THE PRAYER.

O eternal Jesus, who gavest laws unto the world, that mankind, being united to thee by the bands of obedience, might partake of all thy glories and felicities; open our understanding, give us the spirit of discerning, and just apprehension of all the beauties, with which thou hast enamelled virtue, to represent it beauteous and amiable in our eyes; that, by the allurements of exterior decencies and appendant blessings, our present desires may be entertained, our hopes promoted, our affections satisfied; and love, entering in by these doors, may dwell in the interior regions of the will. O make us to love thee for thyself, and religion for thee, and all the instruments of religion, in order to thy glory and our own felicities. Pull off the visors of sin, and discover its deformities, by the lantern of thy word, and the light of the Spirit; that I may never be bewitched with sottish appetites. Be pleased to build up all the contents I expect in this world, upon the interests of a virtuous life, and the support of religion; that I may be rich in good works, content in the issues of thy providence, my health may be the result of temperance and severity, my mirth in spiritual emanations, my rest in hope, my peace in a good conscience, my satisfaction and acquiescence in thee; that from content I may pass to an eternal fulness, from health to immortality, from grace to glory; walking in the paths of righteousness, by the waters of comfort, to the land of everlasting rest; to feast in the glorious communications of eternity, eternally adoring, loving, and enjoying the infinity of the ever-blessed and mysterious Trinity; to whom be glory, and honour, and dominion, now and for ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE XVI.

Of Certainty of Salvation.

1. WHEN the holy Jesus took an account of the first legation and voyage of his apostles, he found them rejoicing in privileges and exterior powers, in their authority over unclean

spirits: but weighing it in his balance, he found the cause too light, and, therefore, diverted it upon the right object: "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." The revelation was confirmed, and more personally applied, in answer to St. Peter's question, "We have forsaken all, and followed thee: what shall we have, therefore?" Their Lord answered, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Amongst these persons, to whom Christ spake, Judas was; he was one of the twelve, and he had a throne allotted for him; his name was described in the book of life, and a sceptre and a crown was deposited for him too. For we must not judge of Christ's meaning by the event, since he spake these words to produce in them faith, comfort, and joy, in the best objects: it was a sermon of duty, as well as a homily of comfort; and, therefore, was equally intended to all the college: and since the number of thrones is proportioned to the number of men, it is certain there was no exception of any man there included; and yet it is as certain Judas never came to sit upon the throne, and his name was blotted out of the book of life. Now, if we put these ends together, that in Scripture it was not revealed to any man concerning his final condition, but to the dying penitent thief, and to the twelve apostles, that twelve thrones were designed for them, and a promise made of their enthronization; and yet that no man's final estate is so clearly declared miserable and lost, as that of Judas, one of the twelve, to whom a throne was promised; the result will be, that the election of holy persons is a condition allied to duty, absolute and infallible in the general, and supposing all the dispositions and requisites concurring; but fallible in the particular, if we fall off from the mercies of the covenant, and prevaricate the conditions. But the thing which is most observable is, that if, in persons so eminent and privileged, and to whom a revelation of their election was made as a particular grace, their condition had one weak leg, upon

Quod dixit Jesus 72 discipulis, [Lucæ, x. 20.] eorum nomina descripta esse in cœlo; prædestinationem licet aliquatenus denotet, non tamen ad gloriam, sed ad munus evangelicum et ministerium in regno. Alii autem verba illa non rem facti denotare, sed causam gaudii tantùm enarrare justam et legitimam; ex suppositione scil. et quando hoc contigerit, ant ad effectum perducetur. Utcunque autem verba significent, certum est doctores ecclesiæ non paucos tradidisse 72 discipulos Christum reliquisse, nec rediíssè denuo.

which because it did rely for one half of the interest, it could be no stronger than its supporters: the condition of lower persons, to whom no revelation is made, no privileges are indulged, no greatness of spiritual eminence is appendant, as they have no greater certainty in the thing, so they have less in person; and are, therefore, to "work out their salvation, with"great" fears and tremblings" of spirit.

