SECTION 4.

Our Advocate will be our Judge.

THOU quakest at the expectation of the last judgment: -Surely, the very majesty of that great assize must needs be formidable. And if the delivery of the law on mount Sinai was attended with such a dreadful pomp of thunder and lightning, of fire, smoke and earthquakes, that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it; with what terrible magnificence shall God come to require an account of that law, at the hands of the whole sinful generation of mankind!

Represent to thy thoughts, that which was shewed of old to the prophet Daniel in vision. Imagine that thou sawest the Ancient of days sitting upon a throne like the fiery flame; a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him; thousand thousands ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him; the judgment set, and the books opened. Dan. vii. 9, 10. Or as John, the Daniel of the new testament, saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and the dead, both small and great, standing before God; and the books opened, and the dead judged out of those things which were written in those books, according to their works. Rev. xx. 11, 12. Let the eyes of thy mind see beforehand, that which these bodily eyes shall hereafter see and tell me how thou feelest thyself affected with the sight of such a Judge, such an appearance, and such a process. And if thou findest thyself in a trembling condition, cheer up thyself with this, that thy Judge is thine Advocate; that upon that throne sits not greater Majesty than Mercy. It is thy Saviour that shall sentence thee.

How safe art thou then in such hands. Canst thou fear that he will doom thee to death, who died to give thee life? Canst thou fear he will condemn thee for those sing, which he hath given his blood to expiate? Canst

thou fear the rigour of that justice which he hath so fully satisfied? Canst thou suspect the miscarriage of that soul which he hath so dearly bought?

No, my son, all this divine state and magnificence makes for thee. Let those guilty and impenitent souls, who have heaped unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, quake at the glorious majesty of the Son of God, for whom nothing remains but a fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Heb. x. 26, 27. But for thee, who art not only reconciled to God by the mediation of the Son of his love, but art also incorporated into Christ, and made a true limb of his mystical body; thou art bidden, together with all the faithful, to look up, and lift up thy head; for now the day of thy redemption is come. Luke xxi. 28.

Indeed, how canst thou do otherwise, since by virtue of this blessed union with thy Saviour, this glory is thine: every member hath an interest in the honour of the head. Rejoice therefore in the day of the Lord Jesus; and when all the tribes of the earth shall wail, do thou sing and rejoice, and call to the heavens and the earth to bear thee company. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. Let the sea make a noise, and all that is therein. Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth; and with righteousness to judge the world, and the people with his truth. Psal. xcvi. 11, 12, 13.

SECTION 5.

Importance of meditation and preparation.

THOU art alarmed at the thought of that great day: -Think of it oftener, and thou shalt fear it less. It will come, both surely, and suddenly: let thy frequent thoughts prevent it. It will come as a thief in the night, without warning, without noise: let thy careful vigilance

always expect it, and thy soul shall be sure not to be surprised, not to be confounded. Thine audit is both sure and uncertain; sure that it will be, uncertain when. If thou wilt approve thyself a good steward, have thine account always ready: set thy reckoning even, betwixt God and thine own soul. Blessed is that servant whom his Master shall find so doing. Matt. xxiv. 46. Look upon these heavens and this earth as dissolving, and think that thou hearest the last trump, and the voice of the archangel shrilling in thine ears, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment. Let it also be thy main care to live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body; according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Phil. iii. 21. Titus ii. 12-14.

CHAP. XVII.

COMFORTS AGAINST THE FEARS OF OUR SPIRITUAL ENEMIES.

SECTION 1.

The great power of evil spirits restrained.

THOU art alarmed at the thought of thy spiritual enemies: neither earth nor hell hath any thing equally formidable. Those three things which are wont to make enmity dreadful and dangerous, power, malice, subtlety, are met in them: neither is it easy to say, in which of these they are most eminent. Certainly, were we to be matched with them evenhanded, there were just cause, not of fear only, but also of despair.

I could tremble, thou sayest, to think that Satan hath done what he has done. What a contest he enabled the Egyptian sorcerers to hold with Moses; how they turned every man's rod into a serpent; so that for a time they seemed to have the advantage, having many serpents instead of one, crawling and hissing on Pharaoh's pavement. How they turned the waters into blood; how they brought frogs upon the land of Egypt, as if thus far the power of hell would presume to hold competition with heaven. What furious tempests he raises in the air, as that from the wilderness which beat upon the four corners of the house of Job's eldest son, and overthrew it. Job was the greatest man in the east; his heir therefore did not dwell in a cottage, yet his strong fabric could not stand againt this hurricane of Satan. What fearful apparitions he makes in the upper regions; what great wonders he doth, causing fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men; and what grievous tyranny he exercises upon all the children of disobedience. Ephes. ii. 2. Rev. xiii. 13.

Couldst thou look for any thing less, my son, from those whom the Spirit of God himself styles principalities and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in high places, and the prince of the power of the air? Ephes. vi. 12. ii. 2. Surely, a christian could have no success, had he not powerful supporters.

But dost thou not also consider, that this power is by concession; and the exercise of it only by permission, and with limitation? What power can there be in any creature, which is not derived from the Almighty? This measure the infinite Creator was pleased to communicate to them as angels, which they retain and exercise still as devils. Their damnation has stripped them of their glory, but we know not of how much of their strength.

And seest thou not how much their power is bounded? Those that could in appearance turn their rods into serpents, could not keep all their serpents from being devoured of that one serpent of Moses. Those that could bring frogs upon Egypt, cannot bring up lice; and those

who were suffered to bring frogs, shall not have power to take them away. Exod. vii. 12. viii. 8-11. Restrained powers must know their limits; and we, knowing them, must set limits to our fears. A lion chained up can do less harm than a cur let loose. What is it to thee how powerful the evil spirits are, while by an overruling power they are tied up to their stake, so that they cannot hurt thee.

SECTION 2.

The number of evil spirits.

THY fears are increased with their number: they are as many as they are powerful. One demoniac was possessed with a legion: how many legions then shall we think there are, to tempt those millions of men who live upon the face of the earth, among whom no one is free from their continual solicitations to evil. That holy man, whom our counterfeit hermits would pretend to imitate in the vision of his retirement, saw the air full of them, and of their snares for mankind; and were our eyes as clear as his, we might perhaps meet with the same prospect.

But be not dismayed, my son. Couldst thou borrow the eyes of the servant of a holier master, thou shouldst see that there are more with us, than they that are against us. 2 Kings vi. 16. Thou shouldst see the blessed angels of God pitching their tents about thee, as the more powerful, vigilant, constant guardians of thy soul. Lo these are those valiant ones, which stand about thy bed. They all hold swords, being expert in war: every one hath his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. Cant. iii. 7, 8.

Fear not therefore, but make the Lord, even the Most High, thy habitation. Then no evil shall befal thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling; for he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thon dash thy foot against a stone. And besides this