The Book of Illustrations
Subtitle: or, Scripture truths exhibited by the aid of Similes, original and selected
Publisher: J. Hatchard and Son
Published: 1840
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Table of contents: title: CONTENTS.; title: Afflictions. — I. Design and uses of Affliction. — They increase our joy and thankfulness, and are a time of refreshing, 1. God very nigh us when under them; they allay corruptions, 2. Promote fruitfulness, and help us more speedily heavenward; their nature is changed under the covenant; increase in us a devotional spirit, 3. Make our graces fragrant, and destroy corruptions; the necessity for them; cause us to resemble Christ. Not one sent us more than necessary, 4. They disclose to us our infirmities, 5. Are relieved by communication, — and keep us from losing our way, 6. We act the part of children under them; God's fatherly care in them; we need their repetition, 7. Their excellent virtues, 8. Must be continued till their end is answered, 10. They make us fruitful, and are an evidence of God's love to us, 11. Are safer than prosperity; ibid.; and are the more direct road to heaven, 12. Their benefits; ibid. 13. And are a safer way than prosperity, 14; they follow the godly in this world, 15. Make us cleave to Christ, and are sent as a trial of our sincerity, 16; ibid. 17.; title: II. Their different effects. — Difference between the sufferings of the godly and others, 4. The difference when supported under them by the Holy Spirit, or otherwise, 2. Some made worse by them, 4; ibid. 5. Difference in their duration in the righteous and the wicked, 5. Their effects seldom permanent with the multitude, 8. Why it is they are often so oppressive, 14. Their effects in the ungodly and the righteous contrasted, 16.; title: III. Counsels to the Afflicted. — Should submit to them as sent in mercy, 1. Shall find Christ's cross a light one when we take it up, 4. Should be regarded not singly, but as parts of a whole, 9. Should take comfort from them, 11. Should be regarded as coming from God, 15; ibid. 17. And welcomed for their benefits, 6,15.; title: Affections. — Their insubordination till under the law of Christ; the connexion which subsists between them; their different effects when under restraint or otherwise, 18; their difference as regards their intensity, 19, 20; and as they exist in the carnal and spiritual man; God not acknowledged in them, 19; their dreadful effects when insubordinate; necessary to give beauty to religion; the believer's affections; their usefulness when under government, 20, 22; to conquer we must divert them; moderation in them recommended, 21; ibid. 22; must be mortified, 22; and subjected to our reason, 23.; title: Anger. — Its character; ibid. 23; should be constantly suppressed; disarmed by gentleness, 23. Examples of its suppression, 24.; title: Angels. — Ministering spirits, 24.; title: Activity. — Actions. — Should be directed to God's glory, and must be manifested, 25. Activity the life of the soul; Luther's activity, 26. The active the best Christian, 27. Known by our actions; good intentions will not constitute a good action; the connexion between grace and our own diligence; the evil of spiritual slothfulness, 28.; title: Adoption. — Assurance. — The witness of the spirit, 29. Assurance preserves us from the world's temptations; not always realised, 30. The spirit of adoption described; ibid.; ibid.; the superiority of spiritual adoption to that which is civil, 31; its two witnesses, 32. Assurance is from heaven; the distinction between it and salvation, 32. The earnest of our inheritance; may be known with certainty, 33, 34. The hinderance to our attainment of it, 33. God's promises its sure foundation; ibid.; its rejection the effect of a diseased mind, 34; Its great blessedness; ibid. 35.; title: Believers. — I. The character and duty of Believers. — The interests of Christ and his kingdom committed to them, 35; believers look to God in all conditions, 36; his real condition not known to the world, 39; must be judged of by his habitual frame; has no complacency in his works; his fruitfulness often blighted, 40; how taught his weakness; should preserve a holy fear; under the restraint of the law, 42; should be prepared for death, 43; should be mindful of the sacredness of his name; will recover himself when wrong; surpassed in worldly wisdom; thrives best in the shade; dependent on his Saviour's presence, 46; should live according to his exalted rank; should improve all for God; has the spiritual wisdom; and brings to God a willing sacrifice, 47; he is the true alchemist; has the prospect of eternity opened to him; will recover when fallen, 48; the Christian the best artist, 49. Like one in another world; his natural propensity to religion contrasted with that which is artificial, 51; want of consideration for young believers reproved; should always have his eye upon his work; should not repine at the want of common gifts, 52; their record; the believer's aspirations, 53; the fragrance of their good works, 54; distinguished from the mere professor, 56; the variations in their state and condition, 58.; title: II. The privileges of Believers. — He is upheld by an Almighty power; his safety in the midst of seeming dangers, 36; the certainty of his victory, 37; his weaknesses overruled for good, 41; how he becomes a cause of fruitfulness to others; shall be restored when he falls, 42; his liberty secured to him by the law, 43; the healthy believer described; gives out his fragrancy continually, 48; his Btate when under trials, or otherwise, contrasted; to be a Christian of greater worth than all things, 49; all are in a state of life; Christ bestows on them his choicest gifts, 52; they are anointed kings, 53; made to resemble Christ; their name shall be cleared from all obloquy, 55; the probability of their mutual recognition, 56; sure to conquer; the benefit of living nigh to God; can draw upon him in their necessity, 58.; title: III. Comparisons of Believers. — Compared to a fruit tree, 37; to a mariner, 38; compared to an exile, 42, 45; compared to a mirror, 43; his progress compared to that of lights 44; his life compared to a column; to mile-stones, 54; to the rose, 55; and to evergreens, 57.; title: Blindness, Spiritual. — The carnal man blinded by Satan; sees not the Christian's privileges, 59; the universal disorder of mankind; the faculty of spiritual apprehension wanting in most men, 60.; title: Blessings. — Earthly fall from us; temporal and spiritual blessings proposed as the objects of our