Secondly, FOR the motives to press you to this: to live, so that you may condemn the world, that you may make them own their guilt and shame.
1. You may be a means to convert them. All are bound as much as they can to co-operate to the conversion of men. It is a debt of charity that we owe to the world, especially if we consider the relation we sustain as God's witnesses, as Christ's epistles. Now what an honour would this be to further the good of souls! 'What glory would it be to God, and honour to yourselves: Mat. v. 16, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.' Oh, how sweet will this be when men shall come and bless God that ever they were acquainted with you, when they shall bless God for the 'lustre of your conversation, and for the light of holiness that shines forth in your lives! Ministers have a great deal of honour in that they are employed in the conversion of souls, when they are successful in the work; they will all have their crown and rejoicing in the day of Christ. Now God invites you that are private christians to the conversion of souls. It may be you formerly have done hurt by the carelessness of your lives. Nature is very susceptible of evil; we easily take sickness one from another, but not health; and therefore you should be the more earnest to lay the pious holy snares of a godly conversation, that you may be a means to win them to God.
2. If you do not convert them, you will leave them without excuse; you will have further cause to applaud the righteous counsels of God in the great day, when you shall sit with Christ upon the bench. The apostle saith, 1 Cor. vi. 2, that 'The saints shall judge the world;' then by sentence, now by conversation; then by applauding of the righteousness of God in their just execution. Now if you look to judge the world with Christ, begin it for the present, condemn the world in your conversation.
3. If you do not condemn them, you will justify them. A carnal profession justifies the world, and a godly christian condemns the world. Judah justified Sodom and Samaria: Ezek. xvi. 52, 'Be confounded, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.' You do justify their prejudices; you put an excuse into their mouths, as if religion were as bad as they make it. It will be sad for the account of hypocrites in the last day, when wicked men shall come forth as witnesses, and plead, Lord, we never thought these had been thy servants, because they were so proud, so self-seeking, so full of aspiring projects, so factious and turbulent. When wicked men are hardened by carnal professors, at the last day this will impress a shame upon them. A professor overtaken with sin may do more hurt than a thousand others; the Hams of the world will laugh to see a Noah drunk. The wickedness of some hypocrites crept in among the church hath always been a great means of hardening the world, and been a stone of stumbling to them; and by 'such the way of truth is evil spoken of,' 2 Peter ii. 2.
4. By condemning the world you will justify the ways of God; you will force wicked men whether they will or no, to say that the ways of God are holy and true, and to say these men are honest, and that which they profess is religion. It is the duty of every servant of God to justify his profession from the reproach and scandal of the world: Mat. xi. 19, 'Wisdom is justified of her children.' Justification implies condemnation and reproach. So Titus ii. 10, 'That you may adorn the doctrine of God your saviour.' Look, as men of great parts, and are carnal, when they take the wrong way, they put a varnish and ornament upon the devil's cause; so godly and strict christians, when they keep up the majesty of their conversation, they adorn their profession, and are an ornament and credit to Jesus Christ.
5. You will lose nothing by it; then God will not be ashamed of you as those, whose design was for heaven: Heb. xi. 16, 'God is not ashamed to be called their God.' God will think it to be no dishonour to himself that he hath such kind of servants; he will not be ashamed to be called your God, and Christ your Christ. But usually it may be said of most of us, Dicimur christiani in opprobrium Christi; we are called christians to the very disgrace of Jesus Christ, because of the folly and sinfulness of our lives.
Use 2. To wicked men, to press them to observe and improve the conversation of those godly and mortified christians with whom they do converse. Look to the frame of your hearts whenever you are cast into their company. How often hath thy heart smote thee when thou hast heard their gracious discourse, and seen their holy conversation? Observe, what hast thou done upon such occasions? Some wicked men, more touched with a sense of religion, when their consciences work, when they see the beauty and heavenliness of their lives, they seek to drive them out, and forget these things. Ah! consider, this will be a means not only to harden thee for the present, but to condemn thee; when men have had much remorse and smiting of conscience, if they do not observe it, they grow the more obdurate and hardened in sin, which will be a means of thy utter ruin. God hath a book of remembrance, and how many witnesses will there be brought against thee at that day? Not only ministers that have shaken off the dust of their feet against thee, but godly men who condemn thee by their lives. God will remember thee; those agonies and secret nips of conscience shall rise up in judgment against thee, to the confusion of thy face; thy rebellion is mightily aggravated and sealed up by it to destruction, when thou art condemned by the innocency of their lives. But now others, when they are smitten in conscience by observing the strictness and graciousness of God's children, they rage and rail, imagine scandalous thoughts against them; or else they hate and persecute them, as it is the old trick of the world to malign what they have no mind to imitate, - as 'Cain slew his brother because his works were righteous,' 1 John iii. 10. Few there are that confess the wickedness of their estate, that give glory to God when they are convinced. If thou canst not endure the lustre of godliness in a saint, how wilt thou endure the presence of Jesus Christ in that day? Noah condemned the world, and did not a judgment follow? When you are reproached in your conscience by the sight of their conversation, take notice of it that it may be a day of visitation to thy soul.
