WL~\, JV1LIU I r PRACTICAL CHRISTiANITY. 23 supernatural state of a Christian ; begun here in grace, and to be finished hereafter in glory. And, 2d, To work out this salvation, is nothing but to continue and persevere in ways of obedience, until, through them, that salva- tion that is begun here on earth, be perfected in heaven. To work out our salvation, therefore, im- plies three things :-1. Pains and labour. Salvation is that which must be wrought out; it is that which will makethe soul pant and breathe to obtain it. 2. It implies constancy and diligence. A Christian that would work out salvation, must always be employed about it. It is a web, into which we must weave the whole thread of our lives. That man that works at salvation only by some passion- ate fits, and then within a while undoes it all again by foul apostacy and notorious sins, will never work salvation out. No : it must be diligence and constancy that must effect that. 3. It promises success and accomplish- ment also. And this is a mighty encourage- ment to enforce the exhortation. Though the work be difficult, our strength little, the enemies many, and the oppositions powerful; yet continue working, your labour shall not be in vain. Though it be hard work, it shall not be long work: for it shall be wrought out; and what before was your work, shall be your reward; and what before way your labour, shall be your wages: and this salva- tion, that was so painful in working, shall be most blessed in the enjoyment. 2. Here is the express way and manner how this work should be done: and that is, " with fear and trembling." "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." This fear is not to be taken for a fear of diffidence, perturbation, or. despondency : for this is so contrary to the duty of working out salvation, as that it only stupifies and dulls us; and, as in other miatters, so in spirituals, it hinders both counsels and performances. But this "fear and trembling," that must qualify our obedience, is nothing else but an humble self-resignation, self-denial, and a holy awe and reverence of God : with which humility and reverence the highest degree of spiritual joy and assurance is so far from being inconsistent, that it usually springs from it, and is built upon it. This is meant by "fear and trembling ;" and so the phrase is often used in Scripture: so the Psalmist, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling," (Psal. ii. ]1 :) it is not meant of any desponding diffident fear, but only of an awful reverential fear of God, joined with self-abasement: and so Saint Paul, to the Corinthians, says of Titus, that he was received "with fear and trembling," (2 Cor. vii. 15 :) there was no reason why Titus's coming should cause fear and trembling, which was so much desired; only the meaning is, the received him with fear and reverence: and so servants are commanded to "lbe obedient to their masters,' (Eph. vi. 5 :) so, here, " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ;" that is, work it out with humility, self-abasement, and reverence. 3. Here is the reason of this exhortation: " For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Wherein lies the strength of the reason ? Possibly it might seem rather, to a carnal judgment, an encouragement to sloth, than an encouragement to working and obedience. For if God work in us both the will and the deed, what need we then be so solicitous about the accomplishment of our salvation, which not so much we ourselves, as God works out for us? it would rather seem to be a greater motive for us to work, if the appstle had said, "God will not assist you, and there- fore look to yourselves." Yet there are two ways, without torturing the words, whereby we may make them con- fess wherein their great strength lies: the one is, by reducing this reason to the duty; and the other is, by referring it to the manner of performing the duty. 1st, If we refer it to the duty of working out salvation, then the force and strength of it lies in the consideration of that aid and assistance that God, by working in us, affords us, to the working out of our own salvation. " Work ! Alas !" may some say, "how can we work? Are not the duties of obedience divine and supernatural? And is it not an almighty power alone that can enable us to do what is supernatural'? Are we omnipo- tent? Doth not God herein plainly seek advantages against us, in bidding us thus to work, who have no hands nor strength to work with ?" No, by no means: for what God commands us to do, he will assist us in the doing of it. And though obedience be supernatural, and we weak and impotent, yet God is omnipo- tent. Work, therefore; for this omnipotent God works in you, both to will and to 'do. And thus appears the force of the reason, if you apply it to the duty. Now, if you thus refer it, then observe, that all ability in, and all encouragement to obedience, proceeds from God's working in us what he requireth from us. And thus, as Christ said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work ;" so may a weak Christian say, "What I do is above my own strength, indeed; but my God and my Father worketh hitherto in me; and therefore it is that I am enabled thus to work." 2d, If we refer this reason to the manner of performing obedience, that it must be " with fear and trembling ;" as if the exhortation ran thus, - Be humble and awful in your obedience, "For it is God which worketh in 111 _____________________________________ ______________________________________ r.. . PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 23 24 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. you both to will and to do :" then it carries a double force with it., (1.) That the due consideration of God's working in us, is the greatest inducement imaginable to a self-debasing humiliation. There is nothing that will sooner take down pharisaical pride and boasting, than sometimes to be catechising ourselves with those two or three questions and interrogatories of the apostle : "Who made thee to differ? what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now, if thou hast received it, why dost thou boast, as if thou hadst not received it ?" (1 Cor. iv. 7.) Why dost thou boast and glory, 0 vain man, when all thou hast and all thou dost is from God's free and arbitrary working in thee? Alas! there is nothing of all thy graces or duties to be ascribed unto thyself, unless it be the imperfections and weaknesses of them. 'And this should cause us, when we are most strongly carried out in the ways of God and in the duties of holy obedience, most of all to renounce ourselves and our own sufficiency, and look upon it as an evident argument, that of ourselves we are able to do nothing, because through God we are enabled to do so much, yea, to do all things. (2.) Since all we do is wrought in us by God, this should cause us to obey with a holy fear and reverence; lest, by our miscarriages, we should provoke God to withdraw from us, on whom depends all the ability and power we have to obey. "It is God which worketh in you ; and, therefore, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." This shall suffice for the opening and ex- plaining of the words. I. That which I shall press upon all, is the duty contained in this exhortation of the apostle. And the proposition which I shall lay down from them, is this, - That it is the duty of every true Christian to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling. Or thus, - Every Christian, nay, every man, ought to work for his living, even for an eternal life. To mention places for the proof of this were to transcribe the Bible : we can no where open this blessed book, but we find this truth proved to us, either directly or by consequence; for it is the very genius of the Scripture. And yet it is strange, in these days, to see how dubiously some men, who would be Sthought admirers of free grace, speak of obe- dience and working; as if it were the brand of a legal spirit, and as great a stranger to a Christian's warrant, as it is to their practice. Oh, it is a soft and easy doctrine, to bid men sit still and believe; as if God would translate men to heaven upon their couches: to tell them, that all that they have now to do, is but to labour for more assurance, to praise God, and to sing hallelujahs unto him. And so also it conduces much to their abundant comfort-does it not ?-to tell them, that God sees no sin in them, nor requires no duty from them! that repentance and humiliation are legal things, belonging only to younger persons, and not the heirs of the promises! Oh, who could think it possible that such dreams and fantastic delusions could possess so many men's hearts, that ever heard the Scripture speak in its own language, or that ever read what Christ himself, the Holy Ghost, or the blessed apostles have written, who bid us to "work the works of God," to give all diligence, to abound in all the fruits of righteousness? Is it possible, that these notions should be dispersed by some, and entertained by others, but because it always hath been the policy of the devil, wherein he hath sped so well, still to vent those doctrines that indulge the flesh, under the name and patronage of free grace and Gospel attain- ments ? But of this more hereafter. Let us now consider the reasons of this truth. And, 1. Wherefore is it that we are commanded to " strive that we may enter in at the strait gate ?" (Luke, xiii. 24;) "so to run that we may obtain ?" (1 Cor. ix. 24;) "so to wrestle, that we may be able to stand ?" (Eph. vi. 11, 12 ;) "so to fight, that we may lay hold on eternal life ?" (1 Tim. vi. 12 ;) "not tG faint in our minds ?" (Heb. xii. 3;) " nor to grow weary of well doing ?" (Gal. vi. 9.) Do not all these expressions imply great labour and pains ? Can you strive, and run, and wrestle, and fight, and all this by doing nothing? or, were it needful to be taught not to grow faint, nor to be weary, when we have no work to do ? Therefore, it is the genius and sum of the Scripture, to excite men to be always active and laborious in the ways of holiness and obedience. 2. Wherefore is it that salvation is set forth to us under the notion of a reward ? Is it not to imply that we must work for it? A reward, not, indeed, merited by our works; but yet a reward measured out to us and con- ferred upon us according to our works. "God will render to every one according to his works : to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and immortality, he will render eternal life," (Romn. ii. 6, 7.) And, indeed, it were very strange, if that God, who will reward us with eternal life, according to our work, should yet lay a check upon the ingenuity of the new creature, thereby to account eternal life too low a motive to excite unto eternal life. 3. Is it not to this end that God hath implanted such an active principle of grace in the hearts of his servants, that thereby they might be enabled to work out their own salvation ? If God would save you without working, why then hath he given you such an operative . ---- 24 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. principle that you might work? Nay, I might affirm, that he. might as well save you without grace, as without works ; for that is not grace that doth not put forth itself in working : grace, if it be true, will be working; it will rise in the thoughts, it will work in the affections, it will breathe in desires, appear in good works, and be very active and busy in the whole life and conversation. Now, not to work, is that which puts a check and restraint upon this active principle: it is to curb it in, when it would freely break forth into action upon every occasion given to it. 4. Why hath God so often promised us assistance, if it be not that thereby we should be encouraged to work? He stands by us, to confirm our hearts, to strengthen our hands, to help our weakness, to quicken our deadness, to recruit our graces by continual supplies ; and wherefore is all this, but that we might work? God, rather than we shall not work, himself will set us at work : nay, he will maintain us, at our work and in our work, upon his own cost. He gives us aid and promises assistance only for this end, that we might work out our own salvation. We are not sufficient of ourselves, says the apostle, " as of ourselves to think any thing," (2 Cor. iii. 5 :) what then, must we therefore sit still, because we are not sufficient? no, says he, for God, who finds us employ- ment, will also find us strength: our sufficiency is of God. And therefore it is that God gives in assistances and supplies, that we might work the works of God. And thus I have confirmed the doctrine, why we ought to work, and that we ought to work. II. But here, before I can proceed any farther, there are some objections that must be answered, that seem to oppose the truth of this doctrine. 1. Some may cavil against this command of working out our salvation, as a thing impossible. 2. Others, as derogatory unto Christ and his merits. 3. Others, as prejudicial to the free grace of God, by which alone we are saved, and not by our own works. 4. Others look upon it as vain and needless; since God will certainly bring to salvation all those whom he hath elected and foreknown, according to his purpose: which purpose of his, neither their not working with it, no, nor their working against it, shall ever make void or frustrate. Object. 1st, Say some, "With what justice and equity can God require this duty of working out our salvation, when he knows we have no power to perform it ? Either," say they, " it concerns those that are spiritually inclined, and have their salvation already begun, that they perfect it by working it out: and if so, alas! to what purpose is it, when they themselves can act no farther than they are acted ? they cannot so much as will their own salvation, unless God give them to will; much less, then, can they work out their salva- tion : Or else it concerns all that live under the sound of the Gospel, though reprobates and castaways, though dead in trespasses and sins. And is it rational, is it just and equal, to bid dead men work? or doth it become that God, who would be thought by us to be infinitely merciful and compassionate, to mock and deride human miseries, in requiring of them things that are impossible? Had he commanded us to bring light out of darkness: had he bid us pull the stars out of their orbs; or, with one of our hands, to stop the sun in its course ; all these impossibilities we might as well do, as perform these divine duties, without divine assistance. We can as soon glorify ourselves, as sanctify ourselves. Exhort and command never so long, with as great authority and vehemency as you please ; yet, till God move on us and work in us, you may as well expect stocks and stones should move at your speaking as we. And if God doth but once begin to move and work in us, we shall work and move without your exhorta- tions. It is therefore," say such as these, " altogether in vain to press men to duty, till God works in them : for all your exhortations are not sufficient, till he works; and when he works, all your exhortations will be fruit- less." Because this is the common plea of sinners why they do not work, and that which ques- tionless doth too often rise in the hearts and thoughts of most men, whereby they are greatly discouraged, and their hands weakened in their obedience; I shall, therefore, the more largely and particularly answer this objection. And, Ans. 1.-This serious and pressing exhor- tation to obedience and working, doth not suppose in us, nor is it necessary that it should suppose in us, a power to obey; I mean a present and actual power: neither doth our want of power take off our obligation to obey. It may and will be granted, that there is no command of God, but doth suppose a power once bestowed. Whether or no his absolute uncontrollable sovereignty might have re- quired that from us, that is above our power ever to perform, may rather modestly be doubted, than peremptorily concluded. Yet this is certain, that those very duties that now we complain we have no strength or power to perform, were once as subject to our power and the freedom of our own wills, as now natural and moral actions are: subject, I say, to our power, either to perform them or not to perform them; not as though we come now into the world with this power, for we are all dead and still-born in respect of grace: :' , iI~,,,,,, J L,+, ,. C \~r (1~ Cllt- CI1 II~ ~ 25 26 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. but as having this power in our first parent, who was our representative: for in him we must be considered as existent, even when he existed ; and what he received was for us, and what he did was done by us, and what he lost we lost in him. Now if we have lost this power of obeying, must God also lose his pri- vilege and sovereignty of commanding ; must he lessen his authority as we lessen our ability? Truly, had Adam once thought of this flight he might have sinned himself quite from under the command and dominion of his Creator, and might soon have become thus free. Do not you yourselves think you may, if a debtor of yours through his own default becomes a bankrupt, require your debt of him? So stands the case here between God and us : we are all disabled to pay the debt of obe- dience that we owe to God, but yet it is through our own default; and the power that we had, is not so much lost, as wilfully thrown away. And may not God justly come upon us for our debt ? Our want of power takes not off our obligation to obedience, because it is through a wilful defect that we are deprived of that power. If a servant throw away his tools with which he should work, may not his master justly expect his work from him, though he knows he cannot work without them ? God's commands respect not the impo- tency that we have contracted, nor do they therefore abate any thing of their severity; but they respect that power and ability that was once conferred and bestowed upon us. Yea, were it so that God could with justice require no more from us than what at present we have power and ability to perform, this would make the grace of God, first, vain arid fruitless ;* and, secondly, dangerous and de- structive. (1.) This would make void the pardoning grace of God. For, according to this doctrine, nothing could be required of us if we could do nothing: but, without grace, we can do nothing; and, therefore, if grace be not be- stowed on us, nothing can justly be required from us; and if nothing be required, nothing is due from us; and then we do not sin in not performing any thing; and where there is no sin, certainly there can be no place for pardoning grace and mercy. And so these wise men, who think they do so much befriend the grace and mercy of God in all haste, in affirming that God requires nothing from us but what at present we have power to perform, are injurious to the mercy of God, in making it void as to pardon and remission. (2.) This doctrine makes the sanctifying grace of God destructive and pernicious. If God can require justly no more of us than we can perform, wherefore is it that men are justly damned ? is it not, because they will not do what they are able to do ? And whence is it that they have this ability ? is it not from the grace of God's Spirit? And therefore, if they have not grace to make them able to do more than their own corrupt wills are willing to do, God could not justly condemn them; and, consequently, that of the apostle should stand no longer true, " Through grace ye are saved," (Eph. ii. 5,) but through grace ye perish. These two consequences will follow, if God could justly require no more from us than what we have power now to do. So that, though we have not power and ability to work out our own salvation, yet we are not thereby excused from our obligation to do it. But, Ans. 2.-Though we cannot, of ourselves, work out our own salvation, yet God doth not mock us, as some do thence infer; neither doth he only upbraid us with our own weak- ness; but hath serious and weighty ends why he commands us to obey. Those that are so ready to cast this odium upon the doctrine of special grace, making God a derider of human frailty and miseries, when he commands obedience from them to whom, say they, himself denies that power and grace that should enable them to obey; I would only ask these persons this question, Whether do they grant, or whether or no can they deny, that God, antecedently, before he commands, knows who will obey and who will not obey? If they say God knows who will not obey, will they say God mocks them when he commands them to obey, though he knowsthey will not? What theyanswer tothis, the same may we answer to their objection. But there are two ends why God com- mands us thus to work, though we are not able ; according to which, God is very serious in commanding us thus to work. And God doth this, (1.) That he may thereby convince us of our own weakness, and that wretched estate into which our sins have brought us; that he may humble and abase us, when we reflect how far we are fallen from our first perfection and excellency. When we consider, on the one hand, that God requires nothing from us now, but what we once had a power to per- form ; and then, on the other hand, how little, yea, how much, of that nothing it is that now we have power to perform : this convinces us how miserably great our fall is, that makes those things impossible to us, that once were both easy and delightful. (2.) God loves to deal 'with men as with rational creatures, that have free faculties, are capable of moral influences, and are fit subjects to be wrought upon by precepts, counsels, com- mands, and exhortatiops, as well as by inter- nal and efficacious grace; that arguments and motives may persuade without, as grace sways within ;that so, by both, he might render them a willing people in the day of his power. And, therefore, they are not in vain, neither II I~''l rll: m.r. ~t ~ p ~rlnn WORKS OF BISHOP. HOPKINS. 26 PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. to those that shall be saved, nor to those that perish. 1. To those that shall be saved, these are the instruments which the Spirit of God makes use of to incline their wills and con- quer their affections unto the obedience of Christ ; and, therefore, they are not in vain. In conversion, ordinarily, if not always, the moral work goes before the physical:that is, there is first the rational persuasion, before there is the efficacious and determining motion. For God, when he works on man, accommo- dates himself to the nature of man : that, as he is a creature, so he may be, and is, the sub- ject of God's efficacious motions; and, as he. is rational, so he may be guided by counsels, led by persuasions, and overawed by convic- tions. And, therefore, when God converts any, he takes both these ways: inwardly, he works by effectual grace, powerfully subduing the will as a creature subject unto it; and, outwardly, he, works by moral suasions and authoritative commands, whereby he inclines the will sweetly and freely to consent to the power of that inward grace, which, indeed, he shall never, nay, indeed, he cannot resist ; and both these together do concur, as I said before, to make a willing people in the day of God's power. And, 2. For those that perish, these commands have a double end and use. (1.) They are instruments in the hand of the common work of the Spirit of God, to raise them up to all those moral good things that they attain to, short of true and saving grace. It is wonderful, truly, to see how the raging wickedness of the world is dared by a command charged with a threatening. Herod heard John Baptist, who doubtless laid the law home to him, so "that he did many things ;" Abiinelech and Laban were warned in a dream, whereby God overruled and prevented that wickedness that was intended by them. Were they compelled to what they did? No; God loves to rule the world in a rational way; so that, though he acts and moves wicked men to that good that they do, yet he doth it by moral considerations, and 'such inducements as cto most comport and suit with the liberty of their own will, Promises encourage ; threa- tenings deter ; counsels direct commands enforce; and all these concur, instrumentally, to awe the consciences, and to incline the wills even of wicked men themselves. Whose conscience can gainsay this? Let the vilest sinner freely speak : when he hath been most mad and wild upon his lusts, hath not often- times some command or threatening suddenly shot itself in betwixt his conscience and sin ? have not two or three weak words silently whispered to him, whence or from whom he knows not, stopped his way and given a check to his lust, when it was swelling ready to break forth into act ? And whence have they this power? It is not from themselves: for why then doth it not always so work? But it is from God's inward and physical, though but common work ; that when the affections are most furious, and corruption most raging, will effectually persuade to restrain and assuage. (2.) Another end is, that hereby God leaves them without excuse. If they perish, they shall have nothing to pretend against God. Hath he not often warned, and counselled, and threatened them? Hath he not told them, with as much earnestness and vehemency as the words of his ministers could deliver it, " that the wages of sin is death," and the end of those ways wherein they walk will be shame and eternal destruction ? Have they not, with all seriousness and entreaties, been called upon, again and again, to repent and turn from the unfruitful works of darkness, and to work the works of God? Can the mouth of God or man speak plainer, when they have been calling and crying after any, "Turn ye, turn ye ; why will ye die? This is that which, from our souls, we do beseech and entreat at the hands of sinners, even for the blood and bowels of Jesus Christ ; nay, for the blood and bowels of their own precious souls, which they are wilfully spilling upon the ground; that they " would turn and live." Now there is rot one that hears this serious obtestation, and is not obedient to it, but his blood, even the blood of his soul, will lie upon hini for ever. What is it that men expect? Must God drive men to heaven by force and violence, whether they will or no ? He hath laid promises and threatenings before them he exhorts and commands: and if these things will not prevail with men whose facul- ties are entire, whose reason is sound, and whose wills are free; think not foolishly to charge God, for lie is free from the blood ofall men, and sinners will be found to be self- murderers and self-destroyers. "If I had not come and spoken unto them," says our Saviour, "they had then had no sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin :" so, if God had not come and spoken unto sinners, they had neither had sin nor condemnation; but, now that he hath spoken to them so often, and exhorted them so frequently and earnestly, therefore "now they have no cloak for their sin." God hath spoken, and his speaking will strike every impenitent wretch dumb and silent at the great day, whatever they pretend to now. And this is a second particular, in answer to this objection: God doth not mock men's weakness, when he commands them to work; but hath great, wise, and weighty ends why he doth it. Ans. 3.-To come somewhat nearer : There is, indeed, no such impotency and weakness in man; but, if he will, he may work out his own salvation. 27 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. I speak not this to assert the power of man to work out salvation, without the aid of special grace to incline the Will ; but, if the will be once inclined and made willing, there is nothing more required to make a man able: I say, where there is special grace given to make the will willing to convert, to believe, and to repent, there is nothing more required to make a man able; because conversion, faith, and repentance, chiefly consist in the act of the will itself: now if the will wills repen- tance, it doth repent ; if it wills faith, it doth believe; and so of the rest : and therefore, there is nothing more required to make a man able, than what he hath in a state of unregeneracy ; only, to make him willing, is required special grace, which they that favour the undue liberty of the will do deny. And therefore God expostulates with the stubborn- ness of the will : Why will ye perish ? "Why will ye die ?" (Ezek. xviii. 31 ; xxxiii. 11 ;) and Christaccuseth the will, "Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life," (John, v. 40.) It is true, there is an impotency in the will ; but this is only its stubbornness and obstinacy; it will not hearken to God's call ; it will not obey his commands ; it will not strive against sin nor perform duties ; and therefore, it can- not. Our " cannot " is not, indeed, an impo- tency that we lie under, so much as the stubbornness of our wills. There is not the greatest sinner, who hath wrought iniquity wi'h both hands greedily, but may work out his own salvation if he will: if he be but ohce willing, he hath that already that may make him able : God puts no new powers into the soul when he converts it. It is true, the will cannot incline itself to obedience without grace; 'but yet it can intend it, if it will ; it is its stubbornness that makes it impotent. It is in the things of grace, as in other free actions of a man's life, with a proportionable abatement : a man can speak and walk, if he will; but if he be resolutely set not to do these things, he cannot do them so long as that resolution remains, though simply and absolutely he can do them: doth this argue any impotency? So is it here, you may obey and work, if you will ; but if you are reso- lutely bent against these, if you are resolved not to do them, while that resolution continues you cannot do them : but this argues not any natural impotency, but a moral impotency only: this is an impotency of stubbornness and perverseness. Never, therefore, plead the inability of your will ; no, it is through your own stubborn resolution if you perish you are resolved for hell and destruction; and if you are plunged into them, it is through your own wilfulness, and not through weak- ness. Ans. 4.-To come yet a little nearer to conscience and practice : these very men that thus make their impotency a pretence for their sloth, do not indeed believe what they pretend and assert here. They do not believe that they are thus impotent : no ; it is in the inward and secret thoughts of them all, that they have a power to work out their own salvation ;and there- fore, whether they have or have not power, yet still they are inexcusable, if, while they think they have power, yet they will not strive and endeavour to put it forth. Those men, who thus plead impotency and want of power to obey and work out their salvation, though they speak these things, yet they believe not a word of what they say; and therefore they are inexcusable, if they strive not to put forth that power, that they suppose they have, into act. Although a man's feet be chained and fettered that he cannot walk nor stir, yet if he thinks himself at liberty, and yet will sit still, judge you whether the fault be not wholly to be imputed to his want of will, and not to his want of power; for he thinks himself free and able to move, but will not try. So is it here : wicked men do think they have power to work, however they speak otherwise sometimes; and therefore they are utterly inexcusable if they do not work : this is as clear as the light ; and their slothfulness, therefore, proceeds not from their weakness, but from their wilfulness. And I shall endeavour, by some arguments, to convince sinners that they do indeed think and believe that they have this power to work out their own salvation, whatever they may pretend to; and that therefore they are inex- cusable if they do not strive and endeavour to do it. And, (1.) Did you never, when God hath shaken his rod over you, promise and resolve to work ? By his rod, I mean either some convictions or afflictions: have not these madeyou to enter into engagements with God, that you would obey him, and walk more holily and strictly for the future ? And did you not really thus resolve to do? Few, I believe, there are, but have some time or other, under some fit of sickness or some pang of conscience, thus done. And what! did you resolve all this; and yet, at the same time, think and believe you could do nothing at all ? Did you only mock God ? Did you only dally and play with your own consciences? No, certainly : conscience was too much provoked, too much enraged, and too broad awake, to be so jested withal. We find this very temper in the Israelites, when they were affrighted with the terrible voice of God from Mount Sinai, in the 5th of Deut- eronomy : see how confidently, under that conviction, they promise and resolve, "Speak thou unto us what the Lord our God shall say unto thee, and we will do it," (Deut. v. 27 ;) and so the Jews also, when they were in great distress and calamity, when the whip and the rod was over them, then they took up large ,1 II Te ;,;, ~~d C~:IITYC( ~F A'~CJ~L~ I)L1 ;11 A)hL~rr F~nn I r~C~;n~;~~n l II 28 PRCTCL HISIAIY.2 resolutions, and made great promises what they would be and do ; "Whether it be good, or whether it be evil," say they, "we will obey the voice of the Lord our God," (Jer. xlii. 6.) And, oh, how many pious purposes and holy resolutions have the dangers, fears, and sick- beds of many men been witnesses unto ! have they not heard sinners cry out, "Lord, spare a little : give us some space; try us once more, Lord; and we will reform our sinful lives, and perform neglected duties: never more will we return to folly." And are not these resolutions and promises evident convictions, that you thought you had power to do what you thus resolved to do? Who is there but bath, some time or other, under some trouble and affliction, taken up such resolutions of obedience as these? And, cer- tainly, you dare not so much mock God, and dally with your own consciences under such convictions, as to make such promises, but that you think you can perform what you promise. And that is one argument. (2.) Did you never, in your whole lives, per- form a duty to God? Did you never pray to him ? Is there any one so desperately profane, so utterly lost as to any shows and appear- ances of goodness, as not to have prayed or performed one duty unto God in his whole life ? To what end have you prayed, and per- formed those duties that you have done? Was it not for salvation ? And did you work for salvation, and at the same time believe you could not work? No: it is impossible that ever any man's practice should maintain such a contradiction. Whatever men's opinions are, yet their works shew that they think they have power: for something must be done, though it be but formally ; though but a slight, cold, heartless, " Lord have mercy on me!" or a customary, "Lord, forgive me :" yet something conscience requires; and this men reckon and account the working out of salvation. (3.) Wherefore is it that you trust to and rely upon your works, if, indeed, you think you have no power to work out your own salvation by them ? Would it be so hard and difficult to take men off from leaning too much upon their works, if they did not believe they had a power to work out their own salvation by them? Men do apprehend some worth, some value and sufficiency, in what themselves do in order to eternity. For, hid them forego and tenounce their own works, their own righteousness, this is a hard saying ; and they can as easily renounce and forego all hopes of happiness and salvation, as renounce their own works. Now, whence is it that men are so difficultly brought unto the renouncing their own works? It is because by them they hope to obtain salvation. And can there be such a principle in men, and they yet at the same time believe and think that they cannot work out their own salvation ? It is very evident, therefore, whatever notions men may take up to stop the mouth of a clamorous conscience when it calls them to working and labouring, that yet they do not themselves believe what they say concerning their impotency, but do really think they have a power to work out their owi salvation. (4.) When the Spirit of God bath been dealing with your hearts and consciences, when it hath been persuading you to enter upon a course of obedience, did you never procrastinate and use delays? Did you never stifle the breathings and resist the motions of the Holy Spirit, thinking it time enough to do what it puts upon you hereafter ? "What need I begin so soon to vex flesh and blood? What ! deny the pleasures of my life, as soon as I come to relish and taste them! When sickness and gray hairs admonish me, and tell me I am near eternity; when old age pro- miseth me, that the severity and strictness of religion shall not last long to trouble me; then will I repent and believe, and work out my own salvation." Speak truly, and deal plainly with your own consciences: have riot these been the foolish reasonings of your own hearts? Have you not often thus promised God and your own consciences ? And doth not all this imply, that you thought you had a power to do it? Why did you delay and put it off, if you thought you had no power to do it at last? Wherefore thou art inexcusable, 0 man, who- ever thou art, that wilt not work : it is in vain to plead thou wantest power : God will con- fute thee by thyself, and out of thy own mouth. What ! wilt thou say thou hadst no power? why thou thoughtest that thou hadst power, and yet wouldst not work, nor endeavour so to do; and therefore thy ruin, if thou perishest, is as wilful, and thy condemnation will be as just, as if thou hadst power and wouldst not work. And this is the fourth answer to this objec- tion : 'Men do really believe that they have power to work, and therefore they are inex- cusable if they will not endeavour to put it forth. Ans. 5.-Men will not plead so foolishly, no, not in matters of far lower concernment than the salvation of their souls is. Would a master, when he commands his servant to work, take this as a sufficient excuse for his sloth and idleness, that he hath no power to work, till God acts and moves him? Why, this is a truth, that he cannot do it unless God enable him; and it may as well be objected by your servants to you, and with more reason too, than by you unto God. Pray tell me, what power have I to speak one word, or you to hear one word more, unless God concurs to it? nay, we are not sufficient to think as of ourselves: yet we do not make this an excuse to forbear those actions that . -- - 4 _ __rrf.~ftnr l~~_L (rrI ~ rLV! WC r~I1 . PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 29 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. are necessary. Do we therefore resolve to do nothing, because it is impossible for us to do any thing unless God concur? What stupid and dull folly is this ! No: but we put it plainly and hourly to the trial : and never could,any one produce that man, that could ever say, God was wanting to him in his con- currence, when he would have done an action. What a miserable ridiculous, task would it be, if, in every action of our lives, wherein we can do nothing without God, we should still be questioning God's concurrence with us! When you sit, do you dispute whether God will enable you to arise? when you walk, do you, every step you take, ques- tion whether God will concur to another step? No ; men put these things to the trial : and though it be impossible that they should live, move, or stir, till God act and move them, yet this hinders not men's endeavours, no, nor is it any matter of discouragement to them. Now, why should we not do so in spirituals, as well as,in temporals ? are they not of greater concernment? do they not more deserve the trial? It is true, we can do nothing without God's concurrence; yet,'let us put it to the trial, whether or no God will not concur when we endeavour. Certainly, that man must be for ever nameless that can say, he was truly willing and did sincerely endeavour to do any good thing, and God did not enable him. Ans. 6.-Although wicked men had power to work out their salvation, yet they would never do it': and therefore it is a vain and most unreasonable pretence for sloth, to plead want of power; for, had wicked men power; they would never obey. " But how can any one tell that? What ! not obey, if we had power !" No : and the reason is this: because there is no wicked man iu the world, that hath done so much, or that doth so much, as he is able to do; no, not so much as he is able to do without special grace and assistance : and, therefore, it is not inability, but wilful sloth, that destroys men. Sinners, ask your own consciences these questions, -Was there not one duty more that you could have performed ? was there not one temptation, nor one corruption more, that you could have resisted? could you not have prayed, and read, and heard, and meditated more upon heavenly things, even then when your hearts and thoughts have been vain and worldly, yea, sinful and devilish? might not that time have been spent in holy converse, that you have trifled away in idle- ness and in doing nothing, or that which is worse than nothing? What force or restraint is laid upon you? Is there any violence used to you? Can you not think; and if you can, can you not think of God, as well as of the things of the=.world, or upon your lusts? Can you not speak ? and if you can, can you not speak of God, of heaven, and the concern- ments of another life, as well as of your trade, and bargainings, and other trivial matters, which are below a man, much more below a Christian ? What force is there put upon sinners? doth the devil screw open the drunkard's mouth, and pour down his intem- perate cups, whether he will or no? doth the devil violently move the black tongue of the blasphemer and swearer to rend and tear the holy name of God, by horrid oaths and blas- phemies? doth the devil strike men dumb, when they should pray; or deaf, when they should hear; or senseless, when they should understand and ponder? Is there any such force or violence used unto any ? Can you not avoid the one, and can you not do the other, if you will ? You can; but you will not: and therefore neither would you work out your own salvation, if you could do it. Is there any hope, that you would ever will- ingly do the greater, who will not do the less? Let your impotency and weakness be what it will, your damnation lies not upon it, but upon your wilfulness, so long as your wilful- ness is greater than your weakness. No, it is not upon your impotency that your precious and immortal souls perish eternally; but it is only for lack of a will to pity them and to save them. Sinners! wherefore, then, will you perish? why will you sleep away your souls into hell ? will you go on drowsily to destruction ? shall your souls be ready to burn as a brand in unquenchable fire, and will you not stretch forth your hand to snatch it out ? is it more painful for you to work, than to be damned? Endeavour, therefore, to do what you can : labour and sweat at salvation, rather than fail of it : let it not grate and fret your consciences in hell, that you lie there for a wilful neglect. "But should I labour, should I endeavour, should I work to my utmost, should I do all that I am able to do, I cannot work grace in myself by all this: to what purpose, then, should I work ?" However, try God in this particular. Did you ever know any who thus laboured, and thus wrought, that did not give very good evidence of a work of grace wrought.upon their hearts? And why, then, should you suspect that you should be the first? What reason have you to think, that God should make you the first example of a soul that did endeavour, strive, and work for salvation, and yet came short of it, when you never either heard or read of any that put forth them- selves to the utmost for the obtaining of grace, and yet fell short of grace or glory ? Thus, in these six particulars put together, you have a full and an abundant answer and satisfaction to this objection, concerning our impotency to work out our own salvation. Object. 2d, Another objection against this - 11 0 _ / PRACTICAL CH doctrine is this : " Thus to press men to obe- dience and working, is prejudicial and dero- gatory unto Christ's merits, by which alone we are saved, and not by our own works. Hath not Christ already done all for us? Iath not he finished and wrought out our salvation himself? And is not this to render his work as insufficient, to go and piece it out by our obedience ? Is not this to set up our works as antichrist, in flat opposition and defiance to the gracious undertaking and per- fect accomplishment of Jesus Christ ; when all that we have now to do, is to believe in him, and to get a right and title to him and saving interest in him ?" To this I answer,-The merit of Jesus Christ and our working are not inconsistent; but there is a sweet harmony and agreement betwixt them in carrying on the work of our salvation. And, to make this evident, I shall lay down the due bounds and limits of each of them, that so it may appear what Christ hath done for us, and what he expects we should do for ourselves. Christ, therefore, hath done two things, in order to the carrying on of our salvation,-- 1. He hath purchased and procured eternal happiness, to be conferred upon us hereafter. 2. He hath merited grace, to be conferred upon us here, to prepare us for that happiness. 1st, He hath purchased happiness and eter- nal life, for all that do believe in him. "I give unto them eternal life," says he himself, (John, x. 28.) And, says the apostle, "He is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," (Heb. v. 9.) Now, as there are two things that must be done for us, before we can be brought unto a state of salvation; namely, a freeing of us from our liableness unto death, and a bestow- ing upon us a right unto life eternal : so, Jesus Christ, that he might bring us into this state, hath performed both these things for us:- (1.) He hath satisfied divine justice for us; snatching us from under the vengeance of God; substituting himself in our room and stead; bearing the load of all that wrath and punishment that must otherwise have fallen insupportably heavy upon us. "His soul," says the prophet, was made "an offering for sin," (Isa. liii. 10.) And he was made "sin for us," says the apostle, that is, he was punished as a sinner for us, "who knew no sin," (2 Cor. v. 21.) And, (2.) He hath perfectly fulfilled the commands of the law, by his active obedience; so that the life, promised by God in the law to the doers of it, doth now undoubtedly belong to all those for whom Christ did obey the law; that is; for all those that believe in him. And, by bQth these, bearing the penalty of the law and fulfilling the duties of the law, God is atoned, justice is satisfied, vengeance is [RISTIANfTY. 31 pacified; and we are reconciled, adopted, and made heirs of glory according to promise. " But, what! shall glory and happiness be presently bestowed upon us? Shall we be in- stalled into it, without any more circumstance? Must nothing intervene betwixt Christ's pur- chase and our actual possession ?" Yes, there must : for, 2d, Christ hath purchased grace, to be bestowed upon them upon whom he bestows salvation. "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men," (Eph. iv. 8,) and among others, especially the gifts of grace. For, " of his fulness," says the apostle, " have we all re- ceived, and grace for grace," (John, i. 16.) And why did Christ make this purchase ? why did he merit grace for us? was it not that we might act it in obedience? And if Christ merited grace that we might obey, is it sense to object that our obedience is deroga- tory to Christ's merit ? if one end of Christ's doing all that he did for us, was to enable us to do for ourselves, will any man say, "Now I am bound to do nothing, because Christ hath done all ?" How lost are such men, both to reason and religion, who undertake so to argue ! No: salvation was purchased and grace was procured, that, by the acting and exercise of that grace, we might attain to that salvation ; and both these are to be preserved entirely as things most sacred, ascribing them solely to the merits of our Saviour. Sp far are we from exhorting men to work out their salvation by way of merit and purchase, as that we conclude them guilty of the highest sacrilege and practical blasphemy against the priestly office of Jesus Christ, who think by their own works to merit the one or the other. And, therefore, though Jesus Christ hath done thus much for us, yet that he might leave us also some work to do, I shall now shew what he expects from us in order to the working out of our own salvation. And, as he hath done two things for us, so he requires two things from us. As, 1. HeI requires that we should put forth all the strength and power of nature in labouring after grace. And, 2. He requires that we should put forth the power of grace in labouring for salvation, purchased for us. (1.) He requires, that all those who are void of grace, should labour for it with that power and strength that they have. And, in so doing, they do not at all intrench upon the work of Christ ; neither is it at all derogatory to his merits. See how the prophet expresseth this, (Ezek. xviii. 31,) "Make you a new heart and a new spirit :" he speaks to those that were in a state of nature; and he bids them make them a new heart and a new spirit; "for why will ye die ?" noting, that if they did not labour after a new heart and WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. a new spirit$ they would certainly die thd death. Let every sinner know, that this is it that he is called upon for ; this is that which God expects from him: it is his work to repent and return that he may live : it is his work to labour to change his own heart, and to renew his own spirit. It is true, it is God's work also; for he hath promised to give a new, heart and a new spirit, (Ezek. xi. 19 ;) and it is Christ's work also, as he is God ; but yet it is not Christ's work as a Mediator: and, therefore, to endeavour the working of a new heart in us, is not at all to intrench upon the mediatory office of Jesus Christ; for so his office is not to work grace, but to procure it; not to implant grace, but to purchase it. You cannot, therefore, sit down and say, " What need is there of my working ? Christ hath already done all my work for me to my hands." No : Christ hath done his own work : he hath done the work of a Saviour and a surety ; but he never did the work of a sinner. If Christ, by meriting grace, had bestowed it upon thee and wrought it in thee, then, 'indeed, there was no more required of thee to become holy, but to cast back a lazy look to the purchase of Jesus Christ: then thy sloth would have had some pretence why thou dost not labour. But this will not do : our Saviour commands all men to "seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof," (Matt.� vi. 33 ;) and the apostle exhorts Simon Magus himself, though "in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, yet pray," says he, " if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee," (Acts, viii. 22.) Do not, therefore, cheat your own souls'into perdition, by lazy notions of Christ's merits. What though Christ hath merited, yet God requires that you should work, and labour to change your own hearts, and reform your own lives; but if you sit still, expecting till the meriting grace of Christ drop down into your souls of its own accord, and change your hearts,; truly, it may be, before that time you yourselves may drop down into hell with your old unchanged hearts. And this is the first thing which Christ requires. (2.) Christ expects and requires, that those that have grace should put forth the utmost strength and power thereof, in labouring after that salvation that he hath purchased for them. He hath merited salvation for them, but it is to be obtained by them through their own labour and industry. Is not that which Christ hath already done sufficient for them? Is it not enough, that he hath reconciled them to God by the blood of the covenant ? that he hath made their peace and procured their par- don for them? but must Christ repent, and believe and obey for them? This is not, to make him a Saviour, but a drudge. He hath done what was meet and fit for a Mediator to do: he now requires of us what is meet for sinners to do ; namely, to believe, to repent, to be converted, and to obey. He now bids you wash and be clean. And what would you have more? would you have the great Pro- phet come and strike off your leprosy, and you only mark the cure, and do nothing thereunto? or is it indeed enough, that salvation and happiness are purchased, that the way to heaven is made passable, that the bolts and bars of the new Jerusalem by Christ are broken off? Alas ! what of all this ! thou mayest still be as far from heaven and glory as ever, if thou dost not walk in the way that leads to it : still thou art as far from entering into heaven as ever, if thou dost not strive at the entrance into the strait gate. It is, therefore, in vain that Christ died, it is in vain that thou art justified, it is in vain that thou art adopted, it is in vain that heaven is prepared for thee : Christ may keep heaven and glory, and his crowns and robes for ever to himself; unless, as lie hath purchased these great things for his people, so also he hath purchased to himsed to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works: a people, " who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and immortality," and by that way obtain it. Thus we see that Christ's doing all for us is no excuse for our doing nothing : he bath, indeed, (lone all for us that belongs to him as a Mediator, meriting and procuring grace and salvation; but he never intended to do all for us, as to the conveying of them to us and making them ours : no; that is still to be done by us: and, therefore, though Christ's works alone were meritorious, yet by the actings of faith we must apply his merit, and by the actings of obedience confirm them to ourselves. I might add also, when Christ is said to obey the law in our stead, as well as to suffer in our stead; though his bearing the punishment of the law by death (doth excuse and exempt us from suffering, yet his obey- ing the law doth not excuse our obedience unto the law. Christ obeyed the law, in a far dif- ferent respect to the obedience which is no* required from us : he obeyed as a covenant of works ; we, only as a rule of righteousness; if he had failed in the least tittle, he could not have purchased life that was promised; but we, though we fall infinitely short in our obedience, may yet inherit that life that Christ hath purchased : Christ's obedience was fully perfect, yet ours is not derogatory thereunto, because it proceeds from other grounds than Christ's did. But I will not proceed farther in this, only conclude this answer with two practical things in reference to this question : - 1st, So work with earnestness, constancy, and unweariedness in well-doing, as if thy works alone were able to justify and save thee. Look, with what affection and fervency you would pray, if now God, with a voice from II Ic\Zl~r-u +, rr2~~~~~ t~~ 1W ~ TIY Gll~n~+C1 ~~rln~t~A~~ i +I~ OII~CFU~1 rn 32 PRACTICAL,CHIRISTIANITY. heaven, should tell you, that, for the next prayer you make, you should be either saved or damned : look, with what reverence and attention you would hear, with what spiri- tualness of heart you would meditate, if your eternal state and condition were to be deter- mined and fixed by the next of those duties that in this kind you were to perform : with the same fervency, affection, and spiritualness perform all the obedience that you do. Why should you not do so ? are not God's commands as peremptory and as authoritative for obe- dience under the covenant of grace, as they were under the covenant of works? is not obedience of as absolute necessity now as ever, though not to the same end and purpose ? and since the end of our obedience is graciously changed, doth not this change lay a farther obligation of gratitude upon us to obey God, who requires it from us, not as merit, but as duty? Still there is as great an obligation to obey now under the condition of the covenant of grace, as ever there was while mankind stood under the tenor of the covenant of works. Certainly, Christ's merit was never given to slacken our obedience: and it is the most unworthy, nay, it is the most accursed use, that any Christian can make of it, that therefrom he should take encouragement to grow more remiss and slack in obedience. .Would you not thereby turn the grace of God into wantonness? Would you not abuse the infinite mercy of a Mediator? Think with yourselves, "How would I strive and struggle, were I to stand or fall upon the account of my own works and duties !" Use the same dili- gence, put forth the same endeavours, as indeed in that case you would do. And, 2d, So absolutely depend and rely upon the alone merits of Jesus Christ for your justifica- tion and salvation, as if you never had per- formed an act of obedience in all your life. This is the right gospel frame of obedi- ence; so to work, as if you were only to be saved by your own merits; and, withal, so to rest in the merits of Christ, as if you had never wrought any thing. It is a difficult thing to give to each of these its due in our practice: when we work, we are too apt to neglect Christ ; and when we rely on Christ, we are too apt to neglect working. But that Christian hath got the right skill and art of obedience, that can mingle these two together : that can, with one hand, work the works of God ; and yet, at the same time, with the other hand, lay fast hold on the merits of Jesus Christ. "Let this Antinomian principle be for ever rooted out of the minds of men, that our working is derogatory to Christ's work. Never more think Christ hath done all your work for you, for that is unbecom- ing the free spirit of the Gospel ; but labour for that salvation that he hath purchased and merited. Could such senseless objections von. mm. ever prevail with those men who seriously read that Scripture, (Tit. ii. 14.) " Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works ?" Were this place seriously pondered over by men, they would be ashamed to object any longer, that our duties and works are derogatory to the purchase of Christ ; for he gave himself for this end, that he might purchase such a people, that might be zealous of good works. But, truly, when sloth and ignorance meet together, if you tell men what powers their natures have to work, and how necessary obedience is to salvation, that thereby you may excite and quicken their hearts to obedi- ence ; they, with the sluggard, fold their arms in their bosom, doing nothing, telling us these doctrines are Arminianism and flat Popery, whereas, in deed and in truth, they are as far distant from either of them, as light is from darkness : it is their ignorance and sloth only, that makes them think so. But, deceive not yourselves, this doctrine is such, that whether it take hold on your judgments and under- standings now, I know not; but this I know assuredly, it shall take hold of your consciences either here or hereafter: and then it will not suffice you to make this excuse, either that you had no power to do any thing, or that Christ had already done all things for you. And so much for the second objection. Object. 3d, Others may object, " That this duty of working out our salvation is incon- sistent with, and prejudicial to, the freeness of God's grace, by which alone we are saved. If God save them only that work for salva- tion, how then doth he save them freely, and how is it that by grace we are saved ?" In general, I answer, That salvation, upon our working and obedience, is free salvation; and that for four reasons : - 1. Because all our working is a natural duty that we owe to God, as creatures to their Creator. Had God required the same things of us that now he doth, and never propounded a reward to encourage us, he had been just, and we had been as absolutely and as indis- pensably obliged to obey as now we are. We have not so great a right to salvation, as God hath to our obedience. God can challenge our service and obedience from us, because of our natural bond and obligation, as well as from that voluntary covenant whereinto we have entered with God to be obedient : but we can only plead for salvation, because God hath made a promise, that he will save those that obey. Whether God had made that promise or not, yet he might have required the same obedience from us that now he doth, because we owe it to him naturally by our creation. And is it not now free grace and mercy, that, when God might have required obedience without a reward, yet he will bestow salvation 33 I 34WRK F IHO OPIS according to that obedience? See what our Saviour saith, (Luke, xvii. 9, 10,) "Doth the master thank the servant because he did the things that he was commanded to do? I trow not. So even ye likewise, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants ;" for, when we have done all, " we have but done that which was our duty to do." Yea, and our duty it was to do it, though God had never made a promise to reward what we have done: we are unprofitable servants, and deserve not so much as thanks : " Doth the master thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded ? I trow not :" and, if we do not merit thanks when we have done our utmost, how then can we merit salvation ? 2. Because our obedience is imperfect in this life : it is full of cracks and flaws. And if, t4 accept and reward the most perfect obedience with salvation, be an act of mercy and free grace; as it is, because it is our duty if there were no salvation promised: how much more is free grace magnified and glorified, in accept- ing and rewarding a weak and imperfect obedience ywith that salvation which the most perfect obedience cannot deserve ! For, when we have done all, " we have done but that which was our duty to do :" and, if we could say so, doth the master thank the servant? No: But, alas! " in many things we offend all." Now, to reward that with eternal salvation, that deserves eternal damnation ; to reward that work with life, that deserves to be re- warded with death ; what is this, but the effect of rich and glorious grace ? what is this, but to bestow heaven, not according to merit, but rather according to our demerit ? 3. Because there is no comparison betwixt salvation and our obediences; and, therefore, free grace shines forth still. It is free grace, though we do obey. We obey as creatures : God rewards as a God. Our obedience is temporal ; but our reward is eternal. Our obedience is mixed with rebellion ; but the reward hath no mixture to take off the fulness and sweetness of it. Therefore, it is free grace still, to give an infinite reward to so mean an obedience; betwixt which obedience and re- ward there is no comparison nor proportion. 4. Because, though we are commanded to obey, yet that grace whereby we do obey is the gift of God. It is he that works in us this obedience, which he rewards with salva- tion. And must not this, then, be wholly of free grace? To save upon an obedience wrought in us by God himself, is to save altogether as freely as if we were saved with- out any obedience at all. And so much in answer unto the third objection. Object. 4th, Others may say, " That it is a vain and most needless thing, to press this doctrine of working for salvation upon us. What ! we work! If we are elected to salva- tion, we shall be saved whether we work or not : and if we are not elected, all our work- ing will be to no purpose, for we shall never be saved by it." To this I answer,-We are to look to God's commands, not to his decrees; to our duty, not to his purposes. The decrees of God are a vast ocean, whereinto many, possibly, may have curiously pried, to their own horror and despair ; but few or none have ever pried into them to their own satisfaction. This election, in particular, is not written in the plain word of God; but this duty is plainly written. If thou performest thy duty, thereby thou shalt come to know thy election. It is but a preposterous course, and that which will both discourage all endeavours and fill the soul with despair, to look first to God's decrees, and then to its own duty: whereas, indeed, the right method is, first to perform thy own duty, and thereby to be led into the know- ledge of God's decrees. Question not, there- fore, whether thou art elected or not; but first work for salvation: and, if thy work be good and thy obedience true, thereby thou mayest come to a certain knowledge that thou art elected. And know this also, farther that God, who elects to the end, elects also to the means : now obedience is the means and way to salvation; and, therefore, if thou art elected to salvation, thou art also elected to obedience. Say not, therefore, " If I am elected, I shallbe saved whether I work or not :" there is no such thing. I may boldly say, if thou art elected and dost not work, it is im- possible that thy election should save thee. What says the apostle? (2 Thess. ii. 13,) " God hath chosen us,"- there is election " chosen us to salvation,"-there is the end : but how? "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth :" chosen us to salva- tion, as to the end; but it is not an end to be obtained without sanctification. There is, indeed, an absolute election to salvation, whereby God, without respect of works, hath chosen some to salvation : but there is no election to salvation absolute, whereby God hath chosen any to salvation without works; that is, whether they work or not. If, there- fore, you believe heartily and obey sincerely, then your election to salvation stands firm. Nay, the Scripture makes election to be ter- minated, as well in obedience as salvation; " elect," says the apostle, " unto obedience, through sanctification of the Spirit :" in the former place it was, " elect to salvation, through sanctification ;" but in this it is, " elect to obedience, through sanctification :" noting thus much to us, that none are elected to salvation, but those that are elected to obedience; and therefore it is unreasonable, yea, it is contradictory, to say, " If I am elected, I shall be savcd, whether I obey or It ~Fnnd nvrn/lb oh;~lnn Frrlr~h ae;ll T+ ;o f~loo nrr.)~a I hilt hrrw2 C 34 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 35 not," for none are thereunto elected but through obedience. III. And now, having, as I hope, satisfac- torily answered all objections and scruples that may arise in the hearts of men against this doctrine, I proceed to press this duty of working for salvation upon their consciences: and I shall do it in a use of exhortation. Be persuaded, then, 0 sinners ! to cast off your sloth and laziness; and to rouse your- selves froml that drowsy slumber that you have long lain in, and to work for salvation. But, truly, when I consider how powerful an orator and how mighty a charmer sloth is; how easily it can stupify and benumb reason, and lull men asleep on the top of a mast, and on the brink of hell; and, though God and man call upon them, " Sinners, sinners, bestir yourselves ; work for your lives ; you perish eternally, if you do not labour to lay hold on eternal life, for you are falling, and hell-fire is under you :" yet, when we call and cry thus earnestly, how easily a careless, yawning, wretched sinner can slight all these admoni- tions, baffle all these arguments, motives, and persuasions, though urged upon him with all vehemency and tenderness of affection ; and turn about, like a man besotted, falling fast asleep again : when I consider this, truly I am apt to conclude, that it is but a desperate attempt to press men any more against their natures, and against so many disadvantages, that can soon frustrate the efficacy of wealer words; and am ready to give over in despair, with that of the Prophet, " He that will be righteous, let him be righteous still : and he that will be wicked, let him be wicked still." And, truly, were it not more for conscience of duty than for any hope of success, I would not speak one word more upon the subject: success, I mean, upon those who are altogether carnal, whose hearts Satan bath filled, and whose ears Satan hath stopped; we may call long enough and loud enough, ere these men will awake; or if they do sometimes give a look upwards, they soon close their eyes again and slumber away into destruction. And yet, truly, if variety of motives, if strength of arguments and persuasions would prevail, we might hope for this seldom-seen success. Then let us consider these following parti- culars: 1st, Consider, sinners, you have a great and weighty work to do; and therefore it is time, yea, high time, that you were up and doing. Believe it, sirs, God hdth not placed you here in this world, as Leviathan in the great waters, only to play and sport : were it so, you might take your ease, fold your arms in your bosoms, and follow your delights and pleasuies; and let him be blamed that ever should disturb or discourage you. I know not whether some may not think that we mini- sters are task-masters, and that we make more ado than needs. No, sirs : it is God that bath set you your work : we do only tell you how great it is, and of how great concernment it is to you that it be done. And if you will not do it, who can help it? we have no scourges nor scorpions to drive you to your work; but God hath, to punish you, if you neglect it. And why is it so generally neglected, but because men do not seriously consider how great it is? Most men acknowledge that it must be done; but, because they look upon it as that which may speedily and quickly be despatched, they drive it before them from day to day, and think to huddle it up at the end of their lives : then, when they are fit for no other employment, and, least of all, fit for this employment, then they think to do the works of God. I shall here lay down three particulars, to convince sinners of the greatness of this work : and, because it is so great a work, it requires that they should presently, without delay, set upon it. 1. It is a work in which sinners must undo all that they have wrought in their whole lives before. 0 sinner, think : what hast thou been doing this twenty, thirty, forty years, or more? hast thou not, instead of working out thine own salvation with fear and tremn- bling, been working out thine own condemna- tion without fear and trembling? hast thou not been working the works of darkness? hast thou not been working the works of thy father the devil, as our Saviour tells the Jews? Truly, this is not so much working, as mak- ing of work : all this must be undone again, .-or you yourselves must be for ever undone : you must unrip and unravel your whole lives, by a deep and bitter repentance: you are gone far in the way that leads to death and destruc- tion; and you must tread back every step, and at every step shed many tears, before ever you come into the way that leads to life and happiness. And is it not yet time to begin ? can the work of so many years be undone, think you, in one moment? No : sin and Satan make their works more durable and lasting, than to be so easily and speedily spoiled. It were the work of an age, yea, of eternity itself, if possibly we could so spend it, rather than of a few faint late thoughts, to get a humiliation deep enough, and a sorrow.sad enough, to bear any the least proportion to any of the least sins that we have committed. Do not hope or think that your many great and sinful actions shall ever be blown away with a slight and general confession; or that ever they shall be washed away with a slight and overly repentance. What says holy David? " Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle," (Psal. lvi. 8 :) thou hast my wanderings by number; but thou hast also my tears by measure: there must be some proportion betwixt the humiliation and the 1I I rvl aatl rlr\rrn +hr\oo: ~lih~ ~lrLI ~l+rrn~C hnrr nnn~nl I +ir\n ~vrr( ~ . :6 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS.f sins : great sins call for great sorrow; and long continuance in sin requires a continued and prolonged repentance. Is it not then yet high time to begin ? have you not already made work enough for your whole lives, should they be longer than they are like to be? Nay, and will not every day of your lives make work enough for itself? what says our Saviour? " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," (Mat. vi. 34:) truly, the evil that we every day commit, is sufficient work for the sorrow and repentance of that day to undo. Now, then, begin this undoing work: the longer you delay, still the more will lie upon your hands, still the more sins you have to repent of. We already complain, that the work which God hath set us is too hard and too grievous ;and yet, such foolish creatures are we, that we make it more and more difficult by our delays ; adding to the strictness of God's commands, the necessity of a severe repentance. And therefore it is prudence, as well as duty, to begin this repenting, this undoing work betimes ; that so the greatness of the work, and the shortness of the time to do it in, may riot at last dismay and con- found us. 2. Consider the great variety of duties that must be gone through in the working out of salvation, and this will evince how great a work it is. A Christian's work is a life full of actions and employments. There should be no gap nor void space at all in it : but all should be filled up with duties, ranked in their seve- ral orders ; that, as soon as he passeth through one, he should enter upon another, that where one leaves him another may find him. Thus a Christian should go from one duty to an- other : from hearing the word to meditation ; from meditation to prayer; from prayer to the acting of grace : and, in all, there should be much striving and struggling with the heart, and much carefulness and circumspec- tion over the way and life. Now there are four great and usual duties, which every man hath to do, which are enough to fill up all the time of his life, were it stretched and tentered out to the end of our time. (1.) He is to get the truth and reality of grace wrought in him. This is his first and general work. And this will cost a man much sweat and anguish: for this, he must suffer many pangs and throes of the new birth; and shall lie under many fears and jealousies, lest hypocrisy and presumption should cause him to mistake in a matter of such infinite concernment. (2.) He is to draw forth and to act this grace, when once it is wrought in him. This is the next work of a true Christian ; conti- nually to act faith, love, patience, humility, and to let all have their perfect work. And there is no moment of a man's life so idle, but all may admimster some occasion or object for the exercise of grace. (3.) A Christian's next work is, continually to grow and increase in grace. To " go from strength to strength :" to be " changed from gloryto glory." Still to be adding cubits to his spiritual stature, till he is grown to such a height and tallness in grace, that his head shall reach into heaven, and be crowned there in absolute perfection, with a crown of glory and immortality. Here is that work that will keep you in employment all your days; and if you can find one spare minute in your whole lives wherein you have not some duty to perform, then give over and sit still. But, besides all this, (4.) Another work of a Christian is, ear- nestly to labour after the evidence and assu- rance of grace in himself. "Give all diligence," says the apostle, " to make your calling and election sure." Still, a Christian must be ascending: ascending from a probable con- jecture to a good persuasion; from a good persuasion to a full assurance; from that to a rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. These are the general works that should take up the lives of Christians; and to these are subservient almost an infinite number of particulars ; some whereof are means whereby these great things are obtained, others are concomitants, or the effects and fruits of them: but I will not so much as mention any of them now. For shame then, 0 Christian : since that your work is so great, why will you sit still, as if you knew not how to to employ your- selves ! Besides, there is great variety in your work; and this usually breeds some kind of delight: you are not always to be toiling and drudging at the same thing; but, as bees fly from one flower to another, and suck sweetness from each of them, so should a Christian pass from one duty to another, and draw forth the sweetness of communion with God from every one of them. 3. To evince the greatness of this work, consider, it is a work that must be carried on against many encounters and strong opposi- tions that a Christian will certainly meet with. Within are strong corruptions; with- out are strong temptations. You have a treacherous and deceitful heart within; and this traitor holds intelligence and league with your great enemy, the Devil, without. You are sure to meet with difficulties, affronts, and discouragements, from a peevish ill-condi- tioned world in which you live. Never any yet could escape free to heaven, without meeting with these things. And doth not all this call upon you to work and strive for salvation ? Is it a time to sit still, when you have all this opposition to break through ; so many temptations to resist; so many corrup- PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 37 tions to mortify; Satan, that old serpent, to repel, and make him become a flying serpent? Doth not all this require a morose constancy, and a kind of sour resolvedness to go through the ways of obedience, notwithstanding all opposition? These great things are not to be achieved without great pains and labour. And, therefore, if you resolve to do no more than a few heartless wishes no more than a few more heartless duties will amount to, never raise your expectations so high as salvation : for, let me tell you, salvation will not be obtained at such a rate as this: no; there must be great strugglings and labour, with earnest contendings, if ever you intend to be saved. And thus much for the first argument, taken from the consideration of the greatness of the work : To work salvation out, is a great work, and requireth great pains. 2d, But lest the setting out of the greatness of this work should rather deter and fright men from it, than excite and quicken their endeavours to it, let me add a second thing; and that is, to consider what an infinite, incomparable mercy it is, that God will allow you to work for your lives; that he sets life and death before you, and gives them into your hands to take your choice. If you will indulge your sloth, then you choose death; but life may be yours, if you will. It will, indeed, cost you much pains and labour ; but yet it may be yours. And is it not infinite mercy, that salvation and happiness may be yours, though upon any terms ? Wicked men are apt to say, " Oh, how happy had we been, if God had never com- manded us to work ; if he had never required from us such harsh and difficult duties; if we were but once free from this hard task and heavy burden of obedience !" But, alas ! foolish sinners! they know not what they say; as happy as they count this to be, yet if God required no working from them, he should then shew them just so much mercy as he doth to the devils and damned spirits, and no more; from whom God requires no duty, as well as from whom he receives no duty, and unto whom he intends no mercy. You think it a hard restraint, possibly, to be kept under the strict commands of the law ; " Oh, that God required no such observances from us!" but what do you desire herein, but only the unhappy privilege of the damned; to be without law and without commands? But, should God send to the spirits now imprisoned, and declare to them that if they would work they should be saved, oh ! how would they leap in their chains at such glad tidings, and count it part of salvation that there was but a possibility of it ! No, but God commands nothing from them, because he intends nothing but wrath upon them : he will not vouchsafe so much mercy to them, as to require those duties from them, that you repine and murmur at as grievous. And farthermore, consider this : if you do not now work, but perish under your sloth, in hell you will think it an infinite mercy if God would command you more rigid and severe obedience, than ever he commanded from you on earth. It would be a great mercy there, if it might be your duty to repent, and pray, and believe. Nay, you would count a com- mand then, to be as comfortable as a promise; for, indeed, there is no command but connotes a promise. No: but these things shall not so much as be your duty in hell ; for there you shall be freed for ever from this rigorous and dreadful law of God, that now you so much complain of and murmur against. Oh! therefore, be persuaded, while you are yet under the mercy of the law, (give me leave to call it so,) and while you have so many promises couched in every command, before God hath left off his merciful com- manding, before the time of duty be expired, be persuaded to work. Delay not : you know nothow long God will vouchsafe to require any thing from you ; and, as soon as that ceaseth, truly you are in hell. And this is the second argument to press this duty upon you. Work, and that speedily too : while you may work, there is hope that, upon your working, you may be saved; and, therefore, while God calls upon you, and whilst he will accept of obedience from you, it is time for you to begin to work. 3d, Consider, what a short scantling of 4ime is allowed you to do your great work in. And this I shall branch out into two parti- culars :- 1. Consider how sad it will be for your time to be run out, before your great work be done. Alas! what are threescore years, if we were all sure to live so long, from the date of this present moment? How short a space is it for us to do that in, which is of eternal concernment ! and yet, how few of us shall live to that which we so improperly call old age ! Our candle is lighted, and it is but small at the best ; and to how many of us is it already sunk in the socket, and brought to a snuff! and how soon the breath of God may blow it out, neither you nor I know. Night is hastening upon us: the grave expects us, and bids other corpses make room for us. Death is ready to grasp us in its cold arms, and to carry us before God's tribunal : and, alas ! how little of our great work is done ! What can any shew that they have done? where are the actings of faith, the labours of love, the perfect works of patience? where are those graces that are either begotten or increased ? where are the corruptions that you have mor- tified ? These are works that require ages to perform them in : and yet you neglect them, ,s II ware hllf rrrt~n fi on frrrm ~hic hn.rrl f PRACTICAL CHIRISTIANITY. :3i WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. that have but a few days, nay, possibly but a few minutes, to do them in. "But what! is God severe ? is God un- just, to require so much work to be done in so little time ?" No : far be it from us to say thus. Though our work be great, yet our time is long enough to perform it in, if it were well improved. We do, indeed, consume away our precious days, and waste our life and light, exhaust our strength, and lay out our endeavours upon vanities and trifles, on nothing but emptiness and folly : and that life, which the prophet tells us is but as a tale, truly we spend it as a dream : we sleep, and drowse, and suffer our precious minutes to run and waste away, doing nothing to any good purpose; till the night is shutting in, till the night of darkness comes upon us, and then the greatness of our work will confound us, and cause despair rather than excite endeavours. Have you never known any, who, at the close of their lives, having neglected their great work, have spent that little time that they had then left them in crying out for more time? and thus it may be with you also, if your consciences be not awakened sooner than by the pains and disquiets of a sick-bed: then, with horror, you may cry out, "More time, Lord, more time." But it will not then be granted: the term is fixed ; the last hour is struck; the last sand is riun; and as you and your work shall then be found, so you must go together into eternity. This is such a consideration as must needs prevail with all men, if they would but lay it to heart : " My time is but short'and momentary : I am but of yesterday; and, pos- sibly, I may not be to-morrow ; and God hath suspended eternity upon the improvement of this moment : a few hours will determine mine everlasting state and condition: accord- ing as these few are spent, so will my doom be; either for eternal happiness or for eternal misery : and why should my precious soul be so vile in my own eyes, as to lose it for ever through sloth and negligence? why should I hearken to the allurements of my own corrup- tions, or to the enticements and persuasions of Satan's temptations ? No : stand off, for I am working for eternity,; an eternity that is but a few days hence; a boundless, a bottomless, an endless eternity, into which I know not how soon I may enter : and wo to me, yea, a thousand woes to me, that ever I was born, if my great work be not done before the days of eternity come upon me." This is such a motive as, methinks, should make every man that hears it, and hath but a sense what eter- nity is, presently to bestir and rouse up him- self, and give God and his soul no rest till his immortal soul be secured and well provided for for eternity. To me, there is no greater argu- ment of the witchcraft and sorcery that sin and Satan use to besot the reason and judg- t j _ T ment of rational creatures, than that men can hear of such truths, truths that are not to be denied or doubted of, and yet live at such a rate as they do,-so vainly, so fruitlessly, so lazily, so securely, and presumptuously; as if their eternity were to be expected and enjoyed here, or that there were none to come here- after. 2. The consideration of the shortness of our life, may serve as a great encouragement to work. The consideration of the burdensome- ness and trouble of working for salvation may, doubtless, fright many from engaging therein. Oh ! it is a work very painful and laborious and this discourageth them. But know, 0 sinner! though it be grievous, yet it is but short work : it is to last no longer than our frail short life doth last. And, oh ! how unseasonable is it to complain, as most do, of our work, as being too long and too tedious and of our lives being too short and brittle! for our work is to be no longer than our lives. A child of God doth not, at least he should not, desire to live longer than his great work is done : and, truly, when it is finished, it is a great piece of self-denial in him, to be content to abide here in this world any longer : and, in the meanwhile, this may support him, that it shall not be long that he shall thus wrestle with temptations, and thus struggle with corruptions : death will come in to his help, and put an end to his toil and labour; and though he brings a dart in one hand, yet he brings a reward and wages in the other hand: and this may be his great encourage- ment. 4th, My next argument to press this duty of working out our own salvation, shall consist of three or four gradations. And, 1. We are all of us very busy active creatures. The frame and constitution of our natures is such, as we must be working some work or other : and, therefore, since we must be work- ing, why should we not work the works of God? We do not simply exhort sinners to work; neither, indeed, need we: you have active faculties and stirring principles within you, that must and will be still in employ- ment ; and, when your hands cease, yet then your hearts and thoughts are at work: your whole lives are nothing but actions; yea, when your thoughts themselves are most unbent and most remiss, when they are most vanishing and glimmering, so that yourselves scarce know what they are, yet then are they visibly working, though you perceive it not. Now, what is it that God requires of you? it is not that you should be more employed than you are, that you should do more than you do; for that is impossible, because you never are idle, doing nothing; but it is, that what you do should be done in order unto heaven and salvation. And how reasonable is such a command as this! it is not more jl ,:.,, ~rtt~~lncr); nrY r-u)Qf~J anrl ~nnt-li~i~n n.