choice, 61; not contented with the blessings bestowed on us, 63.; title: Bigots compared to mummies; to trees; the disorder of young converts; unnatural in Christians, 64.; title: Backsliders. — Their imminent danger, 64; their progress a gradual one; ibid. 65.; title: Body. — Pampered while the soul is starved, 66; ibid. 67; carefully preserved while the soul is abandoned to defilement, 67; both body and soul will be punished for sin, 68.; title: Censure. — More inclined to censure than praise, 68, 70; and to see our neighbour's faults, and not our own; the clandestine slander, 69; Luther's description of it, 70.; title: Church. — Its characteristics. — Peculiarly God's vineyard, 70; difference in the end proposed by God, and its enemies when under persecution, 71; never without both a cross and a blessing; full of majesty when frill of vitality, 72; hereafter shall be a united church; in all its parts wholly the work of God's hands, 73; regarded by God with peculiar delight, 74; its safety secured by Christ '8 presence; its existence dependent on the exercise of Christ's offices, 75; God expects our presence in his earthly temple, 76; instances of God's overthrowing its enemies, 78; diversity of characters mingled together in it, 79; Satan content that we should be members of the visible church; its extremity the forerunner of its revival, 81; situated in the midst of perils, 81.; title: II. Comparisons of the Church. — The church when under the law and the gospel compared, 72; compared to a procession, 73; to the moon, 77; ibid. 79; to the sea, 79; to a temple, 80.; title: Christ. — I. The Deity, and Mediatorial work of Christ. — A demonstration that God's justice was satisfied by Christ; how God manifests himself in Christ; why the stores of grace are treasured up in him, 85; the union of the two natures of Christ, 86, 92; light in the world before, and after Christ's coming; greater glory to God from the redemption than from the condemnation of the world; Christ's victory over his enemies, 87; and over Satan, 91; the vine of Eschol an emblem of him, 89; his immensity and glory the greater, the nearer we approach unto him; no injustice in his suffering for us, 90; his blood must cleanse our works; he must enable us to see our guilt, 92; adorns the church with his own righteousness; his incarnation a time of great rejoicing, 95; compared with Socrates, 98; all believers partake of the same fulness of Christ; his blood cleanseth from all sin; his name refreshing to the dying soul, 99. The inquirer conducted to his cross; his coming in the flesh the central point where the course of events meets; how his righteousness is imputed to us; and how his merits were efficacious before his incarnation; his blood pleads for us in heaven, 100. His character done homage to by his enemies; how he is God manifest; his sympathy for his people, 101. His life exhibited by the types and prophecies, 102. He excels all friends; cannot forget his people in his glorified state, 103. His one offering a better satisfaction than many payments; can never slight the feeblest believer; Christ an everlasting foundation, 104. A Palladium for the soul, 106. In becoming man did not cease to be God; the cause of our fruitfulness; his eternal generation and oneness with the Father, 107. Has bought us with all our imperfections; his redemption the only finished work, 108.; title: II. Our duty in relation to Christ. — Should be suitably affected at the mention of his name, 82; and appropriate to ourselves the merits of his work; and must honour him the same as the Father, 83. Must make an open confession of him, 83, 91, 97. Not sufficient that he is publicly exhibited, 87. No security but in him, 89. Must put on his righteousness, 91. Shall be no losers by confessing him; Christ the believer's treasure, 93 : and the only object of his supreme affection, 92. The All in All of the believer, ibid. 96. The difference with which he is regarded by the believer and the ungodly, 97. Looking unto Jesus; we cannot enter heaven as Christ did, 102. Must be regarded through no medium; in what sense his love may be comprehended, 103. How we should regard him as our High Priest, 105. Why he is so little regarded; we can only come to God by him; wisdom of dependence on him proved by the experience of others, 106.; title: Christianity. — Is a practical thing; and made plain to us by Christ, 108. Its mysteries no objection to its credibility; its evidences of three kinds, 109. Prophecy and miracles its credentials, 110.; title: Character. — To be estimated by its totality; how it is manifested; its great variety of character the church's ornament, 111. The most excellent, the most open to spiritual guidance; difficulties attending a change of character, 113.; title: Communion. — God a common bond of communion for all believers; ibid.; the perfection of it in heaven, 114. Communion of saints profitable; our spirits influenced by our associates, 115.; title: Comfort — Consolation. — Dependent on the Holy Spirit; its variations in ourselves, and not in God, 115; our comforts an evidence of our estate, and should be drawn from Christ; how we lose them, 116. Only to be found in Christ; our first consolations succeeded by doubts and troubles, 117.; title: Covetousness. — Unprofitable life of the covetous rich man, 117. The covetous never satisfied; the sin of old age; and is a robbery of the common weal, 118.; title: Custom. — Carnal men cling to their sensual customs; custom in sinning no plea with God, 119. Difficulty in breaking from sinful habits, 120.; title: Creatures. — Can only be trusted in their connexion with God, 120. A curse to the ungodly; a curse to us, if not sanctified; why we should not seek happiness in them, 121. Cannot profit us without God, 122.; title: Conversion. — I. Origin and nature of Conversion. — It restrains our corruptions; reformation no substitute for conversion; the progress towards conversion, 123. The understanding converted, not the heart; conversion is attraction towards God, 124. A drawing to God, without violence to the will, 125. The turning point in conversion; some of its properties, 126. A knowledge of the heart necessary to conversion, 127. A new impulse given to the faculties in conversion; self-flattery a great hinderance to conversion, 129; and aversion to come to Christ to be saved, 130. Heart must be emptied of earthly vanities in order to conversion, 131.; title: II. Evidences of Conversion. — Only evidenced by the constancy of our graces, 122. Our own experience no test to try the conversion