Use 3. For comfort against the reproaches of the world. They may condemn you in word, but you condemn them in life. When a man is running a race, no matter for the judgment of standers-by, or those that contend with us, all depends upon the master of the sports and the umpire of the race. So wicked men may scoff at you, standers-by may mock and slander your godly conversation; it is no matter, if God acquit you, and if you have praise with him. As a man that outruns another is said to cast his adversary; so you that outrun the wicked, and outshine them in godliness, you condemn them really, and the judge of the race will determine of your side. And therefore if the world reproach you, this is the revenge you should take upon them, to be the more strict, to give out the greater lustre of holiness, so you will be revenged upon wicked men in an innocent way; if you be more strict, this will stop their mouths.
Some things might be observed from that expression, 'the world,' viz. -
1. Observe, that we must obey God, and walk in innocency and strictness, though we be alone. As here most of the world were naught; there were but a few good, but eight persons, saved in the ark, and among them a Ham. Sometimes it is safer to go against the stream than with it.
2. Observe also, that multitudes cannot keep off the strokes of God's vengeance. God can dissolve all confederacies and combinations against himself: Prov. xi. 21, 'Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.'
3. Observe also, compliance with the multitude doth not lessen the sin, but rather increase it. When we see men fall into the gulf, it is more foolish if we will follow after them.
I might clear a doubt which some move, whether all the world that were drowned in the flood were eternally lost? Certain we are the scripture rather doth carry it that they were all eternally lost, for they are called 'the world of the ungodly,' 2 Peter ii. 5, and 'the 'spirits that are now in prison, who sometimes were disobedient,' 1 Peter iii. 19, 20; and yet by probable conjectures some exception may be made, for it is probable that some might have time to call upon God for mercy, and some of them that perished came of the holy race, and possibly some might be moved with the approach of the judgment.
I come to the last words - 'And became,' &c. To make way for the points, I shall first open the words - 'He became;' that is, he was then discovered to be so. Noah was righteous before, and had 'found grace in the eyes of God,' Gen. vi. 8; and verse 9, 'Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and Noah walked with God.' Yet it is said after he built the ark, then 'he became;' that is, then he was discovered to be what he was. It is the fashion of scripture to say that things are done when they are clearly manifested and discovered. There is a parallel instance: James ii. 23, 'And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness;' then it was fulfilled when he offered up Isaac, yet the saying was used of Abraham long before he offered up his son: Gen. xv. 6, 'And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness;' but the meaning is, then it appeared how truly it was said of him. God giving him again a solemn testimony: Gen. xxii. 12, 'Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing then thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son, from me.' So it is here; Noah, after he had prepared an ark, 'became,' that is, then he was visibly declared to be, an heir of the covenant of grace; God dealing with Noah just as he dealt with Abraham, confirming his faith by a solemn testimony: Gen. vii. 1, 'God said to Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation;' now I have found thou art righteous before me, that is, by a righteousness of faith; for by the works of the law none can be righteous in his sight: Rom. iii. 20, 'By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.' And to that testimony the apostle alludeth here.
'An heir.' The word 'heir' is sometimes put for 'possessor,' especially if we have a firm right, and if it be such a possession upon which there depends a further heritage. So Jesus Christ, who is lord and possessor of all things, is said to be 'the heir of all things,' Heb. i. 2. All firm and perpetual possession among the Hebrews is expressed by the term 'heritage;' so that to be an heir is nothing else but to obtain, to be a possessor, to be interested in this righteousness of faith. Though possibly the apostle might intend that he succeeded as immediate heir in the line of the church, or head of that race among whom the righteousness of faith is professed.
