YeR. 5.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 179
a virgin, and died at Jerusalem, ' Bearing our sins in his body upon a tree, that we, being dead unto sin, might be alive unto righteousness,' 1 Peter ii. 24. The true Christ is one that ' gave himself for us, that he might purify us to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works,' and is now gone into heaven, there to make intercession for us, and will come again from heav^en in a glorious manner to take an account of our works, Titus ii. 13, 14. But now when men lie under the power and reign of their sins, and yet pretend to rest upon Christ for salva- tion, they set up another Christ than the word holdeth forth. And as the Christ is mistaken, so is the faith. It is not an idle trust, but such as is effectual to purge the heart, for the true ' faith purifieth the heart,' Acts XV. 9. If, besides profession, knowledge, assent, and a loose trust, they should pretend to assurance, or to a strong conceit that Christ died for them, and they shall certainly go to heaven, this will not ex- cuse them from unbelief; this is irpcorov ■\{revSo<;, the grand mistake, that the strength of faith lieth in a strong persuasion of the goodness of our condition, and the stronger the persuasion the better the faith. If this were true, hardness of heart would make the best faith, and he that could presume most, and be most secure and free from doubts, would be the truest believer, and the goodness of our condition would lie in the strength of our imagination and conceit. Alas ! many make full account they shall go to heaven that shall never come there. The foolish virgins were very confident, and the foolish builder goetli on with the building, never suspecting the foundation. Nay, let me tell you, assurance of a good condition, as long as we lie under the power and reign of sin, is the greatest unbelief in the world, for it is to be- lieve the flat contrary to that which God hath revealed in the word ; therefore none abuse the Lord and question his truth so much as these do. Where hath God said that men that live in their sins shall be saved ? Nay, he hath expressly said the contrary, ' Be not deceived ; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor idolaters,' &c., 1 Cor. vi. 9 ; so that you give God the lie, or conceit that he will break his word for your sakes ; nay, in a sense, you even dare him to make good his truth. He hath said, ' Be not deceived ; you shall never enter,' &c., and you say. Though I am an adulterer, a drunkard, a worldling, I shall go to heaven for all that. Now in a little while you shall see whose word shall stand, God's or yours, Jer. xliv. 28.
Once more, the word is not supposed to be without all kind of power. Men may have some ' relish of good things,' and some ' ex- perience of the powers of the world to come,' and yet be in an un- believing state : see Heb. vi. 5, where the apostle speaketh of a common work, opposed to ra e^byieva tt]'^ ao)Tr]pla<;, to ' things that do accompany salvation,' ver 9, or have salvation necessarily annexed to them. They may have some feeling of the jjower of the truth, and yet afterwards make defection, out of a love to the world and worldly things ; they may have many spiritual gifts, change their outward conversation, make a glorious profession, and be thereupon enrolled among the saints; yea, be of great use and service in the church, though for their own ends and interests, remaining all this while un- renewed, and having their worldly inclinations to honour, esteem, pleasure, profit, unbroken and unmortified ; for there is no such enemy
180 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 5.
to fiiith as a carnal, worldly heart. Therefore let men pretend what they will, when they are as eager upon the world as if they had no other matters to mind, and the love of outward greatness doth sway with them more than the love of heaven, and the praise of men more than the approbation of God, and carnal ease and pleasure more than delight in God, how can they be said to believe ? John v. 44 ; for such kind of lusts and earthly affections are inconsistent with the power and vigour of saving faith ; therefore till the bent of the heart be towards heavenly things, and carnal affections be soundly mortified, unbelief reigneth. I pitch it upon this evidence, partly because the great drift of conversion is to draw off the soul, as from self to Christ, and from sin to holiness, so from the world to heaven. See 1 Peter i. 3, ' Be- gotten to a lively hope ; ' and 1 John v. 4, ' He that is born of God overcometh the world ; ' as soon as we are converted, the heart is drawn and set towards heavenly things ; partly because the main thing to be believed, next to God's being, is his bounty, Heb. xi. G, that we may make God our rewarder ; and partly because the main work of faith is to draw off the soul from sensible things to ' things unseen,' and to come, Heb. xi. 1 ; so that whatsoever glorious profession men make, or whatsoever service they perform in the church, or whatsoever experience they have in the enlargement of gifts, yet if they be careless of things to come, and eager after the things of the world, faith is not thoroughly planted ; for a main thing wanting in these temporaries was a resolu- tion to serve God for God's sake, or to make him their paymaster, which can never be till carnal inclinations to the honours, pleasures, and profits of the world be subdued, and we are willing to lay down all these things at Christ's feet, taking only so much as he shall fairly allow us for our use.