God." (Heb. xii. 14) So much as we blemish our holiness, we do obscure and sully our hope. b

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7. Against the honour of religion, which is thereby exceedingly wounded and reproached. (2 Sam. xii. 14) The apostle frequently exhorteth us to walk worthy of our high calling,' so as 'becometh the gospel,' that we may adorn the doctrine' of our Lord Jesus, and put to silence the ignorance' of foolish men; that they may be ashamed, who falsely accuse our good conversation, ut nemo de nobis male loqui sine mendacio possit: to be tender of the name of God, and his doctrine, that these may not be blasphemed. (See Eph. iv. 1. Phil. i. 27. 1 Thes. ii. 12. Tit. ii. 10. 1 Tim. vi. 1. 2 Cor. vi. 3. 1 Pet. ii. 15, and iii. 16) For though it be most illogical and absurd, to charge a holy doctrine with the blame of those sins, which the professors thereof, contrary to the rules of their own profession, and in obedience only to their own lusts, do commit; yet so much ignorance and malice there is in wicked men, as to blaspheme God for the sins of his people, and to reproach the rectitude of the rule, for the obliquity of their lives who swerve and vary from it. And by how much the greater ingratitude it is, to be honoured by God, as his servants are, and yet to dishonour him; by so much the more heinous are those sins, whereby we neither sanctify God in our own hearts, and open the mouths of others to pour contempt upon him.

8. Against the souls of our brethren, which are thereby greatly scandalized for as there is joy in heaven, and consequently among the saints on earth, (whose affections and conversations are heavenly) for the conversion of a sinner, and great mutual comfort in the communion of Saints, insomuch that the joy of one is the joy of all the rest; (1 Cor. xv. 31. 2 Cor. ii. 3) so when a converted person relapseth into any sin, it must needs sadden and offend the souls of all who rejoiced in his standing, and possibly become a stumbling-block, and an occasion of falling unto them; as the apostle sheweth, Rom. xv. 21. 1 Cor. viii. 10, 13.

Qui sibi male vivendi licentiam indulgent, totidem sunt Christianismi probra et maculæ Calv. Opusc. de Scandalis.—Magna insania est Evangelio non credere, cujus veritatem sanguis Martyrum clamat, prodigia probant, ratio confirmat, mundus testatur, elementa loquuntur, dæmones confitentur: sed longè major insania, si de Evangelii veritate non dubitas, vivere tamen quasi de ejus falsitate non dubitares. Jo. Picus Mirandulo, Epist.

9. Against the souls of the wicked, who are thereby hardened and encouraged. (Ezek. xvi. 54) When wicked men, who possibly had some conflict and regret in their consciences against those sins which their hearts hanker after, observe holy men overtaken with them, and indulge unto them; like Benhadad's servants, they hastily catch at such an advantage, and are emboldened by their example unto sin, whose holy lives they neither love nor imitate. Therefore of all people, they who are called by God's name, and have him for their God, should, in special manner, humble themselves before him for their sins, as sins whereby he is in special manner grieved and dishonoured; should, above all others, take heed of playing the wantons with Divine Grace. For though God be a tender and a loving Father, yet he may be an angry Father; and who knoweth the power of his anger? (Psalm xc. 11) Though thou art a son, and an heir of salvation, yet thou mayest be Filius sub ira,' a son under displeasure: and when thou art so, thou wilt find, by sad experience, that one frown of his brow, one stroke of his rod, hath infinitely more bitterness in it, than there is sweetness in the pleasures of a thousand sins. And since God's own people do, by their sins, contribute unto public judgements, they should be the more careful to stand in the breach, and to improve their interests in him for the procuring of renewed mercies, to mind him of his gracious covenant, and of his fatherly relation unto them; as the church doth: (Psalm Ixxiv. 20) Forget not the congregation of the poor, have respect unto thy covenant. Thou, O Lord, art our Father; we are thine; (Isai. lxiii. 16, 19) be not wroth very sore, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see we beseech thee, we are all thy people.” (Isai. Ixiv. 9)

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Thou art righteous.] 1. In thy judgements and chastisements which thou hast inflicted upon us: we cannot blame thy severity; thou didst warn us before thou didst punish us; thy trumpet did sound, before thy rod did smite us.

