Teaching Resources International

To illustrate this, I shall show (1) that Jesus Christ is precious in himself; and (2) that a godly man esteems him precious.

Jesus Christ Himself is Precious

“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious” (1 Peter 2:6).

1. Christ is compared to “a bundle of myrrh” (Song 1:13).  Myrrh is very precious; it was one of the chief spices of which the holy anointing oil was made of (Exodus 30:25).  Myrrh is of a perfuming nature.  So Christ perfumes our persons and services, so that they are a sweet odor to God.  Why is the church, that heavenly bride, so perfumed with grace?  Because Christ, that myrrh tree, has dropped his perfume upon her (Song 3:6).  Additionally, myrrh is of an exhilarating nature.  Its smell comforts and refreshes the spirits.  So Christ comforts the souls of his people when they are fainting under their sins and suffering.
2. Christ is compared to a pearl: “when he had found one pearl of great price.” (Matthew 13:46).  Christ, this pearl, was little with regard to his humility, but of infinite value.  Jesus Christ is a pearl that God wears in his bosom (John 1:18); a pearl whose luster drowns the world’s glory (Galatians 6:14); a pearl that enriches the soul, the angelic part of man (1 Corinthians 1:5);  a pearl that enlightens heaven (Revelation 21:23); a pearl so precious that it makes us precious to God (Ephesians 1:6); a pearl that is consoling and restorative (Luke 2:25); a pearl of more value than heaven (Colossians 1:16-17).  The preciousness of Christ is seen in three ways:
   1. He is precious in his person; he is the picture of his father’s glory (Heb. 1:3).
   2. Christ’s prophetic office is precious (Deut. 18:15).  He tie great oracle of heaven; he has preciousness above all Prophets who went before him; he teaches not only the ear, but the heart.  He who has ‘the key of David’ in his hand opened the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14).
   3. Christ’s priestly office is precious.  This is the solid basis of our comfort.  ‘Now once hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26).  By virtue of this sacrifice, the soul may go to God with boldness: ‘Lord, give me heaven; Christ has purchased it for me; he hung upon the cross, that I might sit upon the throne.’  Christ’s blood and incense are the two hinges on which our salvation turns.
   4. Christ’s regal office is precious: ‘He hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords’ (Rev. 19:16).  Christ has a pre-eminence above all other kings for majesty; he has the highest throne, the richest crown, the largest dominions, and the longest possession: ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever’ (Heb. 1:8).  Though Christ has many assessors — those who sit with him (Eph. 2:6) — he has no successors.  Christ sets up his scepter where no other king does; he rules the will and affections; his power binds the conscience.  The angels take the oath of allegiance to him (Heb. 1:6).
   5. Christ’s kingship is seen in ruling his people.  He rules with clemency; his regal rod has honey at the end of it.  Christ displays the ensign of mercy, which makes so many volunteers run to his standard (Psalm 110:3).  Holiness without mercy, and justice without mercy, would be dreadful, but mercy encourages poor sinners to trust in him.
   6. Christ’s kingship is seen in overruling his enemies.  He pulls down their pride, befools their policy, restrains their malice: ‘the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain’ (Psalm 76:10), or as it is in the Hebrew, ‘thou shalt girdle up.’  That stone ‘cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote the image’ (Dan. 2:34) was an emblem, says Augustine, of Christ’s monarch­ical power, conquering and triumphing over his enemies.
   7. Christ is precious in his benefits.  By Christ, all dangers are removed; through Christ all mercies are conveyed.  In his blood flows justification (Acts 13:39); purgation (Heb. 9:14); fructification (John 1:16); pacifica­tion (Rom. 5:1); adoption (Gal. 4:5); perseverance (Heb. 12:2); glorification (Heb. 9:12). This will be a matter of most sublime joy for eternity.  We read that those who had passed over the sea of glass stood with their harps and sang the song of Moses and the Lamb (Rev. 15:2, 3).  So when the ‘saints of God have passed over the glassy sea of this world, they shall sing hallelujahs to the Lamb who has redeemed them from sin and hell and has translated them into that glorious paradise where they shall see God forever and ever.

