him for the present, that he is in the state of nature, and under the wrath of God: but doth the Scripture tell him that he is a reprobate, that he can never be converted and turned to God? Surely this is God's great prerogative to know, his secret which he reserves to himself; and therefore when a man goes to be humbled before God, and concludes, Oh, I am a reprobate, and there is no hope for me, and I shall never be converted; this is to soar too high into God's prerogative, and he will burn his wings, and he will fall down into great discouragement. Therefore, in all your humiliation, take heed that you do not fall upon any thing that is the peculiar and prerogative of God, for then you will not be humbled but discouraged.

The more you are humbled and grieved by the sight of God's free love and grace, the more you will be humbled and the less discouraged. When you come to humiliation, you are humbled, because you have sinned against God; but how do you present this God to your own soul: do you present him as a Judge only, or as a Father also: do you present the Lord unto your soul only under the notion or attribute of his greatness, or under the notion and attribute of his goodness also? Luther said thus: When my heart is brisk and jolly, I present God unto myself under the notion of his greatness; but when my heart is low and fearing, then I present God to me under the notion of his goodness: one while I consider Christ as my example, another while as my gift: when my heart is too high, then I consider Christ as my example; when my spirit is too low, I consider Christ as my gift. So do you also. I know you will say, I cannot sometimes present the Lord unto my soul under the notion of a Father, because I have no assurance of his love. Yet you may consider the Lord as gracious in himself, as good in himself, and loving in himself, and say, I have thus and thus sinned against a gracious God, and although thou hast not assurance of God's love to thee in particular, yet if you can present God to your soul, under the notion of his general goodness, as good in himself, you will never be discouraged, but be humbled.

If you would be truly humbled, and not be discouraged; not discouraged, and yet humbled; then beat and drive up all your sins to your unbelief, and lay the stress and weight of all your sorrow upon that sin. As in matter of thank

fulness, if a man do run up every mercy, unto the fountain mercy, the blood of Jesus Christ, he will be most thankful: so in the matter of humiliation, if a man do run up every sin unto the fountain, the head sin, he will be most humbled. Now what is the great sin, the fountain sin, the head sin of all your sins, but unbelief; and believe it, he is never far from faith, that is humbled for his unbelief, and he will never be discouraged that is not far from faith. Now therefore, if at any time you find your soul in any sin, then say, This hath my unbelief done, I did not think that I had had such an unbelieving heart; oh, what an unbelieving heart have I! This, even all this sin hath my unbelief brought forth. Now the Lord heal my unbelieving heart. A soul grieved for unbelief will never be discouraged too much, nor be humbled too little he will be humbled in truth for sin, because he is humbled for his unbelief, which is the mother sin; yet he will not be discouraged, because he is humbled for that which doth cause all discouragements. Lay therefore the weight of your sorrow.upon this sin, and you shall be truly humbled without unjust discouragement. And thus I have despatched the first particular: by all which you see, that a gracious, godly man, though he hath just cause for humiliation, yet he hath no just and scripture reason to be discouraged for his sin; though he have sinned, and sinned greatly, yet no discouragement is to grow upon this condition.

And thus I have done with the first instance.

SERMON V.

A LIFTING UP IN CASE OF WEAK GRACE.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me, &c.”—Psalm xlii. 11.

II. Sometimes the discouragements of the saints do arise from the weakness of their graces.

Oh, says one, I am a poor, feeble, and a weak creature: some are strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,

who do a great deal of service for God in their day; but as for me, I am a poor babe in Christ, if a babe, and so am able to do little or nothing for God. Therefore I am thus discouraged and cast down; have I not just cause and reason for it?

