Part 2. The Entireness of Our Armour - It must be The Whole Armour of God

  

 Yet, Christian, all thy armour is not on.  Thy godliness indeed would suffice, wert thou to live in a world by thyself, or hadst nothing to do but immediate communion with God.  But, Christian, thou must not always dwell on this mount of immediate worship, and [since] when thou descendest, thou hast many brethren and servants of thy Father, who live with thee in the same family, thou must deport thyself becomingly, or else thy Father will be angry. Thou hast brethren, heirs of the same promise with thee, therefore you must add to godliness ‘brotherly-kindness.’  If Satan can set you at odds, he gives a deep wound to your godliness.  You will hardly join hearts in a duty, that cannot join hands in love.  In the family there are not only brethren, but servants, a multitude of profane carnal ones, who though they never had the names of sons and daughters, yet retain to God's family.  And thy heavenly Father will have thee walk unblameably, yea winningly, to those that are without, which thou mayest do, thou must add to brotherly-kindness, ‘charity;’ by which grace thou shalt be willing to do good to the worst of men. When they curse thee, thou must pray for them, yea, pray for no less than a Christ, a heaven, for them.  ‘Father, forgive them,’ said Christ, while they were raking in his side for his heart-blood.  And truly, I am persuaded this last piece of armour hath given Satan great advantage in these our times, we are so afraid our charity should be too broad. 

Whereas in this sense, if it be not wide as the world, it is too strait for the command which bids us ‘do good to all.’  May not we ministers be charged with the want of this, when the strain of our preaching is solely directed to the saints, and no pains taken in rescuing poor captive souls, yet uncalled, out of the devil's clutches?  He may haul them to hell without disturbance, while we are comforting the saints, and preaching their privileges; but in the meantime, let the ignorant be ignorant still, and the profane profane still, for want of a compassionate charity to their souls, which would excite us to the reproving and exhorting of them, that they might also be brought into the way of life, as well as the saints encouraged, who are walking therein. We are stewards to provide bread for the Lord's house.  The greatest part of our hearers cannot, must not, have the children's bread, and shall we therefore give them no portion at all?  Christ's charity pitied the multitude, to whom in his public preaching he made special application, as in that famous sermon, most part of which is spent in rousing up the sleepy consciences of the hypocritical Pharisees, by those thunderclaps of woes and curses so often denounced against them, Matt. 23.  Again, how great advantage hath Satan from the want of this charity in our families?  Is it not observed how little care is taken by professing governors of such societies for the instructing their youth?  Nay, it is a principle which some have drunk in, that it is not their duty.  O where is their charity in the meantime, when they can see Satan come within their own walls, and let them drive a child, a servant, in their ignorance and profaneness, to hell, and not so much as sally out upon this enemy by a word of reproof or instruction, to rescue these silly souls out of the murder's hand?  We must leave them to their liberty forsooth, and that is as fair play as we can give the devil.  Give but corrupt nature enough of this rope, and it will soon strangle the very principles of God and religion in their tender years.

       Third.  The entireness of the saint's armour may be taken not only for every part and piece of the saint's furniture, but for the completeness and perfection of every piece.  As the Christian is to endeavour after every grace, so is he to press after the advance and increase of every grace, even to perfection itself.  As he is to add to his faith virtue, so he is to add faith to faith—he is ever to be completing of his grace.  It is that which is frequently pressed upon believers.  ‘Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,’ Matt. 5:48.  ‘And purify yourselves, as God is pure.’  There we have an exact copy set, not as if we could equalize that purity and perfection which is in God, but to make us strive the more, when we shall see how infinitely short we fall of our copy, when we write the fairest hand; so ‘Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing,’ James 1:3, 4, or [be] wanting in nothing.  Thou who makest a hard shift to carry a little burden with thy little patience, wouldst sink under a greater, therefore there is need that patience should be ever perfecting, lest at last we meet a burden too heavy for our weak shoulders.  Take a few reasons why the Christian should thus be completing of his grace.

             First.  Because grace is subject to decays, and therefore ever needs completing.  [It is] as in an army, especially [one] which often engagest in battle; their arms are battered and broken, one man hath his helmet bent, another his sword gaped, a third his pistol unfixed, and therefore recruits are ever necessary.  In one temptation the Christian hath his hel­met of hope beaten off his head, in another his patience hard put to it.  The Christian had need have an armourer's shop at hand to make up his loss, and that speedily, for Satan is most like to fall on when the Christian is least prepared to receive the charge. ‘Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to sift you;’ he knew they were at that time weakly provided—(Christ their captain now to be taken from the head of their troop; discontents among themselves, striving who should be greatest; and their recruits of stronger grace, which the Spirit was to bring, not yet come). Now he hath a design to surprise them; and therefore Christ, carefully to prevent him, promiseth speedily to despatch his Spirit for their supply, Acts 1:4, and in the meantime sends them to Jerusalem, to stand as it were in a body in their joint supplications upon their guard, while he comes to their relief; showing us in the weakness of our grace what to do, and whither to go for supply.

             Second.  Because Satan is completing his skill and wrath.  It is not for nought that he is called the old serpent—subtle by nature, but more by experience, wrathful by nature, yet every day more and more enraged; like a bull, the longer he is baited, the more fury he shows.  And therefore we who are to grapple with him, now his time is so short, had need come well appointed into the field.

             Third.  It is the end of all God's dispensations, to complete his saints in their graces and comforts. Wherefore doth he lop and prune by afflictions, but to purge, that they may bring forth more fruit, that is, fuller and fairer? John 15:2.  Tribulation works patience, Rom. 5:3; it is God's appointment for that end.  It works, that is, it increaseth the saints.  Patience enrageth indeed the wicked, but meekens the saints. It is his design in the gospel; he preacheth to carry on his saints from ‘faith to faith,’ Rom. 1:17, and accordingly he hath furnished his church with instruments, and those with gifts, ‘For the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ,’ Eph. 4:12. Wherefore doth the scaffold stand, and the workman on it, if the building go not up?  For us not to advance under such means is to make void the counsel of God.  Therefore the apostle blames the Christian Jews for their non-proficiency in the school of Christ: ‘When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God,’ Heb. 5:12.

The Entireness of Our Armour - It must be The Whole Armour of God

 

[The entireness of our armour.

It must be the whole armour of God.]

             In this branch observe the quantity or entireness of the saints' furniture or armour, ‘the whole armour of God.’  The Christian's armour must be complete, and that in a threefold respect.

