into liis angry father's presence, than he to have the light of God's countenance shine on him, which is now veiled from him. O how he searcheth his heart, studies the Scripture, wrestles with God for to give him that grace, the non- evidence of which at present makes him so question the comforts he hath for- merly had : might he but have true grace, he will not fall out with God for want of comfort, tliough he stays for it till the other world. Never did any woman big with child long more to have the child in her arms that is at present in her womb, than such a soul doth to have that grace which is in his heart, but througli temptation questioned by him at present, evidenced to him in the truth of it. Whereas the hypocrite, in the midst of all his horror, doth not, cannot, (till he hath a better heart put into his bosom,) cordially love or desii-e grace and holiness, for any intrinsical excellency in itself; only as an expedient for escaping the tormentor's hand, which he'sees he is now falling into. — They differ in the issue. The Christian, he like a star in the heavens, wades through the cloud, that for a time hides his comfort ; but the other, like a meteor in the air, blazeth a little, and then drops into some ditch or other, where it is quenched. Or as the Spirit of God distingui*iheth them, Prov. xiii. 9 : ' The light of the righteous rejoiceth, but the lamp ' (or ' candle,' as in the Hebrew) 'of the wicked is put out.' The sincere Cluistian's joy and comfort is com- pared there to the light of the sun, that is climbing higher, while it is muffled up with the clouds from om* eye ; and by and by, when it breaks out more gloriously, doth rejoice over those mists and clouds, that seemed to obscure it ; but the joy of the wicked, like a candle, wastes and spends, being fed with gross fuel of outward prosperity, which in a short time fails, and the wretch's comfort goes out in a snuff at last, past all hope of being lighted again. The Christian's trouble of spirit again is compared to a swooning fainting-fit, which he within awhile recovers, Psa. xl. A qualm comes over the holy man's heart from the thought of his sins in the day of his great distress, ver. 12 : ' Innumerable evils have compassed me about ; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up ; they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me.' But before the psalm is at an end, after a few deep groans in prayer, ver. 13, 14, he comes again to himself, and acts his faith strongly on God, ver. 17: ' Yet the Lord thinketh on me : thou art my helper and my deliverer.' But the hypocrite's confidence and hope, M'hen once it begins to sink and falter, it dies and perishes, Jobxi.20; ' The eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.'
CHAPTER XL
THAT THE GOSPEL ALONE CAN UNITE THE HEARTS OF MEN TOGETHER IN TRUE PEACE, AND HOW THE GOSPEL DOTH IT.
3. We come now to the third kind of peace, which I called ' a peace of love and unity.' A heavenly grace this is, whereby the minds and hearts of men, that even now jarred and rang backwards, are made tunable each to other, so as to chime all in, to an harmonious consent and concord among themselves. Thus peace in Scripture is frequently taken, as you may see, Mai-k ix. 50 ; Heh. xiii. 14 ; 1 Thess. v. 13. Now the gospel is a gospel of peace, if taken in this notion also, which we shall briefly speak to from this note. Note. That the gospel, and only the gospel, can knit the hearts and minds of men together in a solid peace and love. This, next to the reconciling us to God and ourselves, is especially designed by Christ in the gospel ; and truly those witliout this, would not fill up the saint's happiness, except God should make a heaven for every Christian by himself to live in. John Baptist's ministry, which was as it were the preface to, and brief contents of the gospel, was divided into these two heads : ' To turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.' Luke i. 16 ; 'and to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' ver. 17. That is, to make them friends with God, and one another. This is the natural effect of the gospel, where it is powerfully and sincerely embraced ; to unite and endear the hearts of men and women in love and peace together, how contrary soever they were before. This is the strange metamorphosis which the pro- whet speaks shall be under the gospel, Isa. xi. 8 : ' The wolf shall dwell with the Iamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid.' That is, men and women, be-
THE GOSPEL or PEACE. 3g9