Chapter 10. Of Pride of Grace

SEcondly, pride of grace. This is another way Satan assaults the Christian. 'Tis true, grace cannot be proud, yet 'tis possible a Saint may be proud of his grace, there is nothing the Christian has or does, but this worme of pride will breed in it. The world we live in is corruptible, and all here is subject to putrefie, as things kept in a rafty muggish room, subject them to mould. It is not the nature of grace, but the salt of the Covenant keeps and preserves the purity of it; in heaven indeed we shall be safe. But how can a Saint be said to be proud of his grace? Then a soul is proud of his grace, when he trusts in his grace. Trust and confidence is an incommunicable flower of Gods Crown as Soveraign Lord, even among men it goes along with royalty. Set up a King, and as such he expects you should give him this, as the undoubted Prerogative of his place, and therefore to seek protection from any other, is (as it were) to set up another King, Judges 9:15. If indeed you anoint me King over you, then come and put your trust under my shadow; therefore when a soul puts his trust in any thing beside God, he sets up a Prince, a King, an Idol, to which he gives Gods glory away. Now it does not make the sin lesse, that it is the grace of God we crown, then if it were a lust we crowned. 'Tis idolatry to worship a holy Angel as well as a cursed devil, to make our grace a god, as well as our belly our god, nay rather it addes to it, because that is now used to rob him of his glory, which should have brought him in the greatest revenue of glory; certainly the more treasure you put into your servants hands, the greater wrong to you for him to run away with it. I doubt not but David could have borne it better to have seen a Philistine drive him from his throne then a sonne, an Absalom. But how can or may a Saint be said to trust in his grace?

First, by trusting to the strength of his grace.

Secondly, by trusting on the worth of his grace. Indeed a professed trust in grace, I conceive, cannot stand with grace: but there is an oblique kinde of trust, or that which by interpretation may savor of it. Satan is slie in his assaults.

SECT. I.

First, of the first, to trust in the strength of grace is to be proud of grace. This is opposed to that poverty of spirit so commended by our Saviour, Matth. 5. by which a man lives in the continual sense of his spiritual beggery and nothingnesse, and so has his recourse to Christ, as the poor to the rich mans door, knowing he has nothing at home to maintain him. Such a one was Paul, not able to do any thing of himself; he is not ashamed to let the world know that Christ carries his purse for him. Our sufficiency is of God, yea, after many years trading, this holy man sees nothing he has got, Philippians 3:13. I count not my self to have apprehended: he is still pressing forward; ask him how he lives, he'll tell you who keeps house for him; I live, yet not I, Galatians 2:20▪ as ask a beggar where he has his meat, cloathes, &c. he'll say, I thank my good Master; Now Satan chiefly labors to puffe the soul up with an over-weening conceit of his own ability, as the readiest means to bring him into his snare; Satan knows 'tis Gods method to give his children into his hands, when once they grow proud and self-confident: Hezekiah was left to a temptation, 2 Chronicles 32:31. to try him. Why? God had tried him to purpose a little before in an affliction; what needs this? O Hezekiahs heart was lift up after his affliction. It was time for God to let the tempter alone a little to foile him; probably now Hezekiah had high thoughts of his grace; O he would never do as he had done before, and God will let him see what a weak creature he is. Peter makes a whip for his own back in that bravado; Though all should forsake you, yet will not I. Christ now in meer mercy must set Satan on him, to lay him on his back; that seeing the weakness of his faith, he might be dismounted from the height of his pride. All that I shall say from this, is to enteat you (Christian) to have a care of this kinde of pride. You know what Joah said to David, when he perceived his heart lift up with the strength of his Kingdom, and therefore would have the people numbered; The Lord God adde unto your people, how many soever they be, a hundred fold; but why does my Lord the King delight in this thing? 2 Samuel 24:3. The Lord adde to the strength of your grace a hundred fold, but why delightest you in this? why shouldest you be lift up? is it not grace? shall the Groom be proud because he rides on his Masters horse? or the mud wall because the Sun shines on it? may you not say of every dram of grace, as the young man of his hatchet, Alas, Muster, it is borrowed? nay, not only borrowed, but you can not use it without his skill and strength that lends it you. O beware of this, let not those vain thoughts lodge in you, left you enter into temptation. It is a breach a whole troop of sins may enter at, yea will, except speedily fill'd up.

First, it will make you soon grow loose and negligent in your duty. 'Tis sense of insufficiency keeps a soul at work, to pray and heare, as want in the house and hutch holds up the market, no man comes there to buy what he has at home. Up, says Jacob, go down to Egypt for corne, that we live and not die. Thus says the needy Christian, Up soul to your God, your faith is weak, your patience almost spent, ply you to the throne of grace, go with your homer to the Ordinances, and get some supplies. Now a soul conceited of his store, has another song; Soul, take yours ease, you are richly laid in for many days. Let the doubting soul pray, your faith is strong; let the weake lie at the breast, you are well grown up; nay, 'tis well if it goes not further to a despising of Ordinances, except they have some more courtly fate then ordinary: such a passe were the Corinthians come to, 1 Corinthians 4:8. Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye reign like Kings without us. I pray observe how he layes the accent on the particle now; now ye are rich, as if he had said, I knew the time, if Paul had been come to town, and newes spread abroad in the City that Paul was to preach, you would have flock't to hear him, and blessed God for the season, but then you were poor and empty; now ye are full, you have got to a higher attainment; Paul is a plain fellow now, he may carry his cheere to a hungry people if he will, we are well apaid. And when once the heart is come to this, 'tis easie to judge what will follow.

