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Secondly, As it is a mercy and blessing for a nation to be settled and established, so for the church of God: for when the church hath this rest, then it is edified, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, Acts ix. 31.

Establishment is the mercy promised to the church also, Isa. ii. 2, "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains:" what is more settled on earth than a mountain? The house of the Lord shall be as a mountain upon the mountains in the last days; great shall be the glory of the latter days. As the sins and apostacies of the latter days, shall be the greatest sins and apostacies; so the glory of the churches, shall be the greatest in the last days: and the establishment of the churches, is not only promised, but promised as part of the glory of the latter times.

It is that mercy and blessing which the apostles laboured for continually. First they took a great deal of pains to convert, and bring men home to God; being converted, the apostles then formed them into several churches; and churches being planted, then their great work and business was to establish them, Acts xiv. 21, "And when they had pleached the gospel to that city" or had gospelized that city, "and had taught many," or had discipled many, or those that were fit and worthy, "they returned again to Lystra, to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith," &c.*

This they also prayed for; and therefore as the apostle Peter shuts up his Epistle with this prayer for the dispersed christian-Jews: so the apostle Paul doth close up his Epistle to the Corinthians, with the same desire and prayer for them; 2 Cor. xiii., " And this also we wish, even your perfection," verse 9, τ vμwv kalaphoav. And, Rom. xvi. 25, he concludes thus: "Now to him that is of power to establish you,” &c. υμας στηριξαι where the apostle Paul useth two of

in aqua quocunque vento impellente, aut levi aquarum decursu, ita Israeli incideret in magnas calamitates et Deus faceret eum tam passibilem ut a quocunque insurgente contra eum posset percuti.-Abulens. in Loc.

* Ευαγγελισαμενοι την πολιν εκείνην και μαθητεύσαντες ικανους επιστηριζονίες τας ψυχάς των μαθηλων παρακαλούντες εμμένειν τη πιστει.

these four words that are used by Peter. The closing wish doth always fall upon some precious mercy.

And as it is the mercy prayed for, so sometimes it is made the signal mercy, whereby the church is declared to be the church of Christ; "Whose house ye are," saith the apostle to the Hebrews, "if you hold fast the confidence of your rejoicing, stedfast to the end." An house is settled, fixed, and established; a tent is removable, but a house is not so: unworthy are those of the name of the house of God, that are unsettled in the truth: "These things write I unto thee, saith Paul to Timothy, "that thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth." Yea, every member of a church, should be the pillar in the house of God. So the Lord promiseth to the church of Philadelphia. Surely therefore it is matter of great importance for a church and people of God, to be settled and established.

But thirdly and especially: It is a great mercy and blessing for a particular soul to be settled in the truth, and established in the good ways of God. "It is a good thing," saith the apostle," that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, which have not profited them that have been exercised therein." Possibly a man's heart may be comforted and strengthened with meats, Ps. civ. 15, it is said, “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Where the same word is used by the Septuagint, that is here used in the text.* But the apostle Paul doth relate to the ceremonial law: for the Jews converted to Christ, were too superstitiously addicted to the observation of legal ceremonies, especially those which concerned meats,† and difference of meats, Rom. xiv. 2; Col. ii. 16, and to those is this speech opposed; "It is good that the heart be established with grace" as if he should say, some think to find establishment in the observation of meats, and doctrines for the Jewish ceremonies, but the best establishment, is in the doctrine of the gospel, and the grace of

* Aloç Kadiav arbропws ngilu.-Septuagint.

† Judæi ad Christum conversi superstitiosius inhærebant observationi legalium ceremonialum cum primis discrimini ciborum a Moyse prescripto illis hæc sen tentia est opposita.-Gerrard in loc.

God revealed in the gospel. Some think that by grace here, we are to understand holiness, and those spiritual gifts whereby men are sanctified. But having said in the former words, "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines:" these words seem to comply and correspond better with them, if by grace we understand the doctrine of the New Testament; from which the Galatians are said to fall, "Ye are fallen from grace," when they returned to the law : but in both respects, it is a good or beautiful thing, that the heart be established with grace.* For,

It is the ground of all our fruitfulness: ye know how it is with a tree or plant, though in itself it be never so good, yet if it be not settled in the earth, it bringeth forth no fruit: if the plant be good, and the soil good, it may bring forth good fruit; but if you be always removing it from one place to another, it cannot bring forth fruit. And what is the reason that many are so unfruitful in their lives, but because they are so unsettled in their hearts and judgments? The tree that is planted by the water's side, brings forth fruit in its season, Ps. i. But as for the ungodly, it is not so with them, "They are as the chaff," that brings forth no fruit, whom "the wind drives to and fro." And the truth is, an unsettled man, is neither fit to receive good, nor to do good. So long as the vessel is moved up and down, ye cannot pour the liquor into it; and who can write exactly when his arm is jogged? Can any man walk exactly in a crowd, which one while carrieth him this way, and another while that way? No surely: neither can an unsettled, unestablished heart walk exactly with the Lord his God.

