fire as well as the whole element of fire ; and a drop of water, it is water as well as the whole ocean. When a man is in a dark place, — put the case it be in a dungeon, — if he have a little light shining in to him from a little cre\ace, that little light discovers that the day is broke, that the sun is risen. Put the case there be but one grape on a vine, it shews that it is a vine, and that the vine is not dead. So, put the case there be but the appearance of but a little grace in a Christian, perhaps the Spirit of God appears but in one grace in him at that time, yet that one grace sheweth that we are vines, and not thistles, or thorns, or other base plants, and it shews that there is life in the root.
The Spirit of God appears not in all graces at once, it appears some time or other in some one grace. We see in plants, the virtue of them appears diversely. In winter the virtue of them lies in the root ; in the spring-time, in the bud and the leaf ; in the summer, in the fruit : it is not in all parts alike. So it is with the Spirit, as it is an ' earnest,' it appears not in all graces in a flourishing manner at the first. Sometimes it appears in the root, in humility, sometimes in faith, sometimes in love, sometimes in one grace, sometimes in another. Though the Spirit be in every grace, yet in appearance to a man's self and others, it appears but in one. An ' earnest' is little, especially at the first.
Weak Christians therefore should not be discouraged. ' Despise not the day of little things,' Zech. iv. 10. There is cause of mourning. We that have received the ' first-fruits ' of the Spirit, we mourn because we have but the fii-st-fruits, and we would have the full harvest ; but as there is cause of mourning because we have but the first-fruits, so there is cause of com- fort, because it is the first-fruits. It is an ' earnest' only, and not the whole bargain, therefore we have cause of mourning that it is so imperfect, that it is so weak as it is ; yet there is cause of comfort, because though it is not the whole, yet [it] is a part, and secures us of the whole.
And therefore Christians should labour to mingle duties, and let one grace quahfy another ; for indeed a Christian is a mixed creature, his com- forts are mixed, and his mourning is mixed. With a carnal man it is all otherwise, if he mourn he is all a mort,* because he hath no goodness ; if he joy, he is mad, his mirth is madness.
A Christian joys indeed, sometimes he hath 'joy unspeakable and glorious,' 1 Peter i. 8, because he looks to his hope, and the accomplishment of it, and yet he mourns, because he hath but the ' earnest,' because he hath but the beginnings, because he hath but the first fruits here.
Use 2. And therefore again, as it should comfort us, if we have anything ; so it should exhort us to examine rather the truth, than the measm-e of any grace. We have examined the truth, it is the truth of this ' earnest,' the truth of grace and comfort. It is an excellent speech of our Saviour Christ, in Rev. iii. to the church of Philadelphia, in verse 8, ' Because thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.' There is a gi-eat promise made to the church of Philadelphia ; and why? 'Because thou hast a little strength.' How is that discovered? ' Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.' So then, if that Httle be true, God respects not that little as it is little in quantity, but as he means to make it ere long. He looks upon the ' earnest,' as he means to make up the bargain ; he looks upon the foundation, as he means to rear up a goodly building ; he looks upon the first-fruits, as he means to add the harvest ; and therefore, Eph. i. 4, and other places, ' We are * That is ' dead,' = ' deeply sunken'.— G.
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elected to be holy and blameless in his sight.' So Eph. v. 27, ' He purgeth tho church, that she may be presented to him without spot.' So Christ looks ui)on his Church as he is purging and washing, till he have made it holy in his sight. Wo are elected, not to ' earnest,' not to ' first-fruits,' but to b(! ' unblamcablo ;' wo are elected to perfection. It is the comfort of Christians, that God looks upon his, not as thoy are imperfect here, but as they are in beginning, and as they are growing, and as he intends to bring them to perfection afterwards. For all things are present, we know, to him, the time to come, what we shall be ; he considers us as if we were in heaven already ; we are in our degree, and in our faith. So now ' we sit in heavenly places,' Eph. i. 3 ; therefore as he looks on us as we shall be, so faith answers his looking, when we are framed by the Spirit to com- fort ; faith looks not upon the weak ' earnest,' the poor beginnings, but as we shall be after in heaven, ' without spot and wrinkle,' Eph. v. 27.