A CAVEAT TO THE Standing Christian, AND To him that thinketh he standeth.  
BY WILLIAM GEARING Minister of the Gospel.  Quòd renati possunt ruere in peccatum grave, satis ostendunt tristissimi lapsus sanctissimorum hominum. Ursin. Catech. de discrimin. peccat. 
LONDON, Printed for John Crook, at the Ship in S. Paul's Churchyard. 1666.   

Unto the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS STEVENS OF Little SADBURY IN THE COUNTY of GLOUCESTER, KNIGHT; And to the Virtuous LADY HIS WIFE, WILLIAM GEARING Dedicateth this ensuing Discourse, Entitled, A Caveat to the standing Christian, etc.   

A Caveat to the standing Christian, and to him that thinketh he standeth.  1 Corinth. 10.12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. 

CHAP. I. The Introduction.  
I Do not know a more seasonable Exhortation than this of the Apostle; it is indeed verbum diei in die suo, we living in such times wherein men fall into irreligiousness and all manner of profaneness. Our Saviour speaking of the Signs before his coming, foretells how the Stars shall fall from Heaven, Math. 24.29. Some understand by Stars eminent Professors, and by Heaven the Church: If this be true, then that Scripture is this day fulfilled; many Stars are already fallen, and others fall daily: So that if ever a word of Exhortation to quicken Professors to heedfulness and circumspection be seasonable, now it is; every Minister should now lift up his voice like a Trumpet, and cry aloud, Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.  
For Coherence.] The Apostle in the preceding verses sets before the Corinthians eyes a Map of Israel's provocations, and of Israel's punishments, of God's exemplary judgements on them: Vengeance follows sin as the thread follows the needle; if sin be in the house, judgement is at the door.  
Their capital sins were,  
1. Their lusting after evil things; which Interpreters understand of their lusting after flesh, 
Ver. 6 of this Chap.  Numb. 11.4. The token of God's displeasure against them, was his giving them Quails in wrath, and a sore Plague to boot, Numb. 11.33.  
2. A second sin mentioned was Idolatry, mentioned in the seventh verse of this Chapter; of which we read Exod. 32.4.8. They made them a molten Calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed thereunto, saying, These be thy Gods O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt. God's judgement upon them for this sin, was the Sword, by which there fell three thousand, ver. 28.  
3. The third sin mentioned was fornication, ver. 8. a venial sin in the account of the profane; and yet this sin was died in the blood of three and twenty thousand, Num. 25.9.  
4. A fourth sin was tempting of Christ, ver. 9 mentioned Num. 21.6. For this sin God was avenged on them by stinging them with fiery Serpents.  
5. The last sin was murmuring, the sin of Corah and his confederates, who murmured against Moses: The murmurers were destroyed of the Destroyer; God sent an Angel, called here a Destroyer, whether a good Angel or evil 'tis not determined, and he destroyed them. Thus you see how God paid those sinners their deserved wages; every sin like the Cockatrice hath a sting of wrath in the tail.  
In the eleventh verse he gives a Reason why their sins and Gods judgements stand upon Record in Scripture: Now all these things (i) all these dreadful judgements were inflicted on them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as types or examples in respect of us. They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come: They are standing monuments of God's wrath to all ages, even to the end of the world, that none in all ages may run into the same sins, and so partake of the same Plagues: God is as just to day as yesterday, and hates sin to day as yesterday: If we commit fornication, if we tempt Christ, if we murmune against Moses and God; if we sin as they did, he will visit us with the Sword, with the Plague, with Serpents, with a Destroyer, as he did them: Where like sins abound, expect the like judgements.   

CHAP. II.  
NOw from these examples of God's wrath, and God's end in setting up these monuments of his indignation, he takes occasion to exhort us against carnal security and confidence, and so much the rather because we live in the ends of the world, in the corruptest ages and times.  
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, etc.  
In the words we have four parts.  
1. A Disease; the Falling-sickness.] Lest ye fall: (i) fall into sin, fall into the hands of the living God.  
2. A Remedy prescribed; Circumspection or heedfulness of ourselves.] Take heed.  
3. The person most subject to this Disease, and for whom the Remedy is good.] Him that thinketh he standeth.  
4. The Reason why we should take heed, expressed in that word Wherefore.] (i) Seeing others fell into grievous sins, and God visited them with dreadful Plagues, do you therefore take heed.  
For explication of the words.  
Let him that thinketh] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Qui videtur: which in our Translation is sometimes rendered, he thinketh, and sometimes, he seemeth: Some there are that think it to be a mere expletive particle, which rather filleth up the sentence than addeth any thing to the sense: Mr. Isaac Causabon 
Isaac Causab. in Capitol. pag. 180.  citeth divers places in the Roman Historians, in which this word is so used; among the rest there is one out of Capitolinus, where speaking of a certain Poem, he saith, Epigramma videtur extare, the Epigram seemeth to be extant; and then presently sets down the Epigram itself, where to seem to be extant, and to be extant is all one. Salmasius 
Salmas. in Jul. Capitolin. pag. 106.  hath gathered divers say to the same purpose, both in Historians and other Writers. Others have observed the like manner of speech even out of the Holy Scriptures, such as these are; If any man seem to be contentious, 1 Cor. 11.16. that is, if any man be contentious. And Heb. 4.1. 
Hoord, Souls misery and recov. c. 4.  Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it; that is, lest any of you should come short. In like sort, Mark 10.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, They that seem to bear rule over the Gentiles, as our old Translation rendered it, is no more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, They that do bear rule over the Gentiles: So say they here, He thinketh, or he seemeth, is a mere expletive particle without any signification. But I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thus to be rendered, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro existimare, videri sibi est, f●lso praesumere. R●vanel.  Qui sibi videtur, he that seemeth to himself to stand, he that hath this opinion of himself that he standeth, he that pleaseth himself with his own conceit of the firmness of his estate, he that thinketh  
He standeth.  

Qui sibi placet in opinion constantiae quasi liceat secure vivere. Puss-cat. Scholar in loc.  That is, 1. He that thinketh he is in the faith. 2. That he is in the state of grace. 3. That he shall continue and persevere to the end in the state of grace: Let him  
Take heed.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] Let him see to himself, let him have a watchful eye over himself,  
Lest he fall.  
1. Lest he fall into sin: So falling is taken sometimes, Jam. 3.2. In many things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we stumble, and fall: This fall woundeth and bruiseth the Conscience.  
2. Lest he fall from the faith into error, 2 Thes. 2.3. The Apostle speaks of a falling away before the coming of Christ: to fall there, is to departed from the faith and profession of Christ unto heresy and idolatry.  
3. Lest he fall away from the truths and ways of God. Heb. 6.10. If they fall away.] Of all falls the most dangerous; for such stumble and fall, and never rise more; they never cease falling till they fall headlong into Hell: Such was the fall of Angels from Heaven into Hell.  
4. Lest he fall: (i) lest he perish for ever; let him take heed lest he fall into everlasting destruction. Old Simeon said of the holy Child Jesus to Mary his Mother, Behold this Child is set for the fall— of many, Luke 2.34. (i) he is appointed for the ruin and destruction of many, who shall stumble at Christ, and fall into the Sea of destruction. All these falls are comprehended in this word in my Text.   

CHAP. III. Some Objections for the clearing this Text answered.  
BEfore I come to raise any Observations from these words, I must clear two things.  
Object. 1. The Papists argue from this place, that none can be certain of their Salvation; for (say they) if those that stand must fear lest they fall, than we cannot be certain, but be always doubting.  
Resp. 1. The Apostle doth not say, He that standeth] but he that thinketh he standeth; he that conceiveth himself to be in the state of grace; he who presumes to stand: This Exhortation is principally directed to the Christians that are carnally secure.  
2. This Exhortation to holy circumspection and heedfulness doth not destroy Assurance, but is an help to preserve Assurance: He that takes most heed to himself, walks most surely: Holy circumspection is a pillar to uphold Assurance: Presumptuous children do catch most falls, when as the wary do escape.  
3. Certainty of Salvation and a filial fear may well stand together; it casteth out slavish fear, but it stands with filial fear: Blessed is the man that feareth always, Prov. 28.14. that feareth to displease God. Filial fear is joined with the certainty of Salvation, servile fear with the fear of Damnation, 
Dr Sutton in Rom. 11.20. Magdeb. Cent. 13. cap. 4.  saith a Judicious Divine of ours. The more curious difference of these two may he had from Aquinas and Bonaventure, noted by the Magdeburgenses: A holy and reverential awe of God in the heart, makes a man to take heed to his ways, that he may please God: What better means can there be to keep Assurance?  
Object. 2. Here it may be demanded, whether this Exhortation may not belong to the godly, who do stand really, and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seemingly?  
Sol. Yes: for though they cannot fall totally and finally from the state of grace, yet godly men may fall,  
1. From gracious acts, though not from gracious habits.  
2. From degrees of grace; they may fall from their first-love, though not from love itself; à tanto, not à toto.  
3. They may fall from their comforts, and for a time may lose the joy of God's salvation: David by his sin, had deprived himself of that joyful sense of God's love which he had before; therefore he prayeth, Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, Psal 51.12. In those that are truly godly, 
In verè piis inest vera pax conscientiae, vera mundities cordis, vera fiducia in Deum, vera accedendi ad Deum parrhesis, verum gandium, vera falutis certitude: H●s spirit●● Sancti mo●● & frullu● ex animis pierum cum peccant, etsi non penitàs, magna tamen ex parte excuti, qu●● neget? Zanch. miscel. lib. 1. Fideles in atrocia peccata lapsi, sensum gratia Dei ad tempus amittunt. Theol. Palat.  saith Zanchy, there is a true peace of conscience, true purity of heart, a lively confidence in God, true boldness of access to God, true joy, true assurance of salvation: But that these motions and fruits of the Spirit are greatly, though not wholly, shaken out of the souls of the godly when they sin, who is there that will deny? And say the Palatine Divines, The faithful when they fall into gross sins, do lose the feeling of God's favour for a time.  
4. They may fall into sin, whereby the Name of God may be blasphemed, Religion disgraced, their Consciences sorely wounded, the godly much grieved, the wicked extremely hardened in their sins by their falls.  
5. They may fall into temporal destruction, though not into eternal; 
Prima est haec ultio, quod se judice nemo nocens absolvitur. Juvenal. Satyr. 13.  they may fall into the correcting hands of God, though not into his revenging hands; they may so fall, as that they may be filii sub ira, though not filii irae, children under wrath, though not children of wrath. Even the Satirist could say, This is the first revenge which God taketh on a guilty soul, that in its own judgement the sin committed is detained till repentance dismiss it, and so the sinner is under wrath.  
So then these words reach all, both seemingly godly, and really godly; him that thinketh he standeth, and he that standeth by grace.   