             First.  He must be armed in every part cap-à-pie, soul and body, the powers of the one, and the senses of the other, not any part left naked.  A dart may fly in at a little hole, like that which brought a message of death to Ahab, through the joints of his harness, and Satan is such an archer as can shoot at a penny breadth.  If all the man be armed, and only the eye left without, Satan can soon shoot his fireballs of lust in at that loophole, which shall set the whole house on flame.  Eve looked but on the tree, and a poisonous dart struck her to the heart.  If the eye be shut, and the ear be open to corrupt communi­cation, Satan will soon wriggle in at this hole.  If all the outward senses [of a man] be guarded, and the heart not kept with all diligence, he will soon by his own thoughts be betrayed into Satan's hands.  Our enemies are on every side, and so must our armour be, ‘on the right hand and on the left,’ II Cor. 6:7.  The apostle calls sin, an enemy that surrounds us, Heb. 12:1.  If there be any part of the line unguarded or weakly provided, there Satan falls on; [as] we see the enemy often enter the city at one side, while he is beat back on the other, for want of care to keep the whole line.  Satan divides his temptations into several squadrons, one he employs to assault here, another to storm there.  We read of fleshly wickedness and spiritual wickedness; while thou repellest Satan tempting thee to fleshly wickedness, he may be entering thy city at the other gate of spiritual wickedness.  Perhaps thou hast kept thy integrity in the practical part of thy life; but what armour hast thou to defend thy head, thy judgment?  If he surprise thee here, corrupting that with some error, then thou wilt not long hold out in thy practice.  He that could not get thee to profane the Sabbath among sensualists and atheists, will under the disguise of such a corrupt principle as Christian liberty prevail.  Thus we see what need we have of universal armour, in regard of every part.

             Second.  The Christian must be in complete armour, in regard of the several pieces and weapons, that make up the whole armour of God.  Indeed there is a concatenation of graces; they hang together like links in a chain, stones in an arch, members in the body.  Prick one vein, and the blood of the whole body may run out at the sluice; neglect one duty, and no other will do us as good.

             The apostle Peter, in his second epistle, ch. 1:5-7, presseth the Christians to a joint endeavour to increase the whole body of grace; indeed, that is health when the whole body thrives.  ‘Add,’ saith he, ‘to your faith virtue.’  Faith is the file-leading grace. Well, hast thou faith, add virtue.  True faith is of a working stirring nature, without good works it is dead or dying.  Fides pinguescit operibus—‘faith fattens or becomes strong on works,’ Luther.  It is kept in plight and heart by a holy life, as the flesh which plasters over the frame of man's body, though it receives its heat from the vitals within, yet helps to preserve the very life of those vitals.  Thus good works and gracious actions have their life from faith, [and] yet are necessary helps to preserve the life of faith; thus we see sometimes the child nursing the parents that bare it, and therein [he] performs but his duty.

             Thou are fruitful in good works, yet thou art not out of the devil's shoot, except thou addest to thy virtue, knowledge.  This is the candle without which faith cannot see to do its work.  Art thou going to give an alms?  If it be not oculata charitas, if charity hath not this eye of knowledge to direct when, how, what, and to whom thou art to give, thou mayest at once wrong God, the person thou relievest, and thyself.  Art thou humbling thyself for thy sin?  For want of knowledge in the tenor of the gospel, Satan may play upon thy ignorance, and either persuade thee thou art not humbled enough, when, God knows, thou art almost quackled^[i] with thy tears, and even carried down by the impetuous torrent of thy sorrow into despair, or else showing thee thy blubbered face, may flatter thee into a carnal confidence of thy humiliation.

             Perhaps thou seest the name of God dishonoured in the place where thou livest, and thy spirit is stirred within thee, as Paul's at Athens; now if knowledge sits not in the saddle to rein and bridle in thy zeal, thou wilt be soon carried over hedge and ditch, till thou fallest into some precipice or other by thy irregular acting.  Neither is knowledge enough, except thou beest armed with temperance, which here, I conceive, is that grace, whereby the Christian, as mas­ter of his own house, so orders his affections, like servants, to reason and faith, that they do not regularly move, or inordinately lash out into desires of, cares for, or joy in the creature comforts of this life, without which Satan will be too hard for thee.  The historian tells us, that in one of the famous battles between the English and French, that which lost the French the day was a shower of English arrows, which did so gall their horse, as put the whole army into disorder, [for] their horse knowing no ranks, did tread down their own men.  The affections are but as the horse to the rider, on which knowledge should be mounted; if Satan's barbed arrows light on them, so that thy desires of the creature prove unruly, and justle with thy desires of Christ, [if] thy care to keep thy credit or estate put thy care to keep a good conscience to disorder, and thy carnal joy in wife and child trample down or get before thy joy in the Lord, judge on which side victory is like to fall.

             Well, suppose thou marchest provided thus far in goodly array towards heaven, while thou art swimming in prosperity, must thou not also prepare for foul way and weather—I mean in an afflicted estate? Satan will line the hedges with a thousand temptations, when thou comest into the narrow lanes of ad­versity, where thou canst not run from this sort of temptation, as in the campaign of prosperity.  Possibly, thou that didst escape the snare of an alluring world, mayest be dismounted by the same when it frowns; though temperance kept thee from being drunk with sweet wines of those pleasures, yet for want of patience thou mayest be drunk with the wine of astonishment, which is in affliction's hands; therefore, saith the apostle, ‘to temperance, add patience.’  Either possess thyself in patience, or else some raving devil of discontent will possess thee.  An impatient soul in affliction is a bedlam in chains, yea, too like the devil in his chains, [who] rageth against God, while he is fettered by him.

             Well, hast thou patience?—an excellent grace indeed, but not enough.  Thou must be a pious man as well as patient.  Therefore, saith the apostle, ‘to patience, add godliness.’  There is an atheistical patience, and there is a godly Christian patience. Satan numbs the conscience of one, and [so] no wonder he complains not, that feels not; but the Spirit of Christ sweetly calms the other, not by taking away the sense of pain, but by overcoming it with the sense of his love.  Now godliness comprehends the whole worship of God, inward and outward.  If thou beest never so exact in thy morals, and not a worshipper of God, then thou art an atheist.  If thou dost worship God, and that devoutly, but not by Scripture rule, thou art but an idolater.  If according to the rule, but not in spirit and truth, then thou art an hypocrite, and so fallest into the devil's mouth.  Or if thou dost give God one piece of his worship, and deniest another, still Satan comes to his market.  ‘He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination,’ Prov. 28:9.