'Of the righteousness which is by faith.' By faith is meant faith in the Messiah; and righteousness is here put for the righteousness of justification, or rather I conceive for the reward of righteousness - acceptance with God, possession of the whole world, and the enjoyment of the everlasting recompenses, all which are here called righteousness, because all these things are built and founded upon the righteousness of Christ which is possessed by faith; of which righteousness Noah professed himself an heir. And this is that righteousness he did press upon men in his age, inculcating and commending the same hopes to others. Therefore he is said to be 'a preacher of righteousness,' 2 Peter ii. 5, because he pressed them to return to God, and seek the forgiveness of their sins by faith in the Messiah.
The points are three - (1.) That there is a righteousness by faith; (2.) This righteousness is an heritage; (3.) That our title to this heritage is evidenced to be right and good by the special operations of faith.
Doct. 1. That there is a righteousness by faith. This I have largely spoken of in ver. 4. I shall only now observe two things -
1. That this righteousness is a righteousness opposed to the righteousness of the law, or exact obedience as fulfilled in our own persons. A clear place for that is Rom. iv. 13, where it is said of Abraham that 'the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,' - mark the opposition, - 'but through the righteousness of faith;' where there is a plain distinction and opposition of the law to the righteousness of faith. The best of God's children are accepted out of grace, and justified by faith, not works. Noah was a just and perfect man in his generation; he was the best alive in his time, and yet his claim was not of right but of grace; 'he found grace' though he were 'a just man,' Gen. vi. 8,9. In the children of God there is a care of holiness and obedience; but their reception into God's favour is not built upon their obedience, because that is imperfect and mixed with sin; but upon the righteousness which is by faith.
2. It is a righteousness that is opposed to any act, virtue, and grace of our own. When the apostle had spoken of his own personal excellences, he concludes all thus, Phil. iii. 9, 'That I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness;' where Paul clearly shows that it is such a righteousness as we have by being found in Christ; such as doth not arise from any act of ours, but by virtue of our union with him. Our guilt is so great that when wrath makes inquisition for sinners, nothing will cover it but the righteousness of the Son of God: Rom. iii. 22, 'Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; so that there is no difference.' He saith it is the righteousness of God, either such as God hath appointed, or such as is merited by a person that is God; for indeed there is a righteousness of God, that essential righteousness which Christ hath with the Father, which is incommunicable either to man or angel, no more than God can communicate to the creature any other of his essential attributes, as omnipotency, eternity, &c; but it is the righteousness of Christ who is God-man, his cautionary or surety; righteousness, which he performed in our stead, which by virtue of our union to him is made ours; and the instrument on our part to receive it is faith, and therefore by consequence the objects of it are all believers without difference.
Doct. 2. That this righteousness is a heritage. So the apostle intimates when he saith he 'became an heir.' Now it is a heritage in several respects.
1. Because of the dignity and excellency of the blessing itself, with all the consequences of it. The blessing itself is a fair Portion; it is a legacy left us by Jesus Christ. Look, as when Elijah went to heaven he left Elisha his cloak; so when Jesus Christ went to heaven he left us his garment, his own righteousness as a legacy to us, which is a covering that is not too short to make us accepted with God. The gospel is called the new testament; it is the will of Christ, and among other legacies he hath left us his righteousness. Look, as a father entails his land upon his children, so Jesus Christ hath left us what he had. As to the outward state, Christ had nothing to leave us, he was poor and despicable; but that which was eminent in Christ was his righteousness and obedience, and this he hath left to us as the pledge of his love. Christ's righteousness is an excellent privilege and heritage, a better heritage than all the world; he is a rich man indeed that hath it. All other things are but an additional supply, that is the main blessing: Mat. vi. 33, 'Seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, and all other things shall be added to you.' The great and main blessing that we should seek and look after in the world is an interest in the righteousness of Christ; other things are cast in as paper and packthread into the bargain. This is a jewel which cost Christ very dear to purchase it for us, and he is a rich man indeed that hath it. Look, as the wise merchant sold all to purchase the pearl of great price, Mat. xiii. 46; so if we suffer the loss of all, it will make us amends if we have this pearl of great price; all else is but dung and dross. Those in the world that have large revenues, that join house to house, and field to field, alas! they have but a spot of earth, in the map it is nothing; but he that hath Christ and his righteousness, he is the rich and great man, greater than the greatest monarch upon earth if he be carnal; and he may say with David, Ps. xvi. 6, 'I have a goodly heritage,' when he had made God his portion, and hath an interest in the righteousness of Christ.