CHAP. IU.  
THe words being thus cleared, I shall only lay down three Points of Doctrine to be handled.  
1. That every Christian ought to have a watchful eye over himself, lest he fall into sin.  
2. That every one that is a Professor of the Christian Religion is bound to have a watchful eye over himself, lest he fall away.  
3. Every godly man is bound to take heed to himself, lest he fall from grace in any degree.  
For the first.  
Prop. 1. Every one that is a Christian, and professeth godliness, aught to have a watchful eye over himself, lest he fall into sin. I said I will take heed to my ways, saith David, Psal. 39.1. This was David's resolved practice. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, Luke 21.34. This charge was given by Christ to his Apostles: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness, Luk. 12.15. In many other places is this pressed on men as a preservative against sin, by such terms as these; Look to yourselves, Watch, Walk circumspectly, etc.  
The Reasons of the Point.  
Great reason there is why we should be watchful in this respect.  
Reas. 1. Because of that propensity and natural inclination that is in us to every sin: Every man's heart is fraught with the principles and habits of every sin, his heart is a full treasure of wickedness: We may all sigh out that doleful complaint of Paul, O miserable men that we are, because of a body of death within us! Do some run greedily into drunkenness? Do others run greedily into uncleanness? Do some commit fornication? Do some tempt Christ, and others murmur against God? Do some run into those muta peccata, into unnatural sins? Thou art naturally prone to act the same sins, yea the greatest sins that ever were acted, if thou dost not take heed and beware of them. Other men's abominable vices are looking-glasses wherein we may behold the face of our own hearts and natural inclinations: As face answereth face, so doth the heart of man answer the heart of man. 'Twas an arrogant speech of that Pharisee, God I thank thee, I am not as other men are, nor as this Publican, seeing he had as vile an heart, as unjust an heart as yonder Publican. We tremble at the thoughts of the sins which Cain and Judas acted, and ever judge them worthy of that place where they are; we are as naturally sinful as Cain, as Judas, prone to act the same; wherefore we must take heed in respect of our natural proneness, lest we fall: the same weeds will spring up in our lives, if we take no heed to pluck up these roots of bitterness.  
2. Because we are subject to the same temptations as others are; wherefore let us take heed lest we fall into the same sins into which others do, Gal. 6.1. The same fruit with which the Serpent beguiled Eve, he seduced Adam. The Devil can find out a Babylonish garment, and a golden wedge to tempt thee, as he did Acban: Thirty pieces of silver may entice thee to betray Christ, as it did Judas: Abel's holiness may be an occasion to stir up malice in thee, as it did in Cain: Common experience testifieth that all are subject to the same temptations; were there a general communication about temptations, this would be the general vote, nemine contradicente, we are a●l tempted to pride, to lust, to covetousness, to distrust, to despair, etc. what sin is there to which we are not tempted? Every one that hath any experience of Satan's malice, and takes any notice of sinful suggestions darted by Satan, will say within himself, as Luther once said, I think the Devil hath no other work to do but to tempt poor Luther: Wherefore take heed lest some temptation or other take you by the heel, as Jacob did Esau, and supplant you; the less heed we take, the more prevalent temptations are; Satan's fiery darts will soon set us on fire of hell, if we do not take heed of him.  
Reas. 3. Because there is a snare laid in every thing to entrap us; wherefore let us take heed lest we fall. Alas for me (saith S. Bernard) I see wars providing for me on every side; 
Hei mihi, quia undique mihi tela video, undique tela volant, undique tentamenta; undique pericula, quocunque me vertam! nulla est securitas; & quae mulcent, & qua tristant, omnia timeo. Bernard. p. 1061.  weapons, tentations, dangers fly about me, and assail me wheresoever I go! which way shall I turn me? There is no safe being any where, I am afraid of every thing, of such things as delight me, and of such things also as molest and make me sad. Antoninus dreamt that there were snares laid over all the world to entrap him; it was his dream, but there are snares really laid in all places to ensnare our souls. In the way wherein I walked, saith David, have they privily laid a snare for me; and in the way and places wherein we are daily walking and travelling do these baits lie, they are the things which we continually look upon, hear of, handle, taste, feel, and make use of. The Devil lays his snares in our shops, in our houses, in the fields, in the streets, in every company; he lays snares on our tables, 
Nemo unquam hostis tam periculosus, quam in improbos prosperitas sua. Senec. Epist. 32. Meruis longa atque insiguis honorum pagina. Juvenal. Sat. 10.  he lays a snare in our gifts, parts, duties, to draw us to pride and hypocrisy; he turns every stone, that he might make us fall: As S. Paul speaks of himself, that he became all things to all men, that he might gain some; so we may say of the Devil, he becomes all things to all men in his way, that he might gain men to himself. The Historian observeth of Catiline, that when he began his rebellion, he applied himself to every man's humour to draw him into the same rebellion; if he saw a man covetous, he tempted him with money; if he saw a man ambitious, he proffered honours, preferments and promotions to him to ensnare him. Thus doth Satan; if we are covetous, he hath an Achan's wedge for us; if we be addicted to honour, he can show us all the glory of the world, etc.  
Reas. 4. Because of the malice of Satan: The Devil hath the greatest malice against the Professors of Piety; therefore he is called their Adversary; Your Adversary the Devil goes about like a roaring Lion, saith Peter, 1 Pet. 5.8. The Devil is not called a wicked man's Adversary, he is called their Father; Ye are of your Father the Devil, saith Christ to the wicked Jews, John 8.44. Our Saviour told Peter, Satan desireth to winnow thee: He doth not so much desire to winnow a wicked man; Christ saith of them, that they will do the works of their Father; they are as willing and forward to sin, as the Devil is to have them to sin: A Fisherman had rather catch one fish then a thousand frogs; Satan would rather draw a Professor to sin then a thousand profane persons: As David said of Goliah's sword, There is none like that; so the Devil of the sins of professing Christians, there is no sin like theirs; no fall like a Saints fall; no adultery like that of David; his adultery was more advantageous to Satan then the blasphemies of a thousand Rabshekahs: that as our Saviour saith of the conversion of a sinner, There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance, Luke 15.7. so there is joy in hell, in the presence of the Devil and his Angels, over the fall of one godly man, more than over the abominable practices of ninety and nine profane persons; for the Devil knoweth, 1. That God is more dishonoured and more blasphemed by the fall of one Professor of Religion, then by seven falls of wicked men daily. 2. He knoweth that his fall will bring a greater disgrace and discredit to Religion; thereby the Gospel and the godly are evil spoken of. 3. He knoweth the falls of godly men (like the fall of Amasa in the midway) do hinder people from following after Christ, yea it extremely hardens wicked men in their wickedness; wherefore he will leave ninety nine profane persons, to seek out one of them to tempt them to sin: Wherefore O ye Professors of godliness take heed lest he give you a fall; you are all in a warfaring condition in the field with an Adversary, and he no mean one, but a Lion, a roaring Lion, a diligent Adversary, who is always going about seeking whom he may devour.  
Reas. 5. Because of the deceitfulness of all the Enemies of our Salvation: The world is deceitful; the things of the world are deceitful, Math. 13.22. riches are called deceitful riches; the favour of man is decitful, Prov. 31.30. and Wine is a mocker, Prov. 30.1. Men are apt to be deceived and mocked by these things: Now these things are not properly deceitful, they are so rather objective than subjective: Man by sin hath brought a curse upon the creature, and by the judgement of God this curse is retorted from the creature to man again. Soldiers in their march are subject to ambuscadoes; so the creatures do as it were lie in ambush to do us a mischief. And as the things of the world are thus deceitful, so are the men of the world very deceitful, labouring to draw us into all manner of sin; these do not only deceive men by false hopes, but also by suggesting false fears. Severus terrified the Roman Army by clapping headpieces with lighted matches upon the stumps of the trees in the night, making the appearance of a new formidable Army; and as an Enemy giving an alarm to a City on one side, draweth the defendants thither, while the Soldiers are undermining and scaling the other: So the world doth many times scare men out of their profession, and affright them with dangers from men, to bring them in danger of the real wrath of God. Sin likewise is deceitful; and the lusts and works of sin are deceitful; and your own evil hearts are deceitful above all things, above sin, Devils, and the world; and all these conspire together to deceive you: what need have we then to have a watchful eye over ourselves? You will take heed that men cheat you not out of your money, out of your Estates and Land; and if you knew you had such persons about you that would deceive you if you took not heed, you would double your watch. Beloved, let me tell you, these deceivers I am now speaking of would deceive you of your souls, more worth than the whole world, they would cheat you of an everlasting Inheritance, of a glorious Kingdom in Heaven; their design is to deceive you into Hell, and to bring you to eternal damnation: Wherefore take heed lest ye fall.  
Reas. 6. Because you that profess yourselves to be godly, you have more to lose then wicked men have to lose; therefore take heed lest ye fall: Have wicked men a soul to lose, so have you? Have wicked men a Heaven to lose, so have you? Have wicked men a God, a Christ to lose, so have you? But you that stand have yet more to lose than they; you have communion with God to lose, which wicked men have not; how will a great fall break your communion with God? you have a Spirit of comfort and adoption to lose, which wicked men have not; you have boldness of access to the Throne of Grace to lose, which wicked men have not; you have joy in the Holy Ghost, and peace of Conscience to lose, which wicked men have not: what need then have you to take heed to yourselves that ye fall not.  
Reas. 7. Because of God's severity against sin and sinners. This is the very reason of the Apostle in my Text; wherefore let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall: Seeing God plagued Fornicatours, destroyed Murmurers, fixed such exemplary marks of his displeasure upon the Israelites, let us take heed lest we sin as they, and suffer the like punishment: If you murmur, he will send a destroyer to destroy you; if you murmur against Moses, he can make the earth to swallow you up; if you fall into fornication, and burn in lust, he will make fire to burn you, as it did the Sodomites; if you harden your hearts against Gods threaten, he will make the waters to drown you, as they did the Egyptians; if you lust after flesh, he will give you Quails in wrath, and the Plague to boot; if you sin as Vzzah did, he may strike you dead presently: God is always the same, as severe against sin in Christians, as against sin in the Israelites; he will chastise his own people now under the Gospel, as he chastised them under the Law: though hand join in hand, yet he will never suffer sin to go unpunished. Remember Lot's wife, how God dealt with her for one act of disobedience, O ye children of disobedience! Remember Corah and his companions, O ye murmurers! Remember Zimri and Cozbi, ye fornicators! Remember Vzzah, ye polluters of sacred things! Remember Belshazzar, O ye swinish drunkards! Remember the rich Glutton, all ye sensual Epicures! Remember Cain, all ye persecuters! Remember Judas, all ye covetous professors, lest their plagues fall upon you, for your falling into their sins! Do you fear the Plague, then fear Fornication? Do you fear War, then fly Idolatry! Do you fear judgements, then fear sin? Do you fear to fall into Hell, fear sin? you need to fear no evil of punishment, if you fear to commit sin; but if you fear not to fall into sin, be sure you shall fall into misery.   

