sweet savour of the gospel of Christ. "Thanks be unto God," saith the apostle, "which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place'; for we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ" where there are two metaphors, one of a sweet ointment, the other, of a triumph. The name of Christ is compared to an ointment; and preaching of the gospel, which is making manifest the savour of this ointment, is called the 'bearing of Christ's name ".' Now, this sweet savour is annexed unto a triumphal solemnity; because, in all times of public joy, they were wont to anoint themselves with sweet oil, which is therefore called, 'Oleum lætitiæ,' the oil of gladness. (For in times of mourning, they did abstain from sweet ointments.) The gospel therefore being a message of great joy," a leading captivity captive,' and the means whereby Christ rideth forth gloriously, conquering and to conquer a; therefore they who brought these good tidings, are said to be as a sweet savour,' whose lips drop 'sweet-smelling myrrh,' and whose doctrine is compared to the powders of the merchant". And the time of the gospel is called an accepted time, a day of salvation;' that is, a time of singular joy and solemnity, a continued Easter, or festival f. And here withal he promiseth likewise, That his people should offer up spiritual incense and services unto him in prayers, thanksgivings, alms, and good works o. And as he promiseth, so we should practise these things: our care should be to let our lips and lives breathe forth nothing but grace and edification"; to be frequent in the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, thanksgiving, and good works, which may be as an odour of a sweet savour' in the nostrils of God;-to labour to leave behind us a good name, not out of vain-glory, or an empty ambitious affectation of honour; but out of the conscience of a holy life, which makes the name 'smell better than sweet ointment *.? SECT. 22. Sixthly, He promiseth, That they "who dwell Folio-Edition, p. 573. Acts ix. 15. x. 2, 3. t Cant. i. 3. 92 Cor. ii. 14, 15. * Psalm xlv. 7, 8. Isai. Ixi. 3. Luke ii. 13. a Psalm xlv. 3, 4. incendebantur odores. Cic. Tusc. Qu. 1. 5.—vid. y 2 Sam. xiv. 2. Dan. Psalm cx. 2. Rev. vi. 2. b Aderant unguenta, coronæ; Athenæum, 1. 15. c. 11, 12. e 2 Cor. vi. 2. 1 Phil. iv. 18. Rev. viii. 4. under his shadow, shall return;" which words admit of a double sense, and so infer a double promise and a double duty-1.We may, by a hysteron proteron,' understand the words thus,-"When Israel have repented and are brought home to God again, they shall then have security, defence, protection, refreshment under the comforts of his grace, against all the violence of temptation; as a spreading tree doth afford a sweet shade unto the weary traveller, and shelter him from the injuries of the heat'." Whereby is signified the secure, quiet, and comfortable condition of God's people under the protection of his providence and promises. And as he promiseth such a condition, so should we, in all our troubles, not trust in an arm of flesh, or betake ourselves to mere human wisdom, and carnal counsels, which are too thin shelters against God's displeasure, or the enemies of the church;-but we must fly unto him to hide us; we must find spiritual refreshment in his ordinances, promises, and providence; get his wing to cover us, and his presence to be a little sanctuary unto us, and the joy of the Lord to be our strength". When the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the land for their iniquity; when flood and fire, storm and tempest, the fury of anger, the strength of battle, are poured out upon a people; when a destroying angel is sent abroad with a commission to kill and slay "; when Death, the king of terrors, rideth up and down in triumph, stripping men of treasures, lands, friends, honours, pleasures, making them a house in darkness, where master and servant, princes and prisoners, are all alike;-to have then an ark with Noah, a Zoar with Lot, a Goshen in Egypt,-to have one arm of this olive-tree spread over us,-to have one promise out of God's Word, one sentence from the mouth of Christ promising paradise unto us,-is infinitely of more value to a languishing spirit, than all the diadems of the earth, or the peculiar treasure of princes. 2. If we take the words in order as they lie, then the mercy here promised is, That when God shall restore and 1 Job vii. 2. Isai. iv. 6. Mich. iv. 4. Zech. iii. 10. m Psalm lvii. 2. xci. 1. Isai. xxvi. 20. Nehem. viii. 10. n Ezek. ix. 5, 6. repair his church, they who dwell under the comforts of it, should return and be converted to the knowledge and obedience, which should be there taught them: When the Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely,' then he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; then every vessel in Judah and Jerusalem shall be inscribed, holiness unto the Lord;' then the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly 9.' And this should be the endeavour of every one who liveth under the shade of this tree, under the purity of God's ordinances, under the pious government and constitution of such a church or family as is here described, (especially in such times, when, on the one side, the world is so much loosened and estranged from us; and, on the other side, reformation in the church is so much desired) to convert and turn unto the Lord. All endeavours of reformation in a church are miserably defective, when they come short of this end, which is the ultimate reason of them all,-namely, the repentance and conversion of those, that dwell under the shadow of it. When God promiseth to give unto his church 'the glory of Lebanon,' and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon,' the consequence of this beauty and