2. The purpose of this consideration is, that we do not judge of our final condition by any discourses of our own, relying upon God's secret counsels, and predestination of eternity. This is a mountain, upon which whosoever climbs, like Moses, to behold the land of Canaan at great distances, may please his eyes, or satisfy his curiosity, but is certain never to enter that way. It is like inquiring into fortunes, concerning which Phavorinus, the philosopher, spake not unhandsomely: "They that foretell, events of destiny and secret providence, either foretell, sad things, or prosperous. If they promise prosperous, and deceive, you are made miserable by a vain speculation. If they threaten ill fortune, and say false, thou art made wretched by a false fear. But if they foretell, adversity, and say true, thou art made miserable by thy own apprehension, before thou art so by destiny; and many times the fear is worse than the evil feared. But if they promise felicities, and promise truly what shall come to pass, then thou shalt be wearied by an impatience and a suspended hope, and thy hope shall ravish and deflower the joys of thy possession." Much of it is hugely applicable to the present question; and our blessed Lord, when he was petitioned that he would grant to the two sons of Zebedee, that they might sit, one on the right hand and the other on the left, in his kingdom; rejected their desire, and only promised them what concerned their duty and their suffering; referring them to that, and leaving the final event of men to the disposition of his Father. This is the great secret of the kingdom, which God hath locked up and sealed with the counsels of eternity." The sure foundation of God standeth, having

Ad scelus ab hujusmodi votis facillimè transitur. - Tacit.
Nos parvum ac debile vulgus

Serutamur penitus Superos: hinc pallor et iræ,

Hinc scelus, insidiæque, et nulla modestia voti,- Statius.
Futurum gaudii fructum spes tibi jam præfloraverit.—A, Gellius, lib. xiv.

this seal, The Lord knoweth who are hisd." This seal shall never be broken up till the great day of Christ; in the meantime, the Divine knowledge is the only repository of the final sentences, and this "way of God is unsearchable, and past finding out." And, therefore, if we be solicitous and curious to know what God, in the counsels of eternity, hath decreed concerning us; he hath, in two fair tables, described all those sentences from whence we must take accounts, the revelations of Scripture, and the book of conscience. The first recites the law and the conditions; the other gives in evidence the first is clear, evident, and conspicuous; the other, when it is written with large characters, may also be discerned; but there are many little accents, periods, distinctions, and little significations of actions, which either are there written in water, or sullied over with carelessness, or blotted with forgetfulness, or not legible by ignorance, or misconstrued by interest and partiality, that it will be extremely difficult to read the hand upon the wall, or to copy out one line of the eternal sentence. And, therefore, excellent was the counsel of the son of Sirach: "Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength but what is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence; for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things, that are in secret." For whatsoever God hath revealed in general concerning election, it concerns all persons within the pale of Christianity. He hath conveyed notice to all Christian people, that they are the sons of God, that they are the heirs of eternity, "coheirs with Christ, partakers of the Divine nature;" meaning, that such they are by the design of God, and the purposes of the manifestation of his Son. The election of God is disputed in Scripture, to be an act of God separating whole nations, and rejecting others; in each of which, many particular instances there were contrary to the general and universal purpose; and of the elect nations, many particulars perished, and many of the rejected people" sat down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:" and to those persons to whom God was more particular, and was pleased to show the scrolls of his eternal counsels, and to reveal their particular elections,

as he did to the twelve apostles, he showed them wrapped up and sealed; and, to take off their confidences or presumptions, he gave probation, in one instance, that those scrolls may be cancelled, that his purpose concerning particulars may be altered by us; and, therefore, that he did not discover the bottom of the abyss, but some purposes of special grace and indefinite design. But his peremptory, final, unalterable decree, he keeps in the cabinets of the eternal ages, never to be unlocked, till the angel of the covenant shall declare the unalterable, universal sentence.

3. But, as we take the measure of the course of the sun by the dimensions of the shadows made by our own bodies, or our own instruments; so must we take the measures of eternity by the span of a man's hand, and guess at what God decrees of us, by considering how our relations and endearments are to him. And it is observable, that all the confidences, which the Spirit of God hath created in the elect, are built upon duty, and stand or fall, according to the strength or weakness of such supporters. "We know we are translated from death to life, by our love unto the brethren:" meaning, that the performance of our duty is the best consignation to eternity, and the only testimony God gives us of our election. And, therefore, we are to make our judgments accordingly. And here I consider, that there is no state of a Christian, in which, by virtue of the covenant of the Gospel, it is effectively and fully declared, that his sins are actually pardoned, but only in baptism, at our first coming to Christ; when he "redeems us from our vain conversation;" when he makes us become "sons of God;" when he "justifies us freely by his grace," when we are purified by faith, when we make a covenant with Christ, to live for ever according to his laws. And this I shall suppose I have already proved and explicated, in the Discourse of Repentance. So that whoever is certain he hath not offended God since that time, and in nothing transgresseth the laws of Christianity, he is certain that he actually remains in the state of baptismal purity: but it is too certain, that this certainty remains not long; but we commonly throw some dirt into our waters of baptism, and stain our white robe, which we then put on.