90 MEDITATIONS A by day, 2 Cor. iv. 16. Ifit be so, that in the daily de- cays-of the outwardman, in all the approaches of its dis- solution, we have inward spiritual revivals and renova- tion, we shall not faint in what we undergo. And with- out such continual renovations, weshall faint in ourdis- tresses, whatever other things we may have, or what- ever we pretend unto the contrary. And ordinarily it is so in the holy, wise providence of God, that afflictions and troubles increasewith age. It is so in an especial manner with ministers of thegos- pel; they have many of them a share in the lot of P e ter, which our Lord Jesus Christ declared unto him, John xxi. 18. Besides those natural distempers and in- firmities which accompany the-decays of life; troubles of life, and in their affairs, do usually grow upon them, when they look for nothing less,'but were ready to say with Job, We shall die in our nest, Job xxix. 18. So was it with Jacob after all his hard labour and travel to provide for his family, such things fell out in it inhis old age, as had almost broken his heart: and ofttimes both persecutions and public dangers do befal them at the same season. Whilst the outward man is thus perish- ing, we need great snpportment that we faint not. And this is only to be had in an experience of daily spiritual renovations in the inner man. The excellency of this mercy the psalmist expresseth in an heavenly manner, Psal. xcii. 12-15. The promise in the twelfth verse, respects the times of the Messiah, or of the New 'Testament, for so it is prophesied ofhim; In his days shall the righteous flour- ish, Psal. lxxii. 7. namely, through the abundance of grace that should be administered from his fulness, as John i. 16. Col. i, 19. And herein consists the gloryof the gospel, and not in outward prosperity, or external ornaments of divine worship The flourishing of the righteous, I say, in grace and holiness, is the glory of the office of Christ, and of the gospel. Where this is not, there is no glory in the profession of our religion. The glory of kings is in the wealth and peace of their subjects: and the glory of Christ is in the grace and ha liness of his subjects. This flourishing is compared to the palm-tree and the growth of the cedar. The palm-tree is of the greatest verdure, beauty, and fruitfulness, and the cedar of the greatest and longest growth of all trees. So are the righteous compared to the palm -tree, for the beauty of ND DISCOURSES profession, and fruitfulness in obedience;- and unto the cedar, for a continual, constant growth and increase in grace. Thus it is with all that are righteous, unless it be from their own sinful neglect, as it is with many in this day. They are hereon rather like the shrubs and heaths in the wilderness, which see not when good eometh, than like the palm -tree, or the cedars of Leba- non. And hereby do men what lies in them, to obscure theglory of Christ and his kingdom, as well as disquiet . their own souls. The words that follow, ver. 13, are not distinctive of some from others, as though some only of the flourishing righteous were so planted; but they are descriptive of them all, with an addition of the way andmeans where- by they are caused so to grow and flourish. And this is their implantation in the house of the Lord; that is, in the church, which is the seat of all themeans of spi- ritual life, both as unto growth and flourishing, which God is pleased to grant unto believers. To be planted in the house of the Lord, is to be fixed and rooted in the grace communicated by the ordinances of divine worship. Unless we are planted in the house of the Lord, we cannot flourish in his courts, Psal. i. S. Un- less we are partakers of the grace administered in the ordinances, we cannot flourish in the fruitfulprofession. The outward participation of them is common unto.hy- pocrites, that bear some leaves, but neither grow like the cedar, nor bear fruit like the palm-tree. So the a- postle prays for believers, that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they may be rooted and grounded in love, Epb. iii. 17.; rooted, built up, and established, Col.. ii. 7. The want hereof is the cause that we have so many fruitless professors; they have entered the courts of God, by profession, but were never planted in his house by faith and love. Let us not deceive our- selves herein; we maybe entered into the church, and made partakers of the outward privileges of it, and not be so planted in it as to flourish in grace and fruitful- ness. That which on this occasion, I principally intend; is the grace and privilegeexpressed, ver. 14. There be three things which constitute a spiritual state, or belong to the life of God. (1.) That believers be fat, that is, by the heavenly juice; sap, or fatness of the true olive, of Christ himself; as Rom. xi. 17. This is the princi- ple of spiritua life and grace derived from him. When
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