fcribes to their beneficence: lib. 9. §. 40. he mentions their co-operation; for, if they can at all co-operate with men, they alfo can in this, namely, in the practice of virtue. But if any fhould except, that these relate to things in our own power, he anfwers, who has told thee that the Gods do not affift even in thefe? Set about asking these things of the Gods by prayer, and you will fee the confequence.

LVII. And they maintained, that the fame divine aid was fo neceffary to virtue, that even the beft difpofed fouls could not be without it. Maxim. Tyr. Differt. 22. p. 228. fays, "but they who have acquired the very best natural difpofition of foul, halting between the highest virtue and the lowest vice, ftand in need of the divine aid, to give the proper bias and direction to the better fide. For their natural weakness makes them eafily take the worst path. This by means of pleasures and lufts, flatters even well-difpofed fouls, and hurries them into the fame paths of vice.

LVIII. It is therefore really a fhame that heathen writers have entertained more humble fentiments of the infirmity and inability of our nature for good, and clearer conceptions of the divine affifting grace, and have faid finer things about imploring it by prayer, than thofe profeffors of the excellency of the Christian religion, who ought to have put a due value on the holiness of true virtue. Thus they who are Pagans, will, in the day of judgment, rife up against thofe falfe Christians, the ungrateful enemies of the grace of God, no lefs to their condemnation, than the queen of the South, to that of the unbelieving Jews.

LIX. Moreover, feeing the Spirit of God, the author of holinefs, is highly generous and noble, and therefore by David Pfal. li. 12. called free (ingenuous) fpirit, hence that holiness, with which he adorns the elect is alfo fuch; as highly furpaffes all the painted virtue of the Gentiles, in whatever manner it difplays itfelf, and all the fcrupulous diligence of the Scribes and Pharifees. Which if it does not exceed these it is not acknowledged to be genuine holinefs by Chrift our Lord, Mat.

V. 20.

LX. When the children of God recollect their glorious and heavenly pedigree, they endeavour to excel others both in a beautiful difpofition of foul and manner of life, Pfalm xlv. 13. "The king's daughter," that is the daughter of the heavenly Father, who is alfo the Bride of the king's fon, every believing foul" is all glorious," adorned with a holinefs not only glorious to herfelf, but alfo to the Father and the Bridegroom, and is the beginning of a heavenly glory. and that chiefly within not only when the appears abroad and

prefents

prefents herself to the view of men, but also when fhe fits in the inner bed-chamber in the secret exercises of religion, in which the in private pleases the Father and the Bridegroom, who having a regard to the inward man, fhe above all endeavours to keep that pure and chafte. Her clothing is of gold; in comparison of which whatever excellency natural men were ever poffeffed of, is but a thining vanity: nay it was wrought; gold curioufly beautified with various resemblances, which reprefents the perfections of God himself; and of different colours, on account of the different yet harmoniously correfponding graces of the Holy Spirit: or, of neddle work of the phrygian embroiderers, or rather the work of the cunnning workman, mentioned Cant. vii. 1. Nor is the spouse only beautiful within, but also without; holding forth the word of life, Phil. ii. 16. fhe practises charity, glorifies Christ, edifies her neighbour: and in this manner fhe is brought unto the king worthy to be presented to him. This is the only way, by which we are to endeavour to obtain familiarity with him, and the fweeteft intercourse of the chafteft love, both on earth and in heaven.

LXI. That which we have in Pfal. cx. 3. is not very different from this encomium: "Thy people, O Jefus Chrift, which were given thee by the Father, purchased and redeemed by "thee, who acknowledge thee for their Lord, and are bound to "thee by a military oath, is extremely willing, being devoted to "thy fervice with the greatest readinefs of foul, alacrity, incli "nation and voluntary obedience. Nor are they willing only, "but willingness itself in the abstract; nay, willingneffes in the "plural number, the highest and most excellent willingness: all "which add an emphasis, and fuch it is in the day of thy "[valour] power, in which thy generous fpirit laying hold on "them,animates them to fome grand and bold enterprize. Then "they go forth in the beauties of holiness, by which they are "a terror to the devil, a delight to God and angels, and a mu"tual edification to one another."