The Godly Man Esteems Christ Precious

“Therefore to you who believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). In the Greek, it is ‘an honor.’  Believers have honorable esteem of Christ.  The psalmist speaks like one captivated with Christ’s amazing beauty: ‘there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee’ (Psalm 73:25).  He did not say he had nothing: he had many comforts on earth, but he desired none but God; as if a wife should say that there is no one’s company she prizes like her husband’s.  How did David prize Christ?  ‘Thou art fairer than the children of men’ (Psalm 45:2).  The spouse in the Song of Solomon looked upon Christ as the Coryphaeus, the most incompar­able one, ‘the chief among ten thousand’ (Song 5:10).  Christ outvies all others: ‘As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons’ (Song 2:3).  Christ infinitely more excels all the beauties and glories of that visible world than the apple tree surpasses the trees of the wild forest.  Paul so prized Christ that he made him his chief study: ‘I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 2:2).  He judged nothing else of value.  Consider how he slighted and despised other things in comparison with Christ: ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord’ (Phil. 3:8).  Gain he esteemed loss, and gold dung for Christ.  Indeed, a godly person cannot choose but set a high valuation upon Christ; he sees a fullness of value in him:

1. A fullness in regard to variety.  ‘In whom are hid all the treasures’ (Colossian 2:3).  No country has all commodities of its own growth, but Christ has all kinds of fullness — fullness of merit, of spirit, of love.  He has a treasure adequate for all our wants.
2. A fullness in regard to degree.  Christ has not only a few drops or rays, but is more full of goodness than the sun is of light; he has the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 2:9).
3. A fullness in regard to duration.  The fullness in the creature, like the brooks of Arabia, is soon dried up, but Christ’s fullness is inexhaustible; it is a fullness overflowing and ever-flowing.

And this fullness is for believers: Christ is a common thesaurus (as Luther says), a common treasury or store for the saints: ‘of his fullness have all we received’ (John 1:16).

Use 1: Is a godly man a high prizer of Christ?  Then what is to be thought of those who do not put a value upon Christ?  Are they godly or not?

What is it to know all the motions of the orbs and influences of the stars, and in the meantime to be ignorant of Christ, the bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)?  What is it to understand the nature of minerals or precious stones, and not to know Christ the true Cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16)?  It is under­valuing, yes, despising Christ, when with the lodestone we draw iron and straw to us, but neglect him who has tried gold to bestow on us (Rev. 3:18).

Use 2: Let us test our godliness by this: Do we set a high estimation on Christ?

Question: How shall we know that?

Answer 1: If we are prizers of Christ, then we prefer him in our judgments before other things.  We value Christ above honor and riches; the Pearl of Price lies nearest our heart.  He who prizes Christ esteems the gleanings of Christ better than the world’s vintage.  He counts the worst things of Christ better than the best things of the world: ‘es­teeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt’ (Heb. 11:26).  And is it thus with us?  Has the price of worldly things fallen?  Gregory Nazianzene solemnly blessed God that he had anything to lose for Christ’s sake.  But alas, how few Nazianzenes are to be found!  You will hear some say they have honorable thoughts of Christ, but they prize their land and estate above him.  The young man in the Gospel preferred his bags of gold before Christ.  Judas valued thirty pieces of silver above him.  May it not be feared, if an hour of trial comes, that there are many who would rather renounce their baptism and throw off Christ’s livery than hazard the loss of their earthly possessions for him?

Answer 2: If we are the prizers of Christ, we cannot live without him; things which we value we know not how to be without.  A man may live without music, but not without food.  A child of God can lack health and friends, but he cannot lack Christ.  In the absence of Christ, he says, like Job, ‘I went mourning without the sun’ (Job 30:28).  I have the starlight of creature comforts, but I need the Sun of Righteousness.  ‘Give me children,’ said Rachel, ‘or else I die ((Gen. 30:1).  So the soul says, ‘Lord, give me Christ, or I die.’

Let us test by this — do they prize Christ who can manage well enough to be without him?  Give a child a rattle, and it will not want gold.  If men only have worldly provisions, ‘corn rid wine’, they can be content enough without Christ.  Christ is a spiritual Rock (1 Cor. 10:4).  Just let men have ‘oil in the cruse’ and they do not care about honey from this rock.  If their trade has gone, they complain, but if God takes away the gospel, which is the ark wherein Christ the manna is hidden, they are quiet and tame enough.  Do those prize Christ who can sit down content without him?