CHAP. V.  
Use 1. THis may inform us of the great falls and scandals among Professors: There are two principal causes; 

Heedlessness,  
Self-confidence.    
1. Heedlessness: Men take no heed to themselves, nor to their ways, wherefore they stumble and fall, and oftentimes wound their Consciences: Heedless children get most falls and broken bones; so do heedless Christians: many of the Lords Worthies have fallen shamefully through heedlessness; for want of circumspection David fell into great scandal. It is just with God to let lose the Devil upon those who walk loosely: the Devil is said to watch, the main thing he watcheth for, is to find us careless and heedless, than we become a prey to him: The slumbering of the Sentinel giveth advantage to the Enemy; when the Guard is in a deep sleep, the City is soon surprised: many a precious soul hath the Devil surprised and devoured, finding them asleep, taking no heed to themselves.  
2. Self-confidence: When men presume upon their own strength, or presume that they shall not fall into such or such a sin, they do not find inclinations to it; they presume they hate it so, as that they shall never be overtaken with it; like Hazael hearing what cruelties he should act upon the women and infants, said to the Prophet, Is thy servant a dog, that he should do such detestable things? as if he should have said, I hate the mention of such sins, the naming of such cruelties: So it is with many a Christian, hearing of the grievous falls of others into sin, they think they abhor such courses, and though others commit such sins, they should not. It was Peter's case when our Saviour told him he should deny him, he abhorred the naming of it, being confident of himself, though all the rest of Christ's Disciples and others should deny him, yet he should not, he loved Christ too well to deny him; his self-confidence supplanted him, and gave him that fearful fall.  
1. God punisheth self-confidence with subtraction of his grace; seeing the child will go alone, let him go alone.  
2. God puts them out of his protection, by giving such up to some strong temptation, that they may fall; and that for these ends.  
1. That Christians may see their own weakness, that they are as unstable as waters; if they are not banked in with divine grace, their corruptions will soon run abroad: the imperfection of our sanctification causeth weakness, as young tender Plants are weak and bowed every way.  
2. That by their falls they may learn to take more heed: A  child will dread the fire; a wounded conscience will make a Christian more circumspect; sin worketh good in the godly occasionaliter, occasionally, though not causative, causatively; Quia inde redeunt cautiores, humiliores, because they go out from sin more cautious, and more humble, saith S. Austin.  
3. That God may have more of their company, and of their dependence upon him: Children after they have received some hurt by a fall, will keep close to their Mother's side, and will have them to hold them, lest they fall again: God is then more sought unto from his people for supporting grace; God hath more of their dependence on him, lest they fall again into the like sins.   

CHAP. VI  
Use 2. BE exhorted to take heed to yourselves; Walk circumspectly, Eph. 5.15. Such as travel in slippery paths, or ways troublesome to be found, are careful to look to their feet, to observe their marks and turn; so must it be with him that will travel safely through the slippery and dangerous way of this world's wilderness saith a good Divine of ours. 
〈…〉 de 〈…〉.  A man that walketh over a narrow bridge in fear, walketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, exactly, circumspectly, his eye is on his feet, lest he step aside and fall into the river. Ponder the paths of thy feet, saith Solomon, that thy ways may all be ordered aright, Prov. 4.26. Circumspection is a Christian Lifeguard; it makes a Christian like that Beast in the Revelations, full of eyes within and without; eyes without, to make him to look to his ways, that he fall not; turns within, to make him to take heed to his heart, that he be not deceived: A Christian is then in his watchtower, when he walketh circumspectly; that man walketh most surely, that walketh most tremblingly: Blessed is the man that feareth always. Tantus gradus certitudinis, quantus gradus sollicitudinis. Do you fear judgements? do you fear to be destroyed of the destroyer? do you fear the arrows of divine vengeance? then fear sin: you need not fear judgements if you fear sin: he that takes heed of falling into sin, doth in that take heed of falling into misery; he feareth Hell most, that is most afraid of sin. Should any put out this question, what shall I do that I may avoid judgements? the best answer is, take heed that ye fall not; for if ye sin, be sure your sin will find you out; if you fall into sin, you shall certainly fall into the hands of the living God. I shall therefore show you, 
Of what we must take heed;  
To what we must take heed.   
1. Of what we must take heed.  
1. Take heed of all sinful occasions: Occasio facit furem, opportunity makes a thief; many a man is overtaken with a sin, being first overtaken with an opportunity; the argument which the Harlot used to entice the young man was, now is an opportunity, Prov. 7.19. Come let us take our fill of love, for the good man is not at home, he is gone a long journey. So Joseph's Mistress useth the same argument; When Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there were none of the men of the house there within, she caught him by the garment, saying, Lie with me, Genes. 39.11, 12. It is a note of a wicked man to wait for opportunities of sinning: The Adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saith Job.  
2. Take heed of the first rise of sin, a sinful motion, a sinful thought; take these hellish brats, and dash their brains against the stones: Magna vis in minimis, there is great force in the smallest things; a spark of fire hath burnt an house to the ground; a flash of lightning (which vanisheth in a moment) hath done the like: As Samson said of the jawbone with which he slew a thousand Philistines, with the jawbone of an Ass (a poor inconsiderable engine for war) have I slain heaps upon heaps; so the Devil by a sinful thought, by a sinful motion hath slain multitudes of men.  
3. Take heed of making a parley with a temptation; it is not safe to play with the edged tools of Hell: Eve entertained conference with the Serpent about the fruit wherewith he tempted her, and God's threaten, and we feel the smart of her fall to this day. Temptations to sin are to be resisted, not to be debated upon; we have a promise, if we resist the Devil, he shall fly from us; if we are afraid of the temptation that assaileth us, we shall be angry against it, and show our anger in making a quick resistance against it, and so prevent or expel the sin suggested.  
4. Take heed of tempting company; Peter's being in the High-Priests Hall was the occasion of his sad fall. He that findeth and feareth his proneness to any sin, 
Quid tibi necesse est in ea ver sari domo, in qua necesse est quotidie aut perire aut vincere. Hier. Ep. 47. de suspect. contuber.  whether gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, etc. must keep out of vicious company, and occasions leading to those sins, and resolve with David to fly whatsoever may draw him thereunto, and say with David, Away from me ye wicked, for I will keep the Commandments of my God, Psal. 119. Tempting company puts a man upon a necessity either of perishing or conquering: So S. Hierom intimateth; Why must you needs live in that house, in which you must needs either perish or vanquish every day? A circumspect Christian is loath to be put to either.  
5. Take heed of the least act of sin: It is notable what a Learned man saith; They are effects of former sins, and causes of the latter, and that not only by Gods just judgement permitting it so, but also by coherence and affinity: one sin brings on another, a lesser draws on a greater, as lesser sticks do set the greater on fire: a little Thief put in at a window, sets open the doors to let in the greater: in the body of man frequent labours though but little, beget an aptitude to endure greater: a little rent in a garment makes it fit to receive a wider, every nail and thorn is apt to take hold of it, and to make the rent broader. Qui minima contemnit, paulatim decidit, he that takes no heed of lesser sins, falls by degrees into greater absurdities: I think that more go to Hell for smaller sins, then for great ones: lesser sins persisted in, provoke the Devil to assault us with stronger temptations; as a maids easy yielding to some lesser toyings provokes the Wanton to tempt her to greater indecencies: The beginnings of sin (saith a Learned man) are modest; 
Principia peccati modesta sunt.  Satan tempts us but to small matters at first, but if he find us give way to him therein, then (like bold beggars) he sets upon us for greater courtesies: Men are more apt to commit lesser sins than greater; for if a man fall into a great sin, 1. It is always in his fight, it stairs him in the face; his Conscience often bites and stings him for it: 
Medica sunt qua perdunt.  and 2. Lesser sins are often committed, and quickly forgotten; therefore they are small sins that destroy most men. Therefore let me tell those that think their case well, if they can be taxed but for one or two sins, and being told of it, they answer it is all their fault, That as small sins destroy, so will a few small ones; one knife in thy throat is enough to dispatch thee; one bullet in thy guts will kill thee; and one sin in thy heart is enough to destroy thee.  
2. To what we must take heed.  
1. Take heed to your heart: In all thy keep keep thy heart; Prov. 4.23. he only that knoweth the sinfulness and deceitfulness of the heart, saith it is deceitful above all things: Men are deceitful, sin is deceitful, the Devil is deceitful, but there's no such deceitfulness in them as is in our hearts; every one of us carrieth his own supplanter within his breast. Be sure to keep sin out of your hearts; if Satan can get and keep possession of our hearts, he hath won the main fort of the soul; no part of man can sin without the heart, the heart can sin without all the rest: the Fox goeth to the flock purposing to devour a Lamb, and is prevented by the vigilance of the Shepherd, yet vulpes exit, vulpes egreditur, he goes forth a Fox, and cometh home a Fox: the heart intendeth a sin which is never brought into action, yet it sinneth in that intention; He that looks upon a woman to lust after her, saith our Saviour, hath committed adultery in his heart, Math. 5. The heart is like a Mill, if the wind or water be violent, the Mill will go whether the Miller will or no, yet he may choose what kind of grain it shall grind; if the affections be strong and violent, the heart will be working: Be sure to keep sin out of your hearts, and suffer not one known sin willingly to root there. It is said of Creta, that no serpent nor venomous thing will live there, but die as soon as it cometh into that Island, such an antipathy there is between them and the nature of that soil; so let us be affected toward sin, let us labour to keep it out of our hearts, knowing that a bad guest is more easily kept out, then thrust out of doors; but if we cannot do that, let us labour to smother and stifle it as soon as it cometh there.  
2. Take heed to your affections: It is the Wiseman's advice, When ye go into the House of God, take heed to your feet, Eccles. 5.1. take heed to your feet wheresoever you go; if a man hath a love to sin, he will fall into sin when opportunity serveth: the affections are the feet of the soul, see that your affections be ordered according to the dictates of faith sincerely and constantly, cleaving to all good in an holy order, and shunning all evils in their several kinds and degrees, as they are discovered to be evil by the power of faith judging according to the word of truth: see that your affections be moved by sound reasons, clearly apprehended, than you will not love what you should hate; let your affections keep within the pale of sound Reason, and move according to her information; it is very dangerous to give way to lose affections, if once they have broken the bands of reason, they will hurry us up and down into many inconveniences.  
3. Take heed to your outward senses, especially the ear and the eye: Greg. Nazianzen 
Greg. N●●●ianz.  said, That if a man would live in the world, he must have a vail on his eyes, a lock on his ears, and a compass on his lips: If these two senses be not watched, they will be like Simeon and Levi, brethren in evil: the senses are the outworks; if Satan once take the outworks, he will quickly master the fort within.  
1. Take heed to your ears; do not listen to the voice of hellish charmers charming never so sweetly; corrupt communication, dum aurem afficit, animam interficit, while it affects and pleaseth the ear, it killeth the soul. Joseph would not hearken to the solicitations of his wanton Mistress, though she spoke to him day by day, Gen. 39.10.  
2. Take heed to your eyes, Prov. 23.26. David prayeth, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, Psal. 119. The first sin that ever was committed, entered in by the eye, Gen. 3.6. Physicians observe; that death first seizeth on the eyes, because sin first seized on them; at these windows most sins creep into our souls; looking begets liking in the heart; therefore it is not good to look where we may not like. The Romans did ill provide for the keeping the Law which they made, that Virgins should drink no wine, when they permitted them to see it; Solomon's wisdom exceeded theirs, when to a man that loveth wine well, and is apt to be ensnared by it, he giveth counsel, not to look upon it, when it giveth its colour in the cup, and moveth itself aright, Prov. 23.31. 
Et licet quidam putent majoris esse virtutis praesentem contemnere voluptatem, tamen ego arbitror securioris esse continentia, nescire quod quaeras. Hier. Ep. ad Laetam. Cassian institut. lib. 5. c 32.  So Hierom in one of his Epistles to Laeta, where he giveth direction how to bring up her daughter virtuously, among other things adviseth her not to suffer her daughter to see those meats, which seeing she might be moved to desire; and this his advice he shuts up with these words: Though some there be who think it a point of greater virtue to contemn a pleasure when it is present, yet I judge it to be a thing of more security, not to know or see that thing which one may not safely desire. Cassian also reporteth of a certain young man, that after he had left the world many years, and betook himself to a Monastery, having received a packet of Letters from his father and mother, and divers of his dear friends, he durst not look upon them, but threw them all into the fire with these words; Ite cogitationes patriae, pariter concremamini, nè me ulterius ad illa quae fugi, vocare tentetis; Be gone ye thoughts of my Country, and burn for company, for fear lest ye tempt me to look again toward the things which I have forsaken: He feared (saith the story) lest by the reading of their lines, and the sight of their names, he should have been enticed to warp toward their company and the world again. The eye before the fall of Adam was the window to let in good instructions into the soul, but since the fall it is Proxeneta peccati, the Broker that goes betwixt the heart and the object to make up the sinful bargain.   