Secondly, this trusting to the strength of grace will make the soul bold and venturous. The humble Christian is the wary Christian, he knows his weakness, and this makes him afraid. I have a weak head, says he, I may be soon disputed into an errour and heresie, and therefore I dare not come where such stuffe is broach't, lest my weak head should be intoxicated: the confident man he'll sip of every cup, he fears none; no, he is stablish't in the truth, a whole team of hereticks shall not draw him aside. I have a vain light heart, says the humble soul; I dare not come among wicked debautch't company, left I should at last bring the naughty man home with me: but one trusting to the strength of his grace, dares venture into the devils quarters. Thus Peter into the rout of Christs enemies, and how he came off you know; there his faith had been slain on the place, had not Christ founded a retreat, by the seasonable look of love he gave him. Indeed I have read of some bragging Philosophers, who did not think it enough to be temperate, except they had the object for intemperance present; and therefore they would go into Taverns and Whore-houses, as if they meant to beat the devil on his own ground; but the Christian knows an enemy nearer then so, which they were ignorant of; and that he need not go over his own threshold to challenge the devils He has lust in his bosome that will be hard enough for him all his days, without giving it the vantage ground. Christian, I know no sin, but you may be left to commit it, except one. It was a bold speech of him, and yet a good man (as I have heard,) If Clapham die of the plague, say Clapham had no faith, and this made him boldly go among the infected. If a Christian, you shalt not die of spiritual plagues, yet such may have the plague-sores of grosse sins running on them for a time, and is not this sad enough? therefore walk humbly with your God.

Thirdly, this high conceit of the strength of your grace will make you cruel and churlish to your weak brethren in their infirmities, a sin that least becomes a Saint, Galatians 6:1. If any one be overtaken, you that be spiritual, restore such a one with meekness; but how shall a soul get such a meek spirit? It follows, considering your self, lest you also be tempted. What makes men hard to the poor? they think they shall never be so themselves. Why are many so sharp in their censures, but because they trust too much to their grace, as if they could never fall? O you are in the body, and the body of sin in you, therefore feare. Bernard used to say, when he heard any scandalous sin of a Professour; Hodie illi, cras mihi. He fell to day, I may stumble tomorrow.

SECT. II.

The second way a soul may be proud of his grace, is by resting on it for his acceptance with God. The Scripture calls inherent grace our own righteousnesse, (though God indeed be the efficient of it) and opposs it to the righteousnesse of Christ, which alone is called the Righteousnesse of God, Romans 10:1. Now to rest on any grace inherent, is to exalt our own righteousnesse above the righteousnesse of God; and what pride will this amount to? If this ware so, then a Saint when he comes to heaven might say, This is Heaven which I have built, my grace has purchased; and thus the God of Heaven should become tenant to his creature in Heaven. No, God has cast the order of our salvation into another method, of grace, but not of grace in us, but grace to us. Inherent grace has its place and office to accompany salvation, Hebrews 6:9. but not procure it. This is Christs work, not graces. When Israel waited on the Lord at Mount Sinai, they had their bounds, not a man must come up besides Moses to treat with God, no, not touch the Mount lest they die: thus all the graces of the Spirit wait on God, but none come up to challenge any acceptance of God besides faith, which is a grace that presents the soul not in its own garments. But you will say, what needs all this? where is the man that trusts in his grace? Alas, where is the Christian that does fully stand clear, and freely come his off his own righteousnesse? he is a rare Pilot indeed, that can steere his faith in so direct a course, as not now and then to knock upon this duty, and run on ground upon that grace. Abraham went in to Hagar; and the children of Abrahams faith are not perfectly dead to the Law, and may be found sometimes in Hagars armes, witnesse the fluxe and refluxe of our faith, according to the various aspect of our obedience: when this seems full, then our faith is at a spring-tide, and covers all the mountains of our fears; but let it seem to wain in any service or duty, then the Jordan of our faith flies back, and leaves the soul naked. The devils spight is at Christ, and therefore since he could not hinder his landing, which he endeavoured all he could, nor work his will on his person when he was come; he goes now in a more refined way to darken the glory of his sufferings, and the sufficiency of his righteousnesse, by blending ours with his; this doctrine of Justification by faith, has had more works and batteries made against it, then any other in the Scripture. Indeed many other errours were but his slie approaches to get nearer to undermine this; and lastly, when he connot hide this truth, (which now shines in the Church like the Sun in its strength) then he labors to hinder the practical improvement of it, that we (if he can help it) shall not live up to our own principles, making us at the same time, that in our judgement we professe acceptance only through Christ, in our practice confute our selves. Now there is a double pride in the soul he makes use of for this end, the one I may call a mannerly pride, the other a self-applauding pride.

First, a mannerly pride, which comes forth in the habit and guise of humility, and that discovers it self, either at the souls first coming to Christ, and keeps him from closing with the promise, or afterward in the daily course of a Christians walking with God, which keeps him from comfortable living on Christ.

First, when a poor soul is staved off the promise by the sense of his own unworthinesse and great unrighteousnesse; tell him of a pardon, alas, he is so wrapt up with the thoughts of his own vilenesse, that you cannot fasten it upon him. What, will God ever take such a toad as he is into his bosome, discount so many great abominations at once, and receive him into his favor, that has been so long in rebellious armes against him? he cannot believe it, no, though he heares what Christ has done and suffered for sin, he refuss to be comforted. Little does the soul think what a bitter root such thoughts spring from, you thinkest you doest well thus to declaim against your self, and aggravate your sins; indeed you can not paint them black enough, or entertain too low and base thoughts of your selfe for them: But what wrong has God and Christ done you, that you shouldest so unworthily reflect upon the mercy of the one, and merit of the other? Mayest you not do this, and be tender of the good Name of God also? Is there no way to show your sense of your sin, except you asperse your Saviour? Canst you not charge your self, but you must condemn God, and put Christ and his blood to shame before Satan, who triumphs more in this then all your other sins? In a word, though you like a wretch have undone your self, and damned your soul by your sins, yet are you not willing God should have the glory of pardoning them, and Christ the honor of procuring the same? or are you like him in the Gospel, Luke 16:3. who could not dig, and to beg was ashamed. You can not earne heaven by your own righteousnesse, and is your spirit so stout that you will not beg it for Christs sake, yea, take it at Gods hands, who in the Gospel comes a begging to you, and beseechs you to be reconciled to him? Ah soul, who would ever have thought there could have lien such pride under such a modest veile? and yet none like it. 'Tis horrible pride for a beggar to starve, rather than take an alms at a rich mans hands: a malefactour rather to choose his halter then a pardon from his gracious Princes hand: but here is one infinitely surpassing both; a soul pining and perishing in sin, and yet rejecting the mercy of God, and the helpng hand of Christ to save him, Though Abigail did not think her self worthy to be Davids wife, yet she thought David was worthy of her, and therefore she humbly accepted his offer, and makes haste to go with the messengers: That's the sweet frame of heart indeed, to lie low in the sense of your own vilenesse, yet to believe; to renounce all conceit of worthinesse in our selves, yet not therefore to renounce all hope of mercy, but the more speedily to make haste to Christ that wooes us. All the pride and unmannerlinesse lies in making Christ stay for us, who bids his messengers invite poor sinners to come and tell them all things are ready. But may be you will say still, it is not pride that keeps you off, but you can not believe that ever God will entertain such as you art. Truly, you mendest the matter but little with this, either you keepest some lust in your heart, which you will not part with to obtain the benefit of the promise, and then you are a notorious hypocrite, who under such an out-cry for your sins, can drive a secret trade with hell at the same time; or if not so, you doest discover the more pride in that you darest stand out, when you have nothing to oppose against the many plain and clear promises of the Gospel, but your peremptory unbelief. God bids the wicked forsake his ways, and turne to him, and he will abundantly pardon him; but you sayest you can not believe this for your own self. Now who speaks the truth? One of you two must be the liar, either you must take it with shame to your self, for what you have said against God and his promise, (and that is your best course) or you must proudly, yea, blasphemously cast it upon God, as every unbeliever does, 1 John 5:10. Nay, you makest him forsworn for God, to give poor sinners the greater security in flying for refuge to Christ, who is that hope set before them, Hebrews 6:17, 18. has sworn they should have strong consolation: O beatos quorum causâ Deus jurat! O miserrimos si nec juranti credamus. Tertul. de poenit. O happy we, for whose sake God puts himself under an oath; but O miserable we, who will not believe God, no, not when he sweares!