Answer 3: If we are prizers of Christ, then we shall not complain at any pains to get him.  He who prizes gold will dip for it in the mine: ‘My soul followeth hard after God’ (Psalm 63:8).  Plutarch reports of the Gauls, an ancient people in France, that after they had tasted the sweet wine of the Italian grape, they enquired after the country, and never rested till they had arrived at it.  He in whose eye Christ is precious never rests till he has gained him: ‘I sought him whom my soul loveth; I held him, and would not let him go’ (Song 3:1,4).

Test by this!  Many say they have Christ in high veneration, but they are not industrious in the use of means to obtain him.  If Christ would drop as a ripe fig into their mouth, they could be content to have him, but they will not put themselves to too much trouble to get him.  Does he who will not take medicine or exercise prize his health?

Answer 4: If we are prizers of Christ, then we take great pleasure in Christ.  What joy a man takes in that which he counts his treasure!  He who prizes Christ makes him his greatest joy.  He can delight in Christ when other delights have gone: ‘Although the fig tree shall not blossom, yet I will rejoice in the Lord’ (Hab. 3:17, 18).  Though a flower in a man’s garden dies, he can still delight in his money and jewels.  He who esteems Christ can solace himself in Christ when there is an autumn on all other comforts.

Answer 5: If we are prizers of Christ, then we will part with our dearest pleasures for him.  Paul said of the Galatians that they so esteemed him that they were ready to pull out their own eyes and give them to him (Gal. 4:15).  He who esteems Christ will pull out that lust which is his right eye.  A wise man will throw away a poison for a stimulant.  He who sets a high value on Christ will part with his pride, unjust gain, and sinful fashions (Isaiah 30:32).  He will set his feet on the neck of his sins.

Test by this!  How can they be said to prize Christ who will not leave a vanity for him?  What scorn and contempt they put on the Lord Jesus who prefer a damning pleasure before a saving Christ!

Answer 6: If we are prizers of Christ, we shall think we cannot have him at too dear a rate.  We may buy gold too dearly, but we cannot purchase Christ too dearly.  Though we part with our blood for him, it is no dear bargain.  The apostles rejoiced that they were graced so much as to be disgraced for Christ (Acts 5:41).  They esteemed their fetters more precious than bracelets of gold.  Do not let him who refuses to bear his cross say that he prizes Christ: ‘When persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended’ (Matt. 13:21).

Answer 7: If we are prizers of Christ, we will be willing to help others to get a part in him.  That which we esteem excellent, we are desirous our friend should have a share in it.  If a man has found a spring of water, he will call others that they may drink and satisfy their thirst.  Do we commend Christ to others?  Do we take them by the hand and lead them to Christ?  This shows how few prize Christ, because they do not make more effort that their relations should have a part in him.  They get land and riches for their posterity, but have no care to leave them the Pearl of Price in their portion.

Answer 8: If we are prizers of Christ, then we prize him in health as well as in sickness; when we are enlarged, as well as when we are straitened.  A friend is prized at all times; the Rose of Sharon is always sweet.  He who values his Savior right has as precious thoughts of him in a day of prosperity as in a day of adversity.  The wicked make use of Christ only when they are in straits — as the elders of Gilead went to Jepththah when they were in distress (Judges 11:7).  Themistocles complained of the Athenians that they only ran to him as they did to a tree to shelter them in a storm.  Sinners desire Christ only for shelter.  The Hebrews never chose their judges except when they were in some imminent danger.  Godless persons never look for Christ except at death when they are in danger of hell.

Use 3: As we would prove to the world that we have the impress of godliness on us, let us be prizers of Jesus Christ; he is elect, precious.  Christ is the wonder of beauty.  Pliny said of the mulberry tree that there is nothing in it but what is therapeutic and useful: the fruit, leaves and bark.  So there is nothing in Christ but what is precious.  His name is precious, his virtues precious, his blood precious — more precious than the world.