of others, 126. Reformation not conversion, 127. Often doubted without reason; the truth of it made evident by degrees, 128.; title: Converted. — More converted by the ministry than by reading, 122. Men converted at all hours; the time not always ascertained, 124. God's elect cannot die imcon verted, 130. The diversity of ways by which men are converted, 128.; title: Covenant. — Not broken by infirmities; difference between the first and second covenant, 131. The covenant of faith revealed by degrees to the church, 132j and why it was so, 133.; title: Contentment. — Will bring a blessing with it, 133. And is a preservative from worldly temptations; the comfort of it; eases our burden in life's journey, 134; and preserves us free from disturbance, 135.; title: Charity. — Hieroglyphically described, 135. Should be universal; the wisdom of giving to the poor; should be bestowed with discretion; folly of exercising it on the body, and neglecting the soul, 136. Christians are stewards; the true measure of charity, 137.; title: Conscience. — Its different operations; how to preserve it tender, 137. Its omnipotency; though stupified for a time, shall awake to despair; the burden of a wounded conscience, 138. A recorder of all our ways; a good conscience will not leave us at death, 139.; title: Corruptions. — Concealed, but not removed; gain ground through negligence; stirred up against Christ, 140. Ungoverned passions an evidence of weakness of grace, and of good when mourned over; Christ can remove them; faith reveals them, 141. Our own fully described in the Scriptures; destined to fall before grace, 142. They wound our souls, and discourage faith and hope; examples of their government in heathens, 143. Corruptions in ourselves, not the creatures; our nature to follow them, 144. Mortified in us, not destroyed; their indwelling; their growth rapid, not permanent in the Christian, 145. Morality cannot change their nature, 146.; title: Death, Spiritual. — Is a spiritual sleep; the spiritual sleep compared to the natural, 146. A weight pressing down the soul to destruction, 147.; title: Danger. — Folly not to be mindful of it, 147. Danger of missing the narrow way; wisdom of Agur's prayer to be preserved from it, 148. Danger in delaying our intentions; in procrastination; ibid; ibid, 149.; title: Death. — The dead and living united in Christ; its seed is sown in us; no particle of the body destroyed by death, 150. A momentary separation of believers; should be welcomed by them; the folly of unconcern in the midst of death, 151. Our graces more perfect at death; it will bring us to a land of friends, 152. The grave perfumed by Christ; effect of the death of others momentary; should teach us how to estimate the distinctions of life, 153. The precise moment of it ordered by infinite wisdom, 154. The believer victorious in death; should be welcomed by him, 155. Its uncertainty should make us watchful, 156; title: Division — Differences; among brethren hard to be reconciled, 156; their evils, 157, 159. The glory of reconciling them, 157. Differences without discord to be tolerated; will be lost in union at death, 158. Should submit to sacrifices for union, 159. Maintained by pride, 160. See Union.; title: Duty. — Safety in the path of duty; the orbit of duty assigned to each, 160. Its manifold obligations should be felt by us; rightly performed when they lead us to Christ, 161. Duties multiplied in the place of believing, 162. Our own advantage, not God's; hypocrisy in them; social duties an imitation of God; the planetary and the social systems compared, 163. What is required in duty; weakness strengthened in the performance of it, 164. Facility in it promoted by constancy, 1 65.; title: Education. — The care of Christianity in it contrasted with the practice of heathenism, 165. How to estimate its effects; not merely from its present fruits, 166. The practice of the Jews in education, 167.; title: Experiences. — Their certainty, how demonstrated, 167. The enlightened conscience conversant with them, 168. Compared to the evidence of sight, 169. Confirmed by the united testimony of others, 170. Should have recourse to them in doubt; consistent with the least true knowledge, known and felt by all believers, 171. Can be subjected to a test like other things, 172. Must not usurp the place of trust in the promises; the best instructors of God's dealings, 173.; title: Examination, Self. — Must guard against hypocrisy in it; God's balances the only true balances, if 4. The need of testing our sincerity a proof of weakness; exhorted to practise it, 175.; title: Election. — Holiness not the cause of it; distinguished from effectual calling; the elect will all be converted; assurance of it a cause of joy, 1 76. The many links in the chain of election; must look to God's mercies, not to election, for encouragement to believe, 177. Sanctification the evidence of election; ibid. 178.; title: Envy. — Repines at the good fortune of others, 179. More destructive in its effects than anger, 180.; title: Example. — Its happy effects on others; the modern and primitive Christian contrasted; the powerful influence of Scripture characters, 181.; title: Error. — The scandal of persisting in it; its destructive effects, 1 81. Why compared to leaven, 182.; title: Faith, I. — The nature and character of Faith. — Historical belief contrasted with true faith; faith in the promises compared with the possession of them, 182. Weak grace growing up by faith; the reciprocal influence of faith and works, 183, 193. Weak faith marvellously preserved; contemplates the things of eternity, 183. How things are regarded by faith and infidelity; it is active and purifying, 184. The analogy of faith in interpreting scripture, 185. The actings of a strong and a weak faith contrasted; ibid; ibid. 185-6. The test of a true faith, 189. The heart purified believes God, 190. The difference between walking by faith and by sight; between common and true faith, 191. The insufficiency of belief from natural principles, 192. The profession of it the church's distinction; it reveals the hidden truths of scripture, 193; salvation only by faith which looks to Jesus, 194. God dishonoured by unbelief in his children; the insufficiency of a wavering faith, 1 95. Preserved from perishing; diligence in Christians nullified by unbelief, 196; the perseverance of faith; reveals truths which reason could never discover, 197.; title: II. Importance of Faith. — The obedience of faith required of us; ibid. 186. Should regard all things through the glass of