The apostle Peter, before the Holy Ghost came upon him, the voice of a weak damsel astonished him ; but after, how willing was he to sufler any thing ! Therefore let us not labour much to strengthen ourselves with the things of this life, or to value ourselves by our dependence upon others. If thou hast grace, thou hast that that will stand by thee when all other things fail ; for all other things will be taken away, but the Comforter shall never be taken away ; it goes along with us continually.
1. First, it u-orks ' earnest'' in us, and then it stamps upon us his own mark ; and then it leads us from grace to grace ; and in the hour of death, then especially it hath the work of a Comforter, to present to us the fruits of a good and holy life, and likewise the joys of heaven. When we are dead the Spirit watcheth over our bodies, because they were ' the temples of the Holy Ghost,' and at the day of judgment the same Spirit shall knit both body and soul together, and after, the same Spirit that hath done all this, shall be all in all to us in heaven for ever, and then our very bodies shall be spiritual, whereas now our souls, even the better part of them, is carnal. Even as the fire when it possesseth a piece of iron, it is all fire ; so our bodies shall be all spiritual.
What a blessed thing is this, to have the Spirit ! What are all friends
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 22. 483
to the Holy Ghost, which will speak to God for us ! The Spirit will make request with sighs aud groans, and God will hear the voice of his own Spirit.
What prison can shut up the Spirit of God ? Above all, labour to have more of the Spirit of God. This will make us more or less fruitful, more or less glorious in our profession, more or less willing to die. Labour to increase this ' earnest,' that the nearer we come to heaven, the more we may be fitted for it.
Consider but this reason, if you want this, alas ! we can never be thank- ful to God for anything, if by the Spirit we have not assurance that our state is the state of grace. For otherwise we might think that God gives us all in auger, as a carnal man, he always fears that God fats him as an ox to the slaughter. "V\Tiat a fearful case is this, that a man cannot be thank- ful for that he hath !
2. Labour for the Spirit, that u-c rnwj he thankfitl to God for evcnjthinrf, that we may see the love of God in everything, in every refreshing we take ; that that love of God that fits us for heaven, aud that fits heaven for us, it gives us daily bread. The earnest of the Spirit will make us thankful for everything.
3. Again, labour for the ' earnest' of the Spirit, that we may he joi/ftd in all conditions. How can a man suffer willingly, that knows not that he is sealed with the Spirit ; that knows not that God hath begun a good work in him ? Alas ! he is lumpish and heavv^ under the cross.
What makes a man bear the cross willingly, but this assurance ? what makes him deny himself in temptations, and corruptions ? Oh ! saith the child of God, the work of the Spirit is begun in me, sealing me up to life everlasting, shall I grieve and quench this Spirit for this base lust ? But a man that hath not the Spirit, saith, I had as good take this pleasure, as have none at all ; for aught I know, I shall have none ; he sees no greater pleasure than the following of his lust.
So that none can resist temptations, but he that hath the Spirit giving him earnest in a comfortable measure ; and it is a good sign when we resist temptations for spiritual reasons, that the Spirit works it.
4. Again, unless we have this earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, we can never he content to end our daj/s nith comfort. He that hath the earnest of the Spirit is glad of death when it comes. There shall be then an accom- plishment of all the bargain. Then the marriage shall be consummate, then shall be the year of Jubilee, the Sabbath of rest for ever. Then is the triumph, and ' then all tears shall be wiped from our eyes,' Rev. vii. 17.
But now let a man stagger and doubt whether he be the child of God or no, that he cannot find any mark of the child of God in him, that he can- not read the evidences of a Christian state in his soul, they are so dim, he sees nothing but corruption in him, he sees no change, no resistance of corruption, he hath no earnest. Alas ! what a miserable case is such a man in when he comes to die ! Death, with the eternity of misery after it, who can look it in the face, without hope of life everlasting, without assurance of a happy change after death ? Therefore we should labour for the Spirit, that howsoever we grow or decay in wealth and reputation, let God alone with that ; but above all, beg of God that he would increase in us, and renew the earnest, and the stamp of the Spirit, that we may have somewhat in our souls, wherein we may see the evidences of a Christian estate.