due time; "though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab 2:1–3). And now, soul, I have answered thy request, and let me hear what thou sayest unto me.
Soul.-Truly, says the soul, methinks that by what you have said, I may have this blessed Jesus to be mine Advocate; for I think, verily, I have entertained him to be mine Advocate. I have also revealed my cause unto him, yea, committed both it and myself unto him; and, as you say, I wait; oh! I wait! and my eyes fail with looking upward. Fain would I hear how my soul standeth in the sight of God, and whether my sins, which I have committed since light and grace were given unto me, be by mine Advocate, taken out of the hand of the devil, and by mine Advocate removed as far from me as the ends of the earth are asunder; whether the verdict has gone on my side, and what a shout there was among the angels when they saw it went well with me! But alas! I have waited, and that a long time, and have, as you advise, run from ordinance to minister, and from minister to ordinance, or, as you phrase it, from the post to the carrier, and from the carrier to the post house, to see if I could hear aught from heaven how matters went about my soul there. I have also asked those that pass by the way, "if they saw him whom my soul loveth," and if they had anything to communicate to me? But nothing can I get or find but generals; as, that I have an Advocate there, and that he pleadeth the cause of his people, and that he will thoroughly plead their cause. But what he has done for ME, of that as yet I am ignorant. I doubt if my soul shall by him be effectually secured, that yet a conditional verdict will be awarded concerning me, and that much bitter will be mixed with my sweet, and that I must drink gall and wormwood for my folly; for if David, and Asa, and Hezekiah and such good men, were so served for their sins, (II Chron 16:7,12), why should I look for other dealing at the hand of God? But as to this, I will endeavour to "bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him," (Micah 7:9), and shall count it an infinite mercy, if this judgment comes to me from him, that I may "not be condemned with the world" (I Cor 11:32). I know it is dreadful walking in darkness; but if that also shall be the Lord's lot upon me; I pray God I may have faith enough to stay upon him till death, and then will the clouds blow over, and I shall see him in the light of the living.
Mine, enemy, the devil, as you see, is of an inveigling temper; and though he has accused my before the judgment-seat of God, yet when he comes to me at any time, he glavers16 and flatters as if he never did mean me harm; but I think it is that he might get further advantage against me. But I carry it now at a greater distance than formerly; and O that I was at the remotest distance, not only from him, but also from that self of mine, that laboureth with him for my undoing!
But although I say these things now, and to you, yet I have my solitary hours, and in them I have other strange thoughts; for thus I think, my cause is bad, I have sinned, and I have been vile. I am ashamed myself of mine own doings, and have given mine enemy the best end of the staff. The law, and reason, and my conscience, plead for him against me, and all is true; he puts into his charge against me, that I have sinned more times than there be hairs on my head. I know not anything that ever I did in my life but it had flaw, or wrinkle, or spot, or some such thing in it. Mine eyes have seen vileness in the best of my doings; what, then, think you, must God needs see in them? Nor can I do anything yet, for all I know that I am accused by my enemy before the judgment-seat of God, better than what already is imperfect. "I lie down in my shame, and my confusion covers my face." "I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men" (Jer 3:25, Job 7:20).
Reply.-Well, soul, I have heard what thou hast said, and if all be true which thou hast said, it is good, and gives me ground of hope that Jesus Christ is become thine Advocate; and if that be so, no doubt but thy trial will come to a good conclusion. And be not afraid because of the holiness of God; for thine Advocate has this for his advantage, that he pleads before a judge that is just, and against an enemy that is unholy and rejected. Nor let the thoughts of the badness of thy cause terrify thee overmuch. Cause thou hast indeed to be humble, and thou dost well to cover thy face with shame; and it is no matter how base and vile thou art in thine own eyes, provided that it comes not by renewed acts of rebellion, but through a spiritual sight of thine imperfections. Only let me advise thee here to stop. Let not thy shame nor thy self-abasing apprehension of thyself, drive thee from the firm and permanent ground of hope, which is the promise, and the doctrine of an Advocate with the Father. No; let not the apprehension of the badness of thy cause do it, forasmuch as he did never yet take cause in hand that was good, perfectly good of itself; and his excellency is, to make a man stand that has a bad cause; yea, he can make a bad cause good, in a way of justice and righteousness.
[THE PRIVILEGES OF THOSE WHO HAVE CHRIST FOR AN ADVOCATE.]
FOURTHLY, And for thy further encouragement in this matter, I will here bring in the fourth chief head-to wit, to show what excellent privilege (I mean over and above what has already been spoken of) they have that are made partakers of the benefit of this office:-"If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
First Privilege. Thy Advocate pleads to a price paid, to a propitiation made; and this is a great advantage; yea, he pleads to a satisfaction made for all wrongs done, or to be done, by his elect-"For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb 10:10,14; 9:26). "By one offering"-that is, by the offering of himself-by one offering once offered, once offered in the end of the world. This, I say, thine Advocate pleads. When Satan brings in fresh accusations for more transgressions against the law of God, he forces not Christ to shift his first plea. I say, he puts him not to his shifts at all; for the price once paid hath in it sufficient value, would God impute it to that end, to take away the sin of the whole world. There is a man that hath brethren; he is rich, and they are poor (and this is the case betwixt Christ and us), and the rich brother goeth to his father, and saith, Thou art related to my brethren with me, and out of my store, I pray thee, let them have sufficient, and for thy satisfaction I will put into thy hand the whole of what I have, which perhaps is worth an hundred thousand pounds by the year; and this other sum I also give, that they be not disinherited. Now, will not this last his poor brethren to spend upon a great while? But Christ's worth can never be drawn dry.
Now, set the case again, that some ill-conditioned man should take notice that these poor men live all upon the spend (and saints do so), and should come to the good man's house, and complain to him of the spending of his sons, and that while their elder brother stands by, what do you think the elder brother would reply, if he was as good-natured as Christ? Why, he would say, I have yet with my father in store for my brethren, wherefore then seekest thou to stop his hand? As he is just, he must give them for their convenience; yea, and as for their extravagances, I have satisfied for them so well, that, however he afflicteth them, he will not disinherit them. I hope you will read and hear this, not like them that say, "Let us do evil that good may come," but like those whom the love of Christ constrains to be better. However, this is the children's bread, that which they have need of, and without which they cannot live; and they must have it, though Satan should put pins into it, therewith to choke the dogs.17 And for the further clearing of this, I will present you with these few considerations:
1. Those that are most sanctified have yet a body of sin and death in them, and so also it will be, while they continue in this world (Rom 7:24). 2. This body of sin strives to break out, and will break out, to the polluting of the conversation, if saints be not the more watchful (Rom 6:12). Yea, it has broken out in a most sad manner, and that in the strongest saints (Gal 5:17). 3. Christ offereth no new sacrifice for the salvation of these his people. "For, being raised from the dead, he dieth no more" (Rom 6:9). So then, if saints sin, they must be saved, if saved at all, by virtue of the offering already offered; and if so, then all Christ's pleas, as an Advocate, are grounded upon that one offering which before, as a Priest, he presented God with, for the taking away of sin. So then, Christians live upon this old stock; their transgressions are forgiven for the sake of the worth, that yet God finds in the offering that Christ hath offered. And all Christ's pleadings, as an Advocate, are grounded upon the sufficiency and worth of that one sacrifice; I mean, all his pleadings with his Father, as to the charge which the accuser brings in against them. For though thou
