art. Christ bears with the saints' imperfections ; well may the saints bear one with another. How deficient were the disciples in their knowledge ! How long did they stand at one lesson before they conld learn it !. ' Do ye now believe ?' says Christ, John xvi. 31. He had inculcated the same thing often, before it entered tlieir minds ; yet, alas ! we can hardlj' have a good opinion of, or hold communion with, those that are not every way of oiu- judgment, and cannot see things so clear as ourselves. Sui-ely we mistake the nature of the gospel, as if there were none but plain points in it. Blessed be God, as to principles necessary to salvation, though their nature be high and mysterious, yet they are clearly and plainly asserted in the word : ' Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. Godliness is a mystery ; but as to tlie main fundamental points of it, tliere is no dispute among tlie faithful. There ai"e some points more remote from the vital jiarts of religion, that have knots not easily untied, which make some difference of judgment ; but it is not every excess or defect makes a monster, as six or foiu" lingers on the hand, but an excess or defect in some principal part ; neither doth every mistake make a monster in religion. Remember that the gospel is a mystery, and you will bear with one another's ignorance the better ; and when love hath once laid the dust which passion and prejudice have blown in our eyes, we shall then stand at greater advantage for finding out truth. Again, bear with weakness in the practical part of religion. Godliness, as well as the doctrine of faith, is a mystery. All saints are not of a height ; Christ hath some children in his family that are led with strings, as well as others that go strongly without such help : some act more upon pure gospel principles, (love and a spirit of adop- tion ;) otliers have not yet woi-n off their legal fears and terrors: some are got liigher up the hill of faith, and have clearer apprehensions of their spiritual state; others are nearer the bottom, who are wrapped up with many clouds of jierplexing fears and doubts : in a word, some are got farther out of their passions, have greater mastery over their corruptions, than others ; pit}^ thy weak brother, and take him by the hand for his help, but despise him not; God can make him stand, and suifer thee to fall : Christ doth not quench the smoking flax, — why should we ? The weak Christian is welcome to his hea- venly Father, as well as the strong ; why should he not be so to his brethren ? But, alas ! the proverb is here too true. * Better speak to the master, than the man ; the father, than the child.' — Those that can be so bold with God, dare not be free with their fellow-servants and brethren.
Section IV. — Is the gospel a mystery ? then. Christian, long for heaven; there, and only there, shall this mystery be fully known. The great things which were spoken concerning the gospel church, made many saints and pro- phets, before Christ's time, desire to see those happy times wherein such reve- lations should be made ; how much more should we long for heaven, where this great mystery shall be fully opened, and every box of this cabinet un- locked, in which lie so many precious jewels to this day imseen by any saint on earth! Then it will be said, 'The mystery of God is finished,' Rev. x. 7. Here we learn our knowledge of it by little and little, like one that reads a book as it comes from the press, sheet by sheet ; there we shall see it altogether : here we get a little light from this sermon, a little more from the next, and thus our stock increases, some to-day, and more to-morrow; but there we shall have all at once : here we learn with much pain and difficulty, there without travail and trouble : glorified saints, though they cease not from work, yet rest from labour : here passion blinds our minds, that we mistake error for truth, and truth for error ; but there these clouds shall be scattered and gone : here the weakness of natural parts keeps many in the dark, and renders them incapable of a])prehending some truths, which otliers are led into ; but there the strong shall not prevent the weak, the scholar shall know as much as his master, the people as their minister ; here the contentions among the godly leave the weaker sort at great uncertainty what to think concerning many trutlis ; but there they shall all agree, which comforted the holy man on his deatli-bed, that he was going thither, where Luther and Calvin were reconciled : here we are disturbed in our inquiries after truth, one while the necessary occasions of this woi'ld divert us, another while the weakness and infirmities of our bodies hinder us; but in heaven our bodies will call for none of this tend-
§Q^ THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSVEL.