* James ii. 7. The very heathen, as Salvian observes, did thus reproach Christians that walked contrary to their principles. Where is that good law which they do believe ? They read and hear the holy Scriptures, and yet are drunk and unclean ; they follow Christ, and yet disobey Christ ; they profess a holy law, and yet do lead impure lives.
* If a snake should sting thy dearly beloved spouse to death, wouldst thou preserve it alive, warm it at the fire, hug it in thy bosom, and not rather stab it with a thousand wounds ? You are wise, and know how to apply it.
EOM. VIII. 32-34.] HEAVEN ON EARTH. 425
they are against the bowels of tenderest mercy, they are against the manifestations of greatest love, they are against the nearest and dearest relations, they are against the choicest and highest expectations ; and this makes believing souls cry out. Oh, a cure. Lord ! a cure, Lord ! Oh give me purging grace, give me purging grace ; though I should never taste of pardoning mercy, yet give me purging grace.^
It was a notable speech of Cosmus, duke of Florence, ' I have read,' saith he, ' that I must forgive my enemies, but never that I must for- give my friends.' The sins of God's friends, of God's people, provoke him most, and sad him most, and this makes them sigh and groan it out, ' Who shall deliver us from this body of death ?' Rom. vii. 24. Oh ! but now wicked men labour, not that sin may be cured, but only that sin might be covered, Hosea vil 10-16; and that the consequents of sin, viz., affliction and the stinging of conscience, may be removed, as you may see in Cain, Saul, Judas, and divers others : ' Hosea v. 14, 15, * In their affliction they will seek me early,' saith God ; they will then seek to be rid of their affliction, but not to be rid of their sins that hath brought down the affliction upon them. Like the patient that would fain be rid of his pain and torment, under which he groans, but cares not to be rid of those evil habits that have brought the pain and tor- ment upon him. Ps. Ixxviii. 34-37, ' When he slew them, then they sought him ; and they returned and inquired early after God : and they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not upright with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.'^ In these words you see plainly, that these people are very early and earnest in seeking God, to take off his hand, to remove the judgments that were upon them, but not that God would cure them of those sins that provoked him to draw his sword, and to make it drunk with their blood ; for, notwith- standing the sad slaughters that divine justice had made among them, they did but flatter and lie, and play the hypocrites with God ; they would fain be rid of their sufferings, but did not care to be rid of their sins. Ah ! but a gracious soul cries out, Lord, do but take away my sins, and it will satisfy me and cheer me, though thou shouldst never take off thy heavy hand. A true Nathanael sighs it out under his greatest affliction, as that good man did, A me, 7ne salva domine, deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man myself.' No burden to the burden of sin. Lord I says the believing soul ; deliver me from my inward burden, and lay upon me what outward burden thou pleasest.
(4.) The fourth distinction. Are not your souls taken loith Christ as chief? is he not in your eye the chief est of ten thousand ? is he not altogether lovely ? Cant. v. 10, 16. Yes, have you any in heaven but he, and is there any on earth that you desire in comparison of him ? Prov.
' "When Brutus went to stab Julius Csesar, he cried out, What, thou my son Brutus, &c. [The memorable El tu quoque, &c — G.] So may God well cry out, What, thou my son ! What, wilt thou stab me with thy sins ? is it not enough that others stab my honour ? but wilt thou, my son ?
• Sin doth ill in the eye, worse in the tongue, worser in the heart, but worst of all in the life. Ah, England, England, as face answers face, so doth thy carriage towards God answer the carriage of these people, whoso baseness and falseness God hath put upoii record to this very day, &c. ' Augustine, Confessions. — G.
426 HEAVEN ON EAKTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34).
iii. 1 5 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26 ; Philip, iii. 7, 8. No. Do not you lift up Jesus Christ as high as God the Father lifts him? God the Father lifts up Christ above all principalities and powers, Eph. i. 21, Philip, ii. 9 ; he lifts up Christ above all your duties, above all your privileges, above all your mercies, above all your graces, above all your contentments, above all your enjoyments ; do not you thus lift up Jesus Christ 1 Yes.^ As he is the Father's chiefest jewel, so he is your choicest jewel, is he not? Yes. Verily none can lift up Christ as chief, unless Christ have their hearts, and they dearly love him, and believe in him, for Christ is only precious to them that believe, 1 Peter ii. 7. Luther had rather be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without him ; is not that the frame of thy heart ? Yes. Why then dost thou say thou hast no grace, thou hast no Christ. Surely none but those that have union with Christ, and that shall eternally reign with Christ, can set such a high price upon the person of Christ. The true believer, aTYiat Christum propter Christum, loves Christ for Christ ; he loves Christ for his personal excellencies, Cant. v. J 0-1 6.^ .
What Alexander said of his two friends, is applicable to many in our day ; says he, 'Haephestion loves me as I am Alexander, but Craterus loves me as I am King Alexander.'* One loved him for his person, the other for the benefits he received by him. So some Nathanaels there be that love Christ for his person, for his personal excellenc}', for his personal beauty, for his personal glory ; they see those perfections of grace and holiness in Christ, that would render him very lovely and desirable in their eyes, though they should never get a kingdom, a crown by it.* But most cif those that bear any love and good-will to Christ, do it only in respect of the benefits they receive by him.