Part 2 - The Armour We Use Against Satan Must be Divine by Constitution

 Now try whether your weapons be mighty or weak; what can you do or suffer more for God than an hypocrite that is clad in fleshly armour?  I will tell you what the world saith, and if you be Christians, clear yourselves, and wipe off that dirt which they throw upon your glittering armour.  They say, These professors indeed have God more in their talk than we; but when they come down into their shops, re­lations and worldly employment, then the best of them all is but like one of us.  They can throw the tables of God's commandments out of their hands as well as we; [can] come from a sermon, and be as covetous and gripping, as peevish and passionate, as the worst.  They show as little love to Christ as others, when it is matter of cost, as to relieve a poor saint or maintain the gospel; you may get more from a stranger, an enemy, than from a professing brother. O Christians, either vindicate the name of Christ, whose ensign you seem to march after, or throw away your seeming armour, by which you have drawn the eyes of the world upon you.  If you will not, Christ himself will cashier you, and that with shame enough ere long.  Never call that the armour of God which defends thee not against the power of Satan.

             Take, therefore, the several pieces of your armour and try them, as the soldier before he fights will set his helmet or head-piece as a mark, at which he lets fly a brace of bullets, and as he finds them so will wear them or leave them.  But be sure thou shootest scripture-bullets.  Thou boastest of a breastplate of righteousness.  Ask thy soul, Didst thou ever in thy life perform a duty to please God, and not to accommodate thyself?  Thou hast prayed often against thy sin, a great noise of the pieces have been heard coming from thee by others, as if there were some hot fight between thee and thy corruption, but canst thou indeed show one sin thou hast slain by all thy praying?  Joseph was alive, though his coat was brought bloody to Jacob; and so may thy sin be, for all thy mortified look in duty, and outcry thou makest against them.  If thou wouldst thus try every piece, thy credulous heart would not so easily be cheated with Satan's false ware.

             Objection.  But is all armour that is of God thus mighty?  We read of weak grace, little faith; how can this then be a trial of our armour whether of God or not?

             Answer.  I answer, the weakness of grace is in respect of stronger grace, but the weak grace is strong and mighty in comparison of counterfeit grace.  Now, I do not bid thee try the truth of thy grace by such a power as is peculiar to stronger grace, but by that power which will distinguish it from false.  True grace, when weakest, is stronger than false when strongest.  There is a principle of divine life in it which the other hath not.  Now life, as it gives excel­lency—a flea or a fly by reason of its life, is more excellent than the sun in all his glory—so it give strength.  The slow motion of a living man, though so feeble that he cannot go a furlong in a single day, yet coming from life, imports more strength than is in a ship, which though it sails swiftly, hath its motion from without.  Thus possibly an hypocrite may ex­ceed the true Christian in the bulk and outside of a duty, yet because his strength is not from life, but from some wind and tide abroad that carries him, and the Christian's is from an inward principle, therefore the Christian's weakness is stronger than the hypocrite in his greatest enlargements.  I shall name but two acts of grace whereby the Christian, when weakest, exceeds the hypocrite in all his best array.  You will say, then grace is a weak stay indeed, when the Christian is persuaded to commit a sin, a great sin, such a one as possibly a carnal person would not have it said of him for a great matter.  So low may the tide of grace fall, yet true grace at such an ebb will appear of greater strength and force than the other.

1. This principle of grace will never leave till the soul weeps bitterly with Peter, that it hath offended so good a God.  Speak, O ye hypocrites can ye show one tear that ever you shed in earnest for a wrong done to God?  Possibly you may weep to see the bed of sorrow which your sins are making for you in hell, but ye never loved God so well as to mourn for the injury ye have done the name of God.  It is a good gloss Augustine hath upon Esau's tears Heb. 12:16, 17.  —Flevet quòd perdidit, non quòd vendidit —he wept that he lost the blessing, not that he sold it.  Thus we see an excellency of the saint's sorrow above the hypocrite's.  The Christian by his sorrow shows him­self a conqueror of that sin which even now overcame him; while the hypocrite by his pride shows himself a slave to a worse lust than that he resists.  While the Christian commits a sin he hates; whereas the other loves it while he forbears it.
2. When true grace is under the foot of a temptation, yet then it will stir up in the heart a vehement desire of revenge.  [It is] like a prisoner in his enemies' hand, who is thinking and plotting how to get out, and what he will do when out, waiting and longing every minute for his delivery, that he again may take up arms.  ‘O Lord God, remember me,’ saith Samson, ‘I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.  Jud. 16:28.  Thus prays the gracious soul, that God would but spare him a little, and strengthen him but once before he dies, that he may be avenged on his pride, unbelief, and those sins whereby he hath most dishonoured God. But a false heart is so far from studying revenge, that he rather swells like the sea against the law which banks his lust in, and is angry with God who hath made sin such a leap, that he must hazard his soul if he will have it.

The Armour We Use Against Satan Must be Divine by Constitution

[The armour we use against Satan  must be divine by constitution.]

 Observe Second.  The Christian's armour must be of God in regard of its make and constitution.  My meaning is, it is not only that God must appoint the weapons and arms the Christian useth for his defence: but he must also be the efficient of them, he must work in them and for them.  Prayer is an appointment of God, yet this is not armour of proof, except it be a prayer of God flowing from his Spirit, Jude 20.  Hope, that is the helmet the saint by command is to wear, but this hope must be God's creature; ‘who hath begotten us to a lively hope,’ I Pet. 1:3.  Faith, that is another principal piece in the Christian's furniture, but it must be faith of God's elect, Titus 1:1.  He is to take righteousness and holiness for his breastplate, but it must be true holiness: ‘Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,’ Eph. 4:24.  Thus you see that it is not armour as armour, but as armour of God, that makes the soul impregnable.  That which is born of God overcometh the world—a faith born of God, a hope born of God.  But the spurious adulterous brood of duties and graces, being begot of mortal seed, cannot be immortal.

