tempests, yet he will go through all, because he hath so resolved before- · hand. Things are either good or evil, as a man willeth them. The bent of the soul to God makes a man good.

Ans. 3. That thou mayest persevere to the end, labour, as for the_obedience of faith, to believe the truth, so for the obedience of practice. Labour to know the truth, and to practise what thou knowest, that so thou mayest be built on the rock Christ Jesus. If thou fall, it is thy own fault for building on the sand. Therefore, often put this question to thy soul, Is this truth that I hold? would I die for it? If so, then hold it fast, otherwise suspect there is unsoundness.

Ans. 4. Above all things, get the love of God in thy heart. This will constrain us to obedience. If we look altogether upon our discouragements, alas! we shall soon flag and fall away. But if we eye our encouragements, it is impossible we should desert Christ, or his truth. Who would not hold out, having such a captain, and such a cause as we fight for. Where the truth is received in the love of it, there is constancy.

None can come to
He must not own his

He

Ans. 5. Strive to grow daily in a denial of thyself. heaven, but he must first strip himself of himself. own wit, will, or affections; he must be emptied of himself wholly. must deny himself in all his aims after the world, in the pleasure, profit, or preferment of it. He must not respect anything if he will follow Christ. A respective religion is never a sound religion. A true Christian hath a single eye; he serves God for himself. A man that hath worldly aims hath a double eye as well as a double heart; such a one cannot but waver. Bring therefore single eyes, hearts, and aims to receive the word. It is the great fault of many; they bring false hearts with them to the ordinances of God. It is said of Israel that he brought Egypt into the wilderness, Num. xi. 18. So it is with most men, they think to have religion and their lusts together; but whatsoever doth begin in hypocrisy will end in apostasy. And know this, that he that hath religion needs not go out for aims or good company. He hath acquaintance with God and Christ, and he hath an eternal inheritance to aim at. There be encouragements enough in religion itself. We need not go out and look abroad for more. I speak this the rather, because false aims and ends is the ready means to undo men, when we have respect to such a man or such a thing in our practice of holiness. Joash was a good king all the while Jehoiada lived. This respect kept him in awe. The eye of a great person keeps some men in, and causeth them oft to blaze forth in a greater show, than many others less outwardly apparent, but more inwardly sincere.

Ans. 6. Labour, therefore, to have divine truths engrafted in thee; not to have them loose, for then they will never grow, but get them engrafted in thy heart, that so they may spring forth in thy life, as that which is set in a stock turns the stock into the same nature with it. We should embrace truths inwardly. And indeed God's children will have truths as belonging to themselves. As a wife receiving a letter from her husband, saith, This is sent to me, it belongs to me, so we should say in every truth, this was penned for me, and directed to my soul in particular.

Ans. 7. Lastly, That thou mayest grow deeper in religion, grow deeper and deeper in humiliation. Then a man is humble when he accounteth sin his greatest evil and grace his chiefest good. out in time of trial; and if temptations come on the or preferment, Oh, saith he, Christ is better to me!

Such a one will hold
right hand, of profit
And if sin comes on

F

the left hand, to draw him aside, Oh, saith he, this is the vilest thing in the world; it is the worst of all evils, I may not yield to it.

Obs. But to go on, from Demas his forsaking of Paul, and embracing of the present world, we learn, that the love of Christ and the world cannot lodge together in one heart.

Reason 1. The reason is, 1, They are two masters, ruling by contrary laws. Christ was resolved to suffer, but the world saith, Spare thyself,' Mat. xvi. 22. How can these agree? I deny not but a man may be truly religious, and abound with all outward blessings; but the love of the world, and love of religion, cannot harbour in one breast. When the love of the world entered into Judas, it is said the devil entered into him, John xiii. 2. Now, Christ and Satan are contrary one to the other. Where religion is, it carries the soul upwards to heaven and heavenly things; but where the love of the world is, it brings the soul downward to the earth and things below.

Use. This discovereth the gross hypocrisy of such men as labour to bring God and the world together, which cannot be. Where the world hath got possession in the heart, it makes us false to God and false to man. It makes us unfaithful in our callings, and false to religion itself. Labour therefore to have the world in its own place, under thy feet; for if we love the world, we shall break with religion, with our friend, with the church, and with God himself. We see how it hindered the man in the Gospel from blessedness. When once Christ told him he must sell all that he had, and give to the poor,' he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions,' Mat. xix. 22. Oh how do these things steal the good word out of our hearts, as the birds did the seed that was on the highway side,' Mat. xiii. 4. It even chokes the word, as the tares did the corn when it was sprung up, Mat. xiii. 26. Where this worldly love is, there can be no true profession of Christ, let men delude themselves never so much.