faith, 188. Christ must be entertained in the heart by faith; the help and success it affords us, 189. Must be mixed with the ordinances, 190. Should appropriate by faith the offers of the gospel, 192.; title: Family. — Ungodly members in the religious family; what the religious man is to his family, 198; its piety preserved in its posterity, 199.; title: Formality. — In public worship described; the idolatry practised in it, 199.; title: Forgiveness. — The excellency of a forgiving spirit, 200. Why God withholds a sense of pardon; should manifest it by returning good for evil, 201.; title: God. — I. The nature and attributes of God. — His condescension in describing his attributes, 202. The attraction and influence of his attributes, 206. They are manifested only in redemption; his glory in due time revealed to the believer, 207. The different effects of God's power on the righteous and the wicked, 209. His goodness rightly seen only by the believer; reason foils in its endeavours to comprehend God, 210. His greatness contrasted with that of the creature; the influence of God in redemption on character, 212; his love and faithfulness never eclipsed; the opposite properties of God's attributes; his faithfulness seen in sanctified afflictions, 216. His wonderfiil mercy and patience; can only see God in Jesus Christ, 217. His infinite greatness; God defined, 220. His justice defined, 222.; title: II. The Works and Declaration of God. Why compared to a rock, 203. His wisdom in saving us worthy of admiration; the effect of his greater love which he bears to his church; his care of them as their good husbandman, 204. Delivers his people according to his own ways; in his withdrawing from them does not cease to love them, 205. Why his dispensations are not understood, 206. Will bring our motives and feelings into judgment, 208. Will supply the want of all friends to the believer, 209. How God hardens the heart, 210. Will perfect his work in us, 212. A fountain that never foils; God the agent in all things; worketh all things for good according to his own ways, 213. His mercy triumphing over his justice, — and his t patience with sinners, 214. Will be justified in all his dispensations, 215. If God leave us, all good will forsake us; his different manifestations of himself, 218. God is all-sufficient; his sovereignty in withdrawing his presence; brings to nought the machinations of the wicked; his union with our souls in heaven, 219. Judgment his strange work, 220. His seeming desertions the effect of his love, 223.; title: III. Our duty and feelings towards Him. — A sight of his glory will strengthen us for trials, 201; and encourage us to go forwards, 202; the evils that would ensue, should the church cease to glorify God; the folly of forsaking him for the creatures, 202; we glorify him by reflecting his image, 204. Should find full contentment in him alone, 205. The necessity for a frequent remembrance of his mercies, 207. How we can serve him rightly and truly, 208 — and acceptably, 211. The excellency of true devotedness to. God v must dedicate all to him, — and to his glory, 211. The unregenerate not within reach of his attraction, 212. The profit of yielding up ourselves to him, 21 5, 221. Born to glorify him, 215. Giving up all for God exemplified, 221. Faith in Christ increased by dwelling nigh to God, 222. All the glory of our works must be ascribed to him, 223.; title: Gospel. — Pardon and holiness united in the gospel, 223. How it sinks all distinctions among men, 224. Its different effects; how it is propagated; apathy in regard to the gospel, 225. Its divine character; its universal adaptation to the family of man, 226. Can predict from Scripture its certain triumph; its progress described, 227. Its invitation, 228. Occupies the various parts of the earth successively; its blessings open to all, 229. Its mysteries known only by meditation, 230.; title: Grace of God. — -Its declension in old age, 231. Our need of continual supplies of grace, 232, 235, 239. Its progress to perfection, 232. The Christian's heart never without grace; compared with glory, 233. Weak grace is real grace, 234. Diversity of attainments in grace, 235. Variations in its state; its uselessness when in a state of decay, 236. Its nature to be advancing to perfection; the misery of losing God's grace; its progress in the good heart, 237. Its operations silent and unseen; it sets the heart upon God; does no violence to man's free will, 238. Is engrafted on a corrupt nature; weak grace liable to excesses; true grace improves on inspection; its beauty concealed by outward uncomeliness, 239. The union of concurring, and habitual grace; its fruitfulness restrained by corruptions; ibid. 240. Compared with nature, and glory, 242. Will triumph at last over all obstacles; Christ the foundation of grace; reveals to us our weakness and ignorance, 243. Shall be quickened in its decay under temptations, — and strengthened and established by them, 244. Its buddings a presage of further growth; mistakes as to the truth and strength of grace, 245. Can never perish, 246.; title: II. Our duty and feelings in regard to it. — Must use the means to cherish its growth; how our admiration of grace is increased, 232. Where it is small, hardly discerned, 233. Our desire to purchase it, 234. Mistaken fears of its decrease, 236; ibid. 237. Motives towards its diligent improvement; the trial whether we have grace, 241. Must give God the praise of it, 242. Must stock ourselves with it against evils, 244. Must be kept in continual exercise, 245; and inquire whether it is in daily operation, 246.; title: Happiness. — The variety of false appearances of happiness, 247. The world's happiness, and that of religion contrasted; the happiness and troubles of the righteous reconciled, 248. Death will introduce the righteous to happiness. 249. Hope. — Compared with succcess; its animating property; hope in Christ compared to spring; that of the righteous and the ungodly contrasted, 250. Heaven. — Holiness our qualification, not our title to it; ibid; love to God a proof of our election to heaven, 251. Why it is despised; great gifts a hinderance in our way heavenwards, 252. Its elements must be formed in our souls, 253. Heaven, as revealed in the gospel, never conceived by man; preparation for it necessary, 254. We receive now only its first-fruits; the probability of varieties of character in heaven, 255, — and that our past life will be present to us again; how the saints will differ in glory, 256, 258. What it is which intercepts our sight of heaven, 256, — and stands in the way of our pursuit of it; how we may try our title to it; the union of all excellencies in heaven, 257. How to fix our heart there, 258. How we create a barrier in our way heavenwards; the infamy that will attend our loss of it, 259. Should be habitually seeking it, 260.; title: Heart. — God only knows it; the worldly heart can never be satisfied, 261. Compared to a garden; the growth of sin and godliness in it contrasted; religion preserves it in a just equipoise; the sinner's heart compared to a sepulchre, 262. Its unfruitfulness in many; the heart pure, though corruptions arise in it, 263. Must be kept with all diligence, 263, 264, 267. Compared to a ship in the sea; to an ant's nest; no reformation effectual but that of the heart, 264. Desires for inward reformation often questionable; the disordered heart will manifest itself by the conversation, 265. Divided between God and the world; must get a new heart; the old and the new heart contrasted, 266. An evidence of its right condition, 267. The heart secret and deceitfiil, 268. Holiness. — No progress in holiness; must not be ashamed of it; the church's true weapons; an innate propensity to holiness in the believer, 269. Disordered by worldly things; its progress compared to that of daylight, 270. Holiness described; restores the soul to the comfort of health, 271. The effect of union with Christ; must be preserved by keeping nigh to Christ; its light changes, and renews the soul, 272. The most glorious attribute of God; the family likeness of God's children; sincere and counterfeit holiness contrasted, 273. Essential to the enjoyment of happiness in heaven, 274. See Image of God.; title: Humility. — Christians grow in humility; delights in concealments; abounds where there is most grace; its growth favoured by a lowly station, 275. Has nothing in it low or degrading; contrasted with pride; its connexion with true joy; keeps us continually dependent on grace, 276. Necessary in order to salvation; the true ballast for the soul; its life and character described, 277.; title: Hypocrisy. — Abounds in the professing world; hypocrites form no part of the church; hypocrisy described under an emblem; no person or place wholly lree from it, 278. Its folly and unprofitableness; charity not violated in pronouncing on it, 279. Exposed by temptations; will be at last discovered; would conceal itself from God, 280. The injury done to religion by hypocrisy; it is the worst of all sins; the breaking off from gross sins will not clear us of hypocrisy, 281. Often discovered with difficulty; hypocrites attentive to small matters; the hypocrisy of wanderers from one communion of Christians to another, 282. The hypocrite described; hated, and trusted by none, 283. Flourishes outwardly as others; is satisfied with the smallest attainments, 284.; title: Ignorance. — Casts a veil over spiritual things; deprives us of the benefit of truth; and is inexcusable under ample means of grace, 285; ibid. 286.; title: Image of God. — Where begun shall be perfectly restored, 286; ibid. 287. Why we must bear God's image; ibid. 288. It constitutes the oneness of believers; its restoration to the soul a gradual work; it is a living image; and is complete in all spiritual graces; how it has been destroyed, 290. See Holiness.; title: Infirmities. — Only temporary in believers, and must be viewed with candour, 291. Much grace often discovered in them; profit, if not pleasure, to be found in them; God pities them when mourned over, 291. Shall issue in the believer's increased strength; his weakness secure in the power of God's grace, 292. Infirmities the remains of weakness engendered by sin, 293.; title: Justification. — Its inestimable value with the believer, 293. Is not affected by the strength or weakness of our faith; justification by faith the most glorious of all the promises, 294. In what way a man is counted righteous; the twofold character of justification; not to be purchased by merit, 295. Good works the way to our possession, not the cause of it, — appendages to it, but not the procuring cause; the folly of seeking to purchase it, 296. Only obtained by Christ's righteousness; confounded with absolute mercy, 297. See Righteousness, Self and Salvation.; title: Joy. — Endangered by unnecessary commerce with the world; dwells in a broken spirit, 297. Worldly and spiritual joys contrasted, 298, 299. The Christian's joy inward and satisfying; not necesssrily connected with grace; its degree must not be judged by the feelings of sense, 298. It is comely, and befitting the Christian, 300.; title: Judgment. — The remembrance of it profitable, 300; ibid. 301. The source of future judgments; the awful doom of the lost soul, 302. The classification of characters at the final judgment, 303.; title: Knowledge. — The use and abuse of learning; theoretical and practical knowledge contrasted; the blessed effects of true knowledge; difference between knowledge in God and man, 304. The Christian's knowledge contrasted with that of others, 305, 308. Mere growth in knowledge a monstrous deformity; religion without learning; the guilt of neglecting, or withholding it from others; contrasted with ignorance, 305. A greater knowledge than we possess inconsistent with our present condition; too limited to judge of consistencies in the moral and spiritual world, 306, 308; or to see truth in its various aspects, 307. Sufficient revealed for faith, though not for curiosity, 309. The evils of seeking to be wise above what is revealed, 310.; title: Law. — In what way it adds strength to sin, 310. Its convictions must precede the comforts of the gospel; the law not destroyed, 311. Happiness dependent on our subjection to God's law, 312.; title: Life. — God works an evidence of it; the Christian's estimation of the book of life, 312. No names blotted out of this book; religion alone comprehends all the good of life; life a suspension of God's judgments, 313. A probation; natural and spiritual life contrasted as to their duration; motion not an evidence of life, 314.; title: Light. — Much knowledge and little light often found together, 315. The light of grace and faith; the light of the hypocrite and the believer seen in its progress; the powerful allurements of worldly delusions, 316. Light renders the two dispensations the same in substance, though not in degree; to what extent we should seek it; must let it shine out; the heart must be prepared to receive it, 317. The emptiness of all things without the light of God; light in the natural and spiritual man contrasted; the Christian never wholly without light, 318.; title: Love. — Melts, and subdues the heart; and grows purer as we advance in grace, 319. How love to God will manifest itself; the obedience of love full of sweetness; Christ's cross the highest display of God's love; must try the sincerity of our love to God, 320. God's children obey from love; but little direct and pure love for God, 321; ibid. 322. Loving God in the creatures, 322. God's love seen best by the humblest; how love to God must be excited, 323, 324. Indispensable in the ministry; still survives amidst the contentions of the church, 323. Why Gods love is so little felt; the most excellent of all our graces; religion a service of love, 324. The Christian's love to God compared to filial love, 325. The unchangeableness of God's love; love to Christ will bear no rivalship; true love constant and universal, 326. Love to the brethren the measure of our love to Christ; the service of love and fear contrasted; a personal interest in redemption creates love, 328.; title: Man. — The offspring of mercy; his nature exalted at the Incarnation, 330. What man is without religion; his fall an evil of infinite magnitude; compared to dust; going on to perfection, 330.; title: Mercy. — We only seek it in the last extremity, 331. The unmerciful shall find no mercy; bestowed on the vilest, for Christ's sake, 332. The riches of God's mercy; to be one of the family of Christ a great mercy; the time of mercy limited, 333.; title: Meditation. — Its excellencies; a sense of infirmities should not keep us from it. 334. Becomes easy by perseverance, 335, 336; and gives life and energy to our actions; its profitableness, 335. The excellency of occasional meditation; ibid. 336. It kindles the affections; its benefit before prayer, 337; and before hearing the word; the source of comfort, 338. Will convey no benefit without a pure heart; should choose fruitful topics for meditation, 340.; title: Ministry — Means of Grace. — The ministry effects a revolution, 340. Requires wisdom and strength; the authority of ministers not sufficiently regarded, 341. The necessity of zeal in preaching; and of being called by God to the work; sin must be continually dwelt on; the benefit of amplification in the preaching, 342; and of a holy violence; perfection not to be expected in ministers; the reward of saving a soul , the number of cases to be consulted in preaching, 343. Rebuking sin in private a part of the ministry, 344. Ministers to be honoured above all men by the command of God; should preserve a sense of God's omnipresence, 345. The truths of the ministry little heeded, 346. The unprofitableness of hearing without meditation, 347; ibid. 348. Should inquire what profit we derive from it; Satan permits our use of the means of grace, 348. Hearing for pleasure and not profit; ibid. 349. Ordinances cannot profit without the Holy Spirit, 350, 354. Shall not need them in heaven; diligence in the use of them indispensable, 350; ibid. 351. The want of earnestness in them lamented; the necessity for ordinances; the carnal man and the believer contrasted in the use of ordinances, 352. The church dependent on them; do not constitute religion; not to be condemned for inefficacy; to neglect them a want of love to God, 353. Religious attainments only secured by the patient use of means; the need of constancy in the use of them, 354; ibid.; ibid. 355; ibid. 356.; title: Mortification. — When sin is mortified, we begin to feel its burden, 356. Success in prayer dependent on it; a necessary part of religion; but evaded under false pretences, 357.; title: New Birth — New Creature. — The new birth a meetness for heaven; compared to seed; the symptoms that attend it described, 358. The necessity for the new birth; an ancient custom at baptism; all the graces of the spirit comprehended in the new creature, 359. The spring a type of the new creation, 360. A new heart accompanies the new birth; how we must be made new creatures, 361. New birth compared to life from the dead; carnal men see no beauty in the new creature, 362.; title: Nature. — The natural man a monster; the soul by nature enslaved to the passions; has no principle of recovery to spiritual life in herself, 363. Full of self-righteousness; its wretched estate, and its inconstancy, 364. How it excels the angelical nature; its lawless condition; works a deceitful work, 365. Brings forth only weeds, and evil continually; produces moral truth; nothing can change it but the Holy Spirit, 366.; title: Obedience. — True obedience is without partiality; has an eye to God's commandment, 367. Though weak, always pleasing to him; natural impotency dispenses not with its obligations, 368.; title: Perfection. — The Christian's graces eventually perfected; our progress in it gradual; the work of grace destined to go on to perfection, 369, 371. A relative perfection explained; ibid. 370. The soul advancing unceasingly to perfection, 370.; title: Perseverance. — The ground on which it is built; the folly of denying it; its certainty, 372. Ensured to the believer; secured by the believer's union with Christ, 373; and from God's tenderness to his little ones; must go forwards under all circumstances; the certainty of our tailing, but for the covenant, 374. The ground of its certainty; can only be maintained by continual exertion, 375.; title: Persecution. — An instance of support under it; cannot prevent the believer's going forwards, 376. Become habituated to it; backsliding when exposed to it, 377.; title: Peace. Of God passes all understanding; an even and settled peace the portion of many, 377. No peace before reconciliation with God; a peaceable disposition true nobility; a false peace maintained by many, 378. A true and a false peace, maintained only by looking continually to Jesus, 379. The difference between peace with God, and peace of conscience; the peace of the church amidst unquietness; sacrificed in disputing for truth, 380.; title: Praise. Defined; a cause of praise, that we are not enduring God'B wrath; unworthy to receive it while in the body, 381. An interest in redemption will awaken hearty praise; a most profitable duty; only due to God for our works and graces; to withhold it brings injury on our souls, 382.; title: Profession. — A good one only until it is tried; many fair professors the church's enemies; a false profession often looks better than a true one, 383. Believers not living suitably to their profession; a time-serving one, 384. It assumes many forms; a cold and barren profession; one not