             Must the soul's armour be of God's make?  Be exhorted then to look narrowly whether the armour ye wear be the workmanship of God or no.  There is abundance of false ware put off now-a-days; little good armour worn by the multitude of professors.  It is Satan's after-game he plays, if he cannot please the sinner with his naked state of profaneness, to put him off with something like grace, some flighty stuff, that shall neither do him good, nor Satan hurt.  Thus many [are] like children, that cry for a knife or dagger, and are pleased as well with a bone knife and wooden dagger, as with the best of all.  So they have some armour, it matters not what.  Pray they must, but little care how it be performed.  Believe in God? yes, they hope they are not infidels.  But what [the armour] is, how they came by it, or whether it will hold in an evil day, this never was put to the question in their hearts.  Thus thousands perish with a vain conceit [that] they are armed against Satan, death, and judgment, when they are miserable and naked, yea, worse on it [their conceit] than those who are more naked, those I mean who have not a rag of ci­vility to hide their shame from the world's eye; and that in a double respect,

First.  It is harder to work on such a soul savingly, because he hath a form, though not the power, and this affords him a plea.  A soul purely naked, nothing like the wedding garment on, he is speechless.  The drunkard hath nothing to say for himself, when you ask him why he lives so swinishly; you may come up to him, and get within him, and turn the very mouth of his conscience upon him, which will shoot into him.  But come to deal with one who prays and hears, one that is a pretender to faith and hope in God; here is a man in glittering armour, he hath his weapon in his hand, with which he will keep the preacher, and the word he chargeth him with, at arm's length.  Who can say I am not a saint?  What duty do I neglect?  Here is a breastwork he lies under, which makes him not so fair a mark either to the observation or reproof of another; his chief defect being within, where man's eye comes not.  Again, it is harder to work on him, because he hath been tampered with already, and miscarried in the essay.  How comes such a one to be acquainted with such duties—to make such a profession?  Was it ever thus?  No, the word hath been at work upon him, his conscience hath scared him from his trade of wickedness, into a form of profession, but, taking in short of Christ, for want of a thorough change, it is harder to remove him than the other.  He is like a lock whose wards have been troubled; which makes it harder to turn the key than if never pottered with.  It is better dealing with a wild ragged colt, never backed, than one that in breaking hath took a wrong stroke; [with] a bone quite out of joint than false set.  In a word, such a one hath more to deny than a profane person. The one hath but his lusts, his whores, his swill, and dross, but the other hath his duties, his seeming graces.  O how hard it is to persuade such a one to light, and hold Christ's stirrup, while he and his duties are made Christ's footstool.

             Second.  Such an one is in deepest condemna­tion.  None sink so far into hell as those that come nearest heaven, because they fall from the greatest height.  As it aggravates the torments of the damned souls in this respect above devils, [because] they had a cord of mercy thrown out to them, which devils had not so, by how much God by his Spirit waits on, pleads with, and by both gains on [one] soul more than others, by so much such a one, if he perish, will find hell the hotter.  These add to his sin, and the remembrance of his sin in hell thus accented will add to his torment.  None will have such a sad parting from Christ as those who went half-way with him and then left him.

             Therefore, I beseech you, look to your armour.  David would not fight in armour he had not tried, though it was a king's.  Perhaps some thought him too nice.  What! is not the king's armour good enough for David?  Thus many will say, Art thou so curious and precise?  Such a great man doth thus and thus, and hopes to come to heaven at last, and darest not thou venture thy soul in this armour?  No, Chris­tian, follow not the example of the greatest on earth; it is thy own soul thou venturest in battle, therefore thou canst not be too choice of thy armour.  Bring thy heart to the Word, as the only touch-stone of thy grace and furniture; the Word, I told you, is the tower of David, from whence thy armour must be fetched; if thou canst find this tower stamp on it, then it is of God, else, not.  Try it therefore by this one scripture-stamp.  Those weapons are mighty which God gives his saints to fight his battles withal.  ‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God,’ II Cor. 10:4.  The sword of the Spirit hath its point and edge, whereby it makes its way into the heart and conscience, through the im­penitency of the one and stupidity of the other (wherewith Satan, as with buff and coat of mail, arms the sinner against God) and there cuts and slashes, kills and mortifies lust in its own castle, where Satan thinks himself impregnable.  The breastplate which is of God, doth not bend and break at every pat of temptation, but is of such a divine temperament, that it repels Satan's motions with scorn on Satan's teeth. Should such an one as I sin, as Nehemiah in another case; and such are all the rest.

Objection of a Disconsolate Christian, Answered!.. Continued

2. Ask thy soul whether thou hast been thankful for that little strength thou hast.  Though thou art not of that strength in grace to run with the foremost and hold pace with the tallest of thy brethren, yet thou art thankful that thou hast any strength at all, though it be but to cry after them whom thou seest outstrip thee in grace, this is worth thy thanks.  All in David's army attained not to be equal with his few worthies in prowess and honor, and yet did not cashier themselves: thou hast reason to be thankful for the meanest place in the army of saints, the least communications of gospel-mercy and grace must not be overlooked.  As soon as ever Moses with his army was through the sea, they strike up before they stir from the bank side, and acknowledge the wonderful appearance of God's power and mercy for them, though this was but one step in their way; [for] a howling wilderness presented itself to them, and [though] they [were] not able to subsist a few days with all their provision, for all their great victory, yet Moses will praise God for this handsel of mercy. This holy man knew the only way to keep credit with God, so as to have more, was to keep touch, and pay down his praise for what was received.  If thou wouldst have fuller communications of divine strength, own God in what he hath done.  Art thou weak?  Bless God thou hast life.  Dost thou through feebleness often fail in duty, and fall into temptation?  Mourn in the sense of these; yet bless God in that thou dost not live in a total neglect of duty, out of a profane contempt thereof, and instead of falling through weakness, thou dost not lie in the mire of sin through the wickedness of thy heart.  The unthankful soul may thank itself it thrives no better.
3. Art thou humble under the assistance and strength God hath given thee?  Pride stops the con­duit.  If the heart begin to swell, it is time for God to hold his hand, and turn the cock, for all that is poured on such a soul runs over into self-applauding, and so it is as water spilt, in regard of any good it doth the creature, or any glory it brings to God.  A proud heart and a lofty mountain are never fruitful. Now beside the common ways that pride discovers itself, as by undervaluing others, and overvaluing itself, and such like, you shall observe two other symptoms of it.  (1.) It appears in bold adventures, when a person runs into the mouth of temptation, bearing himself up on the confidence of his grace re­ceived.  This was Peter's sin, by which he was drawn to engage further than became an humble faith, running into devil's quarters, and so became his prisoner for a while.  The good man, when in his right temper, had thoughts low enough of himself, as when he asked his Master, Is it I?  But he that feared at one time lest he might be the traitor, at another cannot think so ill of himself, as to suspect he should be the denier of his Master.  What, he?  No, though all the rest should forsake him, yet he would stand to his colors.  Is this thy case, Christian?  Possibly God hath given thee much of his mind; art thou skilful in the Word of life, and therefore thou darest venture to breathe in corrupt air, as if only the weak spirits of less knowing Christians exposed them to be infected with the contagion of error and heresy.  Thou hast a large portion of grace, or at least thou thinkest so, and venturest to go where an humble-minded Christian would fear his heels should slip under him.  Truly, now thou temptest God to suffer thy lock to be cut, when thou art so bold to lay thy head in the lap of a temptation.  (2.) Pride appears in the neglect of those means whereby the saints' graces and comforts are to be fed when strongest.  Maybe, Christian, when thou art under fears and doubts, then God hath thy company, thou art oft with thy pitcher at his door; but when thou hast got any measure of peace, there grows presently some strangeness between God and thee; thy pitcher walks not as it was wont to these wells of salvation.  No wonder if thou, though rich in grace and comfort, goest behind-hand, seeing thou spendest on the old stock, and drivest no trade at present to bring in more.  Or if thou dost not thus neglect duty, yet maybe thou dost not perform with that humility which formerly beautified the same: then thou prayed in the sense of thy weakness to get strength, now thou prayest to show thy strength, that others may admire thee.  And if once, like Hezekiah, we call in spectators to see our treasure, and applaud us for our gifts and comfort, then it is high time for God, if he indeed love us, to send some messengers, to carry these away from us, which carry our hearts from him.

