SERMONS UPON ACTS XXIV. 14-16. 431
[3.] It is the end of bis renewing grace. He hath altered the con- stitutiou of our hearts, that we may hve unto God : 2 Cor. v. 17, ' Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new.' We are renewed in heart, that we might walk in all newness of conversa- tion.
[4.] It is the end of our faith and hope. Faith and hope are but means subservient to love, which is the grace by which we are inclined to perform our duty to God and man ; and therefore the strength of our faith is to be judged by the readiness of our obedience : Gal. v. 6, ' For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncir- cumcision, but faith which worketh by love.' That carrieth away the prize of justification. It is the love of God, stirred up in us by faith which maketh us watchful against sin, and careful to please him in all things.
Use 2. To press us all, if we would be complete christians, to take all the three parts. (1.) Let us be sound in the faith; (2.) Let us keep up hope ; (3.) Let us be tliorough and exact in obedience.
1. Let us be sound in the faith, believing all things that are contained in the word of God, not contenting ourselves with a light credulity or common tradition, but have a faith of the S})irit's working. Your love to God dependeth upon the principles laid down in the gospel, which discover to you his love in the Redeemer, and the provision made for your souls ; therefore you are ' to build up yourselves in your most holy faith, that you may keep yourselves in the love of God/ Jude 20, 21.
2. Let not hope be left out as an unnecessary grace. This is not a cursory and slight, but a desirous expectation, so as not to be weakened by the lusts of the flesh : 1 Peter i. 13, ' Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds ; be ye sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.' When Christ Cometh all your labours and self-denial shall be recompensed : Rom. viii. 24, 25, ' For we are saved by hope ; but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.'
3. Be sound and thorough, and exact in obedience. Many hold sound doctrine, and have some lazy expectation of eternal life, but they are defective in the third branch ; they are not careful to keep a good conscience, and do their duty in all things to God and man. Here I shall press you to two things —
1.] Let conscience be your guide.
2.] Exercise yourselves in this, that conscience may be a good guide to you.
First, Let conscience be your guide. I shall press you hereunto by two considerations —
1. From the nature of conscience. It is not only a monitor, but a judge. As a monitor it warns us of our duty ; as a judge it censures our neglects of it. Science is one thing, conscience is another. Science is a man's knowledge of other things ; conscience is a man's knowledge of himself, his state, and ways, to know what he is to do, and to know what he hath done ; that is conscience. It is the judgment of a man concerning himself and his actions with respect to reward and punish-
432 SERMONS UPON ACTS XXIV. 14-16.
ment. God, that is our Lord, is also our proper judge; but it pleaseth God to put a faculty into man, this spirit within him, that he should have something in his own bosom to be a rule and judge, but yet a subordinate rule, and a deputy-judge, accountable to God ; but a judge it is. However it much conducetli to the glory of God and to the safety of man.
[1.] To the glory of God.
(1.) As it is an evidence of his being, whose law is the ground of conscience, and before whom conscience doth accuse, and whose sentence it doth dread and stand in fear of. Why doth conscience scruple this or that, if there be not a God by whose will good and evil are distin- guished ? To whom doth it accuse us but to God ? Why is conscience sometimes afraid, sometimes comforted, if there were no God to mind things here below ? We find conscience appalleth the stoutest sinners after the commitment of some offence, though it be secret, and beyond the cognisance and vengeance of man : Ps. liii. 5, ' There were they in great fear where no fear was ; ' that is, no outward cause of fear, where none sought to hurt them ; accusing themselves when none else could accuse them, as Joseph's brethren : Gen. xlii. 21, 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother's blood ; ' or where none had power to reach them, as princes and worldly potentates feel the stings of con- science as well as others. Felix trembled, who was the judge, at Paul's words, who was the prisoner : Acts xxiv. 25, ' And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled.' What is the reason of this, but that they know there is a supreme judge and avenger ?