Quest. But how shall I know I love the world?

Ans. That will be seen by observing the bent of our heart, how it is swayed towards God and his service, and how towards things below. When two masters are parted, their servants will be known whom they serve, by following their own master. Blessed be God, in these times we enjoy both religion and the world together; but if times of suffering should approach, then it would be known whose servants we are. Consider therefore beforehand what thou wouldst do. If trouble and persecution should arise, wouldst thou stand up for Christ, and set light by liberty, riches, credit, all in comparison of him?

Yet we must know it is not the world simply that draws our heart from God and goodness, but the love of the world. Worldly things are good in themselves, and given to sweeten our passage to heaven. They sweeten the profession of religion, therefore bring not a false report upon the world. It is thy falseness that makes it hurtful, in loving it so much. Use it as a servant all thy days, and not as a master, and thou mayest have comfort therein. It is not the world properly that hurts us, but our setting our hearts upon it; whenas God should be in our thoughts, our spirits are even drunk with the cares below. Thorns will not prick of themselves, but when they are grasped in a man's hand they prick deep. So this world and the things thereof are all good, and were all made of God for the benefit of his creature, did not our immoderate affection make them hurtful, which indeed embitters every sweet unto us. This is the root of

all evil. When once a man's heart is set upon the world, how doth he set light by God, and the peace of his conscience, to attain his ends! How doth he break with God, his truth, religion, and all, to satisfy a lust! And indeed as we fasten our love, so we are either good or bad. We are not as we know, but as we love. If we set our love on earthly things, we ourselves become base and earthly; but if we love heavenly things, our conversations will be spiritual and divine. Our affections are those things which declare what we are. If we do not love religion, it is no matter what

we know or talk of it.

He that loves the world, brings it into the church with him. It is chief in his thoughts, and therefore he carries it about with him in his heart wherever he goes. As it is said of Israel, they carried Egypt into the wilderness, so these bring the world to the ordinances of God, they come to the hearing of the word like drones, leaving their stings behind them.

Paul saith not here 'Demas did forsake him' for fear of persecution, but 'for the love of the world.' Faults are in their aggravation as they are in deliberation. Peter denied his Master, but it was not with deliberation, whereas Demas did it in his cold blood. He loved the world, he set up the creature in his heart higher than the Creator.

Use. Labour therefore to know the world, that thou mayest detest it. In religion, the more we know the more we will love; but all the worldly things, the more we know the less we will affect them; as a picture afar off, it will shew well, but come near it and it is not so. Let us see, then, what the world is. Alas! it is but the present world,' which will vanish away suddenly. Poor Demas thought a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, and therefore he would brave it out a while; but, alas! what is become of him now? A worldling oftentimes, in seeking these things, loseth himself and the world too; but a Christian never loseth that which he seeks after, God and Christ, and the things of a better life. The more we know the vanities of the world and the excellencies of grace, the more we will love the one and hate the other.

Labour, then, for faith, that you may overcome the world. It was an excellent speech of Christ when he sent forth his disciples, 'Did you lack anything?' and they said, 'Nothing at all,' Luke xxii. 35. Labour therefore for faith to rely on the promise; for provision, protection, and all things needful. If God be our shepherd, we are sure to lack nothing.

And cherish a waking heart; lay hold of eternal life. The way to get this is not to be drunk of the world, but to be wise, redeeming your time; and balance these earthly things with heavenly. See what these fading comforts are to eternity. All the things we see here are temporal, but the things which are not seen, they are eternal, 2 Cor. iv. 18. Therefore we should let our affections run the right way, and have Abraham's eyes to see afar off, and feed our meditations with the things which we shall have hereafter, as Moses did.

I beseech you, let us prize the favour of God above all that the earth affords. What though we endure hardness here! Did Christ leave heaven to suffer for us, and shall not we suffer some straits for him? Faith can see a greater good in Christ than in the creature. This is that that will set out the vanity of the world and the excellency of heaven, the certainty of the one and the perishing condition of the other. It will make things to come as present with us, and find out a sufficiency in the worst estate.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.—HEB. XI. 13.

