Secondly, What shall we think of tliose that are great pretenders to this peace, yet cannot think with any patience of sutiering from God or for God ? Certainly, so far as the creature is acquainted with this peace, and hath the true sense of God's love in Christ lying warm at his heart, he cannot hut find pro- portionably his heart stand ready to submit to any sutiering that God lays out for him. And therefore it behoves us well to try our peace and comfort. If thou hast no heart to sutler for God, but choosest a sin to escape a cross, thy peace is false ; if thou hast but little patience under ordinary afflictions, to compose thy spirit from murmuring, and sustain thy heart from sinking, thy faith on the promise is weak. ' If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small,' Prov. xxiv. 10.
Use 2. Secondly, Let this stir thee up, Christian, to be very tender and chary of thy peace with God and thy own conscience. Keep this peace clear and unbroken, and it will keep thy heart whole when the whole world breaks about thee. So long as this peace of God rules in your hearts, you are safe from fear or dansrer, though in a prison, or at a stake. But if thou sufterest that to be wounded, then thy enemies will come upon thee as Simeon and Levi on the men of Shechem when sore, and be too hard for thee. O it is sad, friends, you will find it so, to go with sore and smarting consciences into a sufl'ering condition. A thorn in the foot will make any way uneasy to the traveller, and guilt in the conscience any condition uncomfortable to the Christian, but most of all a suflering one. Now, if you will keep your peace unbroken, you must bestow some attendance on it, and set as it were a life- guard about it. The choicest flowers need most looking to. The richer the treasure, the safer we lav it. This peace is thy treasure, look well where thou layest it. Two ways our Saviour tells us, that worldly treasure, such as silver and gold is, may be lost ; by ' thieves that break in and can-y it away, and by rust that eats and corrupts it,' Matt. vi. 19. There are two ways something like these, wherein the Christian may go by the loss in this his heavenly treasure of inward peace and comfort. Presumptuous sins, these are the thieves that break through and steal the saint's comfort away. When the Christian comes to look into his soul after such a bold act, and thinks to entertain himself, as formerly, with the comforts of his pardoned state, interest in Christ, and hopes of heaven through him, alas! he finds a sad change; no promise that will give out its consolations to him. The cellar-door is locked, Christ withdrawn, and the keys carried away with him. He may even cry out with a sad com- plaint, as Mary wlien she found not Christ's body in the sepulchre, ' They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.' Thus the Christian may with an aching heart bemoan his folly ; My pride, my uncleanness, my earthly-mindedness, they have taken away my treasure, robbed me of my comfort. I could never have a comfortable sight of God's face in any duty or promise since I fell into that foul sin. And therefore, Christian, have a care of such robbers of thy peace as this. ' The spirit of man' is called 'the candle of the Lord,' Prov. xx. 27. Hath God lighted thy candle, Christian, (cheered tliy spirit, I mean,) with the sense of his love? take heed of presumptuous sins ; if such a thief be suffered in this thy candle, thy comfort will soon come to an end. Hast thou fallen into the hands of any such presumptuous sins, that have stolen thy peace from thee ? send speedily thy hue-and-cry after them. I mean, make thy sad moan to God, renew thy repentance out of hand, and raise heaven upon them by a spirit of prayer. This is no time to delay ; the further thou lettest these sins go without re- pentance, the harder thou wilt find it to recover thy lost peace and joy out of their liands ; and for thy encouragement know, God is ready, upon thy serious and solemn return, to restore thee the joy of his salvation, and do jus- tice upon these enemies of thy soul for thee by his mortifying grace, if thou wilt prosecute the law upon them closely and vigorously, witliout relenting towards them, or being 1)ribed with tlie pleasure, or carnal advantage, that they will not spare to ofler, so their lives may ])e spared.
Again, as presumptuous sins are the thieves, that with a high hand rob the Cln-istian of his comfort ; so sloth and negligence are as the rust, that in time will fret into his comfort, and eat out the heart and strength of it. It is im- possible that the Christian who is careless and secure in his walking, unfre-
A24 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH.