Section 9. A man may have great hopes of heaven, great hopes of being saved, and yet be but almost a Christian. Indeed, there is hope of heaven, which is the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. It never miscarries, and is known by four properties. One, it is a hope that purifies the heart and purges out sin. He that hath this hope purifies himself, even as God is pure. That soul that truly hopes to enjoy God, truly endeavors to be like God. 2. It is a hope which fills the heart with gladness. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. It is a hope that is founded on the promise, as there can be no true faith without a promise, so not any true hope. Faith applies the promise, and hope expects the fulfilling of the promise. Faith relies upon the truth of it, and hope waits for the good of it. Faith gives interest, and hope expects livery and season. For it is a hope that is wrought by God Himself in the soul. He is therefore called the God of hope, as being the author as well as the object of hope. Now he that has this hope shall never miscarry. This is a right hope, the hope of the true believer. Christ in you, the hope of glory. But then as there is a true and sound hope, so there is a false and rotten hope. And this is much more common as bastard pearls are more frequently worn than true pearls. There is nothing more common than to see men big with groundless hopes of heaven as a man may have great hope that has no grace. You read of the hope of hypocrites. The performance of duties is a proof of their hope. The foolish virgins would never have done what they did had they thought they should have been shut out after all. Many professors would not be at such pains and duties Yes, they are, if they did not hope for heaven. Hope is the great motive to action. Despair cuts the sinews of all endeavors. That is one reason why the damned in hell cease acting toward an alteration of their state, because despair has taken hold of them. If there were any hope in hell, they would be up and be doing there, so that there may be great hope where there is no grace. Experience proves this. Formal professors are men of no grace, but yet men of great hope. Nay, many times you shall find that none fear more about their eternal condition than they who have most cause of hope, and none hope more than they who have most cause of fear. As interest in hope may sometimes be without hope, so hope in God may be without interest. A man may hope in the mercy, goodness, and power of God without eyeing the promise. This is the hope of most. God is full of mercy and goodness, and therefore willing to save. And He is infinite in power, and therefore able to save. Why, therefore, should I not rest on Him? Now it is presumption and therefore sin to hope in the mercy of God other than by eyeing the promise, for the promise is the channel of mercy through which it is conveyed. All the blessedness the saints enjoy in heaven is no other than what is the fruit of promise relied on and hoped for here on earth. A man has no warrant to hope in God but by virtue of the promise. A man may hope for heaven and yet not cleanse his heart nor depart from his secret sins. That hope of salvation that is not accompanied with heart purification is a vain hope. A man may hope for heaven and yet be doing the work of hell. He may hope for salvation and yet be working out his own damnation and so perish in his confidences. This is the case of many. like the water man that looks one way and rows another. Many have their eyes on heaven, whose hearts are in the earth. They hope in God, but choose him not for a portion. They hope in God, but do not love him as the best good, and, therefore, are likely to have no portion in him, nor good by him, but are likely to perish without him, notwithstanding all their hopes. What is the hope of the hypocrite? though he hath gained when God takes away his soul. Now then, if a man may have great hope of heaven that has no grace, if he may hope in mercy without eyeing the promise, if he may hope without heart purifying, if he may hope for heaven and yet do the work of hell, surely then a man may have great hopes of heaven and yet be but almost a Christian. Section 10. A man may be under great and visible changes, and these wrought by the ministry of the Word, and yet be but almost a Christian. It is said, When Herod heard John Baptist, he did many things, and heard him gladly. Saul was under a great change. When he met the Lord's prophet, he turned prophet too. Nay, it is said, verse 9 of that chapter, that God gave him another heart. Now, was not this a work of grace, and was not Saul here truly converted? One would think he was, but yet indeed he was not. For though it is said God gave him another heart, yet it is not said that God gave him a new heart. There is a great difference between another heart and a new heart. God gave him another heart to fit him for a ruler, but did not give him a new heart to make him a believer. Another heart may make another man, but it is a new heart that makes a new man. Again, Simon Magus is a great proof of this truth. He was under a great and visible change. Of a sorcerer, he was turned to be a believer. He left his witchcrafts and sorceries and embraced the gospel. Was not this a great change? If the drunkard leaves his drunkenness, the swearer his oaths The profane person, his profaneness, they think this is a gracious change and their state is now good. Alas, Simon Magus not only left his sins, but had a kind of conversion, for he believed and was baptized. Objection. But is not that man who is changed a true Christian? Answer. Not every change makes a man a Christian. Indeed, there is a change that makes whoever is under it a true Christian. When a man's heart is so changed that it is renewed, when old things are done away and all is become new, when the new creature is wrought in the soul, when a man is turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, when the mind is enlightened, the will renewed, the affections made heavenly, then a man is a Christian indeed. But now you must know that every change is not this change, for there is a civil change, a moral change, as well as a spiritual and supernatural change. Many men are changed in a moral sense, and one may say they have become new men, but they are in heart and nature the same men still. They are not changed in a spiritual and supernatural sense, and therefore it cannot be said of them that they have become new creatures. Restraining grace may cause a moral change, but it is renewing grace that must cause a saving change. Now many are under restraining grace and changed morally who are not under the power of saving grace and changed savingly. There is an outward change as well as an inward change. The outward change is often without the inward, though the inward change is never without the outward. A man's heart cannot be sanctified without it influencing the life, but a man's life may be reformed, and yet it never affects or influences the heart. A man may be converted from a course of profaneness to a form of godliness, from a filthy conversation to a fair profession. and yet the heart is the same in one and the other. A rotten post may be guilt without and yet unsound within. It is common to have the outside of the cup and platter made clean and yet the inside foul and filthy. Now then, if a man may be changed morally, and yet not spiritually, outwardly, and yet not inwardly, from a course of profaneness to a lifeless form of godliness, then a man may be under great and visible changes, and yet be no more than almost a Christian. I do not seek this to discountenance any change short of that which is spiritual, but to awaken you to seek after that change which is more than moral. It is good to be outwardly renewed, but it is better to be inwardly renewed. I know how natural it is for men to take up with anything like a work of conversion, though it is not conversion, and resting in that, they eternally perish. Beloved, let me tell you, there is no change, no conversion that can stead your souls in the day of judgment, this side of that saving work which is wrought on the soul by the Spirit of God renewing you throughout. The sober man without this change shall as surely go to hell as the foolish drunkard. Morality and civility may commend us to men, but not to God. They are of no value in the procurement of an eternal salvation. A man may go far in an outward change and yet not be one step nearer heaven than he who was never under any change. Nay, he may be, in some sense, further off. Christ said the scribes and Pharisees were further from heaven with all their show of godliness than publicans and harlots in all their sin and uncleanness. Resting in a false work, a partial change, we neglect to seek after a true and saving change. There is nothing more common than to mistake our state and, by overweening thoughts, misjudge our condition and so perish in our own delusions. The world is full of those foolish builders who lay the foundation of their hopes of eternal salvation upon the sand. Now, my brethren, would you not mistake the way to heaven and perish in a delusion? Would you not be found fools at last? For none are such fools as the spiritual fool, who is a fool in the great business of salvation. Would you not be fools for your souls and for eternity? Oh, then labor after and pray for a thorough work of conversion. Beg God that he would make a saving change in your souls that you may be altogether Christians. All other changes below this saving change, this heart change, make us but almost Christians. Section 11. A man may be very zealous in the matters of religion and yet be but almost a Christian. Jehu not only served God and did what he commanded, but was very zealous in his service. Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord of hosts. And yet in all this, Jehu was a hypocrite. Joash was a great reformer in Jehoadah's time. It is said he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoadah the priest. But when Jehoad died, Joash's zeal for God died with him, and he became a wretch. Objection. But the apostle makes zeal to be a note of sound Christianity. It is good to be zealously affected in good things. Nay, it seems to be the non-such qualification for obtaining eternal life. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. and the violent take it by force. Answer. It is true. There is a zeal which is good and renders the soul highly acceptable to God, a zeal that never misses heaven and salvation. Now this is a zeal which is a celestial fire, the true temper and heat of all the affections to God and Christ. It is a zeal wrought and kindled in the soul by the Spirit of God, who first works it and then sets it to work. It is a zeal that has the word of God for its guide, directing it in working both in regard of its object and end, manner and measure. It is a zeal that checks sin and forwards the heavenly life. It is a zeal that makes the glory of God its chief end, which swallows up all by ends. The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. But now all zeal is not this kind of zeal, there is a false zeal as well as a true. Every grace has its counterfeit, as there is fire which is true, heavenly fire on the altar, so there is strange fire. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire upon God's altar. Eight kinds of counterfeit zeal. There are several kinds of zeal, none of which are true and sound, but false and counterfeit. I shall instance in eight particulars. 1. There is a blind zeal, a zeal without knowledge. They have a zeal, said the apostle, but not according to knowledge. Now if knowledge without a zeal is fruitless, so zeal without knowledge is dangerous. It is like wild fire in the hand of a fool, or like the devil in the man possessed. who threw him sometimes into the fire, sometimes into the water. The eye is the light of the body and the understanding is the light of the soul. Now as the body without the light of the eye cannot go without stumbling, so the soul without the light of the mind cannot act without erring. Zeal without knowledge is like a dim light in a dark night. that leads a traveler out of his way into the bogs and mire. This was the zeal of Paul while he was a Pharisee. I was zealous towards God, as ye are all this day, and I persecuted this way unto the death. And again, I verily thought with myself, I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and concerning zeal, persecuting the church. such a zeal was that in John, they shall put you out of the synagogue, silence you, you shall not be suffered to preach, yea, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he doth God service. This is great zeal, but yet it is blind zeal, and that God abhors. There is a partial zeal in one thing fire-hot, in another key-cold, zealous in this thing, and yet careless in another. Many are first-table Christians, zealous in the duties of the first table, and yet neglectful of the second. Thus the Pharisees were zealous in their Corban, and yet unnatural to their parents, suffering them to starve and perish. Others are mindful of the second table, but neglectful of the first, more for righteousness among men than for holiness towards God. But now, he whose religion ends with the first table or begins with the second is a fool in his profession, for he is but almost a Christian. The woman who was for dividing the child was not the true mother, and he who is for dividing the command is not a true believer. Jehu was zealous against Ahab's house, but not so against Jeroboam's calves. Many are zealous against sin of opinion, who yet use no zeal against the sins of their conversation. Now we know that the sweat of the whole body is a sign of health, but the sweat of some one part only shows a distemper, and therefore physicians reckon such a heat to be symptomatic. So where zeal reaches to every command of God alike, that is a sign of a sound constitution of soul. where it is partial, where a man is hot in one part and cold in another, this is symptomatic of some inward spiritual distemper. 3. There is a misplaced zeal fixed upon unsuitable and disproportionate objects. Many are very zealous in trifling things that are not worth it, and trifling in the things that most require it. like the Pharisees, who were diligent tithers of mint, anise, and cumin, but neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. They had no zeal for these, though they were very hot for the others. Many are more zealous for a ceremony than for the substance of religion, more zealous for bowing at the name of Jesus than for conformity to the life of Jesus, more zealous for a holy vestment than for a holy life, more zealous for the inventions of men than for the institutions of Christ. This is a superstitious zeal, and usually found in men unconverted, in whom grace never was wrought. Against such men, heathens will rise up in judgment. When was it that Paul was so exceeding zealous of the traditions of his fathers, as he said, only when he was in his wretched and unconverted state, As you may see in the next verses, but when it pleased God to call me by His grace, then I conferred not with flesh and blood. Paul had another kind of zeal then actuated by other kinds of principles. 4. There is a selfish zeal that has a man's own end for its motive. J. Hugh was very zealous, but it was not so much for God as for the kingdom. not so much in obedience to the command as in design to step into the throne, and therefore God threatens to punish him for that very thing he commands him to do. I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, because he shed blood to gratify his lust not to obey God. So Simeon and Levi pretended great zeal for circumcision. They seemed very zealous for the honor of God's ordinances when, in truth, their zeal was covetousness and revenge upon the Shechemites. 