Secondly, when the soul has shot the great gulfe, and got into a slate of peace and life by closing with Christ, yet this mannerly pride Satan makes use of in the Christians daily course of duty and obedience, to disturb him and hinder his peace and comfort. O how unchearfully, yea, joylesly do many precious souls passe their days! If you enquire what is the cause, you shall finde all their joy runs out at the crannies of their imperfect duties and weak graces; they cannot pray as they would, and walk as they desire with evennesse and constancy; they see how short they fall of the holy rule in the Word, and the patterne which others more eminent in grace do set before them, and this though it does not make them throw the Promises away, and quite renounce all hope in Christ, yet it begets many sad fears and suspitions, yea, makes them sit at the feast Christ has provided, and not know whether they may eat or not. In a word, as it robs them of their joy, so Christ of that glory which he should receive from their rejoycing in him, I do not say, (Christian) you oughtest not to mourn for those defects you findest in your graces and duties, nay, you couldest not approve your self to be sincere, if you did not. A gracious heart, seeing how far short his renewed state (forthe present) falls of mans primitive holiness by Creation, cannot but weep and mourn, (as the Jewes to behold the second Temple▪) yet (Christian even while the tears are in your eyes for your imperfect graces, (for a soul riseth with his grave-clothes on) you shouldest rejoyce, yea, triumph over all these your defects by faith in Christ, in whom you are compleat, Colossians 1:10. while imperfect in your selfe. Christs presence in the second Temple, (which the first had not) made it (though comparatively mean) more glorious then the first Hag. 2.9 how much more does his presence in this spiritual temple of a gracious heart, imputing his righteousnesse to cover all its uncomelinesse, make the soul glorious above man at first? This is a garment for which (as Christ says of the lilie) we neither spin nor toile; yet Adam in all his created royalty was not so clad, as the weakest believer is with this on his soul. Now, Christian, consider well what you doest, while you sittest languishing under the sense of your own weaknesses, and refusest to rejoyce in Christ, and live comfortably on the sweet priviledges you are interessed in by your marriage to him. Doest you not bewray some of this spiritual pride working in you? O, if you couldest pray without wandering, walk without limping, believe without wavering, then you couldest rejoyce and walk chearfully, It seems, soul, you stayest to bring the ground of your comfort with you, and not to receive it purely from Christ. O how much better were it if you wouldest say with David: Though my house, my heart, be not so with God, yet he has made with me a Covenant ordered in all things and sure; and this is all my desire, all my confidence; Christ I oppose to all my sins, Christ to all wants, he is my all in all and all above all. Indeed all those complaints of our wants and weaknesses, so far as they withdraw our hearts from relying chearfully on Christ, they are but the language of pride hankering after the Covenant of works. O 'tis hard to forget our mothertongue, which is so natural to us, labor therefore to be sensible of it, how grievous it is to the Spirit of Christ. What would a husband say, if his wife in stead of expressing her love to him, and delight in him, should day and night do nothing but weep and cry to think of her former husband that is dead? The Law (as a Covenant) and Christ are compared to two husbands, Romans 7:4. Ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. Now your sorrow for the defect of your own righteousnesse, when it hinders your rejoycing in Christ, is but a whining after your other husband, and this Christ cannot but take unkindely, that you are not as well pleased to lie in the bosome of Christ, and have your happiness from him as with your old husband the Law.

Secondly, a self applauding pride, when the heart is secretly lift up, so as to promise it self acceptation at Gods hands, for any duty or act of obedience it performes, and does not when most assisted go out of his own actings, to lay the weight of his expectation entirely upon Christ; every such glance of the souls eye is adulterous, yea, idolatrous. If your heart, Christian, at any time he secretly enticed, (as Job sath of another kinde of idolatry) or your mouth does kisse your hand, that is, dote so farre on your own duties or righteousnesse, as to give them this inward worship of your confidence and trust, this is a great iniquity indeed; for in this you deniest the God that is above, who has determined your faith to another object. You comest to open heaven-gate with the old key, when God has set on a new lock. Doest you not acknowledge tnat your first entrance into your justified state was of pure mercy? you wert justified freely by hit grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, Romans 7:24. And whom are you beholden to, now you are reconciled for your further acceptance in every duty or holy action? to your duty, your obedience, your self, or Christ? The same Apostle will tell you, Romans 5:2. By whom we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand. If Christ should not lead you in and all you doest, you are sure to finde the door shut upon you: there is no more place for desert now you are gracious, then when you wert gracelesse, Romans 1:17. The righteousnesse of God is revealed from faith to faith, for the just shall live by faith. We are not only made alive by Christ but we live by Christ; faith sucks in continual pardoning, assisting, comforting mercy from him, as the lungs suck in the aire. Heaven way is paved with grace and mercy to the end.

Be exhorted above all, to watch against this play of Satan, beware you restest not in your own righteousnesse; you standest under a tottering wall, the very cracks you seest in your graces and duties, when best▪ bid you stand off, except you wouldest have them fall on your head; the greatest step to heaven, is out of our own doors, over our own threshold. It has cost many a man his life when his house on fire, a gripplenesse to save some of the stufte, which venturing among the flames to preserve, they have perished themselves; more have lost their souls by thinking to carry some of their own stuffe with them to heaven. Such a good work or duty, while they, like lingring Lot, have been loath to leave in point of confidence, have themselves perish't. O Sirs, come out, come out, leave what is your own in the fire, flie to Christ naked, he has cloathing for you better than your own: poor to Christ, and he has gold, not like yours, which will consume and be found drossy in the fire but such as has in the fiery trial past in Gods righteous judgment for pure and full weight; you cannot be found in two places at once; choose whether you will be found in your own righteousnesse or in Christs. Those who have had more to show then your selfe have thrown away all, and gone a begging to Christ. Reade Pauls Inventory, Phil. 3. what he had, what he did, yet all drosse and losse: give him Christ, and take the rest who will. So Job, as holy a man as trod on earth, (God himself being witnesse) yet says; Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my own soul, I would despise my life. He had acknowledged his imperfection before, now he makes a supposition, (indeed quod non est supponendum:) If I were perfect, yet would I not know my own soul; I would not entertain any such thoughts as should puffe me up into such a confidence of my holiness, as to make it my plea with God, like to our common phrase; We say, Such a one has excellent parts, but he knows it, that is, he is proud of it. Take heed of knowing your own grace in this sense, you can not give a greater wound both to your grace and comfort then by thus priding your self in it.

SECT. III.

First, your grace cannot thrive so long as you thus restest on it. A legal spirit is no friend to grace, nay, a bitter enemy against it, as appeared by the Pharisees in Christs time. Grace comes not by the Law, but by Christ; you may stand long enough by it, before you gettest any life of grace into your soul, or further life into your grace. If you wouldest have this, you must set your self under Christs wings by faith; from his Spirit in the Gospel alone, comes this kindly natural heat to hatch your soul to the life of holiness, and increase what you have and you can not come under Christs wings, till you comest from under the shadow of the other, by renouncing all expectation from your own works and services. You know Reubens curse, that he should not excel, because he went up into his fathers bed; when other tribes encreased, he stood at a little number. By trusting in your own works you doest worse by Christ, and shalt you excel in grace? Perhaps some of you have been long Professours, and yet come to little growth in love to God, humility, heavenly-mindednesse, mortification, and 'tis worth the digging to see what lies at the root of your Profession, whether there be not a legal principle that has too much acted you. Have you not thought to carry all with God from your duties and services, and too much laid up your hopes in your own actings? Alas, this is as so much dead earth, which must be thrown out, and Gospelprinciples laid in the room thereof; try but this course, and see whether the spring of your grace will not come on apace. David gives an account how he came to stand and flourish, when some that were rich and mighty, on a sudden withered and came to nothing. Lo, (says he) this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches. But I am like a green olive-tree in the House of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever, Psalms 52:7, 8. While others trust in the riches of their own righteousnesse and services and make not Christ their strength, do you renounce all, and trust in the mercy of God in Christ, and you shalt be like a green olive when they fade and wither.

Secondly, Christian, you will not thrive in true comfort so long as you rest in any inherent work of grace, and do not stand clear of your own actings and righteousnesse. Gospelcomfort springs from a Gospel-root, which is Christ, Philippians 3:3. We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoyce in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now a soul that rests on any holiness in himself; he graffs his comfort upon himself, not Christ; he sucks his own breast, not Christs; and so makes Christ a dry nurse: and what comfort can grow on that dry tree? The Spirit is our Comforter as well as our Teacher and Counsellour. Now as the Spirit when he teaches comes not with any new or strange truth, but takes of Christs owne; (what he findes in the Word) so where he comforts, he takes of Christs own, his righteousnesse, not our own: Christ is the matter and ground of his comfort: all cordials are but Christ distill'd, and made up in several promises: his acting, not ours; his suffering, not ours; his holiness, not ours; he does not say, Soul, rejoyce, you are holy; but, Soul, triumph, Christ is righteous, and is the Lord your righteousnesse; Not, Soul, you prayest sweetly, feare not; but you have an Advocate with the Father, Christ the righteous: so that the first step to the receiving of comfort from the Spirit, is to send away all Comforters of our own. As in learning of the Spirit, he that will be taught by him, must first become a fool, (that is, no way lean to his own understanding,) so he that would be comforted, must first be emptied of all self-supports, must not lean to his owne comforts. As a Physician first bids his Patient cast off all others he has tampered with, he asks what Physick he has had from them, takes off their plaisters, throws away their Physick, and goes about the work de novo: So the Spirit when he comes to comfort a poor soul; First, perswades the soul to send away all its old Physicians. O, says the soul, I have been in the hand of such a duty, such a course of obedience, and have thought sure now I shall be well, and have comfort now I do this duty, set upon such a holy course. Well, says the Spirit, if you will have me do any thing, these must all be dismist in point of confidence. Now, and not till how, is the soul a subject fit to receive the Spirits comforts. And therefore, friends, as you love your inward peace, beware what vessel you draw your comfort from. Grace is finite, and so cannot afford much. 'Tis leaking, and so cannot hold long; you drinkest in a riven dish, that have your comfort from your grace. 'Tis mixt, and so weak; and weak grace cannot give strong consolation, and such you needest, especially in strong conflicts; Nay lastly, your comfort which you drawest from it is stollen, you doest not come honestly by it, and stollen comforts will not thrive with you. Oh, what folly is it for the child to play the thief for that which he may have freely and more fully from his Father, who gives and reproachs not? that comfort which you wouldest filch out of your own righteousnesse and duties; behold, it is laid up for you in Christ, from whose fulnesse you may carry as much as your faith can hold, and none to check you, yea, the more you improvest Christ for your comfort, the more heartily welcome; we are bid to open our mouth wide, and he will fill it.

