Here you may see that those that are lowest in their own esteem, are highest in God's esteem. Here you may see that humble souls are not so low and contemptible in the eyes of the world, as they are honourable in the eyes of God.^
And if ever there were an age since Clirist w^as on earth, wherein it was needful to preach, press, and print this great doctrine of humility, of self, of soul abasement, this is the age wherein Ave live. Oh the pride, the stateliness of the professors of this age ! But because this point is largely spoken to in this tract, I shall satisfy myself with this touch.
There are many other weighty things treated on, which for brevity's sake I shall omit, only give me leave to acquaint you with a few things about this ensuing tract, and then I shall draw to a close.
First, That it is the substance of twenty-two sermons, preached by me about three years ago, on the lecture nights at this place where now I preach.
Secondly, That there are in it several other things of no small con- cernment to your souls, that I did not then deliver, but have been given in since, from that fountain that fills all in all.
Thirdly, That though I have been much pressed to print these sermons, yet I should never have yielded, had I not been thoroughly convinced and persuaded in my judgment and conscience, that they may, by the blessing of the Lord upon them, prove many ways useful and serviceable to all those honest Nathanaels into whose hands they may fall, else they had been buried in the dark, and never come to public light*
I have only a few requests to make to you, and then I shall take my leave of you.
And my first request is this, that you would meditate and dwell upon what you read ; otherwise your pains (I say not your souls) and mine will ])e lost.
It is a law among the Parsees in India, to use premeditation in what they are to do, that if it be bad, to reject it ; if good, to act it. The ap- plication is eas!y.' The more any man is in the contemplation of truth, the more fairer and firmer impression is made upon his heart by truth.
' Humility is cf/nservatrix virtutum. Ruith Bernard : that wliich keeps all graces together- . . . Jlumililas animi, snhlimitas Chrisliani. [Serin : on Canticles, as brfore. — G.] •^ A sermon preached servctli but an auditory, a sermon printed may servo many audi- tories.
3 Lnctio sine meditntione arida eat, meditatio sine leclione erronea est, oratio sine meditatione tcp'da est. — Augustine, finely.
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. O
Christians must be like the clean beasts, that parted the hoof and chewed the cud ; they must by heavenly meditation chew truths and concoct truths, or else they will never taste the sweetness that is in divine truths.
Mary ' pondered the sayings of the shepherds in her heart,' Luke ii. 19.1 Not they that eat most, but they that digest most, are the most healthful. Not they that get most, but they that keep most, are richest. So not they that hear most, or read most, but they that meditate most, are most edified and enriched.
My second request to you is this, that you will make conscience of living out those truths you read.^
To read much and practise nothing, is to hunt much and catch nothing.
Suetonius reports of Julius Ca3sar, ' That seeing Alexander's statue, he fetched a deep sigh, because he at that age had done so little.^
Ah ! what cause have most to sigh, that they have heard so much, and read so much, and yet done so little ! Surely it is more honourable to do great things, than to speak or read great things ! It is the doer that will be most happy at last, John xiii. 17. In vltw libro scribuntur qui quod possunt faciunt, etsi quod detent, non possunt, they are written in the book of life, that do what good they can, though they cannot do as they would [Bernard.]*
I have read of a good man coming from a public lecture, and being asked by one whether the sermon was done, answered, with a sad sigh, ' Ah! it is said, but not done.'^
My third request is this, that you will pray over what you read.
Many read much, and pray little, and therefore get little by all they read.
Galen writes of a fish called Uranoscopos, that hath but one eye, and yet looks continually up to heaven.** When a Christian has one eye upon his book, the other should be looking up to heaven for a blessing upon what he reads.
When one heard what admirable victories Scanderbeg's sword had wrought, he would needs see it ; and when he saw it, says he, This is but an ordinary sword ; alas ! what can this do ? Scanderbeg sent him word, I have sent thee my sword, but I have the arm that did all by it.
.Alas r what can Christ's sword, Christ's word, do without his arm ? Therefore look up to Christ's arm in prayer, that so his sword, his word, may do great things in your souls.
Luther professeth ' that he profited more by prayer in a short space than by study in a longer ;' as John, by weeping, got the sealed book open.
My fourth request to you is this, That if, by the blessing of the Lord upon my weak endeavours, any leaf or line should drop myrrh or mercy,
^ The angels are much in meditation.
■^ Tour actions, in passing, pass not away ; for every good work is a grain of seed for eternal life. 3 Historice. Ccesarum, Julius Ccesar. — G.
* It was a saying of Augustine, one thousand two hundred years ago, that we must take heed lest, whilst we fear our exhortation being cooled, prayer be not damped, and pride inflamed.
^ Philip Goodwin's 'Evangelical Communicant.' 164Q. — G.
® See Index under ' Galen' for other references to the ov^xvoo-xo'tos- — G.
^ See Glossary for other uses of ' alas' in this way, and cf. Sibbes, sub voce. — G.
6 THE UXSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST.
raaiTow or fatness, upon your spirits, that you will give all the glory to the God of heaven, for to him alone it does belong.
Through gTace I know I am a poor worm ; I am nothing, I have nothing but what I have received. The crown becomes no head but Christ's. Let him who is our all in all have the honour and the glory of all, and I have my end.^
Pliny tells of some in the remote parts of India that have no mouths, and yet live on the smell of herbs and sweet flowers ; but I hope better things of you, even such as accompany salvation.^
My fifth request to you is this, That you would let me lie near your hearts, when you are in the mount especially.
Oh pray, pray hard for me, that the Spirit of the Lord may be re- doubled upon me ; that his word may prosper in my mouth ; that it may ' run, and be glorified ;' and that I may be high in my communion with God, and holy and unblameabJe in my walkings with God ; and that it may be still day with my soul ; that I may live and die in the joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost ; and that when my sun is set, my glass out, my work done, my race run, I may rest in the everlasting arms of divine love, &c.^