~~nrt- I 'Ilh~ t~rR.rnA 08 I PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 39 work that God expects from you, only other work ; your thoughts need not be more than they are, but they must be mor, spiritual than they are:; your desires no more, but only more gracious; your actions no more, but only they must be more holy than now they are. Let but grace regulate what nature doth, and the art of working out your salva- tion is attained. The wheels of a watch move as fast and as 'quick when it goes false as when it goes true ; and if the watch be but at first set right and true, the same activity that makes it go false, will make the motions go right and orderly. Truly, you yourselves are like your watches: your faculties are the wheels of your souls, and they move and click as fast when they go false, as when they go right; and if grace doth but once set them right, the same activity of nature that makes them work falsely and go amiss, will also continue their motion orderly and regularly, when once they are set right. Well, then, whatever your trade be, whether it be a trade of sin, or whether it be a trade of holiness, you must be working at it. And, let me tell you, religion and holiness are so far from increasing your work, that they rather lessen and contract it. What says our Saviour? "Martha, Martha, thou art careful about many things ; but one thing is necessary," -(Luke, x. 41, 42.) So may I say : Sinners, you are careful, and busy yourselves about many things; but there is but one thing that is necessary : many things, indeed, you trouble yourselves with ; the cares of the world, the temptations of Satan, the corruptions of your own hearts, these distract you, yea, very trifles and impertinencies them- selves give you full employment; this lust storms and rages; that lust flatters and en- tices: this is imeptuous; that is insinuating : the one impels, the other allures; and it may be, after all, conscience begins to grow terrible, giving the sinner no quiet in doing that which lust would let him have no rest till he had done; so that, betwixt them, of all men's lives in the world, his is the most toilsome and vexatious. Since, then, you can save no labour by being as you are, why will you not change your work? You are now in constant employment as you are, and no more is required of you in the ways of obedience. Nay, you are now divided, distracted, and even torn in pieces, betwitt divers lusts and pleasures; all which cry, Give, give, and all are eager and importu- nate, so that you know not which to turn to first: but in working for salvation, your employment is but the one thing necessary, which, though indeed it calls for the same endeavours and industry which now you use in the service of sin, yet, by reason of its uniformity, is less distractive and less cumber- some. And that is the first gradation. 2. You must work either in God's service, or in the devil's drudgery. And choose you whether you would rather be Satan's slaves, or God's servants. Nay, indeed, choose whether ! Is it a matter of choice with men, who have rational and immortal souls ? Do you not all profess youselves to be the servants of the living God? do you not all wear his livery ? wouldnot the vilest and most profli- gate sinner willingly lurk under the name and badge of a Christian; and count it a great wrong done him, should any so much as doubt of his salvation ? And wherefore is this, but because they are ashamed of their service, and of their own black master? But, alas! it is in vain to renounce him in words : for, if your works be not for God, if they be not such as religion exacts, as the Holy Ghost inspires, as grace performs, and as salvation calls for from you, his slaves you are; and though you profess to deny him, yet in your works you own him. 3. If you work for Satan, you do but work for your own damnation. For work you must and will; and this is all the reward and wages that you can justly expect from the service of sin and Satan ; and of this a just God and a malicious devil will look that you shall not be defrauded; but, as your ephah hath been fullof iniquity and abominations, so shall your cup be full of wrath and indig- nation. Think, 0 sinner, think how these masters, whom thou now servest, will in hell insult over thee and upbraid thee: "Is this he, our faithful and industrious servant?. He who preferred our misery before his own happiness? whose precious soul was not precious to him for our sakes? And is he now come, whither his ways led him? Pre- pare a place quickly for him. Let his darkness be horrid and dismal, his works were so. Let his chains be strong and massy, the bonds of his iniquities were so. Let his unquenchable fire be piercing and vehement; let his torment be next unto my own." This, this will be the insulting of your master then. 0 sinners, consider ! is this the reward and preferment that you work for ? "God forbid! mercy pre- vent!" you will say. Nay, believe it, mercy will not prevent, God will not forbid, unless you yourselves labour to prevent it : all this must be your condemniation, as unavoidably as if God had no such attribute of mercy belonging to his nature. This sinners know, and are persuaded of the truth of, unless they are Atheists. And if you are, truly it will not be long before your own sense and feeling will convince you of the truth of these things, to your eternal grief and sorrow. And if you do believe this, why do you not rouse up your- selves and fall to work? If you are resolved for hell, for a foreseen and forewarned hell, who, then, can stop you? and unless you are resolved for hell, methinks I ight have done, and need proceed no farther. Tell me, therefore, 39 II 11,, ,,,:W\~-\I\Jr. +h~L I~~ln~ a\lltra~ allrt it. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. O sinners, are you not all persuaded by these terrors ? will you not from this moment labour, struggle, and strive, and talse any pains in the ways of obedience, rathef than ruin your own souls, and thrust them down into the pit of destruction ? I might be confident sinners thus resolve to do, were I speaking now to men that were themselves : but men's reasons are besotted ; and their ears are open only to the devil, and to the base allurements of the flesh : and when we have done our utmost in persuading sinners, in the end we must turn our exhortations to them into prayers to God for them, that he would snatch them as brands out of the fire and burning, into which they, like drunken men, are casting themselves, and in which they are lying down. 4. Once more: The same pains, that possibly some take to damn their own souls, might suffice eternally to save them. The same toil and labour that some undergo for hell and destruction, might have brought them to heaven and happiness, had it been but that way laid out. The prophet tells us of some "that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope," (Isa. v. 18,) that is, they are so enslaved to the work of the devil, that he puts them into his team, and makes them draw and strain for their iniquities; and he doth them a courtesy when their sins come easily to them, for so the phrase imports. And we read of some in another prophet, that sin "with both hands greedily," (Mic,. vii. 3.) And the Psalmist "tells us of those that devise mischief upon their beds, and that travail with iniquity, (Psal. xxxvi. 4; vii. 14,) that is, they are in as much pain and torment till their wicked designs be__ accomplished, as a woman in travail is till she be delivered. Sinners, since the work of sin is so toilsome, why will you not "work the works of God ?" Doth that salvation, that follows obedience, fright you; or is heaven and glory become terrible to you? Is not this it that all men desire? do not your hearts leap at the mention of it? What, then, is it that any rational man can pretend why he will not work? Is it because you are loth to take pains ? Why, then, are you so laborious in sinning? why do you so sweat and toil in carrying faggots to your own fire? why are you continually blowing up those flames, that shall for ever burn you ? It is in vain to plead this any longer, that you are loth to take pains: for, where are there greater drudges in all the world, than sinners ? the devil can scarce find them work enough : they out-sin his temptations; and, had they not that corruption within, the scum whereof is continually boiling up in them, they must of necessity, I was going to say, sometimes be holy, for want of employment : Satan could not find them work enough. How restless and impatient are they till they have done some wicked work ! and, sometimes, they are more restless and impatient when they have done it, through the devil's temptations; and yet, notwithstanding these torments, they will do them again. Are there greater drudges in the world than these? Doth God require more pains in his service than these men take ? No; he doth not : would but men do as much for their precious souls, as they do against them ; would they do as much to save them, as they do to destroy and damn them ; truly, their salvation would not lie upon their hands unwrought. But some may say in their hearts, "It is true, indeed, we are convinced that the work of sin is laborious; but yet, there is pleasure in that labour : but to the works of obedience we find reluctancy ; and to struggle against that, is exceeding irksome and grievous ; and therefore we cannot work." But is it so, indeed? Is it all peace and tranquillity with you when you sin? Are your consciences so utterly seared, as that they make no reluctancy, give you no checks or reproofs, when you sin ? If they do, put that reluctancy of natural conscience against sin, into the balance with the reluctancy of natural corruption against obedience ; and the most profligate sinner in the world shall find, though this is more strong and prevalent, yet that is more vexatious and tormenting. God requires no more labour from you than you now take; nay, this labour shall not put you to so much torment, as sometimes you now feel : the same labour, with more content and satisfaction, may perfect your salvation, that now tends only to consummate your destruc- tion. What madness, then, is it, for men not to be persuaded to work the works of God, when it will cost them less pains, I mean less tormenting pains ! You wear your lives in the service of sin; and, at the end of your days, you go down to hell; when, with as much ease, you might inherit eternal life and glory, as you thus purchase hell and destruc- tion. And is not this great folly and mad- ness ? Bring, then, all these four gradations toge- ther, and look upon them all at once; and we shall find the argument so strong, as that nothing can resist it, but the perverse reason- ings of men's own wills : you will not, because you will not. You must work. If you work not in God's service, you will work in the devil's drudgery: if you work Satan's work, you must receive Satan's wages ; which is the reward of eternal damnation. And the same labour that you take to damn your own souls, might suffice to save them. Wherefore, then, shall not God employ you, as well as the devil ? Hath he not more right to you ? Why should you not work out your own happiness, as well as work out your own misery? Doth it not concern you more? If men would - - 40 PRACTICAL but set their reason on work in this particular, if they would but shew themselves to be men, they would soon set grace on work rind shew themselves to be Christians also. It is but turning the streams of your actions into the right channel, and the work is done: since that will incessantly flow from you, why should they all fall like Jordan into the Dead Sea, when they might as well run into the infinite ocean of all happiness, and carry your souls along with them also? But, 5th, Consider this also; the devil works constantly and industriously for your destruc- tion. And will not you much more work for your own salvation ? See the place of.the apostle, (1 Pet. v. 8,) " He walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And, therefore, when God questions him, "Whence comest thou, Satan?"heanswers,"Fromgoing to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it," (Job, i. 7.) What pains doth he take to prompt men with temptations ! to suit objects and occasions to their corruptions! Still he is at their right hand, laying snares and traps for them, that they may fall as his prey. And wherefore makes he all this ado? is it not to satisfy his malice and hatred against men's souls ? And shall malice and rancour make the devil so laborious and unwearied to destroy souls, and shall not your own happiness and salvation make you much more diligent to save your souls ? Is the devil more concerned in your ruin, than you yourselves are in your own salvation ? Shall the death of your souls be more dear to him, than the life of your souls is to yourselves ? Learn from Satan him- self how to rate and value your own souls: did not he know them to be exceeding pre- cious, he would never take so much pains to get them; and did you but know how pre- cious they are, certainly you would never lose them so contentedly. Let the devil, if you will learn no otherwise, teach you the worth of your precious souls; and, since he thinks no pains too much to ruin them, why should you think any pains or labour too much to save them ? 6th, Consider, you yourselves do labour and take pains, in things of far lower and lesser concernment than the salvation of your souls. Men can rise up early and go to bed late, eat the bread of carefulness, and all to get some little inconsiderable piece of this world, to provide for a frail, short life here : and who is there that thinks his pains too much ? And why, then, should you not labour for a future life in another world, that you confess to be infinitely more glorious and desirable than any thing you can obtain here? To me, it is folly so gross and senseless, as to be bemoaned, if it were possible, with tears of blood, that men should so toil for the low conveniencies of the world, and yet neglect the eternal happi- CH RIST IANITY. 41 ness of their precious and immortal souls, as if they were not worth the looking after. Sin- ners, do you know what a vain, empty bubble, blown up by the creating breath of the Almighty, the world is? Do you know it, and yet will you take pains for it, yet will you grasp and catch at it? Who would doubt, when we seemen so busy about impertinencies, and the trivial concernments of this vain world who would doubt but that they were far more anxious and careful about the things of heaven, and the concernments of their souls? Who would not conclude but that they, who are so diligent about petty trifles, had certainly made sure that their great work was done? But, alas ! would it not astonish men and angels, if we should tell them how foolish sinners are ? Would it be believed, that rational creatures, who have immortal souls that must be for ever saved or damned, should spend all their time and strength about nothing; never taking any care or thought what will become of them for ever? Would such folly be believed to be in men ? And yet this madness are most men guilty of. We may all of us be ashamed to lift up our heads to God, when we confess the world to be so vain and slight a thing, that if we should get all of it, nay should we get ten thousand of them, yet were they not all worth one soul; that yet we should be so foolish as to strive to get a vain world, to the neglect, yea, to the contempt, of our precious souls. It is such folly, as men would scarce suspect that any persons should be guilty of, if it were not seen daily in the practices of almost all men. 7th, Consider this, Are you ambitious? do you affect true honour and dignity? Yes, I know this is the great idol of the world ; that which every one falls down to and worships. Well, then, sinners, here is a way to prefer you all. To work for salvation is the most honourable employment in the world; an honour, that will pose and nonplus the most towering and raised ambition, when once it is spiritualized. Alas ! what poor and contemptible things are the grandees and great ones of the world! though they take great state and pomp upon them, and will scarce own their inferiors for their fellow-creatures, nay, will scarce own God himself for their superior ; yet are they but like painted flies, that play and buzz awhile in the sunshine, and then moulder away and come to nothing! All worldly honour and pomp is but imaginary. But would you have that which is solid and substantial ? Christ tells you how it is to be attained: "If any man serve me, him will my Father honour," (John, xii. 26.) What- ever honour we have, we hold it by service; our work is not only duty, but preferment also: "If any man serve me, he shall be honoured." Would you be enrolled for right honourable in heaven's treasury ? would you . ... J _! _ ; ilrL1LltllU VVI.L I)U 41 4'2 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. be peers of that kingdom, with saints and glorified angels ? then honour God. And how shall you honour him, but by obeying him ? and him who thus honours God, God will honour. This is the only real honour: all other is but airy, fictitious titles ; like ciphers, which, as they are placed, stand for hundreds and thousands, but are all of the same value when huddled together. So, truly, the great ones of the world, if not made honourable by obedience to God, have but imaginary excel- lence; and when death once shuffles and huddles them together, nobles with ignobles, will the dust and ashes of the one stand at a distance and make obeisance to the other ? No : all honour here signifies no more than a king upon a stage. But here is a way to attain true honour : here is the way to it, by becoming servants: not to command, but to obey, not to be imperious over others, but to work yourselves. This is true honour. Now I shall, in three things, demonstrate the honour of working for salvation ; that if men be not very lowly spirited, they may be excited unto this honourable work. 1. It is pure, spiritual, refined work. In services among men, the less of filth and drudgery there is in them, the more credit- able they are accounted. It is an honour to be employed in higher and more cleanly work, when others are busied about baser employ- ments. Christians, your work is the highest and most noble service imaginable: you are not at all to set your hands to any foul office: you have nothing to do with that mire and sink, in which wicked men are raking; yea, and it is their work to do it; no, but your work is all spiritual, consisting of the same pure employment that the angels in heaven spend their eternity about. Holy thoughts, divine affections, heavenly medita- tions, spiritual duties, - in these lies your work; which, because of its purity, is there- fore very honourble. 2. Your work is honourable, because it is the service of a most honourable master. We account it a great credit to tend immediately upon the person of some prince or potentate: but what is this to their honour, who are called always to attend upon the person of God himself, who is "King of kings and Lord of Lords ;" to be continual waiters about his throne? God hath but two thrones: his throne of glory in the highest heavens, about which angels and glorified saints are the at- tendants; and his throne of grace, to which you are called. Angels and saints are but your fellow-attendants; and if they see his glory in the highest exaltation, you are admitted to see it in the next degree. Yea, and herein is your honour so great, that you are capable but of one preferment more; and that is, of being removed from one throne to the other, from attending upon the throne of grace to attend upon the throne of glory; so great is your honour. 3. Your work is such, as makes you not so much servants, as friends unto God. It is an honour to be servant unto a king ; but, much more, of a servant, to become a favourite. Thus it is in the service of God. You are not only servants, but friends and favourites. " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I com- mand you;" a strange speech ! one would think the doing of what is commanded, is the office of a servant, rather than of a friend : no, says Christ ; " Henceforth I call you not ser- vants, but friends: Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." And, cer- tainly, no title so glorious, as that which God put upon Abraham, to be" the friend of God." Well, then, let wicked men go on scoffing and mocking at obedience in the people of God, let them look on them as poor and low spirited persons ; yet can there be no honour like unto theirs, to be attendants upon, yea, the friends of, the great God of heaven : and there can be no discredit so base as theirs, who are slaves to the devil, who is God's slave ; to be a slave unto the devil, whom the people of God have in part subdued and overcome, and over whom they shall shortly at once perfectly triumph. IV. Having thus, by several arguments, pressed this great duty of working out our own salvation, I should now proceed to some other things that are necessary to be spoken unto from this doctrine. But because this is a duty of so vast importance, and of so uni- versal concernment; and the slothfulness and backwardness of many so great, and, if per- sisted in, will be so ruinous and destructive, I shall farther urge the practice of this duty upon the consciences of sinners, by these fol- lowing considerations: 1st, This working for salvation is the most delightful work and employment that a Christian can be engaged in. What is it that makes the whole world so busy in the service of sin and Satan, but only pleasure, which they either find or imagine ? The devil baits all his temptations with this enticing witchcraft, which the world calls pleasure ; and this is that which makes them so successful. But hath the devil engrossed all pleasure unto his service ? Can the ways of God promise no delight ? Are they only rough and rugged ways? David certainly thought otherwise, when, speaking of the commandments of God, he tells us, they were "sweeter than the honey and the honey- comb," (Psalm xix. 10 :) he could squeeze honey out of them ; it is an expression, that sets forth the exceeding pleasantness and delight that are to be found in the ways of obedience. And truly, the whole book of Psalms is abundantly copious, in setting forth that delight that is to be found in the ways ,.. Y! i 42 II ~)lnllnh~a rlivin~r n.fF~pn~innc? hpnvnlll~~ n~pdit n, I Irr~vi~n ~n~ WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. of God. Ask, therefore, the children of God, who are the only sufficient judges in this matter, and they will tell you with one con- sent, that they know no delight on earth com- parable to that delight that is to be found in obedience. Indeed, if youi are only taken with a soft, luxurious, washy pleasure, this is not to be found in the ways of holiness; but if a devere delight can affect you, a delight that shall not effeminate but ennoble you ; if you desire a masculine, rational, vigorous pleasure and delight, you need not seek any farther for it, than in the ways of obedience. There are two things that make this work- ing for salvation to be so pleasant,-the suitableness of this work to the agent or worker, and the visible success and progress of the work itself: and both these make the working out of salvation exceedingly pleasant and delightful to the people of God. 1. It is a work suited to their natures; and that makes it pleasant. As Jesus Christ had, in a physical sense, so every Christian hath, in a moral sense, two natures in one person. There is the divine nature, or the nature of God ; and there is the human, cor- rupt nature; the nature of sinful man. And each of these has inclinations suited unto it : there is the carnal part, and that is too apt to be seduced and drawn away with the plea- sures of sin, that are objects proportioned to the carnal part; but then there is also a divine, and, if I may so call it, a supernatural nature, imprinted by regeneration, that only doth relish heavenly and spiritual things; so that it is not more natural to a godly man, by reason of the propensions of the old nature, to sin against God; -than it is natural to him, by reason of the propensions of the new nature, to obey and serve God. Now, when a nature acts suitably to its own sway and pondus, this must needs cause two things; first, facility and easiness; secondly, delightatid complacency. Streams flow from the fountain with ease, because they take but their natural course; so the works of obedience flow easily from that fountain-principle of grace that is broken up in the hearts of the children of God, because they flow naturally from them; and therefore, because nature makes things easy, that easiness will make them pleasant and delightful. It is true, indeed, when they work, there is an opposition and reluctancy from their other 'contrary nature; for, as they act suitably to the one, so they act quite contrary to the other nature; but doth not the gracious and new nature as strongly wrestle against and oppose the work- ings and eruptions of the old nature, as the old doth the workings of the new? It doth; and therefore you, that are truly rege- nerate, never sin because of the easiness of it, because of its suitableness, because you must offer violence to your nature if you resist a temptation; do you not offer violence to your nature, if you close with that temptation ? You are not all of one piece, if I may so speak, if you are regenerate. And what ! must the corrupt part only be indulged and gratified, and must the renewed part be always opposed ? Why should not grace, since it is as much, nay, more yourself than sin is, why should not that have the same scope and liberty to act freely as sin doth? Truly, these things are riddles to wicked men; and they are unfit judges in this case: they wonder what we mean, when we speak of easiness and delight in ways of obedience, which they never found to be otherwise than the most burdensome thing in the world. And, truly, it is no wonder ; for they have no principle suited to these things: they are made up only of the old nature, that is as contrary and repugnant to them as darkness is to light. But if once God renew and sanctify them, then they will confess, as we do, that the works of God have more easiness in them than the generality of the world do imagine. And therefore, Saint Paul tells us, that he delighted "in the law of God after the inward man," (Rom. vii. 22.) But why after the inward man, but because, though his corrupt part was contrary there- unto, yet his renewed part, which he calls his inward man, was suited to the duties of the law of God, and carried him out as natu- rally to obedience as the spark flies upward? And hence it is, that the children of God delight in the ways of obedience, because they suit with their new nature that is implanted in them. 2. Another thing that makes working for salvation so delightful, is that visible success that the children of God gain, and that visible progress that they make in this work. Nothing doth usually cause greater delight in work, than to see some riddance in it; and that we are like, at length, to bring it to some issue. So, truly, this is that which mightily delights the children of God ; to see that their work goes forward ; that their graces thrive; that their corruptions pine and consume away; that they are much nearer salvation than when they first believed; that they are per- fecting holiness in the fear of God, and every day growing nearer unto heaven and happi- ness than other ; and that, though these works of theirs are now imperfect, yet they shall be shortly finished and consummate in glory. Well, then, if pleasure and delight do affect you, here you see is that which is solid and substantial : it springs from success in your work, and from that suitableness that is in your renewed part thereunto. And therefore, the more work, the greater delight you find; because the greater progress you inake, and the more suitable to it your will becomes. Nay, your delight is of the same nature w.ith that which you shall enjoy in heaven. The !. - - i 43 44 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. work in which the blessed are there employed, is of the same nature with yours: only, their suitableness to it is perfect, and therefore their delight and pleasure is perfect; and, accordingly, the more suitable your hearts are to your work, the more delight and plea- sure you will find in it. This is that which makes heaven a place of happiness, because there is no corruption, no body of sin and death there, to make those duties, that are there required from glorified saints, to be irk- some and grievous to them. 2d, Consider the exceeding greatness of your reward. " Doth Job fear God for nought ?" was the cavil of Satan, when God applauded himself that he had such a servant as Job was upon the earth. The devil himself thought it no wonder that Job should fear and serve a re- warding God; a God whose hands are as full of blessings, as his mouth is full of commands. And yet, what were these great somethings that the devil envies Job for, and thinks every one would have done as much as he, if they had but as great a recompense for it ? It was but hedging him about, but blessing the work of his hands, and increasing his sub- stance, (as it is in Job, i. 10.) Alas! these are poot, mean rewards, to what God intends to bestow : such rewards they are, as that God still reckons Jimself in arrears to his children, till he hath given them something better than he can bestow upon them here upon earth; these things he casts but as crumbs unto dogs, when he reserves a far better portion for his children. And yet Satan thinks Job well paid for his service, in having these lower enjoyments, in causing the works of his hands to prosper; " Doth Job serve God for nought ?" And, therefore, if Satan doth not wonder that Job fears and serves God for temporal mercies, will it not be to the great wonder of Satan himself that you should not fear and serve God, who have infinitely better things pro- mised to you than temporal mercies are? Do you deserve your breath, in spending of it some few hours in prayer? or do you deserve your plentiful estate, by laying out some small part of it for God? Why, to be able to think or speak, to enjoy health and strength, are such mercies, though outward mercies, as can never be recomnpensed to God, although you should think of nothing but of his glory, and speak of nothing but of his praise; although you should impair your health, and waste your strength, and languish away in the performance of holy duties. These, though they are obligations to obedience, yet they are not the reward of obedience; no, far higher and more glorious things are pro- vided, promised, and shall be conferred upon you, if ypu will but work. For there are, first, your set standing wages : and that is eternal salvation ; no less. And, secondly, besides this, many incident vails accrue to God's servants, in their performance of his service. And are not here reward and wages enough ? 1. There is that eternal weight of glory, that shall be the reward of the saints in heaven. This is so great, that it is impossible for you to conceive it. It is such, as "eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it ever entered into, no, nor can it ever enter into, the heart of man to conceive what God " hath prepared for them that love him;" as the apostle speaks. If Saint Paul were now preaching, and pressing this very consideration of the infi- nite glorious reward, it would possibly be expected that he, who suffered a translation, and was admitted as a spy into the land of promise, should, at his return, make some relation of it, and discover something of the riches and glory of that place ; and would not all flock about him, as men do about travellers, to inquire for a description of the country whence they come ? "Who are the people and inhabitants? What are their manners and customs? What is their employment? Who is their king, and what subjection do they yield unto him ?" Thus inquisitive, truly, our curiosity would be. And yet, when Saint Paul puirposely relates his voyage to the other world, all that he speaks of it is only this, " I knew a man, caught up into paradise, who heard things that no man could, nor is it lawful for any man to utter." The glory of heaven is such, that it can never be fully known till it be fully enjoyed. And yet, if heaven were ever made crystally transparent to you, if ever God opened you a window into it, and then opened the eye of your faith to look in by that window, think what it was that you there discovered, what inaccessible light, what cherishing love, what daunting majesty, what infinite purity, what overloading joy, what insupportable and sinking glory, what rays and sparklings frow crowns and sceptres; but, more, from the glances and smiles of God upon the heavenly host, who for ever warm and sun themselves in his presence; and when you have thought all this, then think once again that all your thoughts are but shadows and glimmerings, that there is dust and ashes in the eye of your faith, that makes all these discoveries come infinitely short of the native glory of these things; and then you may guess, and guess somewhat near what heaven is. Nay, as God, by reason of his infinite glory, is better known to us by negatives, than by affirmatives; by what he is not, than by what he is; so is heaven, by reason of the greatness of its glory, better known to us by what it is not, than by what it is; and we may best conceive of it, when it is told us, there is nothing there that may affright or i . n-rfprc an Q~PT~ (rrj ir a~r_._.nn~c II li~tCIL ! C.I PRCICLCRITAIT.4 afflict us; nothing that may grieve or trouble us; nothing that may molest or disquiet us; but we shall have the highest and sweetest delight and satisfaction that the vast and cacious soul of man can either receive or iruagine. Are you now burdened with sin and corruption, those infirmities that, though they are unavoidable, yet make your lives a burdeni to you ? there the old man shall never molest you ; that body of sin and death shall never enter with you into life; the motions of sin shall for ever cease in that eternal rest. Are you here oppressed with sorrows? do afflictions overwhelm you ? there God shall kiss your blubbered eyes dry again, and wipe with his own hands all tears from your eyes. Are you pestered here with temptations ; and doth the evil one, without intermission, haunt you with black and hellish thoughts, with .eadful and horrible injections? there you shall be quite beyond the cast of all his fiery darts ; and, instead of these, you shall have within you an ever-living fountain, bubbling up spiritual and sprightly contemplations and holy raptures for ever, such as you never knew when you were here upon earth, no, not when you were in the most spiritual and heavenly frame. Are you here clouded and cast down with desertions; and doth God some- times hide his face from you in displeasure? in heaven there shall be an everlasting sun- shine; God shall look freely and steadfastly upon you; and you shall no more see him "through a glass darkly, but face to face," without any interruption or obscurity. Think, 0 soul, and then think of any thing else if thou canst, "What is it to see the "Father of Lights" in his own rays? What is it to see the " Sun of righteousness" lie in the bosom of the " Father of lights ?" What is it to feel the eternal warmth and influence of the Holy Ghost springing from both these lights? What is it to converse with holy angels and "the spirits ofjust men made perfect ;" to join with them in singing the same hallelu- jahs for ever ?" And, when you have thought all this, think once more, "Heaven is all this, and more also." Well, then, since heaven is such, and since such a heaven as this is may be yours, what should I say more, but only, with the apostle, " Having these promises, dearlybeloved,"pro- mises of so certain and vast a glory as this is, "let us cleanse and purify ourselves from all filthiness and pollution both of the flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God," (2 Cor. vii. 1.) Is this heaven attainable upon your working? will God give it into wages after working? willhe share stars, will he share him- self and hisChristamongyou ? Truly,methinks Christians should not have patience to hear any more; methinks it is too much dulness to endure another motive besides this. Why do you not interrupt me, then ? Why do you not cry out, "What shall we do that we may work the works of God ?" Why do you not say and pray, Lord work in us, "both to will and to do of thy good pleasure ?" Why is there not such a holy tumult and disturbance among you; some questioning, some praying, some resolving, all some way or other testify- ing a sense of salvation upon you? But, alas! there is a general silence. Men and women sit as quiet in their seats, as if their seats were filled rather with monuments than with men ; as if heaven and eternal salvation were of no concernment for them to look after. And wherefore is all this, but because their sight is short and their faith weak? They do not see afar off, nor believe afar off. Heaven they look upon as at a great dis- tance, and very unwilling they are to go so long upon trust ; and sensual persons as they are, they look for present reward and present wages, and will not stir till they have received it. And this is the reason why the considera- tion of this great and infinite glory affects men no more, they look for something present. Well, be it so. Will God's work bring in no present profit ? It will; and that such as you yourselves shall acknowledge to be great. And therefore, 2. Besides those set wages that are to be received at the end of our lives, there are many vails and occasional incomes that accrue to God's servants in the performance of their work. As, (1.) Such are assured, that God will pro- vide for them while they are doing his work. He hath assured them of the mercies and good things of this life by promise. I do not say of the troublesome abundance of them; but of the enjoyment of them, so far forth as they are mercies and good things. " Godliness," says the apostle, "is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," (1 Tim. iv. 8.) It hath the promises of this life; and that is a large charter, by virtue whereof God feeds them and clothes them, and provides suste- nance and comfortable enjoyments for all those that work in his service. And, there- fore, that I may note it by the way, most men greatly mistake, that labour and toil in the world to get riches and great estates : this is not the right thriving course; if you would grow rich, "Seek first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof ;" "work out your own salvation ;" labour for the true riches; and this will not only increase and improve your inward graces, but increase and improve your outward mercies also. It is true, indeed, earth-worms may, by carking and caring, by pinching and drudging, increase their heap of dirt ; but, let who will, for my part I will not, nor cannot, call that man a rich man, that hath more curses than enjoy- ments. Well, thus we see what great vails 111 II ;a i~ ~rr fonl +hn afarn~l ar~rm+h arrr~ PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 45 -- - _ - _ - - _- - -- - - - - - - 46 WORKS OF BI God gives his servants; he gives them not only those of another life, but those of this life so far as they are mercies. And that is one vail. (2.) As God provides for his servants while they are working, so their very work is wages and reward enough of itself. If God should only give us our labour for our pains, as we use to say, and never bestow a penny more upon us than what we get in his service, we were even in that sufficiently rewarded. It was, certainly, a violent pang of distempered zeal in that person,that carried fire in the one hand and water in the other, and, being demanded a reason of it, gave for answer, that he would burn up paradise and quench hell-fire, that so God might be served and holiness embraced, upon no other motives than themselves. This was a violent pang, and cannot be allowed ; this fire was strange fire, and this water was too much muddied to be water of the sanc- tuary. But yet, certainly, that man who, abstracting from the consideration of heaven and hell, eternal rewards and punishments, would not rather choose the works of God and the ways of holiness, than the works of sin and the ways of iniquity, let that man know he never yet had much acquaintance with that way and with that work. What says holy David concerning the commandments of God ? "In keeping of them there is great reward ;" not only after keeping them, when those commands that have here been the rule of our holiness and obedience, shall in heaven become the measure of our reward and happiness; but, "in the very keeping of them," while we are observing and obeying, there is so great a reward, that we should have no cause to complain should God bestow no more upon us, than to suffer us to obey his law.. For, 1. Herein we uphold communion with God and Christ, through the Holy Spirit. What is communion, but a mutual intercourse of grace and duty, when grace received reflects back again in the returns of duty ? Then is communion maintained between God and the soul, when we return duty for grace. Now, is this nothing, to enjoy fellowship and cornm- minunion with the great God of heaven and earth ; to be admitted to him; to walk and converse familiarly with him, and to enjoy him; to see him who is invisible; to lean upon him who is almighty; to enjoy him who is infinite? Is all this nothing ? Will not the souls of those who have by experience tasted the sweetness of these things, cry out, "They are so excellent and transcendant, that there is but one thing more desirable, and that is immediate enjoyment?" What is heaven itself, but communion with God at a nearer hand? Ilere it is by faith, there by vision ; here by ordinances, there by immediate influences; here it is by duty, there by union. And,1 SHOP HOPKINS. therefore, if the consideration of a future heaven be not cogent and prevailing with you, behold here is a heaven at present: here is happiness for your work, as well as for your reward. It was nobly spoken of Galleacius Carriciolus,-" Cursed," says he, " be that man, who preferreth the whole world before one hour's communion with Jesus Christ." And certainly, they who have once tasted the sweetness of this communion, will subscribe to that anathema. 2. Usually, great peace and tranquillity of conscience attends and accompanies this work- ing for salvation ; that fills the soul with as great a calm as the world had the first morn- ing of its creation, when there was no wind or tempest to discompose it. Never is the soul more at rest, than when it is most at work. I dare appeal to the experience of the people of God in this case. Do not your most solemn feasts come in by your obedience ? Doth ever conscience look so friendly and pleasantly upon you, as when it finds you active in the ways of God ? it then wears not a wrinkle nor frown upon its face; as sin ruffles it, so duty smooths it out again ; and this causeth such peace and quietness in the inward man, as yields more satisfaction than all the noise and ruffling gallantry and jollity in the world. "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in sim- plicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world," (2 Cor. i. 12.) So that, if men care not for the enjoyment of God, yet if they love the enjoyment of them- selves, if they would avoid discords and civil wars in their own breasts, this were enough to excite them to this pacifying work, that atones and reconciles conscience unto themselves. 3. In this working for salvation, God gives in many evident testimonies of his special favour and acceptation unto the souls of his servants. "Thou meetest him," says the prophet, "that rejoiceth and worketh right- eousness." " Thou meetest him ;" how? not to contend with him, as with Jacob; not to slay him, as thou didst Balaam ; but to embrace him, to reveal and manifest thyself unto him. If you have any comfortable evi- dences that God is yours, in a strict bond of an everlasting and unalterable covenant, and that you are accepted of him in the well- beloved, examine how you attained to this evidence : was it not through obedience and working? This is the way whereby God manifests himself unto the souls of his; and should your comfortable persuasions not come in thus by obedience and working, they are but enthusiastical and groundless presump- tions, and not true and divine assurance. The apostle, (2 Pet. i. 10,) exhorts us to make our "calling and election sure ;" but how is that to be done? it is by giving diligence. What is it men desire and wish for next to heaven PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 47 is it not assurance of it ?Would you not have the terrors and torments of conscience, appre- hendingand pre-occupating yourown condem- nation, eased and removed? Would you not have the unquiet tossings and fluctuations of your minds, because of the uncertainty of your future state and condition, settled and con- firmed ? Then be persuaded to work; believe it, this evidence is never received in any other way than in a way of duty; God will not hold his light of assurance to them, who will not work the works of obedience. 4. Those that are diligent in working for salvation, many times have high spring-tides of joy : joy, that is unspeakable and glorious, that rusheth in upon the soul and ravisheth it with a sweet and potent delight, while it is in ways of obedience. Now this, though it be not ordinary with every Christian, yet God sometimes vouch- safes it, especially to the most laborious work- ing Christians, as a cordial to revive and quicken them, that they should not faint and grow weary in their work. He gives them, many times, such prelibations of future glory, such bright glimpses of himself passing before them, that they scarce know wherein their state differs from the state of the glorified; unless it be that it is shorter in the duration, lasting not so long as theirs. Should you then be asked, as they were in the parable," Why stand ye here idle all the day long?" you could not return the same answer as they did, " because no man hath hired us ;" for God hath hired you, and that at no less a rate than all these great and glorious things that have been propounded to you do amount unto: a glorious heaven, a blessed work, that is accompanied with com- munion with God, peace of conscience, assur- ance of divine favour, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And if all this will not persuade you, certainly you set a mighty price upon your own sloth. Only let me say this, beware that these souls of yours, that you will not part with to God for salvation, beware you do not sell them to the devil for nothing. (3.) Consider your encouragements after your work is done: there is an eternal rest that waits you. I have already considered heaven as a reward' for working: let us now consider it as a rest after working. And so the apostle tells us, " there remnaineth a rest for the people of God," (Heb. iv. 9.) And we read, (Rev. xiv. 13,) "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." They rest from their labours. 1. They rest from their labour, in working under affliction. Sometimes afflictions are spurs and incentives, and sometimes they are burdens and discouragemerits, to obedience. But when we arrive at heaven, we shall no longer need the spur to quicken us : nor shall we any longer bear that burden to oppress us; but shall cast it down at heaven's gate, where never sorrow nor suffering durst yet appear. And, 2. In heaven you shall rest from your labour, in working under desertion. Now, though you do work, yet, it may be, you apprehend God frowning upon you, and find- ing fault with all that you do. Now, it may be, though God doth cause the clear light of his precepts and Spirit to shine before you, to direct you what your work is that you should do; yet he makes it dismal darkness behind you, and shuts up the light of his comfort that you cannot see what work you have done. And this is your great trouble; you work and labour, and yet you know not whether you shall be accepted : "Obedience were easy and pleasant work," says the soul, "if I knew that God did regard me: but, alas! I pray, and he shuts out my prayer from him : I lay hold upon him, but he shakes me off in displeasure : 1 obey, but he rejects all my services: and this is the anguish and torture of my life." This, indeed, is matter of great grief and trouble. But know, O soul, thou shalt not long work thus in the dark : shortly, thou shalt be above these clouds; and then thou shalt see, that those prayers which thou thoughtest were vainly scattered and lost in the air, are become a cloud of sweet incense hovering before the throne of God; and that those tears, which thou thoughtest were dropped in vain upon the earth, are all gathered up and preserved in God's bottle; and that those poor duties of thine, which, for their own meanness and vileness, thou thoughtest God would scorn, yet, through that worth that is put upon them by the intercession of Christ, are ranked in the same degree of acceptation as the most perfect services of the angels themselves. Have but patience a while, and continue working, and thou shalt see a happy issue; when the clouds of darkness and desertion, that now lie upon thy spirit, shall be all scat- tered and blown away. 3. You shall also rest from your labour, in working against the continual workings of your own corruptions; which shall then, at once, both cease to act and cease to be. And this, indeed, is the great thing that makes it such a blessed rest to the people of God. In- deed, God cuts you out your work in his com- mands ; but it is the old man within you that makes it to be tedious, irksome, and difficult unto you. God makes it not so, but your corruption. And this it doth two ways,- 1. By deadening your heart to it; and, 2. By turning your heart against it. Deadness and dulness to, and averseness from, the ways of holy obedience, are the II ar~la ~ /Ill~a taVl~r 'l~ lnI I t~n? n~l~ I T~t l7P l __ 48 . WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. greatest cause of all that toil and pains that most take in the work and service of God, if ever they will bring it to a good issue. Now both these shall shortly cease and be removed, if you but wait and continue striving against them. 1st, You shall rest from all that labour that you take with a dead and heavy heart in the ways of God. Now, you are continually call- ing upon it, "Awake, awake, my glory :" now, you are continually tugging it, to get it a little more forward ; lifting it up, to get it a little higher towards-God and heaven now, you stand in need of continual quickening grace, to actuate and excite those lumps of lead, that lie heavy within your breasts; and it is the greatest disquietment of your lives, that you find your hearts so heartless and list- less to what is holy and spiritual : it is with them, as with some great bells; that you must :pull long at the rope before you can make them sound. Is not this the daily com- plaint of God's children, that their hearts are dull and heavy, and they cannot raise them ? and this makes the ways of obedience, yea, this makes their very lives, become burden- some. Well, have but patience for a while, and continue still to struggle against this sad indisposition, and it will not be long before you shall rest from this labour also. Though now you are as birds, whose bodies are too heavy for their wings; when you stretch themr forth, and would fain be soaring up to heaven, you can only run up and down and flutter upon the earth : yet, shortly, these heavy and( cloggy bodies shall fall off, and you shall be all wing ; free from all deadness and straitness, distraction and weariness, in the ways of God, that now afflict you. Then shall your affections be always intent, and not languish ; always burning, and yet shall never waste nor consume. Every motion of your soul shall then shoot itself to God as quick as the lightning, and yet constant as the sun- beams. And thoe who are now outstripped by weak and underling Christians, shall then be able to keep pace in their obedience, even with the holy angels themselves. And then, 2d, In heaven there shall be a resting from all that labour that the people of God now take in the ways of holy obedience, through the averseness of their hearts from them, and the opposition of their hearts against them. There is that contradiction in the carnal part against what is holy and spiritual, that the godly cannot bring themselves to the perfor- mance of it without much strife and conten- tion : "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit ;" and, when the spiritual part calleth for holy thoughts and heavenly affections, the corrupt and fleshy part sends forth noisome and stinking vapours; obstructing the good that we would do, and infecting that little good that we do perform : so that, as if working, were not a sufficient employment, a Chris- tian must fight that he may work : and this is it that makes working for salvation so laborious, because we must fight and work at once. But it shall not be long before that which hinders shall be removed ; and then, as you are not under a sad necessity of offend- ing God, so also you shall be under a most blessed necessity of serving God ; and shall find no more trouble in that service, than in those actions which you now cannot but do. And thus shall you have a happy rest from all that labour and pains, that your corrup- tions here made you take. And therefore, be encouraged to persevere in well-doing : per- fect the work which you have undertaken, in spite of all opposition from your own corrupt hearts ; for, assure yourselves, this troublesome inmate shall not long disquiet you. I might also add, 4. You shall then rest from your labour, ir working against Satan's temptations; who is now buffeting you, while you are here upon earth; but, in heaven, the evil one shall not approach near to touch you. There, you shall no more trouble yourselves to know how to distinguish between the injections of Satan and the ebullitions of your own corrup- tions; for you shall know neither there. You shall then stand no more upon your own guard, and keep sentinel to your own soul; nor conflict with any of Satan's temptations; but shall for ever triumph in victories and conquests over them. This is that blessed rest that you shall shortly possess, if you will but now work. And what is it that comforts the painful labourer, but this, that though his work be hard and difficult, yet the evening will soon shut in, and he shall then betake himself to quiet rest and repose ? What is it that com- forts the wearisome traveller, but this : every step of his long way brings him nearer to his home, where he shall enjoy a longer rest ? And shall not the same encourage and support you, in your way and work? What though the work be painful and laborious : yet, it will not be long, before you shall lie down in the bed of the grave, and sweetly sleep away a short night of oblivion, that is between this and the resurrection; and your tired weary souls shall then repose in the bosom of God himself. What though the way be long and tedious to the flesh : yet, you are travelling to your father's house, where you are sure to be welcome; and where you shall enjoy an eternity of rest and repose, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the whole ring of glorious saints, discoursing to them of the dangers and difficulties that you have passed through in getting to them. Doth it not sweeten the toil and pains that you take in your youth, to think that thereby you are laying up that, whereupon you may PRACTICAL C live at ease hereafter, and spare the weakness of old age ! And is it not much more rational, that, while you are in this world, which may be called the youth of eternity, you should lay up a good foundation; and treasure up a large, rich stock, upon which you might live at ease for ever ? Why should you not be as wise :and politic for heaven, as for a little of the perishing things of this world? Will you labour that you may rest here, where your rest shall certainly be disquieted, and you shook out of it ? and will you not labour that you may rest in heaven, where alone you can enjoy an everlasting rest ? I know it is that inveterate prejudice, which men have taken up against the ways of God, that they are painful and laborious, that invalidates all reasons and arguments which we bring to persuade them to work. Rest! that is it which they would have: and though God tells them they shall have an eternal rest, if they will but work a while and tells them, on the other hand, that they shall never enter into rest if they do not work, that they shall never enjoy more ease than what they can find in hell itself, where their groans and bellowings, together with the smoke of that bottomless pit, shall ascend up for ever : yet, such is the madness of men's folly, that neither the rest of heaven nor the restlessness of hell can stir or move them but they roll themselves up in their own sloth, and will hear nothing, nor lay any thing to heart, that may rouse or awaken them. Hath not God often called upon them by his ministers, " Sinners, sinners, awake bestir yourselves : hell-fire is kindling about you : God is ready to open his mouth, to pro- nounce sentence against you : Satan is ready to lay hold of you, and to drag you to be tor- mented?" One would think such execra- tions as these are, should awaken the carcasses that you sit over, were they not in their final state : and yet, with you, whose souls are yet in their bodies, but know not how soon they may be in hell, who among you are moved with all that hath or can be said of this matter? Nay, are you not like sleepy men when jogged, ready to grow pettish and to quarrel with us ? "Why do you molest us? Why do you envy us our rest? Why do you disturb our peace, and will not let us alone?" shall I say to you now, as once our Saviour said to his disciples, (Matth. xxvi. 45,) "Sleep on, and take your rest ;" sleep on, and nod yourselves into destruction : sleep on, and never wake more till the flames of hell awaken you I Truly, we come not to disturb your rest : but we come to inform and guide you to a better rest than what you can find here, even an eternal rest ; a rest with him that is immortal, a rest with him who alone is unchangeable. And is not this rest worth a little pains and struggling to obtain ? I RISTIANITY. 49 Do you think you are always to believe and to repent, always to obey and mortify your corruptions ? you cannot think so, unless you think you are always to live in this world. No; a rest remains for the people of God, after a few short days be gone. It is not, therefore, your ease that you seek when you will not work : no; it is rather your pain and eternal torment, which shall certainly then be given unto all slothful persons, when the industrious and painful Christian, that labours and works for salvation, shall be admitted into the eternal rest that he is aspiring after, and hath already embraced in his hope and faith. (4.) As in heaven there is an eternal rest, so also in heaven there is an eternal work to be done. And therefore you should inure yourselves to that work while you are here upon earth. If happiness, according to the philosopher's notion, consists in operation ; then in heaven, where there is the most perfect happiness, there must needs be the most perfect opera- tion. And therefore, whatever hath been spoken of rest that remains, yet you are not so to conceive of it, as possibly some gross enough are apt to wish and fancy to them- selves, as if in heaven the blessed were in- active and enjoyed there only a long vacation, and only stretched themselves on that flowery bank, and so, void of cares and fears, lulled away an eternity : no; these are too low and brutish apprehensions for the glory of that place. That rest that is there to be expected and enjoyed, is operative, working rest : it is both rest and exercise at once; and therefore, it is a true paradox. Though the saints in heaven rest from their labours, yet they never rest from their working : continually are they blessing and praising God ; ascribing glory, and honour, and power to him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb for evermore: always are they beholding, admiring, and adoring God, and burning in love to each other, and mutually rejoicing in God and in one another. And this is the work of that eternal rest; a work never to be intermitted, nor to cease. And therefore, it is worth our observing, that both those places that do chiefly speak of the future rest of the people of God, do also intimate a work in that rest. So the apostle to the Hebrews tells us,"There remaineth a rest for the people of God," (Heb. iv. 9.) The word is, " There remaineth a Sabbath for the people of God." Look how you are to be employed on a Sabbath : such shall be your employment in your eternal rest. Is it not your work upon a Sabbath-day, to raise your thQughts and affections to heaven, to fix and terminate them upon God, to main- tain communion with him, to admire him in all his works both of grace and providence, to VOL. I. D R r-m-- -- - --" . _0WRSOFBSO, HPIS stir up your own hearts, and to quicken the hearts of others to praise and adore him ? why, this shall be the work of your eternal Sabbath. And when you are at any time lifted up to a more than ordinary spiritualness in these things, then may you give some guess what your work shall be in heaven, and what the frame of your hearts shall be in your eternal rest. And so that other place in the Revelation, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours; and their works do follow them :" which may be' meant, not only of the reward of their works that they shall then receive, but of the works themselves that here they performed on earth: these shall follow them, and enter into heaven with them; and, as they were done by them weakly and imperfectly here, so there the very same works shall be done by them with absolute and consummate per- fection : all those works, I mean, that, for the matter and substance of them, do not connote a sinful state and condition. Now, then, since you must be employed in such a work as this is to eternity, why do you not accustom yourselves to it while you are here ? The apostle to the Colossians, blesseth God, who had made them "meet to be made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, "(Col. i. 12.) Were it a meet thing, that those who spend their whole time in sin, should be abruptly snatched up into heaven, to spend an eternity there in holiness ? And therefore God accustoms those, whom he saves in an ordinary way and manner, to work those works here on earth, that they are to be employed in hereafter in heaven. Here they are apprentices, as it were, that they may learn the trade of holiness; that, when that times comes, they may become fit citizens of the New Jerusalem. Here God is trying their eyes with mnore qualified and allayed discoveries of himself, that, when they come to view him face to face, they may be able to bear the exceeding. brightness of his glory. And, therefore, though you profess heaven to be your country, and that you are strangers and pilgrims here on earth; yet, say not with the captive Jews, "How shall we sing the song of Sion in a strange land?" (Psalm cxxxvii. 4.) Yes; you must accustom your- selves to that song: you must mould and warble it here on earth, that you may be perfect in it when you come to join with saints and angels in their eternal hallelujahs. You must try your eyes, by seeing of God; and your voices, by singing that song, that you must continually sing iri heaven. And, were it only for this disposing and fitting of yourselves for the work of heaven, this were motive enough to persuade to begin it now. (5.) Another encouraging consideration to persuade you to work out your own salvation, is this; as your work is great, so the helps and assistances that God gives for the perfor- mance of this work, are many. So that your work is not greater than your aids; nor, is it more difficult than they are potent. And therefore, though you are weak in yourselves; and so weak, that, were you left to your own strength, you would faint in the most easy service, yea, the weight but of one holy thought would sink you, for "we are not sufficient," says the apostle, as "of ourselves to think any good thing :" yet, when we consider those mighty auxiliaries that are afforded and promised --as comfort when we droop, support whei we are weak, that we shall rise when we fall, recruits when we are worsted, omnipotency to supply our impotency, all-sufficiency to make up our defects : when we consider these things, then may we triumphantly say, with the apostle, "When we are weak, then are we strong:" and though of ourselves we are nothing, and therefore can do nothing ; yet, through these mighty assistances, we are able to do all things. I shall rank these auxiliary forces into two bands., Some are external: others are in- ternal. 1st, External helps are various. I shall only instance in three :- 1. You have the exciting examples of others, who have already happily gone through this work. You are not commanded that which never yet was imposed upon any of the sons of men; nor that which, whoever undertook, he failed in the performance, and sunk under the burden of it. No : there are hundreds and thousands gone before you, from whom God required as much as he doth from you; and these have demonstrated, that the work is possible, and the reward certain. And, there- fore, as Israel followed the cloud for their conduct into the Land of Canaan : so may you be led into a land of better promise, by "a cloud of witnesses," of those who have already passed through the same faith, patience, and obedience, wherein you are to follow them. It is superstition heightened to idolatry, to make use of the departed saints as substituted mediators and under-advocates unto Christ, that Christ may be our advocate unto God the Father. What their present prayers for us are we know not : but this we are certain of, their past example ought to be propounded and improved by us for our encouragement in the ways of holiness and obedience. Hence, the apostle exhorts us that we should be dili- gent; not slothful : and he grounds it upon this, because in so doing, we should be fol- lowers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. In difficult and hazardous enterprises, every man is apt to stand still and see who will lead the way; I! tnat tlllleS comes. ~GneV TT~8V 13eCOTne nr, clr;lzens I ~o~s~-~ 50 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. ___-- I PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 51 and, according to the success of the first attempters, so either to be encouraged or dis- mayed. Now, what says our Saviour, (Matt. xi. 12,) " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." You are not the forlorn hope; you are not the first assailers : no ; whole armies of saints have, in former ages, stormed heaven : they have heretofore planted strongbatteries against it, and made wide breaches in it: they have heretofore entered and taken possession ; and still the passage is as open for you, and the conquest as easy, as for them ; and you may see them beckoning out of heaven to you, and hear them calling to you, "Fellow-soldiers, bend your force hither. There is your labour : here is your rest. There are your enemies here is your crown and victory. Believe it, there are no more dangers for you to pass through, no moe difficulties for you to meet with, than what we have passed through; yea, and passed with so much safety, as that riot so much as one soul of us miscarried, not a soul left dead on the place : we struggled against the same corruptions that you do, and overcame them ; against the same temp- tations, and baffled them ; against the same devils, and routed them; against the same flatteries and oppositions of a base world, and despised them. Believe it, upon our expe- rience, all these things are but scarecrows set in the ways of obedience, on purpose to affright you; but there is no danger at all in them, unless you fear them." This they tell you with one consent. And, therefore, if dxamples are any encou- ragement, as .indeed they are almost the greatest ; if imitation bath any force to obe- dience, as too often we find it hath great force to sin; why should we not hereby quicken ourselves? Why do you not arise, and press upon the footsteps. of them who have gone before you, and shewed you that the way is both certain and passable ? Are you called to exercise self-debial? Abra- ham looks down from heaven upon you, and -tells you that he was ready to sacrifice his beloved Isaac. Are you afraid of the scoffs and jeers of a fleering world ? Noah builded an ark : Moses relinquished the honours of Pharaoh's court; and met with as many per- secutions and afflictions, and underwent as many taunts and flouts, as you are like to do. Are you called to lay down your lives for the tystimony of Jesus and a good conscience? Stephen tells you, a storm of stones fell upon him, and brake open the prison, and set the prisoner free : his soul escaped; it broke out of the cage, and as a bird, took wing, and flew to heaven. Are you assaulted with temp- tations ? Saint Paul looks down, and tells you, that he had much stronger temptations than you have, and yet he got safe to heaven. Yea, our great Master and pattern, Jesus Christ, wrought out all obedience. And what were the motives that put him upon this mighty undertaking? It was not for his own salvation and happiness, but it was for ours. Nay, the Scripture goes yet lower, it was to leave " us an example, that we should follow his steps," (1 Pet. ii. 21.) Now, shall Christ do all this, not for himself, but for us, and shall we sit still and do nothing for our- selves? Shall Christ take so much pains to set us an example, and shall not we follow that example; we who have so great a hap- piness to work for, and so great a pattern to work by ? Shall we be slothful in procuring our own good, since Christ was so laborious and expensive, not in procuring good to himself, but in procuring good for others? Methinks, these things should add some spurs to our endeavours, and excite us to follow the examples of those that are gone before us; yea, and to leave an example unto them that are to come after us : and though we do come after the examples of others who are gone before us, yet the consideration of their ex- amples, who have gone through this work, may excite us not to come behind them in any good work. 2. God holds out to us the light of his Gos- pel truth and ordinances, whereby to help us in our work. What Christ saith of himself is applicable unto all, "We must work the works of God, while it is day ; the night cometh wherein no man can work," (John, ix. 4.) You are not shut up in darkness ; you are not muffled up in the clouds of error and igno- rance; or, if you are, it is not because you have not light shining about you, but because you shut it out when it is breaking in upon you. It is not a double labour that is put upon you, first to find out your duty, and then to perform it : no ; the light shines about you; and, unless you will seal up your eyes against it, it is impossible but that it will sometimes flash in upon you, and discover both what you have misdone and what you ought to do. The Mahometans have a tradi- tion among them, that Moses's Law and Christ's Gospel were written at first with ink made of pure light : this conceit of theirs, though it be fond and ridiculous, yet carries a mystic truth in it : the Scripture is as plain for matter of duty, as if it had been written with a sun-beam : ordinances are dispensed freely and powerfully : so great the throng of teachers, and such the variety of Gospel administration, that men must take almost as much pains to keep themselves ignorant of their duty, as would suffice to perform their duty. And wherefore, think you, is all this glorious light given you? is it not that you may work by it? doth a master light up .a torch or candle, only that his servants may play about it ? And wherefore doth God light up the sun of truth in the firmfment of his II Tr ~ nL~~I~TA~ I 52 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. Church ? is it only that you should dally and trifle with it? no ; it shines, that you may work by it. And, truly, work by it you do : but, alas ! how many do work the works of darkness, by the glorious light of truth! how many have light enough to see that they are notoriously wicked and profane swearers, drunkards, despisers of ordinances, revilers at religion and the professors of it, enemies to what is sober and sacred in Chris- tianity ! This light they have flashing in their faces, from the clear evidence of the word of God; and yet still they continue to work the works of darkness. What shall I say to such as these are ? truly, I can say nothing worse to them, than what their own consciences already thunder against them; for they are self-condemned persons. But, truly, this com- plaint may too too justly be taken up against all that do not walk worthy of the light vouchsafed to them; their sins are revealed clearly, and duties are revealed as clearly as the Scripture can possibly express them ; and yet they live in a gross neglect of them. Believe it, this light will not always shine to be gazed at only: the day is drawing to an end; the night is hastening upon us; the darkness of the night of death, and the darker night of judgment : and, oh! that then it may not be the condemnation of any of us, " That light is come into the world, but we loved darkness and the works of darkness better than light, because our deeds were evil." 3. God hath, to this end, set apart his ministers, that they might be helpers to you in this great work of working out your salva- tion. And therefore they are called, "helpers of your faith and joy," (2 Cor. i. 24 ;) they are said to "watch for your souls, as they that must give an account," (Heb. xiii. 17;) they are said to be co-workers with Jesus Christ; yea, they are said to save your souls, (Jude, 23.) Ministers are set in the Church, to admonish with all meekuess, to beseech with all earnestness, to rebuke with all authority. Yea, and we have done it: have we not called upon you, " Sinners, sinners, why will you die? the way, wherein you now walk, leads down to the chambers of death and destruction : the wages of that work, which you are now doing, is shame, death and hell." Have we not thus often called upon you ? yes, so often have we thundered terrors in men's ears, that they now disregard them out of custom; and when we speak of sin, and death, and hell, and judgment to come, men think we are fallen into a common-place, and we must talk dreadfully to keep in our road: these are the apprehensions which men have of the great and fearful denunciations that are daily discharged in their ears by the ministers of the Gospel. And have we not also displayed Jesus Christ in all his excellencies, so far forth as his infinite excellencies can be displayed with a few short-breathed words ? Have we not set forth holiness in its beauty and lustre ; and done as much as we could do, to reconcile you to the ways of obedience, and to remove the unjust prejudices that men have taken up against them ? What could we have done more than we have done, to inform men's judgments, to satisfy their consciences, to answer all their doubts, to allay their fears, to supply them with quickening considerations to duty, and with deterring considerations from sin ? We appeal to yourselves. And yet we speak not this to ingratiate or to com- mend ourselves : we profess that we care not much for the good opinion of any man in the world, farther than it may be of some advan- tage to do your souls good. But do you think God expects not some great thing from you ? Give me leave to deal truly and faithfully with you. If your works do not, in some measure, answer the labours of God's servants, that have many years followed you, with line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, still warning and entreating with all bowels of tenderness, alluring you to pity your own souls, and to save yourselves from that wrath and ven- geance that shall shortly overcome the diso- bedient world ; they, who have thus exhorted you, believe it, shall, within a while, be wit- nesses against you. Since, then, you are daily called upon and warned to flee from wrath to come; since you have such clear convictions of your duty, as a bribed conscience can hardly evade; since you have such abun- dance of examples of others, who have gone before you, and have done what God requires of you; why will not you be hereby persuaded and encouraged to work? These things, you must acknowledge, are great helps to farther your salvation : and, believe it, they will prove dreadful aggravations of your condem- nation, if they do not prevail with you. But these are only outward helps. -2d, There are other helps; and they are inward, and of far greater force and efficacy : of which I shall name two :-- 1. The dictates of your own consciences: they are still prompting and exciting you to work. Conscience is God's deputy and vicegerent in the soul, that rules and governs in his name and by his authority. Of all the faculties in man, this was the least corrupted by his fall : though the will be wholly corrupted and pe"- verse, that it will not obey the commands of conscience; yet conscience still continues the performance of its office: still it informs, and urges, and threatens, and torments; and thus may you see it busily working, even in those that never had the law of God to direct con- science : " The Gentiles," says the apostle to the Romans, " which have not the law, do by nature," that is, by natural conscience, "the PRACTICAL C things contained in the law, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts in the meanwhile accusingand excusing oneanother," (Rom. ii. 14, 15 ;) and, because they had not the law, therefore conscience in them was like an officer walking,in the dark, appre- hending the innocent and letting the guilty escape. But yet this was from the beginning so deeply implanted in the heart of man, that something must be done and avoided to obtain happiness, which could never yet be oblite- rated. Though our knowledge of what is duty and what is sin be in a great part defaced, yet this knowledge the Scripture doth abun- dantly supply to us, and gives conscience a perfect draught of all the duties that God requires, and bids it be overseer and look that the work be done. Now is it not a great help, when you have somewhat within you, that stands for and takes part with what is good, and what is your duty? Conscience secretly bids you beware of such and such sins, that will bring ruin, destruction, and vengeance upon you, and perform such and such duties, -" Pray, hear, meditate, and be more fervent and affectionate in all your ser- vices : this is the way that tends to life and happiness." Thus conscience daily and hourly is following you with counsels and childings, and with threatenings, denouncing wrath and vengeance against you: and, though it speaketh these things with so low a voice, that others, though they lay their ears to your soul, cannot hear it; yet in your ears it speaks as loud as thunder, and no less terrible. It is in vain to wound it; it is in vain to stop its mouth; for that will but make it break out with the more violence and out- rage: nothing can appease it, but duty and work. Why should you not, then, since you have that within you that stands for and prompts you to work, why should you not as well follow and obey the dictates and com- mands of your consciences, that prompt you to work and duty, as obey the propensions of your sensual part to the contrary? 2. God himself helps us, by working all our works in us and for us; by working in us the will to work, and by working for us the work when we have willed. And, therefore, while there is no part of our work too hard for God, there should be no part of it too hard and difficult for us. Christ tells us that his burden is not heavy; yet, were it heavy, we might well undergo it, since he himself helps us to bear it. The frequent experience of every child of God doth abundantly con- firm this. Did you never begin a duty, with your hearts listless and dead, with affections cold and flat. with thoughts very wandering and distracting; so that, at the very entrance of it, you concluded you should never make good work of it, you should never bring the duty to a good issue ? and yet, have you not, H1 RI STIANITY. 53 in the midst of these your distempers, found a mighty assistance and influence shining down from heaven into your hearts, filling them with holy and divine affections, transporting them beyond all that deadness that did op- press them, enlarging them with sweet and heavenly enlargements; so that no duties were ended with more comfort and revivings, than those that were begun with such dead hearts and cold affections? Have you not often found it so? And what is this but a sensible feeling of God's working in you ? so that, in the same performance, you see your own weakness when you are left to yourselves, and you see the power of God's assistance when he comes in to help you ; and there is no duty, but this divine assistance may be hoped for, and expected by you, to enable you in the performance of it. Are you to do ? God works in you the will and the deed. Are you to suffer? when you pass through the fire and through the water, he will be with you, (Isa. xliii. 2.) " He shall deliver you in six troubles; and in seven there shall no evil touch you, (Job, v. 19.) Are you to pray? " His Spirit maketh intercession for us," (Rom. viii. 26.) God doth not, as the scribes and pharisees did, lay heavy burdens upon others, and not touch them with the least of his fingers: no ; he is pleased to become a co-worker with you : he begins, he carries on, and he also perfects whatever concerns your duty here, and your happiness hereafter. And is not this a mighty encouragement to obedience? Will you any longer delay, since God affords you such assistance as this ? Why do you not presently attempt this work? "But," you will say, "how shall I know that God will assist me ?" Put it to the trial. Was it ever known that God failed any that resolutely ventured ? Dispute not this con- currence, but believe; and, by looking for it and depending upon it, you engage God to help you. It was the consideration of the all-sufficient assistance of God, that made one of the ancients cry out, " Da Domine, quod jubes; et jube quod vis : - Give, Lord, what thou commandest; and then command what thou wilt." (6.) Consider, for your encouragement, that it is not so much the absolute and legal per- fection of the work, as the perfection of the worker-that is, the perfection of the heart,- that is looked at and rewarded by God. And is not this a great encouragement? There is a twofold perfection,-the perfection of the work, and the perfection of the work- man : the perfection of the work is, when the work doth so exactly and strictly answer the holy law of God, that there is no irregularity in it : the perfection of the workman is nothing but inward sincerity, the uprightness of the heart towards God; which may be where there are many imperfections and 54 WORKS OF BIS defects intermingled. If God should accept and reward no work but what is absolutely perfect in respect of the law, this would be such a saddening discouragement, that it would take off the wheels of all endeavours; for all our obedience falls far short of legal perfection in this life. We ourselves are con- scious of many failings and imperfections in our best services, and God knows far more; and, since we can do nothing without infir- mities, who would venture to do any thing upon the account of those infirmities, lest God should cast back all again as dung into our faces? No; but we do not stand upon such terms as these with our God : it is not so much what our works are, as what our heart is, that God looks at and will reward. Yet know also, lest any should too soon lay hold on this, if our hearts are perfect and sincere, we shall endeavour to the utmost of our power that our works may be perfect according to the strictness of the law. I speak not this, there- fore, to encourage ignorant sottish sinners, who, though they live in a constant course of sin and neglect of duty, yet sooth up them- selves with this, that God knows their hearts are good, sincere, and upright : let me cut off the foolish hopes of these men in a word,-it is impossible that the heart should be sincere, where there is the allowance and liking of any one sin in the life. But I speak what I have said to those who, upon the sight and sense of their many failings, of the deadness and untowardness of their hearts, of their averseness and indisposition, of their wander- ings and formality in the performance of what is holy and good, are ready to be dejected and discouraged, and to give over doing any thing, because they can do nothing well: let such know, that though their works have not this legal perfection, yet if they do proceed from a sincere, upright, perfect heart, I they shall be accepted and rewarded by God. Hezekiah had his failings, and the prophet sharply reproves him for his pride, &c. making a glorious and boasting ostentation of his treasure to the king of Babylon ; yet he prays and appeals to God, "Remember now, O0 Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart," (Isa. xxxviii. 