more eftectual, and refresh his patient with variety, so the Lord, consulting our weakness, doth by his word administering it to ns now in this, anon in that ordinance for our greater dcliglit and profit ; aiming still at the same end in all, even tlie promoting of holiness in the liearts and lives of his people ; what are they all but as veins and arteries, by which Christ conveys the life- blood and spirits of holiness into every member of his mystical body ? The church is the garden, Christ the fountain, every ordinance as a pipe from him, to water all the beds in this garden ; and why, but to make them more abim- dant in the fruits of righteousness ?
Section V.— Fifthly, It is his design in all his providences. ' All things,' that is, all providences especially, 'work together for good, to them that love God,' Rom. viii. 28; and how do they work for their good, but by making them better and more holy ? Providences are good and evil to us as they find or make us better or worse; nothing is good to him that is evil. As God makes use of all the seasons of the year for the harvest, the frost and cold of winter, as well as the heat of the summer ; so doth he of fair and foul, pleasing and un- pleasing providences, for promoting holiness : winter providences kill the weeds of lusts, and simimer providences ripen and mellow the fruits of righteousness ; when he afflicts, it is for our profit, to make us partakers of his holiness, Heb. xii. 10. Afflictions, Bernard compares to the teazel, which, though it be sharp and scratching, is to make the cloth more pure and fine. God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures, (rod loves purity so well, he had rather see a hole than a spot in his child's gar- ments. When he deals more gently in his providences, and lets his people sit under the sunny bank of comforts and enjoyments, fencing them from tlie cold blasts of afiliction, it is to draw forth the sap of grace, and hasten their growth in holiness. Paul understood this, when he besought the saints at Rome, ' by the mercies of God to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and accept- able to Cxod,' Rom. xii. 1. Implying, that mercies came from God to us on this very errand ; God might reasonably expect such a return. The husbandman, when he lays his compost on his ground, looks to receive it at harvest again in the fuller ci-op ; and so doth God by his mercies; therefore he doth so vehe- mently complain of Israel's ingratitude, Hosea ii, 8 : ' She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver, which they pre- pared for Baal.' God took it ill, and well might he, that they should entertain Baal at his cost ; if God sends in any cheer to us, he would have us know tliat it is for his own entertainment ; he means to come and sup upon liis own charge. And what dish is it that pleaseth Ciod's palate ? Surely, he that would not have his people eat of any unclean thing, will not himself. They are the pleasant fruits of holiness and righteousness, which Christ comes into his gar- den to feed on, Cant. v. 1 : 'I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh and my spice, I have eaten my honey with my honeycomb, I have drunk my wine with my milk.'
CHAPTER IV.
THE SECOND REASON WHY THE CHRISTIAN SHOULD WEAR THIS BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND MAINTAIN THE TOWER OF HOLINESS SO CAREFULLY, TAKEN FROM SATAN's GREAT DESIGN AGAINST IT.
Secondly, In regard of Satan, whose design is as much against tlie saint's holiness, as God is for it. He hath ever a nay to God's yea ; if God be for holiness, he must needs be against it : and what should be our chief care to defend, but that which Satan's thoughts and plots are most laid to assault and storm ? There is no creature the devil delights so to lodge and dwell in, as man. Wlien he enters into other creatiu'es, it is but on design against man ; as when he entered the sequent, it was to deceive Eve : the swine, Matt. viii. 32, he possessed them on a design to dispossess the Gergesenes of the gospel; but might he choose his own lodging, none pleaseth him but man : and why ? Be- cause man only is capable, by liis rational soul, of sin and unrighteousness. And as he prefers man to quarter in above ail inferior creatures, so he had rather possess the souls of men than their bodies; none but the best room in the house will serve this unclean spirit to vomit his blasphemies, and eject his malice in against God ; and why? but because the soul is the proper seat of
gQQ AND HAVING ON