2. It is called a heritage to note the largeness of our portion and spiritual estate. Let us consider the consequences of this righteousness; it is our title and claim to all other blessings that can be had. The children of God have the largest patrimony that ever was - 'All things are yours,' saith the apostle, 1 Cor. iii. 21. Though God do not give us the actual possession, yet we hare a general right. And all things are theirs by way of reduction in the final issue and event; all for the good of the heirs of promise, though all be not yours in the way of actual possession and enjoyment; that may be hurtful to us. But to come to particulars, there cannot be two more magnificent words spoken in the whole creation than heaven and earth, yet they are both yours by virtue of this righteousness.
[1.] For the earth; for most difficulty seems to be there. Many a christian hath not a foot of land, yet it is true all things are his. It is said of Abraham, Rom. iv. 13, 'For the promise that he should be the heir of the world,' &c. And we have the blessing of Abraham, who through the righteousness of faith was re-established in the right which Adam had before the fall. Wherever God should cast his portion, he might look upon it as his, as made over to him in Christ. Both the comfortable and the sanctified enjoyment of the creature is a part of our portion, we have it by virtue of this righteousness, God hath created all refreshments for believers that they might receive them with thanksgiving: 1 Tim iv 3, 'Commanding to abstain from meats, which God had created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.' Believers only have a covenant right to make use of the good creatures and outward supports and refreshments of life. I cannot say that wicked men are usurpers of what they possess, it is their portion: Ps. xvii. 14, 'The men of the world, which have their portion in this life;' yet they have not a covenant-title as believers have; they have not these things from a loving father, from a God in covenant with them; they do not work for good to their souls. I say they are not usurpers before God; they have a general title and a creature right, but not a covenant right, till interested in Christ; this they lost in Adam. The devils themselves have their being by a creature right, so the young ravens have their food, so wicked men have a creature right; but all this is salted with a curse, and proves a snare to them. But now, whatever a christian hath, he hath it from his father from mercy, from a God in covenant with him, so he is an heir of the world; whatever of the world falls to his share, he may look upon it as a blessing of the covenant, as that which will not hinder but further his salvation. In Christ we have a new right to the creature, and we have a sanctified use of it, Heb. i. 2. It is said of Christ, that 'he is heir of all things;' we can have no part of the inheritance but by and through him, for Adam was disinherited, and he lost his covenant right over the creature by his fall; but in Christ the title is renewed. If all the world were yours, it would be no blessing to you if you could not look upon it as a legacy from Christ, as a thing that you hold by a covenant right, as that wherein you are interested by the righteousness of faith.
[2.] As the world is theirs, so heaven is theirs too. You are an heir-apparent to the kingdom of heaven: James ii. 5, 'Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?' He is an heir to a crown, and the fairest crown that ever was. A poor believer walks up and down in the world in a despicable appearance, like princes in disguise in a foreign country and strange land; they have a royal patrimony and a large estate, though their appearance be despicable; the world that looks upon them thinks them miserable, that all their hopes lie 'in terra incognita,' in an invisible land, that shall never be found out. But it is not so far but the children of God may see it through the prospective of faith, which is the evidence of things not seen. Indeed the children of God are wont to do so, they go up often to the top of Pisgah, and view the promised land and with Abraham they walk through it, and do, as it were, hear God say, All this is made over to thee in Christ; and they live upon this reversion. The Lord would not weary us with expectation too much; therefore we have somewhat in hand, but the best of our portion is to come. We are all God's children, 'heirs and co-heirs with Christ,' Rom, viii. 17. Christ and we do, as it were, divide heaven betwixt us. We have a share in all his father's goods; we have one father, therefore hereafter we shall dwell in one house, and enjoy the same estate - 'I go to prepare a place for you,' John xiv. 3; 'I will that they also may behold my glory,' John xvii. 24. Christ speaks as if he were not contented with his own heaven without our company.
3. It is called a heritage to show the nature of our tenure. You know of all tenures, inheritance is the most free, most sure, and the most honourable; and indeed in this way do we hold all the blessings of the covenant.