Oh, then, let us have endearing thoughts of Christ, let him be accounted our chief treasure and delight.  This is the reason why millions perish — because they do not prize Christ.  Christ is the door by which men are to enter heaven (John 10:9).  If they do not know this door or are so proud that they will not stoop to go in at it, how can they be saved?  That we may have Christ-admiring thoughts, let us con­sider:

1. We cannot prize Christ at too high a rate.  We may prize other things above their value.  That is our sin.  We commonly overrate the creature; we think there is more in it than there is; therefore God makes our gourd wither, because we overprize it.  But we cannot raise our esteem of Christ high enough; he is beyond all value.  There is no ruby or diamond but the jeweler can set a fair price on it.  He can say it is worth so much and no more.  But Christ’s worth can never be fully known.  No seraphim can set a due value on him; his are unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8).  Christ is more precious than the soul, than the angels, than heaven.
2. Jesus Christ has highly prized us. He took our flesh upon him (Heb. 2:16).  He made his soul an offering for us (Isaiah 53:10).  How precious our salvation was to Christ!  Shall not we prize and adore him who has put such a value upon us?
3. Not to prize Christ is great imprudence.  Christ is our guide to glory.  It is folly for a man to slight his guide.  He is our physician (Mal. 4:2).  It is folly to despise our physician.

What!  To set light by Christ for things of no value?  ‘Ye fools and blind’ (Matt. 23:17).  How is a fool tested but by showing him an apple and a piece of gold?  If he chooses the apple before the gold, he is judged to be a fool and his estate is beggared.  How many such idiots there are who prefer husks before manna, the gaudy, empty things of this life before the Prince of Glory!  Will not Satan beggar them at last for fools?

Some slight Christ now and say, ‘There is no beauty that we should desire him’ (Isaiah 53:2).  There is a day coming shortly when Christ will as much slight them.  He will set as light by them as they do by him.  He will say, ‘I know you not’ (Luke 13:27).  What a slighting word that will be, when men cry, ‘Lord Jesus, save us,’ and he says, ‘I was offered to you but you would have none of me (Psalm 81:11); you scorned me and now I will set light by you and your salvation.  Depart from me, I do not know you.’  This is all that sinners get by rejecting the Lord of life.  Christ will slight at the Day of Judgment those who have slighted him in he day of grace.  Only a godly man truly prizes Christ!

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1.  God’s attributes work for good to the godly.

(1) God’s power works for good. It is a glorious power (Colossians 1:11) and it is engaged for the good of the elect.

God’s power works for good in supporting us in trouble.  “Underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). What upheld Daniel in the lion’s den?  Jonah in the whale’s belly?  The three Hebrews in the furnace?  Only the power of God!  Is it not strange to see a bruised reed grow and flourish?  How is a weak Christian able, not only to endure affliction, but to rejoice in it?  He is upheld by the arms of the Almighty.  “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The power of God works for us by supplying our wants. God creates comforts when means fail.  He that brought food to the prophet Elijah by ravens will bring sustenance to His people.  God can preserve the “oil in the cruse” (1 Kings 17:14).  The Lord made the sun on Ahaz’s dial go ten degrees backward: so when our outward comforts are declining, and the sun is almost setting, God often causes a revival and brings the sun many degrees backward.

The power of God subdues our corruptions. “He will subdue our iniquities” (Micah 7:19). Is your sin strong?  God is powerful; He will break the head of this leviathan.  Is your heart hard?  God will dissolve that stone in Christ’s blood.  “The Almighty maketh my heart soft” (Job 23:16). When we say as Jehoshaphat, “We have no might against this great army,” the Lord goes up with us and helps us to fight our battles.  He strikes off the heads of those goliath­ lusts which are too strong for us.

The power of God conquers our enemies. He stains the pride and breaks the confidence of adversaries.  “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron” (Psalm 2:9).  There is rage in the enemy, malice in the devil, but power in God.  How easily can He rout all the forces of the wicked!  “It is nothing for thee, Lord, to help” (2 Chronicles 14:11). God’s power is on the side of His church.  “Happy art thou, O Israel, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency” (Deut. 33:29).

(2) The wisdom of God works for good.  God’s wisdom is our oracle to instruct us.  As He is the mighty God, so also is He the Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). We are oftentimes in the dark, and in matters intricate and doubtful know not which way to take; here God comes in with light.  “I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8). “Eye,” there, is put for God’s wisdom.  Why is it the saints can see further than the most quick-sighted politicians?  They foresee the evil and hide themselves; they see Satan’s sophisms.  God’s wisdom is the pillar of fire to go before and guide them.

