' When Latimer was at the stake, ready to be burned, ho breathed out these sweet words, Fiddia eat Deits, God is faithful, &c. — [/oze] Ada et Mon. fol. 157U. [liy Town- send, as before, vii. 550, et alibi. — G.]
* Num. xii 3 ; Exod. xvi. 7. 8 ; Num. xiv. 27, 36, and xvi. 11 ; E.\od. xv. 24 ; James V. 11 ; read tlie 1st, Gth, aud 7th chapters of Job ; 2 Cor. xii. 1-11.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 69
persecuted with a witness ; when they had a greater measure of tlie Spirit, to enable them to bear the hatred, frowns, strokes, and blows of the enraged world, then all of them had the honour to suffer a violent death for Christ, as histories do evidence.
That is a very remarkable scripture, Luke xxiv. 49, ' And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.' The Lord Jesus would not have them go from Jerusalem, till they were endued with power from on high. By ' the promise of the Father,' is meant the gifts and graces of the Spirit that is promised in Lsa. xliv. 3 ; Joel ii. 28 ; John xiv. 16, and xv. 26. ' Tarry ye here,' says Christ, ' at Jeru- salem, till ye be completely armed and fitted for all encounters, till ye be endued with power;' or, as the Greek carries it, 'till ye be clothed,' hbuar^ak. They were as naked persons ; they had but a little of the Spirit, so that they were not complete ; they were not clothed with the Spirit, till after the ascension of Christ. Now saith Christ, ' Tarry until such time as ye are clothed with the Spirit.' The Lord Jesus knew well enough that they should meet with bitter opposition, terrible afflictions, and dreadful persecution for his and the gospel's sake ; therefore ' Tarry,' said he, ' until ye be clothed with the Holy Ghost,' that so nothing may daunt ye, nor sink ye.
The tenth support is this :
Su^'^port 10. That your persons stand not before God in your own righteousness, but in the 2^erfect, spotless, and onatchless righteousness of the Lord Jesus.
Weak hearts are apt to sit down troubled and discouraged, when they look upon that body of sin that is in them, and those imperfections that attend their chiefest services; they are ready to say. We shall one day perish by the strength of our lusts, or by the defects of our services. Oh but weak souls should remember this, to strengthen them against all discouragements, that their persons stand before God, clothed with the righteousness of their Saviour, and so God owns them and looks upon them as persons wrapped up in his royal robe. Hence it is that he is called, Jer. xxiii. 6, ' Jehovah tsidkenu, the Lord our righteous- ness.' And so in I Cor. i. 30, ' He is of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctifi cation, and redemption.'^
Though weak saints have nothing of their own, yet in Christ they have all, for in him is all fulness, Col. i. 19, both repletive and diffusive; both of abundance and of redundance ; both of plenty and of bounty. He is made to weak saints wisdom, by his prophetical office ; and he is made to weak saints righteousness and sanctification, by his priestly office ; and he is made to weak saints redemption, by his kingly office. So in Col. ii. ] 0, ' And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.'
Varro reports of two hundred and eighty-eight several opinions that were among the philosophers, about the complete happiness of man ; but they were out in them all, one judging his happiness lay in this and another in that. They caught at the shadow of happiness, but
' The costly cloak of Alcisthenes, whicli Dionysius sold to the Carthaginians for an hundred talents, was a mean and beggarly rag to that embroidered mantle that Ciirist does put upon the weakest saints.
70 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
could not come at the tree of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is weak saints' complete happiness. Rev. xiv. 5, 'And in their mouths was found no guile, for they were without fault before the throne of God.' Though men may accuse you, judge and condemn you, yet know for your support, that you are acquitted before the throne of God. How- ever you may stand in the eyes of men, as full of nothing but faults, persons made up of nothing but sin, yet are you clear in the eyes of God. So in Cant. iv. 7, ' Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee.' There is none, such as are the spots of wicked men, nor no spot in mine account. God looks upon weak saints in the Son of his love, and sees them all lovely ; they are as the tree of Paradise, Gen. iii. 6, ' fair to his eye, and pleasant to his taste.' Or as Absalom, in wliom there was no blemish from head to foot. Ah, poor souls ! you are apt to look upon your spots and blots, and to cry out with the leper not only ' Unclean, unclean !' but ' Undone, undone !' Well, for ever remember this, that 3'^our persons stand before God in the righteousness of Christ ; upon which account you always appear, before the tlirone of God, with- out fault ; you are all fair, and there is no spot in you.
The eleventh support is this :
Siqyport 11. Your sins shall never provoke Christ, nor prevail with Christ so far, as to give you a hill of divorce}
Oh there is much in it, if the Lord would set it home upon your hearts. Your sins shall never prevail so far with Christ, nor never so far provoke him, as to work him to give you a bill of divorce. Your sins may provoke Christ to frown upon you, they may provoke Christ to chide with you, they may provoke him greatly to correct you, but they shall never provoke Christ to give you a bill of divorce : Ps. Ixxxix. 30-34, ' If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suifer my faithfulness to fail.' That is a great support to a weak saint, that his sin shall never separate him from God nor Christ. Thou art many times afraid that this deadness, this dulness, this earthliness, and these wandering thoughts, &c., that do attend thee, will provoke the Lord Jesus to sue a bill of divorce against thee. But remember this, thy sins shall never so far prevail with Christ, as to work him to give thee a bill of divorce. Mark,
There is nothing can provoke Christ to give thee a bill of divorce but sin :
Now sin is slain ; ergo,
I shall open this to you in three things :
[1.] First, Sin is slain judicially ; for it is condemned both by Christ and his people, and so it is dead according to law ; which is and may be a singular comfort and support to weak saints, that their greatest and worst enemy, sin, is condemned to die, and shall not for ever vex and torment their precious souls. It is dead judicially, it is under the