Second, pride of grace. This is another way Satan attacks the Christian. True grace cannot itself be proud — yet it is possible for a saint to be proud of his grace. There is nothing the Christian has or does that this worm of pride will not breed in. The world we live in is subject to decay, and everything here is prone to corruption, like goods stored in a damp, musty room that grows moldy. It is not the nature of grace itself, but the salt of the covenant, that preserves its purity. In heaven we will be safe from this. But how can a saint be said to be proud of his grace? A soul is proud of his grace when he trusts in his grace. Trust and confidence is an attribute that belongs to God alone as sovereign Lord — and even among people it goes with royalty. Set up a king, and he expects this as the undeniable right of his position. To seek protection from any other source is, in effect, to set up a rival king. 'If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shadow' (Judges 9:15). So when a soul places its trust in anything besides God, it sets up a prince, a king, an idol — and gives to it the glory that belongs to God. It does not make the sin any less to have our trust rest in the grace of God rather than in a lust. It is idolatry to worship a holy angel just as much as to worship a cursed devil. To make our grace our god is as much idolatry as to make our belly our god — in fact it is worse, because the very thing that should have brought God the greatest glory is now used to rob Him of it. Certainly, the more treasure you put into a servant's hands, the greater the wrong if he runs off with it. I have no doubt David could have borne it more easily to see a Philistine drive him from his throne than to see his own son — an Absalom — do it. But in what ways can a saint be said to trust in his grace?

First, by trusting in the strength of his grace.

Second, by trusting in the worth of his grace. An openly declared trust in grace, I believe, cannot truly coexist with genuine grace. But there is an indirect kind of trust — one that by its character smacks of this sin. Satan is subtle in his assaults.

Section 1.

First, trusting in the strength of grace is to be proud of grace. This is the opposite of the poverty of spirit so commended by our Savior (Matthew 5:3) — by which a person lives in a continual awareness of his own spiritual poverty and emptiness, and therefore goes to Christ as a poor man goes to the door of a rich man, knowing he has nothing at home to live on. Paul was like this — unable to do anything from himself. He is not ashamed to let the world know that Christ carries his purse: 'Our sufficiency is from God' (2 Corinthians 3:5). After many years of walking with God, this holy man counts nothing as his own gain: 'I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet' (Philippians 3:13). He is still pressing forward. Ask him how he lives, and he will tell you Who keeps house for him: 'I live, yet not I' (Galatians 2:20). As you would ask a beggar where he gets his food and clothing, and he would say, 'I thank my good master' — so Paul. Satan's chief goal is to inflate the soul with an excessive confidence in its own ability, as the surest way to bring it into his trap. Satan knows that God's method is to hand His children over to the tempter once they grow proud and self-confident. Hezekiah was left to be tested (2 Chronicles 32:31). Why? God had already tested him well through affliction just before. Was that not enough? No — because Hezekiah's heart had been lifted up after his affliction. It was time for God to let the tempter loose on him for a while, to bring him down. Hezekiah was probably now thinking very highly of his own grace — that he would never fail as he had before. And God would let him see what a weak creature he was. Peter made a whip for his own back with that boast: 'Even if everyone else falls away, I will not.' In sheer mercy, Christ now had to let Satan have at him — to lay him flat on his back, so that seeing the weakness of his faith, he might be dismounted from his high opinion of himself. All I will add from this is to urge you, Christian, to be on guard against this kind of pride. You know what Joab said to David when he saw the king's heart lifted up with the strength of his kingdom, and David wanted to count the people: 'May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?' (2 Samuel 24:3). May the Lord add to the strength of your grace a hundred times over — but why do you take pride in it? Why should you be lifted up? Is it not grace? Should the groom be proud because he rides his master's horse? Should the mud wall be proud because the sun shines on it? Can you not say of every measure of grace, as the young man said of the borrowed axe: 'Alas, Master, it is borrowed'? In fact, not only borrowed — but you cannot even use it without the skill and strength of the One who lent it to you. Beware of this. Do not let these vain thoughts lodge in you, lest you enter into temptation. It is a breach through which a whole army of sins may enter — and will, unless it is quickly closed.

First, trusting in your own spiritual strength will make you lazy and careless in your duties. It is the sense of need that keeps the soul active in prayer and in hearing the Word — just as an empty pantry drives a man to market. No one goes there to buy what he already has at home. 'Come,' Jacob said, 'go down to Egypt and buy grain, so that we may live and not die.' So the needy Christian says: 'Up, soul, go to your God — your faith is weak, your patience nearly spent. Come to the throne of grace; bring your measure to the means of grace and get some fresh supply.' But a soul conceited of its own spiritual stock sings a different tune: 'Soul, take your ease — you are well stocked for many days. Let the doubting soul pray; your faith is strong. Let the weak cling to the means of grace; you are well grown up.' In fact, it is a wonder if such a soul does not go further and begin to despise the ordinary means of grace unless they come with some exceptional quality. This is exactly the condition the Corinthians had reached (1 Corinthians 4:8): 'You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us.' Notice how Paul puts the accent on the word 'already.' As if he said: I remember when Paul came to town and word spread that he was going to preach — you would have flocked to hear him and blessed God for the opportunity. But that was when you were poor and empty. Now you are full. You have reached a higher level. Paul is too simple for you now — he can take his preaching to those who are still hungry. You have moved past all that. And once a heart has arrived at that place, it is easy to see what will follow.