(3) The goodness of God works for good to the godly. God’s goodness is a means to make us good.  “The goodness of God leadeth to repentance” (Romans 2:4).  The goodness of God is a spiritual sunbeam to melt the heart into tears.  Oh, says the soul, has God been so good to me?  Has He reprieved me so long from hell and shall I grieve His Spirit any more?  Shall I sin against goodness?  The goodness of God works for good, as it ushers in all blessings.  The favors we receive are the silver streams which flow from the fountain of God’s goodness.  This divine attribute of goodness brings in two sorts of blessings.  Common blessings: all partake of these, the bad as well as the good.  This sweet dew falls upon the thistle as well as the rose.  Crowning blessings: these only the godly partake of.  “Who crowneth us with loving-kindness” (Psalm 103:4). Thus the blessed attributes of God work for good to the saints.

2.  The promises of God work for good to the godly.

The promises are notes of God’s hand; is it not good to have security?  The promises are the milk of the gospel; and is not the milk for the good of the infant?  They are called “precious promises” (2 Pet. 1:4).  They are as cordials to a soul that is ready to faint.  The promises are full of virtue.

Are we under the guilt of sin? There is a promise, “The Lord merciful and gracious” (Exodus 24:6), where God as it were puts on His glorious embroidery and holds out the golden scepter to encourage poor trembling sinners to come to Him.  “The Lord, merciful.” God is more willing to pardon than to punish.  Mercy does more multiply in Him than sin in us.  Mercy is His nature.  The bee naturally gives honey; it stings only when it is provoked.  “But,” says the guilty sinner, “I cannot deserve mercy.”  Yet He is gracious; He shows mercy, not because we deserve mercy, but because He delights in mercy.  But what is that to me?  Perhaps my name is not in the pardon.  “He keeps mercy for thousands;” the treasurer of mercy is not exhausted.  God has treasures lying by, and why should not you come in for a child’s part?

Are we under the defilement of sin? There is a promise working for good.  “I will heal their backslidings” (Hosea 14:4). God will not only bestow mercy, but grace.  And He has made a promise of sending His Spirit (Isaiah 44:3), which for its sanctifying nature, is in Scripture compared sometimes to water, which cleanses the vessel; sometimes to the fan, which winnows corn, and purifies the air; sometimes to fire, which refines metals.  Thus will the Spirit of God cleanse and consecrate the soul, making it partake of the divine nature.

Are we in great trouble? There is a promise that works for our good, “I will be with him in trouble” (Psalm 91:15). God does not bring His people into troubles and leave them there.  He will stand by them; He will hold their heads and hearts when they are fainting.  And there is another promise, “He is their strength in the time of trouble” (Psalm 37:39).  “Oh,” says the soul, “I shall faint in the day of trial.”  But God will be the strength of our hearts; He will join His forces with us.  Either He will make His hand lighter, or our faith stronger.

Do we fear outward wants? There is a promise.  “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing” (Psalm 34:10). If it is good for us, we shall have it; if it is not good for us, then the withholding of it is good.  “I will bless thy bread and thy water” (Exodus 23:25). This blessing falls as the honey-dew upon the leaf; it sweetens that little we possess.  Let me be without the venison, so I may have the blessing.  But I fear I shall not get a livelihood?  Peruse that Scripture, “I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).  How must we understand this?  David speaks it as his own observation; he never beheld such an eclipse, he never saw a godly man brought so low that he had not a bit of bread to put in his mouth.  David never saw the righteous and their seed lacking.  Though the Lord might try godly parents a while by want, yet not their seed too; the seed of the godly shall be provided for.  David never saw the righteous begging bread, and forsaken.  Though he might be reduced to great straits, yet not forsaken; still he is an heir of heaven, and God loves him.

Question: How do the promises work for good?

Answer: They are food for faith; and that which strengthens faith works for good.  The promises are the milk of faith; faith sucks nourishment from them, as the child from the breast.  “Jacob feared exceedingly” (Genesis 32:7). His spirits were ready to faint; now he goes to the promise, “Lord, thou hast said that thou wilt do me good” (Genesis 32:12).  This promise was his food.  He got so much strength from this promise that he was able to wrestle with the Lord all night in prayer and would not let Him go till He had blessed him.

The promises also are springs of joy. There is more in the promises to comfort than in the world to perplex.  [Many have been] comforted by that promise: “No man shall pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29). The promises are cordials in a fainting-fit.  “Unless thy word had been my delights, I had perished in my affliction” (Psalm 119:92).  The promises are as cork to the net, to bear up the heart from sinking in the deep waters of distress.