             Answer Fourth.  If thy heart doth not smite thee from what hath been said, but thou hast sincerely waited on God, and yet hast not received the strength thou desirest, yet let it be thy resolution to live and die waiting on him.  God doth not tell us his time of coming, and it were boldness to set on of our own heads.  Go, saith Christ, to his disciples, ‘tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high,’ Luke 24:49.  Thus he saith to thee, Stay at Jerusalem, wait on him in the means he hath appointed, till thou beest endued with further power to mortify thy corruptions, &c.  And for thy comfort know,

1. Thy thus persevering to wait on God will be an evidence of strong grace in thee.  The less encouragement thou hast to duty, the more [is] thy faith and obedience to bear thee up in duty.  He that can trade when times are so dead, that all his ware lies upon his hand, and yet draws not in his hand, but rather trades more and more, sure his stock is great.  What! no comfort in hearing, no ease to thy spirit in praying, and yet more greedy to hear, and more frequent in prayer.  O soul, great is thy faith and patience!
2. Assure thyself when thou art at the greatest pinch [that] strength shall come.  They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength: when the last handful of meal was dressing, then is the prophet sent to keep the widow’s house.  When temptation is strong, thy little strength is even spent, and thou ready to yield into the hands of thine enemies, then expect succors from heaven, to enable thee to hold out under the temptation.  Thus with Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee,’ i.e. there is power from heaven to raise the siege, and drive away the tempter.  Thus with Job, when Satan had him at an advantage, then God takes him off, like a wise moderator [who], when the respondent is hard put to it by a subtle opponent, takes him off, when he would else run him down.  ‘Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.  James 5:11.

Objection of a Disconsolate Christian, Answered!

               

Answer Second.  Christian, candidly interpret God's dealings with thee.  Suppose it be as thou say­est; thou hast pleaded the promise, and waited on the means, and yet findest no strength from all these receipts, either in thy grace or comfort.  Now take heed of charging God foolishly, as if God were not what he promiseth; this were to give that to Satan which he is all this while gaping for.  It is more becoming the dutiful disposition of a child, when he hath not presently what he writes for to his father, to say, My father is wiser than I.  His wisdom will prompt him what and when to send to me, and his fatherly affections to me his child will neither suffer him to deny anything that is good, or slip the time that is seasonable.  Christian, thy heavenly Father hath gracious ends that hold his hand at present, or else thou hadst ere this heard from him.

1. God may deny further degrees of strength to put thee on the exercise of that thou hast more carefully.  As a mother doth by her child that is learning to go, she sets it down, and stands some distance from it, and bids it come to her.  The child feels its legs weak and cries for the mother's help, but the mother steps back on purpose that the child should put forth all its little strength in making after her.  When a poor soul comes and prays against such a sin, God seems to step back and stand at a distance, the temptation increaseth, and no visible succour appears, on purpose that the Christian, though weak, should exercise that strength he hath.  Indeed, we shall find the sense of a soul’s weakness, is an especial means to excite into a further care and diligence.  One that knows his weakness, how prone he is in company to forget himself, in passion how apt he is to fly out; if there be a principle of true grace, this will excite him to be more fearful and watchful, than another that hath obtained greater strength against such great temptations.  As a child that writes for money to his father.  None comes presently.  This makes him husband that little that he hath the better, not a penny now shall be laid out idly.  Thus, when a Christian hath prayed against such a sin again and again, and yet finds himself weak, prone to be worsted, O how careful will this, should this make such a one of every company, of every occasion!  Such a one had not need give his enemy any advantage.
2. God may deny the Christian such assisting strength in duty, or mortifying the strength of corruption, as he desires, purely on a gracious design that he may thereby have an advantage of expressing his love in such a way, as shall most kindly work upon the ingenuity of the soul to love God again.  Perhaps, Christian, thou prayest for a mercy thou wantest, or for deliverance out of some great affliction, and in the duty thou findest not more assistance than ordinary, yea, many distractions of spirit in it, and misgiving thoughts with unbelieving fears after it.  Well, notwithstanding those defects in thy duty, yet God hears thy prayer, and sends in the mercy on purpose that he may greaten his love in thine eye, and make it more luscious and sweet to thy taste, from his accepting thy weak services, and passing by the distempers of thy spirit.  Here is less strength for the duty, that thou mayest have more love in the mercy; nothing will affect a gracious heart more than such a consideration.  See it in David, ‘I said in my haste, All men are liars.  What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?’  Ps. 116:11, 12.  As if David had said, Notwithstanding all the comfortable messages I had from God by his prophets concerning this matter, my own prayers, and those remarkable providences, which carried in them a partial answer to them, and performance of what was promised, yet I betrayed much unbelief, questioning the truth of the one, and the return of the other; and hath God, notwithstanding all my infirmities, fulfilled my desire, and performed his promise?  O what shall I render unto the Lord?  Thus David reads God's mercy through the spectacles of his own weakness and infirmity, and it appears great; whereas if a mercy should come in, as an answer to a duty managed with such strength of faith, and height of other graces, as might free him and his duty from usual infirmities, this might prove a snare, and occasion some self-applauding, rather than mercy-admiring thoughts in the creature.