CHAP. VII.  
I Now come to the second point of Doctrine, and note from my Text,  

Observe.  That it concerns all who profess godliness to take heed to themselves lest they fall away from their profession. The Apostle principally aimeth at Professors in this his Caution; He that thinketh he standeth, that is,  
1. He that conceiteth himself to be in the state of grace.  
2. He that conceiteth he shall persevere to the end, that thinks within himself, he shall (as David speaks of the Sun) rejoice like a giant to run the course of Christianity.  
For explication observe these distinctions: there is a twofold falling away, 

Partial,  
Total.    
Distin. 1 1. Partial; when a Professor falls from degrees of his holy profession; there is love in him still, but there is not his first love; there is zeal in him still, but there is not the first zeal; he takes more liberty then formerly, walks in a broader way, removeth the ancient bounds of godliness. I shall speak of this in the last Doctrine.  
2. Total falling away; and this is when a man casteth off the yoke of Christ, and puts his neck under the yoke of Belial, shakes hands with his profession, and embraceth profaneness, or as Demas shook hands with Christ, and embraced this present world; or falls from the show of godliness into an open show of profaneness, takes no delight to sit with Mary at the feet of Christ, but loveth to fit in the seat of the scornful.  
Distin. 2 Total falling away is twofold, 

Temporary,  
Final.    
1. Temporary, for a time; when men depart from God and Christ, as Noah's Dove went from the Ark, who having tired herself abroad, and finding no resting place for the soles of her feet, returned again to the Ark: Thus many a Professor falls off from God and his ways, flutters up and down in the world, but finds no peace in conscience, no content in the ways of sin, returns to God again: Such was the falling away of Solomon, who did for a while cast off God, fall into the fond and inordinate love of women, and insatiably too, of many women; he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, 1 Reg. 11.1.3. and that which was worse, into the love of strange women, idolaters, of whom the Lord had given a charge to Israel, Ye shall not go in unto them, neither shall they go in to you: and to outward incontinency he added spiritual adultery; his wives turned away his heart from God, ver. 4. he fell to idolatry, and followed after strange gods, erected Temples to the Idols which his wives adored, set up Altars, Ornaments, Priests, and all upon Mount Olivet, before the face of the Lord in his Temple, 2 Kings 23.13. he gave himself to all pleasures and vanities under the Sun (as appeareth by his book of Ecclesiastes, which he wrote after his return), but could find no contentment in all, nor in any thing under the Sun; therefore see what he saith, Eccles. 12.13. here is the summa totalis, totum officii, totum conatus, totum faelicitatis; the whole duty, the whole endeavour, the whole happiness of man. This was Israel's revolt, Hos. 2.7. and some Divines conceive, that Demas thus fell away for a time, and returned again.  
2. Final falling; to fall irrecoverably, to cast off God and his ways for ever; when men go from God and his ways, as Noah's Raven went from the Ark, that fled away and never returned again. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently used in Scripture, signifieth to departed from that which we formerly stood to; it is a military word; for among Soldiers such a one was anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transfuga.  qui ordinem suum & locum in acie datum turpiter deseruit, that basely deserted his place and rank assigned him in the battle, vel qui ad hostes transfugit, who fled away to the Enemy: Such a one than is an Apostate, who falls away and departs from that faith he formerly stood to and maintained, and becometh the servant of sin, and the vassal of Satan. This is called in Scripture, a turning away from following the Lord, Psal. 125.5. Sound Christians, like Caleb, follow the Lord fully, but the unsound Christian turneth away from following of him. It is likewise called, a leaving the paths of righteousness, Prov. 2.13. a going backwards, and not forwards, Jerem. 7.14. it is called a departing from the faith, 1 Tim. 4.1. when a man doth despite to the Spirit of grace, flings away the strictness of holy walking, casts off the yoke of Christ, and turneth the grace of God into lasciviousness, this is a woeful apostasy; this is that which the Apostle meant in Heb. 6.6. where he useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifieth the falling of reprobates, as learned Zanchy 
Zanch. in Heb. 6 6.  noteth, such who stumble and fall, and never rise more, who never stay till they fall headlong into everlasting destruction: This was the fall of Hymeneus and Alexander, of whom the Apostle saith, they made shipwreck of their faith and of a good conscience; it is impossible to recover a Ship once dashed into pieces running upon a rock, and the Apostle saith of such, it is impossible for them to repent.  
Distin. 3 This total and final Apostasy is twofold.  
1. Open and notorious; a falling from open profession into open profaneness; a falling from open profession into open opposition of the ways of God: Thus Alexander the Coppersmith fell away and opposed Paul's preaching, which was worse than to withstand his person; doctrinal opposition is far worse than personal. Great was the Apostasy of Bols●cus, whom the Papists afterward hired to write Calvin's Life, where so many lines, so many lies. Baldwin, another Apostate, changed his Religion at least 3 or 4 times for advantage. Petrus Carolus was also an odious Apostate, and troubler of the Church. What a notorious Turncoat was Ecebolius, who under the Emperor Constans was a zealous Christian, under Julian again a bitter Pagan; but when Julian was dead, and Christianity restored, he returns to Christianity again!  
2. There is less open, and a not so notoriously scandalous falling away; such as these are still Swine, who return to the mire, and wallow in it without much noise; they backslide in heart from God: Some Professors fall like Stars from the Firmament, all take notice of them; others go out like a candle put under a bushel, little observed: Oh take heed of falling from God in any of these kinds!   

CHAP. VIII. Reasons why we should take heed of falling away from the profession of godliness.  
THe Reasons why we should take heed of falling away from the profession of piety are drawn, 1. From the sinfulness of this sin. 2. From the dishonour which is cast on God. 3. From the judgements following upon it.  
Reas. 1. From the nature of this sin; there is that sinfulness in this sin which is not in other sins, which will appear in these ensuing particulars.  
1. It is magis directè deordinativum à Deo, as the Schoolmen speak; every sin is an aversion and deordination from God to the creature, but this is more directly deordinate, and there is this difference; other sins are a departing from God in obliq● â lineâ, rather going aside from God, then going away from him, going in a wrong way, then going in a contrary way; but to fall from God is a going from God in directâ lineâ, going in a contrary way against God, turning the back upon God, Christ, Holiness, Heaven, and their faces directly to the world, to their lusts, to hell; like the Moon, after she hath been in conjunction with the Sun, goeth backward till she be in a diametrical opposition; or, to use that familiar comparison of some Divines, other sins are like the wander and run of a dog from his Master after every bird, and after every sheep he sees in the field, and then returns to follow his Master again; but this sin of falling away from God, is like the dog which goes with his Master some way from home, and then leaves him and returns back homeward as fast as he can again: therefore see how God complaineth of this sin, Jerem. 2.13. My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, and gone to the creature; he accounts it two great evils; drunkenness, adultery, and such like, is but one single iniquity, but to departed from God is double iniquity, 'tis two evils.  
2. It is the fundamental breach of the Covenant between God and man, so other sins are not; it is as the sin of adultery, which is the breach of the Matrimonial Covenant; all other unkind passages betwixt man and wife are not breaches of it, but only of their promise of love and obedience; but adultery is the divorcing sin, it breaks the knot which nothing can untie but death: so it is here; other sins are against our duty, and the engagement of our obedience to God; but to fall away from God is a rejecting of God, and of Christ for our God; you do ipso facto say in effect, that God shall not be your God, and Christ shall not be your husband; and God again replieth, Lo-ammi, Loruchamah, ye are not my people, and I will not be your God, I will not have mercy upon you, Hos. 1.6.9.  
3. It is dispositivum ad deteriora; when a man is acting this sin, the Devil hath him on an high pinnacle, from whence he tumbleth headlong into any sin; such a man falls from hypocrisy into open profaneness, from open profaneness into Atheism, from that into opposition of all that is of God; as the Orator said of some, à bonis ad mala, à malis ad vitia, à vitiis ad deteriora; so these men fall from negligence in performances unto a willing neglect, from neglect into wilful contempt, from contempt into hatred, from hatred into opposition: Saul was first an Apostate, than a Persecuter; Judas first an Hypocrite, than a Traitor: What Bishop Latimer called the sin of covetousness, we may call this sin of falling away, viz. scalam inferni, a ladder by which men go down step by step to the bottom of perdition and destruction.  
4. It hath nullum motivum ad poenitentiam, no motive to repentance, 'tis the School-mens phrase; it shuts men up in impenitency and final hardness, Heb. 6.6. and the reason is, because falling from God is an ejection of the Spirit of grace, and when the Spirit ceaseth from his operation on the heart of such a man, it is impossible then for him to repent; it is said so of no sin but this: a Professor may fall into a gross moral vice, as into drunkenness, and be renewed again by repentance; he may through weakness deny Christ, as Peter did, and yet be renewed again by repentance: there is no sin but this, but a man falling into it may be renewed again by repentance.   

