when they grow in Humility. When a Soul comes to fee Christ, the more he shines with the divine Luftre of his Grace and Righteousness, the more the Soul is contrite, Saith Paul, When the Law came, Sin revived and I died. Paul, was it the Law in the Letter that shewed you your Sin? (then why does it not teach those poor Creatures that read it, and have it read to them?) No, but it was the Power of Christ in the Law, the Spirit of the Law of Life in Chrift that shined into his Heart, and brought Home the Law to him, to be a condemning Judge on the Bench, to give the Sentence of Death, that Chrift might be there to be the Object of Life and Salvation to his Soul. Saith he, Sin revived and I died. Persons will strain what they can to keep an even Reckoning with the Law, by doing fome outward Duties. Such as the Lord Jesus hath not rifen upon, they are yet in Darkness, Children of the Night; they walk at Uncertainty, they know not whether they go. Alas! Many a poor Soul thinketh he is asfure to go to Heaven as he is to die, when he is in the very Road to Hell; only fome go in the broad trodden Path, open, prophane, impudent Sinners; fome steal thither behind the Hedge, they are going to Hell, but in a closer Walk, hidden from others, and many that are faid to be Children of the Kingdom, that Mr. Murcot on are Strangers in Heart to an inMal. 4. 2. ward Revelation of Jesus Christ. But when Christ comes to the Soul, he comes to the inward Part; then the Soul is unhorsed of itself, and laid low before the Lord. It was the Saying of an Holy Divine, we may fooner call Twenty from Prophaneness, than one from his his own Righteousness: For, faith he, Sin is a feverish Distemper to the Soul; and when the Man hath finned, he knows he is out of Order : But for a Man's own Righteousness, it is so born and bred with him, that he makes it his grand Idol; 'till Christ appears to the Soul with divine Beams of his Righteousness and Grace; this lays a Soul low and humble before the Lord, and makes a poor Soul behold its own Ignorance. Saith the Soul, I am toolish, but Christ is my Wisdom; I cannot manage my Salvation, nor I cannot chuse aright, but Christ is my Wisdom to chuse for me. Thus a Soul is humbled under its own Ignorance; he beholds Christ that glorious Sun that gives Light to fee his Father's Face, and to have all the glorious Will of God revealed to the Soul in him. The Sun is the Glory of the Heavens, but one Star differs from another Star in Glory, but there is none like the Glory of the Sun. O the Lord hath put the Excellence of Glory on the Lord Jesus! He is the ἀπαυγάσμια, the shining forth of his Father's Glory. He speaks here of Christ as Incarnate: As the Glory of God did shine in the Face of Mofes, so that the People could not behold; so now the Glory of the Lord shineth in the Face of Jesus Chrift, as the Apostle hath it, so that we cannot behold it; it dazzles our Eyes stedfastly to behold his Glory, as it doth to behold the Sun in its Glory. Here is the Glory of his Grace, the Glory of his Wisdom, of his Mercy, of his Power, and all in Christ; he is the Glory, as it were, of divine Attributes, they all shine forth in him, each with his peculiar Glory. The Temple, the Glory of the Lord filled it, so that they could not not stand to minister before him fometimes, fo his Glory. Therefore faith the Pro- Mr. Murcot. Secondly, The Soul sees itself unrighteous, therefore it is humbled under its Sinfulness, 'till Christ is made its Righteousness. Thirdly, The Soul fees itself cloathed with - Rags; like a Man that works hard, yet cannot cloath himself with any Thing but Rags. Saith a Soul, notwithstanding all that I have done, I have not a Righteousness to cloath me to stand with before God: But Christ is my Robe of Righteousness; therefore when the Soul is humbled, when he does not grow in Enlargements, yet he grows humble under the Sense of his own Unworthiness, and of Christ's Excellency. Many Trees are planted in shady Places, that grow up tall, tho' they bear no Fruit. When a Soul knows not Christ, there may be fome external Duties performed, yet the Soul does not grow. When Trees are short they bear thick. When a Soul grows in Humility, they bring forth much Fruit, though they hang down their Heads. When the Bunches of Grapes are heavy, then does the Vine hang down its Head: So when a Soul grows out of Love with itself, and in love with Christ, then does the Soul lie low before the Lord. When a Believer thinks there is a decaying, it is not so; though it may be fome Graces are not fo much in Exercise at one Time as at another. But I do not understand how Grace Grace can decay whilst Christ lives. The Trees are not green all the Year, yet you do not fay they are dead, the Root is in the Earth and keeps alive. So a Believer groaning, under a Senfe of his Unworthiness, he is then beft prepared to bring forth Fruit to God. The more we find our own Unworthiness, and the less we find the Promises to belong unto us, the more we must defire them, being affured that this Defire doth greatly please God, who defireth and willeth his Grace should be earnestly defired. Therefore when the glorious Sun of Righteouf'ness cafts forth his divine Beams, the Souls grows humble and lowly: There may be fome Deadness as to the Exercise of Faith, fome Deadness as to the Exercise of Love, some Backwardness in Heart unto Duty. Is the Soul now decaying? No, it is a Winter Seafon; and though you do not find Grace in present Exercife, yet your Root is alive and will fpring forth. Will Chrift let it die? No, it is more to glorify his Grace. Lazarus shall lie four Days in the Grave, and then the Power of God will be more glorified in raising him up; and this we find most excellent in Peter: Did not Peter know Christ? Yes, but yet he must take a little better Root; he muft fee that not only his Righteousness is in Christ, but his Life also. Peter was a brave Man before he fell, I will not forfake thee, thơ all Men do, I will stand by thee; if all Men forsake thee, I will stand alone. Many Times when we are carried on smoothly and largely in Duty, we are apt to think our Mountain shall never be moved, as David did; but, faith he, Thou hideft thy Face, and I was troubled. When the the Sun is lowest and furthest from us, then our Shadows are longeft; but when it is shining over our Heads, and nearest us, then our Shadows are shortest; then the Sun is to us most glorious; fo it is, the less our Knowledge of Chrift is, the more do Men doat on their own Righteousness: The Shadow of their own Righteousness is longest when Christ and they are most Strangers; but when Chrift comes to dart into them his glorious Beams, when they fee themselves nothing, the Soul that hath a glorious Revelation of Jefus Chrift comes to fee himself all in Christ and nothing in himself. Saith the Apostle, Sin revived and I died. Christ is truly omnipotent, and truly then reigns in our Souls, when we find our selves so weak that we can scarce give a Groan. Many, because they have not outward Marks or Signs in acting of Sanctification, they will conclude they are not alive in Chrift; but Faith, when Chrift arifes with Glory on the Soul, beholds Christ what he is in the Promises, and what he hath done for poor Sinners, and fo wraps itself in Christ alone, in whom all the Promifes are Yea and Amen for ever. Christ is that glorious Sun from whence a Beliver hath all his Light, and that precious Stock that a Believer receives Sap and Nourishment from, to bring forth Fruit. A Believer may have a Winter's Season, that he may not exercise his Grace; but I cannot understand that a Believer can be faid to decay in Grace, being engrafted in Christ. Do you think Peter is in a worse Condition than before, or that he decays? No, it is only Grace stopt in its Exercife. Do you think Faith was in a decaying Frame? (I know many con clude it, but I cannot think it) Faith was only stopt |