[1.] It is a free tenure. All that God seeks to magnify in the covenant is his glorious grace from first to last. In heaven we shall admire free grace: 2 Thes. i. 10, 'He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.' Reward and wages are more servile terms, suited to a covenant made with servants; but heritage is for children. Therefore the apostle, speaking to godly servants, saith, Col. ii. 23 - 25, 'Servants, obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh; not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God ... knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.' Mark how these are coupled reward is suited to their outward relation, you will have wages; but then 'reward of inheritance,' that is suited to their inward and spiritual condition; as they are freemen and children of God, so they have an inheritance; and as servants they shall have a reward. When we come to heaven, it is a question which we shall admire most, grace or glory. It is a free manner of tenure, that so grace may be exalted. The heritage is bought before the heir be born many times. So this heritage was purchased before the children had done either good or evil. There was a covenant passed betwixt God and Christ, and that was a covenant of work and wages; Christ was to be a servant that we might be children.
[2.] It is honourable. Of all tenures, that of inheritance is best, better than holding of land by service. Now God hath put this honour upon us to make us co-heirs with his own Son: Rom. viii. 17, 'Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.' We do not hold as hired servants, but as children. Christ alone is the natural son; and we shall have Christ's own title, and are co-heirs by adoption: John i. 12, 'To as many as received him, to them gave he, exousian, power to be called the sons of God.' God needed us not; he had a son of his own that he delighted in before ever there was hill or mountain: Prov. viii. 30, 'Then was I with him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight.' It is the more to be admired by us because we were strangers and rebels, and could aspire to no other title than that - 'Make me as one of thy hired servants,' Luke xv. 19. Though we are very ambitious, yet conscience is so possessed with the sense of guilt that we can look for no more. But now he hath put this honour upon us that we shall have the title of children and hold by an inheritance.
[3.] It is a sure title, because it is built upon nature. A father may frown upon his son for his fault, but doth not easily disinherit him; but a servant, on his offence, is turned out-of-doors. When Adam held by the first covenant, he was but an honourable servant; therefore when he offended his master, he was turned out-of-doors. But now we have the title of children by Christ. Though God may chastise us, yet he will not disinherit us: Ps. lxxxix. 33, 34, 'My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail; my covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.' He hath reserved a liberty in the covenant, that he will chastise us: ver. 32, 'I will visit their transgressions with the rod,' &c., but he will never alter the purposes of his love and his counsel towards us. A child may be whipped, but not disinherited. God hath not only pawned his word to us, but given us earnest that he will not change his purpose; the inheritance is past over in court: 2 Cor. 1. 22, Who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.' Those that make the purposes of God to be changeable, they cut the sinews of christian comfort; they make us to walk with God like dancers upon a rope, as if we were always ready to fall; but God hath given us earnest that he will never reverse the purposes of his grace. When we have once an interest in it, our right is indefeasible, and we cannot lose it. And mark, it is not only a sure title in regard of God, but also in regard of men; for as God will not take our heritage from us, so men cannot. We may lose goods, livings, lives, but we can never lose our heritage; this is sure in Christ, they cannot take away our better portion - 'All things are yours,' even death among the rest, 1 Cor. iii. 22; that is a part of our heritage.
4. To show the condition of our present state, therefore it is called an heritage. Here we have little in hand like an heir that doth live in hope; so it is said: Titus iii. 7, 'That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' We live altogether upon hope. Servants and mercenaries must have pay in hand, they covenant from quarter to quarter; so carnal men that are hired servants, they must have their reward, secular conveniences: Mat. vi. 2, Apechousi tin misthon autoon 'They have their reward,' they give God a discharge. If he will give them honour, wealth, and riches in the world, they look for no more. They do not look after heaven; as a servant in the family doth not regard the heritage; he knows the master reserves that for his son, but he must have his present wages. But we live in hope God will make amends for everything; not a frown or ill look of the world, but God will recompense it; as children are content with their present maintenance and education, they know when the heritage falls they shall have enough. Only there is this difference between the earthly and the heavenly heritage; in the spiritual heritage we possess in our father's lifetime. Men give their estates when they can possess them no longer; but Christ and we possess it together, we are glorified with him. In the outward heritage the father dies to give place to the son; but here the son must die that they may covenant with the father.
Doct. 3. That our title to this heritage is evidenced to be right and good by the operations of faith. Then 'he became heir of the righteousness which is by faith;' that is, in his own sense and feeling. God speaks to us by the Spirit, which witnesseth to us that we are heirs and children. Now this never will be till faith hath produced some good fruits; for without this conscience cannot witness, and the Spirit will not.