Second, this trust in the strength of grace will make the soul bold and reckless. The humble Christian is the cautious Christian — he knows his weakness, and that knowledge makes him careful. 'My head is not strong enough,' he says. 'I could easily be drawn into error through clever arguments, so I will not go where such things are being taught, lest my weak mind be intoxicated.' But the self-confident person will sample every cup — he fears nothing. He is settled in the truth; a whole team of heretics could not move him. 'I have a vain and light heart,' the humble soul says. 'I dare not go among wicked, corrupt company, lest I end up bringing the wickedness home with me.' But the one who trusts in the strength of his grace will venture into the devil's territory. This is what Peter did when he followed into the midst of Christ's enemies — and you know how that ended. His faith would have been destroyed on the spot, had Christ not sounded the retreat with that timely look of love. I have read of boastful philosophers who thought it was not enough to be temperate unless they were surrounded by temptation — so they would go into taverns and houses of immorality, as if to beat the devil on his own ground. But the Christian knows an enemy far closer than they ever imagined. He need not step over his own doorstep to pick a fight with the devil — he has lust in his own heart that will keep him fully occupied all his days, without giving it any additional advantage. Christian, I know of no sin that you might not be left to commit — except one. It was a bold claim — though made by a good man, as I have heard — 'If I die of the plague, say I had no faith.' And on that basis he would go boldly among the infected. If you are a Christian, you will not die of spiritual plague — but you may still have the running sores of serious sins on you for a time. Is that not bad enough? Therefore, walk humbly with your God.

Third, this high opinion of the strength of your grace will make you harsh and unmerciful toward your weak brothers and sisters in their failings — a sin that least becomes a saint (Galatians 6:1). 'If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.' But how does one get such a gentle spirit? The verse continues: 'considering yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.' What makes people hard on the poor? The fact that they cannot imagine being poor themselves. Why are so many people sharp in their judgments? Because they trust too much in their own grace, as if they could never fall. O but you are still in the body, and the body of sin is still in you — so fear. Bernard used to say, whenever he heard of some scandalous sin in a professing believer: 'He fell today; I may stumble tomorrow.'

Section 2.

The second way a soul can be proud of its grace is by resting on it for acceptance with God. Scripture calls the grace within us 'our own righteousness' — though God is truly its source — and contrasts it with the righteousness of Christ, which alone is called 'the righteousness of God' (Romans 10:3). To rest on any inherent grace is to exalt our own righteousness above the righteousness of God. What an act of pride that is. If it were so, a saint arriving in heaven might say: 'This is heaven, which I have built. My grace has purchased it.' And the God of heaven would become His creature's tenant. No — God has designed salvation on a different plan: of grace, but not grace in us, but grace to us. Inherent grace has its place and function accompanying salvation (Hebrews 6:9), but it does not purchase it. That is Christ's work alone. When Israel waited at Mount Sinai, boundaries were set — no one could come up the mountain besides Moses to meet with God, not even to touch the mountain without dying. In the same way, all the graces of the Spirit wait on God, but none of them comes forward to claim acceptance with God except faith — which is the grace that presents the soul not in its own garments, but in Christ's. But you may ask: why is all this needed? Where is the person who actually trusts in his grace? Alas, where is the Christian who fully and freely comes off his own righteousness? The pilot who can steer his faith in so direct a course as never to run aground on some duty or hit the rocks of some grace is exceedingly rare. Abraham went in to Hagar. And the children of Abraham's faith are not perfectly free from the law — they may sometimes be found in Hagar's arms. The evidence is the rising and falling of our faith according to the condition of our obedience. When obedience seems full, faith is at high tide and covers all the mountains of our fears. But when it seems to ebb in any service or duty, the Jordan of our faith pulls back and leaves the soul exposed. The devil's spite is against Christ. Since he could not prevent Christ's coming — which he tried with everything he had — or work his will on Christ when He came, he now works in a more refined way: to dim the glory of Christ's sufferings and the sufficiency of His righteousness by blending ours with His. The doctrine of justification by faith has had more assaults and siegeworks built against it than any other teaching in Scripture. Many other errors were only his subtle approaches to get closer and undermine this one. And finally, when he cannot hide this truth — which now shines in the church like the sun at full strength — he works to prevent people from living by it in practice. If he can help it, we will profess acceptance through Christ alone in our beliefs while contradicting ourselves in how we live. There are two forms of pride the devil uses for this purpose. One I might call a mannerly pride, and the other a self-applauding pride.

First, mannerly pride comes dressed in the appearance of humility. It shows itself either when the soul first comes to Christ — keeping it from embracing the promise — or afterward in the daily course of the Christian's walk with God, preventing comfortable reliance on Christ.

First, this shows itself when a poor soul is pushed back from the promise by a sense of its own unworthiness and great unrighteousness. Tell him of forgiveness, and he is so wrapped up in thoughts of his own filthiness that the good news cannot reach him. Would God really take such a wretch as he is into His embrace, cancel so many great sins at once, and receive into His favor someone who has been so long in open rebellion against Him? He cannot believe it — even when he hears what Christ has done and suffered for sin, he refuses to be comforted. The soul has little idea what a bitter root such thoughts spring from. You think you are doing well to condemn yourself and magnify your sins — and indeed, you cannot paint them black enough, nor entertain thoughts too low and base about yourself for what you have done. But what wrong has God done you, that you should cast such dishonor on His mercy? What wrong has Christ done you, that you should so unworthily reflect on the worth of what He has earned? Can you not mourn for your sins while still being careful of God's reputation? Is there no way to show your sense of sin except by slandering your Savior? Can you not charge yourself without condemning God — and putting Christ and His blood to shame before Satan, who takes more satisfaction in this than in all your other sins? In short: you like a wretched creature have undone yourself and brought ruin on your soul through sin. But are you unwilling that God should have the glory of pardoning it, and Christ the honor of having purchased that pardon? Are you like the man in the Gospel (Luke 16:3) who could not work and was too proud to beg? You cannot earn heaven by your own righteousness — and is your spirit so stiff that you will not take it as a gift for Christ's sake? Will you not receive it from the hands of God, who in the Gospel comes to you as a beggar, pleading with you to be reconciled to Him? Ah, soul — who would have thought such pride could lurk under such a modest veil? And yet nothing is quite like it. It is outrageous pride for a beggar to starve rather than accept charity from a wealthy hand. It is madness for a convicted criminal to choose the noose over a pardon from a merciful king. But here is something infinitely worse: a soul perishing in sin, and yet rejecting the mercy of God and the helping hand of Christ that would save it. Though Abigail did not think herself worthy to be David's wife, she thought David worthy of her — and so she humbly accepted his offer and made haste to go with his servants. That is the right frame of heart: to lie low in the sense of your own unworthiness, and yet to believe; to renounce all claim to worthiness in yourself, and yet not therefore renounce all hope of mercy — but rather to run all the more quickly to Christ, who is wooing you. All the pride and rudeness lies in making Christ wait — He who has already sent His messengers to invite poor sinners and tell them all things are ready. But perhaps you will still say that it is not pride keeping you back — you simply cannot believe God would ever receive someone like you. That does little to improve your case. Either you are holding on to some lust you will not give up in order to receive the promise — in which case you are a notorious hypocrite who, under all this outcry over your sins, is secretly still trading with hell. Or, if that is not the case, you reveal even more pride in that you dare to hold out against the many plain and clear promises of the Gospel, with nothing to oppose them but your own stubborn refusal to believe. God bids the wicked forsake his ways and return to Him, promising abundant pardon — but you say you cannot believe this applies to you. Now who is speaking the truth? One of you two must be the liar. Either you must take the shame on yourself for what you have said against God and His promise — which is your best option — or you must proudly, even blasphemously, make God out to be a liar, which is what every unbeliever does (1 John 5:10). In fact, you make Him out to be false to His oath — for God, in order to give poor sinners all the more assurance as they flee to Christ (who is that hope set before them), has sworn with an oath that they would have strong consolation (Hebrews 6:17-18). As Tertullian wrote: O happy we, for whose sake God puts Himself under an oath! But O miserable we, who will not believe God — not even when He swears!

