(1.) You may use them to encourage and quicken a backward heart. We look upon duty through carnal prejudices, and count it a sore exac- tion , and so draw back ; in such a case we may safely use God's arguments as encouragements. God propoundeth tliem to us in the word, and pleads with us upon this advantage, and seeks to whip us into obedience by the spur of threatenings and hopes. God pleads with his people, Jer. ii. 31, 'Have I been a land of darkness to you? have I been a wilderness ? ' Is there no blessing grows there ? no sun-shine ? All the argumentative part of the word is taken from the recompenses and threatenings. Surely it is not good to be wise above the scriptures ; we may use that which the scripture useth. Thus the apostle shows he presseth onward upon this advantage : Phil. iii. 14, ' I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ;* the glorious recompenses and high ])rizes God had set before him at the end of the journey, this made him make progress in the way of religion.
(2.) In the spiritual conflict, to baffle and defeat a temptation. So you may use these rewards and punishments ; for herein you do but declare the high esteem you have of your hopes, more than the bait that is presented in the temptation. Let us cast our hopes in another scale : 2 Cor. iv. 18, ' We look not to the things that are seen, but to the things which are not seen,' &c. When things seen come to stand in competition with our liigh hopes, it is not only lawful but necessary to reflect upon the recompenses. We expect great things from God ; he hath promised things unseen. So the apostle, when likely to be dis- couraged by the inconveniences of this life : Rom. viii. 18, ' I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.' Moses counterbalanceth
YeR. 4.J SERMONS UrON HEBREWS XI. 461
' the pleasures of Egypt, with the recompense of reward,' Heb. xi. 2-6 ; and Jesus Christ counterbalanceth the sharae of the cross with the glory of his exaltation : Heb. xii. 2, ' Who, for the glory that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame.' What is car- nal ease to heavenly pleasure ? the fulfilling of a carnal desire to the filling up of the soul with God ? This is nothing but a holy design to outweigh a temptation by putting the glory of our hopes in the other scale ; by opposing the joys of heaven to the pleasures of sin ; and the sweetness of eternal communion with God to the gratifications of the flesh.
(3.) To renew the solemn remembrance of your hopes with thank- fulness that your heart may the more admire the riches of free grace. By this means the great gospel principle will be the better strengthened, which is gratitude and thankfulness. !N^ow we may be the more thank- ful, and more drawn out in the admiration of grace. Oh, how should we esteem the Lord's service ! He might enforce duty upon us, but he is pleased to quicken us by the reward. Oh, that he should reward such worthless services, and honour our obedience with such recom- penses and privileges ! This is a right reflection when our thoughts are carried out to the reward, as rather admiring God's bounty than r^jspecting our own benefit. Gratitude is by this means strengthened, and hath the greater force upon the soul. Gratitude doth not only look to mercies in hand, but also look for mercies in hope. The bird of paradise can sing in winter ; faith can give thanks for our hopes before enjoyment. You may say, as Ps. xiii. 19, ' Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ! which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.' There is not only goodness laid out, and thankfulness for that, but for good- ness laid up in hope, those excellences and glorious rewards God hath provided for us ; this should put us upon admiring grace.
SERMON XY.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by lohich he obtained ivitness that he ivas righteous, God testifying of his gifts : and by it he, being dead, yet sjyeaketh — Heb. xi. 4.
Case. 2. The second case respects the manner of duties : they must be done with vehemency and complacency. Now here arise two cases : —
1. Whether the children of God may not be surprised sometimes with perfunctory deadness ? Can their souls go out to God always with holy fervour and holy ardencies ?
2. Whether wicked men may not by high impulses be raised into extraordinary quickness in duties of worship ? and whence this comes ?
First, Whether the children of God may not be surprised sometimes with perfunctory deadness ? &c. I answer —
1. It may be so indeed. Sometimes their affections are like the
4G2 SERMONS UPON HEBIIEWS XI. [SeR. XV.
faint hands of Moses, that flag and hang down : Gal. v. 17, ' The flesh Insteth against the s])irit, so tliat they cannot do the things they would.' So Paul coni|)lains, Rom. vii. 18, ' How to perform tliat whicli is good, I find not ; ' he could not /carepyd^ecv, go through with his work ; like a sick man, that cannot do what he would.