(3.) Whether it be not your greatest desire and endeavour that sin may be cured rather than covered ?
(4.) Whether you are not taken with Christ as chief? whether you do not, in vour judgments and affections, lift up Christ above all, as God the Father doth?
(5.) Whether your greatest and hottest conflicts and combats be not against inward pollutions, against those secret stirrings and operations of sin, which are only obvious to the eye of God and your own souls?
(6.) Whether you do not, in respect of the general bent and frame of your hearts, subject to Christ as your head ?
[1.] Freely and sweetly.
[2.] Universally, in one thing as well as another, without any ex- ception or reservation.
[3.] Constantly and unwearily. Yes ; we do these things ; we should belie the grace of God if we should say otherwise. These things the Lord hath wrought in us and for us, Isa. xxvi. 12. Well, then, know,
First, That your estate is good ; you have certainly a blessed in- terest in the Lord Jesus. None can do these things but souls that have union with Christ, that are interested in Christ, that are acted by the peculiar and special influences of Christ, and that are highly beloved of Christ. Verily, these are such flowers of paradise that cannot be gathered in nature's garden ; they are pearls of that price that God
* Sja^avTs;, always, or throughout in all cases, or at all times.
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Rom, VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 429
bestows upon none but those that are the price of Christ's blood. All the men in the world cannot prove by the Scripture that these jewels can be found in any men's breasts but in theirs that have union and communion with Christ, and that shall reign for ever with Christ.^
SecoTidly, Know that it is no iniquity, but rather your duty, for you to suck sweetness out of these honeycombs, and to look upon these things as infallible pledges and evidences of divine favour, and of your everlasting happiness and blessedness. Some there be that make the witness of the Spirit, of which I shall, towards the close of this discourse, speak at large, the only evidence of our interest in Christ, and deny all other evidences from the fruit of the Spirit f but this is to deny the fruit, growing upon the tree, to be an evidence that the tree is alive, whereas all know, that the fruit growing upon the tree is an infallible and undeniable evidence that there is life in the tree. Certainly it is one thing to judge by our graces, and another thing to rest upon our graces, or to put trust in our graces. When one argues from the beams of the sun, that there is a sun, one would think that the most cavilling spirit in the world should lie quiet and still.
(7.) The seventh vneans to get a well-grounded assurance of your ever- lasting happiness and blessedness is, to grow and increase more and 'more in grace. 2 Pet. i. 5-11, ' Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge, &c. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abun- dantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' By entrance into the everlasting kingdom of Christ, is not meant a local entrance into heaven ; for heaven is nowhere called the kingdom of Christ, but the Father's kingdom. The opposition, ver. 9, sheweth clearly that it is meant of assurance. Now, the" way to full assurance is by adding grace to grace. The Greek word that is here rendered ' add,' hath a greater emphasis ; it signifies to Hnk our graces together, as virgins in a dance do link their hands together.' Oh ! we must be still a-joining grace to grace, we must still be adding one grace to another, we must still be a-leading up the dance of graces, (ireat measures of grace carry with them great evidence of truth, little measures carry with them but little evidence ; great measures of grace carry with them the greatest evidence of the soul's union and communion with Christ ; and the more evident your union and communion with Christ is, the more clear and full will your assurance be.*
Great measures of grace carry with them the greatest and clearest evidences of the glorious indwellings of the Spirit in you, and the more you are persuaded of the real indwelUngs of the Spirit in you, the
1 If these things could be found in the most shining hypocrites, or any others but real saints, they could not possibly be either a first or second evidence. Though a man could see them in the light of the Spirit, this is carefully to be observed against those that hold these good second evidences, &c.
2 We have cause enough to keep off doubtings and distress of spirit upon the bare sight of our evidences. This, coaiplaining, cavilling souls will not understand.
3 Though our graces be our best jewels, yet they are imperfect, and do not give out their full lustre; they are like the moon, which, when it shineth brightest, hath a dark spot. Therefore, we should add still grace to grace, iTi^^^o^ny^raTi.
* {If moral virtue, saith Plato, could be seen with mortal eyes, it would soon draw all hearts to itself. Oh how muclj the more should our hearts be drawn out after tlie higheat measures of grace 1 the least drain of grace being more worth than all moral virtue.
430 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. "VIII. 32-34.
higher will your assurance rise. Great measures of grace will be a fire that will consume and burn up the dross, the stubble, the fears and doubts that perplex the soul, and that cause darkness to surroimd the souL Now, the more you are rid of your fears, doubts, and darkness, the more easily, and the more effectually will your hearts be persuaded that the thoughts of God towards you are thoughts of love ; that you are precious in his eyes, and that he will rejoice over you, to do you good for ever, Jer. xxxii. 41, &c.
(8.) The eigMh means to gain a well-grounded assurance of your ever- lasting happiness and blessedness is, to take your heaHs when they are in tlie best and most sjpiritual frame and temper God-wards, heaven- wards, and holiness-wards. Times of temptation and desertion, &c., are praying times, hearing times, mourning times, and believing times ; but they are not trying times, they are not seasonable times for doubting souls to set themselves about so great and so solemn a work as that is, of searching and examining how things stand, and are like to stand, between God and them for ever, 2 Cor. xiii. 5.