Quest. How shall a man know whether God hath a part in him ?
Ans. I answer. If he can run against the stream ; if he find his soul resisting Satan's temptations, and raising him above afflictions, standing out and combating with corruptions to the uttermost. When he can check his carnal heart that draws him downwards, saying, ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me ? Ps. xlii. 5, it is a good sign.
David found inward corruptions and outward afflictions joining with Satan's temptations, to depress his spirit ; hereupon he chides his own soul, ' Why is it thus with thee ? why art thou dejected in this manner ?' And then he lays a charge upon it, ' Trust in God,' ver. 11. Whatsoever hardship we meet with in the world, yet there is hope in God still. Though we can find little comfort below, yet there are rivers of consolation above. It argues a gracious heart to quiet one's self in God in the worst times.
PRECIOUS PROMISES. 107
Lhe 1. I beseech you let iis Uihour to have our souls sealed with the Sj)irit of God, to have farther and clearer evidence of our estate in grace. It is a blessed thing to have Christ live in us. The enemies of our salvation are exceeding many, and how soon death or judgment may seize us, we know not. God will set none at his right hand but his sheep, those that have his own image on them. His best sheep have no outward mark, but an inward. The world sees not their beauty ; ' The king's daughter is all glorious within,' Ps. xlv. 13.
How comfortably will the soul commend itself to Christ, when it finds itself stamped with the Spirit of Christ ; when ho can cheerfully say, Lord Jesus, receive my soul,' Acts vii. 50. Thou that hast redeemed me by thy blood, and sealed me by thy Spirit, acknowledge thine own likeness in me. Though it be not as it should be, yet there is somewhat of thine in me.
Beloved, we must not give false evidence of ourselves, as we must not against others. What a comfort hath a sealed soul in the hour of death, and in all extremities. What a difterence is there between such a soul and others in the time of affliction, as in the time of pestilence, war, and per- secution for Christ. The soul that is sealed knows that he is marked out for happiness in the world to come. Whatsoever befalls him in this life, he knows that God in all confusion of times knows his own seal, and that his destroying angel shall spare and pass over those that are marked, Ezek. ix. 4, se(2. And though our bodies escape not, yet our souls shall.
Josiah we see was taken away from the evil to come ; and Lot was delivered from the judgment of the Sodomites. If we partake not of the sins of the wicked, we shall never partake of their plagues. God hath a special care of his ' little ones' in this life ; and if he take them away, yet their death is precious in his sight, Ps. cxvi. 15. He will not part with them but upon special consideration. He sees if they live it will be worse for them. Their precious souls are in continual danger. He sees it is best for them to be gathered to God, and the souls of perfect ones in heaven ; therefore he provides a shelter to free them from all storms on earth.
And as he hath an eye over them in regard of outward miseries, so in respect of spiritual corruption and infection, as Rev. vii. 3. God's holy ones were ' sealed,' so many of such a tribe, and so many of such a tribe, to signify that God hath always some that he will keep and preserve from the leprous contagion of sin and antichrist ; even in evil times God hath his 'little flock' still.
In the obscure ages of the church, nine hundred years after Christ, when there was little learning and goodness in the world, and Egyptian darkness had overspread the earth, God had alwaj's sealed ones, marked out for him- self, whom he preserved from the danger of dark times. Why then should we be afraid of evil tidings ? Let any affliction, or death itself, come, Christ will know his own stamp in us. He hath a book of remembrance for those that are his ; and when he gathers his jewels, they will be highly set by, Mai. iii. 17. God in common calamities sufters his luggage, wicked men, to go to wreck ; but he will secure his jewels, his darlings, whatever come of it. Labour therefore to be a sealed person.
Quest. But you will say. What shall I account of myself, if there be but a little sign of grace in me ?
Aus. Be not discouraged. You know in wax, though the stamp be almost out, yet it is current in law notwithstanding. Put the case the stamp of the prince be an old coin, is it not current though it be cracked ? Sup-
138 YEA AND AMEN ; OR,
pose tlio mark of the Spirit should be dim and blurred, scarce discernible in us (this ought to be our shame and grief), yet some evidences of grace are still remaining ; there are some sighs and groans against corruption, which may continually support us. If we mourn in our spirits, and do not join with our lusts, nor allow ourselves in them, this is a divine impression, though it be, as it were, almost worn out. The more comfort we desire, the fresher we should keep this seal of comfort.