2 it, and that to the death. It was one of the main quarrels against the rich glutton, that he was every day clothed in purple and byss.' How many souls shall once wish that their bodies had been ever either naked or clad with hair-cloth! But this array, as it is infinitely rich and beautiful, so it is as surely defensative of the soul; and is no less than armour of proof against all assaults, all miseries. What a deal of cost and pains do we bestow upon these wretched bodies of ours, only to make them pleasing and lovely to the eye of some beholders, as miserable perhaps as ourselves! and yet, when we have all done, we are, it may be, no better than hard-favoured and unhandsome creatures, and contemptible in those eyes from whom we desired most approbation. Jezebel, for all her licking, is cast out of the window and trodden to dirt in the streets. But this robe we cannot wear, and not be amiable in the eyes of the Holiest. Behold, thou art fair, my beloved; behold, thou art fair, and there is no spot in thee.'3 Lo, in this case, the apparel makes the man. Neither is it in the power of any spiritual deformity to make us other than lovely in the sight of our God, while we have Christ put on upon us. Whatever, therefore, become of the outward man, let it be my care that my soul be vested with my Lord Jesus; so shall I be sure to be safe, rich, amiable here, and hereafter glorious. It was part of our Saviour's charge upon the mount, Take no care what to put on;' but it must be the main care of our lives how to put on Christ upon our souls. This is the prime stole, wherewith the father of the prodigal graceth his re Luke, xvi. 19. 2 Eph. vi. 13. 3 Cant. i. 15. turned son. The heaven of heavens is not worth such another. When I have once got this on my back, I shall say, though in a contrary sense with the spouse in the Canticles, I have put on my coat, how shall I put it off? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them.'1 XIV. With how devout passion doth the Psalmist call to all the works of the Almighty to praise him! as well supposing, that every creature, even those that have no tongues to speak for themselves, yet have a tongue to praise their Maker: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth his speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech, where their voice is not heard.'" Neither is the very earth defective in this duty; every plant says, "Look on me, and acknowledge the life, colour, form, smell, fruit, force, that I have from the power of my Creator:" every worm and fly says, Look on me, and give God the praise of my living, sense, and motion:" every bird says, "Hear me, and praise that God, who hath given me these various feathers, and taught me these several notes:" every beast, while he bellows, bleats, brays, barks, roars, says, "It is God, that hath given me this shape, this sound:" yea, the very mute fishes are, in their very silence, vocal in magnifying the infinite wisdom and power of him that made them, and placed them in those watery habitations: Let every thing that hath breath,' saith the Psalmist, praise the Lord." Yea, the 66 6 3 3 Cl. 6. very winds whistle, and the sea roars out the praise of the Almighty, who both raises and allays them at pleasure. What a shame were it for man, to whom alone God hath given an understanding heart, a nimble tongue, and articulate language wherein he can express his rational thoughts, to be wanting to this so universal devotion, and to be as insensible of the great works of God, as the ground that he treads upon! If others shall be thus unthankfully dumb, yet, Praise thou the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. While I live, will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises to my God, whilst I have any being.'1 But alas, Lord, thou knowest I cannot so much as will to praise thee, without thee: do thou fill my heart with holy desires, and my mouth with songs of thanksgiving. XV. It may seem a strange errand upon which our Saviour tells us he came into the world: 'I am come to send fire on the earth.' When the two fervent disciples would have had fire sent down from heaven upon but a Samaritan village, our Saviour rebuked them, and told them they knew not of what spirit they were; yet here he makes it his own business to send fire on earth. Alas, may we think, we have fire too much already! How happy were it rather, if the fire which is kindled in the world were well quenched! And what is the main drift of the Prince of Darkness, but fire? if not to send fire down from heaven upon the inhabitants of the earth; yet, to send the in Psalm cxlvi. 1, 2. 2 Luke xii, 49. 1 5 habitants of the earth down to the fire of hell. As then we find divers kinds of material fire-celestial, elementary, domestic, artificial, natural; so there is no less variety of spiritual fires. It was in fiery, cloven tongues, wherein the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles in their Pentecost; and even this fire, did our Saviour come to send down on the earth. Thy word was in me as fire,'' saith the prophet; and Did not our hearts burn within us,' said the two disciples, in their walk to Emmaus, while he talked with us ?' this fire he also came to send. Heavenly love and holy zeal are fire: Many waters cannot quench love.' 'My zeal hath consumed me,' saith the Psalmist. And these fires our Saviour came to send into the hearts of men. Holy thoughts are no other than the beams of celestial fire: My heart was hot within me: while I was musing, the fire burned;' and these we know he sends: He maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire;' these he sends forth to the earth, 'to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation.' Besides these, afflictions and persecutions are fire: We have passed through fire and water:' Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as if some strange thing had happened to you ;' and even these are of his sending: 'The Lord hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundation thereof." There is no evil in the city, but the Lord hath done it: The Lord hath done that, which he had devised: he hath 1 Acts, ii. 3. 2 John, xvi. 7. 5 Cant. viii. 7. xxxix. 3; civ. 4. 8 Psalm lxvi. 12. 9 Lam. iv. 11. 3 Jer. v. 14. Heb. i. 7. 2 thrown down, and not pitied.'' But this expression of our Saviour goes yet deeper, and alludes to the effect of separation which follows upon the fire of our trial. When the lump of ore is put into the furnace, the fire tries the pure metal from the dross, and makes an actual division of the one from the other so doth Christ by his Word and Spirit. Even he, that is the Prince and God of Peace, comes to set division in the world. Surely, there are holy quarrels, worthy of his engagement; for as the flesh lusteth and warreth against the spirit, so the spirit fightest against the flesh; and this duel may well beseem God for the author, and the Son of God for the setter of it: these second blows make a happy fray. Nothing is more properly compared, than discord, to fire. This, Christ (the first thing he does) sets in every heart: there is all quietness, secure ease, and self-contentment in the soul, till Christ come there. should it be other, when Satan sways all without resistance? But, when once Christ offers to enter, there are straight civil wars in the soul betwixt the old man and the new; and it fares with the heart, as with a house divided in itself, wherein the husband and the wife are at variance: nothing is to be heard but unquiet janglings, open brawlings, secret opposition; the household takes part, and professes a mutual vexation. This spiritual self-division, wherever it is, though it be troublesome, yet it is cordial. It puts the soul into the state of Rebekah's womb; which, barren, yielded no pain, but when an Esau and Jacob were conceived and struggling within, yielded for the time no ease; Lam. ii. 17. 2 Judges, ix. 20. How |