1. Thou art a righteous judge; when thou condemnest wicked men, their mouths shall be stopped; thou wilt overcome when thou judgest: (Psalm li. 4. Rom. iii. 19) thou dóst not wrong them; for they shall receive according to their works.

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of the covenant

e that are in coveheir safety he doth who otherwise, from stray. (Mal. iii. 6, 7) o everlasting;' (Psalm tination, to everlasting nd promised eternal life, . 9. Tit. i. 2) before they rther than in the purpose Destowed, to whom the life from eternity purpose, he gifts are without repentance. s faith and fear, preserve his to that mercy which he hath er. xxxii. 40. 1 Pet. i. 5) Of ously, and frequently from their the Lord doth chastise their wanather, but doth not utterly take (Psalm lxxxix. 28-35)

ace thereof, is free and absolute, not led upon the unstable will of man. twilleth, or runneth, but of God that

showeth it on whom he will. (Rom. God, the Father indeed, and Christ, the transaction of the covenant was He was to take from his Father a nature, to lay down his life, and to ; to fulfil all righteousness; to be made have our iniquities, and the chastisement aid upon him, before he could see of the Soul. Yea, he undertook not only for his own for ours. By the preciousness of his blood he d; and out of the plenitude of his spirit, he supnto us whatever grace is requisite unto our salvation. say, as to us, the grace of the covenant is thus far

em, in æternum per glorificationem: Bernard. Ante mundi constitutionem vidit nos, fecit nos, mit nos. Hoc ejus consilium manet in æter

2. Thou art a 'righteous Father:' when thou chastisest holy men, thou dost not wrong them; thou measurest and proportionest thy stripes not unto their sins, but unto their strength; dealest with them tenderly, and suitable to their cases and conditions; to purge them, not to consume them. Thou hast a rod for the cummin, and a staff for the fitches, and a wheel for the bread-corn. (Isai. xxviii. 27, 28) Thy rod is Virga Hominum,' a rod fitted to the condition of weak men; (2 Sam. vii. 14) and the temptation wherewith thou sufferest thy children to be tempted, is πειρασμὸς ἀνApúvos, proportioned to the infirmities of man. (1 Cor. x. 13) Thou knowest our frame; thou rememberest that we are dust; (Psalm cxxxiii. 14) that our strength is not the strength of stones, nor our flesh of brass; that we dwell in houses of clay, which are crushed before the moth; (Job iv. 19, and vi. 12) and accordingly thou dost in very faithfulness afflict, to refine, not to consume us.

3. Yea, when thy judgements are secret, yet they are righteous. When wicked men prosper, and good men suffer; when wicked men are the fan, and good men the corn; when the weeds flourish, and the corn is over-topped; when the wicked devoureth the man, that is more righteous than he; when the affairs of the world seem to be out of course, and every man out of his place; all this while the Lord makes way for the revelation of his righteous judgements. His work will be beautiful in its time. All things will work together for good, as materials in a building, ingredients in a cordial, colours in a table. (Rom. viii. 28) The prosperity of the wicked will work to his ruin; (Prov. i. 3) the affliction of the righteous will work to his glory. (2 Cor. iv. 17) Thus, righteous in thy judgements; neither thine enemies, nor thy children, shall ever have cause justly to complain against thee.

"Thou art righteous."] 2. In thy covenant and promises. If thou shouldst have dealt with us according to our provocations, we had been consuined; (Lam. iii. 22. Jer. x. 24) but thou hast remembered thy gracious promise to our fathers, and therefore we are preserved. Though our sins have forfeited mercy, yet thy truth and faithfulness hath fulfilled it. We owe not our remaining, that we are a people; we owe not our escaping, that we are a free people,-unto any