[4.] Fourthly, That obedience that springs from faith is the ohedi- ence of a son, not of a slave ; it is a free, voluntary, evangelical obedi- ence, aud not a legal, servile, and forced obedience : Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holi- ness ;' in the Hebrew, it is willingnesses, in the plural number, to shew their exceeding great Avillingness : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst. Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' By face is meant, (1.) God himself: Exod. xx. 3, 'Before my face,' that is, before me. (2.) His favour, Jer. xviii. 17, ' I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.' Now, no sooner had God given forth a word of command for the psalmist to seek him, and to seek his favour, but presently his heart did echo to that command : ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' So Jer. iii. 22, ' Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings ; behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.' Every gracious soul hath the duplicate of God's law in his heart, and is willingly cast into the mould of his word : Rom. vi. 17, ' Ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine that hath been delivered to you,' or whereto you were delivered, as the words may be read. They did not only obey, but they obeyed from the heart, their hearts were in their obedience : Ps. xl. 8, ' I delight to do thy will, 0 my God ! yea, thy law is within my heart,' or in the midst of my bowels, as the Hebrew runs ; these note the tenderest affections. There is the counterpane ^ of the law written, yea, printed upon every gracious heart ; a godly man will live and die with the law of God stamped upon his heart. Col. i. 12 ; Philip, i. 8 ; Jer. xxxi. 83. 0 beata Ajyocalypsis ! said the martyr, catching up the Revelation, that was cast into the same fire with him to be burned. O blessed revelation ! how happy am I to be burned with thee in my hands ? It was Christ's meat and drink to do his Father's will ; and the same mind is in all the saints as was in Christ Jesus. ' They delight in the law of God after the inward man,' John iv. ; Philip, ii. 5 ; Rom. vii. 22. True obedience flows from principles of heartiness and love within, and not from bye and base respects and end.s, that are carnal and worldly. It is observable, that Jehu's obedience was as ample and as large as God's command : 2 Kings X. 30, ' And the Lord said unto Jehu, because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.' And yet because his heart was not in his obedience, and because he did not purely act for God, but for himself, that he might bring about his own designs, he met with a revenge instead of a reward ; as you may see in that : Hosea i. 4, ' And the Lord said unto him. Call his name Jez- reel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu.' Jehu's heart was not in his obedience, he had a dispensatory conscience ; for though he rooted out Baal's wor- ship, yet the golden calves must still continue. He destroyed idola- ters, but not idolatry ; and this carnal policy brought down vengeance and misery upon him and his posterity. Artaxerxes goes far : Ezra
' See Glossary, s. v. — G.
346 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.
vii. 23, ' Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done.' To what a height doth this heathen prince rise ! He will do anything for God, he will do everything for God that he requires. But mark, what is that which moves him to it ? Is it love to God ? is it delight in God ? Oh no ! all his obedience proceeded from nothing but fear of wrath and vengeance, as is evident in the latter part of the verse : ' For why should there be wrath upon the realm of the king, and of his sons ?' or, as the Hebrew runs, Why should there be boiling or foaming anger, great indignation ? as it is rendered and made the utmost degree of divine displeasure in that Deut. xxix. 28. Some read these words, 'Against the realm of the king and his sons,' as distinct one from another, and not depending one upon another ; thus : Against the realm, the king and his sons ; and this reading the original will bear. And this reading shews, that as the king feared God's wrath against himself, so also against his realm and children ; and accordingly he was the more studious and careful to escape it. Blind nature was afraid of divine wrath, and therefore was the more sedulous to prevent it. Oh ! but now a true child of God, he has the law of God written, not only in his under- standing, but also in his heart and affections, Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27 ; and this is that which makes his obedience to be pleasing and de- lightful to him ; so that if he might be free from the injunctions and directions of the word, with the servant in the law, he would not value such a liberty, Exod. xxi. 4-6, &c. ; he would not swear, nor lie, nor be drunk, nor whore, nor dissemble, nor cheat, nor run into all excess of riot if he might, because in his soul he has a principle of grace, and an inward contrariety and antipathy against it ; he would not cease to hear, to read, to pray, to meditate if he might, because his soul takes a delight and sweet complacency in these things. There is a principle within him agreeable to the precept without him, which makes all reli- gious performances to be easy and pleasurable to him. Look, as the eye delights in seeing, and the ear in hearing, so a gracious heart (ex- cept when it is under a cloud of desertion, or in the school of tempta- tion, or under some grievous tormenting afflictions, or sadly worsted by some prevalent corruption) delights in obeying. Actions of nature, you know, are actions of delight ; and so are ail those actions that spring from a new nature, a divine nature, &c.
[5.] Fifthly, That ohedlenceihat springs from faith is a transform- ing obedience. It mightily alters and changes a man ; from impurity to purity, from sin to sanctity, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from earthly-mindedness to heavenly mindedness, from pride to humi- lity, from hypocri-sy to sincerity, &c., 2 Cor. iii. 18, Rom. xii. 1, 2. Such as please themselves with this, that they are no changelings, and that they are whatever they were, these are still in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity. Acts viii. 23. That obedience of the Romans, which was said to have come abroad unto all men, was an exemplary obe- dience, and a transforming obedience, Rom. xvi. 19. Certainly, gospel- obedience is a grace of much worth, and of great force upon the whole man ; for when it is once wrought in the heart, it worketh a confor- mity to all God's holy will. But having spoken more largely of this in my other writings, let this touch here sutiice, &c.