CHAPTER II
The Way and Means of the Recovery of Spiritual Decays, and of Obtaining Fresh
Springs of Grace.
The application of the same truth, in the second place, belongs unto believers, especially such^ as have made any long profession of walking in the ways of God and the gospel. And that which I de- sign herein, is to manifest, that a steady spiritual view of the glory
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of Christ by faith, will give them a gxacious revival from inward de- cays, and fresh springs of grace, even in their latter days. A tnith this is, as we shall see, confirmed by Scripture, with the jo}'ful expe- rience of multitudes of behevers, and is of great importance unto all that are so.
There are two things which those who, after a long profession of the gospel, are entering into the confines of eternity do long for and desire. The one is, that all their breaches may be repaired, their de- cays recovered, their backslidings healed; for unto these things they have been less or more obnoxious in the course of their walking be- fore God. The other is, that they may have fresh springs of spiritual life, and vigorous actings of all divine graces, in spiritual-mindedness, holiness, and fruitfulness, unto the praise of God, the honour of the gospel, and the increase of their o^vn peace and joy. These things they value more than all the world, and all that is in it ; about these things are their thoughts and contrivances exercised night and day. Those with whom it is otherwise, whatever they pretend, are ip the dark unto themselves and their own condition; for it is in the nature of this grace to grow and increase unto the end. As rivers, the nearer they come unto the ocean whither they tend, the more they in- crease their waters, and speed their streams; so will grace flow more freely and fully in its near approaches to the ocean of glory. That " is not saving which doth not so.
An experience hereof — I mean of the thriving of grace towards the end of our course — is that alone which can support us under the troubles and temptations of life, which we have to conflict withal. So the apostle tells us, that this is our great relief in all our distresses and afflictions, "for which cause we faint not ; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day," 2 Cor. iv. 16. If it be so, that in the daily decays of the outward man, in all the approaches of its dissolution, we have inward spiritual revivals and renovation, we shall not faint in what we undergo. And with- out such continual renovations, we shall faint in our distresses, what- ever other things we may have, or whatever we pretend unto the contrary.
And ordinarily it is so, in the holy, wise providence of God, that afflictions and troubles increase with age. It is so, in an especial manner, with ministers of the gospel; they have many of them a share in the lot of Peter, which our Lord Jesus Christ declared unto him, John xxi. 18, " When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." Besides those natural dis- tempers and infirmities which accompany the decays of life, troubles
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434 HOW TO EECOVER FROM SPIEITUAL DECAY,
of life, and in their affairs, do usually grow upon tliem, when they look for nothing less, but were ready to say with Job, " We shall die in our nest," Job xxix. 18. So was it with Jacob, after all his hard labour and travail to provide for his family, such things fell out in it in his old age as had almost broken his heart. And ofttimes both i^er- secutions and public dangers do befall them at the same season. Whilst the outward man is thus perishing, we need great support- ment, that we faint not. And this is only to be had in an experience of daily spiritual renovations in the inner man.
The excellency of this mercy the Psalmist expresseth in a heavenly manner, Ps. xcii. 12-15, " The righteous shall flourish like the palm- tree ; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LoRD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flou- rishing; to show that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him."
Thg promise in the 12th verse respects the times of the Messiah, or of the New Testament ; for so it is prophesied of him, " In his days the righteous shall flourish," Ps. Ixxii. 7, — namely, through the abundance of grace that should be administered from his fulness, as John L 16 ; Col. i. 19. And herein consists the glory of the gospel, "and not in outward prosperity or external ornaments of divine wor- ship. The flourishing of the righteous, I say, in grace and holiness is the glory of the office of Christ and of the gospel. Where this is not, there is no glory in the profession of our religion. The glory of kings is in the wealth and peace of their subjects ; and the glory of Christ is in the grace and holiness of his subjects.