LXII. These brave foldiers of Chrift are not without their ambition, which Paul describes, 2 Cor. v. 9. Aiò xai Piñoryμste ivágesa duτäävaι, wherefore we [make it our ambition] labour to be accepted of him. God never beholds himself without the highest complacency; above all he is delighted with his own perfections, and with holiness, which is the glory of them. When he fees any delineation of this in his creatures, there he in a manner stands still, and delights his eyes with fo pleasing an object, and declares by words and actions, that nothing can be more acceptable to him. And this is the holy ambition of believers, fo to

behave in the whole courfe of their life, and to have their mind so disposed, as in both to please God. Of old, Satan infpired a wicked ambition into our first parents, to labour after the image of God in a falfe way, by attempting what was forbidden them. But the heavenly Spirit is the author of a more generous ambition, which ftirs the man up, to imitate God in the habits of his foul, and the actions of his life, that he may, upon earth, prefent fomething before God, in which he may take pleasure, as in a lively image of himself. Nothing can be more noble than this holy ambition.

LXIII. What is faid Canticles i. 9. is very remarkable, "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharoah's chariot." For the understanding this paffage, we are to explain, ift, Why the church is compared to a horse. 2dly, Why to an Egyptian horse. Egyptian horfe. 3dly, Why to a horfe in the king's chariots. As to the firft: 1. An horfe fuffers itself to be eafily managed and led, not only with fpur and bridle, but alfo with the whip. Thus Strabo writes, lib. 17. that the "Maffæ filians and Lybians, made use of horses so swift and manageable, that they could be governed by the whip only :" hence Martial fays, lib. 9. Epigr. 23. "Et Maffylæum virgo gubernet equum. And manage a Maflylean horfe with a rod." Wherefore the very learned Bochart, Hierozoic, lib. 2. c. 6. refers the Hebrew word DD to a word used by the Arabs, which fignifies to manage and govern. See what Lipfius has collected, Centur. 3. ad Belgas, Epift. 56. concerning the nature, fidelity, and natural affection of horses. Such alfo are the godly: for as they have renounced their own will, fo they are docile and manageable at the leaft command of God, faying, Speak Lord, for thy fervant heareth. 2. An horse is a very strong creature, and hence it is, Jer. viii. 16. and xlvii. 3. called

אביד

rong. Whence the very learned perfon ingeniously conjectures, that Epirus, a country famous for horfes, had its name. In like manner, the godly "go in the ftrength of the Lord God," Pf. lxxi. 16: they can do all things through Chrift which ftrengtheneth them," Phil. iv. 13. And perform fuch things in overcoming the world and conquering fin, as far exceed the ftrength of other men. 3dly, An horfe is a generous animal, to which God himself gives an illuftrious encomium as an emblem of warlike prowefs, Job xxxix. 22, &c. Bochart 1. c. chap. 8. has given us a very diftinct explication of that paffage. And certainly there is fomething heroical in the godly, which, whenever Chrift, falvation and piety are concerned, discovers itself in a manner, that may aftonifh those who behold it. For the aged,

aged, the young, the helplefs of both fexes have been often feen to behave with fuch courage and bravery for Christ, and undergo with fo much refolution, the most cruel deaths in the cause of religion, that it was evident, they were actuated by a fpirit above that which is human. And they were "as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the ftreets in the battle; and they did fight because the Lord was with them, and the riders on horse were confounded." Zech.

x. 5.

