There are five negatives in the Greek to assure God's people that he will never forsake them. Five times this precious promise is renewed in the Scriptm-e, that w^e might have the stronger consolation, and that we may press and oppress it till we have gotten all the sweetness out of it. And verily many precious souls have sucked much sweetness out of the breasts of this promise, when their nearest relations and their dearest friends have forsaken them and forgotten them. God loves that his people should put his bonds, his promises in suit ; and he that doth shall find God near him, though friends should leave him, and the world be in arms against him, &c. If the soul be tempted, then that w^ord of promise relieves it, 1 Cor. x. 13, ' But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able/ &c. The promises are a Christian's magna charta ; they are his chief evidences for heaven. Men highly prize their charters and privileges, and carefully keep the conveyances and assurances of their lands. Oh ! how should saints then treasure up and keep these precious promises which the Lord hath given them, and which are to them, instead of all assurances, for their protection, maintenance, deliverance, comfort, and everlasting happiness! And thus much for the sixth gift the Lord gives, viz. the promises.
[7.] Seventhly, The Lord gives grace : ' Of his fulness w^e all have received grace for grace,' John i. 16. The Lord gives that grace, the least dram of which is more worth than heaven and earth.
It was an excellent saying of one of the ancients [Jerome], ' I had rather have St Paul's coat with his heavenly gTaces, than the purple robes of kmgs with their kingdoms.' Grace is that which trul}' ennobles the soul ; it raises the soul up to converse with the highest and with the noblest objects, aud every man is as the objects are with which he converses. If the objects are noble, the man is so ; if the objects are base with which a man converses, the man is base.^ A man may better know what he is by eyeing the objects with which Ins soul does mostly converse, than by observing his most glorious and pompous services : ' The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour,' Prov. xii. 26. Abraham was a prince of God among the Hittites, Gen. xxiii. 6. The Jew^s say that those seventy persons that went down with Jacob into Egypt were more Avorth than the seventy nations of the world. Indeed, it is only grace that makes a man truly noble.
When one heard the king of Persia staled 'the Great King/ saithhe, I acknowledge none Uiore excellent than myself, unless more righteous; nor none gi'eater, unless better. Grace, as it is bred by the noblest means, so it is preserved and maintained in the soul by the choicest means, viz. union and communion with God, &c. ; grace is glory in the ])ud, and glory is grace at the full ; grace makes a man all glorious within and without ; grace is a ring of gold, and Christ is the sparkling diamond in that i"ing.
[8.] Eighthly, He gives peace : John xiv. 27, ' My peace I leave with you, ray peace I give unto you ; not as the world giveth, give I unto
' A good symbol was attributed to ^milian, tbo Roman emperor, Non gem ted mens, non genus sed genius, not race or place, but grace, truly sets forth a man.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 109
you.' Christ gives peace with God, and peace with conscience, and peace with the creatures. Didce nomen pads, the very name of peace is sweet, Rom. v. 1, Hosea ii. 21-23, Job v. ] 9-25.
The Hebrews, when they wished all happiness to any, used but this one word, ' Peace be with you ;' and the ancients were wont to paint peace in the form of a woman, with a horn of plenty in her hand, all blessings. Ask a soul that hath been under terrors of conscience, and he will tell you, that of all gifts, inward jjeace is the most princely gift, &C.1
[9.] Ninthly, He gives glory : John x. 28, ' My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life.' Rom. vi. 23, ' The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.'
Now the glory that Christ gives is real glory : 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8, ' Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of glory.' The Greek word acro- xsirui signifies two things : 1, a designation of a crown ; 2, a reserva- tion and safe keeping of it for him until the coronation day.
Again, the glory he gives the soul is soul-filling glory ; glory that fills the understanding with the clearest and the brightest light ; glory that fills the will with the greatest freedom ; glory that fills the afiections with the choicest joy and delight,- Ps. xvi, 11, and xvii. 15, 2 Cor. xii. 1-6.
Again, the glory he gives is incomparable glory : Rom. viii. 18, ' I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com- pared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.' The Greek word Xoyi- CoiJ^at, that is here rendered / reckon, is not a word of doubting, but a word of concluding. I conclude by arguments, that our present suffer- ings are not worthy to be compared to that illustrious and glorious glory ' that is ready to be revealed on us,' as it is in the Greek.^ I have cast up the account, saith the apostle, as wise merchants use to cast up theirs, and I find in the balancing of the account, that there is nothing to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.
Again, the glory he gives is unmoveable glory. All worldly glory is tottering and shaking. Princes' crowns hang now but upon one side of their heads. ' The Lord of hosts hath purposed it to stain' (or pollute) 'the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth,' Isa. xxiii. 9. ' The Lord hath purposed it,' or as it is in the Hebrew [nvy], ' The Lord hath consulted it ; and the counsel of the Lord shall stand.' It is agreed upon in heaven, that the pride of all glory shall be stained and polluted, or thrown down, as some polluted filthy thing that is trampled under foot. Oh ! but this glory that Christ gives is un- moveable glory, it is permanent glory ; it is glory that cannot be clianged, stained, or polluted, Heb. xil 28.
Again, the glory he gives is suited glory. It is glory that is suited to the backs, hearts, hopes, desires, and capacities of his servants, John xiv. 1-3.
Again, the glory he gives is never-fading glory; it is glory that fadeth not away.* When a man hath been in heaven as many millions of
^ Martinus the emperor's motto was, Pax hello potior, give me peace, and let others quarrel. - Ptricula non respicit martyr, coronas respicit, saith Basil.
' ftixxoiffo.!, ready to be tU h/^as, on us.
* I Peter i. 3, 4. ufuiaavros is the proper name of a iiower which is stiil fresh and green, Isa. xl. 6-8.
110 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. Ill 8.