Use 3. Again, is grace glory? JVhen God sets in\ on ns, shall we cast our crown in the dirt? Shall we defile and blemish our glory by sinning against conscience ? We forget our excellency, that grace is glory. It teacheth us how to carry ourselves to ourselves. If there be grace in us, let us be honourable to ourselves. It is a good caveat that we should be venerable to ourselves ; that is. Christians should take a holy state to themselves. What ! I that am an heir of heaven ; I that am a king ; I that am a conqueror ; I that am the son of God ; I that am a freeman : should I tangle myself with these things ? Shall I go and stain myself ? Is it not an unsightly thing to see a golden pillar daubed with dirt ? or to see a crown cast into the dirt ? God hath put a crown upon me ; he hath made me a king ; he hath made me an heir of heaven ; he hath made me his son ; he hath put a glory upon me ; — shall I abase myself to devilish base courses ? No. I will be more honourable in my own eyes. Let us think ourselves too good for the base services of Satan. These thoughts we should take to ourselves. These are not proud thoughts, but befitting our con- * That is, ' undervalue.'— G. f Qu. ' it ' ?— Ed.
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dition. 'WTien wc are tempted to any Lase course, whatsoever it is, it is contrary to my calling.
Use 4. And let us comfort ourselves in the work of grace, though it ho wrought in uerer so poor a measure, in all the dir^jiuragejiients of the world ; for those that are besotted with false vain-glory, they have the eyes of their souls put out, and dimmed and dazzled with false glory. They cannot judge of the glory of a Christian. They want eyes. Therefore let us be content to pass in the world as hidden. Christ passed concealed in the woi'ld ; only now and then the beams of his glory brake forth in his miracles. So we must be content. For our glory is hid in Christ, for the most part ; and it is clouded with the imputations and malice of men, and sometimes with infirmities, as it will in this world. Let us comfort our- selves with this, that we are glorious howsoever, and glorious within ; and this glory will break out in a holy conversation. And it is better to be glorious in the eyes of God, and angels, and good men, and in the con- sciences of ill men, than to have glory from their mouths. Malice will not sufier them to glorify them with their mouths, but their consciences must needs stoop to goodness ; for God hath put a majesty into goodness, that any man that is a man, that is not a beast, that hath natural principles, will reverence it; and the consciences of such men will make them speak the truth one day, and they shall say, ' We fools thought these men mad,' but ' now we see om'selves fools.' Therefore in the disparagements of worldly men, that know not where true glory lies, let us be content with this, that God hath made us truly glorious by working a change in a com- fortable measure ; let us comfort ourselves in this.
Use 5. Again, bg this we mag hiow whether we have grace in us or no. If we think grace to be glory, let us have that judgment and conceit of grace.
(1.) Of the change of our natures, by the Spirit of God, and the truth of God, as the Holy Ghost hath here, calling it glory. That very judgment shews that there is an alteration in our affections ; that we are changed in the spirit of our minds ; that we have a right conceit of heavenly things. For none but a Christian indeed can judge grace to be glory, that can truly think so. For if a man think grace to be glory truly, if he be convinced by the power of the Spirit, he will be gracious. For there is an instinct in all men by nature to glory in something. You have the gulls* of the world, they glory in something, in swaggering, beastly courses. You have devilish men glory that they can circumvent others. Rather than men will have no glory, they will glory in that that is shame indeed. Man having a disposition alway to glory in something, if he be convinced that grace is glory, he will be gracious.
Therefore, I beseech you, enter into j'Our own souls, and see what con- ceits you have of the image of God, of the graces of Christianity, and then certainly it will raise a holy ambition to have that stamp set upon you.
(2.) Again, this is another evidence that a man is gracious, ;/ he can look upon the life of anotlicr that is better than he icith a conceit that it is glory, and loving of it as glorg. Many men see grace in other men, but with a maligning eye. They see it to disgrace it. For naturally this is in men. They are so vain-glorious and ambitious, that when they see the lives of other men outshew theirs, instead of imitation, they go to base courses. They obscure and darken that light with slanders, that they will not imitate in their com-ses. This is in the better sort of men, the prouder, and greater sort of men. What grace they will not imitate they will defame. They * That is, 'the deceived' = fools. — G.