Pacuuius hath an elegant sa3'ing; 'I hate,' saith he, 'the men that are idle in deed, and philosophical in word.' God loves, saith Luther, curristas, not quceristas, the runner, not the questioner.^ Grace grows by exercise and decays by disuse. Though both arms grow, yet that which a man most useth is the stronger and the bigger ; so it is both in gifts and graces. ^In birds, their wings which have been used most are sweetest; the application is easy. Such men as are contented with so much grace as will bring them to glory, with so much grace as will keep hell and their souls asunder, will never be rich in grace, nor hio-h in comfort or assurance. Such souls usually go to heaven in a storm. Oh how weather-beaten are they before they can reach the heavenly harbour !
[3.] Secondly, They must exercise their gifts and graces, because it is the main end of God's giving gifts and graces to them.
Grace is given to trade with ; it is given to lay out, not to lay up.^ Grace is a candle that must not be put under a bushel, but set upon a candlestick. Grace is a golden treasure that must be improved, not hoarded up, as men do their gold. Grace is a talent, and it is given for this very end, that it should be employed and improved for the honour and advantage of him that gave it. The slothful servant, in God's account, is an evil servant, and accordingly God has denoted him, and doomed him for his ill husbandry, to destruction. Mat. xxv. 24^ 31.
' What a shame is it,' saith one [Jerome], ' that faith should not be able to do that which infidelity hath done ! What I not better fruit in the vineyard, in the garden of God, than in the wilderness ? What ! not better fruit grow upon the tree of life, than upon the root of nature? &c.
[3.] And then thirdly, Because grace, exercised and improved, icill do that for lis that all the means in the world can never do for us.* I shall evidence this truth in some remarkable instances.
^ Our graces are like Gideon's army, but a handful in comparison ; but our sins are like the Midianites, innumerable as grasshoppers.
* One day God will require of men, Non quid legerint, sed quid egerint, nee quid dixerint, sed quomodo vixerint.
3 The reason, say some, why Christ cursed the fig tree, though the time of bearing fruit was not come, was because it made a glorious show with leaves, and promised much, but brought fortli nothing.
* No Israelite that was bit or stung with the fiery serpent could be healed but by look- ing up to the brazen serpent. Those spots a Christian finds in his own heart can only, by a hand of faith, be washed out in tho blood of the Lamb.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 1 27
Suppose the guilt of sin to be upon a man's soul, even as a heavy mountain, there is nothing but the exercise of grace now that can re- move this guilt. The man prays, and yet guilt sticks upon him ; he hears, and yet guilt as a mountain lies heavy upon him ; he mourns, he sighs, he groans, and yet guilt sticks upon him ; he runs from ordi- nance to ordinance, and from ordinary service to extraordinary, and yet guilt follows him ; he runs from man to man, Sir, was ever any man's case like mine ? I have prayed thus long, I have heard thus loog, I have mourned thus long, &c., and yet guilt lies as a mountain upon my soul ! There is nothing now below the exercise of grace that will remove this. It is only faitli in the promises of remission that will remove the guilt of sin that lies so heavy i>pon the soul. It is only faith's application of the righteousness of Christ that can take off this burden that sinks the soul, even as low as hell. Faith must make a plaster of the blood of Christ, and apply it to the soul, or the soul will die under its guilt. There is nothing below this can do it. Faith's application of the blood of Christ takes off' the guilt, and turns the storm to a calm : Rom. v. 1, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Again, suppose that the power and prevalency of sin hinders the soul's sweet communion with God, so that the soul cannot sport itself, and joy and delight itself in God, as in the days of old ; it cannot see God smiling, stroking, and speaking kindly, as in former da5'S. Now, there is nothing in all the world that can ease the soul of this burden of sin below the exercise of grace. Oh, saith such a poor soul, I pray, sir, and yet I sin ; I resolve against sin, and yet t sin ; I combat against sin, and yet I am carried captive by sin ; I have left no outward means un- attempted, and yet after all, my sins are too hard for me ; after all my sweating, striving, and weeping, I am carried down the stream. There is nothing now but the actings of faith upon a crucified Christ that will take off' this burden from the soul of man.' Now, you must make use of your graces to draw virtue from Christ ; now faith must touch the hem of Christ's garment, or thou wilt never be healed. It is just with a soul in this case as it was wdth the poor widow, Luke viii. 43—4.9, that had the bloody issue ; she leaves no means unattempted whereby she might be cured ; she runs from one physician to another, till she had spent all she was worth, till she had brought a noble to ninepence, and now says she, ' If I could but touch the hem of his garment, I should be whole.' Hereupon she crowds through the crowd to come to Christ, and being got behind him, she touclies the hem of his garment, ' and immediately she was made whole.' The cure being thus wrought, Christ uncrowns himself to crown her faith : ' And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in peace.' He doth not say, Woman, thy trembling hath made thee whole; or. Woman, thy sweating and struggling in a crowd to come to me, hath made thee whole ; or. Woman, thy falling down and abasing thyself, though she did all this; but, 'Woman, thy faith hath made thee whole.' Ah, Christians ! it is not your tremblmg, or your falling down, or your sweating in this and that service, that will stop the bloody issue of your
' Much less, then, can the papists' purgatories, watchings, whippings, &c., or Saint Francis his kissing or licking of lepers' sores, cleanse the fretting leprosy of sin, &c.
128 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.