Second, once the soul has crossed the great gulf and entered a state of peace and life by embracing Christ, Satan still uses this subtle form of pride to disturb the Christian's daily walk of duty and obedience, robbing him of peace and comfort. Oh, how cheerlessly -- even joylessly -- many precious souls pass their days! If you ask what causes it, you will find that all their joy drains out through the cracks of their imperfect duties and weak graces. They cannot pray the way they want to, or walk with the steadiness and consistency they desire. They see how far short they fall of the holy standard in Scripture and the example set by others who are more mature in grace. And although this does not make them throw away the promises entirely or give up all hope in Christ, it breeds many anxious fears and suspicions. It makes them sit at the feast Christ has prepared without knowing whether they are allowed to eat. In short, it robs them of their joy and robs Christ of the glory He should receive from their rejoicing in Him. I am not saying, Christian, that you should not mourn for the flaws you find in your graces and duties. In fact, you could not prove yourself sincere if you did not. A gracious heart, seeing how far its present renewed condition falls short of humanity's original holiness at creation, cannot help but weep and mourn -- just as the Jews wept when they saw the second temple. Yet, Christian, even while the tears are in your eyes over your imperfect graces (for a soul rises still wearing its grave clothes), you should rejoice -- even triumph -- over all these failings by faith in Christ, in whom you are complete (Colossians 1:10), even while imperfect in yourself. Christ's presence in the second temple -- which the first temple did not have -- made it more glorious than the first, even though it looked inferior by comparison (Haggai 2:9). How much more does His presence in the spiritual temple of a gracious heart, crediting His righteousness to cover all its flaws, make the soul more glorious than humanity was at the beginning! This is a garment for which, as Christ says of the lily, we neither spin nor labor. Yet Adam in all his created splendor was not so clothed as the weakest believer is when wearing this on his soul. Now, Christian, think carefully about what you are doing when you sit languishing under the awareness of your own weaknesses and refuse to rejoice in Christ or live comfortably in the sweet privileges that are yours through your union with Him. Are you not revealing some of this spiritual pride at work in you? Oh, if you could pray without wandering, walk without stumbling, believe without wavering -- then you could rejoice and live cheerfully! It seems, soul, that you are waiting to bring the basis of your comfort with you rather than receiving it purely from Christ. How much better it would be if you would say with David: "Though my house -- my heart -- is not all it should be before God, yet He has made with me a covenant ordered in all things and sure. This is all my desire and all my confidence. Christ I set against all my sins. Christ I set against all my lack. He is my all in all, and more than all." Indeed, all those complaints about our shortcomings and weaknesses -- insofar as they pull our hearts away from relying cheerfully on Christ -- are really just the language of pride, longing for the covenant of works. Oh, it is hard to forget our mother tongue, which comes so naturally to us! Work hard, then, to recognize this tendency and understand how offensive it is to the Spirit of Christ. What would a husband say if his wife, instead of expressing her love and delight in him, did nothing day and night but weep and cry, thinking about her former husband who had died? The law (as a covenant) and Christ are compared to two husbands in Romans 7:4. "You have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another -- to Him who was raised from the dead." Now your sorrow over the shortcomings of your own righteousness, when it keeps you from rejoicing in Christ, is really just pining after your former husband. Christ cannot help but take this personally -- that you are not as content to rest in His embrace and receive your happiness from Him as you were with your old husband, the law.

Second, there is a self-congratulating pride -- when the heart is secretly puffed up, promising itself acceptance before God for some duty or act of obedience it has performed. It fails, even when most helped by grace, to look beyond its own efforts and place the full weight of its expectation on Christ alone. Every such sideways glance of the soul is adulterous -- even idolatrous. If your heart, Christian, is ever secretly enticed (as Job speaks of another kind of idolatry), or if your mouth kisses your hand -- that is, if you become so fond of your own duties or righteousness that you give them this inward worship of your confidence and trust -- this is a great sin indeed. For in doing this, you deny the God who is above, who has directed your faith to another object. You are trying to open heaven's gate with the old key, when God has put on a new lock. Do you not acknowledge that your first entrance into your justified state was purely by His grace? You were justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24). And to whom are you indebted now that you are reconciled, for your continued acceptance in every duty or holy action? To your duty? Your obedience? Yourself? Or Christ? The same apostle will tell you in Romans 5:2: "Through Him we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand." If Christ did not lead you in -- along with everything you do -- you would certainly find the door shut on you. There is no more room for earning merit now that you are in grace than there was when you were without it. As Romans 1:17 says: "The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, for the just shall live by faith." We are not only made alive by Christ but we continue to live by Christ. Faith continually draws in pardoning, helping, and comforting mercy from Him, the way our lungs continually draw in air. The road to heaven is paved with grace and mercy from beginning to end.

