placed in Jesus Christ, who, being the Lord of life, could deliver him when He pleased from the body of death, and the more to assure him of it, had said to him, " My strength is made perfect in weakness." My strength, saith He, to let us know, that it is His own strength, that He hath it in Himself, as He is God our Saviour. As God, He is Almighty, and can do what He will in the world; and as God our Saviour, He exerciseth this His Almighty power in the behalf of His Church and people. "My Father," John 5. 17. saith He, "worketh hitherto, and I work." As the Father

is always at work in the government of the world, so God the Son is always working in them who believe and trust in Him, that they may be saved, and therefore " is able to save Heb. 7. 25. them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." He is continually making intercession for them, therefore His Divine power is continually exerting itself in them, that He may save them to the utmost.

Because

And thus His.strength is made perfect in weakness; in the weakness of those upon whom it is exerted: the weaker they are in themselves, the more strength they receive from Him; and the more perfectly doth His strength appear in supporting and saving of them; it is always with them and in them; "But they have this treasure in earthen vessels; 2 Cor. 4. 7. that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of men." They themselves are but frail and weak creatures, like earthen vessels made of coarse materials, and soon broken, and therefore the excellency and perfection of His power shines forth most gloriously in preserving them through faith unto Salvation, that all the glory of it may redound wholly unto Him, which the Apostle was so sensible of, that when our Lord said to him, "My strength is made perfect in weakness," he presently adds, "Therefore I take ver. 10. pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong." The weaker he found himself, the more was he strengthened by Christ; and as the strength of Christ was thus made perfect in his weakness, so is it in all others, who being sensible of their own weakness, lay hold on Him, and depend wholly upon His strength to help

SERM. and save them: they also may say as truly as St. Paul did, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

XL. Phil. 4. 13.

The last thing to be observed in these words, is the inference which the Apostle draws from what our Lord hath said to him: He had said, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness." From whence the Apostle immediately infers, " Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He was now no longer overwhelmed with so much grief and sorrow for his infirmities, and natural inability to do the will of God, nor for the troubles which should befall him for it, although he was not able by his own strength to bear them, but rather rejoiced and glorified in them, as being a proper occasion for Christ to shew forth the glory of His power, or as he himself expresseth it, "That the power of Christ might rest upon [ová.] him.” In allusion, as the original word imports, " to His [ἐπισκηνώσῃ.] resting between the Cherubim over against the Mercy-seat in the tabernacle, and there manifesting His glory and power unto His people; so He now rests upon those who Eph. 3. 17. believe in Him; He dwells in their hearts by faith."

But

wheresoever He is, there He exerts His power; and the weaker the place of His residence is, the more doth His power appear; and therefore as the Apostle did, so should we, not despond and despair at the sense of our infirmities, but rather be glad and rejoice, that we have such an Almighty Saviour, "Whose strength is made perfect in our weakness;" and take occasion from thence to live with a constant belief and trust in Him, "That His power may rest upon us, and the glory of it appear most gloriously in us."

And verily whatsoever other people may think, they who are touched with a due sense of their sins, and manifold infirmities, cannot but receive unspeakable comfort, as well as wholesome advice and counsel from what they have now heard; for they being conscious to themselves, that they have not only offended the Lord of Hosts the Almighty Governor of the world already, but cannot possibly of themselves ever do any thing else but provoke Him, and so [Rom. 2.5.] "treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of

wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God;" how glad must they needs be to hear it from His own mouth, "That," notwithstanding all their provocations and infirmities, "His grace is sufficient for them;" sufficient not only to expiate all their former offences, but to cure them of all their distempers, to arm them against all temptations, to support them in all conditions, to carry them through the whole compass of their duty, and to reflect such a lustre upon it from the glory of His own righteousness and merits, that God Himself will be well pleased with it; "That in the Lord they may have both righteousness and Isa. 45. 24. strength." And that His strength is made perfect in their weakness, so as to shew itself in a more especial manner, when they have most occasion for it: how can they hear this, and not sing with the Prophet; "Behold, God is my Isa. 12. 2. Salvation, I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength, and my song; He also is become my Salvation."

But that we also may thus rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our Salvation, we must take special care that we do not turn His grace into lasciviousness, but that we [Jude 4.] apply and improve it to the purposes for which it is designed. Now the Apostle tells us, that "the grace of God Tit. 2.11,12. that bringeth Salvation, teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." This therefore is the lesson that we must learn, this is the use we should make of the grace of God our Saviour; and for this it is sufficient in us all, as many in all ages have found by their own experience, who notwithstanding their original sin, and their natural imperfections and infirmities consequent upon it, yet by the grace of Christ became real Saints while they were upon earth, and are now glorified and made equal to the Angels in Heaven; and why should not we be so as well as they? If we be not, it is our own fault: the grace of Christ is as sufficient for us as it was for them.

"Let us therefore, now come boldly to the throne of Heb. 4. 16. grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Let us employ ourselves continually in the use of the means which He hath appointed wherein to

XL.

[Rom. 8. 28.]

SERM. bestow His grace upon us; and whatsoever we do in word and deed, let us do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, nothing doubting, but steadfastly believing, that according to His word, "His grace shall be sufficient for us, and His strength made perfect in our weakness;" that He will [Rev. 1.5.] wash us from our sins in His own blood, that He will preserve us from all evil, and make all things work together for our good; that He by His Almighty power and Spirit will direct, sanctify and govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of His laws, and in the works of His Commandments, so as to bring us at last to that everlasting [John 14. kingdom which He is now preparing for us in the highest Heavens; that we may live with Him who liveth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for ever.

2.]

SERMON XLI.

FAITH THE GOVERNING PRINCIPLE OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE.

2 COR. v. 7.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

ALTHOUGH the soul of man be in its own nature like to the Angels themselves, and so as capable as they to converse with spiritual and immaterial objects; yet so long as it is confined to the body, it is apt to confine itself within the narrow compass of such objects only as affect the several senses of the body, relishing nothing but what it can taste with the palate, looking no farther than to what it can see with the eyes, nor hearkening to any thing but what it can hear with the ears of the body; and hence it is that those sensible objects have that power and dominion over the very minds of men, that their judgments and opinions of things, and by consequence their passions and affections are commonly swayed and governed by them, in so much, that we ordinarily judge things to be good or evil, and therefore love or hate, desire or abhor them according as they seem to be agreeable or not agre able to our senses; by which means, although we have rational souls, we make but very little use of them, keeping them in continual subjection to the sensitive part, and so living more like brutes than men; as if we were all body and no soul, all sense and no reason ; and they that do endeavour to act according to the rules and dictates of their reason, they find that too so apt to be corrupted and drawn aside by their senses, that it is difficult to say, which is and which is not the result of pure and unbiassed reason.