will not receive bim, then hell must. Wliat a miserable thing is this, when we place and bottom ourselves upon things that will not last ! when our- selves shall outlast our foundation ! when a man shall live for ever, and that which he builds on is fading ! What extremity of folly is this, to buUd on riches, favour, gi-eatness, power, inheritance, which either must be taken from him, or he from them, he knoweth not how soon !
Wliat makes a man miserable, but the disappointing of his hopes and crossing of his affections ? Now when a man pitcheth his soul too much upon his worldly things, from which there must be a parting, this is, as it were, the rending of the skin from the flesh, and the flesh fi'om the bones. When a man's soul is rent from that he pitcheth his happiness on, this maketh a man miserable ; for misery is in disappointing the hopes, and crossing the afiections. Now only a Christian plants his heart and affec- tions on that which is everlasting, of equal continuance with his soul. As he shall live for ever, so he is rooted for ever in that which must make him everlastingly happy. These things we hear, and they are undeniably true. But how few make use of them, to desist from going on in a plodding, swelling desii'e of an earthly condition, to overtop other men. Such labour to grow in tallness and height, but strive not to be rooted. Now that which grows perking up in height, overtopping other things, yet without root, what will become of it ? It will be turned up by the roots.
Now, how shall we grow to be rooted ? For to attain hereunto, it is not only necessary to apply the promises, and challenge God with them, but to consider also what waj's he will make them good.
First, Labour to knoiv God and his free grace in Jesus Christ. ' Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 2 Pet. iii. 18. They go both together. The more we grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the grace of God in him, the more grace and rootedness we shall have. For that which the soul doth clearly apprehend, it fastens upon in that measure it apprehendeth it. Clearness in the understanding breeds earnestness in the affections, and fastness too. So the more we grow in knowledge, the more we root ourselves in that we know. And therefore the apostle prays for the Ephesians, that they might have the Spirit of revelation, &c., that they might know the height, breadth, depth, and length of God's love that passeth knowledge. ' For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family of heaven and earth is named, that he would gi-ant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Chi-ist may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,' in the sense of God's love to us, and so of our love to him again (for we are not rooted in love to God, till we be rooted in the sense of God's love to us), ' that you may be able to comprehend with all saints the height and breadth,' &c., Ephes. iii. 14.
Second, And withal, labour to knoiv the gracious promises of Christ. For we are knit to him by virtue of his word and promises, w'hich like himself are ' yea and amen.' ' Jehovah, yesterday, to-day, and the same for ever,' 2 Cor. i. 20. So all his promises made in him, they are ' yea and amen,' in themselves firm, and finn to us in him. They are ' yea and amen;' that is, they are made and performed in Christ, in whom they are sure to be performed ; and thereupon they are firm too. God made them, who is Jehovah, and they are made in Christ that is Jehovah. So God the Father Jehovah, he promiseth, and he makes them good in Christ Jehovah, whc is unchanseable.
344 THE KETXTRXIXG BACKSLIDER. [SeRMON VII.
Tliirdhj, But this is not enough. We must labour to have our hearts stablished, that they may rely fiimly on that which is finn. For if a thinf,' I^e never so finn, except vre rely fu-mly on it, there is no stability or strength from it. Now, when there is strength in the thing, and sti'ength in the soul, that strength is impregnable and unconquerable strength. In Christ they are ' yea and amen ;' in whom he stablisheth us, anoints us, seals us, and gives us the earnest of the Spuit in our hearts.
How doth God stablish us upon the promises ? The rest which followeth is an expUcation of this. When he gives us the ' earnest of the Spirit.' 2 Cor. i. 22, and seals us to be his, in token he means to make good the bargain, then we are established. But we are never firmly established till we get the assurance of salvation. Then, as the promises ai-e yea and amen in themselves, so we are stablished upon them when we are sealed and have earnest of tlie Spirit. Let us labom* therefore to grow in the knowledge of God"s love in Christ, to know the height, breadth, depth, and length of it, and to grow in aE the gi-acious promises which are made in Christ, who is Amen himself, as his promises are ; and then, when we are sealed and anointed by the Spirit, we shall be so stablished that nothing shall move us. Therefore let us use all means for the establishing of growth in us, the word and sacraments especially. For as baptism admits us into the house of God, so by the sacrament of the Lord's supper, the blessed food of the soul, we are strengthened. In the use of these mean?, let us make suit unto God to make good his gi-acious promise unto us, that we shall ' gi'ow as lilies, and take root as the cedars in Lebanon.'