Secondly, As for those that are sincere, true-hearted Christians, there are several considerations which will vindicate the gospel to answer its name, and to be a gospel of peace and consolation. First, Some that are sincere Christians, and yet do not so clearly vmderstand the doctrine of the gospel as others ; and the want of light, of joy, and comfort in their consciences comes from that want of light in their understandings. The ignorance of the workman doth not disparage the art. Plus est in arte, quam in artifice. There is fulness of comfort in the principles of the gospel, but every Christian hath not attained ' to the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,' which the apostle directs the Colossians to, as a sovereign means whereby ' their hearts might be comforted,' Col. ii. 2. Secondly, Some that do understand the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ, (the only foundation to build and rear up true comfort and peace of conscience on,) yet may by their negligence in their Christian course (not walking carefully by the rule of the gospel) deprive them- selves at present of this sweet peace, which otherwise might flow into their bosoms from the promises of the gospel : ' As many as walk by this rule, peace be on them,' Gal. vi. 16. And if so, what blame can be laid on the gospel? Be the pen never so good, and the hand never so skilful, it will not write on wet paper; yet we do not blame the hand or pen, but paper. If the heart (though of a saint never so eminent) be under the defilement of a present lust not repented of, no promise will speak peace to him ; he is a disoi'derly walker, and tlie Spirit hath his rod to whip such, no sweetmeats of joy and peace to entertain them withal in that plight. Thirdly, As for those which do walk close to the rule of the gospel, (I mean, by a sincere endeavour,) and thou seest no such peace and comfort as we speak of that they have, I answer.
First, They may have it, and thou not know it. The saint's joy and peace is not such a light, frothy joy as the world's; Res severa vermn gaudium. The parlour wherein the Spirit of Christ entertains the Christian is an inner room, not next the street, for every one that goes by to smell the feast. 'The stranger intermeddles not with his joy,' Prov. xiv. 10. Christ and the soul may be at supper withiii, and thou not so much as see one dish go in, or hear the music that sounds so sweetly in the Christian's ears. Perhaps thou thinkest he wants peace, because he doth not hang out a sign in his countenance of the joy and peace he hath within. Alas, poor wretch ! may not the saint have a peaceful conscience, with a solemn, yea, sad countenance, as well as thou and thy companions have a sorrowful heart, when there is nothing but fair weather in your faces? ' In laughter the heart is sorrowful,' Prov. xiv. 13. Sure he means the wicked man's laughter. It never looks more like rain with them than when it shines ; their conscience lowers when their face laughs : so on the contrary, never more inward peace and comfort to be fomid in a saint's bosom than sometimes when his face is blubbered with tears. Shoiddst thou come in and hear the Christian bemoaning himself, and complaining with sighs and sobs of his sins against God, thou wouldst go home and cry out of this melancholy religion, and the sad condition this man was in. And yet he whom thou so pitiest can desire thee to save it for thyself, and not spend it in vain for him, who would not part with that very sorrow, that scares thee so much, for all the joy which the world, with all its gallantry, when best set forth, could afford. There is a mystery in this sorrow thou canst not unriddle. Know therefore there is a sorrow and anguish of heart which ariseth from the guilt of sin, and the fearful apprehensions of God's wrath due to sin ; and another that flows not from fear of wrath arising from guilt, but from the sense of sins in being in the soul, that provokes the Cliristian to do tliat which is dishonourable to that God who hath pardoned his sins to him ; and this is the sorrow which sometimes makes the saints go for sad, uncomfortable creatures, when at the same time their hearts are as full of comfort from the sense of God's pardoning mercy as
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. gg|
they can hold. This sorrow is but like a summer shower, melted by the sense of God's love, as that by the warm sun, and leaves the soul, as that doth a garden of sweet flowers on which it falls, more fresh and odoriferous.