Reason 1. Worldly things cannot give out so much of God to us as the ordinances do, and therefore they are incomparably better than any earthly things whatsoever.
1. They give out more of God for the present than any eartbly thing can. We taste God in the creatures ; they are sanctified to the heirs of promise : 1 Tim. iv. 4. 5, ' Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving ; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.' They are a glass wherein to see our creator's goodness and wisdom and power. But the creatures, besides their spiritual use, have a natural use; to maintain the present life. But the ordinances have wholly a spiritual use. The creatures, and earthly comforts which we enjoy, do not so immediately tend to the glory of God ; their immediate use is to comfort man during his pilgrim- age, and to enable him to serve God ; but ultimately and terminatively they tend to the glory of God. Though man be not to use them merely for himself, and to sacrifice them to his own will and pleasure, or to satisfy his own fleshly mind, yet their natural use is for his comfort, and to enable him to serve God. But there is more of God discovered in the ordinances than in the creatures, and 'they do more immediately tend to God.
2. These are the means of our eternal felicity. Earthly things are given us as an invitation ; spiritual things as an evidence. Earthly things are not given us in the first place, but as an additional supply : Mat. vi. S3, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you ; ' Eccles. vii. 11, ' Wisdom is good with an inheritance.' Well, then, surely ordinances, if we have the effect of them, are a more blessed evidence of God's favour : Ps. Ixv. 4, * Blessed is the man whom thou cboosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy court ; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.' By this means God pursueth his eternal love, and bringeth us to eternal glory and blessedness. One beam of the light of God's countenance is more worth
SERMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. 10. 151
than all the world, what then is the eternal enjoyment of God ? Now the ordinances are a means to this end, to bring us to the everlasting fruition of God : Ps. Ixxiii. 25, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.'
Beason 2. God is not loved unless he be loved with a trans- cendant, superlative love ; and this must proportionably descend upon other things as they relate to God, for everything is good according to its vicinity and nearness to the chiefest good and last end. There is a fourfold rank of good things. The first is of that which is loved and desired only for itself and for no other, and all other things for its sake ; so God only is good. The second rank is of those things that are desired for themselves and the sake of some other thing also ; as knowledge, grace, and virtue. The third rank is of those good things which are merely desired for some other good's sake ; as the supplies of the outward life, estate, and the like ; in order to service, these may be desired. The fourth rank is of those things which are evil in themselves, and good only by accident, in order to some greater good which may be procured by them ; as war, to make way for a lasting quiet and peace ; the cutting off an arm or leg, to preserve the rest of the body ; burning the harvest to starve an enemy. In a theological consideration, afflictions have this use, which are not things to be desired and chosen, but endured and suffered when sent by the wise God for our good. Well, now, a christian should love all things according to their value, and as they approach nearer to his last end and chief good. He valueth all things as they more or less let out God to him; the nearer means more than the remote subservient helps. Thus he delighteth in the ordinances more than the creatures, because the ordinances discover more of God and exhibit more of God to him. He valueth graces more than ordinances, because by the graces of the Spirit he is brought into more conformity to God, and communion with him, than by the bare formality of a duty. And he delighteth in Jesus Christ more than in created graces, as being by him nearer to God, and God nearer to us. Here is the method and order of our value and esteem then: first God, next Christ as mediator, next the graces of the Spirit, next the ordinances, next the creatures and comforts of this life.
3. A godly man's judgment is rectified about the difference between things spiritual and temporal : Prov. xxiii. 4, ' Labour not to be rich ; cease from thine own wisdom ;' 1 Cor. ii. 12, * We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God ; ' Ps. xvi. 7, ' I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel ; my reins also instruct me in the night season.' He counteth that condition best wherein he may be most serviceable to God, and best helped to heaven. The natural understanding valueth all things by the interest of the flesh, for it looketh only to present things ; it is the spirit of the world. But one to whom God hath given counsel, he is of another temper, seeth things by another light, and liveth to another end and scope. His end en- lighteneth him, and the Spirit of God enlighteneth him. The Spirit showeth him the reality and worth of heavenly things : Eph. i. 17, 18, ' That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give