• Where love is, the soul says of every command, Bonus sermo, it is a good saying ; but •where love is wanting, the man cries out, Durus sermo, * it is a hard saying ; who can bear it?'
472 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 82-34.
Ps, xviii. 44, * As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey rae ; the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.'
I have read of one who readily fetched water near two miles every day for a whole year together to pour upon a dry stick, upon the bare command of a superior, when no reason could be given for the thing.^ Oh how ready, then, doth grace make the soul to obey those divine com- mands that are backed with the highest, strongest, and choicest argu- ments.
(2.) As that obedience that accompanies salvation is ready obedience, so it is free and willing obedience} Acts xxi. 13, 'Then Paul answered. What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart ? for I am willing not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' The beamings out of divine love and glory make gracious souls * willing in the day of his power,' Ps. ex. 3. Those divine principles that be in them make them willingly obey, without co-action or compulsion. So 2 Cor. viii. 3. The Macedonians were willingly obedient, or, as the Greek hath it, avQahsToi, they were volunteers not only to their power, but beyond their power. All the motions and actings of Christ towards his people, for his people, and in his people, are free ; he loves them freely, he pardons them freely, he intercedes for them freely, he acts them freely, and he saves them freely, and so they move and act to- wards Christ freely ; they hear, they pray, they wait, they weep, they work, they watch freely and willingly. That Spirit of grace and holiness that is in them makes them volunteers in all religious duties and services.*
It is reported of Socrates, that when the tyrant threatened death unto him, he answered, ' He was willing ;' nay then, says the tyrant, you shall live against your will. He answered again, Nay, whatsoever you do with me, it shall be my will. Yet if nature, a little raised and re- fined, will enable a man to do this, will not grace, will not union and com- munion with Christ, enable a man to do as much, yea, infinitely more 1*
(3.) As that obedience that accompanies salvation is free and willing obedience, so it is cheerful and delightful obedience. It is a believer's meat and drink, it is his joy and crown, it is a pleasure, a paradise to his soul, to be still obeying his Father's will, to be still found about his Father's business : Ps. xl. 8, ' I delight to do thy will, O my God ; yea, thy law is in my heart.' As the sun rejoiceth to run his race, so do the saints rejoice to nm the race of obedience. God's work is wages, yea, it is better than wages ; therefore they cannot but delight in it. Not only for keeping, but also in keeping of his commands, there is great reward : Ps. cxii. 1 , ' Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments :' that is, in the studying and obeying of his commandments. Ps. cxix. 16, 'I will delight myself in thy statutes ; I will not forget thy word.' Ver. 35, ' Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight.' Ver. 47, ' And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.' Ver. 143, ' Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me, yet thy com-
' Csissianus, lib. iv. c. 24.
* Voluntas semiplena est voluntas, an half will, an incomplete will, an unwilling will, is a will in divine account. ^ 1 Chron. xxix. 6-18 ; 1 Tim. vi. 18 ; I Thes. ii. 8.
* A saint at worst is obedient, either voluntate plena or semiplena, with a [willing] will or an unwilling will ; like the merchant that is unwillingly willing to throw his goods overboard into the tempestuous sea to save his life.
Rom. VIII. 32-34'.] heaven on earth. 473
mandments are my delight.* Divine commands are not grievous to a lover of Christ ; for nihil dijfficile amanti, nothing is difficult to him that loveth. The love of Christ, the discoveries of Christ, the embraces of Christ, make a gracious soul studious and industrious to keep the commandments of Christ, in lip and life, in word and work, in head and heart, in book and breast.^
Thus you see that that obedience that accompanies salvation is ready, free, and cheerful obedience.
[5.] The fifth property. Fifthly, The obedience that accompanies salvation, is pereTYiptory obedience.^ Josh. xxiv. 15, ' I and my house- hold will serve the Lord.' He is fully resolved upon it, come what come can ; in the face of all dangers, difficulties, impediments and dis- couragements, he will obey the Lord, he will follow the Lord. So those worthies, Heb. xi. ' of whom the Avorld was not worthy,' obeyed divine commands peremptorily, resolvedly, in the face of all manner of deaths and miseries. So Paul was ' obedient to the heavenly vision,' though bonds did attend him in every place. Acts xx. 23. He is better at obeying than at disputing ; ' I conferred not, says he, with flesh and blood,' Gal. i. 15, J 6. So Peter and John, and the rest of the apostles, in despite of all threatenings and beatings, they obey the Lord, they keep fast and close to their Master's work.^ ' Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken more unto you than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings : and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word. And when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.' Acts. iv. 19, 20, 29, and v. 40-42, compared.
Thus you see, no trials, no troubles, no terrors, no threats, no dangers, no deaths, could deter them from peremptory obedience to divine pre- cepts. It is not the fiery furnace, nor the lions' den, nor the bloody sword, nor the torturing rack, that can fright gracious souls from their obedience to their dearest Lord : Ps. cxix. 106, 'I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.'
[6.] The sixth property. Sixthly, The end of that obedience that accom- panies salvation is,divine glory.* The eye of the obedient soul, in prayer and praises, in talking and walking, in giving and receiving, in living and doing, is divine glory : Rom. xiv. 7, 8, ' For none of us liveth to
^ Ps. xix. 5, 11, compared. Tanto magis delectat opus bonum, quanta magia diligitur Deus Btmmum et incommutabile bonum — Aiigustine. A good work so much the more delighteth, by m^ much the more God, the chiefest and unchangeable good, is loved. In hoc cog- nosciiA)nr amor Christi, si quis servat proecepta Christi. — Bernard.