3.) There may, therefore, be a perfect heart, where there are imperfect works : and, if you can make this plea, let me tell you, the per- fection of your hearts will swallow up the imperfections of your works, so that they shall never come up in remembrance against you before God., (7.) Consider, for your encouragement, that, though your work be great, yet the success of it is certain. The greatest check to industry, is fear of disappointment; from which you have no security, while you labour for any thing besides your own salvation. All worldly HOP HOPKINS. affairs are moved by such invisible wires ana turned upon such small pins, that if the finger of Providence displace but one of them, the whole fabric of our design is thereby dis- ordered and our hopes defeated: and God sometimes delights to frustrate men's attempts about worldly concernments. " Is it not of the Lord of Hosts," says the prophet," that the people shall labour in the very fire, and that the people shall weary themselves for very vanity ?" (Hab. ii. 13.) To labour in the fire signifies two things : first, great pains secondly, great disappointment : they work in the midst of scorching flames; and what they do produce with so much anguish, they enjoy not, but it consumes betwixt their fingers. When men have weaved a curious web of earthly contrivances, and think to wrap up themselves therein and to keep them- selves warm, God breathes secret flames into it, that singe it; so that it can no more hold together than so much tinder. And where- fore doth God blast men's endeavours, but that, seeing the vanity of all their labour under the sun, how wavering, how uncer- tain, and how unsuccessful things are, how means run one way and the end another, they might hereby be induced to turn their labours into another channel, and to work for their souls and for eternal happiness and sal- vation, that are as far above the reach of disappointment, as they are far above the rate of earthly concernments? " Mine elect," says God, "shall long enjoy the work of their hands," (Isa. lxv. 22 :) they shall not labour in vain. And this is the great argument urged by the apostle upon the Corinthians : "Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord :" and why so indus- trious and constant? knowing this, says he, "that your labour is not in vain in the Lord," (1 Cor. xv. 58.) Two things there are that make a labour to be in vain, - 1. When it doth not accom- plish its end. 2. When that end which it doth accomplish, is not worth the cost and pains. Now, in neither of these respects is your labour in vain. For, 1st, It shall not fail to accomplish the end to which it is ordained : and that is, eternal salvation. Three things there are that inake men come short in the accomplishment of an end propounded, -- 1. When men propound to themselves ends that are in themselves simply impossible. 2. When, though the end be possible, yet the means that are used are unfit and improbable. 3. When, though the means are rightly suited to the attainment of the end, yet we do not persevere in the use of them. Now, in none of these ways shall a laborious Christian fail of this end. For, 1. The end that you work for, is not in itself simply impossible. Should you pro- PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 55 pound to yourselves to become angels, should you strive to sublimate yourselves into spiri- tual essences, your attempts herein were all but vain, because it is impossible you should ever be refined into .angels : but if your end be to be like angels, to be equal to angels, this is possible and may be attained : "When they arise from the dead, they are as the angels which are in heaven," (Mark, xii. 25,) which another evangelist renders, they " are equal unto the angels," (Luke, xx. 36.) If, in this life, you propose to yourselves a state of perfection and freedom both from sir and sorrow, a state of consummate bliss and happiness, this end is impossible: but if you make it your end to enjoy such a state as this hereafter, this is attainable, and labour may achieve it. Yea, aim at what degree of glory you please, next below God and Christ, be it as high as chlierubims and seraphims, I can- not say that you think of an impossibility : your labour may raise you to such a pitch and advance you to such glory, as shall dazzle the sun in its brightness. It is true, there was once a time when salvation might well be reckoned among those things that were im- possible; and that was in that sacl interval between the fall and the promise of Christ, when all mankind lay in the shadow and in the valley of death, under the breach and yet under the bond of the covenant of works; when it had, indeed, been in vain so much as once to have thought of happiness, or to have laboured for it : but, since Christ's un- dertaking, we, who were once without hope, have now obtained good hope through grace; the partition-wall, that then we could neither climb over nor break through, is now taken away; the gate of heaven is now set open, and with striving we may enter, for our Saviour Jesus Christ " hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And therefore, though it may seem an impossibility to dejected and despairing souls, that ever such vile wretches should receive so great a dignity; that those, who are sunk so low in misery, should ever be raised to happiness; that those, who are so loaden with sin and iniquity, should ever feel the weight of mercy and beaten glory; that those, whose best works deserve the lowest hell, should, though not for yet, upon the performance of those works, obtain the highest heavens : though this may seem to be an impossibility, yet, believe it, while you think of any glory lower than the glory of the Godhead, you think of nothing above a possibility and the reach of industry. None of you are excluded from a possibility of being saved. The covenant of grace runs in most large and comprehensive terms, " Whosoever believeth shall obtain eternal life." The death of Christ and his blood is a most sove- reign medicine, applicable not only to all maladies, but to all men, if they will believe. Though it is true, that none shall be saved but the elect ; yet is it true also, that a pos- sibility of salvation extends farther than elec- tion. Election gives the infallibility of sal- vation, as reprobation doth the infallibility of damnation: but yet, as there is a possi- bility for those, that shall infallibly be saved, to perish if they do not believe; so is it possible for those, that shall infallibly perish, to be saved if they will believe. The possibility of salvation, therefore, stands not upon election, but upon two other grounds: (1.) The meritorious and all-sufficient pro- curement of Christ, whereby he hath pro- cured salvation for all the world, and for all in the world, upon condition of their faith for that must still be taken in : for, were it not so, how could we preach remission of sins in his name to every creature, were not his death applicable to all? then, though some should believe, yet, for want of a sacri- fice offered up and a price paid down for them, they should not be saved, though they should believe. How then is it, that we seriously call all men to repent and believe, that their sins may be pardoned and their souls saved ? certainly, unless the death of Christ bath procured salvation for all men upon condition of faith and repentance, such calls would be false in us, and vain to them : for so we should promise salvation upon believing, to those to whom, though they should believe, salvation should be denied, because they want a covenant made with them, and a surety to undertake for them. Therefore, I say, Christ's procurement is general so far, that whoever believes shall receive the benefit of his death. (2.) As the death of Christ is applicable to all for salvation if they believe, so faith, that alone applies this death, is attainable by you all, if you be not wanting to yourselves. None of you are under an impossibility of believing; and therefore, not under an im- possibility of salvation. Though it be certain that some shall infallibly persevere in infi- delity, yet there is no one that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward call of God in his word, but may believe and obey, if he be not wanting to himself. Neither is this doctrine Arminianism ; nor is it preju- dicial to the efficacious grace of God, whereby the will is powerfully swayed to faith and obedience : for the converting grace of God is not given to make men capable to believe and to be converted, but it is given to make them actually believing and actually converting. The most wicked man that is, without the converting grace of God, is capable to be con- verted even in his state of unregeneracy ; and converting grace gives not any new power to enable us to be converted, but it gives us an ~,l)()liSII(~( PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 55 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. actual caiversion. Some shall never believe ; and why? not because they are under an impossibility, but because they will not be- lieve: it is not because they cannot, but because they will not; unless we would so gratify their sloth, as to call their obstinacy an impossibility. It is true they are obstinate, and that obstinacy can never be cured with- out efficacious grace ; but yet that obstinacy is not properly called an impossibility. Since, then, salvation is a thing possible, why do you not labour for it, that your souls may be eternally happy? Christ hath the key of David, and " he openeth and no man shutteth," and he hath opened the everlasting gate to you all, and bids you all enter and take possession. There stand no grim guards to keep out you, or you. You cannot complain that you are excluded by a forcible decree: no; you shut the doors upon yourselves and refuse to enter. And this is the first reason why salvation is not labour in vain, because the end is possible to be attained. 2. There are also right means made known to you for the obtaining of this end. Jacob, in his dream; saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven : certainly, there is a Jacob's ladder reaching up from earth to heaven, that is more than a dreamn : every round in it is either a grace or a duty. It is not hid from you, what grace you must act, what duties you must perform, that you may obtain happiness: these are direct and proper means to it : nay, not only means to it, but the initials and beginnings of it. The glimmering light of nature could discover that there was a future happiness, but it could not discover to us the right means thither; it could not direct us to believe in a crucified Saviour : and, therefore, to write by this dim light of nature had been labour in vain. But. now, we know that the way of salvation is by repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; now, we know that holiness and obedience do as certainly lead to heaven, as sin and disobe- pience drag down to hell. And, therefore, while we continue believing and working, is there any fear ? nay, is there any possibility of disappointment in our great end? It is as impossible that faith and obedience should not lead unto glory, as it is that faith should, or obedience should not, continue in glory. And, therefore, 0 soul, be confident of success. Hast thou any good evidences that thy graces are genuine and true, though but weak ; that thy duties are sincere, though but imperfect ; and that thou dost work the works of God with a steady heart, though with a trembling hand ? give this assurance one lift higher; and as thou art already assured of the truth of thy grace, and of the sincerity of thy obedience, so, henceforth, be as much assured of thy future glory, as if it were no longer future, but now actually in thy present possession : thy dawn- ing shall break forth into a most perfect day; the womb of thy morning twilight shall be delivered of a noon-tide brightness; thy spark shall become a sun; thy seed of grace shall sprout, till it be fit for transplantation into paradise, and there shall flower into glory. " But," may a poor soul say, " though the means that I now use for the obtaining of salvation be right, to effect it, if still persisted in ; yet I fear lest the many corruptions, temptations, and hardships, that I meet with, may turn me off from following my work, defeat me of my end, and make all I have done as so much labour in vain ; and, therefore, I could have this confidence and assurance that you speak of, did I not fear this, that I should desist in my work." 3. Would you have good security against this? Then, in the third place, the laborious Christian, as he useth right means, so he shall continue and persevere in the use of them, till he hath wrought out his own salvation by them :and, therefore, he shall certainly ac- complish his end; and his labour shall not be in vain. It is true, if you desist from working, all that you have hitherto done will be in vain; your faith in vain; your tears in vain ; your prayers in vain : and, therefore, this should cause you to work with fear and trembling, lest the wiles of Satan and the deceitfulness of your own hearts should entice you from your work and cheat you of your reward : " Let us therefore fear," says the apostle, " lest a pro- mise being made us of entering into his rest, any of us should fall short." Yet, as this may cause holy fear, so it may be matter of spiri- tual joy and rejoicing, that, notwithstanding the deadness of our hearts, the slackness of our hands, the many avocations from without, the many interruptions from within, yet none of us shall forsake our work till we have brought it to perfection : our obedience shall be crowned with perseverance, and our perse- verance with glory and immortality : see, for this, that of the apostle, We are " confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ," (Phil. i. 6.) Let, therefore, the mouth of calumny be for ever stopped, that accuseth this comfortable doctrine, of the saints' perseverance through grace unto glory, of patronizing sloth and idleness. Some do fasten this viper upon it,- Let Christians live as they list; though careless of good works, yea, though continually err ployed in evil works, yet, being Christians they need not fear that they shall fall short of glory. But, though we do affirm that every true Christian shall certainly inherit heaven and glory, yet we shake off this pernicious confidence; for he is no true Christian who is - 56 PRACTICAL CHIRISTIANITY. 57 not,zealous and careful of good works, whose knowledge of his own estate doth not provoke him to " walk worthy of that vocation where- with he is called," whose hope of heaven doth not enable him " to purify himself and to per- fect holiness in the fear of God." What a contradiction is it to say, we patronize sinful sloth in men, when we tell them, if they are true Christians, that they shall continue working ! Is it sloth to continue working? or, do we encourage men to be idle, by assuring them, if they are Christians, they must and shall work ? yet this is the natural strain and tendency of our doctrine. What greater encouragement can you have to obedience than this, If you will work, you shall not fail of your end ; because the end itself is possible; because the means to it are direct and certain ; and because, if you once begin to work, you shall most assuredly persevere till you have attained that end, even the salvation of your own souls ? And this is one reason why your labour shall not be in vain. ' 2d, Your labour shall not be in vain, because this end shall fully answer, yea, infinitely exceed, all that cost and pains which you are at in procuring it. It is not so in the things of this world. As to this, that of the Psalmist holds true : " Surely every man walketh in a vain show : surely they are disquieted in vain," (Psalm xxxix. 6,) though they do attain their end : and that because that very end that they grasp is itself but vanity. But can any man account heaven and happines a vain thing? Is it not infinitely worth all, yea, more than all, that thou canst do or suffer for it? Certainly, when you come to enjoy it, you will not think it a hard bargain, that it stood you in so many duties and difficulties before you came to the possession of it. No : if there could be any sorrow in that state of perfect joy, it would be, not that we have done so much; but that we have done no more : not that we have gone through so much anguish in repentance, or that we have sustained such great conflicts in self-denial and mortification; but that we waded no deeper in our own tears, nor deeper in the blood of our own lusts; that we have not more vexed and crossed our carnal self, and taken more pains in the ways of God. Could there be any sorrow in heaven, this would be the cause of it. But, certainly, a great part of our joy there will be to reflect back upon those duties and works of obedience, through which, though with much struggling and striving, we have attained unto that most blessed state. And this is the last argument or motive that I shall insist upon : Work, for your labour shall not be in vain, you shall cer- tainly accomplish your end; and this end shall abundantly recompense you for all your labour and pains. To conclude, then, this head. You have, at large, seen what can be pleaded on the behalf of obedience. What is it, now, that you can object against these things? Are they not true? Are they not cogent ? Your con- sciences, I know, tell you that they are so. Why, then, do they not prevail with you ? Why sit you still, holding your arms in your bosoms ? Sirs, I have not spoken to you fables or mysteries, that cannot be understood; but the truth, in all plainness : and if you will not lay it to heart, believe it there is a (lay coming, when you shall, too late, know that once you had a proffer of salvation, and you might have been happy for working for it. But, alas ! this is the desperate folly of men : they do not prize salvation while it is attain- able : they never account their souls precious, till they are lost; yea, and lost beyond all hope of recovery. I cannot tell how these many and weighty arguments, that have been propounded, may work with you : God and your own consciences know: but this I can tell, the devil can never bring such strong reasons, why you should destroy and damn yourselves, as have now been laid before you why you should work out your own salvation. And if they do not prevail with you, truly there is nothing that you can plead for your- selves : you cannot plead, that you could not do these things ; that objection hath been an- swered : you cannot plead, that there would no profit arise to you if you did them; for the reward hath been abundantly discovered to you: if you plead any thing, it must be because you will not do them ; and that is the thing that will condemn you. Therefore, if these things do not prevail with you; if you still continue obstinate, and, instead of work- ing the works of God, you work the works of your father the devil, God acquits himself; your blood lies not upon him : you have been fairly warned and told of it : but your own destruction shall justly lie upon your own heads. V. And thus, having done with the argu- ments to press you to this duty of working out your own salvation with fear and trem- bling, I now come to answer some objections. And, Object. 1st, It may possibly enter into the heart of some desperate sinner or other to say, "These, indeed, are strong arguments that have been propounded for the enforcing of this duty of working out our own salvation, upon those that expect salvation ; but, for my part, I pretend not so high : let me but now enjoy the sins that I serve and the plea- sures that I pursue, and, for the state of my soul hereafter, I shall commend it to the mercy of God. Had I true grace, I might be persuaded to attempt this hard work, with hopes of some good success ; but I own myself to be a sinner, and you tell me I cannot ii vtrll ~R.ma t.n f.hP nncct-?ccinll nf it N~ if~tlnl n I ~f ~rr 58 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. change my own heart, and without this how fretting and galling will it be upon the change no salvation can be expected ; why, ulcerated consciences of sinners ! No man then, should I disquiet myself in vain by hath his present contentment and delight in labouring for that which I cannot accom- his own power, no more than he hath his plish ? If I must perish, I will perish with as own conscience in his own power; which will much ease and pleasure as I may. If I must speak, yea and speak terrible things too, when go to hell, I may be as soon carried down the sinner hath done all he can to stifle it. thither in a flood of tears, as with a flood of Nay, let every sinner speak : How is it with sins. If God hath sentenced me to hell here- you after the madness and rage of your sin is after, why should I sentence myself to a hell over? are you not then haunted with direful here ? And, therefore, if salvation and happi- thoughts of horror and amazement, that are, ness be such points, I will give them over, and as it were, gnawing and devouring your embrace more easy and obvious pleasures." hearts ? And are these they who are content I know there is no pious heart but shivereth to buy ease and quietness at so dear a rate, as with horror at such language as this, though the loss of their precious and immortal souls; it be but presented to it; and may, and does, and to be eternally tormented hereafter, be- think it rather the speech of devils, than men sides their present pain and anguish after that are in a way of salvation. It is true it the committing of sin now, which, if they is the speech of devils, but it is the speech of feel not always, yet frequently they do ? But devils in men's hearts. But, what ! shall if God should give them up to such hardness we leave these men to such desperate resolu- of heart, as to become altogether insensible tions? Shall we suffer them thus to go down and stupid while they continue in this world; flaming to hell ? Certainly, religion hath yet what will this avail them ? will they not reason enough in it to convince such as purchase their ease and pleasure very dearly, these, if they will but shew themselves to be to lose their souls for ever hereafter, and to rational men. suffer the pains of hell eternally? The devil For, consider, thou whowouldst rather bath put a horrid cheat upon these men ; for perish than make thy life a trouble to thee they do not change their troubles and sor- by obedience; God, under thy disobedience, rows, but only the time of them : and, for a may make thy life a trouble, yea, a hell to little fancied sensual ease and pleasure in this thee, by his terrors. Thou thinkest the filthy world, (which, it may be, they may enjoy, and garments of thy sin and pollution sit more it may be not; for, possibly, God may be so easy and loose about thee, than the close provoked by them, that he may suddenly cut garments of holiness and obedience will do ; them off in their sins ;but if not, it is but for nay, but God can wrap and roll these filthy a very little time that the pleasures of their garments of thine in brimstone, and set them sins and lusts will last, and then) an eternity on fire about thine ears. Many men's con- of pain and torment shall be their portion. sciences, indeed, are like iron, that hath lain Sinners, be not therefore deceived ; suffer not for some time out of the fire, which you would the devil to abuse you, and to impose his not suspect to be hot, till you let some water drudgery upon you, under the pretence of fall uponi it, and then it appears to be so by ease and quietness. If, therefore, it be only its noise and hissing; so, truly, their con- present contentment and satisfaction that you sciences seem cold and dead, and such as you seek ; if you think that you shall perish, but might handle at your pleasure; but, when yet you would perish the easiest way; that is once God lets fall some drops of his wrath not, believe it, by giving up yourselves to a upon them, then they hiss, and boil, and fill way and course of sin, but in a way of duty the soul with smoke and smother. A hard and laborious working; in that only can heart is no security from a troubled conscience. you find present contentment, and in that It is with the hearts and consciences of wicked possibly you may find eternal happiness. men, as it is with a sore in the body; which, Object. 2d, "But," may some say, " the it may be, is the hardest part in the body, and works of God would be more pleasing to us, if yet the sorest also; the red flesh about the we could but work them. But, first, we have sore is hard, and yet full of pain and anguish; no working principle ; we are in a state of so is it many times with the hearts and con- nature, and without grace; so that we cannot sciences of wicked men; which, though they work. And, secondly, we cannot implant are exceeding hard, yet are full of pain and this grace in, ourselves." anguish. We read of Heman, that whilst he To this I answer,-Though you neither suffered the terrors of God, he was distracted, have grace, nor can work grace in yourselves, (Psalm lxxxviii. 15.) And David tells us, yet you can do much, yea, very much, in order " The sorrows of death compassed me about, to salvation, by the mere strength of nature and the pains of hell gat hold of me," (Psal. and the liberty of your own will. This is a cxvi. 3.) And if the wrath of the Almighty consideration that needs to be frequently be thus sore and terrible upon these holy pressed upon the consciences of wicked men: men, whose hearts were sound towards God, they often hear unto what a state of weakness \ PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.59 sin hath reduced them, and that without grace have much t they can do nothing that is pleasing unto God infirmities. or advantageous to themselves; and, by this, wicked men they are put out of conceit of setting upon this sin they the work of God, and leave the salvation of will not live* their souls at all adventures. and the cove Consider, therefore, sinners, how much you so I may sa may do towards your own salvation, from the power ol your own nature and free will. And here, from the cm 1. The vilest sinner, even by the power of from the po nature and his own free will, may attain to sinner hath' the highest degree and pitch of preparation another sinn that is usually wrought in the heart antece- commission dently to or before true grace. third sin, ti Such are legal conviction and contrition, a power of nat sad sight of sin, and a deep sorrow for it, any of those together with strong resolutions and purposes because the against it, with strong desires after grace and sinner to lay holiness, and the like. And the reason of that sin, tha this is, because all these things are short of 4. Therei grace; and, whatever is short of true grace, soever, but, falls within the compass of nature and free yea, to the e will, which is common unto all men; which, thus in the though it be indeed wounded and maimed, avoiding of s yet may make shift to go so far as this comes For, if it t to. True grace is only the creation of the at any time, power of God, and not the production of it continuall nature or free will ; wherefore, after all this enable them preparation is wrought, a sinner can no more day past; n work grace in himself, than he could before; day to come, yet he is now nearer to grace, and in a greater sent; theref( probability of it than he was before. And one time, th there is none but may go thus far, if they another tim( will but improve that power and ability that in so doing, they have, stant watch 2. There is no duty in religion, but the 5. There power of nature may carry a mani out to the severance a' external performance thereof, and that with habitualness affection and enlargement also. easiness, in t Ahab humbles himself. Herod heard John the avoiding Baptist gladly. And so, sinners can pray, hear, When me read, meditate, and discourse of the things of round of du God; others have done so formerly; and, omit them; therefore, they may and can do so now. In- to their utm deed, heretofore, there were peculiar gifts hearty and c bestowed upon wicked persons immediately become easy from God ; asBalaam was made to prophesy of engage then Christ, and the like, (Numb. xxiv. 17.) But their corrupt these are now ceased, and all unregenerate that pass, ti persons, now, have the same power and fa'cul- keep from si ties in them, one as well as another, and may this the pow be able to do one as much as another, in the Now, sinn performance of spiritual duties, if they them- ypu have. selves will. that you can 3. There is no wicked man whatever, but very much, may, by the mere power of nature, restrain salvation. himself from the commission of sin. But here I speak not of sins, collectively taken; for hope that th no man can so say his heart or life is clean would not b( and pure; but he may keep out of notorious comes to b and scandalous sins. There is no sinner that nothing at al hath given himself up to his lusts, but may, if which will c( he will, for the future live so inoffensively, that be, that the) neither the world nor his own conscience may have done, i o accuse him of, besides common Mark the reason of this; because commonly make choice of sin; will live in, and that sin they in ; the drunkard is not covetous, tons man is not a drunkard; and y of other sins. Now, it is from f nature that wicked men refrain nmission of any one sin, and not ver of grace ; and, therefore, if one power to keep from this sin, and er hath power to keep from the of another, and a third from a hen every sinner may, by the ture, keep from all those sins that sinners do keep themselves from; re is the same power in each the same restraint upon this or t others keep from. is no man, how great a sinner if hlie will, he may with constancy, nd and period of his life, continue performance of duties and in the ins, by the power of nature only. be possible that men should do it then it is pbssible for them to do y. No more power is required to this day, than was required the or no power is required for the , than was for this day now pre- ore, having strength to avoid them ey have strength to avoid them e ; yea, and continually persevere if they would keep a daily con- against them. is no man but, through this per- nd continuance, may attain to ; and thereby to a facility and he performance of duties, and in of sins. n are accustomed to a road and ties, it is a trouble to them to so, if men did but set themselves lost to perform duties in a more ordial manner, those duties would to them ; and if men would but nselves perseveringly to oppose tions, this would bring them to hat it would be their delight to n and to perform duty. And all er of nature would bring them to. ers, you see what a large tenure You are not staked down fast Sdo nothing; no, it is much, yea, that you may do in order to your some may possibly say, "We ese words are not true ;" for they e able to do so much as all this ecause they are willing to do ll. But, let such know, that that ondemn them at the last day, will y have not done what they might n performing duties and in op- 60 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. posing sins, and therefore they wilfully fall short of happiness and salvation. Object. 3d, "But," may some say, "if we should put forth to our utmost the power of nature, what would that avail us? We cannot thereby work grace in ourselves; and with- out grace, no salvation is to be had." To this I answer, --Consider, you do not know but, whilst you are thus doing what you can, God may come in and by his grace enable you to do what you cannot do. God is not wont to be wanting in this particular unto any. He is found of those that seek him not; and much more will he be found of those that seek him and inquire after him, though it be but by the weak endeavours of nature. Object. 4th, " But," may some say, "hath God obliged himself to convert and save those that do to the utmost what nature enables them to do, in desiring salvation and in seeking to obtain it ?" To this I answer,--God bath not bound himself, but usually he doth so. God is neither bound to give grace, upon the endea- yours of nature; neither is he wont to deny it. Can you say, that ever you knew or heard of any careful, conscientious, industrious soul, that diligently and conscientiously exercised itself in performing duties and in avoiding sins, that was not at last truly converted and eternally saved? and why then should you doubt or think that you shall be the first? Cast yourself, therefore, upon God, trusting to his rich and free grace, doing the utmost of your endeavours. However, suppose the worst, that thou art never converted nor saved, which supposition is very dreadful and terrible ; and, if thou art careful and conscientious to improve thy abilities to the utmost, it is altogether impro- bable; but, suppose the worst,- 1. Thou livest here, then, more according to the rule of nature and reason, than others do. For when others wallow in sin, thou shewest thyself to be more like a rational man ; thou art sensible thou hast a soul of more worth, than to be lost for want of care and diligence. And then, 2. Thy pains and punishments, hereafter, shall be greatly mitigated. Possibly, thou mayest slight this ; because, at best, it is dam- nation ; yea, but consider, there are several degrees of torments in hell. Now thy work- ings and endeavours may free thee from many degrees of torment; and therefore they free thee from many hells : and is not this worth thy labour? Nay, and not only so, but it is very probable that you may altogether escape those torments, if you be conscientious in doing your utmost endeavours. VI. And now, methinks, every one that hath but reason to judge and a soul to save, must needs see so much strength and force in the arguments that have been propounded, that the next question should be, "What must we do to work the works of God ?" (John, vi. 28.) In every trade and profession there is some kind of mystery, that gives to them that have attained to it a quicker des- patch in their business than other men have. And so is it in the work and profession of a Christian ; there is an art and mystery, and he that is master of this, shall make good despatch in his great work. And, possibly, we may have some insight into it by these following directions :- Direction 1st, If you would work out your own salvation, then digest and dispose your work into a right order and method. Immethodicalness breeds confusion ; and makes that a tumult and a heap of business, that would otherwise become a trade in Christianity. One attainment makes way for and opens into another; and to attempt any thing in Christianity by leaps and jumps, as it were, is fruitless, unprofitable, and vain. No wise man will try to mount up the highest round of a ladder at the first step. But yet, many such preposterous endeavours are found among men, in the working out of their sal- vation. In respect of doctrinals, Saint Paul tells us, some built hay and stubble upon a foundation of gold, ( 1 Cor. iii. 12.) But, in respect of practicals, it is frequent, that many men endeavour to build gold upon a founda- tion of hay and stubble. These men's build- ings will soon totter, fall, and come to nothing but ruin, shame, and disappointment. Now the right disposing of your great work lies thus : first, you are to work from nature for grace; and then, from grace unto the holy and spiritual performance of duty, by which grace is much confirmed and strengthened; and so, continuing in duty, to arrive at assu- rance ; and from this, the next step is salva- tion. From nature to grace, and from grace to duty. See this method laid down by the Apostle, (Heb. xii. 28,) "Let us," says he, "have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." This is the ladder of heaven, whose bottom step is below grace in nature, and whose utm6st step is above it in absolute perfection and glory. First there must be grace, before any duty can be performed acceptably unto God. But most men pervert and disturb this method. And the ordinary way of disturb- ance is this; they are frequent in duties, but they perform them not, either for grace or from grace; neither that they may attain grace by them, nor that they may exercise grace in them; and yet, notwithstanding, these men think and hope to work out salvation by such duties as these; making a leap from duties to salvation, neglecting to obtain that grace that can make their duties acceptable and saving; and hence it is that they make ~l ll I.I~L 11 111~- 1111 111~1. 11. IY -AIIIII~C IIICI - llllr - - 1 ---1 111 \1 'I I PRACTIAL-CHRSTIANIY. -611 no quicker despatch and riddance in their great work. Now such attempts as these are,-1. Dis- couraging and disheartening. And, 2. They are vain and fruitless. 1st, They are very discouraging. Duties never flow freely from the soul, where grace is not like a continual fountain to supply it. Job, speaking of the hypocrite, asks this question, "Will he delight himself in God? will he always call upon him ?" (xxvii. 10:) No, he will not; it is not possible that he should do so; though for a time he may drive at a high rate, praying both with fer- vency and affection, yet will he soon decay and faint,- because he hath no life of grace to carry him through duties, but he finds them to flow stubbornly from him, and therefore, through weariness and discontent, at last he gives them over. The good works of graceless persons may be as flourishing as if indeed they were true saints; but they have not a root to supply them ; the root of the matter, as Job speaks, is not in them ; and therefore they are soon nipped and fade away. It is simply impossible, that a person, without the life and power of grace, should persevere in a cordial, affectionate performance of good works; inte- rest, credit, respect, and natural conscience, are too weak wheels for so great a burden ; it is grace only that can overbalance all outward discouragements; yea, and which is more, that alone can remove all'inward also; this can make obedience sweet to a child of God, which to a wicked man must needs be irk- some, and that because he hath no relish therein. (Matth. xvi. 23,) " Thou savourest not the things that are of God;" this may be much more said of graceless persons, because they have not salt in them, (for so grace is ,alled, Col. iv. 6,) that should make holy and heavenly things to be savoury to them. What a torment is it to be still chewing an unsa- voury prayer and unsavoury meditation? to hear and speak those words that their ears cannot relish! "Must I always," says the sinner, "offer this force to myself? Must I still strain and pump for tears and sighs? Were holiness as easy to me as it is to some, no life would I choose sooner than that; but I am straitened and pinched up, and all good things come out of me like the evil spirit, which rends and tears me, and is a torture and anguish to my heart and bowels." And it is so, because in the performance of them there is a neglect of that grace that should make duties become easy; and therefore such a one will shortly give over duties them- selves, which he finds to be so troublesome; yea, and will also give over all hopes of at- taining any good at all by them. 2d, Such works are also, as to the obtaining of the last and main end, vain and fruitless; and that upon two accounts :- (1.) Because the acting of grace is the life and spirit of all our works, without which they are all but carcasses and dead things, and only equivocally called good works, even as the picture of a man may be called a man. " We are," says the apostle," his workman- ship ; created in Christ Jesusuntogood works." As, after the first creation, God took a survey of all the works of his hands, and pronounced them all very good; so there is no work of ours that God will pronounce to be a good work, but what is the effect of his creating power ; that is, the product of his second creation ; "created," says the apostle, "unto good works," (Eph. ii. 10.) Good works are no otherwise necessary to salvation,but as they are the exercises of grace, by which we ex- press the life and likeness of God ; so only are they necessary unto salvation. How should grace be seen and known but by works? First God imprinted his own image upon our souls in regeneration, and stamped us feature for feature, grace for grace, and glory for glory ; but, because this is hid and concealed, therefore are we to copy forth this image in a holy conversation, and to express every grace in some duty or work of obedience. As those that we call falling stars, dart from heaven, and draw after them long trains of light; so God would have us to shoot up to heaven, but yet to leave a train of light behind us : our graces must shine always; we must go on in good works. And those good works are of no value or account with God, of which grace is not the end or principle. What says the apostle ?" Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profit- eth me nothing," (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) Can a man bestow all his goods upon the poor, and not be charitable ? Indeed, the word that we translate charity, might, for the avoiding of some mistakes, better have been translated love; but, however, we must take charity for a dispo- sition to relieve the wants and necessities of others with respect of love to God and his image; if this good work be not from grace, through a principle of love to God and obe- dience to his command, it is but the empty shell and husk of a good work, and it avails a man nothing. Yea, farther ; if, after this, "I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing ;" if my soul burn not as clear and bright in love, as my body in the flames, it availeth me nothing: I burn only what was dead before, and offer a carcase instead of a sacrifice. There is no work or duty, how specious soever, that is of any profit to the soul, if that work or duty hath not the life and power of some grace or other expressed in it. This, then, is the first ground why works without grace are fruitless; because they are empty and lifeless. Grace is the life and spirit of good works. 61 I PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 62 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. II (2.) All works and duties whatever, with- out grace, leave the heart in the same estate of "sin, and therefore the person in the same estate of wrath and condemnation, as before. For, 1. All of them are not a sufficient expiation for the guilt of any one sin. Should such men pray and sigh, till their breath were turned into a cloud, and covered the face of the whole sky should they weep, till they drowned them- selves in their own tears; yet, if all this could be supposed to be only the remorse of nature, and not true and godly sorrow, they would still be under the same state of condemnation as- the most seared sinner in the world. The prophet Micah tells of some, that bade very high for pardon and forgiveness, as if they were resolved to carry it at any rate whatever; "Wherewith, say they, shall we come before the Lord, and bow ourselves before the most high God? Shall we come before him with burnt-offerings, and with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, and with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall we give our first-born for our transgres- sion, the fruit of our bodies for the sin of our souls ?" (Micah, vi. 6, 7.) What high rates are here bidden, and yet all this falls short ! There is but one grace, and that is faith, that can give us a right and title to that righteousness that shall be a sufficient expiation and atone- ment for all our sins. 2. All attainments and attempts, all endea- yours and duties, without grace, can never mortify and subdue the power and dominion of any one lust or corruption. Men may divert, and chain, and restrain their corruptions, and impale in their lusts, so that they shall not break forth into any outrageous wickedness; but yet, without grace, they can never subdue them ; because it is grace alone that can lay the axe to the root of this evil tree. Notwithstanding, then, all that hath been said concerning the power of nature, what men may do thereby, and how far they may go; yet here you see what impotency there is in nature without grace; and what it cannot reach to perform.. But this is not spoken that hereby any should be discouraged from working; and because some doubt of the truth of their graces, that therefore they should desist from a course of holiness and obedience; this were plainly to thwart the whole design of this subject. No; all that hath been said, is to persuade men not to zest satisfied in any work of obedience or religion, in which some grace is not breathed or exercised; nor to look upon them at all as inductive to salvation, as in themselves, but as in reference to true grace. How many poor souls are there, who, be- cause they run on in a round of duties, because they do something that they call good works, think that salvation is as surely their own, as if all the promises in the Scripture were sealed and delivered to them by God himself! and yet, poor creatures! they never examine or regard from what principle this their obedience flows : whether from a principle of grace; or from the old corrupt principle of nature, new vamped from some new operations of the common spirit. Believe it, this is not that obedience that God requires, nor that he will accept ; an in ward groan, if breathed by grace, is of more account with God, and will be more available to the soul, than the most pompous and species services of unregenerate men. What is it to God, when you offer not only the blind and the lame, but the dead also ? Is it not rather an abomination than obedience ? The apostle tells us, "Without works, faith is dead," (James, ii. 20 ;) and it is as true, on the other side, also, that works without faith and other graces of the Spirit, are not only dead, but rotten and noisome. Every duty which men perform in a graceless state and condition, God must needs loath, and them for it ; " the prayer of the wicked is an abo- mination unto the Lord," (Prov. xxviii. 9 :) it is as hateful unto God, as vapours, that ascend up out of tombs from putrified bodies, are unto us. What, then ! must such persons give up themselves to sin therefore? God forbid ! no, rather let such think thus : " If our duties and our righteousness be so loathsome, what are our sins and iniquities ?" Though every sinner be " dead in trespasses and sins, yet is it less offensive to have a dead carcase em- balmed than to have it lie open. Still, there- fore, continue working; but, in your working, first aim at the obtaining of grace, before you aim at the obtaining of heaven and salvation : let it at no time content you, that such and such duties you have performed : but look what grace you have acted in them ; what is there of God breathing in this prayer that I now put up? how am I in hearing, in medi- tation, in discoursing of the things of God? is my heart holy and spiritual ? are my affec- tions pure and fervent? are my graces active and vigorous? and are they vigorous in this work of obedience ? Else, to perform duties, and to neglect grace, that alone can enable us to perform duties acceptably, is only to go to hell a little more cleanly. Direction 2d, If you would work out your own salvation, as you must look to the actings of grace as well as to the performance of duties ; so you must labour to grow and increase in those graces that are most active and working. And they are two,-the grace of faith, and the grace of love. To grow strong in these graces, is the most compendious way for a Christian to despatch his great work. I may call them the two hands of a Christian, and I ( II ~ 'VV~ VIL~ I VLYU IJV V~ UUN~~~~V CLIULIL ~VVCYCIUV I -VY IY WV ~~-V PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 6:3 he that is most active in these, works out his salvation with both hands earnestly. 1st, The actings of faith are of mighty advantage to the working out of our salvation. Two senses there are, in which salvation may be said to be wrought out,-1. In title : 2. in actual possession and enjoyment. Now, faith is a working out of the one, and a corm- pendious furtherance towards the working out of the other. (1.) Upon our believing, salvation is already wrought out for us, in right and title. " He that believeth, shall be saved ;" here is the title. The great work is then done and finished, when once faith is wrought. And, therefore, when the Jews came to inquire of our Saviour, how they should do to "work the works of God," (John, vi. 28, 29,) our Lord tells them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Nay, farther, as a faith of adherence or accep- tance gives a right and title to salvation ; so a faith of full assurance is this salvation itself: for, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," (Heb. xi. 1.) In its justifying act, it gives a title to salvation : in its assuring act, it gives the substance of the thing itself : for it is much at one to a strong faith, to believe heaven, and to enjoy it. (2.) Faith doth compendiously farther and promote the working out of our salvation, in actual possession; and that, because faith is that grace which fetcheth all that ability and strength from Christ. whereby a Christian is enabled to work. Faith is not only a grace of itself, but it is steward and purveyor for all other graces ; and its office is to bring in provision for them, while they are working : and, therefore, as a man's faith grows either stronger or weaker, so his work goes on more or less vigorously. When other graces are in want, and cry "Give, Give ;" then faith betakes itself to Christ, and saith, "Lord, such a grace stands in need of so much strength to support it ; and such a grace stands in need of so much support to act it; and I have nothing to giv9 it my- self; and therefore I come to fetch supplies from thee." 'And, certainly, this faith that comes thus empty-handed unto Christ, never goes away empty-handed from Christ. What is it that you complain of? Is it, that the work stands at a stay, anrid you cannot make it go forward ? is it, that temptations are strong and violent ; that duties are hard, irk- some, and difficult? why, set faith on work to go to Christ, and there you may be sure to have supply; because faith is an omnipotent grace: " all things are possible to him that believeth ;" and that, because all things are possible to that God and to that Christ on whom faith is acted. There is no grace, nor no supply, nor mercy laid up in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is all in the hands of a believer's faith ; and he may take from thence whatsoever he needs, to supply the present wants and necessities of his soul. 2d, Another working grace is the fervent actings of love. Love is the great wheel of the soul, that sets all the rest a-moving; and makes it like the chariots of Amminadib, to run swiftly towards its desired object. There is a mutual dependence between faith and love, in their working: love depends upon faith to strengthen it, and faith depends again upon love to act it. As we love not that which we do not know, and our knowledge of God and of the things of eternity is by faith, not by vision : so those things which we do know and which we do believe, yet if we love them not, we shall never endeavour after them. The apostle therefore tells us, that " faith worketh by love." There is a threefold spiritual love required to expedite our great work,-1. A transcen- dent love of God. 2. A regular love of our- selves. 3. A complacential love unto and delight in our work itself. Now, when the affections go out after these objects of love, this will much facilitate our great work. (1.) The love of God is a great help to our duty. Our Saviour therefore urgeth obedience upon this very account: "If ye love me, keep my commandments," (John, xiv. 15.) And, says the apostle, " This is the love of God," that is, this is a certain sign, or it is the constant effect of our love to God, "that we keep his commandments: and his com- mandments are not grievous," (1 John, v. 3:) they are not grievous, because they are his commandments, who is the love and joy of our souls. Divine love always conforms itself to divine precepts ; and that for two reasons : - 1. Because this grace, as it desires the beatifical union to God in glory hereafter- for love is the desire of union - so, now, it causes an unspeakable union of will, and a supernatural sympathy of affection, betwixt God and the soul : which union cannot be a union of equality or entity, as is in the persons of the blessed Trinity ; and, therefore, it is a union of subordination of a Christian's will to the will of God. Now, what is this will of God ? The apostle tells us, " This is the will of God, even your sanctification," (1 Thess. iv. 3.) And the same apostle tells us, in another place, " We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," (Eph. ii. 10.) And is this God's will, and shall it not be our work? Hath God ordained that we should walk therein, and shall we be averse from or slothful thereunto.? How can we pretend that we love God, while we neglect the only thing which he requires from us, holiness and obedience? God wills our It C?~~t\~~TYLI~ ~~ ~XTnr~J~nr (2~ h;C1 aTC\I~IT n AnCI ~n PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 63 64 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. holiness, because there is no better thing that he can will, next unto himself : the image of God, next to himself, is the most excellent and chief good. Every thing, the nearer it approacheth unto God, the more desirable it becomes in itself: now, that which comes most near unto God, and advances the soul in some resemblance and similitude to him, is holiness and endeavours after obedience; whereby we become conformable unto God, and attain some faint shadows and essays of the divine perfections. The soul wills in order unto God's will. God wills holiness, because it is most desirable: and we must will our own holiness, because, if we love God as wepretend to do, our wills must be conform- able to his holy will. 2. Love to God is a help to duty, because it is in and by duty that we enjoy the presence of God, and have communion and fellowship with him. These are the lattices through which God appears to the longing soul; and though he many times vouchsafes but half smiles and little glances, yet, in these reserved communications the soul finds so much sweet- ness. as engageth it to a constant performance of duties all its days. " Here," says the soul, " God was wont to walk in his sanctuary; here have I heard his voice; here have I seen his face; his Spirit hath here breathed upon me; his consolations have here refreshed me: and, therefore, here will I wait upon him as long as I live." " I remember well," says the soul, " when, in prayer and meditation, my heart hath been filled by him, poured out to him, and accepted with him. I remember when he filled me first with sighs, and then with songs ; and both alike unutterable : and, therefore, I will keep to the performance of these duties, waiting for the farther dis- coveries and manifestations of my God unto me." (2.) As love to God, so a regular self-love, will much help and farther our obedience and duty. And then is self-love truly regular, when men love their own souls as God loves them. Now, God's love to the souls of men is such, that, though he wills "all men to be saved, yet he wills that none shall be saved but through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth : and, whilst we. love our- selves, if we observe the same method and order, this self-love is always commendable and necessary. Desires after eternal happiness and salvation are natural to that soul that is truly conscious of its own immortality, and of its eternal, unalterable state and condition : and when these desires are directed to future happiness through present holiness, then are they regular and become gracious. We are not so straitly limited by God's sovereignty over us, but, while we fix one eye upon our work, we may fix the other on our reward. God is not so strict in his prerogative over us, as to require service from us from what we have already received from him : he is not as a cruel lord and niaster to say, " Obey me, though afterwards you perish ; see to it, that you love and glorify me, though I eternally punish you ;" though, considering that infinite distance we stand at from God, we could object nothing against the equity of his proceedings. No; but God hath so graciously twisted his glory and our duty together, that, while we promote the one, we do also promote the other; and, while we work for God, we do but work for ourselves. Now, are there any that need to be persuaded to love themselves ? Is it not the great and general sin, that all men love and seek themselves? And do not men, by becoming self-lovers, become self-destroyers ? They do: but it is because they seek them- selves out of God's way, that they lose them- selves for ever. Religion and holiness are not such severe things, as to exclude self-love: nay, right self-love is that which is nowhere to be found separate from true grace. Minis- ters call upon men to exercise self-denial and self-abhorrence ; and this the foolish world mistake, as if they exhorted them to divorce themselves from themselves, to lay aside all respect and consideration of self, and to offer violence to the most common principles of self-preservation. No; would to God we all sought ourselves more earnestly and constantly than we do, and that we all knew wherein our greatest interest and concernment did lie ! then should we not leave our great work un- done; nor gratify the sloth of our corrupt humours, and the sinful propensions of our carnal part; nor should we think what we do for sin and Satan we do for ourselves : no, all this is to hate ourselves ; and wicked men, at the last day, shall know, that they have been their own most bitter and most implacable enemies; that they would not be content with any thing less than their own eternal ruin. A true Christian is the only selfish man in the world : all others are not self-lovers, but self- destroyers. What shall I say more than this? The apostle asks, " Did ever any man hate his own flesh ?" did ever any man delight to gash and burn, to rack and torture himself ? Truly I may ask the quite contrary: do almost any love their own spirits, their spiritual part, their souls? This they wound and gash by many a bloody sin ; this they burn and sear by hardness and impenitency ; this they go about to torture and torment in hell for ever. Oh, therefore, be persuaded at length to take pity on yourselves : considering, that you are but destroying, while you think you are em- bracing yourselves; and that that will be found but self-murder at last, which you now call self-love. (3.) A complacential love to and delight in your work, is a great furtherance of it. A wicked man serves God grudgingly : he mur- II ~nvPriPc n.~~ri mn.nitrpcta.tinna r\f rna (:rlrl nntrr I PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN ITY. 65 murs at duties, and looks upon them only as tasks and burdens; thinking everythingwhich he doth for God too much, too heavy and weighty : the commands of God are all of them hard sayings and grievous impositions, that he cannot bear. He could believe Christ sooner in any thing, than when he tells him, " My yoke is easy, and my burden is light," (Matt. xi. 30 :) here he cannot believe Christ. "Thus much tithe," saith.the slothful sinner, " must I spend in prayer; and there must I humble myself to God, whom I hate; and confess before him those sins that I love, and beg that grace that I have slighted. So much time must I spend in reading the law, that I never mean to observe; perusing over only the sentence of my condemnation. And so often must I fix and. dwell upon holy and spiritual thoughts, which never at any time darted into, or passed in transiently, but they did discompose me, and leave a damp and sadness upon my spirit behind them." And, therefore, because there is not a holy compla- cency and delight in the service of God, all such men's endeavours are both faint, incon- stant, and languishing while they are about them, and seldom do they re-assume them again. But a true Christian works with abun- dance of delight and cheerfulness in the service of God: in every duty his soul is filled full of' holy affections, by which it soars up to heaven; duties are meat and drink to him, spiritual manna, in which he takes more satisfaction and contentment than wicked men do in their sins ; and therefore he performs these duties so earnestly, because he doth it with complacency: all that he repines at, is, that natural necessity, sinful weakness and infirmities, and worldly employments, do pur- loin so much of his time from this great work. Now, when once the heart is brought to such a frame and temper as this, thus to delight in obedience and in the'work and service of God, then will this working for salvation go on with power. Direction 3d, Another direction is that in the text, "Work for salvation with fear and trembling." A trembling hand best performs a Chris- tian's work. Now, this fear is not a fear of distrust or despondency; for that is so contrary to this duty of working for salvation, as that it stupifies and benumbs all endeavours, and is a great enemy to the performance of this duty. But, S1. It is a fear of solicitude and carefulness; as it stands opposed to carnal security, and that presumption that is the common and ordinary destruction of most men. This holy fear is the best preservative of true grace. The apostle therefore tells us, " Thou standest by faith; be not high-minded, but fear :" imply- ing, that they would not stand long, though they stood by faith, unless they were upheld with godly fear; and the reason is, because it is the property of fear to foresee and forecast dangers, and to put the soul in a posture of defence and security before they approach. For, as the wise man tells us, "the prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished," (Prov. xxii. 3 :) they are rash and confident in their undertakings, and so they pass on and are punished. Fear makes a Christian circumspect and considerative with himself, how he may keep from miscarriages in the performance of his great work. "If God call me to such a duty, how shall I perform? If to bear such a cross and affliction, how shall I glorify him under it? If to conflict withisuch temptations, how shall I resist and overc6me them? Yea, how shall I do to break through all difficulties, duties, and oppositions, that I, who am but a weak and feeble Christian, may meet withal? and how shall Ido to bear up ?" And thus, pondering what may be his duty, and forecasting what duties God may call him unto, he is enabled to do what ishis duty at present, and what also may, by providence hereafter, become his duty. Nothing overtakes such a man unexpected; nor doth any thing surprise him unprovided for it. And thus a careful fear enables him in the performance of his great work. 2. A fear of humility, and holy reverence of God, conduceth much to the working out of our salvation; and that in three particulars: (1.) It much helps us in our great work, to fear God as our Lord and Master, that sees and overlooks all our works; observing both what we do, and how we do it also. That servant must be desperately bold, that will dare to be idle, or slight and perfunctory in his work, while his master's eye is upon him. Christians should consider God's eye is always upon them; in praying, in hearing, and in every duty that they perform; yea, in every action of their whole lives. And if the eye of a master, that is but a fellow-creature, nay, but a fellow-servant, can have such awe and influence upon his servant as to make him careful how he works, and what he works, and to make him diligent in his work; should not the consideration of God's eye being upon us, who stands at an infinite distance from us, much more cause a holy fear and diligence in us, in doing what our Lord and Master com- niands us? (2.) Fear God also, as him from whom you have all your power and ability to work. Fear him, lest at any time, through any neglect or miscarriage of yours, he should be provoked to suspend his influence and with- draw his grace from you, and to leave you to your own weakness and impotency, upon whose influence all your obedience doth de- pend. This is the apostle's argument in the text: "Work with fear, for God worketh in VOL. II. ~~ hr\nn+ o hH~ rrrh, +rr nirnh I ah~lrl~~ ~rm 66 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. you, both to will and to do." Holy diligence in obedience cannot be more strongly enforced on an ingenuous spirit, than by considering that all that strength and ability which we have to work, is received from God; and therefore should be improved for God, lest, for our sloth, he deprive us of that which we make no use of. (3.) In working, fear God also, as him that will be the judge and rewarder of your works for ever. You perform them unto him who is to pass sentence upon them, and upon you for them, and will you then dare to do them slothfully and negligently ? God will try every man's work with fire, and will call every action to a severe and strict account. Every man's work shall be seen through and through ; and then it shall be known who hath wrought the works of God, and who hath fulfilled the will of Satan; and the final doom and irreversible sentence shall then be pronounced according to men's works. God " will," says the apostle, "render to every man according to his works : to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory and immortality," to them he will render "eternal life : But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness," he will render unto them "indignation and wrath, tribula- tion and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil," (Rom. ii. 6-9.) Would you but thus fear God as an upright and impartial Judge, that will render unto every one accor- ding to his works, how would this prevail with you so to work, that at last you might be found of God in well-doing, and receive the blessed reward and sentence of the diligent and faithful servant, to enter into your masteir's joy ! Direction 4th, If you would work for salva- tion successfully, then work speedily, without delay; and constantly, without cessation. 1st, Work speedily, without delay. Delays in all affairs are dangerous ; but in soul affairs usually they are damnable. For, (1.) The longer you procrastinate and delay, the greater and more difficult will your work be at last. Corruption will be grown more tough : ill-humours will be grown more stub- born : your heart will be more hardened : your affections, being more habituated, will be more firmly engaged to sin: the devil will plead right to you by prescription; and it is hard keeping an enemy out, that hath had long possession. (2.) Consider what a desperate folly it is to put off your work till to-morrow : you are not sure that you shall live to see another day. And, oh! what hazards do those men run, whose hopes of heaven depend upon no better a bottom than their hopes of life ; and whose eternal salvation is subject to as many casual- ties and accidents, as their present beings in this world are subject to ! Man's breath is in his nostrils: and yet, how do men suffer their souls and their everlasting happiness to depend upon nothing surer than their breath ; that breath that every moment goes forth from them, and they know not whether ever it shall return to them again ? But, suppose your life and days should continue, and you should reach unto that time whereof you have boasted, and wherein you have promised to mind the concernments of your soul's eternal happiness; yet, consider, (3.) The grace of God is not at your disposal. And then, either, 1. The outward call may cease, or it. may grow more faint and low. You may not be so daily importuned and solicited for heaven, as now you are. Ordinances and opportunities may cease; or you, for your contempt, may be given over to a contempt and neglect of them. 2. The inward dictates of your own con- sciences and the motions of the Holy Spirit may cease. Conscience may be bribed to silence, and the Holy Ghost may be commis- sioned to depart after this present oppor- tunity; and never more may you have its breathings and movings upon your hearts, if you do not now listen to them. 3. If inward motions do continue, are you sure, after this moment's refusal, that you shall obtain that grace from God that may make you willing to close with those motions? Leave not, therefore, the eternal salvation of your precious and immortal souls at such hazards and delays. "Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation: To-day, therefore, if ye will hear his voice, even while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts ;" for this is the only time and season for working. 2d, As you must work speedily, without delay; so you must work constantly, without cessation or intermission. To stand still is to backslide; and to cease working is to undo and unravel what you have wrought. You are not like men who row in a still water ; who, though they slack their course, yet find themselves in the same station : but you are to go against tide and stream; the tide of your own corruptions, and the stream of other men's actions and examples. And the least intermission here, will be to your loss : hereby you will be carried far down the tide; yea, and much pains and labour will scarce suffice to regain what a little sloth hath lost. So much for this text. The Lord make what hath been spoken profitable ! Amen. !nc?~~tnllv_ thin wnrk.cn~~rtllv_ wlthont,' I it. in rn.llc~rl THE ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION, A POWERFUL MOTIVE TO SERVE GOD WITH FEAR. '" Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire." - HEB. xii. 28, 29. THIs text contains in it a doctrine, a use, and a motive. The doctrine is, "We have received a kingdom which cannot be moved." The use or inference from thence is this, "Therefore let us serve God." And the motive, to enforce this exhortation, is in these words, "For our God is a consum- ing fire." 1st, In the first part, which is the thesis or position, " We have received a kingdom which cannot be moved," we must know, there is a twofold kingdom,-a kingdom of grace, set up in the heart of a saint, where Christ alone reigns as sole monarch and sove- reign ; and a kingdom of glory, prepared for us in the highest heavens, where we shall reign as kings with Christ for ever. If we take itin the former sense, for the king- dom of grace, so the apostle saith we have a kingdom, that is, we have it already in pos- session. Christ hath established his dominion over every believer ; and though he sits per- sonally upon his throne in heaven, yet he rules in us by the vicegerency and deputation of his Spirit, that received commission from him, and also by the law of his word enacted by it. If we understand it in the latter sense, for the kingdom of glory, which seems most coin- gruous to the design of the apostle, so also we have a kingdom,-and that in a fourfold sense, 1. By grace, giving us the earnest of it. 2. By faith, realizing it. 3. By hope, embracing it. And, 4. By the promises, assuring of it. 1. We have a kingdom of glory, in the earnest and first-fruits of it. The comforts and graces of the Spirit are very often, in Scripture, called " the earnest of our inheri- tance," (so you have it in 2 Cor. i. 22, and in Eph. i. 14.) An earnest, you know, is always part of the bargain; so God, to assure us that he is in earnest when he promiseth heaven and glory to us, hath already given us part of it in the graces of his Spirit. Grace and glory are one and the same thing, in 'a different print, in a smaller and a greater letter ; here, we have heaven in seminal inchoation; here- after, we shall have it in consummate per- fection : glory lies couched and compacted in grace, as the beauty of a flower lies couched and eclipsed in the seed; therefore the Psalmist saith, (Psalm xcvii. 11,) that " light is sown for the righteous;" that is, the light of joy and of a future life are in the gracgs of God's children as in their seed, and they shall certainly bud and sprout forth into perfect holiness. 2. We have a kingdom of glory, because faith realizeth things future, and giveth an existence and being to things that are not. This is that grace, to which nothing is past, nor nothing future. It contracts all things into present time, and makes all actually existent. It draws things, that are at a great distance from it, near to itself ; and thus the Galatianrs' faith represented the death of Christ so visibly to them, that the apostle told them, he was "crucified among them," (Gal. iii. 1.) It dives down into the gulf of future times, and fetcheth up things that as yet are not. It is much at one to a strong faith, to have heaven or to believe it; this grace makes heaven as really present as if it were already in posses- sion; and therefore it is called, (Heb. xi. 1,) "the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for :" it is the very being of things hoped for; the being of those things that as yet have no being. 3. We have a kingdom of glory, as in the view of faith, so also in the embraces of hope. And therefore hope is called the "anchor of the soul, that entereth into that within the veil," (Heb. vi. 19,) that is, into heaven ; it lays hold on all that glory that is there laid up and kept in reversion for us. Hope is, in itself, a solid and substantial possession; for II relBn as KI'L1~S wltn ~inrlst Iorever, . 68 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. it stirs up the same affections, it excites the same joy, delight, and complacency, as frui- tion itself doth. It is the taster of all our comforts; and, if they be but temporal, it not only tastes them, but sometimes quite devours them, and leaves us in suspense whether it be not better to be expectants than enjoyers. Heavenly hope gives the same real content- ment and satisfaction ; it antedates our glory, and puts us into the possession of our inheri- tance, whilst we are yet in our nonage; only it doth not spend and ldevour its object before- hand, as earthly hope doth. 4. We have a kingdom of glory, because God hath assured to us the possession of it by his immutable word of promise. And there- fore it is called " eternal life, which God, that cannt lie, hath promised," (Tit. i. 2.) God's word is as good security as actual possession. It is this word that gives us right and title to it; and this right we may well call ours. Hence we have it, and it is observable, (Mark, xvi. 16,) " He that believeth shall be saved." Here is assurance of salvation for the future. But in John (iii. 18.) it is, " He that believeth not, is condemned already." He that believeth shall be saved; he that believeth not, is con- demned already. Unbelievers are no more actually condemned, than believers are ac- tually saved; only, what God promiseth, or what God threateneth, it is all one whether he saith it is done or it shall be done; for damnation is as sure to the one, and salvation as certain to the other, as if they were already in their final estate. So, then, we have a kingdom ; that is, God, who cannot lie, hath promised it; and his promise is as much as actual possession itself. This kingdom is described to us in the text to be immoveable ; "We have a king- dom which cannot be moved." It is not like the kingdoms of the earth, that are all subject to earthquakes and commotions; but we have "a kingdom which cannot be moved." And if we understand this of the kingdom of grace in the hearts of believers, then the sense is, it can never be so moved as to be utterly removed; though it be shaken and battered, yet "the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal on it, The Lord knoweth who are his," as the apostle speaks, (2 Tim. ii. 19.) Indeed, as all earthquakes are caused by some vapours included in the bowels of the earth, so is there eipough in us to cause shak- ings and earthquakes; there are those corrupt and sinful steams of lusts that are still working and heaving in our breasts, that, were not God's truth, wisdom, and power, all engaged to keep and preserve us, we should be soon moved from our standing and overthrown. If we understa'nhd by it the kingdom of glory, that is certainly immoveable; "We have a kingdom which cannot be moved ;" there we shall be free from the temptations of Satan, from the infirmities and corruptions of the flesh, from the mutability and fickleness of our own wills; and, shall have a blessed necessity imposed upon us, to be for ever holy, and to be for every happy. So much for the thesis, "We have a king- dom that cannot be moved." 2d, From the thesis, the apostle proceeds to draw a practical inference; wherein we may observe, both what hlie exhorts us unto, and how we ought to do it. The matter of the duty to which he exhorts us is, "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God." The manner how we ought to serve God is set down in one word, and that is, acceptably, " Let us serve God acceptably ;" which, that we may do, he directs us to the means; and that is, in all our serving of God let us address ourselves to him "with reverence and godly fear;" "let us serve God acceptably, with reve- rence and godly fear." I shall only, as I pass along, take a taste of this part of the text, before I fix upon what I principally intend. The word here transla- ted reverence signifies shamefacedness or bash- fulness; such as is commendable in infe- riors, while they are in the presence of their superiors. And it implies in it two things, --first, Consciousness of our own vileness and unworthiness; secondly, An overawing sense of another's excellency. For modesty, or reverence, consists in these two things,- in low and debasing thoughts of ourselves, and in a high esteem of others. This the apostle exhorts us to in the text, by the word reverence. Whence observe this, that a due sense of our own vileness and of God's glo- rious majesty, is an excellent qualification in all our services to make them acceptable. Let us "serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." 3d, You have, in the text, the motive whereby the apostle enforceth this exhorta- tion," For our God is a consuming fire." These words are cited out of Deut. iv. 24, where Moses, to bring the Israelites from idolatry, represents God to them as "a jealous God, and a consuming fire." And here the apostle makes use of them, to compose men into a holy awe and reverence of God in serving him. Whence observe, 1. That an irreverent and fearless worship of the true God, provokes him, and deserves his consuming wrath, as well as the idola- trous worship of a false God. Moses makes use of the same words, to deter the Israelites from idolatry and worshipping a false god, as the apostle makes use of, to excite us to a reverence and worshipping of the true God. 2. Whereas it is said, that "' our God is a consuming fire," observe, that our peculiar interest in God is no encouragement to cast off . , __n ann amr Ln ~ I a nr Irn IIra r n~ THE ASSURANCE OF HE our most awful fear of God. " Our God is a consuming fire :" though he hath laid down his enmity against us, yet he hath not laid down his sovereignty and majesty over us. Indeed, these two expressions, " our God," and "a consuming fire," at first blush and glance, seem to look strangely and wistfuly one upon another: but the Holy Ghost hath excellently tempered them. He is "our God ;" this corrects that despairing fear that other- wise would seize upon us, from the considera- V tion of God as a consuming fire. And he is " "a consuming fire" also; this corrects that presumptuous irreverence, that else the consi- deration of our interest in God might possibly imbolden us unto. You see now, from the explication of these words, what an excellent copious portion of Scripture I have unfolded unto you, wherein; indeed, is contained the true art and method of serving God acceptably. It is the fear of God that quickens us to serve him; and this fear of God is pressed upon us and wrought inl us by two strong principles: we have a king- dom; and, what is strange too for those that have a kingdom of God, "our God is a con- suming fire," and therefore let us fear him. Now, this is such a principle, that carnal men are not apt to apprehend. They say, "If we have a kingdom that cannot be moved, why, then, should we fear? And if God be such a consuming fire, why should we ever expect that kingdom, since we are but as stubble?" But our apostle hath well conjoined them together ; and from that conjunction, I shall raise and prosecute this one Proposition, - That even those who stand highest in the love and favour of God, and have the fullest assurance thereof, and of their interest in him as their God, ought notwith- standing, to fear him as a sin-revenging God and a consuming fire. In prosecuting this proposition, I shall shew how consistent the grace of fear is with other graces of the Spirit : that it is no impe- diment, 1. To full assurance; 2. To love of God; 3. To a spirit of adoption; 4. To holy rejoicing; nor, 5. To holy boldness. I. In shewing you that the grace of fear is no impediment to full assurance, I shall con- sider, 1. What fear of God it is that a believer ought always to overawe his heart with. 2. Upon what grounds and considerations he is thus to do it. What there is in a reconciled God, that may be a ground and motive to overawe our hearts with a fear of his majesty. 1st, What fear of God it is that a believer ought to overawe his heart with. Fear, in general, is described to be a passion or an affection of the mind, arising from the appre- hension of some great evil with difficulty avoidable. And, as it is observed by some, it usually carries in it three things,-1. A doubt- AVEN AND SALVATION. 69 fulness or uncertainty of the event, what it may prove; and this is always a torment to the mind, 2. A terror that ariseth from the greatness of the evil apprehended and feared. 3. A careful flight and aversion of it. (1.) There is in fear a doubtfulness and uncertainty of the event. And this is a tor- ment, when a man is racked in suspense and doubt what to expect; whether or no the vengeance of God will not fall heavy upon him; whether or no he be not fuel on which this consuming fire will for ever prey. Now, this is not that fear which the apostle, in this text, exhorts us to serve God withal : no, to " serve God with reverence and godly fear," is not to serve him with a doubtful, anxious, and solicitous fear of what the event may prove : nay, such a fear as this is inconsistent with actual assurance; and those who are perplexed with it, cannot say, "we have a king- dom," nor cannot fear their God as "a con- suming fire." There may be a genuine awful fear of God as "a consuming fire," where there is not the least doubt remaining concerning our final state; where the soul is fully assured that God will be to him, not a fire to consume him, but a sun to cherish him for ever. I will give you one or two remark- able scriptures to this purpose. " Let us fear," (says the apostle, Heb. iv. 1,) "lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Here the apostle quickens them to the exercise of holiness, from the fear of falling short of heaven: yea, though they had assurance by God's promise of it; "lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest," yet you should fall short of it. And so the apostle triumphs in his assurance, (2 Cor. v. 1,) " We know that we have a house eternal in the heavens :" and yet, (yer. 11,) he quickens himself to the discharge of his ministerial- office, from the fear of God's wrath, "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men :" though he was assured of glory, yet he quickens himself to the discharge of his ministerial function, by the fear of God's wrath. So that it is evident there may be a fear of God's wrath exciting unto duty, where yet there is a full assurance, beyond all doubting and hesitation, of escaping wrath. So that this is not that fear that the apostle excites them who have assurance unto. (2.) There is a fear of terror, a shivering in the soul, upon the apprehension of the great- ness of the evil feared, but avoided too: and this is consistent with full assurance. Thus the terror of past dangers sometimes causeth as much terror, as if we were again to encounter with them. So, when believers look back upon that wrath and fiery indignation that they have narrowly escaped; upon that lake of brimstone that boils and burns behind them, wherein thousands of others are for ....rrr~n l 70WRSO l ever swallowed up; this cannot but affect them with a holy horror and fear of God's wrath against sinners, though they have full assurance of his love. (3.) There is also, in fear, a flight and aversion from the evil feared: and this also is consistent with full assurance. Noah had full assurance from the promise of God for his preservation from the deluge; and yet it is said, that Noah, being "moved with fear, built him an ark." Full assurance to escape evil is far from hindering (as some calumniate it,) the use of means to prevent that evil : yea, the assurance that we have to escape hell and wrath, is of the greatest and most effectual influence to make us careful to use those means whereby we may escape it. See this, (2 Cor. vii. 1,) " Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God :" so, (Tit. ii. 11-13,) "The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ :" so, (1 John, iii. 3,) " Every one that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as God is pure." Thus you see what fear it is that the apostle exhorts believers to, who have a king- dom : not a fear of perplexing doubtfulness, but such as is consistent with their full 'assurance: that is, so to fear the wrath of God, as to have our hearts affected with terror at the greatness and insupportableness of that wrath, though they have escaped it: and to fear, so as to avoid, all sin, and all that exposeth to that wrath. In these two senses, they that are assured that God is their God, ought to fear him as "a consuming fire." 2d, Let us now see upon what grounds and considerations a believer, who is assured of God's love and favour to him, ought yet to fear him. (1.) As a consuming fire. 1. The consideration of that mighty and dreadful power that God puts forth in the punishing and afflicting of the damned, may strike fear into the hearts of those that are fully assured of God's love and favour to them. Such a fear as this the holy angels themselves have : though they are secured by Christ in that blessed state and condition that they enjoy, yet, to see God stripping and making bare his arm, to lay on weighty strokes of everlasting vengeance upon their fellow-angels that are fallen, makes them to tremble and stand astonished at the almighty power of God; and this keeps them at a due distance, in their thoughts and apprehensions of his dreadful majesty. And should it not much more make us to tremble with an awful respect of the power of God, to consider how he crusheth and breaks the damned in hell, 70 II C~ Ta~ ~rn rr~ ~cn rr\~r mh+:rr---------- I,-.-th .~r WORKS OF Big SHOP HOPKINS, by his own almighty arm stretched out, in the full power of his wrath, to their ever- lasting destruction ? It is from this power of God that Christ himself enforceth the fear of God: (Matt. x. 28,) "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell :" though God should assure you that he would never destroy you in hell, yet, because he is able to do it, therefore you should fear him. 2. This fear may arise in the hearts of the children of God, who are most assured of his love, from the consideration of the wrath and dreadful severity of God, as well as of his power. If a father corrects his slave in his wrath, this will cause fear and dread in the son, though he knows that wrath shall never fall upon him: so a child of God, who is assured of the tender love and favour of God to himself, yet, when he sadly considers that wrath and indignation that is in God against the damned ; when he sees his heavenly Father angry, though it be not against him ; this must needs strike a reverential fear and awe into his soul. Now this reverential fear will remain for ever : "The fear of the Lord endureth for ever." Yea, when the children of God shall be made for ever happy in heaven, yet this fear shall be then increased, and not at all diminished: the more they see of the power of the wrath and severity of God executed upon the damned, the more they fear and reverence this powerful, this sin- revenging God. And this kind of fear is no prejudice to their full assurance and joy, nor shall it be prejudicial to their complete and perfect happiness in heaven. 