possessing the sweet savour of holiness, 385.; title: Prosperity. — Cannot deliver us from spiritual dangers; an encumbrance; relaxes our spiritual frame; and needs watchfulness; the portion of the wicked when believers are in affliction, 386. An excellent estate when attended with humility, 387.; title: Promises. — Worthy of all trust, 387. Believed in generally, but not in their particulars; delay in their fulfilment a wise provision, 387. Our encouragement to seek them; their foundation, 389. Must lay hold of them in difficulties; we possess them in connexion with the covenant, 390.; title: Prayer. — Has no value without earnestness; the neglect of it deplored, 390. Lays no obligation on God; preparation should precede it; an instance of an answer to prayer, 391. Its achievements described in an allegory; its mighty power, 392. The great encouragement to it; unmortified sins an obstacle to answers to prayer, 393, 394. Designed for a memorial to God, 394. The hinderance of sinful thoughts; what it is to pray in faith; designed to build us up, and raise our hearts higher and nearer to God, 395. The evidence when prayer is unanswered; God gives us more than we ask in it; should realise his glorious presence when praying, 396. The need of restraining grace in prayer : the unprofitableness of all diligence without it, 397. Insincerity in prayer, though not suspected; written prayer not suited to all the circumstances of the soul, 398. Should dwell in it as in an atmosphere; an index of our spiritual condition, 399. A curse resting on a prayerless house; prayer without ceasing; the root of all our graces; the receipt of blessings should quicken unto prayer 400. Cannot succeed without faith; connects the soul with God and his strength; the evil of a worldly spirit in prayer, 401.; title: Providence. — Anxiety a distrust of it; its universal presence; the benefits of trusting in a special providence, 402. The all-sufficiency of its provisions should strengthen our trust in it; good and evil subjected to its control, 404. Daily providences not regarded; ibid.; its seeming disorder, but real harmony 405. Overlooked in the ordinary events of life, 406. Chequered with joy and sorrow; recognised by answers to prayer, 407. The perfection of its final results; the folly of denying a special providence, 408, 410. Trust in it will not be disappointed; not recognised by the best and wisest heathens, 409. A belief in a special and a general providence contrasted; an objection to it answered, 410.; title: Reason. — Needs divine illumination, its errors corrected by faith; the evil of trusting to it, 411.; title: Redemption. — Described in an allegory, 411. Should be filled with admiration at its wonders, 413.; title: Religion. — Its controlling power; H. More's religion described; its power to invigorate the soul; young converts encouraged by tasting its sweetness, 414. The religion of a formalist and a believer contrasted; an attention to externals, and the neglect of essentials, 415. Its pleasures omnipresent; true religion described; admits of no neutrality; its beauty disfigured by man, 416. Simplicity its true character; the emptiness of wisdom without religion, 417. Diffuses a perpetual sunshine; a dark and enlightened view of it contrasted, 418. Propagated at first by miracles; that of Christ can alone meet the wants of a sinner, 419. How we should exercise wisdom in it; the excellency of discretion, 420; ibid. 421, 423.; title: Repentance. — Must extend to every sin, — and must be a daily business, 422; ibid. 423. The danger of delaying it, 423. Causes joy in heaven; an indication of sincerity, 424.; title: Resurrection. — Shall restore to us a glorified body, 424. The beauty of the saints at the resurrection; will clothe us with immortality, 425.; title: Rewards. — The prospect of them a help to conversion, 426. Whatever is done for God shall be rewarded, 427.; title: Riches. — The benefits of bestowing them on the poor, — and the folly of amassing them, 427. The use and abuse of wealth; ibid. 428. The love of them unfits us for heaven; the danger of riches, 429.; title: Righteousness, Self. — How we are delivered from it, 430, 431. Takes Christ's merits to make up weight, 431. The righteousness of a modem pharisee; will bring ruin on us; reluctancy to renounce it, 432. God's abhorrence of it, 433. See Salvation.; title: Salvation. — By grace, the true ground of confidence, 433; not dangerous to good works, 434. Must be founded on mere grace, 434. Alone through mercy, 435.; title: Satan. — His artifice, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439; ibid, 439. Tempts us in affliction; in prosperity, and in adversity, 439.; title: Scriptures. — To what extent and degree they are inspired; the neglect of them, 440. Monitore of our dangers; not understood without the aid of the Spirit; ibid.; how distinguished from the writings of men, 442, 443. May see ourselves in them, as in a mirror, 442. No study so profitable as that of the scriptures; Christians have an instinctive love of them, 444. The benefit of a comprehensive view of them; their wonderful properties, 445, 447. Should approach them with a pure mind; their perpetual freshness and beauty; they pass a verdict on our state and prospects, 445. The comprehensiveness of their principles; the evil of unskilfulness in the word; Christians love a conformity to them, 446. their inestimable value, 447. Should be studied with diligence; their beneficial effects, though not remembered, 448. Must be read with meditation; their spiritual meaning a mystery to the natural man, 449. Every part of the scriptures profitable, 450.; title: Self. — Self-conceit compared to drunkenness; a monstrous idol, 450. Freed from its dominion by conversion, 451.; title: Sincerity. — Demands absolute obedience; attendance on the ordinances no proof of it; may consist with corruptions and infirmities, 452. A covering for the saints' infirmities, 453.; title: Spirituality. — Maintained by the Spirit; the Christian aspires for its increase, 453. The aversion to it of the carnal mind; we have no power to create it; outward ordinances cannot produce it; distinguishes the believer from the carnal man, 454. Is a constant preparation for God's service, — and is content with his approbation, 455. Strengthened by using the means of grace; a gauge to measure it, 456. Its imperfection in the Christian; should be maintained with the greatest care, 457; condemnation, if not aspiring for its increase; its nature to increase; in what sense it is life, 458. See Holiness.; title: