Phil. III. 3.] the true circumcision. 45
have in heaven a better and an enduring substance/ So Mat. v. 12, ' Kejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven ; for so persecuted they the pro})hets which were before you;' and in many other phices ; and 1 Peter iv. 13, ' Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with an exceeding joy ; ' and James i. 2, ' Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers trials.' Surely, Christ and heaven are worth something, and such trials do in part show how much we esteem him, and value him above any interest of ours.
3. It doth draw off the heart from the delights of the flesh. Not only contraria contrai'iis curantur, but shnilia similibus. Carnal pleasures put the soul out of relish with better things, and draw off the heart from God. A fleshly mind is easily blinded and enchanted with worldly vanities ; therefore, it concerneth us to check our inclina- tion to sense-pleasing and flesh-pleasing, which is so natural to us. How shall it be cured but by seeking our delight elsewhere ? Every man must have some oblectation, for love cannot lie idle in the soul ; either his love is taken up with the joys of sense or the joys of faith — with vain pleasures or with chaste and spiritual delights. The one spoileth the taste of the other. A spiritual mind, that is feasted with higher delights, cannot relish the garlick, and onions, and flesh-pots of Egypt : Cant. i. 4, ' We will remember thy loves more than wine/ And a brutish heart, that is wholly lost and sunk in these dreggy con- tentments which gratify sense, valueth not the favour of God, thinketh it canting to talk of communion with him, and the joys of hope to be fantastical expressions. They love pleasures more than God, 2 Tim. iii. 4. Now, if we would restrain and check this inclination, we should rejoice in Christ, and delight our minds and hearts in the remembrance of his love and benefits. Whatever pleasure a man doth find or imagine to find in sensual, fleshly courses, that and much more is to be had in Christ, where we rejoice at a surer and more sincere rate : Eph. V. 4, ' Not jesting, but rather giving of thanks.' Carnal mirth doth not so cheer worldlings as the remembrance of the favours and blessings we have by Christ. Keep the heart thankful and sensible of God's goodness and Christ's love, and you will not need vain delights. So Eph. V. 18, ' Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.' These are motives and marks also, for by these three things you may know whether you have this joy, yea or no.
IV. The helps or means by which this joy is raised in us.
1, A sense of sin and misery. This maketh you more sensible of the mercy of the deliverance, and to be more aftected with it, as the grievousness of a disease maketh the recovery more delightful. The law condemned you, his ransom must absolve you ; sin made you dead, his grace quickeneth and puts life into you. Always as our sense of misery is, so is the sense of the recovery ; if one be bitter, the other is sweet. None prize and esteem Christ so much as the broken-hearted and burdened.
2. An entire confidence in Christ : for so it followeth, ' Have no confidence in the flesh/ If we have no confidence in the flesh, and look for all from the mercy and bounty of God through Christ, we shall prize him : 1 Peter ii. 7, ' Unto you therefore which believe, he
46 A DESCKiPTioN 0^ [Phil. III. 3.
is precious;' Phil. iii. 8, 'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.'
3. A constant use of the means whereby this joy may be fed and in- creased in us ; as the word, sacraments, and prayer, The word : Ps. cxix. 102, 'I have not departed from thy judgments, for thou hast taught me.' Then praVer, suing out of our right : John xvi. 24, ' Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.' So for the sacra- ments; baptism: Acts viii. 39, ' When they were come up out of the water, the Spirit caught away Philip, so that the eunuch saw him no more ; and he went on his way rejoicing,' The Lord's Supper ; it is our spiritual refection.
4. Sincerity of obedience : 1 Cor. v. 8, * Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness ; but with the unleaven bread of sincerity and truth.' Practical delight is the chiefest, above that of contemplation, a more intimate sense.
We come now to the last part of a Christian's character: Aiid have no confidence in the fi,esh. To understand it, consider there are two things called ^es7i in scripture.
1. External privileges belonging to the worldly life ; such as wealth, greatness, and worldly honour. Now to glory in these is to glory in the flesh, and to trust in these is to trust in the flesh, which should be far from Christians: Jer. ix. 23, 24, ' Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he knoweth me, that I am the Lord,' &c. Where the prophet laboureth to beat them off from their vain confidences, that they might not rely upon their power, policy, and wealth, but a saving knowledge of and interest in God, whose goodness and faithfulness could only secure them against all evils, and procure them all manner of blessings.