3. God may communicate the less of his assis­ting strength, that he may show the more of his sup­porting strength, in upholding weak grace.  We do not wonder to see a man of strong constitution that eats his bread heartily and sleep soundly, live.  But for a crazy body, full of ails and infirmities, to be so patched and shored up by the physician's art that he stands to old age, this begets some wonder in the beholders.  It may be thou art a poor trembling soul, thy faith is weak, and thy assaults from Satan strong, thy corruptions stirring and active, and thy mortifying strength little, so that in thy opinion they rather gain ground on thy grace, than give ground to it.  Ever and anon thou art ready to think thou shalt be cast as a wreck upon the devil's shore; and yet to this day thy grace lives, though full of leaks.  Now is it not worth the stepping aside to see this strange sight?  A broken ship with masts and hull rent and torn, thus towed along by almighty power through an angry sea, and armadas of sins and devils, safely into its harbor.  To see a poor dilling or rush-candle in the face of the boisterous wind, and not blown out!  In a word, to see a weak stripling in grace held up in God’s arms till he beats the devil craven!  This God is doing in up­holding thee.  Thou art one of those babes, out of whose mouth God is perfecting his praise, by ordaining such strength for thee, that thou, a babe in grace, shalt yet foil a giant in wrath and power.

 Answer Third.  If after long waiting for strength from God, it be as thou complainest, inquire whether, that which hinders, be not found in thyself.  The head is the seat of animal spirits, yet there may be such obstructions in the body as the other members may for a time be deprived of them; till the passage be free between Christ thy head and thee, thy strength will not come, and therefore be willing to inquire,

1. Hast thou come indeed to God for strength to perform duty, to mortify corruption and the like?  Perhaps thou wilt say, Yes, I have waited on those ordinances which are the way in which he hath promised to give out strength.  But is this all?  Thou mayest come to them, and not wait on God in them.  Hast thou not carnally expected strength from them, and so put the ordinances in God's stead?  Hath not the frame of thy spirit some affinity with theirs, 'We will go into such a city, and buy and sell, and get gain?’ James 4:13.  Hath not thy heart said, I will go and hear such a man, and get comfort, and strength? And dost thou wonder thou art weak, barren and un­fruitful?  Are ordinances God, that they should make you strong or comfortable?  Thou mayest hear them answer thee, poor soul, as the king to the woman in the siege of Samaria.  Help, O prayer, sayest thou, or, O minister; how can they help except the Lord help? These are but Christ's servants.  Christ keeps the key of his wine cellar; they cannot so much as make you drink when you come to their master's house; and therefore, poor soul, stay not short of Christ, but press through all the crowd of ordinances, and ask to speak with Jesus, to see Jesus, and touch him, and virtue will come forth.

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Application of Faith and Obedience Continued...

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Application of Faith and Obedience Continued...

1. In agonies of conscience that arise from the greatness of thy sins, fly for refuge into the almighty power of God.  Truly, sirs, when a man's sins are displayed in all their bloody colors, and spread forth in all their killing aggravations, and the eye of conscience awakened to behold them through the multiplying or magnifying glass of a temptation, they must needs surprise the creature with horror and amazement, till the soul can say with the prophet, For all this huge host, there is yet more with me than against me.  One Almighty is more than many mighties.  All these mighty sins and devils, make not one almighty sin, or an almighty devil.  Oppose to all the hideous charges brought against thee by them this only attri­bute.  As the French ambassador once silenced the Spaniard's pride in repeating his master many titles, with one that drowned them all, God himself, when he had aggravated his people's sins to the height, then to show what a God can do, breaks out into a sweet promise: ‘I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger;’ and why not? 'I am God, and not man,’ Hosea 11:9.  I will show the almightiness of my mercy. Something like our usual phrase when a child or a woman strikes us, I am a man, and not a child or a woman, therefore I will not strike again.  The very considering God to be God, supposeth him almighty to pardon as well as to avenge.  And this is some relief.  But then to consider it is almighty power in bond and covenant to pardon, this is more.  As none can bind God but himself, so none can break the bond himself makes: and are they not his own words, that ‘he will abundantly pardon?’ Isa. 55:7.  He will multiply to pardon, as if he had said, ‘I will drop mercy with your sin, and spend all I have, rather than let it be said my good is overcome of your evil.’  It fares with the gracious soul in this case as with a captain, that yields his castle upon gracious terms of having his life spared, and he safely conveyed to his house, there to be settles peaceably in his estate and possessions, for all which he hath the general's hand and seal, on which he marches forth; but the rude soldiers assaulting him, and putting him in fear of his life, he appeals to the general, whose honor is now engaged for him, and is presently relieved, and his enemies punished.  Thou mayest, poor soul, when accused by Satan, molested by his terrors, say, It is God that justifies; I have his hand to it, that I should have my life given me as soon as I laid down my arms and submitted to him, which I desire to do.  Behold, the gates of my heart are open to let the Prince of peace in, and is not the Almighty able to perform his promise?  I commit myself to him as unto a faithful Creator.

             

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Application of Faith and Obedience Continued..

[Use or Application.] Continued....

 Use Second.  This shows the dismal, deplorable condition of all you who are yet in a Christless state.  You have seen a rich mine opened, but not a penny of this treasure comes to your share; a truth laden with incomparable comfort, but it is bound for another coast, it belongs to the saints, into whose bosom this truth unlades all her comfort.  See God shutting the door upon you, when he sets his children to feast themselves with such dainties.  ‘Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty,’ Isa. 65:13.  God hath set his number which he provides for.  He knows how many he hath in his family: these and no more shall sit down.  One chief dish at the saints' board is the almighty power of God.  This was set be­fore Abraham, and stands before all his saints, that they may eat to fullness of comfort on it; but thou shalt be hungry.  He is almighty to pardon, but he will not use it for thee, an impenitent sinner.  Thou hast not a friend on the bench, not an attribute in all God's name, will speak for thee: mercy itself will sit and vote with the rest of its fellow-attributes for thy damnation.  God is able to save and help in a time of need; but upon what acquaintance is it that thou art so bold with God, as to expect his saving arm to be stretched forth for thee?  Though a man will rise at midnight to let in a child that cries and knocks at his door, yet he will not take so much pains for a dog that lies howling there.  This presents thy condition, sinner, sad enough, yet this is to tell thy story fairest; for that almighty power of God which is engaged for the believer's salvation, is as deeply obliged to bring thee to thy execution and damnation.  What greater tie than an oath?  God himself is under an oath to be the destruction of every impenitent soul. 