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No, for "God is able to make all grace to abound towards you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work," 2 Cor. ix. 8. And if God have recompensed your weakness with wisdom, then surely you have no cause to complain of your weakness. Sometimes weakness is recompensed with wisdom; for, says Solomon, Prov. xxx. 24, "There be four things that are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:" the ants, the conies, the locusts, and the spider. Wherein doth the wisdom of the ants consist? He tells you in verse 25, "The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in summer." In time of plenty they do lay up for the time of want. Wherein doth the wisdom of the conies consist? He tells you in verse 26, "The conies are a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks: though they be weak in themselves, yet they dwell in strong places. Wherein doth the wisdom of the locusts appear? He tells you in verse 27, "The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands:" though they be weak alone, yet they do join together, and so are strong. But wherein doth the wisdom of the spider consist? He tells you in verse 28, "The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' chambers:" though the chamber of a king is most swept and cleansed, yet by the industry of her hands she doth take hold on the beams thereof, and dwells on high, out of danger. So that, although these creatures are weak and feeble in themselves, yet by their wisdom, their weakness is recompensed, and they save themselves from injury and wrong, as well as if they were stronger. Now shall the ant, cony, locust and spider, be wise in their kind, and shall not a christian be so? True, saving grace is the best wisdom; every godly man is a wise man, and though he be but weak in grace, yet he hath true wisdom : the wisdom of the

* Admonemur nullam creaturam propter parvitatem contemnendam esse, quando quidem quod illis in corporis mole deest, aliis quibus a Deo ornantur datibus compensari solet.-Cartwright in Prov.

ants, to provide in summer against a rainy day; the wisdom of the conies, to build in the rock Christ; the wisdom of the locusts, to join with others; and the wisdom of the spider, to take hold on those beams of the promises, which are in the chamber of our King, Christ. And if God have thus recompensed your weakness with this wisdom, why should you then complain?

But is it then no disadvantage for a man to be weak in grace?

Yes, much, very much; there are many disadvantages which a weak christian lies under, that a strong christian doth not. Ye see how the weak fire lies sobbing under the disadvantage of green wood, which the strong fire doth not; so doth Christ's smoking flax lie under many disadvantages, which the strong christian doth not. As,

Though a man have truth of grace, yet if he be but weak in grace, he is more apt and ready to stumble and fall, and to be turned out of the way. "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees," saith the apostle, Heb. xii. 12," Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way." A weak man is more apt to fall than a strong; and if he do fall, he is more unable to rise again. A strong man fallen, is quickly up again; but the weak falls, and is ready to fall again when he rises: so it is with a weak christian, he stumbles often and is apt to fall; and if he have fallen, he is even ready to fall again when he goes about to rise.

He is more easily quenched, in regard of his comforts, than the strong christian is. A strong christian will improve that for himself which seems to be against him; but the weak christian will improve that against himself which is in truth for him. When our Saviour Christ said to the woman of Canaan," It is not lawful to cast children's bread before dogs;" she made an advantage of those words, and thereby did gather in upon Christ, saying, "True, Lord, but the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table." Thus she improved that for herself, which seemed to be against her: why? because she was strong in faith; "O woman," saith our Saviour, "great is thy faith." But when the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah, Judges xiii, he said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen the Lord." Thus he improved that against him, which did make for him,

as his wife truly interpreted the thing, verse 23: why so, but because he was weak in faith. The strong fire burns the more by the very water that is cast upon it, but the weak fire is quenched by the very fuel, wood, or coal that is cast on it; so a weak christian also is apt to be quenched, even by those very truths and dispensations whereby he should burn and blaze out the more.

He cannot glorify God as the strong christian may and doth. One sun doth glorify the Creator more than an hundred other stars, because there is much light met in one body; and one strong christian doth glorify God more, than an hundred lesser, weak saints, because there is much light and grace met in one person. "He that offereth praise, glorifieth me," saith God, Psalm 1. 23.

It is an hard thing for the weak christian to praise God, for he often doubteth of God's love, and therefore cannot praise him as he should; but the strong christian may, he can say, Blessed be the Lord for this or that mercy, for it comes from love to me.

The more a man doth believe above hope and under hope, and the less he doth live by sense, the more he glorifies God. Now the strong christian is able to exercise his faith in this kind, for says the apostle Paul, "Abraham considered not his own body, but being strong in faith, was persuaded that God was able, and so did give glory unto God," Rom. iv. A weak faith cannot do so, for saith the apostle, verse 13, "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." It seems then that it is the strong, and not the weak faith which doth give glory to God. And would ye know wherein this strong faith differs from the weak faith, in regard of its operation? why, says the apostle, the weak faith staggers at the promise, which the strong faith doth not; the weak faith doth attend too much unto second causes, which the strong faith doth not; the weak faith judges by what it sees and feels within, but the strong doth not, but by the word without; and therefore it is strong faith which doth give glory unto God especially.

A strong christian will do great things for God, a weak christian can do but small things, for his strength is but