had convinced him, was more noble than his incredulity was shameful. All his attendance upon Christ had not taught him so much divinity as this one touch. Often had he said, 'My Lord,' but never 'My God,' till now. Even Peter's confession, though rewarded with the change of his name, came short of this. The flame that is beaten down by the blast of the bellows, rises higher than otherwise it would; and the spring water that runs level in the plain, yea if it fall low, it will therefore rise high: the shaken tree roots the deeper. Not that we should sin that grace may abound, God forbid; he can never hope to be good, that will be therefore ill, that he may be the better; but, that our holy zeal should labour to improve our miscarriages to our spiritual gain, and the greater glory of that majesty whom we have offended. To be bettered by grace it is no mastery; but to raise more holiness out of sin, is a noble imitation of that holy God, who brings light out of darkness, life out of death.

XL.

Every man best knows his own complaints: we look upon the outsides of many whom we think happy, who, in the mean time, are secretly wrung with the inward sense of their own concealed sorrows; and, under a smooth and calmed countenance, smother many a tempest in their bosom ; there are those whose faces smile, while their conscience gripes them closely within; there are those that can dissemble their poverty and domestic vexations, reserving their sighs till their back be turned; that, can pick their teeth abroad, when they are fasting and hungry at home; and many a one forces a song when his heart is heavy. No doubt,

Naomi made many a short meal after her return to Bethlehem, yet did not whine to her great kindred, in a bemoaning of her want; and good Hannah bit in many a grief, which her insulting rival might not see. On the contrary, there are many whom we pity as miserable, that laugh in their sleeve, and applaud themselves in their secret felicity; and would be very loth to exchange conditions with those that commiserate them: a ragged cynic likes himself, at least as well as a great Alexander; the mortified Christian, that knows both worlds, looks with a kind of contented scorn upon the proud gallant that contemns him; as feeling that heaven within him, which the other is not capable to believe. It is no judging of men's real estate by their semblance; nor valuing others' worth by our own rate. And for ourselves, if we have once laid sure grounds of our own inward contentment and happiness, it matters not greatly if we be misknown of the world.

XLI.

For one man to give titles to another, is ordinary; but for the great God to give titles to a poor wretched man, is no less than wonderful. Thus doth the Lord to Job: There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man.' Oh! what must he needs be, in whom his Maker glories! Lo! who would have looked for a saint in so obscure a corner of the east, and in so dark a time, before ever the law gave light to the world? yet, even then, the land of Uz yields a Job. No time, no place can be any har to an infinite mercy. Even this while, for ought I see, the sun shined more bright in Midian than in Goshen. God's

P

election will be sure to find out his own, any where out of hell; and if they could be there, even there also. Amongst all those idolatrous heathen, Job is perfect and upright: his religion and integrity is so much the more glorious, because it is so ill-neighboured-as some rich diamond is set off by a dark foil. Oh! the infinite goodness of the Almighty, that picks out some few grains out of the large chaff-heap of the world, which he reserves for the granary of a blessed immortality! 'It is not of him that willeth, nor in him that runneth; but of God that hath mercy.' We might well imagine, that such a sprig must sprout out of the stock of faithful Abraham. What other loins were likely to yield so holy an issue? And if his Sarah must be the mother of the promised seed, yet why might he not also raise a blessed seed from Keturah? The birth doth not always follow the belly: even this second brood yields an heir of his father's faith. It is said, that to the sons of the concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away to the east." Surely, this son of the concubine carries away as rich a legacy of his father's grace, as ever was enjoyed by the son of the promise at home. The gifts that Abraham gave to Midian, were nothing to those gifts which the God of Abraham gives to the son of Midian; who was perfect and upright, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.' I perceive the holy and wise God meant to make this man a pattern, as of patience, so of all heavenly virtues: he could not be fit for that use if he were not exquisite; and what can be wanting to that man, of

1 Gen. xxv. 6.

whom God holily boasts that he is perfect? And now, what metal is so fit to challenge the fire of affliction, as this pure gold? and who is so fit a match for the great adversary, as this champion of God? Never had he been put upon so hard a combat, if God had not well known both the strength that he had given him, and the happy success of his conflict. Little doth that good man know what wager is laid on his head, but strongly encounters all his trials. The Sabeans have bereft him of his oxen; the Chaldees of his camels; the fire from heaven, of his sheep; the tempest, of his children; Satan, of his health: and had not his wife been left to him for his greatest cross, and his friends for his further tormentors, I doubt whether they had escaped. Lo, there sits the great potentate of the east, naked and forlorn in the ashes; as destitute of all comforts, as full of painful boils and botches, scraping his loathsome hide with a potsherd; yet, even in that woeful posture, possessing his soul in patience, maintaining his innocence, justifying his Maker, cheering himself in his Redeemer, and happily triumphing over all his miseries; and, at last, made the great mirror of divine bounty to all generations. Now must Job pray for his friendly persecutors; and is so high in favour with God, that it is made an argument of extreme wrath against Israel, that though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, they should deliver none but their own souls. O God! this saint could not have had this strength of invincible patience without thee; thou, that rewardest it in him, didst bestow it upon him; it is thy great mercy to crown thine own works

1

1 Ezek. xiv. 14, 20.

in us: thy gifts are free; thou canst fortify even my weak soul with the same powers: strengthen me with the same grace, and impose what thou wilt.

XLII.

As it shall be once in glory, so it is in grace; there are degrees of it. The apostle, that said of his auditors, they have received the Holy Ghost as well as we, did not say they have received the Holy Ghost as much as we. We know the apostles had so much as to give it to others: none besides them could do so. It is a happy thing to have any quantity of true sanctifying grace at all: every drop of water is water, and every grain of gold is gold; every measure of grace is precious. But who is there, that when he is dry would take up with one drop of liquor, when he might have more? or, if covetously minded, would sit down content with one dram of gold? In such cases, a little doth but draw on a desire for more. It is strange to see that in all other commodities we desire a fulness; if God give us fruit of our bodies, it contents us not to have an imperfect child, but we wish it may have the full shape and proportion; and when God hath answered us in that, we do not rest in the integrity of parts, but desire that it may attain to a fulness of understanding and stature, and then, lastly, to a fulness of age. We would have full dishes, full cups, full coffers, full barns, a fulness of all things, save the best of all, which is the Holy Ghost. Any measure of spiritual grace contents us, so as we are ready to say with Esau, ‘I have enough, my brother.' There is a sinful kind of contentation, wherewith many fashionable Christians suffer themselves to be beguiled, to the utter