That oath which God sware in his wrath against the unbelieving Israelites, that they should not enter his rest, concerns every unbeliever to the end of the world.  In the name of God consider, were it but the oath of a man, or a company of men, that like those in the Acts, should swear to be the death of such a one, and thou wert the man, would it not fill thee with fear and trembling night and day, and take away the quiet of thy life, till they were made friends?  What then are their pillows stuffed with, who can sleep so soundly without any horror or amazement, though they be told that the Almighty God is under an oath of damning them, body and soul, without timely repen­tance?  O bethink yourselves, sinners, is it wisdom or valor to refuse terms of mercy from God's hands, whose almighty power, if rejected, will soon bring you into the hands of justice?  And how fearful a thing that is, to fall into the hands of Almighty God, no tongue can express, no, not they who feel the weight of it.

             Use Third.  This speaks to you, who are saints indeed.  Be strong in the faith of this truth, make it an article of your creed; with the same faith you believe that there is a God, believe also this God's almighty power is thy sure friend, and then improve it to thy best and advantage.  As,

              

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Application of Faith and Obedience

[Use or Application.]

             Use First.  Is the almighty power of God engaged for the saints' defence? surely then they will have a hard pull, the saints’ enemies, who meddle with them who are so far above their match.  The devil was so cunning, he would have Job out of his trench, his hedge down before he could fall on.  But so desperate are men, they will try the field with the saints, though encircled with the almighty power of God.  What folly were it to attempt or sit down be­fore such a city, which cannot be blocked up so as no relief can get in? the way to heaven cannot.  In the church's straitest siege, ‘there is a river which shall make glad this city of God,’ with seasonable succours from heaven.  The saints' fresh-springs are all from God, and it is as feasible for sorry man to stop the water-courses of the clouds, as to dam up those streams, which invisibly glide like veins of water in the earth, from the fountain-head of his mercy into the bosom of his people.  The Egyptians thought they had Israel in a trap, when they saw them march into such a nook by the sea-side.  ‘They are entangled, they are entangled;’ and truly so they had been irrecoverably, had not that almighty power which led them on, engaged to bring them off with honor and safety.  

Well, when they are out of this danger; behold they are in a wilderness where nothing is to be had for back and belly, and yet here they shall live for forty years, without trade or tillage, without begging or robbing of any of the neighbor nations; they shall not be beholden to them for a penny in their way. What cannot almighty power do to provide for his people? what can it not do to protect them against the power and wrath of their enemies?  Almighty power stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians, so that, poor creatures, they could not so much as come to see their enemies.  God sets up a dark cloud as a blind before their eyes, and all the while his eye through the cloud is looking them into disorder and confusion.  And is the Almighty grown weaker now-a-days, or his enemies stronger, that they promise themselves better success?  No, neither; but men are blinder than the saints' enemies of old, who sometimes have fled at the appearances of God among his people, crying out, ‘Let us flee, for the Lord fighteth for them.’  Whereas there be many now-a-days will rather give the honor of their discomfitures to Satan himself, than acknowledge God in the business; more ready to say that the devil fought against them, than God.  O you that have not yet worn off the impressions which the almighty power of God hath at any time made upon your spirits, beware of having anything to do with that generation of men, whoever they are.  Come not near their tabernacle, cast not thy lot in amongst them, who are enemies to the saints' of the most High; for they are men devoted to destruction.  He ripped open the very womb of Egypt, to save the life of Israel his child, Isa. 43:3.

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Faith and Obedience Continued...

The Christian's comfort increaseth or wanes, as 2- the aspect of his faith is to the power of God.  Let the soul question that, or his interest in it, and his joy gusheth out, even as blood out of a broken vein.  It is true, a soul may scramble to heaven with much ado, by a faith of recumbency, relying on God as able to save, without this persuasion of its interest in God; but such a soul goes with a scant side-wind, or like a ship whose masts are laid by the board, exposed to wind and weather, if others better appointed did not tow it along with them.  Many fears like waves ever and anon [so] cover such a soul, that it is more under water than above; whereas one that sees itself folded in the arms of almighty power, O how such a soul goes mounting afore the wind, with her sails filled with joy and peace!  Let affliction come, storms arise, this blessed soul knows where it shall land and be welcome.  The name of God is his harbor, where he puts in as boldly, as a man steps into his own house, when taken in a shower.  He hears God calling him into this, and other his attributes, as chambers taken up for him.  ‘Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers,’ Isa. 26:20.  God calls them his, and it were foolish modesty not to own what God gives.  ‘Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength,’ Isa. 45:24; that is, I have righteousness in God’s righteousness, strength in his strength, so that in this respect Christ can no more say that his strength is his own, and not the believer's, than the husband can say, My body is my own and not my wife's.  A soul persuaded of this may sing merrily with the sharpest thorn at his breast; so David, ‘My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise,’ Ps. 57:7.  What makes him so merry in so sad a place as the cave where now he was? he will tell you ver. 1, where you have him nestling himself under the shadow of God's wings, and now well may he sing care and fear away.  A soul thus provided may lie at ease on a hard bed.  Do you not think they sleep as soundly who dwell on London-bridge, as they who live at Whitehall or Cheapside, knowing that the waves that roar under them cannot hurt them? even so may the saints rest quietly over the floods of death itself, and fear no ill.

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - Faith and Obedience

 

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God...continued

 Fifth Tie.  Christ's presence and employment in heaven lays a strong engagement on God to bring his whole force and power into the field upon all occasions for his saints' defence.  One special end of his journey to heaven, and abode there, is that he might, as the saints' solicitor, be ever interceding for such supplies and succours of his Father as their exigencies call for; and the more to assure us of the same before he went, he did, as it were, tell us what heads he meant to go upon his intercession when he should come there; one of which was this, that his Father should keep his children while they were to stay in the world from the evil thereof, John 17:15.  Neither doth Christ take upon him this work of his own head, but hath the same appointment of his Father for what he now prays in heaven, as he did for what he suffered on earth.  

