' Interpreters differ about the pawn or pledge whicli the npostle committed to Ood'a custiidy. One saith it waa his soul ; a second saitli it was himself, which is all one ; a third saith it was his works ; a fourth sjiith it was liis siitrcrinps ; a tilth sailh it was Lis balvutioii. Without doubt, it was all that was near and dear to him.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 199
a crust ? Do you believe he will give you a kingdom, and do you doubt whether he will give you a cottage to rest in ? Has he given you his blood, and do you think that he will deny you anything that is really for your good ? Surely he will not, he cannot.' ^
Again, Trust him for ^jower against all the remainders of sin in you.
Hath Christ freed you from the damnatory power of sin, and from the dominion of sin, and will not you trust him for deliverance from the remainders of sin ? Ps. Ixv. 3, ' Iniquities prevail against me : as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.' Oh excellent faith I Rom. viii. 1, vi. 14.
Again, Trust Jam to bring you into the land of rest.
Do you think that this .loshua is not able to carry you through all difficulties, dangers, and deaths ? Do you think that he will leave you to die in the wilderness, who have already had some glimpses of heaven's glory ? Oh trust to this Christ for the bringing your souls into the promised land ! Christ would lose his glory should you fall short of glory, &c.
Use 8. Again, If Christ be so rich, then do not forsake him, do not leave, do not turn your backs upon him.
Is there riches of justification, and riches of sanctifi cation, and riches of consolation, and riches of glorification in Christ? Yes, why then do not depart from him, do not shake hands Avith him.^ That is a sad com- plaint of God in Jer. ii. 12, 13, 'Be ye astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.' It is madness and folly to fly from the fountain to the stream, from the light of the sun to the light of a candle. And is it not greater madness and folly to forsake the Creator to run after the creature ? Oh say as Peter, ' Whither should we go, thou hast the words of eternal life,' John vi. G8. To run from Christ, is to run from all life, peace, and joy ; it is to run from our strength, our shelter, our security, our safety, our crown, our glory. Crabs, that go backward, are reckoned among unclean creatures, Lev. xi. 10, The application is easy.
Origen coming to Jerusalem, after that he had shamefully turned his back upon Christ and his truth, and being exceedingly pressed to preach, at last he yields, and as he opened the book, he happened to cast his eye upon that place of the psalmist, ' What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my word behind thee V Ps. 1. 16, 17. Now the remembrance of his own folly so reflected upon his conscience, that it made him close the book and sit down and weep. Such as forsake a rich, a full Christ, shall have weeping work enough.
That is a very dreadful scripture, Jer. xvii. 13, ' All you that forsake the Lord, shall come to be ashamed, and they that depart from him,
' (1.) Christ's promises are ever performed, 2 Cor. i. 20. (2.) His promises ari; over- performed, 1 Cor. ii. 9. kc. ^ You read of no arms for the back, though you do for the breast, Eph. vi. 11.
200 THE UNSEAECHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
shall be written in the dust.' Can you read this text, backsliding souls, and not tremble ? &c.
Use 9. Again, If the Lord Jesus Christ be so rich, Oh ! then all you that have an interest in him, labour mightily to clear up your interest, and to he more and more confident of your interest in so rich a Jesus.
My brethren, it is one thing for a man to have an interest in Christ, and another thing to have his interest cleared up to him. I do speak it with grief of heart, that even among such Christians that I hope to meet in heaven, there is scarce one of forty, nay, one of a hundred, that is groundedly able to make out his interest in the Lord Jesus. Most Christians live between fear and hope, between doubting and believing. One day they hope that all is well, and that all shall be well for ever ; the next day they are ready to say that they shall one day perish by the hand of such a corruption, or else by the hand of such or such a temptation ; and thus they are up and down, saved and lost, many times in a day.
But you will say unto me, What means should ive use to clear up our interest in Christ ?
There are six singular^ means that you should labour after, for the evidencing more and more your interest in Christ. And take it from experience, you will find that they will contribute very much for the evidencing your interest in Christ.
[].] And ihe first is this. Faithfully and constantly fall in viiththe interest of Chnst.
Holiness is the interest of Christ, the gospel is the interest of Christ, the precious ordinances are the interest of Christ, &c. Now the more sincerely and roundly you fall in Avith the interest of Christ, the more abundantly you will be confirmed and persuaded of your interest in Christ. Such souls as fall in with strange interests, or with base and carnal interests, may justly question whether ever they had any real interest in Christ. Christians ! did you more sincerely and fully fall in with Christ's interest, you would less question your interest in Christ ; this would scatter many a cloud.^
[2.] Secondly, Be hind to the Spirit of Christ. ^
Do not grieve him, do not slight him. If you should set this Spirit a-mourning, that alone can evidence your interest, that alone can seal up your interest in Christ, by whom shall your interest in Christ be sealed up ? Oh do not grieve the Spirit by acting against light, against con- science, against engagements ; do not grieve him by casting his cordials and comforts behind your backs ; do not grieve him by slighting and despising his gracious actings in others ; do not cast water upon the Spirit, but wisely attend the hints, the items, and motions of the Spirit, and he will clear up thy interest in Christ, he will make thee say, ' My beloved is mine, and I am his,' Cant. ii. 1 6.
[3.] Thirdly, Labour more and more after a full and universal conformity to Jesus Chnst.
■'' The primitive Christians did generally fall in with the interest of Christ, and they generally had an assurance of their interest in Christ.
3 Lam. i. 16, Philip, iv. 30, Isa. Ixiii. 10. Spiritus sanctus est res Jelicata, Ps. Ixxvii. 2, 1 Thes. V. 19.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 201