5. There is an outside zeal. Such was that of scribes and Pharisees. They would not eat with unwashed hands, but yet would live in unseen sins. They would wash the cuff often, but the heart seldom. paint the outside, but neglect the inside. Jehu was a mighty outside reformer, but he reformed nothing within, for he had a base heart under all. Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord with all his heart. Though his fleece was fair, his liver was rotten. Our Lord Christ observed of the Pharisees, they pray to be seen of men, and fast, so that they may appear to men too fast. 6. There is a forensic zeal that runs out upon others, like the candle in the lantern that sends all the heat out at the top, or as the lewd woman Solomon mentions, whose feet abide not in her own house. Many are hot and high against the sins of others, and yet cannot see the same in themselves. like the Lamayi that put on their spectacles when they went abroad but pulled them off within doors. It is easy to see faults in others and hard to see them in ourselves. Jehu was zealous against Baal and his priests because they were Ahab's sin, but not against the calves of Bethel because that was his own sin. This zeal is the true character of a hypocrite. His own garden is overrun with weeds, while he is busy in looking over his neighbor's pail. 7. There is a sinful zeal. All the former may be called sinful from some defect, but this I call sinful in a more special notion, because it is against the life and chief of religion. It is a zeal against a zeal that flies not at profaneness, but at the very power of godliness. not at error, but at truth, and is most hot against the most spiritual and most important truths of the times. Whence else are the sufferings of men for the truth, but from the spirit of zeal against the truth? This may be called a devilish zeal, for as there is the faith of devils, so there is the zeal of devils. Therefore his rage is great. because he knows his time is short. 8. There is a scripture-less zeal that is not butted and bounded by the word, but by some base and low end. Such was Saul's zeal when God bid him destroy Amalek and spare neither man nor beast, when, contrary to God's command, he spared the best of the sheep and oxen under pretense of zeal for God's sacrifice. Another time, when he had no such command, then he slew the Gibeonites in zeal to the children of Israel and Judah. Many a man's zeal is greater then and there, when and where he has the least warrant from God. The true spirit of zeal is bounded by Scripture, for it is for God and the concerns of His glory. God has no glory from that zeal which has no Scripture warrant. Now then, if the zeal of a man in the things of God may be only a blind zeal, a partial zeal, a misplaced zeal, a selfish zeal, an outside zeal, a forensic zeal, a sinful zeal, or a scripture-less zeal, then it is evident that a man may be very zealous in the matters of religion, and yet be but almost a Christian. Section 12. A man may be much in prayer, he may pray often and pray much, and yet be but almost a Christian. So did the Pharisees, whom yet our Lord Christ rejected for hypocrite. Objection! But is not a praying frame an argument of a sincere heart? Are not the saints of God called? The generation of them that seek the face of God answer. Amen. Is not, therefore, a Christian because he is much in prayer? I grant that those prayers that are from the workings and sighings of God's Spirit in us, from sincere hearts lifted up to God, from a sense of our own emptiness and God's infinite fullness that are suited to God's will, the great rule of prayer, that are for spiritual things more than temporal, that are accompanied with faith and dependence, such prayers speak a man altogether a Christian. But now a man may be much in prayer and yet be a stranger to such a prayer as one nature may put a man upon prayer for it is a part of natural worship. It may put a child of God upon prayer, so did Christ. He went and fell upon his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. This was a prayer of Christ, which flowed from the sinless struggling of nature seeking its own preservation. 2. A man may pray in pretense for a covering to some sin. So did those devout Pharisees. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. So the papists seem very devout to pray a rich man's soul out of purgatory, but it is to cheat the heir of much of his estate under pretense of paying for his father's soul. 3. A man may pray and yet love sin. Austin, before conversion, prayed against his sin, but was afraid God should hear him and take him at his word. Now God does not hear such prayers If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear my prayer. For a man may pray much for temporal things and little for spiritual things, and such are the prayers of most men crying out most for temporal things. More for who will show us any good than for, Lord, lift upon us the light of thy countenance. David copies out the prayer of such, that our sons may be as plants, and that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace, that our garners may be full, etc. Happy is the people that is in such a case. This is the carnal prayer, and this David calls vanity. They are strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity. Five, a man may pray and yet be far from God in prayer. This people draw nigh