First, Let it learn thee, Christian, this wisdom, whenever thou findest any grace weakened, either through thy negligence in not attending to it, or Satan's temptations wounding it, speedily to endeavour the recovery of it ; because thou dost not only lose the comfort which the exercise of this one grace might bring, but thou wcakenest all the others. Is he a bad husband who hazards the fall of his house, by suffering a hole or two in the roof? What then art thou, who puttest thy whole gracious state in danger, by neglecting a timely repair of the breach made in one of thy graces? And so, when thou art tempted to any sin, look not on it as a single sin, but as having all other sins in its belly. Consider what thou doest, before thou gratifiest Satan in any one motion ; for by one sin thou strengthenest the whole body of sin : give to one sin, and that will send more beggars to your door, and they will come with a stronger plea than the former; why mayest thou not do this for them as well as for the other ? Thy best way is to keep the door shut to all, lest, while thou intendest to entertain only one, all crowd in. But if it were possible that thou couldest break this connexion of sin, so as to take off one link that pleaseth thee best, and not draw the whole chain after thee by conm:iitting this, yet know there is a connexion of guilt also, James ii. 10: ' Whosoever shall keep the ■whole law, and yet offisnd in one point, he is guilty of all.' As he that administereth to the estate of one deceased, though it be never so little that he takes into his hands, becomes liable to pay all his debts, and brings all his creditors upon him ; so by tampering but with one sin, and that a little one, thou bringest the whole law upon thy back, which will arrest thee upon God's suit, as a transgressor of all its commands. Thus the law is copulative ; an affront done to one redounds to the dishonour of all, and so is resented by God, the lawgiver, whose authority is equally in all.
Secondly, This may comfort those who trouble them.selves with the thoughts of future changes which may befall them. And what shall they do then? say they. Now, blessed be God, they make a shift to serve God in their place ; but what if straits come, — poverty, sickness, or other crosses? How shall they then behave ? Where is their faith, patience, and other suffei-ing graces, that should enable them to walk on these waves without sinking? They fear, alas ! that little of these suffering graces is in their hands. Well, Christian, for thy encouragement know, if the graces of thy present condition (those, 1 mean, which God calls thee to exercise now in thy prosperous state,) be lively, thou mayest comfortably hope the other suffering graces, which now stand unseen behind the curtain, ■will do the same, ■when God chaugeth the scene of thy affairs, and calls them upon the stage to act their part. The more hmiible thou art now with thy abundance, the more patient thou ■wilt certainly shew thyself in thy penury. So much as thy heart is now above the world's enjoyments, even so much thou wait be above the troubles and sorrows of it. Trees grow proportionably under ground to what they do above ; and the Christian will find something like this in his graces.
CHAPTER II.
OF THE NATURE OF HOPE, WHY STYLED HOPE OF SALVATION, AND WHY COMPARED
TO A HELMET.
We have done with the connective particle, whereby this piece is coupled to the former, and now come to address our discourse to the piece of armom- itself, — 'Take the helmet of salvation.' Though we have not here, as in all the other, the grace expressed, yet we need not be at a loss for it, if we consult another place, where our apostle lends us a key to decipher his meaning in this ; 1 Thess. V. 8: 'And for a helmet the hope of salvation;' so that, without any scruple, we shall determine upon the grace of ' hope,' as intended by the Holy
A\D TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 515
Ghost in this place. Now in order to a treatise of this grace, it is requisite that something be said by explication, which may serve as a light set up in the entry to lead us the better into the several rooms of the point which is to be the sub- ject of our discourse.