hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' Divine light reaches the heart as well as the head.* The beams of divine light shining in upon the soul through the glorious face of Christ are very working ; they warm the heart, they affect the heart, they new-mould the heart. Divine knowledge masters the heart, it guides the heart, it governs the heart, it sustains the heart, it re- lieves the heart : Rom. vi. 6, ' We know that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.'* Divine knowledge puts a man upon crucifying of sin ; it keeps a man from being a servant, a slave to sin, which no other knowledge can do. Under all other knowledge, men remain ser- vants to their lusts, and are taken prisoners by Satan at his will. No knowledge lifts a man up above his lusts but that which accompanies sal- vation. The wisest philosophers and the greatest doctors, as Socrates and others, under all their sublime notions and rare speculations, have been kept in bondage by their lusts. That knowledge that accompa- nies salvation is operative knowledge : 1 John ii. 3, 4, 'And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.'' By keeping his commandments they did know that they did know him ; that is, they were assured that they did know him. To know that we know, is to be assured that we know : So James iii. 17, ' But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocri.sy.' Ver. 13, ' Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge amongst you ? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works, with meekness of .wisdom.' Divine knowledge fills a man full of spiritual activity ; it will make a man work as if he would be saved by his works, and yet it will make a man believe that he is saved only upon the account of free grace, Eph.ii.8. That knowledge that is not operative and working, will only serve to light souls to hell, and to double damn all that have it. Mat. xxiii. 14.
(2.) The second property. That knowledge that accompanies salva- tion is transforming knowledge, it is metaTnorphosing knowledge. It is knowledge that transforms, that metamorphoses the soul : 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' But we with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord as in a glass, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.' Divine light beating on the heart, warms it, and betters it ; it transforms and changes it, it moulds and fashions it into the very likeness of Christ, fiira-
The naturalists observe,* that the pearl, by the often beating of the sunbeams upon it, becomes radiant ; so the often beating and shining of the Sun of righteousness, with his divine beams, upon the saints, causes them to glister and shine in holiness, righteousness, heavenly-
> Knowledge that swims in the head only, and sinks not down into thn heart, doth no more good than rain in the middle region, or than the unicorn's horn in the unicorn's head.
* 1 John iii. 6. Whosoever sinneth (viz. customarily, habitually, delightfully, hath not seen him, neither known him.
3 He is a liar in a double respect : (1.) in that he saith he hath tliat knowledge which ho hath not ; (2.) in that he denies that in his works which he aflBrms in his words.
« Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. vs.. cap. 54-66 ; uElian Hist. Anim., ii.— G.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 435
mindedness, humbleness, &c. Divine light casts a general beauty and glory upon the soul ; it transforms a man more and more into the glo- rious image of Christ. Look, as the child receiveth from his parents member for member, limb for limb, or as the paper from the press re- ceiveth letter for letter, the wax from the seal print for print, or as the face in the glass answers to the face of the man, or as indenture answers to indenture, so the beams of divine light and knowledge shining into the soul, stamp the lively image of Christ upon the soul, and make it put on the Lord Jesus, and resemble him to the life.' Notional know- ledge may make a man excellent at praising the glorious and worthy acts and virtues of Christ ; but that transforming knowledge that accom- panies salvation, will work a man divinely to imitate the glorious acts and virtues of Christ : 1 Peter ii. 9, ' But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him' (mj a^erag, the virtues of him) * who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,' When God causes his divine light, his marvellous light, to shine in upon the soul, then a Christian will Q^ayyilXriTs) preach forth the virtues of Christ in an imitable practice, and till then a man, under all other knowledge, will remain an incarnate devil. When a beam of divine light shined from heaven upon Paul, ah, how did it change and metamorphose him ! How did it alter and transform him ! It made his rebellious soul obedient : Acts ix, 6, ' Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?' ^ God bids him arise and go into the city, and it should be told him what he should do ; and he obeys the heavenly vision, chap. xxvi. 19. Divine light makes this lion a lamb, this persecutor a preacher, this destroyer of the saints a builder up of the saints, this tormenter a comforter, this monster an angel, this notorious blasphemer a very great admirer of God, and the actings of his free grace, as you may see by comparing Acts ix. and xxvi. together.
So when a spark of this heavenly fire fell upon the heart of Mary- Magdalene, Luke vii. 36, 37, oh what a change, what a turn doth it make in her ! Now she loves much, and believes much, and repents much, and weeps much. Oh what a change did divine light make in Zaccheus, and in the jailor ! Verily, if thy light, thy knowledge doth not better thee, if it doth not change and transform thee, if, under all thy light and knowledge thou remainest as vile and base as ever, thy light, thy knowledge, thy notions, thy speculations, will be like to fire, not on the hearth, but in the room, that will bum the house and the inhabitant too ; it will be like mettle in a blind horse, that serves for nothing but to break the neck of the rider. That knowledge that is not a transforming knowledge, will torment a man at last more than all the devils in hell; it will be a sword to cut him, a rod to lash him, a serpent to bite him, a scorpion to sting him, and a vulture, a worm eternally gnawing him.
When Tamberlain was in his wars, one having found and digged
1 A father stands obliged, not only in point of honour, but also by the law of nature, to receive his child that bears his image ; so doth Christ to receive those that by divine lio'ht have his image stamped upon them,