It was Augustine's complaint of old, vix deligitur Jesus propter Jesum, that scarce any love Christ but for his rewards. Few follow him for love, but for loaves, John vi. 26 ; few follow him for his in^ ward excellencies, many follow him for their outward advantages ; few follow him that they may be made good by him, but many follow him that they may be great by him. Certainly, you are the bosom friends of Christ, you are in the very heart of Christ, who prize Christ above all, who lift up Jesus Christ as high as God the Father lifts him, and that because of his rich anointings, and because all his garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, Ps. xlv. 6-8. This is a work too high and too hard, too great and too noble, for all that are not new-born, that are not twice born, that are not of the blood-royal, that are not par- takers of the divine nature.
[5.] The fifth distinction. Are not your greatest and your hottest conflicts against inward pollutions, against those secret sins that are only obvious to the eye of God and your oivn souls .?* The light of nature's education, and some common convictions of the Spirit, may put
' ' None but Christ, none but Christ !' cries the martyr. [Sanders ? — G.]
* Amat Deus, non aliunde hoc hahet, sed ipse est unde amat — Augustine. ' See Index under Hsephestion. — G.
* When one asked Gate's daughter why she would not marry again, she being young when her husband died, answered. Because she could not find a man that loved her more than her goods. Few there are that love Christ more than his goods, &c.
. * It was a good prayer of him that said, Lord, Libera me a malo homine, a meipso. [Aug- ustine, as before.— G.]
Rom. VIII 32-34.] heaven on earth. 427
men upon combating with those sins that are obvious to every eye, but it must be a supernatural power and principle that puts men upon con- flicting with the inward motions and secret operations of sin, Rom. vii. 23. The apostle complains of a law in his members warring against the law of his mind. The war was within doors, the fight was inward. The apostle was deeply engaged against a law within him, which made him sigh it out, ' O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death f So David cries out, ' Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from secret faults,' Ps. xix. 12. So Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, or for the lifting up of his heart, as the Hebrew hath it, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26 [sin u"? mil]. His recovery from sickness, his victories over his enemies, and his rich treasures, lifted up his heart. Oh ! but for those outward risings and vauntings of heart Hezekiah humbles himself, he abases and lays him- self low before the Lord. A sincere heart weeps and laments bitterly over those secret and inward corruptions that others will scarce acknow- ledge to be sins. Many a man there is that bleeds inwardly, and dies for ever ; many a soul is. eternally slain by the inward workings of sin, and he sees it not, he knows it not, till it be too late.*
Oh ! but a true Nathanael mourns over the inward motions and first risings of sin in his soul, and so prevents an eternal danger. Upon every stirring of sin in the soul the believer cries out, O Lord, help; O Lord, undertake for me ; oh dash these brats of Babylon in pieces ; oh stifle the first motions of sin, that they may never conceive and bring forth, to the wounding of two at once, thy honour and my own conscience !
[6.] The sixth distinction. Are you itwt subject to ChHst as a head ? Yes ; devils and wicked men are subject to Christ as a Lord, but those that are by faith united to him, and that have a spiritual interest in him, are subject to him as a head.
I shall open this particular thus unto you.
First, The members are willingly and sweetly subject to the head ; their subjection is voluntary, not compulsory .^ It is so with a believing soul : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' So Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness.' So Paul cries out, ' What wilt thou have me to do V Acts ix. 6, and professes that he is willing not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of Christ, Acts xxi. 13. A gracious soul is in some mea- sure naturalised to the work of Christ, and Christ's work is in some measure naturalised to the souL
Secondly, The members are subject to the head universally, they do all the head enjoineth f so the real members of Christ do in sincerity endeavour universally to subject to all that Christ their head requires, without any exception or reservation : Luke i. 5, 6, ' Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord
* The Persian kings reign powerfully, and yet are seldom seen in public. Secret sins reign in many men's souls powerfully and dangerously, when least apparently.
* Every true Nathanael's motto is. Omnia ex voluntate Dei, all must be as God will have it.
* Their obedience is universal, (1.) in respect of the act of eschewing all evil, doing all good ; (2.) in respect of the rule, the whole word of God ; (3.) in respect of their general and particular calling.
428 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [RoM. VIII. 32-34.
l)lamele.ss.' • They walked without halting or halving of it with God ; they fell in with every part and point of God's revealed will, without prejudice or partiality, without tilting the balance on one side or another: Acts xiii. 22, ' I have found David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, which shall fulfil all my will,' or rather ' all my wills,' as the Greek hath it [^sX^/tara], to note the universality and sincerity of his obedience.
Thirdly, The members are subject to the head constantly, unwea- ried ly. The members are never weary of obeying the head ; they obey in all places, cases, and times ; so are the real members of Christ : Acts xxiv. 16, ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men.'' I use all diligence, skill, cunning, and conscience, to be sincere and inoffensive in all my motions and actions towards God and towards men. So David, Ps. cxix. 112, * I have inclined my heart' (or rather, as the Hebrew word signifies, ' I have stretched out my heart,' as a man would do a piece of parch- ment) ' to do thy statutes' (the Hebrew word signifies to do accurately, exactly, perfectly) ' alway, even unto the end.'* A gracious soul is not like a deceitful bow, nor like the morning dew, but he is like the sun, that rejoiceth to nm his race ; he is like the stone in Thracia, that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water.' Now tell me, pray tell me, O you doubting souls, whether you do not,
(].) Labour in all duties and services to approve your hearts to God?
(2.) Whether you do not endeavour to get up to the very top of holiness, and to live up to your own principles ?