- Joh xvii. 23 ; Cant. vi. 10 ; Prov. iv. 18. History reports oi' a country in Africa where the people's industry liath an ahundant rowanl ; for cviry hiisJn 1 of bc(h1 tliey sow, tliey leceive one liuudrcd and fifty after. — JJlazacium. I'li <y,\\\). xviii. cup. x. 'J'ho ujiplicatioa is easy.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. H'>
have, be you still a-drawing at the breasts of Christ, at the breasts (>\' the promises, and sti'ength will come, nourishment will follow, &c.'
The third duty that I would press upon weak saints is this :
3. Be sure that you always reflect upon your graces, and tuhatso- ever good is in you, with cautions.
This is a weighty point, and doth bespeak your most serious attention.
There are six rules or cautions that weak saints should always ob- serve in their looking upon their graces.
And the first is this:
[].] Look upon all your graces as gifts of grace, as favours given you from above, a,s gifts dropped out of heaven into your heads, os flowers that are given you out of the garden of paradise.
A man should never look upon his grace, but he should look upon it as a flower of paradise, as a gift that God hath cast into his bosom from heaven. 1 Cor. iv. 7, ' Who maketh thee to differ from another ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received V &c. ' Of thine own.' saith David, ' have we given thee,' 1 Chron. xxix. 14. Thou talkest of light, of love, of fear, of faith, &c., but what are all these but pearls of glory that are freely given thee by the hand of grace ? ' Every good and perfect gift comes down from above.' As all light flows from the sun, and all water from the sea, so all good flows from heaven. The greatest excellencies in us do as much depend upon God, as the light doth upon the sun. When thou lookest upon thy wisdom, thou must say. Here is wisdom, ay, but it is from above ; here is some weak love working towards Christ, but it is from above ; here is joy, and comfort, and peace, but these are all the flowers of paradise ; they never grew in nature's garden. When a soul looks thus upon all those costly diamonds with which his heart is decked, he keeps low, though his graces are high. Where this rule is neglected, the soul will be en- dangered of being swelled and puffed.
Mr Foxe was used to say, that ' as he got much good by his sins, so he got much hurt by his graces.' When you look upon the stream, remember the fountain ; when you look upon the flower, remember the root ; when you look upon the stars, remember the sun ; and when you look upon your graces, remember the fountain of grace, else Satan wdl be too hard for you. Satan is so artificial,^ so subtle and critical, that he can make your very graces to serve him against your graces ; con- quering joy by joy, sorrow by sorrow, humility by humility, fear by fear, and love by love, if you do not look upon all your graces as streams flowing from the fountain above, and as fruits growing upon the tree of life that is in the midst of the paradise of God. Therefore, when one eye is fixed upon your graces, let the other be always fixed upon the God of grace.
[2.] Secondly, At that time when your eye is upon inherent grace and righteousness, let your heart be fixed upon Christ, and his irn- pvAed righteousness.^
' Dionysius gave him his money again, from whom he had taken much, after that he heard he employed a little well. And will God be worse than a heathen '?
» Ant iotam meciim tene, aiii totam amitte.— Gregory Nazienzen. Let us say of Christ, &s the heathen once said of his petty gods, Contemno minutos istos Deos, moiio Jovem pro-
86 THE UNSEAECHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
Paul's eye was upon his grace: Rom. vii. 22, 25, 'I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. And with my mind I serve the law of God.' And yet at tliat very same time, his heart was set upon Christ, and taken up with Christ ; ver. 25, ' I thank God, througli our Lord Jesus Christ.' So in Col. ii. 2, 3, you have one eye fixed upon grace, and at the same time the heart fixed upon Christ. ' That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of under.standing, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' His eye is upon grace, his heart is upon Christ. So in Philip, iii. 8, the apostle hath his eye upon the excellent knowledge of Christ, but ver. 9, his heart is set upon the righteousness of Christ. 'That I might be found in liim, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law^ but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' Here you have his eye upon grace, and his lieart upon Christ, in the very presence of his grace. This is your glory. Christians, in the presence and sight of all your graces, to see the free grace of Christ, and his in- finite, spotless, matchless, and glorious righteousness, to be your surest, sweetest, highest, and choicest comfort and refuge.
Peter was not well skilled in this lesson, and that w^as the very reason that he fell foulest, when his confidence was highei^t. Grace is a ring of gold, and Christ is the pearl in that ring ; and he that looks more upon the ring than the pearl that is in it, in the hour of tempta- tion will certainly fall. Wlien the wife's eye is upon her rings or jewels, then her heart must be set upon her husband. When grace is in my eye, Christ must at that time be in my arms, yea, he must lie between my breasts : Cant. i. 13, ' My beloved is as a bundle of myrrh, he shall lie all night between my breasts.' Christ, and not grace, must lie nearest to a Christian's heart.
[3.] A third thing is this, When you look upon your grace, you must look ujjon it as a beautiful creature, that is begotten in tJte soul by Christ, and that is strengthened, maintained, cherished, and up- held in your soids by noticing below the sjnritual, internal, and glorious operations of Christ}
Though grace be a beautiful creature, yet grace is but a creature, and so your souls must look upon it. Grace is a heavenly offspring, it is the first-born of God, as I may say, and does most represent him to the life. Grace is a bud of glory ; it is of the blood ro3^al ; it is nobly descended, James i. 17. So in Heb. xii. 2, ' Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.' Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginner and ender.^ In all other tilings and arts, the «ame man cannot begin and finish, but Christ doth both. Philip, i. 5, Our graces thrive and are upheld in life and power, in beauty and glory, by the internal operation of Christ in our souls. So in Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you the hope of glory/ So ver. 29, ' Whereunto I also labour, striving
pilium kabeam, so long as lie had Jupiter to friend, he regarded Ihom not. So, so long as we have our Jesus to friend, we should not regard others, no, not our very graces, in comparison of Christ.