3. The consideration of the desert of sin should cause a holy fear of God, even in those that are fully assured of his love. When a child of God looks upon sin, and sees what wrath and torment he hath deserved by it, though he be assured by the testimony of the Spirit of God that he is pardoned, yet it can- not but fright him to consider, that he should deserve so great condemnation: as a malefactor, though he be pardoned, yet, if he be present at the execution of his fellow-offenders, must needs be struck with fear and horror, that he should be guilty of the same crimes, for which they are to suffer such sharp and cruel punish- ments. What the thief on the cross said unto his fellow-thief, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemna- tion ?" the same may I say to believers, Do not you fear God, seeing you deserve, at least, to be in the same condemnation with those wretches that lie howling in hell? 4. Another ground of fear is, that it is in itself possible that all this wrath should be your portion for ever; even yours, who are most assured of glory. And is not this just cause of fear; if not of expectation, yet at least of terror ? Indeed, as God hath been graciously pleased to bind himself in a cove- THE ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION. nant of grace and mercy to you, so it is impossible that this wrath should fall upon you: but yet such a supposition as this is enough to cause fear in the most assured heart; to think, that if God had not engaged himself by promise to deliver him from that wrath, what then would have been his condi- tion to all eternity ? Would not such thoughts as these make you tremble ? Suppose a man were fast chained to the top of some high rock, hanging over a bottomless gulf ; though he knew and was assured that he should not fall into it, being immoveably fastened there, yet, when he looks down that deep and dangerous precipice, and sees the gulf foaming and raging under him, will not a cold fear thrill through his heart to think, " 0 ! if I were not here fastened by a strong chain to this immoveable rock, what would become of me?" even so, believers, you that are most assured to escape hell, this is your condition : you are fastened to the Rock of Ages by the unchangeable promise of God, that will ever hold you fast; but yet, every time you look down into the bottomless gulf that is under you, where thousands are swallowed up to all eternity, doth not such a thought as this is fright you, " O ! if I were not fastened to this immoveable rock; if God had not made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things and sure; I should also have been swallowed up with the rest of the world, and have gone down quick into hell ?" Alas ! we are all of us held over the lake of fire and brimstone in the hands of God: some he holds in the left hand of his common provi- dence; and others, he holds in the right hand of his special grace: those whom he holds only in the hands of his providence, he lets fall and drop, one after another, into hell, where they are swallowed up and lost eter- nally : those that he holds in the hands of his grace, it is true it is impossible, upon that supposition, that ever they should fall into hell; yet, when they think, "0 ! if we were not upheld !" yea, how possible it was that they should not have been upheld; this appre- hension must needs strike them with fear and terror : though not with a perplexing doubt- fulness, concerning the safety of their condi- tion, yet with a doubtful apprehension of the possibility of what would have been their con- dition, if God had held them over hell only by the hand of his common providence. 5. Though you are assured that you shall escape this eternal death, yet it will be a narrow escape; and that may cause fear. It will be an escape with very much labour and difficulty. Though you are held in the hands of God, yet he leads you along to heaven by the gates of hell : and this is sufficient to cause fear. Our way to heaven is so strait, the rubs in it so many, our falls by them so frequent, our enemies so potent; that, though our assurance may make us not to fear but that, in the end, we shall escape hell; yet it will be high presumption for us not to fear how we may escape it. The apostle brings in the salvation of the elect themselves with a "scarcely :" (1 Pet. iv. 18,) "If the righteous scarcely be saved." Now, this "scarcely" doth not imply that there is any uncertainty in the end, but only the great difficulty in the means of obtaining it. So then the end is certain; that is, a believer's salvation from hell : and that is just cause of rejoicing. But the means are very difficult and laborious: and that is just cause of fear. Briefly, then, to apply it in one word, Though you are assured through faith of the pardon of your sins, yet tremble at the thought of that wrath and hell that you have escaped. It is observed, that those are the fixed stars, that tremble most. So Christians, who are fixed immoveably in the unchangeable love of God, as stars fixed to the heavens in their orbs, yet they are most of all in trepidation and trembling, when they reflect upon them- selves, and think, that, instead of being stars in heaven, they might have been firebrands in hell. Those, to me, are suspicious professors, that make a great blaze with their joys in the apprehensions of their right to heaven, but never tremble in the apprehensions of their deserts of hell. (2.) Having shewed you upon what account God is to be feared, as he is "a consuming fire," in the next place I shall shew you what there is in the consideration of God, as " our God," that may enforce a holy aweand fear of him. And, indeed, if ever it was necessary to press men to a due fear and awe of God, it is so now: since, on the one hand, the open profaneness of ungodly men, and, on the other hand, the pert sauciness of some notional professors, who are apt to think that communion with God consists in a familiar rudeness, do plainly testify to all the world, that there is little fear or reverence of him in their hearts. And now, whilst I am shewing what reason there is that God's dearest children should fear him as a reconciled father, let wicked men, in the meanwhile, sadly consider with themselves, what great cause then they have to fear him, who is their sworn enemy : if God's smiles are tempered with that majesty that makes them awful; surely his frowns then must needs carry in them an astonishing terror, that makes them insupportable. We may observe how unexpectedly sometimes, from the goodness and mercy of God, that is, the sweetest and most natural attractive of love, the Scripture draws an inference to fear God. (Psalm cxxx. 4,) "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feareid :" not only a sin-revenging, but a sin-pardoning God, is here set before us as the object of our fear: _ .. . . . II rrrb ~r~ +Z~r\rr I\H~ n~ttZ 11AI1II~~ III\ C~~rl l~n+ A+IIH 71 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. these tyo sister graces, fear and love, are nourished in the soul by the same attribute, God's pardoning mercy: the great sinner in the Gospel is said to love much, because much was forgiven her; and here, much fear, as well as much love, is the result and issue of God's pardoning grace. And so you have it (Hosea, iii. 5,) "They shall fear the Lord and his goodness." And Moses, describing the most glorious attributes of God, tells us, (Exodus, xv. 11,)that he is "glorious in holi- ness, fearful in praises :" even then when we are to praise God for his mercy, yet are we to fear him as being fearful in praises. And therefore Nehemiah, praying to God, says, (i. 5,) "0 Lord, the great and the terrible God :" wherein ? is it in overwhelming kingdoms; in bringing upon them decreed destruction ? is it in the fierce execution of his wrath against sinners ? No; says he, "0 Lord, the terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him." So again, (ix. 32,) "O God, the mighty and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy." Let us now consider what there is in the mercy and favour of God, as he is a reconciled God unto us, and in covenant with us, that may justly render him the object of our fear. 1. The consideration of that dreadful way and method that God took to manifest his mercy towards us, is sufficient to affect our hearts with fear, though we stand fully pos- sessed of his favour. In Gen. xxviii, when God had made many gracious promises all along that chapter unto Jacob, of blessing him, of keeping him in' all his ways, and of multiplying his seed as the dust of the earth, you would think this was no terrible thing : and yet, because God reveals this mercy to him in an awful and amazing manner, a gap is opened in heaven, a bright ladder reaching from earth to heaven ; God on the top of it, angels on every round of it; though the message was joyful, yet the strange kind of delivering of the message makes Jacob cry out, "How dreadful is this place ! it is none other than the gate of heaven !" The very gate of heaven becomes dreadful, when it is repre- sented in such a majestical manner. But the way that God took for his mercy to arrive at us, is much more dreadful than any such dream or vision; and therefore we should be the more deeply affected with fear and trembling, even then when God speaks peace and pardon to us : for if we consider either the terms .upon which he is become ours, or the way by which he discovereth himself to be ours, both of them are full of dread and terror. " (1.) It cannot but strike our hearts with fear, to reflect upon those dreadful terms, up- on which God is contented to be induced to become our God. His mercy towards us is procured upon terms of infinite justice and severity. Divine vengeance arrests our surety and exacts from him the utmost satisfaction. That curse, that would for ever have blasted and withered the souls of all mankind, seizeth upon Christ in all its malignity. That wrath, some few drops of which scalds the damned in hell, was given him to drink off in a full and overflowing cup : he did bear "the chas- tisement of our peace, and by his stripes we are healed." Nor would God, upon lower terms, have consented to a reconciliation betwixt wretched man and himself, than the precious blood of his only Son. As of old, friendship betwixt two persons was wont to be attested and sealed by a sacrifice, as we find it both among heathen authors and also in Scripture; an instance of whicli we have of Laban, (Gen. xxxi. 54,) where Laban and Jacob, returning to amity, make a ratification of it by a sacrifice: so, the atonement that God made betwixt us and himself is solem- nized by a sacrifice, even the sacrifice of his own Son, "as of a Lamb without spot or blemish." In this blood, the treaty betwixt God and man stands ratified and confirmed. O dreadful mercy, that clasps and embraces us about with arms dyed red in the blood of Jesus Christ! But is not this ground enough to cause a holy fear of God to seize upon every soul that shall but seriously consider this sad tragedy of pardoning grace? If a king resolve to forgive a malefactor upon no other terms than a pardon writ with the last drop of the heart-blood of his dearest friend, who is there that is so hardened, that will not tremble at such a mercy as this is, though it save him ?'So is the case betwixt God and us : the contents of the pardon are joyful, but it is written all with the blood of Jesus Christ, reeking warm from his very heart; and who, then, would not fear even a forgiving God? (2.) Consider the way and method that God takes with us when he becomes our God, and that is most dreadful, and must needs make the most confirmed heart to shake with fear and trembling. Indeed, God deals not with us in such rigour as he dealt with Jesus Christ his Son: but yet, usually, when he becomes our God, when he enters upon us as his possession; first, he shakes all the foun- dations of our hearts, breathes in flame of fire into our very marrow, cramps our consciences, and unjoints our souls. Oh the tempests and storms of wrath that God pours into a wounded conscience, when it is under search- ing convictions ! Oh the smart and anguish of a wounded spirit, when God, instead of balm, shall only chafe it with brimstone! And yet this is the common method that God useth to prepare souls for himself: he seems to arm himself in all his terrors against them, singling them out to the conflict; and when they give up themselves for lost, lying gasping for hope, scarcely at length are ,i 'I llrlUIII 1'-11111~r~ rC- ~.l'lllll~l I I~IC ll ~rV ~lll 72 THE ASSURANCE OF HE admitistered some few reviving comforts. It is with these, as it was with the children of Israel upon Sinai : first, they were astonished with a confused noise of thunder, the air full of lightning, the mountains all on a flame, and the earth trembling under them, before they heard that comfortable voice, (Exodus, xx. 2,) " I am the Lord thy God :" so is it with convinced sinners : God dischargeth his threatenings against them, that speak more dreadfully to them than a voice of thunder: he speaks to them out of the midst of flames, and every word scorcheth up their hearts: and when they stand trembling and despair- ing, once at length they hear those reviving words, "I am the Lord thy God." What hearts are there now, that such a dreadful mercy as this would not overawe? Those discoveries of God's love, that break in upon the soul in the midst of a doleful and gloomy night of despair and despondency, work naturally a sweet kind of terror and a shiver- ing joy. And that is the first consideration. The dreadful method, that God takes to procure mercy for us, even by the death of his Son, and to apply mercy to us, even by the terrors of a convinced conscience, is a sufficient ground to affect our hearts with fear, though we stand fully possessed of his favour. 2. Though God be our God, yet, to consider that it is possible to lose his favour and the sense of it, is enough to affect the heart with a holy fear, even of a reconciled God. It is true, God's original and fountain-love can never be dried up : whom he loves, he loves " unto the end," (John, xiii. 1.) And "my loving-kindness will I never utterly take away from him," (Psalm lxxxix. 33.) Bht yet the streams of this fountain-love may be very much obstructed from flowing freely down upon us: though we shall never again be children of wrath, yet we may be children under vrath. Every presumptuous sin which we commit, raiseth God's displeasure against us; he is angry with us upon every more notorious and known sin which we commit : and since, then, we are in danger every day of falling into gross and foul sins, and are kept only by his almighty and free grace from the worst, what cause have we to fear lest we forfeit his favour, and turn his dis- pleasure against us ! Yea, again, though we should be preserved from sin and continue in his love, yet we cannot assure ourselves that we shall continue in the sense and comfortable apprehension of it. Comfort is most arbitrary, and at God's free disposal; neither hath he engaged himself to bestow it upon any by any absolute promise. Though now his lamp shines clearlyupon thy tabernacle, and thou rejoicest in his smiles, yet how quickly may he wrap thee up in a dark night of desertion, and turn all thy songs into mourning! Thou, there- SAVEN AND SALVATION. 73 fore, that art now assured that God is thy God, fear lest ere long thou mayest not think him to be so: certain thou art he is so now ; yet, before it be long, possibly through thy miscarriage, thou mayest not think him to be so : and it is all one, as to comfort or discom- fort, whether God be thy God or not, if thou dost not apprehend him to be so, and there- fore fear him. 3. Every frown and stroke toucheth to the quick, that cometh from a reconciled God and a loving Father; and therefore, the rather fear, because he is thy God. Every little blow from a father strikes deeper and causeth more smart than greater blows from other persons: others strike the body, but when a loving father strikes, he wounds the heart. So is it here : the nearness of the relation betwixt God and us, puts an anguish and sting into every correction. As the Psalmist speaks in his own case, (Psalm lv. 12, 13,) "It was not an enemy that reproached me, neither was it he that hated me, then could I have borne it; but it was thou, a friend, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance." These are sad accents. And so is it here : the blows of a sin-revenging God may indeed break the back; but the blows of a gracious and recon- ciled father break the heart. Fear, therefore, lest, through some miscarriage of thine, (and such miscarriages thou art every day guilty of,) thou shouldst provoke thy God to lay some heavy stroke upon thee; which will be the more smart, from the aggravation that provoked love puts upon it. And thus you see now, in these three parti- culars, what ground there is from the conside- ration of God as our God, to enforce a holy fear of his divine majesty upon our hearts. He is our God; therefore fear him, because the way that he became ours is most dread- ful. He is our God as yet; fear lest we may not apprehend him so long. He is our God; therefore fear him, because every stroke and frown from a God in covenant comes with an aggravated smart and sting. II. Now this holy fear, as it is no enemy to full assurance, as I have shewed you, so neither is it any way prejudicial to a most ardent love of God. Filial love and filial fear are twins; but not such as Jacob and Esau, that strive to supplant one another. The pure flame of divine and heavenly love is like other flames, the higher it mounts, the more it vibrates and trembles. Indeed, Saint John tells us, (1 John, iv. 18,) that "perfect love casteth out fear." It should seem, then, that all fear of God is swallowed up in those hearts that are once brought into a holy love. But the apostle doth very well explain himself, in the reason that he gives of this assertion in the next words: "Perfect lave casteth out fear, because fear hath tor- ment in it." I, - 74WRSOFBSO HPIS Hence, therefore, we may distinguish of a twofold fear of God. The one is tormenting, causing unquiet rolling and estuations in the heart, in a sad suspense of what our future and eternal state may prove: and this is slavish. Now this fear perfect love casts out and expels; for where divine love is perfected in the soul, there are no more such suspenses, hesitations, and 'doubtings, what will become of it to eternity. Now by perfect love may be meant, either that state of perfection to which we shall attain in glory, where our whole work to all eternity shall be to love and please God, or else that perfection that consists in its sincerity in this life. If we take it for that perfection of love that shall for ever burn in our hearts when we ourselves shall be made perfect, so it is certain that it will cast out all tormenting fears: for certainly, if in heaven hope ,itself shall be abolished, much more shall fear be abolished ; for there every saint shall have much more than a full assurance, even a full fruition of glory, and they shall know themselves to be for ever confirmed in that blessed state which shall prevent all doubts and fears. If we understand it of that perfection of love that we may attain to in this life, so also the strong and vigorous actings of love to God cast out all tormenting fears : it is not possible that that soul which actually loves God with a vigorous and most ardent affection, should at the same time be racked with distracting fears of hell and damnation; for it is the sense of God's love unto the soul that draws from it reciprocal love again unto God : "We love him," says the apostle, " because he first loved us :" that is, as strong as our apprehensions are of God's love to us, so strong will our love be in its returns to God again. Water riseth naturally as high as its spring; wherefore, the assurance of God's love, being the spring from whence our love flows, such as is our love, such will be our assurance also. If, then, our love be strong in its actings, it must needs cast out fear; because it flows from that assurance with which tormenting fear is utterly incon- sistent. But there is another kind of fear, that is not tormenting : and that is an awful frame of heart, struck with reverential apprehen- sions of God's infinite majesty, and our own vileness and unworthiness : and this perfect love doth not cast out; but it perfects this awful, sedate, calm fear of God. The angels and the glorified saints in heaven, whose love is so perfect that it can neither admit of an increase nor abatement, yet stand in awe and fear of the terrible majesty of the great God; the same infinite excellencies of the divine nature that attract their love, do also excite their fear. See how the prophet makes this an argument to fear God : (Jer. x. 7,) "Who would not fear thee, 0 King of saints? for," said he, "in all the earth there is none like unto thee." One would rather think that God's unparalleled excellencies and perfections should be a motive to love: "Who would not love thee, 0 King of saints, since there is none in all the earth like thee ?" yea, but filial fear and filial love are of so near a kind and cogna- tion, that they may well be enforced by one and the same argument; "Who would not fear thee? for in all the earth there is none like unto thee." This is the excellency of divine love : it is an attractive of love, and it is an excitement unto fear. Well, then, though we have no chilling fear of a hot and scorching hell; yet let us have an awful, reverential fear of the glorious God, whose excellencies are such as cannot be matched, nor scarcely imitable by any in heaven or in earth. III. The fear of God is not contrary to that free spirit of adoption, which we receive in our first conversion. It may, perhaps, seem to some, that the apostle opposeth them, (Rom. viii. 15.) "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry Abba, Father." To this I answer,-That, by "the spirit of bondage" here, the apostle means the legal work of the Holy Ghost in conviction that is preparatory to conversion : which work, usually, is acompanied with dreadful terrors, apprehending God not as a reconciled Father, but as an incensed and severe Judge. Now, says the apostle, "ye have not received this spirit of bondage again thus to fear :" this is not that fear that the consideration of God, as your God and reconciled Father, excited in you : this is not that fear that the apostle exhorts Christians unto; but an awful reve- rential fear of God, whereby we should stand in awe of his dread majesty, so as to be pre- served from whatever may be an offence to his purity. And if, in any night of desertion, it should happen that the hearts of true believers should be overwhelmed with dismal fears, apprehending God as enraged and incensed against them, standing in doubt of the good- ness of their spiritual condition ; if this seize upon them after they have had "the spirit of adoption," let them know, that this fear is not from a work of the Holy Ghost in them: they have not received "the spirit of bondage again so to fear ;" it is not a work of the Holy Ghost to excite in them doubts and fears of their spiritual condition, after they have once had assurance of the goodness thereof; but it ariseth either from some ignorance, or from some sin that they have committed, that interposeth betwixt them and the clear sight of the discoveries of God's love. Now, for the better understanding of this place, because I judge it pertinent to my pre- II rr\+rr r~o +h I'r\rI C NCI I1 \Ali~+~rrninn+h r\n+rlnnlltr I C?~n~~'tQ I;T 74 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. THE ASSURANCE.OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION. sent purpose, I shall open it to you somewhat largely in these following particulars :- 1. The preparatory work of conversion is usually carried on in the soul by legal fears and terrors. I call that a legal fear that is wrought in the soul by the dread threatenings and denunciations of the law. The law, if we take it in its native rigour, without the merciful qualification of Gospel grace, thun- dered out nothing but execrations, wrath, and vengeance against every transgressor of it ; representing God armed also with his almighty power to destroy them. This is that glass that shewed them their old sins in most ugly shapes; now they see them stare ghastly upon their consciences, that before allured them; the scene is quite changed, and there are nothing but dreadful apparitions of death and hell fleeting now before them, and God bran- dishing his flaming sword over them, ready to rive their hearts asunder. They, who lately were secure and fearless, now stand quaking under the fearful expectations of that fiery wrath and indignation, that they neither have hope to escape, nor yet have strength or patience to endure. This is that legal fear which the curse and threatenings of the law, when set home in their full acrimony, work in the hearts of convinced sinners. 2. This legal fear is slavish, and engenders unto bondage. There is a bondage under the reigning power of sin, and there is a bondage under the terrifying power of sin. The former makes a man a slave unto the devil, and the latter makes a man a slave unto God. And such slaves are all convinced sinners, that have not yet arrived to the free and filial "spirit of adoption ;" but are kept under bondage under the wrath of God, and manacled in the fetters of their own fears. So saith the apostle, (Heb. ii. 15,) "to deliver them who, through fear of death," and of hell, that follows after it, "were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 3. This slavish fear is wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God, though it be slavish. For it is his office to convince, as well as to comfort; and to cast down by the terrors of the law, as well as to raise up by the promises of the Gospel; (John, xvi. 8,) "He shall convince the world of sin ;" and therefore it is said in this place, (Rom. viii. 15,) "We have not re- ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear ;" implying, that those terrors that seize upon the conscience, are the work of the Holy Ghost; we bring ourselves into bondage under sin, and he brings us into bondage under fear. If, therefore, at any time, thou, who art a secure sinner, art suddenly sur- prised with fearful and trembling thoughts concerning thy present state of sin and thy future state of wrath, beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a fit of melancholy, or a temptation of Satan to drive thee to despair: but know assuredly, that thy conscience is now under the hand of the Holy Ghost himself; he raiseth those tempests of fear in thee, and as, usually, it is fatal to divert and hush them, so is it no less than ignorant blasphemy to impute his works to melancholy or to the temptations of Satan. 4. When the soul is prepared for the work of grace by the work of conviction, when it is prepared for comfort by the work of humilia- tion, the same spirit, that was before a spirit of bondage, becomes now a spirit of adoption. That is, the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God, and enables us, through divine light beaming in upon our consciences, to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father, whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge. The same wind that, in a raging storm, tosseth the sea to and fro in restless heaps, in a calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing purles. So is it here. That Spirit of God, that in conviction raiseth a tempest in the conscience, afterwards breathes forth a sweet calm of peace and comfort upon it; the same spirit that before was a "spirit of bondage," when the soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for grace, becomes a" spirit of adoption." This is that " spirit of adoption" that is here spoken of ; and it is called so, because it wit- nesseth with our spirits that we are the chil- dren of God by adoption. God hath but one Son by eternal generation, and that is Jesus Christ; called, therefore, "the only begotten of the Father," (John, i. 14.) He hath many sons by creation, even all mankind ; so Adam is called " the Son of God," (Luke, iii. 38.) He hath many sons also by adoption, even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his grace; all that are sanctified, who are of strangers made "heirs of God, and co-heirs with Jesus Christ" himself, who is the natural Son of God, (as it is Rom. viii. 17.) Now, because it is the work of the Holy Ghost to testify to us this our great privilege, that we are enrolled in the family of heaven, and become the children of God, therefore he is called "the Spirit of adoption ;" that is, the Spirit that witnesseth to us our adoption. 5. To whom the Spirit hath once been a spirit of adoption, it never more becomes to them a spirit of bondage and fear. That is, it never again proclaims war, after it bath spoken peace; it never represents God as an enraged enemy, after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father. It is true, the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing office in the soul of the most assured saint : it convinceth him of sin, and of wrath due to him for sin. There is a twofold conviction: there is a conviction of the evil of particular actions, and there is a Conviction of the evil of our state and condition. Now, though upon _ _ . 75 76WRSOFBSO HPiS particular miscarriages of God's children, the Holy Ghost secretly smiteth their consciences, shewing them the guilt and evil of their sins, thereby bringing them to repentance and a godly sorrow; yet the Holy Ghost never again testifieth to them that they are in a graceless, unregenerate, and sinful estate and condition, and in a state of wrath and con- demnation : it brings them to a deep humilia- tion, by convincing them of the evil of their actions; but it never brings them into legal terrors, by convincing them of a sinful state. Neither, indeed, can it be so; for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth, and to witness that we are yet children of wrath, who are indeed the adopted of the children of God, this were a false testimony, and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God, who is a Spirit of truth. Doth the same fountain send forth sweet water and bitter ? Doth there proceed from one and the same mouth bless- ings and curses ? Certainly, the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the love and favour of God, never after pronoun- ceth us to be cursed, and under the wrath of God. But you will say, "Have not the best of God's children sometimes concluded them- selves to be reprobated and cast away ? Have they not lain under sad and fearful appre- hensions of God's wrath? Have not some of them, who formerly walked in the light of God's countenance, and flourished in their assurance, yet afterwards been so dejected, that they would not entertain any comfort, or hopes of mercy and salvation ?" To this I answer,-It is true, it may indeed so happen that those saints, whose joys and comforts are at one time fresh and verdant, at another time wither and drop off, so that they look upon themselves as rotten trees, destined to make fuel for hell. Whence proceeds this? It is not from the Spirit of God; but, as carnal men are apt to mistake the first work of conviction for melancholy or for temptation, so this really proceeds from one of these two causes. When the children of God, after full assurance, come again not only to entertain doubts of their condition, but also to despair of themselves, looking on themselves as persons that God hath singled out to destruction; this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost, but from melancholy or tempta- tion. Sometimes natural melancholy ob- structs the sense of divine comfort : As it is in clear water, when it is still and transparent the sun shines to the very bottom, but if you stir the mud, presently it grows so thick that no light can pierce into it: so is it with the children of God; though their apprehen- sions of God's love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very air that the angels and glorified saints breathe in, in heaven, yet if once the muddy humour of melancholy f - -- - stirs, they become dark, so that no light or ray of comfort can break in to the deserted soul. And then, sometimes, the devil causeth these tragedies by his temptations, that so, if it were possible, he might drive them to despair ; he hates their graces, he envies their comforts, and therefore he would persuade them that all their former joys were but delusions, proud dreams and presumptuous fancies, and that they are still "in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity ;" and, by such suggestions as these, when he cannot hinder the work of grace, he strives what he can to hinder the sense of comfort. If, there- fore, those that have once rejoiced under the comfortable persuasions of God's love to them, the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a "Spirit of adoption," by being in them a Spirit of sanctification, now find themselves under the bondage of legal fears and terrors, and slavish dejections, looking upon them- selves as under the revenging wrath of God, and as persons devoted to destruction; let them know, that such fears proceed not from the convictions of the Spirit of God, who hath been a "Spirit of adoption," but from the delusions of Satan: for those that once re- ceive the "Spirit of adoption," never receive "the spirit of bondage again to fear ;" that is, to fear with a slavish tormenting fear. 6. A reverential, filial fear of God, may and ought to possess our souls, while the Spirit of God, who is a Spirit of adoption, is, by the clearest evidences, actually witnessing our sonship to us. Let men boast what they will of their high Gospel attainments, yet cer- tainly they have not the genuine disposition of God's children, whose love to him is not mingled with fear, and whose fear of him is not increased by their love. Love ! it is the gauge and measure of all our affections, and according to the proportion of our love to God, such will be our fear ; that is, the more we love God, the more we shall fear his dis- pleasure and the loss of his favour. It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father, unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master. Christ was his only-bogotten Son, and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God, than any adopted sons can possibly have: yet the Scripture ascribes a holy, awful, reverential fear of God even unto him; (Heb. v. 7,) "When he had offered up prayers, with strong cries and tears, and was heard in that lie feared;" it may be rendered, "he was heard because of his godly fear." So, (Isa. xi. 2,) "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord ;" speaking of Christ. If, therefore, he feared God, who was himself to be feared as God, equal to him, and his eternal Son, how much more ought we to fear the great God, who are, as it were, but upstarts in the family rlI Ihr\l~ ~~ 1~~ )~~ nOnl~rdC( 10 ~~~~d~ ~Wdn~ I CYII~~ITrL~ ~t~T II 76 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. THE ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION. '4f _____________________________________ of heaven -! we, wretched and forlorn outcasts, that were but lately raked out of the 'dunghill, and by mere pity taken up into the bosom of God, rknd nurtured as his children! Arid thus you see that the fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free spirit of ad.option. IV. An awful fear of God is no impediment to a holy rejoicing. Indeed, slavish fear damps all true joy. Those that fear and expect the revengings of God, cannot have any true joy. They may have a kind of mad jollity, that spends itself in noise and tumults; they may roar out songs of mirth, only to drown the loud roarings of their own consciences. Such as these are like your new liquor, that works over into foam and froth, when the bottom is thick and troubled ; so, in this false joy, the countenance runs over with laughter, when yet the heart is brimful of the wrath of God.- Of such the wise man speaks, (Prov. xiv. 13,) "Even in laughter, the heart is sor- rowful." But a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy rejoicing in him. Spiritual joy is not of that flashy nature, but it is a sober and a severe grace ; it is joy mixed with fear. And because of the mixture of these two together, the fear of God with joy in the Lord, therefore we find these two are promis- cuously ascribed each to other. So, (Isa. lx. 5,) their hearts " shall fear and be enlarged :" you know it is the property of joy to extend and enlarge the heart; fear contracts and draws it together; but here, fear is said to dilate the heart, to denote to us, that a Chris- tian's fear is always conjoined and mingled together with his joy. And so, on the other hand, it is said, (Psal. ii. 11,) "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling ;" fear with trembling, is more proper and natural; but because of the mixture of these two graces in the heart of a Christian, therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it, "Rejoice with trembling ;" for great joys, as well as great fears, cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the heart. As it was with the two women, whom the angels assured of Christ's resur- rection, (Matt. xxviii. 8.) "They departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy ;" so is it with those Christians, who, by the eye of faith looking upon the death and into the sepulchre of Jesus Christ, are assured that he is risen for their justifica- tion, cannot but have their hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful joy. Even a Chris- tian's strong praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling voice. So that godly fear is no impediment to a holy and a severe rejoicing in God as our Saviour. V. Godly fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God. God hath established a throne of grace, whereon he sits; and unto which he invites his people to approach, with a becoming con- fidence : (Heb. iv 16,) "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace." As that emperor counted his clemency disparaged when any delivered a petition to him with a shaking hand, as though he doubted of his favour : so God loves, when we make our addresses to him, that we should do it with full assurance of faith, nothing doubting of acceptance with him, and of an answer from him. He that asks timorously, only begs a denial from God. But yet, that this boldness may not degene- rate into rudeness and irreverence, he requires that our freedom with him be tempered with an awful fear of him; we must come in all humility and prostration of soul, with broken hearts and bended knees, to touch that golden sceptre that he holds forth to us. Thus you see, in these five things, how con- sistent the grace of fear is with other graces of the Spirit. It is no impediment either to a full assurance, to love, to a spirit of adoption, to a holy rejoicing, or to a holy boldness. Now, because I have made frequent mention of filial and slavish fear, that you may the better understand what each of these means, I shall briefly give you the difference betwixt them. They differ, in their concomitants, and in their effects. 1st, Slavish fear hath always two dreadful concomitants; and they are, - Despair, and Hatred, or enmity against God. 1. In slavish fear, there is always some degree of despair. This slavish fear is joined with dreadful expectations of wrath. A slave, that hath committed a fault, expects no other than to be punished for it without mercy; so those, that lie under this slavish fear, apprehend and account of God no other- wise than the slothful servant, - as a severe lord, and a cruel tyrant, that will exact punishment from them to the utmost of their deserts; they expect no other but that certainly God's wrath will kindle upon them and burn them eternally: and this makes them live, as the apostle speaks, (Heb. x. 27,) "in certain fearful expectations of wrath and indignation, which shall devour them as adversaries." This kind of horrid fear, I doubt not, is common to most wicked men : and, though they brave it out, and speak high matters of their hopes of heaven and salva- tion, yet, at the same time, their own hearts and consciences tell them sad and misgiving stories of hell and everlasting wrath. But a true and filial fear of God looks at the wrath of God with dread and terror, but not with expectation : there is the difference. Slavish fear looks upon the wrath of God, and expects it: filial fear looks upon it as due, but not with expectations that it should be inflicted upon it. . . .1 Lf._...~ ~ _R~n riin! wt tr~hin "f~~r if~,,~nr 77 78 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. 2. Slavish fear is always accompanied with some degree of enmity and hatred against God. It is natural for us to hate those that we fear with a slavish fear. He that thinks God will certainly punish him, must out of self-love needs be provoked to hate God. Hence is it that the soul, that lies under the terrors of the law, wisheth that there was no such thing as hell and eternal damnation; nay, that there was no God to inflict this upon it. This proceeds from this slavish fear of God. But a reverent fear of God is joined with a holy love ; as children who love their parents, but yet stand in awe of them. So much for the concomitants of this fear. 2d, For their effects. And that both as to sin, and as to duty. 1. As to sin. (1.) Slavish fear dreads nothing but hell and punishment; but godly fear dreads sin itself. The one fears only to burn; the other fears to sin. As Austin saith well, "He fears hell only, who fears not to sin, but fears to burn; but he fears to sin, who hates sin as he would hate hell." (2.) Slavish fear usually restrains only from ex- ternal, and 'those also the more gross and notorious acts of sin; but holy fear overawes the heart from inward and secret sins, yea, from the least sins whatsoever. 2. And then, as for duty also, in two things briefly. (1.) A slavish fear of God makes men to consult how they may fly from God; as Adam, when he had brought guilt upon his conscience by his fall, hid himself from God in the garden. Guilt loves not the presence of its judge. " But godly fear is still exciting the soul to approach near to God in duty; and therefore David saith, (Psal. v. 7,) "In thy fear will I worship towards thy holy temple." The fear of God encourageth the soul in the performance of duty. (2.) Slavish fear contents itself with external perform- ances; just so much as will serve the turn, to satisfy the demands of conscience. But holy fear sanctifies the Lord in duty, as well as satisfies conscience. And therefore you have it, (Isa. viii. 13,) "Sanctify the Lord of hosts in your hearts, and let him be your fear and your dread." Thus much, briefly, for the difference be- twixt filial and slavish fear. I come now to the application. Use lst,-And the first use shall be by way of corollary. If the consideration of God as a consuming fire ought to affect the most assured Christian with a holy fear and dread of God, how much more, then, may it shrink and shrivel up the hearts of ungodly sinners! If it make God's own children tremble, to look into hell, and to see those heaps of mise- rable wretches that are there burning for ever, shall it not much more make you tremble, who are liable every moment to ibe bound in bundles, and to be cast in to burn among them? When a city is on fire, it is terrible to see it rage afar off; to see it spew up smoke and flames, though at a distamne; and he that is not affected with it, is inh-iman: but he is more than stupid, that doth not tremble to see it devour whole streets be fore it, ruining all till it approach near his o'vn dwelling. Sirs, this consuming fire hat h already seized upon millions of others, an( burnt them down into the lowest hell. Do not you hear Dives, in the Gospel, cry "Fire, fire ?" The greatest part of the world is already burnt down; and if their case makes not your hearts to shake and tremble, yet me- thinks your own should. This fire is catching and kindling upon your souls, and the next moment may make you brands in hell. But, alas! what hope is there to affright men that are fast asleep? Such a dead security hath seized upon the hearts of most, that it is almost impossible to rouse them; and there is but little hope but that they will be burnt in this their sleep. Yet, if it may be possible to awaken you, consider, - 1. That it is only God's wrath against sin- siers, that makes him terrible to his saints. They are afraid of that fiery indignation that burned against the wicked; and shall not the wicked, then, much more be afraid, that must themselves feel it ? "Our God," says the apostle, "is a consuming fire ;" but to whom is he such a consuming fire? not to those, cer- tainly, whose God he is; "He shall burn up all the wicked of the earth as stubble." That God doth not always style himself a gracious God and a reconciled Father, but sometimes puts on dreadful titles, his children owe it to the wicked; against them alone it is that he arrays himself with all his terrors. As a father may affright his children, by putting on those arms that hlie useth only against his enemies; so God daunts his own children, by appearing in his dread power, his severe justice, and consuming wrath: but how much more may it appal his enemies, upon whom he intends to execute all this in the utmost rigour and extremity ! 2. Another consideration that may make the most secure sinner to tremble, is this, - That God himself will be the immediate inflicter of their punishments. They shall be consumed by fire, and offered up as a burnt- sacrifice to the wrath and justice of God; and that fire that shall for ever burn them, is God himself : "God is a consuming fire." I do not deny but that there is another material fire, prepared and blown up in hell for the punish- ment of the damned; but, certainly, their most subtle and exquisite torture shall be from God himself, who is this "consuming fire." This wrath of God, which shall for ever burn and inflame the souls of the damned, II tPTY\\1IP" ) nn TPS).r nr I;-nrl pn~nnra.~yptn tlla I RF~TTC! I111Y1 THE ASSURANCE OF HEAVEN AND SALVATION. 79 is called "fiery indignation," (Heb. x. 27.), That fire that destroyed Nadab and Abihu, was but a type of this; and the antitype infinitely transcends the type : the dreadful- ness of their temporal death by fire was but a faint resemblance of the death of the soul. What fire must that be, of which that extra- ordinary fire, that fell down from heaven itself, was but a mere shadow ? As the fire that came down upon Elijah's sacrifice did lick up the water that was poured into the trenches ; so this "fiery indignation" of God shall, in. hell, melt down the damned, as it were, and then lick up their very spirits and souls. It is said, (Psal.' civ. 4,) that God maketh his angels " a flaming fire :" it is the nearest representation that is given of the angelical nature, that abounds both in subtlety and force: he maketh his angels "a flaming fire." Now, when Christ saith, Go into those flames of fire, " prepared for the devil and his angels ;" why, the devils themselves are flames of fire: and what fire can be more piercing than themselves, who have power over fire ? Yet, there is a greater fire than they : "God is a consuming fire ;" a fire, so infinitely scorching, as will burn and torment even fire itself. It would be unspeakable, terrible wrath in God, if he should make use of his creatures for the punishment of the damned. Who could bear it, if God should only keep a man living for ever in the midst of a furnace, though but of a gross earthly fire and flames? or, if God should bind a man hand and foot, and cast him into a deep pit full of toads, adders, and scorpions, and there let him lie for ever? God knows all the several stings that are in his creatures ; and he can take out of them the most sharp and piercing ingre- dients-the sharpness of the sword, the inflam- mations of poisons, the scorchings of fire, the anguish of pains, the faintness of diseases - and, of all these, can make a most tormenting composition: and if he should make use of this composition, what intolerable anguish would this cause ! If, then, creatures can cause such torture, oh ! what a dreadful thing is it to fall into the hands of God himself! When God conveys his wrath by creatures, it must needs lose infinitely in the very convey- ance of it; it is but as if a giant should strike one with a straw or a feather: so when God takes up one creature to strike another with, that blow can be but weak; and yet, how terrible are those weak blows to us ! What will it be, then, when God shall immediately crush us by the unrebated force of his own almighty arm ? You, therefore, that persevere min sin, and in security too, consider who you have to deal with ; not with creatures, but with God himself: and do you not fear that uncreated fire, that can wrap you up in the flames of his essential wrath, and burn you for ever ? "Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong," says God, "in the day that I shall deal with thee ?" The very weakness of God is stronger than men. God can look a man to death : the breath of a man's nostrils is a soft and quiet thing; and yet the very breath of God's nostrils can blast the soul, and burn it to a very cinder. Oh ! then, tremble to think what wrath his heavy hand can inflict upon thee; that hand that spreadeth out the heavens, and in the hollow of which he holds the great waters of the sea; that hand of God in which his great strength lies ; oh! what wrath will it inflict upon thee, when it falls upon thee in the full power of his might ! 3. This consuming fire, after it hath once seized upon the soul, is for ever unquenchable. Indeed, thou mayest hinder it from kindling upon thy soul. As, when a house is on fire, they use to spout water upon the walls of the neighbouring houses, to keep the flames from catching hold of them ; so you may, by sprinkling the blood of Jesus Christ, and by moistening yourselves with the tears of true repentance, prevent this consuming fire from preying upon you : but if once it kindles, it will there burn everlastingly. It is not like your sublunary fires ; these spend the matter they feed on, and, be they of never so great force, they must at length themselves starve for want of fuel: yea, the sooner they consume, the sooner are they themselves consumed ; as in straw, and other light combustible matter. But God is such a fire as consumes without diminishing ; and his power is such a power, as destroys the soul, and yet perpetuates it. He is such a wise and intelligent fire, as con- sumes the damned, and yet repairs them; and, by tormenting, still nourishes them for future torments. As Minutius speaks - the same breath of God that destroys the soul, still keeps it alive, that it may be eternal fuel for itself. Hence is it that hell-fire is described to be such as shall never be quenched, (Mark, ix. 44.) And why? but because the breath of the Lord, like a fiery stream, is still kindling of it. How in the midst of this devouring fire must the damned dwell, with- out any period, either to their being or to their torment ! And when they have lain there millions and millions of years, still it is but a beginning of their sorrows, and they are as far from a release and discharge as they were at the first. Think with yourselves, how long and how tedious a little time seems to you when you are in pain: you complain then, that time hath leaden feet, and wish that the days and hours would roll away faster. Oh! what will it be then, when you shall lie in hell; when the intolerableness of pain shall make every hour seem an age, and every year seem a long eternity itself ; and yet you must lie an eternity of those years there ? This makes their torments doubly everlasting. Methinks the dreadful thoughts II mR.t.lnna nt nni.cnnn t.hF! n~rrr~hin~ya nf firp thp I ct ill Irnnr\a 80 WORKS OFBISHOP HOPKINS. of this eternally consuming fire should make the stoutest heart to quake; or, at least, to cause a cold fit of fear, before this burning and scorching torment begins. 4. God is such a consuming fire, as will prey upon the soul, that tender and spiritual part of man. The more gross the subject is, the more dull are the pains that it suffers; but where the subject is spiritual, there the anguish must needs be extreme. The sharpest torments that the body is capable of, are but dull in comparison of what the soul can feel when God himself shall lash the soul, that more refined part, all comparisons fall short of expressing the anguish of it: to shoot poisoned darts inflamed into a man's marrow, to rip up his bowels with a sword red hot, is as nothing to this. Think what it is to have a drop of boiling, scalding oil, or melting lead, fall into your eye, and make it boil and burn till at last it falls out of your head ; such tor- ments, yea, infinitely 'more than this, is it to have the wrath of God fall upon your souls. The body is a kind of fence to the soul: it damps and deadens the smart, as a blow upon a clothed man is not so painful as upon one that is stark naked : now, if the soul some- times feels such smart and pain through the body, what shall it feel when God shall pour his wrath upon it stark naked ? 5. The longer thou livest in thy sins im- penitently, the more dost thou prepare thy soul to be fit fuel for this consuming fire to devour. This is but like the oiling of a barrel of pitch, which of itself was apt enough before to burn. Those whom the wrath of God snatches away in the beginning of their days, are made fuel for that consuming fire: and if it be done so to the green tree, what will be done to the dry and rotten tree? Thou that hast stood many years rotting in the world, when God shall come and cut thee down and cast thee into unquenchable fire, how soon wilt thou kindle, and how dreadfully wilt thou burn, having no sap left in thee to allay and mitigate those flames! Certainly, would but the most hardened sinner here present, call his thoughts aside awhile, and seriously bethink himself what he hath been doing ever since he came into the world, this must needs make him fear and tremble; to con- sider that all this time he hath, by his sinning, been treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, heaping up coals, yea, burning coals, upon his own head. Every time you sin, what do you else but cast in another faggot to that pile of much wood, prepared to burn you for ever? Oh, that these dreadful and amazing considerations might, at length, rouse and awaken your hearts to fear this consuming fire; and to tremble at that wroth that is now kindling in God's breast against you, and which will, if you repent not, ere long kindle upon you ! "But," you will say, "to fear God, only because he is a consuming fire, merely because of his wrath and fiery indignation, is but, at best, a slavish fear: it is but to fear him as the devils do, for they ' believe and tremble;' and of what use and benefit will such a fear as this be ?" Ans. 1.-It is true, to fear God merely upon the account of wrath, is but a slavish fear; but yet, it is far better to fear God slavishly, than to perish securely. That will come with redoubled terror,, which comes unexpectedly. How intolerable will hell be, to those especially that never fear it till they feel it ! When sinners shall see themselves surrounded with flames of fire, before ever they thought themselves in any danger; when they shall awake with the flames of hell flashing and flaming about them; what screechings and yellings will this cause ! This is to perish as a fool perisheth ; to go on securely in sin, till, unexpectedly, a dart suddenly strikes through his liver. Whatever the event be, yet it becomes the reason of a man to be affected with fear, proportionable to the evil that he lies obnoxious to. There- fore, whether this slavish fear ends in torment or not, yet it is more rational to fear that we are exposed to it, than to be secure and go down into torments, and never to fear them till we feel them. Ans. 2.- This fear, though a slavish fear, is of great efficacy to deter men from the out- ward acts of more gross and scandalous sins. He that puts hell betwixt him and his sins, will scarce be so daring as to venture through a lake of fire and brimstone to commit them. God thought he had set a sufficient guard upon the tree of life, when he placed "cheru- bims and a flaming sword" to keep men from it. But, to keep men from sin, he hath placed a guard far more dreadful than angels or a flaming sword : he hath placed himself, "a consuming fire," to deter men from sin ; and they, certainly, that have any fear or dread of God upon their hearts, will judge it too hot a work to break through this fire to their lusts. The thoughts of hell, and those everlasting torments due to sin, have doubtless been often used with good success to repel Satan's temp- tations. Ans. 3. - Where the fear of wrath doth prevail to restrain men from sin, this is a good effect; for it doth lessen and mitigate that wrath that they fear. On those that add iniquity to iniquity, without fear, God will heap plague upon plague, without measure. He proportions men's punishments to their sins; and those that fear most, shall feel least. That fear of theirs, which keeps them from the gross acts of sin that others boldly rush into, shall likewise keep them from the sorest torments that others shall for ever suffer. II I THE ASSURANCE OF HE Ans. 4.-This slavish fear is isagogical that is, it is preparatory to, and inductive of, a filial and holy fear of God. We usually fear God first as a revenging Judge, before we come to fear him with a reverential, filial fear, as a reconciled Father. As the poet of old fabulously fancied that the giants heaped mountain upon mountain that they might scale heaven ; this is true in Christianity : the way to climb heaven, is, by laying one mountain upon another, even Mount Sion upon Mount Sinai. Those commonly prove the most stable and stayed Christians, that have been most harassed by legal terrors, before they enjoyed the sense of comfort : for the structure of grace in the heart is quite contrary to other buildings : it stands firmest when it is laid upon a shaking and trembling foundation: it is a seed that never thrives so well, as where the heart is most broken up, and wherein the wrath of God hath made lng and deep furrows. To conclude this :- Methinks what hath already been spoken should fill the heart of every carnal wretch with fear: methinks this should make him cry out, with those sinners in Sion, (Isa. xxxiii. 14,) "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn- ings ?" Can the drunkard hear these things, and yet put his intemperate cups to his mouth with a steady hand? Can the swearer hear these things, and yet his tongue move steady in his mouth, and not tremble when he raps out oaths ? Certainly, how secure and confi- dent soever men may now be, yet there is a time coming, when the wrath of God shall melt down their hearts like wax in the midst of their bowels. Death is a thundering preacher ; and it will make you fear the dreadful representations of that fiery indigna- tion that shortly it will display before your eyes in all its terrors. Oh ! when your eyes shall swim in the night and in the dark - and it cannot be long first; when you shall meet with those dreadful shapes and visions of a flaming hell and a more flaming God-it will be too late then to fear; and, alas! it will be too late then to hope: God will then laugh at your calamity, and mock at you when this unseasonable fear cometh. Be persuaded, therefore, to entertain a fear of God at last, though but a slavish fear : this is the prepara- tion that the Holy Ghost wo'ks in the heart, in order to a filial and a holy fear of God. Use 2d, Another use that we may make of this point is this, - If God be a consuming fire, how highly doth it concern us to look out for a screen, that may fence us from those everlasting burnings ! We are stubble and fuel, fully prepared: our sins have made us'so ; and for us to stand it out against God, is no other than for dried stubble to challenge the devouring fire. E. VOL. II. AVEN AND SALVATION. 81 Now God, that he might not break forth upon us and destroy us, hath himself prepared a screen to hide and shelter us from this flaming wrath; and that is Christ, the Media- tor. We have a lively type of this in Aaron, (Numb. xvi. 48.) When the rebellious Israel- ites mutinied against Moses, God did suddenly break forth upon them, and slew almost fifteen thousand of them dead upon the place. As fire runs on a train of powder, so did this wrath of God pass swiftly from one to another, till Aaron interposed and stopped it: there stood that mighty priest, as a bulwark betwixt the living and the dead, and intercepted the rest from this destroying wrath; and, though it overwhelmed so many thousands, yet it could not bear down his powerful intercession : he alone was the fence and safeguard of a perish- ing people. Christ upon the cross maintains the same station, interposing betwixt the living and the dead: the wrath of God con- sumes all before it, that is not under the pro- tection of that screen; there it stops, and though it seized fiercely upon him too, yet it never burnt through him to reach those that fled for security to that refuge set before them. In a general conflagration, even chaff and stubble may be secure, under the covert of an adamantine wall. Though all the wicked of the world shall burn together, and all believers be in themselves as combustible matter as they, yet Christ interposeth as a wall of adamant betwixt stubble and stubble, and when the wrath of God hath consumed the one, he stands and keeps off the impressions, of it from the other. Indeed, there is a wall that stands betwixt God and every wicked man ; but it is a "wall of partition," as the apostle calls it, (Eph. ii. 14;) it is a wall that separates them from the love and favour of God, and hides his face from them. A partition of dry and rotten boards may keep off the light and kindly influences of the sun ; but it is no fence against the rage of fire, but rather increases and augments it : so wicked men are separated from the love and favour of God by their sins, (Isa. lix. 2,) "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God;" yea, and they keep off his cherishing influences, but they contribute to his fiery wrath. Now, Christ is a wall of defence, that separates his from the wrath and indignation of God. A wall of crystal is a safe defence against the force of fire, yet is it no obstruction to the warm beams and cherishing light of the sun : such a crystal wall is Christ, that keeps off God's fiery indignation from us, but yet con- veys to us the cherishing and reviving influ- ences of his love. Let me now persuade and prevail with you to betake yourselves to this shelter. The same storm of fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodom, hovers over all the wicked of the world; and we are as Lot, still lingering ~~c ~~~~n ~r r 82 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. behind. Let me therefore hasten you, as the heart : and therefore David prays, (Psal. angel did him, to your Zoar ; to get under the lxxxvi. 11,) "Unite my heart unto thee, that protection of Christ, whither the fiery indig- I may fear thy name." nation of God cannot pursue you. In the 2. The fear of God is an excellent preser- former instance, when the Israelites saw so vative against all sin. Slavish fear may keep many of their fellows slain by an unperceived wicked men from committing gross and flagi- stroke, what running and crowding was there, tious crimes; but this holy fear overawes the think you, to get behind the priest ! We are all heart from secret and hidden sins, yea, from in the same danger, but we have a more the sins of the heart, that none can see, but prevalent high priest. There are thousands only God and a man's own conscience: and dying and perishing under the wrath of God ; therefore it is said, (Psal. xix. 9,) "The fear and shall not we, then,with fear and trembling, of the Lord is clean ;" that is, it keeps the press close behind our high priest, that by soul clean from the defilement of sin. There him we may be hid from this consuming fire? are defilements of two sorts: defilements of the Use 3d, The next use shall be, to exhort flesh, when men wallow in gross and sensual you to a holy fear and reverence of this great sins; and defilements also of the spirit, and and terrible God, such are they that reside in the heart, and I lately gave you several considerations, break not forth into outward act. From both enough to daunt the boldest sinners, and to these the fear of God cleanseth us: so, (2 Cor. bring them at least to a slavish fear. Be per- vii. 1,) "Let us cleanse ourselves," says the suaded now to advance it a degree higher, and apostle, "from all filthiness, both of the flesh to overawe your hearts with a holy, filial fear and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of of God. It is the same exhortation that God." And, indeed, wherever the fear of Solomon gives us, (Prov. xxiii. 17,) "Be thou God is implanted, it will overawe us, as well in the fear of the Lord all the day long." from offending God in our thoughts as in our This is a true Christian's frame; when, in all actions, and make us that we shall be as the affairs and actions of our lives, in what afraid of sinning against him by unbelief and company soever we are, or whatever we are impenitency, as by murder and blasphemy. doing, the fear of God is still upon us ; when, 3. This holy fear of God is a most sovereign in all our converse in the world, this fear of preservative against hypocrisy. What is God doth still fill and possess our hearts. hypocrisy, but a mocking of God to his face? I shall only give you a few particulars, and It is a design to put a solemn cheat upon leave them to your serious consideration. God. Certainly, where the fear of God over- 1. This holy fear of God will keep you awes the heart, we shall not dare to abuse his from a vain and frothy spirit. The heart of holy and reverend name, as hypocrites do, in man is the great receptacle of thoughts. The their making mention of him. When we most part of them are light and feathery : speak of him with our lips, but never think of they fly up and down as thick, and to as little him with our hearts, this is to abuse the holy purpose, as moats in a sunbeam. It is strange and reverend name of God ; and it is a sure to observe what a giddy thing the mind of argument that they stand in no dread of God, man is : asan empty vessel rolls to and fro, whose hearts meditate vanity with eyes and and is tossed up and down by every wave, hands lifted up to heaven. Will any dare, in never sailing steadily; so is the vain mind of the presence of a prince, while they pretend man driven by every foolish and impertinent reverence to him, to use antic gestures ? thought, till the fear of God, that is, the Would not this justly be interpreted a con- ballast of the soul, poise it and make its course tempt of him? why, all the religious gestures steady and even. Certainly, if any thing be of hypocrites are but antic; and, while they of force to compose the heart into a sober, move their lips in prayer without the corres- serious frame, it is the consideration of God's ponding motion of the heart, they do but make great and dreadful majesty; the fear of which mouths at God; and how can they fear him, willfill us with noble and substantial thoughts, that are thus audacious to scoff at him? Yea, how we, may escape his wrath, and how we the Scripture sets it down as a remarkable may secure to ourselves eternal happiness, matter, when hypocrites begin to fear God: These are important thoughts, and they ought (Isa. xxxiii. 13, 14,) "Hear ye, and acknow- to be our great and only care; that so we may ledge my might," says God : why? "The approve ourselves to God, and be at the last sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath day found of him in well-doing. Before the surprised the hypocrites." It is much easier heart is ballasted with this fear of God, it runs to terrify and daunt profligate sinners, than after every vagrant thought that comes cross gross hypocrites; because hypocrites, by often us, or fleets before us; as children run after dallying with God, wear off all sense and every feather that the wind drives : but the dread of God, and arrive at length to a plain fear of God fixes this fleetiness, and brings the contempt and scorn of him. If, therefore, you heart to a holy consistency and solidity in its would, in every duty, approve your hearts in thoughts. It is this fear that uniteth the sincerity unto God, nourish in you this holy THE ASSURANCE OF H I- fear of his majesty. This fear is that which makes a Christian =single-hearted. And as the apostle commands servants, (Col. iii. 22,) to obey their masters, not "as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God ;" so, where this holy fear of God possesseth the soul, it will cause all our obedience to be performed in the singleness and integrity of our hearts ; not so much to be seen of men, as to be accepted of God. It is a remarkable place, (Josh. xxiv. 14,) "Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity." The fear of God is of a mighty influence to sin- cerity in all our services and performances that we render unto God; it is that which will make the heart sincere in them : ""fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity." 4. This holy fear will put us upon all endeavours to please God, and to gain favour with him. This is the most natural effect of fear, to engage us to procure their love whose power we dread. The devil knew no such way to get himself worship and adoration, as by terrifying the old heathen. And still he useth the same artifice in those parts of the world where his kingdom yet remains: he appears in dreadful shapes, and terrifies them, on purpose that he may extort from them a blind, superstitious worship. So, where the soul is affected with a holy fear of God, it will engage it to please him, and to' avoid whatever may kindle his anger : and therefore, says the apostle, (2 Cor. v. 9, 10,) "We labour that we may be accepted of him:" and why so? Yes, says he, for we must be judged by him. The fear of being judged by God, at the tri- bunal of Christ at the last day, engaged the apostle to labour to please God and to be accepted by him. 5. The fearof God is an excellent corrective of the base and degenerous fear of men. Our Saviour says, (Luke, xii. 4, 5,) "Be not afraid of them that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But fear him which, after he hath killed, hath p6wer to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him." It is well observed by a learned author, that men may be considered, as they bear upon them some resemblance and impress of the divine majesty; as they are invested with authority and power, and constituted magistrates and rulers over us. This resem- blance is so great, that the Scripture styles them gods : "I have said ye are gods ;" and so we are to fear them with a fear of reverence and obedience, and to obey them in that which is lawful. And they may be considered also as standing in opposition to God; abusing their power, by commanding things that are unlawful, and by persecution endeavouring to terrify men from the ways and service of God : and so they may be feared with a fear of flight and eschewal : "when ye are persecuted in one city, flee ye into another," (Mat. x. SAVEN AND SALVATION. 83 23:) we may so fear them, as to labour to avoid their rage, and to consult our own safety. But the fear that is here forbidden is, "fear not them that can kill the body ;" that is, with a distrustful, perverting fear ; such a fear as causeth men, for the securing of their temporal life, to desert the profession and practice of godliness; with such a fear, fear not men. He that truly fears God, will not thus fear men; no, the fear of God lays a check upon this sinful fear of men. He that truly fears God, will not immoderately fear men; for it is the property of holy fear to represent the displeasure of God as an infi- nitely greater evil than the loss of estate, liberty, nay, of life itself, or whatever the rage and power of man can either inflict or threaten ; and this makes them choose afflic- tion, rather than sin. See this fearless spirit in those three heroic champions, (Dan. iii. 16,) who, though they saw "a burning fiery fur- nace before them," into which they were threatened to be cast, yet all the terrors of it did not fright them to an idolatrous worship. With what a holy contempt and slighting did they answer King Nebuchadnezzar ! "We are not careful," say they, "to answer thee in this matter ;" and whence proceeded this undaun- ted courage, but only because they were more afraid of God, who is " a consuming fire," than they were of a fiery furnace? A man that truly fears God, reputes with himself, that to gain the favour of men with the dis- pleasuire of God, to redeem a temporal life by an eternal death, is the foolishest bargain that can be made; hlie knows the rage of man is under the restraint of God, and that a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground without his heavenly Father's knowledge and permis- sion. And if God doth suffer wicked men to inflict the utmost that their rage and spite can prompt them unto, yet it reacheth only the earthly part, the dull part of man, the body. They may persecute, torment, and kill us; but yet they cannot hurt us ; one momentary gripe of hell's torments is infinitely more intolerable than all the cruelties that men can possibly invent or inflict : one frown from an angry God hath more dread and terror in it, than all the rage and threatenings of the most barbarous and cruel tyrants. And that Christian that makes such an account as this, can never certainly so fear torment or death, as to be drawn to sin against God, whose dis- pleasure he more fears than he fears either torment or death. Now, to shut up this whole subject, I shall only mention a few particulars to you, whereby you may take a brief view of what there is in time nature of God, that may justly affect us with a holy fear and awe of him. 1st, The consideration of God's glorious majesty may strike into us a holy dread and 84 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. terror. And, therefore, (Job, xxxvii. 22.) "With God is terrible majesty." This is that which daunts the holy angels in heaven: they cover their faces with their wings, as not being able to bear the piercing rays of that glory wherewith he is clothed. An earthly prince, when he is set forth in the royalty and grandeur of his state, casts an awe upon those that approach near him: and how much more ought we to fear the great and glorious Majesty of heaven, who is always clad " with light as with a garment !" that light, which no mortal eye can approach, being always surrounded with an innumer- able host of glittering attendants, each of which maintains more pomp and state than the greatest potentate on earth. 2d, God's almighty power should cause us to fear before him. He is the uncontrollable sovereign of all the world; to whose beck all things in heaven and in earth, yea, and in hell too, are subject. And, therefore, (Job, xxv. 2,) "Dominion and fear are with him ;" not that God hath any fear, or stands in fear ; but the dominion and sovereignty of God causeth fear; it strikes the heart with an awful fear, when we consider that dominion and fear are with God. That power and authority of God, by which he exerciseth his dominion, causeth a fear of him. 3d, The severe and impartial justice of God, whereby he renders to every one according to his works, should kindle in us a holy fear of God. So the apostle, (2 Cor. v. 10, 11,) "We must receive," says he, "according to what we have done in the body." Whence he infers, that, " knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." It is terrible to receive from God's justice, according to what we have done in the body. 4th, The consideration of God's omnipre- sence and omnisciency, may cause in us a holy fear of him. His eye is always upon us; his presence is always with us, wherever we are; and he sees and observes whatever we do. And, therefore, let us fear him : his eye is awful. 5th, The consideration of our absolute de- pendence upon God, should cause us to stand in fear of him : lest, by provoking him who maintains our souls in life-in whom we live, and move, and have our beings-in whose hands are our breath, our life, and all our ways-he should turn his hand upon us, and deprive us of all those mercies and comforts that now he heaps upon us. So much for this time and text. GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. " Ye are not your own; for ye are boughtwith a price there- fore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are od's."--I CORINTHIANS, vi. 19, 20. WrITHOUTr any more curious division, we may take notice of three parts in these words, --a Doctrine ; a Reason; and a Use. The doctrine is, " Ye are not your own." The reason of it, " For ye are bought with a price." The use, which is strongly inferred from both these, and is indeed the most natural and genuine result of the doctrine of our redemp- tion purchased by Christ, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." It is this last which I principally intend to insist on, as that unto which both the former parts refer, and in which they centre. Yet I shall not altogether wave the former branches, but more briefly represent what they admi- nister to us, either of instruction or direction. I. To begin with the proposition, "Ye are not your own." And here, two things must fall under our disquisition,-1. What this phrase implies; and, 2. What it infers. What significancy it carries in itself; and what obligation it lays upon us. First, For the import of this phrase, "Ye are not your own," because it is a negative proposition, and all negatives are measured by their contrary affirmatives, we shall best con- ceive it, if we first rightly state what it is for any essence to be its own. Now here, (1.) Certain it is, that no being can be said to be simply its own, but what is supreme, absolute, and independent. For if its being be derived from any superior cause, it holds it only upon courtesy. And as we cannot strictly call that our own which is but lent unto us, so neither is our nature and being our own, which is but bestowed upon us by the bounty of another, maintained by his continual influence, and subjected to his sove- reign control and dominion. A being, then, that is its own, must not be dependent on, or beholden to any other, nor acknowledge any thing superior to it, from which it hath re- ceived, or to which it is indebted. (2.) That essence, which is its own, must be itself the end of all its actions. The first efficient must, of necessity, be the last end; and therefore, whatsoever can direct any of its actions to an end higher and more ultimate than itself, is not the first cause, but a depen- dent and secondary one. It is impossible that any creature should be made for itself only, to seek and serve itself; for, since every agent is excited to his operations by some end which he propoundeth to himself, if the creature were its own utmost end, the Creator could have no end at all in forming him, and con- sequently would never do it. Hence the wise man tells us, (Prov. xvi. 4,) that "the Lord hath made all things for himself." And, indeed, he who is the great Architect of the world, "the Maker of all things visible and invisible," can fix no other end in any of his works, but himself, and his own glory. (3.) And from these two principles it evi- dently follows, that there is no being simply its own, but that which is the first cause and the last end of all beings, and that is God. He only is his own; all other things are of him, and for him: they are all derivative from him, dependent upon him, and subordinate unto him; and therefore they are not their own. 1. They are all derivative beings, and flow from the first source and fountain of being, even God himself. Before the creation of the world, all was an infinite God, and an infinite nothing. But his goodness delighting to communicate itself, he designs a numberless variety of creatures, and, by his almighty word, impregnates the womb of this great nothing, and makes it fruitful; causing all things to start up in the same form and order which he had before conceived in the eternal ideas of his own mind. Now, since all things are by participation from the first cause, and all their perfections are but faint strictures and glimmering resemblances of his, it is most unreasonable that those should belong to themselves, who were made by another ; and that they should be their own, who, without . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . r\ I ~ rY WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. his influence and efficacy, had still been nothing. 2. All other beings are dependent, and owe their continued preservation to the good- ness and powerful influx of God. Indeed, preservation is nothing else but a prolonged production. For, as we see the light of the sun preserved in the air by a constant emana- tion that it hath from the sun; and that, as bright and glorious a creature as it is, yet it cannot subsist one moment upon its own succours ; and that there needs nothing else to blot it out of our hemisphere, and to involve all in night and darkness, but only the sun's withdrawing itself : so is it with us in respect of God. We depend upon him, as necessarily as the light depends upon the sun : he is the fountain of our life and being; the continu- ance of it thus long, is by a continual emana- tion and streaming of it forth from him; should he withdraw his preserving influence from us, we should instantly dissolve and fall all abroad into nothing. And, therefore, it were insupportable arrogance for us to think ourselves our own, who are what we are by his creating power, and while we are by his preserving influence. 3. All other beings are subordinate to the first, made for his ends and uses, and to be employed in his service. Never had there been any such thing as a world, and creatures in it, but that the all-wise God intended them aU as the instruments of promoting his glory. And this they all do,-some, indeed, only objectively ; as brute and inanimate creatures, by exhibiting the prints and footsteps of the power, and wisdom, and being of their Almighty Creator : and therefore the Psalmist tells us, (xix. 1,) that "the heavens declare the glory of God ;" that is, the beauty, splen- dour, and harmony of that most excellent piece of the creation, do evidently demonstrate the infinite wisdom, power, and majesty of the great architect who hath framed such a glorious roof for our house here on earth, and so glorious a pavement for his own in heaven. But because glory requires celebration, there- fore God hath created other ranks of rational and intellectual beings, who might actively serve and glorify him; and, by taking notice of his attributes, so conspicuously shining forth in the works of creation and providence, ascribe unto him the praise that is due unto his name for such his wonderful works; and these are angels and men, both which he made for himself in a more especial and peculiar manner, communicating to them more exalted perfections, and more express resemblances of his divine attributes, than to other inferior things. And although endless multitudes of these have, by their apostacy and rebellion, defeated the primary end of their creation, refusing to glorify God actively, yet God will certainly fetch his glory out of them, and, that they may not be made in vain, will glorify himself upon them passively, in inflict- ing that wrath and vengeance that shall make him known and revered as an infinitely just and jealous God : though they transgress the law of their own natures, yet they cannot transgress the law of the Divine Providence; God will make them serve to the promoting of his glory, if not voluntarily, as the vessels of his mercy, yet by constraint and a sad necessity, as the objects of his wrath and fury. And thus Solomon tells us, that God "hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked also for the day of wrath :" and so, likewise, in that doxology of the elders, (Rev. iv. 11,) "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created :" and therefore, certainly, if all things were created for God as their highest and ultimate end, all things are his, and not their own; and the right and title to them is in him, by whom and for whom they were made. And thus you see the import of this phrase, ", Ye are not supreme, absolute, independent beings, left only to your own ways and wills ; but ye are God's; created, supported, and governed by him, and accountable to him for all your actions. Indeed, the apostle, in the text, gives us another reason why we are not our own ; and that is upon the account of our redemption by Christ, "Ye are not your own: for ye are bought with a price." Redemption gives him as much, if not a greater title to you, than creation; for it was not so considerable an effect of the divine power and goodness, to create, as to redeem you : the one was but the expense of his breath; the other is the expense of his blood. But because this falls in with the second part of the text, I shall at present waive it, reserving it to its proper place. Briefly, therefore, when the apostle saith, "Ye are not your own," it is as much as if he had said, "You have no right nor title to yourselves : ye are not your own proprietors, nor to look upon yourselves as lords over your own beings. There is another Lord to whom ye appertain, and that is God; whose right you infinitely wrong, if you acknowledge not yourselves to be his inheritance and posses- sion." Indeed, it is a sacrilegious invading of the divine prerogative, for any creature to pretend to be its own, or to live as though it were so. This is no less than impiously to ascribe an all-sufficiency to itself. And thus much for the first general, what it implies not to be our own. Second, Let us consider what it infers, and what obligation it lays upon us. And this I shall endeavour to shew you in these follow- ing corollaries:- _ r ~t tha nirat ruPII~lf 1PYT~nP l~i li86 ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 1st, If we are not our own, then certainly we ought not to seek our own. Self-seeking is the very bane of Christianity. It is that worm that lies at the root, and eats out the very life and sap of it. A self-seeking Chris- tian is a downright contradiction, an absurdity in religion; for the very first lesson that Christ teaches in his school, is that hard one of self-denial ; and our Saviour hath told us, that whosoever refuseth to "deny himself," and "to take up his cross," cannot be his disciple. But as there is in every Christian a twofold delf,--a spiritual, heaven-born self, the new man, the divine nature, the impress and stamp of the image of God upon the soul, consisting in the sanctifying principles both of knowledge and holiness, and all the habits of special grace infused into us by the Holy Ghost in our first conversion; and likewise an earthy, dreggy, and inferior self, the utmost tendency of which is only the satis- fying of the sensual part of man, and all its good things are only such as the world and its stock can furnish it withal : as, I say, there is this twofold self in every true Christian, so must we distinguish likewise of a twofold self-seeking. 