3.  The mercies of God work for good to the godly.

The mercies of God humble us. “Then went King David, and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, Oh Lord God, and what is my father’s house, that thou hast brought me hitherto” (2 Sam. 7:18).  Lord, why is such honor conferred upon me, that I should be king?  That I who followed the sheep, should go in and out before Thy people?”   So says a gracious heart, “Lord, what am I, that it should be better with me than others?  That I should drink of the fruit of the vine, when others drink, not only a cup of wormwood, but a cup of blood (or suffering to death).  What am I, that I should have those mercies which others want, who are better than I?  Lord, why is it, that notwithstanding all my unworthiness, a fresh tide of mercy comes in every day?”

The mercies of God make a sinner proud, but a saint humble. The mercies of God have a melting influence upon the soul; they dissolve it in love to God.  God’s judgments make us fear Him; His mercies make us love Him.  How was Saul wrought upon by kindness!  David had him at the advantage, and might have cut off, not only the skirt of his robe, but his head; yet he spares his life.  This kindness melted Saul’s heart. “Is this thy voice, my son David? and Saul lifted up his voice, and wept” (I Sam. 24:16).  Such a melting influence has God’s mercy; it makes the eyes drop with tears of love.

The mercies of God make the heart fruitful. When you lay out more cost upon a field, it bears a better crop.  A gracious soul honors the Lord with his substance.  He does not do with his mercies, as Israel with their jewels and ear-rings, make a golden calf, but, as Solomon did with the money thrown into the treasury, build a temple for the Lord.  The golden showers of mercy cause fertility.

The mercies of God make the heart thankful. “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?  I will take the cup of salvation” (Psalm 116:12-13).  David alludes to the people of Israel, who at their peace-offerings used to take a cup in their hands, and give thanks to God for deliverances.  Every mercy is an alm of free grace; and this enlarges the soul m gratitude.  A good Christian is not a grave to bury God’s mercies, but a temple to sing His praises.  If every bird in its kind, as Ambrose says, chirps forth thankfulness to its Maker, much more will an ingenuous Christian, whose life is enriched and perfumed with mercy.

The mercies of God quicken. As they are lodestones to love, so they are whetstones to obedience.  “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:9).  He that takes a review of his blessings looks upon himself as a person engaged for God.  He argues from the sweetness of mercy to the swiftness of duty.  He spends and is spent for Christ; he dedicates himself to God.  Among the Romans, when one had been redeemed by another, he was afterwards to serve him.  A soul encompassed with mercy is zealously active in God’s service.

The mercies of God work compassion to others. A Christian is a temporal savior.  He feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and visits the widow and orphan in their distress; among them he sows the golden seeds of his charity.  “A good man sheweth favor, and lendeth” (Psalm 112:5).  Charity drops from him freely, as myrrh from the tree.  Thus to the godly, the mercies of God work for good; they are wings to lift them up to heaven.

Spiritual mercies also work for good. The Word preached works for good.  It is a savor of life, it is a soul-transforming Word, it assimilates the heart into Christ”s likeness; it produces assurance.  “Our gospel came to you not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and m much assurance” (I Thessalonians 1:5).  It is the chariot of salvation.

Prayer works for good. Prayer is the bellows of the affections; it blows up holy desires and ardors of soul.  Prayer has power with God.  “Command ye me” (Isaiah 45:11).  It is a key that unlocks the treasury of God’s mercy.  Prayer keeps the heart open to God, and shut to sin; it assuages the intemperate heart and the swellings of lust.  It was Luther’s counsel to a friend, when he perceived a temptation begin to arise, to betake himself to prayer.  Prayer is the Christian’s gun, which he discharges against his enemies.  Prayer is the sovereign medicine of the soul.  Prayer sanctifies every mercy (I Timothy 4:5).  It is the dispeller of sorrow: by venting the grief it eases the heart.  When Hannah had prayed, “she went away, and was no more sad” (I Samuel 1:18).  And if it has these rare effects, then it works for good.