CHAP. IX.  
Reas. 2. A Second Reason is drawn from the consideration of the great dishonour which is cast on God, on Christ, on all the ways of God. 1. On God, as if he were not a good God to enjoy, a good Master to serve, as if there were no profit in serving the Almighty, or that there were more profit in serving base lusts, then in serving God: See how God complaineth of such, Jer. 2.5. Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me? So God may say to such revolters, you think that I am an unjust God, that I have not shown myself ready to do you good, that I am an hard Master, exacting, like Pharaoh, performance of your tasks, and pay you no wages: what all ye that ye fall off from me? declare if there be any iniquity in me: what am I a barren wilderness, a broken cistern, that ye go far from me? 
Aquinas.  show me what fault is in me. Aquinas gives 3 reasons why men forsake a present enjoyment for another: 1. Either it is because it is majoris boni impeditivum, because it hinders a man from the enjoyment of a greater good, therefore he forsakes it; or, 2. Because it is fastidiosum, it is loathsome and disrelishing; or, 3. Because it proves minus delectabile, & minus utile, less delightful, and less profitable. When men fall away from God, they charge God with all these.  
1. They look upon him as an hinderer of a greater good; the pleasures of sin, the profits of the world are greater good things to them then God is, while they follow him they cannot enjoy these things, therefore they cast off God to embrace this present world.  
2. They charge God to be a loathsome God, unworthy of their love, service, and enjoyment, therefore they cast him off.  
3. They charge God not to be so useful, so good, so necessary as he is. Is it not a dishonour that base creatures should cast off their Lord and Creator, as if he were unworthy of their service?  
2. Fallers away cast insufferable contempt and dishonour on the Lord that bought them: the Apostle saith of such, that they tread under foot the Son of God, Heb. 10.29. a sin beyond the sin of Judas who betrayed him, beyond the sin of Pilate who condemned him, beyond the sin of the Soldiers who crucified and pierced him, beyond the sin of the Jews who mocked him, they offered not such contempt to him as to tread him under their feet: The phrase alludeth to our custom; things which we detest and abhor, we cast them under our feet and trample upon them; thus these men cast away Christ as if he were the offscouring of the world. When Pompey's Soldiers made a mutiny against him for restraining them from going to a certain place they desired to go to, and were resolved to go in spite of him; when no persuasions could prevail, but go they would, he laid himself down on the ground, speaking thus unto them; If ye will go, then tread on me your Emperor and General: So Christ saith to backsliders, will ye go away from me? then tread on me your Saviour, trample on this body of mine that was broken for you, reject the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing, and do despite to the Spirit of grace, that is, offer injurious rebellions against his motion on your hearts, against his holy gifts and workings; such men do interpretatively say to the Spirit of grace, Let me alone, I am joined to the world, and I will be joined; let me alone, move no more upon the face of my heart, depart and take thy gifts with thee; for I will have my will, I will fulfil my lusts.  
3. They bring an ill report on Christianity itself, on Religion, on all the Ordinances, as if there were no goodness in Religion, no pleasantness in the ways of God, no excellency or efficacy in his Ordinances; and by this their falling off harden the hearts of men against the ways of God, against Religion and the Professors of it. 
Hoord, Serm. in Eph. 4.30.  The Hebrews call the Winter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is a reproach, either actively to the earth, as if it had no fructifying power in it, and to the other Seasons of the Year, as if they were all like to the Winter; or passively to itself, because it is a time, by reason of the sad face of it, the cessation of the fruitfulness of the earth, leaves, blossoms, and comeliness of trees, and of the warmth of the Sun, that is evil spoken of. It is a name that befits a backsliding Christian, he is a reproach to the Ordinances of God, as if they had no quickening and fructifying virtue in them; he is a reproach to all his Society, as if all Christians were like himself; and he is a great stumbling-block to others, many in Hell take their damnation upon it, that the falling off of a Professor from the ways of God, was the stumbling-stone at which they stumbled and fell into Hell. Math. 18.7. woe to the man by whom the offence cometh. The greatest offence that falls out in the world is the falling away from the profession; it is a scandal with a witness, it is scandalum magnatum, of God, of Saints, of the Gospel, of godliness. woe to the world because of offences.  
1. Because their falling away is the great stumbling-block, that rock of offence at which the world of wicked men stumble and fall eternally into destruction; they make men doubt whether that way of profession which they took up, be a good and safe way or not; hereupon many grow resolute to continue in their wicked and ungodly life, rather than to receive that faith, or walk by those rules of life which such backsliders make profession of. Salvian in his time doth often aggravate the sins of Christians on this very ground: It cannot be said (saith he) of the Gentiles, 
Non potest dici de Gentib●●, Evangelia legunt, & impudici sunt, Apostolos audiunt, & inebriantur, Christum sequuntur & rapiunt, vitam improbam agunt, & probam Legem se habere dicunt. In nobis igitur Christus patitur opprobrium, in nobis patitur Lex Christiana maledictum. Vide Christianos, quid agunt, & evidenter potest de ipso Christo sciri, quid loceat. Salvian, lib. 4. p. 139.  they read the Gospels and are unchaste, they hear the Apostles and are drunk, they follow Christ and plunder, they lead a wicked life, and have a good Law, as they say: but it may be said of us: well, what of this? he tells us; In us therefore doth Christ suffer reproach, in us doth the Christian Law endure some disgrace; for they say of us, Lo what manner of men they be that worship Christ it is false, that they have a good Law, as they say they have; for if they learned good things, they would undoubtedly be good persons; such is the Sect, as are the Sectators and Followers of it. And a little after he brings in the Pagans thus speaking: Look upon the Christians, see what they do, and by that you may easily know what their Christ teacheth. But why do they charge us Christians and our God thus? he answereth; Why? only for their sakes who are called Christians, but are not, who by their flagitious and filthy lives do defame the Christian name. By these speeches we may collect how ill the bad lives of Christians made Pagans judge of the way of Christianity; and consequently, what a blemish the evil conversation of Professors may occasionally cast upon their profession, though never so pure and glorious in itself: But woe to the man by whom these offences come.  
2. Because not only the guilt of his own falling away, but the damnation of others will lie upon him also, as a millstone to sink him down to the bottom of Hell. 
Vide Heylin's Geograph. of America.  I have read a story of Hathvey, an Indian Nobleman, who by the cruelties and insolences of the Spaniards, of which his miserable Country had woeful experience, was so much prejudiced against the Christian Religion, 
Barthol. Cass. Narrat. Region. Ind.  that he refused to be baptised: They persuaded him by many arguments to become a Christian: He demanded first, what place was appointed after this life for such as were baptised; answer was made, Heaven and its joys: secondly, what place they that were not baptised should go unto; it was answered, to Hell and its torments: thirdly he asked, which of these places was appointed for the Spaniards; answer being made that Heaven was, he resolved against his intended Baptism, protesting, that he had rather go to Hell with the unbaptized, then to Heaven with so cruel a people. Whosoever sinneth greatly (saith Salvian 
Salvian. ) without the offence of others, doth purchase damnation only to himself; but he that causeth others to blaspheme, casteth very many together with himself into destruction. Wicked men have little cause to scoff at such men, and at Religion for their sakes, because their falls are a woe to them also.   

CHAP. X.  
Reas. 3. IN respect of yourselves you ought to take heed of falling away; in divers respects.  
1. All the good that ever you did in your lives will prove lost labour if you fall away; all your fastings, prayings, hearing of Sermons, humiliations, all your zeal and forwardness, all your righteousness shall be forgotten, as if you had never done any holy duty or service at all, Ezek. 18.24. for as it is said of a backslider returning home again, ver. 22. that all his transgressions which he had before committed shall not be mentioned; so when a Professor turneth away from his righteousness, all his former righteousness shall not be remembered; God will look on that man as if he had never prayed, nor done any good duty at all.  
2. If you fall away, all the good you have done shall be an aggravation of your destruction, of your torments in Hell; all thy prayers, all thy fastings, etc. shall be as so many piles of wood to increase the fire of Hell; all the Sermons thou hast heard shall heat Hell seven times hotter for thee then others; thy profession lifted thee up to Heaven, it shall then cast thee down to the lowest Hell. Tell me, O ye tormenting Devils, ye that are the keepers of God's house of eternal correction and vengeance, hath not the Judge of all the world expressed in his Warran●, that when as the petty drunkards and other profane persons are to be lashed but with whips only, that you shall lash Judas and Demas with scorpions?  
3. If you fall away, God will never take any pleasure in you more: It is no less than treason for a Subject to withdraw his allegiance from his Prince, and become a servant to his Enemy; and it is high treason against Christ to fall from him, and become a servant to his Enemy, it makes God to abhor him: If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, Heb. 10.38. The husband may bear much with the froward humours of his wife, while she is chaste and sincere; but if she withdraw from him, and follow after other Lovers, he cannot endure it. God takes no delight either in the persons or services of Apostates, whatsoever duties are done by them in their declining estate the Lord abhorreth; he takes delight in his Spouse that keeps close to him, Cant. 2.14. O my Dove, saith he, let me see thy countenance; sweet is thy voice, and thy face is comely: but God heareth not the prayers, regardeth not the services of such sinners as these are, if any be performed by them.  
4. A spiritual curse from God commonly seizeth on Apostates, which (as the waters of jealousy under the Law given to suspected women, made their bellies to rot, so this curse upon Apostates) will make their gifts, parts, seeming graces to rot; an Apostate (like Nebuchadnezars image) degenerateth from an head of gold and breast of silver, into feet of iron and clay: when a man keeps close to God, he blesseth that little that he hath, and it increaseth into a great stock; but when a man departs from God, he is like a sieve that can hold no water, or like a golden cup with an hole in the bottom: as the tree which our Saviour cursed for having no fruit when he came to seek some from it, dried up immediately from the top to the roots; so a spiritual rottenness doth immediately and insensibly spread over their parts and gifts, and spiritual abilities. How can it be otherwise? for the Spirit of God which gives life to all, ceaseth from his common workings in them: when the soul leaves the body, it hastens to putrefaction presently; so doth a Christian whither and decay, when the Spirit of God leaveth him. That curse which David wished to the mountains of Gilboa, on which Saul and Jonathan were slain, falls upon backsliders; Ye mountains of Gilboa, let no rain nor dew fail upon you: so God saith of such as fall away from him, let not the dew of my Word fall upon thy heart any more; hear thou, but never understand my Word more. He that goes from Jerusalem to Jericho, shall surely fall among Thiefs, and lose his raiment, and be wounded. Grace is like the leaves of a tree, when they fall off from the tree, winter cometh on immediately. See what backsliders are termed in Scripture; they are called degenerate Plants and strange Vines, Jerem. 2.21. Reprobate silver shall men call them, Jerem. 6.30. they are like land-floods that run violently, and spend their strength as quickly, and soon dry up, Job 6.15. they are compared to Summer-fruits that soon putrify, Amos 8.1, 2. our Saviour compareth them to shallow-rooted corn, that soon withereth for want of depth of earth, Math. 13.20. they are called empty vines, bringing forth fruit to themselves, Hos. 10.1.  

H●w woeful was the hand of God upon Spira and Latomus of Louvain, whose minds being filled with divine terrors, unto their end cried out, that they were damned and rejected of God, because that against their conscience they had fallen from the truths of the Gospel!  5. Because of God's dreadful exemplary revenge which sometimes he executeth upon such as fall away from him, filling their consciences with horror, and their souls with final despair of mercy: time was when they had some flashy comforts in duty, but this spring is now dried up from them, the Spirit of God is departed from them, and an evil spirit from the Lord is fallen upon them, as it did on Saul, tormenting them with horror, and possessing them with dreadful apprehensions of inevitable and intolerable damnation. Who can conceive what Boanerges, what sons of thunder their consciences become within their bosoms, continually crying out upon them, Oh wretched creature what hast thou done! whom hast thou forsaken? what! hast thou cast off thy God, thy Lord? hast thou forsaken the fountain of living waters? hast thou forsaken him who is the God of peace, the God of comfort, of happiness, of all goodness? I must tell thee, God hath forsaken thee, and he will say to thee, Receive within thyself the determinate sentence of damnation which the Court of Heaven hath irrevocably passed upon thee. Moreover God sometimes executeth some outward remarkable judgement upon revolters; Lot's wife had been in Egypt, and not poisoned with the superstitions of Egypt, lived in Sodom, and not polluted with the sins of Sodom, she was delivered from the errors of Vr, delivered from the captivity of the five Kings, and at last delivered from perishing with the Cities of the Plain; yet after all this she forsook her own mercy, and perisheth in the sin of defection; therefore saith our Saviour, Remember Lot's wife, Luke 17.32.  
6. However the present deal of God are with backsliders, yet in the end they shall certainly fall into everlasting destruction, from the glorious presence of that God, whose gracious presence they despised in this life; God will then punish their departure from him with a departure, he will then say to them, seeing ye have departed from me, ye shall departed from me; you have departed from my ways, from my truths, from my worship, now depart from me ye workers of iniquity; Go ye cursed; none shall stay you: seeing you (as the Angels) fell from your first estate, you shall now receive the condemnation of the Angels, you shall fall into Hell with them; you fell from your seeming grace, you shall now fall from my real mercy into the hands of my justice. Apostasy is nothing else but a falling from the arms of God into the hands of the living God; and how fearful a thing it is to fall into his hands, let Judas, let the Devils from Hell speak; for it is beyond the imagination and expression of man.   