1. There is a seeking of those things which are grateful and pleasing to the spiritual self of a good Christian; those which may pro- mote its interests and concerns, and make it flourishing and vigorous in us. And this is a self-seeking so far from being condemned, that it is our highest praise and glory. The tendency of the new nature is towards two things,--1. The increaseof grace in ushere; and, 2. The participation of glory hereafter. For the first, all grant that we ought to labour. But, for the second, some have been so weak as to doubt, whether we might make the eternal glory and happiness of our souls the end of our duties and endeavours ; and with many high-flown inconsistencies, that seem to have in them much of spiritual rapture, but indeed are nothing else but idle dreams and false delusions, tell us, that we must serve and obey God only out of love and gratitude, neither for hope of reward, nor fear of punish- ment; and condemn all that obedience which respects these, as sordid and mercenary, un- worthy of the true and generous spirit of the Gospel. But, if we should tell these men, that they pretend to a greater degree of spiri- tualness than ever Moses did, possibly their pride and self-conceit would make them assume it; for, alas! Moses was but a poor 01d Testament saint, and we read of him, (Heb. xi. 26,) "that he had respect unto the recompense of the reward ;" but, though they think themselves more spiritual than he, what ! are they likewise more spiritual than Saint Paul? and yet he tells us, (Phil. iii. 13, 14,) "that he reached forth unto those things which are before, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus :" or have they attained to an elevation of spiritualness beyond our Lord Jesus Christ himself? of whom the apostle witnesseth, (Heb. xii. 2,) that "for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame." It is allowable, therefore, yea, it is necessary, to be selfish, to consider our own interest and our own advantage in this case: for since our very nature is so tempered, that the two great advantages which we have to quicken it are hopes and fears, I shall very much doubt that those will prove but slothful and negligent Christians, who shall, out of a fond conceit of greater spiritualness and per- fection, lay these spurs aside, and pretend to make use of other arguments, which, though they seem more specious, yet, I am sure, must needs be less effectual. Others, again, who do allow that our obe- dience may be directed unto God, with an eye and respect unto the reward which he hath promised us, yet question whether we ought chiefly and principally to regard our own happiness or his honour, our own glory or his. I answer,-This is but a nice and needless scruple : and though many infirm and tender spirits may be much puzzled in directing their obedience, yet this solicitude is but vain ; for, whilst they do either, they do both; for what is the glory of God's grace and mercy ? is it not the accomplishment of our salvation ? and therefore, certainly, whilst I endeavour to promote mine own salvation, I do as much endeavour to promote the glory of God: although, perhaps, in every duty, I do it not with a distinct particular act of reflection, yet, so long as I endeavour to promote mine own salvation, I do implicitly and interpre- tatively endeavour the advancement of God's glory; for that is the next and immediate means to this; we need not, therefore, be anxious, whether we seek ourselves, or the honour of God; for in thus seeking ourselves, we do nothing else but seek his honour and glory. Let us again consider what is our happiness and felicity; our objective happi- ness, is the infinite and boundless good, even God himself; our formal happiness, is our clear vision and full fruition of him, and the near conjunction of our souls unto him by love and inherence: now, certainly, his infi- nite goodness will never reject those duties as sordid And mercenary, that aspireto no greater, no other reward but the enjoyment of him- self; in thus seeking ourselves, we seek God; and the more intensely we thus love our own souls, the more supremely do we love God, while we breathe and pant after the fruition of him with the holy impatience of an amo- rous spirit. In this sense, therefore, although we are not our own, yet we may seek our own : we appertain not to ourselves, but to II' ..pt~C ~nlhtlur~c~tharwe m9 h, m~kc t~h~ Itntvel .n 87 88 WORKS OF ]3ISIIOP HOPKINS. God; yet, certainly, when this self which we seek hath God for its object and end, we seek him in seeking of ourselves. And that is the first kind of seeking, which is not only warrantable, but necessary. But, 2. There is a seeking of those things which are only conducible to the ease, profit, and advantage of the natural and earthly self. And these Saint John hath briefly summed up in three things,-" the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life :" which is but to tell us more enigmatically, that they are pleasures, riches, and honours. Self is the centre of all the actions of a worldly man; and whatsoever he doth are but so many lines, which, though they may seem far distant one from another, yet all meet together there. Indeed, there is a seeking of these worldly advantages, which is not justly to be branded with this black mark of self-seeking. And that is, (1.) When we seek them only by lawful means,-as industry in our callings, and prayer to God for a blessing upon it; detest- ing all the wicked and base methods of fraid and superchery. (2.) Whei we seek them with due modera- tion. When our care about them is but prudent and provident; not carking, nor dis- tracting. (3.) When we seek them at allowed seasons. The shop must not intrench upon either the church or the closet; nor the duties of our particular callings, as we are men, devour the duties of our general callings as Christians. Both are beautiful in their season ; and, indeed, the one is an excellent preparative for the other. How comfortably may that man follow his vocation all day, who hath begun the morning with God, and humbly implored his blessing and assistance ! and how sweetly may that man close up his day's task with prayer, who hath used such care and conscience in his calling, as to bring no new guilt to con- fess in the evening! (4.) When we seek these things with a due subordination to the higher and more noble ends of piety and holiness. And that is, 1. When we seek them that we may avoid those temptations which possibly the want of them might expose us unto. Thus Agur prays, (Prov. xxx. 8,) that God would feed "him with food convenient, lest he be poor, and steal, and take the name of his God in vain :" that is, as I conceive, lest he should be first tempted to theft, and then to perjury to conceal it, if suspected. 2. When we seek them that we may be the better furnished for good works. For earthly comforts and enjoyments, if they be well improved, are excellent instruments to pro- mote the glory of God, in farthering the good and welfare of others. Hence the apostle, (Eph. iv. 28,) "Let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." And indeed it will require somewhat of a plentiful estate to be able "to maintain good works," as the apostle twice useth that expression, (Titus, iii. 8, and 14.) It these rules be duly observed, he is no self-seeker who diligently may seek after these temporal accommodations. But .when gain shall be preferred before godliness; and all the crooked ways of deceit and fraud made use of, only to amass together a heap of ill-gotten trash: when thou wilt rather chdose to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, than to cast overboard any part of thy wealth, though it be to save thy soul from being drowned and sunk in perdi- tion; when this golden idol shall be set up by thee, and God, and Christ, and religion, and conscience, all sacrificed unto it; what is this but a base self-seeking, unworthy of a Chris- tian, nay, of a man? too impious for a Chris- tian, too foolish for any man; for in thus seeking themselves, they lose themselves for ever. And this is that which the apostle so grievously complains of, (Phil. ii. 21,) "All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's." A mean and sordid temper this; and, as it is sordid, so is it likewise most unjust and unreasonable; for consider, you are not your own, but God's; he hath mani- fold titles to you ; you have no self of your own, but you, and all, are his; and what pre- sumption is it for you to provide for what is his otherwise than he hath ordered, yea, contrary to his express command ! That is the first inference. 2d, If we are not our own, we may infer, that certainly we are not at our own dispose. And this should teach us patience in all the cross and sad occurrences of our lives. We are not our own; and therefore we may not carve out our own condition to ourselves, nor prescribe to God what we would have done, or what we would avoid; for this is boldly to intermeddle with that which doth not belong to thee. Thou art God's; and what is it to thee, 0 busy man, what he doth with his own ? If it seemeth good to him to chastise thee with poverty, reproach, pains, and diseases, or to take from thee any of thy dearest and most desirable comforts, what hast thou to do to interpose with thy complaints and murmur- ings? May he not do what he will with his own ? Thou art no farther interested in any of these things, than to bear them meekly as a Christian; and voluntarily to resign up thy- self unto him, unto whom thou dost naturally and necessarily belong. 3d, If we are not our own, we may very rationally infer, that we ought not to follow our own wills and our own affections. Indeed, the great contest between God and man ever was, and still is, about sovereignty. I -8.8 JITORKS OF 13ISHOP HOPKINS. ON GLORIFYING GOD It hath been the perpetual quarrel of all ages, which shall be the chief ; and whose will shall take place, either his or ours. The first crafty temptation, "Ye shall be as gods," hath strangely prevailed upon us ever since ; we would" fain all be gods, independent and uncontrollable. Now check this rebellion of thy will and affections, by considering that thou art not thine own, but God's : he hath the supreme right to thee; and thou art inju- rious to his right, if thou settest up thy will a competitor with his. Yea, indeed, thou oughtest to have no will peculiar to thyself, but it should be all melted down and resolved into God's. And therefore the apostle puts an excellent form of words into our mouths ; (James, iv. 15,) " If the Lord will, we will do thus and thus." 'So say thou, "If the Lord will, I will." Bring thy will to conform unto his will of precept absolutely; for that he 2hath made known unto thee in his word ; and neither will nor desire what he hath therein forbidden thee. J3ring it also to Conform unto his will of purpose conditionally; for that is hidden and secret to us, until the event declare it ; but when God hath manifested it by the effects, bend thy will unto it, and quietly acquiesce in all his dispensations, as infinitely wise and gracious. Say thou unto him, "Lord, I am blind and ignorant, and cannot see through the consequences of things. That which I apprehend at present would be for my advantage, may possibly prove a snare and a curse unto me. Thou comprehendest all in thy infinite wisdom, and therefore I resign up my choice to thee. Do thou, Lord, choose for me ; and howsoever thy providence shall order my affairs, make me as thankful for disappointments, as I ought to be for suc- cesses." This is a right Christian temper, worthy of him who acknowledgeth himself not to be his own, but God's. 4th, "Ye are not your own ;" look not then upon any thing as your own. Certainly, if thou thyself art God's, what- soever thou fondly accountest thine is much more his. Shall the principal be his, and not the accessories ? Thy friends, thy chil- dren, thy estate, thy good name, are not indeed thine; and though common words and language call them so, yet take heed that thou dost not lay any emphasis upon it. Thus Nabal, that blunt churl, accents his selfish- ness, (1 Sam. xxv. 11,) " Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers ?" alas! poor wretch, there is nothing of all this thine : nay, thou thyself art not thine, but belongest, if not to the grace, yet to the dominion of God. Indeed, we must distinguish between things being ours for our good and benefit, and being ours as to absolute title and dominion. Neither way can a wicked man call any thing his: his table is a snare; and that which should IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 89 have been for his welfare, is become a curse unto him. But it is not thus with the godly; for the apostle tells us, (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23,) that " whether the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are theirs, and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's :" this argument is very cogent, as to the benefit and good that shall redound unto them from every thing they enjoy; in this sense, all is theirs, because they are God's. But because they are God's, therefore nothing is theirs as to absolute right and sovereign dominion. Both they and wicked men have a natural right to many blessings, and a civil right to many more : but neither of them have a supreme, free, and independent right, to any thing which they enjoy; but all is God's, lent to them for their use and his service. 5th, "Ye are not your own ;" let not then any sin be your own. You are God's peculiar people; let not any sin be your peculiar sin. Shall we ourselves be God's, and yet any sin be ours? what is this less than, by a kind of practical blas- phemy, to transfer our sins upon God? And so much for the first part of the words, " Ye are not your own." Thus have we considered the proposition, " Ye are not your own." Ye have not a sovereign right over your own beings, to seek your own interests, to dispose of your own affairs, to follow your own wills and appetites; but you entirely belong unto another. And lest you should be put to seek for an owner, since you are thus denied, and, as it were, turned out of the possession of your- selves, the apostle informs you who it is that lays in his claim to you; even the great and universal Lord both of heaven and earth, whose are all things by a most absolute and indisputable right,-Ye are God's. Indeed, God hath manifold titles to you. 1. As he is your Almighty Creator. When thou layedst huddled up in the great chaos and confusion of mere possibilities, he beckoned and called thee forth; bade thee be, and take thy place and station in the order of things; and that not in a vile and contemptible nature, a wbrm, or a fly, which we crush or sport to death; but a man, one of the peers and nobles of the world. See how magnifi- cently David speaks of thy original, (Psal. viii. 5, 6,) "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands." Thou art born a king, crowned in thy very cradle ; and thy being, in the scale of creatures, is but one round lower than that of the angels. Thy body, which is the basest and most disgraceful part thou hast, yet of how excellent a texture and frame is it ! such various springs 90 WORKS OF BI of motion, such secret channels and convey- ances for life and spirits, such a subserviency of parts one to another in their mutual offices, and such a perfect beauty and harmony in the whole, that David might well say, (Psal. cxxxix. 14, 15,) " I am fearfully and wonder- fully made, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." Yea, not only a David, but Galen, a heathen, when he had minutely inspected the admirable artifice that appeared in the frame of our bodies, the struc- ture and use of the several parts, and the many wonders and miracles that were woven up in every one of them, his speculation of nature led him to adore the God of nature, and he could not forbear composing a hymn in the praise of our all-wise Creator. Now, whose is this elegant piece of wdrkmanship, but God's? "In his book," saith the Psalmist, "were all our members written, which afterwards were fashioned :" as architects do usually draw a model of those buildings, which they intend for more than ordinary state and magnifi- cence, before they erect them; so God doth, as it were, delineate a draught and platform of man in his book, that is, in his own counsel and decree; and limns out every member, giving it its shape and proportion in his own ideas; and afterward, according to that perfect pattern, sets up the frame: he first makes the materials, and then brings them together ; and causes all nature to contribute what is most fit and proper for it. And yet these bodies, though they have so much cost and care bestowed upon them, are but a case and covering for the soul. That is perfectly spiritual, and hath no other cause of its being, but only that God, who is " the Father of spirits." It is a spark, kindled immediately by his own breath : not formed out of any pre-existent matter, as corporeal beings are; but created out of pure and un- mixed nothing, by the same almighty word that spake out angels, and all the glorious hosts of heaven, and made them emerge into being. And when the body is sufficiently furnished with all the organs and instruments necessary for the function of life, then God bestows a soul upon it. Not as if the soul did pre-exist before its union ; but it is created in that very instant when it is united to the body. And this is the meaning of that known maxim of Saint Augustine, Creando infunditur, et infundendo creatur : " It is created in infus- ing, and infused in creating." Since, then, God hath created us, and chosen us, out of the infinite number of things possible, to bestow an actual being upon us: since, if he had so pleased, we might have been as much nothing to all eternity, as we were from all eternity; and might have lain hid in that vast crowd and multitude of souls, which might have been, but never shall be, only God hath been pleased to lay the ideas of them SHOP HOPKINS. aside, and to pick and cull us out to be his creatures, to prepare us such exquisite bodies, and to breathe into us such rational and intel- lectual spirits : shall we not with all thank- fulness acknowledge, that we appertain unto him, who without him should have continued a long and endless nothing? Hath not he who created us an absolute and sovereign right to do to us and to require from us whatsoever pleaseth him? Thus the Psalmist infers it, (Psal. c. 3,) " It is he that hath made us, and not we -ourselves ;" and therefore it follows, " we are his people, and the sheep of his pas- ture." And, 2. We are his, upon the account of Preser- vation. He still maintains those beings which at first he made, and exerts the same almighty power to continue thee in thy being, as at first the did in producing it. Every new moment that passeth over thee, thou art, as it were, again created, fetched out of nothing; for all that part of thy life which is already passed, is become a mere nothing. So that, whether thou lookest to the time that is before thee, or to that which is behind thee; yet still thou flowest along from that which is nothing to that which is nothing: and yet still thou thyself art preserved in being, and art not swallowed up in the same nothing that yes- terday or the last year are dissolved into. To whom owest thou this, but only to that God who is " the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever ?" He makes all the differences of time in thy age, in whom time itself makes no difference. It is his visitation, as Job speaks, that preserves our spirits, (Job, x.12;) nor can we subsist one breath, or one pulse, nor one moment longer than he is pleased to wind off our time to us, from that great bottom of eternity which lie holds in his own hand. If thou canst find out any one such day or hour, wherein thou canst maintain thyself without any charge to God or dependence upon him ; if thou canst either live, or move, or be, without the continual influence of the divine power and providence; then, for that time, thou mayest glory in thine own suffi- ciency, acknowledge no superior, be thine own, and live wholly to thyself: but, certainly, whilst thou owest both the beginning and the progress of thy being unto God, thou owest thyself to him, and art his. But this is not all ; for, 3. God hath another right and title to us, as he is our Governor. Now the two chief and comprehensive parts of government are protection and provision: to defend those that are under their charge from harms and inju- ries; and to supply them with necessaries. But, (1.) God doth mightily protect us from those innumerable evils and mischiefs which would else befall us. Perils and mishaps are thick strewed in all our ways; and death and ruin ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 91 lie everywhere in ambush for us: in our food, our affairs, our recreations, at home and abroad, everywhere, death and danger take their stand and aim at us; dangers that we could neither foresee nor prevent, but only the watchful providence of God hath watched over us hith- erto: he hath given his angels charge con- cerning us, to keep us in all our ways. In their hands have they borne us up, so that our feet have not dashed against a stone. Who can particularly recount the infinite number of those private mercies which we have re- ceived ? or how often God hath diverted and struck aside many sad casualties, that were just befalling us ; and plucked us back, when we were just upon the very edge and brink of destruction ? Or if we consider the boundless wrath and malice of the devil against us, or of wicked men, his instruments, have we not great cause thankfully to acknowledge that powerful restraint, which God lays both upon him and them ? The, devil implacably hates us, and would, every step that we take, tear our souls from our bodies, and'our bodies in pieces, and both from God : wicked men, who are inspirited and acted by him, would soon fill the world with the direful effects of their hellish natures; and by killing, and stealing, and swearing, and lying, and committing adultery, they would break out until blood touched blood: but only God holds them both in a strong adamantine chain, so that they cannot' come near to hurt us, but by a special permission. (2.) Neither is God only a shield to us, but a Sun. " The Lord God is our sun and shield," (Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) He not only protects us from dangers, but he likewise cherishes us and pro4ides for us. We live upon his allow- ance; and are maintained by him, as those who belong unto his family. All are waiters at his table, and " he giveth them their food in due season :" He crowneth the year with his blessings, and filleth our hearts with food and gladness : he better manures the earth by his blessing, than the husbandman can by his industry; and makes our sustenance to grow and spring up round about us, allotting unto every one a needful and convenient portion. If, then, God doth thus protect thee and provide for thee, hath he not a right and title to thee? Is not that life his, which he hath defended from so many deaths, and rescued, when thou hast been surrounded with dan- gers? If thou wilt not acknowledge thy- self his, why dost thou live in his family, eat his bread, and wear his livery, and maintain thyself at his expense? It is but reason and justice, that thou shouldst either refuse his benefits, or not refuse his commands and ser- vice. But, yet farther, 4. We are God's by covenant engagement and solemn promise. In our baptism, we were consecrated and devoted to be the Lord's, to fight under his banner against all the enemies of his glory and our salvation: therein we have renounced and abjured the usurpa- tion and tyrannical power that sin and Satan have exercised over us; and, with the greatest solemnity, have bound ourselves unto the ser- vice of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our baptism is a seal, not only on God's part, of the truth and stability of his promises, that we shall obtain remission of our sins and eternal life, upon the performance of the con- ditions of faith and new obedience; but it is likewise a seal on our part, obliging us to fulfil unto God the promises we have made, of believing in him and obeying him. In this ordinance, you have sealed and delivered your- selves up unto him; for it is the initiating ordinance : it enters you into the church, re- gisters you among the number of the faithful, lists you under the spiritual banner : it is, as it were, heaven's press-money, which, as soon as you receive, you are enrolled under Jesus Christ, the great Captain of your salvation : that sacrament is your military oath, properly so called; and you are bound, by the most serious engagements that can be laid upon a creature, to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant to your lives' end. Now, unless thou thinkest these vows to be written only on the water that sprinkled thee, and wiped away together with that; unless thou ac- countest thy baptism nothing else but a long-received custom of the place where thou livest, a solemn piece of pageantry, and only a ceremony used on a festival day ; thou must needs look upon thyself engaged by the strictest bonds that truth, religion, vows, and oaths can lay upon thee, to be that God's, unto whom thou didst then professedly give up thyself, and whose badge and cognizance thou then tookest upon thee, that thou mightest be known whose thou art, and to whom thou appertainest. And, 5. We are God's by profession, and our own voluntary and free acknowledgment. We have taken, and still do own, him to be our Lord. And although, in works, too many deny even the Lord that bought them, living in a direct contrariety to their vows, covenants, and engagements; yet, in words and in pro- fession, all acknowledge him to be their Lord and Master. And though Christ might very justly upbraid too many among us, who are either professors at large or hypocritical dis- semblers, as he did the Jews, (Luke, vi. 46,) " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?" yet this very profession of his name is but the strengthening of his title to us; and all those appellations of our Lord and our Master, our God and our Saviour, by which we call him, are but so many ac- knowledgments of his right unto us. And if we contradict this profession by an unholy and profane life and conversation, all that we II u - _ . r_. h p fc .._ la taitpr t p~~rrrnt 92 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. shall get by such fawnings will be, that he whom we have so often acknowledged for our Lord and Master, may the more justly and the more severely punish us for our disobedience. And consider, again, how often hast thou re- newed thy baptismal vows ! of how many vows and promises have thy fears, and thy dangers, and thy diseases, and thy convictions, been both the causes and the witnesses ! hast thou not, again and again, given up thyself unto God, and bound thyself by vow never to repeal nor recall it ? when death and danger have stared thee, in the face, and all other hopes and helps have failed thee, hast thou not promised and sworn, that if he would save and deliver thee that once, thou wouldst be the Lord's, and serve and fear him only ? God hath heard thy prayers, and accepted thy vows, and rescued thee from thy fears and dangers: and though he had a sovereign right and title to thee before upon other accounts, yet, to shew how grateful and pleasing the freewill offerings of a devout soul are to him, though we can offer him nothing but what is his own, yet now he especially expects that we should give up ourselves to him by obe- dience, as we have frequently done by promise, and should at length fulfil whit we have so often engaged. Yea, again, 6. Some are God's in a more especial and peculiar manner, - his chosen and beloved ones; who have, from the heart, given up and devoted themselves to the service of God; and not only bear his mark upon them, in the enjoyment of external privileges and church- ordinances, but bear likewise the stamp of his image upon them in the inward sanctification and renovation of their souls. These God hath " set apart for himself," (Psal. iv. 3.) They are his "peculiar people," (Titus, ii. 14, and 1 Pet. ii. 9;) they are called by many special and discriminating titles:" a chosen generation, a royal priest- hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ;" they are called his portion, and the lot of his in- heritance, (Deut. xxxii. 9,) " The Lord's portion is hispeople; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance ;" they are his "jewels," (Mal. iii. 17.) And, certainly, whatever a man will most earnestly plead his right in, it will be his jewels, his portion, his inheritance, his peculiar treasure; those things which are of the greatest value and dearest esteem. So God stands much upon his right to his own people and children, whilst all the wicked of the world, although.they are his, yet they are in his account vile refnse creatures, more des- picable in God's eyes, than true saints are in theirs; the dung and dross, the filth and off- scouring of all t.hings. These, indeed, are God's? by the obligation of common nature; but his holy ones are his, by the privilege of special grace. There is a strict and close bond of union between Christ and them; on his part, by his Spirit; on. theirs, by their faith. And being united unto Christ as their head, they are likewise united unto God as his; for the " head of Christ is God," as the apostle speaks, (1 Cor. xi. 3.) 7. We are God's by the right of redemp- tion. This I have reserved to the last place, because it is the second general part of my text, as being the reason of the proposition, " Ye are not your own, but God's; for ye are bought with a price." This, indeed, is a strong title that God hath to us; a superaddition to the rest. God did, at first, create us in a state of perfect holiness and felicity, but we sold ourselves to Satan, and are become his vassals and bond-slaves. We have thrown God's yoke from off our neck, and his burden from off our shoulders; and have broken his bonds asunder, and cast away his cords from us; and have taken upon us the yoke of the devil, the burden of sin and guilt, a load that would sink us unto the very bottom of hell. We stand forfeited to the divine justice; liable to the eternal wrath of the great God; ready to be dragged away every moment unto torments. But in this our forlorn and desperate condition, that so noble and excellent a piece of the creation might not for ever perish, infinite and sove- reign- mercy interposeth; prepares a ransom for us, which is paid down to the very utter- most farthing of all that the justice of God could demand; and so rescues us from that perdition and misery, into which we had plunged ourselves. Now, the love and mercy of God in redeem- ing us, is far more eminent than in creating us. And therefore his right and title to us, upon this account, is far greater than upon the other. For, (1.) Creation only gives us a being, brings us only out of the dark shade and state of nothng; and in this our fallen and sinful condition, it only capacitates us for wo and misery. But redemption finds out an expe- dient, and opens a way for us unto bliss and happiness. And although, perhaps, metaphysically con- sidered, it is better to be wretched than not to be at all; yet, certainly, in a natural and moral sense, it is not so. For so saith our Saviour : (Matt. xxvi. 24.) " Wo unto that man, by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born ;" that is, it had been better for him never to have had a being, but to have lain eternally forgotten in the purpose and decree of God, than that he should have a being, an immortal soul bestowed upon him, to be for ever most exquisitely tormented for this horrid sin of betraying the life and blood of his Lord and Master. Creation frees us not from so great an evil, neither confers upon us so great and inestimable benefits, as redemption doth. - - I I. ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 93 Alas'! what torture or vexation is it to mere nothing, that it must eternally remain so ? will not this be the hearty wish and desire of all the damned wretches in hell? would they not account it a kind of salvation, to be anni- hilated ; that their souls and bodies might fall asunder, and flit away into nothing, so that they might escape the everlasting residue of their torments'? and if sores and botches, and temporal losses and afflictions, could so far transport even holy Job, who yet is re- presented unto us as the mirror of patience, as to cause him to curse the day of his birth, and to wish that he had never seen the light; how much more shall we think will those infernal wretches, on whom God exerciseth the whole skill and power of his wrath, wish that they had been toads or ser- pents, rather than men! yea, that they had never been at all, but had lain undisturbed in a dark and gloomy nothing ; since they shall have more sufferings and anguish to torture them, and no patience, no comfort, no mercy for ever to suport them! Neither doth crea- tion confer upon them so great and inestimable benefits as redemption. It is true, we have an excellent being and nature bestowed upon us, as creatures of a higher form than others, the chiefest of all visible and corporeal things; we are endowed with rational and intellectual faculties; and are capable of pleasures, not only such as brute beasts are, but of specu- lative and mental delights, which are far more noble and more refined: but yet, alas! what are we, but lords perhaps of the world, and all the while slaves to the devil ? miserable drudges to our own vile and base lusts, for gratifying of which these excellent natures, which we boast and glory so much of, must for ever lie under most inconceivable horror %nd torments? But redemptiofi brings us into a capacity of far greater happiness than that from which we fell : it gives us hopes that, though we lost paradise, we may gain heaven; yea, and assures us, that we shall certainly do so, if we do 'not wilfully neglect that great salvation that is purchased for us, and fro- wardly choose death and our own destruction before eternal life and joy. So that you see creation is a mercy and blessing to us, chiefly upon the account of redemption; and we are obliged to bless God, that he hath by creation made us subjects capable of that glory and happiness which he hath prepared for us by redemption. And, (2.) God's mercy in redeeming us, is far more eminent and conspicuous than in creating us; because it hath been far more expensive to him. In creation, there needed no more but an almighty fiat, "Let it be; and it was so :" here was nothing of preparation, nor difficulty, nor cost; nor was there any more labour or trouble than only to will and speak it. But in redemption, God must not only act, but suffer ; not only speak, but bleed. In creation, there was nothing that might abase or traduce God, nothing but glorious demonstrations of his wisdom and godhead: he humbled not himself, nor descended from his throne, when he formned us ; but he only spake a quickening word, and all creatures presently sprang up, and paid their homage and obeisance to their great Creator. But, in redemption, God him- self doth, as it were, lay aside his glory, and humble himself, first to become a creature, and then accursed: he must be wounded, that we might be healed; he must die, that we might live; he must be debased, that we might be exalted. And therefore, certainly, if love and good-will are to be measured, either by the greatness of the benefits conferred upon us, or by the difficulty and damage that accrue to the benefactor, God's mercy in redeeming us, when miserable, and lost, and undone, is infinitely more considerable, than his mercy in creating us and giving us a being. And yet, if creation alone gives God so great a right to us, that those beings which we received from him should therefore be entirely his; shall not redemption make us much more his ? shall we not be his, who hath redeemed us from being wretched and miserable; since we are his, who hath given us to be? And, therefore, well might the apostle argue, " Ye are not your own," but God's: "for ye are bought with a price." And thus you see how manifold titles God bath to us; as he is our Creator; our Preserver, our Governor, and Benefactor ; as we are his covenant servants, united unto him, not only by his benefits, but by his grace ; and, lastly, as we are redeemed by him from the service of sin, and the wages due unto it. But before I proceed to consider this part of the text as it stands absolutely in itself, give me leave to close up what hath been now spoken concerning God's right unto us, with two or three inferences. 1st, See here, how dear we are unto God, and how highly he esteems of us, that he thus strengthens his right to us by so many mul- tiplied titles. As those who prize any pos- session seek to confirm it to themselves by all the ways that law and equity can find out; and have writings upon writings and evidences upon evidences for it, that their title to it may be unquestionable; thus seems God to deal with us. A single right, for so dear a portion and inheritance, is not enough: and, therefore, though he hath made us, and preserves us, and bountifully supplies us; though we profess ourselves to be his own, yet, to prevent all doubts and suits, he buys us too. He buys what is his own, that it might be more his own: and because justice and vengeance lay in their claim to us, that the title of his mercy might not be litigious, that there might be nothing in himself to hinder his quiet enjoy- I II,, THYi ~ ) a ln\~~rCrr! l;IY 1~?n' I ICf +7 P 94 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. ment of us, he pays down a full price to justice, and satisfies all its demands. So dear are we to God! And, 2d, See how unfaithful we are to him, that we need s6 many bonds and engagements laid upon us to secure us. So slippery and deceit- ful are our hearts, that we are still starting aside from him ; and though we have no right to dispose of ourselves, yet are we still selling or giving away ourselves to every lust and vanity. And, therefore, as we use to deal with those who are of a suspected honesty, lay all the bonds upon them that possibly we can, and make them enter into strict and punctual engagements, so doth God with us : he trusts us not upon a single obligation, but makes us enter into bond upon bond; and all scarce sufficient to make such fickle and treacherous creatures stable and faithful to him. And, 3d, Hence learn, that all impiety and irre- ligion are the highest wrong and injustice in the world. "Will a man rob God ?" saith the prophet Malachi, (iii. 8,) intimating, by the very question, that this is such a horrid and heinous sin, as that it is not easy to be sup- posed any man would be so profligate a wretch as to be guilty of it : and therefore sacrilege, a stealing and purloining from God, is justly branded as one of the most foul and odious sins that can be committed. And yet this is a sin more commonly committed than most men think of. Every wicked man is guilty of sacrilege. He robs God, steals from him, and alienates that which is properly his due. Thou stealest thyself from him, thy heart and thy affections, thy love and thy service : these thou givest to thy lusts and to the world ; and mnaintainest his sworn enemies upon his right and due. If it be sacrilege to convert things hallowed and dedicate to profane and common uses, art not thou then a sacrilegious wretch, who stealest away thy soul from God, which is by so many just titles his own, and conver- test it not only to common, but filthy and unclean uses? The Apostle tells us, that we are the temple of God, (2 Cor. vi. 16:) our hearts are the sanctum sanctorum, the "holiest of holies" in this temple; and all our faculties are dedicated things, the holy utensils for the worship and service of God. And what ! shall we pollute this temple, set up idols there, and serve our lusts and follies with those very instruments and vessels which God hath made and prepared for his own service and worship? And yet, how many such sacrile- gious persons are there! The worldling sets up an image of gold in the temple of God: and therefore covetousness is, by the apostle, called idolatry, (Colos. iii. 5 :) Mammon is his God ; and all the hallowed vessels of the temple, his thoughts, designs, and affections, must all be employed in the service of this idol. The sensual unclean person turns this temple of God into a stew; and, with the heathen, makes his temple the scene of all his impurities. The beastly drunkard makes this temple the place of all his riot and excess; and, with impiety as great as Belshazzar's, makes the bowls and vessels of God's sanc- tuary serve him only to quaff and carouse in. And, indeed, there is no sin whatsoever, but it is complicated of sacrilege. For what is sin but, as the schools define it, an aversion of the soul from God, and an inordinate conver- sion of it to the creature ? now, to convert that to the creature which is proper and due, to God, is to rob him, to take away what he bath hallowed, to pollute and profane things dedicate, to defile his temple. And now, to close up this, consider that dreadful threaten- ing of the apostle, (1 Cor. iii. 17,) " If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." And thus much for the proposition in the text, " Ye are notyour own, but God's." II. The next thing to be considered is the reason, "For ye are bought with a price." The force of this reason I have already shewn you. I shall only now consider it absolutely, as it is in itself. In these words is held forth unto us the great mystery of the Gospel, our redemption by Jesus Christ. I shall not treat of it in that latitude that a full and complete handling of this subject would require; but confine myself to speak more briefly only to these few heads,-1. What this price of our redemp- tion is. 2. To whom this price was paid, and of whom we were bought. 3. How the payment of a price can be consistent with the free mercy and grace of God in saving us. 4. What it is that we are by this price redeemed from. 1st, Let us consider what this price is which is paid down for our redemption. And that is a price infinitely inestimable, consisting in all those dolorous sorrows and sufferings that our Lord Christ underwent in the days of his flesh, when "it pleased the Lord to bruise him." In his nativity and circumcision was this rich exchequer first opened ; which was never afterwards shut, till he paid out to the very last farthing, the very last drop of his most precious blood, as a full and satisfactory price of our redemption. But though the whole course of his humiliation and abase- ment was part of this price which he paid, yet, because the chief and greatest sum of it was told down to God in his death and last passion, and all his other sorrows and suffer- ings were completed in this, therefore the Scripture doth principally ascribe our redemp- tion to the blood of Christ. So, (1 Pet. i. 18, 19,) "Ye were nriot redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ; but with the precious blood of Christ." "His soul was made an offering for sin," (Isa. liii. 10.) "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from I, ON GLORYFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. all sin," (1 John, i. 7;) and many other places to the same import. Now, the blood and death of Christ, and all other parts of his exinanition, carried in them a sufficient, yea, a redundant value, to expiate the sins of the whole world; from the infinite virtue of the hypostatical union of the divine with the human nature, whereby his blood became the blood of God, his sufferings the abasement and humiliation of God : and this made it a price, not only equivalent unto, but infinitely sur- passing and outbidding the purchase for which it was offered. 2d, Let us consider to whom this price was paid; and that is to our great creditor, God. The Socinians, on purpose to undermine this fundamental doctrine of Christ's satisfaction, tell us, that if we are redeemed by a price in this strict and proper sense, that price must then be paid into the hands of Satan, because we are in bondage under him : but this is as weak as it is impious; for, indeed, Satan is not our creditor; we owe him nothing but hatred and aversation : neither is any man, that is kept in ward for crimes or debts, pro- perly said to be his jailor's prisoner, but the king's or the creditor's; so, though we are naturally in bondage under Satan, yet he is but our jailor : we are not his prisoners, but God's, who is both our Sovereign and our creditor. And therefore the price is not to be paid to him by whom we are detained; but to him by whose authority or by whose suit we are detained; and that is, the justice of God : and therefore Christ, by satisfying the justice of God, releaseth u� from under the power of Satan. We are under a twofold bondage to the devil : the one moral, by our sins and vices, doing his work and toiling in his drudgery ; and thus we are his slaves : the other legal, by the guilt of sin binding us over and making us liable unto his plagues and torments. Christ hath redeemed us from both: improperly, from the former; by the power of his grace breaking asunder our chains and fetters in our conversion, and so setting us free from the service of sin and the devil : most properly, from the latter; by the infinite virtue of his merits ransoming us from that death, and wo, and wrath, to which we stood exposed, and which else the devil would have inflicted upon us, as being the great minister and executioner of divine vengeance. Now, we are not properly redeemed from our moral bondage, our slavery to sin and Satan, but conquered : therefore no price was paid to him under whose vassalage we were held. But we are properly redeemed from our legal 'bondage, from our liableness to eternal death and sufferings; yet the price ought not to be paid to Satan, but unto God, whose minister and executioner Satan is. And this is in answer to the second inquiry. 3d, The third general inquiry is, How the payment of a full and satisfactory price can be consistent with the free grace and mercy of God in saving us? For the Scripture speaks so much of God's mercy and free grace in saving sinners, that some have thought it very difficult to reconcile those expressions with the notion of a price of redemption, properly so called. The chief sense in which grace is said to be free, is, that it gratuitously confers upon us the benefits of our redemption without merit or desert. If, then, these be merited, if an equal price be paid down for them, what becomes of all those magnificent exaltations of free grace, which the Scripture seems so much to glory in "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for my name's sake," " By grace are ye saved," &c. Certainly, what is so dearly bought and purchased as by the blood of Jesus Christ, cannot be said to be a free and gratuitous gift. To this I answer, in the general, that these things are not at all inconsistent : and, there- fore, it ought to be no prejudice to our most high veneration of the infinitely rich and infinitely free grace of God in our redemption, although that redemption be purchased for us, and a price paid down fully answerable to the demands of divine justice. I shall endeavour to clear up this in these following particulars :- 1. We are not so freely redeemed, pardoned, and saved, as to exclude all merit and desert on Christ's part. This is not necessary to the establishing of free grace, that our Saviour himself should be the object of it. For God transacted with his Son, only upon the terms of strict and impartial justice : nor was there ever any one sin, that he was pleased to take upon himself, that was pardoned to him; but a plenary satisfaction was exacted from him, and justice had out its full due in his suffer- ings. Every sin stood him as dear as it would have done the sinners themselves, had God resolved never to have administered mercy and grace unto them: and, therefore, saith the apostle, (Col. i. 14,) "In him we have redemption through his blood, even the for- giveness of sins; and without shedding of blood there is no remission," (Heb. ix. 22 :) and, "This is my blood which is shed for the remission of sins," (Matt. xxvi. 28.) All our sins were laid upon him, and imputed to him; and he underwent and eluctated the whole pressure of those punishments that were due unto them, and is now set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, to make inter- cession for us. So that though never any who was a sinner, either through the corrup- tion of nature or actual transgression, hath attained to the joy and happiness of heaven, but only through the pardoning grace and mercy of God ; yet he, who was the greatest sinner, (as Luther made bold to call him, and so he was by imputation,) is now triumphing i . _._ _, 95 i 9i WORKS OF BIt in those regions of bliss, crowned with glory, and arrayed with infinite majesty, whose sins yet were never pardoned, nor ever had he the least free grace or mercy shewn him; but whatsoever he hath obtained either for him- self or for us-the possession of it for himself and the possibility and assured hopes of it for us---hehath most dearly bought and purchased. Yea, indeed, in respect of this purchase made by Christ, we receive nothing at all of free grace from God; but whatever we have or expect is paid for to the very utmost of what it is worth : for as we ourselves are bought with a price, so is every thing we enjoy,- even the most common and vulgar blessings, that are promiscuously distributed among the sons of men, all flow to us in a stream of blood. But yet, 2. In respect of ourselves, our redemption, pardon, and salvation, and all the mercies we enjoy, are of mere free grace. No merit, no price is required from us : but all is excluded on our part, besides a grateful acknowledg- ment and an humble expression of our duty, by that rich mercy, which requires these from us, not as the price of our redemption, but only as a testimony of our love and ready obedience. Alas! could we pray, till our knees took root in the earth; could we weep whole rivers, and after our tears were spent, drop our eye-balls too ; could we fast ourselves into ghosts,, and sigh away our souls into air; should we give all our goods to the poor, and our body to the flames : yet all our prayers, and tears, and fasting, and alms, and all the stock of our own righteousness, yea, should it be supposed that a tax and subsidy should be levied upon the good works of all mankind, and put into one common treasure for the use and benefit of any one particular soul, yet it would not be found a price rich enough for its redemption, nor at all available to buy off the guilt of the least sin. For whatsoever is required of us is but debt and duty, and therefore cannot be meritorious; and whatso- ever is not required of us, is but will-worship and superstitious devotion, and therefore can- not be acceptable. So, then, it is no derogation at all from the free grace of God, that he par- dons and saves us upon the intervention of a price; that our pardon is bought, and our inheritance is purchased: for we ourselves have not been at any part of the charge : we have not so much as cast in one mite into this treasury; but all is as freely and gratuitously bestowed upon us, as if it had never been purchased at all. And, again, 3. The relaxing of the rigour of the cove- nant of works, so far forth as to take off our personal obligation to punishment by the commutation of persons, accepting the substi- tution of another, of a surety, of a Redeemer, is an act of infinite free grace and rich mercy. For, by the letter of the law, "Do this and SHOP HOPKINS. live," implying the contrary threatening of death in case of disobedience, every sinner stood bound to suffer the whole curse and penalty in his own person; and God might for ever have refused to recede so far from his own right, as to admit of any satisfaction made and tendered by another, but might have seized upon us who were the trans- gressors, and bound us over to answer it at the great assize before his dreadful tribunal, and to suffer for it eternal torments in hell. Now, 0 sinner, though God hath received a price and ransom for thy soul at the hands of another, is this any diminution of the absolute freeness of his grace towards thee? Dost thou envy that he receives satisfaction for thy sins, since he receives it not from thyself? Or dost thou grudge and repine that he should glorify his justice and severity upon another, since he intends only to glorify his mercy and grace upon thee? " Yea," you will say, "this indeed is some- thing of mercy and free grace, that God hath stricken my name out of the bond, and put in my surety's, whereas lie might justly have exacted the forfeiture from myself: but had it not been a more glorious demonstration of free grace, absolutely to have forgiven the whole debt, and to have required no payment, no satisfaction at all ? We see that, among men, he is accounted most bountiful, that for- gives the surety as well as the principal. For, what singular act of mercy is it, to release the debtor, and yet rigorously to prosecute his sponsor and undertaker, from whom he is sure to recover all his right and demands? If God had been pleased thus totally to part with his right, and neither exact it from us nor our surety, had not this been a far more generous mercy, and a more glorious demon- stration of his infinite free grace ?" I answer-No. And therefore assert, 4. That God's free grace is more gloriously demonstrated in the redemption of the world through a price, than it would have been, if he had only freely and arbitrarily remitted to them their offences and delivered them from eternal death, without requiring any satisfac- tion. And this will appear most clearly, if we consider but these two things :- - (1.) Who the person is that is appointed our surety and our ransom. Is it an angel ? Truly, if it were, this had been wonderful love, that God should part with so bright and glorious an attendant, send him down to earth, cruciate and torment him for the sins of such vile worms as we are. But, oh astonishment ! when not an angel, but the God of angels; not a servant, but a Son, yea, the Son of his eternal love and delights, is, by the Father himself, appointed to such un- speakable miseries and dolours; and thrust under the sword of justice, when it was just falling upon us, only that he might ward off ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. the blow, and save us from so great and inevitable a ruin, though it was to the death and ruin of his only Son ! Now, judge yourselves, whether it be not infinitely more expressive of the divine love, to save us by devoting his own Son to be an execration and a sacrifice for us, than if he had only, out of his absolute prerogative, pardoned our sins, and, without more expense or difficulty, received us up into glory. This, indeed, had been grace, but it had been more thrifty and sparing, than that method which God hath now de- signed for our salvation, through the blood and sufferings of Jesus Christ. And, there- fore, the Scripture every where lays an accent and emphasis upon this: (Rom. viii. 32,) "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all :" and, (John, iii. 16,) "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to save it." God lay under no necessity of saving us at all, and much less lay he under any necessity of saving us in so chargeable a manner as by the death of Christ ; but yet "it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to make his soul an offering for sin ;" and to cause to meet together upon him all our iniquities and all his plagues and curses. And wherefore was this? not only that justice might be satisfied, but that mercy might also be satisfied ; and free love and grace might be glorified in such a stupendous expression of it. The divine wisdom approves of this way of redemption, because divine love dictates it to be most advantageous to commend itself unto us : and that ever adored design of a Mediator took place in God's eternal councils, that it might be a means, as well for the demonstra- tion of mercy, as for the satisfaction of justice. And consider, (2.) That God himself furnished and enabled our Redeemer to pay down the whole of that price which he exacted from him. For the Son of God had not been passible, had he not become the Son of Man. He had not been wounded, nor buffeted, nor crucified, nor bled, nor died- he had not had any stock nor treasury of merits to have ransomed us- had he not taken "upon him the form of a servant," had he not appeared "in the like- ness of sinful flesh." And whence had he this, but only of God's providing? (Heb. x. 5,) " A body hast thou prepared me." Now is it not as much free grace, to furnish our surety with means and abilities to make satisfaction, as to forgive us without requiring any satisfaction at all ? Yea, let me add, that free grace is much more glorious, inas- much as the price with which our Redeemer is furnished, is more than sufficient to pay the debt. And thus you see, that the intervention of a price is no derogation at all from the freeness of God's grace; yea, rather, this method of redeeming us mightily enhances his mercy, and makes it more rich and glorious. And therefore it is very observable, how the Scrip- ture joins these two together, free grace and the purchased redemption, as if it would on purpose stop the mouths of those who, by pleading the inconsistency of these, seek to undermine the greatest support of all our faith and hope, and the most dear and precious truth of the Gospel, I mean the satisfaction of Christ for our sins. (Rom. iii. 24,) "We are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus :" and, (Eph. i. 7,) "In him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." What can be more express, to reconcile the grace vouchsafed by God, with the price paid for it by Christ ? It is free grace that justifies us; but yet we are justified through redemp- tion: we are redeemed through his blood; but yet this is likewise according to the riches of his grace. And indeed both are easily accommodated : it is of price and purchase, in respect of Christ; but it is of gift and free grace, in respect of us : free, in that God was pleased to accept a surety for us; and much more free, in that this surety was his Son. And so much for the third inquiry. 4th, The fourth is, What we are redeemed from, by that price which Jesus Christ hath paid down for us. This I shall briefly shew you in these following particulars:- 1. We are redeemed from the dread wrath and vengeance of God. And what an inesti- mable mercy is this! Vengeance follows a sinner close at the heels, pursues him through all the threatenings of the law, brandishes its flaming sword over his head, and is ready every moment to plunge it into his very heart. The poor guilty sinner trembles under the direful expectation of that fiery indignation which will for ever consume himn; he flies, but knows not whither ; is destitute of hope, as he is of help. Now, in this forlorn and desperate condition, for one that might shew unto him a city of refuge, and guide his trem- bling steps and his amazed soul into it ! now, for a messenger of peace, an interpreter, one of a thousand, that might declare unto man his righteousness! It is done, 0 my soul: Christ Jesus meets the avenger of blood in his pursuit of thee, offers himself to his sword, falls and dies under his hand; whilst thou fliest into thy refuge, and art free both from thy fears and dangers. We find the high priest, under the law, a notable type of Christ in this particular : for the slayer was to abide in the city of refuge till the death of the high priest, and then to be set at liberty, (Numb. xxxv. 28;) so, by the death of Jesus Christ, our High Priest, we are set at liberty, and may walk in safety, being secured and war- ranted from the wrath of the avenger. Indeed, the wrath and justice of God is the most vol. II. G - _..__ 97 98 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. dreadful and formidable enemy we can have; but even this enemy thy Saviour hath satis- fied and reconciled : he hath bought out thy peace for thee ; and now thou mayest safely treat with justice itself, as thy friend and patron. The divine wrath is pacified; and God is more contented and recompensed by what thy Redeemer hath suffered for thee, than if he had haled thee forth to suffer in thine own person. God infinitely more ac- quiesceth in the sufferings of his eternal Son, than he could have done in thine; for thine could have paid his justice but by small parcels at a time, and therefore must have endured eternally; but Christ Jesus paid down the whole sum and debt at once, so that justice could no longer be so if it did not per- fectly free us who believe from any farther obligation to wrath and punishment. It is Jesus, saith the apostle, who hath "delivered us from the wrath to come," (1 Thes. i. 10.) And, therefore, 0 doubting and trembling Christian, be not so injurious to thy God, as to fear he will revenge those sins upon thee, for which thy Redeemer hath so fully satisfied : thou mayest "go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God hath accepted thee ;" he is at peace with thee, and smiles upon thee. But if thy conscience still lour, and speak nothing but thunders and threatenings, tell it thou hast a peace-maker: the blood of Jesus, shed upon the cross, hath pacified God; and his blood, sprinkled upon thy conscience, will likewise atone and pacify it towards thee. 2. We are redeemed from under the slavery and vassalage of the devil. He is that mighty tyrant, that hunts after our souls to destroy them; that great dragon, that casts out of his mouth whole floods of persecutions and temp- tations to overwhelm us. And if his rage be so inveterate against us here on earth, how implacable, think you, would his malice be towards us in hell! how would he triumph in our eternal perdition, who is now so laborious and solicitous to procure it ! But, thanks be unto God, "who hath delivered us from the snare of the fowler ;" so that now, through the redemption purchased for us by Christ our Lord, we may safely defy his spite, and contemn all the poor and impotent effects of it. His power is seen chiefly in three things,- in tempting, in accusing, in tormenting. But, by the virtue of the sacrifice of Christ, and the price that he hath paid for our redemption, this threefold power is either wholly taken from him, or else much abated. (1.) His tempting power is restrained and cut short. He can tempt us no farther than he hath a permission given him by that God who hath promised, that we shall not be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, or that he will make a way for us to escape. We see what manacles are upon him, when he must first petition God before he could stretch forth his hand against Job, or touch any thing that he had. And, therefore, 0 Christian, be confident, that, if he cannot touch thy body or estate, much less shall he touch thy soul and thy conscience by his horrid temptations and injections, without the special leave of God. And in all his temptations, suppose them never so violent, if thou be but true to thy- self, they shall all redound more to his shame and disappointment than to thine. If thou canst but resist them, and with a holy scorn and disdain cast back his fiery darts in his face, and keep close to thy duty and allegiance, all his temptations shall but fall upon him- self, and be reckoned as his sins, and only thy troubles. (2.) His accusing power is rebuked. Thus, when Satan comes with a vehement accusation against Joshua, (Zech. iii. 2,) "The Lord rebuke thee, 0 Satan; even the Lord, that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee." Our Redeemer will be our advocate : and though, according to the terms of the first covenant of works, which requires perfect and spotless obedience, his accusations will most of them be found true against us; yet, according to the covenant of grace, which requires faith and sincerity, they will be found malicious and impertinent: and our Redeemer will fetch us off with the loud applause of saints and angels. (3.) His tormenting power shall be wholly abolished. The great end and design of the devil is only that he might train us into that dark region, where himself hath the sole juris- diction, there to satiate his revenge upon us in our eternal torments. But Christ, our Re- deemer, hath destroyed this power of the devil : he hath ransacked this dark shop, and broken in pieces all his horrid racks and instruments of cruelty; so that, unless we ourselves will, not a soul of us shall ever fall into the hands of that merciless executioner. 3. We are redeemed from the power of sin. And that, both from its reigning, and likewise from its condemning power. (1.) From its reigning power. It is true that we cannot, in this life, be freed totally from its molestations. It is like the leprosy, that hath eaten so deep into the walls, that it can never be perfectly cleansed till the house itself be destroyed and demolished. But yet every true Christian is free from the dominion of it. It may tumultuate and rebel in the best; for we find "a law in our members, warring against the law in our minds ;" many uproars, bandyings, and intestine dissentions; but yet it hath lost the sovereignty over them; and is now, not a commander, but a rebel. (2.) We are reedeemed likewise from the condemning power of sin. The other freedom from sin is, by the Spirit of Christ, working II L~SL~IVLI;S ~V VVtjl~WILI~IIII U~i ~LI~L 11 111~ I~it~~ Uti I UIVKt;lL I11 ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 99 mightily in us; but this is, by the merits of Christ, effectually applied unto us; (Rom. viii. 1,) " There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." For, cer- tainly, there is not so much malignity in our sins to destroy us, as there is in the blood of Christ to save us. And he having interposed his infinite merits in our behalf, it would be a great disparagement to his all-sufficiency, if thou, who art but a poor vile creature, couldst have done that which he, who is an infinite God, could not expiate. 4. We are redeemed from the curse and malediction of the law. All our trials, crosses, andafflictions, that maybefall us, are sanctified to us, and have nothing of the curse in them : for nothing is a curse, but what is inflicted in order to the satisfying of divine justice upon us. But, the justice of God being fully satis- 'fied in the sufferings of our Lord Christ, all our own sufferings, how sharp soever they may be, are only for the exercise of our graces, the trial of our faith and patience, the con- forming of us to the pattern of our saviour, demonstrations of God's holiness, and means to make us partakers of it. We may rest con- fidently assured, that, if we believe, there is nothing of the venom and malignity of the curse in them ; for " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," saith the apostle, (Gal. iii. 13.) III. We have spoken hitherto of the two former parts of the text,-the doctrine, and the reason of it. The next thing to be considered, is the infe- rence or corollary, which the apostle draws from them ; " Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit." Wherein we have two parts,-1. An ex- hortation, " Glorify God." 2. A directipn how we ought to do it, "In our body, and in our spirit." It is only the former of these that I intend to insist oi. Possibly, I may briefly touch and glance upon the other in my way. And, as a foundation of my following discourse, I shall lay down this plain Proposition,-That the infinite mercy of God in our redemption lays an obligation upon us to glorify him in all that we do, have, and are. This proposition, I suppose, reacheth the full sense and meaning of the apostle. And, in prosecuting it, I shall observe this method : 1. Shew you what it is to glorify God, 2. How we are to glorify him. 3. What force and influence the consideration of our redemp- tion hath to oblige us thus to glorify him. First, What it is to glorify God. And here we may take notice, that there are very many words used in Scripture, equipollent to this phrase of glorifying God. Such are, to "do all things to the glory of God," (1 Cor. x. 31.) To give glory to God, (Psal. xxix. 2,) "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name." To honour God, (1 Sam. ii. 30,) " Them that honour me, I will honour." To make God's name, and his praise glorious, (Psal. lxvi. 2,) which is indeed the most proper signification of this word "glorify," though other expres- sions also speak the same sense. So, then, to glorify God, is to make him glorious. "But, what! is it in the power of any creature to do this ? is not God's glory infinite, eternal, and immutable? and would it not be an attempt, both fond and blasphemous, to go about to crown his deity with any new rays, which shone not in his essence from all eter- nity ? for since the divine nature is infinitely simple and uncompounded, whatsoever s in God must be God himself ; and therefore we may as well create a new godhead, as contri- bute any new accession of glory to that nature which is altogether unchangeable. How, then, can we be said to glorify God, or to make him glorious." To this I answer, that glory is twofold: either a real glory, perfecting the subject in which it is; or else a relative glory, which doth not perfect the subject, but only declare those perfections which are already in it. The one we may well call a subjective, the other an objective glory. Now, 1. As to real and subjective glory, certain it is that we cannot so glorify God, but God may and doth thus glorify us. We cannot thus glorify God: since this would be utterly in- consistent with his eternal unchangeableness, and independency, and self-sufficiency; for if we could add any real and absolute perfec- tion to his nature, it would necessarily argue a preceding defect, a present change, and a perpetual obligation to his creatures; all which are infinitely incompatible with the divine essence. But yet, it is his prerogative so to glorify us, even by endowing our natures with real and absolute perfections. Which also he doth, (1.) In our creation: bestowing upon us rational and intellectual faculties, a discursive mind, and many other peculiar privileges both of soul and body; and investing us with sovereignty and dominion over inferior crea- tures. Upon which account, the Psalmist tells us, that God hath crowned man with honour and glory, (Psal. viii. 5.) (2.) In our restitution from our lapsed estate: implanting in us the seminal incho- ations and initials of glory in our regenera- tion; for grace is glory in the seed, and glory is but grace in the flower. Thus the apostle, (2 Cor. iii. 18,) We "are changed into the same image from glory to glory ;" that is, the image of God is still perfecting in us by his Spirit, carrying on his work from one measure and degree of grace unto another. For the whole life of a Christian here on earth is but 1.1 nrn ~rrnll C ~rr rln;+ C< Ttl ~rlrr h~C~~T a~rl it7 ~nr I ~iv;lin naan WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. 100 as it were one continued sitting under the hand and pencil of the Holy Ghost; till those first lines and obscurer shadows, which were laid in his new birth, receive more life, sweet- ness, and beauty from his progressive sanctifi- cation. And this is a being "changed from glory to glory." And when this is come to that perfection as to need only the last hand and the completing touch, then, (3.) God glorifies us by the full consumma- tion of our holiness and happiness in heaven. Thus Christ prays, (John, xvii. 1,) "The hour is come; glorify thy Son :" and so, (ver. 5,) "Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." And so, when our hour is likewise come, when we have attained to the full mea- sure of our stature in Christ Jesus, God will then glorify us with himself, in that glory which he hath prepared for us before the world was. Thus, then, God doth confer real glory upov us; which if we should again think to do towards him, it were no less than an impious and blasphemous arrogance: for it wouJd imply, that lie were a defective, mutable, and dependent God. And, therefore, in this sense, Eliphaz speaks excellently, (Job, xxii. 2, 3,) "Can a man be profitable unto God ? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect ?"certainly, we can neither add any real good to him by our righteousness, nor detract it from him by our wickedness : for he is as far above the reach of our good works to benefit him, as he is above the reach of our sins to wrong and injure him. Therefore we cannot thus glorify God. But, 2. There is a relative glory of God, which he is then said to have, when his real and absolute perfections are declared, and made manifest and conspicuous to the world. And this glory perfects not him to whom it is ascribed; but us, who ascribe it to him. And thus God may and ought to be glorified by us. The former may be called his essential glory : this latter, his declarative glory. God's essen- tial glory is nothing else but the infinite per- fection of his own nature ; it is a constellation and concentreing of all his inconceivable attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, justice, mercy, truth, and the rest, into one ever- blessed essence; this glory is capable neither of addition, diminution, nor change. But his declarative glory is nothing else but the gloss and shine, the visible splendour and lustre, which reflects from his essential glory upon the notice and admiration of his creatures: and this glory may be both increased and lessened. As to his attributes themselves-so God is glorious: as to the manifestation of them - so he is said to be glorified. And that, either by himself or others. __________________________________________________________________________ I (1.) God is said to glorify himself. And that, when he is pleased to dart down a ray, either of his wisdom, or power, or justice, or mercy, of his attributes, so as to make it conspicuous in the administration of affairs here below. And, therefore, (John, xii. 28,) we find our blessed Saviour, sadly reflecting upon the sorrows and agonies of his death, at last composeth and resigneth up this prayer, "Father, glorify thy name:" and it follows, " Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." Indeed, never was there any thing that God did in the world, that so illustriously conduced to his glory, as the adored design of saving it by his Son: this brought in a large share and revenue of glory to most of his attributes; he had already glorified himself in his wisdom and mercy, by the birth of his Son; and in his power, by the miracles he wrought ; and he would glorify himself again, that is, he would now glorify his dread justice and severity, by the death he was to suffer. (2.)' Creatures also may be said to glorify God. Brute and inanimate creatures do it only passively and objectively, as they ex- hibit the tracks and impresses of the divine attributes upon them ; but rational and intelligent creatures ought to do it actively, by observing and ascribing to him those per- fections, which he visibly manifests in the ways of his grace or providence. When they see some eminent effects and footsteps of his wisdom, of his power, of his goodness, or the like, in the management of things here below ; and are thereby moved piously and seriously to acknowledge that God is wise, powerful, and gracious, as he expresseth him- self to be ; this ascribing unto God his attributes from what appears in his actions, is our glorifying of him. And so, on the con- trary, when sordid, earthy, and bestial men take no notice of the emanations and beam- ings forth of God's attributes, neither so as to have their hearts affected with them nor their lives conformed to them, they are said to dishonour God. Not that any, the most boisterous sinners that are, can invade his essence, or rend away any of his infinite perfections from him; this glory they cannot eclipse, but it shines eternally in the same lustre ; but they do really eclipse his declara- tive glory. Which yet is a greater wrong done to themselves than to him: for, as the sun is still full of light in itself, when yet we see it under an eclipse by the moon's interpo- sing between us and it, which, indeed, is, not properly so much an eclipse of the sun as of the earth; so the glory of God is obscured and eclipsed by the wickedness of men; not that his essential glory is at all prejudiced, for this retains the same tenor of light and lustre for ever; butthat they observe not, theyadmirenot --- -- -- -.-_ t II I 1 ~ ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. the bright discoveries of his glorious attri- butes : and so they dishonour him, not by depriving God of any perfection, but them- selves, whose highest perfection and the end of whose being it is, to adore God, and to be made conformable unto him. And thus you see what it is to glorify God. It is to make him glorious; and that, not by the addition of any new glory to him, but only by declaring that glory which eternally and unchangeably is in him. Second, The second thing to be inquired 'isnto is, how we ought to glorify God. The disquisition of this will both receive light from, and add light unto, what went before. Now, here, that we may have right and cI lear apprehensions of a duty that is so vastly comprehensive, and indeed the whole of man, we must remember, that all our glorifying of lod is only in relation to his essential attri- butes, which are properly and really his glory. And, therefore, two things are here to be done,-1. To shew you what these essential attributes are. And, 2. How they may be glorified by us. 1st, For the first, these attributes of God are many; which, though they differ accor- ding to our manner of conception and expres- sion, yet are all really the same nature and essence in God. I shall mention only those which are most conspicuous, and which we have most frequent occasion in the course of our lives to glorify. And such are these seven following,-Purity and holiness, power and sovereignty, mercy and goodness, equity and justice, wisdom and omniscience, immensity and omnipresence, truth and veracity. There are, indeed, mapy more; as eternity, unchangeableness, simpli- city, and oneness, &c. but these, because they are not so conversant about human affairs, I shall not now particularly speak of. 2d, These attributes may be glorified, in the general, two ways; either by adoration, or else by declaration. (1.) We ought to glorify God by a most humble and devout adoration of his infinite attributes and perfections. Seriously to ponder them in our hearts, to consider their beauty and excellency, to admire those expres- sions of them which God is pleased to vouch- safe us; and when we see any notable instance, either of the divine power, or wis- dom, or goodness, or justice, in the dispensa- tions of his providence, then to prostrate ourselves in the ,post humble veneration of our souls, and ascribe it unto God, acknow- ledging that his perfections are gloriously discovered in those effects, and with ravished and inflamed hearts singing unto him the song of Moses and the Lamb,(Rev. xv. 3, 4,) "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy :"-this is to glorify God. And not only thus to observe and to acknowledge the appearance of God's attributes, but to have our affections likewise suited and proportioned to them; as, when God displays his dread justice and severity, either against ourselves or others, then to fear and tremble before him; when he magnifies the riches of his mercy and goodness, to rejoice and praise his holy name; and so, in the like instances, which I intend more particularly to prosecute hereafter : this reverend observing of the manifestations of God's attributes, and conforming our affections proportionably unto them, is one chief spiri- tual method of glorifying God, whereby we do secretly, yet effectually, advance his honour in the inmost retirements and recesses of a devout soul. But, (2.) There is another way of glorifying God; and that is, by declaration of his infi- nite perfections. And this is twofold ; either by our words, or by our works. 1. We'oughtto glorify God, by declaring his attributes in our words and discourses; setting forth his holiness, wisdom, power, justice, in the most serious and affecting manner that we are able, so as to beget a high and honourable esteem of them in those that hear us. And, therefore, (1 Pet. iv. 11,) the apostle exhorts us, but especially ministers, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, that God in all things may be glorified." Hence, David often calls his tongue his glory; (Psalm lvii. 8,) "Awake up, my glory o awake, psaltery and harp;" and, (Psal. cviii 1,) "1 will sing and give praise, even with my glory." And why is this member espe- cially called our glory, but because it is the fittest instrument for our glorifying of God ? "Therewith bless we God, even the Father," saith the apostle, (James, iii. 9.) And this, indeed, is the glory of our glory, and the crown of our excellency, when we employ so noble a part in so noble a work; still to be celebrating his name, and setting forth his praise. And, indeed, what more excellent theme can there be for our discourse than God? a theme that will more adorn and beautify our language, than that can adorn and extol him: a theme that can never be exhausted, but, the more we speak of God, still the more we may, new discoveries still emerging and rising ip to our admiring view. And whilst we affectionately endeavour to exalt the majesty, power, wisdom, and good- ness of God in our discourses, if we speak not more elegantly, yet certainly we shall speak more pertinently and to the purpose, than the most florid trifler that abuseth a great deal of wit and rhetoric about toys and nothings. This kind of holy and serious speech will 101 C rrC I\ ~~~~C ~~PII\ ~' I~ ~T r )'j -OKSOFIISIO-10 K-S advance us as much above the common rank and pitch of other men, as speech itself doth advance men above the condition of brute beasts. And yet, alas ! how many are there that turn this their glory into shame ; whose tongues are rather spunges to wipe out and deface the glory of God, than pencils to deli- neate and express it; who scarce ever speak of it but in an oath, nor make mention of his name, but when they curse and ban by it ! Their black mouths are full of the soot of hell, and their tongues set on fire of those infernal flames. They seem to have already learned the language of hell; and are well fitted for ever to converse with those damned wretches, who have no other use of God but only to blaspheme and curse him. And to their own shall they go; and for ever blaspheme, out of the exquisite anguish of their torments; as here they did, out of mere gallantry and humour. Others, again, though they neither whet nor draw their tongues against God, yet are they very shy of speaking either of him or for him; and would rather make any thing the subject of their discourse, than that God who hath endowed them with so excellent a faculty. Hence, how much time, how much converse is lost among men; whilst idle tales and raillery, and such like unconcerning vanities, busy their minds and tongues; and no man thinks or speaks of that God, who is intimately present with them, and one of the company ! So that we may very justly take up that com- plaint of the Psalmist, (xii. 2,) "They speak vanity, every one with his neighbour." There is, indeed, a great deal of Christian prudence and discretion requisite in this par- ticular. For as the amiableness of all duties consists in the right timing and placing of them, so especially of this holy and spiritual discourse. And therefore the wise man tells us, (Prov. xxv. 11,) that "a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver;" and there is a time when the prudent should keep silence, (Amos, v. 18.) Indeed, the mention of the great God ought not to be trivially ingested; nor by an imprudent zeal importunely and abruptly crowded in, when we may rationally conclude it will be so far from glorifying of God, as only to create a con- tempt and nauseating in the hearers. But yet a man that is spiritually skilful in this affair will watch his opportunities; and if he hath been exercised in this holy art, it is very seldom that in a long converse he should fail of a fit cue pertinently to wind in and insinuate heavenly discourse; and make that which began, perhaps, about poor earthly affairs, yet to end in God, and the contempla- tions and praises of his eternal attributes; for somewhat of God is considerable in every thing that we can speak of, either his power, or wisdom, or goodness. It should be our care, not to lodge, but only to bait our thoughts and our discourses at creatures, and so quickly pass through them unto God : only let the hints be taken wisely and seasonably. Indeed, our discourses should be like Jacob's ladder : though the bottom of them stand upon the earth, yet the top of them should reach into heaven. We find our Saviour very fre- quent in this practice, still taking occasion from the things of this world to waft over his discourse to things of another world: what a most excellent spiritual discourse doth he draw out of Jacob's well, (John, iv;) and now, again, by a miracle of his wisdom, as once before by a miracle of his power, he turns water into winto wine; so, from common and ordi- nary bread, he takes occasion to set before them, and to break unto them "the bread of life," (John, vi.) And herein every true Christian should be piously ingenious, to take his advantage from earthly occurrences, to transfer his thoughts and discourse to those attributes of God, which appear most conspi- cuous and illustrious in them. Thus, if any discourse happen concerning any wonderful revolutious in the affairs of the world, how easy and how natural is it to slide off from this into the serious consideration of the infinite wisdom and sovereignty of God, in guiding and governing all things here below according to his eternal and immutable coun- sels ! If it be concerning any remarkable and exemplary plague brought upon a wicked person or people, doth not this naturally prompt us to speak of the divine justice and the strict severity of God, who will certainly cause men's sins to find them out? If it be of any prosperous success or blessing bestowed upon his Church, or any particular person who is a sincere and upright servant of God, doth not this administer to us a fair and pertinent occasion to magnify the infinite mercy of God, who will not suffer virtue and piety to lie always unregarded, but sometimes will as conspicuously own it in this world, as he will gloriously crown it in the world to come? So, I say, there is scarce any thing we can discourse of, but the divine attributes are so interwoven, and appear so plainly in it, that we may thence take very obvious hints to raise our meditations and discourses unto heavenly objects. That is the first way of glorifying God, by declaring his glory in our words and dis- courses. 