Use 1. See how careful God is to preserve the honour and the awe in us of his justice, even in his rewards of grace. God will be just ; lie is very careful to preserve the notions which the creature hath of liis own essence inviolable. He will not exercise mercy to the preju- dice of his justice ; there must be some way to represent him still a righteous Father.' God would give his own Son to the death that he
118 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XLIII.
might appear rigliteous. God will not love ^ that honour. Therefore stand in awe, and sin not, lest thou come short of the grace offered in Christ ; lest you find him just in a legal sense, while you abuse the mercy of the gospel.
Use 2. It is to give us a sure ground of hope : Heb. vi. 10, ' For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love.' That which is most terrible in God is the pawn and pledge of our salvation. Conscience, which is God's deputy, is never satisfied till God be satis- fied ; for this thought cannot be plucked out of our minds, that God is an avenger. If we had not a sufficient satisfaction, we should always be troubled. Wherewith shall he be appeased ? Micah vi. 6, 7, ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' If a poor creature were in debt, and haling to prison, and a king should say, I will engage my whole revenue but I will pay it, how would this comfort him ! Certainly Christ was responsible enough. We are not so cheerful in his service as we should be, now justice is made our friend. Make use of it in great dejections and pangs of conscience : Job xxxiii. 24, ' Then he is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.' When the ram was taken, Isaac was let go. God will show mercy to our persons, for justice is satisfied in our surety. You have a double claim and hold fast upon him in every court ; you may come before the tribunal of justice as well as the throne of grace. When you are fainting in service, encourage yourselves : ' Verily there is a reward for the right- eous,' Ps. Iviii. 11. One day or another the saints shall be rewarded, their labour and service shall not be lost.
Secondly, The qualification, saving knowledge ' These have known that thou hast sent me.' It is urged as a reason why they should behold his glory hereafter, because they make it their care to know God in Christ here. Here are two propositions : —
1. The only way to come to blessedness is by the knowledge of the true God.
2. There is no knowledge of the true God without the knowledge of Jesus Christ as mediator.
First proposition, That the only way to blessedness is by the know- ledge of the true God. This I prove —
1. Because the foundation of the eternal state must be laid in this life. Now the foundation and superstructure must carry a proportion. What is the great happiness of heaven, and the blessedness of the creature ? The beatifical vision ; and therefore we must begin it here in knowledge, and in the study of God : John xvii. 3, ' This is life eternal, to know thee the only and true God ;' that is, this is the beginning of life eternal. When there is a saving light in the soul, there is a spark kindled that will never be quenched. In the barn corn doth not grow, but in the field. Here we labour after knowledge, there we enjoy the perfection of it ; and according to the degrees of
^ Qu. ' lose ' ?— Ed.
VeR. 25.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 119
knowledge and grace we attain in this life, so will be our happiness hereafter. The state of the wicked is a growing darkness : Mat. viii. 12, ' The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness/ ei9 TO (tk6to<; to e^corepov. What is that ? A darkness beyond a darkness — in tenebras ex tenebris infoeliciter exchisi : they shall be cast out from one darkness into another. Here they are under the dark- ness of ignorance and sin, and there they shall be under the darkness of horror and terror for evermore. The state of the wicked in hell is a darkness that grows out of a darkness ; here they are dark, and care not to know God, or know his ways, and the mists of darkness are reserved for them for evermore. But now the state of the godly is an increasing light : Prov. iv. 18, ' The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' Look, as the just do increase, and go on from knowledge to knowledge, till" they attain the light of glory, as the sun climbeth up to the top of the meridian by degrees, so the way of the wicked is darkness ; they go on from darkness to darkness, and the mist of darkness is reserved for them. Ignorance makes way for sin, and sin for hell. They are hastening downwards from darkness to darkness, and we hasten to the perfect day, from grace to glory.