to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. A man may pray and yet have no heart in prayer, and that God chiefly looks at. My son, give me thy heart. The Jews have this sentence written up on the walls of their synagogues. prayer without the intention of the mind is but a body without a soul. It is not enough to be conscionable to use prayer, but we must be conscionable to the use of prayer Many are so conscientious that they dare not but pray, and yet are so irreligious that they have no heart in prayer. A common work of God may make a man conscionable to do duties, but nothing less than divine grace in the heart will make a man conscionable in the doing of them. 6. A man's prayer may be a lie, as a profession without sanctity is a lie to the world, so prayer without sincerity is a lie to God. It is said of Israel that they sought God and inquired early after Him. They were much in prayer, and God called all but a lie. Nevertheless, They did flatter him with their mouths, and they lied to him with their tongues, for their heart was not with him. David said, Hearken to my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. 7. Affliction and pressure of outward evils will make a man pray, and pray much. When he slew them, then they sought him and returned, and inquired early after God. The heathen mariners called every man upon his god when in a storm, when they fear drowning, then they fell to praying. Jonah 1, 5. Mariners are, for the most part, none of the devoutest, nor much addicted to prayer. They will swear twice when they pray once, and yet it is said they cry to the Lord in their trouble. Hence you have a proverb. He who cannot pray, let him go to the sea. They poured out a prayer when the chastening was upon them. Now then, if nature may put a man upon prayer, if a man may pray in pretense and design, if a man may pray and yet love sin, If a man may pray mostly for temporal things, if a man may pray and yet be far from God in prayer, if prayer may be a lie or only the cry of the soul under affliction, surely then a man may be much in prayer and yet be but almost a Christian. Objection. But suppose a man prays and prevails with God in prayer, surely that is a witness from heaven of a man's sincerity in prayer. I pray and prevail. I ask and am answered. Answer. A man may pray and be answered, for God many times answers prayers in judgment. As God is sometimes silent in mercy, so he speaks in wrath. as he sometimes denies prayer in mercy, so he sometimes answers in judgment. When men are over-importunate in something their lusts are upon, and will take no nay, then God answers in judgment. He gave them their own desire. They desired quails, and God sent them, but now mark the judgment. While the meat was in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and slew them. Objection. But suppose a man's affections are much stirred in prayer. What then? Is that not a true note of Christianity? My affections are much stirred in prayer. Answer. So were Esau's when he sought the blessing. He sought it carefully with tears. A man may be affected with his own parts in a duty while good notions pass through his head and good words through his lips. Some good notions also may stir in his heart, but they are but sparks which fly out at the tunnel of the chimney, which suddenly vanish. So that it is possible that a man may pray and prevail in prayer, pray, and be affected in prayer, and yet be but almost a Christian. Section 13. A man may suffer for Christ in his goods, in his name, and in his person, and yet be but almost a Christian. Every man that bears Christ's cross on his shoulders does not therefore bear Christ's image in his soul. Objection! But does not our Lord Christ make great promises to those who suffer or lose anything for Him? Does He not say, Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life? Surely they are true Christians to whom Christ makes this promise. answer. There is a suffering for Christ that is a note of sincerity and shall have its reward. That is, when a man suffers for a good cause upon a good call and with a good conscience for Christ's sake and in Christ's strength, when his sufferings are a filling up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, when a man suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. When a man thrusts not himself into sufferings, but stays God's call. Such suffering is a proof of integrity. But now every suffering for Christ is not suffering as a Christian, for a man may suffer for Christ, for that profession of religion that is upon him. The world hates the show of religion. Times may come that it may cost a man as dearly to wear the livery of Christ as to where Christ himself, Alexander, as is generally judged, afterwards made shipwreck of faith and greatly opposed Paul's ministry. A man may suffer for Christ and yet have no true love to Christ. This is supposed. Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profits nothing. Love to Christ is the only noble ground of suffering, but a man may suffer much upon other ends. One, out of opinion of meriting by our sufferings as the Papists. Or, two, out of vain glory or for applause among professors. Some have died that their names might live. Or, three, out of a Roman resolution or stoutness of spirit. 