2. There is another way of glorifying him; and that is by our works and actions. And, indeed, this is the chief and principal way of glorifying God; and that which is the most free from suspicion of guilt and hypocrisy. We may flourish over the attributes of God with many excellent notions and expressions of them ; yet all other expressions may prove - 1lln ~n l. lC T I ~Rnn~~r 102 JITORKS OF I3ISI1OP HOPKINS. ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 103 deceitful, but those which are made in men's lives. Hence it is that our Saviour instructs us in the most effectual course to promote the glory of God, (Matt. v. 16,) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven ;" and, (John, xv. 8,) " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." Many empty, talkative professors there may possibly be, who would fain pass for trees of righteousness and plants of renown, and yet bear nothing but leaves, an external show and a flourishing outside ; these they wear for their own ostentation and glory; but are wholly deficient in that which is most con- ducing to the glory of God, "the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of righteousness, which," the apostle tells us, " are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God, (Phil. i. 11.) This, therefore, being the chief way of glorifying God, setting forth and declaring his attributes by our works and actions, I shall the more largely insist on it. Now there are two ways, in the general, to glorify the divine attributes by our actions. 1st, By conforming purselves to the likeness and similitude of them. And this we ought to do, in respect of the communicable attri- butes of God's nature; such as his holiness, and mercy, and justice, and wisdom, and truth. These are called communicable attri- butes, because they may be, in some respect and measure,: found also in the creatures. And to endeavour a resemblance with God in these, is the tendency of grace in us, and the effect of the Spirit of God, making us in this sense partakers of the divine nature. And the more perfectly we transcribe our original, the more lively these lineaments of God are -portrayed upon the soul, the more do we thereby glorify him; for it is his honour to be imitated in what is imitable by us. Cer- tainly it is a sign that we love and esteem whatsoever we strive and endeavour to re- semble; and count that excellent and perfect which we would have found in ourselves : and therefore, as it is a pleasure to any man to observe others how they eye and imitate his actions, because it is a testimony of honour and respect which they give him; so is it a delight to God to observe the endeavours of a holy soul in imitating his perfections, for this is a sign and evidence that they do highly venerate them. And, 2d, We glorify God, by performing those duties which his attributes oblige us unto. For there are many incommunicable attributes of God, which it were impiety or folly for us to attempt the imitation of. Such are his absolute eternity, both before and after all time : his infiniteness and immensity, filling all places, yea, infinitely exceeding all: the perfect simplicity and incomposition of his nature, his immutability and unchangeable- ness and his independency and self-sufficiency. In none of these can we be like unto God. But yet these proper and incommunicable attributes enforce and lay upon us many duties, by the conscientious performance of which we ought to glorifj God: for we are bound to glorify him, not only in his holiness, and justice, and goodness; but in his eternity, unchangeableness, omnipotence, and omni- science, although, indeed, in a different man- ner. The former we ought to glorify, by conforming ourselves to them; the latter we ought to glorify, by performing the duties which they oblige us unto. Let us therefore consider, in particular, how we ought to glorify God in several of his attri- butes. First, I shall begin with his holiness and purity. This is an attribute, than which none is more frequently ascribed unto God in Scripture: "The Holy God," and " The Holy One of Israel." Yea, it is spoken of, as if all the rays of God's glory were contracted into this one attribute,-" Glorious in holiness," (Exod. xv. 11.) And, therefore, if God accounts his holiness his most shining and illustrious attribute, it is but reason that we should glorify him in that, wherein he esteems himself most glorious : for what is it to glorify God, but to express how glorious he is ? and shall we not therefore especially glorify him in that wherein he is most glorious ? If, then, you would glorify God in his holi- ness, you must do it by being conformable to it. This is no arrogance, nor proud presump- tion, but your stated duty ; for God hath prefixed his holiness as the example and motive of yours. So we have it, (Lev. xi. 44.) " Ye shall be holy, for I am holy," which is again repeated and pressed upon them, (xix. 2, and xx. 7,) " Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy ;" which the apostle likewise quotes and transcribes, (1 Pet. i. 15, 16,) "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation : As it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." S1st, Now the true notion of holiness is a separation from all sin and impurity, This is the holiness of God ; in whose most pure essence there is not the least shadow of any thing that is culpable, nor can there be. And this holiness thou oughtest to glorify, by resembling it as perfectly as thy finite human nature can bear so bright an impress. For, consider, - Other of God's attributes may be glorified, whether thou wilt or no. He hath glorified his almighty power, in creating this great world out of a huge nothing. He hath glorified his wisdom, in the beautiful order and harmonious government of the world; conducting all things sweetly and powerfully, by his own counsels, to his own ends. HTIe hath glorified his goodness by spreading a bountiful table for all living ~nn ~vlrrrrrn rtlm trrr 1~ la nla nnnnllr t.rr I -~ a.nn ~u 104 TORK OF ISHO HOPIN1 things, and richly providing for all their necessities. These and other of his attributes he hath abundantly glorified; and he might have so done, although mankind had never been created, but the earth had been only filled with brute creatures, and heaven with angels to observe them.. But there is no method to glorify his holiness here below, which he accounts the chiefest part of his glory, and the most precious jewel in his diadem,- no method, I say, to glorify this, but only by our being holy and pure, in conformity to his holiness. And, what ! wilt thou suffer God's chief glory to lie obscure and neglected? Shall he be glorified in every attribute and perfec- tion of his nature, but only that wherein he is most transcendently glorious? Consider, again, thou ownest and acknow- ledgest thyself to be God's; at least I am sure thou wouldest willingly be found so at the last and great day. And, what ! dost thou think that God will claim thee to be his, when thou wearest the devil's mark and brand upon thee? Whose image and superscription dost thou bear? God's image, by which he knows his own, is holiness stamped upon them. God doth, as it were, strike a tally when he sancti- fies any soul ; he communicates his holiness to it; and in that his image and similitude : nor will he own that person, at the last day, who cannot produce this tessera, this tally, and prove himself to be God's by his conformity unto him. Now, 0 sinner, thou that wallow- est in the filth of all manner of pollutions, canst thou ever hope to be owned by God, as one of his, when thou retainest all the charac- ters of the devil deeply imprinted on thee? What badge, what cognizance hast thou, to make it known that thou art God's? A human nature, gospel ordinances and privileges ? and so have thousands had, who are now in hell. Wherein is thy likeness and similitude unto God? Possibly, thou resemblest him in thy knowledge and understanding; and hast a great measure of wisdom and prudence be- stowed upon thee : possibly, thou resemblest him in power and authority; and he hath stamped that part of his image upon thee, exalting thee in dignity and honour above others: possibly, thou resemblest him likewise in thy beneficence; and art kind and chari- table, and helpful to those who stand in need of thee. It is well. But yet this is not that image that God will own thee by. He requires a nearer resemblance of himself, in thy holi- ness and purity; and whatsoever else thou mayest think to produce will stand thee in no stead; for" without holiness, no man shall see God." 2d, Now, holiness and purity expresseth itself against sin two ways : in the hatred, and in the flight of it. 1. Therefore glorify God in his holiness, abhorring and hating every sin. Hate it, wheresoever it is found; but especially in thyself. Hate it in others; hate their vices, but yet love their persons; both which thou wilt best perform, if thou labourest by re- bukes, exhortations, admonitions, and coun- sels, to destroy sin in them. But especially hate it in thyself : for, certainly, if thou hatest a toad or a serpent wherever it be, thou hast more reason to hate it crawling in thine own bosom. And, 2. Eschew and avoid all sin for the future; yea, all the appearances and all the occasions of it. Dread nothing so much as a polluted, defiled conscience. And whilst thou thus sincerely endeavourest to keep thy soul pure and spotless, thou mayest, with unspeakable joy, expect that God will glorify his mercy upon thee, who thus glorifiest his holiness in thyself. Second, Another attribute of God, which we ought especially to glorify, is his mercy and goodness. Indeed, these two words, of mercy and goodness, are often promiscuously used, to signify one and the same gracious disposition of God towards his creatures. Yet, if we more accurately consider it, there seems to be this difference between them; that goodness is of a much larger extent and latitude than mercy. For mercy properly connotes misery in the object towards which it is expressed: but goodness may be as well expressed towards the happy, as towards the wretched and miserable. It was an effect of God's infinite goodness, to create the world; to continue the glorious angels in that blessed estate, in which they now stand; to preserve the frame of nature in its course, and every creature in its being : but this is not properly called mercy; because it doth not suppose any precedent misery, from which it frees and rescues them. Briefly, therefore, those free and gratuitous favours, which God bestows upon his creatures, if they were wretched before, are an expression of his mercy; if they were not wretched, are an expression of his goodness : and therefore our creation and preservation is properly an effect of the divine goodness, because these bene- fits do not suppose us lying under any misery, nor deliver us out of it; but our redemption and salvation are an effect of the divine mercy, properly so called, because these were conferred upon us when we were lost, ruined, and un- done, with a purpose to deliver us from that abyss of wo and misery into which we had plunged ourselves. But because the acts both of God's mercy and goodness are one and the same, but are only modified according to the divers considerations of their objects, therefore we may well treat of them as one and the same attribute in the divine nature. Now this merciful goodness of God is one of the most radiant and sparkling gems in his crown: and when God would be seen by us in all his state and splendour, he arrays him- I K1 ~ n+lT~ t 104 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS, ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. self with this attribute. And, therefore, when Moses had attained such holy freedom with God, as to entreat him to shew him his glory, (Exod. xxxiii. 18,) it is remarkable that God condescends to his request, and tells him, (ver. 19,) " I will make all my goodness pass be- fore thee:" he grants his petition; but withal informs him, that he could not see his essen- tial glory, for that is too dazzling an object for frail and mortal eyes to bear, -" Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live," (ver. 20.) But, yet, when God would shew himself in the brightest and most illustrious glory that a mortal man can behold, he selects out and puts on this attri- bute of his goodness : and accordingly, (xxxiv. 6,) he passeth by in pomp, and magnificently proclaims his name, " The Lord, the Lord God,"-what i the Lord God great and terrible, that formed all things by the word of his mouth, and can destroy all things by the breath of his nortrils ? that rides upon the wings of the wind, and makes the clouds the dust of his feet? that rends the mountains in sunder, and makes the hills shrink from his presence ? that overturneth kingdoms, and brings decreed destruction upon all the beauty and stability of mundane affairs ? No: though God be very glorious in these expressions of his power and majesty, yet this is not that name which he chiefly delights to honour: but, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thou- sands; forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin." 'Thus you see God owns his mercy and goodness as his dearest attribute and his peculiar glory; he seems, as it were, to esteem and value himself upon it; and therefore, certainly, we ought to glorify him in that wherein he accounts himself so glorious. But how may we glorify God in his mercy and goodness? I answer - These four ways,- 1st, By endeavouring to assimilate ourselves unto it; labouring after an universal goodness, in all our converse and demeanour. Then is God's goodness glorified, when we endeavour to transcribe and copy it forth in ourselves. Every true Christian ought to be so deeply tinctured with the serious consideration of the mercy and goodness of God, till he is trans- formed into the very image and likeness of it. This will render it visible and conspicuous unto men. How should we know that the sun is so bright and glorious a creature, if the air were not all strewed and powdered with its light? our eyes discern the light of the sun, by the light of the air through which it diffuses and scatters its rays, and turns all that vast body into light and splen- dour. And so, truly, when thou thyself art turned into mercy and goodness, others will behold the mercy and goodness of God shining forth in thee, and be induced to give God the glory. And that upon a double account :- 1. Whilst thou art beneficent and good to others, they cannot but gratefully acknow- ledge the mercy of God, in so sweetly dispos- ing and inclining thy heart to those actions of love and kindness towards them. And, indeed, this thou oughtest to propound to thyself as thy utmost end, in all the offices of charity and humanity that thou dost unto others, that God may have the praise and glory of all. And, therefore, if thou relievest the poor, or rescuest the oppressed, or remittest thy due to those whom a rigorous exacting of it would ruin, and dost it with an intent that thou thy- self mayest be praised and extolled for it, and not God; this is so far from being charity, that it is sacrilege; for all mercy and com- passion in us, is but the mercy of God com- municating itself to others through us ; as all light in the air is but the light of the sun shining through it. And, therefore, all the good thou dost or canst do, thou dost it upon God's stock; and, certainly, if thou employest his stock, it is but reason that he should have the interest; which, if thou withholdest from him, and assumest to thyself, thou robbest God of his right; and, whilst thou art boun- tiful in communicating his goodness unto others, thou art likewise unjust in taking his praise and glory to thyself. It is a most commendable piety in those who, when they have given alms to relieve the bodily necessi- ties of the poor, have likewise given a better alms to their souls, in exhorting them not so much to thank them, but God, who hath both enabled and inclined them to do it. And, indeed, though we are bound to acknowledge and respect those who have been kind and munificent to us; yet we ought especially to bless and praise God, who hath inspired and moved them to those actions, and derived his universal and extended goodness through them unto us; this is the way to make their goodness glorify God's goodness, when we take notice how the mercy of God appears in their mercy to us: and therefore it is remarkable, when Jacob addresseth himself unto Esau, and had found favour in his sight, he tells him, (Gen. xxxiii. 10,) "I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me :" that is, in the cour- teous, and reconciled countenance of his bro- ther, he discerned the favour and gracious dealing of God with him. So should we say, when we partake of any benefit or goodness from men : "In such a one's goodness, I have seen the goodness of God; in his bounty, I have seen the bounty of God." And thus, by assimilating ourselves unto God in this attri- bute, we shall give occasion to grateful and considerative persons frequently to make such II rrrrn+~irrr~t mr\ rr rr~h* +~ Irl/rrPtrr him In trr~t I R.nrl rPQnPnl 105 106 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. reflections, which will highly conduce to his praise and glory. 2. The shewing of mercy and doing of good unto others will glorify God, as it may cause them to reflect, that if there be so much good- ness in a creature, how infinitely more.is there then in the Creator. This is a rational and easy inference, which those who are any way ingenuous cannot fail to make when they behold that benevolence, and bounty, and readiness to help and assist others, which appears in you. And therefore saith our Saviour, (Matth. v. 16,) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." We shall thus glorify him, by giving others a happy occasion to conclude, that if there be so much mercy and goodness in the creature, then certainly there is infinitely more in God himself: if a river pours forth such abundance of waters to refresh the dry and parched earth, how boundless must the treasury of the great deep be, from whence, as Solomon tells us, they are all supplied! Now think with thyself, 0 Christian ! what a vast sum and reventie of glory will come in to God, when, by thy beneficence and liberality, thou shalt give a worthy occasion of extolling his; and though thou canst re- semble it but in part, according to the stinted measures of thy finite nature and ability, yet shalt glorify it entirely, by causing others to adore the infinite riches of it in the divine nature. Now, that our mercy and goodness may be like unto God's, it must have it in these four qualifications :- (1.) It must be a general goodness, univer- sally respecting all. For God's is so. (Psalm cxlv. 16,) " Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." He spreadeth his cherishing wings over all the creation, and with his rich bounty re- joiceth all the works of his hands. And if thou wilt glorify him, thou must act propor- tionably within thy sphere; and do good unto all, according to the opportunities and abilities that God hath bestowed upon thee: thy mercy is not like God's, if thou sufferest any, who make their applications to thee, and whom thou canst relieve, to go away with the pressure of their wants and necessities upon them. And, as though this field were not large enough for the exercise of our mercy, and mankind were too few for us to do good unto, God hath required that we should shew mercy and goodness to the very beasts; (Prov. xii. 10,) "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." And so far doth he esteem of this sweet and compassionate temper in us, that he rather chooseth to dispense with his own immediate service and worship, than to hinder us from any opportunities of doing good to any creature : still preferring mercy before sacrifice; and accounting the life of one beast saved a more acceptable service than the death of many beasts sacrificed. (2.) It must be a free, undeserved goodness, to be like unto God's. For his is so. Yea, so undeserved, that he lays it forth upon those who have deserved lis'wrath and vengeance : " He maketh his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust," (Matth. v. 45.) And if we would glorify God by our likeness to him in this attribute, our goodness must proceed by the same measures. Possibly, some have abused and affronted us; and now it is in our power to revenge ourselves upon them: but know, that the divine providence hath given thee an opportunity for revenge ; yet the divine mercy requires that thou shouldst not only forgive the injury, but requite it with courtesies and kind offices; thou oughtest not to diminish the least part of that good which thou canst do them, upon consideration of wrongs and contumelies which thou hast received from them. This, indeed, is a high and transcendent pitch of goodness; yet this is but that which our Saviour very instantly presseth upon his disciples, as the very mark and badge by which they may be known to be the children of God : (Matth. v. 44, 45,) "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in hea- ven." And so again, (Luke vi. 27-37,) this important and difficult duty is most earnestly inculcated : "If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye ? But love ye your enemies; and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and ye shall be," that is, ye shall appear and be known to be, "the children of the Highest : for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." (3.) Our goodiess, that it maybe like unto God's, must be wholly disinterested. We must not carry on any. selfish designs by it; nor seem to do others good, but really intend only our own advantage: this is but to make a benefit a bait, which, whilst others take, they are themselves taken. God's goodness is more generous, expecting no recompense to be made; for how can we be profitable to him? or what can we return him, that is not his own ? And although his favours towards us be many and great, yet he is pleased to reckon that we acquit ourselves of our obligations, if we return him but acknowledgment and praise. And if we would glorify God, such must our goodness be. Our Saviour hath taught us to scorn that sordid way of laying snares for other men's courtesies, by ours to them: (Luke xiv. 12, 13,) "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and 106 WORKS OP BISHOP HOPKINS. ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 107 so a recompense be made, thee." And who- soever he be, that is good and bountiful to others upon such a mean design, he doth but barter and truck benefits, not bestow them. (4.) Our goodness must be discreet likewise; and though it ought to be universal, it must be discriminating too ; for even God's is so. He doth good unto all; yet not equally. Some there are, who pass only under the general influences of his common bounty; and though he give a liberal allowance to these, yet he bestows the treasures of his grace and mercy and the inheritance of his glory on those who are the excellent ones, and whom he bath made worthy : hence God is said to be "the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe," (1 Tim. iv. 10.) And if we would glorify God, we must imitate him in this particular also. Though our goodness ought to be general, and, so far as we are able, we should tread where God hath passed on before us ; yet we ought likewise to put a difference, as he hath done; and to make a deeper im- pression of our charity and goodness upon some than upon others. Hence the apostle exhorts us, (Gal. vi. 10,) "As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." All that are in want, challenge relief from thee, according to thine ability but, seest thou any that are poor in outward respects, but yet rich in faith? thou art obliged, under a double bond, to supply and provide for them ; both as they are partakers of the same common human nature, and much more as they are partakers of the divine and heavenly nature. And fear not lest such an enlarged bounty and goodness, as I have de- scribed to you, should inevitably ruin and beggar you ; for Christian prudence must here dictate to you the measures which your ability can extend unto : the only danger is, lest you should take them too short. Nor is it to imitate God, if, by some few profuse acts of charity, (for there may be lavishness even in this,) I say, it is not to imitate God, if, by some few acts of charity, you render yourselves incapable of doing more ; for God is good unto us ; yet so, as he still keeps the stock in his own hands, and doth not exhaust himself to replenish us: but sit down, and impartially consider what is necessary for thyself and thine, in the rank and station in which the providence of God hath set thee; and whatsoever abounds, thou oughtest not to look upon as thine, but as God's and the poor's : thou only art a trustee for their use; and if thou withholdest it from them, thou art no better than a thief and a robber, and stealest even that which the law of man calls thine. Indeed, it were very strange, if the most of us could not cut off some superfluous and unnecessary expenses, and lay them up into a treasury for good works : we dee how sparing and thrifty some men's covetousness is; who will pare away the very edges of decency and fitness, only that they may amass their sordid sums together, when all the use they can make of their wealth is but to look. upon it; and why should not piety and charity teach us as much thrift as vice and covetousness ? but only that men are grossly foolish in this particular ; looking upon whatsoever is laid out this way as lost, and no longer theirs; whereas, indeed, had they but faith, and half that religion which they may pretend unto, they would know, that that only is lost which is unduly kept, and that safest laid up which is well laid out. And if thou canst but purchase the glory of God, though by the greatest expense, either by relieving or encouraging his servants, know it is the most gainful bargain that ever thou madest; and faith will tell thee, that thou hast but remitted thy wealth to heaven, where it shall be punctually paid thee with abundant interest; and, in the meanwhile, God bath given thee as many bonds, as he hath made promises to secure thee. This, therefore, is the first way of glorifying God's mercy and goodness, by our resemblance to it; cherishing in ourselves a generous, free, disinterested, and discreet goodness towards others. I have the longer insisted upon this, because I see it wofully neglected amongst Christians; who fall so infinitely short of imitating God in the mercifulness and goodness of his nature, that they look upon it as a piece of religion to be sour, morose, and supercilious, and, too frequently, proud despisers of others. Some are unjust in their dealings, and take all advantages to defraud and circumvent their brethren; and are so far from doing what love and charity require, that they answer not the rules of law and equity. Some, if they seek not the ruin of others, yet are ready to rejoice at it ; and with a devilish kind of delight, please themselves, either with the miscarriages or mishaps of their brethren. Others, again, love to sow discords, and to stir up strife between brethren, that, when they are all in a flame and combustion, they may sit by and warm themselves. What shall I say concerning these? is this to imitate God? is this to copy forth his universal good- ness ? or do they not rather give a sad occasion to others to open their black mouths and to blaspheme God ; imputing all their cruelty, injustice, and unmercifulness to their profes- sion and to their religion, than which there is no one thing that doth more contradict it ? If, therefore, you have any respect, any ten- derness for the glory of God, I beseech and charge you, 0 Christians, by your beneficence, charity, and prone goodness, to redeem the honour of God, which hath deeply suffered through your defaults; and to stop the mouths t II hc~rc! rl~~t.~~t.p! t.n vnn t.hF! m~~.~llr~~ whlr.h vnnr i love! Rnrl r,~~ 108 WORKS OF BI of those to whom religion is odious enough by nature, but rendered despicable, as well as odious; and to whom the name of a saint and a professor is made a by-word, only to denote a covetous, niggardly, cruel, and oppressive person, by the lives of too many who walk quite contrary to their rule and to their great exemplar. For in this God hath set you no lower a pattern than himself : (Luke vi. 36,) " Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful." And so much for the first and great way of glorifying the mercy and goodness of God. 2d, We ought to glorify the mercy of God, by endeavouring to render ourselves fit objects for his mercy to be laid out upon. Certainly, he little honours the mercy of a prince, who will not render himself capable of it. And let nme tell you, it is the greatest scorn and contempt you can cast upon the rich and free mercy of God, that, when he hath so gloriously proclaimed it, and told you upon what terms you may be made partakers of it, you should refuse to come up to those terms, as if it were not so much worth as the price at which God offers it. What is it that God expects from you ? it is but repentance, and reformation of life ; a sincere and universal obedience to his laws : upon the performance of this, his mercy, his Christ, himself, his heaven, his all, are yours; (Prov. xxviii. 13,) "He that confess- eth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy." And, what ! wilt thou stick at this? If God had required some great thing of you, the utter ruin and impoverishing of your estates, the macerating and torturing of your bodies, the plucking out of your right eyes and cutting off your right hands, even in a literal sense, would you not have done it, that you might obtain mercy and salvation at the last? See what terms those, who are convinced of their misery, and of their absolute need of mercy to save them, do of themselves voluntarily offer unto God; far more grievous and extreme than any which he hath required : (Micah, vi. 6, 7,) "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" certainly, these seem to value mercy, when they bid so high for it, though they were ignorant of the right way of obtaining it. And now, when God shall inform us, that all he requires of us is but "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with him," it is a most heinous affront and disparagement to his mercy, if we will not come up to these terms, which are so easy and equitable; yea, and have enough in themselves to recommend them to us, although there were no farther benefit to be expected by the performance of them. Be persuaded, therefore, O Christians, to glorify SHOP HOPKINS. the mercy of God by repentance, obedience, and a holy life. Declare to all the world that you have a high valuation and esteem of the infinite mercy of God, by being willing to perform that for the obtaining of it, which others detract and refuse. They must needs have very slight and undervaluing thoughts of mercy, who will not be prevailed with to mortify one sin, to deny themselves in any of their secular advantages and concerns, to suffer a scoff or a jeer for that holiness and piety which alone can bring them within the reach and under the influences of mercy: but he that can with a bold and generous resolution break through all these little difficulties, that can suffer whatsoever God lays upon him, and do whatsoever God requires from him, he it is that glorifies mercy ; because by this he demonstrates, that he thinks it worth the having, at what price and rate soever it be set. Clemens Alexandrinus hath an excellent passage in his Protreptick : "The Lord," saith he, "shews us mercy and saves us, ow ro oov aroXauwv 4wv, A ~oow sOca, as though he could make no other use nor advantage of us, than as he doth save us :" now thou who wilt not glorify the mercy of God, endeavouring by a holy and obedient life to promote thine own salvation, what dost thou but frustrate the great end for which he hath made thee, which is the glory of his mercy ; and therefore dost, in a high measure, affront and dishonour him ? 3d, When thou art thus fitted and prepared for mercy, then glorify it by a confident and hardy reliance upon it. To venture upon the mercy of God, whilst thou yet continuest impenitent in thy sins, is a most bold and desperate presumption; but to venture thy soul and thy eternal salvation upon his mere goodness and mercy, whilst thou art careful to lead a holy, pious, and obedient life, is so far from being presumption, that it is the best and most effectual way to glorify it. And therefore thou, 0 soul, who fearest the Lord, and desirest to approve thy- self unto him in uprightness and sincerity, why walkest thou with such a drooping and dejected countenance? why sufferest thou thy conscience to be clouded with fears and racked with horrors ? Is it not an infinite disparage- ment to the rich mercy of God, to fear that he will damn thee, whilst thou fearest to provoke him ? Who would think that thou servest a merciful and gracious God, when they see thee solicitous to perform thy duty to him, and yet anxious and distrustful con- cerning the acceptance of it ? These thy perplexities and despondencies do highly dis- honour God, fright men from his service, and do little less than brand him with the black and odious note of cruelty and tyranny. Is this the way to allure men to the profession and practice of holiness, when they see that ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. verified in thee, the suspicion of which hath so often scared them from it, namely, that they must for ever quit all their pleasant days, and be eaten up with dismal discontents and the rust of melancholy ? Let those thus slavishly fear God and despair of his mercy, whose sins, and impenitence in them, fit themn for nothing but wrath and destruction; but for a holy, pious Christian, the desires of whose soul are towards God, and his endea- yours correspondent to his desires, -for such a one to despond of mercy, is the greatest disgrace and dishonour that he can cast upon God: for if there be any such attribute belonging unto his nature as mercy, it is certainly thine; and if there be not, think, then, what a God dost thou serve! Clear up, therefore, O Christian; scatter all thy dark and gloomy thoughts; smooth out thy wrinkled conscience; and whilst thou perse- verest in a careful and sincere obedience unto his commands, cast thyself boldly upon his mercy; and, believe it, it will never sink under thee, nor suffer thee to sink into that hell which thou now fearest. Doubt nothing;' thou canst not perish so long as the mercy of God endureth. And whilst thou thus, with an humble confidence, layest the whole weight and stress of thy soul upon it, thou dost more glorify God than those doubting and perplexed souls, who always serve him suspiciously, and dare scarce approach near him, lest he should devour them : certainly this is so contrary to the nature of God, who is love and goodness itself to those that, serve him, that he cannot but take it ill when they seem to account of him no otherwise than an ireful and ravenous Deity. Fear not; this is no presumption, but a holy faith, a filial freedom of spirit, which is most acceptable unto God. He delights in the services of those who address themselves unto him with an open heart and a cheerful soul: (Psal. cxlvii.11,) "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." 4th, Another way by which we ought to glorify the mercy and goodness of God, is, by praising him for all the effects and expressions of it. (Psal. 1. 23,) "Whoso offereth praise glori- fieth me." Praise is God's tribute; the only impost that he lays upon all his benefits; it is all the return that he expects from us. Certainly they are guilty of foul and black ingratitude, who would defraud God even of this small acknowledgment. Our whole lives are thick set with mercies; wheresoever we turn we find ourselves encompassed and sur- rounded with blessings. Now what canst thou do less than lift up thy heart and thy voice to God, and give him thanks? this God is pleased to account a glorifying of him, be- cause it owneth his free goodness to be the original of all; and, therefore, when the ten lepers were cleansed, and only one of them returned to return thanks for his cure, our Saviour saith, (Luke, xvii. 18,) "There are not found, that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." Reflect, now, upon the sum and stock of thy mercies. Hast thou riches, or health, or repute, or friends, or all of these ? ascribe it to the mercy of God, which hath so plentifully furnished thee with all these mercies : say, "Lbrd, I have received them all from thy bounty, and I desire to return the thankful acknowledgment of all to thy glory. Accept of that share which alone is worthy of thee, even my humble thanks and praise for them." Whilst thou thus praisest God for his goodness, thou payest him his tribute; all the rest is thine, which thou mayest enjoy and use with com- fort. And thus I have at large shewn you how you ought to glorify God in his mercy and goodness, namely, by your conformity unto it, preparing yourselves to be fit vessels of it, trusting and relying upon it, and blessing and praising him for it. Third, Another attribute which we are to glorify is the divine immensity and omni- presence. That this is an essential attribute and property of the divine nature, both Scrip- ture and reason do abundantly testify. He pervades all beings, is excluded out of none, neither included in any : (1 Kings, viii. 27,) " Behold the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee ;" and certainly, if God cannot be contained in them, but his essence dilates and expands itself infinitely beyond and above them, into that endless and un- wearied space in which never any thing Was created nor doth exist but God only, much less, then, can he be contained within the compass of any other finite and created being. Now we ought to glorify this attribute of God's omnipresence, 1st, By our reliance and dependence upon him in all our fears and dangers. Art thou surrounded with dangers on every side, and in the very jaws of death and destruction? yet then consider, that thy God, who is every where present, is likewise present with thee there; and there is no danger so great nor imminent that can fright him from thee; he who hath been a sun to thee in thy prosper rity, will now be a shield to thee in thine adversity. Indeed, we ought not rashly to run headlong upon dangers, when we have no call to expose ourselves to them ; this is not to trust God, but to tempt him: and therefore our Saviour well answered the devil, when he impudently bade him cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, for that God would give his angels charge to bear him up in their hands that he should not dash his foot against a stone, "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God ;" for i i-I nc~l~rrht.n Itl t.hc! nt~rvlcc~~ crt t.tlnn~ wtln ~,rlnrF~~~I 1 r.nmn~,sk nt 109 110 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. it is a tempting of God, when we rely upon his presence and protection to preserve us from those dangers, into which, upon that presumption, we voluntarily and needlessly precipitate ourselves. But yet, if, either in the way of thy ordinary employment, or else in some special and extraordinary cases, thou art called to do that which perhaps may be attended with danger and hazard, refuse it not ; but glorify the omnipresence of God and his power, by depending upon him who will always be nearer unto thee than dangers can be. We shew ourselves to be very irrational and childish, in being secure and confident in some places and at some times, but timorous and fearful at others, as if to be alone or in 'the dark were more justly dreadful, than to be in the company of our friends at noon-day: is not God every where present at all times? God beholds us clearly in the most gloomy night : " Darkness and light are both alike to him ;" neither can any evil have power over us, one time more than another, without his permission; and why, then, should our fears? (Isa. 'xli. 10,) " Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness :" and again, (ver. 14,) "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord," and no foot of violence shall crush thee : so again, (xliii. 2,) " When thou passest through the fire and through the waters, I will be with thee." And in the confidence of this omni- presence of God, the Psalmist resolves not to be terrified with the most dreadful shapes and apparitions of danger : (Psal. xxiii. 4,) "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," though death and danger should meet me full in their most dismal shapes, yet "I will fear no evil; for thou art with me." A great reason why we are so frequently overtaken with these low and unbecoming fears, is, because we do not suffi- ciently steep our thoughts in the considera- tion of this attribute of God's omnipresence; and so we sculk, and tremble, and bewray a great deal of base and dangerous fear; as though we lived without a God in the world, and there were no supreme mind present with us to help and relieve us, but we were left wholly to shift for ourselves. It is the observation of a heathen philosopher, (and I think Plutarch,) That if brute beasts be animated and encouraged by the presence of a man, because he is of a superior nature to them, how much more should man himself be encouraged by the presence of the great God with him! Glorify him, therefore, by a bold and courageous encountering of all dangers that his providence or his law shall call thee to; and let it appear, that thou canst despise all those Mormos and hideous spectres of dangers which affright others; because God is present with thee, and he is able to deliver thee. 2d, We ought to glorify this attribute of God's omnipresence, by our constant main- taining communion and fellowship with him. Thou canst not say, "Alas ! God is in heaven above, and I am here upon the earth; and what converse or intercourse can I maintain with his divine majesty ?" no; believe it, God is present with thee wheresoever thou art, and as much within thee as thy soul is in thy body. He is not a God afar off; but he is near unto thee, even in thy heart, and in the very centre of thy being; and therefore thou mayest converse with him by the silent whis- pers of thy thoughts. When the heart doth but breathe and pant towards God, when it conceives thoughts too big and quick to be uttered, thoughts which dart themselves like lightning out of our bosom into his ; even this is, in the account of God, as truly solid and substantial communion with him, as the performance of the more solemn and conspi- cuous duties of religion. This is converse with God; a converse, which no place, no employment, no condition of life can possibly hinder. Be your affairs never so weighty and urgent, it is impossible that they should crowd so close together, as to leave no room for thoughts to come in between them. Be you in what company you will, if you cannot turn the discourse heavenward, yet you may well turn your thoughts thither: for ejaculations are winged messengers; or if they were not, yet God is always present with us, and lays his ear to our very hearts, and hears the ,voice of our thoughts more distinctly than we can hear the voice of one another's words. 3d, Glorify God's omnipresence, by demean- ing yourselves with an humble and reverential fear continually before him. Wheresoever you are, imprint this consideration chiefly upon your hearts, -" Now I am with God : he is present with me in the city, in the field, in the room, in the congregation, in my closet, in all my ways and converse in the world. And, what ! can I be vain, and frothy, and light, when I am before so great and glorious a majesty? If the presence of some earthly prince strike an awe and reverence into us when we come before him, how mrich more ought the consideration of God's pre- sence, in comparison with whom all the glory of the greatest monarchs upon earth is but a silly piece of pageantry !" Now those who would express honour towards another, will not willingly do any thing that is distasteful to him, or unworthy of his presence. And let me tell you, that there is only one thing unworthy of the presence of God, and that is sin; though thou art poor, or diseased, and the most despicable creature among the sons of men, so that they account it a kind of dis- paragement to them to be present with thee; II nh~.n~n_ TTF~t. CC I will fC~a.r nn c~vl~l r tnr ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. yet God is present with thee, and thinks it no dishonour, for there is nothing in this un- worthy of his glory : but if thou art a sinful, lewd, debauched, and vicious wretch, thereby, indeed, thou dishonourest the presence of God, and dost that which is unworthy for him to behold; for " God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity," as the prophet speaks, (Hab. i. 13.) If, there- fore, you would glorify this attribute of God, let your conversation be always as in his sight and under his eye, with all gravity and seriousness, with all reverence and submission, with all purity and holiness. And those who so honour his common presence with them here on earth, he will honour with his glo- rious presence in heaven. Fourth, Another attribute that we are to glorify, is the wisdom and omniscience of God. Indeed, his wisdom and omniscience do somewhat differ; for omniscience respects only the bare act of God's intention, whereby he knows and sees all things : but wisdom is a practical knowledge, and connotes counsel in the government and guidance of all things to his own prefixed and fore-ordained ends. But yet, because they are so near alike, I shall speak of them together. Now God's wisdom and knowledge may be glorified by us many ways : - 1st, By our endeavours to increase in wisdom and knowledge. All wisdom is a bright ray of the Deity darted down into the soul: it is the light of a rational creature, and doth mightily assimilate us unto God, for " God," saith the apostle, " is light ;" and the more light we have beaming into our understand- ings, the more expressly we do bear the resemblance and image of God. Certainly, a dark and ignorant soul can never glorify God : for as light is necessarily required to all reflec- tions, so, here, there can be no representation of the glory of God made in that soul that is clouded over and smutted with ignorance and error. Yea, indeed, knowledge is necessary, not only to our glorifying God in this attribute, but in all the rest; for, as an ignorant man cannot extol the wisdom of God, because he is not capable of perceiving the glorious dis- coveries thereof, either in the methods of his grace or providence, (and, therefore, when the Psalmist had spoken with admiration of the works and counsels of God, he tells us, (Psal. xcii. 6,)" A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this;") so neither can he adore the goodness, power, or mercy of God, because he observes not those effects of them in which they are to be vene- rated and adored : a blind man may as aptly commend the brightness of the sun, the beauty and variety of colours, the orderly and regular motion of the stars and planets, as an ignorant man declare the glory of God's attributes which he could never observe; for what blindness is to the eye, the same is ignorance to the soul. 2d, Thou oughtest to glorify the wisdom of God, by relying upon it when thou art in straits and difficulties, and canst find no way to extricate thyself. When thine affairs are so entangled, that thou canst get no end to unravel them by, then especially commit thy- self to that sovereign wisdom before which all difficulties shall vanish, and whatsoever seemed most intricate and perplexed shall become most plain and open. And, therefore, when affairs seem to run quite contrary both to your hopes and to all probability of success, glorify then the wisdom of God by intrusting him with the conduct of all, and quietly and con- tentedly wait the issue. There are some links in the chain of providence, that seem not well to hang together; and yet even these are so ordered by the great Artificer, that they most forcibly draw in one the other. And, as we see the wheels of a clock or watch move all with contrary motions to each other, and yet by these contrary motions they make it go right; so, likewise, all the contrary motions and revolutions that we see in these inferior engines, are so wisely contrived by the first cause and mover of them all, that, however odd and perplexed they may appear, yet they are all subservient to each other, and to the regular proceeding of God's design: the great machine of the world would not go right, if they should move any otherwise. What could seem more directly to thwart Joseph's advancement, and the fulfilling of those prophetic dreams which presaged him so much honour, than to be sold for a slave, and imprisoned for a malefactor : but yet, upon these strange occurrences wasbuilt the whole fabric of his advancement. Certainly, Providence hath secret methods of its own, which we cannot trace. And therefore let us glorify God, by relying on his wisdom in the worst of events, when our own cannot direct us; because we know not but that these things may tend to our good and advantage. And when our hopes and designs seem dead, withered, and dried, past all semblance and human proba- bility of reviving; yet if then our faith should be questioned, as the prophet was, (Ezek. xxxvii. 3,) " Son of man, can these bones live ?" we ought to return the same answer that he doth, " 0 Lord God, thou knowest." 3d, We ought to glorify the omniscience of God, by the sincerity of all our ends and actions. God inspects our very hearts, and distinctly sees the first fluttering and hovering of our thoughts and desires; if there be but the thinnest film or shadow of an imagination flitting there, his all-seeing eye seizeth on it: the divine knowledge pierceth into the darkest corners and most secret recesses of the soul, and looks through that obscure vault, ----------r f II rlrrnlr ~~rl irvrr~nn~+ r?~rlll nrJ11 rrn~ra~ rvlrrrtt7r 1~5~1~ I ar(~rrlnnomn 111 112 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS, where all our callow thoughts lie confusedly tumbling one upon another : he sees thy thoughts, that lie sleeping in the abyss and centre of thy soul, long before they begin to heave and emerge to the top and surface of it: " Thou understandest my thought," saith the Psalmist, " afar off," (Psal. cxxxix. 2.) Now if thou wouldst glorify this searching and comprehensive omniscience, be careful to ap- prove all thy thoughts, and desires, and designs, in uprightness and integrity, unto God: then is it a sign that thou dost believe him to be an all-knowing God, when thou darest not to dally with thy lascivious fancy, nor suffer any impure, covetous,malicious thoughts and affec- tions so much as once to breathe upon thy soul; when thou darest not commit any sin in secret, although the thickest curtains of night and darkness be drawn about thee; when thou darest not perform holy duties in a cold and heartless manner, and, with bended knees, and elevated hands, and all seemingly devout pos- tures, solemnly mock the great God, whilst thy mind all the while wanders after vanity, and nothing is less heeded by thee in thy duties than that God to whom thou wouldst be thought to perform them. In these three things doth the sincerity of a true Christian most of all appear ; namely, in not daring to allow himself in sinful thoughts; in not daring to allow himself in secret sins ; in not daring to perform holy duties slightly and superfi- cially. Now what other reason can there be, why he should so carefully abstain from these sins, which, if he did indulge, he might yet carry a fair show and be well reputed of by men, but only ghat he knows God seeth not as men see ? they can but look upon the out- ward features of religion, and if they be comely and well complexioned, ought in charity to judge the best : but God looks into the very vitals of the soul; and discovers hypocritical professors to be like hectical persons, rotten and unsound within, when outwardly they appear healthy and well coloured. Indeed, every hypocrite doth most heinously disparage this attribute; for were he verily persuaded that he hath to do with an all-seeing and an all-knowing God, would he dare any more to harbour unclean, sensual, and revengeful thoughts and affections, than to perpetrate those sins in act to which these tend ? would he dare suffer his heart to run over with gall and bitterness, and think all well, whilst his tongue dropped honey? would he dare sin in secret, though he could lock himself up in the centre of the earth, and wrap himself in impenetrable darkness, any more than in the sight of the sun, and the confluence of people? would hlie dare offer unto God the husk and shell of a duty, and, in the meantime, whilst perhaps he is praying, his heart and soul, which God chiefly regards, shall be engaged in deep discourse and com- munication with the devil? did he believe that he is always under the eye of an all- knowing God - a God, who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins - a God, that looks through our souls more clearly than we can through the air, and accurately discerns and observes every mote and atom stirring there; could he be so grossly foolish as to think, that he would be put off with such inimical and apish shows, instead of solid, real, and substan- tial piety, consisting chiefly in the conformity of the soul and affections unto the divine purity. But the truth is, every hypocrite is an atheist : and though, for some sordid ends, he may fawn upon God and flatter him, yet he disbelieves his glorious attributes, and none more than this of his omniscience; and, in his heart, speaks the same blasphemy with those wretches, (Psal. lxxiii.11,) " How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High ?" and therefore satisfies himself with plausible shows and fair pretences, and seeks to hide his nakedness under the fig-leaves of an external and counterfeit sanctity; and all his religion and devotion is indeed but putting tricks upon God, whom he thinks it is as easy to delude, as to juggle with men. If, then, you would glorify the omniscience of God, let all your thoughts, and affections, and desires, and ends, every motion both of your outward and inward man, be ordered as in his sight and under his observation. Say with thyself, " How shall I allow such vain and foolish surmises ? How can I yield to this temptation, though it offer me all the advan- tages of secresy and retirement? How can I content myself to make the service of God only a lip-labour, or a bodily exercise? No: my God looks upon me, and ponders my heart and my ways : that God, whose eye is more effectual to deter me from any sinful and un- worthy act, than if the eyes of all the angels in heaven or of men on earth were fixed upon me. My God and my conscience are a theatre to me: they are more than if all the world besides saw me; and in comparison with these, to sin in the open view of all the world is but to sin in secret." Such reflections as these declare that thou dost highly adore and honour the omniscience of God, when thou art thus careful to approve thyself, in all thy cogitations and actions, to his all-seeing eye. 4tk, Another way to glorify the omniscience of God, is, by a frequent and conscientious per- formance of duties in secret. When there is no other witness to behold thee but God and thine own soul, then do thou pour out thy heart and unbosom all thy wants and desires before him. And, indeed, that Christian who hath deeply imprinted this attribute upon his thoughts, will find it a most powerful and effectual means, as to keep him from sinning in secret, so to quicken him to pray in secret. Hypocrites will often be very pompous and ___.. It rrnn~~ LC+ n (~r n~s nt~Ict~~rtn, r ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 113 splendid in the performance of public duties, where they have a ring of people to admire and celebrate their gifts, and from whom they may think to raise a reputation for their parts and piety; this will make them to expatiate and pour forth such a torrent of raptures and heavenly expressions, that they themselves may seem to be ravished with spiritual joy and sweetness, and their auditors may be really so; but all this may be only ostenta- tion, not devotion ; not because God observes them, but because men observe them; and therefore our Saviour makes it the proper character of a pharisaical hypocrite, to pray only in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, (as the custom was in those days,) that they might "be seen of men," (Mat. vi. 5;) they made a mere stage-play of reli- gion, and then acted best when they were most crowded with spectators; but follow these men home to their houses, to their closets ; and if we had but a cranny to behold them in their retirements, how seldom or never addressing themselves to God, and praying unto him in secret, when they think no eye sees them but God's! for they pray, not so much that God may hear them, as men; and whatsoever they seem with so much earnestness and importunity to beg of him, yet, indeed, the only thing they pray for is, that they may be admired and applauded. But a truly pious and sincere Christian is not only zealous and affectionate in public duties in the congregation, and in private duties in his own family, where he hath witnesses of his devotion; but he considers that he prays to God and not to men; and, therefore, when he is withdrawn from the sight. and notice of others, he applies himself unto God with the same zeal and fervency of spirit as before; well knowing that, iin duties performed unto God, the secresy or publicness of them ought to make no difference in our affections. And, therefore, observe, that so much as thou dost abate of thy holy warmth and fervency in secret duties, which used to carry thee out with great enlargement and vigour when thou hast joined with others, so much of hypocrisy is mingled with thy serving of God. Our Saviour hath given us our rule; (Mat. vi. 6,) "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Let me, therefore, 0 Christians, persuade you to a more constant and zealous performance of secret duties; for this is cer- tainly one of the most infallible marks of a sincere heart that can be given. That Chris- tian cannot be a hypocrite that is but careful to keep up a lively and vigorous communion with God in secret; whereas, let thy duties else be what they will, never so many and never so gaudy, if they be only performed in the view and sight of others, and thou art not frequent in addressing thyself to God in secret, let me tell thee, it is very possible, yea, and very suspicious too, that thou art but a painted hypocrite, a mere blistered professor, that outwardly lookest smooth and shining, but inwardly art full of nothing but corruption and purulency. Go home, therefore, 0 Christian ; enter into thy closet; and there, when none but thou and thy God are together, freely unlock thy heart, and pour out thy soul before him. What! hast thou no sins to confess, no wants to be supplied, no mercies to beg, no complaints to make, no tears to shed, but what it is fit others should be privy to ? certainly, if thou hast not, it is a sign that thou art but too much a stranger at home, and very little conversant with thine own soul. However, do it that thou mayest glorify God ; for he is "thy Father, which seeth in secret ;" and thou canst by no way more honour his omniscience, than by thus acknowledging that he sees and hears thee, when there is no one else that can see and hear thee. 5th, Thou glorifiest the omniscience of God, when, under lying slanders and false accusa- tions, thou canst command and calm all the turbulencies of thy passions, by appealing to the all-seeing eye of God, who knoweth the innocence of thy soul. Indeed, this is the great support of a true Christian when he is wrongfully aspersed, that he can retire in wardly into the retreat of a clear conscience; that he can remit his cause to God, and leave his vin- dication to him, who knows how he is traduced and wronged. It will be a greater comfort to us that God knows us innocent, than a trouble and vexation that wicked men con- spire together to report us guilty. Indeed, if they could persuade God to believe them too, it might be jEst cause of grief and disquiet; but what great matter is it, though a com- pany of vain, giddy, and unreasonable men take up and spread abroad lying rumours concerning us : thou art not to stand or fall according to their votes; and though their slanderous tongues may blot out thy good name here on earth, yet they can never blot thy name out of the book of life. And, there- fore, herein honour the omniscience of God, by bearing up cheerfully and boldly; and if they will cast dirt upon thee, let it be their own, and not thine; this, though it may make thee look more unlovely in the eyes of men, yet it will not do so in the eyes of God. Shew, by thy generous despising of all their malicious censures and reproaches, that thou dost more respect and value the omniscience of God, who knows thee innocent, than all the slanders of men, who report thee guilty. Thus Jeremiah appeals unto God, (xx. 10, 12,) "I heard the defaiming of many. Report, say they, and we will report it. But, 0 Lord of hosts, thou that VOL. II. 114 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, unto thee have I opened my cause." And thus I have shewed you, in these five particulars, how you ought to glorify the infi- nite wisdom and knowledge of God. Fifth, Another attribute of God, which we are to glorify, is his truth and veracity. This is an essential property of the divine nature; and therefore, he is styled a "God of truth," (Psal. xxxi. 5;) and a God "that cannot lie," (Tit. i. 2; ) and, (Heb. vi. 18,) it is said, it is "impossible for God to lie." Truth, or veracity, is nothing else but the conformity of our speeches to the being of things; as, when we affirm that which is, or deny that which is not, then are our speeches true. And, therefore, it is impossible for God to lie; for He cannot speak things otherwise than they be, who speaks them into being. Now the first and general way of glorifying the truth of God, is, by imitating him in this attribute, and speaking truth one to another. Saint Peter hath given us a rule which, though in a more restrained and appropriate sense it may especially concern the ministers of the Gospel, the dispensers of the word of truth, yet I see not but that it may properly appertain unto all men : (1 Pet. iv. 11,) "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ :" that is, let his speeches be as true and certain, as if they were divine oracles. Many, indeed, there are, who speak like the oracles of Apollo, ambiguously, equi- vocally, and falsely; but to speak like the oracles of God is to declare things as they are, simply and nakedly. And if thou either knowest not the things in question, or upon some prudential considerations art unwilling to disclose them, either an acknowledgment thereof or a modest silence must be chosen by thee, without any crafty or guileful windings and ambages prejudicial to the truth. By this means, saith the apostle, God will be glorified : as, indeed, he is, whensoever we endeavour to imitate him in his communicable attributes and perfections. But, more particularly, God's truth is espe- cially seen in three things,-1. In his predic- tions ; 2. In his promises ; and, 3. In his threatenings. All which we ought to glorify. 1st, Glorify the truth and veracity of God in his predictions, by adoring his faithfulness in the wonderful accomplishment of those many prophecies, which have already been exactly and punctually fulfilled. And, indeed, when we consider those pro- phetical passages in the Old Testament con- cerning Christ, the whole history of whose birth, the whole course of whose life, and the whole tragedy of whose death, were, so many ages before, clearly foretold-some declared by express prophecy, some signified by typical prefigurations,-we cannot but admire the wonderful exactness of divine veracity, in so critically accomplishing every particular of what he had so long before declared should come to pass. And truly it is one among many other excellencies of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, that he doth so plainly accom- modate the historical passages concerning our Saviour's birth, life, and death, to the pro- phetical predictions of them in the Old Tes- tament : his birth by a virgin, (Isaiah, vii. 14;) the place of it, Bethlehem, (Micah, v. 2;) God's calling him back out of Egygt, (Hosea, xi. 1;) the bloody massacre of the infants, (Jer. xxxi. 15;) the actions of his prodromus or forerunner, John the Baptist, (Isa. xl. 3 ;) his dwelling in Capernaum, (Isa. ix. 1, 2:) and so throughout the whole contexture of the history of Christ, the evangelist compares the prophecies with the actual accomplish- ment of them, for the firmer establishing of our faith, and the clearer evidence that he was the true Messiah, whom that God, who cannot lie, had foretold should come in the fulness of time. As for those predictions concerning the state of the Church here on earth, which have not as yet received their accomplishment, and therefore are the more dark and obscure unto us, many of which are contained in tlhe Revelation, we ought to glorify the truth and veracity of God, by an unwavering belief that they also shall be punctually fulfilled in their due season, and that not a word which he hath spoken shall fall to the ground in vain. 2d, Glorify the truth and faithfulness of God in his promises, by a confident expecting of those blessings which he hath engaged himself to bestow upon us, if we be careful to perform the conditions upon which his pro- mises are made. If the condition be fulfilled on our part, the promise shall certainly be fulfilled on God's. Hath he promised eternal life to those who believe ? assure thyself, that if thou believest, thou shalt as certainly inherit it, as if thou wert even now glorified; for it is "eternal life which God, that cannot lie, hath promised." Or hath he promised any temporal mercy and good things? that he will provide for thee, and protect thee ? even these promises are condi- tional also, if so be they may be for thy good and his glory, which, if he who is the all-wise God sees, thou shalt infallibly obtain whatso- ever thou desirest; if not, thou mayest very well be contented, for thou dost but desire a harm and damage to thyself. Here, then, glorify God, by resting thy soul and casting all thine affairs upon his promises. Thou hast his truth and veracity bound to make them good; and that, certainly, is such a precious pawn, as that he never hath nor ever will forfeit it. 3d, Glorify God's veracity in his threaten- ings; trembling at the dreadful denunciations ;m~dRnt. ~ilP.nnc! mn.ct. he? ca.hnnpn hv I If t.hc! rn ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 115 of his judgments, both temporal and eternal, against obstinate and impenitent sinners. Which, if thou dost in truth and sincerity of heart, this will fright thee from the com- mission of those sins, against which those heavy plagues and judgments are threatened : for let him pretend what he will, that man doth not believe that God is true in all his threatenings, who yet will dare to continue one day or hour longer in his sins impeni- tently. If neither the mercies nor the terrors of the Lord can persuade us to a holy life, we do but virtually and interpretatively give God the lie ; and do not believe that he is either faithful to his promises, or just and true to his threatenings. Sixth, Another attribute in God, which we ought to glorify, is his almighty power and sovereignty. Indeed, there is a difference between these two. For, 1st, Power connotes only a natural strength and ability to do a thing; but sovereignty includes in it a legal right and authority. And, 2d, Power may be found separate from authority. And so, indeed, it is in the greatest princes and potentates on earth; all whose might and strength above other men consists, not in their natural, but only in their civil and political power and jurisdiction. And so, likewise, in God, his power and his sovereignty bear not the same date, neither are they of equal duration : for God was infi- nite in power eternally before the creation of the world; and had he never exerted his power in any of those wonderful effects of it which we behold, yet he had been for ever the same almighty God that now he is : but sovereignty and dominion are ascribed unto him in time; and in the very notion of them do necessarily presuppose the being of some subjects, over which he is the sovereign Lord. Again, 3d, God's power is of a much larger extent than his sovereignty. For his power extends unto all things possible, since he is able to create many more worlds, and far more noble and excellent creatures in this, than he hath done; but his sovereignty extends only to things actual. Whence our Saviour argues, (Luke, xx. 38,) God "is not the God of the dead," that is, those who so die as utterly to perish and come to nothing, as the Sadducees thought the souls of men did, but he is the God "of the living." Briefly, The power of God is an absolute essential attribute of the divine nature; for ever invariably appertaining to him, whether he express it in any acts of creation and provi- dence or no: but sovereignty is a relative denomination, resulting from God's temporal acts of disposing and governing his creatures according to the counsels of his own will and the rule of his immutable justice. But because these two are so near allied, his sovereignty being founded upon his power, and his power expressed in the acts of his sovereignty and dominion, I shall therefore consider them together. That God is glorious in this attribute of his power, the Scripture doth every where abun- dantly attest, styling him the Almighty God, and ascribing strength and power unto him. Yea, and that he accounts it a very consider- able part of his glory, (Psal. lxii. 11,) "God hath spoken once, yea twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God ;" and, (Psal. xxix. 1,) "Give unto the Lord, 0 ye mighty,give unto theLord gloryand strength;" as if he had said, You that are the great and mighty ones upon earth, who make whole nations obedient to your beck, and tremble at your frown, yet boast not yourselves of the greatness of your power : there is a supreme God above, who, if you "speak of strength, lo, he is strong," (Job, ix. 19;) a God, whose hand and whose voice can shake both heaven and earth out of their place, and make the haughtiest potentates lick the dust before him. Ascribe, therefore, unto him praise and glory, by ascribing unto him might and power; not only that stinted and limited power which you, who are but his under- officers, are invested with; but a strength and power infinitely surmounting yours, who con- ceit yourselves so mighty. For your power can come into no comparison with God's power; no, nor hold out against that which is accounted his very weakness, (1 Cor. i. 25,) "The weakness of God is stronger than men." How, then, shall we glorify this almighty power of the great God. 1st, By an humble and awful adoration of it, in all those wonderful effects whereby God hath expressed the infinite greatness of his power. And here thou canst not want objects, if thou hast but an affection and piety to venerate God in them. The whole world, and every creature in it, is a most evident demonstration of the divine power: " His eternal power and godhead," saith the apostle, " are clearly seen by the things that are made," (Rom. i. 20.) Cast but thine eyes to that vast expansion of the heavens, what a beautiful canopy dost thou there behold, all studded with gems, and almost every star in that general muster of the heavenly host far greater than the whole earth ! Consider this solid and massy globe on which we live, how it hangs immoveably in the midst of an ocean of soft and yielding air, through which all other bodies easily cut their passage: what foundations, what pillars hath it to rest upon, but only that almighty word which first fixed it, and still preserves it in its place and station ? Consider the various kinds of creatures that God hath breathed forth upon the face of the II nim In +Ima ~~,I 116 WORKS OF BISI earth in divers shapes and sizes; some volu- minous, some contracted ; in both which his power is equally seen, but his art and skill rather glorious in the latter. Whence is all this frame and compounded machine of the world, made up of so many different parts, and yet all set together in such an admirable order and harmony? if we run it up to its first original, we shall find all things to have been once a mere nothing. And was it not infinite power that could constrain nothing to yield so many, and such beautiful beings? that the heavens should, out of nothing, spread abroad their liquid crystals? which is therefore most elegantly and naturally compared to " a molten looking-glass," (Job, xxxvii. 18,) that the earth should, out of nothing, gather all its thick parts together; and as the sediment of the world, compact and settle itself in the centre of the universe? Certainly these, and infinite others, are most stupendous demonstrations of his infinite power. Nay, not only these great things, but the smallest and most despised works of God, declare that he is almighty; "Magnus in magnis, nec minor in minimis :" there is not the least spire of grass that sprouts out of the earth, not the least fly that is animated by the sun, but it may be a sufficient conviction of the folly of atheism, and cause us to fall down and adore that God who created and formed it. Glorify, therefore, the power of God by a serious and pious contemplation of these his wonderful works. Wheresoever you go, and whatsoever you see and converse with, you have this book open before you, wherein you may read enough to admonish and instruct you in this attribute. It is time well spent, and thought well employed, when, from the works of creation and providence, from the frame of the world and the govern- ment of it, the various kinds of creatures which ye behold, and the various revolutions of affairs which we hear of abroad, you return into your own hearts, and season them with awful thoughts and reflections on the almighty power of the great God. 2d, Glorify the power and sovereignty of God, by using that power and authority which he hath given you in subordination unto his. Art thou a magistrate, or a parent, or master of a family ? exercise thine autho- rity, as one that is intrusted with it by the great Sovereign of heaven and earth. Exer- cise it so as thou wouldst suppose God him- self would do, were he immediately to govern those whom he hath now committed to thy chaige; for God hath given thee authority, that thou shouldst rule in his stead : thou art deputed, under him, in the place wherein ihe hath set thee. And certainly it is a great dishonour and disparagement to the sove- reignity of God, if thou, who art intrusted with the management of it, shouldst use it I HOP HOPKINS. to quite contrary purposes to what God him- self would do. If thou either encouragest sin and wickedness, or connivest at it, in those who are subject to thee; what is this, but by a practical kind of blasphemy, to make God's authority patronize what it would punish ? 3d, Glorify the power of God by relying on him for safeguard, and deliverance out of all thy dangers. When Nebuchadnezzar threatened those three heroes with his burn- ing furnace, unless they would fall down and worship his golden image, see with what an undaunted courage they answer the menaces of the enraged king : (Dan. iii. 16,) "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter." Whence this confidence, to despise the threats of so great a king, and the terrors of so cruel a death, but only that they glorified the infinite power of God, who could preserve them either from the flames or in them ? (ver. 17,) "If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace." So, likewise, in all the dan- gers to which you can be exposed for the sake of God and of a good conscience, glorify his almighty power, who is able to deliver in the greatest extremities, and will (if it be best) find a way for you to escape. 4th, Glorify the almighty power of God, by fearing to provoke his wrath against you. For who knoweth the power of his wrath ? as the Psalmist speaks, (Ps. xc. 11.) Indeed, a weak impotent anger, that can only vent itself in exclamations and railings, is justly ridiculous and contemptible : but who would not tremble to provoke that God, whose anger, as it is always just, so it is almighty, and able to wreak its revenge upon the stoutest sinners in their eternal ruin and destruction ? It is a most desperate folly to incense that God whom we cannot withstand: therefore the apostle expostulates, (1 Cor. x. 22,) "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he ?" As if he should say, "Indeed, if thou canst try it out with the Almighty, if thou canst wrest the sword of his justice out of his hands, if thou canst dash thyself against the Rock of Ages and be not broken in pieces, then thou mayest go on boldly in thy sins, and prosper: but, alas! for thee, a weak, feeble creature, who art " crushed before the moth," as Job speaks, whose life is "but a vapour," a poor thing, who art just not nothing only by the creating word of God; it is a most deplorable madness for thee to muster up thy forces, and set thyself in battle- array against that great God who can look thee dead, and speak thee into hell. And yet, such is our wretched stupidity, that we dare this great and mighty God to the combat every day and hour. Every sin we commit is a challenge and defiance sent to heaven: we defy his power and wrath, and dare the Almighty to do his worst. Certainly, did ION GLORIFYIN G GOD] I sinners but seriously consider the infinite power of God, would they not fear lest the very next sin they commit, some remarkable vengeance should be inflicted upon them? lest God should suddenly smite them through; cause the earth to open its mouth, and swal- low them up quick into hell ; and make them know, by their own woful experience, that dread power and justice which they now so vilify and despise ? Be persuaded, therefore, O Christians, to glorify this power of the great God, by your holy fear and caution not to provoke and arm it against yourselves. It is our Saviour's counsel, (Matth. x. 28,) "Fear him, which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell : yea, I say unto you, fear him." Know, that when thou makest light of sin, thou dost but contemn the power and wrath of God : so often as thou swearest, or liest, or committest any other known wickedness, so often thou openly declarest that thou accountest of the wrath of God, hell, and everlasting torments but as a trifle, not worth the regard of a generous and daring sinner. And thou who, perhaps, art scared from the commission of many a sin through fear of the magistrate's power to punish thee, but boldly committest others which cannot fall under his power or cognizance, what else dost thou but openly testify, that the power of God is not so tremendous and dreadful as the power of a weak worm like thyself? and what a scorn and reproach dost thou hereby cast upon that glorious attribute! But if thou wouldst glorify it, declare to all the world, that thou ownest his infinite power, which is able to destroy, to damn thee every moment, by thy holy fear to offend so great and so terrible a God. Bth, Glorify the power and sovereignty of God by a constant and conscientious obedience to all his laws. He who is the great Sove- reign of the world must needs have prescribed us some rules to direct us in our obedience. And this he hath (lone in his word, which is the statute-book of his kingdom: it the Scriptures is contained the whole body and system of those laws which our great King hath enacted. Now the best way for us to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, is by yielding all ready and cheerful obedience to those laws which he hath imposed on us. Then do we indeed declare that we own him for our Sovereign, when we resign up our- selves in an universal obedience unto him, and are careful to perform whatsoever he hath enjoined us; as well those duties which immediately concern the service of our Lord , and Master, as those which concern our fel- low-subjects and servants; but if we willingly fail in the observance of any of these, we shake his yoke from off our necks, and with- draw ourselves from under his jurisdiction and command. And thou, who thus disown- IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 117 est him from being thy sovereign Lord, wilt at last find him to be thy severe Judge; and although thou now refusest to submit thyself to the power of his grace, thou shalt be forced to bow and sink, and eternally perish under the power of his wrath. Seventh, Another (and it is the last that I shall speak of) attribute of the divine essence which we ought to glorify, is his justice and equity. Now, although there be no other attribute more conversant with mankind than this of the divine justice, yet neither is there any that is of a more abstruse speculation, or more entangled with perplexed doubts and difficulties, whensoever we attempt a scholas- tical disquisition of it. It is like the sun, nothing more seen than its light, nothing less seen than itself: the most apparent, and yet the most hidden ; the most obvious, and yet the most abstruse perfection of the divine nature. It is not pertinent to my present design to engage in those many critical distinctions and disputes, which are by divers diversely given us concerning the justice of God : my work is more immediately practical. Yet because we ought to have right appre- hensi6ns of that object which we are to glorify; and we cannot glorify God as a just God, unless we have beforehand conceived some proper notions what this justice is; therefore take notice briefly, that the justice of God is twofold :-- 1st, His essential justice, which is nothing else but the infinite rectitude of his nature, according to his own eternal ideas of himself. This is not that which we are now taking into consideration. For as, among men, that which Aristotle, (Eth. 1. v. c. 1. lit. F.) calls the vou~ov teojv~vn, an universal justice respecting the conformity of every action of our lives to law and reason, is not so much any one virtue, as all; so, likewise, this essential and absolute justice of God is not so much any one attribute of the divine nature, as a complexion of them all : for it is the due habitude and proportion of God's infinite perfections to the only.rule of them, which is himself. 2d, There is a moral or relative justice in God, which respects his transactions and deal- ings with his creatures. Now, as among men justice is that virtue which habitually sways them to render to every one his own; so, likewise, in God to- wards men, that disposition which, if we may so speak, inclines him to render to every one his own, is that which we call the justice of God. Here two things are to be observed, - 1. That the foundation of the divine justice is the divine sapience and Will. 2. That the rule of his justice is his Word. 1. The foundation of his justice is his . -- - - --- ------ ----- - --- --- - - 118 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. sapience and will. For God lies under no obligation to his creatures antecedent to the free determinations of his own will. It is just with God to punish some men with eternal torments. Why? because they are sinners, and punishment is their due; and therefore, in inflicting it, he doth but render unto them what is their own. But if you ask farther, whence it proceeds that wrath and punishment should be their due, we can give no other answer to this, but only be- cause the will of God hath so constituted and ordained it as a congruous reward for such actions. So that whatsoever God wills is just and equal; not simply as he wills it only, but as his will is guided by his infinite wis- dom, which dictates such proceedings to be fitting and condecent to the divine nature ; and therefore God wills them as just. For because the divine wisdom sees it congruous that obstinate and impenitent sinners should be eternally punished, therefore the divine will determines to punish them, and their punishment is an act of justice. 2. The rule of divine justice is his word. For God proceeds according to this word, in all his dealings with us. His word contains in it both promises and threatenings; and to the fulfilling of both, God hath obliged him- self by his truth and veracity. And, conse- quently, either the mercy promised or the punishment threatened is our due, according as we either obey or transgress his word : and these being our due, it is but justice in God to render them unto us according as our works have been. Indeed, the schools have well determined, that there can be no commutative justice in God : that is, such justice as consists in an equal exchange of things between party and party, giving and taking a like value: for the apostle hath told us,(Rom.xi.35,36,) "Who hath first given to him ? and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." But there is a distributive justice in God, whereby, as a judge, he recompenseth us pro- portionably to our actions; which justice is regulated by the promises and threatenings of his word. And it is twofold,-1. Remunerative justice, which assigns us a blessed reward, according to our faith and obedience. And, 2. Punitive or vindictive justice, which inflicts upon us eternal'and insupportable punishments, accor- ding to our impenitency and rebellions. And both these the apostle mentions together, (2 Thes. i. 6, 7,) "It is a righteous, or a just thing with God to recompense tribu- lation to them that trouble you : And to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven." And thus I have, as plainly as I could with so much brevity, shewn you what this attri- bute of the divine justice is. Let us next consider how it ought to be glorified by us. 1st, The first and chiefest way, is, by our conformity to it. For justice and equity is a communicable attribute of the divine nature: and the best way to glorify such, is not only to represent them to ourselves, by admiring and adoring them, but to represent them in ourselves, by transcribing and imitating them. Then dost thou glorify the justice of God, when thou endeavourest, within thy sphere and according to thy proportion, to be thyself just. God is just in rendering to every man his own; whether it be his own by merit or by mercy, by desert or by promise : He renders, saith the apostle, "to every man according to his deeds," (Rom. ii. 6,) according to the merit of their deeds: so he renders "indig- nation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, to every soul of man that doeth evil :" and, according to the mercy of his promise, he renders "glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good." Imitate God, in rendering to every one' their own: keep no- thing from them which is their due, except it be the retribution of evil for evil; for this recompense God hath reserved to himself. Now that is said to be another man's, to which he hath a title. And if the title remain in him, but the possession in thee, so long thou art unjust, and dishonourest God, as well as wrongest thy brother ; as thou detainest from him what is rightfully his, contrary to his will and desire. There are two things that give a man a title to any possession,-Law, and Conscience. 