[8.] Eighthly, Ko raan can sincerely desire all grace, every grace, or the whole chain of graces, hut he that has true grace, 2 Peter i. 5-9 Vain men, when they are under some outward or inward distresses, may, to serve their present turns, desire, in a cold, formal, customary way, patience, or contentation, or meekness, or hope, or faith, &c. ; but they don't, nor can't, whilst they are wicked, whilst they are in their natural estate, whilst they are ' in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity,' Acts viii. 19-25, sincerely desire every grace, especially those particular graces that are most opposite to their master sin, to their darling lusts, to their constitution sins, to their complexion sins, to those particular lusts that are to them as dear as their right eyes or right hands. Austin before his conversion he w^as much given to whoredom, and he would often pray, ' Lord, give me continency, but not yet ; Lord, give me con- tinency, but not yet.'^ He w^as afraid lest God should have heard him too soon, as he himself confesseth. Wicked men would be very sorry if God should take them at their words, and in good earnest answer the cold and lazy desires of their souls. If when the drunkard in a good 1 Confessions, b. viii., 26, 27, et alibi. — G.
368 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.
mood should desire sobriety, God should take him at his word, he would be very angry ; or if when the unclean person should desire chastity, continency, God should answer his desires, he would not be very well pleased. If when the covetous person should, under some pangs of con- science, desire a free, a charitable, a noble, generous spirit, God should take him at his word, he would be sorely displeased. The same may be said of all other sorts of sinners ; but now a real Christian, though he be never so weak, yet he seriously desires every grace ; he is for every link of the golden chain of graces; he finds in his own heart sins that are contrary to every grace ; and therefore he desires every grace, that he may make head against every sin, and he finds his heart and life so attended and surrounded with all sorts and kinds of temptations, that he earnestly, seriously, and frequently desires the presence and assistance of every grace, that so he may be temptation- proof, yea, vic- torious over every temptation ; and he sees and feels the need of every grace to fill up every place, station, and condition wherein the Lord has set him, and therefore he begs hard for every grace ; and he sees a beauty, and a glory, and an excellency upon every grace, and therefore he desires every grace as well as any one single gTace, which no hypo- crite or profane person in the world does. But,
[9.] Ninthly, No inan can sincerely and seriously desire grace for gracious ends and purposes, hid he that has true grace in his soul. No man can truly desire grace, that he may enjoy communion and fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and that he may be made conformable to Christ, and that he may be serviceable and useful to the interest of Christ, and that he may walk even as Christ walked, m the exercise of every grace, and that he may be rid of his sins, yea, all his sins, especially his special sins ; and that he may run the vvays of God's commands more easily, more readily, more delight- fully, more resolutely, more patiently, more unweariedly, and more zealously ; and that he may be made victorious over the world, the flesh, and the devil ; and that he may so live, as to be a praise, a name, an honour, and a glory to Christ ; and that after all and by all he may be prepared and fitted for an eternal fruition and enjoyment of Christ,' but he that has true grace in his soul. Now, every weak believer is able to appeal to God, that he desires grace for gracious ends and pur- poses, as for the ends last cited, and others of the like nature with them. Wicked men may in a fit desire grace, as Simon Magus did desire the Holy Ghost, to get money by it. Acts viii. 1 8-20 ; or when they are under some pangs of conscience, they may desire grace to be rid of their horrors and terrors, or when they are upon a dying bed they may desire so much grace as may keep them out of hell, and bring them to heaven ; but in all this they look no further than self, they are far from desiring of grace for gracious ends and purposes. There is nothing in all the world that the great God so nuich regards as man, ' All these things have my hands made, but to this man will I look,' Isa. Ixvi. 2. Nothing in man so much as the heart ; ' My son, give me thy heart.' That is the mount Zion which God loveth above all the dwellings of Jacob ; and nothing in the heart so much as the aim and end of it. Let a man's
> John i. 1-4, and ii. C ; Mat. xi. 20, 30 ; Pd. cxi.x. 32 ; 1 John v. 4, 5 ; Kom. xiv. 7, 8 ; Philip, i. 20.
Chap. II.] a cabinet of jewels. 3G9