CHAP. XI.  

SECT. I.  
Use 1. LEt the first Use of this Point be for caution to you; take heed to yourselves lest you thus fall away: spiritual caution is a special prevention of falling away, necessary (if ever) now to be pressed upon you: Now here I shall show you what you must especially take heed of, that ye may stand, and not fall away.  
1. Take heed of unbelief. Heb. 3.12. the Apostle tells us, that the Jews were excluded from God's rest because of their unbelief; God swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest; that was terrible; let us take heed therefore lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God: An evil heart of unbelief it is an Hebraism, put for the evil unbelieving heart, where the Apostle describeth unbelief by an elegant paranomasia, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Unbelief is the cause and root of total and final apostasy, and departing from God, 2 Thess. 2.10, 11, 12. where the Apostle showeth the cause of that great apostasy which was to be in the Church at the discovery of Antichrist, and why Antichristian lies should more prevail with men then the truths of the living God, namely their unbelief, they received not the truth in love, and they believed not the truth. What was the cause of the rich young man's departing from Christ, but his unbelief? he was not persuaded he should have life eternal, if he should sell all that he had, and give to the poor; wherefore he went away sorrowful: So Alexander's casting off his faith, and a good conscience (which is the Ark wherein God lays up this precious Manna) was the cause why he proved such an enemy to Paul, and became a final and an irrecoverable Apostate. Unbelief is the cause also why men in times of trial fall off from God, and decline the holy profession of his truth; for God hath times of trial of his people's faith and profession; as,  
1. When a man's worldly advantages and the ways of God are put to the question, whether you will forsake Christ and embrace this present world, or embrace Christ and forsake the world, and that there is a necessity of one, unbelief will put a man upon the choice of the world, and the rejection of Christ; unbelief put Demas upon this choice, had he believed the promise of life eternal, he would not have embraced this present world: no unbelieving heart will follow Christ when worldly advantages fail; give them no more loaves, they will make no more profession.  
2. Times of persecution are trying times; unbelief makes many a man to fall off, and to departed from God in times of Gospel-troubles, when Religion is in disgrace, and the Professors thereof are troubled: When Paul was brought before Nero, at his first answer no man stood by him, but all men forsook him: Those hearers in the Parable of the Sour, that are represented by the stony ground, they heard the Word gladly, made a fair profession for a time; but when persecutions and afflictions arose, in time of temptation or trial they fell away, because they had no root in themselves, they were not by faith rooted in Christ; they heard the Word gladly, but did not mingle the Word with faith. Reproaches and persecutions for the Name of Christ, are the blustering and stormy winds that drive the Ship of a temporary faith upon the rocks, and bring an irrecoverable shipwreck upon it: if you do not in such times as these, hearty believe and close with God's promises, you will certainly fall: God's way of rewarding his Servants for the present is more by promise then by pay; if therefore you will not rest in his word, you will fall from his service: Unbelief in the heart, like the worm in the root of Jonah's gourd, will make your Religion whither in a short time. Fides est nervus Religionis, faith is the sinew of Religion; if the sinew shrink, Religion will shrink. Sampson's strength lay in his locks; the whole strength of Religion lieth in the lock of faith; if lust or the world cut off that, you will (as Samson) grow as weak in Religion as other men are.   

SECT. II.  
2. Take heed of professing Religion for carnal ends, either to enrich or advance yourselves; take heed of following Christ for loaves, of crying up Religion as Demetrius and his rabble did Diana, for silver shrines; take heed of the wicked supposition of corrupt men, that gain is godliness, that profess godliness for gain-sake; because if godliness brings no gain in according to expectation, such a Professor will fall from Religion to follow after gain. Doubtless Judas proposed gain as the end of his Discipleship; so when he saw Christ would not enrich him, than he would betray Christ, and the Pharisees should: the Scripture noteth this of him, who when he was angry at Mary, because of the ointment which she bestowed on Christ, pretending it was better that it had been given to the poor, not that he regarded the poor, but because he had the bag. It is conceived by Interpreters, that the forward man that said to Christ, Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest, Math. 8.19, 20. when he hears Christ's answer (The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not whereon to lay his head), that he forsook Christ; if Christ hath no preferment for him, than he will have no regard of his service. Such men think not that God is an heart-searching God, who if he seethe carnal ends and worldly lusts cherished in the heart, and covered over with a religious mantle, will in time uncase such Hypocrites, pluck off their mask of godliness, and discover their base ends and lusts unto the world to their shame: Foolish worldlings! ye mistake Christ in proposing great things to yourselves in serving him; because he plainly tells you of losses, hatred, persecution and poverty; he showeth you all the contempt of the world: it is the Devil's way to present to us the glory of the world. He that takes up the profession of Religion with love to it, will stand to it whatever become of it, he will leave worldly riches to cleave to poor truth; as Musculus that forsook great preferments at Lutzelstein Abbey, to become a Preacher of the Gospel in a poor Village, where he had not a bed to rest upon, but was fain to lie on straw, and to dig in the Town-ditch to get bread for himself and family; he was a man of a choice spirit, and of eminent parts and learning: It is otherwise with the unsound Christian, he will keep on the shore, and not launch too far into the deep, but so that if a storm should arise, he might soon get to land again.   

SECT. III.  
3. Take heed of laying an ill foundation at first: Ill foundations are ruins of stately buildings; ill foundations of profession are the ruin of many eminent Christians, so reputed. Math. 7. if we lay not the foundation in broken-heartedness, in faith, in sincerity, in love to the Gospel and the ways of Christ, called by our Saviour a building on the rock, but lay it in duties, in religious education, in parts and gifts, called by Christ a sandy foundation, great will be the fall of such Professors in stormy times. A , sincere, believing Christian, is the stout and standing Christian. Pools will soon dry up, if there be not a spring to feed them; so Christianity will whither away, if there be not a principle of grace within to feed it; there must be something within to enable us to a constant progress in a religious course. Aristotle saith, that the Heavenly Orbs keep their courses constantly, because they are moved by Intelligences: but I am sure, a Christian will move constantly in his Christian Orb, if the Spirit of grace whirl him about; without this many forward Professors are like the Almond-tree, that first blossometh, and is the first that is pinched with frost: Many lose Christians never gave up themselves fully to Christ, therefore they stay not long with him: Grace (saith a Judicious Divine) is one of those rare things that last long, and ripen by leisure: 
Torshel's Hypocr.  He that takes up Religion for by-ends, that man's profession will soon have an end.  
4 Take heed of making an extemporary profession of Religion, to profess Religion on a sudden, in some heat or humour: Many men begin to build Towers, and to wage war with Principalities and Powers in heavenly places without premeditation what the charge and danger will be: It is Christ's own advice, Luke 14.28. that when we go to build an house, we should first sit down and consider what it may cost us, and whether we be able to finish it. There are such foolish bvilders in the Church, who on a sudden raise up a religious structure, without considering what it will cost them; if Religion be like to cost such a man his credit, his profits, pleasures, his estate and life, he than falls off. So likewise there are many such religious Soldiers, who begin to wage a religious war, and never first consider that they must contest with a hating, scoffing, contradicting world of enemies, against Devils, and Devils incarnate; therefore when God in his providential disposals and commands puts them upon such hard service, they leave the field, and forsake Christ their Captain. A man that seriously thinks beforehand what Religion will c●st him, what oppositions he must meet withal, will hold out, he will go on undauntedly: I know (saith he before hand) I shall be scoff d at for Religion; I know I shall be hated of all men; I know that if I will live godly in Christ Jesus I must suffer persecution; I know I must bear the Cross if I will be a Christian, and part with my life too; Therefore shall such a man as I fly?  
5. Take heed of consulting with flesh and blood in matters of godliness; ask their counsel, and they will advise thee to take heed of niceness, of strictness, of singularity (as they call Religion) lest you undo yourself and yours, like Peter's advice to our Saviour, Master pity thyself; or it may be give the like advice; or perhaps give thee desperate advice, such as Job's wife gave him, Curse Religion, and die; make no more ado. Our Saviour would by no means suffer the Disciple when he called him, to go to his friends again, Math. 8.22. lest they by their carnal advice might have drawn him away from following Christ. Carnal advice was the ruin of Spira.  
6. Take heed of a fruitless performance of holy duties, of giving way to spiritual deadness and formality in religious services: a barren figtree will be cut down, a dead tree will be plucked up by the roots. 
Chrysost. Homil. in Math.  Chrysostom expounds the sheepskins which wolves have on them, to be heartless, formal performances: What are the sheeps-clothing, saith he, but counterfeit shows of Religion, counterfeit alms, counterfeit prayer, sergeant fasting? That man that serves God heartlesly, finds no sweetness in his service; where there is no relishing of the goodness of God's service, it is much if such fall not away.  
7. Take heed of standing at a stay in Religion, and of nonproficiency in Religion: It is an Axiom in Christianity, That not to go forward, is to go backward: He that is not with me, is against me; he that gathereth not with me, scattereth, saith our Saviour: He that goes not forward in Religion, goes backward, saith Leo. 
Leo Magnus.  The state of a Christian, saith Chrysostom, is like a Ship sailing with the wind against the stream; now if the wind be stronger than the stream, it is carried against the stream; but if the wind slacken, it stands not still, but goes backward: So it is with a Professor that is gone thus far, and hath set up his resolution to go no farther, he soon declines and goes backwards.    

CHAP. XII.  
Use 2. A Second Use shall be of Expostulation with those that are ready to fall away from God: Our Saviour speaks to you as he did to his Disciples, when the multitude forsook him, Will ye also go away? will ye go away with the Judasses' and Demasses, why shall you and I part hands? why will ye cast me off from being your God? look from the ends of the world, and see whether there be any God like unto me; if there be, then go and serve that God: what will ye put your hand to the plough, and look back? if so, you judge yourselves unworthy the Kingdom of Heaven. O remember the relation that we stand in to Jesus Christ! Is not he the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and shall not the sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow him? Is not Jesus Christ the husband of his Church, and shall not the wife dwell with the husband? Is not Jesus Christ the hen to gather her chicken under her wings, and shall not the chicken come under her wings, and keep there? yet how many are there that run away from Christ, notwithstanding so many bonds to tie them to him! Consider, that the Angels in Heaven are glad with the conversion of a sinner, and shall we make them sad at our Apostasy, if they could be sad; and make the hearts of Devils glad? O let it not be said of you, as Paul of the Galathians, Ye did run well for a time, O what hath bewitched or besorted you that ye are turned aside! Christ saith, Where I am there shall my servant be also: Are ye willing to be with Christ hereafter, and will you not follow him here? do you think to run away from him here, and be with him in Heaven? if you leave him, he can soon have other and better followers, but be ye sure ye shall never find such a Saviour, such a Master again. Consider how unwilling God is to part with you, though you have been guilty of some revoltings; Hos. 11.7, 8. see how God saith in the like case, My people are bend to backsliding from me, etc. How shall I deliver thee up Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? thou art bend to backsliding, and deservest I should give thee up, yet I cannot tell how to do it.   