1. Human laws. God's laws are the rule of his justice towards men, and men's laws are the rule of their justice one towards another. These set bounds to our property, and deter- mine what is ours, and what not: and who- soever he be that breaks through this fence, and either violently or fraudulently seizes upon that which the laws under which he lives hath assigned to his brother, he is an unjust person, and transgresseth not only the laws of men, but that sovereign law of God, "Thou shalt not steal." God's law commands us not to take what is another's; but man's law shews us what is another's: man's law makes property, and God's law secures it: else, why may not any enter into your houses, and take thence what best likes them ? for what makes it yours more than theirs? is it that you have acquired it? by the same reason it will be as rightfully theirs, when they have gotten it: and so the whole earth would be filled with violence, and rapine, and confusion, did not laws determine what is yours, and what not; and parcel out the common goods of nature, assigning to every one his share, which for another to invade and take from him, is rapine or deceit. And, therefore, it is an unjust thing to alienate any possession of ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. another, upon pretence that it is superfluous, or may be employed to better uses, or that the owners are wicked and undeserving : for, be the persons never so wicked, their estates never so redundant or misemployed, what they hold is as much their own, as those few things which perhaps thou art owner of, and are barely necessary for the sustentation of thy life: and if thou shouldest attempt to deprive them of any part thereof, it is as much injustice, as if any should attempt to take from thee the only piece of bread by which thou livest. Indeed, the laws under which we live may, and often do, alter the property : so that what was mine before, ceaseth to be so I when the law hath assigned it to another; and I am unjust and guilty of theft, if I detain it from him : it is no longer mine, but his, when the same authority that gave me title to it before, hath now transferred that title from me to him: hence we have that exhortation of the apostle, - an exhortation very needful to be pressed upon us in these unjust days, wherein men are utterly unwil- ing to be guided by any laws besides their self-will and self-interest-- (Rom. xiii. 7,) " Render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour." You see here, that tribute and custom are called dues : and what else makes them due, but only the law of man ? and, certainly, if the law of man can make a tribute out of mine estate, or a custom out of my goods, to be due to another, suppose the prince or any other magistrate, am not I guilty of injustice arid theft if I detain it from him; yea, altogether as much as if I should steal from him what already he hath in his posses- sion ! Thus you see how human laws confer right and title; and therefore we are bound in justice to render to every one according to their prescription. 2. But there may be several cases, which the law cannot particularly reach unto, wherein we may be unjust towards others. For not only the law, but conscience, may confer a title upon others: and this ought to oblige us, when, many times, the law cannot. Thus, what thou hast promised to another, thou standest bound to perform, although possibly he cannot prove that promise by any other witnesses than those thousand of thine own conscience. And many other such like instances may be made, wherein conscience and equity require thee to render that unto another, which, perhaps, law and judicial process cannot compel thee to do: but yet, if thou art in thine own conscience persuaded that thy brother hath a better right and title to what thou possessest than thyself, although possibly he knows not of it, or could never recover it by a legal course, yet justice binds thee to render it to him: it is his; and the proper office and effect of justice is, to render to every one his own. Let us now proceed to consider the kinds of justice; which are two, Commutative or Dis- tributive. (1.) We ought to giorify God by a commu- tative justice; rendering to every one his due, in our bargains, sales, and commerce : wherein we ought to observe an exact equality between what we give and what we take; otherwise we cannot but be unjust, and wrong either ourselves or others. This is a duty which the very light of nature and the dictates of reason enforce upon us; that upon which the frame of all corres- pondence and transactions in the world doth depend: and whosoever he be that openly transgresseth the rules of this justice, is looked upon as an infamous person; shunned and avoided by all, as one not fit for human con- versation : neither, indeed, is he; for this kind of injustice, if it were grown into common practice, would soon turn the world into a wilderness, and men into savage beasts, raven- ing and preying one upon another ; and nothing that we possessed could be secured from violence or fraud. Neither is this justice only a dictate of the law and light of nature, but God hath added many sanctions to it by his express commands; especially that serious and weighty one, (1 Thess. iv. 6,) "Let no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such." And, indeed, there is scarce any one sin that is more injurious unto God, as well as unto men, than this of fraud and injustice; it wrongs him in many of his attributes: it heinously affronts his sove- reignty, when a little inconsiderable gain shall tempt us to violate his laws, and despise his authority, and hearken to the imperious commands of our own base and sordid cove- tousness, rather than to the commands of the great God: it calls in question his fidelity, nay, rather, it plainly demonstrates that we do utterly disbelieve it; for, did we think that there were any truth either in his threatenings or his promises, should we be so foolish, as, for a present petty gain, to forfeit the hopes of a future inheritance and inexhaustible treasures in heaven? or to incur the certain danger of eternal destruction in hell, where we shall wofully refund all that we have either gotten or kept unjustly? it directly contradicts the mercy and goodness of God, which teacheth and obligeth us to be so far from wronging of others, as to be bountiful and beneficent to them : and, therefore, in all respects, injustice toward men is a high injury done against God himself. And yet, how common a sin is this in the world! are not all places filled with sad complaints of wrong, violence, and oppression: each snatching what they can from others; and taking all advantages, either 119 j 5~Tln T.IT-fC~ ~.nn r.ncrc?-rnrr~ ~c? ~-lrp. rrlnrln I rlls ~,11TII()1'1 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. frcm the weakness or inadvertency of their brethren, t6 overreach and defraud them? A sin, shall I say unworthy of Christians? yea, unworthy of men ; contrary to the very con- stitution of civil societies: but infinitelyshame- ful and opprobrious in those that profess the Gospel, who, by this means, bring an indelible blot and reproach upon religion ; and, by their extortion, oppression, and injustice, open the mouths of too many to blaspheme the holy name of God, whilst they look upon an eminent and glorious profession only as a more cleanly art to cheat and cozen. Be persuaded, therefore, O Christians, to glorify the justice of God, by the justice and equity of your dealings with men. Let it appear by all your actions, that you do acknowledge there is a just God in heaven ; a God, who critically observeth all that you do, and who will render unto you according to your works: and that, for the awe and reverence of his impartial justice, you dare not do any thing that is unjust towards men. This is the way to glorify him, far more effectually than by all the encomiums and verbal representations which thou canst make of his justice: for how can others be persuaded that thou dost believe there is a just God, whilst thou thyself, notwithstanding all thy professions, art unjust, cruel, covetous, taking or detaining from others what is their due, as if the only reward thou expectedst were to live upon the spoil ? are these proper actions to convince them, that there is a just God, or that thou dost think him so ? nay, rather, will it not prove a strong temptation to them to call the justice of God into question, when they see thee so long escape unpunished, and to conclude, as many upon the like account have done, that cer- tainly the world is not guided by sovereign justice and equity, but only by mere chance and casualty? The only way to work a venerable esteem of the justice of God in the minds of men, is to be as punctual in our dealings with them, as we would desire they should be with us; yea, to be as just to them, as we would desire God should be merciful to us: this will convince the world, that certainly there is a supreme justice that overawes us, that we dare not take those advantages which the ignorance or oversight of others puts into our hands to 'defraud them; and that we do indeed believe that there is a day coming, wherein a thousand witnesses shall be pro- duced to testify what agreements and com- pacts we have made, where the false weights shall be themselves weighed, and the scanty measures themselves meted by a standard that is infallibly true, and all the controversies of right and equity shall be decided to the eternal shame and horror of those who have done the wrong. That is one way of glorifying the justice of God. (2.) We ought to glorify the justice of God by our distributive justice, rendering unto all men the rewards and punishments that are due unto their actions. This part of justice belongs not to private Christians, but only to the magistrate : for he is God's justiciar, and rewards and punish- merits are consigned over unto him: (Rom. xiii. 3, 4.) If thou dost well, "he is the minister of God to thee for good : but, if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is the minister of God; a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Indeed, a magistrate's office should be a clear type and representa- tion of the justice of God, and human judica- tories an emblem of the great and last assize; and the administration of justice here should bear an exact proportion to that strict justice which God will execute, when all the world shall appear before him to receive their doom. There should not an offender escape deserved punishment, especially those who are pre- sumptuous and peremptory upon their great- ness and the eminency of their quality, who make it their sport to baffle the law and out- face justice. God's justice is impartial, and spares neither the poor for pity, nor the rich for fear ; but will eternally retribute to every one according to what he has done. And if thou, to whom he hath committed the admi- nistration of his justice, shalt dispense it with respect of persons; either moved with com- miseration, or interest, or base fear, or any other by or sinister end, thou highly dis- honourest him, distributing that for the justice of God, which is but the injustice and par- tiality of man. It hath been an old complaint, that laws were but like cobwebs, which served, indeed, to hamper the smaller flies, whilst the greater and stronger securely break through them. Let it be your care and endeavour to remove this obloquy; and by a severe ani- madversion, not only on poor trembling offenders, but on haughty and audacious criminals, who think to outbrave authority with their greatness, make it appear that you look upon yourselves as the dispensers of God's justice, which respects them no more than the most contemptible wretch that lives upon the face of the earth. And thus I have shewn you how you ought to glorify the justice of God, by imitation: i4 our commutative justice, by rendering to every one his own, which appertains to every private Christian to perform; and in distri- butive justice, rendering to every one the due desert of his actions, which belongs not to private Christians, but to magistrates and those in authority. 2d, When the divine justice hath found thee out, then thou oughtest to glorify it, by a free and full confession of thine offences. Now there are two ways in which the 1O ------.. _ _ __ { ON GLORIFYING GOD justice of God doth find out sinners,-Some- times, by inflicting remarkable plagues and judgments upon them, plagues that carry in them a great correspondence and alliance to the sins they have committed, so that they cannot but read their very crimes in their punishments; and sometimes, by detecting their crimes which they thought were committed in secret, and bringing them to condign punishment for them. And, indeed, strange are the instances that might be given of God's marvellous providence in this particular, especially in bringing murder and bloodshed to light. Now, one or other of these ways, men's sins and God's justice will usually find them out. " Be sure," saith Moses, (Numb. xxxii. 23,) that " your sin will find you out." And, therefore, in these cases, glorify the justice of God, by a free and full confession of thy guilt. 1. If God lay any sore plague and judg- ment upon thee, go and humble thyself, and confess thy sin unto him in secret ; and pray unto him, chiefly that he would take away thy sin, and then thy punishment. Or, if this will not give sufficient ease to thine afflicted conscience, take unto thee some serious, prudent Christian ; inform him how the case stands between God and thy soul beg the assistance of his advice and prayers. This is the apostle's direction, (James, v. 16,) "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." This is the way to give God the glory of his justice; when thou shalt fall down and acknow- ledge, that what he hath brought upon thee is just and righteous, and the due reward of thy sins. And, indeed, God doth many times _nflict such peculiar punishments upon us, which do indigitate and point out our sins, as it were on purpose to extort his glory from us, in our confession of his justice. Some- times he punisheth us after the same manner in which we have offended him : we have a famous instance for this in Adonibezek, (Judges, i. 7,) "Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table; " and he, suffering the like from the Israelites, acknowledgeth the justice of God in thus repaying his cruelty; "As I have done, so God hath requited me." Thus God dealt with the Egyptians: they cruelly murder the male children of the Israelites; and therefore God slays all their first-born. And sometimes, again, judgments carry a likeness unto the sin, though not in the very same thing, yet in many circumstances of it: as when God smites men in the same subject, object, time, instruments, or members of sinning. Thus, David grows proud of the number of his sub- jects; and therefore God sweeps them away by a pestilence, and makes him subtract IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 121 threescore and ten thousand from the account: he dotes on Absalom, and God ordains Absalom to rebel against and endeavour to dethrone him: so, that very hand which Jeroboam stretched forth to lay hold on the prophet, God withers and dries up. Now if any such judgment bath befallen you, that carries on it the very stamp and impression of the sin for which God inflicts it, adore and glorify his justice; fall down before him, and confess that he is righteous and holy in all that he hath brought upon you. 2. If the divine justice hath so found thee out as to detect thee, and bring thee to tem- poral punishment for thy crimes, then glorify it, by a free and public confession of them to all the world. Strive not to cover the sore which God lays open; but take to thyself the shame of thine iniquities, and give God the glory of his justice, by acknowledging thy guilt, and ad- miring his most wise and righteous methods .in discovering thee, when thou thoughtest thy wickedness had been hid in darkness and secrecy : so that others may hear, and fear to offend that God, who can, by such unknown ways of his providence, bring to light the hidden things of darkness. Thus, when Achan was miraculously discovered by lot, Joshua exhorts him, (vii. 19,) "My son, give, I pray thee, glory to tke Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me:" which, accordingly, we find he did, and we may therefore hope well of his pardon. It is a most desperate folly of many stupid wretches, to persist obstinately in denying those crimes of which they are evidently con- victed; and, that their names may escape the infamy, bind the guilt of them fast upon their souls for ever. That is, therefore, a second way of glorifying the justice of God, by a free and full confes- sion of our sins, when his vengeance hath found us out. 3d, If thou art unjustly wronged and oppressed by others, glorify the justice of God, in committing thy vindication to him. Seek not to revenge thyself; for by so doing, thou dost but take thy cause out of God's hands, who "is better able to plead it for thee. If thou studiest how to recom- pense evil for evil, thou disparagest the justice of God, and suspectest that it will not do thee right; and therefore thou wilt seek to carve out to thyself what amends thou canst. Certainly, he doth most of all honour the justice of God, who, when he hath suffered wrongfully, doth, without any farther care or solicitude, recommend his cause to God. Nor can I approve those, who, when they are injured, do indeed betake them to God ; but it is with bitter curses and direful imprecations against those who have injured r~l~~r ~II 1T ~lrrlT ~T~ \1711 T\T\ ~ 122 WRKS O BISOP HOKIN- them, praying for wrath and vengeance to fall upon them: what! think we that the wrath of God must take fire at ours; and that he must dart down his thunderbolts according to the guidance and direction of our passions? this were to make the justice of God servile to our affections, and an instru- ment for our revenge. Indeed, we do often meet in Scripture with such dreadful impre- cations, where the saints of God devote his and their implacable enemies to utter ruin and destruction; yet this is no warrant for us to use them too. For as our Saviour Christ rebuked his disciples, who were vexed at the affront they received from a village that would not entertain them, and there- fore entreated him to call for fire, as Elias did, to come down and consume them, (their zeal was all in a ferment, and presently boiled up to an intemperate feverish heat,) but our Saviour checks them, and tells them, (Luke, ix. 5i,) " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of-:" intimating that Elijah prayed for fire to come down upon those captains and their companies that were sent to take him, from some extraordinary spirit, and by the mighty guidance and impulse of the Holy Ghost; but they did it only from a private spirit of revenge: so I may say, that those examples which we have in Scripture, especially in the Psalms, of saints and holy men of God devoting their enemies to ruin, were from the impulse and direction of an extraordinary spirit, which we cannot pretend unto; and, therefore, for us to imitate them, would not be zeal, but wildfire. Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered infinitely greater indignities than any that we can, hath set us another example, when, amidst the rage and insultings of his most bitter enemies, he prays, (Luke, xxiii. 34,) "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And his holy martyr Saint Stephen, who was the first that followed our Saviour in the track of his blood, follows him likewise as closely in his example; and when the stones flew thick about him from their malicious hands, it is said, (Acts, vii. 60,) that "he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Indeed, though it may seem a paradox, yet it is a stated and measured truth, that then thou dost most of all glorify the justice of God, when thou implorest mercy for those who have wronged and injured thee, that God would forgive them and turn their hearts: for in so praying, what dost thou else, but pray that God's justice may be cleared in clearing thy inno- cence ? if thou canst but pray down mercy upon them, thou wilt also pray down repent- ance into them; and then thou hast gained the most noble and Christian-like revenge that can be desired. 4th, Glorify the justice of God, by endea- vouring to make thyself worthy to escape the direful and destructive effects of it. Thou hast been told how severe and tre- mendous this justice is. All the astonishing judgments that have ever befallen any of the sons of men in this life, are but small prelu- diums of it, in comparison with those massy and solid plagues that are laid up in store to be inflicted on impenitent sinners hereafter in hell : that is the proper region and sphere of justice, where wrath and wo for ever triumph, without mixture or abatement. Well, now, 0 soul, is there a way for thee to escape this terrible justice of the great God; and wilt thou not, with the dearest affections of thy heart, close with it and embrace it? what is this, but to slight and disparage the wrath and justice of God? He hath but required faith and obedience from thee; and upon these hath promised, that thou shalt never fall a sacrifice to his justice, but be set up a trophy of his grace and mercy; and certainly, if thou wilt not come up to these terms, it is too evident a sign that thou despisest his justice, and thinkest it not worth the fearing. And thus I have at large shewn you how you ought to glorify God in these seven attri- butes,-his holiness, his mercy and goodness, his omnipresence, his omniscience, his vera- city, his power, and his justice. Indeed, there are several other attributes and perfections of the divine nature, which ought also to be glorified by us; but these, that I have already insisted upon, are the principal, and most frequently occur in the course of our lives, to be observed and imi- tated by us. From what hath been said of our glorifying God, I shall deduce this short inference and corollary :- See here, then, what a Christian's life ought to be; only a representation of God. The divine perfections should shine through all our actions; and whatsoever we do, ought to be either a resemblance of the divine nature, or a declaration of it. We have no other work nor business to do in the world, but to live according to the attributes of God, and to express his life in ours. For what is it to be godly, but to be like unto God? that whilst the children of the devil are like unto their father, and declare his hellish nature in their hellish lives, all that are the children of God should be like unto their heavenly Father, and express the virtues of him that "hath called us out of darkness into his mar- vellous light," as the apostle speaks, (1 Pet. ii. 9.) And to conclude this, those Christians who thus make it their constant employ- ment to live on earth as God himself lives in heaven, may, with assured hope and un- speakable comfort, expect to live for ever with the Lord. 1?PF t~r(YIVP t.nPM I ~nrnll~ 122 WORKS OF, BISHOP HOPKINS, ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. We have thus considered the duty to which we are here exhorted, even the great and most comprehensive duty of a Christian's whole life, and have shewn you what it is to glorify God. We have considered the object of this duty ; God, in all his attributes, both communicable and incommunicable ; and have shewn you how they ought particularly to be glorified by us. III. Let us now consider what the apostle adds farther in the text, "Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit," Ev , owpe r xa ' rvsv.4r ; that is, in your body, and in your soul. For, by the word "' spirit," the soul of man is here to be understood; as likewise in many other places of Scripture; and this to denote that it is of a refined, incorporeal sub- stance. Sometimes, indeed, the spirit of a man is mentioned in contradistinction, as well to his soul as to his body; so in that prayer of the apostle, (1 Thess. v. 23,) "I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless." But here it must not be understood as if it were a third essential part of: man ; but either, according to Saint Austin, (de Anim, tom. 3. lib. iv. c. 22, 23,) these words, soul and spirit, are but exege- tical one of the other, and signify both the same thirig; or else by spirit is meant only the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which Saint Paul prays might be preserved entire and blameless in the Thessalonians, as Chry- sostom interprets those words, (Chrys. in loc.) Or else, according to others, (Zanch. in loc.) by spirit is meant the superior faculties of the mind, reason and understanding; and by soul, the inferior faculties, of will, affec- tions, and desires. But when the Scripture speaks of the spirit of a man in distinction only to his body, as it doth in my text, it means nothing else but the soul; as including in it both the superior faculties of the mind, reason and understanding; and the inferior faculties, of the will, appetite, and affections. So that, to glorify God in our spirit and in our body, is to glorify him in our whole man, and all the powers and faculties that we are endowed with. For we are a middle sort of creatures; neither pure intellectual spirits, as the angels are, nor mere corporeal beings, as inanimate things; but God bath tacked these two extremes together, and made them meet in man, who, by his soul, holds hands with angels, and by his body, with material crea- tures. Hence we may observe, that the whole man, both soul and body, ought to be em- ployed as the instruments of promoting God's honour and glory. .For the clearer prosecution of this, note, - 1st, That when we speak of glorifying God in our whole man, both soul and body, this phrase comprehends under it all those accessary good things which appertain to either. Some things are reckoned the natural goods of the soul: such are prudence, sagacity, wit, learning, judgment, &c. Some things are reckoned the natural goods of the body : such are health, liberty, food, raiment, riches, &c. And some things belong neither properly to the soul nor to the body; but to the whole compositum or man, consisting of both united together : and such are credit and reputation, honour and dignity, dominion and authority, &c. Now, in all these things, God is to be glorified by us. 2d, When we say God is to be glorified by us in our whole man, we must know that there are two ways of glorifying him; either actively, by fulfilling the will of his precepts, or passively, by suffering the will of his purpose. I shall first speak of glorifying God actively in our body and in our spirit, by doing his will. First, then, Every duty of God's immediate service and worship, wherein we draw nigh unto him, requires a joint concurrence both of soul and body to glorify him in it. Our Saviour Christ calls his service a yoke, (Matt. xi.) And certainly it isa yoke, wherein both soul and body must be coupled, and draw together : the soul indispensably, the body with a dispensation; but that dispensation granted only in case of mercy or necessity. 1. In all the duties wherein we address ourselves to God, we ought to glorify him in our souls and spirits. "God is a spirit," yea, "' the God of the spirits of all flesh; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth," (as our Saviour speaks, John, iv. 24.) And this God hath, with the great- est instance, required of you, (Prov. xxiii. 26,) "My son, give me thy heart ;" what- soever else we tender unto God, if this be wanting, it is but the carcass of a duty. And as of old all sacrifices were accounted direful and unacceptable, if the heart could not be found in the slain beast, or any of the inwards were wanting, or tainted, or misplaced; so all thy sacrifices which thou offerest up to God, are monstrous and unacceptable to him, if the heart be not found in them, and the inwards sound and entire. Thou dealest with God as he in the Apologue with Hercules, who, having vowed to him the one-half of what he should find that day, himself eat the kernels, and offered up only the shells of the nuts he found to his deity. So thou dost, indeed, offer up one-half of thyself in the service of God; but it is only thy body, the husk and shell, whilst vain thoughts, or worldly cares, or wicked lusts, prey upon and devour thy heart and soul. Thinkest thou, that thy God is such an idol god to be con- tented with such a part, or that he will be 123 124 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. put off with shows and outward appearances ? us that can wholly acquit himself of this? If he knows not thy heart, and the intentions Some, that they might not be thought hypo- and desires of thy soul, to what purpose dost critical worshippers of God, run into another thou worship him ? What do those humble extreme, and demean themselves rudely and and devout postures signify to him who, if irreverently in his presence; they will not he sees not deeper and farther than these, shew any devotion, that it might be thought sees nothing? Or if he doth thoroughly dis- they have the more; but yet, take them in cern, and accurately scan every the least their most careless and unseemly postures, motion of thy thoughts and affections, wo and is it not hypoctitical that they present unto thee who shalt dare to make religion a their bodies and their outward man before piece of stage-play; and by thy personating the Lord, when their hearts and affections and counterfeiting of the saint, think to are with the eyes of the fools in the ends of impose upon the omniscient God, and to the earth? What is the end of thy coming pass for such an one indeed in his account. hither? is it not to serve and glorify God? Indeed, hypocrisy is a mere inimical folly, If it be not, thy very coming is hypocritical; and hypocrites are but like your Neurospasts, if it be, all thy wandering thoughts, thy vain or little images, that move their eyes and and worldly imaginations, thy drowsiness, thy bodies, not from any yital principle within want of attention and affection, is all from them, but only as they are acted by wires the bitter root of thy natural hypocrisy. In and engines without : so the hypocrite twines prayer, thou ownest the duty by being pre- his body into many flexible postures of seem- sent at it; and if thou dost not cordially close ing piety and devotion, not from any living with every petition, and as soon as it comes principle of grace within, but only as he is from the minister's mouth, send it up to moved by some outward wires of advantage heaven from thy very heart, whatsoever thy or applause. Is this a serving and glorifying posture be, thou playest the hypocrite : in of God ? or rather, is it not a mocking and hearing, if thou dost not diligently attend to flouting of him to his very face? The Jews the truths that are delivered, and submit thy never more cruelly mocked our Saviour Jesus will, prejudices, and interests, unto the evi- Christ, than when "they bowed the knee dence of it, thou hearest hypocritically: and before him," and bid him, " Hail, king of the whatsoever other duty thou performest by Jews :" so, believe it, God will interpret all thyself, or joinest in with others, so long as thy officious gestures when thou fallest on thy thy mind hath been diverted unto other knees and stylest him Lord and King; he will objects, and thy thoughts scattered by other interpret all to be but a solemn mockery, cares, so long hast thou been a hypocrite in if thy soul fall not as prostrate before him that duty; for thou makest an outward show as thy body, and if thy affections be not of what is not in thy heart or affections. elevated unto heaven, as well as thy hands Well, then, if you would glorify God, fix and and eyes. And as these hypocritical mimics, engage your spirits in all the duties you per- who thus pretend to glorify God, do yet really form to him : in prayer, let zeal and affection scorn and vilify him more than any ; so again, warm your hearts, and offer up that spiritual on the other hand, God doth most of all scorn sacrifice with that heavenly fire; think of and detest them, and looks upon them as nothing but that God to whom you pray, and the most loathsome and ridiculous wicked those blessings you pray for : hear the truth wretches that are; for we may observe, that with as much attention and reverence as if where imitation falls short, the partial defect God were himself speaking to you with his is worse than a total privation. What beast own voice, and mind nothing but how you more deformed in his shape, or more ridicu- may understand it for the present, and prac- Ions in his actions, than a marmoset or ape? tise it for the future. In all your duties bend and yet none approacheth in a nearer resem- every power and faculty of your souls to the blance in both unto man, who is the crown utmost tension; command them to regard and glory of the visible creation : so, truly, a nothing else for that time, and if the fowls of hypocrite is but the ape of a true Christian, the air, thy flying and roving thoughts, will and all his devotion is but an apish imitation yet come down upon thy sacrifice, let it be of the external acts of piety, which, because thy care, as it was Abraham's, speedily to they proceed not from an inward participation drive them away, for by their touch they of the divine nature, are most despicable and defile it, but by their stay they would de- deformed in God's account. Let them squeeze your it. and writhe their faces into as many forms as 2. In all the duties of worship which we they please, and when they fast or pray put perform unto God, we ought to glorify him, on what countenance they will, yet if their not in our spirits only, but in our bodies. hearts and affections correspond not with their As, on the one hand, it is gross hypocrisy outward semblances, they do but play the and dissimulation if we present our bodies antics, they do but grin and make mouths at only before the Lord, with all the shows of a God. But yet, alas! who is there among real affection and devotion, whilst yet the ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. heart is far estranged from him'; so again, on the other hand, it is a saucy irreverence and profane rudeness, to pretend to worship God in the spirit, when we pay him no respect or observance with our bodies. Certainly, he hath created both soul and body; and he is the sovereign Lord of both, and expects that tribute and honiage should be rendered him from both. Some men have driven all their religion so far inward, that it is become altogether invisible : and because God is a spirit, they serve him as if they were spirits too, and had nothing to do with the body: they have heard that "bodily exercise profiteth little ;" nor, indeed, doth it, where the heart and soul do not both excite and accompany it: and because it is an empty piece of for- mality and pageantry to worship God only with the body, they will not worship him with the body at all, but only with the spirit ; and so unyoke these two which God hath made to draw together. How many have we seen affect irreverence as a part or sign of spiritualness, and choose the most unseemly postures they could, only that it might appear they did not flatter nor compli- ment with God ! It is a weakness hugely incident to human nature, and that, I think, with which the world was never more tainted than in thlese our days, to cure extremes by extremes: because hypocrites worship God only with the outward man, and content themselves only with the pomp and ostenta- tion Qf an external devotion, therefore do so many think it a demonstration of sincerity to discharge the body utterly from bearing any part in their worship : they despise reverence ts a piece of formality, and make communion with God to consist in a familiar rudeness. Certainly, not your souls only, but your bodies also, were made for the Lord, as the apostle speaks. He expects his tribute of glory from it, although it cannot pay it in so high and refined a manner as the soul; and though its actions be but gross and in- considerable, in comparison with the pure and sprightly operations of the mind; yet they are not so inconsiderable but that God absolutely requires them firom us; and if we be not careful to honour him with our bodies, we rob him, if not of part of his service, yet of his servant. I would not insist so pressingly on this, did I not observe that outward reve- rence is not only grown into disuse, but into contempt among us; and he is accounted God's best friend and intimate, that keeps the least distance: hence proceed those unwieldy gestures, that argue nothing but either a slighting or wearisomeness of the service you are engaged in. Believe it, God is a great King; and in his service he expects as humble expressions of your reverence as any you can think due to the greatest monarchs of the woild. What saith the Lord concerning those who offered the lame and the maimed for sacrifice, (Mal. i. 8?) Offer it now unto your governor: see whether he would be pleased and contented with such a present ; and if an earthly prince would look upon it as an affront rather than a gift, think you that the King of kings and Lord of lords will account such a lame and imperfect offering worthy of his acceptance? certainly, that is not fit for God which is not so much as fit and decent for man. And though God looks especially at the soul and the inward affections of the heart, yet he also expects that his offering should be entire, not lame and maimed of one half. He requires from you that outward reverence that is necessary to testify a due sense of his glorious presence: he requires that you should sacrifice yourselves entirely to him, your bodies upon the altar of your hearts and affections; and both soul and body upon that altar which alone can make both acceptable, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in all the duties which we perform immediately unto God, we are to glorify him in our bodies two ways,-1. By making them the instruments of his service; 2. By making them the witnesses and testimonies pf our respect and reverence. (1.) Our bodies must be employed as the instruments of God's service. And here the tongue is the chief member, which, by the Psalmist, is oftentimes called his glory, because it is a principal organ of glorifying God. Herewith we bless God for mercies already received, and herewith we pray unto God for mercies which we yet need. And though praise and prayer be chiefly the work and employment of the heart, and God can distinctly read what is printed there; yet this sufficeth not, if the voice too bear not its part, where it may be done with conveniency and decency. (2.) We ought to glorify God in our body, by testifying all lowly respect and reverence in those duties which we perform unto him. Whatsoever liberty the wantonness of our late times hath indulged, yet certainly we ought, in all our addresses unto the great God of heaven, to compose ourselves in such an humble and reverential posture, as may testify that our souls are deeply affected with the awe and dread of that great majesty before whom we appear. Wherefore serve the ges- tures of the body, but to signify the respect of the mind? and, therefore, if we ought to demean ourselves lowlily in the presence of our superiors, only to testify the inward veneration and esteem which we bear towards them; should we not much more do so in the presence of the great God? And if some have falsely and hypocritically made use of this sign, when they have pretended a great deal of zeal and affection in their outward comportment, though inwardly they have .. 125 11 126 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. been full of all manner of wickedness, yet this should be no argument to us to neglect it; but first, we should labour to have deep impressions of awe and reverence made upon our spirits, and then express that reverence in the most significant and humble deport- ment of our bodies. This is to glorify God in our spirit and in our body. And therefore doth the Scripture every where abound both in giving us directions and examples of out- ward reverence in the worship of God. In prayer, we find the holy men of old frequently used three several postures, all of them expressive of a deep humility,- Prostration, or a falling flat on the ground. Thus it is said of Job, that'he "fell down upon the ground, and worshipped," (Job, i. 20.) Kneeling, which is most often mentioned; yea, and because it was the common gesture in this duty, it is of itself mentioned as a periphrasis of prayer by Saint Paul, (Eph. iii. 14,) " For this cause I bow my knees," that is, for this cause I pray "unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Standing. So it is said, (2 Chron. vi. 12,) that Solomon stood upon the brazen scaffold, and spread forth his hands and prayed : and, (chap. xx. 5,) that Jehoshaphat "stood in the congregation" and prayed. Either of these is a fit posture for prayer, but especially kneeling; and they all express that reverence and humility which our souls ought to be possessed with when we appear in the presence of the great and glorious God. But for other gestures, which either pride, contradiction, or laziness has introduced, they are altogether unfit for this duty; and what- soever inward affection and zeal men may pretend to, yet certainly they give but very little demonstrations of it outwardly. Then, again, for hearing the word, we should do it with a composed gravity and seriousness ; shewing the fixedness of our minds by the fixedness of our bodies. Con- sider that the great King of heaven speaks to you; he speaks by his ambassador; and the same attention and reverence that you would shew to your prince, were he speaking untoyou, the same, yea, and much greater, ought you certairnly to shew to your God. Concerning particulars, I leave it to your Christian pru- dence to judge what is most expressive of reverence towards men ; which, though per- haps it be no part of the worship of God, yet he expects and requires as a befitting circumstance; yea, and a circumstance so considerable, that it is almost all that your bodies can do in his service. And judge, I pray, whether it be any less than a slighting of God, that you should declare more respect and reverence to your superiors, which are but mortal frail men like yourselves, than to him, who is the immortal and most high God, blessed for evermore. The apostle is somewhat large in giving directions to the Church of Corinth, concern- ing their outward demeanour in the public worship of God, (1 Cor. xi. 4,) " Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." That this is spoken, not only of the preacher, but of the hearers, appears plainly by the following verse, "Every woman that prayeth or pro- phesieth with her head uncovered, dishonour- eth her head." Now, certain it is, that women were not to pray or to prophesy in the church as teachers, for it was not permitted them to speak; they prayed, therefore, as joining in prayer ; and prophesied as attend- ing upon prophesying, that is, upon preaching the word. And so, in like manner, the whole assembly of men are said to pray and pro- phesy; that is, to join in prayer, and to hear the word of God preached. But he that doth this, saith the apostle, with "his head covered, dishonoureth his head." And so, again, (ver. 10,) the woman ought "to have power over her head ;" that is, a veil, or covering, so called because it betokened her subjection to the power of her husband : she ought to wear this veil "because of the angels ;" that is, that the angels, who are ministering spirits, and present in the assemblies of the faithful, joying to behold the order, reverence, and affection of our worship, might see nothing indecent and uncomely. Indeed, this outward reverence should be used, not only in respect of the attending angels, but in respect both of ourselves and others, as'it may excite and help both our and their inward zeal and affection. (1.) It will tend to quicken and stir up thine own devotion. For if thou prostratest thyself before God, will not this put thee in mind what thou art doing; and shame thee if thou findest thy thoughts and thy affections wandering, and wholly incongruous to thy bodily deportment? Whilst thou bowest thy knees, and spreadest forth thy hands towards heaven, canst thou, without blushing, suffer thy thoughts and thy affections to gad abroad, and stray from the work which thou so solemnly makest show of? This will oblige thee, if thou hast any ingenuity, to call them home, and fix them upon what thou art doing. And, (2.) It will much tend to excite and quicken the affections of others, who shall behold thy grave and reverend demeanour. For the expression of our affection is naturally apt to imprint the same on those that shall observe us. When we see them signify so much awe and humility, it will put us in mind to whom they do it, in whose presence both they and we are : and as, in water, face answereth to face, so doth the heart of man to man; and therefore it will be very rare if those affections, which we see lively stirring d -___________________________ 'I 1 ' --n arair i r ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. in others, do not beget in us also some resemblance and similitude of them. Indeed, there is no stated universal measure for outward reverence; for that which is accounted a sign of reverence in these nations, as uncovering of the head, &c. in other places is the greatest affront and scorn that can be offered. But this, notwithstanding, we may take for a sure and infallible rule, That those actions which are commonly used to express reverence to others, according to the custom of the countries where they are observed, ought much more to be used to express reve- rence to God in his worship and service. This, I suppose, is clear ; and I am sure it is as necessary, as it is much neglected and slighted among us. I know nothing that can dispense with us, but only mercy or necessity : if thou canst not shew thy outward reverence without endangering thy health, or tormenting or paining thy body ; in this case he will have mercy, and not sacrifice: but in all other cases, where it is left free for thee to do it, and thou mayest so provide that by doing it thou mayest suffer no injury nor considerable detriment to thy body, God doth absolutely require it of thee; for it is almost the only way how thou canst, in any part of his im- mediate worship, glorify him in thy body. That, therefore, is the first proposition, That we ought, in all the duties of God's immediate worship and service, to glorify him by a joint concurrence both of our body and our spirit. To present the body only, without the soul, is but hypocrisy ; and to worship God without a due reverence expressed by the body, is but a saucy rudeness. Second, We ought to glorify God in our spirit and in our body, in those things which peculiarly and properly belong to each of them. And here, should I branch this out into all its particulars, the work would be altogether endless; and we might sooner expect to be glorified with God, than finish the particular consideration of all the actions, both of our souls and bodies, whereby we ought to glorify God. I shall, therefore, only touch upon some of the most remarkable things, and so close up this head. 1st, Therefore, as for the soul, we may con- sider it in its three great faculties of under- standing, will, and affections; in all which we ought to glorify God. (1.) To glorify him in our reason and understanding. This the wise man calls "the candle of the Lord," (Prov. xx. 27.) And this candle we ought to light at God's "lamp;" for so David calls the word of God, (Psalm cxix. 105.) 1. Then we glorify God by our reason and understanding, when we employ it in finding out the truth; and by a diligent perusal, and comparing of Scripture with Scripture, ration- ally search out, without prejudice or partialty, what the mind of the Spirit is. This is the noblest work that the mind of man can be busied about. And if their industry be com- mendable, who turn over the monuments of learned men, to inform their understandings only in natural and human knowledge; how much more excellent is it to revolve that only book which God hath written, to instruct thee in much deeper mysteries than any that all the learning in the world besides can teach thee? Whilst thou are thus careful to inform thine understanding in the doctrines of religion and duties of obedience, in what God hath propounded to thee to believe and to practise, thou dost more perfect and advance thy reason, than all those great masters of wit and reason have done, who rested in those glimmering discoveries. 2. We glorify God by our reason, when we subjugate and bring it under the obedience of faith. There are many sublime mysteries in our faith, which reason alone could never have revealed unto us; yea, which, now that they are revealed, it cannot fathom : as, that three persons should be one God ; two natures in Christ, one person ; that he should be born of a virgin, who was before all time; that he should die, who hath life and immortality dwelling in himself ; that being truly dead, he should by his own power raise himself again : these things, and many more, unsancti- fiedanduntamedreason will still be quarrelling at. Now if thou wouldest glorify God, bring thy reason to submit to the authority of faith: urge it with a scriptum est, "It is thus written," and therefore I thus believe. And, indeed, by thus doing, you do not contradict, but only perfect your reason; for there is infinitely more reason to believe what God hath so plainly testified in his word, than to believe the truth of what we see with our very eyes; since our senses themselves cannot be so infallible a proof of verity as God's testimony. And therefore Saint Peter, speak- ing of the heavenly voice, which he himself heard in the transfiguration of our Saviour Christ, yet tells us, (2 Pet. i. 19,) "We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed ;" intimating to us, that the testimony of Scripture is more. certain than a voice from heaven. And, therefore, let the truths revealed seem never so repugnant to corrupt reason, yet we ought to acquiesce in the authority and revelation of that God, who is truth itself. In such mysterious depths, I much please myself with that odd saying of Tertullian, "Sepultus resurrexit : certum est, quia impossibile est :" "Christ rose again from the dead: it is certain, because it is impossible." Now, glorify God by resigning up your reason and apprehension of things wholly to his teaching and instruc- tion. Say," Lord, thy word hath taught me II ~hpm - I ha.f h cn nlr 127 128 WORKS OF BISHIOP HOPKINS. many mysteries, which my weak and short- sighted reason cannot comprehend; but I desire to sit at thy feet : thy word shall be my reason. This I understand, that thou, who art truth itself, canst neither deceive nor be deceived ; and therefore I find infinitely more reason to believe any thing upon thy testi- mony, than to disbelieve it upon its own seeming impossibility. Since thou hast spo- ken it, I fully assent ; and deliver up all the petulancy of my reason, to be chastised and tutored by faith." (2.) Glorify God in your wills, by bring- ing them into a perfect compliance with his holy and sovereign will. This, indeed, is the hardest and most difficult task which we have to do. The old contest between God and man, ever since the Fall, hath only been, whose will shall stand, either his or ours. And there is a twofold will of God, which our corrupt wills are still opposing, - the will of his command, and the will of his provi- dence; of his precept, and of his purpose. We naturally reject his precepts, and mur- mur at his providences. Now glorify God by stbmitting thy will unto his in both. 1. Submit thy will unto the authority of his commands. And though the duties that are enjoined be many of them very difficult, and all contrary to the inclinations of flesh and blood, and it may be to thy secular inte- rests and advantages, yet bridle the reluc- tances and rebellions of thy will, and set up thy fixed resolution, " This God hath com- manded, and this I will do in his strength, whatsoever shame, or dangers, or sufferings I may meet with in the way of my obedience." This highly tends to glorify the authority and sovereignty that God hath over thee, when thou art ready to sacrifice thy corrupt mut- tering will, and all thy interests, to the com- mands of thy God. 2. Submit thy will to the overruling will of God's purpose. Whatsoever God doth to thee or brings upon thee, sit down, and with a contented patience say, "Not my will, but thine be done." But concerning this I shall speak more largely hereafter, when I come to shew you how we ought to glorify God passively. ('3.) Glorify God in thy affections; and that must be done by bringing them to a conformity with God's. This conformity must be twofold,-as to the object, and as to the motive of them. 1. As to the object, see that thy affections be set upon those things on which God's are. 2. As to the motive, see that they be set on them upon that very account. As, for instance, thou oughtest to glorify God in thy love, by loving what he loves, - himself, his ways, his people, and his ordinances; and that because he loves them : in thy hatred, by hating what God hates, sin and wickedness; and that because God hates them :in thy joy and delight, by delighting in what God delights, that is, in himself, and his own infinite perfections, and his image; and that because he rejoiceth in them. And so of the rest. And thus you see, in brief, how you ought to glorify God in the several faculties of your souls. 2d, You ought also to glorify God in those things which appertain peculiarly to the body. And this is chiefly done by keeping it pure and undefiled. There are two things which defile the body, intemperance and incontinence. And the apostle expressly commands us to glorify God in our body, by flying both these polluting sins. As for internm- perance, we are commanded, (1 Cor. x. 31,) that "whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we should do all to the glory of God ;" that is, we ought to make use of the comforts of life with such moderation as may best fit us for the service of God, and so as no occasion may be given to blaspheme our holy profession by our riot and excess. And con- cerning incontinence, the apostle hath told us in this chapter, that our bodies are the mem- bers of Christ: "Shall we then take the members of Christ, and make them the mem- bers of a harlot? God forbid !" and upon this he infers the exhortation, " Glorify God in your body ;" that is, glorify him by a chaste and modest conversation. Third, I shall not farther expatiate, in giving you rules how you should make use of other particular advantages for the glory of God. As of health and strength, by blessing God for it, and employing it in the duties both of thy general and particular calling ; of riches and estate, by laying it out in refresh- ing the bowels of the poor, and the mainte- nance and encouragement of God's worship and service; of thy credit and reputation, by making it subservient to repair the broken and sunk credit of true and real piety. Innu- merable are the particulars wherein God requires to be glorified by us ; yea, there is not any one action of our whole lives, but it must be directed to this, as to its last and ultimate end; for we are commanded, that whatsoever we do, we should do it to the glory of God. Therefore, in the general, I shall only add this, that there are two things which make all we do, whether they be actions of greater or less importance, to be a glorifying of God. 1. When they are done from heavenly amind spiritual principles. 2. When they are done to heavenly and spiritual ends. 1st, When they are done from heavenly principles. Many are these heavenly prin- ciples, which eimnoble the meanest actions we can perform, and make them a glorifying of God. I shall name only these two, - (1.) The love and fear of God. I name ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. these two sister-graces together, because they are never found separate; and, indeed, a true filial fear is but an awful love; and wherever there is a sincere love to God, there will be a fear to offend him. These two are necessary ingredients into every good action; and wheresoever they are found, they ennoble what we do, and make the common and ordinary actions of our lives to be spiritual and divine. For what is done from the love S:and fear of God, is done for God's sake; and, certainly, we cannot more glorify God, than by concerning him in all our actions; for this dedicates all we do, and makes it holy and sacred. (2.) Obedience to the commands of God, who hath enjoined us the works of our parti- cular callings in our several stations, no less strictly and indispensably than the duties of his own immediate worship and service. And whatsoever common, if lawful, action of our lives we do out of conscience to God, and that we may thereby obey his will and precept, it is of water made wine: it is as truly glorifying him, as the most pompous and solemn worship we can perform. By this holy artifice, we make the necessities or employments of this life become subject and tributary to heaven : and what we thus do upon God's account, he will certainly reward. 2d, When we do any action unto spiritual and, heavenly ends, then we glorify God by it. As when we act, not for vain-glory, or only secular advantages ; but to give a good example to others, or to fit ourselves the more vigorously to serve God, or to be beneficial to others, &c. We have thus seen how we ought to glorify God actively, both in our bodies and in our spirits, by doing the will of his precept. The next thing in order, is to shew you how we ought to glorify him passively in both, by suffering the will of his purpose. Indeed, the best and perhaps the greatest part of a Christian's life is spent in sufferings. When we lie long fallow in a continued pros- perity, not ploughed up by any afflictions, our hearts are apt, like rank soil, to spend them- selves in unprofitable weeds : our corruptions and vanities will overtop and eat out the very heart of our graces; so that God sees it neces- sary sometimes to plough us up, and make long furrows upon our backs. And as hus- bandmen use to lop off the superfluous excres- cences of their trees, to make them the more fruitful; so, that we may become the more fruitful to his praise and glory, the methods of his wisdom and goodness engage him to use the discipline of his pruning-knife; to cut off from us those luxuriences, which, although they may seem to add to our flourishing, yet hinder our fruitfulness. Now all our sufferings do either respect our bodies or our spirits; either the outward vOL. II. state of this present life, or else the inward and spiritual state of the soul. The former may well be divided into two kinds; for they are either, 1st, Simply, afflic- tions, brought upon us by the hand and pro- vidence of God, without respecting any other cause but only God's good pleasure and our own" evil demerits. Or else, 2d, They are persecutions; brought upon us by the wicked rage of men, for righteousness' sake, and the testimony of a good conscience. Those sufferings which concern the spirit and the inward state of the soul may likewise be well reduced unto two heads; for, usually, they are either temptations or desertions. In the one, we suffer from Satan; in the other, 'from God. In all these various kinds of sufferings, some of which fall to the lot of every true Christian, and all of them lie very hard upon some, God ought to be glorified by us. Indeed, our way to heaven is set all along with thorns; troubles and sorrows are thick strewed in it. He is a fool, that sits not down and computes what his religion will cost him It may be, troubles without, and terrors within ; poverty, reproach, bonds; yea, and it may be death itself: besides many sharp agonies and conflicts of the soul; many dark and gloomy seasons, wherein neither sun nor stars may appear to him for divers days : his outward comforts may be to him all seques- tered by the rage of men, and his in ward by the wrath of God; on which side soever he looks, he may behold nothing but sorrow and anguish : heaven covered with clouds, and the earth with storms. This hath been the por- tion of many of God's dearest children ; and we must make our account that it shall certainly, more or less, be ours. The apostle hath forewarned us, (Heb. xii. 6,) "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth :" this is the proof of our legitimation, (ver. 8,) "If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are par- takers, then are ye bastards, and not the genuine sons of God." We know not what particular trials shall befal us, saving that God hath every where testified that afflictions and tribulations abide us. This is the high- way to the heavenly city: the cross is our mark; and if we frequently meet not with this, we may certainly conclude that we have mistaken our road, and shall fall short of our journey's end. And therefore Saint Paul speaks of it as a case of necessity, (Acts xiv. 22,) "We must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God." Indeed, as we are men, we are born to trouble as natu- rally as the sparks fly upwards; and, there- fore, although we may well conclude negatively that certainly we are not travelling towards heaven if we meet with no rubs nor difficul- ties in our way; yet we cannot conclude in I 129 130 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. the affirmative, that if we now suffer, we shaltl the shame and infamy of which will be a sad 'hereafter be glorified, unless we be careful to accruement to the affliction? Never think that glorify God by our present sufferings. such sufferings can bring any honour to God, Our sufferings, then, being so great and when the cause of them was the dishonouring considerable a part of our lives, let us see how of him. In these, thou art not his, but only we may glorify God in this fire. the devil's confessor and martyr. I shall begin with those which concern the 2. Thou rashly and unwarrantably castest body, and the outward state of this present thyself into trouble, when thou sufferest what life. And here I shall give you several rules, thou mightest lawfully have avoided. Be the some of which shall be cautionary, and some cause never so good and glorious, yet if we directive :- suffer for it needlessly, we can have but little 1st, For cautionary rules,- comfort, and God but little glory, by such (1.) The first shall be this,-If thou wouldst sufferings. It was a strange frenzy in the glorify God by thy sufferings, beware that Circumcellions, a sect of heretical Christians thou dost not rashly and unwarrantably pre- in Saint Austin's time, who ambitiously cipitate thyself into them. affected martyrdom when there was no perse- By those sufferings, wherein thou thyself cution, and would forcibly compel others to canst have no comfort, God can have no glory. lay violent hands on them ; or, if they failed Now consider what small ground for comrn- of that, would lay violent hands upon them- fort thou canst have, wtlen thou needlessly selves; glorying in this, as martyrdom and bringest afflictions upon thyself ; and entang- suffering for the sake and testimony of Jesus. lest thyself in those troubles, which either And, before these, the Montanists also were piety or- prudence would have taught thee very fond and eager of suffering : who, though to avoid. These sparks will fly about thee they did not invite and court it, yet thought it fast enough of themselves; thou needest not a base and carnal cowardice to use any means blow the coals : but if thou dost, and are to escape it; yea, even that which our Saviour burnt by them, thou hast nothing to com- Christ hath prescribed, (Matt. x. 23,) "When plain of, but thine own folly; nor to com- they persecute you in one city, flee ye into fort thee, but that it was thine own choice another :" and therefore Tertullian, misled and resoluteness, by that erroneous spirit, hath written a whole There be two things that make sufferings treatise against flight in persecution. This is rash and unwarrantable,-1st, When thou a strong kind of supererogation, when men sufferest what thou hast deserved ; 2d, When shall undergo more for Christ's sake, than he thou sufferest what thou mightest have himself is willing to have them. These are avoided. not his martyrs, but martyrs to their own 1. Thou rashly and unwarrantably plungest vain-glory, and sacrifice themselves to their thyself into troubles, when thou sufferest what own fancies and self-will. And so, again, thy vices have deserved. How many such whosoever le be that chooseth the greater wretched creatures are there, who have no suffering, rather than the less ; as death before other hope nor plea for future happiness, but imprisonment, or imprisonment before a small that they are extremely miserable here ! and mulct; let his cause be what it will, though yet all their sufferings are nothing else but really as glorious and excellent as he himself the just revenge that their own lusts and vices conceits it; yet he suffers rashly for it; and take upon them. It is an old maxim, "Non when hie comes to present himself before God, poena, sed causa facit martyrem,-Not the all scourged, and maimed, and famished, and punishment, but the cause makes a martyr." bloody, expecting to receive the crown of glory, It is not so much what we suffer, as wherefore, he may possibly receive no other guerdon but by which God is glorified. What saith the that cutting reproof, "Who hath required apostle? (1 Pet. iv. 14, 15,) "If ye be re- these things at your hands ?" As it is not true proached for the name of Christ, happy are courage and fortitude to rush headlong into ye : on their part he is evil spoken of, but on dangers, when we have no call nor warrant your part he is glorified. But let none of you to engage us; so neither is it any true Chris- suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an tian valour to affect dangers and sufferings: evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men's we ought not to seek them out, and challenge matters :" for thus to suffer, is a dishonour the combat : it is enough, if we cannot escape to the name of God, and to the profession of them without sordid and sinful courses, bravely the Christian religion. Hast thou, by an to bear their shock, and sustain their onset. idle and dissolute life, brought thyself to want That Christian doth sufficiently discharge his and poverty ? or, by intemperance and luxury, duty, who is first careful to avoid dangers; exhausted thy body, and dishonoured it with but if he cannot do this without making use diseases as noisome as they are painful ? or, of unlawful shifts, denying the faith and by enormous and flagitious crimes, exposed betraying, his own conscience, suffers them thyself to the censure and penalty of the law ? without shrinking ; but those who wilfully ex- what comfort canst thou take in this suffering, pose themselves to sufferings, either by doing Ixcrn.nrr-? nc~rc~! ~1. nn I Irllllr:rr IHr. _ _ _ __ 11 I~Y~V ~V ON GLORIFYING GOD IN IHIS ATTRIBUTES. 131 tI what they need not, or by not avoiding what they may, let them not think that they glorify God by such sufferings; for they suffer not according to his will, but their own: and we may take up the same lamentation concerning them, that David did concerning Abner; " Died Abner as a fooldieth ?" so suffer these, die these, as a fool suffers and dies, when it was in their own power to prevent those troubles and afflictions into which they fall, nay, into which they precipitate themselves. But you will say, " How is it, then, that the apostle so highly extols the heroic fortitude of those martyrs of which he tells us, (Heb. xi. 35,) who, when they were tortured, would not accept of deliverance, "that they might obtain a better resurrection ?" It seems, by their example, that God may be glorified by a voluntary and arbitrary suffering." . To this I answer,-That, if they had refused deliverance offered to them upon conditions that had been righteous aud lawful, their refusal of it had been utterly sinful and unlawful, and the apostle would never have strewed flowers upon their hearses, for they had not been martyrs, but self-murderers : but if we consult the story to which this passage relates, as it is at large described, (2 Mac. vii.) which, though it be not Canonical Scripture, yet gives us a good account of the Jewish affairs under the Grecian Empire; we shall find that the apostle commends their faith and patience, because they would not accept of deliverance upon unworthy and sinful terms: they were indeed offered freedom and safety, yea, honour and rewards, by Antiochus, if so be they would eat swine's flesh, and things offered to idols; contrary to the commands of the law ; but upon such conditions as these they refused to accept of deliverance ; expect- ing, as they professed, and the apostle testifies, a better resurrection ; and esteeming it infi- nitely more eligible to sacrifice their lives for the glory of the true God, than to save their lives by sacrificing to false and idol gods. This instance, therefore, makes nothing in favour of those who rashly thrust themselves into dangers, when they have neither call nor necessity to encounter them ; and then either complain, or glory, that they are persecuted. This is not to glorify God; for he would have none of his champions come forth to combat, till he himself gives the signal, which he never doth, until his providence brings us into such circumstances, that we must neces- sarily either sin or suffer, and no way is left open for us to avoid this dilemma. Then, indeed, when we are thus necessitated, if we choose affliction rather than sin, if we take up the cross rather than stumble and fall at it, if we are willing to undergo the sorest temporal evils that can befal us rather than dishonour God and pollute our own consciences, we do sufficiently declare that we are faithful and courageous soldiers of Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation; and if we thus "suffer with him," we shall also be glorified with him, as the apostle speaks, (Rom. viii. 17.) This is the first cautionary rule,-If thou wouldst glorify God by thy sufferings, beware that thou dost not rashly and unwarrantably precipitate thyself into them. (2.) Another rule is this,-If thou wouldst glorify God under sufferings, beware that thou attempt not to free thyself from them by any unlawful means. Consider, that God hath thee now in his hands ; and if thou seekest violently to wrest thyself out of them, thou wilt certainly fall into worse. And yet, alas ! what is more ordinary in the world than this ? some re- nounce the faith which they formerly owned; yea, and after they have endured many hard- ships and tribulations for it, fall away only for fear of worse to come: others betake themselves to wicked arts, and because they are weary of the discipline of God, seek to the devil to deliver them from it : thus Saul con- sults a witch, and Ahaziah Beelzebub the god of Ekron ; and, indeed, the whole world is full of such practices; and by stealing, and lying, and forswearing, men seek to deliver them- selves from the troubles lying upon them, and so they can but get free from the chas- tisements of God, they care not though they fall into the torments of the devil. Beware, therefore, whenever God brings any affliction upon thee, that thou use no indirect and un- lawful means to escape it. It is better to keep thy trouble with thy God, than to lose thy God with thy trouble. And know this, that if thou violatest thy conscience to preserve thy body or thy estate, the wound which thou makest there will be far more insupportable than any temporal affliction that can befal thee : he that buys off punishment with sin, makes a most sad and miserable exchange of a temporal for an eternal torment. Beware, therefore, how you thus traffic with the devil: say unto him, when he presents thee with any such unlawful means to rid thee of thy sor- rows and sufferings, " No: I am now under the hand of God, and his corrections are infi- nitely better than thy relief. I will never destroy my soul, to deliver my body; nor run into hell, to get out of prison; nor wound my soul, to cure my body ; nor renounce my God and faith, to keep my estate and goods; nor burn in eternal flames, to escape a stake and faggot. Far be such a thought for ever from me. My God is able to deliver me; and he also will deliver me: but if not, I will not, to save a poor vile wretched carcass, ruin my precious and immortal soul." Certainly, whosoever thinks to save himself from troubles and afflictions by any sinful means, is as fool- ish as that mariner, who, to lighten his vessel in a storm, and save it from shipwreck, should i ,,~ ~~,,,,,L1, L,,L:Il,, I L~,, 132 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. tear up the very planks of it, and cast them into the sea. (3.) Beware that your sufferings and afflic- tions do not exasperate your spirits, and imbitter your hearts against God; that the more he smites you, the more you should revolt from him. By so doing, possibly the plague may be removed ; but, certainly, the curse will be re- doubled : and God may take away a judgment in more wrath and displeasure, than ever he first inflicted it : (Isa. i. 5,) " Why should ye be stricken any more ?ye will revolt more and more." It oftentimes so falls out, that they who are incorrigible under punishments, sin themselves into impunity. But, believe it, this is the most desperate course ye can take ; for if temporal judgments harden us in sin, God may remove them as ineffectual; but then, assuredly, he will break us with eternal. It was a most cursed speech of that impious king, (2 Kings vi. 33,) " This evil is of the Lord : why should I wait upon the Lord any longer?" If God command'not deliverance at our pre- fixed time, we are apt to grow enraged at our sufferings, and to revenge ourselves upon the Almighty by our sins: we read of Ahaz, (2 Chron. xxviii. 22,) that " in the time of his distress, he did trespass yet more against the Lord;" and God sets a brand upon him for it, and makes him a notorious emphatical sinner for it : " This is that king Ahaz." Beware, therefore, when God afflicts you, that you suffer not your hearts to rise in any mutinous thoughts or passions against him. How much gall and wormwood soever be mingled in the cup which your Father gives you to drink, let it not imbitter your hearts; and though he may mark you out for afflictions, yet beware that you give no provocation to set his black mark upon you for obstinacy and rebellion. Certainly, such sufferings as leave a rancour md spleen in the heart against God, are but the preludiums of hell torments: for there the damned for ever fret under the acrimony of their punishments, and foam out blas- phemies and curses against that God, whose dread justice and infinite power eternally triumph over them in their ruin and destruc- tion. And if thy sufferings do thus exasperate thee against God, know, that thou makest that a kind of damnation to thyself, which he made but an affliction; and fear, lest that which doth so near resemble the torments of hell, do at last end in them. And thus I have given you these three cautionary rules,- If you would glorify God, do not unwarrantably rush into sufferings: use flo unlawful means to free thyself from them : and, lastly, be not exasperated and imnbittered by them. 2d, The next thing is to give you some directive rules how you ought to glorify God in an afflicted and suffering condition. (1.) You ought to glorify God by a meek patience, and humble submission unto his good will and pleasure. Those who murmur and tumultuate under afflictions, accuse God of injustice, and carry themselves as if he had done them wrong, and they suffered unde- servedly. And therefore the prophet Jeremiah expostulates with us the unreasonableness of this sin of repining, upon the consideration of God's justice : (Lam. iii. 39,) " Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins ?" And there be three considerations exhibited to us in this Scripture, that tend mightily to confirm our patience under the sharpest afflic- tions which we can suffer in this life, - 1. That there is no affliction, but it is mingled and sweetened with a great deal of mercy. Why "doth a living man complain?" Possibly, thou art racked with torturing pains, or consumest away in lingering diseases, re- duced to extreme necessityand pinching want: yet still thou art a living man ; and life itself is such a vast blessing, that all miseries and afflictions compared to it, are but drops to the ocean. 2. Consider, that thou art but a man : why "doth a living man complain, a man," &c. a frail, feeble creature ? naturally subject to many miseries and sorrows ? Thou hast received thy being sub hoc onere, with this burden affixed to it, quietly to bear all the various accidents and troubles which the wis- dom of God shall see good to bring upon thee. 3. Consider what thou hast deserved; and this will be a most effectual means to teach thee patience under what thou feelest. " A man for the punishment of his sins." If God should mix together all the bitter ingredients, all the stings and venom in the world, and compound of them all one unexampled afflic- tion, and lay that upon thee all the days of thy life; yet this were nothing to what thou hast deserved ; this were nothing to one gripe of hell torments; how much less is it nothing to an eternity of them ! This thy sins have demerited; and why then should a living man complain for the punishment of his iniquities? When thou liest under any pain or sickness, or whatsoever thy affliction be, think with thyself, " How happy is it for me, that I am not nlow in hell! God hath cast me here, indeed, upon my bed; but it is mercy, that he hath not cast me into eternal flames. If I now find so much pain, when I am but lightly touched by his hand; oh, what intolerable anguish should I feel, were I now under the unrebated strokes of his almighty arm ! and shall I howl, and fret, and be impatient, when I have infinitely more reason to bless God that it is not worse with me, than to complain that it is thus ? Whatsoever is short of hell, is mercy to such a wretch as I am, who have ten thousand 'UI 0 ll I 1 - 1 11 1 ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 133 times deserved to be scourged with scorpions, whereas my gracious Father only chastiseth me with rods." Thus, I say, under all your sufferings glorify God, by a patient submission to his good will and providence: and let it appear, by the meek and calm resignation of yourselves to him in the saddest circumstances of your lives, that you think him neither unjust nor cruel. (2.) Glorify God in your sufferings, by a patient expectation of a happy deliverance out of them. Wait upon God, in the way of his judgments: firmly rely upon his power and his goodness to release you. And although he may not presently answer your expecta- tions, nor fulfil your desires, yet still continue waiting ; for " the Lord knoweth how to deliver the righteous out of temptation," and he will do it in the fittest and best season. And therefore we have that expression, (Isa. xxiv. 15,) " Glorify ye the Lord in the fires :" that is, in the most scorching afflictions that happen, depend upon him for deliverance, either from or by them. (3.) Glorify God in your sufferings, by putting good constructions and interpretations upon them. Be not witty to torment yourselves beyond what God intends, by the afflictions which you endure. Do not conclude that he is casting you off, or become your enemy, or that they are only the pledges and foretastes of eternal sufferings and torments in hell: but reckon that all the afflictions which he brings upon you, are only for your good; that they are corrections, not curses; and that the issue of them shall be joy and peace. Judge so justly and kindly of God, that he takes no pleasure in the woes and tortures of his creatures; that he chastiseth us only if need be, and corrects us here that he may not punish us hereafter. When we can thus look upon God, and bless him that he is pleased to take so much notice of us as to discipline us, this will be a most effectual means to glorify his mercy and goodness, and to make even a chastising God the object, not only of our fear, but of our love. (4.) Glorify God in thy sufferings, by bearing them not only with patience, but, if they be for righteousness' sake, with joy and triumph. Be not ashamed of the cross of Christ, but glory in it as the greatest honour and orna- ment of thy profession. So saith the apostle, (1 Pet. iv. 16,) "If any man suffer as a Chris- tian," that is, suffer upon the account of his being a Christian, "let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." Indeed, the sufferings and martyrdom of the saints reflect a great deal of honour upon God, in that it shews they prize him above all the world; and account no torments, no sufferings so considerable, as the loss of his love and favour. And therefore it is said, (John, xxi. 19,) when Jesus had foretold to Saint Peter somewhat obscurely what should befal him, that he spake this, "signifying by what death he should glorify God." Thus I have shewn you how you ought to glorify God under outward sufferings, whether they be afflictions from God, or persecutions from men. Let us, in the next place, consider how we ought to glorify him under inward sufferings, which concern the soul. And these are reducible to two heads: for they are either, 1st, Temptations, which we suffer from Satan; or, 2d, Desertions, which we suffer from God. 1st, As for temptations. That they are great spiritual afflictions, ask but those who have stood exposed to these fiery darts, and they will readily confess, that next to the unspeakable regret they feel for sometimes yielding to temptations, the greatest burden and trouble of their lives is the continual labour and difficulty of resisting them. For what can be imagined more irksome to an ingenuous Christian, than to be restlessly importuned to do that which he is assured will be to his own wound and ruin, and to the dishonour of that God whose glory he prefers above his chief joy? and when they are haunted with direful injections, and blas- phemous thoughts cast into their minds by the devil; thoughts, contrary to the funda- mentals of religion, and the common senti- ments of natural reason; how could they even shrink from themselves, and abandon their own beings, rather than be forced to hear those horrid suggestions, which their great enemy, the devil, is still impudently whisper- ing unto them!' It is, therefore, of concern to inquire how we may, when we are thus grievously pestered with these hellish injections, glorify God under so great an affliction. . To this I answer, inthe general, - If thou wouldst glorify God under temptations, be sure still to.maintain a most vigorous and resolved resistance against their assaults; for by this means thou wilt glorify God, espe- cially in two of his attributes, his power and his truth. (1.) By resisting temptations, thou glorifiest the almighty power of God. Thou fightest his battles, not only against thine, but his great enemy, the devil. And as the honour of a prince is engaged in the valour and reso- lution of his soldiers; so God hath, as it were, pawned his honour upon thy courage: thou art his champion, chosen and selected out by him purposely for the combat. Now, if thou basely yield, thou leavest not only thine own soul, but God's honour bleeding upon the place: thy conscience becomes a spoil to the devil, and thy name a reproach to religion. 