Be warned above all to watch against this tactic of Satan — do not rest in your own righteousness. You are standing under a collapsing wall. The very cracks you see in your graces and duties, even at your best, are warning you to step back, lest it fall on your head. The greatest step toward heaven is out of your own front door, over your own threshold. Many men have lost their lives in a house fire because they could not let go of their possessions — they went back into the flames to save their things and perished with them. Even more have lost their souls by trying to carry some of their own works with them to heaven. Such a good work or duty — while they, like slow Lot, were reluctant to leave it in terms of their confidence — has been the ruin of them. O friends, come out, come out! Leave what is yours in the fire. Flee to Christ empty-handed — He has clothing far better than your own. Come to Christ poor, and He has gold — not like yours, which melts and proves impure under fire, but the kind that comes through the fiery trial of God's righteous judgment as pure and full weight. You cannot be found in two places at once. Choose: will you be found in your own righteousness or in Christ's? Those who have had far more to show than you have thrown everything away and gone to Christ as beggars. Read Paul's inventory in Philippians 3 — what he had, what he did — and yet all of it is waste and loss. Give him Christ, and let anyone else take the rest who wants it. So Job — as holy a man as ever walked the earth, God Himself being witness — yet says: 'Though I were perfect, I would not acknowledge it in my own soul; I would despise my life' (Job 9:20-21). He had already acknowledged his imperfection. Now he makes a hypothetical — one which is in fact impossible: 'If I were perfect, I would not know it about my own soul; I would not entertain thoughts that would inflate me into such confidence in my holiness as to make it my case before God.' It is like our common saying about a person: 'He has excellent ability, but he knows it' — meaning he is proud of it. Beware of 'knowing your own grace' in that sense. You cannot strike a worse blow against both your grace and your comfort than by taking pride in it.

Section 3.

First, your grace cannot thrive as long as you rest in it. A legal spirit is no friend to grace — it is, in fact, grace's bitter enemy, as the Pharisees in Christ's time made plain. Grace does not come by the law, but by Christ. You may stand beside the law as long as you like and never receive a drop of life from it — neither fresh life for your soul nor further growth in the grace you already have. If you want growth, you must place yourself under Christ's wings by faith. From His Spirit alone in the Gospel comes the warm and natural heat that hatches the soul into the life of holiness and increases what you already have. And you cannot come under Christ's wings until you come out from under the shadow of the other — by renouncing all expectation from your own works and services. You know Reuben's curse: that he would not excel, because he had gone up to his father's bed. While other tribes increased, he stagnated. By trusting in your own works you do worse to Christ. Will you then excel in grace? Perhaps some of you have been professing Christians for many years, yet have seen little growth in love to God, humility, heavenly-mindedness, or mortification of sin. It is worth digging to see what lies at the root of your profession — whether a legal principle has not been governing you more than you realize. Have you been trying to win everything with God through your duties and services, and laying too much of your hope on your own activity? Alas — that is dead soil, which must be dug out, and Gospel principles planted in its place. Try this approach and see whether the spring of your grace does not begin to come on quickly. David explains how he came to stand and flourish while others who were rich and powerful suddenly withered: 'Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches... But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever' (Psalm 52:7-8). While others trust in the riches of their own righteousness and services, and do not make Christ their strength — you renounce all that and trust in the mercy of God in Christ, and you will be like a green olive tree when they fade and wither.

Second, Christian — you will not flourish in true comfort as long as you rest in any inner work of grace and fail to stand clear of your own efforts and righteousness. Gospel comfort springs from a Gospel root, which is Christ: 'We are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh' (Philippians 3:3). A soul that rests on any holiness within itself has grafted its comfort onto itself, not onto Christ. It nurses from its own breast, not from Christ's — and so makes Christ a dry nurse. What comfort can grow from that barren source? The Spirit is our Comforter as well as our Teacher and Counselor. Now just as the Spirit, when He teaches, brings no new or strange truth but takes from Christ's own — what He finds in the Word — so when He comforts, He takes from Christ's own: Christ's righteousness, not ours. Christ is the substance and foundation of the Spirit's comfort. Every restorative in the Christian life is simply Christ distilled and made available in the various promises: His acting, not ours; His suffering, not ours; His holiness, not ours. The Spirit does not say, 'Soul, rejoice — you are holy.' He says, 'Soul, triumph — Christ is righteous, and He is the Lord your righteousness.' Not, 'Soul, you prayed so beautifully — do not fear,' but rather, 'You have an Advocate with the Father, Christ the righteous.' Therefore the first step toward receiving comfort from the Spirit is to dismiss every comfort we have fashioned for ourselves. Just as in learning from the Spirit — the person who will be taught by Him must first become a fool (meaning, not lean at all on his own understanding) — so the person who would be comforted must first be emptied of every self-made support and must not lean on his own manufactured comfort. A physician first requires his patient to set aside every other remedy he has been using. He asks what medicines the other doctors prescribed, removes their bandages, throws out their prescriptions, and begins the treatment fresh. So the Spirit, when He comes to comfort a poor soul, first persuades that soul to dismiss all its former physicians. 'I have been in the hands of this duty and this course of obedience,' says the soul, 'and have been sure each time that now I would be well — now I will have comfort, now that I am doing this duty and pursuing this holy course.' 'Well,' says the Spirit, 'if you will have Me do anything for you, all of that must be dismissed as a source of confidence.' Now — and only now — is the soul a fit recipient for the Spirit's comfort. Therefore, friends, as you love your inward peace, take careful notice of what vessel you draw your comfort from. Grace is limited, and so it cannot supply much. It leaks, and so it cannot hold long. You are drinking from a cracked cup if you draw your comfort from your own grace. It is mixed, and therefore weak. Weak grace cannot give strong comfort — and strong comfort is exactly what you need, especially in times of heavy conflict. And finally, the comfort you draw from your own grace is stolen. You do not come by it honestly, and stolen comforts will never prosper. What folly it is for the child to steal what he could receive freely and more fully from his Father, who gives generously and without shaming? That comfort you would pry out of your own righteousness and duties — behold, it is laid up for you in Christ, from whose fullness you may carry away as much as your faith can hold, and no one will stop you. In fact, the more you draw on Christ for your comfort, the more warmly welcome you are. We are told to open our mouths wide, and He will fill them.