4. And what truths you know, labour to jyractise, and then you shall be stablished. ' If any man do the will of my Father,' saith our Saviour, John vii. 17, ' he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.' Be true to known truths ; be not false in disobeying
* That is, ' ofl'ence,' = let it not be a stumbling-block. — G.
436 COMMENTAnV ON
thoin. ' To him that hath sliall he Kivcn,' Matt. xiii. 12. AVo liavo a Httle atahhshinj^ ; hy an unitorm ohechcnce to the trutli we shall havo more ; God will iiicreaso it. I say, let us he faithful to the truths wo havo, and not cross them in any sinful course ; let us not keep the truth prisoner to any base atlection ; as those in Koni. i. 21,^7., that had but the light of nature, yet because they imprisoned it, and held it in uin'i<rhteousncss, and lived in sins contraiy to that li,ght that God had kindled in them, though I say it w^ere but the light of nature, God gave them up to sins not to be named ; much more will he do to us if we withhold the light of the gospel. Take heed therefore that we enthral not the truth to any base lust whatsoever, and that is a means to bo stablished in the truth.
;■). And he ()ft in lioli/ conference irith uthcrs. Conference, if it be rightly xased, is a special means to stablish. That is most certain, which is certain after doubting and debate ; because that which is doubted of at the first, we come to bo resolved ^of at the last, comparing reason with reason, remembering always that of St Ambrose, that there must not be striving for victory, but for truth (.'/////). And then when we have tried all, we must keep that which is good, and not be always as the iron between two loadstones, haled this way and that way, always doubting and never resolved ; there must be a time of resolution. This the apostle observes to be an excellent way of stablishing, oft to confer of things doubtful.
6. And labour to get experience of the truth in ourselres ; nothing stab- lisheth fmore than experience. Our Saviour Christ, in John vi. 68, when many left him out of duluess, not understanding the spiritual things that he taught (as many whose wits will serve for matters of the world, and to make them great amongst men, but when they come to heavenly things they have no understanding, they cannot apprehend them) he asks his disciples, ' Will you go away also ? ' John vi. 67. Peter, who had his heart opened by the Spirit of God, saith he, ' Lord, whither shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life ; ' insinuating, that the experience that he had of the power of that truth that Christ taught, did so estabhsh him in the present truth, that with a holy kind of indignation at the question, he replies, ' Whither shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life.' I have found thy words to have a spiritual life in them. So when we come once to have an experimental knowledge of the truths we learn, then om* hearts are stablished. Lideed, then it is an ' ingraU'ed word,' as St James saith, i. 21, then the word is true leaven, when it altereth and changeth the soul. In such a case there is no separating from fundamental truth, when it is one with ourselves, and digested into us.
7. And 2^>'(iy to God oft, as David did, Ps. Ixxxvi. 2, seq., to knit our hearts to fear his name. Lord, my heart is loose and ready to fall oft* of itself. Oh, knit my heart ! It is unsettled. Oh, settle my unsettled heart ! settle my judgment and affections. This should be our meditation.
8. And because it is God that stablisheth, alwaj/ viaintain spiritual poverty in the soul, that is, a perpetual dependence upon God. See the insufficiency that is in ourselves, that we cannot stand out. What is the reason that God suffers great men to fall fi-om the defence of the truth, and from the profession of it in their lives, as we see it in the case of Peter ? To shew, that we stand not by our own strength. Therefore we should be always in this temper of spiritual poverty, to know that as Samson's strength was in his hair, so our strength is in God. God is my strength, of myself I have no strength. And therefore upon every new defence of the tnith, when we are called to it, we should lift up ejaculations, and dart up strong desires to
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, YER. 21. 437
God, that God would strengthen and stahlish our souls, that wc may not be traitors to the truth, but that we may stand to it ; for in his own strength shall no man be established.
9. And (jrow every dai/ more and more in detestation of a lukeirann temper. Your Ancipites, as Cyprian calls them (zzz), your doubtful flatterers of the times, that have their religion depending upon the state and the times, that are neither fish nor flesh, bats, as we say, that are neither mice nor birds, but of a doubtful religion, that out of carnal policy are fit to entertain an}i;hing ; Oh, this is a devilish temper ! Howsoever we, in om* lukewarm disposition, value the truth, God values it highly. It was purchased by Christ's blood, and sealed by the blood of martyrs, and shall not we transmit it to our posterity, as safe and as firm, and retain it, come what will ? Let us grow into dislike of this temper, a temper that we should as much hate as God hates it ; such a temper as is in popery, they are in an adiapliorismc'^' temper in religion, a lukewarm, cold temper, a temper of religion according to reasons of flesh and reasons of policy ; this will make us be spued out of God's mouth at the last. Do we think to lose religion alone ? Oh no ; never thmk to part with religion alone. It came with peace and prosperity, and if we keep not this depjositum, this truth delivered to us, God will take it away, and that which we betray it for, peace and plenty.