1 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. Certainly, God intended to make the almighty power of his grace exceeding glorious, by making use of such inconsiderable instruments as you are; instruments, like Gideon's pitchers, frail earthen vessels, but yet such as have the lamp of divine grace burning in them, to rout and put to flight all the legions and black musters of hell. See how God exults in the victorious constancy of his servant Job; and upbraids the devil, that though he had with his utmost malice assaulted him, yet he still persisted in his integrity, and defeated all the attempts of his impotent malice: (Job, ii. 3,) " Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth, a per- feet and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity; yea, although thou movest me against' him, to destroy him without cause :" God speaks of him with delight, and glories in him as a heroic champion. And if you set yourselves vigorously to oppose the temptations of the devil, God will likewise glory in you; and triumph over Satan to his utter shame, that such weak and feeble creatures should, through the assistance of his grace, be able to subdue all the power that hell can arm against them. And this will, to his infinite regret, make that proud and cursed spirit know how utterly in vain all his raging attempts are against their almighty Lord and Master; since he cannot turn away the face of one of the least of his servants. And, there- fore, when Saint Paul had prayed thrice, that is, often, that God would remove that tempta- tion and messenger of Satan which buffeted him, he receives this answer, (2 Cor. xii. 9,) "My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is made perfect in weakness :" not that God's strength, which is infinite, can receive any addition of perfection from our weakness; but only it is declared and demon- strated to be infinitely perfect and infinitely powerful, when, by such contemptible instru- ments, it can overthrow all the powers of hell. (2.) By resisting temptations, thou glorifiest the truth and veracity of God. For both God and Satan deal with the soul in some- what a like way, though to different ends. They both urge promises and threatenings as motives to induce us to their obedience. Satan's are all for the present; present gain and present pleasure, if we consent to his solicitations ; but God's promises and threat- enings are chiefly for the future. Indeed, we shall here enjoy so much peace of conscience, such a sweet calm and tranquillity of mind, such inward satisfaction in our self-reflections, that, were there nothing else propounded to us, yet even this alone were enough, with rational and considerate men, to out-bid all that Satan can offer: but yet God chiefly insists upon the consideration of those things which shall be accomplished hereafter; and represents unto us eternal rewards and eternal punishments, the one to allure us to duty, the other to deter us from sin ; and both to deliver us from the snare of the devil, and that ruin into which we should else precipitate ourselves. Now consider, when you are tempted, whose promises or whose threatenings prevail most with you, God's or Satan's. If you yield to the temptation, it is plain that you prefer Satan's before God's. And this reflects a mighty dishonour upon him, either, that what he promiseth is not valuable, or, that it is not so certain as what the devil promiseth. But, the common sense and first notions of all mankind must needs agree in this, that what God promiseth is infinitely more valu- able, and what he threatens is infinitely more dreadful, than what can be promised or threat- ened in a temptation; inasmuch as eternal joys do vastly transcend momentary and impure pleasures, which die in their very birth, and leave nothing but a sting and torment in the conscience: and those light afflictions, which the devil tempts us to avoid by sinning, are poor inconsiderable nothings, in comparison with that eternal anguish and horror which God threatens to inflict on us for sinning. What is it, then, that makes the temptations of the devil so prevalent and effectual with most men in the world ? Is it not because they do not believe Him, who is truth itself, in what he promises and threatens; but assent to the false promises of him, who is a liar from the beginning? There is no man that yields unto a temptation, but it is because he believes Satan rather than God. Infidelity is the root of all sin: and by this they cast a high disparagement and dishonour upon his truth and veracity. Did we but believe that heaven is so inconceivably glorious, a place where joy and bliss keep their eternal resi- dence, and where we shall for ever live in the smiles and love of God, if now for a few short years we endeavour to our utmost to live holy and obedient lives; did we but believe that the crown of glory is so massy, and all the gems of it so bright and orient; that we shall there bathe in rivers of pleasure, and for ever feel and enjoy more satisfaction than we can now conceive: did we but believe these things as the Scripture hath revealed them to us, without diffidence or hesitation; nay, (lid we but believe them as probable and likely enough to come to pass,-should we so cheaply forfeit the hopes of these things for the impure and vanishing delights of sin? We find that the promise of some temporal reward from men, is of force enough to allure us to very hard tasks and difficult enterprises: how far will many venture, and how much pains and labour will they take to obtain it! and yet the promises that God himself hath made of eternal glory, in comparison with which to promise sceptres and kingdoms is but to pro- - - - '.I I I Y IO ~ ~ ~ I~ 1 11 10 0 ~~ r 134 ON GLORIFYING hOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 135 mise trifles and gewgaws, have so little effect upon the generality of mankind to win them to a holy and obedient life ! Whence is this, but that there is a great deal of atheism and infidelity secretly lurking in men's souls, which never more discovers itself, than when we suffer ourselves to be hurried away by temptations, against all those considerations which the Scripture hath propounded to us of eternal rewards and punishments. Did we but believe that there is a day of reckoning to come, when we must stand before a righteous and impartial judge, to give a strict and narrow account of all our actions, and receive our doom from his mouth according to what we have done; did we but believe the into- lerable wrath of God, the fire and darkness, wo and arnguish, and all those racks and engines of torture that are prepared for the damned; who of us would ever again hearken unto a temptation, which only bids us plunge ourselves headlong into such an abyss of miseries ? we should no more dare to commit the least sin against God, than to be damned, and run into the flames of hell with our eyes open, and seeing our destruction evidently before us. But the truth is, we are credulous towards the devil, and infidels towards God ; and most gross and deplored fools in both. Satan labours most to weaken our faith; for he knows, if he can but once beat us from that guard, all his temptations will certainly prove effectual and do execution upon us. And therefore our Saviour tells Peter, (Luke, xxii 31, 32,) " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not :" teaching us, that there is no such sure defence against the temptations of the devil, as the strong and vigorous actings of faith: while we believe what God hath spoken, we shall never be allured by whatsoever the devil can suggest. And therefore, also, the apostle, when he gives us the panoply and complete armour of a Christian, exhorts us, (Eph. vi. 16,) "Above all, to take the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." "Above all," that is, either chiefly look that your faith be strong; or else, as the shield was used to be a defence not only unto the body, but to the rest of the armour like- wise; so, "above all," or over all the other pieces of your spiritual armour, take "the shield of faith," for this will be a defence not only to your souls, but to your other graces, to keep them from being bruised and battered by the temptations of the wicked one. And thus you have seen how we ought to glorify God under the first spiritual suffering, which is by temptations, by a strong and vigorous resistance made against them; for in so doing we glorify both the power of divine grace, in preserving us from the com- mission of those sins unto which we are tempted; and likewise the truth and veracity of God, in his promises and threatenings. 2d, The second spiritual suffering is deser- tion, wherein we suffer from God. And this is a very heavy affliction to that soul who ever knew what the presence, and favour, and the comfortable and reviving influences of the love of God mean. When a pious Christian hath once fixed God as his chief and only good, and taken the measures of all his joy and content from his union to and commu- nion with that sovereign good, how infinitely cutting must it needs be for God to absent and withdraw himself, and leave him under dark and gloomy apprehensions that he is rejected and cast out of favour, and disin- herited by his heavenly Father ! Now, in this doleful condition, when God hath eclipsed the light of his countenance, and withdrawn from us the comforts of his free Spirit, how shall we demean ourselves so as to glorify him ? To this I answer, - In this case, which is confessedly very sad and disconsolate, observe these following directions :- (1.) If you would glorify God under deser- tions, still stay yourselves upon him, though you cannot see him. Though you cannot see his face, yet lay hold on his arm. See that most comfortable place, (Isa. 1. 10,) "Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his prophet, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ?" Here is a holy soul described in its worst estate; enve- loped in thick darkness, as dark as the confused heap and rubbish of the first chaos; not having the least gleam of light breaking in upon it, either from the face of God, or the reflection of its own graces. Now what must this dark soul do in this dark condition ? "Let him," saith the prophet, "trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God." Now this staying upon God in a time of darkness and desertion implies, that although we have no evidence, no light, nor knowledge that we are his, and that he is our God in covenant with us, yet that we have fixed our firm and settled resolutions, to devolve and roll the eternal concernments of our precious souls upon his mere mercy and free grace, through the merits of Jesus Christ. Now what a vast revenue of glory will this bring in to God, when we thus lay ourselves at his feet, when we thus hang and clasp about him, and resolve, with holy Job, (xiii. 15,) "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him !" So, when, after the various tossings and tumults of our unquiet thoughts, we can rest upon this, - "Possibly God will destroy me, but I am not certain ; yet I will cleave unto him; I will venture my everlasting state and my immortal soul merely upon his mercy, in the ways of duty and obedience. If God will shake off L~ I~r T llr~ ~1rl 11~ \1~0 ~\Llllll~rll I L' l ll ~ 136 ~TORKS OF ]31 SHOP HOP] K I NS. _ --'-- IfI such a viper as I am into hell-fire, yet he shall shake me off his arm ; on that I will depend ; by that I will hold; if I perish, I perish. Sure I am, that by continuing in my sins I shall unavoidably perish; but if I yield my- self to him, and humbly crave his mercy and grace, I can but perish, but, possibly, may live." Thus to resolve, and thus to act, doth exceedingly glorify the rich and sovereign mercy of God, when, in all the storms and fluctuations of a troubled spirit, we cast out this as our sheet anchor, and commit the eter- nal interests of our souls only to this security. (2.) If you would glorify God under deser- tion, encourage yourselves that he will again return unto you, and clear up his loving- kindness and favour unto your souls. Think not thyself past hope, because, for the present, thou art without comfort. Never judge so hardly of God, that every time he hides his face, he intends likewise to take away his mercy from thee. Though the clouds be never so thick gathered, yet he is able to shine through them all; he is able to scatter and dissipate them, and to make a day arise upon thy soul, by so much the more glorious, by how much the night and darkness hath been more obscure and dismal. Be assured that God can, and hope that he will, lead you through this valley of the shadow of death; and bring you into an estate made glorious and full of beauty, by the light and smiles of his loving countenance. (3.) Call, then, to remembrance thy former experiences of the mercy and goodness of God to thy souL And though now, for the pre- sent, God seems to write only bitter things against thee, yet as absent friends use to read over former letters, and solace themselves with the review of those expressions of kind- ness which they had formerly received, so, now that the commerce between heaven and thy soul seems to be interrupted, and thou canst receive nothing from thence to comfort and revive thee, yet read over thy former evidences, review the former letters and tokens of his love to thee; for though he hath with- drawn the fresh supplies of comfort, yet he hath still left thee a stock in thy hands, enough, at least, to keep thee alive, and to support thee from sinking into utter despair. See Asaph's case, (Psal. lxxvii. 7-9,) where we have a most doleful coinplaint of a poor deserted soul: "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God for- gotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?" You see that he all along seems to lay the very accent of damna- tion upon his desertion; "for ever ! for ever !" but consider, then, how he supports himself, (ver. 10,) "And I said, This is my infirmity : but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." " The years of the right hand of the Most High ;" that is, I will recal to mind former times, wherein God bestowed upon me the blessings of his right hand; and in this present dearth live upon what I laid up in the years of plenty and abundance. So, in your desertions, do you glorify God, by recalling to mind former mercies, and former discoveries of his special grace and love to your souls. Can none of you remember when you would have ventured your souls upon the truth of those joys and comforts which you have felt? when you were willing to depart out of this world, and to be found of God in no other estate than you knew yourselves to be then in? And what ! can you so suddenly be at a loss for comfort enough to keep you alive, who, but a while since, had so much as to make you hope and wish for death Whence proceeds this unhappy change? is God unfaithful? is his love fickle? are his promise and covenant reversible, that you are so soon cast down from assurance to doubtings, and from doubt- ings to despondency? If not, but that there is the same merit in the blood of Christ, the same efficacy in his intercession, the same stability in the purpose of God, and the same fidelity in his promises now as there was in your highest joys, what reason have you to dishonour him by those distracting fears, doubts, and jealousies, which torment you? Be persuaded, therefore, to glorify the truth and faithfulness of all these, by encouraging yourselves in the same hopes, though it may be they flourish not into such rich assurance as formerly. (4.) The last direction shall be this,-If you would glorify God under desertions, be sure that want of comfort cause you not to forsake duty. Though thou mayest come sad to duty, and depart sad from it; though the ordinances may be to thee but empty dry breasts, and thou canst find no refreshment, no sweetness in them; yet this is the greatest commen- dation of a true Christian, a certain sign of the sincerity of his obedience, and a high credit and honour unto God, that he will be constant in his service and attendance, though he hath no present wages given him. Yea, and in this course thou art most likely to regain thy lost comforts. Thou wilt at last receive thy dole, if thou keep constantly attending at wisdom's gates. Howsoever, God and his ordinances are herebylhighlyhonoured, when the consolations which thou hast for- merly found in them have left such a deep impression on thee, as to make thee resolve to attend on them as long as thou livest. Thus have we despatched the two former heads of the general proposition, and shewed you what it is to glorify God,, and likewise how we ought to glorify him. rl )~UI Y ~-rl-~ I1\~~ 1~~~ I: 136 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPI ON GLORIFYING GOD IN 1115 ATTRIBUTES. 137 The third still remains; and that is, to shew you what force and influence the consi- deration of our redemption ought to have upon us,,to oblige us thus to glorify God. The truth is, as I have at the entrance of this subject opened it at large to you, God hath many ties and obligations upon us, - as he is our almighty Creator, our merciful Pre- senver, our all-wise Governor, our bountiful Benefactor, &c. upon all which accounts we ought entirely to devote ourselves unto his service. But yet, the strongest bond of all, which nothing can violate but the foulest dis- ingenuity and the blackest ingratitude in the world, is that soft and easy one of being our Saviour and Redeemer. This is a relation overflowing with love and sweetness ; but yet such a sweetness, as hath an efficacious strength in it ; such a love, as lays a holy violence upon the ravished soul, and by a free constraint and a willing force, makes it surrender up itself wholly and unreservedly unto its gra- cious God, who hath not only required it as a gift, but bought it as a purchase. To which purpose the apostle speaks most fully, (2 Cor. v. 14, 15,) " The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not hence- forth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." For the prosecution of this, we may observe, that there are, in the general, three strong obligations which our redemption lays upon us to glorify God : -1. In point of justice and equity. 2. In point of gratitude and ipngenuity. 3. In point of interest and ad- vantage. 1st, "We are bought with a price," and therefore it is but justice and equity to serve and glorify that God who hath purchased us to himself. For in these words the apostle alludes to the custom that was common in his days, of selling and buying slaves with money; who generally were such as were taken captives in their wars, and all the pos- terity of such captives. These were absolutely under the power of their masters that had bought them, and to be disposed and employed as they thought fit; called, therefore, by Aris- totle, eava oeyya,, "living instruments," or "animate utensils," to serve their pleasure. Such we ought to be towards God; for, man rebelling against his Maker, God declares war against him, and makes him captive to his dread justice ; but not willing utterly to destroy him, sells him to his own Son, who pays down a full price for us, and vindicates us to himself, that we might become his ser- vanits, subject unto his will, and employed in his work, which, if we refuse or detract, we are guilty of injustice, in depriving him of his right, and may well fear lest he should, according to his compact with his Father, turn us back upon the hands of justice as unprofitable servants, to be punished and destroyed by him. (1.) Consider, the price that he paid down doth infinitely outbid the purchase, and exceed the value of all that thou art and hast. Thy Saviour hath told down the inestimable treasures of his own merits: he hath taken upon him our nature, and with it our griefs and sorrows; suffered all the indignities that insulting rage and spite could put upon him; waded first through his own tears, and then through his blood, and every drop of both is infinitely more worth than thou and all the world. He stood not to beat down the price, but readily gave for thee whatsoever was demanded; yea, his very life and soul ; a price so exceedingly precious, that, were we far more considerable creatures than we are, yea, more excellent than the highest order of angels, it must needs leave us under the con- fusion of shame and blushing, to think that ever we should be so much overvalued. And wherefore was this, but that we might be solely and entirely his? that none might have any claim to us but himself? And what ! Shall the great God give his only begotten Son in exchange for a servant; and yet wretched thou refuse his service ? shall the Son so highly esteem of the glory that such poor vile nothings as we are can bring him, as to divest himself of that glory which he had with the Father before the world began, and yet fall short of this too ? wilt thou defeat him of his bargain, when he and justice are fully agreed; and all the right and title that the wrath of God had to thee for- merly, is now made over to the Son of his love ? (2.) Consider, that all the use which thy Saviour can make of thee, is only that thou shouldst glorify him; and, by obedience and a holy life and conversation, shouldst serve to the setting forth of his praise. This is the very end for which he hath redeemed thee. What saith the apostle? (Tit. ii. 14,)" He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This is the end why he died for thee; and this is all the service he expects from thee, though he hath bought thee at so dear a rate. And, what! shall so rich a price then be cast away in vain? shall it be in vain, that thy Saviour hath lived, that he hath died, that he hath risen again, and is now interceding at the right hand of the Majesty on high? as he hath lost his life for thee, shall he also lose his very death too? lay out so much to pur- chase thee, and all be lost? shall his blood run waste; and so rich a stock be spent upon so poor and wretched a thing as thou art, and not obtain that neither? (3.) Consider; if thou livest not to thy OAT GLORIFYI? G GOD ~ rl -11 1 -- 1 -r ~11 1--1.1. llr -1151~C- I IY ~ - i YI l :~ IN HII-S. ATTRIBUTES. 137 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. Saviour, who hath died for thee, and by his death bought and purchased thee to himself, thou art guilty of robbery-of sacrilege, which is the worst robbery and most branded injus- tice in the world; for thou robbest thy God, and stealest away a servant, even thyself, from him; for thou art his, by the right of purchase and redemption; and so much of thyself, of thy time, of thy strength, of thy parts, of thy soul and affections, as is not employed in his work and service, so much is purloined from him. And if God justly complains of the Jews, (Mal. iii. 8,) as guilty of heinous robbery and sacrilege, because they defrauded his servants the priests of their tithes and offerings, of brute or inanimate creatures; how much more heinous is it to defraud him of his servant, who ought to be a priest unto him, and continually to offer up the sacrifices of praise and obedience, which he more values than whole hecatombs of slain beasts ? (4.) Consider again, If, instead of glorifying him by thy obedience, thou dishonourest him by thy rebellions and impieties, thou not only defraudest him of his servant, but what is infinitely worse, of the very price that he paid. Thou defraudest him of his sufferings, of his death, of his most precious blood. Yea, thou dost, in a sense, most sacrilegiously rob him of himself. Christ had never abased himself from the glory of heaven, but to be glorified here upon earth : he never had taken upon him the form of a servant, but that he might here have a seed to serve him; and so far forth as we refuse this, so far do we make frustrate, and to no purpose, all that he hath either done, or suffered, or been, for our sakes. And, therefore, if thou wouldst not be unjust to thy Saviour, who hath been so merciful to thee; if thou wouldst not rob him of what he hath so dearly bought, and so highly values, look upon thyself as obliged, by all the bonds of equity and honesty, to live to his glory, who hath redeemed thee to this very end and purpose, that thou shouldst glorify him. But then, again, 2d, We are bound, not only in justice and equity, but in ingenuity and gratitude, to glorify God upon the account of our redemp- tion. "Ye are bought with a price ;" and therefore, if there be but any the least re- mainders of modesty and bashfulness left in you, you cannot but look upon yourselves as obliged to serve and honour that gracious God, who hath been pleased freely to bestow so great and inconceivable a mercy upon you. For consider, (1.) What it is you are redeemed from. And that is all the wo and misery that the heart of man can conceive, or the nature of man endure; all the rankest poison that ever was wrapped up in the bowels of the most direful and comprehensive curse. To speak ~ - - 1:38 out a few syllables of it, it is the wrath of God, the torments of hell, everlasting burn- ings; a state so infinitely miserable, that the very malice of the devil himself will be satis- fied upon us when he hath brought us into it. Indeed, it is utterly impossible to declare the wretchedness of that estate to the full, unless we could speak flames, and put a whole eter- nal damnation into words and phrases. But from this wrath, which is both unutterable and intolerable, hath the mercy of our gra- cious Saviour redeemed us. And consider, (2.) With what price lie hath bought us. A price of infinite value and worth. He hath given himself for us, laid down his life, and shed his most precious blood as the price of our_ redemption. Yea, so earnestly did his love engage him to free us from that woful condition into which we had brought our- selves, that he voluntarily puts himself into it, to rescue us; and is made a curse, that he might redeem us from the curse : he inter- poses between the wrath of God and our souls, and receives into his own body all those enve- nomed arrows that were shot at us. And as if the mercy of our redemption alone were not considerable enough to recommend his love to us, he abases himself, that he might exalt us; takes upon him our sins, that he might bear our punishment; and lays himself under all the load and burden of his Father's wrath, which pressed him so hard as to wring from him clots of blood in the garden, and rivers of blood on the cross, and to force him, in the dolefullest passion of an afflicted soul, to cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" whilst we, in the meantime, whose proper portion and desert all this was, who should ourselves have been dragged forth to execution, and made the subjects and tro- phies of God's wrath and vengeance, we are the darlings and favourities of heaven, courted and caressed by his choicest love; we live in the smiles of God; every day is a festival ~ith us. And how seldom is it that we so much as look out to consider what our blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us ! Or if we do, do we not behold him the most per- fect map of sorrow and misery that ever was represented to the world? did ever grief and sorrow so perfectly triumph over any as over our blessed Saviour? all our private and per- sonal sorrows are but partial; still there is some remnant of us that escapes; but here both the wrath of God and the rage of men, and, as it was in the great and universal deluge, the windows of heaven above, and the fountains and bars of the deep beneath, are all opened, and pour out their store of floods upon him. He was afflicted, and he was oppressed; a man " acquainted with grief," intimate and familiar with sufferings. And now, what doth thy dear Redeemer require at thy hands, in lieu of all that he ON GLORIFYING ~OD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 139 hath done and suffered for thee, but only that thou shouldst live to him, who hath both lived and died for thee? that thou shouldst yield up thy life in obedience to him, who hath been obedient for thee to the very death ? an expectation infinitely rational, and which thou canst not have the face to deny, unless all modesty and ingenuity are perished from thee. For -consider, 1. If God had put the terms of thy redemp- tion into thy own hands, couldst thou have offered less for the ransom of thy soul? Thou art forfeited to justice, and standest liable to everlasting death and damnation. Suppose that the adored design of saving sinners by Jesus Christ had never entered into the eter- nal counsel of God, but he had resolved to transact the whole affair with thyself; and, on the one hand, had evidently set before thy face all the horrors and torments of hell, if thou hadst seen whole seas of burning brim- stone come rolling towards thee, and some waves of them had broke and dashed upon thee ; and on the other hand, had propounded the most rigid observances and macerating penances, all that is here grievous and irk- some, not only to thy corrupt will and humour, but also to human nature itself to undergo, as the only price and condition of escaping this so evident and so imminent a de- struction,-which wouldst thou have chosen wouldst not thou, upon thy bended knees, have accepted of the hardest terms that could be offered thee, to spend all thy days in sighs and tears, and at last to offer up thyself a burnt-sacrifice to God, rather than to fall into that abyss of woes and torments, in compa- rison with which, all that we can suffer in this life is but pleasure? This, certainly, would be thy choice. And what ! when thy Saviour hath already taken all the hard terms upon himself, and left nothing for thee to do, but only to shew a testimony of thy grateful acceptance of it; when he hath compounded for thee, satisfied all the demands of justice, left nothing for thee to pay, besides a small acknowledgment of his infinite mercy,-with what face canst thou deny him this? he only requires that thou shouldst serve and glorify him, by living according to the rules of true reason and religion. He expects no torments, no sufferings from thee, nothing expiatory for thy sins; but only that thou sin no more. And if thou refuse him this, pity it is that ever so great love should be laid out upon such disingenuous and ungrateful wretches. Possibly thy sloth, and the devil joining in with it, may persuade thee that it is a hard saying, and a grievous imposition, to glorify God, to live by rule, and to direct all thy actions to his honour and praise; but think also with thyself, that if God should release any damned soul, who hath sadly felt how infinitely stinging and intolerable eternal tor- ments, fire and brimstone, and the never- dying worm are; if God should release such an one from hell, and promise him for ever to escape it upon the same terms as he hath promised us, how rigorously careful and cir- cumspect would he be in all things to please his great and terrible God, whose justice he hath already felt, and whose mercy he now may hope for ! yea, were the conditions of his salvation to be damned yet a thousand years longer, how joyfully would he lie down in his 'flames, court and invite those torments that would thus deliver him from the ever- lasting residue of them! What sense and experience would work upon such an one, that let faith and gratitude work upon thee. Love and, serve thou that Redeemer who hath delivered thee from that wo which thou never yet felt ; who hath borne all himself, and hath left thee nothing to do but what thou art absolutely obliged to as a creature, whether he had redeemed thee or no, even to love, serve, and fear thy great and glorious God. Consider, 2. That thy Lord Jesus Christ hath infi- nitely abased himself to procure thy redemp- tion ; and therefore, at least, ingenuity and gratitude should engage thee to exalt and glorify him. He emptied himself, saith the Scripture, and "made himself of no reputa- tion, and took upon him the form of a ser- vant," (Phil. ii. 7.) "He had no form nor comeliness; and when they saw him, there was no beauty that they should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men," (Isa. liii. 2, 3.) And what! can thy ingenuity, O Christian, suffer that he should remain still vile, who was thus vilified and humbled for thy sake? wilt thou not repair his honour ? and seeing he was pleased to lay aside his glory, to veil and eclipse himself in our flesh, only that he might accomplish the arduous work of our redemption, how can we but account ourselves obliged, by the strongest bonds of gratitude and thankfulness, to cele- brate his praise, and endeavour that his glory may be as much promoted by us, as it was lessened and obscured for us? And thus you see what engagements lie upon us, from the consideration of our re- demption, to glorify God and our Saviour both upon the account of justice and grati- tude. 3d, In point of interest and advantage. "Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God," because without this you can never reap any fruit, any benefit by your redemp- tion. It is only a holy and obedient life that brings glory to God, and that can possibly bring you unto glory. It is true, Christ hath died and risen again for you; he hath borne the whole load of wrath that was due to you for your sins. But yet boast not of this, for it will all signify nothing unto you; without. ON GLORIFYING GOD .'l J I ~ II I 1~ ~ 11~~1 1~ lr ~ 1I~L1~ II T~1L1 r I TI~ IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 139 (1 140 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. a strict, pious, and godly life, redemption, word, framed such vast orbs, and imprinted yea, salvation itself, cannot save you. The on them such an impetus of various, and yet terms are immutably fixed ; Christ is " the regular motions. But man was created to author of eternal salvation only to those that glorify God actively and intentionally, by obey him." And therefore, as ever thou the choice of his deliberate judgment, to fix hopest to have any benefit by the redemption God as the end of all his actions; and if he of Christ Jesus ; as thou wouldst not have his falls short of this, he falls short of his very blood shed in vain, and spilt as water upon reason and nature, and is created in vain. the ground, that cannot be gathered up; as Thinkest thou, 0 man, that God hath created ever thou hopest to see the face of thy God thee only to shew what an excellent piece of and thy Saviouri with joy and comfort in work his power and wisdom can achieve? endless glory, so endeavour, by a holy, pure, This he hath sufficiently done in breathing and spotless life, to glorify him here on earth; forth upon the face of the earth so many for " without holiness," saith the apostle, "no other creatures, which are all fearfully and man shall see God," (Heb. xii. 14.) And wonderfully made as well as thyself. He think with thyself, 0 sinner, how justly need not to have framed thee, if he had dreadful it will be to thee at the last day, to intended only a specimen and essay of what be brought into the presence of thy blessed his almighty power could do. No; but Redeemer ; when thou shalt see that body whereas the innumerable kinds of other crea- that was buffeted, crucified, pierced, that bled tures serve to glorify God after this manner, and died for thee; and be upbraided by thy reflecting back all their perfections obliquely ireful God, that all those pains, and sorrows, upon God, thou wert formed to glorify him and agonies, were sustained for thee, and yet more directly and immediately : that is the all in vain, because of thy wilful unbelief ultimate end to which they are all overruled; and impenitence; where wilt thou hide thy but this is the end which thou oughtest to shame? or how many stories of rocks and propound unto thyself. And if thou dost mountains, heaped one upon another, will otherwise, suffice to cover thee from the wrath of that 1. Thou degradest thyself from the rank God, whose love and mercy thou hast so and dignity of thine own being, and herdest wofully abused? It must needs redound to thyself among brute beasts. It is not so thy eternal horror and confusion, that ever much reason and discourse, that make a dif- thou shouldst so slight the fearful wrath of ference between beasts and men, as religion. God, as to neglect and despise the redemption We see many strange and wonderful opera- that Christ Jesus hath purchased from it, so tions of those which we call irrational crea- ignominiously, as not to accept of it when it tures; of which we can give no account, was offered, when all the charges of it were unless they do in their sphere partake some borne and defrayed by himself ; but only an' glimmerings of reason, which we usually acknowledgment of the kindness required ascribe wholly to ourselves; but none at all from thee. of any religion, or notion, or adoration of a And thus I have done with this third and Deity. This is the crown and perfection of last general head; and with it have finished thy nature; it is that incommunicable pro- the doctrinal part of this subject. perty that separates us from beasts. And IV. I shall be very brief in the applicatory, therefore, if thou servest, if thou glorifiest not having already treated of very many things thy God, thou dost but debase and disparage at large, which are wholly practical. thyself, and art made a man in vain. Thou And therefore, the only use that I shall who abandonest thyself over to any way of make of it, and so close up this whole subject, wickedness, whose intemperance burdens thy shall be, to exhort you to a constant care and nature with surfeits, as much as thy conscience endeavour to glorify God. with sin and guilt; thou who wallowest in 1st, Consider, it is the great end of our impure lusts, and makest thy body a brothel, beings, and, indeed, the noblest and highest and thy soul a prostitute; thou who, by lying, end that we could be created for. Indeed, and swearing, and stealing, declarest evi- all things were made, as by God, so for God; dently, that thou fearest neither God nor he is the first cause, and the last end of all. man,- wherefore wert thou made a man? But yet there is a difference according to the Hadst thou been a brute, or an inanimate order of beings. For irrational creatures were creature, thou wouldst as much have glorified made to glorify God only objectively, as they the attributes of God as now thou dost, and represent unto us many evident footsteps of much less dishonoured him; yea, thou now God's most glorious attributes and perfections: dishonourest him, which they do not, inas- thus the heavens are said to declare the glory much as thou sinkest below the rank of thine of God, only because their amplitude, beauty, own nature, and turnest recreant to the prin- and order do set forth, to all considerate ciples of thine own being. beholders, the infinite power, wisdom, and 2. Thou not only degradest thyself, but goodness of the great artificer, who, by his degradest God too, and exaltest something ON GLORIFYING GOD IN HIS ATTRIBUTES. 141 above him. For every wicked person de- thrones the true, and sets up a false god in his stead. It is the nature of man, to seek and serve something, as its ultimate and highest end. And whatsoever we propound to ourselves as our utmost end, that we make our god. Now thou, who refusest to glorify God, whom is it that thou glorifiest ? Is it not thyself? Thou settest up thyself as thy idol, and art thine own idolater. Either thou makest thy profit, or thy pleasure, or thy humour thy god : this thou seekest, and this thou servest, to this all thy actions tend and are directed. That is every man's god, which he most seeks to please and to serve. And what a horrible affront is this to the most high and only true God, that thou, whom he made for his servant, shouldst become his rival, and what he intended for hinmself should be set up for a deity against him ! That is the first motive :,the glorifying of God is the great and only end of our beings. 2d, Consider, that God will certainly have his glory out of thee. If thou wilt not glorify his holiness by thy obedience, thou shalt glorify his justice by thy perdition. He will not lose by thee: but thou, who hast extra- vagantly lived without and beside the order of thy reason as a man, and of thy religion as a Christian, shalt be compelled and brought into the order of his subjects as a damned wretch and rebel. But this will be sadly to thy cost: and when thou liest stretched out and racked with the extremity of thy tor- ments, thou wilt then too late reflect on thy gross and desperate folly; that ever thou shouldest refuse to glorify that God volunta- rily by thy obedience and submission, who now forceth thee to glorify him, whether thou wilt or no, by thy intolerable and eternal tortures. 3d, Consider, that by glorifying God, we do indeed but glorify ourselves. For he hath been pleased so graciously to intwist his glory and ours together, that whilst we endeavour to promote the one, we do but indeed promote the other. "Them that honour me," saith God, "I will honour," (1 Sam. ii. 30.) And what a vast encouragement is this to the cheerful performance of all the duties that God requires at our hands, how hard and difficult soever they may seem, that this that God commands of me is no barren piece of service ! Possibly, I may lose my reputation, I may lose my estate, or I may lose my life by it; but yet, if it bring glory to God, it will cer- tainly bring abundant reward to me. And though I see nothing spring up of it here on earth, but thorns and briers to rend and pierce me through with many sorrows; yet, doubt- less, my reward is with my God ; and heaven shall repay with interest all that glory which I have brought unto him, by crowning me with glory, immortality, and eternal life. Oh, how happy and blessed a thing is it, when we come to breathe out our souls into the arms of God, then to be able to reflect back upon a well-spent life, and to recommend our flying souls to our gracious God, as our Saviour did, (John, xvii, 4, 5,) "I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with that glory which thou hast prepared for me before the world was." Unto the which glory, God of his infinite mercy bring us, through the merits of Jesus Christ : to whom, &c. THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. " Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."--AcTs, xxvi [8. IN this chapter we have Saint Paul, in his fetters, pleading before that honourable ses- sions of Festus and Agrippa. His plea we have largely set down, from the 1st to the 24th verse ; in which he opens his commission, that he had received in an extraordinary manner from heaven, for preaching that doc- trine which was everywhere spoken against, and for worshipping God in that way which was called heresy. I shall not at all enter into the considera- tion of the apology ; but let us look only at the different effects that it wrought upon the hearers. Festus and Agrippa were both of them unbelievers: the one, an unbelieving heathen; the other, an unbelieving Jew : and thus they both continue. Yet Saint Paul's speech works very differ- ently npon them. In the 24th verse you have Featus raving. He "said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning hath made thee mad ;" thy thoughts of a vision and an apparition, of a man dead and buried, lying safe under ground, that he should rise again and appear from heaven to thee, being the Saviour of the world, is a mere fancy, proceeding from a strong frenzy : thus he scoffs and raves. But this very sermon, which seemed madness and an idle tale to unbelieving Festus, carries a strong convic- tion in it to Agrippa, who was an unbeliever too: "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Hence observe, That the word of God hath a far different effect even upon those upon whom it hath no saving effect. One raves I and rages against it, and is seared and stupified by it : another is convinced and terrified by it. Festus scoffs and mocks, and goes away laugh- ing at the doctrine and reviling the preacher: but Agrippa is convinced, and half persuaded to believe and practise that very doctrine, and highly to esteem the preacher of it. And is it not so even among us? are there not many, who may come to the ordinances in a natural and sinful estate and condition ? the same word of God is cast among them all: yea, but what is the success? When the sword of the Spirit is brandished amongst a great crowd of consciences, it is not likely that it should miss all, and strike none of them: one, perhaps, goes away slighting and contemning; another goes away scoffing and railing against it; and another half persuaded by it to become a Christian, to be almost a Christian. If every man's breast had a case- ment in it, by which we might see the inward estuations and boilings of their hearts, how they work after a powerful and terrifying sermon; should we not behold and see some shifting -. and shuffling their sins out of the way? some holding up the bucklers of preju- dicate opinions, to ward and felce off the stroke of the Spirit? some fretting and storming at the lancing of their consciences ? some scorning and scoffing, with Festus, that it is no better than folly and madness ? some trembling, with Felix ? some convinced and wrought upon, as Agrippa, to faint resolutions and half purposes? and yet all these remain under the power of unbelief and unregeneracy. It is, indeed, a wonder, that among such diversity of operations which the word hath upon the souls and consciences of men, it could be possible that such a multitude should go away without any saving operation by it; some blinded and hardened; some terrified; some stupified; some exasperated and en- raged; some convinced and half persuaded, and such are those that we now speak of: such are, as it were, half of one complexion and half of another, that stick in the new birth, whose hearts have been warmed with good motions, who have entertained approving and admiring thoughts concerning the ways of holiness, who have taken up some resolu- tions of doing better and of being better ; and yet do not come off roundly and speedily from their sins, nor close fully with Christ. These are the half-Christians which the text speaks of. ... .. ____ -__ II h~.vc? ~'c?~t.lla r~.vlnrr_ t-te "S,71tl ~lti~L a 1011( THE ALMOST CHRIS' The words are plain in themselves; and, therefore, do not require much explication. Only the word translated "Almost thou per- suadest me," &c. if accurately rendered according to the original, is "A little thou per- suadest me," &ec. So, in the reply, which Saint Paul makes, with a holy kind of gal- lantry, in the ensuing verse, you find it is opposed to much, which we render altogether; but the grammatical construction is, "Would to God they were both all, and in much, such as I am, except these bonds !" So, then, " in a little thou persuadest mec;" that is, "I could, methinks, be contented to be a Christian in a little, in some few things: some part of the way I could willingly go," saith Agrippa: but Saint Paul concludes, it must not be only in a little, but in much, in all. If we follow this sense and interpretation of the words, then observe, Doct. 1. There goes much to the making of a true Christian; a little will not serve. It is not a little will serve: for many precious ingredients go to the making of a true Christian ; and much of each ingredient goes to the making of a strong Christian. There must be profession, faith, obedience, self-denial, patience, humility, outward pre- paration 'and inward graces, outward embel- lishments and inward ornaments; and a little of it is but little worth. There are many, that are persuaded to be Christians in name and profession, to be Christians in outward participation of ordinances and communion with saints, and the like : yea, but this is to be a Christian but only in a little. Are you persuaded to obey Christ in all, to take up his cross and deny yourselves, to oppose and mortify your lusts, and to perform the harshest and severest part of religion? this is, indeed, to be a Christian, not only in a little, but in much; yea, in all, to be such as Saint Paul himself was. But then, if you take the words according to our translation, which the original also will very well bear, so it is, "Within a little, or almost, thou persuadest me," for King Agrippa was fully convinced of the truth of those things which Paul related, (as you may see, ver. 26.) He knew these things, and was ignorant of none of them: they were not hidden from him; for these things were not done in a corner. He could not be ignorant of the miraculous conversion of him who had been so furious and notorious a persecutor of Christians. He who was expert in all the customs that were among the Jews, (ver. 3,) could not be ignorant of what the apostle affirms, (ver. 22, 23.) This that Moses and the prophets foretold, that Christ should suffer and be raised from the dead, and should give life to the Gentiles, - of all this King Agrippa was fully convinced : and yet, when Paul so insinuatingly presseth upon him, 1'AN DISCOVERED. 143 SBelievest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest," the result of all is this, that he was but almost persuaded, not fully per- suaded of the truth of what Saint Paul speaks concermng Christ, concerning himself, and concerning Christians; yet, for all that, he was but almost persuaded to be a Christian. Hence, likewise, observe, Doct. 2. That persons, who are fully and truly convinced, are many times but almost and half persuaded. There may be a powerful persuasion in the judgment and the conscience concerning Christ and his ways, when there is but half a persuasion in the will and affections to close with them. These observations I gather up, as they lie strewed in my passage. I shall not insist upon them, but only as they are subservient to the fuller prosecution of the general doc- trine, which you may take thus : - Doct. 3. That those, who never were in Christ, yet may be almost Christians. I need not here stand to tell you, that Christianity may be taken either, 1st, For an outward profession of Christ, as it is opposed to all other religions in the world, whether heathenish idolatry, Maho- metan stupidity, or Jewish ceremony : Or, 2dly, For an inward and cordial embracing of Jesus Christ, thus professed, as it stands opposed either to the profaneness or hypo- crisy of carnal gospellers. Evident it is, that the Christianity that Agrippa was almost persuaded into, was of the first sort ; not excluding the second. Nay, it was seldom seen, that in those primitive times, wherein no carnal respect or outward advantage could commend the Gospel to the interests of men, when the reward of professing Christ was persecution and martyrdom ; then, I say, it was seldom seen, that any would take Christ by profession, who would not also take him by faith and adherence : few there were, that would take up religion, even upon this condition, to lay down their lives for Christ, who yet, through their own profane- ness or hypocrisy, were to receive no benefit from the death of Christ : so that, to persuade men then to be Christians in profession, was the same with persuading them to be Chris- tians in reality. But now, when the name of Christ is so much courted, when the denying of Christ would be repaid with the same punishment that formerly the owning of Christ underwent, you need not so much persuasion to take upon you the outward profession of Christianity: for you are not only almost, but altogether Christians, in the external garb ; but our persuasion to you must be, that as you own Christ in an out- ward profession of him, so you would cleave to him by a true faith in him and obedience to him. II ~~ ha a Plhric?+inrr Ilrrt~ nnl~T in ~. I~t.t.lc?_ rnt, In I ~;nr18t was 1i4� wO RKS OF BIS We are not, then, to speak to pagans, to convert them to a new religion ; but, if I may .so say, we are to speak to Christian infidels, to convert them to a new life and conversa- tion. Nor yet, among these, doth my subjeet lead me to the profane and looser sort, whose being called Christians doth not more honour them, than they disgrace and reproach that holy name; but to those who are more elevated and more refined; who go far in Christianity, so as to be near the kingdom of God ; in a word, such as are almost Christian, and yet are strangers to Christ, and remain in their sinful state and unregenerate con- dition. In the prosecution of this point, I shall inquire into these following particulars in this method :- 1. What progress men may make towards Christianity, and yet fall short of it. 2. Whence they are enabled to proceed so far; and what it is that carries them out to all their attainments. 3. What it is that hinders them from pro- ceeding farther; and when they are almost Christians, what keeps them from being such altogether. 4. To shew you the folly and misery of those, who proceed thus far only, as to be almost Christians, and no farther. I. Let us see what progress a natural man may make towards grace and Christianity, and yet remain in a sinful state. Before I can come, in particular, to determine this, I must premise these three particulars, - 1st, That when we inquire what progress an unregenerate man may make towards grace, this supposes, that there is a tendency in what such a man doth or may do, towards the obtaining of grace; or how else can he make any progress towards it, if that which he doth hath no tendency to it ? let us, therefore, inquire what kind of tendency this is. There may be a twofold tendency supposed in the actions of an unregenerate man, towards the acquisition of grace,-1. Effective; 2. Subjective. (1.) Actions may be said to have an effective tendency,when they do, bytheirown efficiency and causality, produce that which they tend to. And in this sense, it must be denied that the actions of an unregenerate man have any tendency towards grace; be their progress what it will, thereby he cannot efficiently produce or cause grace in himself ; and, there- forey grace is called the new creature, as being the effect only of creating power, which is the sole prerogative of God; and it is as utterly impossible for a man to create grace in the soul, as to create the soul itself. Take but this one demonstration to evince it. If an unregenerate man, by his own IHOP HOPKINS. power and efficiency, can produce grace in himself, then one of these two gross absurdi- ties must needs follow,-either, 1. That there are still left holy habits and principles in the will, which were never lost by the fall of man; or, 2. That a man may make himself truly holy, by a will that is totally corrupt and sinful. But either of these is verygross. 1. There are no holy nor divine habits left in the will of a carnal man, whereby he should be able to regenerate and convert himself. For what holy habit can there be in the will of one that is wholly corrupted'? If any such be supposed, it may also be sup- posed that it is true grace : and to affirm that a man, in a state of nature, hath true grace inherent in him, whereby he is able to con- vert and regenerate himself, is double nonsense and a flat contradiction; for it is to affirm that he hath grace before he hath it. 2. A will totally corrupted, cannot make a holy man, cannot produce grace, nor make a man holy. Grace is above and beyond its sphere. The motions of the will in its fallen estate, what through defect of a right principle from whence they flow, and a right end to which they tend, are all evil and sinful; and it is very strange to affirm, that a gracious habit may be wrought in us by sinful actions. And besides, the will of man, by the fall, is a fleshly will; but in regeneration it is made spiritual : now it were a strange kind of production, if fleshly could beget spiritual; nor would it any longer hold true that our Saviour saith, (John, iii. 6,) " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." So that I think it is very evident, that all that a man can do by the power of nature, cannot tend efficiently to produce grace in him. (2.) There is a subjective tendency towards grace. And this lies in those moral prepara- tions, and those dispositions of the heart, which fit it for the receiving of grace, though it be wrought there only by the Holy Ghost. And thus we affirm, that while men are i an unregenerate state, they may have and do somewhat that hath a tendency in it to grace; that is, one unregenerate man may have more of these previous dispositions, and of these preparations for the receiving of grace, than another hath ; for though it be not in itself singly necessary that such pre- vious dispositions should be wrought in the soul before the implantation of divine grace ; since such a subject, as the soul is in respect of grace, doth not, as the schoolmen determine, require its previous dispositions for the pro- duction of its form ; yet this is the usual common way of the Spirit's work, first to prepare the heart by some common works ot conviction, legal terrors, and remorse of con- science, before it works any saving and real work of grace in it. And, therefore, when any unregenerate man hath much of these THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. previous preparations, we say that he goes very far towards grace, and he may be said to be almost a Christian. And this is all that tendency that an unregenerate man hath, or can possibly do towards it, namely, a prepa- ratory, and not an effective operative tendency unto saving grace and regeneration. 2d, Another thing premised is this,- That, "what through wilful sloth and wretched negligence, no unregenerate man doth make so great a progress towards grace as he is able and can possibly do." None go so far as they can do in those pre- vious preparations and dispositions towards it. When they find difficulty in opposing temp- tation, in crucifying their lusts, in performing duties, in denying their sinful delights and pleasures, having nothing supernatural within them to naturalize and facilitate these things and carry them on resolutely through all, they never keep up to the utmost of that power which they have ; but, as they yield to those temptations that they might resist, and commit those sins that they might reject, and neglect those duties which for matter and substance of them they might perform ; so none of them go so far as they have a natural power to do. No man goes so far in the work of grace as he might, if he would improve that power which he hath by nature. '3d, Did they make as great a progress towards grace as they might, they would not fall so far short of grace as they do. I say, if wicked unregenerate men did but as much as they are able by the power of nature to do, without the special assistance of the Holy Ghost, they would not fall so far short of grace as they do. I would not enter into that dispute, whether God be engaged to bestow grace upon the right improvement of their natural power; yet it is certain, and agreed on by all, that he doth certainly do so. God usually bestows true and saving grace upon those, who do rightly and to their utmost improve their natural power and ability for the acquiring of it. If God be not obliged by promise to assist them ; yet, through his goodness and mercy, he is not wont to desert them. Let them but labour to improve their natural ability to the utmost strain and pitch that their own capacity can elevate, God will, according to his usual method and wonted goodness, come in by supernatural grace; and enable them to do that which, by nature, they are not able to do; for no instance can be given to the contrary. So, then, we may conclude, that wicked men never go so far as they can; and did they, yet they could not efficiently work grace in themselves ; but, nevertheless, they would be disposed and prepared for the receipt of grace, which God, upon such preparations, would undoubtedly bestow upon them. For although he be not obliged to give it them, yet usually he is wont to work it in them merely through his own natural goodness, free grace, and mercy to them, pitying the weakness of their lapsed and fallen nature. I shall proceed to the answer of the first question in the general. First, Unregenerate men may make a great progress, and may go very far towards grace, and yet fall short of it : that, in general, is to be almost a Christian. This I laid down in the method propounded to you. Although I say not that they go so far as they can by the power of nature, and yet fall short of grace; for that can never be instanced in any : yet the sad and wretched apostacy of those who have been eminent professors, shining, yea, and glaring lights, exceeding and also despis- ing common attainments of others, hath too evidently confirmed it to us, that men may go very far towards grace, and yet fall short of it. See what Christ saith of that young man, that forward young man, (Mark, xii. 34,) "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God ;" that is, thou art not far from grace, for so the kingdom of God is oftentimes taken in Scripture for the kingdom of grace ; so that we may say of such men, they were not far from the kingdom of God, not far from grace, not far from heaven ; climbing up almost thither, within view and ken of it, having one foot, as it were, upon the threshold of the heavenly gate ; and yet even these tumble headlong, and never rest until they have plunged themselves to the bottom of hell. It is with such men as it is with the vapours that are drawn up into the air; they shine with the same light, with the same apparent magnitude, as the fixed stars themselves do, and we may think them moving in the very same sphere with them; but when we see them dart down to the earth, and spill all that light and glory which they glistered with by the way, and fall into a filthy jelly, a thicker and more loathsome substance than when they were first exhaled, we then con- clude, that all that elevation of those false and blazing lights was vastly short of that heaven in which they seemed sometime to be fixed. So is it with many unregenerate men; you cannot tell with what they are fraught till you see them shipwrecked; then it is a sign, that though they were never right and true treasure, yet they are something very like it: when we see them tumbling down off a glorious profession, through fatal precipices of great, gross, and desperate sins, we may sadly conclude, that that man was not far from the kingdom of God, though he was never yet there. Indeed, every unregenerate man, when he winds up himself to the highest pitch and strain, may be said to be far from the kingdom of God, in respect of his total deprivation of VOL II . K ---------- 145 i WRKO ISOPHOKIS grace: though his actions be never so fair and specious, yet they are very far from being gracious; as far as darkness is from light. Yet he may be said not to be far from the kingdom of God, likewise, in a fourfold respect,- 1. In that he is far from that which is farthest from grace ; and that is gross, flagi- tious, and notorious sins, which are farthest off from grace of all others; and these a natural man may be very far and free from, and therefore not far from grace. 2. He may have that which very much resembles and counterfeits grace; so that, as to outward appearance, there is but very little dissimilitude discernible between them : now that which is like another, may be said not to be far from that which it is like. 3. He may be said not to be far from grace, because, as I told you before, in the ordinary works of the Spirit upon his soul, he may have those preparations and dispositions laid in them, which usually are previous and antecedent to grace, because these are wrought usually before grace ; and therefore the person that hath these wrought upon him, may be said not to be far from grace. 4. He may be said not to be far from grace, because, if he did proceed but a little farther, he would possibly attain to true grace. Had such but improved their natural power to such a degree farther, God would have come in with power supernatural, and have wrought that true and saving principle in their lives, which would have been sure to have brought them to eternal life. Grace, indeed, hath such a kind of dependence upon that which is natural: and that dependence is not so much of caus- ality, as of order and consequence ; which, though it be not necessary, yet is commonly granted on all hands. Thus, then, in the general, I have shewn you that unregenerate men may go far, yea, very far, towards grace. A man may be almost a Christian, and yet be out of Christ; be near the kingdom of heaven, and yet not in it; and, possibly, be for ever excluded and shut out of it. Second, I shall proceed to the next thing propounded. As we have seen, in the genera], so now let us consider in particular, what progress a natural man may make towards grace. And that I shall do, by considering the several steps and degrees by which they may arise up to a great height and glory of outward profession. And this we cannot better do, than by shewing,-1. What grace is. 2. What re- semblance that which is wrought by a mere carnal man may carry in it like true grace. By comparing these together, we may see how near an unregenerate carnal man may come to true and saving grace. 1st, What grace is. I need not tell you, that I speak not now of an objective grace, inherent in God, but terminated on us, whereby a change is wrought in our relation to him : and this objective grace is nothing else but the divine love, favour, and good will of God expressed in us. But I speak of a subjective grace, inherent in us, whereby a real change is made in our lives and natures. And, in brief, you may take this description of subjective or inherent grace,-It is a super- natural habit, immediately infused into the soul by the Holy Ghost, residing in every power and faculty of the soul as a principle of holy and spiritual operation. And there is a fivefold change wrought by it :- 1. Upon the judgment, or the direct under- standing, by informing and enlightening it. 2. Upon the conscience, in the reflex under- standing, by awakening and pacifying it. 3. Upon the affections, by spiritualizing them. 4. Upon the will, byconverting it. 5. Upon the life and conversation, by re- forming it. This fivefold change is wrought upon the soul by the true and sanctifying grace. 2d, Now in the next place, I shall shew how far a natural man may attain to these, so as to be almost a Christian. (1.) As for his mind or understanding, he may be irradiated with a clear and sparkling knowledge of divine and spiritual objects, when yet the soul is not truly converted to God. It is true, as, in the creation of the world, the light is numbered and reckoned amongst the first of God's works ; so, likewise, in this new oreation, the first work of the Spirit of God is to shed abroad his heavenly light in the understanding: and, therefore, we have this first in order in that commission which our Saviour Jesus Christ gives to Saint Paul, (Acts, xxvi. 18.) He sent him to the Gen- tiles, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light ;" and then it follows, "from the power of Satan unto God." But yet, notwithstanding, there is an illumination about spiritual things, which may gild and beautify the understanding of a natural man, who, like a toad, may be full of poison, though he hath a precious stone in his head. The apostle lays down this as one of those attain- ments that an unregenerate man may have, and yet be an apostate, (Heb. vi. 4.) He may not only have a deep knowledge of gospel mysteries, so as to see the whole compages and concatenation of the doctrine of Christ, and to unfold them to others; but may have also particular discoveries of the glory and beauty that there is in these things. We may see it clearly by Balaam's ecstasy, (Numb. xxiv. 5.) Such discoveries carnal hearts may have made to them, and see their lustre and beauty. Nay, e _____ I hP 146 WORKS OF BISHOP IhOPKINS. THE ALMOST CHRIS' farther, a carnal man may be convinced, that there is no other way of recovery but by the grace of God through the merits of Christ, of the suitableness of Christ to his soul, of the freeness of God's love, of the riches of his grace, of the readiness of his heart to receive him, of the desirableness of happiness, and of the beauty of holiness; and yet, for all this, remain in a natural state. But now, not to leave you under doubts and perplexities, such an illumination of a carnal man falls far short of true grace in these two particulars. 1. In that it is but lumen sterile, a barren light. Illumination that is saving, is not only light, but influence too. As the light of the sun doth not serve only to paint the world, and varnish over the beautyandvariety of, the several creatures that are in it, but carries in it a grateful heat and cherishing influence, which operates into them and refreshes them; and as the light discovers their beauty, so these influences increase it so, saving illumination not only illustrates the soul by its light, but likewise, by the congenialness of its influences, nourishes the soul, draws sap into it and fruit from it. Such is not the illumination of an unregene- rate man : it is but a barren light, and only serves to paint his understanding; and hath no influence on it to make the soul grow in grace, and bring forth the fruits of holiness, to the praise of God. 2. It is an ineffectual, idle light. That illu- mination that is saving, is transforming: (2 Cor. iii. 18,) "We all, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image," &c. If a beam of the sun fall upon a looking-glass, it not only makes it glitter with a glorious light, but it represents the very image of the sun in the glass ; but let it beat never so clearly and strongly upon a mud-wall, though it enlighten it, yet it doth not thereby leave its image upon it : so, truly, illumination that is saving, doth not only irradiate, but traisform. If you look upon the sun when shining in its strength, the light thereof will imprint the very shape and image of the sun upon your eye; and, look where you will, still you retain the appearance of the sun before you : so; every sight that a true Christian hath of the Sun of righteousness, will make as it were another sun into his soul. But the illumination of wicked men doth only enlighten, not change them : their under- standings may be irradiated with glorious discoveries of God, and of Christ, and the things of heaven ; but this doth not transform them into the image and likeness of those things. The illumination of godly men and true Christians is like the light which breaks through the air, and turns every vast body throughout the world all into light. It is with wicked, unregenerate men, as with those TIAN DISCOVERED. 147 that lie long in the sunshine ; which, though it enlightens them, yet doth but afterwards make them more black and swarthy: so thou mayest have as much notional knowledge of God, and Christ, and the mysteries of the Gospel, as any childof God hath, and, possibly, much more; yet this is no true sign of grace, for this knowledge is not therefore saving because it is clear and comprehensive, but because it is influential and transforming. And, usually, we perceive, that where the light of knowledge shines into a wicked heart, it doth but tan and make the person more black and swarthy, more sinful than before. Thus, as to the direct understanding of the judgment, a natural man may have a bright, clear, and glittering light concerning heavenly and spiritual objects. (2.) As for the reflex understanding of the conscience: neither yet the peace nor the trouble of conscience, is such an attainment as a natural man cannot reach. 1. A natural man may have a quiet and peaceable conscience. Indeed, when this peace is true, it is always an effect of grace.: and therefore we thus find them coupled together, (Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3:) yet there is that which looks very like peace of conscience, though it be not such; and that is a supine presumption and a carnal stupidity and ossi- tancy : their consciences are never troubled at the sight of sin or the sense of wrath ; but they are like those presumptuous sinners spoken of, (Deut. xxix. 19,) " And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart," &c. Now this peace is founded only upon bold and confident persuasions of God's infinite mercy and gracious disposition : and because God will exalt his mercy above all his name, therefore they conclude, that as God hath exalted his power in creating and sustaining them, so he will much more exalt his mercy in saving them. Thus, as madmen often fancy them- selves kings or some great personages, when, indeed, they are but wretched and miserable spectacles; so ,do these spiritual madmen: and as the devil appropriates to himself all the glory of the earth, so these look upon heaven, and all the glory of it, and boldly call it all their own; yea, and through their wretched security, are bold to cry out with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God." To such I may say, with our Saviour in another case, "God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living :" God is not the God of such as love and live in their sins and lusts, and that call him Father, whom yet they dishonour by a lewd and dissolute life. This is but to father one of the devil's offspring upon the holy God, Indeed, men, by enormous and flagitious crimes, have so wounded and wasted their I 4-hp VPP'CT jmacvn rrf ~ho a7in ill thp cvlaca l~~~t I arnrcinl~a ~i 148 WORKS OF BIS consciences, that now they retain not strength enough to accuse, molest, and trouble them ; and this they call peace of conscience: such a peace, as Galgacus(in Tacitus) exprobates the Romans with; when they have laid all waste, this they call peace ; but this peace is rather deadness of conscience; and is far from that which ariseth from the true grace of God. The Holy Ghost, in conviction, destroys this ill-grounded peace; and works in the soul horrors and terrors, and affrights the secure soul, when it shews it how it slept upon the top of the mast, and lay onl the very brink of the infernal pit. As, therefore we must not discourage a broken spirit, but imbolden it to appropriate Christ and all the promises of the Gospel to itself in particular; so we must let wicked men know, that when they presume to call God their God and their Father, and yet continue in their sins and wickedness, they will find, that instead of being their Father, he will only be their Judge. Now it will appear that this peace of a carnal man is only from deep security, and the spirit of slumber that hath seized upon them: because, when we come to examine the grounds of it, they plead only the goodness of their hearts, and there is nothing more familiar and frequent than this they boast of ; and though they live in a constant neglect of holy duties, and wallow in the filth of cus- tomary sins, yet still they boast of this, that they have very good hearts, upright inten- tions. This is a mere delusion; for it is as utterly impossible that the heart should be good when the life is wicked and profane, as for a good root to bring forth evil and corrupt fruit. 2. As peace of conscience may be attained by natural men; so, many times, such may lie under the regrets and troubles of conscience. It is not trouble of conscience that is the attainment wherein true grace doth consist. A dull and lethargic conscience, that hath long lain under the customary commission of gross sins, may at length, by strong convictions, be startled and awakened to a sense of sin, and be afraid at the sight of it; but yet may remain an impure and defiled conscience. God may, even in this life, kindle in their breasts some sparks of the unquenchable fire, and may give them some foretastes of that cup of trembling that they must for ever drink of: as he hath made himself a devil incarnate by his sin, so God may make his conscience a hell incarnate. By his conscience, you hear Cain, that primitive reprobate, crying out, " My punishment is greater than I can bear :" nor could Judas find any other way to check his conscience, but with a halter. These regrets of conscience may proceed from a preparatory work of conviction, which, because of men's wilful deserting them, often vanish away without any saving effect; and HOP HOPKINS. fall as far short of true grace, as the region of the air, where storms, tempests, thunderings, and lightnings are engendered, falls short of the heaven of the blessed, and that eternal calmness and serenity. And as worms usually are the offspring of corruption and putrefac- tion; so this never-dying worm, that must ever sting them, oftentimes in this life, is bred out of a rotten and corrupted conscience. The conscience, therefore, may be defiled, when it is not seared ; it may be awakened, when it is not sanctified; a filthy puddle may be stirred, as well as a clear running stream the conscience may work terrors and horrors, where the Spirit of God never wrought true saving grace. (3.) As to the affections: there may be affections and sweet motions of the heart, which are oftentimes relied on as certain evidences of true grace, yet also may be in a carnal and natural man. (Matt. xiii. 20,) Some received " the word with joy," &c. so, (John, v. 35,) Christ tells the Jews, that they did for a season rejoice in the doctrine and preaching of John the Baptist : thus Herod is said to hear John gladly. So that you see the affections in holy duties and ordinances may be with joy, even in those that have no true grace at all in them. As there may be these affections of joy and delight, so, likewise, of sorrow for sin : so we have it, (Matt. xxvii. 3,) it is said of Judas, he " repented himself ;" and Ahab's humiliation was so great, that God took special notice of him, (1 Kings, xxi. 29,) Behold, " how Ahab humbleth himself," &c. Now, all these affections are but temporary and vanishing ; and may be excited, even in carnal men, from several advantages that things have to com- mend themselves to their judgments and to their hearts. 1. Sometimes the very novelty and strange- ness of them may affect us. Novelty usually breeds delight, which longer custom and acquaintance doth abate. And this may be given as a reason why, soon after conversion, the new convert's affections are drawn forth more strongly in the ways of God, than afterwards, when they grow settled and stable Christians: the reason is because of the very novelty of that course and way into which they have now entered, which affects them with delight : besides the real desirableness which is in those ways themselves, the very novelty doth affect them. And this, too, may satisfy us, that though many are turned aside from the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and from the way of worship which God hath appointed us, who have boasted that they have found more comfort and more sweet affections than ever, in those new ways after which they have gone; yet it is not because those ways have any thing in them that might yield them more comfort and delight, II lip nnrlpr )1-)p rprrrr\fc! nnr-l t.rrrn hIPe rrf~rrn~~inrrrcn I th THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 149 but only because they are new ways, and all new things will for the present stir up the affections; but after some continuance in those ways, they find their joy and delight to flag : then they seek out other new ways, and commend them as much; and no wonder; for new ways will stir up new affections. That may be one reason why affections may be stirred up, even in unregenerate and mere carnal men, as to the things of God, even from the mere novelty of them. 2. Good affections may be stirred up in men, from the very affecting nature of spiri- tual objects themselves. For spiritual objects may affect us in this natural way. Who can read the history of Christ's passion, without being affected with sorrow for all the sorrow that he underwent? He hath a heart harder than rocks, that can hear of the agonies, and scourges, and cruel indignities offered to so innocent and excellent a person as Christ was, that suffered even for sinners, and not be moved thereby to grief and compassion. And yet, possibly, these affections may be no other than such as would be excited from us, at the reading of some tragedy in a romance or feigned story. 3. Affections may be moved by the artificial rhetoric of others; by the great abilities of the ministers whom we hear. God tells the prophet Ezekiel, (xxxiii. 32,) "Thou art unto them as a very lovely song." They may sometimes have their judgments pleased with the learning shewn im a sermon, and their affections excited by the oratory and power- ful utterance of it ; but these, though they are very good helps to excite our affections, yet are not true tests of spiritual affections in us. 4. Pride and self-seeking may, in the per- formance of duties, excite our affections. Men may be much deceived in this particular. For instance, in prayer, they may think they are affected with the things they pray for; when, possibly, their affections may be moved only with the words themselves spoken; with the copious, free, and admirable inventive way that they pray in : whereas the contrite broken spirit, who is only moved with truly spiritual affections, may not be so large and so copious in his expressions of them : a true Christian may groan out a prayer, who can- not compose and make a prayer, that hath a sententious coherence one part with another. As the ground that is fullest of precious mines hath least grass growing upon it; so sometimes, in holy duties, when the heart is most full of grace, there may be least flourishing of ex- pressions. You cannot gather the truth of saving grace from strong workings of the affections, which may sometimes, upon these accounts, be deceitful. And wicked and unregenerate men may have affections stirred up in them, upon these grounds; but then they are always vanishing and fleeting; and are only perma- nent while the violence of some external cause doth excite them. And they are always unfruitful; though their affections may stir within them, yet they are not efficacious to put them upon a holy life and conversation. (4.) Every change that is wrought upon the will is no certain evidence of the truth of grace. A man may fall short of true saving grace, when there is yet a great change wrought upon the will. It is true, it is the thorough change of the will wherein grace doth principally consist : this is the first prin- cipal act from the Spirit of life; without which, whatsoever other change is wrought upon us, is no more than to set the hand of the watch to the right hour when the spring is broken. The philosophers call the will the command- ing, swaying faculty of the soul, that controls all the inferior faculties, and makes them obey its inclinations; so that, such as the will is, such is the whole man. And, therefore, the Scripture, in setting forth the twofold state of men, doth it by shewing the temper of their wills. Unregenerate men are described by their wilfulness, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life," (John, v. 40.) The people of God are described by their willing- ness, (Psal. cx. 3,) "They shall be a willing people in the day of thy power." And here I shall endeavour two things, - 1. To shew you after what manner the Spirit of God doth work this renewing change upon the will. 2. To shew you what other change is wrought upon it, which falls short of true grace, though oftentimes it is taken for it. 1. For the first, we must know that there are two ways whereby God doth effectually change the heart and will of a sinner; and these are moral suasions, and physical deter- minations, which are nothing else but God's all-powerful grace, whereby he doth imme- diately turn the bent and inclination of the will towards himself. And both these do always concur and agree to this great change. He doth first convince a sinner, and persuade him of the rationality of the ways of God, and of the vileness and emptiness of those vain things which his desires so eagerly pursue ; and, on the other hand, he clearly represents the glory and excellency of himself and his ways ; that he is the greatest good that we can enjoy; and yet there is no other way to enjoy him, but by loving and serving him. To do this, he makes use of moral suasions, and works upon our reason by cogent and prevailing argu- ments; which, at last, diffuseth such heavenly sweetness through the heart of a Christian, as makes him disrelish those fulsome delights of sin, that separate from that infinite good{ with which it holds comparison : so that he finds more true delight in God and his ways, and more alluring and charming joy in them, II IVIP7~ m~~T nP Tnll~ll IIPTCIVCII 1~1 T.II1S r9~.1'1.1(:111 150 WORKS OF BISHOP HOPKINS. than ever he did before in sensual pleasure: we are thereby carried forth unto them by an infallible, yet altogether free, voluntary, and amorous motion. And this is done by the real efficiency likewise of the Spirit of God upon the will : and this efficiency is so sweetly attempered to the native liberty of the will, that it would be a pain and torment to the soul to be separated from that God whom now his understanding doth apprehend, and whom his will doth clasp about, as the real and chief good. Here, you see, are both moral suasions and physical determinations of the will to the work of grace. God doth really determine it by the efficacious touch of his grace ; whereby he powerfully turns the bent and inclination of it to himself, which before stood towards sin and vanity. And that this might not infringe the will's prerogative of acting freely, he doth at the same time morally persuade it, by representing himself as the best and most satisfying object of it. Notwithstanding, then, the irresistibleness of God's working upon the will ; yet still, man's will is free in God's working of grace, which some have thought to be an irreconcileable difference. For the freedom of the will doth not consist in redoubled pure acts ; for other- wise, the saints and angels,themselves, who are under that blessed necessity that they cannot but love and serve God, would not love him and serve him freely. The liberty of the will consists in an acting upon rational grounds and motives; which, by how much stronger they are, by so much more they turn the necessity of the will to him, and yet by so much the more the will is free in acting: so that here, that the liberty of the will may not violate the causality of God's purpose, he changeth it by the power of his irresistible grace ; and yet, that this irresistible grace may not violate the liberty of the will, which is its natural privilege, he persuades it by such natural arguments that it could not act freely if it should dissent from them. Though God useth infinite power, yet he useth no violence; he subdues the will, but doth not compel it. This is that victorious grace, that doth not more overcome a sinher's resistance, than it doth his prejudice: it overcomes all opposi- tions by its own irresistible power; and it overcomes all prejudices by its attractive sweetness: and whenever it brings him to submit to God, it makes him to apprehend that his chief happiness and joy is to do so. And it is the same that doth afterwards pre- serve Christians from total apostacy: for though there be such a constant supply of grace to keep them that they shall never draw back to perdition; yet, withal, their own freedom is such, that they may if they will but when the will ceaseth its freedom, it never inclines but to that which is most pleasing ; and nothing is pleasing to a renewed and sanctified will, so much as that sovereign good, which comprehends in it all other good. Thus you see how God disposeth of the will of man ; changing it, without constrain- ing it; turning it, not forcibly, but infallibly, to himself, when he draws it by the sweet and efficacious operation of his grace. Thus I have despatched the first thing, and shewed how God works the renewing change upon the will of a sinner. 2. The second particular is to shew you, What other change may be wrought upon the will, which yet falls short of true grace ; and may bring a man almost to Christianity, and yet leave him in a natural state and condition. 1st, An unregenerate man may have many faint velleities, and wishings, and wouldings after grace. When he hears so much spoken of the beauty and excellency of holiness, he is convinced in his judgment that those things are true; that without holiness no man shall see the Lord; that though, while he is carnal, spiritual duties are tedious, and a burden to him, yet, were he spiritual, they would become more delightful to him than those very pleasures of sin which keep him from closing with grace; and that, were he renewed, those very pleasures.of sin would become unsavoury to him; and that which now he is afraid to lose, if he would turn to conscience he would not value the loss of it. When an unregenerate man, I say, is thus convinced of this, it will make him to break out into pangs of affectionate wishing for grace : "Oh, that I were holy and gracious! I wish my heart were changed and renewed. I wish I were better, and could do better." I appeal to every man's conscience, when he hath been convinced of the excellency and desirableness of holiness, whether he hath not breathed forth such wishes as these. When you have seen a Christian that is eminent and exemplary for piety, have not you wished yourself in his condition; not only in respect of his future reward and glory, but also in respect of his present grace? have you not wished, that such had been your comeliness and beauty? have you not wished, not only with Balaam, to " die the death of the righ- teous," and that your "last end might be like his ;" but also your life, by living righteously ? and yet still you continue in the same course and sinful state as formerly! Now, such empty velleities and idle wishes an unregene- rate man may possibly have; he may wish he were a saint, even as a fond foolish man, according to his idle fancy, may wish that he were an angel. But such wishes do not put him upon a constant attempt and use of the means whereby he might become such. His wishes and his sighs vanish away together; the one retaining no longer an impression upon his heart, than the other in the air : he runs into the commission of that sin, which, PQICT.II\IP