LXIV. Moreover, Egypt was formerly famous for its horses, of which we frequently read in Scripture, 2 Kings xviii. 24. If. xxxi. 1. Nay, the law itfelf prohibited the kings of Judah too much to multiply their horfes, leaft, by that means, they fhould bring the people back to Egypt, Deut. xvii. 16. How ever Solomon had his horfes from thence in very great numbers, 1 Kings x. 28, 29. 2 Chron. ix. 28. We may then infer from this, that they were extraordinary beyond others. But to fuch Egyptian horfes the church is compared, to fhew her excellent courage and boldness: for the Egyptian horfe was the fymbol of this, and in their enfigns they preferred it to the lion, as Clemens Alexandrinus Stromat. lib. 5. p. 567. informs us: " for of strength and force the lion is their fymbol, but of courage and boldnefs the horse."

LXV. Nor are they compared to this alone, but also to the horfes in king Pharoah's chariot, which doubtlefs were the most excellent, and felected from his whole kingdom. For as the royal chariot excelled, so who can doubt, that the king's horses excelled all others? All thefe comparisons are adapted to fet off the nobleness of Chriftian piety.

LXVI. Nay, God does not ftop here:. but as if it was too mean to compare his elect to a company of horfes in Pharoah's chariot, he promises to prepare them "as the horse of his majefty, his goodly horfe in the battle," Zech. x. 3. Than which nothing could be spoken with greater magnificence. The holy perfon is really as a horfe prepared for the battle of the Lord, and the horfe of the fupreme commander of the di vine majefty, which, on account of its ftrength and valour, is worthy to be mounted by the king of heaven himself. Wherefore even he who had his fame written on his vefture and on his thigh, The King of kings and Lord of lords, was feen by John fitting on a white horse, Rev. xix. 11. by which is denoted the genuine profeffors of truth, and fincere followers of holinefs, with whom Jefus fights, and in whom he reits and is glorified.

LXVII

LXVII. But that this pre-eminence of Chriftian virtues may appear more evidently, three things are diftinctly to be confidered: ft, Their original. 2dly, Their rule. 3dly, Their end, for in these things their fuper-excellence confifts above all the virtues or graces of the unfanctified.

LXVIII. As to their original, the virtues of the Heathen, and the actions proceeding from thence, have their rise from fome remains of the divine image, ftill left in man since the fall; fuch as innate notions, fome love of honefty, the incentives of a natural confcience; befides thofe, fome have had a liberal education, applied themselves to the study of philosophy, and enjoyed some special benefits of the common providence of God, repreffing, reftraining and curbing innate corruption, and on the other hand, exciting them to the practice of a much more regular life, than the common herd of mankind, so that thefe virtues had no higher nor better original than nature, excited by the affiftance of common providence, Rom. ii. 14, 15. "the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law, and fhew the work of the law written in their hearts."

LXIX. But the practice of Chriftian holiness has its rife, 1ft, From the Spirit of grace, which Christ has merited for, and beftows on his elect; "whom the world cannot receive, because it feeth him not neither knoweth him," John xiv. 17. who seeing he is the Spirit of Chrift, excites in the elect, even the very fame motions and inclinations of foul, which are in Christ, and moulds and forms the whole life of Chrift in them: fo that they act, not by their own virtue or strength, nor by any innate principle of natural life, but by fupernatural grace, and the virtue of Chrift, 1 Cor. xv. 10. " not I, but the grace of God, which is with me;" and Heb. xii. 28. " let us have grace, whereby we may ferve God acceptably.”

For

LXX. 2dly, From faith, "without which it is impoffibe to please God," Heb. xi. 6. For, ivaçısñrai, to please, signifies here to walk before God, as is evident from the foregoing verfe, where the Apostle fays, that Enoch, before his tranflation, had this teftimony, that he pleafed God. By which words he undoubtedly has an eye to what we have, Gen. v. 24. "And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." to walk with God, the Septuagint every where tranflate, svagssuv tu Orã, to please God; they also in fome places, render n, to ferve, by the fame word. The Apoftle here imitates their way of fpeaking; in like manner, as Tit. ii. 9. where he enjoins fervants, mãcıv ivagésus iivai, in all things to please them, that is, fo to behave as in every thing to do what is well-pleasing to their masters.