SERMONS UPON LUKE XVI. 30, 31. 357
courtesies of man. Well, then, if these things be so (as certainly they are so), we have more certainty by the word itself than possibly we can have by a messenger from the dead, yea, or a voice from heaven, for it hath such a signature of God upon it that we need go no further : 2 Peter i. 18, 19, ' And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount, who have also ^e^aiorepov \6yov, a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.' What greater confirmation could the apostles expect than that voice from heaven, ' This is my beloved Son, in Avhom I am well pleased ? ' Mat. xvii. 5. Yet Peter who heard that voice telleth us that comparatively we have greater security from and by the written word ; not in itself, but as it is given in evidence to us, so that there is no compare between it and one from the dead.
[2.] We have sensible confirmations. We are wrought upon by sense. Now is not ordinarily the word as sensibly confirmed to us as it would be by a vision or apparition from the dead ?
(1.) There is the holiness of professors : 1 Cor. xiv. 25, ' And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so, falling down on liis face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth ; ' 1 Peter iv. 4, ' Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.' Is it not more wonder to see a living man that hath not divested himself of the interests and concernments of flesh and blood to deny himself for things to come, than to hear a tale from a dead man ?
(2.) There is the constancy of the martyrs, that have ratified this truth with the loss of their dearest concernments : Kev. xii. 11, ' And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ; and they loved not their lives unto the death.' It is pos- sible a man may suffer for a false religion, and sacrifice a stout body to a stubborn mind. But is there no true gold because there hath been some counterfeit coin ? The devil's martyrs have not been so many for number, nor for temper and quality, so holy, so wise, so meek, as the champions of the truth. The christian religion can show you persons of all ages, young and old ; of all sexes, men and women ; of all conditions of life, noble and of low degree ; of all qualities, learned and unlearned. (See Sermons on John xvii.)
(3.) Then there is the inward feeling of God's children ; they find a power in the word, convincing, changing, comforting, fortifying their hearts. These can speak of what they hear, feel, and taste, as well as one that cometh from the dead. They have answerable impressions on their hearts : Heb. viii. 10, ' I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts ; ' 2 Cor. iii. 3, ' Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.' All this stamped upon the heart in legible characters. A true christian is the lively transcript of his religion ; the scriptures are the original, and every believer is the copy ; it is gone over again in his heart.
(4.) Those that have no experience of this have a secret fear of the
358 SERMONS UPON LUKE XVI. 30, 31.
power of the word : John iii. 20, ' For every one tliat doetli evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' He will not come to the light because he is afraid of the majesty of God shining forth in the scriptures. Men dare not muse upon and seriously consider the doctrine therein contained. Atheism lieth in the heart, the seat of desires: Ps. xiv. 1, ' The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Men question the word, because they would not have it true ; they are willing to indulge their lusts, and therefore they are afraid of the word that forbiddeth them ; as Ahab was loath to hear Michaiah, because he prophesied evil. Strong lust maketh us incredulous. A malefactor desireth to destroy the records and evidences that are against him.
(5.) There are also outward effects of the power of the word ; its propagation throughout all the world within thirty years or thereabout ; The doctrine itself, contrary to nature ; it doth not court the senses nor woo the flesh ; it doth not make offers of splendour of life or pleasures and profits, but biddeth us deny these things and expect troubles. The drift of it is to teach men to row against the stream of flesh and blood, to renounce our lusts, deny our interests. And this was done by a few fishermen, who had no long sword, no public interest or authority to back them, and that in the face of the learned world, when all civil disciplines were in their a/c/iT? and height. The word prevailed against ancient customs ; the ark was to be set up in the temple that was already occupied and possessed by Dagon.