Ohs. 1. In perseverance there is a concurrence of our care and dili- gence: Phil. ii. 12, 13, 'Work out your own salvation Avith fear and trembling,' &c. The main work is God's : ' He that hath begun a good work must perfect it,' Phil. i. 6 ; and the same Jesus that is ' author ' is also ' finisher,' Heb. xii. 2. The deeper radication of the habit, the defence of it, the growth and perfection of it, the ability to act, is all from God : 1 Peter v, 10, ' The God of all grace make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you;' but yet a concurrence there is of our care and endeavours. A child in the womb is nour- ished by the mother, liveth by the life of the mother, feedeth by the food of the mother ; but a child born liveth a more distinct and sepa- rate life of its own, though it still be under the mother's care and pro- vision. So it is with us after grace received. We have a power to act and do what is necessary for the preservation of the spiritual life. Well, then, let us not neglect the means. You must not lie upon the bed of ease, and think that God must do all. He doth all indeed, but in us and by us. Idle wishes will do us no good as long as our hands refuse to labour.
Ohs. 2. Again, men that have grace had need look to the keeping of it. Why>
342 AN EXPOSITIOX, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 21.
1. We ourselves are prone to revolt : ' This people loveth to wan- der,' Jer. :^iv. 10, and ' they err in their hearts,' though under the immediate conduct of God, Ps. xcv. 10. It is notable in scripture that we read of a decay both of faith, love, and obedience, which are the three main graces ; some that ' left their first faith,' 1 Tim. V. 12 ; others that ' left their first love,' Eev. ii. 4 ; and as to obe- dience, we read of ' the first ways' of David, as distinguished from his latter : 2 Chron. xvii. 8, ' He walked in the first ways of his father David.' David, in his latter time, fell into scandalous crimes.
2. We are assaulted with continual temptations. An importunate suitor, by perseverance in his suit, may at length prevail. Satan will lose nothing for want of asking. Those that refused at first may yield afterward. Long conversing with the world may taint the spirit, A deformed object, when we are used to it, seeraeth less deformed. In- dwelling lust, though long restrained, breaketh out afterward with the more violence. Rose-trees nipped in June bear in the winter. Many that in youth have held a hard hand over sin, in their very old age have found their lusts more violent.
3. A man of long standing is apt to grow secure and negligent, as if he were now past danger ; when his condition was doubtful, he seemed to be more diligent and serious, but when the labours and diffi- culties of our first entering into favour with God are well over, and a man hath gotten some freedom from the terrors of the law, and some peace and confidence, he is in danger of security, by which all runneth to waste in the soul. See Rev. iii. 17-19. Well, then, this life is never exempted from care ; either to get grace or to keep it, we need to be watchful and diligent to the very last. Man is a changeable creature, and Satan is restless, either he continueth the old suit or altereth the course of temptations. It is his subtlety in that he doth not always play the same game ; a man may stand one brunt and fail in another : ' Joab turned after Adonijah, though not after Absalom,' 1 Kings ii. 28. Every new condition bringeth new snares : ' Ephraim is a cake not turned,' Hosea vii. 8. A man may be well baked of one side, and yet quite dough of another ; the children of God prosperous differ from the children of God afflicted, Phil. iv. 12. We had need to learn how to walk up-hill and down-hill, that we may keep with God upon all grounds. Again, corruptions may be disguised ; a man may withstand open enemies, and yet fail by the insinuations of tliose that have a show of goodness. The young prophet withstood the king stoutly, but yet was perverted by the insinuations of the old prophet, 1 Kings xiii. 4, with 19th verse. Meletius, a sufferer under pagans, l3ut went over to the Arians.
Again, where there seemeth to be least danger there is most cause of fear. Lot, that was chaste in Sodom, miscarried in the mountains, where there were none but his own family. Conscience, that is now tender, may be strangely deadened and laid by for a time. Who would have thought that he whose heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment, should afterwards fall into uncleanness and blood, and lie asleep in it for a long time ? Confidence is sure to be dismounted. Peter is a sad instance. He told his master, ' If all men deny thee, yet not I,' and he meant as he spoke. He ventureth on a band of men