1. Conscience cannot witness. Habits lie out of sight till they are drawn out into action, then they come under the view of conscience. The seed lies hidden in the ground till it spring up into a stalk; the sap is an inward thing which you cannot see, it is only discovered by the blossom and fruit: so the inward habit of grace doth lie out of sight; it is discovered to the notice and view of conscience by the operations of it: 1 John iii. 19, 'Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.' We may come and make good our claim when once faith appears in the fruits of holiness: 1 John ii. 3, 'Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.'
2. The Spirit will not witness without this. This is God's method. The testimony of the Spirit is always subsequent to the testimony of a renewed conscience: Rom. viii. 16, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.' It is God's method, first to pour in the oil of grace, then the oil of gladness; first to make Christ 'a king of righteousness,' and then 'king of peace,' Heb. vii. 2. And 'after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 13. In the original there are three articles; ye are sealed 'by the Spirit,' 'by the Holy Spirit,' and 'by the Spirit of promise.' The apostle shows how the Spirit comes and seals up grace to the soul; as the 'Spirit of promise' upon gospel terms, 'after that ye believed;' and 'as the Holy Spirit,' having wrought holiness in the heart. We have a title as soon as we believe, but this title is not evidenced to us till faith be discovered to us in the fruits of holiness.
Use. To press you to examine yourselves. Are you, as Noah was, heir of the righteousness of faith? is this your condition? All depends upon that, and therefore I will propound two questions: - Have you the title of an heir? Have you the spirit of an heir.
1. Have you the title of an heir? Once clear up that, be a child, and thou shalt be sure of a child's part and portion. Now what can you say to this? Have you received the spirit of adoption? Faith is your tithe; and that faith must be evidenced by holiness. We are apt to mistake the work of faith, and cry up presumption for faith. Conscience will still be entering process against us, and citing us before the tribunal of God, if you cannot produce the fruits of holiness. How will you evidence your faith? St Paul saith, ' We are justified by faith,' Rom. iii. 28; St James, that 'we are justified by works, and not by faith only,' James ii. 24. By faith we are justified from sin before God, and so we have peace with God; and by works we are justified from hypocrisy in the court of conscience, so we have peace with ourselves. This way must your title be made out to you. Is there a care of duty and a diligent resistance of sin?
2. Hast thou the spirit of an heir? What is the spirit of an heir? Then - [1.] Thy main care will be carried out to make the birthright sure. This will be the first and early design of the soul: Mat. vi. 33, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof;' this is the great work you drive on in the world. All the children of God cannot come to assurance, but they all labour after it; and they make it their care to seek the kingdom of God, and make out their interest in him. A carnal man, if he can thrive and prosper in the way of his trade, he looks for no more, he gives God a discharge. But now an heir cannot be content till his title to the heritage be sure. Now can you live upon your reversion; wait in hope, and be godly without secular encouragement? Servants must have wages, but an heir can live upon the reversion.
[2.] An heir will not easily part with his inheritance; and therefore, have you honourable thoughts of your portion in Christ, and of the consolation of the Spirit. It is said of Esau, Heb. xii. 16, he was 'a profane person, and for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.' It is the highest profaneness in the world to have cheap thoughts of the consolations of the Holy Ghost: Job xv. 9, 'Are the consolations of God small with thee?' It is not profaneness only to be drunk, whore, and commit adultery; but the greatest profaneness is to have cheap thoughts of spiritual privileges. An heir values his birthright; he is loath to sell the joy and comfort of his soul for carnal satisfactions and gratifications of the flesh. Naboth would not part with his inheritance when the king comes to bargain with him: 1 Kings xxi. 3, 'The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.' So if thou art an heir, thou wilt not part with thy portion in Christ for so vile a matter as thriving in the world. Never part with the consolations of God for worldly pleasure.
[3.] An heir is much taken with his heritage, always looking for it when it will fall into his hands. Therefore men that build their nests in the world as if they never looked for a better portion, which lavish out their strength upon the world, and never send any messengers, any spies into the land of promise, never send a believing thought into heaven, they have not the spirit of an heir: Rom. viii. 23, 'We ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies.' He that is a spiritual heir is always groaning, When shall I be with God and Christ, and he is feasting and entertaining his thoughts with suppositions of his future glory, and of the goodly heritage and portion that is made over to him in Christ; he is waiting, groaning, and looking for it. If thy heart be not taken up herewith, so as to favour things above, it is a sign thou hast not the spirit of an heir.
Hebrews
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