reformation in the church is, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the lame shall leap, the dumb shall sing, the parched ground shall be a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. The wolf, the leopard, the lion, the bear, the asp, the cockatrice, shall be so turned from the fierceness and malignity of their natures, that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all the holy mountain, but a little child shall lead them all." It is a great happiness and advantage to live under the shade of a godly government. Many men have reason to bless God all their days, that they were, in their childhood, trained up in such a school, where piety was taught them as well as learning, and where they had means as well of conversion as of institution; that they lived in such a family, where the master of it was of Joshua's o Isai. iv. 2, 3. P Zech. xiv. 20, 21. s Isai. xxxv. 2, 7. q Isai. xxxii. 2, 3, 4. Isai. xi. 6, 9. mind, "I and my house will serve the Lord "." Salvation comes to a whole house, when the governor thereof is converted *. I shall never look upon a church as reformed to purpose, till I find reformation work conversion; till piety, and charity, and justice, and mercy, and truth, and humility, and gentleness, and goodness, and kindness, and meekness, and singleness of heart, and zeal for godliness and mutual edification, and the life and power of religion, are more conspicuous than before. When the very head-stone was brought forth, and the last work in the building of the temple was finished, yet the people must then cry, "Grace, grace unto it ;" intimating that reformation is never indeed consummate, till the blessing of God make it effectual unto those uses, for which it was by him appointed. Churchreformation should be like Paul's epistles, which always close in duties of obedience. SECT. 23. Seventhly, He promiseth, That they "shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:" in which two expressions, are set forth two excellent and wholesome consequents of affliction. 1. The corn, though it die first, and suffer much from frost, hail, snow, tempest,-yet when the spring comes, it revives and breaks through it all: so God promiseth to his church, in the saddest condition, a reviving again, and that it shall be brought forth into the light. 2. The vine when it is pruned and lopped, will not only revive and spread again, but will bring forth the more fruit, and cast forth the more fragrant smell: so God promiseth unto his people not only a reviving out of their afflictions, (in which respect haply it was that Christ was buried in a garden, to note, that death itself doth not destroy our bodies, but only sow them; the dew of herbs will revive them again ;) but further, a profiting by afflictions, that we may say with David, "It is good for us;" when we find it "bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness, after we have been exercised therein." And as he promiseth these things, so we should learn to turn these promises into prayer and into practice. When John xxiv. 15. * Luke xix. 9. Acts xvi. 33, 34. y Zech. iv. 7. * Semina non, nisi corrupta et dissoluta, fœcundius surgunt: omnia pereundo servantur; omnia de interitu reformantur. Tert. Apol. c. 48. . Ezek. xxxvii. 12. Mic. vii. 9. b 1 Cor. xv. 41, 44. c Nemo agonis præsidem sugillaverit, we seem in our own eyes cast out of God's sight, yet we must not cast him out of our sight; but, as Jonah in the whale's belly, and as Daniel in Babylon, pray towards his holy temple still. The woman of Canaand would not be thrust off with a seeming rejection, not utterly despond under a grievous tentation, but, by a singular acumen and spiritual sagacity, discerned matter of argument in that which looked like a denial. Soap and fuller's-earth, at the first putting on, seem to stain and to foul clothes, when the use and end is to purify them. And God's frowns and delays may seem to be the denials of prayer, when, haply, his end is to make the granting of them the more comfort. Therefore in all troubles we must not give-over looking towards God, but say with Job, " Though he slay me, I will trust in him.” h And, after all afflictions, we must learn to express the fruit of them, to come out of them refined, as silver out of the fire; to have thereby our faith strengthened, our hope confirmed, our love inflamed, our fruit and obedience increased, our sin taken away, and our iniquities purged '; to be chastened and taught ";' to be chastened and converted.' If we have run away from our duties, and been cast into a whale's belly for it,-when we are delivered, let us be sure to look better to our resolutions afterwards: "after all that is come upon us for our sins, take heed of breaking his commandments again." As Job's riches after his, so we should endeavour that our graces after our afflictions may be doubled upon us; and that the scent of our holy example may, like spices bruised, or the grapes of Lebanon crushed in the wine-press, give a more fragrant smell in the nostrils of God and man, as the smell of a field, which the Lord hath blessed." quod homines violentiæ objectat. Injuriarum actiones extra stadium. Sed quantum livores illi, et cruores et vibices negotiantur intendet: coronas scilicet, et gloriam, et dotem, privilegia publica, stipendia civica, imagines, statuas, et qualem potest præstare seculum de fama æternitatem, de memoriâ resurrectionem. Pyctes ipse non queritur dolere se, nam vult. Corona premit vulnera, palma sanguinem obscurat; plus victoria tumet quam injuria. Hunc tu læsum existimabis quem vides lætum? Tert. Scorpiac. c. 6. ed. Lut. 1675, p. 492. d Vid. Chrys. Ser.38. in Gen. xvi. 3. • Matth. xv. 27. f Isai. xxvii. 9. lxxxiv. 12. i Jer. xxxviii. 18. 1x. 13, 14. h Folio-Edition, p. 575. g Psalm k Ezra |