4. The graces of the Spirit work for good.

Grace is to the soul, as light to the eye, as health to the body.  Grace does to the soul, as a virtuous wife to her husband, “She will do him good all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:12).  How incomparably useful are the graces!  Faith and fear go hand in hand.  Faith keeps the heart cheerful, fear keeps the heart serious.  Faith keeps the heart from sinking in despair; fear keeps it from floating in presumption.  All the graces display themselves in their beauty: hope is “the helmet” (I Thess. 5:8), meekness “the ornament” (I Pet. 3:4), love “the bound of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14).  The saints’ graces are weapons to defend them, wings to elevate them, jewels to enrich them, spices to perfume them, stars to adorn them, cordials to refresh them.  And does not all this work for good?  The graces are our evidences for heaven.  Is it not good to have our evidences at the hour of death?

5. The Angels work for the good of the Saints.

The good angels are ready to do all offices of love to the people of God.  “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14).  Some of the Fathers were of the opinion that every believer has his guardian angel.  This subject needs no hot debate.  It may suffice us to know that the whole hierarchy of angels is employed for the good of the saints.

The good angels do service to the saints in life.  An angel comforted the virgin Mary (Luke 1:28).  The angels stopped the mouths of the lions, that they could not hurt Daniel (Daniel 6:22).  A Christian has an invisible guard of angels about him.  “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalm 91:11).   The angels are of the saints’ life-guard, yea, the chief of the angels: “Are they not all ministering spirits?” The highest angels take care of the lowest saints.

The good angels do service at death. The angels are about the saints’ sick-beds to comfort them.  As God comforts by His Spirit, so by His angels.  Christ in His agony was refreshed by an angel (Luke 22:43).  So are believers in the agony of death: and when the saints” breath expires, their souls are carried up to heaven by a convoy of angels (Luke 16:22).

The good angels also do service at the day of judgment. The angels shall open the saints’ graves, and shall conduct them into the presence of Christ, when they shall be made like His glorious body.  “He shall send his angels, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).

6.  The Communion of Saints works for good.

“We are helpers of your joy” (2 Corinthians. 1:24).  One Christian conversing with another is a means to confirm him.  As the stones in an arch help to strengthen one another, one Christian by imparting his experience, heats and quickens another.  “Let us provoke one another to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24).  How does grace flourish by such a holy conference!  A Christian by good discourse drops that oil upon another, which makes the lamp of his faith burn the brighter.

7.  Christ’s Intercession works for good.

Christ is in heaven, as Aaron with his golden plate upon his forehead, and his precious incense; and He prays for all believers as well as He did for the apostles.  “Neither pray I for these alone, but for all them that shall believe on me” (John 17:20).  When a Christian is weak, and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him; and He prays for three things.

First, that the saints may be kept from sin (John 17:15).  “I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”  We live in the world as in a pest-house; Christ prays that His saints may not be infected with the contagious evil of the times.

Second, for His people’s progress in holiness. “Sanctify them” (John 17:17).  Let them have constant supplies of the Spirit, and be anointed with fresh oil.

Third, for their glorification: “Father, I will that those which thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (John 17:24).  Christ is not content till the saints are in His arms.  This prayer, which He made on earth, is the copy and pattern of His prayer in heaven.  What a comfort is this; when Satan is tempting, Christ is praying!  This works for good.

Christ’s prayer takes away the sins of our prayers.  As a child, says Ambrose, that is willing to present his father with a posy, goes into the garden, and there gathers some flowers and some weeds together, but coming to his mother, she picks out the weeds and binds the flowers, and so it is presented to the father.  Thus when we have put up our prayers, Christ comes, and picks away the weeds, the sin of our prayer, and presents nothing but flowers to His Father, which are a sweet-smelling savor.

8.  The Prayers of Saints work for good to the godly.

The saints pray for all the members of the body mystical, and their prayers prevail much.

They prevail for recovery from sickness. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (James 5:15).

They prevail for victory over enemies. “Lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left” (Isaiah 37:4).  “Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote, in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred and fourscore and five thousand” (Isaiah 37:36).

They prevail for deliverance out of prison. “Prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, and his chains fell off” (Acts 12:5-7).  The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel.

They prevail for forgiveness of sin. “My servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept” (Job 42:8).  Thus the prayers of the saints work for good to the body mystical.  And this is no small privilege to a child of God that he has a constant trade of prayer driven for him.  When he comes into any place, he may say, “I have some prayer here, nay, all the world over I have a stock of prayer going for me. When I am indisposed, and out of tune, others are praying for me, who are quick and lively.”  Thus the best things work for good to the people of God.

From A Divine Cordial, first published in 1663.  It has been reprinted by Banner of Truth Press as All Things for Good (1991, 1994).

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