4. Out of a design of profit, Judas forsook all for Christ, hoping to mend his market by closing with him. Or 5. Rather, to maintain an opinion than for truth propagation. Socrates died for maintaining that there was but one God. But whether he died rather for his own opinion than for God's sake, I think is no hard matter to determine. Thus, a man may suffer for professing Christ and yet suffer upon wrong principles. Now then, if a man may suffer for Christ from the profession that is upon him, then a man may suffer for Christ and yet be but almost a Christian. Section 14. A man may be called of God and embrace this call and be but almost a Christian. Judas is a famous instance of this truth. He was called by Christ himself and came at the call of Christ and yet Judas was but almost a Christian. Objection! But is not being under the call of God a proof of our interest in the predestinating love of God, does not the apostle say, whom he predestinated, them he called? Nay, does he not say in the next verse, whom he called, them he justified? Nay, does not God call all whom he intends to save? Answer, though God calls all those that shall be saved, yet all shall not be saved whom God calls. Every man under the gospel is called of God in one sense or other, but yet every man under the gospel shall not therefore be saved, for many are called, but few are chosen. There is a twofold call of God, internal and external. There is an internal call of God. Now this call is a special work of the Spirit. by the ministry of the Word, whereby a man is brought out of the state of nature into a state of grace, out of darkness into light, from being a vessel of wrath to be made an heir of life. I grant that whoever is under this call of God is called a sexually and savingly to be a Christian. Indeed, every man that has heard and learned of the Father cometh to me. There is a call of God, which a man may have, and yet not be this call. There is an external call of God, which is by the ministry of the Word. Now every man that lives under the preaching of the Gospel is thus called. God calls every soul to repent and lay a sure foundation for heaven and salvation by the Word you hear this day. But now every man that is thus called is not therefore a Christian, For many under the call of God come to Christ, but are not converted to Christ, having nothing of the grace and life of Christ. He who, when Christ sent out his servants to bid guests unto the marriage, came in at the call of Christ, but yet had not on the wedding garment, had none of the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Many who are under the call of the gospel come to Christ and yet afterwards fall away from Christ as Judas and Demas did. It is said when Christ preached a doctrine that his disciples did not like that from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Now then, if many are only under this external call of God, if many that come to Christ are not converted to Christ, but fall away from Christ, then a man may be called of God, and yet be but almost a Christian. Section 15. A man may have the Spirit of God and yet be but almost a Christian. Balaam had the Spirit of God given him when he blessed Israel. Balaam saw Israel abiding in tents, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Judas had the Spirit, for by the Spirit he cast out devils. He was one of them that came to Christ and said, Lord, even the devils are subject to us. Saul had the Spirit. Behold, a company of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. Objection. But you will say, can a man have the Spirit of God and yet not be a Christian? Indeed, the Scripture says, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. But surely, if any man has the Spirit of Christ, he is his answer. There is a having the Spirit, which is a sure mark of saint-ship, where the Spirit is an effectual, prevailing principle of grace and sanctification. renewing and regenerating the heart, where the spirit is a potent worker, helping the soul's infirmities, where the spirit is so as to abide forever. But now every man that has the spirit does not have the spirit in this manner, for, one, a man may have the spirit only transiently, not abidingly, The spirit may be in a man, and yet not dwell in a man. The spirit is wherever he dwells, but he does not dwell wherever he is. He is in all, but dwells in saints only. The hypocrite may have the spirit for a season, but not to abide in him forever. 2. A man may have the spirit, and yet not be born of the spirit. Every true Christian is born of the spirit. A hypocrite may have the gifts of the Spirit, but not the graces. The Spirit may be in him by the way of illumination, but not by way of sanctification, by way of conviction, but not by way of conversion. Though he may have much common grace for the good of others, yet he may have no special grace for the good of himself. Though his profession is spiritual, yet his state and condition may be carnal. 3. A man may have the spirit only as a spirit of bondage. Thus many have the spirit working only to bondage. The spirit of bondage is an operation of the Holy Ghost. by the law, convincing the conscience of sin and of the curse of the law, and working in the soul such an apprehension of the wrath of God as makes the thoughts of God a terror to him. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.