CHAP. XIII.  
Use 3. LEt me now call upon lapsed and backsliding Christians to take notice of their sad condition, and bewail their loss: Take that counsel given to the Church of Ephesus, Rev. 2.4, 5. Remember from whence thou art fallen, and from whom thou art departed; thou art departed from God the fountain of life. If a rush go out of the water, it quickly withereth; and if a soul departed from God, it will soon decay: Let all those that are in this estate, bewail their sad condition: Time was, they were as trees planted by the rivers of water, spreading and flourishing, their fruits were fair and full; but now they are become as trees in the wilderness, in a forlorn estate; their sweet Spring is turned into a sad Autumn; their first days were their best days, and their last their worst days: Time was, they were full of liveliness in God's service; but now they are cold and dead, their halcyon days are fled away, and the bonds of death have taken hold of them: Ah! let such a one say, My heart was once the Temple of God, and the Throne of Christ, I had sweet commerce with God, receiving lively oracles from his mouth daily; but now I sit in the region of darkness: time was, his statutes were my songs in this vale of Boehim; but now I taste no sweetness in them: while I kept close with God, the tears which I abundantly poured forth were as pleasant waters to me; but now the fountain is stopped, and these streams are dried up and gone: my heart was wont to melt in duty; but now my comfort is gone, and that heart that was once an heart of flesh, is now become an heart of stone: Oh what is become of the chain of graces that were linked together within me? where are those operations of faith? where is that lively hope? where are those overflowings of love that once I had? where are those holy desires, those heavenly raptures, those inflamed affections, those heavenly ejaculations, those spiritual dispositions, that once met in a blessed conjunction in my soul? I that was once under the guardianship of Angels, am now constrained (like Daniel) to lie down in the den of horror among devouring Lions: Time was, I had recourse to God, and oh how sweet was the repast I had in his presence! but now my God is gone, my glory is departed! I entreat thee, O backsliding soul, to remember from whence thou art fallen, and lament thy doleful estate, and reckon that in this condition thou art more miserable than those that never tasted that God is gracious, because once thou wast in a happy condition; Miserum est fuisse faelicem; it is a miserable thing once to have been happy: The wicked think they are well enough without God, because they never knew what it was to enjoy him; but this is the backsliders' misery, that he hath lost him whom once he did enjoy.   

CHAP. XIV.  
Use 4. LEt me now persuade backsliders to return to God; resolve with the Church, Hos. 2.7. I will go and return to my first husband; for than it was better with me then now: make haste to recover out of this sad estate, the business requires speed; what the Angel said to Peter, I say to you, Arise quickly, Act. 12.7. while you are in this condition you are at a great and constant loss; you lose much peace, much inward strength, many refresh from God's Spirit, many love-tokens from Christ, many tastes of spiritual delights; therefore make haste and return, do as the Disciples, when Christ called them, they left all and followed him; and as David, when for a time he had declined; I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies, Psal. 119.59, 60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments: Oh do not delay your returning to God if your hearts tempt you to delay, consider that delay is but a modest denial; when men have a mind to put away repentance, they put it off: God requires a present returning to him, the longer you delay, the deeper you run into God's debt, and run the more under the power of sin. I will propound a motive or two to encourage such persons to return.  
1. Consider God's willingness to receive such as return to him: David's heart longed to go forth to meet his son Absalon; the Father of the Prodigal made haste to receive and welcome his straying son, that went from him into a far Country, and rejoiced that he that was lost, was found again: God calls upon such to return; Return ye back-sliding children: Oh that every backslider could say with the Church, Behold we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God, Jerem. 3.22.  
2. Turn to him, and he will heal all your backslidings, Hos. 14.4. There is no Physician in heaven or in earth can cure this falling-sickness, but God only: he will not only heal you by the application of the blood of Christ to pardon you, but also by the application of his Spirit of grace to renew and establish you in grace; and when the Lord healeth his people's backslidings, he will never upbraid them with what they have done; he looks upon backsliding Ephraim upon his repentance, as a pleasant child, and though God spoke against him, yet his heart is still upon him; I remember him still, I will surely have mercy upon him, Jerem. 31.20. But if after all this you will not return, the Lord may shut you up in a desperate state for ever: Joh. 8.21. I go away (saith Christ to the obstinate Jews) and you shall seek me, but you shall die in your sins: Oh consider, that hereafter you may find God as inexorable as now you are obstinate, and then though you should seek him, he may leave you to die in your sins, and then woe unto you if you die in such a condition; then the back-slider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, Prov. 14.14. Backsliders' shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices; the turning away of the simple shall slay them, Prov. 1.31, 32.   

CHAP. XV.  
Prop. 3. I Come now to the third Proposition; viz. That every godly man is to take heed lest he fall from that measure of grace which he hath received. We must not spill a drop of oil out of our lamps, but must be daily increasing it: God commandeth a growth in grace, is angry when he seethe the least withering. In the handling this Point, I will first show  
How a godly man may fall.  
1. A man in the state of grace cannot, and shall not fall away from that state, his mountain is too strong to be removed; storms may shake him, but they cannot beat him down, because he is builded upon a rock; a man once really godly, and godly for ever; he is a mortal, yet immortally gracious: I may say of grace, as Solomon of wisdom, Prov. 9.1. She hath builded her house, and hewn out seven pillars, on which grace stands so firm, that all the powers of Hell cannot totally ruinated it.  
1. The pillar of God's eternal election unto the state of grace and glory is impregnably strong: The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, 2 Tim. 2.19. That distinction is a mere dream, and not a Scripture revelation, of an election to grace only, such may fall away; and an election to grace and glory, such cannot fall away: but if God hath elected any man to holiness, he is elected to happiness, election to a state of grace is to a state of glory.  
2. The pillar of God's unchangeable love to his chosen one's so firmly upholds the Saints, that they shall never fall away from that state: The Lord telling his people, that he would have mercy on them with everlasting kindness, saith, Isai. 54.9, 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, etc. the mountains shall departed, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not departed from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord. The Sea is not so full of water, nor the Sun of light, as this place is of love and comfort to the Saints: God abhors that it should be said of him, that he is an unconstant lover of his people.  
3. The pillar of Gods and Christ's unconquerable power, 1 Pet. 1.5. his omnipotency is a strong guard about the grace which his Spirit worketh in us; for so the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth; Gods power is their strong garrison. Christ saith of his sheep, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand; My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand, Joh. 10.28, 29. The power that must dispossess your hearts of grace, must be stronger than God and Christ.  
4. The pillar of an inseparable union with their Head Christ: He and his members are more firmly knit together then any natural head and members can possibly be: the head may be severed from the body; the arms or the legs may be cut off, or rend asunder by wild beasts; but all the strength of all the Devils in Hell cannot rend a member from Christ; they shall as soon separate his divine nature from the humane nature, as a living member from his body mystical.  
5. The pillar of Christ's effectual and eternal redemption of them firmly upholds grace in us, till he hath consummated their redemption; it were no better than a temporary redemption of his people, should they again return from grace to captivity to sin and Satan.  
6. The pillar of Christ's uncessant intercession in the behalf of his chosen people. Joh. 17.11.15. he always makes intercession for his Church and people; and God the Father always heareth Jesus Christ in their behalf.  
7. The seed by which God regenerateth his children is immortal, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever, 1 Pet. 1.23. and this seed remaineth in them, 1 Joh. 3.9. neither can they sin, because they are born of God; they may sin themselves out of God's favour, but not out of grace; they may sin themselves into God's anger, but not into his hatred: when Solomon gave himself to follow his hearts desires, yet than his wisdom remained with his, Eccles. 2.9. God once repent that he had made man, but never repent that he bestowed his grace upon any: The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, Rom. 11.29. if God never reputes of giving, they shall never lose that precious gift of his grace. Upon these pillars our state of grace resteth, there is no falling from it.   

CHAP. XVI.  
2. YEt notwithstanding, though a godly man cannot fall from the state of grace, yet may he fall from that measure of grace which he hath; the daystar of grace may go back like the Sun in Ahaz dial 10 degrees, but shall never set; the Saints may go back from many degrees of love, but shall never fall from love itself; the spring of living waters may run low, but shall never dry up: Christ told Peter, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail, yet we see it did shake; non rogavit ut ne deficeret, sed ut ne prorsus deficeret; his prayer was not, that there should be no failing at all, but that there should not be an utter decay.  
3. A godly man may fall from the vigorous exercise of his graces; this is an infallible consequent of the former; for the actings of grace are proportionable to the measure; if strong, then vigorous actions; if weak, then weak actions: a decay of vital operations follows the decay of vital spirits: the less the flame is, the lesser is both the heat and light of the fire. He that is ambitious to put forth eminent acts of grace, must labour for an eminent measure of grace; he that desireth to believe as Abraham did, must have the like measure of faith as he had: a weak child cannot put forth manly acts. Of this kind of falling a godly man must take heed.  
Reas. 1. Because of the excellency of grace: as it is said of truth, Quisquilia veritatis sunt preciosae, the sweep of truth are precious; so it may be said of grace: the very filings of gold are precious; one grain of grace is more worth than all the world; one act of faith is better than silver, then fine gold, more precious than rubies; all things a man can desire are not to be compared to a dram of grace: a man is loath to lose the head of a pin that is made of gold, nor the smallest piece of a diamond; shall a godly man be careless of the least degrees of grace, more worth than a Mine of gold or a rock of diamonds? See how careful the wise Virgins were, they would not spare one drop of their oil, though to save the soul of another: an Angel would sooner part with his glorious joy, than part with a drop of grace: he that truly knoweth the worth of grace, and only he, will sooner part with a drop of his heart's blood, then with a drop of grace.  
Reas. 2. Because of the sad effects which undoubtedly follow falling from the measure of grace.  
1. Though you shall not lose your union, yet you may lose your sweet communion with God and Christ; spiritual and doleful desertion is sometimes the reward of your spiritual decays: God withdraws his favour for your withdrawing from his grace, that when you sigh out your sad complaints, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God answereth, because thou hast forsaken thy first love, thy first zeal: Oh rather justify me, and condemn thyself, and say, O my God I have forsaken my first love, therefore hast thou forsaken me; the fountain of life hath forsaken me, because I have forsaken him!  
2. The second sad effect is the loss of your comfort; the loss of your inward joy and peace follows the loss of your graces; spiritual joy and comforts do ebb and flow according to the ebbing and flowing of grace; the sorrows of Hell are sometimes the chastisement of the loss of the grace of Heaven: want of grace doth not occasion sorrow so much as the loss of grace. What the Papists feign of Purgatory and the Souls there, viz. that there be two rivers, one of fire, and the other of water; when the souls are vehemently scorched with the heat of the fire, they leap into the river of water, when they frieze with cold, they leap into the fire; this may be an emblem of a godly man: decays of grace translate him out of the waters of comfort into Hell flames; the recovery of grace translates him from sorrow into joy again: He that will maintain his peace and comfort, let him maintain his graces.  
3. Great temptations unto some great sin, do follow men upon falling from their measure of grace, and Gods denying assisting grace at that time, that sometimes they fall into some sin which wasteth their consciences: As Physicians to cure a man of the Lethargy, do let him fall into a burning fever; so God to cure our decays, suffers us sometimes to fall into some dreadful sin, that being humbled we may revive our graces. As David's enemies said of themselves, Let us pursue him, let us overtake him, for God hath forsaken him; So the Devils cry out of a decaying Christian, let us pursue him, let us overtake him with some strong temptations; for God hath forsaken him.  
4. Sometimes great afflictions overtake us, when we decline in grace: God deals with his own children as Gideon did with the men of Succoth, Judg. 8.16. He took the elders of the City, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he caught the men of Succoth: So God with the briers and thorns of afflictions teacheth his people, and makes them know the bitterness of falling from their graces; by such means a recovery is wrought in them, Hos. 2.6.  
5. Your lusts grow through the decay of grace: Lusts and grace are in us as two buckets in a well; if the bucket of grace goes down, sin riseth up. Your Gardeners observe of trees planted near together in a fat soil, if the one withereth, the other flourisheth the more: it is true of grace and sin; If grace decay, sin will flourish the more; if you delight not in the graces of God's Spirit, he will make you to groan under the burden of your lusts; if you do not believe as formerly, he will make you to cry out, Oh my cursed unbelief! if you do not walk humbly with God, he will make you cry out, Oh my cursed pride, etc.  
6. A decay in all duties of godliness followeth a decay in your graces: Grace makes the wheels of your chariots run gallantly; the more grace in your hearts, the more activity in prayer, the more spiritual strength in all spiritual services: lose grace, and you lose your strength; you cannot pray as formerly, because you believe not as formerly; you are not fervent in prayer, because you are not zealous as heretofore: the less oil is in the lamp, the more dimly it burneth: you cannot expect a great heat from the fire, if you take out the fuel that maintaineth it.  
Reas. 3. Consider the folly of this course; the grace that ye lose you must repair again, if you desire communion with God again, or desire to recover your joy and comfort, or your spiritual strength again: as a man climbing a ladder, falling from many rounds, can never get to the top, till he hath recovered the very step from which he fell; so it is in our fall from grace, we must never look to enjoy what we formerly had, till we recover that measure of grace from which we fell.   