THIS chapter is a little book of martyrs. It discovers the life and death of the holy patriarchs, and by what means God's children are brought into possession of that that they have an interest and right unto upon earth. It is by faith. By faith we do and suffer all that we do and suffer, all that God hath ordained us to go through, till he have brought us and invested us to heaven, which is prepared for us.

In the former part of the chapter there is an induction, the instances of particular blessed patriarchs; and after he had named diverse particulars, he sums them up in this general, All these died in faith.'

In this verse there is,

First, The general set down, 'All these died in faith.'

And then the particular unfolding of this. They received not the promises, having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.' He sets down their faith particularly, hereby setting down what might hinder it and yet did not hinder it, 'the not receiving of the promises." "They received not the promises, and yet they believed the promises;' that is, the things promised. They were afar off, and yet they saw them. 'They saw them.' That is the first degree.

They were persuaded of them.' That is the second.
They embraced them.' That is the third.

They confessed they were pilgrims and strangers.' • All these died in faith.'

That is the fourth.

As there is one Christ,

• There is one faith from the beginning of the world. one salvation, so there is one uniform faith for the saving of our souls. We hope to be saved by Jesus Christ as they were.

I do but touch that.

* Faith Triumphant' forms 'five' of the Sermons of 'Evangelical Sacrifices' (4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is as follows:-'Faith Trivmphant. In five Sermons, on Heb. 11. 13. By the late Learned and Reverend Divine, Rich. Sibbs. Doctor in Divinity, Mr of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne. Luke 7. 50. And hee said to the woman, thy faith hath saved thee, goe in peace. London, Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Royall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the guilt Bible in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster-Row. 1639.'

Then again, here is implied a continuance and perseverance in faith. '‘All these died in faith;' that is, they lived in faith and by faith till they died, and then they died in faith. Faith first makes a Christian, and then after, he lives by faith. It quickens the life of grace, and then he leads his life by that faith. He continues in it till he come to death, which is the period of all, and then he dies by that faith. But of perseverance to the end and the helps to it, I spake at large upon another occasion, therefore I omit it.* 'All these died in faith.' Faith carried them along all their lifetime till death itself. Now that faith that helped them through all the difficulties of this life, that faith by which they lived, in that faith they died. They died in faith.'

6

In the faith of the Messiah, in faith of Canaan, in faith of heaven. For the patriarchs, they had not Canaan till many hundred years after. It was a type of heaven. They had not Christ till some thousands of years after. So they died in faith of Christ, of Canaan, and of heaven. The benefits by Christ is the upshot of all this. They died in faith.' They died in faith.' He doth not say how otherwise they died, because it is not material whether they died rich or poor, great or mean. God takes no great notice of that, nor a Christian takes no great notice of it. They died in faith.' Whether they died a violent or a peaceable death it is no matter; they died blessed, in that they died in faith. They died in faith,' which in other phrase is, 'to die in the Lord,' 'to sleep in the Lord;' because whosoever dies in faith, dies in Christ. Faith lifts them up to Christ, and they sleep in Christ. It is a happy thing to die in Christ. Now those that die in faith, they die in Christ. Blessed are those that die in the Lord, they rest from their labours,' saith the apostle, Rev. xiv. 13.

• All these died in faith.'

They continued in faith to death, and then they ended their days in faith. When death closed up the eyes of their bodies, then with the eye of faith they looked upon Christ, upon God in Christ reconciled to them. The point is clear, that

Doct. The grace of faith, it is such a grace that it carries a Christian through all the passages of this life.

It enableth him to hold out to the end, to suffer those things that he is to suffer, and in the end by it he dies. And when all things else leave him in death, when riches leave him, when friends leave him, when honour and great places leave him, when his life and senses leave him, when all leave him, yet faith will never leave him till it have put him in full possession of heaven, and then it ceaseth when it hath done the work it hath to do, which is to bring us to heaven. Then it is swallowed up in vision and sight, and hope into fruition, and enjoying of the thing hoped for. It is a blessed grace, that stands by us, and goes along with us, and comforts us in all the passages of this life, and even in death itself, in those dark passages. It never forsakes us till it have put us in possession of heaven. 'All these died in faith.'

Quest. What is it to die in faith?

Ans. To die in faith, as I said, is to die in the Lord by faith; and it looks to the time past, present, to come.

1. To the time past. To die in faith is to die in assurance of the forgiveness of sins, when by faith and repentance we have pulled out the sting of sins past. For faith looks upon Christ, and Christ hath taken the sting * The perseverance of the saints will be found frequently discussed by Sibbes throughout his works. For references see the Index.-G.