(pthly) He can give thee such a comfortable persuasion of good suc- cess in the issue as that thou shalt have refreshment in thy trials, and be kept from the trouble of the temptation ; as Avas the case with the same Paul : or,
(6thly.) He can utterly remove it, and make thee a complete con- queror. And innumerable other ways he hath of keeping thee from entering into temptation, so as to be foiled by it.
Mhly. Consider where the temptation wherewith thou art surprised hath made its entrance, and by what means, and with all speed make up the breach. Stop that passage which the waters have made to enter in at. Deal with thy soul Hke a wise physician. Inquire when, how, by what means, thou fellest into this distemper ; and if thou findest negligence, carelessness, want of keeping watch over thy- self, to have lain at the bottom of it, fix thy soul there, — bewail that before the Lord, — make up that breach, — and then proceed to the work that lies before thee.
CHAPTER VIII.
The last general direction, Rev. iii. 10: Watch against temptation by constant "keeping the word of Christ's patience" — What that word is — How it is kept — How the keeping of it will keep us from the " hour of temptation."
The directions insisted on in the former chapters are such as are partly given us, in their several particulars, up and down the Scrip- ture ; partly arise from the nature of the thing itself. There is one general direction remains, which is comprehensive of all that went before, and also adds many more particulars unto them. This con-
1 38 OF TEMPTATION.
tains an approved antidote against the poison of temptation, — a remedy that Christ himself hath marked with a note of efficacy and success ; that is given us, Rev. iii. 10, in the words of our Saviour himself to the church of Philadelphia. " Because," saith he, " thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come iipon all the world, to try them that dwell in the earth." Christ is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." As he dealt with the church of Philadelphia, so will he deal with us. If we " keep the word of his patience," he will " keep us from the hour of temptation." This, then, being a way of rolling the whole care of this weighty affair on him who is able to bear it, it re- quires our peculiar consideration.
And, therefore, I shall show, — (1.) What it is to " keep the word of Christ's patience," that we may know how to perform our duty ; and, (2.) How this will be a means of our preservation, which will establish us in the faith of Christ's promise.
(1.) The word of Christ is the word of the gospel ; the word by him revealed from the bosom of the Father; the word of the Word ; the word spoken in time of the eternal Word. So it is called " The word of Christ," Col. iii. 16; or " The gospel of Christ," Rom. i. 16, 1 Cor. ix. 12 ; and " The doctrine of Christ," Heb. vi. 1. "Of Christ," that is, as its author, Heb. i. 1, 2 ; and of him, as the chief subject or matter of it, 2 Cor. i. 20. Now, this w^ord is called " The word of Christ's patience," or tolerance and forbearance, upon the account of that patience and long-suffering which, in the dispensation of it, the Lord Christ exerciseth towards the whole, and to all persons in it ; and that both actively and passively, in his bearing with men and enduring from them: —
[1.] He is patient towards his saints; he bears with them, suffers from them. He is " patient to us-ward," 2 Pet. iii. 9, — that is, that believe. The gospel is the word of Christ's patience even to believers. A soul acquainted with the gospel knows that there is no property of Christ rendered more glorious therein than that of his patience. That he should bear with so many unkindnesses, so many causeless breaches, so many neglects of his love, so many affronts done to his gTace, so many violations of engagements as he doth, it manifests his gospel to be not only the word of his grace but also of his patience. He suffers Siho/rom them in all the reproaches they bring upon his name and ways; and he suffers in them, for " in all their afflictions he is afflicted."
[2.] Towards his elect not yet effectually called. Rev. iii. 20, he stands waiting at the door of their hearts and knocks for an entrance. He deals with them by all means, and yet stands and waits until " his head is filled with the dew, and his locks with the drops of the
WATCHING AGAINST TEMPTATION. 139
night," Cant. v. 2; as enduring the cold and inconveniences of the night, that when his morning is come he may have entrance. Often- times for a long season he is by them scorned in his person, perse- cuted in his saints and ways, reviled in his word, whilst he stands at the door in the word of his patience, with his heart full of love to- wards their poor rebellious souls.