Chap. II.] a cabinet of jewels. 347
[6.] Sixthly, That obedience that springs from faith is a constant obe- dience ; it is a fixed and, resolved obedience. !Not in respect of practice and continued acts, 'for in many things we offend all.' ' There is not a just man upon the earth, that doth good and sinneth not.' ' Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin V ' There is no man that sinneth not.' ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,' &c.^ But in respect of a Chris- tian's sincere desires, bent of will, purpose of heart, resolution of soul, and faithful endeavours.: Ps. cxix. 20, ' My soul breaketh for the long- ing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.' Ver. 112, 'I have inclined ray heart to keep thy statutes alway, even to the end.' Ver. 33, ' Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto tlie end.' Job xvii. 9, ' The righteous shall hold on his way ; and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.' So Isa. xl. 29-31, Job ii. 3. Mark, the renewed man hath at all times a desii'e to fear the name of the Lord, Neh. i. 11 ; a will to live honestly at all times, Heb. xiii. 18. And it hath some endeavours and exercise of spirit, to keep always a conscience void of offence towards God and men, Acts xxiv. 16. The Israelites, in their marches toward the holy land, were many times interrupted by divers enemies, but yet they advanced in their course, as soon as they could get rid of their enemies. So, though the believer be many times interrupted, in the course of his obedience, by many fierce temptations, and 'strange working of corruptions ; yet after tlie temptation is over, the believer returns to the course of obe- dience with greater forwardness, and with redoubled strength and courage, and in the end perfects his course of holiness in the fear of the Lord, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Mark, the appearing motion and walking of an unregenerate man in a way of righteousness and holiness, is but artifi- cial, from the engine of hypocrisy and self-interest, like the flying of Architus his artificial dove,'^ and therefore having no inward principle of life, it endureth not ; but the motion and walking of a man, renewed by grace in ways of holiness and righteousness, is like the natural living motion of birds, it continues as long as life continues ; and as everything in motion, the nearer it comes to the centre, the more swiftly it moves, so the nearer the believer, through time, to his rest in heaven, the more prepense he is in all his motions towards God 4 ' he forgets the things that are behind, and reacheth forth unto those things that are before,' Philip, iii. 13. That obedience that springs from faith is a fixed and resolved obedience; like David's worthie.s, it will break through an host of Philistines, through an army of difficulties, impedi- ments, and discouragements, that it may be found doing the will of God. To make this a little more clearly and fully out, observe with me these few things :
First, No contrary commands of men shall take this man off from his obedience to the commands of God, Acts iv. 19, and v. 29, &c.
Secondly, No stream of evil examples, no current of corrupt times, shall bear them down in ways of obedience : Joshua xxiv. 15, ' I and my household will serve the Lord, though all Israel should serve idols.' And Noah was upright with God, and walked with God in his genera-
» James iii. 2 ; Eccles. vii. 20; Prov. xx. 9 ; 1 Kings viii. 46; 1 John i. 8. ; Ps. xvii. 3. ' Archytas : About the ' dove,' see GelL, x. 12. — G.
348 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.
tion, when the whole world was overspread with violence, and all flesh had corrupted their ways, Gen. vi. 9, and vii. 1.
Thirdly, No worldly profit or advantage shall bribe this man from his obedience, Heb. xi. 8. Abraham will obey and follow God, though he forsakes all the benefits aud contentments of his native country, and of his father's house, not knowing whei'e his lot should fall, &c.
Fourthly, No carnal disputes or reasonings with flesh and blood shall dissuade him from his obedience, Heb. xi. 7. Noah might have raised many objections against that strange attempt of building an ark, a work of an hundred and twenty years' continuance ; but Noah waves all dis- putes, and falls upon building of the ark, accoi'ding to the command of God. So Paul, as soon as he was converted, he was commanded by God to preach to the Gentiles ; he might have made abundance of objections against that service, but instead of objecting, he falls close to his Master's work, and never consults with flesh and blood. Gal. i. 15-17.
Fifthly, No flood of natural affection shall hinder them in the way of their obedience. AVhen God commanded Abraham to ofi'er up Isaac as a burnt-offering, he goes about it readily, and never acquaints Sarah with it, lest she should have hindered him in his obedience, and he goes three days 'journey to effect it, Gen. xxii. compared with Heb. xi. 17-1 9. When God commands, Abraham will not stick at it, though it be to offer up a son, a natural son, and not an adopted son ; an only son, and not one of many ; a son of the free-woman, and not of the bond-woman ; a son of his old age ; a son of the promise ; a son in whom all the na- tions of the earth should be blessed \ a son of his love and delight ; a son that made the good old man laugh and be merry, — Isaac signifies laughter, — a son that was grown up to some years ; witness the wood of the burnt-offering that he laid upon him. Gen. xxii. 6, 7. And this was the commendation of Levi: Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9, ' And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one' [Urim and Thummim signify light and perfection, according to their best deriva- tion in the Hebrew tongue, and they are here put in the plural number, lights and perfections, to note the plenty as well as the excellency of divine graces,] ' whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah ; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him ; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children.'^ This relates to that heroical fact of the Levites, Exod. xxxii. 26-29, when, at the commandment of Moses, they slew their idolatrous brethren that had worshipped the golden calf, not sparing those that were most nearly allied to them, but did execute God's judgments upon parents, bretliren, and children, as if they had been mere strangers to them ; the Levites were so impartial in God's cause as not to acknowledge either father or mother, brother or children, against his command. Natural aftections are strong, but supernatural obedience is stronger. Some have well observed, that the married mar- tyrs, who were parents of many children, as Rogers, Watts, Guest, Raw- lins, &c., suffered with most alacrity.^
^ By Urim and Thummim, some uudertstand sincerity of life, and soundness of doc- trine.