VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIT. 281
that live far from court, never saw their king;, yet they enjoy the benefit of his government, and are bound to allegiance. Christ is as meek, as gentle, as easy to be entreated as ever.
Use 3. For the conviction of them that please themselves in fond wishes and excuses ; they think that if they had lived in the days of Christ's flesh, and had heard his words, full of grace and wisdom, it could not have been but they should have believed in him ; they would never have crucified him, as the carnal Jews, and never have rejected his person and doctrine. Thus they bind the efficacy and virtue of Christ to his corporal presence ; as if it would have been a greater advantage to them than his spiritual. A great deceit of the heart ! This plea proceedetli upon a false supposal, as if Christ's virtue depended upon the nearness and distance of place. If there be any dilference, now in heaven he is most apt to work, because he is entered upon his royalty, and the actual exercise of his kingdom. The apostles themselves, when they had Christ's presence, were more gross, dull, and carnal ; but afterwards they savoured nothing but heaven and life eternal. And again, it is usual for men to dislike present dispen- sations, and betray their duties by their wishes. Alas ! if Christ were now present in the form of a servant, what sorry entertainment would most give him ! We think we should not have done what the Jews did ; in probability we would have done worse : you grieve his Spirit as much as they did affront his person ; the malice of the Jews was more gross, but ours is as inexcusable. Besides, there is a natural reverence that even hypocrites will bear to their godly ancestors : Mat. xxiii. 29, 30, 'Woe unto you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites; because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Dead things and persons do not exasperate and cross present interests; the prophets, that lived in their ancestors' days, were out of sight, no eyesore to present practices, their speeches were not personally directed to them. The v/orst men usually honour the dead, but are injurious to the living. As much as we detest the memory of Annas and Caiphas, so do they of Korali, Dathan, and Abiram. The name of Judas is not more odious to us than Ahab to them ; therefore our detestation of the Jews, or longing for the person of Christ, is no argument of great devotion to him.
SERMON XV.
And now I am no more in the ioo7-Jcl, hut these are in the iforJd, and I come to thee Holy Father, keep through thine own name those idiom thou hast given me, that they may he one, as lue are. — John XVII. 11.
Thirdly, The next point is taken from that clause, ' But these are in the world.' Christ's apprehensiveness of the danger of believers in their worldly state.
282 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [Seu. XV.
In managing this argument — (1.) I will open the danger ; (2.) Why- God permitteth it ; (1.) Christ's apprehensiveness of it.
1. To open the danger. There is danger from within and from without ; within arc lusts, and without are temptations ; they are subject to many infirmities, and exposed to infinite dangers and temptations.
[1.] From within. If we could live as fish in the salt sea, fresh, without any taint of saltncss, without receiving a savour from things without, the danger would not he so great : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust ; ' the root of the matter is within us. The world without would do no harm were it not for the world in our own hearts. Pleasures, honours, profits are dangerous snares, hut not to an angel. When John reckoneth up the contents of the world, he doth not reckon up the objects, but the lusts : 1 John ii. 16, ' The lust of the flesh, the lust of the e3'e, and the pride of life.' Satan is our enemy, the world is the bait, but our heart is the traitor. Baalam could not hurt Israel till he corrupted them by- whoredoms. The worst enemy is within us ; we carry the danger in our own bosoms. We must look for blows in the world, but inward ulcers are worse than wounds, because the evil is inward, and the constitution of the body helpeth it. Sins are more dangerous than troubles, because they are aided by nature.
[2.] From without. The world is an evil place, both in regard of sin and misery ; we are sure to be vexed or defiled, to be corrupted by the favours or discouraged by the frowns of it. In the world we have a great many enemies ; there is the god of the world, and the powers of the world, and the men of the world, and the things of the world.
(1.) There is the god of this world. This country in which we dwell, it is the kingdom of Satan, Christ's bitter enemy. He is called ' the prince of the world,' John xii. 31, not by right, but the world hath made him so. Can God's children live long in peace in the kingdom of Satan ? He cannot endure to lose one corner of his empire, therefore frowns and flatters, and seeks to corrupt or dis- courage the saints : 2 Cor. iv. 4, ' The god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not.' Titles are suited to the matter in hand. Satan blindeth most, as the god of this world ; the creature is but suborned, Satan is at the back of it, and lieth in ambush to surprise our souls ; ' Is not the hand of Joab in all this ? ' The devil is in the snare. The world is Satan's chessboard ; we can hardly move back or forth but the devil sets out one creature or another to attack us, either by fear, causing us to draw back, or by the love of some worldly creatures alluring us out of the lists wherein we should walk.