He that ordained him a Priest to die for sinners, did not then strip him of his priestly gar­ments, as Aaron, but appoints him to ascend in them to heaven, where he sits a Priest forever by God's oath.  And this office of intercession was erected purely in mercy to believers, that they might have full content given them for the performance of all that God had promised; so that Jesus Christ lies lieger at court as our ambassador, to see all carried fairly between God and us according to agreement; and if Christ follows his business close, and be faithful in his place to believers, all is well.  And doth it not behove him to be so, who intercedes for such dear relations?  Suppose a king's son should get out of a besieged city, where he hath left his wife and children, whom he loves as his own soul, and these all ready to die by sword or famine; if supply come not sooner, could this prince, when arrived at his father's house, please himself with the delights of the court, and forget the distress of his family?  

Or rather would he not come post to his father, having their cries and groans always in his ears, and before he eat or drink, do his errand to his father, and entreat him if ever he loved him, that he would send all the force of his kingdom to raise the siege, rather than any of his dear relations should perish?  Surely, sirs, though Christ be in the top of his preferment, and out of the storm in regard of his own person, yet his children left behind in the midst of sins, Satan, and the world's batteries, are in his heart, and shall not be forgotten a moment by him.  The care he takes in our business appeared in the speedy despatch he made of his Spirit to his apostles' supply, when he ascended, which as soon almost as he was warm in his seat, at his Father's right hand, he sent, to the incomparable comfort of his apostles and us, that to this day, yea, to the end of the world, do or shall believe on him.

 Second.  [I shall prove why the Christian should strongly act his faith on this almighty power as engaged for his help.] —The second branch of the point follows [namely], that saints should eye this power of God as engaged for them, and press it home upon their souls till they silence all doubts and fears about the matter; which is the importance of this ex­hortation, ‘Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.’  Fortify and entrench your souls within the breastwork of this attribute of God's mighty power made over to you by God himself.

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God - The Saint's Dependence on God

Fourth Tie.  The saints' dependence on God, and expectation from God in all their straits, oblige his power for their succour.  Whither doth a gracious soul fly in any want or danger from sin, Satan, or his instruments, but to his God?  As naturally as the cony to her burrow.  ‘What time I am afraid,’ saith David, ‘I will trust in thee,’ Ps. 56:3.  He tells God he will make bold of his house to step into when taken in any storm, and doth not question his welcome. Thus when Saul hunted him, he left a city of gates and bars to trust God in open field.  Indeed all the saints are taught the same lesson, to renounce their own strength, and rely on the power of God; their own policy, and cast themselves on the wisdom of God; their own righteousness, and expect all from the pure mercy of God in Christ, which act of faith is so pleasing to God, that such a soul shall never be ashamed, ‘The expectation of the poor shall not perish,’ Ps. 9:18. 

A heathen could say, when a bird scared by a hawk flew into his bosom, I will not betray thee unto thy enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me.  How much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy when it takes sanctuary in his name, saying, ‘Lord, I am hunted with such a temptation, dogged with such a lust, either thou must par­don it, or I am damned; mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; take me into the bosom of thy love, for Christ's sake; castle me in the arms of thy everlasting strength, it is in thy power to save me from, or give me up into, the hands of my enemy. 

I have no con­fidence in myself or any other: into thy hands I commit my cause, my life, and rely on thee.’  This dependence of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the  almighty power of God for such an one's defence.  He hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his blessed lips, even by himself, that such as thus fly for refuge to hope in him, shall have strong consolation, Heb. 6:17.  This indeed may give the saints the greater boldness of faith to expect kindly entertainment when he repair to God for refuge, because he cannot come before he is looked for.  God having set up his name and promises as a strong tower, both calls his people into these chambers, and expects they should betake themselves thither.

Acting Our Faith On The Almighty Power of God...Continued

             Second Tie.  The dear love he beareth to his saints engageth his power.  He that hath God's heart cannot want his arm.  Love in the creature commands all the other affections, sets all the powers of the whole man on work; thus in God, love sets all his other attributes on work.  When once God pitched his thoughts of doing good to lost man, then wisdom fell on projecting the way, almighty power that undertook to raise the fabric according to wisdom's model.  All are ready to effect what God saith he likes.  Now the believing soul is an object of God's choicest love, even the same with which he loves his Son, John 17:26.

1. God loves the believer as the birth of his everlasting counsel.  When a soul believes, then God's eternal purpose and counsel concerning him, whom he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world, and with whom his thoughts went so long big, brings forth.  And how must God needs love that creature whom he carried so long in the womb of his eternal purpose?  This goodly fabric of heaven and earth had not been built, but as a stage whereon he would in time act what he decreed in heaven of old, concerning the saving of thee, and a few more his elect.  And therefore according to the same rate of delight, with which God pleased and entertained him­self in the thoughts of this before the world was, must he needs rejoice over the soul now believing, with love and complacency inconceivable; and God having brought his counsel thus far towards its issue, surely will raise all the power he hath, rather than be disappointed of his glory within a few steps of home; I mean, his whole design in the believer's salvation. The Lord who hath chosen his saints Zech. 3, as Christ prays for Joshua their representative, will rebuke Satan and all their enemies.
2. God loves the saints as the purchase of his Son's blood.  They cost him dear, and that which is so hardly got shall not be easily lost.  He that was willing to expend his Son's blood to gain them, will not deny his power to keep them.
3. God loves the saints for their likeness to himself, so that if he loves himself, he cannot but love himself appearing in them; and as he loves him­self in them, so he defends himself in defending them.  What is it in a saint that enrageth hell but the image of God, without which the war would soon be at an end?  It is the hatred that the panther hath to man that makes him fly at his picture.  ‘For thy sake we are slain all the day long:’ and if the quarrel be God's, surely the saint will not go forth to war at his own cost.

             Third Tie.  The covenant engageth God's al­mighty power, ‘I am the Almighty God; walk before me,’ Gen.17:1.  There is a league offensive and defensive between God and his saints; he gives it under his hand that he will put forth the whole power of his godhead for them, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel,’ I Chron. 17:24.  God doth not parcel himself out by retail, but gives his saints leave to challenge whatever a God hath, as theirs; and let him, whoever he is, sit in God's throne and take away his crown, that can fasten any untruth on the Holy One; as his name is, so is his nature, a God keeping covenant for ever.  The promises stand as the mountains about Jerusalem, never to be removed; the weak as well as the strong Christian is within this line of communication.  Were saints to fight it out in open field by the strength of their own grace, then the strong were more likely to stand, and the weak to fall in battle; but both castled in the covenant, are alike safe.