FAITH OF GOD S ELECT. 41 5
in the proposal of this way unto you by the gospel? Do you, in all youi' fears and temptations, in all approaches of death, renounce all other reserves and reliefs, and betake your whole confidence unto this way alone, and the representation of God made therein? Herein lies that faith, and its exercise, which will be an anchor unto your souls in all their trials.
And this is the first and principal ground, or reason, whereon faith, divine and saving, doth accept, embrace, and approve of the way of God's saving sinners by Jesus Christ, — namely, because it is such as doth become him, and every way answer unto all the holy properties of his nature, which are manifested and glorified therein. And where faith doth approve of it on this ground and reason, it doth evidence itself to be truly evangelical, unto the supportment and comfort of them in whom it is.
Secondly, It doth so approve of this way as that which it finds suited unto the whole design and all the desires of an enlightened soul. So when our Lord Jesus Christ compares the kingdom of God (which is this way of salvation) unto a treasure and a precious pearl, he afiirms that those who found them had gi'eat joy and the highest satisfaction, as having attained that which suited their desires, and gave rest imto their minds.
A soul enlightened Avith the knowledge of the truth, and made sensible of its own condition by spiritual conviction, hath two predo- minant desires and aims, whereby it is wholly regulated, — the one is, that God may he glorified; and the other, that itself may he eter- nally saved. Nor can it forego either of these desires, nor are they separable in any enlightened soul. It can never cease in either of these desires, and that to the highest degree. The whole world can- not dispossess an enlightened mind of either of them. Profligate sinners have no concernment in the former; no, nor yet those who are under legal convictions, if they have therewithal received no spi- ritual light. They would be saved ; but for the glory of God therein, he may look to that himself, — they are not concerned in it : for that which they mean by salvation is nothing but a freedom from exter- nal miser}''. This they would have, whether God be [glorified] or no ; of what is salvation truly they have no desire.
But the first beam of spiritual light and grace instates an inde- fatigable desire of the gloiy of God in the minds and souls of them in whom it is. Without this the soul knows not how to de- sire its own salvation. I may say, it would not be saved in a way wherein God should not be glorified; for without that, whatever its state should be, it would not be that which we call salvation. The exaltation of the glory of God belongs essentially thereunto; it con- sists in the beholding and enjoyment of that glory. This desire,
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therefore, is immovably fixed in the mind and soul of every enlight- ened person ; he can admit of no proposal of eternal things that is inconsistent with it.
But, moreover, in every such person there is a ruling desire of his own salvation. It is natural unto him, as a creature made for eter- nity; it is inseparable from him, as he is a convinced sinner. And the clearer the light of any one is in the nature of this salvation, the more is this desire heightened and confirmed in him.
Here, then, lieth the inquiry, — namely, how these two prevalent desires may be reconciled and satisfied in the same mind? For, as we are sinners, there seems to be an inconsistency between them. The glory of God, in his justice and holiness, requires that sinners should die and perish eternally. So speaks the law; this is the lan- guage of conscience, and the voice of all our fears : wherefore, for a sinner to desire, in the first place, that God may be glorified is to desire that himself may be damned.
Which of these desires shall the sinner cleave unto? unto whether of them shall he give the pre-eminence? Shall he cast off all hopes and desires of his own salvation, and be content to perish for ever? This he cannot do; God doth not require it of him, — he hath given him the contrary in charge whilst he is in this world. Shall he, then, desire that God may part with and lose his glory, so as that, one wny or other, he may be saved? bring himself unto an unconcernment what becomes of it? This can be no more in an enlightened mind than it can cease to desire its own salvation. But how to reconcile these things in himself a sinner finds not.
Here, therefore, the glory of this way represents itself unto the faith of every believer. It not only brings these desires into a per- fect consistency and harmony, but maketh them to increase and pro- mote one another. The desire of God's glory increase th the desire of our own salvation ; and the desire of our own salvation enlargeth and inflameth the desire of glorifying God therein and thereby. These things are brought into a perfect consistency and mutual sub- serviency in the blood of Christ, Rom. iii. 24-26; for this way is that which God hath found out, in infinite wisdom, to glorify himself in the salvation of sinners. There is not any thing wherein the glory of God doth or may consist, but in this way is reconciled unto, and consistent with, the salvation of the chiefest of sinners. There is no property of his nature but is gloriously exalted in and by it. An answer is given in it unto all the objections of the law against the consistency of the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. It pleads his truth in his threatenings, in the sanction of the law, with the curse annexed; — it pleads his righteousness, holiness, and severity, all engaged to destroy sinners ; — it pleads the instance of God's dealing with the angels that