with the sight of thy sins, as also in firing thee with revenge against them, as those
enemies which drew thee into rebellion against God ; yea, as the bloody weapons
with which thou hast so often wounded the name, and murdered the Son of
God. Behold, the grace thou lookest for stands before thee. What is love to God,
if zeal against sin, as God's enemy, be not? Did not Abishai love David, when
his heart so boiled over with rage against Shimei for cursing David, tliat he could
not help breaking out in a passion, saying, ' Why should this dead dog curse my
lord the king .' Let me go over, I pray thee, and take offhis head ;' 2 Sam. xvi. 9.
And by thy own acknowledgment, it troubles thee as much to hear thy lusts
bark against God ; and thy will is as good to be the death of them, if God would
but grant his consent, as ever Abishai's was to strike that traitor's head off. And
yet art thou in doubt whether thou lovest God or no ? Truly, then, thou canst
not see love for zeal. Thus, as by taking hold of one link, you may draw up
the rest of the chain that lies under water ; so by discovering one grace, you may
bring all to sight. Joseph and Mary were indeed deceived, when they supposed
their son to be in the company of their kindred, Luke ii. 44 ; but thou canst
not do so here ; for this holy kindred of graces go together : they are knit as
members of tlie body, one to another ; though you see only the face of a man,
yet you doubt not but the whole man is there. Secondly, As it may relieve the
sincere Christian, so it will help to expose and put the hypocrite to shame, who
makes great pretences to some one grace, when he hates another at the same
time : a certain sign of a false heart. He never had any grace that loves not
all graces. Moses would not go out of Egypt with half his company, Exod. x. 26 ;
either all must go, or none : neither will the Spirit of God come into a soul with
half his sanctifying graces, but all his train. If, therefore, thy heart be set
against any one grace, it proves thou art a stranger to the rest ; and though thou
mayest seem a great admirer of one grace, yet the opposition which thou shewest
to others, washeth off the paint of this fair cover. He that loves or hates one
saint, as such, doth the same by every saint : so he that cordially closeth with
one grace, will find every grace endeared to him, for they are as like one to
another, as one sunbeam is to another.
Section IL — Sanctifying graces are connected in their growth and decay : increase one grace, and you strengthen all ; impair one, and you will be a loser in all ; and the reason is, because they are reciprocally helpful to each other. So that when one grace is wounded, the assistance which it would, if in temper, contribute to the Christian's common stock, is either entirely lost, or much lessened. When love cools, obedience slackens, and goes on heavily, because it wants tlie oil on its wheel which love used to drop ; when obedience falters, faith weakens : how can there be great faith, where there is little faithfulness? When faith is weak, hope presently wavers; for it is the credit of faith's report, that hope goes on to expect good from God : and hope wavering, patience becomes a bankmpt, and can keep his shop open no longer, because it trades with the stock which hope lends it. In the body you observe, there are many members, yet all make but one body ; and eveiy member so useful, that the others are beholden to it : so in the Christian there are many graces, but one new creature ; and the eye of knowledge cannot say to the hand of faith, I have no need of thee ; neither can the hand of faith say so to the foot of obedience ; but all are preserved by the mutual care they have of one another ; for, as ruin to the whole city may enter at a breach in one part of its wall, and the soul run out through a wound in a particular member of the body ; so the ruin of all graces may, yea, must, needs follow on the ruin of any one. There is, indeed, a stronger bond of union between graces of our souls, than there is between the members of our body. It is possible, yea, ordinary, for some member to be cut off from the body, without the death of the whole, because all the members of the body are not vital parts. But every grace is a vital part
2 L
514 -^^''^ TAKE THE JIKLMHT Ol' SALVATION.
in the new creature, and so essential to its very being, that its absence cannot be supplied per vicariam. In the body, one eye can make a shift to do the office of its fellow which is put out, and one hand do the other's work that is cut ofl", though may be not so exactly ; but faith cannot do the office of love, nor love the work of obedience. The lack of one wheel spoils the motion of the whole clock ; and if one grace be wanting, the end would not be attained for which this rare piece of workmanship is set up in the saint's heart.