CHAP. XVII.  
Use 1. THe first Use is of Exhortation: You that think you are in the state of grace, and have abundance of the Spirit poured out upon you, have a watchful eye that ye spill not a drop of the grace of God; it is Gods own image, will ye not be careful to keep that from the least defacing? it is the divine nature, will you part with that? it is the blood royal of Heaven, lose not a drop of it: Do you desire to maintain communion with God, to walk in the light of his countenance, to be filled with the joy of Christ? do you desire to run like a Giant the course of Christianity? then take heed of falling from that measure of grace you have received.  
Quest. What must we take heed of, that we fall not?  
Resp. 1. Take heed of the neglect of holy duties: Watermen say, they lose more by missing one stroke, than they can gain by many: So may a Christian lose more by neglect of one duty, of one Ordinance, than he can gain by many: that man will not grow rich in grace, that grows poor in duty; the praying, the hearing, the meditating Christian, is the thriving Christian: as in nature, the seed brings forth the flowers, and the flowers bring forth the seed, if one fail, both will fail; so in grace, the seed of saving grace brings forth the flower of spiritual duties, and the flower of spiritual duties brings forth the seed and fruit of grace.  
2. Take heed of remissness in duty; remissness in grace will follow upon it; in praying we must pray, in hearing hear; serve God with all your might, than God will strengthen us with all might in the inner man; that man that doth not exercise his graces in duties, will lose his graces; he that prays not in faith, will lose faith in praying: it is an heavy curse, if a man in seeing see not, and in hearing hear not; it is no less, when a man in praying prayeth not.  
3. Take heed of overmuch love of the world; the love of the world is a cause of total apostasy from God, as we see in Judas and Demas: he that is too careful in seeking the things of the world, will be too careless in seeking the things of Christ. The Arabians have a Proverb, Claude fenestras ut luceat domus, Shut the windows that the house may be lightsome: So say I, shut your eyes from beholding the glory of the world, that your souls may glister with grace: why doth our Saviour so often give forth Caveats against covetousness, but because he knoweth earthly employments are heavenly impediments?  
4. Take heed of pride, because of your graces; for pride goes before a fall: Angels and Adam were too proud of their glorious gifts, and they fell fearfully; God cannot endure pride in any thing, though it be grace itself: God to prevent pride in Paul sent a messenger of Satan to buffet him. When the Roman Emperor saw the people grow so proud as to wear jewels in their shoes, he took them away: Beware therefore of pride, and always remember, that God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.  
5. Take heed of ill principles and ill opinions; corrupt opinions and principles destroy holy practices; some dangerous opinions entertained have brought a great decay of grace upon many Professors: it is the Devil's policy to busy the heads of many about opinions, that the heart may sit lose in holy practices.  
6. Take heed of self-confidence: Peter fails in his faith, because he was too confident of his love to Christ: That soul doth most strengthen his grace, who liveth in an holy fear of decaying in grace; he that hath a jealous fear over his own heart, will be most watchful over it: where there is a fear of decay, there is the greatest circumspection; God hath the greatest communion with such, who are afraid to departed a step from him.  
7. Beware of spiritual niggardliness in laying out your graces; the more grace you lay out, the more increase; To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: having there is put for using; for the unfaithful servant had a talon, but did not use it; this is the talon in the napkin, to have grace, and not to use it: he that is slothful in improving grace, decayeth in grace; improvement of every thing is the advancement and increase of it; money is increased by improvement, ground is made fruitful by improvement; so is grace also increased by an holy improvement of it.  
Use 2. That you may not fall from the measure of grace you have received, labour to grow in grace; and to this purpose,  
1. See that you grow up in Christ in all things by the operation of the Spirit of Christ upon your souls, which Spirit is as the soul of the new life within you, so enlarging and corroborating every spiritual member, that it may be a meet instrument of righteousness to bring forth fruit to God; be not like a Giant in a painted cloth, that never attained to those dimensions by any growth from any vital principle; but be ye in your spiritual growth in proportion like the humane nature of Christ in his childhood, increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man, Luke 2.52. see that grace have the same efficacy upon your souls, which the soul hath upon the body; while the body is in a growing condition, the soul enlargeth the body in all the parts and dimensions of it, that the members may not only fill more , but take in more nourishment, and so be more strengthened and fitted for service.  
2. See that you grow not only without, but also from within; to live under the powerful dispensation of the Word, to converse with lively and growing Christians, men may catch something here and there that may make them seem to grow, and by observing their shining conversations and godly examples, they may endeavour to be like them; they may be bigger in notions, in words and phrases, in the outward garb and motion of a Christian, but in the mean time whither and decay within; such men's discourses of God and Religion are but like the pratings of Parrots, being taught by others, they speak like men, but know not what they say: If ye will increase in all the increases of God, as you have your nourishment from without, so your growth must be from within; if you first grow within, you will then grow without: see that ye be first engrafted into Christ by the Word of God, then from Christ the heart will draw out so much nourishment, as that Christ shall be form in you, and from thence you will grow and become fruitful in your conversations, not only in bringing forth the leaves of profession, but also the fruits of obedience to God. A seemingly growing Christian grows not at all in the inner man, but in the outward parts only; it is only (as one noteth) like the growth of the hair and nails, which Nature puts forth as excrements of the skin and outward parts, which grow even when a man is dead, as long as there is any moisture to feed upon: It is not enough to grow externally, unless we have also internal growth; if we have no more but the growth of knowledge, of zeal and affection, and some outward formalities, it is but as a wen in the body, or an exuberance in the blood that seeks vent by the pores; such knowledge the Scripture accounteth no knowledge, 1 Cor. 8.2. such zeal no zeal, Rom. 10.2. and such grace to be no grace, Acts 8.21. such a one, like the Church of Sardis, hath a name that he liveth, but is indeed dead, even dead while he liveth. See that your growth proceed not from the excrescency of nature and corruption, but from the divine nature in you.  
3. See that you grow every day more fruitful, that you go from faith to faith, from strength to strength; that ye grow in grace, not for a fit and start, or for a humour, but for continuance upon settled resolution and serious deliberation; see that you hold on in your way (as it is said of the righteous man) and grow stronger and stronger, Job 17.9. that ye be always going forward toward perfection, that your good works be more and better at last then at first, that ye grow more fruitful in old age, even fat and flourishing; it is not enough that ye bear fruit, but ye must bring forth the best fruit at last; the Lord still bestoweth more husbandry, and is at more cost upon them that do still abound in the fruits of righteousness, that being purged they may bring forth more fruit, Joh. 15.2. as trees of the Lords planting, the older you grow, see that ye be the more fully laden with the fruits of righteousness, being filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God, Phil. 1.11. although your outward man decay, see that your inward man be renewed day by day: Oh how many Professors of Religion are there that grow very fast at first, but soon whither like the seed cast into the stony ground, as that did for want of depth of earth, for lack of root! Jonah's gourd was up in a night, and became a great shadow to him, but there was a worm at the root that smote the gourd, that it also withered; so some secret lust lying in the heart, blasteth a forward spring of profession in many Christians.  
4. See that your growth in grace be a proportionable growth; the formal Christians growth is like the growth of a child that hath the Rickets, that is big in the head, but thriveth not in any other parts of the body; so many seeming Christians are big in knowledge, but little in conscience, full of seeming zeal, but little in judgement and discretion; yea one part is the occasion of the decay of another; as in the body of man the increase and swelling of the spleen, causeth the body to languish; so where there is only a seeming growth in grace, true love to God and his ways utterly decayeth: see therefore that your growth be proportionable in every part; there is an effectual working from the Head in the measure of every part: every Christian is a member and a part of Christ; and all his members are the fullness of Christ; and every part must aspire to the nature and figure of the Head in his proportion, that it may be a model and resemblance of the whole body, which is the fullness of him that filleth all in all: see that every part and piece of each part grow in Christ, that when you grow in knowledge, you grow in grace also, and by growing in grace you will grow more in spiritual knowledge; there is no true growth in the one without the other: be still therefore adding to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity; and be ye careful not only that these things be in you, but that you abound in them, 2 Pet. 1.5, 6, 7, 8. It is true, some Christians have been more eminent than others in some one particular grace; Abraham was eminent for his faith, Moses for his meekness, Job for his patience, David for his zeal, John for his fervent love to Christ: as it falls out in the parts of the body, some have a stronger arm, some a better leg, another a taller stature, another a more lovely countenance; they may have some one or other part that may more affect the spectator, yet all comely and holding a good proportion: so it should be among Christians in the endowments of the soul; some may excel more in one grace then in another, but if your growth in grace be kindly, no one grace will hinder the growth of another, or render any unserviceable or disproportionable to the rest. There is no body that is altogether perfect, so that it is wholly free from obstruction or distemper in some parts of it; neither is there any soul here so exact, but that there may be an obstruction of some graces in their growth, so that some graces may not hold pace with the rest: some violent distemper in the body may be an impediment to a child's growth for a while; so some dregs of corruption may obstruct our spiritual growth, which being purged away, a Christian grows more fruitful afterward.  
5. See that your growth in grace be more than a seeming growth, that it be a real growth; see that ye be not like stakes or posts pitched in the ground, standing as if they grew, but grow not; be not you like those women the Apostle speaks of, ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, 2 Tim. 3.7. but as thriving plants in God's Orchard labour to increase more and more; and like the Vine that shoots out as far as he can, while either the wall or the pole will help him along.   
FINIS.