Spirit, Holy. — Should attend to its least intimation; its benefits to the soul; the scriptures unintelligible without it, 459. The soul destitute of it must perish; may work successfully in the midst of sin and infirmities; its nature to increase its influences in the soul, 460. Its secret, but effectual operations; what it is to walk in the Spirit, 461. In what way it reveals the spiritual import of the scriptures, 462. Infuses a new principle into the believer; its sealing impressions should be preserved with care, 463. Our invisible connexion with it; not limited in its operations, 464.; title: Sin. — I. Its Nature. — Real convictions contrasted with common views of sin, 465. Their malignity, — and infinite number; the workings of indwelling sin, 466. Its deceitfulness, — and will be punished in the believer, 467. An evidence of life when sin is burdensome; mortified by means of communion with God, 468. The nature of man cannot cease from sin; may be restrained, but not subdued; ibid.; one sin exchanged for another, 469. Its exposure through temptation, 470, 477. Why we may abstain from particular sins, 470. Its difference in the Christian, and the ungodly, 471, 477. It hardens the heart imperceptibly, 471. The progress of grace restrained by indwelling sin, 472. Has infected creation with its ruinous effects; why it was permitted, 473. The connexion between our own. and the sins of others under judgments, 474. Their infirmity revealed to us by the law; sin the aim and pursuit of the ungodly, 475. Sinning against convictions, 476. How God is conversant with sin, 478; ibid. 479. Our lusts the occasion of sin; interwoven with, our nature, 480. Its awful character manifested in the death of Christ; the believer and the un- godly contrasted when under sin, 481, — and in their feelings towards it, 483. The difficulty of dislodging it, — and its resistance to grace; infirmities in the believer are sins, 482. The delusion of sin; abstaining from sin distinguished from the mortification of it, 483. The painfulness of sin a merciful provision; must be removed to effect a cure; indwelling sin neutralised, but not destroyed, 484. The madness of sin, 485.; title: II. Admonition, and our Duty in respect to it. — His sinful nature lamented by the penitent, 464. Should be resisted at the beginning, 470. The true test of our sorrow for it, 471. Should not delay confessing it, 472. Sorrow must be proportional with it, 475. Must watch against the occasion of it, 476. Should take warning from its consequences, 480. All sin must be confessed, presumptuous sin must be accounted for, 482.; title: Societies. — The exposure of an obstacle in the way of their support, 485. The personal danger of many who support them; ibid. 486. The strength of Christian missions; compared to light-houses, 487.; title: Soul. — An argument for its immortality, 488; and future glory, 493. Starved in the midst of plenty; compared to an egg, 490. The case of the soul when inhabited by, or destitute of the Holy Spirit, 491. Its state and condition illustrated by the seasons; has been brought into trouble by sin; the loathsomeness of the polluted soul, 492.; title: Sacrament of the Supper. — It ratifies to us our inheritance; communicates gifts to those who partake of it; compared with the legal offerings; the receipt of pardon put into our hands, 494. The wilful neglect of it a rejection of Christ; ibid. 495. Its various excellencies as apprehended by faith, 496 Physic for the soul; its mysterious operation in the soul; compared to title deeds, 497. The elements at the sacraments not to be regarded as common elements; ibid. 498. It presents a living picture of Christ; its blessings connected with our own endeavours; brings to our presence absent things, 499. A feast upon a sacrifice; the scandal that attends the abuse of it, 500.; title: Temptations. — Must avoid them, 501, 502. Exposes our inward corruptions; self-deception in respect to them, 501. Idleness exposes us to them; the advantage Satan takes of them, 502.; title: Thoughts. — The misery of vain thoughts, — and the benefits of holy ones; occasional and frequent spiritual thoughts contrasted, 503; ibid. 504. How Satan knows our thoughts; the influence of regeneration over them, 504.; title: Truth. — Should universally be spoken; the objects of faith are verities; ibid. 506.; title: Time. — An accepted time for all; what is lost of it can never be recovered, 506. Compared with eternity, 507. What is the true redemption of time, 508.; title: Trinity. — Shown in a similitude, 508; ibid. 509.; title: Union. — That of Christians described; no association can prosper without it, 509. The paramount duty of Christians, 510. The force of union, 511, 512. An apparent and a real union distinguished; how it is best promoted; ibid. 512.; title: Vows. — The danger of neglecting them; the vows of sickness forgotten; the vows made for us in baptism, binding; the ruin of broken vows to God, 513.; title: Watchfulness. — In what it consists; its certain benefits, 514. Our spirituality dependent on it, — and our wisdom in observing it, 515. Its necessity; ibid.; ibid.; ibid.; not always watchful, 516.; title: Warfare. — Must take courage in it, 517. The achievements of heathens; must put on the whole armour of God, 518. The warfare of the flesh and the spirit, 519. A description of it, 520. A hinderance in running our race; the evidence it affords of our spiritual state, 51 9. Must avoid temptation in it; some benefit derived from it, 520.; title: World. — Why worldly things so important in our eyes, 520. The evil of too much intercourse with it; made by God, and inhabited by his Spirit, 521. Certain disappointment from it, 522. Must avoid its dangers; the folly of expending all our time on it; the evil when the soul is saturated with it, 523. Its condemnation of the godly; must watch to be preserved from its wiles, 524. Must separate from it, 525, 526. Compared to the ocean; the subtle progress of a worldly spirit, 526. The conduct of the world like that of children; must seek retirement from it; compared to a grave-yard; more affected by worldly than spiritual losses, 527. Its trifles preferred before spiritual blessings; the perplexities and unsatisfactoriness of its delights, 528. Its pleasures prove to be sorrows, 529.; title: Youth. — The importance of serving God in youth, 529, 531. Portraiture of a young man, 530.; title: Zeal. — Party-spirited, not the spirit of the gospel; a zeal without knowledge, 532. Draws down persecution; true and false zeal compared; a Christian zeal, 532.