[18.] Eighteenthly, Canst thou tmly say, in the presence of the great and glorious God, that is the searcher of aU hearts, that thou hast given up thy heart and life to the rule, authority, and government of Jesus Chnst? and that thou hast chosen him to be thy sovereign Lord and King, and art truly willing to submit to his dominion, a^ the only precious and righteous government, and as the only holy and heavenly, svjeet and 'pleasant, profitable and comfortable, safe and best dominion in all the world, ami to resign tip thy heaii, thy will, thy affectioTis, thy life, thy all, really to Christ, wholly to Christ, and only to Christ ? Canst thou, 0 poor soul ! look up to heaven and truly say,
0 dear Lord Jesus ! other lords, viz., the world, the flesh, and the devil, have had dominion too long over me ; but now these lords I do heartily renounce, I do utterly renounce, I do for ever renounce, and do give up myself to thee as my only Lord, beseeching thee to rule and reign over me for ever and ever ! O Lord ! though sin rages, and Satan roars, and the world sometimes frowns, and sometimes fawns, yet I am resolved to own thee as my only Lord, and to serve thee as my only Lord ; and my greatest fear, by divine assistance, shall be of offending thee, and my chiefest care shall be to please thee, and my only joy shall be to be a praise, a name, and an honour to thee, Isa. xxvi. 13, xxxiii. 22. O Lord!
1 can appeal to thee in the sincerity of my heart, that though I have many invincible sins, weaknesses, and infirmities that hang upon me ; and thouo-h I am often worsted by my sins, and overcome in an hour of temptation ; yet thou that knowest all thoughts and hearts, thou dost know that I have given up my heart and life to the obedience of Jesus
Chap. II.] a cabinet of jewels. 383
Christ, and do daily give them up to his rule and government ; and it is the earnest desire of my soul, above all things in this world, that Jesus Christ may still set up his laws in my heart, and exercise his dominion over me, Ps. Ixv. 3, Rom. vii. 23. Now certainly, there is not the weakest Christian in all the world but can venture himself upon such an appeal to God as this is ; and without all peradventure, where such a frame and temper of spirit is, there the dominion of Jesus Christ is set up ; and where the dominion of Christ is set up, there sin has no dominion ; for the dominion of sin and the dominion of Christ are in- consistent, and therefore such a soul is happy, and will be happy to all eternity. But,
[19.] Nineteenthly, That man that luill venture his soul upon ChHst, and that vjill lean upon Christ, and cleave to Christ vjith full purpose of heart,^ and that will cleave to his blood, and cleave to his right- eousness, and cleave to his merits and satisfaction, in the face of all fears, doubts, disputes, cavils, and objections ; and though it cannot clear its title to Christ, yet will stay and hang itself upon Christ for life and happiness; that man is certainly a believer, and. will be ever- la,stingly saved. ' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii. 15; if I must die, I will die at his feet, and in the midst of death expect a better life. That man acts faith to purpose that can love a frowning God, and hang upon an angry God, and follow hard after a with- drawing God, yea, and trust in a killing God, as here, Mat. xv. 22-28, Job had his feverish fits, and his impatient slips, and yet he kept up his heroical resolution to lean upon the Lord, whilst he had but one minute to live ; and this speaks out not only the truth, but also the strength of Job's faith in the midst of his extraordinary combats. "When the soul is peremptorily and habitually resolved to cleave to the person of Christ, and to cleave to the merits of Christ, and to cleave to the transactions of Christ with the Father for the salvation of sinners, as the wife cleaves to her husband, or as the child cleaves to the father, or as Ruth cleaved to Naomi, or as the ivy cleaves to the oak, with an ' If I perish, I perish/ Ruth i. 14-17, Esther iv. 16, then it is safe, then it is happy, then it is out of the danger of hell, then it is within the suburbs of heaven. God never did, nor never will cast such a man to hell, whose soul is drawn forth to a secret resting, staying, leaning, and relying alone upon Christ, for the obtaining of all that good, and all that glory that he has purchased, and his Father has promised. But,
[20.] Lastly, That 'inan that viakes it his 'principal care, his main business, his work of vjorJcs, to look to his heart, to watch his heaH, and to reform his heaH, that man doubtless has a saving u'orh of God upon his heart. There are two things which a gi-acious soul most looks at, his God and his heart. Though a gracious man looks to the cleans- ing of his hands, yet his principal care is the reformation of his heart, the cleansing of his heart, according to that of the apostle James : ' Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double- minded,' James iv. 8, And that of the prophet Jeremiah : 0 Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved,' Jer. iv. 14. Man must labour after a clean inside, as well as a clean outside. The conversation must not be only unspotted before the world, but the 1 Cant. viii. 5 ; Acts xi. 21-23 ; Ps. Ixxi. 16 ; Isa. Ixi. 10.
384 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.
heart also must be unspotted before God ; the heart is as capable of in- ward defilements as the body is of outward defilements, 2 Cor. vii. 1.