It is the bottom of all our praises: The birds do not ordinarily sing till they be set; they do not usually sing flying; but when they are fixed, then they begin to sing: so saith David, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed;" and what then? then saith he, "I will sing and give praise;" but not till then: and what is the reason that many pass so many years of their lives in doubtings and fears, never prais

* Quidam in genere intelligunt interna et spiritu lia Dei dona quibus homines sanctificantur; quidam doctrinam Christianam fide susceptam. Oratiam Christianismi, ut sit sensus firmitatem et stabilimentum cordis quærendum esse in gratia Dei quam N. T. mediator Christus attulit, non in observatione ciborum quam Moses tradidit. Ibid.

ing God for any love, or mercy to them? but because they are unsettled in their spiritual estate and condition.

It is the beginning of our perseverance: then I begin to persevere, when I begin to settle, and to be established; as instability is the beginning of apostacy, so settled ness is the beginning of perseverance.

It is that good thing which pleaseth God exceedingly : God was so pleased with Jehoshaphat upon that account, that he passed by, and winked at all his infirmities, even because his heart was fixed and established, 2 Chron. xix. 2, the prophet reproves him for joining with the ungodly; "Nevertheless," saith he, "there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart:" so ye read it: but I think rather, "And hast fixed, established, or set thine heart to seek God." On the contrary, it is said of Rehoboam, though he did many good things, that "he did evil in the sight of the Lord, because he prepared not;" or, because he fixed not, established not, set not his heart to seek God, 2 Chron. xii. 14, it is the same word which we translate, establish, in other scriptures,* as Ps. xl. 2, " He hath set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings ;" and it notes, such a fixation and settlement, whereby a man doth so continue in his way and course that he will not be put out of it. This Rehoboam wanted; for he was 57, a soft hearted man naturally and though he did many things that were right and good, yet he was led by the counsel of his young men, and his heart was not set and fixed to seek the Lord: but Jehoshaphat was of a stedfast spirit, and would not be put out of his way, and therefore though he did some things amiss, yet the Lord commends him, and accepts of him: so that, although a man do many good things; yet if his heart be not fixed, and established, the Lord will pass by, and not regard the same: but though a man do commit great evils, yet if his heart be set to seek the Lord, God will pardon and pass by all his failings. Oh, what a blessed frame of heart, is this fixed spirit. Surely it is that grace wherein God is much delighted: an unsettled soul God cares not for,

* 717 in Niphal 112 Paratus, sirmus stabilis qui nec everti nec impediri qacat in Pirl. et Hiphil. paravit preparavit firmavit canfirmavit, stabilivit, includit firmitatem et certitudinem.-Shindlerg.

nor for any work or service that is done by him. We read of hundreds and thousands of vessels of gold, silver, and brass that were in the temple, but not of one crystal glass or vessel; why so, saith one, but because that is of a brittle, fragile, and uncertain nature? which, as it hath no colour of its own, so it is apt to receive the colour of any liquor.* So is an unsettled man, and unconstant, whom God cares not for in his temple and service. Who cares for the service of a fool; or regards the prayers, desires, and petitions of a fool? If a fool knock earnestly at your door, you say to your servant, Go not to the door, it is the fool that knocketh; and if a fool come and speak to you, you regard not what he saith. Now an unconstant, unsettled soul, is a foolish soul. It is the property of a fool to be always beginning; he begins a good work, and then he leaves it off; then he begins another, and he leaves off that; Stultus semper incipit vivere, the fool doth always begin to live: and the same word in the Hebrew, and Scipture phrase, that signifies an inconstant man, signifies a fool:† and if ye look into Eccles. v., ye shall find, that the sacrifice of fools, is called so upon account of unconstancy and unsettledness; for, says Solomon, "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed," verse 4. And therefore, if an unsettled man pray and knock at God's door, he will say, Let him alone, regard him not, it is that unsettled fool, that unconstant fool, who is off and on, to and fro in my service. God hath no pleasure in fools, and an unsettled, unestablished soul, is a fool in Scripture language; surely therefore he is so in the eyes of God. But if a man be fixed and established, the Lord delighteth in him, and in all those works and services that are done by him. Establishing grace is a great mercy.

* Cur quæso in tanta multitudine vasorum, ne unum quidem vitreum reperitur? dices quod cum facile frangatur est symbolum inconstantiæ, quam Deus, vult a suo templo exulare. Ita est, sed ulterius addo, quod vitrum quam expers est coloris proprii, tam facile refert alienos, quibuscunque enim liquoribus imbuitur statim concolor efficitur, sub hoc igitur typo voluit Deus a suo obsequio arcere eos omnes qui non servant unam vivendi rationem, sed in diversa studia feruntur, et nunc hos nunc illos mores imitantur.-Mendoza in Reg. i. cap. i. p. 300.

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