2. I look upon this again as an act of obedience, as a means in order to his own safety ; and then the note will be — Though a man be certain of safety, yet he must use the means. God had promised to save Noah and his household, he had made a covenant with him, Gen. vi. 18 ; but still Noah was to provide an ark; the covenant was upon this condition, that lie should use those means. If Noah had made no ark, he must have taken his lot and share with the ungodly world. And as Noah had a promise of his own life and the life of his house- hold, so Paul had a promise of the lives of all the men in the ship ; yet, Actsxxvii. 31, ' Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved ;' he had told them before, ver. 22, ' Be of good cheer, there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship,^ yet ' except these abide,' &c. — not as if the accomplishment of the promise did depend upon second causes, and hang upon the endeavours of men, but only thus, he that hath appointed the end hath appointed the means, and we tempt God by putting that asunder which he hath joined together.
YeII. 7.] St:RMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 203
This being observed, it 'will be a check to libertinism; we cannot be feaved if we live as we list. And nssurauce is no idle doctrine , thongh we be under a sure covenant with God, yet we are to mind our duty. Elijah, that had foretold rain, yet prays for it as earnestly as if the thing had been utterly uncertain and unlikely.
3. I observe again, that this means Avas instituted and appointed by God, not devised and invented by Xoah. He might have been saved .<ome other way ; but he received a commandment concerning the matter, the proportion, the measure, and the fashion of the ark. And it is said, Gen. vi. 22, ' Thus did Noah ; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.' The ark seemed an unlikely way to preserve him, being a dark receptacle, likely to be dashed in pieces against rocks ; yet so did he as God commanded. The note is — we must use the means which God hath instituted in order to salvation, and that both with faith and obedience.
[1.] Use them in obedience. It is enough that God hath com- manded them. All ordinances are simple in appearance, therefore the creature is apt to carp at them. In baptism there is but a little common water ; yet baptism saves. As in the ark eight souls saved by water — ' The like figure whereunto baptism saves/ &c., 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. So in the Lord's supper there is a little morsel of bread and a small draught of wine, yet they are high and mysterious instruments of our comfort and peace and grace. And so in the means that seem to be more rational, and to have some ministerial efficacy, as in the ordinance of the word : 1 Cor. i. 21, ' It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' The world thinks it a foolish way. Men will say, for substance, We know as much as they can teach us, and we can bring nothing sublime and new ; and yet this way the Lord is pleased to work. Though there be no carnal allurements, yet mere obedience must keep up our respect to the institutions and ordinances of Jesus Christ.
[2.] We must use them in faith. It is a great part of the life of faith to live by faith in the use of ordinances ; when we come to use them, and can refer ourselves to the mercy of God for a blessing, for edification, and strengthening in comfort and grace ; nay though we want comfort a great while, yet when we will try again, because it is an ordinance that God hath appointed. There is more grace in wait- ing upon God, though there be more comfort in receiving. There is a command to keep up endeavours, and a promise to encourage expec- tation ; and upon the bare command of God we must keep up our endeavom-s, though we have been discouraged by former experiences ; as Peter : Luke v, 5, ' We have toiled all night, and caught nothing ; yet at thy command we will let down the net ; ' Lord I have come again and again, and found no profit ; yet I will come once more. Noah knew this was the instituted means, that he and his should be saved in the ark ; and therefore he waited in the ark many months, ere the rain ceased and the flood was dried up.
4. I observe again that tlie only instituted means was the ark, which was a type of Christ, by whose resurrection, saith the apostle, we are saved: 1 Peter iii. 21, ' The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.' All God's dispensa-
204 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS Xf. [SeR. XXXVIII.