2. If assurance he in a lesser degree, yet yield not to temptations and carnal reasonings. If our evidences be not so fair, yet we will not part with our inheritance. Coins, as old as groats, that have little of the stamp left, yet are current. We lose our comfort many times, because we yield so easily, because we have not such a strong and clear seal of salvation as we would. To be borne down that we have none at all, is a great weakness. Exer- cise, therefore, the little faith thou hast, in striving against such objections, and it will be a means to preserve the seal of the Spirit.
3. Because this sealing is gradual, \ce sliould pray, as Paul, Eph. i. 11, for a spirit of revelation, thatyve may be more sealed. The Ephesians were sealed, for whom Paul pra3^s, and so the Colossians ; jet [he prays] that God would reveal to their spirits more their excellent condition. There are ' riches of assurance,' Col. ii. 2. The apostle would have them to labour not only for assurance, but for the riches of it. That will bring rich comfort, and joy and peace. Times of temptations and trial may come, and such as, if we have not strong assurance, we may be sorely troubled and call all in question. This may be the sad condition of God's own children ; and
* That is, 'inteutiou.' — G.
A FOUNTAIN SEALED. 455
from thig, that in times of peace they contented themselves with a lesser degree of this assurance and sealing.
4. Lastly, Be xcatchfal over your own hearts and iraijs, that according to what 3-0U have now learned you grieve not the Spirit, ' for by it you are sealed ;' intimating, that if [in] anything we withstand and grieve the Spirit, we shall in so doing prejudice ourselves, and suffer in the comfort and evi- dence of our sealintj.
NOTES.
(a) P. 417. — ' Some men will not hear the word, nor read good books, lest tlieir consciences should be awaked.' We have an example of this in relation to Sibbea himself, in Giles Firmin's ' Real Christian' (4to, 1G70). He is illustrating the enmity of the carnal heart to holiness, and goes on to say, ' For others, 1 know they like it not. And what is the matter ? Alas ! this would spoil all the sport. Should we once have sin, guilt, and our misery discovered, we must never see merry day after ; and that which we fear must follow, our lovers and we must part ; and that we find a hard thing, yea, impossible, to bid farewell to those lusts, companions, and ways, which have brought us in so much pleasure and profit in our days." Then he adds, ' These or such like were the thoughts of him who tvould not hear Dr Sibbes, for fear he should convert him, he said," (page 5G). Many neglected anecdotes of this Bort will be found scattered up and down in Firmin's quaint treatise, which is a medley of vividly-put truth, odd yet vigorous thinking, and chatty memorabilia, each turning up in the most unexpected corners.
(6) P. 420. — ' When men cut the rule and standard to fit themselves, and not fit themselves to it.' We have herein a far-back anticipation of Archbishop Whateley's well-known apophthegm, ' It is one thing to wish Scripture to be on our side, and another to wish to be on the side of Scripture ;' which indeed is met with under various forms elsewhere.
(c) P. 421 — ' Have not the devils greater parts than any men ? Are they not called dcemones, from the largeness of their understanding '?' The Greek is dai/j^Mv, and the well-known passage in the Cratylus of Plato (xxiii) illustrates the text : ' On this account, therefore, it appears to me (Socrates), more than other, he calls them dcemons, because they were jjrudent and learned (^ajj/iOfSj).' Cf. Richardson sub voce, to whom I am indebted for above reference.
(d) P. 421. — ' Quanto major facilitas, &c. : the more the facility of not sinning, the greater the sin.' One of the familiar distinctions found in nearly all the Fathers — e. g., Augustine and Bernard.
(c) P. 422. — ' The heathen man could say, It is an ill custom to be cavilling against religion, whether in good earnest or in jest.' Seneca, often.
(/) P. 424. — ' If a man's conscience be his friend, it will make all friendly to him.' On conscience, cf. notes gg, hh, ii. Vol. III. page 532. Henry Stubbes has enlarged the thought of the present reference in his searching and precious little volume entitled, ' Conscience the best Friend upon Earth ; or, the Happy Efl'ects of Keeping a good Conscience ' (1677) ; not to be confounded with his namesake and contemporary, the mendacious opponent of the Puritans.
{g) P. 42G. — ' As Nazianzen saith of himself, " Lord, I am an instrument for thee to touch." ' The passage is, at the commencement of Orat. viii. Adjiatrem suum, as follows: — "O^yavov ii/jbi '^sTov, o^yavov XoyiKov osyavov -/.aXui Tiyniirfi, ruj ':TtisvijbaTi, aoiMa^d'jjivov xa/ k^ovo/j^svov John de la Mark has beautifully expanded this idea in his vindication of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.